REPRODUCTION—PART I.
In teaching children or young persons the process of reproduction one of
the cleanest, most natural and beautiful methods of doing this is to
tell them the process which goes on in the various forms of life in the
flower, fish, frog, bird and to lead up to the highest and most complex
of all living creatures—man.
They watch the butterfly and bee carry a load of pollen from the father
buttercup to fertilize the seeds within the mother flower. They watch
Mr. and Mrs. Frog awaken from their long winter nap, and stirred by the
life-giving impulse within them, start for the breeding pond. They watch
Father Thrush win his mate and patiently stand guard over her during the
tedious hatching days. They are told and see that the flowers depend
upon outside forces to bring the pollen from the male to the female to
fertilize the seeds before the seeds could grow. They are taught that
the mother fish lay her eggs in the water first and that the father
fish, unlike the flowers, being able to move about, carries the pollen
(which is now a fluid) to the seeds himself. They are told that Father
Frog, being a higher creature, fertilized the eggs before they reached
the water, and Father Thrush being still higher in the scale fertilized
the eggs before they left the mother's body. That the higher the species
was, the greater the care required to preserve that species.
In this way the mind is prepared for the information which should
follow.
The girl at puberty should be taught this process and something of what
goes on within the womb after the ovum has been fertilized. She should
know that all organic life is the result of a simple cell; that man is a
community of cells, banded together and depending upon each cell to
carry on its work, for the benefit of the whole.
Let us first, then, get an idea of a cell and what it is and what it
does. A cell is a tiny portion of living matter having in its center a
spot or nucleus which represents the point of germination; it is
separated from its sister cells by partitions of cell membrane.
A simple cell is formed by the fusion of two germ cells when they meet
to exchange nuclear elements. After this fusion they are able to proceed
with fission, which means splitting into parts, and it is the subsequent
cellular growth of the fused germ-cell that constitutes reproduction.
There are two kinds of reproductive cells, the ova in the female and the
spermatozoa in the male.
When the sexual act takes place, there is deposited into the vagina a
secretion known as semen. According to Sutkowsky, each deposit or
ejaculation contains 50,000,000 of spermatozoa.
About the same time in the act there occurs in the female, spasmodic
contractions of the muscles of the uterus which draws in a small amount
of the sperm which the male has left there.
The sperm cell of the male under the microscope shows that it contains
both head and tail.
The tail enables it to move and advance with a tadpole-like motion
toward the ovum.
As in the lower forms of life, the male cell has within it the instinct
to chase and capture the female cell. Consequently, it does not depend
upon the uterine contractions of the female to enable it to reach the
ovum for fertilization. The vagina being a corrugated or wrinkled tube,
hides and secretes the sperm cell for days, unless it is removed with
water or killed by poisonous injections.
When, however, the sperm comes near the ovum it is drawn to it as to a
magnet.
The ovum being carefully protected by nature within the ovaries, leaves
its sister cells and travels alone. The sperm cell, however, having more
dangerous paths to travel, must provide against the uncertainty of doing
its great work by going in numbers, though it takes but one single cell
to produce human life.
A number of the male cells go to meet the ovum, but only one enters it.
Almost at the moment the head enters the ovum it becomes completely
absorbed by the ovum and all trace of it is lost.
This union of the two cells is called fertilization, fecundation,
impregnation, or conception. Any of these terms may be used. This union
usually takes place in the tube, but the fertilized egg does not remain
there; it wanders along and finds its way into the uterus.
Now that the ovum has been fertilized, it readily becomes attached to
the soft lining of the uterus which has been specially prepared to
receive it. No menstruation occurs. The woman is now pregnant. A new
being is created, and marvelous changes will now take place within the
tiny cell clinging so weakly to the lining of the uterus. At this time
the ovum is so small it can scarcely be seen by the naked eye, but in
two weeks it has grown to the size of a pea; in four weeks to the size
of a walnut, and in eight weeks to the size of a lemon. At this time it
is three inches long and is completely formed, the head being much
larger in proportion to the rest of its body. What has happened to the
ovum in these few weeks is briefly this: All the changes in the
evolution of the animal kingdom, that man had to pass through to arrive
at his present shape, the human embryo goes through step by step within
the uterus in a very short period. Immediately after fertilization the
ovum begins to divide into sections or lobes, into 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.
cells until they are almost countless. Each cell splits in the middle of
the nucleus, forming two complete new cells and so on.
The next stage is represented by this mass of cells forming themselves
into a shape like a hollow ball. The third stage is the meeting of the
two layers of cells, as if the ball had collapsed, and these two layers
meet and unite as one, stretch and flatten out like a worm. After this
stage things become more complicated; new organs begin to develop, line
marks for the backbone and intestinal canal show themselves, as do the
bony and muscular structure of the skeleton.
A slight pulsation is observed, showing the development of the heart.
The head fold is formed by a gradual bending of the spinal column at the
front end of the ovum, which we will now call the embryo. There are also
formed at this time, processes which soon become arms and legs, there is
a furrow on the face, pits for the eyes; all of which has happened in
less than four weeks.
From this time forward development is rapid; the bones, which up to this
time have been soft matter, grow harder, and all organs which were only
outlined,
[Illustration:
FIG. II.
Foetus in the Uterus at two months' pregnancy.
]
now become definitely formed. At the end of the fourth month it has
grown to its natural shape. The remaining months it increases in size
and gains strength. The uterus becomes enlarged, rises out of the pelvis
and occupies the abdominal cavity. It takes forty weeks or 280 days to
complete the growth of the human embryo, although the time may be two
weeks more or less and yet be normal.
Let us see how the child has been fed all this time. When the ovum is
fertilized and up to the eighth week it is fed by delicate branched
threads, which form a covering for it. These threads are called “villi”,
and dip into the uterine surface for nourishment from the mother to
supply the embryo.
About the eighth week these “villi” have grown greatly intertwined into
a mass of spongy tissue full of blood vessels called the placenta
(afterbirth). This fastens itself to one side of the uterus, takes
oxygen as well as nutriment from the mother and sends it through the
umbilical cord to the child, the point of attachment being at the navel,
the depression left on the belly of the child by the cutting of the
umbilical cord at birth. In the same way it takes the waste product from
the child to the mother, and she, in turn, throws them out of her system
through the kidneys, bowels and skin. The child and placenta are both
encased within a membraneous sac, which secretes and serves to hold a
watery fluid in which the child swims.
The child is folded together with legs on the thighs and thighs on the
belly, arms on the chest and head bent forward over the breast. Toward
the end of the term it moves about slightly, often stretches a little,
and has periods of rest when it scarcely moves, and again periods of
great activity. A mother first feels the child move in the fourth or
fifth month. Often the young mother at this time begins to worry over
her acts lest something she should do might deform the precious charge
she carries. This, as you can readily understand from its early
development, is impossible, for by the end of the second month the child
has been formed, and no mental impressions of the mother can alter its
shape. Just as the nucleus of the male sperm has within it all the
contributions which the father of the child can give it, until after it
is born, so does the mother give it its physical qualities right at the
beginning.
Whatever is to be inherited from the father must be within the substance
of the spermatozoon at the time the ovum is fertilized. He has no
further pre-natal influence over it.
It is interesting to observe that the children of so-called great men
are seldom above the average in intelligence, where, on the other hand,
almost all men of great minds have had intelligent mothers.
How great or how little influence a mother has over her child through
her thoughts has not been proven, nor has the subject of determining or
influencing sex of the unborn child been settled.
At the end of nine months the child's development is complete and it is
ready for its journey to the outside world. The process of this journey
is called “labor”—a word which will describe the mother's share in it.
When this occurs before the embryo is able to live outside the uterus it
is known as abortion.
REPRODUCTION—PART II.
In the first part of this essay I said that if the process of labor
occurs before the seventh month (which is the earliest time the foetus
can live for any length of time outside the womb) it is known as
abortion or miscarriage. When labor occurs later than this or within two
weeks before term, it is known as premature labor.
The average girl in using the word abortion, has in mind a criminal act,
whereby the process of pregnancy is purposely interrupted. She prefers
the word miscarriage.
There is also a belief among girls that a miscarriage occurring in the
early stages of pregnancy can be brought about without bad results or
any serious consequences to her health.
It is a mistake to regard an abortion as of slight importance, for any
interruption in the process of pregnancy is always more dangerous than
the natural labor at full term. One writer claims there are more women
ill in consequence of abortion than from full term childbirth, on
account of which there are so many women who are semi-invalids.
There can be no doubt that the often excessive loss of blood leaves the
woman in a weak and rundown condition, thereby lessening her powers of
resistance to other diseases.
The shock to the woman's system is greater than that produced by natural
labor, and consequently leaves her in a hysterical and often critically
nervous state for some time after.
The causes of abortion are many. Among them are overexertion,
overexcitement, shock, fright, fall, great anger, dancing, fatigue,
lifting heavy weights, purgative medicines and excessive sexual
intercourse.
The dangers resulting from abortion are blood poison, hemorrhage—even
lockjaw has been known to be the result of abortion, also the danger
that one miscarriage is likely to follow another, and disables a woman
to carry a child to the full term.
If there is the same care and treatment given the woman who aborts as
the woman in childbirth, she will naturally be less likely to suffer
serious results than if no medical attention were given her.
One of the most common disturbances of pregnancy is nausea, more
commonly called “morning sickness,” because it is felt in the morning
when the woman first assumes the erect position. As a rule, this lasts
only during the early months.
About the latter part of the fourth month, or often not before the fifth
month, movements of the foetus are felt. These movements are called
“life”, and women are glad of this signal that all is progressing
naturally. One writer said a woman had described the first feeling of
life as “the trembling movements of a bird within the hand.”
There are often many nervous manifestations accompanying the pregnant
woman, such as headache, neuralgia, toothache and as a usual thing,
constipation is always present, and should receive attention. The teeth
also should receive attention at this time for they decay easily on
account of the secretions in the mouth which are increased during
pregnancy.
The breasts enlarge in the early months of pregnancy, and there is a
fullness and tingling felt often in the fifth week. The nipples become
erect and the skin around the nipple becomes dark brown. These are only
a few of the disturbances of pregnancy, but enough to show that other
organs beside the uterus are tested in strength and how important it is
to have a good healthy body. In fact, every tissue and fiber in the
woman's body feels the impetus of pregnancy, and all kinds of physical
changes occur. Like in June, “Every clod feels a stir of might, an
instinct within it that reaches and towers.”—Howell.
One of the common questions asked by young women in early married life
is how to tell if they are pregnant.
This is not always easy, but there are a few points on which a diagnosis
is based, namely: in a healthy woman (during the reproductive age) the
function of menstruation stops, together with the morning sickness, and
the enlargement of the breasts with dark color around the nipples. These
are early indications that pregnancy exists. I am not going to take the
time nor space to explain that all three of the above named can exist in
nervous women, even when pregnancy does not exist. It is, as I said
before, with the average healthy girl I am dealing, not with the
exception. The only certain signs of pregnancy are the hearing of the
heart-beats of the child and its movements.
Another question which troubles a young woman is how to count the time
when she will be confined. This, too, is difficult to say, for an error
of two weeks earlier or later is possible, because the time of
conception is seldom definitely known. Experience has given a method of
arriving at an approximate date which is used and which answers the
purpose fairly well, though it is by no means perfect. Add seven days to
the first day of the last menstruation and count nine months forward.
For example: Mrs. A. menstruated last, beginning October 5 add seven
days; this brings the date to October 12; add nine months, which brings
the date of confinement to July 12. It is well to have everything
prepared two weeks before this date so that the woman can be as much as
possible in the open air during the remaining waiting days.
* * * * *
The dress of the pregnant woman should receive serious attention. In the
first place, it should be simple and warm, without bands restricting the
circulation of any part of the body, like skirt bands, round garters,
corsets and tight shoes. The secret of a comfortable outfit for the
expectant mother is to have all clothing hang from the shoulders.
Combination underwear can be bought as reasonably as the separate
drawers and shirt. There should be no pressure on the womb from above,
rather let all support come from below. The corset gets in its harmful
work by pressing down the uterus into the pelvis, thus displacing the
abdominal organs and crowding them together in such a way as to cause
injury to the uterus as well as to the child itself. The muscles of the
uterus and abdomen are weakened and from this results that horror of all
women: the “high stomach.” Some women, especially those having borne
children, prefer to wear in the latter days of pregnancy an abdominal
supporter. If it is well fitted to the body it helps to assist the
abdominal muscles in carrying the weight and affords great relief. If
women would devote to making themselves comfortable during pregnancy as
much time as they give on the baby's outfit, they would profit by it.
Instead of wearing any old worn-out dress, ill-fitting and out of style,
make one “maternity” dress to fit the figure. This can, of course, be
let out in size as the figure grows. It can be made of some pretty,
inexpensive material and gives such comfort and ease to the mind as well
as to the body that the woman who has once had one will never again do
without it.
The food also should be simple. In fact, there are few restrictions to
be placed on food unless so ordered by the physician. One common mistake
of women is that they believe they are eating for two persons, and
consequently, must gorge themselves, which, of course, results in
indigestion. Physicians advise a small amount of meat once a day. Plenty
of water, milk and cereals, fruit, vegetables and especially fruit,
which loosens the bowels. Rich pastry or starches fried in fat should
not be eaten, because they are hard to digest. There is no reason why
the diet should be at all strict unless a woman is under the special
care of a physician. She should take a moderate amount of exercise every
day, but should not get tired. Walking in the open air in the sunlight
is best. Avoid dancing, swimming and all violent exercise; sewing on the
sewing machine should be restricted. Fainting in the early months is
often caused from bad air in overcrowded and overheated rooms, also from
an empty stomach when the woman is too busy to notice nature's call for
nourishment.
It is now generally agreed that alcohol taken by the mother during
pregnancy, has very bad effects on the offspring.
There is little more to be said here except that a pregnant woman should
be mentally and physically active, though not fatigued. And of all
things she should keep out of the hearing of old superstitions, which
have a sign for every act and keep a young woman constantly worried. She
should not be allowed to worry over her approaching labor, and as far as
possible be kept cheerful and happy. Another question which concerns
every expectant mother, is, if there is any danger in sexual intercourse
during pregnancy.
At the end of the period the child and the placenta are expelled from
the uterus. The uterus gradually returns to its former size. It requires
about six weeks for this to occur and it is very important that there
should be no heavy lifting and overwork at this time. As a rule after
childbirth, the woman's form becomes matured and more developed. The
facial expression takes on a kinder, a maternal look, the whole nervous
system is awakened to sympathy, pain or grief bringing tears to the eyes
quicker than ever before. Especially is this true for the first few
years following.
The important thing is that the care of the pregnant woman should be
begun in girlhood. If we are going to be and have mothers, then we
should give attention to the development of the organs which make us
mothers.