"As in a building
Stone rests on stone, and wanting the foundation
All would be wanting, so in human life
Each action rests on the foregoing event
That made it possible, but is forgotten
And buried in the earth."
LONGFELLOW.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
IT has been well said that the bulwarks of a nation are themothers. Any contribution to the physical, and hence the mental,perfection of woman should be welcomed alike by her own sex, bythe thoughtful citizen, by the political economist, and by thehygienist. Observation of the truths, expressed in a modest,pleasing, and conclusive manner, in the essay of Dr. Galbraithcontribute to this end. These truths should be known by everywoman, and I gladly commend the essay to their thoughtfulconsideration.
JOHN H. MUSSER, M.D.,
Late Professer of ClinicalMedicine
in the University of Pennsylvania.
THE author takes this opportunity to thank the medicalprofession and the laity for the very cordial reception which hasbeen tendered the first edition of this small volume.
The necessity for the use of technical expressions in a bookwritten expressly for the laity must always be a matter ofregret. And only those who have attempted to write a similar workcan fully appreciate the truth of Herbert Spencer's remark, that"Nothing is so difficult as to write an elementary book onscientific subjects."
The author has added to this edition a section on "The Hygieneof Puberty," one on "Hemorrhage at the Menopause a SignificantSymptom of Cancer," and one on "The Hygiene of theMenopause."
ANNA M. GALBRAITH.
15 WEST NINETY-FIRST STREET, NEW YORK.
"Ignorance is the curse of God;
Knowledge, the wings wherewith we fly to heaven." "Henry VI."
PERFECT health is essential to perfect happiness. The greaterthe knowledge of the laws of nature, and the more closely theselaws are lived up to, so much nearer "ideal" will be the healthand happiness of the individual. Hence the necessity that thesesame laws should be as familiar to the adult man and woman as thealphabet. Further, with our present knowledge of the certainsuffering, disease, and death that are bred by ignorance of allthese subjects, it is little less than criminal to allow girls toreach the ag