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CHAPTER XXXIX. 



PUBERTY. MENSTRUATION. MATURATION AND DISCHARGE OF OVA. 



FORMATION OF CORPORA LUTEA. STRUCTURE OF CORPUS 



LUTEUM. DISTINCTION OF THE TRUE FROM THE FALSE CORPUS 



LUTEUM. 



THE period of puberty commences at different ages, is charac- 

 terised by different phenomena, and lasts during widely different 

 periods of time, in the two sexes. In the male, puberty seldom 

 occurs before the fourteenth or fifteenth year. It is marked by 

 increased development of the genital organs, the formation of 

 spermatozoa, and the occurrence of sexual feelings. Besides these 

 changes, however, there are others scarcely less striking and cha- 

 racteristic, as the growth of hair on the face and pubes, increased 

 development and symmetry of the limbs and general outline of the 

 body, an alteration in the physiognomy, a greater capacity of the 

 respiratory organs, and a striking change in the character of the 

 voice, which becomes of a deep tone, very different from that of 

 boyhood and of the female sex. This alteration of the voice does 

 not take place in eunuchs, who retain throughout life a shrill tone, 

 of higher pitch, approximating more in character to the female 

 voice than to that of the male. Perfectly-formed spermatozoa are 

 not found in the genital organs of the male before the period of 

 puberty. The power of procreation lasts much longer in the male 

 than in the female, and often continues up to the sixtieth or sixty- 

 fifth years ; and instances of virility are recorded at the advanced 

 age of one hundred. 



In the human female, puberty is likewise characterised by the 

 occurrence of certain local changes in the generative organs, and 

 also by changes of a more general character occurring in the body. 

 About this time, which usually occurs between the thirteenth and 

 sixteenth years, but somewhat earlier in hot climates, the organs of 

 generation undergo a considerable increase in size; the breasts 



