Menarche

“ The extensive transformatory processes occurring in the genital organs of young girls at the time of the menarche, and the powerful impression which the new thoughts, hopes, and fears excited at this period of life cannot fail to exercise on the nervous and emotional life, will enable us to understand how it is that the appearance of the first menstruation may give rise, especially in neurasthenic or psychopathic subjects, to manifold nervous disturbances and also to disorders of the mind. ”

“ In every individual, there appears to be a certain connexion between the manifestations attending the menarche and those attending the menopause, of such a nature that according as puberty has been passed through with little or with much disturbance of the general condition, a similar favourable or unfavourable course of the menopause may be prognosticated. ”

“ In large towns, again, menstruation appears earlier than in small towns, whilst in the open country the menarche is still further delayed. In the women of Paris the average age at the menarche is 14 years and 6 months, in the women of smaller French towns it is 14 years and 9 months, in French countrywomen it is 14 years and 10 months. ”

“ To this rule there are, however, exceptions, and we occasionally meet with women whose reproductive energies are so powerful, that the menarche occurs at an unusually early age, and the menopause is postponed to an age considerably beyond the average. Thus, among 100 women in the Salpetrière, Raciborski observed 29 in whom menstruation had begun at the exceptionally early age of 12 years, and who, notwithstanding this, all experienced a very late menopause. ”

“ In order to diminish the sexual impulse in girls at the menarche, where this impulse has developed prematurely or is abnormally intense, and even in later years with the same end in view, it is necessary, not merely that the diet should be suitable and non-stimulating and that the educational environment should be satisfactory, but above all that there should be regular occupation and regular physical activity. ”

“ As a rule, the disturbances and pathological states of the climacteric period will be especially frequent and severe in women whose sexual development at the time of the menarche was accompanied by severe disturbances of the general condition. ”

“ The menopause also came on very early in women in whom the menarche had been extremely retarded, until the age of 20 and upwards. An extremely early and an extremely late menarche alike tend to be followed by a premature menopause. ”

“ The age at which menstruation begins is also affected by the conditions of life and the social circumstances. In the higher circles of society, in the upper, well-to-do classes, menstruation appears earlier than among women of the laboring classes, who are compelled to strive for their daily bread. Amongst upper-class girls the menarche occurs at the age of 14 in one-fourth of their number, whereas among lower-class girls barely one-sixth begin to menstruate at the age of 14. ”

“ The beauty and the youthful freshness of girls belonging to the labouring classes seldom endure for long after the menarche, and in cases in which the environment is one of poverty, they last through a very short part only of the epoch of the menacme. ”

“ In these respects also a change is requisite, and a mode of upbringing must be inculcated from which everything likely to inflame the sexual impulse is removed. For the adolescent girl a systematic alternation of work and recreation must be arranged. From great entertainments where she will mix with young men, from theatres, evening parties, and balls, the young girl at the time of the menarche, at the period when menstruation commences, must as far as possible be kept away, and such pleasures must be reserved for a more advanced stage of this period of development. ”

“ In children belonging to families noted for sensibility and irritability, in dwellers in large cities who have attended high schools for girls and have at an early age lifted the veil that covers the sexual processes, the reflex disturbances of the menarche will be more manifold and will manifest themselves with greater intensity than in children brought up in country districts, whose sensibilities are chiefly physical and whose mind is less susceptible to the influence of external stimuli. ”

“ Such a postponement of the menarche sometimes occurs in girls who exhibit at this period of life an extraordinarily great general fatty development of the body, or a notably severe chlorotic state of the blood, or in whom during the years of 82development some sudden and extensive change in the mode of life has occurred, as for instance when the girl’s place of residence has been removed from the country to the town, or when she has had to undertake some completely new kind of physical or mental work. ”

“ Finally, perverse sexual impulse must be mentioned as a possible cause of sterility. This may be an acquired perversion, due to the fact that at the epoch of the menarche, the commencement of puberty, owing to the strength of sexual desire whilst intercourse is an impossibility, or simply from evil example, the girl has become a confirmed onanist, and continues the habit even after marriage. ”

“ CONCEPTION IN THE FIRST HALF of the time between the menstrual periods produces females, and males in the latter.—London Lancet.
8. INTERCOURSE in from two to six days after cessation of the menses produces girls, in from nine to twelve, boys.—Medical Reporter.
THE MOST MALE POWER and passion creates boys; female girls. This law probably causes those agricultural facts just cited thus: Conception right after menstruation give girls, because the female is then the most impassioned; later, boys, because her wanting sexual warmth leaves him the most vigorous. ”

“ Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty.
The reason for the seclusion of women at puberty is the dread of menstruous blood. The motive for the restraints so commonly imposed on girls at puberty is the deeply engrained dread which primitive man universally entertains of menstruous blood. He fears it at all times but especially on its first appearance; hence the restrictions under which women lie at their first menstruation are usually more stringent than those which they have to observe at any subsequent recurrence of the mysterious flow. ”

“ The period at which woman may be said truly to arrive at her womanhood, is certainly, in the present state of artificial life, fraught with many dangers to the future health. But, on the other hand, we have proof the most positive and indubitable—the proof of facts—that if young girls are brought up in a simple, judicious manner, and if all their habits—social, moral, physiological, and hygienic—be correct, there can be, as a general law, no danger at the coming on of puberty. ”

“ As puberty approaches, a mother should give her daughter adequate information so that she should not be frightened at the first appearance of the menstrual flow, nor take any risks at this period. Menstruation is the sign of the possibility of motherhood. If properly taught this fact,26 every girl will be glad she menstruates and will want to be careful during the period. On account of lack of early instruction, many a girl obtains wrong ideas regarding this function and it produces in her a feeling of repugnance. ”

“ Considering the matter in detail, our attention is first called to the importance of the beginning of menstruation. Never is a girl{313} more tender or quiet, never more spiritual and attractive, nor more inclined to good sense, than in the beginning of puberty, generally a little before the menstrual periods have begun, or have become properly ordered. At this time, then, the danger that the young girl may commit a crime is very small, perhaps smaller than at any other time. ”

“ The general attitude towards such sexual crises as menstruation and pregnancy is still strongly reminiscent of the primitive belief that woman is unclean at those times. Mothers still hesitate to enlighten their daughters concerning these natural biological functions, and as a result girls are unconsciously imbued with a feeling of shame concerning them. Modern psychology has given many instances of the rebellion of girls at the inception of menstruation, for which they have been ill prepared. ”

“ He points out the fact that it is very easy by improper training and forced work, during this susceptible period, to turn a physiological into a pathological state. "The great mental revolution which occurs at puberty may go beyond its physiological limits in some instances, and become pathological." "The time of this mental revolution is at best a trying period for youth." "The monthly activity of the ovaries, which marks the advent of puberty in women, has a notable effect upon the mind and body; wherefore it may become an important cause of mental and physical derangement." ”

“ But there follows a curious hastening of the ripening of body and mind summed up in the word puberty, a precocious puberty, with the most startling effects. A little girl of 2, 3, or 4 years of age perhaps will come to exhibit the growth and appearance of a girl of 14. She begins to menstruate, her breasts swell, she shoots up in height and weight, sprouts the hair distribution of the adult, and the mentality of the adolescent, restless, acquiring, doubting, emerge. ”

“ Every girl should learn the laws of menstruation and its hygiene and have a full understanding of the same. The menstrual function occurs only in the female at puberty, but at the same time there comes to both boys and girls, or male and female, a mysterious and impelling influence, which has great power over the lives of both during the adolescent period unless they understand and control it. This is known as the Sexual Impulse.
35 CHAPTER IV. SEXUAL IMPULSE—PART I. The sexual impulse is the strongest force in all living creatures. It is this that animates the struggle for existence ”

“ In girls, those definite signs, menstruation and the growth of the breasts, before the age of ten, mean premature awakening of the ovaries and a concomitant co-reaction of the other endocrines, creating the ensemble of maturity.
In females, the primary stimulus, the initial spark of femininity, must originate in the ovary. There are other forms of precocity in the female, dependent upon stimulations of other glands, but these forms are masculinisms, a masculinization of the personality, and not a true awakening of the feminine constitution. ”

“ In the girl, the breasts and the pelvis assume the adult female type, and ovulation and menstruation begin. During this period, also, the mental changes are extremely marked, even though in many cases these changes may have begun considerably earlier. The internal organic changes make themselves felt also in the sphere of action. The years of adolescence in the male are characterised by an impulse to travel, to adventures, but in addition to all kinds of ideal efforts and to religious activity. The loftiest ethical ideas alternate with a self-conscious bumptiousness. ”

“ It is indeed a most alarming incident in the case of a girl who knows nothing about it, but if, before the advent of menstruation, it be explained to her that it is a sign of changes within her body that will gradually, after the lapse of some years, fit her also to take her place amongst the mothers of the land, her shame and fear will be converted into modest gladness, and she will readily understand why she is under certain restrictions, and has at times to give up work or pleasure in order that her development may be without pain, healthy, and complete. ”

“ The girl with a “doll face,” and weak in her sexual nature, will not be as attractive as the more homely girl whose normal sexual life has given her these personal charms of a healthy, strong womanhood.
When you see or feel the first signs of this change, consult your mamma, and she will give you directions and advice about how to care for your person during the menses. This is a perfectly natural experience that all girls have. It indicates that the special organs are developing and preparing for motherhood. Menstruation is not a disease; it is a natural function. ”

“ Habits of life, also, have something to do with the evolution of this function. “The early or late appearance of the menses,” says Dr. Denman, “may depend upon the climate, the constitution, the delicacy and hardness of life, and upon the manners of those with whom young women converse.” High living, the use of stimulating food and drinks, living in populous cities, the habit of frequenting balls and theaters, and of being taught early in the habits of civic life, have all, doubtless, a considerable effect in rendering girls precocious as to menstruation. ”

“ The menstrual function continues active from puberty to about the forty-fifth year, or during the period of fertility. When it finally disappears, the woman is no longer capable of bearing children. The time of disappearance is termed the "change of life," or menopause. Exceptional cases occur in which this period is greatly hastened, arriving as early as the thirty-fifth year, or even earlier. Instances have also been observed in which menstruation continued as late as the sixtieth year, and even later; but such cases are very rare; and if procreation occurs, the progeny is feeble and senile. ”

“ Nature makes no such egregious blunders; preparations for every change in life have been going on for a very long time before the evidences of such change become manifest.
In a healthy girl the psychic and physical changes incident to puberty occur so gradually as to escape the girl's own notice. The first and, if the girl has not been properly prepared for it, always startling change is the appearance of the menstrual flow. The mother who has not told her daughter of this coming change in her life before it is due has committed a serious error ”

“ MENSTRUATION. In healthy women at the period of puberty, a certain amount of sanguineous fluid is secreted by the lining membrane of the uterus, and is excreted through the vagina every month; this is termed the catamenia, or menses, and the function itself menstruation. A female in whom the discharge recurs at the usual periods, in the usual quantity, and of the usual quality, is said to be regular, 71The occurrence of menstruation defines the period of puberty at which a girl becomes a woman capable of conception, and its cessation terminates the prolific period of female life. ”