BARRENNESS, signifies either a total incapa bility of conceiving children, or of retaining the em bryo till it becomes formed. Many women can con ceive, but cannot retain the ovum above a few days. Sterility depends on the state of the womb and its appendages. These organs are sometimes malformed, or organically unfit for performing their functions ; but in a much greater number of instances they are well formed, but have not the power of acting vigor ously ; in the same way as a stomach which is sound in point of structure, may be incapable of digesting properly. This incapacity may be connected with, or dependant on, a general condition of the sys tem, such as great irritability, plethora, or debility ; or it may be consequent to the operation of causes chiefly or entirely local, such as too frequent or pro miscuous intercourse ; or circumstances affecting the condition of the menstrual discharge, producing ob struction, or painful and sparing menstruation, or too copious or too frequent discharge, or fluor albus.
Some specific substances have, without foundation, however, been said to produce sterility, such as beans, leeks, carrot seeds, sage, &c. taken internally ; or the application to the womb itself of rue, vinegar, or camphor.
There are instances where a woman is barren with one husband, and fruitful with another.
A variety of means have been employed for the re moval of this reproach among women. When it de pends on organic causes, these, unless the deviation be external, can seldom be remedied by an operation. But, in general, the structure appears to be correct ; and then the most judicious practice is to consider what particular state either of the constitution or of the womb may have occasioned sterility, and to em ploy suitable remedies, especially for restoring the menstrual discharge to its proper condition. Sea bathing, tonics, mineral waters, and, in some cases, laxatives, are usually had recourse to for this purpose, and, generally, a restrained intercourse is advisable. When these means are neglected, nature seems, in some instances, to remove the cause, particularly when this consists in inordinate menstruation, or too great irritability of the womb. Thus women, who have
been long barren, have at last born children ; others, by a difIrent mode, have been successful. Fernelius • having been consulted respecting the queen of Henry IL of France, who had been ten years barren, " conseilla an roi de n'approcher de sa femme qu'au , moment de l'eruption facile de ses regles ; et ce prc cepte execute fut si cfficace pelt devint Pere de dix enfans." Sterility is, by the laws of every country, consider ed as a legal ground of separation. The Jews were very lax in their notions respecting divorce. The Hindoos allow of it, not merely for sterility, but also for bearing only female children. By the laws of China, barrenness is the first of seven causes justify ing divorce ; and it is not a little singular, that in this nation of semi-barbarians, talkativeness is ano ther cause equally valid. By the Koran, the pro cess is, in many cases, very short; for if a wife is not pregnant, and at the same time does not menstruate for three months after marriage, the husband may put her away as barren. By the English and Scots law, sterility is a ground for divorce a nzensa et thoro. It may, notwithstanding all these authorities, be just ly questioned, how far barrenness alone can ever be an adequate cause for dissolving marriage. Besides the great difficulty of proving that a woman is alto gether incapable of conceiving and bearing children, it is no better reason for divorce than any of the other visitations of Providence, many of which render the woman helpless, useless, and even loathsome ; and yet in these cases, the laws of civilized society do not permit of a dissolution of the engagement more than they would sanction the practice which prevails in some nations, of knocking the aged and infirm on the head. By the mild precepts of the Autlior of Chris tianity, no divorce can be obtained for any cause but unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. See Vigarous, Maladies des Fenrmes; and Burns's Principles of Midtvifery, &e. (i)