A practical treatise on the diseases of women / by T. Gaillard Thomas.

  • Thomas, T. Gaillard (Theodore Gaillard), 1832-1903.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on the diseases of women / by T. Gaillard Thomas. 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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    THE ETIOLOGY OF UTERINE DISEASES IN AMERICA. In investigating the causes of uterine diseases which are active in this country, I would not be understood as drawing any com- parison between their frequency here and abroad, for in the ab- sence of statistical evidence such an attempt would necessarily be futile. It is easier to write of habits which are under our imme- diate observation, than of those concerning which we merely read and hear, and for this reason I give myself the limits herein prescribed. My intention is not to review all the causes of ute- rine disorders, but to confine myself to the consideration of those which are avoidable, incurred merely from disregard of the laws of health, and which are generally rather predisposing than ex- citing. Others, which are accidental and exciting, will be men- tioned in connection with special diseases as they come under notice. If we compare the present state of women in refined society over the world with that of the working peasants of the same latitudes, or with the North American squaws or the powerful negresses of the Southern States, we can with difficulty believe that they all sprung from the same parent stem, and originally possessed the same physical capacities. Observation proves that women who are not exposed to depreciating influences can com- pete in strength and endurance with the men of their races, and in savage countries they are sometimes regarded as superior to them. In the lower orders of animals this equality is still more marked. The mare endures as much as the horse, and some of our most celebrated racers have represented the female sex. The lioness is fully as dangerous to the hunter as her more majestic consort, and the bitch proves as untiring in the chase as the most muscular dog in the pack. From all these facts we may logically argue, that the human female, if properly developed and placed beyond causes which