If there is great debility and impoverishment of the blood, then I would advise prescription No. 1, which are the _iron pills_, of which three pills should be taken three times a day. The moderate use of wine, either claret or Riesling, with the food, instead of tea or coffee, is very beneficial, between meals a glass of Porter to relieve the _gone-in_ feeling, until the system has recovered sufficient strength to do without it, that is when ordinary exertions are no longer a burden. The small percentage of cases that do not yield to the above treatment, become legitimate subjects for an honest specialist, for there may be extensive lacerations of the cervix that require surgical treatment, or an elongated cervix that should be amputated, or a granulated hypertrophied membrane of the uterine cavity that should be scraped out; all these operations are without danger if the operator has thoroughly _mastered the details_ of antiseptic surgery and has the manual skill to do the work properly. CHAPTER XVIII. THE NATURAL POSITION OF THE UTERUS AND HOW IT IS SUPPORTED. THE uterus is not a stationary fixture in the female pelvis, but enjoys a mobility within physiological bounds, which in itself explains the great diversity of opinions which may and do arise respecting the normal or abnormal position of the womb in any given case. When the surrounding organs and tissues of the womb are in a healthy condition, and the abdominal walls are not compressed by the weight and pressure of skirts, nor the liver or diaphragm forced down towards the pelvis by a tight-fitting corset, the organ is movable in every direction, without the slightest pain or suffering. The uterus is not tied down by any ligaments, as one might imagine from a description of the several ligaments that constitute only in a small degree its support, for it changes its position in retching, coughing, breathing, singing, walking and all other violent movements. The question now naturally arises: What is the normal position of the uterus, and what constitutes its natural supports? To answer this interrogation is to controvert one of the most baneful fallacies in gynecological practice, for the amount of torturing and useless doctoring to which women are constantly subjected, owing to some fancied displacement of the womb, illustrates the force of precedent or of accepted opinions, that were fortified by years of erroneous teaching.