LETTER XIV.. Disorders of Pregnancy.

DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY.

Abortion—Its Nature and Ill Effects—Its Causes—Means of Prevention.

Abortions are evidently not in the order of nature. We see in the animal kingdom that, as a general fact, gestation everywhere goes on to its full and normal period; that abortions are very rarely indeed seen; but when we come to consider the animal man, we find a different state of things. With man, and man only, abortions are frequent.

Certain classes of females are more subject to abortion than others. Fleshy or excessively fat women, and those who experience excessive menstruation; those who are hysterical, nervous, irritable, or excessively sensitive; those who have a very fair complexion, and are rickety, scrofulous, or have any other taint of the general system; those who have dropsy, or are affected with cancers; those who drink tea and coffee freely, and eat habitually highly concentrated and stimulating food; those who live a life of excitement, frequenting balls, parties, and theaters late at night; those who are in the habit of much novel reading, and perhaps, above all, those who, in connection with their sensual and worse than brutish husbands, abuse the marital privileges, are most apt to abortion. If husbands have any regard for the physical welfare of either their wives or offspring, or even their own health, let them refrain from all sexual indulgences during the period of the wife’s pregnancy. Dr. Edward Baynard, a quaint but able English writer, one hundred and fifty years ago, in speaking of the evil effects of swathing and dressing infants too tightly, indulged in the following reflections: “’Tis a great shame that greater care is not taken in so weighty an affair, as is the birth and breeding of that noble creature, man; and, considering this stupid and supine negligence, I have often wondered that there are so many men as there are in the world; for what by abortions, too often caused by the unseasonable, too frequent, and boisterous drunken addresses of the husband to the wife, when young with child, and her high feeding, spiced meats, soups, and sauces, which, with strait lacings, dancings, and the like, one full half of the men begotten are destroyed in the shell, squabbed in the nest, murdered in embryo, and never see light; and half of the other half are overlaid, poisoned by ill food, and killed at nurse,” etc.

Terror, fright, and excessive fatigue, also, not unfrequently cause abortion. All unpleasant sights, and all undue mental excitements, should be, as far as possible, avoided by those who are pregnant.

There are vile books in circulation, sold too, sometimes, by highly respectable booksellers, in which the writers affirm that abortion can be produced without any harm to the constitution. There is one physician in this city, whose book we saw a few days since in a bookstore in the city of Boston, in which he proposes to effect abortion with perfect safety; but, for the package of medicine, a fee of ten dollars must be sent, of course, in advance. It may be of service to some who may peruse these pages, for me to inform them, that there is always great danger in causing the expulsion of the fetus. The most powerful medicines for this purpose are often known to fail. Gastritis, enteritis, peritonitis, and death itself, has been caused by medication, without causing the intended abortion. And in those cases where the desired object is by chance brought about, sad is it to think, what for years must be the health. Even life-long misery and suffering have often been caused by drugging the system to produce abortion.

You have read those lines of Ovid, which Dryden gives us:

“But righteous vengeance of their crimes pursues, And they are lost themselves who would their children lose, The poisonous drugs, with mortal juices fill Their veins, and undesigned themselves they kill. Themselves upon the bier are breathless borne With hair tied up, which was in ringlets worn.”

Women cannot be too careful of their bodily health during the period of pregnancy. If they would avoid, among a multitude of evils, the great misfortune of abortion, they cannot be too vigilant, and watchful, and careful in all matters pertaining to health at this time. Any imprudence here, such as would scarcely be noticed at other times, may lay the foundation for much future suffering.

I am here led to remark, that too much labor and exercise, as well as idleness and habits of effeminacy generally, in this hard-working country of ours, not unfrequently cause this evil. Lazy people do habitually too little; industrious people often too much.

It appears that abortions are becoming more and more frequent in this country at the present day. It is notorious that the habits of Americans are not now as simple as they formerly were. More tea and coffee are drank, more rich and stimulating food is used, and there is a vast deal more idleness withal. Formerly labor was more dignified, more respected; but labor now is degrading. It is not fashionable to spin, weave, knit, sew, wash, and to make bread, as in the good days of our grandmothers. People are everywhere growing more indolent. “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; he shall, therefore, beg in harvest, and have nothing.” So, also, those who will not employ the limbs and muscles which God has given them for use, cannot have permanent and enduring health at any price.

But it is asked, Would you pay all attention to physical culture, and neglect the mental? I answer, no. I would have my daughters taught music, painting, drawing, as well as science generally, but on no account would I do this at the expense of bodily health. Nor is there any need of this; the highest possible cultivation of the mental manifestations can only be accomplished when the physical powers are suitably and proportionably developed to their fullest extent. “A sound mind in a sound body, is nature’s inevitable law.” There is yet one evil pertaining to the subject of abortion, an increasing one too, in some parts of our country at least, of which I should speak.

Abortion, it will thus be seen, is a serious evil. Its consequences may, in general terms, be condensed as follows:

1. A stronger tendency to a recurrence of the evil. Those who miscarry once are much more apt to do so again.

2. Menorrhagia, or an immoderate flow of the menses.

3. Irregularity of the monthly periods; these occurring either too often or too seldom, and attended with much prostration of the general health.

4. Dysmenorrhea, or painful, laborious menstruation, accompanied often with more pain and suffering than attend labor itself.

5. Hysteria, or hysterics, depression of spirits, disquietude, dissatisfaction with life, its pursuits, pleasures, and enjoyments, and an habitual melancholic state of mind.

6. Dyspepsia, with all its train of pains and penalties. This picture, terrible as it may appear, is no imaginary one. Every well-informed physician will at once recognize the truth of all that has been affirmed. It is a bad state of the system which allows of abortion. One abortion ordinarily is far more trying and worse upon the constitution, than two labors at full term.

Means of Prevention.—In speaking of the evils of abortion, the means of preventing such an occurrence have necessarily been hinted at. There are yet other things, however, which should be referred to on this subject.

It will naturally suggest itself to every reflecting mind, that the great object to be attained in regard to the prevention of abortion, is a thorough, habitual, and permanent cultivation of the physical powers. Invigorate the general system to its fullest extent; accomplish this, not only for a single time, but, as it were, perpetually, by daily and never-ceasing effort. Is not health the greatest of all earthly blessings? How, then, in order to secure it, can we do or sacrifice too much?

In reference to the prevention of abortion, let the following particulars be observed:

1. The use of cold water. In all cases of abortion there is too great laxity of the system; there is a want of tonicity, so to say; the fibers are, as it were, unstrung. Cold bathing, for its tonic, constringing, and invigorating effect, has for centuries been recommended as a most valuable means of preventing this evil. In pregnancy, the same general principles should be observed in fortifying and invigorating the general health as at other times. No violence should be done to the system. A general bath in the morning, cool or cold, according to the individual’s strength; a hip or sitz-bath of five or ten minutes’ duration, two or three times during the day, and an ablution with water, not too cold, on going to rest, will ordinarily be sufficient for the daily routine of treatment in those cases where there is tendency to abortion; such a course is, in fact, good at all times. The wet girdle, elsewhere explained, will often be of advantage; but to make it a tonic or strengthening application, as it should always be under these circumstances, great care must be taken that it does not become too warm. This is very apt to be the case in hot weather. It must then be changed often and rewet. If it becomes too hot, it weakens the system instead of strengthening it, thus tending to cause the very difficulty it is intended to prevent. “Injecting cold water into the vagina twice or thrice a day,” says Dr. Burns, in his work on midwifery, “has often a good effect, at the same time that we continue the shower-bath.” And this writer also observes, “that when there is much aching pain in the back, it is of service to apply cloths to it, dipped in cold water, or gently to dash cold water on it, or employ a partial shower-bath, by means of a small watering can.” Water, let it be remembered, is the greatest of all tonics to the living system.

2. Feather beds and overheated rooms. These have much to do in causing abortions. People ought never to sleep on a feather bed, unless, possibly, very old and feeble persons, who have long been accustomed to them. In such cases it might not always be safe to make a change in cold weather suddenly. But for a pregnant woman to sleep on a feather bed is one of the worst of practices. And here also I must mention that feather pillows, as well as feather beds, do a great amount of harm. Even those who have emancipated themselves from the evils of feather beds usually retain the feather pillow. It is a wise old maxim, “to keep the head cool.” The head has blood enough, more than any other part of the system, to keep it warm. No person, not even the youngest infant, should ever sleep on a bed or pillow made of feathers. The animal effluvia coming from them is bad, and the too great amount of heat retained about the surface debilitates the system in every respect.

3. Undue mental excitements. Let those who are pregnant avoid theaters, balls, and parties late at night, all highly excitable public meetings, whether literary, political, or religious, and all undue mental and moral excitements of whatever kind. In no situation is it more necessary for a human being to maintain a pleasant, consistent, and equable frame of mind, and good and permanent health of body, than in pregnancy.

4. Sexual indulgences. The more strictly chaste and free from sexual indulgences, the better for the woman during pregnancy.

5. Recurrence of abortion. Every succeeding miscarriage is more apt to be followed by a recurrence of the evil; the body, as it were, like the mind, is capable of getting into bad habits. Those who have abortion oftenest are most liable to their recurrence; and every attack is more apt to be worse than the preceding one.

6. General health. Abortion always indicates a bad state of the system generally. A person of really good health could scarcely have abortion. Possibly fright, unpleasant occurrences, or accidents, might cause such a result. Abortion always injures the general health. Labor at full term is natural, and is therefore attended with less danger. Abortions are unnatural.

7. Vegetable diet. This was observed by the celebrated Dr. Cheyne, of England, to have a great influence in preventing abortion; milk, however, which is in some sense a form of animal food, was generally used. A total milk and seed diet, as Dr. Cheyne terms it, was a most excellent means of preventing unfertility and abortion.

8. Tea, coffee, and spices. All stimulants, that is, articles which do not go to nourish the system, such as tea, coffee, tobacco, wine, porter, spirits, and the like, should be strictly avoided. All stimulation of the system is followed, necessarily, by commensurate depression. A person takes a stimulant, and feels better for the time. In the same proportion as the stimulation will be the consequent depression. The more a stimulant is used, the more necessity will there be to keep up the habit; and the more the habit is followed, the weaker does the system become. Thus in pregnancy, by the use of stimulation, the system becomes more liable to abortion.

9. Exercise. More than one hundred years ago, the celebrated Dr. Cheyne remarked, concerning abortion and its causes, as follows: “It is a vulgar error to confine tender-breeding women to their chambers, couches, or beds, during all the time of their pregnancy. This is one of the readiest ways to make them miscarry. It is like the common advice of some unskillful persons to such as have anasarcous or dropsical legs; namely, to keep them up in chairs, on a level with their seats, which is the ready way to throw up the humors into their bowels, and fix them there. The only solid and certain way to prevent miscarriage, is to pursue all those means and methods that are the likeliest to procure or promote good health, of which air and gentle exercise are one of the principal. All violence or excesses of every kind are to be carefully avoided by the parturient; but fresh air, gentle exercise, walking, being carried in a sedan or chaise on even ground, is as necessary as food or rest, and therefore is never to be omitted, when the season will permit, by tender breeders.”

In my next letter I shall speak in detail concerning the special treatment that should be adopted in these cases.