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economic and others—that are apt to conflict with the primary requirements of the individual.
Dr. Iwan Bloch, the famous sexologist, states that marriage at an age too youthful (below twenty for the woman and below twenty-four for the man), and at too advanced an age (above forty for the woman, and above fifty for the man) is also disadvantageous to the offspring, as manifested by higher mortality of the infants, and by the more frequent occurrence of malformations and abnormalities.
From the ideal standpoint, both the young man and the young woman might find it advantageous to marry upon the completion of their full physical development—which, of course, varies chronologically somewhat in different individuals, as well as in different races. This is the time, too, when the enthusiasms and ideals are at a high mark, when the vitality and health are at their best, and when there is normally excellent adaptation to meet the personal adjustments that successful marriage implies.
Probably the only real drawback to the early period is the comparative lack of mental maturity that might militate against the permanancy of the affections in the face of radically changing ideas, or evolving intellectual potentialities that may finally throw the parties to the marriage into different and uncongenial spheres.
But the conditions of modern life are such as to make even the most ideal arrangement quite inexpedient, to say the least. To begin with, the average young man, upon the advent of adulthood, is rarely able to meet the obligations that are called for in the support of a wife, with the added possibility of a family. If he is preparing for a profession, there is the prospect of a number of years elapsing before he completes the training requirements demanded by his calling, and while a business vocation may make an earlier start possible,