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.
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published first in 1904, and while you may think now it is totally outdated, you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."
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
The book can be read online or downloaded to Kindle and
other eReaders. Choose appropriate file format for downloading.
Read and Download: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4986