306 GENERATION. 



vaginal mucus is decidedly acid, creamy, and not viscid, con- 

 taining numerous cells of scaly epithelium, and leucocytes. 



The third stage, that of cessation of the menses, is very 

 simple. During the latter part of the second stage, the flow 

 of blood gradually diminishes ; the discharge becomes rusty, 

 then lighter in color ; and, in the course of about twenty-four 

 hours, it assumes the characters observed in the intermen- 

 strual period. 



"When the menstrual flow has been established, there is no 

 very marked general disturbance, except a sense of lassitude, 

 which may become exaggerated if the discharge be unusu- 

 ally abundant. It has been noted, however, by Rabuteau, 

 that, during the menstrual period, the production of urea is 

 diminished more than twenty per cent., that the pulse be- 

 comes slower, and that the temperature falls at least one de- 

 gree (half a degree, centigrade). 1 



Changes in the Uterine Mucous Membrane during Men- 

 struation. If the mucous membrane of the uterus be ex- 

 amined during the menstrual flow, it is found smeared with 

 blood, which sometimes extends into the Fallopian tubes. 

 It is then much thicker and softer than during the intermen- 

 strual period. Instead of measuring about --% of an inch in 

 thickness, as it does under ordinary conditions, its thickness 

 is from -J to J of an inch. It becomes more loosely attached 

 to the subjacent parts, is somewhat rugous, and the glands 

 are very much enlarged. At the same time, there are devel- 

 oped, in the substance of the membrane, numerous spherical 

 and fusiform cells. 2 According to the recent and very strik- 

 ing researches of Kundrat and Engelmann, this condition 

 probably precedes the discharge of blood by several days ; 

 during which time, the membrane is gradually preparing for 

 the reception of the ovum. One of the most important points 

 in these researches is that there is a fatty degeneration of the 



1 RABUTEAU, De ^influence de la 'menstruation sur la nutrition. Gazette heb- 

 domadaire, Paris, 1870, 2me serie, tome vii., p. 402. 



2 KOLLIKER, Elements d'lmtologie humaine, Paris, 1868, p. 726. 



