| Of blondes. | Of brunettes. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.20 per cent. | 18.84 per cent. | began to menstruate at the age of | 14 |
| 16.89 per cent. | 18.02 per cent. | began to menstruate at the age of | 15 |
| 15.14 per cent. | 16.59 per cent. | began to menstruate at the age of | 16 |
According to the same author, the average age at which menstruation begins is:
| In blondes | 15.55 years. |
| In brunettes | 15.26 years. |
As regards race, it is well known that in Jewesses menstruation begins at an early age. According to Joachim the age of puberty varies very greatly among the different races inhabiting Hungary. The first menstruation appears:
| In Slavonic girls between the ages of | 16 and 17 |
| In Magyar | 15 and 16 |
| In Jewish | 14 and 15 |
| In Styrian | 13 and 14 |
First Appearance of Menstruation.
The first appearance of menstruation is commonly preceded by various symptoms dependent on the increased flow of blood to the genital organs. Such symptoms are: Sacrache; dragging sensation in the loins; an indefinite feeling of pressure in the lower part of the belly, especially in the region of the uterus and the ovaries, which region is sometimes also tender on pressure; a slight feeling of weariness in the lower extremities; sudden flushings or pallors; alternating sensations of heat and chilliness, sometimes accompanied by actual though slight change of temperature. In many cases also there are disturbances in the intestinal evacuations and urinary secretion, in the process of cutaneous transpiration, and in the functional activity of the gastro-intestinal canal. A frequently observed symptom is an increased irritability of the entire nervous system, with an inclination to melancholy and indefinite amorous desires—symptoms which Tilt denotes by the term “ovarianismus,” Emmet by the term “erection,” Lecal by the term “phlogose amoureuse,” and the older writers by the term “molimina menstrualia.”
The nervous irritability manifests itself already before the appearance of the menstrual flow by headache and moodiness, weariness, nervous irritability, and low spirits; further, by slight changes in the facial aspect, dark rings round the eyes, spontaneous blushing, uneasy sensations, epigastric pain, loss of appetite, a sensation of pressure in the abdomen, palpitation, vertigo, dragging sensations passing from the loins to the thighs, feeling of weakness and numbness in the lower extremities—symptoms which often endure for several months and in such cases tend to lower the resisting powers of the organism.
Courty enumerates as prodromal symptoms which are observed in the majority of girls before the first appearance of menstruation: swelling and tenderness of the breasts, sensation of fulness and weight in the hypogastric region, moderate intestinal meteorism, sacrache, aqueo-mucous vaginal discharge, finally, an itching sensation in the genital organs. These manifestations may also assume a morbid character, taking the form of violent abdominal and lumbo-sacral pain, general fatigue and weakness, dyspepsia and diarrhœa, cephalalgia, various kinds of neuralgia, some degree of moral aberration. After the first menstruation, two or three months may elapse before the girl menstruates again, but after the lapse of a year the flow usually recurs at quite regular periods. Sometimes the early periods are very violent and recur very frequently, every twenty days, for instance.
The greatest increase in size and weight occurs in the female sex at the time of the menarche. Amongst the poorer classes the greatest development in size and strength occurs between the ages of 13 and 15 years, whereas in the upper classes of society, those who ultimately attain the same weight exhibit their greatest growth at the ages of 12, 13, and 14 years. According to Pagliani the greatest growth in the female sex always precedes puberty, so that for example a girl who begins to menstruate at the age of 12 will grow most rapidly in the year preceding this, whereas a girl who begins to menstruate at a more advanced age will not undergo her most rapid phase of growth so early as the age of 11. According to the observations of Bowditch, A. Hey, Lombroso, Pagliani, and Ploss, up to the age of 11 or 12 years the growth of girls exceeds that of boys, but whereas in girls growth ceases suddenly at the age of 14, in boys growth proceeds regularly up to the age of 16 years. At birth boys are on the average 1 cm. (⅖″) longer than girls; but during puberty the female sex catches up the male in height, or even surpasses it. According to Ploss, a girl of 16 or 17 years is as tall as a young man of 18 or 19 years.