We are directed by most writers to have the patient lie upon her left side near the edge of the bed when we examine her. The fore finger of the right hand (sometimes the left) after being well oiled or soaped should be passed along the perineum into the vaginal orifice, and is to be pressed upward and backward towards the promontory of the sacrum until the os uteri or the presenting part is found. Sometimes this is not reached without an effort. When reached endeavor to find the fœtal head or to determine what is the presenting part—feel sufficiently to distinguish the lips of the os uteri from the presenting portion of the fœtus. Do not be hasty in making the examination; wait till you examine sufficiently to know if the child is forced down; observe both during the time of a pain and during an interval, and observe if the pains dilate the os. Sometimes during a natural labor there may be a severe pain, and when the pain is hardest, the os contracts. By waiting to take a number of pains you will learn if there is real progress. When examining, note the calibre, heat and moisture of the vagina; the general condition of the cervix; the dilatability of the os uteri and the actual dilatation by the bag of waters or the fœtal head during a pain. If the head presents you can best learn the particular position when the pain is off; and after the membranes are ruptured you can decide better than previously. Ordinarily the sagittal suture can be felt, and perhaps both fontanelles, but you must not be discouraged at all if you cannot determine the exact position. Doctors ordinarily do not deem it necessary. If you can decide that it is a head presentation and that the woman is undoubtedly in labor, you may probably decide that the labor will be natural, and you may properly tell the friends so, adding perhaps, that it will depend upon the character of the ensuing pains whether the labor will be protracted or short. Various circumstances of which you are possibly not yet cognizant may make your case of labor a tedious or difficult one. You have decided, perhaps, that there is no obstruction to the passage of the child, no deformity of the pelvis, scirrhus or other tumors in the vagina, no cystocele, no prolapsed ovary, and that there is not a rigid perineum or imperforate vagina. If there is, you need to have a medical man present, but should none be obtained you will need to repeat your examination from time to time. Observe if each pain presses down the bag of waters and dilates the mouth of the womb, and if the soft parts are in a relaxed state, and if there is a show. Even if the appearances are thus promising, the labor may be slow and tedious from various causes. 1. Possibly hardened feces maybe in the rectum; if they are you may be assured of the fact when you make a digital examination, as they seem like tumors posterior to the vagina. The remedies are physic, enemas, rest—possibly opium.