SEX IN LIVING FORMS 121 



doubled, are shriveled and wrinkled with age. At the 

 time when they should be in their prime of health and 

 beauty, they are prematurely old and broken. Those 

 women who mature late, retain their beauty and their 

 strength many years after their precocious sisters have 

 become old, decrepit, and broken down. Thus, the 

 matrons of thirty and forty years in colder climates 

 are much more attractive in appearance than the maid- 

 ens of sixteen; while quite the reverse is true in this 

 and other countries where sexual development is un- 

 duly hastened. 



Early Puberty a Cause for Anxiety.— The un- 

 naturally early appearance of puberty is a just cause 

 for apprehension, since it usually indicates an inherent 

 weakness of the constitution. Wlien there are reasons 

 for fearing its occurrence, active measures should be 

 taken to occasion delay if possible. We call especial 

 attention to this point, since there are many who erro- 

 neously suppose the early occurrence of puberty to be 

 a sign of superior vigor. 



Changes "Which Occur at Puberty.— The changes 

 which occur in the two sexes at this period have been 

 thus described— 



''In both sexes, hair grows on the skin covering the 



symphysis pubis, around the sexual organs, and in the 



axillaB (armpits). In man, the chest and shoulders 



broaden, the larynx enlarges, and the voice becomes 



lower in pitch from the elongation of the vocal cords; 



hair grows upon the chin, upper lip, and cheeks, and 



often exists upon the general surface of the body more 



abundantly than in woman." The sexual organs 



undergo enlargement, and are more frequently excited. 



The testicles first begin the secretion of the seminal 



fluid. 



8 



