rence or aversion shows something
wrong in the organization as well as in the disposition: if the
physical system were all right, the mind and natural instincts would
generally be right also. While there may be here and there cases of
this kind, such an indisposition is not always found. It is a fact,
that large numbers of our women are anxious to nurse their offspring,
and make the attempt: they persevere for a while,--perhaps for weeks
or months,--and then fail.... There is still another class that cannot
nurse at all, _having neither the organs nor nourishment_ requisite
even to make a beginning.... Why should there be such a difference
between the women of our times and their mothers or grandmothers? Why
should there be such a difference between our American women and those
of foreign origin residing in the same locality, and surrounded by the
same external influences? The explanation is simple: they have not the
right kind of organization; there is a want of proper development of
the lymphatic and sanguine temperaments,--a marked deficiency in the
organs of nutrition and secretion. You cannot draw water without good,
flowing springs. _The brain and nervous system have, for a long time,
made relatively too large a demand upon_ the organs of digestion and
assimilation, while the exercise and _development of certain other
tissues in the body have been sadly neglected_.... In consequence of
the great neglect of physical exercise, and the _continuous
application to study_, together with various other influences, large
numbers of our American women have altogether an undue predominance
of the nervous temperament. If only here and there an individual were
found with such an organization, not much harm comparatively would
result; but, when a majority or nearly all have it, the evil becomes
one of no small magnitude."[15] And the evil, it should be added, is
not simply the inability to nurse; for, if one member suffers, all the
members suffer. A woman, whether married or unmarried, whether called
to the offices of maternity or relieved from them, who has been
defrauded by her education or otherwise of such an essential part of
her development, is not so much of a woman, intellectually and morally
as well as physically, in consequence of this defect. Her nervous
system and brain, her instincts and character, are on a lower plane,
and incapable of their harmonious and best development, if she is
possessed, on reaching adult ag