“Mrs. M. had been taken in labour Monday, Dec. 18th, at seven o’clock, P. M. and on Tuesday at seven o’clock, P. M., I first saw her. Her pains were then almost constant, and such had been the severity of her suffering that her cries for relief, as her medical attendants informed me, had attracted crowds of persons about the door. As soon as I entered her room, she exclaimed, ‘For God’s sake Doctor, cut me open or I shall die: I never can be delivered without you cut me open.’ I was struck with this language, especially as I had already been informed, that she had previously borne two children. At the request of the medical gentlemen, I proceeded to make an examination per vaginam, and I must confess that I was startled at what I discovered, expecting every instant, from the intensity of the contractions of the uterus, that this organ would be ruptured in some portion of its extent. I could distinctly feel a solid, resisting tumor at the superior strait, through the walls of the uterus, _but could detect no opening in the womb_. In carrying my finger upward and backward toward the cul-de-sac of the vagina, I could trace two bridles, extending from this portion of the vagina to a point of the uterus, which was quite rough and slightly elevated; this roughness was transverse in shape, but with all the caution and nicety of manipulation I could bring to bear, I found it impossible to detect any opening in the womb. In passing my finger with care, from the bridles to the rough surface, and exploring the condition of the parts with an anxious desire to afford the distressed patient prompt and effectual relief, I distinctly felt cicatrices, of which this rough surface was one. Here, then, was a condition of things produced by injury done to the soft parts, at some previous period, resulting in the formation of cicatrices and bridles, and likewise in the closure of the mouth of the womb. At this stage of the examination, I knew nothing of the previous history of the patient more than I have already stated, and the first question I addressed to her was this: ‘Have you ever had any difficulty in your previous confinements? have you ever been delivered with instruments?’ &c., &c. She distinctly replied, that her previous labors had been of short duration, and that she had not been delivered with instruments, nor had she ever sustained any injury in consequence of her confinements. This information somewhat puzzled me, for it was not in keeping with what any one might have conjectured, taking into view her actual condition, which was undoubtedly the result of direct injury done to the parts. On assuring her, that she was in a most perilous situation, and at the same time, promising that we would do all in our power to rescue her, she voluntarily made the following confession: