OF MENSTRUATION. 89 



duced by a principle of fermentation: Stahl and M. Duges suppose 

 they arise under the influence of an irritamentuin or peculiar moli- 

 men; Emmet, who attributes them to an erection, and Lecat, who 

 qualifies them as an amorous phlogosis, suppose them to be the 

 effect of venereal desires. But who does not herein perceive that 

 vain show of words so prodigally made use of in ancient physiology, 

 or, that such suppositions as these only serve to protract, without 

 solving the problem? 



218. The periodicity of the menses has not been explained any 

 better than their general cause. Aristotle, Vanhelmont, Mead, and 

 even our elegant Roussel, attributed it to the influence of the moon. 

 From the physicians, this opinion has passed among the people, and 

 the poets have converted it into a proverb by the following verse: 



Luna vctus vetulas, juvenes nova luna repurgat. 



But to show its fallacy, we need only recollect that the same 

 woman may be regular at difllsrent lunar phases, once in the space 

 of several, or even of one single year; however, this is a point on 

 which there is need for new researches, and for the complete clear- 

 ing up of which, numerous observations would be required. 



219. Many attempts have been also made with the view to ascer- 

 tain the final causes of menstruation, but it must be confessed with 

 equally ill success. What in fact is proved by saying that this func- 

 tion disposes and maintains the uterus in a state apt for fecundation; 

 that its suppression during pregnancy permits the ovum to grow and 

 be developed without weakening the female? It is generally quite 

 well kuown that conception does not take place until the menses 

 have appeared, nor after they have ceased to return; but the why 

 and the how are not known: they are the sign and not the cause of 

 fecundity; the absence of the menses does not produce sterility; but 

 women, who do not menstruate are often found to be sterile, because, 

 in either case something is wrong in the state of the genital organs. 



220. Seat. The seat of the menstrual discharge is another sub- 

 ject on which the naturalists continue still to dispute. The Greeks, 

 the Arabians, and a majority of writers of all ages place it in the ute- 

 rus; but Columbus, Severin Pineau, Bohn, as well as a crowd of 

 moderns, and among them M. Desorraeaux, have seen the menses 

 escaping immediately from the vagina, or the different parts which 

 constitute the vulva; the uterus, it is said, cannot furnish them when 

 they flow during pregnancy. 



221. It appears to me to be easy to reconcile these opinions. 

 The blood of the menses undeniably comes from the uterine cavity 

 in the majority of instances; facts the most multiplied and authentic 



9 



