[Avodah] the cohen gadol and marriage to a pubescent girl

[Zackary Sholem Berger]

Re historical changes in the age of menarche, see this
abstract<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16757103?ordinalpos=38&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum>.


Some quotes:

Ever since the publication of the first textbook on human growth by Johann
Augustin Stoeller in 1729, temporal changes (or secular trends) in growth
and pubertal maturation have been observed throughout the world. Data
covering the longest time span are often reported from European populations.
For example, in Norway and Denmark the age at menarche has fallen rapidly
since the 19th century, by up to 12 months per decade. ... These secular
trends are influenced by background ethnic, geographical and socio-economic
factors, and clearly nutritional changes have an important role as reflected
by positive correlations between age at puberty onset or age at menarche and
childhood body size. ... The confirmation of an estimated advance in the age
at menarche of 6-12 months per 100 years will require a long-term
perspective [by] current investigators ...
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20080704/be6a9922/attachment-0002.htm>