A severe leucorrhea is generally attended with frequent and finally painful micturition; pain in walking in the lower part of the abdomen, which may become so severe as to compel the patient to go to bed.

Pruritus Vulva.—­ This is an intense and persistent itching of the vulva, and is a symptom rather than a disease.  It is not an infrequent result of leucorrhea, the acrid discharge of the latter leading to an irritation of the parts; this causes rubbing of the parts until a veritable inflammation is produced.

Other causes of pruritus vulvae are:  The local congestion, such as occurs at the menstrual period, or in certain cases of pelvic inflammations, or in early pregnancy; constipation; sedentary habits; congestion of the liver; incontinence of urine, and diabetes.  When dependent on the latter, the malady is most obstinate in yielding to treatment.  Indigestible foods or drinks, the rubbing of the clothes, the friction of walking, and the heat of the bed act as exciting causes in those predisposed to it.

The essential treatment here is to at once ascertain and remove the cause; aids in the treatment are vaginal douches and cooling lotions.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MARRIAGE QUESTION.

Herbert Spencer’s Definition of Love; What Constitutes a Suitable Husband; Best Age for Marriage; Shall Cousins Marry?  Contraindications to Marriage; Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands? the Proper Length of Time for the Engagement; the Right Time of the Year to Marry; the Selection of the Wedding Day.

  “Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
   Thy honourable mettle may be wrought
   From that it is disposed:  Therefore, ’tis meet
   That noble minds keep ever with their likes. 
   For who so firm that cannot be seduced?”

—­“Julius Caesar.”

Herbert Spencer’s Definition of Love.—­ “Love is habitually spoken of as though it were a simple feeling, whereas it is the most compound, and therefore the most powerful, of all the feelings.  Added to the purely physical elements of it, are first to be noticed those highly complex impressions produced by physical beauty; around which are aggregated a variety of pleasurable ideas, not themselves amatory, but which have an organized relation to the amatory feelings.  With this there is united the complex sentiment we term affection—­ a sentiment which, as it can exist between those of the same sex, must be regarded as an independent sentiment, but one which is here greatly exalted.  Then there is the sentiment of admiration, respect, reverence, in itself one of considerable power, and which in this relation becomes in a high degree active.  There comes next the feeling called the love of approbation.  To be preferred above all the world, and that by the one admired above all others, is to have the love of approbation gratified in a degree passing every other