s may be indicated, should be the
course to follow. The bowels should be kept regular and digestion aided
in every way possible, if necessary by rest from school, or work, or by
a change of air and scene. If the patient is inclined to malaria she
must take quinine and live in a locality free from that tendency. If
rheumatic she should take the remedies advised in that disease and avoid
colds, wet clothes, or sitting in cold, badly ventilated rooms, churches
or theatres. If there are no distinct evidences of special tendencies,
general tonics may be given to advantage. These should consist chiefly
of iron, arsenic, phosphous, nux vomica, cod liver oil, etc.

The treatment of mechanical dysmenorrhea of course implies removal of
the cause. As this necessitates operative procedure, or at least an
examination by a physician, it is best left in his hands.

STERILITY

Sterility means the inability to become a parent. A woman who is sterile
cannot become a mother. She is for some reason unable to have a baby.

A childless union is frequently the cause of much unhappiness. There is
something lacking in the expression "a childless home." It seems a
paradox, as home is inherently associated with children and happiness.
It has been stated that one out of every eight marriages is barren. The
average time which elapses after marriage and the birth of the first
child is seventeen months. Physicians agree that if a woman goes over
three years after marriage without having a baby her chances of having
one are small. If children are desired, and they usually are by
childless parents, every effort should be made within the first three
years to ascertain the cause of the sterility, and if it can be
rectified. The barrenness may be dependent upon some physical defect
which will quickly respond to the proper medical treatment. It is well
to remember, however, that the defect is not always the woman's. In
every six childless marriages about one is due to sterility in the
husband. The age of the greatest fertility in women is between twenty
and twenty-four years. It is rare to find a barren woman between these
years. Nature evidently intended that the duties of maternity should be
assumed between the twenty and twenty-fourth year. If married before the
age of twenty the statistics prove that barrenness exists in one woman
in every twelve. If married after the twenty-fourth year the chances of
having children decreases with the age of the