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 GRANDMA'S HELPER.
 
 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD; 
 
 OR 
 
 TEN PHASES OF WOMAN'S LIFE. 
 
 HOW TO PROTECT THE HEALTH, CONTRIBUTE TO THE PHYSICAL 
 
 AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT, AND INCREASE 
 
 THE HAPPINESS OF WOMANKIND. 
 
 JOHN D. WEST, M. D. 
 
 LAW, KING & LAW PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 CHICAGO; 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAI..; PORTLAND, ORE. AUSTIN, TEX.; 
 LITTLE ROCK, ARK.; DENVER, COL. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL.: 
 WESTERN PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 1887.
 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1886 
 
 BY 
 JOHN D. WEST, M. D.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THERE is no higher study for womankind than 
 woman. There is no way in which the women of 
 to-day can so well or surely help themselves and 
 those about them and confer lasting benefits upon 
 their children and their race as by learning to 
 understand their own delicate organizations and 
 how best to cherish and protect them. Mothers 
 mold the characters of their sons and daughters, 
 by their early training or by want of it, either for 
 good or for evil. Even the best mothers, either 
 through mistaken delicacy or want of information, 
 often neglect to instruct their daughters in those 
 matters about which they most need to know. The 
 little girl realizes that she is not a boy; she does 
 not know why. She changes to maidenhood with- 
 out realizing the great purpose which Nature is 
 working out, and often comes to womanhood 
 without more than suspecting the grave responsi- 
 bility of living and giving life. Her children die in 
 infancy and she is tempted to blame Providence 
 for afflictions which it might have been within her 
 power to avert. If they grow to mature years it 
 may be with a weak constitution or imperfect 
 health, which had their cause and beginning in her 
 own lack of information before they were born. 
 
 3
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 It may be that they are afflicted with blemishes or 
 deformities that might have been prevented, but 
 which are now beyond the reach of simple and 
 effective cure. If it so be that they grow up to 
 perfect manhood and womanhood, she passes on 
 to the evening of life secure in their protection and 
 grateful to that Divine power which has thus 
 blessed her among women. 
 
 In a busy practice of more than thirty years as 
 a family physician, I have been frequently, almost 
 constantly, impressed with the fact that much of the 
 pain and many of the disappointments and failures 
 of life might be avoided if mothers were better 
 informed both as to themselves, their own needs, 
 and those of their children. So impressed, and 
 believing that I can render no better service to my 
 Creator or my fellow-creatures, I have endeavored 
 to set down in the following pages the results of 
 my own study and observation, in the hope of 
 securing better health and greater happiness to 
 women and their children, by instructing them fully 
 as to the nature of those peculiarly feminine func- 
 tions ; the requirements of their organizations 
 during the various stages of development ; by teach- 
 ing them in language chaste and delicate, but plain 
 and unmistakable, how to fulfill the duties and 
 avoid the dangers of maidenhood and mother- 
 hood. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 THE INFANT, 
 
 What It Is and What It May Become, Its Helplessness, the Embryo 
 Man or Woman, the Copy of Its Parents, Inherits Physical Qualities from 
 Both Parents, It May Be Improved by Training, Correction of Deformities, 
 Removal of Constitutional Defects, Intellectual Keenness and Moral 
 Rectitude Developed Hygiene of Infancy, Importance of Knowing the 
 Laws of Health, Necessity for Rigid Enforcement, Relation Between the 
 Mind and the Body, Care of Infant Should Begin at Birth, Why the New-born 
 Child Cries, Temperature of the Room, Cleansing the New-born Infant, 
 Applying " the Bandage," Dressing the Child Baths in General, Importance 
 of Cleanliness, Dangers of too Frequent Bathing, the Use of Soap, Tempera- 
 ture of the Water, the Bath Tub, Proper Time for Bathing, Soothing Effects 
 of Evening Bath, Cold Water Bath, When Allowable, Dressing After the 
 Bath Clothing, Regard to Season and Climate, Should Be Soft and Warm, 
 Should not Compress the Internal Organs, Allow Free Exercise of the Limbs, 
 Comfort of the Child to Be Considered, the Long Dressing-robe, Proper 
 Material to Be Used, Body Should Be Equally Protected, Protecting the 
 Lower Limbs, Folly and Dangers of Maternal Vanity Sleeping, Necessity 
 for Great Amount of, a Separate Cot, Location of the Cot, Regularity of, 
 Importance and Necessity of, How Secured, Proper Time For, the Sleeping- 
 room, Exclusion of Light and Noise, Sleeping Potions, Baneful Effect of 
 Drugs, Causes of Wakefulness, Care of Sleeping-robes and Cot Rocking or 
 Exercise, Exercise Essential to Health, Why Infants are Soothed By, the 
 Effect of Habit, Danger of too Violent, Open-air Exercise, Effect of Sudden 
 Changes of Temperature Feeding or Nursing Infants, When to Begin, 
 the First Mother's Milk, Pernicious Effects of Artificial Purgatives, the 
 Natural Laxative, Proper Cases for Artificial Purging Food of Infants, 
 the Natural Provision, the Mother's Milk the Best, When This Should Not 
 Be Given, the Best Substitutes, Quantity and Mode of Giving, Frequency of 
 Nursing, Dangers of Over-feeding, Effects of Excessive Nursing, Regularity ol^ 
 Nursing During the Night, Care of the Child Dmring the Night, Necessity of 
 
 5
 
 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Rest and Sleep for the Mother The Nursery, Importance of, Arrangement, 
 Situation and Management of, Importance of Light and Pure Air, Bright and 
 Cheerful Outlook Desirable, Southern Exposure Preferable, Beneficial Effects 
 of Sunlight, Deleterious Effect of Imperfect Sanitary Conditions, Dangers of 
 a Vitiated Atmosphere, Equable Temperature Desirable, Best Manner and 
 Means of Heating, Overheating Should Be Avoided Weaning, Proper 
 Time to Begin, Health of the Mother, Robustness and Development of the 
 Child, Indications of Teething, Dangers of Premature and of Delayed Wean- 
 ing, Gradual Process of, Nature, Quality and Quantity of First Artificial 
 Food, Dangers of too Frequent Feeding, Growth of Appetite to Be Regarded, 
 Rich and Highly-seasoned Diet to be Avoided Artificial Nursing, the 
 Wet-nurse, Care in Selection of, Should Be Strong and Healthy, Physical 
 Qualities Desirable in, Temper and Disposition Are Important, Dangers of 
 Feeding Children, Natural Method Should Be Imitated in Feeding by Hand, 
 Care of the Nursing-bottle, Regularity in Using the Bottle, Good Milk Should 
 Be Procured, Gradual Use of Other Food Teething, Symptoms of Approach 
 of, Indications of, First Stage, the Second Stage, the Natural Process, Why 
 Accompanied by Dangers, Care of Child During, Open-air Exercise, Frequent 
 Bathing, Dieting, the First Teeth, First Period of Teething, Second Dentition, 
 Importance of the Teeth, Use of in Mastication, Contribute Beauty and 
 Symmetry, Aid in Articulation, the Care of the Teeth, Regular Cleansing, 
 Dangers in Using Patent Nostrums, a Good Dentifrice Diseases of Infancy, 
 Causes of, Convulsions and Treatment of, Sore Mouth, Causes and Cure of 
 Costiveness, Worms and Treatment For, Diphtheria, Sore Eyes, Earache, 
 Chafing, Nose-bleed, Urinary Troubles, Colds, Croup, Whooping-cough and 
 Its Complications and Treatment, Vaccination Learning to Walk, Time to 
 Begin, Care and Patience in 17 to 1 18 
 
 THE CHILD. 
 
 General Causes of Disease Resulting from Errors in Diet, the Two 
 Great Offices of Food, Amount Required Variable, no Infallible Rule, 
 Different Kinds Required, the Digestive Operation, the Essential Elements 
 of Food, Preparation for Use, Proper Purpose of Food, Meat for Children, 
 When to Commence Using Meat, Solid and Liquid Food, Methods of 
 Cooking Meat, Bread, Different Kinds of Flour, the Process of Baking Wheat
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 
 
 Bread, Corn Bread, Puddings, Potatoes, Beneficial Quantities of Vegetables, 
 of Fruits, Functions of the Stomach as Affected by Food, Influence of the 
 Mind on the Digestive Process, Proper Food Regimen for School-girls, 
 General Causes of Disease from Diet, Normal Condition of the System, Study 
 of Physical Laws, Deleterious Effect of Luxurious Diet and Social Dissipation, 
 Comparative Health of Rich and Poor Children, Errors in Dress as Causes of 
 Disease, Effects of Improper Clothing Amusements, Important to Physical 
 Development, to Proper Intellectual Training, Mistakes of Parents with 
 Regard to, Various Kinds of, In-door and Out-door Recreations, Mental and 
 Physical Exercise Should be Considered Equally, Sound Mind Requires a 
 Sound Body, Exhilaration of Out-door Games Moral Training, Importance 
 of Good Moral Character, Inheritance of Moral Qualities, Dawn of Moral 
 Intelligence, Evidences of the Existence of Moral Perception, How the Moral 
 Emotions are Reached, Development of the Internal Emotions, Duty of 
 Parents to Cultivate, When to Commence Moral Education, Evil Effects of 
 Indulging Whims and Caprices, Dual Process of Moral Training, the Key 
 to Successful Government and Training, Commanding Influence of Parents, 
 Imitative Disposition of Children, Supreme Faith of Children in Parents, 
 Intuitive Perception of Truth and Falsehood, Necessity of Setting Good 
 Example Before Children, Pernicious Effects of Bad Example, Immoral 
 Practices Learned from Playmates and Nurses, Means of Correcting Evil 
 Influences, Conduct of Parents Should be Exemplary, Various Causes Which 
 Influence the Child-mind, Necessity of Constant Watchfulness of Parents 
 Dress, its Effect Upon the Mind and Disposition of the Child, Mistakes 
 of Parents with Regard to Dress of Their Children, Primary Object of 
 Clothing, Adapted to the Functional Operations of the Body, Injurious 
 Effects of Improperly Constructed Clothing, Sensitiveness of Children with 
 Regard to, the Influence of Fashion on, Its Effect Upon the Life and 
 Character of the Child Government of Childhood, Parenthood Involves 
 Obligations, Parents are Natural Teachers and Rulers, Necessity of Discipline, 
 Evil Results of Lack of Discipline, Abortive Discipline, When to Commence 
 Effects of Delay, How Long to Continue, Undue Severity and Unlimited 
 Indulgence, Authority Tempered with Kindness, Training Should Include 
 Physical, Mental and Moral Nature, the Religious Nature of the Child, When 
 to Commence Religious Training, Proper Methods of Conducting. .119 to 174.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PUBERTY. 
 
 Definition of Puberty, What It Is, Changes Wrought By, The Sign of 
 The Menses, Evidence of Approach, Duration of, Symptoms of First 
 Menstruation, Precautions to Be Taken, Age at Which Menstruation Begins, 
 Effect of Race and Climate on, Menstruation in Tropical Climates, Influence 
 of Temperament on, Habits of Life on, Effects of the Excitation of Certain 
 Emotions, Dangers to the General Health, Influence of Constitutional Tenden- 
 cies, Care of the Health During, Attention to Dieting, Effect of Stimulants, 
 Beneficial Influences of Exercise, Length of Interval Between Periods, Varia- 
 tions from the Rule, Length of Menses, Exceptional Cases, Office of the 
 Menses in Procreation, the Ovaries, Normal Condition of Menstruation- 
 Disorders in Menstruation, Two General Causes of Functional Disorder, 
 Temperament and Menstruation, Quantity and Quality of Food Used, How 
 Rich Living Effects Menstruation, Effects of Breathing Vitiated Air, of Insuffi- 
 cient Exercise, of Loss of Sleep Amenorrhea, What It Is, the Two Principal 
 Causes of, Symptoms of from Constitutional and Accidental Causes, Local 
 Symptoms, External Evidences of the Gravity of the Complaint When Neg- 
 lected or Improperly Treated, the Hygienic Treatment of, Medical Treatment 
 of Menorrhagia, What It Is, the Three Phases of, Variations in Menstrual 
 Discharge and Causes of, Different Kinds of Women Liable to, the General 
 Causes of, Hygienic Treatment of, Medical Treatment of Dysmenorrhea, 
 What It Is, Nature and Importance of the Complaint, the Symptoms of, the 
 Five Varieties of, Hygienic Treatment of, Class of Women Most Subject to 
 Diseases from Derangement of Menses, Chlorosis, Nature and Causes 
 of, Symptoms, Treatment of, Chorea, When First Known, Character and Symp- 
 toms of, Persons Most Subject to, the Common Evidences of, Treatment of, 
 Hysteria, General Ignorance of, Annoyance of, the General Causes of, Some 
 Immediate Causes of, Persons Most Liable to Attack, Cases Specified, Other 
 Diseases Aggravated by, Some Effects Produced by, Remarkable Peculiarities 
 of, Other Complaints Mistaken for, General Symptoms of, Liability of Decep- 
 tion in Symptoms, Peculiar Cases Enumerated, Treatment of, Dangers of 
 Neglecting, Reasons Why It Is Neglected, the Hygienic Treatment, General 
 Exhaustion, Symptoms of, Effects of Protracted, Treatment of, Hygienic- 
 Care 175 to 240
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 
 
 THE MAIDEN. 
 
 General Remarks, the Untrammeled Freedom of Childhood, the Mysteri- 
 ous Changes Wrought in Puberty, the Fading Away of Childhood, the Dawn 
 of Womanhood, the Birth of New Desires, Hopes and Experiences, the 
 Mystery of Sex Accomplishments, Mistaken Notion of, Naturalness of, 
 True and False, Importance and Necessity of, Utility Not the Sole End of 
 Education, Nature and Extent of True and Desirable, Errors in Obtaining, 
 the Eminent Desirableness of Engagements^When to Make, the Impor- 
 tance of in Courtship, Reasons Which Determine the Length of, Effect of on 
 Courtship, When to Be Broken, Physiological Reasons Against Long Love 
 at First Sight, the Rule of Love, Exceptions to the Rule, Importance of 
 Discriminating Between Love and Passion Love, What It Is, Its Origin and 
 Inspiration, as Defined by the Greeks, Passionate Impulse and True Love, 
 Physical and Moral, Involuntariness of Courtship, Definition of, Blissfulness 
 of, Essential Purpose of, A Study of Suitableness, Determines the Happiness 
 or Unhappiness of Marriage, False Views of, Unhappy Results of False, When 
 Proper to Begin, How Long to Continue How to Select a Husband, 
 Importance of the Question, Points to Be Considered, Consanguinity, Con- 
 stitution, Health, Race, Temperament, Education, Habits Qualifications 
 of a Husband, Filial Love, Kindness, Purity, Temperance, Industry and 
 Frugality, Business, Not Jealous, Moral and Religious Marriage, Proper 
 Time of the Year, the Time of the Month for The Wedding, What Is 
 Included in the Term, the Bride's Relations to, Proper Place for, Labor 
 Entailed on the Bride, Invitation of Guests, Trials of the Ceremony, the Wed- 
 ding Feast, the Bridal Tour, the Best Way to Spend the Honeymoon The 
 Marriage Contract, Importance of, the Divine Institution of Marriage, 
 Effect of Marriage on Longevity Divorce, When and Why Allowed, the 
 Growing Frequency of, When Proper Subsequent Marriage, the Sad Lot of 
 Widowhood, Reasons for a Second Marriage, the Affection of Second Mar- 
 riages Sacredness of Marriage, Viewed as a Divine Institution, Considered 
 as a Social Compact, Mutual Absorption in Marriage, Claims Which Each 
 Holds Upon the Other, Mutual Necessity of Faith and Faithfulness The 
 New Home, the Wedding Festivities Ended, Setting Up the New Home, 
 the Characteristics of a Happy Home, the Home Instinct, the Part of the 
 Wife in the Home, the Pleasures of Home-making, the Happy 
 Qneen 241 to 330
 
 IO TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 THE WIFE. 
 
 The New Epoch, Eager Anticipations, the Seriousness of the Step, Giv- 
 ing up the Old Life, the Unrevealed Future, New Associations and Experiences, 
 New Friends and Strange Scenes, Relations of Birth Superseded by Those of 
 Choice, the Blessedness of a Happy Choice The Marriage Chamber, Loca- 
 tion of In the Home, Furniture and Arrangements of, Ventilation and Sanitary 
 Appointments, First Occupation of The Marriage Bed, Nature's Sweet 
 Restorer, Constituents of a Good, Proper Care of, Sanitary Objection to Cer- 
 tain Kinds of Marital Relations and Privileges, Nature of the Relation 
 of Husband aud Wife, Naturalness and Necessity of Such Relation, Changes 
 Wrought in Maiden by, Embarrassment of New Wife, Unwarranted Test of 
 Purity, Congeniality and Exclusiveness, Connubial Faithfulness Proper and 
 Improper Sexual Indulgence, Rights and Duties of the Marital State, the 
 Order of Life-Production, Baneful Effects of Improper Indulgence, the Rule 
 Among the Lower Animals, Physiological Necessity of Indulgence, Various 
 Theories Concerning the Regulation of, Continence Beneficial, Creative Power 
 of Woman, Her Rights in the Conjugal Relation Physical and Moral 
 Effects of Excess, the Common Experience, the Ignorance of the New Wife, 
 Modesty and Prudery, False Notions of True Love, the True Conception, Vic- 
 tims of Legalized Lust Painful Congress, an Abnormal Condition, Causes 
 Which Produce, Remedies for Offspring, the Prime Purpose of Marriage, 
 Essential to a Happy Home, the Expectation of, the Blessings of, Depth of 
 Affection for Should Offspring Be Limited ? Importance of the Question, 
 Inferences from Nature, Subsidiary Questions, Facts to Be Considered Regard- 
 ing, the Proper Conclusion, Objections to, Difficulties Surrounding the Subject, 
 Misconceptions of Divine Teachings, Evil Results from Immoderate Child- 
 BearingExtent to Which Offspring Should Be Limited, No General 
 Rule, Physiological Considerations Involved, Law of Limitation in Certain 
 Cases, Constitutional Tendencies Considered In, Over-fecundity, Good and 
 Bad Results of Child-bearing Proper Methods of Limiting Offspring, 
 Delicacy of the Question, False Notions Regarding, Justification in Using, 
 Injustice and Injury in Neglecting, the Duty of Self-Restraint, Natural Pro- 
 visions for Improper Methods, Moral and Physiological Aspects of, Menace 
 to Conjugal Peace and Happiness, Fceticide, Abortion, Alarming Prevalence 
 of, Infamous Criminality of, Cases from Real Life Related, Common Methods
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. II 
 
 * 
 of Abortion Used, Dangers of Barrenness, Deplorable Condition, Causes 
 
 Which Tend to Produce, Temporary and Permanent, Means for Removal 
 of 331 10408 
 
 MATERNITY. 
 
 Pregnancy, Process of Conception Explained, Necessary Conditions to, 
 Changes of the Uterus Which Follow, First Symptoms of, General Indications 
 Enumerated and Explained, the Indigestion of, Constipation and Diarrhea, 
 Changes in the Breasts During, Appearance of the Abdomen, Quick- 
 ening, Beating of the Fatal Heart, General Appearance Discom- 
 forts of Pregnancy, Heartburn, the Cause and Cure, Toothache, 
 Affections of the Mind, Nervous Affections Duration of Pregnancy, the 
 Common Period, Some Remarkable Exceptions Noted, Earlier and Later 
 Pregnancies The Unborn Child, What May Be Known of It, Determination 
 of Its Sex, Singular Cases Related, the Production of Sex at Will Twins, An 
 Unnatural Production, Persons Most Liable to Bear, Causes Which Lead to 
 the Bearing of Second Pregnancies, Explanation of Meaning, Difficulties 
 in Determining, Some Remarkable Cases Recited, the Moral Aspects of the 
 Question, Sex and Twins Before Birth Hygiene of Pregnancy, No Special 
 Change in Diet Required, Evil Effects of Unwise Gossips on the Mother and 
 Child, Imprudence of Anxiety, the Best Friends and Counselors, Pleasant 
 Surroundings, Proper and Improper Food, Quantity and Manner of Wearing 
 Clothing, Amount and Nature of Exercise, Ventilation of the Dwelling-rooms, 
 Care of the Nipples, the Sleeping-room, Company Desirable and Undesirable, 
 the Gratification of Fancies Inheritance, Different Kinds of Misfortunes 
 to the Child During Pregnancy, Influence of the Mother on the Unborn 
 Child, Necessity for Care and Economy of Vital Forces, Effect of Mental 
 Impressions, Unnatural Developments, Curious Cases Related, Birthmarks 
 Explained Miscarriage, When Most Likely to Occur, How Early a Fretus 
 May Live, Causes of Miscarriage, General Symptoms of, Preventive Treat- 
 ment Relation of Husband and Wife During Pregnancy, Various Opin- 
 ions Held Concerning, the Best and Safest Plan, Difficulties in Adhering 
 to .409 10476
 
 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CONFINEMENT. 
 
 Preparation For Confinement, Symptoms of Approach, The Bed- 
 Chamber, Location of, The Bed, Arrangement of, Temporary Dressing of the 
 Bed, Attendants-. Actual Labor, Symptoms of the Approach of, First Pains 
 of, " A Sick Labor," Pains of First Stage, Nature of, Character of Labor in 
 Second Stage, "A Dry Birth," the Third Stage of Labor, Expulsion of the 
 Placenta, Methods of Removing the Placenta Attention to Be Given 
 Mother and Child, Food and Stimulants During First Stage, Aids in 
 Delivery, Danger from Hemorrhages and Convulsions, Tying and Cutting the 
 Navel Cord, Wrappings for the New-born Infant, Application of the Binder 
 Hemorrhages, Accidental, In Placenta Pr^via, Before Delivery. Premonitions 
 of Hemorrhage After Delivery, Treatment of, Treatment of Placenta Pravia 
 Version, Conditions Making it Necessary, Difficult in Absence of Liquor 
 Amnii, Method of Performing 477 to 500 
 
 THE MOTHER. 
 
 Her Responsibility, Feelings of the New-made Mother, Care of the 
 Mother After Child-birth, Darkening the Room, Attendance, Flooding and 
 Convulsions Consequences of Child-birth Putting the Child to Breast, 
 First Effects of on the Child, Advantages of to the Mother, Device for Devel- 
 oping the Nipples, Care of the Breasts During Pregnancy Child-birth, How- 
 to Care for the Mother After, Cleanliness Essential, Avoid Erect Position, 
 Changing the Clothing of the Mother, Preparation to Leave the Bed, Proper 
 Time for, Laxative for Moving the Bowels, Abundant Supply of Fresh Air for 
 the Lying-in Chamber, the Evil Effects of Imperfect Ventilation, an Illustra- 
 tion of, Covering of theBed, Should Combine Lightness, Warmth and Porosity, 
 How to Change the Linen, Dressing the Mother's Hair, How and When it 
 Should Be Done, Food Directions for Nursing, Benefits of Mother Nur- 
 sing Her Own Child, Circumstances Rendering It Impossible or Unadvisable, 
 Regularity in Nursing, How to Prevent or Overcome Deformities, Influence 
 of Diet on the Mother's Milk, Influence of Menstruation, Influence of the 
 Mind The Wet-nurse, Qualifications of a Good Nurse, Wet-nursing, the 
 Necessity of, Selection of the Wet-nurse Excessive Lactation, How to Pre-
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 
 
 rent, ) Directions for Arresting the Secretion of Milk, Pain of the Breasts from 
 Over-distention, Remedy for Deficient Lactation, Causes of, How to Over- 
 come Suppression of Milk, by Suction, by Topical Applications, by Electricity 
 The Relation of Husband and Nursing Wife, Should Continence Be 
 Observed During Period of Lactation ? 501 to 534 
 
 MATURE WOMANHOOD. 
 
 The " Climacteric Period," Change of Life Defined, Cessation of a 
 Physical Function, Reproductive Period of Woman's Life, Length of, Early 
 Cessation of Menses, Incidents Attending Change of Life, Tendency to Certain 
 Changes and Diseases, Much Physical and Mental Disturbance, Preparation 
 for the Approaching Change, the Food, What It Should Consist of, Importance 
 of Rest, Close Observation of the Laws of Hygiene Necessary, Placidity of 
 Mind, Cessation of Menses Physiologically Considered, Result of Weil- 
 Defined Natural Laws, Suffering Caused by Disobeying Laws of Health 
 Death of the Husband, Influence of upon the Wife, Desolation of the 
 Widow, Health of Widows as Compared to Others, Beneficial Effects of 
 Marriage on Many Women 535 to 546 
 
 CELIBACY. 
 
 Advantages and Disadvantages, " It Is Not Good for Man to Be 
 Alone," Paul the First Celibate, Regarded by Him from Religious Standpoint, 
 the Law of Nature on the Subject, Marriage as a Factor in Human Life, 
 Health of Married Women Compared to Unmarried, Testimony of Physicians 
 and Social Statisticians, Certain Class of Ailments Cured by Marriage, Child- 
 Bearing the End of Woman's Being, Exception to these General Rules 
 Advantages of Single Life, Free from Domestic Cares, Time for Cultiva- 
 tion of the Mind, Free from Pains and Dangers Peculiar to Maternity, Many 
 Occupations Now Open to Women, Social Advantages of the Unmarried 
 Disadvantages of Single Life, Effects of upon the Disposition, Misses 
 the Completeness of Life, the Domestic Happiness of the Wife, the Delight 
 of Having a Home, Marriage and Maternity the Better Way 547 to 553
 
 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 DISEASES OF WOMEN. 
 
 General Remarks on, Object of This Chapter, Aid in Determining 
 Complaints Peculiar to Women, Diseases of Pregnancy Period Unnatural and 
 Unnecessary Definition of Disease, Health Denned, Disease a Deviation 
 from the Condition of Health, Number of Diseases Principal Causes of 
 Disease, Predisposing Cause " Denned, Disease Can Be Avoided if Predis- 
 posing Cause Be Known, Causes of Disease are Various, Atmospherical Causes, 
 ' Bad Quality of Food, Excess in Eating, Intemperance in Drinking, Influence 
 o.' Certain Vocations, Excessive Indulgence in Sleep, Intellectual Toil 
 Various Kinds of Pulse, Dicrotic, Filiform, Gaseous, Hard, Inter- 
 mittent, Jerking, Quick, Small, Tense, Wiry Morning Sickness and 
 Vomiting, Causes of, Symptoms of, Treatment of Pains in the 
 Bowels, Result from Two Causes, Remedies to Be Administered Constipa- 
 tion, Cause of Other Disorders, Causes of Constipation, Treatment of, 
 Active Purgatives Injurious, the Dietetical Method, the Medicinal Means, 
 an Important Rule, Mechanical Means, Treatment of Constipation by the 
 Swedish Movement Cure, Description of Diarrhea, One Form of Caused by 
 Mental Emotions, Treatment of, Other Causes, Food to Use and Food to 
 Avoid During Hemorrhoids or Piles, Description of Symptoms, Cause of 
 Piles, The Prophylactic Treatment of, Proper Course of Diet, Medicinal Treat- 
 ment of Varicose or Enlarged Veins, Cause of, Different Methods for 
 Treatment of Wakefulness or Insomnia, A Nervous Affection, Two 
 Classes of Treatment for, First Soothe Nervous System, Second Diminish the 
 Amount of Blood in the Brain, Attention to Diet, Physical Exercise, Warm 
 Baths, Medical Treatment After-pains in Child-birth, Three Varieties of, 
 Symptoms of, Treatment of Lochia or Vaginal Discharges, The Nature 
 of, Importance of Cleanliness During, Treatment of Phlegmasia Dolens 
 or Milk-Leg, Nature of the Disease, Treatment of Puerperal Mania or 
 Insanity, Three Special Divisions: (i) Insanity of Pregnancy, Symptoms 
 of, Kleptomania a Characteristic, Incurable Until After Delivery, (2) Puerperal 
 Insanity (proper), Symptoms and Causes of, Duration of the Disease, Requires 
 the Most Skillful Treatment, (3) Insanity of Lactation, Nature of the Disease, 
 Treatment for Puerperal Mania Puerperal Convulsions, Serious Nature of, 
 Premonitory Symptoms of, Symptoms of the Attack, Treatment of, Bleeding, 
 Medicinal Means, Inward Fevers (Puerperal Peritonitis, etc.), Four Principal
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1$ 
 
 Varieties of, Symptoms of Each, Conditions Productive of this Disease, Course 
 of Treatment for Leucorrhea or "Whites," Symptoms and Causes of, 
 Acute or Chronic, Nature of Each, Treatment of Milk Fever and Sore 
 Breasts, Nature of, Treatment for Diseases of the Vulva, Inflammation, 
 Method of Treatment for Follicular Inflammation of the Vulva, Cause 
 and Treatment of Pruritis of the Genitals, Characteristics of, Medicinal 
 Treatment for Eczema, Acute and Chronic Forms, Symptoms of, Treat- 
 ment Inflammation of the Womb, Acute and Chronic Forms, Description 
 of Symptoms and Treatment of Each General Disorders of the Uterus, 
 Various Theories Concerning Displacement of the Womb, Causes Pro- 
 during Displacement, Various Kinds of, (i) Prolapsus Described, (2) Antiver- 
 sion Described, (3) Retroversion Described, General Treatment for Dis- 
 placements, Services of Physician Required Diseases of the Ovaries, Variety 
 of, Atrophy Described, Hypertrophy Described, Displacement of the Ovaries, 
 Local Symptoms of, General Symptoms of, Nutrition, Exercise and Baths as 
 Treatment for, Inflammation of the Ovaries, Symptoms and Treatment of 
 Nervous Exhaustion, Speculation With Regard to, Various Symptoms and 
 Causes of, Organs Affected, Various Modes of Treatment for 553 to 692
 
 THE INFANT. 
 
 What It is, and What It May Become. 
 
 THE helpless little being, ushered into the world in. a 
 burst of pain, is a bundle of possibilities. At present it 
 has life and the instinct of perpetual life. Beyond this it 
 is entirely helpless. Not infrequently the machinery of 
 life must be started by others. For days and weeks and 
 .months, the working of the delicate mechanism by which 
 life is maintained and developed must be watched unceas- 
 ingly. Obstructions must be removed, developing activi- 
 ties must be aided, and functional operations must 1 be 
 stimulated. At maturity the most beautiful and the most 
 perfect of all the animal creation, at birth the most help- 
 less, its helplessness is its strong defense. 
 
 This little wailing creature is the romping girl, the 
 amiable maiden, the affectionate mother, the noble 
 woman, in embryo. There is in the little babe all that is 
 to be found in the mature woman. Growth and develop- 
 ment add no original organs. Nothing is created by 
 growth. Nothing is added to what was possessed at 
 birth. The little limbs grow stronger, larger, and more 
 shapely. The delicate organs will perform their various 
 functions with greater certainty and with better results, 
 
 17
 
 1 8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD 
 
 the different parts of the physical organism will develop 
 into a more perfect harmony of operation and adaptation to 
 designed ends, but they are all present in the new-born 
 babe. Because the babe is possessed of the organs of the 
 mature man or woman, and because the future harmonious 
 activity of the organs depends upon the care and culture 
 bestowed upon them because of these things the infant 
 is an object of importance and solicitude. Even where 
 physical humanity is developed to its full, robust, hardy 
 completeness, many of the parts of the machinery are still 
 delicate and sensitive. They are easily obstructed, easily 
 destroyed. This is true of the organs of sight, of hearing, 
 of circulation, and true of many others. Much more deli- 
 cate are these organs in the immaturity of infancy. Con- 
 sequently, much more vigilance and care are necessary. 
 
 The infant is, then, the embryo man or woman. It is 
 more ; it is its own parents' child. To a certain extent 
 the child is what the parents, and especially the mother, 
 have made. It is a reproduction of themselves. It will 
 possess their physical and intellectual traits and their 
 moral bent. It has often been true, perhaps will often be 
 again, that the health and destiny of a man or woman was 
 determined in the mother's womb. It came into inde- 
 pendent existence handicapped with a physical or mental 
 deformity for which the mother was responsible during 
 gestation. 
 
 Suffice it to say now, that when the child is born a 
 complete human being, it will possess largely the same 
 physical characteristics which marked one or both parents.
 
 WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT MAY BECOME. 19 
 
 This latter fact is a guide to parents in the care of their 
 offspring in infancy and before they are able to know from 
 experience the peculiar traits of their children. Knowing 
 themselves, their weaknesses and deficiencies, they can 
 assume that they will reappear in their children. It is a 
 safe assumption on which to proceed at first. Children 
 do inherit diseases, and they generally inherit a predispo- 
 sition to the complaints with which their immediate pro- 
 genitors are afflicted. This is one source from which 
 children draw the evils which inhere in their organisms at 
 birth. They also run the gauntlet of another class of 
 evils, which are the result of forces brought to bear by the 
 parents either at the time of conception or during the 
 period of gestation. 
 
 The infant may become a child, altogether different 
 from what the promise of its birth indicated. Deformities 
 can be corrected, evils can be eradicated, diseases can be 
 healed. Intelligent application of the laws of hygiene, 
 thorough application of the skill of medical science, and 
 assiduous, unwearying vigilance, can almost work miracles. 
 The crooked can be made straight, the lame can be made 
 to walk, and the blind can be made to see. Hereditary 
 predispositions can be overcome. Imperfectly developed 
 organs can be drawn out into symmetry and health. 
 Some evils cannot be removed, but many faults of the 
 physical constitution can be corrected. 
 
 The intellect and moral nature of the infant depend to 
 some extent upon the perfect action of its physical organs. 
 Health is a great moral agent ; a diseased body and
 
 2O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 brain are ill adapted to the proper apprehension and 
 segregation of the principles of truth. As the child first 
 sees and apprehends, so will be the bent of after-informa- 
 tion. Intellects have been warped, the moral nature 
 dwarfed, and the whole emotional nature disordered by 
 bad digestion and impaired secretions. The possibilities 
 bound up in the little infant are great and far-reaching. 
 They determine in their development what the life here 
 and hereafter shall be. From the time of its independent 
 existence, there opens up before it a life of happiness or 
 misery, of blessing or cursing, of good or evil. On, 
 over and beyond, there is an eternity of bliss or wretch- 
 edness. The infant has a body to live and a soul to be 
 saved. 
 
 The Hygiene of Infancy. 
 
 At no period in the entire course of life is there so 
 great a demand for an intelligent and rigid application of 
 the principles of hygiene as in infancy. A number of 
 factors conspire to bring about this necessity : The 
 physical economy is exceedingly delicate ; the infant 
 being is utterly helpless, both to aid and protect itself 
 and to make known its feelings and needs to others ; the 
 sensitiveness of its organism renders it very susceptible 
 to the influences which invest it, and which are potent 
 for its well-being or its injury, both at the time and in 
 all subsequent life. Upon the knowledge of the laws of 
 health and life possessed by the mother or nurse will 
 depend the future of the object of their care.
 
 THE HYGIENE OF INFANCY. 21 
 
 The proposition laid down cannot be too strenuously 
 pressed. Attention or neglect of the child in its earlier 
 years has a far-reaching effect. So intimate, intricate and 
 mysterious is the connection between the material and 
 spiritual that the care of the material, at this period of 
 existence, conditions largely the intellectual and moral 
 bent and expansion of the adult. A sound mind pre- 
 sumes a sound body ; moral perception, delicacy and 
 completeness co-exist with intellectual breadth, depth and 
 clearness. The three elements which enter into the com- 
 position of a human being body, mind and soul are 
 so intricately interwoven that they mutually influence 
 each other. Matter influences mind, and mind acts on 
 matter, each according to its own laws. To have, then, 
 an adult well-equipped for. fulfilling the ends of being, 
 possessing a fully-developed and sound body, an intelli- 
 gence keen and bright, a moral nature sensitive and 
 undwarfed, it is imperative that the infant receive the 
 fullest benefit which hygienic treatment can confer. 
 
 Following the order laid down in this work, and 
 which is also both the natural and the logical order, it is 
 proper to commence with the birth of the child. It is 
 then that it begins its dependent existence. The sudden 
 transition of the new-born babe from the uniformly high 
 temperature of its mother's womb to the external air, is a 
 great change. The differences in this external tempera- 
 ture are great, even in the warmest months, and in a 
 room heated to the highest point of comfort and endur- 
 ance. The effect upon the infant is so great that instinct- 
 ively it cries aloud.
 
 22 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Manifestly, then, the first duty of the nurse should 
 look toward restoring the babe, as quickly as possible, to 
 a temperature similar to that to which it was accustomed. 
 This may be done readily by enveloping it in a wrapping 
 of soft flannel, previously warmed, or by placing it in 
 water heated to the temperature of the human body 
 that is, about 96 or 98 . If the infant be vigorous 
 and its breathing free and regular, the process of thor- 
 oughly cleansing the surface of its body may be com- 
 menced at once. The object of this ablution is to remove 
 from the skin everything that would in any way impede 
 or interfere with its proper and healthy action. Not 
 infrequently the new-born child is found covered with 
 an unctuous mucous, or white tenacious coating. This 
 served a natural and necessary purpose in protecting the 
 sensitive surface of the body while it remained in its 
 mother's womb ; now such covering is not only unneces- 
 sary, but positively injurious. It acts as a decided 
 irritant, and interferes with the proper capillary action. 
 This mucous covering must be removed entirely. To 
 accomplish this without injury to the babe will often tax 
 the skill as well as the patience of the attendant. The 
 easiest and safest plan is to first thoroughly but tenderly 
 lubricate the body with fresh lard, unsalted butter, or 
 olive oil. A piece of soft flannel or sponge can be used 
 in this operation. This will so loosen the covering that 
 its removal becomes comparatively easy. 
 
 Care must be taken that this cleansing extend to the 
 entire body, especially to those parts of the skin which
 
 THE HYGIENE OF INFANCY . 2$ 
 
 cover the joints, groins, ears, neck, and the irregular parts 
 of the body generally. The water used in the final act of 
 cleansing should be pure and milk-warm. Especial care 
 is needed in washing the eye-lids. It has often happened 
 that troublesome and serious inflammation of the eyes 
 have resulted from allowing impure water to enter the eye 
 during this cleansing. The eyes should also be protected 
 from the direct rays of any strong light, natural or arti- 
 ficial. The eyes attended to, the entire body can then be 
 cleansed with the same water, using with it a little castile 
 soap. With a soft napkin, the body should be dried 
 thoroughly, and the rubbing process be continued until a 
 gentle glow is excited over the whole surface. This done, 
 let everything that is wet or damp be removed from about 
 the child ; place it upon a soft, warm blanket, and see that 
 the temperature of the room is comfortable and free from 
 air-draughts. The child should not be placed too near a 
 hot fire. 
 
 The infant, being now washed and dried, the next step 
 is the application of " the bandage." This bandage 
 should consist of fine flannel, merino or some similar 
 material. It should be five or six inches wide, and long 
 enough to go, at least, one and one-fourth times around 
 the body. Before the bandage or roller is applied, let a 
 piece of old muslin be prepared. It should be three or 
 four inches wide and eight or ten inches long. Fold it 
 midway, and two or three inches from the folded end cut 
 a small hole, large enough to receive the navel-cord. Pass 
 the cord through the opening made, wrap around it a
 
 24 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 small piece of old muslin, and lay it down in the direction 
 of the long end of the compress. Fold the muslin back 
 over the cord, holding all in proper position with the palm 
 of the hand until the bandage is adjusted. This bandage 
 may be fastened with pins ; but it is more desirable that it 
 be stitched with a needle and thread. If the latter fasten- 
 ing be employed, commence to sew from the lower edge, 
 drawing the bandage fairly close to the body, so that it 
 will fit neatly ; it should not be drawn so closely over the 
 stomach. If pins be used, care should be taken that the 
 points be not left in a position where they may prick the 
 child. The diaper should next be applied, in the inside 
 of which a couple of folds of old, soft muslin may be 
 placed. The latter will thus receive the meconium, or 
 contents of the bowels, and can be removed and burned, 
 thus saving the trouble of washing. 
 
 Having proceeded thus far in the care of the child, it 
 becomes a matter of judgment regarding the next step. 
 If it continues vigorous, the process of dressing may be 
 continued. If, on the other hand, it shows symptoms of 
 weariness or exhaustion, it should be wrapped loosely in 
 flannels and allowed to sleep. This sleep will restore its 
 strength. If it be consigned to sleep, great care should be 
 given to the temperature, draughts and the coverings. 
 There must be sufficient of the last to insure a proper 
 degree of heat, but not enough to impede breathing and 
 the free action of the organs.
 
 BATHS IN GENERAL. 2$ 
 
 Baths in General. 
 
 What has hitherto been said regarding the bathing of 
 the child has been with reference to the first cleansing 
 subsequent to birth. The subject is an all-important one 
 to the mother in caring for her offspring throughout their 
 entire infancy and childhood periods. Cleanliness is a 
 prime factor of good health. The skin is extremely 
 delicate, sensitive, and easily injured. Moreover, from it" 
 there is a constant exudation of waste matter in the form 
 of perspiration. This perspired fluid holds in solution 
 atoms of worn-out animal matter and saline substances. 
 There is, also, a discharge, through the pores of the 
 cuticle, of an oily substance, the purpose of which is to 
 keep the skin-surface soft and pliable, as well as to protect 
 it from injury. This oily secretion is more abundant on 
 some parts of the body than on others ; as, under the 
 arm-pits, etc. It may be readily detected in the form of 
 globules on the surface of the water after bathing. With- 
 out the presence of this oily matter these parts of the 
 body which are contiguous to each other would, by friction, 
 become chafed. 
 
 In infancy this oily secretion rarely exceeds in quantity 
 what is absolutely necessary to keep the skin in proper 
 condition. It is Nature's plan of supplying a demand of 
 the animal nature of the child. In health it should not 
 give rise to any unpleasant odor, unless allowed to 
 accumulate to an abnormal extent. It must not be for- 
 gotten, however, that these accretions are impurities, and,
 
 26 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 if they be allowed to remain too long in contact with the 
 skin, they cause irritation ; and this, in turn, obstructs the 
 pores of the skin, and thus prevents further exhalation. 
 When this condition arises, it works more than a local 
 injury to the child. The exudation is necessary to health, 
 and Nature's established way is through the pores of the 
 skin. If this course be closed, the effort to cast off the 
 effete particles will still be made in other directions. 
 Tribute will be laid upon the bowels, the kidneys, the 
 lungs and other organs, to do the work which Nature 
 intended should be performed by the cuticle. The extra 
 labor thus imposed upon these organs will inure to their 
 injury. On the surface of the body, denied its natural 
 and necessary supply of recuperative agencies, an irrita- 
 tion will be created, which, in turn, will give rise to 
 troublesome eruptions. 
 
 If the character of the matter exhaled from the skin 
 be considered, the manner of its ready removal is no 
 difficult task. The dress of the child should receive a first 
 consideration, as it has an important bearing in the case. 
 It should be as light in weight as is consistent with proper 
 warmth. The fabric should be of sufficiently open tex- 
 ture to allow a free and unimpeded passage of the 
 invisible vapor which forms so large a part of the excre- 
 tion. The saline residue can easily be removed by 
 frequent ablutions of tepid water. There is a diversity 
 of opinion regarding the extent to which soap may be 
 employed beneficially in bathing children. Some author- 
 ities recommend its use at all times, while others take the
 
 BATHS IN GENERAL. 2/ 
 
 opposite extreme and deny its use at all on any parts of 
 the body except the hands and face. A middle course is 
 still better. The saline particles are readily soluble in 
 water alone ; so far as their removal is concerned, soap is 
 unnecessary. When, however, the accumulation of the 
 oily substance is such that its removal is desired, soap is 
 necessary. This form of secretion is insoluble in water, 
 but readily so in soap. 
 
 With many, and perhaps most infants, it is undesirable 
 that this oily substance be removed very frequently. It 
 is necessary to keep the skin in proper condition. Its 
 too frequent removal which always follows where soap 
 is used in bathing leaves the skin dry, with a tendency 
 to chafe and even to break out in fissures, from which 
 troublesome affections of the skin arise. This is true in 
 adults as well as in children. There are many persons 
 who are forced to use soap even on the face and hands 
 with great moderation, if the skin be preserved from 
 injury. A common evil result of a too-free use of soap 
 in bathing is seen in the tendency on the part of many 
 persons to take cold thereafter. The reason of this ten- 
 dency is that the skin has been too thoroughly cleansed ; 
 it has been denuded of its oily protection and defense 
 against external agents. It seems, on the whole, that on 
 ordinary occasions the child's bath should be water alone. 
 Let soap be used only when necessary. 
 
 As to the mode of washing : Let the water be tepid, 
 as has been said. A tub of sufficient dimensions to allow 
 the immersion of the entire body of the infant is by far
 
 28 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 the safest and most convenient method. The advantage 
 of this immersion is that the whole body of the child is 
 subjected to the same temperature, both during the time 
 of bathing and in the subsequent drying and redressing. 
 On the other hand, if the bathing be done by the applica- 
 tion of water to the body by the hand or sponge, the 
 alternate exposure of the tender and delicate skin to 
 warm water and cold air will often be followed by serious 
 consequences. The immersion is, therefore, to be pre- 
 ferred, both for its convenience and for the good of the 
 child. While the child remains in the water, every part 
 of its body should be carefully washed, so as to remove 
 all impurities. A sponge or soft napkin may be used. 
 When the cleansing is completed, the body should be 
 wiped dry with a soft cloth, gently, but as quickly as 
 possible, and the clothing replaced without delay. The 
 child should not be allowed to dally with the water, as is 
 too often done, nor to remain undressed a moment longer 
 than is necessary. 
 
 The best time to wash an infant is in the morning, as 
 soon as it is taken out of bed and before it has been put 
 to the breast. If, however, the child be delicate, or if 
 judgment or experience have shown that it should first 
 be nourished, the bath should be deferred at least for an 
 hour. This will give time for the digestion of the nourish- 
 ment given. The bath should not come when the stomach 
 is employed in the process of digestion. Before putting 
 the child to sleep in the evening, and after it has been 
 nursed for the last time, a gentle bath should be given.
 
 BATHS IN GENERAL. 29 
 
 Tepid water should be used, and the bath should not be 
 prolonged beyond a few minutes. Two important ends 
 will be gained by this evening ablution. The circulation 
 of trie blood will be provoked toward the surface of the 
 body, which conduces to health and comfort, while a 
 soothing effect to the nervous system will be imparted ? 
 thus insuring, or at least tending to insure, a quiet and 
 refreshing sleep. To restless and irritable children, this 
 evening bath is of the utmost consequence, and for the 
 reasons named. It will be of benefit to the mother also 
 in permitting her to take needed rest and sleep, unbroken 
 and undisturbed by a wakeful or restless child. To secure 
 the full benefit of sleep, the mother should be able to dis- 
 encumber her mind of any thoughts of her child. She 
 should be able to go to sleep with confidence that she will 
 not be awakened, and that no necessity will arise in which 
 she must soothe her child. Not many mothers are able 
 to do this. During the first year of their child's life, it 
 is never out of their mother's thoughts, sleeping or 
 waking. The result is, that she does not sleep soundly 
 nor refreshingly. 
 
 If the suggestion here made be heeded, and the rules 
 laid down be observed, the results will be beneficial in 
 almost every instance. Especially will it be so in the case 
 of scrofulous children, or those constitutionally delicate. 
 If, however, these rules be not observed, anything but 
 good may result. If, in the evening bath, the water used 
 be too warm, or if it be prolonged beyond the time indi- 
 cated a few minutes only excessive sweating will be
 
 30 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 induced. This will be followed, in all probability, by a 
 cold. The opposition to baths on the part of some per- 
 sons is based largely upon this tendency of the child to 
 take cold subsequently. It is the testimony of all careful 
 observers, that in the very large majority of such cases, 
 the cause is found, not in the be th itself, but in its injudi- 
 cious application, and in the non-observance of the rules 
 which have been here suggested. 
 
 There are to be found physicians who recommend the 
 cold-water bath for children. This will not do, as a gen- 
 eral rule. In the large majority of cases, the warm bath 
 is preferable. In the case of a child who has attained the 
 age of three or four months, and is fairly strong and 
 vigorous, the temperature of the morning bath may be 
 safely and sometimes profitably lowered. This must not 
 be done in any case unless it be found that the bath is 
 followed speedily by a reaction in the temperature of the 
 body. The cold water drives the blood from the surface. 
 A natural reaction will follow if the child be strong enough 
 in its vital organs to excite it. Such action and reaction 
 are beneficial. When the reaction does not immediately 
 follow, the cold bath must be abandoned at once. 
 
 In all cases of bathing it is important to remember 
 that, before redressing, a gentle glow should be excited 
 by friction. A soft, dry napkin or piece of flannel may 
 be used, and the rubbing process be continued until the 
 desired result is secured. This is both agreeable to the 
 feelings of the child, and beneficial to its health. When 
 the child is a few months old, and the weather is warm
 
 CLOTHING OF INFANTS. 31 
 
 and dry, it will be no injury, but rather a benefit to the 
 child, if the dressing be deferred a little time. Allow it 
 to gambol freely about. If the child show signs of enjoy- 
 ment, it may be set down that it is being benefited ; if, 
 however, the child take no pleasure in its romp, or show 
 an indisposition to avail itself of the privilege of unre- 
 stricted ambling, it is evident that no benefit is accruing, 
 and the redressing should proceed as soon as possible. 
 
 On the general subject of cleanliness, it is necessary to 
 insist that care be given to the coverings of the child. 
 Every damp or soiled part of this covering should be 
 immediately removed, and the skin carefully washed of 
 every vestige of impurity arising from natural evacuations. 
 In early infancy these evacuations are frequent and invol- 
 untary. If the nurse be attentive, she may very soon be 
 able to forestall them. 
 
 What has here been said of baths and bathing in the 
 case of the infant, will apply in a general way to every 
 period of childhood. It will generally be found advisable 
 to reduce the temperature of the bath with the increase of 
 the age of the child. When it reaches its second year, 
 this temperature may be so reduced that a feeling of 
 coldness is imparted to the skin when the bath is first 
 entered. 
 
 Clothing of Infants. 
 
 In adverting to the subject of dress, the purpose is not 
 to discuss it from the standpoint of fashion or elegance. 
 With these phases of the question, this work has nothing
 
 32 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to do. But, so far as the clothing of the child may affect 
 its health and comfort and no farther, does this subject 
 become one for thought. 
 
 In the dress of infants, three important particulars are 
 to be considered lightness, softness and warmth. Each 
 of these qualities must vary with season and climate. All 
 infantile garments should be constructed with due regard 
 to ease and facility in putting on and taking off. There 
 should be the aim, too, to give ample protection to all 
 parts of the body without in any way interfering with full 
 und free action. If the child's dress meet all these ends, 
 the mother's sense and wisdom cannot be questioned, even 
 though there may be errors in taste and style. She has 
 provided well for her little one, and its comfort and healthy 
 development will abundantly repay her. 
 
 Whatever may tend to compress the body or to restrain 
 the free use of arms and legs should be avoided. All such 
 restraint is deleterious to the present comfort of the child 
 and to the proper growth of these members. If the child 
 be born in the winter when the weather is severe, or if it 
 be born prematurely at any time of the year, soft flannel 
 is the best material for all parts of the dress which come 
 in contact with the' skin. This fabric not only affords the 
 best protection, but acts as a gentle stimulus to the skin, 
 and thus tends to prevent congestion, inflammation and 
 troubl< s of the bowels, to which all delicate children are 
 subjec :. It sometimes is the case, however, that flannel 
 garrm^its irritate the skin, or produce excessive perspira- 
 tion. \n such cases cotton or linen material should be
 
 CLOTHING OF INFANTS. 33 
 
 used, and the precaution should be taken to warm tfce 
 garments before dressing the child. 
 
 With regard to the outer clothes, no rules can be laid 
 down which would meet every case, or even be of much 
 value. The good sense and judgment of the mother will 
 be the best guide with regard to these. It is important to 
 remember that nothing must be allowed upon the child 
 which may interfere with the free exercise of its limbs. 
 Nor must there be any compression of the lungs or bowels, 
 if these organs are to develop properly and perform their 
 designed ends in contributing to the general health of the 
 child. 
 
 Comfort is to be an important consideration in con- 
 structing the child's clothing. It must not be forgotten 
 that children may be uncomfortable in an atmosphere, hot 
 or cold, which the adult does not consider at all hot or 
 cold. This is caused partly by the fact that the generation 
 of animal heat is not so active in the infant as in the adult ; 
 consequently, its natural lack must be compensated by 
 covering. On the other hand, wrapping too closely or 
 confining to an over-heated or ill-ventilated room, is both 
 a discomfort and an injury to the child, and should be 
 avoided. 
 
 The common custom of dressing infants in long robes 
 is not objectionable, inasmuch as these have a tendency to 
 protect the body and the lower extremities from draughts 
 of cold air. If the weather be very cold, an additional 
 protection for the feet becomes necessary. Stockings and 
 shoes of soft wool are the best. Heavy covering for the 
 
 3
 
 34 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 head is not required. The custom of providing infants 
 Avith warm caps has been, happily, almost entirely aban- 
 doned. Unless the weather be very severe and the room 
 difficult to keep at even temperature, nothing at all is 
 required in-doors. If the child be taken out-doors, its head 
 should not be bundled up extravagantly. It will be better 
 for it if only sufficient covering be put on the head to insure 
 reasonable comfort. 
 
 Dr. Verdi, in his work, " Maternity," very aptly says : 
 "" We all like to see children looking pretty, cunning and 
 attractive. The vanity of mothers does a great deal 
 toward the attainment of this end. Let us commence 
 from the period when a girl baby leaves off her long robes 
 for short skirts. The mother will take care that the baby's 
 chest is well covered ; the pretty limbs, however, will be 
 exposed, the little stockings short, and the drawers made 
 of cotton or linen, but thin. If the child goes out, 
 ' Nurse, put a sacque on the baby and do not let her go 
 out without her hat ; it is cool to-day,' will be said. 
 Unless it is decided winter, no additional clothing is sug- 
 gested for her limbs or abdomen." Such inequalities in 
 the dress of the different parts of the body lay the founda- 
 tion for disease ; it should upbraid every mother who has 
 allowed her pride to blind her judgment to the proper 
 dress for her child. More than that, the child being help- 
 less, the mother is morally guilty of a crime against her 
 offspring. Motherhood lays upon her a responsibility 
 which she cannot set aside. No considerations of a pres- 
 ent tasteful or beautiful sight can excuse the responsible
 
 SLEEPING. 35 
 
 cause of that child's after-pain and discomfort perhaps 
 untimely death. 
 
 Sleeping. 
 
 During the first months of the infant's life, the powers 
 of its system are wholly occupied in carrying on digestion 
 and growth ; consequently, its time is divided between 
 sleeping and feeding. It is seldom, if ever, awake. It may 
 and does occasionally open its eyes, but its consciousness 
 is not sufficiently active and distinct to warrant a use of 
 the term wakefulness, in any proper application of that 
 term. The point of concern during this period is not 
 when or how long it sleeps ; it is how it sleeps. The 
 physician is often asked by mothers : " Shall the baby 
 sleep in a cot of its own, or shall it sleep in its mother's 
 arms ? " There is but one reply to make : " By all means 
 in its own cot." Care must be taken to have this cot sup- 
 plied with sufficient light covering to preserve a proper 
 degree of warmth, and it should always be artificially 
 heated before the babe is laid upon it. For the first 
 month, at least, the cot should be protected from any 
 strong light. This can be done either by darkening the 
 windows, or, if this be not desirable, by surrounding the 
 bed with curtains. If the latter method be used, the 
 curtains must be laid aside as soon as it is safe for the 
 child ; their presence interferes with the free circulation of 
 the air, and abundant and pure air is of paramount 
 importance to the child. Care must also be taken to 
 have the cot so placed that it shall not be in 'a direct cur-
 
 36 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 rent of air. The system is more susceptible to cold while 
 sleeping than while awake. 
 
 Nutrition and sleep thus occupy the first months of the 
 infant's life. It awakes only to feed, and, having received 
 the desired nourishment, it falls asleep again. As the 
 organism develops, the desire for activity increases, and 
 that for sleep diminishes. The prudent nurse or mother 
 will act most wisely when she studies to follow the teach- 
 ings and promptings of Nature. This will induce her to 
 endeavor to remove any chance impediments that may 
 come in the way of this natural order. Regularity in the 
 hours for sleeping and waking should be observed as far 
 as possible. In the animal economy there is a periodicity 
 which is adapted to that of physical phenomena, and which 
 tends to bring about a recurring state of the system at 
 regular intervals. This law should be observed with 
 regard to the nursing and sleeping of the growing child. 
 Unless such regularity be established and adhered to, 
 neither mother nor child will be permitted to enjoy the 
 undisturbed repose which is so essential to health. The 
 mother who encourages her child to start up at any time 
 of the day or night and demand the breast or who is 
 continually offering it whether the child be hungry or not, 
 simply to soothe its cries need not be surprised if con- 
 tinual restlessness and discontent follow. This condition 
 once established as a fixed habit, the mother's peace and 
 comfort, as well as the child's health and general well- 
 being, will be sacrificed. She may be able for the 
 moment to quiet the child by this means, but it will be at 
 the expense of ultimate trouble and disappointment.
 
 SLEEPING. 37 
 
 In every effort to train the child to regular hours for 
 eating, sleeping and other natural operations, it is 
 advisable that the natural time for these be considered. 
 The night is the time appointed of Nature for sleep. There 
 is a natural tendency to sleep at that time. Nothing 
 should be allowed to come in the way of the child in 
 yielding to this inclination. But to children under two 
 and three years of age, more sleep is demanded than that 
 afforded in the night. All children, with rare exceptions, 
 incline to sleep from one to three hours during the day. 
 Keeping in view the general principle already laid down, 
 the care of the mother should be to train the child to 
 regularity in this day sleeping. The middle of the day is 
 the better time for this sleep, and this should be the time 
 chosen for it. The mother will find some opposition on 
 the part of the child, owing to its natural restlessness and 
 activity; but, by judicious and systematic management, 
 she will soon find it ready to adapt itself to her wishes. If 
 the time for this sleeping 'be deferred until later in the 
 day, it is likely to produce wakefulness at some time 
 during the night. This midday rest, even if it be con- 
 tinued with children until they are four or five years old, 
 will prove of great advantage. This is especially true of 
 nervous children. 
 
 Two things should always be excluded from the 
 nursery namely, light and noise. The presence of these 
 may not prevent the children from sleeping, and may 
 apparently work no injury. But they are injurious. They 
 tend to 'render the sleep troubled and unrefreshing by
 
 38 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 rasping on the nervous sensibilities of the sleeper, and 
 may lead into that condition in which the child is suscep- 
 tible to spasmodic and convulsive attacks from any 
 accidental irritation. Sleeplessness, more than anything 
 else short of actual sickness, is greatly distressing to the 
 anxious mother and annoying to the impatient nurse. A 
 healthy child, if properly treated and not unduly excited, 
 will always be ready for sleep at the regularly appointed 
 time. When such a child is not, but is restless and excit- 
 able, there is a cause. This cause should be inquired into 
 carefully, and, when found, it should be removed. In 
 many cases, the cause may be outward and manifest, in 
 which cases there are no difficulties in dealing with it. 
 When no cause can possibly be found which would lead 
 to the wakefulness, it is safe to infer that the child is not 
 well. Professional counsel should be taken and such 
 remedies employed as will restore the normal condition, 
 when in all probability the sleeplessness will disappear. 
 
 The practice of many mothers in administering lauda- 
 num, paregoric, or *ome of the many patent " soothing 
 syrups," is most pernicious, and cannot be too severely 
 condemned. Several years ago a physician was visiting 
 at the home of an old friend. He there met a daughter 
 of his friend who was also the mother of an infant a few 
 months old. He observed that the child appeared deli- 
 cate, fretful and nervous, crying the most of the time it 
 was awake. The mother, too, was careworn and haggard 
 from watching and anxiety. He said to her : " Your child 
 appears to be very troublous, nervous, restless and ill-
 
 SLEEPING. 39 
 
 disposed to sleep." The mother replied that" It was so 
 almost from its birth, and I believe it would never sleep if 
 I did not give it soothing syrup." " Have you been 
 giving it this syrup all this time?" was asked. " Oh, 
 yes," replied the young mother, " I am now on the seventh 
 dozen of bottles." " Well," replied the physician, " I am 
 not at all surprised that that child is peevish, delicate and 
 sleepless. The only real thing to be surprised at is that 
 it is alive. " He then took occasion to show the folly and 
 danger of the course she had been pursuing, and coun- 
 seled her to stop giving the drug at once ; to give it better 
 nourishment and general care. The advice was followed, 
 and in less than a fortnight the child was sleeping naturally, 
 and the whole household relieved of the annoyance of its 
 restlessness as well as of constant anxiety on its account. 
 
 This mother was like many others. Instead of seeking 
 proper medical advice when her child first showed 
 symptoms of fretfulness, she yielded to the ideas of some 
 one more foolish than herself, and began a course of giv- 
 ing temporary relief at the expense of Nature. There was 
 only one ending. The child would surely have died under 
 its treatment, or it would have grown up with a shattered 
 constitution, perhaps with health hopelessly ruined. 
 
 In infancy, as well as in adult age, health and healthful 
 repose are insured by having the sleeping robes and the 
 bed-clothing fully aired each day. As soon as the child 
 is taken from its bed, the bed-clothes should be exposed 
 to the air and allowed to remain so for several hours' 
 Greater importance attaches to this simple sanitary mea-
 
 4O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 sure than is generally thought. Clothing so aired and 
 purified has a soothing effect which conduces to sounder 
 and more refreshing repose, and this will speedily show 
 itself in the improved health of the child. 
 
 Rocking or Exercise. 
 
 It has already been said that it is better for the child, 
 better for the mother, that the former should occupy its 
 own cot. It is proper to inquire a little -concerning this 
 cot. Shall it be stationary, or shall it be supplied with 
 rockers, so that it can be moved to and fro ? Common 
 custom, followed from where memory runs not to the 
 contrary, decides for the rocking-bed. To what extent 
 the rocking should be used is a matter requiring some 
 judgment and discrimination. 
 
 In infancy, as well as in all other periods of life, exercise 
 is essential to health. An instinct prompts the child to 
 crave this exercise, and to give evidence of its craving at 
 a very early age. It requires a prudent caution on the 
 part of the mother that this exercise be properly regulated. 
 The delicate state of the child's organism must be kept 
 constantly in view, as well as the laws under which the 
 chief functions of this organism operate. If this be not 
 done, there is danger that the bones and muscles of the 
 little frame may be called upon to perform duties out of 
 all proportion to their strength. It is a fact, of not infre- 
 quent observation, that the infant is subjected to such 
 'dangling and rocking as to produce serious injury to its 
 organism, and to indirectly cause much care and trouble 
 to the mother or nurse.
 
 ROCKING OR EXERCISE. 41 
 
 When, as is often the case, the crib is kept in continual 
 motion, jostling the child from side to side a motion 
 which to an adult is an exercise so unpleasant as to 
 frequently cause nausea it becomes a serious question 
 whether or not the cot should be without rockers alto- 
 gether. It will be argued that the child itself decides for 
 the rocking, since it awakes or becomes restless and 
 peevish the moment the motion ceases. This may be 
 admitted, but the admission does not settle the question 
 conclusively. In this, as in everything else pertaining to 
 the child-life, the swaying motion is likely the result of 
 education and habit. It is possible, and indeed quite 
 common, for the child to be kept under a peculiar degree 
 of excitement until unrest and discontent may be the only 
 qualities developed in its nature. When in such a state, 
 its demands can never be satisfied. The more the con- 
 cession that is made, the greater will be the demands. 
 The too-indulgent mother, in yielding to the whims and 
 caprices of her child, is contributing actively and passively 
 to the further development of the evil propensities. 
 
 Exercise is undoubtedly necessary to the well-being 
 of the ohild ; but this exercise must be judiciously admin- 
 istered. The principal purpose always, in every period 
 of life and state of development, is the good of the child. 
 The mother is the teacher, not the pupil of her child ; its 
 master, not its willing slave. She should decide what is 
 best for it, and so train the child that it will accept what 
 is done for it. The first exercise of the little being should 
 consist in journeys about the nursery or in the open air,
 
 42 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 if the temperature be at all moderate. In addition to 
 this, let there be a gentle friction with the hand over the 
 entire surface of the body and limbs. This, on trial, will 
 be found to be an operation quite agreeable to the child. 
 It is no less beneficent in promoting a free and equable 
 circulation. 
 
 Parents are sometimes fond of exciting their children 
 to muscular activity out of all proportion to the age and 
 strength of the tender frame. They sometimes do this 
 through a mistaken notion of the hygienic laws of natural 
 development ; sometimes for no reason whatever save 
 their own amusement. It tickles their pride to see their 
 children able to perform prodigies of muscular activity 
 impossible to other infants of similar age and size. They 
 consider it an evidence of the superiority of their child's 
 constitution. Whatever may be the reason, whether 
 ignorance, false knowledge or pride, it is exceedingly 
 foolish and culpable. Instead of laying the foundation 
 for a future of health and strength for the child, they are 
 undermining the very sources of its strength. They are 
 dwarfing its physical constitution and seriously, perhaps 
 fatally, ruining its health. 
 
 Very much active exercise is not favorable to the 
 proper development of the tender infant. Such passive 
 exercise as has been suggested is eminently favorable to 
 it. It is especially desirable that the child be given the 
 benefit of the invigoration of out-door exercise as far as 
 practicable. If it be born in the spring, summer or early 
 in the autumn, it need not be confined to the nursery
 
 FEEDING OR NURSING INFANTS. 43 
 
 longer than a fortnight. It can be taken out, care being 
 used to accustom it to the out-door air gradually. 
 Fifteen or twenty minutes are sufficient time for the first 
 airing, and the time may be extended as it becomes more 
 inured to it. If the child be born in the winter, it should 
 not be allowed outside the equably-tempered nursery 
 until it is six weeks old, and then only in very favorable 
 weather. The child, like the adult, is seldom injured by 
 too much time spent in the open air ; the injury, when 
 injury is wrought, arises from improper exposure to the 
 air. The child is not essentially different from the adult. 
 On the contrary, it has the same nature and is amenable 
 to the same laws. Going suddenly from a warm, close 
 room into a raw atmosphere, is attended with serious risk 
 to health at any time of life. The best general direction 
 for the mother to observe is to remember that the child 
 is like herself, only very much more susceptible to atmos- 
 pheric influences. She should care for its health as she 
 cares for her own, only much more minutely and ten- 
 derly. 
 
 Feeding on Nursing Infants. 
 
 * 
 
 It has already been said, that for some time after birth 
 the infant is occupied wholly in taking nourishment and in 
 sleeping. Its system is called upon to perform no other 
 demands than those concerned in nutrition, digestion and 
 excretion. As soon as those organs which are most 
 immediately essential to life are in active operation, the 
 imperative want is for a regular supply of the material by
 
 44 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 which the nutrition and development of the body are sup- 
 plied, and the constant waste of the system repaired. As 
 soon as the infant awakes from its first sleep, it gives evi- 
 dence of the possession of an appetite and craving for 
 food. It instinctively appeals to the mother to satisfy this 
 craving. This is the case with all animals. As soon as 
 the machinery of life is fully started, a natural instinct 
 impels them to seek for that which will keep their machin- 
 ery in motion. The new-born child conforms to the gen- 
 eral rule. 
 
 It is, manifestly, the first duty of those in attendance 
 upon the child to see that -this natural desire is met. As 
 soon as the mother has sufficiently recovered from the 
 exhaustion following the labors of birth, the child should 
 be put to the breast. The mother will, in all ordinary 
 cases, be able for this in an hour or two. At first the 
 secretion of the breast will be of a thin and watery con- 
 sistency, limited in quantity, and bearing little apparent 
 resemblance to milk. In a few days, however, the quan- 
 tity becomes more abundant and more rich and nourishing 
 in quality. All this is entirely natural. Nature knows 
 exactly what the infant demands, and has so arranged the 
 functional operations of the milk secretion of the mother 
 as to exactly meet this demand. 
 
 When the child is born, its bowels contain the dark 
 and slimy meconium. This has heretofore served a useful 
 purpose. But the retention of the meconium longer will 
 certainly prove hurtful. The natural operations of 
 external and independent existence must now begin, and
 
 FEEDING OR NURSING INFANTS. 45 
 
 a necessary preparation for these is the expulsion of this 
 meconium. For this end, nothing is so good as the first 
 secretion of the mother's breast. No aperient can be sub- 
 stituted for that which Nature has provided that so well or 
 so safely meets the case. The bowels are dormant, and 
 must be stimulated to action. But there is risk, if this be 
 done by other means than those which Nature has pro- 
 vided for the purpose, that there may be undue irritation. 
 It rarely happens, when the infant is put to its mother's 
 breast at the first opportunity, as indicated above, that 
 the bowels are not thoroughly cleansed and in normal 
 activity in a day or two. 
 
 The custom of some nurses to commence dosing the 
 babe, almost as soon as it is dressed, with various kinds 
 of teas, is wholly unnatural and consequently pernicious. 
 It is unqualifiedly condemned by all reputable physicians. 
 It should never be followed except on the advice of the 
 physician. There are cases where Nature must be aided ; 
 but no one should undertake to decide that such a case 
 exists until a competent physician shall have been con- 
 sulted. The custom arose in ignorance of the purpose 
 and sufficiency of the natural means for meeting the end 
 desired. The necessity for the evacuation of the bowels 
 of the meconium was recognized, but that the mother's 
 milk was all-sufficient for this was not recognized. 
 Unquestionably there are cases where Nature must be 
 aided in this operation, but such aid should never be 
 undertaken unadvisedly. 
 
 The general rule is as stated. A constituent element
 
 46 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 in the first milk of the mother is a laxative, gentle but 
 active, sufficiently mitigated to be adapted to the delicate 
 constitution and organism of the child. It may be said 
 that infants are not alike when born. True enough ; but 
 it is equally true that every woman is the mother of her 
 own child. It is a part of herself. It partakes of her 
 nature and characteristics. The same natural provisions 
 which enabled the mother to conceive and bear her child 
 also operate to bring about the proper harmony between 
 the mother's milk and the demands of the child. The 
 objection does not hold. If, then, Nature be unneces- 
 sarily assisted in the first evacuation of the infant's bowels, 
 there is a double risk incurred. The intestines of the 
 child may be irritated by excessive purgation, and the 
 mother may suffer from the unrelieved distention of her 
 breasts. From the latter cause, there not infrequently 
 arises inflammation, painful and dangerous, and perhaps 
 an abscess still more painful and dangerous. 
 
 It is sometimes the case, owing to the mother's con- 
 stitution or imperfect health, that the secretion of milk is 
 deferred so long that other nourishment must be given 
 the child. This delay is generally traceable directly to 
 previous inattention to the proper hygiene which the 
 mother's condition required. Of course this cannot be 
 remedied now. The child is born and must be attended 
 to without delay. It is advisable always to put the child 
 to the breast, even though the mother have nothing to 
 give it. Nature in the mother needs to be aided and 
 stimulated. It will be found, in the majority of instances,
 
 FOOD OF INFANTS. 47 
 
 that the solicitation of the child at the breast will bring 
 about the desired results in a very short time. When 
 this fails, as it will in some cases, and the mother has 
 nothing whatever for her child, there is but one course to 
 follow : the child must be fed artificially. When- this has 
 to be done, it is wise to remember that the best results 
 are secured when Nature is most closely imitated. That 
 is to say, the milk provided for the infant's sustenance 
 should resemble, as nearly as possible, that which would 
 have been supplied by the mother. 
 
 Food of Infants. 
 
 It is now generally agreed that, during the first six 
 months, at least, no kind of food is so congenial to the 
 infant, none so well adapted to the necessities of its 
 developing organism, as its mother's milk. Between 
 parent and child there is an intimate relationship of blood 
 and constitution, which, during health, adapts them to 
 each other with a harmony and completeness that can 
 scarcely exist between the infant and any other woman. 
 The mother, therefore, is peculiarly bound by every tie 
 of duty and affection to become the nurse of her child ; 
 nothing but ill-health and positive inability can excuse 
 her for imposing this duty upon another. It is common 
 in fashionable society to consign, for no good and suffi- 
 cient reason, the infant to the breast of another. This is 
 a physical injury to mother and child alike. The best 
 medical authority, the strongest reasons, and the highest 
 instincts and feelings of humanity unite to urge upon the
 
 48 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 mother the duty of caring for her own offspring, and 
 nourishing it with the sustenance which Nature supplies 
 through herself. 
 
 A feeble constitution or impaired health will some- 
 times compel mothers to resign this duty to others, how- 
 ever much they may desire to do it themselves. When, 
 therefore, from any cause it becomes necessary to 
 furnish sustenance to the child from other sources than its 
 mother, the best substitute possible 'should be secured. 
 The best undoubtedly is the breast of another woman 
 whose condition is similar to that of the mother. Such a 
 substitute is not always available. In rural communities 
 and sparsely-settled districts, it is rarely so. What 
 then ? 
 
 The most common resort is cow's mi^~. It is the 
 most readily obtainable and in many respects is excellent. 
 Ass's milk is still better, if it can be had. It is stronger in 
 saccharine constituents, and when used should be diluted 
 with water to about double its volume. If cow's milk be 
 used, a small quantity of sugar must be added to bring it 
 to the degree of sweetness possessed by human milk. 
 The ass's milk, even with the addition of fifty per cent, of 
 water, is much sweeter than that of the mother. A few 
 teaspoonfuls may be given at a time and at sufficient 
 intervals until the mother is able to nourish. A nursing 
 bottle should be used. It is the more convenient way, 
 and comes nearest to the natural method instinctively 
 adopted by the child. 
 
 Milk given in this way is decidedly preferable to any
 
 FOOD OF INFANTS. 49 
 
 kind of gruel, tea, or any of the preparations commonly 
 known as " infant's food." At this tender period, the 
 digestive organs are not prepared for the reception of any 
 sort of vegetable food ; when it is given, it seldom fails 
 to irritate the stomach and bowels. Cow's milk, diluted 
 and sweetened properly, is nearly the same in composi- 
 tion as that obtained from the breast of the mother. It 
 is, consequently, a very good substitute for it. An 
 ounce of milk thus prepared is a sufficient quantity to 
 give at one time, and the allowance should not be 
 repeated oftener than every two hours. An ounce of 
 milk well digested affords more real nourishment than 
 double that amount crowded into a stomach too feeble to 
 digest it. 
 
 How often should food be given? It is of first impor- 
 tance to the mother that she guard against hurtful excess 
 in the matter of nourishment. There is greater likelihood 
 of giving too much milk and too frequently than of the 
 opposite extreme. The direct effect of too-lavish nursing 
 is that it introduces a quantity of milk into the stomach 
 beyond its capacity. The stomach thus becomes distended 
 and the digestive powers are impaired. From this condi- 
 tion griping and flatulence follow, very much to the 
 discomfort of the child. The common practice with inex- 
 perienced mothers is to offer the breast whenever the 
 child may cry or show uneasiness. The breast is the 
 panacea for all infantile ills, no matter from what cause 
 they arise. It seems to be taken for granted that hunger 
 is the only possible sensation of the child, and nursing the
 
 5O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ever-present and ever-potent cure-all. Such indiscriminate 
 nursing is exceedingly unwise. From the earliest infancy 
 regular periods should be observed for nursing. To those 
 who have not followed such rule, it will be a surprise to 
 see how soon the child will accommodate itself to such 
 regularity. It will certainly require some little time, 
 trouble and patience to train the child to habit in this 
 regard. But the repose, both to child and mother, during 
 the intervals, will amply repay all outlay of time or trouble. 
 Such repose is eminently beneficial to both. 
 
 It is the greatest of mistakes to treat crying as an 
 infallible indication of hunger. On the contrary, this is 
 the only method known to the child of expressing discom- 
 fort from any cause. The delicate organism of the child 
 receives unpleasant sensations from any positive manifes- 
 tation of the external world. Heat, cold, pressure, hardness, 
 hunger, repletion, light, noise all affect it unpleasantly, 
 unaccustomed as it is to the world and its objects. When 
 so affected, it cries. It knows no other way of expressing 
 itself. If it be hungry, it cries ; if it be over-fed, it cries : 
 if it be pricked by a pin, it cries. So, also, if it lie too 
 long in one position, the pressure upon that part of the 
 body becomes annoying and it cries. If it be exposed to 
 heat or cold beyond what its delicate frame is accustomed 
 to, or if its clothes be too tight, it cries. From these and a 
 multitude of other causes it is inconvenienced, and for each 
 and all of them it expresses its discomfort by the same 
 token it cries. Ignorant nurses and inexperienced 
 mothers have but one sovereign remedy for crying. No
 
 FOOD OF INFANTS. 51 
 
 intelligent inquiry is made as to the cause of the crying, 
 nor effort made to remove it. No, the child is at once put 
 to the breast or the bottle as the sovereign balm, the sole 
 remedial agent. 
 
 Most mothers labor under the conviction that when- 
 ever a child cries, the first and most important thing is to 
 stop the crying. This is not the case. Crying is not 
 necessarily injurious to the child. On the contrary, it is 
 often a benefit. It is a provision made by Nature for indi- 
 cating discomfort, and at the same time it serves as a vent 
 for the pent-up emotions. Adults often find relief in a 
 flood of tears from a burden of grief that has long oppressed 
 the heart. To some extent this is true of children, only 
 that in the case of the latter, the ills are always of a purely 
 physical origin. As they grow older, they are grieved 
 and hurt in their intellectual and emotional natures, and 
 still give expression and find relief in crying. In the case 
 of infants, it is only when crying is oft-repeated or long- 
 continued that it is really detrimental. 
 
 There are two kinds of crying, and the intelligent 
 mother will soon learn to discriminate between them 
 readily. It must be confessed, however, that some very 
 good mothers never learn to distinguish these always 
 confound them, or treat them as identical. The cry of 
 the infant, as has been said, is its signal of distress ; the 
 only means known to itself to ask for relief on such occa- 
 sions, is easily distinguishable from tlie wail which betokens 
 real disease. There is a great difference in the tones of 
 the adult confined to his bed from some ill which affects 
 
 sU'keEi
 
 52 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 only one portion of the body, as a wound, a cut or a 
 broken limb, and in those which come from the same person 
 when a disease which affects his whole system confines 
 him there. There is the same difference in the cries of 
 the infant when pricked by a pin, oppressed with its cloth- 
 ing, heat, cold or over-feeding, and when it is in the 
 grasp of some infantile disease which produces keen suffer- 
 ing with attendant danger. 
 
 The infant requires to be fed during the night as well 
 as during the day, but not so frequently. At the first, 
 three times are amply sufficient for its good and that of 
 the mother. In a little time, twice or even once during 
 the entire night, will be enough. The habit of some 
 mothers of allowing the child to lie all night long on the 
 maternal arm, with mouth to the breast, is not only greatly 
 exhausting to the mother, even though she have the 
 greatest robustness, but is detrimental to the highest good 
 of the child. If the mother be delicate and yet able to 
 nurse her child with ordinary care of her health, she 
 should be allowed undisturbed repose during the night. 
 The care of the child should be given to the nurse entirely. 
 By this means, the mother will be enabled to nurse during 
 the day, and both she and the child will be better for the 
 temporary separation. If, however, she attempt to nurse 
 when she may be physically unfitted for the drain on her 
 system, she will do the child no real good, and is liable to 
 permanently injure her own health. Nothing is more 
 essential to the well-being of a child than that its mother 
 should enjoy the most perfect health attainable. To secure 

 
 THE NURSERY. 53 
 
 and maintain this, the mother must deny herself the grati - 
 fication, at times, of coming to the relief of her child. 
 This task must be relegated to another. No wise, pru- 
 dent, thoughtful and far-seeing mother will allow herself 
 to become the slave of her child. It is her natural and 
 reasonable duty to he the teacher and master of her child. 
 She should set rules for its conduct, not govern her own 
 conduct by its whims and caprices. She should compel 
 it to obey her will rather than allow herself to follow its 
 dictation. It is not unnatural selfishness, but a wise and 
 prudent forethought which determines a mother to look 
 after her own comfort and well-being, as at least equal to 
 the claims of her child upon her. 
 
 The Nursery. 
 
 Investigation has been made, at some length, into the 
 peculiarities of the constitution of the new-born infant, 
 the proper management of this infant at its birth, the best 
 modes of caring for it in giving nourishment, and the 
 dangers to be avoided in this regard. It is now proper to 
 advert to the surroundings of the child during its earlier 
 years, and the influence which these surroundings have 
 on its healthful development. Experience has indicated 
 the circumstances and appliances which tend most to good 
 results. Some of these have a marked influence, not only 
 on the present comfort and health of the child, but con- 
 dition to a large degree the status of its future. 
 
 With regard to certain of the external influences, such 
 as the locality in which the life is passed and the air
 
 54 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 breathed, the action upon the infant constitution is so 
 decided and invariable that no difficulty is experienced in 
 laying down rules and regulations. Other surroundings, 
 such as food, clothing, exercise, vary so greatly in their 
 effects by reason of age, robustness, inherited constitution, 
 etc., that no general and invariable rules can be formulated. 
 A great deal of discrimination must be exercised, and 
 many of the best suggestions in one case must be modified 
 when applied in another. Very often it will be of greatest 
 importance that the counsel of the medical attendant be 
 secured, in order to determine how such surroundings 
 may be regulated so as to secure the highest benefits. As 
 many of the conditions of infantile health are more or less 
 connected with the nursery, it will be convenient to treat 
 all of them under this topic. 
 
 A nursery, well-arranged, well-situated, and well- 
 managed is of far more importance to the health of the 
 infant than is generally conceded. The reason of this is 
 that the nursery combines within its range, various agents 
 which are constantly, though silently, affecting the con- 
 stitution and exerting an influence for good or evil upon 
 the whole physical economy of the child. In the climate 
 of our country the infants of the middle and higher classes 
 of society must be kept within doors perhaps twenty of 
 the twenty-four hours of the day. When this is considered, 
 the importance of having the purest air attainable in the 
 room in which this time is spent, becomes evident. An 
 unsuitable situation or imperfect house-accommodation 
 often gives rise to local influences under which infantile
 
 LIGHT AND AIR. 55 
 
 health succumbs. On the other hand, in favorable sur- 
 roundings, delicate infants may, and often do, grow into 
 healthy adults. In the government of large cities, inquiry 
 is directed to the sanitary accommodations of the inhabi- 
 tants, and certain rules are laid down, by the observance 
 of which the general health is greatly improved. 
 
 It may be objected, perhaps, that among the poorer 
 classes, and even among the less wealthy of the middle 
 ranks, necessity and not suitableness must determine the 
 choice of a home location and the appropriation of the 
 rooms of this home. Admitting this, it is still worthy of 
 consideration that the local conditions and domestic 
 arrangements most conducive to health be well under- 
 stood. Even among the poorer classes there are few 
 who, once convinced of the existence of*an evil, would not 
 be ready and able to do something toward relieving the 
 disadvantages under which labor their children and them- 
 selves as well. At the worst, they may be able to choose 
 between a greater and a lesser evil. If they are obliged 
 to reside within a certain distance of their place of work- 
 ing, they may still have it within their power to choose 
 between a bad and a worse locality, a better or a worse 
 house in which to dwell. Before such choice can be 
 made, the influence of surroundings upon their own and 
 their children's health must be understood. 
 
 Light and Air. 
 
 The first and most essential requisite in a nursery is a 
 constant and abundant supply of fresh air. To obtain 
 this, a house should be selected, if possible, in a dry and
 
 56 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 rather elevated situation, sheltered from the violence of 
 the wind and sufficiently removed from all sources of con- 
 tamination. A residence in the open, free country is 
 better, in this regard, than one in a city or village. The 
 close proximity of trees and dense shrubbery, of ponds, 
 undrained fields, or sluggish water-courses should be 
 carefully avoided. However ornamental such trees and 
 shrubbery may be, they are invariably prejudicial to 
 health. Narrow valleys and localities shut in by thick 
 groves, or overhung by high hills, should never be chosen 
 as the site of the home, nor the location of a village. 
 From overlooking the influence of* stagnant, humid air, 
 families going to the country in pursuit of health often 
 sustain serious injury by settling in localities that a little 
 previous knowledge and forethought would have enabled 
 them to avoid. 
 
 A good exposure is an important consideration in the 
 location of a nursery. In a cold and uncertain climate 
 like that which is found in many parts of our country, a 
 southern aspect is very desirable. It is warmer and more 
 cheerful every way, and is more available for the reception 
 of the sunlight, which as a gentle and wholesome stimulus 
 to health and growth, is scarcely less important in animal 
 than in vegetable life. 
 
 A situation with a bright and cheery outlook is par- 
 ticularly desirable. Such a prospect operates powerfully 
 on both the health and character of the child. It is one 
 of those intangible agencies which go on from day to day 
 working out a great change in the very nature of the child.
 
 LIGHT AND AIR. 57 
 
 It is quite difficult to tell how this is done ; it is enough to 
 know that it is done. The budding nature of the infant 
 or child is very susceptible to the subtle influences of 
 natural objects. If these be bright and cheerful, the 
 nature will develop into a bright, cheerful, hopeful, opti- 
 mistic caste which will shed its brightness and happiness 
 all along the course of life. A heavy, dead, dreary land- 
 scape, constantly displayed before the plastic mind, 
 cannot fail to leave its impression. 
 
 There are many other things in the location of a home 
 which have an important bearing upon the health of the 
 children which may be reared in it. The salubrity is 
 conditioned, to a considerable degree, upon the character 
 of the soil and the sufficiency of the drainage. A dry and 
 gravelly soil is much more likely to possess these requisites 
 than any other sort. All these matters of minor detail 
 should not be overlooked, where the opportunity for 
 making choice exists, because they all may have an 
 important bearing on the future of the family. There are 
 many homes scattered all over this country from which 
 some children have been taken away in death. In many 
 of these cases, no doubt, the cause of the death of the little 
 ones existed in some sanitary imperfection in or about the 
 dwelling. Where a human life is the consideration, 
 nothing is too small or too insignificant for careful 
 attention. 
 
 In selecting rooms for the nursery, those having a 
 southern exposure are preferable, and this for the reason 
 already given, that sunshine is an important factor in
 
 58 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 giving and maintaining health. That the room should be 
 large, easily warmed and ventilated will be readily 
 admitted. Without such conditions, it will be next to 
 impossible to surround the infant with that pure and 
 invigorating air so indispensable to good, healthy life. In 
 one respect pure air is more essential to the formation of 
 good blood than proper food, and that is, that the influence 
 of the air upon the blood is constant ; it never ceases for 
 a single moment during life. By night and by day, 
 sleeping or waking, respiration goes on, and every breath 
 is fraught with benefit or injury, according as the air 
 inhaled may be pure or vitiated. It is no wonder that a 
 cause thus operating so unremittingly should, after a lapse 
 of time, produce a marked change in the condition of the 
 whole system. Of all the injurious influences by which 
 childhood is surrounded, none operates more profoundly 
 or with greater certainty than the breathing of vitiated air. 
 On the contrary, few things have such an immediate and 
 decided effect in restoring the health of a feeble child as a 
 change from an impure to a pure atmosphere. Bad food 
 and bad air are the natural parents of that greatest scourge 
 of the human family, scrofula. Either of them may cause 
 it, but when both are combined, as is often the case among 
 the poor, who are crowded into the narrow alleys and 
 cellars of our great cities, there will scrofula be found in 
 its worst form. Among certain of the lower animals, as 
 the sheep, a scrofulous condition can be produced at will 
 by simply confining the animal to an impoverishing diet 
 and in a place where it must constantly breath a contam-
 
 TEMPERATURE. 59 
 
 inated air. The same is true must be true of human 
 beings. 
 
 Temperature. 
 
 After suitable food, pure air and abundant sunshine, 
 the next important provision for a good nursery is a reg- 
 ular temperature. Its importance consists in the fact that, 
 like the air breathed, it is a constant agent. The atmos- 
 phere of the room for the first few weeks should never be 
 allowed to fall below 65 Fahrenheit. For the first few 
 days it may safely and properly be raised to 70 . When 
 such a temperature is maintained, careful attention should 
 be given to the ventilation. Excessive heat without 
 proper regard to ventilation is not to be allowed at any 
 time. An open fire-place, where it can be had, possesses 
 a decided advantage over any other mode of heating, on 
 account of the ventilation thus secured. In some other 
 regards, it is not so desirable. By the constant rush of 
 fresh air to the fire, cold draughts from the doors and 
 windows are created. These air streams are many, and it 
 is next to impossible to prevent the infant from coming 
 in contact with some of them and from suffering incon- 
 venience thereby. This danger may be averted to a con- 
 siderable extent by so placing a large screen that it will 
 intercept these air-currents, and so distribute the continual 
 increase of fresh air that its effect will not be felt in any 
 one place so decidedly as to be injurious. 
 
 This fire-screen is all the more necessary when the 
 temperature of the external atmosphere is considerably
 
 6O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 below that of the room, as in the winter season. At such 
 times every opening of the door will admit a rush of cold 
 air, not enough to inconvenience an adult in good health, 
 but quite enough to be dangerous to a delicate child. A 
 wire-screen should also inclose the fire-place as a protec- 
 tion against accidents, when the child becomes old enough 
 to move about by itself. Its eyes should at all times be 
 guarded against the heat and glare of a bright fire. Seri- 
 ous inflammation is often traceable to this cause. The 
 same precaution should be taken with children as with 
 infants in this particular. 
 
 An over-heated nursery should be avoided as much as 
 one that is too cold. When the temperature is habitually 
 too high there invariably follows a relaxation of the ner- 
 vous system with an attendant excitability. This tends 
 to the development of irritative and convulsive complaints 
 for which children have a natural disposition, and which 
 so frequently lead to a fatal termination. An additional 
 risk incurred by keeping an abnormally high temperature 
 in the nursery is the effect of a sudden transition when the 
 child is taken out of the room. The frequency of inflamma- 
 tory diseases among children arises mainly from causes 
 like those given. The natural tendency of the human 
 economy is to accommodate itself to its surroundings. If 
 a child be kept for the greater part of the time in a room 
 of high temperature, it logically follows that its own 
 powers of generating heat will be kept dormant. If it be 
 taken for the remainder of the time into a temperature 
 much lower, there will be a greater liability to suffer than
 
 WEANING. 6l 
 
 if it had been kept all the time in an atmosphere of much 
 lower temperature. 
 
 From what has been here said, it must be apparent to 
 all that there are few things of more importance to parents 
 than a thorough understanding and application of the 
 hygienic rules in the care of their children. The well- 
 being, and often the very life of their children depends 
 largely upon the intelligent application of these laws. 
 They are all founded in Nature and approved by reason and 
 common sense. But reason and common sense are not 
 adequate, in every case, to a ready interpretation of Nature 
 and her teachings. It is advisable always that those upon 
 whom the responsibility of other lives rests should care- 
 fully study the recorded experiences of those who have 
 made intelligent study of the laws of health. 
 
 Weaning. 
 
 The weaning of the child, by which it is taken away 
 from its dependence upon its mother for sustenance, is an 
 important epoch. It is not, however, a matter of so much 
 concern nowadays as it was formerly. 
 
 The time of weaning ought to be determined chiefly 
 by two circumstances the condition of the mother, 
 especially her health, and the development of the child. 
 When the health of the mother continues robust and the 
 supply of milk is abundant, the weaning should take place 
 when the child is ten or twelve months old, provided it 
 evidences, by the development of its teeth, that such a 
 change is proper and safe. In delicate children, teething
 
 62 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 is often delayed longer than this by several months. 
 When this is the case, the weaning time should always be 
 deferred until the child is better prepared for the change 
 in its life. There are occasional instances where the first 
 teeth do not appear for a year and even beyond that time, 
 and yet the child is not noticeably delicate. This is, 
 ordinarily, a family peculiarity. 
 
 The general condition and development of the child, 
 rather than the state of its teeth, should determine the 
 time for weaning. In weak, scrofulous children the teeth 
 are very often late in appearing. This may be taken as 
 an indication that the breast should still be the chief source 
 of nourishment, whatever the age may be. If, however, 
 the child do not appear to' thrive as it should, its nourish- 
 ment should be supplemented by some such diet as 
 chicken-broth, given once or twice a day. If it improve 
 under this regimen, it may be taken as an indication that 
 weaning may be begun ; also, that the better way will be 
 found in a gradual leading away from the dependence 
 upon the mother. The weaning process will be longer, 
 but it will be safer and better for the child. The reference 
 and suggestions here are to the exceptional cases, which, 
 however, are not infrequent. 
 
 If, before the expiration of the usual period of nursing, 
 the supply of milk be insufficient for the demands of the 
 child, and the health of the mother evidently suffer, it 
 becomes necessary, for the sake of both mother and child, 
 that the weaning shall be gradually begun even before 
 there is any indication of the teeth appearing. In a case
 
 WEANING. 63 
 
 like this, the premature weaning is a necessity, and the 
 exception to the rule is insisted upon only on the ground 
 of necessity. Here, as everywhere, necessity knows no 
 law. It is a choice between two evils. To defer the 
 weaning is to invite greater danger than to precipitate it. 
 In this exceptional case, as in that noted above, the wean- 
 ing should be a gradual process. A little nourishment 
 should be given, and its effects upon the child noted. If 
 there be no apparent deleterious results, the quantity 
 should be increased by degrees, and the times of such 
 feeding increased. It will thus be led away from its 
 dependence upon the mother, and, when finally separated 
 from her, the change will be so slight that its effects will 
 not be noticed. Almost equal disadvantages attend a 
 precipitated and a deferred weaning time. The develop- 
 ment of the teeth and the general condition of the child 
 should always determine the time, unless there be some 
 peculiar circumstances in the case, of which the physician 
 is the best judge. It is fortunate for the child if the 
 weaning can be done in pleasant weather. It can then be 
 kept much in the open air, and its nervous irritability, a 
 common accompaniment of weaning, will be greatly alle- 
 viated thereby. 
 
 The one important rule in weaning is to accustom 
 the child, gradually, to the use of other nourishment than 
 that supplied by the mother. In former times the custom 
 was to bring this about shortly and suddenly. Injury to 
 both mother and child was not infrequently the sequel to 
 such heroic treatment. The rule now is as stated. And
 
 64 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 experience has proved that in all ordinary cases, the end 
 reached by this gradual process is seldom attended with 
 any inconvenience worthy of consideration. As soon as 
 the front teeth appear, some light food should be given at 
 from one to three times a day. As the quantity given is 
 increased, there is a lessening of the desire for nursing. 
 As this method is continued, almost a distaste for the 
 mother's milk will be created in the increasing taste for 
 other nourishment. When this state is reached, the com- 
 plete weaning is comparatively an easy matter, and 
 attended with little trouble to either child or mother. 
 The weaning ought never to be undertaken when the 
 child is ill. Not even when it is suffering from the nervous 
 irritation consequent on teething. The risk of convulsions 
 and intestinal disorders is greatly increased at such times. 
 If at all possible, let a time be chosen when the child is 
 in the best condition, and when the weather is favorable 
 for the out-door exercise, as stated before. 
 
 After the child has been weaned, its principal food 
 should still consist of liquid or semi-liquid substances. 
 Let it be of the same kind as has constituted its supple- 
 mentary diet for some time. No considerable deviation 
 should be made in this regard until after the appearance 
 of the eye-teeth. As growth continues, changes in the 
 quality of the diet may be gradually made. An important 
 matter to be guarded against is a too-plentiful or a 
 too-frequent supply of food immediately subsequent to 
 weaning.
 
 SOURCES OF DANGER IN WEANING. 65 
 
 Sources of Danger in Weaning. 
 
 One of the chief sources of danger at the time of 
 weaning lies with the mother herself, or the nurse. It is 
 the tendency to consider every cry of the child as an indi- 
 cation of hunger which it is her duty to immediately 
 satisfy. Good sense and prudent judgment are necessary 
 to restrain the mother from yielding to this impulsive 
 instinct. If she yield, she is likely to unwittingly increase 
 the natural irritability of the infantile constitution, until, 
 by too-frequent feeding, indigestion is established and 
 irritability propelled into disease. It certainly is trying 
 to a mother's affectionate emotions to see apparent suffer- 
 ing in her child. It is a much more painful experience 
 when she discovers that she has been instrumental in con- 
 verting a temporary evil into a serious menace to the life 
 of her child. It is entirely in the nature of things that 
 the child should be irritable, peevish and complaining for 
 a brief time subsequent to weaning. It is a great change 
 to it, and, like grown people, it rebels against change. 
 If it be rightly managed, this irritability will pass in a few 
 days, and the child be as it was before. 
 
 When there is a marked increase of the appetite 
 amounting to a craving soon after weaning, and when it 
 is attended by an appreciable fullness in the abdominal 
 region, attention should be immediately given. In gene- 
 ral, this may be set down as a symptom of over-feeding, or 
 of too-rich food. This, of course, is improper, and should 
 be discontinued immediately. If persevered in the child's
 
 66 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 health will suffer from intestinal irritation or inflamma- 
 tion, from which there will result a glandular enlarge- 
 ment. Following this, there will be diarrhea, or 
 looseness of the bowels. Large quantities of indigested 
 food will be seen in the excrement. The child will 
 become feverish, grow more and more restless until its 
 very life will be threatened. From this it will appear 
 that the utmost care must be exercised in the quantity 
 and quality of the diet allowed the child immediately 
 after weaning. Over-feeding and over-rich diet are the 
 two main sources of danger. It is rare indeed that evil 
 is found to have been wrought by the opposite course. 
 The child had better be kept a little hungry than that 
 its stomach be overloaded. 
 
 Wet Nurse. 
 
 The choice of a nurse should rarely be made without 
 the advice and sanction of a trustworthy physician. It is 
 his province and duty to inquire carefully into the con- 
 dition of the nurse's health. There are good reasons for 
 believing that this most responsible duty is too frequently 
 performed in a very careless manner. In many instances, 
 the general appearance of the nurse is taken as a certain 
 index of her suitableness. A decision based upon such 
 deceitful data is not valuable. There may be constitu- 
 tional defects in an apparently robust woman which 
 render her the very opposite of a good nurse. 
 
 There are certain requisites which afford strong pre- 
 sumptive evidence of fitness ; these should always influence
 
 WET NURSE. 67 
 
 the decision. Among these should be named sound health, 
 good constitution and freedom from any hereditary taint, 
 a moderate plumpness, clear complexion, bright, cheerful 
 ways, well-conditioned eye-lids, red lips, without cracks 
 or scurvy, sound, white teeth, well-formed and moder- 
 ately large breasts, fair-sized nipples, free from sores or 
 fissures. With all these qualities, it is still necessary to 
 inquire into the condition of the physical functions in 
 order to be sure that a plentiful supply of nourishing milk 
 can be furnished. This may be done by examining the 
 condition of the nurse's own child, to see if it be plump 
 and healthy, or thin and delicate. The quality of the 
 milk can be directly tested by observing its color ; it should 
 be a bluish-white with a somewhat watery consistency. It 
 should have a sweetish taste, and there should be an 
 absence of unpleasant odor. If dropped into water, it 
 should have a light, cloudy appearance, and not sink to 
 the bottom in drops. 
 
 The best and most certain test, however, is that 
 afforded by the nurse's own child. If the child be found 
 healthy and cheerful, and clean and neatly kept, it is 
 quite a good proof of the suitableness of the nurse. If, 
 on the contrary, this child be found pale and sallow, 
 peevish and fretful, or untidy, the evidence of unfitness is 
 sufficient to warrant the rejection of the nurse. 
 
 Securing and installing a nurse, be she never so well 
 adapted for her duties, does not end the mother's respon- 
 sibility. It will devolve upon the mother to still watch 
 over her child. She must see that its needs are attended
 
 68 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to with regularity and with a proper spirit. If she find 
 that the nurse is regular in giving the child its nourish- 
 ment, that she keeps it clean, and is kind and patient at 
 all times, displaying no irritation and impatience when 
 her own comfort is disturbed by the claims of the child, 
 the mother can, to a large degree, dismiss her anxiety. 
 
 Dangers of Feeding Children. 
 
 Dangers of Feeding Children is so nearly allied to a 
 previous subject, " Food for Infants," that many of the 
 suggestions and admonitions contained in that chapter are 
 repeated in this to impress on the mind of the reader the 
 importance of these seemingly trivial duties. 
 
 Every child should, if at all possible, be brought up at 
 the breast. It is Nature's way, and it is the best way. 
 This cannot always be done. The mother sometimes dies, 
 or is physically disqualified for nursing, and no suitable 
 nurse can be procured. In such circumstances, there is 
 no resource save in artificial nursing. This means of rear- 
 ing a child should never be resorted to except where it 
 cannot be avoided. It is never as good as the natural 
 way, while frequently it is attended with serious risks. 
 If the child possess a strong constitution and its general 
 health be good, it will, in all probability, thrive under 
 artificial nursing. But if it be delicate, the chances 
 against its survival are very great. Few children prema- 
 turely born can be reared by artificial nursing. If, in 
 addition to a delicate constitution, the child suffer from 
 irritation of the stomach and bowels as is the case
 
 DANGERS OF FEEDING CHILDREN. 69 
 
 almost invariably the difficulties and dangers are aug- 
 mented. The nature of the climate and the season of 
 the year, too, greatly affect results in nursing children by 
 hand. 
 
 Under the most favorable conditions possible, the 
 artificial nursing of children is attended with grave risks. 
 The disadvantages are so great that nothing but the most 
 careful management, the most judicious and untiring 
 attention on the part of the nurse or mother, combined 
 with constant vigilance and the sacrifice of much time, 
 can overcome them. In favorable circumstances, how- 
 ever, many children are reared in this way, and become 
 strong men and women. If it were possible to always 
 secure these favorable conditions, it would not be neces- 
 sary to inveigh so strenuously against the artificial 
 method. 
 
 When a child is to be reared by artificial nursing, it 
 will be necessary to determine the kind of nourishment 
 best adapted to this end, and also the manner in which 
 this nourishment shall be administered. This subject has 
 already been treated somewhat in detail ; it will suffice 
 in this place to recall that the principal thing to be aimed 
 at is to discover a substitute for the milk of the mother 
 which most nearly resembles it in constituent elements. 
 When this is found, the best substitute is found. There is 
 a perfect adaptation of the mother's supply and the 
 infant's demand. If the milk of the mother be nearly 
 approximated in quality by something else, the demands 
 of the delicate digestive organs of the child will be most
 
 70 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 nearly met. For these reasons the milk of the ass has 
 the preference of that of any other animal ; but as this 
 is seldom attainable, cow's milk, properly diluted, must 
 be taken. The amount of dilution and the addition of 
 sugar has already been adverted to. 
 
 This cow's milk should be given at nearly the same 
 temperature as that of the mother's milk ; that is, at 
 about a temperature of 97 or 98 Fahrenheit. In 
 general, little attention is paid to this particular by 
 nurses. It is of considerable importance, however. The 
 condition of the infant is such that a temperature of this 
 degree is best suited to it. A common thermometer, 
 procured at a trifling cost, will enable any one to deter- 
 mine the temperature with sufficient precision. In pre- 
 paring the milk, it is preferable to warm the water with 
 which it is to be diluted before pouring it into the milk. 
 This is much better than by reducing the milk to the 
 proper consistency, and then heating the whole com- 
 pound. Both the water and the milk should be pure and 
 fresh, and on no account should any portion remaining 
 after feeding be set aside to be reheated for a future time. 
 There is no economy in such a course. On the contrary, 
 by it severe and troublesome cases of indigestion have 
 often been produced. After one or two experiments the 
 amount required for each nursing will be known, and 
 only this quantity will be prepared each time. 
 
 In giving the milk to the child, the method of Nature 
 should again be imitated. In nursing from the breast the 
 milk is extracted slowly and in small quantities. It is
 
 DANGERS OF FEEDING CHILDREN. 7 1 
 
 important to remember this. The nursing-bottle is 
 admirably adapted to secure this end. It consists of a 
 glass bottle with a tube of prepared rubber passing 
 through the cork. One end connects with the milk in the 
 bottle, while on the other is fitted an artificial nipple. In 
 using this apparatus, the utmost cleanliness is indis- 
 pensable. Neither bottle nor tube should be laid aside 
 after nursing without being thoroughly washed in warm 
 water. Each should then be laid in cold water until it is 
 needed again ; this precaution is necessary in order to 
 prevent any sour taste or disagreeable smell being created 
 through the fermentation of particles of milk adhering. 
 The points named above should be rigidly observed 
 namely, the most perfect cleanliness, the use of only pure 
 and fresh milk, and the rejection of any remaining 
 quantity. The importance of these suggestions is readily 
 admitted by any one who has observed the rapidity with 
 which milk becomes acidulated and gives rise to unpleasant 
 odor and taste 
 
 The intervals at which the child should be fed and the 
 quantity of food to be given at each time, are matters of 
 importance. Here, as always, it is best to go to Nature 
 for suggestion and information. In natural nursing, it has 
 been already observed that proper intervals should be 
 arranged at which the child should have access to its 
 mother's breast. These periods are equally necessary in 
 artificial nursing. The first sign given by the child of 
 indifference for the bottle may safely be taken as an indica- 
 tion that it has had sufficient for that time, and the bottle
 
 72 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD, 
 
 should be removed. As a general rule, from one to four 
 tablespoonfuls of milk for the first two or three weeks are 
 amply sufficient, increasing the quantity as the child grows 
 older and stronger. The intervals between the times of 
 feeding should follow the same rule as those laid down in 
 natural nursing, noticed in a previous chapter. Many 
 nurses, ignorantly assuming that liquid foods contain but 
 little substance, administer it too frequently and in quan- 
 tities too large. The effect of this is to oppress the 
 stomach and excite vomiting. 
 
 If the child thrive and sleep well, the proportion of 
 water may be gradually diminished after the third or 
 fourth week. At the end of the fourth or fifth month, if 
 it continue well and hearty, the dilution may be discon- 
 tinued entirely. Care should be taken to procure milk 
 from a sound, healthy cow, and from the same cow 
 continuously, if possible. Attention should also be given 
 to the feeding of this cow, noting that the food and water 
 upon which she subsists is of the best quality, clean and 
 pure. The quality of the milk yielded depends very 
 greatly upon the care and feeding she receives. More, 
 however, depends upon the quantity and regularity of 
 nursing the infant than upon the quality of the milk as it 
 comes from the cow's udder. Many of the stomach and 
 bowel troubles of the child which are laid to the quality 
 of the milk used have their real cause in excessive and 
 irregular feeding of proper food. 
 
 In infancy the natural tendency is to excitement in the 
 digestive organs. For this reason, milk and farinaceous
 
 TEETHING. 73 
 
 substances are more suitable for food. Occasionally a 
 child is found so deficient in natural constitutional vigor as 
 to require some stimulus. In such a case, chicken tea, or 
 even beef tea may be given to advantage. Such tea 
 should be made very weak and given in very minute 
 quantities at a time. In changing the diet of the child for 
 whatever cause, it is always incumbent to give careful 
 scrutiny to effects. The first indication that the kind or 
 quantity is injuring the child should be sufficient to deter- 
 mine a halt. Prevention is always better than cure. By 
 closely watching the effects of a change of any sort, the 
 mother can readily decide whether her child is being 
 benefited or injured by it, and she should govern future 
 conduct accordingly. 
 
 Teething. 
 
 During the earlier months of infancy the child is 
 nourished from its mother's breast. The power of suction 
 is all that is required. The tongue, lips and cheeks fully 
 supply this requirement. In furtherance of this design, the 
 jaws are short, shallow and toothless ; the muscles by 
 which they are moved, feeble and of delicate structure. 
 In the course of a few months, as the child develops, and 
 a more consistent and nutritious food becomes necessary 
 for its support, a corresponding change takes place in the 
 organism. The bones of the face begin to expand ; the 
 jaws increase in length, depth and firmness ; the gums 
 become more elevated and harder on their surface ; the 
 cavity of the mouth enlarges ; the muscles that move the
 
 74 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 jaw increase in size and power ; the child manifests an 
 increased tendency to carry to its mouth everything it can 
 lay hold on, a habit which aids the further development of 
 the bones and muscles that are concerned in mastication. 
 
 About the seventh month earlier or later in different 
 children there begins a more remarkable change, which 
 does not terminate until the end of the second year. 
 This is the teething period, the proper management of 
 which is essential to the welfare and safety of the child. 
 Teething is a process of Nature, and in a healthy child, if 
 correctly treated, should not be attended with especial 
 danger. But, if the child be delicate, or the management 
 injudicious, the period of teething is productive not only 
 of danger to the child, but also of no little care and 
 anxiety to the parents. Proper knowledge in regard to 
 this process is, therefore, important. 
 
 The adaptation of Nature to the varying requirements 
 of physical life in its successive stages is wonderfully 
 appropriate. From the infant at the breast teeth are 
 withheld, because these appendages would not only be 
 useless, but often an absolute incumbrance, interfering 
 with suckling. At a later period, however, when fluids 
 alone no longer fulfill the demands of the body, teeth are 
 provided for the mastication of solid foo.d, whereby it may 
 be broken, mixed with the juices of the mouth, and more 
 easily swallowed and digested. Feebleness of constitution 
 or the effect of disease frequently retards the development 
 of the system and delays the appearance of the teeth ; 
 hence the period of weaning the child and changing its
 
 TEETHING. 75 
 
 diet is not determined solely by its age. With the major- 
 ity of children, the first symptoms of teething will appear 
 at the age of about seven months. From this time on 
 until the full set is eut the dangers and troubles of teething 
 exist. 
 
 The first stage of teething is indicated by heat and 
 irritation of the mouth and general constitutional disturb- 
 ance. Saliva flows in unusual quantity from the mouth, and 
 the infant is restless, tears and smiles succeeding each 
 other at intervals. The face and eyes become red, appe- 
 tite changeable, and thirst considerable. The sleep is 
 disturbed, and general uneasiness pervades the body. 
 The gums, which at first were unaltered, become swollen 
 and painful. The child bites at everything it can get 
 into its mouth, a proceeding which appears to mitigate 
 its suffering. The bowels at this time are generally 
 very loose, which, to a limited degree, is beneficial. 
 After a short time these symptoms subside, terminating 
 the first period of dentition. 
 
 The second stage soon follows. Instead of carrying 
 everything to its mouth the child fears to have anything 
 come near it, and will usually cry if it happen to bite 
 anything. The mouth and gums become hot ; a pale or 
 bright-red elevated spot appears upon the gum ; the 
 child changes color, is restless and desires to be laid down, 
 but immediately to be taken up again. Nothing pleases 
 it. It one moment [demands the breast, the next turns 
 from it ; it snatches at everything but keeps nothing in 
 short, it is manifestly very uneasy. When the teeth are
 
 76 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 cut the symptoms subside. Many children, however, 
 especially those well constituted and judiciously managed, 
 pass through teething with little disturbance. 
 
 The incisors are more easily cut than the eye teeth, 
 the appearance of the latter being, notwithstanding their 
 pointed form, frequently accompanied with much more 
 disturbance. 
 
 Dentition, a natural process, should not be a source of 
 danger ; but slight causes are more apt to give rise to 
 disease during the period of teething than at other times. 
 If disease do occur, it is aggravated and rendered more 
 dangerous. Increased irritability is the real symptom of 
 the constitutional disturbance attendant on teething, and 
 the best method of carrying a child safely through this 
 perilous period is systematic management from its birth 
 onward. 
 
 The first and most important item necessary to free 
 children from many of the evils attending dentition is pure 
 air. It will do more to counteract and subdue that nervous 
 irritability characteristic of infancy than any other remedy. 
 If a child spend some hours daily in the open air, and then 
 occupy a large, well-ventilated room in-doors, and be not 
 overfed, it will usually suffer but little while teething. But 
 if it be taken out to exercise only at irregular intervals, 
 and be cooped up in a warm and ill-ventilated nursery, it 
 is placed in the situation most likely to render dentition a 
 process of difficulty and danger. 
 
 Although the infant, when properly protected, can 
 scarcely be too much in the open air in temperate or fine
 
 TEETHING. 77 
 
 weather, yet the unusual susceptibility of the system at 
 this period of teething demands that it be not rashly 
 exposed to harsh or cold weather. 
 
 If, from an ill-directed desire to strengthen the child, 
 it be incautiously exposed to damp or cold, or to currents 
 of air, inflammatory diseases may be induced, endanger- 
 ing life. The same result may ensue if the child be not 
 sufficiently clothed to keep up the natural warmth of the 
 body. 
 
 The tepid bath forms another important factor in the 
 management of the child during this period (as well as at 
 all others), from its power to allay nervous irritability. 
 Gentle and repeated friction over the surface of the body 
 has a decided sedative effect upon the nervous system. 
 
 A light, cooling diet should be strictly adhered to 
 during the acute stage of dentition ; and if teething take 
 place before weaning, the mother or nurse should also 
 adopt a mild and cooling diet, and avoid any anxiety or 
 fatigue, as these effect the health of the child. During the 
 active stage of dentition there is considerable tendency to 
 congestion of the brain, which becomes a source of much 
 danger from the frequency with which convulsions are 
 thereby induced. If there be manifest symptoms of this 
 trouble, which is so much dreaded by mothers, give the 
 child at once a bath and friction ; and if the gums be much 
 inflamed and swollen, they should be scarified to relieve 
 the congestion. If convulsions attack the child, it should 
 be placed at once in a warm bath, and ice or cold water 
 applied to its head. These symptoms of dentition are
 
 ?8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 really the same as chills in an adult, but attended with more 
 danger. 
 
 The first or milk teeth are twenty in number, including 
 eight front teeth or incisors, four canine or eye teeth, and 
 eight molars or grinding teeth. These beginning to 
 appear, as has been stated, about the seventh month, are 
 generally completed between the twentieth and thirtieth 
 months of life. When the child attains the age of seven or 
 eight years, these temporary teeth begin to fall out, and 
 are gradually followed by the permanent teeth. These 
 are thirty-two in number, the last four of which, because 
 they do not appear until after maturity, are called wisdom 
 teeth. 
 
 Each jaw contains sixteen of these thirty-two teeth. 
 They are divided into eight front or cutting teeth, four 
 eye or canine teeth, and twenty grinders. 
 
 Although the teeth be so long in making their appear- 
 ance, their rudiments exist in the jaw long before birth. 
 It is not the purpose to enter upon any detailed account 
 of the various processes in the development of the teeth ; 
 suffice it to say, that at the time of birth the milk teeth 
 are not only well advanced, but in a few instances have 
 made Jiheir appearance beyond the gums. The teeth 
 appear with some degree of regularity, the middle two of 
 the lower jaw coming first, soon followed by those in the 
 upper jaw. In a period, longer or shorter, the lateral 
 incisors in both jaws emerge, so that the child has eight 
 teeth, four above and four below. After another interval, 
 when the child becomes fifteen or sixteen months old, the
 
 A SPOILED PET.
 
 PERIOD OF TEETHING. 79 
 
 front or anterior molar or canine teeth are cut. The 
 second or posterior molars, the last of the milk teeth, are 
 not usually seen until the child is between twenty and 
 thirty months old. 
 
 The first period of teething has two distinct stages. In 
 the first, the capsule swells and presses upon the adjacent 
 parts, while hi the second stage the tooth rises, presses 
 upon, and passes through the gum. The second process 
 may or may not follow the first immediately. Active 
 symptoms of teething are often experienced without any 
 teeth making their appearance. Perhaps a few days later 
 the work may be resumed, or the teeth may appear with- 
 out any noticeable disturbance of the child's health. 
 
 Period of Teething. 
 
 As the teething period is protracted over a period 
 ranging from twelve to twenty-four months, it necessarily 
 follows that the season of the year in which the acute 
 stages are passed should be carefully considered. It is a 
 proverb among house-wives that the second summer of 
 the child's life is the difficult pofnt to pass. This has its 
 origin in the fact that a critical teething stage is likely to 
 come in the later summer months when the infant is sus- 
 ceptible to certain diseases, serious enough at any time, 
 and increasedly so by reason of the complications of the 
 teething process. 
 
 Too much anxiety to amuse the child may become a 
 source of morbid irritation ; hence a quiet, soothing and 
 cheerful manner is by far the most suitable, and tends
 
 80 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 much to comfort the child. The unusual flow of saliva 
 from the mouth has a beneficial effect upon the brain, and 
 should not be stayed. The bowel trouble, also, unless it 
 become excessive, need not be interfered with. It is well 
 not to cut or scarify the gums, unless the teeth are so 
 nearly through that the gums will not close again over 
 them. If the gum heals up over the tooth, a scar is 
 formed which makes the gum more resistful than it would 
 otherwise have been. 
 
 Too-early feeding of solid food, or supplying the child 
 with hard substances to bite upon, renders dentition more 
 difficult, on account of the hardening effect upon the 
 gums, so that they are with more difficulty pierced by the 
 teeth. 
 
 Second Dentition. 
 
 The second dentition is seldom attended with constitu- 
 tional disturbance, but the progress of the teeth should be 
 carefully watched, to see that they come in their proper 
 places, and in the right direction ; also that they are not 
 so crowded as to press injuriously on one another, thereby 
 endangering the permanent regularity. Not only the form 
 and expression of the mouth, but the beauty and preser- 
 vation of the teeth themselves, depend greatly upon their 
 management at this period. The little care and expense 
 necessary at this time to insure regular, evenly-formed 
 teeth will be abundantly repaid in all the after years of 
 life.
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE TEETH. 8 1 
 
 Importance of the Teeth. 
 
 Few persons fully appreciate the importance of the teeth 
 in the economy of digestion ; hence, very few take proper 
 care of them. It is only when we grow old and find them 
 wanting, or when we suffer from their decay, that we are 
 reminded how remiss we were in their preservation. This 
 is more remarkable from the fact that Nature teaches us 
 their great importance by furnishing two distinct sets, so 
 that in the decay, pain and loss of the first we may be 
 forewarned for the preservation of the second. 
 
 The teeth in the lower jaw are brought in contact with 
 those in the upper by -a powerful set of muscles, which 
 enable the operator to crush hard substances. These, 
 being saturated with the juices of the mouth, are thereby 
 more easily swallowed, and are better prepared for solu- 
 tion in the stomach. It will be observed, then, that the 
 work done by the stomach will be facilitated in proportion 
 to the effectiveness of that previously done by the teeth. 
 It is doubtless true that when the stomach is healthy and 
 vigorous, and its juices abundant, it will for a while over- 
 come any defects in mastication, which, therefore, entail 
 but little inconvenience. Hence, many persons grow more 
 and more reckless, and if reminded of the danger of their 
 folly, reply with confidence: " Nothing hurts my stomach." 
 " Be sure that your sins will find you out " is just as true 
 in reference to physical sins as to any other. The health 
 of the stomach is of the first importance in the construc- 
 tion of animal economy. If good and healthy food be
 
 82 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 taken in proper quantities and completely masticated into 
 a healthy stomach, and then supplied in its passage 
 through the stomach and duodenum with those juices 
 that Nature provides for digestion and assimilation, the 
 result must be the manufacture of good and healthy 
 blood, which will build up sound, healthy tissue, to 
 replace that which has become worn out. But if, on the 
 other hand, from want of teeth, food cannot be properly 
 ground, undue work is thrown upon the stomach, and that 
 grinding which should have been done by the teeth is left 
 to be accomplished by the more delicate " teeth " of the 
 stomach, thereby not only overtaxing it with work that 
 does not belong to it, but compelling it to perform a kind 
 to which its delicate constitution is not adapted. Indiges- 
 tion is thereby induced ; food is permitted to ferment and 
 decay in the stomach ; the products of this fermentation 
 and decay are carried into the circulation to repair the 
 wasting body with what ? Not health, but disease. Is 
 it a wonder, then, that so much trouble and disease are 
 attributed to the stomach, when so much of health depends 
 upon the manner in which its work is performed ? Since 
 the teeth are essential in enabling the stomach to properly 
 perform its work, how important it is that their health and 
 preservation should be studied. While the teeth are 
 necessary in the preparation of food for the stomach, 
 and contribute beauty and symmetry to the mouth, they 
 also have much to do in articulation. Difficulty in speak- 
 ing distinctly is experienced by every person who has 
 suffered their loss. There are certain sounds that can-
 
 PRESERVING THE TEETH. 83 
 
 not be distinctly uttered without the aid of the teeth. 
 Artificial teeth only increase the difficulty of meeting this 
 requirement. 
 
 As soon as the second set of teeth is formed, the 
 child should be taught to care for them. It will be then 
 old enough to understand, to some degree, the impor- 
 tance of this. A brush, not too stiff, should be given 
 each child, and its use after each meal insisted upon. 
 Let the habit of caring for the teeth be formed. The 
 child can be made to feel that it is as necessary to clean 
 the teeth as it is to eat, and that these two things are 
 inseparably associated. When the habit is once finally 
 established, it will not easily be broken up. A few 
 generat directions on this point follow : 
 
 Preserving the Teeth. 
 
 To preserve the teeth, they should be regularly 
 cleaned after each meal. Every particle of food that has 
 found a lodgment in any of the interstices should be 
 carefully removed by some pliable substance, such as 
 quill or soft wood. A metallic instrument that may 
 damage the enamel, and thuc produce disease and decay, 
 should not be used. When this has been carefully done, 
 the mouth should be thoroughly cleansed with brush 
 and water ; if need be, add to the water a little castile 
 soap. If this work be thoroughly done, much will be 
 accomplished, not only in preserving the teeth, but in 
 obviating what, above all things, is to be dreaded, 
 especially by the young " a bad breath." Many denti-
 
 84 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 frices, some of which may be very good, have been 
 compounded and placed upon the vendors' shelves, 
 accompanied by flattering recommendations. Doubtless 
 many are sold, not upon their real merit, but upon glow- 
 ing advertisement, without any reference to the affinity 
 that certain constituents may have for the composition 
 of the teeth. 
 
 Sulphuric acid, diluted honey and charcoal make an 
 excellent compound for removing dark accumulations on 
 the teeth, rendering them clean and white ; but the acid 
 is very damaging to the enamel of the teeth. People 
 should be careful in buying nostrums for the teeth as well 
 as for the stomach. A very good as well as cheap denti- 
 frice can be made by compounding charcoal and orris 
 root with a little gum myrrh. It will accomplish very 
 nicely the work of cleaning and whitening the teeth, and 
 keeps the gums healthy. 
 
 Diseases of Infancy. 
 
 The nervous sensibilities of the infant excite muscular 
 activity. It lives, moves and breathes. But continued 
 life is conditioned not on respiration alone, but on the 
 circulation of the blood. At the moment of birth, the 
 separation of the child from its mother, three changes 
 succeed instantaneously, viz. : The excitement of the 
 nervous system, the expansion of the lungs, and the 
 change in the circulation of the blood, which causes it to 
 return through the lungs -(instead of going directly from 
 the right to the left side of the heart), thus making provis- 
 ion for the diffusion of animal heat.
 
 DISEASES OF INFANCY. 85 
 
 Food is the primary source of animal heat ; its devel- 
 opment and diffusion being dependent upon digestion, 
 respiration and circulation. Therefore why feeble and 
 delicate children suffer and die, may be easily seen. 
 They are not able to digest much food or inhale much 
 air. This disproves the once prevalent opinion that 
 infants <have great power of resisting cold ; many from 
 thfe false notion were permitted to perish for lack of 
 sufficient protection from cold, while the heat-manufact- 
 uring functions were not fully established. 
 
 In another place was discussed the subject of food of 
 infants and its effect upon the animal economy, as well as 
 the proper kinds best adapted to its delicate nature for 
 the better sustenance of its system. From the evidence 
 there adduced, the conclusion was inevitable that the life 
 and health of the infant depend essentially on the kind of 
 management and the circumstances by which it is sur- 
 rounded. Where both of these conditions are favorable, 
 the child enjoys the highest degree of health compatible 
 with its constitution. But if the management be bad and 
 the surroundings unfavorable, its life and health will be 
 correspondingly doubtful and feeble. ' 
 
 Upon this proposition depends whatever of advance- 
 ment may have been made in diminishing infantile mor- 
 tality. It gives renewed encouragement for further 
 progress, that disease and death may be more frequently 
 averted. Disease and premature death are the results, 
 not of chance or necessity, but of neglect of the condi- 
 tions on which God has decreed that health and vigor
 
 86 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 depend. These conditions have very appropriately been 
 styled the " Organic Laws." Any violation of these 
 laws, as excessive eating or drinking, will induce indiges- 
 tion. Indigestion is the result of disobedience of the law 
 that the quality and quantity of food must be adopted to 
 the constitution, mode of life and power of the stomach. 
 
 In like manner, if the eye be exposed to the rays of 
 too-strong light for a length of time, or if it be used very 
 freely without a sufficient amount of light, inflammation 
 results. It matters little how appropriate or judicious the 
 treatment may be, if the cause be allowed to continue to 
 operate, no permanent benefit will be received. But, so 
 soon as the cause is removed, and we hearken to the law of 
 Nature, which teaches that the rays of light must be 
 adapted to the strength of the organ, the same treatment 
 will soon restore the inflamed eye. It would be equally 
 vain to attempt to cure indigestion by dosing with medi- 
 cine, unless there be an adaptation of the food and mode 
 of life to the deranged state of the stomach and aliment- 
 ary bowel. 
 
 Convulsions. 
 
 Convulsions are a frequent disease of infancy, and are 
 attended with more or less danger. The attack often 
 comes suddenly and without any premonitory symptoms, 
 except there may be slight twitchings of the muscles of 
 the hands and feet during sleep. 
 
 There are four principle causes of convulsions, viz. : 
 I. Breathing impure air for a length of time. This
 
 TREATMENT. 8/ 
 
 deteriorates the blood, and thus inteneres with the healthy 
 and regular operations of the functions of the brain, thus 
 inducing interruption in the passage of nervous currents, 
 so as to produce irregular and involuntary muscular 
 contractions. 
 
 2. Overloading the stomach. This is another very 
 fruitful cause of this disease, and many of the cases of 
 convulsions of children are the result of the presence of 
 some offending substance either in the stomach or bowels. 
 This very frequently is the result of some manifest impro- 
 priety, either in the quality or quantity of food, or of 
 unfavorable circumstances affecting the system during the 
 process of digestion, either in the stomach or bowels, 
 producing undue excitement of the nervous system. 
 
 3. This irritable condition of the nervous system is not 
 infrequently induced by the presence of worms, which act 
 as offending agents on the sensitive nervous organism. 
 
 4. The period of dentition is frequently attended with 
 convulsions from the irritability induced by the long 
 pressure of the teeth upon the dental nerves. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 In the treatment of convulsions the first question to be 
 answered is, What is the exciting cause ? If it be deteriora- 
 tion of the blood from the effect of vitiated air, the infant 
 should be gradually exposed to out-door air, if the 
 weather be sufficiently moderate and pleasant to be at all 
 suited to its feeble condition. If not, the nursery should 
 be better supplied with a free circulation of pure air.
 
 88 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 If the cause be the overloading of the stomach, thereby 
 producing reflex action upon the nerve-centers by pressure 
 upon the gastric nerves, an emetic of syrup of ipecacuanha 
 should be given. 
 
 If the child be teething, the condition of the gums 
 should be examined, and, if they be found much swollen 
 and inflamed, they should be freely divided with a sharp 
 instrument, so as to permit the offending tooth to escape, 
 thus relieving the pressure on the dental nerves. It is 
 surprising to find what instantaneous relief this will 
 frequently afford. . 
 
 In all cases of convulsions, no matter what may be the 
 exciting cause, much relief will generally follow from 
 bathing of the child's extremities, and even well up on the 
 body, in water as hot as can be borne, at the same time 
 making cold applications to the head and face. Should 
 this treatment prove ineffectual in arresting the convul- 
 sions, a physician had better be summoned, lest they 
 should be the result, not of irritation, but of organic 
 disease of the brain. 
 
 Indigestion of children differs from that of adults, in 
 that it is generally functional. It is a result of overfeeding 
 or feeding at improper times, and is frequently attended 
 with more or less nervous irritability. The infant is rest- 
 less ; sleep is frequently interrupted ; the skin is hot and 
 dry; there is considerable thirst ; there is a disposition to 
 vomit, the stomach at times becoming very irritable. The 
 stomach and bowels may be considerably distended with 
 gas. The bowels are sometimes costive, but more gen-
 
 SORE MOUTH. 89 
 
 erally loose. The excrements are fetid, and often contain 
 quantities of undigested food. Colic pains are felt in the 
 bowels. 
 
 To remedy this chain of symptoms the nervous irrita- 
 bility may be soothed by a tepid bath, and by gentle 
 but continued friction, which will largely overcome the 
 heat and dryness of the skin. 
 
 The irritability of the stomach will be met by rube- 
 facients or wet-compresses, adding a teaspoonful of soda 
 to one pint of water. Teaspoonful doses of soda-water, 
 made by dissolving a quarter-teaspoonful of soda in a 
 half-teacupful of water may be given, repeating the dose 
 every five or ten minutes. 
 
 The nourishment should consist of fresh milk, with the 
 addition of one-fourth of its bulk of lime-water. Care 
 should be taken to administer small quantities at a time. 
 The child should have plenty of fresh air and frequent 
 baths until fully restored. The colic may be the result of 
 flatus in the bowels, or of irritation of the mucous mem- 
 brane induced from the continued diarrhea, and will 
 disappear on the restoration of the bowels to a healthy 
 condition. 
 
 Sore Mouth. 
 
 Sore mouth is a frequent disease of infancy. It arises, 
 like most other diseases of early life, from either over- 
 feeding or improper food. If the directions given in 
 " The Hygiene of Infancy" be closely adhered to, little 
 trouble will be exoerienced with these infantile diseases.
 
 90 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 This disease is manifested by a number of small, irreg- 
 ular, white specks on the lips, tongue, and inside of the 
 cheeks and angles of the mouth. The parts affected look 
 as though milk curds had been smeared upon them. The 
 mouth is hot and painful, and the child is afraid to nurse. 
 It cries as soon as the nipple is placed in its mouth. 
 There is usually fever and general disturbance of the 
 stomach and bowels, amounting sometimes to troublesome 
 diarrhea, from which some have supposed the inflamed 
 condition passes down the entire length of the alimentary 
 canal. 
 
 The disease is not usually serious, but passes off in the 
 course of a week or ten days. Fresh air, baths and atten- 
 tion to alimentation, are important factors in both the 
 preventive and curative treatment of this disease. The 
 acid condition of the stomach will be best overcome by a 
 few grains of calcined magnesia mixed in a little milk. 
 The looseness of the bowels, will be stayed by the admin- 
 istration of creta pr&parata (prepared chalk) or small 
 doses of subnitrate of bismuth. If these prove insuffi- 
 cient, the aromatic syrup of rhubarb, with the addition of 
 paregoric, will be found quite useful. Much benefit will 
 be derived by pulverizing together borate of soda and 
 granulated sugar in the proportion of one of the former to 
 three of the latter, and placing a small quantity on the 
 back part-of the tongue. The sweet taste of the sugar 
 will conceal the borax, and it will gradually dissolve in 
 the child's mouth, producing very happy effects.
 
 COSTIVENESS. 91 
 
 Costiveness. 
 
 Some children are habitually troubled with a lack of 
 free and full discharge regularly from the bowels. This 
 results either from errors in diet or proper exercise in the 
 open air. Nurses are forever dosing children with laxative 
 medicines. Instead of getting rid of the difficulty these 
 only increase it. 
 
 Nothing can be more deleterious, either to old or 
 young, than the habit of taking medicines to act upon the 
 bowels. Such treatment only irritates the lining mem- 
 brane of the bowels by exciting it to discharge an excess 
 of liquid, to farther soften the contents. This increased 
 demand upon this watery material is followed by a corres- 
 ponding lack of supply, leaving the bowels dry, causing 
 an aggravation of the costiveness. 
 
 The better course to pursue to remedy the evil is to 
 try a change in the diet and a more liberal supply of 
 water externally and internally. Water may be admin- 
 istered freely in the morning, with an admixture of pure 
 brown sugar. Give the child more freedom in the open 
 air, and an additional amount of exercise. 
 
 Very satisfactory results are frequently obtained from 
 thorough manipulation of the abdominal muscles, pressing 
 the fingers gently but deeply down into the bowels, so as 
 to knead them perfectly. Accompanying this treatment, 
 small enemas of tepid water may be administered from 
 time to time, until the normal condition of the evacua- 
 tions be established. If the infant be old enough, very
 
 92 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 salutary effects will be produced by either " holding it 
 out" or setting it upon a stool at regular intervals. This 
 may be done while the babe is very young. It is surpris- 
 ing how readily it will understand what is intended by 
 this procedure, and will assist the efforts of Nature, so 
 that a regular interval for the evacuation of the bowels 
 will be established and much trouble and labor for the 
 nurse avoided. 
 
 Worms. 
 
 There are two kinds of worms that come within the 
 scope of the present inquiry and demand attention. One 
 is the long, round worm of whitish color that generally 
 infests the smaller intestines. It sometimes, however, 
 ascends to the stomach and has occasionally been discov- 
 ered crawling out of the mouth and nose. In general 
 there exist but from two to six, but occasionally large 
 
 X? 
 
 numbers have been expelled at one time. They are 
 rarely met with in persons over fifteen years of age. The 
 pin, or thread worm, so called from its resemblance to 
 short bits of white thread, is never more than one inch in 
 length, moves very quietly, infests the lower part of the 
 bowels, and frequently creeps out of the fundament. 
 These worms produce an intense itching and irritation at 
 the lower part of the rectum just within the anus, and are 
 a fruitful cause of annoyance not only to children but 
 even to adults. They are frequently accompanied with 
 fever and much nervous irritation, sometimes ending in 
 convulsions or other serious disease that may destroy life.
 
 WORMS. 93 
 
 Indigestion lies at the foundation of all the causes that are 
 assigned for the propagation of this as well as the other 
 variety of worms to which we have called attention. 
 
 Some of the more prominent constitutional symptoms 
 of worms are a gnawing, uneasy feeling about the stomach, 
 which may be removed or diminished by eating. The 
 appetite is deranged and variable often more than ordi- 
 narily voracious. The belly is large and hard and more 
 or less painful. There is frequent picking and rubbing of 
 the nose, disturbed and restless sleep, with grinding of the 
 teeth, bowels costive or sometimes the reverse. The 
 countenance is at times pale and then flushed, the eyes 
 are sunken and dull, bordered underneath by a dark 
 stripe, the skin is dry and at times quite hot, the flesh 
 wasted and muscles soft and flabby. There is often great 
 irritation of the nervous system. The grinding of the 
 teeth, talking during sleep or waking up screaming, foul 
 breath, frequent pain in the bowels, variable appetite and 
 sickness of the stomach are strong symptoms of worms. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The country is flooded with worm nostrums, many of 
 them answering very well so far as the expulsion of the 
 worms is concerned. The general public being ignorant 
 of their composition, prudence would suggest that they 
 be administered with much caution, as they are liable to 
 contain very potent remedies. 
 
 Three or four grains of santonine (to which may be 
 added one g r ?.'.i of calomel) and twelve to fifteen grains
 
 94 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of white sugar, thoroughly triturated and divided into 
 three powders, administered on an empty stomach thrice 
 daily, and followed with a full dose of castor oil, to which 
 has been added a few drops of spirits turpentine, will be 
 found a very safe and effectual method of destroying these 
 troublesome creatures. 
 
 The old time-honored but poisonous spigelia maril- 
 andica, better known as pinkroot, is a very proficient 
 remedy and may be safely used in the following com- 
 pound: take of pinkroot, Alexandria senna, manna and 
 worm seed, of each half an ounce, bruise all, and add to 
 the powder one pint of boiling water. Let all stand to 
 steep for half an hour. Strain and sweeten with New 
 Orleans molasses, to which may be added a gill of milk. 
 A gill of this tea may be given to a child five or six 
 years old three times daily on an empty stomach. 
 Increase or diminish the dose according to the age of the 
 child. The quantity given should be sufficient to produce 
 a cathartic effect on the bowels. 
 
 A very satisfactory preventive treatment will be found 
 by dissolving one drachm of sulphate of iron (copperas) 
 in a gill of whisky, and administering a teaspoonful, more 
 or less according to the age of the child, in the morning, 
 on an empty stomach. 
 
 The pin or thread worm that infests the rectum may be 
 dislodged by injecting into the bowels a weak solution of 
 cold, soft water and salt, allowing it to be discharged 
 freely, thereby washing out the bowels and ejecting 
 the troublesome occupants. Practicing '-his treatment for 
 a few consecutive days will generally remove the trouble,
 
 DIPHTHERIA. 95 
 
 If a child that is suspected of having worms be dis- 
 posed to gag, with repeated efforts at swallowing, suspi- 
 cion should be aroused in that the worms are endeavoring 
 to ascend the throat. An emulsion of turpentine with 
 castor oil, or elm-bark mucilage should be administered to 
 cause them to return to the stomach, lest the irritation 
 thus induced should bring on convulsions. 
 
 Diphtheria. 
 
 Diptheria is an acute, specific, and by many regarded 
 contagious, disease, characterized by a spreading, asthenic 
 inflammation of the mucous membrane of the throat, and 
 the exudation of false membranes on the tonsils and adja- 
 cent parts. It frequently occurs as an epidemic, and 
 generally is confined to the young. Attacks upon persons 
 of middle life or upward are rare. One attack of this 
 disease does not protect from the disease, but the same 
 child may have it repeatedly. Some individuals and 
 families have a greater predisposition to it than others. 
 There appears to be a period of incubation, lasting gener- 
 ally from two to five days, when the characteristic symp- 
 toms appear. The first thing observed is a feeling of 
 depression, muscular weakness, headache, furred tongue, 
 some nausea, painful deglutition, or swallowing, with fever 
 more or less marked. The tonsils become swollen and 
 dark colored and the glands about the angle of the lower 
 jaw get tender. The diphtheretic membrane first appears 
 on the tonsils in the form of white or gray spots. These 
 spots enlarge and form patches of considerable size, which
 
 ij6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 gradually extend forward to the soft palate, or into the 
 nostrils, or backward into the larynx and down the 
 windpipe. 
 
 This membrane increases in thickness as the disease 
 spreads, and although it is at first a white or grayish color 
 it eventually becomes brown or almost black, and emits a 
 very offensive odor. If it be forcibly removed by an 
 instrument, the surface underneath is seen to be red, and 
 frequently bleeds, but in a short time is covered with a 
 similar membrane. The tonsil may slough, and when the 
 nostrils become involved and lined with the false mem- 
 brane, they are swollen and the discharge is fetid and 
 offensive. Hemorrhages frequently occur. There is 
 usually, also, a low and dangerous form of fever, with 
 great depression of spirits and rapid failure of strength, 
 which is rapidly accelerated by inability to take nourish- 
 ment. In favorable cases the disease usually lasts from 
 ten to fifteen days ; mild cases not so long. Termination 
 in death or recovery may usually be foretold in six to 
 eight days. 
 
 There are various forms of the disease. The one just 
 described is of the most malignant type and a large pro- 
 portion of the cases end fatally. Frequently the general 
 local symptoms are mild, with little fever, some soreness 
 of the throat, and slight exudation upon the tonsils. 
 Such cases yield readily to mild remedies ; as a mild 
 purgative with a free use of a saturate solution of chlorate 
 of potassium. This is made by putting two or more 
 drachms of the chlorate into two or three ounces of hot
 
 SORE EYES. 97 
 
 water. Give the patient a teaspoouful every hour if it be 
 five to eight years old. The dose should be increased or 
 diminished according to age. 
 
 If the patient be feeble, some tincture of iron may be 
 added to the solution, the quantity depending upon the 
 age of the patient. Eating should be encouraged, and a 
 light, nutritious diet administered to keep up the strength. 
 Stimulants and tonics will generally be found useful. 
 Cleanliness will form an important factor in benefiting 
 such patients. 
 
 These means will meet the indications in the mild forms 
 of the disease. It would not be possible nor advisable in 
 a work of this sort to attempt giving advice in cases of 
 the malignant forms of this complaint. It is altogether 
 too serious to be trusted to unprofessional treatment. 
 
 Sore Eyes. 
 
 Sore eyes are so easily known that but little need be 
 said about the symptoms. The disease is an inflamma- 
 tory one of several distinct varieties, the appropriateness 
 of the name depending upon the part of the eye that may . 
 be the seat of the inflammation. The form of the com- 
 plaint which is here introduced is an inflammation of the 
 eye, usually the result of a cold, and sometimes the result 
 of a lack of that precaution in washing the infant to which 
 attention was called in discussing the subject of baths, 
 thus permitting some irritating matter to enter the eye, or 
 exposing it to too strong light. 
 
 Whatever be the cause, the disease soon subsides by
 
 98 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 protecting the eyes from the light, and carefully bathing 
 them in tepid water. If the case be severe, the eyes may 
 be poulticed with pulverized elm-bark, moistened with 
 warm milk and water. 
 
 A very efficient eye-water may be made out of a 
 decoction of jimson, to which may be added a half- 
 teaspoonful ,of salt and a half-ounce of tincture of opium to 
 each pint of the decoction. This will be found to be a 
 very valuable lotion for any sore eyes, either of children 
 or adults. A few drops may be let fall into the eye twice 
 daily. Nitrate of silver, one grain to an ounce of soft 
 water, will be found verv efficient in allaying the inflam- 
 mation. 
 
 Earache. 
 
 Earache is another inflammatory affection. It is 
 caused mainly by exposure to strong, cold winds without 
 sufficient protection. It is one of the most painful dis- 
 eases of childhood, and affects persons of all ages. 
 
 Being the result of cold, means should be adopted to 
 abort the cold. For this purpose the child should be 
 placed in a bath of high temperature, and remain until 
 there is free action from the skin, when it should be taken 
 out and thoroughly rubbed till a red glow is produced 
 over the surface. Warm applications should be made to 
 the external ear, and if this do not bring relief, warm 
 water as hot as can be borne should be poured into 
 the ear. 
 
 Should the inflammation continue, notwithstanding the
 
 CHAFING. 99 
 
 faithful administration of these remedies, relief will most 
 certainly follow the application of equal parts of tinctures 
 of lobelia, blood-root and opium. After warming the 
 mixture to blood heat, fill the ear and apply some cotton 
 wool. 
 
 Chafing. 
 
 Children and fat persons are all very liable to suffer 
 from chafing or excoriation of the skin in certain parts, 
 especially in warm weather. In children the parts most 
 likely to chafe are inside the thighs, behind the ears and 
 around the neck. 
 
 This affection is frequently the result of want of suffi- 
 cient and frequent baths, which have a salutary effect 
 upon the skin, not only in cleansing, but in keeping the 
 skin soft and healthy, obviating dryness and tendency to 
 disease. 
 
 Excessive excoriations that are persistent indicate an 
 enfeebled state of health and a tendency to strumous dis- 
 ease, as well as a diseased condition of the skin. Such 
 cases will require general restorative treatment and a 
 thorough application of the principles of hygiene, accom- 
 panied with good, nourishing food and plenty of fresh air. 
 The diseased parts should be washed with castile soap 
 and cold water, and anointed with vaseline, fresh butter 
 or cream. A solution composed of ten grains of sulphate 
 of zinc and a half-drachm of borax to four ounces of 
 water will also be found good as a wash once or twice a 
 day. An ointment may be used made of oxide of zinc,
 
 IOO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 one drachm, cosmoline one ounce ; mix thoroughly and 
 apply after washing with the soap and water. 
 
 Nose-Bleed. 
 
 Epistaxis, or bleeding from the nose, is most frequently 
 a disease of childhood or early life. It is rarely alarming 
 in youth unless it accompany some other disease ; then it 
 may be a grave symptom. It may result from mechanical 
 injury or congestion of the lining membrane of the nose ; 
 hence an unusual determination of blood to the head will 
 often bring on bleeding from the nose. Some children are 
 much more liable to this disease than others. Unless the 
 bleeding be profuse, it need not produce any alarm, and 
 usually stops in a few minutes if nothing be done. Should 
 it be necessary to interfere, the application of cold water to 
 the nape of the neck and back will often, through reflex 
 action, arrest the discharge. The child should be set 
 upright and directed to hold one hand above his head, and 
 with the other compress the nostril, which causes the 
 blood to coagulate and thus stay the bleeding. 
 
 A very simple remedy that frequently is attended \\ith 
 good results is to roll up a piece of paper or muslin and 
 place it above the front teeth under the upper lip; by pres- 
 sing hard upon this substance the passage of blood through 
 the vessels leading to the nose will be obstructed. 
 
 Youthful Urinary Troubles. 
 
 The functions of excretion being so necessary an 
 accompaniment of nutrition, we find the kidneys ready to 
 start into activity soon after birth. The discharges from
 
 YOUTHFUL URINARY TROUBLES. IOI 
 
 these organs are at first involuntary on account of the 
 feeble condition of the sensitive organs ; the quantity is 
 small on account of the small capacity of the bladder. But 
 as the organs of sensation develop, the infant will be made 
 to realize, in his wakeful moments, the discharge of water 
 from the kidneys, and may soon be able to communicate 
 his knowledge to an observing nurse by the expression of 
 his countenance. 
 
 But it sometimes happens that the sphincter muscle of 
 the bladder will relax sufficiently to allow the escape of its 
 contents without exciting the nervous sensibilities of the 
 muscle sufficiently to make the child wake up out of a deep 
 sleep. Although this condition is always present with the 
 very young, yet there are not a few instances in which it 
 continues for several years, much to the annoyance of the 
 nurse and discomfort of the child. 
 
 A very, satisfactory mode of treatment will be found in 
 the early education of the child to regular periodic evacua- 
 tion of the bladder, insisting, as he grows older, that he 
 shall lengthen these periods by efforts to resist the admo- 
 nition of Nature, thereby strengthening the sphincter 
 muscle by the increased exercise, and at the same time 
 enlarging the capacity of the bladder. 
 
 The child should always betaken out of bed, if possible, 
 to evacuate the bladder. The establishment of this habit 
 will do much to the accomplishment of the desired end. If 
 these means fail, a physician should be consulted, as the 
 remedies best calculated to accomplish the desired end are 
 too potent to risk in the hands of the inexperienced.
 
 IO2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Most cases will, however, be found to yield as soon as 
 regular habits have been established, and will fully reward 
 the nurse for all the trouble necessary to do it. 
 
 Colds. 
 
 This country is noted for the inconstancy of its climate. 
 A variation of twenty degrees in half as many hours is 
 nothing at all uncommon in many sections, while a change 
 of fifty and even sixty degrees in the same period has been 
 marked. This rapid and wide variation of temperature is 
 most favorable to colds and catarrhal affections. These 
 complaints are quite common. They result from 
 obstructed excretions from the skin, and are too well 
 known to require extended description. Suffice it to say 
 that the general symptoms are the same everywhere a 
 stuffing up of the nasal and air passages, sneezing, weari- 
 ness, chills, coughs, etc. 
 
 Few diseases demand more prompt measures of relief 
 than these. Few are more generally neglected. Most 
 mothers and nurses, noting that the child has contracted 
 a cold, attach little importance to the fact. They allow 
 the complaint to run its course, and scarce give a 
 moment's reflection to any serious consequences which 
 may result. Yet, in the very nature of the case, there is 
 cause for alarm. Cold closes up the pores of the skin and 
 many of the natural avenues of escape for the effete and 
 poisonous materials of the system. If the natural powers 
 of the child are inadequate to expel these poisons through 
 the channels left unobstructed, they must be absorbed,
 
 CROUP. IO3 
 
 i 
 and the absorption incurs great hazard. Herein lies the 
 
 necessity for prompt measures, to start the arrested 
 excretions and permit the ordinary functions to perform 
 their accustomed work. 
 
 Nothing will prove more effectual in accomplishing the 
 desired end than an early bath of sufficiently high tem- 
 perature to produce a free action of the skin. This action 
 should be further stimulated by effective rubbing of the 
 surface with a dry napkin. It would be well to assist the 
 elimination of the poison through the skin by inducing a 
 free action from the bowels with some saline purgative. 
 See to it that copious sweating be induced and continued 
 for several hours, and that the child be thoroughly pro- 
 tected by warm blankets for several hours after the sweat, 
 until the complete reaction of the system has been 
 established. 
 
 The nourishment should be light and easily digested. 
 No faith is to be put in the adage, " Feed a cold and 
 starve a colic." Excessive feeding will be found deleteri- 
 ous in the proper management of all diseases. Pure fresh 
 air will be of incalculable benefit through the progress of 
 the treatment, as at other times. 
 
 Croup. 
 
 Croup is an acute inflammatory disease of the trachea, 
 or windpipe it maybe of the glottis, larynx and trachea. 
 It rarely occurs in a child under one year old or over 
 seven. Children are thought to be most liable during 
 their second year. It occurs most frequently in cold,
 
 IO4 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 damp, changeable climates, and is one of the most dreaded 
 and fatal diseases with which children are afflicted. 
 
 There are two varieties of this disease, known as true 
 and false croup. The first comes on gradually ; hence, it 
 is less liable to cause alarm than false croup, which comes 
 on suddenly. True croup is accompanied with some fever 
 from the outset, resulting from the inflammation of the air 
 passage, and some hoarseness, which is aggravated at 
 night. 
 
 False croup is a spasmodic closure of the glottis, caus- 
 ing shrill breathing. It is not accompanied with fever or 
 the exudation of false membrane. It is rare for true 
 croup to recur in the same individual, while false croup 
 may recur frequently. The duration of true croup is from 
 three to seven days ; that of false croup only a few hours. 
 True croup is very fatal ; at least fifty per cent, of all the 
 cases die. False croup rarely ends fatally, and those not 
 familiar with the disease are astonished to see how sud- 
 denly it yields to appropriate remedies. True croup is 
 not so common an affection as is generally supposed. A 
 large majority of the cases of croup belong to the more 
 mild variety. 
 
 Hoarseness is one of the earliest symptoms of croup. 
 It should be borne in mind that a young child, unless he 
 be going to have croup, is rarely hoarse. If, therefore, 
 your child is languid, indisposed to take food, with symp- 
 toms of catarrh, some cough and hoarseness, you should 
 be on the alert and carefully watch him so as to be ready 
 at any moment to subject him to the most vigorous 
 treatment.
 
 CROUP. IO5 
 
 This disease is so frequently fraught with serious con- 
 sequence that it is always best that a physician be early 
 summoned. To meet emergencies which often occur, 
 the following course of treatment may be adopted : 
 
 A bath, in this disease, like all those inflammatory 
 diseases that are the result of a damp and changeable 
 atmosphere, will be found of great advantage if early 
 administered. Keep on hand a quantity of the syrup of 
 ipecac, wine of ipecac, or syrup of lobelia. Begin at the 
 earliest dawn of the disease to administer one of them in 
 full doses every five to ten minutes until free vomiting be 
 excited. The life of the child largely depends upon the 
 accomplishment of this end. Should vomiting be excited 
 with difficulty, increase the quantity boldly, assured that 
 less danger will result from an excess of the remedy than 
 from failure to accomplish the end sought. 
 
 After free vomiting, the stomach being well-evacuated, 
 smaller doses of the remedy may be given from time to 
 time, keeping up a free action of the skin. A large 
 sponge, taken out of water as hot as can be borne with 
 safety to the skin, should be applied to the throat and fre- 
 quently renewed. It often times affords great relief and 
 ought not to be neglected. A saline purgative should be 
 given as soon after the vomiting as the stomach will retain 
 the medicine, unless the bowels are already loose. The 
 free use of the ipecac will have a tendency to affect the 
 bowels.
 
 106 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Whooping-Cough. (Pertussis.) 
 
 Whooping-cough is a disease partly inflammatory and 
 partly nervous, seated in the larynx and bronchus, or 
 windpipe, uniting spasms of the bronchial muscles and 
 inflammation of the bronchial mucous membrane. Whoop- 
 ing-cough is an (infectious) contagious disease. It is 
 characterized by slight fever, bronchitis and a convulsive 
 cough, followed by several slight expiratory efforts ; then 
 a long, shrill inspiration and expectoration of glairy 
 mucous. 
 
 The history of the disease dates back only to the six- 
 teenth century, soon after the appearance of the eruptive 
 fever. It was most probably imported from the East. 
 It is associated with measles, and appeared about the 
 same time. No combination of natural causes can pro- 
 duce it. It is most frequent in temperate climates, and 
 is most fatal when cold winters follow hot summers. It 
 may occur at any age, but is met most frequently among 
 children, on account of its epidemic and contagious 
 character. One attack protects from another. The 
 mortality from this disease and its complications is very 
 great, and more especially among males. It is most fatal 
 among the poor. Infants under six months are less 
 liable to the disease than older children, as they are less 
 exposed to all contagions, but the disease may commence 
 before the child is born. The epidemics frequently 
 spread over large districts. The contagion may be car- 
 ried in the clothing of the sick.
 
 WHOOPING-COUGH. 1 07 
 
 This disease has three stages: (i) Catarrhal ; (2) 
 Convulsive ; (3) Decline. Incubation lasts from two to 
 eight days. Invasion sometimes occurs without any 
 known cause or previous evidence of the disease. There 
 seems to be a peculiar connection between whooping- 
 cough and measles ; the former frequently follows the 
 latter. The usual course of the disease commences with 
 the catarrh and cold in the head. Tears or water flow 
 freely from the eyes, and there is slight fever, less than 
 that which accompanies ordinary catarrh. There is 
 cough, which may last a fortnight, and is indicative to 
 a practiced ear. This cough becomes paroxysmal, occur- 
 ring regularly, and finally convulsively. The little 
 patient feels the cough coming on, and leaves its play 
 to run to a chair or some other object for support. Then 
 comes a short, dry, jerking cough, becoming louder, and 
 a number of short expirations, which expel' the air from 
 the lungs, arresting the circulation of the lungs, causing 
 congestion of the face and eyes. The veins are promi- 
 nent and the nostrils dilate. Then comes a long, shrill 
 inspiration, which may be repeated, then a sound of 
 gagging and a free discharge of glairy mucous. The 
 violence of the cough sometimes causes evacuation of 
 the stomach, bowels and bladder, or a hemorrhage from 
 the nose or stomach, or dark rings about the eyes. 
 
 The paroxysms, which usually occur during the night, 
 last from one-half to two minutes, returning at regular 
 intervals, perhaps hourly. They may be brought on by 
 overeating, by taking food, or by cold. All spasmodic
 
 IO8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 - 
 
 attacks, except hysterical ones, are apt to occur at night. 
 If the paroxysms are not too severe, the child will return 
 to its play, or it may become exhausted and gradually 
 grow weaker. 
 
 There is no sound heard in the lung during the cough 
 and none during the respiration following it, on account 
 of the bronchial obstructions preventing the air from 
 reaching the cells. The heart palpitates and the pulse 
 becomes very frequent during and immediately after the 
 paroxysms. During the decline the paroxysms and all 
 the other symptoms become gradually less severe, and 
 then finally end in catarrh. 
 
 In ordinary cases there are no bad effects except loss 
 of flesh from vomiting, and loss of sleep from coughing. 
 Death from suffocation or exhaustion sometimes occurs in 
 very young and feeble persons, or after measles. The 
 great danger in this disease is in what may follow as a 
 consequence. 
 
 Duration. 
 
 The disease usually lasts from two to four months. 
 Some cases, however, may last from seven to nine months. 
 In ordinary short cases the catarrhal stage may last two 
 weeks, the convulsions six or seven, and the decline from 
 one to three. The disease has its shortest course in mild 
 climates and seasons. Recoveries are most frequent in 
 spring and summer. If children contract it in the fall, it 
 will not likely entirely leave them until spring.
 
 COMPLICATIONS. 
 
 Complications. 
 
 These are simply respiratory, circulatory and nervous. 
 Bronchitis, capillary bronchitis, croup and pneumonia, are 
 diseases of the respiratory organs resulting from whooping- 
 cough. Decease is apt to occur from exhaustion and 
 suffocation. 
 
 Capillary bronchitis may run into pneumonia. If 
 pneumonia be circumscribed, sudden death rarely occurs. 
 The disease is then more prolonged and sometimes lasts 
 for months. About two-thirds of those attacked with 
 pneumonia or capillary bronchitis die. 
 
 Nervous complications are the result of cerebral con- 
 gestion. Nervous symptoms may appear early in young 
 infants, or may not come on until later in the disease. 
 The child becomes stupid, drowsy, and has convulsions. 
 Symptoms may appear very insidiously with headache, 
 increased difficulty of breathing, and sickness at the 
 stomach. When vomiting occurs at other times than 
 after a paroxysm of coughing, it is caused by irritation of 
 the brain. Diarrhea is a complication. In severe cases 
 it may indicate serious brain-trouble. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 In the first stages treat the catarrh and husband the 
 strength warm atmosphere day and night, warm cloth- 
 ing* good ventilation, exercise, and regularity of the 
 bowels. In the first stages, before the absolute character 
 of the disease is developed, give syrup of ipecac in half- 
 teaspoonful doses every half hour, until vomiting ensues.
 
 IIO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Give that at night. During the day a simple soothing 
 sprup is to be administered, such as the following : Pare- 
 goric, one drachm ; syrup of ipecac, half a drachm ; syrup 
 of squills, one drachm ; syrup of gum-arabic, four 
 drachms ; water, twelve drachms ; mix, and give a tea- 
 spoonful every three hours to a child one year old. In 
 mild cases the above treatment will answer quite well, but 
 the doses should be increased in quantity during the 
 second stage. 
 
 There is no means of preventing the disease. Guard 
 from the disease infants and those just weaned, 'also those 
 just recovering from measles, or other eruptive diseases, 
 and those having lung disease. If the season be good 
 and the child healthy, it would be proper to permit or, 
 even more, encourage contagion. The most useful 
 remedies are belladonna, bromides, quinine, and asafoetida. 
 The great remedy is belladonna. It may be necessary to 
 push it, and, on account of its potency, it should be 
 administered with caution. In simple cases one dose 
 daily will be sufficient, and may be administered in the 
 following formula : Fluid extract of belladonna, twelve 
 drops; sulphate of morphine, one grain ; syrup of squills, 
 one ounce ; water sufficient to make two ounces ; mix. 
 Dose: From half to a teaspoonful at night to a child from 
 three to six years old. In the case of infants, begin by 
 giving four or five drops, and increase until the effect is 
 gained. In older children, begin with ten or fifteen drops. 
 When given at night, the depressing effects are not felt. 
 In bad cases, half a dose may be given after breakfast.
 
 TREATMENT. Ill 
 
 One or two doses may be given through the day. Ir 
 very bad cases the bromides should also be administered: 
 Bromide of ammonia, one drachm ; bromide of soda, one- 
 half ounce ; water, three ounces. Make a solution, and 
 give half a teaspoonful to a child from three to six years 
 old more or less according to the age. 
 
 Dr. Meigs recommends alum in the following formula: 
 Pulverized alum, half a drachm ; white sugar, one drachm ; 
 mix thoroughly and divide into fifteen powders, and give 
 one dissolved in water every three to five hours. If the 
 expectoration become scanty, give the following : Syrup 
 of ipecac, one drachm; syrup of squills, two drachms; 
 syrup of wild cherry and acacia, each four drachms ; water, 
 five drachms ; mix. Uose : a teaspoonful as often as 
 necessary to restore the expectoration. 
 
 To move the bowels, mix together equal parts of castor 
 oil and New Orleans molasses, and give from one to two 
 teaspoonfuls, according to the age of the child. Quinine 
 is the best tonic, and arrests the reflex irritability of the 
 nerves. It should be given in large doses. It may be 
 made into a soft pill and given in jelly. If children can- 
 not take quinine by mouth, it may be given in injections. 
 Asafoetida is a remedy of much importance in whooping- 
 cough, and children take it very readily. Give a child of 
 six years a teaspoonful of the asafcetida mixture two or 
 three times a day. Asafcetida may be administered by 
 the rectum in small children with very satisfactory results. 
 It is given at the close of the second stage, and the begin- 
 ning of the third. The elixir of quinia, strychnia, and iron
 
 112 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 are good, or the tincture of the chloride of iron. Any of 
 these may be given when a tonic is required. 
 
 Vaccination. 
 
 For many centuries past medical men had practiced 
 inoculation with the virus of small-pox, believing that when 
 the disease was so induced, it was less virulent in its 
 effects upon the sufferer than when acquired in the usual 
 way of exposure. In 1718 Lady Mary Wortley Montague, 
 while visiting at Constantinople, became a convert to this 
 modified method of propagating the disease of small-pox, 
 and, upon her return to England, demonstrated her belief 
 in its sufficiency by permitting her son to be inoculated. 
 By this means inoculation was introduced into Great 
 Britain, and then spread over the continent of Europe and 
 proved to be of much benefit in modifying the severity of 
 this much-dreaded disease. But it remained for a distin- 
 guished physician by the name of Jenner to discover, by 
 various and prolonged experiments, and to introduce 
 vaccination, that masterpiece of medical induction. 
 
 Vaccination is a process by which a specific disease 
 termed " cow-pox " is introduced into the human organ- 
 ism, with a view to protecting it against an attack of a 
 disorder of much greater severity small-pox. The 
 method of vaccination, and its proper effects upon the 
 human subject, are mainly the object of the present 
 inquiry. 
 
 Children should only be vaccinated when in apparent 
 good health, except in circumstances in which they have
 
 VACCINATION. 1 1 3 
 
 been exposed to small-pox. Children suffering from 
 diarrhea, skin diseases, and chafing behind the ears, in 
 the groins, or in the folds of the neck, should not be 
 vaccinated, except in extreme circumstances. Inasmuch 
 as more than one-fourth of the deaths resulting from 
 small-pox occur in children under one year of age, it is 
 important that vaccination should be performed when the 
 child is quite young, provided its health will permit. 
 Dr. Seaton, in his comprehensive work on this subject, 
 recommends that plump, healthy children, living in large 
 towns, should be vaccinated when a month or six weeks 
 old, but that in more delicate children the vaccination 
 should be deferred until they are two or three months 
 old, but all excepting those whose state of health centra- 
 indicate, should be vaccinated at the age of three months. 
 It is always best to vaccinate early enough to avoid the 
 period of dentition. 
 
 The lymph to be used in vaccination should always be 
 taken either directly from the cow, or from a healthy- 
 child. The initial factor in this discovery was obtained 
 by observing that dairy maids contracted a disorder from 
 the cow which rendered them unsusceptible to an attack 
 of small-pox. Taking hold of this idea, and following it 
 by various experiments, Jenner arrived at the conclusion 
 (i) that cow-pox, communicated to man, has the power 
 to render him unsusceptible of small-pox ; (2) that the 
 specific cow-pox alone (and not other eruptions effecting 
 the cow, and which might be confounded with it) had this 
 protective power ; (3) that the cow-pox might be com-
 
 114 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 municated at will from the cow to man by the hand of the 
 surgeon, whenever the requisite opportunity existed, and 
 (4) that the cow-pox, once engrafted on the human sub- 
 ject, might be continued from individual to individual by 
 successive transmissions, conferring on each the same 
 immunity from small-pox as was enjoyed by the one who 
 was first infected direct from the cow. 
 
 The present method of obtaining the virus with which 
 to vaccinate is to inoculate a healthy cow with small-pox, 
 and induce the disorder of cow-pox. The lymph from 
 the vesicles of cow-pox should be inserted into the organ- 
 ism of a healthy child, and the lymph-crusts produced by 
 this means may be used to ingraft the disorder in other 
 individuals. The vesicles may be characteristic of the 
 disease, and fully formed, which is six or eight days 
 after the vaccination ; if the crust be not taken until the 
 bright inflamed ring around the vesicle is complete, its 
 protective power against the disease is very much less- 
 ened. Prime lymph is more or less sticky. If it be thin 
 and watery, it should be rejected. The best vaccine 
 material is taken from babies still upon the breast, with 
 dark complexion and smooth skin, and who are free from 
 all evidences of strumous affections. The most efficient 
 method of vaccination is that of passing the lymph directly 
 from the arm of one child to that of another, as it fre- 
 quently happens that the virtue of the lymph is lost in the 
 attempt to preserve it. A good vesicle, freely punctured, 
 will exude sufficient vaccine material for the direct vacci- 
 nation of half a dozen children.
 
 VACCINATION. ' I I 5 
 
 The ability to vaccinate requires but little skill, yet 
 some general directions may be necessary in order to 
 insure success. The lymph should be inserted under the 
 cuticle in the true skin, so as to be brought in contact with 
 the absorbent vessels, and thus carried into the circulation. 
 Care should be taken to not induce much bleeding, lest 
 the lymph be washed away by the blood. Various instru- 
 ments have been invented with which to perform the 
 operation, but almost any kind of sharp instrument may 
 be made to subserve the purpose, provided it be clean. 
 The position usually selected is upon the outside of the 
 arm, below the shoulder. The importance of the uniform 
 location upon the individual for the introduction of the 
 lymph is manifest. It renders easy subsequent examina- 
 tion to ascertain if the individual has been vaccinated, or 
 if he have the characteristic mark left by the vesicle. 
 
 In performing the operation, the skin should be held 
 upon a stretch. With a sharp, clean lancet, well charged 
 with lymph, held at an angle of 45 degrees, make several 
 punctures from above downward. The pocket thus formed 
 will retain the lymph. These punctures may be half an 
 inch from each other. If the lymph be preserved on 
 " points," as is sometimes the case, the " points " should 
 be exposed to a current of steam until the lymph is dis 
 solved, and then introduced into the punctures or pockets 
 made by the lancet. Others make a number of parallel 
 scratches, and across these make a like number of parallel 
 scratches, and then apply the lymph with the flat side of 
 the lancet, rubbing thoroughly into the skin. Many
 
 Il6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 persons make these scratches quite successfully with a 
 sharp needle. 
 
 At the end of the third or fourth day, if the operation 
 has been successfully performed, the skin at the spot 
 becomes slightly elevated, hard and red. On the 
 fifth or sixth, a vesicle of bluish-white color arises, which 
 presents an elevated edge with a cup in the center. It 
 fills up with clear lymph, and is matured about the eighth 
 day. It is surrounded by an inflamed ring or areola. 
 On the ninth, tenth or eleventh day the vesicle becomes a 
 pustule, the cup disappearing, and the areola enlarges 
 until it becomes a circle two or three inches in diameter. 
 In the following two or three days the pustule dries up, 
 and, in the course of a few days, or a week at most, it 
 falls off. There remains a cicatrix, or scar, which is 
 usually permanent, circular, somewhat depressed, and 
 covered with small dots or pits. In the case of young 
 children these marks may disappear late in life. 
 
 Accompanying the development of a pustule there is 
 more or less constitutional disturbance, indicated by rest- 
 lessness, headache, increase of temperature, and derange- 
 ment of the stomach and bowels, and occasionally some 
 ' swelling under the armpits. These symptoms are at times 
 quite severe, and are seldom entirely wanting. Cases are 
 sometimes met in which these symptoms are more or less 
 modified, either by being retarded or accelerated, irregular 
 or spurious, and it should not be forgotten that any 
 vaccination deviating from the perfect character of the 
 vesicle and the regular development of the areola, is not
 
 LEARNING TO WALK. 117 
 
 to be relied upon as protecting against small-pox. As a 
 general rule, neither the local nor constitutional symptoms 
 require any tieatment, but will run their course and 
 subside. 
 
 All persons vaccinated in childhood should be vac- 
 cinated at puberty. The second vaccination should be 
 performed with the same care as the first, and should not 
 be neglected until some epidemic of small-pox exists. In 
 epidemics of small-pox everybody should be vaccinated 
 to insure safety. Vaccination in early life is not always 
 immunity from small-pox in advanced life, neither does 
 small-pox itself always protect from a second attack. 
 
 Learning to Walk. 
 
 When the infant is a few months old, depending upon 
 its general vigor, it may be placed upon the floor, on a 
 soft mat or carpet. It will be free to toss its limbs about 
 and develop the muscles which are soon to be brought 
 into requisition. Its naturally restless disposition will be 
 dissatisfied with one position and one location, hence it 
 will soon be found upon its stomach, reaching out its 
 hands, like a boy learning to swim, drawing up its legs 
 and stretching them out again, and in a very short time 
 will have learned to crawl. 
 
 This will exercise every muscle of the body without 
 fatigue. It throws no weight upon the bones of the legs, 
 but only imparts vigor and strength, and is highly useful. 
 Having made this progress, its restless nature is still 
 unsatisfied, and laying hold of some object, say a chair, it
 
 Il8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 will endeavor by this aid to lift itself upon its feet. It is 
 not easily disheartened. Though it fall again and again, 
 it will persevere until by this means it learns to raise itself 
 upon its feet and stand, but not without holding to the 
 chair. 
 
 It will now soon be found lifting its feet alternately and 
 replacing them upon the floor. Next it will shove the 
 chair from it, keeping hold with its hands, and draw itself 
 up to an erect position. After a few experiments of this 
 kind, it may let go of the chair to examine some object 
 that may have been put in its way, and then will laugh at 
 its ability to stand. This adventure it will repeat, day 
 after day, with increased exultation, until, after frequent 
 trials, it becomes more confident of its ability to balance 
 itself, and lets go of its support entirely and stands 
 alone. 
 
 Time only is required to accomplish this natural 
 process, by which the bones and muscles are strengthened 
 and made able to bear the weight of the body as soon as 
 the child has gained sufficient courage to warrant it to 
 trust itself. It is not merely a lack of strength that 
 prevents a very young child from walking. The curved 
 slope of the legs causes the soles of the feet to face each 
 other, and they cannot adapt themselves to a horizontal 
 surface. Some time is required to change the position of 
 the feet, so they maybe fitted for support and locomotion. 
 The first efforts of a child in learning to walk should be 
 carefully watched, so as to protect from injury, but not to 
 afford any especial assistance.
 
 THE CHILD. 
 
 General Causes of Diseases Resulting From Errors in 
 
 Diet. 
 
 HAVING, in the remarks on food of infancy and early 
 childhood, given such advice and warnings as may be 
 necessary to a proper understanding of the healthful needs 
 of the system in early life, a few further suggestions on the 
 use and abuse of food in more mature life are proper. 
 
 Food has two great offices to perform first, to main- 
 tain the heat of the system, second to supply waste, and, 
 in the young, to provide for growth. Without the first 
 the temperature would fall below the standard of health ; 
 without the second, the consumption of the body would be 
 effected. 
 
 Much has been said by physiologists about the absolute 
 amount of waste that goes on in the body every twenty- 
 four hours, hence the large quantity of nutritious material 
 necessary to keep up the supply. But, since all of the 
 nutriment does not pass in through the mouth, it is impos- 
 sible to make an exact calculation. The skin not only 
 secretes fluids, but is a powerful absorbant. This may be 
 demonstrated by taking the weight of the body before a 
 meal and one hour after. The increase in weight will be 
 greater than the amount received by the mouth. This is 
 
 119
 
 I2O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 an additional reason for having said so much on the sub- 
 ject of baths, that the skin may be free to discharge its 
 proper functions. 
 
 It will be impossible to lay down any infallible rule as 
 to the amount of nutritious material that should be daily 
 taken into the system, as so much depends on exercise, 
 labor, atmospheric conditions, evaporation, etc. Nature 
 has made some provision for slight excesses by the excre- 
 tions and the storehouse of deposits. The old adage is 
 " Bread is the staff of life ;" but the Bible says " Man shall 
 not live by bread alone. " If you give this a natural sig- 
 nification, it implies that something else is needed for the 
 food of man. What is that something ? Milk, fat and 
 fluids, as water. In these we have all that is required. 
 There is starch for the body-food ; albumen for tissue- 
 repair in the glutine ; there are the earthy salts, and the 
 fat, which is partly consumed in body-fluid and partly 
 employed in building healthy tissue. Let us take a 
 mouthful of bread and butter and trace its history through 
 the system, thus learning to admire the wonderful opera- 
 tion of Nature in the constructive metamorphosis of the 
 human economy. On being placed in the mouth for 
 mastication, it excites a set of glands that pour out a fluid 
 called saliva, which on being brought into contact with 
 the starch granules, and the conversion of insoluble 
 starch into soluble sugar is begun. When the food is 
 swallowed a new action is set up. The soluble parts of 
 the food pass through the gastric vessels into the portal 
 vein, leaving the undissolved portions behind. The acid
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASES. 121 
 
 gastric juice acts upon this residue, and by dissolving it 
 liberates the remaining starch granules that had escaped 
 the action of the saliva. When this pulpy mass pasvses out 
 of the stomach, through the pyloric valve, into the duo- 
 denum, or, as it is sometimes called, the second stomach, 
 it meets some additional fluids called pancreatic juice and 
 bile, when the most active part of digestion is set up. 
 The liberated starch granules come in contact with the 
 diastase of the pancreatic secretions, and are by it con- 
 verted into soluble grape sugar the fat into emulsion. 
 In this condition, by the action of numerous absorbing 
 vessels, it is carried through the portal vessels and mixed 
 with the blood and thus supplies the waste produced from 
 the " wear and tear" of the system. This is the disposi- 
 tion Nature makes of bread, to supply the carbo-hydrates 
 (starch and sugar) albuminoids, fat and earthy salts. 
 
 No matter what art or skill may be called into ex- 
 ercise in the preparation of food to satisfy the vitiated 
 appetite, these are the essential elements of the food of 
 man, and everything he eats necessary for his sustenance 
 must undergo this chemical analysis before it can be 
 utilized by his organism. The carbo-hydrates form the 
 body-fuel. The overplus is stored as fat. The albumi- 
 noids repair the wasted tissue. The salts form the blood- 
 salts. The fat helps to build up the normal health- tissues. 
 The excess is burned as fuel. This is the legitimate object 
 of food. 
 
 The cook, however, goes forth into the great store- 
 house of Nature, gathers alike from the animal and
 
 122 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 vegetable kingdom, exercises in the preparation of food 
 all the skill of his art, and in it all accomplishes nothing 
 more than the savage. Hunger compels the individual to 
 take food to fill the stomach. The palate guides him in 
 his choice. If the food be simple, there is little or no 
 temptation to over-indulgence. But, through the ingen- 
 uity and advice of the culinary art, his judgment is 
 dethroned and appetite yields to temptation, just as it did 
 at the dawn of our race, when it was declared that " the 
 tree was good for food. " 
 
 Man must eat to live, but not live to eat. The object 
 of food is simply the support of the body, and not the 
 gratification of the appetite. Having said this much on 
 the subject of food and the form it assumes in order to be 
 assimilated, that the continual waste going on in the 
 system may be repaired, some further remarks on some of 
 the more common kinds of food and best methods of 
 preparation are deemed necessary, that the end sought 
 may be better attained. 
 
 Following the index of Nature, meat should not enter 
 into the dietary of children until after the development of 
 the canine teeth. Especially is this true, if the meat be 
 not thoroughly cooked. Various methods of preparing 
 meats for the table have been introduced by the culinary 
 art. One of the most ordinary is by boiling. Two ends 
 must be kept in view in boiling meat. If the liquor in 
 which the meat is boiled be intended to be used as soup, 
 by adding simply some savory condiment or vegetable, 
 the meat should be put into cold water and all brought to
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASES. 123 
 
 the boil, sufficient water only being used to cover the 
 meat, keeping up the waste caused by evaporation by the 
 addition of water from time to time, as may be necessary. 
 This liquid may be served either with or without 
 vegetables, and may prove to be both palatable and 
 nutritious. 
 
 It will be observed that the meat has lost whatever the 
 soup has gained by this process. If the meat be the first 
 consideration, then the water must be boiling when the 
 meat is put in it. When it is thus introduced into boiling 
 water, the albumen of the flesh is immediately coagulated 
 on the surface to a certain depth inward, thus forming a 
 skin or shell, which no longer permits the juice of the 
 meat to flow out, nor the water to penetrate into the mass. 
 The flesh continues juicy and as well-flavored as it can 
 possibly become. Meats so prepared will be found much 
 more palatable than if placed in cold water. 
 
 Another very common and- perhaps the most ancient 
 method of cooking meat is by roasting. The savage 
 could put a piece of meat on his stick and expose it to 
 the fire, turning as was necessary until cooked. Civiliza- 
 tion invented " spits," and dogs were utilized as " turn- 
 spits " to keep the meat turning before the fire, but 
 basting is also necessary to keep the meat from burning. 
 It requires more time to roast than to boil meat. Fresh 
 meat is better suited for roasting and salt meat for boiling. 
 
 Similar directions should be observed in roasting as in 
 boiling meat. It should at first be subjected to a strong 
 heat, that the albumen on the surface be speedily coagu-
 
 124 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 lated and the escape of the' juices speedily arrested. The 
 basting should be assiduously attended to. Meat should 
 be roasted either in front of an open fire or what is called 
 a " reflector " in a range. Some cooks place the meat in 
 a close oven, and bake rather than roast it. Meat treated 
 in this way loses less weight than by any other method, 
 but what is gained in weight is lost in flavor. Broiling is 
 a very savory method of treating meat, and when properly 
 done renders the food quite palatable. Frying flesh, 
 except it be bacon or ham, is an abuse of the culinary art. 
 It is, however, a very admirable way of treating fish. In 
 whatever way meat is prepared for the family it should be 
 cooked. The practice of eating raw meat belongs to 
 barbarous tribes. In cooking meat there is no change in 
 its life-giving principle, but the muscular fibers are loosened 
 by the action of heat, while the coagulation of the 
 albumen renders the fibers more brittle. Consequently, 
 cooked meat is more easily masticated than raw. Further 
 disintegration is facilitated, and disintegration precedes 
 solution, and solution precedes absorption, and absorption 
 precedes assimilation. 
 
 Bread, which enters more largely into the food of rnan, 
 being styled " the staff of life," was first made from 
 bruised grain, and contained all the elements of that 
 cereal. But cooks, long before chemistry was able to 
 point out their error, became dissatisfied with the color 
 and quality of the food thus made, and influenced the 
 manufacturers of flour to devise some means to remove 
 the external coat and thereby improve the color of the
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASES. 12$ 
 
 flour. By so doing they unfortunately get rid of the 
 salts, to please the eye at the expense of the well-being of 
 those who were to be fed from bread deficient in very 
 important elements. 
 
 An erroneous taste dies hard, hence every attempt to 
 turn to the use of " all-wheat flour " has met with little 
 success. Those only who have become invalids by the 
 free use of those improvements of art, and can no longer 
 indulge in such refinement, can be induced to return to 
 " the good old way. " 
 
 Flour, as at present made, is much inferior for life- 
 supporting purposes to that in earlier times. It is not 
 only deprived of its blood-food in the loss of the bran, 
 but also its nerve-food in the loss of the germ. In order 
 that flour be properly utilized, it is necessary to convert it 
 into bread. How is this accomplished ? Mixed with 
 water, a little salt and yeast, flour made into dough was 
 placed under the influence of moderate heat, and on 
 becoming spongy or light is made into loaves and baked. 
 This baking process converts some of the insoluble starch 
 into soluble dextrine. The higher the temperature, the 
 longer the time the bread is exposed while baking, the 
 greater will be the quantity of dextrine formed, and the 
 more easily will the mass be digested and assimilated. 
 For the same reason the crust of bread is the most healthy 
 for children and persons of weak digestion. Newly-made 
 bread is poisonous to most dyspeptics. From its moist 
 nature it readily goes into a pulp in the mouth, while 
 stale bread is dryer and of firmer consistency and does not
 
 126 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 easily lose its spongy nature. This every cook has 
 observed in attempting to make bread dressings. Hot 
 rolls are toothsome, but not easily digested. When flour 
 has been mixed with fat, as lard or butter, as is done in 
 making pastry, the starch and fat are so intimately mixed 
 and incorporated that the saliva cannot get at the starch- 
 granules because they are enveloped in fat. Conse- 
 quently, there remains the insoluble starch and fat to 
 produce the stomach-ache. 
 
 Corn bread is now directed to be made by mixing up 
 a thick batter, placed in earthen molds and baked 
 quickly, less than half an hour. Then it is usually eaten 
 quickly ; but little time is given the saliva to act upon 
 the starch. Is it a surprise that the outraged stomach 
 soon rebels ? Imposed upon by such large quantities of 
 unchanged starch, how long can it be expected to endure 
 such abuse ? 
 
 It should be remembered that the albumen of corn is 
 not gluten, hence will not alone make good bread, 
 especially when it is only exposed to the heat for such a 
 short time. It would be found much more digestible if 
 combined with wheat flour. The old method of preparing 
 " Johnny-cake " made much more easily-digested bread. 
 The meal was mixed into a thick mass with water, spread 
 thinly on a board, and placed before an open fire until 
 well browned, then turned over, exposing the other side 
 in the same way to the fire, until the whole cake was 
 thoroughly browned. This long exposure to the intense 
 heat set free much of the insoluble starch. Besides, the
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASES. I2/ 
 
 bread, being quite hard and dry, required much longer 
 time for mastication, mixing it more thoroughly with the 
 juices of the mouth, and relieving the stomach of much 
 labor. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this inquiry to go over in 
 review all the cakes and puddings that have been intro- 
 duced into the dietary of this civilization. Suffice it to 
 say that these are largely unfit to be placed in the stomach 
 of either children or adults. Doctors and vendors of 
 patent nostrums for the cure of the ills these toothsome 
 dishes daily manufacture are furnished with plenty of 
 business. 
 
 Starches of various kinds are used in milk for pud- 
 dings, and make an admirable dish for children and 
 dyspeptics. Starch manufactured from corn is found in 
 many kitchens. There is the starch of sago, rice, tapioca, 
 etc. The application of heat to these articles of food 
 before adding the milk would greatly facilitate the con- 
 version of starch. 
 
 Dr. Fothergill gives a formula for making the most 
 perfectly-digestible milk pudding : Add some ground malt 
 to baked starch ; then pour over some warm milk ; stir the 
 whole together and set in a warm place before putting in 
 the oven. 
 
 The potato lies midway between starch and vegetable. 
 It is very rich in starch, so that boiled potatoes mashed 
 are frequently mixed with flour in preparing bread. In 
 none of the vegetables is there a greater necessity for 
 cooking than the -potato. It is transformed from a hard,
 
 128 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 indigestible mass to a ball of flour. Much has been said 
 about the different methods of cooking potatoes. Some 
 bake, some boil, some steam, some pour off the first 
 water, others pour off the water when the boiling is com- 
 pleted, and leave the potatoes a little time in the pan to 
 evaporate the remaining water ; some mash the potatoes 
 and add cream and butter. There is but little difference 
 in these methods, and the cook is safe in adopting that one 
 by which is produced the greatest disintegration of the 
 naturally hard, indigestible mass. 
 
 Vegetables should occupy a much larger place in the 
 diet of families than they do. Many of them, as the roots, 
 abound' in starch and sugar, while others, as cabbage, 
 cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, celery, etc., are rich in alka- 
 line salts and alkaline earths. The old-fashioned " boiled 
 dinner " united in cooking the meat and vegetables ; that 
 which is lacking in the meat should be supplied by the 
 salts of the others. 
 
 Vegetables, to be palatable, should be ripe and fresh. 
 They are succulent and lose water rapidly ; dryness renders 
 them unfit for food. They should be fit to cook in boiling 
 water, great care being taken to cook until done and no 
 longer. They are very unpalatable if raw, and if left too 
 long over the fire they lose all their flavor. 
 
 Many vegetables are eaten uncooked, in the form of 
 salads ; others alone. Many of the salads are quite indi- 
 gestible. A great variety of dressings have been intro- 
 duced for salads. A rule is found in the Spanish proverb, 
 " To make a perfect salad there should be a miser for oil,
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASES. I2Q 
 
 a spendthrift for vinegar, a wise man for salt, and a mad- 
 cap to stir and mix all together. " 
 
 Fruits form another factor in the food of man. They 
 are certainly wholesome if eaten in limited quantities and 
 at proper times. Either unripe or over-ripe fruit is unfit 
 for the human stomach, and should be rejected. Fruits 
 should be eaten generally at meals, and but little danger 
 should be feared of eating too much. Many of the small 
 fruits that are used as desserts are very palatable, and thus 
 eaten are not objectionable. Persons differ widely in their 
 choice of fruits. Cotton's mother said : " Doubtless God 
 could make a better fruit than a strawberry, but doubtless 
 He has not." Others, however, might prefer the rasp- 
 berry, blackberry, grape or orange. Fruit contains sugar, 
 acid, and alkaline salts. The influence of the alkalies is 
 shown in a decisive manner in the effects produced on the 
 salts of our organic acid in the circulation. It has long 
 been observed that after eating juicy fruits, cherries, 
 strawberries, apples, etc., the urine becomes alkaline. 
 The utility of such foods in persons disposed to gout and 
 rheumatism is apparent, and persons thus afflicted should 
 use fruits freely and teach their children to follow their 
 example, thus saving doctors' potions in after-life. This 
 makes plain the theory of curing rheumatism by eating 
 lemons. 
 
 The normal functions of the stomach are not only 
 affected by the quality of the food eaten, but by the 
 quantity, the nature and the amount of exercise taken, 
 the length of time intervening between meals, the general
 
 130 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 state of health, the condition of the mind, climate, etc. 
 By having a general knowledge of the digestibility of the 
 different kinds of food when the system is in health, the 
 observing may discriminate properly and select only that 
 which is most easily digested and most appropriate when 
 the eater may be out of health. 
 
 In the experiment of Dr. Beaumont it was discovered 
 that indigestible substances in the stomach interfere with 
 the process of assimilation of that part more easily 
 digested. This being true, how easily may we retard 
 the assimilation of a fairly-digestible meal by the addition 
 of an unhealthy dessert ? Experiments have farther 
 proven that the temperature of the stomach is lowered by 
 the free use of ice-water either during meals or after, or 
 ice-cream for dessert, as is common. The process of 
 digestion will, for a time at least, be stopped. It was 
 observed by the authority above. quoted that the injection 
 of a gill of water, at a temperature of 50, into the 
 stomach of a patient at St. Martin's, sufficed to reduce 
 the temperature of the stomach 30, and was not restored 
 to its normal condition for more than half an hour. It 
 will be observed that the cooling of the stomach lessens 
 its activity, and that at a time when it most needs heat ; 
 frequently repeated, it cannot be otherwise than fraught 
 with inestimable danger. 
 
 If the food taken into the stomach be not digested, it 
 ferments and rots, and is in this state of decay carried 
 into the blood to supply the waste going on in the body. 
 As well might one undertake to make a substantial
 
 CONDITIONS OF THE MIND. 131 
 
 building out of rotten material as to make healthy tissue 
 out of such nutriment. The normal blood corpuscle in a 
 healthy condition is spherical, and flows smoothly through 
 the ramifications of minute vessels. By this process the 
 most delicate tissues are supplied with its life-giving prin- 
 ciple. But if it be' damaged in its manufacture, through 
 any defect in the process of digestion, its globular form 
 is changed into variable-shaped ; it does not flow so 
 smoothly, becomes clogged in the minute vessels, and 
 thus failing to make its circuit, likewise fails to carry 
 the much-needed supply to that part in the body. 
 
 Conditions of the Mind. 
 
 It was said that the condition of the mind has an 
 influence on the digestive process. The old adage, 
 " Laugh and grow fat," is more truthful than poetical. 
 Nothing conduces more to perfect digestion and complete 
 assimilation of food than a happy and cheerful disposition. 
 The man who is always on good terms with himself and 
 his business, and has no quarrels with his neighbors, will 
 almost certainly steer his digestive organs safely past all 
 the shoals and rocks that are covered up in the sea of 
 life. 
 
 But, in the busy struggle for existence at the present 
 day, when the battle of life is not so much fought by 
 muscle and sinew as by the brain, the demands upon the 
 nervous system are more excessive. " The spirit indeed is 
 willing but the flesh is weak." Certainly the spirit is so 
 willing, that even the strong must give way. No matter
 
 132 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. . 
 
 what power of endurance the body may possess, its 
 driving and restless tenant will exhaust them. The old 
 adage is true: "The sword will wear out the scab- 
 bard." This is especially true of persons with large, active 
 brain, and light, delicate body. Their restless and driving 
 disposition will be followed sooner or later with a break- 
 down. The assimilative organs cannot supply the means 
 of nutrition to the nervous system in sufficient quantity. 
 The reserve forces of the system become exhausted, and 
 the brain-power fails. The work that was accomplished 
 with alacrity and ease, becomes a wearisome and grievous 
 task, and soon the attempt to discharge the duty is an 
 utter failure. 
 
 Such cases fall under the observation of the busy 
 practitioner almost daily, and are growing fearfully preva- 
 lent. Such patients can only be restored by long rest and 
 a liberal supply of good brain-food. 
 
 In commercial parlance one would say: "That indi- 
 vidual has evidently drawn a bill upon himself Borrowed 
 so much of his intellectual capital ; the bill has matured 
 and must be paid. This is followed by a long, hard 
 process of paying back into the body-bank, till the 
 working capital is once more sufficient for competent 
 action. There has been a body-expenditure in excess of 
 a body-income, and the reserve body-capital has been 
 heavily drawn upon, until it is no longer able to meet the 
 draft. The only remedy in such dilemma is to cut down the 
 expenditures to the minimum amount and increase the 
 income to its maximum, until a new balance of capital 
 shall be obtained."
 
 CONDITIONS OF THE MIND. 133 
 
 This is the method adopted in the business world. If 
 a man exceed his income and get in debt, he must become 
 more economical, live on less until he gets out of debt, 
 and then he prepares to live better. When the pabulum of 
 the brain is exhausted, a long process of recuperation is 
 necessitated. " How is this best accomplished? " is the 
 question that presents itself to every intelligent physician, 
 and meets the ready answer, " in rest and nerve tonics 
 medication and alimentation." The kind of food best 
 adapted to such patients has been demonstrated, not only 
 by chemistry but experience, to be fat and fish. Fish 
 abounds in phosphorus, and a phosphorized fat must be 
 supplied to the nervous system. It is no difficult task to 
 furnish these materials, but to build them into the animal 
 economy by the process of assimilation often requires 
 time. Much depends upon its recuperative powers. If 
 they be feeble, much time will be necessary for the 
 accumulation of a sufficient store for working purposes. 
 On the other hand, if they be fairly vigorous, a compara- 
 tively rapid progress is possible. 
 
 Watch carefully the ability to digest food ; do not eat 
 too much at a time, but more frequently. Let fish form a 
 prominent part of the diet. Milk puddings answer well. 
 Cream with lime-water is excellent. Cod-liver oil and oil 
 emulsions suit some quite well. This is the line of treat- 
 ment that experience has demonstrated as most suitable. 
 The old theory of meeting this wasted and exhausted 
 condition of the nervous system by liberal supplies of lean 
 meat has proved abortive.
 
 134 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Much of the foregoing remarks on nervous exhaustion 
 and nervous supply will be found applicable to men as 
 well as women. 
 
 Food of School-girls. 
 
 A few remarks on the regimen of school-girls before 
 this subject of food is past. It is the idea of many girls, 
 at the present day, that elegance involves fragility, and 
 that to be robust and rosy-cheeked is to call forth the 
 derision of their school-mates, with the crude satire of 
 " fat enough for butchering. " To a false idea of appear- 
 ance, many sacrifice their health. In order to acquire 
 pallor and get rid of the hue of health, some girls take an 
 excess of vinegar, and attain their end by destroying their 
 digestion. Others eat slate-pencils, chalk, etc., imparing 
 their digestive powers from congestion and inactivity of 
 the bowels, which is aggravated by lack of out-door 
 exercise, and the compression of the viscera in order to 
 secure a grace of figure. Add to this the insufficiency of 
 nutritious diet, and you have laid the foundation for 
 delicate maidens and worthless women. 
 
 The mistaken idea of not providing a sufficiency of 
 nourishing diet for the young is much more prevalent 
 than it ought to be, particularly in female boarding- 
 schools, where the diet is often insufficient for daily 
 sustenance and growth, and where, consequently, the 
 characteristic aspect of impaired health, if not of actual 
 disease, is marked in most of the pupils. So defective, 
 indeed, is the common-school management in this and
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASE. 135 
 
 other respects, that we have the best authority for consid- 
 ering it a rare exception for a girl to return home in full 
 health after spending a few years in a boarding-school. 
 Much of this may be the result of confinement, want of 
 cheerful exercise, ill-ventilated rooms, and other depress- 
 ing influences, but to all these you may add insufficient 
 dietary acting with increased force on the impaired diges- 
 tion, which always follows where the laws of health have 
 been outraged. 
 
 General Causes of Disease. 
 
 A condition of health is that in which the physical 
 economy is in such harmonious activity that each organ 
 performs perfectly its peculiar functions. Health is the 
 normal state. Evidence of this appears in the efforts 
 which Nature makes in disease, local or general, to return 
 to the healthful state. If, for example, the flesh be lacer- 
 ated, there will soon be increased heat in the injured part. 
 This is caused by increased supply of blood- to that part, 
 blood being the material out of which Nature builds or 
 reconstructs the physical economy. This increase of blood 
 or congestion of the parts is followed by inflammation. 
 The lacerated parts, through which circulation is inter- 
 rupted, die for lack of nourishment, and slough away in 
 the form of pus. Underneath this slough will be seen 
 little nodules which are called granulations, filling up the 
 interstices unceasingly, continuing this operation until all 
 the parts are fully reestablished, when the whole work 
 stops, without any disposition to build a single atom more
 
 136 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 than was absolutely necessary to supply the part 
 destroyed. 
 
 Health, then, being the normal, or natural condition, 
 it follows that disease must be the abnormal or unnatural 
 state. Health is secured and maintained by the rigid 
 adherence to the laws established in Nature for that end. 
 Manifestly, disease must be incurred through the viola- 
 tion of some law of natural hygiene. Disease is the 
 penalty attached to Nature's laws of health. No law, 
 natural or civil, can be effective without penalty attaching 
 to its infraction. Providence has put into our hands the 
 means of health. It is a precious boon. 
 
 This involves a great responsibility. Health is mani- 
 festly among those talents that the Good Man left us in 
 charge of on taking his journey, and he will surely call us 
 to account on his return. 
 
 The study of the physical law of being is one of the 
 first duties. It will be attended with the greatest bless- 
 ing. It is a solemn truth, and one that should be forcibly 
 impressed upon both young and old until they become 
 thoroughly familiar with it, that for the most part we bring 
 upon ourselves the diseases we suffer. If they be not the 
 effect of imprudence they are traceable to the neglect or 
 ignorance of the guardians of our youth, or they are 
 entailed as a consequence of the violation of some physi- 
 cal law by our parents. Whatever may be the source of 
 disease it is manifestly a penalty for the violation of 
 Nature's laws. 
 
 Take, for example, a young girl, bred in high life, shut
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASE. 137 
 
 up iii the nursery in the city where she cannot be well 
 exposed to the pure stimulus of fresh air during her child- 
 hood. She spends her youth in a fashionable boarding- 
 school, and is never accustomed to either air or exercise, 
 which the law of Nature makes essential to health. The 
 period of puberty approaches, the hygiene of her sur- 
 roundings is unfavorable, the necessary nourishment 
 and stimulus for the establishment of instruction is 
 wanting. 
 
 This adds additional fuel to the fire that is consuming 
 her constitution. She enters the social concourse of the 
 young and gay at some fashionable gathering. Her shoes 
 are thin, her dress is light, her neck and arms are bare. 
 She indulges in the amusements of the evening where the 
 room is warm and close. No sooner is she at liberty to 
 retire, feeling faint and feeble, than she hurries into a cur- 
 rent of cool air and is soon chilled. Her delicate system 
 has no adequate power of resistance ; perspiration is sud- 
 denly suspended, a cold, cough, fever and death follow in 
 the wake. Her schoolmates and acquaintances lament- 
 ingly exclaim : " What a strange Providence, that a girl 
 so young should be thus cut down ! " Providence has no 
 action in the matter. She violated every known law of 
 health ; each violation is followed by the execution of the 
 fixed penalty. 
 
 Call in prominent view if you please the daily life of 
 some of the daughters of our men of wealth, and gaze 
 for a moment upon it in detail and see what it is. From 
 morning till night, day after day, there is the same round
 
 138 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of nothingness, the same comparative absence of physical 
 exercise and mental recreation, the same listless, sluggish, 
 stagnating existence. With servants to render all manual 
 labor, and frequently household cares unnecessary, with 
 no particular object in life to awaken interest, they pass 
 day after day without any physical exercise more invigor- 
 ating than a stupid walk up and down the street, and with 
 no mental employment more inspiring than the reading of 
 a few indifferent novels, the making of idle morning calls, 
 or the spending of an evening at a ball where late hours, 
 thin dresses, excessive dancing and improper food and 
 drink do much more injury than most people know. 
 Now, did God ever intend the girls, even of the rich, to 
 live thus ? Is not wealth, when it leads to such habits, a 
 curse rather than a blessing ? There is no truth better 
 established, both by theory and observation, than the fact 
 that a certain amount of both physical and mental labor is 
 necessary to the enjoyment of continual health by either 
 sex. 
 
 Upon the other hand, the girls who fill a moderate 
 station, or, in other words, are compelled by necessity to 
 work without having to overtax themselves, almost 
 invariably enjoy good health. When they do not, their 
 maladies may generally be traced to some constitutional 
 infirmity transmitted from their parents, as consumption, 
 debility, scrofula, or other hereditary taint. Farmers' 
 daughters who are accustomed to a certain amount of 
 invigorating exercise, which girls reared in town consider 
 ungenteel, are usually healthy and able to accomplish a 
 larsre amount of work.
 
 GENERAL CAUSES OF DISEASE. 139 
 
 If we were able to so thoroughly impress this truth on 
 the minds of the youth that they would be influenced by 
 it, we might do much in revolutionizing society and 
 preventing disease. 
 
 Beauty cannot be attained independently of health, 
 and health cannot be enjoyed without exercise or labor, 
 either mental or physical. 
 
 EPPOPS in Dpess as Causes of Disease. 
 
 The follies of fashion, especially as practiced in the 
 higher walks of life, are exceedingly deleterious to health 
 in childhood. The custom of heavily and warmly cover- 
 ing the body while the legs are almost entirely exposed 
 to the temperature of the atmosphere, be it high or low, 
 is fraught with serious consequences to the health of 
 fashionably-clothed children. The child thus dressed 
 goes and sits on the ground, the temperature of which is 
 low and damp, and is robbed of some of the heat of the 
 legs and lower part of the body. So the child goes, thus 
 dressed, from year to year, without much difference in 
 her apparel, the dress of the lower half of her body being 
 much less comfortable than the dress of the upper half. 
 The putting on of an extra skirt does not materially help 
 this difference. The skirts are so short that they cannot 
 be considered sufficient to keep a child warm any better 
 than an umbrella above its head. The cold air must 
 necessarily get under the skirt, and the warmer the body 
 the quicker the air will rush up on the principle of a 
 flue. In this way the temperature of the body of the
 
 140 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 girl from her waist down is, from year to year, kept 
 several degrees lower than that of her body from her waist 
 upward. 
 
 This is attended with most serious consequences. 
 Cold contracts the skin, veins and arteries, and forces the 
 blood from the surfaces. Put your hand in ice-water for 
 a few minutes, and you will see it shrunken and color- 
 less, for the blood has been driven out of it. This pro- 
 cess is going on all the time during which the child is less 
 warm in one part of the body than in another. In the 
 coldest part the circulation becomes slower as the blood 
 is driven away, thus destroying the equilibrium of the 
 circulation. But where driven ? To the other parts of 
 the body, where it is not needed, producing in such parts 
 an excess, causing passive congestion. 
 
 What is the first ill effect produced ? Constipation. 
 The bowels, like the stomach, have their functions to 
 perform in the process of digestion ; they require a 
 quantity of animal heat and unobstructed circulation of 
 the blood. But exposure of the surface of the abdomen 
 causes great evaporation of needed heat. The cold 
 drives the blood to the interior, causing a clogging-up 
 of the internal circulation. The digestion, robbed of the 
 heat needed, becomes gradually slower and delayed, and 
 as a result we have constipation. If this be not true, 
 why is it that four-fifths of all the women are constipated? 
 Because their dress is calculated to keep an unequal 
 temperature in the body, impeding the circulation. 
 Witness the children of the poorer class. They may be
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 14 1 
 
 exposed as much, nay, more than those of the wealthier 
 class, but their exposure is not partial. If they be thinly 
 dressed, they are so from head to foot. If they have no 
 drawers, they have no flannel shirts. If they have no 
 shoes, they have no covering for the head. Hence, there 
 is no inequality in their dress, making one part of the 
 body warm at the expense of the whole system. 
 
 Amusements. 
 
 Amusements play no insignificant part in the develop- 
 ment and training of youth, both physically and mentally. 
 Much of the time in early youth cannot be more usefully 
 employed than in those kinds of amusements which will 
 bring into play the muscles of the body, and at the same 
 time engage the mind with pleasing diversion. These 
 will be found, if prudently practiced, to contribute much 
 in laying the foundation of a healthy body, upon which 
 alone rests the whole superstructure of a happy and useful 
 life. 
 
 To deprive the young of the innocent pleasures of 
 childhood is by no means the most trivial mistake that 
 parents can make. Nevertheless we not infrequently 
 meet with parents who think it their duty to arrest the 
 naturalness, lightness and gaiety of heart in their children, 
 lest they should become too fond of pleasure. Great 
 harm is often done, in this way, to both mind and body, 
 and the very fault is created which it is desired to avoid. 
 The more reflecting parent, however, sees in the games 
 and plays of his children not only the necessary amuse-
 
 142 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ment and recreation to develop the physical nature, but 
 a benefit in the mental and moral development of their 
 being. 
 
 There are numberless devices for the amusement of 
 children that even at very early age develop important 
 elements in the human mind. There aje blocks or cubes 
 made of wood, upon the faces of which are printed letters, 
 figures and drafts of architecture, with which a child, 
 though very young, will soon learn to amuse himself in 
 constructing words, making larger cubes out of the small 
 ones, and placing them together in such order as to repro- 
 duce the piece of architecture that was cut to pieces by 
 dividing the blocks. Another very entertaining and 
 profitable device is a large sheet of paper board, on which 
 have been printed a number of animals with which a 
 child is familiar ; then the board has been divided into a 
 number of pieces, no two of which have the same shape. 
 Have the child put the pieces together, so as to recon- 
 struct the animals. Such amusements will do much to 
 develop the attention and memory of the child, besides 
 affording employment and relieving the nurse of much 
 trouble. 
 
 That important personage, the doll, affords pleasing 
 amusement for children that are quite young. A love of 
 the miniature baby is always worthy of cultivation in a 
 child. Perhaps there is nothing to which even a very 
 
 young child clings with such ardent devotion as to a doll 
 
 / 
 baby. To encourage her in this direction may instill in 
 
 her youthful mind something of the watchful, maternal
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 143 
 
 habits which will secure the happiness of her family in. 
 after-life. In dressing the doll, and in cutting and fitting 
 its clothes, the child will often acquire a skill with the 
 needle that will prove invaluable in two or three years. 
 
 Then there are the more active amusements adapted 
 to the demands of Nature, as the child advances in years 
 ball, skating, croquet, blind-man, the hunt, etc. Such 
 games bring the muscles into proper action and thus cause 
 them to fully develop. They expand and strengthen the 
 muscles of the chest, causing a free circulation of the 
 blood, making it bound freely through the vessels, dif- 
 fusing health and happiness in its course. If games were 
 more patronized in youth, the number of nervous, useless 
 persons would be greatly diminished. Let your children 
 have plenty of plays and they will have a corresponding 
 amount of health and vigor, and in due time they will be 
 ready and able to have their minds properly cultivated. 
 
 Unfortunately, there is a growing disposition, even in 
 this enlightened age, which cannot be too strongly 
 rebuked, to commence at the wrong end and train the 
 mind first, leaving the cultivation of the body to take 
 care of itself. The result is we reap the harvest from the 
 seed sown a broken-down stalk to support a full head. 
 Properly-timed exercise will do much to expand the chest 
 by compelling a full inflation of the lungs with the pure 
 air of the lawn or forest. This is their food, and if food 
 be supplied in sufficient quantities it must be distributed 
 to every portion of the lungs. If not, suffering and 
 disease will be the result. Croquet is a pleasant and
 
 144 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 healthful amusement for girls. It develops and improves 
 the muscles of the arms, beautifies the complexion, 
 strengthens the back, throws out the chest. Croquet is 
 for girls what cricket is for boys a glorious exercise. It 
 has brought as much health and happiness as any other 
 game ever invented. It is always a cheerful game, and a 
 "merry heart makes a fair lassie." Skating, when not 
 indulged to extremes, is a most excellent exercise. It 
 improves the figure, and makes a girl balance and carry 
 herself upright and well, is quite becoming, and is to be 
 commended. 
 
 Moral Training. 
 
 No education is complete which does not include a due 
 regard for those moral faculties, known under the names 
 of Inclination, Duty, Conscience, etc. in short, what is 
 known as the moral character. Health and happiness 
 here, and bliss hereafter, are dependent on the best of 
 these faculties. Of what avail is a robust physique or a 
 brilliant intellect if there be no ballast of moral rectitude ? 
 Many a parent has lived to ardently wish that his son or 
 daughter had died in youthful innocence ; and many a 
 heart has been bowed to the grave over grief and anguish 
 for a wayward child. Such parents realize, perhaps, when 
 it is too late, that they are responsible for the sad fate of 
 their child. Once he was theirs to develop and mold. 
 They neglected the soul culture. They built a noble bark 
 and started it out under fair prospects. But, alas ! there 
 was no rudder. It became a sport for winds and tides.
 
 MORAL TRAINING. 145 
 
 The storms of passion and the seductions of temptation 
 soon drove it from the path of rectitude. It was cast 
 upon a barren shore, a battered wreck, or it was swal- 
 lowed up in the fathomless vortex of sin and shame. 
 
 What has been may be again. Nay, it must be, if the 
 education of the intellectual emotions be neglected or 
 improperly conducted. Such a nature inheres in the con- 
 stitution of every sane child. It has susceptibilities, 
 capacities and fertility. Like a garden of rich deposit 
 if nothing useful be planted and cultivated, noxious and 
 hurtful weeds will spring up spontaneously. The moral 
 nature will not remain undeveloped through neglect of 
 education. It will develop spontaneously, but in unequal 
 directions, and with dangerous bias. 
 
 At birth the brain, the organ of the mind, is imperfect. 
 It is unfitted for any active manifestations. The only 
 indications of consciousness observable are a sensitiveness 
 to pain and a craving for food. The latter, and the 
 former too, for the matter of that, in dignity hardly rise 
 above mere animal instincts or appetites. No real traces 
 of the intelligent, sentient mind, with its stupendous 
 faculties, and of the soul with its fathomless pro- 
 fundities, are discernable. The brain is extremely deli- 
 cate and is easily injured. Injuries sustained at this 
 immature stage may, like those inflicted on the eye or ear, 
 be permanent and irremediable. 
 
 After a time, however, there are signs of awakening 
 intellect. Looks, smiles, frowns, will evidence the dawn- 
 ing of consciousness long before the child can give any
 
 146 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 other token. It cannot know, and, of course, cannot 
 evince any regard for the causes which excite its natural 
 activity. Still, the activity is there. Its signs can be 
 read in the countenance. " These," says a French writer, 
 * are the evidences of dawning affections. Even at the 
 early age of six weeks, when the infant is still a stranger 
 to the world and perceives external bjects so indistinctly 
 as to make no effort either to obtain or avoid them, he is, 
 nevertheless, susceptible to the influences of human pas- 
 sion. Although no material object possesses any attraction 
 for him, sympathy or the action of a feeling in his mind, 
 corresponding to the expression of the same feeling in the 
 mind of another, is already at work. A smile, a caress- 
 ing accent, raises a smile on his lips. Pleasing emotions 
 already animate this little being, and we, recognizing their 
 expression, are delighted in turn. Who, then, has told 
 this infant that a certain expression of the features 
 indicates tenderness for him ? How could he, to whom 
 his own physiognomy is unknown, imitate that of another 
 unless a corresponding feeling in his own mind impressed 
 the same characters on his feelings ? That person near 
 his cradle is perhaps not his nurse ; perhaps she has only 
 disturbed him or subjected him to some unpleasant opera- 
 tion. No matter ; she has smiled affectionately on him ; 
 he feels that he is loved and he loves in return." 
 
 Here, then, is the key to the right training of the 
 infant mind. The internal emotions are like the external 
 senses. Being distinct from each other and independent 
 in their actions, let the appropriate object of any of them.
 
 MORAL TRAINING: 147 
 
 the organ of which is already sufficiently developed, be 
 presented to it, and it will start into activity, as the eye 
 does when the rays of light come in contact with the 
 retina. Look, for example, at an infant six months old, 
 and observe the extent to which it responds to every 
 variety of stimulus addressed to its feelings. If we wish 
 to soothe it in a moment of fretful disappointment, do we 
 not succeed by gently fondling and singing to it in a soft, 
 affectionate voice ? If our aim be to arouse it to activity, 
 are not our movements and tones at once changed to the 
 lively and spirited ? When a sharp dialogue occurs 
 betxveen a nurse and any other person in the presence of 
 the infant, is it not common for the child to become 
 uneasy and cry, as if the angry expressions were addressed 
 to itself? 
 
 The facts of common observation are explained when 
 it is remembered that the emotions are reached only 
 through the senses. An emotion of pleasure or of pain is 
 created by the perception through some sense as of 
 sight, or touch, or taste, or smell, or hearing of an 
 external object possessing pleasurable or painful qualities. 
 For example, the hand comes in contact with the heated 
 iron. The sense of touch conveys the sensation to the 
 emotional nature, and the feeling of pair, is produced. 
 
 In the infant, and adult as well, the existence of the 
 feeling is manifested by certain external signs, as cries and 
 tears. When the eye rests upon objects which are beauti- 
 ful, the emotion of beauty is started in the soul. It may 
 be beauty of form or expression, or any modification
 
 148 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 perceptible by sight ; it may be beauty of sound as 
 expressed in harmony, where the ear becomes the organ 
 which conveys the impression. In any case, the emotion 
 created is a pleasing one. 
 
 With these few primary truths of psychology premised 
 and with the fact assumed, as already stated, that the 
 emotional nature of the infant, like all its other qualities, 
 is susceptible of development ; and with the additional 
 truth granted, that the rules for the development and 
 training of the physical and intellectual faculties are 
 equally applicable to the internal emotions with these 
 assumptions, it is not difficult to determine what are the 
 possibilities in the infant's soul ; and what are the duties 
 of parents ; and, likewise, how those duties are to be 
 performed. 
 
 Any faculty is developed in proportion to the frequency 
 with which it is exercised. This is true, whether it be 
 muscle or brain that is considered. It is true of the 
 passions. If the infant be allowed to exercise continually 
 the base emotions as of hate, anger, etc., the whole 
 nature will develop in the wrong direction. The antipodal 
 emotions of love, tenderness, sympathy, etc., will be 
 dwarfed in the process. But, if the better and higher 
 emotions be constantly exercised, they will grow more 
 largely, and their opposites be more completely 
 eradicated. 
 
 The simple duty of parents, then, is to cultivate the 
 better natures of their children. Outbursts of anger 
 should be prevented as far as possible. Conduct should
 
 WHEN TO COMMENCE MORAL TRAINING. 149 
 
 not be indulged which is calculated to unpleasantly affect 
 the mind of the child. Fretfulness and peevishness can 
 be cured if the parents never permit the child to see an 
 exhibition of these in themselves. The child learns from 
 the parent more largely than from any other person. It 
 learns unconsciously. It takes on the habits of the 
 parent. It observes the emotional nature of the parent to 
 a great extent. If the parent be always amiable to the 
 child and in his presence, the child largely develops amia- 
 bility. So of any other emotion. 
 
 When to Commence Moral Training. 
 
 The time to commence the moral education is when 
 the first indication of an awakening moral nature is 
 perceived. The earliest culture will be by object lessons 
 alone. The parent can express approbation and disap- 
 probation by a glance of the eye by the expression of 
 the countenance. The child soon learns to read its 
 mother's face as it afterward reads a printed page. She 
 can make it smile by smiling herself. She can make it 
 morose and hateful by exhibiting such emotions in herself 
 in countenance and word. 
 
 The mind is very feeble at this time, as the brain is 
 weak. Impressions are easily made. It requires but a 
 very trifling pressure to produce a deep dent. The mind 
 is like unhardened cement. A touch leaves a mark. The 
 hardening process makes the eradication of the mark 
 difficult, when once it is made ; impossible in a short time. 
 Playing upon the purer, nobler, higher emotions of the
 
 150 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 soul will keep these in most vigorous exercise, and conse- 
 quently tend to their more full and rapid development. 
 
 Proper Indulgence. 
 
 It does not follow from this that the child is to be 
 humored in every whim, indulged in every desire. Here 
 is where so many parents, particularly mothers, make a 
 serious error. They recognize the immaturity of the 
 child's mind. They assume that it does not know good 
 from evil, right from wrong. This is only a half-truth at 
 best ; such propositions are more dangerous than those 
 that are wholly wrong. It is true that the child is 
 governed by whims and caprices. It is also true that it 
 always will be so governed unless it be taught differently. 
 It is also true that the indulgence of a wrong emotion 
 tends to the further development, the education and 
 permanency of that fault. 
 
 No mother can begin too soon to lead out the moral 
 nature of her child. This is a dual process. Restraining 
 and eradicating what is not desired, stimulating and 
 encouraging what is desired. It is easier to destroy a 
 venomous insect or reptile in the egg. than after it has 
 begun to crawl. It is easier to destroy a poisonous plant 
 in the germ than after it has begun to root and branch. 
 The same holds true in the immaterial world. It is mr.ch 
 better to stifle an evil propensity or passion before it has 
 obtained a firm lodgement in the mind than is after- 
 ward. 
 
 Indulging infants in their desires is to invite further 
 waywardness. It may require a little time, a little
 
 PROPER INDULGENCE. 15! 
 
 patience, a little annoyance at the time, to cross the infant 
 desire. It is easier, quicker, more comfortable, to indulge 
 and be done with it. This, however, is only postponing 
 the day of correction, and intensifying the difficulties of 
 the process when it shall be undertaken. It is always best 
 to do right at every particular time. Never purchase a 
 present ease at the cost of future discomfort. 
 
 The writer recalls passing a night with a friend whose 
 infant had been ill for a few days. The indisposition had 
 necessitated frequent attentions during the night, and the 
 light in the sleeping-room had been kept burning. At 
 this time, however, the child was restored to health and 
 the light was extinguished. During the night the child 
 awoke, and, missing the light, refused to be comforted 
 and return to sleep. It would have been much easier to 
 have arisen, kindled a light, and thus secured peace and 
 rest. Such, however, was not the theory of that house- 
 hold. The child remained wakeful, fretted and cried for 
 perhaps two hours. It finally fell asleep through exhaus- 
 tion. The next night the same struggle was renewed, but 
 it was of much shorter duration. After that there was no 
 further trouble. The child learned that it could not secure 
 what it wanted, and it gave up crying for it. It cost a 
 good part of two nights' rest to teach this lesson ; but it 
 was taught. The principle in the above illustration is 
 susceptible of multifarious applications. It is the only 
 principle. The child must be made to know that the 
 mother's will is to dominate. A few exhibitions of firm- 
 ness and tenacity will teach this important lesson. The
 
 152 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 child will acquire the habit of yielding to its parents 
 When this point is gained the process of moral training is 
 comparatively easy. Until it shall be reached, it will be 
 lame, impotent work. Here, too, is the key to successful 
 government and training. 
 
 Whatever the child sees the mother do it essays to do. 
 It repeats the words which the mother has said in its 
 presence, and endeavors to imitate the actions which it 
 sees in others. It does this, apparently, from an instinctive 
 impulse. Those with whom the child is most intimate 
 and most constantly associated, especially its parents, its 
 brothers and sisters, are- folio wed to the greatest extent. 
 The child has implicit faith in its parents. Whatever they 
 say is true ; whatever they do is right. During the earlier 
 years of life the child knows no higher authority than its 
 parents. " Father does this," or " Mother says that," is 
 exclusive warrant to the child of the righteousness of the 
 doing or saying. It desires no higher justification for its 
 own sayings or doings than the fact that it is following its 
 parent's lead. 
 
 An additional truth must be borne in mind : All 
 human beings are imitative creatures. Relatively, this 
 faculty is more largely developed in children than in per- 
 sons of mature years. A strong impulse, innate and 
 perhaps instinctive, urges the child to imitate the example 
 of others. The child is new to the world, and everything 
 . in the world around it is new. It is a learner. The 
 desire to gain information, to increase in knowledge, to 
 accumulate a stock of facts which have been revealed by 
 
 H f3 H J j G 3 
 
 'fj <^
 
 PROPER INDULGENCE. 153 
 
 the senses, is a universal faculty. Hence the well-known 
 propensity of children of five and six years of age to ask 
 questions. Hence, also, the vague rambling of such 
 questioning ; the mind knows nothing definitely or fully ; 
 it has an intense yearning for knowledge ; and it floats 
 about in a vast sphere, grasping at everything it sees 
 about it. 
 
 Take all these well-recognized facts together namely, 
 the large and trusted place which parents fill in the child's 
 life, the instinct for imitation and the innate propensity 
 for seeking knowledge and add to them the constant 
 presence or contiguity of the parents to the child, and a! 
 once is grasped the compass of parental influence ove/ 
 the child by word and example. 
 
 Some parents make the grave mistake of thinking 
 that the child will discriminate ; that it will recognize 
 that a thing may be right for its father to do, and at the 
 same time be wrong for it (the child) to do. This is not 
 the fact. Children do not discriminate. This requires 
 an act of the understanding of which they are incapable. 
 The child cannot help thinking that what its parents do is 
 the right thing to do, and instinctively endeavors to 
 imitate them. This is a part of its being, an integral 
 part of its nature. 
 
 Children, too, possess a keen discernment. Intuitively 
 they perceive truth and error. It is impossible long to 
 deceive them. They seem to read character accurately 
 and profoundly. Certain domestic animals, as the dog, 
 for example, possess an instinct that enables them to
 
 154 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 reaclx remarkable conclusions. The undeveloped intelli- 
 gence of the child has qualities similar in operation to 
 this animal instinct. The child always believes its 
 parents to be what it sees them to be. It also believes 
 its parents to be infallibly right. Imitative impulse will 
 incline it to do what it sees the parents do. It also will, 
 unconsciously, but none the less certainly, take on the 
 moral caste of its parents and nearest exemplars. 
 
 Parents cannot be too circumspect before their 
 children. Every idle word, every careless act, is noted, 
 and then, or at some subsequent time, repeated. Habits 
 are acquired, manners are learned, and opinions are 
 formed, almost wholly by the influence of the example 
 of others. If such example be worthy of imitation, well 
 and good ; the child will develop in right directions and 
 acquire those habits and convictions which best fit it for 
 reaching the great ends of its being in the world. If, on 
 the other hand, the examples before it are vicious, it will 
 as surely develop into a course of life and be character- 
 ized by beliefs and opinions which tend downward. 
 There may be line upon line and precept upon precept of 
 truth and uprightness ; these avail little in moral and 
 ethical training, unless they be attended and supple- 
 mented by examples in kind. Actions speak louder 
 than words ; they speak more effectively ; they convince 
 more readily. 
 
 Parents are first in the child's life, nearest to it in 
 every respect, and, consequently influence it to a greater 
 degree in the earlier years of its life than all other persons
 
 IMMORAL PRACTICES, ETC. 155 
 
 combined. From its parents, it may be assumed, the 
 child learns nothing but what is for its good. It cannot, 
 if the parents are as careful and prudent as their desires 
 and affections should lead them to be. Parents have an 
 interest in their children and a care for them that cannot 
 be measured. No calculus can compute the length, 
 breadth and "depth of parental love. It surpasses the 
 heavens in height, and in profundity reaches the fathom- 
 less depths. The very life of the parents often centers in 
 the child. It is the " all in all " of earthly desires. While, 
 therefore, the child shall remain exclusively under parental 
 care, it is measurably safe from evil communications, 
 which corrupt good manners, and from the baneful influ- 
 ences of evil example. 
 
 But such a condition is necessarily brief. The days 
 come and go, and the sphere of the child is enlarged. 
 The means of acquiring information go outside the two 
 persons who have given it being. It is impossible to pre- 
 vent this, and not desirable, even if it were possible. It 
 must come in contact with persons other than those of its 
 own home. From these other persons it will learn as 
 readily, and absorb knowledge as rapidly as at home. It 
 has nurses, perhaps, and it soon will find playmates of its 
 own age. 
 
 Immoral Practices Received from Playmates and Nurses. 
 
 Regarding the nurses, it may be said that, as a rule, 
 they are not the sort of moral guides which children ought 
 to have. They are generally of the lower walks of life
 
 I5<5 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 and uneducated. As a consequence, their minds are 
 filled with fanciful notions and superstitions. It will be a 
 blessing if they do not also have gross immoralities of 
 speech or behavior. The playmates are necessarily a 
 mixed throng. Parents cannot choose the playmates of 
 their children. They may do mach in the line of restrict- 
 ing these, and in guiding their children to a wise selection 
 of mates, but they cannot entirely control the selection. 
 It is not best that they should. Some of the child's play- 
 fellows will certainly have learned words and lines of con- 
 duct which cannot be approved, and which no thoughtful 
 parent can desire his child to imitate. 
 
 What shall be done in such cases ? In general, it may 
 be said that contact with coarse and immoral persons is 
 not an unmixed evil. It is a source of danger to the child 
 always, and a menace to its purity of life. But the great 
 Creator designed that life on earth should be a conflict. 
 Good and bad influences compass every life, and, sooner 
 or later, must come in contact in every one. " It must 
 needs be that offenses come. " It is by trial that faith is 
 made perfect. It is by meeting and overcoming tempta- 
 tions that one is made strong to overcome. Ignorance of 
 evil is no protection against it. 
 
 Duty of Parents in Reference to Such Influence. 
 
 The parents and guardians of children should be care- 
 ful that no temptation to evil meets the child beyond what 
 it is able to bear. It should be provided with the best 
 nurse possible, with reference to influence on the child's
 
 DUTY OF PARENTS IN REFERENCE THERETO. 157 
 
 morals. A less efficient nurse, as such, is preferable to 
 a more skillful one if the moral character of the latter be 
 depraved. The playmates of the child should undergo judi- 
 cious observation by the parents, who will need to exercise 
 great prudence in this matter. A direct command to not 
 play with a certain child may result in fhe very evil it was 
 desired to avoid. The influence of these playmates upon 
 the child from day to day should be noted. This is not a 
 difficult task. The child will certainly betray any new 
 experience which it may have, because, until told to the 
 contrary, it will think it right and proper. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these provisions, it will still remain 
 true that the child will come into associations with vicious 
 companions and from them learn many improprieties. Pre- 
 vention is always better than cure ; but when prevention 
 shall fail cure must be resorted to. The parents must 
 take measures to counteract the evil influences which tend 
 to harm their children. This they can do. The child has 
 greater confidence in its parents than in strangers. It 
 will rely upon their counsel in preference to that of other 
 persons outside of the home. If an improper word 
 learned upon the playground be never heard in the home, 
 and when repeated by the child in the home circle, shall 
 be condemned, the child will instinctively recognize that 
 there is a difference between right and wrong, and will 
 readily yield to the stronger influence of home. The evil 
 habits learned outside the home should be carefully but 
 promptly corrected. Ordinarily, no reason will be 
 required for the prohibition, beyond the words of the
 
 158 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 parents. The child will accept the dictum of the parent 
 as authoritative in the case. 
 
 But the greatest counteractive of all is the example 
 which parents set before their children. The child cannot 
 help contrasting what he sees and hears at home with 
 what he sees and hears abroad. In the tender mind will 
 thus grow up a knowledge of good and evil. The 
 stronger love for home and the implicit trust in the good 
 intention of its parents, will induce a predilection for the 
 good and the pure. This knowledge is the lesson which 
 all must learn. It is a condition of a strong and pure life 
 on earth. Until it shall have been learned, and learned in 
 the stern school of experience, no soul is safe. The child's 
 is a pulpy soul, capable of being molded in a wrong 
 direction as readily as in a right one. 
 
 Without the innate impulse of imitation or mimicry, 
 before alluded to, the child's education would be slow ; 
 could not begin until the mind had gained sufficient vigor 
 to be capable of utilizing the abstract intellectual modes of 
 gaining knowledge. With it the infant becomes a learner 
 from the earliest dawn of intelligence. 
 
 But the child does not derive all its knowledge in this 
 \\ay. It finds teachers everywhere. The new and plas- 
 tic mind receives impressions through each of its senses, 
 daily and hourly, and each impression is a factor in deter- 
 mining the nature and extent of the resultant. It is but 
 the expression of a truism to say that from each of ; ts nve 
 senses the child receives continual accretions of tacts 
 which fix themselves in the unfilled mind. Its senses are
 
 DUTY OF PARENTS IN REFERENCE THERETO. 159 
 
 keen and its thirst for knowledge is great. It is learning 
 when the maturer mind is not ; its intellect is active and 
 vigilant when the mind of the adult sees nothing that 
 makes any noticeable impression. 
 
 The parents and guardians of children cannot over- 
 estimate the number and variety of means by which the 
 child-mind is increased in knowledge. Everything in the 
 great world about is of interest to the child. It takes the 
 hue of everything around. The lessons which it learns 
 are not all clearly defined to it, nor do they come in any 
 logical order. Until taught differently, good and evil are 
 alike to it, except in their more radical forms. It learns 
 as quickly from vicious as from virtuous examples. It 
 segregates the abstractions of vice as readily as it does 
 the scintillations of virtue, and herein lies the danger to 
 the education of the child. Herein lies the imperative 
 necessity of constant vigilance on the part of the parent. 
 
 ' It is as natural for the child to learn as it is for the tree 
 to grow or the earth to produce vegetation. It is the law 
 of intellectual life that it cannot be dormant. The mind 
 can no more remain unoccupied than a fertile field can be 
 barren under the rays of the sun and the gentle showers. 
 In either case there is, and of necessity must be, a prod- 
 uct. It may be useful fruits, and it may be noxious 
 weeds. It may be healthful knowledge, or it may be 
 destructive immoralities. Nature, whether in the domain 
 of mind or matter, abhors a vacuum. The mind of the 
 child may be said to be empty when it first becomes sen- 
 sible to the external impressions. It cannot remain so.
 
 160 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 It will fill up from every source. Good and evil abound 
 in the world, and hedge the child through all its days. 
 They contend for the mastery of a soul. The good man 
 may sow the seeds of useful knowledge never so assidu- 
 ously, but if he sleeps the wily adversary will come up 
 and scatter the tares in the carefully-prepared field ; there 
 is then no recourse until the harvest. His opportunity 
 will be lost if he sleep and leave the field unguarded. 
 
 Parents must never leave the lives of their children 
 unguarded. They must watch the development of every 
 impression, and remove all that is evil in essence or vicious 
 in tendency before it becomes rooted in the mind. Every 
 good impression must be deepened until it is firmly fastened 
 in the mind. The eradication of an evil thought is not 
 enough. The lesson comes down from the pages of the 
 Sacred Word that the exorcism of an evil spirit is to leave 
 the soul in a dangerous condition. The soul may be 
 purged ; but if it remain empty, it may become the final 
 abode of sevenfold more evil spirits than those which were 
 cast out. The evil seeds must be pulled up and good 
 seed sown in the place. The bad impressions can 
 only, or, at least, can best be removed by the counteracting 
 force of stronger impressions for good. Negative educa- 
 tion seldom avails much of lasting good. This is espe- 
 cially the case with children. Their minds are so tender, 
 so plastic, that it is better to stamp truth over error, and 
 thus obliterate it, than to attempt to eradicate the false 
 and then introduce the true. It is, after all, a matter of 
 good and bad impressions. The work of the teacher lies 
 in seeing that the good impressions are made the deeper.
 
 DRESS. l6l 
 
 Dress. 
 
 The subject of dress is of so much importance in the 
 
 i 
 education of children that it deserves special notice. It 
 
 is a factor not always recognized and seldom fully 
 appreciated. Some parents seem to think that it makes 
 little difference how they clothe their children so they 
 are comfortable. Anything will do, whether it be old or 
 new, of fashionable pattern or unfashionable, neat-fitting 
 or ill-fitting. They argue that the children do not know 
 the difference in quality, pattern or fit therefore the 
 cheapest is the most economical. 
 
 There are others who seem to have a morbid dread 
 that their children will become vain, and hence they 
 purposely and studiously dress them in plain and homely 
 attire. Such parents are honest and well-meaning. They 
 are disgusted with the pride and vanities of the world, and 
 desire above all things that their children shall grow up 
 free from these vices. The intention is commendable, 
 but the means used to attain it are not the best. There 
 is not infrequently as much pride and vanity in those who 
 dress ill as those who dress well. 
 
 There are others who seem to regard their children as 
 they do their other possessions that is, as things by 
 which the owner's taste and judgment may be gauged by 
 the neighbors. They dress up their children for show, 
 just as they do their houses or lawns. They love beauti- 
 ful appointments about their homes, and ill-dressed, 
 tawdry children present an appearance which is disagree-
 
 162 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 able to their refined and sensitive tastes. Such parents 
 act, then, without much, if any, regard for the children, 
 but largely, if not wholly, for the effect objectively 
 considered. 
 
 All of these conceptions are wrong. Children should 
 be clothed with their own good in view. Their dress 
 operates in two ways (in their education) upon their 
 bodies, and upon their minds. The one is no less impor- 
 tant than the other. The whole matter of dress should be 
 viewed from this dual standpoint. What others may 
 think of the appearance of their children should be a 
 comparatively insignificant consideration. What effect 
 the child's dress may have on the parents' taste is equally 
 so. The child is to be dressed for its own sake, not for 
 the sake of others. It happens, however, that when it is 
 best dressed for its own sake, it presents the happiest 
 effect on others. But this is merely incidental. 
 
 First of all, the clothing should be a protection to the 
 child's body. This is a primary object. The body 
 should be kept comfortable warm in winter, cool in 
 summer, so far as clothing can do this. It should be 
 comfortable in another sense. It should feel easy and 
 pleasant to the child. To reach this end it will not do 
 to have the clothing unequally distributed over the body, 
 thicker and warmer in some places than in others. This 
 is often the case with little girls. They are warmly clad 
 about the chest and abdomen, while their limbs are 
 exposed to the cold. The effect of this is to drive the 
 blood from the extremities. Directly, this is injurious ;
 
 DRESS. 163 
 
 remotely, it tends to an unequal development of the parts. 
 The circulation in the extremities is impeded until it fails 
 to recuperate the continual waste of tissue. This is part 
 of the reason why so many girls grow up with fairly- 
 developed busts, but scrawny and ill-shaped legs and 
 arms. 
 
 The clothing should be adapted to the functional 
 operations of the body. Circulation and respiration must 
 not be interfered with by bands and compresses. The 
 dress may be trim without being tight to obstructiveness. 
 The blood must be allowed unimpeded movement through 
 the veins and arteries. The further the part is removed 
 from the center of circulation, the weaker is the movement 
 and hence the greater care should be given that no obstacle 
 in the way of tight waist-bands, shoes, etc., be permitted. 
 The same may be said of respiration. It is very important 
 that the dress permit unhindered movement of the muscles 
 concerned in breathing. The dress should further be 
 constructed with a view to perfect ease and freedom of 
 movement of all the parts of the body. The nature of 
 the material used has much to do with the attainment of 
 this end. It is not an uncommon thing to see children so 
 dressed that when they remain in a certain .position their 
 clothing hangs gracefully ; but the texture or the manner 
 of its construction will not permit taking certain other 
 positions. Children are keen-sighted and sensitive. A 
 boy of even eight years of age, when he discerns that he 
 cannot sit down without drawing his dress out of neat fit, 
 will not and cannot sit gracefully and comfortably in the
 
 164 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 presence of others. The dress should allow the arms, 
 legs, shoulders and body generally to be moved freely 
 without a feeling of discomfort or a consciousness of 
 disorder in appearances. 
 
 Fashion. 
 
 It has already been said that children are observing 
 and sensitive. They are keenly alive to the impression 
 which their dress creates in the beholder. Their feelings 
 operate on- their intellectual powers and habits. A child 
 slovenly dressed feels slovenly, and is quite likely to think 
 slovenly. On the other extreme, a child dressed like a 
 doll is likely to feel and think doll-fashion. Here, then, 
 are two extremes to be avoided for the subjective good of 
 the child slovenliness and vanity. It is a well-estab- 
 lished psychological fact that the intellectual and emotional 
 natures of persons are largely conditioned by material 
 environments. Everything about the maturing life has 
 an influence on its mind and character. The subject may 
 not be elaborated here ; suffice it to say that dress is a 
 material circumstance most potent in its influence and 
 effects. No adult who reads these pages can deny that 
 his mental and moral feelings are influenced by the way 
 in which he is dressed. The writer remembers to have 
 demonstrated this frequently during his school-days, both 
 with himself and others. The attempt would be made to 
 write an essay on some topic requiring elevation of mind 
 and free imaginative scope. With such a task on hand, if 
 one should dress himself in a slatternly manner and
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CHILDHOOD. 165 
 
 repair to the stable or wood-shed, the free play of thought 
 was impossible. Words, phrases, topics, metaphors, 
 could not be recalled, for the thoughts were uniformly in 
 the plane of the surroundings. Change the conditions 
 let the dress be neat, clean and tasty, seek a beautiful 
 site for landscape, or repair to an orderly-arranged room, 
 and the best? thought of which the mind was capable 
 would be evoked. 
 
 What is true of adults with regard to the influence of 
 dress upon mental action is increasingly true of children. 
 The mind of a child is more impressionable. It is much 
 more easily affected for good or evil. As the mind is 
 now in its formative state, it is manifestly important that 
 it be formed on as pure a model and on as high a plane as 
 is attainable. If low and base thoughts be constantly 
 evoked, the mind and moral nature will be formed on this 
 scale. Criminals are bred in filthy surroundings ; the 
 keen, careful man of business was the boy whose early 
 life was attended by care and exactness. The easy, 
 polite, graceful society lady was not clothed in ill-fitting 
 garments of obsolete patterns when she was a girl. The 
 highest perfection in dress is reached when it enables its 
 wearer to feel easy, natural, and beyond remark, either 
 on account of uncouthness or hyper-elegance. 
 
 Government of Childhood. 
 
 The relation of parent and child involves certain privi- 
 leges. Every privilege involves an obligation. It is the 
 parents' privilege to exercise authority over their children ;
 
 166 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 it is their duty to execute this authority. The parents 
 are the tutors and governors. They cannot escape this 
 duty if they would. They are bound to govern 
 their children and it .is the duty of the child to 
 submit to the paternal rule. If it do not submit it 
 should be compelled to. A large share of this govern- 
 ment devolves upon the mother. A mother is invested 
 by God with a decree of authority over her child 
 which she cannot neglect to use without being guilty of 
 trampling under foot the institutions of heaven. Every 
 family is a community, the government of which is strictly 
 despotic, though it should not be tyrannical. Parents are 
 sovereigns, though they should not be oppressors. Legis- 
 lators are not merely counselors, and their will should be 
 not advice, but law. The mother's prerogative is to 
 command, to restrain, and to punish, and children are 
 required to obey. If need be, she may threaten, rebuke, 
 chastise, and the child should submit with reverence. 
 
 The mother is to decide what books are to be read, 
 what companions invited, what engagements formed, and 
 how time is to be spent. If she see anything wrong she 
 is not to interpose with the timid, feeble, ineffectual voice 
 of Eli " Why do ye thus, my sons ? " but with the 
 firm, though mild prohibition. A parent must rule her 
 own house, and by her conduct make her children feel 
 that obedience to her command is her due. A lack 
 of discipline is identical with confusion and domestic 
 anarchy. 
 
 Where discipline is absent everything goes wrong. A 
 gardener may sou- the choicest seeds, but if he neglects
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CHILDHOOD. l6/ 
 
 to pull up the weeds and prune wild luxuriance, he may 
 not expect to see his flowers grow nor his garden flourish. 
 So a mother may deliver the best instructions, but if she 
 do not by discipline eradicate evil tempers, correct bad 
 habits and repress rank corruptions, nothing excellent can 
 be looked for. She may be a good prophet and a good 
 priest, but she must be as well a queen, or all is in vain. 
 When once a sceptre shall have been broken, or relin- 
 quished to the child as a plaything, all hope for the 
 proper government of the family may as well be given 
 up. 
 
 In his professional life the writer has witnessed the 
 evils resulting from the want of discipline in innumerable 
 families. Frightful instances of disorder and immorality 
 are now present to the mind which he could well wish to 
 forget. The misfortune in many families is that discipline 
 is unsteady and irregular sometimes carried to tyranny 
 itself, at other times relaxed into total suspension so 
 that the children now tremble like slaves, and now revolt 
 like rebels. This is a most erroneous system, and its 
 effects are just what might be expected. 
 
 Another evil is that discipline is often abortive. That 
 is, it is administered at a proper time and manner, but is 
 relaxed just short of success. No correction should be 
 commenced that is not completed then and there. When 
 an order has been issued, its execution should follow. 
 When chastisement for a certain end is to be applied, it 
 should not be relinquished until that end is reached, and 
 one thorough correction is worth more than a hundred 
 abortive efforts.
 
 l68 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Parents, particularly mothers, often delay the applica- 
 tion of coercive measures too long. There is nothing 
 surprising about this. The growth of the child is so 
 gradual that the mother does not notice the progress made 
 from day to day. At first, and for months afterwards, 
 the infant is incapable of understanding the meaning of 
 government. It must be coaxed and wheedled. The 
 time glides away rapidly, and the mother scarce knows 
 when she should have begun to govern her child instead 
 of having it govern her. 
 
 Whately says : " A mother once asked a clergyman 
 when she should begin the education of her child, which 
 she told him was then four years old. ' Madam,' was the 
 reply, ' you have lost four years already. From the very 
 first smile that gleams over an infant's cheek your 
 opportunity begins.' ' 
 
 In some cases discipline commences too late, and in 
 others too early. A mother's magisterial office is nearly 
 coeval with her parental relation. A child, as soon as it 
 can reason, should be made to feel that obedience is due 
 to parents, for if it grow up before it have been subject to 
 the mild rule of parental authority it will very likely be 
 like an untamed bullock resist the yoke. On the other 
 hand, so long as children continue beneath the parental 
 roof they are to be subject to the rules of domestic 
 discipline. 
 
 Many mothers err in abdicating the throne in favor of 
 a daughter, because the child is becoming a woman. It 
 is truly pitiable to see a girl, entering her teens, just
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CHILDHOOD. 169 
 
 returned from school who is allowed to sow the seeds of 
 discord or revolt in the domestic circle, and to act in 
 opposition to parental authority until the too-compliant 
 mother gives the reins of government into childish hands, 
 or else, by her conduct, declares the children to be in a 
 state of independence. There need be no contest for 
 power, for where a child has been accustomed to obey 
 from infancy, the yoke of obedience will generally be light 
 and easy ; if not, and a rebellious temper should show 
 itself early, a judicious mother will be on her guard and 
 allow no encroachments on her prerogative. At the same 
 time, the increased power of her authority, like the 
 increased pressure of the atmosphere, should be felt with- 
 out being seen, and this will make it irresistible. 
 
 Undue severity is as injurious as unlimited indulgence. 
 If injudicious fondness have slain its tens of thousands, 
 unnecessary harshness has destroyed its thousands. By 
 an authority which cannot err we are told that the cords 
 of love are the bonds of a man. There is a plastic power 
 in love. The human mind is so constituted as to yield 
 readily to the influence of its kindness. Men are more 
 easily led to their duties than driven to them. " A child," 
 says an Eastern proverb, " may lead an elephant by a 
 single hair. " Love seems so essential an element of the 
 parental character that there is something shockingly 
 revolting, not only in a cruel, an unkind or a severe, but 
 even in a cold-hearted mother. 
 
 Study the parental character as it is exhibited in that 
 most explicitly tpuching moral picture, the parable of the
 
 I/O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 prodigal son. When a mother governs entirely by sole, 
 bare authority, by mere commands, prohibitions, and 
 threats, by frowns untempered with smiles ; when the 
 legislator is never blended with the friend, nor authority 
 mingled with love ; when her conduct produces in the 
 hearts of her children only a servile fear, instead of an 
 obedient affection ; when she is served because of dread 
 of the effects of disobedience ; when she is rather dreaded 
 in the family circle as a frowning spectre than hailed as 
 the guardian angel of its joys ; when even accidents raise 
 a storm, or faults produce a hurricane of passion in her 
 bosom ; when offenders are driven to equivocation or 
 lying with a hope of averting by concealment those severe 
 corrections which disclosure always entails ; when unnec- 
 essary interruptions are made to innocent enjoyments ; 
 when, in fact, nothing of the mother but everything of the 
 tyrant is seen can we expect a moral excellence to 
 flourish in such a soil ? Yes, as rationally as we may 
 expect the tenderest house-plant to thrive amidst the 
 rigors of eternal frost ! 
 
 It is useless for such a mother to try to properly teach 
 her household. She chills the soul of the pupils; she 
 hardens their hearts against impressions ; she prepares 
 them to rush with eager haste to their ruin as soon as they 
 have thrown off the yoke of their bondage, and to employ 
 their liberty to secure the means of unbridled gratification. 
 Like a company of slaves, they are at first tortured by 
 their thralldom, and by that very bondage trained to 
 convert their sudden emancipation into a means of 
 destruction.
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CHILDHOOD. I/I 
 
 Let parents, then, in all their conduct blend the law- 
 giver and the friend ; temper authority with kindness, and 
 realize, in their measure, that representation of Deity 
 which Dr. Watts has given us : 
 
 " Sweet majesty and awful love 
 Sit smiling on His brow." 
 
 In short, let them so act as to convince the children 
 that their law is holy, and their commandment holy, just, 
 and good, and that to be so governed is to be blessed. 
 
 No educational system is perfect which does not include 
 the development, in due proportion, of the whole nature 
 of the pupil. The infant at birth contains a germ of all 
 that is great and good. Education is simply the process 
 of drawing out and developing dormant energies into a 
 condition which makes the attainment of desired ends 
 possible. In the natural course. of things, some sort of 
 development will come ; the innate germs will be evolved 
 into present potencies, and the latent strength will be 
 energized. The body will grow ; its bones and muscles 
 will acquire strength and become fitted to the end for 
 which they were given. The mind, and soul, too, will 
 expand with the young physical nature, and the infant 
 will pass into the child, the child into the youth, and the 
 youth into the mature being. All this evolution will 
 come in the natural course of events. 
 
 But something more than mere growth is needed in 
 order that the essential end of being shall be conserved. 
 There must be the education of all the parts and faculties 
 of the infant being in order to the attainment of a
 
 1/2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 symmetrical life. Undue attention to one part of the 
 child's nature, with the neglect of another part will disturb 
 the equilibrium so necessary to a proper fulfillment of the 
 purposes of life. If the body receive attention and the 
 intellectual nature be neglected, the child may become a 
 fine animal, but not a man or woman. On the other 
 hand, if the mind be educated out of proportion to the 
 development of the physical energies, the matured being 
 is not fitted for securing life, health and happiness. 
 
 Recognizing the truth of all this, the part of the 
 educator is made apparent. The threefold nature of the 
 child must be admitted, and each part receive due atten- 
 tion. Much has already been said about the physical and 
 intellectual conditions essential to proper education. It 
 remains to note that the moral nature should not be 
 neglected. The moral education includes the inculcation 
 of religious truths and the development of the religious 
 nature. 
 
 Man is by nature a religious being ; it is entirely 
 natural for him, even at his highest development, to look 
 to something higher and better, and to pay homage to it. 
 This principle was instilled into the nature of man by his 
 Creator for a great purpose. The development of that 
 purpose rests almost wholly with the parents. It is 
 impossible for a child or an adult to live without a God. 
 It rests with the parents to determine whether that duty 
 shall be good or evil.
 
 WHEN TO COMMENCE RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 1/3 
 
 When to Commence Religious Training. 
 
 The time for beginning religious education dates with 
 the dawning of reason in consciousness. This does not 
 mean that religious instruction according to any denomi- 
 national doctrine should then commence. As has been 
 said, education is simply a leading out of what already 
 exists. As soon as the religious nature begins to manifest 
 itself it should be educated, or led out. This is necessary 
 to preserve symmetry of development, the need of which 
 has been so carefully mentioned. 
 
 The first principle of religious truth is a distinction 
 between right and wrong. This the child can easily be 
 taught. Following this comes the duty of doing right 
 and shunning wrong. The next step is to teach the child 
 to do right because it is right, and to keep from doing 
 wrong because it is wrong. This is an easy, natural cor- 
 ollary of ordinary discipline. The child obeys the parent 
 because he believes the parent to be right. He can be 
 taught to obey God for the same reason. 
 
 A third step will be to teach that doing right is profit- 
 able ; doing wrong, disastrous. Also, that doing right 
 insures reward and happiness ; that doing wrong will 
 inevitably result in punishment and misery. The child 
 will readily comprehend these truths. They are almost 
 identical with parental discipline. It is only necessary, 
 then, to inculcate the notion of the fatherhood of God and 
 the endlessness of eternity, and the foundation is securely 
 laid. This part of the religious education can be begun 
 very early in life. It is all the better so.
 
 174 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 As the child grows older, formal religious truths and 
 practical observance can be taught. The former will 
 naturally be in the form of rules, largely. To these the 
 child is partially accustomed. The latter is best done by 
 example. No woman, be she mother or not, can 
 drive a child into the Kingdom of God. She can lead 
 it thither, it will go with her or follow after her. If she 
 " walk with God" daily she can keep her child in the same 
 company. If she sit with Jesus Christ in Heavenly 
 places her child will sit with her.
 
 PUBERTY. 
 
 Its Definition. 
 
 THE term of puberty is used to denote that period in 
 life when sexual development takes place. The word 
 itself is derived, or rather adopted from the Latin, 
 Pubertas, which signifies the marriageable state that is 
 to say, that state of development of the procreative func- 
 tions which made the begetting of offspring possible. 
 While the word puberty is equally applicable to either 
 sex, its application is often limited to one. In the present 
 work this word will be employed to designate the period 
 and change which converts the child into the maiden. 
 
 Puberty marks the beginning of adolescence, the dawn 
 of mature development. It is not so much an act of Nature 
 as the consummation of processes that have been at work 
 for years, but which burst into fruition at this time. 
 Adolescence is a period that works great changes in the 
 entire nature of a girl. Her tastes, habits, disposition, 
 thoughts, emotions in short, her whole physical being 
 and whole spiritual character undergo a revolution. She 
 enters it a child ; she emerges a woman. She enters 
 it raw, unformed, perhaps unattractive ; she comes from 
 it full, rounded, matured.
 
 1/6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The intellectual changes are most gigantic during this 
 time. Among no people are these so marked as among 
 the Caucasian race. The physical changes are almost 
 equally great. The sign of puberty is the menstrual flow, 
 which consists of the emission from the womb of a fluid 
 having the appearance and consistency of venal blood. 
 The beginning of this flow marks the beginning of the 
 period. It is a sign that the girl has now reached the 
 degree of development in which her generative organs are 
 capable of their full functions. The capabilities of 
 maternity exist in active operation. Childhood has passed 
 away forever. Maidenhood and womanhood, with all 
 that these imply of happiness and hardship, are upoa 
 her. 
 
 Evidence of the Approach of the Menses. 
 
 The functions of the generative organs of woman are 
 not always established without subjecting her to annoy- 
 ances ; nay, even to suffering and affliction, which need 
 not only counsel but also medical aid. 
 
 A woman is subject to menstruation during the best 
 period of her life. During this period of thirty or more 
 years of her womanhood, her health is, in a great 
 measure, dependent upon the accomplishment of that 
 function ; and, according to the success or failure of that 
 process, she either flourishes in the enjoyment of health 
 or languishes in pain and weakness. Previous to this she 
 has given her parents no special care or anxiety, but has 
 been allowed to run, play and romp like a boy. Puberty,
 
 EVIDENCE OF THE APPROACH OF THE MENSES. 177 
 
 although apparently sudden, is effected gradually, and 
 not always without accident. Its manifestation in menstrua- 
 tion may be normal, or so abnormal as to constitute a 
 real malady. 
 
 A girl, apparently in a state of perfect health, may be 
 taken in such acute and severe symptoms as to lead a 
 mother to suspect indications of a severe malady. A 
 mother may be misled by the singular complaints into the 
 belief that the sickness is feigned when her daughter 
 should be the object of her sincere sympathy. Again, an 
 ignorant attendant, believing the indisposition to be an 
 accidental attack of colic from indigestion or otherwise, may 
 fill the child to drunkenness with alcoholic stimulants. 
 Menstrual colic may be confounded with the symptoms of 
 worms, and she may be medicated for that ailment, very 
 much to the detriment of her health. 
 
 It must not, however, be ignored that the symptoms 
 are not frequently very obscure and confusing. Acute 
 pain, accompanied with some degree of tightness and 
 oppression, may suggest flatulency, while irregular and 
 heavy pain may suggest the presence of worms. Yet the 
 age of the girl, the suddenness of the attack in the midst 
 of good health, and the periodical return of these indis- 
 positions, the regularity of the pulse, the natural condition 
 of the skin, the cleanness of the tongue, the absence of 
 indigestion or diarrhea, the shortness of the pain, and 
 especially coldness of the feet, when present, should 
 suggest rather a preparation for the menstrual flow. 
 
 These symptoms may generally be met by baths of
 
 1 78 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 hot water to the feet, hot or flaxseed-meal poultices 
 applied to the abdomen ; or, if need be, by warm " sitz 
 baths." If there should be neuralgia, pain in the chest or 
 otherwise, some anodyne, such as a full dose of paregoric, 
 might well be administered. She is a wise mother who 
 does not allow this period to come unwarned upon her 
 daughter. An indiscretion, ignorantly committed, may 
 jeopardize the health of the whole after-life. A few words 
 of instruction and wise counsel, not to alarm, but to 
 prepare the daughter, may save a life. 
 
 Age of Puberty. 
 
 Menstruation, in this country, generally commences 
 -at the age of from thirteen to sixteen ; sometimes earlier, 
 at eleven or twelve ; at other times later, and not until a 
 girl is seventeen or eighteen years of age. Menstruation 
 is supposed to commence at an earlier period in cities 
 than in the country ; amid luxury than in simple life. 
 Upon this point an authority says : " In the human 
 female the age of puberty, or of commencing aptitude for 
 procreation, is usually between the thirteenth and six- 
 teenth years. It is generally thought to be somewhat 
 earlier in warm climates than in cold, and in densely- 
 populated manufacturing towns than in thinly-populated 
 agricultural districts. The mental and bodily habits of 
 the individual have also considerable influence upon the 
 time of its occurrence. Girls brought up in the midst of 
 luxury or sensual indulgence undergo the change earlier 
 than those reared in hardihood and self-denial."
 
 AGE OF PUBERTY. 1/9 
 
 To these general rules there are upon record some 
 apparently remarkable exceptions. The writer is familiar 
 with instances where the solicitude of parents has been 
 excited by the long delay of this constitutional change ; 
 others, where it took place at a very tender age, without 
 producing any marked influence upon the general health. 
 A French writer relates a case where a child of three 
 years underwent all the physical changes incident to 
 puberty and grew to be a healthy woman. But Ameri- 
 cans will not be outdone by any other nation, and a 
 medical journal has recently related an instance in which 
 a child at birth had regular monthly changes, and the 
 full physical development that marks the perfect woman. 
 
 In very warm climates, such as Abyssinia and India, 
 girls menstruate when quite young, at even ten or eleven 
 years ; indeed, they are sometimes mothers at this age. 
 But the maturity that begins early ends early, and they are 
 old women at thirty. Physically we know there is a very 
 large latitude in the periods of human maturity, not merely 
 among individuals, but among nations ; differences so 
 great that in some southern regions of Asia we hear of 
 matrimony at the age of twelve years. 
 
 Dr. Montgomery in his work on this subject refers to 
 some very interesting cases of early maturity. He says : 
 " Bruce mentions that in Abyssinia he has frequently seen 
 mothers at the age of eleven years." Dr. Goodeve, 
 professor of midwifery at Calcutta, in reply to an inquiry 
 upon this subject said : " The earliest age at which I have 
 knovn a Hindoo woman to bear a child is ten years, but I
 
 ISO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 have heard of one at nine." In his own practice, in a 
 period of almost thirty years, the earliest age at which the 
 author has known a woman to become a mother was 
 thirteen years. The child, though fairly developed and 
 looking healthy, lived only a few days. The mother lived 
 a few years and died of consumption. This instance of 
 early maturity was attributed to the habits of family life. 
 In the cold climates, such as Russia, women begin to 
 menstruate late in life, frequently not until they are twenty 
 or thirty years old ; and, as menstruation continues from 
 thirty to thirty-five years, it is not an unusual occurrence 
 for them to bear children at the advanced age of sixty. 
 They are frequently not regular oftener than three or four 
 times a year, and the menstrual discharge, when it does 
 occur, is generally scanty. 
 
 Race has an influence on the time of puberty. It has 
 been observed that in the same latitude certain types of 
 women are more precocious than others ; there may be 
 a constitutional predisposition to early maturity. It will 
 be seen, however, in almost every case, that the climate 
 has an indirect influence. The Hebrew girl, no matter 
 where she may be found, almost invariably reaches her 
 menstrual period a year or more in advance of her Germanic 
 or Anglo-Saxon sisters. One reason for this undoubt- 
 edly is that the Hebrew race is native to tropical, or semi- 
 tropical, climes. True, it is scattered throughout the 
 earth, and is found everywhere, but these people, in all 
 their history, have kept themselves apart ; they have 
 intermingled with no other race. They are to-day as
 
 AGE OF PUBERTY. l8l 
 
 much a " peculiar people," in a physiological sense, as 
 they were in the days of their father, Abraham. Through 
 all the ages they have maintained their race characteristics, 
 so that, virtually, the Jewish maiden has the constitutional 
 peculiarities she inherits from a race that is indigenous to 
 a southern latitude, even though neither she nor her 
 immediate progenitors has ever been in such a climate. 
 
 Creoles and Negro girls menstruate in early life. In 
 this, too, the constitution has much to do in determining 
 the precocity. In the case of the Creole, there is the 
 warm blood of a Southern race. The same is true of the 
 Quadroon, Octoroon, or pure negress. Decades may 
 have passed since any of the family of the girl dwelt in a 
 warm climate, but the inherited constitution still shows its 
 influence. 
 
 Temperament exercises an influence on puberty. The 
 fact is ascertained, though the reason be not apparent. 
 Brunettes reach the age of puberty sooner, as a rule, than 
 blondes. Girls of black eyes and hair are more precocious 
 than those of blue eyes and light hair. The nervo-bilious 
 temperament matures earlier than the phlegmatic or lym- 
 phatic. 
 
 Habits of life, physical and emotional, tend to expedite 
 or retard this epoch. A regular life, with hygienic habits 
 of eating and drinking, healthful exercise and labor, with 
 no social dissipation, will allow the girl to pass to the full 
 natural time of puberty. On the other hand, idleness, 
 dissipation in diet, especially in richness of quality, drink, 
 stimulants and social dissipation tend to prematurity in 
 this epoch.
 
 1 82 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The excitation of certain emotions, particularly those 
 tending to sexual passion, influence early puberty. Late 
 hours, loss of sleep, sensational reading, voluptuous 
 music, often tend to premature development. Girls in a 
 city, as a rule, menstruate from six to eight months earlier 
 than those in the country, in the same latitude and of the 
 same temperament. The reason is found in the difference 
 in the physical life and habits of the two. The former 
 lead a more idle and dissipated life than the latter, who 
 live more out of doors and perform harder and more con- 
 stant labor. 
 
 The period of puberty is attended with many serious 
 dangers to the health of the maiden. . It is the time when 
 constitutional defects are most likely to manifest them- 
 selves, and when inherited predisposition to certain dis- 
 eases is most likely to blossom into activity. A child 
 with a tendency to consumption, for example, or scrofula, 
 epilepsy, or something of the sort, is most likely to give 
 evidence of the disease at this time. The buoyancy and 
 elasticity of childhood may have carried the girl through 
 that era without developing any trace of the hereditary 
 tendency. The great change that now takes place in her 
 life will call out the malady. The two years of puberty 
 are critical. They condition the after-life largely. There 
 is no time in life when the laws of hygiene should be 
 more scrupulously observed than now. Nothing can sur- 
 pass, in point of importance, the care of the health during 
 this time. Four words comprise the hygiene of this 
 epoch food, exercise, rest and sleep.
 
 AGE OF PUBERTY. . 183 
 
 Particular attention should be given to the diet. The 
 quantity of food required is more than has been necessary 
 hitherto. Its quality should be plain ; it should be simply 
 prepared, nutritious, and taken with scrupulous regularity. 
 The system requires to be nourished, and nourished lav- 
 ishly. Nothing more effectually invites the implantation 
 of the seeds of disease than a starved condition of the 
 system. Nothing better precludes these germs than a 
 well-nourished condition. The appetite is likely to be 
 whimsical and capricious, and is no certain index of the 
 real wants of the system. Reason, supported by experi- 
 ence and scientific authority, must guide. 
 
 Stimulants, such as tea and coffee, and certainly all 
 wines, should be prohibited. Nothing is better than 
 good, fresh milk. It is nutritious and especially rich in 
 nitrogen. Vegetables rich in oils and fat meats are pecul- 
 iarly beneficial during these periods. These tend greatly 
 to ward off that most terrible of all maladies at this most 
 common time of attack consumption. 
 
 Pleasant, exhilarating exercise should be taken reg- 
 ularly. Let this be in the air and sunshine as much as 
 possible. Less work than usual must be done. Severe 
 discipline in physical and mental labor must not be 
 enforced. Over-exertion is potent in bringing on diseases. 
 Above all things, plenty of sleep should be allowed. If 
 the girl be disposed to be tardy in dressing in the morn- 
 ing as she will be this should be encouraged. Loss 
 of sleep at night is not to be allowed, nor dissipation and 
 exposure to extremes of cold and heat.
 
 1 84 . MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 / 
 
 The beginning of menstruation marks the consumma- 
 tion of the changes which have been taking place during 
 puberty. With the commencement of the monthly dis- 
 charge dates the end of childhood and the beginning of 
 womanhood. In this latitude, the average time for the 
 menses to set in is fourteen years and six months. It 
 varies from the average in different cases, and for reasons 
 some of which have been mentioned. Once established, 
 this flow will recur at regular intervals, from twenty-five to 
 thirty days apart. In common calculation, the time is put 
 at a month's interval, hence the name " mense," or month. 
 This interval will hold good with perhaps three of every 
 four women in health. During the first two years there 
 is likely to be some irregularity, both in the recurrence of 
 the intervals and in the continuance of the flow. After 
 that time, there will be greater conformity to the general 
 rule. With about one of every four women there is vari- 
 ation, some exceeding the average time of four weeks' 
 interval and others having the recurring discharges more 
 frequently. Cases are known where there was sickness 
 every sixteen or eighteen days. Others where the 
 " monthly" did not come for thirty-six and forty days. 
 Variation from the rule is no cause for alarm. Every 
 woman is a law unto herself in this matter. She may be 
 as regular with periods six weeks apart as her sister with 
 only four weeks intervening. As long as the general 
 health remains good Nature is working to the best rule. 
 No woman can pass beyond or anticipate the interval to 
 which her condition is adapted and maintain good health.
 
 AGE OF PUBERTY. 185 
 
 Body and mind will both suffer from such irregularity. 
 As long, then, as the general health does not suffer, the 
 times of the monthly sickness need give no concern. 
 
 The times in which the flow continues vary consider- 
 ably. The average is a little over four days, or from two 
 to six days. It rarely is less than of two days' continu- 
 ance, and as rarely exceeds six. If the latter should ever 
 occur, the presumption is that something is wrong, and 
 medical counsel should be had. The amount of the dis- 
 charge is generally from three to five ounces. Climate 
 influences the quantity, as do also temperament, robust- 
 ness, and habits of life. In cold climates the discharge is 
 less, in tropical regions more, than the average. With 
 brunettes and those women of strong, sanguine tempera- 
 ment, there is a greater quantity discharged at each 
 period. Habits of indolence and luxury affect the quan- 
 tity, increasing it beyond that of those whose lives are 
 spent industriously and with few comforts of home or 
 table. Delicate and feeble women generally have more 
 profuse menstruation than robust and strong ones. 
 
 The office of the menses in reproduction is important. 
 On either side of the womb, and about four inches from it, 
 are two small bodies, called the ovaries. These are con- 
 nected with the womb by a small tube. These ovaries 
 contain numberless vesicles of infinitesimal size, which pass 
 from time to time into the womb. These vesicles are 
 called ova or eggs. One of these ova ripens, so to speak, 
 once a month, and passes into the womb. Its passage 
 into the womb is attended by all the physical disturbances
 
 1 86 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of menstruation. In fact, menstruation is the manifest 
 evidence of the ripening of a new ovum. 
 
 This ovum remains in the womb for from ten to fifteen 
 days after the cessation of the menstrual flow. If, during 
 its stay in the womb, it should come in contact with the 
 spermatozoa of the male semen, it is vitalized, and the 
 germ of a new life is developed. If, however, no coition 
 be indulged, the ovum dies and is discharged. Some 
 women assert that they are conscious of the time when the 
 expulsion of the ovum from the uterus through the vagina 
 is made ; but this is questionable. Menstruation, then, is 
 simply the process of ripening an egg and depositing it in 
 the womb, the proper receptacle for containing it for 
 purposes of conception. 
 
 The normal condition of menstruation is that in which 
 the discharges occur at regular intervals, however long or 
 short these may be. It is Nature's way of perpetuating 
 the race, and of maintaining the equilibrium of the health 
 of the woman during this part of her life. The health of 
 the procreative organs depends upon the regularity of the 
 menstrual discharges. When, for any cause, the menstru- 
 ation is interfered with, there is a local disturbance in the 
 reproductive organs, followed by a disturbance of the 
 whole system. During the- child-bearing period of 
 woman, menstruation is the balance-wheel of her health. 
 As it is, so is her general condition. Not infrequently, 
 however, there are functional disturbances of menstruation. 
 A brief account of these may be given.
 
 CAUSES OF FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS. 1 87 
 
 Causes of Functional Disorders. 
 
 The causes of functional derangement of menstruation 
 may be divided into two general classes remote and 
 immediate. The first are more likely to be overlooked 
 than the second. Women of lymphatic temperament are 
 more prone to scanty menstruation, leucorrhea (or whites) 
 and hysteria ; while the sanguine and nervous are more 
 liable to excessive and painful menstruation. Where the 
 nervous temperament predominates, the susceptibility to 
 excitement and to external impressions predisposes the 
 person to conditions which disturb the natural exercise of 
 the menstrual functions. 
 
 A want of proper nourishment impoverishes the blood, 
 lessens the vital force, weakens the heart's action, and 
 thereby interferes with the proper distribution of the 
 blood. The ovaries and the womb soon suffer from this 
 lack of proper distribution of the vital fluid, and we have 
 the evidence of the suffering in the scanty, pale, watery 
 menstrual fluid, leucorrhea, and relaxation of the muscles 
 and appendages surrounding the womb. While a want of 
 food is attended with bad effects in the manner referred 
 to, excessive food, on the other hand, has its evil result. 
 Overtaxing the stomach weakens its digestive powers and 
 prevents proper nutrition. This overfeeding, and 
 especially of very rich and highly-seasoned dishes, over- 
 loads and irritates the system, until the ovaries and womb 
 manifest their sympathy by painful menstruation, etc. 
 
 Vitiated air is another very fruitful source of general
 
 1 88 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 debility in women and derangement of their menstrual 
 functions. A distinguished writer on the subject of pure 
 air remarks: " Humanity dwells in a sea of air, as fish dwell 
 in a sea of water ; and as the latter must be affected by 
 the quality of water, so must the former be affected by 
 the quality of the atmosphere." How important for the 
 healthful performance of the functions of the body that 
 the air, with which we fill our lungs at every inspiration, 
 be not freighted with such impurities as disturb these 
 functions, and even implant the seeds of death. 
 
 Exercise is one of the most important factors in 
 remedying functional derangements of the sexual organs. 
 Exercise is said to be the harmonizer between supply and 
 waste, or nourishment and decay. When properly con- 
 ducted, it gives vigor and strength to the body, and 
 assists all the organs in the performance of their functions. 
 Deprive a woman of sunshine, air and exercise, and she 
 becomes enervated ; the functions of her genitive organs 
 languish ; she loses her bright tints and colors ; general 
 debility follows, and, as a consequence, general disturb- 
 ance of the organs of generation. It may be added that 
 loss of sleep through social dissipation is a fruitful source 
 of derangement and consequent disease. Sleep, next to 
 food and exercise, is a natural hygiene. It is the third in 
 the triad of health preservatives. 
 
 Amenorrhea, or Suppression of the Menses. 
 
 This means the absence of menstruation. It may 
 happen in different circumstances. Menstruation may 
 have never made its appearance. Menstruation may have
 
 AMENORRHEA, OR SUPPRESSION OF THE MENSES. 189 
 
 been established, and suppression may be suddenly 
 brought about, attended with acute symptoms, and hence 
 may very properly be termed acute suppression, or there 
 may be no special disturbance at the time, but it may 
 continue long enough to be denominated chronic sup- 
 pression. 
 
 Some pathologists add to these two, partial suppres- 
 sion that is, either when there is a deficiency in 
 quantity, or infrequency in the periodical return. 
 
 And you might add retention of the menstrual fluid 
 either in the uterus or vagina, or both, after having been 
 effused. This retention, although it fill all the require- 
 ments of the definition of suppression of menstruation, is 
 distinct in many respects, giving rise to a different set of 
 symptoms and requiring a very different kind of treat- 
 ment. It will be treated under the head of physical 
 dysmenorrhea. Whether we have the legitimate right to 
 regard the failure of an organ to support its functions as 
 a distinct malady, may be questioned, but, in view of the 
 quantity of fluid excreted and the importance of the 
 functions of menstruation, suppression may be the cause 
 of very grave disease. 
 
 The causes of suppression of menstruation are physical 
 or constitutional and accidental. When there is suppres- 
 sion of menstruation, either on account of the absence of 
 the organs of generation or for the want of sufficient 
 development of these organs, the cause of suppression may 
 be called physical. Such cases, however, do not usually 
 show any special inconvenience as a result of suppression.
 
 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Professor Byford says : " The non-appearance of the 
 menses on account of the absence of the uterus is not 
 usually attended with the chronic suffering I have alluded 
 to. Ordinarily, and, indeed, in all the cases of this kind 
 to which my attention has been called, the patients 
 appeared to be perfectly well. One of these patients 
 was thirty-three years ot age, another twenty-seven, and 
 a third twenty-two, and all of them were in perfectly good 
 health." 
 
 The same author, in speaking of amenorrhea patients, 
 whose uterine organs were not sufficiently developed, 
 says : " I have had occasion to see and examine and 
 watch for several years two cases of chronic amenorrhea 
 from deficient development of the uterus and perhaps of 
 the ovaries. They were both married. One of them is 
 twenty-eight years of age and has been married nine 
 years, has never menstruated, has no sexual desire, but 
 lives happily with her husband. The other has been 
 married three years, is twenty-five years of age and 
 resembles the first completely." 
 
 From these examples it will be seen that the absence 
 of the menses is not the cause of all the nervous suffering 
 that we usually find associated with it. But it is the 
 result of a condition of the uterus and organs associated 
 with it. The degree of sensibility of the sexual organs, 
 the temperament, and the organization of the uterine 
 organs, may be constitutional causes. 
 
 Whenever any constitutional weakness exists, any 
 immediate cause v/ill act as an auxiliary in producing
 
 AMENORRHEA, ETC. 191 
 
 f 
 
 suppression of the menses. Anything that lowers the 
 vital forces of the system may act as an immediate cause, 
 such as poor nourishment, sedentary life, unhealthy apart- 
 ments, overwork, late hours ; also, moral affections, such 
 as sadness, grief, disappointment, etc., excessive hemorr- 
 hages from any organ, debilitating diseases, such as fevers, 
 tuberculosis, etc. Occasionally the suppression of the 
 menses in tuberculosis may be the first symptom that 
 causes any alarm, and that induces the subject to consult 
 a physician. But any serious malady, such as we have 
 referred to, is usually well developed before the symptom 
 of suppression appears. Prominent among the accidental 
 causes of suppression are sudden exposure to cold when 
 the body is overheated, ablutions of the body in cold 
 water, or exposing the feet, or, with some, even the hands 
 in cold water, ice-cold drinks, or ice-cream, sudden loss 
 of a large quantity of blood from the womb or otherwise, 
 any great mental shock, excessive pains, etc. any of 
 these accidental causes occurring at the time of the return 
 of the menstrual period may induce suppression. Change 
 of the clothing during menstruation will produce suppres- 
 sion with a great many women. 
 
 The local symptoms which attend the absence of the 
 menses will be varied according to the nature of the 
 causes which give rise to it. If the patient has commenced 
 to menstruate, and from some accidental cause the flow 
 has suddenly stopped, it may be regarded as acute 
 suppression, and we will have the symptoms of great 
 congestion or inflammation. There will be pain in the
 
 IQ2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 back, abdomen and hips, accompanied by a sense of 
 chilliness more or less severe. This will be followed by 
 fever, pain in the head, pain in the limbs, general languor, 
 white coat upon the tongue, and a persistent pain over 
 the region of the uterus. These symptoms would suggest 
 inflammation of the uterus. After a few days these 
 symptoms may subside, and be followed by a re-establish- 
 ment of the discharge, or they may gradually disappear 
 without any return at this period leaving more or less 
 discomfort in the pelvis. If there be no serious disturb- 
 ance of the uterine organs, the menses will reappear at 
 the next period, but not usually with that freedom and 
 comfort that have been their wont, but with more or less 
 pain, which may be manifest at each successive period. 
 
 At other times the discharge fails entirely to appear 
 at the appointed time, and the case becomes chronic, and 
 may continue for a length of time. If this should be the 
 case, chronic inflammation of the uterus or womb and 
 ovaries may be expected as a result of the acute attack, 
 and from a reflex sympathy, resulting from a morbid 
 condition of these organs. The stomach, bowels, and all 
 the organs connected with the process of digestion, are 
 disturbed. The appetite may be capricious. The 
 irritable stomach rejects food, or may be troubled by 
 nausea ; the heart becomes irregular and often palpitates ; 
 the head is full and heavy, and often painful, especially in 
 the upper and posterior part ; there are ringing or strange 
 sounds in the ears ; in short " nothing well, but every- 
 thing sick. "
 
 AMENORRHEA, ETC. f 193 
 
 Women thus affected give external evidence of their 
 condition by general pallor ; their faces are puffed, their 
 flesh flabby and their movements languid ; they easily 
 become the prey of moral influences, and are " blue " or 
 melancholy. This depressed or debilitated condition 
 makes patients subject to such disorders as neuralgia, 
 hysterics, hypochondria and dropsical effusions, either 
 partial or general ; the latter will be manifest in the eye- 
 lids, feet and other places. 
 
 Farther delineation of symptoms of suppression of 
 menstruation is deemed unnecessary, since from what has 
 been said, and the natural instinct of the human mind 
 there will be but little trouble in understanding the nature 
 of the disease. If the disease continue the conse- 
 quences are generally serious, and medical aid should 
 be solicited. 
 
 This character of menstrual trouble frequently puts a 
 physician in an uncomfortable position if the patient be 
 unmarried. The writer has frequently been called to 
 prescribe for patients of this kind where it was their hope 
 that he migkt overlook the real cause of the suppression 
 and administer some remedy that might successfully 
 relieve their real trouble. Some patients appear to be 
 quite ignorant of the proper treatment of suppression, and 
 hope that the physician may prescribe some emenagogue 
 sufficiently active to produce abortion. If this be a 
 correct suspicion they are gravely mistaken in the ability 
 of the profession. There is no reasonable probability 
 that any doctor of medicine would be so ignorant as to 
 make such an egregious blunder.
 
 594 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Amenorrhea is not necessarily a grave affection unless 
 complicated with great constitutional disturbances or 
 dependent upon some serious cause. It is usually only a 
 -delay and can be easily righted with proper treatment. 
 
 The periodicals of the day abound in advertisements 
 of quack nostrums for the ready relief and permanent cure 
 of this disease. Against the use of such remedies the 
 public cannot be too urgently warned. They are unsafe. 
 No woman should knowingly allow any medicine to enter 
 into an organ of such importance to her happiness as the 
 stomach without either understanding something about it 
 herself, or having it prescribed by some -person she 
 knows, and in whose honesty and ability she has 
 confidence. 
 
 Hygiene of Suppressed Menses. 
 
 A properly-regulated regimen will do much not only 
 to prevent a,menorrhea, but will contribute largely to its 
 cure. A liberal, good, nourishing diet consisting of 
 cream and all-wheat porridge, bread abundantly supplied 
 with good, fresh butter, roast and boiled meat, will be a 
 suitable diet for patients whose suppression depends upon 
 debility and lymphatic temperament, and who have not 
 been well nourished. Baths, with free frictions over the 
 'body, warm clothing and appropriate exercise, especially 
 on horseback, will contribute largely to restore the lost 
 powers of the system that have interrupted the natural 
 functions of the body. A trip to the seashore or to the 
 mountain with pleasant social attendants, and with a
 
 HYGIENE OF SUPPRESSED MENSES. 195 
 
 generous diet, have often proved sufficient to restore to the 
 sunken, pallid cheek its lost size and color. 
 
 There is, however, another class of subjects, of the 
 strong, sanguine temperament, whose diet should consist 
 of bland, light nourishment. Nothing stimulating either 
 of food or drink should be taken, and the patient should 
 have complete rest. The general tendency of the physi- 
 cal economy of the system is toward restoration. At the 
 same time proper means may be employed to assist the 
 patient to a re-establishment of the menses, such as warm 
 drinks of pennyroyal or ginger tea, and warm foot-baths 
 or hip-baths, which will be found particularly efficient. 
 Such treatment is attended with very satisfactory results, 
 when suppression of menstruation has been induced by 
 exposure to cold or dampness, or arrested perspiration. 
 
 The patient should be put to bed and covered with 
 warm blankets, and, if general and free perspiration do 
 not soon follow, it should be assisted by warm irons, 
 bricks, or what is still better, gum (rubber) bags filled 
 with hot water. If there be pain, warm compresses wrung 
 out of hot water should be applied to the vulva and lower 
 part of the abdomen. 
 
 If the suppression be caused by excessive mental 
 impressions as anger, fright or grief means should be 
 instituted to allay nervous irritability and restore harmony 
 between the operations of the mind and the bodily organs. 
 This will usually be accomplished by a general warm bath, 
 with gentle friction and quiet. 
 
 When the suppression is accompanied with excessive
 
 196 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 pain, a sitz-bath, warm fomentations, or hot poultices and 
 injections of large quantities of hot water will be very use- 
 ful. When, however, the suppression is the result of 
 moral causes, a wise discrimination on the part of both 
 parents and physician will be essentially necessary to 
 overcome the accustomed manner of life. Until this be 
 accomplished, medication will generally fall short of effect- 
 ing any satisfactory results ; in such cases, change of 
 climate, change of scenery and surroundings, and attract- 
 ive places of amusement will be found fruitful auxiliaries 
 to the restoration of the patient's health. 
 
 The free use of furruginous waters that is, waters 
 impregnated with iron sea baths, etc., will be well 
 suited to the lymphatic temperament. If the suppression 
 be caused by mental excitement in love affairs, marriage 
 will be found a satisfactory means of permanent relief. 
 
 For all ordinary cases of suppressed menstruation, a 
 regular action of the bowels should be had once or twice 
 daily by the use of pills made of equal parts of myrrh and 
 aloes. Tincture of iron in fifteen to twenty drop doses, 
 three or four times daily, between the periods of menstru- 
 ation and when its premonitory symptoms set up, warm 
 baths and hot teas, as has already been suggested, will, if 
 persisted in, be followed by satisfactory results. 
 
 Nervine root, as a domestic remedy and one that is 
 quite safe, is very efficient. Take a handful of the root, 
 cleanse well, bruise and boil a few minutes in a quart of 
 water, and let the patient take half a teacupful of the 
 tea three or four times a day, commencing a few days
 
 MENORRHAGIA OR EXCESSIVE MENSTRUATION. 197 
 
 before the expected time for the menses to appear. Or 
 bitters may be made thus : A good handful of nervine 
 root, cleansed well, cut in small pieces and bruised, aloes 
 one ounce, cinnamon and allspice, of each half an ounce, 
 nutmeg one-quarter ounce, powdered ; whisky one quart ; 
 let the mixture stand a week, and take a dessert-spoonful 
 three times daily. If the bowels should be too loose, 
 lessen the quantity, or increase if not sufficiently open. 
 If these hygienic directions be followed and aided by these 
 simple remedies, and success do not crown the efforts, 
 medical counsel should at once be secured. 
 
 Menopphagia OP Excessive Menstpuation. 
 
 This disease has three phases; menstruation may be 
 too profuse, too prolonged, or too frequent. 
 
 The quantity of the blood lost at a single menstrual 
 period varies largely in different women, and sometimes 
 in the same woman. What would be excessive for one 
 woman would not be more than normal for another. 
 Every woman has a knowledge of her average, either as 
 regards quantity or duration. A woman may be said to 
 have menorrhagia whenever she discharges more in the 
 same time than she is wont to do ; when her periodical 
 flow is prolonged beyond the usual time ; and when it 
 recurs oftener than once a month, the waste being in 
 excess of the monthly allowance. 
 
 As before stated, the normal period of menstruation is 
 once every four weeks. The writer has known a 'few 
 persons, in the enjoyment of fair health, who, all their
 
 198 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 menstrual life, flowed every three weeks. The quantity 
 lost at each time is estimated to be about six ounces, and 
 the usual duration four or five days. But quite a wide 
 latitude must be given both to quantity and duration. 
 The writer knew a widowed lady, the mother of one 
 child, who menstruated regularly every twenty-eight 
 days, and never wasted at any one time more than a few 
 drops, barely a stain. Should this woman flow as much 
 as women usually do, she would have menorrhagia, and 
 would require attention and treatment. 
 
 In menorrhagia, then, the quantity must be an unusual 
 one to the person complaining, as some women discharge 
 half a pint regularly and enjoy good health. The normal 
 quantity in each individual depends upon constitution and 
 temperament. An inordinate discharge depends upon 
 temperament, and a free and strong circulation. Such 
 temperaments predispose a determination of blood to any 
 organ under excessive excitement. Hence, the womb, at 
 the menstrual crisis, would fulfill this condition, and be 
 subject to an abundant flow of menstrual fluid. An 
 excessive quantity, however, is usually dependent upon a 
 debilitated condition of the system. 
 
 There is another class of patients whose passions are 
 strong ; on being exposed to over-excitement, from reflex 
 action, their blood might determine to the generative 
 organs, producing a degree of congestion that Nature 
 would relieve by excessive menstruation. A state of 
 luxury, indolence and indulgence debilitates the system 
 so that it frequently happens that persons of a
 
 MENORRHAGIA OR EXCESSIVE MENSTRUATION. 199 
 
 sanguine temperament are comparatively weaker than 
 others who possess a less degree of constitutional vitality.. 
 In such cases the vital powers are exhausted by same 
 morbid stimulus, enfeebling the tissues, producing anemda,. 
 which results in an unrestrained flow of the menstrual 
 fluid. Whenever, therefore, the quantity is increased 
 much beyond what is natural, notwithstanding a sanguine 
 t emperament, it should be deemed excessive and means 
 adopted for restoration. 
 
 Another class of women who are liable to menorrhagia 
 are the nervous and irritable ; also those who are corpu- 
 lent and of indolent habits and live in warm climates or 
 occupy rooms of high temperature, have a predisposition 
 to this variety of menstrual disturbance. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing constitutional tendency to 
 menorrhagia, there is another class of cases that may be 
 called accidental such as are induced by exposure to 
 sudden transitions of temperature, violent exercise of any- 
 kind, an excessive use of emenagogues to force menstrua- 
 tion, excessive indulgence in either eating or drinking,, 
 ifting heavy weights, falls, frights, or undue excitement 
 of the passions. 
 
 There is a difference of opinion, however, among- 
 authorities as to the direct cause of menorrhagia. Some 
 mention that the disease is local and not constitutional, 
 and is due to irritation and inflammation of the womb and 
 ovaries. The morbid sensitiveness, weakness and other 
 disturbances present are not causes, but consequences 
 of the diseased condition induced by reflex action. Prof.
 
 200 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Byford says " that it would seem probable that menor- 
 rhagia would be the rule with uterine inflammation, but 
 such is not the case. I am not sure that even a majority 
 of patients have it. " 
 
 Very respectable authorities assert that, in many 
 instances, the disease is entirely constitutional and not 
 local. This seems to be the more accurate theory. 
 Hence it is quite important for persons suffering this 
 affliction to consult a physician, who may, upon due 
 investigation, determine the causp in the case before 
 him. 
 
 Women frequently suff- r from hemorrhage from the 
 uterus, which should not be confounded with menor- 
 rhagia, since both are accompanied with an excessive flow 
 of blood from the birth-place. These long-continued, 
 excessive flows of blood, accompanying some cases of 
 menorrhagia, might not improperly be called passive 
 hemorrhage, but active hemorrhage may take place in any 
 organ, as the stomach, lungs, etc., and is quite common 
 from the uterus, as a result of accidental causes. It may 
 be induced from pregnancy, abortion, a blow, or a sharp 
 instrument; also, by polypus, or tumor, cancer, or any 
 serious ulceration of the womb. Unlike menorrhagia it 
 has no regular period of occurrence nor of cessation, but 
 will continue as long as the local cause producing it 
 remains. Therefore there is a necessity for immediate 
 interference, as a human life may be in jeopardy. In 
 menorrhagia, the waste may be free or long-continued and 
 the patient's strength largely wasted by the excessive
 
 HYGIENIC TREATMENT. 2OI 
 
 drain upon the vital fluid of the system, yet there is 
 always sufficient time for the administration of proper 
 remedies for relief. 
 
 Hygienic Treatment. 
 
 Hygienic treatment in this disease is of great impor- 
 tance, and should be administered with such judgment as 
 to meet the indications in each particular variety of con- 
 stitutional cause. If the patient be of sanguine tempera- 
 ment and the cause mental excitement, the cause should 
 be removed and quiet and unstimulating food be enjoined. 
 If the cause arise from over-taxing the mind by excessive 
 exertion in any laudable calling, or undue ambition to 
 excel in any department of study, entire remission in such 
 pursuits will be essentially necessary. If the mind do 
 not rest, but be kept under such continual exhaustion, it 
 will lower the vital forces of every organ of the body. 
 
 Plethoric persons should be confined to a vegetable 
 diet with acidulated drinks; these lessen the heart's action 
 and relieve the pressure of blood on the uterine organs. 
 If the menorrhagia be dependent upon anemia, debility, 
 or any exhausted condition of the system, a liberal 
 dietary exercise adapted to the debilitated condition of 
 the patient and proper use of the bath-room should be 
 enjoined. 
 
 Menorrhagia resulting from inflammation or structural 
 disease of the womb is not within the scope of this work, 
 butneed only be referred to, that the patient be entreated, 
 inasmuch as she values health, that she should consign 

 
 2O2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 herself at once to the care of an honest and intelligent 
 physician, giving an unreserved account of all she knows 
 of the origin of her trouble, thus suitable and effective 
 means may be adopted for its removal. 
 
 Medical Treatment. 
 
 A few suggestions in reference to treatment by medi- 
 cation are all that need be given. If there be anemia or 
 debility, tonics are indicated. Tincture of iron in doses 
 of from fifteen to twenty drops may be given three or 
 four times daily, with a pill made of equal parts of aloes 
 and myrrh. 
 
 Fowler's solution of arsenic in from three to eight 
 drop doses, will be found an invaluable remedy, taken 
 three times daily, if it does not materially affect the 
 bowels. Some persons are very susceptible to this influ- 
 ence of the remedy. It will be found to almost always 
 arrest the excessive flow in any variety of the disease if 
 given in sufficient quantity and oft-repeated. But, for 
 this method of administration, it is too potent a remedy 
 to be entrusted in the hands of the inexperienced. 
 
 If the skin be dry and the wasting profuse, the admin- 
 istration of eight to ten grains of Dover's powders will be 
 attended with beneficial results. 
 
 Injections of cold water, or alum and water, in pro- 
 portions of one ounce of alum to one pint of water, and 
 used at intervals will be found useful. 
 
 Tea made of cinnamon bark or nutmeg, which can be 
 found in every kitchen, will always be at hand, and 
 frequently does much good. 
 5 (5 3 J J
 
 DYSMENORRHEA OR PAINFUL MENSTRUATION. 2O3 
 
 Dysmenorrhea on Painful Menstruation. 
 
 Dysmenorrhea is one of the most trying afflictions to 
 which woman is subject. It is attended with the most 
 intense suffering during its continuance, and the memory 
 of it is carried over into the next return. The suffering 
 is most intense, which is in itself a sufficient cause for 
 sympathy. Its periodicity at such brief intervals and for 
 so many years of the best part of life, is agonizing to 
 contemplate. No one but the patient can understand the 
 full measure of the pain endured at such times. It is to 
 be deplored that with all the advancement of medical 
 science, the most energetic treatment has very frequently 
 proved abortive. However, this failure may be the result 
 of a misconception of the cause of the difficulty. Painful 
 menstruation can no more be reckoned and treated as an 
 independent disease than can dropsy. Both are but the 
 evidences of a deeper and more subtle trouble. 
 
 Congestion or inflammation of the mucous membrane 
 of the uterus is attended with a fibrous exudation which 
 tenaciously adheres to it. This exudation often thickens 
 on the membrane and is expelled in fragments or in the 
 shape of a sack, attended with bearing-down pains like 
 those of child-birth. When the adhesion is very firm, 
 the uterus will contract violently and spasmodically, and 
 for hours or days the suffering of the patient will be most 
 excruciating ; in such cases pregnancy is nearly impos- 
 sible, but, when it does occur, it frequently ends the 
 trouble.
 
 204 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Dysmenorrhea is occasionally of neuralgic or rheumatic 
 origin, or due to nervous irritability of the womb, the 
 spasmodic stricture of its mouth interfering with a free 
 flow of the menstrual fluid, causing partial retention, and 
 giving time for the blood to coagulate, each coagulation 
 having to be thrust out by the contractile force of the 
 womb. 
 
 Displacement or fluxion of the womb, tumors, or any 
 mechanical obstruction may make menstruation difficult 
 and painful. Women of sanguine and nervous tempera- 
 ment are predisposed to dysmenorrhea, particularly when 
 they indulge in indolence, rich food, ardent spirits, wines, 
 the pleasures of the sexes, or exposed to mental impres- 
 sions of an exciting character. It is mostly a disease of 
 unmarried women, and marriage frequently cures it. 
 
 There are manifold direct and accidental causes for 
 this affection. Any shock of the system may induce it in 
 subjects predisposed to it. Moral disturbances, sudden 
 transitions from one extreme of temperature to another, 
 and any morbid affection of other organs, are causes of 
 this complaint. 
 
 The symptoms of dysmenorrhea are usually of a very 
 violent character. They frequently commence three or 
 four days before menstruation, and continue to increase 
 in severity until the flow has begun fairly. They are 
 aggravated by an erect position. The patient complains 
 of pain in the back, extending to the groins, and pains all 
 over the lower part of the abdomen, radiating frequently 
 down the thighs. These pains may at first be sharp and
 
 DYSMENORRHEA OR PAINFUL MENSTRUATION. 2O5 
 
 cutting, but gradually assume a colicky or spasmodic 
 character. The blood, or menses, flows slowly. It may 
 only be a mere stain upon the napkin; sometimes, how- 
 ever, it is discharged in clots ; at other times, in 
 membranous shreds or fragments. 
 
 In some persons the excitement is very great, and not 
 infrequently produces hysteria or even convulsions. At 
 such periods of excitement the breasts swell and become 
 painful. The abdomen is frequently distended by gasses, 
 accompanied by a sense of heat extending over the soft 
 parts and into the vagina. The bladder at times sym- 
 pathizes with this general disturbance, and then there may 
 be a frequent desire to pass urine, which is accompanied 
 with a burning or scalding sensation. 
 
 These symptoms are sometimes only premonitory and 
 cease as soon as the flow is established, but, more fre- 
 quently, especially if the discharge is not free, they 
 continue, and are even intensified for several hours. They 
 may not disappear until the end of the discharge. The 
 flow is usually irregular, at times. quite slight. It may, 
 for a short period, entirely cease, at which time the pain 
 is intensified and is followed by excessive wasting. 
 Especially is this the case in women of highly-nervous 
 temperament. In some women a free flow arrests the 
 pain instantly. In very young girls, little can be done in 
 a curative way until the womb is more fully developed. 
 Its cavity is quite small and is distended by a small 
 quantity of blood, which distention produces the pain. 
 
 When dysmenorrhea recurs at each menstrual period
 
 2O6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 for a long time, disorganization may be gradually induced 
 and permanent disease established, unless proper and 
 effective means be used to restore the parts to a healthy 
 condition. Pathologists differ somewhat in regard to the 
 cause of this painful malady. That as clear a view as is 
 proper within the limit of a work of this kind may be had, 
 the complaint will be divided into classes, the leading 
 characteristics of each being given. 
 
 Simple Dysmenonrhea. 
 
 Simple dysmenorrhea is not complicated. It is either 
 nervous or neuralgic, and is due to the morbid sensitive- 
 ness of either the uterus or ovaries. It is aggravated by 
 mental excitement, exposure to extremes of temperature, 
 fatigue, rheumatism, etc. A prominent characteristic 
 symptom is great tenderness over the abdominal region, 
 so that, upon the slightest pressure of the hand or clothing, 
 the pain is intensified. At the approach of the menstrual 
 period there is a sense of weight or fullness, with bearing 
 down. Pain, more or less severe, is felt shooting into the 
 bladder or rectum. When the flow commences the pain 
 often increases and becomes spasmodic, amounting to 
 cramp. 
 
 A young woman, while suffering extremely from such 
 paroxysms, once told the writer : " I would rather have a 
 baby than suffer in this way." Usually, in the course of 
 a few hours, the menstrual flow being fully established, 
 the pains subside gradually, to the great relief of the 
 patient. Occasionally they continue through the whole
 
 ACCIDENTAL DYSMENORRHEA. 2O/ 
 
 period. During the intervals of her " periods," she feels 
 entirely well, with no sensitiveness of the parts. This 
 proves that there is no local inflammation. In short, the 
 characteristic symptoms of this class are the suddenness of 
 the attack, its severity and paroxysmal character, and its 
 recurrence month after month without affecting the general 
 health. 
 
 Accidental Dysmenorrhea. 
 
 The accidental form is usually of little importance, 
 being the result of improprieties in hygiene on the part of 
 the woman, either immediately before or at the time of 
 menstruation ; exposure to cold, or by getting the feet 
 wet, or, with some, even putting the hands in cold water. 
 Over-fatigue or excitement will induce painful menstrua- 
 tion, but the patient will be all right the next period. 
 
 Congestive Dysmenopphea. 
 
 The congestive form may be easily distinguished from 
 the others by irregular discharges, voided in clots of 
 blood congestion in an excessive degree only, for 
 limited congestion is the cause of any flow, so the menses 
 are the necessary result of congestion. In this variety, 
 the blood-vessels are excessively enlarged, causing pain 
 and nervous sensibility, which may be brief but neverthe- 
 less severe. This extreme nervous irritability may induce 
 vomiting, convulsions, or hysteria, which subside as soon 
 as the flow is sufficient to relieve the distention of the 
 blood-vessels.
 
 208 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Inflammatory Dysmenornhea. 
 
 Another variety is called inflammatory. This may be 
 taken to include membranous, though the latter is treated 
 by some authorities as a distinct class. But, as the symp- 
 toms of both are the same pain and fever and affect 
 the same organs, they can appropriately be considered as 
 one. This variety is not constitutional, but arises from 
 inflammation of the ovaries and uterus. It rarely com- 
 mences at puberty, like the constitutional, but occurs at 
 any time in married and unmarried women. Whenever 
 that morbid condition of the womb and ovaries exists, the 
 suffering continues during the whole period of the men- 
 strual flow, and leaves the parts tender for a time after it 
 ceases. 
 
 The whole system sympathizes with this local inflam- 
 mation and increase of temperature, accompanied with 
 additional febrile symptoms, languor and anemia follow, 
 giving a general and continued evidence of physical 
 deterioration. The flow is accompanied with membranous 
 shreds. Sometimes the membrane will be discharged in 
 the form of a sack, or cast from the cavity of the uterus 
 without losing its shape or integrity. The discharge is 
 accompanied with sjevere pain. At other times there will 
 be present all the inflammatory symptoms, but none of the 
 shreds will be seen in the discharge. 
 
 Obstructive Dysmenorrhea. 
 
 The obstructive variety is the result of physical defect 
 i-n the uterine neck, such as constrictive deformities of
 
 OBSTRUCTIVE DYSMENORRHEA. 2O9 
 
 structure, or malposition of the womb ; thickening of the 
 mucous membrane, resulting from previous and repeated 
 inflammations, adhesions, tumors, and closure of the 
 vagina. The symptoms of this variety do not materially 
 differ from the others, the characteristic symptoms being 
 excruciating pain of an expulsive character. The pain is 
 compared to colic, the term uterine colic being very 
 appropriate. 
 
 If obstructive dysmenorrhea be suspected, a skillful 
 physician should be called, that a thorough examination 
 of the uterus and its surroundings may be made. Should 
 it be caused by a tumor, the enlargement may be detected 
 through the abdominal walls. Displacement of the womb 
 may be suspected if there be pain in the back, sensation 
 of bearing down, desire to void water, and voiding with 
 difficulty, or constant ineffectual desire to evacuate the 
 bowels. Entire closure of the passage may be suspected 
 if all the suffering and pain of dysmenorrhea be experi- 
 enced without any discharge of menstrual fluid. 
 
 Some other varieties of dysmenorrhea are given by 
 authors, but they are not of sufficient importance to intro- 
 duce here. The above will suffice to illustrate the nature 
 and gravity of the disease, and to prevent serious conse- 
 quences arising from the neglect of efforts to prevent the 
 mildest form. An unwarranted modesty should not 
 prevent the patient from calling a physician, and submit- 
 ting to such examination as may be necessary to as fully 
 as possible discover the real cause, that proper remedial 
 means may be adopted for complete relief.
 
 2IO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 It will be evident, from what has been said, that 
 dysmenorrhea, in some of its forms at least, is no trifling 
 ailment, although it does not frequently jeopardize life. 
 Many patients will tell you that if they could only die it 
 would be a pleasure ; that the thought of living only to 
 endure such suffering every few weeks is uneifdurable. 
 
 Hygiene. 
 
 There is no disease where the rules of hygiene should 
 be more strictly observed than in this, the beneficial effects 
 being always apparent. Every possible means should be 
 used that will assist in the proper and healthy establish- 
 ment of the menstrual function in young girls. If this 
 process begins with pain, they should be taken from 
 school, or any other place of confinement, and from all 
 excitement and mental labor. They should be allowed 
 perfect freedom of the open air, with suitable and healthy 
 amusements. The diet should be light, nutritious, and 
 largely vegetable. The strictest precaution should be 
 taken to see that the bowels be evacuated every day. 
 Constipation is at no time in harmony with health, and 
 frequently the cause of disorder. 
 
 It is not uncommon for mothers to seek relief for their 
 daughters by the free use of alcoholic stimulants. This 
 practice is not safe. It is dangerous, if it be a case of 
 inflammatory dysmenorrhea. The stimulant only adds 
 fuel to the fire. If there be much obstruction it can do 
 no good, and much harm may result if an undue appetite 
 be created for this kind of indulgence.
 
 .HYGIENE. 211 
 
 Stimulants, no doubt, may relieve in the neuralgic 
 variety, but, inasmuch as they do not cure, and may do 
 much harm, it would be better to consult a physician, so 
 that an intelligent line of treatment may be adopted and 
 carried into execution. 
 
 Opiates are frequently resorted to for this painful 
 trouble. These, administered intelligently, are a great 
 blessing in freeing the sufferer from such intense pain. If 
 they be indiscriminately used, at all times, they are 
 fraught with serious consequences. If the habit of opium- 
 eating should be established by such frequent resort to it, 
 the result would be that the cure would be worse than 
 the disease. The writer has been hailed as the messenger 
 of peace when he had administered about half a drachm 
 of bromide of potassium by the mouth and from one-half 
 to one-third grain of morphine hypodermically. 
 
 A very efficient remedy for much of the trouble in this 
 affection will be found in one-drachm doses of equal parts 
 of the fluid extract of blackhaw and Jamaica dogwood, 
 repeated every three or four hours. 
 
 Expectancy, no doubt, exerts a powerful influence over 
 this, as well as many other diseases. Not long since the 
 writer was called to the bedside of a young woman raised 
 in easy life, who had suffered more or less pain at every 
 menstrual period for a year or more, and whose symptoms 
 increased in severity at each change, until the pain resisted 
 not only all the remedies that had before in some 
 measure soothed it, but was altogether unbearable. After 
 he had failed to give relief with the sitz-bath and continued
 
 212 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 injections of hot water (both of which he has found fre- 
 quently very beneficial), he resorted to the morphine and 
 potassia, as above recommended, and soon the patient 
 was happy. At the time of the next period she was very 
 anxious to take a trip in company with a friend to the 
 State Fair, and visit her brother, who lived in the same 
 city where the fair was held, but her menses, which were 
 to occur at that time, appeared to be an insurmountable 
 barrier. Hence, she called on her physician to inquire if 
 she could not carry one of those potions with her, and 
 take it at the approach of the pain. Seeing her anxiety 
 to make the trip, a potion was prepared, mixing together 
 the ingredients for convenience. The next day after her 
 arrival at the fair, while she was busying herself to see all 
 that was possible before her expected sickness, she was 
 happily surprised to find herself menstruating, with no 
 pain, and no need to take her medicine. The exercise, 
 with the diversion of the mind from her expected trouble, 
 had much to do in giving her entire freedom from pain. 
 
 It is observed that this disease occurs much more fre- 
 quently among women who live in comparative ease than 
 with those who have plenty of exercise in the open air, 
 and busy themselves temperately in household duties. 
 Young women, daughters of men of means who have 
 servants to attend to all the household duties, dress them- 
 selves in close-fitting attire, perhaps two or three times 
 daily, with an underdress (or corset) too tightly laced, that 
 presses on the abdomen, impeding the circulation of the 
 blood so important to the organs contained therein,
 
 DISEASES FROM DERANGEMENT OF MENSTRUATION. 213 
 
 reducing the cavity and forcing the bowels down upon 
 the delicate organs of generation. In this condition they 
 sit about on low chairs, that have a tendency to increase 
 the pressure. Is it a surprise to find so many of them 
 afflicted with some species of female trouble ? 
 
 Diseases From Derangement of Menstruation. 
 
 The establishment of the menses is frequently subject 
 to the derangements of which mention has been made. 
 This development sometimes gives rise to certain diseases 
 peculiar to women and to this function. Among these 
 diseases may be named chlorosis or green sickness, chorea 
 or St. Vitus' dance, hysteria, etc. A brief consideration 
 of these may be given here. 
 
 Chlorosis is not properly a disease of the generative 
 organs of women, and would not be entitled to a place in 
 this volume were it not that amenorrhea, or suppressed 
 menses, is connected with it. Its principal characteristics 
 are intense paleness of the skin, lips and lining membrane 
 of the eyelids. It is a paleness having a greenish hue 
 (from which the disease takes its name). At times the 
 color is yellow, when it is mistaken for jaundice. The 
 manifest and peculiar paleness of the lips and of the mem- 
 brane over the eyeball, is a most infallible evidence of 
 this condition. 
 
 The disease is characterized by a lack of the red glob- 
 ules in the blood, and transfusion of the watery portion 
 through the veins into the skin, causing dropsy of the 
 face, feet, and body. It is the dropsical condition that
 
 214 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 gives the puffy appearance. This disease, when long 
 continued, gradually weakens the patient, whose system, 
 under the general anemia becomes deranged. The 
 appetite is lost or perverted to a desire for strange things, 
 such as slate-pencils, chalk, clay, salt, vinegar or pickles. 
 Then a sensation of weight oppresses the stomach ; diges- 
 tion is retarded, giving rise to evolution and belching of 
 gas ; the respiration becomes labored, and palpitation of 
 the heart is induced by the slightest exercise or mental 
 excitement. This low condition predisposes the patient 
 to neuralgia, which may affect the head, the neck, the 
 eyes and the back or any other part of the body. 
 
 Various theories have been advanced by pathologists 
 regarding the exact nature of the disease. They agree 
 that the absence of menstruation is not so much the cause 
 as the consequence of disease. Although chlorosis gen- 
 erally occurs at puberty, yet it may affect those who have 
 menstruated, and even married women. 
 
 The disease is generally curable, particularly in women 
 of good constitutions who have usually enjoyed healthy 
 food and pure air. The danger lies in the organic diseases 
 that may follow : Valvular diseases of the heart, dropsy, 
 paralysis, hemorrhages and consumption. The establish- 
 ment of the menses is the most reliable sign of the return 
 of strength and health and of complete recovery. 
 
 Among the most common causes of chlorosis are great 
 mental anxiety, overwork in the school-room, lack of open- 
 air exercise, etc. Let these causes be removed by proper 
 hygienic regulations. As the disease is largely nervous,
 
 CHOREA, OR ST. VITUS* DANCE. 21$ 
 
 the remedies should be applied in this direction. It is a 
 complaint which is hardly susceptible of self-cure. Com- 
 petent medical counsel should be sought and followed. 
 
 Chorea, OP St. Vitus' Dance. 
 
 The disease known as St. Vitus' Dance received its name 
 from a dancing mania that prevailed in Strasburg, A. D. 
 1418, at a celebration of St. Vitus, in which the people 
 commenced to dance to music and continued until 
 completely overcome by fatigue. However, chorea seems 
 to be a different disease from that which so suddenly 
 developed at the celebration referred to, and is of more 
 recent date. 
 
 It consists in a tendency to involuntary and irregular 
 muscular contractions of the limbs and face, the mind and 
 the functions of the brain being quite unaffected. The 
 spasms of chorea differ from those of most other 
 convulsive affections in being unaccompanied by pain or 
 rigidity. They are but momentary, jerking movements, 
 indicating rather a want of control of the will over the 
 muscles than any real excess of their contraction. 
 
 In some cases the disease resembles merely an exag- 
 geration of the restlessness and fidgetiness common among 
 children. In others it goes so far as to be a very serious 
 malady, and may even threaten life. Fatal cases are fortu- 
 nately very rare, and in a large majority of instances it 
 yields readily to treatment carefully pursued, or disappears 
 spontaneously as the patient grows up. 
 
 Chorea is a disease much more common among
 
 2l6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 children and young persons than after maturity. Ninety 
 per cent, of all the cases occur under twenty years of age. 
 The ratio in sex is three girls to one boy. This shows its 
 relation to nervous influence. It is most common 
 between ten and fifteen years of age, which is an evidence 
 of its being to some extent influenced by the establish- 
 ment of menstruation. It is more common in northern 
 than southern climates, and is rarely seen among persons 
 of purely African blood. This would indicate that a cold, 
 changeable climate is productive of this disease, as is also 
 a fine nervous temperament, which is rarely met in the 
 pure African. 
 
 The causes influencing the disease are high-sexual 
 development, nervous temperament, sudden fright, 
 suppression of any customary discharge, uterine disorders 
 and intestinal worms. Some children appear to get it by 
 sympathy for other persons suffering from its attacks or 
 from imitating them. Rheumatism is said to be a cause, 
 but this is without foundation. Cases where chorea is 
 associated with rheumatism would be better called a 
 rheumatic affection of the spinal cord. 
 
 Symptoms of Chorea. 
 
 The system may or may not be deranged. Most cases 
 begin gradually by want of good digestion. Capricious- 
 ness, headache, low spirits, timidity, irritable temper and 
 an inability to sleep well are premonitory symptoms. 
 Then begin slight jerkings of the muscles of the mouth 
 and head ; then the tongue is affected and speech becomes
 
 SYMPTOMS OF CHOREA. 2I/ 
 
 impossible from spasms of the tongue and muscles of the 
 lower jaw. By and by the patient is wholly choreic by 
 involvement of all the muscles of the body. He is rest- 
 less and unable to stand still. Muscular co-ordination is 
 impaired, from which the limbs are not subject to the will. 
 The upper limbs are more affected than the lower ones. 
 
 There is general debility which aggravates the symp- 
 toms. In bad cases the erect posture cannot be main- 
 tained. Later, the muscles of the trunk are involved, and 
 the patient cannot be kept in bed. Spasms of the muscles 
 of the face occasion grimaces. Nevertheless the spasms 
 are somewhat under the control of the will, for the spas- 
 modic movements may be stopped by a strong effort of 
 the will. The spasms cease entirely during sleep. Occa- 
 sionally the choreic movements are confined to one side 
 of the body. 
 
 In aggravated cases there is general nervous debility. 
 The mind becomes affected and imbecility may set in, or 
 else the patient becomes very timid and seeks holes and 
 closets to get out of sight. Chorea is generally an acute 
 disease. It rises to a certain point, remains stationary, 
 and spontaneously declines, with a tendency to recover. 
 Some cases last only a few days ; exceptional cases last 
 for years. When it develops in pregnancy, parturition 
 generally stops it. If it occur in a girl at puberty, it gen- 
 erally disappears on the establishment of the menses; if 
 on account of suppression of menstruation from cold or 
 any accidental cause, it usually subsides on the re-establish- 
 ment of the flow.
 
 2l8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Treatment of Chorea. 
 
 Many doctors do not place any reliance upon medica- 
 tion, but try to remove the cause. An effort should be 
 made to re-establish a normal condition of health in all the 
 functions of the body. When this point is reached the 
 disease disappears. The rules for hygiene should be 
 assiduously enforced. A shower bath to the spine, and 
 artificial or natural sulphur baths and sea-bathing are use- 
 ful. Gymnastic exercise will have a beneficial effect in 
 tending to correct irregular movement of the muscles and 
 tone them up, if often and regularly persevered in, but not 
 carried to the extent of fatigue. 
 
 The digestive organs should be carefully watched. 
 There should be a liberal supply of easily-digested, good, 
 nutritious food. Milk laxatives, repeated at intervals, 
 have been found curative in cases where there has been 
 defective hygienic conditions as constipation, loss of 
 appetite, or worms. If worms be suspected, the addition 
 of turpentine to the laxative will be found serviceable. 
 Whether purgation should be active or light depends on 
 circumstances. The bitter purgatives are best. 
 
 The debilitated condition of the nervous system will 
 demand attention, and effectual means should be adopted 
 for its restoration. If the patient be pale and apparently 
 bloodless, the preparations of iron will be found useful in 
 restoring the equilibrium of the blood corpuscles. The 
 preparations of iron may be combined with the vegetable 
 bitters, as gentian, calumba, etc. To allay the spasm.
 
 HYSTERIA. 219 
 
 ether may be applied to the spine by an atomizer till the 
 skin becomes white, but not frozen. Currents of elec- 
 tricity of low intensity are good. 
 
 Hysteria. 
 
 Hysteria has long been used as the name of the malady 
 that is to be described, but there is no appropriateness or 
 significance, nor does it reveal anything of its history. 
 Hysteria literally signifies womb, and received its name 
 because, like the organ, it is peculiar to women (which is 
 denied by some) and is generally met during the develop- 
 ment of the uterine functions. It rarely happens before 
 puberty or after mature womanhood. 
 
 The disease is but little understood by people generally, 
 presenting as it does such diverse manifestations. Patients 
 suffering from it are deserving of commiseration and kind- 
 ness both from physician and friends. In some patients 
 it causes merriment ; in others, sorrow ; in sbme, venera- 
 tion ; in others, contempt. 
 
 How humiliating it must be to a girl when she realizes 
 that some power, acting independently of herself, is 
 causing her to laugh when she ought to weep, or weep 
 when she ought to laugh. She has no command over 
 herself, the body acting in utter disobedience to the will. 
 Imagine a young woman talking immoderately in situa- 
 tions where prudence and modesty demand that she 
 should keep silent ; or revelling in fits of ecstacy when 
 soberness would be more appropriate ; or writhing and 
 twisting and exposing her person, putting at defiance
 
 22O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 both modesty and self-regard. She suffers at times with 
 severe pains, intensified by the slightest movement, or it 
 may be an entire want of feeling, accompanied by utter 
 inability to move a single muscle in some parts of the 
 body, followed by the consoling remark, by physician or 
 friend, " It is simply hysteria ! " 
 
 How uncomfortable must be the sensation of a ball 
 rolling up the throat, as if to choke one to death! At 
 other times, every muscle of the body contracting, forcing 
 the movement of the limbs with such energy as to defy 
 the resistance of able attendants, and then, in a moment, 
 a body motionless and still as death. Through all the 
 changes, the pulsation of the heart, the great master- wheel 
 of life, moves as smoothly and beats as calmly as if 
 nothing were wrong. 
 
 Such are some of the manifestations of this wonderful 
 affection called, for the lack of another name, " Hysteria." 
 Its symptoms are so varied that a whole book might be 
 written giving their descriptions. Yet, with all the 
 patient's suffering from the effects of this disease, she 
 receives no sympathy from friends or neighbors, simply 
 because the disease does not kill. Is it true that the only 
 type of disease that should evoke our sympathy and 
 demand our commiseration for its victim is one that kills? 
 How many poor human beings, in extreme anguish with 
 this peculiar affection, are made to suffer still more 
 intensely by the unfeeling reminder that it does not kill ! 
 How many have been heard to say: " Oh, if it would only 
 kill, so that I might have some hope of emancipation from
 
 HYSTERIA. 221 
 
 this unfeeling task-master, it would be a source of some 
 pleasure, but to think I can't ever die, distresses my very 
 soul ! " 
 
 Perhaps no disease in the whole catalogue of ailments 
 has been so full of pathological perplexity as hysteria. 
 Little is known of it, although it is prevalent in most 
 countries, and presents a wide variety of symptoms. In 
 the early history of pathology the uterus was believed to 
 be an animal, and hysteria was supposed to be the 
 wanderings and vagaries of that animal within the body, 
 as if in a frolic. But, in the later development of 
 pathology, numberless theories were advanced without 
 reaching any conclusion that was free from unanswerable 
 objections. 
 
 Some hold the opinion that it is the result of a morbid 
 condition of the uterine nerves ; others attribute it to a 
 morbid condition of the stomach and bowels ; others to a 
 congested condition of the lungs and heart ; to spinal 
 irritation ; to cerebral excitement ; to displacements of the 
 womb, or any serious lesion of that organ, or any disturb- 
 ance of its functions. It is not our purpose to enter into 
 a pathological discussion of this mysterious phenomenon, 
 but only to give some evidence of its differential effects 
 upon subjects. Although this malady is found among all 
 classes of women, and but rarely among men, and then 
 only in a mild form, it is seldom met among the working 
 classes. Its principal sphere of action is among persons 
 who lead an indolent life. The predisposing constitutional 
 conditions of hysteria are temperament, especially the 
 nervous, and such as are either lazy or feeble.
 
 222 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Hysterical patients are largely developed among those 
 girls in whom Nature is making an effort to establish the 
 menstrual epoch. From this experience, no doubt, the 
 theory was evolved that the disease had its origin in the 
 reproductive organs. The disease may be attributable to 
 extremes of heat or cold, and dampness ; to violent 
 exercise or fatigue ; to irritating articles of diet and 
 spices ; to tight-lacing ; to too-frequent ablutions of water; 
 to [love or jealousy ; and to disappointment, especially in 
 love affairs. The more immediate causes are fright, 
 anger, reproach, violent and sudden affliction, improper 
 conversations, the sight of repulsive objects, sudden joy, 
 the unexpected appearance of an object of love or hatred, 
 or irritating applications to the skin. From a moral 
 standpoint hysteria is infectious, and should it in a com 
 pany of women seize one individual, more may be 
 similarly affected. Indeed it is surprising, when it breaks 
 out in a boarding-school, to see the large number that 
 may be attacked. It is recorded, upon good authority, 
 that a certain boarding-school had to be suspended and 
 the girls sent home on account of the moral effect of the 
 development of the disease in a girl in the presence of the 
 class. 
 
 Persons most likely to be affected by this disease 
 manifest all the traits of a very impressionable nature. 
 They are light, frivolous, and very friendly to their own 
 opinion, often fanciful and hasty, and in disposition very 
 changeable. They easily pass from the most violent 
 expressions of joy, from excessive fits of laughter, or the
 
 HYSTERIA. 223 
 
 most affectionate caresses, to sulkiness, pouting, sighs, 
 tears and bitter reproaches, even to regret, self-accusation 
 and melancholy. It is claimed by some that hysterical 
 persons dissimulate, and feign ailments that do not exist. 
 
 It is told of a lady who had kept her bed for months, 
 despite the remonstrances of friends and medical attend- 
 ants, that the ruse of setting her bed on fire was resorted 
 to, and that, in her fright, she flew out of bed and house, 
 although she had always insisted that it would be death to 
 her to move from it. She returned to her home and 
 couch, but like other people and in a natural condition, 
 and from that time retired and rose regularly without the 
 slightest apprehension or sickness. 
 
 I remember having been called to see a young woman 
 of nervous temperament, very impressionable traits of 
 character, light, frivolous and opinionated. She had, 
 either by dream or otherwise, got the notion that, at I 
 o'clock upon a certain night, she was going to die. I, as 
 well as her friends, endeavored to relieve her mind of this 
 fanciful impression, but without avail. On the night set 
 for the sad event, about an hour before the arrival of the 
 " fatal hour," she sent a messenger to summon me to her 
 bedside, wishing to see me once more before departing 
 this life. Through the importunity of the messenger I 
 went, but without any faith in the prophecy. On my 
 an val I found gathered around her bed her weeping 
 mother, who was little less visionary than her daughter, 
 and a large number of friends, who were more or less 
 credulous, and whose countenances wore the evidences of
 
 224 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 deep distress. It was only a few minutes before the fatal 
 hour. I remonstrated with her, assuring her that it was 
 all a fancy ; that there was not the slightest evidence of the 
 coming of death. She could not be persuaded, but, bid- 
 ding farewell to all her friends, like Hezekiah of old, 
 " turned her face to the wall," and endeavored to die. It 
 is scarcely necessary to say that the attempt was a failure, 
 and she was soon, as usual, attending to the affairs of life. 
 Although this occurred almost a quarter of a century ago, 
 she is still living in the enjoyment of fair health, the 
 mother of a family. 
 
 There are numberless diseases that under the influence 
 of hysteria are greatly aggravated. Hysterical coughs 
 are not infrequently so exaggerated as to lead one to sup- 
 pose that some serious lesion of the lungs or air-passages 
 may be developing. Many cases of hysterical palpitations 
 of the heart are known, of such violence that it has 
 required the utmost difficulty to persuade the patient that 
 there was no organic disease of that organ ; that the dis- 
 turbance was the result of a peculiar derangement of the 
 nervous system. The physician does not dare to say 
 hysteria, as that name is remarkably offensive to a person 
 suffering from its effects. 
 
 In the history of a long practice in the medical profes- 
 sion it is surprising to note the great variety of the 
 peculiar cases of this singular disease that may be called 
 up. It would fill the inexperienced with wonder and 
 astonishment. Feigning pregnancy is not an uncommon 
 freak in this wonderful disease. The writer has a vivid
 
 HYSTERIA. 225 
 
 * 
 
 recollection of a woman who had been married for a 
 number of years, but was childless, and remained so. 
 But she thought herself pregnant, and imposed the decep- 
 tion upon her husband. He consulted the family physician 
 concerning the long-hoped-for condition of his wife. The 
 physician, after a careful examination of all the evidence, 
 diagnosed a case of hysteria, but did not darken the 
 patient's hope of a prospective heir by revealing the real 
 state of affairs. The patient, who in her own mind already 
 had unmistakable evidence of her pregnant condition, was 
 left to the enjoyment of her fancy. Months rolled on, 
 until the time for her expected delivery was at hand; as is 
 frequent, she feigned sickness and pain. A few of her 
 lady friends were gathered in, and the physician was sum- 
 moned. She labored in great pain, but was unsuccessful 
 in bringing forth, which very much disappointed her. But 
 it seemed to have a beneficial effect upon her hysterical 
 affection, as she never manifested any special hallucination 
 afterward. 
 
 This case would not, however, have developed into 
 such unpleasant consequences had her husband been more 
 decided in his opposition to her fanciful notion. But,, 
 being himself of an impressionable nature, he was half- 
 disposed to persuade himself that her condition was not 
 simulated, but real. Yet it seems as if the shock to the 
 mind caused by the humiliation produced by such circum- 
 stances is attended with absolute freedom from successive 
 attacks. 
 
 It sometimes happens that hysterical patients feign
 
 226 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 death. A case of this kind is related upon the authority 
 of a reputable physician : A woman was apparently dead, 
 and had been visited by a number of physicians, all of 
 whom agreed that she was not dead, but dying. She 
 had been in this condition for eight days, and both 
 friends and physicians were seriously concerned for her. 
 It was suggested by counsel that her physician should go 
 to her, bid her good-by, and tell her, that, inasmuch as she 
 would die in a few hours, he need not return. He was 
 not to leave the room, however. He was to conceal him- 
 self in such position that he could see the eyes of the 
 patient. The understanding was that if she winked, or if 
 the eyelids trembled, it was a case of hysteria. An 
 injection of asafoetida mixture was then to be given, as 
 she refused to allow even a drop of water to pass into the 
 mouth. This course was followed. In half an hour she 
 opened her eyes as from a deep sleep, and spoke to her 
 attendants as if nothing had been the matter with her. 
 What was strange, she never afterward alluded to the 
 affair. 
 
 Hysterical convulsions may be mistaken for epilepsy, 
 but the inexperienced need not be misled. A fit of epi- 
 lepsy is sudden, with entire loss of consciousness, while 
 hyster'a is gradual, and the loss of consciousness is never 
 com ^iete. In addition to this difference, it may be added 
 that epileptic patients froth at the mouth, with frequently 
 -an admixture of blood, occasioned by wounding the 
 tongue with the teeth, by the convulsive action of the 
 Tnuscles of the jaws. But these phenomena are never 
 present during an attack of hysteria.
 
 HYSTERIA. 227 
 
 The author was called to see a patient n-jt long since 
 who was said to have paralysis. He found her in bed, 
 unable, as she averred, to move her left arm or left leg. 
 Upon inquiring into her history it was found that she had 
 repeatedly had similar attacks. Upon further investiga- 
 tion it was discovered that, from imprudent exposure to 
 cold, she had suppression of the menses. I diagnosed a 
 ease of hysteria. She was given treatment to overcome 
 her suppression, and, in a couple of days, all traces of her 
 paralysis disappeared. Her preceding attacks of paralysis 
 had occurred in similar circumstances. 
 
 Aphonia, or sudden loss of voice, is not infrequently 
 a manifestation of hysteria. This is the cause of great 
 alarm to friends; as no other trace of this disease may be 
 present, hysteria may not be suspected. 
 
 Severe pains in various parts of the body and limbs 
 are the most common simulations of hysterical patients. 
 Such assumptions of pain have kept women in bed for 
 months, undergoing the severe ordeal of fomentations, 
 plasters, blisters, etc., aided by active constitutional treat- 
 ment, without any improvement. Such patients frequently 
 persuade themselves that it is impossible for them to move. 
 They keep their beds for months, when they could have 
 arisen at any time and walked. 
 
 A very striking instance of this simulated illness is 
 related by Dr. Bright of a young lady patient who had 
 kept her bed for nine months. On attempting the slightest 
 movement she was thrown into paroxysms of excitement 
 and great agony. There was no evidence of any disease
 
 228 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 whatever. She protested against getting np, vowing that 
 it was impossible for her to move. Her physician, not 
 being able to afford her any relief from her feigned dis- 
 ease, left her for a month, and, on returning, was agreeably 
 surprised to find her well. Under a deep religious impres- 
 sion she had abandoned her hallucination and gone to 
 work. 
 
 It is upon this class of patients that spiritualists and 
 " metaphysicians," as they style themselves, perform such 
 wonderful cures. Through the influence of the mind, 
 they put patients under a stronger impression ; they get 
 well because there was no physical disease. If such 
 charlatans would confine themselves to curing hysteria, 
 they might be of benefit to society. When they unright- 
 eously undertake to cure absolute lesions of the body 
 through the operations of the mind, impressing upon their 
 patients that they are not sick, that they only think they 
 are, they should be regarded as impostors and treated 
 accordingly. 
 
 Simple hysteria is easily detected. For any trivial 
 cause that should do no more than cause a smile, hysterical 
 women, laugh immoderately, and not infrequently end in 
 sobbing and crying. During a play in which several per- 
 sons are engaged, any unusual or general merriment will 
 throw a girl into an immoderate and irrepressible fit of 
 laughter, soon to be followed by long and deep sighs, 
 which are efforts to gain breath. The fits of laughter may 
 be alternated with fits of crying, and as if in terrible 
 distress. If these fits of laughing and crying be not
 
 HYSTERIA. 229 
 
 immediately arrested by an extraneous effort on her 
 part, or her mind be not quickly diverted from whatever 
 excited the laughter, the fits become stronger, and are 
 frequently followed by a bolus or ball coming up her 
 throat, choking her until she gasps for breath. She vio- 
 lently grasps her clothing to relieve her throat. She may 
 become partially convulsed and throw her limbs, or grasp 
 at anything within her reach, and press her fingers into it 
 with unusual force ; or she may spread out her hands and 
 fingers as though they were sticks. She may have an 
 intermission and relaxation for a moment, only to be fol- 
 lowed by a return of the paroxysm. These remissions are 
 employed in wailings and moanings, and relations of her 
 abandoned condition. Every person is against her, no one 
 loves her, and she refuses to be comforted. She tells 
 strange things, and reveals her secrets, no matter whether 
 they expose herself or injure her friends. There is no 
 certainty how long this condition may continue. It may 
 subside in a few minutes ; it may last for hours, or even 
 days. 
 
 The writer remembers an instance in which it con- 
 tinued for a fortnight. Another, in discussing the subject 
 of hysteria, relates a case that occurred in his own prac- 
 tice, in which a lady who had received a- mental shock 
 fell into a hysterical fit, and, for twenty nights following, 
 these fits recurred, commencing about 9 or 10 o'clock in 
 the evening, and ending between 4 and 5 in the morning. 
 During the day she was as well as usual, and it did not 
 seem as if another attack would recur. Yet, when even-
 
 230 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ing arrived, she became hilarious ; her eyes sparkled, and 
 she became talkative and witty. These were premonitory 
 symptoms of another attack ; they would change in their 
 order of appearance. Generally, while in this talkative 
 state, during which her eyes were closed, she would relate 
 amusing stories about herself, her mother, sister, doctor, 
 or any one else, or repeat Shakespeare by the page. 
 Suddenly she would startle the attendants by a piercing 
 shriek, exclaiming, " It is coming ! " pushing her hands 
 upon her temples. The davits hystericus was upon her. 
 From this she would pass into a convulsion, in which she 
 would make a bow of her body backwards, so that 
 pillows had to be put against the headboard of the bed- 
 stead, lest her nose should be broken. She would come 
 out of these convulsions in two or three minutes, but in a 
 moment more the " spike " would be driven through her 
 temples again, inducing the same alarming shrieks, to be 
 followed by another similar convulsion. This would last 
 sometimes an hour or two, when vomiting would super- 
 vene, and the bod)'- would remain relaxed. This vomiting 
 was, if possible, more distressing than the previous con- 
 dition. She would retch violently, vomiting only a little 
 gluey mucus. In an hour or so this would pass off, and 
 she would fall into a semi-trance, answering questions, but 
 following her own thoughts, and, with a smile on her face, 
 would tell the amusing incidents of her life, or of those of 
 persons present, or of absent friends. Finally, she would 
 fall into a doze, from which she would come out refreshed 
 and ready for her breakfast.
 
 HYSTERIA. 231 
 
 This lady had had a similar attack years before. She 
 was cultured, endowed with a fine nervous organization, and 
 was not a hysterical woman in the common acceptation of 
 the term ; she was brilliant in society, but always self- 
 possessed. After twenty nights of such torture she came 
 out of that condition slightly weakened, but with unim- 
 pared health. Fifteen years have now passed, and 
 although she has had her share of human sorrow, hysteria 
 has not again disturbed her. 
 
 It is the characteristic of this disease that no matter 
 how long it may be prolonged, it rarely affects materially 
 the digestive organs. The appetite remains unimpaired, 
 and the general system manifests no disposition to 
 succumb to these distressing symptoms. 
 
 It is truly a mortifying and embarrassing sickness. 
 Yet no death from uncomplicated hysteria has ever been 
 recorded, and this, as has been already remarked, 
 together with the peculiar and often silly behavior of those 
 afflicted in this way is the reason why many esteem it so 
 lightly. 
 
 Treatment of Hysteria. 
 
 As remarked, it is a lamentable fact, and must coin- 
 cide with the experience of every honest practitioner of 
 medicine that, strictly speaking, medication has been able 
 to accomplish but little toward the permanent relief of this 
 troublesome ailment. It is undoubtedly true that in the 
 hurry and bustle of the life of a busy practitioner, he may, 
 in a proper and expeditious application of the great list of
 
 232 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 anti-spasmodicit give timely relief to a large number of 
 these nervous patients. But he cannot generally be 
 expected to devote the time necessary to enable him to 
 permanently benefit them. 
 
 Every individual case requires a careful and inde- 
 pendent investigation of all the factors that enter into the 
 attack. A respectable authority, Dr. Mitchell, says upon 
 this point : " A careful study of the girl's character, of her 
 home surroundings, of the incidents of social life, which 
 come with the development of possible passion, will be 
 the best guide to treatment, and, with the obvious indica- 
 tions given us, by distinct physical ailments, local or 
 general, constitute our chief resources." 
 
 If upon feeble, exhausted women there be precipitated 
 changes of social circumstances, love affairs, disappoint- 
 ments, or physical accidents, invalids will be created who 
 unite their exhausted state of system with a bewildering 
 list of hysterical phenomena. These are the cases of bed- 
 ridden, broken-down, hysterical women that have baffled 
 the best-devised remedies at the command of a faithful 
 practitioner and driven him to despair of a restoration to 
 health. They remain the pests of households, wrecking 
 the constitutions of nurses and devoted friends, and, in 
 conscious self-indulgence, destroying the comfort of every 
 one around them. Of these chronic hysterical invalids, 
 who have been neglected in the early manifestations of 
 their affection some attempt has been made to speak. A 
 full and complete description of all hysterical phases would 
 beggar the most graphic pen.
 
 HYSTERIA. 233 
 
 It is, however, my duty, for the benefit of those whose 
 ears are not so heavy that they will not hear, to protest 
 loudly against the neglect of incipient cases, lest they be 
 drifted against the rocks and shoals upon which so many 
 have been shipwrecked. This, being a disease peculiar to 
 women, the question naturally presents itself on the very 
 threshold of a discussion of remedial agents : " What 
 are the distinguishing characteristics of the agencies that 
 have to do with the physical life of boys and girls, and 
 that are found with such unequal results ? " It is net 
 sufficiently satisfactory to the observing mind to aver 
 that these consequences result entirely from varying 
 physical organisms. These physical constructions, both 
 as to the organs themselves and their functional develop- 
 ments, are the handiwork of Him who formed them with 
 such skilled appropriateness and adaptation to the end to 
 be attained. It would not become the creature to arraign 
 the intelligence and the benevolence of the Creator before 
 the lesser majesty of natural law, upon the charge of 
 having so formed and fashioned one-half of the human 
 family that, in the organic functions of the body, suffering 
 and disease must inevitably follow. 
 
 We must look in some other channel than the normal 
 operations of the physical organisms of woman to account 
 for her disparagement in this matter. I maintain that it 
 is the result of her literary education ; that her mental 
 faculties are expanded beyond human powers of endurance 
 by being placed alongside of her brothers in class, and 
 stimulated by their ambitious nature to emulation of them.
 
 234 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The result is collapse and wreck. It has been demon- 
 strated beyond the possibility of a doubt, that though the 
 mental faculties of woman are of a finer texture than 
 those of men, they are composed of more " shreds," which 
 make the mental chords equally strong and susceptible of 
 even greater strains. Yet, if man were exposed to the 
 same mental strain of woman in those peculiar circum- 
 stances, in which she looks forward to hours or days of 
 pain and anguish, the asylums of our States would need 
 to be greatly enlarged for his benefit. It is, however, 
 believed that the key to the present inquiry may be 
 found in the term education, if it be taken in its generic 
 sense, which would include all that is involved in educa- 
 tion, mentally, morally and physically. A manifest defect 
 in either one or more of these different species of educa- 
 tion is patent in the training of the girls of our country. 
 
 Some light may be thrown on the education of 
 American children by a quotation from one of the period- 
 1 icals of the day. It is perhaps as pertinent as anything 
 that could be offered: " In fashionable and would-be 
 fashionable circles, the poor little infants are dragged to 
 balls as soon as they are weaned, and converted into hot- 
 house little men and women. The books furnished to 
 them, the matinee entertainments provided for them, are 
 but calculated to arouse adult passions and thoughts into 
 abnormal, monstrous growth. There is no such thing as 
 a nursery in the majority of American city homes. The 
 children are left to the care of ignorant, hired bonnes, or 
 Irish girls. They swarm in the halls of boarding-houses,
 
 HYSTERIA. 235 
 
 or haunt the servants' rooms, trying to stretch their little 
 brains to grasp the ideas that reach them there. When 
 they are passed out of babyhood they are dismissed to 
 schools, where they learn good or evil, as paid teachers or 
 their companions choose. Let any one observe the 
 groups of flaunting, half-grown girls on their way to 
 school in the cars, or the over-dressed coquettes, misses 
 sent out to parade the streets to display their clothes on a 
 fine afternoon, and listen to their conversation, and he 
 will not wonder at their escapades into marriage or of a 
 worse fate. It is not book publishers who are to blame ; 
 it is not play-wrights ; it is not the French bonnes or 
 Irish nurses. They furnish what the public demand of 
 them. 
 
 " The one thing needed to give us a generation of 
 modest, chaste gentlewomen in our daughters, is 
 mothers mothers who know their business and who 
 do it ; mothers who have the sense to see there is a 
 time in a young woman's life, as in a man's, when 
 animal spirit or excess of vitality needs outlet ; mothers 
 who can guide their daughters through this strait in all 
 innocence and purity instead of subjecting them, from 
 their very birth, to treatment which forces every impure 
 element of their nature into unhealthy and obnoxious 
 action." 
 
 Sound remarks by Sir Benjamin Brodie on this point 
 are no less pertinent. He says: " You can render no more 
 essential service to the more affluent classes of society 
 than by availing yourselves of every opportunity of
 
 236 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 explaining to those among them who are parents how 
 much the ordinary system of education tends to engender 
 the disposition of these diseases among their female 
 children. If you will go further so as to make them 
 understand in what their error consists, what they ought 
 to do, and what they ought to leave undone, you need 
 only to point out the difference between the plans usually 
 pursued in bringing up the two sexes. The boys are sent 
 early to school, . where a large portion of their time is 
 passed in taking exercise in the open air, while their 
 sisters are confined to heated rooms, taking little exercise 
 out of doors, and often not at all, except in a carriage. 
 The mind is over-educated at the expense of the physical 
 structure, and, after all, with little advantage to the mind 
 itself; for who can doubt that the principal object of this 
 part of education ought to be, not so much to fill the 
 mind with knowledge as to train it to a right exercise of 
 its intellectual and normal faculties? Or that, other 
 things being the same, this is more easily accomplished in 
 those whose animal functions are preserved in a healthy 
 state than it is in others? " 
 
 In summing up the treatment of this singular phenom- 
 enon as it presents itself to the practical observer, by far 
 the most efficient elements will be found in the interceptive 
 treatment. This consists in a thorough application of 
 the principle of hygiene as has been assiduously recom- 
 mended in this work, through all the phases of life. 
 Good exercise in the open air is all-important. Air is the 
 life-supporting principle of the nervous system ; it sup-
 
 GENERAL EXHAUSTION, ETC. 237 
 
 plies the body with oxygen, and makes it pure and 
 healthy ; by it every element in the physical structure of 
 the individual is developed and made strong to withstand 
 any unfavorable moral influences that accident may put in 
 the pathway of life. It is also necessary to avoid the 
 evil influences that are so frequently associated with 
 school-girl life ; that tend to lead tne mind by a gradual, 
 insidious process until the unsuspecting, innocent girl is 
 caught in the foul snare and held by fetters as strong 
 as uncontrolled passion can forge out of the inde- 
 terminable depravity of the sensual heart ; for it is con- 
 ceded that love, with all its immoderate desires and 
 disappointments, lays the foundation for this disease, 
 which, when once acquired, will only leave the victim 
 when Nature has reached her limit and the body entered 
 its season of decay. 
 
 General Exhaustion from Disturbed Menstruation. 
 
 Having spoken of the disorders of menstruation and 
 the proper means to be adopted to overcome them as 
 well as of some nervous diseases that may develop under 
 the influences consequent to such functional disturbances, 
 there still remains a constitutional effect of which some- 
 thing should be said. The reference is to a general 
 exhaustion of the vital forces of the system, which is 
 sometimes seen in girls who have had trouble in their 
 monthly sickness. It not only develops great nervous 
 irritability, but a general wasting of all the tissues of 
 the system. The patient grows pale and wan. The eye
 
 238 " MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD 
 
 loses its accustomed luster ; the lips are pale and blood- 
 less ; there is more or less headache, accompanied with 
 giddiness ; the hands and feet are usually cold and moist, 
 with a clammy, unpleasant sweat ; not infrequently the 
 patient complains of nervous pains in different parts of 
 the body ; there may be a sensation of absolute 
 exhaustion, as though the body had not the strength to 
 hold together. 
 
 These attacks may come on suddenly and without 
 warning. The feeling of real strength is variable. At 
 one time of the day the patient may accomplish some 
 physical undertaking. At other times she is unable to do 
 anything. At times, sitting quietly in a chair seems to 
 require an exhaustive effort of every bone and muscle, to 
 which she is unequal. The going-to-die feeling is quite 
 common in these cases, and is frequently the cause of 
 great alarm. It may be experienced either in daytime 
 or night ; on going to sleep or waking from sleep. 
 
 Should these symptoms and conditions continue for any 
 length of time, and the general health be feeble, the heart 
 and lungs will sympathize with the general debility. The 
 patient will be troubled with attacks of palpitation of the 
 heart and nervous, irregular action of that organ. The 
 breathing will become irregular, and a sense of suffoca- 
 tion will be experienced. A cough, which at first may be 
 purely nervous, but soon becomes more marked and 
 serious, will be developed, and the patient will sink 
 rapidly by acute consumption, or, more generally, by a 
 slow but sure process of general wasting consumption.
 
 GENERAL EXHAUSTION, ETC. 239 
 
 freatment fop General Exhaustion. 
 
 This debilitation and general prostration suggests the 
 treatment. It should consist in a general restoration of 
 the lost forces of the system, both through hygienic 
 influences and medication. A tepid bath in the morning, 
 with a thorough rubbing of the skin and manipulation of 
 the muscles, serves to equalize the circulation and stimulate 
 the exhalation, thereby eliminating the poison from the 
 blood. Free exercise in the open air, commensurate with 
 the patient's strength but not to exhaustion, should be 
 enjoined. The bowels should be regulated by proper 
 articles of diet. The food should be rich and nutritious, 
 consisting of cream or rich milk, to which may be added 
 some lime-water ; if the milk should sour on the stomach, 
 three parts milk to one part lime-water. Fats should be 
 administered liberally in emulsions. Cod-liver oil is an 
 excellent remedy, when it agrees with the stomach. Fat 
 in the form of good butter may be taken frequently with 
 other food. 
 
 Tonics, both vegetable and mineral, may be given 
 internally. The preparations of iron will be found useful. 
 They may be combined with some of the bitter tonics. 
 
 A very good combination: 
 
 Citrate of Iron, Three Drachms. 
 Quinine Sulphate, Thirty Grains. 
 Tr. of Nux Vomica, Three Drachms. 
 Water, Three Ounces. 
 
 Dissolve the iron in the water and the quinine in the
 
 240 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 tincture of nux vomica and mix. Dose, teaspoonful three 
 times daily. 
 
 ,In such grave diseases a competent physician should 
 always be employed, as the disease is too serious in 
 character for the patient to rely upon home treatment. 
 
 It must also be kept in mind that in the most favorable 
 circumstances complete recovery often tries the patience 
 severely. No woman need expect to be restored in a few 
 days or weeks, even with the best of attention to hygiene 
 and medical care. The laws of health may be neglected 
 for years and passable health enjoyed. Little by little, 
 and step by step the constitution is undermined ; but not 
 until a general breaking down occurs, is the full extent 
 of the mischief suspected. This serves to suggest the pro- 
 cess of recuperation. That must be restored which was 
 destroyed, and often in about the same way little by 
 little, step by step. Many people forget this. They are 
 impatient and seize upon every gain made. They over- 
 estimate the progress in recovery and not infrequently 
 relax their recuperative efforts far short of complete res- 
 toration. This is one great vexation to the medical attend- 
 ant. When the patient is consciously helpless, no difficulty 
 is experienced in having directions followed, but his 
 utmost efforts to have the process continued after the 
 patient has passed out of the worst phases, often are 
 unavailing. The patient begins to feel well. She thinks 
 she is well. She relaxes her medicine and hygienic 
 regimen. In a short time a relapse follows, from which 
 recovery is more difficult and more prolonged.
 
 03
 
 THE MAIDEN. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 The romping, hoydenish maid of ten or a dozen sum- 
 mers, whose rosy cheeks and agile steps bespeak health 
 and happiness, whose disheveled locks sets propriety at 
 defiance, whose frank, ingenuous countenance tells of a 
 pure heart, and whose simple, unaffected ways show 
 guilelessness of the world's arts such a maid has been 
 admired in all ages. The unselfishness of her nature is 
 apparent in all her movements. Untrammeled by the 
 restrictions which later in life environ her, she joins freely 
 and fearlessly in all the sports of youth. There is no sex 
 in youthful pleasures and recreations. What is proper for 
 the boy is proper for his sister. What is relished by the 
 one is equally relished by the other. 
 
 This is the case where Nature has her way. Parents 
 may erect barriers between the sports of their sons and 
 daughters, and they may be trained to feel a difference. 
 But naturally there is no more difference between the 
 tastes, desires and inclinations of a boy and girl in the 
 same familj" than there is between two boys or two girls. 
 In nothing is there aught of reserve in the thoughts, 
 words and the- actions of the maid. She is an open, 
 
 241
 
 242 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 frank, innocent child, free from conventionalities, happy 
 in herself, and happy in her surroundings. To her, life is 
 glorious, blessed. She is alive, and that is enough for 
 her. She rejoices in the fullness of her being, and she 
 drinks in all the beauties and delights of the beautiful 
 world of which she is a habitant. 
 
 But a change comes over her life, at once strange, 
 mysterious, all-pervading. Silently and irresistibly the 
 forces of Nature within her are ripening for the great con- 
 summation of her being, A change insensibly creeps into 
 her tastes and emotions. She becomes shy, reserved, 
 listless. She does not understand it at all. She cannot 
 apprehend the great changes that are going on within her, 
 physically and psychically. She resents it. She endeav- 
 ors to absorb herself in the matters that have hitherto 
 been her delight, and she finds them tasteless, insipid, 
 repulsive. A feeling of wonder takes possession of her, 
 tinged with amazement and fear. She cannot realize 
 where she is. The past seems fading away from her, and 
 the future is only revealed in flitting, uncertain glances. 
 She tries to hold on to the vanishing past, and yet is 
 incited to look and reach forward. She is 
 
 " Standing with reluctant feet 
 Where the brook and river meet." 
 
 hesitating, trembling, uncertain whether to advance or 
 recede. 
 
 If she have been wisely instructed by her mother, she 
 knows something of the physiological changes that are 
 taking place in her being. She knows that she is passing
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 243 
 
 from childhood into womanhood. She knows that this 
 development will bring her into a sphere that is entirely 
 separated and barred against all invasion of the other sex. 
 She is prepared for something of this. But she is not 
 prepared for the greater, more mysterious and more 
 wonderful transformation that takes place in her thoughts 
 and feelings. This is a great mystery which no mother, 
 no teacher can explain. 
 
 The girl herself cannot analyze her feelings. She has 
 a vague, indefinable conception of the transformation that 
 is going on, but its causes are hidden from her. All her 
 experiences are new. She moves about in her accustomed 
 ways with the feeling that she is in unknown places. More 
 frequently, the feeling is that she is another person than 
 herself. Familiar haunts and employments have a strange- 
 ness that bewilders her. Some new machinery has been 
 set at work within her soul, and she is appalled with wonder 
 at the revelations it opens up to her. What once pleased 
 her, now irritates or disgusts. What was once the keenest 
 delight, has now no power to stir her purpose. What 
 once attracted her, now appears dull and common-place. 
 On the other hand, she begins to find attractions and 
 interest in things that were once passed without her 
 notice. She finds herself more sensitive. Her sympa- 
 thies are more quickly touched, and they move her more 
 profoundly. But with all these new experiences, there is 
 a feeling of inharmony. Her whole being is out of joint, 
 and she lays the blame on the objective world. 
 
 As the days lengthen into weeks and months and the
 
 244 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 transformation proceeds farther, she becomes conscious 
 of the birth of new hopes and desires. At first they are 
 dim, and flitting. By and by they become more clearly 
 defined and tangible, as well as more absorbing. Gradu- 
 ally and imperceptibly she relinquishes her hold upon her 
 childhood and reaches forward with intense interest and 
 longing to the fuller life of womanhood opening up before 
 her. Literally and fully she " puts away childish things." 
 Thereafter they have no claim upon her interest and 
 affection. She begins to have the feelings of a woman. 
 The characteristics, tastes, habits, occupations and desires 
 of her sex take hold of her. She seeks the companion- 
 ship of women, and feels interest in their conversation 
 and pursuits. She comes into a new, nearer and more 
 equable relation with her mother. She takes delight in 
 her home, as she never did before. She cares less and 
 less for out-door sports, and seeks the retirement of her 
 home with pleasure. 
 
 One of the most marked changes which she experiences 
 is the feeling with which she regards the opposite sex. 
 The great mystery of sex is gradually revealed to her. 
 Hitherto she had viewed her boy friends from the stand- 
 point of companionship ; now she regards them from the 
 standpoint of sex. This change of feeling is most decided 
 and most clearly defined. The maiden is fully conscious 
 of it, and betrays her consciousness in her actious. She 
 becomes timid and bashful in the presence of her boy- 
 friends. She no longer permits the freedom of unrestrained 
 romps with them, nor admits them into her confidences.
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 245 
 
 She is diffident and ill at ease in their presence. This is 
 the time when girls troop together. They form intimate 
 connections with each other, and interchange the most 
 tender confidences. They are oppressed with mutual 
 secrets, and are continually planning to be together more. 
 They feel withdrawn, separated widely from the opposite 
 sex, and have no great interest in it. 
 
 After a little time, this state passes away. The power 
 of sex, first repellant, becomes ail-powerfully attractive. 
 The maiden begins to find her feelings glowing with 
 admiration for her male companions. She no longer 
 classes them in a body, but discriminates. Some she 
 dislikes and some she admires. Some awaken a deeper 
 feeling, which, when thoroughly aroused, completes the 
 transformation from girlhood to womanhood. 
 
 Accomplishments. 
 
 No scheme of education however comprehensive, is 
 complete which does not contemplate the acquirement of 
 certain polished arts and accomplishments, the purpose of 
 which is to render the possessor more pleasant and agree- 
 able to others. An accumulation of bricks and lumber is 
 not a house. The skill of the architect is laid under 
 tribute, in order that beauty, symmetry and grace may be 
 superadded to rare utility. It is not variety, but a com- 
 mendable common-sense which leads men to adorn their 
 houses with various ornaments, not really necessary to 
 protection or comfort. There is a sense in the human 
 mind that finds gratification in the beautiful and the orna-
 
 246 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 mental. It is as much a factor of the soul as is the sense 
 of taste or smell. Its gratification brings as much real, 
 substantial enjoyment as the gratification of any other 
 sense. 
 
 The same thing is observable in dress. Something 
 more is demanded than that the material shall meet the 
 ends of covering the body and protecting it from the 
 inclemencies of the atmosphere. It must be of material 
 that satisfies the sense of taste and harmony of color and 
 quality, and be fashroned and fitted so as to display the 
 contour of the body to the best possible advantage, and 
 allow the freest and most graceful motion of the different 
 parts. No one is so utterly void of the sense of beauty 
 and fitness as to deny the advisability of calling in the 
 aid of art in clothing Nature. The inclination to do so 
 everywhere exists. It is an innate and universal instinct 
 of humanity to desire to appear well. It shows itself in 
 the uncouth and fantastic adornments of the lowest class 
 of the uncivilized as strongly as among the possessors of 
 the highest culture and enlightenment. The rings and 
 bells and feathers with which the rude inhabitant of 
 Southern Africa adorns himself, are, with the fashionable 
 garb of the American or European, an evidence of the 
 possession of a love for the beautiful and the artistic, and 
 a confession that in yielding to the influence of this 
 emotion he finds real pleasure and gratification. 
 
 Among natives of higher civilization and refinement 
 the pleasures of taste expand beyond material adornment. 
 They find their highest gratification in the cultured graces
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 247 
 
 of the mind. No one can find enjoyment of life alone 
 and apart from his fellows. No one can live among his 
 fellows and either give or receive pleasure if he have not 
 added to substantial utility much that is purely orna- 
 mental. Social life holds nothing that is desirable to him 
 who cannot contribute something to the sum total of 
 cultured accomplishments. It is a weariness and oppres- 
 sion to him, and he is a burden to it. 
 
 What is true of all is emphatically true of the education 
 of the young woman. Her province in society is to please 
 and be pleased. Her broad sphere in the world is to give 
 grace, beauty, harmony and brightness to life. It is not 
 all of woman's sphere to ornament and please ; but these 
 desirable features of social existence depend so very 
 largely upon her that they constitute no insignificant part 
 of her mission. Her own personal comfort and success 
 in society are conditioned, to a very great extent, on the 
 possession and exercise of certain graces of body and 
 mind. The acquirement of these, therefore, becomes an 
 essential and very important part of her education. 
 
 A certain writer on this subject says : " A young 
 woman may excel in speaking French and Italian, may 
 repeat passage after passage from popular authors, may 
 play like an expert and sing like a siren, may dance with 
 the grace of Sempronia, and decorate her home with her 
 own drawings, and yet be very badly educated." This is 
 true enough, but it only proves that her preceptors erred 
 in placing an undue estimate upon these accomplishments. 
 It is as great a mistake to overestimate these accomplish-
 
 248 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ments as it is to underestimate them ; the result is as 
 deplorable, though not more so, when all the time and 
 attention is given to learning the arts which please and 
 captivate, as when these are entirely neglected. The 
 architect builds a house first, with foundation, walls and 
 roof, calculated to protect the inmates and assure material 
 comfort. He adds the adornments afterward. An educa- 
 tion must comprise all the factors of substantial utility as 
 the foundation and framework. The body must, first and 
 foremost, be educated to be strong and healthy ; it should 
 have grace and symmetry developed along with these, not 
 as constituting the absolutely essential condition, but as 
 extremely desirable. The mind must be stored with all 
 useful information and trained to right ways of thinking ; 
 but "it is well that it be educated in those qualities which 
 appreciate the beauties of harmony and color and form 
 and poesy. 
 
 It is not all of life and very far from being all of 
 woman's life to eat, sleep and be clothed decently and 
 comfortably. It is not all of life to be able to pass 
 through the world seeing only its fertile soil, its magnifi- 
 cent building stone, its commercial timbers, its useful 
 carboniferous deposits, and its various facilities for agri- 
 culture, commerce, navigation and manufacture. The 
 soul has a capacity and yearning for the beauties and 
 harmonies of color and sound and taste and smell. 
 Nature teems with these beauties and harmonies. The 
 soul that is not educated to see, appreciate and enjoy these 
 delights, is only half developed. These appetites and
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 249 
 
 cravings were not implanted in the soul to be neglected. 
 The body had never been constructed with the possibility 
 of graceful movement, the hand to skillful touch and 
 manipulation, the ear to detect the melody and measure 
 harmony, the eye to discriminate form and color, if these 
 possibilities were to be allowed to remain dormant. The 
 soul is not gifted with the capacity to enjoy mental and 
 moral beauties that it may never be called upon to exer- 
 cise itself in their contemplation. The utilitarian theory 
 of education falls far below the manifest teachings of 
 natural endowments. Talents and capacities were 
 bestowed that they be developed, both for the benefit of 
 the possessor and for that of others with whom his life is 
 or may be associated. 
 
 The nature and extent of the polite accomplishments 
 which it is desirable for a young woman to attain, depend 
 very largely upon her station in life, and the prospects 
 which the future have in store for her. But, no matter 
 who or what she may be, or how circumstanced socially, 
 it will always be to her advantage, subjectively and objec- 
 tively, to acquire, to some degree, the grace and culture 
 which a practical acquaintance with music, art, dancing, 
 literature, etc., bestow. It is profitable for two reasons : 
 One is that the possession of these accomplishments brings 
 its own reward. The body is stronger, more comely, 
 more healthful when it is trained to graceful movement 
 and position. The mind grasps a larger scope and quaffs 
 deeper pleasures when its faculties of beauty and harmony 
 have been educated and trained. The other reason is that
 
 250 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a woman thus cultured, is a more useful, engaging and 
 ornamental member of society. She helps others. She 
 pleases her friends and companions better, rises to a higher 
 plane in society, and opens a brighter future for herself. 
 She will be a better companion, friend, counsellor and 
 helper to her husband. She will make her home brighter, 
 happier and more desirable. She will bind her husband 
 and children so closely to her and to the home of which 
 she is the light, that the temptations and allurements of 
 the world will fall helpless and harmless. She will be able 
 to train her sons into nobler men and her daughters into 
 purer and better women if she possess these accomplish- 
 ments than if she lack them. 
 
 The education of young women in the polite arts is, 
 unhappily, too much of a formality. A prescribed course 
 is followed by all with little or no regard to taste or 
 capacity. It is altogether different in the education of 
 young men, and rightly, too. It is proper that every 
 young women should pass through a certain training to 
 give her grace, skill and appreciation. It is a mistake 
 that, after she may have developed a tendency to pursue 
 some particular art, she should be compelled to give time 
 and labor for another for which she has no aptitude what- 
 ever. In society, as in business, specialties count. If 
 a gift for one thing be discovered, it is advisable that it 
 be cultivated. Out of a score of girls who follow the 
 same musical training, one perhaps may become a 
 musician. This does not argue defective training for the 
 others, or inattention on their part ; it may only prove
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 2$ I 
 
 that they had no musical taste and aptitude. Out of the 
 nineteen a good proportion might have developed into 
 fine artists or teachers of letters. Full, rounded develop- 
 ments are not always secured most satisfactorily by 
 similar training. Very often such training serves 
 to keep the subject from ever becoming anything. The 
 whole nature is dwarfed and stunted. On the contrary, it 
 not infrequently happens that a pupil who showed no 
 capacity whatever for a certain department of education, 
 has, under the sympathetic stimulus of an enlarged develop- 
 ment in another direction, become quite proficient in that 
 which was once despaired of. The philosophy of this 
 seems to be that the soul must be probed to its very 
 depths before the best that is in it can be evolved ; when 
 so probed, it will sometimes develop capacities that were 
 undreamed of by its possessor. 
 
 The acquirement of the arts and graces of polite soci- 
 ety is to be desired by every young woman. No such 
 accomplishment is wasted. In the after years of her life 
 she may be so situated that she cannot practice the grace 
 she has learned ; but its impression is on her soul and in 
 her life, showing itself in a thousand intangible ways. 
 Her home will show her taste, and skill, though it may be 
 difficult for her to see exactly how. The veteran soldier 
 walks with military precision, and the sailor with a swag- 
 ger, long years after each has ceased his vocation. The 
 discipline of training established the habit. The poet sees 
 beauty even while he may be engaged in the most prosaic 
 duties. 
 
 :i_LlietE c
 
 252 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 So the woman, who is trained to be polite, graceful 
 and entertaining, will continue to exhibit these graces in 
 all her after life. Her maiden accomplishments will bear 
 fruitage in her matronly home life and duties. 
 
 When to Make Engagements. 
 
 The social customs of America are wholly different 
 from those of Europe and the rest of the world. With us, 
 girls are allowed all freedom in courtship. The responsi- 
 bility of deciding on a husband is generally left to the girl 
 entirely, with such counsel as her parents may choose to 
 give her, or she may seek from them and others. When 
 a man and woman of marriageable age seek each other's 
 society, with a view to marriage, it is expected that, in due 
 time, the subject of marriage will be named between them. 
 If its prospect is agreeable to both, an engagement follows. 
 This engagement is made between the parties most inter- 
 ested, and this is ordinarily considered to be enough to 
 make it binding, though courtesy and a due deference 
 demand that the parents of the bride shall be asked to 
 sanction it. 
 
 The engagement is an important step in the courtship. 
 It should never be taken hastily, and when once made, 
 should be treated sacredly. The honesty of both man 
 and woman is pledged in the solemn covenant. It should, 
 and ordinarily does, settle the question of marriage. After 
 troth is plighted, the time of marriage is a mere matter of 
 convenience. The material condition of the contracting 
 parties decides how long the engagement shall continue. 
 
 r;j n
 
 WHEN TO MAKE ENGAGEMENTS. 253 
 
 No man has the moral or social right to ask a woman to 
 marry him until he is in a position to seriously consider 
 the fulfillment of his promise, and no woman should 
 promise to marry a man when the conditions are such that 
 she cannot think of marriage for years. 
 
 An engagement should not be made, then, until both 
 parties are fully satisfied with each other. It has been 
 said that the prime purpose of courtship is to determine 
 the mutual suitableness of the persons for a life companion- 
 ship. Until this decision have been made in the minds of 
 each, no binding of the one to the other should be thought 
 of. The length of time from the beginning of the court- 
 ship until an engagement may be proper depends pretty 
 largely on circumstances. With some persons, a few 
 weeks' intercourse is sufficient to thoroughly understand 
 and judge each other. If marriage be practicable, there is 
 no good reason why an engagement should not be made 
 and preparations for the marriage begun at once. 
 
 In the case of persons who have long known each 
 othep- who have grown up in the same commun- 
 ity there is little to be learned beyond compatibility of 
 temper, taste and disposition, and the development of 
 affection. In the case of persons who have been strangers, 
 longer time is to be given. Everything is to be learned. 
 The maiden, especially, knows nothing of her suitor, save 
 what her own judgment reads in her intercourse with him. 
 And as few men reveal their whole nature and their true 
 disposition to persons of the opposite sex, the maiden 
 demands more time before being called upon to settle the
 
 254 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 momentous question. She ought to see him in various 
 circumstances, and note the influence upon his disposition, 
 in order to fairly judge him. She has a right to know his 
 previous history and the physiological history of his 
 family. She must be sure that she loves the man, and 
 that her love rests upon proper foundations to endure all 
 the trials of marital experience. No such love can be 
 genuine and, therefore, abiding, which has ignorance for a 
 prime factor. Blind love is nothing more than sexual 
 passion. True love is intelligent, resting upon a knowl- 
 edge of the object, and a profound confidence in and 
 respect for the character of that object. There is a sort 
 of animal magnetism interchanged between persons of the 
 opposite sex, when brought into continuous contiguity. 
 This is not love. It is, at best, no more than passion. 
 There can be no genuine love without this passion, but 
 there may be absorbing passion without love. 
 
 Long and Short Engagements. 
 
 A reasonable time must elapse after an engagement is 
 entered into before the marriage should take place. There 
 are sound social, economical and physiological reasons 
 why this should neither be abridged too much nor extended 
 too long. Some time is required for the maiden to make 
 preparations for beginning her new life. It is a custom, 
 and a wise one, that she should provide herself with a 
 wardrobe sufficient to last her a year or more after mar- 
 riage.' The new wife will have enough to engage her 
 attention without the toil and worry of providing herself
 
 LONG AND SHORT ENGAGEMENTS. 255 
 
 with apparel. Custom is inexorable in decreeing it an 
 impropriety to anticipate the engagement by any prepara- 
 tions for marriage. Consequently, all such preparations 
 must be made after the engagement. 
 
 It sometimes is deemed wise to break an engagement. 
 While this is to be discouraged, yet there may arise cases 
 in which it is manifestly for the good of all concerned. 
 The post-engagement period of courtship brings the parties 
 into a new, different and more intimate relationship. Much 
 of the reserve that existed between them naturally and 
 properly is laid aside. They feel that they belong to each 
 other. They are bound to each other in a solemn engage- 
 ment, and their relations are only one step removed from 
 those of marriage itself. 
 
 It is not surprising that, under this fuller and freer 
 intercourse, especially when the motive of insincerity is 
 largely taken away, that each should become more fully 
 cognizant of the character of the other. This is the more 
 likely to be the case when the engagement has been hastily 
 made, when the parties are young, or when the ante- 
 engagement courtship has been a sort of half-waking 
 dream. Now, while it is true that an engagement to marry 
 is a very sacred obligation, marriage is still more sacred. 
 If it should be discovered during the engagement that the 
 parties had not understood each other, or were manifestly 
 unsuited to each other, it is better for both that the mar- 
 riage should not take place. If wrong be done in breaking 
 the engagement, then a greater wrong would be done in 
 fulfilling it. If a mistake be committed, matters are not 
 bettered by committing another and graver one.
 
 2 $6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 This constitutes another reason for allowing some time 
 to the engagement. Its place in courtship might well be 
 called the verifying period, in which the person's conclu- 
 sions are to be proved, and convictions firmly riveted. 
 This consideration in itself would urge no definite pro- 
 longation of the engagement. It depends entirely on the 
 state of knowledge and conviction at the time the engage- 
 ment was made. 
 
 There are physiological reasons against a long engage- 
 ment. The personal relations between the persons is very 
 intimate. If they live near each other, and are conse- 
 quently much in each other's society, there is great 
 nervous excitement and exhaustion of nerve-power, how- 
 ever sedately they may comport themselves. Most 
 Americans are nervous, excitable and passionate, and the 
 strain upon such natures is great. It not infrequently 
 leads to such a debilitated condition of the system that 
 disease is superinduced. Contiguity in the relationship 
 that exists may lead to serious derangement of the pro- 
 creative organs. 
 
 For the reasons given above, it is evident that sufficient 
 time should elapse perhaps two or three months to 
 allow the prospective bride to prepare herself, and not 
 more than a year or fifteen months, lest physiological ills 
 be incurred. 
 
 Love at First Sight. 
 
 From what has already been said of the nature of true, 
 lasting affection, the conclusion must be that it is a growth, 
 a development. It begins with attraction, leads to inter-
 
 LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. 257 
 
 est, expands into respect, deepens into tenderness, and 
 rushes to passionate desire. This is the rule. But, like 
 all rules, there are exceptions, or, at least, alleged excep- 
 tions. Cases are known to almost every one of persons 
 who were irresistibly drawn to each other at their first 
 meeting ; a few minutes or hours so deepened the impres- 
 sion each had made upon the other that all the character- 
 istics of genuine affection were developed. Fiction and 
 romance have abounded in cases of this sort, and it must 
 be conceded that real life has not been without authentic 
 instances. 
 
 Such exceptions are inexplicable on physiological or 
 psychological grounds. There are eccentricities and 
 anomalies in the physical world, and in the metaphysical 
 as well. Why should there not be in the psychical ? In 
 the former cases, the explanation is that they are excep- 
 tions, abnormal conditions, and are essentially sui generis. 
 Nothing better than this can be said with regard to the 
 cases under discussion. The general rule of the genera- 
 tion, development and consummation of sexual love can 
 be given with considerable precision ; when an exception 
 is found which digresses widely from the general rule of 
 experience and observation, it must be treated as a 
 rarity. 
 
 It will be sufficient, then, to admit that there are cases 
 of genuine love at the first encounter ; that persons at the 
 first meeting have exerted such a marked influence upon 
 each other, that each involuntarily thought and desired a 
 more intimate relation, and was irresistibly attracted. It
 
 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 may be said that no variation from the general directions 
 for courtship and engagement should be made in such 
 cases. Indeed, there is all the greater need for careful 
 and prudent discrimination during courtship. A deep 
 impression is not love. An irresistible fascination is not 
 love. A passionate yearning may not be love. Careful 
 introspection should be made, and analysis of the emo- 
 tions, so that no mistake shall be made. 
 
 Love What Is It? 
 
 Love is the most common thing on earth ; and yet it 
 is one of the profoundest mysteries. The source from 
 which it springs, the means by which it is stimulated, the 
 ways by which it travels, have never been discovered, and 
 cannot be determined. It is at one and the same time 
 the simplest and most complex passion known to animated 
 creation. It excites to the noblest deeds of heroism, self- 
 abnegation and devotion ; it is the direct agent in leading 
 to the basest selfishness, cruelty and deceit. It makes an 
 angel of one, and a devil of another. It brings the 
 sweetest, purest and profoundest bliss ; and it is the cause 
 of the bitterest, crudest and most withering sorrow. 
 
 In its truest sense, love is the light and majesty of life. 
 It is the ultimate principle to which all things must be 
 resolved. Take it away, and the world becomes a barren 
 waste. Banish this principle, and there is only a world of 
 monuments, each standing isolated, gloomy and crumb- 
 ling. It is an army of gravestones without a chaplet ; a 
 shrubless plain without a leaf of green to relieve the
 
 LOVE WHAT IS IT? 259 
 
 insipidity and monotonous uniformity that everywhere 
 extends. Things base and cruel, creeping and obscure, 
 withered and bloodless, alone could spring from such a 
 soil. 
 
 Love is a principle that must look beyond and above 
 the world for its origin, inspiration and life. Refining 
 and elevating in its character, it expels all that is sordid 
 and base. It bids to great deeds, noble thoughts. It is 
 the philosopher's stone which transmutes common clay 
 into the purest gold. It illumines the darkest pathway. 
 It makes home happy and memory blissful. It blends 
 hearts together in inseparable unity. It is the very sun of 
 life largest and most beautiful in the morning and 
 evening, strongest and steadiest at the noontime. With- 
 out it, the soul has no central, living force, and life is 
 worse than death. 
 
 The ancient Greeks represented love under a two- 
 fold aspect ; there was the love for the good and beautiful, 
 the excellent or desirable in the abstract ; the other form, 
 in addition to these qualities, included the love of the 
 sexes, one for the other. The Greek word eras meant 
 passion, desire, affection, or kindness, while the word 
 agapa signified love, friendship, affection, charity, and the 
 love of God to man. 
 
 Moral love is what will most claim our attention. This 
 implies that affection which persons of different sexes feel 
 toward each other. Upon analysis, we find it to consist of 
 ideas attached to mind and in part to matter. Love is 
 pure. It is not what the sensualist feels, and the
 
 260 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 voluptuary does not know the meaning of the word. The 
 vicious know it not. These follow but a vain shadow, a 
 low, vile passion, not the ennobling, sublimating, soul- 
 refining delights, known only to the virtuous, as attached 
 to the idea comprehended in the word love. 
 
 For instance, two men, different in character and 
 pursuits, meet a young lady at a social party. She has 
 arrived at blooming seventeen. Her form is perfect ; her 
 lips are like rubies ; her teeth like ivory ; her eye like the 
 gazelle's ; her countenance angelic ; in her is realized the 
 beau ideal of poetic beauty. As she moves in the gay 
 circle of the dance, her whole deportment combines all that 
 is agile with all that is graceful ; as the wavy curls flow 
 down her fair neck, the eye rests for a moment on the 
 rotundity of figure, displayed in her heaving breast. Two 
 individuals thus view her ; the one from the gambling 
 table and the haunts of vice and debauchery ; the other 
 from an unpolluted home, the abode of a loving mother 
 and an affectionate sister. The two see the girl at the 
 same moment, and she inspires the one with passion, the 
 other with love. 
 
 They both gaze on her, and while one would plot how 
 to rob her of the pearl of virtue, and gratify a transitory 
 passion by sacrificing her purity and happiness to his 
 ungovernable lust, the other is inspired by a heavenly 
 sentiment. He grows deathly pale, his lips quiver, his 
 voice trembles, and, filled with inexpressible tenderness 
 and purest emotion, he views her as the fair star of his 
 destiny, the beacon-light of his future ; and, studying her
 
 LOVE WHAT IS IT? 26 1 
 
 interest and felicity no less than his own, he desires to 
 devote his life to the pleasing task of making her happy ; 
 and that is the holy state of matrimony. This is love, 
 pure and undefiled. 
 
 In like manner a tender lady sees a man who is the 
 object of her esteem. His comely proportions, his 
 exalted character, his loving heart, his noble disposition, 
 all tend to impress her favorably and, scarcely known to 
 herself, she thinks of him when he is absent, blushes in 
 his presence, betrays some little tender emotion and 
 already her heart is his own. She loves thrilling and 
 delightful emotion in the pure heart of a woman for 
 woman's heart is kind and is not made of rock; on 
 the contrary, it is more like wax, pliable and easily 
 impressed. 
 
 " What thing is love, which naught can counter-veil, 
 
 Naught save itself, even such a thing is love ; 
 And worldly wealth in worth as far doth fail, 
 As lowest earth doth yield to heaven above. 
 Divine is love, and scorneth worldly pen, 
 And can be bought with nothing but itself. " 
 
 There is thus in the sexes an adaption to one another. 
 Each without the other is imperfect. The coarseness of 
 man, his hardness and asperity, are refined, softened and 
 smoothed by the gentle influence of woman. They have 
 a mutual attraction for each other, like the opposite poles 
 of a powerful magnet. Woman may be represented as 
 the negative pole. She is passive, as it were. The motive 
 and power must come from man. Thus man and woman 
 but fulfill their destiny when they meet and unite for 
 life.
 
 262 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Moral love in man has the same principle as physical 
 love among animals. It is an intangible something in the 
 being hich attracts another. They are irresistibly drawn 
 togethe . They are absorbed in each other. Individual 
 identity *s lost in the blending. They are bound by chains 
 that cannot be severed. It is the most blissful bondage. 
 Each absorbed in the other, is forgetful of self. 
 
 Neither thinks of self as disassociated from the other. 
 It is an involuntary passion. It can neither be bidden to 
 arise nor to depart at will. It is directed by no variable 
 element and is bound by no rules. A word, a look, a 
 motion may call it into being, and eternity cannot 
 stifle it. 
 
 Courtship. 
 
 Courtship is the mating of kindred souls. It is one of 
 the sweetest, most delightsome periods of life. The ele- 
 ment of uncertainty gives a zest to the quest. The taste 
 of the profound joys of mutual love sweetens every hour. 
 Anticipation excites eagerness, while new discoveries of 
 character constantly revealed lends a most absorbing 
 interest. Life is a poem, the earth a paradise of roses, 
 the heavens a galaxy of diadems. All the senses are 
 absorbed in blissful lethargy. The most prosaic utterances 
 glitter with rare beauty. The most common-place scenes 
 are invested with romantic interest. The air is fragrant 
 with a thousand delicious odors. The past fades away 
 and the future holds nothing but what is desirable. 
 
 This is a period and pursuit about which the sweetest 
 poetry arid the silliest prose have been written. A time
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT RING.
 
 COURTSHIP. 263 
 
 that demands the exercise of the calmest reason, it is a 
 time when reason is held in abeyance to passion. A time 
 which demands the most profound thoughtfulness, it is a 
 time in which no thought is exercised. A time of the 
 gravest importance, it is a time that is dreamed away in 
 careless enjoyment. A time that calls for the clearest 
 self-vigilance, it is a time in which self is permitted to 
 float about at the will of the senses. A time that should 
 call for the most careful scrutiny and equable judgment, it 
 is the time in which the eyes are holden and the judgment 
 swayed by the emotions. 
 
 There are two great reasons which stamp the period of 
 courtship second to no other era of life. One is that it 
 calls for the exercise of the highest discrimination, resolu- 
 tion and judgment. A young man and a young woman 
 are attracted to each other. The point of attraction may 
 be trifling, insignificant, intangible. Neither, perhaps, can 
 tell exactly what in the other interests and attracts. This 
 attraction leads to association. Association ripens into 
 friendship. Friendship blossoms into love. Love finds its 
 fruition in marriage. Between the first and last terms of 
 this series, lies the period of courtship. What is its pur- 
 pose ? Manifestly, to gain a more intimate knowledge of 
 each other's character, disposition, temperament, habits, 
 etc. For what ? To decide whether each is adapted to 
 the other, and whether or not an intimate, indissoluble 
 union may be desirable. 
 
 The essential purpose of courtship, then, is the study 
 of character. To do this creditably demands the exercise
 
 264 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of the intellectual faculties to the highest degree. It is 
 not a time to allow the senses to become so steeped in the 
 bliss of the present that discernment and discrimination 
 are blinded. Love is blind. But courtship is not love. 
 It should not be blind. It is the development, the culti- 
 vation of love. But at the same time, it is the determin- 
 ing whether or not it be desirable to have love cultivated 
 
 O 
 
 and brought to a ripened fruition. There can be no true 
 marriage which does not rest upon love. But there can 
 be no true love which does not rest upon a basis of respect. 
 There can be no intelligent respect which looks to any 
 qualities in the object respected which are outside real 
 character. A man may be attracted by a dainty habit, 
 bewitched by a rougish eye, charmed by a graceful form and 
 carriage, delighted by a witty repartee ; but he cannot 
 respect, in any proper use of the term, a handsome dress, a 
 brilliant eye, a perfect movement, a ready tongue. He 
 cannot love what is not preceded by a profound respect. 
 
 Passion is not love. Admiration, pleasure, enjoyment, 
 delirium these are not all the ingredients of deep and 
 abiding affection. It goes beyond and beneath all these 
 emotions. It finds no secure resting place till it reaches, 
 analyses, synthesizes, and weighs the character of the 
 object of passion. These processes are to be pursued dur- 
 ing the courting time. It is, then, not alone a time of 
 cooing and wooing, but more essentially a time of deep and 
 careful study. Everything in the future depends upon the 
 thoroughness, the impartiality and defmiteness of that 
 study. And this suggests the other reason referred to.
 
 COURTSHIP. 265 
 
 The happiness of marriage is conditional on the manner 
 in which courtship is conducted. Marriage does not neces- 
 sarily imply happiness. Courtship need not necessarily, 
 in every instance, lead to marriage. On the contrary, 
 marriage has often proved the bitterest sorrow. There 
 are some cases, in which the cause* of the unhappiness did 
 not exist at the time of marriage, but they are exceedingly 
 rare. There are very few cases of marital unhappiness 
 that are not the direct result of ignorance. The wife did 
 not know the husband, or the husband did not know the 
 wife, when this relation was established. That element of 
 character which now, in its operations in life, breeds the 
 unhappiness, was either unknown or unweighed when the 
 decision of marriage was made. The same disposition 
 which leads to a feeling of repulsion now, would have pro- 
 duced the same effect then had the disturbing cause been 
 known and observed. The same inability to love now, 
 because of certain traits of character or habits of life, 
 existed before marriage, and would have asserted itself had 
 not the eyes been too blinded to perceive the existence of 
 these offensive traits, and the mind too full to trace them 
 to their legitimate fruitage. 
 
 It is doubtless true that a husband or wife often 
 develop, after marriage, the characteristics which destroy 
 domestic peace and undermine marital happiness. But it 
 is also true, that it is development, not creation. Few 
 men or women at marriageable age, have not reached 
 maturity. They are then what they always will be. Certain 
 traits may be developed to legitimate sequences; but the
 
 265 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 principle existed in the character all the time. The thief 
 at thirty had the instincts of a thief at twenty, though he 
 may never have stolen anything. If the courtship had 
 been conducted on the rational basis which its importance 
 demands, the character of each would have been fully 
 known before marriage. It is, then, a mere matter of 
 judgment whether marriage shall be contracted or not. 
 
 It may be eonceded that the mutual study of character 
 during the period of courtship is difficult. But this is no 
 reason why it should be abandoned. There are two great 
 reasons why this study is difficult ; one is because of a mis- 
 conception of the purpose of courtship ; the other is 
 because of the absence of candor and honesty on the part of 
 both. Very many courtships are begun and conducted 
 for the sole purpose of captivating and securing the person 
 courted. The young man starts to woo and to win the 
 maiden whose charms have attracted him. He thinks of 
 nothing else, aims at nothing else. The idea of studying 
 her to see if she be a suitable life-companion for him never 
 enters his mind. The same is true of the maiden in many 
 cases. Her aim is to lead the wooing into a declaration 
 of love and a proposition of marriage. 
 
 Thus inspired, each goes to work to conquer. Each 
 treats the other dishonestly. They are not true to them- 
 selves in the presence of each other. They put on false 
 characters. They practice every possible art of deception 
 for the concealment of their real character. They assume 
 qualities they do not possess. They study to appear bet- 
 ter than they are, to be what each discovers the other
 
 COURTSHIP. 267 
 
 would like them to be. They seek by the adornments of 
 dress, by the blandishments of manners, by the allure- 
 ments of smiles and honeyed words, by the fascinations of 
 pleasure and scenes of excitement, to add unreal, unpos- 
 sessed charms to their persons and characters. They study 
 to appear in each other's eyes as possessing no defects, no 
 blemishes, no flaws. 
 
 They succeed in deceiving each other. They marry 
 under this delusion, and in a short time it will pass away. 
 There is no longer any need for concealment and decep- 
 tion. The end sought has been attained. Each comes to 
 know the other. Each finds the other to be very differ- 
 ent from what was believed, perhaps wholly unlike the 
 object that won love. Such an awakening is dreadful. Is 
 it to be wondered at that an unhappy marriage follows? 
 The wonder would be if it did not. 
 
 In many cases the inevitable and unalterable is 
 accepted philosophically. Each accepts the new being mar- 
 riage has discovered, and genuine love grows up between 
 them. In too many cases this is not possible to be done, 
 and hence, the many unhappy marriages. Many of these 
 could have been averted had the courtship been conducted 
 honestly and properly. It is better not to marry, than to 
 marry wretchedness and misery. 
 
 The very importance of courtship suggests that it be 
 not allowed to commence too early in life. It embraces 
 interests that demand the matured mind to decide. Court- 
 ship for the mere sake of courtship that begins and ends 
 with courtship is not to be taken into account. There
 
 268 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 is no such thing. Such conduct has a different name 
 altogether. It is flirting, and demands sentence of 
 condemnation by this name. 
 
 The first suggestion is not to think of this all-important 
 affair too soon, nor suppose it necessary that a miss 
 of sixteen or seventeen should receive special atten- 
 tion. The period of courtship, like all other periods 
 of woman's history, is limited to a certain number of 
 years, and, like the hand on the dial of the clock, makes 
 its circuit, no matter at what number the pendulum is put in 
 motion. So a woman will have her years of love or match- 
 making, no matter whether she begins at sixteen or 
 twenty. Not unfrequently it is said of a woman of twenty: 
 " I know she is twenty-five, because she has been 
 having beaux for five or six years," forgetting she 
 regarded herself as a woman entering society and receiving 
 company at fifteen. 
 
 Do not court the subject, nor permit your imagination 
 to be forever dwelling on it. Rather drive it from you 
 than draw it near. Ever repress that visionary and 
 romantic turn of mind which looks upon the whole space 
 that lies between you and the hymeneal altar as a dreary 
 waste ; all beyond, a paradise. In cases innumerable, the 
 very opposite is true, and the exchange of a father's for a 
 husband's home has been like the departure of Eve from 
 the Garden of Eden to a wide, uncultivated wilderness. 
 
 A Greek fable says that some stags, whose knees were 
 clogged with frozen snow upon the mountains, came down 
 into the brooks in the valleys, hoping to thaw their joints
 
 COURTSHIP. 269 
 
 in the waters of the stream, but the frost bound them fast 
 in the ice till the herdsmen took them in their stronger 
 snare. So it is with many young persons ; finding many 
 inconveniences in single life, they descend into the valley 
 of marriage, only to refresh their trouble and multiply 
 their inconveniences. They enter fetters, and are bound 
 to sorrow by the cords of man's peevishness. 
 
 Take extreme care of hasty entanglements ; neither 
 give nor receive particular attentions, until the matter have 
 been well weighed. Rather keep your affections shut up 
 in your own breast, until reason and judgment command 
 their bestowal, that your choice may be one of prudence 
 and not of haste. A neglect of this point, until you have 
 fallen into the snare of an imaginary love, weakens your 
 means of defense, compromises your judgment, and makes 
 you an easy pray to the craftiness of man. 
 
 As it is better for woman to defer marriage until 
 between twenty-two and twenty-five, it follows that court- 
 ship ought not to be begun earlier than twenty. Her 
 physical nature is then well developed, her mind matured ; 
 she is able to behold and appreciate the realities of life, 
 and if she bear children will impart to them the inheri- 
 tance of maturity. Now, since it is easier to demonstrate 
 upon purely moral and physiological principles, the disad- 
 vantages and improprieties of long engagements, it is but 
 fair to conclude that courtship should not commence 
 within the limits of the " teens." 
 
 Content yourself and enjoy the blessed privileges of a 
 girl in the domicile of your mother. Drink the sweets of
 
 270 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a mother's care, protection and education, that you may 
 be fully armed and equipped and made strong for the 
 great battle of life. Be sure that your married experiences 
 will come soon enough. Marriage is for matured women, 
 not for girls. It is the completed life, but it should not 
 encroach on the domains of youth and happy maiden- 
 hood. 
 
 How to Select a Husband. 
 
 When a young woman arrives at the age when it is 
 proper for her to contemplate marriage, three queries are 
 said to present themselves to her mind : When shall I 
 marry ? Who will marry me ? Shall I marry at all ? To 
 the first of these questions attention is now to be directed, 
 with the hope that a few words of advice may enable a 
 young woman to decide the question more in harmony 
 with the laws of physical being than, unaided, she could 
 do. A mistake made here is a certain prelude to a life of 
 unhappiness, positive or negative, if it compel her to 
 travel the voyage of life in company with an ill-suited, 
 uncongenial companion who is not only her husband, but 
 the father of her children. 
 
 Few questions meet a young woman that are more 
 important to her than this one of choosing a life 
 companion. The relation of husband and wife is so inti- 
 mate and complicated that its happy adjustment outranks 
 all social considerations, and stands next to health in 
 securing happiness and general well-being. There are 
 certain conditions, well-established by experience, which
 
 HOW TO SELECT A HUSBAND. 2/1 
 
 should exist, in order to insure the largest measure of 
 happiness in conjugal relations. Some of these are 
 physical and others social and moral. 
 
 Consanguinity. 
 
 A due regard must be given to the degree of relation- 
 ship by blood subsisting between the parties contem- 
 plating marriage. How closely related persons may be 
 to marry safely, is an old subject, involving long and 
 interesting discussions. Many of the States have gone 
 so far as to enact statutes forbidding marriage between 
 persons who sustain to each other the relation of first 
 cousins. Extensively gathered and carefully compiled 
 statistics are shown to establish the fact that the progeny 
 of this degree of relationship are frequently of feeble 
 constitution and susceptible to inherited tendencies. 
 Dr. J. G. Spurgheim says that " scarcely one among the 
 royal families of Europe, who have married in and in for 
 generations, can write a page of consecutive sound sense 
 on any scientific, literary or moral subject." Dr. 
 Charles Caldwell says : " One cause of human deteri- 
 oration is family marriages. It has almost extinguished 
 most of the royal families of Europe, though at first 
 they were the notables of the land for physical strength 
 and for force of mind and character." Dr. Buxton 
 says that " from ten to twelve per cent, of the deaf 
 mutes are the children of cousins. In one hundred and 
 seventy consanguinous marriages, were two hundred and 
 sixty-nine deaf or dumb children, and seven in one
 
 2/2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 family." Many similar instances might be adduced from 
 equally high authority, illustrating the evil results of 
 persons marrying that are too nearly of the same blood. 
 
 The author can say that his own observation does not 
 coincide with the testimony given above. Intimate 
 knowledge of a great many marriages between first 
 cousins fails to show anything like this ratio of serious 
 consequences. While it is always better not to marry 
 within such close degrees of relationship as this, yet 
 unqualified condemnation of it cannot be allowed. 
 Cousins who are married happily ought not to be made 
 miserable for life in dread of having defective or deficient 
 offspring. There is far more menace in taint of blood 
 than in the mere relationship. Where this herditary pre- 
 disposition exists, whether it be in families so related or 
 in any other family, it is likely to develop in the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 A German author has urged the propriety of consan- 
 guineous unions where the family has traits of mental or 
 physical excellence, as a means of further developing 
 these qualities. Sterility is urged as an objection to the 
 marriage of cousins, the assertion being made that such 
 unions are less productive than others. Statistics prove, 
 however, that in the average unions one in eight is 
 barren, while between cousins only one in ten. Another 
 objection is that early deaths are more common. But 
 statistical tables show that whereas fifteen per cent, is the 
 general death average, only twelve per cent, is the rate in 
 families whose parents are cousins. This general truth,
 
 CONSANGUINITY. 273 
 
 however, it is well to keep in mind, namely, that few 
 families are wholly free from some lurking predisposition 
 to serious mental or physical disorder ; and it is not wise, 
 as a rule, to risk the development of this by too oft 
 repeated unions. Stock-breeders who have had large 
 experience in raising the lower animals have established 
 the rule that crossing nearly-related individuals a certain 
 number of times produces the best specimens, but, if 
 carried beyond this, it leads to degeneracy and sterility. 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 No woman should seriously consider marriage without 
 including one of its essential ends, namely, the rearing of 
 a family. Considering this, she will also think how greatly 
 her own happiness will be conserved, her burdens lightened 
 and averted, if her children shall be sound in body and 
 mind. The man she marries will be the father of her 
 children. He will bequeath to them, as has been shown 
 elsewhere in this book, the constitution which he himself 
 possesses. Though she herself may enjoy perfect health 
 and a faultless constitution, she cannot expect that her 
 children will be equally endowed if their father have a 
 shattered constitution. It becomes, therefore, a matter of 
 serious import to her, if not a duty to herself and the chil- 
 dren she may bear, to study the health of the man she 
 elects to marry. It is not a cold business calculation, 
 repugnant to the highest social and moral sentiments that 
 obtain in accepting a husband ; on the contrary, it is only 
 a justifiable prudence and commendable common sense.
 
 274 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 There is but one life to lead and one family to rear. 
 This life should be made as full of light anjd happiness, as 
 free from care and sorrow, as it is possible to make it, 
 and this family should possess the highest physical and 
 mental endowments which it is possible v for the mother to 
 bestow. For these reasons, she is only consulting her own 
 best interests when she elects to join her life with one 
 whose physical constitution is free from blemish or defect. 
 The constitution of the possible husband can be ascer- 
 tained. It is partly a matter of record in the physical 
 character of his family. It will be no impropriety to 
 scrutinize this family through at least the previous genera- 
 tion. The habits of the husband should be known because 
 of their effects upon his physical constitution. If he have 
 lived recklessly for any considerable time with regard to 
 the laws of health, there certainly must be an impaired 
 constitution, though this may not yet evidence itself in the 
 health. Continued disobedience to the principles and con- 
 dition of health will undermine any constitution, however 
 robust. If the man have been long dissipated, the general 
 constitution is affected deleteriously. He may now be 
 thoroughly reformed and be leading an upright and honor- 
 able life; in such condition there are no social nor moral 
 objections to marriage, but there are causes for grave fears 
 from a physiological point of view. 
 
 It can be repeated that the young woman must con- 
 sider that, in choosing a husband, she is ponditioning the 
 physical interests of her children. She may be willing, so 
 far as she herself is concerned, to mate with a physical
 
 CONSTITUTION. 275 
 
 wreck ; but she has no moral right to curse her children 
 with the heritage which such a wreck will give. She owes 
 a duty to these unborn children which she cannot shirk 
 nor evade. She owes a duty to herself as a member of 
 society to bless it with good members. 
 
 Other Qualities. 
 
 There are other natural qualities which a woman should 
 scrutinize in the man she intends to marry. Among these 
 are health, race, temperament, education, habits, etc. In 
 comparison with the two that have been named consan- 
 guinity and constitution they are minor considerations. 
 Considered alone, out of relation, they are by no means 
 unimportant. 
 
 A woman ought not to marry a man in poor health. 
 No man in that situation ought to ask a woman to marry 
 him. If the derangement is only temporary, they both 
 can well afford to wait. If it be chronic, it is likely the 
 result of constitutional defect, and what was said in the 
 foregoing will apply. There are several good reasons 
 why this should not be done. One is that no man is at 
 his best when out of health. He cannot give that atten- 
 tion to his person which is needed. The first months of 
 marriage have an important bearing on the feelings which 
 husband and wife are likely to cherish toward each other 
 for a long time afterwards, perhaps through life. 
 
 A man in ill-health is not so patient, so kind, so con- 
 siderate of others, so forbearing, as he is at other times. 
 It has already been said that there is ordinarily a revulsion
 
 276 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 in the feelings of a man toward his wife in the first few 
 days. In this condition there is a demand for the exercise 
 of the very virtues named above which he is least able to 
 exhibit. He is likely to be cross, impatient, selfish, 
 thoughtless, uncompanionable. Seeing him thus, the 
 newly-made wife, herself in need of the tenderest care and 
 solicitude, is almost irresistibly impelled to a feeling of 
 repugnance, which in her excited condition, is likely to 
 tend to positive disgust. This is a sad state in which to 
 begin conjugal life. A barrier may be erected between 
 husband and wife that it will require years to remove. 
 
 Still another reason exists in the fact that conception 
 frequently follows the first approaches of the newly 
 married couple. It is not desirable from any point of 
 view that a husband should become a father when his 
 physical condition is in a debilitated condition. For her 
 sake, for his sake, for mutual relation's sake, for her 
 children's sake, a woman should not marry a man in 
 ill health. 
 
 Women generally marry men who are of the same race 
 as themselves. There are many social reasons why this is 
 best. There are race characteristics which play an impor- 
 tant place in determining the comfort, pleasure and happi- 
 ness of marital life. The union of two persons of different 
 nationality is likely to bring into contact peculiarities that 
 are antagonistic, and domestic friction certainly ensues. 
 It need not be so, but it generally is so. 
 
 But there are no physiological objections, to the inter- 
 marriage of different races. On the contrary, it is fre-
 
 OTHER QUALITIES. 2/7 
 
 quently of the greatest advantage. It often leads to a 
 keener intellectual and a sounder physical development in 
 the children by the intermingling of diverse races. This 
 has been shown in a good many instances in the crossing 
 of races very much diverse, as when an Anglo-Saxon or 
 Frenchman has allied himself to an Indian or African 
 woman. Such extreme cases, however, are not to be consid- 
 ered here. But it is quite common for marriages to occur 
 between the different European races, with marked benefit, 
 intellectually and physically. It is seen in a large scale in 
 the admixture of whole nations in Europe where the 
 amalgamated succession was very much superior to either 
 of the progenitors. 
 
 Temperament needs to be considered. The best gen- 
 eral rule to lay down is, that persons too nearly allied in 
 temperament ought not to marry. Such union does not 
 in any degree militate against the mutual affection and 
 happiness, but it has a tendency to develop constitutional 
 weakness in the children. It is not necessary to choose 
 opposite temperaments, though this is certainly advanta- 
 geous, but only to avoid too great similarity. 
 
 It seldom occurs that a woman finds the highest hap- 
 piness in allying herself to a man who is her intellectual 
 inferior, or whose education is inferior to hers. It would 
 be the best thing of course, if the contracting parties 
 could stand on an equality in these regards. When this is 
 not the case, the balance is best secured when the hus- 
 band is the superior. He is the natural as well as the legal 
 head of the house. Women naturally look up, not down,
 
 278 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to their husbands. When the later condition exists, it is 
 almost certain to tend to domestic infelicity. Just in pro- 
 portion to the ignorance and inferiority of the man, so will 
 be the disrespect of the wife for him, and so, also, will be 
 his own impatience, irritability and intractability. 
 
 No woman is justified in joining her pure life to that 
 of a man of loose or vicious habits. It is not to be 
 expected that a man will be found who is perfect, or abso- 
 lutely pure and clean. Few men are that. But there are 
 certain habits which make any man unfit to mate with a 
 pure woman. A great many young women are seized with 
 the semi-romantic notion that they can marry depraved 
 men and reform them. The experiment succeeds about 
 once in a thousand times, and in a good many of these 
 exceptions the probabilities are that the man would have 
 reformed anyhow 
 
 The man wh .s such a slave to his passions and 
 appetites that he will not abandon these habits for his own 
 sake, or for that of the girl he loves, will not do it for his 
 wife's sake. It depends, indeed, very largely on the 
 impelling motive to the objectionable habit. Men are 
 addicted to bad habits from various causes. Sometimes it is 
 from an excess of spirits ; again from mere idle curiosity ; 
 again from depraved tastes or from innate lack of princi- 
 ple. If the habits result from the former causes, they will 
 yield to changed conditions and refining influences; if from 
 the latter, nothing short of a new creation will avail much. 
 A little wise discernment will discover the impelling motive 
 to the woman, and her influence during courtship will dis- 
 cover to her what she is likely to accomplish as a wife.
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 2/9 
 
 Qualifications of a Husband. 
 
 The qualifications that have been considered refer to 
 natural and physical conditions. There are certain other 
 traits in a husband which the young woman ought to 
 consider. These may be termed, in contradistinction to 
 the others, social or moral qualities, as they concern more 
 directly social and moral ends in married life. 
 
 Filial Love. 
 
 The first qualification of a good husband is love of his 
 mother. The young man whose heart swells not with 
 filial pride at the very name of her who in pain and sorrow 
 brought him into existence, whose watchful care exhausted 
 itself through all those days and years of perilous infancy 
 and childhood, and whose soul is wrapped up in his health, 
 happiness and prosperity, will not make a kind and loving 
 husband. 
 
 He should not only love his mother, but the whole 
 household should feel the influence of his refining presence. 
 His sisters should be objects of his special regard, watch- 
 fulness and care. The influence of home becomes so 
 stamped upon the life, character and disposition of a boy, 
 that to a greater or less extent it insidiously develops itself 
 in his own home. If, in his nursery, passion were unre- 
 strained, truth not adhered to, consistency not seen, the 
 youthful mind will receive the impression, and future life 
 develop it. But, if in his home, all is purity, sincerity, 
 truth, contentment and love, then will these influences be 
 felt upon the home of the boy.
 
 28O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 A man who does not habitually reverence his mother 
 in speech and conduct, cannot make a kind husband. It 
 may be that his mother is not amiable some mothers, 
 unhappily, are not. This does hot affect the case in the 
 least so far as outward conduct is concerned. The man 
 who will treat his mother disrespectfully, or speak of her 
 in terms of reproach or indifference, testifies by such 
 actions that there is something unnatural in his moral con- 
 stitution. Love for a mother is a natural instinct of the 
 human heart. It is impossible in a properly- regulated 
 mind not to cherish tender thoughts and speak in respectful 
 terms of the mother. 
 
 The man who fails in these regards gives evidence of a 
 selfish disposition. He is the one who will look upon a 
 wife as a chattel, designed for his personal comfort. He 
 can respect no woman profoundly and tenderly, no matter 
 what her relation to him may be, if he does not respect 
 the woman to whom, above all others, he owes the 
 most. 
 
 Kindness. 
 
 A kindly disposition and habit is a most desirable 
 quality in a husband. It is the key-note of the home- 
 life. This disposition in the husband and father gives tone 
 to the household. Kindness in the heart is like rose-leaves 
 stored away in a drawer to perfume and sweeten every 
 object around. It is the essential principle of love, since it 
 excites to bear and forbear, and to busy itself in little acts 
 calculated to do good to others. It is not the great deeds
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 28 1 
 
 and the disposition to make great sacrifices, that condi- 
 tion the home atmosphere, so much as the little acts of 
 daily kindness rendered. Kindness is the stimulant and 
 preservative of love. It is impossible to resist it. It is 
 balm to a bruised spirit and health to a sick soul. It 
 refreshes the wearied heart like the gentle shower upon 
 the parched earth. 
 
 See to it that a kind heart pulsates in his manly breast. 
 Kindness will go farther and bring more pleasure and 
 happiness than all the pride, haughtiness and asperity that 
 can be assumed. A kind, sympathizing word falls from 
 the lips like dew-drops upon the flower, imparting odors 
 that stimulate the drooping spirit in a woman's breast. 
 
 A man with a kind and affectionate disposition will 
 always find friends, or easily make them, while the 
 opposite disposition sees only enemies. Kindness is one 
 of the sweetest gifts in Nature. Like the pure rays of an 
 unclouded sun after a gentle shower, it cheers and enlivens 
 amidst anger and sorrow. It is essential to the happiness 
 and well-being of every family, cheering the heart of the 
 care-worn wife, giving stimulus to her sinking spirit and 
 solace to her aching heart. 
 
 Purity. 
 
 No quality is more ennobling in a man or woman than 
 that of purity ; nothing is more repulsive, or unites either 
 more closely to the brute creation, than impurity. Purity 
 in its most comprehensive application to the life, the 
 character and the soul, should be sought after in a hus-
 
 282 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 band. Without it, no perfect union, no complete happi- 
 ness, can be enjoyed. It is a law of physics that in the 
 material world evil corrupts the good, while the converse, 
 unfortunately, is not the case. Bring two perishable 
 substances in contact, the one sound and perfect, the 
 other unsound and decaying, and the good will be con- 
 taminated by the evil and ruined by it, while the perfect 
 will have no power of arresting the destruction of the 
 other. Place a single decaying apple in a bin of good 
 fruit, and the whole will be destroyed. It may be a 
 thousand to one, but the one will conquer. 
 
 In some degree this law prevails in the domain of mind. 
 One depraved mind and soul coming in constant contact 
 with another that is pure and chaste has the advantage in 
 influence. It is a. proverb that one bad pupil will ruin a 
 whole school of good ones. There are reasons why this is 
 so, but it is sufficient to admit the fact. The woman of 
 pure mind and chaste life who mates herself with a man 
 not possessing these qualities, but possessing their 
 opposites, incurs the risk of two evils. One is that in the 
 intimate familiarity of conjugal life the perfect knowledge 
 of her husband's character must become known to her. 
 With this full knowledge there will be a shattering to dust 
 of the idol she has erected in her own mind, and before 
 which her heart had bowed in affectionate reverence. 
 Herself pure, she will be shocked at the grossness with 
 which she finds herself united. Following this shock will 
 come a loss of respect and reverence. These emotions 
 disturbed, there must inevitably follow a shaking of the
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 283 
 
 affection itself, since respect is the foundation of all 
 genuine, lasting affection. Repugnance and alienation are 
 natural and easy steps. 
 
 The other danger is that she herself will suffer. It is 
 sometimes said, half-jocosely and half-sneeringly, and yet 
 with a great deal of truth, that a woman's affections are so 
 constituted, that the meaner and baser the object of affec- 
 tion becomes, the more tenderly it is loved and cherished. 
 It is only a half truth, but it is that. Granting this much, 
 it is easy to see how the wife will suffer degradation 
 through her tenacious affection for a depraved husband. 
 He is naturally the stronger ; she the weaker. He leads ; 
 she follows. He is bad ; she good and therefore the 
 tendency is for her to go to him. Morally she is above 
 him; but gravitation tends downward. Human nature, at 
 its best, is depraved. It is easier to go down than to go 
 up. It is easier .to pollute a pure mind than it is to 
 refine and elevate an impure one. 
 
 There are few men and women of middle life who can- 
 not call up in memory instances in which pure-souled 
 girls of early acquaintance who, through mesalliance in 
 marriage, have degraded into coarse, offensive, repugnant 
 women. On the other hand, the cases are rare wherein 
 such a marriage has resulted in the redemption of the 
 husband and his elevation to the refined plane on which 
 his wife moved at marriage. There are such cases, cer- 
 tainly, but they are few in comparison with those that 
 have eventuated diversely. There is a romantic notion 
 cherished by many girls in their teens that they will marry
 
 284 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 men and reform them. It is generally but a bit of cheap 
 sentimentalism, and those who are beguiled by it are not, 
 ordinarily, strong enough mentally or morally to accom- 
 plish the end, even where it may be possible. 
 
 Marriage is too serious a matter for sentimental experi- 
 ments. It is too profound and far-reaching in its influ- 
 ence on the life and happiness of any woman to warrant 
 her indulging an experiment or taking any unnecessary 
 risks. The time to decide these questions concerning the 
 character of a husband is before marriage, not after. 
 Then it is too late. She has taken this man for better or 
 for worse ; and if it be the latter, she must abide by it. The 
 time of courtship is the opportunity for discerning the 
 character and deciding the result. 
 
 No woman contemplating marriage is justified in 
 deciding to ally her life with that of a man whose life has 
 been impure, or whose soul is base and sensuous. It is 
 not an easy matter for the maiden to fully discern the 
 character of her lover. But it is not difficult. It requires 
 only ordinary observation and discernment. The mind 
 filled with impurity will betray itself in a hundred ways, 
 and by tokens that cannot be misunderstood. Shun the 
 base soul as you would the deadly contagion. Avoid all 
 possibility of realizing the dark picture that has been por- 
 trayed by refusing to unite your fair, pure life with one 
 that is smirched with the pollution of an impure life or 
 soul. Give your life into the keeping of no man save his 
 whose mind is pure and whose life is clean. 
 
 There are many such men. Despite all the harrowing 
 tales that are daily recounted in the history of human lives
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 285 
 
 / 
 
 of depravity and wickedness of men, the majority of men 
 with whom young women of taste and refinement associate 
 are clean. The very fact that a young man finds delight 
 in the society of pure women argues for his own purity 
 of heart. The vile do not seek the good persistently. 
 Soul seeks its congenial soul. Besides, it is to be remem- 
 bered that for every case of evil that comes to public 
 notice there are a hundred that remain unnoted unnoted 
 because they have done no wrong. The man who goes 
 astray attracts attention, because it is something unusual. 
 The exceptions are always more prominent than those 
 which conform to rule. No woman need marry a man of 
 coarse mind and depraved life because there are not scores 
 of better men to be found. 
 
 Temperance. 
 
 No characteristic should be more rigidly insisted upon 
 in a husband than that he be temperate. The man who 
 has acquired the drink-habit, no matter what his other 
 qualifications may be, is not the man for a woman to 
 marry. No evil is more prevalent, more wide-spread, 
 more destructive of all that renders life enjoyable and 
 desirable than that of intemperance. It ruins body and 
 soul alike. It numbers its victims by the thousands, and 
 selects them from the noblest as well as from the lowest 
 walks of life. It attacks men under the guise of friendship, 
 worms itself into their confidence, steals away their reason, 
 undermines their resolution, influences their passions, 
 entraps their senses, and sweeps away the bulwarks of their
 
 286 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD 
 
 purity and honor. Alcohol is a foe to the human race so 
 subtle and powerful that it destroys the very humanity of 
 man ; vitiates all the mental processes of those who indulge 
 in it, degrades morals, induces pauperism and crime in 
 individuals and communities in the superlative degree, 
 when compared with all other causes, corrupts the home 
 into a hell, and wasts the material resources with a lavish 
 and remorseless hand. 
 
 Its history is the history of misery and vice and crime 
 and woe and wretchedness throughout the world. Its names 
 are legion, and its forms without number. It varies in 
 hue as the color of the rainbow, and in taste to suit all 
 palates ; sparkling in wine-cups, foaming in tankards, 
 creaming in bowls, it weaves a spell of enchantment 
 around the young, the gay and the thoughtless, and leads 
 them by gentle witchery, until their feet are bound with a 
 cord of seven-fold brass. No siren is more seductive, no 
 music more captivating than the ruining wiles of alcohol. 
 Eloquence has been laid under tribute to proclaim its 
 virtues, poetry has wreathed for it a garland of roses, 
 while mirth and wit have crowned it king of all good 
 fellowship. 
 
 But, in the end, " it biteth like a serpent and stiugeth 
 iike an adder." The cup that sparkles with brilliant hues 
 which captivate the eye, and whose hidden power fires 
 the veins with fever and life, has a dreg that is the poison 
 of death. He who drinks for pleasure will drink again for 
 passion ; he who drinks for passion will drink again for 
 madness ; he who drinks for madness will drink again for 
 death and hell.
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 287 
 
 From every point of view, it is hazardous for a woman 
 to join her life to one who is intemperate in his habits. 
 She is committing her happiness into the keeping of one 
 who is not his own master, but who is the slave of a 
 demon that knows no mercy, no relentment, no remorse. 
 She is entering upon a future that is dark and threatening 
 for her comfort, peace and material enjoyment. She is 
 electing for the father of her children one whose veins 
 are poisoned with a venom that pervades every globule, 
 and which will be bequeathed to the children she may 
 bear. Every consideration of wisdom and prudence urges 
 upon her to avoid such an alliance. The skies may be 
 bright about her and the tempter may whisper to her silly 
 heart that there is no danger ; he is not like other men ; 
 he will never be different from what he is now. There is 
 danger. Experience, a thousand times repeated, declares 
 in tones that cannot be drowned or misinterpreted, that 
 there is always danger ahead of the man who is intem- 
 perate. History and observation alike decree that all 
 men are alike who come under the domination of appetite. 
 Stronger and better men than- he who now fills all the 
 maiden's life and desires, have fallen so low in the scale of 
 humanity that nothing remained but a bloated and dis- 
 figured form. 
 
 The demon of drink will not let its victims alone. He 
 will entice, cajole or drive until he have them wholly in 
 hand, and then he will rush them headlong into the abyss 
 of ruin. He debauched Noah ; he cursed Canaan ; he 
 brought down the divine maledictions again and again
 
 288 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 upon Israel. He has sat in the cabinets of kings and in 
 the halls of legislation ; he has murdered armies and over- 
 thrown states ; he has inspired plots and intrigues and 
 crimes in every nation, in every clime, at every time, and 
 among all peoples. And he is stronger, more seductive, 
 more ravenous and more agressive to day than ever 
 before. No class, no age, no sex is safe from his power 
 if once a pause is made to dally or parley with him. 
 There is no safety except in entire abstinence from any 
 toying with the tempter. No warning can be made too 
 emphatic against committing the keeping of life, peace, 
 comfort and happiness to one who is in any degree under 
 the power of this demon. 
 
 Industry and Frugality. 
 
 These are twin virtues. They should co-exist. With- 
 out either, no man, however opulent he may be in the 
 present, has a certain guaranty against want and poverty 
 in the future. Dissevered, each is weak. Where one 
 exists without the other, the life becomes like a. sieve or a 
 treadmill gaining much but losing as much or a con- 
 tinual grind with little comfort and enjoyment. 'But where 
 the two qualities are found in a man, a safe and comfortable 
 future is assured. He may never become wealthy ; but 
 this is not to be always desired. He is certain to acquire 
 a competence. 
 
 It is the husband's part to provide his wife with a 
 home and maintain the same. It is the wife's place to 
 make that home happy. Marriage is too sacred a step to
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 289 
 
 contemplate wholly from a material standpoint. " Marry- 
 ing for a home " is as much to be condemned as " marrying 
 for love," and nothing else. At the same time, marriage 
 is by far too serious a step, and too far-reaching in its 
 influence upon a woman's life for her to totally disregard 
 all material prospects. It is her right and duty to herself 
 to demand that the man who solicits her to go into his 
 home as its mistress, shall have the qualities which insure 
 a permanence to that home, as well as a provision for its 
 continued maintenance. 
 
 This is not degrading marriage. On the contrary, it is 
 placing it upon a plane of reasonable common sense. Too 
 often are young women liable to underestimate or to over- 
 estimate the present condition of the man who asks them 
 in marriage. The practical but near-sighted maiden will 
 say, he has nothing but his trade. She forgets to note 
 that he is not only a skillful workman, but is industrious 
 and energetic in his work, temperate and frugal in his 
 habits. Therefore, she decides that she cannot join her 
 lot with his, dreading the uncertain future. Another will 
 say, he has a good home and a competence. She neg- 
 lects to note how this home was secured or this competence 
 accumulated. She also fails to observe that his industry 
 is spasmodic, or has no existence at all, and that he is 
 lavish and extravagant in his expenditures. 
 
 A decade or two roll by. The first-named man at 
 middle life is honored, respected, with a comfortable home, 
 a competence accumulated, and enjoys a happy lot. The 
 other has made no advance, and perhaps has frittered away
 
 290 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 in idleness and extravagance all that he had a score of 
 years before. Cases like these are known to everybody. 
 The sequence follows legitimately in each case. The 
 maiden must be wise as well as practical. She must, if 
 she would reach a safe conclusion, not only look at the 
 present, but at the factors which exist in the life of her 
 lover, and trace the operation of these to the logical con- 
 clusion. Industry and economy will, other things remain- 
 ing the same, succeed in the race of life ; whereas, the 
 lack of these even with opulence will inevitably bring 
 want. Possessing the qualities above-named, and all 
 other things satisfactory, the absence of any considerable 
 means whereby to support a family, need not deter. The 
 strong right arm of that man, nerved by love for his wife, 
 will hew a way for himself and for her that will land them 
 in a comfortable old age. 
 
 Aside from the considerations named, a woman should 
 desire her husband to be industrious and frugal, for physi- 
 ological and moral reasons. Such a man is likely to enjoy 
 better health and incur less temptation to fall into offen- 
 sive and ruinous vices. Idleness is the parent .of vice ; 
 industry, of virtue. Industry is a condition of contentment, 
 and contentment is happiness. Industry and virtue are 
 correlative. Virtue, says one, keeps its possessor to his 
 daily task, and his daily task keeps him to virtue. Experi- 
 ence and observation amply corroborate the truth of 
 the apothegm. The industrious and economical man is a 
 better man than the idler and spendthrift. He is more 
 cheerful, pleasant and happy. He creates a better home
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 291 
 
 atmosphere, is less selfish and more helpful and consider- 
 ate of others. He may be prosaical, but he is honest ; he 
 may be plain, but he is pure minded. He has no time for 
 the tempter. He is too busy to form evil associations, 
 cherish extravagant dreams, or indulge vicious appetites. 
 But in the long race of life he is a certain winner. In the 
 sober, practical realities, he is a sure defense and reliance. 
 Happy is the maiden whose heart has been given to such 
 a man. He will fill all her life with sterling joys and sub- 
 stantial blessings. 
 
 Business. 
 
 Closely associated with and assumed in industry and 
 frugality must be found the possession of some legitimate 
 means of making a living. No man has any warrant for 
 expecting success, no matter what his parts may be, who 
 has not mastered some particular trade or profession. This 
 was rigidly insisted upon among the ancients. No matter 
 how opulent a father might be, he made each of his sons 
 elect some business calling, and thoroughly master it in 
 all its details. The intention was that if ever the contin- 
 gencies of the future should deprive the young man of his 
 patrimony, he would not be helpless ; he would have the 
 means of subsistence in the skill of his hands. It was a 
 wise provision, and the necessity for it still exists. 
 
 A man with versatile accomplishments, yet no specialty, 
 is a very uncertain creature. He can do a little of every- 
 thing, but a good deal of nothing. An English writer of 
 position says truthfully : " Versatility seldom pays. " He
 
 292 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 meant that it seldom leads its possessor to any great or 
 desirable success. It makes a very companionable sort of 
 a man. But a man who sets up a home of his own and 
 asks a woman to take the risks of Ijfe with him, must be 
 more than a pleasant companion. He is to be the archi- 
 tect and builder of the family's fortune. He must not 
 only be industrious and thrifty, but must have some 
 specific channel in which these qualities can find successful 
 occupation. 
 
 " But," says the young woman, " I intend to marry for 
 love." What do you mean by this expression? Is it love 
 in the abstract? The voluptuous, physical part of your 
 being is the only monitor that guides you in laying a foun- 
 dation for home and all future enjoyment. He is to be 
 regarded of paramount admiration that lays hold on life 
 and business as if he had a mission in the world, and 
 intended to discharge it with fidelity ; who is among the 
 working bees in the hive of business, not a drone upon 
 society. Thousands of young women rush .blindly into 
 matrimony, taking it for granted that he who professes so 
 much love and attachment will provide for the current 
 wants of the family, without stopping to ask whether or 
 not he has any way of doing it. Every young man, before 
 he undertakes the obligation of a household, should acquire 
 a trade, a business that will insure at least a comfortable 
 living for those dependent upon him. 
 
 Young woman, if the man who is offering you his 
 hand in this holy covenant have no well-defined business, 
 or if he have, and do not possess the proper energy and
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 293 
 
 industry to follow it, look him squarely in the face and 
 ask him with all sincerity : " What do you intend to do 
 with me ? " 
 
 The propounding of such a question implies no doubt 
 of his affection or intent. On the contrary, it is evidence 
 of the profoundest interest and confidence in him that you 
 can ask such a question. No sensible man will be 
 offended with you. He will esteem you all the more 
 highly for the good, common sense you display. He, if 
 he be a man worthy to be a husband, is seeking a com- 
 panion, a helpmeet for himself; one who is willing to 
 engage in the battle of life with him and bear equally its 
 burdens. 
 
 The man who has no trade or profession is in a sad 
 plight. He is practically a helpless member of society 
 He is an incumberance in the home of which he should be 
 the life and support. He is wholly without excuse. In 
 this wide-spread and expanding country, no one need be 
 without some legitimate business. All trades and profes- 
 sions are open to the man who has the skill and energy to 
 go in and occupy. Men and women without a business 
 are the pests of society. They are thieves, stealing what 
 is not their own ; beggars, eating what they have not 
 earned ; drones, wasting the fruit of others' industry ; 
 leeches, sucking the life-blood of others ; evil-doers, set- 
 ting an example of idleness and dishonest living ; hypo- 
 crites, shining in stolen and false colors ; vampires, eating 
 out the life of the community.
 
 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Aside from the fact that a certain definite business is 
 demanded in order to insure against all the contingencies 
 of the unknown future, there exists another reason why a 
 woman should hesitate to marry such a man. The lack of 
 a specific business is an indication of character that ought 
 not to be ignored. It means either the man was too indo- 
 lent and imprudent through a lack of necessity to provide, 
 by this means, for his maintenance ; in which case, what 
 was said in a previous chapter should be considered. Or 
 it indicates a lack of persistence and singleness of aim, so 
 essential to any great success. Many young men fritter 
 'away the time of trade-learning in doing nothing. 
 They waste the golden time of youth in endless changes 
 and wanderings. They try this thing and that, and go 
 on to another. They cannot settle their minds to do one 
 thing, but must be continually trying everything that 
 comes to hand. They look at a hundred things and see 
 nothing ; whereas if they looked only at one thing they 
 would see it, and see it distinctly. They grasp at random 
 at many things and catch nothing. And so they find them- 
 selves ready to marry and yet have no special business on 
 which to support a wife. 
 
 This variableness indicates instability of character. It 
 is a weakness. Such men would hardly succeed even 
 under the most favorable circumstances, while ordinarily 
 they stand no show at all. One trade well understood is 
 worth more than a half knowledge of a score of trades. It 
 is excellence that is always in demand in the market. The 
 skilled workman can always find something to do.
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 295 
 
 Jealousy. 
 
 There are some men excellent in every regard, but 
 who are unfortunate enough to be afflicted with a sort of 
 insanity regarding the woman to whom they have given 
 their affection and whom they desire to marry. They are 
 jealous-minded. Such a disposition is greatly to be 
 deplored. It leads to most deplorable unhappiness in the 
 lot of a wife whose husband is afflicted in this way. He 
 is chronically unhappy himself, and she is equally so. 
 The jealous man insults his wife every moment of her life. 
 Chaste, upright and sensitive, how galling it must be to 
 her to be subjected to suspicions, and surveillance and 
 espionage ? No sensitive spirit can brook such treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Silly and unreasonable as this trait is, it has been the 
 cause of untold misery in many homes, and has led to 
 domestic infidelity and ruin in numberless cases. Not 
 infrequently it has driven the wife into crime, or insanity, 
 or the grave ; and the husband who harbors the feeling to 
 inebriation, to gambling, or to murder. It indicates a 
 small mind, an unreasonable disposition and a passionate 
 spirit. These are not the traits to insure domestic peace, 
 tranquility and happiness. On the contrary, they are the 
 fruitful source of broils, and misery and wretchedness and 
 woe. 
 
 Be sure that no jealous blood courses through his 
 veins. Jealousy is that fiend of human happiness that 
 destroys thousands of families, poisoning the atmosphere
 
 296 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of domestic bliss. It plucks the rose from the cheek of 
 beauty ; it withers the laurel in the crown of happiness, 
 and makes general havoc in all the social relations of life. 
 Treason, murder and suicide follow in the train of this 
 demon spirit, preying upon the vitals of self-government, 
 grinding the blade that shall pierce the bosom of her who 
 has plighted her all upon the nuptial altar. 
 
 Of all the passions, jealousy exacts the hardest service, 
 and pays the bitterest wages. As you value your life and 
 all earthly happiness, cut short your acquaintance with 
 the man who watches in unrest and with scrutinizing gaze 
 your every movement in the social circle ; whose face 
 reddens with suspicion at beholding a stray ring upon 
 your finger or an unknown picture in your album. If 
 jealousy lurk in his bosom, so sure will misery dwell in 
 his home. 
 
 Morality and Religion. 
 
 Never seriously consider a proposition of marriage 
 from a man who does not possess a substantial moral char- 
 acter and a religious veneration. Morality and religion 
 are the foundation of all true character. The man who 
 has no sensitive regard for right because it is right, and 
 God because He is God, is no proper custodian of a 
 woman's life, reputation and happiness. He is not the man 
 that any woman should elect to be the father of her chil- 
 dren and their guide in tender years. No excellencies that 
 a man possesses can atone for the lack of these qualities. 
 He may have graces and accomplishments, wealth and
 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF A HUSBAND. 297 
 
 standing, talent and power ; but if he lack a sensitive 
 moral nature and an enlightened conscience, he lacks what 
 makes everything else desirable. 
 
 All the investigations of modern science, in respect to 
 crime, have established the fact that its mental and moral 
 qualities are hereditary ; a thief, a robber, or murderer 
 imparts like propensities to his offspring. The criminal 
 classes in all countries have sprung from the marriage of 
 wicked and vicious persons. Through this channel, not- 
 withstanding the efforts of the State to reform, criminals 
 increase in a greater ratio than the population. 
 
 Frequently young men who have spoiled themselves 
 by a career of vice and crime are most particular in respect 
 to the character of those whom they seek to marry, and 
 are very watchful in selecting for wives pure, young and 
 inexperienced girls, totally ignorant of the vices of the 
 world. Occasionally such unions have a beneficial 
 effect, the influence of the purity and virtue of the one 
 predominating over the tendency to vice in the other ; but 
 such cases are extremely rare. " Can a man take fire to his 
 bosom and not be burned?" The young woman, once 
 pure and good, is either contaminated by contact with one 
 who is wholly demoralized and defiled by sin, or her very 
 existence becomes wretchedness and misery. Instead of 
 enjoying those noble qualities of soul which she ought to 
 admire and respect, she finds naught but selfishness, 
 sensuality and moral corruption. 
 
 Do not risk your happiness on missionary experiment, 
 and marry a man who is known to be of bad character
 
 298 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 with the idea that you can reform him. This herculean 
 task may be, indeed, accomplished, but quite too frequently 
 the reformation is only feigned, and the man who promised 
 in the days of his courtship to be his wife's highest ideal of 
 pure and noble manhood, lapses only deeper into the slums 
 of moral corruption where evil practices for years have held 
 him. The man who holds out to a woman, as an induce- 
 ment to marry, the opportunity to reform him, is usually 
 unprincipled. He who really wishes a reformation should 
 start on that high road himself, and pursue it until the work 
 is fully accomplished, before any woman should enter with 
 him into such an important and lasting relation. 
 
 The Right Time to Manny. 
 
 This is a matter of comparatively little importance. It 
 will depend largely upon the social condition of those 
 entering into the marriage relation. A time of year 
 should be selected which affords the most leisure. The 
 real enjoyment of the honeymoon will depend on entire 
 freedom from business cares and concerns. 
 
 In the country the autumn generally brings a long 
 season of comparative inactivity. When the harvest is 
 garnered and the fruits of the season gathered in, no 
 pressing demands are made upon the time. There is 
 leisure to enjoy such social amusements as may be had. 
 The new home can be set up and its arrangements made 
 without such haste as makes the task a burden, or without 
 encroaching upon time that ought to be given to other 
 things. Nothing so delights a husband and wife as the
 
 THE RIGHT TIME TO MARRY. 299 
 
 arrangement of a new home. It is also necessary at the 
 outset of the new life to establish social relations with the 
 community in which they are to dwell. It most frequently 
 happens that a wife is brought to a new community. It 
 is exceedingly advisable that her husband be much with 
 her in receiving the friends that may ca.ll, and in assisting 
 her in the returns made. It will relieve her embarrassment 
 and more readily establish an easy footing. He may, 
 perchance, by a word of caution or counsel, enable her to 
 avoid making blunders that would not only be annoying, 
 but injure her future relations in the community. 
 
 Reference to the statistics of the country on this point 
 reveal the fact that spring and fall are usually the times 
 selected. There are some reasons that are indicated from 
 the teachings of Nature that would point to springtime as 
 the more commendable. This is the period generally 
 selected by the lower animals as the time for mating, 
 which may be a significant suggestion to the human 
 family. At least, some have t?ken advantage of it as an 
 argument favoring marriage at this time. They follow it 
 with the additional reason that, in the case of a birth 
 within the year, the child will have attained sufficient age 
 to resist the disorders of teething before the approach of 
 the second summer. 
 
 It is well, at least, to avoid as much as possible the 
 extremes of heat and cold, as both wear heavily upon the 
 physical organism. Every advantage of season possible 
 should be taken, that the woman may enter upon her 
 new and experimental life in the enjoyment of the most 
 favorable surroundings.
 
 300 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Regarding the time in the month, prudence and Nature 
 are alike suggestive. There are certain times in every 
 woman's month that alone would indicate an unpropitious 
 time for the consummation of such social relations. There 
 is, with most women, a feeling of extreme sensitiveness as 
 to ordinary appearance in society under certain circum- 
 stances, and surely it would be quite embarrassing to 
 enter matrimony at this particular period. Hence, she 
 should select a day about midway between the times of her 
 periodical sickness. If her periods occur every twenty- 
 eight days, she should allow twelve days to intervene 
 between her entire recovery from her sickness and the day 
 of her wedding. This would bring' her safely into Nature's 
 period of sterility, that she need not suffer the embarrass- 
 ment consequent to early pregnancy. This sometimes is 
 followed by a few days of premature birth, which, in a 
 gossiping and uncharitable community, might reflect 
 unjustly upon her character. Moreover, this would be a 
 time in her month in which she would be in the enjoyment 
 of her best health, having fully recovered from the 
 exhaustion consequent to her sickness. 
 
 The Wedding. 
 
 The term " wedding " is employed ordinarily to desig- 
 nate all the festivities incident to the celebration of mar- 
 riage. It includes, therefore, the precedent and subse- 
 quent circumstances of which the marriage rite is the 
 central point. Comprehensively, it refers to the prepara- 
 tions of the bride for receiving and entertaining her
 
 THE WEDDING. 3OI 
 
 friends, the announcement to expected guests, with invi- 
 tations to be present, the marriage ceremony itself, the 
 marriage banquet, other festivities, etc. In so far as 
 these matters are concerned with social etiquette, this 
 work has nothing to do. In so far as they concern the 
 physiological interests of the bride, a little counsel may be 
 profitable. 
 
 The elaborateness of the wedding will always depend 
 on the circumstances of the contracting parties. It is the 
 privilege of the bride to elect how extensive these shall be. 
 This is a most beneficial social custom, though, unhap- 
 pily, it is not always exercised to the best advantage. 
 Too many brides are concerned as to how the wedding 
 will be considered by others, and forgetful of the drain 
 that is being made upon their own nervous resources. 
 There is too much serfdom to social culture, too little re- 
 gard to physiological common sense in social centers. It 
 is the one great event of life to a woman ; and, therefore, 
 she must make the most out of it possible. It must pass 
 off with proper eclat, or she will be socially degraded. 
 It must equal or surpass similar events in the lives of 
 those who were her social equals. These, and other like 
 considerations, often influence brides to use their privi- 
 leges on this important occasion, only to multiply trials 
 and complications through the exhausting demands neces- 
 sary in passing through the marriage celebration. 
 
 While the bride is to decide how, when, and where 
 she is to be married, it is always advisable to consult the 
 bridegroom in regard to the general and many of the par- 
 
 IE
 
 302 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ticular arrangements. For obvious reasons, his judgment 
 is better than hers. While she is liable to think of others, 
 he thinks only of her. He will ordinarily favor all 
 arrangements which impose the least labor and nervous 
 excitement on the bride, and this is a consummation 
 devoutly to be wished. Men, as a rule, are simpler in 
 their tastes than women. Unmarried men, too, have 
 closer intimacies with married men than maidens have 
 with their married sisters. The bridegroom, therefore, 
 will be more likely to be thoughtful of those arrangements 
 which tend to the better physical good of the bride than 
 she will. In any event, it is a ceremony which concerns 
 both equally, or almost so, and there should be entire 
 harmony with regard to all attendant circumstances. 
 There will rarely be any difficulty in securing this mutual 
 agreement. Persons deeply in love with each other do 
 not easily disagree. 
 
 If the bride reside with her parents, or have a home, it 
 is customary to have the ceremony performed there ; or if 
 she be an attendant at church, in that place. In the latter 
 case it is customary to return to the home of the bride, 
 where a formal reception, a banquet, etc., are held. In 
 either case the conditions are about the same. There will 
 necessarily be considerable excitement of the nervous con- 
 stitution of the bride. The thought of the great change 
 which is about to come in her life, the severance of all old 
 and tender relations, the venture into a new sphere, on 
 new and untried conditions these alone are sufficient to 
 excite her nerves to a high pitch. To these will be added 
 
 5 fj 3 JJ '
 
 THE WEDDING. 303 
 
 the presence of many friends, not all of whom are thought- 
 ful of the nerves of the bride ; the novelty of finding her- 
 self the central figure in ceremonies more or less public ; 
 the vigilance necessary to preclude annoying blunders, 
 etc. , all these will add to the drain upon her vital powers. 
 It must not be forgotten that nervous exaltation, however 
 delightful, is exhausting. It is a constant and great drain 
 upon the vital powers. It will inevitably be followed by 
 a season of depression as great and prolonged as was the 
 antecedent excitement. For this reason it is exceedingly 
 desirable that the wedding be as simple and as brief as 
 social etiquette will permit. The change from maidenhood 
 to wifehood is of sufficient magnitude to demand, for its 
 safe and happy accomplishment, the most favorable condi- 
 tions attainable. It is the greatest of unwisdom and 
 gravest of error for the woman herself to make these con- 
 ditions most unfavorable. She has, practically, the whole 
 wedding arrangements in her control. Ignorance or 
 thoughtlessness will bring bitter regrets. Not a few women 
 there are whose failing health dates from marriage. Many 
 of these women do not yet know, precisely, that it was not 
 marriage which laid the foundation for a shattered system, 
 but the unnecessary and imprudent conduct in the festivi- 
 ties connected with marriage. From the physiological 
 standpoint, then, prudence demands that the strength be 
 husbanded with the utmost frugality. Invite no excite- 
 ment. Avoid all social festivities, however pleasurable, 
 which impose an unnecessary drain upon the nervous 
 forces. Nothing will be lost in a social way. If
 
 304 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 circumstances warrant an expensive and elaborate 
 wedding, the standing of the bride is so secure that she 
 fan dare to be plain. No friend of good sense will ques- 
 tion the motive which prompts quietude and simplicity. 
 If circumstances demand an inexpensive wedding, yield to 
 them gracefully. No one ever gained anything of substan- 
 tial benefit by pretending to have what she had not, or to 
 be what she was not. 
 
 Unless the marriage be entirely private that is, 
 where the bride and groom with a friend or two, go to 
 the clergyman's or magistrate's house, have the ceremony 
 performed, and then depart upon their wedding journey, 
 there will be guests to invite. Any book on social eti- 
 quette will teach the forms by which this may be properly 
 done. Suffice it to say, that as the wedding is the bride's 
 affair largely, it is her privilege to elect whom she will 
 have present. There are two classes of persons whose 
 claims stand first, and who cannot be ignored ; these are 
 her own and her prospective husband's relatives. It will 
 be entirely proper for the bride to ask her husband for the 
 names of all his relatives whom he desires to have present. 
 She will ordinarily find that he will restrict the number of 
 these to the lowest possible number. After the relatives 
 come mutual friends, if there be any, her own friends and 
 his. The invitations must all come through the bride or 
 her parents. The bridegroom will elect his groomsman, 
 though he cannot invite him to attend the wedding. 
 
 The only purpose in adverting to these social amenities 
 is that the bride should fully acquaint herself with what
 
 THE 'WEDDING. 305 
 
 she is expected to do. Knowing this, let her, in good 
 season, carefully prepare the lists of persons who are to be 
 invited. It appears like a very small matter, but it is not, 
 infrequently, a cause of worry and anxiety to the bride at 
 the last moment, lest she have left unasked some one 
 whom she would regret to neglect. If the matter be 
 attended to systematically and in proper time, there is far 
 less liability of neglect or omission. And it is desirable, 
 above all things, that all worry and annoyance shall be 
 avoided. Women have been known who have fretted 
 themselves into a sickness because they discover, at the 
 last moment, that they have overlooked some one whose 
 presence was especially desired. Such risks should be 
 avoided. In the high state of nervous excitement in 
 which the marriage usually finds the most sedate of 
 women, the veriest trifle is magnified. It is sometimes 
 the case that a very slight cause of worry will, in the 
 exaggerated nervous condition, lead to injurious results. 
 What at other times would be dismissed with an apology 
 and regret, will at this time weigh upon the spirits like a 
 mountain load. For these reasons, let the invitations of 
 the guests be attended to at a sufficient time before the 
 celebration of the marriage to be free from its bustle and 
 excitement. 
 
 The marriage ceremony is generally trying to the sensi- 
 tive nerves of the bride. Instinctively modest and retir- 
 ing as most women are, the publicity of the ceremony 
 abashes them.
 
 306 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The bride finds herself a cynosure for all eyes, and 
 conscious that she is being stared at, not with intentional 
 rudeness, but by reason of a presumed license which the 
 occasion allows. She feels that her every movement is 
 watched, her every word and look scrutinized critically, her 
 dress and appearance inspected to the remotest minutiae. 
 This shames, embarrasses and oppresses her ; and this 
 is intensified by the feeling that she is liable, under 
 this embarrassment, to omit some detail or commit some 
 error that will confuse others. She feels that she is in a 
 condition to blunder in almost anything. 
 
 This mental state is trying. It has its ulterior effects, 
 rendering her nervous excitement greater, and the exhaust- 
 ive process more rapid and more emphatic. Happily for 
 her, the ceremony is usually brief. There seems no way 
 to avoid this ordeal. The best that can be done is to 
 counsel the bride to thoroughly familiarize herself with the 
 details of the ceremony. Let her go through it, either by 
 rehearsal or mentally, so that she will be surprised by 
 nothing in the real performance of the rite. This famili- 
 arity will give her confidence in her ability to acquit 
 herself creditably ; and this confidence will be soothing. 
 The more comfortable she can be during the ceremony, 
 the better it will be for her afterwards. If she can carry 
 herself beyond this climax without experiencing undue 
 excitement, she will have little trouble in preserving her 
 calmness until the end. 
 
 The custom is to follow the ceremony with a banquet. 
 It is a very unwise custom if we consider the character of
 
 THE WEDDING. 3O/ 
 
 the feast and the conditions under which it is eaten. From ' 
 what has already been said, it is manifest that the bride 
 must be of extraordinary mold, indeed, if she do not 
 find herself by this time not only without appetite, but 
 also in that physical condition in which it is highly 
 improper to take food into the system. The physical and 
 mental strain under which she has labored for several 
 hours, perhaps, has so affected the circulation of the blood 
 as to leave the stomach and other digestive organs without 
 a necessary supply. By no effort of will can she restore 
 the equilibrium of circulation. The banquet is not unusu- 
 ally held at a late hour. Rarely, indeed, does the wedding 
 feast take place at the time at which a meal should 
 ordinarily be eaten. It is considered of such minor 
 importance that it must await its turn in the programme, 
 no matter at what hour this may be. This is no small 
 matter. Many persons, in ordinary health and under no 
 press of excitement, are injured by feasting at irregular 
 hours. Much more seriously may it affect the newly- 
 made wife. It must also be added that the nature of the 
 viands is such that, unless sparingly partaken of, the result 
 is certain to be injurious. The materials are rich and 
 indigestible for the most part. Cakes and pastry follow 
 highly-seasoned substantiate, and of each and all the 
 bride is expected to partake. The banquet is given in 
 her honor. She must, perforce, show approbation. Well- 
 meaning but thoughtless friends press her to partake of 
 this and that, and she is powerless to resist. The result 
 is, she finds that she has, without appetite, eaten a consid-
 
 308 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 erable meal, at an irregular hour, of innutritious and 
 highly-indigestible food. She finds, also, that her system 
 is in no condition to retain such gormandizing. Nor is she 
 allowed any repose. Back into the social circle she must 
 go, to entertain her guests at the expense of her own 
 powers. The best that can be said here by way of advice 
 is that the wife eat as sparingly as she can. Not because 
 her system does not need food, but because the circum- 
 stances are against its accomplishing its designed purpose. 
 A woman with tact can escape gormandizing, and escape 
 giving affront at the same time. It will be better for her 
 f she do so. Better to delay eating until another time, 
 when the conditions are more favorable. 
 
 A wedding journey is the prescribed finale of the fes- 
 tivities. It is usually begun on the day of the marriage, 
 and is of variable length, both in the distance traveled and 
 in the time devoted to it. It is a custom with some com- 
 mendable features, but many that are the exact reverse. 
 
 It is advisable that husband and wife should be alone for a 
 
 
 
 week or two, both in order to enjoy the pleasure of each 
 other's society, and to become thoroughly acquainted with 
 each other. It is also highly desirable that this relation 
 should be apart from the family and friends of both. 
 
 There is a vulgar familiarity indulged by close friends 
 which cannot but be annoying and humiliating to a 
 woman of sensitive and refined tastes. The looks, actions, 
 and sometimes the words of such friends seem to intimate 
 that the one object and aim of marriage its summum 
 bonum is the indulgence of animal appetite. The sly
 
 THE WEDDING. 309 
 
 look, the suppressed titter, the covert insinuation, all point 
 to this one fact, that such a thought is uppermost in the 
 mind. The husband, poor fellow, is made to run the 
 gauntlet of no end of gibes and intimations, doubly galling 
 because they mean nothing disassociated from the woman 
 who is now his wife, and whom he loves and respects 
 above all of her kind. He can resent nothing. He knows, 
 perhaps the guilty wretch! that he has guyed his 
 friends when they were married. Besides, to show irrita- 
 tion is to put himself out of character as a happy bride- 
 groom. It is better, therefore, that the honeymoon be 
 spent away from familiar friends. 
 
 It is not unusual to devote this time to travel, going 
 from place to place sight-seeing, and living at hotels and 
 public houses. This is unwise. Traveling and sight-seeing is 
 exhausting, even in ordinary circumstances. It is ten- 
 fold more so under the conditions of the honeymoon. 
 Few women at marriage are experienced travelers. They 
 do not know how to travel and escape its weariness and 
 unpleasantness. They are accustomed to the quiet of 
 the home life, and the railway or hotel is trying to their 
 nerves. The husband, be he ever so kind and attentive, 
 is a comparative stranger. The modest wife shrinks from 
 telling him her feelings or asking his aid. What she 
 requires, more than anything else, is quiet and rest. This 
 she cannot possibly attain in the bustle and strangeness of 
 a city hotel. 
 
 A writer on this subject does not overstep the truth 
 when he says : " The foundation of many an unhappy
 
 310 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 future is laid on the wedding tour. Not only is the young 
 wife tried beyond all her experience, but the husband, 
 too, partakes of her weakness. Many men who really 
 love the women they marry are subject to a slight revul- 
 sion of feeling for a few days after marriage. ' When the 
 veil falls and the girdle is loosed,' says Schiller, ' the fair 
 illusion vanishes." A half-regret crosses their minds for 
 the jolly bachelorhood they have renounced. The 
 mysterious charms, which gave their loved one the air of 
 something more than human, disappear in a prosaic 
 sunlight of familiarity." This mutual revulsion of feeling 
 is entirely natural. It will pass away in a few days, and a 
 deep, abiding tenderness, founded on a more substantial 
 basis than lovers' affection, will take its place. Patience 
 and self-command on the part of both are needed, lest 
 permanent dislike be established. 
 
 Many a woman, too, dates the loss of her health to her 
 wedding tour. Starting upon it under the conditions 
 which have been detailed, and continuing it in much the 
 same circumstances as characterized the wedding festivities, 
 she lays the basis of impaired health. Add to this the 
 fact that the consummation of marriage means a great 
 change to her physically, and the reason for her destroyed 
 health can readily be seen. So many cases of permanent 
 unhappiness and permanent ill health dating from the 
 wedding journey, come under the notice of all physicians 
 that it is no wonder that many of them condemn it 
 altogether. 
 
 This, however, is not necessary. A short journey is a 
 benefit, if it be followed by a week or ten days of quiet,
 
 THE WEDDING. 311 
 
 peaceful rest in some home-like place. If it be summer- 
 time, a sojourn by the seaside in a quiet hotel is delightful. 
 After a day or two the wife will be familiar with the 
 appointments of the house, and the home-like feeling will 
 come over her. If the marriage occur in a colder season, 
 nothing is better than a visit to a prudent, affectionate 
 friend of the bride one who is herself happily married. 
 The wife will gain both the home-rest so demanded, and 
 also can confide in her experienced friend what she cannot 
 yet tell her husband, and can receive better counsel than 
 even her husband can give. 
 
 Marriage Contract Its Importance. 
 
 In the eyes of the law, marriage is a civil contract only. 
 It is valid under certain prescribed legal conditions. The 
 law looks no further than the well-being of the citizen. 
 It recognizes the beneficence of marriage and takes 
 control of it. It prescribes who may marry, when and 
 how. When these regulations are followed, the law 
 insures to the marriage relation the enjoyment of all the 
 rights and privileges which attach to it. This, however, 
 is a narrow view of marriage. The institution goes back 
 and beyond all civil enactment, and rests in the authority 
 of Divine appointment and approval. It was known at 
 the very dawn of creation, and bears all the evidence of a 
 necessary condition of human existence. The sacred 
 record clearly asserts that the woman was made for man, 
 implying that without her and apart from her, man was 
 incomplete, and the conditions of human society imper-
 
 312 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD, 
 
 feet. It may be said that marriage is ordained by God 
 in the same manner that man's nature was ordained by 
 Him. In its formal appointment, however, it is the work 
 of man, and has ever been essentially a natural and civil 
 institution. 
 
 Man, in his intellectual and spiritual being, was 
 designed to be a complete representation of the Creator. 
 This, in solitude and isolation, he could not be. In the 
 fulfillment of this great design there arose a necessity for 
 a companion, a counselor, who should be a " help-meet 
 for him " the exact counterpart and complement of 
 himself, capable of receiving and reflecting his thoughts, 
 sympathies and affections. So soon as the step in the 
 work of creation establishing the nature and extent of 
 man's social being and its entire applicability to the wants 
 of society in all time to come was finished, Adam, 
 directed by the inspiration of God himself, gave the great 
 Magna Charta of marriage which should be of universal 
 obligation to all of his posterity " therefore shall a man 
 leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto this 
 wife and they twain shall be one flesh. " In this charter, 
 as well as in the manner of woman's creation she 
 being taken from man unity of man and wife is fully 
 established and manifestly expressed in the words " one 
 flesh!" What more significant term could be employed to 
 unfold the intimacy of the relation existing between 
 husband and wife, than the expression " one flesh ? " 
 The closeness of this relation is referred to in the New 
 Testament by the great Apostle to the Gentiles to illus-
 
 MARRIAGE CONTRACT ITS IMPORTANCE. 313 
 
 trate the closeness of the bonds of union existing between 
 Christ and His church, which Christ Himself represents as 
 being inseparably joined together. But our Lord and His 
 Apostles re-established the integrity and sanctity of the 
 marriage covenant by reiterating and thereby confirming 
 the original charter of marriage as the basis upon which 
 all regulations were to be framed, giving the reasons upon 
 which the institutions of marriage rested. " Have ye'not 
 read that He which made them at the beginning, made 
 them male and female ? " and said " For this cause shall a 
 man leave father and mother and shall cleave unto- his 
 wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." The necessity 
 of the institution would appear to have grown out of the 
 relative positions that man and woman occupied toward 
 each other in their creation that of being created male 
 and female. " For this cause shall a man leave his father, 
 etc." 
 
 The cause still exists upon which marriage is based ; 
 hence the institution itself and all that was originally 
 implied in it remain in full force. Marriage being of 
 Divine authority, its sacredness must not only be admitted, 
 but in its enjoyment is to be experienced the highest type 
 of social life. The importance of the marriage covenant 
 may be seen in its biding effect upon the parties during 
 their natural life. Such a contract should not be entered 
 upon w.ithout the most careful and candid consideration. 
 The formation of a partnership that is only to last for a 
 fe\v years should demand our earnest thought. How 
 much greater should be the care taken in entering upon
 
 314 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 one for life-? Surely all the factors entering into such an 
 alliance demand a most deliberate and candid considera- 
 tion, 'and judgment rather than a hasty obedience to the 
 dictates of a blind and impetuous passion. 
 
 Remember that all the relations of life, physical, 
 mental, social and moral, are involved in the formation of 
 the marriage contract. The entire development, position 
 in society, and true character before mankind, is to be 
 weighed in this scale of matrimonial alliance. 
 
 The statistics of all countries clearly demonstrate that 
 marriage is conducive to health and longevity. Married 
 persons live longer and enjoy better health than the 
 unmarried. This is only what might be expected, when 
 we contemplate the wisdom of the Great Architect of our 
 being. In carrying out His plan in the drama of life, 
 which involves marriage, the greater health and happiness 
 are enjoyed by His creatures. It might naturally be 
 supposed by the casual observer that, inasmuch as entering 
 upon the marriage exposes women to disorders and 
 dangers not common to the unmarried, the death rate 
 would be correspondingly increased ; but such is not the 
 case. On the other hand, married women are not only 
 exempt from many diseases that prey upon the unmarried, 
 but they are free from the mental strain and worry which 
 so many unmarried women experience, especially as they 
 advance in life. From well authenticated statistics, there 
 is no question that the tendency of marriage is to prolong 
 life and to conduce greatly to individual welfare and 
 happiness, when its ends are not perverted and its privi- 
 leges abused.
 
 MARRIAGE CONTRACT ITS IMPORTANCE. 315 
 
 From what has been said with regard to the nature, 
 extent and social bearing of marriage, anything looking 
 toward an alliance of such serious and permanent character 
 demands our most thoughtful consideration. It is to be 
 feared that too many rush forward heedlessly, without 
 giving the thought which the importance of the act 
 demands. " To be engaged " is a condition in life that is 
 entered into as if it were of but little moment. Many of 
 both sexes are often heard relating with a gusto how 
 frequently they have been engaged. Surely such engage- 
 ments made but little impression upon their affections, or 
 they would not be able to as easily extricate their hearts 
 as they did their words. To trifle with affection is quite 
 too serious a rrfatter to be recklessly indulged, lest they 
 should become so fickle as to be like the needle sur- 
 rounded by a number of magnets unable to settle any 
 where. 
 
 Ponder well the advice given in regard to the choice 
 of a husband; and finding one that possesses the charac- 
 teristics described, who offers you his heart and hand, 
 accept him as a gift from heaven, and permit nothing 
 short of the sentiment of the following lines to fill your 
 heart : 
 
 " In bower and garden rich and rare 
 
 There is many a cherished flower, 
 Whose beauty fades, whose fragrance flits 
 
 Within the flitting hour. 
 Not so the simple forest leaf, 
 
 Unpraised, unnoticed, lying 
 The same through all its little life 
 
 It changes but in dying.
 
 316 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Be such, and only such, my friends ; 
 
 Once mine and mine forever ; 
 And here 's a hand to clasp in theirs, 
 
 And shall desert them never. 
 And thou be such my gentle love, 
 
 Time, chance, the world defying ; 
 And take 'tis all I have a heart 
 
 Thai changes but in dying." 
 
 Divorce. 
 
 The legal' separation of a husband and wife and the 
 effectual severance of the tie that bound them together, 
 has been allowed in all ages. The authority for it is 
 traced to the Mosaic laws, which form the basis of all civil 
 laws upon the subject. That the Scriptures teach that a 
 divorce is proper for cause, cannot be gainsaid ; but that 
 a multiplicity of causes such as now obtain in the civjl 
 statutes of our country can be traced to this authority, is 
 not true. A close study of society at the time the 
 Mosaic code was given will reveal the fact that marriage 
 did not rest on the high plane it afterward reached. The 
 Hebrews were undoubtedly far in advance of contempo- 
 raneous nations, but they were far from being perfect. 
 Persons were married in much the same manner that they 
 are in India and China to-day. The woman had little, if 
 anything, to say about it. The persons marrying might 
 or might not love each other, might or might not be 
 mutually suitable ; these were accidents if they existed. 
 The marriage was a commercial or economical manage- 
 ment merely. 
 
 By reason of this there was much unhappiness and 
 crime among families. The laws of Moses aimed at
 
 DIVORCE. 317 
 
 mitigating the social condition rather than at sanctioning 
 a wrong. Whatever may have been the license given, 
 either by the Mosaic code or by the social enactments of 
 the times for the abrogation of the bond of union by 
 which the husband and wife became one flesh, the great 
 Lawgiver Himself while upon earth fully established its 
 extent and import. He condemns in unequivocal language 
 the practice resulting from the enactment of Moses, the 
 putting away of a wife without any crime on her part, 
 through dislike or mere caprice of the husband, as utterly 
 opposed to the original, Divine idea of marriage, according 
 to which a man and his wife were joined together by God 
 to be one flesh, and are not, by man to be put assunder, 
 except it be for the crime of adultery. " Whosoever, there- 
 fore, puts away his wife by a bill of divorcement, without 
 her being guilty of this criminal act, causes her through 
 the medium of the license thus given to marry another 
 man, to commit adultery. Thus the party suffering the 
 divorce is criminal in marrying again as is also the man 
 she marries, but the husband who divorced her is 
 responsible for her crime." 
 
 In some parts of the United States there are associa- 
 tions calling themselves Christians, who wholly ignore the 
 Divine nature of this bond of union, making it altogether a 
 civil institution that may be annulled by the authority of 
 the State for almost any pretense whatever. But any 
 legislation whatever that overlooks or sets aside the great 
 principles of social life as they have been outlined by the 
 wisdom of the Lawgiver of Nazareth, is fraught with
 
 318 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 baneful influence to the State and will work corruption in 
 the lives and practices of its subjects. No matter how 
 this question is viewed, whether from a physical, social or 
 moral standpoint, the disregard paid to the solemn, 
 binding nature of the nuptial bonds, and the unlimited 
 liberty assumed by the courts to grant bills of divorce, for 
 almost any pretense, is , dangerous, and will poison the 
 best life of society. 
 
 By losing sight of its sacred and binding effect upon 
 the parties, hasty and inconsiderate matches are encour- 
 aged, an inclination to overlook each other's peculiarities 
 is stultified. The security of the family ties is shaken, 
 and the morality of the social life jeopardized. The 
 practice of many courts in the States has become so lax in 
 the exercise of the trust imposed in them, that divorces 
 are granted, separating the wife from her husband 4 without 
 even her knowledge of the transaction, until to her sur- 
 prise the periodical of the day announced the marriage of 
 her husband to another woman, thus driving her from the 
 bed and board of her husband, to wander alone amid the 
 charities of an unfriendly world, or seek refuge in an 
 alliance with another man, with whom she must, accord- 
 ing to the law of God referred to, live in a state of 
 adultery. 
 
 It well becomes the State to environ the marriage 
 covenant with such bulwarks of legislation as will compel 
 the courts to scrutinize with the most profound care the 
 averment in the petition for a bill of divorcement, that 
 wives be only separated from their husbands when found
 
 SUBSEQUENT MARRIAGE. 319 
 
 guilty of infidelity to that bond of union existing between 
 them, by which they become one flesh. What must be 
 the depths of moral turpitude existing in the heart of man 
 or woman who can appear without blushing before the 
 social world who may have two faithful spouses living, to 
 each of whom external fidelity, before God and man, has 
 been plighted ? 
 
 Subsequent Marriage. 
 
 Widowhood is a condition which befalls many women. 
 Death is ruthless and impartial, and careless of the misery, 
 wretchedness and woe which follow his ravages. All that 
 human wisdom, energy and power can do may be put 
 forth to make a home lovely, strong and abiding ; it may 
 be builded on the external verities of purity, righteous- 
 ness and piety, garrisoned and girdled with honor, trust 
 and affection, and fill all desire by its brightness, sweetness 
 and beauty ; and yet there is no permanence. Disease 
 besieges and death invades the home, leaving their mark 
 in blasted hopes, widowed hearts and empty chairs. 
 Sometimes it is one, sometimes another of the household 
 that is taken away ; but hardest of all i? the case when the 
 husband and father is called. 
 
 From the earliest times and among all people the lot of 
 the widow has been considered a sad one. Among the 
 Hebrews she was treated with special respect, while her 
 condition, in the Sacred Word, is made one which appeals 
 with peculiar power to the Divine commiseration and 
 care. In some parts of the earth even to-day widowhood
 
 32O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 involves social degradation. In our own and other highly 
 enlightened lands, the hardship of this lot is recognized by- 
 special laws and courts which take cognizance of the legal 
 rights of widows and orphans. She is a widow ! Let this 
 sentence be spoken, and the person designated at once 
 claims the respect, the deference and the sympathy of 
 society. 
 
 It cannot be said that the material lot of a widow is 
 different from that of another woman. Socially she main- 
 tains the position to which she is entitled. In the church 
 she is treated with even more deference than she was as a 
 maiden and wife. If she has a home she controls it as 
 she pleases and her property is her own. But, after all, 
 this being admitted, it still is true that the woman who has 
 once enjoyed the affection and care of a husband has a 
 sad and lonely lot when bereft and widowed. She has 
 tasted of the sweets of marital affection and the serene 
 happiness of domestic life. She has experienced the joy 
 and content that comes of being tenderly loved, cared for 
 and trusted, and of loving, confiding and relying upon 
 implicitly in return. When the bitterness of grief has 
 passed away, there remains a tender remembrance of what 
 has been lost, which the emptiness of the present only 
 intensifies. As the days pass on, this remembrance 
 becomes a yearning, and it is not at all strange that it 
 should. When this state is reached, perhaps there may 
 come across her life another opportunity to enjoy the love 
 of a husband and the comfoits of domestic life. Shall she 
 accept ?
 
 SUBSEQUENT MARRIAGE. 32! 
 
 There is no reason why she should not, and there are 
 many good reasons why she should. The same consider- 
 ations which once induced her to become a wife are still 
 operative and she has nothing more to consider than she 
 had in selecting her first husband. Morally, the right to 
 re-marry is indisputable. By the operations of death, she 
 " is loosed from her husband" and is free to marry another. 
 This is the teaching of the sacred Scriptures. Viewed 
 from the social standpoint, other things being equal, her 
 lot as a wife is much to be desired in preference to her 
 present widowed condition. If she marry wisely and 
 prudently she will find in her new husband a friend and 
 protector equal to the one she has lost. 
 
 An opinion prevails quite extensively that a woman 
 can never love truly and deeply but once. This is mere 
 sentimentalism, and to the physiologist, it is a manifest 
 absurdity. To the psychologist, it is a wholly untenable 
 position. He recognizes that love is only one of many 
 emotions of the soul and conforms in its operations to 
 certain well-defined laws. It consists chiefly of two 
 elements, a pleasurable sensation, created in the soul by 
 some objective fact person, thing, experience, etc., and 
 a desire to do good to that object if it be a person. All 
 that is needed, then, for the creation of love is the percep- 
 tion of a certain quality in an external object ; the 
 perception will excite the pleasurable emotion and the 
 emotion will lead to the desire. The feeling cannot be 
 excited unless the object containing the proper quality be 
 brought in contact with the perceptive faculties. But
 
 322 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 when this is done, the emotion irresistibly is stirred. The 
 more frequently the lovable quality is contemplated, the 
 deeper is the impression made, and, consequently, the 
 more profound is the emotion resulting. But the converse 
 of this is also true as a psychological fact, whatever senti- 
 mentalism may have to say about it. 
 
 Let a case be supposed : a man and woman are 
 naturally in love. At a proper age, they are married. 
 They are well mated, and live together in the enjoyment 
 of reciprocal love in a pleasant home for a decade. The 
 husband dies and the wife is left a widow at, perhaps 
 thirty years of age. Like all women in her condition, she 
 feels that half her life is taken away. And though the tie 
 by which Heaven declared them to be one flesh is severed, 
 she feels that she can never love another man, because the 
 only man who ever did excite the pleasurable emotion of 
 love in her is gone. This feeling will continue for some 
 time. But as her husband will never more be brought 
 in contact with her predominant senses, he must gradually 
 cease to excite the emotion. Love, however deep and 
 genuine, cannot live upon itself. It must be continually 
 nourished, and memory is not a sufficient mother when the 
 S2nses are alive and active. The actual fact is, that love 
 dies out and only a memory of it remains. If, when this 
 stage is reached, the woman comes into social contact with 
 a man who possesses the qualities capable of exciting in her 
 the affection of love, she will love him. The more she 
 sees of him, the deeper her love will become, and she will 
 repeat exactly her former experience. There certainly
 
 SUBSEQUENT MARRIAGE. 323 
 
 are degrees of love; but these depend on the number of 
 qualities possessed by the person loved which excite the 
 pleasurable emotion, and the depth of the impression made 
 on the senses by each or all. But it does not follow by 
 any means that a first husband necessarily possessed these 
 qualities and made this impression, and a second or third 
 husband did not. It may be exactly the other way. 
 
 Marriage, Its Sacnedness. 
 
 Various notiohs are held regarding the institution of 
 marriage. Among barbarous nations it ranks little higher 
 than the mating of animals. Among half-civilized and 
 semi-enlightened peoples it is considered a convenient 
 social arrangement, but entitled to no special reverence 
 and respect. Among the highly-enlightened nations it is 
 regarded of the highest importance to the well-being of 
 society, and is guarded and defended by abundant legis- 
 lation. Those who believe in a Supreme Lawgiver, and 
 accept the sacred Scriptures as authoritative, elevate this 
 institution to the highest place. It has the appointment 
 and sanction of the Author of Being, .and once entered 
 into rightly, it binds the soul and body of the parties to 
 it. In the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is elevated 
 to the dignity and importance of a solemn sacrament which 
 can only be properly administered in connection with 
 religious ceremonies. In the Established Church of 
 England, and its representative in this country, but little 
 less importance is attached to the institution. And among 
 all branches of the Protestant Church, marriage is clothed
 
 324 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 with solemnity, and its obligations are held to be sacredly 
 binding. 
 
 Outside those who regard marriage as a Divine insti- 
 tution, the vast majority consider it a social compact, into 
 which both parties must enter voluntarily, and from which 
 there is no release, save for weighty cause. All intelligent 
 and thinking people agree, however, no matter from what 
 stand-point marriage is viewed, that while the marriage 
 continues, its claims are absolute upon both husband and 
 wife. Of the justness of this conviction there can be no 
 question. Marriage is an all-absorbing relation. To a 
 certain extent, both husband and wife lose individuality. 
 But it is a mutual absorption. The husband does not 
 absorb the wife any more than the wife does the husband. 
 The wife gives herself to the husband ; but the husband 
 also gives himself to the wife. She is his, and he is hers. 
 It is necessary to say this from the fact that there is a some- 
 what widely-spread fallacy, which assigns to the husband 
 rights and privileges relative to his wife's person, which 
 she is not supposed to possess with his. 
 
 There is not one code of moral and social ethics for 
 the husband and another for the wife. The same governs 
 both. They are alike and equal in the marriage relation. 
 The life of each belongs to the other. Neither can, of 
 right, entertain any plans and projects which do not 
 include the other. The friends of one are the friends of 
 the other, because they are inseparable. The home of 
 one is the home of the other. The enjoyments, hopes, 
 endeavors and prospects are to be mutually shared.
 
 MARRIAGE, ITS SACREDNESS. 325 
 
 Because of this mutual proprietary and the intimacy of 
 connection established by marriage, it is evident that the 
 person of each belongs to the other. The law of chastity, 
 which binds all men and women alike, is doubly binding 
 upon them when in the marriage state. The man who 
 violates it, not only sins against morality and society, but 
 against his wife. He has given to another what belongs 
 to his wife alone. He sins against his own body and 
 against her body. Divine and civil law unite in stamping 
 conjugal unchastity with a different name and a deeper 
 crime than when the person committing it stands outside 
 this relation. 
 
 Many men are habituated to acts which they would 
 not tolerate in their wives. They seem to be possessed 
 of the notion that they are entitled to indulgences which 
 are absolutely prohibited their wives, and that a higher 
 law of social cleanness governs women than men. There 
 is no reason nor justice in this conduct and opinion. The 
 wife is as free as the husband to indulge her desires, if 
 she has any. The truth is, neither has any privileges 
 outside each other, and neither can possess a right, a 
 liberty, or a privilege which does not belong as well to the 
 other. 
 
 Matrimony imposes bonds on those who enter it ; but 
 they are holy bonds. They bind absolutely and unalter- 
 ably ; but the links of the chain are of purest gold. The 
 fullest and the sweetest liberty is allowed, and license oniy 
 is inhibited. Every restriction is in the interests of health, 
 purity and happiness. Every law is of mutual obligation, 
 and has for its end the well-being of each and of both.
 
 326 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Faith in and faithfulness to each other is the certain 
 guaranty of continued and increasing happiness. In all 
 right reason neither party can claim from the other more 
 than he is ready to extend in return. If the husband 
 leads an unclean life, he has no right to insist that his wife 
 shall not do the same. Because he does wrong she is not 
 thereby warranted in doing wrong ; but his dereliction 
 deprives him of the right to demand straightforwardness 
 and integrity of conduct for her. 
 
 Divine and human law alike insist on a life of purity 
 and integrity for both men and women. A man is under 
 obligation to obey these demands, because he is a man. 
 This is equally, no more, no less, true of a woman. When 
 a marriage relation is established between these two, 
 neither is released from any obligation. The man con- 
 tinues to be a man, the woman a woman. Manhood's 
 and womanhood's claims still bind them. Marriage adds 
 new obligations. The person, life, conversation of each 
 is sacred to the other, and each is bound to respect self 
 for the sake of the other self. It is not sentiment, but 
 moral and social obligations which demand that each shall 
 care for self with a greater degree of consideration than 
 heretofore ; because every departure from rectitude in 
 thought, in speech, or in action, in either husband or wife, 
 necessarily involves the other. Neither stands alone, nor 
 can act alone. Each must consider the other, and be 
 governed by a regard for what is honest and pure in self, 
 even as these are demanded from the other.
 
 THE NEW HOME. 327 
 
 The New Home. 
 
 All the bustle, excitement and pleasant surprises of 
 the wedding are over at last. The marriage ceremony 
 has been performed, the congratulations of friends ten- 
 dered, the honeymoon has waxed and waned, and now 
 the young wife finds herself at the beginning, proper, of 
 her new life. From the time of the engagement until this, 
 she has been in a sort of transition period between maid- 
 enhood and wifehood, between the old life and the new. 
 Maidenhood was a joyous, happy time ; but from the very 
 nature of the case and the human constitution, a transient 
 and half-satiating experience. Maidenhood is a develop- 
 ing period ; body, soul and emotions are enlarging and 
 perfecting. In this developing, ambitions, desires, hopes 
 are aroused wKich cannot find satiety in any experience 
 which life then holds. The maiden knows that she is 
 happy ; but she also knows that this happiness has no 
 permanence in it ; that there is a fullness of life which she 
 has iQot reached, a profundity of blessedness which she has 
 not fathomed, a sweetness of desire which she has not 
 tasted. Her eyes ever look onward and upward to wife- 
 hood and motherhood. 
 
 Now, wifehood is reached. Its preliminaries are all 
 safely passed. Few women are ever entirely satisfied or 
 comfortable during their wedding tour. They try to 
 forget the past and keep the future back, and live only in 
 the present. They rarely succeed entirely. Woman is 
 essentially a home-loving being, as well as a home-maker.
 
 328 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Home is the native atmosphere she breathes. If the 
 wedding tour be protracted, she becomes weary and home- 
 sick. She becomes hungry for home. Besides, there is 
 the pleasant anticipation of the new home her home. 
 All her own ! It fires her woman's heart to think about 
 it. It sends the blood coursing through her veins with 
 intense rapidity, and she is eager and anxious for the 
 days to pass and the time to come when she shall take 
 possession of her own home. 
 
 She never realized fully until now what home means, 
 what it involves, what it is. She has never really had a 
 home. It was her mother's home where she dwelt. She 
 was not essential to its integrity ; for lo ! has she not gone 
 out of that home and it remains ? No ; she was not an 
 integral, inseparable factor in the old home, and she 
 realizes it fully now. But she is to have a home. She is 
 to make it. It will be hers. It will center in herself. It 
 cannot exist without her. She will be its queen, its pre- 
 siding genius. It will be a happy home; she is determined 
 on that point at least. It will be a retreat from the world, 
 a resting-place in life, a defense and protection, a ban- 
 queting-house for serene and pleasant enjoyments. 
 
 Home is the prototype of Heaven. Within its walls, 
 and nowhere else, can be portrayed a foretaste of what 
 can be possessed in the blessed Evermore. It is home 
 that binds souls to earth. The homeless are invariably 
 weary of life and dissatisfied with earth. Death is crudest 
 and his blows fall hardest when directed against one who 
 is the possessor of a pleasant, happy home.
 
 THE NEW HOME. 329 
 
 The home-making will absorb all the heart of the young 
 wife. It will give her the keenest delight, the most satis- 
 fying happiness. She will go about the task with the 
 most intense zest. No amount of labor and drudgery, 
 even, will weary her, when the purpose is to uprear a home 
 for herself and her husband. She will relish fatigue and 
 perform tasks that would have made her stand aghast to 
 contemplate a few months before. True, she is doing it 
 for herself and the loved being into whose keeping she has 
 given her life. But it is no selfish task. The element of 
 selfishness does not enter into the account at all. On the 
 contrary, she is simply following an irresistible desire of 
 her own nature, called into active existence by the new 
 relation into which she has come. The home-making 
 instinct is a part of her very nature, which has been devel- 
 oping during all the years in which she dwelt in her mother's 
 house, and which has now burst into full fruition. 
 
 It matters little what the material condition is so far as 
 the process of setting up the new home is concerned. 
 Money cannot build a home, and poverty cannot prevent 
 its establishment. If happiness and contentment possess 
 the heart, and common-sense prudence direct the hand, 
 the task will be the same delightful enjoyment whether 
 the purse be heavy or light, full or empty. A gentleman 
 whom all the world knows, and who now and for years 
 has enjoyed a princely income, has said that no part of 
 his life was half so delightful as the first few years after 
 marriage when he was poor beyond measure. He details 
 the pleasure which the purchase of every new article of
 
 330 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 utility or adornment gave to him and his wife as far 
 surpassing that which they afterward experienced when 
 they were able to set up a magnificent establishment. 
 Many others have borne similar testimony. 
 
 The wife and husband will enjoy the charm of setting 
 up the new home, because it is to be their home, the 
 resting-place of their souls, and the central place in the 
 world for them. They will be very children in their 
 delight, and do many silly things, no doubt. Perhaps 
 some of their arrangements will bring a smile to the lips 
 of older and more sedate friends. But the home-makers 
 will not mind that. They will smile themselves in a few 
 years, as they recall the play-house spirit with which they 
 began married life, and the queer tastes and fancies which 
 possessed them. But though the good friends will smile, 
 they will be sympathetically good-natured. They under- 
 stand it all, and rejoice that the new family is displaying 
 so much genuine human nature. 
 
 When all is finished what a happy, proud, contented 
 wife it is! And who has a greater right to be happy, 
 proud and contented than she? Has she not done it all, 
 and is it not her own? Blessed, hallowed home! Sweeter 
 because of the study and labor that erected it, brighter 
 because of the all-pervading love that prompted it. It is 
 the place around which the heart's purest affections cluster, 
 the permanent trysting-place of kindred spirits, bound 
 together by abiding faith and love.
 
 THE WIFE. 
 
 The New Epoch. . 
 
 No period in a woman's life is more eagerly anticipated 
 than that in which girlhood is to be forever swallowed up 
 in wifehood. In this eager anticipation there is too often 
 wanting that profound thoughtfulness which the gravity of 
 the change should inspire. She is inclined to look only 
 at the brightness of the prospect, to dwell only on the 
 measured fullness of the cup of bliss that she will quaff, to 
 consider marriage only in the light of completed happiness. 
 Anxious thought and concern for all that marriage involves, 
 does not always find a place in her mind. It is filled with 
 bright dreams and pleasant anticipations. 
 
 And yet marriage is a serious step. It means much. It 
 means more to a woman than it does to a man. It requires 
 more at her hands than it does at his. It claims greater 
 sacrifices, the surrender of more tender and precious asso- 
 ciations and memories, the assumption of greater changes 
 in her life than in his. Together they go out in the world to 
 rear a new home. To him and to her this is a pleasant 
 task. It should be. But to the husband, this home-build- 
 ing is the beginning of real life. Heretofore, he has been 
 homeless. He has been battling life and enduring its bar- 
 
 331
 
 332 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 renness. Home he has had none. He has dwelt among 
 strangers and lived in tents. There is nothing behind him 
 or around him in life that he does not give up with glad 
 relief. Even though he go out from a happy home, he has 
 long been restless in it. The impulses of liberty and inde- 
 pendence have been urging him on to separation from the 
 home of his father. And so he looks forward with no 
 regrets over what he must give up, to the time when he 
 shall have a home of his own. 
 
 With the wife it is not so. She has much to surrender 
 that has fast hold upon her life and affections. Woman is 
 essentially a home-maker and home-lover. The associa- 
 tions and surroundings of that home from which she must 
 go are interwoven with the very fabric of her being. She 
 may not think of it then, but she will when the time of 
 severance comes, and for long days afterward. She has 
 been a part of that home. She has nestled in her father's 
 bosom with a conscious security. She has leaned upon a 
 brother's strong and loving arm, and been his sweet com- 
 forter in trouble. She has entwined her affections about 
 a sister's heart, and been the confidante of all her experi- 
 ences. She has bathed in a mother's devotion and tender- 
 ness, and reposed in that mother's boundless love. All 
 her life she, in turn, has been tenderly nurtured. She has 
 had a father's strength and wisdom upon which she could 
 draw at all times. She has had a sympathetic mother to 
 whom every trouble could be confided trustfully, and from 
 whose ripened experience instruction could ever be 
 obtained.
 
 THE NEW EPOCH. 333 
 
 All these tender associations, these helpful surround- 
 ings, these interwoven delights, must be left behind, and left 
 forever. Hitherto, others have pointed out to her the way; 
 henceforth, she must guide her own steps. Hitherto, she 
 has followed where others have led ; henceforth, she must 
 be a leader herself. Hitherto, she has been a pupil, sitting 
 at the feet of trusted preceptors ; henceforth, she must be 
 a teacher. A radical change comes over her whole out- 
 ward life. Its conditions are revolutionized in a moment. 
 She is no longer a daughter to be humored, a sister to be 
 nurtured. She is a wife to counsel with, the ruler of a 
 home, the friend, companion and comforter of a husband. 
 
 The thoughtful maiden, contemplating marriage, must 
 see that the future holds many unrevealed experiences in 
 store for her. She must realize that she is about to ven- 
 ture into a new world for which she is largely untried. 
 She goes out from the known and trusted into the unknown 
 and doubtful. Much as she may love, implicitly as she 
 may trust the man into whose keeping she commits her life, 
 the fact must come to her, in her more thoughtful moments, 
 that he is still a stranger to her. Though she may have 
 grown up side by side with him from childhood, much of 
 his life has been passed in a sphere into which she has 
 never entered. Now, indeed, his life and hers must be 
 one. She must share his thoughts and emotions, his affec- 
 tions and his interests, his home and his lot. As his way 
 leads, so must hers. As his joys and sorrows come, so 
 must hers. As his motives, ambitions, and interests 
 impel, so must hers. And she must be cognizant that this
 
 334 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD, 
 
 way, these experiences, these interests, are all in ways 
 which hitherto she has not known. When all these con- 
 siderations are conned over in thought, the maiden may 
 well be rilled with anxious concern. 
 
 Outside the circle of her home, there must be change 
 too. The friends and confidantes of her girlhood must be 
 given up. The new life into which she enters has relations 
 of its own, and these necessitate the abrogation of her 
 present ties and relations. She has girl friends to whom 
 she is greatly attached. With them she has often talked 
 of the eternity and unalterableness of their affections, and 
 vowed unwavering constancy. She has agreed with them 
 that, no matter what others have done, no change shall 
 ever come over the nature of their intercourse. All this 
 she has done, and half-persuaded herself that it will be so. 
 Yet, down in her heart of hearts, she knows that it cannot 
 be so. What has been with others, she will repeat. The 
 wife is no longer the girl. The step that takes her out of 
 the one relation into the other, separates her from that 
 which is left. The mutual oneness which has existed 
 between her and her girl friends cannot longer be. 
 
 All these things are said, not to dismay and affright 
 the prospective wife, but because they are true. They 
 constitute reasons for thoughtfulness, not for discourage- 
 ment. They should create a careful weighing of the step 
 about to be taken, but not a resolution to refuse taking it. 
 The change to be made, though radical and in many 
 respects novel, is a natural one, and will bring with it a 
 fruition of joy and happiness never experienced before.
 
 THE NEW EPOCH. 335 
 
 If the maiden have chosen wisely, all her reasonable 
 expectations will be fully met. Wifehood is a sphere 
 vastly larger than that of girlhood. Its privileges and 
 blessings are fully commensurate with its duties and 
 responsibilities. Its blessings are vastly superior to those 
 of the life to be left behind. Its joys are purer, deeper, 
 and more satisfactory. Married life can and should be an 
 unending honeymoon of bliss. The husband will be more 
 than father and mother, brother and sister. Conjugal love 
 is wider and deeper, sweeter and more abiding than the 
 loves she has enjoyed in her girlhood home and life. It is 
 an all-absorbing affection that meets every want, fills every 
 longing, satisfies every craving. 
 
 The marriage day has come and gone. The maiden is 
 a wife. Maidenhood, with all its unalloyed delights, or 
 whatever it may have been, is gone, and gone never to 
 return. Wifehood, with all that the relation implies, is 
 come. The future of many a bright dream, of many a 
 fond anticipation, perhaps of many an anxious care, is the 
 present. The new world is entered, the new delights, 
 duties and responsibilities are assumed, the new life is 
 begun. The scenes which have led up to. and culminated 
 in the marriage ceremony have been those of excitement 
 and bustle. The prospective wife has been the busiest of 
 the busy, and she has had little time for sober thought. 
 Now, however, the bustle and excitement come to an 
 end. 
 
 The first feelings which come to the newly-made wife 
 are those of strangeness. She scarce can realize the great
 
 336 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 change that has come over her life. She is wearied with 
 all the excitement, and yet almost hysterical with the new 
 surroundings in which she finds herself placed. A feeling 
 of dread comes over her, and she holds her heart to stop 
 its fluttering. She is homesick for the friends from whose 
 lives she has passed. One moment she would give the 
 world to be back from whence she has come ; the next 
 she feels that nothing could induce her to change her 
 present situation and relations. One moment she thinks 
 she would like to fly with her husband to the furthest part 
 of the earth ; the next she is oppressed with the very 
 thought of tearing herself away from familiar surroundings. 
 All these contradictory emotions are the natural sequence 
 of nervous excitement, and will soon pass away. She will 
 soon become accustomed to her surroundings, and begin 
 to fully realize what her new life holds in store for her. 
 
 She will soon be made to comprehend that her whole 
 social life is changed. Hitherto all her relations were 
 those of birth. Now she has added those of choice. The 
 old natural relations are overwhelmed in the new. To a 
 great extent the new relations will supersede the old. 
 At first all her social relations will center in the one 
 wife. She will forget that she is a daughter or sister, and 
 remember only that she is a wife. She will forget that 
 she has parents and brothers and sisters, and remember 
 only that she has a husband. He will be all in all to her. 
 It is a delightful, absorption. If she be happy in her 
 choice, this feeling of union with and absorption in one 
 being will hold sway over her life until a newer, higher 
 and holier comes to share it.
 
 THE MARRIAGE CHAMBER. 337 
 
 Other relations will come to her notice by and by. 
 She will find her husband's family is her family, his friends 
 are her friends. These things will come to her as a matter 
 of course. They will not disturb her. She is conscious 
 in every life added to the circle of social experience, that 
 it comes in and through her husband. She is a member 
 of her husband's family only because she is his wife ; she 
 accepts the friends and friendships of her husband because 
 they come through her husband's relation to herself. And 
 so it will be all through her new life. Between her and 
 all outside persons and things stands the one being whom 
 she loves and trusts. Whatever comes to her through 
 him she will gladly accept. When children are born to 
 her, she will love them not a little because they are her 
 husband's children as well as her own. The past will fade 
 farther and farther; the present will grow dearer and 
 dearer ; the future will grow brighter and more hopeful. 
 Happy wife! 
 
 The Marriage Chamber. 
 
 A bed-chamber should always, if possible, be on the 
 second floor of the home. It should also have a southern 
 exposure. The advantage of this is, that during the day 
 the sun can have full and free access to the room, drying 
 and purifying it and its contents. There is greater advan- 
 tage in this location than is generally credited. A room 
 upon the north side of the house cannot have the direct 
 rays of the sun, and is likely to have damp and musty 
 walls. Ventilation cannot be had so satisfactorily in a
 
 338 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 room on this side, and hence, all articles in the room are- 
 likely to partake of more or less of dampness and conse- 
 quent unhealthiness. Many articles of furniture, especially 
 carpets, absorb and retain disease-germs, which are prop- 
 agated. The heat and light of the sun's rays would 
 destroy these, if permitted to fall upon the carpets and 
 upholstered furniture. 
 
 On the other hand, if the room be upon the south side, 
 where the direct rays of the sun may fall with all their 
 strength, the walls will be thoroughly dried. The heat will 
 be diffused throughout the entire room, and carpets, cur- 
 tains and all other articles in the room will be purified 
 thereby. There is a double power in the light and heat 
 of the sun's rays. It gives life and destroys life. It kills 
 all those lower orders of life, which are such fruitful 
 sources of disease, and it revivifies the life in the higher 
 orders of the animal kingdom. 
 
 The model bed-chamber should be large and airy. A 
 plentiful supply of pure air is one of the essentials of con- 
 tinued health. Unless the ventilation be adequate, in a 
 surprisingly short time the air of the chamber will become 
 poisoned by the exhalations from the body through the 
 lungs and pores of the skin. The length of time in which 
 a person in ordinary health would survive in an air-tight 
 room has been calculated with some accuracy. At every 
 inspiration a certain amount of the oxygen of the air would 
 be absorbed, and at every expiration so much carbonic acid 
 gas expelled. This gas is deadly poisonous. It is dis- 
 charged from the lungs of an adult at the rate of fifteen cubic
 
 THE MARRIAGE CHAMBER. 339 
 
 fee tin twenty-four hours. If the air breathed be impreg- 
 nated with this gas in the proportion of one cubic foot of 
 gas to twenty feet of air, it is fatal to human life. The size 
 of the room can easily be computed, and the time in which 
 the air would become too impure for even life itself can 
 easily and readily be determined. It will be much less 
 than that arrived at by the above figures, because these 
 only consider the exhalations through the nostrils, whereas 
 through the pores of the skin, the insensible respiration, 
 the poisoning goes on all the time. 
 
 The necessity of having an abundance of fresh air in 
 all living-rooms is thus seen to be great. It is much more 
 so in sleeping-rooms than in others. When the body is in 
 a state of unconscious repose, it has least power to resist 
 the evil influences which may invest it. A man may 
 remain for hours without injury in conditions which would 
 give a severe cold, should he fall asleep for but a few min- 
 utes. The same will hold good when applied to suscepti- 
 bility to all forms of disease. 
 
 All that has hitherto been said of the conditions of the 
 sleeping-chamber applies to any one and in all circum- 
 stances. It is emphasized when applied to those entering 
 upon the new and extraordinary conditions of married 
 life. There is always more or less excitement of the 
 nervous sensibilities of newly married people. This 
 carries with it a lessening of the ability to resist the 
 influences of external surroundings. If these be evil, the 
 system is liable to become an easy victim to invading dis- 
 ease. The marriage-chamber should be upon the upper
 
 340 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 floor of the house, not only for the general reasons 
 hereinbefore stated, but for the additional one of greater 
 privacy. This privacy tends to lessen the feeling of 
 embarrassment resulting from the peculiar concomitants of 
 the new social relation. 
 
 The exercise of the privilege of the husband and wife 
 to occupy the same room and the same bed for the first 
 time, in obedience to well-established custom, should ever 
 be attended with a proper reserve. Modesty is a crown- 
 ing beauty in woman, and such an epoch in her life as 
 marriage brings, puts this grace to the severest test. A 
 decent regard for this quality in her, and a sense of pro- 
 priety, alike demand that all her surroundings at this 
 period should be such as to cause the least excitement and 
 give the greatest ease. 
 
 The Bed. 
 
 No % part of the entire household economy and the 
 appurtenances of living claim a greater attention than the 
 sleeping-couch. Fully one-third of the life is spent in 
 bed. Rest and sleep are Nature's mode of restoring 
 wasted energies and recuperating the exhausted vitality. 
 Without such periods of constant recuperation, the powers 
 would soon languish, the health would fail, life itself 
 would succumb to the drain upon the system. Every 
 action performed, every movement made, every thought 
 that flashes through the mind, every emotion that stirs the 
 soul, produces a waste of tissue. The repair is largely 
 made during sleep. And as sleep is best taken when the
 
 THE BED. 341 
 
 body is extended prone upon the couch, the importance 
 of having this couch such as best conduces to comfort and 
 health is apparent. 
 
 The constituents of a good bed, that is, one that sub- 
 serves the dual purpose of comfort and healthfulness, is a 
 matter of some difference of opinion. It was thought, 
 until within recent years, that no bed could be comfortable 
 unless it were composed of feathers, or down. Such an 
 opinion is not now held extensively. Experience has 
 demonstrated that feather-beds are neither so comfortable 
 nor so healthful as mattresses made of hair and wool, or, 
 better still, of hair and cotton-wool mixed. A bed of 
 such composition requires care. The mattress should be 
 opened at least once a year and thoroughly aired. It 
 should be exposed to the sun, also, which serves to thor- 
 oughly renovate it. If this airing and sunning be not 
 attended to, the mattress becomes thoroughly saturated 
 with exhalations of the body, in the insensible respiration 
 before alluded to, and, consequently, is a seat of disease. 
 The bed should always be dry and warm. A cold bed is 
 necessarily a damp bed. The moisture from the body and 
 from the atmosphere of the room is condensed upon the 
 surface of the bed. A damp room will soon become 
 musty. The person sleeping in such a bed and room, not 
 only becomes debilitated by the loss of animal heat, but 
 is poisoned by the inhalations of the musty, germ-laden 
 air which he is forced to breathe during sleep. In addi- 
 tion, there is a loss of vitality constantly going on, which, 
 in time, will tell seriously on the health of the sleeper.
 
 V 
 342 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Beds and bed-coverings should be aired every day. If 
 they can be exposed to the sun, so much the better. 
 But the sunning is not always practicable ; the airing is. 
 By this daily renovation the unhealthy accumulations from 
 the body during the night are mostly removed. It is 
 the excellent custom of the Italians to leave the bed and 
 bedding exposed to the air and sun during the entire day. 
 The bed-coverings should be composed of 'porous mate- 
 rials. If this be not the case, the breathing through the 
 pores of the skin are as effectually prevented as breathing 
 through the lungs would be if the mouth and nostrils 
 should be covered with some non-porous fabric. The 
 moisture excreted through the pores, which is larger than 
 is generally supposed, finds more ready escape where the 
 covering is composed of porous materials. Woolen 
 blankets are well adapted to this end. 
 
 The main objection made by sanitarians to feather 
 beds is, that they have a readiness in absorbing and a 
 tenacity in retaining the poisonous exhalations from the 
 body of the sleeper. Notwithstanding all that has been 
 said against the use of such beds, the fact remains that 
 they are still used extensively. Probably they always 
 will be. If the evil cannot be abated, it may be miti- 
 gated. So, then, if feather beds be used, care should be 
 taken that they be aired every day for several hours and 
 thoroughly renovated at least every half-year. 
 
 It may be advice wasted in this age of small families 
 and no desire for increase, to say that respectable author- 
 ity affirms that mattresses made of sponge enhance the
 
 MARITAL RELATIONS AND PRIVILEGES. 343 
 
 possibilities of marital fruitfulness. Hemlock boughs 
 used in the bed are said to conduce to the same end. It 
 has been noted, that families living in the neighborhood 
 of cone-bearing forests are more inclined to be prolific 
 than those living elsewhere. It is not asserted that either 
 of the suggestions here offered is a specific for barrenness. 
 That is quite another matter. But there are some 
 degrees of barrenness which are readily cured ; and for 
 these, the suggestions made above may be valuable. 
 
 Marital Relations and Privileges. 
 
 The relation of husband and wife is the oldest, the 
 strongest, the most intimate, and the most enduring known 
 to earth. The oldest, because it was established by the 
 Creator Himself at the dawn of the world's life, in the 
 paradise of primal habitation ; the strongest, because it 
 binds each party to the other in bonds which cannot be 
 severed save by death or crime; the most intimate, because 
 they twain shall be one flesh ; the most enduring, because 
 for this cause shall a man leave parents and home and 
 friends, and shall cleave unto his wife ; her life shall be 
 his life, her lot shall be his lot, and nothing but death 
 shall part them. 
 
 It is the first relation because it stands before, and is 
 the source of all other relations. Before parent and child, 
 comes husband and wife ; before brother and sister and 
 all the varied degrees of consanguinity, stands husband 
 and wife, to whom all must look for their origin. When 
 the Divine teacher would inform his pupils that the rela-
 
 344 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 tions of this life do not obtain in the eternal world, it was 
 only necessary for him to say that " in the resurrection 
 they do neither marry nor are given in marriage. " The 
 conclusion followed irresistibly. Take this relation away, 
 all others go with it. 
 
 The union of one man with one woman in the marriage 
 bonds is the establishment of a relationship founded in 
 natural affinity. In the fundamental organization of their 
 physical natures and the mutual adaptation of their mater- 
 ial structure to an objective end, is found conclusive dem- 
 onstration that they are intended for each other. They 
 are the complements each of the other. In the natural 
 economy each enacts a part, co-ordinate and not sub-ordi- 
 nate, each the auxiliary of the other. They are imperfect 
 in separation, perfect in union. Apart from each other, 
 neither is adapted for fulfilling the essential ends of being ; 
 conjoined, the great end and purpose of nature is in con- 
 dition to be subserved. A celebrated divine has said : 
 " Had God intended woman to be the master of man, he 
 would have taken her from his head. Had he intended to 
 make her his slave, he would have drawn her from his foot. 
 But, drawing her from his side, he made her the compan- 
 ion and equal of man." 
 
 In entering into and establishing this relation, the 
 maiden becomes the wife. She enters upon a new sphere 
 of being, at once the sweetest, the most tender and the 
 most natural. The fundamental principle of the marital 
 relation is the transmission of life and the propagation of 
 the species. Such a purpose is necessary to the purpet-
 
 MARITAL RELATIONS AND PRIVILEGES. 345 
 
 uation of the race. Death would soon exterminate the 
 human family if there were no provision to supply the 
 places of those cut off. In subservience of this supreme 
 end, the wife must enact a principal part. Her body is 
 the receptacle of the life-germ, and her vitality must be 
 laid under tribute to its vitalization and development. It 
 is important that she be imbued with a knowledge of the 
 part she is to take, and to be conscious of the extent of 
 the responsibility under which she must rest. Ignorant of 
 the great mysteries of being in its inception and propaga- 
 tion, she may rush blindly into the assumption of respon- 
 sibilities with a haste that may be fatal to her own 
 happiness and well-being, and equally inimical to the wel- 
 fare of society of which she is a part. 
 
 The maiden-wife comes to the arms of her husband 
 weighed down with an embarrassment which only time 
 and familiarity can dispel. All the ceremonies leading up 
 to the time when she finds herself alone in the bridal 
 chamber with him to whom her life is now joined, have 
 a tendency to excite, as well as to weary, her nervous 
 system. She must become accustomed to the new rela- 
 tion, the new surroundings, and her nervous system should 
 be soothed. into quiet. 
 
 If the wife have observed the rules laid down in another 
 part of this work, on the " proper characteristics of a good 
 husband," she will have nothing to complain of nor fear. 
 Love and kindness, predominating in the heart of the 
 husband, will restrain all impetuosity. He will prove 
 himself the stronger and the wiser. Looking forward to a
 
 346 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 long life of happiness, he will be loth to impair the fair 
 prospect. Thoughtful and careful of the loved being who 
 is now all his own, he will remember that she is his to love 
 and to cherish. She is his wife, not his mistress. His 
 care is to make her happy. His highest wish is to relieve 
 her distress. So thinking and so desiring, he will study 
 to be patient and forbearing, loving and helpful. 
 
 Many a newly-formed family has had its happiness 
 placed in jeopardy by the application of an unwarranted 
 test of virginity. From ancient times has come down the 
 affirmation that the night-robe of the wife should show the 
 evidence of primary condition. Such a mark establishes 
 nothing, either by its presence or its absence. It does not 
 always attend the loss of maidenhood, and it may be found 
 where widows are re-married, and even with wives who 
 havfe been long separated from their husbands. The tem- 
 perament of the wife has much to do with the external 
 sequences of the marriage-bed. Temperament exercises 
 a marked influence over the muscles and tissues of the 
 body, as well as over every variety and kind of discharges 
 from it. The tissues of the lymphatic and pale blondes 
 are softer and more relaxed than those of brunettes ; the 
 former are more troubled with weakness, and, conse- 
 quently, suffer less pain in the exercise of any of the 
 functions of the body than brunettes. General constitu- 
 tional disturbances and disorders of the nervous system 
 are apt to follow the enjoyment of the new relations of 
 wife. Care, prudence and moderation should be exercised 
 in the marital relations at the first. Imprudence and excess
 
 MARITAL RELATIONS AND PRIVILEGES. 347 
 
 are liable to lay the foundations for much pain and suffer- 
 ing in the future. 
 
 To the wife it may be said that a congenial and exclu- 
 sive soul-union is the great object desired in entering into 
 the marriage relation. Such congeniality and exclusive- 
 ness is the basis of her happiness and the foundation upon 
 which her family must be reared. Domestic order rests 
 upon it, and prosperity and happiness flow from it. With 
 it existing in full strength, other domestic virtues will not 
 be wanting. Connubial fidelity is mutually enjoined by 
 the highest authority, and is involved in the very nature 
 of the relation itself. Any departure from the strictest 
 fidelity to marital obligations is repulsive to the right 
 reason, and interdicted by the sternest maledictions of 
 divine law. The husband and wife are to be all and all to 
 each other. The chastity which restrained each before 
 marriage, should now bind each with a stronger obligation. 
 Unchastity now on the part of either is a graver crime 
 than before. It has a sterner term applied to it, a severer 
 penalty attached in both divine and human law. 
 
 Conjugal faithfulness, however, is not the only virtue 
 comprehended in the marriage covenant and relation. 
 There should be reciprocity of affection. One wish, one 
 aim and one desire should animate husband and wife. 
 The husband should look to his wife as the supreme light, 
 joy and solicitude of his life. The wife should look to 
 her husband as the lord of her life and the master of her 
 affections. Deep, abiding reverence, each for the other, 
 should dominate the hearts of both. The all-absorbing
 
 348 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 desire of each should be the happiness of both. The 
 germination of life and the propagation of the species is 
 not the only end to be attained by the union of one man 
 and one woman. It contemplates the union of two souls, 
 the commingling of two complementary natures, and the 
 cooperation of both to their mutual happiness and moral 
 perfection. 
 
 It is essential that conjugal love should be more of the 
 soul than of the body. Sensual love is shallow and transi- 
 tory. It wastes itself in its gratification. The love that 
 should bind husband and wife together in perpetual 
 harmony must find its seat in the depths of the soul. It 
 passes beyond and beneath the mere passion of animal 
 desire, and satisfies itself only in the respect, confidence, 
 reverence and trust which each spouse reposes in the 
 other. 
 
 Proper and Improper Sexual Indulgences. 
 
 Marriage, like every other relation, while it gives cer- 
 tain rights, also enjoins peculiar duties. The whole animal 
 kingdom is found in pairs and adapted to the propagation 
 each of its kind. The beginning of human life, according 
 to divine revelation, was in the creation of two beings of 
 opposite sex. No other provision was made for the increase 
 of the race save that which inhered in the constitutions of 
 these two beings. In their physical organisms were im- 
 planted the germs and organs necessary in the propagation 
 of their species. 
 
 The order of life-production is easily traced. The
 
 PROPER AND IMPROPER SEXUAL INDULGENCE. 349 
 
 primary germ of the new being is contained in the pro- 
 creative organs of the adult male and female. These com- 
 plementary organs must be brought in close proximity. 
 The principle of affinity unites them in the uterus of the 
 female, which is adapted to the growth and development 
 of the life-germ. The union of the initial germs of a new 
 life are superinduced through the act of coition. This act 
 is followed by lassitude and fatigue, and in this state may 
 be found a suggestion as to- the limitation which should be 
 placed upon its frequency. The specific effect of coition 
 upon the whole animal economy is debilitating. It is a 
 drain upon the vital forces. One does not need to look 
 far to see wan women and pale babes, nor need he search 
 far for the cause of both. It is the duty of women, and 
 especially and peculiarly that of men, to transmit the very- 
 best of themselves to their offspring. This they cannot do, 
 if, by too frequent coition, they weaken their own vital 
 force. The great death rate among children, so much 
 greater than that among almost any species of lower ani- 
 mals is an appalling evidence of the prostitution of marriage. 
 A reasonable regard for the improvement of the race, for 
 the preservation of personal health and beauty, urges upon 
 persons in the married state to be prudent and temperate 
 in all things. 
 
 Among domesticated animals, except in rare instances, 
 the female never admits the male in sexual commerce 
 except for the purpose of procreation. Among some of 
 the wilder savage tribes the same rule is said to prevail. 
 It remains for the people of the highest civilization and
 
 350 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 intellectual and moral development to hold, teach, and 
 practice that sexual commerce between man and wife may 
 be had at any and all times when desire or passion may 
 prompt to the act. The reasons advanced in support of 
 this teaching and practice may be briefly stated. 
 
 It is held by some that sexual indulgence is a physio- 
 logical necessity to the man, but not to the woman. If 
 this be true, it shows a remarkable defect in the wisdom 
 of the Being who made both. It would be a manifest 
 impropriety to create one sex with a propensity, a necessary 
 craving which could be met, save at the expense of the 
 other. Revelation and nature alike teach that there exists 
 a most perfect harmony in the universe. It would be an 
 astonishing anomaly to find in the highest of the Creator's 
 works such an incongruity as a necessity without the 
 means of meeting it. 
 
 By others it is held that the act of coition is a love 
 relation, mutually demanded and enjoyed. It is a purely 
 love-act, the emblem and fruition of love itself. It should 
 never be engaged in except when there is mutual partici- 
 pation, and should be so guarded and governed as to 
 control the creative power. It is claimed that sexual com- 
 merce in lawful relations is the supremacy and essence of 
 love itself. By it there is a mutual exchange of those 
 subtle elements which give health and vigor of both hus- 
 band and wife, and more firmly cement the union between 
 them. If the practice of married people were in strict 
 conformity to the rule laid down, the desires and demands 
 of the husband would be no more frequent than those <?f
 
 PROPER AND IMPROPER SEXUAL INDULGENCE. 351 
 
 the wife. Further, that it is not possible for the husband 
 to sustain this relation satisfactorily and without injury 
 unless there be reciprocation on the part of the wife. 
 Under this mutual relation there is no loss to either, but a 
 mutual compensation. What each gives off in the sexual 
 act is received by the other ; that is to say, the loss of 
 vital force of the husband is no more than the force he 
 receives from the wife, and- vice versa. 
 
 This would furnish a sufficiently safe rule for the gov- 
 ernment of sexual desire, if the appetite were not depraved 
 through a cultivated abuse. Herein lies its chief difficulty. 
 When marriage is generally consummated, both parties are 
 in youth and health. They are in new relations. The 
 moral right of gratification and the opportunity for the 
 same seem to warrant excess. No apparent injury results. 
 And so the excess is continued until an abnormal appetite 
 is created. In this condition, the application of the rule . 
 is attended with extreme difficulty. 
 
 A third theory for the regulation of this privilege is that 
 sexual commerce should never be indulged except where 
 there is the intent of procreation. It has many advocates, 
 and is certainly more in harmony with the general laws of 
 nature as observed to obtain among the lower animal crea- 
 tion. In advocacy of this theory, it is urged that the 
 procreative organs were given for that end. It is an end 
 that transcends that of mere animal gratification. In 
 opposition to the assertion that the nature of man requires 
 that at intervals the life-giving element should be given 
 off, it is claimed that its retention in the system is highly 

 
 352 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 beneficial. By some mysterious process of the system, it 
 is absorbed and diffused throughout the entire organism, 
 replacing waste and revivifying the whole system in a 
 peculiar manner. It is taken up by the brain and coined 
 into new thought, perhaps new inventions, and grand 
 conceptions, or into new and fresh impulses of kindness, 
 joy and beneficence to all around. It is a procreation on 
 moral and spiritual, instead of on physical planes. It is 
 as really a part of the generative functions as the beget- 
 ting of offspring. Many eminent examples are cited of 
 men who have made grand achievements in the fields of 
 science, philosophy, invention, religion and philanthropy, 
 whose lives have been spent in accordance with this theory, 
 as Plato, Newton, Irving, Whittier. 
 
 To woman belongs the creative power, and to her 
 should be delegated the choice when a new life is to be 
 evolved. It is only by adhering to this law that she is 
 able to fulfill in highest perfection the great function 
 of her being the function of maternity. Mrs. Chandler, 
 in her pamphlet, " Motherhood," says: " Every mother, 
 from the hour when the new life commences, is over- 
 shadowed by the Most High, and, could she understand 
 her needs and powers, and secure to herself respect due 
 her sacred office, and, free from all polluting intrusion 
 upon herself, bathe her spirit in the influxes which the 
 life within attracts, very rapidly would disappear the 
 loathsome deformities, the discordant spirits now blotting 
 the fair proportions of humanity. " She supports this 
 assertion by quoting from the sacred account of the incar- 
 nation of the child Jesus ; for the declaration is that 
 
 
 1 8 H JJ I
 
 PROPER AND IMPROPER SEXUAL INDULGENCE. 353 
 
 Joseph " knew not " Mary from the time of the annuncia- 
 tion of the inception of the new life until the child was 
 born. In this is involved a more profound and important 
 meaning than the Christian world or the medical pro- 
 fession has yet discovered. This " undisturbed maternity " 
 which obtained in the ushering into the world of the 
 Prince of Peace, is equally in all cases an indispensable 
 necessity for the higher development of humanity. 
 Motherhood is a shrine which should be kept sacred from 
 one touch of selfishness or lust. " O, Woman! This 
 would be thy recompense for all the suffering and agonies 
 which pertain to physical womanhood and motherhood." 
 
 This theory has the support of many men and women 
 high in authority, and the example of all the lower 
 animal kingdom, where the female reserves to herself the 
 right to control her procreative functions. In the exer- 
 cise of this right she is left undisturbed by the male. 
 There is, however, no well-established reason in nature 
 for incontinence during the period of gestation. The 
 weight and preponderance of the argument, however, is 
 that the mother should be exempted from sexual relations 
 during that period. Toward this end the truly tender 
 and thoughtful husband should be ready to lend his aid. 
 He should be mindful of the additional care and responsi- 
 bility which rests upon his wife during gestation, and 
 seek to relieve her b,urdens to the utmost of loving care. 
 Her interests and those of the unborn child depend very 
 largely upon her husbanding all her resources of strength 
 and nervous force. She must do this in order to maintain
 
 354 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 her own health in the trying time of birth, and to bestow 
 upon her child that vitality which will insure it a perfect 
 health and development. Dr. Stockham truly says: " No 
 one means will more greatly palliate the many nervous 
 symptoms of pregnancy than by observing the law of con- 
 tinence." 
 
 Physical and Moral Effects of Excess. 
 
 
 
 It is within justifiable limits to say that with newly- 
 married couples excessive sexual indulgence is the rule. 
 In many instances the results are most unhappy. Such 
 excess is a prostitution of the clearly -established functions 
 of the marriage relation. More than this, it not infre- 
 quently creates a repugnance in the wife, not only for the 
 act itself, but, it is to be feared, for the husband. The 
 latter statement may be too strong; it will at least suffer 
 nothing of truth if modified to the extent that such 
 excess often leads to a loosening of the very foundations 
 of affection in the hearts of both husband and wife. Out 
 of this may, and often has, grown estrangement and 
 infidelity. 
 
 Sometimes the young husband inflicts upon the newly- 
 made wife, whom he has so recently pledged himself to 
 cherish and protect, very grave physical injuries from 
 which long years of the most skillful treatment may not 
 entirely free her. A case in point may not be amiss: It 
 is that of a young woman, apparently blessed with all the 
 charms of youth, beauty and health. She was wooed, 
 won and eventually married to a young man who had
 
 PHYSICAL AND MORAL EFFECTS OF EXCESS. 355 
 
 lost a former wife by death. Immediately subsequent to 
 the marriage, the pair started on the conventional wedding 
 tour, which, in this instance, lasted only a fortnight. At 
 the end of this time they returned home, but, alas, the 
 young wife was a hopeless imbecile a victim to her 
 husband's unrestrained impetuosity. It was a sad case, 
 but unhappily not the only one on record of a similar 
 kind. Instances are not so rare of young women who 
 come to the altar blooming brides, enjoying excellent 
 health, free from any disease, and return from their honey- 
 moon pale, feeble shadows of their former selves, and 
 doomed to a life of suffering all through the prostitu- 
 tion of the presumed functions of the married relation. 
 Why, it may be asked, does not woman assert her rights, 
 and refuse to become a mere machine for the gratification 
 of a man's passion? The answer is not difficult, nor need 
 far search be made to find it. It is because most women, 
 when they enter the married state, have but a faint con- 
 ception of what they are there to encounter. It may be 
 virtue, or chastity, or modesty, or mere prudery it 
 matters little by what name it is called but the fact 
 remains that the large majority, even of the most intelli- 
 gent young women, go to a husband's arms with little or 
 no knowledge of the meaning of sex. They have a cer- 
 tain knowledge that they are to marry a man, and that a 
 man is a being different from themselves in certain 
 regards. They may even have advanced so far in knowl- 
 edge as to be able to realize that they are to wed one 
 whose sex is complementary of their own, and from this
 
 356 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD 
 
 difference and complemence certain processes in nature 
 can and must be evolved. But her knowledge is as vague 
 and indefinite as the language in which it is here stated. 
 Of the male nature, its propensities, its passions, its 
 strength and its weakness, she knows no more than she 
 did of herself when nature ushered her, all unprepared, 
 from childhood into maidenhood. All this is sad enough 
 to- relate. It is sadder still to have to say that with this 
 ignorance generally there is coupled an indifference. 
 She does not know, and she does not care to know. Any 
 attempt to inform her is received coldly if not with repul- 
 sion. Her modesty is shocked that she be called upon 
 to investigate such a thing. There is time enough, she 
 says in effect, to know all this when it is right to 
 know it. 
 
 And so the poor, innocent girl goes as a lamb to the 
 slaughter. She comes to her husband in virgin purity and 
 innocence. This is well, if innocence be not another name 
 for ignorance, as it frequently is. Modesty is a virtue 
 which is a crown of glory to every woman. But there is 
 no offense to modesty when knowledge of the utmost 
 importance is gleaned. A woman owes it to herself, her 
 health, her husband, her children, to society, that she 
 should be intelligently informed, before it is too late to 
 benefit by the knowledge, what is for her own good. 
 
 The basic principle in the married relation is love. The 
 basis of genuine, lasting love is respect. Any act or any 
 succession of acts which tends to undermine this respect, 
 and, of course, this love, is to be frowned upon. Sexual
 
 PHYSICAL AND MORAL EFFECTS OF EXCESS. 357 
 
 excess comes in this category of condemnable acts, and for 
 the reasons stated. Such excess is no proper constituent 
 of true love. It is mere sensuality, a passion which has 
 for its components the base qualities of moral depravity. 
 Genuine love is formed of purer and higher elements than 
 those which enter into sensual gratification. Lust digs 
 the grave of love and indulgence buries it. Marriage, it 
 is falsely said, is the tomb of love. Such an epigram 
 could only have its birth in the heart and be voiced by the 
 lips of one who knew naught of the sources of genuine 
 affection. If love be only another name for sensual pleas- 
 ure, then may the truth of this unholy thought be 
 allowed. 
 
 This is not the truth. Connubial love may exist, and 
 wedded happiness bloom brightly even where there is no 
 sexual commerce. Its purer delights may be enjoyed 
 without the grosser pleasures. These, indeed, are neces- 
 sary in the fulfillment of one great end of marriage, namely, 
 the propagation of the species, but they are not essential, 
 absolutely, to either the health or the happiness of either 
 the man or the woman. Happy, indeed, the man who has 
 so disciplined his desires that they may be controlled within 
 proper physiological bounds, and may, if necessity so 
 counsel, be controlled altogether. 
 
 The statements here made will not find ready acceptance 
 with those who have practiced differently. The conclusions 
 are a condemnation of themselves. But there are thousands 
 of men and women who will cordially approve, and from 
 their own experience draw out testimony in corroboration.
 
 358 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 There are wives, thousands of them, who to-day are 
 victims to unbridled lust. It is none the less lust because 
 protected by the legal authority of marriage. Their lives 
 are made miserable because their husbands are brutally 
 indifferent to the higher claims moderation and temper- 
 ance. A respected writer says that " from a physiological 
 as well as from a moral standpoint, a sexual congress in 
 which the wife is an unwilling and passive instrument, is no 
 better than an act of masturbation. " The language is 
 strong, but undeniably true. Sexual excess lays the 
 foundation for domestic infelicity. Banish lust from the 
 marriage-bed. Bind down the passions to the severe rules 
 of common sense, reason, and physiological law, and half 
 the evils of married life will disappear. 
 
 Painful Congress. 
 
 The human body is endowed with certain senses and 
 functions. The primary plan contemplates that in the use 
 of the one and the exercise of the other, there should be 
 excited pleasurable emotions. Through sight the soul is 
 stirred with the motion of the beautiful in form, color, etc. 
 Through the sense of hearing comes the pleasurable 
 emotion excited by melodious sounds. And so with taste, 
 touch, smell, etc. This is the natural state. It is an 
 integral part of the primal plan of the Divine Architect. 
 Where pleasurable emotions are not stirred, it is evidence 
 of a diseased condition of the organ through which the 
 sense operates. 
 
 The proposition stated above ie emphatically true in
 
 PAINFUL CONGRESS. 359 
 
 the case of the exercise of the procreative functions. 
 There never should be any pain experienced by the wife, 
 after the first two or three approaches, in the copulative 
 act. It not infrequently happens, however, that there is 
 not only the absence of all enjoyment, but the coitive act 
 is attended with positive pain to her. When such is the 
 case, it is proof positive that there is some derangement 
 of her procreative organs, and an investigation into the 
 cause should be made at once. 
 
 This derangement may partake of the nature of a 
 diseased condition of some of the parts. If, for example, 
 there should exist, from some imprudency, a displacement 
 of the womb, an ulcerated condition of its neck or mouth, 
 or any inflammation of the parts, the sexual commerce 
 would most likely be attended with inconvenience. Such 
 pain, however, is more generally traceable to diseases of 
 the ovaries. If from any cause these be irritable or 
 inflamed, the excitement of them consequent upon the 
 venereal act would increase the irritation, and be painful 
 instead of pleasurable. The condition is similar to that in 
 the operation of other organs of the body. When the 
 health is good and the action of the stomach free and full, 
 food may be passed into it with impunity. But if it have 
 lost its power to free action through excessive gorman- 
 dizing or from any other cause, every contribution to it is 
 accompanied with suffering. 
 
 It very frequently happens that the abuse of the pro- 
 creative organs by excessive indulgence or pregnancies 
 will produce such a condition of the vagina and uterus as
 
 360 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to make all coition unenjoyable. If there be no real pain 
 felt during the act, it is probable that continence for a 
 season will restore the organs to the normal condition. 
 But if there be pain at every approach, accompanied with 
 great nervous disturbance, it is an evidence of disease. A 
 physician should be consulted at once. Until he has 
 passed judgment, there should be no commerce whatever. 
 The most painful of all complaints are of venereal origin. 
 Too much care cannot be given to guard against all 
 approaches of disease in these organs, nor can the case be 
 attended too quickly when derangement has actually taken 
 place. The general principle in the whole matter is that 
 in health the act of coition is pleasurable. If it is not so, 
 there is some disease. 
 
 Offspring. 
 
 A prime purpose contemplated in marriage is the pro- 
 duction of children. This is evident from the very nature 
 of sex, from the necessities of the case, and from the 
 divine law appointing and sanctioning marriage. It is not 
 that one man and one woman may be made more happy 
 in each other and better fitted for enjoying the pleasures 
 of being that marriage was instituted. These certainly 
 are ends attained by marriage, and properly belong to it. 
 But it has an ulterior end. Self and self-gratification is 
 not the end of life. The peopling of the earth and the 
 perpetuation of the race are ends residing in and proceed- 
 ing from the marriage relation. It is the way instituted 
 by the great Lawgiver for properly, wisely and safely c n- 
 summating His purpose concerning the earth and man
 
 OFFSPRING. 361 
 
 In creation, He established the family and appointed 
 its duties. This institution has been projected through all 
 the succeeding ages, and is a permanent element of society 
 to-day. The notion of family is not fully exemplified in 
 husband and wife. It is wider and more comprehensive. 
 It includes the procreation of new beings. A family is 
 imperfect, incomplete, if it do not include children. It is 
 not only a privilege, but a clearly-incurred duty of mar- 
 riage, that it should contemplate the begetting and rear- 
 ing of new lives. It is essential to the well-being of 
 society that such duty be accepted and discharged, unless 
 there be insurmountable obstacles in the way. What is 
 duty and law for one husband and wife is law and duty for 
 every such family. If one family can ignore this duty and 
 responsibility, all families can. This, if practiced, would 
 mean the destruction of society and the extinction of the 
 race. 
 
 It is rare, indeed, that a marriage is made in which 
 both contracting parties do not contemplate the rearing of 
 children. The instincts of paternity and maternity inhere 
 in the constitutions of men and women. Parental love is 
 an ingredient of the emotional natures of all. Conjugal 
 affection is sweet, profound and absorbing. But there are 
 depths of the soul to which it does not and cannot reach. 
 There are profundities of natural affection which the most 
 absorbing marital passion cannot fathom. There is an 
 unformulated consciousness of this in the heart of every 
 husband and wife. However tender their mutual affectior 
 may be, they are both conscious of a lack ; something i
 
 362 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 wanting to completeness of union and love. There are 
 yearnings in the heart which do not find satiety in any 
 token of affection, given or received. However happy 
 and contented each may be in the other, there is ever 
 present a feeling that there is a cup of blessing from which 
 they have not drunk. 
 
 In most cases, perhaps, the expectation of offspring in 
 the immediate post-marital life is not great. Most new 
 families prefer that they should live in each other for a 
 time. They do not wish to be compelled to assume the 
 duties and responsibilities of parents at once. They have 
 youth and youthful inclinations, and they do not desire 
 that these should be cut short by the demands of parent- 
 age. While this is admittedly true, and not censured as 
 wrong, it also remains true that few, very few, husbands 
 and wives there are who do not look forward to the time 
 when they shall have children in their homes. It was 
 a part of the prospect of married life as viewed from afar. 
 AS they came nearer and nearer to it, the background with 
 its little ones drew nearer also, and brighter and more invit- 
 ing. After the new family is instituted and the new home 
 set up, the vision comes still nearer, until it becomes a 
 reality. No more bitter sorrow can come to the heart of 
 a true and loving wife than to be told that she can never 
 become a mother. No more serious weight can fall upon 
 the heart of a husband than to be made to know that he 
 can never become a father. No greater sadness can fall 
 upon a home than the consciousness that it must ever 
 remain without children in it.
 
 OFFSPRING. 363 
 
 Children are, to a home, a blessing greater than all 
 other blessings besides. Mrs. Oliphant has truly said that 
 " there is nothing in all the world so blessed or so sweet 
 as the heritage of children." They are the light and 
 warmth of the home. A house without a child is like a 
 lawn without a flower, a woman without the charms of 
 womanhood. They are as the sunlight to the home whose 
 cheerful rays brighten the gloom which trials and reverses 
 scatter along life's way. The cares and sorrows which 
 attach themselves to all earthly conditions are mellowed 
 and tempered by the happy faces and merry voices of 
 children. There is no more gloomy spot on earth than 
 that home where old age has come to husband and wife, 
 and which is unblessed of the presence of children. 
 
 Children bring care and trouble into the home ; they 
 disturb its harmony, break up its quiet, scatter to the 
 winds many of its carefully-observed rules. But they bring 
 more than they destroy. To the mother they bring a joy 
 and sereneness of bliss which cannot be described or 
 measured. There is a depth and satisfaction to a father's 
 regard for his children which no other feeling can approach. 
 It is a mistaken notion of society that a mother's love is 
 deeper or stronger than a father's. Maternal love is more 
 passionate, but no profounder than paternal. It is quicker 
 to feel, but not longer to endure. Maternal and paternal 
 affection are not different in kind, nor do they vary greatly 
 in degree. 
 
 Aside from awakening deeper emotions of the soul, and 
 reaching springs of delight untouched before, children are
 
 3&4 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a blessing in more practical ways. They cement the home 
 affections. They bind parents closer to domestic duties, 
 social observances, moral obligations, and commercial 
 endeavors. Many a father has been saved from ruin by 
 the thought of his children. Many a mother has been car- 
 ried safely through a temptation by the knowledge that 
 she had her children. Idleness, sloth, indifference and 
 impecuniosity have often been driven out of the lives of 
 men and women by the responsibilities of parentage. Bad 
 men have been made good, and good men better by their 
 children. Negligent habits have been abandoned by the 
 knowledge that the children might be injured thereby. 
 Fortunes have been retrieved by the necessity of making 
 provision for the children of the home. 
 
 Children are the very deities of the home. They are 
 its life, its brightness, its inspiration. In them and around 
 them center the fondest hopes, the most ardent desires, 
 the most laudable ambitions which can animate human 
 hearts. They draw husband and wife nearer together. 
 They are potent factors in quelling discord and smothering 
 it unborn in the heart. They teach patience, forbearance, 
 kindness, sobriety, diligence, veracity, and all the nobler 
 virtues of human life and character. They are the con- 
 servators of purity and chastity in speech and behavior. 
 They inspire the purest and highest motives, and lead to 
 the wisest and most prudent actions. They are the light 
 and joy, the happiness and bliss, the virtue and peace, of 
 marital life. Without them the home is barren, shorn of 
 half its realities.
 
 SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 365 
 
 Should Offspring be Limited? 
 
 This question is of vital importance. It involves the 
 counsel and will of the Almighty as embraced in the edict, 
 " Be ye fruitful and multiply " an edict that has not yet 
 lost its significance. It involves, on the other hand, 
 issues commensurate with the physical well-being of 
 humanity. Instinct and propensity impel all nature, 
 animate and inanimate, to cheerful obedience to the 
 divine authority. The seeds and germs of plants are 
 wafted by every breeze, solely for the propagation and 
 enlargement of their kind. Trees, plants and flowers are 
 perpetuated to an incalculable degree through the opera- 
 tions of natural laws. 
 
 An impulse, similar to that in plants and flowers, 
 inheres in the constitution of human beings. Logically, 
 it would seem to follow that they should obey it, and 
 propagate to the utmost of their ability. This is a result, 
 however, which is reached by a superficial view of the 
 subject. To arrive at a full solution, the matter must be 
 probed to its uttermost depths, and viewed in all its 
 aspects and phases. Other questions arise besides those 
 of the mere dissemination of life. The probable outlook 
 for healthful development must be considered in connec- 
 tion with the laws of germination. This is true in the 
 vegetable kingdom. It is true that a handful of seed 
 placed in incongenial soil will germinate, spring up, and 
 grow after a manner. But it is only after a manner. If 
 the conditions essential to full development be lacking,
 
 366 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 the resultant plants will show feeble constitution, scant 
 foliage and barrenness. They cannot possibly reach that 
 state of vigorous growth in which the prime object can be 
 fulfilled. They feed upon each other in the germinating 
 soil, and obstruct and oppress each other in their expand- 
 ing growth. 
 
 What is true in the vegetable kingdom is equally a law 
 in the animal. Every observing stock-raiser is cognizant 
 of the evil effects of over-production among his animals. 
 There is deterioration in vigor, size, symmetry and 
 every quality of desirable excellence. He knows that he 
 must limit the production of his flocks within healthful 
 bounds. The possibilities of augmentation are not the 
 rules by which increase is governed. There is no profit 
 in allowing every beast to bear of its kind to the utmost 
 of its capacity for so doing. On the contrary, such a 
 course is suicidal. 
 
 Man is an animal. He conforms to his animal nature 
 and instincts, to the same laws and limitations which 
 obtain among the lower orders of the kingdom. Fertility 
 and capacity do not and should not be the guides in pro- 
 creation. He must act with a prudent regard to the 
 physical ends of his race. A higher development, a pro- 
 gression, not a degradation, in the quality of being must be 
 kept in view. Not alone for the immediate, but also for 
 the remote future. If feeble and debilitated children be 
 born, they in turn will become progenitors of still more 
 feeble and more degenerate children. The end is not far 
 off after such degeneration has once begun. Even under
 
 SHOULD OFFSPR^ T G BE LIMITED. 367 
 
 favorable conditions the tendency is downward. It 
 requires care and the exercise of right reason to maintain 
 the standard of present development. 
 
 While man is an animal, he is more than an animal. 
 He is gifted with intelligence, reason and forethought. To 
 his government is committed the whole creation. It is his 
 manifest duty to see that nature's laws and provisions with 
 regard to the continued strength and soundness of the 
 vegetable and lower animal kingdom shall be main- 
 tained. 
 
 He is gifted with intelligence and government for this 
 purpose. If this be so as regards the lower orders of crea- 
 tion, it cannot be that he is privileged to forget himself 
 and his kind. Rather, there is laid upon him a stronger 
 reason for the exercise of his exalted powers here. As 
 the race of men surpasses, in the scale of being, that of 
 brutes and plants, so should the considerations for the 
 maintenance of this superiority weigh upon him. And as 
 his reason and experience tell him that in plants and 
 among brutes there must be bounds set to procreation, 
 so do they also inform him of a similar restriction and 
 limitation of his own kind. Herein is a generic reason for 
 the restraint which should be placed upon the exercise of 
 the procreative functions. 
 
 There are other reasons worthy of consideration which 
 point to the same conclusion. They are subsidiary and 
 subordinate, but important. If, after marriage, there 
 appears to develop in one or both of the parents some 
 transmissible disease, it is time to consider whether it were
 
 368 MAIDENHOOD AND' MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 not better that no more children be begotten. The 
 disease in question may not have existed in the immediate 
 ancestors of either parent, but it does clearly manifest 
 itself in them and the children they have already begotten. 
 Such children have been weak and puny, or they have 
 come into life with the seeds of a fatal disease firmly and 
 ineradicably imbedded in their systems. They have died 
 almost as soon as they began to live. Is it wise, is it a 
 duty, to bring any more children into the world when it is 
 most conclusively apparent that they will meet a similar 
 fate? On the contrary, is it not a manifest duty not to 
 beget such children? Why are reason and foresight 
 given to men if this be not a case for their exercise? 
 
 Who has not seen a case like this : A father in whose 
 system is found the well-defined symptoms of that dread 
 complaint, consumption. It is well known to physicians 
 that venereal desire is keen in persons so afflicted. It was 
 so in this case, and no restraint was placed upon its grati- 
 fication. A child was born. It was weak, puny, and 
 brought into life with it unmistakable indications that its 
 existence would be brief. It, however, lived a few months, 
 but never enjoyed a moment's comfort, suffering all the 
 time. Looking upon a case like this, can any one say 
 that it was not wrong to humanity for that father to beget 
 the child? 
 
 There is reason for the limitation of offspring. There 
 are women to whom gestation is simply torture. From 
 the time of conception, or soon thereafter, until delivery, 
 they are in almost unendurable misery. There are others
 
 SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 369 
 
 to whom child-birth and its precedent trials are almost cer- 
 tain to prove fatal. Such physiological conditions cannot 
 be known before marriage, and, therefore, cannot be pro- 
 vided against by a life of celibacy. To ask such a woman 
 to undertake motherhood, is simply to ask her to essay 
 martyrdom. Is there any law, any right interpretation of 
 duty, which will warrant asking the sacrifice? Is there 
 any moral difference in the act of a married woman, who, 
 finding herself unable to bear children with safety to her- 
 self and her children, refuses to sacrifice herself, and that 
 of another woman who, so far as she knows, is well-quali- 
 fied for maternity, but who refuses to enter the married 
 state because it implies an assumption of the obligations 
 to become a mother? Despite the flippant paragraphs 
 which float about in the columns of transient publications, 
 there are many women in this country who have refused, 
 and do refuse, to become wives for this reason alone. 
 
 It is common in these times to condemn intemperance 
 in drink. This is proper and right. Intemperance or 
 undue indulgence of any appetite or appetency, merits 
 condemnation, both by the law of God and that of reason. 
 By the same token, intemperance in procreation should 
 not be allowed to merit approval, as it generally does. 
 There is such a thing as intemperance in begetting children. 
 It does not always receive its right name. In very many 
 cases it is nothing more or less than the indulgence of lust 
 under the cover of marriage. Marriage does not contem- 
 plate nor warrant any such license. It is for necessary 
 and righteous uses, not for the legalization of moral ini- 
 quity. Continence within temperate bounds is a virtue as
 
 37O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 binding upon the life withm as that without the married 
 relation. Whenever and wherever incontinence may exist, 
 it is a moral crime, whatever custom, law, or society may 
 have to say about it. 
 
 One of the legitimate tendencies of immoderate indulg- 
 ence in sexual commerce, is the use of criminal means to 
 prevent undesired issue. The foulest blot on the social 
 life of the country is its indifference to the alarming prev- 
 alence and increase of the crime of abortion. Murder, 
 under the form of fceticide, or infanticide, is so common, 
 so flagrant, so well-known, and so tamely condemned, that 
 it is sapping the foundations, smothering the conscience, 
 and destroying the health of society. It is fashionable to 
 murder unborn children. Conscienceless men openly 
 advertise their services in the secret and safe consumma- 
 tion of this crime. Every device, decoy and deception 
 is employed to lead women into the commission of it. 
 And it is a fact too patent to be kept concealed, that the 
 number of women who become victims to these rapacious 
 .harpies is not small. Many seek the abortionist to conceal 
 .a previous crime. Some, perhaps, through a false notion 
 of economy ; their family is already larger than their 
 means warrant, and rather than see other children come 
 into the world to endure the pangs and hardships of pov- 
 erty, they will resort to this means of prevention. What- 
 ever may be the underlying motive, the fact remains that 
 fceticide and infanticide are the foulest of crimes against 
 God and humanity, that they prevail to an alarming extent, 
 that they are not regarded by society with the degree of
 
 SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 3/1 
 
 horror which their character demands, and that they are 
 rapidly on the increase. 
 
 The problem with which we are confronted has evil on 
 both sides. On one are the injuries r-esulting from exces- 
 sive child-bearing ; on the other, the criminal means 
 employed to prevent this evil. Looking at the matter in 
 this light, Dr. Raciborski, of Paris, took the position that 
 the avoidance of offspring to a certain extent is not only 
 legitimate, but to be recommended as a measure of public 
 policy. " We know how bitterly we shall be attacked," 
 he says, " for promulgating this doctrine, but if our ser- 
 vices only render to society the benefit we expect of them, 
 we shall have effaced from the list of crimes the one most 
 atrocious without exception, that of child-murder, before 
 or after birth, and we shall have poured a little happiness 
 into the bosom of despairing families where poverty is 
 alive to the knowledge that offspring can be born only to 
 prostitution or mendacity. The realisation of such hopes 
 will console us under the attacks upon our doctrines. " 
 
 The ground upon which the limitation of offspring 
 has been generally urged is that a too-numerous increase 
 is the effect of an immoderate sexual commerce; such 
 excess is wrong in principle and injurious in practice, 
 therefore, it should be discouraged. While this ground 
 is undeniably proper, it is not the only one. Experience 
 has shown that in many instances there are other grounds, 
 high and philanthropic, upon which such limitation can be 
 justifiably urged. Parents love their children, and center 
 in their well-being the highest and holiest ambitions.
 
 372 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Their circumstances are moderate, perhaps, very humble. 
 The struggle of life is a serious problem with them, even 
 with the family they may have about them. Every addi- 
 tional child tends to increase the difficulties of making 
 comfortable provision even for the present, while the 
 future looms up dark and lowering. There is certainly 
 nothing to be censured in the wish to have a limit placed 
 upon the family in such circumstances. It is prompted 
 by pure motives by commendable, moral and economic 
 reasons. 
 
 When the subject is examined in all its bearings, and 
 the evils are considered which result from or are connected 
 with an excessive production of offspring, the conclusion 
 is forced that the reproductive functions of husband and 
 wife should be under the control of the will. There is no 
 divine law, and cannot be any human requirement founded 
 on justice and reason, which will justify the appetite for 
 immoderate sexual indulgence. On the contrary, every 
 law of hygiene for both parents and children, conjoined 
 with the highest humanitarian, philanthropic and affec- 
 tionate motives, demands that the sexual desires should 
 be held under a strict obedience to reason and well-being. 
 The will should dominate here as in every appetite of the 
 body. Urged on by their basest passions, men have 
 been assiduous in seeking arguments to justify them in 
 giving loose rein to appetite. The teachings of divine 
 truth are distorted to give weight to an inclination which 
 has no higher source than a disinclination to self-denial. 
 
 It is urged that the counsel oft-repeated, that men
 
 SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 3/3 
 
 should " multiply and increase," is a command that cannot 
 be disregarded. This is urged, not out of intense respect 
 for the divine will, but rather because it harmonizes 
 exactly with the lustful passions which inflame them. The 
 injunction of the Divine Lawgiver never should be made 
 the grounds on which to justify gross self-indulgence. 
 Such justification is a prostitution of the sacred word. It 
 is " borrowing the livery of the court of heaven to serve 
 the devil in." 
 
 The women who lived a half-century ago are some- 
 times pointed to as examples of what women can do. As 
 pioneers in newly-opened territory, these women were 
 compelled to endure much labor and material privation. 
 Notwithstanding this, they were the progenitors of large 
 families. It was the almost invariable rule that every 
 little home was filled with a numerous progeny, and yet 
 these women were strong, healthy and hardy, and the 
 children grew up into fine specimens of physical manhood 
 and womanhood. This (and much more in the same line) 
 is often cited to prove that the women of to-day, with 
 their families of two and three, and surrounded with all 
 the comforts and conveniences of modern civilization, are 
 derelict in their duty to society. The claim set up by 
 these women, that they are incapable of bearing children, 
 or at least of safely submitting to the labors of a large 
 family, are thought to be unfounded. By every logical 
 consideration, it is said, they should be able to excel their 
 maternal ancestors. 
 
 In all this it is overlooked that the women of pioneer
 
 374 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 life gave all the vigor, and that their children came into 
 the world far inferior to their mothers in point of actual or 
 reproductive ability. An exhausted vitality may not 
 show itself in one generation ; it inevitably will in the next. 
 Our women to-day, with their comparatively weak consti- 
 tutions and vitality, owe their state to the folly of their 
 ancestors. Had our grandmothers been less lavish, less 
 prodigal of their strength, and more prudent and moder- 
 ate in exercising their procreative function, society had 
 been better to-day. That they were not, is a calamity 
 that we must face. It will not help the case that the 
 actual facts be denied. It will be no less a crime to pos- 
 terity that it be made to suffer for our willful disregard of 
 the conditions under which we exist, and our ignorance 
 of the consequence which our disobedience to the plainest 
 duty will certainly bring. 
 
 Wives should claim from their husbands a care and con- 
 sideration equal at least to that which is given by success- 
 ful stock-breeders to their herds. Every such stock- 
 breeder knows that there is a law which regulates the 
 production of superior animals, and he unswervingly 
 adheres to it. He knows that it is destructive of his every 
 interest to allow his animals to follow their own blind 
 instincts in the reproduction of their kind. He controls 
 this with an intelligent consideration for the good of his 
 increase. An essential consideration in this is that the 
 number of animals born by every female must be few. Is 
 it not manifest that an equal discrimination should be 
 shown by men in the reproduction of their own kind ?
 
 SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 375 
 
 Can man, as an animal, rise above the laws which obtain 
 among all other animals ? Assuredly not. 
 
 Dr. Sismondi says, that whenever it becomes unwise 
 that the family should be further increased, justice and 
 humanity require that the husband should impose upon 
 himself the same restraint which governs the unmarried. 
 A writer on this subject says : " The brute yields to his 
 generative impulse whenever it is experienced. He is 
 troubled by no compunctions about the mother. Now, a 
 man ought not to act like a brute. He has reason to 
 guide and control his appetites. They, however, forget 
 and act like brutes instead of men. It would, in effect, 
 prove, very conducive to man's interests were the genera- 
 tive impulses placed absolutely under the domination of 
 reason, chastity, forecast and judgment. " 
 
 The citation of authorities is unnecessary in so plain a 
 case as this. The right, propriety and necessity of placing 
 a limit on the family must be conceded. What this 
 limit should be, it is inadvisable to say. It is impossible 
 to reduce it to figures in any number of cases. With 
 some women, it may safely be said that the capacity for 
 child-bearing is without limit. With others, the limit is 
 reached with the first assumption of the maternal relations. 
 No general rule can be laid down. It is enough that we 
 be assured that it is eminently proper to have a limit. A 
 knowledge of the wife's physical condition, the external 
 considerations, and an intelligent regard to the general 
 principles of health, comfort and the future, will be suf- 
 ficient to guide in each case.
 
 376 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 To What Extent Should Offspring Be Limited? 
 
 The right and propriety of limiting the number of chil- 
 dren which shall compose the family being conceded, it 
 naturally gives rise to an inquiry concerning this limit: 
 Where shall it be placed ? When is it reached ? Upon a 
 question like this only general considerations can be stated. 
 No definite, specific rules can be laid down which will 
 govern every case. This is obvious at a glance. The 
 conditions which surround families are radically different ; 
 natural conditions of husbands and wives vary widely. 
 What would be an eminently prudent regulation in one 
 instance might be little short of cruelty in another. 
 
 It. may be set down as a fundamental principle, beyond 
 all controversy, that offspring should be limited to the 
 legitimate fruitage of husband and wife. There is a grow- 
 ing tendency to override this restriction, and in this tend - 
 ency is founded the warrant for its restatement here. 
 There is no law of moral, legal or social enactment which 
 gives any man or any woman the right to beget children 
 outside the bonds of legal wedlock. On the contrary, the 
 sternest divine maledictions, the highest moral considera- 
 tions, the best interests of society, and the historical 
 experience of all times, unite in condemning all illegitimacy 
 of procreation. Law and morality go further, and con- 
 demn all illicit sexual intercourse, even though no issue 
 result therefrom. It is debasing to the morals and health 
 of men and women. It lowers the dignity of marriage and 
 brutifies the intellects of those engaging in it. It is repul-
 
 TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 3/7 
 
 sive to the natural instincts and sensibilities. It is abhor- 
 rent to all that is pure, noble and good. 
 
 On physiological grounds there is quite a large number 
 of women who should not become mothers. Because of 
 some deformity or malformation of their own structure, par- 
 turition is hazardous perhaps wholly impossible. With 
 women who cannot become mothers without great risk to 
 their own lives, and with a probability that the children 
 they may bear will not be physically sound, there is urgent 
 need that the number of children they essay to bear be 
 narrowly limited. If the hazard be great either to mother 
 or child, absolute cessation from child-bearing is impera- 
 tive. 
 
 There are cases, more numerous than is generally 
 known outside the profession, where, in the course of mar- 
 ried life, one or both of the parties develop symptoms of 
 insanity. It more frequently is an affliction of the wife. 
 It is not necessarily of such aggravated type as warrants 
 the deprivation of liberty or separation from home, but 
 sufficiently well-defined as to incapacitate the wife for 
 either caring for herself or her family. It does not, how- 
 ever, interfere with her ability to engage in copulation or 
 to conceive and bear children. When such a condition of 
 mental feebleness exists, it is an insult to decency and 
 morality, and a sin against his own flesh, for the husband 
 to compel his wife to submit to the possibility of concep- 
 tion. 
 
 The law of limitation applies in all its strictness to that 
 class of persons, who, through criminal intercourse pre-
 
 378 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 vious to marriage, have become inoculated with the virus 
 of that most abhorrent of all human ills, and at the same 
 time, the one most difficult of complete cure, venereal 
 disease. When once this class of disease has fastened 
 itself upon the system, no means have yet been discovered 
 to reputable therapeutics by which it can be entirely erad- 
 icated. A pure woman, who finds herself allied to a man 
 who has once been a victim to this disease, no matter how 
 thoroughly he may have reformed his life, and no matter 
 how great remorse he may feel for his past errors, has the 
 right, for the sake of posterity, if for no other reason, to 
 insist that she bear no children to him. She may, with all 
 propriety, consent to live with him as his lawful wife, but 
 she has no right, civil or divine, to warrant her perpetuat- 
 ing a race of poison-tainted children. It is a crime against 
 society for her to do so. She becomes the direct agent in 
 bringing children into the world who will have to bear 
 sickness and suffering all their lives. 
 
 There are many individuals, who suffer from diseases 
 which are transmissible, who should be restrained from 
 increasing their families. Notable among these diseases is 
 consumption. The result of consumptive diathesis, its 
 certain transmissibility to children, is as well established 
 as the principle of cause and effect. If children be born 
 to such parents, they are doomed to a weak, precarious 
 existence while it lasts, and to a premature grave. For 
 parents to deliberately beget children, knowing that such 
 issue must suffer and die, is to do wrong. They are invit- 
 ing pain and sorrow to themselves unnecessarily, and they
 
 TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD OFFSPRING BE LIMITED. 379 
 
 are wronging the children. In all such cases as these, it 
 is manifestly right that a limit should be set to the exercise 
 of the procreative powers. 
 
 There is a class of women, by no means small, who 
 develop a remarkable fecundity. Cases are known where 
 less than a year elapsed between confinements, and it is 
 no uncommon thing to find women who will bear children 
 at distances of a year and of eighteen months. This is 
 unquestionable over-production. It is a form of disease, 
 perhaps. If it be not prevented, and the wife be allowed 
 to bear children as rapidly and as frequently as she can, 
 womb diseases of most serious character are soon devel- 
 oped, accompanied by that long train of physical and 
 nervous ills, which preclude the possibility of health, and 
 which will inevitably cause death. In this prolific class 
 are to be found many women of sanguine temperament, 
 feeble constitution and delicate organization. If a woman 
 of this kind be impelled to frequent child-bearing, her 
 physical constitution must necessarily become weaker, 
 until it succumbs; whereas, if she have but few children 
 and at long intervals of rest between, she may build up 
 her weak constitution into comparative robustness. It 
 hardly requires the statement that a case is here found 
 wherein x the exercise of the law of limitation of offspring 
 should be applied. 
 
 It is desirable, from every sound standpoint, that all 
 women, not physically disqualified, bear children. It is 
 better for them. It is frequently observed in professional 
 experience that women, who, before marriage, were in
 
 380 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 indifferent health, and continued so for a time after mar- 
 riage, have, on the birth of two or three children, become 
 vigorous and healthy. Child-bearing is a natural order.' 
 It is Nature's method of purging the peculiar organisms of 
 women. It is a process which opens up the sluice-ways 
 of her physical functions, and enables them to operate with 
 better effects. Few childless wives enjoy perfect health, 
 whether that childlessness come through inability or 
 through direct prevention on their part. While this is true, 
 it is also true that in a great many cases, the most, in fact, 
 it is very desirable that the size of the family be con- 
 trolled. Sound reason, justice, philanthropy, morality 
 and mercy unite in asserting this. 
 
 Proper Methods of Limiting Offspring. 
 
 If the argument of the preceding pages be accepted as 
 legitimate, the conclusion will be admitted, that it is the 
 right and duty of parents, in certain circumstances, to 
 limit the size of the family. This conclusion being 
 reached, the question logically follows: How can this be 
 done? Are there any known means of coition, honorable, 
 safe and morally right, by which conception need not 
 follow? This is the eminently practical form which the 
 investigation takes. 
 
 It may be proper to state that the nature of the matter 
 now to be discussed is exceedingly delicate. It is not 
 clear to all minds that any one is justified in scattering 
 broadcast information on this subject. It is argued that 
 the possession of this knowledge would tend to licentious- 
 ness; that if the youth of our land, in whom passion is
 
 PROPER METHODS OF LIMITING OFFSPRING. 381 
 
 strong, knew that sexual congress was possible without 
 danger of discovery and disgrace, illicit intercourse would 
 become common. 
 
 This is assuming a great deal more than any known 
 facts warrant. More than that, it is assuming a moral 
 bluntness among our young men and women that is an 
 insult as well as a gross misrepresentation. It is believed 
 that our young women are virtuous from principle, and not 
 through fear of the results of unlawful cohabitation. The 
 innate, ihstinctive virtue of high-souled chastity is itself a 
 restraint to every indulgence which the laws of God and 
 man do not sanction. Take away from woman everything 
 but her own instinctive sense of right, duty and chaste 
 purity, and she would still be virtuous. 
 
 There is less danger in disseminating information on 
 this subject than in withholding it. The vicious and vile 
 will be able to take no advantage, while the virtuous and 
 pure-souled may be able to derive much benefit. From 
 the number of cases instanced in a preceding chapter, and 
 from scores more that could be named, it is apparent that 
 a great deal of misery, suffering and premature death is 
 caused by ignorance of what is duty in the circumstances, 
 as well as ignorance of the methods by which one can still 
 be morally righteous and escape these ills. 
 
 At the front of all proper limitations of offspring stands 
 continency, or a cessation from sexual congress when the 
 probability of conception may exist. It has been shown 
 that the practice of continency between husband and wife 
 is not inimical to the highest morality and philanthropy,
 
 382 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 but is a physiological benefit to both. The highest sexual 
 virtue is that in which the will dominates the passions 
 absolutely, and which enables one who has felt the power 
 of passion to control its promptings. 
 
 Continence, in its broadest sense, includes not only 
 abstinence from sexual commerce, but control of the 
 thoughts and imagination. Indeed, in the latter restraint 
 is found the key to the former. Professor Carpenter, in his 
 treatise of physiology, says: " In proportion as the human 
 being makes the temporary gratification of mere sexual 
 appetite the chief object, and overlooks the happiness 
 arising from mental and spiritual communion which is 
 not only purer and more permanent, and of which he 
 may anticipate a renewal in another world does he 
 degrade himself to a level with the' brutes which perish." 
 Shakespeare makes even lago say: " If the balance of our 
 lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of 
 sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would 
 conduct us to most preposterous conclusions ; but we 
 have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, 
 our embittered lusts. " 
 
 We are corroborated by the unspoken appeal that 
 comes up everywhere from debilitated and overtaxed 
 women of husbands who cannot be induced to practice 
 continency. If investigation be made, it will be discov- 
 ered that the excuse made by these husbands for their 
 imposition on their wives, is that such continence is not 
 in harmony with their physical natures. They will per- 
 suade their too-credulous wives that a refusal on their
 
 PROPER METHODS OF LIMITING OFFSPRING. 383 
 
 part to accede has the tendency to alienate the wife from 
 her husband's regard, and the husband from the wife's a 
 condition which a loving, trusting wife cannot contemplate 
 without a feeling of dismay, and to avoid which she will 
 sacrifice health and even life itself. It may be further 
 urged that the refusal of the wife to permit her husband's 
 approaches is an inducement to him to seek elsewhere 
 what is denied him at home, and yet what his health and 
 general well-being demand. This, too, is a consideration 
 which no loyal, virtuous wife can contemplate without 
 horror and repulsion. Nothing wounds a sensitive woman 
 more deeply, and nothing stings her more keenly, than 
 the thought that her own husband is unfaithful to her. 
 When this thought becomes knowledge it brings a heavi- 
 ness of heart, a grief, a burden of woe that is greater than 
 death. 
 
 And so, by cajoling and threatening, the affectionate 
 wife is led to make a victim of herself to her husband's 
 lust. The husband may not be a brute ; in most cases he 
 is not. On the contrary, he loves his wife even as his own 
 life, and would not willingly do her an injury or injustice. 
 He persuades himself that he is right in yielding to his 
 natural propensities ; that he has a moral right to the use 
 of his wife's person whenever he may so desire ; that there 
 is no law of necessity laid upon him by which he shall be 
 compelled to crucify his body ; that indulgence at will is a 
 benefit to him and no injury to his wife. He does not 
 ordinarily find it difficult to convince himself that what he 
 wants to do is the proper thing to do.
 
 384 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 It is all a delusion. The laws of man's being provide 
 as effectually for the healthful distribution of seminal secre- 
 tions when he is married as when he is not. Common 
 sense ought to teach any reasonable man that, when he 
 must apply persuasion to induce his wife to permit sexual 
 commerce, her nature does not demand it; and that she 
 yields only out of deference to his wishes; also, that such 
 yielding must be against the protests of her unfettered 
 wishes. In a word, that it is submission on her part to 
 what she does not require nor desire. It cannot but innure 
 to her hurt. A little calm reflection will also convince any 
 man who is open to conviction that, by every precept of 
 morality, self-restraint is inculcated. The liberty to engage 
 in any action does not give a license to prostitute it to 
 immoderation and excess. Experience, tpo, has, or ought 
 to have, taught husbands that continence is no real hardship 
 nor physiological injury to them. Sometimes they have 
 been separated from their wives for longer or shorter 
 periods, and they have not found themselves seriously 
 injured by the enforced continence. 
 
 The husband who argues his wife into submission to 
 his will does not think, perhaps, that he is lacking in kind- 
 ness toward her, and in that respect for her person and 
 judgment to which she is entitled. A husband ought to 
 treat his wife with the same respect shown by a lover to 
 the object of his devotion. What would be the feelings 
 of a virtuous maiden toward her lover if he should insist 
 that his animal nature, his health, depended on her yield- 
 ing herself to his embraces? Is not a wife a woman with a
 
 PROPER METHODS OF LIMITING OFFSPRING. 385 
 
 woman's feelings, and entitled to the respect due her as a 
 woman? If love do not blind her, what must she think, 
 what can she think, of the man who pleads such reasons for 
 the indulgence of his sexual passions? In all conscience, 
 can not a man practice continence as well after as before 
 marriage? 
 
 Incontinence of action is the legitimate sequence of 
 incontinence of thought. Continence of action is secured 
 by continence of thought. Seminal secretion is largely 
 the result of mental effort. Keep the mind from brooding 
 upon sexual matters. A strong mental effort and outdoor 
 exercise will drive sexual thought away. In addition to 
 keeping the mind free, attention should be given to diet. 
 Certain kinds of food, as eggs, oysters, meats, and stimu- 
 lants of ail kinds, tend to excite the mind. Missionaries 
 among nude or half-clad heathen tribes have often found 
 it necessary to subsist wholly upon vegetable diet in order 
 to keep their animal passions within proper bounds. The 
 same attention to regimen of diet will be found very help- 
 ful in observing the law of continence. But, after all, the 
 great thing is the will. It can and of right ought to govern 
 the body. 
 
 Nature, however, has made some provisions against 
 overproduction. With women, ordinarily, conception is 
 impossible during the period of lactation. This is an 
 encouragement to mothers to nurse their children, since 
 during this period they are free from the probability of 
 conception. But the nursing-time must not be prolonged 
 beyond what is best for both mother and child, in order 
 to extend this barren period.
 
 386 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Another natural provision for the limitation of off- 
 spring is periodical sterility among women. About one- 
 fourth of a woman's menstrual life is barren. For a period 
 of from eight to fourteen days after the cessation of her 
 menses, she is susceptible of impregnation ; from that time 
 until within from twenty-four to thirty-six hours before her 
 next sickness, she is utterly sterile. The exact number of 
 days cannot be given (differing as women do in the opera- 
 tion of menstruation) in which this sterility is absolute, and 
 during which copulation may be unattended by concep- 
 tion. What has been stated is the general rule, or that 
 which obtains with the majority of women. It is, indeed, 
 contended by some physicians that absolute barrenness 
 never exists with a woman who is capable of conception at 
 all. There are certainly many exceptional cases to the 
 rule, but on the whole, it is of sufficient practical impor- 
 tance to know that, from the fourteenth day after the cessa- 
 tion of one period of menstruation until within three days 
 of the next, sexual commerce will not result in preg- 
 nancy. 
 
 The three methods here suggested, namely, continence, 
 lactation, and periodical barrenness, are natural limitations 
 to the production of offspring. Being provisions of Nature 
 for this specific purpose s jt is entirely proper that advan- 
 tage of them should be taken. Nature is kinder to women 
 than they are to themselves often than their husbands 
 are to them. Nature provides to a large extent against 
 that overproduction of children which must destroy a 
 woman's vigor and health.
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 387 
 
 4 
 
 Improper Methods of Limitation. 
 
 The most important feature of the inquiry into the 
 limitation of offspring is now before us. It is one which 
 is much agitated and discussed from both the moral and 
 physiological aspect, with wide variations of opinion and 
 conclusion. The position has been taken and insisted 
 upon in the preceding pages, that the good of both mother 
 and children, as well as the interests of society, warrant 
 the use of legitimate means for the abridgement of the 
 family. It was also urged, and strongly urged, that there 
 are often cases in which these legitimate means of limitation 
 may be used not only with propriety, but where duty, 
 necessity and the highest morality insist that they shall be 
 used. 
 
 While all this is eminently proper, it does not debar 
 the strongest condemnation of the many vile and pernicious 
 devices used by married persons to frustrate the legitimate 
 operations of Nature. The two things are essentially 
 different. The one is natural and right. The other is 
 unnatural and wrong. The one may with all propriety be 
 advised. The other can under no considerations be 
 allowed. 
 
 The subject of the use of improper means for defeating 
 the ends of Nature is a vast one, and few writers on phys- 
 iology have felt disposed to enter into an exhaustive 
 discussion of it in all its bearings, especially in its disastrous 
 effects upon th'e souls and bodies of those chargeable with 
 the guilty practice. Very little reflection and a casual obser- 
 vation are sufficient to convince any one that while the
 
 388 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 t 
 
 amorous instinct has lost none of its intensity in the pres- 
 ent day, the results of its legitimate outcome are becom- 
 ing more and more pronounced. Every physician can 
 testify that he is constantly besieged by men and women 
 anxious to know the best and surest methods for prevent- 
 ing conception; many of the inquiries come from persons 
 of high social and moral standing. 
 
 The employment of other preventives of conception 
 than those afforded by Nature naturally suggests two lines 
 of inquiry: Is it morally right? and, Is it physiologically 
 deleterious? The discussion of the first form of inquiry, 
 Is it morally right or wrong to resort to any means to 
 thwart the natural operations of physiological laws? does 
 not properly come within the compass of this work. 
 Questions purely of morals belong to another category. 
 The physician as such has no more to do with these than 
 any other member of society. As a member of society, 
 however, he may very properly deplore practices which 
 appear to him to be immoral, and which vitally concern 
 the interests of society. From his more intimate associa- 
 tion with the practices under discussion he may be led to 
 feel more deeply upon it, and to be constrained to use 
 his endeavors to throw all possible light upon it, having 
 for his object the moral purification of society. 
 
 Is it right, morally right, for any one to thus throw 
 barriers in the way of Nature in the execution of one of 
 her prime laws, especially when it is manifest that upon 
 the proper observation of this law depends not only the 
 purity and chastity of the individuals, but the propagation
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 389 
 
 of the race? If it be right, it is highly desirable that 
 society at large should know it. If it be wrong, there 
 is equal necessity of the fact being generally known. 
 Many persons are constantly violating this law, and doing 
 so unconscious of the moralities of the case. If they have 
 been sinning in ignorance, it is high time that they knew 
 it, and that they be urged to an abandonment of the evil 
 practice. 
 
 Any proper view of the case must lead to its condem- 
 nation. Every improper attempt to frustrate" the ultimate 
 end of coition is immoral in the highest degree and sows 
 the seeds of domestic ruin and death. It is immoral 
 because it is a deceit ; and every form of deception is 
 wrong. It is a most palpable deceit, because it directly 
 and pointedly interferes with the very means established 
 in Nature for the perpetuation of the human species, and 
 renders illusory the most important of all fruitions. 
 Prof. Mayer says: "There is a certain motion which 
 should solicit a husband to obey the law of Nature by 
 which the race is perpetuated ; first, the attraction of 
 pleasure ; second, the sentiment of paternity. If the 
 latter be wanting, the first will still be efficacious. But 
 if he cheat, and no further security should exist, the race 
 will run the risk of becoming extinct. Then this element, 
 so powerful in the order of the universe, would be aban- 
 doned to the hazard of a free will, and would produce a 
 dangerous conflict between the interest of the individual 
 
 r*t 
 
 and that of the species. " Another respected author, in 
 speaking of the moral aspects of the question, says: " It
 
 39O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 tends to. annihilate all the physical and moral sympathies, 
 the reciprocal attachment so indispensable to a happy 
 marital union, and to give rise in their stead to coldness, 
 indifference and disunion." 
 
 Why should we fear to go to the bottom of the subject 
 and refuse to discover the effects of this festering wound ? 
 Concentrate the mind upon any husband and wife who 
 habitually violate the sanctity of the conjugal alliance and 
 profane chastity by their intimate acts, and answer, " Have 
 they any respect for each other?" Is the husband not 
 losing his prestige of honor and the Avife her purity of 
 heart? Ere long the changes in their moral relations will 
 become apparent to their friends. Little by little dissatis- 
 faction, indifference and contempt will arise, closely 
 followed by bitterness and resentment. These evil pas- 
 sions, increasing upon each other, bring about those 
 scandalous ruptures, those dark and dreadful dramas of 
 adultery, so frequent in these days. This young wife, 
 but lately so innocent and chaste, who has been polluted 
 by such immorality, will soon know the ingenious strata- 
 gems invented by debauchery. Armed with this danger- 
 ous knowledge, if in an hour of weakness the seducer 
 should come into her life and virtue should be disarmed 
 before his insidious arts, the fact that she can with impunity 
 violate the conjugal faith will make her less strong and 
 more liable to fall a victim. What, in all honesty, can 
 the husband say of her infidelity? He it was that taught 
 his innocent wife the art of cheating Nature. Can he justly 
 complain if she use her knowledge in cheating himself ?
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 391 
 
 By far the most common of all improper methods 
 adopted for limiting the number of offspring ^is abortion. 
 It is undeniably a form of murder, and there can be no 
 crime more repulsive to the pure heart than this. Any 
 man, almost, may, in a fit of intense passion when reason 
 is temporarily dethroned, lift up his hand against another 
 and take his life. Anger and passion have led to fratricide; 
 revenge or malice, or some other over-powering passion, 
 have led to the taking away of the life of an enemy; 
 avarice has often led its slaves into situations where murder 
 was added to theft. In each and all of these cases, society 
 has stamped the offender with a proper name, and the 
 law has provided a penalty for his crime. But what name 
 can be given that will fully indicate the crime of that 
 person, man or woman, who calmly and premeditatedly 
 plans and executes the destruction of the life of an innocent 
 and unoffending babe? In some cases, the child is wholly 
 unknown to the destroyer ; in others itf^ay be a relative, 
 and in. more cases, perhaps, it is a part JS his own body. 
 What shall this crime be called? Is it murder, or is it, as 
 Austin says, a crime for which there is no name? 
 
 There are many persons who through ignorance, real 
 or assumed, maintain that a child is not a human being 
 until it has assumed the form of a human being, breathes 
 and develops all the essentials of developed life. Others 
 affirm that it is not a life until after quickening in the 
 womb. There is little, if any difference. One might with 
 equal propriety assert that the babe at its mother's breast 
 is not a human being because it has not the concomitants
 
 392 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of matured life. The truth in the matter, sweeping aside 
 all finely-drawn distinctions, is that from the moment of 
 conception a new life begins to exist. It is a form of 
 life, different indeed from what life is at other periods, but 
 truly and essentially life. All that is required now, as at 
 any other period up to maturity, is time and undisturbed 
 repose. The one who destroys this initial life is as guilty 
 of murder as another who takes a babe from its mother's 
 arms and destroys it. 
 
 Let it be called by whatever name it may be, abortion, 
 foeticide, infanticide, or what not, the crime is precisely 
 the same in quality. It is an ancient crime this of 
 destroying unborn children. The nations of antiquity, 
 savage and semi-civilized, and highly civilized, all practiced 
 it, and many of the philosophies of other ages sanction 
 it. In the present day, when human understanding 
 is broader, and human nature is softer, the same old crime 
 is tolerated. It is growing more fearfully prevalent year 
 by year. The testimony of any physician will corroborate 
 this statement. 
 
 This nefarious crime is not confined to any particular 
 class of society. It is committed by the rich and poor 
 alike, the respectable and the degraded. Many women 
 have become so accustomed to its perpetration, that they 
 go to a physician with sang froid and self-possession, 
 apparently thinking that it is a legitimate part of his pro- 
 fession to destroy children in titero. Men, too, with the 
 utmost effrontery will solicit the advice and skill of the 
 medical profession to aid them in the cultivated debauch- 
 ery of murdering their own children. It is to be feared
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 393 
 
 that too many nominal physicians lend their aid in this 
 crime. The fact is undeniable that few of them escape 
 the temptation of so acting. 
 
 The author may be pardoned for reciting a case in point 
 from his own experience: On entering my office one 
 morning, very early, I was followed by a gentleman who 
 was a total stranger to me. We had hardly been seated 
 in private when he said to me: " Doctor, I have been 
 courting a fine young woman, the daughter of an aristo- 
 cratic and highly-respectable family. It is the old story. 
 I over-persuaded her, and she is now in a condition that 
 will soon bring disgrace upon her and her family. I would 
 not for any consideration have her condition exposed. " 
 " What would you have me do ? " I inquired. " I want you 
 to produce an abortion on her, and I will give you any- 
 thing you may ask," he replied with no evidence of embar- 
 rassment. I asked him a few questions about the standing 
 of the family of the girl, his own, the regard in which he 
 held her, how far the pregnancy had progressed, and then 
 said to him: " How is it that you have come so far from 
 your home to consult a physician? Have you none nearer 
 to whom you could go, even in a case of this sort? Have 
 i the reputation of being an abortionist in your locality? " 
 " Not at all," he replied, quickly ; " but I have such a high 
 regard for this girl that I do not wish to see her in any 
 but safe hands. That was why I came to you, and for no 
 other. " As 1 had led him to say exactly what I desired 
 he should say, I replied: " I am glad to hear that you 
 consider my knowledge and skill so highly as to come the
 
 394 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 distance you have to see me. It gives me confidence to 
 hope that you will do what I say about this matter. 
 What I want to say is this: I have great sympathy for the 
 v/oman you have seduced. I will do all I can for her. 
 But abortion is not a part of my profession. I wish you 
 would go back and tell the young lady that the thing you 
 have asked me to do is exceedingly dangerous ; moreover, 
 it is a high crime. She must not jeopardize her life nor 
 commit a great crime by allowing any one to attempt such 
 a thing. Tell her from me that there is but one safe, 
 honorable and morally right way for her out of her 
 trouble, and that is to marry you." He said nothing more 
 and departed. 
 
 I had some curiosity to know what the end of the 
 matter had been, but took no pains to discover. Chance 
 at length revealed it to me. A year or so afterward, I 
 was called in consultation in the locality given by my 
 morning caller. After my business was finished, a gentle- 
 man present asked me to come home with him and see a 
 sick child. I went, and found the mother, an exceedingly 
 handsome young woman, overwhelmed with grief over the 
 apparently hopeless illness of her child. I examined the 
 little patient, and was able to apply remedies which saved 
 its life. Before I left, I discovered that these were the 
 two persons who but a little before had sought me out to 
 aid them in destroying this very life, in which they now 
 were so deeply interested, and to which they were so 
 warmly attached. 
 
 This incident is not related because of its moment, nor
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 395 
 
 * 
 
 to prove that adherence to his duty on the part of a physi- 
 cian will always result so satisfactorily. It was an excep- 
 tional case in this direction. Usually the betrayed girl is 
 abandoned by her seducer ; and then, in an agony of shame 
 and remorse, she is often led to -commit the crime from 
 which this young woman was saved by the honor of her 
 lover. The incident will serve as a basis on which to 
 repeat the question : In what did this infant's life differ 
 the first and the second times in which its life was in dan- 
 ger? Manifestly, only in point of development. It was as 
 much a living human being in its mother's womb as it 
 was in her arms. To have taken its life at one time would 
 have been the same as at another ; it would have been 
 murder, nothing more, nothing less. 
 
 A common method by which abortion is produced is 
 with an instrument. This is introduced through the 
 vagina into the womb. It is then manipulated in such a 
 manner as to destroy the delicate membrane by which 
 the fcetus is attached to the internal surface of the womb. 
 This attaching membrane not only holds the foetus to its 
 place, .but is also the channel by which its life is main- 
 tained and its development furthered. When this mem- 
 brane is ruptured, the life-supply of the fcetus is cut off, 
 and of course it dies. It is then expelled from the womb 
 by natural action. Almost all sorts of articles are used in 
 lieu of a surgical instrument. The profession hears of 
 goose-quills, lead-pencils, umbrella-stays, knitting-needles, 
 etc. A case of personal experience will serve to illustrate 
 the danger which attends the use of instruments :
 
 396 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 I was once called hastily to see a married woman. The 
 trouble, I was told, was hemorrhage of the womb. I found, 
 upon examination, that this hemorrhage was excessive 
 and continuous, and seriously threatened life. When I 
 told the patient this, and confessed my inability to proceed 
 safely unless she told me the cause, she confessed that she 
 had produced an abortion on herself, or had attempted to 
 do so, using a common lead-pencil for the purpose. I 
 found that the foetus had been severed from the womb, 
 but that the womb had not contracted, and consequently 
 the foetus had not been expelled. The ruptured blood- 
 vessels had not closed up, but were pouring out the life of 
 the patient. It was a serious case, and required great 
 skill and patience in arresting the hemorrhage and expel- 
 ling the fcetus. 
 
 On examination of the fcetus, which was about three 
 months old, I found that its head had been pierced 
 through with the sharp end of the pencil. The mouth of 
 the uterus was seriously injured by the efforts to introduce 
 the instrument. This injury resulted in an inflammation 
 of the womb which threatened the woman's life, despite 
 all remedial agencies employed. What her thoughts and 
 emotions were, when for weeks her life was suspended 
 on a hair, I do not know. They could not be expressed. 
 She was a woman of great respectability, a professing 
 Christian, intelligent and even gifted in many ways. Yet, 
 by a rash act of her own, which involved the destruction 
 of her own child, she was brought to the verge of the 
 grave, and made to stand there looking out upon the
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 397 
 
 great eternity beyond, with its everlasting throne, its 
 Great Judge, and all its eternal verities of truth, justice 
 and wrath. Into this eternity she was almost ushered by 
 her own act. Had her life not been saved, she must have 
 gone to her account with a double murder on her soul 
 her child's and her own. 
 
 Another case with a more tragic ending may be related 
 here: A woman undertook to produce an abortion by 
 the use of the brace of an umbrella rib. In the effort to 
 accomplish the purpose desired, the instrument escaped 
 the hand of the operator and was drawn within the uterus. 
 Thence it pierced the upper surface, passed up through 
 the bowels, the diaphragm, up into the lungs, where its 
 progress was arrested by the death of the patient. These 
 facts were brought to light by the post-mortem examina- 
 tion. Instances similar to the two here related might be 
 multiplied, all tending to show the exceeding seriousness, 
 from a mere physiological standpoint, of such methods of 
 abortion. It will not do to say that these were due to 
 the bungling of the operator. That does not remove the 
 danger in such operations. The most skillful surgeons, 
 were any such base enough to engage in this disreputable 
 work, might produce fatal results. It is dangerous 
 work. 
 
 Another common form of abortion is by violent exer- 
 cise. Pregnant women will sometimes jump from a short 
 elevation to a hard surface, so as to very considerably jar 
 the body. The object of this is to dislodge the foetus 
 from the womb. Others will take long journeys in a
 
 398 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 rough vehicle over uneven roads for the same purpose. 
 If it were not so serious a matter, it would be quaintly 
 amusing to note that women who undertake this mode of 
 producing an abortion think that it is less criminal than 
 that by the use of an instrument or other violent means. 
 They forget that the gravement of any act depends upon 
 the intent and purpose, not upon the means employed in 
 its accomplishment. 
 
 Drugs of various kinds and patent nostrums are largely 
 used in this criminal work. The number of deaths which 
 are brought about by the use of this means of producing 
 abortion is truly appalling. All the deaths from this 
 cause are not known, and many are not even suspected. 
 A number is known so large that it ought to deter women 
 from the dangerous risk. But it does not. These medi- 
 cines are all poisons. The effects intended to be produced 
 are enough to warn against their employment. Many 
 serious, painful and incurable cases have arisen from 
 inflammation of the stomach superinduced by the use of 
 drugs for the end named. The drug method is even 
 more dangerous than that by instrument. 
 
 The introduction of cold water into the uterus by 
 means of a syringe, to which is attached a rubber 
 catheter, is another method of destroying the foetus. This 
 is a most successful method, but it is usually attended 
 with severe pain. The water is a foreign substance, and 
 is so treated by the delicate organism of the internal 
 uterus. The result is severe uterine colic and such con- 
 tractions of the muscles of the womb as dislodge and 
 expel its contents.
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 399 
 
 But whatever may be the means used in abortion, 
 whether by one of the methods named or by some other, 
 the result is always attended with serious consequences. 
 Even in accidental miscarriage, the patient incurs a serious 
 risk of life. The same causes are present in miscarriage 
 as in abortion. There is a sudden arrest of the natural 
 processes of development of the foetus. This sometimes 
 remains in the womb, a decaying mass, the most of which 
 is absorbed, carrying with it disease into every tissue of the 
 body through natural circulation. This is always a matter 
 of great seriousness. At other times, there may follow 
 hemorrhages, as in one of the cases given. This may not 
 result in immediate death to the patient. "But it will exhaust 
 the vitality and waste the strength, so as to leave the system 
 in exactly the right condition for the inception of a class of 
 nervous disorders which will trouble the patient throughout 
 life. 
 
 A distinguished writer on this subject says: " The won- 
 der lies in the fact that the mortality is not greater than is 
 represented, and the only reason that can be assigned for 
 this is, that many victims of malpractice, foreseeing the 
 danger which they have willingly, but unwisely, incurred, 
 are, later on, attended by proper nurses and skilled phy- 
 sicians, who bring to bear all the resources of medical 
 science to avert the manifest fatal termination. Even 
 under the best treatment, death cannot always be pre- 
 vented ; then it is, that in order to cover up a sin and 
 thwart a scandal, the art of concealment is practiced, and 
 the world moves on as before."
 
 4OO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The immediate mortality resulting from abortion is 
 only a small percentage of the deaths caused by disorders 
 which have their primary origin from this source. The 
 suffering of the women of this day, caused either directly 
 or indirectly by the practice of some of these methods, is 
 deplorable. 
 
 There are many other methods, extensively practiced, 
 which are lesscondemnable than those already mentioned 
 They cannot be commended, as they are neither morally 
 right nor without detriment to health. But, comparatively, 
 they are unobjectionable. 
 
 Vaginal injection is very common. This consists in 
 throwing water alone, or water impregnated with some 
 mild acid through the vagina to the womb. This is done 
 immediately after coition. The effect is to wash away and 
 destroy the germs of foetal life and thus intercept concep- 
 tion. In this, of course, there is no destruction of life, 
 since life only begins with conception. The practice, how- 
 ever, is attended with many serious objections. It is 
 likely to injure the wife. If she be at all a participant in 
 the coitive act, her reproductive organs must be in a 
 greater or less condition of congestion and nervous excite- 
 ment. The sudden application of a cold fluid to these 
 parts tends to suddenly change their condition. A vio- 
 lent shock is the inevitable sequence. This, in time, can 
 but result in serious detriment to the general health. 
 
 Another preventive of conception is the use of the 
 condom, a thin covering used by the husband. It is made 
 of rubber or oiled silk. This device was originally used
 
 IMPROPER METHODS OF LIMITATION. 401 
 
 by debauchees to prevent the infection of venereal diseases.' 
 It is now used for the purpose above named. Its primary 
 use ought to condemn it among persons of pure minds and 
 chaste lives. It is the progeny of the brothel, and should 
 never be allowed to enter the home of the virtuous. A 
 great French woman is reported to have said : " It is a 
 cobweb for protection and a bulwark against love. " It is, 
 of course, an absolute preventive of conception, since it 
 prevents the semen with its spermatozoa from entering the 
 uterus. There can be no conception save with a union of 
 these two fluids. Few husbands can have the effrontery 
 to offend the delicacy and chastity of their wives by offer- 
 ing the employment of such means. It must be offensive 
 to every sense of chastity in the pure mind of the wife. 
 
 The use of the hood is a somewhat modern device. 
 Its use was unknown to the writer until quite recently. 
 He was called to attend a patient suffering from a congestive 
 inflammation of the right ovary. She was too young to 
 have passed the period of mature womanhood, though she 
 had borne no children for several years. In giving 
 directions for treatment, it was insisted that continence 
 be observed. To this the reply was made by the patient 
 that no possibility of conception could exist, since she, 
 through a physician, had secured a little rubber cap or 
 hood. This was carefully adjusted to the os uteri previous 
 to engaging in the coitive act, and was not removed until 
 the next day. This is certainly as effectual a preventive of 
 conception as the condom, and for the same reason. But 
 the repeated use of such a device, and especially the reten-
 
 4O2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 'tion of a rubber fabric in the vagina and womb for thirty- 
 six hours, must ultimately result in irritation, inflammation 
 and ulceration (and this, likely, of a malignant form) of 
 the mouth of the uterus. Such ulcerating disease is 
 fraught with grave danger to the general health of the 
 patient. 
 
 One more method is that known as onanism. It takes 
 its name from Onan, of whom and his act there is mention 
 made in the Divine Word. It consists, simply, in with- 
 drawal previous to the emission of the semen. Its 
 successful use depends upon the self-control of the hus- 
 band, as he must act at the very moment when it is most 
 difficult so to do. It is manifest that this withdrawal is an 
 injustice to the wife, since it robs her of all participation 
 in the marital act. As it was condemned in Onan, so it 
 must be condemned in all his disciples. It is only another 
 form of self-abasement at best, arid deserves entire disap- 
 probation. It will result eventually in serious injury to 
 the health of both husband and wife. 
 
 Barrenness. 
 
 Barrenness, or sterility in women is inability to bear 
 children. It is often a cause for much unhappiness in the 
 home where it exists. Most married persons are satisfied 
 for a time with the blessings and happiness of this rela- 
 tion. They are young, and full of life and health. But 
 the time will come, sooner or later, when they will not be 
 satisfied. Unsatisfied longings will dwell upon the soul 
 and fill the life with uneasiness and unrest. The feeling ot
 
 BARRENNESS. 403 
 
 paternity and maternity lurks in the home and at the fire- 
 side of every family, and it cannot be stifled. It creates a 
 yearning, a craving for something \vhich husband or wife 
 cannot give. If it become apparent that for some 
 unknown cause, this yearning cannot be gratified, it is 
 looked upon as little less than a calamity. 
 
 Men who have made the fertility of woman a special 
 study have arrived at the conclusion that about eighteen 
 months ought to intervene between the date of marriage 
 and the birth of the first child, and that the question of the 
 wife's sterility is decided in the first three years of her 
 married life. If no child be born in that period, no 
 improper preventives of conception having been em- 
 ployed, the chances are largely against her ever becoming 
 a mother. If children are ever desired, it is advisable to 
 consult the physician at this time, so that the cause 
 of the barrenness may be ascertained, and, if possible, 
 removed. 
 
 The age of the wife at marriage has an influence upon 
 the expectancy of children. The interval between mar- 
 riage and the birth of the first child is increased in pro- 
 portion to the number of years the woman is past twenty- 
 five years of age at the time of marriage. Trustworthy 
 statistics show that women are most fecund before the age 
 of twenty-five. English observers maintain that women 
 married under nineteen years of age are not nearly so pro- 
 lific as those married between nineteen and twenty-five. 
 The author's observation among American women does 
 not bear out this assertion. It is further maintained by
 
 404 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 English authority that, after the age of twenty-four, the 
 probability of barrenness increases with the greater age at 
 the time of marriage. 
 
 There are two periods in a woman's life in which she is 
 said to be absolutely sterile ; one is before she arrives at 
 puberty, and the other is after she has passed the men- 
 strual period. Some exceptions to this general rule have 
 been noted, but they are hardly credible. It is quite diffi- 
 cult to see how pregnancy could take place in a woman in 
 whom there were no physiological conditions present to 
 favor her part of the reproduction. 
 
 The older a woman may be at the time of marriage, 
 the longer will be deferred the age at which she becomes 
 sterile. It seems that Nature compensates her, in allowing 
 her to bear children later in life than if she had com- 
 menced earlier. This does not, of course, make her child- 
 bearing period longer than the average ; it is rather 
 shorter. The compensation is not quite complete, as 
 those who marry young have a longer child-bearing 
 period than others, notwithstanding the protraction of the 
 time with the latter. 
 
 As already said, a wife who remains sterile for three or 
 four years after marriage will likely remain so through 
 life. The probabilities of sterility increase with each year 
 of barrenness. Fruitful women have usually a period of 
 less th^n two years between the births of their children. 
 Women who nurse their own children have longer periods 
 of exemption from conception between the births of their 
 children than those who do not. Lactation is conducive
 
 BARRENNESS. 405 
 
 to sterility, as the vital forces are wholly employed in the 
 mammary secretion. Many women continue sterile so 
 long as the child is permitted to nurse, which fact has 
 been utilized by women averse to frequent births by 
 keeping the child at the breast for a long time. 
 
 Climate and latitude have their influence upon fertil- 
 ity. More children are born to a woman in warm than 
 in cold countries. This is owing very materially to the 
 longer periods between the times of menstruation. It is 
 also said on good authority that " the number of children 
 born is in inverse proportion to the amount of food in a 
 country and in a season. In Belgium the higher the 
 price of bread, the greater the number of children, and 
 the greater the number of infants' deaths." The spring 
 of the year is the most prolific season. This is Nature's 
 mating season and it conduces to fecundity. Poverty 
 seems to promote fruitfulness. Poor people have much 
 larger families as a rule than their rich neighbors. 
 
 But there is a large number of women who are sterile, 
 and they continue so. The fault of unproduction is 
 invariably laid to their door. This conclusion may be 
 unwarrantable. It is not true that every man who is 
 healthy and robust is capable of begetting children. 
 Sometimes, too, women are supposed to be sterile who 
 are not so. Such women may have been pregnant and 
 not have known it. If such a woman has, at the time of 
 her monthly sickness, deferred, to be followed by what to 
 her is an excessive flow and waste, it may be and in all 
 probability is a miscarriage. Hence, a propensity to
 
 406 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 miscarriage may be the only cause of barrenness. This, 
 by proper treatment, may be overcome. 
 
 A frequent cause of barrenness and matrimonial 
 unhappiness is a coldness and want of congeniality in 
 temperament. On the contrary, with some women noth- 
 ing seems to be in the way of conception save too intense 
 passion and over-excitement. Displacements of the 
 womb and attendant diseases are frequently a hindrance 
 to fecundity ; in such cases the sterility disappears when 
 the cause is removed. There is, very frequently, a pecul- 
 iar condition of the cervix of the womb which hinders, if 
 it do not prevent conception. This is amenable to 
 treatment. A condition of general debility and the 
 presence of poison in the blood may prevent conception. 
 When the barrenness is attributable to this cause, it can 
 be removed by care and tonic treatment. It is not an 
 uncommon thing, however, to find women who are feeble 
 in body and health, and yet who have a remarkable tend- 
 ency to fecundity. Cases are not wanting, and they are 
 not rare, where sterility was overcome by a temporary 
 separation of the wife from her husband. The theory of 
 cure was that, upon the renewal of their marital inter- 
 course the novelty of the act had a stimulating effect 
 upon the dormant procreative functions of the wife. 
 
 There is evidently a condition of sterility which is the 
 result of mismating. The proof of this is seen where a 
 woman remained barren in a first marriage but was fruit- 
 ful in a second. This same condition is observable 
 among the lower animals. Certain males and females
 
 BARRENNESS. 407 
 
 will not produce offspring when mated, but do so when 
 mated otherwise. The ancients and some modern author- 
 ities maintain that persons of the same temperament 
 should not marry, as such marriage is likely to be 
 unfruitful. Hence blonde women should marry dark 
 men, thin women robust men, and vice versa. 
 
 Though a wife find herself unable to conceive for the 
 first years of marriage, she should not despair. Barren- 
 ness often disappears of itself. A notable example is that 
 of Anne of Austria, Queen of France, who bore Louis 
 XIV. , after a period of twenty years' sterility. Catherine 
 de Medicis, wife of Henry II., became the mother of ten 
 children after ten years' barrenness. Dr. Tilt, of London, 
 mentions the case of a woman who was married at eighteen, 
 but, although both she and her husband enjoyed good 
 health, remained childless until she reached the age of 
 forty- eight, when she bore one child. Another case is 
 referred to where a well-developed woman was married at 
 eighteen, but did not bear a child until she was fifty. 
 
 The investigations of political economists have estab- 
 lished the fact that during times of peace the ravages of 
 disease and death may be counteracted and the population 
 maintained when only one-half the women of the commun- 
 ity are fulfilling their duties in procreation. Nature has 
 also instituted laws to prevent an undue increase of popu- 
 lation. It would seem as if the extension of the material, 
 intellectual and social culture of communities has the tend- 
 ency to render marriage less prolific, and the population 
 stationary or nearly so. So evident is this tendency that
 
 408 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 it has been laid down as a maxim of Sociology by Sismondi, 
 that where the number of marriages is proportionally v he 
 greatest, where the greatest number of persons participate 
 in the -duties, the virtues, and the happiness of married 
 life, there the number of children which each marriage 
 produces is the smallest. Thus, to a certain degree, does 
 Nature indorse the teachings of those political economists 
 who say that the increase of population beyond certain 
 limits is an evil happily averted by wars, famines and 
 pestilences. The direst disasters thus become national 
 blessings. 
 
 Many causes of sterility appear to be beyond the power 
 of the present advancement of medical science to overcome. 
 Many supposed cases of incurable sterility, however, can 
 be removed by proper medical treatment. Just before, 
 at the time of, and immediately after the menstrual epoch, 
 is the time most favorable to fecundation. Those persons 
 anxious to have offspring can avail themselves of this fact. 
 Quiet for several hours, lying supinely upon a bed, after 
 coition has been helpful in the same way. This was a 
 teaching of Hippocrates, the great father of medicine. 
 There is a marked sympathy of the mammary glands and 
 the uterus ; hence, vigorous sucking of the breast before 
 the generative act will, in many cases, insure conception. 
 This is especially the case when barrenness is the result of 
 coldness on the part of the wife. 
 
 The greatest hope of correcting sterility is in having all 
 physical disabilities removed. Perfect physical health, 
 while not necessary to conception, is a great help toward 
 securing it where barrenness exists.
 
 MATERNITY. 
 
 Pregnancy. 
 
 THE ovaries of woman contain numerous microscopic 
 bodies termed eggs, or ova. During her menstrual life 
 that is, from the age of puberty till the cessation of the 
 menses these ova mature, one after another, and are 
 discharged from the uterus at intervals of about four 
 weeks. This discharge lasts from one to four days, and is 
 generally accompanied by the flow of a fluid closely 
 resembling blood. The period of ova-expulsion is termed 
 the flow of the menses, or the monthly sickness. 
 
 The ovum contains in it the principle of life, which is 
 capable of germination at the proper time and under the 
 proper conditions. If it come in contact with the sperma- 
 tozoa, or vital element of the semen of the male, before 
 its discharge from the uterus and vagina of the female, 
 the two will coalesce and together constitute the germ of 
 a new being. This vitalized germ lodges somewhere in 
 the sexual organs of the female, ordinarily the womb, and 
 from that time begins a new and independent growth. If, 
 however, the ova of the female do not come in contact 
 with the male spermatozoa within a certain time, they are 
 washed out of the uterus or have no further power of 
 
 vitalization. 
 
 409
 
 410 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Two conditions are necessary to conception: That 
 virile ova of the female come in contact with virile semen 
 of the male, and that this contact take place in the female 
 organs of generation. When these conditions are observed, 
 a germ of life exists. The germ is thereafter termed the 
 foetus. The womb is the natural receptacle of the foetus, 
 and it is usually developed there. This organ is exactly 
 adapted to the protection, the growth, and the subsequent 
 expulsion of the foetus. It was designed of Nature for 
 this end. Occasionally, however, the vitalized germ 
 lodges in the upper portions of the genital canal, which is 
 the tube leading from the ovary to the womb. Rarely, it 
 is lodged in the ovary itself. Both of these latter condi- 
 tions constitute what is technically termed extra-uterine 
 pregnancy. 
 
 After impregnation a series of remarkable changes 
 take place in the uterus, whereby it becomes fitted for the 
 development of the ovum. This development requires a 
 period of forty weeks, or, as commonly recognized, nine 
 calendar months. The changes in the uterus are accom- 
 panied by other changes in the woman. These changes 
 are observable and constitute the symptoms of pregnancy. 
 She knows that she is pregnant by observing these physical 
 changes in her being. There are several of these changes, 
 or symptoms of pregnancy, and they are looked for by 
 married women with considerable solicitude. By them she 
 determines her condition, as she should, and governs her 
 conduct according to what they indicate. 
 
 Perhaps the first thing that attracts a woman's atten-
 
 PREGNANCY. 41 1 
 
 tion, if she be in good health, is the failure of the menses, 
 or the return of her monthly sickness. To the woman 
 who has never known such an omission, this is set down 
 as conclusive evidence of pregnancy. The symptom is 
 ordinarily indicative, but it is by no means an infallible 
 evidence of pregnancy. It not infrequently happens that 
 young married women, even after conception, have a slight 
 flow at the regular period, which deceives them into con- 
 sidering it the menstrual flow. By this deception they 
 are led to -miscalculate the time of confinement. On the 
 other hand, the menses are sometimes arrested after 
 marriage, when conception has not taken place. This 
 suspension is only temporary, and seems to be the result 
 of the profound impression made upon the wife's system 
 by the new relation. It has been said that cases are 
 known where menstruation continued throughout the 
 whole period of gestation. This is incredible, because it 
 is at direct variance with any reasonable theory of men- 
 struation, its purpose and end. There is no doubt that a 
 discharge from the uterus at regular periods has occurred. 
 But that is far from proving that menstruation con- 
 tinued. The similarity of the discharge in time and 
 appearance to regular menstruation does not constitute it 
 such. 
 
 Following the cessation of the menses, there is often, 
 and generally, a sickness at the stomach. It is felt in the 
 morning after rising from bed. This symptom is far from 
 uniform. Some women never are troubled with it during 
 the whole period of gestation. Others are attacked with
 
 412 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a violent nausea and retching for three or four months 
 after conception. In others, this sickness continues for 
 six months, and not infrequently during the entire forty 
 weeks. When this latter is the case, the woman suffer? 
 indescribably, and she is often wasted greatly physically. 
 Sometimes the vomiting is slight and is followed by com- 
 parative relief. With others it is most violent and 
 protracted, even when nothing can be expelled from the 
 stomach. 
 
 Women who are greatly troubled with this nausea 
 during pregnancy are usually those who are likewise 
 affected with slight nausea during their monthly sick- 
 nesses. It is caused by the excitement and irritation of 
 the uterus, with which the stomach sympathizes. By 
 some authorities it is called the dyspepsia of pregnancy. 
 There are no good grounds for this terminology. Dys- 
 pepsia proper is a disease of the stomach, or of some 
 organ immediately connected with the digestive processes. 
 In the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy there is no dis- 
 ease of the stomach nor of any organ concerned with 
 digestion. The stomach may be in a perfectly normal 
 state, at least as much so as it was before conception. 
 
 An old and common proverb affirms that a sick preg- 
 nancy is a safe one, and that the absence of nausea and 
 vomiting is a source of danger to the mother and child. 
 Women who habitually fail to experience these discom- 
 forts are said to be in danger of miscarriage. These 
 affirmations cannot be taken unqualifiedly. They are not 
 borne out by the experience of many mothers and physi-
 
 PREGNANCY. 413 
 
 cians. The pregnancy-sickness is a purely sympathetic 
 condition, and cannot be an absolute guaranty of a safe 
 pregnancy. When it is extremely troublesome it is advis- 
 able to have it relieved as much as possible. Despite all 
 the exceptions, the morning sickness may be set down as 
 one of the certain indications of pregnancy. It is found 
 in the majority of cases. 
 
 Another symptom of pregnancy is an excessive secre- 
 tion of saliva. This is often very annoying to the woman, 
 sometimes even compelling her to forego the pleasure of 
 going into society on account of her inability to prevent 
 the accumulation of the saliva in her mouth. This 
 symptom belongs to the earlier months of gestation, and 
 it may become so excessive as to affect the general health. 
 It is closely allied to the morning sickness and frequently 
 accompanies it. Both of these affections bear directly 
 upon the digestive processes, and may, if they be severe, 
 so affect the nutrition as to greatly weaken the woman. 
 This should not be allowed. The impression prevails 
 among many women that the discomforts of pregnancy 
 are absolutely necessary, and, therefore, must be borne 
 patiently. This is not the case with many of these affec- 
 tions. Excessive modesty, too, often dissuades some 
 women from consulting their medical adviser during the 
 earlier months of gestation, thinking it something of 
 immodesty to betray their condition. Both these assump- 
 tions are erroneous. The ailments of pregnancy can be 
 very materially lessened by proper care and treatment ; 
 some of them can be entirely removed. Suffering that
 
 414 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 can be avoided is no virtue. It is injurious as well, since 
 the woman needs to economize her strength, supporting, 
 as she does, two lives in one. 
 
 It has been said that vomiting is a usual accompani- 
 ment of the morning sickness. There is often another 
 form of vomiting. It is sometimes quite excessive, and is 
 unattended with appreciable nausea. The patient may 
 feel well, with a good appetite ; but as soon as the food is 
 on the stomach, it is expelled. This is a symptom by no 
 means unusual. It is closely allied to another symptom, 
 indigestion, which will be treated immediately. 
 
 Indigestion. 
 
 The stomach is in intimate sympathy with the womb. 
 In all cases of pregnancy there is more or less functional 
 derangement of the stomach. The appetite may be excel- 
 lent and the relish for food as good as is common, but the 
 digestion is imperfectly performed. The food seems to 
 sour upon the stomach, there are eructations of gas, and 
 a sense of oppression or tightness follows which renders 
 the patient very uncomfortable. The only relief seems to 
 be by either spitting up the food or by vomiting it entirely 
 from the stomach. Much difficulty is found in finding any 
 kind of food that will suit the irritated condition of the 
 stomach. The result of this indigestion and want of food- 
 assimilation is that the patient wastes away, becomes thin 
 and weak. The indigestion may and generally does wear 
 away, and at the end of the third or at best at the end of 
 the fourth month. The patient will then have no more
 
 CONSTIPATION AND DIARRHEA. 415 
 
 trouble in this direction until the latter months of gesta- 
 tion, when it returns. The second period of indigestion, 
 however, is from a totally different cause. It is not now 
 a result of the sympathetic influence of the uterus upon the 
 stomach, but because of the pressure of the uterus on the 
 lower border of the stomach. The uterus has now 
 attained such dimensions that it occupies the greater part 
 of the abdominal cavity. Whatever may be the cause of 
 the indigestion of pregnancy, and whatever may be its 
 discomforts and weakening effects, it rarely results in any 
 serious impairment of the stomach or other parts of 
 the digestive system, and will entirely disappear after 
 confinement. 
 
 Constipation and Diarrhea. 
 
 By far the greater number of women during pregnancy 
 are troubled either by constipation or by its opposite, 
 diarrhea. Constipation is the more common. The diar- 
 rhea, when it exists, is generally the result of an excited 
 condition of the nervous system, which manifests itself 
 upon the intestines, where it not only induces the dis- 
 charge of an extra amount of liquid into the bowels, 
 thereby softening the contents, but the peristalic action, 
 which propels the fecal matter, is increased, producing 
 much the same effect as a purgative. Constipation, how- 
 ever, troubles the greater number of women. It is likely 
 to continue throughout the entire period, especially after 
 the third month. It is partly due to indigestion, but, 
 toward the latter months, is more due to the pressure of the
 
 416 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 womb upon the rectum, thereby retarding the passage of 
 the fecal matter. Diet and proper exercise may, to a 
 great extent, overcome these disorders. Sometimes it is 
 necessary to resort to treatment. If the constipation be a 
 result of indigestion, some assistant to the digestive func- 
 tions will be found beneficial. If either condition be 
 obstinate, an astringent may be needed in diarrhea and 
 a laxative in constipation. Drastic purgatives should be 
 avoided lest they lead to miscarriage. A four-grain dose 
 of aloes and myrrh, if there be no special tendency to 
 piles, will be found of great service. It is far more desir- 
 able, if possible, to overcome the sluggishness of the 
 bowels by diet, and ordinarily this can be done. 
 
 Breasts. 
 
 Changes in the contour of the breasts is a good evi- 
 dence of pregnancy. They become larger and firmer to 
 the touch. The veins beneath the skin are more conspicu- 
 ous and of a deeper blue. Frequently a tingling or 
 stinging senbation is experienced. It scarcely amounts to 
 a pain, but the whole breast is tender under pressure, so 
 that clothing ordinarily worn with comfort cannot now 
 be worn without inconvenience. The nipples stand out 
 with greater prominence ; they appear swollen, and some- 
 times become painful. The peculiar, rose-colored circle 
 around the nipple enlarges in size, and gradually assumes 
 a darker hue, and becomes covered with numberless 
 pimple-like elevations. Subsequently, numberless mottled 
 patches of whiter color scatter themselves over and around
 
 ABDOMEN. 417 
 
 the areola. The times in the period of pregnancy in which 
 these changes take place are variable. They sometimes 
 begin to develop themselves in a few weeks, but oftener 
 not until the second and even the third month. In 
 women who are thin and delicate, they will not appear 
 until toward the close of pregnancy. There are a few 
 women who experience no alteration in their breasts until 
 after confinement ; with such women the secretion of milk 
 is likely to be delayed until several days after the child is 
 born. In some rare cases the breasts do not undergo any 
 change whatever. There is, of course, no secretion of 
 milk, and the child must be reared by artificial means. 
 
 Abdomen. 
 
 In the first two months, and even more, the abdomen 
 is less prominent than usual, and presents rather a flat 
 appearance. The navel is drawn and depressed. About 
 the third month the size of the abdomen begins to fluctu- 
 ate. It swells up to considerable size at one time, and 
 then recedes. The wife is sometimes deceived as to her 
 real condition by discovering that her abdomen is less 
 prominent in the fourth month ; thereafter the increase of 
 the abdomen, both in size and in firmness, is more regu- 
 lar. The contour is significant, the pressure of the foetus 
 giving it a pear-like appearance. The navel now begins 
 to protrude. In dropsies and other tumors which pro- 
 duce an enlargement of the abdomen, the shape of the 
 protruding navel is broader and smoother, and less 
 pointed than in pregnancy.
 
 4l8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 There is an enlargement of a woman's abdomen which 
 takes place later in life than the period we are now con- 
 sidering. It is sometimes mistaken for pregnancy. A 
 case in illustration may be given. It was that of a 
 woman upon whom an operation had been performed for 
 polypus of the uterus. This had given her much trouble 
 on account of profuse wasting during her menses. Soon 
 after the removal of the polypus her menstrual period 
 ceased, and the abdomen began to enlarge. Being 
 always sterile and greatly desiring issue, she was over- 
 joyed at the thought that she had now become 
 pregnant as a result of the surgical operation. She was 
 very much saddened when told that this enlargement of 
 the abdomen was only the result of a deposit of adipose 
 matter which not infrequently takes place when the gener- 
 ative period is passed. It was only the evidence of the 
 approach of the winter of life, which destroys with its 
 icy hand all the germs of reproduction. 
 
 Quickening. 
 
 Quickening is a very conclusive evidence of pregnancy. 
 It usually occurs at about the middle of the term of gesta- 
 tion, that is, at the end of the eighteenth week. The 
 time of the quickening varies with different women. 
 Some maintain that they can discern movements of the 
 foetus as early as the end of the third month, while others 
 feel no sensation of the infant life until the sixth month. 
 Some women never feel any movements whatever, and 
 others not until the last month of pregnancy. The reason
 
 QUICKENING. 419 
 
 of this wide variation cannot be satisfactorily given. It 
 has been suggested that a foetus that does not indicate its 
 presence by movements is purely indolent. Perhaps 
 some of the many people daily met who seem scarce ener- 
 getic enough to keep out of common danger, were of this 
 sort in their mother's wombs. Because the mother is not 
 conscious of movement in the foetus, is not conclusive 
 evidence that it is motionless. There may be a lack of 
 sensitiveness in the walls of the womb. 
 
 On the other hand, a woman may be deceived and 
 think she feels the movement of the child, when the actual 
 sensation is caused by a flatulency of the bowels, or drop- 
 sical effusion, or some other wholly different cause. A 
 case came under the author's notice not long since. 
 A woman who was the mother of four children had a 
 sudden cessation of her menses. An enlargement of the 
 abdomen followed, and the woman was convinced that 
 she was pregnant. In a little time longer, at the proper 
 time after the cessation of the menses, she says she dis- 
 tinctly experienced the movements of the foetus. At the 
 end of the sixth month, she was taken with a return of 
 her monthly sickness. I was sent for, and found that 
 though the menstrual flow was excessive, there was no 
 evidence of miscarriage. It lasted a little longer than was 
 usual with her, but ceased and she felt entirely well. At 
 the end of four weeks she menstruated again and regularly 
 thereafter until she really became pregnant. The case 
 was somewhat singular, both in its progress and in its end. 
 The woman was not hysterical in the slightest degree.
 
 42O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The historian Hume says that Queen Mary, in her 
 intense desire to have issue, so confidently asserted that 
 she felt the movement of the foetus that public proclama- 
 tion was made of the condition of the queen. Dispatches 
 were sent to foreign courts. National rejoicing was had. 
 The sex of the child was predetermined to be male. 
 Bonner, the Bishop of London, made public prayers, in 
 which he said that Heaven would pledge to make the boy 
 beautiful and witty. Subsequent events proved, however, 
 that these " quickenings" of Queen Mary were attributable 
 to ill-health and incipient dropsy. 
 
 Sounds of Foetal Heart. 
 
 The sounds of the fcetal heart may be heard first 
 during the fifth month. They average about one hundred 
 and thirty per minute. The sounds are very feeble at first 
 but may be heard quite distinctly during the last three 
 months. In some women when the abdominal walls are 
 thick and heavy these sounds cannot be heard at all. 
 This symptom is of no practical advantage- to either the 
 wife or her husband ; as no one but a physician with a 
 proper instrument can discern them with any satisfactory 
 definiteness. 
 
 General Appearance. 
 
 The alterations in the color of the skin are quite com- 
 mon. It is a symptom of considerable value and worthy 
 of note. Delicate women of fair skin grow darker. 
 Darker may grow fairer. The skin is frequently mottled
 
 HEART-BURN. 421 
 
 over with copper-colored spots, or yellowish blotches. 
 These are usually well defined on the face and neck, or 
 those parts of the body exposed to the air and sun. A 
 dark ring encircles the eyes, and if there be any moles on 
 the body, they increase in size and deepen in color. 
 Oft times the skin becomes loose and wrinkled, giving the 
 young and beautiful wife the appearance of an old, hag 
 gard, care-worn woman. In some instances, a consider- 
 able growth of hair will develop on those parts of the face 
 which in men are covered with beard. The whole appear 
 ance may be altered. Women who ordinarily perspire 
 readily and freely now have a dry, rough skin, while those 
 whose skin is naturally dry and rough, perspire exces- 
 sively and emit an odor that is sometimes quite offensive. 
 Sometimes affections of the cuticle that have been trouble- 
 some for years will disappear and not return. 
 
 Heart-burn. 
 
 Of the minor symptoms of pregnancy, heart-burn is a 
 very common and annoying one. It is the result of indi- 
 gestion. This promotes a sour stomach, giving rise to 
 that peculiar pain erroneously called heart-burn. It can 
 ordinarily be relieved by swallowing some antacid sub- 
 stance, as lime-water, bicarbonate of soda, or magnesia. 
 On the contrary, an acid sometimes seems to give the 
 speediest relief, as lemon-juice, citric acid, or even cider 
 vinegar.
 
 422 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Vitiated Appetite. 
 
 A depraved appetite is another of the common symp- 
 toms. At the same time, it is one of considerable 
 importance and reliability. If a married woman feel an 
 inordinate desire to eat something which is not an article 
 of food at all, as chalk, slate-pencils, charcoal, she may con- 
 clude, without much reasonable doubt, that she is enceinte. 
 There frequently exists a voracious appetite. The woman 
 eats enormously, for her, and still is always hungry. This 
 craving will sometimes compel her to get up at midnight 
 to eat. She may desire only certain kinds of food, or, 
 perhaps, drink. If she refuse to satisfy this craving for 
 particular kinds of food, the thought of it will haunt her 
 day and night. That particular kind of food is always 
 before her mind and in her thoughts. The unsatisfied 
 craving may show itself, as in birth-marks upon the child. 
 It is advisable, therefore, as far as may be without injury, 
 to satisfy all such cravings. 
 
 Toothache. 
 
 Some women are greatly troubled with achings of the 
 teeth during gestation. It is painfully annoying at times. 
 The pain often only appears to be in the teeth, while in 
 reality it is in the jaws or some adjacent nerve. This has 
 been proven by some women, who have had all their 
 teeth extracted without relief from the pain. Extracting 
 teeth at this period should not be done, if it be possible to 
 avoid it. It may result in miscarriage. Stimulating lini-
 
 AFFECTIONS OF THE MIND. 423 
 
 ments or poultices can be applied to the jaws with good 
 results. The pain will cease suddenly after a time without 
 any treatment. 
 
 Affections of the Mind. 
 
 It is not unusual for the mind to be strangely affected, 
 sometimes to the extent that the husband and friends 
 become seriously concerned. The whole intellectual 
 nature seems changed. The wife is more impressible. 
 She is no longer the pleasant, confiding, gentle, light- 
 hearted woman, but becomes soured, complaining, bitter, 
 passionate and jealous, making her husband and dearest 
 friends the special objects of her attacks. There some- 
 times appears an opposite effect in differently-tempered 
 women. Fretfulness and ill-temper, which is the normal 
 condition, give place to sweetness and patience and good- 
 humor. In the latter case, the family are not likely to 
 look upon pregnancy as an unmixed evil. 
 
 Nervous Affection. 
 
 Other affections of the nervous system are sometimes 
 developed of a hysterical nature. The wife will have 
 depressing forebodings of impending evil ; she feels that 
 some great calamity is about to befall herself or some of 
 her family. At other times, she is incredulous of her own 
 condition. She will often invent the most ingenious argu- 
 ments to convince herself and others that all her peculiar 
 symptoms are attributable to any cause but pregnancy. 
 A peculiar kind of insanity is sometimes developed, and it
 
 424 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 may become so serious as to require some sort of restraint 
 put upon the wife's actions. 
 
 The symptoms of pregnancy which have been noted 
 are only those which are most valuable to the unprofes- 
 sional reader. There are other symptoms which the 
 physician notes, but they are only cognizable by him and 
 valuable to him. All the common symptoms have been 
 given. 
 
 Duration of Pregnancy. 
 
 In his text-book on Physiology, Prof. Foster says: 
 " In spite of the increasing distention of its cavity, the 
 uterus remains quiescent, as far as any marked muscular 
 contractions are concerned, until a certain time has run. 
 In the human subject the period of gestation generally 
 lasts from two hundred and seventy-five to two hundred 
 and eighty days, that is, about forty weeks. The general 
 custom is to expect parturition in about two hundred and 
 eighty days from the last menstruation. Seeing that in 
 many cases it is uncertain whether the ovum, which 
 develops into the embryo, left the ovary at the menstrua- 
 tion preceding or succeeding coition, or, as some have 
 urged, independent of menstruation by reason of coition 
 itself, an exact determination of the duration of the time 
 of pregnancy is impossible." 
 
 In concord with the opinion of this well-established 
 authority, it will appear that the exact duration of preg- 
 nancy cannot be determined. It can be approximated 
 sufficiently to meet all ordinary demands. There have
 
 DURATION OF PREGNANCY. 425 
 
 been, however, instances where the happiness of families, 
 the rights of individuals and the interests of nations 
 depended upon this very point. These instances may 
 recur. Ordinarily, as said, a difference of a few days 
 makes no practical difference, and were it not for these 
 extraordinary cases the subject, probably, never would 
 have claimed the profound attention of physicians, philos- 
 ophers and legislators. 
 
 As is usual in cases of this sort, there are extremists. 
 On the one side are those who contend that the laws of 
 Nature -are fixed and unalterable, and that the period of 
 gestation is invariable. On the other hand, there are 
 those who assert with equal confidence that the time of 
 confinement may be accelerated or retarded in various 
 ways and by various instrumentalities. There unques- 
 tionably is abundant evidence to prove that parturition 
 can be prolonged beyond the established two hundred and 
 eighty days. Nor can it be denied that the foetus will 
 live, though the time be shortened very much from this 
 standard. Now, the truth is that not only pregnancy but 
 almost every other function of the physical life is subject 
 to variations, both as to the period of approach and to 
 that of its duration. 
 
 It has been shown elsewhere in this work that the 
 epoch of puberty varies greatly both in the time of its 
 development and its duration, and that this change in life, 
 in the regards named, is conditioned, to a considerable 
 degree, on the temperament and social habits of the indi- 
 vidual. It is well-authenticated that the length of the
 
 426 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 time of 'gestation varies among the lower animals. The 
 period of the cow, for example, is the same as that of the 
 woman, yet there are instances where the calving was 
 deferred thirty or forty days. 
 
 Dr. Napheys has collected some interesting cases of 
 protracted gestation, which may be reproduced here as 
 illustrating the point in hand. He says : " As an illustra- 
 tion of the great interest sometimes attached to the inquiry 
 under discussion, we may cite the celebrated Gardner 
 peerage case, tried by the House of Lords in 1825. Allen 
 Legge Gardner petitioned to have his name inscribed as a 
 peer of the realm on the roll of Parliament. He was the 
 son of Lord Gardner by his second wife. There was 
 another claimant for the peerage, however Henry 
 Fenton Ladis on the ground, as alleged, that he was 
 the son of Lord Gardner by his first and subsequently 
 divorced wife. Medical and moral evidence was adduced 
 to establish that he was an illegitimate child. Lady 
 Gardner parted from her husband on January 20, 1802, he 
 going to the West Indies, and not again seeing his wife 
 until the nth of July following. The child whose legiti- 
 macy was called in question was born on December 8 of 
 that year. The plain medical inquiry was whether this 
 child, born either three hundred and eleven days after 
 intercourse (from January 30 to December 8), or one hun- 
 dred and fifty days (from July 1 1 to December 8), could be 
 the son of Lord Gardner. As there was no pretense that 
 there was a premature birth, the child having been well- 
 developed, the conception must have dated from January
 
 DURATION OF PREGNANCY. 427 
 
 30. The medical question was therefore narrowed down to 
 this: Was the alleged protracted pregnancy (three hundred 
 and eleven days) consistent with experience ? Sixteen of 
 the principal obstetric practitioners of Great Britain were 
 examined on this point. Eleven concurred in the opinion 
 that natural pregnancy might be deferred to a period 
 which would cover the birth of the alleged illegitimate 
 child. Because, however, of the moral evidence alone, 
 which proved the adulterous intercourse of Lady Gardner 
 with a Mr. Ladis, the House decided that the title should 
 descend to the son of the second wife." 
 
 There is on record one fact, well observed, which 
 establishes beyond doubt the possibility of the protraction 
 of pregnancy beyond the two hundred and eighty days. 
 The case is reported by the learned Dr. Desormeaux, of 
 Paris, and occurred under his own notice in the Hospital 
 de Maternite of that city. A woman, the mother of three 
 children, became insane. Her physician thought that a 
 new pregnancy might re-establish her intellectual faculties. 
 Her husband consented to enter on the register of the 
 hospital each visit he was allowed to make her, which took 
 place only every three months. So soon as evidence of 
 pregnancy showed itself, the visits were discontinued. 
 The woman was confined two hundred and ninety days 
 after conception. 
 
 The late distinguished Prof. Charles D. Meigs, of 
 Philadelphia, published a case (in which he deemed that 
 entire confidence could be placed) of the prolongation of 
 pregnancy to four hundred and twenty days, or sixty
 
 428 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 weeks. Dr. Atlee published two cases which nearly 
 equalled three hundred and six days each. Prof. 
 Simpson, of Edinburgh, records, as having occurred 
 in his own practice, cases in which the period reached 
 three hundred and nineteen days. In The Dublin 
 Quarterly Journal of Medical Science a case of protracted 
 pregnancy is related by Dr. Joynt. The evidence is 
 positive that the minimum duration must have been three 
 hundred and seventeen days, or about six weeks more 
 than the average. Dr. Elsasser found, in one hundred 
 and sixty cases of pregnancy, eleven protracted to periods 
 varying from three hundred to three hundred and eighteen 
 days. 
 
 What May be Known of the Child Before Birth. 
 
 The opinions of writers on this subject vary greatly. 
 Some affirm that much can be known of the sex and other 
 physiological conditions, while others, with equal firmness, 
 say that absolutely nothing can be foretold on these 
 points. Notwithstanding these differences of opinion, it 
 is now pretty conclusively established, by the most reliable 
 scientific tests, that males or females can be produced at 
 will. The establishment of this fact and its practical 
 observation would be very valuable in some families, and 
 for a community at large. The inequality in numbers of 
 the sexes could be prevented to a great degree. But its 
 especial value would be in those families where there is a 
 preponderance of one sex with a strong desire for the 
 other. It is almost universal with husbands and wives
 
 WHAT MAY BE KNOWN OF THE CHILD, ETC. 429 
 
 that they desire to have the family divided between boys 
 and girls. It certainly is better that it should be so. It 
 makes a happier home, a more equally-balanced house- 
 hold. 
 
 M. Thury, professor in the Academy at Geneva, in 
 Switzerland, has shown how the sexes can be produced at 
 will. Scientists had observed that queen bees lay female 
 eggs first and male eggs afterwards. The same was 
 observed to be the case with the domestic hen ; the first 
 eggs laid invariably gave female chicks, the last laid males. 
 It was observed that mares given early in their periods 
 bore fillies, while those brought in later bore horse colts. 
 Taking these established facts, Prof. Thury laid down a 
 general law for stock-breeders ; if females be desired, give 
 the dam at the first signs of heat ; if males be wanted, 
 give her toward the end. This law was adopted, and the 
 result of its test was made known through the President 
 of the Swiss Agricultural Society. An extract from this 
 report is given below : 
 
 " In the first place, on twenty-two successive occa- 
 sions, I desired jto have heifers. My cows were of the 
 Schurtz breed and my bull a pure Durham. I succeeded 
 in these cases. Having bought a pure Durham cow, it 
 was very important for me to have a new bull to super- 
 sede the one I had bought at great expense without leav- 
 ing to chance the production of a male. So I followed 
 according to the prescription of Prof. Thury, and the suc- 
 cess has proved once more the truth of the law. I have 
 obtained from my Durham six more bulls (Schurtz-Dur-
 
 43O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ham cross), for field work ; and having chosen cows of the 
 same color and height, I obtained perfect matches of 
 oxen. In short, I have made in all, twenty-nine experi- 
 ments, and in every one I succeeded in the production of 
 what I was looking for male and female. I had not 
 one single failure. All the experiments have been made 
 by myself without another person's intervention ; conse- 
 quently I do declare that I consider as real and certainly 
 perfect the method of Prof. Thury. " 
 
 Dr. Napheys, in referring to this subject, relates a num- 
 ber of cases, gathered from well-authenticated sources, all 
 tending to verify the principle laid down. The Medical 
 and Surgical Reporter y of Philadelphia, gives the result of 
 similar experiments with animals. A like conclusion was 
 reached in every case. This law has been tried, according 
 to statistical reports, upon the human family with like 
 results. Dr. F. J. W. Packman, of Winborne, has stated 
 in The Lancet that, in the human female, conception in 
 the first half of the period between- the menses produces 
 female offspring ; if it take place in the latter half, the 
 offspring will be a male. When a woman has gone 
 beyond the time of her expected confinement, the child 
 will generally be a boy. 
 
 In The Medical and Surgical Reporter, of Philadelphia, 
 a respectable physician writes that, in numerous instances 
 that have come under his own observation, Prof. Thury 's 
 theory has proven correct. Whenever sexual connection 
 has been had in from two to six days after the cessation of 
 the menses, girls have been born ; and whenever it took
 
 WHAT MAY BE KNOWN OF THE CHILD, ETC. 431 
 
 place at from nine to twelve days after the menstrual 
 period, boys were the result. " In every case," he says, 
 " I have ascertained not only the date at which the mother 
 placed conception, but also the time when the menses 
 ceased, the date of the first and subsequent intercourse 
 for a month or more after the cessation of the menses, 
 etc." 
 
 Another physician writes to the same journal the result 
 of his experiences and observations, verifying the fore- 
 going. A farmer in Louisiana, writing in the Turf, Field 
 and Farm, adds his testimony in support of the Thury 
 law: " I have already been able, in many cases, to guess 
 with certainty the sex of a future infant. More than thirty 
 times, among my friends, I have predicted the sex of a 
 child before its birth, and the event proved nearly every 
 time that I was correct." 
 
 So much for the testimony of those who have made the 
 operations of the law a matter of study. The author can 
 say from his own observations, that in each of a dozen or 
 more instances of which he was cognizant, where there 
 existed a desire to have no issue, and the exercise of the 
 marital act was deferred until it was supposed the condition 
 of conception was past, but where such was not the case 
 and conception followed, the child born was a boy. Put- 
 ting all this accumulation of testimony together, and much 
 more of the same kind that could be gathered, it appears 
 that by careful observation the sex of the unborn child 
 can be told with certainty. More, it can be said with some 
 degree of confidence that parents can, by carefully observ-
 
 432 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ing the conditions of sex as indicated before, have offspring 
 of the sex desired. There will, of course, be exceptions to 
 the law, as there are in all laws, but the general truths are 
 so well authenticated that it can safely be set down as the 
 law of sex among animals, and a law whose provisions 
 extend to the race of man. 
 
 Twins, Triplets, Etc. 
 
 As a general rule, women bear but one child at a time. 
 To this rule there are many exceptions. It is no uncom- 
 mon thing to meet twins and occasionally triplets. Such 
 prolific production at a single birth is the result of an over- 
 exertion of Nature, and, as it is to be expected, such 
 extraordinary production in number is attended with a 
 corresponding degree of feebleness, both mental and phys- 
 ical, in the product. This fact has been established con- 
 clusively. A careful examination has demonstrated that 
 of imbeciles and idiots a much greater ratio is found among 
 twins than of those born singly. The same source has 
 established the physical inferiority of twins as compared 
 with single-birth children. Among the relatives of imbe- 
 ciles and idiots, twin-bearing is quite common. Dr. 
 Napheys says that " in fact the whole history of twin births 
 is of an exceptional character, indicating imperfect develop- 
 ment and feeble organization in the product, and leading 
 us to regard twins in the human species as a departure 
 from physiological law, and, therefore, injurious to all con- 
 cerned. Monsters born without brains have rarely occurred 
 except among twins." From these considerations, it is
 
 TWINS, TRIPLETS, ETC. 433 
 
 fortunate that so small a proportion of the children born 
 are twins. The twins form only a little over one per cent, 
 of the entire number of children born. 
 
 But little is known of the causes which lead to this 
 abnormal child-birth. Science as yet has failed to give any 
 satisfactory solution of the fact, and contents itself with 
 calling it a " freak of Nature." But as Nature does nothing 
 by accident, there must be a combination of forces by 
 which this departure from the general rule is brought 
 about. The cause of the dual birth is by some thought to 
 be due to the father, by others to the mother. Facts 
 prove that it may be due to either. Observation favors a 
 hereditary predisposition to this form of prolific child- 
 bearing. It seems to be peculiar to some families. This may 
 be seen in the fact that a woman who has had twins by one 
 husband, has also had twins by another, and even by a 
 third. Cases of the kind are on record. The husbands, 
 having been previously married, had never known but a 
 single birth with their former wives. The same evidence 
 of family trait has also been noted in the case of men who, 
 no matter how many different wives they may have, always 
 have twin births. A case in point is that of the country- 
 man who was presented to the Empress of Russia in 1755. 
 He had been twice married. With the first wife he had 
 fifty-seven children in twenty-one confinements. The 
 second wife had thirty-three children in thirteen confine- 
 ments. At no confinement of either wife was there born 
 less than two children.
 
 434 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Second Pregnancies. 
 
 A question of some importance in this connection is: 
 Can a woman who is pregnant conceive and develop a 
 second child at the same time ? This phenomenon is not 
 uncommon among the lower animals. Among dogs, for 
 example, it has often been known that the mother has 
 bred pups of entirely different breeds at one litter, prov- 
 ing that one conception may follow another and both 
 develop into maturity. The same has been observed 
 among swine. Mares have been known to bear twins of 
 which one was a horse and the other a mule. In the 
 human family, cases are on record where a woman has 
 borne twins, one white and the other a negro, the result 
 of coition on the same day with two men of different race. 
 Dr. Henry relates a case which happened in Brazil, in 
 which a Creole woman gave birth to triplets of three dis- 
 tinct races, one white, one black and the other brown, and 
 in each child there was the distinguishing characteristics 
 of its race. 
 
 In all these instances, the evidence is that conceptions 
 followed each other very rapidly, that the offspring were 
 developed synchronously and born at the same time. 
 But there are examples on record of second and concurrent 
 pregnancies in which several months intervened between 
 the dates of delivery, each child having all the evidences of 
 a foetus at full term. Mary Anne Bigand, at the age of 
 thirty-seven, on April 30, 1848, gave birth to a living boy 
 .it full term, and on September 16 following was delivered
 
 SECOND PREGNANCIES. ' 435 
 
 of a living girl, which had the perfect development of a 
 child at full term of gestation. This case is authenticated 
 by the testimony of Professors Eisenman and Periche, 
 surgeon-majors of the military hospital of Strasburg. It 
 will be seen that an interval of four and a half mouths 
 occurred between these two deliveries. The first child 
 lived two and a half months, the second a year. The 
 death of the mother occurred soon after. An examination 
 showed that she had but one womb instead of two, as had 
 been supposed, so that these two children had been 
 developed at the same time in one womb. 
 
 Benoit Franquet, of Lyons, relates a case that came 
 under his own observation. On January 20, 1870, he 
 delivered a woman of a child, and in five months and six 
 days afterward he delivered the same woman of a second 
 child. In both cases the children were fully developed, 
 and bore the evidence of birth at full term. This case is 
 well-authenticated, having been presented to two notaries 
 at Lyons, MM. Caillot and Desurgey, with the certificates 
 of their baptisms, that the singular case might be placed 
 upon record for the benefit of the medical and legal 
 professions. 
 
 These, with similar cases that might be cited, leave no 
 room for doubt that an interval of several months may 
 elapse between the births of children that have been devel- 
 oped in the womb at the same time. The question 
 remaining to be settled is : Were these children twins ? 
 Were they conceived at the same time and the growth of 
 one so retarded that it required the longer time for its
 
 436 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 maturing ? Or did a second conception take place at an 
 interval of several months after the first ? If it be granted 
 that a second pregnancy can occur, then the second child 
 of Mary Anne Bigand must have been conceived after the 
 quickening of the first child. This must lead to the 
 admission that two children of different ages, begotten by 
 different fathers, may exist in the womb at the same time. 
 The question is much complicated. The truth seems to 
 be that though we have the preponderance of evidence, 
 that, in very rare instances, a second conception may take 
 place during pregnancy, yet such a theory is at variance 
 with the whole economy of the reproductive process and 
 irreconcilable with reason. It would require much fuller 
 evidence than is now attainable to firmly establish the 
 hypothesis. It is more consistent with our present infor- 
 mation of the laws of reproduction to assume that both 
 children were conceived at or about the same time, and 
 that for some unknown cause, the development of the 
 second child was retarded. 
 
 It is no uncommon occurrence in the case of twins to 
 find one child strong, vigorous and well-matured, while 
 the other shows all the indications of a child prematurely 
 born. A few years ago a physician was called in a case 
 of confinement. He delivered the woman of a healthy 
 child, apparently well-developed. He left the house with 
 the feeling that everything was doing well and no trouble 
 could arise. A week later he was called to see the same 
 woman and delivered her of a second child, not fully 
 developed and still-born. There was every indication of
 
 SECOND PREGNANCIES. 437 
 
 several months' difference in the ages of the children born 
 so near each other, but this was not sufficient grounds for 
 assuming anything but that they were conceived at the 
 same time. It sometimes happens in the case of twins 
 that one may be born from one to two months prematurely 
 and the other carried to the full term. This is much more 
 easily accounted for than where the first birth is mature 
 and the second apparently immature. The only explana- 
 tion that seems to satisfy some minds in cases of the sort 
 is that the conception of the second child was subsequent 
 to that of the first by almost the difference of months. 
 To support this hypothesis, some very singular and 
 really wonderful cases have been adduced. 
 
 There are instances upon record in which the second 
 conception attached itself to the first, thus presenting the 
 phenomenon of the growth of a child within a child. A 
 Geneva journal records a case in point: A correspondent 
 of The Dantzic Gazette, says that on Sunday, Febru- 
 ary i, 1869, at Schiliewen, near Dirschan, a " young and 
 blooming" shepherd's wife was delivered of a girl otherwise 
 sound, but having on the " lower part of her back, between 
 her hips, a swelling as big as two good-sized fists, through 
 the walls of which a well-developed foetus may be felt. 
 Its limbs indicate a growth of from five to six months, and 
 its movements are lively. The father called in the 
 Health Commissioner, Dr. Preuss, from Dirschan, and 
 begged him to remove the swelling, together with the 
 foetus. The doctor, however, after a careful examination, 
 declared that there was a possibility, in this extraordinary
 
 438 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 case, of the child within the swelling coming to maturity. 
 Its existence and palpable motions were apparent to all 
 present. No physician could be justified in destroying 
 this marvelous being. It ought rather to be protected 
 and cherished. The new-born girl, notwithstanding her 
 singular burden, is of unusual strength and beauty, and 
 takes the breast very cheerfully." 
 
 Some further information in regard to this singular 
 phenomenon is reported in The Weser Zeitung, of Feb- 
 ruary 20, 1869. It quotes from The Dantzic Gazette 
 some remarks that were made by the Health Commis- 
 sioner, Dr. Preuss, of Dirschan, in which he reaffirms the 
 facts given in the preceding report. He said he was sum- 
 moned on the first of February to the child, and saw the 
 vigorous movements and felt the members of the fcetus 
 within the swelling as described. " It was evidently a 
 double creation. The case thus far, though rare, is not 
 the only one. But what is unusual and hitherto unknown 
 in medical literature is the fact that the girl, which has 
 been carried the full term of gestation, is alive to-day, but 
 the foetus within the swelling has also, in the eleventh day 
 after birth, further developed and palpably increased in 
 size. The swelling is now four and one-half inches long, 
 three and one-half inches wide, high and pear-shaped. 
 The head lies underneath on the left, the body toward the 
 right." 
 
 This is the latest information with regard to this remark- 
 able case to be had. It has been reported that the child, 
 or children, were taken by special request before the Nat-
 
 MORAL ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 439 
 
 ural History Society of Dantzic, and the mother had gone 
 to Berlin for medical counsel. It would be very interest- 
 ing to have the sequel to this case, but, unfortunately, it 
 is not to be had at present. It certainly is the most 
 remarkable on record. 
 
 Moral Aspect of the Subject. 
 
 This question of dual conception has a moral and eco- 
 nomical aspect on which may depend the peace and 
 comfort of a family. On its issue may depend the honor 
 and chastity of a wife, both with reference to her husband 
 and to the community. She may have conceived by her 
 husband, and he, after that event, may have lived in abso- 
 lute continence. Perhaps he may be absent from home 
 during the entire period of gestation. If the wife then be 
 delivered of children at an interval of say two or three 
 months, the question whether these children were the 
 product of one conception or of two, becomes one of 
 grave moment. It involves the wife's fidelity if the 
 theory advocated by some medical authorities be true, 
 that a conception may take place two or three months 
 subsequent to the first. If it be granted that such an 
 after-conception can take place, the instances in which it 
 has been done are so very rare, that it weakens the belief 
 in its possibility at all. 
 
 Since it is only an assumption, after all, it is far better 
 for the peace of a family and for the well-being of a com- 
 munity to adhere to the most favorable theory, namely, 
 that these conceptions took place simultaneously, and
 
 440 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 that, for lack of nourishment or for some other reason, 
 the development of the one foetus was delayed. It is open- 
 ing a way for unjust accusations of a faithful wife, and 
 involves matters of relationship and heirship that are 
 perplexing. 
 
 What May Be Known of the Sex. 
 
 Can sex of the child be foretold ? There are always 
 to be found gossipy old women who aver that they are 
 able to tell precisely what the issue will be. When asked 
 by what means that can be determined, they will reply 
 that they know by the shape of the mother's abdomen. 
 It must be confessed that some of the guesses made on 
 this basis have proved correct. Notwithstanding, it is 
 certain that there is no trustworthy evidence that the sex 
 of the foetus has anything to do with its position in the 
 pileus. All guesses on this basis are mere conjecture, 
 nothing more. Wives, too, sometimes think they can 
 determine the sex by the nature of the movement of the 
 foetus. They affirm that boys are much more active and 
 stronger than girls. In this mode of pre-determination, 
 it rarely turns out as the mother has said. 
 
 But there is a way by which the wife can determine 
 the sex of her child with considerable certainty. It is by 
 observing the time in her menstrual month in which the 
 conception took place. It has been explained on another 
 page in this work that if the conception take place imme- 
 diately before or soon after the menses, the issue will be 
 a girl. If, toward the end of the fruitful period, it will be
 
 WHAT MAY BE KNOWN OF THE SEX. 441 
 
 a boy. In general, the rule is, conception before the 
 menstrual flow produces a boy ; after, a girl. This is 
 the mother's way of determining the sex of her unborn 
 child, and it is reasonably trustworthy. 
 
 Some physicians who are well-skilled in the use of the 
 stethoscope, and possessed of sufficient keenness of ear to 
 distinguish a difference in faint sounds, can determine the 
 sex of the child in the later months of pregnancy. It is 
 by noting the pulsations of the foetal heart. The average 
 number of pulsations in the heart of the female foetus is 
 one hundred and forty-one, while that of males is only 
 one hundred and fourteen. There is sufficient difference 
 to allow a detection, though it requires careful observa- 
 tion. If the pulsations exceed one hundred and thirty, 
 the child will certainly be a girl ; if under that number, it 
 will be a boy. 
 
 By this same method, also, the presence of twins in 
 the womb can be determined with absolute accuracy. 
 When the physician, with the aid of the stethoscope, is 
 able to detect the pulsations of two hearts, one on either 
 side of the abdomen, the evidence of the existence of two 
 children is conclusive. Except to the mother who care- 
 fully notes the time of conception, and to the expert 
 physician in the later months of gestation, nothing can be 
 determined with any reliability concerning the sex of the 
 child before birth. But the methods here stated can be 
 adopted with considerable confidence.
 
 442 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Hygiene of Pregnancy. 
 
 A woman in reasonably good health and living in 
 harmony with the ordinary laws of hygiene requires little 
 change in her conduct during pregnancy. If she have a 
 vigorous, healthful life, prospective maternity need give 
 rise to no gloomy forebodings. The ordeal is certainly a 
 trying one, but it contains none of those terrors and 
 impossible feats of physical endurance with which the 
 expansive fancy of some gossipy house-wives delight to 
 clothe it. If it be a first child, it is advisable that the 
 wife disabuse her mind as far as possible of all the suffer- 
 ings and dangers which she must encounter. This will be 
 no easy task. The difficulty is greatly enhanced, 
 especially in rural neighborhoods, by the propensity of 
 other women to talk to such wives about the future. 
 
 These gossipy matrons, good but unwise, seem to take 
 special delight in dwelling upon the horrors of confine- 
 ment, labors and birth-pangs. They themselves have 
 borne children, and the magnifying of the birth process 
 seems to give them a standing in their own eyes which 
 they desire to suitably impress upon the new candidate for 
 maternal honors. They say, in effect: " The birth of a 
 child is a tremendous undertaking. It requires the 
 expenditure of incalculable fortitude, strength, labor and 
 suffering. We have borne several children, and, therefore, 
 you ought to look upon us with something of respect and 
 veneration." All this is well enough, and true enough, 
 after a manner; but it has a depressing effect on the
 
 HYGIENE OF PREGNANCY. 443 
 
 young wife. It leads her to look forward with anxious 
 solicitude to her confinement; to brood over its most 
 uninviting aspects and to worry herself into the worst 
 possible condition for meeting the demands of child- 
 labor. 
 
 It is very simple, but it may help young wives, to 
 remember that they are not to endure the trials of child- 
 birth until they shall be confined. There never was and 
 there never will be a child born without pain. This is 
 axiomatic. But the ordeal is not the terrible excruciation 
 which excited imagination may paint it to be. The rea- 
 sonable thing for the prospective mother to do is to have 
 herself in the best possible physical condition for her con- 
 finement. She can, in a great measure, mitigate the trials 
 of that event, and almost wholly eliminate the element 
 of danger from it. To the attainment of this desirable 
 condition, it is advisable for her that she talk as little as 
 possible with other women about the coming hour. Let 
 her think as little as possible about it. It will come, and 
 come soon enough. Her husband, her mother, and her 
 physician are her best confidants and counsellors. Let her 
 remember, too, that the great God, who orders all things 
 below, has appointed His way of bringing men and women 
 into the world; He is wise and good, and lays no burden 
 on any of His children greater than they can bear. Let her 
 occupy her mind with the present, not the future. When 
 the mind forges ahead, let it leap beyond the few hours of 
 pain, and dwell on the permanent and fathomless joys and 
 blessings of maternity. Her present care should be to 
 keep her strength and promote her health.
 
 444 MAIDENHO0D AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 A reputable author says: "Those ailments to which 
 pregnant women are liable are most of them inconveniences 
 rather than diseases, although they may be aggravated 
 to a degree of real danger. Arising as they do from the 
 temporary condition of the organism, what they require 
 is, not such medical treatment as may be needed for a 
 true disease, but rather a general hygienic regimen. For a 
 similar reason, while on the one hand it may not be possi- 
 ble to remove them entirely, yet, on the other they can 
 almost always be alleviated. In general, however, it may 
 be first observed that such a way of living as shall main- 
 tain and elevate the standard of general, mental and phy- 
 sical health, will, of course, increase the power of resisting 
 and surmounting all ailments whatever." 
 
 Pleasant Surroundings. 
 
 At first, pleasant surroundings are essentially neces- 
 sary, both for the health of the mother and the good of 
 the child. This need not imply wealth or luxuries, but 
 merely desirable and agreeable companionships, a com- 
 fortable home, and freedom from exhausting toil and 
 distressing anxieties. Many persons are now suffering 
 from a lack of vitality which is a direct result of the over- 
 burdening of women during pregnancy, and by the trials 
 and privations endured by the early settlers of the 
 country. The breeder who desires a fine, healthy, well- 
 developed animal, is specially careful of the dam while 
 she is carrying it. An equal regard for the well-being of 
 his children should persuade him to care for their mother
 
 PLEASANT SURROUNDINGS. 445 
 
 during the time of her pregnancy. The superior place 
 which human beings hold in the world, and the father's, 
 own relation to his children, ought to be sufficient to 
 incite him to the greatest possible care of the mother 
 during gestation. A prudent regard for the future should 
 also prevail. When a child is born dwarfed, deformed, or 
 enfeebled, and grows up to maturity to discover that he 
 owes his unenviable handicapping for life to the lack of 
 care bestowed on or by his mother while he was in her 
 womb, what must be his feelings toward that parent? 
 Looking beyond and above this, what must be the regard 
 placed upon such carelessness by the great Author of 
 Nature and the promulgator of Nature's laws. 
 
 The responsibility whjch rests upon parents concerning 
 their offspring extends farther than mere physical being. 
 It reaches to the intellectual character and moral bias of 
 the child. These are largely predetermined by the con- 
 duct of the parents, and especially of the mother. The 
 child's future depends upon her during the time the child 
 is a part of herself. She is not an independent being, with 
 no one to care for or think about but herself. Another 
 life is developing within her. It is now identified with 
 herself and inseparable from her. But a time will come 
 when it will have an independent existence. She is a 
 mother from the moment of conception. While the child 
 remains a part of herself, it is so delicate and frail that it 
 requires even greater consideration from her and more 
 careful attention than after birth. 
 
 It should be the mother's ambition to bear healthy,
 
 446 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 well-formed, intelligent children. It may be safely 
 assumed that such is the desire of all mothers. It is pos- 
 sible that this be done almost without exception. And, 
 yet, how few mothers there are who give to the conditions 
 under which such desired offspring are possible a heed 
 sufficient to make the end attainable. The country is full 
 of ill-formed, half-developed men and women, and children 
 are being born every day that are puny, weak and 
 deformed. This is the result either of ignorance On the 
 part of the mothers of the influence they are able to exert 
 over their unborn babes, or of a criminal neglect of the 
 means by which such result could be avoided. 
 
 Food. 
 
 During gestation the wife should pay considerable 
 attention to the food she eats. The supply must be 
 abundant, of good quality, nourishing and blood-making. 
 The necessities of the case demand this. She is made, 
 through her digestion and nutrition, to do double duty 
 for herself and for a rapidly-developing being within 
 her. The quantity should exceed what she is accustomed 
 to in ordinary circumstances, and yet not be excessive. 
 Overloading the stomach either with food or drink inter- 
 feres with its natural action, and, hence, defeats the very 
 end aimed at. More frequent eating, rather than a larger 
 quantity at regular times, is preferable. The food should 
 be good, plain, highly nutritious, and confined to such 
 articles as are found to be most agreeable to the stomach. 
 This can be determined only by actual experience. No
 
 CLOTHING. 447 
 
 general directions can be given that would be of practical 
 use. Animal food, tender and well-cooked, is generally 
 suitable to all wives in pregnancy. It is rich in certain 
 constituents necessary to meet the demands of her system 
 at this time. Vegetables cf good quality and ripe fruits 
 are always desirable, especially if there be a tendency to 
 constipation, as is most frequently the case. Porridge, or 
 a diet of cracked wheat, is often a sufficient laxative diet, 
 and is nourishing as well. 
 
 Many women suffer excessively from paroxysms of 
 hunger which attack them in the night. Provision should 
 be made for these, by having at hand some light biscuits 
 and a bowl of milk, placed so conveniently that there need 
 be no necessity for arising from the bed. These cravings 
 are often for some particular kind of food. As far as does 
 not interfere with the general health, this desire should be 
 humored. " It is a curious fact," says a writer on the 
 subject of food, " that the modification in the digestive 
 system during pregnancy is sometimes so great that sub- 
 stances ordinarily the most indigestible are eaten without 
 any inconvenience, and even with benefit, while the most 
 healthful articles become hurtful and act like poison." As 
 the foetus develops, its demands for support will cor- 
 respondingly increase, and a larger quantity of food will 
 be found necessary for the mother. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 The style and manner of adjusting the clothing during 
 this period is a disideratum. There are few other things 
 which have a greater bearing upon the comfort of the
 
 448 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 mother and the good of her child than the one named. 
 Some mothers, particularly young ones, will wear corsets 
 and have them laced so as to seriously interfere with the 
 easy and natural enlargement of the abdomen. This is 
 not only foolish, a prompting of pride, perhaps, to conceal 
 the condition as long as possible and as far as possible 
 from others, but it is also hurtful alike to mother and 
 child. It is a false modesty which prompts a woman in 
 honorable wedlock to attempt to cover the fact of preg- 
 nancy. There is no man or woman in society whose 
 opinion is worth considering who will criticise a wife who 
 is thus fulfilling one of the highest ends of her nature. 
 True modesty and delicacy are intimately associated with 
 honesty. The efforts of the mother to deceive her friends 
 regarding her condition can very rarely succeed, and the 
 feeling of repugnance at the palpable cheat goes far toward 
 counteracting the respect and reverence her condition 
 otherwise would command. 
 
 The French term enceinte was originally applied to 
 pregnant women from a habit of laying aside the belt or 
 girdle which they were otherwise accustomed to wear ; 
 hence, the term enceinte means to be unbound, and has 
 come to be applied to women in ante-confinement mother- 
 hood. Loosening the girdle was for the purpose of 
 allowing the free and natural development of the foetus, 
 and the enlargement of the mother's abdomen. The same 
 necessity exists now as formerly for this wise provision. 
 While there is no demand that the mother make an undue 
 advertisement of her state, which would be as immodest
 
 CLOTHING. 449 
 
 as the attempts at its concealment, it is eminently desirable 
 that her dress, especially about those parts of her body 
 which are the regions of procreative life, be worn quite 
 loosely. This can be done without surrendering up all 
 neatness and taste The Spartan mothers were compelled 
 by law to wear loose clothing during gestation, the theory 
 being that as the future of the State depended upon the 
 character of the children which were born to it, the State 
 had the right to protect itself by compelling its women to 
 produce the best of which they were capable. 
 
 The wearing of stays during this time may be attended 
 with serious consequences. Should they be worn, how- 
 ever, they should be as loose as possible, and so con- 
 structed as to readily accommodate to the changing figure. 
 No irregularity should be allowed, as this will bring 
 irregular pressure. The breasts especially should be free 
 from pressure, as in their enlarging and often irritable con- 
 dition, abscesses and excoriated nipples are likely to be the 
 result. One experience with sore breasts will be sufficient 
 for any woman who survives it to effectually warn her 
 against any actions on her part that are liable to bring 
 a repetition. 
 
 The weight of the clothing worn -is no inconsiderable 
 matter. The state of the weather will have something to 
 do with the quantity of clothing, but its quality can materi- 
 ally lessen the weight. The circulation of pregnant women 
 is often not so good as at other times, and consequently 
 there is a tendency to coldness. This must be guarded 
 against. It can be done, however, without in any appre-
 
 4$O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ciable degree increasing the weight of the dress worn. No 
 fabric meets all the demands so fully as flannel, especially 
 for under-garments. It is warm, porous, and comparatively 
 light in weight. Worn under loose over-dress, it permits 
 the free circulation of air from and to the body, and is 
 thus a most effectual preventive of rheumatism of the womb 
 and kindred affections. During the later months there is 
 more or less pressure upon the vessels which distribute the 
 blood to the lower limbs. This is caused by the advance 
 of the enlarging foetus. An additional obstruction to the 
 already impeded circulation by closely-fitting dress should 
 by all means be avoided. It is not unusual to find women 
 whose veins are enlarged and knotted. Very troublesome 
 ulcers may be developed which seriously interfere with 
 locomotion, if they do not prevent it entirely. The bands 
 on the lower ends of the drawers and the stocking-sup- 
 porters should be as loose as possible. These girdles act 
 directly in impeding the circulation, which already is 
 hindered. Comfort is a very good guide in matters of 
 dress. 
 
 Exercise. 
 
 The innate modesty and a decent regard for public 
 esteem will lead women to withdraw very largely from the 
 public during the ante-confinement period. Their condi- 
 tion also necessitates that they receive more care and 
 attention from others than is necessary to be bestowed at 
 other times. While these things are so, it is not to be 
 advised that too-close confinement to the house and
 
 EXERCISE. 451 
 
 especially to comfortable reclinement be pursued. Some 
 women never allow themselves to be seen or to appear 
 outside their homes during the later months of gestation. 
 They will spend the time upon an easy-chair, and demand 
 and receive a large attention. This is dangerous to both 
 mother and child. Such confinement has the tendency to 
 increase the natural disposition to irritation and nervous- 
 ness, even to engender a spirit of unrest and melancholy, 
 to the discomfort of the entire family. Nothing is more 
 beneficial to women in this condition than abundant gentle 
 exercise in the open air. Pure air and sunshine are the 
 great life-giving principles of Nature, and contribute more 
 to cheerfulness and happiness than anything else. In a 
 sense, it is as necessary for the good of the unborn child 
 that its mother have pure air and sunshine as it is for the 
 immature fruit of the tree and vegetable that the parent 
 stock be supplied with thesetfactors. 
 
 This open-air exposure is best and most safely taken on 
 foot. It should never be extended to the limit of fatigue. 
 Too-active exercise, especially if it extend to roughness, 
 such as running, jumping or dancing, should be strictly 
 prohibited. Horseback riding, going in a vehicle over 
 rough roads, and lifting or carrying heavy burdens, are to 
 be avoided scrupulously. Any of these forms of exercise 
 tends to produce miscarriage. Miscarriage is always to 
 be dreaded, and it is particularly liable to occur in the 
 earlier months. Very extended journeys by any mode 
 cf locomotion are not to be undertaken. They are 
 neither good nor safe. Embarrassing and dangerous 

 
 452 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 circumstances frequently arise in such protracted travel. 
 A peculiar condition of the nervous system is created by 
 the vibratory motion of railway coaches or even on street 
 cars, which induces vomiting. This vomiting may rup- 
 ture the very delicate membrane by which the fcetus is 
 attached to the inner surface of the womb. The result 
 is inordinate flooding, followed by miscarriage. 
 
 Common sense and a proper comprehension of her 
 condition and the capabilities of her strength, will be a 
 sufficient guide to the wife in the matter of exercise. It 
 is enough that she be advised that abundant exercise, 
 gentle and exhilarating, and in the open air and sun, be 
 taken. The amount of this exercise should differ with 
 different women, as should also its quality. What may 
 be needed by one is hazardous to another. Premonitory 
 sensations will be a sufficient warning to the mother when 
 she is exceeding or approaching the confines of safety. 
 It is advisable that she always be in such situations that 
 she can at once cease her exercise and secure rest and 
 quiet on the approach of these warnings. This she 
 cannot do unless she remain near her own home, and it is 
 for this reason, among others, that long journeys are to 
 be discouraged. The first approach of fatigue should be 
 the signal for the discontinuance of the exercise at that 
 time. Frequent short walks are, for this reason, better 
 than long ones. Exercise of any sort, at frequent inter- 
 vals, is, for the same reason, to be preferred to the same 
 amount of exercise taken at one time. 
 
 Exercise in pregnancy, as at other times, is always 
 
 EviJJf^j 
 [SY
 
 EXERCISE. 453 
 
 more beneficial if the surrounding circumstances be 
 pleasant and agreeable. Exercise, for the mere sake of 
 exercise, is likely to be irksome. For the woman to 
 start out upon a walk with no purpose in view save to go 
 so far and consume so much time, is likely to defeat the 
 principal end to be gained by it. Let there be an object, 
 an ulterior purpose, if possible, in the exercise taken. 
 Pleasant and enjoyable company is an excellent factor. 
 Topics of conversation should be such as will take the 
 mind away from unpleasant matters and lead to self- 
 forgetfulness as much as possible. The surroundings of 
 the walk should not be unpleasant. ' The scenery has a 
 direct effect upon the spirits, and these act indirectly 
 upon the mother and the child she is developing. 
 
 With many women the inclination to indolence and 
 inactivity during gestation is great. It requires effort to 
 overcome, but it should be resisted. A woman may, 
 with benefit and safety, attend to many of her household 
 duties. In most cases it is far better for both herself and 
 her child that she do so. It is natural for 'her to continue 
 in her accustomed duties. She is more interested in these, 
 and will take more pleasure and find more rest to her 
 mind to do them herself than to sit about idle and see 
 strangers taking her place. She is more easily led to self- 
 forgetfulness in the performance of accustomed exercise 
 than in something that is new and unusual. The extent 
 of the household duties performed depends upon the con- 
 stitution and health of the patient. If she be delicate and 
 nervous, very little labor can with safety be performed.
 
 454 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 As she nears the end of her pregnancy, the duties should 
 be abridged, and all her strength saved for her labors. It 
 is not to be assumed, however, that indolence or entire 
 inactivity are most conducive to this end. On the con- 
 trary, one is made strong by feats of strength ; able to 
 endure by enduring. The general principles of health 
 and strength are not made inoperative in the case. 
 
 Ventilation. 
 
 In reviewing the general subject, it is difficult to deter- 
 mine what is the more important factor. As each is 
 considered it seems to loom into pre-eminence. But, all 
 things considered, pure air is the most important concomi- 
 tant to be secured. This, of course, is not confined to the 
 time spent outside the house. That is only a small part 
 of the whole time. The larger part of even the waking 
 hours must be passed in the house. This necessitates care 
 for the proper ventilation of the rooms in which the time 
 is spent. The sitting-room, and especially the sleeping- 
 room, should be constantly exposed to a full and free 
 circulation of pure air. In certain seasons of the year, 
 this will require no little attention. In cold weather the 
 inclination is to have the room very close, in order to 
 maintain sufficient heat for comfort. In warmer weather 
 the doors and windows will be kept open without incon- 
 venience. It is desirable, even in extreme weather, that 
 the rooms be thoroughly purged several times each day 
 by opening doors and windows. The mother can with- 
 draw into another apartment during this process.
 
 VENTILATION. 455 
 
 Extremes of heat and cold must be avoided more care- 
 fully now than at other times. Plenty of light and, if 
 attainable, an equal abundance of sunshine, should flood 
 the sitting and bed rooms. It was an excellent custom 
 among certain of the ancients, to have constructed on the 
 tops of their houses a solarium, or air-bath chamber, to 
 which they repaired daily. Persons who have had no 
 experience with this remedial agent in serious and pro- 
 tracted ailments will be surprised at the benefits it confers. 
 It certainly argues little for man's wisdom and prudence as 
 regards himself, that with constant exhibitions of the 
 value of sun and air in the vegetable and lower-animal 
 worlds he should give himself so little benefit of the lesson 
 taught. 
 
 Care of the Nipples. 
 
 Too little prominence has been given by writers on 
 this subject to the care that should be given to the nipples 
 during pregnancy. As a result, these organs are generally 
 allowed to take care of themselves, and the consequence 
 is that lying-in women are often greatly troubled with sore 
 nipples. It is the general rule with the first child that the 
 mother will have trouble on this point, unless she have 
 previously given her attention and care to her nipples. 
 All this can easily be averted by a little care during the 
 last three months of pregnancy. Take a small piece of 
 alum, the size of an ordinary hulled hickory-nut, and 
 dissolve it in two ounces of soft water. Add to this solu- 
 tion two ounces of alcohol. Bathe the nipples with this
 
 456 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 decoction from two to four tin s each week for the last 
 twelve weeks before confinemen It is a good plan, too, 
 to thoroughly rub the nipples with the thumb and fingers, 
 working them as the action of suction will after awhile. 
 This manipulation should be begun gently at first and 
 gradually increased, pulling out the nipple as if extracting 
 milk. This will serve to harden the skin and also to draw 
 out the nipple, so that the child will find no difficulty in 
 nursing. These little attentions require but a few minutes 
 each day, and will amply repay all the trouble expended. 
 
 Bed-chamber. 
 
 The bed-chamber should be ample enough to contain 
 two beds, one of which the wife should occupy alone. It 
 is better for her that she sleep alone rather than with her 
 husband during this period and this for the reason that 
 marital intercourse should be limited very greatly, both 
 for the sake of the wife and for that of her child. It is 
 not best that the wife occupy a room by herself, as some- 
 thing may occur during the night an accident, or some 
 attention may be needed which her husband can render. 
 This chamber should have a southern exposure, if possible, 
 and must certainly be so arranged as to admit ample 
 ventilation, and yet not be subject to draughts. This 
 room should be kept free from all confusion of furniture, 
 and, above all things, should have a cheerful look. If 
 pictures and other ornamental works of art can be 
 arranged about the walls, so much the better. Every- 
 thing of a gloomy cast or suggestive of discomfort and
 
 COMPANY. 457 
 
 disorder, should be carefully excluded. The mind of the 
 wife will take on the impression of what the eyes reveal, 
 and the state of the mind will be surely impressed upon 
 the child's mind and disposition. It is because of this 
 latter fact that so much emphasis is laid upon these minor 
 details. 
 
 Company. 
 
 Cheerful company is a consideration of no trivial 
 importance. The wife's mind should not be given to any 
 intensity of thought during this period. It should be 
 kept as much as possible from serious reflections on her 
 own condition. Pleasant, bright, cheering companions 
 are a great help in this direction. Both husband and wife 
 should be more careful now than at any time as to who 
 shall see and converse with the wife. Some people are 
 " great company," but not at all suitable for this time. 
 Others there are who are like a refreshing summer shower; 
 one scarce knows what they have said or done, but they 
 bring with them a delightful atmosphere, and leave an 
 aroma of exaltation that is peculiarly beneficial to a preg- 
 nant woman. Such companions should be encouraged in 
 their visits. They will be able to prevent the introspection 
 of the wife which so easily leads to melancholy and 
 despondency, and they will, at the same time, impart a 
 charm that cannot be defined or measured. They inspire 
 hope and encouragement. They raise the spirits and 
 animate the heart. There are few women who have not 
 friends of this sort. Now, if ever in her life, is the time
 
 458 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 when the wife has the indisputable right to select her 
 companions. This privilege she should exert to the fullest 
 extent. The husband is justified in excluding from his 
 wife's company any and every person, no matter how 
 intimate the relationship that may exist, whose influence 
 is not good. 
 
 Gratifying Hen Fancies. 
 
 Women are full of fancies in this period. They will 
 often be assailed with an intense desire to secure some- 
 thing that they do not have. Often this takes the direction 
 of some peculiar article of diet. An instance is that of a 
 woman who was eager for some particular sorts of animal 
 food. Her appetite was not good, but she was certain if 
 she could secure this or that meat, it would be to her 
 taste. She finally was seized with the notion that she 
 must have a common meadow-lark. Her husband 
 attempted to deflect her mind, but it persistently returned 
 to the one thing. Eventually he killed and had dressed 
 and cooked a lark, when his wife found that she could not 
 eat it at all. As a general rule, however, it happens that 
 these intense desires for a kind of food are not detrimental 
 to health. In such cases it is always desirable to gratify 
 the woman. These are but whims, of course, but where 
 their gratification does no harm, it is best to humor them. 
 It tranquilizes the mind. If the fancy should take the 
 direction of something which it is undesirable to have, the 
 husband can, if attentive and persistent, direct the mind 
 for the time, and the probabilities are that the whim can
 
 INFLUENCE OF INHERITANCE. 459 
 
 be conjured away. The whole aim should be to prevent 
 the wife brooding over any matter, however trivial or 
 foolish it may seem to the husband. He must remember 
 that she is not herself, and must be as patient and fore- 
 bearing with her as with a feeble child. 
 
 Influence of Inheritance. 
 
 This subject is so full of interest, and includes such a 
 broad field for thought, that its full discussion would be 
 impossible within the scope of this work. It introduces 
 many very singular facts that have a direct bearing upon 
 the welfare and happiness of every individual, and for the 
 better comprehension of that part of the subject pertinent 
 to the present inquiry, it will be well to define some of the 
 principal modes of inheritance. 
 
 First Direct inheritance, or the qualities that the 
 child receives from its father and mother. 
 
 Second Indirect inheritance, in which the child bears 
 a more striking resemblance to some uncle or aunt than to 
 either its father or mother. 
 
 Third Atavism, which is defined by Webster to 
 mean: " The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of 
 an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an inter- 
 mission of a generation or two." Thus a child not 
 unfrequently exhibits some peculiar characteristic of its 
 great grandparent that was wholly lost in its parent. 
 This peculiar feature, no doubt, has been met by many 
 observers in the mixture of African and Anglo-Saxon 
 races.
 
 460 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 A fourth variety is that in which a child resembles 
 neither of its parents, but some of its mother's intimate 
 friends. This peculiar kind of inheritance is doubtless 
 fraught with greater evil to the comfort of families than any 
 other we have mentioned. A woman, by a subsequent 
 marriage, may transmit the peculiarities or diseases received 
 through her previous husband. Thus may the misfortunes 
 of a man be transmitted to children that are not his own, 
 and even a dead man may exert an influence over the future 
 offspring of his wife, by means of the ineffaceable impress 
 he made upon her in the conjugal relation. Lady Montague 
 said: " It goes far toward reconciling me to be a woman, 
 when I reflect that I am thus in no danger of marrying 
 one." I would substitute " man" for " woman." 
 
 This species of inheritance is a two-fold character, 
 embracing misfortunes and diseases that may be the result 
 of taint of blood, or impressions received through mental 
 influences or accidents operating through the mother. A 
 child may be born idiotic or deformed, not because either 
 of its parents or any of its ancestors were thus afflicted, 
 but from the effect of some mental shock upon the mother 
 during her pregnancy. Again, a child may be born with 
 the silly, staggering appearance of a drunkard, or constant 
 twitchings and irregular movements of the voluntary 
 muscles resembling chorea. But such cases are not hered- 
 itary, for that cannot be' hereditary which was not 
 possessed by either parents or ancestry. Having thus 
 defined these several kinds of inheritance, let us examine 
 the effect they exert upon the physical economy.
 
 MISFORTUNES THAT MAY HAPPEN THE CHILD. 461 
 
 Misfortunes that May Happen the Child Through the 
 
 Mother. 
 
 An observance of the rules hygienic is not only desirable 
 because it conduces to the greater comfort and safety of 
 the wife and her child, but because of the dangers to both 
 herself and her child through neglect of such rules. Women 
 who are careless in this regard during pregnancy often 
 have to suffer for it directly, but oftener in seeing the 
 results of such neglect stamped indelibly upon their chil- 
 dren. Nothing is more essential for the future good of any 
 child than that it be born with a vigorous constitution. 
 This it can only hope to have by the most careful attention 
 of the mother to herself before the child leaves her body. 
 The strength and durability of any structure depends 
 largely upon its foundation. The constitution is the foun- 
 dation of the child's life and health. This quality is largely 
 inherited. True, much may be remedied and built up, 
 even as a poorly-built house can be patched and propped 
 into something like substantiability. But it is not wise to 
 lay a poor foundation either in a child or a house, and 
 certainly not to calculate to repair it afterward. 
 
 The wife of the laboring man, realizing the necessity 
 of living in the most economical manner, performs the 
 severest drudgery in the midst of aches and pains and at 
 the expense of a child's health. Many women, it is true, 
 will tell you that they never felt better able to perform 
 their household duties than when carrying their children. 
 They are not aware of the fact that their condition too
 
 462 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 frequently gives them ambition beyond their physical 
 strength, and they are thereby stimulated to use their 
 strength at the expense of that of the child. How 
 often have I heard a mother exclaim, upon beholding 
 her puny, little, new-born babe : " Why, how little and 
 trifling it looks. I thought it would be big and fat, for I 
 felt so well all the time and did so much work." The 
 poor woman did not know that she had done " so much 
 work " at the expense of the well-being of her child. I 
 cannot refrain from introducing a case related by a 
 worthy member of the profession to illustrate more fully 
 what I mean. He said : " I am acquainted with a charm- 
 ing old lady, whose seventy-eight summers have left her 
 in possession of health and happiness as a heritage of a 
 well-spent life. In talking of those things, she says : 
 ' Why is it that my daughters have no powers of endur- 
 ance ? Their father was never sick. My own health and 
 strength have been a marvel to every one. Why, the 
 three girls together cannot do the work I could when I 
 was their age. Why, what would have become of us if I 
 had been lying around in silk wrappers and satin slippers, 
 dosing with drugs, as my girls do ? ' The poor old 
 woman told the story. She robbed them of their inherit- 
 ance by using all her vitality in her daily avocations, and 
 they must suffer for her wrong-doing." 
 
 Many mothers overtax their powers during pregnancy 
 simply because they can do so without feeling any incon- 
 venience. They forget that they are doing double duty 
 at this time, and the draught made of their surplus vitality
 
 UNNATURAL DEVELOPMENTS. 463 
 
 goes, or should go, to their children. If it be expended 
 in other ways, the children will suffer, and will show it at 
 birth by weak constitutions, and throughout life by being 
 imperfectly equipped for the great demands that life 
 brings to every one. Moreover, there is a moral respon- 
 sibility resting upon every mother to give her children 
 the best heritage she has to bestow. Nothing can be 
 better than a sure health-basis. It appears to a careful 
 observer that the generation now growing up has received 
 more care in these regards than that which is passing 
 away. 
 
 Mothers are becoming wiser and better acquainted 
 with the duties and responsibilities of maternity. The old 
 generation, some remnants of which are still to be seen, 
 gave evidence of a too-hardy existence in its progenitors. 
 Mortal diseases are more common than ever before, and 
 many more victims are being carried away in the very 
 midst of life. Longevity is less extended than it was fifty 
 years ago. Fewer persons reach the average three-score 
 and ten years of human life, while the chance four-score 
 age is rare enough to evoke remark. It is believed and 
 fervently hoped that the children of to-day possess better 
 constitutions than their parents received from their pro- 
 genitors, and that the standard of longevity will be raised 
 in the years to come. 
 
 Unnatural Developments. 
 
 Anatomical peculiarities upon the body of the child 
 are often produced oy mental impression received on the 
 mind of the mother during pregnancy. This is denied by
 
 464 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 some physiologists, who maintain that such defects, marks 
 or deformities are more the result of inheritance. Careful 
 observation, however, leads to the conclusion that many 
 such phenomena are due to forces that have their origin 
 in the mind, life and habits of the mother while her child 
 is developing within her womb. The writer was present 
 at the birth of two children which belonged to two differ- 
 ent families that were in no way related and did not live 
 in the same part of the country. Both children were 
 devoid of all that part of the head extending above the 
 eye-brows. The bones of the skull in each appeared to 
 have been cut off, as if for the purpose of examining the 
 brain. The brain itself appeared perfect and full size, 
 but had no covering of bone or skin above it. There was 
 no difficulty in either case in discovering the probable 
 cause of the deformity. It was the same an impression 
 made on the mother's mind during gestation. Cases of 
 club-feet, malformed fingers or toes, etc., are generally 
 attributable to causes of this kind. Every physician is 
 familiar with instances to prove this. 
 
 A well-authenticated case illustrates the point in hand 
 in a horribly clear and pointed manner. It comes from a- 
 small town in New Jersey, where a child was born some 
 two years since, having all the symptoms of intoxication. 
 At this writing the child is over two years old, well- 
 formed, entirely healthy, with no mental defect apparent. 
 The physicians explain that there is no evidence of cata- 
 lepsy, that there are no fits, no convulsions in the case, 
 whatever. But there seems to be no co-ordination in the
 
 UNNATURAL DEVELOPMENTS. 465 
 
 movements of the lower limbs. The child's gait is heavy 
 and insecure a regular drunken reel or stagger. The 
 speech is not only thick, incoherent and rambling, but has 
 all the phenomena of exhilaration and excitement charac- 
 teristic of the earlier stages of intoxication. The ideas 
 seem to flow rapidly, the senses are acute, but there are 
 the muscular tremblings and the actual shambling gait of 
 the drunkard. 
 
 This abnormal condition is thus explained, and satis- 
 factorily : During the pregnancy of the mother she was 
 one evening called to go to market. She had been mar- 
 ried but a year, and she and her husband were greatly 
 attached to each other. She believed him to be temper- 
 ate ; indeed, never had a thought to the contrary. She 
 was compelled to pass a grog-shop on her way, and as she 
 came to it she heard a voice that was strangely like her 
 husband's, singing a ribald song. She was so struck with 
 astonishment that she involuntarily looked in at the door, 
 not to verify, but to remove the unpleasant suspicions 
 which the familiar voice created. There she beheld her 
 husband in a state of hilarious intoxication. This was but 
 a few weeks before the birth of her child. It was a boy, 
 and seemed physically perfect and well-formed. He soon 
 developed the peculiarities noted, which he will no doubt 
 carry with him through life. It is one of the most singu- 
 lar cases on record, and can be accounted for on no other 
 hypothesis than that the impression of horror made on the 
 mother's mind was conveyed to the foetus within her 
 womb.
 
 466 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Birthmarks. 
 
 Birthmarks, as they are commonly called, are traceable 
 to the same cause. This subject is treated at some length 
 in another part of this work. It is only necessary to refer 
 to the matter here as an additional reason why wives 
 should be careful during the pregnant period, and as a 
 reason why such women should be surrounded by cheerful 
 and pleasant pictures. All the environments have an 
 influence, but those which are startling are most likely to 
 be reproduced in the child. Indifference and nothingness 
 should not possess the mind ; these will surely character- 
 ize the child, and they are undesirable qualities. 
 
 The influence of the mother's mind on the child in 
 uter o being conceded, as it must be by any one who has 
 made any extensive study of the subject, the question 
 will arise as to the power of this influence to determine 
 the physical features of the child. If the constitution and 
 physical development of the child depend so largely upon 
 the mother, why may not its features ? There exists no 
 reason to deny this theory. On the contrary, the 
 evidence is overpowering that such appearances can be 
 determined to a marked degree. 
 
 Most persons are familiar with the resemblance that 
 subsists between families from generation to generation, 
 while it is well known that offspring inherit many of the 
 qualities and peculiarities of the parents. Hereditary 
 resemblance, however, is seldom ever blended, numerous 
 differences being almost always observed in the features
 
 BIRTHMARKS. 467 
 
 and other characteristics of the same family. Male and 
 female children seldom perfectly resemble either the father 
 or the mother, but a blending of the characteristics of both 
 are readily recognizable in the offspring. It might be 
 supposed that as the mother furnishes the egg and its 
 nourishment after conception, that the offspring would 
 partake more of her peculiarities than of the father's. 
 This, however, is not the fact. There will be quite as 
 much resemblance to the father as to the mother, if such 
 phenomena be not in favor of the former. As a general 
 rule, it cannot be said that either male or female in the 
 human species exerts more influence than the other in the 
 physical and intellectual conformations and peculiarities 
 of the offspring. In some families the children will most 
 resemble the father ; in others, the mother's traits are the 
 more predominant. It has often been heard of new-born 
 children that they resemble this or that person, the refer- 
 ence being to friends who have been much with the 
 mother during pregnancy, or are her most intimate and 
 trusted friends. The proof is so conclusive in fact that it 
 becomes almost a cruelty for the mother to allow her mind 
 to dwell on any but pleasant subjects, or to be occupied 
 with any but cheerful pictures. 
 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans were so fully aware 
 of the influence of surroundings on the unborn children 
 that the wives of the patricians were surrounded during 
 pregnancy with the most beautiful works of art as shown 
 in paintings, sculpture, music and architecture. The 
 effect was that the children whose mothers were so
 
 468 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 environed were almost invariably beautiful in features, 
 and their minds were pure and lofty. And this without 
 any regard to the appearance of the parents. The subject 
 is worthy the gravest attention. It imposes a respon- 
 sibility on the mother that she will do well to rega;J. 
 Many a mother is made sad in her old age by the moral 
 derelictions of the children she has borne, and yet the 
 thought never enters her mind that she herself may be 
 responsible for the bias with which that child's nature 
 began. 
 
 Miscarriage. 
 
 This is one of the perils of maternity. It is not of 
 infrequent occurrence, especially with young mothers, 
 though it is not confined to them. It is not only to be 
 dreaded as involving the imminent danger of the mother's 
 life and the destruction of her offspring, but also as a most 
 prolific source of disease. 
 
 Figures have been gathered regarding the number of 
 mothers that miscarry before they reach the middle of their 
 child-bearing period. It has been found that thirty-seven 
 per cent, miscarry before they attain the age of thirty 
 years, and that eighty per cent, of all the women miscarry 
 who continue in child-bearing until the change to mature 
 womanhood comes. From these figures it appears that 
 the large majority of all wives incur this risk and disaster 
 at some time. 
 
 Age exerts a marked influence on the susceptibility to 
 miscarriage. Should a woman defer marriage until she
 
 MISCARRIAGE. 469 
 
 were thirty years old, she would be less liable to mis- 
 carriage than she would be were she to wait ten years 
 longer. It is no uncommon thing for a woman to close 
 her menstrual life with a premature birth. As women 
 approach this period they also become more liable to bear 
 children physically weak, perharJs deformed, and intel- 
 lectually defective. Imbecility and idiocy are more 
 generally found among children born to mothers whose 
 child-bearing was about over. It has been observed that 
 the men of brightest intellects are first-born children. But 
 women are more liable to miscarry with their first child 
 than with any other except the last. 
 
 Miscarriage is most likely to occur in the earlier months 
 of pregnancy. The first months cover the perilous period, 
 generally speaking. If a woman miscarry with her first 
 child, there will be a tendency to the same trouble at 
 about the same period in her next. Cases are known 
 where this has occurred several times in succession. When 
 once broken up, the miscarriage is not likely to return. 
 
 The question may be. asked: How early may a foetus 
 live? No certain answer can be made, but, as a general 
 rule, no child can live that is less than six months old. 
 France had a law establishing the legitimacy and legal 
 rights of all children born one hundred and eighty days 
 after marriage. This would indicate a belief in the possi- 
 bility of life at a very early age in foetal life. There are 
 some instances on record of infants that lived though born 
 at an almost incredibly early age. Van Swieten relates 
 the very singular case of an infant born the sixth month
 
 470 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 after conception. The premature birth was on account of 
 a fright the mother had at sea. The child was about the 
 size of its mother's hand, but lived to be over seventy years 
 old. 
 
 Professor Gunning, of New York, records the case of a 
 woman in her fourth confinement who was delivered of a 
 female child before she had completed the sixth month of 
 her pregnancy. The child weighed two pounds nine 
 ounces. The surface of the body was of a scarlet hue. It 
 breathed, however, and a short time after birth cried freely. 
 It was then wrapped in cotton wool, well lubricated 
 with sweet oil, and was fed with its mother's milk by 
 putting a few drops in its mouth from time to time. 
 
 The author delivered a woman, in her first confinement, 
 of twins, at about the end of the sixth month of pregnancy. 
 Neither of them breathed for several minutes after birth. 
 They were immersed in a warm bath for some time, and, 
 by artificial inflation of the lungs, natural breathing was 
 eventually established. They were carefully wrapped in 
 cotton. One of them died in less than twenty-four hours. 
 The other lived and grew into womanhood, and still lives. 
 The child was not weighed at birth, but at the age of 
 three months it only weighed three pounds. 
 
 Miscarriage involves the mother in greater danger 
 than is generally thought by women. Very many date 
 the failure of their health from a miscarriage. Diseases of 
 the womb more frequently result from a miscarriage than 
 from a birth at full term. Several causes conspire to lead 
 to this unfavorable sequel. A woman is generally delivered
 
 CAUSES OF MISCARRIAGE. 471 
 
 with much greater difficulty in miscarriage. The mem- 
 branes are tender and the placenta small. The mouth of 
 the womb does not become so much relaxed as at full 
 term. It therefore sometimes happens, and often, in fact, 
 that parts of the membranes remain in the womb, only to 
 be cast out when decomposed and wasted. This decay of 
 animal matter is liable, to some extent, to be absorbed, 
 thereby poisoning the system and generating disease. 
 
 Hemorrhages, also, are more likely to occur at miscar- 
 riage than at full term. The amount of blood is not so 
 great in the former case, and consequently its loss is more 
 severely felt. A prostration inevitably succeeds the loss 
 of blood, from which it takes the woman a long time to 
 recover. An additional danger is to the womb itself. It 
 has adapted itself to the child, and to be suddenly deprived 
 of this is a shock liable to produce trouble in the re-adjust- 
 ment of the vital functions. The loss of the child at once 
 arrests the processes of lactation. The menses soon return, 
 and, before the woman has fully recovered her wasted 
 strength, she may be pregnant again. 
 
 Causes of Miscarriage. 
 
 There are many causes which may lead to miscarriage. 
 Any undue excitement or irritation of the rectum, as 
 hemorrhoids or dysentery, if it produce great straining at 
 the stool, often provokes ?. premature expulsion of the 
 child. Excessive indulgence of the marital privilege may 
 lead to the same result. This is by no means uncommon, 
 especially among the newly married. This may account,
 
 472 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to some extent, for many miscarriages in the first year of 
 marriage. 
 
 Lactation is very likely to produce miscarriage. A 
 distinguished observer says that, in the analysis of a large 
 number of cases of women who conceived during nursing, 
 miscarriage occurred in seventeen per cent, of the cases, 
 and in only ten per cent, where conception occurred at 
 other times. On the strength of this fact, a woman who 
 suspects herself of being pregnant should at once wean 
 her child. 
 
 Any severe shock to the nervous system, such as having 
 a tooth extracted, or other injury, any violent emotion, as 
 anger, or joy, is liable to be followed by a miscarriage. 
 Very violent exercise, as running, dancing, riding horse- 
 back at a rapid pace, rough riding in a -vehicle, great 
 exhaustion from over-exertion, exposure to extreme 
 weather any or all of these causes contribute to the 
 premature expulsion of the foetus. 
 
 Symptoms of Miscarriage. 
 
 The premonitory symptoms of miscarriage are few, 
 but easily discerned. They are pain and waste. The 
 latter is generally the indication which first attracts the 
 attention of the wife. She may experience no pain for 
 several days, none, indeed, until the uterus begins to 
 contract in its efforts to free itself of its contents. The 
 waste may be blood, and at first very slight, merely a 
 show, and may continue moderate for several days. It 
 may, however, be very profuse from the first, so much so
 
 SYMPTOMS OF MISCARRIAGE. 473 
 
 as to jeopardize the woman's life. Sooner or later, the 
 wasting is followed by pain, similar in kind to the pains 
 experienced at mature child-birth, but more continuous 
 and more exhausting. There is a watery discharge from 
 the uterus that is often the first indication of miscarriage. 
 It is the result of the rupture of the membranes from some 
 accidental cause, and the liquor amnii the watery fluid 
 in which the foetus is suspended is escaping. This may 
 continue at intervals for days and even weeks, and then 
 entirely cease without producing any serious trouble. 
 Again, it may be followed by the loss of blood, and event- 
 ually by the expulsion of the foetus. 
 
 It sometimes happens that the first symptom of any 
 disturbance is a decided chill, unattended by any evidence 
 of cold or fever. This is because of extreme .nervous dis- 
 turbance. In such cases, the patient may complain of 
 soreness, heat and pain, which are soon localized in the 
 pelvis. The loss of blood will follow, though this maybe 
 deferred for several days. 
 
 The pain in miscarriage is variable. It may arise and 
 be almost continuous until the foetus is expelled. It may 
 come at intervals from day to day for weeks. The inter- 
 vals will bring such complete relief that the woman will be 
 deceived into believing that the danger of the miscarriage 
 is entirely over. 
 
 Preventive Treatment. 
 
 To prevent miscarriage the suggestions offered in this 
 book on the hygiene of pregnancy should be carefully 
 observed. Everything should be done that can be to
 
 474 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 secure and maintain a good condition of general health. 
 When a woman is threatened with a miscarriage, she 
 should at once take to her bed and observe entire quiet. 
 No risks should be taken. Too much is involved in the 
 woman's own health to excuse any neglect or the non-use 
 of all precautions. A ten-grain dose of Dover's powder 
 should be taken, and the physician summoned. 
 
 Relation of Husband and Wife During Pregnancy. 
 
 The relations of husband and wife during pregnancy 
 is a subject in which authorities widely differ. Dr. 
 Napheys, in his " Physical Life of Woman," says : 
 " During those days when the wife, if she were not preg- 
 nant, would have been unwell, marital intercourse should 
 be abstained from. It is then injurious to the mother 
 and dangerous to the life of the child, as it is liable to 
 excite miscarriage. But if this habitual epoch of monthly 
 sickness be avoided, there is no reason why passion 
 should not be gratified with moderation and with caution 
 during the whole period of pregnancy. There is one 
 exception to be made to this general rule of conduct : 
 In those cases in which a miscarriage has occurred in the 
 first pregnancy, every precaution should be employed 
 to prevent its happening again in the second concep- 
 tion." 
 
 Many other writers on the relation of husband and 
 wife during pregnancy express a different opinion. They 
 hold that absolute continence should be observed from 
 the time that there is conclusive evidence of pregnancy.
 
 RELATION OF HUSBAND AND WIFE, ETC. 4/5 
 
 Among those advocating this practice are to be found 
 Mrs. Chandler, in her pamphlet entitled " Motherhood " ; 
 Dr. Cowan, in his " Science of a New Life " ; Dr. Dio 
 Lewis, in his work, " Chastity," and A. E. Newton, in 
 his pamphlet, " The Better Way." 
 
 The complete cessation from marital intercourse is 
 the better way. Could such practice be followed, in a 
 generation or two it would evidence its beneficent results 
 in a great physical, mental and moral improvement in the 
 race. The reasons for this continence have been given 
 elsewhere. The principle of continence is emphasized 
 here because it is so rarely observed. Perhaps, in most 
 cases, this is through ignorance of the injury it entails on 
 the wife and child. 
 
 It must be conceded that it requires great firmness 
 and self-denial on the part of both husband and wife to 
 preserve even ordinary continence during this time. The 
 temptations to indulgence are greater, perhaps, than at 
 other times. Not a few persons are constrained to mod- 
 eration and carefulness lest too frequent or undesirable 
 pregnancies result. When conception is once known to 
 have taken place, this restraint is removed and the natural 
 inclination is to unrestricted license. This is manifestly 
 wrong at any time, much more so at this. It is unreason- 
 ing and sensual. It is degrading marriage to a level of 
 legalized debauchery. 
 
 Another reason is found in the fact that the good of 
 both wife and child, especially the latter, demands that 
 husband and wife should be unusually affectionate toward
 
 4/6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 each other during gestation. It is essential that the 
 mother maintain a serenity of mind, but at the same time 
 not be allowed to relapse into dullness and mentaj 
 inactivity. On the contrary, her mind should be kept 
 busily employed and healthfully stimulated. This will 
 give her greater comfort, better health and less opportu- 
 nity or inclination for brooding in somber melancholy over 
 her condition and the prospective trials. It will, also, 
 affect the child beneficially. It will have better health, a 
 better disposition and a brighter mind. 
 
 It is readily perceived that this additional demand on 
 the intimate social, intellectual and affectionate intercourse 
 of the husband and wife has a natural tendency to stimu- 
 late amorous desires. To oppose indulgence there must 
 be called into active exercise all the power of restraint 
 possible. The consciousness of moral right to indulgence 
 is also weakening on the efforts to resist. Unmarried 
 lovers are often as strongly incited, but are restrained by 
 virtue and the moral heinousness of yielding to desire. 
 This factor does not exist with the husband and wife. At 
 least, it is not often thought of. 
 
 If the husband and wife are accustomed. to sleep in the 
 same bed, the practice ought not to be discontinued 
 during pregnancy. It certainly would aid in maintaining 
 continence; but the mother would be less likely to main- 
 tain her serenity of mind if a change in her habits were 
 established now. It may help the husband to restrain his 
 desires if he remember that his wife has little, if any, 
 desire for sexual congress during this time.
 
 CONFINEMENT. 
 
 Preparation for Confinement. 
 
 THERE are certain articles of dress and clothing and 
 dressings for the bed of a parturient woman that should 
 be provided and be at hand when needed. She should 
 be provided with short gowns instead of those ordinarily 
 worn. Long gowns are an incumbrance. A proper 
 bandage should always be made ready for use. This 
 should consist of a piece of strong brown muslin, or, what 
 is better, union flannel that is, flannel made of cotton 
 and wool. It is better made of bias cloth, as it will fit 
 much better, and should be long enough to neatly fasten 
 round the woman at the middle of her pregnancy. Noth- 
 ing is more annoying than to find the bandage very much 
 too long ; it can never be neatly adjusted. It should be 
 wide enough to extend from the pubes to two inches 
 above the navel. It is always unpleasant and injurious 
 to the woman to have the band so wide as to compress the 
 stomach. It should be gored so as to fit over the upper 
 part of the pelvic bones. In short, the -bandage should 
 be so constructed as to neatly fit the mother at the end of 
 the fourth month of pregnancy, and there will be no 
 trouble to adjust it after confinement. The object in 
 
 477
 
 4/8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 making the gores is to prevent it slipping up on the body. 
 
 The child's clothing has been pretty fully described in 
 another part of this book. There are needed a woollen 
 roller or binder, five or six inches wide and twelve or 
 fifteen inches in length, so as to cover the child from the 
 lower part of the abdomen to the armpits. This binder 
 may be made of muslin or linen, but flannel is most suit- 
 able ; a shirt of suitable demensions, that will fit neatly 
 around the neck and sleeves, of good length, to be placed 
 on the outside of the binder. The shirt may be made of 
 any kind of soft material, but flannel is best ; if made of 
 cotton or linen, it should not be starched, neither should 
 any of the child's underwear ; the skirts are best made of 
 flannel, and long enough to extend some distance below 
 the feet, to protect them from cold ; the dress or gown 
 may be made of such material as may be adapted to the 
 season of the year and the taste of the mother. 
 
 There should be a small roll of pieces of half-worn 
 muslin to make a compress for the child's navel. 
 
 A couple of rows of pins must be at hand, one large to 
 fasten the mother's binder, and the other small to fasten 
 the child's clothing. 
 
 For the bed we should have an oil or rubber cloth of 
 such dimensions as to cover the principal part of the bed ; 
 a piece of fine gum cloth or oiled silk about a yard square ; 
 two or three old comfortables, and as many old sheets ; 
 a roll of napkins, towels, or pieces of old muslin ; a pair 
 of scissors ; some linen or yarn for tying the navel string, 
 and a cake of fine toilet soap.
 
 THE ROOM. 479 
 
 All of these articles should be prepared and laid in 
 suitable and convenient places, so as to be at easy com- 
 mand. It frequently happens that the provision of these 
 necessary articles for the bed, child and mother are 
 deferred until they are absolutely needed, and then, in 
 the bustle and confusion, nothing can be found in proper 
 time. The liability to accidents in child-birth should be 
 a sufficient warning to have everything at hand. 
 
 It is always best to give the physician and two or three 
 lady friends, who are to be the assistants, timely notice of 
 about the time their services may be required, so that 
 they may arrange their business in such a way that they 
 will probably be found at home. 
 
 The Room. 
 
 The bed-chamber of a parturient woman should be 
 large, so as to have plenty of room for a fair-sized chamber- 
 set. A large bed, especially, is a necessity, that the 
 mother's position may be changed from one part of the 
 bed to another. Small beds are inconvenient and uncom- 
 fortable, yet they are a necessity in small bed-chambers. 
 The chamber should always be sufficiently large to afford 
 ample room for the chamber furniture and the attendants 
 necessary for the occasion. The room should be supplied 
 with a commodious wash-stand, a large wash-bowl, and 
 pitchers of water, warm and cold. The room should be 
 so situated as not to be exposed to the smell of the 
 victuals cooking in the kitchen. This is very frequently a 
 source of great annoyance to the sick woman. It should
 
 480 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 be so located as to admit of easy and thorough ventilation 
 without exposing the wife to any undue current of air. 
 Plenty of fresh air in the room is a necessity, but it should 
 be so administered as not to unduly expose the patient. 
 The room should be free from noise, quiet being a desid- 
 eratum to the health and comfort of the patient. Lying-in 
 rooms are very frequently so situated that the ingress and 
 egress to the house must be so near the room that the 
 patient's rest is continually disturbed by the noise. 
 
 The Bed. 
 
 The bed should have a good mattress of hair, wool, 
 cotton or husks. Straw ticks and a feather bed are very 
 objectionable. The mattress is to be covered with the 
 oil or gum cloth. This is a part of the permanent dressing, 
 and should be fastened to the mattress, so as not to 
 become displaced. It should extend from the lower 
 margin of the bolster to the foot of the bed, or be suffi- 
 ciently large to protect the mattress from any liability to 
 get soiled. Over this rubber cloth should be spread a 
 thick comforter or blanket, or several folds of sheets. 
 This or these should also be fastened to the mattress. 
 Over this permanent dressing spread the sheet that regu- 
 larly belongs to the bed. Next, upon the side of the bed 
 that it is designed for the wife to lie, which is generally 
 the right side of the bed (unless the attendant physician, 
 on account of some physical defects, is compelled to use 
 his left hand), and over the bed-sheet lay a neatly-folded 
 sheet with the edges toward the foot of the bed. This 
 will complete the permanent dressing of the bed.
 
 TEMPORARY DRESSING OF THE BED. 481 
 
 Temporary Dressing of the Bed. 
 
 Upon this folded sheet should be spread a gum or 
 rubber blanket, sufficiently large for the protection of the 
 entire bed, and carefully fastened, that it may not get 
 displaced. Over this rubber blanket should be placed a 
 folded comforter or other absorbing material, and above 
 all a folded sheet, which will complete the temporary 
 dressing of the bed. A light, loose skirt, or a sheet 
 folded for that purpose, may be slipped over the person 
 of the patient, which will protect the limbs from any 
 exposure, and the covering of the bed from getting soiled. 
 The chemise should be fastened up under the arms to 
 protect it from soiling. The bed-covers should be light 
 and sufficiently warm to suit the temperature of the 
 room. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 The attendants need not be more than are absolutely 
 necessary to meet any possible emergency. It is well 
 that they be the sick woman's most intimate friends, in 
 whom she has implicit confidence, and as nearly as possible 
 calm and firm, not excitable and nervous who are not 
 disposed, should the labor be protracted, to assemble 
 together in sight of the patient, and engage in serious 
 whisperings. They should always assume a cheerful 
 disposition and an unyielding attitude.
 
 482 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Confinement. 
 
 At the end of eight and a half months the uterus has 
 risen to its highest point. There will be a flattening and 
 falling of the abdomen in the last two weeks of gestation. 
 This may take place suddenly. The wife may retire at 
 night oppressed by all the symptoms of pressure on the 
 lungs and stomach, and rise in the morning entirely free 
 from them. She feels entirely relieved, as if a great load 
 had been token off her. The principal cause of this sink- 
 ing is the dropping of the child's head into the pelvis. It 
 is always a good symptom, and is indicative of a roomy 
 pelvis, especially in women with their first child. The 
 woman feels much better about the lungs and stomach, but 
 there is an increased disturbance at the lower end of the 
 abdomen. There is a feeling of lightness and buoyancy 
 that increases, and, a few days before the setting in of 
 labor, she feels like taking an extra amount of exercise. 
 This is especially true if it be her first child, but the mother 
 of children is acquainted with this condition, and feels that 
 it is only the precursor of what is soon to follow, and will 
 not unduly expose herself, or undertake an excessive 
 amount of exercise, notwithstanding she feel so well. 
 Another important symptom of the approach of labor, is 
 the increased fullness of the external parts around the birth- 
 place, and an augmented secretion of mucus, which may 
 be so free as to amount to a discharge resembling leucor- 
 rhea, or whites. This symptom is indicative of a relaxa- 
 tion of the parts, which will facilitate the escape of the 
 child's head and make labor more easy.
 
 THE SYMPTOMS OF ACTUAL LABOR. 483 
 
 A material mental change may be observed, which is 
 another symptom of the approach of labor. There is a 
 general feeling of restlessness, as if something were 
 wanting, or some awful calamity were to befall her. This 
 is a very distressing feeling, and may last for several 
 days. 
 
 The Symptoms of Actual Labor. 
 
 The first symptom of actual labor is pain. The 
 patient may be roused out of a sound sleep by a pain 
 more or less severe, which she may not at first be able to 
 locate. She may attribute it to an irregular action of the 
 bowels or kidneys, and feel as if the use of the chamber is 
 what she needs. I recall two instances of this kind where 
 the patients did not live over a stone's cast from my office. 
 Neither of the women were able to return to bed, the 
 uterus disloading itself with apparently a single contrac- 
 tion. Such labors are amazingly easy. Early in the 
 history of labor there is what is called the " show," which 
 is the discharge of the plug of mucus that occupies the 
 neck of the womb up to this time. This mucus is 
 frequently tinged with blood. The pain appears gradually 
 at intervals in the lower part of the abdomen, at first a 
 little like stomach-ache, but gradually increasing in power 
 and frequency. Later, when the head reaches the pelvis, the 
 pain reaches the lower part of the back-bone. There is a 
 feeling of increased weight and fullness, with marked irri- 
 tation of the bladder and rectum, and a constant desire to 
 go to stool or urinate. This depends partly on pressure
 
 484 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 and partly on sympathy, and ceases as soon as the mouth 
 of the womb is fully dilated. Nausea and vomiting are 
 also often present at this stage of labor. " A sick labor " 
 is said to be an easy one. Tremors and shivering also 
 often accompany and are largely sympathetic. They are 
 not connected with cold nor headache. The face is pale 
 and cold. An author says that, " during labor, the entire 
 organism stands in solemn awe to view the performance, 
 and all the organs send responsive greetings to the uterus 
 in its parturient throes. " The depression is physical and 
 mental, especially in the first stage of labor. Women 
 generally say that .it is impossible for them to survive. 
 They imagine that nothing is accomplished by their suffer- 
 ing during the first stage, and usually complain more during 
 the first than the second stage of labor. The mental 
 depression and irritability are as much the symptoms of 
 the first stage as are the physical signs. The flow of 
 mucus and blood increases ; there should be just enough 
 blood to color the mucus pink. A teaspoonful of blood is 
 alarming. The " show " is a certain sign of progress. The 
 pain in the first stage of labor is described by women as a 
 cutting, grinding pain. The patient feels as though some 
 internal organ or part were being rent or torn asunder. 
 When the pain comes on, the woman ceases her employ- 
 ment of walking, talking, etc., bends over, and a peculiar 
 expression of pain comes over her face. When the pain 
 goes off, she resumes her former employment. The effect 
 of these pains is to dilate the mouth of the uterus. The 
 pain is always characteristic of this stage of labor. During
 
 THE SYMPTOMS OF ACTUAL LABOR. 485 
 
 the second stage of labor, the sound made by the patient 
 is of a straining, grunting character. The first stage of 
 labor is long and uncertain, lasting from two or three hours 
 to as many days. The duration of the first stage may 
 differ in the same women. In some women there is 
 a soft, moist, insensitive, and dilated or dilatable os. 
 This indicates an easy labor. In others it is dry, 
 sensitive and rigid. This indicates a tedious labor. What 
 is meant by dilation of the os? Simply a relaxation and 
 softening of the mouth of the womb sufficient to let the 
 child pass through it. This condition is assisted very much 
 by the contraction of the uterus, forcing down into the 
 mouth of the womb a membraneous sack filled with water 
 (called the liquor amnii), which acts as a wedge, holding 
 open the os between the paroxysms of pain. The rapidity 
 of the dilatation of the os is not uniform. It generally 
 takes longer to dilate it sufficiently to admit two fingers 
 than to accomplish sufficient dilatation to permit the 
 passage of the child. Perhaps, as labor progresses, the 
 water-bag-wedge obtains more power to 'overcome the 
 contraction of the sphincter muscles of the os. Women 
 with their first child usually suffer greater and longer pain 
 in the dilatation of the os than they do with the birth that 
 is to occur afterward. The bag of waters is the prede- 
 cessor of the child, and, I have said, stretches the passage 
 for it. This bag supplies the place of a cushion of warm 
 water, and by it the head of the child and its cord are 
 saved from all undue compression. No matter how long 
 the first stage of labor, if the bag of water be intact, the
 
 486 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 child is safe. If the bag be prematurely ruptured, the 
 labor is prolonged, and may prove fatal to the child. It 
 sometimes happens that the membranes are ruptured, and 
 the water escapes slowly for days and even weeks before 
 labor sets in. It is then called " a dry birth." Such 
 cases are always protracted, and labor more difficult. 
 When a pain comes, the walls of the uterus contract, the 
 edges of the os become tense, and the bag of waters 
 bulges. Then the pain ceases and the os becomes flaccid. 
 The waters recede, and the presenting portion of the 
 child can be felt through the bag. Thus the bag of 
 waters goes on bulging and retracting till it bursts, and 
 from one to three pints of liquor amnii escape. Occa- 
 sionally, where there is but little water in front, the head 
 may act as a cork, and the water remains behind the 
 child during the second stage. In a typical case, how- 
 ever, the bag of waters bursts, the fluid escapes, the head 
 comes down, and the first stage of labor ends at the same 
 time. But this by no means always happens. When 
 the membranes are thin and the tissues tough, the first 
 symptom of labor may be the bursting of the bag of 
 waters. In a first confinement it is desirable to have 
 the membranes protrude beyond the vulva. The burst- 
 ing of the bag of waters may alarm a woman with her 
 first child. It sometimes happens that the bag of waters 
 does not rupture until after the head is born. There 
 was a vulgar opinion entertained that a child born in this 
 condition would neither be hung nor drowned. 
 
 With membranes ruptured, the liquor amnii escaping
 
 THE SYMPTOMS OF ACTUAL LABOR. 487 
 
 and the head down in the pelvis, the first stage of labor 
 closes. After the rupture of the water-bag there is a lull 
 of the pain fora few minutes. Then the pain is increased, 
 and the woman begins to "bear down." The bearing 
 down is involuntary, to a large extent. She braces her 
 feet and wants to pull with her hands. She takes in a full 
 inspiration, fixes her abdominal muscles and diaphragm, 
 and strains ; her face becomes red, her jugulars swell and 
 her carotids beat. These efforts are also impulses of 
 nature. When the straining ceases, the breath is at first 
 rapid, then a calm ensues. It is dangerous for a woman 
 with lung disease or heart disease to strain much, as hem- 
 orrhage from the lungs or into the brain may result. Such 
 women may better be delivered by forceps. Further and 
 further the head advances ; the pains and straining 
 increase. The head at length reaches the floor of the 
 pelvis, and presses on the sciatic nerve, and this pressure 
 may produce a severe cramp in the legs, which is fre- 
 quently the cause of intense suffering, and may call for 
 delivery by the forceps. Further and further the head 
 advances ; it sweeps through the hollow of the sacrum, 
 emptying both the bladder and rectum by its pressure 
 upon them ; it presses the coccyx or lower end of the os 
 sacrum, the anus projects, the perineum bulges, the labta 
 are stretched, and the head is seen at the mouth of the 
 vulva. When a pain comes on the head advances. The 
 pain goes off and the head recedes. It seems as if every 
 pain would accomplish the delivery, while, in a primipara, 
 it may require one or two hours more. In a first delivery,
 
 488 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 when the head seems about to be delivered, a pain goes 
 off, the head recedes almost out of sight, the perineum 
 ceases to bulge, the coccyx returns to its normal position, 
 and it seems as though there must have been a rupture 
 of the uterus, the child escaping into the abdominal 
 cavity. This, however, is not the case, for this is 
 one of Nature's conservative processes. It gives the 
 child a respite, and prevents still-births, which would 
 almost invariably happen from long compression of 
 the bones of the head. If this did not prove fatal 
 to it, it would die from suffocation. This is the 
 reason why so many unborn children die in cases of 
 puerperal convulsions. This period of recuperation is 
 also necessary to the soft parts of the mother, to prevent 
 inflammation or laceration from sudden stretching. After 
 this period of rest, the head advances and recedes as 
 before. Do not get scared nor get in a hurry. Take it 
 coolly and wear a pleasant countenance, even if it should 
 take some time. In the pain before the last, it seems 
 certain that the head will be born, but the pain stops just 
 short of accomplishing the work. In the next pain, the 
 woman makes an extra effort, utters a significant shriek, 
 and the head is born. Practically, the labor is finished 
 when the head is born. There is now an interval of rest, 
 the body of the child is born, the woman immediately 
 passes into a new existence, and is comparatively comfort- 
 able. She is surprised and overjoyed. 
 
 The third stage of labor comes on, which is the 
 delivery of the after-birth. As soon as the child is born
 
 THE SYMPTOMS OF ACTUAL LABOR. 489 
 
 the uterus begins to shrink very rapidly. The placenta 
 does not shrink, but separates from the uterus. The 
 placenta (after-birth) falls to the mouth of the womb and 
 causes reflex contractions. After expulsion of the 
 placenta the uterus keeps on shrinking. This shrinkage 
 compresses the uterine blood-vessels, and prevents free 
 hemorrhage. If the placenta be attached to the fundus of 
 the uterus, it falls into the mouth of the womb and pre- 
 vents the escape of blood till after the expulsion of the 
 placenta, when a quantity of coagulated blood will follow. 
 If the placenta be attached to the sides of the uterus, it 
 will fall down edgewise, and the blood will continue to 
 escape during the third stage of labor. The separation of 
 the placenta from the uterus begins with the first labor 
 pain. 
 
 If the connection be weak there may be accidental 
 hemorrhage at the first pain. If there be abnormally firm 
 adhesions, it is not spontaneously detached. In such 
 situations the uterus may shrink and the placenta be 
 separated before the head is born, and hemorrhage may 
 result. The placenta may remain in the walls of the 
 vagina for hours. We might trust the expulsion of the 
 placenta to the efforts of Nature, as many suggest, but I 
 think it best not to do so, unless .Nature act speedily. 
 There may be reasons why it should not be done. The 
 woman is wet, soiled and unhappy till the placenta is 
 removed. I rarely wait longer on the efforts of Nature 
 alone than ten to thirty minutes. If the hand be applied 
 to the lower part of the abdomen, a hard tremor will be
 
 490 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 felt through the abdominal walls ; if it be not, then grasp 
 with both hands deep down into the abdomen, and excite 
 through manipulations its contraction. Continue this 
 process until you feel the uterus as a hard, globular mass in 
 the lower part of the abdomen. There are two methods 
 practiced for the expulsion of the placenta. Pass your 
 finger along the cord until you feel the placenta in the 
 mouth of the womb or upper part of the vagina. Seize 
 the cord with one hand ; pass two fingers of the other 
 hand, one on either side of the cord, into the vagina. 
 With these two fingers as a pulley, make gentle tension on 
 the cord with the other hand back toward the spine. Do 
 not pull the cord forward toward the pubes. Pull gently, 
 that you may not detach the cord from the placenta. 
 Should such an accident occur, grasp the placenta with 
 the fingers, and encourage its expulsion. As soon as the 
 placenta is fairly in the hands, commence turning it round 
 so as to form a cord out of the membranes ; this will insure 
 their entire detachment and delivery. 
 
 The other method of delivering the placenta is to 
 grasp the uterus with both hands through the abdominal 
 walls and squeeze and press it in every direction toward 
 the centre. You can feel it shrinking from a large mass to 
 one not much larger than a fist. This is perhaps the best 
 method, especially for the inexperienced. Do not push 
 the uterus downward, but squeeze it. It will expel the 
 placental membranes and usually the clots. There is 
 always the loss of more or less blood during this stage of 
 labor, usually not to exceed a half-pint.
 
 ATTENTION TO BE GIVEN MOTHER AND CHILD. 
 
 I have gone over the several steps in what is called a 
 typical case of child-birth. 
 
 Some Attention That Should Be Given the Mother and 
 
 Child. 
 
 There is little to be done during the first stage of 
 labor. An examination of the uterus through the vagina 
 with the finger is necessary ; first, to ascertain if the 
 woman be in actual labor ; second, if so, to see what is the 
 condition of the os if it be dilated or dilatable, to see what 
 is the presentation that is, the position of the child 
 relative to the size and condition of the passage. This 
 examination should continue long enough to examine all 
 the soft and hard parts of the pelvis. It is often necessary 
 to occasionally repeat the examination. The woman 
 should not be especially restrained during the first stage of 
 labor, but may be permitted to do very much as she 
 pleases, and eat and drink as is her custom unless she 
 be fleshy ; in such case, feed her lightly. Usually a 
 woman does not want to eat much. In the first stage of 
 labor, at least, a woman ought not to take alcoholic stimu- 
 lants. Ordinarily, I never give them in any stage of 
 labor. If the woman be nauseated to such extent as 
 to prevent the pains, give her some nerve stimulant, as 
 peppermint, lavender, sweet spirits of nitre, or a cup of 
 strong coffee or tea. If she have extreme rigors, give 
 Hoffman's anodyne. 
 
 So soon as the os is dilated to the size of a silver dollar, 
 put the woman to bed ; otherwise, if you permit her to be
 
 492 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 up, an accident might occur, and the child be born while 
 she is on her feet. The bed I have already described and 
 prepared. During the first stage of labor the uterus does 
 everything. Sometimes the os is soft and freely dilatable, 
 but there is no pain, or there may have been some pain, 
 but it has ceased. Introduce your finger into the os through 
 the vagina, and manipulate it ; at the same time with the 
 other hand gently manipulate the bowels. Continue this 
 procedure for half an hour, and, nine times out often, you 
 will have produced very satisfactory labor. Some recom- 
 mend the administration of ergot, but I very rarely use it, 
 generally succeeding well by the method referred to. You 
 should be very careful never to rupture the bag of waters 
 in a woman with her first child. Allow the waters, by 
 their moisture and heat, to thoroughly relax the soft parts 
 of the passage. In the first part of the second stage of 
 labor you may encourage the woman to bear down. In 
 the latter part she needs no such encouragement, as there 
 is sufficient inclination, and she may injure herself if she 
 make too severe effort. When the head appears at the 
 vulva, or external opening into the vagina, and the head 
 is pressing against the perenium, it should be supported, 
 to regulate the rapidity of the passage of the head, and 
 prevent the rupture of the thin tissues. The perineum 
 should be carefully watched. Its rupture is a serious acci- 
 dent. Place two fingers of the one hand on the perineum 
 and two fingers of the other hand on the child's head, and 
 make gentle passive support to the extent of a few ounces. 
 Use the bare fingers, and not a towel or napkin, for by it
 
 ATTENTION TO BE GIVEN MOTHER AND CHILD. 493 
 
 you remove the lubricating material. The fingers should 
 be thoroughly covered with lard. It will sometimes be 
 necessary, if the parts appear dry, to lubricate them with 
 lard during the interval of pain. A pain comes on, the 
 head does not advance, the woman cries out and stops 
 straining ; she should then be encouraged to strain. 
 
 As soon as the head has been born, find if the cord be 
 wound around its neck ; if so, remove it at once, or it 
 may kill the child. This is done by pulling on the free 
 end of the cord, and slipping the noose over its head. If 
 you cannot succeed in getting the child's head through 
 the cord, you may cut it. It may be necessary, in such 
 cases, to deliver the child at once, and, if there be no 
 pain, which sometimes happens, you may be tempted to 
 pull on the child's head. This should be avoided, lest 
 you dislocate the cervical vertebra. Press freely on and 
 rub the abdomen ; tell the woman to strain ; tell her if 
 she do not, the child will die. Support the child's head ; 
 with a cloth wound around your index finger, cleanse its 
 mouth, and with a towel wipe off its face and prevent the 
 fluids from running into its throat. The child is now 
 born. Place it on its side with its face from the maternal 
 organs, that it may not be suffocated by discharges. 
 Instantly place your hand upon the naked abdomen of the 
 woman ; make friction and pressure until the flabby 
 uterus becomes firm and hard. The danger is from hem- 
 orrhage and convulsions. As soon as the child breathes 
 and shows signs of vigor, tie the cord from two to two and 
 one-half inches from the infant's body first ; then again
 
 494 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 two inches farther, and, with a sharp pair of scissors, 
 divide the cord between the two ligatures. Wrap the 
 child in a warm, soft blanket and hand to the nurse. 
 Place the mother on her back ; in the meantime, keep a 
 careful watch over her, and allow her to rest ten minutes. 
 See that the uterus is contracting ; have the attendant 
 keep her hand on the bowels, making pressure upon the 
 uterus, that the after-birth may be expelled. I have 
 given directions for its proper delivery. 
 
 Have the nurse, or do it yourself, wash the vulva and 
 thighs in tepid water and soap, and clean things up gen- 
 erally. But do not fatigue the woman with over- 
 attention. The whole toilet should not occupy more than 
 five minutes. 
 
 Now apply the binder. The directions for making it 
 have been already given. The binder is to make constant 
 pressure upon the uterus, compress the blood-vessels and 
 support the abdominal muscles. It preserves the woman's 
 shape, to which desideratum no woman is indifferent. 
 Before applying the binder, see that the uterus is well 
 contracted. Place a compress over the uterus, underneath 
 the binder. The binder should extend from the false ribs 
 to the pubes. Pin it as tight as will be admitted by the 
 patient ; it will soon get loose. Put in six or eight pins, 
 and see that they are not left in position to injure the 
 patient. Now bring the woman to the head of the bed, 
 but do not let her move, or make any effort at all. Apply 
 a large napkin below the vulva to catch the waste. Now 
 make the woman comfortable, covering her with blankets 
 adapted to the temperature of the weather.
 
 HEMORRHAGES. 495 
 
 Hemorrhages. 
 
 Accidental hemorrhage occurs from detachment of an 
 abnormally-situated placenta. Inmost cases it takes place 
 during the latter months of pregnancy, or during labor. 
 During the last three months hemorrhage sometimes comes 
 on suddenly, without any apparent cause, especially in 
 cases of placenta prcevia, that is, where the placenta leads 
 the way, or occupies the lower end of the uterus below 
 the child. In many cases the hemorrhage ceases spon- 
 taneously. It may come on in large quantities or it may 
 be continual called slow hemorrhage. There may be 
 no bleeding until labor comes on, when a sudden rush of 
 blood may prove fatal. In some cases of placenta pravia, 
 the os dilates freely, the placenta is spontaneously thrown 
 into the vagina, and labor goes on safely for the mother, 
 but the child is still-born. This, however, is quite rare. 
 This is an important crisis, and ignorance or timidity may 
 cause the death of the parent. During the last three 
 months the best treatment for accidental hemorrhage and 
 placenta prcevia is rest in bed ; elevation of the hips ; sup- 
 positories of opium and belladonna of one grain each ; 
 cold cloths to the lower part of the abdomen and vulva ; if 
 the woman be cold, use hot applications ; if the hemorrhage 
 do not cease or be quite free, tampon the vagina. 
 
 Hemorrhage After Delivery. 
 
 This is the most formidable complication of labor, and 
 gives no time for dallying ; you must act at once. The
 
 49^ MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 attack is swift and unexpected. It frequently occurs, and 
 you should ever be on the watch. If you have fully 
 followed the directions given to contract the uterus you 
 will rarely have any trouble. I have long been in the 
 practice of obstetrics and have had but one case give me 
 any serious trouble, that was the premature birth of a 
 child. Through over-attention to the offspring, I neglected 
 to see to the proper contraction of the uterus, to which 
 cause I attributed the subsequent hemorrhage. 
 
 The premonitions of hemorrhage after delivery are a 
 flaccid uterus, pallor, quick, fluttering, feeble pulse, 
 vertigo, dimness of vision, faintness, yawning and gaping, 
 which should be particularly noted. Fainting is itself 
 dangerous from the liability to produce heart-clot. 
 Locally is seen the rush of blood. The hemorrhage may 
 be concealed on account of a clot of blood in the os, or 
 from its being corked up by the placenta or tampon. In 
 such cases the uterus fills with blood before you are 
 aware. The preventive treatment is by manipulations, to 
 stimulate the uterus to contract. Come down on it with 
 both hands, force contraction, and rid yourself of further 
 trouble. 
 
 The medication is ergot. Give a teaspoonful of the 
 fluid extract every fifteen to twenty minutes. Empty the 
 uterus of its contents, placenta, membranes and clots. If 
 the uterus do not contract, introduce the hand into the 
 uterus, and at the same time manipulate externally. This 
 will nearly always cause contraction. If it do not, apply 
 cold water, which produces contraction by shock, and if at
 
 TREATMENT OF PLACENTA PR^EVIA. 497 
 
 all, it will-do it immediately. It should not be tried more 
 than five minutes. If these means fail, dip a clean rag 
 into vinegar, introduce it into the uterus, and squeeze it 
 out. Vinegar excites extreme contraction (is styptic), is 
 not dangerous and is always at hand. Sucking the 
 breast, either by the child or other means, frequently aids 
 contractions. If the patient "be faint and feeble, give 
 stimulants. Aromatic spirits of ammonia, Hoffman's 
 anodyne, or ether. Keep the head lower than the body. 
 Give salty food, animal broths, essence of beef, wine, 
 whey, meat soups, milk, or raw eggs. Quiet the nerves 
 by opium and bromide. 
 
 Treatment of Placenta Praevia. 
 
 When labor has come and you have hemorrhage from 
 placenta frcsvia, the treatment will depend upon the 
 presentation of the placenta. In complete placenta 
 prcevia the best treatment is to tampon with soft rags 
 until the os is dilated or dilatable, and then turn the child 
 and deliver it by the feet. Watch carefully the progress 
 of the dilatation, and lose no time unless the hemorrhage 
 is slight ; if it be severe and dangerous, introduce your 
 hand before complete dilatation, rupture the membranes, 
 seize the feet and deliver as speedily as possible. In 
 general, the child is not hard to turn, as the loss of blood 
 renders the uterus weak and non-resistant to the hand. 
 Separate the placenta at one side to permit the entrance 
 of the hand. Carefully examine as to where it be least 
 attached, and then peal it off. You do this by pushing
 
 498 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 your finger in at different points, ascertaining where 
 entrance is easiest. If the patient be weak, give stimulants 
 and ergot. Give a full dose of laudanum. Lose no time. 
 The patient's life is at stake. If she faint she will 
 probably die. 
 
 In partial placenta pravia, the danger is not nearly so 
 great. Rupture the membranes early, and this may suffice 
 to arrest the hemorrhage by compressing the vessels. If 
 not, tampon the uterus, wait for dilatation, and turn by 
 the feet. 
 
 Shoulder presentations or trunk presentation will 
 always require interference and version, that is, turning 
 the child so as to bring the feet down. Version is the 
 great operation in manual assistance. When you have 
 determined that version is a necessity, either for the safety 
 of child or mother, inform the patient. Place the patient 
 upon the edge of the bed with her feet resting upon 
 chairs. Let the assistant support her legs and control her 
 movement so that there will be no muscular effort on her 
 part. Spread out a cloth upon the floor under the bed to 
 protect the carpet ; roll up your sleeves and protect your 
 clothing. In shoulder presentations use that hand which 
 corresponds with the shoulder presenting right hand for 
 right shoulder, and left for left shoulder. 
 
 Conditions for Performing Version. 
 
 The os uteri must be dilated or dilatable. The pre- 
 senting part must have passed the mouth of the uterus. 
 Version is comparatively easy if the liquor amnii be yet
 
 CONDITIONS FOR PERFORMING VERSION. 499 
 
 retained, but very difficult and sometimes impossible after 
 it has been lost. All manipulations in version except 
 extraction must be done in the absence of pain. Insert 
 your hand gently, and, if pain comes on, wait until it 
 ceases, making pressure downward and backward. Do 
 not burst the bag of waters until you get the hand well 
 into the uterus. If the head be in the road push it to one 
 side and explore for the feet. Having found the feet, 
 rupture the water bag and turn the child. All this must 
 be done in the absence of pain that is, between the 
 paroxysms of pain. Having brought the feet down, keep 
 one hand on the abdomen, and see that the uterus is 
 contracting. Do not hurry now, unless there is accidental 
 hemorrhage. After the child has been born as far as the 
 navel, carry the body up and get the arms down. Better 
 to bring the arm down first that can be most easily done, 
 which is the posterior, or the one next to the back of 
 the mother. Be careful you do not break the bones 
 they are tender. Having disengaged the arms, the child 
 will rotate with its breast looking to the back of the 
 mother. Insert your finger along the breast of the child 
 and carry it up until you reach the child's mouth, and pull 
 the chin down against the breast, at the same time elevat- 
 ing the body of the child. Make pressure upon the 
 abdomen, and labor will speedily be accomplished. 
 
 Face presentations cannot be born save by version or 
 turning the child. There are many other positions, but 
 only two methods of delivery one in which the present- 
 ing part is the vertex, or one that may be converted into
 
 500 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 such position ; the other by the feet, or one that may be 
 converted into that position. 
 
 The child should be washed. It may be covered with 
 a tenacious white coat (especially is this coat to be found 
 in the creases of the body), which protects it in the uterus. 
 To remove this sebacious matter, rub the child thoroughly 
 with lard, as has been directed in another part of this 
 work, wipe off with a soft cloth, and wash with castile 
 soap. To dress the cord, cut a hole in a double fold of 
 old muslin six or eight inches long and four wide, about 
 two inches from the end ; make the hole to suit the size of 
 the cord ; pass the cord through the hole and envelop in a 
 piece of muslin ; lay it with the cord directed toward the 
 long end of the dressing, fold it back over the end of the 
 cord, and apply the bandage or roller, which consists of a 
 piece of flannel, as before directed, wide enough to 
 extend from the arm-pits to the hips, and sufficiently long 
 to go twice around the body ; pin it or sew it on smoothly 
 and let it remain for from five to eight days, when the 
 navel cord will come off, and ordinarily heal up without 
 any interference. If not, a weak astringent solution of 
 the sulphate of copper or zinc should be applied to stimu- 
 late the parts. The child may be put to the breast soon 
 after birth. This course is often necessary to stimulate 
 the uterus to contraction. Do not begin to pour teas into 
 it. They are hurtful to the child. Full directions for the 
 future care of the child will be found in our first chapter 
 on infancy
 
 THE MOTHER. 
 
 ,Her Responsibility. 
 
 THERE is no more sacredly-blessed moment in the life 
 of a woman than that in which is placed in her arms her 
 first-born child. In her heart is born a new love, a new 
 devotion, a new solicitude which every succeeding day 
 will confirm, deepen and strengthen. When she looks 
 upon the little, helpless being, so lately a part of herself, 
 and realizes that it is in very truth her own hers and his 
 to whom she has given her life on earth a flood of tender- 
 ness rushes into her heart that no other earthly bliss can 
 equal. Recognizing, too, that a new soul is now launched 
 into independent existence, whose life must go on and on 
 while eternity endures, an awe profound and sacred falls 
 upon her, subduing her soul into quiet. If she be a 
 mother whose heart the Creator has touched, she will feel 
 the strong impulse to solemnly dedicate the new soul to 
 the service of the Being whose gift it is, and to pour out 
 her own soul, asking for life, health, strength and wisdom 
 to mature, guard and train her child through all the 
 uncertain ways of life. The mother's feelings at such a 
 moment cannot be described. To herself they are not 
 susceptible of analysis. Complex emotions fill her bosom. 
 
 501
 
 5O2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 One moment she is buoyed up by the rush of tenderness 
 that sweeps in upon her. At the next she sinks under 
 the sense of responsibility which her new relation entails 
 upon her. The future looms up before her as a sealed 
 book. What it holds in store for her babe she cannot 
 know. She knows that other children, as innocent, as 
 
 deeply loved, as her own little one, have grown into 
 
 f 
 deformed moral natures. Perhaps it may be so with her 
 
 own blessed babe. Who can tell ? 
 
 " The Father hath willed it so, 
 
 That mortals may never know 
 Whether there lies in the future years 
 A grave of hopes to be wet with tears, 
 
 A palace of joy or woe ; 
 Lest feet should falter and hearts grow faint, 
 
 He knew it was better so. " 
 
 The mother will find herself exhausted and weak when 
 she is delivered of her child. While the attendants are 
 looking after the child, the mother must not be neglected. 
 She should be at once drawn up in bed, her limbs cleansed 
 with tepid water, thoroughly dried, and all the temporary 
 dressing removed. She should then be allowed to rest. 
 She will require an additional covering to guard against 
 contracting cold. The labors of childbirth have caused 
 the mother to perspire freely, and the pores of the skin 
 are all open. A chill is invited, and proper caution is 
 required to prevent it. A chill or protracted cold is to be 
 avoided strenuously, as it is liable to result seriously. 
 For this reason it is suggested that as soon as possible the 
 mother be allowed to repose quietly, carefully covered. 
 A reaction will come soon, however, and the superfluous 
 
 r K"j
 
 HER RESPONSIBILITY. 503 
 
 clothing must be removed, lest such profuse perspiration 
 be started as will be difficult to check. The patient should, 
 if possible, be kept warm enough for comfort, but not 
 warm enough to cause perspiration. 
 
 The room should be darkened and all company 
 excluded. One careful, experienced attendant only should 
 remain, so that in case anything be needed by the patient 
 it can be attended to promptly. The presence of a trust- 
 worthy nurse will serve to tranquilize the mind of the 
 mother and enable her to secure the quiet and repose she 
 so much needs. 
 
 Flooding, or convulsions, are not infrequent conse- 
 quences of child-birth. Either of these is of such grave 
 importance that means for its prompt arrest should be at 
 hand, and at once employed, lest the life be imperiled. A 
 single attendant is better than two or more, as conversa- 
 tion is likely to be indulged and disturb the patient so as 
 to prevent her getting that rest which she so much needs 
 to restore the exhausted condition of the system resulting 
 from the excessive efforts in the work of delivery. Sleep 
 is Nature's great restorer, and she should be allowed to 
 enjoy it for several hours to recover the lost forces of the 
 system. 
 
 Putting the Child to Breast. 
 
 When she has had a good nap, the child is to be put 
 to the breast. This will be advantageous to both mother 
 and child. The secretions in the breasts at the time of 
 delivery are well adapted to meet the condition of the
 
 504 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 child's bowels. The bowels of the newly-born infant are 
 loaded with secretions that have accumulated during the 
 latter months of pregnancy. The bowels require some- 
 thing of a cathartic nature which will stimulate the stomach 
 and liver, and unload this effete accumulation. Applying 
 the child to the breast stimulates contraction of the uterus, 
 and thereby secures the mother against the danger of 
 flooding. It is also a great benefit to the breast itself, by 
 relieving the milk vessels of a thick and heavy secretion 
 that, if left, would interfere seriously with the free passage 
 of the milk, which usually sets in about the third day. The 
 accumulated secretions of the breasts will generally meet 
 the wants of the child until the time for the mammary 
 supply is established. 
 
 The mother may turn on either side and receive the 
 child upon the arm of the side upon which she is lying. 
 If the nipple be not sufficiently developed to enable the 
 newly-born babe to grasp it in its mouth, the difficulty 
 may be thus overcome : Get a pint flask, fill it with hot 
 water, empty it, plunge the neck into cold water that it 
 may not burn the breast, and then place the mouth of the 
 bottle immediately over the nipple. The air that was 
 expanded by the heat contracts upon cooling, forming a 
 vacuum into which the nipple is drawn, and it will accom- 
 modate itself to the form and size of the mouth of the 
 flask. The bottle, upon cooling, should be removed, and 
 the child applied to the breast while the nipple is suf- 
 ficiently prominent to be easily grasped by the child. This 
 simple device, if properly used, and repeated each time
 
 HER RESPONSIBILITY. 505 
 
 that it is necessary to give the child the breast, would 
 overcome all retraction of the nipple, resulting from a 
 shortened condition of the milk-vessels, or, as is frequently 
 the case, a want of proper development of the nipple. 
 These directions must be vigorously followed before the 
 time for the full flow of milk ; if the breast be permitted 
 to fill up, the extreme distention of the gland will gather 
 up the tissues out of which the nipple is formed, and the 
 breast will become round and smooth as an apple, and 
 all efforts to develop the nipple will be fruitless until the 
 extreme flow of milk subsides. By this time the breasts 
 will be inflamed from over-distention of the milk vessels, 
 and an abscess will be the result. 
 
 The patient having enjoyed a good nap, and the imme- 
 diate wants of the child being met by application to the 
 breasts, it will be important, in order to better stimulate 
 the exhausted system of the patient, to provide her with a 
 cup of coffee or tea, according to her fancy, and a slice of 
 toast or some palatable food. The old-fashioned custom 
 of furnishing a bowl of " bread-soup" for the sick woman 
 at this time is not at all objectionable, being both appro- 
 priate and palatable. A slice of bread is broken in a bowl 
 and covered with hot water, to which are added a little 
 sugar, some spice to suit the taste of the patient, and a 
 teaspoonful or two of brandy, which makes it still more 
 palatable. Care should be taken, however, that no more 
 spirits be added than may be necessary as a slightly stimu- 
 lating condiment, lest the patient be over-stimulated, and 
 injured rather than benefited by the addition.
 
 506 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Cleanliness, always essential in sickness, is peculiarly 
 so in this case. Every few hours from four to six a 
 soft napkin wet in warm water, to which may be added a 
 little mild soap, should be passed under the bed-covers, 
 that the patient's person be not unduly exposed, and the 
 soiled parts well cleansed from the effects of the waste that 
 is going on from the uterus. After each washing, wipe 
 the parts dry without producing more friction than may 
 be necessary to the accomplishment of the work. The 
 application of a weak solution of bay rum, say one part 
 rum and two of water, to which might be added a few 
 drops of carbolic acid, after each washing, will be followed 
 by beneficial results in overcoming any tendency to blood- 
 poisoning. The napkin that is intended to absorb the 
 discharge from the uterus should not remain so long as to 
 become saturated and rendered not only unpleasant but 
 dangerous. 
 
 The recumbent position for the mother should be most 
 rigidly enjoined for several days, even in the most favorable 
 circumstances. Her shoulders must be kept in bed. In 
 taking her nourishment she may turn upon her side, so as 
 to be able, if necessary, to feed herself. It is better, at 
 least until she recovers from her exhaustion, that she be 
 fed by the nurse or other attendant. When it becomes 
 necessary to empty the bladder, she should be required to 
 turn over upon her face, and raise upon her knees and 
 elbows, when the chamber can be conveniently passed in 
 front and used without elevating the shoulders above the 
 hips, thus avoiding an erect position, which is so objection- 
 able close after delivery.
 
 CHANGING THE CLOTHING. 507 
 
 Changing the Clothing. 
 
 If the directions in regard to the care of the chemise 
 and night-gown have been carefully observed, there will 
 be no necessity for changing them for four or five days. 
 If, however, from any accident they should become soiled, 
 it may be necessary to do it sooner. Great care should 
 be observed that the patient be not permitted to lie in 
 stained and unhealthy clothing, because it not only 
 becomes dry and hard, rendering it very uncomfortable, 
 but from the warmth of the body there will arise a very 
 unpleasant and dangerous odor, poisoning the atmosphere 
 of the room and engendering disease. The clothing 
 should be changed without either uncovering the person 
 or raising the body from the bed. Unbutton the bed- 
 gown and chemise in front and withdraw the arms from 
 the sleeves of the garments, when they can be cast down 
 over the body, and taken out at the feet, as it is neither 
 pleasant nor proper to take them off at the pillow. To 
 put on the chemise pass her arms through from the lower 
 end of the skirt into the sleeves, shove them over the arm 
 until they reach the shoulder, then throw the body of the 
 garment over the head and, without lifting the shoulders 
 from the bed, draw it down under the body so far as the 
 hips only, to prevent it from becoming soiled. The bed- 
 gown should be put on in the same manner.
 
 508 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Preparation to Leave the Bed. 
 
 The time when a lying-in woman should leave her bed 
 cannot be definitely fixed by any specific number of days. 
 There is an old dictum, and one that is oft-repeated: " She 
 must not get up until the ninth day." It has been bred 
 into the practice of some localities to such immoderate 
 extent that many believe there is some unusual virtue in 
 the ninth day. Hence, most women expect to be per- 
 mitted to rise at this time, if not sooner. There should, 
 however, be no fixed rule about leaving the bed which 
 does not take into account the peculiar circumstances 
 attending each particular case. 
 
 At one confinement a woman may be in as good con- 
 dition to sit up at the end of the fifth day as she would be 
 at another at the end of the fifteenth day. The same 
 variety of conditions will be witnessed among different 
 women. To keep the bed until after the ninth day is a 
 safe rule in normal child-bed convalescence, but when there 
 may have existed some abnormal condition, as lacerated 
 wounds, which must be healed by granulations, a much 
 longer period will be necessary. 
 
 In an American journal of recent date, a distinguished 
 obstetrician expresses his conviction that the upright and 
 sitting posture ought to be carefully avoided until involu- 
 tion (the act of rolling up) has proceeded so far that the 
 uterus has receded from the inferior wall of the abdomen 
 and returned to the pelvic cavity. The observance of this 
 rule, which is a very good one, would allow one woman
 
 LAXATIVE FOR MOVING THE BOWELS. 509 
 
 to sit up in a week, while another would be kept in bed 
 two weeks or even longer. The absence or presence of 
 the lochia, or discharges, should be an index of the ability 
 to get out of bed. If still present, they should serve as a 
 warning against a return to the upright posture. 
 
 Great care is therefore necessary. It is better to 
 remain a few days unnecessarily than to risk health by a 
 premature adventure. Let the first attempt at getting up 
 be largely experimental, and do not experiment too 
 freely. The resumption of household duties should be 
 postponed until the patient can walk about without fatigue 
 or backache. When the abdominal walls are relaxed 
 that is, loose and flabby a well-fitting bandage should 
 be worn for weeks or months after delivery, or until the 
 parts resume their normal condition. 
 
 Laxative fop Moving the Bowels. 
 
 Upon the administration of cathartic remedies after 
 delivery there has been promulgated by writers a vast 
 difference of opinion. The author has all his life adopted 
 the practice, if the bowels are not moved normally, which 
 is rarely the case, of insuring a full and free evacuation of 
 their contents. Very few women escape costiveness dur- 
 ing most of the period of pregnancy. There is especially 
 an accumulation of fecal matter during the last weeks of 
 pregnancy that is ofren enormously large, and it frequently 
 contributes to puerperal affections. The means to be 
 adopted for unloading the bowels must be selected with 
 an appropriateness suited to each particular case.
 
 510 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Some women, to produce a free and adequate move- 
 ment of the bowels, will require nothing more than an 
 injection of a quantity of soapsuds, with, may be, the 
 addition of a little olive oil. In others the object can be 
 better accomplished by the administration of some mild 
 laxative, such as castor oil, compound rhubarb pills, or 
 the compound licorice powder. Sometimes it may be 
 necessary to administer a full dose of calomel or the com- 
 pound salts and senna. Bear in mind that a full and free 
 emptying of the bowels is a necessity, and must be accom- 
 plished. When there are severe colic pains, castor oil, 
 combined with 15 to 20 drops of laudanum, will be found 
 quite serviceable. In the hemorrhoids that frequently 
 trouble women after delivery and during convalescence, the 
 administration of half-grain doses of aloes night and 
 morning will be found a specific. 
 
 Fresh Air. 
 
 An important factor in the hygiene of a lying-in sick- 
 room consists in an abundant supply of fresh, pure air. 
 The air of sick-rooms is generally vitiated by the abundant 
 exhalations from the body, and emanations from the dis- 
 charged secretions. Physiologists now declare that infec- 
 tions have their source largely from emanations. Those 
 ordinary agents that purify the air are rarely found in the 
 atmosphere of a sick-room. The plausible theory is that 
 ozone, the great renovator of the air, is not found free in 
 the sick-chamber that it is all taken up in the oxidation 
 of the atmosphere. If the theory be not correct, why is
 
 FRESH AIR. 511 
 
 it that, while none is found in foul atmospheres or those 
 tainted with exhalations of swampy grounds, there is an 
 abundant supply of it in pure air? 
 
 The directions for the bed-chamber of a parturient 
 woman have been fully described in another part of this 
 work. See to it that the avenues for the introduction of 
 fresh air be now utilized, and that the patient do not suffer 
 from the impurities incident upon the condition of her 
 person, by the neglect to use the instrumentalities at 
 command for the complete renovation of the atmosphere 
 in the bed-chamber. 
 
 It is only a few days since that the writer had occasion 
 to observe a vivid illustration of what is here meant. A 
 woman was put to bed in a room well adapted to meet all 
 the requirements of a suitable lying-in chamber. Before 
 his leaving, explicit directions were given by the physician 
 for the application of all the means at command for the 
 patient's comfort and speedy restoration. In a second 
 visit, which had to be deferred for two or three days, it 
 was found that the ventilators ostensibly were opened, but 
 virtually closed. Though the ventilator was open, it was 
 covered by the blind, and over that was suspended a 
 curtain, which as much obstructed the free ingress and 
 egress of the air as if the ventilator had been closed. All 
 this was being done lest the patient, who was found 
 wasting with the heat, should have a chill. 
 
 No better means could have been adopted to secure 
 this much-dreaded condition. The impure air that she 
 must necessarily be compelled to breathe did tend to load
 
 512 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 the blood with impurities, which would result in fever, 
 inflammation, or some agent equally destructive to the 
 physical economy. 
 
 Locate the bed in such a position in the room that it 
 will not be exposed to any direct current, then open up 
 the avenues for ventilation, and wash out the room 
 thoroughly with fresh air. Nothing will conduce more to 
 a satisfactory convalescence. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 The covering of the bed ought to be adapted to the 
 season of the year and the temperature of the room. 
 More harm is done by keeping the patient too warm than 
 too cold. The coverings of sick persons should combine 
 lightness, warmth and porosity. Persons who are sick 
 and weak are greatly exhausted by a weight of clothing, 
 and yet the covering must be sufficient to keep in the animal 
 heat of the body. Blankets better meet the requirement 
 of bed-covering for the sick than any other article. They 
 are light, porous and warm. There should always be an 
 extra cover at hand that may be used at any time the 
 patient should feel a little cold, especially at such times as 
 the room is being subjected to a thorough ventilation. 
 
 Whenever the sheets or any of the appendages 
 belonging to the bed become soiled they should be 
 exchanged for clean ones. Nothing contributes more 
 than this to the health and comfort of the patient. Great 
 care is necessary to see that the clean articles of clothing 
 be thoroughly dry. Hang them where they will be
 
 DRESSING THE HAIR. 513 
 
 exposed for several hours, either to the heat of the fire or 
 the direct rays of the sun, to insure the evaporation of all 
 moisture that might be in them. To supply the bed with 
 clean linen, roll the patient to the back part, fold the sheet 
 now on the bed, that is to be removed, close up to her 
 person. Fold the one-half of the clean sheet and lay it 
 also close to the person of the patient, spreading the other 
 half of it over the exposed part of the mattress from which 
 the soiled sheet has been removed. Above the sheet 
 adjust any additional dressing that may be necessary to 
 better protect the bed and turn the patient over on it, the 
 soiled sheet will then be easily removed and replaced by 
 the unfolding of the clean sheet. This changing of the 
 bed should be done as frequently as may be necessary to 
 observe strict cleanliness. 
 
 Dressing the Hair. 
 
 The condition of the hair of parturient women has been 
 a source of great annoyance. There has long existed a 
 prevalent belief that puerperal women should not have 
 their hair combed, because making such part of the toilet 
 was sure to be followed with a " back-set." This is neither 
 supported by reason nor by experience. It would be quite 
 out of propriety to allow the sick woman to undergo the 
 labor and fatigue of dressing her own hair, but there can 
 be no plausible objection sustained against having it done 
 at least once a day by the nurse or some friend who may 
 be competent to the task. To allow the hair to remain 
 unkempt till after the ninth day, because of the foolish
 
 514 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 and unsupported notion that combing it would result in 
 injury to the patient, is simply barbarous. It savors too 
 much of the days of witch-craft to be at all tolerated in 
 the last years of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The hair has been by all nations regarded as an orna- 
 ment, and nothing contributes more to the personal 
 appearance of a woman than its proper arrangement, 
 whether she be lying upon a sick bed or seated in the 
 parlor. 
 
 There is no good reason for revolutionizing the cus- 
 toms of parturient women in any direction, but every- 
 thing should be done with prudence and judgment. 
 Combing the hair, washing the face and hands, bathing 
 the person, eating, drinking, etc., should proceed with 
 the same degree of regularity as if she were in health. 
 
 Food. 
 
 The diet should be selected with reference to the 
 requirements of the patient. During the first two or 
 three days the patient, as a rule, is thirsty, and does not 
 have much desire for solid food. To somewhat overcome 
 this tendency of thirst, her food should consist of gruel, 
 milk, milk-toast, tea, coffee, soup, to which may be added 
 rice, or any food that contains plenty of fluids. While it 
 is desirable on the one hand to avoid exciting colics and 
 catarrhal affections of the stomach by a too-early return 
 to solid food, yet it is equally important, on the other 
 hand, to remember that the speedy establishment of an 
 abundant supply of milk secretion is likely to be hindered 
 by subjecting the patient to semi-starvation.
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR NURSING. $15 
 
 It is seldom that any serious consequences result by 
 allowing the patient to continue to use the food to which 
 she has been accustomed previous to confinement, except 
 that meat should be restricted for several days, or until 
 after the bowels have been moved and the free secretion 
 of milk established. All easily-digested articles of food, 
 such as soft-boiled eggs, chicken broth, wild meats, 
 squirrel, birds, steak, chops, etc., according to the taste of 
 the patient, should be allowed. The food should be 
 selected with adaptability to the condition of the bowels. 
 There is usually a tendency to constipation, which may 
 to some extent be overcome by the use of porridge made 
 om unbolted flour, cracked wheat, and cooked fruits, 
 r any ordinary diet that "has a laxative effect upon 
 the bowels. On the other hand (as is rarely the 
 case), if the bowels should be too loose, such food 
 should be selected as may be adapted to this condition. 
 Let the food, as much as possible, regulate the bowels, 
 that cathartic medicines may be avoided. 
 
 Directions for Nursing. 
 
 Every healthy woman should nurse her own child, 
 especially during the puerperal period. Convalescence 
 is best accomplished where the mother is qualified to 
 nurse the child, and it is a duty that every mother owes 
 to her offspring. Some women have a distaste for nurs- 
 ing, and positively refuse to do so, on account of the 
 trouble and confinement that is necessarily imposed. 
 They forget that there is a moral obligation resting upon
 
 516 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 them, growing out of the relations that exist between 
 themselves and their children. It is beyond all question 
 the duty of the mother to allow her offspring to partake 
 of the nourishment Nature has provided by the maternal 
 organs, if neither her own health nor that of her child is to 
 be sacrificed by such lacteal alimentation. It will result in 
 equal advantage to both motherand child. It isNature's pro 
 vision for the sustenance and development of the infant. 
 The mother is likewise benefited by the drawing away of 
 the lacteal fluids. Inflammation and ulceration of the 
 glands of the breast are obviated. The uterine organ is 
 thereby stimulated, and the drain upon the pelvic cavity 
 encouraged, thus relieving the congestion resulting from 
 the delivery. Serious diseases of the female organs, 
 which might necessarily result from the failure of the 
 mother to submit to a provision of Nature for her rapid 
 and permanent restoration, are by this natural process 
 avoided. 
 
 Dr. Ramsbotham, in his celebrated work on midwifery, 
 speaking of this subject, remarks : " The mother should 
 forget the pleasures of society, give up the necessity of 
 appearing in public, and waive even the etiquette of court, 
 if these pleasures or that etiquette interfere in any material 
 degree with her duties to her infant. I cannot allow that 
 a physician would be honestly and conscientiously fulfill- 
 ing the trust reposed in him who did not, even in the 
 highest grade of society, point out the dangers that may 
 spring from this most natural and engaging employment 
 being abandoned ; and I would always think better of a
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR NURSING. 5 I/ 
 
 woman's feelings, both toward her husband and infant, 
 who gave her child the advantage of her own breast." 
 
 However, the advisability of continuing lactation after 
 she is up and able to attend to her household duties must 
 depend upon the question whether or not the mother is in 
 position to make the necessary sacrifices to the interest of 
 the child. When the domestic and social demands upon 
 her time and thoughts are numerous and pressing, lacta- 
 tion is apt to be imperfect, and the child will not thrive. 
 In such cases humanity requires that the child should be 
 surrendered to a wet-nurse. When her health is such as 
 to make it imprudent, both for her own O ood and that of 
 her child, it would be proper and right to have it nourished 
 .in some other way. Nursing is sometimes rendered 
 impossible by lack of milk, or by flattened or misshapen 
 nipples. Such diseases as scrofula, consumption, epilepsy, 
 and syphilis contracted shortly before the birth of the 
 child, will be reason sufficient to bar the mother from the 
 fulfillment of this maternal obligation. 
 
 As is elsewhere remarked, the child should be applied 
 to the breast within a few hours after delivery. Soon 
 after birth the child seizes the nipple eagerly, and though 
 the quantity of nourishment be small, it is vastly better 
 adapted to the child's needs than the catnip teas, sugar 
 and water that motherly nurses are so desirous to give as 
 substitutes. Do not forget that the early application of 
 the child to the breast is a great benefit to the mother, 
 by promoting the contractions of the uterus, and by lessen- 
 ing that painful distention of the breasts which occurs at
 
 5l8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 the time when the function of lactation is fully estab- 
 lished. 
 
 No infallible rule can be laid down in regard to the 
 frequency with which the child should be placed to the 
 breast. But it is best for the child and much more con- 
 venient for the mother to adopt some system. So long 
 as the baby's stomach is small in capacity, and more or less 
 of the food is regurgitated, the interval should not exceed 
 two or three hours. But from an early period the mother 
 should observe regularity in time, and gradually increase 
 the interval, that the child may have sufficient sleep, and 
 the mother a better opportunity to recuperate her strength. 
 The breasts should be sucked in alternation, and the 
 nipples carefully washed, both before and after nursing, 
 with a little water ; what is better, is the addition of car- 
 bolic acid. The extreme sensitiveness of the nipple at the 
 commencing of lactation maybe greatly relieved by apply- 
 ing constantly a cloth wet with a solution of sugar of lead, 
 ten or fifteen grains to a glass of water. The wearing of 
 shields will be found a great comfort, preventing the rub- 
 bing of the night-dress or bedclothes against the tender 
 organs. 
 
 How to Prevent Deformities. 
 
 In the country, and among the common people v MO 
 are in limited circumstances, it is quite common for the 
 husband, wife and child to sleep in the same bed during 
 most of the period of lactation. For the better accomo- 
 dation and safety of the child it occupies a position in the
 
 HOW TO PREVENT DEFORMITIES. 519 
 
 bed at the side of the mother the farthest from the husband. 
 In this position it frequently lies all night on the arm of 
 the mother, and a great deal of the time at her breast. 
 The bones of the head and face of the infant are at first 
 quite soft and readily yield to surrounding influences. 
 Being for a length of time permitted to repose in this same 
 position, the soft bones of the head yield to the constant 
 pressure, and the result is that one side of the head and 
 face flatten. The contour of the head loses its symmetry, 
 and the child's head and face are deformed. 
 
 This same result occurs with mothers who, from 
 accident, only nurse from one breast. The child is com- 
 pelled to lie all the time in the same position. The writer 
 was recently called to see a child deformed in this way, 
 and said to the mother : " You sleep all night with your 
 child on your right arm ? " She replied with some sur- 
 prise that she did, but wished to know how I knew this. 
 I pointed out the deformed condition of the child's head 
 as the grounds upn which the query were based. The 
 mother further said that, during the daytime, when she 
 put the child to sleep in its crib, she would sometimes lay 
 it on the left side. When this were done, asleep or awake, 
 it would turn over. It had so acquired the habit of lying 
 upon the right side that it was comfortable in no other 
 position. In the case in hand, the flattening of the bones 
 of the head and face was so decided that there was scarce 
 a possibility that the deformity could be removed. 
 Mothers should accustom their children to changes of 
 position in sleep, moving them from one side to the other, 
 and thus avoid causing this deformity.
 
 520 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Influence of Diet on the Mother's Milk. 
 
 That diet produces a change in the chemical constitu- 
 ents of the milk in the human family as well as that of 
 the lower order of animals, is a truism of which not only 
 every physiologist, but every mother who has any 
 experience in nursing children or the care of a household, 
 is well aware. Farmers' wives know quite well from 
 observation the effect certain kinds of food have upon the 
 milk of cows. Even a bitter, unpalatable taste is given 
 to milk from cows feeding upon certain plants. It is 
 manifest that mothers' milk would be subject to the. same 
 influence. It is quite evident that diseases of "children 
 are often produced by the impure or innutritive state of 
 the mother's milk, even in cases where no such deteriora- 
 tion of the milk is suspected, the health of the mother 
 being apparently unimpaired. 
 
 M. Girard has published a very interesting paper on 
 this subject, in which he points out the importance of 
 testing the character of the milk by microscopic examina- 
 tion in all cases in which the infant, when nourished solely 
 by the breast, becomes affected by symptoms of indiges- 
 tion. Condie, in his work on diseases of children, says : 
 " Every physiologist is aware of the change produced in 
 the properties of the mother's milk, by the nature, as well 
 as by the quantity, of the food habitually taken. Too 
 much or too little food, a too stimulating diet, the use of 
 vinous or distilled liquors, more especially if taken in 
 excess, and articles of food of difficult digestion, cannot
 
 INFLUENCE OF PREGNANCY. 521 
 
 fail to affect the secretion of milk, and render the latter 
 unfit for the nourishment of the infant who partakes of it. 
 Milk thus deteriorated will very generally produce irrita- 
 tion of the infant's stomach and all the symptoms of 
 indigestion." 
 
 From the opinions of these very high authorities, as 
 well as many others that might be quoted, it is patent that 
 great care should be observed by the mother in the choice 
 of her diet, that her infant child be properly nourished, 
 and that the nourishment be pure and free from anything 
 that would derange the digestive organs and thereby 
 induce serious disease. A single dish of greens, or cab- 
 bage, or even a cup of buttermilk has been known to so 
 affect the milk of the mother that her babe would be 
 attacked with colic. This infantile affliction can quite 
 frequently be traced to some indiscretion of the mother's 
 diet. The retention of milk in the breasts alters its char- 
 acter and makes it poorer. Knowledge of this may enable 
 mothers to accommodate the strength of the milk to the 
 power of the child's digestion. If the child's stomach be 
 weak, and the quality of the milk too rich, it may be 
 retained in the breast long enough to accommodate its 
 quality to the ability of the child's stomach to digest it. 
 On the other hand, if the milk be poor in quality, the child 
 should be applied to the breast more frequently. 
 
 
 
 Influence of Pregnancy. 
 
 Pregnancy during the nursing period, especially after 
 the first two or three months, has always been set down 
 as producing an alteration in the milk of the mother.
 
 522 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 rendering it unwholesome for the child. During the first 
 three months of pregnancy no particular change occurs in 
 the milk. At a later period, however, it is probable that 
 the safety of the mother, as well as the health of the child 
 at the breast, will require the latter to be weaned. If the 
 child be too young for other food, the milk of a healthy 
 nurse or that obtained from a cow must be substituted for 
 that of the mother. It is true that infants have been kept 
 at the breast until a later period of pregnancy, or even to 
 its termination, without apparent injury. In other cases, 
 according to Dr. Dewess, so great a deterioration of the 
 milk occurred as to require that the child should be taken 
 from the breast at a very early period. 
 
 The following rules should generally be observed : As 
 soon as a nursing woman is fully aware that she is preg- 
 nant she should realize that her own safety, as well as the 
 
 
 health of her nursing child, depends upon an immediate 
 
 removal of the child from the breast. 
 
 Influence of Menstruation. 
 
 The occurrence of the menstrual discharge is generally 
 enumerated among the causes of a deterioration of the 
 milk, and is calculated to produce serious injury to the 
 infant. When menstruation is suspended during the first 
 eight or nine months subsequent to parturition, and then 
 reappears, there, will very commonly be found to take 
 place a diminution in the supply, and a decided change in 
 the properties of the milk. The child will very generally 
 suffer if it be continued at the breast. It is by no means
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE MIND ON THE MILK. 523 
 
 established that every occurrence of the menses during 
 lactation is calculated to produce similar effects upon the 
 milk. Cases are known of several women who menstru- 
 ated regularly during the entire period of suckling, and 
 their infants throve equally well with those of mothers 
 in whom the menses were suspended. 
 
 From a series of observations made by Rasciborski it 
 has been ascertained that the health of infants nursed by 
 menstruating females suffers no kind of injury. If, how- 
 ever, upon the appearance at any time of the menses, the 
 milk be found to disagree with the child at the breast, it 
 will be prudent to cease suckling it, so long, at least, as 
 the discharge may continue. 
 
 Influence of the Mind on the Milk. 
 
 Intense grief, mental anxiety, paroxysms of passion, 
 or any long-continued or violent emotions of the mind, 
 are, unquestionably, causes of considerable deterioration 
 in the milk. Severe infantile vomitings, or even general 
 convulsions, have been known to result from applying the 
 child to the breast immediately after the nurse had experi- 
 enced any intense mental excitement whether of an 
 exhilarating or depressing character. It is a general 
 remark that children nursed by females who are laboring 
 under intense grief or mental anxiety of any kind seldom 
 thrive. 
 
 There are to be met plenty of cases of this kind, where 
 the safety of the child requires it to be taken from the 
 mother's breast, and where every symptom of disease
 
 524 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ceases soon after furnishing it with the breast-milk of a 
 healthy nurse. It is no uncommon occurrence for the 
 secretion of milk to almost entirely stop upon some undue 
 excitement of the nervous system. The fear of the 
 mother, excited on account of some severe illness of the 
 child, will check the flow of milk, which will not return 
 until the mind is at rest, or with the restoration of the 
 child to health. 
 
 Qualifications of a Good Nurse. 
 
 One among the first considerations in determining a 
 good nurse is to know that she is well-bred and free from 
 any taint of blood that could be transmitted to her child 
 through the channel of lactation. The health and future 
 development of a child depend in a large measure upon 
 the strength and purity of the nourishment that it receives. 
 The nurse should have a vigorous constitution, robust and 
 strong, without being corpulent. Such persons have a 
 good appetite and healthy digestion. Their breasts should 
 be well developed, and owe their size not to fat but to the 
 number and size of their blood-vessels and milk-ducts. 
 The breasts should be pear-shaped, and not flat, with 
 superficial veins well marked, instead of being covered up 
 with excessive fat. Such nurses do not experience a 
 feeling of fatigue or exhaustion from lactation. The 
 nutriment which they receive is equally expended to 
 support their own person and that of their child. 
 
 While some mothers have all these qualities, and experi- 
 ence no decline in either their health or ability to perform
 
 WET-NURSING. 
 
 their household duties, there are others who, though they 
 cannot show all the characteristics here detailed in defining 
 a good nurse, yet may be equally good. There are 
 mothers whose general physical qualities are good, who 
 have small breasts, which cannot contain a great quantity 
 of milk at one time, yet those mothers furnish an abundant 
 supply, as is evidenced from the appearance of their nurs- 
 ing children. Such persons' breast-glands secrete milk 
 rapidly, and require the stimulus of the child sucking to 
 put them into exercise. There are other mothers who 
 furnish an abundant supply of good healthy milk and nurse 
 their children well, but do it at the expense of their own 
 physical being. A large proportion of their own nutri- 
 ment is consumed in manufacturing the nourishment for 
 the child. They themselves lose flesh and become weak 
 and feeble, because, as they affirm, " all they eat goes to 
 the milk." 
 
 Such mothers find it necessary frequently to ween their 
 children early, to save their own health from hopelessly 
 failing. Another class of women are habitually thin in 
 flesh, but furnish the usual quantity of milk, but it is of 
 such poor quality that it does not materially exhaust them, 
 neither does it prove to be very nourishing to the child, as 
 may be seen from the child's pallid, soft and flabby 
 appearance. 
 
 Wet-Nursing. 
 / 
 The method of raising children by wet nurses is grow- 
 
 ing in popularity, especially in the more fashionable walks 
 of society. Mothers are growing fruitful in their excuses
 
 526 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 for not nursing their children. These excuses are, it 
 is true, in many instances, valid, and should be received 
 with the highest consideration. But the tendency is to 
 magnify little obstacles, resulting from the condition of 
 health or physical development. The truth is, the mothers 
 are unwilling to make a necessary sacrifice of the pleasure 
 and enjoyment to be found in social life. 
 
 The true-hearted, genuine mother, who realizes the 
 great object that Nature had in the construction of her 
 physical economy, and its adaptation to meet the demands 
 resulting from her life-giving organs, will not allow trivial 
 hindrances to develop between her and the fruit of her 
 womb, but with all the sympathy of a mother's heart will 
 cling to her child with that impulsive maternal love that 
 manifested itself naturally. 
 
 The provision made by Nature to meet the wants of 
 offspring had a two-fold object in view : To conveniently 
 provide for the physical necessities of the offspring, and, 
 through the giving and receiving such supplies, a farther 
 development of the oneness of mother and offspring. Her 
 heart would continue to swell with a deeper solicitude 
 every succeeding day of anxious care and watchfulness, if 
 that mother could be made to appreciate the advantages 
 of this means of cementing the reciprocal love that exists 
 between parents and children. 
 
 There are cases, however, where it is impracticable, for 
 many reasons, for mothers to nurse their children. The 
 question forces itself for answer as to the method of bring- 
 ing up the child. From many causes there is an increasing
 
 SELECTION OF THE WET-NURSE. 527 
 
 tendency to resort to bottle-feeding instead of procuring 
 the services of a wet-nurse, even when the question of 
 expense does not come into consideration. Full directions 
 for this method are given in another part of the work, to 
 which the reader is referred. 
 
 Selection of the Wet-Nunse. 
 
 In selecting a wet-nurse, we should endeavor to chose 
 a strong, healthy woman, who should not be over thirty 
 to thirty-five years of age at the outside, since the quality 
 of the milk deteriorates in women in more advanced life. 
 Every young woman of sixteen or seventeen should also 
 be rejected. It is scarcely necessary, from what is said 
 elsewhere, to remark that great care must be taken to 
 require the absence of all traces of constitutional disease, 
 especially marks of scrofula or enlarged glands of the groin, 
 which may be due to antecedent syphilitic taint. 
 
 If the nurse be of good muscular development, healthy 
 looking, with a clear complexion, sound teeth (indicating 
 generally a good state of health) the color of the hair and 
 eyes are of secondary importance. It is commonly stated 
 that brunettes make better nurses than blondes, but this 
 is by no means necessarily the case. Provided all the 
 other points be favorable, fairness of skin and hair need 
 be no bar to the selection of a nurse. The breasts should 
 be pear-shaped and rather firm, indicating an abundance 
 of gland tissue, with the superficial veins well marked. 
 Long, flabby breasts owe much of their size to an abun- 
 dance of fat, and are generally unfavorable. The nipple
 
 528 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 should be prominent, not too large, and free from cracks 
 and erosions which, if existing, might lead to subsequent 
 difficulties in nursing. On pressing the breasts the milk 
 should flow from it eagerly in a number of small jets, and 
 some of it should be submitted to an expert for examina- 
 tion. 
 
 The character of the applicant should have due consid- 
 eration. An irascible, excitable, or highly-nervous woman 
 will certainly make a bad nurse, and the most trivial 
 causes might afterwards interfere with the quality of her 
 milk. Much may be learned by paying particular atten- 
 tion to the nurse's own child, as its condition affords the 
 best criterion for determining the quality of the milk. It 
 should be plump, well-nourished, and free from all evidence 
 of disease. 
 
 Directions for Arresting the Secretion of Milk. 
 
 It is highly important that mothers (where, for some 
 satisfactory reason, many are disqualified for nursing, also 
 at the time of weaning) should have some advice as to the 
 best means to be adopted for their own comfort and safety 
 in stopping the milk-secretion as soon as possible. The 
 heat and distention of the breast, under the influence of 
 the excessive flow of milk soon after delivery, often give 
 rise to much distress. The breasts should be enveloped 
 in cloth or cotton-batting, covered with an ointment or 
 salve made from camphor, belladonna and lard. Pulverize 
 two drachms of camphor, which will be easily done if you 
 first add to it a few drops of alcohol ; add to this one
 
 EXCESSIVE LACTATION. 529 
 
 drachm of pulverized extract of belladonna and two 
 ounces of lard. If you cannot buy the belladonna 
 pulverized, rub up the soft extract with the lard and then 
 add the camphor. When the glands get hard and lumpy 
 they should be gently rubbed, so as to avoid any undue 
 tension of the milk vessels that might result in 'abscess. 
 The patient should take one or two teaspoonfuls of 
 Rochelle salts, or sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts) and 
 senna two parts of the former to one of the latter 
 sufficient to produce an aperient effect upon the bowels. 
 This will do much toward removing the milk. The iodide 
 of potassium, in doses of twenty to thirty grains, is, in 
 many cases, a specific in arresting the secretion of milk. 
 
 A very good liniment for relieving the pain resulting 
 from an over-distention of the breasts with milk may be 
 made from taking four ounces of strong tincture of cam- 
 phor, one ounce of laudanum, and two tablespoonfuls of 
 good soft-soap, put all into a bottle and shake well before 
 using. It should be applied every three or four hours. 
 Should there be a tendency to develop an abscess, it may 
 be averted by taking full doses of either the fluid extract 
 or tincture of phytolacca decandria (poke-root) every 
 three or four hours. 
 
 Excessive Lactation. 
 
 There are many women who, even in nursing their 
 own children, are troubled with an excessive flow of milk, 
 more than the children are able to take. This excessive 
 secretion keeps the breasts distended to such an extent as
 
 530 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 disposes them to a continual leakage, which renders the 
 nurse very uncomfortable from the saturated condition of 
 her clothing. In such cases the child is very liable to suffer 
 because of the unnutritious, watery character of the milk. 
 Women who are accustomed to long and profuse monthly 
 sickness are prone to this excessive secretion of watery 
 milk. To remedy or obviate this over-abundant supply 
 and improve the quality, much may be accomplished by 
 attention given to both food and drink, and the addition 
 of some tonic medication. 
 
 There are some kinds of food, such as cabbage and 
 turnip, soups, etc., that increase the quantity of milk.' 
 These should be avoided, and also the free use of fluids. 
 Hence the food should be to a great extent composed of 
 solid material, and eaten comparatively dry. In addition 
 to this change of alimentation, a tonic composed of "tinc- 
 ture of iron, fifteen to twenty drops in a sup of water, 
 three or four times daily, will be found highly beneficial. 
 The tincture of iron is destructive of the enamel of the 
 teeth, and should be taken through a tube. It blackens 
 the stools, which need not give any unnecessary alarm. 
 It should be discontinued as soon as the improvement of 
 the milk is manifest. In those cases in which the trouble 
 seems to be not so much an over-supply as an inability to 
 retain the milk, the administration of tonics addressed to 
 the nervous system, and the local application of astrin- 
 gents and of collodion around the nipples, will overcome 
 the difficulty.
 
 SCANTINESS OF MILK. 531 
 
 Scantiness of Milk. 
 
 Some mothers appear never to have a sufficient supply 
 of milk to meet the demands of their children. A herds- 
 man, \vhose wife belonged to this class, said that " fine- 
 bred stock were not good milkers. " Whether or not this 
 opinion is sustained in the human family cannot be affirmed 
 with certainty. It is true that, for some perhaps unknown 
 cause, certain women who physically appear to be pos- 
 sessed of the necessary qualifications, habitually secrete an 
 insufficient quantity to supply the demands made upon 
 them to support a single child. Other women, with no 
 more favorable appearance, can furnish an abundant supply 
 for two babes. 
 
 The women of deficient lactation are generally found 
 in the large cities, among working women whose daily 
 employment requires them to be separated from their chil- 
 dren during a great portion of the day. The deficiency 
 may arise from want of nutritious diet, which would cause 
 an impoverishment of the blood and consequent indiges- 
 tion. This unfavorably affects the nervous system, and 
 diminishes the supply as well as deteroriates the quantity 
 of milk. 
 
 Excessive exercise and overwork, especially among 
 women who are ambitious to accomplish a large amount 
 of work in a set time, affects lacation. There are women 
 who, under ordinary circumstances, without any undue 
 burdens to perform, secrete an ordinary supply of milk, 
 but when they have a washing to do or some extra house-
 
 532 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 cleaning, their child is compelled to undergo a fast. 
 Women who do not begin to have children until late in 
 married life have usually less milk than those who begin 
 earlier. 
 
 In remedying this misfortune the social history of the 
 individual case should be carefully studied, to ascertain 
 any probable cause pertaining to the habits of the indi- 
 vidual that might be overcome or corrected. It was said, 
 in the remarks on the qualities of a good nurse, that some 
 women appear to secrete milk only when the gland is 
 stimulated by the application of the child to their breast. 
 If the mother who may be troubled with lack of supply 
 would take advantage of this suggestion, and frequently 
 apply the child to the breast, she might find a sufficiency 
 to supply the demand. It is so in many cases. 
 
 In some mothers, manipulation of the nipple by draw- 
 ing it between the thumb and finger will cause the breast 
 to fill up. A change of the social condition, exercise in 
 the fresh air, baths, personal cleanliness, and such hygienic 
 treatment as will improve the general health, will increase 
 the quantity and improve the quality of the milk. The 
 diet should be adapted to the needs of the system. Those 
 mothers who are weak and pale will require a large pro- 
 portion of eggs and meat, while the corpulent should be 
 restricted in animal food and take plenty of exercise in 
 the open air. True galactogenic agents increase the 
 quantity without deteriorating the quality. Abundant 
 and succulent food, fresh air, plenty of sleep, exercise 
 and, if required, bitter tonics, are the more rational
 
 TO OVERCOME SUPPRESSION OF MILK. 533 
 
 measures. Cider, beer, etc., are highly recommended by 
 some. Certain kinds of grain, no doubt, have an influence 
 on the quantity and quality of milk. Oatmeal and buck- 
 wheat have well-deserved reputation as suitable food for 
 those women who are troubled with deficient lactation. 
 
 Of drugs, the galega officinalis has been prescribed on 
 good authority to increase both the quantity and quality 
 of milk. 
 
 To Overcome Suppression of Milk. 
 
 When, from any accidental cause, there is suppression 
 of the milk, and it is desired to renew the secretion, the 
 most efficient agents are : 
 
 1. Suction, either by the mouth of the infant or the 
 nurse, or by means of the instruments that are used for 
 that purpose. 
 
 2. Topical applications. Of the latter the leaves of 
 the castor-oil plant deserve special mention. A handful 
 of the fresh leaves is boiled in a half-gallon of water, and 
 the breasts are gently bathed and rubbed with this decoc- 
 tion for fifteen or twenty minutes, after which a poultice of 
 the boiled leaves is made, laid upon the breast and allowed 
 to remain until it dries. If the secretion do not reappear 
 in a few hours, this is to be repeated. 
 
 3. Faradization (electricity). The apparatus should 
 be at moderate force, the conductors moist ; the muscles 
 of the breast should not be included in the current, which 
 should be confined to the gland, and the sessions should 
 last about twenty minutes each. The success Math this 
 means has been positive.
 
 534 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 To prevent accidents occurring from suppression of 
 milk, it is best to give a brisk purgative, such as a full 
 dose of Epsom salts, which will produce a free, watery 
 discharge from the bowels, and restore as speedily as 
 possible the secretion of milk. 
 
 The Relation of Husband and Nursing- Wife. 
 
 It is customary for the husband to occupy a separate 
 room during the lying-in period, which if the confinement 
 has been normal, lasts about a month. During this period 
 there should be no sexual intercourse, nor should there be 
 until, at the least, the perfect normal conditions of those 
 organs that have been so seriously taxed in bringing into 
 life a human being have been re-established. 
 
 It is a. question of discussion among medical men 
 whether or not continence should be observed during the 
 entire period of lactation. Some authorities affirm that 
 sexual intercourse makes too heavy a drain upon the vital 
 forces of the woman's system, already taxed to their 
 utmost capacity in providing nourishment for her depend- 
 ent child, while other medical men, of equal ability, assert 
 that moderate and prudent cohabitation rather conduce to 
 the health of the wife. It is certainly not to be expected 
 that absolute continence will be endured by husband or 
 wife during the period of lactation. However, when 
 women are warned, by the return of their menses, that 
 they are liable to another pregnancy, which would result 
 not only in an injury to their nursing child, as well as an 
 over-production which would be alike injurious to mother 
 and child, then such asceticism should be insisted upon.
 
 MAMMA'S INSTRUCTIONS.
 
 MATURE WOMANHOOD. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 A quaint and homely adage says : " Once a man, and 
 twice a child." If " woman " should be substituted for 
 " man " and the reference be made to the possession and 
 exercise of the procreative functions, no more striking 
 truism could be stated. When a child, she had a strictly 
 individual life. A time comes when she resumes this 
 condition. This time is called the " climacteric period," 
 or change of life. From the time of puberty in the morn- 
 ing of maidenhood, up to this time, woman has been 
 capable of conceiving and giving life to others. Other 
 lives were wrapped up in hers. Every successive month 
 for more than thirty years there ripened in the ovaries of 
 her body a primordial germ of life. But, with the change 
 of life, this physical function ceased. She returns to the 
 individual existence she enjoyed as a child. 
 
 If she has been governed by the principles of wisdom 
 and prudence she may look forward to a period of tran- 
 quility and rest, to enjoy the blessings of health and the 
 honors of paternal love a love which will burn with a 
 brighter and purer flame than any which she inspired in 
 either the bloom of her youth, or the beauty of her 
 
 535
 
 536 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 maidenhood. But, before this haven can be reached or 
 this goal attained, there is a crisis to be passed, to which 
 most women look with anxious solicitude. 
 
 Age at Climacteric Period. 
 
 The reproductive period of woman's life extends from 
 about fifteen to forty-five years, or through a period of 
 time equivalent to one generation, or thirty years. This 
 may be varied a few years, some commencing earlier than 
 fifteen, while others continue till fifty years of age. 
 Instances are not unusual where the menses do not cease 
 until after fifty. The writer knew a mother quite well 
 who was blessed with a large family and gave birth to her 
 youngest child at the extreme age of fifty-one years. 
 There are cases on record in which the change did not 
 take place until after sixty years. But these are extreme 
 cases, and quite rare. 
 
 Examples of the early cessation of the menstrual fluid 
 are much more common. The youngest woman who had 
 changed life, met by the writer in his practice, did it 
 in her thirty-second year. Others, however, reckon 
 instances as young as twenty-eight, in which the menstrual 
 flow had ceased. But all these cases referred to by 
 authorities are extreme, and exceptions to the general 
 rule. Women ordinarily begin to look for some manifesta- 
 tions of the approaching change after they have passed 
 their fortieth year, and, indeed, it is rarely now that you 
 meet a nursing mother who is more than two-score.
 
 INCIDENTS ATTENDING CHANGE OF LIFE. 537 
 
 Incidents Attending Change of Life. 
 
 There are not only radical but frequently serious 
 changes and diseases that develop at the introduction of 
 the menstrual flow ; its cessation is also accompanied by- 
 changes and disease. 
 
 Fothergill says, in his distinguished work : " In seden- 
 tary and advanced life there is a certain liability to disease 
 at the time of puberty, as pulmonary tuberculosis and 
 anoemia. The latter may extend to chlorosis. So, at the 
 end of this reproductive period, there is a liability to 
 imperfect nutrition, and to a like development of the 
 adipose tissue, as is seen in the anaemia of post-pubertal 
 life. How and why there is a tendency to mal-nutrition 
 of the muscular tissue, and a development of fat at the 
 beginning and end of the reproductive period, it is not 
 possible to say. But there is no question about the fact. 
 It apparently depends upon some hidden law of nutrition 
 not yet revealed to us." 
 
 As a consequence, then, most women at the change of 
 life are often in feeble health. They are not infrequently 
 stout, with flabby muscles. The heart, being a muscle, is 
 weak, and there is incapacity for exertion, with palpitation 
 on effort. The nervous system is often debilitated, self- 
 control is impaired, and the sufferer becomes pettish, 
 fretful, or nervous. There may be a good deal of dis- 
 turbance of the heart's action, and heart-disease be sus- 
 pected, as was the case with the late Harriet Martineau 
 (who got rid of her heart symptoms entirely, to die more
 
 538 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 than twenty years later of a disease utterly unconnected 
 with her heart). The bowels are apt to become irregular, 
 while the appetite becomes capricious. 
 
 As to the uterine functions, the changes in them take 
 various directions. Sometimes a barren wife becomes a 
 mother like Sarah of old when all hope of offspring 
 is dying out. 
 
 A widow or spinster, who hitherto has led a decorous 
 life, suddenly develops strong erratic tendencies, and 
 either makes a foolish marriage or forms immoral and 
 disreputable ties at the bidding of the recondicence of the 
 sexual instinct. The records of divorce courts, the annals 
 of asylums, the dates on the tombstones in the church- 
 yard, all tell us of the severe strain put upon the system 
 of the woman during the change of life. 
 
 There is, indeed, much physical and mental disturb- 
 ance at this time. Sometimes the flux becomes increased; 
 at other times decreased, or it becomes irregular and 
 fitful. Not uncommonly some special disturbance, as 
 sickness and vomiting, may take place, and recur ryth- 
 mically, at times which correspond with the menstrual 
 flux ; and this sort of echo or refrain may not uncom- 
 monly be detected for some time after the menses have 
 ceased. Indeed, in recurrent troubles at or about the 
 change of life, it will commonly be found, upon close 
 inquiry, that they correspond to the menstrual periods, 
 had these still continued. When the periods manifest an 
 amount of pain exceeding what has been experienced in 
 earlier days, thrre exists a strong suspicion of latent 
 gout.
 
 INCIDENTS ATTENDING CHANGE OF LIFE. 539 
 
 The bowels are apt to become irregular for the want 
 of tone in the muscular fibers. There is generally a 
 flatulence, which adds to the disturbance of the heart and 
 aggravates the nervous condition present. Shortness of 
 breath, palpitation, come on at other times than after 
 effort. Sometimes the patient wakes up from sleep with 
 one or both these conditions present, and is greatly 
 alarmed, thinking something dreadful is the matter. 
 Especially is this the case when the heart's action is 
 irregular and the palpitation intermittent, as though the 
 heart stopped. This apparent stoppage of the heart 
 produces the greatest alarm ; for as long as the patient 
 can feel the beating of her heart, she knows she is not 
 dying, but when it ceases for a moment, she is filled with 
 consternation. 
 
 This complicated condition is a source of great trouble 
 to many women, especially when the nervous system is 
 disturbed. However, about the time this change comes, 
 the health of the sufferer becomes impaired from other 
 causes, which are liable to be overlooked and no attention 
 paid to them, thinking all her ailments are due to the 
 change of life. Hence she is disposed to keep quiet, and 
 wait for Nature to revolutionize her system. This is a sad 
 misfortune, because, when the change is come, it finds her 
 poorly prepared for it. 
 
 All women, when this time of life draws nigh, ought, 
 as a duty to themselves and their families, take especial care 
 of themselves, and should promptly meet any deviation 
 from good health by appropriate treatment, so as to arm
 
 540 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 themselves and be equipped when this enemy to female 
 health makes the attack. This course will well reward 
 them in the day of trial. 
 
 General Directions. 
 
 The management of the troubles that present them- 
 selves at this time of life consists in a well-regulated regimen, 
 with such exercise as the system is able to bear. The food 
 should be light and very digestible, consisting of oatmeal 
 porridge, rice pudding and soups. If there be much 
 debility, wine bitters and proper stimulants to meet the 
 attacks of palpitation may be used. Rest is very impor- 
 tant, and especially in a recumbent manner, to such patients 
 as suffer from the attacks of palpitation. Some tonic 
 medicine should be taken, as digitalis, nux vomica, or 
 belladonna, or lily of the valley combined with a carmi- 
 native, as cascarilla, or other aromatics. Special attention 
 should be given to the bowels, to see that they are kept 
 open regularly by proper attention to diet, or, if need be, 
 by using some mild aperient. 
 
 Anything that would be liable to produce pain should 
 be avoided. The condition of the nervous system disquali- 
 fies the patient for enduring pain. The pain of griping 
 bowels is very distressing, and especially so in the con- 
 dition of the female at the change of life. Consequently 
 all drastic purgatives are to be avoided, the mildest laxa- 
 tives only used, and they combined with aromatics or 
 carminatives so as not to produce griping.
 
 INCIDENTS ATTENDING CHANGE OF LIFE. 541 
 
 If minerals be used they should be accompanied with 
 a little essence of ginger or some other warm agent, to 
 prevent any tendency to gripings. If these directions be 
 carefully observed, much suffering will be avoided, and 
 comfort and safety to life will abundantly reward the 
 patient for all the trouble she may undergo in strictly 
 complying with them. 
 
 As the time of life approaches when it is customary to 
 look for this important epoch (and indeed at all other times 
 as well) women should endeavor to live such temperate 
 lives, both physically and mentally, as insure a placidity of 
 mind and vigor of body. No change, however radical, 
 that has its origin in the natural execution of any of those 
 functions established by the wisdom of a beneficent Creator 
 for our well-being should result in any serious detriment 
 to health or comfort. 
 
 The misery of womankind is, to a very great extent, 
 the result of the reckless violation of physical law. With 
 the laws of hygiene, as pointed out in this work, carefully 
 obeyed all along the journey of life, much suffering would 
 be avoided, and no evil foreboding in regard to this 
 important change need enter the mind to disturb the com- 
 fort that is wont to exist in a truly happy family. Indeed, 
 many of the troubles attending this period of life are either 
 directly or indirectly the result of an anxious concern or 
 expectancy that is nourished and cherished in the minds 
 of individuals, perhaps for years before this change takes 
 place. When it does come, it too often finds the system 
 feebly prepared to meet even an imaginary foe or a real 
 enemy.
 
 542 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Physiologically speaking, it is just as natural for the 
 menstrual flux to cease as to begin. Both epochs are the 
 result of well-defined natural laws. There is no reason 
 why either of them should be attended with any special 
 disturbance of the general health. And, since the girl 
 who has been properly educated in regard to her own 
 physical economy, and has paid a reasonable respect to 
 the laws of health during the period of childhood, experi- 
 ences no trouble at the approach of puberty, neither should 
 she at its decline, if she have continued to be governed by 
 the same health-producing principles through all the years 
 of her maternal womanhood. Those only suffer who 
 have, throughout this period of maternity, lived to a very 
 great extent in open rebellion to many, if not all, the well- 
 established principles of physical life. Is it seriously to 
 be expected that such women will, under the most rigid 
 discipline, be able entirely to pass through any important 
 crisis without experiencing more or less inconvenience ? 
 
 But there is much encouragement to afford to a large 
 number of women who may, to a great extent, have been 
 suffering invalids for many years. To many such, who 
 have been battling with the terrors of nervous irritability 
 or the rackings of disease resulting from physical derange- 
 ments or functional disturbances of the organs of 
 generation, the light-house of restored health may be 
 seen from the mast-top, and with these directions for a 
 pilot, and prudence and common sense as a helm, they 
 will be able to land their frail bark in the long-looked-for 
 haven, where they may pass the evening of life in the 
 enjoyment of almost perfect health.
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE DEATH OF HUSBAND, ETC. 543 
 
 The writer is, and has been for more than half a 
 century, well acquainted with an old lady who is now in 
 her eighty-fifth year. She is a mother of a large family. She 
 had scarcely passed her thirtieth summer when, by one of the 
 accidents that may befall a woman during her child-bearing 
 life, was made an invalid, suffering for a period of a score 
 of years. Much of the time she was confined to her room 
 and even to her bed, rarely, if ever, able to walk half a 
 mile. For the last thirty-five years she has enjoyed as fair a 
 share of health as women generally do. She is able to 
 get up and down on a chair as quickly almost as a girl of 
 fifteen. She can walk a mile or two without any inconveni- 
 ence, and has been for months past traveling alone on 
 the cars or other conveyances, visiting her children and 
 enjoying the pleasures of life. Be not discouraged, but 
 hopeful. No matter what may have been your debility 
 and suffering, you may, like the case referred to, have 
 many years to live in the enjoyment of reasonable health, 
 your latter days crowned with peace and pleasure. 
 
 Influence of the Death of Husband upon Wife. 
 
 The relation of husband and wife is perhaps not only 
 the most sacred, but the most intimate and binding of 
 all associations of life. It has its origin in the develop- 
 ment of those social instincts that harmonize the various 
 elements existing in two individuals into one symmetrical 
 whole. 
 
 The disrupture of such a web, of which man and 
 woman alone form the warp and the woof, cannot be
 
 544 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 effected without serious damage to the whole. But this 
 separation must, from the very nature of all human rela- 
 tions, take place. The scythe of Time cuts down alike all 
 classes and all sexes, and the impress of the ruthless hand 
 is seen in desolated homes. Women are seen daily in the 
 thoroughfares and byways, walking with nervous tread 
 and sad countenances, and draped in the habiliments of 
 mourning. But a garb of wo lightly exhibits the sorrow 
 and anguish that fills the heart of her who bears the 
 ensign. The privations that are experienced by such loss 
 must be felt to be fully appreciated. They make inroads 
 on the health as well as the happiness and comfort of the 
 individual. There are numberless women who can date 
 their failure of health from such an eventful crisis. The 
 writer is not in possession of any data, public or private, 
 outside of his own observation to enable him to establish 
 how much, if any, her reproductive functions suffer from 
 the want of their accustomed stimulus. Men who stand 
 high in place teach that sexual intercourse is a necessity 
 to man, but not to woman ; that woman naturally has not 
 so much secretion as man, and is provided with an outlet 
 in Nature through the medium of menstruation, conse- 
 quently she has not the same demands. 
 
 If this theory be correct, she will not physically suffer 
 in the non-exercise of her reproductive functions. 
 Indeed, it cannot be admitted that a life of continence in 
 the male, which would necessarily follow in case of the 
 death of the wife, would result in any serious damage to 
 his health. There can be conceived no substantial reason
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE DEATH OF HUSBAND, ETC. 545 
 
 why the death of a husband should be followed with any 
 serious injury to the widowed wife. 
 
 In the lower order of animals there is no damage 
 physically sustained from want of use of their reproductive 
 organs, which are much larger and secrete more copiously 
 than does the human species. The woman who has lived 
 a chaste and temperate life will only periodically have any 
 desire for coition, and such periods are under the influence 
 of the function of menstruation. When she has passed 
 the climacteric, there will be nothing to stimulate the 
 desire for coition. Hence, she suffers no inconvenience or 
 injury in this regard at the death of her husband. The 
 presumption is that her physical organism is greatly bene- 
 fited. There is no physiological reason to believe that, 
 as an independent being, freed from the responsibility of 
 receiving and giving life by the death of her life-giving 
 functions, her health is at all dependent upon acts that 
 were even questionable in her reproductive state. In 
 looking over the field of widowhood in mature age, and 
 comparing widows' health and general appearance with 
 women of similar age but living in marital life, the writer, 
 from his own observation, is forced to the supposition 
 that such widows do not only equal but fairly surpass in 
 healthy appearance their more fortunate sisters. 
 
 The same is true of women who have become widows 
 during their menstrual period ; the health of any given 
 number of such women will average fully as well as the 
 same number of wives or spinsters in the same material 
 circumstances. It has been said elsewhere, and will bear
 
 546 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 repeating here, that there is no doubt of the beneficial 
 effects of marriage and maternity on the health of many 
 women. Wifehood, sexual coition and maternity are 
 natural conditions to which the physiological organs and 
 functions are specially adapted. It is fair to assume 
 and experience and observation bear out the assumption 
 that if these physical organs are never employed for their 
 designed purpose, a perfect physical development cannot 
 be reached. An unused talent rusts. An unused physical 
 organ not only becomes unfit for use, but sympathetically 
 affects the whole organism. As a rule, married women 
 have a better physical development and health than 
 unmarried women of the same age. Also, as a rule, mar- 
 ried women who have borne children are superior in the 
 same respects to those who are married and childless. 
 
 But a widow does not return to the condition of a 
 spinster. If she has been married a few years, and 
 especially if she has borne children, she has received the 
 advantages to her health which compliance with this 
 natural order can confer. If the opportunity to further 
 exercise these reproductive organs be denied her through 
 the death of her husband, no serious physical injury will 
 result. On the contrary, she is likely to secure the bene- 
 fits suggested before. The vulgar assertion that widows 
 are eager to remarry rests upon some truth. If a 
 woman has once been happily married and drank deeply 
 of the joys of domestic bliss, it is not at all strange that 
 the contrast of that state with her present lonely and 
 barren one, should create yearnings for the former.
 
 CELIBACY. 
 
 Advantages and Disadvantages. 
 
 EARLY in the history of the human race it was said by 
 One whose knowledge surpassed the heavens : " It is not 
 good for man to be alone. " What was thus said of the 
 man had equal application to the woman ; for he must 
 necessarily be alone if she be alone. Reasons abound and 
 are not difficult to grasp, to substantiate the wisdom of 
 the Divine declaration. A thousand years after this, how- 
 ever, we read of one, great in wisdom and authority among 
 men, who counseled the men of Christian Corinth that 
 they keep from such alliance, and remain as he was him- 
 self. Thus is Paul pointed to as the first celibate. 
 
 The application has been wrongly made. The apostle 
 to the Gentile world was regarding marriage wholly from 
 the religious standpoint, not from the social and economic. 
 For himself, it were manifestly better that he take no cares 
 of domestic life upon him. His mission called him to con- 
 stant wanderings. The comforts and joys of domestic life 
 must be untasted by him who was called to execute a great 
 work. Time to him was brief. He was called to his work 
 and mission after the vigor and enthusiasm of youth had 
 been wasted, and he must use all expedition to redeem the 
 
 547
 
 548 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 residue. To all of these to whom he wrote it was the 
 same. But a few brief years could elapse before the account 
 of life must be balanced, and then it mattered little what 
 social relations had'been made or left unmade. 
 
 A glance at the physical status of the married and 
 unmarried ought to teach what the law of Nature on the 
 subject is. Nature intends that men and women shall 
 enjoy health and happiness. Marriage is a factor in human 
 life. Does it contribute help or hindrance to the end and 
 design of Nature? Specifically, is it true that the health 
 of unmarried women is better than that of the married ? 
 The consensus of physicians and social statisticians is that 
 the balance of health is with the married woman. Health 
 and longevity during the child-bearing period of woman's 
 life are more assured to those who have entered the married 
 relation. It is a conclusion based on carefully compiled 
 statistics and cannot be gainsaid. 
 
 There are reasons why this should be so. One is that 
 there are not a few diseases which are not only mitigated 
 but actually cured by the exercise of the privileges of the 
 marital relation. Especially is this true of that class of 
 ailments which are superinduced by functional derange- 
 ments and disturbances of the reproductive organs. 
 Chorea, or St. Vitus' da.nce as it is commonly called, is 
 known to have been frequently cured by mar 
 riage. 
 
 The physical organism of woman is adapted to child- 
 bearing. This is an end of her being. Considering the 
 human race merely as animals, this is a most important
 
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 549 
 
 end. The organs, frame, and instincts show that the propa- 
 gation of her species was intended to be secured. Nature 
 creates nothing without a purpose, and yields the richest 
 blessings where her laws are followed, most closely ; and, 
 conversely, she is severely unrelenting in punishing those 
 who neglect or defy natural laws. These are general rules, 
 and have some exceptions. Indeed, from the very nature 
 of society there must be those women who cannot marry, 
 or who, having married, cannot bear children. 
 
 The woman who never marries enjoys some advantages 
 over the one who does.. She escapes the drudgery and 
 cares incident to governing a household, and the restric- 
 tions on liberty necessary to the rearing of a family. The 
 woman who makes a home bright, orderly and cheerful, 
 and who rears three or four children, has little time to 
 devote to herself. Marrying at perhaps twenty-two or 
 twenty-five, for ten years to come or until her youngest 
 child can be left without anxiety she must give her 
 whole attention to home. These are the ten best years of 
 her life ; the years when she would most enjoy the pleas- 
 ures of society and enter most heartily into its amusements. 
 Her celibate sister, if she have a material competence, can 
 come and go at will. She can give her whole time to her- 
 self, in enlarging her sphere of observation, in cultivating 
 her mind, in keeping abreast with the progress of the 
 world. 
 
 She escapes, also, the pains and dangers peculiar to 
 maternity and the ravages which such trials make upon 
 the system. Mothers are never without concern for their
 
 55O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 little ones, who have to run the gauntlet of a thousand 
 diseases and an incalculable number of accidents. 
 Anxious solicitude by day and night wears upon the 
 mother, and robs her of freedom to enjoy personal com- 
 fort. When the children reach maturity, she still is 
 concerned about them as they go out into the moral 
 temptations and pitfalls which lie along the course of life. 
 The unmarried woman escapes all this. Her life is free 
 and her mind is free. 
 
 Even if she be a poor girl and compelled to earn her own 
 living there are now numberless avenues in this country 
 in which she can earn a comfortable living and lay by 
 somewhat for old age. Thousands of women are doing 
 this to-day. Almost all the professions are open to her, 
 and, as with men, merit and industry are certain to insure 
 success. Teaching in public and private institutions has 
 become very largely the work of women, while telegra- 
 phy, stenography, type-writing, etc. , offer opportunities 
 for earning excellent salaries at work congenial to her 
 disposition, and for which she is peculiarly adapted. 
 Literature and journalism in most of its departments 
 afford women of intellectual culture a wide and rich field, 
 into which many have already entered and are reaping a 
 bountiful harvest. 
 
 Her social advantages are many and she has the 
 liberty to take advantage of all. The democratic spirit 
 of America allows no distinctions which one's own merit 
 ^o not originate. The man or woman who is intelligent, 
 rionest an-d pure, has an open sesame to cultured social
 
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 551 
 
 circles. Poverty and labor do not debar from entrance 
 iuto or enjoyment of the best society. Her sex is her 
 protection and a point of advantage if she have qualities 
 which entertain and please. 
 
 One essential disadvantage of the single life to a woman 
 is that she cannot always remain young. Indeed, the 
 facts of observation and experience decide that she cannot 
 maintain her youth of body, mind and disposition, so long 
 as her married sister. Many married women never grow 
 old in mind ; they renew their youth in their children and 
 are fresh and cheerful long after there are " silver threads 
 among the gold." Few unmarried women are able to do 
 this. The acid disposition and censorious spirit commonly 
 attributed to the spinster of forty or more, is only colored ; 
 it has a basis of truth in natural causes. There is occa- 
 sionally to be found an unmarried woman who grows old 
 without losing her amiability and sweetness, but these 
 cases are not numerous. If a woman deliberately elects 
 to remain single, she must take the risk of becoming sour, 
 exacting and disagreeable. 
 
 Another decided disadvantage is that she misses the 
 completeness of life, the fullness of development and the 
 profundity of happiness which comes to the wife and 
 mother. Standing afar off and separate from the full- 
 blown mother-love, the care of children appears to be an 
 irksome, wearying task. Ask the mother and she will say 
 that she would not part with one care. Each has its com- 
 pensation in the satisfying joy that wells up in her soul in 
 the possession of her husband's and children's love. It is 
 
 -LIE 1= IE
 
 552 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a happiness that cannot be measured ; a satisfaction and 
 comfort that nothing else can give. There are depths to 
 a woman's nature that are never fathomed until she 
 becomes a mother. There are sources of happiness that 
 remain sealed until opened up by the prattle and caresses 
 of the toddling infant. 
 
 She misses, also, the delight of having a home -of her 
 own. A place that is sacred to domestic enjoyment, 
 which she herself creates and of which she is the queen. 
 Home has its cares and its trials, but there is no place like 
 it on earth. There is no real, desirable life without a 
 home somewhere in it. It is not sentiment, but the most 
 prosaic practical common sense which attributes to the 
 home and the home life all the virtues that are noble, all 
 the happiness that abides and satiates. The unmarried 
 woman or man can never have a home in the full sense of 
 the term. The essential factor is wanting and always must 
 be wanting. Old age has no cheerless prospect to the 
 wife and mother. It is full of a serene calmness and holy 
 
 joy- 
 Marriage and maternity is the better way. There are 
 trials but there are adequate compensations. Celibacy 
 may escape some physical ills, but it leads to others. 
 It has its liberty and independence, but it has also its 
 selfishness and its barrenness. 
 
 - . 
 
 i HfjHJJ 
 
 r
 
 SPREADING THE NEWS.
 
 DISEASES OF WOMEN. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 IN a work of the present limits it will be impossible to 
 speak of all the ailments incident to womanhood. Refer- 
 ence will be made, however, to the most common, the 
 leading features of which will be succintly and faithfully 
 presented. 
 
 It is not, however, expected that women uneducated 
 in medicine will be enabled to treat all the forms of disease 
 mentioned in this volume. Disease not infrequently assumes 
 a very severe form ; hence, the attention of some skilled 
 practitioner will be promptly required in order to maintain 
 the forces of life against the ravages of disease. 
 
 The diseases treated in this work will generally yield to 
 the remedies suggested, and, therefore, these may be 
 regarded as eminently reliable for their curative effects. The 
 prime intention or object is not to treat of disease as disease, 
 but of woman in her liability to certain disorders. The 
 physical constitution of woman and her physiological 
 functions render her liable to ailments which are peculiar 
 to herself, and commonly and currently referred to as 
 " female diseases." In the incipiency of many of these, 
 proper precautions intelligently taken will often ward off 
 the more serious form of the complaint. 
 
 553
 
 554 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Woman is naturally modest and sensitive. She 
 instinctively shrinks from revealing, even to an intrusted 
 counselor, the fact that she is troubled with disagreeable 
 symptoms or functional disturbances in her sexual organs. 
 She shrinks still more from treatment at the hands of 
 another. She is not likely, in most cases, to give an 
 intelligent statement of the disorders which she knows to 
 exist. To treat her is an embarrassing task, even at best, 
 and is rendered doubly so by her inability to clearly, 
 definitely and satisfactorily state the case. 
 
 For reasons like these it is thought that many women 
 may be benefited by having stated, for them, the symp- 
 toms of a few of the principal complaints to which their 
 organisms are liable. I shall point out remedies which 
 she herself can safely apply. She can at least be enabled 
 to know, in most instances, whether or not the discomfort 
 she feels be the symptoms of serious complaints, and can 
 know when to call in her medical adviser in time to derive 
 the full benefit of his skill. 
 
 In another part of this work, describing the symptoms 
 of pregnancy, general directions for the hygienic regula- 
 tions of the period were given. These need not be repeated 
 here, though properly coming under this classification. 
 This chapter will be devoted to what is technically termed 
 therapeutics that is, the treatment of diseases. The 
 diseases noted will be those to which women are liable 
 during the child-bearing period of life. 
 
 Many physicians, in the present advanced state of 
 medical science, maintain that a woman in perfect health,
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 555 
 
 who carefully observes and practices the plain laws of health, 
 and who is prudent, temperate and careful in the exercise 
 of marital relations, will escape these complaints. Marriage 
 and marital intercourse are natural and right. What is 
 natural and proper ought not and need not involve any 
 evil consequences. The diseases of the pregnancy-period 
 are both unnatural and unnecessary. The reasonable and 
 moderate exercise of the procreative instincts and impulses 
 is in harmony with natural law and order, and ought not 
 to produce disorder. 
 
 It is observed that in the lower animal world, cohabita- 
 tion, pregnancy and parturition are unattended with 
 such calamities as befall womankind. Is man an excep- 
 tion, in this regard, to the general harmony of natural 
 works? It is not in keeping with the wisdom of the great 
 Author of Life that disease of any kind should be the 
 result of the execution of natural laws ; it should only be 
 the penalty attached to the violation of law. God, in the 
 great scheme of providential dealings with His creatures, 
 placed them upon this beautiful heritage of earth, endowed 
 with minds susceptible of the highest development, and a 
 physical organism of the most infinite perfection, that the 
 waste resulting from the wear in operation should be so 
 insidiously replenished as to incur no special clash in its 
 normal movement. 
 
 Enjoying, then, as we do, such exquisite perfection in 
 construction and perfect adaptation of the several parts to 
 the end designed, it requires no great stretch of the imagi- 
 nation to infer that, in the proper exercise of the physical
 
 556 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 economy, the several organs should perform their alloted 
 work without friction. Hence, all diseases are the result 
 of the violation of the laws of our being, either by acts of 
 omission or commission. 
 
 We may commit a crime against our own bodies by 
 neglecting to supply anything which is manifestly neces- 
 sary for their sustentation and preservation ; or, we may 
 be equally criminal by imposing upon them damaging 
 burdens to carry or hardships to endure. The natural 
 result of improprieties is damage to the parts involved, 
 and such damage has received the common cognomen, 
 disease. 
 
 Whether or not it can be fully established that all 
 physical suffering is the consequence of the violation of 
 physical law, it is nevertheless true that such suffer- 
 ing is greatly enhanced by an improper course of living. 
 Disease, then, being a violation of law, health, which is 
 opposite, must be an observance of law. 
 
 Definition of Disease. 
 
 Health is the standard condition of the living body, 
 but it is not easy to express that condition in a few words, 
 nor is it necessary. We should aim at being well under- 
 stood, rather than to be scholarly, and were the attempt 
 made to lay down a strict and scientific definition, it 
 would likely puzzle both writer and reader. I shall, per- 
 haps, be well understood when I define health by saying 
 that it implies freedom from pain and sickness, and from 
 all those changes in the body that endanger life or impede 
 the easy and effective exercise of the vital functions
 
 DEFINITION OF DISEASE. 557 
 
 It s plain, therefore, that health does not signify any 
 immutable condition of the body. The standard of 
 health varies in different individuals, according to age, 
 sex and original constitution, and in the same persons 
 even from week to week, or from day to day. Neither 
 does health imply the integrity of all the organs of the 
 body. It is not incompatible with great and permanent 
 alterations, nor even with the loss of parts that are not 
 vital, as an arm, a leg, or an eye. 
 
 If this definition of health be comprehended and 
 accepted, it naturally follows that disease the antipode 
 of health may be defined simply as some deviation from 
 the condition of health. Cold is the absence of heat ; it 
 is the negative of a positive. Health is positive, disease 
 negative. Disease, then, is an abnormal condition of the 
 body ; some uneasy or unnatural sensation, of which the 
 patient may be aware, or some unsafe or hidden condition 
 of which he may be quite unconscious ; some embarrass- 
 ment of functional action perceptible to himself or others. 
 In short, some mode of being, or of action or of feeling, 
 different from that which obtains in health. 
 
 The number of these deviations from the standard of 
 health that is, the number of diseases if we include all 
 their differences in kind and degree, is scarcely calculable. 
 The purpose at this time and in this work is to refer only 
 to those most common which especially attack the female 
 organism. 
 
 With this imperfect definition of disease, a few of the 
 leading causes of some of these deviations from health will
 
 558 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.' 
 
 be given, that women may be the better able to forestall 
 or prevent them, and thereby reap the benefit of the 
 adage that " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
 cure." 
 
 There are two principal causes of disease, namely, 
 predisposing and exciting. 
 
 In the strictest sense, an event is held to be caused by 
 another event which preceded it. Were the first absent, 
 the second would never follow ; if the first be present, the 
 second never fails to occur. This rule, however, is too 
 arbitrary to apply to the causes of disease. We perceive 
 that such and such circumstances often precede such and 
 such diseases, and that the diseases seldom happen with- 
 out the previous observance of the same circumstances. 
 Consequently, we begin to regard those circumstances as 
 the specific cause of those diseases. We find that the 
 diseases are most common among those who have been 
 exposed to the agency of the suspected causes. This may 
 seem at first to be only presumptive evidence, but when, 
 from observation, we find that almost uniformly such 
 diseases follow in the wake of such suspected causes, we 
 have to assign to the two consecutive events the relation 
 of cause arid effect. 
 
 But, because certain suspected causes are not immedi- 
 ately followed by the same results, we have no disproof 
 of the influence of the suspected cause in the result. 
 Some persons are more easily influenced by those circum- 
 stances than others ; even the same person is more liable 
 to be influenced by the same circumstances at one time
 
 DEFINITION OF DISEASE. 559 
 
 than another. And special circumstances, existing in 
 certain cases, will account in some degree for this variable 
 operation of causes always producing the same effect. 
 These special circumstances may properly be called 
 predispositions. Thus, if ten persons be exposed to the 
 same noxious influence, such as a severe douching with 
 water succeeded by extreme cold, one may be affected 
 with catarrh, another with rheumatism, one with pneu- 
 monia, a fourth with inflammation of the bowels, and the 
 remaining six may escape unharmed. Or a woman may 
 do that to-day which at another time would jeopardize her 
 life. 
 
 It is not, therefore, the cause alone that in all cases 
 determines the disease. Sometimes very much, or per- 
 haps all, depends upon the condition of the body at the 
 time when the cause is applied, and this condition of the 
 body with evil predisposition results from circumstances 
 then in operation ; and these circumstances are called 
 "predisposing causes." 
 
 We might, then, define a " predisposing cause " to be 
 anything whatever which has had such a previous influence 
 upon the body as to have rendered it unusually suscep- 
 tible to the specific causes of the particular disease. 
 
 Disease may sometimes be averted, even despite 
 strong and fixed predisposition to it, if we know and can 
 guard against the agencies by which it is capable of being 
 excited. A man may inherit a proclivity to consumption, 
 yet fortunately escape that fatal complaint by timely 
 removal to a warm and equable climate, and by other
 
 560 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 suitable precautions that is, by avoiding whatever tends 
 to rouse the dormant tendency into action. On the other 
 hand, disease may often be warded off, notwithstanding 
 the presence and application of its specific cause, when its 
 " predisposing causes " are ascertained and can be pre- 
 vented. In proportion as the body is weakened or 
 exhausted, it yields more readily to the pernicious 
 influence of contagious diseases. By obviating all causes 
 of debility, and fortifying the system, we walk with com- 
 parative security amid surrounding pestilence. Diseases 
 sometimes occur when no specific cause when no cause 
 at all has been apparent. All that can be said in 
 such cases, is that the causes have not, as yet, been 
 discovered. 
 
 The ascertained causes of disease are many and 
 various. Whatever ministers to life, health or enjoyment 
 may become, under varying circumstances, the medium 
 of pain, disease and death. The atmosphere in which we 
 are constantly immersed is full of dangers. Both the 
 organic and inorganic world around us are full of poisons. 
 They lurk in our very food, which becomes pernicious 
 when taken in excess, or when it consists of certain 
 substances or certain admixtures of substances ; there 
 really was much truth in the startling motto of Mr. 
 Accum's book on adulterations : " There is death in the 
 pot." Our passions and emotions, also, nay even some of 
 our better impulses, when strained or perverted, tend to 
 our physical destruction. The seeds of decay are within 
 as well as around us. Let us enumerate, however, a little 
 more particularly, the various known sources of disease.
 
 DEFINITION OF DISEASE. 561 
 
 We shall pass over, in this enumeration, nearly all 
 chemical and mechanical injuries, as they belong to 
 another department of medicine. If we look to atmos- 
 pherical causes, we shall find that those variations in the 
 state of the air which proceed from differences of degree 
 in natural qualities may be productive of disease such 
 as extremes of heat, and of cold ; sudden variations of 
 temperature ; excessive moisture or excessive dryness ; 
 different electric conditions ; difference of pressure as 
 measured by the barometer ; a deficiency of light, etc. 
 Again, the atmosphere may be a source of disease in con- 
 sequence of its being loaded with impurities. Malaria, 
 contagions of various kinds, and noxious gasses in general, 
 may be considered as so many poisons. 
 
 Under the head of nutriment we may place the use of 
 food of which the quality is bad and hurtful. This cause 
 also strictly belongs to the class of poisons. Again, it 
 may be an insufficient supply of healthy food. A still 
 more common cause is an excess in eating and intemper- 
 ance in drinking. The numerous poisons that are not 
 comprehended under either of the foregoing heads are 
 also prolific sources of disease. 
 
 Another great class among the causes of disease might 
 be formed by considering together the influence of various 
 trades and vocations which are directly injurious to the 
 health of those who pursue them. We know by example 
 and experience that a certain amount of bodily exercise is 
 essential to good health. We see the evil consequences 
 of m uch overstepping that amount in the deformities and
 
 562 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 disorders which resi It from labor too severe, or too long 
 continued. But a much more numerous train of 
 complaints follow the opposite state that in which, from 
 indolence or necessity, but little exercise is taken. 
 
 Excessive indulgence in sleep, on the one hand, and 
 long continued want or interruption of repose on the 
 other, are apt to give rise to serious maladies. 
 
 Many diseases have a mental origin. Excessive intel- 
 lectual toil, the domination of violent passions, the 
 frequent recurrence of strong mental emotions, vicious and 
 exhausting indulgences each and all will sap the strength 
 and grievously impair the health of the body. Perhaps 
 there is no cause of corporeal disease more clearly made 
 out and more certainly effective than protracted anxiety 
 and distress of mind. 
 
 When we add to this catalogue of the sources of 
 disease, all those morbid tendencies which are hereditary, 
 and those which flow from original malformation and 
 are irremediable, we shall have a tolerably complete list 
 of the manifold dangers to which our mortal frames are 
 continually liable. 
 
 There are several points of view under which the 
 consideration of these causes of disease might be shown 
 to be interesting. We might inquire, for example, which 
 of them are predisposing, which specific causes, and what 
 are the circumstances which are found to render the same 
 agent at one time merely a predisposing, and at another 
 time a specific cause. We might also separate, with some 
 advantage, those causes of disease to which the human
 
 THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PULSE. 563 
 
 body is often and necessarily exposed, and those that 
 consist in agencies that are of a local or temporary exist- 
 ence only. But such distinctions would require more 
 exhaustive treatment than is possible in this work. The 
 nature and mode of operation of these causes is a very 
 fruitful field of inquiry, but our limited space, as well as 
 the object of the work, forbid entering upon it. 
 
 The Various Kinds of Pulse. 
 
 The pulse is the beating of the arteries following the 
 contractile action of the heart. The radial artery at the 
 wrist is commonly made use of in order to ascertain the 
 force, frequency, etc., of the general circulation. An 
 examination of the pulse, taken in connection with other 
 symptoms, is often of the greatest utility to the physician 
 in enabling him to determine the peculiar character of 
 different diseases. 
 
 Not merely the frequency and force, but the fullness, 
 hardness, etc. , as well as the opposite characteristics are 
 to be carefully noted. It is, however, of the utmost 
 importance that we take into consideration those varia- 
 tions, temporary or otherwise, which are not necessarily 
 dependent on a state of disease. 
 
 Not only may the force and frequency of the pulse be 
 greatly increased by a mere temporary cause (such, for 
 example, as extraordinary exertion, sudden alarm, etc.), 
 but, owing to certain constitutional peculiarities, the pulse 
 of some persons in a state of perfect health is uniformly 
 much more frequent than the general average in man. As
 
 564 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a rule the pulse in a person of an excitable temperament is 
 considerably more frequent than in a man of an opposite 
 character. It is usually more frequent in women than 
 men. It is estimated that the pulse of an adult male, at 
 rest in a state of perfect health, has from sixty-five to 
 seventy-five beats per minute. An infant at birth has 
 from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty 
 pulsations per minute ; a child a year old, from one hun- 
 dred and ten to one hundred and twenty ; at three years 
 old, from ninety to one hundred ; at ten, from eighty-five 
 to ninety ; at puberty, about eighty. As life advances, 
 the pulse usually becomes slower, until the infirmities of 
 age begin, when, as a result of debility, it is often increased 
 in frequency. Of the different kinds or characters of the 
 pulse, the following are, perhaps, the most deserving of 
 notice : 
 
 1. Dicrotic Pulse. That in which the finger is struck 
 twice (first forcibly, then lightly) at every pulsation. 
 
 2. Filiform (or thread-like] Pulse. That in which 
 the pulsating artery seems so narrow as to resemble a 
 thread. 
 
 3. Gaseous Pulse. One in which the artery seems 
 full and very soft, as if it were filled with air. 
 
 4. Hard Pulse. One which does not yield under the 
 firm pressure of the finger. 
 
 5. Intermittent Pulse. One in which the pulsation 
 every now and then fails, or seems altogether wanting. 
 This is a common symptom in disease of the heart, though 
 not infrequently resulting from derangement of the nervous 
 system, caused by dyspepsia.
 
 THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PULSE. $65 
 
 6. Jerking Pu/se.One in which the artery seems to 
 strike the finger with a sudden start or jerk. 
 
 7. Quick Pulse. One which has a quick or sudden 
 beat, though the intervals between the beats may be of 
 the usual length. 
 
 8. Small Pulse. One in which the pulsations are 
 both slender and weak. 
 
 9. Tense Pulse. One in which the artery seems 
 stretched or filled to its utmost capacity. It resembles a 
 hard pulse, but is more elastic. 
 
 10. Wiry Pulse. -Not thread-like, but very hard, as 
 well as narrow, and seeming to strike the finger as small 
 tense wire. 
 
 The signification of the other terms applied to the 
 pulse as bounding, feeble, frequent, full, soft, etc. 
 seem so simple and obvious that it is not necessary to 
 speak specifically of them. 
 
 Something more may be said of the qualities of the 
 pulse. Those that are most important are its frequency, 
 regularity, fullness and force. We have given the normal 
 number of beats in a person in health, per minute, 
 at different ages. In disease there is quite a wide 
 range, according to observance, between the degrees of 
 frequency in different kinds of attack. It must not be 
 forgotten that the position of the individual at the time of 
 the examination of the pulse has an influence over its 
 frequency. Its beats are more numerous in the standing 
 than in the sitting posture ; in the sitting than in the 
 recumbent.
 
 566 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 In disease the pulse may acquire a degree of frequency 
 which is scarcely calculable by the touch, and less so 
 because, when extremely frequent, it is also extremely 
 feeble. Watson says he has reckoned by aid of the 
 stethoscope 216 pulsations of the heart per minute. On 
 the other hand, in cases of apoplexy, or where syncope is 
 impending, or certain organic affections of the heart, the 
 pulse may become extremely slow. Dr. Chambers reports 
 the case of an old gentleman whose spinal column had 
 received some injury, whose pulse fell as low as nine beats 
 per minute. 
 
 A great deal may be learned of certain diseases from 
 the frequency and regularity of the pulse. Irregularity of 
 the pulse is another condition which is often full of mean- 
 ing and interest, inasmuch as it may be found both in the 
 sick and well. Some persons have naturally an irregular 
 pulse. Irregularity of the pulse may be caused by organic 
 diseases of the heart, by simple disorders of the stomach, 
 or be the result of debility, and the prelude to the 
 stoppage of the heart's action. 
 
 Another important quality of the pulse is what is called 
 its hardness or compressibility. In this character of pulse 
 you will not be able to abolish the pulse by any degree of 
 pressure. The blood will still force its way through the 
 artery beneath your finger. This quality is generally 
 found in patients where there is existing inflammation, 
 and was the signal in former times for displaying a 
 lancet. 
 
 Wasting or emaciation is sometimes the first symptom 
 of disease. This may be seen in the countenance at a
 
 MORNING SICKNESS AND VOMITING. 567 
 
 very early period. It occurs frequently in complaints that 
 are not dangerous, as dyspepsia, and in those peculiarly 
 nervous women who shall be spoken of hereafter. 
 
 We have examples of symptoms that consist of 
 changes of color in the flushed face of fever; in the 
 pallor belonging to many diseases ; in the contrast exhib- 
 ited between the white cheek, with its central red spot, so 
 characteristic of hectic fever, and in the yellowness of the 
 skin and eyes, in jaundice. 
 
 The various appearances of the tongue are to the 
 observer a symptom of the character of disease. The 
 heavy, white coat is present in acute inflammation, as 
 pleurisy ; the clean, smooth and red tongue shows a 
 diseased condition of the mucous membrane, of the ali- 
 mentary canal, etc. 
 
 These remarks on the causes of disease ; the character- 
 istic qualities of the pulse ; the general emaciation and 
 expression of the countenance ; color of the skin and 
 appearance of the tongue may enable you to form some 
 intelligent idea of what constitutes the difference between 
 health and disease, that you may know when there is a 
 necessity for alarm, that valuable lives may not be lost 
 through neglect, nor unnecessary concern be had when 
 but little is the matter. 
 
 Morning Sickness and Vomiting. 
 
 Reference was made to this peculiar disease of women 
 in the review of the symptoms of pregnancy. We need 
 not go into any lengthy description of it here. Nausea
 
 568 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 and vomiting are very common, generally on first rising 
 in the morning. Vomiting illness sometimes commences 
 immediately after conception, but usually not until after 
 the second month, and generally lasts until after the fourth 
 month. Generally, there is nausea rather than vomiting. 
 The woman feels sick and unable to eat her breakfast, and 
 often brings up some glairy fluid. In other cases she 
 actually vomits, and sometimes the sickness is so excessive 
 as to resist all treatment and seriously affect the patient's 
 health, and even imperil her life. 
 
 No satisfactory reason has as yet been adduced for the 
 'cause of this disease. The opinion that has met with the 
 most favor is that it is the result of the stretching 
 of the uterine fibers by the growth of the ovum. 
 But even to this theory there exists the objection that in 
 many cases the sickness is coincident with conception, and 
 before there is time for the development of the ovum 
 sufficient to make any pressure upon the uterine fibers. 
 Notwithstanding it is a very distressing ailment, it has 
 generally, by observance, been regarded as a favorable 
 condition, and indicates a safe pregnancy. 
 
 The danger in this disorder arises mainly from its being 
 mistaken for some more serious disease of the stomach, 
 for which there might be administered such treatment as 
 would produce an abortion. This mistake is not likely to 
 be made by women who have had children and have been 
 thus troubled, but by women in their first pregnancy. 
 Especially so, if they have lived with a husband for several 
 years without issue. The nausea and vomiting of preg-
 
 MORNING SICKNESS AND VOMITING. 569 
 
 nancy are generally felt in the morning upon assuming an 
 erect position, while the disturbance of the stomach pro- 
 duced from other causes is more or less present at any 
 time of the day. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Rest in bed will prevent an attack, and it being a dis- 
 order that will of itself disappear in a short time, many 
 women can afford to take this prescription. Regulate the 
 bowels by seidlitz powders, karlsbad and effervescing 
 waters. Carbonic acid acts as a carminative and anodyne. 
 For vomiting from acidity of the stomach take bicarb, 
 potass, two drachms ; spirits of ammonia, aromatic, half- 
 ounce ; peppermint water, two ounces ; mix and take a 
 teaspoonful when necessary to relieve the acidity. For 
 vomiting from irritation, spirits of chloroform, one 
 drachm ; tincture of ginger, two ounces ; mix and take 
 twenty drops at each meal. 
 
 Oxalate of cerium, twenty-four grains ; ext. of gen- 
 tian, six "grains ; mix and make three pills, take one pill 
 at meal-time. 
 
 Citrate of caffein, in from one to two grain doses. 
 
 The bromide of potassium in ten to twenty grain 
 doses as an anodyne. 
 
 The food should depend upon the idiosyncracies of the 
 patient solid animal food with high seasoning for some; 
 barley water or milk and lime water for others.
 
 570 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Pains in the Bowels. 
 
 Abdominal pains that are quite severe and trouble- 
 some sometimes accompany pregnancy, more especially 
 in the latter months. They may result from two causes 
 either from the pressure of the child upon the abdom- 
 inal muscles, or the pressure of flatus, which sometimes is 
 great, resulting from want of proper digestion of the food. 
 If the pains proceed from pressure of the abdominal 
 muscles, manipulation by kneading lightly or rubbing 
 the affected muscles will do much toward relieving it. 
 If the pains proceed from flatus, attention should be paid 
 to the digestion, and appropriate remedies administered 
 to improve it. 
 
 Constipation. 
 
 But few diseases give women more trouble than con- 
 stipation. It is not only a very troublesome disorder in 
 pregnancy, but it affects individuals at other times. In 
 this disease of the alimentary canal the expulsive power 
 is either relatively or absolutely at fault ; the feces collect 
 in some parts of the bowels, and are sometimes passed 
 in considerable quantities at a time. Some portions of 
 the stool may be drier than other parts, and look dark- 
 brown or black : they usually have less smell than ordi- 
 nary feces. 
 
 Experience shows that one free evacuation from the 
 bowels daily is the rule of health. But this rule is not 
 without exceptions. Some persons have habitually two
 
 CONSTIPATION. 571 
 
 or three evacuations daily. On the other hand, some 
 have an evacuation regularly every second or third day 
 without any of the inconveniences of constipation. In 
 fact, persons of the latter habit are apt to experience dis- 
 comfort, if, temporarily, evacuations take place daily. 
 
 On determining the existence of this affection, the 
 habit in health is, of course, to be taken into account. 
 In some cases the movement of the bowels is delayed 
 two or three days, but when it does take place, it is 
 amply sufficient. In other cases, the act occurs daily, 
 but is insufficient, and is performed with difficulty. 
 
 Constipation gives rise to various local morbid effects, 
 such as a feeling of pressure or weight in the perineum, 
 a sense of abdominal distention or uneasiness, flatulency, 
 diarrhea and colic pains. Hemorrhoids, or piles, are often 
 attributable to this affection. It gives rise, also, to pain 
 in the head, dullness of the mind, flushing of the face, 
 palpitation of the heart and general malaise. 
 
 In a state of health, the rectum, or lower part of the 
 large bowel, is empty. This portion of the bowel is 
 endowed with a sensibility which, in health, gives notice 
 of the presence of feces, and occasions the desire to 
 evacuate. The ability to perform the act involves a cer- 
 tain contractile power in the large intestine, and also in 
 the abdominal and other muscles which cooperate in the 
 performance of the act. 
 
 In habitual constipation, the contractile powers of the 
 intestine are impaired by distention. The distention may 
 be owing to the large quantity of fecal matter in the
 
 5/2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 bowel ; but is generally the result of the habitual neglect 
 of the calls of Nature. The desire to evacuate is neg- 
 lected, or, the mind being preoccupied, the call is 
 unheeded and the act is postponed, until the sensibility 
 departs and the bowel no longer gives notice of fecal 
 accumulation. Hence the accumulation goes on ; the 
 rectum and other portions of the bowel become distended, 
 and paralysis follows. This is the manner in which con- 
 stipation, in a large majority of chronic cases, is produced. 
 The hurried performance of the act of emptying the 
 bowels, the evacuation, as a consequence, being incom- 
 plete, has, in some degree, the same result as the neglect 
 of the calls of Nature. In the country, especially, the pro- 
 vision for such act may be uncomfortable, rendering the 
 acts disagreeable, so that insufficient time is devoted to it. 
 
 There are other circumstances that contribute to this 
 affection. The abdominal muscles play an important part 
 in the act of moving the bowels. These muscles become 
 weakened by obesity and pregnancy. In pregnancy the 
 muscles are wonderfully distended, and lose their con- 
 tractile power. The muscles of the bowels themselves, 
 as well as the abdominal muscles, lose their contractile 
 power from anemia, impoverished blood, and other 
 enfeebling conditions of the system. The habitual use 
 of purely nutritious food, which leaves but little residue, 
 contributes to constipation. Sedentary habits favor the 
 affection, as well as too-active exercise, by rendering the 
 assimilation more active, the liquid contents of the small 
 intestines being more entirely absorbed.
 
 CONSTIPATION. 573 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Occasionally constipation, if slight, may be relieved 
 by a laxative pill, repeated, if necessary, or by a small 
 quantity of Epsom or Rochelle salts dissolved in a tumbler 
 of water and taken on an empty stomach. Congress 
 water may be substituted for the salts just named. A 
 preferable method, which will generally suffice to excite 
 the action of the large bowel, is an injection of cold 
 water. 
 
 The' practice of taking active purgatives to overcome 
 the habit of constipation cannot too strongly be con- 
 demned. Their effect is to increase the peristaltic action, 
 and thereby produce an evacuation. This will be followed 
 by a corresponding increase of inaction and dryness of the 
 bowels. The management of habitual constipation often 
 requires much care and perseverance on the part of the 
 patient. The object is to procure regularity and efficiency 
 in the evacuations. The means which may be employed 
 are various, and may be said to consist of three important 
 factors in their nature dietetical, medicinal and mechan- 
 ical. 
 
 The dietetical method consists in using articles freely 
 which leave, after digestion, a bulky residuum, as cabbage, 
 lettuce, and the various vegetables known in this country 
 as greens ; or articles having a laxative property, as 
 molasses, prunes, figs, etc., or articles with indigestible 
 constituents which stimulate or irritate the alimentary 
 canal, as bran-bread, cornmeal, cracked wheat, unbolted-
 
 574 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 flour bread. A diet consisting of a part of the foregoing 
 articles will sometimes succeed in overcoming habitual 
 constipation. 
 
 With regard to the choice of this class of means, the 
 following practical rule should be adopted ; They should 
 not be used in preference to other means if they occasion 
 indigestion, or disorder of the stomach. More harm some- 
 times results from overloading the digestive organs with 
 articles of diet difficult of digestion, or subjecting the 
 lining of the bowels to the irritation of unbolted flour, than 
 the continuance of constipation would occasion. A glass 
 of simple water or carbonated water, taken in the morning 
 before breakfast, is sometimes very efficacious. Drinking 
 half a pint or more of hot water before meals is equally 
 so. 
 
 The medicinal means are laxative medicines. In regard 
 to these the remedy used should be mild and the quantity 
 as small as will be sufficient to secure the end sought. 
 Active purgation is to be avoided. Some persons allow 
 the constipation to continue for several days and then 
 resort to large doses of pills or some active cathartic to 
 give them relief. The constipation is of course relieved 
 for a time, but the constipated habit only becomes more 
 and more fixed by such a course. Another important 
 rule is to be observed in taking medicine. If more than 
 one small dose of laxative medicine be required, the 
 remedy is better repeated in small doses two or three times 
 daily, than by giving one dose sufficiently large to produce 
 the effect.
 
 CONSTIPATION. 575 
 
 In regard to the choice of remedies, nothing seems to 
 answer most cases better than aloes and myrrh. This may 
 be combined with hyoscyamus, belladonna, or nux vomica ; 
 also some tonic, as sulphate of quinine, or some prepara- 
 tion of iron. 
 
 Pills made, two grains each, of aloes and myrrh, and 
 one-fourth grain of nux vomica or belladonna, and one of 
 them taken after dinner each day, will prove to meet the 
 requirements of most cases. To persons who have an 
 aversion to taking pills, a No. 2 capsule may be filled 
 from the powder of equal parts of aloes and myrrh. If a 
 liquid be preferred, take a teaspoonful of the combined 
 tincture of aloes and myrrh at bedtime. Whichever form 
 of taking the remedy may be adopted, the dose should 
 be regulated so as to attain the end sought gradually, 
 diminishing it as the constipation subsides. A small piece 
 of rhubarb root chewed at intervals through the day is a 
 very satisfactory remedy in some very obstinate cases. 
 
 A few drops of the tincture of colchicum taken after 
 each meal answer sometimes admirably. Prunes, stewed 
 in an infusion of senna, are not unpalatable. The confec- 
 tion of senna and medicated figs is also suited to persons 
 who do not like to take pills. 
 
 The most important thing for patients who are troubled 
 with constipation is the adoption of a rule to solicit evacua- 
 tion at the same hour daily. The success of this plan 
 depends upon the absolute regularity with which it is put 
 in practice. The time of day may be selected so as to 
 best accommodate the circumstances of the patient.
 
 576 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Choose that hour of the day when you will least likely 
 be interrupted, and will be enabled to give sufficient time 
 for the act of defecation without making a too persistent 
 effort. For many reasons immediately after breakfast is 
 the better time, and its observance should be regarded as 
 a duty, not to be omitted for a single day, except from 
 necessity. It may be long before the desired object can 
 be accomplished, but, sooner or later, with the aid of some 
 of the means that have been indicated, the desire will be 
 felt at the appointed hour, and the ability to defecate at 
 that time will be acquired in the great majority of 
 instances. Much will depend, however, upon the will- 
 power of the individual to persevere until success shall 
 crown the effort. 
 
 The mechanical means consist in the use of enemas 
 and suppositories. The regular use of an enema of cold 
 water, at the same hour every day, is a simple and often- 
 times an effectual means, and is materially aided if a few 
 drops of the tincture of camphor be added to the enema. 
 Sometimes a suppository of soap answers the purpose 
 of stimulating the bowel to a regular and efficient 
 evacuation. 
 
 Treatment of Constipation by the Swedish Movement 
 
 Cure. 
 
 In order the more readily to convey a definite idea of 
 the principles on which the Swedish movement cure is 
 based, and the mode in which those principles are carried 
 into practical execution, Dr. Benjamin Lee gives the
 
 TREATMENT OF CONSTIPATION. 
 
 577 
 
 following prescription for that bete noire of the profession, 
 constipation. It will be observed that each clause of the 
 prescription contains two parts ; the first is the attitude or 
 position to be assumed by the patient in taking the move- 
 ment ; the second is the movement itself. These parts 
 are distinguished by drawing a line down the middle of 
 the prescription : 
 
 Chest expansion, deep 
 inspiration. 
 
 Leg flexion and exten- 
 sion (P. r.) 
 
 Trunk twisting (P. r.) 
 Thigh extension forced 
 (P. 1.) 
 
 5. High ride turn sitting. Circular, twisting, with 
 
 pressure upon the stomach 
 and in the lumbar region. 
 
 6. Extension standing. Colon stroking. 
 
 i Heave, standing. 
 
 2. Half lying. 
 
 3. Half ride, fall sitting. 
 
 4. Toward, standing. 
 
 7. Forehead fix, 
 knee. 
 
 8. Astride standing. 
 
 9. Lying. 
 
 high Spine extension, forced 
 
 (P. r.) 
 
 Liver vibration. 
 Abdomen kneading, 
 pressure with vibration over 
 the solar plexus. 
 
 The attitudes being various, their nomenclature is neces- 
 sarily somewhat cumbersome, while its foreign parentage 
 makes it awkward to American ears. Suffice it to say that 
 each variation has reference to special groups of muscles 
 or certain organs.
 
 5/8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The first movement in this prescription is a respiratory 
 one, taken in the erect position, with the chest thrown out, 
 and accompanied by deep inspirations, its object being to 
 invigorate the entire system by introducing a large amount 
 of oxygen into the blood-supply, to bring both muscles and 
 nerves into a highly-vitalized state, in which they will 
 respond most readily to the stimulus of the subsequent 
 movements. 
 
 The second is a deviation designed to relieve conges- 
 tion of the abdominal organs by drawing down the blood 
 into the lower extremities. In this the trunk is placed at 
 rest in a semi-recumbent posture. The letters "p. r. " 
 will be noticed immediately after this movement. They 
 signify that the patient resists, the movement being made 
 by the operator. This is, therefore, a duplicate movement. 
 The entire will of the patient being concentrated upon this 
 effort, it is powerfully revulsive. 
 
 The third principle has two chief ends the first, pres- 
 sure upon the entire abdominal walls, thus relieving con- 
 gestion by forcing the blood out of the large vessels ; and 
 secondly, invigorating and developing the transverse and 
 oblique abdominal muscles, which are rarely brought into 
 play in ordinary exertions. The attitude is such as to 
 fix the pelvis. The arms are then crossed over the top of 
 the head, and the extended elbows are made use of as a 
 lever, by means of which the trunk is twisted or rotated 
 upon its axis, the patient resisting the operator's effort. 
 
 The fourth stretches the abdominal muscles, especially 
 those of the rectum, thus inviting a copious flow of blood
 
 TREATMENT OF CONSTIPATION. 5/9 
 
 into the capillaries, while, at the same time, by irritating 
 the muscles about the hip, the perineum and the psoas 
 iliacus, it stimulates the nerves of the lumbar and pelvic 
 plexus. 
 
 The fifth consists in a rapid rotation of the entire trunk 
 upon the pelvis, bringing all the muscles of the lower part 
 of the trunk into play and subjecting the pelvic viscera to 
 alternate pressure and relief from pressure. It promotes 
 activity in the portal circulation, and stimulates peristaltic 
 action. It is accomplished with firm pressure upon the 
 stomach and in the lumbar region, the former with a view 
 of stimulating the solar plexus and the latter the lumbar 
 nerves. 
 
 The sixth movement is entirely passive, the patient 
 standing, while the operator slowly and firmly strokes the 
 colon in the direction of its vermicular wave. Its 
 primary object is to accelerate the passage of fecal masses 
 and flatus through that portion of the canal, and its 
 secondary object is to stimulate its rhythmic contractions. 
 
 The seventh produces extreme erection of the spine, 
 thus affording increased space for the abdominal organs, 
 usually compressed by improper attitudes. 
 
 The eighth movement is the Movement Cure" blue pill. " 
 The patient takes such an attitude as will tightly stretch 
 the muscles of the right side, and the operator then produces 
 a rapid vibration of the parietes of the chest and abdomen 
 immediately over the liver. The effort is to relieve the 
 congestion of the liver and excite a healthy flow of bile. 
 Finally, the patient lies upon his back, and a thorough
 
 580 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 kneading of the abdomen is given, followed by pressure 
 and vibration over the solar plexus. The circulation of 
 all the abdominal viscera is thus stimulated, the passage of 
 both chyle and feces through the alimentary canal is aided, 
 healthy secretion is promoted, undue accumulations of 
 mucus are dislodged, and the great nervous center of the 
 organic system is roused into the highest state of activity. 
 There are very few cases of constipation, however obsti- 
 nate, which will resist a fortnight of this treatment daily, 
 and many cases will yield in a week. The time occupied 
 in carrying out this prescription is about an hour. 
 
 Diarrhea. 
 
 Diarrhea is the opposite condition from constipation, 
 and is not so frequently a disorder of women. It may 
 alternate periodically with constipation. It very rarely 
 affects pregnant women, and, when it does, is the result 
 generally of indigestion or of irritability of the nervous 
 system, producing an excessive action of the peristaltic 
 muscles of the bowels, aided by an excess of fluid poured 
 into the canal, resulting in repeated watery discharges. 
 There may be only a single defecation that entirely 
 unloads the whole alimentary canal. This condition is 
 almost uniformly followed by a period of constipation. 
 
 This form of diarrhea is the result of mental emotions, 
 and especially the depressing passions grief, and above 
 all, fear. As, for example, a sudden panic will operate on 
 the bowels as quickly as a dose of the most active 
 cathartic. Among the circumstances which predispose
 
 DIARRHEA. 581 
 
 most persons to this kind of malady are the hot months 
 and autumn. 
 
 This form of diarrhea from occasional irritation pro- 
 duced by the pressure of substances that offend the stom- 
 ach or bowels will generally cease of itself, and, as I 
 have said, be replaced by a period of constipation. The 
 purging is a natural way of getting rid of the irritating 
 cause. The recovery may be favored by the use of 
 diluent drinks, and abstaining from all future use of food 
 that is not perfectly easy of digestion. Sometimes it may 
 be necessary to give some safe purgative, as salts and 
 senna, thereby sweeping out the whole alimentary canal, 
 and then soothe the bowel by some preparation of opium, 
 or five to ten grains of Dover's powder ; or you may take 
 the aperient and anodyne together. A tablespoonful of 
 castor oil with six to ten drops of laudanum dropped into 
 it, or fifteen to twenty grains of pulverized rhubarb with 
 from five to eight grains of Dover's powder in it, will 
 answer well. By some such medication as this, emptying 
 the bowels when necessary, and guiding them, the cure is 
 generally accomplished with ease and speedily. 
 
 We sometimes, however, meet with cases in which the 
 diarrhea runs on ; the stools are composed of fecal matter 
 in an unnaturally fluid state. The precise condition upon 
 which this disposition to an over-loose state of the bowels 
 depends, escapes detection that is, you may not know 
 of any attributable cause. 
 
 If the disorder be only slight, it may yield to some of 
 the common vegetable astringents say, a decoction of
 
 58^ MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 blackberry root with the addition of a little cinnamon 
 essence. If there be acidity of the stomach, the chalk 
 mixture, or subnitrate of bismuth in ten to twenty grain 
 doses, will be serviceable. If, however, it still persist, 
 only being temporarily relieved by these remedies, 
 recourse may be had to ten grains of pulverized sulphate 
 of copper and forty grains of ipecac, and ten grains of 
 gum arabic; mix into a pill made by the addition of a 
 little water, and divide into forty pills. Take one two or 
 three times daily, and pay proper attention to the diet, 
 using only such food as may be easily digested and sooth- 
 ing to the bowels. 
 
 Dr. Miller Fothergill makes some wise suggestions in 
 regard to the food in cases of diarrhea, which are worthy 
 of respectful consideration, as they are the observations 
 of a man of acknowledged intellect with great experience. 
 He says : " One broad rule may be laid down, and it is 
 this : So long as animal broths are permitted, so long will 
 diarrhea be intractable. Again and again has this been 
 driven like a spike into my memory. Of course I have 
 learned the lesson for myself; but in my position as a 
 consultant it comes under my notice in cases treated by 
 others. There is anything but a general recognition of 
 this fact ; and few of our clinical residents at Victoria Park 
 Hospital have not this lesson to learn. Milk with farin- 
 aceous substances forms the food in diarrheal conditions. 
 Arrowroot (raw) is the food cure for diarrhea among 
 children, in the opinion of the British mothers. Starch 
 certainly soothes the alimentary canal, and a sago, or even
 
 DIARRHEA. 583 
 
 better, a tapioca pudding, forms soft wadding for a bowel 
 with an irritable mucous membrane. All hard, irritant 
 matter is objectionable and aggravates the condition. A 
 diarrhea is generally set up by such matters as imperfectly 
 masticated pieces of hard potatoes or carrot, of a green 
 stalk or a piece of uncooked celery, or of a ripe apple ; 
 and is certainly aggravated by such mechanical irritants. 
 Milk boiled with rice (best ground) has a distinct corrective 
 action. Milk with biscuit powder is excellent. By such 
 admixture too firm curdling is avoided. To put in a little 
 cinnamon or cassia is to add a flavoring agent which at the 
 same time is a good addition as acting favorably on loose 
 bowels. 
 
 " In acute diarrhea the best food is milk with ground 
 rice, or wheat flour (with cinnamon) in small quantities at 
 once, neither too cold nor too warm. Milk puddings 
 made with sago, arrowroot or tapioca are good ; or pow- 
 dered arrowroot (as arrowroot biscuit) in milk. If such 
 food be persisted with, many a diarrhea will yield withou 
 calling in the aid of strictly medical agents. But fre- 
 quently these last are indispensable. In more chronic 
 conditions of looseness of the bowels, milk and farinaceous 
 foods are still to be made the staple of the dietary. 
 
 " Then come the astringent wines, rich in tannin as 
 claret, Carlowitz and catawba. These may be drunk 
 undiluted, or may be made into a nutrient food, by adding 
 them to solutions of grape or cane sugar, or even to 
 lactated foods. In many cases a small amount of alcohol 
 is desirable. "
 
 584 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 It may be laid down as a rule that farinaceous matter 
 is useful in diarrhea, the soft starch being not only non- 
 irritant, but actually soothing to the morbid mucous 
 membrane of the bowel. 
 
 No doubt in many cases of diarrhea, acute or 
 chronic just as in constipation the resort to medical 
 agents is often necessary. But, granting this, and admit- 
 ting the numerous remedies in our possession for the relief 
 of both conditions, still, their action can be potently aided 
 or thwarted by a suitable dietetic regimen. Indeed, in 
 the milder cases, regulation of the dietary is sufficient to 
 keep the bowels in a satisfactory condition. 
 
 Hemorrhoids, or Piles. 
 
 Very closely allied to the diseases that we have just 
 been considering is the disease of hemorrhoids, or piles, 
 because the paroxysms of piles frequently attend a 
 protracted case of either constipation or diarrhea. It is 
 also a very common disease in the latter month of preg- 
 nancy, and is attended at times with the most acute 
 suffering. 
 
 The disease consists in small tumors around the anus 
 or fundament. Some of these tumors are internal and 
 some external, and are known by the terms outward piles 
 and inward, or blind piles. Frequently these tumors or 
 swellings bleed, especially when the bowels are moved. 
 In other cases there is no hemorrhage. The bleeding in 
 some cases is alarmingly profuse on account of the rupture 
 of one or more of the hemorrhoidal vessels. The
 
 CAUSES OF PILES. 585 
 
 hemorrhage is generally followed by a period of some 
 relief. Considerable itching at times accompanies piles, 
 which may be due in a great measure to an additional 
 disorder of the adjacent skin. There is usually a sense of 
 heat and fullness of the rectum, a dull, heavy weight in the 
 back and lower part of the abdomen, and an uneasiness in 
 sitting or walking about. The patient will suffer severe 
 agony while passing her stools ; and the tumors, whether 
 internal or external, will become swollen and extremely 
 tender so that they can scarcely be touched. They some- 
 times have quite a throbbing pulsation. 
 
 If the tumors break and discharge their contents, relief 
 soon follows until a new crop forms ; when they 
 continue tumid, hard and unbroken for some time there 
 will be great suffering when the person has a discharge 
 from the bowels. 
 
 Causes of Piles. 
 
 Piles may be occasioned by whatever interrups a free 
 return of blood from the rectum, such as a collection of 
 hard feces, which excites and irritates those parts. In 
 women it often arises from an impregnated womb, or 
 from relaxation and debility, and not infrequently from an 
 inflammatory or irritable condition of the rectum resulting 
 from some form of diarrhea. A diseased state of the 
 digestive organs, with torpidity of the liver, or straining 
 in lifting heavy burdens will often bring on an attack of 
 this troublesome disorder. Excessive indulgence in rich 
 and highly-seasoned food is a fruitful cause, from its
 
 586 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 tendency to derange the digestive organs. For the same 
 reason the excessive use of ardent spirits will bring on an 
 attack. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The prophylactic treatment, as physicians call it, is the 
 best method of managing this troublesome and painful 
 disease. That is, as far as it is possible, live temperately, 
 so as to avoid all those causes that produce the disease. 
 When a person has once been affected with it, another 
 attack will be much more easily produced. The vessels 
 having once been distended and their caliber enlarged, 
 they yield more readily to the excessive pressure of the 
 blood. 
 
 The first and one pf the most important remedies in 
 this disease is a proper course of diet. Wines or ardent 
 spirits and rich and highly-seasoned food are positively 
 interdicted. Costiveness or diarrhea, if they be present, 
 must be corrected, and one or two soft stools daily be 
 substituted. The food should consist of such articles as 
 will not only be digestible, but will be selected with due 
 regard to the condition of the bowels. 
 
 If there be constipation, use such food as rye or corn- 
 meal, bread or mush, eaten with molasses, coarse, 
 unbolted wheaten bread, potatoes, ripe fruit, milk, and 
 generally a nutritious vegetable diet, so as to regulate the 
 bowels. If there be diarrhea, some stringent with some 
 of the preparations of opium to allay the irritation and 
 quiet the bowels will be required. However, medicines
 
 CAUSES OF PILES. 587 
 
 that act moderately on the bowels are more frequently 
 required. 
 
 A teaspoonful of cream-tartar mixed in molasses will 
 answer a good purpose, or, what is still better, and, 
 indeed, one of the best remedies, is a combination of 
 sulphur-flour and cream-tartar say one ounce of flour- 
 sulphur; one and a half ounces of cream-tartar ; molasses, 
 four ounces ; mix and take in teaspoonful doses four hours 
 apart, until the bowels move, and then sufficiently often 
 to prevent them from becoming costive. At times 
 enemas of water, either warm or cold, as may appear most 
 pleasant, to wash out the rectum and move the bowels, 
 answer a good purpose. 
 
 When the tumors become very painful, and are con- 
 siderably inflamed, a poultice made of either elm or lin 
 bark and milk will give great relief. Ointment made by 
 mixing together two parts of fresh butter and one of tur- 
 pentine, and applied to the tumors, will frequently afford 
 speedy relief. 
 
 Professor Fordyce Barker of New York says the 
 general prejudice against aloes does not apply to the 
 occurrence of piles in pregnant women. A frequent pre- 
 scription with him is : 
 
 Aloes, pulverized, Socotrine, 20 grains. 
 
 Castile Soap, 20 grains. 
 
 Extract of Hyoscyamus, 20 grains. 
 
 Ipecac, pulverized, 5 grains. 
 
 Mix and make twenty pills ; take one morning and 
 evening.
 
 588 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 When the tumors descend they should be replaced, 
 and the following applied twice daily : 
 
 Compound Unguent of Galls, I ounce. 
 Watery extract of opium, 20 grains. 
 Liquor of Sulphate of Iron, i drachm. 
 Many persons think that aloes will produce piles, but 
 the better part of the medical profession regard the drug 
 as a certain curative, and give it in some form in all their 
 treatment. Dr. Barker says that when the patient is 
 troubled with constipation he combines aloes with 
 quinine ; without constipation, aloes with the sulphate 
 of iron. For bleeding piles he used : 
 
 Sulphate of iron, 20 grains. 
 Watery extract of aloes, 30 grains. 
 Extract dandelion, quantity sufficient. 
 Quantity to make a pill mass, and divide into sixty 
 pills ; one taken morning and evening and increase to 
 three a day if necessary. 
 
 Varicose OP Enlarged Veins. 
 
 Some of the disorders of pregnancy are the direct 
 result of the mechanical pressure of the gravid uterus. 
 The most serious of these is a varicose state of the veins 
 of the lower extremities or of the vulva. A varicose 
 state of the veins of the legs is very common, especially 
 in women who have borne children. It rarely troubles 
 women in their first pregnancy. It is apt to continue 
 after delivery. Occasionally the veins of the vulva and 
 even of the vagina, are also enlarged and varicose, pro- 
 ducing considerable swelling of the external genitals.
 
 VARICOSE OR ENLARGED VEINS. 589 
 
 Rest in a recumbent position and the use of an 
 abdominal belt, so as to take the pressure off the veins as 
 much as possible, are all that can be done to relieve this 
 troublesome complaint. If the veins be much swollen, an 
 elastic stocking, or a carefully-applied bandage should be 
 worn. Much benefit may be derived by keeping the 
 bowels regular, and relieving the pressure from this 
 source. 
 
 Dr. Lion, a French writer, claims much success in the 
 treatment of varicose veins by swathing the legs in a 
 flannel compress wet with a solution of chloride of iron in 
 water, forty-five grains to the ounce, and the applying 
 of a roller flannel bandage over it firmly for twenty-fcur 
 hours. This is to be repeated daily for a week or two 
 weeks. 
 
 Dr. Edward R. Mayer says that he has employed, 
 ' ; with brilliant results," lotions of witch hazel to varicose 
 enlargements. His formula is : Concentrated tincture 
 of hamamelis, one ounce ; water, one pint. He believes 
 that it exerts a specific effect on the venous system. 
 
 Venous injections have been used with advantage, 
 and are operations which belong to the surgeon, and need 
 not be mentioned here. The great danger from these 
 enlarged veins is the liability to rupture and produce 
 dangerous hemorrhage. Great care is to be observed by 
 persons thus afflicted that by some mishap this accident 
 do not occur.
 
 590 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Wakefulness, or Insomnia. 
 
 This is peculiarly a nervous affection, and one that is 
 exceedingly prevalent among all classes of women, preg- 
 nant, parturient, young and old. There are a great many 
 phases of this intractable affection. The principles that 
 should prevail in the treatment of wakefulness may be 
 arranged into two classes. 
 
 First, those which, by their tendency to soothe the 
 nervous system or distract the attention, diminish the 
 action of the heart and blood vessels, or correct irregu- 
 larities in their function, and thus lessen the amount of 
 blood in the brain. In slight cases these measures 
 often prove effectual. Among these measures may be 
 noticed music, monotonous sounds, gentle friction of the 
 surface of the body, soft, undulatory movements, the 
 repetition by the individual of a series of words, till the 
 attention is diverted from the existing emotion that is 
 engaging it, and many others of a similar character. The 
 device of counting 500 backward is quite successful. In 
 persistent wakefulness these measures, however, are inad- 
 equate. 
 
 Second, resort to such means, either mechanically or 
 through a specific effect upon the circulatory organs, as 
 diminish the amount of blood in the brain. The princi- 
 pal means that is embraced in this course of treatment is 
 to improve the patient's general health. In regard to 
 food, while it is an error to suppose, as is generally the 
 case, that a moderately full meal, eaten shortly before
 
 WAKEFULNESS OR INSOMNIA. 591 
 
 bedtime, is necessarily productive of wakefulness, while 
 there is no doubt that this condition is induced by an 
 excessive quantity of irritating or indigestible food, yet a 
 hearty supper of plainly-cooked and nutritious food rather 
 predisposes to sleep. This is due to the process of 
 digestion requiring an increased amount of blood in the 
 organs which perform it, and, consequently, the brain 
 receives a less quantity. This sleep-producing effect is 
 neutralized, however, when the food is immoderate in 
 amount or irritative in quality. It then, either by the 
 pressure upon the abdominal vessels or through a reflex 
 action on the heart, augments rather than diminishes the 
 quantity of blood circulating in the brain. 
 
 Attention should, therefore, be paid to the diet of an 
 individual who does not sleep. As a rule, people are 
 under-fed. This is especially true of women. The tone 
 of the system is thus lowered, and local congestions of 
 different parts of the body are produced. If the brain be 
 one of these, wakefulness results. Most of the cases of 
 sleeplessness in women are of the passive variety, and 
 require not only nutritious food but stimulants. Whisky 
 is generally to be preferred to brandy and many kinds of 
 wine. Nothing can be better, as a good stimulant, and at 
 the same time tonic, than Tarragona wine, drank at din- 
 ner, to the extent of a glass or two. Next to this must 
 be ranked good lager beer. 
 
 There are cases in which coffee produces sleep. A 
 number of cases are mentioned by authors in which pass- 
 ive wakefulness was speedily and entirely cured by a cup
 
 592 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 of strong coffee, taken for three or four nights in suc- 
 cession at bedtime. In women of languid circulation 
 and consequent tendency to internal congestion, it is par- 
 ticularly useful. 
 
 The employment of stimulants is only of service in the 
 asthenic or passive form of wakefulness. In the sthenic 
 or active form they would, of course, increase the 
 difficulty. 
 
 Physical exercise in the open air, extended to the 
 point of inducing a slight feeling of fatigue, is productive 
 of good effects. 
 
 The warm bath calms nervous irritability and deter- 
 mines blood from the head. Putting the feet in hot 
 water at a temperature of 100 F. will often induce sleep, 
 particularly in children, when other means have failed. 
 
 Cold water (32 F.) applied directly to the scalp has a 
 good influence in those cases in which the individual is 
 strong, the heart beating with force and frequency and the 
 mental excitement great. It is not admissible in the 
 passive forms of wakefulness. 
 
 In wakefulness, due to severe and long-continued 
 mental exertion, all means of cure will fail unless the brain 
 be used in a rational way. Proper intervals of relaxation 
 will be necessary, and some mental rest. Among the 
 purely medicinal agents, bromide of potassium holds the 
 first rank. It diminishes the amount of blood in the brain, 
 and allays any excitement that may be present in the 
 active form of wakefulness. The flushed face, the throb- 
 bing of the carotids and temple arteries, the suffusion of
 
 AFTER-PAINS. 593 
 
 the eyes, the feeling of fullness in the head, all disappear 
 as if by magic under its use. The dose of bromide of 
 potassium is from ten to forty grains, dissolved in a cup of 
 water. 
 
 Hyoscyamus frequently proves to be a very valuable 
 remedy. 
 
 Chloral hydrate is a prime remedy for sleeplessness in 
 the exhaustion of the brain through severe mental appli- 
 cation, over-excitement of feeling, or convalescence from 
 acute febrile diseases. It should only be used as a tem- 
 porary remedy, when it may be necessary that we should 
 at once secure a fair amount of sleep. No individual 
 should be allowed to take this valuable drug whenever she 
 may feel disposed ; it ought only to be used upon the 
 advice of a physician. Opium and its alkaloids answer 
 well with some persons, especially if pain be associated 
 with wakefulness, but they must use with great caution. 
 Morphia is the most active hypnotic of the opiates. 
 
 After- Pains. 
 
 In child-birth there are three distinct varieties of 
 pains those that expel the child ; those that expel the 
 after-birth ; and those that expel coagula of blood that 
 may remain after the expulsion of the after-birth, or that 
 may accumulate in the process of involution. 
 
 After-pains begin after the expulsion of the after-birth. 
 In some women the pains are slight, and with the first 
 delivery there is rarely any pain. With others these pains 
 are very severe, and dreaded even more than labor-pains.
 
 594 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 There are irregular contractions of the uterus, resulting 
 from its efforts to expel coagula which are formed in its 
 interior. If, therefore, care be taken to secure complete 
 and permanent contraction of the uterus after delivery, 
 they rarely occur to any considerable degree. They are 
 to a certain extent a necessary consequence of child-birth, 
 and need not give rise to any anxiety. Indeed, they are 
 rather salutary than the reverse, for, if there be any 
 coagulum in the uterus, the sooner it be expelled the 
 better. 
 
 The after-pains generally begin soon after delivery, and, 
 in bad cases, continue for three or four days. They are 
 generally induced or increased when the infant is applied 
 to the breast. In some severe cases they appear to be of 
 a neuralgic character, and do not depend upon the pres- 
 ence of coagula in the uterus. Such cases will be relieved 
 by the administration of from eight to ten grains of qui- 
 nine. The quinine should be dissolved in ten or fifteen 
 drops of hydrobromic acid, to relieve the unpleasant head 
 symptoms that such large doses are liable to produce. If 
 the pains be moderate, they need not be interfered with, 
 as they soon pass off. If, however, they seriously disturb 
 the rest of the patient, give an opiate consisting of twenty 
 to forty drops of laudanum, or five to ten grains of Dover's 
 powder. 
 
 If the discharges called lochia be not over-abundant, a 
 linseed-meal or corn-meal poultice, sprinkled with laud- 
 anum, or with the chloroform and belladonna liniment, 
 may be applied to the bowels. Sometimes a few grains of
 
 LOCHIA, OR VAGINAL DISCHARGES. 595 
 
 camphor, held in the mouth and dissolved slowly, give 
 relief. 
 
 Lochia, on Vaginal Discharges. 
 
 The discharges from the genital passage after delivery 
 are termed the lochia. At first the lochia are composed of 
 pure blood with coagula of fibrine, but, after a few hours, 
 the wounded surface of the uterus furnishes an abundant 
 exudation of a serous alkaline fluid, which washes away 
 in its descent the secretion from the cervix and vaginal 
 mucus. For the first two or three days the lochia are of 
 a red color, from the admixture of blood, while, upon the 
 third, fourth, and sometimes upon the fifth day, the bloody 
 elements diminish, and the discharges present a pale-red 
 color. From the fifth to the seventh day the bloody 
 element still further diminishes. The discharge continues 
 thin, with an increase of other fluids. In the second week 
 the discharge becomes of a grayish-white, or greenish- 
 yellow color, and of a creamy consistence. After the 
 fourth day there is more or less odor accompanying the 
 discharge. Toward the end of the first week, and espe- 
 cially after leaving the bed, fresh blood often makes its 
 appearance. The quantity of the lochia varies with the 
 peculiarities of the individual. It is, as a rule, less with 
 the first delivery than with after-deliveries and in persons 
 who are flabby and menstruate abundantly. 
 
 Great cleanliness in regard to these discharges is 
 important, not only for the comfort of the patient, but to 
 prevent serious diseases resulting from absorption of the
 
 596 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 poison resulting from decomposition. Give frequent 
 baths, as is recommended in the article, " Care After 
 Delivery." The napkins should be often changed and 
 replaced with clean ones. 
 
 When the discharge is excessive, accompanied with a 
 relaxed condition of the uterus, teaspoonful doses of the 
 fluid extract of ergot, every two or three hours will 
 arrest it. 
 
 When the discharge is suspended, use turpentine 
 stupes, which are made by applying turpentine freely to 
 the bowels, and over it large napkins or cloths of flannel 
 wrung out of water as hot as can be borne. Drinking 
 freely of a decoction of vervain, or wild hyssop as it is 
 sometimes called, will aid materially in the re-establishment 
 of the discharge. In severe cases, with a putrid odor, a 
 solution of the permanganate of potassa, injected into the 
 vagina, is made use of. The injection of the fluid is con- 
 tinued until it returns unaltered in color. In all cases 
 where the discharge is excessive, the tincture of arnica is 
 useful. The tincture is used in proportion of a teaspoon- 
 ful to a cup of water. It acts as a mild astringent and 
 disinfectant. 
 
 Phlegmasia Dolens, OP Milk-Leg. 
 
 This disease consists in a swelling of one or both 
 legs usually but one. It may attack women a few days 
 after child-birth. It may follow abortion, or severe 
 inflammation of the uterine organs. It commences with 
 a swelling in the groin, and extends into the thigh and
 
 PHLEGMASIA DOLENS, OR MILK-LEG. 597 
 
 leg, down to the foot. It increases until, in a few days, 
 the leg may be double its normal size. The leg is white, 
 smooth, hot ; the skin tight and very sensitive, giving 
 great pain on being handled. 
 
 The common name of this disease is derived from the 
 milky color of the liquid. The disease may begin to 
 decline in ten days or two weeks, but sometimes it con- 
 tinues for weeks, or even months, causing suffering and 
 general emaciation. 
 
 The first step in the treatment is to allay the irritation 
 of the nervous system, which may be best done by a 
 full dose of opium, if nothing be in the way of its adminis- 
 tration. The second part of the treatment should consist 
 in nutritious food, stimulants and tonics. 
 
 Only in cases where there is some very obvious reason 
 for it should cathartics be employed. Nearly all cases 
 will do better without them. After the first two or three 
 days the disease becomes mostly local. The patient 
 should be kept quiet, and the limbs should be elevated at 
 an angle above the trunk by raising the lower end of the 
 mattress. Where there is a morbid increase of sensibility 
 upon the surface, and pain in the deep-seated nerves, much 
 relief will be obtained by gently rubbing the surface with 
 the following, or some similar liniment : 
 
 Compound soap liniment, 6 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of opium, ^ ounce. 
 
 Tincture of aconite root, ^ " 
 
 Extract of belladonna, ^ " 
 
 Mix.
 
 598 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The rubbing with this should be gentle and continued 
 for fifteen to twenty minutes ; rub always toward the 
 trunk. This may be repeated every six hours, after which 
 the leg should be enveloped in cotton-batting and covered 
 with raw silk. 
 
 After the period of acute swelling is past the leg 
 should be examined for bright-red spots, and if any cir- 
 cumscribed collection of pus be discovered, it should be 
 evacuated at once. If not, a roller bandage should be 
 applied, beginning at the toes and carrying it up the 
 whole length of the limb. This should be worn so long 
 as there is any swelling of the foot and leg. The patient 
 should not be permitted to walk until all evidence of local 
 disease has disappeared. 
 
 Internally, the chlorate of potassa, with diluted hydro- 
 chloric acid, quinine, ammonia and iron are the drugs 
 most likely to prove servicable. 
 
 Puerperal Mania, on Insanity. 
 
 Under the head of puerperal mania or insanity, writers 
 have indiscriminately classed all cases of mental diseases 
 connected with pregnancy. The result is unfortunate, as 
 a large number of cases are not insanity at all, but melan- 
 cholia. Many cases have little or no connection with 
 pregnancy, but come on late in the days of lactation, and 
 are closely connected with anemia. The generic term 
 puerperal insanity may be employed to cover all cases of 
 mental disorders connected with gestation. Of this there 
 may be three special divisions, namely : I. The Insan-
 
 PUERPERAL MANIA, OR INSANITY. 599 
 
 ity of Pregnancy ; 2. Puerperal Insanity, so-called 
 because it comes on within a limited time after delivery ; 
 3. The Insanity of Lactation. This division is natural, 
 and will include all cases in any way connected with 
 child-birth. Only a partial and imperfect examination of 
 these three kinds of insanity will be attempted in our 
 limited space. 
 
 Insanity of pregnancy is by far the least common of 
 the three forms. The intense mental depression, which, 
 in many women, accompanies pregnancy, and causes the 
 patient to take a desponding view of her condition and to 
 look forward to the result of her labor with the most 
 gloomy apprehension, seems to be only another degree of 
 mental derangement. A large majority of these cases of 
 insanity during pregnancy are well-defined cases of mel- 
 ancholia. A large proportion of these cases are among; 
 women in their first pregnancy. This fact, no doubt, 
 depends upon the greater dread experienced by women 
 who are pregnant for the first time, especially if they be 
 not very young. Hereditary predisposition plays an 
 important part, as in all forms of puerperal insanity. It 
 may not be very easy to ascertain the fact of hereditary 
 taint, on account of a general disposition in friends to 
 conceal it. 
 
 The period of pregnancy in which mental derange- 
 ment develops itself varies. Most generally, perhaps, it 
 is at the end of the third month or beginning of the 
 fourth. It may, however, begin with conception, and 
 even return with every pregnancy.
 
 600 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The suicidal tendency is generally very strongly 
 developed. Should the mental disorder continue after 
 delivery, the patient may very probably experience a 
 strong desire to kill her child. 
 
 Kleptomania that is, a disposition to pilfer and steal 
 is characteristic of this disease. This influence of preg- 
 nancy has been pleaded in criminal courts with a view to 
 exonerate women from thefts for which they were being 
 tried. 
 
 As to prognosis, the chances for recovery are thought 
 to be on the whole generally good. But there is little hope 
 of cure until after delivery or termination of pregnancy. 
 
 Puerperal Insanity (Proper). 
 
 Puerperal insanity has always attracted much attention 
 from able obstetricians. It may be defined to be that form 
 of insanity which comes on within a limited period after 
 delivery, and which is probably intimately connected with 
 that process. Although a large number of these cases 
 assume the character of acute mania, that is by no means 
 the only kind of insanity which is observed. A not incon- 
 siderable number are well-marked examples of melan- 
 cholia. 
 
 There are also some peculiarities as to the period at 
 which these varieties of insanity show themselves, which, 
 taken in connection with certain facts as to the cause of 
 the disease, may eventually justify us in drawing a stronger 
 line of demarcation between them than has been usual. 
 Compared with melancholia, it appears that cases of acute
 
 PUERPERAL INSANITY (PROPER). 6OI 
 
 mania are apt to come on at a period much nearer 
 delivery. 
 
 As to causes, hereditary predisposition is frequently 
 met with, and a careful inquiry into the patient's history 
 will generally show that other members of the family have 
 suffered from mental derangement. In a large proportion 
 of cases circumstances producing debility and exhaustion 
 or mental depression have preceded the attack. Thus it is 
 often found that patients attacked with it have had hemor- 
 rhage after delivery, or have suffered from some other 
 conditions producing exhaustion, such as severe and com- 
 plicated labor; or they may be weak from over-frequent 
 pregnancies, or by lactation during the early months of 
 pregnancy. Indeed anemia is always marked. A morbid 
 state of the blood is supposed by some to play an impor- 
 tant part in the inception of this disease, but many objec- 
 tions have been urged against this theory. 
 
 The probability of recovery is "somewhat gloomy, yet 
 of such nature as need not lead friends to despair. There 
 can be no doubt that the symptoms are grave and demand 
 the most careful treatment. 
 
 The duration of the disease varies considerably. Gener- 
 ally speaking, cases of mania do not last so long as melan- 
 cholia, and recovery takes place within a period of three 
 months or even earlier. If they do not recover in six 
 months, the chances afterward become greatly lessened. 
 When the patient gets well it often happens that her recol- 
 lection of the events of her sickness are entirely lost. At 
 other times, the delusions from which she suffered remain, 
 
 sUKiatE
 
 6O3 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 and the personal antipathies which she formed when insane 
 remain and become permanently established. 
 
 Insanity of Lactation. 
 
 The insanity of lactation appears to be almost twice 
 as common as that of pregnancy, but considerably less 
 so than the true puerperal form. Its dependence on 
 causes producing anemia and exhaustion is obvious and 
 well marked. In a large measure of cases it occurs in 
 women who have been debilitated by frequent pregnan- 
 cies and by length of nursing. When occurring in women 
 with their first child, it is generally in those who have 
 suffered from severe hemorrhage or other cause of 
 exhaustion, or whose constitution was such as should 
 have contra-indicated any attempt at lactation. 
 
 This type is far more frequently melancholic than 
 maniacal, and when the latter form occurs the attack is of 
 much shorter duration than in true puerperal insanity. 
 The danger to life is not great, especially if the cause 
 producing the debility be recognized and removed. 
 
 The symptoms of these various forms of insanity are 
 practically the same as in the non-pregnant state. 
 
 Generally, there is more or less premonitory indication 
 of mental disturbance which may pass unperceived. The 
 attack is often preceded by restlessness and loss of sleep. 
 The latter is a very common and well-marked symptom. 
 If the patient sleep, her rest is broken and disturbed by 
 dreams. Causeless dislikes to those around her are often 
 observed. The nurse, the husband, the doctor, or the 
 
 i H 6 3 J J ^
 
 INSANITY OF LACTATION. 603 
 
 child, become the object of suspicion, and unless proper 
 care be taken the child may be seriously injured. As the 
 disease advances the patient becomes incoherent and 
 rambling in her talk, and, in a fully-developed case she is 
 incessantly pouring forth an unconnected jumble of 
 sentences out of which no meaning can be made. Often 
 some prevalent idea which is dwelling in the mind of the 
 woman can be traced running through her ravings. It 
 has been noticed that this is frequently of a sexual char- 
 acter, causing women of unblemished reputation to use 
 obscene and disgusting language which it is difficult to 
 understand that they could have even heard. 
 
 Religious delusions, as a fear of having committed the 
 unpardonable sin, or fear of eternal damnation, are of 
 frequent occurrence, but perhaps more often in cases that 
 are tending to the melancholic type. The tendency to 
 commit suicide is often very marked, and often is only 
 prevented by vigilance. They will even attempt to 
 swallow the bedclothes, or any article that they can get 
 into their hands. Food is often persistently refused, and 
 the utmost coaxing is necessary to induce the patient to 
 take sufficient nourishment to prevent starvation. 
 
 When the insanity assumes the form of melancholia, it 
 is more gradual. It may commence with depression of 
 spirits without any adequate cause, associated with sleep- 
 lessness, disturbed digestion, headache and other indica- 
 tions of bodily derangement. Such symptoms show them- 
 selves in women who have been nursing for a long time, 
 or in whom any other cause of exhaustion exists. These
 
 604 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 indications should never pass unnoticed. Soon the signs 
 of mental depression increase, and positive delusions show 
 themselves. In all cases there is a marked disinclination 
 for food. There is almost invariably a disposition to 
 suicide ; and it should never be forgotten, in these cases, 
 that this may develop itself in an instant. A moment's 
 carelessness on the part of the attendants may lead to 
 disastrous results. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Bearing in mind what has been said of the essential 
 character of puerperal insanity, it is obvious that the 
 course of treatment must be largely of hygienic character, 
 directed to maintain the strength of the patient, and 
 enabling her to pass through the disease without fatal 
 exhaustion ; to calm the excitement and give rest to the 
 disturbed brain. Rest, food and sleep are the essentials, 
 and should be administered in a methodical manner. 
 This will require great judgment and sagacity. Every 
 endeavor should be made to induce the patient to take an 
 abundance of nourishment to overcome the waste of tissue 
 and support her strength until the disease exhausts itself. 
 Much, therefore, will depend upon the ingenuity of the 
 attendants in varying and changing the cuisine so as to 
 tempt the taste, that the quantity of food taken by the 
 patient may be made considerable. 
 
 Solid food is best suited to this class of patients. 
 Nourishing liquids should be drunk. In some cases, how- 
 ever, after you have exhausted all the means within your
 
 INSANITY OF LACTATION. 605 
 
 power, it may become a necessity, to prevent starvation, 
 to resort to forcible means to supply the much-needed 
 nutriment. 
 
 Various contrivances have been employed for this pur- 
 pose, which depend upon the judgment and ingenuity of 
 the attendants. One of the most simple, perhaps, is 
 introducing a dessert-spoon forcibly between the teeth. 
 The patient should be controlled by an adequate number 
 of attendants. Slowly inject into the mouth suitable 
 nourishment, by means of an india-rubber bottle to which 
 is attached a nozzle, which may be procured at almost any 
 drug-store. Care should be taken not to inject more than 
 an ounce at a time, and to allow the patient to breathe 
 between each act of swallowing. 
 
 An instrument called Paley's feeding-bottle answers 
 admirably for forcibly administering nourishment. Beef 
 tea or strong soup, mixed with some farinaceous sub- 
 stance, or some of the concentrated foods of modern 
 invention may be used profitably. 
 
 For producing sleep, perhaps nothing is better than 
 chloral hydrate alone or in combination with bromide of 
 potassium. Baths will form a good auxiliary for procur- 
 ing sleep. To attain the best effects from the use of 
 baths, the patient should be immersed in water at a' tem- 
 perature of 90 to 92 for at least half an hour. If she be 
 refractory, this may be difficult to accomplish. In such 
 cases, resort may be had to the wet pack, which will 
 answer the same purpose. Judicious nursing is of the 
 greatest importance. The patient should be kept in
 
 606 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 a cool, well-ventilated and somewhat darkened room. If 
 possible, she should remain in bed, or, at least, endeavors 
 should be made to restrain the excessive restless motion 
 which has so much effect in producing exhaustion. It has 
 been observed that the h.usband and near relatives have 
 generally a prejudicial and exciting effect on the wife, and 
 other attendants can manage her more satisfactorily. 
 Much will depend upon the manner in which this part of 
 the treatment is effected. Rough, unkind nurses who do 
 not know how to act gently, but with firmness, will 
 certainly aggravate and prolong the disease. 
 
 When convalescence is commencing, change of air and 
 scene will often be found of great value. Removal to 
 some quiet country place, where the patient can enjoy an 
 abundance of air and exercise in the company of her 
 nurse and without the excitement of seeing many people, 
 is especially to be recommended. 
 
 Puerperal Convulsions. 
 
 By puerperal convulsions we understand a peculiar 
 kind of epileptiform convulsion, which may occur in the 
 latter months of pregnancy, or during or after parturition. 
 It is one of the most grave and formidable diseases with 
 which the obstetrician has to grapple. The attack is 
 often so sudden and unexpected, so terrible in its nature 
 and so full of danger to both mother and child, that it is 
 to be dreaded more than any of the other diseases attend- 
 ing the child-bearing state. 
 
 The attack seldom occurs without being preceded by 
 certain premonitory symptoms. It is true, however, that
 
 PUERPERAL CONVULSIONS. 607 
 
 these are frequently so slight as to escape attention, and 
 the suspicion is not aroused until the patient is in convul- 
 sions. Still, a careful investigation will generally show 
 that some symptoms did exist, which, if they had been 
 observed, would have put the physician on his guard, and 
 might have enabled him to intercept the attacks. Hence, 
 a knowledge of these precursory symptoms is of real 
 benefit. They are chiefly confined to the brain. 
 
 There will be severe headache, sometimes confined only 
 to one side ; occasional attacks of dizziness ; spots before 
 the eyes ; loss of sight, or impairment of the intellectual 
 faculties. Such symptoms in a pregnant woman are of the 
 gravest character, and should at once call for an investiga- 
 tion of her condition. Swelling of the face and upper 
 extremities is another precursor of evil, and demands 
 attention. 
 
 Whether there have been any of the above indications 
 of the attack or not, so soon as the convulsions come on 
 there is no longer any room for doubt as to the nature of 
 the case. The attack is generally sudden, and is charac- 
 terized by the same symptoms as mark a severe attack of 
 epilepsy, or the convulsions of children. There is aturpid, 
 purple condition of the face ; convulsive movements of the 
 face and whole body ; foaming at the mouth ; repeated 
 and sudden closure of the jaw, by which the tongue is fre- 
 quently dreadfully bitten ; the respiration is at first 
 irregular, and, being forced through the closed teeth and 
 the foam of the mouth, has a peculiar hissing sound, 
 which once heard can never be mistaken. The pulse is
 
 6. S MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 quick, full and hard at the beginning, but afterwards 
 becomes small and scarcely perceptible. There may be 
 involuntary discharges from the bowels and kidneys. 
 
 This fit lasts for a time varying from five minutes to 
 half an hour, and then gradually subsides. The pulse 
 often becomes calm and the patient conscious. She may 
 remain in a state of complete coma, with heavy breathing. 
 The more profound the coma, the greater the danger. 
 The calm is generally short in duration, being often fol- 
 lowed by a recurrence of repeated paroxysms and inter- 
 vals. 
 
 As already remarked, puerperal convulsions may come 
 on either before, during or after labor. When they occur 
 before labor, uterine contraction is very apt to come 
 on at the same time with the fit, and the child is born 
 dead. When they occur during labor, the latter runs 
 nearly its natural course, the fits recurring with the pains. 
 When convulsions occur after labor, they generally take 
 place in from two to four hours after the child is born, and 
 are attributable to some injury received by the brain and 
 nervous system during the parturient effort. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Much has been said by distinguished physicians as to 
 the remedial effect of blood-letting. Many physicians are 
 disposed to award it the same place in the treatment of 
 puerperal convulsions that the practice of medicine, has 
 consigned it in other diseases, believing that, although 
 the immediate effect of bleeding is to unload the brain
 
 PUERPERAL CONVULSIONS. 609 
 
 
 
 and relieve the nervous irritability, it will soon be fol- 
 lowed by an equal amount of pressure of blood, and of a 
 much inferior quality, the waste having been supplied by 
 serum taken from all the tissues of the system. However 
 well this may look in theory, it is nevertheless true that 
 the timely extraction of a quantity of blood suited to the 
 constitution of the patient will be followed by better 
 results than any other course of treatment that may be 
 adopted as a substitute. The bleeding, in the first place, 
 exerts a direct sedative influence upon the cord, and thus 
 tends to prevent convulsions. Second, bleeding prevents 
 the injury which the nerve centers would sustain were 
 they to continue congested. If any other treatment be 
 substituted for this, in four out of five cases the patient 
 will die. The quantity of blood to be taken is from 
 twenty to forty fluid ounces. If the patient be too weak 
 for general blood-letting, cups or leeches may be applied. 
 
 Purgatives are also important. Give a brisk cathartic, 
 such as ten to twenty grains of calomel. Apply cold to 
 the back of the head and neck after the purge. Should 
 coma appear, blister the back of the neck. Anesthetics 
 and anodynes act most happily after the purgative. 
 Chloroform is the anesthetic for convulsions. Place a few 
 drops on a napkin, and repeat when necessary. Bromide 
 of potassium in full doses acts well in relieving the con- 
 gestion. Follow the bromide with chloral hydrate. Do 
 not induce premature labor. Arrest the convulsions and 
 let gestation proceed. If convulsions come on during 
 labor, hurry the dilatation of the uterus. Bleeding does 
 this.
 
 6lO MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Inward Fevers. (Puerperal Peritonitis, Etc.) 
 
 Another malady has received various names, such as 
 child-bed fever, puerperal fever, peritoneal fever, puer- 
 peral peritonitis, low fever of child-bed, and lastly puer- 
 peral septicemia. By some it has been considered as a 
 fever dependent on local inflammation ; by others, a blood 
 disease. Each author who has written upon the subject 
 has adopted a classification in accordance with his own 
 views and experience. It would neither be possible nor 
 edifying in a work of this kind to give a synopsis of all. 
 
 Ramsbotham says : " The student is liable to be 
 deceived if he ground his idea of this malady solely on 
 the observation of one or two writers, especially those 
 who have witnessed epidemics as they have appeared in 
 hospital practice, however graphic the representations 
 may be, because scarcely any two of them have resem- 
 bled each other, and because the symptoms in all cases 
 are much modified by the temperature and other qualities 
 of the atmosphere, the season of the year, the localities 
 in which the disease appears, and several external circum- 
 stances, independently of the constitution of the patient 
 herself." 
 
 There may be said to be four principal varieties of this 
 disease. The first and most common variety is character- 
 ized by pain and tenderness in the abdomen, preceded by 
 a chill and accompanied by a hot skin, rapid pulse, and 
 sometimes profuse perspiration. In this form, the uterus 
 and its appendages, or the peritoneum, receive the great- 
 est force of the blow.
 
 INWARD FEVERS. 6ll 
 
 The second form assumes the character of a mild 
 typhus accompanied by intestinal irritation. It is ushered 
 in by rigors, followed by a hot fit, and succeeded by 
 nausea and vomiting or diarrhea, with most offensive 
 evacuations. The tongue, at first loaded and white, soon 
 becomes preternaturally red, as in those affected by 
 chronic dysentery. The skin is dry and hot and of a 
 dusky yellow hue ; the mind is unsettled, without -being 
 absolutely delirious ; the debility is extreme and the limbs 
 tremulous. In some cases these symptoms are followed 
 by acute inflammation of some important organ, or of the 
 joints, tissues of the womb and suppuration of its lymphatics 
 or veins. There is usually suppression of the rnilk, and 
 sometimes of the lochia. 
 
 In the third variety the main mischief seems to be 
 expended on the nervous system. There is great delirium, 
 agitation, and a sense of impending death. This is liable 
 to be followed by fatal syncope and coma, and may 
 supervene on either of the other forms. 
 
 The fourth and worst form of puerperal fever affoids 
 the most extensive evidence of the diffusion of a poison 
 over the system through the blood, and presents the most 
 perfect analogy with malignant scarlet fever. Shivering 
 and abdominal pains are followed by rapid exhaustion, 
 quick pulse, glassy eye and dusky skin. There are often 
 pains in the chest, husky cough, laborious breathing, and 
 other evidences of inflammation of the lungs, which after 
 death may be found granulous. Abscesses of the joints 
 and cellular tissues, phlebitis and gangrene of the intestines, 
 are among the ravages of this most fatal malady.
 
 6l2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 There area few general symptoms which maybe added 
 to those mentioned above as characterizing the different 
 forms. The pulse is always accelerated, ranging from 
 1 15 to 140 or 1 60. In the inflammatory form it is full and 
 hard ; in the adynamic, weak and small ; pain is not 
 uniformly present, though, in most cases, generally there 
 is tympanitis and constipation. The lochia are suppressed 
 or voided with pain ; there is often a vomiting of yellow 
 or green bitter matter, and in the last stage a discharge 
 resembling black vomit. The intellect is often undis- 
 turbed until the last, though the patient often takes a great 
 aversion to her infant. 
 
 Numerous conditions have been laid down as produc- 
 tive of this disease. Among the predisposing are atmos- 
 pheric changes, depressing passions, unhealthy residues, 
 
 / 
 dissipation, bad diet, etc. Among the specific causes are 
 
 epidemic influences, difficult labor, suppression of the 
 lochia and lacteal secretions, and contagion. 
 
 There are many who look upon this as a blood disease ; 
 who believe that puerperal fever originates in a vitiation 
 of the fluids, that the causes which are capable of vitiating 
 the fluids are particularly rife at child-birth, and that the 
 various forms of puerperal fever depend upon this one 
 cause, attd are derived from it. Others, on the contrary, 
 believe that the primary impression is made upon the 
 nervous system. 
 
 The course of treatment to be adopted will depend 
 upon what views are held in regard to the cause of the 
 disease. The practice of extraction of blood has been to
 
 INWARD FEVER. 6f3 
 
 a very great extent abandoned. James G. Glover, of 
 London, sums up the treatment in an article in the Lancet : 
 First, a dose of quinine and iron every three hours, in 
 the following formula : 
 
 Sulphate of quinine, 2 grains. 
 
 Tincture of iron, 10 drops. 
 
 Spirits of chloroform, 10 drops. 
 
 Simple syrup, y% teaspoon. 
 
 Water, I ounce. 
 
 Mix for one dose. 
 
 Secondly, a dose of opium every three, four, six or 
 eight hours, according to the pain, without ipicac, which 
 may set up a sickness, and without calomel, which may set 
 up unnecessary irritation of the bowels. The dose of 
 opium, say half a grain, is best given in the form of 
 a pill. 
 
 Thirdly, a large linseed or bran poultice over the 
 stomach, repeated every three or four hours. Sprinkling 
 a little laudanum over it adds to its soothing effect. 
 
 Fourthly, and specially, vaginal injection at least twice 
 daily of warm water with a little Condy's fluid in it. 
 
 The diet should consist of good beef tea or chicken 
 broth, with generally a small regulated allowance of 
 brandy, a dessert-spoonful every three or four hours. 
 Sometimes the brandy is best given with arrowroot. 
 
 In cases where there is an excessive discharge, accom- 
 panied by a relaxed condition of the uterus, give one- 
 drachm doses of liquid extract of ergot, repeated every 
 three or four hours, and give internally:
 
 614 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine, 30 grains. 
 Hydrobromic acid, 6 drachms. 
 Water, 2 ounces. 
 Mix. 
 
 A teaspoonful in water three times daily. 
 By this means large doses of quinine may be taken 
 without causing headache. 
 
 When the discharge is suspended, the treatment con- 
 sists of turpentine stupes applied over the lower part of 
 the abdomen, with the addition of warm, moist cloths, or 
 of sponges pressed out of warm water and applied to the 
 external parts. In special cases that require an antiseptic 
 wash, use a solution of thymol, one part to 500 parts of 
 water. 
 
 Leucorrhea, OP " Whites." 
 
 Perhaps no disease common to women is of more fre- 
 quent occurrence than leucorrhea, and although it cannot 
 be said to directly put the patient's life in jeopardy, yet it 
 contributes greatly to general exhaustion and discomfort. 
 It is manifested by a flow of mucus, more or less copious, 
 from the genital organs, according to the degree of the 
 constitutional disturbance and extent of the inflammation. 
 
 At times it is almost white, from which it takes its 
 name ; again, of a bluish, greenish, or yellowish color ; 
 at times it is unodorous, at others very fetid. The tissues 
 involved in the irritation and inflammation may be in the 
 Fallopian tubes, the mucous membrane of the internal 
 surface of the womb, or its neck, or the walls of the 
 vagina.
 
 LEUCORRHEA, OR " WHITES." 
 
 This disease may be classified according to the 
 character of the constitutional disturbance creating it. 
 Such divisions would only tend to mistify. There is no 
 doubt in the mind of the intelligent observer that leucor- 
 rhea, in many instances, is the natural result of constitu- 
 tional predisposition. Hence, it is found most commonly 
 in lymphatic subjects who are feeble and ill-developed. 
 
 These persons are easily recognized by want of muscular 
 vigor, by soft flesh, pallid faces, weak digestion and morbid 
 tendencies. The writer has known children of such con- 
 stitutional weaknesses to develop leucorrhea. 
 
 This disturbance, like the other diseases of the uterine 
 organs which have been described, is affected in no 
 trifling manner by what the patient eats, drinks and 
 wherewithal she clothes herself. A stimulatory drink 
 used freely in France is said by a French author to be a 
 very common cause of leucorrhea among French women ; 
 he has frequently demonstrated it by stopping the 
 patient's use of the stimulant, whereupon the leucorrhea 
 subsided. 
 
 Local irritation, resulting from the application of 
 instruments, wearing of pessaries, or solitary habits of a 
 vicious character, usually tend to produce this disease. 
 
 Another very fruitful cause may be found in the 
 results of exposure to extreme temperatures of either heat 
 or cold, either insufficient or excessive exercise, exposure 
 in damp clothing, wet feet, irritating medicated injections ; 
 in short,. any interference with the normal functions of the 
 uterine organs resulting in their irritation or inflammation, 
 will develop a case of leucorrhea.
 
 6l6 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The character of the discharge will frequently bea 
 valuable index to the organ suffering from the inflamma- 
 tion, and thus direct to intelligent treatment. For 
 example, a discharge from the vagina, resulting from 
 mere excitement in the vaginal walls, is thin, glairy, and 
 not very tenacious, without color, and with but little 
 consistence. When a moderate excitement of the internal 
 mucous membrane of the neck of the uterus produces a 
 discharge of mucus sufficient to appear at the orifice of 
 the vagina, the discharge is white, not unlike milk, and, 
 when examined closely, will be found to consist of minute 
 particles, swimming in clear fluid. If the discharge flow 
 from the mouth or internal surface of the uterus, it is 
 thick, and resembles very closely the white of an egg. 
 
 The reader will understand, from what has been said, 
 that much may be learned, by carefully examining the 
 color and character of the discharge, as to the special part 
 involved in the disease, that the remedies may be appro- 
 priately directed. But leucorrhea may also result from 
 displacements or flexions of the uterus. These abnormal 
 positions of the uterus and their effects will be explained 
 in their appropriate places. 
 
 Although we find patients suffering from leucorrhea at 
 all ages, yet it affects women more particularly during 
 their menstrual life. It is an obstinate and intractable 
 disease, difficult to cure, often exhausting the patience 
 even of the most skillful physicians. 
 
 This may result in many instances from an endeavor 
 to treat it as an independent disease, or from an inability
 
 LEUCORRHEA, OR "WHITES." 
 
 to properly apply the remedies adapted to its cure, 
 because the physician may not be able to get such control 
 of the patient (on account of her position in society) as to 
 enable him to bring to bear treatment meeting the indica- 
 tions in the case. 
 
 No intelligent person would attempt, with an expec- 
 toration from the bronchial tubes, to base his treatment 
 upon the theory that when the expectoration ceases the 
 disease will be cured. All mucous membranes in a healthy 
 condition are kept moist with a bland fluid, and it is only 
 when the exudation becomes "excessive, on account of 
 some irritating cause, that we have an evidence of an 
 existing disease. 
 
 Since the uterus and vagina are covered with mucous 
 membranes, which are subject to excessive exudation, 
 there is nothing extraordinary or strange in the disease 
 called leucorrhea, nor in the variety of the discharge, as 
 every person has observed similar variations in the dis-' 
 charge from the mucous membrane lining the nasal 
 organs. In view of the debilitating effect of an excessive 
 exudation from any mucous surface, it is not surprising 
 to find it intensified in the uterine organs, because in 
 them we have the additional debility induced by the 
 monthly excitement and congestion of the ovaries and 
 uterus and the menstrual discharge. 
 
 Leucorrhea may be either acute or chronic. The acute 
 variety may either run its course and get entirely well, or 
 it may result in the chronic form. There are marked 
 local disturbances accompanying the acute. There is a
 
 6l8 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 sensation of itching of the rectum, sometimes very severe, 
 and the local irritation spreads to the surrounding parts, 
 as the bladder, inducing a constant desire to void urine. 
 The characteristic discharge, accompanied by a sensation 
 of burning, soon makes its appearance. These symptoms 
 grow more aggravated for a few days. The discharge 
 increases in quantity and changes in color. It was at 
 first white, but assumes either a yellowish or greenish 
 hue. The inclination to urinate frequently continues, and 
 the urine is disposed to scald the parts ; thus the inflam- 
 mation is extended, and the pain becomes more intensi- 
 fied. In the course of a week or more, the inflammatory 
 symptoms subside. This is succeeded by an increase in 
 the discharge ; the consistency is thicker and the color 
 darker. In the course of a few days these symptoms 
 subside and the patient rapidly improves. She may be 
 entirely well inside a month if the case have been judici- 
 ously managed, but, as indicated above, if not properly 
 treated, the trouble may assume a chronic form, and its 
 duration be uncertain. 
 
 It sometimes happens, in the chronic form, that the 
 discharge intermits ; at other times it is continuous. 
 The itching and swelling of the parts occasionally is 
 prolonged in the chronic form. Especially is this true in 
 reference to itching, which not infrequently troubles the 
 patient for a long period. This variety of leucorrhea 
 makes a decided impression upon the physical appearance 
 of the patient. Intense suffering from irritation rapidly 
 exhausts the vital forces of the system, leaving it feeble
 
 LEUCORRHEA, OR " WHITES." 619 
 
 and weak, The stomach sympathizes, and loses either its 
 desire for food or rejects it on the slightest provocation. 
 This impaired condition of the digestive organs added to 
 the already reduced condition of the system, is manifested 
 by general lassitude. The face is puffed and pale, bear- 
 ing evidence of an impoverished condition of the blood. 
 Hence, dizziness, fainting, and hysteria supervene. 
 
 There is a transient form of leucorrhea which makes its 
 appearance before or after menstruation. This variety is 
 caused from the habit of life, and usually does not subject 
 the patient to special trouble, but soon yields whenever an 
 intelligent course of hygiene is adopted. 
 
 Leucorrhea sometimes appears to be substituted for the 
 menses, and patients will tell you that they " change " all 
 right ; that there is no color ; that it resembles " whites. " 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The first and most important feature to be observed by 
 every patient suffering from this troublesome affection is 
 cleanliness. This will be best accomplished by baths and 
 injections. Water should be freely introduced into the 
 vagina by the aid of a rubber syringe. The temperature 
 of the water thrown into the vagina should be varied to 
 meet the indications of the particular phase of the disease 
 that is present. 
 
 If there be no well-marked evidence of extensive inflam- 
 mation of the uterus or adjacent organs, but simple irrita- 
 tion of the vaginal walls, cold water, if not unpleasant, 
 freely applied, will cleanse the vagina 'and stimulate the
 
 62O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 diseased membrane to a more healthy action. This may 
 be followed by some mild astringent, as a decoction of oak 
 bark, or a tea made of sage, or Young Hyson, to which 
 may be added a teaspoonful of salt to each pint employed. 
 Much good will be accomplished by the free use of the 
 cold water. 
 
 If, however, there be the distressing characteristics of 
 extensive inflammation, either of the vagina or uterus, the 
 water used for the injection should be of high tempera- 
 ture as hot as can, with safety from scalding, be intro- 
 duced and freely applied. As much as a gallon of water 
 at a single application can be used. It will do more to 
 allay the inflamed condition, which is the exciting cause 
 of the leucorrhea, than any other remedy which is at the 
 command of common people or perhaps physicians. 
 
 The baths, or injections of water, may very advan- 
 tageously be followed by a weak solution of sugar of lead, 
 in the proportion of two drachms (one-fourth ounce) to a 
 pint of soft water. This makes a very cooling and astrin- 
 gent injection in this disease (especially at the commence- 
 ment of the discharge). It should be used from two to 
 four times daily, the bowels being kept open by a 
 saline purgative small doses of Epsom salts. With 
 patients of plethoric temperament, there should be careful 
 attention to diet, general baths, etc. Sulphate of zinc may 
 be used instead of the sugar of lead, but it requires a 
 little larger quantity of the zinc in proportion to the water 
 
 Many patients experience very beneficial results from 
 the following comp'ound when it agrees with the stomach.
 
 LEUCORRHEA, OR "WHITES." 621 
 
 Its unpleasant taste is offensive to some delicate stomachs, 
 and is not well borne : Balsam of copaiba, one ounce ; 
 spirits of nitre, one ounce ; oil of cubebs, one-quarter 
 ounce ; turpentine, one drachm ; alcohol, one-half ounce ; 
 mix together and shake well ; then add two ounces of 
 simple syrup ; take a teaspoonful three times daily, shaking 
 well before taking. Patients who cannot take the copaiba 
 in this manner, on account of its unpleasant taste, can 
 procure it in capsules, a convenient method of administer- 
 ing the drug. 
 
 The above remedy may be materially assisted by injec- 
 tions made of carbolic acid, one teaspoonful ; sugar of lead, 
 one-quarter ounce ; salt, one-quarter ounce ; glycerine, 
 one ounce. Dissolve the carbolic acid in the glycerine ; add 
 half pint of soft water, and then add the lead and salt. After 
 shaking well, add a heaping teaspoonful of brown sugar, and 
 it is ready for use. To half pint of water add two teaspoon- 
 fuls of the mixture for an injection, to be used after the free 
 use of the pure water, either cold or hot, once or twice 
 daily. 
 
 In the class of cases where the leucorrhea takes the 
 place of the menses, a different line of treatment will have 
 to be instituted. In such cases Nature is evidently making 
 a vigorous effort to perform her functions, but does not suc- 
 ceed in giving the discharge its specific color and quality. 
 The patient, however, has all the usual symptoms attending 
 the menstrual discharge, such as a sense of weight at the 
 lower part of the abdomen, headache, weariness, lassitude 
 and backache. This condition is mosf frequently met in
 
 622 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 young girls at the beginning of their menstrual life, in which 
 cases it may soon be substituted by the natural menstrual 
 fluid, but it has been known many times among women 
 who had borne children. 
 
 This form of leucorrhea is substantially suppression of 
 the menses, and is due mainly to general constitutional 
 derangement. The treatment should consist in means 
 adapted to the improvement of the general health. Indeed, 
 this is, to a greater or less extent, true of all the phases of 
 leucorrhea. There is a general tendency to constitutional 
 weakness ; consequently, anything calculated to improve 
 the weakened condition of the system should occupy a 
 pre-eminent place in the treatment. The patient should 
 be removed from all influences that tend to debilitate or 
 unbalance the equilibrium of the system. 
 
 The influence of severe mental strain in school duties or 
 other occupations, or social surroundings that unduly excite 
 the nervous system or exhaust the vital forces of the body, 
 should be substituted with mental relaxation and pleasant 
 employment in a pure, bracing atmosphere. 
 
 The food of such patients should be very nutritious but 
 digestible pure, rich milk, with good, well-baked brown 
 bread, an abundant supply of fresh butter, and a reasonable 
 quantity of meats. If the digestion be feeble, the meats 
 should be well cooked in the manner prescribed in the 
 article " Food." The quantity of food taken at any one 
 time should only be equal to the digestive power of the 
 stomach. Better to eat more frequently than overload 
 the stomach at any one time.
 
 MILK FEVER AND SORE BREASTS. 623 
 
 If a stimulant be required, good, pure, grape wine or 
 beer may be advantageously employed in limited quanti- 
 ties. Due attention should be paid to the bowels. An 
 occasional laxative that will pretty thoroughly unload them 
 will be highly beneficial, by permitting the rapid and com- 
 plete absorption of whatever nutritive material may be 
 presented to the absorbing organs. All exposure to 
 extreme temperatures of either heat or cold should be 
 carefully avoided, and the skin should be kept clean and 
 moist, perfectly protected by clothing suitable to the tem- 
 perature of the atmosphere. The underwear should be 
 frequently changed. 
 
 Milk Fever and Sore Breasts. 
 
 From the second to the fourth day of the child-bed 
 period the breasts of the mother begin to swell and 
 become full, tense and nobular, or lumpy, and may be 
 sensitive to the touch. The glands under the arm enlarge 
 and radiating pains are often felt in the breast, shoulder 
 and arm. 
 
 The intensity of the mammary congestion differs in 
 different individuals. It is more pronounced in women 
 who postpone nursing their children until the secretion of 
 milk is firmly established. In some cases it may be 
 absent altogether. 
 
 Since the general introduction of the thermometer 
 into practice and the better understanding of the causes 
 of fever in the puerperal state, the existence of a distinct 
 milk fever, referable to functional disturbances in the breast
 
 624 MAIDEMHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 during the period in question, has been found to bean 
 entirely exceptional occurrence. The temperature tables 
 that have been carefully kept for many years prove that, 
 under normal conditions, on the third day, the temperatures 
 do not rise above a hundred and a half degrees. With this 
 slight increase of fever there is often considerable general 
 disturbance, indicated by slight chilly sensations, headache, 
 loss of appetite and quickened pulse, which, however, 
 disappears in the course of twenty-four hours, with pro- 
 fuse perspiration and an abundance of milk. There is, 
 occasionally, a higher temperature associated with 
 extreme tenderness and reddening of the breasts, which 
 may subside when they are partially unloaded. 
 
 There is, however, in some cases, either from the 
 result of cold or the continued distension of the milk- 
 vessels, an increased amount of inflammation, which may 
 be observed as the breast becomes more swollen and hard, 
 with an increased amount of fever, and great tenderness. 
 This will be accompanied by chilly sensations, the breast 
 at the same time becoming more turgid or hard and pain- 
 ful, indicating the formation of an abscess. 
 
 Women are most usually subject to this distressing 
 complaint during the first weeks of nursing. It may 
 develop at any subsequent period if the patient take cold, 
 or through the engorgement of the milk vessels. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 In all cases where the symptoms are present there is 
 reason to suspect mammary abscess, and the most vigilant 
 means are to be used to abort such distressing and painful
 
 DISEASES OF THE VULVA. 625 
 
 disease. To accomplish this end the patient should take 
 an active purgative, drink warm teas, such as will induce 
 free perspiration, and secure the application of hot bricks, 
 or jugs filled with hot water. A warm flaxseed or corn- 
 meal poultice should be used ; if the breasts be very 
 painful they may be soothed by the addition of laudanum 
 sprinkled over the poultice. After the action of the 
 cathartic the patient should take from three to eight drops 
 of the fluid extract of poke-root every three or four hours. 
 Nothing will be found better to abort mammary abscess 
 than the free administration of this remedy. 
 
 A poultice made out of roasted poke-root applied 
 to the gland will be found a valuable auxiliary in 
 aborting this species of inflammation. If the swelling and 
 inflammation grow worse and there be evidence that the 
 breast is likely to gather, a poultice of pulverized slippery 
 elm bark moistened with warm water should be applied. 
 If there be evidence of pus a free incision should be 
 made, care being taken, however, not to wound the large 
 milk vessels. After the opening of the abscess, there 
 may be applied any soothing poultice. Keep the gland 
 unloaded of its contents. 
 
 Diseases of the Vulva. 
 
 Inflammation of the vulva is a disorder that frequently 
 affects women. There may be severe inflammation of the 
 mucous membrane accompanied by minute points of 
 ulceration. The ulcers on the vulva are small, slightly- 
 pitted, and almost always covered with pus. The whole
 
 626 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 vulva may be intensely red and bathed in pus and mucus. 
 The inflammation sometimes extends into the vagina and 
 causes a copious flow of pus and mucus from that cavity. 
 
 Not infrequently the labia are very much swollen, and 
 occasionally the surrounding tissues are involved in the 
 inflammation. This inflammation, especially in its earliest 
 stages, is sometimes attended with considerable fever. 
 By the inexperienced observer it may be mistaken for 
 gonorrhea from the swollen labia, burning pain, copious, 
 purulent discharges, and pain and difficulty in voiding 
 urine. 
 
 This mistaken diagnosis may be strengthened from its 
 
 
 
 occasionally sudden development. It occurs in children 
 from three to twelve years of age, and probably results 
 from want of cleanliness and local irritation. If allowed 
 to pursue its course without any treatment other than 
 cleanliness, it may subside spontaneously in two or three 
 weeks; if not it is disposed to run into a chronic inflam- 
 mation. This last form often affects young women, and 
 constitutes what may be known as inflammation of the 
 vagina, giving rise to leuchorrea, and finally to the inflam- 
 matory diseases of the uterine organs of women. It is 
 sometimes the result of a debilitated and scrofulous con- 
 stitution and may be complicated with indigestion and 
 constipation. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The treatment may, in general, be local. In cases of 
 debility and scrofulous constitution, restorative measures 
 may be used to improve the general health and vigor of
 
 DISEASES OF THE VULVA. 627 
 
 the patient. In the beginning where inflammation is high, 
 the fever should be combated by appropriate remedies. 
 We may administer a mercurial cathartic and hasten its 
 action by a dose of Epsom salts, producing a free evacua- 
 tion of the bowels. This should be followed by the 
 administration of the nitrate of potash in doses internally, 
 every three or four hours, suited to the age of the patient. 
 The part should be frequently bathed, or treated with a 
 decoction of poppyheads, or hops, to which may be added 
 watery extract of opium. In the course of four or five 
 days, when the acute symptoms have subsided, we may 
 administer quinine, dissolved in aromatic sulphuric acid, 
 in doses suited to the age of the patient, and apply a 
 decoction of white-oak bark as a local astringent. 
 
 It may be necessary, in the progress of the disease, to 
 use some more potent astringent, such as sulphate of cop- 
 per, or even nitrate of silver. Should the inflammation 
 extend into the vagina, the astringent may be injected 
 into that cavity by means of a rubber syringe. 
 
 If the patient should be young, great care should be 
 observed in introducing the pipe, that the internal organs 
 do not suffer injury. When this disease is developed in 
 children, it is important to know that it is entirely sub- 
 dued, lest the inflammation become chronic and continue 
 until puberty, extending into the body of the developing 
 uterus, entailing a very distressing train of suffering upon 
 the patient, that might have been avoided by a com- 
 plete cure of the inflammation of the vagina.
 
 628 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Follicular Inflammation of the Vulva. 
 
 Inflammation of the vulva not only affects the mucous 
 membrane, but may extend into the follicles and glands 
 of the vulva. In this form of the disease, minute pimples 
 appear on the mucous surface of the labia majorae, the 
 labia minorae, the clitoris, and other parts of the orifice 
 of the vagina. These pimples increase in size, and 
 become red, while the surrounding mucous membrane is 
 very much inflamed. In many instances, a number of 
 these elevations become pustules with hard base, red and 
 very tender. More frequently, however, there is only a 
 flow of mucus, with slight traces of pus. The acute form 
 will generally run its course and subside in a few weeks. 
 It often happens, however, that the disease becomes 
 chronic and exceedingly obstinate and difficult to cure. 
 
 The causes are want of cleanliness, inflammation o^ 
 the vagina, pregnancy, and malignant affection of the 
 vagina and uterus. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Rest in bed, alterative and saline cathartics, cleanli- 
 ness, emolient poultices followed by astringent applica- 
 tions. If the patient be debilitated, restorative measures 
 will be necessary. Bitter tonics and quinine will be 
 especially useful, as this disease most generally affects 
 persons of a debilitated constitution. When the secre- 
 tions are offensive, carbolic acid with glycerine should be 
 freely applied two or three times a day. When the dis-
 
 PRURITIS OF THE GENITALS. 629 
 
 ease becomes chronic, there will be necessity of a use of 
 stimulants sufficiently strong to mollify the inflammation. 
 It may be necessary to have recourse to nitrate of silver 
 in the solid form once in six to ten days. This has 
 a powerful effect in controlling the disease. Carbolic acid 
 and glycerine, in which may be dissolved some tannic 
 acid, may be used between the times of applying the 
 caustic, or nitrate of silver. 
 
 In connection with this it will be necessary to admin- 
 ister alteratives, as iodide of potassium, and sarsaparilla. 
 In others, who are fleshy and full of blood, mercury will 
 be found a very reliable remedy. 
 
 Pruritis of the Genitals. 
 
 This is a very -annoying and very often obstinate affec- 
 tion of the genital organs. It is characterized by extreme 
 itching of the vulva. The itching returns in paroxysms ; 
 the patient will sometimes be free from it except when 
 standing by a warm fire, or becoming heated by exercise, 
 passion, etc. Or she may be affected only at the 
 menstrual period. 
 
 At other times, the itching returns without any 
 apparent reason. The sensation is sometimes of a burning 
 heat with an irresistible desire to scratch or rub the parts, 
 which desire is often embarrassing, from the delicate 
 location of the disease. 
 
 At other times the sensation is such as may be 
 produced by the crawling of pediculi, and the patient feels 
 as if thousands of these insects are moving upon her
 
 630 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 person, and will only be convinced of the contrary by an 
 examination. 
 
 In the first variety it is almost always attended with 
 inflammation of the mucous membrane of the vulva. The 
 inflammation may be simple, papular, or vesicular. In 
 this variety of pruritis, the itching is generally, if not 
 wholly, confined to the surface of the labia. Pruritis may 
 be considered but a symptom of several diseased condi- 
 tions of the genital organs, and may be caused by the 
 state of the intestinal canal, particularly the rectum or some 
 other remote condition. A careful examination of the cases 
 as they arise will most frequently result in the discovery of 
 the cause. It is often a very obstinate affection, lasting 
 
 weeks, months and even years in bad cases. More 
 
 v_ 
 frequently it yields to a judicious course of treatment. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The first thing is to remove the cause, if practicable. 
 In order to do this the abdominal organs will require 
 attention. The sluggish secretion and bowels must be 
 corrected by alteratives and laxatives. This may be best 
 accomplished by four or five grains of blue pill in the 
 evening, to be followed in the morning by a small dose of 
 salts, sufficient to produce two stools. This may be 
 repeated every three or four days until the secretions be 
 established and the bowels emptied. If the stomach be 
 weak and digestion imperfect, the bitter tonics as gentian, 
 quassia, quinine or acids, as the state of the case may 
 require, will be demanded. And if the patient should
 
 PRURITIS OF THE GENITALS. 631 
 
 be pale and bloodless, iron may be given. Sometimes, 
 however, with patients who are fleshy and full of blood, 
 alteratives with spare diet will be more appropriate. 
 
 With the above treatment we will generally have to 
 resort to some local remedies. Among the most 
 important of these is cleanliness. The parts externally 
 and internally should be subjected to thorough and 
 frequent ablutions. To the accomplishment of this end, 
 recourse must be had to some toilet soap for the ablutions. 
 Where there is no apparent eruption, much advantage 
 will be obtained by washing in a solution of the tincture 
 of cloride of iron, two drachms in a quart of water, three 
 or four times daily. This will be found especially bene- 
 ficial in cases accompanied with leucorrhea. When there 
 is vesicular eruption, sprinkle the parts with powdered 
 borax and expose as much as possible to the open air. 
 Infusion of tobacco applied two or three times a day is 
 recommended by Prof. Simpson. W T hen the mucous 
 membrane is much inflamed, a solution of hydrocyanic 
 acid, ten drops to the ounce of water, often affords great 
 relief. 
 
 Pure glycerine will be found an excellent palliative. In 
 applying this to the vagina, however, a plug of cotton 
 saturated with it, passed in through a speculum, and 
 allowed to remain for ten or twelve hours, is the better 
 method. A small cord should be applied to the plug of 
 cotton before introducing it, that it may be the more 
 easily removed. This should be repeated about once a 
 day. The same application may be made between the
 
 632 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 labia. This treatment produces a copious serous discharge 
 which tends to remove the congestion of the mucous 
 membrane. 
 
 In protracted cases that have resisted the ordinary 
 routine of treatment, it has been found that the application 
 of the tincture of the cloride of iron in full strength, 
 applied by a brush or some other suitable instrument 
 once a day, to all the mucous membranes will answer a 
 good purpose. 
 
 When this treatment fails, as will sometimes be the 
 case, a similar application may be made with the solution 
 of the nitrate of silver, from thirty to fifty grains to the 
 ounce of water. This application need not be made more 
 than once every two or three days. Relief has been 
 obtained by applying a five to ten per cent, solution of 
 carbolic acid with equal parts of glycerine and water. 
 
 The obstinacy of this disease will require great patience 
 on the part of the patient, and not infrequently a long 
 routine of treatment. 
 
 Eczema. 
 
 Eczema is both an acute and chronic form of disease. 
 The acute forms occur usually on the face, genitals, hands, 
 feet ; sometimes, however, on the entire cutaneous surface. 
 It is not especially a female disease, but, on account of its 
 affecting so many on the genital organs, it is deemed 
 prudent to devote a short space to a description of the 
 disease and some appropriate treatment. ' 
 
 The acute form is preceded by chilliness along the back
 
 ECZEMA. 633 
 
 or other febrile symptoms, while the cuticle of the affected 
 part is reddened, swollen, and covered with vesicles ; these 
 burst and discharge a viscid fluid, which dries into crusts, 
 on the removal of which the skin appears at first moist ; 
 it afterwards becomes dry, reddened, and covered with 
 scales. , 
 
 When the genitals are affected with acate eczema, they 
 redden and swell ; the discharge is situated in the deeper 
 rather than in the superficial layers of the skin. In this 
 variety there may not appear many vesicles or papules. 
 The general forms of acute eczema present varieties 
 according to the seat of the disease. The vesicular and 
 papular formations predominate. Chronic forms of eczema 
 occur more frequently than the acute, and nearly every 
 part of the surface may be thus affected. As before men- 
 tioned, eczema occurs in the form of papules, but most 
 frequently in that of vesicles. 
 
 The eczema of the female genitals involves chiefly the 
 labia majorae from which it extends either forward and 
 upward, or downward along the inner surface of the thigh, 
 backward toward the perineum and anus, or inward 
 toward the labia minorae, and even to the vagina and 
 mucous membrane ; on these situations it is accompanied 
 with severe itching. 
 
 The eczema affecting the nipples causes them to swell, 
 redden, and lose their epidermis. The affection, which 
 chiefly occurs during the puerperal state and with women 
 with their first child, is extremely obstinate and painful ; 
 for, whenever the child takes the breast, the inflamed
 
 634 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 nipple is subject to fresh irritation, and the swelling thus 
 increases. Cases not infrequently occur in which the 
 organ suppurates, necessitating the weaning of the child ; 
 otherwise protracted disease of the mammary gland might 
 follow. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The different views which have been held regarding 
 the cause of eczema have variously influenced the methods 
 of treatment. The local treatment of children was long in 
 disrepute, many authors contending that the drying up of 
 the local affection resulted in serious obstruction of the 
 deposits from the system, hence, inducing internal 
 diseases, such as hydrocephalus, meningitis, bronchitis, 
 etc. Tn opposition to this theory the facts deduced from 
 experience were cited. We have had ample opportunity 
 of observing the disease in children, and though we have 
 employed only local treatment, we have never experienced 
 any evil results. We have, however, observed that 
 children whose health had been impaired by the dis- 
 charges and by sleepless nights, regained strength and 
 weight rapidly on the cure of the eczema. .We do not, 
 therefore, fear any evil results from the external remedies, 
 and never employ internal remedies except in cases where 
 the disease is evidently dependent upon the internal 
 organs. 
 
 In the treatment of eczema we do not prescribe anti- 
 mony, venesection, or purgatives. In pale, delicate 
 subjects, however, we administer the preparations of iron,
 
 ECZEMA. 635 
 
 and in those who are ill-nourished, meat diet. In cases of 
 a certain type in which the outbreak is provided by fever, 
 quinine. In some very protracted and obstinate cases, 
 however, we give arsenic or carbolic acid, but in others 
 we have found that the bi-cloride of mercury, and the 
 compound tincture of cinchona say six ounces of the 
 compound tincture to five grains of bi-cloride of mercury 
 administered in drachm doses three times a day fof a 
 length of time, were followed with very beneficial results. 
 
 If there be excoriations or ulcers of the mouth of the 
 womb, or if leucorrhea exist, these conditions must be 
 treated by appropriate remedies. When relapses occur in 
 consequence of the confined mode of life of the patient, 
 they should be met by free exercise in the open air. When 
 eczema is dependent upon disorders of the digestive organs, 
 resulting in anemia and derangement of the sexual organs, 
 the general health must be restored. 
 
 The local treatment is much more important, however, 
 and, on account of the obstinacy of the disease, many 
 theories have been advanced and remedies suggested. 
 The most rational theory to us has been suggested by 
 Hebra. It comprises the following remedial agents : 
 Water, at different temperatures, used as a solvent for 
 various medicinal agents. In eczema warm water is seldom 
 employed except for baths, as in soda or corrosive subli- 
 mate baths; cold water is employed in the form of bandages, 
 douches, etc. In acute eczema water is employed in 
 bandages ; care should be taken always to use soft water, 
 as hard water contains various salts, and frequently does 
 more harm than good to the delicate skin.
 
 636 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 If only hard water can be obtained, it may be used for 
 bathing, after purification by boiling and letting it stand to 
 eool. Shower baths may be employed over the affected 
 part ; but the water should not be allowed to fall more 
 than two feet, lest it cause irritation and inflammation of 
 the skin, as well as boils. As a solvent, water is used for 
 various astringents, as alum, acetate of zinc, sulphate 
 of copper, caustic potash, corrosive sublimate, the strength 
 being modified as desired ; the usual strength employed is 
 one-third of a grain to the ounce of water. In acute 
 eczema these solutions are used in conjunction with cold 
 bandages, a piece of linen being first soaked in the solu- 
 tion, applied to the part and covered with a cold 
 bandage. 
 
 The cold water cure is only suitable in acute, general 
 eczema. When the circumstances do not admit of the 
 patient's residence in a hydropathic establishment, the 
 following method may be adopted in private : On the 
 mattress of the bed a large piece of gum cloth is laid, on 
 which two folded sheets are placed, transversely ; above 
 this one or two blankets ; lastly, two wet sheets. The 
 douche apparatus is placed close to the bed, and after the 
 water has been applied to the patient she is rolled up in 
 wet sheets, and covered with blankets tightly bound around 
 her. A covering is then thrown over all. 
 
 The patient soon experiences the pleasant feeling of 
 warmth, slowly perspires, the itching and burning at the 
 same time greatly subsiding. This process should be 
 repeated at least four times during twenty-four hours.
 
 ECZEMA OF THE LABIA. 637 
 
 The room should be moderately warm, and after using the 
 douche the patient should move about a little before lying 
 down. 
 
 In the treatment of eczema, oleaginous substances are 
 employed with the view of removing the crusts and of 
 excluding the air from the affected part, so as to prevent 
 the drying of the discharge. By this means a cure is 
 affected in cases where the skin is not greatly infiltrated. 
 For this purpose most any oily substance may be 
 employed, such as cold cream, lard, etc. In applying 
 these substances, it is necessary to keep as large quan- 
 tities as possible in contact with the skin. 
 
 In combination with these oily substances, various 
 astringents are employed, as oxide of zinc, acetate of 
 lead, carbonate of lead. The mild astringents, however, 
 are only suited for light cases. The oxide of zinc may be 
 combined with lard, eighty grains of the former to an 
 ounce of the latter. One of the best remedies for such 
 cases consists of equal parts of linseed oil and diachylon- 
 plaster ; or linseed oil one pint ; litharge, three ounces ; 
 oil of lavender two drachms. This ointment is spread 
 over a piece of linen the thickness of a back of a knife 
 and changed every twenty-four hours. It is adapted to 
 every stage of eczema, and is almost indispensable to the 
 treatment of cutaneous diseases in general. 
 
 Eczema of the Labia. 
 
 Hip-baths night and morning, and the free use of 
 a borax-glycerine lotion (glycerine with borax, two fluid 
 ounces) which may be made by rubbing one pound of
 
 638 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 powdered borax in four fluid ounces of glycerine in a 
 mortar until the borax is dissolved ; add to the glycerine 
 of borax (two fluid ounces) four ounces of water. This 
 will prove successful in most cases. Powdering with the 
 oxide of zinc and starch is also found very useful. 
 
 When the eczema is limited to the labia, painting with 
 the solution of the nitrate of silver is one of the best 
 means of cure. Eczema of the breasts is often very 
 obstinate. If the ordinary plans of treatment fail, a 
 strong solution of caustic potash is to be applied four or 
 five times daily, and the parts well rubbed with the wet 
 hand after the application until a lather is formed. This 
 is severe treatment, but quite efficacious. The strength 
 of the solution is equal parts of caustic potash and soft 
 water. The great pain produced by this application is 
 lessened by the application of cold bandages, and will 
 subside in the course of a quarter of an hour. In cases in 
 which general eczema has proved most obstinate, lasting 
 for years, and when the skin is much infiltrated, the appli- 
 cation of this remedy, two or three times per week, is 
 most successful. The vesicles, although not numerous, 
 are still accompanied with severe itching, and are 
 destroyed the moment the solution comes in contact 
 with them, and the itching entirely ceases. 
 
 Inflammation of the Womb. 
 
 Inflammation of the womb is both acute and chronic, 
 and may effect any part of the organs alone or the womb 
 generally. The acute form is characterized by violent
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB. 639 
 
 burning pain in the region of the organ, with a sense of 
 weight, and often darting pains, extending out toward the 
 sides of the abdomen. 
 
 Sometimes even the whole abdomen becomes swollen 
 and very sensitive to pressure. The vagina is hot and 
 dry, the organs low in the pelvis, and the mouth, some- 
 what enlarged, is quite tender to the touch. The bowels 
 are apt to become constipated, the urine be suppressed or 
 retained, the tongue dry and furred, and the pulse frequent 
 and excited. These symptoms may be accompanied with 
 nausea and vomiting. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 * One of the first things to be done with inflammation of 
 the womb is to evacuate the bowels by means of a hydra- 
 gogue cathartic. A brisk and active purgative should be 
 given composed of salts and senna, or jalap and cream of 
 tartar. In some cases, if the inflammation be high, it is 
 well to introduce the treatment by first administering five 
 to ten grains of calomel, followed by the salts and senna 
 mixture until the bowels are well unloaded. If the 
 bowels be very much constipated, the action of the cathar- 
 tic may be aided by injections of warm water, to which 
 may be added a little soap, molasses or salt. Mustard 
 drafts or hot fomentations of bitter herbs, as hops, should 
 be applied to the lower portion of the bowels over the 
 neck of the womb. 
 
 It is a good plan to first apply the mustard plaster and 
 follow with hot fomentations. What is still better, how-
 
 640 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 ever, and more efficient, is a turpentine stupe. Bathe the 
 bowels with turpentine, over which apply a fold of muslin. 
 Large compresses, flannel, or other suitable material 
 should be pressed or wrung out of water as hot as can be 
 borne, and laid over the turpentine application. 
 
 This application of hot cloths should be repeated until 
 the skin is thoroughly reddened and the burning too 
 intense to be endured by the patient. A liniment com- 
 posed of equal parts of turpentine and oily matter, such 
 as lard, should be applied freely over the bowels after the 
 turpentine stupe has been removed. 
 
 No remedy for acute inflammation of the womb is more 
 efficient than turpentine, both externally and internally. 
 The bowels may be kept open with castor oil and spirits 
 of turpentine. If there is general excitement and fever 
 with pain, five to ten grains of Dover's or diaphoretic 
 powder should be administered, sufficiently frequent to 
 counteract pain and produce free perspiration. 
 
 If there be retention of the urine, marshmallow tea, 
 one gill, and a teaspoonful of the spirits of nitre may be 
 given every three or four hours until the difficulty is over- 
 come. The food should be light and nutritious, composed 
 mainly of farinaceous substances. The patient should be 
 kept at rest. If there be great restlessness and indisposi- 
 tion to sleep, the administration of twenty to thirty grains 
 of the bromide of potassium will generally be succeeded 
 by a period of comfortable repose.
 
 CHRONIC INFLAMMATION. t>41 
 
 Chronic Inflammation. 
 
 The chronic form is more common, and varies from the 
 acute in the intensity of the symptoms. It is characterized 
 by heavy pain in the pelvis, increased by walking or 
 moving. Discharges from the bowels and coition are 
 accompanied with pain. There is more or less pain during 
 the period of menstruation, which begins several days 
 prematurely, accompanied with pain in the breast. The 
 areolae of the nipples are generally darkened. Nausea and 
 vomiting are sometimes present. There is great nervous 
 disturbance, pressure on the rectum, with hemmorrhoids, 
 more or less pain in voiding water, and the uterus is more 
 or less enlarged and tender to the touch. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 Treatment of chronic inflammation of the uterus may 
 be divided into general and local. 
 
 General Treatment. The patient must be placed under 
 the best practicable hygienic and dietetic rules, and sexual 
 intercourse forbidden during treatment. 
 
 For the nervous prostration, fresh and cold air is one 
 of the best and most suitable tonics. The patient should 
 be in the open air as much as possible. If confined to 
 the house, it should be well aired several times daily 
 through the open windows and door. She should be 
 kept in open cold rooms and the use of stimulants should 
 be forbidden. For the nervous excitability, regular rest 
 and out-door exposure are most efficacious remedies.
 
 642 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Medicines, as a rule, are not well borne in these cases. 
 Quinine, nux vomica, wild cherry and chamomile are the 
 best. Stimulants must be prohibited, and opium is gen- 
 erally not good. 
 
 Inability to sleep and neuralgic pains are often greatly 
 relieved by bromide of potassium in full doses, thirty or 
 for^ty grains, and in abundance of water, until relieved. 
 Anemia and plethora, if present, must be met by appro- 
 priate remedies. Constipation is often present, and must 
 be overcome by prompt attention to the calls of the 
 bowels, by a full vegetable diet, especially of fruits, and 
 by drugs. Of the latter, the sulphate of magnesia, in two 
 to four drachm doses, may be given with some acid in the 
 morning ; or four to six grains of blue mass may be given 
 every fourth or fifth night, followed by Epsom salts in the 
 morning. 
 
 When, through long habit, the secretion of the intes- 
 tines is scanty and their coats inactive, a special tonic is 
 called for. A simple and effective formula is tincture of 
 nux vomica, two drachms ; sulphate of iron, eight grains ; 
 water, two ounces ; mix ; a teaspoonful three times a day, 
 after eating. Or, if pills be preferred, take four grains of 
 extract of nux vomica, thirty grains of the extract of 
 rhubarb, and ten grains of the sulphate of iron, mix and 
 make sixteen pills ; one to be taken two or three times a 
 day, as may be necessary. Or, sulphate of quinine, 
 thirty grains ; tincture of nux vomica, four drachms ; aro- 
 matic sulphuric acid, one drachm ; water, four ounces ; 
 mix ; take a teaspoonful three times daily, after meals.
 
 CHRONIC INFLAMMATION. 643 
 
 These are the most suitable remedies. Massage is not 
 infrequently a valuable aid. The method by which this 
 is performed is as follows : The operator, with one of 
 two fingers in the vagina, grasps the body of the uterus, 
 so that he can exert upon it a steady pressure, while the 
 counter-pressure is exerted by the other hand through 
 the walls of the lower abdomen. If these walls be suffi- 
 ciently loose, and enlarged by this procedure, the uterus 
 can be held between the two hands and gently pressed 
 and kneaded. When the organ is displaced, it is usually 
 necessary to correct this displacement before this method 
 can be effectually used. 
 
 Cold water may be thrown into the rectum twice a day 
 in small quantities, say eight ounces ; or a suppository 
 may be used ; extract of gentian, twenty grains ; cocoa 
 butter, twenty grains ; for one suppository. 
 
 Local Treatment. 
 
 Of the local measures employed, baths may be first 
 mentioned. The most common bath is the sitz or hip 
 bath. Where there is much pain with little inflammatory 
 action this often affords much relief. 
 
 If a speculum be introduced during the time of taking 
 the bath, so as to allow the water to enter the vagina, 
 much additional benefit will be received. The temperature 
 of the water should be made so as to be most comfortable 
 to the patient. Vaginal injections are applicable to almost 
 all cases of inflammation of the womb. The quantity of 
 water should be large, and frequently may be of a high
 
 644 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 temperature. Occasional astringent injections will be 
 found advantageous, used once or twice daily, not to be 
 repeated as long as the vagina is not dry from the preced- 
 ing injection. The temperature should be governed by 
 the feelings of the patient. 
 
 The application of the nitrate of silver in the solid form 
 to the inflamed or ulcerated portion of the uterus will be 
 found to be a very potent remedy. But it must be 
 carefully applied, using no more force than is necessary 
 to keep it in contact with the part. It should never be 
 applied by inexperienced persons. A strong solution of 
 this remedy applied by means of a camel's-hair brush will 
 frequently answer the same purpose. Dr. N. V. Taliaferro, 
 of Atlanta, Ga., recommends pressure for uterine inflam- 
 mation and diseases, especially for chronic inflammation. 
 This pressure is exerted by filling the vagina firmly with 
 well-prepared cotton or sheep's wool in the form of a 
 tampon. Commencing the use of this tampon, the vagina 
 should not be entirely filled. It is better first to fill the up- 
 per portion of the vagina, which may be done quite tightly, 
 and gradually to fill it entirely, as the vagina becomes 
 accustomed to the foreign substance. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, the tampon will irritate the vagina in the commence- 
 ment of the treatment. It should be left off for a few days 
 and hot-water injections substituted. If there be but little 
 irritation, however, the use of a little vaseline on the 
 surface of the vagina may enable us to continue the 
 tampon. Dr. Taliaferro is convinced that by this method 
 a rapid reduction of congestion in the parts will be effected.
 
 CHRONIC INFLAMMATION. 645 
 
 Where there are adhesions of the uterus, resulting from 
 inflammation, no matter how extensive, the patient and 
 persistent use of this course of treatment will entirely 
 overcome it. 
 
 Robert Ellis, of London, recommends the following 
 course of treatment for the various kinds of ulceration of 
 the mouth of the womb : 
 
 Indolent Ulcer. Where the neck of the uterus is 
 enlarged, of a pale, pink color, and hard ; with the mouth 
 of the womb slightly open ; ulcer of a rose red ; granula- 
 tions large, flat, insensitive ; the edge of the ulcer well 
 defined ; discharge mucus, with pus, and occasionally a 
 little drop of blood. 
 
 Treatment. For a few times apply the solid nitrate of 
 silver, afterward the solution of nitrate of silver, or strong 
 nitric acid. 
 
 Inflamed Ulcer. The neck is hard, tender, a little 
 enlarged, hot and red ; the vagina hot and tender ; ulcer 
 of a vivid red ; granulations small and bleeding ; a livid 
 red border around the ulcer ; discharge mucus and pus, 
 yellow and viscid, with frequently a drop of bright blood 
 with it. 
 
 Treatment. Occasionally, leeching ; a warm hip-bath ; 
 emolient injections ; then acid nitrate of mercury several 
 times, succeeded by the solid nitrate of silver. 
 
 Fungous Ulcer. The neck soft, large, spongy to the 
 touch ; the mouth wide open, so as to admit the finger ; 
 ulcer large, pale, studded with large and friable granula- 
 tions ; discharge, glairy, brownish mucus, frequently 
 deeply tinged with blood.
 
 646 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Treatment. At first the solid nitrate of silver pencil ; 
 afterwards, nitric acid, solution of nitrate of silver, or acid 
 nitrate of mercury, and actual cautery. 
 
 Senile Ulcer. Neck small, red, and a little hard ; 
 ulcer small, extremely sensitive, and of a bright-red color ; 
 granulations very small, red and irritable ; discharge, thin 
 mucus pus. 
 
 Treatment. Strong nitric acid with nitrate of silver 
 once or twice at long intervals. The solid sulphate of 
 copper in pencil. 
 
 General Disorders of the Uterus. 
 
 There is a long list of nervous symptoms generally 
 confined to women, although not entirely regarded as 
 arising from disorders of the female organs. 
 
 They have sometimes been regarded as independent 
 affections, having various sources, and generally have 
 received the cognomen of " hysteria," for want of some 
 better name to give them. Modern investigation, how- 
 ever, has given us a more definite and correct notion of 
 their real cause, and we have been led to regard them as 
 arising from some troubled condition of the sexual system. 
 Medical men, however, differ as to whether the symptoms 
 referred to be the result of the disease of the uterus, or 
 the disease of the uterus the symptoms, which owe their 
 origin in a disease remotely situated from this organ. 
 
 There are those who believe that the uterus has very 
 little sympathetic influence ; that the diseased condition 
 of the uterus is frequently the result of diseases in other
 
 GENERAL DISORDERS OF fHE UTERUS. 
 
 organs ; that the symptoms accompanying a diseased 
 condition of the uterus are not dependent upon any affec- 
 tion of this organ, and that these symptoms may be cured 
 without paying any regard to the disorders of the uterus. 
 Others hold that the diseased state of the sexual system 
 exercises a morbid influence over the whole economy of 
 the system, and that the only method of relief is the 
 removal of the diseased condition of the uterus. Those 
 who adhere to this latter view are again divided. One 
 part of them hold that the sympathetic influence of the 
 uterus is only manifest in the organs inflamed or ulcerated ; 
 that the removal of these disorders relieves the symptoms. 
 The other party maintain that the inflammation and 
 ulceration are of but little importance, while the origin of 
 the symptoms are wholly traceable to the displacements of 
 the uterus. 
 
 These various theories have their advocates in men of 
 high rank and standing in the medical profession. This 
 seemingly contradictory view held by men of distinction 
 in reference to the origin of these symptoms need not 
 cause any surprise, since the same variety of opinion is 
 found to be held by men similarly high in place in 
 reference to the origin of many other diseases. Much as 
 men may be disposed to differ in regard to the theory of 
 the origin of any of the symptoms with which females are 
 annoyed, but little difference exists in the methods under- 
 taken for the eradication of the disease. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the uterus exerts a sympa- 
 thetic influence over many of the organs of the body.
 
 648 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 When it is under a state of excitement, as during menstru- 
 ation or gestation, we have, as a result, indigestion and 
 constipation, with all the nervous symptoms resulting from 
 such abnormal condition. Would it not be reasonable, 
 then, to conclude that when the uterus is affected by 
 disease or displacement, we may have a great variety of 
 nervous disturbances ? The various organs of the system, 
 in the discharge of their offices, depend each upon the 
 proper operation of another. If a defect appear in any ot 
 the parts of the machinery, the whole machine, to a 
 greater or less extent, must be deranged. 
 
 The stomach, for example, when laboring under the 
 stimulus of digestion, influences, in some degree, many 
 important organs of the body. The brain is always 
 more or less influenced by digestion, so that, if a heavy 
 meal is to be disposed of by the stomach, the brain will be 
 so influenced as to very much interfere with sleep. Upon 
 the other hand, if, after eating a hearty meal, there be 
 great mental or nervous exertion, the food will remain 
 undigested in the stomach. 
 
 So we see that the various organs of the system are 
 so intricately woven together as to render it impossible 
 for disease to exist in any one part of the system without 
 more or less derangement of the whole physical economy. 
 
 Displacement of the Womb, and Its Causes. 
 
 This disorder prevails to an alarming extent, if we are 
 to judge from the number of women who say, after recit- 
 ing their many afflictions, " and I have displacement oi
 
 DISPLACEMENT OF THE WOMB AND ITS CAUSES. 649 
 
 the womb." But it is doubtless true that very many 
 married, and even unmarried women are thus afflicted. 
 The womb is generally described as resembling an 
 inverted pear, and lying between the bladder and the 
 rectum. In the virgin, when healthy, it is about tuo and 
 a half inches in length. It is held in position by folds of 
 membraneous ligaments. In cases of debility, these sup- 
 ports of the womb, partaking of the general weakness, 
 are relaxed, become longer than natural, and permit the 
 womb to drop down below its proper place in the pelvis. 
 This constitutes prolapsus uteri, or " falling of the womb." 
 There are other causes that predispose to this displace- 
 ment, such as increased weight and size of the uterus, 
 -which not infrequently is the result of repeated inflamma- 
 tions ; the presence of tumors within its cavity ; disten- 
 tion of the abdomen, induced by constipation ; intestinal 
 inflammation ; dropsy; distended bladder; enlargement of 
 the ovaries, etc. Pressure on the abdomen, tight dresses, 
 corsets, or heavy clothing carried on the hips, tend to the 
 same end. 
 
 Displacements may occur instantly from exertion, as 
 lifting a heavy load, especially if the load be carried 
 against the abdomen. Repeated instances of instantane- 
 ous displacement from carrying a washtub of water are 
 known. The organ can be displaced by severe straining 
 to empty either the bowels or bladder, or by a fall upon 
 the feet or knees, a blow, or exercise in running up and 
 down stairs.
 
 650 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The various kinds of displacements have received 
 names corresponding with the position that the womb 
 takes in the pelvis. When it falls directly downward, 
 " prolapsus " ; when it bends forward, " anteversion " ; 
 when backward, " retroversion" ; when it bends upon 
 itself backward, " retroflection," etc. 
 
 Keeping in mind the position of the womb, it will be 
 easily seen that, if the bladder be distended, the womb 
 will be thrust back against the rectum, and vice versa. 
 If the rectum be allowed to fill and remain distended 
 with fecal matter, the uterus will be thrust forward against 
 the bladder. When either of these conditions is allowed 
 to remain for a length of time, the womb becomes perma- 
 nently displaced. 
 
 Simple displacements may be carried for a long time 
 without causing any discomfort, particularly by strong 
 women of phlegmatic temperament, or of a not very sus- 
 ceptible nervous system ; but others soon become aware 
 of some derangement by numerous symptoms. 
 
 The predisposing or exciting causes of uterine displace- 
 ments are numerous. Sedentary habits, by weakening the 
 whole muscular system, frequently give rise to this condi- 
 tion. Habitual constipation, resulting from disregard of 
 the laws of life, and disturbance of the general circulation 
 in its turn causes inflammation of the mucous membrane of 
 the vagina. This, followed by leucorrhea and relaxation 
 of the uterus and its environment, produces more or less 
 displacement of the uterus. 
 
 Fashionable modes of dress, tight lacing, wearing of 
 heavy skirts, overgarments, and their pressure about the
 
 DISPLACEMENT OF THE WOMB AND ITS CAUSES. 6$ I 
 
 waist, all tend to crowd the bowels downward, and force 
 the uterus out of its normal condition. It is difficult for a 
 woman who continues to dress fashionably for a number 
 of years, and, especially, if she began before maturity 
 was fully established, to avoid this result. (This may not 
 be in harmony with the ideas of the more fashionable 
 members of society, yet it is none the less true.) 
 
 Another very fruitful predisposing circumstance of 
 displacement is found in the injudicious use of the emmena- 
 gogue medicines. These occasion congestion of the organ, 
 which congestion frequently results in inflammation, or 
 may induce hemorrhage, which may be mistaken for 
 menstruation. This congestive condition, which results 
 in inflammation of defined portions of the walls of the 
 uterus, causes thickening upon one side or the other of it, 
 making it heavier or more gravid, so that the uterus is 
 unequally balanced, and is disposed to fall to that side 
 which is most heavy. This perhaps is one of the most 
 fruitful causes of displacement. If the extra weight be 
 upon the posterior wall, or back part of the uterus, the 
 uterus itself will be disposed to fall backwards against the 
 rectum, producing constipation, and, consequently, general 
 disturbance of the alimentary canal. This displacement, 
 as has been said, is called retroversion. If the thickening 
 be upon the front, or the anterior portion of the uterus, it 
 will tilt forward against the bladder, and we have what is 
 called anteversion. 
 
 There are certain kinds of female employment that have 
 a natural tendency to produce displacement of the uterus. 
 
 lGl C
 
 6$2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 For example, the position occupied by women at the 
 sewing machine, in sewing by hand, at ironing, washing, 
 etc., is more mischievous than the work itself, if it could 
 be done with the body in an erect, upright position. 
 Women, on account of any disease or debility, languor or 
 any cause, habitually stoop and put the uterus in such a 
 position in the pelvis as to facilitate its displacement. The 
 pressure of the abdominal contents upon its body, increased 
 by the exertion of coughing, sneezing, and even respira- 
 tion, will seriously displace it. Such persons aggravate 
 these effects in ascending stairs, walking, standing, etc. 
 
 Prolapsus of the Uterus. 
 
 This false position of the uterus is very frequent, and 
 is a constant dread to females. It may take place sud- 
 denly and unexpectedly, or gradually, by successive steps. 
 In the first instance, it may arise by accident, as a fall ; or 
 by straining, as in lifting. The last type that is, by suc- 
 cessive steps is the more frequent history of displace- 
 ment. The causes leading to it are various, among which 
 we might enumerate child-bearing, certain laborious occu- 
 pations, habitual constipation, and general debility of the 
 system. 
 
 This disease occurs most frequently among women 
 who have borne children ; yet, occasionally, it is met in 
 unmarried women. 
 
 The Symptoms. 
 
 The most prominent of the symptoms is a dragging 
 weight in the pelvis, an irritability of the bladder and rec- 
 
 1
 
 ANTEVERSION. 653 
 
 turn, pain in the back and loins, great fatigue in walking, 
 inability to lift heavy weights, leucorrhea, and other mani- 
 festations. Generally, there is no derangement of men- 
 struation. 
 
 If the prolapsed womb have fallen very low, so as to 
 protrude externally, the woman becomes faint and the 
 nervous system greatly affected. Prolapsus of the uterus, 
 whether it be partial or complete, will continue to grow 
 from bad to worse unless relieved by medical skill. It 
 produces a long train of nervous symptoms that, sooner or 
 later, renders the patient unfit for every kind of work. It 
 rarely, however, proves destructive to life. On account 
 of the many unpleasant symptoms that arise from dis- 
 placements of the uterus, and the difficulties in meeting 
 and overcoming these symptoms, experimenters have 
 exhausted themselves in devising pessaries and supports 
 of various kinds, to be applied for holding the uterus in 
 its normal position. Each particular inventor has advo- 
 cated the merits of his own particular invention. Many 
 of the pessaries have important and valuable points, and, 
 when properly applied, under favorable circumstances, 
 where there is not too much local inflammation, are fol- 
 lowed with beneficial effects. 
 
 Anteversion. 
 
 This malposition of the uterus consists in an inclination 
 of the body of the uterus toward the bladder, with uncom- 
 fortable pressure upon that organ, interfering to some 
 extent with its filling up with urine. The most frequent
 
 $54 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 causes of this disordered position are parturition, 
 enfeebled muscular condition, habits of indolence and 
 inactivity, loss of strength in the abdominal walls, and a 
 thickened condition of the anterior portion of the uterus, 
 destroying its equilibrium, and consequently tilting it 
 toward that side that is heaviest. This hypertrophied 
 or thickened condition is the result of congestion, or sub- 
 sequent inflammation. In some cases, where the ante- 
 version is but slight, there may exist but little local or 
 constitutional disturbance, but this is not the general rule. 
 In most instances it is accompanied by dysmenorrhea and 
 sterility, and the bladder is it engendering pain, 
 
 and constant desire to pass urine 
 
 Mechanical means, as a gener ule, will e required 
 to overcome this character of displacement. The cause of 
 this malposition should be sought after, and, if possible, 
 removed, in order that a permanent cure may be effected. 
 This, as a general thing, will require the aid of a physician. 
 
 Retpovepsion. 
 
 This disorder consists in the tilting of the body of the 
 uterus backwards, and the causes are similar to those 
 named above for other displacements of the uterus. A 
 woman suffering from this form of displacement has severe 
 backache, leucorrhea, dysmenorrhea, nervous prostration, 
 menorrhagia and pelvic neuralgia ; locomotion is impeded ; 
 she walks about with great difficulty, and is rather disposed 
 to remain in bed. Her appetite is poor ; she craves every- 
 thing, but nothing tastes good, and there is constant
 
 GENERYL TREATMENT FOR DISPLACEMENTS 655 
 
 tendency to flatulency and gastric irritation ; she com- 
 plains of a sense of burning in the region of the uterus, 
 accompanied with more or less pain and tenderness, and 
 even severe uterine colic. The patient is indeed miserable, 
 unless she be of a very hopeful disposition, and may settle 
 down in complete despair. Such cases do not usually 
 receive that sympathy that their condition really deserves. 
 The management is no easy task, and not infrequently 
 taxes the ability of the most experienced physician. 
 
 General Treatment for Displacements. 
 
 In all displacements of the uterus it will be important 
 to have an examination made by an experienced physician, 
 to ascertain the exact position of the uterus, the probable 
 cause, the normal condition and the best means for its 
 restoration. To overcome the displacement it is important 
 to ferret out and remove, if possible, the cause. In displace- 
 ments where the vagina is sensitive the use of any kind of 
 pessary will be impracticable. Extensive inflammation of 
 the vagina and uterus will preclude the use of the pessary, 
 and the doctor must first overcome this morbid state of 
 the parts. For this purpose various applications will be 
 made. 
 
 Water of various temperatures will be an important 
 means to relieve the congestion and inflammation. We 
 have found that large quantities of water at a high tem- 
 perature are a most salutary remedy. It is important that 
 large quantities be used in order to overcome the congested 
 condition of the capillaries of the vagina. Any woman
 
 656 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 knows, from experience in washing clothes, that, in the 
 application of hot water to her hands fora short time, they 
 will at first become red and rather swollen ; but, if she 
 continue the application for a time, the blood leaves the 
 capillaries, the skin contracts, and her hands have a 
 shriveled appearance. The same effect will be produced 
 in the application of hot water to the vaginal walls, thereby 
 relieving the congestion and overcoming the inflammation, 
 which will conduce to the restoration of the parts to their 
 normal condition. 
 
 We sometimes meet with undue sensitiveness of the 
 perineum and lower bowel, which would also preclude the 
 use of an instrument. This sensitiveness is often the result 
 of a congestion, but is more frequently caused by inflam- 
 mation and ulceration of the rectum, or hemorrhoids. 
 Congestions of the uterus, especially in the acute and 
 sub-acute forms, will preclude the use of the pessary. 
 Simple congestion of the uterus and that of the 
 vagina is not infrequent, and forbids the application 
 of instruments. Any adhesions of the uterus will have 
 to be overcome before pessaries can be worn with 
 profit. (Were I talking to experienced physicians, who 
 had observed the effect of pessaries upon these varied con- 
 ditions of the vagina and its environments, these remarks 
 would be unnecessary ; but many persons endeavor to 
 overcome displacements by the use of this or that instru- 
 ment, only with the result of injury ; hence the necessity 
 of having a careful diagnosis made of the true character 
 and nature of the disorder present.) Many women become
 
 GENERAL TREATMENT FOR DISPLACEMENTS. 657 
 
 dissatisfied with their medical attendants because they 
 cannot at once replace the misplaced uterus and maintain ' 
 its position by the application of an instrument, as had 
 been done in the case of an intimate friend. It must not 
 be forgotten that, frequent as this disease appears among 
 women, the most experienced physician rarely finds two 
 cases that are entirely similar, and that will require 
 precisely the same line of treatment. 
 
 Whenever there is any general disturbance of the 
 circulation, together with pain in the region of the uterus, 
 all attempts to restore the uterus to its normal condition 
 will be extra-official. All kinds of tumors in the region 
 of the uterus, as a general thing, will interfere with the 
 application of the pessary. Yet occasionally cases will 
 appear that may be made more comfortable, even where 
 there is an existing tumor, by some mechanical contrivance 
 for their support. 
 
 In the outset of the treatment by the means of 
 mechanical support, the better method to be adopted is 
 the application of balls of cotton, which may be immersed 
 in some medicated liquid or unction, and introduced into 
 the vagina in such size as may be suited to the cavity to 
 be filled. Care should be taken, however, to attach a 
 small cord to the balls of cotton, so that their removal 
 may be accomplished without difficulty. These com- 
 presses in the uterus and vaginal walls may be increased 
 in size and quantity as the parts become inured to the 
 presence of a false body, until the entire vagina can be 
 filled with them.
 
 058 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Thus the cotton may be saturated with properly-medi- 
 cated liquids, and the womb may be held in such position 
 as will restore it to its normal condition. No mechanical 
 support to the uterus will be found better adapted to all 
 kinds of displacement than these pledgets of cotton-wool, 
 or sheep's wool. 
 
 In most cases the service of the physician will be 
 required to replace a misplaced uterus, but in many 
 instances the woman herself will be able to accomplish 
 this end. In order that she may the more easily restore 
 the position of the uterus, she should assume a geno- 
 pectoral position that is, rest herself upon her knees and 
 breast, so that her hips may be elevated. Then, by 
 introducing into the vagina a small tube, or even by intro- 
 ducing two fingers, so separating them as to permit the 
 entry of air into the vagina, the gravity of the uterus from 
 her attitude will compel it to fall downward into position. 
 The pledgets of cotton referred to should be applied while 
 in this position. Whereupon, she may turn over upon 
 her side and rest for a few hours. If these directions be 
 followed daily for a time, with the application of some 
 mild astringent, the free use of water, proper regulation of 
 the bowels, and good dietetic rules, good health will 
 follow. All predisposing causes should be overcome so 
 far as possible. 
 
 Among all the mechanical means adopted for the 
 support of the uterus, the medicated tampons will be found 
 the most beneficial, and least likely to produce harm in 
 the hands of the inexperienced. Other pessaries, no
 
 GENERAL TREATMENT FOR DISPLACEMENTS. 659 
 
 ir.atter of what sort, should be repeatedly examined, lest 
 they become imbedded in the soft tissue, producing 
 erosions of the mucous membrane. This will be followed 
 with ulcerations, thereby increasing the suffering that they 
 are intended to relieve. No such dangers can result from 
 the use of tampons or cotton-wool or sheep's wool, no 
 matter by whom applied. 
 
 The following solution will be found quite efficacious 
 on the diseased parts, and may be applied : Immerse the 
 cotton in carbolic .acid, one part ; alum, ten parts ; 
 glycerine, eight parts. This solution will be found very 
 erviceable in all diseases pertaining to the uterus and 
 vagina. By the application of the glycerine a free 
 discharge of water from the uterus and vaginal walls will 
 be effected, thereby relieving the congestion and inflam- 
 mation. The alum acts as an astringent on the vaginal 
 walls, and the carbolic acid, from its antiseptic qualities, 
 renders it possible for the tampon of cotton to remain a 
 considerable time. It would be better, however, that the 
 cotton be taken out every thirty-six to forty-eight hours, 
 and the vagina washed thoroughly with water as before 
 directed. 
 
 No inconvenience should be experienced by the patient 
 in the wearing of this kind of support. It may be neces- 
 sary, however, that only small pledgets of cotton be at 
 first used, which may be increased as the comfort of the 
 patient demands. The uterus is often subject to deformi- 
 ties, which may be confounded with displacements. These 
 are termed flexions, and receive the names of " ante-
 
 66C MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 flexion," which means the bending of the uterus upon 
 itself forwards, or " retroflexion," which means the bend- 
 ing of the uterus upon itself backwards. These conditions 
 are very common, but as their diagnosis and treatment 
 will depend upon the ability of a surgical expert, we need 
 not enter into a discussion of their character here. 
 
 To the means above referred to for the proper restora- 
 tion of this inflamed, congested and misplaced organ, as 
 well as the parts immediately in connection with it, we 
 may add massage, which will be found a valuable auxiliary 
 in relieving such local congestion. The services of an 
 experienced operator will be attended with the most satis- 
 factory results ; nevertheless, much benefit may be derived 
 from this method of treatment, practiced even by an inex- 
 perienced hand. The abdominal walls should be thoroughly 
 manipulated and kneaded, first gently, the pressure being 
 increased as the parts become accustomed to the rubbing ; 
 deep and heavy pressure is to be made by the fingers of 
 both hands down into the vagina through the walls of the 
 abdomen. This is best accomplished with the patient 
 lying on the back. Additional manipulation and pressure 
 may be made upon the lower part of the spine and but- 
 tocks, the operator using both hands, applying their palms 
 to the hips, and making heavy pressure repeatedly for 
 several minutes while the patient lies upon her face. 
 
 The Ovaries. 
 
 The ovaries are situated on either side of the uterus, 
 to which they are attached by a strong ligament, or cord. 
 They occupy the posterior or back part of the broad liga-
 
 THE OVARIES. 66l 
 
 ment. When their size and weight are somewhat increased 
 by congestion, they may vary from their natural position 
 by descending lower down in the pelvis. This is called 
 displacement of the ovaries. The ovaries are seated so 
 deep down in the pelvis as to apparently preclude every 
 means of investigation. This is especially so in persons 
 who are very fleshy, but women who are thin of flesh can 
 generally reach the ovaries with the finger, because when 
 they are influenced by disease themselves, or by displace- 
 ments of the uterus, they are made to occupy a lower 
 position in the pelvis, thus making their examination more 
 easy. 
 
 (The most simple plan of examination is to introduce 
 the index and middle fingers as far into the vagina as pos- 
 sible, and direct them high up to the side and back part 
 of the uterus, while with the other hand, above the pubis, 
 you make deep and heavy pressure upon the contents of 
 the pelvis, so as to force them' in the direction of the 
 fingers already in the vagina. In performing this operation 
 the patient should lie upon her back, across the couch, 
 with her buttocks drawn close to its edge, and her limbs 
 well flexed. By this means, generally, an examination 
 of the ovaries may be pretty efficiently made, and, espe- 
 cially so, if there be any enlargement or misplacement of 
 one or both of these organs. The ovary is rather nearer 
 the anus than the vaginal orifice ; hence they may be the 
 more easily examined by introducing the finger into the 
 rectum. This, however, is usually accompanied with more 
 pain to the patient.
 
 662 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 The ovaries, like the other sexual organs, are the sub- 
 jects of various diseases, such as, atrophy, hypertrophy, 
 congestion and inflammation. The effects and symptoms 
 of these various diseases are closely allied to those of the 
 uterus and its surroundings. 
 
 Atrophy. The ovaries, like other organs of the body, 
 may be imperfectly developed. It is no uncommon thing 
 to meet with a woman whose whole sexual system would 
 indicate that of mere childhood. Her breasts are about 
 the size of a miss of ten or a dozen years old ; she does 
 not menstruate, and has no sexual desire ; if she be mar- 
 ried she will not bear children. All the organs of genera- 
 tion will be found upon examination to be in an 
 undeveloped state. 
 
 Hypertrophy. By hypertrophy of the ovary is under- 
 stood an increase of size without any manifest alteration 
 of character. This may result from long congestion, 
 causing an increased nutrition from the excessive blood 
 with which the organ has been for a long time supplied. 
 However, we have not been able to fully demonstrate the 
 origin of this enlarged condition of the ovary. Another 
 cause that may be assigned for this enlarged condition of 
 the ovary is thought to be found in inflammatory effu- 
 sions, which are due to chronic inflammation. We can 
 generally detect these enlarged conditions of the ovary by 
 physical examination, but it is not easy in many cases to 
 determine the nature of the enlargement. 
 
 Displacement. On account of the intimate relation 
 and connection of the ovary with the uterus, and the
 
 THE OVARIES. 663 
 
 strong ligaments by which these organs are attached to 
 each other, any displacement of the uterus may be fol- 
 lowed by a displacement of the ovary. For example, 
 when the uterus rises into the abdominal cavity, as it does 
 during pregnancy, the ovaries are carried up with it, and 
 may be felt in very thin persons through the abdominal 
 walls, distinguished by their movability and tenderness. 
 Likewise, in retroversion of the uterus, the ovaries are 
 displaced to a greater or lesser extent downward and 
 backward. This condition will frequently be followed 
 with great trouble and pain, and is to a great extent a 
 serious difficulty in the way of overcoming a backward 
 displacement. In some cases, however, the ovaries may 
 assume this position without any displacement of the 
 uterus, thus causing a very troublesome disorder, which 
 frequently receives the name of ovarian irritation. This 
 displacement of the ovaries, also, is frequently accom- 
 panied with some organic disease. Such cases are 
 accompanied by very morbid phenomena, destroying the 
 comfort of the patient, and affecting her not only physi- 
 cally but mentally. 
 
 Symptoms of Ovarian Displacements. The symp- 
 toms of ov.arian displacements are of two kinds general 
 and local. The local symptoms are similar to those 
 accompanying other diseases of the generative organs, 
 viz. : Backache, tenderness along the lower part of the 
 spine ; pain and weight, or a bearing down sensation are 
 sometimes experienced.
 
 664 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Frequently there are a derangement of the menses and 
 other troubles incident to the disease of the pelvic organs. 
 As to general symptoms, it is questionable whether or not 
 any person, in the delineation of these diseases of the 
 pelvic organs, can draw the line of demarkation so as to 
 say what class of symptoms belong to the disease of this 
 or of that particular organ. Some authorities are of the 
 opinion that the whole train of nervous symptoms arising 
 from diseases of the vagina, uterus and vulva are reflected 
 upon the body through the medium of the ovary, and 
 that,' no matter what organ is the seat of the disease, we 
 shall have, in connection therewith, the necessary ovarian 
 irritation. Many of the symptoms delineated in the 
 article " Nervous Exhaustion," are no doubt more or less 
 connected with displacement of the ovaries, to which 
 article the reader is referred for these symptoms and their 
 appropriate remedies. 
 
 Treatment. The application of remedies for the 
 relief of this or that 'nervous disorder, as headache, hys- 
 terical convulsions, sleeplessness, etc., will be found futile, 
 and these symptoms can only be removed by hygienic 
 treatment. The patient must have recourse to nutrition, 
 exercise and baths. 
 
 Lack of nutrition seems to be the principal cause 
 of this class of nervous affections no matter whether 
 you call it innutrition of the nerves or innutrition of the 
 blood. If the blood be exhausted, the whole system 
 must suffer, both in its physical and mental departments, 
 and it is mainly through this channel that we may hope to
 
 THE OVARIES. 665 
 
 operate. What we want to do with such patients is to 
 entirely revolutionize their habits of life, and increase the 
 constructive processes of their systems. The accomplish- 
 ment of this end will frequently call forth all the ingenu- 
 tity and patience of the most experienced physician. 
 
 In some cases it will be necessary to enjoin perfect 
 rest ; in others, exercise, active as well as passive. The 
 most important part of the treatment, however, is a proper 
 selection of nutritious food, and in abundant supply. 
 
 Dr. Byford's prescription is, three ounces of beefsteak 
 for breakfast ; toast, potatoes, and other vegetables, as the 
 capacity of the stomach or digestion will allow. Six 
 ounces of roast beef, or mutton ; bread and butter, pota- 
 toes, vegetables, etc., for dinner. For supper, the same 
 as breakfast, and, after each meal and at bedtime, one 
 pint of good fresh milk. 
 
 The only limit to be placed on the quantity of food 
 indicated is the capacity of the stomach to retain it. 
 
 If the food be not rejected by vomiting, or do not 
 irritate the bowels enough to cause diarrhea, the want of 
 appetite or the inconvenience that may arise during 
 digestion should not be considered reason for refusing it. 
 Usually the stomach will soon become tolerant, and, after 
 a time, the enriched blood circulating through its granular 
 apparatus, will engender a relish for food, and the patient 
 will eat with pleasure. This intimation that an inane 
 stomach will necessarily digest with difficulty is intentional, 
 for it is not believed that an energetic action is possible 
 without a sufficient supply of blood. With this, or some
 
 666 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 equivalent method of feeding the patient, there should be 
 associated some plan by which she can get plenty of fresh 
 air, and have as much exercise as she is able to take. 
 This may be passive at first, but, as soon as possible, it 
 ought to be active. Active exercise may be begun by 
 having the patient walk, supported by a strong nurse. As 
 soon as she can walk alone support should be withheld. 
 
 It is not rest but exercise that should be advised in 
 these cases. Of this I am fully convinced by experiment 
 and unmistakable proof in my own practice. As long as 
 nutrition can be supplied the patient will profit by exercise, 
 but, if nutrition be impossible, then, of course, exercise is 
 is impossible also. 
 
 Thus far I have said nothing about medicines to aid 
 digestion or to increase nerve force, not because I have 
 no faith in them, but because I believe them of secondary 
 importance mere adjuncts, instead of the principals, in 
 the treatment of this condition of the system. I could cite 
 a number of instances in which this course of management 
 resulted in averting the dangers and mutilations of the 
 more heroic treatment by cauterization, establishing a 
 vigorous and tolerant condition of the nerve-system, thus 
 curing ovarian irritation. 
 
 These suggestions are applicable in other cases than 
 displacements of the ovaries in which there is ovarian 
 irritation. 
 
 As to the management of the displacement : In some 
 few cases, where the ovaries are borne down by a dis- 
 placed uterus, we may correct .the displacement so far as
 
 THE OVARIES. 66/ 
 
 to greatly improve the circulation of these organs, and 
 thus remove a great element in ovarian distress. This, of 
 course, is done by correcting the displacement of the 
 uterus by proper means of support, as has been already 
 suggested. 
 
 Inflammation. Acute inflammation of the ovaries will 
 generally be found in connection with local inflammation 
 of the peritoneum. Inflammation of the cellular tissues 
 of the pelvis is a common affection. Inflammation of the 
 ovaries, as an independent disease, is a rare occurrence. 
 Examinations after death reveal the existence of inflam- 
 mation of the ovaries and surrounding tissues, in all stages, 
 from simple inflammation to destructive suppuration. 
 This condition occurs as a result either of abortion, or 
 labor at full term, and other puerperal conditions. Inflam- 
 mation of the ovaries in this connection will cause no 
 separate symptoms nor require any special mode of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Treatment may be commenced with five grains of 
 calomel, followed in six to eight hours by a saline cathar- 
 tic. Poultices may be applied to the abdomen, or, what 
 is better, turpentine stupes, as have been suggested in 
 the treatment for inflammation of the uterus. The pain 
 should be relieved by opiates, after the operation of the 
 cathartic. Rest, in a recumbent position, is strictly 
 enjoined. The bowels should be kept open with some 
 mild laxative. The diet should be light and non-stimu- 
 lant, and the use of stimulants absolutely forbidden.
 
 668 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Nervous Exhaustion. 
 
 Nervous exhaustion has never been fully understood, 
 nor its importance appreciated by writers on pathology. 
 Consequently it has not received that amount of attention 
 at the hands of the practitioner that its frequency and 
 importance demand. 
 
 The nervous system is a term including all the nerves 
 of the body connected immediately with the brain or 
 spinal column, or with the ganglionic system. The nerves 
 supply the stimulus administered to every muscle of the 
 body, by which its action is influenced, whether that 
 action be voluntary or involuntary. From this it will be 
 observed, that if the muscular stimulus be exhausted, a 
 healthy condition is impossible. 
 
 It is not at all surprising, then, that a disease that 
 takes hold of the very root of the physical economy should 
 ciaim important attention. By the nervous system we 
 are what we are, and through it we are connected with 
 the world. As nervous exhaustion occurs among all 
 classes and conditions of society, it is not surprising that 
 much speculation has been excited in regard to what 
 change takes place in the substance of the nerves. 
 
 From the serious consequences resulting, it must be 
 admitted that a subtle change takes place in the struc- 
 ture of the nerve, and that the change is more hidden in 
 this disease than in most others. There seems to be no 
 more plausible theory than that there must be influences 
 so acting as to interrupt the normal equilibrium of nutri-
 
 NERVOUS EXHAUSTION. 669 
 
 tion. Whether this conclusion answer all the scientific 
 tests that may be applied to it or not, this subtle change 
 must be effected through the well known principles of 
 physiology. New developments have been made during 
 the last few years that have materially affected our knowl- 
 edge of the disease. However, the peculiar intermingling 
 of the vesicular nerve cells, together with the rapid trans- 
 mission of the various external impressions operating 
 through the whole tract of the nerve to the brain, has been 
 and may remain a mystery. 
 
 It has been shown that there are different nerves 
 transmitting different external impressions to the center of 
 the nervous system, and that one nerve transmits one 
 impulse and another a different one. This is of much 
 importance to us. For us to say we have any true knowl- 
 edge of how it is done would be as absurd and speculative 
 as to say what moves the wheels of a watch without 
 knowing the motor power. We have some knowledge 
 and acquaintance with the conditions necessary to main- 
 tain in what is called nerve force, and its power to receive 
 external impressions. When interrupted, that power will 
 grow less and less. 
 
 The whole nervous organism, being like all the other 
 parts of the body, is liable to growth and decay. The 
 forms of nerve debility are numerous and varied, and the 
 agents producing this abnormal condition and causing 
 debility are unlimited. But, when the whole complex 
 machinery is kept within a proper radius of stimulated 
 excitement, and the brain given a normal amount of work,
 
 6/O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 there will be an increase of nerve power and physical 
 endurance. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance to accurately observe 
 the first symptoms of over stimulation of the brain and 
 nervous system, and thus be able to guard against 
 subsequent results. 
 
 The parents and teachers should be the guardians of 
 those intellects intrusted to their care. The instruction 
 given by both, for the purpose of building up a perfect 
 physique or a strong intellect in these more or less tender 
 shoots, is only too frequently in direct violation of great 
 physiological laws. 
 
 The more modern idea is to excite the mind and enrich 
 it by innumerable external impressions. This is indulging 
 the vain hope that this broad distribution of mental fer- 
 tilizers will insure a rich harvest of thought, but forgetting 
 that it will be followed by exhaustion and debility. The 
 great complex body of instructors, themselves suffering 
 from nervous debility to a greater or less extent, fail to 
 remove the active agents causing nervous debility. By the 
 neglect to apply preventive measures, subsequent ills are 
 sure to follow. It is just when this mental twig should be 
 fast gathering external impressions for growth and devel- 
 opment through the watchful care of mental husbandry, 
 that we too frequently witness its death in the vineyard. 
 
 Here and there is a scholar, maintaining a perfect state 
 of nerve-nutrition, who pushes boldly onward and upward. 
 Through his own efforts he is equipped for the wild billows 
 on the ocean of life. Yet when he is rapidly ascending to
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 6/1 
 
 such giddy heights of greatness, he needs assistance, that 
 the stock of combustion by which he is enabled to make 
 his ascent, be not exhausted ; for as the ascent has been 
 great, the fall may be correspondingly hard. 
 
 Symptoms and Causes of Nerve Exhaustion. 
 
 The symptoms of nervous exhaustion have never been 
 fully described in any work as yet written on the subject. 
 They are so varied and manifold that volumes might be 
 filled with them and the subject be left unexhausted. Suf- 
 fice it for our purpose to introduce a few of the more 
 prominent, that the reader may, by reflection and com- 
 parison, get such information from the subject as may 
 cause her arrest if she be (as many women are) on the 
 way to nervous bankruptcy. 
 
 For convenience and ease, let us commence with that 
 part of the animal economy that is the seat of the nerve 
 center, namely, the head. 
 
 Tenderness of the scalp manifests itself differently in 
 different subjects. This tenderness may be over the entire 
 head, or may be confined to the back of the head or front 
 part of it. The scalp is frequently so tender that it is 
 with difficulty that a comb or brush can be used. Even 
 the very hair feels sore. There is frequently a sense of 
 heat and burning at the back part of the head that maybe 
 relieved by firm pressure. 
 
 At times patients complain of a sore spot, or tender- 
 ness, sometimes on the forehead or temples, more fre- 
 quently at the nape of the neck, or at the base of the
 
 6/2 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 brain. Many want a support for the head because the 
 neck aches so severely that it is unwilling to support the 
 head. These patients have dull, inexpressive eyes. At 
 times the pupils are freely dilated, and then contract alter- 
 nately or temporarily ; one pupil may remain more dilated 
 than the other. 
 
 Sick headache and head-pain generally are frequent 
 symptoms. Some patients get sick and vomit, and then 
 experience a sense of relief, but the pain is at times 
 severe, and may not produce sickness of the stomach ; 
 may be at the base of the brain, and may last for days, 
 and then -grow less, and is much more troublesome than 
 sick headache. There is pain, pressure and heaviness in 
 the back of the head and top, and through the whole 
 head. This pain is quite common and may at times be 
 the result of an excess of blood in the brain. 
 
 Vertigo, or lightness of the head, is a common symp- 
 tom, and one that is very annoying, rendering the patient 
 unable to balance herself well. She is never able to 
 exactly describe her feelings. The eyes are variously 
 affected by this exhaustion. At times the white of the 
 eye is congested and red, the eyeball painful ; the patient 
 complains of severe aching through the eyeballs, and 
 is at times unable to use them. The vision becomes 
 impaired. There appears to be a mist or cloud before 
 the eyes. At other times there are dark specks, which 
 often annoy those who are only slightly nervous. Noises 
 in the ear, in the shape of sudden explosions or pulsa- 
 tions, with almost every variety of sound, are quite
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 673 
 
 common in exhaustion of the brain. These explosions 
 come on at times, without any warning, when one is 
 perfectly quiet. Sometimes there is a pumping sound, as 
 though the heart were beating in the ear. 
 
 There are few organs that this disease does not affect, 
 from the crown of the head to the end of the toes. The 
 voice is changed, and there is a peculiar softness, faint- 
 ness, want of courage, and clearness of tone. These 
 terms may not be as clear as they should be, but there are 
 few persons who cannot call to mind cases of this kind. 
 
 " The voice," says Emerson, " is a delicate index of 
 the soul, and the orator can always tell, by the quality 
 of his speech at the beginning of an oration or sermon, 
 whether he is or is not in a mood of speaking whether 
 he is to be eloquent or will utterly fail." Dr. Cutter and 
 others affirm that diseases of the reproductive organs are 
 closely reflected on the voice, and that treatment directed 
 to these organs, without any application to the vocal 
 organs, will relieve them and restore the voice. 
 
 There is often an inability to concentrate the mind on 
 any subject, such as writing a letter or reading an article 
 in the paper, or a chapter in the Bible. The mind wan- 
 ders away in every direction. When brought back by an 
 effort of the will, one is liable to be soon lost again in 
 reverie. Closely allied to this deficient mental control, is. 
 the saying of one thing, meaning another ; saying 
 sometimes the very opposite of what one meant to say ; 
 saying sometimes what it was wished to avoid. 
 
 There may be an irritability of mind, a disposition to
 
 6/4 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 fret and become irascible over trifles which, when feeling 
 well and calm, would have no influence upon her. The 
 flurries of domestic life, the cares of the house, disap- 
 pointments and vexations, even the noise and play of 
 children, become a source of distress. 
 
 Hopelessness is another symptom. A person may be 
 dying in the last stages of consumption or some incurable 
 disease, and yet be hopeful. But in nervous exhaustion 
 she is without hope. Her friends may laugh at her and 
 ridicule her for talking, or even thinking of dying, but she 
 is hopeless, because her nerve-force is so reduced that the 
 mere holding on of life seems to be a burden too heavy to 
 bear. Closely allied to this symptom of hopelessness is a 
 morbid fear. Fear is indeed a first law of Nature, but, 
 when the nerve-force of the system is being exhausted, the 
 tendency in this direction becomes intensified, and the 
 patient is afraid of everything. Should the door-bell 
 ring she is startled, her "heart comes into her mouth." 
 If a cloud rise in the horizon, she cannot be still, but paces 
 the floor in unrest, fearing a terrible storm that will destroy 
 everything. 
 
 Such patients frequently shun society and can scarcely 
 be induced to attend church, much as has been their habit 
 to do so. They are ever manufacturing trivial excuses for 
 remaining at home. 
 
 Flushing and figitiness characterize the patient. This 
 class of patients are easily flushed by any slight emotion, 
 and are unable to keep still. The disposition to blush 
 from the slightest possible mental or physical causes,
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 6/5 
 
 extending not only over the face and ears, but down the 
 neck, and perhaps to other parts of the body, is very 
 common. 
 
 Inability to sleep, called insomnia, is a usual symptom 
 of nerve exhaustion, and affects persons in a great variety 
 of ways. One finds no trouble in getting to sleep on 
 retiring, but soon wakes, and must remain awake for the 
 rest of the night. Another rolls and tumbles for hours 
 before she can get to sleep. When once asleep, she does 
 not usually wake until morning. Others sleep in naps. 
 Bad dreams constantly harass the patient. Why a person 
 disturbed with indigestion or affected with nervous exhaus- 
 tion should dream of snakes and monsters, and not of 
 green bowers and gardens of flowers ; of death and murder 
 instead of delightful society and pleasant associations, is 
 only explained upon the principle that a healthy functional 
 action of the nervous system is designed to be in the main 
 pleasurable, and that unpleasant dreams are the manifes- 
 tations of nervous suffering, and, like physical pain, are a 
 symptom of some abnormal condition. 
 
 But nervous exhaustion not infrequently, with some 
 patients, produces the very opposite effect. They are 
 listless and drowsy the greater portion of the time. Some 
 cannot sit down to read or sew without experiencing an 
 inability to keep awake, and perhaps in a moment the 
 book or work falls from their hands and nothing is accom- 
 plished. 
 
 A peculiar symptom of nerve-exhaustion, and one 
 frequently observed, is tenderness of the teeth, accom-
 
 676 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 panied with a'whitish or pale appearance of the gums. In 
 these attacks, all the teeth may be very tender on pressure, 
 although not decayed. In this disease, which has its 
 origin in the great centers of sensation, it is not surprising 
 to find pain or tenderness of any part of the body, as may 
 be seen from a review of the symptoms we have been 
 presenting. 
 
 In a great variety of cases, nervous dyspepsia is the 
 first noticeable symptom of nervous exhaustion the first 
 sign that the body is giving away. The stomach may be 
 functionally deranged for a long time before there is any 
 other manifestation that the nervous system is failing. 
 This species of disease should not be confounded with 
 indigestion ; that is the result of organic disease of the 
 stomach, such as chronic inflammation or other disturb- 
 ances interfering with a proper disposition of its contents. 
 
 In nervous dyspepsia the patients feel worse when the 
 stomach is empty, and are relieved by eating, their great- 
 est distress being before meals ; they are unable to perform 
 any labor, either mental or physical, on an empty stomach, 
 without more or less suffering, such as pain in the eyes, 
 pain in the head, and general nervous distress all over the 
 .body. The symptoms of nervous dyspepsia are very 
 unstable, coming and going, and changing frequently. 
 This form of dyspepsia is apt to be associated with other 
 nervous symptoms in other parts of the body, and is most 
 commonly found among persons of nervous temperament. 
 Treatment directed to the nervous system benefits them, 
 whether or not that treatment have any special beneficial 
 effect upon the stomach itself.
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 6/7 
 
 No appetite for fluids at meals or at other times is 
 another evidence of nervous exhaustion. Many nervous 
 patients have said that they rarely take a drink of any 
 fluid, having as little, if not less, desire for fluids than for 
 solids. Hence, both in eating and drinking they are 
 limited to starving quantities, because the stomach suffers 
 if they take liquid as much as if they took food. When 
 we remember that the body is composed mostly of water, 
 we can easily see there is a danger of starving for the 
 want of simple liquid, just as, under the influence of our 
 civilization, we are starving for the want of fatty food.' 
 
 Desire for stimulants and narcotics is a symptom of 
 nervous debility. Whenever the nervous system grows 
 feeble and unable to stand alone without some support, 
 it begins to cast about itself for some convenient prop on 
 which to lean. Artificial stimulants, which are always at 
 hand, present themselves, and kindly tender the proffered 
 aid by affording ease and comfort. Hence the patients 
 try chloral, chloroform, opium and alcohol for relief from 
 their troubles, and they try again, until the appetite for 
 such stimulants is acquired. Thus many individuals 
 become slaves to the drug-shop. 
 
 Sweating of the hands and feet, especially sweating of 
 the palm of the hand, is a very common symptom of 
 nervous exhaustion. The cases of this kind are frequently 
 mild, and do not attract special attention unless referred 
 to. There are others that are very severe, and the quanti- 
 ties of liquid discharged are incredibly large. Patients 
 suffering in this way, on going to church for a couple of
 
 678 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 hours will often need several pocket-handkerchiefs, and 
 they will all be saturated with the excessive perspiration. 
 
 Tenderness of the spine, either in part or through its 
 entire length, is a well-marked symptom of nervous 
 exhaustion. When this tenderness becomes excessive, it 
 is sometimes called spinal irritation. No matter what 
 name you give it, it has its origin and source from an 
 exhausted condition of the nervous forces of the system. 
 This is a very common complaint, especially in large cities, 
 and, should you undertake to examine the spines of all 
 the ladies who live in the most fashionable avenues of the 
 city, you would find, in a large percentage of the subjects 
 between the ages of fifteen and fifty, marked tenderness 
 either of the whole length of the spine, or, more likely, at 
 certain spots, as between the shoulders, at the nape of the 
 neck, or below the kidneys. Such patients often com- 
 plain of crawling, creeping, or burning sensations ; others 
 of tenderness of the shoulder-blades or hip-bones, of the 
 breast-bone, and, indeed, of the whole surface of the 
 body. The pain of the back is accompanied with peculiar 
 manifestations. There may be a sense of pain all along 
 the spine, yet no tenderness. Conversely, there may be 
 found manifest tenderness without the patient having com- 
 plained of any pain. This condition will be found on 
 examining any other part of the body. 
 
 There is, in some patients, a dead weight in the loins, 
 which is a source of great distress. It may be brought on 
 or aggravated by undue physical exertion. The heart, as 
 might be expected, readily sympathizes with this
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 6/9 
 
 exhausted condition of the nervous system. The pulse is 
 irregular, beating at times fast and again slowly in quick 
 succession. These changes may take place two or three 
 times in a minute. However, the pulse is generally fre- 
 quent, beating from seventy-five to over a hundred per 
 minute. Occasionally the pulse becomes very slow, 
 sometimes with palpitation of the heart. It is quite apt 
 to become very irregular and irritable, the beats being 
 perceptible and painful, and many patients, when sitting 
 quite still, are able to count the pulsations of the heart, 
 manifesting a degree of suffering at every pulsation. The 
 sight of a stranger always puts the pulse up to a greater 
 degree of frequency, and the very act of examining it fre- 
 quently sends it off in the same way. 
 
 Local spasms of the muscles and convulsive movements 
 on going to sleep are ills that trouble these nervous suffer- 
 ers. Sometimes you will observe a single muscle of the face 
 twitch. It maybe slight, or may become quite annoying, 
 not only to the individual herself, but to her associates. 
 Sometimes there is a violent spasm of the muscles of 
 the limbs or body that is almost painful, just as the 
 patient is dropping off to sleep, and at times it almost 
 throws her out of bed. A feeling of numbness in any 
 part of the head or limbs is a symptom of this disease, 
 and one that frequently produces unnecessary alarm, 
 patients fearing that they are threatened with paralysis or 
 serious maladies. The face, the top of the head, the 
 arms, fingers, legs, feet and toes are the parts usually 
 affected. Sometimes there are flying, stinging, pricking
 
 680 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 sensations as though pins were entering the skin ; also an 
 unusual tendency for the feet and hands to go to sleep on 
 a very slight pressure. Sitting on a hard chair, riding in 
 a street-car, omnibus or carriage may cause the foot to go 
 to sleep when it would not have done so in health. 
 
 Itching, occurring without any visible change in the 
 appea'rance of the skin, is a very common experience in 
 this disease, and is at times persistent. It may be con- 
 fined to a very limited surface the head or face, the 
 arms or legs, or the local seats of itching, and may vary 
 with the general condition of the system. 
 
 A sudden giving way of the functions of the body, 
 which prostrates the patient, will be experienced at 
 times. 
 
 A patient at one part of the day may feel able to get 
 about her work, or walk a distance to a neighbor's ; at 
 another may not feel able to cross the street or be out of 
 bed. Many of the diseases belonging to women are 
 caused from this extreme nervous exhaustion. It has 
 long been the custom among physicians to attribute all 
 the nervous troubles of which women complain to disturb- 
 ances of some kind or other in the uterine organs. These 
 are fruitful sources of a long and crooked line of bodily 
 and nervous ailments. But nervous exhaustion is as 
 frequently a source of uterine complaints, as the derange- 
 ments of the uterus and its accompanying organs are the 
 creators of all that long list of nervous affections that are 
 so frequently chronicled in the calls of the daily practi- 
 tioner.
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 68 1 
 
 Every physician who has given the cause of uterine 
 congestion, displacements and inflammation, and espe- 
 cially uterine and ovarian irritability, special thought cannot 
 have failed to observe that they are the result of unhealthy 
 nutrition. This unhealthy nutrition is the result of the 
 general unhealthy condition of the whole system. 
 
 It follows, then, if the reasoning be correct, that to 
 remove and remedy many of these female diseases we 
 should strike our heaviest blow at the real source, and 
 rigidly apply such constitutional treatment as will tend to 
 restore the lost vitality. It should not be understood that 
 the many local appliances used to remedy disorders of the 
 female organs are useless. They should be used only as 
 auxiliaries and not as the principal factors of the treat- 
 ment. 
 
 It has long been the custom of many medical men, in 
 treating female weaknesses by agents of various kinds, to 
 apply them locally to the organ upon which the disease is 
 manifesting itself, without fully weighing all the evidence 
 in the case. Would it not manifestly be more intelligent 
 to first determine whether the organ complained of be in 
 a state of disorder, or whether these symptoms of local 
 disturbance be but the reflex action of the nervous system, 
 and the organ affected be remotely situated from the 
 apparent seat of the distress complained of ? It would 
 certainly not be very appropriate, in cases of disturbances 
 of the digestive organs, which are frequently caused 
 through this reflex influence of the nerves in pregnancy, 
 to attribute the vomiting to chronic inflammation of the
 
 682 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 stomach, and direct the treatment accordingly. Yet this 
 is just as rational and beneficial treatment as much of the 
 medication practiced by physicians for the cure of many 
 of the diseases of the organs of generation. 
 
 For example, a woman suffering from prolapsus of the 
 uterus consults her physician about the nature and cause 
 of her ailment. He tells her that, on account of the 
 relaxed condition of the muscles and ligaments by which 
 it is supported, it is permitted to fall below its normal 
 position, and the result is the inconvenience and suffering 
 she experiences. " What am I to do ? I cannot get 
 about and attend to my household duties. " He replies, 
 I will introduce a support, or pessary, which will keep 
 the prolapsed organ in its place, until its natural sup- 
 port is rested and restored to its normal condition. " 
 One cannot condemn unqualifiedly the use of pessaries in 
 the treatment of displacements of the uterus ; but to rely 
 on them to overcome the enfeebled condition of the natu- 
 ral supports of the organ is manifestly insufficient treat- 
 ment, and cannot accomplish the ends sought. 
 
 Why are the physical supports which have been pro- 
 vided by Nature to perform this work so weakened and 
 relaxed as to be utterly unable to perform their accustomed 
 functions ? There is but one rational answer that can be 
 given to this important question namely, want of 
 healthy nutrition, which is the primary cause of debility 
 in any organ of the body. Hence, if we would overcome 
 the relaxation of these natural supports, it will only be 
 effected by restoring a healthy nutrition. This cannot be
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 683 
 
 accomplished entirely through the medium of rest. Exer- 
 cise is as indispensably necessary to health as is rest. 
 There is no more certain method of producing debility in 
 any or all of the organs of either the mental or physical 
 man than want of use. To demonstrate this requires the 
 merest casual observation ; compare the physical power 
 of the individual who labors with the one who does not, 
 or the mental power of the student with that of the person 
 who does not use his brain. It will be seen, then, that to 
 depend upon rest through the medium of the pessary 
 alone would only increase the debility instead of over- 
 coming it. 
 
 Treatment. 
 
 The treatment should aim to restore the lost forces of 
 the system through the medium of hygiene, digestion, 
 assimilation and medication, with proper attention to the 
 local manifestations. The adoption of any hobby or arbi- 
 trary rule, to be followed with all patients, will not accom- 
 plish the end sought. As well might the mariner, starting 
 upon a voyage, undertake to set the helm so as to direct 
 his vessel into the objective port. He must stand at the 
 wheel and accommodate the rudder to the shifting winds 
 and currents. So with the treatment of any disease. It 
 must be varied so as to be suitably adapted to all the 
 changes that will develop in the progress of restoration. 
 There are idiosyncrasies in every constitution that must be 
 respected.
 
 684 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 When one mode of treatment fails to accomplish the 
 desired end, another should be adopted. Notwithstanding 
 the great number of this class of patients, we find no two 
 of them exactly alike in every particular. As well might 
 you undertake to find alike two blades of striped grass. 
 There will be a difference in the many shades. So that if 
 two be treated precisely in the same way, it is very proba- 
 ble that one of them is treated wrong. A suspension of 
 treatment entirely for a period is often attended with bene- 
 ficial effects. 
 
 Patients insist upon " doing something " all the time, 
 but rest in treatment is often like rest in anything else a 
 source of much good. A very noted character made the 
 remark that success in life depends on learning how 
 long it takes to succeed ; but it also frequently depends on 
 knowing just where to stop. So in the practice of medicine, 
 this is certainly sound doctrine. To know where to stop, 
 to rest, or modify the treatment, is one of the best tests of 
 medical skill. One great difficulty in the way of patients 
 undertaking to medicate themselves is their tendency to 
 overdo whatever means may be used, not satisfied unless 
 they are forever pouring something into their stomachs. 
 This disposition to be taking something continually often 
 compromises the better judgment of their physician. 
 Oftentimes he may feel as though the best thing for him to 
 do, at this particular crisis, is absolutely nothing ; but 
 knowing the feeling of the patient or friends on this 
 point, he " arbitrates his judgment," and yields to their 
 importunity.
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 68$ 
 
 But we have intimated that hygiene is an important 
 element in the successful treatment of nervous exhaustion. 
 This factor in the practice of medicine is too often over- 
 looked, and is not given that credit that its importance 
 demands. Skill and judgment are as necessary for its 
 proper and successful administration as they are in any 
 department of medication. To vary it according to the 
 physical condition of each patient or of the same patient 
 at different times and in different circumstances, will 
 require the exercise of the best judgment and experience. 
 Some cases may require quite vigorous out-door exercise ; 
 others should only be allowed very moderate exercise ; on 
 others still, the most absolute rest should be enjoined. 
 There may be a necessity for and great benefit derived by 
 attention to exercise and rest. 
 
 a There is oftentimes a very practical mistake made in 
 shutting up some patients who need exercise, and exhort- 
 ing others to work and travel who should be kept in bed. 
 Diet, also, should be varied, to meet the special necessities 
 of each particular case. The theory of starvation that 
 has had its advocates and worshipers, to the disadvantage 
 of many sufferers afflicted with some of the phases of 
 nervous trouble, is being supplanted by another doctrine 
 equally pernicious in its effects. It is that of feeding 
 patients beyond their powers of digestion and assimilation. 
 Great care must be exercised to accommodate the quantity 
 and quality of the food to the absolute wants of the 
 patient. While some may need to be cautioned and even 
 restricted in regard to quantity, others must be coaxed 
 and tempted to eat more than is their custom.
 
 686 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 Abstaining from food consisting of starch and sugars, 
 or using these substances but moderately, and supplying 
 their place by as free use as the stomach will allow of fats, 
 oils, fish, oysters, butter, and milk, is a potent adjunct 
 to the treatment. The great need, in much of the 
 food which is used to-day, is a more liberal supply of fat, 
 in such form as the stomach will digest and assimilate. 
 Time was when persons ate large quantities of fat meat 
 and greasy substances in boiled dinners. Thus, from their 
 daily meals, they received all the fat necessary to supply 
 the demands of the system, and perhaps more. But now 
 " boiled dinners " have been dropped from the dietary and 
 poverty of the blood, " which is the life" follows in conse- 
 quence. If fats be not an important element in the 
 constructive process of the animal economy, why do 
 patients suffering from some wasting disease, as consump* 
 tion, uniformly improve if they can take and assimilate 
 oily emulsions? 
 
 Some persons who live in the cities and board at 
 fashionable hotels or boarding-houses, and are accustomed 
 to eat large quantities of rich, highly-seasoned food, with 
 but little exercise, develop many symptoms of nervous 
 exhaustion. When they are restricted to a more plain 
 and limited diet, with no other treatment, they get well. 
 On the other hand, patients on account of ailments such 
 as described, have dropped one article after another from 
 their diet, until they reduced it to natural elements " bread 
 and water," and maintained that even those gave them dis- 
 comfort. On being told that they were starving them-
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 68/ 
 
 selves they have ordered a more liberal and general diet, 
 and soon, without any other treatment, have regained 
 their lost strength. 
 
 Even in cases of nervous dyspepsia it is a mistake to 
 be over-rigid in diet. Starvation of the body increases 
 the very weakness of the stomach itself, and thus makes 
 the indigestion worse, for the stomach itself needs 
 the nourishment. 
 
 In cases where the stomach is weak and the exhaustion 
 profound, the patient may be nourished through the 
 rectum. This can be done by injections of filtrated blood 
 or by milk, or by the juice of beef. Patients who have 
 been nourished and medicated in this way for weeks gain 
 strength and get well. The stomach returns to the 
 discharge of its accustomed functions. 
 
 In some instances it will be well to try, for a limited 
 period of time, a radical change of food. A mixed diet 
 should be abandoned, and an entirely vegetable one 
 substituted. Beneficial mental impressions are thus 
 effected, the sudden change giving stimulus to the nervous 
 functions. A diet composed largely of milk, will be found 
 invaluable, especially in some forms of nervous dyspepsia. 
 If it do not seem to agree with the stomach, and the 
 patient be disposed to belch, lime-water may be added, 
 in the proportion of one part lime-water and three parts 
 milk. 
 
 Koumyss is comparatively a new remedy in this 
 country, and has the double advantage of being food for 
 the body and a sedative to the nervous system. Its power
 
 688 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 to produce sleep is very great. It is a means of nourish- 
 ing the body without disturbing or even using the stomach 
 to any very great degree. Koumyss is really digested 
 milk, and is absorbed and taken up into the system with- 
 out any special strain upon the digestive organs. It is 
 claimed, upon reputable authority, that, from experiments 
 made, it was pretty clearly proven that the alcohol of the 
 koumyss was not eliminated from the system, but used up. 
 This remedy has been used but little perhaps on account 
 of ignorance in its manufacture. A formula for making it 
 is appended. 
 
 One quart of pure milk. 
 
 Two tablespoonfuls of sugar dissolved in water over a 
 fire, sufficient only used to make a solution. 
 
 One-fourth of a two-cent cake of yeast. 
 
 Put all into a strong quart bottle, and let stand over 
 night or for six hours at a temperature of from 50 to 90 
 Fahrenheit. Then place in an ice-box to preserve, and it 
 is ready for use. 
 
 When there is no debility of the stomach, frequent 
 feeding is oftentimes beneficial. Any kind of light, 
 nutritious food may be taken. The intervals may be 
 fifteen minutes to two hours. Cases are known where it 
 was made the business of an attendant to simply feed the 
 patient at certain intervals, varying them according to the 
 result obtained. There is a class of invalids who can 
 moderately exercise and keep on with their business while 
 taking some treatment. They have need to exercise much 
 care and need to be cautioned, lest they overdo their
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 689 
 
 strength. The best rule to adopt, in all their exercise, is 
 to stop short of much fatigue. 
 
 There is a time to work and a time to rest in the 
 management of nervous diseases. Some patients suffering 
 from irritation of the spine need absolute rest, and should 
 go to bed. Others, suffering only from an overworked 
 brain, would be benefited by exercise light work for 
 both body and brain. Frequent change of work is to be 
 advised. Steady activity, not in any single direction, 
 resting by alteration of work, is advisable. 
 
 Rest and isolation may, in some cases, be highly 
 advantageous. Shut the patient up in a room and keep 
 her in bed and entirely free from company, so that the 
 entire system is rested. Improvement in flesh is very 
 soon seen, and followed by a corresponding increase of 
 strength. Among the difficulties of this kind of treat- 
 ment are the prejudices and whims of friends, and the 
 apprehension of the patient herself, thinking confinement 
 is more burdensome than it really proves to be after a fair 
 trial. When the arrangements are made and the patient 
 has put herself under the treatment, she usually finds it 
 comparatively easy, in a short time becomes perfectly 
 reconciled to her new mode of life, and begins to " fat up," 
 and with the fat becomes a new life and more strength. 
 
 Nervous brain -workers do not need always to suspend 
 all brain labor. It is better, that the mind be actively 
 though pleasantly employed. This may be proved from 
 men who have given up all brain work. They become 
 frequently the most nervous patients that can be found.
 
 690 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 When a muscle becomes weakened through disease, we 
 try to strengthen it through passive and moderately active 
 exercise, believing that thereby its nutrition is improved. 
 The brain must be governed by the same law. The feeble 
 and tired brain, like the feeble and tired muscle, needs a 
 certain amount of exercise. Intellectual labor of the 
 higher order frequently saves friction from the emotions 
 of the lower order, and thereby becomes a remedial 
 agent. 
 
 It is not to be expected that mental treatment alone is 
 all that is necessary to restore these nervous patients to 
 their accustomed health. In addition to all that we have 
 said, due regard must be given to such agents as massage, 
 electricity, and medication. No matter if the mind be a 
 strong force, it is not the only force that can be used for 
 the control of functional nervous affections. Errors seem 
 to have arisen from the belief that the symptoms we 
 attribute to exhaustion of the nervous system are merely 
 imaginary, and have no real objective existence, and, that 
 they are to be expelled by the same influence the 
 patient's own mind. We will not undertake to deny that 
 the emotions, by long dwelling upon the body, may excite 
 various diseases. Still, diseases so caused are as real, as 
 serious, often, as diseases excited in any other way. They 
 may need active treatment, and can no more be blown 
 away by a few words of encouragement than can an 
 attack of fever. 
 
 The treatment by medication that seems to be best 
 adapted to the alleviation of these nervous affections
 
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF NERVE EXHAUSTION. 691 
 
 should, of course, be administered at the hand of a 
 competent physician. It may be indicated in the following 
 order : 
 
 Ergot seems to suit many patients, perhaps on account 
 of its power to contract the blood-vessels, and thereby 
 overcome congestion. 
 
 Arsenic in various forms, though a potent remedy, 
 and to be carefully watched, is well worthy of trial. 
 
 Caffeine, in some of its preparations, is another remedy 
 that has been proved to have a salutary effect under 
 depressed conditions of the system, sick headache, back- 
 ache, etc. 
 
 Coca will be found a very sustaining tonic in abstain- 
 ing from food and relieves the pain and uneasiness that 
 follow over-exertion. 
 
 The preparations of zinc, particularly the bromide 
 valerianate and oxide are valuable sedatives. 
 
 The bromides generally are useful. Bromide of potas- 
 sium has perhaps been used to excess, and thereby abused, 
 as any remedy may be. 
 
 Nux vomica, or strychnia, in many cases, does much 
 good. It is well to use it with other remedies, as 
 quinia. 
 
 The mineral acids are old remedies. They have not 
 lost caste, and are still good. 
 
 Electricity is well worthy of a place among the agents 
 used for nervous patients. It should have a fair trial. 
 Baths should not be neglected, as they certainly are 
 important auxiliaries in the treatment. Massage is an
 
 692 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. 
 
 excellent adjunct to other treatment, especially with those 
 persons who cannot take exercise. It should be system- 
 atic. This is performed in four general ways : 
 
 1. Simply pinching the skin. This is done all over the 
 body. 
 
 2. Pinching the muscles. This is done with both 
 hands, which grasp deeply as much of the muscle as 
 possible. The hands should be well oiled. 
 
 3. Tapping and beating, or percussion. The body may 
 be gently hammered with the hand, pleximeter, fingers, or 
 balls. This method has the advantage of sending vibra- 
 tions to parts remote from the first point touched. 
 
 4. Passive movements of the joints All the joints 
 in the body or limbs are moved backward and forward, 
 and rotated each a number of times. 
 
 The effects of massage when thoroughly performed 
 and carried out are highly beneficial, quickening and 
 equalizing the circulation, producing a quieting effect, 
 promoting sleep and giving relief from pain, and that 
 miserable nervous condition worse than pain. The bowels 
 should be thoroughly kneaded, especially in constipation, 
 and in displacements of the uterus and diseases of the 
 stomach and liver. Farther directions in this method of 
 treatment are given in another part of this work.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Abdomen, changes in, during pregnancy 417 
 
 Abdominal pains during pregnancy, causes of 570 
 
 Abortion, deaths from 400 
 
 Abortion, methods of producing 395 
 
 Abortion the greatest of crimes 391 
 
 Accidental dysmenorrhea 207 
 
 Accomplishments of the maiden 245 
 
 Acquirement of polite accomplishments, purpose of. 250 
 
 Acute suppression of the menses 191 
 
 Adolescence 175 
 
 After-pains in child-birth 593 
 
 Age of puberty 178 
 
 Air and light of the nursery 55 
 
 Air space required in lying-in sick-room 5* 
 
 Amenorrhea, or suppression of the menses 188 
 
 Amusements, physically and mentally 141 
 
 Anteversion, causes of 653 
 
 Aphonia, or loss of voice 227 
 
 Appetite a sign of pregnancy 422 
 
 Application of" the bandage." 23 
 
 Approach of the menses, evidence of 176 
 
 Artificial nursing, effects of 68 
 
 Atmospheric causes of disease 6 561 
 
 Atrophy or undeveloped ovaries ...,. n ,,.,,,,.,..,. 662 
 
 B 
 
 Bandage after confinement, how applied 23 
 
 Barrenness '. 402 
 
 Barrenness, causes of 406 
 
 Bathing in cold water 30 
 
 Bathing infant, proper time for 28 
 
 Bathing of the infant 25 
 
 Bathing the infant, condition of water in 28 
 
 Baching the infant improperly, effect of 29 
 
 693
 
 694 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Bathing, use of soap in 27 
 
 Bed-chamber, furniture in 338 
 
 Bed-chamber of a parturient woman 511 
 
 Bed-chamber, requisites of 337 
 
 Bed-chamber, size of 456 
 
 Bed-chamber, the model 338 
 
 Bed-chamber, ventilation of 338 
 
 Bed-clothing, cleanliness of 513 
 
 Bed, clothing of , , 512 
 
 Bed-clothing, necessity of airing 39 
 
 Bed, constituents of a good 341 
 
 Bed-coverings, proper care of 342 
 
 Bed, location of 512 
 
 Bed, number of days to keep the , 508 
 
 Bed, preparation to leave 508 
 
 Bed, the 340 
 
 Birthmarks 466 
 
 Bowels, laxative for moving the 509 
 
 Bowels, treatment of 504 
 
 Breasts, changes in, during pregnancy 416 
 
 Business qualifications of the husband 291 
 
 c 
 
 Carbonic acid gas 338 
 
 Care of the teeth 83 
 
 Causes for limitation of offspring 376 
 
 Causes of disease 558 
 
 Causes of disease, atmospheric 561 
 
 Causes of disease in general 555 
 
 Causes of dysmenorrhea 204 
 
 Causes of functional disorders 187 
 
 Causes of hysteria 222 
 
 Cause of irritations and eruptions on infants 26 
 
 Causes of nervous exhaustion 671 
 
 Causes of piles 585 
 
 Cessation of menses 536 
 
 Cessation of menses a law of nature 54 2 
 
 Celibacy 547 
 
 Celibacy, advantages of , 549 
 
 Celibacy, disadvantages of 55 J 
 
 Celibacy, social advantages of. 55 
 
 Ceremony of the wedding 300 
 
 Chafing, causes and treatment of 99
 
 INDEX. 695 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Change oflife ' 535 
 
 Change of life a law of nature 542 
 
 Change of life, incidents attending 537 
 
 Change of life, physical and mental disturbances caused by 538 
 
 Change of life, treatment during 540 
 
 Changes wrought by puberty 175 
 
 Child-bed fever, nature of 610 
 
 Child-birth, after-pains in 593 
 
 Child, bowels of 504 
 
 Child, conditions of the mind of the 131 
 
 Child, diet of 120 
 
 Child, errors in diet of the 119 
 
 Child, food of the 1 19 
 
 Childhood, innocent pleasures of 141 
 
 Child, influence of digestive process on the mind of the 131 
 
 Child, proper indulgence of the 150 
 
 Child to breast, putting the 503 
 
 Children, blessing to a home 363 
 
 Children, twins, triplets, etc. , at a birth 432 
 
 Child, unnatural developments 463 
 
 Child, what may be known before birth of the 428 
 
 Chlorosis 213 
 
 Chlorosis, time of occurrence 214 
 
 Chorea, or St. Vitus' dance 215 
 
 Chorea, or St. Vitus' dance, treatment of 218 
 
 Chorea, symptoms of. 216 
 
 Chronic inflammation of the womb, treatment of 641 
 
 Clavus hystericus 230 
 
 Cleanliness, importance of 506 
 
 Clothing, change of the 507 
 
 Clothing of infants 31 
 
 Clothing of new-born infant 22 
 
 Coition, debilitating effect of 349 
 
 Colds, causes and treatment of 102 
 
 Cold water bath for children 30 
 
 Colic, menstrual. . '. 177 
 
 Commencement of menstruation 178 
 
 Complications resulting from whooping-cough 109 
 
 Conception, effects of vaginal injection to prevent 400 
 
 Conception, evil effects of preventives of 390 
 
 Conception not possible at certain period 386 
 
 Conception not possible during lactation 385 
 
 Conception, preventives of 388 
 
 Conception, use and effect of means to prevent 400 
 
 Condom, effects of the use of 400
 
 696 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Confinement, articles of dress for , 477 
 
 Confinement, attendants during, hints for 481 
 
 Confinement, bandage for 477 
 
 Confinement, child's clothing 478 
 
 Confinement, preparations for 477 
 
 Confinement, proportions of bandage for 477 
 
 Confinement, temporary dressing of the bed during 481 
 
 Confinement, the bed for . ' 480 
 
 Confinement, the rooms in 479 
 
 Congestive dysmenorrhea 207 
 
 Congress, painful 358 
 
 Conjugal faithfulness 347 
 
 Conjugal love essential 348 
 
 Consanguinity to be considered in marriage 271 
 
 Constipation 57 
 
 Constipation, causes of 572 
 
 Constipation of pregnancy 415 
 
 Constipation, treatment of 573 
 
 Constipation, treatment of, by dietetical method 573 
 
 Constipation, treatment of, by medicinal means 574 
 
 Constipation, treatment of, by Swedish movement cure 576 
 
 Continence a virtue 369 
 
 Contract of marriage, importance of 311 
 
 Convulsions, hysterical 226 
 
 Convulsions of infants, causes of 86 
 
 Convulsions of infants, treatment of 87 
 
 Convulsions, puerperal, symptoms and causes of 607 
 
 Convulsions, puerperal, treatment of. 608 
 
 Costiveness of infants, causes and treatment of , 91 
 
 Costiveness, treatment of 510 
 
 Courtship, deception practiced during 266 
 
 Courtship, purpose of 253, 262 
 
 Covering of new-born infant, how to remove 22 
 
 Cow's milk for infants, how prepared 48 
 
 Creative power belongs to woman ,. 35 2 
 
 Croup, kinds, symptoms and treatment of 104 
 
 Crying of infant, causes of 50 
 
 D 
 
 Danger in weaning, sources of 65 
 
 Dangers of feeding children 68 
 
 Death of husband, influence of upon wife 543 
 
 Death rate among children, cause of 349
 
 INDEX. 697 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Deaths from abortion 400 
 
 Definition of disease 556 
 
 Definition of health 557 
 
 Deformities, how to prevent 518 
 
 Derangement of menstruation, diseases from 213 
 
 Diaper, how to apply 24 
 
 Diarrhea, causes of 581 
 
 Diarrhea during pregnancy 415 
 
 Diarrhea, treatment of 582 
 
 Dicrotic pulse explained. 564 
 
 Diet at the age of puberty . 183 
 
 Dietetical method of treating constipation 573 
 
 Diet for mother 521 
 
 Diet for the pregnant 416 
 
 Diet of the mother after child-birth 505 
 
 Diphtheria, symptoms of the disease 95 
 
 Diphtheria, treatment of 96 
 
 Disease, ascertained causes of 560 
 
 Disease, atmospheric causes of 561 
 
 Disease caused by certain vocations 561 
 
 Disease caused by excessive sleep 562 
 
 Disease caused by mental toil 562 
 
 Disease, definition of 556 
 
 Disease, examples of symptoms of 567 
 
 Disease, general causes of; 135 
 
 Disease, how may be averted 559 
 
 Disease in general, causes of 555 
 
 Disease, "predisposing causes" of 559 
 
 Disease, principal causes of 558 
 
 Diseases caused by intemperate habits 561 
 
 Diseases from derangement of menstruation 213 
 
 Diseases of infancy 84 
 
 Diseases of the vulva 625 
 
 Diseases of the vulva, treatment of 626 
 
 Diseases of women 553 
 
 Disease, variety of causes of 560 
 
 Disorders of the uterus 646 
 
 Displacement of the ovaries 661, 663 
 
 Displacement of the womb, causes of 648 
 
 Displacement of the womb, treatment for 655 
 
 Divorce 316 
 
 Dress, errors in, causes of disease 139 
 
 Dress, importance of 161 
 
 Dress of infant 26 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, accidental 207
 
 698 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, causes of 204 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, congestive 207 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, hygiene of 210 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, inflammatory 208 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, obstructive 208 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation 203 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, simple 206 
 
 Dysmenorrhea, symptoms of 204 
 
 E 
 
 Earache, cause and treatment of 98 
 
 Eczema, form of 632 
 
 Eczema of the labia, treatment of 637 
 
 Eczema, treatment of 634 
 
 Education of the young woman, purpose of 247 
 
 Effect of improper bathing of infant 29 
 
 Electrical treatment for nervous exhaustion 691 
 
 Enlarged veins, treatment of 589 
 
 Engagement of marriage, when to make 252 
 
 Engagements, breaking of 255 
 
 Engagements, long and short 254 
 
 Epoch, the new 331 
 
 Eruptions and irritations on infants, causes of 26 
 
 Evidence of the approach of the menses 1 76 
 
 Evil effects of preventives of conception 390 
 
 Excessive menstruation, or menorrhagia 197 
 
 Excess, physical and moral effects 354 
 
 Exercise at the age of puberty 183 
 
 Exercise of the infant 41 
 
 Exhaustion from disturbed menstruation 237 
 
 Exhaustion of nervous system, treatment for 683 
 
 Exhaustion of the nervous system 667 
 
 Exhaustion, treatment for 239 
 
 Expectation of offspring 362 
 
 Extent to which offspring should be limited 376 
 
 F 
 
 Fashion, influence of 164 
 
 Feather beds 340 
 
 Feather beds, objections to 342 
 
 Feeding children, dangers of 68 
 
 Feeding infant, proper times for 52
 
 INDEX. 699 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Feeding or nursing infants ." 43 
 
 Feeding infant to excess, effect of 59 
 
 First sight, love at 256 
 
 Filial love 279 
 
 Filiform pulse explained 564 
 
 Follicular inflammation of the vulva, nature and treatment of 628 
 
 Food for infant after weaning, kind of 64 
 
 Food of infants 47 
 
 Food of parturient women 514 
 
 Food of school-girls 134 
 
 Fresh air in living-rooms 339 
 
 Frugality of the husband , 288 
 
 Q 
 
 \ 
 
 Gaseous pulse explained 564 
 
 General appearance of pregnant women 420 
 
 General exhaustion from disturbed menstruation 237 
 
 Genitals, pruritis of 629 
 
 Government, discipline of 166. 
 
 Government of childhood 165 
 
 Government, undue severity in 169 
 
 Government, when to begin 168 
 
 H 
 
 Habits on puberty, influence of 181 
 
 Hair of parturient women, dressing of 513 
 
 Hard pulse explained 564 
 
 Health, definition of 557 
 
 Heart-burn during pregnancy 421 
 
 Hemlock boughs, use of 343 
 
 Hemorrhage after delivery 495 
 
 Hemorrhage after delivery, premonitions of 496 
 
 Hemorrhage after delivery, treatment of 496 
 
 Hemorrhages, accidental, take place when 495 
 
 Hemorrhages, treatment of 495 
 
 Hemorrhoids or piles, symptoms of 584 
 
 Heritage of children 363 
 
 Home, blessing of children to the 363 
 
 Husband and wife, relations of 343 
 
 Husband and wife, privileges of 340 
 
 Husband, how to select 270 
 
 Husband, physical constitution of 273
 
 700 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Husband, qualifications of 276 
 
 Hygiene of Dysmenorrhea. 210 
 
 Hygiene of infancy 20 
 
 Hygiene of suppressed menses 194 
 
 Hygienic treatment of menorrhagia 201 
 
 Hypertrophy or enlarged ovaries 662 
 
 Hysteria 219 
 
 Hysteria, causes of 222 
 
 Hysteria, characteristics of 231 
 
 Hysteria, manifestations of : . . . 219 
 
 Hysteria, simple 228 
 
 Hysteria, treatment of 231 
 
 Hysterical convulsions ,. 226 
 
 I 
 
 Immoral practices, duty of parents in reference to 156 
 
 Immoral practices received from playmates and nurses 155 
 
 Immoral practices, what shall be done 1 56 
 
 Importance of the teeth 81 
 
 Important office of the menses . . . 185 
 
 Improper bathing of infant, effect of 29 
 
 Improper methods of limiting offspring 387 
 
 Incidents attending change of life 537 
 
 Indigestion during pregnancy 414 
 
 Indulgences, sexual, proper and improper 348 
 
 Industry of the husband 288 
 
 Infancy, diseases of 84 
 
 Infancy, hygiene of 20 
 
 Infant, bathing of 25 
 
 Infant, causes of crying of 50 
 
 Infant, delicate organism of 18 
 
 Infant, dress of 26 
 
 Infant, first clothing of 22 
 
 Infant, first washing of : 22 
 
 Infant, how to remove mucous covering of 22 
 
 Infant learning to walk 117 
 
 Infant, proper time to sleep 37 
 
 Infant, regularity of sleep required by 36 
 
 Infants, causes of irritations and eruptions on 26 
 
 Infants, clothing of 31 
 
 Infants, feeding or nursing of 43 
 
 Infants, food of. ... 47 
 
 Infant, sleep required by 35> 37
 
 INDEX. /OI 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Infant, temperature of water in bathing 28 
 
 Infant, time for bathing , 28 
 
 Infant, what it is 17 
 
 Infant, what it may be become 17 
 
 Infant, weaning of 61 
 
 I nflammation of ovaries, treatment of 667 
 
 Inflammation of the vulva, treatment of 628 
 
 Inflammation of the womb, treatment of 639 
 
 Inflammatory dysmenorrhea 208 
 
 Influence of habits on puberty 181 
 
 Influence of race on menstruation 180 
 
 Influence of temperament on puberty 181 
 
 Influence of the death of husband upon wife 543 
 
 Inheritance, diseases of , 459 
 
 Inheritance, influence of 459 
 
 Inheritance, influence of each parent over 459 
 
 Inheritance of disease 19 
 
 Inheritance of personal qualities 460 
 
 Inheritance of physical characteristics 18 
 
 Inheritance of physical qualities 461 
 
 Insanity of lactation 602 
 
 Insanity of pregnancy 599 
 
 Insanity, puerperal 600 
 
 Insanity, puerperal, treatment of 604 
 
 Insomnia, treatment of 590 
 
 Intellectual changes in puberty 176 
 
 Intemperate habits the cause of disease 561 
 
 Intermittent pulse explained , 5^4 
 
 Inward fevers, symptoms, kinds and treatment of 610 
 
 Irritations and eruptions on infants, causes of 26 
 
 J 
 
 Jealousy of the husband -.. . 295 
 
 Jerking pulse explained 5^5 
 
 K 
 
 Kindness of the husband 280 
 
 Kinds of pulse 5 6 3 
 
 L 
 
 I^abor, attention necessary to be given mother and child during 491 
 
 Labor, how to calculate time of 482 
 
 Labor, indications of tedious 484 
 
 
 EOFA-
 
 702 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Labor, signs of approaching 483 
 
 Labor, symptoms of. 483 
 
 Labor, third stage of 488 
 
 Lactation, insanity of 602 
 
 Learning to walk 117 
 
 Leucorrhea, nature of. 614 
 
 Leucorrhea or " whites," causes of 616 
 
 Leucorrhea, treatment of 619 
 
 Life production, order of 348 
 
 Light and air of the nursery 55 
 
 Limitation must be conceded 375 
 
 Limitation of offspring 365 
 
 Limitation of offspring prompted by pure motives 372 
 
 Limiting offspring, improper methods of 387 
 
 Limiting offspring, proper methods of 380 
 
 Local spasms 679 
 
 Lochia, nature of 595 
 
 Love at first sight 256 
 
 Love defined 258 
 
 M 
 
 Maiden, accomplishments of 245 
 
 Maiden, her province in society 247 
 
 Maiden, mental and physiological changes of 242 
 
 Maiden, ornamentation in dress of 246 
 
 Maiden, the 241 
 
 Maiden-wife, embarrassment of 345 
 
 Manifestations of hysteria 219 
 
 Marital relations and privileges 343 
 
 Marriage a serious step 33 1 
 
 Marriage ceremony 300 
 
 Marriage-chamber, the 337 
 
 Marriage, consanguinity to be considered in 271 
 
 Marriage contract, its importance 311 
 
 Marriage, effect of on the health 314 
 
 Marriage engagements, when to make 252 
 
 Marriage, peculiar duties attending 348 
 
 Marriage, proper age for 269 
 
 Marriage, second time 319 
 
 Marry, right time to 298 
 
 Maternal love , 363 
 
 Mattresses 340 
 
 Mature womanhood 535 
 
 ^BJJCr,
 
 INDEX. 703 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Medical treatment of menorrhagia 202 
 
 Melancholia, nature of. 603 
 
 Membranous dysmenorrhea 208 
 
 Mennorhagia, hygienic treatment of 201 
 
 Menorrhagia, medical treatment of 202 
 
 Menorrhagia, or excessive menstruation 197 
 
 Menses, accidental suppression of 189 
 
 Menses, acute suppression of 191 
 
 Menses, cessation of 536 
 
 Menses, cessation of, a law of nature 542 
 
 Menses, constitutional suppression of. 189 
 
 Menses, evidence of the approach of 176 
 
 Menses, important office of 185 
 
 Menses, regularity of , 186 
 
 Menses, suppressed, hygiene of 194 
 
 Menses, suppressed, treatment of 195 
 
 Menses, suppression of 188 
 
 Menses, symptoms of suppression of 192 
 
 Menses, time of 184 
 
 Menses, variations in time of 185 
 
 Menstrual colic 177 
 
 Menstrual colic, treatment of 177 
 
 Menstruation 178 
 
 Menstruation, painful, causes of 204 
 
 Menstruation, commencement of 178 
 
 Menstruation, diseases from derangement of 213 
 
 Menstruation, disturbed, general exhaustion from 237 
 
 Menstruation, influence of race on 180 
 
 Menstruation, while nursing, influence of 522 
 
 Menstruation, painful 203 
 
 Menstruation, period of 176 
 
 Menstruation, process of 186 
 
 Mental and physiological changes of the maiden 242 
 
 Methods of limiting offspring 380 
 
 Milk fever and sore breasts, nature of 623 
 
 Milk fever, treatment of 624 
 
 Milk, directions for arresting secretion of 528 
 
 Milk, influence of diet on 530 
 
 Milk, influence of mind on 523 
 
 Milk-leg, causes and treatment of 596 
 
 Milk, mother's, effect of anger on 523 
 
 Milk, over-abundance of 529 
 
 Milk, scantiness of 531 
 
 Milk, to overcome suppression of 533 
 
 Mind, affections of during pregnancy 423
 
 704 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Miscarriage 468 
 
 Miscarriage, causes of 47 1 
 
 Miscarriage, influence of age of mother on 468 
 
 Miscarriage, symptoms of 472 
 
 Miscarriage, treatment of 473 
 
 Miscarriage, when most likely to occur 469 
 
 Modesty, crowning beauty in woman 340 
 
 Moral aspect of the subject of dual conception 439 
 
 Morality of the husband 296 
 
 Moral training of child 144 
 
 Moral 1 raining of child, when to commence , 149 
 
 Morning sickness and vomiting 567 
 
 Morning sickness from pregnancy, treatment of 569 
 
 Mother, condition of after child-birth 502 
 
 Mother, feelings of, with first-born child 501 
 
 Mother, responsibility of 501 
 
 Mother's milk, influence of diet on 520 
 
 Mother, the 501 
 
 Multiply and increase, meaning of 373 
 
 N 
 
 Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy 568 
 
 Nausea from pregnancy, treatment of 569 
 
 Nervous affection 423 
 
 Nervous exhaustioti 668 
 
 Nervous exhaustion, causes and symptoms of 671 
 
 Nervous exhaustion, treatment for 683 
 
 New wife ignorant of sex 355 
 
 Nipples, care of, during pregnancy 455 
 
 Nipples, care of, while nursing 518 
 
 Nipples, development of 504 
 
 Nipples, how to harden 455 
 
 Nose-bleed, how to stop 100 
 
 Nourishment in artificial nursing, how administered 70 
 
 Nourishment in artificial nursing, kind of 69 
 
 Nurse, qualifications of 5 2 4 
 
 Nursery, its arrangement, situation and management 53 
 
 Nursery, light and air of 55 
 
 Nursery, regular temperature of 59 
 
 Nursery, surroundings of 56 
 
 Nursing, care of health during 516 
 
 Nursing, diseases of 517 
 
 Nursing, frequency of 518
 
 INDEX. 705 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Nursing infant, proper times for. 52 
 
 Nursing or feeding infants 43 
 
 Nursing, regular periods for 50 
 
 Nursing, when proper 517 
 
 
 
 Objections to feather beds , 342 
 
 Obstructive Dysmenorrhea 208 
 
 Offspring 360 
 
 Offspring, expectation of 362 
 
 Offspring, improper methods of limiting 387 
 
 Offspring, limitation of , 376 
 
 Offspring limited, to what extent 376 
 
 Offspring, proper methods of limiting 380 
 
 Offspring, should it be limited 365 
 
 Onanism, evil effects of 402 
 
 Out-door exercise of the child, extent of 43 
 
 Ovarian displacements, treatment of 664 
 
 Ovaries, examination of 661 
 
 Ovaries, displacement of 661 
 
 Ovarian displacement, symptoms of 663 
 
 Ovaries, treatment of inflammation of 667 
 
 Overfeeding after weaning, results of 66 
 
 Overheated nursery, effect of 60 
 
 Overproduction 366 
 
 Over-rich diet after weaning, results of 66 
 
 P 
 
 Painful congress 358 
 
 Painful congress, derangement consequent upon 359 
 
 Painful menstruation, or dysmenorrhea 203 
 
 Pains in abdomen during pregnancy, causes of , 570 
 
 Period of menstruation 1 76 
 
 Period of teething 73, 79 
 
 Periods of sterility 404 
 
 Peritoneal fever, nature of 6ia 
 
 Phlegmasia dolens, or milk-leg 596 
 
 Physical and moral effects of excess 354 
 
 Physical injuries 354 
 
 Physiological and mental changes of the maiden 242 
 
 Piles, causes of 585 
 
 Piles or hemorrhoids, symptoms of 584
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Piles, treatment of 586 
 
 Placenta prsevia, treatment of 497 
 
 Position of mother while nursing 504 
 
 Position of the mother 506 
 
 " Predisposing causes "of disease 559 
 
 Pregnancy , 409 
 
 Pregnancy, can a woman become pregnant during 434 
 
 Pregnancy, cessation from marital intercourse during 475 
 
 Pregnancy, clothing during 447 
 
 Pregnancy, company during 457 
 
 Pregnancy, conditions necessary to 410 
 
 Pregnancy, diseases of 412 
 
 Pregnancy, duration of 424 
 
 Pregnancy, effect of, on the health 442 
 
 Pregnancy, exercise during. . 450 
 
 Pregnancy, fancies of 458 
 
 Pregnancy, food during 446 
 
 Pregnancy, gratification of fancies during 458 
 
 Pregnancy, hygiene of 442 
 
 Pregnancy, influence of 5 21 
 
 Pregnancy, influence on the milk of nursing mother 521 
 
 Pregnancy, nausea and vomiting from 568 
 
 Pregnancy, pains in bowels during 570 
 
 Pregnancy, relation of husband and wife during 474 
 
 Pregnancy, surroundings during ; 444 
 
 Pregnancy, symptoms of 411 
 
 Pregnancy, ventilation of sleeping-room during 454 
 
 Preserving the teeth 83 
 
 Preventives of conception 388 
 
 Principal causes of disease 558 
 
 Process of menstruation 186 
 
 Prolapsus of the uterus 652 
 
 Proper indulgence , 150 
 
 Proper methods of limiting offspring 380 
 
 Proper time to marry 298 
 
 Pruritis of the genitals 629 
 
 Pruritis of the genitals, treatment of 630 
 
 Puberty 175 
 
 Puberty, age of 178 
 
 Puberty attended with dangers to health 182 
 
 Puberty, definition of 175 
 
 Puberty, diet at the age of 183 
 
 Puberty, exercise at the age of 183 
 
 Puberty, intellectual changes in 176 
 
 Puberty, signs of 176
 
 INDEX. 7q| 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Puerperal convulsions, symptoms and causes of. 607 
 
 Puerperal convulsions, treatment of t 608 
 
 Puerperal fever, nature of 610 
 
 Puerperal insanity (proper) 6co 
 
 Puerperal insanity, treatment of 604 
 
 Puerperal mania ....'....., 598 
 
 Puerperal peritonitis, nature of 610 
 
 Pulse, various kinds of <, 563 
 
 Purity of the husband 281 
 
 Q 
 
 Qualifications of a husband 276 
 
 Quickening, as a sign of pregnancy 418 
 
 Quickening, flatulence mistaken for 419 
 
 Quickening, time of ~. 418 
 
 Quick pulse explained 565 
 
 R 
 
 Regularity of the menses , 186 
 
 Relation of husband and wife during nursing 534 
 
 Religion of the husband 296 
 
 Religious training, distinction between right and wrong 173 
 
 Religious training, doing wrong, disastrous, etc 173 
 
 Religious training, shunning wrong 1 73 
 
 Religious training, when to commence 173 
 
 Remedies for irritability during dentation 76 
 
 Reproductive period of woman's life 536 
 
 Rest 340 
 
 Rest after delivery 503 
 
 Retroversion, nature of 654 
 
 Rocking the infant 40 
 
 s 
 
 St. Vitus' Dance, chorea, treatment of 218 
 
 St. Vitus' dance, or chorea 215 
 
 St. Vitus' dance, symptoms of 216 
 
 Second dentation 80 
 
 Second vaccination, necessity of 117 
 
 Sex, how to determine whether boy or girl 441 
 
 Sex, ignorance of 355 
 
 Sex of child, how to predict before birth 440
 
 708 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Sexual commerce among lower animals 349 
 
 Sexual commerce among savages 349 
 
 Sexual gratification 350 
 
 Sexual gratification, theories concerning 350 
 
 Sexual indulgences, proper and improper 348 
 
 Sex, what may be known of the 440 
 
 Should offspring be limited ? 365 
 
 Sickness, morning, and vomiting 567 
 
 Sickness, morning, treatment of 569 
 
 Simple dysmenorrhea 206 
 
 Simple hysteria 228 
 
 Sleep 340 
 
 Sleeping infant, how to arrange cot of 35 
 
 Sleeplessness of children 38 
 
 Sleep required by infant 35 
 
 Small pulse explained 565 
 
 Soap in bathing, effect of use of 27 
 
 Sore breasts and milk fever, nature of 623 
 
 Sore eyes, treatment of 98 
 
 Sore mouth of infants, causes of 89 
 
 Sore mouth of infants, treatment of 90 
 
 Sounds of foetal heart 420 
 
 Sponge mattresses 342 
 
 Sterility, causes of 406 
 
 Sterility during lactation 404 
 
 Sterility, periods of 404 
 
 Subsequent marriage 319 
 
 Sunshine in the nursery, effect of 58 
 
 Suppressed menses, hygiene of 194 
 
 Suppression of menses 188 
 
 Suppression of the menses, accidental 189 
 
 Suppression of the menses, causes of 189 
 
 Suppression of the menses, constitutional 189 
 
 Symptoms of acute suppression of the menses 192 
 
 Symptoms of chorea, or St. Vitus' dance 216 
 
 Symptoms of dysmenorrhea 204 
 
 Symptoms of nervous exhaustion 671 
 
 Symptoms of ovarian displacement 663 
 
 Symptoms of prolapsus of uterus 652 
 
 Swedish movement cure for constipation 576 
 
 T 
 
 Tea, effects of, on infants 45 
 
 Teeth, care of 83
 
 INDEX. 709 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Teeth, classified 78 
 
 Teeth, development of 78 
 
 Teething, age of infant 75 
 
 Teething, first stage 75 
 
 Teeth, importance of Si 
 
 Teething, period of 73, 79 
 
 Teething, second stage of 75 
 
 Temperament, influence of, on puberty 181 
 
 Temperate habits of the husband 285 
 
 Temperature of nursery 59 
 
 Temperature of water in bathing the infant 28 
 
 Tense pulse explained 565 
 
 Time for bathing infant 28 
 
 Time of weaning 61 
 
 Time to marry 
 
 Toothache during pregnancy 4- 
 
 Treatment during change of life 540 
 
 Treatment for displacements of the womb 655 
 
 Treatment for general exhaustion 239 
 
 Treatment for nervous exhaustion 683 
 
 Treatment for ovarian displacements 664 
 
 Treatment of chorea or St. Vitus' dance 218 
 
 Treatment of constipation by Swedish movement cure 576 
 
 Treatment of convulsions of infants 87 
 
 Treatment of diseases of the vulva 626 
 
 Treatment of hysteria 231 
 
 Treatment of leucorrhea 619 
 
 Treatment of menstrual colic 177 
 
 Treatment of puerperal convulsions 608 
 
 Treatment of puerperal insanity 604 
 
 Treatment of sore mouth of infants 90 
 
 Treatment of suppressed menstruation , , , . , 195 
 
 u 
 
 Unhappy marriages, some causes of 265 
 
 Urinary troubles with infants, treatment of 101 
 
 Uterus, general disorders of 646 
 
 Uterus, prolapsus of .. ., 652 
 
 V 
 
 Vaccination, how the operation is performed 115 
 
 Vaccination of children, proper time for 112
 
 710 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Vaccination, present method of 1 14 
 
 Vaccination the second time, necessity of 117 
 
 Vaginal discharges, nature of 595 
 
 Vaginal injection to prevent conception, effects of 400 
 
 Variations in time of the menses 185 
 
 Varicose, or enlarged veins 588 
 
 Varicose veins, treatment of 589 
 
 Various kinds of pulse 563 
 
 Version, conditions for performing 498 
 
 Vertigo, nature of 672 
 
 Ventilation of the nursery 58 
 
 Virginity, test of 346 
 
 Vomiting and morning sickness 567 
 
 Vomiting from pregnancy, treatment of 569 
 
 Vulva, diseases of 625 
 
 w 
 
 Wakefulness, treatment of 590 
 
 Washing of new-born infant 22 
 
 Water in bathing the infant, temperature of 28 
 
 Weaning infant gradually 63 
 
 Weaning of the infant 61 
 
 Weaning, sources of danger in 65 
 
 Wedding, arrangements for 300 
 
 Wedding, ceremony of 300 
 
 Wedding tour 308 
 
 Wet-nurse, how to select 66, 527 
 
 Wet-nurse, requisites of 66 
 
 Wet-nursing, method of raising children by 525 
 
 " Whites," or leucorrhea, nature of 614 
 
 " Whites," or leucorrhea, treatment of 619 
 
 Whooping-cough, complications resulting from 109 
 
 Whooping-cough, duration of 108 
 
 Whooping-cough, nature of 106 
 
 Whooping-cough, treatment of 109 
 
 Wife, influence of death of husband upon 543 
 
 Wife, new, ignorant of sex 355 
 
 Wife, the 331 
 
 Wife, the new epoch 331 
 
 Wiry pulse explained 5^5 
 
 Woman a home maker 33 2 
 
 Womanhood, mature, general remarks 535 
 
 Woman's life, reproductive period of , , , , , , , $3^
 
 INDEX. 711 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Womb, displacement of 648 
 
 Womb, displacements of, general treatment for 655 
 
 Womb, inflammation of 638 
 
 Women, diseases of 553 
 
 Women, diseases of, general remarks 553 
 
 Worms in infants, symptoms and causes of 92 
 
 Worms in infants, treatment for '........ 93 
 
 youth, urinary troubles in, treatment of IOI
 
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 Maidenhood and motherhood., 
 
 MEDICAL SCIENCES LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE 
 
 IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92664 
 

 
 1970 01662 2935