DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 621 



This should always be performed when there is the 

 slightest ground for believing that it may be malig- 

 nant in character. It is important that cases of this 

 sort should receive attention, even though the growth 

 may not be large nor painful. The tumor should be 

 removed as soon as discovered, since these morbid 

 growths not infrequently constitute the seat of malig- 

 nant disease. 



Cancer of the Breast.— This formidable disease 

 seems to be rapidly increasing in frequency, notwith- 

 standing the great number of ' ' sure cures ' ' which have 

 been so largely advertised during the last century. 

 The symptoms of cancer of the breast are hard and 

 painful swelling in the breasts, causing, when some- 

 what advanced, retraction of the nipple. These 

 growths ar.e much more painful than those described 

 under the above head, ''Tumor of the Breast." The 

 proper treatment consists of thorough removal of the 

 affected parts by operation. This method is wholly 

 superior to any of the forms of plasters and caustics 

 which are usually employed by the so-called cancer 

 doctors. 



The efficacy of the methods employed by cancer 

 doctors is greatly overestimated by the public, the 

 majority of the cases operated upon hj them being 

 growths of a simple character, which never would have 

 done any harm if left alone, and would not have re- 

 turned, whatever method had been employed in their 

 removal. 



Hysteria.— From the most remote ages of medical 

 history, this disease has been regarded as intimately 

 connected with morbid states of the female organs of 

 generation, especially the uterus. That it is not ex- 

 clusively produced by causes ot this kind, is evidenced 



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