or this
condition are composed chiefly of alcohol, and, although they may give a
temporary relief, the benefit is not permanent. Careful attention to
diet and exercise, with regular hours of sleep, are essential points to
be considered if one would be free from this disagreeable trouble.

Another symptom which often causes much alarm to the patient is
amenorrhoea or deficient or scanty menstruation. This may result from
fear, worry, catching cold or to an enlargement of the womb. It also is
one of the first symptoms of pregnancy. Sometimes it indicates an
impoverished condition of the blood and shows the need of a general
building up of the system. This is true especially in young girls who
have what is called chlorosis or green sickness. These girls are pale,
weak, sometimes having a greenish cast to their complexions. They need
good care and nourishing food and plenty of light, outdoor exercise.

In young girls I sometimes find an irritation of the vagina which causes
pain. This may be due to the retention of secretions in the vagina. The
general idea that only married women have leucorrhoea, or whites, is
fallacious. Virgins may have it. The usual cause is catching cold at the
menstrual period. Another delusion is that these girls should not take
douches for fear they might injure the hymen. This is erroneous, for
douches are necessary in the treatment of this condition and, except in
very rare cases, a douche can be taken with an especially small douche
point without injury to the parts. There normally must be a small
opening in the hymen to permit the passage of the menstrual flow. If a
small douche point is used no harm will result.

When I talked to you about the structure of the external generative
organs, I mentioned the clitoris and explained that sometimes the
prepuce or foreskin is bound down, or is too tight, so that the natural
secretions are retained under it and produce an irritation; that the
operation for the unhooding of the clitoris is very similiar to that of
circumcision in the male and is performed for similar causes. Many a
woman who has been nervous all her life, owes her condition to a hooded
clitoris, which a very simple operation would correct. A hooded clitoris
also may have something to do with the immoral life of some girls. The
other day I received a letter from an aged physician who, in discussing
the tendency to immoral practices, says: "You say in one of your
articles, 'What is the r