mount of flooding, in most cases, is in
proportion to the early period of pregnancy at which it takes place,
for in the latter months there is seldom much blood lost. But there
are cases in which pregnant women will lose blood repeatedly from the
womb and yet not miscarry, but these are very rare cases.

In most cases, the occurrence of a woman's flooding between the first
and fourth months, unless very slight, or quickly relieved, is usually
followed by a miscarriage; but as soon as the child and its membranes
are both expelled by the contraction of the womb the flooding soon
ceases. In many such cases it is often very difficult, and sometimes
impossible, to deliver the afterbirth and membranes, which remain and
finally pass off after putrefaction has taken place, resulting in long
and offensive discharges from the womb, and which, unless treated by
the most skillful management, frequently result in many internal
mischiefs of a serious character, such as ulcers, cancers, etc.

In all cases, those who are constitutionally disposed to abortion, or
have a tendency to miscarriage, should take great care to preserve a
quiet state of mind and to avoid all violent exertion; and all active
purgatives should be avoided, and exposure to great heat or cold,
during the time of gestation or pregnancy.

When the miscarriage has really taken place, and the foetus, or
child, is expelled, together with the contents of the womb, the same
precautions should in general be observed as in childbirth.

TO PREVENT MISCARRIAGE,

when it is threatened, or on the appearance of the first symptoms, the
patient should lie down and be as quiet as possible; live on very
light diet; bowels be kept freely open; and an injection of thirty
drops of laudanum should be given in half a pint of slippery elm tea.
Should flooding be present, cold lemonade should be drank freely, and
cloths wet with cold or ice water applied to the thighs and lower part
of the birthplace, which should be repeated until the flooding is
relieved.

MEANS OF PREVENTING ABORTION.

To prevent abortion, women of weak or relaxed habit should use solid
food, avoiding great quantities of tea, coffee, or other weak or
watery liquors. They should go soon to bed and rise early, and take
frequent exercise, but avoid fatigue. They should occasionally take
half a pint of the decoction of lignum-vitae, boiling an ounce of it in
a quart of