The ladies medical companion : containing, in a series of letters, an account of the latest improvements and most successful means of preserving their beauty and health ; of relieving the diseases peculiar to the sex, and an explanation of the offices they should perform to each other at births ; with engraved figures explanatory ; also, the best means of nursing, preventing and curing the diseases of children / by Thomas Ewell.

  • Ewell, Thomas, 1785-1826.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ladies medical companion : containing, in a series of letters, an account of the latest improvements and most successful means of preserving their beauty and health ; of relieving the diseases peculiar to the sex, and an explanation of the offices they should perform to each other at births ; with engraved figures explanatory ; also, the best means of nursing, preventing and curing the diseases of children / by Thomas Ewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ject on some man for a virgin, the opposite sides have been slightly scarified, and being kept in close contact by the forceps, or any other means of compression, they have united, so that the parts have quite the virgin appearance and difficulty in entrance. The hymen being destroyed, and the parts opened, there is the entrance to the womb, called vagina, or birth-place, which in virgins is narrower than in those who are not so. The exterior parts, particularly the labiae, or lips, are very subject to inflammations and swellings ; to great itch- ing, and to ulceration or sores. The regular application of cold water, as before remarked, prevents such disease. When itching or inflammation exists, the application of iced or cold water, as also a solution of sugar of lead, will af- ford relief. Fresh sweet oil is also of service. In cases of ulcerations or sores, the most simple applications are best. Mild mercurial ointment, mild fat, and oil and bees' wax melted together, are proper. The parts should be treated just as other parts, when similarly affected. Having thus given you a brief sketch of the exterior parts of generation, sufficient, if remembered, for all prac- tical purposes, I proceed to the explanation of the interior parts. As before remarked, the first orifice is that of the ure- thra, for the exit of the urine. Around its edge it has a small or slight elevation, which it is proper to remember as a guide for an operation which will presently be mention- ed. This orifice of course conducts to the bladder ; and it is this channel which is called the urethra. It is wider than the largest goose quill, and from two to three inches in length. This urethra, or canal to the bladder, is subject to con- siderable disease ; sometimes to obstruction, preventing