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CHAPTER SIX

pessary is a variety of "stud" or stem which has become rather well known from its use in the United States. It is so made as not to block the lumen of the os, and thus permits the exit of the natural secretions as they arise. It is a somewhat more carefully thought out variety of the "stud" form with a bifurcated stalk, long known and illustrated in this country, as, for instance, in Down Bros.' well known surgical catalogue in which are figured similar appliances which were invented and used thirty or forty years ago.

I am not aware who was the individual who first devised this particular form of pessary, nor who are the chief designers of the modifications. It is catalogued by Eissner, the makers in New York, as being "made after the design and suggestion of three prominent New York gynecologists." The "Gold Spring" is at present principally used in America, although it is also used to some extent on the Continent and in this country. I first discussed its use in certain circumstances in the sixth edition of "Wise Parenthood," because so far as I could discover it is the best available pessary which being once inserted by a doctor secures a contraceptive means which is out of the control of the patient. Therefore, at present, it should be

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