religion, may continue for several days, perhaps, when

THE SYMPTOMS OF ACTUAL LABOR

make their appearance. The first of these is generally the 'show.' It is
the discharge of the plug of mucus which has occupied the neck of the
womb up to this time, and is ordinarily accompanied by a little blood.
Perhaps before this, or perhaps not for some hours after, the 'pains'
will develope themselves. These recur periodically, at intervals of an
hour or half an hour at the outset, and are 'grinding' in character.
_True_ labor pains are distinguished from _false_ by the fact that they
are felt in the back, passing on to the thighs, while false pains are
referred to the abdomen; by their intermittent character, the spurious
pains being more or less continuous; and by the steady increase in their
frequency and severity. In case of doubt as to their exact nature, the
doctor should be summoned, who will be able to determine positively
whether labor has begun.

The other symptoms which point to the actual commencement of labor are a
frequent desire to empty the bowels and bladder, nausea and vomiting,
which, in the early part of confinement, is a good sign; shiverings,
unattended with any sensation of cold; and, finally, the rupture and
discharge of the contents of the 'bag of waters.'

Before passing on to the consideration of the management of the
confinement into which the wife has now entered, a few words may be
appropriately said upon the

CAUSE OF LABOR.

Neither the size nor the vigor of the child has any influence in
bringing about delivery at full term. The ancient theory--which received
the support of the distinguished naturalist Buffon--that the infant was
the active agent in causing its own expulsion, is an exploded one. It
was asserted by some that hunger excited the foetus to struggle to free
itself from the womb; others were disposed to attribute its efforts to
accomplish its entrance into the world, to the need of respiration which
it experienced. But all these ingenious theories, which presupposed the
embryo to be actuated by the same feelings which would influence a grown
person if shut up in such a confined abode, are unsatisfactory, and not
tenable. It is well known that the child may die in the womb, without
retarding or interfering in any way with the coming on of the process of
labor. This fact alone shows that the foetus is, or at any rate may be,
absolutely passive either in regard to the induction