Ideal womanhood and motherhood, a book for every woman. A revised and enlarged edition of Maternity

Front matter

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Preface

The time has arrived when a more diffusive knowledge of the laws of health, will be appreciated by the women of our land. It is said, " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." I contend that no knowledge is a greater calamity. Women of this age are seeking earnestly to familiarize themselves with all the arts and sciences, and the leading questions of the day, and are now filling, creditably, positions of trust, which require scholarly attainments.

Yet it may be said with truth, that there is no subject about which the masses of women are so ignorant, as the Anatomy and Physiological laws of their own being. And the result is that there never was a time in the history of American women, when there was such an alarming prevalence of special diseases as at this day.

The important object of this work is to show that this universal suffering is not the result of excessive mental development, but a lack of physical culture, a want of balance between excitement and rest, especially before maturity has been reached, improprieties of dress, and sedentary habits of life. The greatest need of the age is a better un~ derstanding of the laws of our being ; it is a point

(iii)

IV PREFACE.

upon which the future of our race depends. I betieve in the enlightenment of mothers and daughters upon this, and all topics pertaining to the physical, mental and moral conditions of women, as the surest means of correcting the glaring evils which to-day embitter the lives of our sex.

With a better knowledge of the physiological life of woman, and a practical application of its laws, a higher type of womanhood will be developed.

This work is designed to supply a long felt necessity in this direction, and it is devoted to a practical consideration of woman and her diseases — iheir nature, cause, and the rational cure of them.

It does not supplant the necessity of professional skill, in grave cases ; but it is designed to make woman intelligent as to the nature of her maladies and the proper means of relief.

If this work shall create a desire on the part of the reader, for a better knowledge of the laws governing her being, coupled with a determination to make a practical application of them, the aim of the book will have been accomplished. I bespeak for it, then, a warm welcome in every home hi our land.

Prudence B. Saur, M D.

Contents

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Pages , i-io

Chapter I. The Young Wife

An ideal woman. — Health essential — Important advice — Life without health a burden — Means to promote health — Walking a glorious exercise — Evil effects of tight lacing — Pleasure in moderation neces saryto health and happiness — A wife's work — Home the kingdom and woman the king — Happy the man who has a contented wife— Pages I i-i6.

Chapter II. The Organs Of Generation

How divided — General physiology — The breasts, nipple and areola — The vagina — The uterus or womb, description — Round cords — Round ligaments — Broad ligaments — Anterior and posterior ligaments, arteries, veins, etc. — The ovaries, the most important of the generative organs — What they contain — Development of the egg — The law of conception — Ovulation — The Fallopian tubes — Description — Their utility — Nourishment and development of the embrvo — The chorion — The allantois — The placenta — Plan of foetal circulation- Pages J7-3<>

Chapter III. Menstruation

Of what does menstruation consist — A law of nature — Every living thing comes from an egg — Marvelous regularity of the periods — Symp. toms denoting appearance — Relation of menstruation to health, beauty and perfection — Disorders of menstruation — Suppression of the menses

VI CONTENTS.

—Various forms of' suppression — Symptoms — Treatment — Chlorosis — Treatment — Profuse menstruation — Causes — Symptoms — Treatment — Painful menstruation — Causes — Symptoms — Treatment — Change of life — Symptoms — Treatment — Pages 3I~55«

Chapter IV. Pregnancy

Signs of Pregnancy — Morning sickness — Appearance of the breasts — Quickening — Flatulence — Other symptoms — Sleepiness- Heartburn — Increased flow of saliva — Toothache — Loss of appetite — Likes and dislikes in eating — Clothing — Evil effects of lacing — Another crying evil — Rational dress — Bathing — Air and exercise — Things to be avoided — Ventilation — Necessity of rest — Sleep, etc. — Pages 56-80.

Chapter V. Constipation

Results of constipation — General description — The sudject an important one — Evil effects of constipation — Peristaltic action — Causes ot constipation — Injurious use of laxative medicines — Habitual neglect — 'Earth closets — Effect of Fashionable dress — Treatment — Food an important item — The wet compress — The enema — Abundance of exercise — Massage treatment — Special exercises — General remarks — Pages 81-100.

Chapter VI. Diseases Of Pregnancy

Pregnancy should not be. a source of disease — Previously acquired disorders responsible — Mental disorders — Diarrhoea — Muscular pains in the abdomen— Sleeplessness— Heartburn— Water-brash— Wind in the stomach and bowels — Piles —Varicose veins — Pendulous abdomen — Toothache — Morning sickness — Means to harden the nipples — The breasts — The bladder — Fainting — Cramps — The whites — Irritation and itching of the external parts — False labor pains — The period c( gestation — A pregnancy table — The nurse — etc— Pages . . . 101-143.

CONTENTS, Vll

Chapter VII. Miscarriage And Abortion

Miscarriage, a serious calamity — How prevented — Causes — Symptoms — More serious symptoms — Decided symptoms — Treatment — > Early hours indispensable — Cold baths — Gentle exercise desirable — ■ Criminal abortion — Influences of Christianity — A monstrous heresy — Evils of excessive child-bearing — A law of Nature — Children conceived and nurtured in love — Pages 144-153.

Chapter VIII. Pre-natal Culture

A common belief — An important subject to loving mothers — The possibilities of appropriate means — Effect of sudden mental emotions — The law of embryonic moulding — A teacher's observation — A reasonable theory — The last shall be first — Importance of order — Antecedent preparation — The right to be well born — Some pertinent suggestions — The sacred rights of mothers — Like begets like — Some specific directions — Hope for all — Cause and effect — Mothers should know themselves — The noblest use of art — Things to be avoided — The father's duty — The influence of inspirations — A God-like privilege — Pages . , 1 54-194.

Chapter IX. Parturition Without Pain

The pains and perils of maternity — Nature thwarted — Reasons for believing that parturition may be made painless — Testimony of emiinent physicians — Pain in child-birth a morbid symptom — Experience of Elizabeth Cady Stanton — A mistaken notion — Benefits to be derived from a fruit diet — Mrs. Rowbotham's experiment, — Value of different foods — Other cases — Diet, bathing and other exercise essential — Pages 195-213.

Chapter X. Child-birth

The first labor — Symptoms of labor — Child-birth a natural pro-

Vlll CONTENTS.

cess — Nature needs no assistance — Duration of confinement — Success, ive stages of labor — Dress for the occasion — Things to be avoided — The use of chloroform in hard and lingering confinements — Hints to attendants— -How to restore animation — Rest after delivery — Bandage *fter labor — Treatment of the bowels — Cleanliness necessary — Dietary —Water a valuable aperient — Nature's physician — Pages. ..214-248.

CHAPTER XL

A true mother — Care of the breasts — Milk fever or weed — Stated times for nursing — Clothing to be worn — Diet while nursing — Fresh an" and exercise — Ailments, etc. — Retracted nipples — Sore nipples — Cracked and fissured nipples— Gathered breasts — Causes of gathered creasts — Laxatives while nursing — Weaning, the time and manner of — Treatment of the breast — Warning symptoms — Pages 249-274.

Chapter XII. Infants And How To Care For Them

A mother's duty — The bathing of infants — Cleanliness an incentive to health — Care of the navel — Rupture of the navel — Clothing — Some new ideas — Qualities required— Diet hints on nursing — How to selecta wet nurse — Mortality of hand-fed children — Artificial human milk— Other artificial foods — Dentition — Painful dentition — Exercise — Sleep — Causes of suffocation — Chafing — Convulsions — Constipation — Flatulence — Cholera infantum — Diarrhoea — Dysentery — Nettle Rash — Red-gum — The thrush — The language of a cry — Concluding remarks on infancy — Pages 275-350.

Chapter XIII. Children And Their Diseases

Bathing — Clothing — Diet — Milk as food — Objectionable food — Overfeeding — Poisonous sweetmeats — The nursery — Childhood's ideal home — On frightening children — Night terrors— A long remembered kindness — Home treatment of children — Exercise — Amusements- Education — Advice to fathers — Sleep— Morning treatment — Second dentition — Disease- -Water on the brain — Croup — Child crowing — In-

CONTENTS. IX

flammation of the lungs — Bronchitis — Diphtheria — Measles — Scarlet fever — Chicken-pox — Whooping-cough — The Mumps — Earache- Chilblains — Chapped hands — Chapped lips — Worms — Milk crust- Warm baths — Accidental poisoning — Important advice, etc., etc.— Pages o 35 1-386

Chapter XIV. Youth

Bathing — Management of the hair— Clothing — Corsets — Development of muscles — Amusements — Choice of prof ession - Fresh air during sleep — Early rising — Care of the teeth — Precocious children — Scrofula — Round shoulders — Hemorrhage of the lungs — Consumption — Sore throat — The tobacco habit — Nose bleed — Fainting — Constipation — Hydropathy — Pimples on the face — Gumboils — Corns — The convalescent — Pages 387-516

Chapter XV. Diseases Of Women

Inflammation of the womb — No nation exempt from its influence — Varieties of the disease — Anatomy of the womb — Symptoms of itu flammation — Ovarian tumors often the result — Sympathy of other o; gans — Not a cheerful picture — The causes — Debility — Exercise- Treatment — Clothing — Pure air — Food — Tonics — Sleep — Sexual e\_ citement — Local treatment — Value of injections — The cotton pledget- - Chronic cases — Supports of the uterus or womb — Prolapsus or falling of the womb — Symptoms — Treatment — Anteversion — Retroversion— Flexions of the womb — Diagnosis of womb disease — Tumors — Poly pus — Cancer — Leucorrhcea — Conclusion — Pages 517—554

Chapter XVI. Diseases Of Women— Homeopathic Treatment

Delayed and obstructed menstruation — Suppression of t , menses — Chlorosis or green sickness — Profuse menstruation — paini 1 menstruation — Cessation of the menses — Falling of the womb Leucorrhcea — Inflammation of the lungs — Dyspepsia — Table v .f foods — Irritation of the Skin — Headache from congestion of bloo4

X CONTENTS.

Sick headache — Nervous headache — Catarrh — Neuralgia — Offensive breath — Bad taste in the mouth — Sore throat — Griping- colic — Inflammation of stomach — Inflammation of bowels — Constipation — Diarrhoea — Dysentery — Cholera morbus, etc. — Pages 555—631

Chapter XVII. Diseases Of Pregnancy — Homeopathic Treatment

Morning sickness — Piles or Hemorrhoids — Constipation — Diarrhoea — Dyspepsia — Heartburn — Sour stomach - Palpitation of the Heart — Headache — Cramps — Incontinence of the Urine — Difficult U rination, etc. — Pages 631-639

Chapter XVIII. Diseases Of Infants — Homeopathic Treatment

Convulsions — Teething— -Snuffles — Thrush — Remittent fever — Cholera Infantum — Croup — Whooping Cough — Colic — Diphtheria — Chicken Pox — Canker of the Mouth — Measles— Scarlet Rash — Scarlet Fever, etc. — Pages 639-671

Chapter XIX. The Sick Room

Nursing the sick — Preparation of food — Useful recipes to make gruel — Beef tea — Toast water — Flaxseed tea — Barley Coffee — Oatmeal coffee — Cracked or rolled wheat — Many other useful recipes — Hydropathic treatment — Sponge bath — Dripping Bath — Shower bath, etc. — Pages 671-696

Chapter XX. Poisons And Their Antidotes

To produce vomiting — Poisoning by acids — By oxalic acid — By alkaline substances — By arsenic — Corrosive sublimate — Lead — Nitrate of silver— Tartar emetic, etc. — Pages 696-699

Chapter XXII. Our Girls

CHAPTER.

This has been called the woman's age, and perhaps with justice, for never has she held such a prominent position before the world, as at present.

Her labors and successes, in the various fields and affairs of life, are calling for more and more attention, and their appreciation is correspondingly increased. While this development and evolution is still going on, it, being possibly, as yet, in its very infancy, and while we admire her in her new role, with her efforts toward success in society, literature, science, politics, and the arts, we must not lose sight of the fundamental principle of her organism, nor her most divine and sublime mission in life — womanhood and motlierliood. The hand that rocks the cradle, the mother of the coming man, is too important a factor to be disregarded

ever so slightly; and while all the world is alive to woman's progress, accomplishments, and attainments; while artists and thinkers in the various fields are assisting her with stepping-stones to attain her goal, we should be doubly anxious to keep up a corresponding development in the physical and moral elements of her being. Only through perfection in these, can she hope to sustain a perfect evolution and remain permanently secure on her lofty plane. It is with the intention of assisting the women of the land in becoming ideal women and mothers that this volume is placed before them.

Men may rule the race, but women govern its destiny. A perfect woman, with a healthy body and normal functions, lays the cornerstone for the child's physique; her training and teaching, her guardianship and love, her reproof and approval are the modifying influences which establish its course and coiTtrol its future.

Great men of all times have traced their lofty ideals and talents, and indeed the whole of their success, to their mothers. A mother's influence, both on the body and on the mind, and her powers of transmission of habits, good or bad, are always stronger than are those of the father. So delicate are such influences, so subtile the life-giving power and the stamp of individuality, that, while she lays the foundation for the offspring in the physical, moral, and mental, the effect of the varying surroundings, influences, condition of body, mind, and morals, is, at the same time, being stamped indelibly upon the child. Her life, her morals, and her teachings, both pre-natally and subsequently, affect the child to control its actions to a great extent and for its entire existence.

What has just been said is proved by the fact, that in every family there are great differences in the children born of the same father and mother; differences unaccountable on any other ground, than that of pre-natal influence. The different influences and modifying powers of the mother are so subtile, so positive and sure, from the period of conception to that of independent life, as well as are her moral and physical training during childhood, that it should be incumbent on every woman to acquaint herself with the ways and means of acquiring a most perfect womanhood.

Maternity, and the faultless and ideal training for children and mothers, are subjects which are beginning to attract no Utile attention throughout the country. Such has been the interest manifested in some sections, that societies have been organized for the cultivation and study of these subjects. The interchange of experiences and thoughts is the mechanism which promotes all reform of any magnitude. Through these means we may anticipate, with all certainty, an improvement in woman's status, physically as well as mentally, and morally, to the extent that the instances among children of physical, mental, and moral decrepitude will be happily rare. That perfect children are the greatest prize on earth, no c;ne will deny, and this is deservedly true in consideration of the fact that children are the prospective fathers and mothers of the next generation.

In the child's structure the mother lays the foundation which destiny and chance may likely modify; but the more solid and perfect that foundation, the less is the child subject to the disastrous influences of unfortunate surroundings, immoral companions, disease, and bad habits.

Child bearing and rearing should be woman's chiefest study, as well as her crowning pride and joy. It is abhorred by many on account of its suffering and hardships, but these horrors can be reduced to a minimum, indeed avoided altogether, by proper care and attention.

This same care and knowledge, which, exercised, gives immunity from anxiety and torture in childbirth, extends also to the imparting of a healthy body, a good constitution, and a happy mental environment to the child. God has not intended our children to spend their first few years in crying and fretting, nor has he invented stomachache or convulsions just to keep mothers busy and their faculties on the alert. All these symptoms are but signs of some deranged function, or an imperfection of some sort, which can be avoided.

This statement may be regarded dubiously by those who pin their faith to the Deity or Satan as being the origin of good or bad manifested in their children, and refuse to believe themselves responsible for the lives, morals, and habits of their offspring. -

The more the knowledge of the rules and influences governing maternity are known, the more the truth of what we have said will be appreciated.

Female troubles, so disastrous to the health and happiness of women, can very often be traced to improper methods and habits in living, and are especially prone to be inculcated by the first or subsequent confinement. This fact makes it doubly certain that knowledge of these conditions governing confinement can not begin too early. In fact, so universal is the above the case, that, when a mother presents herself to a physician for treatment of female troubles, experience has taught him to ask for the nature of confinement or confinements through which she has passed.

The principles governing confinement and of normal and natural recovery are so simple and easily understood, that we apparently see the day when the laborious child-birth will be looked upon as proof of a mistake. It is a great satisfaction to those who contemplate the future of the race to note certain great reforms inaugurated by women, who, with commendable farsightedness, have set the sources for most defects in heredity itself.

Foremost in these movements stand the representative women, the queen-mothers, of the land, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Organized primarily to eradicate the evils of drunkenness from the country, they found, when brought face to face with the subject, that a serious problem confronted them;

that intemperance in the life of any individual was but a chapter in his history, a chapter whose beginnings lay deep in the mysteries of his origin. To endeavor to probe these mysteries by earnest and determined minds is to throw light upon the causes, near and remote, of many failures in the human organism.

To the glory and praise of these noble women be it said that they were undaunted by the difficulties besetting their way in the path of inquiry and reform. With a cowage horn of conviction that future generations can be bettered only by bettering the present, they have taken the first steps toward permanent reform by an enlightenment of the people as to the dangers and horrors which they bring, not only upon themselves, but future generations, by drinking spirituous liquors. The good accomplished by this great body of reformers can not be over-estimated. " Progress " is marked on the banner, which it is gradually carrying into hamlet and city, cabin and palace, and even into the halls of legislation. Its instructive literature has been introduced into schools, libraries, and every public place, that none may plead ignorance of their findings. As a result of their work, we know of nothing

IO INTRODUCTORY.

that will do more for suffering humanity, relieve more hardships, confirm more family ties, and do more for the race generally than the cure of drunkenness. With the cure of the drink habit will come the elimination from future generations of many of the defects — insanity, imbecility, and a whole train of morbid affectations and appetites — which afflict our own generation.

This is altogether in line with the work which we hope to aid through the agency of this volume — to instruct women in what manner they are directly or remotely responsible for much of their own sufferings, as well as those of their children; and how this may be avoided. To every woman in the land we would say: This is a subject worthy of your highest thought and closest study, as well as your most prayerful effort. Inform yourself on the natural laws governing child bearing and rearing, and then teach others whom you see struggling along in grievous suffering and anxiety how to conquer these ill conditions. Thus you will be doing your share in the great work which will accomplish the true " Emancipation of Woman."

To the prospective mothers of the land this volume is respectfully dedicated.

Dr. Chas. Pusheck, M.D., A<M,

Chicago, March i< iBp4,

Chapter I. The Young Wife

A £Ood wife is heaven's last, best gift to man— his a^igel and minister of graces innumerable — his gem of many virtues — his casket of jewels ; her voice |s sweet music — her smiles, his brightest day — her kiss, the guardian of his innocence — her arms, the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his life — her industry, his surest wealth — her economy, his safest steward — her lips, his faitnful counselors — her bosom, the softest pillow of his cares — and her prayers, the ablest advocate of heaven's blessedness on his head.— Jeremy Taylor.

To be the ideal woman here portrayed, perfect health is essential. My subject then, is health, the care, the restoration, and the preservation of health ■ — one of th^ most important themes that can be brought before a human being, one that should engross much of our time and attention, and one that cannot be secured unless properly inquired into and attended to. The human frame is, as every one knows, constantly liable to be out of order ; it would be strange, indeed, if a beautiful and complex instrument like the human body were not occasionally :>ut of tune.

The advice J am about to offer my reader is of (ii)

12 THE YOUNG WIFE.

the greatest importance, and demands her deepest attention. How many wives are there with broken health, with feeble constitutions, and with childless homes. Their number is legion. It is painful to contemplate that, in our country, there are far more unhealthy, than healthy wives. There must surely be numerous causes for such a state of things. It will in the following pages, be my object to point out many of the causes of so much ill-health among women, and to suggest remedies both for the prevention and for the cure of such cases.

If a wife is to be healthy and strong, she must use the means — she must sow the seeds of health before she can reach a full harvest of health ; health will not come by merely wishing for it. The means are not always at first pleasant, but, like many other things, habit makes them so. Life without health is a burden, life with health is a joy and gladness.

The judicious spending of the first year of marlied life is of the greatest importance in the making and in the strengthening of a wife's constitution.

The first year of married life generally determines whether, for the remainder of a woman's existence, she shall be healthy and strong, or shall be delicate and weak; whether she shall be the mother of fine, healthy children or of sickly, under-sized offspring.

A young married woman ought at once to commence taking regular and systematic out-door ex-

EXERCISE TO PROMOTE HEALTH. 1 3

ercise, which may be done without in the least interfering with her household duties. There are few things more conducive to health than walking exercise ; and one advantage of our climate is, that there are but few days in the year in which, at some period of the day, it might not be taken. Walking — I mean a v/alk, not a stroll — is a glorious exercise ; it expands the chest and throws back the shoulders ; it strengthens the muscles ; it promotes digestion, making a person digest almost any kind of food ; it tends to open the bowels, and is better than any aperient pill ever invented ; it clears the complexion, giving roses to the cheeks and brilliancy to the eye, and, in point of fact, is one of the greatest beautifiers in the world. If women would walk more than they do, there would be fewer useless, complaining wives than at present. Walking is worthy of commendation, and is indispensable to contentment, health, strength, and comeliness. During pregnancy walking must be cautiously pursued ; but still, walking in moderation is even then absolutely necessary, and tends to keep off many of the wretchedly depressing symptoms often accompanying that state. I am quite sure that there is nothing more conducive to health than the wearing out of lots of shoe leather, and leather is cheaper than physic.

Do not let me be misunderstood : I am not advocating that a delicate woman, unaccustomed to exercise, should at once take violent and long-continued exercise ; certainly not. Let a delicate lady

H THE YOUNG WIFE.

learn to take exercise as a young child would learn to walk— by degrees ; let her creep, and then go ; let her gradually increase her exercise, and let her do nothing either rashly or unadvisedly. If a child attempted to run before he could walk, he would stumble and fall. A delicate lady requires just as much care in the training to take exercise as a child does in learning to walk, but exercise must be learned and must be practiced, if a lady or any one else, is to be healthy and strong.

A lady should walk early in the morning and not late in the evening. The dews of evening are dangerous, and are apt to give severe colds, fevers, and other diseases. Dew is more likely than rain to give cold.

Does a wife desire to be strong ? Then let her take exercise. Does she hope to retain her bloom and her youthful appearance and still look charming in the eyes of her husband ? Then let her take exercise. Does she wish to banish nervousness and low spirits? Then let her take exercise. There is nothing standing still in nature; if it were, creation would languish and die. There is a perpetual motion. And so must we be constantly employed, if we are to be healthy and strong. Nature will not be trifled with ; these are her laws— immutable and unchangeable, and we cannot infringe them with impunity.

Let me strongly caution the young wife against the evil effects of tight lacing. The waist ought to be from twenty-seven to twenty-nine inches in cir-

NATURE NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH. 1 5

cumference; should she lace until she is only twenty-three or in some cases, only twenty-one inches, it must be done at the expense of comfort, of health, and happiness. If stays are worn tightly, they press down the lower part of the abdomen, which may either prevent a lady from having a family, or produce a miscarriage. Tight lacing is also a frequent cause of displacement of the womb Let the dress be loose, and adapted to the season. Pleasure to a certain degree is as necessary to the health of a young wife, and every one else, as the sun is to the earth— to warm, to cheer, and to invigorate it, and to bring out its verdure. Pleasure, in moderation, rejuvenates, humanizes, and improves the character, and expands and exercises the good qualities of the mind ; but, like the sun in Hs intensity, it oppresseth, drieth up, and withereth. Pleasures, kept within due bounds, are good, but in excess are utterly subversive of health and happiness. A wife who lives in a whirl of pleasure and excitement is always sickly and nervous, and utterly unfitted for her duties and responsibilities; and the misfortune of it is, the more pleasure she takes, the more she craves.

A wife's life is made up of little pleasures, of little tasks, of little cares, and little duties, but which, when added together, make a grand total of human happiness ; she is not expected to do any grand work ; her province lies in a contrary direction, in gentleness, in cheerfulness, in contentment, in housewifery, in care and management of her l6 THE YOUNG WIFE.

children, in sweetening her husband's cup of life, when it is, as it often is, a bitter one, in abnegation of self ; these are emphatically a heritage, her jewels, which help to make up her crown of glory.

The quiet retirement of her own home ought to be her greatest pleasure and her most precious privilege. Home is the kingdom of woman, and she should be the reigning potentate. A father, a mother, children, a house and its belongings, constitute a home-^-the most delightful place in the world — where affections spring up, take root and flourish, and where happiness loves to take up its abode.

Cheerfulness, contentment, occupation, and healthy activity of mind cannot be too strongly recommended. A cheerful, happy temper is one of the most valuable attributes a wife can have. The possession of such a virtue not only makes herself, but every one around her, happy. It gilds with sunshine the humblest dwelling, and often converts an indifferent husband into a good one. Contentment is the finest medicine in the world ; it not only frequently prevents disease, but, if disease is present, it assists in curing it. Happy is the man who has a contented wife !