e husband attempts to use brute force, the
wife may faint away, she may get a convulsion or become wildly
hysterical. If the husband insists in attempting relations, the wife
may run away, or in exceptional cases even attempt suicide.

ADHERENT CLITORIS OR PHIMOSIS

The word phimosis means "muzzling," and it is a term applied to a
constriction or narrowing of the foreskin, so that the glands of the
clitoris cannot be freely uncovered. This condition may give rise to
an accumulation of smegma or secretion which may cause inflammation,
itching, and nervous irritation. This in its turn may be the cause of
masturbation. It is claimed by some that an adherent clitoris may even
be the cause of convulsions resembling epilepsy. In some cases it
leads to an irritable bladder, inability to retain the urine, and
nocturnal bed-wetting.

In all girls, big or little, that show a tendency to masturbate or
simply to handle the genitals, or that complain of itching, the
clitoris should be examined and if adhesions are found they should be
separated. This can easily be done under a local anesthetic.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

STERILITY

Definition of Sterility--Husband Should First be Examined--
One-child Sterility--The Fertile Woman--Salpingitis as a
Cause of Sterility--Leucorrhea and Sterility--Displacement of
Uterus and Sterility--Closure of Neck of Womb and Sterility--
Sterility and Constitutional Disease--Treatment of Sterility.

Sterility or barrenness is a condition of inability to have children.
In former years the opinion prevailed generally, whenever a couple was
childless, that the fault was exclusively the woman's. It wasn't even
thought that the man could be to blame. We now know that in at least
_fifty per cent._ of cases of sterility, or childless marriages, the
fault is not the woman's but the man's. It is therefore very unwise in
conditions of sterility to subject the wife to treatment without first
examining the husband. Nevertheless, this is still often the case,
particularly among the lower classes or among the ignorant. There are
cases where the woman goes from one doctor to another for years and is
subjected to all kinds of treatment, when a simple examination of the
husband would show that the fault lies with him.

Some women have one child and are unable afterwards to give birth to
any more. Such a condition is called one-child-sterility. It is
generally due to an inflammation of the Fallop