Excerpt from Cyclopaedia of the Practice of Medicine, Vol. 10 The position Of the patient during examination is of the greatest importance, if we wish to Obtain full and satisfactory results. It is only exceptionally that a woman is examined in the erect posture, as, for instance, when we desire quickly to inform ourselves by the touch of the condition Of the external genital organs - the vagina and the cervix - or when we wish to see how a strong abdominal pressure affects the genital organs. Other advantages than these are not gained by the examination in the erect posture. The supposed advantage Of bringing the internal genital organs nearer to the vaginal orifice is more imaginary than real; for in the erect posture the womb is tilted forwards, in consequence Of which the cervix is deflected back wards, and rendered more difficult to reach with the finger than in other positions of the body (as, for instance, when the patient lies upon the back and the bimanual method Of palpation is employed). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.