GENERATION. 



recent and accurate inquiries. It is a general and elTential been fubjcft to the regtilar periodical return of the catamenia 



phenomenon in the life of woman, and if different climates, for fome years, witliout any other apparent difadvant.ige 



or the varieties of the favage and civilized dates, are capable than that of being rather ihort and delicate in her make, 



of modifying the phenomenon, their influence is not fuffi- He mentions another inftance in Switzerland of a girl having 



cient to annihilate it altogether, even in the frozen and in- a child by her uncle at nine years. Many of the accounts 



liofpitable regions, where fome writers have fuppofed that it of menftruation in early infancy muft be deemed morbid or 



does not occur in a conilant and regular manner. It is hardly fymptomatic difchargcs, and cannot be referred to the cata- 



neceffai-y to refute an opinion, which has prevailed very ge- mcnia. When the female conftitution from any caufe is dii- 



nerally, that whole nations, particularly Americans, are not pofed to, or requires a fanguineous difcharge, it is com- 



■liable to this difcharge. In tlieir vilits to thofe countries, monly made from the veffels of the uterus 



i 



Europeans faw numerous females in a ftate of nakednefs, 

 without obferving any figns of the diicharge, which may be 

 accounted for by two circumftances. The women at that 

 time are generally fuppofed to be in an impure ftate, and to 

 communicate a mahgnant influence ; they are confequently 

 compelled to fhun fociety while the difcharge lafts, and to 

 avoid the iiglit of man by hiding themfelves in folitary huts. 

 Travellers have alio obferved that tlieir fcrupulous attention 

 to perfonal cleanlinefs, and to the modell attitude of the 

 lower extremities, would prevent the fpeftator from difeo- 

 vering any traces of the eatanienia. The difcharge is peculiar 



The early or late appearance of the menfes may depend 

 upon the chmate, the conjlitution, the delicacy or hardinefs 

 of living, and upon the manners of thofe with whom young 

 women converfe. In general, the warmer the climate the 

 looner the menfes appear. In Greece, and other warm 

 countries, girls begin to menftruate at eight, nine, and ten 

 years of age. According to Thevenot and Charuin they 

 even marry and bear children at eight and nine years of age 

 in fome parts of Afia. Tiie difcharge does not appear in 

 Europe until the female lias nearly attained her full growth. 

 Haller mentions the twelfth and tliirteentli years as the ufual 



to the female of the human fpecies, which, in the language of periods in Switzerland ; the difcharge appears fooner in the 



Pliny, is the only " animal menllrualc." Many naturaliils, 

 favs Blumciibach, and among others Buffon, have afcribed 

 a periodical flux of this kind to fome other animals, particu- 

 larly of the monkey kind. But having had the opportunity 

 ef obferving feveral individuals for many fuccefllve years, I 

 difcovered that thefe fuppofed catamenia did not exift at all 

 in fojne, wliile in otliers there was a final! occafional uterine 

 hxniorrhasje appearing at no regular intervals. (Inftitut. 



more foulhern countries of Europe, and later as we approacli 

 to the north. According to Linnsus, in his " Flora Lap- 

 ponica," the women of Lapland do not menfl;ruate until a 

 maturer age, and then in Imall quantities, at long intervals, 

 and fometimes only in the fummer. But if the procefs does 

 not go on according to the general prevailing rule in the 

 country, they fuffer equal inconveniences a-i in warmer 

 climates, where the quantity difeharged is much greater, and 



Phyfiolog. feft. 37 ) There is a great determination of the periods (horter. ' In this country girls beg^in to men 

 blood to the organs in animals when they are in heat; this is ftruate from the fourteenth to the eighteenth year of their 



age, and lometimes at a later period, without any figns of 

 difeafe ; but if they are luxurioully educated, lleeping upon 



attended with a mucous fecretion, and fometimes even blood 

 Las been difeharged, lo as to give rife to the erroneous notion 



-of their being lubjett to the menftrunl flux. Such a cafual (i 



down beds, and fitting in hot rooms, inenliiruation ufually 



and unfrequent occurrence can by no means be compared to commences at a more early period 

 the regular periodical difcharge obferved in women almoft 



Heal aucnarge observed in 

 withaut an exception. On the other hand there are exam- 

 ples of women who have never menftruated, and of others, 

 in whom this difeliarge has not appeared throsgh long 

 periods of their lives, witliout any ill confequence. Dr. 

 Denman knew two inftances in which the menfes had never 

 been difeharged ; the individuals married, but had no children 

 ( Introd. to the Pract. of Midwifery, 410. p. 115".] 

 continue to nienllruate during the time of fuckling, 

 circumftar.ce is not very rare, altliough it is the general rule 

 that the difcharge iliould ceafe at tliis time. The vital 

 powers are differently employed, and their exercife has a dif- 

 ferent objecl and direction. Pregnancy almoll invariably 

 interrupts the procefs. The important functions carried on 

 in the uterus at this time require all the powers of the mo- 

 ther ; and the adhefion of the ovum to the uterus feeir.s to original early or late appearance of the m.enfes. About the 

 form an infuperable mechanical obflacle to the difcharge. fortieth year, a little fooner or later, the regular periods of 

 Hence Mr. Denman ftates that he has never known an in- the catamenia are interrupted; and before the fiftieth year, 

 ilance of menilruation during pregnancy. The ceffation of profufe diJeharges occur followed by long intervals ; about 

 the difcharge without the prefence of any unhealthy caufe, the time juft mentioned, the catamenia generally ceafe, and 

 is the only fign by which women know that they have con- the power of reproduction is lotl. With thofe who began to 



The variety in the time at which women arrive at puberty 

 has given rife to fome moral deductions. It f.asbeen afngn- 

 ed as the reafon why women in hot climates are almoft uni- 

 verfiilly treated as flaves, and why their influence is fo power- 

 ful and extenfive in cold countries, where perfonal beauty is 

 in lefs eftimation. In hot climates, women are at the height 

 Some ^^ their beauty when they are ilill children in underilandmg ; 

 and the '*"'^' when their underftanding is matured, they are no 

 longer the objeffs of love. In tempenite climates their 

 perfons and their minds acquire perfection at the fame 

 time, and the united power of their beauty and fa- 

 culties is irrefiftihle. 



At the approach of old age women ceafe to menftruate, 

 but the time of the ceffation is commonly regulated by the 



ceived. Autliors relate many examples, however, where the 

 catamenia have flowed during geftation ; but very ftrong evi- 

 dence would be necetfary to prove a circumftance fo unlikely 

 in itfelf. 



The menfes may appear prematurely in fome women, 

 from peculiarity of organization, as tlie phenomena of pu- 

 berty have occurred at unnaturally early periods in men ; and 



menftruate at ten or twelve years of age, the difcharge will 

 fometimes ceafe before tliey arrive at forty ; but if the firft 

 appearance was protraftej to fixteen or eighteen years of age, 

 independently of difeafe, fuch women may continue to men- 

 ftruate until they have p^{^ed the fiftieth, or even approached 

 the fixtieth year of their age. In this country, tlie moll 

 frequent time of the Ci-'ffation is from the forty-fourth to the 



the circumftance muft be referred to original difference of forty-eighth year, after which women never bear children, 

 conftitution. Haller knew a girl of good family, nine years By this conftitutional regulation of the menfes the -propaga- 

 of age, well conftituted both in mind aud body, who had tion of the fpecies is, in every country, confined to the mofl 



