A Hand-book of uterine therapeutics, and of diseases of women / by Edward John Tilt.

  • Edward John Tilt
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A Hand-book of uterine therapeutics, and of diseases of women / by Edward John Tilt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    sidered dangerous to health. Even during the six months of dry- heat, in many parts of India, after long hours of dead calm, about two or three in the morning, there is a sudden fall in the thermom- eter, the air begins to move, so that those who are sleeping out- side, or with the windows open, are in a draught just at the time when, in the human body, there is a minimum of electric tension and vital power. Take Bangalore, one of the best stations in the Madras presidency; for eight or nine months in the year the nights are said to be so cold that a couple of blankets are very acceptable, and, in early morning, the wind is sufficiently cold to chap the face, but, when the sun has risen, it is so hot that it is not reputed safe to move about, except in a carriage; the result is, that many are carried off by chest affections, or suffer from internal congestions and suppression of menstruation. It need not, then, surprise us, that Dr. Boggs should mention, in the thesis that he wrote on taking a Paris degree, his having seen many cases of uterine in- flammation caused by sitting opposite or close to punkahs or ther- mantidotes, which lower the temperature of the room ten degrees. Thus living in a temperature which, even in the shade, equals and often surpasses that of the blood, it is easy to understand that women will seek relief by exposing themselves imprudently to the sea-breeze, to the cold northwester, or to the icy chill of a raw, dewy night, which is felt to pierce through a frame inadequately protected by scanty European clothing, more or less saturated by perspiration; while the loose but ample folds of the trousers and belts worn by the women of most Eastern nations are much more calculated to prevent the injurious action of cold on the pelvic vis- cera. Even the greatest preservative of health, in a warm climate, the cold bath, may be abused; and Dr. D. Stewart has sometimes traced uterine disease to its having been imprudently continued during the catamenial periods. Thus cold, under its many modes of application, tells most on the weakest organ, originating uterine disease in India, as it does in England. Whether the ill effects of the sudden application of cold to the external surface depend on its checking the cutaneous secretions, or on its disturbing the sym- pathetic relations which exist between the cutaneous nerves and internal organs, or by altering that electrical status of the system with which we are as yet so little acquainted, it is difficult to say; but it is certain that the sudden application of cold, particularly raw, damp cold, is the most frequent cause of menstrual perturba-
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