bilious diathesis ; occasion an irritation and derangement, after which, the 

 humour of the cutaneous perspiration, and of the sweat, and the saliva 

 itself, will exhibit some of the qualities of the humour retained, and in- 

 troduced by the absorbents, into the circulation. The blood, contami- 

 nated by the admixture of a certain quantity of urine, may purify itself by 

 various emumctories, by urinous vomitings and sweats; but that urine 

 may, like the menstrual blood, come out at the eyes, theearsorthe navel, 

 except in case of urinary umbilical fistula; that one whose urinary dis- 

 charge, by the urethra, is not interrupted, may spontaneously vomit it, is 

 what no man, who has any sound notions of physiology, will believe; and 

 yet it is related, with full details, in a late work, where these errors are 

 found, in the midst of many interesting researches, on various points of 

 physiological chemistry. I have seen myself the woman, whose urine 

 has been so well analysed by Dr. Nysten, when the clinical professor of 

 medicine, at Paris, obliged her to submit to a severe but necessary exa- 

 mination, and I am astonished that well informed men should so long; 

 have given credit to such gross impostures. The reader will, I hope, 

 excuse this- long digression, for the sake of its importance. Literary 

 criticism is now carried on with such partiality, that no journalist, in 

 praising justly what is praise-worthy in the valuable work of Dr. Nysten, 

 has pointed out the imposture of which he was the dupe. 



At first irregular, the menstrdal discharge assumes regularity, is re- 

 peated every month, and lasts from two days to a week, with evacuation 

 of from three ounces to a pound of fluid, every time. Women of san- 

 guine temperament, robust and libidinous, are those whose menses last 

 longest, and flow most copiously. The fluid is of an arterial red, and has 

 not, in a healthy woman, any of the pernicious qualities which have been 

 ascribed to it. 



During the whole time of menstruation, women are weaker, more deli- 

 cate, more susceptible of impressions; all their organs partake, more or 

 less, in the affection of the uterus; and it L'not difficult to an observer. 

 of any practice, to discern, the state, not merely by the state of the pulse, 

 but by the change of v countenance and tone of the voice. Women then 

 require very careful management. An improper blood-letting, a purge, 

 or any other remedy untimely administered, may suppress the discharge, 

 and occasion the most serious affections. Climate evidently influences 

 the duration and quantity of the discharge, since in Africa, it flows al- 

 most continually, whilst in Lapland, it takes place only two or three times 

 a year. 



I shall not dwell upon the different explanations that have been given 

 of this phenomenon. Some have ascribed it to the oblique position of 

 the uterus, without considering, that upon their principal, menstruation 

 should take place from the soles of the feet. Dr. R. Mead believed 

 that it depended on the influence of the. moon over the female system ; 

 but why is it not then subjected to the lunar phases ? Those who have 

 found the cause of it in plethora, general or local, if we admit their 

 explanation, only changed the difficulty; for then, we must ask, what are 

 the causes of this plethora? But, if this opinion had any ground, ner- 

 vous women, with a small quantity of blood in their system, ought not 

 to menstruate ; and yet they do so plentifully. Must we ascribe menstrua- 

 tion to an acquired hubit ? 



Is the problem resolved, by saying that all the secretory organs of wo- 

 men are too weak to evacuate the superfluitv of fluids, which would 



