Girl, Wife And Mother

Front matter

GIRL , WIFE MOTHER

A GUIDE FOR EVERY GIRL AND WOMAN IN ALL IMPORTANT PERIODS OF LIFE, BEGINNING WITH THE TRANSITION FROM GIRLHOOD TO WOMANHOOD

WRITTEN IN PLAIN AND SIMPLE LANGUAGE IT CONTAINS

Preface

N this book the author has endeavored to present information that every woman should possess in order to preserve her health and vigor and that of her children. Few mothers have sufficient knowledge to instruct their daughters properly. The physician seldom is given the opportunity or takes the time to teach well people how to live. For her guidance, therefore, a woman must depend upon reliable articles and books written especially for her.

This book does not attempt to teach treatment of disease; its object is to tell girl, wife and mother what to do and what to avoid doing in order that she may lead a healthy life. It is written in plain and simple language, with an avoidance of medical terms, so as to be easily understood. All directions are specific and definite that they may be readily followed.

MYER SOLIS-COHEN.

November I, I9II.

*

CHarrTer L.

Contents

Paces

KNOWLEDGE THE GREATEST FACTOR IN PRE-

SERVING HEALTH.

Chapter I. Knowledge The Greatest Factor In Preserving Health

Popular Instruction. Prevalence of Erroneous Notions. Learning the Truth. Education for Motherhood.

The medical world is beginning to realize that the aid of the people themselves is required to prevent disease. The physician is called in only after a person has fallen ill. Then it is too late for prevention. Seldom, indeed, do persons in health come to a physician for advice. There is need, therefore, of other means of imparting information, such as books, articles in newspapers and magazines, lectures, pamphlets, exhibitions and societies formed for the purpose of combating disease.

Little headway against tuberculosis was made until the people were taught its nature, prevention and cure, and joined associations for stamping it out. Questions concerning the milk supply, the care of infants and school children, the prevention of social diseases, and other matters, are

12 KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR

OOOO ECOQRNRNOwOwOO*O*e“8$#>*“$D—RDw=$*SO*>o>®»>SasSsSS being solved similarly. In many cities, for instance, public lectures on the care of the baby are given to mothers, being sometimes supplemented by personal instruction in the homes.

The Prevalence of Erroneous Notions.

The amount of ignorance that exists to-day despite all these measures for public enlightenment is really surprising. One would scarcely believe how many false ideas are prevalent as to the nature, abnormalities and hygiene of the different epochs of a woman’s life. Even more incredible is the number of seemingly intelligent women who believe and repeat as facts the impossible nonsense they hear. The light of civilization that dispelled most of the superstitions of the dark ages seems never to have reached the old wives’ tales. In regard to much that concerns herself and her children, the average woman is woefully ignorant, not because she does not desire knowledge, but because her usual sources of information are other women as ignorant as she.

Pitiful indeed is the position of the young wife. She soon finds herself surrounded by acquaintances and friends, all eager, under the guise of giving sound advice, to pass on to her the traditions of their sex. With what self-satisfaction

KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR 13 SSS eee ————————————EEE=SaQQEESSSSSSSSSSS does each grasp the opportunity to pose as an oracle! But, bad as they are, the foolish fables are not the worst things that women whisper. Before many months the bride learns, often for the first time, the baseness of many of her married friends, who in confidential chats sully her mind with degrading suggestions. Especially on becoming pregnant is she forced to realize their hardness, their hollowness and their heartlessness. She is made acquainted with a new philosophy of life, based on selfishness, which ignores the primary object of marriage.

The strong, womanly woman, who remains true to herself and to her sex, withstanding the assaults of the vicious, must still run the gauntlet of the ignorant. Her so-called friends will repeat to her all the tales they have heard concerning her condition, never neglecting to include and emphasize all its complications. They portray pregnancy as a state of abject misery, beset on every hand with the gravest risks. Folk-lore, handed down from time immemorial and absolutely wanting in fact, is recited with a positiveness that would be ludicrous were it not pathetic.

The crowning horror they herald is the approaching confinement. Exaggerating every phase, making the pain and the danger many

14 KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR —oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo——SS aa times the reality, they take delight in dwelling on the accidents and abnormalities, no matter how rare, and in describing with all their gruesome details the fatal cases they have known. Not infrequently they even profess to detect in the poor woman they address symptoms similar to those shown by the patients that died.

Learning the Truth.

The young wife, who at such a time is in need of encouragement, sympathy and support, is thus cruelly frightened by the falsehoods uttered by her friends, who no doubt are more often thoughtless and ignorant than cruel and deliberately deceiving.

Strange as it may seem, a woman seldom appeals to her physician or discusses with him the things she hears, although she could thus readily learn the truth. The reader is strongly urged to consult her physician whenever in doubt. She will always find him willing and glad to instruct her.

As an additional source of information this little volume has been written, so that any woman can always readily obtain the facts and not be at the mercy of her ignorant friends. In it the various periods of a woman’s life are explained,

KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR 15 Ld beginning with the transition from childhood to womanhood and continuing through pregnancy and childbirth to change of life. The hygiene and the physiology of each period are both given, so that a woman will not only know how to live, but will understand the reason for everything she does. While teaching chiefly how to keep well and avoid sickness, the book also tells how to recognize dangerous symptoms and what to do in emergencies before the doctor comes.

Throughout the whole of life, knowledge is one’s greatest safeguard against disease. Much avoidable injury is done by the ignorant woman who frequently imagines that suffering is her natural lot, and often views with complacency symptoms of the gravest import. How many deaths from cancer could have been prevented had the patient recognized as important the first signs of her trouble and not put off mentioning them until all chance for cure had passed!

Education for Motherhood.

It is not always for her own health alone that a woman must care. Often in her hands is the regulation of other lives. On the inexperienced mother, therefore, a great responsibility rests. ‘As an eminent gynecologist has remarked:

16 KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR

_ TS a)

“The most important factor in the development of a healthy girl baby into a healthy young woman is an intelligent mother, and no more urgent problem calls for solution to-day than that of securing adequate training for the duties of maternity. Maternal instinct and maternal love plus family traditions are not sufficient equipments for rearing a healthy family. They must be guided by maternal intelligence. . . The health of the growing girl begins with the education of her mother.”

Education for motherhood occupies a prominent place in this book. Instruction is given in the care of the baby, including its food, clothing, bathing, sleep, rest and exercise. Of equal importance to the wife and the mother is an allied subject that in the past has received too little attention—the protection of girls and women by their enlightenment on sexual matters. No longer are ignorance and innocence regarded as synonymous. The former, in fact, is now believed even to endanger the latter. Many mothers, however, who recognize the need of instructing their children in regard to sex and reproduction, are at a loss to know how to approach the subject. They feel almost helpless when they consider their own insufficient knowledge. What a girl has a

KNOWLEDGE THE GREAT FACTOR 17 right to know forms the basis of several chapters, easily told in the simple manner that a mother might well adopt herself in presenting the matter to her children. Under the headings ‘The Guarantee of Safety in the Marriage Contract” and “Providing for the Health of the Unborn” is plainly stated what a woman has a right to demand before entering marriage, in order that she herself may remain undefiled and her children be brought into the world sound in mind and in body.

The reader must not imagine herself competent to detect or treat disease, whether occurring in herself or in her children. She should be careful always to consult her physician at the first signs of illness and to follow strictly his advice. The book, however, acquaints her with the information that every woman should possess in order to keep well and strong and rear a healthy and happy family.

Chapter II. The Generative Organs

Sex Throughout Nature. Female Sexual Organs in Plants and the Lower Animals. The Uterus or Womb. The Vagina. The Appendages.

Sex Throughout Nature.

All living matter possesses the power of reproduction. This is one of the characteristics that distinguish it from non-living matter. In the higher forms of life, both animal and vegetable, a spectal portion of each organism is set apart for this distinct purpose. The elements necessary to the formation of a new plant or animal are as a rule not all found in one individual, but are divided between two, which are known respectively as the male and the female. A union of these two elements is usually required to form the new organism. The offspring develops from one element, the female, as soon as the male element is added to it. This distinction of sex occurs in flowers, the stamens representing the male, the

THE GENERATIVE ORGANS 19 pistil the female. Willow trees show still further sexual differentiation, some producing only those catkins, or pussy-willows, which consist entirely of pistils, and others blossoming only into stamenbearing catkins. In the familiar corn or maize the “tassel” is the male flower, the “silk” the female.

Female Organs in Plants and the Lower Animals,

In the center of every flower stands the pistil, the upper portion forming the style and the stigma, the deep-seated portion being the ovary, which contains the ovule. When the flower is fertilized by the male element—the pollen—the ovary begins to develop and to form seeds, which, when planted, put forth leaves and stalks and finally bear flowers, just as did their parents. The pod with its peas or beans, and the apple or pear with its seeds, represent the ovary of the plant.

In the animal kingdom sexual organs are possessed by even the lowest members. The ovary of the fish, for instance, is familiar as the roe. It contains countless ova which, when deposited, _are known as spawn. These ova, upon being fertilized, become the eggs, from which later the baby fish are hatched.

20 THE GENERATIVE OKGANS

In birds the ovum is fertilized while in the ovary, then being laid in the form of an egg, to be hatched outside the mother’s body. Every woman who has dressed a hen has seen the ovary with the unfertilized ova and the fertilized eggs.

In all the lower animals the embryo, as the unborn offspring is called, develops and obtains its food outside the parent’s body. The chick, for example, lies within an egg, nourished by the white and the yolk, and protected by the shell.

In the higher animals the offspring must obtain its nourishment from its mother while it is developing as well as after it is born. It must also be protected by her body. ‘The organ in which the embryo lies, while being formed into a living animal, is called the uterus or womb.

The Uterus or Womb.

In woman the uterus, or womb, is a hollow organ, shaped like an inverted pear, about two inches and a half long, one inch and a quarter wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick. The walls are composed of thick muscles enclosing a triangular cavity just big enough to hold the contents of about half a teaspoonful. The uterus ends below in a neck, called the cervix, traversed by a narrow canal, called the cervical canal, an

THE GENERATIVE ORGANS 21 inch and a half long. The upper end of this canal, where it opens into the cavity of the uterus, is called the internal os or mouth; the lower opening into the vagina is known as the external os or mouth. The body and the neck of the womb are both lined with a membrane containing glands, which secrete mucus.

The Vagina.

The neck of the womb projects into a tube, called the vagina, about four inches long. The walls of this tube lie normally in contact, but are capable of being stretched to a considerable extent. The vagina is also lined with a mucous membrane containing glands that secrete mucus, which acts as a lubricant. It opens externally, but in a maiden is partially covered by a thin membrane called the hymen.

The Appendages.

The uterus is supported by means of ligaments fastened to each side and attached to the bones. It is slung between the two ligaments just as a person is supported in a hammock.

Along the upper border of the ligaments lie the oviducts or Fallopian tubes, which open into the womb at the top on each side. They are

22 THE GENERATIVE ORGANS eel narrow tubes, about four inches long, running outward from the corners of the womb and opening like funnels at their other extremities, where they are in contact with the ovaries, connecting them with the womb. They also are lined with mucous membrane.

The ovary is like an almond in shape and size, and hangs in the fold of the ligament just below the Fallopian tube, at its distal end. It is a gland secreting ova, or eggs. It probably also secretes a substance necessary to woman’s health, about which not much is known.

The uterus and its appendages, as the tubes and ovaries are called, lie in a bony basin, called the pelvis.

Chapter III. Adolescence

The Changes that Occur at Adolescence. The Influence of Climate and Race. Mode of Life and Heredity. Delay in the Appearance of Menstruation. Mental and Spiritual Changes at Puberty. Periods of Storm and Stress and of Doubt. Alienation and Reconstruction. Growth Without Definite Transitions.

In the child the sexual organs are but partially developed and remain inactive. At about the end of the fourteenth year, however, they begin to functionate, and the girl becomes capable of reproduction. The period at which this occurs is called puberty or adolescence.

In addition to the changes in the generative organs, other alterations take place in girls at this period. The figure begins to assume the aspect of womanhood, the breasts become developed, the pelvis and abdomen enlarge, the voice undergoes a change, hair appears in the armpits and about the pubic region, and the menstrual flow, or monthly sickness, is established.

24 ADOLESCENCE ooo The Influence of Climate and Race.

Although puberty usually occurs about the thirteenth or fourteenth year, it may appear earlier or later, its onset being influenced by climate, race, modes of life, and heredity. In tropical climates it may occur at nine or ten years of age; in Egypt and Sierra Leone it occurs normally at ten years. In these climates it is said not to be an uncommon thing for a girl to be a mother at twelve.

Puberty occurs late in the cooler climates, and among the peoples normally inhabiting them. In Lapland, for instance, menstruation does not appear until the eighteenth year. The Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races while in their European homes arrive at adolescence oftenest when fifteen years of age. In the United States and Canada puberty usually occurs about the fourteenth or fifteenth year.

In Hungary the three races, Slavonic, Magyar and Jewish, living side by side in the same climate, reach adolescence when sixteen, fifteen and thirteen years of age, respectively. Hindu girls of Calcutta and negresses of Jamaica, also living in the same climate, begin menstruating at the eleventh and fifteenth year, respectively. Some writers state that blondes mature earlier than

ADOLESCENCE 25 a brunettes. Menstruation among Jewesses begins a year or two in advance of other races in this country. In negroes and Creoles the monthly sickness appears earlier than in white people.

Mode of Life and Heredity.

The influence of city life, with its excitement of parties, theatres, association with the other sex, and sexual temptations, tends to hasten the oncoming of puberty.

It is said that diet has an influence, that stimulating foods, such as pepper, vinegar, mustard, spices and condiments generally, tea and coffee, and an excess of animal food, have a clearly appreciable influence in prematurely bringing about this condition.

Heredity may affect the time of puberty, it being a matter of common observation that in some families menstruation may begin early through several generations.

Delay in the Appearance of Menstruation.

Although other signs of puberty may occur at the usual time, the menstrual flow is sometimes late in making its appearance. This is usually due to a condition of anemia or impoverished blood, caused by want of sufficient sunlight, fresh

26 ADOLESCENCE air, exercise, good food and sleep, and by a too close application to study.

In the opinion of Professor Kelly, of Johns Hopkins University, it is unreasonable to anticipate normal puberty in the weak, poorly nourished, and imperfectly developed girl who has been permitted to violate the laws of health throughout childhood. He regards it useless to concentrate attention upon one period of a girl’s life and to attempt by over solicitude at this time to remedy the effects of early mistakes in hygienic living and hereditary tendencies.

Mental and Spiritual Changes.

As womanhood unfolds, other changes occur besides those of the body. The girl is in a state of restlessness and of nerve irritability; her mind is confused with feelings of undefined longings and desires, and of vague dissatisfaction with all about her. She often tends to become morbid, fanciful, self-conscious and supersensitive, and her feelings are easily hurt.

During adolescence a marked event in the spiritual life frequently occurs, which is usually associated with apparently sudden changes of character. This phenomenon, known as conversion, is confined almost wholly to the years between

ADOLESCENCE 27 SSS SSS EES nine, or ten, and twenty, between the innocence of childhood and the fixed habits of maturity, while the girl is yet impressionable and has already capacity for spiritual insight.

Sometimes the attainment of spiritual life is simply a process of even and continuous development. According to Dr. Starbuck, late in childhood, at the beginning of adolescence, there is a more or less definite clearing of the religious atmosphere. The ideas of God and duty and religious observance, which have been external to the child during the earlier years, now take root in her life and have a vital significance. Heretofore they have been embodied in precept or custom, or in her own playful imagination. Now they have begun to be her own.

_ Periods of Storm and Stress, and of Doubt.

Nearly three-fourths of all girls at this time go through a period of storm and stress, which manifests itself in a number of ways. There may be present a sense of incompleteness and imperfection; brooding, depression, and morbid introspection; distress over doubts; friction against surroundings ; effort to control passion. The helplessness that comes with storm and stress is often cured by inducing wholesome activity.

28 ADOLESCENCE

About half the girls also go through a period of doubt. If parents and Sunday-school teachers would realize this mental attitude, and meet it with tact and wisdom, they could often guide the girl safely through this difficult epoch in her spiritual life.

Alienation and Reconstruction.

‘As it is, about a third of all women pass finally through a period of alienation, due, according to Starbuck, to doubt, storm and stress, ill health, environmental conditions, necessity of gaining relaxation, the necessity to preserve in one way or another the wholeness of the individual life, and the pleasure that comes from the sense of freedom.

The close of adolescence is marked by the period of reconstruction. This reconstruction, Starbuck says, consists either in working out one’s belief and faith independently of that of other people, accepting one’s own point of view and beginning to live it and be happy in it, or in coming back to the old forms and dogmas of childhood and putting new life into them.

Growth Without Definite Transitions. Sometimes instead of sudden conversion, a growth without definite transitions occurs. This

ADOLESCENCE 29 is favored by religious surroundings in childhood; by keeping children reasonably free from dogma which they are incapable of assimilating ; and by carefully meeting the needs of the child at every point in its development. It is more likely to occur when there is a certain mixture of faith and doubt continually and a sufficient degree of freedom to question all things to insure a clear horizon, and enough trust and insight and poise of spirit to remain firmly rooted in the heart of religion,

Chapter IV. The Hygiene Of Puberty

Air, Food, Bathing, Sleep. Avoidance of Overwork and Excitement. Preparing the Girl for Puberty. A Mother’s Confidence.

The hygiene of puberty should properly be a continuation of the hygiene of childhood. Adolescence produces the least trouble when the girl has observed the laws of health from infancy. It is between the ages of twelve years and a half and fourteen and a half, however, that the greatest growth occurs. Unfortunately, as a rule, the strength does not increase proportionately. During this period, therefore, a girl frequently neglects to hold herself erect, and experiences difficulty in concentrating her attention.

Air, Food, Bathing, Sleep.

Fresh air is essential during these years. Much time should be spent out of doors, in walking and playing games that do not fatigue or excite. Contests, however, are to be avoided.

THE HYGIENE OF PUBERTY 31

Proper food in sufficient quantity is necessary to provide material for the rapid growth.

A cold hygienic, stimulating, or hardening, bath should always form part of the morning’s toilet, especially at this period. It may be taken as a cold rub or sponge, a shower, or a plunge. It is of very brief duration—a few seconds merely, and is followed immediately by a brisk rub with a dry, rough towel until the skin is in a pink glow. Twice a week a warm cleansing bath with soap should be taken, best immediately before retiring, and always followed by a quick rub with cold water to prevent taking cold.

No less than nine hours of sleep are required. The bedroom windows should be opened widely both in summer and in winter. If a girl goes to bed wholesomely tired she is likely to fall promptly into a sound sleep undisturbed by dreams. She must not be permitted to lie abed after waking in the morning.

Avoidance of Overwork and Excitement.

Overwork in school, especially in an ill ventilated, unhygienic building, is to be avoided. Naturally, some of the hours out of school must be devoted to study; but if every other available minute is taken up with household duties and

82 THE HYGIENE OF PUBERTY one practicing music, no time is left for exercise in the open air. The mental and physical strain of several consecutive hours at the piano is distinctly harmful. Long periods of sewing on the machine are also considered objectionable. Light duties, however, give a girl something to occupy her mind and take her thoughts off herself.

It is well to keep the girl free from excitement and especially from the strain and stress of emotional life. Her thoughts should be diverted from sexual matters, all associations and modes of life having such a tendency being discouraged. A wise supervision over books and companions is important. By encouraging outdoor life and interests, allowing healthful amusements and judicious exercise, both mind and body are prevented from running into morbid states. There will then be less tendency for the girl’s thoughts to become centered upon herself and upon her sexual organs. The development of improper habits will also thereby be rendered less likely.

The hygiene of the menstrual period itself is discussed in a succeeding chapter.

Preparing the Girl for Puberty.

The importance of a duty that many mothers shirk is thus presented by Dr. Jane Walker:

THE HYGIENE OF PUBERTY 33 aaaSaqar—a—sewaoaq<aneamaaeyena—X—Oox—eoeooooaoaeeeee “Mothers and guardians of girls should obtain their entire confidence with regard to their monthly functions; it will save much misery both to body and mind.

“Here let me say that it is the duty of a mother to be open with her girl in this connection. When, from the changes that are occurring in the girl’s body, her mother suspects that menstruation is about to take place, it is her duty to tell her what lies before her. What she will say will vary with the daughter’s age, and also with the extent of the mother’s own knowledge. If the latter has some acquaintance with physiology and natural science, she will be in a better position with regard to this question than one who has had no scientific teaching at all. Probably the simplest plan is to draw the girl’s attention to the various signs of approaching womanhood, and then to tell her that this is one of them. In whatever way the communication is made, it must not be omitted, for no one can realize the shock endured by a perfectly ignorant girl on experiencing her first monthly period. Many of the ills suffered in later life are traceable to neglect and ignorance at this time. Moreover, if the mother does not herself tell the girl, someone else will probably do so, and the communica-

34 THE HYGIENE OF PUBERTY

_—————— tion may be made with coarseness, which will have an injurious effect on the girl’s character. A mother should at this period of her life be a girl’s best friend, with whom she feels there can be no reserve.”

A Mother’s Confidence.

Dr. Button emphasizes that, as the girl approaches puberty and is instructed regarding what is about to occur, it must be impressed upon her that her mother and her physician are her confidential advisers, either of whom she can freely consult regarding any trouble with the menstrual function, without being considered at all immodest; that she may discuss the subject freely with her mother or physician for the purpose of information and advice, and maintain her dignity and modesty ; but that to discuss it lightly with companions, in jest, is improper, immodest and vulgar.

Chapter V. Sexual Education

An Educational Question. Instilling the Truth into the Girl’s Mind. A Woman’s Right to the Facts. A Mother’s Responsibility. Teaching the Young. Solitary Vice.

Several years ago at their annual meeting the physicians of America held a symposium on the Duty of the Profession to Womankind. Among the topics discussed were ““The Protection of the Innocent,” and “The Guarantee of Safety in the Marriage Contract.”

An Educational Question.

“The question of protecting the innocent,” declared Dr. Howard, of Baltimore, “is neither medical nor legal in the strict meaning of those terms, but educational. There is only one remedy for all acts whose basal cause is ignorance, and that is education. In this matter the objects for attack are the mothers and teachers; the subjects for education are the young girls.

“There are thousands of girls in the upper and middle classes who, while not innocent, are ignorant of the primal laws of Nature. Many have tried to get the information their adolescent longings crave; many have striven to seek out the mystery after having been snubbed or denied by their own mothers. If the opportune moment arrives, and it generally does, the girl falls into the salacious seductiveness of some vicious minded woman, the seeds of false sexual education are sown, and their growth forever crowds out the tender tie between mother and daughter, and, as the mother dissembled, so will the daughter lie.

‘nstilling the Truth Into the Girl’s Mind.

“As I have suggested, the truth as we know it, should be instilled into the mind of every girl. I should commence when they are very young by teaching them the beautiful laws and arrangements of Nature in the reproduction of plants and flowers, emphasizing the sex differentiation. Gradually, as she mentally develops, she should be led along Nature’s path up to the reproduction of birds, then animals; explaining their mating habits and the reasons therefor. When Nature was giving the girl the first early signs of. her own reproductive power she should have the whole truth plainly told her. Now the girl will see the beauty, the wonderful, the ethical side of a normal sexual feeling, and sensual sensation will be suppressed. She will seek for no mysteries to dream about, have no morbid curiosity to lead her to experiment, but be in the normal condition of a healthy woman who knows and will be master of natural passions until her time of mating comes.”

Dr. Nelson, of Chicago, stated his belief that the majority of the girls who fall, do so because of want of instruction. He said that even physicians fail to instruct their own children as they should before puberty; they have left it for the teacher, the Sunday-school teacher, the pastor, and these, in turn, have left it to someone else, and as a consequence the children get their education along this line on the street. Education in this subject, he said, must be commenced in the family; it is the parents’ business to teach their children.