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A child usually lies in the womb with the head downward; the reason of this is that there is more room in the upper part of the uterus, and as the small parts of the child as it is folded upon itself take up the most space, they occupy this position, while the head lies just above the pubes.

In the girl the sign of puberty is the growth of hair about the pubes, private organs and armpits. Her whole frame remains more slender than in the male. Muscles and joints are less prominent, limbs more rounded and tapering. Internal and external organs undergo rapid enlargement, locally.

Bergh found that among 2200 young Danish prostitutes those who showed an unusual extension and amount of pubic hair included several women who were believed to be libidinous in a very high degree. A lad of 14, guilty of numerous crimes of violence having a sexual source, is described by Arthur Macdonald in America as having hair on the chest as well as all over the pubes.

Chambers mentions a woman of twenty-seven who suffered from bloody sweat after the manner of the stigmatists, and Petrone mentions a young man of healthy antecedents, the sweat from whose axillae and pubes was red and very pungent. Petrone believes it was due to a chromogenic micrococcus, and relieved the patient by the use of a five per cent solution of caustic potash.

Humphreys cites a most curious instance. The patient, it appears, had a large exostosis on the body of the pubes which, during parturition, was forced through the walls of the uterus and bladder, resulting in death. Kilian reports four cases of death from perforation of the uterus in this manner. Schauta pictures such an exostosis.

In 1752 there was described a remarkable monstrosity which consisted of conjoined twins, a perfect and an imperfect child, connected at their ensiform cartilages by a band 4 inches in circumference. The Hindoo sisters, described by Dr. Andrew Berry, lived to be seven years old; they stood face to face, with their chests 6 1/2 inches and their pubes 8 1/2 inches apart.

Romana pubes, sedato tandem pavore, postquam ex tam turbido die serena, et tranquilla lux rediit, ubi vacuam sedem regiam vidit; etsi satis credebat Patribus, qui proximi steterant, sublimem raptum procella; tamen veluti orbitatis metu icta, maestum aliquamdiu silentium obtinuit.

A curious custom of Mohammedan ladies after marriage is to rid themselves of the hirsute appendages of the pubes. Depilatory ointments are employed, consisting of equal parts of slaked lime and arsenic made into a paste with rose-water. It is said that this important ceremony is not essential in virgins.

The linea fusca, which reaches from the pubes to the navel and occasionally to the ensiform cartilage, is a line of sexual pigmentation sometimes regarded as characteristic of pregnancy, but as Andersen, of Copenhagen, has found by the examination of several hundred children of both sexes, it exists in a slight form in about 75 per cent. of young girls, and in almost as large a proportion of boys.

When all three novices had been laid in their proper position, cloaks were thrown over them, but leaving the face exposed, and a Nar-wij-jerook coming to the side of each, carefully lifted up a portion of the covering and commenced plucking the hair from the pubes.