Prospective Mother — 17 - Glossary

GLOSSARY

[Footnote: The Century Dictionary has been freely used for these definitions.

] ABNORMAL.

--Irregular; deviating from the natural or standard type.

ABORTIFACIENT.

--Whatever is used to produce an abortion.

ABORTION.

--The expulsion of the embryo during the first four months of pregnancy.

AFTER-BIRTH.

--The mass of tissue expelled from the uterus at the end of labor.

It includes the placenta, the umbilical cord, and the membranes of the ovum.

ALIMENTARY CANAL.

--The digestive tract.

It begins with the mouth, includes the stomach and the intestines, and ends with the rectum.

AMNIOTIC FLUID.

--The liquid inclosed within the amniotic membrane.

AMNIOTIC MEMBRANE.

--The innermost of the two membranes which envelop the embryo; the lining membrane of the closed sac familiarly called "the bag of waters."

ANEMIA.

--A deficiency of some of the constituents of the blood.

ANATOMY.

--The science which deals with the structure of the body.

ANTISEPTIC.

--Anything which destroys bacteria.

AREOLA.

--The colored, circular area about the nipple.

ARTERY.

--A vessel through which the blood flows away from the heart.

ASEPSIS.

--The exclusion of disease-producing bacteria.

ASEPTIC.

--Free from injurious bacteria.

ASPHYXIA.

--The extreme condition caused by lack of oxygen in the blood, brought about by interrupted breathing.

ASSIMILATION.

--The process by which living creatures digest and absorb nutriment so that it becomes part of the substance composing them.

ATROPHY.

--To waste away.

AUTO-INTOXICATION.

--Poisoning by material formed within one's body.

BACTERIA (the plural of bacterium).

--Exceedingly minute, spherical, oblong, or cylindrical cells which are concerned in putrefactive processes.

Some varieties cause disease.

BACTERIAL DECOMPOSITION.

--Putrefaction brought about by the action of bacteria.

BIOLOGY.

--The science which deals with the phenomena of life.

BIRTH-CANAL.

--The passage through which the child enters the world.

It is composed of the uterus and the vagina, and is surrounded by the pelvic bones.

BLADDER.

--A thin, distensible sack acting as a reservoir for the urine between the time it is secreted by the kidneys and leaves the body.

BREECH.

--The buttocks.

CESAREAN OPERATION.

--The operation by which the child is taken out of the uterus by an incision through the abdominal wall.

CALORIE.

--The unit ordinarily employed by scientists to measure heat.

CAPILLARIES.

--The minute blood vessels which form a network between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.

CARBOHYDRATE.

--Any one of a group of chemical substances of which starch and sugar are the most familiar members.

CARBONIC ACID GAS.

--An animal waste product eliminated in the breath.

In daylight plants absorb it energetically from the atmosphere through their leaves, and decompose it, assimilating the carbon, and returning the oxygen to the air.

CARTILAGE.

--A firm, elastic tissue; gristle.

From this material many of the bones develop.

CATHETERIZE.

--To empty the bladder by means of a tube-like instrument which is introduced into the passage through which the urine normally leaves the bladder.

CELL.

--One of the microscopical structural units which make up our bodies.

CELL-DIVISION.

--The process by which a single cell becomes two cells.

CEREBRUM.

--The portion of the brain which is the seat of mental activity.

CHORIONIC MEMBRANE.

--The outermost of the two membranes which surround the embryo.

CHROMATIN.

--A substance within the nucleus of a cell which has a special affinity for certain staining agents.

CHROMOSOMES.

--One of the pieces into which the chromatin is broken during the act of cell-division.

CLINICAL.

--Pertaining to the sick-bed.

COLOSTRUM.

--The fluid secreted by the breasts during pregnancy and for two or three days after the birth of the child.

CONTRACTION.

--The act by which the muscle fibers of the uterus become shorter and press upon its contents.

CURETTAGE.

--Scraping out the lining of the uterus.

DELIVERY.

--The birth of the child.

DIAGNOSIS.

--The determination of either normal or abnormal states of the body.

DIAPHRAGM.

--The muscular partition between the chest and the abdomen.

DIETETIC.

--Pertaining to the diet.

DUCT.

--A tube which conveys the secretion from a gland.

EMBRYO.

--The offspring before it has assumed the distinctive form and structure of the parent.

ENEMA.

--A quantity of fluid injected into the rectum.

ENGAGEMENT.

--The entrance of the fetus into the birth-canal.

ETHNOLOGY.

--The science which deals with the character, customs, and institutions of races of men.

EUGENICS.

--The science which deals with the improvement of the human race by better breeding.

(Davenport.

) EXCRETION.

--Waste substance thrown off from the body.

FEBRILE.

--Attended with fever.

FETUS.

--The unborn child after the third month of development.

FOOD-STUFF.

--Anything used for the sustenance of man.

FUNCTION.

--The discharge of its duty by any organ of the body.

GASTRIC JUICE.

--The digestive fluid secreted by the wall of the stomach.

GERMINAL CELLS.

--The structural units from which a new individual takes origin.

The cell contributed by the mother is called an egg- cell or ovum; that contributed by the father, a spermatozoon.

GESTATION.

--Same as pregnancy.

GLAND.

--An organ which separates certain substances from the blood, and pours out a material, usually fluid, peculiar to itself.

HYGIENE.

--That department of medical knowledge which relates to the preservation of health; sanitary science.

INANITION.

--The condition which results from insufficient nourishment.

INFECTION.

--A disease due to bacteria.

INTESTINE.

--The bowels; the long membranous tube extending from the stomach to the rectum.

INVOLUTION.

--The process by which the uterus returns after child- birth to its former size and position.

LACTATION.

--The secretion of milk.

LIGAMENT.

--A band of tissue serving to bind one part of the body to another.

LIGATURE.

--Anything that serves for tying a blood-vessel.

LOCHIA.

--The discharge continuing for several weeks after the birth of a child.

LOTION.

--Any liquid holding in solution medicinal substances intended for application to the skin.

LUNAR MONTH.

--A month of twenty-eight days.

MAMMAL.

--The highest order of animal, namely, one which suckles its young.

MAMMARY.

--Relating to the breast.

MASTICATION.

--The act of chewing.

MENOPAUSE.

--The permanent abolishment of the menstrual process, which generally occurs between the 45th and the 50th years.

MICRO-ORGANISMS.

--Bacteria and other living agents of disease which are visible only with the aid of the microscope.

MISCARRIAGE.

--The termination of pregnancy prior to the seventh month.

MUCOUS MEMBRANE.

--The lining of certain cavities of the body, such as the mouth, stomach, intestine, uterus, etc. MUCUS.

--The material manufactured by the glands in a mucous membrane.

MUSCLE-FIBERS.

--The muscle-cells.

NARCOTICS.

--Drugs which produce sleep.

NITROGEN.

--One of the chemical elements.

NUCLEUS.

--A clearly defined area found in every cell which seems to be its seat of government.

OBSTETRICS.

--The branch of medicine which deals with the treatment and care of women during pregnancy and child-birth.

OVARY.

--The organ which contains the egg-cells or ova.

OVIDUCTS.

--Two tubes, each of which leads from the neighborhood of one of the ovaries; both terminate in the uterus.

OVUM.

--An egg: the cell contributed by the mother to her offspring.

OXYGEN.

--One of the chemical elements.

PATHOLOGY.

--The branch of medicine which deals with the altered structure and activity of diseased organs.

PEPSIN.

--A ferment found in the digestive juice secreted by the stomach.

PELVIC FLOOR.

--The muscles, ligaments, and other tissues which form the bottom of the basin inclosed between the hips.

PELVIS.

--The bony ring formed chiefly by the hip bones.

Posteriorly the ring is completed by the sacrum.

PERINEUM.

--The region extending backward from the outlet of the vagina to the rectum; it is the most essential part of the pelvic floor.

PHYSIOLOGY.

--Scientific knowledge of the manner in which the various parts of the body perform their duties.

PIGMENT.

--Any coloring matter.

PLACENTA.

--The organ through which the communication between the mother and the offspring is established.

One of its surfaces is attached to the wall of the uterus; at about the middle point of the other surface the umbilical cord takes its origin.

PRENATAL.

--Pertaining to the period before birth.

PROTEIN.

--A food-stuff which is distinguished by the fact that it contains nitrogen and is a tissue builder.

PROTOPLASM.

--The living substance in the cells which compose our bodies.

PUBERTY.

--Sexual maturity in human beings.

PUBIC BONES.

--The part of the pelvis which forms an arch in front of the bladder.

PUERPERIUM.

--The same as the lying-in period.

RETINA.

--The innermost coat of the eye-ball and the one which receives visual impressions.

RICKETS.

--A disease of infancy characterized by softening of the bones.

SECRETION.

--The product of the activity of a gland.

SEDIMENT.

--The material which settles to the bottom of any liquid.

SPERMATOZOON (plural spermatozoa).

--The microscopic cell contributed by the male parent, which stimulates the ovum to begin its development.

SUPPOSITORY.

--A medicinal substance made into the form of a cone to be introduced into the rectum.

TERM.

--The time of expected delivery.

THERAPEUTIC.

--Concerned with the treatment of disease.

THYMUS GLAND.

--A structure located behind the breast bone near the root of the neck.

Only traces of it are found in adult life.

TISSUE.

--An aggregation of similar cells in a definite fabric, as muscle, nerve, gland, etc. TUBES.

--The oviducts.

UMBILICAL CORD.

--The structure carrying the blood vessels which pass between the placenta and the child's navel.

UTERUS.

--The womb: a hollow muscular organ designed to receive, protect, nourish, and expel the product of conception.

VAGINA.

--The canal through which the child passes from the uterus into the world.

VEIN.

--A vessel through which the blood flows back to the heart.

VERNIX.

--The fatty substance deposited over the skin of the newly born infant.

VIABLE.

--Capable of living.

VILLI (singular villus).

--The microscopic, finger-like processes which hang from one of the surfaces of the placenta and are surrounded by the mother's blood.

VISCERA.

--The internal organs which occupy the cavities of the chest and the abdomen.

VULVA.

--The folds of tissue which surround the outlet of the vagina.

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