Nature has reserved the catamenial week for the process of ovulation,and for the development and perfectation of the reproductive system.Previously to the age of eighteen or twenty, opportunity must beperiodically allowed for the accomplishment of this task. Bothmuscular and brain labor must be remitted enough to yield sufficientforce for the work. If the reproductive machinery is not manufacturedthen, it will not be later. If it is imperfectly made then, it canonly be patched up, not made perfect, afterwards. To be well made, itmust be carefully managed. Force must be allowed to flow thither in anample stream, and not diverted to the brain by the school, or to thearms by the factory, or to the feet by dancing. "Every physician,"says a recent writer, "can point to students whose splendid cerebraldevelopment has been paid for by emaciated limbs, enfeebled digestion,and disordered lungs. Every biography of the intellectual greatrecords the dangers they have encountered, often those to which theyhave succumbed, in overstepping the ordinary bounds of human capacity;and while beckoning onward to the glories of their almostpreternatural achievements, register, by way of warning, the fearfulpenalty of disease, suffering, and bodily infirmity, which Natureexacts as the price for this partial and inharmonious grandeur. Itcannot be otherwise. The brain cannot take more than its share withoutinjury to other organs. It cannot _do_ more than its share withoutdepriving other organs of that exercise and nourishment which areessential to their health and vigor. It is in the power of theindividual to throw, as it were, the whole vigor of the constitutioninto any one part, and, by giving to this part exclusive or excessiveattention, to develop it at the expense, and to the neglect, of theothers."[7]
In the system of lichens, Nylander reckons all organs of equalvalue.[8] No one of them can be neglected without evil to the wholeorganization. From lichens to men and women there is no exception tothe law, that, if one member suffers, all the members suffer. What istrue of the neglect of a single organ, is true in a geometrical ratioof the neglect of a system of organs. If the nutritive system iswrong, the evil of poor nourishment and bad assimilation infects thewhole economy. Brain and thought are enfeebled, because the stomachand liver are in error. If the nervous system is abnormally developed,every organ feels the _twist_ in the nerves. The balance andco-ordination of movement and function are destroyed, and the illpercolates into an unhappy posterity. If the reproductive system isaborted, there may be no future generations to pay the penalty of theabortion, but what is left of the organism suffers sadly. When thissort of arrest of development occurs in a man, it takes the element ofmasculineness out of him, and replaces it with adipose effeminacy.When it occurs in a woman, it not only substitutes in her case a wiryand perhaps thin bearded masculineness for distinctive feminine traitsand power, making her an epicene, but it entails a variety ofprolonged weaknesses, that dwarf her rightful power in almost everydirection. The persistent neglect and ignoring by women, andespecially by girls, ignorantly more than wilfully, of that part oftheir organization which they hold in trust for the future of therace, has been fearfully punished here in America, where, of all theworld, they are least trammelled and should be the best, by all sortsof female troubles. "Nature," says Lord Bacon, "is often hidden,sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished." In the education of ourgirls, the attempt to hide or overcome nature by training them as boyshas almost extinguished them as girls. Let the fact be accepted, thatthere is nothing to be ashamed of in a woman's organization, and lether whole education and life be guided by the divine requirements ofher system.
The blood, which is our life, is a complex fluid. It contains thematerials out of which the tissues are made, and also the _débris_which results from the destruction of the same tissues,--the worn-outcells of brain and muscle,--the cast-off clothes of emotion, thought,and power. It is a common carrier, conveying unceasingly to everygland and tissue, to every nerve and organ, the fibrin and albumenwhich repair their constant waste, thus supplying their daily bread;and as unceasingly conveying away from every gland and tissue, fromevery nerve and organ, the oxidized refuse, which are both the resultand measure of their work. Like the water flowing through the canalsof Venice, that carries health and wealth to the portals of everyhouse, and filth and disease from every doorway, the blood flowingthrough the canals of the organization carries nutriment to all thetissues, and refuse from them. Its current sweeps nourishment in, andwaste out. The former, it yields to the body for assimilation; thelatter, it deposits with the organs of elimination for rejection. Inorder to have good blood, then, two things are essential: first, aregular and sufficient supply of nutriment, and, secondly, an equallyregular and sufficient removal of waste. Insufficient nourishmentstarves the blood; insufficient elimination poisons it. A wisehousekeeper will look as carefully after the condition of his drainsas after the quality of his food.
The principal organs of elimination, common to both sexes, are thebowels, kidneys, lungs, and skin. A neglect of their functions ispunished in each alike. To woman is intrusted the exclusive managementof another process of elimination, viz., the catamenial function.This, using the blood for its channel of operation, performs, like theblood, double duty. It is necessary to ovulation, and to the integrityof every part of the reproductive apparatus; it also serves as a meansof elimination for the blood itself. A careless management of thisfunction, at any period of life during its existence, is apt to befollowed by consequences that may be serious; but a neglect of itduring the epoch of development, that is, from the age of fourteen toeighteen or twenty, not only produces great evil at the time of theneglect, but leaves a large legacy of evil to the future. The systemis then peculiarly susceptible; and disturbances of the delicatemechanism we are considering, induced during the catamenial weeks ofthat critical age by constrained positions, muscular effort, brainwork, and all forms of mental and physical excitement, germinate ahost of ills. Sometimes these causes, which pervade more or less themethods of instruction in our public and private schools, which oursocial customs ignore, and to which operatives of all sorts pay littleheed, produce an excessive performance of the catamenial function; andthis is equivalent to a periodical hemorrhage. Sometimes they producean insufficient performance of it; and this, by closing an avenue ofelimination, poisons the blood, and depraves the organization. Thehost of ills thus induced are known to physicians and to the sufferersas amenorrhoea, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, hysteria, anemia, chorea,and the like. Some of these fasten themselves on their victim for alifetime, and some are shaken off. Now and then they lead to anabortion of the function, and consequent sterility. Fortunate is thegirls' school or college that does not furnish abundant examples ofthese sad cases. The more completely any such school or collegesucceeds, while adopting every detail and method of a boy's school,in ignoring and neglecting the physiological conditions of sexualdevelopment, the larger will be the number of these pathological casesamong its graduates. Clinical illustrations of these statements willbe given in another place.
In the system of lichens, Nylander reckons all organs of equalvalue.[8] No one of them can be neglected without evil to the wholeorganization. From lichens to men and women there is no exception tothe law, that, if one member suffers, all the members suffer. What istrue of the neglect of a single organ, is true in a geometrical ratioof the neglect of a system of organs. If the nutritive system iswrong, the evil of poor nourishment and bad assimilation infects thewhole economy. Brain and thought are enfeebled, because the stomachand liver are in error. If the nervous system is abnormally developed,every organ feels the _twist_ in the nerves. The balance andco-ordination of movement and function are destroyed, and the illpercolates into an unhappy posterity. If the reproductive system isaborted, there may be no future generations to pay the penalty of theabortion, but what is left of the organism suffers sadly. When thissort of arrest of development occurs in a man, it takes the element ofmasculineness out of him, and replaces it with adipose effeminacy.When it occurs in a woman, it not only substitutes in her case a wiryand perhaps thin bearded masculineness for distinctive feminine traitsand power, making her an epicene, but it entails a variety ofprolonged weaknesses, that dwarf her rightful power in almost everydirection. The persistent neglect and ignoring by women, andespecially by girls, ignorantly more than wilfully, of that part oftheir organization which they hold in trust for the future of therace, has been fearfully punished here in America, where, of all theworld, they are least trammelled and should be the best, by all sortsof female troubles. "Nature," says Lord Bacon, "is often hidden,sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished." In the education of ourgirls, the attempt to hide or overcome nature by training them as boyshas almost extinguished them as girls. Let the fact be accepted, thatthere is nothing to be ashamed of in a woman's organization, and lether whole education and life be guided by the divine requirements ofher system.
The blood, which is our life, is a complex fluid. It contains thematerials out of which the tissues are made, and also the _débris_which results from the destruction of the same tissues,--the worn-outcells of brain and muscle,--the cast-off clothes of emotion, thought,and power. It is a common carrier, conveying unceasingly to everygland and tissue, to every nerve and organ, the fibrin and albumenwhich repair their constant waste, thus supplying their daily bread;and as unceasingly conveying away from every gland and tissue, fromevery nerve and organ, the oxidized refuse, which are both the resultand measure of their work. Like the water flowing through the canalsof Venice, that carries health and wealth to the portals of everyhouse, and filth and disease from every doorway, the blood flowingthrough the canals of the organization carries nutriment to all thetissues, and refuse from them. Its current sweeps nourishment in, andwaste out. The former, it yields to the body for assimilation; thelatter, it deposits with the organs of elimination for rejection. Inorder to have good blood, then, two things are essential: first, aregular and sufficient supply of nutriment, and, secondly, an equallyregular and sufficient removal of waste. Insufficient nourishmentstarves the blood; insufficient elimination poisons it. A wisehousekeeper will look as carefully after the condition of his drainsas after the quality of his food.
The principal organs of elimination, common to both sexes, are thebowels, kidneys, lungs, and skin. A neglect of their functions ispunished in each alike. To woman is intrusted the exclusive managementof another process of elimination, viz., the catamenial function.This, using the blood for its channel of operation, performs, like theblood, double duty. It is necessary to ovulation, and to the integrityof every part of the reproductive apparatus; it also serves as a meansof elimination for the blood itself. A careless management of thisfunction, at any period of life during its existence, is apt to befollowed by consequences that may be serious; but a neglect of itduring the epoch of development, that is, from the age of fourteen toeighteen or twenty, not only produces great evil at the time of theneglect, but leaves a large legacy of evil to the future. The systemis then peculiarly susceptible; and disturbances of the delicatemechanism we are considering, induced during the catamenial weeks ofthat critical age by constrained positions, muscular effort, brainwork, and all forms of mental and physical excitement, germinate ahost of ills. Sometimes these causes, which pervade more or less themethods of instruction in our public and private schools, which oursocial customs ignore, and to which operatives of all sorts pay littleheed, produce an excessive performance of the catamenial function; andthis is equivalent to a periodical hemorrhage. Sometimes they producean insufficient performance of it; and this, by closing an avenue ofelimination, poisons the blood, and depraves the organization. Thehost of ills thus induced are known to physicians and to the sufferersas amenorrhoea, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, hysteria, anemia, chorea,and the like. Some of these fasten themselves on their victim for alifetime, and some are shaken off. Now and then they lead to anabortion of the function, and consequent sterility. Fortunate is thegirls' school or college that does not furnish abundant examples ofthese sad cases. The more completely any such school or collegesucceeds, while adopting every detail and method of a boy's school,in ignoring and neglecting the physiological conditions of sexualdevelopment, the larger will be the number of these pathological casesamong its graduates. Clinical illustrations of these statements willbe given in another place.
No comments:
Post a Comment