Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [9]
occlusion, with the flow from the lips of the cervix. There is mentioned an instance of menstruation from the labia.
The occurrence of menstruation after removal of the uterus or ovaries is frequently reported. Storer, Clay, Tait, and the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review report cases in which menstruation took place with neither uterus nor ovary. Doubtless many authentic instances like the preceding could be found to-day. Menstruation after hysterectomy and ovariotomy has been attributed to the incomplete removal of the organs in question, yet upon postmortem examination of some cases no vestige of the functional organs in question has been found.
Hematemesis is a means of anomalous menstruation, and several instances are recorded. Marcellus Donatus and Benivenius exemplify this with cases. Instances of vicarious and compensatory epistaxis and hemoptysis are so common that any examples would be superfluous. There is recorded an inexplicable case of menstruation from the region of the sternum, and among the curious anomalies of menstruation must be mentioned that reported by Parvin seen in a woman, who, at the menstrual epoch, suffered hemoptysis and oozing of blood from the lips and tongue. Occasionally there was a substitution of a great swelling of the tongue, rendering mastication and articulation very difficult for four or five days. Parvin gives portraits showing the venous congestion and discoloration of the lips.
Instances of migratory menstruation, the flow moving periodically from the ordinary passage to the breasts and mammae, are found in the older writers. Salmuth speaks of a woman on whose hands appeared spots immediately before the establishment of the menses. Cases of semimonthly menstruation and many similar anomalies of periodicity are spoken of.
The Ephemerides contains an instance of the simulation of menstruation after death, and Testa speaks of menstruation lasting through a long sleep. Instances of black menstruation are to be found, described in full, in the Ephemerides, by Paullini and by Schurig, and in some of the later works; it is possible that an excess of iron, administered for some menstrual disorder, may cause such an alteration in the color of the menstrual fluid.
Suppression of menstruation is brought about in many peculiar ways, and sometimes by the slightest of causes, some authentic instances being so strange as to seem mythical. Through the Ephemerides we constantly read of such causes as contact with a corpse, the sight of a serpent or mouse, the sight of monsters, etc. Lightning stroke and curious neuroses have been reported as causes. Many of the older books on obstetric subjects are full of such instances, and modern illustrations are constantly reported.
Menstruation in Man.--Periodic discharges of blood in man, constituting what is called "male menstruation," have been frequently noticed and are particularly interesting when the discharge is from the penis or urethra, furnishing a striking analogy to the female function of menstruation. The older authors quoted several such instances, and Mehliss says that in the ancient days certain writers remarked that catamenial lustration from the penis was inflicted on the Jews as a divine punishment. Bartholinus mentions a case in a youth; the Ephemerides several instances; Zacutus Lusitanus, Salmuth, Hngedorn, Fabricius Hildanus, Vesalius, Mead, and Acta Eruditorum all mention instances. Forel saw menstruation in a man. Gloninger tells of a man of thirty-six, who, since the age of seventeen years and five months, had had lunar manifestations of menstruation. Each attack was accompanied by pains in the back and hypogastric region, febrile disturbance, and a sanguineous discharge from the urethra, which resembled in color, consistency, etc., the menstrual flux. King relates that while attending a course of medical lectures at the University of Louisiana he formed the acquaintance of a young student who possessed the normal male generative organs, but in whom the simulated function of menstruation was periodically
The occurrence of menstruation after removal of the uterus or ovaries is frequently reported. Storer, Clay, Tait, and the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review report cases in which menstruation took place with neither uterus nor ovary. Doubtless many authentic instances like the preceding could be found to-day. Menstruation after hysterectomy and ovariotomy has been attributed to the incomplete removal of the organs in question, yet upon postmortem examination of some cases no vestige of the functional organs in question has been found.
Hematemesis is a means of anomalous menstruation, and several instances are recorded. Marcellus Donatus and Benivenius exemplify this with cases. Instances of vicarious and compensatory epistaxis and hemoptysis are so common that any examples would be superfluous. There is recorded an inexplicable case of menstruation from the region of the sternum, and among the curious anomalies of menstruation must be mentioned that reported by Parvin seen in a woman, who, at the menstrual epoch, suffered hemoptysis and oozing of blood from the lips and tongue. Occasionally there was a substitution of a great swelling of the tongue, rendering mastication and articulation very difficult for four or five days. Parvin gives portraits showing the venous congestion and discoloration of the lips.
Instances of migratory menstruation, the flow moving periodically from the ordinary passage to the breasts and mammae, are found in the older writers. Salmuth speaks of a woman on whose hands appeared spots immediately before the establishment of the menses. Cases of semimonthly menstruation and many similar anomalies of periodicity are spoken of.
The Ephemerides contains an instance of the simulation of menstruation after death, and Testa speaks of menstruation lasting through a long sleep. Instances of black menstruation are to be found, described in full, in the Ephemerides, by Paullini and by Schurig, and in some of the later works; it is possible that an excess of iron, administered for some menstrual disorder, may cause such an alteration in the color of the menstrual fluid.
Suppression of menstruation is brought about in many peculiar ways, and sometimes by the slightest of causes, some authentic instances being so strange as to seem mythical. Through the Ephemerides we constantly read of such causes as contact with a corpse, the sight of a serpent or mouse, the sight of monsters, etc. Lightning stroke and curious neuroses have been reported as causes. Many of the older books on obstetric subjects are full of such instances, and modern illustrations are constantly reported.
Menstruation in Man.--Periodic discharges of blood in man, constituting what is called "male menstruation," have been frequently noticed and are particularly interesting when the discharge is from the penis or urethra, furnishing a striking analogy to the female function of menstruation. The older authors quoted several such instances, and Mehliss says that in the ancient days certain writers remarked that catamenial lustration from the penis was inflicted on the Jews as a divine punishment. Bartholinus mentions a case in a youth; the Ephemerides several instances; Zacutus Lusitanus, Salmuth, Hngedorn, Fabricius Hildanus, Vesalius, Mead, and Acta Eruditorum all mention instances. Forel saw menstruation in a man. Gloninger tells of a man of thirty-six, who, since the age of seventeen years and five months, had had lunar manifestations of menstruation. Each attack was accompanied by pains in the back and hypogastric region, febrile disturbance, and a sanguineous discharge from the urethra, which resembled in color, consistency, etc., the menstrual flux. King relates that while attending a course of medical lectures at the University of Louisiana he formed the acquaintance of a young student who possessed the normal male generative organs, but in whom the simulated function of menstruation was periodically