Madame Young's Guide to Health / Her experience and practice for nearly forty years; a true family herbal, wherein is displayed the true properties and medical virtues of all the roots, herbs, &c., indigenous to the United States, and their combination in all the diseases the human body is heir to; also, an explanation of the human body, its liability to injuries through ignorance of its structure. Dedicated exclusively to her sex.

by Amelia Young

BASKET OF THE HIPS.

The bony walls of the hips are very strong and solid. The only part that is movable, is the lower end of the back bone, in front; behind the cross bone is the bladder, next comes the womb, and behind this is the back passage.

THE WOMB AND ITS APPENDAGES.

The womb is pear-shaped—the large end being uppermost, and the small end, or mouth, downward, and connected with the neck of the vagina. It hangs on four crotchets, or hooks, which are the upper ligaments to support it; it is also supported by muscles, and from the crown of your head to the ends of your fingers and toes, there are small fibres connected with it. I would say to all, be careful not to stretch or reach the arm higher than its natural limits; a child from seven years old and upwards, to fifteen, may injure these supporters by jumping, and swinging at the length of their arms; so the squaws of the Iroquois tribe assure me, and I have seen a large number of the most distressing cases of this kind.

THE OVARIES.

The ovaries are on each side of the womb, and are a great support to it; ovaries signify egg vessels, and egg, in physiology, means ovum. The egg is the beginning of our specie, or animal life; thence the germ, or seed. The ovaries are two balls, the size of a small egg, connected with the womb by a pipe, or tube, called the fallopian tube; this tube, or passage, carries the ovum to the womb. When menstruation takes place, the ripening and expulsion of the egg is affected by a real inflammation, similar to what may be seen when you run a nail, or piece of wood, into your flesh, when there will arise an inflammation which will cause it to fester, and then it is easily removed from the flesh; it is this periodical irritation, which causes a sympathetic inflammation; at the beginning of the month, the inflammation is slight, but about the time the egg is expelled from the vesicles, the inflammation reaches its height; in order to give relief, the vessels pour out an abundance of blood, and frequently mucous, according to the healthy condition of the ovaries. The ovaries are placed very low in the groins, advancing into the pelvis. In case of malformation, the menses never appear, and impregnation is impossible; but I have known females to become mothers at the age of fifteen, and they never saw their menses; no doubt, if they had not married, it would have come about in its own time. But here I would remark, it is frequently colorless in weak, scrofulous constitutions, and often these obstructions are in the fallopian tube, and falling of the womb is the principal cause. The periodical discharge of the blood, I may say, is often from the uterus, through the vagina, and sometimes from the vagina alone. Menstruation commences between the ages of fourteen and eighteen; I have, however, in my practice, found several cases where they appeared at the age of ten years; but this is not a general rule, and such cases rarely occur. Usually, the earlier the menses appear, the sooner they disappear; but, as a general rule, the menses ought not to depart until at the age of forty-eight or fifty, and I have known them to continue to fifty-five, and those females were perfectly well.

As I said before, the mouth of the womb is connected with the vagina, which signifies a tube, or passage. The vagina is a very thick wall, capable of dilating and contracting, to a very great extent; its length is from four, to five, six, and seven inches, and some anatomists have testified that it is, in some rare cases, even eight inches long; it is not strait—its curve is in front, next to the bladder, while the convex part is next to the rectum, or larger bowels. I explain this, as many are led into error, imagining the womb within an inch of the entrance.

Now, my friends, I have given you a plain description of your internal organs, and I hope you will overlook its deficiencies; I have given my descriptions as delicately as possible.

DISEASE OF THE WOMB.

I will endeavor to explain to you the diseases of the womb and ovaries. In the first place, you can injure the womb by miscarriages; but previous to this, perhaps the ligaments of the womb were weak, and the cause of the miscarriage might be attributed to that. No female should stand on the ends of her toes and reach, as it injures the womb; all tight lacing is injurious; by costiveness, you impair the womb; lifting, beyond your strength, should be avoided. Child-bearing, or violent labor in child-birth, retention of the after-birth—all combine to weaken every muscle and ligament of the womb, and bring on prolapsus uteri, or falling of the womb. I have known the womb to be caloused, in several cases; and as to its falling, as we say, it may be felt more on the rectum and ovaries, and there will, in these cases, be more pain in the sciatica joints, or hip bone, and it may press more on the lower part of the bowels; this is generally brought on by costiveness; long waists have done their work, as well as heavy petticoats; all these combine to press down the bowels and ligaments of the womb; all fall, or bear heavily on the ureter and fallopian tube, and bring on many distressing diseases, as leucorrhœa, or whites. I will here explain the cause of this running, as many are perfectly ignorant of it; in most cases, it is the weeping of the ovaries; when it is purely white, we call it weakness—as a sore or weak eye weeps, so do the ovaries; and when it changes color, green or yellow, and has a disagreeable smell, no doubt they are diseased—either ulcers in the ovaries, or womb, and the distillation is so acrid, that it causes itching and smarting in the vagina, and the lips of it are swelled. There have been, of late, several cases in my practice, in which the female has communicated the same disease to her husband—similar to the clap. But remember, I have known such cases among the most virtuous, and where there was not the least taint of any venereal disease in the system; I do not say but that their blood might be contaminated with humors; I seldom meet with a person, but has more or less humors to combat with. And how many have been injured by mercury, which poisons the blood. Girls may be troubled with the whites, at from three months to fourteen years of age. The womb can be ulcerated as well as the ovaries, and thence comes dropsy, cancers, and various other diseases; and by this pressing down, in fact, two-thirds die of consumption, because all the parts are pulled down, from the midriff, to the liver, intestines, kidneys, womb, and ovaries—there is no action—all is in a debilitated state. Now what can be done? In the first place, put waists on your petticoats; then obtain a cleansing syrup—you will find a recipe for one in the foregoing pages; then take a piece of leather, that will cover from the breasts to the pelvis, a quarter of a yard wide above, but narrower at the bottom, making a hole in it for the navel; spread it with strengthening plaster, a recipe for which will be found in this book; drink the following as a constant beverage: take five roots of sweet fern, a tablespoonful of dry tanzy, and boil in two quarts of water; then strain, and drink a tumbler half full twice during the day.