THE COURSE AND SYMPTOMS OF MISCARRIAGE.--The cause of a miscarriage or abortion is much the same as an ordinary labor at term. Whatever interrupts the pregnancy causes the death of the fetus. The dead fetus acts as a foreign body and excites the womb to contract as it does during an ordinary confinement. The contractions open up the mouth of the womb and the fetus is expelled together with its membranes and after-birth. The significant and the most important symptom of a miscarriage or abortion is hemorrhage or bleeding from the privates. The flow of blood may not amount to much or it may be excessive and alarming; it may not be constant, it may come from time to time in the form of clots. The next significant and important symptom of miscarriage or abortion is pain. The pain, like the flow of blood, may be only slight or it may be very severe, sometimes it is absent in very early miscarriage. As a rule the pain is severe when the miscarriage occurs after pregnancy has lasted for a number of months. A miscarriage or abortion is said to be "complete" when the fetus with its membranes and after-birth is expelled clean and whole, or in other words when the womb empties itself completely. A miscarriage or abortion is said to be "incomplete" when some part of the embryo is left in the womb. WHAT TO DO WHEN A MISCARRIAGE IS THREATENED.--When a woman, who is pregnant, begins to flow she should at once go to bed and keep perfectly quiet and send for a physician. A miscarriage is a treacherous condition and is so regarded by all medical men. It may not amount to much or it may, on the other hand, develop into a serious situation. The immediate danger is from hemorrhage; the ultimate or remote danger is sepsis or blood poisoning. The condition is one that can only be taken in charge by a qualified physician in whose hands we can safely leave the conduct of the case. As a general rule it is quite safe to assert that a woman will not bleed enough at the beginning of a miscarriage to do any permanent harm. Consequently there is no occasion for unnecessary alarm. She must, however, as stated above, heed the warning and go to bed, keep perfectly quiet and send for a physician. If she fails to follow this advice it is quite possible that she may have a hemorrhage during the course of the miscarriage of a sufficiently serious character to endanger her life or from the effects of which she may suffer for the remainder of her life. There is practically no danger during the course of or after a "complete" miscarriage. The danger which may ensue from an "incomplete" miscarriage is hemorrhage and a form of poisoning caused by the absorption into the system of putrifying products of the part of the dead embryo left in the womb.