The general pack is most serviceable in reducing temperature and producing a diaphoresis to relieve the kidney and cleanse the system, as in eclampsia. For this purpose the entire body, naked, is rolled in a sheet wrung out of hot water and then put between heavy blankets in bed. The pulse should be taken frequently and the temperature recorded at intervals. A cool application to the head is very soothing.
The patient sweats profusely and hot drinks may be given to promote a more abundant diaphoresis. Usually the patient drops off to sleep as the fever subsides. Twenty to forty minutes is the average duration of such a treatment.
When the pack is removed, the patient is wrapped at once, without drying, in warm blankets, and left for an hour or so.
CHAPTER XIV
COMPLICATIONS IN LABOR
Pelvic contraction is not infrequently the cause of difficult or prolonged labor. The deformity is most commonly due to rickets in childhood.
There are many forms of pelvic contraction, but in this country only two are at all common; the generally contracted, and the flat pelvis.
The generally contracted pelvis is, in the main, a well shaped pelvis, only its measurements are smaller than normal.
The flat pelvis is marked by a shortening of the anteroposterior diameter of the inlet. It looks as if it had been pressed together from before backward while in a soft condition.
These and other deformities will be recognized in advance of labor by the routine application of the pelvimeter.
The value of this instrument is so great, that no competent man does obstetrical work at the present time without using the pelvimeter as a routine.