THE MICROSCOPE. 



their ignorance have sowed the seeds of diseases that have carried 

 them to early graves. 



2. A thing that is very common attracts Httle attention. There 

 is a prevalent idea among women that menstruation must necessarily 

 be acompanied by symptoms more or less unpleasant. Knowing that 

 a few davs at most will bring relief, women patiently endure their 

 sufferings at this period. 



Physicians will bear me out in saying that, as a rule, the answers 

 obtained from patients concerning this are vague and unsatis- 

 factory. This is not due to lack of intelligence, but simply to the 

 lack of attention on the part of women to this common occurrence. 

 To illustrate, some months ago I was talking to an intelligent lady 

 who complained of suffering a great deal of pain during the first day 

 of menstruation. " Have you membranous dysmenorrhoea I asked ? " 

 " Oh no," she answered, " I have nothing of that kind but I 

 suffer great pain." I showed her a specimen preserved in alcohol 

 and asked her if she was certain she had never seen anything of 

 that kind. She thought perhaps she had, but had paid little atten- 

 tion to it; would look more carefully in the future. She soon 

 brought me several specimens of "false mole." 



In support of my second proposition I have four ca.ses of pain- 

 less " membranous dysmenorrhoea " to offer. These women are 

 strong, healthy and acti7'e. All are employed in the most active pur- 

 suits of life, where the physical and especially the mental faculties 

 are often most severely taxed. Yet menstruation with them has 

 never interfered with their labors. Two of the.se ladies are physi- 

 cians, one an editor and public lecturer, and one a teacher. Three 

 of these ladies are married and mothers, respectively of one, three, 

 and five children. The lady editor came to my office one day and 

 handing me a parcel said, " Dr. I wish you would examine 

 the contents of that paper. I cannot complain of indisposition, but 

 really 1 fear something is wrong." When placed in water and 

 cleansed it floated up, plainly showing the smooth, soft, inner sur- 

 face, also the ragged follicular surface which to the unaided eye 

 certainly resembles the "shaggy chorion." 



Of the entire twelve cases which I have met in the last 

 four years eight suffer more or less. Had 1 time and space 1 would 

 present each case separately and in detail, but at present can do no 

 more than simply refer to them. Three are aenemic and neuralgic ; 



