A difficult obstetrical case in a primipara, with a consultant called in by the first doctor is going slowly.
The infant is heard to cry once. Then:
"But often the great cat Fate lets us go only to
clutch us again in a fiercer grip. As minute after
minute passed and still no sound came from above save
those thin, glutinous cries, Johnson cooled from his
frenzy of joy, and lay breathless with his ears
straining."

What in hell are "glutinous" cries?