The Four Epochs of Woman's Life Part 1

The Four Epochs of Woman's Life.

by Anna M. Galbraith.

PREFACE.

"Ignorance is the curse of G.o.d; Knowledge, the wings wherewith we fly to heaven."

-- "Henry VI."

PERFECT health is essential to perfect happiness. The greater the knowledge of the laws of nature, and the more closely these laws are lived up to, so much nearer "ideal" will be the health and happiness of the individual. Hence the necessity that these same laws should be as familiar to the adult man and woman as the alphabet. Further, with our present knowledge of the certain suffering, disease, and death that are bred by ignorance of all these subjects, it is little less than criminal to allow girls to reach the age of p.u.b.erty without the slightest knowledge of the menstrual function; young women to be married in total ignorance of the ethics of married life; women to become mothers without any conception of the duties of motherhood; other women, as the time approaches, to live in dread apprehension of "the change of life;" and many women unnecessarily to succ.u.mb to disease at this time.

The ma.s.ses of women have at last awakened to a sense of the awful penalties which they have paid for their ignorance of all those laws of nature which govern their physical being, and to feel keenly the necessity for instruction at least in the fundamental principles which underlie the various epochs of their lives; and it is in response to a widespread demand that this small volume has been written.

This is preeminently the day of preventive medicine; and the physician who can prevent the origin of disease is a greater benefactor than the one who can lessen the mortality or suffering after the disease has occurred.

ANNA M. GALBRAITH.

15 WEST NINETY-FIRST STREET, NEW YORK.

INTRODUCTION.

EDUCATION AS THE CONTROLLING FACTOR IN THE PHYSICAL LIFE OF WOMAN.

Huxley's Definition of Education; the Correlation of Mind and Body; the Emotional Nature; Age for Going to School; the Effect of the Study of tuse Scientific Branches; Industrial Education.

"What is man, If his chief good, and market of his time, Be but to sleep and feed? A beast; no more.

Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and G.o.dlike reason To fust in us unused."

-- "Hamlet."

THE word education is here used in its broadest sense, and is meant to include the physical, mental, intellectual, and industrial. Huxley's definition is as follows: "Education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of nature, under which I include not only things and their forces, but men and their ways; and the fashioning of their affections and of the will into an earnest and living desire to move in harmony with these laws. That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained in his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, to be turned to any kind of work, to spin the gossamers as well as to forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with the great and fundamental truths of nature and the laws of her operations; one whose pa.s.sions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience; one who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself."

The Correlation of Mind and Body.-- It is of the utmost importance that the mutual reaction of mind and body upon each other should be thoroughly understood. This reaction is so constant, so intricate, and so complex that it is at times difficult to say which is cause and which effect. Does the depressed state of the mind cause the indigestion, or is a torpid liver the real seat of the melancholia?

The brain is the most delicately constructed organ in the entire body.

In the lower animals the brain is simply the great nerve-center which, with its prolongation the spinal cord, presides over all the functions of life which differentiate the animal from the vegetable. In the human being the brain is much more highly developed and complicated; and is, in addition, the seat of the mind, the intellect, and the affections. Like all the other tissues of the body, the brain receives its nourishment from the blood-vessels which pa.s.s through it, and its healthy maintenance is in a direct ratio to the condition of its blood-supply.

A most interesting psychologic study is found in the case of cerebral paralysis of young children, where there is mental defect amounting to stupidity or imbecility, accompanied by extensive paralysis of the body, so that the child is not able to sit up. With the gradual improvement of the physical condition, so that the muscles become firm and the child can sit, stand, and even walk, there is a corresponding mental development; from being stupid and dull, the expression of the face brightens and becomes intelligent; the child talks quite as well as other children of its age, and sometimes becomes really intellectually precocious. Here we see the development of the brain as a direct result of the improved physical condition. In certain cases of insanity, on the contrary, we find that the wasting away of the body results from the disease of the brain, i. e., the disease of the brain has wrought the wreck of the body.

From these pathologic studies, or studies of how the diseased state of the brain and body may be overcome by physical development, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, how the healthy body may be wrecked by disease of the brain, we will turn to a consideration of the effect of the development of the mind and intellect upon the physical health.

On a girl's entering Va.s.sar College an exact and detailed physical examination is made by the resident physician, a health record is kept during her stay there, and at the time of her graduation a final physical examination is made. As a result of these statistics Dr.

Thelberg says: "These statistics, now covering a number of years, show that not only can girls profitably take a college education, that is accomplished; but will prove that grave physical imperfections can be corrected in the period between eighteen and twenty-two years of age, coincidently with the development of the mind along the lines of college work; the college work, if not excessive in amount, being a real and most important factor in the physical development."

But a still more striking proof can be cited of the beneficial result of mental and intellectual occupation upon the bodily health. At Va.s.sar a great deal of attention is very properly paid to general hygiene and the physical development, in addition to the natural advantages of outdoor life in the country.

Take, for example, a woman's medical college located in the city: the four years' course places the greatest strain on both mind and body; practically no time is left for recreation, and very much too little time is spent in sleep; the amount of exercise taken is the minimum.

Yet in spite of all these disadvantages under which the young women labor, a great many of them who enter far below par in health, or, indeed, on the fair road to become chronic invalids, graduate very greatly improved in health.

The Emotional Nature.-- Formerly much more than now, owing to the defective methods of her education and mode of life, the emotional nature of woman was allowed to run riot. The child was coddled; the girl was allowed to grow up without any of the discipline which young men receive in their college and business life, and little or no attention was paid to her physical development. The woman naturally became a bundle of nerves, highly irritable, unreasonable, and hysterical. All this reacted in the most detrimental manner upon her physical health.

The seed for much of this emotional hyperesthesia is sown in childhood. From birth until the end of the eighth year should be one grand holiday. During this time the child develops very rapidly, especially during the first two years of life. And at the end of the eighth year the brain has attained to within a few ounces of its full weight. The muscular system has been developed together with the coordination of motion. The child has learned to use a language fairly well; she has developed an excellent memory and is most inquisitive and acquisitive.

Another method for undermining the healthy tone of the nervous system is the intricate dances taught very young children and then placing them on public exhibition, where they are wrought up to the highest pitch. From a purely medical standpoint, children under eight years of age should not be allowed to take dancing lessons. After this age a moderate amount of dancing in a well-ventilated room is good exercise.

Children's parties belong in the same category, and, on account of the injurious effects on the nervous system, should be tabooed. They are too exciting, and cause an overstimulation of the nervous system and a precocious childhood and p.u.b.erty.

Instead of rearing an oversensitive hot - house plant that must be fragile in the extreme, strive to rear a st.u.r.dy plant that can hold its own amid the storms. The child should spend as much of its life as possible in the open air, and in the warm months live out-of-doors.

City children should be taken to the seash.o.r.e or country to spend several months every summer. Together with outdoor sports, gymnastics adapted to the age of the child should be begun early and continued throughout life. Good muscular development is attended with good digestion and a well-balanced nervous system.

Until after the twelfth year there should be absolutely no difference between the physical, mental, or industrial education of girls and boys. And, still further, they should be encouraged to have their sports together; this will improve the girls physically and broaden them mentally, and will do a great deal to take the rough edges off the boys. After this age it will be wise to allow slight barriers to grow up, without calling the attention of any one to the fact, that will cause the companionship to be less free and unrestrained.

Age for Going to School.-- Although the child may be allowed to go to kindergarten long before this time, it should not be allowed to enter the school-room before eight years of age. And from eight to twelve years, not more than four hours a day should be spent in study. After this time it may be put down more closely to intellectual work; but no more mental work should be required than will enable the girl to enter college at eighteen. And eighteen years of age is as young as any girl should be allowed to go to college; after this age the mind is more matured and acquires knowledge more easily than before, while the development of the body is less rapid. The physical system has become more stable. The literature indulged in by girls under eighteen years of age should be most carefully selected.

The Effect of the Study of the Scientific Branches.-- A knowledge of the laws of nature is essential to health; hence the necessity for the study of the natural sciences-- anatomy, physiology, chemistry, physics, and zoology. Aside from the intrinsic value of this knowledge, it is almost universally conceded that these studies develop the judgment; and no one will have the temerity to deny that a lack of judgment must undermine the health as well as the success and happiness of the individual.

Industrial Education.-- When it is considered how intimate are the relations between the physical and the psychic states, and how often the psychic condition leads to actual disease, and that often of the most incurable type, it needs no demonstration that a mental occupation which will take the woman out of herself is a physical necessity. Therefore when the girl has reached the subjective limit of her intellectual education,-- that is, when she has reached the limit of her capacity or taste,-- it is essential to her physical well-being that she should turn her attention to some industrial occupation. This may be housekeeping or any other occupation for which she has taste or talent. A healthy mental occupation is an absolute necessity to prevent the individual from becoming self-centered. And to become self-centered is the first step on the certain road to chronic invalidism.

A most important part of an education is the knowledge of how to procure the most perfect development of the body possible, and how to maintain the health. This has not been touched upon here, since the outlines for the general physical education have already been given in "Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women,"* and the present volume concerns itself only with the four critical epochs of woman's life.

* By Anna M. Galbraith, M. D.; published by Dodd, Mead & Co.

With this broad view of an education, as a means to procure the best physique possible; a mind disciplined to meet to the greatest advantage all the vicissitudes of life; an intellect developed along the lines of its greatest possibilities; and an occupation chosen in accordance with the tastes and talents of the individual; it becomes an incontrovertible fact that the education is the controlling factor in the physical life of every woman.

"Be not simply good; be good for something."

Th.o.r.eAU.

PART I.-- MAIDENHOOD.

CHAPTER I.

p.u.b.eRTY.

s.e.xual Development; Age of p.u.b.erty; Physical Changes at p.u.b.erty; First Onset of Menstruation; Psychic Changes at p.u.b.erty.

"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power."

-- "OEnone."

s.e.xual Development.-- s.e.xual development goes on during all the years of childhood, but is not complete in the female s.e.x until between the twenty-second and the twenty-fifth year. If the child has no inherited taint, and has been properly educated morally, physically, and intellectually, it must follow that the structural development of the pelvic organs has been normal; and normal organs always perform their functions perfectly.