Woman, her diseases and remedies : a series of letters to his class / by Charles D. Meigs.

  • Meigs, Charles D. (Charles Delucena), 1792-1869.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Woman, her diseases and remedies : a series of letters to his class / by Charles D. Meigs. 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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    Imperforation of the hymen will rarely be ascertained to exist, until the age of puberty comes to expose the young woman to the conse- quences that follow the accumulations of menstrual excretions in the inner part of the vagina and womb. The lateness of this discovery is a matter of some surprise, if we advert to the constant secretion of mucous fluid from the genital mucous membranes; since it is difficult to conceive what becomes of all that is formed from childhood up to the fourteenth or fifteenth year. It must, of course, be removed by the absorbents; yet it would, a priori, seem improbable that so consi- derable a production could be taken up by the absorbing vessels. Such is the fact, however, for the imperforate girl is commonly not discovered to be so, until the menstrual age, and then she is affected with all the signs of menstruation, save the show. Suppose the young woman should have thirteen menstruations in the course of the first year, and produce only three ounces each time, the sum of the several productions would amount to thirty-nine ounces, or nearly two pounds and a half. Of course, the whole accumulation would not reach so high a figure, because the thinner parts being con- tinually absorbed, the remainder is reduced in quantity, and becomes thicker and more and more viscid, from the admixture of mucus and epithelium. But it must happen that at length, the vagina being over-full, the womb itself will enlarge or expand to receive the new monthly contribution, as if pregnant with its own excretions. Be not surprised, in such a case, to find the girl suspected of gravid- ity, neither be misled to confirm such a suspicion by discovering that the mammary glands sympathizing with the womb, are developed as in gestation, and that they even proceed so far as to secrete a portion of milk. The mammary gland may be regarded as a life-dependent of the womb, participating in its various lots, whether in pregnancy or in disease. It is a fact that cannot be denied, that where the womb becomes augmented in volume, in the amount of its sanguine circula- tion, of its innervation, its absorption, &c, the mammae tend to sym- pathize with it, and they may form the milk, whether the change in the uterus proceeds from pregnancy, or from some other cause. This is a case in which, from inexperience, you might be prone to run into error. Take heed, therefore, not to pronounce your opinion until, by all possible means of making it sure and clear, you feel en- abled to speak with confidence on the case. Men of the highest professional rank have been, through careless or hasty diagnostical conclusions, led into the greatest perplexity; and some have thus ruined forever the fairest prospects of fortune and reputation. It is always a cause of mortification and regret to the brethren, when any