QUANTITY.
The quantity of menstrual discharge has been a matter of inquiry on the part of medical men.
It would be a very difficult task, if indeed, not impossible, to determine in any given case the precise amount of menstrual fluid discharged at a single period. An approximation to the general rule is all that can be reasonably looked for in investigations of this kind.
In cold regions, the discharge is more scanty; in hot, more profuse; and in temperate climates, a medium quantity is observed.
Dr. Gooch, in his “Treatise on Midwifery,” quotes De Haen as having made inquiries among poor women, who told him that they used only one cloth at the period, which, when wet, was dried, and then applied again. He then took a similar napkin, dipped it in blood, dried it, and applied the same. This experiment he tried repeatedly, and from it he deduced that from four to eight ounces, rarely ten, and most commonly about six, of the menstrual fluid, are lost at each period.
When we consider the great difficulty in ascertaining accurately the amount of menstrual fluid at a given period, and the great show which a comparatively small quantity of blood or menstrual fluid makes upon white, or light-colored clothing, it is not at all surprising that observers should have varied so much in regard to the true amount.
Hippocrates believed that the Greek women lost twenty pounds of blood at each menstrual period.
Galen estimated the quantity at eighteen ounces.
Haller computed it at six, eight, or twelve ounces for the German women.
According to Smellie it amounts to four ounces.
Astruc says that in England it varies from eight to ten ounces.
Magendie thinks it is often very great among the French women, and may amount to several pounds.
It need hardly be said that the quantity of menstrual discharge often varies greatly in the same individual according to the condition of health, general habits, and a variety of circumstances too numerous to mention. It may be so slight as to be scarcely perceivable, or, on the other hand, it may be so very profuse as to amount to several pounds.
I have no doubt but that the amount of this discharge varies a good deal with the same person at different times, and that, even, when the health is good. At all events, I advise you to take no trouble in reference to it, provided you can manage to keep clear of pain and other derangement of the general health. Keep up a good degree of strength, observing, at the same time, all good hygienic rules, and you have nothing to fear in regard to the quantity of blood you may lose. In other words, take good care of the system, and the system will take good care of itself.
In the next, I shall speak of an important matter connected with this subject. I refer to what is termed the change of life, or the period at which the menstrual function ceases. I need not add that this is a matter of importance to each and all of you, for I am persuaded that you already regard it as such.
LETTER IV.
OF MENSTRUATION.
Cessation of the Menses—Turn of Life—Management at this Period.
In every department of nature we see the most unquestionable evidences of design.
Who but an Almighty Hand could have created a being so complex, and a body so admirably adapted in every respect to his wants, as that of man? Every part of this great piece of God’s handiwork is most accurately fitted to its place, and every function is performed for some important end.
Menstruation and child-bearing are, as we have seen, intimately connected with each other. Suppose a woman could bear children at any period of her life she might choose, what a premature offspring would that be which she would bring forth in childhood, and what a feeble, decrepid one in old age.
But it is not so. Nature has set up bounds which all the art and ingenuity of the whole combined world cannot pass.
It was the benevolence of the Creator that formed her body in this way; for if it had been left to the choice of us poor erring mortals, women would bear children at those times when it would be very improper to do so. And this benevolence extends equally to both mother and child.
Menstruation commences, as we have seen, usually at the age of from fourteen to fifteen years.