ays curable if properly and promptly treated. The remedies must be
addressed to the nervous system, and can be administered with
intelligence only by a competent medical adviser. It can be prevented by
a hygienic mode of life, and, as its most common causes are anxiety,
home-sickness, want of exercise, or overwork at school, nothing is so
salutary in its early stages as a change of air and scene, cheerful
company, a tour to the mountains or some watering-place, and regular
exercise.

Many young women suffer considerable pain during their monthly illness.
This may arise from many different causes, such as, congestion,
inflammation, malformation, or a wrong position of the parts, or
over-sensitive nerves. They can only be successfully treated when the
cause is known; and they may rest assured that this suffering, in nearly
every case, can be removed.

Sometimes a girl grows to the age of eighteen or twenty without having
her periodical changes. We have already said that this is not unusual in
some climates and in some families; so, as long as the general health is
good and the spirits cheerful,--always an important point,--it need
cause no anxiety. But if the health grow poor, and especially if there
be pains and weakness recurring monthly without discharge, then
something is wrong, and the doctor should be consulted.

HYSTERICS.

There is a disease of the nerves to which girls about the age of puberty
are very subject, particularly in the higher circles of society, where
their emotions are over-educated and their organization delicate. It is
called hysteria, and more commonly _hysterics_. Frequently it deceives
both doctor and friends, and is supposed to be some dangerous complaint.
Often it puts on the symptoms of epilepsy, or heart disease, or
consumption. We have witnessed the most frightful convulsions in girls
of fourteen or fifteen, which were brought on by this complaint.
Sometimes it injures the mind; and it should always receive prompt and
efficient attention, as it is always curable.

This disease is apt to produce a similar affection in other girls of the
same age who see the attacks. For this reason, hysterical girls should
not be sent to large schools, but cured at home. Often a strong mental
impression restores them. The anecdote is told of a celebrated surgeon
(Boerhaave) who was called to a female seminary where there was a number
of hysterical girls. He summoned them together, heated a number of i