STUDIES CONCERNING THE CAUSE AND PURPOSE OF MENSTRUATION

Abstract

MENSTRUATION, regarded as a normal process because of its practically universal occurrence among primates, still requires a complete answer as to its cause and purpose. Studies in this laboratory have been concerned with two components that appear to be involved in the menstrual phenomenon, the one toxic, the other hormonal. Because the reports on our findings have been somewhat scattered throughout the literature, a summary of them, as they particularly apply to menstruation, seems in order, together with our conclusions to date concerning toxic and hormonal interrelationships and a brief discussion of therapeutic implications. THE TOXIC COMPONENT Considerable evidence has accumulated indicating that menstruation is a toxic process (6). In 1923, Macht first presented scientific data showing the presence of a substance toxic to plants in the blood and other fluids of menstruating women (4). In his publications on the subject, however, only one reference is made to the study of the menstrual discharge itself (5).