Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 2 of 2).djvu/25

 ON PARTURITION. 543

many incurable diseases also are brought on by unhealthy men- strual discharges, or from over-abstinence from sexual inter- course where the passions are strong !

Nor are the changes which take place in the virgin less ob- servable when the uterus first begins to enlarge and receive warmth ; the complexion is improved, the breasts enlarge, the countenance glows with beauty, the eyes lighten, the voice be- comes harmonious; the gait, gestures, discourse, all are graceful. Serious maladies, too, are cured either at this period or never.

I am acquainted with a noble lady who for more than ten years laboured under furor uterinus and melancholy. After all remedies had been employed without success, she became affected with prolapsus uteri. Contrary to the opinion of others, I predicted that this last accident would prove salutary, and I recommended her not to replace the uterus until its over-heat had been moderated by the contact of the external air. Cir- cumstances turned out as I anticipated, and in a short time she became quite well; the uterus was returned to its proper situation, and she lives in good health to the present day.

I also saw another woman who suffered long with hysterical symptoms, which would yield to no remedies. After many years her health was restored on the uterus becoming pro- lapsed. In both cases, when the violence of the symptoms Avas abated, I returned the uterus, and the event proved favor- able. For the uterus, when stimulated by any acrid matter, not only falls down, but like the rectum irritated by a tenes- mus, thrusts itself otitwards.

Various, then, is the constitution of the uterus, and not only in its diseased, but also in its natural state, that is, at the pe- riods of fecundity and barrenness. In young girls, as I said, and in women past childbearing, it is without blood, and about the size of a bean. In the marriageable virgin it has the mag- nitude and form of a pear. In women who have borne chil- dren, and are still fruitful, it equals in bulk a small gourd or a goose's egg ; at the same time, together with the breasts, it swells and softens, becomes more fleshy, and its heat is in- creased; whilst, to use Virgil's expression with reference to the fields,

" Superat tener omnibus humor, Et genitalia semina poscunt."

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