PREFACE.

TEN years ago, an edition of 5000 copies of this work was published in New York, and rapidly sold, since which time it has been out of print. But it has been so often called for, and seems, moreover, to be one of the desiderata of the Hygienic literature of the day, that I have concluded to revise it, and have it republished. I have made some important additions, and have corroborated the statements of the author by some pungent, and, I trust, instructive quotations from the latest medical authors on the subject of the diseases of women, and of the pernicious habits and fashionable follies which conduce to them.

Florence Hights, N. J., Oct. 25, 1872.

R. T. TRALL, M. D.

TESTIMONIAL.

HAVING carefully examined the following pages treating upon the important subject of health and diseases of woman, we bear cheerful testimony to its merits, believing it surpasses any work of the kind ever placed before the public. It points out in a clear, forcible manner the causes that are undermining the health of American women, and shows the terrible effects produced thereby upon their offspring. It portrays to young and old the sad consequences of following wrong habits of life, and the untold miseries resulting from drug medication as sustained by the highest acknowledged medical authority. We therefore unhesitatingly recommend it to every intelligent person in the land. No family should be without it, as it will prove an invaluable help in guiding the household in the paths of virtue and health.

MRS. M. A. CHAMBERLAIN, M. D,

MISS P. M. LAMSON, M. D.

Physicians Health Institute, Battle Creek, Mich.

HEALTH AND DISEASES OF WOMAN.

WOMAN AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

THE

HE declining health of American women, and the rapidly increasing frailty of American girls, have now become prominent topics of the magazines and newspapers, as well as of the medical journals of the day. And the diseases of woman have long been recognized as the opprobrium medicorum of the profession-the disgrace of medical science.

This cannot be because physicians have not had sufficient experience in their treatment; for, in all ages, medical men have had much more to do with the diseases of women than of men; and in this age, and in this country, more than three-fourths of all the practice of the profession are devoted to the treatment of diseases peculiar to women.

At a festival lately held by a medical society in the city of New York, "dear woman was toasted in the following words: "The last best gift of God to man, and the chief support of the doctors." Do you imagine that when these jovial doctors were feasting themselves full and