The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother Part 1

The Physical Life of Woman.

by Dr. George H Napheys.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

It seems well to offer, at the outset, a few words explanatory of the nature and object of this book. The author feels that its aim is novel, is daring, and will perhaps subject him to criticism. He therefore make his plea, _pro domo sua_, in advance.

The researches of scientific men within the last few years have brought to light very many facts relating to the physiology of woman, the diseases to which she is subject, and the proper means to prevent those diseases. Such information, if universally possessed, cannot but result in great benefit to the individual and the commonwealth. The difficulty is to express one's self clearly and popularly on topics never referred to in ordinary social intercourse. But as the physician is obliged daily to speak in plain yet decorous language of such matters, the author felt that the difficulty was not unsurmountable.

He is aware that a respectable though diminishing cla.s.s in the community maintain that nothing which relates exclusively to either s.e.x should become the subject of popular medical instruction. With every inclination to do this cla.s.s justice, he feels sure that such an opinion is radically erroneous. Ignorance is no more the mother of purity than she is of religion. The men and women who study and practise medicine are not the worse, but the better, for their knowledge of such matters.

So it would be with the community. Had every person a sound understanding of the relations of the s.e.xes, one of the most fertile sources of crime would be removed.

A brief appendix has been added, directed more especially to the professional reader, who may desire to consult some of the original authorities upon whom the author has drawn. And here he would ask from his fellow-members of the medical profession their countenance and a.s.sistance in his attempt to distribute sound information of this character among the people. None but physicians can know what sad consequences are constantly occurring from the want of it. * * *

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE HENRY NAPHEYS, M.D.

Were man's life measured by his deeds, as the poet suggests, how brief would be the long years of many an octogenarian, and how extended the short span which has been allotted to not a few of the world's famous heroes!

This oft-repeated thought strikes us forcibly in considering the biography of the subject of this sketch. Closing his life at an age when most professional men are but beginning theirs, he had already studied broadly, had traveled widely over two continents, had gained credit and fame by the sword and the pen, and had ama.s.sed a fund of erudition and experience which the more lethargic lives of most men fail to approach after twice his length of days. It is eminently appropriate that a record of his busy career should be attached to the works on which his celebrity is chiefly bound, and in which he most conspicuously displays that command of language and happy facility of imparting instruction for which he was so remarkable.

GEORGE HENRY NAPHEYS (p.r.o.nounced Na'feez, the a as in _fate_) was born in the city of Philadelphia, March 5th, 1842. His parents died while he was still at a tender age, and he was placed with some relatives who resided in the city. From early years he was characterized by quick perceptions and a retentive memory. In the Philadelphia High School, from which he received the academic degree of Master of Arts, he was considered the best scholar in his cla.s.s, a marked distinction in view of the large numbers which attend that inst.i.tution. Besides acquiring the usual studies of the High School, he gave considerable time to phonography, in which he became so skilled that he could report any ordinary speaker with entire accuracy. This subsequently proved a great advantage to him in his medical career.

After his graduation he repaired to Hartford, Conn., where he was offered and accepted the position of private secretary to a gentleman of prominence in the literary and religious world.

Thus he was engaged when the civil war broke out. With his natural warmth of feeling and strong emotions, he entered the fray among the first, and went out as Lieutenant, and subsequently as Captain, Company F, 10th Connecticut State Volunteers. The regiment was enlisted for nine months, and was dispatched to Louisiana, General Banks then commanding the Department. It partic.i.p.ated in engagements near Baton Rouge and on the Red River, in which Captain Napheys always acquitted himself with bravery and credit.

At the time the regiment was disbanded, an early preference for medical subjects led him to devote a year to the preliminary studies of that profession, but not waiting the full period required for a degree, he was appointed a.s.sistant medical officer on the U. S. steamer Mingo, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. On her he pa.s.sed a number of months, cruising off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia, and ascended the St. John river.

These active duties prevented him from receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine until after the close of the war, when, in 1866, his diploma was conferred upon him by the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, one of the most renowned inst.i.tutions of our country.

After graduation, he opened an office in Philadelphia, and connected himself with the clinics which are held at the College for the purpose of supplying medicine and medical advice to the poor gratuitously, as well as for giving students an opportunity of witnessing various forms of disease. The practical experience he gained in this manner was considerable, and his natural ability soon recommended him to the authorities of the inst.i.tution, who appointed him Chief of Medical Clinic of the College, a position he held for several years.

One of the advantages of this post was that it brought him into constant communion with many eminent medical men, and rendered him practically acquainted with their treatment of disease. His skill in phonography enabled him to take abundant notes of their lectures, and this led to his early connection with the periodical literature of the profession.

Most of the reports he drew up were published in the _Medical and Surgical Reporter_, a weekly journal, devoted to medical science, published in Philadelphia. The series of reports commenced in April, 1866, and continued, with slight interruptions, until June, 1870. They are characterized by a clear and correct style, and a manifestly thorough grasp of the numerous topics treated.

The success which these ephemeral writings obtained turned his thoughts in the direction of authorship. His tastes and a.s.sociations led him to employ his powers in two directions: first, in preparing for the general public a series of works which would acquaint them with anatomy, physiology, hygiene, sanitary science, nursing, and the management of disease, to the extent that intelligent general readers can and ought to know about these subjects; and secondly, in writing for professional men several treatises on the means of alleviating and curing diseases.

In the prosecution of the first mentioned of these plans, he was early impressed with the utter absence of any treatise on the hygiene of the s.e.xual life in either s.e.x, written in the proper spirit by a scientific man. The field had been left to quacks or worse, who, to serve their own base ends, scattered inflammatory and often indecent pamphlets over the land; or else, had one or more of the points been handled by reputable writers, it was in such a vague and imperfect manner that the reader gained little benefit from the perusal. While all agreed that a sound treatise on these topics was most desirable, it had been openly averred that it could not be written in a proper style for the general public.

Strong in the conviction that pure motives, literary tact, and the requisite scientific knowledge qualified him to undertake this difficult task, Dr. Napheys prepared, in the early months of 1869, his work on "The Physical Life of Woman." Proceeding with caution, he first submitted the MSS. to some professional friends, and profited by their suggestions. After the work was in type, and before publication, he sent complete copies to a number of gentlemen, eminent as medical teachers, clergymen, educators, and literateurs. Their replies left him in no doubt but that he had succeeded even beyond his antic.i.p.ations. Almost unanimously the opinions were complimentary in the highest degree, and evidently written after a close examination of the book. As many of these have been printed to accompany the work, in the last and previous editions, it is needless to do more in this connection than to say that they were penned by such judges as Dr. W. A. Hammond, late Surgeon-General U. S. Army; Dr. Harvey L. Byrd, Professor in the Medical Department of Washington University, Md.; Dr. Edwin M. Snow, Health Officer of the City of Providence, R. I.; Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Rev.

Horace Bushnell, D.D., Rev. George A. Crooke, D.D., D.C.L., and others.

On its appearance, the work was received with enthusiasm by both the medical press and the public. While a few journals and individuals were inclined to condemn it and censure the author, the intelligent and the pure-minded, on all sides, recognized in him the only writer who had yet appeared able to treat these delicate subjects with the dignity of science and the straightforwardness necessary for popular instruction.

Satisfied that he had chosen the proper exercise for his talents, he composed and placed in the hands of his publisher, the following year, his not less extraordinary work, "The Transmission of Life," a treatise addressed to the male, as his previous one had been to the female s.e.x.

It was dedicated to the late Rev. John Todd, so well known for his interest in young men, and his "Student's Manual" and other works addressed to them. He accepted the dedication and addressed the author a letter, in which occurs the following high compliment to his work: "I am surprised at the extent and accuracy of your reading; the judiciousness of your positions and results; the clear, unequivocal, yet delicate and appropriate language used; and the amount of valuable information conveyed." Similar expressions poured in from many other distinguished critics, as, for instance, Dr. Noah Porter, President of Yale College; the Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, the Rev. Abner Jackson, President of Trinity College, Hartford, etc.

In the same year (1870) he brought out the first edition of his "Modern Therapeutics," a technical work, addressed to physicians. This was enlarged in successive editions, until in its present form, as continued by other hands in its latest editions, it comprises two parts of 600 pages each. Although the author claimed little other originality in this work than the selection and arrangement of known facts, yet in these respects he displayed the strongly practical and original turn of his mind. As a student of the art of Therapeutics in large hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries, he had convinced himself that it is not by experiments on lower animals, nor yet on the human body in health, that the physician can attain the glorious power of alleviating pain and curing disease; it is only through the daily combat with sickness, by the bedside and in the consulting room. Chemistry and physiology, he believed, could teach but little in this branch; observation and experience everything. Hence, in his work on Therapeutics he announced himself as "aiming at a systematic a.n.a.lysis of all current and approved means of combating disease," selecting his formulae and therapeutical directions from the most eminent living physicians of all nations.

This work was most favorably received by medical men; and, edited and revised by competent hands, continues to be regarded as one of the most valuable works in American medical literature. The unanimous opinion of the leading medical journals, as well as of its numerous purchasers, have testified to its real and great worth to the pract.i.tioner of medicine.

Having thus established a wide, popular and professional reputation, one which would have guaranteed him a lucrative practice, it would have tempted another, no doubt, to make the most of this opportunity, so rarely granted a young physician. Not so was it with Dr. Napheys. No sooner had the three works mentioned been completed than he sailed for Europe, in order to familiarize himself with the famed schools of learning of the Old World and its rich stores of material for culture.

The summer was that of the Franco-German war; and spending most of it in Paris, he was witness of several of the most exciting scenes which attended the dethronement of the Emperor. These he would describe afterwards with a vividness and power of language rarely excelled.

The excitement of the period did not, however, withdraw his attention from the studies he had in view. These were partially indicated in a series of letters he contributed to various periodicals during his absence. While these letters were princ.i.p.ally of a scientific character, it is noteworthy how the relations of medicine to the welfare of man always occupied his attention. Thus we find, in one sent from England, June, 1870, a description of the Liverpool Medical Missionary Society, a charity which combines religious instruction with medical advice; and again, he comments on the popular instruction in hygiene which was supplied at that period to the English workingmen by a committee of competent physicians, organized for that purpose. It was the author's purpose to collect and expand these letters into a volume, but the project was not carried out.

The siege of Paris, which city he left in one of the last trains before the blockade commenced, and the prolongation of the war, induced him to return home. In the United States he found offers from several publishers awaiting him, which would more than occupy him for a full year. There was a new edition of his "Therapeutics" demanded, and a revision of both "The Physical Life of Woman" and "The Transmission of Life." A New England firm urgently pressed him to superintend the production of several hygienic works, and secured him as literary adviser to their house. He a.s.sumed the editorship of the "Half-Yearly Compendium of Medical Science," and also of a "Physician's Annual,"

besides undertaking a number of articles for the periodical press, both scientific and popular.

To this active literary life he devoted the year 1871; but at its close felt more strongly than ever that he must give himself several years of studious quiet, in order to accomplish his best. Refusing, therefore, any further engagements, he sailed for Europe again, late in 1871, and did not return this time until the spring of 1875. In this period, of more than three years, he visited almost all the princ.i.p.al cities of Europe, and enjoyed the friendship of many eminent men at London, St.

Petersburg, Vienna, and Paris. Reading, visiting hospitals, and attending clinics, he acc.u.mulated a ma.s.s of material which he designed to work up into future literary enterprises.

With these collected stores he returned to the United States early in 1875, and set to work with his wonted energy. A new and much enlarged edition of the "Therapeutics" was sent to press; a "Handbook of Popular Medicine," designed to give, in simple language, the domestic treatment of disease, the rules for nursing the sick, selected receipts for diet and medicinal purposes, and the outlines of anatomy and physiology, was put in the hands of a publisher; a Synopsis of Pharmacy and Materia Medica, a work of enormous labor, was well under way; and other literary projects were actively planned; when, suddenly, the summons came which, in an instant, with the shears of fate, slit the strand of this activity. The rest of the story may be told in the words of the biographer appointed by the Medical Society of the County of Philadelphia to prepare a memoir of his life:--

"While earnestly laboring to prepare for the press his literary collections, he suffered a severe blow by the sudden death of a person to whom he was deeply attached. Over-work and this emotional shock produced a result likely enough to occur in one of his ardent temperament. One afternoon, while engaged in writing, he fell, unconscious, from his chair, and for several days lay in a very critical condition. On recovering his powers, it was evident his brain had suffered a serious lesion. The old energy and love of labor had completely gone; even the capacity for work seemed absent. Marked melancholy followed, characterized before long by avoidance of friends and the loss of a desire of life. This occurred with increasing force until it led to his death, on July 1, 1876, through some toxic agent, the nature of which was not ascertained.

"Thus early, and thus sadly, terminated a career of unusual brilliancy and promise.

"It is probable that much that he has written will be read with pleasure and instruction by future generations; and the memory of his genial disposition, his entertaining conversation, and earnest sense of professional honor, will long be cherished by those of his contemporaries who enjoyed his friendship."--_Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania_, vol. xi, p. 720.

Various tributes were paid to his memory by the societies with which he was connected, and by the scientific journals to which he had been a contributor. One of these, after narrating some of the circ.u.mstances attending his decease, spoke as follows:--

"Thus did our unfortunate a.s.sociate close his short but brilliant career. The emotions, the tender sentiments he has described with such a magical pen, he felt himself with an unmatched keenness. They mastered his whole frame with an intensity surpa.s.sing all romance. His descriptions of the pa.s.sions, descriptions which have been the wonder of thousands, such is their fire and temper, were not rhetorical studies, but the ebullition of a soul sensitive to their lightest breath, and not shunning their wildest tempests.

"The genius which dictated the lines he has left us is not to be judged by the conventionalities which suit the cold temperaments of ordinary men; there is a strong vein of egotism in most devotion; but here was one who felt, 'all is lost, when love is lost.'"

This extract well sets forth the extraordinary depth of his sentiments, and the fervor of his feelings. It may be added that these mental traits were not generally ascribed to him by casual or ordinary a.s.sociates. He was, in manners and bearing, evidently not one who sought friendships or displayed to the general gaze the current of his thoughts. Consequently, of intimates he had but few, and was considered by those whose intercourse with him was superficial, to be much more of an intellectual than of an emotional type of character.

This impression was doubtless increased by the strongly practical turn of his mind, which is conspicuous in all his works. He was the reverse of a dreamer and had little patience with theorists. In his professional study he always aimed at bringing into the strongest light the utilitarian aspect of medicine, its ameliorating power on humanity, its real efficacy in preserving or restoring health and limiting human misery. On this his theory of therapeutics was based, and, inspired by the same opinions, he was one of the most earnest advocates of the day of popularizing medical science in all its branches among the ma.s.ses. In this effort he was at times severely criticized by that cla.s.s of physicians--and they are by no means extinct--who think that medicine should be wrapped in mystery, and that the people should be kept in ignorance of themselves and of their own physical frailties, to the utmost possible extent. With these learned obscurantists Dr. Napheys had no patience, and naturally found but slight favor. Fortunately, they were in the decided minority, and, we are happy to add, even that minority is daily decreasing.

Of the various learned societies to which he was attached may be mentioned the Philadelphia County Medical Society, the Franklin Inst.i.tute of Philadelphia, and the Gynecological Society of Boston. His election as Corresponding Member to the latter body (which is an a.s.sociation of scientific men who make an especial study of the hygiene and diseases of women) took place shortly after the first publication of the _Physical Life of Woman_, and was meant as a direct tribute of respect to him as the author of that work, thus obtaining for it the testimony of the highest body in that specialty then existing in our land.

The general plan on which Dr. Napheys prepared his sanitary writings was one eminently calculated to reconcile those who were most opposed to instructing the general public in such branches. While he confidently believed that vastly more harm than good is done by a prudish concealment of the physiology of s.e.x and its relations to health, he also clearly recognized that such instruction should be imparted at the proper age and under certain limitations; while the general facts common to the species cannot be taught too generally, or made too familiar.

Hence, he projected three books, one to be placed in the hands of young women, a second for youths, and a third for a general household book of reading and reference on medicine and hygiene. These three he completed in "The Physical Life of Woman," "The Transmission of Life," and the "Handbook of Popular Medicine."

This plan, he believed, met all the objections to popular medical instruction, at least all well-grounded objections, while at the same time it did away with any necessity for concealing truths important to be known, for fear they should come to the knowledge of those for whom they were not designed, and on whose minds they might have a disturbing tendency.

There can be no doubt but that both the plan and its execution were successful. The many letters he received, filled with thanks from private parties who had gained inestimable knowledge from these works, made rich compensation for the occasional severe strictures he received from those wedded to ancient ways, and who often condemned without even reading his works.

The intelligent reading public, on whom, after all, the writer must depend for a verdict on his works, were unanimous in his favor. They bought them in quant.i.ties, and the writer of his life in the _Transactions of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society_, above quoted, who wrote in 1877, estimates that by that time over _a quarter of a million_ copies had been printed and sold. Translations were made into the German, and several editions pirated and printed in Canada and England. In fact, the works may now be considered to rank as cla.s.sics in the language, and many years must go by before another such series can be written, on topics of this nature, with equal delicacy of touch and accuracy of knowledge.