Examples of very early cessation are more rare. We do not remember to have met any, in our experience, earlier than thirty years, but others have observed healthy women as young as twenty-eight in whom the flow had ceased. The physical change which is most apparent at this time is the tendency to grow stout. The fat increases as the power of reproduction decreases. And here a curious observation comes in. We have said that when the girl changes to a woman, a similar deposit of fat takes place (though less in amount), which commences at the loins. This is the first sign of puberty. In the change of life the first sign is visible at the lower part of the back of the neck, on a level with the bones known as the two lowest cervical vertebræ. Here commences an accumulation of fat, which often grows to form two distinct prominences, and is an infallible index of the period of a woman's life. The breasts do not partake of this increase, but become flat and hard, the substance of the gland losing its spongy structure. The legs and arms lose their roundness of outline, and, where they do not grow fat, dry up, and resemble those of the other sex. The abdomen enlarges, even to the extent occasionally of leading the wife to believe that she is to be a mother,--a delusion sometimes strengthened by the absence of the monthly sickness. Finally, a perceptible tendency to a beard at times manifests itself, the voice grows harder, and the characteristics of the female sex become less and less distinct. Some who are more fortunate than their neighbours do not experience the least discomfort at the change of life. They simply note that at the expected time the illness does not appear, and for ever after they are free from it. These are the exceptions. More commonly, marked alterations in the health accompany this important crisis, and call for sedulous hygienic care. It is gratifying to know that nearly all these threatening affections can be avoided by such care, as they depend upon causes under the control of the individual. Another fact, to which we have already referred, is full of consolation. It is an unexpected fact--one that we should hardly credit, did it not rest on statistical evidence of the most indisputable character. The popular opinion, every one knows, is, that the period of the change of life is one peculiarly dangerous to women. If this is so, we might expect that, if the number of deaths between the ages of forty and fifty years in the two sexes be compared, we should find that those of females far exceed those of males. This is, however, not the case. On the contrary, the deaths of the males exceed in number those of the females.