The Sympto-thermal Method

Abstract

This work in Melbourne, Australia, began in 1953 in response to the request for help in postponing pregnancy by couples who were seeking to achieve this by a natural technique. At that time the only natural method known was that of calendar Rhythm (Ogino-Knaus) which was soon demonstrated to lack the necessary reliability in some circumstances, or to impose inordinately long periods of abstinence. A review of the scientific literature resulted in attention being focussed upon the fact that the occurrence of fertility in a woman is accompanied by the secretion of a particular kind of mucus by the cervix of the uterus [1, 2]. From the 1930s this mucus was the subject of intensive laboratory study in both animals and humans. Remarkably little attention had been paid to the fact that the occurrence of this mucus secretion is often observed, as a vaginal discharge, by healthy, fertile women.