Tokology

by Alice B. Stockham

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?”

“To her mother, a hygienic institute, or what is better, can’t you get away from business awhile, and go with her yourself? It would do her a world of good. Have a second honeymoon; let her see, hear and do what pleases her best, and, mark my word, you will be well paid.”

“I declare! I never thought of matters in that light before. I believe that you are right. I can get away next week, and I will. Mother can come in and take care of the children while we are gone just as well as not.”

To parents I would say with Fowler: “By all the value of splendid children over poor or none, should all other interests be subservient to maternity, not it to them. Brush aside, like cobwebs, pecuniary, ambitional, and all other ends, and make it imperious lord over all. Your family may better live on bread and water, and you have splendid children, than do all this work, and have ill-natured, sickly ones. What are stylish rooms and furniture, many and high-seasoned dishes, in comparison with a sweet and healthful child?... Your child-rearing mission is your one duty. Do this in the very best manner possible, but make all else secondary. See that the prospective mothers want nothing. They deserve, and, as society advances, will yet receive universal sympathy, along with the utmost care and affection.”

On account of the foregoing remarks, do not suppose that an idle, dependent life is counseled. By no means. A woman in pregnancy, as at other times, should be actively employed, and if it can be in some absorbing, congenial, lucrative work, so much the better. It is the incessant nothings of woman’s work which, while accomplishing so little, yet wear out the nerves, and exhaust the patience.

“Labor is life! ’Tis the still water faileth!

Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth!

Keep the watch wound, or the dark rust assaileth;

Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.

Labor is glory! The flying cloud lightens:

Only the waving wing changes and brightens,

Idle hearts only the dark future frightens.

Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune!”

A lady well known to a large circle of friends as a successful writer and business woman, the mother of a large family of sons and daughters, who, at the age of forty-five is the personification of health and energy, had this remarkable experience: During the period preceding the birth of her fourth child, pecuniary misfortune, and the ill-health of her husband, combined to make it necessary for her to carry on his business. She was obliged to walk nearly two miles every day to his store, where she staid all day absorbingly engaged in the duties of looking after the details of sales, keeping the books, accounts, etc., after which day’s work she walked back to her home.

Everybody said Mrs. B. would surely break down, but instead of doing so she preserved the most vigorous health, and experienced none of the sick and nervous feelings usually incidental to pregnancy. When the child was born, the extraordinary circumstance that its birth was attended with scarcely any pain, led the physician and the lady herself to inquire what might be the cause of such a happy departure from the usual rule.

No other reason could be assigned than the long, regular walks, and the vigorous state of her bodily health. Taking a hint from these facts, in all her subsequent pregnancies, she adopted the plan of taking a large amount of out-door exercise, and keeping her mind occupied by useful employment, and in every succeeding birth the same happy results were obtained.

That she was engaged in an absorbing and congenial occupation, no doubt had much to do with the fact that maternity to her seemed only one of the incidents of life. She had no time to foster aches and pains. The conviction that, by her business management, the support of the family was maintained during her husband’s illness, inspired her with unusual energies and hopes. Could women uplift their home life, realizing the noble work they are accomplishing in their every day duties, they would find in them an inspiration which avails much against physical debility.

Let me prophesy that different and improved methods will be devised to accomplish woman’s work. The mothers of the future will be less burdened, and at the same time achieve more satisfactory results in the labor performed.

This can be done, and the ideal home preserved. Under the present system, many instances of demoralization in domestic life are in consequence of the mother’s inability to fulfill all the requirements of her position. She is the tie that holds the home—the mainspring of home-life. In the prophesied future, she may not wash all the dishes and bake all the bread, any more than she now does the spinning and weaving; yet the maternal love, life and instinct will build a nest far more adapted to successful rearing of offspring than is done under present conditions.