Chapter II: Preface

"Ignorance is the curse of God;
Knowledge, the wings wherewith we fly to heaven."

-- "Henry VI."

PERFECT health is essential to perfect happiness. The greater the knowledge of the laws of nature, and the more closely these laws are lived up to, so much nearer "ideal" will be the health and happiness of the individual. Hence the necessity that these same laws should be as familiar to the adult man and woman as the alphabet. Further, with our present knowledge of the certain suffering, disease, and death that are bred by ignorance of all these subjects, it is little less than criminal to allow girls to reach the age of puberty without the slightest knowledge of the menstrual function; young women to be married in total ignorance of the ethics of married life; women to become mothers without any conception of the duties of motherhood; other women, as the time approaches, to live in dread apprehension of "the change of life;" and many women unnecessarily to succumb to disease at this time.

The masses of women have at last awakened to a sense of the awful penalties which they have paid for their ignorance of all those laws of nature which govern their physical being, and to feel keenly the necessity for instruction at least in the fundamental principles which underlie the various epochs of their lives; and it is in response to a widespread demand that this small volume has been written.

This is preeminently the day of preventive medicine; and the physician who can prevent the origin of disease is a greater benefactor than the one who can lessen the mortality or suffering after the disease has occurred.

ANNA M. GALBRAITH.

15 WEST NINETY-FIRST STREET, NEW YORK.
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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION

EDUCATION AS THE CONTROLLING FACTOR IN THE PHYSICAL LIFE OF WOMAN

Huxley's Definition of Education; the Correlation of Mind and Body; the
Emotional Nature; Age for Going to School; the Effect of the Study of the
Scientific Branches; Industrial Education
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PART I.-- MAIDENHOOD
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CHAPTER I.

PUBERTY

Sexual Development; Age of Puberty; Physical Changes at Puberty; First
Onset of Menstruation; Psychic Changes at Puberty
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CHAPTER II.

HYGIENE OF PUBERTY

Home Life; Corsets; Shoes; Underwear; Nutrition; Diet; Water;
Constipation; School Life; Spinal Curvature; Exercise; Walking; Running
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CHAPTER III.

ANATOMY OF THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS

The Vulva; the Hymen; Condition of the Hymen as a Proof of Virginity; the
Bladder; Vagina; Uterus; Respiratory Movements of the Uterus; Fallopian
Tubes; Ovaries
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CHAPTER IV.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS

Ovulation; Etiology of Menstruation; Uterine Nerve-supply; the Function
of the Uterus; Stages of the Menstrual Cycle; Average Duration of the
Menstrual Flow; Character of the Flow; Relation of Ovulation to
Menstruation; the Menstrual Wave; Definition of Menstruation; Premonitory
Symptoms of the Flow; Hygiene of Menstruation
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CHAPTER V.

THE ANOMALIES OF MENSTRUATION

Menorrhagia and Metrorrhagia; Dysmenorrhea; Amenorrhea; Leucorrhea;
Pruritus Vulva
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CHAPTER VI.

THE MARRIAGE QUESTION

Herbert Spencer's Definition of Love; What Constitutes a Suitable
Husband; Best Age for Marriage; Shall Cousins Marry? Contraindications to
Marriage; Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands? the Proper Length
of Time for the Engagement; the Right Time of the Year to Marry; the
Selection of the Wedding Day
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PART II.-- MARRIAGE
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CHAPTER VII.

THE ETHICS OF MARRIED LIFE

The Wedding Journey; the Ethics of Married Life; Shall Husband and Wife
Occupy the Same Bed? the Consummation of Marriage; the Marital Relation;
Times when Marital Relations Should be Suspended
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CHAPTER VIII.

SEXUAL INSTINCT IN WOMEN

Sexual Instinct in Women; Excessive Coitus; Causes of Sexual Excitability
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CHAPTER IX.

STERILITY

Sterility; the Prevention of Conception and the Limitation of Offspring;
the Crime of Abortion; Infidelity in Women
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PART III.-- MATERNITY
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CHAPTER X.

PREGNANCY

Nature of Conception; Pregnancy Defined; Duration of Pregnancy; the Signs
of Pregnancy; Quickening; the Determination of Sex at Will; the Influence
of the Male Sexual Element on the Fernale Organism; Heredity; Hygiene of
Pregnancy; Causes of Miscarriage
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CHAPTER XI.

THE CONFINMENT

Preparation for the Confinement; Signs of Approaching Labor; Symptoms of
Actual Labor; The Confinement-bed; the Process of Labor
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CHAPTER XII.

THE LYING-IN

Management of the Lying-in; Lactation; Nursing
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CHAPTER XIII.

THE NEW-BORN INFANT

The Infant's Toilet; the Crib; Feeding of Infants; the Wet-nurse;
Artificial Feeding; Characteristics of Healthy Infants; the Stools;
Constipation; Urination; Teething
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PART IV.-- THE MENOPAUSE
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CHAPTER XIV.

THE MENOPAUSE

Average Duration of the Menstrual Function; Duration of Menopause; the
Menopause; General Phenomena of the Menopause; Prominent Symptoms of
Menopause; Pathologic Conditions of Menopause; Hemorrhage at the
Menopause a Significant Symptom of Cancer; Causes of Suffering at
Menopause
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CHAPTER XV.

HYGIENE OF THE MENOPAUSE

Diet; Constipation; Stimulants; the Kidneys; Skin; Turkish Baths;
Massage; Exercise; Profuse Menstruation; Hemorrhage; Mental Therapeutics
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CHAPTER XVI.

HINTS FOR HOME TREATMENT

Indigestion; Constipation; Enemas; Diarrhea; Vaginal DouchÈ, Baths;
Headache; Fainting; Hemorrhage
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GLOSSARY
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THE

FOUR EPOCHS

OF

WOMAN'S LIFE
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