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periods of life. This stage is marked in the boy 

 by a change in his voice, which becomes rougher 

 and deeper this is called the breaking of the voice ; 

 hair begins to grow in the armpits and especially on 

 the lower parts of the abdomen, called the piibic 

 region or pubes. There also appear at this time the 

 first indications of beard and moustache, so anxiously 

 awaited and so tenderly fostered by the growing 

 youth. In girls, apart from the appearance of hair 

 in armpits and pubic regions, the most evident signs 

 of approaching womanhood are the first roundings 

 of the breasts, and a broadening of the hips due to 

 the widening of the pelvis in preparation for the func- 

 tion of motherhood. The one absolutely definite 

 sign of puberty in girls, however, is the appearance 

 of the period or menstruation that is, the periodical 

 flow of blood from the womb through the female sex 

 passage called the vagina. In the first year or so 

 this flow is irregular, but when finally established it 

 generally recurs every lunar month and lasts from 

 three to five days on an average. The intervals 

 between these periods may vary in length some- 

 times lasting less, sometimes more than a month 

 without any signs of ill-health. The age when men- 

 struation commences varies from twelve to seven- 

 teen years; it is earlier in hot climates and in towns, 

 and later in colder regions and in the country. 



The attainment of puberty is celebrated by special 

 rites of initiation, which serve to introduce the young 

 people to their tasks in life. They are very wide- 

 spread, taking place all over the world, and only 

 differing in character as the religions of the races vary. 

 The idea at the base of these rites is that the boy and 



