The mortality of young children in general is enormous but decreases with age. It is greatest among those whose hygienic conditions are bad, who suffer from poor or insufficient food, impure air, etc. Diphtheria, scarlatina, measles, croup, pneumonia and intestinal dis orders are the chief causes of death.
The Period of Youth, Adolescence or Puberty, is that period of life between child hood and maturity; in law, °that period from 14 in males and 12 in females till 21 years of age?' It occurs earlier in hot climates than in cold, is hastened by luxurious living and habits of idleness and is retarded by severe labor, hardship, privation and ill health. It is that pe riod when the individual becomes fitted for re production by the development of the sexual or gans. The voice is unsettled, due to a rapid general enlargement of the laryngeal cartilages and a lengthening of the vocal cords. Hair ap pears in the pubic region, in the axillm and on the face in the male. In the female particularly, fat is rapidly deposited in the subcutaneous cel lular tissue of the breast and extremities, adding to the comeliness of the form. The function of menstruation is established, preceded in a vary ing degree by headache, backache, physical and mental lassitude, palpitation, bleeding from the nose, nervous irritability and hysteria. Sexual maturity is evidenced by awakened sensibilities toward individuals of the opposite sex, of at traction, of repulsion or of timidity and shy ness. In youth there is a pronounced develop ment of the limbs, an increase in the size of the chest and a diminution in the size of the head and abdomen. The spine now forms a double curve, and the pelvis widens especially in the female. Mental faculties mature. A girl be comes a woman earlier than the boy a man.
Inasmuch as the rapid nutritive changes are prone to be attended by more or less grave dis turbances of the nervous functions, it is e-;sen tial, in order to have a sound mind in a sound body (that is, health), to carefully regulate physical and still more, mental exertion. The habit of self-control must be encouraged, and exaggerated language discouraged. School du ties should not be imposed beyond, or even up to the limit of, tolerance of the individual, and social functions should not interfere with an abundance of sleep and outdoor exercise, else the result will be a wreck of the nervous sys tem, and prolonged nervous and muscular pros tration. Recklessness as to the laws of health
are responsible for much of the sickness at this period of life. Purity of thought and action are great safeguards against the temptations which beset growing .youth, which if yielded to impair or destroy both mind and body. Animal impulses are to be subordinated to aspirations of the mind. The continued fevers such as ty phoid, severe inflammations, as pneumonia and acute rheumatism, tuberculosis and heart affec tions are the principal diseases of youth. Scar let fever, measles and other eruptive diseases may affect the individual, but not commonly. Alcoholism is a dangerous condition, easily acquired. Neurotic conditions, especially in the female, too frequently occur.
The Period of Maturity begins at about the end of the 21st year, and exten 's in men to about the 60th, when the power of reproduction wanes, and in women to about 40 or 45, when the menopause occurs; the breasts and repro ductive organs dir.linish and ovulation ceases. In women, at this time (as in the onset of pu berty), the organic functions may be irregular; dyspepsia, palpitation, sweating, vertigo, neu ralgia, irritability and melancholy may occur. The °change of lifep is in reality therefore at tended with a severe nervous shock. Manhood and womanhood begin when the individual has reached the full stature, when the skeleton is firmly ossified, the jaw is square, the chest fully expanded, and the limbs well developed. Grad ually from this time onward in most instances, fat begins to accumulate, especially upon the abdomen, toward the end of maturity.
Popularly it is believed that man is in the °prime of life" from 35 to 50, but there are many instances of farmers, professional and business men and women being successful and at active work and in good health at 60 or more. The fact is, that the ability to do hard work, mental or physical, at an advanced age, depends upon habits of industry and method, and upon the care of the health which have been incul cated in earlier life and are continued into and through adult life.