Hence all the means that restore the system to health, medicinal and hygienic, may be recommended as tending to cure the complaint, and hence we have to inquire whether there is serious disease in any of the organs when the question of pregnancy arises, on account of the disappearance of the menses. It is always necessary in treating amenorrhœa to consider the cause of it, and we should know that it may come from torpitude of the secernent vessels of the uterus, produced by anxiety of mind, cold, or suddenly suppressed perspiration; falls, especially when accompanied with terror; or a general inertness and flaccidity of the system, and more particularly of the ovaries. (F. 172, 173). DYSMENORRHŒA. There are few women who pass through the whole period of sexual vigor without having more or less frequently to endure an attack of dysmenorrhœa. Some few females experience great pain with each flow, from puberty to the change of life, while in others pain is only an exceptional accompaniment. With some women marriage effects a cure, while in others it either aggravates or originates dysmenorrhœa. Three distinct varieties of dysmenorrhœa have to be considered: the neuralgic, the congestive, and the mechanical. The variety which is called NEURALGIC DYSMENORRHŒA is more frequent in unmarried females; and if married, in those that have not borne children; and most frequently affects those of a nervous temperament, and of a thin, delicate habit. The paroxysms present all the characteristics of neuralgia. For a time before the catamenia appear there is a sense of general uneasiness, a deep-seated feeling of cold and headache, sometimes alternating with pain in the back and lower part of the abdomen, perhaps extending down the thighs. The flux comes on sometimes slowly and scantily, or in some cases in slight gushes. The discharge may be paler than natural, and may be mixed with slight clots. In some cases there is a membrane of plastic lymph discharged either in shreds, or in the form of the uterine cavity that it has lined. Conception is rare under such circumstances. Though the disease seems to be of a simple neuralgic character, it is supposed that there is a degree of inflammation of a peculiar kind in the mucous membrane where the plastic lymph is thrown off. In regard to the duration of the period, the constitutional injury sustained, and as to the relief on the appearance of the menses, the cases vary. A peculiar irritability of the uterus is a common cause of this form of the disease, but, like amenorrhœa, it may be caused by cold, mental emotion, or local injury from a fall.