e danger will
be averted.

In this case she has reversed cause and effect. The consumptive girl
did not menstruate because she had not the vitality to do so. The
consumption was the cause, the non-menstruation the effect. To produce
hemorrhage from the reproductive system by strong, forcing medicines
is only to increase the danger. The only thing to do is to improve the
general health, and if the girl can increase in strength until she
has more vital force than suffices to keep her alive, the function
that is vital--not to her, but to the race--will establish itself.

The failure of the menses to appear at the average age may be due
merely to a slow development, and in this case there is nothing to do
but wait. If the girl seems well, if she has no backache, no headache,
no general lassitude, no undue nervous symptoms, the mere
non-appearance of the menses need occasion no alarm. If, however, she
has these symptoms, it is an evidence that nature is attempting to
establish the function and is hindered either by general lack of
vitality or by some local condition, and in either case the giving of
forcing medicines would be a mistake. The weekly sitz bath would do no
harm as a semi-local measure. All proper precautions should be
observed as to maintenance of general health and mental serenity, and
if these do not prove sufficient the physician should be consulted.

In the case I mentioned, where the reproductive organs were lacking,
the girl had been subjected to a long course of home medication which
had proven disastrous to her digestion, and yet, as will be readily
understood, had not resulted in the establishment of a function that
is dependent upon organs which, in this case, did not exist.

Sometimes there are slight mechanical hindrances which can only be
determined by the physician, though their presence will be indicated
by the symptoms of menstruation without the accompanying sanguineous
discharge. In these cases the home medication is dangerous. If the
girl regularly has symptoms of approaching menstruation, with pain and
bloating, and these subside without flow, it would be wise to consult
the physician instead of resorting to domestic remedies or letting the
matter go on without attention.

Quite frequently the first appearance of menstruation is followed by
weeks or even months of freedom from its reappearance. In these cases
no alarm need be felt as long as the general health is not affected.
Again, th