After it has been applied, the instrument is carefully packed round with gauze to keep it in place. Two elastic bands in front and two behind are fastened by one end to the steel loop and by the other end to an abdominal belt. By this means constant and direct pressure is obtained on the fundus uteri in the direction of the pelvic axis. Pain is usual and must be relieved by morphine. The cup usually elevates the fundus and corrects the inversion in about twenty-four hours, but as much as three days has been occupied in the process. CURETTING THE UTERUS--CURETTAGE The term ‘curetting’ is applied to the operation of scraping away the lining membrane of the uterus, either for the relief of some pathological condition or for diagnostic purposes. The endometrium is not removed in its entirety by curetting, for the uterine glands dip down to a slight extent between the muscle fibres of the uterine wall. The endometrium is removed as far down as the muscular coat, and, consequently, those parts of the glands lying amongst the muscular fibres are left intact. =Indications.= These may be divided into the cases in which the operation is (1) Remedial and (2) Diagnostic in nature. The diseased states of the endometrium are many and their exact pathology is still under discussion. It is, therefore, more practical to consider _the remedial indications for curetting_ from the point of view of symptoms. (i) _Uterine hæmorrhage_ is the chief symptom which calls for curetting. The causes of the hæmorrhage may be _certain forms of endometritis_. Thus hæmorrhage is a prominent symptom of the so-called ‘hypertrophic glandular endometritis’, a diffuse overgrowth or adenomatous condition of the endometrium, probably the after-result of a previous inflammation. There is one form which gives rise to specially profuse hæmorrhage--the ‘polypoid’ or ‘villous’ form, which arises usually in women over forty years of age. The hæmorrhage from _fibro-myoma of the uterus_ may require removal of the endometrium in order to relieve the bleeding temporarily at any rate. When milder measures fail, curetting is of great service in arresting the profuse menorrhagia which so often accompanies _subinvolution of the uterus_. Certain cases in which the actual cause of the hæmorrhage is not evident are relieved by curetting; amongst these are such conditions as arterio-sclerosis of the uterine vessels. (ii) _A leucorrhœal discharge_ is another symptom for which curetting is sometimes indicated. It may be called for when the endometrium is congested and œdematous from such conditions as displacements of the uterus and chronic subinvolution. It is better not to curette for a purulent uterine discharge; extension of the infection may be caused and give rise to pyosalpinx. (iii) _Sterility._ Curetting should follow dilatation, in the hope that the new endometrium formed may afford a better nidus for the ovum.