The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother

Under the first of these is discussed the mysterious change she undergoes when ripening from the indifferent girl to the tender and sensitive virgin. The dangers she runs at this critical epoch are carefully noted, and the rules to prevent and remedy them clearly set forth. The all-absorbing topic of Love, is next treated of in a pure and elevated style, but strictly from the physician's point of view, and many salutary hints are given to direct the passion to noble ends and in proper channels, and to teach the youthful reader how to shun unfortunate unions.

In the part addressed to Wives the health of the married couple is first considered as being essential to their happiness. Plainly, yet delicately, the rules that should govern them are laid down; the absence of children and their excessive numbers are both mentioned, as requiring appropriate correction, and an unsparing hand is laid upon certain prevalent social vices. A full discussion of the important topic of the inheritance of physical and mental traits will be found, and two most thorough and practical chapters on Pregnancy and Confinement are added, most invaluable to every young wife.

The duties of the Mother are next set forth, in nursing her child, and taking proper care of it, in training its budding powers, and also in giving her own attention to it in some of the more common diseases to which children are subject.

The sections devoted to Health in Marriage will be peculiarly welcome to many women suffering in health from they know not what exact cause, but really from some of those inward or local weaknesses which are here described. While to very many others who are approaching or about passing through the critical epoch of the Change of Life, the full and well-considered views of the author in the part devoted to that period will be read with benefit and gratitude.

A carefully prepared Index and a copious list of authorities close the volume.

[Transcriber's Note: In the Biographical Sketch section, an "a" with a macron has been marked as [=a] in this file.]

THE PHYSICAL LIFE OF WOMAN: ADVICE TO THE MAIDEN, WIFE AND MOTHER.

by GEORGE H. NAPHEYS, A.M., M.D.

MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE GYNECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON; LATE CHIEF OF MEDICAL CLINIC OF THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE; AUTHOR OF "THE TRANSMISSION OF LIFE," "THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF DISEASE," "MODERN MEDICAL THERAPEUTICS," "LETTERS FROM EUROPE," ETC.

"Je veux qu'une femme ait des clartes de tout."--Molière.

New Edition.

WITH THE FINAL CORRECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR, AND A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

PHILADELPHIA: DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER, 23 SOUTH NINTH STREET. 1889.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, BY D. G. BRINTON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All rights reserved.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

In presenting a third edition of this work to the public, with the final changes and improvements of the author, the publishers have felt it a duty to attach to it a brief sketch of his life, which drew to so early and lamented a termination. The whole has also been submitted to a careful revision, in order that it might be brought down to the latest advances in the department of science of which it treats, and also to include in it the final suggestions of the author.

While Dr. Napheys evidently considered the second edition of the present work as meeting closely the requirements of readers, and therefore left behind him no notes which would alter the general plan, a number of corrections and minor changes have been made in the text, various paragraphs have been materially modified, and the Appendix referring to authorities more or less altered.

The continued popularity of the work has been shown, not only by the steady demand for it, but by the efforts of various authors to write imitations of it, and various publishers to issue mutilated and imperfect editions. Against these the present publishers would warn innocent purchasers. The present is the only edition containing the important additions and corrections made by the author during the latter years of his life; and none other was authorized by him.

In its present form, The Physical Life of Woman may justly claim to count among the classics of American literature. Its popularity increases with time, and none of the many similar works which have appeared have approached it in public estimation. It is believed that in the present edition no important scientific fact bearing upon the subject has been omitted, and the most recent developments of hygiene will be found discussed.

1878.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND STEREOTYPE EDITION.

Three years have passed since the author of the present work ventured to lay it before the public, not without unusual anxiety as to the manner in which he had fulfilled a task he knew to be so fruitful of good results if well done. Those years of trial are over, and they have brought a recognition of his labors beyond his most sanguine dreams. Nearly one hundred and fifty thousand copies of the work have been sold in that period; it has been separately republished both in Canada and England; it has been honored by a translation into German; the imitations of it which have been written form almost a small library; and, more to the satisfaction of the author than all this, it has received the highest praise both at home and abroad, from both the medical profession and the general learned world.

The present new stereotype edition contains the result of three more years of study and experience, enlightened and aided by very many letters from readers, which served to point out wherein the previous edition fell short of their wants. The text has been carefully revised, and in large part wholly rewritten; nearly one hundred and fifty pages of selected new matter have been added; and the latest steps of medical science in this direction have been followed.

Of the parts which are quite new, and which from the inquiries of numerous readers will add greatly to the value of the work, are the sections on the disturbances of the monthly function in girls, the care of the child, the management of diseases of children, the diseases incident to pregnancy, childbed, and nursing, etc.

Indeed, in the present edition the author has aimed to omit nothing which can aid Woman in performing her full duty to herself and others, so far as that duty lies in the sphere of her Physical Life, whether she is called upon to act as Wife, Mother, Teacher, or Guide. His most ardent desire continues to be that the work will be found a sure and safe monitor amid the difficult duties of Maidenhood and Maternity.

LONDON, ENGLAND, October, 1872.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

It seems well to offer, at the outset, a few words explanatory of the nature and object of this book. The author feels that its aim is novel, is daring, and will perhaps subject him to criticism. He therefore make his plea, pro domo sua, in advance.

The researches of scientific men within the last few years have brought to light very many facts relating to the physiology of woman, the diseases to which she is subject, and the proper means to prevent those diseases. Such information, if universally possessed, cannot but result in great benefit to the individual and the commonwealth. The difficulty is to express one's self clearly and popularly on topics never referred to in ordinary social intercourse. But as the physician is obliged daily to speak in plain yet decorous language of such matters, the author felt that the difficulty was not unsurmountable.

He is aware that a respectable though diminishing class in the community maintain that nothing which relates exclusively to either sex should become the subject of popular medical instruction. With every inclination to do this class justice, he feels sure that such an opinion is radically erroneous. Ignorance is no more the mother of purity than she is of religion. The men and women who study and practise medicine are not the worse, but the better, for their knowledge of such matters. So it would be with the community. Had every person a sound understanding of the relations of the sexes, one of the most fertile sources of crime would be removed.

A brief appendix has been added, directed more especially to the professional reader, who may desire to consult some of the original authorities upon whom the author has drawn. And here he would ask from his fellow-members of the medical profession their countenance and assistance in his attempt to distribute sound information of this character among the people. None but physicians can know what sad consequences are constantly occurring from the want of it. *

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE HENRY NAPHEYS, M.D.

Were man's life measured by his deeds, as the poet suggests, how brief would be the long years of many an octogenarian, and how extended the short span which has been allotted to not a few of the world's famous heroes!

This oft-repeated thought strikes us forcibly in considering the biography of the subject of this sketch. Closing his life at an age when most professional men are but beginning theirs, he had already studied broadly, had traveled widely over two continents, had gained credit and fame by the sword and the pen, and had amassed a fund of erudition and experience which the more lethargic lives of most men fail to approach after twice his length of days. It is eminently appropriate that a record of his busy career should be attached to the works on which his celebrity is chiefly bound, and in which he most conspicuously displays that command of language and happy facility of imparting instruction for which he was so remarkable.

GEORGE HENRY NAPHEYS (pronounced N[=a]'feez, the [=a] as in fate) was born in the city of Philadelphia, March 5th, 1842. His parents died while he was still at a tender age, and he was placed with some relatives who resided in the city. From early years he was characterized by quick perceptions and a retentive memory. In the Philadelphia High School, from which he received the academic degree of Master of Arts, he was considered the best scholar in his class, a marked distinction in view of the large numbers which attend that institution. Besides acquiring the usual studies of the High School, he gave considerable time to phonography, in which he became so skilled that he could report any ordinary speaker with entire accuracy. This subsequently proved a great advantage to him in his medical career.

After his graduation he repaired to Hartford, Conn., where he was offered and accepted the position of private secretary to a gentleman of prominence in the literary and religious world.

Thus he was engaged when the civil war broke out. With his natural warmth of feeling and strong emotions, he entered the fray among the first, and went out as Lieutenant, and subsequently as Captain, Company F, 10th Connecticut State Volunteers. The regiment was enlisted for nine months, and was dispatched to Louisiana, General Banks then commanding the Department. It participated in engagements near Baton Rouge and on the Red River, in which Captain Napheys always acquitted himself with bravery and credit.