CHAPTER VI 



THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE CYCLE 



§ 1. Different Forms of Life-curve. — §2. The Ante-natal Life. — 

 § 3. Infancy and Its Fragility. — § 4. The Individual's 

 Recapitulation of Racial Evolution. — § 5. Childhood : Its 

 Playing and Schooling. — § 6. Adolescence : Its Adventures 

 and Dangers. — § 7. Falling in Love — or, rather, Rising. — 

 §8. MarriedLifeandParentalAffection.— § 9. The Difficult 

 Age.— § 10. The Problem of Growing Old, the Art of 

 Remaining Young. 



§ 1. Different Forms of Life-curve 



ONE man differs from another in details of struc- 

 ture and temperament, but also in the rate of 

 the vital processes. In blood-stream and in thought- 

 stream there are great differences in the rate of flow. 

 It is a well-known biological theory that the funda- 

 mental difference between the sexes is a difference in 

 the rate of certain kinds of chemical routine or metabo- 

 lism. 



One of the characteristic features of life is cyclical 

 development. In all ordinary creatures life is a very 

 delicate kind of activity to begin with — a flickering 

 flame easily blown out by a gust. But the creature 



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