ear 1878, BY D. G.
BRINTON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All
rights reserved.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

In presenting a third edition of this work to the public, with the final
changes and improvements of the author, the publishers have felt it a
duty to attach to it a brief sketch of his life, which drew to so early
and lamented a termination. The whole has also been submitted to a
careful revision, in order that it might be brought down to the latest
advances in the department of science of which it treats, and also to
include in it the final suggestions of the author.

While Dr. Napheys evidently considered the second edition of the present
work as meeting closely the requirements of readers, and therefore left
behind him no notes which would alter the general plan, a number of
corrections and minor changes have been made in the text, various
paragraphs have been materially modified, and the Appendix referring to
authorities more or less altered.

The continued popularity of the work has been shown, not only by the
steady demand for it, but by the efforts of various authors to write
imitations of it, and various publishers to issue mutilated and
imperfect editions. Against these the present publishers would warn
innocent purchasers. The present is the only edition containing the
important additions and corrections made by the author during the latter
years of his life; and none other was authorized by him.

In its present form, _The Physical Life of Woman_ may justly claim to
count among the classics of American literature. Its popularity
increases with time, and none of the many similar works which have
appeared have approached it in public estimation. It is believed that in
the present edition no important scientific fact bearing upon the
subject has been omitted, and the most recent developments of hygiene
will be found discussed.

1878.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND STEREOTYPE EDITION.

Three years have passed since the author of the present work ventured to
lay it before the public, not without unusual anxiety as to the manner
in which he had fulfilled a task he knew to be so fruitful of good
results if well done. Those years of trial are over, and they have
brought a recognition of his labors beyond his most sanguine dreams.
Nearly _one hundred and fifty thousand copies_ of the work have been
sold in that period; it has been separately republished both in Canada
and E