THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE CYCLE 177 



panied by tlie pains and risks associated with all pro- 

 gress, by ' growing pains ' and instabilities, with promise 

 as well as portent, with portent as well as promise. All 

 this must be allowed for. 



(3) It is in adolescence that the new departures and 

 original acquisitions of youth have to run the gauntlet 

 of criticism and selection, which is often very cruel. 

 It is well when natural selection sifts out the unstable, 

 and when social selection sifts out the lazy, but there 

 is a lamentable amount of rough-handed nipping of 

 fine buds. 



(4) The sex becomes mature — sometimes setting 

 in suddenly and violently Uke a storm, sometimes grad- 

 ually and gently like the coming of spring. The tis- 

 sues of internal secretion associated with the repro- 

 ductive organs begin in a new way to send their mys- 

 terious messengers or hormones through the body, 

 subtly afiecting the brain and the blood, impression- 

 abihty and controlluig power. Healthy work and play 

 and wide interests furnish some safeguard, but one 

 must not forget the mental side which is as supreme 

 as hormones are fundamental. Happiest are those who 

 have garrisoned their hearts with nobihty, for out of 

 the heart are the issues of life. 



Towards the close of adolescence the voices of sex 

 call more clamantly, varying in tone with the indi- 

 vidual temperament. There is a clash between the 

 imperious demands of the sex-instinct and the oppos- 

 ing forces — ethical, religious, and practical — which re- 

 fuse satisfaction. There are three common results. 



