It usually begins with headache, general debility, uneasy feelings, creeping of the flesh, and chills: then follow tremblings, numbness of the limbs, cold feet and hands, with a burning heat in the body. The abdomen gradually gets tender, so that it cannot bear the slightest pressure, sharp pains are felt in various parts of it, and the patient continually complains of twisting and burning within. She prefers to lie on her back, with the head raised and the knees drawn up, so as to relax the abdominal muscles. Very soon she complains of great thirst, and cries out repeatedly from the sharpness of the pain; the headache increases, and the breathing becomes laborious. Hiccough generally occurs at an early stage, and is usually accompanied or followed by vomiting and diarrhœa, but sometimes by obstinate constipation. The abdomen continues to swell, and becomes still more tender, the face is pale, bathed with cold perspiration, and indicates in every line the anxiety and suffering under which the patient labors. The features seem to be drawn upwards, and all together, or _pinched up_, and indeed the whole body seems to _shrink_. In general the lochial discharge either stops altogether or lessens very much, the breasts remain empty or nearly so, and the pulse is weak and irregular. In some few cases however, the lochia continues to flow, or even increases, and the breasts remain full up to the time of death. The urine is high colored and thick, and causes smarting and burning as it passes away. The tongue furs and becomes pointed, and pale colored. The eyes often seem much engorged, and the white part become yellow, as indeed the skin does over the whole body, owing to derangement of the bile, and alteration in the character of the blood. In most cases the mind retains its faculties nearly till dissolution, but there is frequently a vague sense of uneasiness and fear, with great depression of spirits and weeping. Some even feel assured, from the beginning, that they will never recover, and occasionally become delirious. The duration of this disorder varies considerably, though in most cases it carries off the sufferer in a short time, frequently even in two or three days. It may however last five, ten, or twelve days, and has been known to do so fourteen.