Swimming and sea-bathing must be avoided by girls who have weak hearts and in whom the reaction after a plunge into cold water is never established; also by girls with heart disease or kidney disease.
The principal outdoor games are croquet, archery, golf, tennis, cricket, foot-ball, and base-ball. Of these, croquet is the mildest, and is for that reason a good beginning exercise. Croquet, archery, golf, and tennis are all defective in that they cause a greater development of the right than of the left side of the body.
As the greater majority of these outdoor exercises can only be indulged in for seven months of the year, they should be supplemented by exercises in the gymnasium for the remaining five winter months.
There should be the greatest variety possible in the kinds of exercise taken, not only to develop the body symmetrically, so as to obtain strength, vigor, grace, celerity, and accuracy of movement, but also because there is no such potent cause of fatigue as monotonous repetition of the same act, whether physical or mental.
It has been repeatedly proven that physical deterioration can be overcome by exercise, and that by so doing the mental capacity is greatly increased.
The Vulva; the Hymen; Condition, of the Hymen as a Proof of Virginity; the Bladder; Vagina; Uterus; Respiratory Movements of the Uterus; Fallopian Tubes; Ovaries.
"He that respects himself is safe from others; He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce."
The Vulva.-- The female generative organs consist of three groups-- the external, the intermediate, and the internal. The vulva, or external generative organs, comprises all those organs which are external to the body.
The vulva is pierced by two openings, the smallest and most anterior of which is the external opening of the urethra, or excretory duct of the bladder. This opening is surrounded by a slight eminence and has a somewhat puckered aspect.
The larger opening is the vaginal orifice. In the virgin this is partially closed by the hymen. About one inch back of this is the anus, or the external orifice of the large bowel. This part of the bowel is known as the rectum.
The Hymen.-- The hymen consists of a thin duplicature of mucous membrane strengthened by fibrous tissue, and is stretched across the posterior part of the vaginal orifice, which it partly occludes. Rupture of the hymen usually, but not always, occurs during the first sexual intercourse. In rare cases it is found intact at the time of the birth of the first child. In women who have borne children the vaginal orifice is surrounded by small irregular elevations; these are the remains of the ruptured hymen, but are usually present only after labor has taken place, since the torn hymen is converted into eminences as the result of the pressure incident to child-bearing, and not to coitus.