By far the most frequent displacements to which the uterus is liable are the downward and backward, namely, the various degrees of prolapsus, retroversion and retroflexion. But few if any troubles in the entire field of gynecology impose more of suffering and misery than is entailed by the inflammatory consequences of these affections. The reflex disturbances and the general ill-health that usually follow often lead to melancholia, hysteria, and even more pronounced insanity. In many instances the physical health is wrecked, and the functions of the various systems of the body are so perverted as to lead to a condition of general impairment of nutrition, which predisposes to the activity of any inherited tendency to disease.
I should like to emphasize the significance of the phrase, "inflammatory consequences," in this connection; for it is to these that symptoms are chiefly due; for example, pelvic peritonitis, with adhesions binding the uterus,