The fluctuation of the fibro-cystic tumor is more obscure than that of the ovarian tumor, and, although sometimes noticeable over a large space, it is usually more constricted in extent. There is also usually less regularity in the shape of it. In large ovarian tumors the uterine cervix is not changed in shape and size. The whole organ generally lies beneath the tumor, and the elastic sound will not pass very deeply into the cavity. If the uterus is attached to the anterior part of the tumor, which sometimes happens, the elastic sound will pass into it and the depth will not be very great. The fibro-cystic tumor may be distinguished from the enlarged encysted kidney by the facts that the kidney is traceable to one side more than the other, and it cannot be reached by the finger through the vagina or rectum. Still, if we cannot make the differentiation clear in any other way, we can generally do so by aspiration. In most cases we cannot draw the fluid from the fibro-cystic uterine tumor; in almost all cases the quantity removable in that way is small. When fluid is drawn, it usually coagulates, contains hæmatin, and none of the cells so generally found in ovarian tumors. The fluid drawn from the kidneys presents epithelial cells, is not coagulable, certainly does not coagulate spontaneously. The abdominal cavity is sometimes more or less filled with peritoneal serum. After this is withdrawn from the peritoneal cavity the uterine attachment of the tumor may be made out by bimanual examination, as above directed, if undertaken immediately after the evacuation. PROGNOSIS.--Less than twenty years ago the general prognosis to be made upon the discovery of a tumor of the uterus was very grave. The profession knew so little about the clinical history and diagnosis of these {255} tumors that they were invested with many of the bad qualities of other tumors, with which they were so often confounded; and we had so little knowledge of their nature and the measures which would influence their growth that we felt an entire helplessness in the treatment of them. Fortunately, there have been many favorable changes in these respects. We understand their clinical history better, and can make a pretty clear diagnosis. We know that relatively few of them prove fatal even when left wholly to nature. Compared to all other uterine and ovarian growths, they are innocuous. Most of them are self-limited in consequence of the mode of blood-supply. A goodly number not only stop growing, but disappear without the application of any remedial measures. Then, as I shall have occasion to show, they may be often cured by the judicious administration of medicines, and the surgery for their extirpation has become a reliable resort in extreme cases. These considerations render the general prognosis of the true fibrous tumor quite hopeful. The menopause generally starves them out, and thus removes all the bad qualities they may possess.