OBJECTIVE.
47
work,* thus clearly states the relation of influence and condition: —
“ Many of the factors which account for primitive amenorrhoea (or absence of menstruation) will also induce secondary or accidental amenorrhoea. Thus defective nutrition, unhealthy occupations in crowded ill-ventilated rooms, blood-tainting from exposure to sewage emanations, want of exercise in the open air, which implies privation of the wholesome influences of the sun, —will all prevent the advent of menstruation. It is a matter of observation that girls verging on puberty, sent to boarding-school or into business in large town establishments, commonly fail to menstruate, whilst the function is often accomplished on the return to free life in the holidays, or on return to the country. What is wanted is outdoor exercise, and less rigorous strain upon the mind and body.”
In all factory employments, and, indeed, in many others of the lighter and more commercial order, the labors and attention of the employee must be incessant, as well as arduous ; and not infrequently the concentrated thought and action of the individual must supplement and be the essential com-
* Barnes on Diseases of Women.