=Rupture of the Uterus= is not unfrequent as a concomitant of pregnancy in the horned or bilocular malformation of the organ. It is also met with in the normal uterus.[38] A laceration of the os tincæ occurs at every birth, and so long as it does not extend beyond the circular fibres of the cervix is not dangerous. The result is generally more disastrous when the rupture extends beyond this point. It may penetrate the entire thickness of the organ, so as to allow of the escape of the fœtus into the abdominal cavity, or only one layer of the walls may give way, or only the peritoneal investment may be lacerated, while the uterus itself remains uninjured. Rupture of the uterus may also result from external injury before parturition. It is not necessarily fatal. Primiparæ are more liable to this accident than multiparæ. =Puerperal Inflammations.= Where the uterus has itself been the main seat of inflammation, we find that an exudative process has given rise to the formation of a yellowish or greenish, more or less, gelatinoid lining on its internal surface, causing a ragged, patchy appearance. This exudation may be easily detached from the subjacent mucous membrane, which, according to the intensity of the disease, is more or less reddened, tumefied and softened. This condition may penetrate to the deeper tissues, and involve the entire thickness of the uterus, which will then, also, be more or less softened and discolored, infiltrated with a thin sanious product, and even converted into a mere pulp. The dirty-colored, brownish, flocculent matter that is found investing the inner surface of the uterus soon after delivery, and which is merely the residue of the decidua, must not be mistaken for the product of disease. The ragged appearance of the part to which the placenta was attached, due, according to Dr. John Clarke, to the remains of the maternal portion of the placenta and the coagula of blood left after its separation, is also liable to be the source of error. In both cases, however, if the apparent exudation be scraped off, which can easily be done, we find the _healthy_ surface underneath. In _putrescence_, the lowest form of uterine inflammation, we find the internal layer of the organ covered with a thin, opaque, or more dense product, varying in color from pale green to dark brown, beneath which the tissue to a greater or less depth is converted into a similar pulp. We sometimes find small abscesses within the muscular tissue without any perceptible change in the surrounding parts; in most cases, however, the structure of the muscular fibre is entirely destroyed.