The diagnosis of uterine pregnancy is readily made after the first two months of gestation in the average case, and in experienced hands an almost positive diagnosis is often possible during the first eight weeks of pregnancy. It is often of importance to make an early diagnosis between normal pregnancy and various pathologic conditions, notably fibromyomas of the uterus, extra-uterine pregnancy, inflammatory tumors and ovarian cystoma. I wish to emphasize a sign that can be recognized by pelvic examination in a high percentage of cases in the first month of pregnancy.
Ordinarily, the statement is made in textbooks of obstetrics that the diagnosis under six weeks is extremely difficult, and the signs that appear during the first three months are usually called "presumptive evidences" of pregnancy. These consist of urinary disturbances, Chadwick's hyperemia of the vagina and vulva, changes in the size and consistency of the breasts, amenorrhea, morning nausea,