her home-town,
to be delivered. The train in which she travelled through Panama
collided with another train. Threatened abortion required her to take
a rest. She took a steamer and after a very rough passage reached
Portsmouth. From there she went to Paris. Here she fell down a flight
of stairs in the hotel where she was stopping. Again she was
threatened with abortion, but after a rest was in good condition and
continued her journey. She finally reached home, and was delivered at
full term of a normal infant.

Vibert reports the case of a woman who was in a train accident which
injured her severely, killed two of her children, but did not affect
her pregnancy. She was delivered at the proper time of a normal baby.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE MENOPAUSE OR CHANGE OF LIFE

Time of Menopause--Cause of Suffering During Menopause--
Reproductive Function and Sexual Function Not Synonymous--
Increased Libido During Menopause--Change of Life in Men.

In the chapter on menstruation I referred briefly to the menopause. I
will consider it here somewhat more in detail.

The menopause, also called the climacteric, and in common language
"change of life," is the period at which woman ceases to menstruate.
The average age at which this occurs is about forty-eight. But while
some women continue to menstruate up to the age of fifty, fifty-two,
and even fifty-five, others cease to menstruate at the age of
forty-five or even forty-two. Between forty-four and fifty-two are the
normal limits. Anything before or beyond that is exceptional.

Just as the beginning of menstruation may set in without any trouble
of any kind, and just as some women have not the slightest unpleasant
symptoms during the entire period of their menstrual life, so the
menopause occurs in some women without any trouble, physical or
psychic. The periods between the menses become perhaps a little
longer, or a little irregular, the menstrual flow becomes more and
more scanty, then one or several periods may be skipped altogether,
and the menopause is permanently established. Many women, however, the
majority probably, suffer considerably during the transitional year or
years of the menopause. Symptoms are both of a physical and of a
psychic character, but the psychic symptoms predominate. There may be
headache, capricious appetite, or complete loss of appetite,
considerable loss of flesh, or on the contrary very sudden and rapid
putting on of fat, great i