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LeRoy Bessler

Visual Data Insights Using SAS ODS

Graphics
A Guide to Communication-Effective Data
Visualization
LeRoy Bessler
Mequon, WI, USA

ISBN 978-1-4842-8608-1 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-8609-8

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8609-8

© LeRoy Bessler 2023

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively
licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in
any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks,

service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence
of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress

Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A.
To creators of data visualization, the intended readers,
and
to William S. Playfair, Philippe Buache, and Guillaume de L’Isle
whose graphic innovations in the late 1700’s in England and in France
remain the most widely used and frequently used ways to provide and find
visual data insights
.
Let your computer draw a picture
to let viewers see the data
with image for an easy, immediate impression
of what’s larger, what’s smaller
of what the trend is
of what the relationship is
of what the distribution is
including geographically
and with precise numbers for correct, reliable understanding.
Let it paint a picture
that shows the viewer what’s important.
Introduction
The visual data insight provided by graphics is essential to understand
data. Statistics alone clearly are not sufficient, as demonstrated with
Anscombe’s quartet of data sets, for which regressions are plotted in
Figure 1. All four very different images have statistics that are nearly
identical. See the four tables in Table 1 and further remarks there.
This book is an experience-based, practical handbook for applying
communication-effective design principles (48 for graphs and 23 for
color), as demonstrated in 327 examples.
The data visualization tool used is SAS ODS Graphics, but the
principles are software independent, relevant for any tool.
Graphs can make it unnecessarily difficult to understand the data, can
confuse the viewer, or can mislead the viewer. If a graph needs an
explanation, it has failed to communicate.
Misuse of color (or colour in some countries) likewise has adverse
visual consequences. I’ve seen—no, I struggled to see—yellow text or
yellow markers on a white background and black text on dark blue. The
only options worse could be white on white and black on black. Another
common problem is the use of continuous color gradients for color
coding. Determining exactly which colored areas are the same color is
impossible, and matching an area color with its corresponding color
along a continuous color gradient legend is likewise. Those are not the
only or the worst unwise uses of color.
This book explains and demonstrates how to get the best out of ODS
Graphics, relying on numerous guidelines. Three deserve special
emphasis.
First, though images are for quick, easy inference, the associated
precise numbers are needed for correct, reliable inference. The book
shows all of the ways to make them part of the image. Moving the eye
from a graphic element (bar end or plot point) to axis tick mark values
and estimating is not a solution.
Let your data talk. Show and Tell. Data can show its behavior with the
visual—which category is bigger/smaller or where it’s going over time—
and it can tell the viewer its values with annotation, an axis table, or web-
enabled mouseover text.
Second, avoid information overload. Show the Viewer What’s
Important. Use ranking and subsetting. Three ways of subsetting are
shown in Figure 4-7. Another way is via sparse presentation, as in
Figures 1-18 and 1-15. Ranking is a huge help, is used in numerous
examples, and requires little code.
Third, both readability of the text and usability of any color coding
are usually taken for granted, but must be assured. See the
recommendations.
The principles in this book are application independent, and the
examples can be adapted to any data for any industry, enterprise, or
organization.
Code for all of the examples can be downloaded at
https://github.com/Apress/Visual-Data-Insights-Using-SAS-ODS-
Graphics . Some examples use %INCLUDE statements to retrieve
macros or included code blocks. A zip file of includables must be
downloaded. If your site does not have SAS/ETS, a zip file of needed
ETS data sets can be downloaded. The overwhelming majority of
examples use SASHELP data sets that all sites have.
You can re-create any example, and experiment with options, or apply
the example code to your own data, adapting the code however desired.
The book’s scope is anything that ODS Graphics can do. Though the
examples cannot show you everything, they do span that range.
As I traveled through the range, applying recommended principles to
representative examples, I also built alternatives that are unexpected, but
improved. The improvements are too many to enumerate here. An old
and frequently repeated (not by me) criticism of pie charts is refuted—
three ways. And the simplest possible pie chart is demonstrated as a very
powerful visual.
You will see innovations. For statistics, there are new ways to create
distributions, box plots, and histograms. For categorical data, there is the
Tree Chart, Flag Chart, CrossRoads SignPost Chart, and bar chart with no
bars. For time series data, there is the Sparse (not spark) Line—alone, in
tables, in panels, and web enabled—and also a trend line with no line.
Three different ODS Graphics features to create composites of graphs
and/or tables are covered. One way is web enabled, with the added
benefit of pop-up mouseover text, which is indispensable in cases where
permanent annotation of plot points is infeasible.
This book is the culmination and, in effect, an illustrated biography of
my working, learning, and discovery with SAS graphics software since
1981. My conclusions about best design with graphics and color
gradually grew longer and longer. I have applied them with the benefit of
experience, now using SAS ODS Graphics to create images, illuminations,
and insights for data, which are correct, clear, concise but complete,
convincing, compelling, and, when needed or otherwise appropriate,
colorful. Join me in the quest.
LeRoy Bessler

Figure 1 Demonstration of the need for and value of data visualization

I learned about the four data sets from an article by Philip R. Holland in
Issue 54 (2nd/3rd Quarter 2011) of VIEWS News. For more information
about Francis J. Anscombe’s data sets, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe's_quartet . For
the example of The Datasaurus Dozen, see
www.autodesk.com/research/publications/same-stats-
different-graphs .

Table 1 SAS REG procedure statistics for the Anscombe quartet data

Model: MODEL1 Dependent Variable: y

Number of Observations Read 11, Number of Observations Used 11
DataSet=I -----------------------------------------------------------
-----
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Sum of Squares Mean Square F Value Pr > F
Model 1 27.51000 27.51000 17.99 0.0022
Error 9 13.76269 1.52919
Corrected Total 10 41.27269
Root MSE 1.23660 R-Square 0.6665
Dependent Mean 7.50091 Adj R-Sq 0.6295
Coeff Var 16.48605
Parameter Estimates
Parameter Standard
Variable DF Estimate Error t Value Pr > |t|
Intercept 1 3.00009 1.12475 2.67 0.0257
x 1 0.50009 0.11791 4.24 0.0022
DataSet=II --------------------------------------------------
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Sum of Squares Mean Square F Value Pr > F
Model 1 27.50000 27.50000 17.97 0.0022
Error 9 13.77629 1.53070
Corrected Total 10 41.27629
Root MSE 1.23721 R-Square 0.6662
Dependent Mean 7.50091 Adj R-Sq 0.6292
Coeff Var 16.49419
Parameter Estimates
Parameter Standard
Variable DF Estimate Error t Value Pr > |t|
Intercept 1 3.00091 1.12530 2.67 0.0258
x 1 0.50000 0.11796 4.24 0.0022

DataSet=III ---------------------------------------------------------
------
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Sum of Squares Mean Square F Value Pr > F
Mode 1 27.47001 27.47001 17.97 0.0022
Error 9 13.75619 1.52847
Corrected Total 10 41.22620
Root MSE 1.23631 R-Square 0.6663
Dependent Mean 7.50000 Adj R-Sq 0.6292
Coeff Var 16.48415
Parameter Estimates
Parameter Standard
Variable DF Estimate Error t Value Pr > |t|
Intercept 1 3.00245 1.12448 2.67 0.0256
x 1 0.49973 0.11788 4.24 0.0022
DataSet=IV ----------------------------------------------------------
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Sum of Squares Mean Square F Value Pr > F
Model 1 27.49000 27.49000 18.00 0.0022
Error 9 13.74249 1.52694
Corrected Total 10 41.23249
Root MSE 1.23570 R-Square 0.6667
Dependent Mean 7.50091 Adj R-Sq 0.6297
Coeff Var 16.47394
Parameter Estimates
Parameter Standard
Variable DF Estimate Error t Value Pr > |t|
Intercept 1 3.00173 1.12392 2.67 0.0256
x 1 0.49991 0.11782 4.24 0.0022
Acknowledgments
I am immensely grateful to executive editor Susan McDermott for
engaging me to write this book, to Apress editors Jessica Vakili, Rita
Fernando, and Laura C. Berendson, to Apress production coordinator
Krishnan Sathyamurthy, to Apress project manager Angel Michael
Dhanaraj, and to Philip R. Holland who did the technical review. It was
Phil who got me connected to Apress. Without these people, and the rest
of the Apress team, there would have been no book.
I am indebted to Marcia Surratt, Lelia McConnell, Martin Mincey,
Kathryn McLawhorn, Amber Elam, Cyrus Bradford, and Liz Edwards at
SAS Technical Support who handled my problems and questions during
this project.
Alan Paller, an analyst in the early days of the computer graphics
industry, encouraged me to become the advocate for graphics at Miller
Brewing Company. There, at my suggestion, Thomas S. Cain added
support of all three graphics software products to my workplace
responsibilities. Atis Purins commissioned me do a makeover of the
monthly report to Miller management on usage, capacity, and
performance for all of the information technology facilities. That project
not only engaged my graphic design principles, but also inspired me to
implement what I call Software-Intelligent Application Development.
SIAD assures that the code can auto-adapt to changes in the run-time
environment to maintain the design objectives. Chris Potter, the 1990 SAS
Users Group International Conference Graphics Section Chair, liked what
he saw in one of my presentations and encouraged me to promote my
design principles at future conferences. That is how my journey of
developing and sharing my ideas, knowledge, and experience with SAS
software for data visualization began.
Over decades, numerous conference organizers kindly provided me
so many opportunities to write and speak about SAS topics, including
data visualization. That engendered my development of an ever-growing
list of design guidelines for graphics and color use, and a portfolio of
examples to illustrate application of those guidelines.
I thank David V. Evans of J.C. Penney who hired a repatriated
computer know-nothing as an information technology trainee, starting
me on a new career. That career ultimately got me to this book.
Carol Bessler gets me through life. Thank you.
Contents
Part I: Design Principles
Chapter 1:​Principles of Communication-Effective Graphic Design
Chapter 2:​Principles of Communication-Effective Use of Color
Part II: Widely Applicable Examples You Can Use
Chapter 3:​Introduction to SAS ODS Graphics
Chapter 4:​Bar Charts, Butterfly Charts, Waterfall Charts, Dot Plots,
Needle Plots, Area Bar Charts, Text Graphs, and Line Charts:​Charts
for Categorical Data
Chapter 5:​Pie Charts and Donut Charts
Chapter 6:​Heat Maps
Chapter 7:​Bubble Plots
Chapter 8:​Time Series Plots and Trend Lines
Part III: Other Features
Chapter 9:​Graphic Composites with PROC SGPANEL
Chapter 10:​Scatter Plots in Composites Using PROC SGSCATTER
Chapter 11:​Fits and Confidence Plots
Chapter 12:​Distributions, Histograms, Box Plots, and Alternative
Tools
Chapter 13:​Creating Composites of Graphs, Tables, and Text with
ODS LAYOUT
Chapter 14:​Delivering Precise Numbers and Alternative Views for
Graphs Using SAS ODS HTML5
Chapter 15:​Delivering Precise Numbers When Using PROC SGMAP
Appendix A
For Further Information on SAS ODS Graphics
Index
About the Author
LeRoy Bessler
is a data analyst, a SAS software expert, a
data visualization aficionado since 1981,
and an advocate for and demonstrator of
his graphic design principles since 1991.
He earned a Ph.D. in physics with a minor
in mathematics from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He served as
Assistant Professor of Mathematics at
Milwaukee School of Engineering and later
was appointed Senior Fellow in
Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary
College, University of London. When
finding the theory of submicroscopic
elementary particles becoming, to his
taste, increasingly unphysical, LeRoy
returned to the United States to devote his
interest and energy to the macroscopic needs of American business using
computers and networks, working for employers and clients in finance,
health insurance, property and casualty insurance, manufacturing,
energy, and retail.
After a variety of roles, responsibilities, and accomplishments in
information technology, he decided to concentrate on using SAS software
as his IT tool. LeRoy has supported SAS servers, SAS software, SAS data,
and the users of those facilities, as well as working as a data analyst and
SAS programmer. His distinguishing expertise with SAS software has
been communication-effective data visualization, and software-
intelligent application development for reliability, reusability,
maintainability, extendability, and flexibility—to deliver Visual Data
Insights™ and Strong Smart Systems™.
Still a professor at heart, LeRoy has shared his ideas, knowledge, and
experience at conferences for SAS users throughout the United States and
in Europe. With the help of volunteers, he has enjoyed creating SAS user
mutual education opportunities. LeRoy is a How To contributor to VIEWS
News, the online quarterly for SAS users.
 He has served as an elected and appointed local government official
and on the boards of social services, cultural, and civic nonprofit
organizations.
About the Technical Reviewer
Philip R. Holland
has over 30 years of experience of working with SAS software. In 1992,
he formed his own consultancy company, Holland Numerics Ltd. Since
then, he has provided SAS technical consultancy and training in the
financial, retail, and pharmaceutical sectors in the UK, Belgium, Holland,
Germany, and the United States. Since 1995, he has presented papers on
a wide range of SAS-related topics at SAS user conferences and seminars
in the UK, Europe, and the United States and has published four SAS-
related books and eight SAS-related courses.
While writing his thesis for a doctorate in chemistry in the 1980s, he
gave an early draft to a colleague to read, and they found 60 errors in
spelling and grammar in the first chapter! This made him realize that no
one can proofread their own work, because you read what you think is
there, rather than what you have actually written. Since then, he has
helped other book and SAS program writers avoid his own proofreading
embarrassment.
Part I
Design Principles
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer
Nature 2023
L. Bessler, Visual Data Insights Using SAS ODS Graphics
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8609-8_1

1. Principles of Communication-
Effective Graphic Design
LeRoy Bessler1

(1) Mequon, WI, USA

The principles presented here are actually software independent, but

the mission of this book is to help you implement them with SAS ODS
Graphics. Among the numerous principles presented here, three key
design objectives that deserve special emphasis and should always
guide your graphic design are as follows:
Provide precise numbers whenever possible, rather than force the
graph viewer to estimate them, such as the Y and X values for plot
points. A graph enables quick, easy inference, but the precise
numbers are needed for correct inference.
Show the viewer what’s important.
Assure readability. It is not automatic.

Be Brief, Clear, Picturesque, and Accurate

I try to always be guided by the following quote from Joseph Pulitzer:
Put it before them briefly so they will read it,

clearly so they will appreciate it,

picturesquely so they will remember it,

 and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Though not about graphic communication , this quote by the famous
newspaper publisher (known for the Pulitzer Prizes , which were
established in 1917 as a result of his endowment to Columbia
University) is wise advice for any communication. A graph is inherently
picturesque, but is not automatically clear nor devoid of superfluous
content. If the source data is accurate, the graph will be an accurate
representation of information—if its design does not distort it.

3D Pie Charts Are Always Misleading

Look at Figure 1-1, an illuminating and convincing example that 3D pie
charts are always misleading (unless they consist of only two or four
slices). The slices are laid out in this fortuitous way only because the
slices are really ordered alphabetically by the slice names that I have
chosen to omit. I did not deliberately create this proof that 3D pie
charts distort and falsely communicate. The inherently dangerous 3D
pie chart did it for me.

Figure 1-1 3D pie chart versus 2D pie chart

3D Bar Charts Are Anticommunicative

The subtitles in the bar charts in Figure 1-2 explain how and why 3D
bar charts are anticommunicative. For the 2D example, I suppress the
really not very helpful X axis and display the precise values in a column
adjacent to the bars—a communication-effective graph needs to display
precise numbers, not just an image with axis values to estimate
numbers.
ODS Graphics cannot create 3D bar charts , but there is the option to
fill bars with what are called “data skins” instead of uniform solid fill
color. A data skin can produce bars that look puffy, like long buttons,
and can produce a puffy pie. The data skin adds no communication
value. It is nothing more than a 3D-like effect that can be used, if
desired, for decoration.

Figure 1-2 3D bar chart versus custom 2D bar chart

Graphs Need Image and Precise Numbers

Provide image plus precise numbers :
Image for quick and easy inference
Precise numbers for accurate and reliable inference
Consider the pair of bar charts that were presented in Figure 1-2. It
is impossible to reliably determine precise numbers by comparing bar
ends (or point locations for a scatter plot or trend line) to axis values.
Moving your eye from a bar end (or a plot point) to an axis and
mentally interpolating the approximate corresponding point on the axis
to estimate a number based on the framing tick mark values is a futile,
unreliable, unacceptable way to try to get the precise number and
certainty.
In Figure 1-3 are two ways to present a scatter plot of data. In the
right-hand-side plot, there is no guesswork required to get the precise
Y and X values. Then in Figure 1-4, drop lines are used. They can get the
viewer’s eye to the correct place on the axis, but the viewer still needs
to estimate, based on the “enclosing” tick mark values. But drop lines
are helpful when you do not have annotation of the Y and X values. In
Figure 1-4, annotation is instead used to deliver information other than
the scatter plot coordinates. That scatter plot could have been made
more informative by including Age in the data labels and by color-
coding the markers based on Sex which is a variable in the input data
set.

Figure 1-3 Scatter plot with grid and tick mark values versus annotated scatter
plot
Figure 1-4 Using drop lines makes axis values and tick marks more helpful
When neither annotation nor drop lines are sufficient to get
numbers for a scatter plot, the only solution is a companion table, on
the same page, or as an Excel table that is linked to a web-deployed
scatter plot.
A pie chart should include descriptions, values, and percents of the
whole. When labels overlap or (for tiny slices) disappear, use a legend
instead of labels as in Figure 1-5.
Figure 1-5 Fully informative ranked pie chart with legend
A legend requires moving the eyes from each slice to its legend
entry. A good alternative is the ODS Graphics CALLOUT option shown in
Figure 1-6, where there is a dashed line from each slice to its label. An
extra benefit is avoiding the preprocessing to prepare the fully
informative legend entries.
Figure 1-6 Fully informative ranked pie chart with callout labels
A bar chart can have its numbers in a column next to its bars, as in
the 2D bar chart in Figure 1-2. Another way to provide those numbers,
and more, is to use Y axis tables as columns next to the bar category
labels. In Figure 1-7, three Y axis tables are used to create what is a
ranked and rank-labeled bar chart alternative to a pie chart.

Figure 1-7 A ranked order rank-labeled fully informative horizontal bar chart

For a large number of categories, you can provide them in

alphabetical order for easy lookup, but still can provide Rank as shown
in Figure 1-8.
Figure 1-8 An alphabetical order rank-labeled fully informative horizontal bar
chart

A Usable Stacked Bar Chart Requires an Axis Table

to Deliver the Precise Values
A usable stacked bar chart must have an axis table to deliver the precise
values . For Figure 1-9, the only thing you can do is visually compare the
sizes of bar segments, but with no accurate knowledge of the Sales
values .

Figure 1-9 This typical stacked bar chart is unable to provide precise values of sales

In a bar chart with more segments, moving your eye from bar
segments to the X axis table is not easy or efficient, but Figure 1-10 is
truly informative and allows a viewer to quickly and easily identify
Product-Region combinations with larger sales.
Figure 1-10 Usable stacked bar chart with precise values for the bar segments
The red segments in two of the stacked bars in Figures 1-9 and 1-10
is a good demonstration that color with insufficient mass is difficult to
distinguish. Color distinguishability is discussed further in Chapter 2.

A Clustered Horizontal Bar Chart Is Better Than a

Stacked Bar Chart
When there are two categorical key variables, Figure 1-11 is a better
solution. The precise values are adjacent to their bars.
Figure 1-11 A clustered horizontal bar chart
With no legend, the color is not needed for legend purposes, but it
allows the viewer to more quickly visually compare the sales in any
region across all products. Rather than have to find the bar label in the
list of region bars for each product.

For Bar Charts, Horizontal Is Usually Better

On a vertical bar chart , the bar labels along the X axis or the values that
you want to display at the bar ends might be too wide. On a horizontal
bar chart, space problems are less likely.

For a Line Plot with Discrete X Values, an X Axis

Table Is an Alternative to Annotation
An X axis table can be color-coded so that no legend is necessary (see
Figure 1-12). Instead of relying on going to look for a legend, the
identity of any plot point is already in the row label for Y values in the
color that corresponds to the color of the line. This color-coded plot is
an efficient and effective way to find all of the information needed to
interpret a multi-line plot.
Figure 1-12 Multi-line overlay plot with X axis table
Furthermore, unlike the case in Figure 1-13, on a multi-line plot,
even if the plot points within a line are sufficiently separated to make
annotation in principle possible, collisions between annotation and
other lines or between annotation for one line with annotation for
another line are always likely, unless the lines happen to be well
separated throughout their extent, which is not the case in Figure 1-12.

Curve Labels Eliminate the Need for a Legend

On a multi-line plot, the effect of collisions between annotation and
lines can be mitigated by using a lighter shade for each line’s color. The
curve labels in Figure 1-13 provide an easier and faster way for a
viewer to identify lines than a legend.
Figure 1-13 Multi-line overlay plot with data labels and curve labels, no Y axis
needed and no legend needed

Show Them What’s Important

Suppressing superfluous graphic paraphernalia, as is discussed later in
this chapter (and demonstrated with coding in Chapter 3), limits what
the viewers look at and is consistent with the principle of Showing
Them What’s Important. But showing what’s important is very easy to
implement for bar charts and pie charts with ranking and for bar charts
with subsetting. The discussion here pertains to data with a categorical
key, such as Sales by Region .

Show Them What’s Important with Ranking

Order the bars in a bar chart or slices in a pie chart by the value of the
measurement of interest, from largest to smallest. Show the Rank as
part of the bar or pie slice labeling .
If you have a chart where a small value is desirable, instead order
the bars or slices from smallest to largest.
In a case where the number of bars in a chart is large, such as the 50
states of America plus the District of Columbia, you might instead order
the bars alphabetically for easy lookup. Perhaps better, you could
present the bar chart twice, both alphabetically and by magnitude of
the measurement.

Show Them What’s Important with Subsetting

By subsetting I mean limit the data presented, rather than delivering all
of it. If you have ranked the data, this increases the focus on what’s
important. For example, instead of creating a bar chart of the
population of every one of the 195 countries in the world, you might
present a subset of only the Top 25, Top 10, or Top Whatever. There are
the familiar Top 10 lists. For music, there are the Top 40 lists.
There is also the concept called the Pareto Principle, or “The 80-20
Rule.” It says that in many situations, about 80% of the results come
from 20% of the causes. For example, 80% of an enterprise’s sales
might come from 20% of its customers. Since they have shown
themselves to be more heavily interested, that 20% might be the ones
to be more frequently solicited for additional purchases. Another
variation of this phenomenon could be that 80% of an enterprise’s
problem reports might come from 20% of its customers. There is
nothing magical or inevitable about 80 and 20. The percentages might
be, say, 90 and 10. The key concept, for graphic design, is that not every
category is equally important, and it is useful to focus on the most
important for enterprise operation.
Another way to think about subsetting is the idea of limiting the
message. Always remember Pulitzer’s advice from the beginning of this
chapter: “Put it before them briefly.” I once received the same advice
from my assistant Kenneth J. Wesley when I was agonizing over a
report to executive management. He said, “LeRoy, put it on one page. If
you make it longer, they won’t read it.”
Some time later, at the suggestion of Atis Purins, I was doing a
design and construction makeover for reports on the performance,
capacity, and usage of all of Miller Brewing Company’s computer
resources. One report was on disk capacity consumption and ran to
numerous pages. By limiting the number of consumption purpose
categories ordered by size to one page, attention was drawn to a much
shorter list, and it accounted for a huge percent of the total
consumption burden, thus showing the information that was most
important. What had been unwieldy became readable, and when any
new report features were added, I was directed to adhere to the new
design concept. The decision to use subsetting and ranking limited the
volume of information, and kept the focus where appropriate.
When subsetting the input categories for a bar chart, it is essential
to inform the viewer as to the relative significance of what’s in versus
what’s out. As demonstrated in Figure 1-14, use the title and subtitles
to give the viewer of the graph these facts:
The total number of categories
The grand total of the measurement over all categories
The number of categories shown
The subtotal of the measurement for the categories shown
What percent of the grand total is that subtotal

Three Ways to Do Ranked Subsetting

An extremely popular way, anywhere, to do ranking and subsetting is
with, for example, a Top Ten List. From this first way that I thought of,
the title of a report was “Top 20 Cities Account for Subtotal Shoe Sales
of $24,402,060 which is 72.09% of the Grand Total.” And in that case,
the subtitle was “All 53 Cities Have Grand Total Shoes Sales
$33,851,566.” That pair of statements embodies the design and
information principles for titles that I presented in the preceding
section.
A second obvious solution is to use a cutoff, in which case a possible
title could be something like “Ranked X Cities with Sales of At Least
$1,000,000 Account for…,” where X would be the number that pass the
test and where the end of the title would be analogous to that of the Top
20 Cities report.
A third way of subsetting that I particularly like is to limit the
ranked categories to only enough to account for a specified percent of
the grand total of the measurement of interest, as in Enough Ranked
Cities to Account for At Least 90% of Grand Total Shoe Sales. This
avoids picking an arbitrary N for Top N or an arbitrary cutoff for the
measure of interest (see Figure 1-14).
In Chapter 4, all three ways to do subsetting are shown in Figure 4-
7.
Figure 1-14 Ranked and subsetted bar chart, selecting subtotal percent of grand
total
If you like, you could web-deploy multiple subsets and allow the
viewer to navigate among them with links. You could even include a
link to a complete list of all of the categories. How to web-deploy
interlinked graphs with ODS HTML5 will be shown in Chapter 14.

Simplicity Accelerates and Facilitates Visual

Insights into Data
Simplicity accelerates and facilitates visual insights into data. Needless
complexity impedes and/or obstructs communication. Simplicity is
powerful. Simplicity is elegant.
Elegance (like in an elegant mathematical proof) consists of
Everything necessary
Only the necessary
Let’s take a look at the simplest graph I’ve ever created. At first
glance, the pie charts in Figure 1-15 look trivial, but they really are not.
I usually advocate against consolidating very small slices in a pie chart
or very small bars in a bar chart into an “Other” category. It prompts the
question, “What is in ‘Other’?” Your graph design should anticipate and
answer all questions, not create them.

Figure 1-15 The Extremes of Other with “The Pac-Man Pie Chart”

Here, the smallness of “Other” in the chart on the left dramatizes the
fact that the sum of all of the competitive products’ market shares was
insignificant. The sizes and values for their tiny market shares were
deemed by me as not worth showing.
 Conversely, the chart on the right is expressly meant to prompt
interest in what is in “Other.” I created it during my time as a local
elected official, to emphasize to residents that the bulk of their real
estate property tax payment went to other public bodies which were
also getting a share (in some cases, a much larger share). Since the tax
was paid to the office of our Village Treasurer, he would receive letters
of concern about the size of the bill. To anticipate and address
questions and concerns, the pie chart was included in a cover letter that
went out with the annual tax bill. There also was a table of supporting
detail, which compared the current amounts and growth of all of the
shares of tax bill total. We did explain what was in “Other,” but after
graphically emphasizing the smallness of Village government’s share of
the bill.
I call this design “The Pac-Man Pie Chart ,” and I call these examples
“The Extremes of Other.” Why “Pac-Man”? Who is that guy? Pac-Man is a
video game that was introduced in 1980. It features a little creature
who looks like a yellow pie with a slice missing.

A Sparse Graph Is Easily and Quickly Interpreted

Two examples of this arose back in 1990, when I developed a way of
sometimes presenting trend data (also known as “time series” data )
that I called “Sparse Line Annotation .” Of course, either Pac-Man pie
chart in Figure 1-15 also qualifies as a “sparse graph ” because of its
simplicity.
I was working at Miller Brewing Company and wanted to
graphically compare two historical data sets, one for Miller Lite and the
other for all beer in America. For both plots, knowing every precise Y
value was not important. The interesting feature is the behavior of each
trend and an apparent correlation in their behaviors. However, that
correlation is not the focus of this discussion.
What is sparse on this pair of graphs is my choice of which Y values
to annotate and which X values to show on the axis. In later chapters,
you will see a more compact and even sparser way to present the
essential data for a trend line.
From Figure 1-16, I concluded that the most interesting data in a
trend might usually be the values of Y (the measure of interest) and X
(the date) for
 The start
The end
Any intermediate maximum
Any intermediate minimum
The size and direction of change since the date previous to the end
date (not shown in the examples created then and presented here)

Figure 1-16 Sparse Line Annotation case 1: start, end, and maximum
From Figure 1-17, I realized that an additional point of interest
could be a point, not a minimum or maximum, where the trend
permanently changes in any of these ways:
From rapidly increasing to slowly increasing
From slowly increasing to rapidly increasing
From rapidly decreasing to slowly decreasing
From slowly decreasing to rapidly decreasing
Figure 1-17 Sparse Line Annotation case 2: start, end, and trend change
Sparse Line Annotation has been updated and significantly
enhanced as is shown in Figure 1-18, which is taken up as Figure 8-9.
As an alternative to an overlay plot, see also Sparse Line Tables and
Sparse Line Panels in Figures 9-9, 9-11, 9-12, and 9-13 and the web-
enabled Sparse Line Table in Figure 14-15. The new Sparse Lines
remove the X axis entirely and provide X values as part of the data point
annotation , not just the Y values. An important new feature in the new
Sparse Line, standalone or in any of the composites, is to provide, as
additional annotation for the last data point, the change since the
second last data point, which is always of interest when looking at the
last data point.
Figure 1-18 The updated and enhanced Sparse Line, using different data

Inform the Viewer About the Key Data Points of a

Multi-line Overlay Plot
As I previously explained, the most interesting Y values on any trend
line are usually the start, end, and any intermediate minimum or
maximum. Picking those out visually is easy on a single-line plot or
when the number of X values is small on a multi-line plot. A kinder
alternative for any multi-line overlay plot is to deliver the information
to the viewer, rather than require it to be discovered by scrutiny. The
viewer of your output will appreciate convenience, completeness, and
certainty in the information delivery.
Figure 1-19 Providing all of the essential information for an overlay plot when
annotation is infeasible

For a Trend, Usually Start the Y Axis at Zero

In Figure 1-16, I started the Y axis at zero. That happened to make the
trend line for the first plot look nearly flat. It is interesting and
appropriate that industry observers described this range of American
beer consumption history as flat.
 SAS ODS Graphics, like other software, by default will take the range
of the Y variable and allow it to use all of the vertical space. If you have
a need or desire to see the trend with maximum variation, that is the
right design.
However, the disadvantage is that it can cause a trend viewer
unnecessary anxiety about unfavorable slope in the trend or unjustified
elation about favorable slope. Rather than react to the most recent
slope of the trend, the latest value on a trend line should be evaluated
based on the magnitude of the change or based on whether or not the
latest value has reached a desired goal or crossed a dangerous
threshold. If there is a desired goal or a dangerous threshold,
include a reference line for it on the graph.
If you use web delivery for the trend line, you can present both
views of the trend hyperlinked together, to provide both an unexciting
view of the trend and the ability to see it with the maximum variation .
An alternative option is to stack the two views in a document page.
The recommendation to start the Y axis at zero is always practical
for a single-line plot. However, for an overlay plot, it can be impractical.
For example, even if the table of information at the bottom of Figure 1-
19 were omitted, the already crowded and crisscrossing plot lines
would be squashed together in a useless mess.

For a Bar Chart, Unless There Are Negative Values,

Always Start the Value Axis at Zero
This avoids distorting apparent relative magnitude of the bars. From
time to time, I see the unfortunate decision to start a bar chart
somewhere above zero. Presumably, the reason is to save vertical space,
but the result is deceptive, intentionally or not.

Use Maximally Simple Design to Focus on What’s

Important
We can put a graph “before them briefly” and maximize focus where it’s
needed by keeping the layout simple as possible. Here, my concern is
not limiting the information or the graphic elements, but on omitting
and suppressing non-information and superfluous graphic artifacts.
 Before computer graphics software became available, we manually
plotted our data with a pen or pencil on graph paper . If you have never
seen it, you can find pictures online. Graph paper was usually a grid of
green lines on white paper. ODS Graphics can emulate it. That is, as
shown in the left-hand-side plot in Figure 1-3, it can provide grid lines,
axis lines, tick marks, minor tick marks, axis values, and a border
around the plot area. In the right-hand-side plot in Figure 1-3, I
suppressed the traditional graphic framework and added annotation
for the plot points, using ODS Graphics data labels.
Feasibility of annotation of a scatter plot depends on plot point
density. With fewer, I could have included the names of the people. The
annotated plot delivers the information briefly (i.e., without
superfluous graphic paraphernalia), clearly, picturesquely, and
accurately—there is no guesswork required to get the precise Y and X
values. With annotation, the viewer gains information, and the image
loses the superfluous axis lines, axis values, axis tick marks, and grid
lines. In Chapter 3, you will see, among other things, the code used to
create the annotated scatter plot with its maximally simple framework.
Another example of suppressing the superfluous graphic
paraphernalia is the 2D bar chart in Figure 1-2. It briefly delivers the
bars, the categories, and the values, the only things that the viewer
needs to see and needs to know. There are no axes, no axis labels, no
tick marks, and no tick mark values—which would need to be used to
guess the precise values for each category if the column of values had
not been provided instead.
I saw a recommendation to display the minimum of traditional
graphics paraphernalia in Edward Tufte’s presentation at a Computer
Measurement Group conference in the 1980s.

Tell Them What’s Important with a Headline

The typical title of a graph tells the viewer what is being shown. If that
is not self-evident from the graph, such information can instead be put
in the second title line when devoting the first line to a headline. If
there is something especially significant in the graph, or some inference
that can be drawn from the graph, or the graph shows a very
encouraging result or implicitly carries a cautionary message, do not
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
be severely injured, and until all hopes of her ever becoming a
mother are at an end.
158. The quiet retirement of her own home ought then to be her
greatest pleasure and her most precious privilege. Home is, or ought
to be, the kingdom of woman, and she should be the reigning
potentate. England is the only place in the world that truly knows
what home really means. The French have actually no word in their
language to express its meaning:
“That home, the sound we English love so well,
Has been as strange to me as to those nations
That have no word, they tell me, to express it.”[33]

159. Cheerfulness, contentment, occupation, and healthy activity

of mind cannot be too strongly recommended. A cheerful, happy
temper is one of the most valuable attributes a wife can have. The
possession of such a virtue not only makes herself, but every one
around her, happy. It gilds with sunshine the humblest dwelling, and
often converts an indifferent husband into a good one. Contentment
is the finest medicine in the world; it not only frequently prevents
disease, but, if disease be present, it assists in curing it. Happy is the
man who has a contented wife! A peevish, discontented helpmate
(helpmate, save the mark!) is always ailing, is never satisfied, and
does not know, and does not deserve to know, what real happiness is.
She is “a thorn in the flesh.”
160. One of the greatest requisites, then, for a happy home is a
cheerful, contented, bright, and merry wife; her face is a perpetual
sunshine, her presence is that of an angel; she is happy in herself,
and she imparts happiness to all around her. A gentle, loving,
confiding, placid, hopeful, and trusting disposition has a great charm
for a husband, and ought, by a young wife, to be assiduously
cultivated—
“For gentleness, and love, and trust
Prevail o’er angry wave and gust.”[34]

161. Every young wife, let her station be ever so exalted, ought to
attend to her household duties. Her health, and consequently her
happiness, demand the exertion. The want of occupation—healthy,
useful occupation—is a fruitful source of discontent, of sin,[35] of
disease, and barrenness. If a young married lady did but know the
importance of occupation—how much misery might be averted, and
how much happiness might, by attending to her household duties, be
insured—she would appreciate the importance of the advice.
Occupation improves the health, drives away ennui, cheers the
hearth and home, and, what is most important, if household duties
be well looked after, her house becomes a paradise, and she the
ministering angel to her husband. But she might say—I cannot
always be occupied; it bores me; it is like a common person: I am a
lady; I was not made to work; I have neither the strength nor the
inclination for it; I feel weak and tired, nervous and spiritless, and
must have rest. I reply, in the expressive words of the poet, that—
“Absence of occupation is not rest,—
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress’d.”[36]

“If time be heavy on your hands,” are there no household duties to

look after, no servants to instruct, no flower-beds to arrange, no
school children to teach, no sick-room to visit, no aged people to
comfort, no widow nor orphan to relieve?—
“Nor any poor about your lands?
Oh! teach the orphan boy to read,
Or teach the orphan girl to sew—
Pray Heaven for a human heart.”[37]

162. To have nothing to do is most wretched, wearisome, and

destructive to the mind. The words of Martin Luther on this subject
should be written in letters of gold, and ought to be kept in constant
remembrance by every man and woman, be they rich or poor,
lettered or unlettered, gentle or simple. “The mind,” said he, “is like a
mill that cannot stop working; give it something to grind, and it will
grind that. If it has nothing to grind, it grinds on yet, but it is itself it
grinds and wears away.”
163. A lady in this enlightened age of ours considers it to be
horribly low and vulgar to strengthen her loins with exercise and her
arms with occupation, although such a plan of procedure is
recommended in the Bible by the wisest of men,—“She girdeth her
loins with strength, and strengthened her arms.”[38]
 164. A husband soon becomes tired of grand performances on the
piano, of crotchet and worsted work, and of other fiddle-faddle
employments; but he can always appreciate a comfortable, clean,
well-ordered, bright, cheerful, happy home, and a good dinner. It
might be said that a wife is not the proper person to cook her
husband’s dinner. True; but a wife should see and know that the cook
does her duty; and if she did, perchance, understand how the dinner
ought to be cooked, I have yet to learn that the husband would for
such knowledge think any the worse of her.
165. A grazing farmer is three or four years in bringing a beast to
perfection, fit for human food. Is it not a sin, after so much time and
pains, for an idiot of a cook, in the course of one short hour or two, to
ruin, by vile cookery, a joint of such meat? Is it not time, then, that a
wife herself should know how a joint of meat ought to be cooked, and
thus to be able to give instructions accordingly?
166. A boy is brought up to his profession, and is expected to know
it thoroughly; how is it that a girl is not brought up to her profession
of a wife; and why is it that she is not taught to thoroughly
understand all household duties? The daughters of a gentleman’s
family in olden time spent an hour or two every morning in the
kitchen and in the laundry, and were initiated into the mysteries of
pastry and pudding-making, of preserving fruit, of ironing, etc. Their
mothers’ and their grandmothers’ receipt-books were at their finger-
ends. But now look at the picture; the daughters of a gentleman’s
family of the present day consider it very low and horridly vulgar to
understand any such matters. It is just as absurd to ask a lady to play
on the piano who has never been taught music as to ask a wife to
direct her servants to perform duties which she herself knows
nothing about. The duties of a wife cannot come either by intuition
or by instinct more than music can. Again I say, every lady, before
she be married, ought to be thoroughly taught her profession—the
duties of a wife; she then would not be at the tender mercies of her
servants, many of whom are either unprincipled or inefficient.
167. Do not think that I am overstating the importance of the
subject. A good dinner—I mean a well-cooked dinner (which, be it
ever so plain, is really a good dinner)—is absolutely essential to the
health, to the very existence of yourself and your husband; and how,
if it be left to the tender mercies of the present race of cooks, can you
have it? High time it is that every wife, let her station be either high
or low, should look into the matter herself, and remedy the crying
evil of the day. They manage these things better in Sweden. There the
young ladies of wealthy families cook—actually themselves cook—the
dinners; and instead of their considering it a disgrace, and to be
horridly low and vulgar, they look upon it as one of their greatest
privileges! And what is the consequence? A badly-cooked dinner is
rare, and not, as it frequently is in this country, of frequent
occurrence; and “peace and happiness” reign triumphant. It is a pity,
too, that we do not take a leaf out of the book of our neighbors the
French. Every woman in France is a good cook; good cookery with
them is the rule—with us it is the exception. A well-cooked dinner is
a blessing to all who partake of it; it promotes digestion, it sweetens
the temper, it cheers the hearth and home. There is nothing tries the
temper more than an ill-cooked dinner; it makes people dyspeptic,
and for a dyspeptic to be sweet-tempered is an utter impossibility.
Let me, therefore, advise my fair reader to look well into the matter;
either the gloom or the sunshine of a house much depends upon
herself and upon her household management. It might be said—
What a poor creature a man must be to require so much attention.
Truly, if his health be not looked after, if his comforts be not
attended to, he is indeed a poor creature!
168. Every young wife should be able—ought to be instructed by
her mother or by some competent person—it should be a part of her
education—to teach and to train her own servants aright.
Unfortunately, in the present day there is too much cant and
humbug about the instruction of the lower orders, and domestic
servants among the rest. They are instructed in many things that are
perfectly useless to them, the knowledge of which only makes them
dissatisfied with their lot and tends to make them bad servants.
Among other useless subjects taught them are the “ologies.” It would
be much more to the purpose if they were thoroughly instructed in
all household duties, and “in the three R’s—reading, ’riting, and
’rithmetic,”—in obedience to their mistresses, and in simplicity of
demeanor and dress. The servants themselves would be immensely
benefited by such lessons.
169. A “blue-stocking” makes, as a rule, a wretched wife; it would
be far better for the health of her husband, of herself, and her family,
if, instead of cultivating Latin and Greek, she would cultivate her
household duties, more especially a thorough knowledge of the
culinary department. “A man is, in general, better pleased when he
has a good dinner upon his table than when his wife speaks
Greek.”[39]
170. As soon as a lady marries, the romantic nonsense of school-
girls will rapidly vanish, and the stern realities of life will take their
place, and she will then know, and sometimes to her grievous cost,
that a useful wife will be thought much more of than either an
ornamental or a learned one.
171. It is better for a young wife, and for every one else, to have too
much than too little occupation. The misfortune of the present day is,
that servants are made to do all the work, while the mistress of the
house remains idle. Remains idle! Yes; and by remaining idle,
remains out of health! Idleness is a curse, and brings misery in its
train! How slow the hours crawl on when a person has nothing to do;
but how rapidly they fly when she is fully occupied! Besides, idleness
is a frequent cause of barrenness. Hard-worked, industrious women
are prolific; while idle ladies are frequently childless, or, if they do
have a family, their children are puny, and their labors are usually
both hard and lingering. We doctors know full well the difference
there often is between the labor of a poor hard-worked woman and of
a rich, idle lady: in the one case the labor is usually quick and easy; in
the other, it is often hard and lingering. Oh, if wives would consider
betimes the importance of an abundance of exercise and of
occupation, what an immense amount of misery, of pain, of anxiety,
and anguish they might avert! Work is a blessed thing; if we do not
work we pay the penalty—we suffer “in mind, body, and estate.” An
idle man or an idle woman is an object of the deepest pity and
commiseration.
172. Longfellow, in his Song of the Blacksmith, beautifully and
graphically describes the importance and the value of occupation;
and as occupation is as necessary to a woman as to a man, I cannot
resist transcribing it:
“Toiling—rejoicing—sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees its close;
 Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night’s repose.”

173. Truly may it be said that “occupation earns a night’s repose.”

It is the finest composing medicine in the world, and, unlike an
opiate, it never gives a headache; it never produces costiveness; and
never, by repetition, loses its effect. Sloth and restlessness, even on
down, are generally bed-fellows:
“Weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when rusty sloth
Finds the down pillow hard.”

174. The mind, it is well known, exerts great influence over the
body in promoting health, and in causing and in curing disease. A
delicate woman is always nervous; she is apt to make mountains of
molehills; she is usually too prone to fancy herself worse than she
really is. I should recommend my gentle reader not to fall into this
error, and not to magnify every slight ache or pain. Let her, instead
of whining and repining, use the means which are within the reach of
all to strengthen her frame; let her give battle to the enemy; let her
fight him with the simple weapons indicated in these pages, and the
chances are she will come off victorious.
175. There is nothing like occupation, active occupation, to cure
slight pains—“constant occupation physics pain”—to drive away little
ailments, and the dread of sickness. “The dread of sickness,” says Dr.
Grosvenor, “is a distemper of itself, and the next disposition to a
many more. What a bondage does this keep some people in! ’Tis an
easy transition from the fear and fancy of being sick to sickness
indeed. In many cases there is but little difference between those
two. There is one so afraid of being ill that he would not stir out of
doors, and for want of air and exercise he contracts a distemper that
kills him.”
176. What a blessed thing is work! What a precious privilege for a
girl to have a mother who is both able and anxious to instruct her
daughter, from her girlhood upwards, in all household management
and duties! Unfortunately, in this our age girls are not either
educated or prepared to be made wives—useful, domesticated wives.
Accomplishments they have without number, but of knowledge of
the management of an establishment they are as ignorant as the babe
unborn. Verily, they and their unfortunate husbands and offspring
will in due time pay the penalty of their ignorance and folly! It is,
forsooth, unladylike for a girl to eat much; it is unladylike for her to
work at all; it is unladylike for her to take a long walk; it is unladylike
for her to go into the kitchen; it is unladylike for her to make her own
bed; it is unladylike for her to be useful; it is unladylike for her to
have a bloom upon her cheek like unto a milkmaid![40] All these are
said to be horridly low and vulgar, and to be only fit for the common
people! Away with such folly! The system of the bringing up of the
young ladies of the present day is “rotten to the core.”
177. If a young married lady, without having any actual disease
about her, be delicate and nervous, there is no remedy equal in value
to change of air—more especially to the sea-coast. The sea breezes,
and, if she be not pregnant, sea-bathing, frequently act like magic
upon her in restoring her to perfect health. I say, if she be not
pregnant; if she be, it would, without first obtaining the express
permission of a medical man, be highly improper for her to bathe.
178. A walk on the mountains is delightful to the feelings and
beneficial to the health. In selecting a sea-side resort, it is always,
where it be practicable, to have mountain-air as well as the sea
breeze. The mounting of high hills, if a lady be pregnant, would not
be desirable, as the exertion would be too great, and, if she be
predisposed, might bring on a miscarriage; but the climbing of hills
and mountains, if she be not enceinte, is most advantageous to
health, strengthening the frame, and exhilarating to the spirits.
Indeed, we may compare the exhilaration it produces to the drinking
of champagne, with this difference,—it is much more beneficial to
health than champagne, and does not leave, the next morning, as
champagne sometimes does, either a disagreeable taste in the mouth
or headache behind,—
“Oh, there is a sweetness in the mountain-air,
And life, that bloated ease can never hope to share!”[41]

179. Bugs and fleas.—This is a very commonplace subject, but like

most commonplace subjects is one necessary to be known, as these
pests of society sometimes destroy the peace, comfort, and
enjoyment of a person when away from home. Many ladies who
travel from home are made miserable and wretched by having to
sleep in strange beds—in beds infested either with bugs or with fleas.
Now, it will be well for such ladies never to go any distance from
home without having four things in their trunks with them, namely:
(1) A box of matches, in order, at any moment of the night, to strike a
light, both to discover and frighten the enemies away. (2) A box of
night-lights. Bugs never bite when there is a light in the room. It
would therefore be well, in an infested room, and until fresh lodgings
can be procured, to keep a night-light burning all night. (3) A packet
of “La Poudre Insecticide,” manufactured in France, but which may
be procured in England: a preparation which, although perfectly
harmless to the human economy, is utterly destructive to fleas. (4) A
4 oz. bottle of oil of turpentine, a little of which, in case of a discovery
of bugs in the bed, should be sprinkled between the sheets and on the
pillow. The oil of turpentine will, until fresh lodgings can be
procured, keep the bugs at a respectful distance. Care should be
observed while sprinkling the sheets with the turpentine not to have
(on account of its inflammability) a lighted candle too near the bed. I
know, from experience, that bugs and fleas are, when ladies are away
from home, a source of torment and annoyance, and am therefore
fully persuaded of the value and importance of the above advice.
180. If it be not practicable for her to visit the sea-coast, let her be
in the fresh air—in the country air. Let her mornings be spent out of
doors; and if she cannot inhale the sea breezes, let her inhale the
morning breezes—
“The skies, the air, the morning’s breezy call
Alike are free, and full of health to all.”[42]

181. Cheerfulness and evenness of temper ought, by a young wife,

to be especially cultivated. There is nothing that promotes digestion,
and thus good health, more than a cheerful, placid temper. We know
that the converse is very detrimental to that process; that violent
passion takes away the appetite, deranges the stomach, and
frequently disorders the bowels. Hence it is that those who attain
great ages are usually of an even, cheerful temper. “Our passions are
compared to the winds in the air, which, when gentle and moderate,
let them fill the sail, and they will carry the ship on smoothly to the
desired port; but when violent, unmanageable, and boisterous, it
grows to a storm, and threatens the ruin and destruction of all.”[43]
 182. A young wife is apt to take too much opening medicine; the
more she takes, the more she requires. Hence she irritates the nerves
of the stomach and bowels, and injures herself beyond measure. If
the bowels are costive, and variety of food, and of fruit, and of other
articles of diet, which I either have or will recommend in these pages,
together with an abundance of air, and of exercise, and of
occupation, will not open, then let her give herself an enema; which
she can, without the slightest pain or annoyance, and with very little
trouble, readily do, provided she has a proper apparatus for the
purpose, namely, a “self-injecting enema apparatus,”—one made
purposely for the patient, either to administer it to herself, or to be
administered to her by another person. A pint of cold water is as
good an enema as can be used, and which, if the first should not
operate, ought in a few minutes to be repeated. The clyster does
nothing more than wash the bowels out, removing any offending
matter, and any depression of spirits arising therefrom, and neither
interfering with the stomach nor with the digestion.
183. Until she become accustomed to the cold, she might for the
first few mornings slightly warm the water; but gradually she should
reduce the temperature of it until she use it quite cold. A cold water
is more bracing and strengthening to the bowels, and more
efficacious in action, than a warm water enema.
184. It will, during pregnancy and after a confinement, be safer to
use a tepid than a cold water enema.
185. No family ought to be without a good enema apparatus, to fly
to in any emergency. Many valuable lives have been saved by means
of it, and having it always in good order and at hand.
186. By adopting the dictates of reason and of common sense,
many of the nervous, useless, lackadaisical, fine ladies will be
unknown; and we shall have instead blooming wives, who will in due
time become the mothers of hardy, healthy, happy children.
187. In the foregoing pages the burden of my song has been health
—the preservation of health—the most precious of God’s gifts, and
one that is frittered and fooled away as though it were but of little
value. Health ought to be the first consideration of all, and of every
young wife especially, as, when she is married, her life, her health is
not altogether her own, but her husband’s and her family’s. Oh! it is a
glorious gift, a precious boon, to be in the enjoyment of perfect
health, and is worth a little care and striving for.
188. In concluding the first division of my subject, let me entreat
my fair reader to ponder well on what I have already said; let her
remember that she has a glorious mission; let her thoroughly
understand that if good habits and good rules be not formed and
followed during the first year of her wifehood, they are not at all
likely to be instituted afterwards. The first year, then, is the golden
opportunity to sow the seeds of usefulness; to make herself healthy
and strong, and to cause her to be a blessing, a solace, and a comfort
to her husband, her children, and all around her.
189. Menstruation, during a period of about thirty years, plays a
momentous part in the female economy; indeed, unless it be in every
way properly and duly performed, it is neither possible that such a
lady can be well, nor is it at all probable that she will conceive. I
therefore purpose devoting an especial chapter to its due and careful
consideration.
 PART I.
MENSTRUATION.

190. There are two most important epochs in the life of a woman—
namely (1) the commencement, and (2) the close of menstruation.
Each is apt, unless carefully watched and prevented, to bring in its
train many serious diseases. Moreover, unless menstruation be
healthfully and properly performed, conception, as a rule, is not
likely to take place: hence the importance of our subject.
191. Menstruation—the appearance of the catamenia or the menses
—is then one of the most important epochs in a girl’s life. It is the
boundary line, the landmark, between childhood and womanhood; it
is the threshold, so to speak, of a woman’s life. Her body now
develops and expands, and her mental capacity enlarges and
improves. She then ceases to be a child, and she becomes a woman.
She is now for the first time, as a rule, able to conceive.
192. Although puberty has at this time commenced, it cannot be
said that she is at her full perfection; it takes eight or ten years more
to complete her organization, which will bring her to the age of
twenty-three or twenty-five years; which perhaps are the best ages
for a woman, if she have both the chance and the inclination, to
marry.
193. If she marry when very young, marriage weakens her system,
and prevents a full development of the body. Besides, if she marry
when she be only eighteen or nineteen, the bones of the pelvis—the
bones of the lower part of the belly—are not at that time sufficiently
developed; are not properly shaped for the purpose of labor; do not
allow of sufficient space for the head of the child to readily pass, as
though she were of the riper age of twenty-three or twenty-five. She
might have in consequence a severe and dangerous confinement. If
she marry late in life, say after she be thirty, the soft parts engaged in
parturition are more rigid and more tense, and thus become less
capable of dilatation, which might cause, for the first time, a hard
and tedious labor. Again, when she marries late in life, she might not
live to see her children grow up to be men and women. Moreover, as
a rule, “the offspring of those that are very young or very old lasts
not.” Everything, therefore, points out that the age above indicated—
namely, somewhere between twenty and thirty—is the most safe and
suitable time for a woman to marry.
194. Menstruation generally comes on once every month—that is
to say, every twenty-eight days; usually to the very day, and
frequently to the hour. Some ladies, instead of being “regular” every
month, are “regular” every three weeks.
195. Each menstruation continues from three to five days; in some
for a week; and in others for a longer period. It is estimated that,
during each menstruation, from four to six ounces is, on an average,
the quantity discharged.
196. A lady seldom conceives unless she be “regular,” although
there are cases on record where women have conceived who have
never been “unwell;” but such cases are extremely rare.
197. Menstruation in this country usually commences at the ages
of from thirteen to sixteen, sometimes earlier; occasionally as early
as eleven or twelve; at other times later, and not until a girl be
seventeen or eighteen years of age. Menstruation in large towns is
supposed to commence at an earlier period than in the country, and
earlier in luxurious than in simple life.[44]
198. Menstruation continues for thirty, and sometimes even for
thirty-five years; and, while it lasts, is a sign that a lady is liable to
become pregnant—unless, indeed, menstruation should be
protracted much beyond the usual period of time. As a rule, then,
when a woman “ceases to be unwell,” she ceases to have a family;
therefore, as menstruation usually leaves her at forty-five, it is
seldom, after that age, that she has a child.
199. I have known ladies become mothers when they have been
upwards of fifty years of age. I myself delivered a woman in her fifty-
first year of a fine healthy child. She had a kind and easy labor, and
was the mother of a large family, the youngest being at the time
twelve years old.[45] “Dr. Carpenter, of Durham, tells us that he has
attended in their confinements several women whose ages were fifty.
‘I well recollect a case occurring in my father’s practice in 1839,
where a woman became a widow at forty-nine years of age. Shortly
afterwards she married her second husband, and within twelve
months of this time gave birth to her first child. These cases belong
to the working classes. But I know of two others, where gentlewomen
became mothers at fifty-one with her first child, the other with her
eighth. I can say nothing of how they menstruated, but I know of a
virgin in whom the catamenia appeared regularly and undiminished
up to and at the end of sixty.’ Dr. Powell says that he last year
attended a woman in her fifty-second year; and Mr. Heckford, that
he attended a woman who stated her age to be at least fifty. Mr.
Clarke, of Mold, states that he has attended several women whose
ages were upwards of forty-four, and that he lately delivered a
woman of her first child at forty-eight. Mr. Bloxham, of Portsmouth,
delivered at fifty-two, in her first confinement, a woman who had
been married thirty-five years.”[46]
200. In very warm climates, such as in Abyssinia and in India, girls
menstruate when very young—at ten or eleven years old; indeed,
they are sometimes mothers at those ages.[47] But when it commences
early, it leaves early; so that they are old women at thirty. “Physically,
we know that there is a very large latitude of difference in the periods
of human maturity, not merely between individual and individual,
but also between nation and nation—differences so great that in
some southern regions of Asia we hear of matrons at the age of
twelve.”[48] Dr. Montgomery[49] brings forward some interesting cases
of early maturity. He says: “Bruce mentions that in Abyssinia he has
frequently seen mothers of eleven years of age; and Dunlop
witnessed the same in Bengal. Dr. Goodeve, Professor of Midwifery
at Calcutta, in reply to a query on the subject, said: ‘The earliest age
at which I have known a Hindu woman bear a child is ten years, but I
have heard of one at nine.’”
201. In cold climates, such as Russia, women begin to menstruate
late in life, frequently not until they are between twenty and thirty
years old; and, as it lasts on them thirty or thirty-five years, it is not
an unusual occurrence for them to bear children at a very advanced
age—even so late as sixty. They are frequently not “regular” oftener
than three or four times a year, and when it does occur the menstrual
discharge is generally sparing in quantity.
202. The menstrual fluid is not exactly blood, although, both in
appearance and in properties, it much resembles it; yet it never in
the healthy state clots as blood does. It is a secretion from the womb,
and, when healthy, ought to be of a bright-red color, in appearance
very much like blood from a recently cut finger.[50]
203. The menstrual fluid ought not, as before observed, to clot. If
it does, a lady, during menstruation, suffers intense pain; moreover,
she seldom conceives until the clotting has ceased. Application must
therefore, in such a case, be made to a medical man, who will soon
relieve the above painful symptoms, and, by doing so, will probably
pave the way to her becoming pregnant.
204. Menstruation ceases entirely in pregnancy, during suckling,
and usually both in diseased and in disordered states of the womb. It
also ceases in cases of extreme debility, and in severe illness,
especially in consumption; indeed, in the latter disease—
consumption—it is one of the most unfavorable of the symptoms.
205. It has been asserted, and by men of great experience, that
sometimes a woman menstruates during pregnancy. In this assertion
I cannot agree; it appears utterly impossible that she should be able
to do so. The moment she conceives, the neck of the womb becomes
plugged up by means of mucus; it is, in fact, hermetically sealed.
There certainly is sometimes a slight red discharge, looking very
much like menstrual fluid, and coming on at her monthly periods;
but being usually very sparing in quantity, and lasting only a day or
so, and sometimes only for an hour or two; but this discharge does
not come from the cavity of, but from some small vessels at, the
mouth of the womb, and is not menstrual fluid at all, but a few drops
of real blood. If this discharge came from the cavity of the womb, it
would probably lead to a miscarriage. My old respected and talented
teacher, the late Dr. D. D. Davis,[51] declared that it would be quite
impossible during pregnancy for menstruation to occur. He
considered that the discharge which was taken for menstruation
arose from the rupture of some small vessels about the mouth of the
womb.
206. Some ladies, though comparatively few, menstruate during
suckling; when they do, it may be considered not the rule, but the
exception. It is said, in such instances, that they are more likely to
conceive. Many persons have an idea that when a woman, during
lactation, menstruates, the milk is both sweeter and purer. Such is an
error. Menstruation during suckling is more likely to weaken the
mother, and consequently to deteriorate the milk. It therefore
behooves a parent never to take a wet nurse who menstruates during
the period of suckling.
207. A lady sometimes suffers severe pains both just before and
during her “poorly” times. When such be the case, she seldom
conceives until the pain be removed. She ought therefore to apply to
a medical man, as relief may soon be obtained. When she is freed
from the pain, she will, in all probability, in due time become
enceinte.
208. If a married woman have painful menstruation, even if she
become pregnant, she is more likely, in the early stage, to miscarry.
This is an important consideration, and requires the attention of a
doctor.
209. If a single lady, who is about to be married, have painful
menstruation, it is incumbent on either her mother or a female
friend to consult, two or three months before the marriage takes
place, an experienced medical man, on her case; if this be not done,
she will most likely, after marriage, either labor under ill health, or
be afflicted with barrenness, or, if she do conceive, be prone to
miscarry.
210. The menstrual discharge, as before remarked, ought, if
healthy, to be of the color of blood—of fresh, unclotted blood. If it be
either too pale (and it sometimes is almost colorless), or, on the
other hand, if it be both dark and thick (it is occasionally as dark, and
sometimes nearly as thick, as treacle), there will be but scant hopes
of a lady conceiving. A medical man ought, therefore, at once to be
consulted, who will in the generality of cases, be able to remedy the
defect. The chances are, that as soon as the defect be remedied, she
will become pregnant.
211. Menstruation at another time is too sparing; this is a frequent
cause of a want of family. Luckily a doctor is, in the majority of cases,
able to remedy the defect, and by doing so will probably be the
means of bringing the womb into a healthy state, and thus
predispose her to become a mother.
212. A married lady is very subject to the “whites;” the more there
will be of the “whites” the less there will usually be of the menstrual
discharge;—so that in a bad case of the “whites” menstruation might
entirely cease, until proper means be used both to restrain the one
and to bring back the other. Indeed, as a rule, if the menstrual
discharge, by proper treatment, be healthily established and
restored, the “whites” will often cease of themselves. Deficient
menstruation is a frequent cause of the “whites,” and the consequent
failure of a family; and as deficient menstruation is usually curable, a
medical man ought, in all such cases, to be consulted.
213. Menstruation at other times is either too profuse or too long
continued. Either the one or the other is a frequent source of
barrenness, and is also weakening to the constitution, and thus tends
to bring a lady into a bad state of health. This, like the former cases,
by judicious management may generally be rectified; and being
rectified, will in all probability result in the wife becoming a mother.
214. When a lady is neither pregnant nor “regular,” she ought
immediately to apply to a doctor, as she may depend upon it there is
something wrong about her, and that she is not likely to become
enceinte[52] until menstruation be properly established. As soon as
menstruation be duly and healthily established, pregnancy will most
likely, in due time, ensue.
215. When a lady is said to be “regular,” it is understood that she is
“regular” as to quality, and quantity, and time. If she be only
“regular” as to the time, and the quantity be either deficient or in
excess, or if she be “regular” as to the time, and the quality be bad,
either too pale or too dark; or if she be “regular” as to the quality and
quantity, and be irregular as to the time, she cannot be well; and the
sooner means are adopted to rectify the evil, the better it will be for
her health and happiness.
216. There is among young wives, of the higher ranks, of the
present time, an immense deal of hysteria; indeed it is, among them,
in one form or another, the most frequent complaint of the day. Can
it be wondered at? Certainly not. The fashionable system of spending
married life, such as late hours, close rooms, excitement, rounds of
visiting, luxurious living, is quite enough to account for its
prevalence. The menstrual functions in a case of this kind are not
duly performed; she is either too much or too little “unwell;”
menstruation occurs either too soon, or too late, or at irregular
periods. I need scarcely say that such a one, until a different order of
things be instituted, and until proper and efficient means be used to
restore healthy menstruation, is not likely to conceive; or, if she did
conceive, she would most likely either miscarry, or, if she did go her
time, bring forth a puny, delicate child. A fashionable wife and happy
mother are incompatibilities! Oh, it is sad to contemplate the
numerous victims that are sacrificed yearly on the shrine of fashion!
The grievous part of the business is, that fashion is not usually
amenable to reason and common sense; argument, entreaty, ridicule,
are each and all alike in turn powerless in the matter. Be that as it
might, I am determined boldly to proclaim the truth, and to make
plain the awful danger of a wife becoming a votary of fashion.
217. Many a lady, either from suppressed or from deficient
menstruation, who is now chlorotic, hysterical, and dyspeptic, weak
and nervous, looking wretchedly, and whose very life is a burden,
may, by applying to a medical man, be restored to health and
strength.
218. As soon as a lady “ceases to be after the manner of women”—
that is to say, as soon as she ceases to menstruate—it is said that she
has “a change of life;” and if she does not take care, she will soon
have “a change of health” to boot, which, in all probability, will be for
the worse.
219. After a period of about thirty years’ continuation of
menstruation, a woman ceases to menstruate; that is to say, when
she is about forty-four or forty-five years of age, and, occasionally, as
late in life as when she is forty-eight years of age, she has “change of
life,” or, as it is sometimes called, a “turn of years.” Now, before this
takes place, she oftentimes becomes very “irregular;” at one time she
is “regular” before her proper period; at another time either before or
after; so that it becomes a dodging time with her, as it is so styled. In
a case of this kind menstruation is sometimes very profuse; at
another it is very sparing; occasionally it is light colored, almost
colorless; sometimes it is as red as from a cut finger; while now and
then it is as black as ink.
220. When “change of life” is about, and during the time, and for
some time afterwards, a lady labors under, at times, great flushings
of heat; she, as it were, blushes all over; she goes very hot and red,
almost scarlet; then perspires; and afterwards becomes cold and
chilly. These flushings occur at very irregular periods; they might
come on once or twice a day, at other times only once or twice a
week, and occasionally only at what would have been her “poorly
times.” These flushings might be looked upon as rather favorable
symptoms, and as an effort of nature to relieve itself through the
skin. These flushings are occasionally, although rarely, attended with
hysterical symptoms. A little appropriate medicine is for these
flushings desirable. A lady while laboring under these heats is
generally both very much annoyed and distressed; but she ought to
comfort herself with the knowledge that they are in all probability
doing her good service, and that they might be warding off, from
some internal organ of her body, serious mischief.
221. “Change of life” is one of the most important periods of a
lady’s existence, and generally determines whether, for the rest of
her days, she shall either be healthy or otherwise; it therefore
imperatively behooves her to pay attention to the subject, and in all
cases when it is about taking place to consult a medical man, who
will, in the majority of cases, be of great benefit to her, as he will be
able to ward off many important and serious diseases to which she
would otherwise be liable. When “change of life” ends favorably,
which, if properly managed, it most likely will do, she may improve
in constitution, and may really enjoy better health and spirits, and
more comfort, then she has done for many previous years. A lady
who has during the whole of her wifehood eschewed fashionable
society, and who has lived simply, plainly, and sensibly, and who has
taken plenty of out-door exercise, will, during the autumn and winter
of life, reap her reward by enjoying what is the greatest earthly
blessing—health!
 PART II.
PREGNANCY.

SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.

222. The first sign that leads a lady to suspect that she is pregnant
is her ceasing to be unwell. This, provided she has just before been in
good health, is a strong symptom of pregnancy; but still there must
be others to corroborate it.
223. The next symptom is morning sickness. This is one of the
earliest symptoms of pregnancy; as it sometimes occurs a few days,
and indeed generally not later than a fortnight or three weeks, after
conception. Morning sickness is frequently distressing, oftentimes
amounting to vomiting, and causing a loathing of breakfast. This sign
usually disappears after the first three or four months. Morning
sickness is not always present in pregnancy; but, nevertheless, it is a
frequent accompaniment; and many who have had families place
more reliance on this than on any other symptom.
224. A third symptom is shooting, throbbing, and lancinating
pains, and enlargement of the breasts, with soreness of the nipples,
occurring about the second month; and in some instances, after the
first few months, a small quantity of watery fluid, or a little milk, may
be squeezed out of them. This latter symptom, in a first pregnancy, is
valuable, and can generally be relied on as conclusive that the female
is pregnant. It is not so valuable in an after pregnancy, as a little milk
might, even should she not be pregnant, remain in the breasts for
some months after she has weaned her child.
225. The veins of the breast look more blue, and are consequently
more conspicuous than usual, giving the bosom a mottled
appearance. The breasts themselves are firmer and more knotty to
the touch. The nipples, in the majority of cases, look more healthy
than customary, and are somewhat elevated and enlarged; there is
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