of American women and the severe strain of motherhood upon them, the author, though she is by no means hostile to education, which is not, she declares, at fault, pleads for rest for the pubertal girl.  “If the brain claims her whole vitality, how can there be any proper development?  Just as very young children should give all their strength for some years solely to physical growth before the brain is allowed to make any considerable demands, so at this critical period in the life of the woman nothing should obstruct the right of way of this important system.  A year at the least should be made especially easy for her, with neither mental nor nervous strain; and throughout the rest of her school days she should have her periodical day of rest, free from any study or overexertion.”  In another article on the same subject in the same journal ("The Health of American Girls,” Sept., 1907), Nellie Comins Whitaker advocates a similar course.  “I am coming to be convinced, somewhat against my wish, that there are many cases when the girl ought to be taken out of school entirely for some months or for a year at the period of puberty.”  She adds that the chief obstacle in the way is the girl’s own likes and dislikes, and the ignorance of her mother who has been accustomed to think that pain is a woman’s natural lot.

Such a period of rest from mental strain, while it would fortify the organism in its resistance to any reasonable strain later, need by no means be lost for education in the wider sense of the word, for the education required in classrooms is but a small part of the education required for life.  Nor should it by any means be reserved merely for the sickly and delicate girl.  The tragic part of the present neglect to give girls a really sound and fitting education is that the best and finest girls are thereby so often ruined.  Even the English policeman, who admittedly belongs in physical vigor and nervous balance to the flower of the population, is unable to bear the strain of his life, and is said to be worn out in twenty-five years.  It is equally foolish to submit the finest flowers of girlhood to a strain which is admittedly too severe.

It seems to be clear that the main factor in the common sexual and general invalidism of girls and young women is bad hygiene, in the first place consisting in neglect of the menstrual functions and in the second place in faulty habits generally.  In all the more essential matters that concern the hygiene of the body the traditions of girls—­and this seems to be more especially the case in the Anglo-Saxon countries—­are inferior to those of youths.  Women are much more inclined than men to subordinate these things to what seems to them some more urgent interest or fancy of the moment; they are trained to wear awkward and constricting garments, they are indifferent to regular and substantial meals, preferring innutritious and indigestible foods and drinks; they are apt to disregard the demands of