Part 9

8 years in 2 instances. 9 years in 2 instances. 10 years in 4 instances. 11 years in 41 instances. 12 years in 178 instances. 13 years in 458 instances. 14 years in 715 instances. 15 years in 778 instances. 16 years in 614 instances. 17 years in 369 instances. 18 years in 195 instances. 19 years in 91 instances. 20 years in 31 instances. 21 years in 8 instances. 22 years in 10 instances. 23 years in 2 instances. 24 years in 1 instance. 25 years in 0 instance. 26 years in 1 instance.

Thus, in nearly half of all Finnish women, menstruation begins with the completion of the fourteenth and fifteenth years. The statistics include women of all classes of society.

At the Pirogoff Congress Grusdeff furnished particulars of the first onset of menstruation in Russia among 10,000 women. Menstruation began:

At the age of:

9 years in 1 instance. 10 years in 4 instances. 11 years in 31 instances. 12 years in 244 instances. 13 years in 864 instances. 14 years in 1641 instances. 15 years in 1795 instances. 16 years in 2012 instances. 17 years in 1692 instances. 18 years in 910 instances. 19 years in 498 instances. 20 years in 183 instances. 21 years in 65 instances. 22 years in 19 instances. 23 years in 5 instances. 24 years in 3 instances. 32 years in 1 instance.

In women of German race living in Russia puberty was earliest, occurring at the average age of 15.16 years; in Finnish women it was latest, occurring at the average age of 16.17 years.

2. Middle Europe.

In Germany, according to the tables of Krieger and L. Mayer, who have recorded 11,500 cases in all, menstruation begins most commonly (in 18.931 per cent. of the cases) at the age of 15; the next most frequent age is 14 (18.213 per cent. of the cases).

For Berlin, in a number of cases collected from the lower classes of society, we find the average age for the first appearance of menstruation to be 16.18 years.

Notwithstanding the more northerly situation of Berlin, the average age at puberty is somewhat less than in Munich, situated 4½ degrees to the southward, for the reason that the retardation dependent upon altitude makes itself manifest in the latter town, which is situate about 500 metres (1,640 feet) higher above the sea level. Whereas in Berlin 18 per cent. of all cases begin to menstruate at the age of 14, and 19 per cent. at the age of 15, in Munich the two leading years are 15 with a percentage of 17½, and 16 with a percentage of 18¾.

In Great Britain, according to Krieger, the average age at which menstruation begins is 15 years, 1 month, and 5 days. For Manchester the age given is 15 years, 6 months, and 23 days. In France, according to the calculation of Brierre de Boismont, the most frequent age for the first onset of menstruation is 16. In Paris the average age is 14 years, 6 months, and 14 days. Bohemia, Upper and Lower Austria, and Moravia have an average age of 16 years and 2 to 3 months.

3. Southern Europe.

In Southern Europe the influence of the higher mean temperature manifests itself. The average age at which Spanish girls begin to menstruate is 12. In Northern and Middle Italy the most frequent age is 14; in Southern Italy, 13. In Lyons the average age at which menstruation begins is 14 years, 5 months, and 29 days; in Marseilles and Toulon it is 13 years and 10 months. For Hungary, Doktor gives the statistics of 9,600 cases. In 22⅓ per cent. menstruation began at the age of 15; in 20½ per cent. at the age of 16, and in 10 per cent. at the age of 17. The earliest age among these cases was 8 years; the latest, 33 years. (The latter must no doubt be regarded as pathological.)

B. ASIA.

In Palestine puberty most commonly occurs at the age of 13; in Turkey even as early as 10. Rouvier calculated the average of 742 cases observed in Syria to be the age of 12. As regards Persian women, the data vary between the age of 14 for the northern part of the country and the age of 9 or 10 for the southern. According to Joubert’s data in 46.4 per cent. of the indigens of India, menstruation begins at the age of 12 or 13. Similar figures are given for Ceylon and for Siam. In Japan menstruation most frequently begins at the age of 14, sometimes as early as 13; mothers of 15 are by no means rarities in this country, but for menstruation to begin before the age of 12 is considered a very exceptional occurrence. According to a table dealing with 584 women of Tokio menstruation began:

At the age of:

11 years in 2 instances. 12 years in 2 instances. 13 years in 26 instances. 14 years in 78 instances. 15 years in 224 instances. 16 years in 228 instances. 17 years in 68 instances. 18 years in 44 instances. 19 years in 10 instances. 20 years in 2 instances.

The data available regarding China are so exceedingly variable that little importance can be attached to them.

C. AFRICA, OCEANIA, AND AMERICA.

The average age at which menstruation begins in the negro women of Africa is from 10 to 13. In Algeria puberty occurs at 9 or 10 years. Among the Australian indigens, menstruation commonly begins as early as 8 years, and at the very latest at the age of 12 years. The data available concerning the indigens of the Oceanic Archipelago are extremely variable and inexact, but we cannot go far astray in stating the age of puberty among these to be from 10 to 13. In tropical South America girls begin to menstruate from the age of 9 to 14 years. The Indian women of North America begin to menstruate at the ages of 12, 13, 14, or even as late as 18 or 20. In the Arctic zone of North America and in Greenland the onset of menstruation is delayed till 17 and even till 23 years.

As regards the position in life and the upbringing years it has been shown by numerous observers that among the well-to-do classes, whose mode of living is luxurious, and whose social circumstances allow free play to the imagination, menstruation begins at an earlier age than among the working classes, whose life is one of want and privation. According to the statistical data of Mayer’s regarding 6,000 women, menstruation began:

In women of the upper In women of the lower classes. classes. At the age of 13 years 11.73 per cent. 7.06 per cent. At the age of 14 years 23.90 per cent. 13.33 per cent. At the age of 15 years 22.83 per cent. 14.56 per cent. At the age of 16 years 14.10 per cent. 16.53 per cent. At the age of 17 years 9.60 per cent. 13.33 per cent.

From this table we learn that in nearly one-fourth of the girls of the upper classes puberty occurs at the age of 14, whilst in girls of the lower classes barely one-sixth begin to menstruate at this age. The average age at the first menstruation in girls belonging to the upper classes is seen to be 14.69 years, but in girls belonging to the lower classes, 16.00 years. According to other observers the average age at the first menstruation is:

Brierre de Tilt. Krieger. Ravn. Boismont. (London.) (Berlin.) (Copenhagen.) (Paris.) Amongst gentle folk 13y. 8m. 13y. 5½m. 14y. 1m. 14y. 3m. and the rich Amongst the 14y. 5m. 14y. 3½m. 15y. 5m. 15y. 5½m. well-to-do middle classes Amongst the lower 14y. 10m. 16y. 8m. 16y. 5½m. classes

Comparative observations on women living in towns and women living in the country show also that in the former, menstruation begins on the average at an earlier age. According to Brierre de Boismont, the average age at the first menstruation is:

In Paris 14 years, 6 months. In small towns 14 years, 9 months. In country districts 14 years, 10 months.

Similarly it was found by Ravn that menstruation first occurred:

In Copenhagen at the average age of 15 years, 7 months. In industrial towns 15 years, 4 months. In country districts 16 years, 5 months.