.       38

70  „  80

.       32

In  other  words,  the  proportions  between  these  numbers  may  re-
present the  degrees  in  which  the  conditions  of  women's  Uvea,  at  the
successive  decennial  periods,  are  favourable  to  the  first  growth  of
scirrhous  cancer  in  the  breast.
One  is  naturally  led  to  suppose  that  the  great  liability  to  cancer  of  the
breast  between  40  and  50  years  of  age,  and,  especially,  the  maximum
between  45  and  50,  are  connected  with  some  of  the  natural  events  that
are  then  occurring  in  the  nearly  related  reproductive  organs ;  such  as
the  cessation  of  the  menstrual  discharge,  and  of  the  maturation  of  ova  ;
or  else  with  the  wasting  and  degeneracy  of  the  mammary  glands.  And
yet  it  is  difiicult  to  prove  such  a  connection  with  any  single  event  of  the
period.
The  event  which  is  generally  regarded  as  most  important  is  the
cessation  of  the  menstrual  discharge.  But  I  find  that  among  52
women  with  scirrhous  cancer  of  the  breast,  in  whose  cases  this  point
is  noted,  27  were  still  menstruatiug  for  at  least  a  year  after  their  dis-
covery of  the  cancer  ;  and  16  had  ceased  to  menstruate  for  a  year  or
more  previous  to  it ;  so  that  less  than  ^  of  the  whole  number  afforded
examples  of  the  cessation  of  the  catamenia  and  the  discovery  of  the
cancer  occurring  within  the  sam.e  year.
