men under constant medical care, and the number of
doctors whose practice lies chiefly among female patients. But if those
could be counted who are endeavoring to cure themselves by traditional
remedies, by quack medicines, by advice at second-hand, by the use of
means that have been recommended by some doctor to some other woman,
they would outnumber the former ten-fold. And it must be remembered,
that most of the first class belong also to the second, as often as they
dare."

This testimony as to the health of English women, as coming from a
woman, is of course doubly valuable; and it comes, too, as a mere
digression in the article from which it is quoted, the subject of which
is "Feminine Knowledge." It remains yet to be proved, it seems to us,
that American women are, as a whole, suffering from more derangement of
their peculiar functions than women of other countries. Do accurately
compiled statistics from full and trustworthy sources, warrant us in
asserting that American women are more unhealthy than European women, or
are we only assuming the fact from their general external appearance--a
criterion by no means a certain one? In the old story, the pail of water
containing the living fish was, after all the discussion, found to weigh
about as much as the pail with the dead one. Are we sure of our facts?

Or even if we are sure of these, even supposing that a mother of a large
family here is not as strong as a mother of a large family in Germany
for instance, we are in no wise warranted in concluding that the two
were not as strong before marriage. The wear and tear of American life
must be taken into consideration, and no one but an American housekeeper
who has ever "kept house" on the other side of the water, can appreciate
the immense relief from care and trouble which she has there
experienced, and the dread with which she again returns to the care of
a house and the dealings with servants in America. It is not work, and
not weakness, but annoyance and worry, that tire and drive women into
nervous diseases. When we find the American and German mothers subjected
to the same strain, and only the same strain, may we fairly judge of
their comparative strength and health, and only then. Where are the
statistics concerning German women resident in this country? There is a
vast field of inquiry open on this subject yet; in fact, a "South-sea of
discovery," and till we are sure of our facts, it were well that we were