records an instance of a child two years and seven months old who, with the exception of three months only, had menstruated regularly since the fourth month. Harle speaks of a child, the youngest of three girls, who had a bloody discharge at the age of five months which lasted three days and recurred every month until the child was weaned at the tenth month. At the eleventh month it returned and continued periodically until death, occasioned by diarrhea at the fourteenth month. The necropsy showed a uterus 1⅝ inches long, the lips of which were congested; the left ovary was twice the size of the right, but displayed nothing strikingly abnormal. Baillot and the British Medical Journal cite instances of menstruation at the fourth month. A case is on record of an infant who menstruated at the age of six months, and whose menses returned on the twenty-eighth day exactly. Clark, Wall, and the Lancet give descriptions of cases at the ninth month. Naegele has seen a case at the eighteenth month, and Schmidt and Colly in the second year. Another case is that of a child, nineteen months old, whose breasts and external genitals were fully developed, although the child had shown no sexual desire, and did not exceed other children of the same age in intellectual development. This prodigy was symmetrically formed and of pleasant appearance. Warner speaks of Sophie Gantz, of Jewish parentage, born in Cincinnati, July 27, 1865, whose menses began at the twenty-third month and had continued regularly up to the time of reporting. At the age of three years and six months she was 38 inches tall, 38 pounds in weight, and her girth at the hip was 33½ inches. The pelvis was broad and well shaped, and measured 10½ inches from the anterior surface of the spinous process of one ilium to that of the other, being a little more than the standard pelvis of Churchill, and, in consequence of this pelvic development, her legs were bowed. The mammae and labia had all the appearance of established puberty, and the pubes and axillae were covered with hair. She was lady-like and maidenly in her demeanor, without unnatural constraint or effrontery. A case somewhat similar, though the patient had the appearance of a little old woman, was a child of three whose breasts were as well developed as in a girl of twenty, and whose sexual organs resembled those of a girl at puberty. She had menstruated regularly since the age of two years. Woodruff describes a child who began to menstruate at two years of age and continued regularly thereafter. At the age of six years she was still menstruating, and exhibited beginning signs of puberty. She was 118 cm. tall, her breasts were developed, and she had hair on the mons veneris. Van der Veer mentions an infant who began menstruating at the early age of four months and had continued regularly for over two years. She had the features and development of a child ten or twelve years old. The external labia and the vulva in all its parts were well formed, and the mons veneris was covered with a full growth of hair. Sir Astley Cooper, Mandelshof, the Ephemerides, Rause, Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, and several others a report instances of menstruation occurring at three years of age. Le Beau describes an infant prodigy who was born with the mammae well formed and as much hair on the mons veneris as a girl of thirteen or fourteen. She menstruated at three and continued to do so regularly, the flow lasting four days and being copious. At the age of four years and five months she was 42½ inches tall; her features were regular, the complexion rosy, the hair chestnut, the eyes blue-gray, her mamma the size of a large orange, and indications that she would be able to bear children at the age of eight. Prideaux cites a case at five, and Gaugirau Casals, a doctor of Agde, has seen a girl of six years who suffered abdominal colic, hemorrhage from the nose, migraine, and neuralgia, all periodically, which, with the association of pruritus of the genitals and engorged mammae, led him to suspect amenorrhea. He ordered baths, and shortly the menstruation appeared and became regular thereafter. Brierre de Boismont records cases of catamenia at five, seven, and eight years; and Skene mentions a girl who menstruated at ten years and five months. She was in the lowest grade of society, living with a drunken father in a tenement house, and was of wretched physical constitution, quite ignorant, and of low moral character, as evinced by her specific vaginitis. Occurring from nine years to the ordinary time of puberty, many cases are recorded.
Instances of protracted menstruation are, as a rule, reliable, the individuals themselves being cognizant of the nature of true menstruation, and themselves furnishing the requisite information as to the nature and periodicity of the discharge in question. Such cases range even past the century-mark. Many elaborate statistics on this subject have been gathered by men of ability. Dr. Meyer of Berlin quotes the following:—
28 at 50 years of age,
3 at 57 years of age,
18 " 51 " " "
3 " 58 " " "
18 " 52 " " "
1 " 59 " " "
11 " 53 " " "
4 " 60 " " "
13 " 54 " " "
4 " 62 " " "
5 " 55 " " "
3 " 63 " " "
4 " 56 " " "
These statistics were from examination of 6000 cases of menstruating women. The last seven were found to be in women in the highest class of society.
Mehliss has made the following collection of statistics of a somewhat similar nature—
Late Dentition. Late Late
Male. Female. Lactation. Menstruation.
Between 40 and 50 0 4 0 0
" 50 " 60 1 4 2 1
" 60 " 70 3 2 1 0
" 70 " 80 3 2 0 7
" 80 " 90 6 2 0 0
" 90 " 100 1 1 0 1
Above 100. … . 6 1 0 1
-- -- -- --
20 16 3 10
These statistics seem to have been made with the idea of illustrating the marvelous rather than to give the usual prolongation of these functions. It hardly seems possible that ordinary investigation would show no cases of menstruation between sixty and seventy, and seven cases between seventy and eighty; however, in searching literature for such a collection, we must bear in mind that the more extraordinary the instance, the more likely it is that it would be spoken of, as the natural tendency of medical men is to overlook the important ordinary and report the nonimportant extraordinary. Dewees mentions an example of menstruation at sixty-five, and others at fifty-four and fifty-five years. Motte speaks of a case at sixty-one; Ryan and others, at fifty-five, sixty, and sixty-five; Parry, from sixty-six to seventy seven; Desormeux, from sixty to seventy-five; Semple, at seventy and eighty seven; Higgins, at seventy-six; Whitehead, at seventy-seven; Bernstein, at seventy-eight; Beyrat, at eighty-seven; Haller, at one hundred; and highest of all is Blancardi's case, in which menstruation was present at one hundred and six years. In the London Medical and Surgical Journal, 1831, are reported cases at eighty and ninety-five years. In Good's System of Nosology there are instances occurring at seventy-one, eighty, and ninety years. There was a woman in Italy whose menstrual function continued from twenty-four to ninety years. Emmet cites an instance of menstruation at seventy, and Brierre de Boismont one of a woman who menstruated regularly from her twenty-fourth year to the time of her death at ninety-two.
Strasberger of Beeskow describes a woman who ceased menstruating at forty-two, who remained in good health up to eighty, suffering slight attacks of rheumatism only, and at this late age was seized with abdominal pains, followed by menstruation, which continued for three years; the woman died the next year. This late menstruation had all the sensible characters of the early one. Kennard mentions a negress, aged ninety-one, who menstruated at fourteen, ceased at forty-nine, and at eighty-two commenced again, and was regular for four years, but had had no return since. On the return of her menstruation, believing that her procreative powers were returning, she married a vigorous negro of thirty-five and experienced little difficulty in satisfying his desires. Du Peyrou de Cheyssiole and Bonhoure speak of an aged peasant woman, past ninety-one years of age, who menstruated regularly.
Petersen describes a woman of seventy-nine, who on March 26th was seized with uterine pains lasting a few days and terminating with hemorrhagic discharge. On April 23d she was seized again, and a discharge commenced on the 25th, continuing four days. Up to the time of the report, one year after, this menstruation had been regular. There is an instance on record of a female who menstruated every three months during the period
