Part 37

In 1787, at Hodden Bridge in Lancashire, England, a girl in a cotton mill threw a mouse upon another girl that had a great dread of this animal. The frightened girl was thrown into a hysterical convulsion which lasted for hours. The next day three girls that had watched her were in convulsions, the following day six more, and two days later fourteen more girls and a man were in fits. American white and negro camp-meetings result in similar outbreaks, and the French Convulsionnaires, who did outrageous things from 1731 to 1790, were also afflicted with imitative hysteria. The Cornish Jumpers, founded in 1760 by Harris Rowland and William Williams, and the American Barkers were also hysterical. The Barkers in the meetings would run about on all fours growling, "to show the degeneration of their human nature," and they would end in almost general fits of imitative hysteria.

There was an epidemic of hysteria in Tennessee, Kentucky, and a part of Virginia, which began in 1800 and lasted for a number of years. It started at revivals. The majority of the cases were in persons from 15 to 25 years of age, although it was observed in every age from 6 years to 60. The muscles affected were those of the neck, trunk, and arms. The contractions were so violent that the patients were thrown to the ground, and their motions there exactly resembled those of a live fish thrown out of the water upon the land.

There are numerous theories formulated to explain hysteria; some are ingenious, especially that of Janet, but none is convincing. Convulsions, tremors, paralyses of various forms and degrees are common in hysteria. In major hysteria the patient falls into a convulsion gently. There is checked breathing, up to apparent danger of suffocation. Then follows a furious convulsion, even with bloody froth at the mouth, but there is a trace of wilfulness or purpose in the movements. Next may come a stage of opisthotonos, where the body is bent back in a rigid arch till the patient rests on her heels and head only, and this is followed by relaxation and recurrence of the contortions. An ecstatic phase succeeds this, at times in the so-called crucifix position, with outbursts of various emotions, and a final regaining of a {238} normal state. Any of these stages, however, may constitute the whole fit.

In minor hysteria there is commonly a sensation of a rising ball in the throat (the globus hystericus). There may be uncontrollable laughter or weeping. Muscular rigidity is frequently found. The patient, especially if she is a child, may mimic dogs and other animals. The snarling, biting, and barking of false hydrophobia are hysterical; these symptoms do not occur in real hydrophobia.

There are almost innumerable physical symptoms of the disease, which are chiefly of medical interest, but the mental phases are such as to involve questions of morality. The hysterical character is marked by an overmastering desire to be an object of general sympathy, admiration, or interest, rather than by a tendency to baser indulgence. The will is weak, the emotions explosive, the patient is impulsive and lacking in self-control. She is a "giggler," who goes from absurd laughter into floods of tears. The desire for sympathy and attention makes the patient exaggerate her symptoms or simulate diseases and conditions that do not exist in her case. Hysterics will swallow pins or stick them into their flesh to force attention. Sometimes the simulation of disease is not willed. If there are a number of hysterical girls in a hospital ward and one develops, say, a peculiar paralysis, within two or three hours every hysterical woman in the room will have the same paralysis,--not pretended, but real, although temporary. It must be remembered that the disease, with all its perversity, is as much a fact as pneumonia, and the element of sham is only one of its symptoms. Some authorities go so far as to hold that a woman who will not lie is not hysterical. They invent most extraordinary slanders against even their own immediate family, and it is never prudent to believe an accusation made by an hysterical patient, no matter how plausible the story.

Acquired hysteria in many cases may be cured, but the congenital condition is practically hopeless, yet the latter kind may be kept from violent outbreaks.

We can not prevent drunkards, epileptics, and lunatics from propagating their kind, and therefore we shall still have the {239} hysteric with us. The child that has a bad ancestry and shows hysterical tendencies should be carefully reared. If it has an hysterical father or mother it should, if possible, be removed from this evil influence. Keep it from long hours of mechanical work that leaves opportunity for dreaming. Shut out novels and "art for art's sake," especially music. Give it a practical education. Teach it obedience, self-control, and truthfulness. Harden its will by exercise at things it does not like, and do not coddle it. Do not marry off an hysterical girl to cure her. Do not inflict her presence upon some unfortunate young man because he is a good citizen. Marriage will not cure hysteria,--the worst cases are married women, and they beget other hysterics in spreading succession.

When the disease shows itself offer no sympathy,--do not try to put out a fire with oil. When a "good, pious girl" grows hysterical, the chief obstacles to her cure are untactful and sympathetic visits from friends, lay and clerical. A visit from the pastor, because of his importance, is always harmful, and if the bishop drives up in his carriage so that the neighbours may see him, all the physicians in the city can not help her. If you wish to keep an hysterical girl in her vapours, get her a physician that will grow excited over her, take the dear child out of school and weep above her couch, let the family and its friends assure the unfortunate attending physician in her presence that he is heartless, and she will stay hysterical to her soul's content.

If you wish to control the attack, or even remove the disease under certain conditions, call in an experienced physician, leave the treatment to him, and pay no attention to her. Do not make light of the disease, do not speak of it at all. There are attacks that may be cured by the razor-strop or a bucket of cold water, but these are exceptional. They are new cases or old professional offenders. Rough treatment is not so good as patient tact, but at times roughness is the only cure.

AUSTIN OMALLEY.

{240}

MENSTRUAL DISEASES

Menstruation is a periodic discharge of blood from the uterus and the Fallopian tubes. It occurs every twenty-eight or thirty days, and it lasts from puberty to the menopause, or the cessation of the menses,--about the forty-fifth year of age.

There is a connection between menstruation and the production of the human ovum. During the first stage of menstruation the mucous membrane lining the uterus swells to twice or thrice its normal thickness, and this growth is a preparation for the reception of the ovum, which, as a rule, is given off by one of the ovaries at this time and passes out into the uterus. Menstruation and ovulation ordinarily occur simultaneously, but they may be independent and take place at different times. If, during this stage, the ovum is impregnated, pregnancy begins, and menstruation ceases until some time after childbirth. In married women conception is more likely to be effected during the first stage of menstruation than during the interval of quiescence; the contrary is almost the exception. Impregnation, however, is likely to occur in the spring more than at other seasons, and this fact coincides with the advent of spring in various latitudes.

If the ovum is not impregnated, the material that made the uterine mucous membrane thick during the first week of menstruation degenerates and passes off, constituting the menstrual flow. This stage lasts about five days. A reparative period of about four days follows, and then a period of quiescence until the next menstruation commences.

Menstruation is first observed about the fourteenth year, but it may start earlier or later. In general, it comes on {241} earlier in warm climates, and later in the extreme north. The menstruation, too, is likely to show sooner in the labouring classes than in girls who do not work.

Even in normal menstruation there is often a marked physiological excitation which affects the entire person. Very commonly a nervous disturbance and sensitiveness are observed, and in women that are not robust there may be mental depression and irritability. The temperature will rise a half degree, and drop to the normal height on the day preceding the flow.

There are derangements of menstruation which are symptoms of various diseases. Amenorrhoea is an absence of menstruation in conditions other than pregnancy or lactation. Absolute amenorrhoea is a complete absence of menstruation for several months; relative amenorrhoea is delayed, scant menstruation.

Amenorrhoea is common during convalescence from acute diseases; it is also a result of chronic diseases of the liver, stomach, intestines, kidneys, and especially of the lungs; it complicates anaemia, malaria, rheumatism, and other general pathological conditions. Fright, grief, great anxiety, mental shock cause amenorrhoea; so do homesickness and many forms of insanity.

There are also local causes of this condition: imperfect development of the uterus or the organs connected therewith, and inflammations of these organs or of the pelvic wall.

Opposed to amenorrhoea is menorrhagia, or an excessive menstrual flow. Metrorrhagia, or hemorrhage from the uterus at any time, is a term confounded with menorrhagia, which is an inordinate menstrual loss of uterine blood, but the distinction is not important. Menorrhagia and metrorrhagia commonly have an identical cause and they frequently coexist. They are found in chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, liver, and other organs; they are an outcome of prolonged lactation, and of local affections of the uterus and its appendages. Any condition also that deranges the blood may cause menorrhagia or metrorrhagia; so do malignant tumours of the uterus, uterine displacements, lacerations that {242} occur in childbirth, and psychical influences, as fright, anxiety, and other strong emotions.

Dysmenorrhoea, difficult or obstructed menstruation, is a term used for menstruation accompanied by pain. This is a common menstrual derangement, and it may be neuralgic or inflammatory in origin, or it may be caused by obstruction to the menstrual flow. There is another variety of dysmenorrhoea, called membranous, in which the superficial layer of the uterine lining is cast off partly or wholly.

In the neuralgic form the uterus and its appendages are normal in appearance, but the pain recurs monthly, and it may have degrees from mere discomfort to agony. This form is characterised by reflex headache, sympathetic nausea or vomiting; and the pain may not be confined to the uterus and its appendages. The irritation often brings out latent hysterical phenomena, spinal irritation, and neurasthenia. Rheumatism and gout are predisposing causes, so are indolence, lack of physical exercise, light clothing in cold weather, forced school work and similar depressing agents.

In the neurotic variety of dysmenorrhoea pain often persists after the menstrual flow has set in, but in inflammatory dysmenorrhoea the flow relieves the pain or removes it. Marriage commonly removes the neurotic form of dismenorrhoea.

In obstructive dysmenorrhoea the menstrual fluid is retained by narrow or tortuous outlets, flexions of the uterus, and similar causes. The prognosis is good in all forms of dysmenorrhoea, but frequently long and skilful treatment is required to cure such conditions, especially the membranous form. Inflammatory, obstructive, and membranous dysmenorrhoea are commonly made worse by marriage.

At the end of the childbearing period menstruation gradually ceases. In temperate climates this menopause occurs about the forty-fifth year, but it may come earlier or considerably later. Work that keeps a woman in a heated atmosphere, as cooking, washing, and baking, disturbs menstruation and tends to advance the menopause. Workers in chemical factories, in badly ventilated rooms, or women that do heavy labour in the open air, are apt to age prematurely, and have {243} an early menopause or "change of life." This premature climacteric is found also in women that bear many children in rapid succession.

At the menopause there may be various physical or mental disturbances which are probably due more to the somewhat abrupt advent of old age, at the cessation of the childbearing part of life, rather than to the menopause itself. It is a fact, however, that often profound disturbances coincide with the climacteric, and we know no sufficient cause for them if the menopause itself may not be deemed such.

There are numerous disorders of the nervous system in women which are dependent directly or indirectly upon a derangement of the pelvic organs. Distant parts of the body are affected pathologically through sympathetic irritation when the primary disease is in the pelvic organs, and direct treatment of the pelvic trouble alone cures these reflex conditions. The very common disorders of pregnancy, the marked physiological changes in women at the beginning of menstruation with puberty, and its cessation with the menopause, are among the first proofs of this assertion that occur. Menstruation may aggravate goitre, uterine fibroid tumours, skin diseases, and affections of the blood vessels. Disordered menstruation causes sleeplessness, melancholy, dementia, and mania, by affecting the brain; it may bring on local paralysis; start up latent epilepsy; excite reflex cough and difficulty in breathing; make the heart irritable; cause nausea, vomiting, dyspepsia, flatulence, diarrhoea, skin-inflammations, pain in the joints, and many other symptomatic phenomena.