The hymen : an essay, delivered (by appointment) before the New York Medical Union / by T. Gaillard Thomas.

  • Thomas, T. Gaillard (Theodore Gaillard), 1832-1903.
Date:
[1859]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The hymen : an essay, delivered (by appointment) before the New York Medical Union / by T. Gaillard Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    mild astringent solutions. That a great morbid influence may be exerted upon the nerves of a diseased part by a very insig- nificant malady, is readily proved by reference to the severe and tormenting neuralgic pains which sometimes attack the seat of an old eruption of herpes zoster, and which sometimes continue for years after the cutaneous trouble has entirely disap- peared. Sometimes we see this result upon the hymen con- tinue long after marriage, accompanied with a low grade of 'inflammatory action established in the carunculas myrtiformes, which may degenerate into warty growths, cause obstinate leucorrhcea, and require excision, as stated by Denman, Vel- peau, and others. At other times there are no evidences of inflammation, but the morbid action seems to have left its impress on the nerves, and spasm lasts for years. The follow- ing cases, for the notes of which I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. J. Marion Sims, will illustrate the remarks which I have just made. Mrs. H., aged twenty-one years, had been married one year, during which period sexual congress had been perfectly impracticable, the effort being attended with such excruciating agony, as to forbid perseverance. The introduction of the finger produced the most intense suffering, with general nervous agitation, involuntary weeping, and even screaming. As soon as the finger was passed in, violent spasm would occur in the sphincter vagina, which could be felt like a hard tendon ; and as it was withdrawn, immediate and perfect cessation of suf- fering would occur. Upon a minute examination, it was discovered that the hymen itself was the seat of this excessive irritability, and that the slightest touch was sometimes more intolerable than firm pressure. Pressure on the verge of the anus, the perineum, the labia, the meatus urinarius, the clitoris, and the mons, gave no unusual manifestations' but the moment that the hymen was touched, all the above symptoms were reproduced, and with this peculiarity, viz : touch- ing the vaginal surface of the hymen gave no pain, but the instant the probe was brought in contact with any point in the line or fold between the hymen and the labia, the suffering was excruciating. ° I felt satisfied that this spasmodic stricture of the sphincter was due to a morbid sensibility of the hymen, and its proper nerve expansion at the os externum ; and that the two conditions naturally reacted as we see in fissure of the anus. Here the fissure when touched or irritated in any way, produces a rigid spasm of the anal sphincter, and although the fissure is the o i- cie, winch (as a rule) should be made through the fissured