The Four Epochs of Woman's Life by Anna M. Galbraith

As in a building
 Stone rests on stone, and wanting the foundation
 All would be wanting, so in human life
 Each action rests on the foregoing event
 That made it possible, but is forgotten
 And buried in the earth.

Longfellow

We are opening the section of the books with landmark book The Four Epochs of Woman’s Life by Anna Galbraith – one of more than 40,000 ebook offered for free legal download and use under the Project Gutenberg.

The book is published first in 1904, and while you may think now it is totally outdated, you would be surprised of how much you may find useful not just for the menopause related information, but also for other periods of the woman’s life.

PREFACE

"Ignorance is the curse of God;
 Knowledge, the wings wherewith we fly to heaven."

— "Henry VI."

PERFECT health is essential to perfect happiness. The greater the knowledge of the laws of nature, and the more closely these laws are lived up to, so much nearer "ideal" will be the health and happiness of the individual. Hence the necessity that these same laws should be as familiar to the adult man and woman as the alphabet. Further, with our present knowledge of the certain suffering, disease, and death that are bred by ignorance of all these subjects, it is little less than criminal to allow girls to reach the age of puberty without the slightest knowledge of the menstrual function; young women to be married in total ignorance of the ethics of married life; women to become mothers without any conception of the duties of motherhood; other women, as the time approaches, to live in dread apprehension of "the change of life;" and many women unnecessarily to succumb to disease at this time.

The masses of women have at last awakened to a sense of the awful penalties which they have paid for their ignorance of all those laws of nature which govern their physical being, and to feel keenly the necessity for instruction at least in the fundamental principles which underlie the various epochs of their lives; and it is in response to a widespread demand that this small volume has been written.

This is preeminently the day of preventive medicine; and the physician who can prevent the origin of disease is a greater benefactor than the one who can lessen the mortality or suffering after the disease has occurred.

ANNA M. GALBRAITH

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

EDUCATION AS THE CONTROLLING FACTOR IN THE PHYSICAL LIFE OF WOMAN: Huxley's Definition of Education; the Correlation of Mind and Body; the Emotional Nature; Age for Going to School; the Effect of the Study of the Scientific Branches; Industrial Education

PART I. — MAIDENHOOD

CHAPTER I

PUBERTY: Sexual Development; Age of Puberty; Physical Changes at Puberty; First Onset of Menstruation; Psychic Changes at Puberty

CHAPTER II

HYGIENE OF PUBERTY: Home Life; Corsets; Shoes; Underwear; Nutrition; Diet; Water; Constipation; School Life; Spinal Curvature; Exercise; Walking; Running

CHAPTER III

ANATOMY OF THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS: The Vulva; the Hymen; Condition of the Hymen as a Proof of Virginity; the Bladder; Vagina; Uterus; Respiratory Movements of the Uterus; Fallopian Tubes; Ovaries

CHAPTER IV

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS: Ovulation; Etiology of Menstruation; Uterine Nerve-supply; the Function of the Uterus; Stages of the Menstrual Cycle; Average Duration of the Menstrual Flow; Character of the Flow; Relation of Ovulation to Menstruation; the Menstrual Wave; Definition of Menstruation; Premonitory Symptoms of the Flow; Hygiene of Menstruation

CHAPTER V

THE ANOMALIES OF MENSTRUATION: Menorrhagia and Metrorrhagia; Dysmenorrhea; Amenorrhea; Leucorrhea; Pruritus Vulva

CHAPTER VI

THE MARRIAGE QUESTION: Herbert Spencer's Definition of Love; What Constitutes a Suitable Husband; Best Age for Marriage; Shall Cousins Marry? Contraindications to Marriage; Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands? the Proper Length of Time for the Engagement; the Right Time of the Year to Marry; the Selection of the Wedding Day

PART II. — MARRIAGE

CHAPTER VII

THE ETHICS OF MARRIED LIFE: The Wedding Journey; the Ethics of Married Life; Shall Husband and Wife Occupy the Same Bed? the Consummation of Marriage; the Marital Relation; Times when Marital Relations Should be Suspended

CHAPTER VIII

SEXUAL INSTINCT IN WOMEN: Sexual Instinct in Women; Excessive Coitus; Causes of Sexual Excitability

CHAPTER IX

STERILITY: Sterility; the Prevention of Conception and the Limitation of Offspring; the Crime of Abortion; Infidelity in Women

PART III. — MATERNITY

CHAPTER X

PREGNANCY: Nature of Conception; Pregnancy Defined; Duration of Pregnancy; the Signs of Pregnancy; Quickening; the Determination of Sex at Will; the Influence of the Male Sexual Element on the Fernale

CHAPTER XI

THE CONFINMENT: Preparation for the Confinement; Signs of Approaching Labor; Symptoms of Actual Labor; The Confinement-bed; the Process of Labor

CHAPTER XII

THE LYING-IN: Management of the Lying-in; Lactation; Nursing

CHAPTER XIII

THE NEW-BORN INFANT: The Infant's Toilet; the Crib; Feeding of Infants; the Wet-nurse; Artificial Feeding; Characteristics of Healthy Infants; the Stools; Constipation; Urination; Teething

PART IV. — THE MENOPAUSE

CHAPTER XIV

THE MENOPAUSE: Average Duration of the Menstrual Function; Duration of Menopause; the Menopause; General Phenomena of the Menopause; Prominent Symptoms of Menopause; Pathologic Conditions of Menopause; Hemorrhage at the Menopause a Significant Symptom of Cancer; Causes of Suffering at Menopause

CHAPTER XV

HYGIENE OF THE MENOPAUSE: Diet; Constipation; Stimulants; the Kidneys; Skin; Turkish Baths; Massage; Exercise; Profuse Menstruation; Hemorrhage; Mental Therapeutics

CHAPTER XVI

HINTS FOR HOME TREATMENT: Indigestion; Constipation; Enemas; Diarrhea; Vaginal Douché, Baths; Headache; Fainting; Hemorrhage

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