DIETETICS.
Nearly two hundred recipes, including: Drinks for the
sick--Gruels--Jellies--Bread--Gems--Toast--Puddings--Eggs--Oysters
and miscellaneous dishes--The outgrowth of experience on a scientific
basis--Healthy food made palatable, suiting the fastidious and
capricious taste of the invalid--Dainty dishes for the sick 286-320
A FAMILIAR LETTER.
TO THE READER FROM THE AUTHOR.
Regulating sex--Various theories--Limiting offspring--Maternal
instinct sovereign in women--Law of ovulation--Law of
continence--Other methods--Effects of tobacco--Testimonials--Reasons
of failure--“Mind cure” a reality 321-350
AUTHOR’S SPECIAL REQUEST 351
GLOSSARY 351
INDEX 357
INDEX OF DIETETICS 364
ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXPLANATION OF PLATES--_See Pocket_.
TOKOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH.
“I know of no country, no tribe, no class, where childbirth is attended
with so much pain and trouble as in this country.” Thus replied
a traveler who had been many years in foreign lands, upon being
interrogated as to the comparative sufferings of savage and civilized
women. His occupation and sympathies had brought him into close
relationship with all classes of people, and therefore fitted him for
an intelligent and discriminating judgment in this matter.
Neither in India, Hindostan, China, Japan, the South Sea Islands, South
America, nor indeed in any country do women suffer in both pregnancy
and parturition as they do in this. Possibly among the higher classes
in Europe there may be equal suffering; but the peasantry everywhere is
comparatively exempt.
The usual testimony of missionaries and travelers is that the squaws
of our own Indian tribes experience almost no suffering in childbirth,
and the function scarcely interferes with the habits, pleasures or
duties of life. I have myself seen a squaw of the Ottawa tribe carrying
her pappoose upon her back, strapped to a board, when it was only
twenty-four hours old.
Mrs. Armstrong, one of the early missionaries in the Sandwich Islands,
says: “With native women the labor was not long nor severe; the mother,
instead of remaining in bed, arose, bathed in cold water, walked and
ate as usual.”
Dr. Storer says: “There is probably no suffering ever experienced which
will compare, in proportion to its extent in time, with the throes of
parturition.” Dr. Meigs says: “Men can not suffer the same pain as
women. What do you call the pains of parturition? There is no name for
them but _agony_!”
It is too true that women _go down to death_ in giving birth to
children. Thousands of women believe that this pain is natural and that
for it there can be no alleviation. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children” is thought to be a _curse_ that applies to all women of all
time.
If this pain and travail is a natural accompaniment of physiological
functions--if it is a _curse_ upon women, then why are the rich, the
enlightened and more favored daughters of earth greater sufferers
than the peasantry, the savage, the barbarian, and those who we call
heathen? Is it not possible, by research and comparison, to learn
the natural and true mode of life, so that motherhood may, among
enlightened people, be relieved from this burden of suffering? May it
not prove that our traditions and teachings upon this subject have been
altogether erroneous?
American women in education and enlightenment, in freedom and progress,
are the peers of the best and noblest of their sex. From individual,
social and national interests, they ought to be conversant with all
that pertains to this subject, so closely allied to the interests of
the race.
We find in women of superior education and marked intelligence an
exaggerated development of the emotional nature, and a corresponding
deterioration of physical powers. Weakness, debility, and suffering
is the common lot of most of them. Not one in a hundred has health
and strength to pursue any chosen study, or to follow any lucrative
occupation, and what is vastly worse, most are unfitted for the duties
and perils of maternity.
Dr. Gaillard Thomas says: “Neither appreciation of, nor desire for,
physical excellence sufficiently exists among refined women of our day.
Our young women are too willing to be delicate, fragile and incapable
of endurance. They dread above all things the glow and hue of health,
the rotundity and beauty of muscularity, the comely shapes which the
great masters gave to the Venus de Medici and Venus de Milo. All these
attributes are viewed as coarse and unladylike, and she is regarded as
most to be envied whose complexion wears the livery of disease, whose
muscular development is beyond the suspicion of _embonpoint_, and whose
waist can almost be spanned by her own hands.
“As a result, how often do we see our matrons dreading the process of
child-bearing, as if it were an abnormal and destructive one; fatigued
and exhausted by a short walk, or ordinary household cares; choosing
houses with special reference to freedom from one extra flight of
stairs, and commonly debarred the one great maternal privilege of
nourishing their own offspring. These are they who furnish employment
for the gynecologist, and who fill our homes with invalids and
sufferers.”
Understanding and following physiological laws, pregnancy _ought_ to
be as free from pathological symptoms, and parturition as void of
suffering with American women as with any on earth, or even with the
lower animals.
Dr. Dewees says: “_Pain in childbirth is a morbid symptom_; it is a
perversion of nature caused by modes of living not consistent with the
most healthy condition of the system, and a regimen which would insure
a completely healthy condition might be counted on with certainty to do
away with such pain.”
The great English scientist, Professor Huxley, says: “We are indeed,
fully prepared to believe that the bearing of children may and _ought_
to become as free from danger and long debility to the civilized woman
as it is to the savage.”
The following paragraphs from one of the essays in Dr. Montgomery’s
classical work on Pregnancy, give practical details of cases in
illustration of the belief in painless parturition.
“In a letter to me Dr. Douglas states that he was called about 6 A. M.,
Sept. 26, 1828, to attend a Mrs. D., residing on Eccles St.
“On his arrival he found the house in the utmost confusion, and was
told that the child had been born before the messenger was dispatched
for the doctor. From the lady herself he learned that, about half an
hour previously, she had been awakened from a natural sleep by the
alarm of a daughter about five years old, who slept with her.
“This alarm was occasioned by the little girl feeling the movements,
and hearing the cries of an infant in bed. To the mother’s great
surprise she had brought forth her child without any consciousness of
the fact.
“A lady of great respectability, the wife of a peer of the realm, was
actually delivered once in her sleep; she immediately awakened her
husband, being alarmed to find one more in bed than there was before.
“I have elsewhere mentioned the case of a patient of mine who bore
eight children without ever having labor pains. Her deliveries were so
sudden and void of sensible effect that in more than one instance they
took place under most awkward circumstances, but without any suffering.”
Dr. J. King, in his work on Obstetrics, speaks of attending cases where
there was no sensation of pain.
He found that by placing the hand upon the abdomen, the muscular
contractions were distinctly felt, and examination proved the progress
of labor, while, excepting a suppressed breath, the patient experienced
no change from the ordinary condition.
Some very marked cases have come to my own knowledge proving the
possibility of painless labor. I attended a neighbor of mine in four
different confinements. I never was able to reach her before the birth
of the child, although I lived only across the street, and according to
her injunctions, always kept my shoes “laced up.” She sent for me, too,
at the first indication of labor. There was always one prolonged effort
and the child was expelled. The heads of her children were temporarily
distorted, showing pliability of the osseous structure.
Another lady patron had two children without a _particle of pain_.
With the first she was alone with her nurse. During the evening she
remarked that she felt weary and believed that she would lie down. She
had been on the bed no more than twenty minutes when she called to her
nurse, saying: “How strangely I feel! I wish you would see what is the
matter,” when to their astonishment the child was already born.
Two years later I was summoned to the same lady about ten at night.
The membranes were ruptured, but no other visible indication of
labor. Investigation revealed dilatation of the cervix and although
she soon fell into a quiet slumber, I noticed regular and distinct
contractions. The child was born about two in the morning _without any
sensation of pain_. I have no doubt that in her previous confinement
the contractions went on the same, and if she had been one to mark
her symptoms closely, she would have felt them as one feels muscular
contractions in the performance of other natural functions.
The cases that have been cited, so far as is known, were persons in
excellent health, and some were persons of exceptionally fine and
strong constitutions. Dr. Holbrook in his “Parturition without Pain,”
says: “Those women of savage nations who bear children without pain
live much in the open air, take much exercise, and are physically
active and healthy to a degree greatly beyond their more civilized
sisters. These instances tend directly to prove that parturition is
likely to be painless in proportion as the mother is physically perfect
and in a sound condition of health. They certainly tend even more
strongly to prove that pain is not an absolute necessity attendant on
parturition.
“The course of modern scientific investigation, moreover, has gone
far to justify a belief that this terrific burden upon humanity can
be almost entirely removed, and that the pain can be as completely
done away with as the danger and disfigurement from small-pox. At the
same time, this immeasurable benefit to humanity cannot be obtained
without _proper use of means_, and the continuance of such use for a
considerable period.
“The doctrine of the ablest thinkers on the subject will be found to
agree in this: That it is the previous life of the mother--_the whole
of it_, from her birth to the birth of the child--which almost entirely
determines what her danger, her difficulty, and her pain during
childbirth shall be. Her easy or difficult labor, in fact, is almost
entirely her own work. Her conduct during gestation, it is true, is
more immediately influential in the result than remoter periods, and
bears more greatly upon the future life of her offspring than even upon
herself.”
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that he believed that any disease,
no matter how virulent, how malignant or how deep-seated, whether it
was cancer, consumption or cholera, any disease could be _cured_ if
the physician was called in time. But with his wonted humor he added:
“There are cases in which the physician should be called at least two
hundred years in advance.”
With Dr. Holmes, I believe it will take many years to eradicate
diseased conditions which are the heritage of this generation, and
thus to produce men and women of physical perfection. Science has
proven, however, that any woman possessing sufficient vitality to make
procreation possible, can do much, even during pregnancy, to alleviate
the sufferings of that period, as well as the final throes of travail.
Pain and suffering have so long been the customary attendant upon the
maternal functions, that many are slow to believe they can ever be
alleviated. Painless childbirth is thought to be an impossibility.
The reader is begged to lay aside all previous prejudices, and it is
believed that when this volume has been thoroughly studied he will be
convinced that women in bearing offspring should furnish no exception
to the laws of nature, and that pregnancy and parturition may and
_ought_ to be devoid of suffering.
In Tokology, technical terms have been avoided as much as possible.
For the few used the reader will find helpful hints in the Glossary,
page 354. If possible, the few remedies prescribed in Tokology should
be procured at a Homœopathic Pharmacy, or of a Homœopathic Physician.
They are, however, sometimes found already prepared in a drug store.
CHAPTER II.
CONCEPTION--FETAL DEVELOPMENT.
THE REPRODUCTIVE APPARATUS of woman consists essentially of ovaries,
oviducts, uterus, vagina and mammary glands.
THE OVARIES (Plates II and VI) are two almond-shaped bodies, situated
about two and one-half inches distant on either side of the uterus.
They are inclosed in the broad ligaments and suspended by a thread-like
cord from the womb, also attached to the outer extremities of the
oviducts. They consist of a stroma in which vesicles are imbedded. It
is within these vesicles that the _ova_, or eggs, are found. Every four
weeks, during the child-bearing period an ovum matures, and bursting
through the vesicle, as well as the surrounding membrane of the ovary,
is conveyed to the womb by the oviduct.
While not the largest, the ovary is the most important of the
generative organs of woman. Upon these apparently insignificant
structures depends the creative power giving the grand office of
motherhood, a power akin to the divine. Maternity! the holiest shrine
of human life, to which poets do homage, and true men bow in reverence!
The ovaries contain the fructifying principle, and also bestow on
woman the characteristics of sex. These mysterious bodies are the
grand source of feminine attractions. Remove all other generative
organs and you do not change her in this regard--remove the ovaries,
and she becomes masculine not only in character but appearance. Her
figure changes, her voice becomes coarse and of lower pitch, her
throat enlarges, and, in some instances, whiskers appear. Any diseased
condition, too, of the ovaries produces great constitutional as well as
emotional disturbances.
THE OVIDUCTS OR FALLOPIAN TUBES (Plates II and VI) are minute
cylindrical openings from the superior and lateral portion of the
uterus, about three inches in length and terminating in fimbriated or
finger-like extremities. The latter are minute muscular bodies, which
grasp the ovum as it bursts through the membranes of the ovary, and
convey it into the oviduct on its way to the uterus. The ovum is less
than ¹⁄₁₂₀ of an inch in diameter, and the cavity of the oviduct is so
small that it would scarcely allow the entrance of a hog’s bristle.
THE UTERUS (Plates II, III, IV, V and VII) is a pear-shaped muscular
organ situated in the inferior portion of the pelvis, between the
bladder and rectum. It is less than three inches length and two inches
in width, and one in thickness. It is pear-shaped, the _cervix_
naturally pointing to the coccyx.
The _canal_ or opening into the _uterus_ through the cervix is small,
capable of admitting a probe ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄ of an inch in diameter. The
walls are muscular, and in the unimpregnated state about half an inch
in thickness. The cavity of the uterus is small and conical, having
three openings, two at its upper portion into the oviducts, and one
into the vagina. The latter is called the _Os uteri_ or mouth of the
womb. The upper broad portion is called the _fundus_. It weighs from
one to two ounces. It is difficult to realize how very diminutive this
organ is in the virgin state, especially when we consider its power of
distension during pregnancy.
The external portion of the uterus is covered by the _peritoneum_, a
serous membrane which is continuous with the lining of the abdomen and
covering of all the viscera. The uterus is held in place by ligaments
formed of folds of the peritoneum. The broad ligament enveloping the
oviduct and ovaries extends to either side, and is firmly attached to
the sides of the pelvis. The round ligaments, formed from obliterated
bloodvessels of fetal life and peritoneal covering, pass from the upper
portion of the womb to the outside of the pelvic bone and terminate in
muscular and cellular tissue beneath the integument. There are also
folds of peritoneum between the womb and bladder in the front, and the
womb and rectum in the back, that assist in holding it in position.
It is besides largely supported by the elasticity of the vagina and
muscles of the perineum. So well sustained is the uterus that only
serious violations of physical laws can cause deviations of position.
THE VAGINA (Plates II and III) is simply the external outlet or passage
from the uterus. It is longer in back than in front, being from three
to four inches in front and from five to six inches in the posterior
portion. It is a cylindrical tube of firm elastic tissue, capable of
great distension. The neck of the _uterus_ dips into the upper part of
the vagina about three-fourths of an inch. The communication between
these organs is the _cervical canal_, which in health is found closed,
admitting a probe with difficulty. The _uterus_ and _vagina_ are not
one and the same as many suppose, yet communicate with each other. The
vagina serves as a passage for the menstrual fluid, for the fetus at
birth, and for the reception of the male organ in copulation, and in a
state of health assists the perineal muscles in sustaining the uterus.
THE MAMMARY GLANDS or breasts (Plate XI) are accessory to the
generative system. They secrete milk which supplies the child with
nourishment after birth. They are rounded and prominent, keeping their
form and position through life, if the surrounding muscles and tissues
have not been weakened by pressure of clothing.
CONCEPTION OR IMPREGNATION takes place by the union of the male sperm
and female germ. Whether this is accomplished in the _ovaries_, the
_oviducts_ or the _uterus_, is still a question of discussion and
investigation by physiologists.
The _ovum_, or egg, matures and is taken up by the fimbriated
extremities of the oviducts at the time of menstruation. To reach the
outer world it must pass the length of the oviducts, the cavity and
canal of the uterus and vagina. The fructifying principle of the semen
consists of zoosperms, which under strong magnifying powers are seen to
be filaments endowed with power of propulsion.
Once entering the uterine cavity there is no reason why they should
not be able to pass into the oviducts or even to reach the ovaries.
The probabilities are impregnation can take place at any point in the
generative tract, providing the ovum and sperms come in contact while
they still live. It is pretty well proven that the ovum after maturing
and being dislodged from the ovaries may retain its life from six to
eight days, and also be that length of time in making its exit from the
uterus. That the sperms are viable, also, for some days, if retained in
their own element at a certain temperature, has been established quite
definitely.
With many women the ovum passes off within twenty-four or forty-eight
hours after menstruation begins. Some, by careful observation, are able
to know with certainty when this takes place. It is often accompanied
with _malaise_, nervousness, headache, or actual uterine pain. A minute
substance like the white of an egg, with a fleck of blood in it, can
frequently be seen upon the clothing. Ladies who have noticed this
phenomenon testify to its recurring very regularly upon the same day
after menstruation. Some delicate women have observed it as late as the
fourteenth day.
NOURISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO.--There are three distinct
periods of nutrition in the uterine development of the human being:
First--Yolk nutrition.
Second--Tuft nutrition.
Third--Placental nutrition.
The period of yolk nutrition in the human is brief and probably
variable. The minute size of the egg renders it impossible for it to
furnish nutriment for any length of time, as is the case with the
embryo of the fowl. From five to eight days after conception takes
place, a membrane is formed around the ovum, called the chorion.
Outside of this is still another membrane attaching itself to the
womb. The internal surface of the chorion is supplied with villi or
tufts resembling mulberry seed. Through these the embryo receives its
nutrition, until at the close of the second month, from these tufts the
_placenta_, or after-birth, begins to be developed. This is attached to
some portion of the uterus, usually the upper lateral portion.
THE PLACENTA is a spongy, vascular organ, at full term eight to ten
inches in diameter, and two or three inches thick at center, thinning
at the edges, weighing from three-fourths to one and one-fourth pounds.
In appearance it is not unlike a piece of liver, only less solid.
It is the proper vascular apparatus serving the combined purpose of
fetal nutrition, respiration and excretion. At least, through its
absorption all these functions are accomplished.
This, with the membranes surrounding the fetus and umbilical cord, is
called the _after-birth_.
The placenta (Plates VIII and IX) lies in complete juxtaposition with
the uterus, with an almost imperceptible membrane interposed. The
fibers and bloodvessels of the uterus and placenta do not interlace, as
some suppose; each has a distinct set of bloodvessels and capillaries,
and a separate circulation. Nutrition and excretion are carried on by
_exosmosis_, or transudation through this very attenuated membrane.
THE FETAL CIRCULATION is an especially interesting phenomenon. Instead
of the blood going to the lungs for oxygenation, the entire circuit is
performed without this, the placenta serving the office of lungs as
well as of the digestive organs.
From the placenta oxidized blood is brought through the umbilical
vein, a large portion of it passing to the liver, but all eventually
enters the heart by the ascending vena cava. By the Eustachian valve it
is directed through the foramen ovale to the left auricle, from this to
the left ventricle, which conveys it to the aorta.
Part of the blood, instead of taking this course, enters the right
ventricle, and in place of going to the lungs through pulmonary
arteries, passes at once to the aorta, through what is called the
ductus arteriosus. After traveling the entire circuit, it is taken back
to the placenta by two umbilical arteries, which are given off from the
iliac arteries.
At birth the _ductus arteriosus_ closes; the umbilical veins form the
round ligament of the liver, and the umbilical arteries the round
ligament of the uterus in the female, and the urachus, a ligament of
the bladder, in the male.
The _foramen ovale_ also closes, establishing a complete septum between
the auricles of the heart.
_A blue baby_ or _cyanosis neonatorum_ is the result should this valve
fail to close. The venous blood commingles with the arterial blood, and
death is the result sooner or later.
THE UMBILICAL CORD is made up of two arteries and one vein. It is from
two to four feet in length, attached at one extremity to the placenta,
and at the other to the navel of the child. This is the medium of the
circulation between the placenta and the fetus.
The _membranes_ all unite before birth to form one thick, tenacious
covering for the child, and also for the cord and fetal surface of the
placenta.
This incloses the fluid--the _liquor amnii_--which serves to protect
the fetus from blows or sudden jars. The membranes and the contained
fluid form what is known as the “bag of waters.” Not rupturing before
birth, they make what is called a _veil_ or _caul_ over the child’s
face, to which is attached various superstitions, such as the gift of
“second sight,” clairvoyance, etc.
HEALTHY NUTRITION of the _fetus_ depends entirely upon the mother. The
placenta not only represents the digestive organs, but the lungs of
the _fetus_. Consequently upon the condition of the mother depends the
condition of the child. It has no other means of getting nutriment, or
of disposing of waste material. After birth it has the same advantage
as the adult in correcting errors in diet and nutrition by elimination.
The skin, with its miles of perspiratory ducts, then conveys effete
matter from the system, the lungs keep up by respiration a constant
interchange of oxygen for carbon, while the liver, kidneys and bowels
are active in their functions of depurition. _In utero_ these functions
are all dormant, consequently giving the fetus a disadvantage for
healthy growth. Mothers often show a great solicitude about diet and
conditions during lactation, while they are comparatively indifferent
to these matters during pregnancy.
Especially should they breathe deeply, and that, too, of pure air.
Trall says: “If the mother does not breathe sufficiently the child
must suffer. Many a mother gives birth to a frail, scrofulous child,
for no reason except that during the period of gestation she is too
sedentary and plethoric. I have known women of vigorous constitutions,
who had given birth to several healthy children, become the mothers of
children so puny and scrofulous that it was impossible for them to be
raised to adult age. The reason is that the mother is obstructed in her
respiratory system, and although she may breathe enough to sustain her
own organization in a fair condition, she does not inhale oxygen enough
to supply the needs of an intra-uterine being. Many ‘still births’ are
explainable on this principle.”
THE DURATION OF PREGNANCY is nine calendar months or ten lunar months,
about 280 days. If the date of impregnation is not known, the _count_
should be made from the beginning of the last menstruation, and add
eight days on account of the possibility of its occurring within that
period. It is possible in some diseased conditions for the period to
extend much beyond this time. I knew one case of amniotic dropsy where
pregnancy extended forty-four weeks.
Helen Idleson, M. D., in the _Med. Wochenschrift_, sums up the results
of her investigations as follows: “1. The duration of pregnancy amounts
to 278 days, or nearly 40 weeks. 2. The sex of the infant influences
the duration, this being longer in female infants. (?) 3. The heavier
the child, the longer is the duration. (?) 4. The duration is longer in
multipara than in primipara. 5. The younger the woman the longer is the
duration. 6. The duration is longer in married than in unmarried women.
7. The first movements of the child are felt, on an average, on the one
hundred and thirty-fifth day, but later in primipara than in multipara.
“The _growth of the embryo_ after fecundation is very rapid. On the
_tenth_ day it has the appearance of a semi-transparent, grayish
flake. On the _twelfth_ day it is nearly the size of a pea, filled
with fluid, in the middle of which is an opaque spot, presenting
the first appearance of an embryo, which may be clearly seen as an
oblong or curved body, and is plainly visible to the naked eye on
the _fourteenth_ day. The _twenty-first_ day the embryo resembles an
ant or a lettuce-seed; its length is from four to five lines and its
weight from three to four grains. Many of its parts now begin to show
themselves, especially the cartilaginous beginnings of the spinal
column, the heart, etc.
“The _thirtieth_ day the embryo is as large as a horse-fly, and
resembles a worm, bent together. There are as yet no limbs, and the
head is larger than the rest of the body. When stretched out it is
nearly half an inch long. Toward the _fifth_ week the heart increases
greatly in proportion to the remainder of the body, and the rudimentary
eyes are indicated by two black spots turned toward the sides, and the
heart exhibits its external form, bearing a close resemblance to that
in the adult.
“In the _seventh_ week bone begins to form in the lower jaw and
clavicle. Narrow streaks on each side of the vertebral column show the
beginning of the ribs. The heart is perfecting its form, the brain
enlarging and the eyes and ears growing more perfect, and the limbs
sprouting from the body. The lungs are mere sacs, about one line in
length, and the trachea is a delicate thread, but the liver is very
large. In the seventh week are formed the renal capsules and kidneys.
“At _two months_ the forearm and hand can be distinguished, but not
the arm; the hand is larger than the forearm, but it is not supplied
with fingers. The distinction of sex is yet difficult. The eyes
are prominent. The nose forms an obtuse eminence. The nostrils are
rounded and separated. The mouth is gaping and the epidermis can be
distinguished from the true skin. The embryo is from one and a half to
two inches long and weighs from three to five drachms, the head forming
more than one-third of the whole.
“At the end of _three months_ the eyelids are distinct but shut; the
lips are drawn together; the forehead and nose are clearly traceable,
and the organs of generation prominent. The heart beats with force, the
larger vessels carry red blood; the fingers and toes are well-defined,
and muscles begin to be developed.
“At the _fourth_ month the embryo takes the name of _fetus_. The body
is six to eight inches in length and weighs from seven to eight ounces.
The skin has a rosy color, and the muscles produce a sensible _motion_.
A fetus born at this time might live several hours.
“At _five_ months the length of the body is from eight to ten inches,
and its weight from eight to eleven ounces.
“At _six_ months the length is twelve and a half inches; weight, one
pound. The hair appears upon the head, the eyes closed, the eyelids
somewhat thicker, and their margins, as well as the eyebrows, are
studded with very delicate hairs.
“At _seven_ months, every part has increased in volume and perfection;
the bony system is nearly complete; length, twelve to fourteen inches;
weight, two and a half to three pounds. If born at this period the
fetus is able to breathe, cry and nurse, and may live if properly cared
for.
“At _eight_ months, the _fetus_ seems to grow rather in length than in
thickness; it is only sixteen to eighteen inches long and yet weighs
from four to five pounds. The skin is very red, and covered with down
and a considerable quantity of sebaceous matter. The lower jaw, which
at first was very short, is now as long as the upper one.
“Finally, at _term_ the fetus is about nineteen to twenty-three inches
long, and weighs from six to nine pounds. The red blood circulates in
the capillaries, and the skin performs the functions of perspiration;
the nails are fully developed.”
There is a superstition that a child born at eight months is not as
liable to live as if born at seven months; indeed, many suppose that
an eight months’ child never survives. Facts do not prove this idea
correct.
Personally I have known several eight months’ babies to live and do
well, and I believe that their chance of life is much greater than if
born at seven months.
POSITION OF THE FETUS.--The fetus usually lies with the head downward,
the chin resting upon the breast. The feet are bent in front of the
legs, the latter flexed upon the thighs. The knees are separated from
each other, but the heels lie close together on the back of the thighs;
the arms are crossed upon the breast, so placed that the chin can rest
upon the hands.
In this way it forms an oval, whose longest diameter is about eleven
inches. This is the usual position, yet it often varies from it.
CHAPTER III.
PREGNANCY--SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS.
THE SIGNS OF PREGNANCY are physiological and pathological;
physiological, those common to all women; pathological, those which are
the result of and accompany diseased conditions.
Of the physiological, the four principal ones are cessation of
menstruation, increase of size, quickening, and the fetal heart beat.
CESSATION OF MENSTRUATION in a married woman may ordinarily be
considered a sign that conception has taken place. Yet suppression
may be the result of cold, of inflammation, of some chronic uterine
diseases, more especially dropsy or tumors, also of any slow, wasting
disease like scrofula, consumption and diarrhea.
Occasionally, too, women menstruate during the entire time of
gestation. This, without doubt, is an abnormal condition, and should be
remedied, as disastrous consequences may result. Also, women have been
known to bear children who have never menstruated.
Pregnancy seldom takes place where menstruation has never occurred, yet
it frequently happens that women never menstruate from one pregnancy
to another. In these cases this symptom is ruled out for diagnostic
purposes.
INCREASE OF SIZE begins to be experienced at about the third month,
when the uterus enlarges and rises above the brim of the pelvis. Any
enlargement previous to this time must be due to bloating, flatulence
or excess of fat, to which some are inclined in gestation. This
sign, taken alone, can not be relied upon as diagnostic. It may be
occasioned by various causes, and often accompanies the very same
conditions attending menstrual suppression. Instances occur in every
town and neighborhood where women have made elaborate preparations for
confinement, only to be disappointed by finding they were suffering
from some serious disease causing suppression.
QUICKENING.--The involuntary movements of the child occur from the
eighteenth to the twentieth week. Sometimes these motions begin as
early as the third month, and then are a feeble fluttering only,
causing disagreeable sensations of faintness and nausea. The “motion”
of the child is regarded by women, especially if they have previously
borne children, as an unfailing sign. But cases are common where the
throbbing in a tumor, or the peristaltic action accompanying flatulence
has been mistaken for fetal movements.
Unless the _motion_ is very marked, quick, elastic and distinct, it
alone cannot be relied upon as a diagnostic symptom. Taken together
with other signs it aids both physician and patient to a positive
conclusion.
THE FETAL HEART BEAT.--The sign by which physicians can with certainty
determine pregnancy is by noting the difference between the beating of
the fetal and maternal hearts. The ordinary pulse of a woman is from
70 to 80 per minute, while that of the fetus is from 120 to 140.
Auscultation through a stethoscope will reveal this fact, and thus give
a certain diagnosis. If it is a throbbing or pulsating in a tumor it
would be synchronous with the maternal cardiac action. This symptom
is not of much value till after the fourth month. By that time, if a
physician’s ear is educated to fine discriminations, he will never make
a mistake in his diagnosis.
I can not leave this subject without urging upon women the necessity
of educating their own fingers to judge of the heart’s actions by the
radial pulse. Get your physician to tell you and study in your books
the meaning of a quick, a throbbing, a slow, a weak, feeble or wiry
pulse. It is one of the surest guides to abnormal conditions, and is a
great aid to nurses in the administration of remedial measures, besides
often determining the necessity of medical aid. In my _conversations_
with women, often in an audience of one hundred ladies, I find none who
know even the frequency of the normal pulse.
The enlargement of the breasts at about the third month, the secretion
of a fluid in them, also the darkening of the areola around the nipples
are of frequent or usual attendance upon gestation--but not always;
consequently of themselves can not be taken as diagnostic symptoms.
THE PATHOLOGICAL symptoms are more numerous. Indeed, almost any symptom
accompanying any disease may attend gestation. This is a sad reflection
upon our enlightened civilization. Were it not for this, Tokology would
have no special mission. The facts now are that with most American
women the 280 days of pregnancy are days of disease and suffering.
The inconvenience, the discomfort and the pains attendant upon this
condition, together with the dread of the final throes of travail,
transform this period, which should be one of hope, of cheerfulness,
of exalted pleasure, into days of suffering, wretchedness, and direful
forebodings. It is one long night-mare, and child-bearing is looked
upon as a curse and not a blessing. Motherhood is robbed of its
divinest joys.
Dr. Cowan says: “The period of pregnancy should be one of increased
health, rather than increased disorders. The mother who has hitherto
led a true life, will, during this period, experience an exhilaration
of spirits, a redundancy of health and cheerfulness of mind that is not
to be enjoyed at any other time.” Alas! how few have this experience.
Ordinarily pregnancy is classed both by physicians and women among
the diseases. Physical sufferings and mental agonies are the common
accompaniments of the condition. Murderous intent fills the mother’s
heart, and the fearful crime of feticide is daily committed.
Do physicians offer any relief for this state of things? It is a
lamentable fact that most do not. In one of my conversational lectures
a lady testified that for seven months before her child was born she
never knew one hour’s relief from nausea--that she was not conscious
of retaining any nourishment upon her stomach, and that no day elapsed
without vomiting blood. No words can describe her sufferings through
all those dreadful weeks, even up to the hour of delivery. She
consulted three different physicians, and each one told her nothing
could be done except to wait for “nature’s relief.” She went home in
despair and suffered to the end. When she heard the theories I teach,
with suppressed emotion she exclaimed: “Thank God for the hope you
give. To my dying day I shall use my feeble voice to promulgate these
truths, that others may not grope in the valley as I have done.”
Yes, women can be saved much suffering even during pregnancy. If they
study this work intelligently, practicing the precepts therein given,
they will ever be thankful for the light and hope obtained.
CHAPTER IV.
DISEASES OF PREGNANCY--INDIGESTION--NAUSEA, ETC.
The most common ailments of pregnancy are dyspepsia, nausea, vomiting,
constipation, headache, heartburn, flatulence, salivation, diarrhœa,
piles, greedy appetite, loss of appetite, longings, neuralgia,
toothache, cramps, swellings of the extremities, pain in the side,
insomnia, drowsiness, palpitation of the heart, leucorrhœa, pruritus,
etc.
INDIGESTION OR DYSPEPSIA is the most frequent complaint afflicting the
human family. It is at the foundation of almost every other disease,
many of the above symptoms of pregnancy being attendant upon and caused
by it. Men and women in every station of life are more or less subject
to it; few are entirely exempt. “A good digestion turneth all to
health.” Indigestion is usually attributed entirely to a failure of the
stomach to perform its functions. The term is also applied to a defect
in any of the assimilative operations throughout the digestive tract.
The limits of this work will not permit a dissertation upon these
processes and their abnormal conditions.
In passing, however, let me say while there are many causes of
dyspepsia, there is no one more potent than the common attempt to
nourish the body from food which cannot be digested in the stomach.
The principal articles upon which the acid gastric juice has no effect
are starch and fats. They can be rendered soluble in alkaline fluids
only, which are the saliva, pancreatic juice and the bile. By partaking
of the starch and fats to excess, the stomach is overtaxed in expelling
them, besides which the body fails to get elements of nutrition in
proper proportions from them.
The natural food of the infant contains no starch, the carbonates of
milk being sugar and butter. Usually the first solid food given to a
child contains little else but starch, such as bread from white flour,
and potatoes, rendered more indigestible by the addition of butter and
rich gravies. These are lacking in nitrogenous and saline products,
consequently the muscles, bones and nerves may not be nourished.
A substitution of the products of the entire wheat, barley, oats and
other grains would obviate this difficulty, and lessen the frightful
mortality of children. Dr. Bellows says: “So perfectly ignorant are
people generally of the laws of nature that they give their pigs the
food which their children need to develop muscle and brain, and give
their children what their pigs need to develop fat. For example, the
farmer separates from milk the muscle-making and brain-feeding nitrates
and phosphates, and gives them to his pigs in the form of buttermilk,
while the fattening carbonates he gives to his children in butter. He
sifts out the bran and outer crust from the wheat, which contains the
nitrates and phosphates, and gives them also to his pigs and cattle,
while the fine flour containing little else than heating carbonates,
he gives to his children. Cheese, which contains the concentrated
nutriment of milk, is seldom seen on our tables, while butter, which
contains not a particle of food for brain or muscle, is on every table
at all times of day.”
Cheese, when digested, furnishes more muscle-feeding properties than
any other food, and hence is desirable for working men, and all people
engaged in out-door pursuits, but should be taken as food, not as a
relish only.
The elements digested in the stomach are fibrine (its type found in
lean meat), albumen, casein, gluten of the grains, and the nitrogenous
principles of fruits and vegetables.
These are the elements that build up the muscles, while the
carbonaceous elements, such as sugar, starch and fats, by combination
with oxygen, furnish animal heat. Too much of the latter tend to
produce inflammatory conditions, and should be partaken of moderately
by all people who do not lead an active out-door life.
The pregnant woman, however, is especially liable to suffer from the
multiform miseries of dyspepsia. Her nervous organization is peculiarly
sensitive at this time. Many symptoms are also caused by reflex action
from the gravid uterus upon the sympathetic ganglia which control the
alimentary processes.
MORNING SICKNESS.--Nausea, with or without vomiting, occurs
so frequently in pregnancy that most women think it a natural
accompaniment of their condition, relying upon it as a diagnostic
symptom. It may begin the day following conception, but usually
appears from the sixth to the eighth week. It is unlike nausea which
accompanies biliousness, fevers, the effect of drugs, or even
sea-sickness. It is a nausea that one feels from the crown of the head
to the soles of the feet; one is “sick to the stomach” all over.
Asking the cause of this, ninety-nine out of a hundred aver they
believe it to be natural, and more than all, not to be avoided.
Besides, the _grandmother_ of the neighborhood has told them that on
account of this, the child will be more healthy, and the delivery
easier. Facts do not bear her out in either assertion.
_The real causes_ are to be sought in the violation of physical laws,
in dress, diet, exercise, etc. The conditions are, first, an irritation
in the womb caused by some existing derangement, which by sympathetic
or reflex action is communicated to the stomach, and second, that state
commonly called biliousness.
The whole body is supplied with nerves distributed from the brain and
spinal column. Besides these, ganglia of sympathetic nerves communicate
with all nerves and with each other, being so interlaced that almost
every part of the body is in communication with every other part. It is
really a complete system of telegraphy. Both the uterus and stomach are
remarkable in their supply of nerves, and any disturbance in the former
is instantly conveyed to the latter.
It is not unusual that an inflammation or displacement of the womb
gives no local symptoms--but by reflex action there are headaches,
indigestion, neuralgia, and various ailments. So, of the gravid
uterus, if from any existing local disease or any cause in the system,
it does not take kindly to its new function, and derangement in the
organ ensues, instead of causing local pain and distress it will be
communicated to other organs, most frequently to the stomach, producing
nausea, vomiting, as well as often acute suffering.
What is _biliousness_? Ladies, you know the condition to which you
apply this term. Frequent headaches, aversion to food, aching of the
bones, languid, sleepy and tired feeling. You get up in the morning
weary, cross, irritable, out of sorts with everybody, and everybody
retaliates by being out of sorts with you. What has happened in the
human organism? What do you understand by biliousness? Listen to the
answers. One says, “It is an overflow of bile,” others, “Too much
bile,” “The liver don’t act,” “The bile has reverted back to the
blood,” “The bile is secreted by the stomach,” “Too high living,” etc.
Dr. Dio Lewis says: “Biliousness is piggishness.” My habit has been
to define it simply as _overfeeding_. At least, the elements of the
bile are in the blood in excess of the power of the liver to eliminate
them. This may be caused by either inaction of the organ itself, or
superabundance of the materials from which the bile is made. Being thus
retained the system is burdened, or to use a homely but expressive
phrase, is _clogged_. To produce this, food may be too great in
quantity, or too rich in quality. Especially is it caused by the
excessive use of fats and sweets. How does this biliousness produce
nausea in the pregnant woman, and why does it show itself in this way,
when she was comparatively well previous to this condition?
In the new process of gestation the whole system is roused to action,
and nature makes an effort to relieve the organs of all foreign or
_bilious_ matter. Her first means to produce this result is by nausea
and vomiting. Many women have an attack of bilious fever, more or less
severe, in the first months of pregnancy.
Three causes may induce this state of the system: food which is too
nutritive or too abundant; lack of exercise conducive to normal action
in the assimilative organs; and clothing that in any way restricts this
action. At any time, the bands and corsets so universally comprising a
part of woman’s dress are injurious, because they restrict the action
of the liver and other organs, but they are doubly deleterious when
there is a natural increase in size. The direct pressure of the viscera
upon the uterus will also produce irritation in that organ.
I was spending a few days with an old friend who was four months
advanced in pregnancy. She had had no unpleasant symptoms. One day as
we were on the street walking, she was suddenly seized with vomiting.
Trying to investigate the cause, I asked her if she wore the dress she
was accustomed to. “No,” she said; “I have not had this on for months,
and it is too tight.” She loosened it under her cloak, when the symptom
disappeared.
In the last months of pregnancy, vomiting is often caused by pressure
of the enlarged uterus upon the stomach. This cannot occur where the
natural figure has always been unquestionably preserved.
One potent cause of morning sickness is the habit of entering upon the
sexual relation frequently during gestation. By this means a hyperæmia
in the reproductive organs as well as exhaustion of the nerve supply
is produced. By reflex action nausea is the result. Incalculable
benefits would be derived if married people imitated the lessons of
lower animals in this matter--thereby conserving all forces for the
benefit of offspring.
TREATMENT FOR MORNING SICKNESS.--If inflammation or ulceration of the
uterus is chronic, one can not expect to overcome the nausea entirely
in a short time (Chap. XXI.)
IN THE CASE OF BILIOUSNESS, a plain, light diet with plenty of acid
fruits, avoiding _fats_ and _sweets_, will ameliorate if not remove it.
Don’t force the appetite. Let _hunger_ demand food. In the morning the
sensitiveness of the stomach may be relieved by taking before rising
a cup of hot water, hot milk, hot lemonade, rice or barley water,
selecting according to preference. For this purpose many find coffee
made from browned wheat or corn the best drink. Depend for a time upon
liquid food that can be taken up by absorbents.
The juice of lemons and other acid fruits is usually grateful, and
assists in assimilating any excess in nutriment. These may be diluted
according to taste. With many, an egg lemonade proves relishing and
acceptable.
IN BILIOUSNESS, with or without nausea, hot fomentations in the region
of the stomach and liver, for an hour once or twice a day, followed by
tepid bathing and hand friction will be found invaluable.
WARM OR HOT ENEMAS are exceedingly beneficial. In order to be
effectual, follow minutely these directions. Place in a Fountain
Syringe two or three quarts of soft water as warm as can be taken. A
tablespoon of salt will make it more effective. Suspend the reservoir
as high as the hose will allow. Lie upon the right side with knees
flexed. Introduce the long rectal tube, or what is better for many, the
vaginal tube far enough in the rectum to pass the internal sphincter
muscle. It ought to enter three or four inches. Let the water pass into
the bowels slowly, having them manipulated upward by an attendant,
especially making passes up the right side.
This causes the water to pass through the ileocæcal valve from the
large to the small intestines. Once in the latter, it is taken up by
the capillaries of the portal vein, and more or less of it conveyed to
the liver. This stimulates a secretion of bile and it is not unusual
for five or six free evacuations to follow. It is quite as effectual
as an active purgative without any poisonous results of the drug.
This enema should be retained from twenty minutes to half an hour.
It is also much more efficacious when preceded by the use of a hot
fomentation over the liver. This injection is an exceedingly valuable
remedial agent both in acute and chronic difficulties. By its use in
sick headache, bilious colic, congestions in the stomach or abdominal
viscera, the physician’s visit and fee will often be saved.
The exercises recommended in Chap. V, for constipation, are invaluable
for biliousness.
Before closing this chapter, let me repeat and emphasize, “_Do not
force the appetite._” Food which neither relishes nor digests will
do more harm than good. Tradition and prejudice have all conspired
to so engrave in your being that you must not only eat, but _stuff_,
because you are eating for two, that both you and your friends think
food _must_ be taken at all hazards. So, what is your custom? You
rise in the morning sick and disgusted. The very _smell_ of food is
intolerable. Still you sit at the table instead of getting away from
it, and eat probably beefsteak and hot bread, washed down by a cup of
coffee. Of course you must take what is the most nourishing! These are
scarcely swallowed until you have proofs that so much provision is
wasted.
By nine o’clock you make another attempt. You go to the pantry, find
some cold chicken, a piece of lemon pie, and a pickle. But no, the
stomach refuses these. At eleven o’clock a confidential friend calls.
She commiserates you, and knows that both you and the fetus will
starve. She goes to her own larder, brings you a piece of pound cake,
some custard and jelly; possibly a piece of mince pie. Do these share
the same fate? Perhaps not. Her cheery laugh and neighborly sympathy,
and the more propitious time of day, make it possible for this to
be retained. But pause, my friend. Has the blood received the best
nutriment for building a healthy organization for yourself or child?
Very little, if any extra food is essential to nourish the fetus,
especially the first few weeks of pregnancy. The total average increase
of weight is less than one-half an ounce a day, and one-fourth of this
would be an approximate estimate for the first three months. It can
readily be seen that simply the suppression of the menses would give
nearly, if not quite, all the extra nutriment for the first few weeks,
at least. Appropriate food, and the proper conditions for assimilation
are far more important than increase in quantity.
CHAPTER V.
DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.--CONSTIPATION.
CONSTIPATION OF THE BOWELS is not only a frequent attendant upon
pregnancy, but is a common ailment of both men and women. From year to
year this symptom is on the increase, until fully nine-tenths of the
American women and one-half of the men are afflicted with it.
Every person should have a free, soluble, satisfactory evacuation of
the bowels daily. In pregnancy especially, _not for one day_ should
constipation be allowed.
Constipation is usually the first notice of bodily derangement, and may
be the precursor of a chronic state of ill health. The approach, too,
of this affection may be insidious, existing when the subject is not
aware of it. The evacuations may be regular, yet not sufficiently free
and copious to be compatible with health.
The slightest torpidity of the bowels results in retention of residual
matter, which becomes reabsorbed into the system, acting as a foreign
and poisonous substance. Other organs of elimination must, on this
account, be overtaxed, in the vain attempt to overcome the obstruction.
The urine becomes thick, turbid and highly colored, if not offensive.
The skin emits an offensive odor and sooner or later becomes dry
and scaly. The surface, from obstruction of the pores and venous
capillaries, is alternately hot and cold, making the person sensitive
to drafts and changes in temperature. The lungs must do double duty and
the breath is loaded with offensive exhalations. Here is the beginning
of most cases of catarrh, bronchitis and phthisis. Indeed, there is no
disease of the human organism which may not be traced to constipation.
What are the principal causes of constipation?
Mainly sedentary habits, errors in diet, overtaxed brains, the use of
cathartics, and in women _errors in dress_.
Many persons, even some authors upon the subject, consider that
constipation is the result of torpidity of the liver only, causing a
lack of bile furnished for diluent purposes. While this is frequently
the case, still there may be a diminution in the pancreatic juice as
well as in the secretions peculiar to the intestines, causing a lack of
moisture in the excrement.
There may, too, be lack of bulk in the residual matter to be acted upon
by the fluids and impelled by the muscular coats of the intestines;
which, again in their turn may want power to perform their peculiar
function. In a _sedentary life_ the weakness of these muscles is
enhanced and respiratory power is lacking. All processes of digestion
depend upon deep breathing, which stimulates action in the abdominal
viscera. Any exercise that tones or develops the involuntary muscles
of breathing is an incalculable adjuvant to all the functions of the
body. The person of sedentary habits not only loses the advantage
of exercise, but is usually engaged in some occupation that gives
great strain upon the nervous organization. This takes away the nerve
stimulant so essential to assimilative processes. Dr. James H. Jackson,
in his admirable treatise upon constipation, in speaking of the effects
of _occupation_, says:
“It is not the man or woman who lives regularly, eats temperately, and
exercises the brain moderately, or even severely, if the habits are
correct, and sufficient out-door air and exercise are had to oxygenize
the blood and keep up muscular tone; it is not the muscle-worker,
the agriculturist, the mechanic, the machinist; it is not the maid
of all work, as a general thing. It is the brain-worker--the lawyer,
merchant, doctor, banker, minister, teacher; it is the man who sits in
his office or works in his store or shop in poor air and light, having
little or no muscular exercise, who constantly thinks, is anxious,
worried, careworn, a victim of the intense competition and excitement
which modern business life imposes; it is the wife and mother who
lives in the house all day, who is continually worried by household
cares and anxieties, who is _socially_ taxed and excited; it is she
who idles away her time, passing it in in-door indolence, who dresses
unphysiologically, eats badly, feeds upon sensational literature, and
lives under the reign of her emotional and passional nature; it is the
poor factory girl or seamstress, plodding away through weary days,
in stifling air and on starvation diet, as of baker’s bread and tea,
debarred from all out-door recreation; or the school teacher who barely
earns her living, though she works brain and nerves, almost daily, to
the point of exhaustion. In these classes, subject to unphysiological
habits of work, want of recreation, unfavorable surroundings,
irregularity in eating, sleeping, etc.--more from lack of knowledge
than from necessity--are found the victims.”
IMPROPER FOOD, prominent in the causes of constipation, poisons rather
than nourishes the body, inducing congestion of the alimentary canal by
the irritation set up.
Highly seasoned food and stimulating drinks excite extra secretions
when first taken, but the reaction or secondary effect of the
overstrain is torpor, and consequently absence of secretion. Notably,
too, we have the same effect from aperient drugs. Even the too free
and constant use of salt causes a dryness of the intestinal canal,
probably from the fact of its stimulating power. Nature daily attests
this statement by the demand for drink after partaking of salted meats,
fish, etc.
Food lacking in elements of nerve nutrition proves constipating;
foods that are too concentrated are usually those that are highly
carbonaceous, notably _fats_ and _sweets_, as well as those abounding
in starch. In these the insufficient residue fails to furnish the
needed volume to fecal matter. The absence of water, too, furnished
by vegetables and fruits, causes a dryness of the contents of the
intestinal canal, which of itself is an impediment to their onward
passage through the bowels.
Of these carbonaceous foods, pastry, cakes, hot bread and white flour
bread stand prominent. As elsewhere stated, hot breads, starch, and all
of the fats do not digest in the acid fluid of the stomach. Passing
into the duodenum the alkaline bile and pancreatic juice emulsify and
liquify them. If the quantity of these substances taken be too great
there will be much the same result as the soap-maker gets when he
puts in his kettle too much fat for his lye. The substances are not
dissolved, and can not be taken up by the villi of the intestines for
nutrition, and a concentrated mass lacking residuum passes into the
excrement.
The prevalent, if not foolish fashion of using only bolted or white
flour for bread, a flour abounding in starch and lacking in gluten,
is largely the cause of indigestion and constipation. The gluten lies
next the bran and contains the nitrates and phosphates which digest in
the stomach and feed muscles, brain and nerves, while the bran itself
furnishes residuum for fecal matter.
Another factor especially answerable for the recent increase of
constipation, is the prevalent use of baking powder. This makes a
beautiful, light, friable and delicious bread, requiring but little
time or care in its preparation. If adulterated with alum, astringent
effects follow. Even in a pure powder, we have an acid and an alkali,
which, after chemical union has taken place, leaves a residual salt
that has a depressing influence upon the nervous system. A sensitive
person not accustomed to the use of bread from yeast powder, even if
eaten cold, will in a few hours feel depressing influences, upon both
mind and body.
Dr. Beaumont, who had the privilege of watching the process of
digestion in the stomach of Alexis St. Martin, tells us that “hot bread
does not dissolve in the fluids of the stomach.” This is owing to the
presence of carbonic acid gas in the bread, and to the fact that it
is not friable, consequently becoming an insoluble, doughy mass that
can not be permeated by the gastric fluid. Of course it passes in this
state into the intestines, and much of it must become waste material.
It is estimated that 8,000,000 lbs. of baking powder is used annually
in the United States alone. What wonder is it that dyspepsia and
constipation are on the increase!
Fat meats, dried and salted meats, are constipating. Fresh poultry has
a like effect. There are few persons who do not remember the old time
practice of arresting the action of a cathartic drug by the use of a
chicken broth.
Eggs and milk are constipating to many. The latter is especially so
if boiled or if the two articles are combined in custards, puddings,
etc. Among the vegetables, beans (dried) are constipating. This,
however, is largely the result of the mode of preparation. They may
not be sufficiently cooked, and the fat incorporated with them renders
them indigestible. Cheese is constipating to many, also chocolate and
cocoa. Of the fruits, blackberries and raspberries are constipating,
especially if the seeds are taken. More than any other articles of
diet, these induce and aggravate hemorrhoids.
Any of the above mentioned foods may not prove constipating when eaten
with a mixed diet.
THE ERRORS IN DRESS conducive to torpid bowels, are lack of covering
to the extremities, and excess of clothing in the abdominal region,
thus favoring congestion of the vital organs. Garments that are tight
and improperly supported restrict respiration, infringe upon all the
digestive organs, and impede the circulation.
When women are freed from the trammels of dress, they will have taken a
long stride toward freedom from invalidism. Is it Utopian to hope that
it will also aid in giving them both political and social freedom?
A very common means taken to overcome constipation only increases it
and renders it less amenable to common sense treatment, and that is the
prevalent use of _cathartic drugs_. “They all depend for effect upon
a certain quality they possess of exciting secretion and peristaltic
activity. Of course they do this through the nervous system, few if
any of them being mechanical in their action, but accomplishing their
results by stimulating the nervous system to extra effort. In doing
this, they necessarily exhaust the source of supply; for the tendency
of all stimulation is to induce exhaustion as the consequence of
unnatural exhibitions of nervous force. Persons using these so-called
remedies--laxatives, cathartics, and purgatives--thus securing
temporarily the movement of the bowels, find that after their use it is
more difficult to secure natural passages, and that the dose must be
increased to produce any effect. Meantime the continued use of these
drugs not only exhausts nervous force, but often creates inflammation
of mucous surfaces, disturbing digestion, and poisoning the blood.”
This is more especially true of the saline cathartics.
Such cases are much more rationally, comfortably and effectively
treated by the use of enemas. (Chap. IV).
Pregnancy aggravates or causes constipation, by reflex nervous action
from an irritable uterus or mechanically by pressure of fetus upon the
colon or rectum.
Other causes of this difficulty will be thought of--such as excessive
exercise, violent emotions, as anger, grief, etc., wounds in any part
of the body, irregularity in meals, late suppers, eating between meals,
etc., etc. Practically it is not essential to enter into details in
regard to them. No matter what the cause, all will experience benefit
in adhering to the following hints upon the
TREATMENT OF CONSTIPATION.--First ascertain the cause or causes, and
remove them. One might as well expect to cure a burn, while pouring
scalding water upon it, as to cure torpid bowels if the cause remains.
Every person should establish the habit of
REGULARITY IN SECURING EVACUATIONS.--The nervous system acts under the
law of periodicity to a large degree in controlling the functional
operations of the body. This tendency should not only be generally
heeded, but utilized in regulating the bowels. A little intelligent
care will generally secure a call for defecation at a specified
time, which may be established to suit convenience, and which once
established, should not be allowed to pass, except for the most urgent
reasons.
The number of evacuations per day will vary with the quality and amount
of food consumed, and the vocation and temperament of the person.
If two evacuations each day is the rule, then one should be after
breakfast and the second shortly before the regular retiring hour for
the night. If only one evacuation each day is the habit of the person,
then if convenient, let it be the hour before retiring, unless a
satisfactory habit is already fixed at some other hour. There are few
things that promote good, sound, refreshing sleep, like a thorough
emptying of the bowels before going to bed.
If one would _prevent_ constipation and its evils, this practice should
be heeded; and if one would _cure_ constipation, it should be enforced
in connection with any other necessary measures, as follows: “Go to the
closet at the appointed hour, sit for a few minutes, gently straining
to effect a passage. The practice of forcing an evacuation by severe
muscular effort is all wrong, and should never be indulged. Far better
take an enema of water if necessary. The practice of sitting long at
stool is also to be condemned. The bowels may be made lazy in this way,
and it leads to waste of time, and to hemorrhoids. If not successful,
go till next day at the stated hour if you comfortably can; then try
again, and if you do not succeed, take an enema of water sufficient to
produce the desired movement. The next day repeat this effort at the
given time, and so continue.”
I am more and more convinced that _all_ straining should be avoided.
When the bowels do not move readily, wait a few moments passively for
_nature’s call_, avoiding all anxiety in the matter. Should this method
fail, then, by will power, press the sphincter muscles back by short,
quick, and repeated movements. This will lubricate the rectum, force
back the feces, and shortly after result in a satisfactory discharge of
the bowels. A little practice will bring these muscles under complete
control, and by this means a habit of constipation may be cured. This
same course is also found very beneficial for piles.
Other simple measures will overcome constipation, especially if of
recent origin or of mild form. Drinking one or two glasses of cold soft
water before breakfast is often sufficient. Some eat ice for the same
purpose. These are diluents, besides acting upon the nerves producing
contractile effects of the muscular coats of the digestive tract.
With others, eating a raw apple or orange before breakfast is
sufficient. Drinking a glass of water, into which a tablespoonful of
bran has been stirred, is very efficacious for some. A lady in Iowa had
had very obstinate constipation for years. Allopathic and homeopathic
remedies had no effect. Exercise and the strictest hygienic living
seemed equally of no avail. If, however, before eating her breakfast,
she would eat half a cup of bran stirred in water or milk, the desired
result would be obtained. This affords _residuum_ for the alimentary
canal, as well as mechanical stimulus to the mucous coat.
In long standing, obstinate cases, these simple remedies will not
suffice. There must be an entire and radical change in diet as well as
other rational measures used to overcome the conditions.
Our native wheat meets the need for this change, perhaps more fully
than any other food, provided the whole of the grain is used. Such
preparations of it may be found in varied and attractive forms, first
among which, because almost everywhere procurable and easily prepared,
is graham flour. Complaints are sometimes made against this excellent
and nourishing food, that it is too harsh for delicate stomachs.
The complaint should rather be made against careless and ignorant
millers, who put upon the market an article ground from their
lowest grade of wheat, often, too, without proper cleaning. When the
best wheat is properly scoured and prepared by a skillful miller,
very few will find difficulty in its digestion. Rolled or cracked
wheat, wheatlet, and flour of the entire wheat, are very useful in
establishing a correct habit.
In these the gluten which lies next the bran is preserved--this
contains the nitrates that feed muscular tissues and the mineral
product that nourishes and sustains the nervous system. For
constipation, these foods are the natural remedy and preventive, as
they give the ganglionic nerve centers nutriment, and hence enable them
to preside over the functions of digestion.
Entire Wheat Flour, Franklin Mill Co., Lockport, N. Y., fulfills
these conditions, and is one of the noblest additions to the foods
of the world. The grain is denuded of the outside silicious bark and
then ground into a fine flour, and all the elements of the grain are
preserved.
Wheat, more than any other article of food, furnishes all the elements
and in the right proportion required to nourish the body. In bolting
the flour to make fine white flour, four-fifths of the gluten, the very
most nutritious part of the grain, is taken out to be fed to cows and
hogs.
Dr. Ephraim Cutter, of Harvard, in an able illustrated article on
“Cereal Foods” in the _American Medical Weekly_, says: “The gluten
of cereal foods is their nitrogenized element, the element on which
depends their life-sustaining value, and this element is, in the white
and _foolishly fashionable flour_, almost entirely removed, while the
starch, the inferior element, is left behind and constitutes the entire
bulk and inferior nutriment of such flours. To use flour from which the
gluten (in the bran) has been removed, is _almost criminal_. That it is
foolish and useless needs no further demonstration. In sickness, and in
the sickness of infants especially, starch is highly injurious, while
gluten is life-giving and restorative.”
In the valuable article from which the above extract is taken,
microscopical examination is given of forty-four kinds of flour and
health foods. Of the Franklin Mill Co. flour he says: “The field is
filled with gluten cells. Repeated examinations prove this to be the
_best flour_ examined.” One can readily see, being more nutritious, in
point of economy, even, this flour is invaluable. It is preferable for
making anything that is ordinarily made from white flour; makes better
pie crust, better cake, and griddle-cakes, and for toast, pudding and
gems, has no comparison with other flour. Still further, what will with
many be considered the best argument for its use, the taste of this
flour is sweeter and more “nutty.” Once accustomed to the “Flour of the
Entire Wheat,” white flour seems tasteless and insipid, and none will
return to its use from choice. Hundreds of cases within my knowledge
attest to this fact.
The effect of this food in alleviating and curing constipation is
something of which all should know. A family at one time came to live
near me in which was a baby boy about sixteen months of age. I was
attracted by his pretty ways, but saw that he was far from well, his
skin being white and waxy, his flesh puffy. I said to the mother,
“Your little boy is not well.”
“Do you think so?” she answered in surprise. “Everybody thinks he looks
so well.”
“He certainly is not well with that appearance of his skin. What is the
matter?”
“Why, nothing at all, except that he is dreadfully constipated, and
has been for months. His bowels do not move oftener than once in two
or three days, and then he suffers terribly, screaming and crying
piteously. His rectum often protrudes, and blood comes with the
passage.”
“Poor little fellow. That will never do. What do you feed him?” “Mostly
bread and milk.”
“White bread?” “Yes, baker’s bread.”
“Did you ever use bread of the entire wheat flour?”
She had never heard of it but was willing to try anything that might
give relief. I sent her a nice loaf, and not only the baby but all the
family enjoyed it. The mother desired to learn how to make the bread,
and Wally soon made his chief living off it, and was in a short time,
without the use of any other means, entirely cured of his distressing
ailment. After that, a sweeter, more joyous baby I never saw, hearty
and happy; roses supplanting lilies on his cheeks, his flesh becoming
firm and hard, and his fretful, nervous temper growing sweet and even.
The happy mother could not sufficiently attest her gratitude, saying
many times that she should always be glad that she moved into our
neighborhood, simply on account of having learned of this one useful
article of diet.
WHEATLET, a new preparation which is manufactured by the Franklin Mill
Co., of Lockport, N. Y., meets a demand for a food adapted to the
relief of constipation. It is equally good for the use of dyspeptics
and those who are nervously debilitated. It is rich in the nitrogenous
and phosphatic elements of the wheat, and being highly nourishing,
strengthens the nerve system which presides over the organs of
digestion. For some stomachs in a diseased and highly sensitive state,
it is preferable to cracked wheat or rolled oats, being more delicate
than either. It is invaluable for children, especially when they are
first weaned.
CRACKED OR ROLLED WHEAT STANDS with or above the entire wheat flour in
its value to overcome torpid bowels. Often by making no other change in
diet, but adding this one article properly cooked, constipation will be
entirely removed. I have been recommending it for thirty years, with
uniformly satisfactory results. In a family with whom I staid while
lecturing in Southern Illinois, was a bright boy three years of age.
The next morning after my arrival, the mother entered my room, her face
the picture of despair.
“Can you, doctor, tell me anything I can do for Charlie? For nearly
twelve months he has not had a natural passage. Strong cathartics have
ceased to have any effect, and he has a terror of enemas.”
I noticed the night previous that the child ate a late supper,
consisting entirely of cold mutton and sweet cake. I wondered then if
it was possible he could feed on such food and be well. I said to her,
“Have you tried diet?”
“Only to give him figs, and these he dislikes. I don’t know what to
give him.”
Alas, how many mothers do not know!
“Do you not ever use graham bread?”
“None of us like it.”
“Have you ever given him cracked wheat?”
“I never heard of it.”
“Send and get a package. I will show you how to cook it, and we will
lunch upon it.”
Charlie ate of it, not freely, for his lunch and supper. The following
day he had two natural, easy evacuations. I counseled her to give him
less meat and cake, have him eat the wheat at least once a day, and
partake of more fruit. Months afterward she reported no return of the
constipation. Oftentimes it is the simplest things that are the most
effectual.
FEAST ON FRUITS! Would that this could be a motto upon the wall of
every dining room in the land! Next to the whole of the wheat, fruit is
the best laxative to the bowels.
Dr. Jackson says: “I advise the use of fruit in the morning if taken
only once a day; but I heartily approve of its forming a part of every
meal, though I strongly condemn the indulgence in fruit between meals.”
I coincide with him, and _emphasize_ by saying _feast on fruit freely_!
Don’t stint the supply to _sauce dishes_. Use large saucers and not
only once full but twice or thrice full at every meal. Acid fruits are
preferable. They are the staple, and properly prepared, one never tires
of them. The acid of the fruit is largely oxygen, and uniting with the
carbon of other food, in this way assists in digestion.
For constipation some of the dried fruits well cooked are valuable.
Of these peaches, plums, prunes, apricots, etc., that are rich in
hydrocyanic acid, are preferable. Get the best, stew several hours.
Never prepare a meal without it. Do not say it is expensive, and you
cannot afford it. Take half the money you put in meat and lard, and
purchase fruit. You will get interest and principal returned in health
for yourself, in rosy, buoyant children, and noticeable absence of
doctors’ fees.
Most of the garden vegetables are also valuable. Rhubarb, onions,
tomatoes, asparagus, green peas, squash, cauliflower, green corn, etc.,
etc., are good, and should be well cooked without butter. The fruits
and vegetables supply water, laxative in its effects upon the mucous
surfaces. They increase the residual matter of the excrement, and
supply stimuli for peristaltic action.
Avoid strong tea, especially if steeped a long time. Tannic acid is
developed, giving an astringent effect. _Coffee_, especially the higher
grades, in the occasional use, stimulates the bowels to action, but
the _habit_ of taking strong coffee gives the secondary effect, and
torpidity is the result.
It may be a wise provision of nature that the poorer and cheaper the
coffee, the less deleterious is its character. Java and Mocha may be
really poisonous to an individual, while Rio is quite inoffensive.
Most of the adulterations of coffee are harmless. One “feasting on
fruits freely” will not feel the need of any drink at meals, and in
_total abstinence_ great gain will be made in overcoming symptoms of
indigestion.
LAXATIVE.
Rolled and cracked wheat.
Bread, gems, biscuit, griddle cakes, crackers and mush from flour
of the entire wheat, and graham flour.
Granula.
Bran gruel and jelly.
Fruit puddings.
Fruit pies.
All fresh acid fruits, including tropical fruits, like bananas,
oranges, lemons, etc.
Dried figs.
French prunes and prunellas, eaten raw.
Stewed dried fruits, containing hydrocyanic acid, of which peaches,
plums and prunes are the best.
New Orleans molasses.
Rhubarb.
Onions.
Celery.
Tomatoes.
Cabbage, _raw_.
Corn.
Squash.
Cauliflower.
Green peas.
Spinach.
Beets, etc.
Liver.
Oysters.
Wild game.
CONSTIPATING
Hot bread.
White bread.
White crackers.
Black pepper and spices.
Pastry made of white flour and lard.
Bread, rolls, dumplings, etc., made with baking powders.
Cake.
All custard puddings.
Salted meats.
Salted fish.
Dried meats.
Dried fish.
Smoked meats.
Poultry.
Cheese.
Chocolate.
Cocoa.
Boiled milk.
Tea.
Coffee.
Coffee made from wheat, corn, barley, toast, etc.
Beans (dried).
Potatoes.
Farina.
Sago.
Starch.
Tapioca.
Rice.
Raspberries.
Blackberries.
Lean fresh meats, fresh fish, eggs, raw milk, oatmeal, barley,
buckwheat, corn meal, and sweet potatoes have no marked action either
way, unless in exceptional cases.
APPROPRIATE AND SUFFICIENT EXERCISE is next in importance to having
proper food, in overcoming constipation. General and habitual exercise
is essential to promote good circulation, a healthy nervous tone,
complete respiration, and also power and elasticity of the muscles. The
stomach, liver and indeed all the alimentary tract require also local
exercise in order that a healthy standard may be gained and maintained.
The worm-like or peristaltic action of the intestines is produced by
the contraction of the muscular coat. It is by this action that the
contents of the canal are carried forward. Is it not plain that if
exercise can develop the muscles of the arm or leg it can give tone and
power to _these_ muscles as well? Dr. Taylor, in “Health by Exercise,”
says: “It is a curious and most interesting fact that children and
young animals, whose desire for motion is inherent, are inclined
chiefly to those exercises and those positions which necessarily affect
the abdominal contents.
“It is in such exercises as _climbing_, _rolling_, _crawling_,
_jumping_ and _playing_ generally that these contents are most
disturbed. We are convinced that the means prescribed by nature will
secure healthful development and power in these most essential parts
of the body. As if to insure these healthful effects, nature has
ordained that by _respiration_, as an efficient and constant means,
these motions shall be secured to the alimentary canal. The abdominal
contents may be considered as being located between two great muscular
organs, the diaphragm and abdominal walls. These muscles act conjointly
and _simultaneously_ and upon all the included parts, causing them
to play incessantly upon each, and subjecting them to a constant and
gentle pressure.”
_Deep breathing_, using the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, of which
the majority of women have no practical knowledge, gives the most
efficient exercise to the digestive tract. The A, B, C, of health
lessons is in _deep natural respiration_. The lungs must be _filled
to the bottom_, and the involuntary muscles of breathing brought into
action. The most eminent vocal teacher of this country asserts that
in breathing “the main action should be at the waist and below the
waist.” Animals and children have this natural breathing. Men and women
lose it from lack of exercise, and constrictions of dress. _Health_,
_strength_, _longevity_ and _power of endurance_ _depend mainly upon
lung capacity_.
For constipation, those exercises must be taken that develop the
diaphragm and other respiratory muscles, that strengthen the muscles of
the abdomen and trunk as well as the muscular tissue of the intestines
themselves.
SPECIAL EXERCISES FOR CONSTIPATION.
1. Lying upon the back, with abdomen relaxed, have bowels thoroughly
kneaded: make rapid, gentle movements with balls of the fingers and
palm of the hands, not the knuckles.
2. Same position, move diaphragm up and down without breathing. This
requires a little experience and can be aided at first by external
pressure of the hand, following the motion. This is one of the most
desirable for the object required, and must not be abandoned because
of a few failures. The diaphragm can be taught to obey the will.
3. Reclining on the back on a spring bed; flex the knees, inflate the
lungs; move hips up and down with the springs twenty or thirty times.
This can be performed by even quite a weak person, and is beneficial to
the strongest. Brings into action moderately a great variety of muscles.
4. Flex the knees and elevate the hips, resting the body on shoulders
and feet. Move slowly up and down ten times. Hold to count ten, and
then rest to count the same. Lungs with this had better be inflated. No
exercise is more valuable for developing deep breathing. Sick and well
would be benefited by taking this exercise morning and night.
5. Stand with toes at angle of 45°, knees together, hands crossed upon
the back. Bend the knees. The body is kept perpendicular and slowly
descends until sitting upon the heels. Then slowly straightened,
keeping trunk in same position. Count four with each movement, and from
four to ten with the rest. This is a severe exercise, and needs to be
taken cautiously at first by the invalid. There is no better, however,
for torpid bowels.
6. Stand as before. Palms of hands placed over lower ribs, fingers
forward. Inhale through the nostrils and expand the waist as if to
burst the belt. Expel the breath slowly and assist it by pressing with
the palms against the ribs.
7. Same position; inhale through the nostrils; retain, to count twenty;
expel through the mouth as whispering the syllable Hoo! to a person
forty feet away.
8. Sit on the floor; limbs horizontal and parallel; lungs inflated;
hands joined over the head; move backward and forward slowly as far as
possible; rest; same position, move sideways.
9. Horizontal position on back; hands clasped over the head; raise
both feet and head at same time making the body assume a curved shape;
hold to count ten; repeat this only five or six times at first. This
is a powerful exercise, affecting the abdominal viscera and general
circulation.
10. Lie in the horizontal position; hands clasped over the head; the
head and heels only resting on supports, as two stools, while the
body is quite free; hold in this position from five to ten minutes,
according to strength, practicing waist breathing; at first one might
place the stools nearer together.
11. Kneel with one leg; place the other forward with the foot firm upon
the floor; arms parallel, stretched upward to the side of the head;
move backward and forward slowly, while counting four to each movement,
and for rest; repeat three or four times, and change to the other knee.
This is a good exercise for hips, groin and lower abdomen.
12. Upon both knees wide apart, hands on hips, fingers forward. Move
quickly from right to left, and back as far as possible. This is a good
exercise for liver, spleen and muscles of the side.
Nos. 5, 10, 11 and 12 should not be attempted by a weak person until
the others have been practiced at least a month, and then begin with
caution. All these exercises should be taken in a loose wrapper. There
must be no restraint upon any part of the body. One walking or working
need not be deterred from taking them. They bring into action unused
muscles, and consequently rest those that have been overworked. I knew
a lady who did much of the heavy labor of a large greenhouse. She never
retired without performing gymnastics similar to the above. She claimed
that they rested her by the derivative effect, and the sleep that
followed was more satisfactory.
Women cannot expect to successfully and permanently overcome
constipation, if the organs are in any way restricted by dress.
Nature’s laws are inexorable, and the penalty of violation must be
paid. See Chap. VII.
_Do not resort to drugs, even for temporary relief._ Almost all
aperient medicines act through the nervous system, stimulating the
secretions to increased flow. All stimulation of the nervous system is
followed by a corresponding or increased depression. In consequence the
torpor of the bowels is worse after a few days, instead of better. If
people would only note _real_ results, instead of _seeming_ ones, very
little medicine would be taken, at least such as has only palliating
effects.
In constipation, until permanent benefits can be obtained by the means
proposed, if it is necessary to have temporary relief, resort to enemas
in preference to drugs. A small quantity of tepid water will usually
remove the contents of the rectum. If a thorough evacuation is desired,
follow directions on page 48.
Retaining a pint of warm water over night has proved beneficial in
many cases. Very obstinate impaction in the rectum can be relieved by
injecting from one to two ounces of linseed oil in the rectum, and
retaining it over night. Use a rubber piston child’s syringe for this
purpose.
Making one meal of raw grains often proves invaluable in constipation.
Many persons are adopting for diet, what they call Edenic food. They
live entirely upon uncooked food, claiming that it gives natural
nutriment, and overcomes morbific conditions. For many years I have
occasionally recommended the use of raw grains, rolled oats or wheat,
for constipation, nervousness, sleeplessness, etc. It serves its
purpose best by being eaten dry, but may be taken with honey, fruit
juice or milk.
Going entirely without supper, or adopting the _two meal_ system
has proved beneficial in obstinate cases where all other means have
failed. The frequency and time of eating is a great matter of habit. By
constant feeding, one gets himself to crave food five or six times a
day, while the system can be satisfactorily nourished upon one meal a
day. Brain workers especially, will find great advantage in taxing the
alimentary processes less frequently. On deciding to do without supper,
at the usual meal time a craving for food can be satisfied by taking a
cup of hot water, hot lemonade, or some fruit juice.
Finally, let me urge _thoroughness_ and _persistence_ in the means laid
down to overcome torpidity of the bowels. Do not expect a miracle, but
know that by giving proper conditions, normal action will surely be
restored, consequently great advantages gained in every direction. Once
the functions of the bowels become perfectly normal, all complaints of
the system have a fair chance to _cure themselves_.
CHAPTER VI.
DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.
_Headache--Neuralgia--Heartburn, etc._
Headache in pregnancy is caused either by uterine irritation, by
derangement in digestion, or by both combined.
If caused by uterine irritation, there will be burning pain in the
top of the head or at the base of the brain, accompanied by great
soreness, which the patient describes as a _sore pain_. This pain, too,
is constant, and likely to affect both vision and memory. It usually
increases toward evening, and is relieved by lying down.
For this, take warm sitz baths daily, apply hot fomentations to back of
the head, and keep in a reclining position as much as possible. (See
Chap. XXI.)
SICK HEADACHE is a severe pain in the forehead and through the
temples, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, often, too, by coldness
of the extremities and great prostration. The attacks are irregular
in frequency and duration. The causes are indigestion, biliousness,
constipation, fatigue, anxiety, etc.
One under ordinary circumstances _ought to be ashamed to have sick
headache_. A little _common sense_ in the methods of living will do
away with the causes.
TEA-DRINKING as a habit has much to do in producing headaches. Tea
is stimulating. One ever so weary, after drinking a cup of tea, feels
as _good as new_, is invigorated, hopeful, chatty, and entertaining.
The social cup of tea! Has it really restored wasted tissues? Is it a
genuine nerve feeder? Or does it stimulate native forces to greater
action? Is it like a whip to the fagged horse, spurring it on to more
toil? Very little tea is appropriated to build up worn-out tissues.
It gives false strength. In the reaction headache ensues. It is the
penalty that follows over-wrought vitality.
Dr. Gregg’s article in the _Homeopathic Quarterly_ on tea as a cause
of sick headache is worthy of the attention of those who suffer with
this common malady. The doctor alleges that this beverage is the cause
of this disease more than all other causes put together, and gives
a number of instances where, after leaving off its use, persons who
had previously been afflicted were exempt from further attacks. One
evidence the doctor gives of the injurious effect of this agent is the
fact that tea-drinkers are liable to have headaches if they omit its
use at the regular times of taking it, and that the pain ceases on
again resuming the cups.
“This latter, with many other facts contained in the article, has often
been observed,” says the doctor, “not only on myself but on others, for
I had inherited the disease from my mother. It had been the plague of
her life as well as my own. We had both been not excessive but regular
tea-drinkers; and although she lived to be over eighty years of age,
she was never exempt from an attack of greater or less severity, for
more than a few weeks at a time, for a period of nearly or quite half a
century.
“Knowing this fact, and that from my earliest recollection I had been
similarly affected, I was content when the pain returned, to relieve
it with the appropriate remedies, with little hope or thought of ever
being able to eradicate it. Some twenty years ago I had abandoned the
use of coffee and green tea, using only the black and Japan. Pork,
pastry, spices, acids and most kinds of raw fruits were sure, if
indulged in, to bring on an attack of my old trouble; and this weakness
of the stomach seemed to be gradually on the increase, besides a train
of nervous symptoms, such as sleeplessness, palpitation of the heart,
unsteadiness of the hand when writing, etc., etc., giving me no little
annoyance.
“After reading the article referred to, I concluded some three months
ago, to use no more tea, substituting in its stead hot water with a
little milk. The result for the first week or ten days was much as
I had anticipated, being, during the whole of that time, scarcely
ever free from headache. At length the pain became lighter and when
it did return, was of short duration. My nervous symptoms grew less,
palpitation left entirely, my stomach became much stronger. I can
now eat with impunity many things which for years had been sure
to disagree. The headache now very rarely returns, and never with
severity; besides, within the past two months my weight was increased
sixteen pounds.”
For many years I was subject to sick headaches at irregular intervals.
They would come on from a cold, from want of sleep, or under mental
strain. When I began to travel and lecture I gave up the use of butter
because I could not always get that which was good. Since that I have
never had a severe attack of headache. I have recommended many others
to deny themselves of butter and other fats with good results, using
honey, fruit juice or milk instead.
With many, potatoes cause sick headaches, especially if mashed with a
great deal of butter. They become soggy, and cannot be penetrated by
the gastric juice. Some think that they should never be eaten at the
same meal with acid fruits.
The very _worst sick headaches_ can be cured by temperate living. A
delicate lady was subject to fearful attacks of sick headache, at least
twice a month. They would last from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
Her sufferings were simply terrible. She had dyspepsia, with grave
uterine complications. She was liable to die in one of these attacks,
and could not get well at home. By my advice she went to a hygienic
institute where she could get baths, the best diet and proper attention.
After beginning treatment she never had a _severe_ headache. Every
attack was warded off, and she returned not only thoroughly cured, but
a convert to the belief that _fruits_ and _grains_ afford the best
diet for health and longevity. One has not always the appliances or
the determination (for long sickness weakens the will) to carry out a
settled and desirable course of treatment at home. In such a case, a
well regulated hygienic institute should be sought.
For prevention of attacks, the treatment for biliousness and
constipation will be effectual. Rubbing, spatting, brushing and combing
the head often wards off the pain. Large drafts of hot water, or hot
lemonade, or salt and water may give relief. Put hot applications to
the feet and fomentations upon the stomach. Also take a hot enema of
three quarts of water and two tablespoons of salt. The latter seldom
fails to ward off an attack if taken in time.
The following remedies have proved invaluable:
_Cimicifuga, 2d._--Sore, aching pain at base of brain, heat in top of
head, boring pain in the eyeballs, aching in the limbs, restlessness.
Six pellets every hour.
_Ignatia, 2d._--Pain in forehead, nausea, fainting, depression of
spirits. Pain relieved by lying down. Six pellets every two hours.
_Sanguinaria, 3d._--Sick headache, worse from motion, noise or light,
pain in back of head and running upward, dull, heavy pain in stomach.
Six pellets every half hour.
_Nux Vom., 2d trit._--Sick headache with vomiting, pains intermittent,
feet cold, congestion, with pale face. Put one grain in six spoons of
water, and take a spoonful every half hour.
_Puls., 3d._--Pain in top of head, sharp pains in back and limbs. Six
pellets every hour.
_Gelseminum, 2d._--Pain in right side of head, running down the
spine. One feels herself getting blind, pain relieved by tipping head
backward, recurs periodically. Six pellets every half hour.
HEARTBURN is acidity of the stomach, caused by improper food or a
failure in digestion. Avoid starchy foods, fats and meats. Avoid
gravies. I know a lady who always has extreme acidity after partaking
of chicken or turkey gravy, while nothing else has a similar effect.
To remedy heartburn, take the meals entirely without drinking. The
gastric juice that dissolves the food is not secreted until the
liquids have passed from the stomach by absorption. Anything that
lowers the tone of the stomach prevents it having power to perform
both of these functions, consequently the food remains, to ferment and
sour. If acidity is present, the gastric juice can be stimulated by
eating a piece of burnt toast, or taking pulverized charcoal. Some,
understanding this, make crackers containing charcoal. A few mouthfuls
of these after the meal will answer the purpose.
Avoid a variety at one meal. Choose such articles as experience has
proved to be best assimilated. Do not take magnesia, lime, soda, or
any other alkaline for this trouble. They injure the mucous coat of
the stomach, and the difficulty is more likely to recur another day.
Drinking copiously of warm water may be resorted to, if the burning
is severe. This will cause vomiting, and give relief. Abstain from
food until the following day, and eat sparingly until the stomach has
recovered a healthy tone.
FLATULENCE AND COLIC arise from a failure of intestinal digestion.
Many of the vegetables are inclined to cause flatulence: beans, sweet
potatoes, and cabbage most frequently. Corn meal, oat meal, and rolled
wheat will produce flatulence, if not thoroughly cooked. All of these
require more time in preparation than is usually given. See chapter on
Dietetics for proper cooking of these.
To remedy flatulence, drink hot water warm water enemas, or use the
fomenter over the stomach. Avoid such articles of food as cause the
trouble.
HEMORRHOIDS OR PILES are often caused in pregnancy by inflammation
of the rectum or pressure of the gravid uterus. Yet they are many
times a local indication of a constitutional disturbance, and local
applications can give only temporary relief. The most obstinate cases
can be overcome in time by correct living. The diet and exercises
should be similar to those for constipation.
Dr. Shew says: “There is nothing in the world that will produce so
great relief in piles as fasting. If the attack is severe, live a whole
day or even two days, if necessary, upon pure, cold, soft water alone.”
I would substitute hot water and hot lemonade, followed for several
days by liquid foods only. Of these _bran gruel_ is the best. When
there is some internal heat, and even considerable inflammation, tepid
sitz-baths and cold compresses are of great benefit. An enema of hot
water relieves the pain incident to hemorrhoids. For cases not of long
standing, the following recipe will seldom fail to relieve:
℞ Fl. Ex. Hamamelis, ʒij.
Linseed oil, ℥ij.
Mix.--Apply externally two or three times a day, or inject with a small
syringe.
EXCESSIVE SECRETION OF SALIVA is only another indication of
indigestion, and rarely troubles one who lives plainly. Drinking hot
water will relieve it. Also holding in the mouth very hot or very cold
water, or pieces of ice, will give temporary relief. It rarely fails
to disappear under the _fruit diet_. Eating a few almonds or a peach
kernel after a meal frequently produces desirable results. Indeed,
these are often valuable for indigestion.
GREEDY APPETITE is more to be feared than loss of appetite. One is
hungry at all times, complains she can not get enough to eat. This is
strong evidence that there are morbid conditions. The system is likely
to take on excess of fat, and become loaded with poisonous elements.
To fight an excessive appetite is the hardest battle of the pregnant
woman. If convinced herself that over-eating is injurious, her friends
are delighted to see her _enjoy her food_, and furnish everything that
pleases her taste, and she eats in season and out of season. She even
“gets so hungry she can not sleep,” and in the night partakes of a
pantry feast. If the best conditions are sought for self and child,
this morbid appetite must be overcome.
Observe religiously a few rules:
On no account eat between meals.
Partake mostly of fruits and vegetables.
Keep away from the odor of food.
Take plenty of outdoor exercise.
When a sense of hunger comes on, drink hot water, or hot lemonade. Have
a _strong will_ to conquer and the victory will be won.
LOSS OF APPETITE is seldom sufficiently persistent to occasion anxiety,
unless accompanied by nausea, or constipation. (See Chapter V.) Usually
it is nature’s method of restoring normal conditions, and if _let alone
completely_ will right itself. One, however, is so imbued with the fear
of not being nourished that she _forces_ herself to eat, and hence
thwarts nature. _If there is no appetite, eat nothing_, for the food
will not be digested. If in following this rule one feels a faintness
or a “goneness” at the stomach, drink thin bran gruel hot, or a cup of
wheat coffee. Wait for the next meal--if still there is no appetite,
pursue the same course.
LONGINGS.--Many women all through pregnancy seem possessed to fill
their systems with the vilest _trash_. They _must have_ chalk, slate
pencils, magnesia, starch, condiments, etc. Sometimes these longings
are from an actual want in the system; then, again, morbid conditions
crave what they feed upon. No one lives a sufficiently natural life
to depend upon the instinct for food. Without knowing the case it
would be hard to say whether the fancy should be gratified. Hundreds,
however, can testify that by adopting the diet laid down in this book,
the system is naturally fed, is fully nourished in all the elements,
and one seldom suffers from craving demands. If the article desired
is known to be injurious, like cloves, pickles, alcoholic stimulants,
magnesia, starch, etc., it is better to overcome the desire. The juice
of a lemon in hot water, a brisk walk, a ride, or a merry chat with
a friend will dissipate the fancy. Put the mind on something above
physical desires. Commit to memory a poem, learn a song, paint a
picture, make a garment, or do a good, generous deed. If possible, rise
above appetite.
DIARRHEA in pregnancy is not of frequent occurrence. Ordinarily, it
is only an effort of nature to correct abnormal conditions; in such
cases it requires no attention. If, however, it becomes persistent and
troublesome, it will, contrary to common prejudice, usually yield to
the use of acidulated drinks or the fruit diet. It may be best for a
few days to keep quiet and avoid solid food. Enemas of hot water are
frequently beneficial.
The following remedies are indicated:
_Arsenicum, 3d._--Discharges light and copious with great thirst. Six
pellets every four hours.
_Merc. Cor., 6th._--Frequent urging and straining, severe pain.
Discharges slight, greenish, or mixed with mucous. Six pellets four
times a day.
The symptoms of pregnancy treated thus far are usually the result of
some disturbance in the operations of alimentation. The few remaining
to be considered would scarcely ever occur, if the entire system were
rightly nourished. Still, not being immediately the result of failure
in the digestive act, they merit special attention.
NEURALGIA and neuralgic toothache are common and distressing symptoms
during gestation. The child of the forest, the peasant girl of Europe
and the dusky cotton picker of the South probably have no conception of
a neuralgic pain.
Our _cultured_ civilization incurs the infraction of so many physical
laws that it is difficult to find the cause of any disease. Neuralgia
is not unfrequently the constant companion of the bilious, _overfed_,
or perhaps, I should say, the carbonaceously fed subject. Too much
fuel, and too little oxygen!
Lack of nerve food is another cause. The phosphates and other saline
elements are insufficient. Also exhausted and weakened nerves, making
an effort to recuperate, give the possessor great suffering. The
mother, who already has several children, wearied and worried by their
many wants, whose domestic cares are a continual burden, who has no
surcease from the sexual relation, is the one likely to suffer from
neuralgia. Often the pregnant woman strains every nerve that her
house be put and kept in order. She spends anxious days and sleepless
nights in weary watching over a sick child or husband. Suffering must
surely follow. The tonics, stimulants and opiates prescribed by most
physicians cause worse symptoms than the original trouble. Nature
demands only rest. The relief obtained by drugs is at too great a
sacrifice of vital force. Nearly all that take opiates attest that
on the following day sufferings ensue from nausea, headache, loss of
appetite, constipation, etc.
In most cases hot applications will give sure relief. Why is it, that
simple measures are the last thought of? Use the fomenter locally; if
that is not sufficient, give a full hot or thermal bath. (See Chap.
VIII.)
Human magnetism is superior to all other agents for neuralgia. Nearly
every family has some member that possesses the gift of healing by the
“laying on of hands.” The spine and extremities should be manipulated,
and then the affected part. The patient will fall into a restful sleep,
awaken refreshed, if not cured, and have no poisonous drugs to be
eliminated from the system.
Some years ago I was called late at night to a lady who for days had
suffered untold agony from facial neuralgia. Her face was greatly
swollen and the pain was so intense that she had nearly lost her
reason. An eminent physician, under the popular delusion that it was
_malaria_, had prescribed quinine. As she had protested against its
internal administration, he ordered her bathed in an unction of quinine
and cosmoline. Each day finding the patient worse, he increased the
frequency of the quinine bath.
Upon my entering the room, she seized my hand with a vise-like grip
and cried: “Doctor, give me something, or I must die of this agony!”
I assured her that she should have help. Turning to her husband, I
said: “Bring me a wash-bowl with hot water and ammonia in it. Put four
bricks in the furnace as soon as you can.”
Quickly the whole surface was cleansed of the obstruction to the pores.
The heated bricks were wrapped in wet cloths and one placed each side
of her face. Friction was applied to the extremities, and in less
than half an hour after I entered the house the anxious husband and
friends were rejoiced to see the patient enjoying a restful sleep. She
made a speedy recovery. There are few cases of neuralgia that can not
be relieved by this, or similar means. “Will not the pain return?”
Perhaps, but not as likely as where the nervous sensibility has been
benumbed with drugs.
If the mother has facial neuralgia or toothache, and can not be spared
from family cares to take the needful bath and rest, or can not get
magnetic treatment, temporary relief can be obtained by bathing the
affected part in the tincture of aconite. This is rarely followed by
unpleasant results, but should be used cautiously and only externally.
BURNING FEET are best relieved by bathing them in very hot water. A
sand bath, too, is excellent. Have a box of moist sand, in which bury
the feet for thirty or forty minutes. In summer one will find it very
grateful to allow the bare feet to come in contact with green grass or
freshly turned earth.
CRAMPS in the limbs are occasioned by pressure upon the crural and
sciatic nerves; are frequently the direct result of pressure from
clothing. For temporary relief lie flat upon the back, head and
shoulders low, and hips elevated. Apply hand friction to the limbs and
back. The only permanent relief is to take the exercises that will
expand the ribs and walls of the abdomen, thus giving more room for
fetal house-keeping.
SWELLING OF THE EXTREMITIES is caused from biliousness and sluggish
circulation. Oftentimes the venous circulation is so deficient that
_varicose_ veins are the result. Sometimes these swell and form knots
and tumors of great size. I recall a patient who had a varicose tumor
as large as the doubled hand, situated upon the labia. These knotted
veins give great distress, and cause much anxiety. I have never known
of their annoying a person who had adopted the _fruit diet_ and other
hygienic measures.
Temporary relief can be obtained by bathing the limbs in cold water,
and putting on a roller bandage made of strips of rubber. This should
be from an inch and a half to two inches wide. It must be put on
smoothly and equably. Begin at the toes, lap the edges about half an
inch, make reverses to prevent creases, and extend above the swelled
veins.
PAIN IN THE SIDE, either right or left, may be from the same cause as
cramps or pains in the limbs. Put on hot fomentations and follow the
directions for cramps. These pains may extend to the abdomen, and may
be neuralgic in their character, or may assume an intermittent form,
producing what is called _false pains_. They often simulate labor pains
so closely as to deceive patient and friends. To distinguish them,
place the hand upon the abdomen during the pain. If contraction of the
uterus is felt, there is true labor, but if there is no change in the
walls, they are false pains. Frequent warm sitz-baths will give relief.
The temperature should be about 95° Fr.
FOR RIGIDITY OF THE INTEGUMENT of the abdomen, bathe in hot water,
then rub in olive oil or cosmoline. This symptom is not likely to be
troublesome if the exercises recommended are being taken.
INSOMNIA is the result of reflex nervous action from stomach or uterus.
The causes must be removed. Bathing feet and legs in cold water, or
taking a sitz-bath, temperature 90 degrees, followed by thorough
friction, will usually give sound, refreshing sleep. A compress applied
to the back of the neck is good, especially if there is heat in the
head. Try changing from the customary bed to a lounge or another
apartment. Hand magnetism or the magnetic cap will afford relief to
many. Tea and coffee often produce wakefulness, and should be omitted.
In place of the evening meal, take a cup of hot water or wheat coffee.
When all other means are without avail, this abstinence seldom fails to
secure sound, refreshing sleep, that is truly “Nature’s sweet restorer.”
Avoid opiates. Mother and child suffer less from insomnia itself than
from the effects of drugs that produce sleep by their anodyne effects.
By these the processes of nature are disturbed and all the operations
of the body deranged. After going to bed sip slowly a cup of hot water
and milk, equal parts. This is especially desirable where there is
nervous irritability and weak digestion.
For many years I was subject to insomnia. I found temporary benefit
from looking steadily at one object, keeping the eyes wide open. It is
better to have the object above and back of the head, so that the eye
is forced to roll backward and upward. Keep the eyes open as long as
possible. When at last they close, still in imagination look at the
object, keeping the mind steadily upon it. There is one measure still
better than this for insomnia; that is, to become entirely indifferent
as to whether you sleep or not. Possess yourself of the belief that
sleep is unnecessary for you, that you are as well off without it.
Occupy your mind by reciting poetry, recalling the past, or planning
work for the future, assuring yourself that your body is getting rest.
If you can become entirely convinced of this fact, with no lurking
combative belief, you will be surprised to see that you have obtained a
condition which will soon result in oblivion.
LEUCORRHEA.--A thin, milky greenish or watery discharge is not
unfrequently a great annoyance in pregnancy, and a drain upon the
vitality. It is usually the result of inflammation in the uterus and
vagina, or an irritation set up by hardened feces in the rectum.
Leucorrhea is not a disease, but is simply the symptom of a disease,
as the cough or sputa are symptoms of bronchitis. This is nature’s
effort to throw off inflammation. She fails in the attempt, and such a
condition is produced that the discharge becomes chronic.
Do not use astringents for leucorrhea. They only palliate by drying the
secretion for a short time. When the remedy is omitted the discharge
returns, or more grave symptoms appear. The cause should be treated.
For many cases good results will follow the use of hot injections
of carbolic soap suds. Two hours a day, wear cotton in the vagina
saturated with glycerine. This temporarily increases the discharge, but
aids to remove irritation. Like other symptoms this yields to thorough
hygienic measures.
PRURITUS of the vulva often becomes very troublesome; may be the result
of a sanious leucorrhea, excessive dryness, inflammation or eruptions.
For the first cause, treat accordingly. For inflammation of the labia
apply cloths in a cold lotion of borax, one teaspoonful to a quart of
water. For dryness apply glycerine upon cotton. Pruritus will usually
be relieved by the following lotion:
℞ Tincture Lobelia }
} a a ʒij
” Benzoin }
Glycerine }
} a a ℥j
Alcohol }
Add benzoin last, slowly.
Apply upon absorbent cotton or oakum. Cleanse the parts frequently with
carbolic soap suds.
As hygienic treatment of pregnancy is fully given, other symptoms are
omitted. Remember that suffering is the result of violated laws. With
physical as moral law:
“Each man’s life
The outcome of his former living is.
The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrow and woes;
The bygone right breeds bliss,
That which ye sow, ye reap.”
CHAPTER VII.
HYGIENE OF PREGNANCY.--DRESS.
What more charming sight than a rosy, robust young woman! Full of
vigor, life, strength, power; her step elastic, bounding, her face
radiant, her presence magnetic! To such there are no fears, no
forebodings in maternity!
She needs not the counsels of physician or books. Her own life fulfills
the law. It is not for her I write, but for those who, constantly
violating physical laws, never know the blessedness of health.
A woman possessed of a good constitution, having had proper physical
training, is fully prepared to assume the responsibilities of marriage
and maternity. As Nature’s own child, she needs to make but little
change in her habits during the period of gestation.
Realizing her obligations to offspring and posterity, long before
assuming the marriage relation she has practiced all known laws of
health.
Dr. Holbrook says: “Those ailments to which pregnant women are liable,
are, most of them, inconveniences rather than diseases, although they
may be aggravated to a degree of real danger. Arising, as they do, from
the temporary physical condition of the organism, what they require is,
not such medical treatment as may be needed for a true disease, but
rather a general hygienic regimen. For a similar reason, while on the
one hand it may not be possible to remove them entirely, yet on the
other they can almost always be greatly alleviated.
“In general, however, it may be first observed that such a way of
living as _shall maintain and elevate the usual standard of mental and
physical health, will, of course, increase the power of resisting and
surmounting all ailments whatever_.”
The aim of this work is to show how this standard may be gained and
maintained. The directions given in the following pages are simply
teachings of nature. No nostrums or mysterious prescriptions are
recommended, but the simple lessons herein given are an effort to teach
women how to regain that which they have lost through the errors of
civilization.
CONGENIAL SURROUNDINGS are essential for health of both mother and
child. Wealth and luxuries are not needful, but comfort and agreeable
companionship are desirable, with freedom from excessive physical
burdens and mental anxieties.
Men and women are to-day suffering from lack of vitality, caused by
the overwork and burdens of our pioneer mothers during gestation. The
farmer who would not work his mare in foal, counsels or provides for
his pregnant wife no relief from toil and care. The mechanic’s wife,
knowing the need of making every dollar do its utmost, performs the
severest drudgery, with only aches, pains and puny offspring for her
compensation.
It is true that gestation often gives to woman more than ordinary
ambition, which may excel her physical strength. With usual health and
suitable surroundings, she frequently experiences a mental state of
exaltation. She expresses herself as feeling “as if she trod upon air.”
Her whole being drinks from the fountain of life. She is brought _en
rapport_ with all things divine. She herself is a creator, and is it
not divine to create?
In this state of exaltation she is no judge of her physical strength.
The prudent, watchful husband and loving friends must be her guardians.
She must be held in check and admonished of self-interest and the
well-being of her child. Otherwise great injuries are likely to be
inflicted upon herself and offspring.
I am acquainted with a charming old lady, whose seventy-eight summers
have left her in possession of health and happiness, as a heritage of a
well-spent life. In talking of these things, she says:
“Doctor, why is it that my daughters, Jane, Rebecca and Mary Ann, have
no powers of endurance? Their father was never sick. My own health and
strength have been a marvel to every one. Why! the three girls together
cannot do the work I could when I was their age. Girls are no account
now-a-days. When I was _like_ for my children, I could get up and milk
the cows, churn and make cheese. This was not all; I could take the
wool from the sheep’s back, wash, card, spin, weave and make it into
garments. I could walk two miles to church. I slept soundly and ate
heartily. Why, what would have become of us, if I had been lying about
in wrappers and slippers, dosing with drugs as my girls do now?”
Bless the heart of the dear old lady! Just _because_ she did all this,
her daughters are not her equals in strength. She robbed them of their
inheritance, by spending all her vitality in exhausting labor, and
vicariously they atone for her wrong-doing.
The woman who indulges in the excessive gayety of fashionable life,
as well as the overworked woman, deprives her child of vitality.
She attends parties in a dress that is unphysiological in warmth,
distribution and adjustment, in rooms badly ventilated; partakes of
a supper of indigestible compounds, and remains into the “wee, sma’
hours,” her nervous system taxed to the utmost.
Although faint, weary and exhausted, the following day is spent in
receptions and calls, closing with theater or opera. If abortion
is not the result, can any sane woman expect her child under such
circumstances to be in possession of vigor and strength? Bounding
health is the inheritance of childhood. Woe to the parent who robs it
of this inheritance!
I was summoned one morning by a Mr. B., a cheery, successful business
man, to see his wife.
He says: “Doctor, I have exhausted my skill, and must have advice from
higher authority.”
“What is your diagnosis?”
“Pregnancy, five months, accompanied by hysteria; unlike herself,
she is irritable, fretful and morose; sleeps but little, and has no
patience with the children or servants.”
This is no unusual case. I found Mrs. B. living in a handsome
three-story dwelling elegantly furnished. Every luxury was at her
command. She had a delicate, sensitive organization, extremely
susceptible to all influences. Her five children were full of spirit,
noisy and exacting. A late breakfast caused hurry and confusion
in preparation for school. Upon arriving I found my lady weeping
uncontrollably, and apparently in great trouble. I took her hand,
saying: “My poor child, what is it?”
“Oh, I wish I could get away from myself; life is not worth living.”
“None can do that; tell me all, and let us see if your sorrows and ills
cannot be alleviated.”
The truth was that, although an indulged wife, her burdens were beyond
her strength. The Irish cook, good-natured and efficient, had been
detected in carrying provisions to a sick friend. The second girl had
a beau every night, who remained so late that she had insufficient
sleep. In consequence she was fretful to the children and unfitted for
all her duties. The youngest child, still a mere baby, was teething and
required attention night and day. Though surrounded by every comfort
that love could procure, her strength was too greatly taxed. Later in
the day her husband called at my office.
He says: “What is _your_ diagnosis, doctor?”
“Overtaxed; her nervous system is worn out.”
“Why, she has all the help she wants, and needs to do nothing.”
“True; but there is no help to be had for the very things that have
worn her out. No one can take a mother’s place. She has children too
fast for her strength. She is a conscientious mother, desiring to
give every child proper training. To do this requires that domestic
arrangements be systematic and complete. Successful housekeeping, under
modern improvements, requires the combined heads of an army general and
a secretary of state.”
“Well, doctor, what is your prescription?”
“Take her away from it all.”
“Where had she better go?”