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muscular openings which serve as inlets or outlets to the hotly, and that
we thus have the power of resisting, to a considerable extent, the calls
of nature when inconvenient. This power is not possessed by infants or
young children, or by the aged or the infirm. But such resistance,
which circumstances too frequently impose upon women, if habitually
practised, is sure to be followed by injurious results. Apoplexy is an
every day consequence of constipation. Much of the cerebral and cardiac
disturbance of the present day—and it is alleged to be on the increaseis
probably due to the same cause. It is certain that almost every form
of disease, whether local or constitutional, is likely to be aggravated by
constipation; and that, whether it be the cause or effect of other diseases,
it is sure to occur if the evacuation of the bowels, from choice or from
necessity, be persistently delayed. It should also be borne in mind
that diseases of a grave character, induced by constipation, are apt to
continue their course independent and unchecked, long after the cause
may have ceased. The same remarks apply, in a great measure, to
retention of urine, which is the other condition most likely to arise from
the want of the provision in question. Again, persons of both sexes and
of all ages suffer at times from diarrhoea and irritable bladder, and must
be greatly inconvenienced by the want of the required accommodation.
There is abundant testimony from medical men and others, available
if necessary, to prove that this is no imaginary want—the creation of
sentimentalism, but that it is really a great and growing one, which calls
for the prompt and careful consideration of those whose business it is to
make provision for it, and at the same time deserves their beneficent efforts,
seeing that it is experienced by those whose natural reserve upon such
a subject, and whose positions in life, for the most part, prevent them
from making themselves heard. Modesty suggests that nurses should
have the opportunity of privately performing their duties to their little
charges. Ladies who are interested in the welfare of those below them
in the social scale are ready to declare that poor women have often told
them, with tears in their eyes, of the agony and shame they have endured
in circumstances which it is not necessary to particularise. Sir James
McGarel Hogg has recently expressed himself as quite alive to the want,
which he considers to be a real and a serious one. "There is no doubt,"
the Lancet has remarked, "that the establishment of retiring rooms foxladies
will prove a great boon." To obtain this much-needed accommodation,
some ladies go to restaurants and order refreshments which they
do not require, and others to milliners' and confectioners' shops. It may
be safely assumed that the money thus spent, even when it is only a few
pence, cannot always be conveniently spared.