This affection is often accompanied by an unsettled state of mind, which adds greatly to the distress. We sometimes, in these circumstances, have painful attempts made by the muscles to force the uterus downward, and these are occasionally attended by a very slight discharge of blood. We have, however, no regular uterine pain; and, if we are careful of our patient, abortion is rarely produced. The best practice is to take away a little blood at first, to keep the bowels open, to lessen the tendency to vomit, by applying an opium plaster, or a small blister, to the region of the stomach, and to allay pain by doses of hyocyamus or opium, conjoined with carminatives. When the mind is much affected, or the head painful, it is proper to shave the head, and wash it frequently with cold vinegar, or apply a blister at the same time that we keep the patient very quiet, and have recourse to a soothing management. The uterus being a large vascular organ, is obedient to the laws of vascular action, whilst the ovum is more influenced by those regulating new-formed parts; with this difference, however, that new-formed parts or tumors are united firmly to the part from which they grow by all kinds of vessels, and generally by fibrous or cellular substance, whilst the ovum is united to the uterus only by very tender and fragile arteries and veins. If, therefore, more blood be sent to the maternal part of the ovum, than it can easily receive and circulate and act under, rupture of the vessels will take place, and an extravasation and consequent separation be produced; or, even when no rupture is occasioned, the action of the ovum may be so oppressed and disordered, as to unfit it for continuing the process of gestation. There must, therefore, be a perfect correspondence betwixt the uterus and the ovum, not only in growth and vascularity, but in every other circumstance connected with their functions. Even when they do correspond, if the uterus be plethoric, the ovum also must be full of blood, and rupture very apt to take place; and this is a frequent cause of abortion, more especially in those who menstruate copiously. On the other hand, when the uterus is deficient in vascularity, which often happens in those who menstruate sparingly or painfully, the child generally dies before the seventh month, and is expelled. The process is prematurely and imperfectly finished. Abortion necessarily implies separation of the ovum, which may be produced mechanically or by spontaneous rupture of the vessels, or by an affection of the muscular fibres. It unavoidably requires, for its accomplishment, contraction of those fibres which formerly were in a dormant state. A natural and necessary effect of this contraction is to develope the cervex uteri.