ON PARTURITION. 543 



many incurable diseases also are brought on by unhealthy men- 

 strual discharges, or from over-abstinence from sexual inter- 

 course where the passions are strong ! 



Nor are the changes which take place in the virgin less ob- 

 servable when the uterus first begins to enlarge and receive 

 warmth ; the complexion is improved, the breasts enlarge, the 

 countenance glows with beauty, the eyes lighten, the voice be- 

 comes harmonious; the gait, gestures, discourse, all are graceful. 

 Serious maladies, too, are cured either at this period or never. 



I am acquainted with a noble lady who for more than 

 ten years laboured under furor uterinus and melancholy. After 

 all remedies had been employed without success, she became 

 affected with prolapsus uteri. Contrary to the opinion of others, 

 I predicted that this last accident would prove salutary, and I 

 recommended her not to replace the uterus until its over-heat 

 had been moderated by the contact of the external air. Cir- 

 cumstances turned out as I anticipated, and in a short time 

 she became quite well; the uterus was returned to its proper 

 situation, and she lives in good health to the present day. 



I also saw another woman who suffered long with hysterical 

 symptoms, which would yield to no remedies. After many 

 years her health was restored on the uterus becoming pro- 

 lapsed. In both cases, when the violence of the symptoms 

 Avas abated, I returned the uterus, and the event proved favor- 

 able. For the uterus, when stimulated by any acrid matter, 

 not only falls down, but like the rectum irritated by a tenes- 

 mus, thrusts itself otitwards. 



Various, then, is the constitution of the uterus, and not only 

 in its diseased, but also in its natural state, that is, at the pe- 

 riods of fecundity and barrenness. In young girls, as I said, 

 and in women past childbearing, it is without blood, and about 

 the size of a bean. In the marriageable virgin it has the mag- 

 nitude and form of a pear. In women who have borne chil- 

 dren, and are still fruitful, it equals in bulk a small gourd or a 

 goose's egg ; at the same time, together with the breasts, it 

 swells and softens, becomes more fleshy, and its heat is in- 

 creased; whilst, to use Virgil's expression with reference to 

 the fields, 



" Superat tener omnibus humor, 

 Et genitalia semina poscunt." 



