MENSES, FLUORS, Courtes, Catamenia, in medicine, the monthly evacuations from the uterus of women not with child and not giving suck.
With regard to the causes of this evacuation, the best physiologists are entirely at a loss. It was long disputed whether the menstrual blood flowed from the uterus or vagina, but some observations of retroverted uteri have determined in favour of the former opinion. — For the disorders which follow a suppression, or too great a flow of the menses, see MEDICINE, no 488, 259—264. and p. 4871.