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.
BY
JOHN D. WEST, M. D.
LAW, KING & LAW PUBLISHING HOUSE,
CHICAGO;
SAN FRANCISCO. CAL.; 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 ctoes
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. Pier 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 we; nanhood, 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 It.s 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 of,
Nursing During the Night, Care of the Child During 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.
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
Queen 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-
Bearing Extent 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, Foeticide, 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 to 408
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 Fcetal 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 Foetus
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 to 476
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 Prmia, Before Delivery. Premonitions
of Hemorrhage After Delivery, Treatment of, Treatment of Placenta Pra-via
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, Howto Pre-
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13
vent, ) Erections for Arresting the Secretion of Milk, Pain of the Breasts from
Ovei-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 Well-
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 552
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.
li.J Quality of Food, Excess in Eating, Intemperance in Drinking, Influence
c. ! 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
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 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 litt,le 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 iu 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 cation.
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. 23
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$
X
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. 2J
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 the 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
3O 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 bth 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
i
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
and free action. If the child s dress meet all these ends,
ihe 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
troubli s of the bowels, to which all delicate children are
subjec;. It sometimes is the case, however, that flannel
garm^^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 tfte
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
with 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 ^ 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 excittd,
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 c 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 troubleus, 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 arid
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 on 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 indirectlv cause much care and trouble
O *
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 docs 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 child ; 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 arid ten
derly.
Feeding or 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 arc 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 mK ? . 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
beyono! 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
50 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 the 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
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 be 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
$8 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-
9 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 ventilatipn. 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. 6 1
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 maybe gradually made. An important
matter to be guarded against is a too-plentiful or a
too-frequent supply of food immediately subsequent tcv
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. "Jl
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 food, 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 cut 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
78 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 ^their 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 in 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 point 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
8O 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
general 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 thus 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
this 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. S/
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¶ta (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
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 inaril-
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 "-bis 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
96 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 ho*
SORE EYES. 97
water. Give the patient a teaspoonful 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 often 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 with
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
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,
104 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. 105
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. IO/
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 filially 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. TOQ
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 asafcetida.
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. Iw
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. Dose: a teaspoonful as t 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. 113
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, health}- 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 co\v, 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. I I/
to be relied upon as protecting against small-pox. As a
general rule, neither the local nor constitutional symptoms
require any tieatmen t, 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. 12 1
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 passes 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. Merits 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 \vas 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 man,
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. 125
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
o
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. 129
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
I3O 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 5> 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
larcre 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.
Errors in Dress 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
I4O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.
4
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. Hi
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.
merit 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 a/e 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 TRAIN INQ. 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
1 46 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 objects 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. H7
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 w r e
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
between 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 pain is produced.
In the infant, and adult as well, the existence of the
feeling is manifested by certain external signs, as cries and
tears. Wlien 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 Avhat 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 t^ie
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
ISO 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 much
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
desif%. 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 an,d
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
MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.
child will acquire the habit of yielding to its parents.
When this point is gained the process of moral trairrmg 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 followed 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 bv
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 4 ,
once is grasped the compass of parental influence ovc:
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.
reach 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
moie 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. I 55
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 t\vo
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 Practises 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 much 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 everyone. "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 the 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
v\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 ; t: Sve
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.
l6o 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 so\v 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 sou>l 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
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-
1 62 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. 1 6$
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 relatio n of parent and child involves certain privi
leges. Every privilege involves an obligation. It is the
parents privilege to exercise authority over their children ;
106 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 so\v 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.
168 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.
Parents, particularly mothers, often delay the applica-
^ion 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 touching moral picture, the parable of the
170 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 o( 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
172 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. 173
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.
176 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 al!
that these imply of happiness and hardship, are upon
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.
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
178 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. 179
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 thi3 subject said : " The earliest age at which I have
known 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. I 85
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.
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
[88 MAIL^NHOOD 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, OP 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 TH J 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.
I9O 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, .n 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 will act as an auxiliary in producing
AMENORRHEA, ETC. 191
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
192 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. 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 might 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.
194 / 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 amenorrhea, 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 some
morbid stimulus, enfeebling the tissues, producing anemia,
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 cause in the case before
him.
Women frequently suffer 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 freet>r 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,
but need only be referred to, that the patient be entreated,
inasmuch as she values health, that she should consign
202 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.
DYSMENORRHEA OR PAINFUL MENSTRUATION. 2O3
Dysmenorrhea or 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 bloocl, 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 Dysmenopphea.
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 Dysmenonrhea.
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 Dysmenonrhea.
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 Dysmenorrhea.
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 severe 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
in 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
maybe 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.
210 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 unendurable.
, 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
foe created for this kind of mdulo;ence.
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 save 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. 215
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, or 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. 2 1/
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 some, 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
220 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
w~nt, 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
maybe 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
i
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 v. s not
simulated, but real. Yet it seems as if the shock tc the
mind caused by the humiliation produced by such circu .v-
stances is attended with absolute freedom from successive
attacks.
It sometimes happens that hysterical patients feign
220 MAIDENHOOD AXD 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 hergood-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 -i 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
muscles of the jaws. But these phenomena are never
present during an attack of hysteria.
HYSTERIA. 227
The author uas 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
case 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 meanings, 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 body 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-spasmodics 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
t
It is, however, my duty, for the benefit of those whose
ears are no.t 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 hurnan powers of endurance
by being placed alongside pf 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- .
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
f
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
staie 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
Treatment for 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.
-
y
CO
02
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 family 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,
4
repulsive. A feeling of wonder takes possession of her,
tinged with amazement and fear. She cam*iot 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 hef^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 pleasarlt 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 fashioned 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.
merits 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
2$O MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.
a woman thus cultured, is a more_useful, e_ngaging_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. 251
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, loner vears after each has ceased his vocation. The
o o ^
discipline of training established the habit. The poet sees
beauty even while he may be engaged in the most prosaic
duties.
2$2 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
trme, 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.
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
other 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 \visc 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.
256 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
258 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
agapce 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
26O 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_ J aita.ched
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 "diich 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 and 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
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 definiteness 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 conceded 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.
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 and 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 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 conditioning the
ohysical interests of her children. She may be willing, so
tar 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. 279
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.
280 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 not 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. Lo^V-eJbr^ mother is .a..aaLtural.J.nstinct 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. 281
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 upqn 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
re fine 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 MOTHERFIOOD
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 stingeth
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. 2QI
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 life 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.
2Q4 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
J } 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
293 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 Marry.
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 call, 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 teken 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 maybe
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-
3O2 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
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
ean 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 herves 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-
3O8 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 without the most careful and candid consideration.
The formation of a partnership that is only to last for a
few years should demand our earnest thought. How
much greater should be the care taken in entering upon
3 H 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, pn 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 matter 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.
3l6 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
That 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 civil
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 rfature 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
3l8 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 arc encour
aged, an inclination to overlook each other s peculiarities
is stultified. TThe_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 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 is 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. 321
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-
inentalism 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
senses 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 notions 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 JBeing, 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,
v 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 only
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_shjL|s_jiot
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 which 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
perraanence in it ; that there is a fullness of life which she
has aot 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 cruelest
and his blows fall hardest when directed against one who
is the possessor of a pleasant, happy home.
THE NEW HOME. 329
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 wh ich 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 filled 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
Wgs 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 whenapplied 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.
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 AMD 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
have 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
34 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 1 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 w.oman 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
v/
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
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 burdens 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 v
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 v
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 is 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 -
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
302 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 chiWren in it.
OFFSPRING. 363
Children are, to a home, a blessing greater than all
other blessings besides. Mrs. Oliphanthas 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
rea<hing springs of delight untouched before, children are
364 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 OFFSPRING 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
3/0 MAIDENHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD.
binding upon the life within 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 feticide, or infanticide, is so common,
so flagrant, so \vell-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-csulting 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.
3/2 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.
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. 3/9
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 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, instinctive 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 itselt. 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, too, 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. 38$
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 all 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 barreriness
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, it 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
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 the 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.
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
and that of the species." Another respected author, in
speaking of the moral aspects of the question, says: " It
390 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 wife 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 itjf ay be a relative,
and in more cases, perhaps, it is a part ^f 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 naar.e?
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 maybe, abortion,
fceticide, 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 ntcro. 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 jny 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
1 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 I 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 foetus 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 foetus 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 fcetus 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 fcetus
from the womb. Others will take long journeys in a
3Q8 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 fcetus. 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."
400 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 fcetal 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, and 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 which 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
4O4 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 n umerous 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
4IO 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
4
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. 411
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-
cjence 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 sensation 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 foetal 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 gi.ve 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. 433
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 Maternit6 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 |to 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-
430 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, 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 TILT/, Field
and Farvi, 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 175 5-
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.
t
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 swirie. 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 fcetus 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 months
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 AMD 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 fcetus 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
fcetus. 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 ajl
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 foetus
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 the} 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 \vay 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.
MAIDENHOOD 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 o,ver-
burdening of w r omen 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. 44$
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 which 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 wil!
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-
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 tLe parent
stock be supplied with these factors.
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
of 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 foetus 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
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 hims elf, 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.
Cane 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 5 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
r
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 disease?, 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. 46$
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
utero 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 regai 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, perhaps 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 infaht 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.
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 fcetus.
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 fcetus 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. 475
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 mentai
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.
U-pon 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 taken 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 \voman 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 ihe 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 labia
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. 491
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 ringer 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. In most 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 prcevia,
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
496 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 prcevia, 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 prcevia, 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 arid 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
502 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 irrto
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
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. 50$
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 witli 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.
$O6 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 cnemise
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 for 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 of: en 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 nt ?ny time the
patient should feel a little cold, especially at -:uch 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
5 14 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. 515
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
5l6 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 ad vantage to both mother and child. It is Nature 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 ho
. 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 \vith 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 upon 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 \vell 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. 52$
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, " ail 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-Nurse.
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.
o
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 pJiytolacca 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, whose 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 arc 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, \hegalega 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 with 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
ancemia. 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
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, there 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 sociatend 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 whicfi are superinduced by functional derange
ments and disturbances of the reproductive organs.
Chorea, or St. Vitus dance 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 \vho 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 corne 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
5 SO 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
A o not originate. The man or woman who is intelligent,
rionest- and pure, has an open sesame to cultured social
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 551
circles. Poverty and labor do not debar from entrance
into 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
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.
SPREADING THE XEWS.
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 io
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
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 and 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
$62 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. 565
6. Jerking Pulse. 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 2 16 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.
57O 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. 5/1
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
actj 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, corn meal, 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.
I
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 clay may be selected so as to
best accommodate the circumstances of the patient.
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 apquired 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 :
I Heave, standing.
2. Half lying.
Chest expansion, deep
inspiration.
Leg flexion and exten
sion (P. r.)
3. Half ride, fall sitting. Trunk twisting (P. r.)
4. Toward, standing. Thigh extension forced
(P. 1.)
5. High ride turn sitting. Circular, twisting, with
pressure upon the stomach
and in the lumbar region.
Colon stroking.
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 some\yhat 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.
6. Extension standing.
7. Forehead fix, high
knee.
8. Astride standing.
9. Lying.
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. 579
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
5S_: 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 of 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 A.ND 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 or 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. 59 1
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 sue-
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 arterie?, 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 MOTHERHOOlJ.
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, or Vaginal Discharges.
The discharges from the genital passage after delivery
are termed the lochia. At first thelochiaare 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
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.
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, 3^
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, or 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.
6OO 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,
602 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
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 beco mes 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.
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 effeats 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 husband and near relatives have
generally a prejudicial and exciting effect on the wife, and
other attendants can manage her more satisfactorily.
Much wiH 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. 6o/
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 auodynes 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 are a few general symptoms which may be 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, and 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. 613
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, ^ 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." 615
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." 6l/
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
620 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
maybe 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 compound 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
u 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 most 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 MAIDENHOOD 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
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. When 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. In 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 for 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.
Infiammation 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. 041
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
forty 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 THE 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 01
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 or
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, w^hen healthy, it is about two 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 ; drops} ; 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 \vater 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. 65 1
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.
652 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-
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
