GENERATION. 



vio-orous part of life, and, had it been olhcrwife, children 

 might liave become parents, and old women might have had 

 children, whon they were unable to fupply them with proper 

 or fuflicient nourithmcnt. Yet the rules jull mentioned 

 are not free from all exceptions. The catamenia, with 

 powers of fecundity, ha^e continued in particular inftances 

 much beyond the age we have fpeciiied. Some of thefe 

 have had regular catamenia ; in others, after a loni^ fup- 

 preffion, the difcharge has returned. V/e muft be careful, 

 however, here, as in the cafe of premu.ture appearance, not 

 to confound with the mciif;s accidental and rnorbid hemor- 

 rhages. A relation of Haller's had two fons after her 

 fiftieth year, and in colder countries, where the accefs of 

 puberty is late, children have been born when the mother 

 was even above 60. 



The proper menftrual blood is generally preceded, fome- 

 times even for fome months, by a vvhitiih ferous fluid. 

 Symptoms of more or lefs violence, indicating the 

 accumulation of blood about the hypogallric vefFels, 

 fuch as pain in the loins and about th;: pelvis, hiflitade 

 with painful aiTeftion of the lovicr extremities, and various 

 nervous and hyfteric feelings, are then obierved. Pains in the 

 head, flufhing of the cheeks, and even pimply appearances 

 in the face fometimes take place. In younger virgins thefe 

 fyrnptoms are milder, and i.n the firil inftances often go off 

 fpontaneoufly : but they return with greater intenfity, at- 

 tended with confiderable colic pains, and quick and llrong 

 pulfe, until a bloody ferum, and then m.ore genuine blood 

 flows more or lefs rapidly from the vidva. The duration of 

 the flux is uncertain ; it may be accompliflied in three or four 

 days, or be protrafted till the feventh or eighth. The 

 quantity is fubjccl to no fettled law : it is greater in warm 

 countries, where it may amount to a pint or more ; while in 

 colder regions it does not exceed five, four, or three ounces. 

 " Yet,'' fays Dr. Denman, lib. cit. p. 1 18, " there is a com- 

 mon quantity, to which, under fnnilar circumftances, women 

 approach, and it may be ellimated in this manner. Suppof- 

 ijig the quantity to be about eighteen ounces in Greece, and 

 two ounces in Lapland, there will be a gradual alterati;;n 

 between the two extremes, and in this country it will 

 amount to about fix ounces." Manners and way of life 

 make a confiderable difference. Luxurious ;'nd lafcivious 

 women have a more copious difcharge : while thofe who take 

 much exercife, or arc weak or infufficiently nouriflied, fur- 

 nith a more fparing quantity. The pain fubfides as the dif- 

 charge proceeds ; the infl immatory fyrnptoms about the 

 uterus go off as tl'.e determination to that organ ceafes, the 

 pulfe is diminifn-jd, and the blood is followed by a ferous 

 fluid. Signs of debility fucceed, with a hollovvnels about 

 the eye, and a dark circle furrounding tlie organ. The 

 firil appearance in a young girl is generally follov.ed by an 

 interval of fome months, and this period approaches gradual- 

 ly to a folar montli ; fo that a healthy woman, in wh.om the 

 difcharge is eilablilhed, will have it return on the fame day 

 of the m.onth for many fucceediiig years. If fcvcn or eight 

 days are occupied by the flov.' of the catamenia, there is an 

 interval of twenty-tv.-o or twenty-three, making up the 

 menftrual period. Such is the courfe obfcrved in healthy 

 temperate fubjefts, whofe bodily and mental powers are not 

 abufed or overftraiued. Improper regimen and mmners 

 may precipitate or retard the difcharge. Luxurious m.mners, 

 with high living, may occafion returns after fifteen days : un- 

 der various other circumftances tliere is a fimilar protraction 

 ot the period, which recurs however at regular intervals. 

 Similar fymptoms to thofe which attend the firll menftrua- 

 tion, but in a milder form, accompany each return. In this 

 ref^eft confiderable varieties are obfcrved ; the afFcdion 



recurring with confiderable violence, at every period, in fome 

 women, while others do not feem to fuffer at all. 



The nature of the difcharged fluid has not been afcertain- 

 ed by any accurate invefligations, but its obvious charadlers 

 are fo exactly like thofe of blood, that it has been generally 

 confidered and called blood. This remarkable difference, 

 however, at leaft, fccms to diftinguifli the two fluids ; -viz. 

 that the catamenia do not coagulate. They are blood de- 

 prived of fibrine. Coagula are fometimes feen, but are con- 

 fidered to denote unhealthy menftruation, as they occur 

 when the proccls is obvioufly diflurbed, and attended with 

 great pain, S;c. Opinions have been very generally received 

 tliat the menftrual difcharge poffeffes fome peculiar mahgnant 

 properties. Tiicfe notions leem to have originated in the 

 liail ; they appear in all their force in the ordinances of the 

 Jewifn legiflator, were adopted by the Arabian phyficians, 

 and have been credited in moft countries. The fevere regu- 

 lations which have been made in fome countries, for the con- 

 duct of women at the time of menftruation, the expreffions 

 ufed, the difpofal of the blood difcharged, or of any tiling 

 contaminated with it, the complaints of women attri- 

 buted to its retention, and the effefts enumerated by 

 grave writers, indicate the moft dreadful apprehenfions of 

 its baneful influence. The following quotation exhibits thefe 

 abfurd notions in very elegant language. " Penis cum m.cn- 

 ftruata concumbentis excoriatur ; ft novella vitiseo tangatur, 

 in perpetuum Ixditur ; fteriles fiunt taftos fruges ; moriun- 

 tur infita? ; exuruntur hortcrum gerniina :• fi mulier praeg- 

 nans alterius incpftrua fupergrediatur, aut iUis circumlinatur, 

 abort um facit ; ciautem.quxultronongtftat, concipiendifpem 

 adimit ; purgantis fpiritus, etvaporab ore,fpecula atquetboris 

 nitorem oblcurat. Guftatus hie fanguis canes in rabiem agit, 

 homines vero dii'is cruciatibus afRigit ; comitialem morbuni, 

 piloruia efBuviuin, aliaque elepluuiticorum vitia inducit ; id- 

 circo a veteribus inter venena relatus ; pari malignitate 

 exiftimatur, atque fanguinis elephantici potus-" De 

 Graaf. 



Under peculiar circumftances of health, or ftates of the 

 uterus, particularly in hot countries, if cleanlinefs be not ob- 

 fcrved, and the evacuation take place flowly, the difcharge 

 may eailly become acrimisnious and offeniive. But there is 

 nothing of this kind belonging to healthy menftruation in a 

 cleanly woman, where theefiufed fluid differs from any other 

 blood only in the circumftances already mentioned. Nav, 

 when the catamenia are retained in the body for many months, 

 in cafes of imperforate vaginoe, they produce no ill vfleft 

 whatever, and are diilinguilhed by no particular odour or 

 oiTenfive qualities when difcharged by an operation. We 

 have,t!iercfore, no reafon for thinking otherwife than that this 

 difcharge is of tlie moft hioP.enfive nature. 



That the catamenia come from the uterus is tolerably evi- 

 dent from the change in the lining of that organ during the 

 period of their flov.'. Its mucous lurface is rendered fofter 

 and more viUous ; and cxhib;ts bloody fpots, with numerous 

 pores, from which the fii;id may be exprefled. The ap- 

 pearance of the menftrual blood in its cavity dtiring the pe- 

 riod is a further proof : to which we may add the fupprelfion 

 of the difch.arge in various morbid conditions of the uterus, 

 and in. pregnancy, where its furftsce is occupied by the adhe- 

 fion of the ovi.m. Direft evidence of the faf.t is furniihed 

 in cafes of prolapfus, where the fluid may be actually feen 

 diftiUing from the os tincne. To thefe arguments we may 

 add the obvious conncdtion of the menftrual flux with tlie 

 funftions of the uterus. Some have contended th.at the va- 

 gina is partly or wholly the fource of the catamenia ; but 

 tke opinion refts on no fuificieiit ground : the ftrudure ind 



fuu^lioiis 



