Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/290

276 That the time occupied in the establishment of ovulation is not the true crisis in the development of woman.

That undue value has been given to simple ovarian growth and function as a factor in the development of womanly mental and structural peculiarities.

That in a state of health the inception of the ovarian function is never paroxysmal, or sudden.

That perfect structural development is followed by perfect function, and that the reverse of this is true; and, lastly—

That early diseased ovulation is mainly the result of physical, moral, and hygienic faults of the true crisis of woman—that of formative childhood—rather than of the period of puberty.

With these facts before us, is it not legitimate to assume that the puberic period in woman's life has been over-estimated in its direct influence upon her health at that and subsequent periods? Instead of curtailing her opportunities for work and study, by throwing around her restraints, and, as it were, creating a disability out of a natural function, transfer the attention and anxiety now lavished upon her, to a period when all that makes woman in the best and noblest sense is in a process of elaboration; for it is during this time of rapid structural change that the future good or bad health of the woman is determined. Let healthy ovulation be the natural outcome of a healthy childhood, and the function will obey its law of periodicity year by year, and all this time the young woman is as able to sustain uninterrupted physical and intellectual work as the young man. I do not wish to be understood as saying that at puberty, or at any other period of woman's life, the laws of health may be violated with impunity, but that a law of health is no more binding upon the young woman than upon the young man; that really there is no such thing as one law for women, and another for men. But the law of the woman is not the law of the child. The woman must follow those laws of health which keep her healthy; the child must be trained to obey those which will insure health in the woman. If I am right in tracing ovarian functional derangement mainly to the structural crisis, it is evident that the child must be an object of careful attention. It is not my purpose to mention the causes which will vitiate the development of the child. I desire to direct attention to this period as one full of danger to the future woman. Lest I be accused of ascribing too many of the disasters to which the functional health of women is liable to the period of childhood, I will say that women, and all the functions peculiar to their sex, are liable to the accidents of disease at any time; but, if we accept the evidence of the intelligent people who have the opportunity of observing large numbers of young women in schools and colleges, the early period of sexual function is not so liable to disease as when women are called upon to perform some of the higher duties of their being later in life. Neither is it my object