The question of rest for women during menstruation.The Boylston Prize Essay of Harvard University for 1876.

"Jacobi's paper was a response to Dr. Edward H. Clarke's earlier publication, Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for the Girls (1875), a book claiming that any physical or mental exertion during menstruation could lead to women becoming infertile.^[4] Jacobi did not believe this was the case, and to test the idea she collected extensive physiological data on women throughout their menstrual cycle, including muscle strength tests before and after menstruation. She concluded that "there is nothing in the nature of mentruation to imply the necessity, or even desirability, of rest." (Wikipedia article on Mary Putnam Jacobi, accessed 3-2020). 

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.