This is not likely to be discovered until the commencement of menstruation. It may then be suspected, if the female has all the symptoms which accompany the menses, without the discharge of the fluid, and if these symptoms should occur at regular periods, accompanied with a sense of weight and fulness of the vagina, especially if an enlargement is perceptible in the lower abdomen, with pain and tenderness.

The symptoms ameliorate in a few days, but return at each menstrual period. If by inspection a hemispherical tumor, of a livid or bluish color, soft and fluctuating, is discovered, the fact is most certain, that it is caused by an imperforate hymen. In most cases the membrane is thin, but it is sometimes from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch thick.

TREATMENT. -- Press the finger against it gently, and attempt to lacerate it by the finger-nail. If it will not yield, perforation should be made by a proper instrument in the hands of a surgeon.