omitting the steam-room and shortening the time spent in the hot dry air.  In ordinary cases the time spent in the hot dry-room should be only that necessary for producing a free perspiration.  This time varies in different individuals from ten to twenty minutes.  No woman should go to a Turkish bath without first consulting her physician, since if the woman has a weak heart, the bath may be the source of positive danger.  Comparatively few women are strong enough to take the cold plunge.

Massage.—­ Massage, well given by a skilful masseuse twice a week, will greatly tone up the nervous and circulatory systems.  Women who are very stout and who have sluggish livers with obstinate constipation will find massage particularly beneficial.

Exercise.—­ Daily exercise in the open air is absolutely essential to every woman’s good health.  The minimum amount of outdoor exercise compatible with health is an hour’s walk, at the rate of three miles an hour.  If the woman has never taken any exercise, she must begin with a very short walk and stop on the first sign of fatigue.  Gradually increase the distance and the speed until the three miles is reached.

Profuse Menstruation.—­ If the menstrual flow is unusually profuse or lasts beyond the regular time, the woman should stay quietly in bed until the flow ceases.  All exercise increases the flow.

The flow now becomes less in quantity, and the periods more infrequent than formerly.  Hemorrhage must always be regarded as a danger-signal the significance of which can scarcely be overestimated.  To immediately consult a specialist on the appearance of any irregularities of the flow would, in the opinion of the most eminent gynecologists of the day, be the means of saving thousands of women’s lives every year.

Mental Therapeutics.—­ It is particularly necessary at this time of life that the mind should be pleasantly occupied.  Her children have passed the age when they need her constant supervision, and the mother must take some relaxation from her home cares, in the form of social diversions, amusements, outdoor life, and change of scene.  Any mental occupation that will take the woman out of herself is the best possible safeguard against a state of introspection which conjures up a host of evil fantasies, and which is the first step in the downward road to a fixed and permanent melancholia.

  “Hang sorrow, care will kill a cat;
  And therefore let ’s be merry.”

CHAPTER XVI.

HINTS FOR HOME TREATMENT

   Indigestion; Constipation; Diarrhea; Enemas; Vaginal Douche; Baths;
   Headache; Fainting; Hemorrhage.

  “Woman is woman’s natural ally.”

—­Euripides.