THE MICROSCOPE. 



Prof. Simpson attributes the exfoliation to an exaggeration of a 

 normal condition or an exalted degree of physiological action. 

 Emmet says but little on the subject. He considers it owing to a 

 poor condition of the general health which retards the disintegration 

 of the membrane. And again, others contend that it is due to 

 deciduous formation which has been excited by conception. Many 

 writers and teachers tell us in the most emphatic language that it is 

 an easy thing to differentiate, by the aid of the microscope between 

 the true and the false mole, of this variety. And upon this frail 

 thread hangs and perchance will hang the good name of many a 

 pure woman. 



I shall now proceed to state my propositions as follows : 



1. That membranous dysmenorrhoea [so called) is not of infre- 

 quent occurrence. 



2. That it is not necessarily a painful condition. 



3. That it is not an easy matter to determine between a true and 

 a false mole even by the aid of the microscope. 



In support of my fir.st proposition I will state that during the 

 last four years I have met with twelve cases of membranous dysmen- 

 orrhoea. During the last fifteen months I have met with nine cases. 

 In a class of sixteen ladies, seven of that number were subjects of 

 this so-called pathological condition. At the present writing I am 

 acquainted with three ladies, members of the same house, all sub- 

 jects of membranous dysmenorrhoea. If this is true it may be asked, 

 perhaps, why it has not been discovered before. The reply might 

 be, why should it have been discovered more than other phenomena 

 that have existed since the creation of the world. But there are rea- 

 ons in my opinion why it has not been brought to light. 



I. Women have always been made to believe that menstruation 

 in some way was a curse placed upon them, for which they had rea- 

 son to blush. For proof of this you have but to consult the require- 

 ments of the old Jewish religion, that are as strictly obeyed to-day 

 as a thousand years ago. You need not, however, go the Jewish 

 nation for proof of this, (io, if you please, to our refined and culti- 

 vated ladies and you will find two-thirds of them so sensitive on this 

 subject that they have not the courage to mention it to their own 

 daughters. Consequently scores of young girls have been frightened 

 and horrified at this seemingly unnatural phenomenon, and through 



