DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 605 



that they can never be restored to the normal condition. 

 In such cases the abdominal supporter must habitually 

 be worn. The relief afforded by a properly adjusted 

 supporter is all that is required in a great majority or 

 cases of cystocele. Only cases in which the condition 

 is so aggravated as to render it difficult or impossible 

 to enter the bladder, or to occasion some other serious 

 inconvenience, are suitable for operation. 



Sterility. — In six cases out of seven in which mar- 

 ried people are unable to beget children, the fault is 

 with the wife. The most common causes in women are 

 contraction of the canal of the womb, displacements, 

 catarrh of the womb, leucorrhea, and profuse men- 

 struation. Of the remote causes, sexual excesses, espe- 

 cially self-abuse, are the most potent. In occasional 

 cases, the womb or ovaries may be absent. Sometimes 

 both of these organs are wanting. When this condi- 

 tion exists, a wise and experienced physician should 

 be consulted, as in many cases the cause is of such a 

 nature that it can be removed by proper treatment. 



Probably one of the most common causes of sterility 

 in women is an inflammation of the Fallopian tubes, 

 often also involving the ovaries, resulting from gonor- 

 rheal infection. Thousands of healthy women have 

 been rendered sterile, and often invalids for life, by 

 contracting gonorrhea which existed in a latent form 

 in their husbands, who had perhaps suffered from the 

 disease and supposed themselves cured many years 

 before, when sowing their wild oats in their younger 

 days. Not infrequently also, the inflammation and re- 

 sulting damage of the uterus and Fallopian tubes fol- 

 lowing an induced miscarriage or abortion, is a cause 

 of sterility. 



Treatment.— The treatment of this condition con- 



36 , , . 



