The symptoms of inflammation of the tubes are not so clearly defined as to indicate the nature of the affection, because it is hardly ever limited to the tubes alone, the surrounding tissue being always more or less involved. These patients are so seldom free from pain that their lives are a constant suffering. If the pain subsides, it is only for a few days, and the slightest exertion brings about a relapse, so that walking or standing must be avoided. During menstruation the pain always increases, and the menses may be excessive at one period and scant at another; these harassing pains make powerful inroads on the patient’s strength; she becomes pale and debilitated, while her emaciated form and careworn expression give us a picture of the typical invalid. Fortunately, this complication is not as frequent as one might expect from the intimate relation of the tubes to the womb and ovaries, but the possibility of the Fallopian tubes becoming inflamed should admonish women against taking any chances by neglecting the rules of hygiene, that I have laid down in another chapter, for the old saying that “prevention is better than cure” is only too true of this malady. TREATMENT. The curative measures for inflammatory diseases or abscesses of the tubes have not been, on the whole, until within a comparatively recent period, very satisfactory. When this affection complicates uterine or vaginal catarrh, then the treatment that is recommended elsewhere for the relief of these complaints should be adopted; quietude is of paramount importance, and total continence must be practiced by the sufferer. Hot sitz baths and warm fomentations are important auxiliaries in the treatment. Vaginal irrigations of hot water, night and morning, relieve the congestion and stimulate the absorbents of the pelvic glands. Femina vaginal capsules are a great assistance towards accomplishing the same end; one capsule introduced into the vagina at bedtime should be combined with the other treatment. If these measures fail to accomplish a cure, then a surgical operation may be required as a last resort, which consists in extirpating the diseased tubes and ovaries.