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

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