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The menstrual
cup in The
Intimate Side of a Woman's Life,
by Leona W. Chalmers (1937, Pioneer
Publications, Inc., Radio City, New York)
Leona Chalmers might have
created the first commercial
menstrual cup (read a provisional
history of
the cup) in the U.S.A.
(among other contenders is the Daintette
cup), in the 1930s, although
patents for cups go back to the
1860s in the United States (here's
the first).
This book has almost the exact
title and cover photo of a
pamphlet from probably the same
period, but in this tour de
orifice she describes enemas
for women, douching (which she
promotes, especially for the
common white or clear discharge
from the vagina, leucorrhea),
vaginal exercises and sexual
hygiene. Today we frown upon
douching (read an admonitory essay),
as it disrupts the natural acidity
of the vagina and destroys or
flushes out necessary bacteria.
Frank Netter, M.D., drew the
illustrations; he was a well-known
medical illustrator. The New York
Times wrote
about an exhibit of his work.
At the bottom
of this page I put the second of
two testimonials on the back of
the dust jacket, which attributes
many divorces to "unclean" wives. (Unclean wives, read this ad!)
Read the rest of the
chapter,
Vaginal Hygiene (douching), from
which this section was taken.
The
director of the cytology
section of a state public
health department kindly
donated the book.
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The cover and title
are almost identical to that of
her probably contemporary booklet.
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The instructions
for inserting the cup, similar to
those today.
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Above: One of two
testimonials on the back
of the dust
jacket. Throughout the book
Chalmers writes only respectfully
of doctors and their profession;
she is a doctor's wife herself.
"[B]reeder
of disease" takes you by
surprise, doesn't it?
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© 2000 Harry
Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or
distribute work on
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without written permission
of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
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