Functional periodicity : an experimental study of the mental and motor abilities of women during menstruation / by Leta Hollingworth.

  • Hollingworth, Leta Stetter, 1886-1939.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Functional periodicity : an experimental study of the mental and motor abilities of women during menstruation / by Leta Hollingworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    count of every menstrual period, with respect to the duration, amount of pain and state of general well being, under these con- ditions in which no respite was allowed from physical and mental work. As a conclusion Arnold states, So far our investigation shows all improvement. Two investigations by exact methods have proceeded from St. Petersburg. The first of these, published in 1887, was physio- logical rather than psychological. This was the study of Finkel- stein-- who experimented on twenty subjects to determine the effects of functional periodicity on the field of vision. He reports a concentric narrowing of the field, beginning one, two or three days beforehand, the field reaching its minimum on the third or fourth day, and gradually expanding again, reaching normal on the seventh or eighth day after the beginning of the change. The second of the studies from St. Petersburg was published by N. V. Voitsechovsky in 1909. This dissertation has never been translated from the Russian, but the portions describing Voitsechovsky's experiment were read and summarized for the writer of this study by Mr. William A. Perlzweig, of the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons. Voitsechovsky had as sub- jects 6 women, 3 under 21 years of age and 3 over 21 years of age. All knew the purpose of the experiment; some of them experienced pain at menstruation and some did not; 3 of them were well educated, and 3 were not. These women were tested daily for free association, immediate memory (digits and dissylla- bic concrete nouns), attention (Vaschide's method; Vaschide's table of 1,000 squares used), choice reaction, and simple re- action. Voitsechovsky does not present his data in such a way that the reliability of his conclusions can be calculated. He gives only curves. This is regrettable, for the normal fluctuations in curves of work such as are presented, can be disentangled from fluctuations due to any specific cause only with the greatest dif- ficulty and uncertainty by mere inspection of the graph. Voit- sechovsky announced his conclusions as follows: (i) Menstrua- tion has an unquestionable influence on women's psychical sphere, which may be stated in the objectively psychological way. (2) 22 o. Finkelstein, On Changes in the Field of Vision During Menstrua- tion, summarized in Opthalmic Review, 1887, pp. 323-326. 23 N. V. Voitsechovsky, The Influence of Menstruation upon the Ner- vous and Psychic Apparatus of Women, 1909.