An essay on the diseases of young women / By Walter Johnson.

  • Johnson, Walter, M.B, approximately 1825-1913?
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the diseases of young women / By Walter Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    By these different paths, therefore, the boy and girl advance towards the gates of life : the one in a zigzag course, with great noise and excitement, the other quietly, with equal footsteps, and speedier success. As soon as the portal is passed, and puberty accomplished, a complete moral and physical revolution is effected—menstruation is instituted; and, by a species of harlequinade, the changes immediately commence. The maiden^s form, previously angular, and displeasing to the critical eye, is rounded off, inharmonious pro- % jections and sharp points disappear; and that charming fulness of contour, and ripeness of deve- lopment, which marks the transition from maiden- hood to womanhood is established. The voice deepens, the throat enlarges, and the breasts swell. The muscles appear conscious of the exalted con- sequence of the body politic of which they are members, and yield readier obedience to the fiat of the will. Thus a thousand little gaucheries of gait, of gesture, of expression, are obliterated, and the wild motions of youth subside into grace and dignity. The mental constitution undergoes no less alteration. The laughing familiarity of girl- hood is succeeded by bashful reserve; even the incorrigible hoyden loses much of her defiant spirit. At the same time the “ bloom of young desire^' gradually ripens in the soul, the heart