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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WASHINGTON, D. C.
B19574
NLM005559629 
 
 
 
 
          SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK.  r««   ^

  It treats in detail  of the  three peculiar phases  of
soman's life, viz., maidenhood, matrimony, and mater-
nity.  Under the first head, the subject of puberty, its
dangers and  hygiene, and of love, are discussed from a
medical stand-point.  Valuable advice is given on the
marriage of cousins, on the effects of marriage on woman
and man, on "choosing  a  husband," on "the engage-
ment," on the right time of the year  to marry, on the
wedding tour, and on  many kindred topics.  The physi-
ology of the marriage relation is then considered in the
second part ofHhe book, " the wife." It commences with
some  salutary hints upon the  "wedding night."  Such
inquiries of universal hygienic interest as, Shall husband
and wife occupy the same room and bed ?  What kind of
bed is most healthful ? the dignity and propriety of the
sexual instinct, its  indulgence, restraint, and physiolo-
gical laws, &c, are decorously but plainly treated.  Well
considered views are advanced in regard to over-produc-
tion and the limitation of offspring.  The author also
gives much useful advice to sterile wives who desire  to
have  children, and he answers the question,  Can the
sexes be produced at will? in the  light of the  most re-
cent scientific research.   Many pages are devoted to the
discussion of inheritance, how to have beautiful children,
twin-bearing, &c. The information in regard to the signs
of pregnancy and the avoidance of its diseases and dis-
comforts, the prevention of "mothers' marks" and of
miscarriage,  is  of incalculable value  to every woman.
Minute, practical, and careful  directions are laid down
as to the proper preparations for confinement, how to
preserve the  form after childbirth, etc.  Under the head
.of  "the mother" the rules for nursing,  weaning, and
bringing  ufi by  hand, are copious and would  benefit
every mother to  know.  The volume  closes with a con-
 sideration of " The Perils of Maternity," and of tho dangers
 and hygiene of " The change of life."

   G3f Bee Testimonials. n"x+ par-a 
TESTIMONIALS.
  The following among others, have been received indicating
the scientific value and moral worth of this book.

        FROM WILLIAM A.  HAMMOND, M. D.,
LATE SURGEON-CENTRA I, OP U. S. ARMY; PROFESSOR OF DISEASES Of
  THE MIND AND NERVOl'S SYSTEM, AND OF CLINICAL MEDICINE IN THS
  BELLEVUE HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE, NEW YORK.
                               New York, Aug. '69.
Br. Napheys—
  Dear Sir:  I have read with much interest and satis-
faction your very admirable book on " The Physical Life
of Woman."  I am glad that the subject has been taken
up by one who shows himself so thoroughly qualified for
the task, and I  trust the instruction and  advice con-
tained in the volume will reach every woman in the land.
                   Yours, sincerely,
                         WILLIAM A. HAMMOND.
       FROM REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.
                         Brooklyn, N. Y., Sept. 186(f
Dr. Geo. H. Napheys—
  Dear Sir: I have examined  your volume, "The Phy-
sical Life of Woman," and desire  to thank 3rou for per-
forming a work so long needed, so difficult to perform,
and now, at length, so well done by you. Every mother
should have this  book, nor should she suffer a child to
be married without the knowledge which this work con*
tains.  Thousands have dragged through miserable lives
and  many  have perished for want of such knowledge.
It is to be hoped, too, now that these delicate topics
have been  so modestly and plainly treated, that  your
work will supersede the scores of ill-considered and often
mischievous treatises addressed "to the married," which
too often serve the lusts of men  under the pretence of
virtue.
                        HENRY WARD BEECHER.

       FROM REV. HORACE BUSHNELL,  D. D.
                        Hartford, Conn., Sept. 1869.
Geo. H. Napheys, M. D.—
  Dear Sir: I have read a large part of your book with
interest. I shrink from expressing any estimate of it as 
3
respects its physiological merit, but  it seems to be a book
well studied, and it is written with  much delicacy and a
careful respect, at  all points,  to the great interests
moralitv.   It  will certainly be a great help to inte*
gence on the subject, and  ought, therefore, to be corres-
pondent^ useful.
                       Very respectfully yours,
                              HORACE BUSHNELL.
           FROM HARYEY L. BYRD, M. D.,
 PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRICS IN THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF "WASHING-
          TON UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
                               Baltimore, Sept. 1869.
Dr. Geo. H. Napheys, Philadelphia—
  Dear Sir:  I have examined  with much pleasure and
satisfaction your work on " The Physical Life of Woman,"
and do not hesitate to commend it most warmly to our
countrywomen, for whose benefit it is intended.   I con-.
gratulate you on the  felicitous  manner in which you
have treated so difficult a subject, and would recommend
it to the public as supplying a want that has long been
felt in this country.
  Omne verum utile dictu, and what can be more proper,
or more useful, than that woman  should be  made ac-
quainted with the great laws of her being and the dutiea
for which she was created ?
            Very respectfully7, your obed't  servant,
                                  HARYEY L. BYRD,
EXTRACT FROM  LETTER RECEIVED  FROM EDWIN
 M. SNOW, M. D., OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
                              Providence, Sept. 1869.
Dr. Napheys—
  Dear Sir: I have examined with much interest tin
advance sheets  of your book, " The  Physical  Life of
Woman ;" I am highly pleased with it.  The advice given
seems to me to be generally correct, and  judiciously ex-
pressed ; and in  my opinion the wide circulation of the
book would be a benefit to the community.
                         Truly yours,
                                 EDWIN M. SNOW. 
4
 FROM REV. GEORGE ALEX. CROOKE, D.D., D. C.L.

                           Philadelphia, Sept. 1869.
Dr. Geo. H. Napheys—
  Dear Sir: I have carefully  read  3'our work  entitled
" The Physical Life of Woman," and  as  the  result,  I
must candidly say that I  believe the information it cot.
tains is well calculated to lessen suffering and greatly
benefit the human race.  I know there are some falsely
fastidious persons who would object to any work of the
kind, but "to the pure all things are pure." Y"ou have
done your part  fearlessly and well, and  in a  popular
manner, and I trust that 3Tour work may be productive
of all the good you  design by its publication.
                       Very faithfully,'
                             GEO. ALEX. CROOKE
           OPINION OF LLOYD P. SMITH,
              LIBRARIAN PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY.

  Library Co. op Philadelphia, Fifth St. bel. Chestnut,
                         Philadelphia, Sept. 1869.
  It is an open question whether books de secretis muli-
erum should be written for the general public, but there
is no doubt that when they are written it should be done
by the regular faculty and not by ignorant quacks.   Dr.
Napheys'  "Physical Life  of  Woman"  shows not only
the scientific attainments of the author, but also a wide
range of miscellaneous reading.   The delicate subjects
treated of are  handled with a seriousness and earnest-
ness becoming their  importance, and the author's views
are expressed in excellent English.
                                LLOYD P. SMITH.
         OPINION OF S. W. BUTLER, M. D.,
  EDITOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA " MEDICAL AND SURGICAL REPORTER."

  I have  carefully examined  " The Physical Life  of
Woman," and find it a work at once thoroughly repve-
Benting modern science, and  eminently adapted for fam- 
5
ily instruction.  It is well suited to female readers, to
whom it is especially addressed both  in  the  matter it
contains and  in the delicacy with which points relating
to their physiological life are mentioned.
                                     S. W. BUTLER.
 EXTRACT FROM LETTER RECEIVED FROM JOHN
                  H.  GRISCOM, M. D.
                                New York, Sept. 1869.
Dr. Napheys—
  My Dear Sir: The "Physical Life of Woman" is a
very scientific and intellectually written work, and con-
tains almost all the physiological and sanitary facts and
directions needed for the preservation of the health and
longevity of the  maiden, wife,  and mother.   It  must
prove attractive and  useful for any lady who reads it.
                        Y'our sincere friend,
                                JOHN H. GRISCOM.
FROM THE NATIONAL BAPTIST, PHIL A., DEC. 30, 1869.
  We join in the cordial welcome which this book has re-
ceived.  There  is no other work which tells  so well just
what every  woman,—and every considerate man also,—
ouo-ht to know.   Maternity is the one great function of wo-
man according  to God's ordinance, and for this marvellous
and holy mission, her  physical, intellectual, and moral con-
stitution has been designed.  Dr. Napheys, in  his  wise
"advice to maiden, wife, and mother," passes in review the
cardinal facts respecting woman's physical life.  The book
is written in a very clear and simple  st3'le, so that no one
can misunderstand it, while there is nothing to disturb or
offend the most sensitive.  A judicious mother would do her
maturing daughters great service by first  carefully reading
this volume herself, and then have them read  it under her
guidance.             ^_______

       OPINION OF MRS. R. B. GLEASON,  M. D.
                             Elmira, N. Y., Sept. 1869
   The  advanced sheets  of " The Physical Life of Wo-
man" have been read with  much interest.  In this book 
6
Dr. Napheys has well met a real need of the age.  There
are many things incident to woman's physical organiza-
tion which she needs to know, and concerning which she
still does not want to ask a physician, and may not have
one at hand when she most  desires the information.
This book can be easily read and perfectly understood
by those not familiar with medical terms. All matters of
delicacy are treated with freedom, and still with a purity
of thought and expression which is above criticism.
  For many 3-ears we have been often asked for just such
a book, and shall gladly commend it to the many wives
and mothers  who  want for  themselves and grown-up
daughters such a book of helps and hints for home life.
                              Mrs. R.  B. GLEASON.
      FROM PROFESSOR JOHN S. HART, LL. D.
                State Normal School, Trenton, N. J.
Geo. H. Napheys, M. D.—
  Dear Sir: I have read with  attention the advance
sheets of yTour book " The  Physical  Life of Woman ;"
and take pleasure in saying that you have handled  a
most difficult and important subject with equal delicacy
and ability.                   Yours truly,
                                   JOHN S. HART.
     OPINION OF MARK HOPKINS, D. D., LL. D.,
             PRESIDENT OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

  "Your book is conscientiously  written, and will  be
likely to do good."
   FROM THE N.  Y. EVANGELIST, NOV. 18,  1869.
  This is a plain and practical treatise prepared by a phy-
sician of skill and  experience, in which he aims  to  fur-
nish information to women, in their peculiar conditions  and
relations, married and single, so as  to enable them to pre-
serve their own health, and  perform their duties  to them- 
Belves and ibeir children.  The most delicate subjects are
treated in language so chaste as not to offend any  puri
mind
     OPINION OF DR. R. SHELTON MACKENZIE.
                             Philadelphia, Oct. 1869.
  "Believing that such  a work  as Dr. Napheys' ' Pli3T-
eical Life of Woman,' giving a great deal of valuable
information, explicitly and delicately, is likely to  be of
very essential  importance to the fair sex, I cannot hesi-
tate  to express my favorable opinion of its  object and
execution."
 LETTER RECEIVED FROM REV. GEO. BRINGHURST,
     RECTOR OF THE P. E. CHURCH OF THE " MESSIAH," PHILADA.
                            Philadelphia, Sept. 1869.
Dr. Geo. H. Napheys—
  My Dear Sir: I have perused with considerable care
and pleasure the work on the " Physical Life of Woman,"
and feel no hesitation in pronouncing it admirably com-
posed, honest, succinct, refined, and worthy the compan-
ionship of every lady of this age.  I hail its appearance
with gratitude, and look upon  it as a valuable contribu-
tion to those efforts which are making in various direc-
tions  to  elevate the tone of morals  of the nineteenth
centu^, and to enable mothers to  discharge  faithfully
the duties they owe their children.
                 Sincerely yours,
                           GEORGE BRINGHURST,
            FROM H. N. EASTMAN, M. D.,
  PROFESSOR OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE IN GENEVA MEDICAL COLLEGE.
                                  Gexeva, Sept. 1869.
Geo. H. Napheys, M. D.—
  Dear Sir: I have  just completed a careful reading of
your advance sheets  of "The Physical Life of Woman," 
8
and I unhesitatingly  pronounce it  an admirable work,
and one especially needed at this time.
  The book is written  in a chaste, elevated, and vigorous
style, is replete with instruction indispensable to the
welfare  and happiness of woman, and should be placed
in the hands of every  mature maiden and matron in our
land.
                                  H. N. EASTMAN.
    EDITORIAL FROM PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL
            AND SURGICAL REPORTER.
  It is a singular fact, that in this country, most of thq
works on medical and hj'gienic matters have been written
by irregular practitioners in order to  help on its legs
some ism or pathy of their own.  The public is realby
desirous of information  about the great questions of
life and health.  It bii3rs whatever is offered it,  and
cannot tell of course the  tares from the wheat.  In fact,
as we have said, there has been very little wheat offered
it.  Scientific physicians do not seem to have taken the
pains in this country, as  in  Germany, to expand sound
medical information among the  people.
  We therefore welcome all the  more warmly a work
which, under any  circumstances, would command  our
praise, advance sheets of which  are now before us.  The
author  is Dr.  George II. Naples, of this city, well
known to all the readers of the  " Reporter" as a con-
stant contributor to its pages for a number of years, a
close  student of therapeutics, and a  pleasing writer.
The title of the book is " The Physical Life of Woman;
advice to the Maiden, Wife, and Mother."  It is a com-
plete manual of information  for women, in their peculiar
conditions and relations,  married and single.
  The  style is  simple, agreeable, and eminently proper
and delicate, conspicuously so when treating of such
difficult topics  to  handle  in a popular book, yet  so
necessary  to  be handled, as the marital  relations of
husband and wife, the consummation of marriage, etc.
  AVe do not doubt that this work will find as large a
sale both  in and out of  the profession in this country 
9
as the works of Bock and Klencke in Germany, and of
Tilt and (Jhavasse in England.
FROM THE NASHVILLE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND
          SURGERY FOR NOVEMBER, 1869.
  The outside of this book  is more stylish and artistic
than  any the  market has owed  to the  press this  sea-
son.  The type  and  paper of the inside  are in keeping
with  the elegant exterior.  The work  contains  much
valuble  matter,  in a  st3Tle peculiarly attractive.  It is
intended to treat woman as a rational being, to let  her
know much about herself as a woman, that from  this
knowledge she may prevent and  therefore escape  much
of the suffering endured  by her sex.
  And who can do  this but a pli3Tsician?   This may
be regarded as  the  first attempt  of the kind in  this
country.
    FROM THE MEDICAL RECORD, ]*EW YORK,
                    JAN. 15, 1870.
  Doctor Napheys, in his work on " The Physical Lift of
Woman," has acquitted himself with infinite credit.  ILe
subject, which for a work of its size takes a very wide range,
is treated in choice, nay elegant language, and we have not
noticed a single expression upon the most delicate matte/,
that could  offend the most  refined taste.   There are too, a
great many interesting historical  facts connected writh tL<*
general topic, both in an ethical and physiological  point u"
view, which show much discrimination in their production,
and a good amount of sterling scholarship.   To the medi-
cal reader  there are many points in the book that are worthy
of attention, prominent among which are remarks  bearing
upon the right of limitation of offspring.  We sincerely hope
that for the real benefit of American women, it m.iy meet
with a hearty reception, and  be productive of great good,
in preventing many of these disorders now so rife  in the
community, which are solely the result of ignorance of th*
ordinary laws of female h3Tgiene. 
10
   No one, however scrupulous, need fcur to admit the work
 within the pale of his family circle, and place it, with confi-
 dence, in the hands of his daughters.

     FROM THE  NEW YORK MEDICAL GAZETTE,
                     JAN. 8, 1870.
   Though professedly written for popular instruction, this
 little book will not fail to instruct, as well the professional
 reader.  We cordially recommend the perusal of Dr. Na-
 pheys' book to every woman seeking a fuller acquaintance
 with her physical organism.

    FROM THE BOSTON MEDICAL  AND SURGICAL
               JOURNAL, NOV. 25, 1809.
   Most valuable  for the  perusal  of mothers, and  of those
 fathers who may  be  equal to the  task of advising sons lia-
 ble to commit matrimony.  The style—of the text—is un-
 exceptionable.  Words are not wasted, and  those used are
 to the point.  The volume  is not a mere resume of others'
 opinions; but the author has made the  topics of which he
 treats his own.

    FROM THE CHICAGO  MEDICAL EXAMINER OF
                      NOV.,  1969.
   This work is written in a plain and pleasing style, well
 calculated both to please  and instruct.  There is nothin<>* ol
 the sensational or imaginative character in it.  On the con-
 trary, its teachings are in strict accordance with  scientific
 facts and good sense.  Though designed specially for fe-
 males, yet a careful perusal would be productive of much
 benefit to both sexes.

      FROM THE METHODIST HOME JOURNAL
                     DEC. 4, 1860.               '
   Hitherto, the subjects so honestly and  so skillfully treat-
ed in this volume, have, to a very great extent, been ruled
out of the realm of popular knowledge, and information of
this class sought  only in a clandestine manner.  The peo-
 ple have suffered  by deplorable ignorance on those topics
 which should be  as  familiar  to us as the  alphabet.   Dr!
 Napheys. by his  scientific  handling of the  physioloa V 
11
points which relate to health, training and development, haa
rendered a great service to the world.  This, the press, and
public men, have not been slow to acknowledge.  The book
has gained unqualified praise, and well  deserves it.

  FROM THE  PRESBYTERIAN, OF PHILADELPHIA,
                     DEC. 4,  1869.
  A book which treats wisely and delicately of very im-
portant subjects, and subjects which ought to be treated by
competent hands, instead of being left to quacks and the
venders of nostrums.  Dr. Napheys is  evidently a  consci-
entious and intelligent physician, and his counsels are such
as may be put in the hands of all persons needing such coun-
sels.  We commend it for its judicious exposition of the
laws of nature.

     FROM THE NEW YORK CHRISTIAN UNION,
                     JAN. 8,  1870.
   Sdciety owes a debt of gratitude to this brave and scien-
tific physician for the unexceptionable way in which he
has performed a work that has, up to the publication of this
book, been a paramount need, not to be satisfied anywhere
in  the English language.  If  the volume contained only
the chapter on the influence of the mother's mind upon her
unborn child, we would recommend its purchase  by every
family in the United States.

    From the Phila. Evening Telegraph, Oct. 6, 1869.
   This is  a work  by a physician  of reputation  on  the
h3rgiene of woman, designed for popular use, and intro-
ducing a variety of topics not generally discussed out-
side of regular scientific medical works.   Dr. Naples
writes with dignity and earnestness, and  there is not a
chapter in his book that may not be read by persons of
both sexes.  Of  course, such a work as this  is intended
for men and women of mature years, and it is not suita-
ble to be  left lying about for the gratification  of idle
curiosity.  The author has been careful to write nothing 
12
that can possibly give ofience, and he conveys much
sound instruction that, if heeded 1>3' those to whom it ia
particular]3' addressed, will save much suffering.

    From The Independent, New York,  Nov. 11, 1869.

  It required a brave but sensitively  pure  man to pro-
vide for the want which existed for some reliable medi-
cal  instruction upon points which every  woman and
every married man  ought to know,  and few do.   Dr.
Napheys we do not  know personally.  But his book is
at once brave and pure.   It is written in such a spirit
that she who really desires to learn the truths of which
she cannot with justice to herself or others be ignorant,
may do so without being shocked; while he who hopes
to stimulate a vicious imagination by its  perusal will
turn from its pages disappointed away.
FROM REV. HENRY CLAY TRUMBULL,

                     ENT OF MISSIONS OP THE A
                     )L UNION.

                     Hartford, Ct., Oct. 1869.
SECRETARY OF NEW ENGLAND DEPARTMENT OF MISSIONS OF THE AMERICA]*
                 SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.
Geo. II. Napheys, M. D.-
  My Dear Sir: Understanding, from my long acquaint-
ance with 3*ou, your thoroughness of mental culture,
your delicacy of sentiment, and your sound good sense,
I was prepared to approve heartily the tone and style of
your new work—" The Physical Life of Woman"—when
its advance sheets were first placed in my hands.
  A close examination  of it convinces me  that it is a
book which can be read by every woman to her instruc-
tion and advantage. Its manner is unexceptionable.  Its
style  is remarkably simple.   Its  substance evidences
your professional knowledge and your extensive  study.
I believe it needs only to  be brought to  notice to com-
mend itself widely. I think you have done an excellent
work in its preparation.
                       Sincerely your friend,
                             II. CLAY TRUMBULL.
j^IWWLEDW 
THE
Physical Life of  Woman

               gMritt  to %
   MAIDEN, WIFE,  AND  MOTHER.
                   BY

         GEO. H. NAPHEYS, A.M..M.D..
UtSEB OF PI1II.ADELPUIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY; COUKESI'ONDI.NO MF.MBK* OJ
   fHB «TNjECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON; AUTHOR OP " COJIPiiN! 1UH
          OF MODERN THERAPEUTICS," ETC., ETC.
%/
e veux qu'iiuo f'euiuie ait de.i eluiles tie tout."
                    Muutas.
33 J?77  I
 *Ht  SEP26 '40 \^> //
fv "ty/Jr   ^R .V' ^jailNETIETH THOUSAND, ENLARGED AND REVISED,
       GEORGE MACLEAN,
PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, & BOSTON
     E. HANNAFORD <fc CO.,
  CINCINNATI <fe CHICAGO.
SAN FRANCISCO: F. DEWING & CO.
            1872. 
Wp
 H\c\Bp
       Bnt«r«d according to Acx, of Congress, in the year 1860, by
                     BEO. H. NAPHEYS,
in the Clerk'B Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern
                   District of Pennsylvania.
STEREOTYPED BY MACKELLAR, SMITHS ft JORDAN.
            PHILADELPHIA.
                     Announcement.
  A  German edition  of this work, containing an additional
chapter,  of great importance to German  resideH'r' /v this
country, is now ready. 
PREFACE.
  It se^ms well to  offer, at the  outset, a few words
explanatory  of  the  nature  and object of this book.
The author feels that its aim is novel, is  daring, and
will perhaps subject him to criticism.  He therefore
makes his plea,  pro  domo sud, in advance.
  The researches of scientific men within the last few
years have brought to light very many facts relating to
the physiology of woman, the diseases to which she is
subject, and  the proper  means to prevent those dis-
eases.  Such information,  if universally possessed,
cannot but result in great  benefit to the individual
and the commonwealth.   The  difficulty is to express
one's self clearly and popularly on topics never referred
to in ordinary social  intercourse. But as the physician
is obliged daily to speak in plain yet decorous lan-
guage of such matters, the  author felt that the diffi-
culty was not insurmountable.
  He is aware that  a respectable though diminishing
claws in the community maintain  that nothing which
                                       i 
2                   PREFACE.
relates exclusively to either sex should become the
subject of popular medical  instruction.  With every
inclination to do this class justice, he feels sure that
such an opinion is radically erroneous.   Ignorance is
no more the mother of purity than she is of religion.
The men and women who study and practice medi-
cine are not the worse, but the better, for their know-
ledge of such  matters.  So  it would be with the
community.  Had every person a sound understand-
ing of the relations of the sexes, one  of the  most
fertile sources of crime would be removed.
  A brief appendix has been added, directed  more
especially to the professional reader, who may desire
to  consult some of the  original authorities  upon
whom the author has drawn.  And here he would ask
from  his fellow-members of  the medical  profession
Iheir  countenance and  assistance in his attempt to
distribute sound information of this character among
the people.  None but physicians can know what sad
consequences  are constantly occurring from the want
of it.
  This  book but follows the precedent set  by Dr.
Bockh,  Professor of Pathology in Leipsic;  Ernest
Legouve, of the French Academy; Dr. Edward John
Tilt, M.R.C.P.,  Lond.; Dr. Henry Pye  Chavasse,
F.Il.C. S., Eng.; and others who stand in the  front
rank of the profession abroad. 
                    PREFACE.                   3
  In  concluding,  the  author desires to express his
thanks and acknowledge his obligations  to a medical
friend, whose name is well known  in the literature
of the profession as \hat of one alike  distinguished
for his general culture and scientific attainments.  It
is  to his very material  assistance  in the preparation
of the manuscript, and  in  the  passage of the bo<. \
through the press, that any merit which this work ma;>
 possess  is in a great measure owing.
    l'li.. i ttJHJA, 1869. 
r
      PEEFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
  The issue of a second edition of this work with-
in two weeks after the publication of the first, ia
an evidence of its popularity, which is as gratifying
to, as it was unexpected by, the author
    Philadelphia, Oct., 1869.
i 
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH  EDITION.
  That the FIFTH EDITION and the  TENTd
THOUSAND  of this  work should  be  called for
within three months from its first appearance can
astonish no one so much as it does the Author.
  But the gratification which  this unexpected
success naturally gives, is less  than the pleasure
he feels in the kindly  reception  the  book has
met from the religious, the medical, and the  gen-
eral press, and from the hundreds of letters from
private individuals, assuring him  that his instruc-
tions have proved of real value to them in daily
life.   It is his hope that the additions  and  cor-
rections  which he has made in this edition  wili
add to its usefulness and insure it a still wider
popularity.
                         THE  AUTHOR.
   Philadelphia, Dec, 1869.
5 
PREFACE TO THE  SIXTH EDITION.
  In presenting the sixth edition of this work to
the public, the author has made a number of emen-
dations in the text, and a few alterations in pas-
sages, which had been construed by some readers
in a  sense foreign to the writer's intention.  He
takes this opportunity to express his thanks for a
number of valuable suggestions, on these and kin-
dred points, to Richard Meade Bache, Esq., of this
city, and others.
   Philadelphia, Feb. 10, 1870.
6 
CONTENTS.
                                                       PAG J
[WTP.ODTJv.TOHT...................................................................  9-14
    Knowledge is safety—The distinction of the sexes—Per-
    sons of both  sexes and of neither sex—The sphere of
    woman.

The Maiden.  Fubertv..................................................... it>-34
    What is the  age of puberty?—What hastens and what
    retards puberty ?—The changes it works—The dangers
    of  puberty — Green  sickness — Hysterics—Secret  bad
    habits—The hygiene ot puberty—The age of nubility.

Lofe................................................................................. 34-68
    Its power on  humanity—What is love?—Love a neces-
    sity—Love is  eternal—What of flirtation?—Second mar-
    riages—Of divorce—Of a plurality of wives or husbands
    —Courtship—Love at first sight;—How to choose a hus-
    band—Shall cousins  marry?—The mixture of races—
    Shall Americans marry foreigners ?—The age of a hus-
    band—His  temperament—His character—The symbol-
    ism of the human body—The engagement—Concerning
    long engagements—The  right time of the  year  and
    month to marry—The wedding tour.

The Wipe.......................................................................69-137
    The wedding night—Shall husband and wife occupy the
    same room and bed ?—What kind of bed is most healthful ?
    The dignity and propriety of the sexual instinct—The
    indulgence  and the restraint of sexual desire—Times
    when marital relations should be suspended or are pain-
    ful—Sterility—Advice to wives who desire to have chil-
    dren—On  the limitation of offspring—The  crime  of
    abortion—Nature A conception—The signs of fruitful
    conjunction—How to regain the affections of a husband
   —Inheritance—How to have beautifu' children—Inheri
    tance of talent and genius—Transmission of disease— 
8                       CONTEXTS.
                                                       PAG«
    Why are women redundant?—How  to have boys or
    girls—Twin-bearing—More than two at a birth.

Pregnancy.................................................................... 138-183
    Signs  of pregnancy—Miscarriage—Mothers' marks—
    Education of the child in the womb—Double preg-
    nancies—Is it a son or daughter ?—How to foretell twins
    —Length of pregnancy—How to calculate the time of
    the confinement—Care of health during pregnancy—
    Food—Clothing — Exercise — Bathing—Ventilation—
    Sleep—Relation of husband and  wife  during preg-
    nancy—Diseases of pregnancy.

Confinement................................................................. 184-204
    Preparations for confinement—Signs of  approaching
    labor—Symptoms of labor—The confinement—Hints
    to attendants—Attention  to the mother—Attention to
    the child—To have labor without pain—Mortality of
    child-bed—Weight and  length of new-born children
    —Duration  of labor—Still-births—Imprudence  after
    childbirth—How to  preserve the form  after  child-
    birth.

The Mother.................................................................. 205-288
    Nursing—When the mother  should  not nurse—Rules
    for nursing—Influence of diet on the milk—Of preg-
    nancy on the milk—Of the mother's  mind on the child
    ^—Quantity  of milk required by the infant—Over-
    abundance of milk—Scantiness of milk—Wet-nursing
    by virgins,  aged  women, and men—Care of health
    while nursing—Relations of  husband and wife during
    nursing—Signs of over-nursing—Directions for mothers
    who cannot nurse their own children—How to select
    a wet-nurse—Bringing up by hand—Weaning—The
    care of infancy—Is the race degenerating?—The perils
    of maternity.
The Single Life........................................ 289-291
Th« Ciianqb of Life...................................292-303
    Its dangers, diseases, and hygiene.
Notes................................................. 305-312
InJ'EX.
813-323 
THE
PHYSICAL LIFE  OF  WOMAN
              KNOWLEDGE IS SAFETY.

  "Knowledge is power," said the philosopher.  The
maxim is true; but here is a greater truth:  " Knowledge
is safety,"—safety amid the physical ills that beset us,
safety amid the moral pitfalls that environ us.
  Filled with this thought, we write this book.  It is
the Revelation of Science to Woman.  It tells her, in
language which aims at nothing but simplicity, the re-
sults which the study of her nature, as distinct from that
of man, has  attained.  We may call it  her  physical
biography.
  It is high time that such a book were written.  The
most absorbing question of the day is the " woman ques-
tion."  The  social problems of chiefest interest concern
her.  And nowhere are those problems more zealously
studied than in this new land of ours, which has thrown
aside the trammels of tradition, and is training its free
muscles with intent to grapple the untried possibilities
of social life.  Who can guide us in these experiments 7
What master,  speaking as one  having authority, can
advise us ?   There is such a guide, such a master.  The
laws of woman's physical life shape her destiny and iv
                                         9 
10                 THE MAIDEN.

veal her future.   Within these laws all things are pos-
sible; beyond them, nothing is of avail.
  Especially should woman herself understand her own
nature.   How many  women  are  there,  with  health,
beauty,  merriment, ay, morality too, all gone, lost for-
ever, through ignorance of themselves?  What spurious
delicacy  is  this  which would hide from  woman that
which beyond all  else it behooves her to  know ?   We
repudiate it, and in plain but  decorous language—truth
is always decorous—we purpose to divulge those secrets
hidden hitherto under the technical jargon of science.

           THE DISTINCTION OF THE SEXES.
  The distinction of the sexes belongs neither to the
highest nor to the lowest forms of existence.   AnimalH
and vegetables of the humblest character have no  sex.
So  it is with spirits.   Revelation implies that beyond
this life sexual characteristics cease.  On  one occasion
the  Sadducees put this question to Christ: There was a
woman who lawfully  had seven husbands, one after the
other; now, at the resurrection, which of these shall be
her husband? or shall  they all have her to wife?  He
replied  that hereafter there shall be neither marrying
nor  giving in marriage, but  that all shall be "as the
angels which are in heaven."   Sexuality implies repro-
duction, and that is something we do not associate with
spiritual life.
  It further implies imperfection, which  is equally far
from our  hopes of happiness  beyond the grave.   The
polyp, which reproduces by a division of itself, is in one
sense more complete  than we are.  The man is in some
respects inferior  to the woman; the woman in others is
subordinate to man.   A happy marriage, a perfect union,
they twain one flesh, is the  type of the  independent. 
MAN AND  WOMAN.
11
completed being.   Without the other, either is defective,
" Marriage," said Napoleon, " is strictly indispensable to
happiness."
  There  is in  fact a less difference between the sexea
than is generally believed.  They are but  slight varia-
tions  from one original  plan.  Anatomists maintain,
with plausible  arguments, that there is no part or organ
in the one sex but has an analogous part or organ in
the other, similar in structure, similar in position.  Just
as the right side resembles the left, so does man resemble
woman.
  Let us see what differences there really are:
  The frame of woman is shorter and slighter.  In the
United States the  men average five feet eight inches in
height and one hundred and forty-five pounds in weight;
the women five feet two and a half inches in height and
one hundred and twenty-five  pounds in weight.   Man
has broad shoulders and narrow hips; woman has nar-
row shoulders  and broad hips.  Her skull  is formed of
thinner bones, and is in shape more like that of a child.
Its capacity, in proportion to her height, is a very little
less than in man: about  one-fiftieth, it is said, which, so
far as  brain-power is concerned, may readily be made
up  by its finer  texture.   Her  shoulders are set  farther
back than in the other sex, giving her  greater breadth
of chest in front.   This is brought about by the increased
length of her collar bone, and this  is the reason why she
can never throw  a ball or stone with the accuracy of a
 man.  Graceful in other exercises, here  she js awkward.
   Her contour is  more rounded, her neck  is  longer, her
 skin smoother, her voice softer, her hair less generally
 distributed over the body, but stronger in growth than in
 man.  She breathes with the muscles of her chest—he
 with those of his abdomen. He has greater muscular
                         2 
12
THE  MAIDEN.
force—she more power of endurance.  Beyond all else
she has the attributes of maternity,—she  is provided
with organs to nourish and protect the child before aud
after birth.

   PERSONS OF BOTH SEXES AND OF  NEITHER SEX.
  Nature is  very sedulous in maintaining  these differ-
ences.  It is  the rarest thing in the world to  find a
human being of doubtful  sex.  Many a  physician dis-
believes that there ever has been a person of both sexes
—a true hermaphrodite.  They are very scarce, but they
do  exist.  There is  one now  living  in  Germany.   It
bears a  female  name, Catherine Hohmann.  She was
baptized and brought up  a female; but Catherine is aa
much man as woman.  The learned professor of anatomy,
Rokitansky, of Vienna, asserts most positively that this
is a real  hermaphrodite.   Her history is  sad.  Born in
humble circumstances, when of marriageable age  she
loved a  man, who wished her to  emigrate  with him to
America. But when she disclosed to him  her deformity,
he broke off the engagement and deserted her.  Then her
affections became fixed on a young girl;  but how could
she make her suit to one apparently of her own sex ?
With passions that  prompt her to seek both sexes, she
belongs to neither.  " What shall I do here on earth ?"
she exclaimed, in tears, to a man of science who recently
visited her.   "What am  I?  In my life an object of
scientific experiment, and after my death  an anatomical
curiosity."
  There are also persons—very few indeed—who have no
sex at all. They are without organs and without passions.
Such creatures seem to have been formed merely to show
us that this much-talked-of difference of sex is, after all,
nothing  inherent in the constitution of things, and that 
PEOPLE OF NO  SEX.
13
individuals may be born, live, and thrive, of both sexes
or of neither.

              THE  SPHERE OF WOMAN.
  Our province lies within the physical sphere of woman.
But we will here allow ourselves a  momentary digression.
It will be seen that while these differences are  not radi-
cal, yet they are peculiarly permanent.  They hint to us
the mental and intellectual character of woman.  What
opinion should we hold on this  much-vexed question?
  To this  effect:  The mental faculties  of man  and
woman are unlike, but not  unequal.  Any argument to
the contrary, drawn from the  somewhat  less weight  of
the brain of woman, is met by the fact that the most able
men  are  often undersized, with small  heads.  The  sub-
ordinate  place  which  woman  occupies  in most states
arises partly from the fact that the part she plays in re-
production prevents her  from  devoting her whole time
and  energies  to  the  acquisition of power, and partly
from the fact that those faculties in which she is superior
to man have been obscured and oppressed by the animal
vigor and selfishness of the male.  As civilization  ad-
vances, the natural  rights of woman will be more au-J
more freely  conceded, until  the sexes  become  abso-
lutely equal  before the  law;  and  finally, her superi-
ority in  many  respects will be granted, and  she will
reap the  benefits  of  all  the advantages  it brings,
without  desiring to encroach  on  those  avocations for
which masculine energy and strength are imr eratively
needed.
  The most peculiar features of woman's life  are  hers
for a limited period only.  Man is man for *a longer
time than woman is woman.  With him  it is a lifetime
matter; with her it is but  for a score of years or  so. 
14
THE MAIDEN.
Her child-bearing period is less  than half her  life
Within this  time, she passes through all the phases of
that experience which is peculiarly her own.
  And these phases, what are they?   Nature herself
defines them.  They  are three in number,—the Maiden,
the Wife, and the Mother.  In one and then another of
this triad, her life passes.  Each has its own duties and
dangers;  each demands its own precautions; each must
be studied by itself.
  Let us at once commence this important f*udy, and
proceed in the order  of time. 
THE  MAIDEN.
                    PUBERTY.

  At a certain  period  in  the life of the female, she
ceases to be a girl, and becomes a woman.   Hitherto she
has felt no distinction between  herself and the boys, he»"
playmates.   But now a  crisis  takes place, which is for-
ever after to hedge her round  with a mysterious, invis-
ible, but most real barrier from all mankind.
  This period  is called  the age of puberty;  its  sign is a
flow of blood recurring every month;  its meaning, that
the female has entered upon  that  portion of her life
whose peculiar obligations  are to the whole  race—no
longer to herself alone.  The  second  part of  her two-
fold nature is opened.  Why is it that on her, the weaker
sex, this extra burden  is  laid?  Why this weakness,
these pains, this recurring loss  of vital fluid?
  Perhaps it is a wise provision that she is thus reminded
of her lowly duty, lest man should make her the sole
object of his worship, or lest the pride  of beauty should
obscure the sense of shame.   But this question concerns
rather the moralist than the  physician,  and we cease
asking why it is, and  shall only inquire ivhat it is.
  To this, science returns a clear reply.  In the anatomv
of woman there are two small  bodies, in shape and size
like large almonds, called the ovaries.   They lie one ou
each side of the  womb, and are connected with it  bv
                        2«                  15 
16                 THE MAIDEN.

tubes some  four  inches in  length.  These bodies aro
solid, but contain a great number of diminutive vesicles,
which, by some mysterious law of nature, mature one at
a time, every thirty days, for thirty years of woman's
life.   When mature, the vesicle separates from the ovary,
traverses the tube into the womb, and is thence expelled
and lost, or  becomes,  by contact with the  other sex, the
germ of a living being.  This process is accompanied by
a disturbance of the  whole system.  Wandering pains
are felt; a sense of languor steals  over the mind; the
blood rushes wdth increased violence  through the ves-
sels,  and more or less of it escapes  from the veins,
causing that change which we term menstruation.
  The ancients had a tradition that in  the beginning of
things the world was made from an egg;  the naturalists
of past generations had this maxim: Everything living
comes from  an egg; and science to-day says the same.
For  this vesicle we have  mentioned is in fact  an egg,
similar  in  structure  to  those which  birds,  fish,  and
turtles deposit.  The  only differences are that the one is
developed out of the body, the other within; the one has
a shell, the other has  none.
  Therefore physiologists give this definition: menstru-
ation is ovulation,—it is the laying of an egg.

          WHAT  IS THE AGE OF PUBERTY?
  This has been a matter of careful study  by physicians.
They have collected great numbers  of observations and
have reached this  conclusion: In the middle portion of
the  temperate  zone,  the  average  age when  the  first
period appears in healthy girls is fourteen years and six
months.  If it occurs more  than six  months later or
earlier than this, then it is likely something is wrong or
at least, the case is exceptional. 
THE AGE OF PUBERTY.
1?
  Exceptional  cases,  where this  average is widely de-
parted from in apparently  perfect health, are  rare.
But  they do occur.   We have known  instances where
the solicitude of parents has been  excited by the long
delay of  this  constitutional  change,  and others  in
which  it  has taken  place at  an  almost tender age,
without causing any  perceptible  injury to the general
health.
  There is an instance recorded, on good authority, where
a French  child but three years  old underwent all the
physical changes incident to puberty, and grew to be a
healthy woman.  But what children can surpass  our
own  in precocity?   This French  child-woman is quite
left in the shade by one described  in a recent number of
a western  medical journal, who from her birth had regu-
lar monthly changes, and the full physical development
which marks the perfect woman!
  Thus, sometimes, a  wide deviation from the average
age we have  stated occurs, without  having any serioua
meaning.  Yet at no time is such a deviation to be ne-
glected.  In  nine out of ten instances it is owing tc
some fault in the constitution, the health, or formation,
which should be ascertained and  corrected.  Otherwise
years of broken health and mental  misery may be the
sad results.  Mothers, teachers, it is with you this re-
sponsibility  rests.  The thousands  of  wretched wives
who owe their wretchedness to a neglect of proper atten-
tion at this turning point of their lives, warn  you how
serious is this responsibility.
  The  foundation of old  age,   says  a  di*  ^uished
author, is laid  in childhood;  but the health of middle
life depends  upon  puberty.   Never was there a truer
maxim.  The two  years which change  the girl  to the
woman, often seal  forever the happiness or the hopeless 
18
THE MAIDEN.
misery of her whole life.  They decide whether she u
to become a healthy, helpful, cheerful wife and mother,
or a languid, complaining invalid, to whom  marriage ia
a curse, children an affliction, and life itself a burden.
  We reiterate our warning: Mothers, teachers, you to
whom children are confided at this crisis of their  lives,
look well to it  that you appreciate, understand, and
observe the duties you  have  assumed.   Let no false
modesty prevent you from  learning and enforcing those
precautions, so necessary at this period of life.

   WHAT  HASTENS AND  WHAT RETARDS PUBERTY?
  As a rule, we find that those who develop early, fade
early.   A short childhood portends a premature old
age.  It often foreshadows, also, a feeble middle-life.
  Having ascertained, therefore, what is the average age
at which  puberty  takes  place  with us, let us see what
conditions anticipate or retard this age.
  The most important is climate.
  In hot climates,  man,  like the vegetation, has a sur-
prising rapidity of growth.  Marriages are  usual  at
twelve and fourteen years of age.   Puberty  come3  to
both sexes  as early as at ten and eleven years.  We
even read in the life of Mahomet, that one of his wives
bore him a son when but ten years of age.  Let another
dozen years pass, and these blooming maidens have been
metamorphosed into wrinkled, faded old women.   The
beauty  of their precocious youth has withered  almost
literally like a flower which is plucked.
  Very different is it in the cold and barren regions of
the far north.   There man, once more partaking of the
nature of  his surroundings, yields as  slowly to the im-
pulses of his passions as does the ice-bound earth to the
danting rays  of the summer sun.  Maturity, so quick 
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.
19
(o come, so swift to leave in the torrid heats, chilled by
the long winters, arrives  to the girls of Lapland, Nor-
way, and Siberia, only when they are eighteen and nine-
teen years of age.  But, in return for  this, they retain
their vigor and good looks to a green old age.
  Between these extremes, including  as  they  do the
*hole second decade of existence, this important  change
cakes  place  normally in different latitudes.  We  have
said that in the  middle temperate zone the  proper age
is fourteen years and six months.  Let us now see what
conditions  lead to deviations  from this  age  in  our
climate.
  First on the list is that sacred fire handed down to ua
from our ancestors; which we call, in our material lan-
guage, the constitution.
  The females  of certain  races, certain families, it is
often noticed, mature earlier than their neighbors.  Jew-
esses,  for example, are  always precocious, earlier by
one or two years.   So are colored girls, and those of
creole  lineage.   We can guess the reasons here.  No
doubt these children still retain in their blood the tropic
fire which, at comparatively recent periods, their fore-
fathers felt under the vertical rays of the torrid zone.
  Nor is this all.  It is well ascertained, from numerous
observations,  that  brunettes develop  sooner than their
blonde sisters;  that those who will  grow to be large
women  are  slower  than  those  whose stature will be
small; that  the dark-haired and  black-eyed are more
precocious in this respect than the light-haired and blue-
eyed ; that the fat, sluggish girl  is more tardy than the
slender, active one; that, in general, what  is known as
the nervo-bilious temperament is ever ahead of  that
called the lymphatic or phlegmatic.
  It is a familiar fact,  that it is  not  a good  sign to see 
20                 THE MAIDEX.

this change before the usual average time,  ft betoken*
a weakly,  excitable,  diminutive frame.   Hard labor,
vigorous,  regular  muscular exertion, prime  health, in
other words, never tend to anticipate this  epoch,  but
rather to retard it.
  With this warning fresh in  our ears, let  us now re-
hearse what causes constantly incline  unduly to hasten
puberty, and thus to forestall wise Nature in her plans
for health and beauty.  They are of two kinds, physical
and mental.
  Idleness  of body,  highly-seasoned  food,  stimulant
beverages, such as beer, Avine, liquors, and, in a less de-
gree, coffee and tea, irregular habits of sleep,—these are
the physical causes  of premature development.  But
the mental causes are still  more potent.
  Whatever stimulates the  emotions leads to an unnatu-
rally early sexual life.  Late hours, children's parties,
sensational novels, "flashy"  papers,  love stories,  the
drama, the ball-room, talk  of beaux, love, and mar-
riage,—that atmosphere of riper years which is so often
and so injudiciously  thrown around  childhood in  the
United States,—all hasten the event which transforms
the girl into the  woman.  A  particular emphasis  has
been laid by some physicians on the power of music to
awaken the dormant susceptibilities to passion, and on
this account its too general or earnest cultivation by
children has  been objected to.   Educators would do
well to bear this caution in mind.
  How powerfully these causes  work is evident when
we  compare the average age of puberty in large cities
and in  country districts.   The females in the former
mature from six to eight months sooner than those ii:
the  latter.  This is unquestionably owing  to their mode
«f  life,  physically  indolent,  mentally over stimulate*!. 
SIGNS OF PUBERTY.
21
The  result, too, is seen  with  painful plainness in com-
paring the sturdy, well-preserved farm-wife  of  thirty
ttith the languid, pale, faded  city lady of the same age.

              THE CHANGES IT WORKS.
  Two short  years change the  awkward and angular
girl of fourteen into the trim and graceful maiden  of
sweet sixteen.  Wonderful metamorphosis!   The ma-
gic wand of the fairy has touched her, and she  comes
forth  a new  being, a vision  of  beauty  to  bewitch the
world.
  Let us analyze this change.
  The earliest sign  of approaching puberty is  a deposit
of fat in the loose cellular tissue under the skin.   This
gives roundness  to  the  form, and grace to the move-
ments.  According  to a distinguished naturalist  (Buf-
fon), it is  first observable by a  slight swelling of the
groins.  Thence  it extends over the whole body.  The
breasts especially receive additions, and develop to form
the perfect bust.
  Parts of the body previously free  from hair become
covered with  a soft growth, and that which covers the
head  acquires more vigor and gloss, usually becoming
one  or  two  shades darker.   The eyes brighten, and
acquire unwonted significance.  These windows of the
soul  betray to the  close observer the novel  emotions
which are arising in the  mind within.
  The voice,  too,  shares in  the transformation.  The
piping, slender articulation of the child gives way  to the
rich, melodious, eoft voice of woman, the sweetest music
man ever  hears.  To  the student of humanity, to the
observant  physician, nothing is more symbolical of the
whole nature than the  voice.   Would you witness  a
pro^f of its power?  WaU'h how a person born blind un- 
22
THE MAIDEN
grringly discriminates  the character of those he meet*
by this alone.
  Beyond  all  external  modifications, we  find other?,
which indicate how profound is the alteration now tak-
ing place.  The internal organs of the body assume new
functions and new powers.  The  taste for food changes,
hinting that the system has  demands hitherto unknown
Those organs we have adverted to, called the ovaries, in
crease in size, as also does the uterus.   The very frame
work of the  structure does  not escape.  The bones in
crease in weight, and those around the hips expand, ano
give the female her distinctive form, upon the perfectioc
of which her life and that of her  children depend.

                  MENTAL  CHANGES.
  Such are the  changes which  strike the eye.   Bui
there are  others  which  are not less significant, anc1
which  demand  far  more urgently our watchful  heed.
New thoughts, strange  desires, are invading the soul.  A
novel relation  is  assumed  to  the world.  It is vague,
misunderstood, but disturbing all the  same.
  The once light-hearted girl  inclines to  reveries; she
seeks solitude;  her mother surprises her in causu't*
tears ; her teacher discovers an unwonted inattention to
bn.v studies, a less  retentive  memory,  a disinclination to
cental  labor; her father misses  her accustomed  play-
fulness: he, perhaps, is annoyed by her listlessness, and
mertia.   What does it all mean ?   What is  the matter
frith the girl ?
  Mother, teacher, father, it is  for you  to know the an-
BAvers to these questions.  You have  guarded  this girl
through years of helpless infancy  and thoughtless child-
hood.  At the peril of her life, and of what is of more
value than life, do  not now relax your vigilance.  Every 
EFFECTS OF PUBERTY.
2»
■lay the reaper Death reaps with his keen sickle  fh*
flowers of our land.  The mothers weep, indeed; but little
do they realize that it is because they have neglected to
cherish them as Avas their duty, that the Lord of Paia-
diie has taken them back to himself.

           THE COMPLETION  OF PUBERTY.
  The symptoms increase until at length the system  has
acquired the necessary strength, and furnished itself with
reserve forces enough to complete its  transformation.
Then  the monthly flow commences.
  In  thoroughly  healthy girls it continues to recur at
regular intervals, from twenty-five to  thirty days apart
This is true of about three out of four.  In others, a long
interval, sometimes  six months, occurs between the first
and second sickness.  If the general health is not in the
least impaired, this need cause  no  anxiety.  Irregulari-
ties are found in the first year or two, which often right
themselves aftenvards.  But whenever they are associ-
ated with the slightest  signs of mental ot homily dis-
order, they demand instant and intelligent; attention.
  It used to be supposed that the periods of the monthly
sickness Avere in some way connected with the phases of
the moon.   S'j general is this belief even yet in France,
that a learned  academician not long since thought it
worth while  carefully to compare over  four  thousand
observations, to see  Avhether they did bear any relations
to the lunar phases.  It is  hardly Avorth Avhile to add
that he found none.
  We have known perfectly healthy young Avomen who
were ill every sixteen days, and others in whom a perioo
of thirty-five or thirtj six days w ould elapse.  The reasons
of such differences are not clear.  Some inherited peculi*
irityef constitution is doubtless at work.   Climate is*
                        3 
24                 THE MAIDEN.

primary importance.  Travellers in Lapland, and otho*
countries in the far north, say that the women there ara
not regulated more frequently than three or four times
a year.  Hard labor  and a  phlegmatic temperament
usually prolong  the interval between  the periodical
Illnesses.
  An equal diversity prevails in reference to the length
of time the  discharge continues.  The average of a large
number of cases  observed  in healthy women in  this
country, betAveen the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, is four
days and a fraction.   In  a  more general Avay, we  may
say from tAVO to six days is the proper duration.  Should
it diverge  Avidely  from this, then it is likely some  mis-
chief is at  Avork.
  In  relation to  the  amount of  the discharge, every
woman is a law unto herself.  Usually, it is four or five
ounces in  all.  Habits of life are apt to  modify it ma-
terially.  Here, again, those exposed to prolonged  cold
and inured to severe labor escape more easily than their
sisters petted in the  lap of  luxury.  Delicate,  feeble,
nervous women,  those, in other words, who can  least
afford the loss of  blood, are precisely those Avho lose the
piost.  Nature, Avho is no tender  mother,  but a stern
step-mother, thus punishes  them  for disregarding her
laws.  Soft couches, indolent ease, highly  spiced  food,
warm rooms, weak muscles,—these are the infractions ol
her rules which she revenges with vigorous, ay, merci-
less severity.
  It is Avell knoAvn, too, that excitement of the emotions,
whether of anger, joy, grief,  hatred, or love,  increases
the discharge.  Even the vulgar are aware of this, and,
misinterpreting it as half knowledge  always  does, sup-
pose it a sign of stronger animal passions.  It bears no
»uch oieaning.   But the fact  reads us a lesson how in* 
          INJURIOUS HABITS OF LIFE.        25

portant it is to cultivate a placid mind, free from strong
desire or fear, and to hold all our emotions in  the  firm
leash of reason.
  Physicians attach great importance to the character of
the discharge.  It should be thin, Avatery, dark colored,
and never clot.  If it clots, it is  an indication  that
something is wrong.

             THE  DANGERS OF PUBERTY.
  We have  shown that there are constantly individual
deviations, quite consistent with health, from any given
standard. They  only become significant of  disease
when they depart decidedly from the  average, either in
the frequency of the illness, its  duration, the amount of
the discharge, or the character.  More or less pain, more
or less  prostration, and  general disturbance at these
epochs, are universal and  inevitable.  They are part of
the sentence  which at the outset He  pronounced upon
the woman, when He said unto her: "I will  greatly
multiply thy sorrow  and  thy  conception."  Yet Avith
merciful kindness He has provided means by which the
pain may be greatly  lessened,  and the sorrow avoided;
and that Ave may learn and observe these means, their
neglect often increases a hundred-fold the natural suf-
fering.
  At  this critical period,  the  seeds of hereditary  and
constitutional diseases manifest  themselves.  They draAV
fresh  malignancy  from the new activity of the system.
The first symptoms of tubercular consumption, of scro-
fula, of obstinate and  disfiguring skin diseases, of hered
itary  insanity, of congenital epilepsy, of a hundred ter-
rible maladies, which from birth have lurked in the child,
biding the opportunity of attack, suddenly spring from
their lairs, and hurry her to the grave or  the madhouse 
26
THE  MAIDEN.
If Ave ask why so many fair girls of eighteen or twenty
are followed  by weeping friends to an early tomb, the
answer is, chiefly from diseases which had their origin at
the period of puberty.
  It is impossible for us to rehearse here all the minute
symptoms, each  almost trifling in itself, which warn the
practised physician of the approach of one of these fear-
ful foes in time to alloAV him to make a defence.  We
can do little  more than iterate the warning, that Avhen-
ever at this  momentous  epoch any  disquieting change
appears, be it physical or mental, let not a day be lost
in summoning skilled, competent medical advice.
  There  is, hoAvever, a train of symptoms so frequent,
so insidious,  so fruitful with agony of mind and body,
that we shall mention them  particularly.  They illus-
trate, at once, hoAV all-important is close observation, and
how significant  to the wise physician are trifles seem-
ingly light as air.
   If you  notice a girl of fourteen  or  sixteen, who, in
walking, always gives one arm in preference to the other
to her companioi ;  if, in sleeping, she mostly lies on the
same side; if, in sitting, she is apt to prefer a chair with
a low back, and throAArs one arm over its back;  if you
perceive that she ahvays sits with one  foot a little in
advance of the other;  if she, on inquiry,  confesses to
slight, wandering pains in one side of her chest, do not
chide  her for awkwardness.  These are ominous por-
tents.  They mean spinal disease,  than  Avhich a more
fearful malady is hardly known to medicine.
   Not less stealthy is the approach of disease of the hip
joint, of white swelling of the knee, of consumption, all
curable if taken at the very first,  all wellnigh hopeless
when they have once unmasked  their real features.
   Apart from these general dangers, to which those oJ 
SPINAL DISEASE.
27
 thoroughly sound constitutions are not exposed, there
 are disorders called functional, to which all are subject

                  GREEN SICKNESS.
   When we speak of the "green sickness," we mentios
 perhaps the most common of all, and one of which every
 mother has heard.   Doctors call it chlorosis, which, also,
 means greenness; for one of its most common and pecu-
 liar  symptoms  is a  pale complexion with a greenish
 tinge.
   It never occurs except at or near the age of puberty,
 and was long supposed to be merely an impoverishment
 of the blood.  Now, hoAvever, we have learned that it is
 a disease of the nervous system, and one very often con-
 founded by physicians with other complaints.
   Its attack is insidious.  A distaste  for exertion and
 society, a fitful appetite, low spirits—these are  all the
 symptoms noticed at first.  Then, one by one, come pal-
 pitation of the heart, an unhealthy complexion, irregu-
 larity, dyspepsia, depraved tastes,—such as a desire to eat
 slate-pencil dust, chalk, or clay,—vague pains in body and
 limbs, a bad temper; until the girl, after several months,
 is a peevish, wretched, troublesome invalid.
  Then if a physician  is called in, and  gives her iron,
 and tells her nothing is the matter, or is himself alarmed,
 and  imagines she has heart disease" or consumption, it
 is  a  chance if she does not rapidly sink, out  of mere
 fright, and over-much dosing, into some fatal complaint.
 Let it be Avell  understood that chlorosis, though often
obstinate and obscure, is ahvays curable if properly and
 promptly  treated.  The remedies must be addressed to
the nervous system, and can be administered with intel-
ligence only by a competent medical adviser.   It can
be prevented by a hygienic mode of life, and as its most 
28                 THE MAIDEN.
common eauses are anxiety, home-sickness, want oi ex
ercise, or over-AVork at  school, nothing is so  salutary iu
its early stages as a change of air  and scene, cheerful
company, a  tour to the mountains  or  some watering-
place, and regular exercise.
  Many young women  suffer considerable pain  during
their monthly illness.   This may arise  from many dif-
ferent causes, such as  congestion,  inflammation,  mal-
formation, or a wrong position of the parts, or over-sen-
sitive  nerves.   They can only be  successfully treated
when  the cause  is known;  and they may rest assured
that this suffering, in nearly every case, can be removed
  Sometimes a  girl grows  to the  age of eighteen 01
tAventy Avi-thout  having her  periodical changes.   We
have already said that this  is not unusual in some cli-
mates, and in some families; so, as long as the general
health is good, and the  spirits cheerful,—always  an im-
portant point,—it need cause no anxiety.   But if the
health groAvs poor, and, especially, if there are pains and
weakness recurring monthly  Avithout  discharge,  then
something is wrong, and the doctor should be consulted.

                     HYSTERICS.
  There is a disease of  the  nerves to Avhich girls about
the age of puberty are  very subject, particularly in the
higher circles of  society, Avhere their emotions are over-
educated  and their organization delicate.   It is called
hysteria, and more commonly hysterics.  Frequently it
deceives both doctor and friends, and is  supposed to be
borne dangerous complaint.  Often it puts on the symp-
toms of epilepsy, or heart disease, or consumption.   We
have witnessed the most frightful convulsions in girls of
fourieen or fifteen, which Avere brought on by this com-
plaint.  Sometimes it injures the mind, and it should 
NER VO US A FFECTIONS.
29
always  receive prompt and  efficient attention, as  it is
always curable.
  This disease is apt  to produce a similar affection  in
of her girls of the  same age Avho see the attacks.   For
this  reason, hysterical girls should not be sent to large
schools, but cured at home.   Often a strong mental im-
pression restores them.  The  anecdote is told of a  cele-
brated surgeon (Boerhave), who was called to a female
seminary where there was  a number of hysterical girls.
He summoned them together, heated a number of iron
instruments before their eyes, and told them that  the
first  one who had  a fit should be cauterized down  the
spine.  They  all recovered immediately.

                SECRET BAD  HABITS.
  We now approach  a part of our subject  Avhich Ave
would gladly  omit, did not constant experience admon-
ish us of our  duty to speak of it in no uncertain tone.
We  refer  to  the disastrous consequences on  soul  and
body to Avhich young girls expose themselves  by excit-
ing and indulging morbid passions.  Years  ago, Misa
Catharine E.  Beecher  sounded a note of Avarning to the
mothers of America  on  this  secret vice, Avhich leads
their daughters to the grave, the madhouse, or, worse
yet, the brothel.
  Gladly Avould we believe that her timely admonition
had done away with the necessity for  its repetition.  But
though Ave believe such a habit is more rare than many
physicians  suppose, it certainly exists to a  degree  that
demands attention.  Surgeons have recently been forced
to devise painful operations to hinder young  girls from
thus ruining  themseWes;  and Ave must confess that, in
its Avorst form, it is absolutely incurable.
  The results of the constant nervous excitement which 
30
THE  MAIDEN.
this habit produces are bodily weakness, loss of mem-
ory,  Ioav spirits,  distressing  nervousness,  a capricious
appetite, dislike of company and of study, and, finally,
paralysis, imbecility,  or  insanity.   Let it not be  sup-
posed that there are many who suffer  thus  severely,
but, on the other  hand, let it be clearly understood thai
any indulgence Avhatever in these evil courses is attended
with bad effects,  especially because they create impure
desires and thoughts, Avhich will prepare the girl  to be
a Avilling victim to  the arts of profligacy.   There is no
more solemn duty resting on those  Avho have the charge
of young females than to protect them against this vice.
  But, it is exclaimed, is it not dangerous  to  tell  them
any  thing  about it?  Such a  course is  unnecessary.
Teach them  that any handling of the parts,  any inde-
cent language, any impure thought, is  degrading and
hurtful.  See that the servants, nurses, and companions
Avith whom they associate are not debased; and recom-
mend scrupulous  cleanliness.
  If the habit is discovered, do not scold nor whip the
child.  It is often a result of disease, and  induced  by a
digagreeable local itching.  Sometimes this is connected
with a disorder of the womb, and very  frequently  Avith
worms in the bowels.  Let the  case be  submitted to a
judicious, skilful  medical adviser, and the  girl will yet
be saved.   But do not shut your eyes, and  refuse to see
this fact when it  exists.   Mothers  are too often unwil-
ling to entertain  for a moment the thought that their
daughters are addicted to such  a vice, when it is  only
too plain to the physician.

             THE HYGIENE  OF  PUBERTY
  Concerning the maladies of puberty, we  may broadly
Bay, that if Ave are oblige.! to have recourse to  medicine 
              l'O NO2 STARVE GIRLS.           g]

 it is because we have neglected hygiene.  That  the  pe-
 riod requires assiduous care, Ave grant; but given that
 care, drugs will be needless.
   In a general way, we  have already emphasized the
 danger of indolence and the benefits of exercise or laboi;
 the perils of exciting the  emotions and the advantages
 of a placid disposition; the impropriety of premature
 development and the wisdom of simplicity and modera
 tion.   This is an old story—a thrice-told tale.  Let  us
 go more into minutiae.
  One of  the most frequent causes of disease, about the
 age of puberty, is starvation.  Many a girl is starved  to
 death.   Food is given her, but not of the right quality,
 or in insufficient quantity, or at improper hours.  The
system is not nourished; and, becoming feeble,  it  is laid
open to the attacks of disease, and to -no form of disease
 more readily than to consumption.
  To  correct this, let the food be varied,  simply pre-
pared,  and abundant.  Good fresh milk should be used
daily, while tea and coffee should be  withheld.   Fat
meats and vegetable oils,  generally disliked  by girls  at
this age,  are exactly what they need; and were they
 partaken of more freely, there would be  less inquiry  at
 the drug-stores for cod-liver oil.
  A  modern writer of eminence lays it down as one of
the most common causes of consumption in young people
that just  at the age when their physical system is un-
dergoing such important changes, that invaluable article
of diet, milk, is generally  dropped, and  nothing equally
rich in nitrogen substituted in its place.
  Exercise, Avhether as games, the skipping rope, cro-
quet, walking,  dancing, riding,  and callisthenics, or  as
regular labor, is highly beneficial,  especially when  it
loads  one  into  the fresh air,  the  sunshine,  and the 
32
THE  MAIDEN.
country.  A particular kind of exercise is to be recom-
mended for those Avhose chests are narrow, whose shoul-
ders stoop, and who have a hereditary predisposition
to consumption.  If it is systematically practiced along
with other  means of health,  we w7ould guarantee any
child, no matter how many relatives have died of thin
disease, against its invasion.  It is voluntary inspiration
Nothing is more simple.  Let her stand erect, throAv the
shoulders well back and the hands behind; then let her
slowly inhale pure air to the full capacity of the lungs,
and retain it a few seconds by an increased effort; then
it may be slowly exhaled.   After one or two natural in-
spirations, let her repeat the act, and so on for ten or
fifteen minutes, tAvice daily.   Not only is this simple
procedure a safeguard against consumption, but, in the
opinion of some learned physicians, it can even cure it
when it has already  commenced.
  At first the monthly loss of blood exhausts the system.
Therefore, plenty of food, plenty of rest, plenty of sleep
are required.  That ancient prejudice  in favor of early
rising should be discarded now, and the girl should re-
tire early,  and, if she  will, should sleep late.  Hard
study, care, or anxiety should  be  spared  her.   This is
not the time for rigid discipline.
  Clothing is a matter of importance, and if Ave were at all
sure of attention, there is much we would say of it.  The
thought seriously troubles us, that so long as American
women consent to deform  themselves and sacrifice their
health to false ideas of  beauty, it is almost hopeless to
urge their fitness for, and their right to, a higher life than
they now enjoy.  No educated painter or sculptor is igno-
rant of wnat the model of female beauty is; no fashion-
able woman in America is content unless  she  depart*
from it  as far as possible. 
WHEN  TO MARRY.
83
  tfo . beauty implies health, and ugliness of form is at-
,  ,ned not only at the expense of aesthetics, but of com-
fort.  The custom  of fastening growing girls in tight
corsets, of flattening their breasts with pads, of distort-
ing their feet in small high-heeled shoes, and of teaching
them to stoop and mince in gait, is  calculated  to dis-
gust every observer of good sense and taste, and, what
is of more consequence, to render these girls, when they
become Avomen, more liable to every species of suffering
connected Avith child-bearing.
  Some young women suffer more, some less,  during
their periodical illnesses.  Both classes should be equally
cautious to do less than usual at that time.   Over-exertion
is a most fruitful cause of disease.   Long walks, shopping,
dancing, riding, labor, should be avoided or diminished.
Iced drinks, exposure to  dampness or to  great heat, are
likewise perilous.   If there is much pain or debility, or
an  abundant discharge, they should rest  on the sofa or
bed.  If the discharge is delayed, soaking the feet in
hot water, a tumbler of hot ginger tea, a brisk walk, or
a gentle laxative, will often bring it on.   But under no
circumstances should more violent means than these be
used.  Properly, there is no great suffering connected
with this function, and when such is present, the physi-
cian should be consulted.

               THE AGE OF  NUBILITY.
   It does not follow because a girl  is capable of mar-
 riage that she is fit for  it.  Science teaches  us many
 valid objections  to  too  early unions.  It goes farther,
 and fixes a certain  age at Avhich  it is wisest for woman
 to  marry.   This age is between  twenty  and twenty-five
 years.
   Anatomists have learned that after puberty the bones 
34                 THE MAIDEN.

of a woman's body undergo important modifications to
fit her for  child-bearing.   This requires time, and be-
fore twenty the process  is not completed.   Until the
woman is perfect herself, until her full stature and com-
pleted form are attained, she is not qualified to assist in
perpetuating the species.
  We might urge that up to this moment neither does
her self-knowledge qualify her to choose alife-companion,
nor can her education be finished, nor is her experience
sufficient for her to enter on the duties of a matron.
But we do not appeal to these arguments.   There are
others still more forcible.   If her own health, life, and
good  looks are of value to her, if she has any wish for
healthy, sound-minded children, she will refrain from
premature  nuptials.
  A too youthful vrife finds marriage not a pleasure but
a pain.  Her  nervous system is prostrated by it,  she is
more  liable to weakness  and diseases of the womb, and
if of a consumptive family, she runs great risk of finding
that fatal  malady  manifest itself after a year or two  of
wedded life.   It is very common for those who marry
young to die young.
  From statistics Avhich  have been  carefully compiled,
it is proven that the first labors of very young mothers
are much more painful, tedious, and dangerous to life,
than  others.   As Avives,  they are   frequently visited
either with absolute sterility, and all their  lives  must
bear the reproach of barren women, or, what to  many
is hardly less distasteful, they have an excessively nume-
rous family.
  What adds to  their sufferings in  the latter event is
that the children of such  marriages are rarely health v.
They  are  feeble,  sickly,  undersized, often with  some
Ikult  of mind  ^r  body, Avhich is a  cross  to   them and 
THE  WONDER, LOVE.
35
their parents all their lives.   They inherit more readily
the defects of their ancestors, and as a rule die at earlier
years than the progeny of better-timed unions.
  These considerations are formidable enough, it would
Beeru. to prevent young girls from marrying, without the
need of a law, as exists in some countries.  Moreover,
they are not imaginary but real, as many a Avoman finds
out to her cost.
  The  objections  to marriage after the age of twenty-
five are less cogent.   They extend  only to the woman
herself.  She should know that the first labors of wives
over thirty  are nearly twice  as fatal as those between
twenty and twenty-five.  Undoubtedly, nature points to
the period between the tAventieth and tAventy-fifth year
as the fittest one for marriage in the woman.
                      LOVE.

             ITS POWER ON HUMANITY.

  Love,  pure love, true love, what can we  say of it ?
The dream of youth; the cherished reminiscence of age;
celebrated in  the songs of poets; that which  impels  the
warrior to  his most daring  deeds;  which  the  inspired
prophet chooses to typify the holiest sentiments,—what
uoav thing is it possible to say about this theme ?
  Think  for a moment on  the history or the literature
of the world.   Ask the naturalist to reveal the mysteries
of life; let the mythologist explain the origin and mean-
ing of all  uurevealed religions; look within at the prompt-
ings of your own spirit, and this Avhole life of ours will
appear to you as one grand epithalamium.
                          4 
36                 THE MAIDEN.

  The profoundest of English poets has said
         "All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
             Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
           All are but ministers of Love,
             And feed his sacred flame."
  That life which is devoid of love is incomplete, sterile,
unsatisfactory.   It fails of its chiefest end.  Nature, in
anger, blots it out  sooner, and it passes like the shadow
of a  cloud, leaving no  trace behind.   Admirable as  it
may be in other respects, to the eye  of  the statesman,
the physician, the  lover of his species, it remains but a
fragment, a torso.
  Love is one thing to a woman, another to a man.  Tc
him, said Madame de  Stael, it  is an  episode; to her, it
is the whole history of life.  A thousand  distractions
divert man.  Fame, riches, power, pleasure, all struggle
in his bosom to displace the sentiment of love.  They
are its rivals, not rarely its masters.   But woman knoAvs
no  such distractions.   One passion only sits enthroned
in her bosom;  one only idol is  enshrined in her heart,
knowing no rival, n& successor.  This passion is love I
this idol is its object.
  This is not fancy, not rhetoric; it is the language of
cold  and exact science, pronounced  from the chair of
history, from the  bureau  of the statistician, from the
dissecting-table of the anatomist.  We shall  gather up
their well-weighed  words,  and present them, not  as
fancy sketches, but as facts.
  This  deep, all-absorbing, single, wondrous love of
woman, is something that man cannot understand. This
sea of unfathomed depth is to nim a  mystery.  Tho
shallow mind sees of it nothing but the rippling waves,
the unstable foam-crests dashing hither and thither the
playful ripples of the surface and, blind  to the still and 
THE SANCTITY OF  WOMAN.         37
 measureless  waters beneath, calls woman cajn'icious,
 uncertain,—varium et mutabile.  But the  thinker  and
 ecer, undeceived by such externals, knows that beneath
 this seeming change  is  stability unequalled  in  the
 Btronger sex; a poAver  of Avill  to Avhich man  is  a
 stranger; a  devotion and purpose which strike  him
 with undefined awe.
  Therefore, in the myths  and legends Avhich the early
 races framed  to  express their notions of divine things,
 the Fates, Avho spin and  snip the  thread  of life; the
 Noras, who
                Lay down laws,
                And select life
                For the children of fi  *e—
                The destinies of men,

are ahvays females.  The seeresses  and interpreters  of
oracles, those  avIio, like the witch  of Endor, could sum-
mon from the grave the shades of the departed, Avere
women.
  Therefore,  also,  modern  infidelity, going back, as it
ever does, to the ignorance of the past and holding it
up  as  something new, makes woman the only deity.
Comte and his disciples, having reasoned away all gods,
angels, and spirits, and unable to still the craving  for
something to adore, agree to  meet once a week  to wor-
ship—Avoraan.  The French  revolutionists, having shut
 up the  churches, and  abolished God by a decree of the
Convention, set up in His stead—a woman.
  We could never exhaust this phase of world-history.
 Everywhere Ave see the unexpected hand of Love mould-
 ing, fashioning all  things.   The fortunes  of the individ-
 ual, the fate of nations, the destinies of races, are guided
 by this invisible thread.  Let us push our inquiries as
 to the nature of this all-powerful agent. 
38
THE  MAIDEN.
                   WHAT IS LOVE?
  It has a divided nature.   As we have an  immortal
soul, but a body of clay ; as the plant roots itself in de-
caying earth, but spreads its flowers in glorious sunlight;
so love has  a physiological and  a moral nature.   It is
rooted in that unconscious laAV of life which bids us per-
petuate our  kind;  Avhich guards  over  the conservation
of life; which enforces, Avith ceaseless  admonition, that
first precept which God gave to man before the gates of
Eden had been closed upon him: " Be  thou fruitful,
and multiply and replenish the earth."  Nothing  but a
spurious delicacy, or an ignorance of facts, can prevent
our full recognition that love looks to marriage, and
marriage to  offspring, as a natural sequence.
  Do we  ask proofs of this ?  We have them in  abun-
dance.  Those  unfortunate  beings Avho are chosen by
Oriental custom to  guard the seraglios, undergo a muti-
lation which disqualifies them from becoming parents.
Soon  all traces of  passion, all regard  for the  other sex,
all  sentiments  of love, totally disappear.  The records
of medicine contain not a few cases where disease had
rendered it necessary to remove the ovaries from Avomen.
At  once  a  change took place  in voice,  appearance,
and mind.  They spoke like men, a slender beard com-
menced on  their faces, a masculine manner  Avas con-
spicuous in all their motions, and every thought of sex-
ual love passed awray forever.   These are the results in
every case.  What  do they signify ? Undoubtedly that
the passion  of  love is  dependent up( n the  capacity of
having offspring, and  that  such was  the intention of
Nature in implanting in our  bosom  this all-poAverful
sentiment.
  But this is not  all.   Nature, as beneficent to  thos« 
AUSTvs LOVE.
39
who obey her precepts as  she is merciless to those who
disregard them, has added to this sentiment of love a
physical pleasure in its gratification ; an  honorable and
proper pleasure, which none but  the  hypocrite or  the
ascetic Avill affect to  contemn, none but  the coarse or
the lewd Avill regard as the object of love.  There is, in-
deed, a passion Avhich is the love of the body.  We call
it by its proper name of lust.  There is another emotion,
for Avhich the rich tongue of the ancient Greeks had a
word, to  which  we have nothing to correspond.  Call it,
if  you Avill, Platonic love,  and define it to lie an exalted
friendship.  But  understand that neither the one nor
the other is love, in the true sense of the Avord, and that
both are inferior to it.
  Does  the father, watching, with moistened eyes, his
child at its mother's breast; does the husband, bending
with solicitude  over the sick-bed of his wife; does the
wife, clinging to her husband through  evil report and
good report, through broken fortunes and failing health,
indicate  no  loftier emotion than  IvM, no  warmer senti-
ment than friendship ?  What ignorance, what  perver-
sity is so gross as not to perceive something here nobler
than either?  Do  you say that  such  scenes  are, alas,
rare ?  We deny it.  We see  them daily in the streets ;
we meet them  daily in our rounds.  Admitted, by our
calling, to the sacred  precincts of many  houses  in the
trying hours of sickness and death, Ave  speak advisedly,
and know that this is the prevailing meaning of love in
American life.
   A warm, rich affection blesses the  one who gives  and
the one who receives.   Character develops under it  as
the plant beneath the sunlight.   Happiness is an un-
known word without it. Love and marriage are the only
normal conditions of life.  Without them, both man and
                         4* 
40
THE  MAIDEN.
woman forever miss the best part of themselves.   They
suffer more, they sjn more, they perish sooner.  These
are not hasty assertions.   As a social laAV, let it be well
understood that science pronounces that

                LOVE  IS A NECESSITY.
  The single life is forced upon many of both sexes, in
our present social condition.   Many choose it from mo-
tives of economy, from timidity, or as a religious step,
pleasing to God.  The latter is a notion which probably
arose from a belief that, somehoAV, celibacy, strictly ob-
served, means  chastity.   It  simply means continence.
The chastest persons have been, and are, not the virgins
and celibates, but  the married.  When  this  truth is
known better, we shall have feAver sects  and more re-
ligion.
  We know women who refrain from  marrying to keep
out of trouble.   The old saying is that e\rery sigh drives
a nail in one's  coffin.  They  are not going to worry
themselves to death bearing children and nursing them.
It is too  great a risk, too much suffering.  How often
have we been told this !  Yet hoAV false the reasoning is!
Very carefully prepared statistics show that betAveen the
ages of twenty  and forty-five years,  more unmarried
women die than married, and no instance  of remarkable
longevity in an old maid is knoAvn.  The celebrated Dr.
Hufeland, therefore, in his treatise on the Art of Pro-
longing Life,  lays  it down  as a rule, that to attain a
great age  one must be married.
  As for happiness, those who think they can best attain
it  outside the gentle yoke of matrimony  are  quite  as
wide of the mark.  Their selfish and  solitary pleasures
do  not gratify them.  With  all the resources of clubs,
billiard-rooms, saloons, narcotics and stimulants, single 
        THE FATE OF THE  UNMARRIED.      4J

men make but a mock show of satisfaction.  At heart
everv one  of  them envies his married  friends.   How
nuch more monotonous and more readily exhausted are
the resources of Avoman's single  life!   No  matter Avhat
"sphere"  she  is in,  no matter  in  what "circle"  she
moAres, no  matter what "mission" she invents,  it will
■oou pall on her.  Would you see the result ?  We in-
voke  once  more those dry A-olumes,  full of lines and
figures, on vital statistics.  Stupid as they look, they are
full of the strangest stories, and, Avhat is more, the stories
are all true. Some of them are sad stories, and this is one
of the saddest:  Of those unfortunates Avho, out of des-
pair and disgust of the world, jump from bridges, or take
arsenic,  or  hang themselves, or in other ways  rush un-
bidden and unprepared before the great Judge of all,
nearly two-thirds are  unmarried,  and in  some  years
nearly three-fourths.  And of those other sad cases—dead,
yet living—Avho people the madhouses and asylums, Avhat
of them ?   Driven crazy by their brutal husbands, do
you suggest?  Not at all.  In  France, Bavaria, Prussia,
Hanover,  four out of every  five are unmai-ried, and
throughout the civilized Avorld  there are  everywhere
three or four single to one married woman in the estab-
lishments  for the insane, in  proportion to the Avhole
number of the tAvo classes aboAre twenty-one years of age.
   Other women decline to  marry because they have,
forsooth, a "life Avork"  to  accomplish.  Some great
project  fills their mind.  Perchance they emulate Mad.
De Stael,   and would electrify the  country by their
no\Tel vieAvs in politics; or they have a literary vein
they  fain  Avould exploit; or  they feel called upon  to
teach the  freedmen,  or to keep  their  position as leaders
of fashion. A husband Avould trammel  them.  If they
 did marry, they would  take  t> > very foolish advice of 
42                 THE MAIDEN

a cotemporary, and go  through life with an  indignant
protest at its littleness.  Let such women know that they
underrate  the married state, its powers and  its  oppor-
tunities.  There are no loftier missions than  can there be
carried out,  no nobler games than  can there be played.
When we think of these  objections, coming,  as they have
to us, from high-spirited, earnest girls, the queens of theii
sex,  our memory runs  back to the famous  women of
history, the brightest jewels in the coronet  of time, and
we find  as many, ay, more, married women than  single
who  pursued to their ends mighty achievements.
  If you  speak of Judith and Joan of Arc, who de-
livered  their fatherlands  from the enemy  by a daring
no man can equal, we shall recall  the peaceful victories
of her, wife of the barbarian Chlodwig, who taught the
rude Franks the mild religion of  Nazareth, and of her
who  extended from Byzantium  the holy symbol of the
cross over the wilds of Russia.   The really  great women
of this age,  are they mostly married  or single?  They
are mostly married, and they are good wives and tender
mothers.
  What we  have just written, we read to an  amiable
woman.
  " But,"  she exclaimed, " what have you to  say to her
whom high  duties or  a  hard fate  condemns to a single
life,  and to the name of the old maid?"
  Alas! Avhat can we say to such ?  We feel that

     " Earthhei happy is the rose distilled,
      Than  that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
      Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness."

  Yet  there is ever  a  blessing in store for those Avhn
Buffer here, and the hope of the future must teach them
to bear the present. 
LOVE'S BRANDS.
43
                 LOVE IS ETERNAL.
  We ha\re said  love is a necessity in the life of either
man or Avoman  to complete  their nature.  Its effects,
therefore, are eternal.   We do not intend this as a figure
of speech.   It is a sober statement of physiology.
  From the day of marriage the woman undergoes a
change in her whole structure.  She is similar to her
former self, but not the same.  It is often noticed that
the children of a Avoman in her second marriage bear a
marked resemblance to her first husband.  In the in-
ferior races  and  lower  animals  this obscure metamor-
phosis  is still more apparent.  A negress who has borne
her first child to  a white man, will ever after have chil-
dren of a lighter color than her own.  Count StrzeleAvski,
in his travels in Australia, narrates this curious circum-
stance: A  native woman who has once  had offspring
by a white man, can never more have children by a male
tf her own race.   Dr. Darwin relates that a male zebra
was once brought to England, and a hybrid race marked
by the zebra's  stripes was produced from certain mares.
Always after, the colts  of those mares bore the marks of
the zebra on their skins.  In some way the female is
profoundly altered  throughout her Avhole formation, and
entirely independent of her will, by the act of marriage
and the alteration is never effaced.
  If the body is  thus influenced, shall not the far more
Busceptible mind and spirit be equally impressed?
  Another common observation supports  Avhat we say,
and extends it farther.  Not the Avoman alone: the man
alse undergoes a Change, and loses a  portion of his per-
sonality in his mate.   They two are one, not merely in
a moral sense.  We constantly notice a decided  resem-
blance in  old  couples who have passed,  say, tAvo score 
44
THE MAIDEN.
years together.   They have grown to look alike in form,
feature, and expression.  That for so  long  a time they
have breathed the same air, eaten  the same fare, and
been subjected to the same surroundings, explains thistc
some extent.  But the  greater part of the change flows
from mental sources.   They have laughed and wept to-
gether; they have shared the same joys and  pleasures; a
smile or a tear on the  face of one evoked a correspond-
ing emotion and expression  on  the face of the other
Their co-partnership has become a unity.   Even AA'ithout
speaking, they sympathize.  Their  souls are constantly
en rapport.   The man is as different as the woman from
his former self.

               AVnAT  OF FLIRTATION?
  Flirtation is an American word.  They have neither
the word nor the thing in foreign countries.  It  results
from the freedom and the daring of our women.   They
use as playthings those edged tools which in other lands
are locked  up from  them.  Love, engagements, beaus,
are their pastimes.
  In view of what we have said of the nature of love, its
necessity and eternity, is this Avise?
  We are not moralists, and speak as physicians merely.
To us  the coquette is  as  bad as the rake.   Both waste
their nature in dalliance with passion.  They both suf-
fer in  body and soul, and by  every neAV  indulgence
unfit themselves  the more for a happy marriage.  Look
at the woman of thirty who has passed  her youth en-
couraging men lo offer her the most a man can offer-
all he has—in order to  enjoy  the vanity  of refusing
him.   If she  is  married, you will see a discontented,
nervous invalid;  if unmarried, a cross, faded, neglected
spinster. 
          LOVE IN SECOND MARRIAGE.        45

              OF  SECOND  MARRIAGES.
  Science, therefore, seems to say to woman "your first
husband  is your eternal  husband."  How, then, about
second marriages?  Are we to  say that they are not
advisable?
  Let  us not answer  hastily.   It is yet  to  be seen
whether ill-assorted marriages produce those impressions
we have mentioned.  They may, indeed, on the body,
while the mind is free.  One must remember, also, that
the exigencies of social life must be  consulted.  If a
woman cannot love two men equally,—and she cannot,—
other motives, worthy of all respect, justify her in en-
tering  the  marriage  life a  second  time.   Then,  the
higher refinements of the  emotions are not given to all
alike, nor do they come at the same age to all.  True
love  may first dawn upon  a woman after  one  or two
husbands have left  her  a widow.  Orphan  children,
widowhood, want of property, or the care of property,—
these are sad afflictions to the lonely woman.   Do not
blame her if she accepts a husband as a guardian, a pro-
tector, whom she can no longer receive to her arms as a
lover.   She is right.
   We cherish the memory of a lady of strong character,
who died past eighty.  She had survived three husbands.
"The first,"  she said, "I married for love, the second
for position, the third for friendship.  I was happy with
them all."   But when in her mortal illness this vener-
able friend sank into  the delirium which  preceded death,
ghe constantly called out the name of her first husband
only.  More than half a century had  not effaced  the
memory of those few years of early love.  This is fidelity
indeed. 
46
THE MAIDEN.
                    OF DIVORCE.
  He of Nazareth laid down the law that whoever puta
away his wife for any cause  except adultery, and mar-
ries again, commits adultery, and that whatever Avoman
puts aAvay her husband for any cause save adultery, and
marries again, herself commits adultery.
  This has been found a hard saying.
  John Milton wrote a book  to show that the Lawgiver
did not mean what he said, but something quite different.
Modern sects, calling themselves Christians, after this
LaAvgiver, dodge the difficulty, and refer it to State legisla-
tures.  State legislatures,  not troubling themselves at all
about any  previous law or lawgiver,  allow dozens of
causes, scores of them, as  perfectly valid to put  asunder
■hose Avhom God has joined together.
  Science, Avhich never finds occasion to disagree with
that LaAvgiver of Nazareth, here makes his words her
own.
  Whether we look at it  as a question  in social life, in
morals, or in physiology, the American plan of granting
absolute divorces is dangerous, and destructive  to what
is best in life.  It leads to hasty, ill-assorted matches, to
an unAvillingness to yield  to each other's peculiarities, to
a Aveakening of the family ties,  to  a  lax  morality.
Carry it a trifle farther  than it now is in some States,
and marriage will lose all its sacredness, and degenerate
into a physical union  not nobler than the crossing ot
Qias in the air.
  Separation of bed  and  board should ahvays be pro-
vided for by  law, and whether single, married,  or sepa-
rated, the woman should retain entire control of her own
pr tperty.   But in the eyes of God and Nature, a woman
jr i man with  two faithful spouses living, to  each of 
            WHAT COURTSHIP MEANS.          47

whom  an  eternal  fidelity  has  been  plighted,  is  a
monster.

     OF A PLURALITY OF WIVES OR HUSBANDS.
  What has been said of divorce applies with tenfold
ft. 1 ce to the custom of a woman living as wife to several
men, or  of a man as husband to several women.  We
Bhould not speak of these customs,  but that  we know
both exist in this country, not  among the notoriously
wicked, but among those who claim to be the peculiarly
good—the very elect of God.   They prevail, not as lust-
ful excesses, but as religious observances.  Every reader
of the daily press knows what sects we mean.
  It is Avorth Avhile to say that such  practices lead to
physical degradation.   The woman  who acknowledges
more than one husband  is  generally sterile; the mau
who has several Avives has usually a weakly offspring,
principally males.  Nature attempts  to check polygamy
by reducing the number of females, and failing in  this,
by enervating  the Avhole stock.  The Mormons of Utah
would soon sink into a state  of Asiatic effeminacy  wrere
they left to themselves.

                     COURTSHIP.
  A wise  provision of nature ordains that woman shall be
sought.   She  flees, and  man pursues.   The  folly  of
modern reformers who  would  annul this provision  is
evident.   Were  it done away with,  man, ever prone to
yield to Avoman's solicitations, and then most prone when
\ielding  is most  dangerous, would fritter  away his
powers at an early age, and  those very impulses which
u.iture has given to  perpetuate the  race  Avould bring
I bout its destruction.
  To prevent  such a disaster, woman is endowed with a 
48                 THE MAIDEN.

dense of shame, an invincible modesty, her greatest ppr-
tection and  her greatest charm.  Let her never forget
it, never disregard it, for without it she becomes the
scorn of her own sex and the jest of the other.
  The urgency of man and the timidity of woman are
tempered by the period of courtship.
  This, as it exists with us, is something almost peculiar
to Americans.   On  the continent of Europe, girls are
shut up in convents or in seminaries,  or are kept strictly
under the eyes of their parents until marriage, or, at any
rate, betrothal.  The liberty  usual  in this country  is
something   unheard-of  and  inconceivable  there.   In
Spain a duenna, in France some  aunt or elderly cousin,
in Germany some similar person, makes  it her business
to be present at every interview which a young lady has
with an admirer.  He never dreams of Avalking, driving,
or going out of an evening with her alone.  It is taken
for granted  that should he invite her for such a purpose,
the mother or aunt  is included in the party.  They
would  look on the innocent freedom of American girls
as simply scandalous.
   We  have had opportunities to see society in these
various countries, and have  failed to perceive that the
morality of either sex  is at all  superior to what it is
with us, while the  effect  of this cloister-like education
on young women is to  weaken  their self-reliance, and
often prepare them for greater extravagances when mar-
riage gives  them liberty.
   With us,  the young woman is  free until her Avedding-
day.  After that epoch, she looks forward to  withdraw-
ing more or less from society, and confining her thoughts
to  family matters.   In France,  Spain, or Italy, in the
wealthier classes, precisely  the contrary  is the  rule.
M arriage brings deliverance from an irksome espionage 
                     COURTSHIP.                  49

 and numnerless fetters,  it is the avenue to  a life in
 public, and independent action.   How injurious to do-
 mestic happiness this is can readily be imagined.
   It is true that  the  liberty of American  girls occa-
 sionally leads to improprieties.  But, except in certain
 great cities, such instances  are rare.   The safeguards of
 virtue are knowledge and self-command, not  duennas
 and jalousies.  Let American mothers  properly instruct
 their  daughters, and they need have no apprehension!
 about their conduct.
   The period of courtship is one full of importance,
 A young woman of unripe experience must decide from
 what she can see of  a man during the intercourse of a
 few months whether he will suit her for a life-companion.
 She has no  knowledge of human nature;  and Avhat
 would it  avail her if she had, when at such a  time a
 suitor is careful only to  show his  eligible  traits?  " Go
 a-courting," says old Dr.  Franklin, in his homely lan-
 guage, "in your every-day clothes."   Not one man out
 of a thousand is honest enough to take his advice.
   It is useless for her to ask aid of another.  She must
judge for herself.   What, then, is she to do?
   There is a mysterious instinct in a pure-minded woman
 which  is beyond all analysis—a tact Avhich men do  not
 possess, and do not readily believe in.   At such a crisis
 this instinct saves her.   She feels in a moment the pres-
 ence of  a  base,  unworthy  nature.  An unconscious
 repulsion  is manifest in her eye, her  voice.   Where a
 Buitor is not a man of low motive, but merely quite incon-
 gruous in temper and disposition, this same instinct acts,
 and the man, Avithout being able to say just Avhy, feela
 that he is laboring in vain.  If  he blindly insists in his
 wooing, he  has  no one to chide  but himself  when he
 is finally discarded. 
60                 THE MAIDEN.

  But if  the  man  is worthy,  and suitable, does thu
blessed  instinct Avhisper  the happy  news  with like
promptness  to the  maiden's soul?   Ah! that  raises
another issue.   It brings us face to face Avith that diffi-
cult question of

               LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
  Jung Stilling, a German author of note, a religious
enthusiast, and full of queer fancies, was, when young,
a tutor in a private family.  On one  occasion his em-
ployer took him to a strange house, and introduced him
to a  roomful  of  company.   Stilling  had  not  contem-
plated marriage; but, in the company, he saw, for  the
first time,  a  young woman Avho he  felt Avas hi3  destined
wife.   Walking across the room, he addressed her with
the utmost simplicity, telling her that an imvard monitor
advised him that she, of all womankind, was his predes-
tined  helpmeet.  She blushed,  was confused, but pre-
sently confessed that she had experienced the same con-
viction on first beholding him.   They married, and the
most curious part of the tale remains to tell.  It is, that
they proved a  happy, well-matched couple.
  We do  not  advise others  to folloAV their  example
Not many souls are capable of such reciprocity.  Choos-
ing an associate for life is too serious a business  to  be
made  the affair of  a moment.   Reason,  reflection,
thought, prayer,—these are aids in  such a momentous
question not to be lightly thrown  aside.   Many a pass-
ing fancy, many an evanescent  preference, catches for a
moment the new-fledged affections.  But  for the long
and  tedious journey of life we Avant a love rooted in
knowledge.
  We are not  blind to the fact, that  often from the fusi
interview the  maiden  feels  an undefined  spell thrown 
              CHOOSING  A HUSBAND.           5]

around  her by him who will become her husband.   She
feels differently in his presence; she watches him with
other eyes than she has for the rest of men.  She ren-
ders no account to herself of this emotion; 6he attempts
no analysis of it; she does  not  acknowledge to  herself
that it exists   No matter.   Sooner or later, if true to
herself, she will learn what it is,  and  it will be  a guide
in that moment, looked forward to with mingled hopes
and  fears, Avhen  she  is asked to decide on  the destiny,
the temporal and eternal destiny,  of two human lives.
  That she may then decide aright, and live free  from
the regrets of a false step at this  crisis of life, we  shall
now rehearse what medical  science has to say about

            HOW TO CHOOSE A HUSBAND.
              " Choose well.   Your choice is
               Brief, and yet endless."

   Woman holds as an inalienable right, in this country
the  privilege of choice.  It is not left to notaries, ot
parents, to pick for her, as in the societies of Europe.
   First comes the question of relationship.  A school-
girl is apt to see more of her cousins than of other young
men.  Often some of them seek at an  early  hour to
institute a far closer tie than that of blood.  Is  she Avise
to accept it ?

               SHALL COUSINS MARRY?
   Hardly any point has been  more warmly debated bv
doctors.   It has been said  that  in such  marriages the
woman is  more  apt  to be  sterile; that if she has chil-
dren, they are peculiarly  liable  to be born with  some
defect of  body or mind,—deafness, blindness, idiocy, ox
lameness; that they die early, and that they are subject, 
52
THE  MAIDEN.
beyond others, to fatal  hereditary diseases, as cancel,
consumption, scrofula, etc.
  An ardent physician persuaded himself so thoroughly
of these evils, resulting from marriage of relatives, that
he induced  the Legislature of Kentucky to pass a law
prohibiting  it Avithin certain degrees of consanguinity.
Many a married couple have been rendered miserable by
the information that they had umvittingly violated oue
of nature's most positive laws.  Though  their children
may be numerous and blooming, they live in constant
dread  of some terrible  outbreak of disease.  Many a
young and loving couple have sadly severed an engage-
ment,  Avhich Avould  have been  a prelude  to  a  happy
marriage, when they Avere informed of these disastrous
results.
  For all  such Ave  have a Avord of consolation.   We
Bpeak  it authoritatively, and  not A\rithout  a full know-
ledge of the responsibility Ave assume.
  The fear  of marrying a cousin, even, a  first cousin,
is  entirely groundless,  provided  there  is no  decider!
hereditary taint in the family.  And when such heredi-
tary taint does exist, the danger is not greater than in
marrying hito  any other family where it  is also  found.
On the contrary, a German  author has  urged the pro-
priety  of such unions, where the family has  traits  of
mental or physical excellence, as a means of preserving
and developing them.
  So  far  as  sterility is  concerned, an examination  of
records shows that Avhereas in the average of unions ono
woman in  eight is  barren, in those betAveen relatives,
but one in ten is so.  And as for the early deaths of chil-
dren, while, on an average, fifteen children in a hundred
die under seven years, in  the families of nearly-related
oarents but, twelve in a hundred is the mortality. 
                 MISCEGENA TI&N.               fa

  The investigations about  idiotic  and defective  chil-
dren  are by no means  satisfactory,  and are considered
by some of the most careful Avriters as not at all prov-
ing a greater  tendency to  such misfortunes in  the off-
spring of cousins.   Among a thousand idiotic children
recently examined in Paris, not one Avas descended from
a healthy consanguinity.
  But as few  families are Avholly Avithout some  lurking
predisposition  to disease, it is not Avell, as a rule, to run
the  risk of developing this by too  repeated  unions.
Stock-breeders find  that the best specimens of the loAver
animals are produced  by crossing nearly-related indi-
viduals a certain  number of times;  but  that, carried
beyond this, such unions lead to degeneracy  and ste-
rility.  Such, also,  has been the experience of many
human families.
  Hoav slight  a cause even  of that most insidious dis-
ease,  consumption,  such marriages are, may be judged
from  the fact,  that of a thousand cases inquired into by
Dr. EdAvard Smith, of London, in only six was  there
consanguinity of parents.

              THE MIXTURE OF RACES.
  Mankind, say the school geographies, is divided  into
five races, each distinguished by its own color.  They
are the Avhite, the  black, the red, the yelloAv, and the
broAvn races.  In this country Ave have to do with but
the Avhite and  black races.   Shall Ave  approve of mar-
riages between them ?  Shall a white  Avoman choose a
black man to be her husband?
  We are at the more pains  to answer  this, because
recently a writer,—and  this writer a woman, and  this
woman one of  the most  Avidely known in our land,—haa
written a novel intended to advocate the affirmative of 
54                 THE MAIDEN.

this question.   Moreover, it is constantly mooted in cer
tain political circles, and is one of the social problems
of the day.
  The very fact that it is so much discussed, sIioavs thai
such a union runs  counter  to a strong prejudice.   Such
aversions are often voices of nature, Avarning us against
acts injurious to the species.  In  this instance it Is not
of  modern  origin, created by our institutions.  Three
centuries ago, Shakspeare, Avho had probably never seen
a score  of negroes in  his  life, Avith  the divination of
genius,  felt  the repugnance  which  a refined Avoman
would feel to accepting one as  her husband.   The plol
of one of his plays turns on it.  He makes Iago say of
Desdemona:

      " Not to affect many proposed matches,
        Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
        Whereto we see in all things nature tends:
        Foh! one may smell, in such, a will most rank,
        Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural."

  It  is,  indeed,  "nature  erring  from  itself" which
prompts to  these  marriages.   They are not sterile, but
the children are   sickly and  short-lived.  Very few
mulattoes reach an old age.
  Then, it is well knoAvn  that the black  race  cannot
survive a northern climate.  Dr. Snow, of Providence,
R.  I., Avho  has given  great  attention to  the  study ot
statistics, says  emphatically that, in New  England, the
colored  population inevitably  perish  in  a few genera-
tions,  if left to themselves.   This debility no Avoman
should wish to  give to her children.
  A mental  inferiority is  likeAvise apparent.   Friends
of the negro are ready to confess this, but attribute  it
to  his long  and recent period  of servitude.   We deal 
         INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES.        55

with facts only.  The inferiority is there, whatever be
its cause; and she who Avould Avillingly curse her  off-
spring Avith it, manifests, indeed,  "thoughts unnatural."
  The children born of a union  of the  black and red
race, negroes and Indians, are, on the contrary, remark-
able for their physical  vigor  and mental  acviteness;
though, of course, the latter  is limited to  the demands
of a semi-barbarous life

   SHALL AMERICAN WOMEN MARRY FOREIGNERS?
  When Ave  narrow  the question  of race to that of
nationality, (mite new elements come in.
  In  speaking of  the intermarriage of  relates,  Ave
shoAved that a certain number of such unions in healthy
stocks was advantageous rather than otherwise, but that
too many of them lead to deterioration.  This law can be
applied to nations.  Historians have often observed that
the most poAverful States of the world  arose from an
amalgamation of different tribes.  Rome,  Greece, Eng-
laud, are examples  of this.  On the other hand, Russia,
China,  Persia, which have suffered  no  such crosses of
blood, are either stationary, or depend for their progress
on foreigners.
  Physicians have contributed other curious testimony
on this  point, the bearing of which  they themselves have
not understood.   Marriages between nationalities of the
same race are  more fertile, and  the  children more
vigorous, than those betAveen descendants of the same
nation.   For instance, it has been proved that if two
descendants of the  "Pilgrim Fathers" in Massachusetts
marry,  they will probably  have  but three children;
while if one of them marries a foreigner, the children
will number five or six.
  So it  is well ascertained that in the old and stationary 
56
THE MAIDEN.
ccmmunes of France, where the same families have pos-
sessed their small farms for generation after generation,
the marriages have become gradually less and less pro-
ductive, until it has  seriously interfered with the quota
those districts send to the army.
  American Avomen  have suffered many hard words be-
cause they do not have more children.   Several New
England Avriters have accused them of very bad practices,
Avhich we shall mention hereafter.  But the effect of the
law of production just  now laid down  has been quite
overlooked.
  As it is best that there should be four or five children
in a family in ordinary  circumstances, the union of
American and foreign blood is A^ery desirable.   We need
to fuse in  one the  diverse colonies of  the Avhite race
annually reaching our shores.  A century should efface
every trace of the German, the  Irish, the Frenchman,
the English, the Nonvegian, and leave nothing but the
American.   To bring about this happy result, free inter-
marriage should be furthered in every possible way.

            THE  AGE OF  THE HUSBAND.
  The epoch of puberty comes to a boy at about  the
same  age it does  to a  girl—fourteen or fifteen years.
And an even greater period passes between  this epoch
and the age it is proper for a man to marry—his age ol
nubility.
  Not only has he a  more complete education to obtain,
not only  a profession  or trade to learn, and some
property to accumulate, some position to  acquire, ere he
is ready to  take  a wife, but his physical powers ripen
more slowly than  those of woman.   He is more tardy in
completing his growth, and early indulgence more readily
aaps hia constitution 
          WHEN MEN SHOULD MARRY.        57

  SVe have placed the best  age for  woman  to  marry
between twenty and twenty-five years; for similar rea-
sons, man is best qualified to become a husband between
twenty-three and  thirty-three years.
  Previous to the twenty-third year, many a man is in-
capable of producing healthy children.  If he does not
destroy his health  by  premature indulgence, he  may
destroy his happiness by witnessing his  children the
prey to debility  and deformity.  An old  German pro-
verb says, "Give a  boy a wife, and a child a bird, and
death will soon knock at the door."  Even an author so
old as Aristotle  Avarns young men against early mar-
riage, under penalty of disease and puny offspring.
   From the age of thirty-three to fifty years, men Avho
carefully observe the  laws  of health do not feel any
weight of years.   Nevertheless they are past their prime.
Then, also, with  advancing years the chances of life di-
minish, and the probability increases that they will leave
a  voting  family  with no natural protector.  The half
century  once turned, their  vigor rapidly  diminishes.
The marriages they then contract are either sterile, or
yield but few and sickly children.  Many an old man
has shortened his life by late nuptials, and the records of
medicine contain accounts of several who perished on
the very night of marriage.
   The relative age of man and wife is next to be consid-
ered.  Nature  fits  Avoman  earlier for marriage,  and
hints thereby that she should, as a rule, be younger than
 lier husband.  So, too, the bard of nature speaks:

                 " Let still the woman take
         An elder than herself; so wears she to him
         So sways she level in her husband's heart."

   The woman  who risks  her  happiness  with  a man 
58
THE  MAIDEN.
many years  younger than herself, violates a precept of
life, and when her husband grows indifferent, or taunts
her with her years, or seeks companions of more suitable
age, she is reaping a harvest soAvn by her own hand.
  So commonly do such matches turn out badly, that in
1828 the  kingdom  of Wiirtemberg  prohibited unions
where  the Avoman  Avas  more than  twelve years  the
senior, except by special dispensation.
  After forty-five years, most Avomen cannot  hope for
children.  A marriage subsequent to this period can at
best be regarded  as a close friendship.  Marriage in itb
full meaning has no longer an existence.
  The relative age  of man and wife  has another influ-
ence, and  quite a curious one.  It influences the sex of
the children.  But  this point Ave  reserve for discussion
on a later page.
  The folly of joining a young girl  to an old man is
happily not so common  in this country  as in  Europe.
It Avould  be hard  to devise any step  more certain to
bring the  laws of nature and morality into conflict.

       " What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man ?"

  What advice can we give to a Avoman who barters her
youthful  charms for  the fortune of an aged husband 1
Shall we be cynical enough to agree  Avith " auld auntie
Katie?"

     " My  auld auntie Katie upon me takes pity
      I'll  do my endeavor to follow her plan;
     l'li cross him, and rack him, until I heart-break him*
      And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan."

  No!  She has willingly accepted a responsibility.  If
is her  duty to bear it loyally, faithfully,  uncomplain
•ugly to the end. 
TEMPERA MENTS.
59
  Let  us sum up  Avith the maxim  that  the  husband
should be the senior, but that the difierence of age should
lot be more than ten years.

        WHAT SHOULD  BE HIS TEMPERAMENT?
  It is often hard to  make out what doctors mean by
temperaments.  It is supposed that our mental and phy-
sical characters depend somehoAvon the predominance of
some organ or system—that it controls the rest.   Thus a
person Avho is nervous, quick, sensitive to impressions, is
said to have a nervous temperament;  one who  is stout,
full-blooded, red-faced, has a sanguine temperament; a
thin, dark-featured, reticent  person, is of a bilious tem-
perament; while  a  pale, fat, sluggish nature, is called
phlegmatic, or lymphatic.
  In a general A\ay these distinctions  are valuable, but
they will not bear very exact applications.  They reveal
in outline the constitution of mind and body, and, what
is to our present purpose, they are of more than usual
importance in the question of selecting a husband.
  Nature, hating incongruity, yet loves variety.   She
preserves the  limits of species, but within those limits
she seeks  fidelity to one type.  Therefore  it is that in
marriage a person inclines strongly to one of a different
temperament—to a person quite unlike themselves.
  So true is this, that a  Frenchman of  genius, Ber-
nardin de St. Pierre, vouches  for this anecdote of him-
self. He was in a strange city, visiting  a  friend whom
he  had not seen for years.   The friend's sister was of
that age Avhen Avomen  are most susceptible.  She was
tall, a  blonde, deliberate in motion, with blue eyes and
fair hair.  In a jesting way  St. Pierre, who had never
seen her before, and knew nothing of her  personal life,
said,-                    fi 
60
THE  MAIDEN.
  "Mademoiselle, you have  many admirers.   Shall  1
describe him on Avhom you look Avith most favor?"
  The lady challenged him to do so.
  " He is short in stature, of dark complexion, dark hah
and eyes, slight in figure, actiA'e and nervous in all his
movements."
  The lady blushed to  the eyes, and cast a glance of
anger at her brother, Avho she thought had betrayed her
secret.  But no!  St. Pierre's only informant  Avas his
deep knoAvledge of the human heart.
  This instinct is founded upon the truth that the per-
fect temperament is that happily  balanced one Avhich
holds all the organs in  equilibrium,—in Avhich no  one
rules, Avhere all are developed in proportion.  Nature ever
strives to realize this ideal.   She  instils in the nervous
temperament a preference for the lymphatic, in  the san-
guine a liking for the bilious constitution.  The offspring
should combine  the excellencies of both, the defects of
neither.  We do well to heed her admonitions here, and
to bear in mind  that those  matches are, as a rule,  most
fortunate which combine opposite  temperaments.

       THE MORAL AND MENTi L CHARACTER.
  Very few words are necessary here.  We have already
said we speak as  physicians, not as moralists.  But there
are some false and  dangerous ideas  abroad which it  is
our duty as physicians to combat.
  None is  more false, none more  dangerous, than thai
embodied in the  proverb, "A reformed  rake makes the
best husband."  What is a rake?  A man who has de-
ceived and destroyed trusting virtue,—a man who has
entered the service of the devil to undermine and poison
that happiness  in   marriage Avhich  all  religion   and
science are at such pains to  cultivate.  We know hiw 
             THE CURSE OF LEWDNESS.          61

 wtJI in our capacity as physicians.   He comes to us con-
 stantly the prey to loathsome diseases, the results of his
 vicious life, Avhich diseases he will  communicate to his
 wife, for they are contagious, and  to his children, for
 they are  hereditary; which  no reform can purge  from
 his system, for they are ineradicable.
   Is this the man a pure  woman  should take to her
 arms?  Here repentance avails nothing.  We have wit-
 nessed  the agony  unspeakable which overwhelmed  a
 father Avhen he saw his children suffering under horrible
 and disgusting diseases, the penalty  of his early sins.
   Very few men of profligate lives escape these diseases.
 They are alarmingly prevalent among the "fast" youths
 of our cities.  And some forms of  them are incurable
 by any effort of skill.   Even the approach of such men
 should be shunned—their company avoided.
   A physician in central Pennsylvania lately had this
 experience:  A  young lady of unblemished character
 asked his advice for a troublesome affection of the  skin.
 He examined it, and to his  horror recognized a form of
 one of the loathsome diseases Avhich  curse only the vilest
 or the most unfortunate of  her sex.  Yet he could not
 suspect this girl.  On inquiry he found that she had a
 small but painful sore on her lip, which she first noticed
 a few days after being  at a picnic with a young  man.
 Just as he was bidding her good night, he had kissed her
 on the lips.
   At once everything was clear.  This young man Avas
 a patient of the physician.  He Avas  a victim to this vile
 disease, and even his kiss was enough to convey it.
'   The history of the sixteenth  century contains the
 account  of an Italian duke Avho on one occasion was
 forced by his ruler to reconcile himself Avith an enemy
 Knowing he could not escape obedience, he protested 
62
THE  MAIDEN.
  the most cheerful willingness, and in the presence of the
' king embraced his enemy, and even  kissed him on the
  lips.  It Avas but another means of satisfying his hatred.
  For he Avell kneAV  that his  kiss Avould taint his  enemy's
  blojd  Avith the same poison  that Avas  undermining his
  own life.
    How cautious, therefore, should a woman be in grant-
  ing the most innocent liberties!   How  solicitous should
  she be to associate with the purest men!
    Would that we could say that these dangerous and
  loathsome  diseases are rare.   But,  alas!  daily profes-
  sional  experience  forbids  us  to offer  this consolation-
  Every physician in our large  cities, and even  in smallei
  towns, knows that they are fearfully prevalent.
    We  have been  consulted  by  Avives, pure innocent
  women, for complaints which  they themselves, and some-
  times their children, suffered from, the nature of Avhich we
  dared not tell them, but Avhich pointed Avith fatal finger
  to the unfaithfulness of the husband.   How utterly Avas
  their domestic happiness Avrecked when they discovered
  the cause of their  constant ill-health!
    Nor  are such occurrences confined  to  the humbler
  walks of life.   There, perhaps, less than in any other do
  they occur.  It is  in the wealthy, the luxurious, the self-
  indulgent class that they are  found.
    Are  we  asked  how  such a  dreadful  fate can  b*»
  averted?
    There are, indeed, certain signs and marks which such
  diseases leave with which physicians  are conversant.
  As if  nature intended  them  as warnings, they are im-
  printed on the most visible and public parts of the body.
  The skin, the hair, the nose,  the voice, the lines on the
  face, often divulge to the  trained observer, more  indu
  bitably than the confessional, a lewd and sensual life. 
          THE MARKS OF CHARACTER.        C3

  Such  signs, however, can only be properly estimated
by the medical  counselor, and it Avere  useless to re-
hearse them here.  Those Avomen who would  have a
sure guide in choosing a man to be their husband, have
they not Moses  and the prophets?  What is more, have
they not Christ and the apostles?   Rest assured  tha*
the man who scoffs at Christianity, Avho neglects its pre
cepts and violates its laws, runs a terrible risk of bring
ing upon himself, his Avife, and his children the vengeance
of nature,  Avho  knoAvs  justice but  not  mercy.  Rest
assured  that the man who respects the maxims of that
religion, and abstains from all uncleanness, is the only
man  who is worthy the full  and confiding love of an
honorable Avoman.

       THE SYMBOLISM  OF THE  HUMAN BODY.
  Philosophers say that every idle word which is spoken
continues to vibrate in the  air  through all infinity.
So it is Avith the passions and the thoughts.   Each im-
presses on the body some indelible mark,  and a long
continuance of similar thoughts leaves a visible imprint.
  Under the names phrenology, physiognomy, palmistry,
and others, attempts have  been made  at divers times to
lay doAvn fixed principles  by which we could judge of
men  by their outsides.  But only vague  results have
been  obtained.   A  learned  German  author,  of high
repute in exact science, has gone a different way to wrork.
He has studied the body as a Avhole, and sought Avith the
eye of an anatomist hoAv different avocations, passions,
temperaments, habits, mould and  fashion the external
parts  of man.   His results are embraced in a curious
volume which he entitles " The Symbolism of the Human
Body."  We  shall borrow some hints from it, germane
to our present theme. 
^4                 THE MAIDEN.

  \z to size, large-bodied and large-boned men posses
greater energy, a more masculine  character, but often
less persistence, and are usually devoid of the more deli-
cate emotions.   Fat people are good-tempered, but in-
dolent ; thin people, full of life, but irascible
  The  neck is a significant part of the body.  View it
from in front, and it discloses the physical constitution.
There,  are the conduits of the food and the air; there,
the great blood-vessels pass to the head, and its base is
modified by their  form as  they pass from the  heart.
When  broad and full, it denotes  a vigorous physical life
—a  plethoric constitution.  A  distinguished teacher of
midwifery, Professor Pajot, of Paris, says  that Avhen he
sees one of those necks full in front, like  that of Marie
Antoinette, as shoAvn in her portraits, he  prepares him-
self to combat child-bed convulsions.  That queen,  it is
Avell known, nearly perished Avith them.
  The back of the neck contains the vertebral column,
and is  close to the brain.  It  reveals the  mental consti-
tution.  The short, round neck of the  prize-fighter be-
trays his craft.  The slender,  arched, and  graceful neck
of the well-proportioned woman is the symbol of health
and a well-controlled mind.   Burke, in  his Essay on the
Beautiful,  calls  it the most  beauteous object in nature.
It is a common observation  that a sensual character is
shoAvn by the thick and coarse development of this por-
tion of the body.
   The hair, also, has a  significance.   Fine whitish  hair,
like that of a child, goes with a simple, child-like dispo-
sition;  black hair denotes a  certain hardness of cha-
racter; red hair has long been supposed to be associated
with a sensual constitution, but  it rather indicates a
 pnysical  weakness,—a  tendency to scrofula.  This is,
 bowever.  a tendency merely.   Thin hair is  often  the 
                    ENGAGED.                   (ft

result of protracted mental labor, though  many other
causes produce it.
  Every great man, says Herder, has a glance which no
one can imitate.  We may go farther, and say that every
man of decided character reveals it in his  eyes.  They
are the most difficult organs for the hypocrite to control.
Beware of the man Avho cannot look you  in the eyes,
and of him in whose  eyes there  lurks  an expression
which allures  yet  makes you shudder.  The one has
something he dares not tell yoa, the other something you
dare not listen to.
  Symmetry, strength, grace, health, these are admirable
qualities  in a man.  From the remotest ages they have
been the  marks of heroes.  Secondary though they aro
to moral and mental  qualities, they  should ever  be
highly  valued.   A manly man!   Nature designs such
to be the sires of future generations.   No  danger that
we shall fall to worshipping physical beauty again. The
only fear is that in this lank, puny, scraAvny generation
of ours Ave  shall, out of vanity, underrate such  beauty.
Let it be ever remembered that this is the ideal, from
which any departure is deterioration.

                 THE  ENGAGEMENT.
  In this country a young lady engages  herself, and
tells papa or not, as she-«ees fit.  Often it is a profound
secret for months between  her lover and herself, Avith
perhaps, a friend or two on either side.
  When  our  grandmothers were engaged, the minister
rose in his pulpit on Sunday morning, before the assem-
bled congregation, and proclaimed the "bans," stating,
that if any one knew just  cause or lawful  impediment
why the lovers should not be married, he should state it
there and then.  Sometimes a great huobub was created 
QQ                 THE MAIDEN.

when some discarded suitor rose and claimed  that  the
capricious  maiden  had previously  promised herself to
him.  Perhaps it was  to avoid  such an uncomfortable
check on the freedom of flirtation that the  ancient cus-
tom was dropped.
  Certain it  is, that to be " engaged"  sits very lightly
on the minds of both  young men  and maidens now-a-
days.   We know some of either sex who make it a boast
hoAv often they have made and unmade this slender tie.
It is a dangerous pastime*   " The hand of little use hath
the daintier touch," and he or she who  thus trifles Avith
their affections, will end by loosing the capacity to feel
any real affection at all.
  Undoubtedly there  occur  instances where  a woman
has pledged  herself in all  seriousness, and aftcnvards
sees her affianced  in a light which warns  her that  she
cannot be happy Avith him:  that the vows she will be
called upon to pronounce at the altar will be holloAY and
false.   What is she to do ?
  We are not inditing the decrees of the Court of Love
Here is the advice of another to  her hand:
             " First to thine own self be true,
        And then it follows, as the night the day,
        That thou canst ne'er be false to any man."

          CONCERNING LONG ENGAGEMENTS.
  They are hurtful, and they are unnecessary.  Is love so
vagrant that  it must be tied by such a chain ?  Bettei
let it go.  True love asks no oath; it casteth out fear,
and believes without a  promise.
  There are other reasons, sound physiological reasons,
which we could  adduce, if need were, to show that  tho
close personal relations which arise between persons who
are engaged  should not be  continued too long a time. 
                 WHEN TO MARRY.              57

They lead to excitement and debility, sometimes to dan-
ger and disease.   Especially is this  true  of nerA'ous,
excitable, sympathetic dispositions, such as many of us
Americans have.
   If we are asked to be definite, and give figures, we
should  say  that a  period  not  longer  than a year, nor
shorter than three months, should intervene betAveen the
engagement and the marriage.

        THE RIGHT TIME OF YEAR TO MARRY.
   Woman, Avhen she marries,  enters  upon a new life,
and a  trying one.  Every advantage should be in her
favor.   The season is one of  those  advantages.   Ex-
treme heat and extreme  cold both wear severely on the.
human frame.  Mid-winter and mid-summer are, there-
fore, alike objectionable,  especially the latter.
   Spring and fall are usually chosen in this country, as
statistics shoAV, and  the preference is just.  On the Avhole,
the spring is rather to be recommended  than the aut.imn.
In case of a birth Avithin  the year, the child will  have
attained sufficient age to weather its period of teething
more easily  ere the next summer.

    THE  RIGHT TIME IN THE  MONTH TO MARRY.
   We mean the woman's own month,  that which spans
the time between her periodical sicknesses,  be it two or
five weeks.  Let her choose a  day about  equi-distant
from two periods.  The reasons for this we shall specify
hereafter.
                THE WEDDING  TOUR.
   The  custom of our country prescribes a journey imme-
diately  after marriage, of a Aveek or  a month or  tAvo,
It is an unwise provision.  The event itself is disturb-
ance enough for the system; and to be hurried hither 
68
THE MAIDEN.
and thither, stowed in berths and sleeping-cars, bothered
with baggage, and annoyed Avith the importunities  of
cabmen, waiters, and  hangers-on of every description,
is enough, in ordinary times, to  test the temper of a
saint.
   The foundation of many an unhappy future  is lai<
on the wedding-tour.   Not only is the young Avife tried
beyond  all  her experience,  and her  nervous  system
harassed,  but the  husband, too, partakes of  her weak-
ness.   Many men, Avho really love  the women they
marry, are subject to a slight  revulsion of feeling for a
few days  after marriage.   "When the veil  falls, and
the girdle is loosened," says the German poet, 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 the pro-
saic sunlight of familiarity.
  Let neither be  alarmed,  or  lose their self-control.
Each requires indulgence, management, from  the other;
both should  demand from  themselves patience and self-
command.   A feAV weeks, and  this danger is  over; but
a mistake now is the mistake of a lifetime.  More than
one woman  has confessed to us  that her unhappiness
commenced  from  her wedding-tour; and when  we in-
quired more minutely, we have found that it arose from
an ignorance and  disregard of just such little precau-
tions as  we have been referring to.
   Yet it  is  every way  advisable that the young pair
Bhould escape the prying eyes of friends and relatives at
such a moment.  Let them choose some quiet  resort, not
too long a journey from home, where they can  pass a few
weeks in acquiring that more intimate knoAvledge of each
others character so essential to their future happiness. 
THE  WIFE.
                THE WEDDING NIGHT.
                            •
   We now enter upon  the consideration of the second
great period  in  the life of Woman.   The Maiden be-
comes a  Wife.  She is  born into  a new  world.   She
assumes new relationships, the SAA'eetest, and, at the same
time, the most natural of which she is capable.
   The great object of the conjugal union is  the trans-
mission of life—a duty necessary in order to  repair the
constant ravages of death, and thus perpetuate the race.
In the  fulfilment of this  sublime obligation,  woman
plays the more prominent part, as she is the source  and
depositary of the future being.  It is of moment, there-
fore, that she  should not be  altogether ignorant of the
nature and responsibilities of her position.   Ignorance
here means suffering,  disease,  and sometimes death.
Let us then interrogate science in regard to  these mat-
ters, among the most interesting of all human concerns.
   The initiation  into marriage, like its  full  fruition,
maternity,  is  attended  with more or  less  suffering..
Much, hoAvever,  may be done to avert  and to lessen the
|>ain which Avaits upon the  first step  in this neAv  life.
Kor this purpose regard must be had to the selection of
the day.  We have said that a time about midAvay be-
tween the monthly  recurring periods is best fitted for
the consummation of marriage.  As this is a season <if
                                              fifl 
70                  THE WIFE.

sterility, it recommends itself on this account, in the in.
terest of both th« mother and offspring.  The first nuptial
relations should be fruitless, in  order  that the indispo-
sitions possibly  arising from them shall have time  to
subside before the appearance of the disturbances inci-
dent to pregnancy.  One profound change should not
too quickly succeed the other.   About  the tenth  day
after  menstruation  should, therefore, be  chosen for the
marriage ceremony.
  It sometimes happens that marriage is consummated
with difficulty.  To overcome this, care, management>and
forbearance should always be employed, and anything
like precipitation and  violence avoided.   Only the con-
sequences of unrestrained impetuosity  are  to be feared.
In  those rare cases  in which greater resistance  is ex-
perienced than can  be overcome  by gentle means, the
existence of a condition contrary to nature may be
suspected.   Violence can then only be  productive of in-
jury, and is not Avithout danger.   Medical art should be
appealed to, as it alone can afford assistance in such an
emergency.
  Although the first conjugal approaches are ordinarily
accompanied by slight flooding,  a loss  of blood does not
always  occur.  Its  absence proves nothing.  The ap-
pearance of blood Avas formerly regarded as a test  of
virginity.  The  Israelites,  Arabs, and others carefully
preserved and triumphantly exhibited the evidence of it
as an infallible sign of the virtue of the bride.  They
were in error.   Its presence is as  destitute of significa-
tion as its absence, for it is now well knoAvn that Avidows,
and Avives long separated  from  their husbands, often
have a Hkc experience.  The temperament is not Avith
out its influence.  In those of lymphatic temperament,
pale blondes, who often suffer from local discharge and 
          EARLY  MARITAL I ELATIONS.        7\

 veakness, the parts being relaxed, there is less  pain and
little or no hemorrhage.  In brunettes, who  have neA'er
had any such troubles, the case is  reversed.  The mt
of baths, unguents, &c, by  the young  Avife,  however
uorviceable it might prove, is obviously  impracticable.
Tin's great change sometimes, also,  produces  SAvelling
and inflammation of the glands of the neck.
  Marital relations ordinarily continue during the first
fev< weeks to be more or less painful.  General  consti-
tutional disturbance and disorders of the nervous sys-
tem often result.  These troubles are all increased by the
stupid custom of hurrying the bride from place  to place,
at a time Avhen the bodily quiet and  the  mental calm-
ness and serenity so desirable fo  her  should be the only
objects in vieAV.  Too frequent indulgence at  this period
is a fruitful sov.rce of various inflammatory diseases, and
often occasions temporary sterility and ill-health.  Tlie
old custom  requiring a three days' separation  after the
first nuptial  approach was a Avise one, securing to the
younsr Avife the sooching and restoring influence of rest.
Nothing  Avas lost by it, and much gained.
  In a little while,  however, all irritation should sub-
side, and no suffering or distress of  any  kind, whether
general or  local, should attend  upon the performance
of this important function.  The presence of  suffering
iioav becomes indicative of  disease.   Of this  Ave \vi 11
6peak hereafter.

SHALL  HUSBAND  AND WTIFE OCCUPY THE SAME ROOM
                     AND BED?
  One-third of life is passed in sleep.  This period ol
unconsciousness and rest is necessary for  the renewal oi
*ital strength, and upon its proper management depend*
amci of  the  health not merely of the husband and wif* 
72                  THE  WIFE.

but of their offspring.  A great deal  has been written
upon the effect on health and  happiness of occupying
separate apartments,  separate beds in the same apart-
ment, or the same bed.   This vexed question  it is im-
possible to settle by absolute rules, suitable to all cases.
In general, it may be asserted  that there are no valid
physiological reasons for desiring to change the custom
which now prevails in this  and most other  countries.
When both parties are in good health, and of nearly the
same age, one bed-chamber, if it is sufficiently roomy,
may be used Avithout any disadvantage to either.   Such
\\n arrangement is also to be  commended because it
secures closer companionship, and thus developes and
sustains mutual affection.
   It is said that  in Zurich, in  the olden  time, when a
quarrelsome couple applied for a divorce, the magistrate
refused to  listen to them at first.  He  ordered that they
should be shut up together in one room for three days,
Avith one bed, one table, one plate, and one cup.  Their
food was passed in by attendants, Avho neither saw nor
spoke  to them.  On the  expiration of the three days, it
was  usual to find  that neither of them wanted a sepa-
ration.
   As before stated, there are conditions  under which
sleeping together is prejudicial to the health.   A certain
amount of fresh air  during the night is required  by
every one.   Re-breathed air is poisonous.   During sleep
constant  exhalations  take place from the  lungs and
f. oni the skin, which are injurious if absorbed.  A roo n
twelve feet square is too small for two persons, unless it
io  so thoroughly  ventilated that there is a  constant
change of air.  In fact, a sleeping apartment for tAvo
persons should contain an air-space of at least twenty-
6>ur hondred cubic feet, and the facilities for ventilation 
       DANGERS OF SLEEPING  TOGETHER.     73

should be such that the Avhole amount Avill  be chano-ed
in an hour; that is, at the rate of forty cubic feet per
minute:  for it has  been  ascertained that twenty cubic
feet of fresh air a minute are required for every healthy
adult.
  The young and old should never occupy the same bed.
When the married couple  hold  the relation to  each
other,  in regard to  age, of grandfather  and  grand-
daughter, separate apartments should be insisted  upon.
  Certain diseases can be produced by sleeping together.
The bed of a consumptive, it is well  known, is a power-
ful source of contagion.   In Italy  it is the custom to
destroy, after  death,  the  bed-clothing of consumptive
patients.   Tubercular disease has, Avithin the past few
years, been transferred from men  to animals by innocu-
lation.   Authentic  cases  are upon record  of  young
robust girls, of healthy parentage,  marrying men affected
Avith consumption, acquiring the disease in a short time,
and  dying,  in  some  instances, before their husbands.
In these significant cases, the sickly emanations  have
apparently been communicated  during  sleep.  When,
therefore, either husband or Avife  is  knoAvn to have con-
sumption, it Avould be highly imprudent for them  to pass
the long hours of the  night either in the same bed  or in
the same room.

      WHAT KIND OF BED IS MOST  HEALTHFUL?
  Feather-beds are not conducive to the health of either
eex.   Mattresses made of wool, or of avooI and horsehair,
are much better.   The bed  should  be  opened, and its
contents  exposed to  the air and sunlight, once every
fear.   Beds long saturated with the night exhalations of
their occupants are not AA'holesome.  A number of ancient
writers have alleged—and  it has  been re-asserted by 
74                   THE WIFE.

m'.wlern authorities—that sh-cp.ing on sponge is of servbe
to those who desire to increase their families.  The mat-
tresses of compressed  sponge recently introduced, there-
fore, commend themselves to married people thus situ-
ated.   Hemlock boughs  make a bed which has a well-
established reputation for similar virtues.
  The odor of cone-bearing trees has a Avell-knoAA'n  in-
fluence upon the fruitful ness of Avedlock.   Those Avho
live  in pine  forests  have ordinarily large families of
children.
  Excessive clothing at  night is highly injurious.   So,
also, is a fire in the bed-room, excepting in case of sick-
ness.   If the body be too much heated during sleep,
perspiration occurs, or the action of the heart is increased,
and \ba whole economy  becomes excited.   Either con-
dition prevents sound sleep and re-invigoration of  tho
body.  Wives  in  feeble health,  and  those  liable to
attacks.of flooding, should, therefore, have a particular
regard to the quantity of clothing on their beds.

THE DIGNITY AND PROPRIETY OF THE SEXUAL INSTINCT.
  A  distinguished  medical writer has divided women
into three classes in regard to the intensity of the sexual
instinct.   He asserts that a larger number than is gene-
rally  supposed  have little or  no  sexual feeling.   A
second class of women, more numerous  than these,  but
still small  as compared with the whole of  their sex, are
more or less subject  to  strong  passion.   Those  of  the
first ciass  can no more  form an idea of the strength of
the  impulse in other  women  than the  blind can of
rolors. They,  therefore, often  err  in their judgments.
The third class comprises the vast majority of Avomen, in
whom the sexual appetite is  as moderate as  all  othei
appetites. 
            THE DIGNITY OF PASSION.         75

  It is a false notion, and contrary to nature, that this
passion  in  a woman is  a derogation  to her  sex.   The
science of physiology indicates most clearly its propriety
and  dignity   There are wives Avho plume themselves
on their repugnance or their distaste for their conjugal
obligations.  They speak of their coldness and of the
calmness of their senses, as if these  Avere not defects.
p^xcepting  those afflicted with vices of conformation or
Avith disorders of sensibility,—Avhich amount to the same
thing,—all wives are called upon to receive and pay the
imposts of love, and those Avho can Avithdraw themselves
from the operation of this mysterious  laAV without  suf-
fering and with  satisfaction,  show themselves  by that
fact  to be incomplete in their organization, and deficient
in the special  function of their being.   There should be
no passion  for one Avhich is  not shared by  both.  Gene-
ration is  a duty.   The  feeling which excites to  the
preservation of the species is as  proper as that which in-
duces the  preservation of the individual.  Passionate,
exclusive, and  durable love for a particular individual
of the opposite sex is characteristic of the  human race,
and  is a mark of distinction from other animals.  The
instinct of  reproduction in mankind is thus joined to an
affectionate sentiment, Avhich adds to  its sweetness  and
prolongs infinitely its duration.
  Many physiologists have  assigned  to the feelings an
important  role in  conception, the possibility of which
has even been doubted if there be no passion on the  side
of the  woman.  Although  this  extreme   vieAV is  not
tenable in  the light of modern research, yet all recent
authorities agree that  conception  is more  assured when
the two individuals Avho  co-operate in it participate at
the same time in  the transports of Avhich  it is the fruit.
•t is, also, without doubt true  that the disposition ©f the
                          7» 
76                   THE  WIEE

woman at that time has,much poAver in the formation of
the foetus,  both in modifying its physical constitution
and in determining the character and temperament of its
mind.   The influence long ago attributed by Shakspeare
to "a dull, stale, tired bed" in creating a "tribe of fops"
is not a mere poet's fancy.
  In this manner, also, may be explained  the results of
prolonged continence upon the offspring, for desires are
usually vivid in  proportion to the previous period of
rest.  The  father of Montaigne  returning  after an
absence of thirty-tAVO years, during which he was en-
gaged  in the Avars of  Italy, begot his son,  so  justly
celebrated  in French literature.  The father  of J. J.
Rousseau, after a considerable absence in Constantinople,
brought to  his Avife the reward of a long fidelity.
  Sexual passion exerts, therefore,  a  marked  influence
upon the future being before conception, by the impres-
sion made  upon the elements which  came together to
form it.   The  question  noAV occurs, Avhat effect  do its
presence and gratification produce upon  the parents?
We ansAver, it is a natural and healthful  impulse.  Its
influence is salutary.  A marked improvement in the
physical condition  of delicate women  often  follows a
happy marriage.  This sometimes occurs  even in those
cases Avhere, from the nature of the disorder, the reverse
might  be expected.  The utility of  the  passions  well
directed has become a maxim in medicine as in morality.
And Avhat passion is more important and  fervent than
that of which we write?   The fathers  in  medicine,  and
their modern followers, agree in ascribing to the pleasures
of love, indulged in with moderation, actiA'ity and light-
ness of the body, vigor and vivacity of the mind.
  Music, apart from its immense influence on the nervous
system in general, seems sometimes to exercise a special 
         THE INDULGENCE  OF PASSION.       Jy

action on the sexual instinct.   Science possesses at the
present day some facts beyond dispute Avhich prove the
great power of music in this respect.

ON  THE  INDULGENCE  AND THE RESTRAINT OF SEXUJ L
                       DESIRE.
  The act of generation is a voluntary one.  But nature
has so placed it under the empire of pleasure, that the
voice of discretion  is no longer heard, and the will is
often led captive.  Hence it is well, for hygienic rea-
sons, to consider its laAvs.
  The too  frequent repetition of the reproductive  act is
known to be followed by consequences injurious to the
general health.  Too rigid continence is not unattended,
in many constitutions, Avith danger, for the victory over
passion may be  dearly  bought.  Science recommends
the adoption of  a  Avise mean   between  tAvo extremes
equally destructive.  By folloAving her counsel, Avomen
may  escape from the hysterical  and  other  disorders
which often Avait as Avell upon  excess as upon too great
denial of that passion, which claims  satisfaction as a
natural right.
  As men  have made laws upon  all subjects, Ave need
not be surprised to learn that they have legislated upon
this.  History informs us that the legislators of ancient
times haAre not  failed to occupy  themselves  with this
grave question of conjugal economy.   The ordinances of
Solon required that the  married should acquit them-
selves of their duties at least three times a month;  those
of Zoroaster prescribed once a week.   Mahomet ordered
that any Avife neglected  by her husband longer than a
week could demand and  obtain a divorce.  It is not,
hoAvever, in these and other enactments Avhich might be
quoted that guidance  is to be  sought.   The principles 
78
THE  WIFE.
 derived from nature and  experience are more valuable
 than human laws, hoAvever venerable, for these too often
 serve only  to  reflect  the profound ignorance of their
 makers.
   Moderation should here prevail.   Health is thus pre-
 served and  strengthened,  and the gratification doubled.
 The art of seasoning  pleasures in general consists  in
 being avaricious with them.  To abstain from enjoyment
 is the philosophy of the sage, the epicurism of reason.
   Proper self-denial in the gratification of the wants of
 physical love is a source  of good, not only to the indi-
 vidual practicing it, but to the community, as Ave shall
 show hereafter.  It may  be practiced  for one's  own
 advantage  only,  or for the  benefit  of another.  The
 latter is  in  the end more  conducive to self-interest than
 the former.    A  double profit groAvs therefrom : grati-
 tude and sympathy returned, and  increase  of appe-
 tite  and  poAver of future  enjoyment.  The loATe which
 first united any pair soon becomes extinguished through
 excess of indulgence,  and  sometimes  terminates  in  the
 pain of a surfeit.  Earnest love, satisfying itself with
 small gratifications, is a more copious source of pleasure
 than that frequently quenched by full gratification.
   What, then, is this  moderation  Avhich both  Hygeia
 and Venus command ?   Here, again, invariable rules
 are not possible.  Science  rarely lays down laws as in-
 flexible as those of the Medes and Persians.  She desig-
 nates limits.  The passage  between  Scylla  and Charyb-
dis is often  a wide one.  The folly of the  ancient stat-
utes which have been referred to consists mainly in their
failure to recognize the diverse influence of age, temper-
ament, seasons, etc.
   It almost appears as  if  there were but one season fin
generation, that in which  the sun rewarms and vivifies 
THE SEASON  FOR LOVE.
79
the earth, trees dress  in verdure, and  animals respire
the soft breath of spring.  Then every living thing re-
animates itself.  The impulse of reproduction is excited.
Now, also, its gratification is most beneficial to the indi-
vidual, and  to  the species.  Children conceived in the
spring-time have greater vitality, are less apt to die dur-
ing infancy, than those conceived at any other time of
the year.  The statistics of many thousand cases recently
carefully collated in  England  prove this beyond perad-
venture.   It is well knoAvn  that a late calf, or one born
at the end of the summer, is not likely to become a Avell-
developed and healthy animal.  This has been attrib-
uted  to  the chilling influence of approaching winter;
but it is capable of another,  and, perhaps,  a  truer
explanation.  Nature's impulses, therefore, in the spring
of the year  are for the good of the race, and may then
be more frequently indulged without prejudice to  the
individual.   Summer  is the  season which  agrees  the
least with the exercise of the generative functions.   The
autumn  months are the  most  unfruitful.   Then, also,
derangements  of the  economy are  readily  excited by
 marital intemperance.
   The temperaments  exert over reproduction, as over
 all the other functions of the body, a powerful influence.
 Love is said to be  the ruling passion  in the  sanguine
 temperament,  as ambition is  in the bilious.  There  is
 also in some cases a peculiar condition of the nervous
 6ystem which  impels  to or diverts  from  sexual  indul-
 gence.   In  some Avomen, even  in moderation, it acts a3
 a poison, being followed by headache and  prostration,
 lasting for days.                                     ]
    With advancing  years, the  fading  of sexual  desire
 calis attention to  the general  law, that animals  and
 Dlants when they become old  are dead to reproductiou 
80
THE  WIFE
What  in early life is  followed  by temporary  languor
in matured years is succeeded by a train of symptoms
much graver and more durable.
  Those Avho are in feeble health, and particularly those
who have delicate chests, ought to be sober in the grati-
fication of love.   Sexual intercourse has proved mortal
after severe hemorrhages.
  All organized beings are poAverfully affected by pro-
pagation.    Animals  become depressed  and  dejected
after it.  The flower which shines  so brilliantly at the
moment of its amours, after the consummation of that
act, withers and falls.   It is wise, therefore, in impart-
ing life, to have a care not to shorten  one's  own exist-
ence.   Nothing is more certain than that animals and
plants  lessen the duration of their lives by multiplied
sexual enjoyments.   The abuse  }f  these pleasures  pro-
duces lassitude and Aveakness.  Beauty of feature and
grace of movement are sacrificed.  When the excess is
long-continued, it  occasions spasmodic and  convulsive
affections, enfeeblement of the senses, particularly that of
sight, deprivation of the mental functions, loss of mem-
ory, pulmonary consumption, and  death.   One of the
most eminent  of living physiologists has asserted  that
" developrient of the individual and the reproduction
of the  species  stand in a  reverse ratio  to each other,"
and that " the highest degree of bodily vigor is incon-
sistent  with  more than a very moderate indulgence in
sexual  intercourse."
  The  general principles  we have just enunciated are of
great importance in the regulation of the health.   They
are more suggestive and useful than the precise  rules
which have  from time to  time been laid down on this
subject. 
              REASONS FOR DENIAL.           81

    TIMES WHEN MARITAL  RELATIONS SHOULD BE
                     SUSPENDED.
  "lliere are times  at Avhich marital  relations  are emi-
nently improper.   We are told, 1 Corinth, vii. 3, 4, that
the husband  and wife are  equally bound to fulfil the
conjugal obligation when the debt is demanded.   But
there are certain  legitimate  causes  for denial by the
wife.
  A condition of intoxication in the husband is a proper
ground for refusal.  Fecundation taking place while either
parent has been in this state  has produced idiots and
epileptics.  This has  happened again and again.   The
cases on record are so numerous and well authenticated,
as to admit of no doubt in regard  to the fatal  effect
upon the mind of the offspring of conception under such
circumstances.
  Physical degeneracy is also often  a consequence of
procreation during the alcoholic intoxication of one or
both parents.  A peculiar arrest of growth and develop-
ment of body and mind takes place, and, in  some in-
stances, the  unfortunate children, although living tc
years of manhood, remain  permanent infants, just able
to stand by the side  of a  chair, to  utter a ffefl^imple
sounds, and to be amused with childish toys.
  During convalescence from a severe sickness, or when
there is any local or constitutional disease which would
be aggravated by sexual intercourse, it  should be ab-
stained from.  There is  reason for  believing that  a
being  procreated  at  a period of ill-humor, bodily in-
disposition,  or  nervous debility, may carry with it,
during its whole existence, some small particles of these
evils.   When there  exists, any contagious disease, re-
fusals ar«  »C course valid, and often  a duty to the un- 
82
THE WIFE.
born.  Poverty, or the Avish to have  no more  children.
cannot lawfully be urged against the rendering of con-
jugal rites.
  The opinion that sexual relations practiced during
the time of the menses engender children liable to scrof-
ulous disease is a mere popular prejudice.  But there
are other and  better-founded  reasons for  continence
daring these periods.
  The question of  intercourse  during  pregnancy and
suckling will come up for consideration when  speaking
of these conditions hereafter.

CONDITIONS  WHEN MARITAL RELATIONS ARE PAINFUL
  Nature has not designed that a function of great mo-
ment to the  human  race—one involving its very exist-
ence—should be attended with pain.  The presence of
pleasure is indicative of health, its  absence of disease.
But to a woman Avho has systematically displaced her
womb by years of imprudence in conduct or dress, this
act, which should be a physiological one, and free  from
any hurtful tendencies, becomes a source of distress, and
even of illness.   The diseases of the Avomb Avhich some-
times follow matrimony are not to be traced to  excessive
indulgence in many  cases,  but  to  indulgence  to  any
extent by those who have altered the  natural relation of
the parts  before marriage.   A  prominent physician,
Prof. T. Gail lard Thomas, of NeAv York, has  said that
'• upon a woman who has enfeebled her system  by habits
of indulgence and luxury, pressed  her uterus entirely
jut of its normal place, and Avho, perhaps, comes to tho
nuptial bed  with  some marked uterine  disorder, the
result of imprudence at menstrual epochs, sexual inter-
course has a poisonous influence.  The taking of food
into the  stomach  exerts no hurtful  influence on the 
PA RRENNESS.
83
digestive system ; but the taking of food by a dyspeptic,
who has abused and injured that organ, does so."
  When excessive pain exists, and every attempt occa
lion3 nervous trepidation and apprehension, it is abso-
lutely certain that there is some diseased  condition pre-
Bont, for Avhich proper advice should be secured at once.
Delay in  doing so will not  remove the  necessity for
medical interference in the end, while it will assuredly
aggravate the trouble.

                     STERILITY.
  Wives who  never become  mothers  are said to be
sterile or barren.   This condition is frequently a cause
of much unhappiness.   Fortune may fa\ror the married
couple in every other respect, yet if she refuse to accord
the boon of even a single  heir to heart and home, her
smiles will bear the aspect of frqAvns.   It is, then, of
some interest to inquire into the causes of this condition,
and how to prevent or remedy their operation.
  Dr. Duncan, of Edinburgh, has shoAvn by elaborate
research that in those wives who are destined to have
children there intervenes, on the average, about seven-
teen months between the  marriage  ceremony and the
birth of the first child, and that the  question whether a
woman will  be sterile is decided in the first three years
of married life.  If she have no  children  in that time,
the chances are thirteen to one against her ever having
any.  In those cases, therefore, in which the first three
years of married life are fruitless, it is highly desirable
for  those Avishing a family to  ascertain whether or no*
the  barrenness is dependent upon any defective condi-
tion capable of relief.
  The age of a wife  at  the time of marriage has much
to do with the  expectation of  children.  As the age in- 
84                  THE WIFE.

creases over twenty-five years, the interval between thp
marriage and the birth of the first child is lengthened.
For  it has been ascertained  that not  only  are women
most  fecund from  twenty to  twenty-four, but that they
begin their career of child-bearing sooner after marriage
than  their younger or  elder sisters.   Early marriages
(those before the  age  of twenty) are sometimes more
fruitful than late  ones (those after tAventy-four).  The
interesting result has further been arrived at in England,
that about one in fourteen of all marriages of Avomen
between fifteen and nineteen are without offspring; that
wives married at ages from twenty to twenty-four inclu-
sive are almost all fertile; and  that after that age the
chances of having no children gradually increase with
the greater age at  the time of marriage.
  There are two kinds of sterility which are  physiologi-
cal,  natural to all women, that of young  girls before
puberty and that  of women  who  are past the epoch of
the cessation of the menses.   In  some very rare cases
conception takes place after cessation.  In one published
case it occurred nine months  aftenvards, and in another,
eighteen months.  In  some  very rare  cases, also, con-
ception has taken  place before the first menstruation.
  The older a woman is at the time of her marriage the
longer deferred is  the age at which she naturally becomes
sterile. She bears children later in life, in order to com-
pensate, as it Avere, for  her  late commencement. But,
although  she continues to have children until a mere
advanced age than the earlier  married, yet her actual
child-bearing period is shorter.   Nature does not entirely
make up  at  the end of life  for the time lost  from  the
duties of  maternity  in  early  womanhood.   For,  the
younger married  have really a longer  era  of fertility
than the older, though it terminates at an earlier age. 
LA WS OF FERTILITY.            85
  A wife  who, having  had  children, has  ceased for
three years to conceiAre, will probably bear no more, and
the probability increases  as  time elapses.  After  the
first, births take place Avith an average interval, in those
who continue to be fertile, of about tAventy months.
  Nursing Avomen are generally sterile, above all during
the first months Avhich follow accouchement, because the
vital forces are then concentrated on the secretion of the
milk.  In a majority of instances, AA'hen suckling is pro-
longed to even nineteen or twenty months, pregnancy
does not take place at all until after weaning.
  Climate  has also an influence  upon the fertility of
marriages.   In southern regions more children are born,
feAver in northern.  The number of children 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 infant deaths.
  The  seasons exert a  poAver over the increase of popu-
lation.  The spring  of the year,  as has  already been
stated, is  the most favorable  to  fecundity.   It  is  not
known Avhether day  and night have any effect  upon
conception.
  The  Avorldly condition seems to have much to do Avith
the size of a family.  Rich and fashionable Avoinen have
fewer children  than their poor and hard-AVorked neigh-
bors.   Wealth  and pleasure seem to be  often gladly
exchanged for the title of mother.
  But  it is our more particular  object noAV to inquire
into the causes of absolute sterility in individual cases,
rather than to discuss the operation of general laAvs upon
the fertility of the community  at large, howe\rer inviting
such a  discussion may be.  When marriages are fruit-
less, the Avife is almost always blamed.   It is not  to be 
86
THE  WIFE.
supposed that she is always  in  fault.   Many husbands
are absolutely sterile: for it is a mistake to consider that
every man  must be prolific Avho is vigorous and  enjoys
good health.  Neither does it folloAV because a Avoman
has never given birth to a living child  that she has not
conceived.   About one marriage in eight is unproductive
of living children,  and therefore  fails to  add  to  the
population.   The seeds of life have, however, been more
extensively sown among Avomen than these figures Avould
seem to indicate.   If the life  of an infant for a long time
after birth is a frail one, before birth its  existence is
precarious  in the extreme.   It often perishes soon after
conception.   A sickness,  unusually long and profuse,
occurring in a young married woman, a feAV days beyond
the regular time, is often the  only evidence she Avill ever
have that a life she has communicated nas been ended
almost  as soon as begun.  A  tendency to  miscarriage
may, therefore, be all that stands in the Avay of a  family.
This is  generally remediable.
   It is a Avell-knoAvn fact that frigidity is a frequent cause
of barrenness, as well  as a barrier to  matrimonial hap-
piness.   Its  removal,  so desirable, is in  many  cases
possible by detecting  and doing aAvay Avith the  cause.
The causes are so various that their enumeration here
would  be tedious and unprofitable, for most of them can
only be discovered and remedied  by a practical phy-
sician Avho has studied the  particular case under  con-
sideration.  So, also, in regard  to the  various displace-
ments and diseases of the Avomb  preventing  conception.
Proper  medical treatment is  usually folloAved by the best
results.
   While the fact  that pleasure is found  in the maritaf
relation is a favorable augury  for impregnation, it has
been long  noticed that Messalinas are sterile.  It was 
Ca USES OF STERILITY.
87
observed in Paris that out of one thousand, only six
bore children in the course of a year, Avhereas the ordi-
nary proportion in that city for that time is three and
a half births for every one hundred of the population.
  In some  Avomen nothing seems amiss but too intense
passion.  Such cases are much more rare than instances
of the opposite extreme producing the same effect.
  A condition of debility, or the presence of  certain
special poisons  in the blood, may prevent conception, or,
what is to all intents the  same thing, cause miscarriage.
Many apparently  feeble  Avomen have  large  families.
But in numerous instances  a tonic  and sometimes an
alterative constitutional  treatment  is  required  before
pregnancy will take  place.  On the contrary, there are
well-authenticated cases of women Avho  were stout and
barren in opulence becoming thin and prolific in poverty.
  The stimulus of novelty to matrimonial  intercourse
imparted by a  short separation of husband and Avife ia
often salutary  in its influence upon fertility.
  To show  upon what slight  constitutional differences
infertility often depends, it is merely necessary to allude
to the fact, known to every one, that Avomen who have
not had  children with one husband often  have them
with another.   This condition  of physiological  incom-
patibility is evidently not altogether one of the emotional
nature, for  it is observed  in animals, among whom it is
by no means rare to find certain males and females who
will not breed  together, although both are knoAvn to oe
perfectly fruitful Avith other females and males.  The
ancients, believing that sterility Avas more common with
couples of the same temperament and condition, advised.
with Hippocrates, that blond Avomen should unite with
dark men, thin women with stout men, and vice versa.
  Barren women should  not despair.   They sometime*
                         »* 
88
THE  WIFE.
become fecund after a  long lapse  of years.  In  other
words, they  are sterile only during a certain period of
their lives, and then, a change occurring in their tempera-
ment Avith age, they become fruitful.  History affords
a striking example of this  eccentricity of generation in
the birth of  Louis XIV, whom Anne  of Austria, Queen
of France, brought into the Avorld after a sterility of
twenty-two years.  Catherine de Medicis, wife of Henry
II, became the mother of ten children after a sterility of
ten years.  Dr. Tilt, of London, mentions the case of a
woman who Avas married at eighteen, but, although both
herself and her husband enjoyed  habitual good health,
conception did not take place until she Avas forty-eight,
when she bore a child.   Another  case is reported where
a Avell-formed female married at  nineteen, and did  not
bear a child until she had reached her fiftieth year.
  Families  often  suffer from  the effects  of sterility.
Civilized nations never do.   It has been found by obser-
vation in countries Avhere the loss  of  life by war is
inconsiderable, and Avhere the pressure of the population,
through  excess of propagation, against the bounds of
subsistence, is  not very severe, that annual  births  equal
in number to the annual deaths of the total population
are obtained by means of one-half only of the Avomen
exerting their full procreating poAver.  Nature, there-
fore,  has  made  ample  provision for  preventing  a  de-
crease of population through failure of reproduction.
  She has also  instituted  laAvs to prevent  its  undi e
increase.  It Avould seem as if the extension of materia1,
mental and social comfort  and culture has a tendency
to render marriage less  prolific, and population station-
ary,  or nearly so.  So  evident  is this tendency, that it
has been laid doAvn as a  maxim in   sociology, by  Sia-
inondi. that " where the number of  marriages is propor- 
           REMEDIES FOR STERILITY.          8S

tionably the greatest, where the greatest number of per-
sons participate in the duties and the virtues  and the
happiness of marriage, the  smaller number of children
does each  marriage produce."  Thus, to a certain extent,
does nature indorse the opinions of those political eeono-
mist3 Avho assert that increase of population beyond cer-
tain limits is  an evil, happily averted  by wars, famines,
and pestilences, Avhich hence become national blessings
in disguise.   She, hoAvever,  points to  the  extension  of
mental and moral  education and refinement as gentler
and surer means of reducing plethoric  population than
those suggested by Malthus and Mill.
   Many causes  of  sterility, it will, therefore,  be seen,
are beyond the poAver of man to control.  They operate
on a large scale for the good of the whole.  With these
we have little concern.  But there are others which may
be influenced by intelligent endeavor.   Some have been
already alluded to, and the remedy suggested; but  av«
will proceed  to give more specific

 ADVICE  TO  WIVES WHO DESIRE TO HAVE CHILDREN.
   It has long been knoAvn that menstruation presents a
group of phenomena  closely allied to fecundity.  The
first eruption of the menses is an unequivocal sign  of the
awakening of the  faculty of reproduction.  The  cessa-
tion of the menstrual epochs is a sign equally certain  of
the loss of the faculty of reproduction.  AVhen concep-
tion has taken place, the periodical  floAV is interrupted.
Labor  occurs at about the time  in which the menses
would have  appeared.   In  short, it is a fact, noAv com-
pletely established, that the time  immediately  before
and particularly  that immediately  after the  monthly
sickness is the period the most favorable to fecundation.
 It is said that, by following the counsel to  this etlect 
90
THE  WIFE
given  him  by the celebrated Fernel, Henry  II.,  the
King of France, secured to himself offspring after  the
long sterility of his wife referred to.  Professor Bedford,
of New York,  says that he can point to more than  one
instance in  which, by  this advice, he  has  succeeded in
adding to the happiness of parties Avho for years IiaO
been  vainly hoping for the  accomplishment of then
wishes.
   Repose of the woman, and,  above  all, sojourn  on  th«
bed after the  act of generation, also  facilitates concep-
tion.   Hippocrates, the  great father  of medicine, Avas
aAvare of this, and  laid stress upon  it in his advice 10
sterile Avives.
   The Avomb and the breasts are bound together by very
strong sympathies;  that Avhich excites the one will stimu-
late the other.  Dr. Charles Loudon mentions that four
out of seven  patients by acting  on this  hint became
mothers.  A similar  idea occurred  to  the  illustrious
Marshall Hall, Avho advised the application of a strong
infant to the  breast.  Fomentations of warm milk to
the breasts and the corresponding  portion of the spinal
column,  and the  use  of the  breast-pump two or three
times a day, just before the menstrual period, have also
been recommended by good medical authorities.  Horse-
back  exercise carried  to fatigue seems occasionally to
have conduced to pregnancy.
   The greatest hope  of success  against sterility is to
change the dominant state of the constitution.  But this
can only be effected  under  suitable medical  advice.
The  treatment of sterility—thanks  to the  recent  re-
searches of Dr. Marion Sims—is much more certain than
formerly, and  the  intelligent  physician is  now able to
ascertain the  cause, and  point out  the  remedy, Avhere
before all Avas  conjecture and experiment. 
         CAN A  WIFE BE TOO PROLIFIC?      9 J

         ON  THE  LIMITATION  OF OFFSPRING.
  No part of our subject is more  delicate  than  thi.
Very few people are willing  to listen to  a dispassiow /✓
discussion of the propriety or impropriety of limitiag
within certain bounds the number of children in a family.
On the one side  are many worthy physicians  and pious
clergymen Avho, Avithout listening  to any arguments, con-
demn every effort to avoid  large  families; on  the otl er,
are numberless wives and husbands Avho turn a deaf car
to the Avarnings of doctors and  the thunders of divines,
and, eager to escape a responsibility they have assumed,
hesitate not to resort to the most dangerous and immoral
means to accomplish this end.
  We ask both parties to lay aside prejudice and  pre-
possession, and  examine with us this most  important
social question in all its bearings.
  Let us first inquire Avhether there is  such  a thing as
over-production—having  too  many children.    Unques-
tionably there is.  Its disastrous  effects  on both mother
and  children  are knoAvn to every intelligent  physician.
Two-thirds of  all cases of womb disease,  says  Dr.
Tilt, are traceable to child-bearing  in  feeble Avomen.
Hardly a day passes  that a physician in large practice
does not see  instances of debility and disease  resulting
from over much  child-bearing.  Even the lower animals
illustrate this.   Every farmer is  aAvare of the necessity
of limiting the offspring of his mares and coavs.  Hoav
much more severe  are the injuries inflicted on  the deli-
cate  organization of woman !  A very great mortality,
says  Dr. Duncan, of  Edinburgh, attends upon confine-
ments when they become too frequent.
  The evils of a  too rapid succession of pregnancies are
likewise conspicuous in the children.  There is no more 
92                  THE WIFE.

frequent cause,  says  Dr. Ilillier — who.<e  authority  ic
such matters none  will dispute,—of  rictcets than  this.
Puny, sickly, short-lived offspring follows  over-produc-
tion.  Worse than this, the carefully-compiled statistics
of Scotland show that such children arepeculiariy liable
to idiocy.   Adding  to an already excessive number, they
come to overburden a mother already overwhelmed with
progeny.  They cannot receive at her hands the attention
they require.  Weakly  herself, she brings  forth Aveakly
infants.  "Thus," concludes  Dr. Duncan, "are the ac-
cumulated evils  of an excessive family manifest."
  Apart from  these considerations,  there  are  certain
social relations  Avhich have  been thought  by  some  to
advise small families.  When either parent suffers from
a disease which is transmissible, and Avishes to avoid
inflicting  misery on an unborn generation, it has  been
urged  that  they should avoid  children.  Such  diseases
not unfrequently manifest themselves  after marriage,
which is answer enough to the objection that if they did
not wish  children  they should not marry.  There are
also women to whom  pregnancy is a nine months' tor-
ture, and  others to Avhom it  is  nearly certain  to prove
fatal.  Such a condition cannot be  discovered before
marriage, and therefore cannot be provided against  by
a single life.  Can such  women be asked to immolate
themselves?
  It is strange, says  that distinguished  Avriter, John
Stuart Mill, that intemperance in drink, or in any other
appetite, should be condemned so  readily, but  that  in-
continence in this respect should ahvays meet  not only
with indulgence but praise.  "Little improvement,"  he
adds, "can be expected in morality until the producing
too large  families is regarded with the same feelimr as
drunkenness, or any other physical  excess."   A  well- 
            HOW TO STOP ABORTION.           {)JJ

Kuown medical Avriter of London, Dr. Drysdale, in com-
menting  on these words, adds: " In this error, if error
it be, I also humbly share."
  "When  dangerous prejudices,"  says  Sismondi,  the
learned historian of Southern Europe, "have not become
accredited, when our true duties towards those to  whom
we give life are not  obscured in the name of a sacred
authority, no married man will have more children than
he can bring up properly."
  Such is the language of physicians and statesmen. But
a stronger appeal has been made for the sake of morality
itself.  The detestable crime  of abortion is appalingly
rife in our day; it is abroad in our  land to an extent
which  would  have  shocked  the  dissolute women  of
pagan  Rome.   Testimony from all quarters, especially
from New England, has accumulated within the past
few years to sap our faith in the morality and religion of
American Avomen.  This wholesale, fashionable murder,
hoAv are we to stop it ?  Hundreds of vile men and women
in our large cities subsist by this slaughter  of the inno-
cents, and flaunt their ill-gotten gains—the price of blood
—in our  public thoroughfares.  Their advertisements are
seen in the newspapers; their soul and body destroying
means are  hawked in every toAvn.   With such tempta-
tion strewn in her path, what will the woman threatened
with an  excessive  family do?  Will  she not yield  to
evil, and sear her conscience with the repetition of her
wickedness?  Alas! daily experience in the heart of a
great city discloses to us only too frequently the fatal
ease of such a course.
  In vieAV of the injuries of excessive child-beariug on the
one hand, and of this prevalent crime on the other, a man
of genius and sympathy, Dr.  Raciborski, of Paris, took
the position that the avoidance of offspring to a certain 
94
THE  WIFE.
extent is not only legitimate, but should be recommended
as a measure of  public good.  "We knoAV how bitterly
we shall be  attacked," he says, "for promulgating this
doctrine ;  but if our  ideas  only  render to  society the
services Ave expect of  them, we shall have effaced from
the list of crimes the one most atrocious Avithout excep-
tion, that of child-murder, before or after birth, and Ave.
shall haATe poured a little  happiness into the bosoms of
despairing families, Avhere poverty is pllied to the know-
ledge that offspring can be  born only to prostitution or
mendicity.   The realization of such hnres will console
us under the attacks upon our doctrines,"
  It has been eagerly repeated by some that the Avish to
limit offspring arises most frequently frcr<?> an inordinate
desire of indulgence.   We reply  to such that they do
not knoAV the human heart, and that they do it discredit.
More frequently  the wish springs from a loy« of children.
The parents seek to avoid having more t^sn they can
properly  nourish and educate.  They  do not wish to
leave their sons and daughters in want.   " This," says a
writer in The Nation (of New York), in an ar*i<H3 on this
interesting subject,—"this is not  the noblest w.tive of
action, of  course, but  there is something finely human
about it."
  "Very much, indeed, is  it to be wished," sap Dr.
Flward Reich,—after revieAving the multitudinou1 <rvils
which result to individuals and society from a too r^\\A
increase in families,—"that  the function of reproductnv
be placed under  the dominion of the will."
  Men are very ready to find an excuse for self-indul
gence,  and if they cannot get one  anywhere else, thej
seek it in  religion.  They tell the Avoman it is her duty
to bear all the children she can.  They refer her to the
sturdy, strong-limbed women of the early  colonies,  to 
      Will  WOMEN CAN BE TOO PROLIFIC.    95

the prasant women  of  Europe, who emigrate  to  cui
nhores, and ask and  expect the American wife to rival
them  in  fecundity.  They do not reflect that  she  haa
been brought up to light indoor employment, that her
organization is  more nervous and  frail, that she abso-
lutely has not the  stamina required  for many  confine-
ments.
  Moreover, they presume too  much in  asking her to
bear them.   " If a woman has a right to decide on any
question," said a genial  physician in  the Massachusetts
Medical Society a lew years since, " it certainly is as to
how many children she  shall bear."   "Certainly," say
the editors of a prom.nent medical journal of our country,
"Avives have  a  right to demand of  their husbands  at
least the same consideration Avhich a breeder extends to
his stock."   "Whenever it becomes  unwise that the
family should  be  increased,"  says   Sismondi  again,
"justice and humanity require that the husband should
impose on himself the same restraint which is submitted
to by  the unmarried."
   An eminent English writer on medical statistics, Dr.
Henry MacCormac, says: " The brute yields to the gene>-
rative impulse when it  is experienced. He is troubled
by no compunction  about the  matter.   Now,  a man
ought not to act like a brute.  He has reason to guide
and control his appetites.   Too many, however, forget,
and act like  brutes instead of  as  men.   It  would, in
effect, pro\Te very greatly conducive to man's interest!
Avere the  generative impulses placed  absolutely  undei
the sway of right reason, chastity, forecast, and justice.''
  There  is no lack of  authorities,  medical  and non-
medical, on this point.   FeAv who weigh them well will
deny  that there is such  a thing  a3 too large a  family;
that there does  come a time Avhen a  mother  can right- 
96
THE  WIFE.
Ail I j demand rest from her labors in the interest, of her-
self,  her children,  and society.  When is this time?
Heie again the impossibility meets us of stating a defi-
nite  number of children, and saying, This many and no
more.  As in  every  other  department  of  medicine,
averages are of no avail in guiding  individuals.  There
are women Avho require no limitation  whatever.   They
can bear healthy children  Avith  rapidity, and  suffer no
ill results; there are others—and they are the majority—
Avho  should use temperance in this  as  in  every other
function ; and there are a feAV Avho should bear no children
at all.  It is  absurd for physicians or  theologians to in-
sist that it is either the physical or moral  duty of the
female to have as  many  children  as  she possibly can
have.  It is time that such an  injurious prejudice was
discarded, and the truth recognized, that while marriage
looks to  offspring as its natural sequence, there should
be inculcated  such a thing as  marital continence, and
that excess here as elsewhere is repugnant  to morality,
and  is visited by  the laAvs of  physiology Avith certain
and severe punishment on parent and child.
  Continence, self-control, a willingness to deny himself,
—that is what is  required from the  husband.   But a
thousand voices reach us from  suffering women in all
parts of our land that this will not  suffice;  that  men
refuse thus to restrain themselves;  that it leads to a loss
of domestic happiness and to illegal amours, or that it is
injurious physically and mentally,—that, in short, siu h
advice is useless, because impracticable.
  To such sufferers we reply  that  nature  herself haa
provided  to some  extent againht  over-production, and
that it is well to avail ourselves  of her provisions.   It is
-veil known that women  when  nursing rarely become
pregnant, and  for  this reason,  if for no other, Avomen 
        THE AVOIDANCE OF OFFSPRING.      97

should nurse  their  OAvn children,  and  continue  the
period until the child is at  least a year old.  Be it re-
membered, hoAvever, that nursing, continued  too long,
weakens both mother and child, and, moreover, ceases to
 ccomplish the end for Avhich we noAV recommend it.
  Another provision  of nature  is,  that  for  a  certain
period between her monthly illnesses  every  woman is
sterile.  The vesicle Avhich matures  in her ovaries, and
is discharged from them by menstruation, remains some
days  in the womb before it is  passed  forth  and lost.
How  long its stay is  we do not definitely knoAV,  and
probably it  differs in individuals.  From ten  to tAvelve
days at most are  supposed to elapse after the cessation
of the flow before  the final ejection of the vesicle.   For
some  days after this the female is incapable of repro-
duction.   But for  some days before her  monthly illness
she is liable to conception, as for that length of time the
male  element can survive.  This period,  therefore, be-
comes a variable  and  an undetermined one,  and even
when known, its observation demands a large amount of
self-control.
   What, then, is left to  her Avhom an inconsiderate hus-
band does  not spare,  and  in whom the condition of
nursing does not offer—as sometimes it does  not—any
immunity from pregnancy?
   Is it amiss to hope that science  will find resources, sim-
ple and certain, which will enable a woman to let  reason
and sound judgment, not blind passion, control  the in-
crease of her family ?
   Such  resources are not patents,  or  secrets hawsed
about by charlatans  or advertised  by quacks.   Were
they  familiar to intelligent  physicians, yet Avith  a Avise
discrimination, and a conscientious regard for morality
 they  could not  reveal  them except where they were 
93                  THE  WIFE.

convinced that they will not be abused.  Therefore, tncj,
lis a rule, have refrained from discussing the subject..
  Let women be Avarned in the most emphatic manner
against  the  employment of the secret methods which
quacks in the newspapers are constantly offering.  Sima
means  are the almost certain cause of painful uterine
diseases, and of shortened life.  They are  productive of
more misery by far than over-production  itself.  "The
workings of nature in this as in all other  physiological
processes," says Dr. Gaillard Thomas, " are too perfect,
too accurately and delicately adjusted, not  to be inter-
fered  with  materially  by clumsy  and  inappropriate
measures adopted to frustrate her laws."
  None of these clumsy expedients is more frequent than
the use  of  injections.  None is more hurtful.   It  is
almost certain to bring on inflammation and ulceration.
" We are prepared to  assert," says the editor of an ably-
conducted medical journal in the Avest, "that fully three-
fourilis of the cases Ave have met of the various forms
and effects of inflammation of the uterus and appendages
in married women are directly traceable to this method
of preventing pregnancy."
  Equally injurious to the husband is the habit of un-
completed intercourse.  Nervous prostration,  paralysis.
premature  debility  and decay, are  its frequent  conse-
quences.
  On the contrary, when  that  due moderation Avhich
medical skill inculcates is employed to attain the  same
end, the danger seems less.   " Long observation proves
to us,"  says the  editor of a  prominent medical journal
of this country, "that  such  women are  the  healthiest
women in the world.'*
  There is  one  method wadely  in  use in this  country
  * Dr. N. K. Bowling, Nashville Journal of Medicine aud Sur-
geiy.  October 18(38. 
         THE  WICKEDNESS OF ABORTION.      99

L r the limitation of offspring which deserves only the
most unqualified condemnation. Avhich is certain to bring
upon ^the perpetrators  SAvift  and  terrible retribution;
and Avhich  is opposed to every sentiment of nature and
morality.  We mean

              THE CRIME OF ABORTION.
  From the moment of conception a neAV life commences;
a new individual  exists; another child  is added to the
family.   The mother Avho deliberately sets about to de-
stroy  this life, either by Avant of  care, or  by taking
drugs, or using instruments, commits as great a crime,
is just as guilty, as if she strangled her neAV-born infant,
or as if she snatched  from her  OAvn  breast her six-
months' darling and dashed out its  brains against the
wall.   Its blood is upon her head, and as sure as there is
a God and  a judgment, that blood will be  required of
her.   The crime she commits is murder, child-murder,—
the slaughter of a speechless, helpless being, Avhom it is
her duty, beyond all  things else, to cherish and preserve.
  This  crime  is  common.   It  is  fearfully prevalent.
Hundreds of persons in every one of our  largest cities
are devoted to its perpetration.   It  is their trade.  In
nearly  every  village its ministers  stretch  out  their
bloody hands  to lead the weak Avoman  to  suffering, re-
morse and death.   Those who submit to their  treatment
are not generally  unmarried Avomen Avho haATe lost their
virtue, but the mothers of families, respectablej Chris-
tian matrons,  members  of church, and Avalking in the
better class of society.
  We appeal  to all  such Avith earnest and with  threat-
ening words.  If they have no feeling for the fruit of
their womb; if maternal sentiment is so callous in  their
breasts, let them know that such produccu abortions aro 
3 00
THE  WIFE.
the constant cause of violent  and dangerous womb dis
eases, and  frequently of early death;  that they bring
on mental weakness, and often insanity;  that they are
the most certain  means to destroy domestic happiness
which  can  be  adopted.  Better, far better, to  bear a
child every year for twenty years  than to  resort  to such
a wicked and  injurious step;  better to die, if needs be,
in the pangs  of  childbirth, than to live Avith  such a
weight of sin on the conscience.
  There is no  need  of either.  By  the moderation  we
have  mentioned it  is in the  poAver of any Avoman to
avoid the evils of an excessive family, without injury
and Avithout criminality.
  We  feel  obliged  to speak  in  plain  language of this
hidden sin, because so many are ignorant that it  is a
Bin.  Only  within a  few years have those who  take in
charge the public morals spoken of it in such terms that
this excuse of ignorance is no longer admissible.
  Bishop Coxe, of New York,  in a pastoral letter, Arch-
bishop Spaulding, Catholic Primate of the  United States,
in an address at the close of the last Provincial  Council
at Baltimore, the Old  and New School  Presbyterian
Churches at a recent meeting  in Philadelphia, have all
pronounced the severest judgments against those guilty
of ante-natal  infanticide.  Appeals through the press
have been made by physicians of high standing, and by
eminent divines, AA'hich should  be in the hands of every
one.
  The chiefest difficulty, hitherto, has been, that while
women Avere warned  against the evils  of  abortion, they
were offered no escape from the exhaustion and  dangers
of  excessive  child-bearing.   This  difficulty Ave have
fully recognized and fairly met, and we believe  in such
h manner  that neither  the accuracy of our statements 
CONCEPTION.
A,\
nor the purity of our motives  can be doubted,   ohould
our position  be  attacked, ho\A'ever,  the  medical man
must  know that  in opposing  our views,  he opposes
those of the most distinguished physicians in this coun-
try and  in Europe;  and  the  theologian  should  be
warned that when a neglect of physical laws  leads to
moral evil, the only way to correct this evil is to remedy
the neglect.  In this case the neglect is  in  over-produc-
tion,—the evil is abortion.

              NATURE OF CONCEPTION.
  The  theories which have been advanced to explain
the manner in which the human species is continued
and  reproduced  are very numerous.   Including  the
hypotheses of  the ancient philosophers, some two hun-
dred and  fifty have been promulgated  by the  greatest
thinkers of all times.  The older ones  do not deserve
mention, as they are replete with absurdities.  Such, for
instance, is that of Pythagoras, which supposed that a
vapor  descended  from the brain and formed  the em-
bryo.  The  Scythians therefore  took blood from  the
veins behind the ears to produce impotence and sterility.
Modern science has shoAvn the total  error of this and
many other vieAvs formerly entertained on  this subject.
Has galvanism or electricity any share in the mysterious
function ?   Some  among the modern physiologists have
supposed that there is an electrical or magnetic influence
which  effects generation.  Even  within a  feAV  month:*,
Dr. Harvey L.  Byrd, Professor of Obstetrics  in  tho
Medical Department of  Washington University of Bal-
timore, Md., has asserted that  he has "every reason for
believing that fecundation or impregnation is always an
electrical  phenomenon,  * * * it results from the com-
pletion of an electric circle,—the union of positive and 
102
THE  WIFE.
negative electricities."  This, however, is not accepted
by  all as the dictum of  modern science.   Physiology
has clearly established that the ncAV being  is the result
of contact  between  the  male element, an independent,
living animal, on the one part, and the female element,
a matured egg, on the other, involving the union of the
contents  of two peculiar cells.   Without such contact
fecundation cannot take place.
  The only matter  of practical  moment in connection
with this most interesting function Avhich AV7e have to an-
nounce, is the influence of the mind on the  offspring at
the time of generation.  This influence  has long  been
remarked in regard to animals as AA'ell as men.  Jacob
Avas aAvare of it when he made his shrewd bargain Avith
Laban for " all the speckled and  spotted cattle" as his
hire.  For we are told that then  " Jacob took him rods
of green poplar, and of the hazel  and chestnut tree; and
pilled Avhite strakes  in them, and made the white appear
Avhich Avas in the rods.  And he set the rods which he
had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the Avater-
ing troughs when the flocks came to drink, that  they
should conceive Avhen they came to drink. And the
flocks  conceived  before  the  rods,  and  brought forth
cattle ringstraked, speckled and  spotted.  And Jacob
did separate the lambs and set  the faces of the flocks
towards the ringstraked  and all the  brown  in the flock
of Laban; and he  put his OAvn  flocks by themselves,
and put them not unto Laban's cattle.  And it came to
pass, Avherever the  stronger cattle did conceive,  that
Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the
gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.  But
w hen the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the
feebler Avere Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's."
  The  impressions conveyed to the brain through  thu 
    HO W  TO HA VE BE A UTIFUL CHILDREN.  \ f)3

sense, of sight are  here asserted by the writer of Genesis
to have influenced the system of the ewes so  that they
brought forth young in  the same manner as  the rods
placed before their eyes.   It is not said that there Avas
any miraculous  interposition; but the whole account is
given  as  if it  were an  every-day, natural,  and  well-
knoAvn occurrence.
  The Greeks,  a  people renoAvned  for  their physical
beauty, seemed to  be aAvare of the value  of mental im-
pressions ;  for in their apartments they were lavish of
statues  and  paintings representing the gods and god-
desses, delineated  in accordance with  the best models
of art.
  Dionysius,  tyrant of Syracuse, caused the portrait of
the beautiful Jason to be suspended  before the nuptial
bed, in order to obtain a handsome child.
  The folloAving is related of the celebrated Galen:  A
Roman magistrate, little, ugly, and  hunchbacked, had
by his wife a  child exactly resembling  the statue of
iEsop.   Frightened at the sight of this little monster, and
fearful of becoming the father of a posterity so deformed,
he Avent to consult Galen, the most  distinguished phy-
sician of his time,  who counselled  him  to place  three
statues of  love around the conjugal bed, one at the foot,
 the others, one on each side, in order that  the eyes of his
young spouse might be constantly feasted on these charm-
ing  figures.   The magistrate followed strictly the ad-
vice of the physician, and it is recorded that his wife
bore  him a child surpassing in beauty all his hopes.
   The fact that the attributes of the child are determined
to an important extent  by the  bodily  and mental con-
dition of the parents at  the time of conception, explains,
the  marked  difference almost  constantly  observed b*
tween children  bom to the same parents, however strong 
(04
THE  WIFE.
i\\e family likeness maybe among them.  The change
constantly  going on in the physical,  intellectual  ami
emotional states of the parents produce a corresponding
alteration in offspring  conceived at successive intervals.
Twins  generally  resemble  each other very  closely in
e\rery respect.
  Inasmuch, therefore, as the moment of generation is of
much more importance than is commonly believed in its
effect upon  the  moral and physical life of  the  future
being, it is to be wished that  parents Avould pay some
attention to this  subject.  It is the moment of creation,
that in  which  the first vital power is communicated to
the new creature.  Not without reason has nature asso-
ciated Avith it the highest sensual exaltation of our exist-
ence.  Dr.  Hufeland, the author  of the "Art of Pro-
longing Life," has said, "In my opinion it is of the
utmost importance that this moment should be  confined
to a period  when  the sensation  of  collected  poAvers,
ardent passion, and a mind cheerful and free from care
invite to it  on  both sides."

         SIGNS OF FRUITFUL CONJUNCTION.
  There are some Avomen in whom the act of conception
is attended with certain sympathetic affections, such as
faintness, vertigo, &c, by  Avhich they know  that it has
taken place.
  Swelling of the neck was regarded in ancient times as a
sign of  conception.   Its truthfulness has been reaffirmed
by modern authorities.
   It has also been asserted that impregnation generally
ascites a universal  tremor in  all parts of  the body, and
that it is associated Avith more than an ordinary  degree
 •f pleasure.
   It must not be supposed, however, that enjoyment and 
THE LOVE OF A HUSBAND.          1Q5
impregnation bear necessarily to each other the relation
of cause and effect, although this is the popular opinion
From too  implicit a reliance upon this current belief,
wives are often incredulous as to their true condition.
  It is a fact that in some cases sickness at the stomach
manifests itself almost simultaneously with the act of
fecundation.   Authentic  instances are  on record  of
wives reckoning their confinement nine months from the
first feeling of nausea, without ever making a mistake.
  In conclusion, it may be said that peculiar sensations
are often experienced, frequently of a character difficult
to explain, and many modern authors attach to them a
marked value.  In this manner  it  is possible for  a
woman to be satisfied at the moment as to the change
Avhich has taken place; yet the  evidence  is often decep-
tive, and sometimes nothing peculiar is noticed.
  From the period of  conception the mother has  no
direct knowledge of the process that  is going on within,
excepting by the  effects of the increasing pressure upon
other parts, until  "quickening" takes place, which be-
longs to another part of our subject.

  HOW TO  RETAIN THE AFFECTIONS OF A HUSBAND.
  Ah! this is  a secret indeed!—worth the wand of the
magician, the lamp of Aladdin, or the wishing-cap  of
the fairy.   What could any of  these give in exchange
for the love of a husband?  Yet this pearl of great
price, how often is it treated as lightly and carelessly as
if it was any bauble of Brummagem!
  My  husband! we have heard young wives say, Avhy,
it is his duty to love me.  Why did he marry me if he
is not going to love me, love me fondly, love me ever?
  Yes, we all  knoAV
              Love the gift, is love the debt 
106
THE  WIFE.
  But in this world of our3 it is often hard  to get ono'i
OAvn, and Avhen got, our care must never cease lest it be
wrested from us.  The plant you bought  at  the  green-
house, and that  noAV  blossoms on your window-sill, bo-
came yours by purchase,  but it has required your daily
care to keep it alive and persuade it to unfold its blos-
soms.  Infinitely more delicate is this plant of love.  It
too, you purchased.  You gave in exchange for it youi
own heart.  It, too, you  must daily  tend with constant
solicitude, lest it wither and die.
  In this country some women think that any thing ia
good enough to wear at home.  They go about in slatternly
morning dresses, unkempt hair,  and slippers doAA'n at
heel.   "Nobody  will  see me," they say, "but my hus-
band."  Let  them learn  a lesson from the wives  of the
Orient.
  In those countries a married woman never goes abroad
except in long sombre robes and thick veil.  An Eng-
lish lady visiting the wife of one of rhe wealthy mer-
chants,  found her  always in full dress, with toilet as
carefully arranged  as if she were going to a ball.
  " Why!" exclaimed the visitor at length,  " is it pos-
sible that you take all this trouble to dress for nobody
but your husband ?"
  "Do, then," asked the lady, in reply, "the wives of
Englishmen dress for the sake of pleasing other men ?"
  The visitor Avas mute.
  Not that Ave Avould wish American  ladies to be forever
in full costume at home.   That would be alarming  But
she Avho neglects  neatness  in  attire, and,  above  all
cleanliness of person, runs a great danger of creatine a
sentiment of  disgust in those around her.   Nothing i»
more repugnant to the senses than  bad odors, and, foi
reasons which every Avoman kuoAvs, women who neglect 
HOW LOVE IS LOST.            307
 cleanliness are peculiarly liable to them.   When simple
 means do not remove them, recourse should be promptly
 had to a physician.
   So it is with bad breath.   This sometimes arises from
 neglect of the teeth, sometimes  from diseases of  the
 stomach,  lungs, etc.  A  man  of delicate olfactories is
 almost forced to hold at arm's length a wife with a fetid
 breath.
   There are some women—we have treated several—
 who are  plagued with a  most disagreeable perspiration,
 especially about the  feet, the arms, etc.   Such should
 not marry until this is cured.   It is a rule among army
 surgeons to  be chary  about giving men their discharge
 from military service  on surgeon's certificate.  But fetid
 feet are at times so horribly offensive, that they are con-
 sidered an alloAvable  cause for discharge.   No doubt in
 some of our  States they Avould be received as a valid
 ground for divorce!—certainly Avith quite as much rea-
 son as many  of the grounds usually alleged.
   In short, the judicious employment of all the harmless
 arts of the toilet,  and of those numerous and effective
 means which modern science offers,  to acquire, to pre-
 serve, and to embellish  beauty, is a duty which woman,
 whether married or single, should never neglect.   With
 very little trouble, the good looks and freshness of youth
can be guarded almost to old  age, and  even when hope-
lessly gone, simple and harmless  means are at hand to
repair the injuries  of years, or at least to conceal them.
But this is an art  which Avould require a whole volume
to treat of, and which  we cannot here touch upon.

                   INHERITANCE.
  We noAV come to the consideration of a very wonder-
ful subject, that of inheritance.   It is one of absorbing
                         10 
108                  THE  WIFE.

interest, both because of the curious facts it presents and
of the great practical bearing it has upon the welfare of
every individual.
  In order to the better understanding of this matter, it
is necessary at the outset to make a distinction between
four kinds or varieties of  inheritance.   The most gene-
rally recognized is direct  inheritance,  that in which the
children  partake of  the  qualities  of the  father and
mother.  But  a child  may not resemble either parent,
while it bears  a  striking likeness  to an uncle or aunt.
This constitutes indirect  inheritance.   Again,  a child
may be more like one of  its grand-parents than either
its father or mother.  Or, what is still more astonishing, it
may display some of the characteristics possessed only by
a remote ancestor.  This  form of inheritance is known
by the scientific term atavism, derived from  the Latin
word atavus, meaning  an ancestor.  It is curious to note
in this connection that sometimes a son resembles more
closely his maternal than his paternal grandsire in some
male attribute, as a peculiarity of beard, or certain dis-
eases  confined to the  male  sex.  Though  the mother
cannot possess or exhibit such  male  qualities, she has
transmitted them, through her blood, from her father to
ner son.
  The fourth variety of inheritance is  that in Avhich the
child resembles neither parent, but the first husband of
its  mother. A  woman contracting a second marriage
transmits  to the offspring of that marriage  the pecu-
liarities  she  has received  through  the first  union.
Breeders of stock knoAV this tendency,  and prevent their
brood-mares, coavs, or sheep, from running Avith males of
an inferior stock.  Thus the diseases of a  man may be
transmitted to children .which are not his own.  Even
though dead, he  continues to  exert an infh ence over the 
           EFFECTS OF INHERITANCE.        JQ9

future offspring of his Avife by means of the ineffaceable
impress he had  made in the conjugal  relation upon her
wnole system, as Ave  have previously mentioned.  The
mother finds in the children of her second marriage

           " * * * the touch of a vanished hand
           And the sound of a voice that is still."
  A child  may, therefore, suffer, through the operation
of this mysterious and inexorable laAv, for sins commit-
ted, not by its own father, but by the first husband of its
mother.  What  a serious  matter, then, is  that relation
between the  sexes called marriage!  How far-reaching
are its responsibilities!
  A distinction must  here be drawn between hereditary
transmission  and  the possession  of qualities at birth
wdiich have not been the  result of  any impression re-
ceived from the system of father or mother, but due to
mental influences or accidents  operating through the
mother.  A child  may be born  idiotic or deformed, not
because either parent or one  of its  ancestors was  thus
affected, but from the influence of some severe mental
shock received  by the  mother  during her pregnancy.
This  subject of maternal impressions will  come up for
separate consideration in the discussion of pregnancy.
Again, a child may  be  epileptic, although there is no
epilepsy in the family, simply because of the intoxica-
tion of the father  or  mother  at the time of the inter-
course resulting  in conception.  Such cases are not due
to hereditary transmission, for that cannot be hereditary
which has been possessed by neither the parents nor any
nther relatives.
  Iu  considering the effects of inheritance, we will iirs\,
pass in revieAV those  connected  with the physical  con-
stitution.  These are  exceedingly common  and univer 
HO                  THE  WIFE.

sally knoAvn.   Fortunately, not merely are evil qualifies
inherited, but also beauty, health, vigor, and longevity.

                      BEAUTY.
  Good  looks  are characteristic  of  certain families.
Alcibiades, the handsomest  among the Grecians of his
time,  descended from  ancestors remarkable  for  their
beauty.  So Avell and long has the desirable influence of
inheritance in  this respect been recognized, that  there
existed in Crete an ancient laAV Avhich ordained that each
year the  most beautiful among  the young  men and
women should be chosen and forced to marry in  order
to perpetuate  the  type of their beauty.   Irregularities
of feature are  transmitted from parent to child through
many generations.  The aquiline nose  has existed some
centuries, and  is yet hereditary in the  Bourbon  family.
The hereditary under  lip of the house of Hapsburg is
another example.  When the poet Savage speaks of
          " The tenth transmitter of a foolish face,"

he scarcely exaggerates what is often seen in families
where  some strongly-marked  feature  or  expression is
long predominant or reappears in successive generations.

                  NECK AND  LIMBS.
  The form and length of the neck and  limbs  are fre-
quently hereditary, as is  also  the  height of the  body.
The union of  two tall persons  engenders tall children.
The father of  Frederick the Great secured for  himself
a regiment of men of gigantic stature by permitting the
marriage  of his  guards only  with Avomen of  similar
bpight.   A tendency to obesity often appears in  genera-
tion after generation of a family.    Yet such cases <ue
within the reach of medical art. 
    PECULIAR INFLUENCE OF EACH PARENT.  HI

                     COMPLEXION.
   Even  the  complexion  is  not  exempt  from  this  in-
fluence.   Blondes ordinarily procreate   blondes, and
dark parents have dark-skinned children.   An union in
marriage of  fair  and dark  complexions  results  in  an
intermediate  shade in the offspring.  Not ahvays, how
ever, for it has been asserted  that the complexion chiefly
follows  that  of  the father.  The offspring of a  black
father and a  white mother is  much darker than the pro-
geny of a Avhite father and a  dark mother.  In explana-
tion of this fact,  it has been said  that the mother is not
impressed by her OAvn color, because she  does not look
upon herself, Avhile the father's complexion attracts her
attention, and thus gives a darker tinge to the offspring
Black hens frequently lay dark eggs; but the reverse is
more generally found to be the case.

PHYSICAL QUALITIES  TRANSMITTED BY EACH PARENT
   In general, it may be said that there exists a tendency
on the part of the father to  transmit  the external ap-
pearance, the configuration of the  head and limbs, the
peculiarities of the senses, and of the skin and the mus-
cular condition; Avhile the size  of the body, and the
general temperament  or  constitution  of the child,  is
derived from the mother.  Among animals,  the mule,
which is the produce of the male  ass and the mare, is
essentially a modified  ass,  having  the general configura-
tion of its sire but the rounded trunk and  larger size of
its dam.   On the  other hand, the  hinny, AA'hich  is the
offspring of the stallion and the she ass, is essentially a
modified horse, having the general configuration of the
horse, but being  a much  smaller animal  than its sire.
and  therefore approaching the dam in size as well as in
                         10* 
112
THE  WIFE.
the comparative narroAvness  of  its trunk.   The opera-
tion of this principle, though general, is not universal.
Exceptions may easily be cited.  In almost  every  largo
family it will be observed that the  likeness to the father.
predominates in some children, Avhile others most resem
ble the  mother.  It  is rare to  meet  Avith  instances in
which some distinctive traits of both  parents may not
be traced in the offspring.

                       HAIR.
  Peculiarities in the color and structure of the hair are
transmitted.   Darwin  mentions an English family in
which, for many generations, some of the members had a
single lock differently colored from the rest of the hair.

                   TEMPERAMENT.
  The law of inheritance  rules in  regard to the produc-
tion of the temperament.  The crossing of one tempera-
ment with another in marriage  produces a modification
in the offspring generally advantageous.

                     FERTILITY.
  A peculiar aptitude  for procreation is sometimes  he-
reditary.   The children  of  prolific  parents are them-
selves prolific.   It  is related  that  a French  peasant
woman  AA-as  confined ten times in fifteen years.   Her
pregnancies,  always  multiple,  produced  twenty-eight
children.   At  her  last  confinement  she  had  threo
daughters, who all  lived,  married,  and gave birth to
children; the first to tAventy-six,  the second  to thirty-one,
and the  third to twenty-seven.   On the  contrary,  some-
times a  tendency to sterility  is found  fixed upon certain
'arailics, from which they can only escape  by the u"Mi
issiduous care. 
          INHERITANCE OF LONG vlFE.      H3

                     LONGEVITY.
  In tho vegetable kingdom, the oak  inherits the powei
to live many years, while the  peach-tree must  die  in a
6hort time.  In the animal kingdom,  the robin becomes
gray and  toothless at ten years  of age;  the  rook caA\-s
lustily until a hundred.  The  ass  is much longer-lived
than  the horse.   The  mule  illustrates  in  a  striking
manner the hereditary tendency of longevity.  It has
the size  of the horse,  the long  life  of the ass.   The
Aveaker the ass, the larger, the  stronger, and the shorter-
lived and more horse-like, the mule.  It is also a curious
and  instructive  fact, that this animal is the toughest
after it has passed the age of  the horse; the inherited
influence of the horse having been expended, the vitality
and hardiness of the  ass remains.
  It is universally conceded that longeA'ity is the privi-
leged possession of some lineages. That famous instance
of old age, Thomas Parr, the best authenticated on record,
may be mentioned in illustration.   It is vouched for by
Harvey, the distinguished discoverer  of the  circulation
of the blood.   Parr died in  the reign of Charles the
First, at  the age of 152, after  having lived under nine
sovereigns of England.   He left a daughter aged  127.
His  father had attained to a  great age, and his great-
grandson died at Cork at the age of 103.

                    DEFORMITIES.
  Deformities are undoubtedly sometimes  transmitted
to the progeny.  It is by no means rare to find that the
immediate ancestors of those  afflicted with superfluous
fingers and toes, club feet, or hare lips, Avere also the
Bubjeets of tlvse malformations.  There  are  one or two
families  in Ge.tnany whose members pride  themselves 
114                 THE  WIFE.
upon the possession of an  extra  thumb;  and  there  is
an Arab chieftain whose ancestors have from  time im-
memorial been distinguished by a double  thumb upon
the right hand.   Danvin gives many similar instances.
A case of curious displacement of the  knee-pans is re-
corded, in Avhich the  father, sister, son, and the son of '
the half brother  by the same father, had  all the same
malformation.

              PERSONAL PECULIARITIES.
  Gait, gestures, voice, general bearing,  are all inherited.
Peculiar manners,  passing  into tricks,  are  often trans-
mitted, as in  the case, often quoted, of the father Avho
generally slept on  his back with  his  right leg crossed
over the left, and Avhose daughter, Avhilst  an infant in
the cradle, folloAved exactly the same habit, though an
attempt was made to  cure  her.  Left-handedness is not
unfrequently hereditary.  It would be  very easy to go
on multiplying instances, but Ave forbear.

        HOW TO  HAVE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN.
  A practical  question now naturally  suggests  itself.
Hoav can the  vices of conformation  be  avoided and
beauty secured?  The art of having handsome children.
knoAvn under the name of callipcedia, has received much
attention, more, perhaps, in years  gone  by than of late.
The noted Abbot Quillet wrote a book  in Latin on the
subject.  Many other works, in which astrology plays  a
prominent part, were Avritten on this art in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.
  We have already stated that well-formed  parents will
transmit these qualities to  their children, with scarcely
an  exception.  Like  begets  like.  Unfortunately  all
parents arc not beautiful.   Yet all desire  beautiful off- 
         UOV TO BEAUTIFY OFFSPRING.      H5

spring.   The body of the child can be influenced by the
mind of the parent, particularly of the mother.   A mind
habitually  filled  with pleasant fancies  and chaiming
images is not Avithout its effect upon the offspring.
  The statues of  Apollo,  Castor  and Pollux,  Venus,
Hebe,  and the other gods and goddesses which were
eo numerous in the gardens and public places in  Greece,
reproduced themselves in the sons  and  daughters of the
passers-by.  We knoAV also that marriages contracted at
an age too  early or too late are apt to give imperfectly
developed children.  The crossing of temperaments and
of nationalities beautifies  the  offspring.   The  custom
which  has prevailed  in   many  countries  among the
nobility of purchasing the  handsomest girls they could
find for their Avives, has laid the foundation of a higher
type of features among the ruling classes.  To obtain
this desired end, conception should take place only Avhen
both parents are in the best physical  condition, at the
proper season of  the year, and  Avith mutual  passion.
(We have  already hinted  Iioav this  can be regulated  )
During pregnancy the mother should  often have some
painting or engraving representing cheerful and beauti-
ful  figures before  her eyes, or often contemplate  some
graceful statue.  She should avoid looking at or think-
ing of ugly people, or those marked Avith  disfiguring dis-
eases.  She should take every precaution to escape injury,
fright, and disease of any kind, especially chicken-pox,
erysipelas, or such disorders as leave marks on the person.
She should keep herself well-nourished, as want  of food
nearly always injures  the child.  She should avoid un-
graceful  positions  and aAvkAvard attitudes, as by  some
mysterious sympathy these are impressed on the  child
she carries.  Let her cultivate grace and beauty in her-
self at such a time, and  she will endow  her child with 
H(J                  THE WIFE.

them.  As anger and irritability leave imprints on the
features, she should maintain serenity and calmness.

       INHERITANCE OF TALENT AND CENILS.
  The effects of inheritance are perhaps more marked
upon the mind than upon the body.  This need not sur-
prise us.   If the peculiar form of the brain can be trans-
mitted, the mental attributes, the result of its organiza-
tion, must necessarily also be transmitted.
  It is a matter of daily observation that parents gifted
with bright minds, cultivated  by education, generally
engender  intelligent children; while  the  offspring of
those  steeped in ignorance are stupid  from birth.   It
may  be  objected  that  men the  most remarkable  in
ancient or modern times, as Socrates,  Plato, Aristotle,
Shakspeare, Milton, Buffon, Cuvier, etc., have not trans-
mitted their vast intellectual powers to their progeny.   In
explanation, it  has been stated that Avhat  is knoAvn as
genius is not transmissible.  The creation of a  man  of
genius seems to require a special  effort of nature, after
which, as  if fatigued, she reposes a  long time before
again making  a similar  effort.  But  it  may  well  be
doubted whether even those complex  mental attributes
on which genius and talent depend are not inheritable,
particularly when  both  parents are thus endowed.  That
distinguished  men do  not more frequently have  dis-
tinguished sons may readily be accounted for when it is
recollected that the  inherited character is due to the
combined  infuence  of both  parents.   The  desirable
qualities of the father  may  therefore be neutralized in
the offspring by the opposite or defective qualities of thn
mother.   That contrasts in the disposition of parents are
 rather the rule than  the  exception  we  have already
 nhoAvn.  Every one tends to unite himself in friendship 
             TS GENIUS HEREDITARY?         \Y't

or love with  a different character from his own  seeking
thereby to supplement the qualities in which he feels his
own nature to be deficient.  The mother, therefore, may
weaken and perhaps obliterate the qualities transmitted
by  the father.  Again, the influence of some remote
ancestors may make itself felt upon the offspring, through
the operation of the law of atavism, before alluded to, and
thus prevent the children from equalling their parents in
their natural endoAvments.  Notwithstanding the work-
ings of these opposing forces, and  others which might
be mentioned, we find abundant illustration  of the here-
ditary  nature of talent and character.
  Of six  hundred and five  names occurring hi a  Bio-
graphical Dictionary  devoted to men distinguished  as
great founders  and originators, between  the yeais 1453
and 1853, there were no less than one hundred and tAvo
relationships, or one  in six.  Walford's  "Men  of the
Time"  contains an account of the distinguished men in
England, the Continent, and America then living.  Under
the letter A there are eighty-five names, and no less than
tAventy-five of these, or  one in  three and a half, have
relatives  also in the list; tAvelve of them  are  brothers
and eleven fathers and sons.  In  Bryan's " Dictionary
of Painters," the letter A contains three hundred and
ninety-one names  of men, of Avhom sixty-five are  near
relatives, or one in six; thirty-three of them are fathers
and 5-oiis, and thirty are brothers.   In Fetis' " Biographic
Universelle des Musiciens," the letter A contains five hun-
dred and fifteen names, of Avhich fifty are near relatives,
or one  in ten.  Confining ourselves to literature alono,
it has been found that it is one to six and a half that a
very distinguished literary man has a very distinguished
literary relative.   And it is  one to twenty-eight that the
relation is father  and  son  or brother and hi other r» 
] [8                  THE WIFE.

spectively.   Out of the thirty-nine Chancellors of Eng-
land, sixteen had kinsmen of eminence; thirteen of them
had kinsmen of great eminence.   These thirteen out of
thirty-nine,  or one in three, are certainly  remarkable
instances of the  influence of inheritance.   A  similar
examination has been instituted in regard to the judges
of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and other States,
with like results.  The Greek  poet  iEschylus counted
eight poets and  four musicians  among his ancestors.
The greater part of the celebrated sculptors of  ancient
Greece descended from a family of sculptors.  The same
is  true  of the great painters.   The sister  of  Mozart
shared the  musical talent  of her brother.  As there are
reasons, to be detailed hereafter, for  believing that the
influence of the mother is  even greater than that of the
father, hoAv  vastly would  the offspring be  improA'ed if
distinguished men  united  themselves in marriage to dis-
tinguished Avomen  for generation after generation!

   INFLUENCE OF FATHERS  OVER DAUGHTERS; OF
                MOTHERS OVER  SONS.
  We have  already called attention  to the parts of the
physical organization transmitted by the father  and by
the mother.  It would seem, moreover, that each parent
exercises a special  influence over the  child  according to
its sex.  The father transmits  to  the daughters the
form of the head, the frameAvork of the chest and of the
superior extremities, Avhile the conformation of the  loAver
portion  of the  body and the inferior extremities is trans-
mitted by the  mother.  With the sons  this is reversed.
They derive from the mother the shape of the head and
of the superior extremities, and resemble the father in
the trunk and inferior extremities.   From this it there-
fore  results that boys procreated by intelligent Avomen 
        WHAT FEATHERS GIVE CHILDREN.     Ijg

will be  intelligent, and that girls procreated  by father?
;>f talent  will  inherit  their  mental  capacity.  The
mothers of a nation, though unseen and unacknoAvledged
in the halls of legislation, determine  in this subtle man-
ner the  character of the laws.
  History informs us that the greater part of the women
who have been celebrated for their intelligence reflected
the genius  of their fathers.  Arete, the most  celebrated
woman  of  her  time, on  account of  the extent of her
knoAvledge, was the daughter of the distinguished philo-
sopher Aristippus, disciple of Socrates.  Cornelia, the
mother of the Gracchii, was a daughter of Scipio.  The
daughter of the Roman emperor  Caligula was  as cruel
is her father.   Marcus  Aurelius inherited  the virtues
)f his mother, and Commodus  the vices of his.  Charle-
nagne shut his eyes  upon the faults of his daughters,
oecause they recalled his own.   Gengis-Khan,  the re-
lOAvned Asiatic conqueror, had for his mother a warlike
Aoman.  Tamerlane,  the greatest Avarrior of the four-
teenth century, was descended  from Gengis-Khan by the
female  side.  Catherine  de  Medicis  Avas as crafty and
leceitful as her father, and more superstitious and cruel.
She hadtAVO sons worthy of herself, Charles IX, Avho shot
the Protestants, and Henry III,  who assassinated the
Guises.   Her daughter, Margaret of  Valois, recalled her
lather by her gentle manners.   Henry VIII, Avho put two
of his Avi/es to death on  the scaffold, had two sons dis-
tinguished for the meekness of their characters,  and tvo
daughters as cruel as himself.  Arete, Hypatia, Madame
de Staid, and George  Sand, all four had philosophers
for their fathers.  The mother of Bernardo Tasso had
the gift of poetry.  Buffon often speaks  of the rich
imagination of his mother   The poets  Burns, " Rare
beu Jonsop," Goethe, Walter  Scott.  Byrou aud Lam*r 
12>)                  THE  WIFE.

line,—all were  born of women  remarkable  for  theii
vivacity, and brilliancy of language.  Byron, in his jour-
nal, attributes his hypochondria to an hereditary taint,
derived from his  mother, who Avas its victim in its most,
furious form; and her father "was strongly suspected of
Btiicide."  He was  said to  have resembled   more  hia
maternal grandfather than any of  his father's  family.
The daughter of Moliere Avas like her father  in her wit
and humor.   Beethoven had for a maternal grandmother
an  excellent musician.  The mother of Mozart  gave
the first lessons to her son.   A crowd of composers have
descended from John Sebastian  Bach, Avho long stood
unrivalled as a performer on the organ, and  composer
for that instrument.  It may be remarked here that it
is almost invariably true that the ability or inability to
acquire a knowledge of music is derived from  the an-
cestry.  Parents who cannot turn a tune or tell one note
from  another bring forth children equally  unmoved
" Avith concord of sweet sounds."   Examples could easily
be adduced at still greater length illustrating  the direct
influence of the  father  over the daughter, and of the
mother over the son.  Those given will suffice.

INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION OVER INHERITED QUALITIES.
  In  correcting the evil effects  of inheritance on the
mind, education plays a very important part.   A child
horn Avith a  tendency to some vice or intellectual trait
may have this  tendency entirely overcome, or at least
modified, by training.  So,  also, virtues implanted by
nature may  be  lost during the plastic days of youth, in
■»nsequence of bad associations and habits.
   Ivlucation can therefore do much  to  alter  inherited
mental and  moral qualities.   Can it  be invoked to pre-
vent the  transmission of undesirable  traits, and secure 
           TRAITS WHICH WE INHERIT,       121

 tne good?  Everything that  we have at  birth  is an
 heritage from our  ancestors.   Can virtuous habits be
 transmitted?   Can Ave  secure virtues in our children by
 possessing them ourselves?  Science sadly says, through
 her latest votaries, that we are scarcely more than passive
 transmitters of a  nature  Ave have received, and  which
 we have no poAver to modify.   It is only after exposure
 during several generations to  changed  conditions or
 habits  that any  modification in the  offspring  ensues.
 The son of an old  soldier learns his drill no more quickly
 than the son of an artisan.  We must therefore  come
 to the conclusion  that, to a  great extent,  our  own
embryos have  sprung  immediately from  the embryos
whence  our parents were developed, and these from the
embryos of their  parents, and  so on forever.  Hence,
we are still barbarians in our nature.   We shoAv it in a
thousand Avays.  Children,Avho  love to  dig and play in
the dirt, have  inherited that instinct from untold gene-
rations  of ancestors.  Our remote forefathers Avere bar-
barians, Avho dug Avith their nails  to get at the roots on
which  they lived.    The delicately-reared  child reverts
to primeval  habits.  In  like manner, the  silk-haired,
parlor-nurtured spaniel springs  from the caressing arms
of its mistress to revel in the filth of the roadside.   It ia
the breaking out of inherited instinct.

             TRANSMISSION  OF DISEASE.
   Perhaps the most important part of the subject of in-
heritance is that  Avhich remains for us to  consider, in
i elation to  the  transmission of, or the predisposition to,
disease.
   Consumption, that dread foe of American life, is the
most frequently encountered of all affections as the result
of inherited  predisposition.  Indeed some of the  most 
122
THE  WIFE.
eminent physicians have believed it is never produced
in any other Avay.   Heart disease, disease of the throat,
excessive  obesity,  affections  of  the  skin,  asthma, dis-
orders of  the brain and  nervous system, gout, rheuma-
tism, and cancer, are all hereditary.  A tendency to bleed
frequently, profusely  and uncontrollably from trifling
wounds is often met with as a family affection.
  The inheritance of diseased  conditions  is also  in-
fluenced by the sex.  A parent may transmit disease  ex
clusively to children of the  same sex, or exclusively to
those of the opposite sex.  Thus, a horn-like  projection
on the skin peculiar to the  Lambert family Avas trans-
mitted from the father to his sons  and grandsons alone
So mothers have through several generations transmitted
to their daughters alone supernumerary fingers, color
blindness, and  other deformities  and  diseases.  As  a
general rule, any disease acquired during the life of either
parent strongly tends to be inherited by the offspring of
the same sex rather than  the opposite.   We have spoken
of the apparently reverse tendency in regard to the trans-
mission of genius and talent.

          ARE MUTILATIONS  INHERITABLE?
  Hoav, it may be inquired, is  it in regard to  the in-
heritance  of parts mutilated and altered by injuries and
disease during the  life of either  parent.  In some cases
mutilations have been practiced for  many generations
without any  inherited result.  Different races of men
have knocked out their upper teeth, cut off the joints of
their  fingers, made immense holes  through  their  ears
and nostrils,  and  deep gashes in various parts of their
bodies, and yet there ti no  reason for  supposing that
these  mutilations  have  been inherited.  The Compra-
chicos, a hideous and strange association of men  and 
     THE TRANSMISSION  OF DEFORMITIES.   123

women, existed in the seventeenth century, whose busi-
ness it was to buy children, and make of them monsters.
Victor Hugo, in his last Avork, has graphically tolel how
they took a face and made of it a snout, how they bent
down groAvth, kneaded the physiognomy, distorted the
eyes,  and in other ways disfigured  " the human  form
divine," in order to make  fantastic  playthings  for the
amusement of  the  noble-born.  But history does not
state that these deformities  were inherited; certainly no
race of monsters has resulted.  The pits from small-pox
are not inherited, though many successive generations
must have been thus  pitted by that disease  before the
beneficent discovery of the  immortal  Jenner.   Children
born with tho scars left by  pustules have had small-pox
in the Avomb, acquired through the system of the mother.
On the other hand, the loAver animals, cats, dogs, and
horses, which have had their  tails  and  legs  artificially
altered or injured, have produced  offspring Avith the
same  condition of parts.   A  man who had his  little
finger on  the  right hand almost cut off, and Avhich in
consequence grew crooked, had sons with the same finger
on  the same  hand  similarly  crooked.  The eminent
physiologist Dr.  Brown-Sequard  mentions that  many
young guinea-pigs inherited an epileptic tendency from
parents which had been subjected to  an  operation at his
hunch resulting in the  artificial production of fits; Avhile
a large number of guinea-pigs bred from animals Avhich
had  not been  operated  on  Avere not  thus  affected.  At
any  rate, it cannot but be admitted that injuries and
mutilations  Avhich cause disease are  occasionally in-
herited.   But many  cases of deformities existing  at
birth, as hare-lip, are  not due to inheritance, although
present in the father.  They arise from a change effected
in the  child while in the womb through an impression
                        11* 
124
THE  WIFE.
made  upon the mind of the mother, as will be shown
hereafter.

     LATE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OP
                    INHERITANCE.
  Not only are diseases inherited which make their ajv
pearance at birth, but those AA'hich defer their exhibition
until a certain period of life corresponding  Avith that at
Avhich  they shoAved themselves  in the parents.  Thut in
the Lambert family, before referred to, the porcupine
excrescence on the skin began to groAV in the father and
sons at the same age,  namely, about nine weeks aftei
birth.   In an  extraordinarily hairy family, Avhich  has
been described, children  were  produced during  three
generations Avith hairy  ears;  in  the  father  the  hair
began  to groAV  over his body at six years old,  in  his
daughter somewhat earlier, namely, at one ye^.r; and in
both generations the milk  teeth appeared  late in life,
the permanent  teeth being  deficient.   Grayness of hair
at an unusually early age has been transmitted in some
families.  So, also, has the premature appearance of
baldness.

   HOW TO AVOID  THE TENDENCY OF INHERITANCE
  These facts suggest the pracv-al consideration that in
those  diseases the predisposition to  which  alone is in-
herited, and  which  break out only after a lapse of time.
it is often altogether possible to prevent the predisposi-
tion  being developed into  positive disease. Thu-<. for
instance, the  inherited tendency to consumption remain
asleep  in the system until about the age of puberty oi
later.   Therefore, by the use of a diet in which animal
food forms a  large  portion, properly regulated,  and
systematic  exercise in the open air, the practice of the 
         HOW TO ESCAPE CONSUMPTION.      125

 ong inhalations before recommended, warm, comfortable
clothing, together Avith a residence, if practicable, during
the changeable and inclement seasons of the year, in an
equable  climate,  Ave  can  often  entirely arrest  the  de
velopment of the disease.  Prevention  here is  not only
better  than cure, but often all  that is possible.  Those
in Avhom the disease has become active  must too  often,
like those who entered  Dante's infernal  regions, "aban-
don hope."  Let  our  words of caution  therefore be
heeded.
  When there is  reason  to  believe that an individual
possesses an inherent tendency to any disease, it is  the
duty of the medical adviser to study the constitution of
the patient thoroughly, and  after such study to recom-
mend those measures of prevention best suited to avert
the threatened disorder.  Above all, let the physician
look closely to the  child at the  period of life when any
grave  constitutional  inheritable disease attacked  the
parent.  This supervision  should be carried into adult
years, for'there are instances on record of inherited  dis-
eases coming  on  at an advanced age, as in that of a
grandfather, father, and son  Avho all became insane and
committed suicide  near their fiftieth year.   Gout, apo
plexy, insanity, chronic disease of the  heart,  epilepsy,
consumption, asthma, and other  diseases, are all more or
less under the control  of preventive  measures.   Some
hereditary diseases, such  as  idiocy and cancer, we  are
impotent to prevent  in the  present state of our know
ledge.
   A singular fact  in connection with the  transmission
of disease is the readiness Avith Avhich a Avhole generation
is passed OA'cr, the  affection  appearing in the next.  A
father or mother Avith consumption may,  in  some in-
stances,  have healthy children,  but the grandchildren 
12b                 THE WIFE.

will die of the disease.   Nature kindly favors one gene-
ration, but only at the expense of the next.
  Some diseases  require, in  addition  to  the  general
means of prevention to  be found in a strict observance
of the laws of health, some special measures in  order to
effectually ward off their appearance.   But the extent
of this work will not admit of their discussion.  Already,
indeed, have avc unduly, perhaps, extended our  remarks
upon  inheritance'.  The  interest and importance of the
facts must be our justification.

          WHY ARE AVOMEN  REDUNDANT?
  It cannot be Avithout  interest to look into the relative
proportion of men and Avomen hoav living.  It will inte-
rest us still more to imp!ire into the reason Avhy one sex
preponderates over the  other  in  numbers.  This done,
we will answer the question, I3 the production of sex
at all under the influence of the human will ?
  The female sex is the  more numerous in all  parts of
the world Avhere we have reliable statistics.  Iri  Austria,
England, and Wales there arc nearly one hundred  and
five women  for every  one hundred men.  In  Sweden
they are as one hundred and nine to one hundred.   In
all cities the disproportion is greater than in the country.
In London there  are one hundred and thirteen Avon 1 en
to every one hundred men, and in the  large towns of
Sweden they stand as one hundred and sixteen to one
hundred.
  This is not true, however, of neAvly-populated regions.
The relative difference is reversed in recent and thinly-
settled localities.   In our Avestern States, for  instance,
the number of the men exceeds that of the Avomen.   In
California they are as three to one; in Nevada, as eight
to one:  in Colorado, tAventy to one.  In the State of  I Hi- 
         WHY WOMEN OUTNUMBER MEN.     \2ri

nois there were, according to the last United States census,
ninety-three thousand more men than women.   In Massa-
chusetts, on  the  contrary, there are between fifty and
siyty thousand more Avomen than men.
  The disproportion of men to Avomen in neAV countries
is due to the disinclination of women to emigrate.  They
are also unfitted for the hardships of pioneer life.
  Hoav is this general preponderance in the number of
women produced ?   Is  it because there are more girls
born than boys?  Not at all.   The statistics  of over
fifty-eight millions of persons shoAV that there  are one
hundred and six living  boys born to every one hundred
girls.  In the State  of  Rhode Island, for instance, the
proportion for three  years, from 1853 to 1855, Avas one
thousand and sixty-four boys born to one thousand girls.
But noAV Ave meet Avith the Avonderful  arrangement of
nature that a larger proportional number of male infants
die during the first year of their lives than of females.
In the second year, the  mortality, though less  excessive,
still remains far greater  on  the male  side.  It subse-
quently decreases, and at the age of four or five years is
nearly equal for both sexes.   In after life, from the age
of fifteen to forty, the mortality is something greater
among Avomen, but not  sufficiently so to make the num-
ber of the two sexes equal.   The  greater  tendency of
male offspring to die early is seen even before  birth, for
more male children  are still-born than female, nam dy,
as three to tAATo.  For this  reason, the term " the stronger
sex," applied to men, has been regarded by some authors
as a misnomer.  They  are physically Aveaker in  early
life, and succumb more  readily to noxious influences.
  Having thus pointed out that there are more Avomen
actually living in the Avorld than men, although a larger
number of boys are born than girls, Ave Avill consider fivj 
128                 THE WIFE.

a moment some of the laAvs of nature which detcrmim
the number of the sexes.   Without giving the figures,—
which Avould  make dry reading,—Ave Avill state in briel
the conclusions derived from many observations, extend
ing over many years and many nationalities.   The rela
live age of the parents has an especial  influence upon
the sex of the children.   Seniority on the  father's side
gi\-es excess of male  offspring.  Equality in the parents'
age gives a slight preponderance of  female  offspring,
Seniority on the mother's side gives excess of female off-
spring.  This tallies Avith the fact that in  all  civilized
countries,  as  has been stated,  the proportion  of male
births is greater than that of females; for, in accordance
with  the customs of society, the  husband is  generally
older than the wife.  A curious instance in confirmation
of this law has recently come under our oAvn observation.
A patient, married for the second time, is ten years older
than her husband.  She has  two children  by him, both
girls.   Singular to  relate, her former husband Avas  ten
years older than herself, and by him she had four chil-
dren, of Avhom  three Avere boys and  the fourth, a girl,
had a twin brother.
  Still the relative age is  not the sole  cause Avhich fixes
the sex of the  child.  Its operation is sometimes over-
ruled by conflicting agencies.  In some districts of Nor-
way, for example, there has  been  a constant deficiency
in boys, while in others the reverse  has been the case.
The  circumstance is well  knoAvn that  after great Avars,
and sometimes epidemics, in  which a disproportionate
number of men  have died,  more boys  are  born than
usual.   Men avIio pass a sedentary  life, and especially
scholars Avho exhaust their nervous  force to a great extent,
neget more  girls than boys.  So  also a very advanced
age on the man's side diminishes  the number of male* 
            TO  HAVE BOYS OR  GIRLS         129

among the offspring.   The quantity and the quality of
the food ;  the elevation of the  abode ; the conditions ot
temperature; the parents' mode of life, rank, religi us
belief,  frequency of sexual intercourse, have all b-.tn
shown  to be causes contributing to the disproportion of
the sexes, besides the relative ages of the parents.
  Some Avriters  have stated that a  southerly or warm
ind humid constitution of the year is most favorable to
the birth of female infants;  while in cold and dry years
most males are produced.  This statement has not been
supported by reliable statistics in regard to the human
race, but among domestic animals the agriculturists of
France have long observed that the season  has  much to
do Avith the sex.  When  the  weather is dry and cold
and the wind northerly, mares, eAves, and heifers produce
more males than Avhen the opposite meteorological  con-
dition  prevails.
   The saying among nurses that " This is the  year for
sons or daughters," is based upon the  erroneous  suppo-
sition that mothers bring forth more male infants in one
year than in another.
   That,  however, Avhich  concerns  us  the  most  in this
connection is the question,

       CAN THE SEXES BE PRODUCED AT  WIl ..?
   This question  Avas asked many centuries ago.   It was
a hard one, and remained Avithout a satisfactory  answer
until quite  recently.   Science  has  at  last  replied  to it
with authority.   M. Thury, Professor  in the Academy
of Geneva, has  shoAvn hoAv males and females  may be
produced in accordance Avith our Avishes.
   Some  families are most anxious for  male offspring
others ardently  desire daughters.   And Avould it nol
often be  a matter of national concern to control the per 
130
THE  WIFE.
cent age of sexes in the population ?  Is it not a " consuni
mation most devoutly to be wished" to bring about that
Utopian condition Avhen there Avould be no sighing maids
at home nor Avant of warriors in the field ?  The dis-
cussion of this subject is therefore important and allow-
able.
  It has been observed that queen bees lay female eggs
first and male eggs afterwards.  So Avith hens: the first
laid eggs  give female,  the last, male products.   Marcs
sIioavu the stallion late in  their periods, drop horse-colts
rather than fillies.
  Professor Thury, from the  consideration of these and
other like facts, formed this laAv for stock-raisers.   " If
you Avish to produce females,  give the male at the first
signs of heat;  if you Avish males, give him at the end of
the heat."  But it is  easy .to form a theory.  Hoav Avas
this la^w  sustained  in practice?  We have noAV in our
possession the certificate of a Swiss stock-groAver, son of
the President of the SAviss Agricultural Society, Canton
de Vaud, under date of February, 18G7, Avhich says:
  " In the first place, on twenty-tAvo successive occasions
I desired  to have  heifers.  My  cows Avere of Schurtz
breed, and my bull a pure  Durham.  I succeeded in
these  cases.   Having bought a  pure Durham  coav, it
was very important for me to have a neAV  bull, to super-
sede the  one I had bought  at great expense, without
leaving to chance the production of a male.   So I fol-
loAved accordingly the prescription of Professor Thury,
and the success has proved once more the truth of the
law.  I have obtained from my Durham  bull six more
bulls (Schurtz-Durham cross) for field work; and having
chosen cows of the same  color  and  height, I obtained
perfect matches of  oxen.   My herd  amounted to forty
cows of every age. 
TO  HAVE BOYS OR GIRLS.         13]
  " In she', I have made in all twenty-nine experiments
nfter  the new method, and in every one I succeeded in
the production of Avhat I Avas looking for—male and
female.   I had not one single failure.  All the experi-
ments have been made by myself, Avithout any  other
person's intervention;  consequently, I do declare that I
consider  as real  and certainly perfect  the method  of
Professor Thury."
  A perfectly trustAVorthy observer communicates to the
Medical  and Surgical Reporter of this  city  for May
2d, 1868, the results of similar experiments on animals
with like conclusions.
  The plan of M. Thury  has also  been tried on the
farms of the Emperor of the French, with, it is asserted,
the most  unvarying success.
  What is the result of the application of this law to the
human race?  Dr. F. J. W. Packman,  of Wimborne,
England, has stated in the London Lancet that " in the
human female, conception in the first half of the time
between  menstrual periods produces female offspring,
and male in the latter.  When a female has  gone  be-
yond the time she calculated upon, it will generally
turn out to be a boy."
  In  the Philadelphia Medical and Surgical  Reporter
for February 8th, 1868, a  respectable physician writes
that in numerous instances that  have come under  his
observation, Professor Thury's theory has proved correct
" Whenever intercourse has taken place in from tAvo to
six days  after the cessation of the menses, girls have
been  produced;  and whenever  intercourse has taken
place in from nine to twelve days after the cessation of
the menses, boys have been produced.  In every case I
have ascertained not only the date at which the mother
placed conception, but also the time when the mensea 
132                  THE  WIFE.

ceased,  the  (late of  the first  and . subsequent inter-
course for a month or more after the  cessation of the
menses," etc.
  Again, a  physician  Avrites  to  the same  journal  for
June  20th,  1868, recording the  result  of his  OAvn ex-
perience.
  A farmer  in Louisiana states, in the "Turf, Field, and
Farm," in  support  of this  laAV,  that "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 Avas
right."
  The Avife,  therefore, who Avould Avish. as Macbeth de-
sired of his, to
             "Bring forth men-children only,"

should avoid exposing herself to conception during the
first half of  the time between her  menstrual periods.
  The prediction of the sex of the child  before birth can
now be Avith some accuracy  made by the intelligent and
skilful physician.  The method of doing so will be men-
tioned in treating of pregnancy.

                   TWIN-BEARING.
  As  a rule, a woman  has one child at  a time.   TAvins,
when  they occur, are looked upon Avith disfavor by most
people.  There  is a popular notion that they  are apt to
be Avanting  in physical and  mental vigor.  This opinion
is not without foundation.  A  careful scientific exami-
nation of the subject has shoAvn  that of imbeciles and
idiots a much larger proportion is actually found amon"
the twins born than  in the general community.  In
families  Avhere twdnning is  frequent, bodily deformities 
THE RULE OF TWINS.
133
HkeAvise occur with frequency.  Among the relatives of
imbeciles  and idiots twin-bearing  is common.  In fact,
the whole history of tvrin-births  is of an  exceptional
character, indicating imperfect development and  feeble
organization  in  the  product, and  leading  us  to regard
twins in  the human species as a departure  from the
physiological rule, and therefore  injurious to all con-
cerned.   Monsters born without brains have rarely oc-
curred except among tAvins.
  The birth of tAvins occurs once  in about eighty deli-
veries.  A Avoman is more apt to have no children than to
have more than one at a time.  In view of the  increased
danger to both mother and child, this rarity of a plural
birth  is  fortunate.

              WHY ARE TWINS BORN ?
  What are the causes or favoring circumstances bring-
ing  about this   abnormal  child-bearing?  For  it is
brought about by the operation of laAvs.   It  is not an
accident.   There are no  accidents in nature.  By some
it is supposed to  be due to the mother, by  some to the
father.  There  are  facts  in  favor  of both  opinions.
Certain  Avomen married successively to several men have
always had twins, Avhile their husbands Avith other Avives
have determined  single  births.  Certain men  have pre-
sented the  same  phenomenon.   We can scarcely cite an
example more astonishing than that of a countryman
Avho Avas presented to the Empress of Russia, in 1755.
He had had tAvo Avi\Tes.  The first had fifty-seven children
in  twenty-one confinements.   The second, thirty-three
in  thirteen.   All the confinements had been quadruple.
triple or  double.   A  case  has come under our oavii
observation in Avhich the bearing of twins has seemed to
be due to  a  constitutional cause.   The wife  ha^ ^mi 
134
THE  WIFE.
children.   The first was  a single birth, a  girl.  The
others Avere all tAvin births, and boys.
  It has been asserted that compound  p.cgnancies are
more frequent in certain years than in others.   But that
which seems to exert the greatest  actual influence over
the production of twins is the age  of the mother.  Very
extensive  statistics  have  demonstrated  that  from  the
earliest child-bearing period  until the  age of  forty is
reached, the fertility of mothers in twins gradually in-
creases.  Between the ages of twenty and thirty, feAvest
wives have twins.   The average age of the tAvin-bearer
is older than  the  general run of  bearers.   It is well
knoAvn that by far the greater number of* twins are born
of elderly Avomen.   While three-fifths of all births occur
Among Avomen under thirty years of age, three-fifths of all
the tAvins  are born to  those over thirty years  of age.
NeAvly-married Avomen are more likely to have tAvins at
the first labor the  older they are.  The chance that a
young Avife from fifteen to nineteen shall bear tAvins is
enly as one to one hundred and eighty-nine; from thirty-
five to thirty-nine the chance is as one to forty-five; that
is, the Avives  married youngest have feAvest  twins, and
there is an increase as  age  advances, until forty is
reached.
  Race seems  to have some influence over plural births.
They occur relatively oftener  among the Irish than the
English.

 INFLUENCE OF TWIN-BEARING ON SIZE OF FAMILIES.
  Do AATomen bearing tAvins have in the end larger fami-
lies than those never having but one at a time ?  Popular
belief  Avould  ansAver this question in  the affirmative.
Such a  reply would  also seem to  receive support from
the fact, well  established, that twins are more frcque* • 
CASES  OF  TRIPLETS.
135
additions  to an already considerable familj than they
are either the first of a family or additional to a small
family.   But statistics have not  answered this question
as yet positively.  They seem, however, in favor of  the
supposition that tAvin-bearing  Avomen have larger fami-
lies than their neighbors.
  Women are more apt to have twins in their first preg
nancy than any other, but after  the second confinement
the  bearing of  tAvins  increases  in  frequency  Avith  the
number of the pregnancy.    It  becomes,  therefore, an
indication of an excessive family, and is to be deplored.

      MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN  AT  A BIRTH.
  Cases of the  birth of  more than  two  children at  a
time are still less frequently met Avith than tAvins.  They
are scarcely ever encountered, excepting in Avomen who
have passed their thirtieth year.

                 THREE AT A BIRTH.
  The births of triplets are not exclusively confined to
women  above thirty years, but in those younger they are
so rare as to be  great curiosities.  Neither are they apt
to occur  in the first pregnancy.  In this respect they
differ from tAvins, who, as has just been said, are peculiarly
prone to make  their appearance at the  first  child-birth.
Only four cases of  treble births occurred  among  the
thirty-six thousand  accouchements  which  have taken
place in  the Hospice de  Maternite of Paris, in a deter-
mined time.  Out of forty-eight thousand cases of labor
in the Royal  Maternity Charity of  London, only three
triplets  occurred.  History  informs us that the three
Roman brothers, the Horatii, were triplets. They fought
and conquered  the three Curiatii  of Alba (667 B.C."), who
were likewise triplets. 
136
THE  WIFE.
   ~s an interesting fact  in connection with this subject,
we may mention that  in the  St. Petersburg MidAvives"
Institute, betAveen  1845-59, there Avere three women
admitted, Avho, in their fifteenth pregnancies, had triplets,
and each had triplets three times in succession.  Happily,
the fifteenth pregnancy is not reached by most Avomen.

                 FOUR AT  A BIRTH.
   Instances of quadruplets are feAver than triplets.  But
four vigorous infants have been born at one birth.

                 FIVE AT  A  BIRTH.
   The birth of five living children at  a time is very ex-
ceptional, and is usually fatal  to  the  offspring.  A re-
markable case of this kind is reported in a late  English
medical journal. A Avoman aged  thirty, the wife of a
laborer,  and  the mother of six children, was taken in
labor about the seventh month of her pregnancy.  Five
children, and all alive, were given birth to,—three boys
and tAvo girls.  Four of the children  survived an hour,
and  died within a feAV  moments of each other.  The
fifth, a female, and the  last born, lived six  hours, and
Avas  so vigorous that, notwithstanding  its diminutive
size, hopes  were  entertained  of its surviving.
   Another case  is reported  in a recent French  medical
journal.  The woman Avas forty years old.  She had had
twins  once, and five  times single children.    On  her
seventh pregnancy, Avhen five  months  gone, she Avas as
large as women usually are at the end of their full term.
At the close of  the month she  Avas  delivered of five
children.  They were all born alive, and lived from four
to seven minutes.  All five children Avere males,  well
built  and as Avell developed as foetuses of five and  one-
half months usually are  in a single birth.  The woman 
THE STOnt V* <*Ui I'R.          137
made a good recovery.  Other ^a.-cs of five at a birth
might be  quoted.  They are knovra to medical science
as very singular and noteworthy occurrences.

                INCREDIBLE NUMBERS.
  Some books speak of seven, eight, nine, ten and more
children at a birth.  But these statements are so marvel-
lous, so incredible and unsupported by proper testimony,
that they do not merit any degree of confidence.  The
climax of such extraordinary assertions is reached, and
a good illustration of the credulity of the seventeenth
century,  furnished by  a Avriter named  Goftr.   This
traveller,  in 1630,  saw a tablet in a church at LeusdoAvn
(Lausdunum), about fiAre miles from the Hague, Avith
an inscription stating that a certain illustrious countess,
whose name and family he records, brought forth, at one
birth, in  the fortieth year of her age, in the year  1276,
three hundred  and sixty-five infants.   They  were  all
baptized  by  Guido,  the Suffragan.   The males were
called John and the females Elizabeth.  They  all, with
their  mother, died on the same day, and were buried in
the above-mentioned church.  This monstrous birth Avas
said to have been caused by the sin of the countess in
insulting  a  poor woman Avith tAvins in  her arms, Avho
prayed that  her insulter might have  at  one birth the
same number of children as there were days in the year.
Of  course, notAvithstanding the story is  attested  by a
tablet in a church, it must  be placed among the many
other instances of superstition afforded by an ignorant
and credulous era.
  We may  remark,  in  closing this  subject, that fewer
plural births come to  maturity than pregnancies with
single children.   Miscarriages are comparatively  more
frequent in such pregnancies than in ordinary ones, 
138      THE  WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

                  PREGNANCY.
  We have been considering Avoman hitherto as maidm
and Avife.  She noAV approaches the sacred threshold of
maternity.  She is with  child.  In no period of her life
is  she  the  subject  of  an  interest so  profound and
general.  The young virgin and the new  Avife have
pleased  by their grace, spirit and  beauty.   The preg-
nant Avife is an object of active benevolence and religious
respect.   It is interesting to note hoAv, in all times and
all  countries, she  has  been treated Avith  considerate
kindness and great deference.  She  has been made the
subject of public veneration, and sometimes even of re-
ligious Avorship.  At Athens and at Carthage the mur-
derer escaped from the SAVord  of justice if he  sought
refuge in the house of a pregnant  Avoman.   The Jews
allowed  her to eat forbidden meats.   The laAvs of Moses
pronounced the  penalty of death against all those Avho
by bad treatment or any act of violence caused a Avoman
to abort. Lycurgus  compared  women  who died  in
pregnancy to the brave dead on the field of honor, and
accorded to  them sepulchral  inscriptions.  In ancient
Rome, AArhere all citizens Avere obliged to rise and stand
during the passage of a magistrate, Avives were excused
from rendering this mark of respect, for the reason that
the exertion and hurry of the movement might be inju-
rious to  them in the  state  in Avhich  they were supposed
to be.  In the kingdom of  Pannonia all enceinte Avomen
were in  such  veneration that a man meeting one on the
road Avas obliged, under penalty of a fine, to turn back
and accompany and protect her to her place of destina-
tion.  The Catholic Church has  in all  times exempted
pregnant wives from fasts.   The Egyptians decreed, and
in most Christian countries the law  at the present lime 
              SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.          139

obtains, that if a Avoman shall be convicted of an offence
the punishment of Avhich is death, the sentence shall not
be executed if it be proved that she is pregnant.

   " HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER  I AM PREGNANT ?"
  The first sign which is calculated  to give rise to the
suspicion is the ceasing to be unwell.  This, taken alone,
is  not conclusive.  There are many  other  conditions
of the system Avhich produce it besides pregnancy.  We
have already referred to several.
  It should be borne in mind that  young married Avomen
sometimes have a slight sIioav for two  or  three periods
after  their first impregnatipn.  Ignorance of this fact
has very frequently led to a miscalculation of the  time
of confinement.   On the other hand,  the menses will
sometimes  become arrested soon  after marriage, and
continue so for one or tAvo months, Avithout there exist-
ing any pregnancy.   The temporary disappearance  of
the monthly sickness in such cases  is due to the pro-
found impression made upon the system by the neAV
relations of the individual.
  It not unfrequently happens that  menstruation  con-
tinues Avith regularity during the Avhole period of preg-
nancy.  Exceptional cases are given, by  distinguished
writers  on midwifery, of  women  menstruating  during
their pregnancy and  at no other time.
  As  a  general rule, Avhen  a  healthy  Avife misses her
monthly sickness she is pregnant.  But this  symptom,
though a strong one,  must be supported by others before
it can be regarded as establishing  any thing.
  2. Morning sickness is a very common,  a very early,
and, in  the opinion of most mothers, a very conclusive
symptom of pregnancy.   We have already had occasion
to remark that  it  sometimes makes its appearance 
140    THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

almost simultaneously  Avith  conception.  It  usua'»y
comes on in the first feAV Avceks, and continues until the
third or fourth month, or until quickening.  This symp-
tom is apt to be a troublesome one.  Often the vomiting
is  slight, and immediately folloAved  by relief. But it
may produce  violent and ineffectual  straining for some
time.  It is, hoAvever, not to be called a disease.  Unless
it  proceeds to an exhausting  degree, it must be looked
upon as favorable and salutary.  There  is an old and
true proverb that "a sick pregnancy is  a safe  one"
The absence of nausea and vomiting is a source of danger
to  the mother and child.   Women  Avho habitually fail
to  experience them are exceedingly apt to miscarry.  In
such cases medical  skill  should  be invo/ked  to  bring
about the return of these symptoms, of such importance
to  healthful pregnancy.
  Morning sickness is therefore a very general, almost
constant, accompaniment of the pregnant condition, and
great reliance may be placed  upon it as a sign.
  3. Changes in the breasts are valuable as symptoms.
They  become larger and firmer, and the  seat  of  a
pricking or stinging sensation.  The nipples are savoIIu),
prominent, and  sometimes  sore or painful.  The veins
beneath the  skin appear  more conspicuous,  and of  a
deeper blue than ordinary.   The peculiar circles of rose-
colored skin Avhich surround  the nipples increase in ex-
tent, change to a darker color, and become covered with
a number of little elevations.  Subsequently numerous
mottled patches or round  spots of a whitish hue scatter
themselves over the outer part of this circle.
  The time at Avhich these changes  make their appear-
ance is  variable.  They may begin to develop  them-
selves m two or  three weeks, oftener not until the second
or third month, and  in women of a delicate build some 
STG2TS OF PREGNANCY.          \n
tines not until  the latter end of pregnancy.   Occasion-
ally no  alteration Avhate\rer  occurs in the breasts untii
after confinement, in Avhich  cases the secretion of milk
is dclayeu  for several days  after the birth of the child.
In some rare instances the breasts never assume mater-
nal proportions, and the  mother is  debarred from tho
pleasure and doty of nursing her oavii child.
   4   (quickening is the next symptom avc Avill consider.
By this term is meant the arrival of that time when the
mother  first becomes conscious by the movements of the
child  of its presence.  The  ancients thought that then
life Avas imparted to the neAV being.  Modern physiology
emphatically condemns  this absurdity.  The embryo is
as much alive in  the very earliest moments of preg-
nancy as at any future  stage  of its  existence.   Let
every Avoman therefore remember that she Avho produces
abortion is equally  guilty in the eyes of science and of
Heaven, Avhether the act he committed before or after the
period of quickening.
  Hoav  is  quickening produced?  Undoubtedly by the
movements of the child.  So soon as its nervous and
muscular systems become sufficiently developed to enable
it to  move its  limbs,  the  mother,  if the  movements
be sufficiently active, is rendered sensible of her situa-
tion.  But the muscular contractions may not be strong
enough  to impart any sensation to the mother. In many
cases in Avhich they are too  feeble to be noticed by her-
self, the skilled accoucheur is  capable of  recognising
them.   And the movements of the  foetus may be ex-
cited in  various Avays known to  physicians.
  Time  of quickening.—This symptom usually occurs
about the middle of pregnancy, near the eighteenth week.
Some  women feel the movements of  the foetus as early
as the third month of pregnancy; others not till the sixth 
U2      THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

month.   Cases occur in Avhich no movement Avhatever is
felt until the eighth or ninth month, or even not at all.
It has been  suersrested that a foetus Avhich does not indi-
             CD
cate its presence in this way is a kind of "Lazy Law-
rence," too indolent to move.  Certainly many of both
sexes exhibit after birth  such indomitable love of re-
pose, that it can readily be supposed they Avere equally
passive in foetal life.
  The non-occurrence of this sign may, hoAvever, be due
to debility of the young child, or to a Avant of sensibility
in the Avails of the womb itself.
  A woman may be  deceived,  and suppose she has
quickened, Avhen her sensations are to be traced to flatu-
lence of the bowels or, perhaps, a  dropsical  effusion.
Many ludicrous instances of self-deception are on record.
The historian Hume states  that Queen Mary of England,
in her extreme desire to have issue, so confidently asserted
that she felt the movements of the child that public pro-
clamation Avas made of the interesting event.  Dispatches
were sent to foreign  courts; national  rejoicings were
had ; the sex of  the child Avas settled, for everybody Avas
certain it Avas going to be a male, and Bonner, Bishop
of London,  made  public prayers, saying  that Heaven
would pledge to make him beautiful, vigorous and Avitty.
But all those high hopes  and  eager expectations were
destined never to be realized.  The future disclosed that
the supposed quickening Avas merely a consequence of
disordered health and commencing dropsy.
  Some Avomen possess the poAver of imitating the move
ments of  a  foetus  by  volt ntary contraction of the ab-
dominal  muscles.   A we 1-known  colored woman of
Charleston,  "Aunt Betty/' had a great reputation as
having " been pregnant for fifteen years."   She made a
good deal of money by exhibiting to those  who  were 
             SIGNS OF PR7.GNANCY.           ]43

runous the pretended movements of her  unborn chiM.
i"die was  repeatedly exhibited  to the medical classes in
the city.  No pregnancy existed, as was revealed bj it
[> >st mortem examination.  She imposed upon the credu-
lous  by  the habit  she  had  acquired  of jerking  her
muscles  at pleasure, and thus  closely simulating the
movements of an embryo.
  5.  Changes in the abdomen.—In  the first tAvo months
of pregnancy the abdomen is less prominent than usual:
it recedes, and presents a flat appearance.   The navel is
also drawn in and depressed.  About the third month a
swelling  frequently shoAA7s itself in the lower part of the
abdomen, and then diminishes, thus leading the wife to
suppose that she was mistaken in her condition, for she
finds herself at the fourth month  smaller  than at the
third.  After this, however, there is a gradual increase
in the size and hardness of  the abdomen.  What is of
more value is  the peculiar form of the SAvelling.  It is
pear-shaped, and is thus distinguished from the swelling
of dropsy and other affections.  The navel begins to
come  fonvard and finally protrudes.  The pouting ap-
pearance it then presents is very characteristic.
  In this connection it may be remarked that  towards
the change of life childless married women often think
they perceive that " hope deferred" is about to be grati
6ed.   An enlargement of the abdomen takes place at
this time, from a deposit  of fatty matter.  The  nervous
perturbations and the cessation of the menses, which ara
natural to this period, are looked upon as confirmations
of the  opinion that pregnancy exists.  But the day of
generation  Avith them has  passed.   These  symptoms
herald  the approach of the winter of life, which bnnga
with it death to the reproductive system.
  G.  Chcwges in the skin.—The alterations  occurring in
                         13 
144     THE WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

the skin are worth  observing.  Those Avomen who hava
a delicate  complexion and are naturally pale take  a
high color, and vice \Tersa.   In some cases a considerable
 mantity of hair appears on those parts of the face occu-
pied by the beard in men ;  it disappears aft^r labor, and
returns on every subsequent pregnancy.   Oftentimes tho
skin becomes loose and wrinkled, giving a haggard, aged
air to  the face, and  spoiling good looks.   Women avIio
ordinarily perspire  freely have now a dry, rough skin,
whereas those whose skin  is not naturally moist have
copious perspiration, which may be of a peculiarly strong
odor.  Copper-colored oryelloAV blotches sometimes appear
upon the skin, mole spots  become darker and larger,
and a dark ring developes  itself beneath the eyes.  The
whole  appearance is thus  in many cases altered.   On
the other hand, obstinate,  long-existing skin affections
sometimes  take  their departure during  pregnancy, per-
haps never to return.  These alterations do not occur in
all women, nor in all pregnancies of the same woman.
  7. We may noAV group together a number of less  im-
portant and less constant  signs, such as depraved appe-
tite,  longings for unnatural food, excessive formation of
saliva in the mouth, heartburn, loss of appetite  in the first
two or three months, succeeded by a voracious desire for
food,  which sometimes compels the  jvoman to rise at
night  in order  to  eat,  toothache,  sleepiness, diarrhoea,
palpitation of the heart, pain in the 'fight side, etc.   Thes-s,
when they occur singly, are of little value as evidence.
  Among these, that of depraved appetite is by far  the
most important, and  may be regarded as  quite signifi-
cant.   A married  woman  in ner  ordinary health, sud-
denly feeling this morbid taste for chalk, charcoal, slate
pencil, etc., may look upon it as a strong presumptive
evidence of impregnation. 
      MENTAL  CHANGES IN PREGNANCY.   1 45

  When any or all of this  group  of symptoms accom-
pany the ceasing to be " regular," the morning sickness,
the changes in the breasts  and the other  signs which
bave been enumerated, the Avife may be quite  sure that
 he is pregnant.
  8. Changes in the  mind.—The most wonderful of all
the changes which attend  pregnancy are those in the
nervous system.  The Avoman is rendered more susceptible,
more impressible.  Her character  is transformed.  She
is no longer  pleasant, confiding, gentle and gay.  She
becomes hasty, passionate, jealous  and bitter.  But in
those who are naturally fretful and bad-tempered  a
change for the better is sometimes  observed, so that the
members of the household learn from experience to hail
with delight the mother's  pregnancy as a period Avhen
clouds and storms give place to  sunshine and  quiet-
ness.  In some rare cases,  also, pregnancy confers  in-
creased force and  elevation to the  ideas and augmented
poAver to the intellect.
   As this book is Avritten  for wome.. only, Ave do not
mention any of  the signs  or  symptoms of pregnancy
which the  physician alone can  recognize.   We  will
merely  state that there are many other signs besides
these referred  to, of great value  to  the doctor.   One,
the sound of the heart of the child, which the practiced
ear can detect at  about  the fifth month, is positive and
conclusive.

                    MISCARRIAGE.
   Miscarriage  is  a fruitful source of disease  and often
of danger to wives.  It also causes a frightful Avaste of
human life.  Unborn thousands  annually die in this
manner.
   Frequency.— Miscarriage is by no means a rare occur 
146     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

rence.   Statistics show that thirty-seven out of one hun
dred mothers miscarry before they attain  the age ot
thirty years:   But this accident  is much  more  apt  to
occur during the latter than the first half of the child
bearing period, and  therefore it is estimated that ninety
out of one hundred of all women Avho continue in matri
mony until the change of life miscarry.
  Influence of age of mother.—A Avoman Avho marries  at
forty is very much  disposed to miscarry,  whereas had
she married  at thirty, she might have  borne children
when  older  than forty.  As a mother approaches the
end of her child-bearing period, it is likely that she will
terminate her career of fertility Avith a premature birth.
The last pregnancies are  not only most commonly un-
successful, but there is also reason to believe that the
occurrence of idiocy in a  child may be  associated with
the circumstance of its being the  last born of its mother.
It has been  asserted,  in this connection, that men of
genius are frequently the first born.   First pregnancies
are also fraught Avith the danger of miscarriage, whicli
occurs more often in them  than in others, excepting the
latest.   A woman is particularly apt to miscarry Avith
her first child if she be either exceedingly nervous  or
lull-blooded.
  Influence of period of pregnancy.—Miscarriage is most
frequent in the earlier months of pregnancy—from the
first to the third.   It is also very prone to happen abou;
the sixth month.   Habit makes itself felt here: for women
\riio have many times experienced this sad  accident
encounter it  nearly always  at the same epoch of their
pregnancy.
  How early can the child livef—The infant is incapable,
as a rule, of an  independent existence if brought inlo
the world before the  end of the sixth month.   The )-mv 
MISCARRIAGE.
147
of France regards: a child born one hundred and eighty
ilavs after wedlock as not only capable of living, but as
legitimate and woithy of all legal  and  civil rights.
There  are many cases mentioned, by the older medical
writers, of children born previous to this period living.
One of the most curious is that recorded by Van Swieten.
The boy, Fortunio Liceti, A\as brought into the Avorld
before the  sixth month, in consequence of a fright his
mother had  at sea.   When born, it is said, he was the
size of a hand, and  his  father placed him in an oven,
for the purpose, probably, ft has been suggested, of making
him rise. Although born prematurely,  he died late, for
we are told he attained his seventy-ninth year.  Professor
Gunning S. Bedford, of New  York, records the case of
a woman, in  her fourth confinement, who was delivered
before she had completed her sixth month of  a female
infant weighing two pounds  nine  ounces.  The surface
of  the body  was of a  scarlet  hue.  It breathed, and  in
a short time  after birth cried  freely.   After being
wrapped in soft cotton, well lubricated with warm sweet-
oil, it was  fed with  the  mother's milk, by having a few
drops at a time put into its mouth. At  first it had great
 difficulty in  swallowing, but gradually it succeeded in
 taking  sufficient nourishment,  and is  now a  vigorous
 healthy young Avoman.
   Dangers to mother.—Wives are  too much in the habit
 of making  light of miscarriages.   They are much more
 frequently  followed  by disease of the  womb  than are
 confinements at full terms.  There is a greater amount
 of injury done to the parts than in natural labor.  While
 after confinement ample time  is afforded by a long period
 of repose for the  bruised and lacerated  parts to  heal,
 after a miscarriage no such rest is obtained.  Menstrua-
 tion  soon returns; conception may quickly follow.   Un- 
148     THE YflFB DURING PREGNANCY.

happily there  is no custom requiring husband and wift
to sleep apart for a month after a miscarriage, as there
ia after a confinement.  Hence, especially if there be any
pre-existing uterine  disease or a predisposition thereto,
miscarriage is a serious thing.
   Causes.—The irritation of hemorrhoids or straining at
stool will   sometimes provoke an early expulsion of a
child.   Excessive intercourse  by the neAvly married
is a  very  frequent  cause.  Bathing in the ocean has
been known   to  produce it.   Nursing is  exceedingly
apt to  do  so.   It has been  shown by a distinguished
medical Avriter that in a given number of instances mis-
carriage occurred in seventeen per cent, of cases in which
the woman conceived while nursing, and in only ten per
cent, where conception occurred at some other time.   A
wife, therefore,  Avho suspects herself  to  be pregnant
should wean her child.  The extraction of a tooth, over-
exertion and  over-excitement, a fall, a bloAV, any violent
emotion, such as  anger, sudden and excessive joy, or
fright,  running, dancing, horseback exercise or  riding
in a  badly-built  carriage  over a rough  road,  great
fatigue, lifting heavy weights, the  abuse of purgative
medicines,  disease or displacement of the Avomb, small-
pox, or a general condition of ill health, are  all fruitful
and well-known  exciting  causes of this  unfortunate
mishap, in addition  to those  which  have been  before
mentioned.
  Prevention.—Dr. Tilt, the eminent practitioner of Lon
don,  says:  "The Avay to prevent miscarriage  is to lead i
quiet life,  particularly during those days of each sue
cessive month when,  under  other tir^ur-.^ta-nce's  the
woman would menstruate; and  to  abstain during tho**
days not only from  long walks and parties but  also
from sexual intercourse." 
       HOW TO  PREVENT MISCARRIAGES.     149

  11 is especially  desirable to avoid a miscarriage in the
first  pregnancy, for fear that  the  habit of miscarrying
shall theu  be set up, which it will be very  difficult  to
eradicate.   Therefore,  newly-married  women  should
carefully avoid all causes which are known to induce tho
premature  expulsion of the child.   If it should take place
in spite of  all precautions, extraordinary care should  be
exercised iu  the  subsequent pregnancy to prevent its re-
currence.  Professor Bedford, of NeAV York,  has said  he
has found that an excellent expedient in such cases is, as
soon as pregnancy is known to exist, "to interdict sexual
intercourse until  after the fifth month,  for if the preg-
nancy pass beyond this period, the chances of miscarriage
will be much diminished."
   If the symptoms of miscarriage, Avhich may be expressed
in the two Avords, pain and flooding, should  make  their
appearance,  the  physician ought  at once to  be sent for,
the  wife aAvaiting his arrival in  a recumbent position.
He may even then be able to avert the impending danger.
At any rate, his services are as necessary, and often even
more so, as in a labor at full term.

                  mothers'  marks.
   It is  a  popular belief that the imagination  of the
mother affects the child in  the Avomb.  It  is asserted
that infants  are  often born with various marks and  de-
formities corresponding in character Avith objects Avhich
had made a vivid  impression on  the  maternal  mind
during pregnancy.  This is a subject of great practical
interest.   We shall therefore give it the careful attention
 which it deserves.
   We have already discussed the operation  of the laws
of inheritance.   It Avas then stated that the  wl ole story
of maternal influence had not been told: that the mother 
150      THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

could communicate qualities  she never possessed:   The
potency of imagination at the time of conception  nver
the child  has  been mentioned,  it is uoav our design to
consider its effects, during the period of pregnancy, upon
the physical structure  and the mental attributes of the
offspring.   We shall have occasion hereafter, in speaking
of nursing, to illustrate the manner in Avhich the  child
may be affected by maternal  impressions acting through
the mother's milk.   What can be more Avonderful  than
this intimate union betAveen the mother and  her child ?
It is  only equalled by that mysterious influence of the
husband  over the wife  by Avhich  he so impresses her
system that she often comes in time to resemble him
both  in mental  and physical characteristics, and  even
transmits his  peculiarities to her children by a second
marriage.  Father, mother, and child are one.
  We Avish here to premise that our remarks will be based
upon the  conclusions of skilled  and scientific observers
only, whose position and  experience no physician Avill
question.   All the instances to be related are given upon
unimpeachable authority.  They are not the narrations
of ignorant, credulous people; they are all fully vouched
for.   We record here,  as elsewhere, only the sober utter-
ances of science.   The great importance and utility of
an acquaintance with them will be patent to every intel-
ligent man and woman.
  The effect of the mind  upon the body is well known.
Strong,  long-continued mental emotion may  induce or
cure  disease.   Heart-disease  may be  produced by a
morbid direction of the thoughts to that organ.  Warts
disappear under the operation of a strong belief in the
efficacy of some nonsensical application.  In olden times
scrofula, or the -'king's evil," Avas cured by the touch of
the king.   Thh mind  of  the  patient of course accom- 
MOTHERS  MARKS.
151
plished  the  cure.   Under the  influence of profound
mental  emotion, the hair of the beautiful Marie An-
toinette became white in a short time.   During the soli-
tary voyage of Madame Condamine down the wild and
lonely Amazon, a  similar change  took place.  Many
other instances might be adduced, but those given are
sufficient to shoAV that strong  and persistent mental im-
pressions  will exert a mysterious transforming poAvei
over the body.  These facts will pave the way to the con-
sideration of corresponding effects, through the mother's
mind, upon the development of the  unborn child, form-
ing a part of herself in utero.
   Influence of mind of mother on form and color of infant.
There are numerous facts on record  Avhich prove that
habitual, long-continued mental conditions of the  mother
at  an early period of pregnancy induce deformity or
other abnormal development of the infant.
   Professor William A. Hammond, of New York, relates
the folloAving striking case, which occurred in his own
experience, and Avhich scarcely  admits of a doubt as to
the  influence of the  maternal mind  over  the physical
structure  of the foetus.
   A lady in the third month  of  her pregnancy was very
much horrified by her husband being  brought home one
evening Avith a severe wound of the face, from which
the blood Avas streaming.  The shock  to her was so great
that  she  fainted,  and subsequently had an hysterical
attack, during  which she Avas  under Dr. Hammond's
care.  Soon after her recovery she told him that  she was
afraid her child would be affected in some Avay, and that
even then she could not get rid of the impression the
sight of her husband's bloody face had made upon her.
In due time the child, a girl, Avas born.   She had a dark
red mark upon  the face, corresponding in situation ami 
152     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

extent with that Avhich had been upon her father's face.
She also proved to be idiotic.
  Professor Dalton, of NeAV York, states that the  wife
of the janitor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of that city,  during  her pregnancy dreamed that  she
saw a man who had lost a part of the ear.   The dream
made a great impression upon her mind, and she men-
tioned it to her husband.  When her child was born, a
portion of one ear Avas deficient,  and  the organ  was
exactly like the defective ear she had seen in her dream.
When Professor Dalton was lecturing upon the develop-
ment of the foetus as affected by the mind of the mother,
the janitor called his attention to the foregoing instance
The  ear looks exactly as if a portion had  been cut off
with a sharp knife.
  Professor J. LeAvis Smith, of Bellevue Hospital, Medi-
cal College, NeAV York, has met with the following cases.
.An Irish  woman, of strong emotions and superstitions,
wa9  passing along a street,  in the  first months of hci
pregnancy, when she  Avas accosted  by a beggar,  who
raised  her hand, destitute of  thumbs and  fingers,  and
in " God's name" asked for alms.   The woman passed
on, but, reflecting in whose name money was asked, felt
that she had committed a great sin in refusing assistance.
She returned  to the place where she had met the beggar,
and  on different days, but never afterwards saw  her.
Harassed  by  the  thought of her imaginary sin, so  that
for weeks, according to her statement, she was distressed
by it, 6he approached her confinement.  A female infant
was oorn,  otherwise perfect, but lacking the fingers  and
thumb of one hand.   The deformed limb was on  th«
wine side, and it seemed to the mother to resemble pre
cisely that of the beggar.  In  another  case which Pro-
fessor Smith met, a very similar malformation was attr; 
MOTHERS  MARKS.
153
t i,ed by the mother of the child to an accident occurring,
during the time of her pregnancy, to a near relative, which
necessitated amputation.  He examined both of these
children with defective  limbs, and has no doubt of the
truthfulness of the parents.  In May, 1868, he removed
a supernumerary thumb from an infant, Avhose mother, a
baker's wife, gave the following history:—No one of the
family, and no ancestor, to her  knowledge, presented
this deformity. In the  early months of her pregnancy,
she sold bread from the  counter, and nearly every day a
child Avith a double thumb came in for a penny  roll,
presenting the penny betAveen the thumb and the finger.
After the third month she left the bakery, but the mal-
formation  was so impressed  upon her mind that she Avas
not surprised to see it reproduced in her  infant.
  In all these cases the impression Avas produced in the
early months of pregnancy;  but many have been recorded
in Avhich malformations in the infant appeared distinctly
traceable to strong mental emotions of the mother only
a few months  previous to confinement, these impressions
having been persistent  during the remaining period of
the pregnancy, and giving rise to  a full expectation  on
the part of the mother that the child would be affected
in  the particular  manner,  which actually occurred.
Professor Carpenter, the distinguished  physiologist  of
London, is personally cognizant of a very striking case
of the  kind Avhich occurred in the family of a near con-
nection of his OAvn.
  All the above instances have been those of the effects
of persistent mental emotion.  But it is also true that
violent  and sudden  emotion in the mother leaves some-
times its impress upon  the unborn infant although it
may be quickly forgotten.
  It is related on good authority that a lady, who during 
J54     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

her pregnancy was  struck with the unpleasant view of
leecheu applied to a, relatiATe's foot, gave birth to a child
with the mark of a  leech coiled up in the act of suction
on the intended spot.
  Dr. Delacoux,  of Paris, says that in the mpnth  of Janu-
ary, 1825, he was called to attend a woman in the village
of Batignoles, near Paris, Avho, the evening before, had
been delivered of a six months foetus, horribly deformed.
The upper  lip was in a confused mass Avith the  jaw and
the gums, and the right leg Avas amputated at the middle,
the stump  having  the form of a cone.  The mother of
this being,  who  was a cook, on entering  one morning,
about the third month of her pregnancy, the house where
she was employed,  was  seized wdth horror at the  sight
of a porter with  a hare-lip and an amputated leg.
  At a meeting  of the Society of Physicians, at Berlin,
in August,  1868, Herr Dupr6 stated that a woman saw,
in the first weeks of her third pregnancy, a boy with a
hare-lip, and not only was the child she then carried born
with a frightful  hare-lip, but also three children subse-
quently.  Another  one, a woman  in  the fifth  week of
pregnancy, saw  a  sheep wounded  and with its bowels
protruding.  She was greatly shocked, and did not re-
cover her composure for several days. She Avas delivered
at term of a child in other respects well developed, but
lacking the walls of the abdomen.
  Many remarkable instances have been collected of the
power of imagination over the unborn offspring.
  Ambrose Par6, the illustrious French surgeon of the
sixteenth century, in one of his treatises, devotes a chap-
ter to the  subject of " monsters Avhif h take their  cause
and shape from imagination," and was evidently a strong
believer in  this influence.
  A black  child is generally believed to have been born 
MOTHERS  MARKS.
155
to Marie Therese, the Avife of Louis XIV., in consequence
of a little negro page  in her service having started from
a hiding-place  and stumbled over her dress early in her
pregnancy.  This  child Avas educated at the convent of
Moret, near Fontainebleau, where she took the veil, and
where, till the shock of the Revolution, her portrait Avas
shoAvn.
  Examples are given by authors of the force of desirea
in  causing  deformities  in  infants, and the formation
uyon them of fruits, such as apples,  pears,  grapes, and
others, which the mother may have longed for.
  The folloAving is related  upon excellent  medical au-
thority :—A woman gave birth to  a child with a large
cluster of globular tumors growing from the tongue, and
preventing the closure of the mouth, in color, shape, and
size exactly resembling our  common grapes; and with a
red excrescence from the chest, as exactly resembling in
figure and  appearance  a turkey's  wattles.  On  being
questioned before the child Avas shoAvn to her, she an-
swered that Avhile pregnant she had seen some grapes,
longed intensely for  them,  and  constantly thought  of
them; and  that she Avas also  once  attacked and much
alarmed by a turkey-cock.
   Dr. Demangeon, of Paris, quotes, in his work on the
Imagination, the Journal de Verdun, as mentioning tho
case of a child, bom at Blois, in the eyes of which the
face of a watch  was  distinctly  seen.  The  image was
situated around the pupil,  and the figures representing
the  hours were plainly perceived.  The mother had ex-
perienced a strong desire to see  a watch whilst she Avas
pregnant Avith this child.
   Professor Dalton says, in  his Human Physiology, that
" there is now little room for  doubt that various  defor-
mities and  deficiencies of the foetus, conformably to the
                           14 
J 56     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

popular belief, do really originate in certain cases fr«m
nervous impressions, such as  disgust, fear, or anger, ex-
perienced by the mother."  We will noAV consider the
  Influence of the mind of the mother on  the mind of tlie
infant, Avhich  subject we  have not yet  touched upon,
having  confined ourselves to the influence of the mater-
nal mind over the form and  color of the unborn child.
It will not be necessary to illustrate at length this branch
of our topic.  Instances are sufficiently common and Avell
knoAvn.  Dr. Seguin, of NeAV York, in his work on idiocy,
gives several cases in which there was reason to believe
that fright, anxiety, or other emotions in the mother, had
produced idiocy in the offspring.  As he remarks: " Im-
pressions Avill sometimes reach the foetus  in its recess,
cut off its legs or arms, or  inflict large flesh wounds be-
fore birth,—inexplicable as well as indisputable facts,
from Avhich we surmise that idiocy holds unknown though
certain  relations to maternal impressions."
  We have  given many strong cases and most excellent
authority  for  the doctrine that the purely mental  in-
fluence  of the mother may produce bodily and mental
changes in the unborn infant.  But the child  is also af-
fected by physical impressions made upon the mother.
  Dr. Russegger reports that  a woman, Avho had already
borne four healthy children, was, in the  seventh  month
of her pregnancy, bitten  in  the right calf by a  dog.
The author saw the Avound  made  by the  animal's teeth.
which Avound consisted of three small  triangular  de-
pressions, by two of which the skin  was only  slightly
ruffled ; a slight appearance of blood Avas perceptible in
the third.  The woman Avas at the  moment of the acci-
dent somewhat alarmed, but neither then nor afterwards
had any fear that her foetus Avould be affected by the
occurrence.   Ten veeks after she was bitten, the woman 
MOTHERS'  MARKS.
157
bore a ncaltny child, Avhich, however, t5 the surprise of
every person, had three marks corresponding in size and
appearance  to those caused  by the dog's  teeth in the
mother's leg, and consisting, like those, of one large and
Iavo smaller impressions. The two latter, which were pale,
disappeared in five weeks ; the larger one had also become
less, and was not so deep-colored as it was at birth.  At
the time of Avriting, the child Avas four months old.
  Dr. S. P.  CraAvford, of Greenville, Tennessee, reports,
in a recent number of the Nashville Journal of Medicine,
the  folloAving sad case:—A lady, in the last stage of
pregnancy, was burned by the  explosion of a  kerosene-
oil can. She lived tAvelve hours after the accident.   The
face, legs,  arms and abdomen were  badly burned.   The
movements  of the child were  felt  three or four hours
after the  accident.  A  short time  before the death of
the mother  she gave birth to the child at full maturity,
but still-born.  It bore the mark of the fire correspond-
ing to that of the mother.  Its legs, arms, and abdomen
were completely blistered, having all the appearance of
a recent burn.
  These instances of a  decided influence exerted  upon
the body and mind of the child  in the Avomb, by physical
and  mental impressions made  upon the mother, might
be doubled  or trebled.   They are as numerous as they
are Avonderful.   Physiologists of the present day do not
hesitate to admit the existence of the influence Ave have
been discussing.  Reason  also  comes to the support of
facts, to demonstrate and establish its reality.   For if
a sudden  and poAverful  emotion of  the mind can so dis-
turb the stomach  and heart as to  cause vomiting and
fainting, is it not probable that it can affect the Avomn
and  the impressible  being Avithin  it?  Pregnancy  is  a
function of theAvoman as much as digestion or pulsation 
158     THE  WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

of the heart, and if the latter  are controlled by mornl
and mental impressions, why should not the  former  be
also?
  In what manner does this influence oj tht maternal mind
act /—Through the blood of the mother.   Only a very
delicate membrane separates the vital fluid of the mother
from that of the infant in her womb.  There is a constant
interchange of the blood in its body  with that in hers
through this  exceedingly  thin  membrane, and thus all
nervous impressions which have produced  an alteration
of either  a temporary or permanent  character  in  the
circulating fluid of the mother are communicated to the
child.  Since the mother,  as has been shoAvn,  can trans-
mit through her blood certain characteristics of mind
and body not her own,—for instance, a disease peculiar to
a male from her father to her son, or the physical and
mental traits of her first husband to the children by her
second,—it does  not seem at all strange that she should
through this same medium, her blood, impart other pecu-
liarities which have made a strong impression upon  hei
mind.  Anatomy and  physiology therefore fully explain
and account for  this seemingly mysterious influence.
  The view here stated, and indorsed by modern science,
is one Avhich ought to have great weight Avith the mother,
her relatives and friends.  The practical conclusion which
it suggests is, that as during pregnancy there  is unusual
susceptibility to  mental impressions, and as these impres-
suns may operate on the fragile structure of the unborn
being, this tendency should be Avell considered and con-
stantly remembered, not only  by the woman herself, but
by all those who associate  or are thrown in contact Avith
her.   Upon the  care displayed in the management of the
corporeal  and  mental  health of the mother during tho
whole period of pregnancy, the ultimate constitution of th« 
            EDUCATION IN THE  WOMB.        159

 offspring  greatly depends.   All the surroundings  and
 employments of the pregnant woman should  be  such aa
 conduce to cheerfulness and equanimity.  Above all, she
 should avoid the presence of disagreeable and unsightly
 objects.   Vivid and unpleasant impressions  should be
 removed  as soon  as possible by quiet diversion of the
 mind.  All  causes of excitement  should  be carefull)
 guarded against.
   In leaving the subject of maternal impressions, we will
 call attention to the manifest difference in extent  and
 degree between the influence of the  father and  that of
 the mother over the offspring.   That of the father ceases
 with  impregnation.    That of  the  mother  continues
 during  the  whole term  of pregnancy, and, as Ave shall
 shortly  see, even during that of nursing.

        EDUCATION OF  THE CHILD IN THE WOMB.
   The  outlines drawn by the  artist Flaxman  are es-
 teemed the most perfect and graceful in existence.  From
 earliest childhood  he  manifested a  delight in drawing.
 His mother, a woman of refined  and artistic tastes, used
 to relate that for months previous to his  birth she spent
 hours  daily  studying  engravings,  and  fixing  in  her
 memory the most beautiful proportions of the  human
 ngure as portrayed by  masters.   She was convinced thaf
 the genius of her  son   Avas  the  fruit of her  OAvn self-
 culture.   What a charming idea is this!   What an in-
 centive  to those about  to become  mothers to cultivate
 refinement, high thoughts, pure emotions, elevated senti-
 ments !   Thus they endoAV their  children with Avhat nc
 after-education can give them.
  The plastic brain of  the foetus  is prompt to receive all
impressions.    It retains them,  and  they  become  the
characteristics of the child  and the  man.   Low spirits.
                        14* 
160     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

violent passions, irritability,  frivolity, in  the  pregnant
woman, leave indelible marks on the unborn child.   So
do their contraries, and thus it becomes of the utmost
moment that during this period all tnat is cheerful, in-
spiring, and elevating should surround the woman. Such
emotions educate the child, they form its disposition, they
shape its faculties, they create its mental and intellectual
traits.  Of all education, this is the most momentous.

CAN  A  WOMAN  BECOME  AGAIN  PREGNANT  DURING
                    PREGNANCY ?
  Can a Avoman during pregnancy conceive, and  add
a second and a younger  child to that already in the
womb?
  It is not  uncommon in the canine race for a mother to
give birth at the same time to dogs of different species,
showing conclusively the possibility, in these animals, of
one  conception closely  following another.  So a mare
has been known to produce within a quarter of an  hour
first  a horse and than a mule.  And in the human race
cases are on record  in wliich Avomen have had tAvins of
which the one Avas white and the other colored, in con-
sequence of intercourse on the  same  day Avith men ol
those tAvo races.  Dr. Henry relates that in  Brazil a
Creole woman, a native, brought into the  world at one
birth three  children of three different colors, Avhite, broAvn
and  black,  each child exhibiting the features peculiar to
the respective races.
  In all such instances the tAvo  conceptions folloAved
each other  very rapidly, the offspring  arriving at matu-
rity together, and being born at the same accouchement.
But  more  curious and  Avonderful  examples of second
and  .ioncurrent pregnancies have  been published  than
thest as. for instance, those  in Avhich a child, bearing 
              DOUBLE PREGNANCIES.           \§\

nil the attributes of a foetus at full term, is born two,
three, four and even five months after the first, Avhich
appeared also  to have been born at full term.  Marie
Anne Bigaud, aged thirty-seven, gave birth April 30,
1748, to a living boy at full term, and on  the ensuing
September 16, to a living  girl,  Avhich was  recognized,
by the size and Avell-developed condition of its body and
limbs, to have  been  also carried until full  term.  This
fact was observed by Professor Eisenman, and by Leriche,
surgeon-major  of the  military hospital of  Strasbourg.
It will be noticed that there Avas an interval of four and
a  half months between the two  accouchements.  Th?
first child lived two and a half months, and the second
a year.  In this instance there was not a double Avomb,
as might perhaps be  supposed, for after the mother's
death an examination proved that the uterus was single.
   Another case of this kind is the  folloAving:  Benoito
Franquet, of Lyons, brought into the Avorld a  girl on
January 20, 1780, and five  months and six  days after-
wards a second girl, also apparently at term and  well
nourished.  Tavo years  later these  two children 'were
presented,  with  their certificates of  baptism,  to  tAvo
notaries of Lyons, MM. Caillot and  Desurgey, in order
that the fact might be placed on record and vouched for,
because of its value in legal medicine.
   The number  of the entirely authenticated cases of the
birth of fully-developed children Avithiu from two to fi\re
months of each other, now knoAAm, can leave no doubt
as to  the possibility of such an occurrence.   The  only
question which remains is in regard  to the  periods of
conception.  Are the two children in  such  cases twin3,
conceived at the same time, but the growth of the last
born so leaded that it did  not arrive at maturity until
a number vi months after its fellow? or has a  second 
162      THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

conception taken place at an interval of several months
after tho first?  If this latter view be true, then in the
instance of Marie  Anne Bigaud,  abo\Te  related, the
second  child must have been conceived after the first
had  quickened.  Then, also, two children of different
ages, the offspring of different fathers, may exist in the
Avomb at the same  time.  The Aveight of scientific ob-
servation and authority has noAV established the fact that,
in very rare instances, a second conception may take place
during pregnancy.  It must not be understood, as neces-
sarily following from this statement, that Avhen two chil-
dren are born at the same time, one fully developed and
the other small and apparently prematurely born, the two
were conceived at different times.  The smaller may have
been blighted and its growth hindered by the same  causes
which bring about  such effects in cases of single births
of incompletely developed children.  A similar supposi-
tion  may account for the birth  of a second child  within
a month or two after the first, for the first may have
been prematurely born and the second  carried to full
term.   But no such supposition can  explain the cases
referred to, and others which  might be mentioned, in
which  the interval has been five or six months, each
child presenting  every indication of perfect maturity.
The  only explanation  possible  in such instances,  which,
as has  been said, are  well authenticated, although few
in number, is that  a second pregnancy has occurred
during the first.
  The above facts  would seem sufficiently wonderful.
There are others, hoAvever, of the same nature, still more
so.   In  some instances the product of the second con-
ception, instead of developing independently of the first,
has  become attached  to it, and the phenomenon has
oeen presented of the groAvth of a child within a child— 
CASES OF DOUBLE CHILDREN
163
* foetus Avithin a foetus.  Such a singular occurrence has
been  lately recorded in a German journal.  A corres-
pondent of  the Dantzic  Gazette  states that on  Sun-
day, February 1, 1869, at Schliewen, near Dirschau, "a
young and blooming  shepherd's wife was delivered of
a girl,  othenvise sound, but having on the loAver part
of her back, betAveen the hips, a swelling as big as two
good-sized fists, through the walls  of which a Avell-de-
veloped foetus may be felt.  Its limbs indicate a groAvth
of from five to six  months, and its movements are very
lively.  The father called in the health commissioner,
Dr. Preuss, from Dirschau, and begged him  to  remove
the SAvelling, together Avith the foetus.  The doctor, how-
ever,  after a careful examination, declared that there
Avas a possibility, in this extraordinary case, of the child
Avithin  the  SAvelling coming to fruition.  Its  existence
and  active motions were palpable  to ail present.  No
physician could be justified in destroying this marvellous
being.  It ought rather to be  protected and cherished.
The new born girl, notAvithstanding her  strange burden,
is of unusual strength and beauty, and  takes the breast
very cheerfully."
  We find something further in  regard to this singulai
birth, in  the Weser Zeitung of February  20, 1869.  It
quotes from  the Dantzic  Gazette some remarks  by the
health commissioner, Dr. Preuss, of Dirschau, in which
the doctor declares the facts  contained in the report
given above  to  be  correct.   He Avas summoned  on the
first  of February to the child,  and saAV the vigorous
movements, and felt the members of a foetus Avithin the
swelling, as described.  It Avan ev dently a double creation.
The case  thus  far, though rare, is not  unique.   "But
Avhat is novel, and  hithert(  perfectly unnoticed in medi-
cal literature, is the fact tl *t not only the girl Avhich has 
IG4     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

been carried its full  term is alive to-day, but the  fcotuu
within  the swelling  has  also, in the  eleven  days after
birth, further developed  and palpably increased in size.
The  SAvelling is  now four and a half inches  long, three
and a half inches wide, and high and  pear-shaped ;  toe
head lies  underneath on the left, the body toAvards  the
right."
  Further particulars and the latest intelligence Ave have
concerning the progress of this case are to the effect that
the child Avas  brought  by special  request  before  the
Natural  History Society of Dantzic, and  thence  the
mother went to Berlin for medical advice.

         MORAL ASPECTS OP THIS QUESTION.
  Upon  proper  judgment  and discrimination in  the
application of the facts we have just been dwelling upon
may depend a  Avife's  honor and  the  happiness of  the
dearest social relations.  We will  suppose  an example.
A husband, immediately after  the impregnation of his
wife, is obliged to quit her, and  remains absent a year.
In the meanwhile she gives birth to two children at an
interval of a number of  Aveeks.  The question will then
come up whether, under such circumstances, it is possible
for her to do so consistently Avith conjugal purity.
  It will be recollected that in speaking of tAvins we re-
marked that it was  not very uncommon for an interval
of days or weeks to elapse betAveen the births, and it has
just been stated  that impregnation during  pregnancy is
extremely rare,  The presumption, therefore, in the case
supposed, is as  very many to one that  the  tAvo  births
were the  result of a twin pregnaney.   In the absence of
any other evidence  against the Avife's chastity,  it should
not even  be called  in question.   This decision receives
the support of the maxim in laAV* that a reasonabla doubt 
        HOW TO PREDICT A  BOY OR GIRL.    \Q$

 fs the property of the  accused,  and of the  Christian
 principle that it is better that ninety-nine guilty should
 escape  than that one  innocent  should be condemned.
 rlence, the  teachings  of science and  of human  and
 divine laAV all  coincide to protect the sacred rights and
 the  precious  interests  at stake  against an  unjust sua
 picion, Avhich even the doctrine of chances would rendw
 untenable.

          C1N A CHILD CRY IN THE WOMB?
   There are some cases, recorded on undoubted authority
 in Avhich the child has been heard to  cry Avhile in the
 womb.   These are very exceptional.   Under  ordinary
 circumstances  it is impossible for  the child  either to
 breathe or cry, because of the absence of air.   It is only
 when  the bag of  membranes has been torn and the
 mouth of the child is applied at or near the neck cf the
 uterus that this can take place.   The  infant is not un»
 frequently heard  to cry just before birth, after labor hap
 commenced, but before the extrusion of the head  from
 the womb, in consequence of the penetration of air into
 the uterine cavity.

             IS IT  A  SON OR DAUGHTER?
  It is a common saying among nurses that there  is a
difference in the size and form of the pregnant woman
according to the  sex she  carries.  This may well  be
doubted.  Neither is it true that  one sex is more actiAre
in its " movements" than the other.  It  is quite possible,
however, for  a wife to knoAV the  sex of the foetus if she
can tell about Avhat time in her month conception  took
place.   If it  occurred directly after a monthly  sickness.
the child is a girl, if directly before, it is a boy.  When
a woman is " out" in her reckoning, and goes beyond th« 
100     THE WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

pei»<>d of her expected confinement, it will ordinarily turii
out to be a ooy.   The skilful physician can, in the lattei
months  of pregnancy, settle the question of sex  in some
cases.   The  beats  of the fcetal heart  are more fre-
quent in females than in males.  The average frequency
of pulsations of  twenty-eight female foetuses has  been
found to be one  hundred and forty-four in the  minute,
the loAvest figure being one  hundred and thirty-eight
of twenty-tAvo male foetuses, one hundred and  tAventy,
the loAvest figure being one hundred and tAvclve.   There-
fore,  Avhen  the  pulsations  of the heart  of the child
in the womb are counted,—as can easily be done by a
practised  medical ear, during the last  months o** preg-
nancy,—and are found to be over one hundred and thirty
in a minute, it is a daughter; if under one hundred and
thirty, a son.  In this  manner the sex of an  unborn
child can be predicted Avith  tolerable accuracy, except-
ing only when  illness  of the  foetus  has deranged the
action of its heart.

            ARE THERE  TWINS PRESENT?
  Certain signs  lead to the suspicion of twins,  such  as
being unusually large, and  the fact that the increase  in
size  has been more than ordinarily  rapid.  Sometimes
also  the abdomen is divided into tAvo  distinct portions
by a perpendicular  fissure.   In other cases, the move-
ments of a child  can be felt on each side at the same
time.  And in tAvin  pregnancies the morning sickness
is apt to be  more distressing, and all the other  discom-
forts  incident to this condition increased.  But these
signs and symptoms, when  present in  any given case,
are not conclusive, for they  may be noticed Avhen there
is only  one child.  The doctor has  one characteristic
and  infallible sign  by Avhich he can ascertain whether 
DURATION OF PREGNANCY.        1G7
tht  woman be pregnant with tAvins.  It is furnished to
him, again, by the art of listening, or  auscultation, as
it is technically called, the same that, as we have already
seen,  euables  him  to determine  the sex of the child.
\\ hen the beatings of tAvo  foetal  hearts  are  heard on
rippos'te  portions  of  the  abdomen, the  nature of tho
pregr ancy is apparent.

              LENGTH  OF PREGNANCY.
  What is the ordinary duration of pregnancy?  Almost
every Avoman  considers  herself competent to  make the
ansAver—nine  months.  She may be surprised to learn,
hoAvever,  that such an  answer is Avanting in scientific
precision.   It  h? too indefinite, and is erroneous.  There
is a great difference  betAveen the  calendar and lunar
months.   Each  lunar month having twenty-eight days,
the period of nine lunar months is two hundred  and
fifty-two  days.  Nine calendar months, including Feb-
ruary, represent,  on  the contrary, two  hundred  and
seventy-three days. Now, the average duration of preg-
nancy is  tAvo  hundred and eighty  days, that is, forty
weeks, or  ten lunar months.
  While  most extended  observations have shoAvn that,
as a general rule, forty Aveeks, or two hundred and eighty-
days, is the true period of pregnancy, are  Ave justified in
the conclusion  that  this  is  its  invariable   duration ?
This  important  question, upon the ansAver to which so
often  depends the honor of families, the  rights of indi-
viduals, and sometimes the interests of nationalities, has
been  in  all times the  subject of careful research by
physicians, philosophers, and  legislators.  On the  one
side have  been those Avho contend  that the laws of nature
are  invariable, and that  the term of pregnancy is fixed
and immutable.   On the  other  side have been theme
                          10 
 |f.8     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

 a lu assert that the epoch of accouchement can b^ great 1 *
advanced or retarded by various causes, some of which
are known and  others not yet appreciated.   Abundant
and satisfactory testimony has proved that the prolonga-
tion of pregnancy beyond  the ordinary period of two
hundred and  eighty  days, or forty  Aveeks,  is  possible,
Nor is this  contrary  to Avhat is observed in regard to
other  functions of the human body. There is no process
depending  upon  the laAvs  of life Avhich is  absolutely
invariable either as to  the  period of its appearance or
its duration.   It is known,  as Ave have already pointed
out, that puberty  may  be   advanced or retarded; the
time at which the change of life occurs in women, as Ave
shall  have occasion hereafter to show, is also subject to
variation;  and it  is a matter of common  observation
with  mothers  that the period of teething is sometimes
strangely  hurried or delayed.  A  certain  degree  of
variability,  therefore, being frequently observed, and
entirely compatible  Avith health, in the various  other
natural processes, Avhy  should that of pregnancy form
an  exception, and be invariably fixed in.its duration?
And  observation upon the  loAver animals  affords most
convincing evidence  that nature is not controlled  by
any uniform law in reference to the length of pregnancy.
In the cow, the usual period of Avhose  pregnancy is the
same  as in the human  female, instances of calving six
weeks beyond the  ordinary term  are not  at  all un-
common.
  As  an illustration of fhe  great interest sometimes at-
taching to tne inquiry under discussion, we may cite the
"elebrated Gardner peerage case, tried by the House of
Lords in  1825.    Allen Legge Gardner petitioned to
 tave  his name inscribed as a peer on  the  Parliament
Roll   He was the son of Lord Gardner, by  his second 
         THE STORY OF LORD  GARDNER,      Ifi'J

wife.  There Avas another claimant for the peerage, how-
ever,—Henry Fenton Iadis,—on the ground, as alleged,
that he Avas the son of Lord Gardner by his first and
subsequently divorced wife.  Medical and moral evidence
was adduced to establish that the latter Avas illegitimate.
Lady Gardner,  the mother of the alleged  illegitimate
child, parted from her husband on the  30th of January,
1802, he going to the West Indies, and not again seeing
his Avife  until the 11th of July folloAving.   The  child
whose legitimacy Avas called in question Avas born on the
8th of December of that year.  The plain medical query
therefore arose  whether  this child born either  three
hundred and eleven days  after intercourse (from Janu-
ary 30th to December 8th) or one hundred and fifty
days  (from July 11th  to December 8th) could be the
son of Lord Gardner.  As there  Avas no pretence that
there Avas a premature birth, the child having been avcII
developed Avhen born,  the  conception  must have  dated
from  January 30th. The medical question Avas therefore
narroAved  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 protracted to a period which would
cover the birth of the alleged illegitimate child. Because,
however, of the moral evidence alone, Avhich proved the
adulterous intercourse of Lady Gardner with a Mr. Iadis,
the House decided that the title should  descend to  the
boh of the second Lady Gardner.
   There is on record one fact Avell observed which est ah-
li.-dics beyond cavil the possibility of the protraction of
pregnancy beyond tAvo hundred and eighty days, or forty
weeks   The case is reported by the learned Dr. Desor 
170     THE  WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

meaux, of Paris, and occurred under his oavo notice in
the Hopital de Maternite of that  city.   A Avoman, the
mother of three children, became insane.  Her physician
thought that a neAV 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 shoAved itself, the visits
Avere discontinued.  The woman was confined tAvo hundred
and ninety days after conception.
  The late distinguished Professor Charles D. Meigs, of
Philadelphia, published a case, which he deems entirely
trustAvorthy, of the prolongation of pregnancy  to four
hundred and twenty days, or sixty weeks.   Dr. Atlee
reports tAvo  cases, which  nearly equalled three hundred
and  fifty-six days each.  Professor Simpson, of Edin-
burgh, records, as having occurred in his OAvn practice,
cases in Avhich the period reached three hundred and
thirty-six, three hundred and thirty-tAvo,  three hundred
and  twenty-four, and 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. Elsasscr
found in one  hundred and sixty cases of  pregnancy
eleven protracted to periods varying from three hundred
to three hundred and eighteen days.
   In treating of the subject of miscarriage, Ave mentioned
instances, recorded by physicians of skili and probity,
proving beyond a shade of doubt that a Avoman :nay give
birth to a living child  long before the expiration of the
forty weeks.  The Presbytery of Edinburgh, Scotland,
Bome time since decided in favor of the legitimacy of an 
               LONG PREGNANCIES.           IJj

Infant  born alive Avithin twenty-five AAreeks  after mar
riage, to the Rev. Fergus Jardine.
  One Of the most enlightened countries in Europe has,
in vieAV of the facts in reference to the extreme limits of
pregnancy,  enacted, in the Code  Napoleon, that a child
born within three hundred days after the departure or
death of the husband or one hundred  and eighty days
after marriage, shall be considered legitimate.  The laAV
further states that a child  born after  more  than three
hundred days shall not be necessarily declared a bastard,
but its legitimacy may be contested.  The Scotch legis-
lation  on this  subject is very similar to  the French.

        CAUSES OF PROTRACTED PREGNANCY.
  It has been asserted  by some that an infant  is born
at ten or eleven months because that  at nine  months
it has  not  acquired the  growth  Avhich is  necessary
in order to induce the Avomb to dislodge it.   The popu-
lar  notion   is  that a child  carried beyond   the  usual
term  must  necessarily be a large  one.  Rabelais has
reflected this common opinion in his celebrated romance
entitled "Gargantua," in Avhich he  represents the royal
giant of that name as having been carried by his mother,
Gargamelle, eleven months.  When born, the child Avas
so vigorous that he sucked the milk from ten nurses.
He lived for several centuries, and at  last begot a son,
Pantagruel, as Avonderful as  himself.   Such  reasoning
cannot, hoAvever, be seriously maintained, as many chil-
dren carried longer than nine  months have not been
more fully developed than some born a feAV Aveeks pre-
maturely, and the  size  of the child has nothing  to do
with the bringing  on of labor, as we  shall show here-
after.  Protracted pregnancies are caused by  a defect in
the energy  of the  womb, induced by moral  as  Avell m
                         15* 
172     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

physical influences.  As a rule, a Avoman  Avho  leads a
regular life and observes the pnysiological laws of her
being, Avhich laws it has been our aim to point out, Avill
be confined at the term  that nature usually marks  out,
that is, at the expiration of two hundred and eighty days,
or forty weeks, from  conception.
  This brings  us to the consideration of the question

HOAV TO  CALCULATE THE TIME OF EXPECTED LABOR.
  Many rules for  this  purpose have been  laid doAvn.
"We shall merely give one, the most satisfactory and the
most easily applied.  It Avas suggested by the celebrated
Professor Naegele  of Heidelberg, and  is now generally
recommended  and  employed by physicians.   The point
of departure in making the calculation is the day of the
disappearance  of the  last monthly sickness; three  months
are subtracted and seven days added.  The result cor-
responds to the day on Avhich labor Avill commence, and
Avill be found  to be tAvo hundred and eighty days from
the time of conception, if that event  has  occurred, as
ordinarily, immediately after the last menstrual period.
Suppose, for instance, the cessation of the last monthly
sickness happened on  the  14th day of January.  Sub-
tract three months, and Ave have October 14; then add
seven clays and Ave obtain  the 21st  day of the  ensuing
October (tAvo  hundred  and eighty days from January
14) as the time of the expected confinement.  This
method of  making the " count" may be relied upon with
confidence, and only  fails, by a feAV days, in those excep-
tional cases in wdiich conception takes  place just before
the monthly period, or during the menstrual flow.

       CARE  OF HEALTH DURING PREGNANCY.
  This subject, the  proper  management of the health 
           UA11E  DURING PREGNANCY.        173

from conception  to childbirth, is worthy of careful con-
sideration.   The condition of pregnancy, though not oue
of disease,  calls for peculiar  solicitude, lest it  should
lead to  some  affection  in the  mother or in the child.
For it ought to be remembered that the welfare of a
new being is now in the balance.   The Avoman has no
Icnger an independent existence.  She has entered upon
the circle of her maternal duties.  She became a mother
when she  conceived.   The  child, though  unborn, lives
Avithin her; its  life is  a part of her OAvn,  and so frail
that any indiscretion on her part may destroy it.  The
danger to the child is not imaginary, as the large num-
ber of miscarriages and still-births proves.
  All mothers  desire to have  healthy,  well-formed, in-
telligent children.  How feAV conduct themselves in such
a manner as to  secure  a happy developement of their
offspring I  Punjy deformed, and feeble-minded  infants
are daily ushered into  the Avorld because of a want of
knowledge, or a sinful neglect of those special measures
imperatively demanded in the ordering of the daily  life,
by  the changed state  of  the  system consequent upon
pregnancy.   We shall  therefore  point  out those laAvs
Avhich cannot be infringed Avith impunity, and indicate
the diet, exercise, dress,  and,  in general,  the conduct
most favorable to the mother and child during this criti-
cal period,  in which the Avife occupies, as it Avere, an in-
termediate state between health and sickness.

                        FOOD.
  The nourishment taken should be abundant, but  not,
in the early months,  larger  in  quantity  than  usual.
Excess in eating or drirdting ought  to bo most carefully
avoided.   The  food is to  be taken  at shorter intervals
than is  common,  and  it  should  be plain, simple  and 
174     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

nutritious.  Fatty articles, the coarser vegetables, highlj
salted  and sAveet food, if found to disagree, as  is often
the case, should be abstained from.   The flesh of young
animals, as lamb, veal, chicken, and fresh fish, are whole-
some, and generally agree with the stomach.  Ripe fruits
are beneficial.  The  diet should  be  varied  as much  aa
possible from day to day.  The craving Avhich some
women have in  the  night  or early morning may  be
relieved by a biscuit, a little milk, or a cup of coffee.
When taken a feAV hours before rising, this wrill generally
be retained, and  prove very grateful, even though the
morning sickness be  troublesome.  Any  food or  medi-
cine that Avill confine or derange  the bowels is to be for-
bidden.  The taste is, as a rule, a safe guide, and it may
be reasonably indulged.  But inordinate,*capricious de-
sires for improper, noxious articles should, of  course,  be
opposed.  Such  longings, hoAvever,  are  not  often  ex-
perienced by those properly brought up.   It is a curious
fact that the modification in the digestive system during
pregnancy is sometimes so  great that substances ordi-
narily the most  indigestible are  eaten, Avithout any in-
convenience and even Avith benefit, while the most health-
ful articles become hurtful and act like poison.
  As pregnancy  advances,  particularly  alter the sixth
month, a larger amount of food, and that  of a  more sub-
stantial character, will be  required.  The number  of
meals in the day  should then  be  increased, rather than
the quantity taken at each  meal.

                      CLOTHING.
  The dress  should  be loose and comfortable, noAvhere
pressing tightly or unequally.  The word enceinte, by
which  a pregnant woman is  designated, meant originally
without a  cincture,—that  is,  unbound.   The  Roniap 
CLOTHING.
175
 matrons  so soon  as they conceived  Avere obliged to
 remove their girdles.  Lycurgus caused tho enactment
 of the Spartan law  that pregnant  women should wear
 large dresses, so as not to prejudice the free development
 of the precious charges of Avhich nature had rendered
 I hem the momentary depositaries.  Stays or corsets may
 be used,  in a proper manner, during the first five or six
 months of pregnancy, but after  that they should either
 be laid aside or Avorn very loosely.  Any attempt at con-
 cealing pregnancy, by tight lacing and the application of
 a stronger busk, cannot be too severely  condemned.  By
 this false delicacy the mother is  subjected t<> great suf-
 fering  and the child placed  in  jeopardy.  The shape
 of the  stays should be moulded to that of the changing
 figure,  and great care should be taken that they do not
 depress the nipple or irritate the  enlarging oreasts.
   The amount of clothing should  be suited to the  season,
 but rather increased than diminished, oAving to the great
 susceptibility of  the system to  the vicissitudes  of the
 Aveather.   It is especially important that flannel draAvers
 should  be worn during advanced  pregnancy, as the loose
 dress favors the admission of cold air to the unprotected
 parts of the body.   A neglect of this  preca ition some-
 times leads to  the  establishment  of the painful  disease
 knowm  as rheumatism of the Avomb.
   Pressure  upon  the loAver limbs, in the neighborhood
 of the knee or the ankle joint, should be avoided, more
 particularly toAvards the last months.   It \i apt  to pro-
 duce  enlargement and knotting  of  the veins, SAvelling
 and ulcers  of  the legs,  by which  many  women are
 crippled during their pregnancies and sometimes through
 life.  Therefore, the garters should not be tightly draAvn
and the gaiters  should not be too closely fitted, while yel
they should firmly support the ankle. 
176     THE WIFE DURING  MiEGNANCY.

                     EXERCISE.
  Moderate exercise in  the open air is proper and con-
ducive to health during  the whole period of pregnancy.
It should ne\rer be so active or so prolonged as to induce
fatigue.  Walking is the best form of exercise.   Riding
in a badly-constructed  carriage, or over a rough  road,
or upon  horseback, as  well as  running, dancing, and
the carrying of heavy Aveights,  should be  scrupulously
avoided, as liable to cause  rupture, severe  flooding, and
miscarriage.  During the early  months, in particular,
extraordinarily long Avalks and dancing ought not to be
indulged in.  Journeys  are not to be taken Avhile in the
pregnant state.  Railway travelling is decidedly objection-
able.   The vibratory motion of the cars is apt  to pro-
duce headache, sickness at the  stomach, faintness, and
premature  labor.  All  these precautions are especially
to be observed in the first pregnancy.
  We  must not  be understood as condemning exercise
and fresh air.  They are of the  greatest importance to
mother and child.   But the  amount of exercise should
be regulated by the dictates of common sense and the
woman's OAA'n sensations.  If she can only walk a short
distance  each day Avith comfort, let that  suffice.  She
should not force herself to go to a certain place  or  to
promenade  during a certain  time  in the twenty-four
hours.   So soon as fatigue is felt, the Avalk  should  cease.
Let the walks be frequent and short rather than  few and
long.   They should also be made as pleasant as  possible
by companionship and surroundings that will occupy the
feelings and imagination in an agreeable  manner with
new and cheerful impressions.   A tendency to indolence
is to be  combated.  A  gently active life is best calcu-
lated to preserve the health of the mother  and  her un 
RULES F'OR HEALTH.
Ill
born child.   But with even the most robust a modera-
tion of the  ordinary pursuits and  avocations is  called
for.  The nervous and delicate cannot make Avith safoty
their customary daily exertions in  the  performance of
their household or social duties and pleasures.
  Towards the end of pregnancy the wife should  econo-
mize her forces.   She  should  not remain  long standing
or kneeling, nor sing in either of these postures.

                      BATHING.
  Those Avho ha\Te not been accustomed to bathing should
not begin the practice during pregnancy, and in any case
great care should be exercised during the latter months
of  pregnancy.   It is better to preserve cleanliness  by
sponging with tepid water  than by entire baths.  Foot-
baths  are ahvays  dangerous.  Sea-bathing sometimes
causes miscarriage, but sea air and  the  sponging  of the
body Avith salt Avater are beneficial.  The shoAver-bath is,
of course, too great a shock to  the system, and a \-ery
warm bath is too relaxing.  In some Avomen of a nervous
temperament, a  lukeAvarm bath taken occasionally at
night during pregnancy has a calming influence.   This
is especially the case in the first and last month.  But
women of a  lymphatic temperament and of a relaxed
habit of body are ahvays injured by the bath.

                    VENTILATION.
  We have spoken of the benefits of outdoor air.  Atten-
tion should also be directed to.keeping  the  atmosphere
in the sitting and sleeping rooms  of  the house  fresh.
This can. only be accomplished  by  constantly changing
it.  The doors and windoAVS of every  room, Avhile un
occupied, should  be kept throAvn open in the summer
time, and opened sufficiently often in the Avinter to wash 
178     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

out the apartments several  times a day with fresh air.
The extremes of heat and cold are to be, with equal care,
avoided.   The house should be  kept  light.   Young
plants Avill not groAV well in the dark.  Neither will the
young child  nor its  mother flourish without sunlight.
The  ancients  were  so well aAvare of this that they con-
structed on  the top of each house a solarium, or solar
air-bath, Avhere they basked daily, in thin attire, in the
sunlight.

                       SLEEP.
  During pregnancy a large amount of sleep is required.
It has a sedative influence  upon the disturbed nervous
system of the  mother.  It favors, by the calmness of all
the functions Avhich attends it, the groAvth of the foetus.
Neither the  pursuit of pleasure in the evening nor the
observance of any trite maxims in regard to early rising
in the morning should be alloAved to curtail the hours
devoted to slumber.  Pregnant Avomen have an instinc-
tive desire to lie abed late, Avhich, like the other prompt-
ings of nature during this  period, should not be disre-
garded.  At  least  eight hours out of  the tAventy-four
2an be profitably spent in  bed.   No  night-Avatching
Dught ever to be undertaken during pregnancy.
  Feather beds should be  avoided.   The heat which
'diey maintain about the body is inconvenient and dan-
gerous, predisposing to flooding and exhausting perspira *
tions.  The  hair or sponge  mattress is to  be preferred.
The  bed-clothing should not  be  too  heavy.  Blankets
are to be employed rather  than  coverlids, as they are
lighter and  more permeable to perspiration. •The mat-
tress and cover should be Avell aired during the day.  The
siecping-room  should  be capacious and  AATell ventilated,
aud no curtains permitted about the bed. 
RULES FOR HEALTH.
179
  Occasional rest is also necessary in the  daytime.   A
nap ot an hour or tAvo upon a sofa or lounge will then
prove very refreshing. '  In  the  earlier months of preg-
nancy  it Avill tend to  prevent miscarriage, and  in the
latter months to relieve the distress  consequent upon
the increased size of the womb.  It  is not unusual,  as
the close of pregnancy approaches, for a feeling of suffo-
cation  to ensue when the Avoman attempts to lie doAvn.
This may be overcome  by supporting the back and
shoulders Avith cushions  and pillows.  Or, a bed chair
may be employed. This,  if Avell constructed and covrered,
will often be found very grateful at night, in the last
feAV Aveeks of pregnancy.

                     THE MIND.
  A tranquil mind is of the first importance.  Gloomy
forebodings should not be encouraged.  Pregnancy and
labor are not, Ave repeat, diseased conditions.  They are
healtful processes, and should be looked upon as such by
every woman.  Bad labors are very unfrequent.  It is  as
foolish to dread them as it is for the raihvay traveller  to
give Avay to  misgivings in regard to his safety.  Instead
of desponding, science  bids  the women to look forward
with cheerfulness and hope to the joys of maternity.
  The  bad effects of fear upon  the  mother's mind are
illustrated by Plutarch,  Avho, in his life of Publicola,
mentions that "at a time Avhen a superstitious fear over-
ran the city  of  Rome, all  the  Avomen  then pregnant
brought'forth imperfect children, and were prematurely
delivered."   But Ave have already spoken, in treating
of mothers' marks,  of the influences  of mental emotions
over the unborn child,  and the necessity of aA'oiding
their exciting causes. .
  Because of their deleterious tendency, severe study  as
                          16 
180     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

well  as  arduous and protracted manual labor ought to
be avoided.   The nervous  systems of many Avomen  are
also injuriously affected during pregnancy by perfumes,
which  at  other times  are agreeable  and  innocuous.
It is  therefoie prudent not  only to exclude all offensive
scents, but  also to abstain  from the  strong odors of
various  colognes and of floAvers.   Large bouquets often
cause feelings  of faintness and  sometimes  temporary
loss  of  consciousness.   The  extreme  liability  of  the
nervous system  of the  pregnant  Avoman to be affected
injuriously to herself and  child by  scenes of suffering
or distress, and  by disgusting or frightful objects, can-
not be  too  strongly impressed  upon  every one.  She
should be protected from all that will disturb her, and
should be constantly treated Avith soothing and  encou-
raging  kindness.   Her manifestations of irritability,
her caprices, her melancholy anticipations, are not to be
scoffed  at, but  combated with a mixture of reasoning
and  patient forbearance.   On her part, she  should en-
deavor to co-operate with those around her in sedulously
shunning  all injurious  influences  and  in  banishing aa
quickly as possible all  improper longings.  She  should
remember that, although she herself may escape  mis-
chief from them, her child may suffer.  She is the cus-
todian of  interests dearer to her than her own.

          RELATION OP HUSBAND  AND  WIFE
  During that time when the wife, if she Avere not preg-
nant, would have been "unwell,"  marital intercourse
kuiould  be abstained from   It is then injurious  to the
rnothei  and dangerous  to  the life of the child, as it is
liable to excite miscarriage.   But if this habitual epoch
of the monthly sickness be a\roided, there is no reason Avhy
passion should  not be gratified in moderation and  with 
               HUSBAND AND  WIFE.           181

rwution during the whole period of pregnancy. There is
one exception to be made to this general course of conduct.
In those cases in Avhich a miscarriage has occurred in the
first pregnancy, every precaution should be employed—
for reasons Avhich have been dAvelt upon in a previous
article—to prevent its happening again after the second
conception.    Under such  exceptional circumstances,
therefore, the  husband and Avife should  sleep apart
during the first five  months  of pregnancy.   After  that
period their ordinary relations may be resumed.  When
a miscarriage has taken place, intercourse should not be
permitted Avithin a  month of the accident.   The obser-
vance of this direction is of the utmost importance.  Its
neglect is the frequent cause of severe and intractable
diseases of the Avomb.

         EFFECT  OF PREGNANCY ON HEALTH.
  We have had occasion to  remark  that pregnancy is
not a condition of disease.   It  is not only  an evidence
of health, but during its continuance it confers increased
physical vigor.  As a rule, a Avoman enjoys better health
during her pregnancy than at any other time; she is less
liable to contagious  and other maladies; she is less apt
to die than at any other period of her life; and her gene-
ral constitution seems also then to receive  a favorable
impress, for wives and mothers live longer than celibates.
It is wisely decreed that when Avoman is engaged in  this,
to her, anxious stage of reproduction, she  shall not  be
exposed to the pains and dangers of disease, and that those
great covenants of nature, marriage and child-bearing,
shall be lwarded by added strength and length of days.
  There are  certain  disorders  incident, in  exceptional
cases, to  pregnancy, of which Ave shall shortly speak.  In
general, however, Ave repeat that this condition is one ot
                         16 
182       THE  WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

extraordinary health.  More than this, in numerous in
stances it exerts an ameliorating influence upon pre-exist-
ing diseases, suspending their  march, or bringing about
a decidedly curative effect.  Thus, various  obstinate
chronic affections of the skin, of the Avomb and ovaries,
and of the brain and nervous system, frequently get Avell
during pregnancy;  and it is Avell knoAvn to every phy-
sician that by the judicious management of this state,
and of the lying-in period, troublesome displacements of
the womb may be arrested.
  It  should nevertheless  ever be  recollected that the
condition of pregnancy is one of excitement and enhanced
susceptibility  to  impressions  of all  kinds.   For this
reason a change in  the habits of life is  necessary, and
the importance of the directions just laid down for the
care  of the health  during  this  period  cannot be  too
strongly insisted upon.

              DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.
  NotAvithstanding the general immunity irom disease
and the improvement in the health upon Avhich Ave have
been dwelling, as ordinary attendants upon pregnancy,
there are certain inconveniences or discomforts incident
to this state Avhich demand a little attention.
  Morning sickness.—This affection, when confined, as is
usup.lly the case, to  the morning and early part of the
day,  rarely requires much  medical care.  Its absence,
which, as Ave have said, is a frequent cause of miscarriage,
is more to be regretted than its presence, especially as it
is apt to be replaced by more serious troubles.
  Relief will be afforded by Avashing the face and handh
in cold Avater, and taking a cup of milk or a little coffee
and a biscuit or sandwich, before raising the  head from
Qie pillow in the  moxning; remaining  in bed about a 
           TREATMENT OF VOMITING.        \%%

quarter of an hour after this early meal; then dressing
quickly, and immediately  going out for a half hour's
walk.   Rest  in  a half recumbent posture during the
day, particularly after meals, is  beneficial.  The affec-
tion is  mostly a nervous one, and is best combated by
eating.   The food should be plain and unirritating, bu
nutritious, and should be taken frequently, in small quan
titles at a time.
  When the  nausea and vomiting are excessive, and con-
tinue during the day, there is generally some disordered
condition of the digestive apparatus.
  This may be corrected by taking  at night a  teaspoon-
ful of the confection of senna, a pleasant preparation of
this  ordinarily disagreeable medicine,  and by  drinking
three times a day, before each meal, a  Avincglassful of a
tea made Avith  columbo.   Half an ounce of  poAvdercd
columbo should  be added, for this  purpose, to a pint of
boiling water.
  Dr. John H. Griscom, of NeAV York, recommends the
bromide of potassium, Avhich is a harmless medicine for
domestic practice, as affording the most useful means
of arresting the nausea attendant on pregnancy.
  The following prescription  may be  compounded  by
any druggist, and will often be found very effective:

       Take of Bromide of Potassium, two drachms.
        "  " Cinnamon Avater, three ounces.

  Of this a dessertspoonful may be taken two or three
times a day.  It may be used Avith  confidence as  an en-
tirely safe  and  harmless  remedy  in this troublesome
affection.
  A prescription frequently ordered for the  nausea of
                         16* 
184     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

pregnancy by the late distinguished Dr. Meigs, of this
city, consisted of equal parts of SAveet tincture of rhubarb
and compound tincture of gentian :  a dessert-spoonful to
be taken after meals.
  Often, Avhen the boAvels require to be regulated, the use
of bran bread, wheaten grits, oatmeal gruel, and other
laxative articles of food, will be found very beneficial.
   Constipation should be  attended  to, if it exist to such
an extent  as  to cause inconvenience.  Often Avhen the
mother suffers from headache, perversion of sight, dim-
ness of vision, etc.,  they may all be happily relieved by
small  doses of citrate of magnesia,  a Seidletz powder
taken before breakfast, or the use  of the Saratoga and
Bedford Avaters.
  Pain in the abdomen, caused by the distension of its
walls, may be relieved by the application of equal parts
of sweet-oil and laudanum.

          PREPARATIONS  FOR  CONFINEMENT,
  Certain foolish preparations are sometimes made by
wives with the best intentions.  Perhaps one of the most
common and absurd of these is the local use of sweet oil,
in order to facilitate the dilatation of the parts, for Avhich
purpose it  is perfectly inert.   There  are, hoAvever, some
wise  and  even necessary precautions Avhich every Avife
should knoAV and employ, to guard against  unpleasant
and dangerous complications in childbirth.
  Tn particular, the condition of the breasts towards the
close  of  pregnancy demands attention.  Scarcely any
pain  in the lying-in chamber is greater and mcre.difficult
to bear than that Avhich the young  mother suffers from
excoriated nipples.  This  troublesome and  often  very
intractable affection is nearly ahvays the consequence of
the want of care  previous to confinement.  During the 
CARE OF NIPPLES.
185
 latter part of pregnancy the nipples sometimes become
 sunken or flaf, being retracted as the breasts increase in
 size, because of the Avant of elasticity on the part of tho
 milk-tubes.   In order to remedy this fault, Ave have knoAvn
 a breast-pump or puppy to be applied.  Such treatment
 is  dangerous, as it may excite premature contraction of
 the Avomb and miscarriage.  Nipple-shields, Avith broad
 bases and openings, should always  be  obtained.  They
 are  safe, and effectually secure the  prominence of tha
 nipples, Avhen Avorn  constantly, day  and  night, during
 the  last month or so of pregnancy.  Wives Avho have
 never  had children  ought to take special care to ascer-
 tain before labor whether this depressed condition of the
 nipples exists, and to correct it in the manner indicated.
   In the first pregnancy it is also  important to harden
 the nipples.   This may be done by occasionally gently
 rubbing them between the thumb  and finger,  and by
 bathing them tAvice a day during the last six AA'eeks Avith
 tincture of myrrh, or Avith a mixture of equal parts of
 brandy and water,  to which  a little  alum  has been
 added.  This 'procedure will render the  surfaces  less
 sensitive to the friction of the  child's  mouth, and thus
 avert the distress so often  occasioned  in the first con-
 finement by tenderness of the nipples.
  If the nipples be  rough or  nodulated in appearance,
 like  a  strawberry or  raspberry, they are more apt to
 become excoriated or  fissured than if they  present a
smooth  surface.  Under  such  circumstances,  make a
solution of the sulphate of zinc, of the strength of one
grain to the ounce of rose Avater, in a wide-mouthed bottle,
then tilt the  bottle upon the nipple  and  alloAV  it to re-
 main there  for a  few minutes several  times  a day.
Simple tenderness of the nipples and slight fissures may
 be averted  by  the  application either  of a  lotion  of 
186     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

borax (two scruples of borax in three ounces of water,
and an  ounce of glycerine),  of the  honey of borax, or
of the tincture of catechu, and by protecting the parts
from  the pressure of the stays and  the friction  of the
flannel vest.
  It is  of the greatest moment to the comfort  of the
mother  that  all affections of the nipples should be pre-
vented  or remedied  before labor, for the treatment of
sore nipples when the  child is at the breast is often un-
satisfactory, Avhile the  suffering they  occasion  is very
great, even sometimes giving rise to mammary abscess.
  There are certain  articles of clothing and dressings for
the bed which should be cared  for in advance, in order
that they may be ready when required.
  The mother should be provided with short gowns, to
be worn over the chemise instead of  the ordinary night-
gowns.  It is of consequence to procure a proper bandage.
It should be made of heaATy muslin, neither too coarse
nor too  fine;  an ordinarily good  quality of unbleached
muslin is the best.  The material is to be cut bias, about
one and a quarter yards in length, and from twelve to
eighteen inches in breadth, varying, of course, with the
size of the person.  It should  be just large enough to en-
circle the body after  confinement with a margin of a
couple of inches, and to extend doAvn  below the fulness of
the hips. The measurement should be taken and the ban-
dage made to fit when four and  a half months advanced.
It should be narrow above,  wider below, and gored in
<uich a manner that it will be a little narroAver at the loAver
extremity than a few  inches above, so as to prevent it,
jvhen  adjusted, from sliding  upAvards.   A bandage con
etructed in this manner will be very comfortable, and
is not apt to become displaced after applications, as  is
invariably the case Avhen a toAvel or  a piece of straight 
CLOTHING OF CHILD.
187
muslin is used.  The way in which it is to  be applied
will be detailed hereafter.
  The child's clothing should consist first of a piece of
flannel  or some  Avoollen  material  for a  binder.  This
should be from  four to six inches in Avidth, and from
twelve to sixteen inches in length; that is to say, Avide
enough to extend from the arm-pits to the lower part of
the abdomen, and  long enough to go once  and a half
times around the child, having the double fold to come
over  the abdomen.  There should be no embroidery
about this.  A shirt, Avhich it  is  desirable  should be
woollen,  is to be  provided to place over the binder.  It
should be made  to come up tolerably high in the neck
and to extend doAvn the arm. Neither it nor any other
portion of the child's clothing should be starched.  The
petticoat, which may be open its Avhole  length behind,
is to  be  put over the  shirt; tAvo may be used, a short
and a long one.  Next  comes the child's ordinary frock
or slip, and  above this, an apron  to protect the dress
from  the frequent  discharges from the stomach.  Then
a shaAvl,  of flannel or any other  A\Tarm material, is to be
provided to throAV over  the shoulders if the Aveather be
cold.   Socks and pieces of  old soft muslin, free from
stiffening, for napkins or  diapers,  complete  the  child's
outfit.
  For the permanent and  temporary dressing of the bed
there  should be  provided  a piece  of impervious cloth
(oiled silk is the neatest) about a yard square; a piece
of ordinary table oil-cloth or rubber-cloth; a number
of old sheets and comfortables, and a piece  of thick
carpet.   The manner in Avhich these are to be  used will
be explained shortly.
  A pair of small rounded scissors; a package of large
pins, one and a half inches in length, for  the bandage 
188     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

of the  mother, and  smaller ones for that of the child;
some good linen  bobbin for the doctor to tie the navel-
string; good toilet soap and fine surgical sponge for
washing the  child;  a piece of soft linen or muslin for
dressing the  navel; a box of unirritating powder; and     j
a pile of towels,  should  all be had and laid aside many     f
Aveeks  before they  are  Avanted.   These,  together  with
the material  for  dressing the bed, the  child's clothing,
and the mother's bandage, ought  to  be placed together
in a basket got for the purpose, in order  that they may
all be easily and certainly found at a time AAThen  perhaps
the hurry  and excitement of  the  moment Avould render
it difficult othenvise to collect them all immediately.

           SIGNS OF  APPROACHING  LABOR.
   One of the earliest of the preliminary  signs of the
coming on of confinement occurs about tAvo Aveeks before
that event.  It is a dropping  or subsidence  of the womb.
The summit  of that organ then descends, in most cases,
from above to beloAV the umbilicus, and the abdomen
becomes smaller.  The stomach and lungs are  relieved
from  pressure,  the Avoman  breathes more freely, the
sense  of oppression Avhich troubled  her previously is
lost, and  she says she feels " very comfortable."  This
sensation of lightness and buoyancy increases, and a feAV
days before the  setting in of labor she feels  so much
better that she thinks she will take an extra amount of
exercise.  The mother of a  number of  children is ac-
quainted Avith this sign, but the Avife Avith her first  child
may exert herself unduly in the house or out-doors, and
induce labor Avhen in the street or away from home.
Hence the importance of a knoAvledge of this  premoni-
tory symptom.
   A secondv precursory sign of labor is found in the in- 
SYMPTOMS OF LABOR.            189
creased fulness of the external  parts and an augmented
mucous secretion, Avhich may amount even to a discharge
resembling whites,  and requiring the Avearing of a nap-
kin.   This symptom is a good one, indicating a disposi-
tion to relaxation,  and promising an easy time.
  The third preliminary sign which Ave shall mention is
the change in the mental state of  the pregnant woman.
She has  a feeling  of anxiety and  of fidgetiness, some-
times accompanied  Avith  depression  of spirits.   This
condition of emotional distress, modified in particular
cases  by reason, self-control, and religion, may continue
for several days, perhaps, when

          THE SYMPTOMS  OF ACTUAL LABOR
make their appearance.  The first of these is generally
the " shoAV."   It is the discharge of the plug of mucous
which has occupied  the neck of the Avomb up  to  this
time, and  is ordinarily accompanied by a little  blood.
Perhaps before this, or perhaps not for some hours after,
the  " pains" will  develop themselves.  These recur
periodically at intervals of an  hour  or  half an hour at
the outset, and are "  grinding" in character.   True labor
pains are distinguished from false by the fact that they
are felt in the back,  passing on to the thighs, Avhile false
pains are referred  to the abdomen; by their intermittent
character,—the spurious pains being more or less continu-
0USj—and by the steady increase in their frequency and
severity.   In case of doubt as to their exact nature, tho
physician should be  summoned, Avho Avill be able to do*
termine positively  Avhether labor has begun.
   The other symptoms which point to the actual com-
mencement of  labor  are a frequent desire to empty the
bowels and bladder, nausea and vomiting, which, in the
early part of confinement, is a good sign ; shiv?ringa, 
190     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

unattended Avith any sensation of cold; and finally the
rupture and  discharge of the contents of the "bag of
waters."
  Before passing on to the consideration of the manage-
ment  of the  confinement into Avhich  the  Avife has  now
entered, a feAV  words may be appropriately said upon
the
                  CAUSE OF LABOR.
  Neither the  size nor the vigor of the child has any
influence in bringing about delivery at full term.  The
ancient theory,—which received the support of  the dis-
tinguished naturalist Buffbn,—that the infant was the
active agent in causing its own expulsion, is an exploded
one.  It was  asserted by some that hunger excited the
foetus to struggle  to  free itself from the  Avomb ; others
Avere  disposed  to attribute its efforts to accomplish its
entrance into  the  Avorld  to  the  need of  respiration
Avhich it experienced.  But all these ingenious theories,
Avhich presupposed the embryo to  be  actuated  by the
same  feelings Avhich would influence a grown person if
shut up in such a confined abode, are unsatisfactory and
not tenable.   It is Avell  knoAvn  that the  child may die
in the Avomb without retarding  or interfering  in any
Avay Avith  the coming on of the process of labor.  This
fact alone shoAvs that the foetus is, or at  any rate may
be, absolutely passive  either  in  regard to the induction
or advancement of delivery.  The determining cause 01
labor is seated  in the Avomb itself.  The contractions of
this organ occasion the "pains" and expel the chilo..
assisted by  the muscles of the abdomen  and the dia.
phragm.  That the assistance of  the latter forces is nof
necessary is  conclusively proved by  the  occurrence of
childbirth after the  decease of  the  mother.   For in-
stance, a case  is on record in  which  labor commenced 
                THE CONFINEMENT.            \§\

nml tAvins were born after the mother had been dead for
three days.

                 THE CONFINEMENT.
  We will suppose  labor  to have  commenced.  The
preparation of the bed for the occupancy of the mother
[3 uoav to be attended to.  As she is to lie on the left side
of the bed, this is the side, and the only one, which is to
be dressed for the  occasion.   In order to do so, remove
the outer bed-clothes one at a time, folding them neatly
on the right side of the bed  so  that they can  easily be
drawn over when desired.  The permanent dressing is to
be placed beneath the loAver sheet and upon the mattress.
A soft impervious cloth—Avhich, in speaking of the pre-
paration for confinement, we directed to be procured—is
placed next to the surface of the bed.   The upper edge
should be  nearly as high as  the margin of the bolster,
and  it should extend down to a distance at least a foot
below the  level of the hips, so as to certainly protect
the bed  from the discharges.  Upon the top  of this a
blanket or sheet is laid, and the Avhole fastened by pin3.
The  loAver sheet of the bed, which had  been  turned
over to the right side, to permit the  application of  the
dressing, is now to be replaced.  Over  the position of
this permanent dressing, on the top of the  bed sheet, a
neatly-folded  sheet, with  the folded edge down, is  ad-
justed and pinned  in its  place.  It is  upon this sheet
that the patient is to be draAvn up after her confinement,
which will take place upon  the temporary dressing  of
the bed, now to be arranged.   It consists of an  oil-cloth,
which should  extend up beyond the lower edge of  the
permanent dressing, overlapping the folded sheet which
has been placed above it, and should fall  over the side
and bottom of the bed.   A comfortable,  r any soft  ah 
192     THE WIFE DURING  PREGNANQY

Borbent material is placed  over this  impervious cloth
and covered Avith a folded sheet, completing the  tempo-
rary dressing.  The bed-clothes may  now he adjusted,
concealing the dressings from view until they are Avanted,
The valances at the foot of the bed should be raised and
a piece of carpet placed on the floor.  The bed  should
have no  foot-board, or a very low one.
   The dress of the mother—Either a folded sheet  should
he adjusted around the waist as  the only skirt, so as not
to interfere with walking, or a second chemise should be
put on, with the arms outside the sleeves, to extend from
the waist to the feet.   Then the chemise next the body
should be drawm  up and folded high up  around  the
breast.   It should be plaited neatly along the back, and
brought  forward and fastened by pins.  This should  he
thoroughly  done, so that the linen may not be found
wet nor soiled when it is draAvn  doAvn after confinement.
A wrapper  or dressing-goAvn  may be worn during  the
first stage of labor, before it is  necessary to go to  bed.
When, however, that time comes, the wife will take her
place on her left side on the temporary dressing, with a
sheet thrown  over her, her head on a pillow so situated
that her body will be  bent well forward, and her feet
against the bed-post.   A sheet should be tAvisted into a
eord and fastened to the foot of the bed, for her to seize
with her hands during the  accession of the *' bearing-
down pains."   Care should be  taken to have a number
of napkins, a pot of fresh lard,  and the basket contain-
ing the scissors, ligature, bandage, etc.—Avhich have been
previously enumerated in the article on preparations for
itonfinement—at hand, for the use of the doctor.
  We have noAv noted  all that it is useful  for the wife
to know  in regard to the preparation  for and  manago-
tnent of confinement, AAhen a physician ls in attendance, 
USEFUL HINTS.
193
aa, for obvious reasons, he should always be.  In some
instances, hoAvever, the absence of the doctor is unavoid-
able, or the labor is completed before his arrival.  As a
guide to the performance of the  necessary duties of the
lying-in room, under such circumstances, we give some

                HINTS TO ATTENDANTS.
   The room should be kept  quiet.  Too many persona
must not be alloAved in it, as they contaminate the air,
and are apt by their conversation to disturb the patient,
either exciting or depressing  her.   So soon as the head
is born,  it should be  immediately ascertained whether
the neck is  encircled by the cord; if so, it should be re-
moved or loosened.  The  neglect of this precaution may
result fatally to the infant, as happened a short time since
in our own  practice, the  infant, born a few minutes be-
fore our arrival, being found strangled with the  cord
about its neck.  It is also of importance at once to allow
of the entrance of air to the face, to put  the finger in
the mouth to remove any obstruction  Avhich may inter-
fere with respiration,  and to  lay the babe on its right
side, with the head removed from the  discharges.  The
cord should not be  tied until the infant is heard to cry.
The ligature is  to be  applied in the folloAving manner.
A piece  of  bobbin is  tlirown around the naATel-string,
and  tied with a double  knot at the  distance of three
fingers' breadth from  the umbilicus;  a second piece ia
tied an inch beyond the first, and the cord divided, with
the scissors,  betAveen the two,—care being taken not to
(dip  off a finger or otherwise injure  the unsuspecting
little infant, as has occurred in careless hands more
than  once.   When  the  child  is  separated  from  tho
mother, a warm blanket or a  piece of flannel should ha
ready to receive it.  In taking hold of the little strangei 
394     THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

it may slip out of the hands and be injured.  To guard
against this accident, which is very apt to occur  with
awkward or inexperienced persons, always seize the bark
portion of the neck in the space bounded by tho thumb
and first finger of one hand and grasp  the thighs with
the other.  In this  Avay it may be  safely carried,  ft
should  be  transferred,  wrapped up in its  blanket, to
some secure place, and never put in an arm-chair, Avhere
it  may be  crushed  by some one Avho does not observe
that the chair is already  occupied.  The  head of the
child  should  not be so  covered as to incur any danger
of suffocation.

            ATTENTION TO THE MOTHER.
  When the after-birth has come away, the mother should
be drawn up a short distance—six or eight inches—in bed,
and the sheet which has been pinned around  her, to-
gether with the temporary dressing, removed, a clean
folded sheet being introduced under the hips.  The parts
should  be  gently washed with warm Avater and a soft
sponge  or  cloth, after which  an application  of equal
parts  of claret  Avine and water  will  prove pleasant
and beneficial.   We have  also found the  anointing of
the external and internal parts Avith goose grease, which
has been thoroughly washed  in several hot Avaters, to
be very soothing and efficient in speedily allaying  all
irritation.  This ought  all to be done  under cover, to
guard against the taking of cold.  The chemise pinned
tip around  the breast should  now be loosened, and the
woman is  ready for the application of  the  bandage,
which  is to be put on  next the skin.  If properly ami
nicely adjusted, it will prove very grateful.  The direc-
tions for making it have already been given.  In order
to  apply it, one-half of  its  length should  be folded  up 
              CARE OF THE CHILD.            1,95

Into plaits, and the mother should lie on her left side.
Lay the plaited  enct of the bandage underneath the left
side of the patient, carrying  it as far  under as possible,
and draw the loose end over the abdomen.  Then let
the mother  roll  over on her back and draAV  out the
plaited end.   If the abdominal muscles are much  re-
laxed and the hip-bones prominent, a compress of tAvo
or three towels will be wanted.  The bandage should bo
first tightened in the middle  by a pin applied laterally,
for strings should never be employed.  The pins should
be placed at inten-als of about an inch.  The loAver por-
tion of the bandage  should be made quite  tight, to pre-
vent it  slipping up. The mother is noAV ready to be
draAvn up in bed upon the permanent dressing; this should
be done  Avithout any exertion on  her part.  A napkin
should be laid smoothly under the hips (never folded up),
to receive the discharges.  If she prefer to lie or ho* ^t*
side, place a pillow behind her back.

              ATTENTION TO THE CHILD.
  The  baby may now be washed and dressed.   Before
beginning, everything that is wanted should be close at
hand, namely, a basin of warm water, a  large quantity
of lard  or  some  other  unctuous material, soap, tin?
sponge, and a basket containing the binder, shirt, and
other articles of clothing.  First rub the  child's  body
thoroughly with lard.  The  covering can  only be  re-
moved in this way; the  use  of soap alone will have no
effect unless the friction be  so great as to take off also
the skin.  The nurse should take a handful of lard and
rub it  in with  the  palm of the hand, particularly iu
the flexures of  the joints.   In anointing one part  the
others  should be covered, to prevent the child  from
taking cold.   If the child is  thus made perfectly clear- 
196      THE WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

do not use any soap and Avater, because the skin is left
in a more healthful  condition by the lard, and there in
risk of the child's taking cold from the evaporation of
the water.  But the face may be washed with soap and
water, great care being taken not to let the soap get into
the child's eyes, Avhich is one of the most frequent causea
of sore eyes in infants.  The navel-string  is noAV to be
dressed.   This is  done by wrapping it up  in a circular
piece  of  muslin, well oiled, Avith a hole in its  centre.
The bandage  is next to be  applied.  The object of its
use is to  protect the child's  abdomen against cold and
to keep  the dressing of the  cord in  its position.   The
nature, shape and size of the binder have been described.
It should be pinned in front; three pins  being generally
sufficient.  The rest of the  clothing  before enumerated
is then put on.
  The child is noAV to be applied to the breast at once.
This is to be done  for three reasons.   First, it very often
prevents  flooding, Avhich  is  apt  otherwise  to occur.
Secondly, it tends  to prevent milk fever  by averting the
violent rush of the milk on the third day,  and the con-
sequent engorgement of the breast and constitutional dis-
turbance.  The third reason is that there is always a
secretion in the breast from the first, which it is desirable
for the child to have, for it acts as a cathartic, stimu-
lating the liver and cleansing the bowels from the secre-
tions  which fill them  at  the time of birth.   There is
generally sufficient nourishment in the  breasts for the
child  for the first feAV days.   The mother may lie on the
one side or the other, and receive the child upon the arm
of that upon Avhich she is lying.   If the nipple  be not
perfectly drawn out so that the child  can grasp it in its
mouth, the difficulty may be overcome by filling a porter
nottle with hot Avater, emptying it and then placing the 
             CARE OF THE MOTHER.          \yt

mouth of the bottle immediately over the nipple.   This
will cause, as the bottle cools, a sufficient amount of suc-
tion  to  elevate the sunken nipple.  The bottle should
then be removed and the child substituted, a little sugar
and water or sweetened milk being applied, if necessary,
to tempt the child to take the breast.
  The patient should be cleansed every four or five hours.
A soft napkin, wet with Avarm soap and water,  should
for this purpose be passed  underneath the bed-clothing,
Avithcmt exposing the surface to a draft of air.   After
using the soap and Avater, apply again the dilute  claret
wine and the goose grease.   Much of the  safety of the
mother depends  upon  the observation of cleanliness.
The napkin should not  be  alloAved to remain so long as
to become saturated with the discharges.
  The patient should  maintain rigidly the  recumbent
position for the first few days, not raising  her shoulders
from the pillow for any purpose, and should abstain from
receiving visitors  and  from any social conversation for
the first tAventy-four hours.
  For the first three  or four days, until  the milk has
come and the milk fever passed, the mother  should live
upon light food,—oatmeal gruel, tea and toast, panada,
or anything else of little bulk and uustimulating charac-
ter.   Afterwards  the diet  may be increased by the ad-
dition of chicken, lamb, mutton or oyster broth, buttered
toast and eggs.  The object of light nourishment at first
is to prevent the too rapid secretion of milk, Avhich might
be  attended Avith evil local  and constitutional  effects.
If, hoAvever, the mother be in feeble  health, it will be
necessary from the outset that she shall be supported
Avith  nourishing  concentrated food.  Beef-tea will the*
be found very serviceable,  particulary if made according
to the  following  recipe :  Take a pound of fresh beef 
f98      THE  WIFE DURING  PREGNANCY.

from the loins or neck.   Free it  carefully from all fat
Cut it up into fine pieces, and add a very little salt and
five grains of unbroken black pepper.  Pour on it a
pint of cold water, and simmer for forty minutes.   Then
pour off  the liquor, place the meat in a cloth, and after
squeezing the juice  from it into  the tea, throw it aside.
Return to the fire and boil for ten minutes.
  After  the first week, the diet  of  the  lying-in woman
should always be nutritious,  though plain  and simple.
The  development of the mammary glands, the produc-
tion of the mammary secretion, and  the reduction which
takes place in the size of the Avomb, all require iucreased
nourishment that they may be properly performed.
  After  the  third  or  fourth day  the  dress should  be
changed.  The dress  worn during labor, if our directions
have been carried out, will  not have been soiled.  The
clothing  should be  changed without uncovering the
person, and without  raising the  head from the pillow.
Pull the "bed-gown from over each arm and draw it out
from  under the body.  Then unfasten the chemise  in
front and draw it down underneath her so that it  can  be
removed from beloAV, as it should  not be carried over the
head.  Place her arms in the sleeves of the clean chemise,
throw  its body over her head, and, without lifting her
shoulders from the bed, draw it down.   Then change the
bed-gown in the same manner,
  In cnanging the upper sheet,  it should be pulled off
trosz oelow, and the clean one carried down in its place
from above, underneath the other clothing, which  can  be
rcaoiy accomplished by plaiting  the  lower half.   In
introducing a clean under-sheet, one side of  it should  be
plaited and  placed under the patient, lying on her left
ride; wnen she turns on her back the plaits  can then  bo
readily drawn out.  These directions, though apparently 
        TO ESCAPE PAIN  IN CHILDBIRTH.     j99

 trivial, are important.  The object is to guard against the
 great danger to which the mother  is exposed by sitting
 up in bed for even a few minutes during the first week.
   Cathartic medicine should not be administered the first,
 the third,  or any other  day  after confinement, unless it
 is needed.   If the  patient is perfectly comfortable, has
 no pain in the abdomen, no headache, and is Avell in every
 respect, she should be  let alone,  even if her boAvels have
 not been mo\red.   If a laxative be called for, citrate of
 magnesia is much  pleasanter and  equally as efficacious
 as  the castor-oil  so frequently administered on this
 occasion.

          TO HAVE LABOR WITHOUT PAIN.
   Is it possible to avoid the throes of labor and have
 children without suffering?   This  is a question Avhich
 science answers in the affirmative.  Medical art brings
 the Avaters  of Lethe to  the bedside of woman in her hour
 of trial.   Of late years chloroform and ether have been
 employed to lessen or annul the  pains of childbirth, with
 the same success that has attended  their use  in surgery.
 Their  administration is  never pushed so as to produce
 complete unconsciousness, unless some operation is neces-
 sary, but merely so as  to diminish sensibility and render
 the pains endurable. These agents are thus given Avithout
 injury to the child, and without retarding the labor or
 exposing the mother to any  danger.  When properly
employed, they induce refreshing sleep, revive the droop-
ing nervous system  and expedite the delivery.
  They should never be used in  the absence of the phy-
sician.  He alone is competent to give them Avith safety
In  natural, easy, and  short labor,  where the pains  are
readilv borne, they are not required.  But in those linger-
 big cases in  which the suffering is  extreme, and, ahov# 
200      THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

all, in those instances where instruments have to be em-
ployed, ether and  chloroform have a value beyond all
price.
             MORTALITY OF CHILDBED.
   The number of the pregnancy affects the danger to be
expected from lying-in.  It has been declared by excel-
lent authority that the mortality of first labors, and of
childbed fever folloAving first labors, is about twice the
mortality attending all subsequent  labors collectively,
After the ninth labor the mortality increases with the
number.   A Avoman having a large family, therefore,
comes into greater and increasing risk as she bears her
ninth and successive children.
   The age of the woman also affects the mortality accom-
panying confinement.  The age of least mortality is near
twenty-five  years.  On either side  of this, mortality
increases with the  diminution or  increase of age.   The
age of the greatest safety in  confinement therefore cor-
responds to  the age of greatest fecundity.   And during
the whole of child-bearing life, safety in labor is directly
as fecundity, and  vice versa.  Hence modern statistics
prove the  correctness of the saying of Aristotle, that
" to the  female sex, premature  wedlock is peculiarly
dangerous, since, in consequence of anticipating the de-
mands of nature, many of them suffer greatly in child-
birth, and  many  of  them  die."  As the period from
twenty to twenty-five  is the least dangerous for child-
birth, and as first labors are more hazardous than all
others before the ninth, it is important that this term of
least mortality be  chosen for entering upon the duties of
matrimony   This we have already pointed out in speak
ing of the age of nubility.
   The sex of the child is another  circumstance affecting
tne mortality of labor.  Professor Simpson, of Edinburgh 
          SIZE OF CHILDREN AT BIRTH.      201

 has shown that a greater proportion of deaths occurs in
 women who have brought forth male children.
   The duration of labor also influences the mortality of
 lying-in.   The fatality increases with the length of the
 labor.  It must be  recollected, however, that the dura-
 tion of labor is only an inconsiderable part of the many
 causes of mortality in childbirth.

    WEIGHT AND LENGTH OF NEW-BORN CHILDREN.
   The  average weight of infants of both  sexes at the
 time of birth is about seven pounds. The average of male
 children, is seven  and one-third  pounds; of female, six
 and two-thirds pounds.  Children which at full term
 Aveigh less than five pounds  are  not  apt to thrive, and
 usually die in a short time.
   The average length at birth, without regard to sex, is
 about twenty  inches, the male  being about half an inch
 longer than the female.
   In regard to the relation between the size of the child
 and the age  of the mother, the interesting conclusion
 has been arrived at that the  average weight and  length
 of the mature child  gradually  increases  with the age of
 the mother up to the twenty-fifth year.  Mothers between
 the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine have the largest
 children.  From the  thirtieth year they gradually dimin-
 ish.  The first child of a woman is of comparatively
 light weight.   The first egg of  a fowl  is smaller than
 those which follow.
   The new-born children in our western States seem to
 be larger than the statistics shoAV them to be in the vari-
ous states of Europe, and apparently even  than  in our
eastern States. In the Report  on Obstetrics of the Illi-
nois  State Medical  Society for 1868, it is stated that
Quincy, 111., produced during the year six male children 
202      THE WIFE DURING PREGNANCY.

whose average weight at birth was thirteen and a quartei
pounds, the smallest weighing twehre pounds  and  the
largest seventeen and a half, Avhich was born at the end
of four hours' labor, without instrumental or other inter-
ference.  A recent number of a Avestern medical journal
reports the birth at Detroit in February last of a avcIJ-
formed  male  infant twenty-four  and  one-half inches
long, Aveighing sixteen  pounds.  The woman's weight,
after labor,  is stated as only ninety-tAATo pounds.   An
English physician  delivered a child by the forceps which
Aveighed seventeen  pounds tAvelve ounces, and  measured
twenty-four inches.  These are the largest Avell-authenti-
cated new-born infants on record.

                DURATION OF LABOR.
  The  length of a natural labor  may be said  to vary
betAveen two and eighteen hours.  The intervals betAveen
the pains are such, however, that  the actual duration of
suffering, even  in  the  longest  labor, is comparatively
very short.  The first  confinement is  much  longer than
subsequent ones.
  The sex of the child  has some influence on the dura-
tion of labor.   According to Dr. Collins, of the Lying-
in Hospital of Dublin, the average with male  births is
one hour and four minutes longer than with female.  The
weight of the child also affects the time of labor. Chil-
dren Aveighing  over  eight  pounds average four hours
and eight minutes  longer in birth than those of less than
eight pounds weight.
                    STILL-BIRTHS.
  The statistics of nearly fifty thousand  deliveries which
occurred at the Royal Maternity Charity, London, shoA?
a percentage of nearly five still-born,  or one  in  twenty-
se\reu. 
           CARES AFTER CONFINEMENT.      203

   There are more boys still-born than girls.  We have
 ft.^cady spoken  of the  fact that male births are more
 tedious, and  that a  larger number of males die  in the
 first few years of life than females.   This series of mis-
 fortunes has been attributed to the large size which the
 male foetus at birth possesses over the female.

          IMPRUDENCE AFTER CHILDBIRTH.
   After  the  birth of the  child at full  term or at any
 orher period of pregnancy, the womb, which had attained
 such wonderful  proportions in a few months, begins to
 resume its former size.  This process requires at least six
 weeks after labor  for its  full accomplishment.  Rest is
 essential during this period.  A too early return to the
 ordinary active duties of  life retards  or  checks this re-
 storation to normal  size,  and, the Avomb being heavier,
 exposes the woman to great danger of uterine displace-
 ments.  Nor are these  the only risks incurred by a too
 hasty renewal of active  movements.   The  surface, the
 substance, and the lining membrane of the womb are
 all very liable, while this change from its increased to its
 ordinary bulk is occurring, to take on  inflammation after
 slight exposure.   The worst cases of  uterine inflamma-
 tion  and ulceration  are thus  caused. A "bad getting
 up," prolonged debility, pain and excessive discharge,
are among the least penalties  consequent  upon impru-
dence after confinement.  It is a mistake to suppose that
women in the loAver  walks of life  and the wives of In-
dians attend with impunity to their ordinary duties a
few days after confinement. Those who suffer most from
 falling of the womb and other displacements are the
 poor, Avho are obliged to  get up on the ninth day and
 remain  upright,  standing or walking for many hours
 with an over-Aveighted womb.  Every  physician Avho has
                         18 
 204      THE WlFE DURING PREGNANCY.

 Been much of Indian women has  remarked  upon the
 great frequency  of womb disease in the squaAVS, which
 is to be attributed  to the neglect of rest, so common
 among them, after childbirth.  If this  be true of vigo-
' to.us women accustomed to a hardy life, how much more
 apt to suffer from this cause are the delicately nurtured,
 Avhose  systems are  already, perhaps, deteriorated, and
 little able to resist any deleterious influences.
    A mother should remain in bed for at least two weeks
 after the birth of the child, and should not return to her
 household duties under a month; she should  also take
 great pains to protect herself from cold, so as to escape
 the rheumatic affections to which at the time she is par-
 ticularly subject.   If these  directions were  generally
 observed, there would be less employment for physicians
 with diseases peculiar to women, and fewer invalids in
 American homes.

      TO PRESERVE THE FORM AFTER CHILDBIRTH.
    This is a matter of great anxiety with many women;
 and  it is proper that it should be, for a flabby, pendulous
 abdomen is not  only destructive to  grace of movement
 and  harmony of outline, but is a positive inconvenience.
    To avoid it, be careful not to leave the bed too early.
 If the walls of the  abdomen are much  relaxed, the bed
 should be  kept  from two to three weeks.   Gentle fric-
 tions daily with  spirits  and water will  give tone to the
 muscles.   But the most important point is to wear for
 several months a well-fitting bandage—not a towel pinned
 around  the person, but a body-case of strong  linen, cut
 bias, setting snugly  to  the form, but not  exerting un-
 pleasant  pressure.  The pattern for this has already been
 gi ven 
THE  MOTHER.
  It has  been well said by Madame Sirey, that the
women who comprehend Avell their rights and duties as
mothers of families certainly  cannot  complain of their
destiny.  If there exists any inequality in the means of
pleasure accorded to the tAvo sexes, it  is in  favor of the
woman.  The mother Avho lives in her children and her
grandchildren has the  peculiar privilege of  not know-
ing the grief of becoming old.
  " So Ioav down  in the scale of creation as Ave can go,"
says Professor Laycock, of Edinburgh, " wherever there
is a discoverable  distinction of sex, Ave find that mater-
nity is the first and most fundamental duty of the female.
The male nevTer  in a single  instance  in any organism,
whether plant or  animal, contributes nutrient material."
  Among  the  Romans it was  enacted that  married
women Avho had borne three children,  or if freed-women,
four, had special  privileges of their oaati in cases  of in-
heritance, and were exempted from tutelage.   Juvenal
has recorded  the  reverence paid in Rome to the neAvly-
made  mother, and  the sign  by Avhich  her  house Avas
designated  and protected  from rude intruders, namely,
by the suspension of Avreaths over the  door.
  At various times  and in various countries, legislators
have made laAA's  discriminating in favor of matrons,
justly regarding  the family as the source of the Avealth
and prosperity of the State.
                                            20i 
206
THE MOTHER.
   Louis XIV. granted, by the  edict of 1666, certain
pensions to parents of ten children, with an increase h>
those who had tAvelve or more

                      NURSING.
   So soon as the infant is born it ought to be placed at
the breast.  From this source it should  receive its only
nourishment during the first four  or six  months, and
in many cases the  first  year, of  its life.  The  child
Avhich the  mother  has carried  for nine months and -.
brought with suffering into the Avorld still depends upcn
ner for its existence.  At  the moment of its birth  her
duties to her infant, instead of ceasing, augment in im-
portance.  The obligation is imposed upon her of nou-
rishing it with her  oavu milk, unless there are present
physical conditions  rendering  nursing  improper, of
which Ave are about to speak.   It  is well knoAvn that
the artificial feeding of infants is a  prominent cause of
mortality in early life.  The foundlings of large cities
furnish the most striking  and convincing proof of the
great advantages of nursing over the use of artificially-
prepared food.  On the continent of Europe, in Lyons
and  Parthenay, where  foundlings are wet-nursed from
the time they are received, the deaths are 33.7 and 35
per cent.  In Paris, Rheims, and Aix, where they  are
wholly  dry-nursed, their deaths  are 50.3,  63.9, and 80
per cent. In New York city, the foundlings, numbering
several hundred a year, were, until recently, dry-nursed,
with the fearful and almost incredible mortality of nearly
one hundred per cent.  The employment of AAret-nurse?
has produced a much more favorable result.  Therefore,
if for  any reason the mother cannot nurse her own clrild
a hired  wet-nurse should be procured.   This bring9 •>»
to the consideration of 
           DIFFICULTIES IN NURSING.       207

HINDRANCES TO NURSING, AND AVHEN IT IS IMPROPER.
  Women AA'ho have never suckled often experience dif-
ficulty in nursing,  on account of the sunken  and flat
condition of the nipple.  We have pointed out the causes
of this  depression,  and how by early attention, befor<
the birth of the infant, it may be prevented.  If, hoAv
ever,  these  precautions have been neglected, and  it is
found that the nipple is not sufficiently prominent to  be
grasped  by the child's mouth, it may be draAvn  out by
a common  breast pump, by suction Avith a tobacco pipe,
by the use of the  hot-Avater bottle, in  the manner de-
scribed,  or  by the application of a puppy, or of an
infant a little  older.  Neither the child nor the mother
should be  constantly fretted in such cases by frequent
ineffectual attempts at nursing.  Such unremitting atten-
tion and continual  efforts  produce nervousness and Iosb
of sleep, and result in a  diminution of the quantity of
the milk.  The child should not be put to the breast
oftener  than once  in an  hour and a half or two hours.
By the use of the expedients mentioned  the whole  diffi-
culty will be overcome in a few days.
  Delay in applying the child to the breast is a common
cause of trouble.  After it has been fed for several  days
Avith  the spoon or  bottle, it will  often refuse to nurse.
When nursing is deferred, the nipple also becomes ten-
der.   For these reasons,  as well  as  the others detailed
in our directions for the care of the neAV-born  infant,
the child should ahvays,  in say from two to three hours
after  labor, be placed at the breast.
  Ulcerated  and fissured nipples  should be treated by
the physician in attendance.  As it is highly desirable
and  nearly always possible to avoid them, Ave would
again call attention to the manner of doing so. indicat
                         18* 
208
THE MOTHER.
m a previous article.   Fissured nipp'e*  sometimes  do
barm to the infant by causing  it 'o SAvallow blood, dis-
turbing in this way the digestion.  But all these  local
Interferences with nursing can generally  be obviated in
the course of a feAV Aveeks, and rarely entirely prevent
die exercise of this maternal pleasure and duty.
  But there are certain physical conditions which neces-
sitate the employment cf a hired  wet-nurse or AATeaning.
If the mother belongs to a  consumptive family, and is
herself pale, emaciated, harassed  by a cough,  and ex-
hausted by suckling, Avet-nursing is eminently improper.
A temporary loss of strength under other circumstances
should not induce a mother at once to Avean her child,
for  it is  often possible, by the judicious  use  of tonics,
nourishing food,  and stimulants, to entirely restore the
health with the child  at the breast.   It  should always
be recollected, however, that the milk of those in de-
cidedly infirm health is incapable of properly nourish-
ing the child.  Professor J. LeAvis Smith,  of NeAV York,
quotes, in his recent Avork on Diseases of Children, several
instructive cases AAdiich show the  danger  sometimes at-
tending suckling, and  Avhich may imperatively demand
its discontinuance.  "A very light-complexioned young
mother, in very good health, and of a good constitution,
though somewdiat delicate, was nursing  for  the  third
time, and, as regarded the  child, successfully.  All  at
once this young woman experienced a feeling of exhaus-
tion.   Her  skin  became  constantly hot;  there  Avere
cough, oppression, night-SAveats;  her strength visibly
declined, and in less than a fortnight she  presented the
ordinary symptoms of consumption.  The nursing AAaa
immediately abandoned, and  from the moment the secre-
tion of milk had  ceased, all  the troubles  disappeared."
Again, "A Avoman of forty years of age having  lost 
WHEN NOT TO NURSE.          209
oue after another, several children, all of which she had
put out to nurse, determined to nurse the last one her
self.   This woman  being vigorous and well built, was
eager for the Avork, and,  filled Avith devotion  and spirit,
she gave herself up to the nursing of her child with a
sort of fury.   At nine months she still nursed him from
fifteen to tAventy times a day.  Having become extremely
emaciated, she fell  all at once into a state of weakness.
from Avhich nothing could raise her, and tAvo days after
the poor Avoman died of  exhaustion."
  It does not ahvays  follow that because the mother is
rick  the child should  be taken from the breast.   It is
only necessary in those affections in Avhich there  is great
depression of the vital powers, or in  which there is dan-
ger of communicating  the  disease to the child.   In the
city, where artificially-fed infants run great danger, ex-
treme caution should be  exercised in early weaning.
  Inflammation of  either of the breasts necessitates the
removal of the  infant from the affected  side  and its
restriction to the other.  As the inflammation gets Avell
and the milk reappears, the first of it should ahvays be
rejected, as it is  apt to be thick and stringy, after Avhich
nursing may be  resumed.

                RULES FOR NURSING.
  The neAV-born child should nurse about every second
hour during the day, and not more than once or tAvice at
night.   Too much ardor  may be displayed by the young
mother in the performance of her duties.  Net knowing
the fact that an infant quite as frequently cries from being
overfed  as  from want of nourishment, she is  apt to give
it the breast at every cry, day and night.  In this man-
ner her health is broken  down and she is compelled, per-
haps, to Avean the child, Avhich, with  more prudence and 
210
THE  MOTHER.
knoAvledge, she might have  continued to nurse without
detriment to herself.   It is particularly important  that
the child shall acquire the  habit of  not nursing more
than  once or tAvice  at night.   This,  wTith  a little  per-
severance, can readily be accomplished, so that the hours
for rest at night, so much needed by the mother, may not
be interfered Avith.   Indeed,  if the mother does not enjoy
good  health, it is better for  her  not to nurse at all  at
night, but to have the child fed once or tAvice with a
little  coav's milk.   For this purpose, take the upper third
of the milk  which has stood for several hours, and dilute
it with water, in the  proportion of one part of milk  to
two of water.
  In those cases in which the milk of the mother habitu-
ally disagrees Avith the infant, the attention of the  doc-
tor should at once  be called  to the  circumstance.   A
microscopic  examination  will  reveal  to the intelligent
practitioner  the cause of the difficulty, and suggest the
remedy.
  It may be well here to mention—as, judging from the
practice of  many nurses and  mothers, it seems  to be a
fact not  generally known or attended to—that human
milk  contains all that is  required  for the groAvth and
repair of the various parts of . the  child's body.   It
should therefore be the sole food of early infancy.

    INFLUENCE  OF DIET ON THE MOTHER'S MILK.
  Certain articles of food render the milk acid, and thus
induce colicky pains and bowel complaint  in the child.
Such, therefore, as are found, in each individual case,  to
produce indigestion and an acid stomach in the mother,
should be carefully avoided by her.
  Retention of the milk in the breasts alters its character.
Tne longer it is retained, the weaker and more watery  it 
          ALTERATIONS OF THE MILK.        21]

becomes.   An acquaintance with this fact is of practical
importance to every mother; for it follows from it that the
milk is richer the oftener it is removed from the breast.
Therefore, if the digestion of the child is disordered by
the milk  being  too  rich, as sometimes happens, the re-
medy is to give  it the breast less frequently, by which
not only is less  taken, but the quality is also  rendered
poorer.  On  the contrary, in those instances  in which
the child is badly nourished and the milk is insufficient
in quantity, it should be applied oftener, and the milk
thus rendered richer.
  The milk  which  last flows is always  the richest.
Hence, when tAvo children are nursed, the first is the
worse served.

      INFLUENCE OF PREGNANCY ON THE MILK.
  Menstruation   is ordinarily absent, and  pregnancy
therefore impossible, during the whole course of nursing,
at least during the first nine months.  Sometimes,  Iioav-
ever,  mothers become umvell at  the  expiration of the
sixth or seventh month ;  in rare instances, within the first
five or six Aveeks after confinement.  When  the monthly
sickness  makes   its  appearance, without any  constitu-
tional  or local disturbance, it is not apt to interfere Avith
the Avelfare of the infant.   When, on  the contrary, the
discharge is profuse and attended with much pain, it may
produce colic, vomiting, and  diarrhoea in the nursling.
The  disturbance  in  the  system of the child ordinarily
resulting from pregnancy in the mother is such that, as a
rule, it should be at once weaned so soon as it is certain
that pregnancy exists.  The only exceptions to this rule
ore those cases  in the city during the  hot months in
which  it is impossible either to nrocure a wet-nurse or to
take the  child to the country to  be weaned.   In  ♦*• U 
212
TNE MOTHER.
weather, an Infant should certainly be weaned, if it ha*
attained its fifth or sixth month  and the  mother has be-
come pregnant.

   INFLUENCE OF THE MOTHER'S  MIND OVER  THE
                  NURSING  CHILD.
  We have spoken, in treating of mothers' marks, of the
influence of the mother's  mind upon her  unborn  off-
spring.   The influence of the maternal  mind does not
cease with the birth of the child.  The mother continues
during  the whole period of  nursing poAverfully to im-
press, through her milk, the babe  at her breast.  It is
well-established  that  mental  emotions  are capable of
changing the  quantity and quality of the milk, and of
thus rendering  it hurtful  and  even dangerous to the
infant.
  The secretion  of milk  may be entirely stopped by the
action of the nervous system.  Fear, excited on account
of the child which is sick or exposed to accident, will
check the  flow of milk,  Avhich will not return until the
little one is  restored in safety to  the  mother's arms.
Apprehension felt in  regard  to a drunken husband has
been known to arrest the supply of this fluid.  On the
other hand, the  secretion is  often  augmented, as every
mother  knoAVS, by the sight  of the child, nay, even by
the thought of him, causing a sudden rush of blood to
the breast  knoAvn to nurses as the draught.  Indeed, a
Btrong desire to furnish  milk, together Avith  the applica-
tion  of  the  child  to the breast, has been  effectual in
bringing about its secretion in young girls, old Avomen,
aud even men.
  Sir Astley Cooper  states that  " those passions which
are generally sources of  pleasure,  and which, Avhen
moderately indulged, are conducive to health, will, Avhen 
QUALITY OF MILK.
213
carried  to  excess, alter and  even entirely check the se-
cretion of milk."
  But the fact  which it is most important  to know is
that nervous  agitation may so alter the quality of the
milk as to make it poisonous.  A fretful temper, fits of
anger, grief, anxiety of mind, fear and sudden terror,
not only lessen  the  quantity of the milk  but render it
thin and  unhealthful, inducing  disturbances of  the
child's bowels, diarrhoea, griping,  and  fever.  Intense
mental emotion  may even so alter the milk, as to cause
the death of the child.  A physician states, in the Lon-
don Lancet, that  having removed  a small tumor from
behind the ear of  a mother, all went on well until she
fell into a violent passion.  The child being suckled soon
afterwards, it died in convulsions.   Professor Carpenter
records in  his Physiology two  other fatal  instances; in
one, the infant put to the breast immediately after the
receipt of distressing news  by the  mother, died  in  her
arms in the presence of the messenger of the ill-tidings;
in the other, the  infant was  seized  with convulsions on
the right side and paralysis on the left, on suckling di-
rectly after the mother had met Avith an agitating occur-
rence.   Another case of similar character may be men-
tioned.   A  woman while nursing became violently ex-
cited on account of a loss she had just  met with from a
theft.  She gave her child the breast while in an intense
passion.  The child  first  refused  it, but  subsequently
nursed, when severe vomiting  occurred.  In the course
of some  hours the child  took  the  other breast, was at-
tacked at once with violent convulsions and died, in spite
of all that could be done for it.
  The following cases are related by Professor Carpentei
as occurring within his OAvn knowledge. They are valuable
as a AA'arning to nursing mothers to avoid all exciting <>t 
214
THE MOTHER.
depressing passions.  A mother of several healthy chil-
dren, of whom the youngest was a vigorous infant a few
months old, heard of the death from convulsions of the
infant  child of an intimate friend, at a distance, whose
family had  increased in the same manner as her own.
The unfortunate circumstance  made a  strong  impres-
rion on her  mind, and, being alone with her babe, sepa-
rated from  the rest of her  family, she dAvelt upon it
more than  she othenvise Avould  have  done.   With her
mind thus  occupied, one morning, shortly after nursing
her infant, she laid it in its cradle, asleep and apparently
in perfect health.  Her attention Avas soon  attracted to
it by a noise.  On going to the cradle she  found it in a
convulsion,  which lasted only a few moments, and left it
dead.  In the other case, the mother had lost  several
children in early infancy, from fits.  One infant alone
survived the  usually fatal period.  While nursing him,
one morning, she dwelt strongly upon the fear of losing
him also, although he appeared to be  a  very healthy
child.   The infant was  transferred to the arms of the
nurse.   While the nurse was endeavoring to cheer the
mother by calling her attention to the thriving appear-
ance of her child, he was seized with  a convulsion, and
died almost instantly in her arms.  Under similar cir-
cumstances, a  child should not be nursed by its mother,
but by one who has reared healthy children of her own
and has a tranquil mind.
  An interesting illustration of the powerful sedative
action  of  the  mother's milk—changed in consequence
of great mental distress—upon the impressible nervous
svstem of the infant, is furnished by a German physician.
" A carpenter  fell into a quarrel  with a soldier billeted
in his  house, and was  set upon by the latter with his
draAvn sword.  The wife of the carpenter at first trembled 
       EFFECT  OF ANGER ON THE MILK.     9J 5

 from  fear and terror, and then suddenly threw herself
 furiously betAveen  the  combatants, wrested the swud
 from  the soldier's hand, broke it in pieces, and threAV it
 away.  During the tumult, some neighbors came in and
 separated the men.   While in this state of strong excite-
 ment, the mother took  up  her  child  from the cradle,
 where it lay  playing  and  in the most perfect health,
 never having had a moment's illness.   She gave it the
 breast, and in so doing sealed its fate.  In a few minutes
 the infant left off sucking, became  restless, panted, and
 sank dead upon its mother's bosom.   The physician, who
 was  instantly  called in,  found  the child  lying  in  the
 cradle as if asleep, and  Avith its features undisturbed,
 but all his resources were fruitless.   It was irrevocably
 gone."
  Professor  William A. Hammond, of New York, men-
 tions, in a recent number of the Journal of Psychological
 Medicine, several instances, from  his  OAvn practice, of
 affections in the child caused by the mother's milk.  "A
 soldier's  Avife, whilst nursing her child, was  very much
 terrified  by a sudden thunderstorm, during which  the
 house where she Avas then quartered Avas struck by light-
 uing.   The  infant,  which had always  been in excellent
 health,  was immediately attacked  Avith vomiting and
 convulsions,  from which  it  recovered Avith  difficulty."
* A lady, three weeks after delivery, was attacked with
 puerperal insanity.   She nursed  her child but once after
 the accession  of  the disease, and in two  hours subse-
quently it was affected  with general convulsions, from
 which it  died during the night.  Previous to this event
 it had been in robust health."
  Again, Dr. Seguin, of NeAV York, relates, in his work
im Idiocy, a number of cases of loss of mind produced
Vv the  altered state of the mother's  milk.   "Mrs. B
 J                        19 
il6
THE MOTHER.
came out from a ball-room, gave the breast to hor baby,
three months old; he Avas taken with spasms two houra
after, and since is a confirmed idiot and epileptic."
  " In a moment of great anxiety  Mrs. C. jumped into a
carriage with her suckling, a girl of fifteen months, s^
far very  intelligent Tind attractive.   The child took
the  breast only once in a journey of twenty miles, but
before arriving at destination she vomited several times,
with no interruption but that of stupor, and  after an
acute fever the little girl settled doAvn into the condition
of a cripple and  idiot."
  The celebrated physician Boerhave mentions the milk
of an angry nurse as among the causes of epilepsy.
  These facts show the importance of a placid mind and
cheerful temper in the mother while nursing.

     POSITION  OF THE  MOTHER DURING NURSING.
  The habit of nursing a child sitting up in bed or half
reclining upon a  lounge is a Avrong one.  Such a position
is injurious to the breasts, hurtful to the woman's figure,
and apt to cause backache.  When in bed, the mother
ought ahvays to  be recumbent while the child  is at the
breast, held upon the  arm of the  side  upon which she
lies.  When  out  of bed, she should sit upright while
nursing.

   QUANTITY OF MILK REQUIRED BY THE INFANT.
  The amount of milk furnished every day by a healthy
woman has  been estimated at from a quart to a quart
and  a half.  An  infant one or two months of age takea
about two Avine-glassfuls, or  three ounces,  every meal;
.hat is,—as it nurses every two hours,  excepting when
asleep,—in the neighborhood of a quart and a quarter
daring the tAvonfcy-four hours.   When it attains the age 
             QUALITIES OF A  NURSE.         217

of three months, it thrives well on five meals a day, the
quantity taken at each meal then—the stomach being
 nore capacious—amounting  to  about half a pint.   A
child above three  months of age ordinarily requires a
quart and a half daily.
  A healthy mother  is fully capable of furnishing this
quantity of milk per  day, and of affording the child all
the nourishment it needs until four or six months after
birth.
  The quantity of the mother's milk varies according
to many circumstances.  It is most abundant and  also
most nutritious in nursing women betAveen  the ages of
fifteen and thirty ; least so, in those from thirty-five  to
forty.  There  is likewise a great difference  in different
women in  this respect.

     THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD NURSING-MOTHER
are well described by Professor J. LeAvis Smith.  " The
best Avet-nurses are  usually robust, Avithout being  corpu-
lent.   Their appetite is good, and their breasts are dis-
tended, from the number and large  size of the  blood-
vessels and milk ducts.  There is but a moderate amount
of fat around  the gland, and tortuous veins are observed
passing over it.  Such nurses do not experience a feeling
of exhaustion, and do not suffer from  lactation.  The nu
triment which they consume is equally expended on their
own sustenance  and  the  supply of  milk.   There are
other good wet-nurses who have the physical condition
described, but Avhose breasts are small.  Still the infant
continues to nurse till it is satisfied, and it thrives.  The
milk  is of good quality, and  it appears  to  be secreted
oiainly during the time -of suckling.  Other  mothers
jvidently decline in health during the time of nursing.
fhey furnish  milk  of good  quality and  in  3hundanco, 
218
THE MOTHER.
and their infants thrive, but it is at their own txrensfi
They themselves say, and with truth, that what they eal
goes to milk.  They become thinner and paler, are per-
haps troubled with  palpitation and are easily exhausted.
They often find  it necessary to Avean before  the end of
the usual period of  lactation.  There  is another class
whose health is habitually  poor, but who furnish  the
usual  quantity  of  milk Avithout the exhaustion  expe-
rienced by the class just described.   The milk of these
women is of p^or quality.  It is abundant but Avatery.
Their infants are pallid, having soft and flabby fibre."

             OVER-ABUNDANCE OF  MILK.
  An excessive amount of milk often distends the breasts
of those Avomen Avho are prone to have long and profuse
monthly  sicknesses.   It is also  apt to occur in  those
Bubject to bleeding  piles.   It  may  be produced  by
any excitement of the Avomb or ovaries, and by over-
nursing.   In  these  cases there is  usually  a constant
oozing away and consequent loss of milk.  The mother
is troubled by this overfloAv, because it keeps her clothing
wet, and the child suffers because of the  unnutritious,
watery character of the milk under  such circumstances.
  This over-abundant supply may be moderated and  the
quality improved by diminishing the quantity of drink,
and by the use of preparations of iron.  Fifteen drops
of the muriatic tincture of iron, taken three times a day
in a little sweetened Avater, through a glass tube, will be
useful.  It will lessen the amount cf the milk, and make
it richer.   So soon  as  these objects are accomplished,
the medicine  should be discontinued,  as if taken too
long it may so much diminish the milk  as to necessitate
weaning.   The application  of a cloth, Avrung out in
cold Avaler, around  the nipples  is also  sften of value. 
          WHEN THE MILK IS SCANTY.       219

ft is to be removed so soon as it becomes warm, and  re-
applied.   In those cases In Avhich 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 use of astringents and of
collodion around the nipples, will overcome the difficulty;
but these remedies can only be employed successfully by
the physician.  And to him  alone  should be intrusted
the use of those  medicines Avhich directly diminish  the
amount of milk  secreted within the breasts.   The  ex-
pedients we  have mentioned are  the only ones which
can  be  safely employed by the mother herself in this
annoying affection.

                SCANTINESS  OF MILK.
   Some  mothers have habitually  an  insufficiency of
milk.  They are  most numerous in large cities, and
among working Avomen, whose daily occupations require
a separation from the infant.   Indigestion and the want
of a proper amount of nourishing food cause a diminu-
tion in the quantity of milk.  So  also do overfeeding
and gormandizing.  Age lessens the secretion of milk,
as has  been already mentioned.  Those Avho  first bear
children late in life have less milk for them than those who
b^o-in earlier.   In some cases Avant of milk in the breasts
seems to be due to its  reabsorption.   In such instances
it may make its  appearance  at distant  parts.  Thus, a
case has been recorded of the coughing up of milk fol-
lowing  sudden arrest of the  secretion, and  others io
which it presented itself as an exudation in the groins.
   In the treatment of a scanty formation of milk,  one
of the best measures  which   can be resorted to is  the
frequent application of the child to the breast.   In ad-
dition, the flow may be increased by milking the breast*
                         19* 
220
THE MOTHER.
 by means of the thumb and  finger, suction through a
 tobacco pipe, or the breast-pump, or  by the use of the
 puppy, or  of another infant.  Friction of the breast*
 and forcible drawing upon the nipples will make theirj
 sore, and so irritate them as to defeat the object in view
 A change of scene, fresh air, and out-door  exercise, at
 tendon to personal cleanliness, and the improvement of
 the general health, all increase the quantity and product
 a  favorable  effect  upon the  quality of the  milk.  A
 sojourn at the seaside often promotes an abundant se-
 cretion of milk.  The diet should  be regulated  by the
 condition of the constitution.   By those Avho  are weak
 and pale, a large proportion of meat is required.   On
 the contrary, those who are full-blooded and  corpulent
 should  restrict the  amount of their  animal food, and
 take more exercise in   the open air.   Oatmeal  gruel
 enjoys a reputation for increasing the flow of milk.  A
 6owl of it sometimes produces an immediate effect.  The
 6ame is true of cow's milk.  Porter or ale once or twice
 a day, in those with reduced systems and impaired diges-
 tion and appetite, will be  found  useful.  Anise, fennel,
 and caraway-seeds, given in soup, act sometimes as sti-
 mulants upon the  secretion of milk.   The  application
 of a poultice made from the pulverized leaves  of the
 castor-oil  plant  is a most efficient remedy when milk
 fails to make its appearance  in the breast in sufficient
 quantity after confinement.

 WET-NURSING BY VIRGINS, AGED  AVOMEN,  AND  MEN.
  As a rule, the secretion of milk is limited to one  *»cx,
and  in that is confined to a short period after childbirth.
But there are many cases  on  record  of the flowing of
milk in women not recently mothers, in  girls before the
age of puberty, in aged Avomen, and even in individuals of 
               MEN AS WET-NURSES.           221

the male sex.  In such instances, the secretion is induced
by the combined influence, actirfg through the nervous
system, of a  strong desire for its occurrence, of a fixed
attention towards the  mammary glands and of suction
from the nipples.
  Travellers  among savage  nations  report  many ex-
amples of such unnatural nursing. Dr. Livingstone says
he has  frequently seen  in Africa a grandchild suckled
by a grandmother.  Dr. Wm. A. Gillespie, of Virginia,
records, in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the
case of  a widow,  aged about  sixty, Avhose  daughter
having  died, leaving a  child tAvo months old, took the
child and tried to raise it by feeding.  The child's boAvels
became deranged, and being unable to procure a nurse,
and her breasts being large and  full, he advised her to
apply the child, in hopes milk would come.   She fol-
lowed his advice perseveringly, and, to her astonishment,
a plentiful secretion of  milk  Avas the  result, with which
she nourished the child, which afterwards became strong
and healthy.  A similar instance, still more remarkable,
is recorded of a Avoman  at seventy years, who wet-nursed
a grandchild twenty years after her last confinement.
  Cases of nursing in  the opposite extreme  of life are
also Avell authenticated.  The distinguished French phy-
sician Baudelocque has related that of a deaf and dumb
girl, eight years old, who, by the repeated application to
her breast of a young infant, Avhich her mother was suck-
ling, had sufficient milk to nourish the child for a month,
while the mother was  unable to nurse it on account of
core nipples.  The little girl Avas shown to the Royal
Academy of Surgery  on the 16th of February, 1783.
The quantity of milk Avas such,  that by simply pressing
the breast it Avas made  to Aoav out in  the presence of the
Academy, and, on the  same day, at the house of Baude- 
222
THE  MOTHER.
locque, before a large class of pupils.   Again, an inte-
resting case is knoAvn of a young Avoman avIio, in conse-
quence of the habit of applying the infant of her mistress
to her breast in order to quiet it, caused a free secretion
of milk.  In the  Cape de Verde Islands, it  is stated
that virgins, old women, and even  men, are frequently
employed as wet-nurses.  Humboldt speaks  of a man,
thirty-two years old, who gave  the  breast to his child
for five months   Captain Franklin  saw a similar case
in the arctic regions.   Professor Hall presented to his
class  in Baltimore a negro, fifty-five years old, avIio had
been the wet-nurse of all the  children of his mistress.
   Instances of powers of prolonged  nursing in mothers
are not uncommon.  Indeed, it is the habit among some
nations to  suckle  children until they are three or four
years of age, even though another pregnancy may inter-
vene, so  that immediately one child is succeeded at the
breast by another.   In those who have thus unnaturally
excited the mammary glands, an irrepressible flow some
times continues after the demand for it has ceased.   Dr.
Green published, some years  ago, in  the New York Jour-
nal of Medicine and Surgery, the case of a woman, aged
forty-seven, the mother of five children, who had had
an abundant supply of milk for twenty-seven  years pre-
viously.  A period  of exactly  four years and a half
occurred between each birth;  and the children were
permitted to take the breast  until they were running
about at play.  At the time when Dr. G. Avrote, she had
been  nine years a widow, and Avas obliged to have  her
breasts drawn daily,  the secretion  of milk  being sc
copious.  When, therefore, it is desirable, on account of
the feebleness of the child,  to  protract the period of
nursing,  a  wet-nurse should  relieve  the mother at  thu
end of tAveh'e or fifteen months. 
HYGIENIC RULES.
223
    RULES FOR CARE OF HEALTH WniLE NURSIN'G.
  From what we have previously said of the influence
of the nervous system over the quantity and quality-of
the milk, and  the instances Ave have adduced of tho
danger to the infant of all violent  passions—such as
anger, terror, anxiety, and grief—on the  part of tho
mother, it will be apparent that it  is of the greatest
moment, during the Avhole course of nursing, to maintain
a tranquil state of mind.  Pleasing and peaceful emo-
tions  favor  the  normal  secretion of milk, and go  far
toAvards securing the health of the child. When strongly
affected by  any powerful feelings, mothers should not
give the breast, but should  wait until  they have calmed
doAvn  to their usual tenor of temper.   A case is related
of a Avoman  who was ahvays excited by a highly electri-
cal state of the atmosphere, and particularly during
stormy weather.   If  when  thus influenced she nursed
her child, he was sure to fall into convulsions, wnile if
she delayed  doing so until this  nervous excitement had
passed, no unpleasant symptoms occurred.  But Ave have
already dAvelt at length  upon  this subject  in speaking
yf the influence  of the  mind  of the mother over the
child  at  her breast, and need not, therefore, recur to it.
The food, Avhile nursing,  must be nutritious and varied,
though  simple  and unstimulating, and  should consist
both of meat and vegetables, soups, fish, flesh, and foAvl,
either in combination or succession.   When the diges-
tion requires stimulation and aid, a  glass  of mild  ale
twice  a day  will be useful.   Wines, brandy, and whisk;
should not  be taken without  the advice  of  a  physi-
cian.  Moderate exercise in the  open air  and regulai
habits are  necessary. A  defective  or excessive diet
fatigue, loss   f rest at night, and irregularities and ex- 
224
THE MOTHER.
cesses of all kinds, are unfavorable to mother and child.
The proper methods  of combating  a tendency to  over-
abundance or to scantiness of milk have been alluded
to.   Medicines, unless prescribed by the  medical atten-
dant, should rarely or never be taken during this period,
as many of them enter  the  milk and may  thus  affect
the child.

RELATIONS OF HUSBAND AND  WIFE  DURING NURSING.
  After a natural and healthful  confinement, the  nurse
usually remains with the  mother for a  period of four
weeks.  During the  whole of this time the  husband
should  occupy a separate apartment, and, according to
some physicians, this separation should be protracted
during the entire period of nursing.   But this is unusual,
and in most cases unnecessary.   Only those women who
are warned by the recurrence of their  monthly illness
that  they are liable to another pregnancy immediately,
should insist on such an  ascetic rule as this.
   Unquestionably the quality of the milk is much de-
teriorated  by a conception,  and therefore, both in the
interest of the mother and  child,  the husband should
renounce his usual privileges at such times.
   Most Avomen do not have their periodical  illness, and
consequently are not liable to a second pregnancy, before
seven months have elapsed after childbirth.  There are,
however, numerous exceptions  to this rule, and it is im-
possible to foretell who  will and who will  not be the
exception.
   Moreover, as any excitement of the passions alters, to
some extent,  the secretion of the breasts, often to the
injury of the  child, it is  every way  advisable that  great
temperance be exercised  in all cases in the marital  rela-
tions at these epochs. 
O VER-NURSING.
228
               SIGNS OF OVER-NURSING.
   The symptoms of over-nursing may be enumerated aa
folloAVs:  Aching pain in the back; often pain across the
shoulders,  and on  the top  of  the  head or forehead;
marked  paleness of the face; inability to sleep; fright-
ful dreams when sleep does come;  great debility; ex-
treme  depression of the spirits;  disorders of the sight,
and mental disturbances, which take on the  form of
melancholia, the delusions  relating  mostly to  subjects
of a religious  character, to  the effect that  the unpar-
donable  sin has  been committed, and  the like.  The
headache is situated on the top of  the  head, and this
spot may be noticed to be perceptibly hotter to the touch
than other parts of  the head.  These symptoms indicate
that the process of nursing  is making too great a drain
upon the system.
   A woman  in ordinary health  will generally be able
to suckle her child for twelve  months  Avithout  experi-
encing any bad effects.  When  the  child is kept at the
breast much  beyond  this  time, most mothers  render
themselves liable to the injurious consequences we have
mentioned.  Some,  indeed, cannot furnish the child all
the nourishment it needs longer than three or four months
without  detriment  to  themselves.   In  such cases, by
feeding the child tAA'o or three times a day, the mother
may be relieved of  the burden of its  entire support, and
may thus be enabled to continue nursing.  The  proper
food for infants, under these circumstances,  will be
shortly mentioned.   The prostrating effects  of  nursing
upon  the body and mind of the mother are in some,
though comparatively rare  instances, so  marked  as to
lender it altogether  improper from the commencement.
  The treatment of  the condition of system described aa 
r2fl
THE MOTHER
resulting from over-nursing is, if it cannot be remedied
by partially feeding the infant and the use of tonics, to
remove the child from the breast altogether, and either
procure a wet-nurse for it or wean it.   The Avet-nursc is
greatly to be preferred, and the preference is the stronger
the younger the child.  We have already alluded to the
great difficulty  of  rearing children from  birth by tho
hand.   But after the infant has attained the age of
several months,  the  danger of artificial feeding is much
lessened, provided that the weaning does not take place
during hot weather.  This brings lis to  the consideration
of the regimen of the mother  who cannot nurse her own
child,  of  the rules  for the selection of a  Avet-nurse, of
the directions for bringing up by hand, and of the proper
method of weaning.  These subjects we Avill now take
up in the order mentioned.

DIRECTIONS FOR MOTHERS WHO CANNOT NURSE  THEIR
                   OWN  CHILDREN.
   There are many reasons Avhy a mother should, if pos-
sible, nurse her  own child.   " One of the  principal is,"
says the  distinguished Dr. Tilt, of London, "that as
nursing, generally speaking, prevents conception up to
the tenth  month, so it prevents the ruin of the  mother's
constitution by the  too rapid bringing forth of children,
and, we might even add, prevents a deterioration of the
race, by  the imperfect  bringing up of this too-fast-got
family."
  The same  author  appropriately adds:  "But Avhile
adArocating maternal nursing, Ave must not forget  that
woman  is not noAV the Eve of a primeval world;  that
human nature,  wherever it is now met, in  barbarous
tribes or in civilized communities, is frequently so dete-
riorated, so diseased or prone to disease,  that, by nursing. 
               WHEN NOT TO 2SURSE.           227

a mother may sometimes  undermine her own frail con-
stitution for the sake of giving an imperfect sustenance
and perhaps a poisonous heritage, to her babe."
  Seme mothers cannot nurse, hoAvever anxiously they
may wish to do so.  They are  shut out from this charm-
ing and tender experience in the life of a Avoman.  The
milk that comes is not sufficient, and quickly disappears.
Because of the influence of the mind of the mother 0ATer
the child at her breast, to Avhich Ave have before called
attention, women who are very hysterical and nervous,
subject to violent perturbations of the mind, hould not,
particularly if there be any family tendency to insanity,
expose  the  child to the  mischievous effects  latent in
their milk.  So, also, the presence of  certain diseases
forbids wet-nursing. Thus, it is ordinarily prohibited by
consumption, scrofula,  skin  affections of long  standing,
and  cancer.   In consumption, all efforts  to suckle are
frequently equally fatal to the mother and child.   Even
a strong hereditary predisposition to  this  disease may
render it advisable, in the opinion of the medical atten-
dant,—avIio should always be consulted in such a case,—
to counteract the family taint  by  giving the milk of the
healthiest nurse that can be  procured.  The condition
of the  nipples and of the breast may not permit  of
nursing.  We  have pointed  out how best  to  guard
against such an occurrence, in treating of the  care of
the nipples during pregnancy.
  She  who  is  to be  debarred from nursing her own
child should take care that it is not alloAved to approach
her breasts, as sometimes the mental  and  physical ex-
citement caused by such an approach is of an injurious
and lasting character.
  Ordinarily, if this direction be folloAved out, the mother
will have little trouble in regard to herself.  Under *ucn
                         20 
228
THE MOTHER.
circumstances the chief danger is to the  child.  Hence
the importance of knowing

            HOW TO SELECT A  WET-NURSE.
   The choosing  of a wet-nurse is  a  matter of great
moment and responsibility.  She  should not be over
thirty years  of age, and should, if possible, be one who
has  previously  suckled and had  charge of children.
Her own infant should be under the age  of six months,
for when above that age the milk  sometimes disagrees
Avith  her new-born charge.  One who has had several
children should be preferred, because her milk is richer
than  after  the first confinement.
   The doctor should always examine carefully into the
condition of the nurse's health and into the quality and
quantity of her milk.  Various diseases  and  taints  of
the system are so hidden, while yet communicable to the
child, that the knowledge and skill of a professional ex-
pert are required for their detection and  the  protection
of the nursling.   In testing the quality of the milk, the
experienced physician allows a little to rest on his finger
nail,  and  by its examination  readily decides as to  its
richness and fitness to nourish  the  little applicant for
food.   It is  not  necessary  that the breasts  should  be
large, as those of moderate size often furnish a sufficient
amount of milk.   But it is important that the  nipples
should be Avell developed.   Those Avet-nurses  should  be
preferred in  whom large blood-vessels are seen promi-
nently passing, in blue  lines,  over the surface of  the
breasts.  The possession of a vigorous, healthful infant
is  a good recommendation  for a nurse, but care should
be taken to ascertain that it is her own, as nurses have
been knoAvn to borrow for such an occasion, and so obtain
aredit not justly their due. 
THE  WET-NURSE.
22£
   The moral and  mental as well as physical character-
istics should be considered.   Temperance and  cleanli
ness are indispensable  in a Avet-nurse, and the Avant of
either  should be  an  imperative reason for rejection.
Equanimity of temper, cheerfulness, and an open, frank,
affectionate  disposition  are, of  course, greatly to bo
desired.
  If the  nurse  becomes  "unAvell," shall  the child be
taken from her?   Should the monthly sickness reappear
early, and both nurse and child be in good health, suck-
ling may be continued.  But AA'hen the return  happens
about the ninth or tenth month, the child should be
weaned or the nurse changed.   There is no physiological
reason for  preventing  the nurse  from  living  matri-
monially, but if pregnancy occurs, the  child should be
taken from her.
  The same rules that Ave have laid doAvn for  the mother
for the care of her health wdiile nursing, are of course
applicable to the hired Avet-nurse, and should be insisted
upon and enforced.
   CJianging a nurse.—When  it becomes  necessary to
change a nurse, for any of the reasons abo\Te-mentioned,
it may be done  Avithout injury to the child.  For fear
of the effect of the umvelcome tidings upon the mind of
the nurse, and the possible influence upon  the milk, she
should not be  informed of the projected change until  a
successor has been secured to take her place at once. In
choosing the second nurse, the same precautions should
be had as in the selection of the first.

              BRINGING UP BY HAND.
  We have  already alluded to the great danger to the
child, particularly in a city, that is artificially fed from
birth.  But as there are many mothers Avho are unable, 
230
THE MOTHER.
on account of the expense, to have a. wet-nurse for  the
child they cannot suckle  themselves, we will  give such
directions in  regard to the diet as are best calculated to
lessen the risk invariably incurred under such circum-
stances.
  The child's food should be of the best quality, and
prepared with the most scrupulous attention  to cleanli-
ness.  The milk of the coav is preferable to that of the
ass or of the goat, the former of which it is difficult to
procure, and the latter having a disagreeable odor.  For
a child under three months of age, cows' milk should be
used as the only food.  It should be fresh, and if possible
from one cow.  When of the ordinary richness, it is to
be diluted with an equal quantity of water or thin barley-
water.  If, however, the  first milking can be  obtained,
which is more watery, and bears a closer resemblance in
its chemical  composition to human  milk, but  little dilu-
tion will be required.  If green and  acrid stools  make
their appearance, accompanied by emaciation and vomit-
ing, the milk must be more  diluted  and  given less fre-
quently.  If the  symptoms of indigestion do  not  yield,
milk containing an excess of cream should be used.  To
procure it, alloAV  fresh milk  to stand  for tAvo or  three
hours, and remove the upper third, to Avhich add two or
three parts of Avarm Avater or barley-Avater, after having
dissolved in it a little sugar  of milk.   Should this food
also  disagree, any of  the  preparations we are about to
mention may be prepared and tried.
  Professor Falkland recommends the following method
of preparing milk for infants, as affording  a  product
more nearly like the natural secretion :—" One-third of
a pint of pure milk is alloAved to stand until the cream
has risen.  The latter is removed, and to the  blue milk
thus obtained, about  a square inch  of rennet is to ' * 
INFANTS  FOOD.
231
b rded, and  the  milk-vessel placed in warm water.  In
about five minutes the curd will have separated, and the
rennet, which may again be repeatedly used,  being re-
moved,  the whey is  carefully  poured  off,  and  imme-
diately heated to boiling, to prevent it becoming sour.
A. further  quantity  of curd separates, and must  be re-
moved by straining through calico.  In one-quarter of
pint of this hot  whey three-eighths of an ounce of milk
tugar are to be  dissolved; and  this solution, along with
ihe cream removed from the one-riiird of a pint of milk,
must be added to half a pint of neAV milk.  This Avill con-
stituie the food for an infant from five to eight months
old fur twelve  hours; or,  more  correctly speaking, it
will be  me-half of the quantity required for twenty-four
hours.  It is absolutely necessary that a fresh quantity
should lw prepared every twelve hours; and it is scarcely
necessary io add that the strictest cleanliness in  all the
vessels used is indispensable."
   Dr. J. Forsyth Meigs directs the folloAving  article of
diet as one  Avh'ch he has found to agree better Avith the
digestive system of the infant than any other kind of food .
—"A scruple of gelatine (or a piece two inches  square
of the flat cake  Li which it is sold) is  soaked for a short
time  in  cold Avatfc.*, and then boiled in half a pint of
water, until it dissolves—about ten or fifteen minutes.
To this is added, with constant stirring, and just at the
termination of the be'ding, the milk and arroAvroot, the
latter being previously mixed into a paste with  a little
cold water.  After the a idition of the milk and arroAvroot.
and just before  the rem Dval from the fire, the cream is
poured  in, and a rnoder.\te quantity of loaf sugar added,
The proportions of milk, cream, and  arroAvroot must
depend  on  the  age  and digestive powers of the child.
For a healthy infant, Avithin the month, I usually direct 
232
THE MOTHER
from three to four ounces of milk, half an ounce to an
ounce of cream, and a tea-spoonful of arroAvroot to half
a pint of water.  For older chiMren the quantity of milk
and cream should be gradually increased to a half or
tAvo-thirds  milk and from cue to tAvo  ounces  of cream.
I seldom increase the quantity of gelatine or arroAvroot."
  The egg is a valuable article  of food for infants and
young children, e«poc:.ally in conditions of debility.   It
should be  given  nearly raAV, and is best  prepared by
placing it in boihr.g water for tAvo minutes.   It is then
easily digested.
  Beef-tea. prepared in the manner described on page
197, is highly nutritious and useful as a food for infants ;
if it produces a laxative effect, it should be  discontinued.
When the child  shows signs of weakness  or of a scrof-
ulous condition, its  nutrition Avill be improved  by min-
gling with  its food a small piece  of butter or mutton suet.
  During the  first four or five  months, the food should
be thin, and taken  through a teat, thus  preventing  the
stuffing of the  infant.
  On  attaining 'the age  of tAvelve or fifteen  months,
infants are usually  able to digest ordinary wholesome
solid  food, neatly and well cooked, when mashed or cut
into fine pieces.
  An  article  of food  employed  for  the  diarrhoea  of
infants is prepared as follows:—"A pound of  dry Avheat
flour, of the best quality, is packed snugly in  a bag and
boiled three or four hours.   When it is taken from the
bag it is hard, resembling a piece of chalk, Avith the ex-
ception of  the exterior, which is wet, and should he re-
moved.  The flour grated from the mass should be used
the same as arrowroot or rice."
  Infants nourished by prepared food thrive well enough
during cool Aveather; but during the warm months  of 
WEANING.
233
the year tney are exceedingly liable to boAvel-complaint,
of Avhich it is  said one-half of the spoon-fed infants of
NeAV York  city die each  summer season.  Hence the
importance of taking them into the country, and  keep-
ing them there until the return of cool Aveather lessens
the danger of city life.

                      WEANING.
  This should take place when the  child is about twelva
months of age, sometimes  a  feAV months earlier, oftener
a feAV later.  If the mother's  health be  g-->od and her
milk abundant, it may be deferred  until the canine teeth
appear—betAveen the  fifteenth  and twentieth month.
The child Avill  then have sixteen teeth Avith which  it can
properly masticate soft solid  food.
   Time of the year for.—The infant should not be  taken
from the breast during or immediately preceding  Avarm
weather.  If the mother, either on account of sickness
or  failure  in  her  breast-milk, is  obliged  during the
summer to gi^e up nursing, she should at once procure a
wet-nurse.   If she cannot, the child  must be  sent into
the country.  To Avean an  infant in  the city in hot
weather is to expose it to almost certain death.
   Proper method.—The process of weaning  should be  a
very sIoav one.   No definite  nay should  be  fixed  for  it.
Little by little, from Aveek  to week, the amount of spoon-
food is to be increased and the nursing  lessened,--being
first given  up at night.   The breast should  never be
suddenly denied  to  a  child  unaccustomed  to  artificial
food, but be displaced by degrees,  by the bottle and the
spoon.   This gradual  change will  neither fret the child
nor annoy the mother, as sudden weaning always  doex.
   The  infant may begin  to  be accustomed to artificial
food at the age of four  months.  A.t  first, only  diluU 
234                THE MOTHER.
cnw's milk should  be given  it occasionally betAveen  the
times of nursing.  In a tumbler one-third full of water,
dissolve a tea-spoonful of sugar of milk;  add  to  the
SAveetened Avater an equal quantity of fresh  coav's milk;
then, if the child's stools are at all  green, mix with this
tAvo tea-spoonfuls of  lime-water.   Instead of pure water,
barley-water, made in the usual Avay, and boiled to the
consistency of milk, may be employed in this  preparation,
being added, while still warm, to an equal amount of
milk.  Or, toast-Avater  may be substituted  as a diluter
of the milk.  Coav's milk should not be boiled if it can
be preseryed in any  other way.  As the infant advances
in months, some solid food may be alloAved. After six
months, pap,  made  Avith  stale bread  and  crackers, is
proper, once or  twice a day.   Beef-tea, made according
to the recipe we have given, and chicken, lamb, or mut-
ton broth, may now  also be occasionally taken.  As the
quantity of milk diminishes toAvards the close of the first
year, the spoon-food should  be resorted to more  fre-
quently to supply  the AArant.  Solid food ought not to be
given before the child is a year old.
   The  breasts  usually cause little  trouble when  the
weaning is performed in the gradual manner which has
been recommended.  The mother should  during  this
time drink as little as possible, refrain from stimulating
food, and take occasionally a little cream of tartar, citrate
of magnesia, or  a  seidletz powder.   If the  breasts con-
tinue to fill with  milk, they should  not be drawn.  The
"drying up of the  milk" may be facilitated by gently
rubbing the breasts several  times a day Avith camphor-
ated oil, made by dissolving over the fire, in a saucer of
sweet oil,  as much  camphor  as it will take  up.  Tea
made from tne marshmallow has also been recommended
•vr this purpose.   , 
DEATHS IN INFANCY.
225
               THE CARE  OF INFANCY.
  By infancy we mean that  portion of the life of the
child between birth  and the completion  of teething,
about two and a half years.   The care of this period
of human life is entrusted to the mother.  It forms an
important era  in  the  physical  life  of woman.  Its
discussion  is therefore germain to our  subject.  In
order that the young mother may fully appreciate the
responsibilities of her position, she should know some-
thing of the liability of infants to sickness and death.
  Out of one thousand children born, one hundred and
fifty die within the first year, and one hundred and
thirteen during the next four years.   Thus, two hun-
dred and  sixty-three, or more than one-fourth, die
within five years after birth.  Between the ages of five
and  ten, thirty-five die.  During the next five years,
eighteen more are recorded on the  death list.   Hence,
at fifteen years of age only six hundred and eighty-five
remain out of the one thousand  born.   When these
figures are considered, and the additional fact that out
of those who survive, very many bear permanent marks
of imperfect nourishment,  or of  actual  disease, the
consequence of maladies contracted in early  life, the
importance  of our present inquiry, the care of infancy,
wdll  be apparent to all  mothers.
   The younger the  infant the greater the danger of
death.  One-tenth of all children born, die within 'he
first month after birth, and four times  as  many  as
during the second month.
   The mortality is much  larger in cities  than in the
country.  In  Dublin,  during 1861, very nearly -mo-
third of all  the persons who died were under five r^rs 
236
THE MOTHER.
of age.  In the same year, forty-three per cent, of those
who died in the eight principal towns of Scotland were
children below the age of five.  In Philadelphia, during
the same  year, forty-fiA'e per cent,  of  all the deaths
were of children under fiAre years of age.  In New York
city fifty-three per cent, of the total number of deaths
occur under the age of five years, and  twenty-six per
cent, under the age of one year.
   The danger of death lessens as the period of puberty
approaches.  Yet, even in the last years of  childhood,
there is greater liability to disease and a larger pro-
portionate loss of  life than during youth  or middle
age.
   What are the causes of this  startling mortality of
infant life ?   Why does one child out of ten die in the
first month, and only three out of four  li\re  to be five
years old ?  And what are the means of prevention ?
   Some of the causes which  are active in  producing
this mortality among the little ones cannot be success-
fully opposed after birth.  Such, for instance, are im-
perfect and vicious developments of internal organs,
existing when  born.   These  malformations often  re-
sult from  inflammation while in the womb, excited  by
some taint of the mother's blood, or by some agitation
of her nervous system.  Means of prevention in those
cases are therefore to be directed to the mother, in the
manner indicated in treating of pregnancy.  But other
causes of death begin to act only after birth, and are
to a greater or less extent aAroidable.   These are largely
traceable to ignorance, negligence, and vice.
   One cause of death to which infants  are  peculiarly
liable, and which alone is said to haA^e destroyed forty
thousand children  in  England between  the years 1C86 
CARE OF INFANCY.
231
and  1799, is being overlain by the parents.  For this
reason, some  physicians caution  the  mother against
having the infant in bed with her while she sleeps.
  The frightful waste  of life caused by bringing chil-
dren up by hand  has been mentioned, and the import-
ance of avoiding  it when possible.
  The natural feebleness of the system of infants is
the reason why they succumb so easily to any malady.
Deaths from  any given disease  are  more numerous
among infants than children, and among children than
adults.  Hence  the  importance of timely corrective
measures in infantile affections ; hence, also, the need
that mothers should know  and practise the means best
adapted to preserve the health of their frail charges.
   These means we shall proceed to give in detail, com-
mencing with

    THE CLOTHING OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN.
   A fertile cause of disease and death is to be found
in the negligence or ignorance  displayed in regard to
the dress of children.  And it is not the poorly attired,
but in many cases the fashionably robed child which
suffers the most. To parental vanity can be traced
the  catarrh on  the  chest  or  the inflammation of the
bowels which has  resulted in  death.  Most mothers
appear to  be ignorant of the  fact that children are ex-
ceedingly  susceptible  to  the influence of cold.  The
returns of the Begistrar-General of England show that
a very cold week always greatly increases the mortality
of  the very young.   While  adults carefully  protect
themselves against every change  of the weather, and
against  currents of air, children, who  most need such
protection, are too often neglected. 
233
THE MOTHER.
  The warmth of the infant's body is best secured  by
that of the nurse and by warm clothing.  It is more
effectually and healthfully provided for in this manner
than by confining  the child to a warm atmosphere.
Young children should never be  dressed decollete-—
in low necks  and  short  sleeves.   That  fashion is a
dangerous  one which leaA'es the neck, shoulders, and
arms uncovered.  To this irrational custom may be
traced a vast amount of the suffering, and many of the
deaths of early life;  doubtless, also, in many cases it
lays the  foundation of consumption, which manifests
itself a little later.  But, it is said, the child  will be
" hardened" by having its chest and limbs thus exposed.
The surest  and safest way to harden the child is to so
care for it  that it shall pass through its  first months
and years of life without  any ailment.  Every mother
should see to it that her charge  is so clothed that
every part of the body is effectually protected from
dampness and cold.  She can then best secure for it a
hardened  constitution  by carrying it daily into  the
sunlight of the open air.
   The material of the clothing should be such as will
unite lightness with warmth.   Flannel and calico are
therefore to be preferred.   At  first, as the skin of the
child is very delicate, a shirt of fine linen may be inter-
posed between  it and the flannel.   But, after the first
few months, the gentle friction of fine soft flannel next
the skin is desirable, as it  stimulates the circulation of
the blood on the surface of the body, and promotes
health.   Flannel under-clothing should  be continued
all  the year;  during the summer months a very light
texture being used.  When the dress of the child is
shortened care must  be taken that the  feet are well 
CLOTHING OF INFANTS.          239
covered  with  soft  stockings  of cotton  or  woollen
(which in Avinter should extend  up above the knees),
and'with light leather shoes.
  The night-dress, at least during cold weather, is best
made of  flannel, thin or thick according to the climate.
It has been recommended that  after the child  is somc-
Avhat advanced the night-clothes be constructed  in the
form of night-pants, so that it  may not be exposed if
the bedclothing be throAvn off.  EArery article  of dress
worn  during the day ought to be  removed at night.
  The rule in  regard  to  the quantity of  clothing, is
that it should be in sufficient amount to preserve clue
Avarmth.   It  must therefore be  regulated by the season
of the year and the state of the weather. We have
mentioned the fatal practice of leaAdng bare at all sea-
sons of the year the upper part of the chest and  arms
of the little one, while the rest of the  body is warmly
clad.   We can scarcely speak too emphatically nor too
often of  the clanger to which the mother thus exposes
that life  which it is  her duty to Avisely and safely con-
duct  through  the period of  dependent infancy and
childhood.  It is of course possible for the child  to be
too closely  enveloped, and the skin  thus rendered
highly susceptible to the impressions of cold.   The
prevalent error, however, at the present time, is in the
direction of too scanty clothing.
   The make of the drexs should  be loose and easy, so
as to permit of the  free movement of all  portions of
the body ; it should be cut high  in the neck, and with
sleeves to the wrists ; its construction should be simple,
so  that  it  may be  quickly put off and on;  and the
fastenings employed should be tapes, not pins.
                         2' 
240               THE MOTHER.
                     BATHING.
  Many advantages attach to the daily use of the bath
for infants.  It secures  cleanliness.  It strengthens
the nervous  system.   It  preserves  from colds  and
coughs.
  We  have already  endeavored  to  impress  upon tho
mind  of the reader  the great susceptibility to cold
Avhich exists in early life.   On this account the Avater
for the bath should be warm (96° or 98°) for the first
few weeks of  infancy, especially during  the winter
season.  Gradually the temperature may be reduced to
that of the apartment, never to actual coldness.  It is
as foolish and hazardous to attempt to " harden" infants
by plunging them into cold water, as it is by carrying
them with uncovered necks, chests, and limbs, into tho
keen and damp air.  Knowledge  of these facts  would
bring safety to many children who now suffer because
of the dangerous ignorance of mothers in regard to the
susceptibility of the infant organization.
   An  infant  should be  immersed  in its tub every
morning. Besides the regular morning bath, it is often
advisable to put the child for a  few minutes in tepid
water in the evening.  This will quiet the  nervous
system and induce sleep.  The bath  should not be too
long a one, for fear of exciting perspiration ; nor, for
the same reason, should  the water  be too warm.  If
the child be of a delicate constitution, the evening bath
will be especially useful, and can  be made more so by
the addition of two tablespoonfuls of salt to the Avater
necessary for the bath,
   The time immediately after nursing or feeding is not
proper for bathing. An hour or two after a meal should 
                    THE BATH.                 241

be allowed to elapse.   Neither should a  bath ever be
given in a cold room.  Even in a Avarm atmosphere,
care should be  taken, both after and during the ablu-
tion, that the wet skin of the infant be not exposed to
the air.   Its  body should be completely immersed; it
should not be  held up out of the water, nor, if it be
old enough, allowed to stand or sit in the tub.  It is
well also to haA-e a warm  blanket in which to receive
the  child  as it  comes  dripping  from  the  bath.  It
should be wrapped up in this for a few minutes to ab-
sorb a part of  the moisture.  Then a portion of the
body should  be uncovered at a time, and dried  before
exposing the rest.
   Drying the Skin.—For this purpose a piece of soft
flannel will be  found serviceable.   By gently rubbing
the surface of the body with it the skin will be warmed
and stimulated, and the resulting glow will be as agree-
able to the child  as is that in the adult  which folloAvs
the Turkish bath.  The actual grooming of the human
body is very useful to improve the health of scrofulous
children.
   At first from three to five minutes will be a suffi-
ciently  long immersion.   In a little while, however,
this period  may  be  lengthened, all the  precautions
mentioned against injurious exposure being observed.
   The lukewarm daily bath, taken either in the morn-
ino- or evening, ought to be continued until at least the
age of four years.  If, after the fourth or fifth year,
ablutions of  the entire body be resorted  to only every
second or third day, the practice should be commenced
of sponging the chest every morning with cold, or al-
ternately with  cold and hot water, followed by brisk
frictions. 
242
THE MOTHER.
  Soap is  to  be used  but sparingly in  the bath of
young children.  It must be of the blandest and purest
quality.  Various eruptions are caused by the employ-
ment  of impure soaps, and even by the excessi\'e ap-
plication of the best kind.
  In  illustration of the  importance  of our present
subject, we may state that  Dr. Ilufeland, to whose ad-
mirable work  on the art of prolonging life we have
before alluded, lays down, as one  of the means which
lengthen life,  the care of  the skin.  He  dwells  upon
the benefit of  paying such attention to it from infancy
that it may be kept in a lively, active, and useful con-
dition.
  The power of the bath to ward off disease in child-
hood is not appreciated by parents.  Properly managed,
it soothes  but never increases any internal irritation
which may exist, and often does away with the  neces-
sity of resorting to the administration of drugs.  If
due attention  were paid to "the condition of the skin in
early life, many of the most common ailments of child-
hood would be averted.   The daily employment of the
bath, and  scrupulous attention to cleanliness of the
person  and clothing, would materially lessen the de-
mand both for purgative medicines and for soothing
syrups.
  One word more  in regard  to  the washing of the
infant.  The mother herself, if she be in health, should
always  perform  this office, and  not entrust  it to the
child's nurse.   Plutarch  awards high praise to Cato,
the censor, for his invariable custom of being present
when his child was washed.  Every mother, at least;
would do well to follow  the example of this old Bo-
man.   It will give her the opportunity to detect many 
CULTURE OF THE SKIN.
243
Incipient affections Avhich would for a long while escape
her attention if she saw the child only when  dressed.
The mother will also take pains to engage the  mind of
the little one and render the bath a source of amuse-
ment to it.
  After the fourth or fifth year two or three baths a
week during the colder seasons of the year, will be
sufficient  to keep the skin clean and  properly active.
During the  summer, however,  a daily bath is  of great
advantage to children, and ought not to be neglected.
   Swimming is very useful and xevy  invigorating to
the health of both sexes.  It is desirable that children
be taught this art.
   The importance of the culture of the skin to the well-
being of infancy and  childhood, cannot be brought too
prominently to the notice of all mothers.   We Lave
therefore endeavored to give some useful hints in re-
gard both to the preservation of its cleanliness and to
the prevention by means of garments and warming, of
its exposure to too great changes of temperature.
   B3'  proper attention to the  skin,  in the manner
pointed out, many of the eruptions with AA-hich children
arc afflicted might be prevented.  The appearance of
these the mother ought to regard as a great  calamity,
for they are often difficult of cure and render the child
an object of disgust.   She ought  also to look upon
them as the mischievous consequences of the neglect
of those laws of health wdiich it is her  duty to learn
and observe.
        THE FOOD  OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN.

   The diet of children  is frequently improper either in
 regard to  quantity, quality, or variety.  In 1867,  a
   &             .        21* 
244
THE MOTHER.
committee, of which Professor  Austin Flint, Jr., was
chairman, was appointed in New York city to revise
the "Dietary Table of the Children's Nurseries on
Randall's Island."   In the report rendered, attention
was forcibly called to the fact that in childhood " tho
demands of the  system for nourishment are in excess
of the waste, the extra  quantity being required for
growth and development.   If the proper quantity and
variety of food be not provided, full development  can-
not take place, and the children grow up, if they sur-
vive,  into young men and women, incapable of  the
ordinary amount of labor, and  liable to diseases of
various kinds.   This is  frequently illustrated in  the
higher walks of life, particularly in females, for many
suffer  through life from  improper  diet in boarding
schools, due to false and artificial notions of delicacy or
refinement.   After a certain period of improper and
deficient diet in  children,  the  appetite becomes per-
manently impaired, and the system is rendered incapa-
ble of appropriating the amount of matter necessary to
proper development and growth."
   Charlotte Bronte has drawn, in Jane Eyre, a graphic
and physiologically true picture of  the effects upon
young  girls  of  long-continued insufficiency of food.
Let mothers bear in mind that  proper food cannot be
too abundantly eaten by children, and that the greatest
danger to which  they are exposed arises from defective
nutrition.  We would again urge the  value of a large
amount of milk in the dietary  of young people.  The
disorders of the  bowels, which  are not uncommon in
infancy and  childhood, are due to errors in  diet by
which improper food is supplied, and  not to an excess
of simple and proper nourishment. 
LIEBIG'S SOUP.
245
  We have already given some directions for the  pre-
paration of infant's food in treating  of " bringing up
by hand."  In addition to the ATarious substitutes for
the mother's milk there mentioned,  we  wish to note
that known as Liebig's soup.  This great chemist thus
describes the method of making it.
  " Half an ounce of wheat flour, half an ounce of malt
meal, and seven and a half grains of bicarbonate of
potassa, are  weighed off.  They are first mixed by
themselves,  then with  the addition  of  one ounce of
water, and lastly of fiAre ounces of milk.  This mixture
is then heated upon  a slow fire, being constantly stirred
until it begins to get thick.  At this  period, the A-essel
is removed from the fire, and the mixture is stirred for
five minutes, is again heated and again remoAred when
it gets thick, and lastly, it is heated  till it boils.  The
soup is purified from bran  by  passing it through a fine
sieve (a piece of fine linen),  and now it  is ready for
use."
  Barley-malt can be obtained at any brewery.  First,
it is separated from the impurities, and then ground hi
an ordinary coffee-mill to  a coarse meal.  Care should
be taken to  get  the common  fresh Avheat-flour, not the
finest, because the former is richest in starch.
  In practice, the troublesome weighing of the mate-
rials may be  dispensed Avith, as a heaped tablespocnful
of wheat-flour weighs  pretty nearly half an ounce, and
a like tablespoonful of malt-meal, not quite as heaped,
weighs also half an ounce.  The bicarbonate of potassa
can be obtained from the druggist put up in powders
of  se\ren and a half grains each ready for us*:.  The
amount of water and of milk prescribed can be attained
with sufficient accuracy by means of the  tablespoon; 
248
THE MOTHER.
two tablespoonfuls will give the quantity of water (one
ounce), and ten tablespoonfuls, the quantity of milk
(fhre ounces).   These directions Avill enahle any sensi-
ble mother to make the preparation Avithout difficulty.
The soup tastes tolerably SAveet, and, when diluted with
water, may be given to very young infants.
   Although the method of preparing  Liebig's soup is
a somewhat tedious one, yet as it is a combination so
highly recommended b}r physicians of the largest expe-
rience for having visibly saved the life of many Av'asting
children, it deserves a trial in all cases in Avhich  the
ordinary kinds of food disagree.
   On page 231 are recorded the directions  given by
Dr. J. Forsyth Meigs, for an article of diet, consisting
of gelatine and arrowroot, which he prefers to  all other
kinds of artificial infant food.  Another method of pre-
paring a useful arrowroot mixture is as follows :—
   Place a  teaspoonful  of  arrowroot  into a  porcelain
vessel with as much cold water as will make  it into a
fine dough.  Then add a cupful of boiling milk or of
beef-tea, stir the mixture  a  little and allow it to boil
for a feAV minutes until the whole acquires the consist-
ency of a fine light jelly..
   The manner in which nutriment  is  administered to
infants is not immaterial.  The custom of feeding them
from a small spoon  or from a cup with a snout is objec-
tionable.   The use of a sucking-bottle  most nearly imi-
tates the way in which nature  designed the  nursling
to obtain its nourishment.  By  the act of sucking the
muscles of the face are exercised in an equal manner,
and  the saliva is mixed with the  food to an  extent
which is not possible if an}T other mode of feeding be
resorted to.  The bottle may be provided with mouth- 
                  DIETETIC TABLE.              247

pieces of gold, silver, tin, ivory, bone, a prepared cow's
teat, a piece of washed chamois leather, or a few folds
of fine soft linen.  Children drink very readily out of
the perforated rubber nipples, Avhich are now so popular
for this purpose.  They are made to fit over the mouth
of any bottle, and are especially to be recommended on
* count of their cleanliness.  The bottle should never
'he refilled until both it and the rubber cap have  been
thoroughly cleansed in hot water.  A white glass bot-
tle only should be employed, in order that any Avant of
cleanliness may readily be detected.  It  should  be re-
collected that milk A'ery quickly sours when kept in
this way in a  warm room ; it is therefore  better always
to empty the bottle and fill it afresh each time it is
given to the child, rather than to Avait until its con-
tents are exhausted before replenishing it.
   We have hitherto  been treating  mainly of the diet
proper for the  first .year of life.  In the second year
children may be permitted to have soft fmety-cut meat.
Fresh ripe fruit in season ordinarily agrees excellently
well.  But boiled  green vegetables and husk fruits are
very apt to cause indigestion and diarrhoea.   Fruit for
children should be freed from the seeds and skins, which
are indigestible and often do harm.
  As  an example  of  a diet  suitable for a child "two
3-ears of age, we append  the folloAving:  In the morn-
ings, between six and  seATen o'clock in summer, or be-
tween sevren  and eight in Avinter, milk-gruel; between
nine  and ten o'clock, a piece  of wheat bread with a
little butter  on it.  At  twelve o'clock,  well-prepared
beef-tea, or  chicken, lamb, muttcn, or oyster  broth, or
meat Avith a little gravy, or in place  of the meat  a
meal-broth prepared with eggs, but with very little fat j 
243
THE MOTHER.
green vegetables to be ahowed very rarely, and in very
small quantities.  At  this noon meal  a mealy, well-
mashed potato is unobjectionable; so, also, is rice pud-
ding, for a change.  In  the  afternoon, betAveen three
and four, bread and milk, with the addition in summer
of fresh ripe fruit.   In the evening at seven, bread and
milk.
   It will be observed that this  dietetic table calls  for
five meals a day.  Should the child eat so frequently ?
We answer, yes.  But the meals should  be at regular
intervals.   A child, in order to replace the waste of the
system and to furnish over and above  sufficient mate-
rial to  build up the growing body, requires  a much
larger proportionate amount of food than an adult.   It
also requires its food at  shorter intervals.   By observ-
ing the hours for meals stated abovre, regularity, which
is of so much importance to the health  of the digestive
organs, will be secured.   If  a young child be alloAved
only  the  three  ordinary meals of the  family, it will
crave for something between times, and too often have
its craving met with a piece of cake or other improper
food.  Its appetite  for  dinner or  supper will  in this
manner be destined, and the stomach and  the general
health suffer.
   After the third  or fourth  year children  are able to
eat all kinds of vegetables.   They may then very ap-
propriately be  allowed  to eat  at the  table  with  the
family.  It is only necessary to refuse  them very salt,
sour, and  highly  spiced  victuals.   Of  all others they
may  partake in moderation.  Neither  wine nor  any
malt liquor should be given them.   Tea and coffee are
also unnecessary.  They  should have a regular luncheon 
DIETETIC RULES.
U%
between  the meals  which  are  farthest apart.  This
inu.st  be  at a regular  hour, and  consist of bread and
butter with milk or water.
  Pains should be taken to see  that children do not
fall into  the habit of  eating rapidly.   Too often this
pernicious  hab.it, so destructive to healthy digestion, is
formed in  early life and becomes the  source of that
dyspepsia which is the bane of so many lives.   Food
that is gulped down enters the stomach unmasticated
and unmixed Avith the  secretions of the mouth.  A dog
may bolt his food without injury, but a human  being
cannot.
  A child  should be  taught to eat everything that is
wholesome, and not be permitted to  become finical or
fastidious  in its  appetite.  It  ought not,  however, to
be forced to cat any particular article  for which it is
found that there is an invincible dislike.  Variety of
diet is good for a  child, after the  second or third year.
   The Position of the Child when Fed.—An infant, no
matter how young, should not  receive its  meals  when
lying.  Its head  should alwa}rs be raised in the nurse's
arm, if it be too young to support it itself.  The practice
of jolting and dandling the infant after eating is a wrong
one.  Rest of the body should be secured lyy placing
the child  on a bed or  holding it on the mother's knee
for a half hour or so.   Observe  the  inclination  wdiich
all  animals sIioav for repose and sleep after a full repast,
and respect the same inclination in the infant.
  In our  remarks upon bathing Ave  pointed out the
importance of the mother herself performing for her
child this  office.   So, again, in  connection Avith chil-
dren's food, we must notice the necessity of the mother
b-iing ahvays present at their meals, in order that they 
250
THE MOTHER.
may be taught to  take them quietly, with cleanliness
and Avithout hurry.  Such advice is not needed by the
poor nor b}r women of moderate  fortune, avIio, ordina-
rily, constantly ha\re their children under their  eyes.
But affluence  brings with it many occupations which
are frequently deemed of more moment than presiding
over a child's  dinner.

         CONCERNING SLEEP  IN EARLY LIFE.
  There is a natural desire for much sleep during in-
fancy, childhood, and youth,  and there is reason for
its  free indulgence.  Infants pass the  greater portion
of both day and night in sleep.   Children up to the
age of six years require, as a rule, twelve hours of re-
pose at night, besides an hour or more in the middle
of the day.  About the sixth year the noon nap ma}r
be discontinued, but the  night sleep ought not to be
abridged before the tenth year,  and then only  to  a
moderate extent until the age  of  puberty.  From this
time the period of slumber  may  be gradually reduced
to  nine or ten  hours.  No further diminution should
be attempted until the completion of growth, when an-
other  hour or two may be taken away, leaving about
eight hours of daily sleep as the proper amount during
middle life.
  It is wrong, therefore, to wake a child in the morn-
ing.  It should be allowed to sleep as long as it will,
Avhich will be until the wants of  the system are satis-
fied, if it be not aroused by noise or light.
  When after  a few months the infant  is awake a con-
siderable portion of the day, it should be brought into
the habit of taking its second  sleep near the middle of
the day, say from eleven to one o'clock, and again,  from 
              THE SLEEP OF INFANCY.          £51

half an hour to an hour, about three o'clock.  It should
not be permitted a nap later than this in the afternoon,
as it would be  very apt to cause a disturbed night.
Although some physicians recommend that  the  sleep
during the  day be discontinued after the infant has
attained the age of fifteen months, the wisdom of such
advice may well be doubted.  As soon as the child be-
gins to walk, not only are its movements very constant
and active, but its  mind  is busily employed  and its
nervous  system excited.  It therefore  thrives better if
its day be divided into two by sleep for an hour or
tAVO.
   Should the infant  sleep alone ?  We have mentioned
the danger of being OA^erlain to which it is exposed
when in  bed with its mother or  nurse.  On  the  other
hand,  it must be remembered  that an  infant keeps
warm Avith difficulty even when  well covered, and that
contact with the mother's  body is the best way of se-
curing its OAvn Avarmth.  Hence, during the first months
the child had better be allowed to sleep with its mother.
How then can the risk of being suffocated, Avhich is no
imaginary one, be  lessened ?  The  following rules are
those givren by an English physician of reputation to
prevent an infant from being accidentally overlain.
   " Let the baby while asleep have plenty of room in
the bed.  Do  not allow him to be too near, or, if this
he unavoidable from the small size of  the  bed, let his
face be turned to the opposite side.   Let him lie fairly,
either on his side or on his back.  Be  careful to ascer-
tain that his mouth be not covered with the bedclothes.
Do not smother his face with  clothes, as a  plentiful
supply of pure air  is as necessary as when he is awake.
Never L>t him lie Ioav in the beck  Let there  be no pii-
                        22 
252
THE MOTHER.
low near the one his head is resting on, lest he roll to
it and bury his head  in it.  Remember a young child ■
has neither the strength nor the sense to get out of
danger; and, if he unfortunately either turn on his  face
or bury his head in a pillow that is near, the chances
are that he will be suffocated, more especially as these
accidents usually occur at night, when the mother or
the nurse is fast asleep.  Never intrust him at night to
a jToung, giddy, and  thoughtless servant.  A foolish
mother  sometimes  goes to sleep while allowing  her
child to continue sucking.  The unconscious babe, after
a time, loses the nipple and buries his head in the  bed-
clothes.  She  awakes  in the morning, finding to her
horror a corpse by her side!   A mother ought, there-
fore, never to go to  sleep until  her  child has ceased
sucking."
  When a couple of months have elapsed, the child, if
a healthy one, may sleep alone.  What the child sleeps
in is not a  matter of  great moment, provided it has a
sufficiency of clothing, and be not exposed to currents of
air.  A large clothes basket will serve all the purposes
of a crib.   The mistake is often made of burying the
child under too  heavy a mass of  bedclothes in a Avarm
room when asleep.  And this inconsistency is committed
by the very mothers who scantily clad the child during
the clay in order to inure it to  the  cold.  The great
transition from its wrappings by night to those by day
is injurious to the health and comfort of the infant.
  " In arranging night coverings, the soft feather-bed
is A7ery often estimated as nothing; or, in other words,
the same provision of blankets is considered indispensa-
ble, whether we lie upon a hard  mattress or immersed in
down.   The mother, looking only to the covering laid 
POSITION IN SLEEPING.
253
over the child, forgets those on which it lies, although,
in reality, the latter may be the wrarmer of the two.
An infant deposited in a  downy bed has at least two-
thirds of its body in contact with the feathers,  and
may thus  be perspiring at  every pore, when  from its
having only a single coArering thrown over it the mother
may imagine it to be enjoying the restorative influence
of agreeable slumber.  In hot Aveather, much  mischief
might be done by an oversight of this kind."
   It is of course essential to the health and comfort of
the infant, that its bed  and bedclothing be kept  per-
fectly dry and sweet.  They  should frequently be taken
out and exposed  to the air.
   A  child should  be  accustomed  early to sleep  in a
darkened room.  Plutarch praises the women of Sparta,
for, among other things, teaching their children  not to
be afraid  in the dark.   He says they " Avere so careful
and expert, that without sAvaddling-bands, their chil-
dren were all straight and well-proportioned ; and they
brought them up not to  be afraid in the dark, or of
being alone, and never indulged them in crying, fret-
fulness, and  ill-humor;  upon which account  Spartan
nurses  were often bought  by people of  other  coun-
tries."
   Position in Sleeping.—It has  long been a popular
opinion that the  position of our  bodies at night, with
reference  to the  cardinal points of the compass, has
some influence on the health.   This belief has recently
been corroborated  by  some observations made by a
prominent physician, Henry Kennedy, A. B., M. B.   In
an essay on  the " Acute Affections of Children," pub-
lished in the Dublin  Quarterly Journal of  Medical
Science, he states that  for several years he has put in 
  254                THE MOTHER.

  force in his practice a plan of treatment by means of
  the position of the patient, and often with very marked
  results.  He asserts that in order to insure the sound-
  est sleep the head should lie to the north.   Strange as
  this idea may at first sight appear, it  has more in  it
  than might be supposed.  There are known to be great
  electrical currents always  coursing in one direction
  around the globe.  In the mind  of Dr. K. there is no
  doubt that our nervous systems are in some mysterious
  way connected Avith this universal  agent, as it may be
  called, electricity.  He relates several  cases  of acute
  diseases in children in which  by  altering the  position
  of the body so that the  patient should lie from north
  to south, instead of from east to west, quiet sleep was
  induced.  This plan of invoking sleep is often success-
  ful, but not always so, for all are not equally suscepti-
  ble.  It applies likewise to adults.  It is not so striking
  in its effects on  the poorer as on the richer classes of
  society.  This is what might be expected, for it cannot
 be doubted that the nervous system in the  middle and
 upper ranks is alwaj^s in a much more sensitive state
 than with their  poorer brethren.  It is worth noting
 that even in healthy persons sleep will often be absent
 or of a broken  kind from the cause of which we are now
 speaking.   It is very common to hear  people saying
 they can never sleep in a strange bed.  Although  many
 causes may conspire to this, Dr. Kennedy cannot doubt
 that amongst these ought to be placed the one to which
 we are now drawing attention.
\
                    VACCINATION.
   This  operation, to  which every  infant  should b&
 subjected, is one of great  practical  importance.   The 
          IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATION.      255

 attempt has  been made of late to shake the public
 faith in its efficacy,  and to  revive  the  old  fabulous
 stories and foolish notions  as to  the production  of
 serious affections of the blood and skin in this manner.
 At the same time, the increasing frequency and viru-
 lence of smallpox in this country are becoming only too
 evident.  We therefore consider it our duty, in treat-
 ing  of the maternal  management of infancy, to lay
 some stress  upon the necessity for  vaccination as a
 preservative of life and health.  If observation  and
 experience ever taught anything, they have taught the
 protective power of this  operation  against the most
 loathsome and one of the most fatal diseases that ever
 afflicted the human  race.   And that mother who  is
 careless and indifferent in this  matter neglects for her
 children a  means  of preventing disfigurement  and
 saving  life, compared with which all other means are
 scarcely worthy of mention.
   In order to appreciate the value of vaccination it  is
 only  necessary  to consider what smallpox was before
 its discovery—to look at that  disease through  the
 eyes of our fathers and grandfathers.  Until the close
 of the last century it was  the most  terrible of all the
 ministers of death.   It filled  the  churchyards with
 corpses.  When Jenner published his great discovery,
 about  seventy  years  ago,  the  annual  death-rate
 from smallpox  in  England wras estimated  at three
 thousand in the million  of  population.   In other
 countries of Europe the rate reached as high as four
 thousand in the million.  And  these  fatal cases must
 be multiplied by five or six to give the entire number
 of persons annually attacked by the disease.  It spared
neither high nor Ioaa'.   Macaulay informs us that Mary, 
256
THE MOTHER.
the wife of William III, fell a victim to it.  Those, In
whom the disease did not prove fatal, carried about with
them the hideous traces of its malignity, for it " turned
the babe into a changeling at which the mother shud,
dered," and made "the eyes and cheeks of the betrothed
maiden objects of horror  to the lover."  Fcav escaped
being attacked by this  fell disease.  Nearly one-tenth
of all the persons who died in London during the last
century died of this one cause.   Children were pecu-
liarly its victims.   In  some of the great cities  of
England more than one-third of all the deaths  among
children  under ten years of age arose from smallpox.
Two-thirds of all the applicants for relief at the Hos-
pital for the Indigent Blind had  lost  their  sight by
smallpox.   The number  of hopelessly deafened ears,
crippled joints, and broken-down constitutions from the
same cause cannot be accurately  computed, but  was
certainly very large.   Vaccination is  all that  now
stands between us and all these horrors of the last cen-
tury.  To the mothers in  the land is entrusted the care
of this only barrier against their return.
   Is the strength of this barrier doubted ?  Its efficacy
is readily proved.  In England, during the twelve years
(1854-1865) in which vaccination has been to a certain
extent compulsory, the  average annual  rate of deaths
by smallpox has  been two hundred and  two in the
million of population.   Contrast this with the annual
death-rate of three thousand to the million, which was
the average of thirty years  previous to the introduc-
tion of vaccination.  John Simon, medical officer of
Her Majesty's Privy Council, one of the best statisti-
cians in England, has collected a formidable array of
figures, " to doubt which would be to fly in the face of 
IS VACCINATION SAFE?
257
the multiplication table."  From his mountain height
of statistics Mr. Simon says: " Wheresoever A'accina-
tion falls into neglect, smallpox tends to become again
the same frightful pestilence it was  in the days before
Jenner's discovery, and wherever it is universally and
properly performed, smallpox tends to  be of as  little
effect as any extinct epidemic of the Middle Ages."
  Are other diseases ever produced by vaccination ?
The popular belief would answer this question in the
affirmative.  All affections of the  skin  and swellings
of the glands noticed in children soon after vaccination,
are attributed by parents in many cases to  this opera-
tion.   They forget that such diseases  are  met with
constantly  in infancy and childhood, as often among
the unvaccinated as the vaccinated.   Observation does
not sIioav that they occur with greater frequency among
the vaccinated.   An English physician has been at the
trouble to examine and  record a thousand cases of skin
disease in children; he  found no  evidence whatever
that vaccination  disposes the constitution  to such af-
fections.  It has been stated wdth  apparent justness,
that parental complaints of this kind frequently arise
from their  unwillingness to  believe there is anything
wrong in their offspring.  Hence, when other diseases
follow, vaccination gets blamed for what  is really and
truly due to other causes.  So far from doing any harm
to the system, it has  been observed in those countries
where vaccination has been most thoroughly practised,
that leaving smallpox out of the question, there have
been feAver  deaths from other maladies.  This is espe,
dally true of two of the most important classes of dis-
eases, namely, scrofulous affections  and  low  fever.  For
this reason  some medical statisticians have attributed 
253
THE MOTHER.
to vaccination an indirect protective influence against
these disorders.
  At what age should the  child be vaccinated ?  If
the health permit, the operation should ahvays be per-
formed in very early infancy.  The chief sufferers from
smallpox are young children.  One-fourth of all who
die from this fatal  disease  in England  are children
under the age of one year.   In  Scotland, Avhere until
recently vaccination has  been much  more neglected
than  in England, the proportion eATen amounted to
nearly one-third;  and of  these one-fourth were under
the age of three months.  The great risk, particularly
in large towns where smallpox is  seldom absent, of de-
laying vaccination is obvious.  City children, if hearty,
should be vaccinated when a month or six weeks old.
Rarely or never ought it to  be delayed beyond two or
three months.  This early period  of life is also particu-
larly suitable to vaccination, because the accompanying
fever will then be over before the disturbing influence
of teething begins.
   Revaccination.—If the first vaccination be found im-
perfect  in  character, that is, if  it  has not properly
" taken," the operation should be repeated at the earli-
est opportunity.  It has been recommended in all cases,
to  perform a second vaccination, not  later than the
sixth or eighth year.  If  smallpox be  prevailing, it is
proper to vaccinate all who haATe not  been vaccinated
within three or four years.   In  any event, rev^accina-
tion at or after the period of puberty is of extreme
importance.  It will giv7e additional security  even to
those whose original vaccination was perfect.  In some
cases, the susceptibility to smallpox is not wholly ex-
hausted by one vaccination.  Inasmuch «s it is desira- 
THE DAIL Y WALK.
259
ble for every one to escape this disease even in its most
modified form, reA'accination should alwaj-s be per-
formed as it affords  a very sure and reliable means of
such escape.  After  successful revaccination, smallpox
even in its mildest shape is  rarely met with.  In girls
especially, in whom the changes which occur at puberty
are most marked, revaccination should be  performed
about the age of fourteen.

               AIR AND VENTILATION.
   Fresh air is necessary for the robust development of
infancy and childhood.   Infants born in the summer
season should be carried out daily when the weather
is pleasant, from the second or third day after birth.
Those born in the Avinter should be kept  in the house
for two or three months before being introduced to the
outer world on some sunny noonday.  Older children
can scarcely pass too much time in the open air.
   A change in the dress must, of course, be made be-
fore exposing the child to the out-door air.   The head
should be covered, and the chest  and limbs well pro-
tected from the cold.
   As  a rule, a child ought  to be  carried out, or per-
mitted, when old enough, to walk out  at  least once
every pleasant day during the year.  The time of the
day is to be varied with the season.  In  the  winter
the middle  of the day is to  be chosen; in summer, the
early  portion of the forenoon, a few hours after sun-
rise.
   Children show very quickly, even when in ill-health,
the beneficial results of a ride or walk.  It quiets the
irritability, to which they  are  liable, more effectually
than  any  other  procedure.  For  a delicate child, or 
260
THE MOTHER.
one recovering from sickness, fresh  air and  sunshine
are the best tonics Avhich  can be  administered.  A
fretful, peevish child will soon learn to look forward to
its  daily  jaunt on the street  or road,  and will  be
quieted by it for the rest of the day.
  At all times  of the year regard  must be had  to the
state  of the  weather.  The infant ought  ne\rer to  be
taken out on a Avet day.   Exposure  to a damp  atmos-
phere is one of the most powerful causes of catarrh on
the chest  and inflammation of the lungs,  to which
young children are so subject.  A  very high wind,
evTen though the day be bright and dry, is  injurious  to
a young infant, as it has been known to  suspend his
breathing for a time, which accident might, if  not  at
once observed,  bring about a fatal result.
  Besides fresh air, light is an indispensable  requisite
to the health  of children.  Nothing can  compensate
for the  absence of its beneficial effects.   It is to  be
remembered, however, that during the first  week or two
the eyes of the new-born babe are not strong enough
to bear the full glare of light.  The first eight days of
its existence should be spent in a  half-darkened room.
Gradually the  apartment  may be  brightened, until
finally, after about two weeks, the young  eyes become
entirely accustomed to the light, and may  be exposed
to it without injury.  A  neglect of this precaution is
one of the most common causes of the bad  inflamma-
tions of the eyes so frequently met with among youn"
infants.   After the sight has become quite strong, a
bright room will  strengthen the eyes,  not weaken
them, for light  is the natural stimulant of the eye,  aa
exercise is of the muscles, or food  of the stomach.
  Scrofulous diseases are the heritage of those children 
EXER CISE.
2fa
who are deprived of a plentiful supply of pure air and
light.  A distinguished English writer upon the laws
of health ascribes to the careful avoidance of the salu-
tary influence of air and light by so many young girls,
who are fearful of walking out wdiile the sun is  power-
ful, much of their  sickly appearance, the loss of con-
sistency of their bones, and their being able to afford
but a deformed temple to the immortal soul.
   Humboldt states that during a five years' residence
in South  America, he never saw any national deform-
ity amongst the men or Avomen belonging to the Carif,
Muyscas, Indian, Mexican, or Peruvian races.  If pa-
rents in our own country wrere to accustom their daugh-
ters from an early age to  daily exercise in the open air
and sunlight, there would be fewer weak backs requir-
ing the support of apparatus from the surgical instru-
ment maker, and less pallor in lips and cheeks, to be
remedied by  iron from the shop of the apothecary.

                      EXERCISE.
   The first exercise  which a  child  obtains is  had, of
course, in its nurse's arms.  Are there any directions
then to be noticed  in regard to the manner of carry-
ing an infant ?   Dr. Eberle gives the following useful
advice upon  this  subject:  " The spine and  its muscles
seldom acquire sufficient  strength and firmness before
the end of the third month, to enable the child to sup-
port its body in an upright position, without inconve-
nience or risk of injury.  Until this power is manifestly
acquired, the infant  should not be carried  or  suffered
to sit with  its body erect, without supporting  it  in
such a manner as to lighten the pressure made on the
spine, and aid it  in maintaining the upright  posture 
252               THE MOTHER.
of its head And trunk;  therefore at  first \a few days
after birth), the infant should be taken from its cradle
or bed two or three times daily and laid  on its back
upon a pillow, and carried gently about the chamber-
After the third or fourth week, the child  may be car
ried in  a reclining  posture on the arms of  a careful
nurse, in such a  manner as to  afford entire support
both to  bod}' and  head.  This may be done by reclining
the infant upon  the forearm, the hand embracing the
upper and posterior part of the thighs, whilst its body
and head are supported by resting against the  breast
and arm of the nurse.  When held in this way, it may
be gently moved  from side to side, or up and  down,
while it  is carefully carried through  a well-ventilated
room."
  After the child  is three months old, it will probably
have become  strong enough to maintain itself in a
sitting position.   It may then be carried about in this
upright posture, with the spine and head carefully sup-
ported by the nurse, which aid  ought not  to be with-
drawn until the age of six or seven months.
  " In  lifting young  children,"  as has  been well
observed by Dr.  Barlow, "the nurse should be very
careful never to lay hold of them by the  arms, as is
sometimes  thoughtlessly done;  but  always  to  place
the hands, one on each side of the chest, immediately
below the armpits.  In infancy the sockets of the joints
are so shallow and the bones so feebly bound  down
and connected with each other, that dislocation and
even fracture of the  collar bone may easily be produced
by neglecting this rule.   For the same reason, it is a
bad custom to support a child  by one or even by both
arms, when he makes his first attempt to walk.  The 
              INJURIOUS EXERCISES.           263

grand  aim which the child has in view, is to preserve
his equilibrium.  If he is partially supported by one
arm, the body inclines to one side, and the attitude is
Tendered most unfavorable to the preservation of his
natural balance;  and, consequently,  the  moment the
support is in the  least relaxed, the child falls ovrer and
is  caught up with  a  jerk.  Even when held by  both
arms the attitude is unnatural and unfavorable to the
speedy attainment of the object.   To assist the child,
we ought to pls.ce one hand on each side  of  the chest
in such a way as  to gixe the slightest possible support
and to be ready instanthy to giAre more if he lose his
balance.   When this  plan is followed all  the attitudes
and efforts of the child are in  a natural direction;  and
success is attained not only sooner but more gracefully
than by any  ill-judged support giA-en to one side.
   " There is one very common mode of exercising in-
fants, which, we think, deserves particular notice—we
mean the practice of hoisting or raising them aloft in
the air.  This practice is of  such venerable antiquity,
and so universal, that it would be vain to impugn it."
The pleasure, too, which most children evince under it
seems  to show that  it cannot be so objectionable as
a  cursory observer Avould be disposed to consider it.
Still, there are hazards which ought not to  be  over-
looked.  The risk of accident is  one of some amount;
children have  slipped from the  hands, and  sustained
serious injury.  Some people are so energetic  as to
throw up children and catch them in descending.   This
rashness there can be no hesitation in reprobating; for,
however confident the person may  be of not missing
nis hold, there must ever be risks of injury from the
concussion  suffered in the descent, and even from tha 
264
THE MOTHER.
 firmness of the grasp  necessary  for recovering and
 maintaining the hold.  The motion of the body, too,
 has  a direct tendency  to  induce vertigo; and when
 the liability of the infant brain to congestion  and its
 tonsequences  is  considered, when the frequency of
 hydrocephalus in infants is borne in mind, an exercise
 which impels  blood to  the brain will not be regarded
 as wholly insignificant.   There  is  one more  objection
 which seems  not to have attracted attention.  The
 hold taken of a child in the act of hoisting him, is by
 the hand grasping the chest.  The fingers and thumb
 placed on each side of the breast bone, compress the
 ribs, and any one with the hand so placed will at once
 perceive that if the pressure were strong and  the re-
 sistance from the elasticity of the ribs weak, the impres-
 sion on the chest  resulting would correspond exactly
 with the deformity named chicken-breast.  That any
 force is ever used, capable of inducing speedily such a
 change, is in the  highest degree improbable; but that
 reiterated pressure of this kind,  however slight,  would,
 in a weakly child, have  power to impress and  distort
 the chest, few, we imagine will doubt."
  When two or three months old, the infant may be
 placed on a soft mattress upon the floor or on the
 carpet.   He can then  toss his limbs about without
 danger,  and  develop   the  powers of  his  muscular
 system.
  " The  best mode of  teaching a  child how to  walk,"
 says Dr. Bull, " is  to let it teach itself, and this it will
 do readily enough.  It  will first learn to crawl; this
exercises every muscle  in the body, does not fatigue
the child, throws no weight upon the bones, but im-
parts vigor and strength,  and is  thus  highly  useful. 
               LEARNING TO WALK.            265

After a while, having the power, it will wish to do more ;
it Avill endea\ror to lift itself upon its feet by the aid of
a chair, and  though  it  fail again and again in its
attempts, it will still persevere until it accomplish it.
By this it learns, first, to raise itself  from the floor ;
and secondly, to stand, but not without keeping hold
of  the  object  on which  it  has  seized.   Next it will
balance itself without  holding, and will  proudly and
laughingly show that  it  can stand  alone.  Fearful,
however,  as yet of moving its limbs without  support,
it will seize a chair  or anything else  near it, when it
will dare  to advance as far as the limits of its support
will permit.  This little  adventure will be  repeated
day after day with  increased exultation; when, after
numerous trials, he will feel  confident  of  his power  to
balance himself,  and he will run alone.   Now time is
required  for this gradual self-teaching, during which
the muscles  and bones become  strengthened;  and
when at last called upon to sustain the  weight of the
body, are fully capable of doing  so."
   It is not merely want of strength which prevents  an
Infant from walking at first.   The natural shape of the
legs renders it impossible.   The feet are  turned  in  so
that the inner sides look upwards.   When placed upon
its feet,  therefore, the soles will  not rest  upon  the
ground.  In  a short  time, the position of the feet
changes,  and they become fitted for  the purposes  of
support  and locomotion.   When he begins to  walk,
the child should have shoes  with tolerably broad soles,
which ought to be at least half an  inch longer than the
foot.
   The first efforts of the little one to  support and pro-
 pel itself are  to be  carefully watched, but not  unne- 
266
THE MOTHER.
 cessarily  interfered  with,  neither frightened by  ex-
 pressions of fear nor rendered  timid by too frequent
 warnings.
   The first  seven years of  life should be one grand
 holiday for all sports and amusements which will bring
 into play the muscles and divert, at the same time, the
 mind.  Time cannot be more usefully employed than
 in thus  laying the  foundation of health, upon which
 alone  can rest the  physical, mental, and moral well-
 being of after life.

                     TEETHING.
   The period at which the  teeth first  make their ap-
 pearance is  not  a fixed one.  It varies considerably
 evren  within the limits of perfect health.  It may be
 said, as a rule, that the babe begins  to cut his teeth
 at the age of six or  seven  months.  Quite  frequently,
 however, the first teeth appear as early as the fourth
 month, or are delayed  until the eighth.  In some  in-
 stances children come into  the world with their teeth
 already cut.  This is said to have been the case with
 Louis  XIV. and with Mirabeau.   King Richard  the
 Third  is  another example.    Shakspeare  makes  the
 Duke  of York refer  to this circumstance  in  these
 words:—
      " Marry, theysay my uncle grew so fast,
       That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old ;
       'TAvas full two years ere I could get a tooth."
   It does not follow that children, whose teeth show
themselves early, will have therefore a quicker general
development.  Such  cases are   merely instances   of
irregularity in the  time of dentition, and  carry with 
TEETHING.
267
them no particular significance.  Irregularities  in re-
gard to the order in which the  teeth  are  cut are alsj
of frequent occurrence.
   While therefore  it cannot  be maintained that all
healthy children cut their teeth  hi a certain regular
order and time, yet it  is  certain that those children
who follow the general rule,  which  prevails in this
respect, suffer least from the difficulties and effects of
dentition.  As all mothers desire to know at what time
they may expect the teeth, Ave will state the rule of
their development in the great majority of cases.
   The lower teeth generally precede those of the upper
jaw by two to three months.
   The twenty milk teeth usually appear in the five fol-
lowing groups:—
   First. Between the fourth and eighth months of life
the two lower middle front teeth appear almost  simul-
taneously.   Then a pause  of from three to nine weeks
ensues.
   Second.  Between the eighth and  tenth  months of
life the five upper front teeth appear, following shortly
 upon each other, the two central preceding the two on
 each side  of  them.  Another  pause of from  six to
 twelve weeks succeeds.
   Third. Between the twelfth and sixteenth months of
 life, six teeth  appear nearly at once.  They are first
 the two front  grinding teeth in the upper jaw, leaving
 a space betAveen them and the front teeth which before
 appeared ; next, the two lower front  teeth situated one
 on each side of the central ones, which were the first
 to appear;  and,  lastly, the two front grinders of the
 lower jaw.  A pause until the eighteenth  month now
 ensues.                  2S* 
263
THE MOTHER.
  Fourth. Between the eighteenth  and twenty-fourth
months of life the canine teeth cut through (the upper
ones are  called eye teeth).  Again a pause  until the
thirtieth month.
  Fifth. Betwreen the thirtieth and thirty-sixth months,
the second four grinders finally make their appearance.
  This concludes the first teething.  The child has now
twenty milk teeth.
  We  have  mentioned that  children  are sometimes
born with teeth.  It is also  true that sometimes they
never acquire any.  Instances are on  record of adults
wdio have  never cut any teeth.   Dentition has been
known to take place very late in life.  A case is  re-
lated,  on excellent  authority, of  an  old  lady aged
eighty-five, who cut seA^eral  teeth after attaining that
age.

       APPEARANCE OF THE  PERMANENT TEETH.
  Between the fifth and sixth years of life the second
dentition begins.  The front grinders are the ones first
cut through.  Between the sixth  and tenth years all
the front  teeth appear, followed by the canines before
the twelfth  year.  At  this time the second grinders
show themsehves, and finally,  between the  sixteenth
and twenty-fourth year, the wisdom teeth complete the
dental furniture of the mouth.

             GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
  During infancy the bod}r grows with  great rapidity.
About the end of the third  }7ear, one-half of the adult
height of the body is attained.  A fter this period growth
is more gradual, for in order to reach the remaining half,
about eighteen years more are required.  At twenty 
              THE LAW OF GROWTH.          26S

year3 of age, the height is someAvhat more than threo
and  a  half times that at birth, and  the weight about
twenty times.  Development does not go on at an equal
rate in all parts of the body.  The lower limbs, small at
birth, increase proportionally more rapidly, while the
head, relatively large at birth, develops  more slowdy.
The  muscular system is gradually strengthened.  At
the end of the third month the infant is able, if in good
health,  readily to  support  its head;  at the fourth
month it can be held upright; at  the ninth month it
craAvls about the floor;  before the end of the year it is
able with assistance to step;  and between one and two
years, at different times, according to its vigor and ac-
tivity, it acquires the power  of standing  and  walking
alone.  The  periods of greatest and  least growth of
the child are, on the one hand, spring and summer, on
the other, autumn and winter.  It has long been known
that animals grow more rapidly in the spring than at
any other season of the year.  This has been attributed
to the abundance of herbage they are then able to ob-
tain.  It has been ascertained by actual measurement
that children grow chiefly in the  spring.
   At six months of age the child begins to lisp, and
at tweh-e months it is usually able to utter distinct and
intelligible sounds of one or  two  sjdlables.  The devel-
opment  of  the  senses and of the  mind  proceeds
gradually.  The sense of hearing is more active and
further advanced than that  cf sight.  Sounds are ap-
preciated sooner than light  or bright colored  objects.
The next sense which is developed is, perhaps, that of
taste, then follow smell and  touch. 
270
THE MOTHER.
            IS THE RACE DEGENERATING?
  This is a question which  perplexes  some  minds in
our times.  A German  author of note has recently
written  a volume to proA'e that each  generation is
feebler than the preceding.   Old physicians  say that
in their  youth diseases of exhaustion were rarer than
nowadays.  For this our habits of life, the pressure on
our nervous systems, the prevalence of hereditary dis-
eases, and the excessive use  of narcotics  and stimu-
lants, are held responsible.  " The fathers," say these
croakers, "have eaten sour  grapes, and the  children's
teeth are set on edge."
  We  attach  little  weight to these  gloomy  views.
There are plenty of facts on the other side.   The suits
of old armor still preserved in Europe prove that, as a
rule, we  have  slightly gained in weight and  size.  Ta-
bles of life insurance companies and reports of  statis-
tics show  that the aA^erage length of human  life  is
greater  than it ever was.  Dr.  Charles D.  Meigs used
to state in his lectures that  the size of the head  of our
American infants at birth is somewhat greater than in
the Old World.
   That there  are more numerous diseases than former-
ly is not true; but it is  true  that we know more, for
we have learned  to  detect  them more readily and to
examine them more minutely.  This is especially true
of such as are peculiar to women.  Within the last ten
or  twenty j'ears  so  much that is of sovereign import-
ance has been contributed to this department of medi-
cal science that it is hardly possible for one  to become
an expert in it unless be gives it his whole attention.
   To aA'oid the tendency  to debilitated  frames and 
          ARE WOMEN DEGENERATING?       2T1

chronic diseases,  woman should, therefore,  learn not
only the laws of her own physical life, but the rela-
tions in which she stands to the other sex.  Thus she
can guard her own health, and  preserve from  degene-
racy her offspring.  It  is only by enlightenment and
the extension of knowledge  on the topics relating to
soundness  of body and mind,, that  we  can found
rational  hopes of a permanent and wide-spread im-
provement of the race.
   Some have maintained, not understanding the bear-
ing of the facts, that such degeneracy is more conspic-
uous in the  frame of woman than  anywhere  else.
They quote the narratives  of travellers who describe
with what fortitude, we might almost say with what
indifference, the Indian women, and those of other sav-
age races, bear the pangs of childbirth, and how little
the ordeal  weakens them.  A squaw will turn aside
for  an hour or two when on the march, bear a child,
wash it in some stream, bind it on the top of her load,
and shouldering both, (Quietly rejoin the vagrant troop.
 Our artificial  life seems, indeed, in  this respect, to
 be to blame; but  if we look closer, we can  learn that
 these  wild  women often perish  alone, that they are
 rarely fertile, that unnatural labors are not unknown,
 and that the average duration  of their life is decidedly
 less than among the females in civilized States.

              THE PERILS OP MATERNITY.
   In the early part of this work we quoted some au-
 thorities to show that those women who choose single
 life as their portion do not escape the ills of existence,
 nor do they protract their days, but, on the contrary,
 as  shown by extensive statistics, are more prone  to 
i72
THE MOTHER.
affections of the mind, and die earlier.   While, there-
fore, Nature thus rewards those who fulfil the func-
tions of their being, by taking part in the mj-sterious
processes of reproduction, and perpetuating the drama
of existence, it is true, also, that  she associates these
privileges with  certain  deprivations and suffering.
AVe do not wish to throw around the married state
any charms which are not its  oAvn.  Rather  is it our
aim to portray with absolute and therefore instructive
fidelity all that this condition offers  of unfavorable as
well as favorable aspects.
  Let  us say at once, maternity has its perils apart
from  those of  pregnancy and  childbirth, perils as
peculiar and as inevitable as those which pertain to
single life.   Our present purpose  is to mention these,
and by stating their nature and what are their causes,
so far as known, to put married women on their guard
against them.   Some are almost trifling, at least not
involving danger to life, others most harassing to the
sufferer and to her friends.
  Of the latter character Is that deplorable condition
called  by  physicians puerperal  mania.   This is  a
variety of insanity which attacks some women shortly
after  childbirth, or at the period of weaning a child.
The period  of attack is uncertain, as it may  manifest
itself first in a very few days, or not  for some months
after  the confinement.  Its  duration is likewise very
variable.   In most  instances a few weeks restore the
patient to  herself, but there  are  many cases w¥ere
judicious treatment for months is required, and there
are a  few where the  mental alienation  is permanent,
and  the wife and  mother  is  never restored to her
sanity. 
             PERILS OF MATERNITY.          273

  The question has been much discussed whether such
a condition is to be imputed to a hereditary tendency
to insanity in the family, and also whether a mother
who has  had such an attack is liable to transmit  to
her children, male  or female, any greater liability  to
mental disease.  We are well aAvare what deep import-
ance the answers to  these  inquiries have to many a
parent, and in forming our replies we are guided not
only  by »ur own  experience, but  by  the  recorded
opinion of those members of our profession who have
given the subject close and earnest  attention.   To the
first query, the reply  must be made that in one-half or
nearly one-half of the cases of this variety of insanity
there  is traceable a hereditary tendency to aberration
of mind.  Usually one or more of the direct progeni-
tors,  or  of the near  relatives of the patient, will  be
found to have manifested unmistakable marks of un-
soundness of mind.  In the remaining one-half casea
no such  tendency can be traced, and in  these it must
be presumed that the mania is a purely local and tem-
porary disorder of the brain.  The incurable cases are
usually found in the first class of patients, as we might
naturally expect.
  The likelihood of the children in turn inheriting any
Buch  predisposition  depends  on  the answer  to the
inquiry we  first put.  If the mania itself is the ap-
pearance of a family malady, then the chances are that
it will pass  downward with other transmissible quali-
ties.  But if the  mania  arises from causes  which are
transitory, then there is no ground for alarm.
  An inquiry still more frequently put to the physician
by  the husband  and by the patient herself after  re-
covery is ▼hether  an  attack at  one  confinement 
&74               THE MOTHER.
predisposes her  to  a similar attack  at  a  subse-
quent similar period.  There is considerable divergence
of opinion  on this  point.   Dr.  Gooch, an  English
physician  of  wide experience, is very  strenuous in
denying  any   such   increased  likelihood,  while  an
American obstetrician of note is  quite as positive in
taking the opposite view..  The truth of the matter
undoubtedly is that  where the mania is the exhibition
of a hereditary tendency, it is apt to recur, but where
it arises from  transient causes, then it will only occur
again if such  causes exist.
  Here, therefore, we perceive the importance of every
woman, who has had or AA'ho  fears to have one of these
distressing experiences, being put on her guard against
disregarding those rules of health  the neglect of which
may result so  disastrously.   One of the most powerful
of these causes is exhaustion.  We  mean  this in its
widest sense,  mental or physical.   In those instances
where mania appears at weaning it is invariably where
the child has  been nursed too long, or where the mother
has not  had  sufficient  strength to nourish it without
prostrating herself.   It should be observed as a hygie-
nic law that no mother should nurse her children after
she has had one attack of mania.  The  mere nervous
excitement is  altogether too  much for her.  She must
once and  forever renounce this tender pleasure.   We
even go ^o far as to recommend that  no woman in
wdiose family  a mental taint  is hereditary  shall nurse
her children.
   Anxiety, low  spirits, unusual  weakness from  cny
 cause, are powerful  predisposing causes, and therefore
 in ail cases,  especially in those where  the family or
personal history leads one to fear such an attack,  they 
             PERILS OF MATERNITY.          275

(should be avoided.  The diet should be nourishing and
abundant, but not stimulating.   Cheerful society and
surroundings should  be courted, and indulgences  in
any single train of ideas avoided.   As  for directions
during the attack, they are unnecessary, as to combat it
successfully often tasks the utmost skill of the phj^si-
cian, and it will be for him to give these directions.
  Many, we  may say most, married women whose
health is broken down by some disease peculiar to their
sex, refer the commencement of their suffering to some
confinement or premature birth.  This, therefore, we
must  also take  into account, in estimating the  perils
of maternity.   Perhaps, in four cases out of five, this
breaking-down  is one  of the symptoms  of a displace-
ment  of the internal organs,—a malposition,  in  other
Avords, of the uterus.  This is familiarly known  as  an
" inward weakness," and many a woman drags through
years of misery caused by a trouble of this sort.
  It is true  that these malpositions occur in unmarried
women, and occasionally in young girls. But  it  is
also true that their most frequent causes are associated
with the condition  of maternity.   The  relaxation  of
the ligaments or bands which hold the uterus  in  its
place, which takes place during  pregnancy and partu-
rition, predisposes to  such troubles.   It  requires time
and care for these ligaments to resume their natural
strength and  elasticity after childbirth.  Then, too,
the walls of the abdomen are one of the supports pro-
vided by nature to keep all the organs they contain in
proper place by a constant elastic pressure.  When, as
in pregnancy, these walls are distended and put on the
strain, suddenly to be relaxed after confinement, the
organs miss their support, and are liable to take posi-
                        24- 
276
THE MOTHER.
 tions which interfere with the performance of their
 natural functions.  Therefore we may rightly class the
 greater tendency of married women to this class of dis-
 eases among the perils of maternity.
   Within the last fifteen j'ears, probably no one branch
 of medical science has received greater attention at the
 hands of physicians  than this of diseases of women.
 Many hitherto inexplicable cases of disease, much  suf-
 fering referred to other parts of the system, have been
 traced to local misfortunes  of the character we have
 just described.   Medical  works are replete with cases
 of the highest interest  illustrative  of this.   We  are
 afraid to state some of the estimates which  have been
 given of the  number of  women in this country who
 suffer from these maladies.  Nor do we intend to give
 in detail the long train of symptoms which characterize
 them.  Such  a  sad rehearsal  would  avail little  or
 nothing to the non-medical reader.   It is enough to
 say that the woman who finds herself afflicted by mani-
 fold aches and pains without obvious cause; who  suf-
 fers with her  head, and  her stomach, and her nerves;
 who discovers that, in spite of the precepts of religion
 and the efforts of will, she is becoming irritable,  impa-
 tient, dissatisfied with her friends, her family, and her-
 self;  who is,  in  short, unable any longer to perceive
 anything of beauty and of pleasure in this world, and
 hardly anything  to hope for in the next: this woman,
 in all probability, is suffering from a displacement or
 an ulceration of the uterus.  Let this be relieved, and
 her sufferings  are ended.  Often a very simple pro-
 cedure can d©  this.  We recall to mind a case described
in touching language by a distinguished teacher of
 medicine.   It  is of an interesting young married lady 
PERILS OF MATERNITY.          277
who came from the Southern States to consult him on
her condition.  She could not  walk across  the  room
without support, and  was forced to wear, at great in-
conArenience to herself, an abdominal  supporter.   Her
mind  was  confused, and she wras the victim of  appa-
rently causeless unpleasant sensations.   She was con-
vinced that she had been and still was deranged.
  The physician could  discover nothing wrong  about
her system other than a slight falling of the womb.
This  was easily relieved.  She at once improved  in
body  and mind, soon was able to walk with ease and
freedom, and  once more enjoj^ed the pleasure of life.
In a letter written soon after her return home, she said,
" This beautiful world, which at one time I  could not
look  upon without  disgust, has become once more a
source of delight."  How strongly do these deeply felt
words reveal  the difference between her two condi-
tions.
   There is one source of great comfort  in considering
these afflictions.  It is, that they are  in the great ma-
jority of cases traceable to causes which are  avoidable.
Most of them are the penalties inflicted by stern nature
on infractions of her laws.  Hence the  great, the un-
speakable  importance of women being made aware of
the dangers to which they are exposed, and being fully
informed how to avoid  them.   This  task  we now
assume.
   There is, we concede, a tendency in the  changes
which take place during pregnancy and parturition  to
expose the system to such accidents.  But this tend-
ency  can be counteracted by care, and by  the avoid-
ance  of certain notorious and familiar infractions  of
the laws of health.  It is usually not until she gets up 
278
THE MOTHER.
and commences to  go about the house that the woman
feels any pain referable to a displaced womb.  Very
frequently the origin of it is leaving tile bed too soon,
or attempting  to  do some  work, too  much for her
strength, shortly after a premature birth or a confine-
ment.  Not only should a woman keep her bed as a
rule for nineteen days after  every abortion and every
confinement, but for weeks after she  commences to
move  about she should avoid  any severe  muscular
exertion, especially  lifting,  long walks,  straining or
working on the sewing machine.  Straining at stool is
one of the  commonest  causes.  Many women haATe a
tendency to constipation for weeks  or  months after
childbirth.   They are aware that it is unfavorable to
health, and they seek to aid nature by violent muscular
effort.   They cannot  possibly do a more unwise act.
Necessarily the efforts they make press the womb forci-
bly down, and its ligaments  being relaxed, it assumes
either suddenly on some one well-remembered occasion,
or gradually after a succession of efforts, some unna-
tural position.  The same reasoning applies to relieving
the bladder, which is connected in some persons with
undue effort.
  Constipation, if present,  must, and almost always
can, be relieved by a judicious diet and the  moderate
use of injections.  These simple methods are much to
be preferred to purgative medicines, which are rarely
satisfactory if they are continued for  much time.
When anything more is needed, we recommend a glass
of some laxative mineral water, that, for instance, from
the Bedford or Congress Springs.  This should be
taken before breakfast
  For  the  difficulty with the bladder we mentioned, 
              PERILS OF MATERNITY.           279

diet  is  also  efficacious.   It  is familiarly known that
several popular articles of food have a decided action
in stimulating the kidneys: for instance, asparagus and
watermelon.   Such articles should be freely partaken,
and  their effect can be  increased by some vegetable
infusion, taken warm, as juniper tea, or broom  tea.
The  application to the parts  of a cloth wrung out in
water as hot  as it  can  conveniently be borne is also a
most excellent assistant to nature.
   Similar strains on the  muscles of the abdomen are
consequent on violent coughing  and vomiting.  There-
fore  these should be alleviated, as they always can be,
by some anodyne  taken internally.  Any physician  is
familiar with many such preparations, so that it seems
unnecessary to give any formula, particularly as it would
haA-e to be altered more or less to suit any given case.
   Women of languid disposition and relaxed muscles
are frequently urged to " take exercise," and to " goto
work."   Their condition  sometimes excites  censure
rather than commiseration, because it is thought  that
they do not exert  and thus  strengthen themseH-es as
much as they should.  We are quite as much in  favor
of work and vigorous muscles  as any one.  But often
it were the foolishest advice  possible to give a woman
to tell her to seek active exercise.  It is just what she
should  avoid, as it may ultimately  give rise to  that
very trouble which, now only threatening, is the cause
of her listlessness.  Many  instances are familiar  to
every physician of extensive experience where a  long
walk, a hard day's work, a vigorous dance in the even-
ing, or a  horseback ride, has left behind it a uterine
weakness  which has  caused years  of misery.   Espe-
cially  after  confinement  or  premature delivery  is it
                          24* 
2S0
THE MOTHER.
prudent for a woman to avoid any such exertion for
months and  months.  Moderate  employment of her
muscles in any light avocation, short walks and drives,
fresh air, with judicious exercise, these are well enough
in every instance, but beyond them there is danger.
We know too well that advice like this will sound like
mockery to some who read these lines. They have to
work, and work hard; they  have no opportunity to
spare themselves; the iron hand  of necessity is  upon
them, and they must obey.   We  can  but  sympathize
with them, and cheer them with the  oonsolation that
many a  woman has borne all this  and lived  to a
healthy and a happy old age.  Nature has surrounded
the infinitely delicate machinery of woman's organiza-
tion with a thousand safeguards,  but for  all that, the
delicacy remains, and it is beoause so many women are
forced to neglect their duties to their ownselves that
so many thousands walk the streets of our great cities,
living martyrs.
  But no.  We  must  modify what we have  just writ-
ten.  In justice to our owrn sex, and in all truthfulness,
we  cannot allow the blame to be removed altogether
from women  themselves.  They" alone are responsible
for one of the most fruitful causes of their wretched-
ness.   The theme is a threadbare one. We approach
it without hardly any hope that we shall do good by
repeating warnings  utterly  monotonous and tiresome.
But still less can we feel comfortable in  mind to pass
it over in silence, We refer to the foolish and injurious
pressure which is exerted on the lower  part of the chest
and the abdomen by tight corsets, belts, and bands to
support the under clothing .-in other Avords, tight lacing.
Why it is, by what  strange freak of fashion and blind- 
PERILS OF MATERNITY.          281
ness to artistic rules, women of the present day think
that a deformed and  ill-proportioned waist is a requi-
site of beauty, we do  not know.  Certainly they never
derived such an idea from  a contemplation of those
monuments of perfect beauty bequeathed to  posterity
by the chisels of Attic artists, nor from those exquisite
figures which lend to the canvas of Titian and Raphael
euch immortal fame.  Look, for instance, at that work
of the former artist,  now rendered so familiar  by the
chromo-lithographic process, called "Titian's  daugh-
ter."    It is  the portrait of a blonde-haired  maiden
holding aloft a trencher heaped with fruits.  She turns
her face to the  beholder, leaning slightly backward to
keep  her  equilibrium.  Her waist is encircled by a
zone of pearls, and it is this waist we would have our
readers observe with something more than an aesthetic
pye.  It is the waist  of health  as well  as  beauty.
Narrower than either the shoulders or the  hips, it  is
yet anything than that "wasp-like waist" which is so
fashionable a deformity.  With such a waist, a woman
is fitted to pass through her married state with health
and pleasure.   There is little fear that she will be the
tenant of doctors' chairs, and the victim of drugs and
instruments.  Let women aim at beauty, let them re-
gard it as a  matter  of very high importance, worth
money, and time, and  trouble, and  we will applaud
them to the echo.  But let them not mistake deformity,
vicious shape,  unnatural  and injurious  attitudes, and
hurtful distortions for beauty.  That not only degrades
their physical nature, but it loAvers  their tastes, and
places  them in aesthetics on  a level with the Indian
squaw who flattens  her head, and bores her nose, and
with the Chinese woman who gilds her teeth, and com- 
282
THE MOTHER.
presses her foot into  a shapeless mass.  True beauty
is ever synonymous with health, and the woman who,
out of  subservience  to  the  demands  of  fashion, for
years squeezes her waist and flattens her breast, will
five to rue it when she becomes a mother.  Away,  then
with tight corsets and all similar contrivances.
  Of a similar objectionable character are many of the
devices  which ignorant men  connected with the medi-
cal profession urge  upon the public for  the sake of
remedying curvature of the spine, restoring the figure,
or supporting the abdomen.  Not a feAV of such braces
and supporters are seriously dangerous.  A good brace,
well-fitting, carefully adjusted, suited to the particular
case, is  often of  excellent service, but the majority of
them do not answer this description.  Our advice is
that no  girl, and still more no mother, should wear one
of these without it is fitted upon her by an experienced
hand.  We haA^e known  more than one instance where
the binder put on after childbirth has been wrongly
placed, and pinned so firmly that it has resulted in pro-
ducing  falling of the womb.  This,  too,  should be
sedulously looked after.
  All these are causes which  are strictly under the con-
trol of the woman herself.  They are therefore such as
she should have in mind and be on her guard against.
There are others, but they are less frequent, which are
beyond her power, and it would be labor lost, therefore,
for us to mention them.
  Equalty vain would it be for us to speak of the va-
rious means by which difficulties of  this nature are
removed.  Probably no one branch of medical surgery
has been more  assiduously  cultivated than this, and
the number of supporters, pessaries, braces, and leA-ers 
PERILS OF MATERNITY.
2S3
which have been recently brought before the medical
profession for this purpose  is simply appalling.  There
are Avomen and men who make it their business  to
carry them through the country and sell  them  on
commission.  We distinctly warn our readers against
this class.   They are almost m\rariably ignorant and
unscrupulous, rich in promises and regardless of per-
formances.  She  who patronizes them will be sure to
lose her money, and  will be lucky if she does not forfeit
her health.
   The most we shall do is to give some advice how to
treat such  complaints on principles of hygiene.   And
indeed  this  means  nearly one-half the  battle.  For
without  these  simple cases, treatment of any kind is
useless  and  sure to fail; and with  them, many  com-
plaints are remedied as  well as avoided.
   The first point we would urge is, that the woman
who finds  herself thus afflicted should  seek to  have
such a position that she can rest.  If she is  burdened
with family cares, let her if possible diminish or escape
them for a time.  A rest of a month or two, not at
a fashionable watering-place nor at a first-class hotel in
some noisy city, but in quiet lodgings, or with  some
sympathizing friend, will be of great advantage.  This
she should obtain  without travelling too far.   Pro-
longed motion in railway cars or carriages is in every
instance injurious.   If  it must be undertaken, for in-
stance, in order to consult a qualified physician, or to
reach some friends,  the modern  appliances of comfort,
such as air  cusMons, foot-rests,  and head-supports
should be  provided. They cost but little, and to  the
invalid their value is great.  No  such journey should
be undertaken at or near the time when the monthly 
284               THE MOTHER.
illness might come on, as the suffering is ahvays greater
at these periods.
   The pleasant associations which group  themselves
around a happy home are an important element in the
treatment  of diseases  which, like  these, are so inti-
mately connected with the mind  and nervous system.
It will  not do heedlessly to throw such  advantages
away. When the home is pleasant, and rest can there
be had, the patient, in the majority of instances, will do
well to abide  there.  But when,  for any reason, be it
domestic infelicities in which the  husband has a share,
be it disagreeable relatives, or importunate and tedious
visitors, then  the sooner such a  mental weight is re-
moved or avoided the better.
  The diet is a very common subject  of error.  It is
popularly supposed  that everybody who is weak should
eat a " strengthening" diet, meat three times a  day,
eggs, ale, and beef-tea to any extent.   This is a great
error.  Frequently  such a diet has just the contrary
effect from what is expected.  The patient becomes
dyspeptic, nervous, and  more debilitated  than ever.
The rule is that only that diet is strengthening which
is thoroughly digested  and  taken  up in the system.
Frequently, we may say  in the  majority  of cases,  a
small amount of animal food, especially game, fowls,
fish, and soups, with fresh vegetables, and  ripe fruits,
will  be far  more  invigorating  than heavier foods.
Pastry, cakes, and  confectionery  should be discarded,
and great  regularity in  the hours of meals  observed.
Stimulants of  all kinds  are, as a rule, unnecessary, and
highly-spiced food is  to be avoided.   There is an old
German proverb which says, " Pepper helps a man on
kis horse, and a woman to her grave."  This is much 
              PERILS OF MATERNITY.          285
too strong, but we may avail ourselves in this connec-
tion of the grain of truth that it contains.
  Cleanliness  in its  widest sense is an important ele-
ment  in the treatment.  Not  only should  the whole
surface  of the body  be  thoroughly washed several
times a week, but the whole  person should  be soaked
by remaining in the  water  for an hour or more.  This
has an excellent effect, and is far from unpleasant.   It
was regarded in the days of ancient Rome  as such a
delightful luxury  and  such a  necessity, indeed, that
evrery municipality erected public  bathing establish-
ments, with furnaces  to heat the water to such a tem-
perature that  persons could remain in it for several
hours without inconA^enience.  The  use of public baths
is almost unknown  in this  country, but in  place of
them, every house of even moderate dimensions has  its
own bath-room, so that the custom of cleanliness might
appear  to be hardly less  general  among the better
classes than in old Rome.
  The difficulty is that  so few people appreciate  that
io thoroughly cleanse the skin, still more for the bath
\o have a medicinal effect, it must be prolonged far be-
yond the usual time we allow it.  The European phy-
sicians, who as a rule attach much greater importance
Jo this than oursel\Tes, require their patients to remain
nimersed two, three, four, and even ten and twelve
hours daily!   This is said  to have most  beneficial  re-
sults ; but who would attempt to introduce it in this
country ?
  Local cleanliness is  of equal importance.  This is
obtained by means of injections or  irrigations of sim-
ple water, or of some infusion or solution.  The use of
the sA'ringe,as an article of essential service in preserv- 
288
THE MOTHER.
ing  the  health  of married women, should never be
overlooked.  Even when they are aware of no tendency
to weakness or  unusual  discharge, it  should  be em-
ployed once or twice a Aveek, and when there is debility
or disease of the parts actually present, it  is often of
the greatest service.
   There are  many  varieties of female syringes now
manufactured and sold, some of which are quite Avorth-
less.   Much the most convenient, cleanly, and efficient
is the self-injecting rubber  syringe, which is worked by
means of a ball held in the hand, and which throws a
constant and powerful  stream.   They  come  neatly
packed in  boxes, occupying  small space, and readily
transported from  place to place.   Much depends on
knowing how to apply them.  The patient should be
seated on the  edge of a low chair or stool with a hard
seat, immediately over a basin.  The tube should then
be introduced as far  as possible without causing pain,
and the liquid should be thrown up for five or ten min-
utes.   About one or two  quarts may be used, of a tem-
perature, in ordinary cases, a little lower than that of
the apartment.  Water actually cold is by no  means
to be recommended, in spite of what some  physicians
say to the contrary.  It unquestionably occasionally
leads to those very evils which the judicious use of the
syringe is intended to avoid.
  No fluid  but water should be used in ordinary cases.
When, however, there is  much discharge, a pinch of
poAvdered alum  can be  dissolved  in the  water; and
when there is an unpleasant odor  present, a sufficient
amount of a solution of permanganate of potash may
be added to the water to change it to a light pink 
             PERILS OF MATERNITY.          2"8i

color.  This latter substance is most admirable in re-
moving all unpleasant odors; but it will stain the cloth-
ing, and must, on that account, be employed with cau-
tion.
  We will  add a few warnings to what  we have just
said about injections.  There are times  when  they
should be omitted, as for instance during the periodi-
cal illness,  when the body is either chilled or heated,
and  generally when  their  administration  gives pain.
There are also some women  in whom the mouth of the
womb  remains open,  especially those who have borne
many children.   In such cases the liquid used is liable
to be throAvn into the womb itself, and may give rise
to serious  troubles.  These should either omit  the
use of the syringe altogether, or obtain one of those
which  throw the water backward and  not forward.
This  variety is manufactured and sold  by various
dealers.
   Irrigations are  more convenient  in  some  respects
than  injections.   They are  administered  in  the fol-
lowing manner:  A jar holding about a gallon of water,
simple or medicated, as may be advisable, is placed
upon a table or high stand.   A long rubber tube is at-
tached to the bottom of the jar ending  in a  metallic
tube,  and  furnished with  a stopcock.   The patient
seats herself on the edge of a chair o\Ter a basin, intro-
duces the tube, and turns the stopcock.  The liquid is
thus thrown up in a gentle, equable stream, without
any exertion on her part.   No assistant is  required,
and the force and amount of the liquid can be exactly
graduated  by elevating or lowering the jar, or by turn-
ing  the  stopcock.   When there  is much  debility, or
                        25 
288
THE MOTHER.
when it is desirable to apply the Uquid for a long time,
this method is much preferable to syringing.  The ne-
cessary apparatus can readily be obtained in any large
city.  It has,  however, the drawback that  the jar is
large, and not convenient to carry on journeys. 
THE  SINGLE  LIFE.
  A few words, ere we pass to another branch of our
subject, on the physical relations of her who by choice
or other reasons never marries.   It is  a common
observation among physicians who have devoted them-
selves to the study of woman's physical nature that
in spite of those " perils of maternity" which we have
taken no pains to conceal, the health of single women
during the  child-bearing period is as a general rule
not better, not even so good, as that of their married
sisters.   Those insurance companies who take female
risks do not ask any higher premium  for the married
than the unmarried.
  Various suggestions have been made to account for
this unexpected fact.   Some writers have pointed out
that in many diseases marriage  exerts a decidedly
curative  influence, especially  in chronic nervous ail-
ments.  Chorea, for instance, or  St.  Vitus'  dance, as
it is popularly termed, has been repeatedly cured by
marriage.  As a rule painful  menstruation, which al-
ways arises from some defect or disease  of the ovaries
or adjacent organs, is improved and  often completely
removed by the same act.  There are, as  is well known,
a whole  series of emotional  disorders, hysteria, and
various kinds of mania and  hallucination, which are
almost exclusively confined to single persons, and only
                                      ( 289} 
290
THE SINGLE LIFE.
occur in the married under exceptional circumstances.
An instance  has lately been detailed  in  the  medical
journals by a  Prussian physician of a  case of un-
doubted hereditary insanity which was greatly bene-
fited, indeed  temporarily cured, by a fortunate nuptial
relation.  Few who have watched a large circle of lady
acquaintances, but will have observed that many  of
them increased in flesh and improved  in  health when
they had been  married some  months.   An  English
writer of distinction accounts  for  these favorable  re-
sults in a peculiar manner.   Success, he says, is always
a tonic, and the best of tonics.  Now to women, mar-
riage is success.   It is their aim in social life,  and this
accomplished, health and  strength follow.   We are
not quite ready to subscribe to such a sweeping asser-
tion, but no doubt it is applicable in a limited number
of cases.  Our own opinion is that nature gave to each
sex certain functions, and that  the whole system is in
better health when all parts  and powers fulfil their
destiny.
   Common prov*erbs  portray  the character  of the
spinster as peevish, selfish, given to queer fancies, and
unpleasant eccentricities.   In many a case we are glad
to say this is untrue. Instances  of  noble devotion,
broad and generous sympathy, and distinguished self
sacrifice are by no means rare  in  single women.  Bu^
take the whole  class, the  popular opinion, as it often
is, must be granted to be  correct.  Deprived of the
natural objects of interest, the sentiments are apt to fix
themselves on parrots and poodles, or to be  confined
w ithin the breast and wither for want of nourishment.
Too often the history of those  sisterhoods who assume
vows of singleness in the  interest of religion  presents 
                 THE SINGLE LIFE.            291

to the physician the sad spectacle of prolonged nervous
maladies, and to the Christian that of a sickly sensi-
bility.
  In  this connection we may  answer a question not
unfrequently put to the medical attendant.  Are those
Avomen who marry late in their sexual life more or less
apt to bear living children than the married of the sama
age, and are they more  or  less likely to prolong  their
child-bearing period by their deferred  nuptials ?  To
both these inquiries we answer, no.  On the contrary,
the woman who marries a  few years only before her
change of life is almost sure to have no children who
will survive.  She is decidedly less apt to have any
than the woman of the same age who married young.
If, therefore, love of children and a desire for offspring
form, as they rightly should, one of the inducements to
marry, let not the act be postponed too long, or it will
probably fail of any such result.
25* 
THE  CHANGE  OF  LIFE.
  After a certain number of years, woman lays ande
 those functions with Avhich she had been endoAved for
 the perpetuation of the species, and resumes once more
 that exclusively individual life  which had  been  hers
 when a  child.   The evening of her days approaches,
 and if she has observed the precepts of Avisdom, she may
 look forward to a long and placid period of rest, blessed
 with health, honored, yes, loved with a purer flame  than
 any  Avhich  she  inspired in the  bloom of  youth  and
 beauty.   Those who are familiar  with the delightful
 memoirs of Madame SAvetchine  or Madame Recamier
 w ill not dispute even so bold an assertion as this.
  But ere this haven of  rest is reached, there is a crisis
 to pass which is ever the subject of anxious solicitude.
 Unscientific people, in their vivid language, call it the
 change of life; physicians know it as the menopause—the
 period of the cessation of the  monthly flow.  It is the
 epoch Avhen the ovaries cease  producing any more ova,
and the woman becomes therefore incapable of bearing
any more children.
  The age at Avhich it occurs is very variable.  In this
country  from forty  to forty-six is the most common.  In-
stances are  not at  all unusual when it does not appear
 until  the  half century has  been turned, and we  have
known instances Avhere women past sixty still continued
to have their periodical illnesses.
      292 
              THE CHANGE OF' LIFE.          203

  Examples of verv early cessatiou are more rare.   We
do not remember to  have met  any, in our experience,
earlier than thirty years, but others have observed healthy
women as young  as twenty-eight in whom the flow had
ceased.
  The physical change which is most apparent at this
time is the  tendency to groAV stout.   The fat increases
as the poAver of reproduction decreases.  And here a
curious observation comes in. We have said that  Avhen
the girl  changes to a woman, a similar deposit of fat
takes place (though  less in amount), Avhich commences
at the loins.  This  is the first sign of puberty.  In the
change of life  the  first sign is visible at the lower part
of the back of the neck, on a level Avith the bones knoAvn
as the two loAvest  cervical  vertebrae.  Here commences
an  accumulation of fat which often grows to form two
distinct prominences, and  is an infallible  index of the
period of a woman's life.
  The breasts  do not partake of  this increase, but be
come flat and  hard, the substance of the gland loosing
its  spongy structure.  The legs and arms loose  their
roundness of outline, and where they do not grow  fat,
dry up, and resemble those of the other sex.  The ab-
domen enlarges, even to the extent occasionally of lead-
ing the wife to believe that she is  to be a mother—a
delusion  sometimes strengthened by the absence of the
monthly sickness.  Finally, a perceptible tendency to a
beard often manifests itself, the voice grows harder, and
the characteristics of the  female  sex  become less and
less distinct.
  Some Avho are more fortunate than their neighbors do
not experience the least discomfort at the change of life.
They simply note that at the expected time the iUnasa
does  not appear, and forever after they are  free from 
294
THE CHANGE OF LIFE.
 it.  These are the exceptions. More commonly marked
 alterations in the  health  accompany this  important
 crisis, and call for sedulous hygienic care.   It is grati-
 fying to know that nearly all these threatening affec-
 tions can be  avoided by such care,  as they depend
 upon causes under the control of  the individual.  An-
 other fact, to which we have already referred, is full of
 consolation.  It is  an unexpected  fact, one that wo
 should hardly credit, did it not rest on statistical  evi-
 dence of the most indisputable character. The popular
 opinion, every one knows, is that  the period  of  the
 change  of life is one peculiarly dangerous to women.
 If this  is so, we might expect  that if the number of
 deaths between the ages of forty and fifty years in the
 two sexes be compared, we should  find that those of
 females far exceed those of males.   This is, however,
 not  the case.   On the contrary,  the deaths of  the
 males exceed in number those of the females.
   Hasty readers may draw a false conclusion from this
 statement.  They may at once infer that the change of
 life merits little  or  no attention,  if it  thus  in  nowise
 increases the bills  of mortalhVy.   This were a serious
 error.  All intelligent physicians know that there are in
 very many cases a most unpleasant  train of  symptoms
 which characterize this epoch in  the phj-sical life  of
 woman. They are alarming, painful, often entailing sad
 consequences, though rarely fatal.  All physicians are,
 however, not intelligent, and there  are too many who
 are inclined  to ridicule  such complaints, to impute
 them to fancy, and  to  think that  they have done their
 full duty when they tell the  sufferer that such sensa-
 tions are  merely indicative of her age, and that in a
*year or two they will all  pass awaj^  Such  medical 
               THE CHANGE OF LIFE.           2£>5

 attendants do not appreciate the gravity of the suffer-
 ings they have been called to  relieve.  Says  a distin-
 guished writer on the subject, after entering into some
 details in the matter, " I would not dwell on things
 apparently so trivial  as these, had I  not seen some of
 the worst misery this world witnesses induced thereby."
 Such a c6nviction should be in the mind of the physi-
 cian, and lead him to attach  their full weight to the
 vague, transitory, unstable, but most distressing symp-
 toms described by him.
   We  shall speak of  the various signs and symptoms
 which  occur at and mark the change, and in commenc-
 ing so to do, we call attention to an interesting illus-
 tration of  the rhythm which controls the  laws of life.
 As in  old age, when we draw near the last scene of all,
 we re-enter childhood, and grow  into second  infancy,
 so  the woman, finishing her pilgrimage of sexual life,
 encounters the  same landmarks and stations which
 greeted her when she first  set out.   She obeys at eve
 the voice of her own nature which she obeyed at prime.
 The same diseases and disorders,  the same nervous and
 mental sensations, the  same  pains and  weaknesses
 which  preceded the first appearance of her monthly
 illness   will, in all probability, precede  its cessation.
 EA^en those affections of the skin or of the brain, as
 epilepsy, which were suffered in  childhood, and which
 disappeared as  soon as the periodical  function was
established, may be  expected  to reappear when the
function has reached  its natural  termination.   There-
fore if  a woman, past the change, notices that she suf-
fers from bleeding at the nose, headache, boils, or some
skin disease, let her bethink herself whether it is not a
repetition of some similar trouble with which she was 
296
THE CHANGE OF LIFE.
plagued  before the eventful  period  which  metamor-
phosed her from a girl into a woman.
  So true is what we have just said, that  in detailing
the symptoms which frequently occur at the change of
life, we could  turn back to the previous pages where
we  discussed the  dangers of puberty, and repeat much
that we there  said as of equal application here.  For
instance, the green-sickness, chlorosis, is by no means
exclusively a  disease of girls.  It may occur at  any
perioJ of childbearing life, but is  much  more frequent
at the beginning and the end of this term.  Hardly any
one ha* watched women closely without having observed
the peculiar tint  of skin, the debility,  the dislike of
society, the change of temper, the fitful appetite,  the
paleness of the eye, and the other traits that show  the
presence of such a condition of the nervous  system in
those about renouncing  their powers of reproduction.
The precautions and rules which we before laid doAvn
can be read with equal profit in this connection.
  In addition  to  these symptoms which in a measure
belong to the individual's own history, there are others
of a general character which  betoken the approaching
change.  One  of them is an increasing  irregularity in
the  monthly appearance.  This is frequently accom-
panied with a sinking sensation, a " feeling of goneness"
as the sufferer says, at  the pit of the stomach, often
accompanied  by flushes of heat,  commencing at  the
stomach and extending  ovrer  the whole  surface of  the
body.  The face, neck, and hands are suffused at inop-
portune moments, and greatly to the anno}Tance of  the
sufferer.  This is sometimes  accompanied by a sense
of fulness in the head, a  giddiness, and a dulness of  the
brain, sometimes  going  so far as  to cause an  uncer- 
THE CHANGE OF LIFE.           297
tainty in the step, a slowness of comprehension, and a
feeling as if one might fall at any moment in some sort
of a fit.
  This is not the worst of it.  These physical troubles
react  upon  the  mind.  An  inward nervousness, in-
tensely painful to bear, is very sure to  be deATeloped.
She fears she will be thought to have taken liquor, and
to be overcome with wine; she grows more confused,
and imagines that she is watched with suspicious and
unkind eyes, and often she worries herself by such un-
founded  fancies into  a most harassing state of mental
distress.   Society loses its attractions, and solitude
does but allow  her  opportunity to indulge to a still
more   injurious   extent  such  brooding  phantasms.
Every ache and  pain  is magnified.  Does  her  heart
palpitate, as it is very apt to do ?  Straightway she is
certain that she  has  some terrible disease of that or-
gan, and that she will  drop down  dead some day in
the street.  Is  one  of her  breasts  somewhat  sore,
which, too, is not unusual?  She knows  at once it is a
cancer, and suffers an agony of terror from a cause
wholly imaginary.
  Vibrating between a distressing excitement  and a
gloomy depression,  her temper gives way, and even
the words of the Divine  Master lose their influence
over her. She becomes fretful, and yet full of remorse
for yielding to her peevishness; she seeks for sympathy
Without  being able to give reasons for needing it; she
annoys those around her  by groundless fears, and is
angered  when  they show their annoyance.  In fine,
she is utterly wretched, without any obvious  cause of
wretchedness.
  This is a dark  picture,, but it is a true one, inexora- 
29$           THE CHANGE OF LIFE.
bly true.  Let  us hasten to add  that  such a  mental
condition is, however, neither a necessary  nor a fre-
quent  concomitant of the change.  We depict it, so
that friends and  relatives may better  appreciate the
sufferings of a  class too little understood, and  so that
Avomen themselves, by knowing the cause of such com-
plaints and the sad results which flow from them, may
take the more earnest efforts to avoid them.
   Other symptoms are a sense of choking, a feeling of
faintness, shooting pains in the  back and loins, creep-
ings and chilliness, a feeling as if a hand were  applied
to the back or the cheek, a fidgety restlessness, inability
to fix the mind on reading or in following a discourse,
and a loss of control over the emotions, so that she is
easily  affected  to  tears  or to laughter.   All these
merely indicate that Nature is emplojdng all her pow-
ers to bring about that mysterious transformation in
the economy by which she depriATes the one sex forever
of partaking in the creatiAre act  after  a certain age,
while she only diminishes the power of the other.
   Those women especially may anticipate serious trou-
ble at this epoch in whom the change at puberty was
accompanied by  distressful and  obstinate disorders,
those in Avhom the menstrual periods hav^e usually been
attended with considerable  pain and prostration, and
those in whose  married life several abortions or several,
tedious and  unnatural labors  have occurred.  Also
those who from some temporary cause are reduced in
health and strength, as from repeated attacks of inter-
mittent feVer or  disorders of the  liArer and digestive
organs.  Still more predisposed are they who are sub-
ject to some of those displacements or local ulcerations
which we have mentioned among the '• perils of mater- 
              THE CHANGE OF LIFE.           299

nity."   It becomes of great consequence that any such
deviation from the healthy standard shall be corrected
before  a woman reaches this  trying passage in her
career.
  In rather more than one out of every four cases the
change of life is either ushered in or accompanied by
considerable flooding.  When this occurs  at  the regu-
lar  period, is not in  sufficient quantity  to cause de-
bility, and  is not  associated with much  pain, it need
not give rise to any alarm.  It is an effort of nature to
relieve the  impending plethora of the system, to drain
away the excessiAre amount of blood wdiich would oth-
erwise accumulate by the cessation of the flow.  When
it is  remembered that  every month for  some thirty
years of life  the woman of forty-fnTe has  been mode-
rately bled, wre need not wonder that suddenly to break
off this long habit would bring about a plethora, which
would in turn be the source of manifold inconveniences
to the whole system.   Therefore, this flooding may be
regarded as a wise act of  nature, and as such, allowed
to take  its course so long as it is not attended with
the  symptoms  mentioned above.  When this is the
case, however, the physician should  be consulted,  as
then the bleeding  may be from inflammation, or ulcera-
tion, or even from that dreaded foe to life, cancer.
  Instead of finding this  exit, the  blood  occasionally
is thrown off by bleeding at the nose, or is spit up from
the lungs, or is passed from bleeding piles.  Due cau-
tion must be  used about stopping such  discharges too
promptly.  Rest,  cool drinks, and  the  application  of
cold to the parts,  are generally all that is  needed.
  We have just  spoken of cancer.   This is a subject
of terror to  many women, and  their fears  are often 
300
THE CHANGE OF LIFE.
increased and deliberately played upon by base knaves
who journey about  the country  calling  themselves
" cancer doctors," and professing to have some secret
remedy with  which  they  work  infallible  cures.  It
should be  generally known that all such pretensions
are false.   It is often a  matter of no little difficulty,
requiring an experienced eye, to pronounce positively
whether a tumor or ulcer is cancerous.   These charla-
tans have  no such ability, but they pronounce  every
sore they see a  cancer, and all their pretended cures
are of innocent, non-malignant disorders.   Cancers
are  more apt to develop  themselves at this period.
Their seat is most frequently in the womb or the breast,
and they  are  said  to be especially liable  to arise in
those women who have suffered several abortions or
unnatural  labors.   Undoubtedly  they  are more fre-
quent  in the married than the  unmarried,  and they
evidently bear some relation  to the amount of disturb-
ance which  the  system has suffered during childbirth,
and the grief and mental pain experienced.   For this
reason a celebrated teacher of obstetrics insists  upon
classing them among nervous diseases.  The surgeon
alone can cure them, and he but  rarely.  Medicine is
of no avail, however long and painstaking have been
its searches in this direction.   A touching story is
related in  this  connection  of  Raymond  Sully, the
celebrated philosopher.   When a young man he was
deeply impressed with the beauty of a lady, and re-
peatedly urged  his  suit, which  she as  persistently re-
pelled, though it was evident she loved him.  One day,
when he insisted wdth more than usual  fervor that she
should explain  her mysterious hesitation,  she  drew
aside the  folds  of  her dress and  exposed her  breast 
              THE CHANGE OF LIFE.          301

partly destroyed by a cancer.  Shocked and horrified,
but unmoved in his affection, he  rushed to the physi-
cians and  demanded  their aid.  They replied  they
could give none.  He determined to find a cure, if  he
had to seek in all parts of the earth.   He visited the
learned doctors of Africa and Asia, and learned many
wonderful things, even, it was  said,  the composition
of the philosopher's stone itself, but what he did not
find, and what has never yet been found, was what  he
went forth to seek—a cure for cancer.
   At this  time,  too,  tumors  or swellings of the
ovaries are apt to commence.  They are nearly alwajTs
preceded by scanty or  painful menstruation, and  this,
therefore, it is the duty of every woman, as she values
the  preservation of her future  health, to remedy  by
every means in her power.
   Generally, from the commencement of the change of
life commences also a steady diminution of the sexual
passions, and soon  after this period they quite disap-
pear.  Sometimes, however, the reverse takes place,
and the sensations increase in  intensity, occasionally
exceeding what they even were before.   This should
be regarded with alarm.  It is contrary to the design
of nature, and can but mean that something is wrong.
Deep-seated disease of the  uterus or ovaries is likely
to be present, or an unnatural nervous  excitability is
there, which, if indulged, will bring  about  dangerous
consequences.  Gratification, therefore, should be tem-
perate, and at rare intervals, or  wholly denied.
   To guard against the  dangers of  this epoch those
general rules  of  health which we have throughout  in-
sisted upon should be  rigidly observed.  If during the
whole of her sexual life the  woman has been diligent in 
302
THE CHANGE OF LIFE.
observing the laws of health, she has little to fear  at
this period.  Some simple remedies will suffice to allay
the disagreeable symptoms, and  the  knowledge  that
most of them are temporary, common to her sex, and
not significant of any peculiar malady, will aid her in
opposing their attacks  on her peace of mind.  When
plethora, flooding  or congestion is apparent, the food
should  be  light, chiefly vegetable, and  moderate  in
quantity.   Liquors, wines, strong  tea, coffee, and cho-
colate should be avoided; an occasional purgative or a
glass of some laxative mineral water should be taken,
and cool bathing regularly observed.  Exercise should
be indulged in with caution, and care taken to avoid
excitement, severe mental  or  bodily effort, and ex-
haustion.  If the system is debilitated, and the danger
is rather from a want of blood than too much blood,
nourishing food, tonic medicines, and perhaps  some
stimulant  are  called  for.  When the perspiration  is
excessive, flannel should be worn next the skin in the
daytime, and a flannel night-dress at night.   A  tepid
bath before retiring  is also useful.   The  " goneness"
and other unpleasant sensations referred to the pit of
the stomach may be much  relieved by wearing a well-
made spice-plaster'over the  stomach,  or  binding  there
a bag of gum camphor, or if these fail, an opium plaster
will hardly fail to be of sendee.  Internally, we  think
nothing at all  is  needed ;  but as something must be
taken, let it not be spirits or wine, but half a teaspoon-
ful of aromatic spirits  of ammonia in a few tablespoon-
fuls of water.   There is too much of a tendency among
some women to seek alleviation  in intoxicating com-
pounds, "bitters,'"  "tonics,"  and so forth, at  such
times.  They can only result in injury, and  should  be 
              THE CHANGE OF LIFE.           303

shunned.  The pains  in the back and loins often ex-
perienced can  often be removed by rubbing  the parts
with hot mustard-water, and taking a gentle purgative,
or by placing against the lower part of the spine a hot
brick wrapped in  a flannel  cloth wrung out in warm
water or laudanum and water.
   Once safely through this critical period, the woman
has a better chance for long life  and a green old age
than the man  of equal years.  Tables of human life
show this conclusively.   With  the sweet conscious-
ness of duty performed, she is now prepared to assist
others by intelligent advice, cheerful counsel, and ten-
der  offices; she can now surround herself  with  that
saintly halo of kind words and good works which wins
a worthier  love than  passion  offers; and, passing on-
ward to the silence of eternal rest, she will leave in the
memory of all who knew her pleasant impressions and
affectionate reminiscences.
26* 
 
NOTES.
  P. 12.  Hermaphrodites and Asexualism.—Rokitansk, du
ctdes Hohmann to be a case of hermaphrodUa vera lateralis, ami ah
who examine her say the same.   See Wiener Medicin. Wochenschnft,
October, 1868, and the Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. xix., p.
487.  A  marked  case of asexualism, proven so by a post-mortem
examination, is reported in the Buffalo Medicaland SuryicalJovrnal
for  April, 1869, p. 338; and another in the London Medical Times
and Gazette of about the same date.  We might refer to many less
recent but less authentic cases.

  P. 17.  Age of Puberty.—See case by Dr. T. H. Twiner, in the
Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal, March, 1869, Raciborski,
De  la Menstruation el De I'Age Critique Chez  la Femme,  p. 130.
The quotation is from  Dr. Edward Smith, Cyclical Changes in
Health and Disease—a profound work.  Raciborski is the principal
authority for this  and the  following section.  Our own inquiries
fully confirm his statements.

  P. 24.  Influence  of  the  Moon  on Menstruation.—On
this question, see  the researches of M.  Parchappe, Compter Ren-
dus de PAcademie  des Sciences,  torn, xvi., p. 550.  See also  Dr.
Shrye, Tractatus de Fluxu Menstruo, in the Acta Lipsiensia for 1686,
p. Ill, Dr. W. Charleton, Inquisitio Physica de  Causis Catumenio-
rum, p. 78,  and  Galen,  De Diebus Decretoriis, lib. iii, for other
curious particulars.

  P. 28.  Chlorosis.—For the pathology of this disease, see  Dr.
Oaillard  Thomas, Diseases of Women, p.  625, and Dr. C. H.  Bauer,
In the  Wiener Medicin. Zeitung, No. 33, 1808.  Occasionally  the 
306
NOTES
change  at puberty leads to an affection very closely resembling
typhoid  fever, but which is strictly due  to the sexual crisis, and
often goitre  commences at this period.  See a review  of  Raci-
borski in the Bulletin de Therapeutique, June, 1869.


  P. 29. Masturbation  in  Girls.—See  Miss  Catherine E
Beech er, Letters to the People on Health and Happiness, p. 159.   Th«
late medical literature on the subject is abundant.  See  Ueber di*
Behandlung der Masturbation bei kleinen Mddchen, Journal fur Kin-
derkrankheiten,  Bd. li., p.  360,  H. R. Storer, Western Journal oi
Medicine, July, 1868, and Journal of </te Gynecological Society, Vol.
i. No. 1.


  Pp. 34, 35. Premature Marriages.—See Dr. Duncan, Fecun-
dity, Fertility, etc., p. 241, Reich, Natur und Gesundheitslehre det
Ehelichen Lebens,  p. 518.

  P. 39. Holy Loate.—The distinction between ayann  and cpwij
is too familiar to all scholars to need extended mention.  See
Trench,  Synonyms of the New Testament, sub voce.


  Pp. 40, 41. Single Life in its Relation to  Sanity  anl
Mortality.—The  extraordinary  statements  in  the  text  are
vouched for  by Dr. Casper, Medicinische Statistik,  vol. ii. p. 164,
and Dr. Reich, Geschichte, Natur, und Gesundheitslehre  des Ehe-
lichen Lebens, pp. 510, 511.  We have compared the reports of  a
number  of American asylums for the insane, and find  the pro-
portions very nearly as  great as stated by these authorities.


  Pp. 51, 52.  Intermarriage of  Relatives.—The  view we
advocate on  this point, we know, is neither  the received nor the
popular  one.   In the middle ages it was forbidden  to intermarry
within the seventh degree of consanguinity. But this and  all other
regulations Avere based on theological and political, not physiolo-
gical, grounds.  Quite recently, Dr. Nathan  Allen, of  Massachu-
setts, has insisted on the danger of consanguineous marriages [Jour-
nal of Psychological Medicine, April, 1869).  But other very careful 
                         NOTES                         307

and recent students adopt the view of our text; for  instance, Dr.
F. J. Behrend, Journal filr Kinderkrankheiten, December, 1868, p.
316; Dr. A. Voisin, in the reports of the Paris Academie de Mede-
eine, 1864, 1865, and 1868 ; and Dr. H. Gaillard, in the last edition
(1868) of the  Dictionaire de Medeeine ct de Chirurgie Pratique. All
the statements in the text are supported with incontrovertible evi-
dence by these writers.   If we are asked how we meet  the seem-
ingly alarming array of allegations by Dr. Bemiss, the  Kentucky
physician referred  to, in the  Transactions of the American Medical
Association, forl859, we  beg  to refer to  Dr. Behrend's articles,
where the researches of Bemiss are severely, and, to our mind,
justly criticised.  For Dr. Edward Smith's assertion, see his Essay
on Consumption, p. 244.   (Philadelphia, 1805.)


  Pp. 61,62. Communication of Venereal Diseases.—Many
instances  are  recorded where a drinking-glass, a spoon, a fork, or
a handkerchief has infected  innocent persons with  these terrible
diseases;  see  Cullerier,  Atlas  of Venereal Diseases,  p. 43.   They
are communicated  from the male to the female or from  the female
to the male with equal facility, and either  parent  can transmit
them to the children.  The physician in Pennsylvania referred to
is Dr. Sigmund, in the Humboldt Medical Archives, 1868.


  P. 63.  Symbolism.—See Dr. Carus,  Symbolik der Menschlichen
Gestalt, the most scientific work  ever  Avritten on  physiognomy,
phrenology, and allied subjects.

              9
  Pp. 69, 70. Vide  Raciborski, De la Puberti et de t'Age Ot-iliqut
Chez laFemme, p. 133;  Tilt,  Uterine Therapeutics, p. 315.   (Am.
ed., 1869.)

  P. 72. See  Dr. William A. Hammond's Treatise on Hygi**t. p.
138, for  air-space required by  a healthy person.  The  conburion
of phthisis is maintained by many authorities, among other?. Dr.
W. W. Gerhard of this city,  vide Pennsylvania Hospital Rojorta
f  " 1868 P. 266.   Professor Castan  has  recently collected, \u ths
ilontpclicr Medicate, a variety of facts which aeem to  sho* that 
308
NOTES.
 tuoerculosis may bf communicated from a diseased to a healthy
 person by transpiration, breathed air, and  living togetlicr (Lon-
 don Press and Circular, March 10, 1869).  In regard to the inocu-
 lation of tubercle,  we have  reference to  the well-known experi-
 ments of M. Villemin, of the Hupital Val-de-Griice, Paris.  In this
 connection we may record  an instance of recent medical heroism.
 M. Lespiaud, attached  to  the surgical department of the Val-de-
 Grace, in presence of several of his colleagues, extracted granular
 matter from the body of  a phthisical subject, and introduced it
 under his own  integument.    This zealous investigator into the
 etiology of  tuberculosis has thus exposed himself, in a courageous
 way, for the benefit of science, to the effects of a most  dangerous
 and merciless disease.  See  New  Orleans Journal of Medicine for
 January, 1869, quoted from the London Lancet.


   P. 74. The  Dignity and  Propriety of  the Sexual In-
 stinct.—Dr. Edward John Tilt, of London, is  the medical writer
 referred to, vide  Uterine Therapeutics, pp. 95, 313.   See also  Bos-
 quet, Nouveau  Tableau de I'Amour Conjugal, vol.  ii. p. 2,  etc.;
 Rousel, Systeme  Physique  et Moral  de  la Femme,  p. 211;  Mcn-
 ville, Histoire MMicale et  Philosophique de la Femme, vol. i. p. 36,
 et seq.; Raciborski, De la Puberte, etc., p.  45.


   P. 77.  On the Indulgence  and Restraint of Sexual
 Desire.—Menville, vol.  ii.  p.  91;  Bosquet, vol.  ii. p.  280;
 Economy  of Life; or Food, Repose  and  Love, by  George Miles
 (London, 1868).  Dr.  Edward  Smith,  in his  valuable work on
 Cyclical Changes in Health and Disease,  has collected  extensive
 statistics showing the effect of the time of conception on the via-
 bility of the foetus.  The  quotation is from Carpenter's Human
 Physiology, p. 753.  (Am. ed.)


  P. 81. See London Lancet for March 6, 1869, p. 337,  for report
of discussion  in the Pathological  Society of  London upon the
physical degeneracy resulting from  procreation during intoxica-
tion,  Authorities could be cited at length upon this  subject, but
it  is not necessary.  See   Hufeland's Art of Prolonging  Life,  p
207.  (Am.  ed. 1867.)
i 
                            notes.                       309

   P. 82. Quotation from Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas's excellent work
 on Diseases of Women, p 55.


   P. 83-90. Sterility.—For statistics referred to, seo Dr. MaW
 thews Duncan, Fecundity, Fertility, and Sterility (Edinburgh, 1866),
 p. 181, et seq.; Dr. Tilt, Uterine Therapeutics, p. 291; Dr. Edward
 Reich, Gesundheitslehre des Ehelichen Lebens, Th. ii.
   Dr. J. Marion Sims, on the Microscope as an aid in the DiagnosU
 and  Treatment of  Sterility, New  York Medical Journal, January
 1869, p. 406 ; Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Planti
 under Domestication, vol. ii.,  p. 198 (Am. ed.) Philadelphia Medi-
 cal and Surgical Reporter, November 2, 1867, p. 384; A. Debay
 Hygiene et  Physiologie du Mariage, p. 288 (Paris, Quarante-quat-
 rieme edition); Raciborski,  De la Puberte, etc., p. 451; Virey, De
 la Femme sous ses  Rapports  Phys., etc., p. 332;  Dr. Gunning S.
 Bedford, The Principles and  Practice of Obstetrics, p. 107.

   P. 91. TnE Limitation of Offspring.—We have taken great
 pains to avoid giving false or dangerous impressions in this sec-
 tion.  The  references in the order of quotation are:—Dr. Tilt
 Hand-Book of Uterine Therapeutics, p. 317 (Am. ed.);  Dr. Duncan,
 Fecundity, Fertility, Sterility, and allied topics, pp. 289,  290; Dr.
 Hillier, Diseases of Children,  p. 114; John Stuart Mill, Principles
 of Political  Economy, p.  591  (Eng. ed., 1866);  Dr. Drysdale, Lon-
 don Medical Press and Circular, December, 1868, p. 478 ; Raciborski,
 De CAge Critique  chez la Femme, p. 484 ;  The Nation, June, 1869;
 Dr. Ed. Reich, Natur und Gesundheitslehre des Ehelichen Lebens, p.
 493;  Boston Mkdical and Surgical Journal; February, 1867; Phila-
 delphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. xix. p. 305; Sismondi,
 Principles of Political Economy, book vii., chap. v.; Dr. MacCormac,
 in London Medical Press and Circular, March, 1869, p. 244;  Dr.
 Gaillard Thoraa.s, Diseases of Women, p. 58 ; Leavenworth Medical
 Herald, April, 1867; Dr. N. K. Bowling, in the Nashville Jovr-
 rud of 'Medicine and Surgery, October, 1S68.   We have rather let
 others speak than spoken ourselves, and have collected the opin-
 ions of many most distinguished  physicians and statesmen, who
 thus  pronounce against  excessive child-bearing.  Any intelli-
eent physician will acknowledge the weight to be assigned to such
 uauies. 
310
NOTES.
   P. lol. Quotation from Philadelphia Medical and Surgical 11+
 porter, August 8, 1868, p. 106.

   P. 101. Signs of Fruitful Conjunction.—Carpenter, Human
 Physiology, p. 772; Dr. Gunning S. Bedford, Principles and Prac-
 tice of Obstetrics, p.  304; Menville, vol.  i. p. 295;  Montgomery,
 Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy, p. 90.

   P.  107. Inheritance.—Darwin,  Animals and  Plants  under
 Domestication, pp. 42, 473 (Am.  ed.); Sir Henry Holland's il/e«i-
 lal Notes and  Reflections, p. 30;  Pritchard, Researclies into  tht
 Physical History of Mankind, vol. ii.,  p. 551 ; Carpenter, Human
 Physiology, p. 779; A. Debay, Hygidne et Physiologie du Manage,
 p. 173 ; Flourens, De la Longevite Humaine et de la Quantite de Vie
 tur le  Globe, p. 256 (Paris,  1860); Hufeland, Art  of Prolonging
 Life, pp.91, 206; Hammond's Hygiene, p. 116;  American Journal of
 Medical Sciences, July, 1865, p. 82; Francis Gal ton,  on Hereditary
 Talent and  Character, in MacMillan's  Magazine, vol. xii. pp. 157
 and 318;  Madden,  The Infirmities of Genius, vol.  ii.  p.  107;
 London  Lancet, December 22, 1868, p. 825; The British Medical
 Journal, January 11,  1868, p.  25; Dr. Prosper Lucas, Traite de
 VHeredite Naturelle: Victor Hugo, LHomme Qui Bit, le seconde
 chapitre preliminaire; Watson's Practice, p. 1153;  Dr. Daniel G
 Brinton, Guide-Book to Florida and the South, Pt. iii.
   Dr. J. V. C. Smith,  Physical Indications of Longevity in Man.


   P. 126. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, April  2, 1868.

   P. 133. Dr. Arthur Mitchell, London Medical Times  and Gazette,
 November 15, 1862.

  P. 135. Duncan, Fecundity, Fertility, and Sterility, p.  69; Rams-
botham, System of Obstetrics, p. 461 (Am, ed.); Philadelphia Medi-
cal and Surgical Reporter, vol. xix., p. 508 :  xx. p. 98.

  P. 136.  London Medical Press and Circular, August 28, 1867;
 Journal de Bruzelles, July, 1867,  p. 48. 
                          NOTES.                       311

  P. 198. Menville, i. p. 299; Dr. Gunning S Bedford, Syekm qf
dbsietrics, p. 144, et seq.;  Montgomery, Signs and Symptoms of
Pregnancy ;  Dr. Edward Rigby, System of Midwifery, p. 47.

  P. 149. Mothers' Marks.—See a very interesting article by
Professor Wm. A. Hammond in The Quarterly Journal of Psycho-
logical Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence, January, 1868, p. 1, in
which he says, in regard to the influence of the maternal mind
over  the foetus in utero, "The chances of these instances,  and
others which  I have mentioned,  being due to coincidence,  are
infinitesimally small; and  though I am careful not to reason upon
the principle of post hoc ergo propter hoc, I cannot, nor do I think
any  other person can, no  matter  how logical  may be his mind,
reason fairly against the connection between cause and  effect in
such cases.  The correctness of the facts only can be questioned;
if these be  accepted, the probabilities are thousands  of millions
to one that  the relation  between the phenomena is direct."   See
also Dr. J. LeAvis Smith, Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, 1869,
p. 21; Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. xix. p. 359.

   P.  160-164.  Raciborski,  De la  Puberte, etc., p. 491; Dr. Gun-
ning S.  Bedford, Syten of Obstetrics, p. 442;  Diet, des Science*
Medicaid, t. L. iii; London Lcncet, August, 1856, p. 131;  Car-
penter, Human Physiology, p. 779 ;  Beck's Elements of Medical Juris-
prudence, Art. Superfcetation ;  Rokitansky, Pathological Anatcmy;
Philadelphia Medical and  Surgical Reporter, May 1, 1869, p. :<35;
Professor Pancoast, removed some years since from the cheek of
a child some months old a rudimentary second child.

   P. 105. Dr. Bedford, Obstetrics, p. 264, London Lancet, Janr ry
23, 1869.

   P  165   Is it A Son or Daughter ?-Philadelphia MeS*  u
 *nd'Surgical Reporter, vol. xvii. p. 495;  Dr. Frankenhauser in «>.,
  MmaUchrift fiir  Geburtskunde; Dr. Packman on  Impregn on,
  London Lancet, July 18,1863.
168.  Dr. Bedford, System qf Obstetrics, p. 289. 
312                      NOTES.
   P. 170. Taylor, Medical Jurisprudence, p. 586; Report qf Pro
 tetdings against the Rev. Fergus Jardine, Edinburgh, 1839

   P. 173. Churchill, On Women, p. 451 (Am. ed.); Menville ii
 114; Tilt's Elements of Health, p. 271 *-

   P. 199. To have Labor without Pain.—Professor T. Gail-
 lard Thomas says,  " The rule  should be to employ an anaesthetic
 in every case of labor, during the second stage, unless some  contra-
 indication exists.  After a delivery, under its influence, patients
 recover more rapidly, are freer from complications, and show fewer
 signs of prostration."  Vide Lecture on the Management of  Woman
 after Parturition,  in  the Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal,
 February, 1869, p.  145.

   P. 201. Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol.  xix. p.
 388; Carpenter, Human Physiology, p. 810; Ramsbotham,  Obstet-
 rics, p. Ill; Detroit Review of Medicine and Pharmacy, March,
 1869, p. 150.

   P. 205. The Mother.—Dr. J. Lewis Smith, A  Treatise on tht
 Diseases of Infancy and  Childhood, 1869, p. 28 et seq.; Dr. Thomas
 Hillier, Clinical Treatise on the Diseases of Children, p. 17 (Am. ed.,
 1868); Dr. Edward Smith, Cyclical  Changes in Health and Disease',
 Dr. John Marshall, Outlines of Physiology, Human  and Compara-
 tive, pp. 761, 765, 998 (Am. ed., 1868);  Dr. Charles A. Cameron,
 Lectures  on  the Preservation of Health, London, 1868, p. 174;  Dr.
 Charles J. B. Williams, Principles  of  Medicine, p.  480 (Am.  ed.,
 1866); Dr. J. Forsyth Meigs, Diseases of Children;  Dr. E. J. Tilt,
 Elements of Health  and  Principles of Female Hygiene, p. 50, et seq.
 (Am. ed., 1853);  Dr. Andrew Combe,  The Management of Infancy,
 p. 73, et  seq. (Ninth ed., Edinburgh,  1860); Report of Board qf
 Health of  Philadelphia, for 1868,  p. 43;  British  and Foreign
 Medico-Chirurgical Review, April, 1868, pp.  382, 454;  Southern
Journal of the  Medical Sciences, November,  1867,  p.  555;  Dr.
 Thomas Hawkes Tanner, Practv.e of Medicine, p. 108 (Am.  ed.,
 •866); Dr. Wm. A. Hammond, Treatise on Hygiene, p. 95,  et t>eq.,
Philadelphia Medical and Surgical  Reporter, vol. xvi. p. 530, xijj
 pp. 37, 59, 119, 134, 382. 
INDEX.
                                                   PAOB
Abdomen, changes in............................... 143
    pain in........................................... 184
Abortion, crime of, how to stop........................  93
    evils of..........................................  99
Anger, effect on the milk.............................. 21.1
Appetite, depraved................................... 144
Arrowroot, how to prepare it for children.......... 231, 246
Atavism explained.................................... 108

Bath, hour of, for infants.............................. 240
    drying skin after................................. 241
    use of soap in.................................... 242
    value of, in infantile diseases...................... 242
Bathing.............................................. 177
Beautiful children, how to  have........................ 11")
Beauty, value of...................................... HO
Bed. for married persons..............................  71
    most healthful....................................  73
    clothing of.......................................  74
    In confinement................................... 187
                                            (313) 
314
INDEX.
                                                     F*GE
Body, symbolism of...................................   60
Boys, more born than girls............................  127 r*
Blondes, age of puberty of.............................   19
Braces, abdominal....................................  283
Breasts, changes in...............................  140 184
Bringing up by hand.................................  229
Brunettes, age of puberty of...........................   19

Celibacy not chastity..................................   40
    results of..............................n.........   41
Change of life, regimen and perils of...................  292
Child, attention to....................................  195
    education before birth.............................  159
    can one cry before birth...........................  165
Childbearing, excessive...............................   93
Childbed, mortality of................................  200
Childbirth, imprudence after...........................  203
    to preserve form after.............................  204
Children, decreased number of.........................   55
    diet for..........................................  247
    new-born, weight and length of...................  201
    three at a birth...................................  135
    four at a birth.................................... 136
    five at a birth......-............................... 137
Chlorosis.............................................  27
Cleanliness, curative influence of...................... 285
Climate, effect on menstruation........................   18
Clothing during pregnancy.............f..............  175
    at confinement................................... 186
    of infants........................................ 237
Cold, effect of, on infants..............................  2£7 
INDEX.
315
                                                   PAGE
Color of infant.......................................  1G1
Complexion..........................................  Ill
Conception, nature of.................................  1C1
    signs of..........................................  104
Confinement, preparations for.....................  184, 191
    bed for...........................................  187
    dress for.........................................  192
Constipation.........................................  184
Constitution, effect on puberty.........................   19
Consumption..............................  53, 73, 121, 125
Continence demanded from husbands..................   96
Courtship---........................................   47
Cousins, shall they marry.............................   51

Daughters, influenced by fathers....................... 119
 Deformities, hereditary................................ 113
 Degeneracy, cause of.................................  81
     of the human race, a query........................ 270
 Diet for infants................................... 231> 243
     for children...................................... 247
 Disease, transmission of............................... *21
 Diseases, hereditary..................................   92
 Divorce, its propriety.................................   46

 Education, influence of............................... 120
      of child in womb................................. 1,,fl
 Emotion, influence on child........................... 1;3
 Emotions, stimulation of..............................  2(>
 Engagement, the.....................................
    °           -                          .......... 10S
 Epilepsy, cause ot....................
 Eruptions of childhood, how to prevent................ 243 
316
INDEX-
                                                    PAGE
 Exercise at puberty...................................   81
     during pregnancy................................  176

 Falling of the womb..................................  277
 Fathers, influence on  daughters........................  118
 Feeding of infants, manner of..................... 246,  248
 Fertility, hereditary..................................  112
     laws of..........................................   85
 Flirtation............................................   44
 Food, during pregnancy..............................  173
     of infants and children............................  243
     bill of fare for...................................-.247
 Foreigners, shall American women marry..............   55
 Form, to preserve....................................  204
 Frigidity............................................   8G

 Galen, anecdote  of....................................  103
 Gardner, Lord, story of...............................  169
 Goftr,  story of........................................  137
 Green  sickness.......................................  27
 Growth of  children...................................  268

Hair, its significance..................................  64
    transmission of...................................  112
Hardening  infants, best way of........................ 238
Husband, age of......................................  56
    temperament of..................................   59
    character of......................................  60
    how to choose....................................   51
    how to retain affections of.........................  105
Husband and wife......................,.............  181 
INDEX,
311
                                                    PAGE
Husbands, plurality of................................  47
Hysterics............................................  28

Imagination, influence of, on child.................... 154
Infancy, care of..............................235, 259, 261
    deaths in........................................ 235
Infants' food..................................... 231, 237
Infants, manner of carrying........................... 260
    how to lift....................................... 263
Inheritance.......................................... 1°7
    how to avoid..................................... I25
    of talent......................................... I16
Injections........................................... 287
Intemperance, of several kinds........................   92
Irrigations........................................... 287

 Knowledge, safety in.................................    9

 Labor, signs of approaching...........................  183
                      ...............................  189
                                         ............  189
                                                 199
symptoms of...................................
false and true................................

                                .................  203
cause of.......................................
duration of..................................
                               .................  193
dress during.................................
            ate..................•...............
                                   .............  199
    how to have without pain......................
                                     ...............   67
    long............................
Late marriages, offspring of...........................  -^
Longevity, hereditary................................  li^
Longings in pregnancy............................... 
318
INDEX.
                                                    PAGE
Love, its power on humanity..........................  35
    what is it.......................................  38
    differs from lust.................................  39
    is a necessity.....................................  40
    is eternai.......................................  43
    at first sight......................................  50

Manner of feeding infants.............................  246
Mania, puerperal.....................................  272
Marital relations, times to suspend.....................  81
    when painful.....................................  83
Marriage, time of year for.............................  67
    time of month for................................  67
Marriages, second....................................  45
Maternity, perils of...................................  271
Men as wet-nurses....................................  221
Menstruation explained............................. 16, 24
Milk, influence of diet on.............................  210
    influence of pregnancy on.........................  211
    poisonous........................................  213
    effect of anger on.................................  215
    quantity required by infant.......................  216
    over-abundance of................................  218
    scantiness of.....................................  219
    value as food..................................  31, 244
Miscarriage..........................................  145
    causes and prevention of..........................  148
Mind, changes in, in pregnancy.......................  145
    influence of......................................  103
    influence on nursing child.....................212  215
    of mother, influence on child......................  \~\ 
INDEX
319
Mind—                                            page
    the, during pregnancy............................  158
Morning sickness.................................  140, 182
Mortality of infant life................................  236
    causes of.........................................  237
Mother, the..........................................  205
    position in nursing................................  216
Mothers, influence on sons............................  118
Mothers' marks.......................................  149
Mutilations, inheritable...............................  122

Keck, form of........................................  11°
    its significance...................................   64
Night-dress of children................................  239
Night-covering of children............................ 252
Night, the wedding...................................  69
Nipples, to harden.................................... i85
Nubility, the age of...................................  83
Nursing............................................. 206
     care of health during.............................. 223
     when improper................................... 207
     rules for.........................................
     prolonged........................................ "
                                                     °lfi
     position during....................................
 Nursing-mother, qualities of good...................... 217
                                                      91
 Offspring, the limitation of............................
     influenced by the mind............................ 102
                     r                              .. 225
 Over-nursing, signs or..........................
 Overlaying children, deaths from...................... 23<*
     how to prevent............................
                                                       91
 Over-production, evils of........................
                                                       97
     remedies for..................................... 
826                     INDEX.
                                                    PAOB
Parr, Thomas........................................  113
Perils of maternity....................................  271
Perspiration, fetid....................................  107
Plurality of wives or husbands.........................   47
Pregnancy...........................................  138
    effect on health...................................  187
    signs of..........................................  139
    diseases of.......................................  182
    double...........................................  160
    length of.........................................  167
    care of health during..............................  172
    causes of protracted...............................  171
    influence on the milk..........................____  211
Puberty, the age of.............................. 15, 16, 20
    what hastens  and retards..........................   18
    the changes it works..............................   21
    mental changes...................................   22
    completion of.....................................   23
    dangers of........................................   25
    hygiene of.......................................   30

Qualities transmitted by parents.......................  Ill
Quickening..........................................  141

Races, mixture of.....................................   53
Religion, mistaken notions of..........................   94
Revaccination........................................  258

Second marriages.....................................   43
Secret bad habits....................................    29
Bex of child, how to predict...........................  1G3 
INDEX.
321
                                                    PAGE
Sexes, distinction of..................................   10
    persons of both...................................   12
    production of, at will..............................  129
Sexual desire, indulgence and restraint of..............   77
    moderation in....................................   78
Sexual instinct, dignity and propriety of................   74
    false notions about................................   75
    Influence on offspring.............................   76
Sexuality, what it implies.............................   10
Single life, the........................................  289
Skin, culture of, in infancy............................  243
Sleep, at puberty.....................................   32
    amount required in early life......................  250
    during pregnancy.................................  178
    position in.......................................  253
Smallpox, death-rate from.............................  255
Soup, Liebig's.......................................  245
Spinal disease........................................   26
Spring-time..........................................   79
Sterility.............................................   83
    how to remedy...................................   89
Stillbirths................*.....................'•.....  202
Stilling, Jung, anecdote of............................   50
St. Pierre, anecdote of................................   59
Sully, Raymond, anecdote of..........................  300
Swimming, benefit of.................................  243
Symbolism of the human body........................   63
Syringes.............................................  28C

Talent hereditary................................  116
Teething, per:od of.........................  2<56 
S!I2                     ZADEX.
                                                   PAGE
Temperament, transmission of.........................  I12
Temperaments explained..............................   59
    influence of......................................   79
Tight lacing.........................................  280/
Toilet, arts of, recommended..........................  107
Tour, the wedding...................................   67
Twins, how to predict................................  166
    why born........................................  133
Twin-bearing........................................  132
Thury, Prof., his discovery...........................  129

Vaccination, importance of............................  254
    age for..........................................  258
Ventilation..........................................  177
Virgins, wet-nursing by...............................  221
Voice, change in puberty.............................   21
Weaning............................................  233
Wedding tour, the....................................   67
    night, the........................................   69
Wet-nurse, how  to select..............................  228
Wet-nursing by virgins and men......................  220
Wives, plurality of...................................   47
Woman, physical differences from man................   11
    sphereal.........................................   13
    to be sought.....................................   47
Women, why redundant..............................  126
    diseases peculiar to...............................  275
        treatment of.................................  283

Zurich, curious custom in.............................   72
THE END. 
 
 
 
 
 
NLM005559629