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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ism, which must, therefore, deteriorate. The 

 question of rest has been entirely restated 

 in the essay. And only by overlooking this 

 can the reviewer be led to conclude that 

 the " author is reasoning against her convic- 

 tions;" because, having admitted that ex- 

 cessive work may become a cause of men- 

 strual pain, it is nevertheless insisted upon 

 that there is nothing in the nature of men- 

 struation to imply the necessity for rest; 

 but that the connection between overwork 

 and menstruul suffering is more recondite 

 than has generally been perceived. 



The closing sentence of the essay, refer- 

 ring to the large percentage of women shown 

 to be real sufferers at menstruation, ob- 

 serves that, wherever such women are en- 

 gaged in industrial or other pursuits under 

 an employer, humanity would dictate that 

 as much rest be afforded as practicable dur- 

 ing the period of suffering. It is difficult, 

 therefore, to understand where the reviewer 

 finds the recommendation for women to con- 

 tinue to work under the " la'sh of necessity 

 or duty," if they can help it (page 244). Pain 

 is certainly, as the reviewer says, " the ideal 

 curse of humanity," but the world is much 

 too far from an ideal condition to render 

 avoidance of pain a very practicable matter 

 in the immense majority of cases. 



On page 243 the reviewer curiously mis- 

 interprets a technical statement made in 

 the essay. It is there asserted that pain 

 depends on an " imperfect power of resist- 

 ance in the nerve-centres," an assertion 

 which is merely the special application of 

 a general truism in physiology. The tor- 

 ments suffered by dyspeptics offer a familiar 

 illustration of the manner in which a nor- 

 mally painless process may become a con- 

 stantly-recurring source of irritation. But 

 no one would say, as does the reviewer, in 

 regard to the sentence quoted from the 

 essay, that " this presupposes an inherent 

 tendency to pain in all human beings during 

 this act, its expression depending on the 

 power of repression " (page 243). 



Finally, I would beg leave to say that 

 the hope of " closing the discussion and 

 furnishing an authoritative canon to meas- 

 ure the value of the question " was far be- 

 yond the ambition of the writer of the essay. 

 The difficulty on the practical side is not 

 " the innate delicacy of the sex in arms 

 against the statistician " (page 241), but the 

 difficulty common to all biological investi- 

 gations upon organisms subjected to com- 

 plex conditions. Every one knows that no 

 pure experiment is possible unless all con- 

 ditions are eliminated except the one whose 

 influence is to be estimated. The difficul- 

 ties in the way exactly resemble (for in- 

 stance) those besetting Dr. Bowditch's re- 

 cent important investigation concerning the 

 influence of damp soils in the etiology of 

 consumption. Although the statistics pre- 



sented in the essay are, unfortunately, much 

 smaller than is desirable, yet it is fair to 

 add that they are the most extensive pub- 

 lished up to this time on the subject, with 

 the exception of those of Brierre de Bois- 

 mont, and quoted in the essay. Since the 

 addition of his results to those of the essay 

 does not in any way conflict with the con- 

 clusions of the latter, I think it may be 

 doubted whether more extensive general 

 statistics would throw any further light on 

 the subject. To be of value, further data 

 must offer definite points of comparison in 

 regard to the working and luxurious classes 

 of society, since it is a matter of common 

 observation, not yet submitted to strict 

 analysis, that the liability to menstrual suf- 

 fering increases in proportion as we re- 

 cede from the former class (at least when it 

 is composed of peasantry) and approach 

 the latter. The conclusion (provisional to 

 more exact investigation) is certainly that 

 the menstrual disorder is not inherent in 

 the process, or in habits of exertion during 

 the menstrual period, being, on the whole, 

 less in those who work than in those who 

 do not work ; but that this suffering is 

 ultimately traceable to modifications of the 

 entire female organism imposed by one or 

 more of the influences of a complex civili- 

 zation, many of which are confessedly per- 

 nicious. It has been the modest aim of the 

 essay to trace out some of these modifica- 

 tions, and indicate in what way they might 

 be counteracted. 



Mart Putnam-Jacgbi. 



"OPEN AIR AND HEALTH." 



To the Editor of the Popular Science Monthly. 



I trust you will not think me too intru- 

 sive by a comment which I desire to make 

 on the article in the December issue of The 

 Popular Science Monthly, on " Open Air 

 and Health." I do this because I am very so- 

 licitous that your journal will only inculcate 

 truth, such as we are able to know by the 

 best heads and methods. I am of opinion 

 that the article alluded to has a private end 

 to boost, " a movement-cure institute," per- 

 haps, and I am fortified in this by the false 

 points of the essay. For instance, on page 

 221 it is said, " The lungs, like all mucous 

 surfaces, secrete mucus," etc. It is needless 

 to say that the lungs proper do not consist 

 of mucous surface. This may, however, be 

 a translator's stumble. But the same can- 

 not be supposed of the following, page 223 : 

 "In the city night-air is always wholesomer 

 than day-air, being both purer and stiller." 

 How stillness makes it wholesome I am un- 

 able to conceive ; indeed, with sewers, cess- 

 pools, and the filth of a thousand points, 

 stillness is the most favorable for poisonous 

 concentration, slowly diffused throughout 



