On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead.

  • Whitehead, James, 1812-1885.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    CHAPTER I. MENSTRUATION. Signs of Puberty. The natural and healthy appearance of the catamenial discharge in the human female is a presumptive proof that the individual is in a condition rendering her capable of bearing children ; and it may be regarded as a proposition requiring no demonstration, that, whether on account of local or constitutional defect, when the organs of generation are incapacitated for the performance of this function, conception cannot take place. It is not however neces- sary, in order to the efficient accomplishment of the process of utero-gestation, that the menses should have previously appeared ; for this circumstance, as will hereafter be shown, is no adequate evidence that the person does not possess all the conditions requisite for child-bearing. On the other hand, the establishment of the catamenial discharge, and its regular and healthy repetition, is not always conclusive as to the completeness of the organs of generation, or of the constitu- tional aptitude for procreation. The function may, to all outward appearance be duly performed, the body be well-proportioned and vigorous, the health unexceptionable; and yet the woman, even under the most favourable circumstances, may remain barren. In what manner the phenomena of menstruation and of impregnation are reciprocally related, and to what extent the successful accom- plishment of the one is affected by, or dependent upon, the same organic agency which influences the other, the observations here- after to be made may serve in some measure to explain. Menstruation consists in a peculiar action of the organs of gene- ration, manifesting itself periodically, by which a quantity of sangui- neous fluid differing, under some circumstances, in one or two important particulars from the circulating mass, is thrown off, and which, on account of its monthly recurrence, has been denominated the menstrual or catamenial flux. The period of life at which this 3