As we are also to inquire in the succeeding chapter into the displacements to which the womb is liable, it would greatly assist our understanding if we first got an idea of what constitutes the natural supports of the uterus? The word ligament is defined as anything that ties or unites one thing or part to another; a bandage; a bond. This is the _idea_ in the popular mind, so that when the terms broad and round ligaments of the womb are employed it is supposed that they are for the same purpose for which ligaments are usually intended. This is, unfortunately for a clear understanding of the subject, a great mistake, because these ligaments are an exception to the generally accepted meaning of the term, for they neither tie nor support the uterus in its natural position. One may readily imagine that this erroneous conception would lead to a mistaken course in the treatment of most cases of displacements, because too much importance is bestowed upon structures that have no physiological bearing on the disease. Drs. Hart and Barbour, of Edinburgh, in their “Manual of Gynecology,” which is the most scientific and practical work that has lately appeared in the English language, have this to say in speaking of the support of the uterus: “The question of the support of the uterus is still disputed. The broad and round ligaments have nothing to do with its support, they are only useful as giving fixed points for the contracting uterine muscles during parturition. The chief support is the compact unbroken pelvic floor, on which the uterus rests just as one sits on a chair. It is the whole pelvic floor that supports the uterus and viscera, not the perineum alone.” The perineum (see anatomical Plate II) is only a small though strong part of the pelvic floor. If the reader will now patiently review the organs that, together with the other tissues, constitute this floor, and this can be most profitably done by studying Plate II, there can be no confusion of ideas whatever. In the following pages I have occasion to refer to what is understood by the term pelvic floor. CHAPTER XIX. PROLAPSUS OR FALLING OF THE WOMB.