and
that such as there is is due to the evil customs of the past
which have denied to women the ambitions and advantages open to
men, and that this will disappear when a happier era is
inaugurated. If this be so, how comes it that while every
practical physician of experience has seen many cases of anaemia
and chlorosis in girls, accompanied by amenorrhaea or menorrhagia,
headaches, palpitations, emaciation, and all the familiar
accompaniments of breakdown, an analogous condition in a
school-boy is so rare that it may well be doubted if it is ever
seen at all?"

It is, however, only the excuses for this almost criminal
negligence, as it ought to be considered, which are new; the
negligence itself is ancient. Half a century earlier, before the
new era of feminine education, another distinguished
gynaecologist, Tilt (_Elements of Health and Principles of Female
Hygiene_, 1852, p. 18) stated that from a statistical inquiry
regarding the onset of menstruation in nearly one thousand women
he found that "25 per cent. were totally unprepared for its
appearance; that thirteen out of the twenty-five were much
frightened, screamed, or went into hysterical fits; and that six
out of the thirteen thought themselves wounded and washed with
cold water. Of those frightened ... the general health was
seriously impaired."

Engelmann, after stating that his experience in America was
similar to Tilt's in England, continues ("The Health of the
American Girl," _Transactions of the Southern Surgical and
Gynaecological Society_, 1890): "To innumerable women has fright,
nervous and emotional excitement, exposure to cold, brought
injury at puberty. What more natural than that the anxious girl,
surprised by the sudden and unexpected loss of the precious
life-fluid, should seek to check the bleeding wound--as she
supposes? For this purpose the use of cold washes and
applications is common, some even seek to stop the flow by a cold
bath, as was done by a now careful mother, who long lay at the
point of death from the result of such indiscretion, and but
slowly, by years of care, regained her health. The terrible
warning has not been lost, and mindful of her own experience she
has taught her children a lesson which but few are fortunate
enough to learn--the individual care during periods of