ances of
women with an intermenstrual period. Depaul and Gueniot
(_Dictionnaire Encyclopedique des Sciences Medicales_, Art.,
"Menstruation," p. 694) speak of intermenstrual symptoms, and
even actual flow, as occurring in women who are in a perfect
state of health, and constituting genuine "_regles
surnumeraries_." The condition is, however, said to have been
first fully described by Valleix; then, in 18725 by Sir William
Priestley; and subsequently by Fehling, Fasbender, Sorel,
Halliday Croom, Findley, Addinsell, and others. (See, for
instance, "Mittelschmerz," by J. Halliday Croom, _Transactions of
Edinburgh Obstetrical Society_, vol. xxi, 1896. Also, Krieger,
_Menstruation_, pp. 68-69.) Fliess (_Die Beziehungen zwischen
Nase und weiblichen Geschlechts-Organen_, p. 118) goes so far as
to assert that an intermenstrual period of menstrual
symptoms--which he terms _Nebenmenstruation_--is "a phenomenon
well known to most healthy women." Observations are at present
too few to allow any definite conclusions, and in some of the
cases so far recorded a pathological condition of the sexual
organs has been found to exist. Rosner, of Cracow, however, found
that only in one case out of twelve was there any disease present
(_La Gynecologie_, June, 1905), and Storer, who has met with
twenty cases, insists on the remarkable and definite regularity
of the manifestations, wholly unlike those of neuralgia (_Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal_, April 19, 1900). There is no
agreement as to the cause of _Mittelschmerz_. Addinsell
attributed it to disease of the Fallopian tubes. This, however,
is denied by such competent authorities as Cullingworth and Bland
Sutton. Others, like Priestley, and subsequently Marsh (_American
Journal of Obstetrics_, July, 1897), have sought to find the
explanation in the occurrence of ovulation. This theory is,
however, unsupported by facts, and eventually rests on the
exploded belief that ovulation is the cause of menstruation.
Rosner, following Richelet, vaguely attributes it to the diffused
hyperaemia which is generally present. Van de Velde also
attributes it to an abnormal fall of vascular tone, causing
passive congestion of the pelvic viscera. Others again, like
Armand Routh and MacLean, in the course of an interesting
discussion on _Mittelschmerz_ at