We men, in our own life, have no analogy, not even a remote one, to this
essentially feminine process. In the mental life of woman it is of
greater importance than we are accustomed to suppose. In most cases in
which it may be felt that the fact of menstruation influences a crime or
a statement of facts, it will be necessary to make use of the court
physician, who must report to the judge. The latter absolutely must
understand the fact and influence of menstruation. Of course he must
also have general knowledge of the whole matter, but he must require the
court physician definitely to tell him when the event began and whether
any diseased conditions were apparent. Then it is the business of the
judge to interpret the physician’s report psychologically--and the judge
knows neither more nor less psychology, according to his training, than
the physician. Any text-book on physiology will give the important facts
about menstruation. It is important for us to know that menses begin, in
our climate, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth year, and end between
the forty-fifth and the fiftieth year. The periods are normally a solar
month--from twenty-seven to twenty-eight days, and the menstruation
lasts from three to five days. After its conclusion the sexual impulse,
even in otherwise frigid women, is in most cases intensified. It is
important, moreover, to note the fact that most women, during their
periods, show a not insignificant alteration of their mental lives,
often exhibiting states of mind that are otherwise foreign to them.
As in many cases it is impossible without other justification to ask
whether menses have begun, it is worth while knowing that most women
menstruate, according to some authorities, during the first quarter of
the moon, and that only a few menstruate during the new or full moon.
The facts are very questionable, but we have no other cues for
determining that menstruation is taking place. Either the popularly
credited signs of it (e.g., a particular appearance, a significant
shining of the eyes, bad odor from the mouth, or susceptibility to
perspiration) are unreliable, or there are such signs as feeling unwell,
tension in the back, fatigue in the bones, etc., which are much more
simply and better discovered by direct interrogation, or examination by
a physician.
If there is any suspicion that menstruation has influenced testimony or
a crime, and if the other, especially the above-mentioned facts, are not
against it, we are called upon to decide whether we are considering a
mental event, due to the influence of menstruation. Icard[255] has
written the best monograph on this subject.
Considering the matter in detail, our attention is first called to the
importance of the beginning of menstruation. Never is a girl more
tender or quiet, never more spiritual and attractive, nor more inclined
to good sense, than in the beginning of puberty, generally a little
before the menstrual periods have begun, or have become properly
ordered. At this time, then, the danger that the young girl may commit a
crime is very small, perhaps smaller than at any other time. And hence,
it is the more to be feared that such a creature may become the victim
of the passions of a roué, or may cause herself the greatest harm by
mistaken conduct. This is the more possible when the circumstances are
such that the child has little to do, though naturally gifted. Unused
spiritual qualities, ennui, waking sensitivity and charm, make a
dangerous mixture, which is expressed as a form of interest in exciting
experiences, in the romantic, or at least the unusual. Sexual things are
perhaps wholly, or partly not understood, but their excitation is
present and the results are the harmless dreams of extraordinary
experiences. The danger is in these, for from them may arise fantasies,
insufficiently justified principles, and inclination to deceit. Then all
the prerequirements are present which give rise to those well-known
cases of unjust complaints, false testimony about seduction, rape,
attempts at rape and even arson, accusing letters, and slander.[256]
Every one of us is sufficiently familiar with such accusations, every
one of us knows how frequently we can not sufficiently marvel how such
and such an otherwise quiet, honest, and peaceful girl could perform
things so incomprehensible. If an investigation had been made to see
whether the feat did not occur at the time of her first mensis; if the
girl had been watched during her next mensis to determine whether some
fresh significant alteration occurred, the police physician might
possibly have been able to explain the event. I know many cases of
crimes committed by half-grown girls who would under no circumstances
have been accused of them; among them arson, lese majeste, the writing
of numerous anonymous letters, and a slander by way of complaining of a
completely fanciful seduction. In one of these cases we succeeded in
showing that the girl in question had committed her crime at the time of
her first mensis; that she was otherwise quiet and well conducted, and
that she showed at her next mensis some degree of significant unrest and
excitement. As soon as the menses got their proper adjustment not one of
the earlier phenomena could be observed, and the child exhibited no
further inclination to commit crimes.[257]
Creatures like her undergo similar danger when they have to make
statements about perceptions which are either interesting in themselves,
or have occurred in an interesting way. Here caution must be exercised
in two directions. First: Discover whether the child in question was
passing through her monthly period at the time when she saw the event
under discussion, or when she was telling about it. In the former case,
she has told of more than could have been perceived; in the second case
she develops the delusion that she had seen more than she really had.
How unreliable the testimony of youthful girls is, and what mistakes it
has caused, are familiar facts, but too little attention is paid to the
fact that this unreliability is not permanent with the individuals, and
in most cases changes into complete trustworthiness. As a rule, the
criminal judge is almost never in a position to determine the
inconsistencies in the testimony of a menstruating girl, inasmuch as he
sees her, at most, just a few times, and can not at those times observe
differences in her love for truth. Fortunately the statements of newly
menstruating girls, when untrue, are very characteristic, and present
themselves in the form of something essentially romantic, extraordinary,
and interesting. If we find this tendency of transforming simple daily
events into extraordinary experiences, then, if the testimony of the
girl does not agree with that of other witnesses, etc., we are warned.
Still greater assurance is easy to gain, by examining persons who know
the girl well on her trustworthiness and love of truth before this time.
If their statements intensify the suspicion that menses have been an
influence, it is not too much to ask directly, to re-examine, and, if
necessary, to call in medical aid in order to ascertain the truth. The
direct question is in a characteristically great number of cases
answered falsely. If in such cases we learn that the observation was
made or the testimony given at the menstrual period, we may assume it
probably justifiable to suspect great exaggeration, if not pure
invention.
The menstrual period tends, at all ages from the youngest child to the
full-grown woman, to modify the quality of perception and the truth of
description. Von Reichenbach[258] writes that sensitivity is intensified
during the menstrual period, and even if this famous discoverer has said
a number of crazy things on the subject, his record is such that he must
be regarded as a clever man and an excellent observer. There is no doubt
that his sensitive people were simply very nervous individuals who
reacted vigorously to all external stimulations, and inasmuch as his
views agree with others, we may assume that his observation shows at
least how emotional, excitable, and inclined to fine perceptions
menstruating women are. It is well-known how sharpened sense-perception
becomes under certain conditions of ill-health. Before you get a cold in
the head, the sense of smell is regularly intensified; certain headaches
are accompanied with an intensification of hearing so that we are
disturbed by sounds that otherwise we should not hear at all; every
bruised place on the body is very sensitive to touch. All in all, we
must believe that the senses of woman, especially her skin sensations,
the sensations of touch, are intensified during the menstrual period,
for at that time her body is in a “state of alarm.” This fact is
important in many ways. It is not improbable that one menstruating woman
shall have heard, seen, felt, and smelt, things which others, and she
herself, would not have perceived at another time. Again, if we trace
back many a conception of menstruating women we learn that the boundary
between more delicate sensating and sensibility can not be easily drawn.
Here we may see the universal transition from sensibility to acute
excitability which is a source of many quarrels. The witness, the
wounded, or accused are all, to a considerable degree, under its
influence. It is a generally familiar fact that the incomparably larger
number of complaints of attacks on women’s honor, fall through. It would
be interesting to know just how such complaints of menstruating women
occur. Of course, nobody can determine this statistically, but it is a
fact that such trials are best conducted, never exactly four weeks after
the crime, nor four weeks after the accusation. For if most of the
complaints of menstruating women are made at the period of their menses,
they are just as excited four weeks later, and opposed to every attempt
at adjustment. This is the much-verified fundamental principle! I once
succeeded by its use in helping a respectable, peace-loving citizen of a
small town, whose wife made uninterrupted complaints of inuriam causa,
and got the answer that his wife was an excellent soul, but, “gets the
devil in her during her monthlies, and tries to find occasions for
quarrels with everybody and finds herself immediately much insulted.”
A still more suspicious quality than the empty capacity for anger is
pointed out by Lombroso,[259] who says that woman during menstruation is
inclined to anger and to falsification. In this regard Lombroso may be
correct, inasmuch as the lie may be combined with the other qualities
here observed. We often note that most honorable women lie in the most
shameless fashion. If we find no other motive and we know that the woman
periodically gets into an abnormal condition, we are at least justified
in the presupposition that the two are coordinate, and that the periodic
condition is cause of the otherwise rare feminine lie. Here also, we are
required to be cautious, and if we hear significant and not otherwise
confirmed assertions from women, we must bear in mind that they may be
due to menstruation.
But we may go still further. Du Saulle[260] asserts on the basis of
far-reaching investigations, that a significant number of thefts in
Parisian shops are committed frequently by the most elegant ladies
during their menstrual period, and this in no fewer than 35 cases out of
36, while 10 more cases occurred at the beginning of the period.
Other authorities[261] who have studied this matter have shown how the
presentation of objects women much desire leads to theft. Grant that
during her mensis the woman is in a more excitable and less actively
resisting condition, and it may follow she might be easily overpowered
by the seductive quality of pretty jewelry and other knickknacks. This
possibility leads us, however, to remoter conclusions. Women desire more
than merely pretty things, and are less able to resist their desires
during their periods. If they are less able to resist in such things,
they are equally less able to resist in other things. In handling those
thefts which were formerly called kleptomaniac, and which, in spite of
the refusal to use this term, are undeniable, it is customary, if they
recur repeatedly, to see whether pregnancy is not the cause. It is well
to consider also the influence of menstruation.
Menstruation may bring women even to the most terrible crimes. Various
authors cite numerous examples in which otherwise sensible women have
been driven to the most inconceivable things--in many cases to murder.
Certainly such crimes will be much more numerous if the abnormal
tendency is unknown to the friends of the woman, who should watch her
carefully during this short, dangerous period.
The fact is familiar that the disturbances of menstruation lead to
abnormal psychoses. This type of mental disease develops so quietly
that in numerous cases the maladies are overlooked, and hence it is more
easily possible, since they are transitive, to interpret them commonly
as “nervous excitement,” or to pay no attention to them, although they
need it.[262]