84 OF MENSTRUATION. 



tions of Emmet, of Roussel, of M. Aubert, &c., who think that the 

 menses are the result of civilisation, appear to me wholly unfounded. 

 Neither is it true that the women of the arctic pole, the aborigines of 

 Brazil, and of some other countries in America, are exempt from 

 them. Nothing, however, of the kind exists in animals, with the 

 exception of the ourang-outang, some of the monkeys, and the bat, 

 which, according to some naturalists, are subject to a periodical dis- 

 charge. If, in other species, such as the quadrupeds, the cetaceae, 

 birds, (fee, we sometimes find that a colored mucus escapes from 

 the cloaca or vulva, it will be, in general, only at the approach of the 

 season for copulation, and it would be unreasonable to compare this 

 phenomenon with the function of menstruation. 



209. The menses, still known among the common people as the 

 regies,* luncs, mois,Jleurs orjlueurs, purgation, affaires, and epo- 

 qiies, appear at puberty, and cease with fecundity, during pregnancy, 

 and while the woman gives suck. As soon as they appear, fecunda- 

 tion is possible, and as long as they continue to return at the natural 

 period, we may conclude that the woman has not conceived. Ob- 

 servers have often made mention of women who were not regulated, 

 and had never been so, but who enjoyed, nevertheless, a good state 

 of health; it is to be observed, however, as remarked by Linnaeus, 

 that they were sterile. I am acquainted with a lady who is not re- 

 gulated, ruddy, and of a good size, in blooming health, married for 

 ten years, whose greatest desire is to become a mother, but who has 

 lost all hope of becoming so; her husband, moreover, is young, loves 

 her tenderly, and before he married her had begotten a child by an- 

 other woman. I have seen another at the hospital of Tours, who 

 had never seen any thing, as she expressed it, but who, notwith- 

 standing, was the mother of a strong and healthy son of fifteen or 

 eighteen years of age. It seems to me to be almost certain that the 

 absence of the menses generally depends upon some faulty confor- 

 mation of the womb or its appendages; so that it may be easily con- 

 ceived that it is generally a sign of sterility. Deventer and Baude- 

 locque have known women who were never regular except during 

 pregnancy, and I have collected several similar cases. 



210. Eruption. In our temperate climes the menses commence 

 between the twelfth and sixteenth year; a little earlier, from eight 

 to twelve years, in southern climates; and a little later, from fifteen 

 to twenty years in the north. Some travellers even pretend that the 



* I have left the French terms in this place untranslated, for they are unsus- 

 ceptible of translation. I have preferred to give in a note the English names in 

 common use. They are menses, flowers, monthly discharge, show, regular dis- 

 charge, monthlys, time, and most commonly they are alluded to with a nod. — M. 



