PUBERTY—PART I.

Puberty is the age at which the girl or boy becomes capable of reproduction. Writers differ in the use of the word. Many use it to denote the whole period of time during which the procreative ability continues, which is usually from the fourteenth to the forty-fifth year. There are still other uses of the word, but we will use it as the age when the boy or girl becomes sexually matured or ripe, the first indication of which is the menstrual flow in the girl and seminal emissions in the boy.

This sign of puberty is celebrated by initiations among the savage peoples, mostly for the purpose of trying the powers of endurance in the boy or girl. The boy is taken away among strange tribes, is subjected to the greatest physical pain and hardship, and among some tribes is circumcized. The girl is often subjected to a vaginal incision and should she cry out or show any sign of suffering she is disgraced among the women of her tribe and promptly expelled from the settlement. In Ellis' Psychology of Sex the author relates of the Yuman Indians of California how the girls prepare for marriage at the first sign of menstruation by being wrapped in blankets and placed in a warm pit for four days and nights. The old women of the tribe dance about them and sing constantly; they give away coin, cloth and wheat to teach the girls generosity, and sow wild seeds broadcast over the girls to cause them to be prolific. These and various other initiations are practiced by nearly all savage tribes. The boys and girls receive their sex knowledge at this time, and are instructed in the duties of married life.

The girls are fully informed of menstruation. It has been said the knowledge of sexual relations is openly discussed and naturally taught; that, therefore, it has no glamour for them, and in consequence the women of these tribes are virtuous.

Perhaps you will wonder what bearing all this has on What Every Girl Should Know. I relate it only to show that the savages have recognized the importance of plain sexual talks to their young for ages, while civilization is still hiding itself under the black pall of prudery.

When we speak of puberty it is necessary to have some knowledge of the organs of reproduction and their structure. So far the physiology taught in the public schools has not treated of these organs. In order to get books on this subject a girl is met with the question: “Are you a nurse or physician?” If not the books are denied her. Consequently the average girl is kept in ignorance of the function of these organs, and is at a loss to know where to go for clean information. It is necessary, therefore, to give this information here, without mincing words, if there is any benefit to be derived from the following subject. It is very simple for the girl to learn the correct names of these organs and call them by such names. They are the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina and breasts. The breasts were not always classed as reproductive organs, but later writers recognize their relation to them, and as such they are now included.

Let us first take the ovaries, which are two small

glands about the size and shape of an almond, placed one on each side of the extreme lower part of the woman's abdomen. They are imbedded in large ligaments and tissues which also help to hold the uterus (the womb) in place. Inside the ovaries are thousands of little eggs called ovules, which have been there since the birth of the girl. It is claimed there are from twenty to fifty thousand ovules in the ovary at birth. The work of the ovary is to develop and mature these eggs, and send them on to be fertilized. At the time of puberty, these eggs are all in different stages of development. Those in the center of the ovary ripen first and burst through the outer cover of the ovary (which is like a capsule and at the time of menstruation becomes swollen and congested). The ovule is caught by the fringy ends of the fallopian tubes which are in a constant lashing motion, which motion sends the egg through the tube to the uterus.

The fallopian tubes are about four and one-half inches in length and join the ovaries to the upper and outer angle of the uterus. Its duties are to convey the ova from the ovary to the uterus. Sometimes the sperm cell from the male comes up into the tube to meet the egg and it is fertilized here. The union of the two cells usually occurs in the outer end of the fallopian tube; but this is not the nest nature has prepared for the egg's development, and unless it returns into the uterus it causes serious trouble and an operation is necessary. Impregnation in the tube is very rare, but it is possible.

The uterus, often spoken of as the womb, is a hollow muscular organ into which the egg comes from the tubes to be fertilized—four to eight days from ovaries to uterus. After fertilization it remains here, is nourished and developed until it can develop no more. Then it is thrown out by the contraction of the muscles, which process we call the birth of a child. The uterus is about three inches long, its shape is like a pear with the small end downward. It is not fastened to any of the bony parts, but is held in place by the ligaments and tissues, which also allow it to move with different movements of the body. One of the most interesting features about the uterus which is so small in its cavity is that it can stretch to accommodate the growing child within it to the length of nineteen to twenty-one inches. This is because it is one and one half inches thick and composed of layers of muscles which are tough and yet elastic. At the upper side of the uterus are the openings into the fallopian tubes. At the small end of the uterus is another opening leading into the vagina. It is through this opening the sperm of the male comes in order to fertilize the egg. Thus you can readily see the uterus is the nest or cradle where the egg is to live until it becomes strong enough to subsist on other nourishment.

The vagina is a muscular tube-like passage which extends from the small part of the uterus (called the neck) to the outer surface of the body, where its opening is usually partly closed in virgins by a thin membrane or film known as the hymen. The walls of the vagina are also very thick and elastic. This is sometimes called the birth canal. The hymen was for years a subject for discussion in the professional world among physicians. In my talks to girls I find it a subject of great interest and often anxiety to many of them, for the average girl seems possessed with the old idea that the presence of the hymen is necessary to marital happiness. The time was not long ago when its absence was considered cause for serious discord between husband and wife, and I have been told that under the old law its absence was sufficient ground for divorce.

Fortunately, modern science has thrown some light on this subject and disproved the theory that its absence was necessarily due to a woman's having had sexual relations. There are cases on record of women who have lived four and five years in prostitution who were found with perfectly preserved hymen. It is important to know that it differs in size and shape in women. Also, that in some women it has been entirely absent since birth. Many little girls and babies have no hymen. It can be destroyed by accident or injured by operations, or examinations where the physician did not use the greatest care. In some women it is easily destroyed; in others it is more difficult. It is not at all uncommon for a physician to find the hymen unruptured when he comes to deliver the first born child. All of which goes to prove that neither its presence nor its absence is necessarily the sign of virginity.

Now that we have some idea of the situation of the reproductive organs and their relations to one another we shall be ready to consider in greater detail the ovule or egg in the ovary.

PUBERTY—PART II.

Beginning with puberty the eggs from the ovary are expelled as they ripen or mature. This process is called ovulation and occurs about every twenty-eight days. It is closely related to menstruation, but it is not menstruation as you will soon learn. Some writers say the egg is expelled at other times than at the menstrual periods; another writer asserts that one passes every six hours, alternating male and female. There are many views and ideas on the subject of ovulation, but I will tell you of the most generally accepted theory, that the egg is expelled from the ovary every twenty-eight days.

When the egg ripens, the ovary discharges it and sends it on to find its way through the tubes to the uterus. Here we find the blood supply of the uterus greatly increased in preparation for the egg. We find the inner lining of the uterus becomes very soft and smooth so that the egg can very easily find a place in which to lodge itself after it has been fertilized. We also find that the cells swell and multiply, all in preparation to welcome and nourish the incoming egg or ovum. If the egg is fertilized by the male, it then remains in the uterus to develop. If not, it is thrown out, together with all the preparation made to receive it. The cells burst and discharge their contents; the mucus, blood, cells and all come away in what is called the menstrual flow.

At one time woman was thought to be the only creature which menstruated. But science now tells us that all warm blooded animals which walk erect menstruate. The discharge is chiefly due to the position which in standing upright, throws the large part of the uterus higher than the neck. In animals, such as dogs, cats, etc., the same process goes on, but the position of these animals keeps the large part of the uterus lower than the small part, where the blood is retained and then reabsorbed into the system.

This process goes on every four weeks in girls after they reach the age of puberty and continues at regular periods as long as the egg is not fertilized until the reproductive age is over, which is usually between the forty-fifth and fiftieth year. If, however, the egg is fertilized the menstrual flow ceases and this blood supply goes to nourish the new life in the uterus. It does not appear again until after the birth of the child, and usually ceases while the child depends upon the milk from the mammal glands.

The age at which this process (menstruation) first takes place in girls differs in individuals. Climate has some effect upon it, for girls in warm or Southern climates mature earlier than in colder places. In this climate the average girl reaches puberty at fourteen years of age. Some have been known to reach it as early as the eleventh and others not until the eighteenth year, all in the same place and yet normal and healthy, which shows there is no reason for anxiety if the girl does not menstruate at fourteen, provided she is developing normally and is in good health. During the first few years after its appearances the periods are likely to be irregular. This is because the sexual organs are not fully developed. Often the period does not occur after the first time for three, five, eight months and sometimes a year. This irregularity continues for two or three years. Cases of girls coming from Europe have been known where the period was perfectly established over there, but after arriving in this climate the menstrual flow did not occur again for a year and over. Usually this irregularity lasts only a few months, and when once it has become regular, there should be no worry over its arrival a day or two earlier or later.

The length of time the period lasts differs in women also. The average length of time is four or five days, yet there are women in which it lasts fully a week, and others but a few hours. The length of time should not be of as much concern as the amount of discharge which is expelled each time. It is, of course, difficult to estimate this, but physicians claim that more than three protectives in twenty-four hours should not be used. In all women the flow is most profuse during the first two days.

The care of the health should receive more attention during the first two days than is usually given it. To the girl who has to work from early morning until late at night, these two days are unusually hard on her nerves and on her general health, and I regret that I have no new message for her to help lighten the burden, which under the present atrocious industrial system makes it so hard for her.

Physicians say there should be no need of interrupting the regular routine of the day at this time more than any other. There are a few strong women to whom this period makes no difference, but the average girl in this country spends two days of pain and discomfort. Out of 1,000 girls questioned, only 16 per cent. were entirely free from pain, which proves that the time has come for women to cease being ashamed of this function, and insisting upon at least one day's rest at the expense of her employer. Some of the old biblical ideas instilling into the man's mind, that a woman is unclean at this time has been the cause of much hardship and many sneers endured by a woman during these periods. The consequence has been that she will bear the most intense pain rather than allow the men working with her to suspect that she is menstruating. It is all nonsense and wrong, and it is time women should band together in one great sisterhood to protect one another from being slowly drained and exhausted of their powers of motherhood for the benefit of their exploiters. Women who belong to unions should demand that this day be given them and their sisters. Girls continue to suffer pains in the abdomen and back, pains running down the limbs, headache, often nausea, besides being nervous and irritable, yet hang on a strap in an overcrowded street car, stand or sit all day in the shop or at the machine and utter no protest. They know, too, they are not alone in this suffering, for they see about them day after day hundreds of other women enduring the same pain, yet they remain silent.

How long will you endure this, working women?

There is one thing to remember, that the greatest strain comes on the nervous system at this period. One of the best ways to assist in building up the nerve strength is in sleep and rest and for the girl who dares not remain away from the shop fearing to lose her “job” the next best thing is to get to bed early, for there's nothing that builds up the exhausted nerves like sleep.

Fortunately, the girl at school has some consideration shown her at this time, and it is well that this is so, for until the period becomes established there is special danger of overdoing in school work, which often causes St. Vitus dance and other nervous disorders.

I believe in the regular warm tub bath, or cold sponge followed by a good rubbing all over the body at this time, together with nine or ten hours' sleep, and light, nourishing food without stimulant. If the bowels are active, it often lessens the pain considerably, and it is very important that every girl attend to this if she has any regard for her health. There are a few abnormalities of the menstrual function which I will not take the space to state here. Before leaving the subject, I wish to impress upon the reader that most abnormalities, such as too little or too much flow, or very great exhausting pain are usually caused, not by any disease of the generative organs, but more often a disturbance of the general health, which can often be treated and cured by building up the system.

Every girl should learn the laws of menstruation and its hygiene and have a full understanding of the same. The menstrual function occurs only in the female at puberty, but at the same time there comes to both boys and girls, or male and female, a mysterious and impelling influence, which has great power over the lives of both during the adolescent period unless they understand and control it. This is known as the Sexual Impulse.