Commentary. By the term female flux, Ruffus describes the complaint now called the whites; but our author applies it to any vitiated state of the menstrual discharge.
Hippocrates has given a very good description of the symptoms which sometimes attend leucorrhœa, namely, swelling of the face, paleness of the countenance, enlargement of the belly, anasarca of the limbs which pit upon pressure, short breathing, debility, and so forth. He admits the difficulty of curing such complaints, but directs it to be attempted with diuretics, epithemes, masticatories, a desiccative diet, and exercise. He details many interesting histories of the complaint.
The account which Aretæus gives is nearly the same as our author’s. It is sometimes, he says, attended with a white discharge, and sometimes with a red, of which there are several varieties. It occurs at irregular periods, and in some instances when it continues long it will prove fatal by hemorrhage. The symptoms are various according to the nature of the discharge. His chapter on the treatment is lost.
Aëtius has treated of the red flux and of the white separately. When the discharge is red, he begins with venesection, and then applies to the parts sponges soaked in astringent decoctions, the preparation of which he has described at great length. When the discharge is white, he recommends gestation, vociferation, walking, friction, and applications which are both astringent and detergent. Galen correctly remarks that women of a loose phlegmatic habit of body are most subject to the whites.
Oribasius and Nonnus are little different from our author.
Octavius Horatianus approves of an astringent and desiccative regimen. His advice is to produce vomiting frequently with radishes, to use exercise gradually increased, to change the air frequently, and to apply depilatories, calefacient plasters, and sinapisms to the part. If the discharge is copious, and attended with pain, he advises bleeding.
Eros recommends fumigations with the vapours of various herbs, after which calefacient oils are to be applied upon wool to the part.
The works of the Arabians contain nothing remarkable on this head. Haly Abbas recommends venesection when the discharge is bloody; but, if it consist of other humours, he directs us to administer medicines which promote their discharge; and also to use astringent and stimulant pessaries. Alsaharavius recommends the same medicines, and likewise in particular the warm bath.