"notions." She usually manifests a great emotional interest in her girl 

friends, and often manifests marked jealousy in connection with these 

friendships. The girl is apt to indulge in day-dreaming at this period, 

and becomes quite romantic and "flighty." She devours love stories, and 

delights in imagining herself as the heroine of similar adventures. The 

period from the beginning of puberty to that of the attainment of full 

sexual maturity is known as the period of "adolescence," and generally 

extends to about the age of eighteen in the case of girls. 

By the MENOPAUSE is meant that period of the woman's "change of life," 

the average time of which is about the age of forty-five years, although 

this varies greatly in different individuals. As a rule, it is held that 

the period of the woman's child-bearing possibility extends over an 

average period of thirty years. At the Menopause the woman's 

reproductive activity declines and finally ends. The Ovaries diminish in 

size, the Graafian follicles cease to form and develop; the Fallopian 

Tubes atrophy; and there occur other physical, mental, and emotional 

changes in the woman. While the age of forty-five is held to be the 

average age at which the Menopause occurs in women, still it is not at 

all uncommon to find women who menstruate regularly up to the age of 

fifty, or fifty-two, or even fifty-five, while a large number of women 

menstruate regularly at the age of forty-eight. 

Some women undergo little or no physical or emotional disturbance at the 

time of the Menopause. In such cases their periods become more or less 

irregular, with extending intervals between periods; the flow becomes 

more and more scanty; then several periods are skipped altogether; and 

finally the periods cease entirely. Other women, however, experience 

more or less physical disturbance during the years of the "change." They 

sometimes experience loss of appetite, or a capricious appetite, 

headaches, loss of weight, or else a sudden taking on of fatty tissue. 

They often become quite irritable and "notiony," and often become 

quarrelsome and pugnacious, and in some cases manifest unreasonable 

jealousy. But, in the opinion of many of the best authorities, much of 

this trouble comes from the mental expectancy of them by the woman, 

resulting from the notion that a woman must have these things happen to 

her. The power of the mind over the body is now well known, and we have 

here another instance of its effect. The remedy is obvious. 

Another matter which disturbs the woman at this time, in many cases, is