medicine has placed at woman's service, to be taken on her doctor's direction, together with certain "hormones," as soon as she feels these agitations... and she contin-ues with this until she has crossed this stage in safety and peace.

Q — And as an experienced doctor, what daily program of living do you advise a woman to follow?

A — In this transitional stage a woman must avoid bodily exhaus-tion of whatever kind — and then strenuous, nerve-straining work, rich foods, and too little sleep. And do not forget, my sister, to exercise in moderation, for body and mind are then laboring together, continuously, toward the entry into a new phase. Perhaps the best positive result in ordering your time is to divide your day in thirds: eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for recreation and relaxation.

Q — What is the worth of the common claim that many women are afflicted, during middle age, with a mental abnormality much like madness?

A — Modern medicine does not recognize this saying. It is true that a woman sometimes feels her thoughts wandering and straying from the subject she is dealing with, which leads her to believe her mind crippled and worn out — the fact is that the brain in this period works slowly, and we have only to muster the strength of our will and take complete rest, away from the clamor of social gatherings, until this period passes and we return to our former state.

And there are women whose despair and sense of mental incapacity go so far as to make them wish to give up work for fear of the consequences — and this is a mistake, for occupation in positive work is the greatest of

all helps in overcoming the period of weakness, until the "hormones" return to their natural state and the woman regains her self-con-fidence and her former mental balance. There are, besides, many instances in which woman has produced and set down excellent work in the most varied fields — after the age of forty!

Q — On whom does a woman most depend to pass through this stage of life with the least possible disturbance?

A — On the doctor — I mean her own doctor, who understands the situation and helps her to resolve it. There is no harm in a woman's laying her burden in the doctor's hands and lifting a great part of the load from her shoulders, for he knows better than she where the points of weakness lie, and his words have a power to revive her spirits that not even the closest friend can match!