Reprinted from the NEW YORK JOURNAL OF GYNAECOLOGY AND 
OBSTETRICS for January, 1893. 
A MENSTRUAL DERMATO-NEUROSIS.1 
Dr. Edebohls also presented a patient with a Menstrtial Dermatosis 
~of~fhe Face. 
He had already presented the patient to the Society at its meeting of 
December 15, 1891, and showed her again this evening for the purpose 
of reporting further upon her case as he had promised to do. The full his- 
tory of the patient and description of the rash are recorded in the Trans- 
actions of the Society. (New York Journal Gynaecology and Obstet- 
rics, January, 1892, p. 55.) He would not repeat further than to say that 
from the age of fifteen until presented to the Society at nineteen the girl 
had suffered at each menstrual epoch—with the exception of an inter- 
val of eight months at the age of eighteen—from dysmonorrhoea and 
’Abstract from Transactions of the New York Obstetrical Society, Nov. 15, 1892. New York Obstetrical Society. 
2 
the eruption on the right side of the face depicted in the illustration. 
On December 22, 1891, Dr. Edebohls treated her endometritis and 
cartarrhal salpingitis by dilatation of the cervix, curettage and gauze- 
drainage of the uterus. The result was an entire disappearance of the 
dysmonorrhoea and menstrual stigma for three months. Then these 
troubles reappeared, and again, three months later, Dr. Edebohls dis- 
covered small cystomata of both ovaries not present at previous exam- 
inations. He performed double ovariotomy and ventre-fixation of the 
uterus on June 28, 1892. A poly-cyst of the left ovary, ten centimeters 
in diameter, and one of the right ovary, six centimeters in diameter* 
were removed. The patient had not menstruated nor suffered any 
pelvic pain since the operation, six months ago. The dermatosis of 
the face, however, had reappeared with clock-like regularity once a 
month, and, if anything, was rather more pronounced and intense than 
formerly. On one occasion it even extended around to the left side of 
the face, the only time it has ever behaved in this way. 
Whether the phenomenon is to be regarded as a molimen menstruale 
of the artificial menopause the developments of the near future will 
show. Dr. Edebohls would attempt to keep track of the patient, and, 
if successful, would report again, after the lapse of another year, upon 
the case. A VAGINAL IRRIGATING SPECULUM AND LEG-HOLDER.1 
Dr. Edebohls presented his improved self-retaining vaginal spec- 
ulum, an evolution of the instrument he had had the honor to present to 
the Society at its meeting of February 3, 1891, and which he had 
described at length in the Medical Record, New York, March 7, 1891. 
The speculum, as now made, was smaller and more portable, while all 
the essential characteristics of the former instrument were preserved. 
fig. 1. 
Uniformity of shape was secured by having it cast, whereas formerly it 
was hammered out of copper by hand and proved a fit only by mere 
chance. E. Bocker, 582 Hudson Street, New York, had overcome the 
techinal difficulties in the way of making a cast, and the instruments 
as now turned out by him, and by John Reynders & Co., have the 
advantage of uniform correctness of shape. 
Dr. Edebohls also demonstrated his leg-holders for use in gynaecolog- 
ical operations atid examinations. 
They operated upon a principle entirely different from that involved 
in the use of all other leg-holders of which he had knowledge. 
Some leg-holders had no fixed support upon the table, like the well- 
1 Abstract from Transactions of the New York Obstetrical Society, Nov. 15, 1892. 4 
New York Obstetrical Society. 
known Clover’s crutch and similar devices, in which the knees were 
drawn upward and held there by bands or straps passing around the 
neck of the patient or fastened to the legs at the upper end of the 
table. Others were connected with the table and supported either the 
FIG. 11. 
knee or calf in various ways. In none of them was the foot utilized as 
the point of support. And yet this suspension of the feet offered 
advantages to be obtained from no other position. 
First of all, it allowed the knees and thighs to gravitate upward and 
outward in such a way as to relax in the most perfect manner possible 
the tension of the abdominal walls, an advantage not to be overestimated 
in the practice of bimanual palpation. New York Obstetrical Society. 
5 
Secondly, it kept the feet well out of the surgeon’s way during the 
performance of an operation. 
Thirdly, it protected the patient’s legs from being leaned upon during 
operation by the assistants, and prevented the post-operative pain and 
soreness of the limbs due to this cause. 
Fourthly, it did away with the constriction of the neck and chest of 
fig. in. 
the patient, and interference with breathing during anaesthesia, asso- 
ciated with the use of Clover’s crutch and like apparatus. 
Dr. Edebohls had had his leg-holders in constant use upon his 
operating table for the past two years with uniform satisfaction. He 
had found them so valuable an adjunct in the practice of bimanual 6 
New York Obstetrical Society. 
palpation that he had them attached to the Harvard chair in his office. 
And finally he had derived a great deal of satisfaction and comfort 
from a pair of leg-holders which he had designed to meet the require- 
ments of operations at the homes of patients, and which pair he had 
the honor of presenting this evening. The apparatus consisted of the 
clamps to be screwed to any table, each of which carried an “upright ” 
made telescopic to reduce length in carrying. From the upper ends of 
the “ uprights ” the feet were suspended in the manner depicted in the 
accompanying cut which renders further description unnecessary. The 
total weight of the apparatus is two and three-quarter pounds, and it 
packs fifteen inches long for transportation. John Reynders & Co. 
are the makers.