# Searchlights on Health/The Diseases of Women

THE DISEASES OF WOMEN.
THE WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE HOME.—For centuries the world has stuck to this rule. Because the woman has been considered less fit for the struggles of the active workaday world, she has been kept at home, shut in from the air and sunshine, deprived of healthy exercise, and obliged to live a life of confinement and inactivity.
WHAT IS THE RESULT?—In connection with menstruation, pregnancy and child bearing a long list of diseases peculiar to woman have arisen, most of which through proper food and exercise could be avoided. In matters so vital to posterity false modesty and ignorance can no longer be tolerated.
CHLOROSIS OR ANAEMIA.
Home Treatment: Plenty of good food and fresh air will do much to restore the blood. Keep the bowels free. Satisfactory results have been brought about by a systematic use of iron as a tonic.
DISORDERS OF THE MENSES.
RETENTION OF MENSTRUATION.
Treatment: When due to the condition of the blood, recommend good food, fresh air, and sunshine to improve circulation. If the result of cold and exposure means and appliances for restoring the circulation must be adopted.
In either case the bowels should be kept open by injections.
VICARIOUS MENSTRUATION.
Treatment: No attempt should be made to stop the hemorrhage during the monthly period. The discharge is usually light although it occasionally causes great weakness. This disorder is caused by the suppression of the menses, and must be treated accordingly between periods.
CESSATION OF THE MENSES.
Commonly called "Change of Life."
Treatment: At this dangerous and trying period in a woman's life she must adopt the utmost regularity in the habits of her existence. Hot baths, taken just before retiring, will relieve the uncomfortable feeling so common at this time of life.
DISORDERS OF THE WOMB.
CANCER OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Call at once a competent physician.
DISPLACEMENT OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Evacuate the bowels and the bladder by means of injections, and the catheter. Place the fingers in the vagina, locate the mouth of the womb, insert finger into it, and gently pull the organ into its natural position.
DROPSY OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Use tonics freely together with vapor baths, and frequent hot hip baths.
FALLING OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Build up the physical condition by an abundance of good food, fresh air and sunshine, with moderate exercise. Astringent injections and vaginal suppositories of oak bark, myrrh, and cocoa-butter will usually bring relief.
INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Apply stimulating liniment to the abdomen. Keep body warm and moist especially at extremities. Add 10-15 drops of carbolic acid to one quart of warm water and use as a vaginal douche. Keep bowels open. Furnish light, nourishing diet, and give tonics.
NEURALGIA OF THE WOMB.
Treatment: Keep feet warm and give injections to the bowels of lobelia, lady slipper, and skullcap. Rub the abdomen with liniment. Absolute quiet, above all else, will bring relief.
DISEASES OF THE VAGINA.
VAGINITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VAGINA.
Treatment: Complete rest. Use distilled sweet clover with a slight infusion of lady slipper warm, three times a day as a vaginal injection.
PROLAPSUS OF THE VAGINA.
Treatment: When the walls of the vagina become folded upon themselves through abortion, rupture during delivery, excessive indulgence, masturbation, etc. it is called prolapsus. Use an astringent suppository or injection.
SPASM OF THE VAGINA.
Treatment: This is nothing more than a nervous condition causing the muscles of the vagina to spasm thus closing the passage, and rendering conception almost impossible. Outdoor exercise, light but nourishing diet, and general attention to the nervous system will bring prompt relief. Intercourse, if attempted, should be quiet and unfrequent. An effort should be made to keep the thoughts on other subjects.
DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL FEMALE GENITALS.
INFLAMMATION AND ABSCESS.
Treatment: Wash the parts often with warm water, distilled witch hazel, and strong infusion of lobelia. Keep the bowels free. In severe cases apply poultices of ground flaxseed, sprinkled over with golden seal and lobelia. After poultices are removed, cleanse parts with warm water, containing a little tincture of myrrh.
PRURITIS.
Treatment: A very mortifying and uncomfortable affliction, accompanied by an almost uncontrollable desire to scratch the parts. The itching is due to uncleanliness, excessive masturbation, violent intercourse, inflammation of the bladder, stomach or liver trouble etc. Bathe the affected parts well with borax water, and apply a wash of equal parts witch hazel, and an infusion of lobelia. Use mild laxatives to keep the bowels open.
DISEASES OF THE OVARIES.
DROPSY OF THE OVARIES.
Treatment: An accumulation of fluid in the membranous sack about the ovaries. An operation is necessary and is almost always successful.
INFLAMMATION OF THE OVARIES.
Treatment: In mild cases rub abdomen with liniment and apply hot water bottles. Perfect quiet is essential to an early recovery.
TUMORS OF THE OVARIES.
Treatment: A surgical operation is the only means of cure.