The death of the child also is sure to produce miscarriage, and this may result from various causes, such as external injuries and violence, or from remaining too long in the warm bath and thereby causing congestion of blood in the womb. Small pox and syphilis in the mother may also cause the death of the child, though not always. Many having been born at full term with these diseases upon them. In general the fœtus is expelled very soon after it dies, but occasionally it is retained for a considerable time, and may not pass away till it is completely decayed. It has even been known to become almost fluid, and several months elapse before it was entirely expelled. Most women know when it dies, by its seeming to fall down to the bottom of the abdomen, like a dull weight, and also by its feeling very _cold_. Very often, however, there is no indication of its death whatever. M. Chailly mentions a case where the embryo died, probably when about fifteen days old, but the placenta continued to grow, and the lady was delivered when about six months and a half gone of the dead embryo, only about a quarter of an inch in length, though the after-birth was nearly large enough for one of the usual size. In this case it had died but not decayed, and remained in the womb six months and a half. In cases of twins also, one will sometimes die at an early period, but remain till the other is born at full term. The _growth of the placenta over the mouth of the womb_, and _shortness of the chord_, have already been referred to as causes both of flooding and miscarriage; and to these may be added monstrous or deformed fœtuses, which rarely reach the full term. It is probable that there are many constitutional and individual peculiarities predisposing to miscarriage, with which we are not much acquainted, and which may account for the constant occurrence of that accident in many females, notwithstanding all we can do. A _scrofulous_ taint is with good reason supposed to be one of these, and it is probable that the _disease of the placenta_, and its consequent separation from the womb, before referred to, is mostly caused by a taint of this kind. In many instances, where a female has miscarried from no apparent cause, if the placenta be carefully examined it will be found dotted here and there with diseased spots, sometimes _like scrofulous sores_! It is advisable always to ascertain this, and to carefully examine the fœtus and its appendages. In all cases the advice I gave to _keep from being pregnant for some time_, will be found most likely to succeed in averting the accident, both because it gives the womb time to regain its strength and break through its _habit_, and also because it gives us time to operate upon the constitutional taint, if there be reason to suppose it exists.