_Ballottement_, or _repercussion_, is used as a means of deciding upon the presence of a fœtus; a means that is most available about the fifth and sixth month. The female examined should be in an upright position, or if she be in bed, her shoulders should be raised. We are directed to introduce the forefinger into the vagina and touch the cervix uteri, or, rather, in front of the neck upon the walls of the uterus; then slightly jerking upward by slightly flexing the first joint of the finger; observe if something recede from it and fall again in a moment. The ballottement is said to be a sensation “analagous to that produced by placing a ball of marble in a bladder full of water and then striking the bladder with the finger just under where the ball rests, when the latter is thrown up and falls from its own weight upon the finger that displaced it.” When the vaginal touch is practiced, while one finger remains in the vagina, palpation of the uterus with the other hand may assist in the diagnosis by depressing the uterus, or by holding it firmly in place. Then the jerk of the finger upon the head of the fœtus causes it to float upwards a little in the liquor amnii and descend. AUSCULTATION is used to decide many cases of doubtful pregnancy. The pulsations of the fœtal heart are generally perceptible by the fifth month. The examination may be made by applying the naked ear to the abdomen of the mother, she being placed on her back in the bed with her head raised. The _fœtal pulsations_ are frequent, generally from 120 to 140 a minute. The _uterine souffle_ or bellows murmur may often be heard as early as the fourth month; it is synchronous with the mother’s pulse; its seat is said to be the uterus, and some believe that it indicates the position of the placenta. This sound and the _pulsation of the umbilical cord_ are not very important diagnostic signs, and the same may be said of the presence of _kiestiene_ in the urine, which may, however, be detected as early as the third month. Some of the ailments that attend pregnancy I will now merely mention: There may be irritability and a disposition to inflammation; violent and obstinate vomiting; indigestion and depraved appetite, heartburn, costiveness, hemorrhoids, liver spots or blotches, especially about the face; diarrhœa or dysentery; strangury, with a frequent inclination to void the urine; leucorrhœa; varicose veins in the legs, thigh and abdomen; inquietude, and sleeplessness; dropsy, or an œdematous condition of the lower extremities; prurigo vulva; either of these may be more or less troublesome, but can hardly be regarded as diagnostic signs. Some remedies for these will be mentioned hereafter. (F. 69, 72, 75, 81, 131, 173, 206, 220).