274 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



of college training, to which a large minority in our popula- 

 tion aspire, we see how the approved marriageable age for 

 girls is advanced another four years. We all know how the 

 ideals of the upper levels filter down to the lower, and so 

 may expect in the country at large a rising average of 

 marriageable age for women. 



However, early marriage is frequently opposed on biologi- 

 cal grounds. Medical opinion seems to condemn both early 

 and late marriages as injurious to the mother, as well 

 as to the child; but, as in many cases of this kind, satis- 

 factory statistics are wanting. To furnish some objective 

 data on this question Miss Stoner collected maternity records 

 from hospitals in the United States. In these data the 

 ages of mothers range from thirteen to forty-three, but, so 

 far, the records fail to show any important differences in 

 the health of the infants or of the mothers, except a slightly 

 unfavorable average for those below seventeen years. 

 However, the number of cases below that age is small, 

 rendering even this result somewhat uncertain. Primitive 

 girls are believed to mature earlier than European girls, 

 but in such biological matters as this, it is the physiological 

 age of the individual that counts. At least until it is shown 

 that menstruation appears at different stages of bodily 

 growth among different races, there is no reason for assuming 

 that early marriage will be less favorable in one race than in 

 another. Anyway man has survived, suggesting that the 

 danger in early motherhood cannot be great, though it 

 does follow that the mortality rate might be lowered by 

 raising the marriageable age to seventeen. 



So far we have not considered the marriageable age of 

 the male. It is generally assumed that boys mature later 

 than girls, but there is no certain proof of this. Baldwin 

 reports spermato;zoa appearing in the urine of some boys 

 at eleven years, suggesting an earlier maturity than usually 

 supposed. However this may be, it seems that among 

 civilized countries the average age of grooms exceeds that of 

 brides by two or three years. Some observations among 

 primitive peoples suggest a somewhat greater disparity, 

 estimated by Pitt-Rivers at seven to fourteen years. Where 

 polygyny prevails and the tendency is for the older men to 



