The choice of a mate.

  • Ludovici, Anthony M. (Anthony Mario), 1882-1971.
Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The choice of a mate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BREAST CANCER AND SPINSTERHOOD and, as a general rule, is well established at 27 and 28, we must recognize that for the outward signs of the process to have be come visible at these ages, it must already by slow degrees have reduced the freshness and vigour of the organism very much earlier—that is to say, that although from 13 onwards a crescendo of blooming vigour may be sustained for a few years, in the end, the waiting organism tires, and a diminuendo tendency supervenes which, although not visible in grossly obvious traits, is never theless established. I mean by this that we must try to rid ourselves of the expert medical tendency to recognize a morbid condition only when it is palpable and acute. We may now usefully turn to the consideration of the morbid effects actually known to result from the delay or the long absence of natural functioning in the generative organs of the female, including the breasts. In regard to the latter, Dr. Janet E. Lane-Claypon, in an interesting report on Cancer of the Breast, after stating that, “ It has long been known that unmarried women suffer from cancer of the breast at a higher rate than married ones ”, and after pointing out that, “ It is now proved that among married women those who are less fertile are at a disadvantage ’V makes this profoundly significant remark :— “ It can hardly be doubted that the absence of the normal function of the breast must be of importance in unmarried women. It is possible that the continued recurrence in the breast of the changes which occur with each menstrual cycle, without the stimulus due to pregnancy and lactation, may be the prejudicial factor.” 2 Here is an indication of the kind of morbid effect I was refer ring to when I spoke above of “ physiological disappointment ”, of “ tuning up the whole organism to the point of highest functional expectation ”, without any normal result. Again, it is important not to dwell on the cancer factor ; because that is a gross and obvious manifestation of the morbid process initiated by prolonged inactivity of a part; but to recog nize that if such extremely morbid results as cancer do more frequently occur in the breasts of unmarried than of married women, 3 we must logically assume that degenerative processes, 1 1 Op. cit., p. 131. 2 Ibid., p. 132. Also pp. 129 and 130. 3 Dr. L. B. Wevill, in a review of One Thousand Case Records of Malignant Disease of the Breast (Edin. Med. Journ., Dec., 1932, p. 714), also says the