It may not be unprofitable to give the history of one more case ofthis sort. Miss E---- had an hereditary right to a good brain and tothe best cultivation of it. Her father was one of our ripest andbroadest American scholars, and her mother one of our most accomplished American women. They both enjoyed excellent health. Their daughter had a literary training,--an intellectual, moral, and æsthetic half of education, such as their supervision would be likelyto give, and one that few young men of her age receive. Her health didnot seem to suffer at first. She studied, recited, walked, worked,stood, and the like, in the steady and sustained way that is normal tothe male organization. She _seemed_ to evolve force enough to acquirea number of languages, to become familiar with the natural sciences,to take hold of philosophy and mathematics, and to keep in goodphysical case while doing all this. At the age of twenty-one shemight have been presented to the public, on Commencement Day, by thepresident of Vassar College or of Antioch College or of MichiganUniversity, as the wished-for result of American liberal female culture. Just at this time, however, the catamenial function began toshow signs of failure of power. No severe or even moderate illnessovertook her. She was subjected to no unusual strain. She was onlyfollowing the regimen of continued and sustained work, regardless ofNature's periodical demands for a portion of her time and force, when,without any apparent cause, the failure of power was manifested bymoderate dysmenorrhoea and diminished excretion. Soon after this thefunction ceased altogether; and up to this present writing, a periodof six or eight years, it has shown no more signs of activity than anamputated arm. In the course of a year or so after the cessation ofthe function, her head began to trouble her. First there was headache,then a frequent congested condition, which she described as a "rushof blood" to her head; and, by and by, vagaries and forebodings anddespondent feelings began to crop out. Coincident with this mentalstate, her skin became rough and coarse, and an inveterate acnecovered her face. She retained her appetite, ability to exercise andsleep. A careful local examination of the pelvic organs, by an expert,disclosed no lesion or displacement there, no ovaritis or otherinflammation. Appropriate treatment faithfully persevered in wasunsuccessful in recovering the lost function. I was finally obliged toconsign her to an asylum.
The arrest of development of the reproductive system is most obviousto the superficial observer in that part of it which the milliner iscalled upon to cover up with pads, and which was alluded to in thecase of Miss D----. This, however, is too important a matter to bedismissed with a bare allusion. A recent writer has pointed out thefact and its significance with great clearness. "There is anothermarked change," says Dr. Nathan Allen, "going on in the femaleorganization at the present day, which is very significant ofsomething wrong. In the normal state, Nature has made ample provisionin the structure of the female for nursing her offspring. In order tofurnish this nourishment, pure in quality and abundant in quantity,she must possess a good development of the sanguine and lymphatictemperament, together with vigorous and healthy digestive organs.Formerly such an organization was very generally possessed by Americanwomen, and they found but little difficulty in nursing their infants.It was only occasionally, in case of some defect in the organization,or where sickness of some kind had overtaken the mother, that itbecame necessary to resort to the wet-nurse or to feeding by hand. Andthe English, the Scotch, the German, the Canadian French, and theIrish women now living in this country, generally nurse theirchildren: the exceptions are rare. But how is it with our Americanwomen who become mothers? To those who have never considered thissubject, and even to medical men who have never carefully looked intoit, the facts, when correctly and fully presented, will be surprising.It has been supposed by some that all, or nearly all, our Americanwomen could nurse their offspring just as well as not; that thedisposition only was wanting, and that they did not care about havingthe trouble or confinement necessarily attending it. But this is agreat mistake. This very indifference or aversion shows somethingwrong in the organization as well as in the disposition: if thephysical system were all right, the mind and natural instincts wouldgenerally be right also. While there may be here and there cases ofthis kind, such an indisposition is not always found. It is a fact,that large numbers of our women are anxious to nurse their offspring,and make the attempt: they persevere for a while,--perhaps for weeksor months,--and then fail.... There is still another class that cannotnurse at all, _having neither the organs nor nourishment_ requisiteeven to make a beginning.... Why should there be such a differencebetween the women of our times and their mothers or grandmothers? Whyshould there be such a difference between our American women and thoseof foreign origin residing in the same locality, and surrounded by thesame external influences? The explanation is simple: they have not theright kind of organization; there is a want of proper development ofthe lymphatic and sanguine temperaments,--a marked deficiency in theorgans of nutrition and secretion. You cannot draw water without good,flowing springs. _The brain and nervous system have, for a long time,made relatively too large a demand upon_ the organs of digestion andassimilation, while the exercise and _development of certain othertissues in the body have been sadly neglected_.... In consequence ofthe great neglect of physical exercise, and the _continuousapplication to study_, together with various other influences, largenumbers of our American women have altogether an undue predominanceof the nervous temperament. If only here and there an individual werefound with such an organization, not much harm comparatively wouldresult; but, when a majority or nearly all have it, the evil becomesone of no small magnitude."[15] And the evil, it should be added, isnot simply the inability to nurse; for, if one member suffers, all themembers suffer. A woman, whether married or unmarried, whether calledto the offices of maternity or relieved from them, who has beendefrauded by her education or otherwise of such an essential part ofher development, is not so much of a woman, intellectually and morallyas well as physically, in consequence of this defect. Her nervoussystem and brain, her instincts and character, are on a lower plane,and incapable of their harmonious and best development, if she ispossessed, on reaching adult age, of only a portion of a breast and anovary, or none at all.
When arrested development of the reproductive system is nearly orquite complete, it produces a change in the character, and a loss ofpower, which it is easy to recognize, but difficult to describe. Asthis change is an occasional attendant or result of amenorrhoea, whenthe latter, brought about at an early age, is part of an early arrest,it should not be passed by without an allusion. In these cases, whichare not of frequent occurrence at present, but which may be evolved byour methods of education more numerously in the future, the systemtolerates the absence of the catamenia, and the consequentnon-elimination of impurities from the blood. Acute or chronicdisease, the ordinary result of this condition, is not set up, but,instead, there is a change in the character and development of thebrain and nervous system. There are in individuals of this class lessadipose and more muscular tissue than is commonly seen, a coarserskin, and, generally, a tougher and more angular make-up. There is acorresponding change in the intellectual and psychical condition,--adropping out of maternal instincts, and an appearance of Amazoniancoarseness and force. Such persons are analogous to the sexless classof termites. Naturalists tell us that these insects are divided intomales and females, and a third class called workers and soldiers, whohave no reproductive apparatus, and who, in their structure andinstincts, are unlike the fertile individuals.
The arrest of development of the reproductive system is most obviousto the superficial observer in that part of it which the milliner iscalled upon to cover up with pads, and which was alluded to in thecase of Miss D----. This, however, is too important a matter to bedismissed with a bare allusion. A recent writer has pointed out thefact and its significance with great clearness. "There is anothermarked change," says Dr. Nathan Allen, "going on in the femaleorganization at the present day, which is very significant ofsomething wrong. In the normal state, Nature has made ample provisionin the structure of the female for nursing her offspring. In order tofurnish this nourishment, pure in quality and abundant in quantity,she must possess a good development of the sanguine and lymphatictemperament, together with vigorous and healthy digestive organs.Formerly such an organization was very generally possessed by Americanwomen, and they found but little difficulty in nursing their infants.It was only occasionally, in case of some defect in the organization,or where sickness of some kind had overtaken the mother, that itbecame necessary to resort to the wet-nurse or to feeding by hand. Andthe English, the Scotch, the German, the Canadian French, and theIrish women now living in this country, generally nurse theirchildren: the exceptions are rare. But how is it with our Americanwomen who become mothers? To those who have never considered thissubject, and even to medical men who have never carefully looked intoit, the facts, when correctly and fully presented, will be surprising.It has been supposed by some that all, or nearly all, our Americanwomen could nurse their offspring just as well as not; that thedisposition only was wanting, and that they did not care about havingthe trouble or confinement necessarily attending it. But this is agreat mistake. This very indifference or aversion shows somethingwrong in the organization as well as in the disposition: if thephysical system were all right, the mind and natural instincts wouldgenerally be right also. While there may be here and there cases ofthis kind, such an indisposition is not always found. It is a fact,that large numbers of our women are anxious to nurse their offspring,and make the attempt: they persevere for a while,--perhaps for weeksor months,--and then fail.... There is still another class that cannotnurse at all, _having neither the organs nor nourishment_ requisiteeven to make a beginning.... Why should there be such a differencebetween the women of our times and their mothers or grandmothers? Whyshould there be such a difference between our American women and thoseof foreign origin residing in the same locality, and surrounded by thesame external influences? The explanation is simple: they have not theright kind of organization; there is a want of proper development ofthe lymphatic and sanguine temperaments,--a marked deficiency in theorgans of nutrition and secretion. You cannot draw water without good,flowing springs. _The brain and nervous system have, for a long time,made relatively too large a demand upon_ the organs of digestion andassimilation, while the exercise and _development of certain othertissues in the body have been sadly neglected_.... In consequence ofthe great neglect of physical exercise, and the _continuousapplication to study_, together with various other influences, largenumbers of our American women have altogether an undue predominanceof the nervous temperament. If only here and there an individual werefound with such an organization, not much harm comparatively wouldresult; but, when a majority or nearly all have it, the evil becomesone of no small magnitude."[15] And the evil, it should be added, isnot simply the inability to nurse; for, if one member suffers, all themembers suffer. A woman, whether married or unmarried, whether calledto the offices of maternity or relieved from them, who has beendefrauded by her education or otherwise of such an essential part ofher development, is not so much of a woman, intellectually and morallyas well as physically, in consequence of this defect. Her nervoussystem and brain, her instincts and character, are on a lower plane,and incapable of their harmonious and best development, if she ispossessed, on reaching adult age, of only a portion of a breast and anovary, or none at all.
When arrested development of the reproductive system is nearly orquite complete, it produces a change in the character, and a loss ofpower, which it is easy to recognize, but difficult to describe. Asthis change is an occasional attendant or result of amenorrhoea, whenthe latter, brought about at an early age, is part of an early arrest,it should not be passed by without an allusion. In these cases, whichare not of frequent occurrence at present, but which may be evolved byour methods of education more numerously in the future, the systemtolerates the absence of the catamenia, and the consequentnon-elimination of impurities from the blood. Acute or chronicdisease, the ordinary result of this condition, is not set up, but,instead, there is a change in the character and development of thebrain and nervous system. There are in individuals of this class lessadipose and more muscular tissue than is commonly seen, a coarserskin, and, generally, a tougher and more angular make-up. There is acorresponding change in the intellectual and psychical condition,--adropping out of maternal instincts, and an appearance of Amazoniancoarseness and force. Such persons are analogous to the sexless classof termites. Naturalists tell us that these insects are divided intomales and females, and a third class called workers and soldiers, whohave no reproductive apparatus, and who, in their structure andinstincts, are unlike the fertile individuals.
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