The principal causes are—ignorance of the laws of health, Nature's laws being set at nought by fashion and by folly, by want of fresh air and exercise, by want of occupation, and by want of self-reliance. Weak, nervous, and unhappy! Well they might be! What have they to make them strong and happy? Have they work to do to brace the muscles? Have they occupation—useful, active occupation—to make them happy? No! they have neither the one nor the other!
386. What diseases are girls most subject to?
The diseases peculiar to girls are—Chlorosis—Green-sickness—and
Hysterics.
387. What are the usual causes of Chlorosis? Chlorosis is caused by torpor and debility of the whole frame, especially of the womb. It is generally produced by scanty or by improper food, by the want of air and of exercise, and by too close application within doors. Here we have the same tale over again—close application within doors, and the want of fresh air and of exercise. When will the eyes of a mother he opened, to this important subject?—the most important that can engage her attention!
388. What is the usual age for Chlorosis to occur and what are the symptoms?
Chlorosis more frequently attacks girls from fifteen to twenty years of age; although unmarried women, much older, occasionally have it. I say unmarried, for, as a rule, it is a complaint of the single.
The patient, first of all, complains of being languid, tired, and out of spirits; she is fatigued with the slightest exertion; she has usually palpitation of the heart (so as to make her fancy that she has a disease of that organ, which, in all probability, she has not); she has shortness of breath, and a short dry cough; her face is flabby and pale; her complexion gradually assumes a yellowish or greenish hue—hence the name of chlorosis; there is a dark, livid circle around her eyes; her lips lose their colour, and become almost white; her tongue is generally white and pasty, her appetite is bad, and is frequently depraved—the patient often preferring chalk, slate pencil, cinder, and even dirt, to the daintiest food, indigestion frequently attends chlorosis, she has usually pains over the short-ribs, on the left side, she suffers greatly from "wind"—is frequently nearly choken by it, her bowels are generally costive, and the stools are unhealthy, she has pains in her hips, loins, and back, and her feet and ankles are oftentimes swollen. The menstrual discharge is either suspended or very partially performed, if the latter, it is usually almost colourless. Hysterical fits not unfrequently occur during an attack of chlorosis.
389. How may Chlorosis be prevented?
If health were more and fashion were less studied, chlorosis would not be such a frequent complaint. This disease generally takes its rise from mismanagement—from Nature's laws having been set at defiance. I have heard a silly mother express an opinion that it is not genteel for a girl to eat heartily! Such language is perfectly absurd and cruel. How often, too, a weak mother declares that a healthy, blooming girl looks like a milk maid! It would be well if she did! How true and sad it is, that "a pale, delicate face, and clear eyes, indicative of consumption, are the fashionable desiderata at present for complexion."—Dublin University Magazine.
A growing girl requires plenty of good nourishment—as much as her appetite demands, and if she have it not, she will become either chlorotic, or consumptive, or delicate. Besides, the greatest beautifier in the world is health, therefore, by a mother studying the health of her daughter, she will, at the same time, adorn her body with, beauty! I am sorry to say that too many parents think more of the beauty than of the health of their girls. Sad and lamentable infatuation! Nathaniel Hawthorne—a distinguished American—gives a graphic description of a delicate young lady. He says—"She is one of those delicate nervous young creatures not uncommon in New England, and whom I suppose to have become what we find them by the gradually refining away of the physical system among young women. Some philosophers choose to glorify this habit of body by terming it spiritual, but in my opinion, it is rather the effect of unwholesome food, bad air, lack of out-door exercise, and neglect of bathing, on the part of these damsels and their female progenitors, all resulting in a kind of hereditary dyspepsia."