SEX IN LIVING FORMS 123 



the development of a human being as for the expand- 

 ing of a flower bud. 



4. Watch carefully the associations of the youth. 

 This should be done at all times, but especially just at 

 the critical period in question, when the general phys- 

 ical disturbances occurring in the system react upon 

 the mind, and make it peculiarly susceptible to influ- 

 ences of every sort, especially those of an evil char- 

 acter. 



5. None too much care can be exercised at this im- 

 portant epoch of human life, provided it is properly 

 applied; but nothing could be more disastrous in its 

 consequences than a weak solicitude which panders to 

 every whim and gratifies every perverted appetite. 

 Such care is a fatal error. 



Menstruation. — The functional changes which 

 occur in the female are much more marked than those 

 of the male. As already intimated, the periodical de- 

 velopment and discharge of an ovum by the female, 

 which occurs after puberty, is accompanied by the dis- 

 charge of a bloody fluid, which is known as the floivers, 

 menses, or catamenia. The accompanying symptoms 

 together are termed the process of menstruation, or 

 being unwell. This usually occurs, in the human fe- 

 male, once in about four weeks. In special cases, the 

 interval may be a week less or a week longer; or the 

 variation may be even greater. Dalton describes the 

 process as follows: 



^'Wlien the expected period is about to come on, 

 the female is affected by a certain degree of discomfort 

 and lassitude, a sense of weight in the pelvis, and more 

 or less disinclination to society. These symptoms are 

 in some cases slightly pronounced, in others more trou- 

 blesome. An unusual discharge of vaginal mucus then 



