lead to the termination of pregnancy. A moderate rise of temperature
is without significance; but high fever, persisting for several days,
may result in the death of the fetus and subsequent miscarriage.
Nevertheless, prolonged febrile affections, such as typhoid fever,
frequently leave pregnancy unharmed.

So long as the symptoms are confined to slight bleeding and mild
attacks of pain, physicians regard miscarriage merely as threatened.
If the bleeding increases, the outlook becomes less favorable, and,
as I have said, miscarriage is inevitable when it amounts to
flooding. Likewise, rupture of the sack containing the fetus, with
escape of the amniotic fluid, indicates that the culmination of
events will not long be delayed.

The most favorable outcome is when the entire contents of the womb
are spontaneously expelled, which unfortunately does not always
occur. There is, to be sure, rarely any difficulty in the natural
birth of the fetus, for its meager development prevents serious
complications. The separation and extrusion of the placenta, on the
contrary, are apt to be imperfect when pregnancy ends in the early
months, and medical attention is necessary to determine whether the
uterus has been emptied completely. This is particularly important,
because the retention of placental tissue affords opportunity for
several unpleasant complications; and neglect in this regard accounts
in part for the belief that miscarriage is certain to leave women
irreparably broken in health.

AFTER-EFFECTS.--No one will deny that invalidism follows the untimely
interruption of pregnancy more often than the birth of children at
full term. This is not due, as is sometimes said, to the fact that a