Menstruation.—When females arrive at the age of puberty they begin to have a discharge once every month, by way of the vagina, of the color of blood. This discharge is termed the menses. To have it is to menstruate. The age at which menstruation commences varies with different individuals, and also in different climates. The warmer the climate the earlier it commences and ceases. In temperate climates it generally commences at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and it ceases at forty-four, or a little later. *
Whenever it commences the girl acquires a more womanly appearance. It is a secretion of the uterus, or, in other words, the minute vessels distributed to the inner coat of uterus, select as it were, from the blood, and pour out in a gradual manner the materials of this fluid. It has one of the properties, color, of blood, but it does not coagulate, or separate into different parts like blood, and cannot properly be called blood.**
* Dr. Chavasse, on p. 94 of his "Advice to a Wife"
published by W. H. Smith & Son gives instances of very
early menstruation and consequent fecundity.—Publishers'
note,
** "The menstrual discharge," says Dr. Kirkes, "consists of
blood effused from the inner surface of the uterus, and
mixed with mucus from the uterus, vagina, and the external
parts of the generative apparatus. Being diluted by this
admixture, the menstrual blood coagulates less perfectly
than ordinary blood; and the frequent acidity of the vaginal
mucus tends still further to diminish its coagulability."—
Handbook of Physiology, 8th ed., p. 727, 1874.—G. R.
When this discharge is in all respects regular, it amounts in most females to six or eight ounces, and from two to four days' continuance. During its continuance the women is said to be unwell, or out of order. Various unpleasant feelings are liable to attend it; but when it is attended with severe pain, as it not infrequently is, it becomes a disease, and the woman is not likely to conceive until it is cured. During the existence of the "turns," or "monthlies," as they are often called, indigestible food, dancing in warm rooms, sudden exposure to cold or wet, and mental agitations, should be avoided as much as possible. The "turns" do not continue during pregnancy, nor nursing, unless nursing be continued after the "turns" recommence. Some women, it is true, are subject to a slight hemorrhage that sometimes occurs with considerable regularity during pregnancy, and which has led them to suppose they have their turns at such times; but it is not so; the discharge at such times is real blood.*
* Consult on the whole of this Dr. Chavasse's book, pp. 91-
101, where full details are given.—Publishers' note.
The use of the menstrual discharge seems to be to prepare the uterine system for conception. For females do not become pregnant before they commence, nor after they cease having turns; nor while they are suppressed by some disease, by cold or by nursing. Some credible women, however, have said that they become pregnant while nursing, without having had any turn since their last lying-in. It is believed that in these oases they had some discharge, colorless, perhaps, which they did not notice, but which answered the purposes of the common one. Women are not nearly so likely to conceive during the week before a monthly as during the week immediately after.* But although the use of this secretion seems to be to prepare for conception, it is not to be inferred that the reproductive instinct ceases at the "turn of life," or when the woman ceases to menstruate. On the contrary, it is said that this passion often increases at this period, and continues in a greater or less degree to an extreme age.
* See, however, Dr. Bull's "Hints to Mothers," pp. 31-58,
and 127-129 (published by Longmans, Green & Co.)—
Publishers' note.
Conception.—The part performed by the male in the reproduction of the species consists in exciting the organism of the female, and depositing the semen in the vagina. Before I inquire what takes place in the females I propose to speak of the semen.
This fluid, which is secreted by the testicles, may be said to possess three kinds of properties, physical, chemical, physiological. Its physical properties are known to every one—it is a thickish, nearly opaque fluid, of a peculiar odor, saltish taste, etc. As to its chemical properties, it is found by analysis to consist of 900 parts of water, 60 of animal muscilage, 10 of soda, 30 of phosphate of lime. Its physiological property is that of exciting the female genital organs in a peculiar manner.
When the semen is examined by microscope, there can be distinguished a multitude of small animalculæ, which appear to have a rounded head and a long tail. These animalculæ move with a certain degree of rapidity. They appear to avoid the light and to delight in the shade. Leeuwenhoek, if not the discoverer of the seminal animalculse, was the first who brought the fact of their existence fully before the public. With respect to their size, he remarked that ten thousand of them might exist in a space not larger than a grain of sand. They have a definite figure, and are obviously different from the animalculse found in any other fluid.*