PUBERTY AND MENSTRUATION 



431 



struation begins when the breasts are two fingers' breadth high. The 

 whole body takes part in this evolution, which fits the individual to bear 

 children. The specific gravity of the blood rises and the pulse-rate 

 accelerates, although somewhat less than in boys. The chest enlarges, 

 but so much does the pelvis grow, especially laterally, that the hips 

 become very much more prominent in comparison with the shoulders. 

 Deposits of fat about the limbs and between the muscles cause all contours 

 to become more rounded. The face changes in a marked degree and in 

 some indescribable manner becomes the face of a woman. The larynx 

 enlarges and the voice nearly doubles its range. The breasts develop 

 their adult rotundity, as does also the abdomen. The sexual organs 



A virgin uterus (twenty-two years). 



A, from in front and below: 1, body; 2, angles; 3, cervix; 4, opposite the os internum; 5, 

 vaginal part of the cervix; 6, os externum; 7, vagina (distended). 



B, sagittal section: 1, anterior face; 2, utero-vesical cul-de-sac; 3, posterior face; 4, body; 

 5, cervix; 6, isthmus; 7, body-cavity; 8, cervix-cavity; 9, os internum; 10, os externum's 

 anterior lip; 11, os externum's posterior lip; 12, vagina. 



C, transverse longitudinal section: 1, body-cavity; 2, lateral wall; 3, upper wall; 4, horn; 

 5, os internum; 6, cervix-cavity; 7, arbor vitse cervicis; 8, os externum; 9, vagina. (Sappey.) 



proper, especially the uterus, develop in size and shape, each of them 

 changing in many particulars into the condition of greatest fitness for 

 its particular part in the momentous process of procreation. All the 

 glands concerned markedly develop and play no small part in the new 

 experiences of the new woman ; the vascularity especially of all portions 

 of the genital system increases greatly. Hair grows on the mons veneris, 

 etc., and in the axilla. 



The mental changes of the commencement of womanhood we may 

 not attempt to describe. They are homologous to those occurring in 

 the male, and all have their physiological meaning and explanation in 

 the new tendencies toward and fitness for fertilization and the bearing of 



