In response to:

O Calcutta! from the October 8, 1970 issue

To the Editors:

If Mrs. Pepys’s menstrual cycle occurred irregularly as stated in the third sentence of her husband’s diary [Matthew Hodgart’s review of The Diary of Samuel Pepys, NYR, October 8], she would be suffering from metrorrhagia not dysmenorrhea which implies painful menstruation.

Eric J. Vanderbush, M.D.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Public Health Service US Government

Belcourt, N.D.

This Issue

November 5, 1970