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In the course of one of his journeys through the province of Hamakua, he met a woman of the people named Akahikameainoa, who pleased him, and whose favors he claimed as supreme chief. Akahikameainoa was then in her menses, so that the malo of the king was soiled with the discharge.

Relative to menstruation from the ear, Spindler, Paullini, and Alibert furnish examples. In Paullini's case the discharge is spoken of as very foul, which makes it quite possible that this was a case of middle-ear disease associated with some menstrual disturbance, and not one of true vicarious menstruation. Alibert's case was consequent upon suppression of the menses.

The aptest time for conception is instantly after the menses have ceased, because then the womb is thirsty and dry, apt both to draw the seed and return it, by the roughness of the inward surface, and besides, in some, the mouth of the womb is turned into the back or side, and is not placed right until the last day of the courses. Excess in all things is to be avoided.

The most noteworthy historic case of pseudocyesis is that of Queen Mary of England, or "Bloody Mary," as she was called. To insure the succession of a Catholic heir, she was most desirous of having a son by her consort, Philip, and she constantly prayed and wished for pregnancy. Finally her menses stopped; the breasts began to enlarge and became discolored around the nipples.

"Two factors are generally taken into account: first, the sudden cessation of the menses; second, the reflections of the patient caused by her condition, meditations on the loss of youth and sexual power, and anxiety in view of the dangers of the climacteric.

A. Because nature is then so exhausted, they cannot expel them by reason of weakness. Q. Why have not breeding women the menses? A. Because that then they turn into milk, and into the nourishment of the child: for if a woman with child have them, it is a sign that she will miscarry. Q. Why are they termed menstrua, from the word mensis, a month?

Cases are, notwithstanding, reported in which women have their menses during pregnancy, but these are exceptions which so far from invalidating the rule, confirm it.

Hirst tells me he has met with cases of women taking on fat with cessation of the menses, and in which there was also a steady belief in the existence of pregnancy. He has not so followed up these cases as to know if in them the fat fell away with speed when once the patient was assured that no child existed within her."

Longhi describes the case of a woman of twenty-seven, an epileptic, with metritis and copious catamenia twice a month. She was immoderately addicted to drink and sexual indulgence, and in February, 1835, her menses ceased. On May 8th she was admitted to the hospital with a severe epileptic convulsion, and until the 18th remained in a febrile condition, with abdominal tenderness, etc.

The study is not an easy one, and in labouring to be brief, probably, I may be obscure and incomplete. "Annus menses habet duodecim..." says the Breviary. The year has twelve months, fifty-two weeks plus one day, or 365 days and almost six hours. But these six hours make up a day every four years, and this fourth year is called bisextile.