Letters to women on midwifery and the diseases of women : a descriptive and practical work ... illustrated with numerous cases of treatment / by Joel Shew.
- Joel Shew
- Date:
- 1887
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Letters to women on midwifery and the diseases of women : a descriptive and practical work ... illustrated with numerous cases of treatment / by Joel Shew. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![debilitating the system must necessarily render it more liable to a similar attack. But it is also to be observed that such treatment generally fails of its object, and thus, in the end, the patient is certain of being made worse for it. How came this delusion] How does it happen that people are so much afraid of the cooling and tonic means? It is from a wrong understanding of the nature of the case. In the first place, a cold was taken. This is literally true; cold made a more powerful impression upon the system than it could bear at the time without harm. As a sec- ondary effect, inflammation is the result. In all cases of acute, but sudden suppression of the menses, I conceive that there is more or less inflammation of the womb; and wherever there is inflammation, which always consists in increased heat, the natural discharge cannot go on. Now here, where there is a cold, as we say, which means heat and inflammation, should we apply hot things'? Certainly not; but rather cold. And yet 1 would not use cold too much; never more than the individual can safely bear. This, then, is the plain treatment for acute suppression of the menses: do all that may be in fortifying the gen- eral health of the individual. If at any time there is shivering, or rigors, apply the rubbing wet-sheet, rubbing briskly over it, and then let the patient go and exercise in the open air. Let her bathe, at least daily, in water tepid, cool, or cold, accordingly as she car. bear. A tepid-bath, that is, water from 70 to S0° Fahr., is always cooling in effect, it being much cooler than the blood, which, in its natural state, is 98° Fahr. She should also wear the wet girdle constantly, changing it at least four times in the twenty four hours. She should walk out daily and often, but not too far at a time. She](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21004055_0078.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
