WOMAN A Treatise on the Normal and BY BERNARD S. TALMEY, M. D. Gynaecologist to the Yorkville Hospital and Dispensary; FOR PHYSICIANS AND STUDENTS OF WITH TWENTY-THREE DRAWINGS IN THE TEXT SECOND ENLARGED AND IMPROVED EDITION PRACTITIONERS PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK Copyrighted, 1908, by HARVARD MEDICAL LIBRARY FRANCIS A. COUNTWAY LIBRARY OF MEDICINE PREFACE Small causes have often great effects. This is not only the rule in large, but also in small affairs. The casual call of a young woman seeking advice for partial frigidity was the circumstance that led to the writing of this treatise. At that time the author, who was only a few years in practice, was not only unable to give the patient any advice, but he did not even know of the existence of such an anomaly as her complaint. His professors at the university never told him anything of the normal sexual emotions, and his text-books on physiology and pathology were equally silent on this subject. What the author knew about amativeness was, therefore, only subjective; and his knowledge of the amatory feelings of the other sex was only gained by hearsay, which is plainly insufficient for the practitioner who is often called upon to treat anomalies of these emotions. In order to enlarge his knowledge the writer began to study this important subject, but soon found that human passion had received but passing attention by most of the medical writers. As a gynaecologist, the feminine amatory emotions have particularly appealed to the author's reflection. Upon the correct judgment of the physician, which in the case of women must be reached after the most careful psychological analysis of the sexual life, depends the happiness of the family. The feminine amatory emotions touch, in a broader sense, most intimately both private and social life. With a view of supplying this want in gynaecological literature, the author has ransacked the libraries for the last few years in search of light on this important subject. The fruit of his labors is this short medico-philo sophical treatise. The author, therefore, lays no claim to particular originality. What he knows he owes to others. He has often taken whole passages from other writers to prove his case, without fearing the accusation of plagiarism. The opinions laid down in this treatise are thus based upon the experiences of hundreds of writers in various countries and at different times. If the writer be permitted to claim any credit, he does so for this rather than for originality, if true originality were possible in medical science. There is no merit in originality of such a subject. It is impossible for a single individual to know all the intricacies of Love even in the same sex. The original ideas will all be more or less subjective. But when hundreds of alienists, philosophers, poets and historians are consulted and their opinions reported, the practitioner, after having read them, could not possibly be in the same predicament as the author was when the said young lady consulted him. The author had to go fishing in the sea of medical and philosophical literature, and whole days long sitting on the shore patiently wait for a single bite in order to prepare a palatable and easily digestible mental dish for the busy practitioner among women. If he has succeeded in this he will feel well repaid for his labor. New York, March, 1904. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION "Woman" has no cause to complain of American chivalry. Although the medical man is decried all over the world as devoid of sentiment, yet due obeisance was not denied her even by the medical profession. She was received with such enthusiasm that after the very short space of a few months she needs a rejuvenescence, a proof that her former absence in medical literature was painfully felt by those who are eager for instruction. the new enlarged edition should have the same reception, the author will not have worked in vain. If New York, February, 1908. THE AUTHOR. |