You will, then, perceive that cold, under circumstances of fatigue and exhaustion, must have a very different effect from what it does when the body is in great pain. In the former case it is highly dangerous; in the latter, highly useful.
But good as cold water is to relieve pain, do not, I beseech you, neglect the means of restoring the general health under these circumstances. It is very foolish, as well as inconsistent, to allow yourselves to go on in habits which your own better judgment must tell you, can only tend to make you worse at the menstrual period. Do not think, that because you have so good a remedy as cold water always at hand, that you can do as you like in regard to self-indulgence.
LETTER VII.
SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.
Importance of the Subject—Difficulties of ascertaining Pregnancy in some Cases—Means by which it is to be Known.
There are some circumstances in which a knowledge of the signs of pregnancy is of very great importance. Dr. Rigby informs us that “there are numerous cases on record where a false diagnosis in women convicted of capital offenses, has led to the most lamentable results, and where dissection of the body after death has shown that she was pregnant.”
Baudelocque, a French writer on the subject, relates the case of a French countess, who was imprisoned during the Revolution, in consequence of being accused of carrying on a treasonable correspondence with her husband, an emigrant. She was ordered to be examined by two of the best midwives in Paris, and they declared her not pregnant. She was accordingly beheaded upon the guillotine, and her body taken to the School of Anatomy, where it was opened by Baudelocque, who found twins in the fifth month of pregnancy.
A great many mistakes of this kind have been made, first and last, in the medical world. Not many months ago, in this city, two eminent practitioners—one of them in particular being one of the most celebrated in the world—had a patient whom it was declared had an internal tumor, from which it would not be possible for her to recover. The physician who attended principally in the case, went often to visit the lady, to crowd up the tumor, as it was called. After a time the physician was sent for early in the morning, to visit the case, as the lady was suffering a good deal of pain. He said he would make it his first visit to see her. On arriving, what must have been his surprise to find his patient already delivered of a fine boy!
The signs of pregnancy, that are very difficult to understand; or, in other words, to ascertain whether a woman is really pregnant in a given case, may be a very difficult matter, if not absolutely an impossible one.
You will agree with me, I am confident, that the old custom of impanneling a jury of twelve matrons, where a court of justice wished to ascertain whether a woman was quick with child or not, was not a good one. If the most experienced physicians and midwives are liable to great mistakes in these matters, how much more so those who have paid little attention to the subject.
But it is my purpose in the present letter to speak of the ordinary signs, changes, and appearances which will usually be found to be accompaniments of this state; and that you will feel a deep interest in the subject, I am already fully aware.