The most peculiar features of woman's life are hers for a limited period only. Man is man for a longer time than woman is woman. With him it is a lifetime matter; with her it is but for a score of years or so. Her child-bearing period is less than half her life. Within this time she passes through all the phases of that experience which is peculiarly her own. And these phases, what are they? Nature herself defines them. They are three in number,--the Maiden, the Wife, and the Mother. In one and then another of this triad, her life passes. Each has its own duties and dangers; each demands its own precautions; each must be studied by itself. Let us at once commence this important study, and proceed in the order of time. THE MAIDEN. _PUBERTY._ At a certain period in the life of the female, she ceases to be a girl, and becomes a _woman_. Hitherto she has felt no distinction between herself and the boys, her playmates. But now a crisis takes place, which is for ever after to hedge her round with a mysterious, invisible, but most real barrier from all _man_kind. This period is called _the age of puberty_. Its sign is a flow of blood recurring every month; its meaning, that the female has entered upon that portion of her life whose peculiar obligations are to the whole race--no longer to herself alone. The second part of her twofold nature is opened. Why is it that on her, the weaker sex, this extra burden is laid? Why this weakness, these pains, this recurring loss of vital fluid? Perhaps, as has been observed, it is a wise provision that she is thus reminded of her lowly duty, lest man should make her the sole object of his worship, or lest the pride of beauty should obscure the sense of shame. But this question concerns rather the moralist than the physician, and we cease asking _why_ it is, and shall only inquire _what_ it is. To this science returns a clear reply. In the anatomy of woman there are two small bodies, in shape and size like large almonds, called the ovaries. They lie one on each side of the womb, and are connected with it by tubes about four inches in length. These bodies are solid, but contain a great number of diminutive vesicles, which, by some mysterious law of nature, mature one at a time, every thirty days, for thirty years of woman's life. When mature, the vesicle separates from the ovary, traverses the tube into the womb, and is thence expelled and lost, or becomes, by contact with the other sex, the germ of a living being. This process is accompanied by a disturbance of the whole system. Wandering pains are felt; a sense of languor steals over the mind; the blood rushes with increased violence through the vessels, and more or less of it escapes from the veins, causing that change which we term _menstruation._