A regular daily movement of the bowels is necessary to health. Much of the illness in the world might have been avoided if the victims had taken better care of the excretory organs. One of the first questions a physician asks a patient is, "How are your bowels, do they move regularly every day?" In some cases that is the first time the patient has thought of them, and he has to think some time before he can remember just when and how often his bowels did move. Then perhaps he is not sure. In a great many cases it is a routine practice with physicians to give a "good cleaning out," that is, to give a thorough laxative. Many times this is all the treatment required and in other cases it only is combined with a little intestinal antiseptic to further carry out the cleaning process.
The most common cause of constipation is irregularity in going to the toilet. When the desire for defecation comes, we are too busy and postpone it until some more convenient time, which time may be too late. Nature is the best judge as to when the bowels are ready to be emptied. If we do not obey her call, we must take the consequences. When the waste material is ready to be voided, it is in a semi-fluid state, but, if it remains in the intestines too long the water is absorbed and the waste material is left in a hard mass which is expelled with difficulty. Not only that, but the desire to expel it soon passes. Nature, finding we do not respond to her call, ceases to notify us.
If the waste material is allowed to remain in the bowels, not only the water is absorbed but with it some of the poisons from the waste material, which are taken up by the blood and carried to all parts of the system, causing a great deal of trouble and pain. This absorption of toxins (poisons) causes headache, loss of appetite, a sense of depression and a lack of energy.
The pressure of the hard material on the tender tissues of the rectum causes hemorrhoids or piles, by irritating the tissues and causing a congestion. Hemorrhoids are enlarged veins which have been so irritated and filled with extra blood that they have lost their power to contract. These enlarged veins may remain inside the rectum and then are known as internal piles. Sometimes they protrude externally and then are known as external piles. Frequently they become tender and cause a great deal of pain. In some cases one of the little veins becomes so engorged with blood that it bursts and allows the contained blood to escape. This is known as bleeding piles. For mild cases of hemorrhoids (piles) the treatment is to correct the accompanying constipation, then take an enema or injection of warm water morning and evening, using the water as hot as can be borne and allowing it to run in and out the rectum for some time. Following this, an astringent and soothing lotion should be applied.
Constipation may be caused by retroversion of the uterus. If the uterus is tipped backwards it presses on the rectum, preventing the passage of the feces (bowel movement). This pressure also causes hemorrhoids. In this case the treatment is to correct the displacement. In many cases all that is necessary is to take the knee-chest position for a few minutes night and morning.
Always in the treatment of constipation, the first item is to discover the cause. We have noted that the chief cause is irregularity in going to the toilet, therefore, the first measure to be taken in the treatment is regularity in going to the toilet. Choose a convenient hour, usually right after breakfast, and always go to the toilet at that time no matter if there is a desire or not. At first there may be no natural movement but if you persist, your efforts will be rewarded. For the first few days it is well to take an enema of warm, soapy water at this time. Every day take exercise that will strengthen the muscles of the abdomen. Bending forward and touching the toes with the fingers without bending the knees is one valuable exercise. This should be done ten or twelve times morning and evening. A daily brisk walk in the fresh air is another good exercise. Fruit or figs eaten with the meals or a glass of water taken before breakfast and upon retiring often proves very beneficial in relieving a tendency to constipation. There is an old saying, "An apple or two before going to bed, and the doctor will go begging for his bread." This really is a practical idea and more nearly true than many old sayings.
Cathartics or laxatives should not be taken except for an occasional dose or during illness upon the advice of a physician. So common is the practice of taking daily laxatives that it has become a "national curse"! People do not realize that they are slaves to this habit, so they continue to take their daily doses of "teas" or "waters." In many cases a patient will tell his physician that his bowels are "all right," that they move every day. Further questionings reveal the fact that he is in the habit of taking some laxative frequently. The bowels are not "all right" if any laxative is required.
Massage of the abdomen usually is very beneficial in treating constipation. It acts by stimulating the muscles and should be given at set times in the day but never until two hours after any meal. The various vibrators act in the same manner as massage. In any massage of the abdomen the thighs should be flexed, as this relaxes the abdominal muscles.
Enemas or injections of warm water may be taken occasionally and then are beneficial, but if long continued are injurious by reason of their irritating effect. At times, when the stomach and intestines have been over-loaded with irritating material, an enema is one of the quickest measures for relief. In obstinate constipation two or three ounces of warm olive oil injected slowly into the rectum at night and allowed to remain until morning will soften the waste material so it can be evacuated easily in the morning.
Constipation never should be neglected as it carries in its train a long line of disorders, as hemorrhoids (piles), abscesses, and intestinal obstruction.
Indigestion and constipation frequently are bosom friends. How often indigestion is a result of nervous strain is perhaps seldom realized. A business man eats his lunch and other meals in a hurry, with his mind on his business. His energies are being consumed by his brain and very little is left to be used in the digestion of his food. One never should eat when tired and nervous. Take a few moments' absolute rest before meals. If possible lie down and relax all muscles for a few moments. Then eat your meal slowly and if possible have some pleasant companion who will talk with you on subjects not connected with your business cares. You will be surprised to note the improvement in your digestion and incidentally in your tendency to constipation.
For the noon meal, office workers should eat only light and easily digested food. Eat your heaviest meal after the work for the day is finished and the blood which has been required by the brain can be spared to the stomach. People doing manual labor that requires physical strength need, and can digest, a heavy noonday meal but the requirements of the brain workers are quite different.
Many girls break down on account of lack of sufficient nourishment. Coffee and rolls for breakfast, ice cream and rolls for lunch and a sandwich and coffee for dinner is not sufficient food for any working girl. And yet that is about the diet of hundreds of girls. Often it is impossible for her to provide more, for when a girl must pay for her board, room, clothes and laundry from her salary of five or six dollars a week, sufficient food becomes an impossibility. Many girls actually are slowly starving on this account. When the wheels of progress make it possible for every working girl to have a comfortable home and sufficient nourishing food many of the social problems will right themselves.
I promised to explain to you what I meant by the black plagues. It is strange when anything is as widely spread as are these diseases that so few people know anything about them, or realize their importance. At one time epidemics of typhoid fever were regarded as a revelation of the wrath of God. Now we know they are due to carelessness and lack of sanitation. It is the same with the sufferings of women. We used to think it was a dispensation of Providence if a woman were compelled to undergo an operation. Now we know it usually is due to someone's lack of care, to a desecration of Nature's teachings.
I remember when I was quite young hearing mention made of a "bad disease." Concerning the nature of this disease I was ignorant but I gathered the idea that it was some terrible disease which was contracted only by the most depraved of mortals. How little I suspected its widely-spread distribution, and how little I dreamed that among my acquaintances might be any afflicted with these diseases! nor did I dream of the danger of innocent contagion. Since then I have learned what these diseases were. Now we call them the black plagues, because, owing to the prejudice of the majority, we dare not use their correct names generally. I have no doubt you will be as surprised and shocked as I was at the things I am going to impart to you.
By black plagues we mean the two diseases spoken of by physicians as the venereal diseases, because they usually are contracted during sexual intercourse.
The most common of these diseases is gonorrhœa, or clap, as it often is called by men. How common it is may be judged by a statement made by a professor to his class in the medical college that at least eighty per cent. of the men in the world have contracted it sometime during their lives. Even the most conservative give the estimate as sixty per cent.
The prevalent idea common among men that it is no worse than a cold—a mere annoyance that all men must expect and endure sometime—is lamentable. The persistence of the disease in the deeper structures long after it outwardly is cured leads to unexpected communication of it to women, among whom may be the young wife. As a result she enters upon a period of ill-health that ultimately may compel the mutilation of her body by a surgical operation to save her life. Much of the surgery performed upon the female organs has been rendered necessary by disease contracted from the husband.
A few little germs of this disease left on even the external organs may find their way up through the vagina to the uterus or womb. Here they may produce an inflammation of the lining of the womb, causing severe pain and other symptoms, such as profuse discharge. The germs may go farther, or the inflammation may extend from the uterus to the tubes. When we consider that the passage through the tubes is only about as large as a broom straw, we see what serious trouble may result. The tubes become enlarged and filled with pus. The opening from the tubes to the uterus becomes closed, so there is no way for the pus to escape. The accumulation of pus or the products of septic inflammation stretch the walls of the tubes until the little nerves in the walls cry out in rebellion. The pain becomes so great and the reflex symptoms are so aggravated that finally the woman resorts to the only relief,—an operation for the removal of the tubes.
When we consider that the ovule, the human egg, must travel through these tubes to reach the uterus and, if they are destroyed, has no other way of reaching the womb and, if it cannot reach the womb and be impregnated, cannot develop into the babe, then we realize how this disease is dooming women to childless lives,—women whose natural instincts and desires cry out for motherhood. When we consider the factors that promote race suicide we must not forget this important one. Even though the woman refuses an operation, or in a case in which the inflammation is not so severe and is reduced until she is nearly free from pain, the result may be the same, for the tubes may remain closed permanently.
The closure of the tubes is not the only result that may follow the course of this disease. The infection may extend into the peritoneal cavity causing peritonitis, which so often results in the untimely death of the woman. Here let me say that not all cases of peritonitis or of inflammation of the womb, tubes or ovaries are due to this infection. There are other infections, other germs, that may produce similar results. These germs may reach the organs in various ways. Sometimes the woman herself is to blame and sometimes we can blame no one. Inflammation of these organs may result from pressure of clothing, colds, excitement, overwork, pregnancies, excesses or neglect. The inflammation may spread to these organs from an inflamed appendix or other neighboring organs.
Supposing, though, following this disease the tubes are not entirely closed and the woman becomes pregnant. There is still the danger that during labor the baby's eyes will become infected and may become permanently blind. It is estimated that seventy per cent. of the blindness in the world has this cause. How does this produce blindness? Some few germs of this disease have remained in the vagina or birth canal and as the baby passes along the canal they enter its eyes. They are so very strong and work so rapidly that they can cause total blindness within three days. This fact is so well known by physicians that at the present time all reliable physicians pay especial attention to the newborn baby's eyes, cleansing them with an antiseptic solution immediately after birth. This precaution doubtless has saved the eyes of thousands of babies. This is one of the reasons why it is dangerous to employ an uneducated person at the time of labor. Even though she may have assisted at hundreds of births yet often she is ignorant of the many dangers and of the precautions that should be taken in every case.
Even adults may become blind from this infection. The disease is carried to the eyes by polluted fingers or towels. In a few hours the eyes become inflamed, pus forms, and unless heroic measures are taken, the eyesight is soon destroyed.
In female children the vagina may become infected through the use of tainted sponges, wash cloths, etc. An innocent girl may thus carelessly acquire the disease. For this reason, we see how necessary it is to caution girls never to use public towels or wash cloths that have been used by another person. Even in the home, every member of the family should have his exclusive towel and wash cloth.
The symptoms of gonorrhœa that often are noted first are a profuse discharge from the vagina, usually creamy or yellowish in color. This discharge is of such a nature that frequently it excoriates the external parts so that they become very tender and inflamed. Backache, especially across the hips, is a common accompaniment of this disease. There may be general soreness in the pelvic region. If a woman suspects she has contracted this disease, she should go immediately to some reliable physician; for at first the disease may affect only the vagina but, if neglected, may extend to the uterus and tubes. In its early stages it may be cured by prompt treatment, but the majority of women postpone treatment until it is too late.
The other loathsome disease, syphilis, infects the blood and therefore all parts of the body. While under proper treatment it is not dangerous to life in the earlier years, yet the possibilities of conveying the contagion are numerous. In the second stage, which lasts for a number of weeks, the mucous patches in the mouth are a source of danger. In this stage the disease may be conveyed by a kiss or through the medium of the public drinking cup, towel, or anything that comes in contact with the virus. It may be contracted by a babe from a wet-nurse or the nurse may contract it from the babe.
The most serious results of this disease appear years after its initial appearance, when the individual has been lulled into a false sense of security by long freedom from its outward symptoms. Many of the obscure cases of stomach or nerve trouble may be traced to this disease. The results not only affect the man, but, should he marry and have children, his innocent babes may come into the world with an inherited taint. These children seldom live to reach adult life and their lives usually are burdensome and full of misery. They may be deformed or be continually afflicted with ulcers or other horrible manifestations of the disease. I will explain this more thoroughly when I speak of heredity.
Many of the disastrous effects of these diseases might have been prevented if they had been properly treated in their early stages. Ignorance as to the nature and probable disastrous effects, if neglected, prevents many a person from procuring proper treatment. It is a common practice among men afflicted with these diseases to try various remedies recommended by their friends or by the druggist. It is strange that a person who would not think of trying to treat himself for smallpox or other contagious disease will do so with these diseases. With women, the cause of their neglect is a failure to realize the importance of the symptoms. Unfortunately women have grown to think that various female ills are their lot in life which must be endured and regarded as a dispensation of Providence instead of being considered an error in living that must be corrected the same as any other disease. Some commence treatment but neglect it as soon as the noticeable symptoms have disappeared. It generally is considered among physicians that the treatment of syphilis should be continued for at least three years after contracting the disease in order to remove all traces from the blood.
It is a deplorable fact that the prevalence of these diseases might have been prevented by proper instruction of young boys. No man ever willfully contracted one of these diseases. Statistics tell us that the majority of victims contract them before their twentieth year, before the boy has learned anything of their dangers or perhaps of their existence. If these patients received the right treatment immediately and continued it until the disease had been eradicated the results would have been less serious. Here, too, lack of early and proper instruction is shown; for these immature boys do not realize the necessity for prompt and wise treatment, or are misled by unscrupulous persons. I shall talk to you again on this subject, for many of you will have sons and you must know the dangers that beset them, so they can be prepared.
One young lady wrote me, "Recently I read that imperfectly developed ovaries might be a reason why some women do not have children. I have the symptoms which the article said indicated imperfect development. Does this necessarily mean that I never can have a baby? I seem to be healthy. I am twenty-one years old. I was to have been married in three months but now I do not know what to do. 'My boy' loves children as I do. It seems as though I cannot give him up, yet it surely is not honorable to marry him if I find that I never will have a little one, without telling him. Please tell me what to do."
The probabilities are that this girl's ovaries are perfectly normal and that the article mentioned was an advertisement of some medical house which, by misleading statements, endeavors to induce women to take their treatment. There are many women who suffer a great deal mentally, and this in turn reflects on their physical health because of just such articles.
It has been said that we are a nation of dupes and the advertisements carried in some of the papers would indicate the truth of this statement. No manufacturer is going to advertise anything that does not sell well and bring a considerable profit. Men are not so altruistic as to be in business just for the good of humanity. The majority are in business for the money to be obtained from it. Somehow, women are very susceptible to the arts of these greedy manufacturers. A company commences to make a patent medicine and then, in order to derive any profits from the investment, large quantities of the preparation must be sold. In order to accomplish this they must convince possible buyers of their need of this particular treatment. The company employs an agent to write an advertisement, perhaps in the shape of an article purporting to be written by someone much interested in the human race. This advertisement or article describes some disease which may be cured by this one remedy. As there might not be enough people who know they have this given disease to make a profit for the manufacturer, it becomes his business to convince others that they have this disease. Therefore, he proceeds to enumerate a great many symptoms which he says indicate this disease. Perhaps they might! But they are just as likely to indicate any one of half a dozen other things. He details enough symptoms so that some are recognized by nearly every woman as relating to her condition, so she jumps to the conclusion that she has that certain disease and buys a bottle of the medicine.
If you will study the large medical advertisements that appeal especially to women you will notice that they all have certain symptoms enumerated. No matter if the remedy advertised is for the kidneys, the bowels, or exclusively for women, the same symptoms are claimed to indicate the need of that certain remedy. One of the symptoms most commonly given is backache. Of course! For nearly every person has a backache at some time. It may be due to a strain, to rheumatism of the lumbar muscles (lumbago), to constipation, to a displacement, or to numerous other conditions. No one can tell the cause who is not properly prepared to do so and who is not fully acquainted with the physical condition. The sewing machine runs hard and perhaps makes a noise. It requires a mechanic who is familiar with the mechanism of the machine to find the cause of the trouble. So it is with the human body. It requires a mechanic who is familiar with the structure of the body to discover the cause of the trouble. And yet people will continue to pour into their bodies drugs, harmless and otherwise, that are manufactured by some enterprising firm and then advertised by an expert who knows nothing of disease except a few symptoms common to almost all diseases.
The patent medicine consumers seldom realize the nature of the medicine they take. Because some man, desirous of selling his remedy, claims it will be beneficial, they rush in and buy. To one who knows the true nature of some of these remedies, many laughable instances are visible. One man recently discovered that a temperance agitator was daily dosing herself with a certain tonic which was known to contain a larger percentage of alcohol than did the beverages she was denouncing so ardently.
Patent medicines may benefit some, but in the majority of cases, the consumer is like a man who boards the nearest street-car hoping it will take him to his destination. It may! But it is just as likely to take him in the opposite direction.
Some people become veritable drug fiends, slaves to certain drugs without in the least realizing their condition. How many are slaves to certain laxatives or headache powders! With them the daily dose of "harmless" teas or waters or even of pills cannot be neglected. And yet such a person would be indignant at the suggestion that she was the victim of a drug habit. What are drugs, anyhow? The majority are simply extracts of herbs and vegetables. And yet people imagine that they are avoiding the use of drugs and medicines when they take "simple herb remedies, prepared at home."
Another lure of the advertiser is to state that all letters are "strictly confidential and answered by women only." Perhaps they are! But he neglects to add that the women who answer these letters are simply stenographers with no medical knowledge, employed to write according to dictation, that the letters are all written according to certain forms which have been dictated by the manager. A short time ago a young woman wrote me regarding her condition. Among other things, she said she had written to a certain woman whose name is much advertised by a patent medicine concern and that this woman had written her advice that had caused her to worry over her condition. Poor, deluded girl! How was she to know that the woman in question had been dead many years and that the business was carried on by her son and other men.
If you are ill do not be misled by these unscrupulous advertisers. Do not waste your time and money on remedies that may be entirely unsuited to your condition.
As several of you expect to be married soon I think it would be well to talk briefly about the cause of so much unhappiness in marriage.
It has been estimated that only about five per cent. of all marriages are successful. Is this true, and if true, why? If five per cent. made a success of marriage, why could not the other ninety-five? Marriage is a science to be studied by the prospective bride and groom in order that they may be ranked with the five per cent. and not make a failure of their married life. Few would enter the marriage relation if convinced that it would be a failure. The prospective bride looks around among her acquaintances and sees the lack of true happiness, thinks that her case will be an exception, that her marriage will turn out all right and then goes blindly ahead into the new life without any preparation.
A large percentage of the unhappiness among married couples comes through a misunderstanding of the marital relations. A great deal of this is due to ignorance on the part of the bride and thoughtlessness on the part of the husband. This is partly due to defective education during childhood in regard to the sexes. The training of boys and girls in this matter is very different. Knowledge pertaining to the sexual life is talked over very freely among boys, so that by the time the boy is of a marriageable age he is pretty well posted. With girls it is quite different. It would be considered very immodest for a girl to discuss such matters. She does not feel free even to talk with her mother or other adviser, and so she goes to the altar ignorant of many things she should know. Then during the first few days of married life this knowledge so overwhelms her and often gives her such a severe shock that it leaves a lasting impression. She has no way of knowing that her husband is just like other men. She is liable to regard him as a brute and resent his attentions.
Such a condition of affairs is altogether wrong, but the girl is not to be blamed. Had she been taught what to expect, much of the unhappiness of married life might have been avoided. If taught correctly, the girl should regard the sexual act as the culmination of true love. It should be regarded as something sacred, something that makes her and her husband as one. Fortunate indeed is the girl whose husband realizes this lack of knowledge and gently leads her to desire the fulfillment of love. Unfortunate is the girl whose husband regards this act only as the gratification of animal passions—something it is a wife's duty to endure as such.
Passion or sex sense is a sign of maturity. It is the calling for a mate. All animals have this sense and nearly all animals have a mating season. The billing and cooing of the birds in the springtime is an expression of this sense—the love sense. It is possessed by every little insect. Only by knowing their habits do we see the expression of it. This sense is nothing of which one should be ashamed. It was God-given for a divine purpose.
In the study of plants we learn that the pollen or male element must unite with the ovum or female element in order to produce the seed that will develop into the new plant. The same fact is true of the human race. Before pregnancy can take place there must be a meeting and fusion of the vital elements of the two sexes. This fertilization of the ovum or joining of the male and female elements is called conception. It is brought about by coitus, by means of which the semen of the male is deposited in the vagina of the female. This act is called insemination, although conception does not follow unless the ovum and spermatozoon (life-giving element of the semen) come together and unite. When this occurs the woman conceives and enters upon a period of pregnancy. The time at which conception is least likely to occur is from the seventeenth to the twenty-third day after menstruation ceases.
During the first year of married life couples are liable to abuse the love sense by over-indulgence and thereby use up too much of their energy. This affects their health, especially that of the young wife, who finds herself always being tired and is unable to account for it. Her daily tasks become a drudgery, for she is too exhausted to have the strength to perform them. After the tasks finally are finished, she is too tired to don the afternoon dress, and so easily falls into untidy habits. This brings its train of results. The young husband, on his return from work, fails to find his wife the bright, attractive girl he married and gradually grows indifferent.
The relation of intercourse to conception is a problem that each husband and wife must settle for themselves. Some educators claim that only for the one is the other allowable, that the bearing and raising of children is the sole aim of married life. Naturally this is the fundamental end of the sex instinct. But in the present-day, practical married life it would be impossible to convince the majority that the impulse of sex gratification was given to them for this one purpose only.
The sense of well being and the increased capacity for work, that follows a moderate exercise of this function, tends to convince us that it has a beneficial effect upon the entire system if exercised moderately. As to what constitutes moderation or temperance depends upon the individual. What would be moderation to some would be excess to others. It may be taken as a general rule that the after-effects will indicate the amount. If the after-effects are irritability, extreme lassitude or a diminution of the love or respect for the other then there has been excess. If the after-effect is a sense of well-being so that the next day one feels more inclined to take up the duties of life, then it may be considered that moderation has been practiced. A certain amount of energy is consumed in any act and, as in our present age we need a great deal of energy to carry on our everyday business, in the majority of cases fresh vitality cannot be spared for an expenditure under several days or a week. Excess in anything tends to bring on premature old age, for the nervous force is expended faster than it is manufactured.
Frequently women seem to be endowed with an excess of energy which manifests itself in various forms. Besides this, the woman does not seem to have control of her nervous energy but wastes it in numerous ways. With many a woman the regularity and moderation attendant on a happy married life seems to have a regulating effect upon her whole nervous system, so that she becomes more calm and has greater control over her energies.
Wrong training or lack of training in matters pertaining to the relationship of the sexes and to the management of a home may be given as the cause of the majority of unhappy marriages.
There must be something wrong with our system of education when the aim of this education seems to be to prepare the girl for a temporary position in an office or store or for a gay social life; and when there is no preparation for the important work of home-making and the rearing of children. A girl would not be expected to run a complicated and delicate piece of machinery without having adequate instruction concerning the necessary care of it. But the girl is allowed to go blindly into marriage and is expected to manage her home and care for her children with practically no preparation. Nowadays we require experts for every position except that of motherhood, but we apparently do not consider that of enough importance to waste any time preparing for it. A man requires his gardener or office assistant to be trained, but the mother of his children need know nothing regarding the preparation for their coming. Too often her only preparation is that of making numerous clothes. She takes no measures to insure a healthy child.
If girls would make a study of home-making and motherhood and enter into marriage with a more definite realization of its obligations we would have fewer unhappy marriages and fewer divorce cases. Some women, owing to false education, wish to have all the advantages of marriage without assuming its cares. Such a woman expects a man to be willing to provide her with all the gifts of the gods, with all the luxuries of life, but in return is not willing to become the mother of his children nor to exert herself to make their mutual habitation a home and not merely a house—a place in which to eat and sleep.
A large part of the average woman's life is devoted to home-making and the rearing of children. Usually she is poorly prepared for this work. The early years of a girl's life are spent in the acquisition of a store of general knowledge, especially that derived from books and related to subjects generally considered necessary to "culture." During this period, her time is so occupied with her studies that her mother thinks it would be an imposition to ask her to do any housework, so the girl grows up without much knowledge of the care of a home. True, she often is enabled to do a few things. She learns to make cake and several varieties of candy and perhaps can fashion a collar that is the envy of her schoolmates. Sometimes she even helps her mother with the dishes or the dusting, but it is easier for the mother to take the responsibility of the housekeeping than it is to teach her daughter to do so, and besides her daughter always is so busy with school affairs. She has no time in which to learn the science of housekeeping.
After the completion of her course in the common or high school, a few months, sometimes, are devoted to the preparation for a certain line of work which is to occupy her time for a few years. Very few girls, except those who enter the professions, expect to continue their work after marriage and nearly all look forward to marriage. If we place a girl at a new occupation, for instance lace-making, and let her work out her own salvation, we would not be surprised if she disliked her work and was unable to accomplish any good results. But that is what we do in regard to home-making. A girl upon marriage is expected to know by instinct how to keep house, cook, and do the numerous other household duties; she is expected to know how to care for herself before the birth of her baby and how to care for the baby when it comes. Fortunately for the future generation this fact has come to the realization of many of our educators. During the last few years many schools have introduced into their curriculum, courses in domestic science, including the purchasing, preparation and serving of food. Very recently some of the more progressive schools have introduced courses in nursing and the care of young babies. Perhaps in a few years motherhood will take its proper place as the most important of all sciences.
You remember I mentioned that at various times during the month an ovum or egg leaves the ovary and passes along the tube to the uterus. Here it remains if it is impregnated or fertilized by a union with the spermatozoon or male element. The whole body of the babe is developed from the ovum or female element after it has been fertilized by the spermatozoon or male element. The union usually takes place in the tube. The spermatozoon, after being deposited in the vagina, travels to the mouth of the womb, then up through the womb into one of the tubes. Here it meets the ovum and unites with it, then the impregnated ovum continues on its way to the uterus. It attaches itself to the lining of the womb by little thread-like filaments which it projects. The ovum then begins to grow, dividing itself into portions that go to make the different parts of the body. Before I continue, let me remind you that the ovum in the beginning is only about as large as the point of a pin, being about 1-125 of an inch in diameter, while the spermatozoon is so tiny it cannot be seen without the aid of a miscroscope. Therefore, it can be realized how much the ovum has to grow before it becomes a fully formed babe.
During the time the ovum is developing into the babe we speak of it first as the embryo, then the fœtus. It takes about nine calendar months or ten lunar months before the fœtus is fully developed and ready to be expelled from the womb. During the process of development the fœtus resembles various animals. It seems it must pass through about the same stages of evolution that our primitive ancestors did.
By the end of the third week, the dividing has progressed so far that the body is quite well indicated. By the end of the seventh week the body and limbs are quite well defined. One peculiar thing is that, at this time, the fœtus has a tail which disappears during the next two weeks. During the third month the fœtus increases in size and weight so that by the end of the month the weight is four ounces and the length two and three-fourths inches. It now is not directly attached to the lining of the womb but is attached by means of the cord to the placenta or afterbirth which has been forming slowly. This placenta consists of fatty tissue surrounding a great many little blood vessels. The tiny blood vessels lie so close to the blood vessels of the lining of the womb that the blood passes from one to the other. To do this, it must pass through the walls of the blood vessels, as the vessels of the mother and those of the placenta are not directly united. The blood vessels of the placenta unite to form two veins and one artery which lie very close to each other and are surrounded by a membrane. These three blood vessels united together form what we call the cord. The other end of the cord is attached to the fœtus so that the blood can flow back and forth between the fœtus and placenta.
By the end of the third month the limbs have definite shape, the nails being almost perfectly formed. During the next month the sexual distinctions of the external organs become well marked.
By the last of the fifth month the weight has increased to one pound and the length to eight inches. Active fœtal movements begin, that is, the fœtus begins to move around and not lie quietly as before. This is what is usually spoken of as "feeling life," or as "quickening." There is life from the very beginning but during the first four or five months the fœtus does not move about and so the mother does not "feel life." This has caused the erroneous idea that there is no life before the fifth month.
By the end of the sixth month the weight is two pounds and the length twelve inches. The eyebrows and eyelashes have begun to grow and the lobule of the ear is more characteristic.
By the end of the seventh month the weight is three pounds and the length fourteen inches. The surface of the body, which has appeared wrinkled, now appears more smooth owing to the increase of fat underneath.
By the end of the eighth month the weight is four to five pounds and the length twenty inches. The nails have grown to project beyond the finger tips. Up to this time the body has been covered with a fine hair called lanugo. This now has begun to disappear and the skin becomes brighter and is covered with a white, cheesy material called the vernix caseosa. This almost entirely disappears during the next month, but frequently there are portions of it remaining on the body at the time of birth. The fœtus is fully developed by the end of the ninth month. Then its average weight is six or seven pounds and the length twenty inches.
If we could look into the womb just before the time of labor we would find the fœtus attached by the cord to the placenta and floating in a sac of water. This sac is formed partly of the placenta and partly of the membrane; the side of the placenta opposite to the child being attached to the womb. Just before labor the child takes a position with its head downward, its lower limbs flexed and its arms folded upon its breast. This allows it to come in the usual way, head first. But sometimes, for various reasons, it does not take this position and some part other than the head, for instance, the feet, may be born first.
Labor pains are caused by the contraction of the muscles of the womb in an effort to expel the fœtus. The muscles, contracting, push the fœtus downward to the mouth of the womb but push ahead of it a portion of the membrane enclosing some of the water. This is called the "bag of waters." As it presses against the mouth of the womb it causes it to dilate so as to allow the fœtus to pass through into the vagina. The fœtus, preceded by the bag of waters, then descends through the vagina or birth canal until it comes to the external opening of the vagina. This it must dilate before it can pass through it. The bag of waters should rupture normally while it is being pushed through the external opening. Sometimes the bag does not rupture directly in front of the descending head but further up along the side. Then a portion of the membrane may be over the face of the child when it is born. This is what is called being "born with a veil" or "born with a caul."
The bag of waters helps dilate the parts much easier than the fœtus could do it alone. When the bag breaks the water lubricates the parts so as to make the passage of the child easier. When it breaks, as it sometimes does, at the beginning of labor we have what is termed a "dry labor." This usually is much slower than it would be otherwise. The majority of the cases of labor extend over a period of from twelve to twenty-four hours.
Sometimes the external opening of the vagina does not dilate enough to allow the passage of the child. As the head presses hard against the perineum it tears it. This tear should be repaired immediately after completion of labor.
When the baby is born it is fully formed but its lungs have never contained air. At the first cry the air rushes into the lungs and expands them. At birth there is a change in the circulation of the blood of the baby. Before this time, the blood has passed to and from the placenta through the cord but now this is stopped. Before birth there was an opening between the right and left sides of the heart but this closes during the first few days of the child's life. To assist in this closure, it is wise to keep the child on its right side for a few days. Rarely, this opening never closes and we have what is called a "blue baby," which seldom lives very long.
In a great many cases, painless childbirth could be a possibility by a little attention to diet, exercise and other hygienic measures during the last few months of pregnancy. Knowing this, it seems inconceivable that any woman would neglect to so fully inform herself on these matters that both she and her child could have all benefit of the investigations of science.