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495 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Menorah
Mephibosheth
decoration for the Ark. Others again, in writing
amulets, arrange a formula of seven letters and seven
verses in the form of a menorah; and it was em-
ployed also on tombs. Sec AMULET (illustration);
ART. IN 'l'HE SYNAGOGUE; CANDLESTICK; MrzRAJ;r.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bahr, Symhnlilc deS Mosaischen Cultus, I.
534-543; Friedrich. Symbol.i/c der Mnsaischen Sttfti<hutte.
pp. 157-158, Leipsic, 1841; Rote, Shil{e ha-Gibborim, ch.
xxx!., Mantua. 1607; Isserles, Tnrat ha-'Olah. i., ch. xv!.;
Kolbo, Bin11an Ariel, p. 75, No. 259, ed. Vienna, 1883.
A. J. D. E.
MENORAH. See PERIODICALS.
MENSTRUATION: The first appearance of
the menses is known to depend on various factors-
climate, occupation, residence in towns, etc.-of
which racial affinities are the most important. Cli-
mate is of unquestionable influence, the earliest age
varying from eleven in hot to fifteen years in cold
climates. Oppenheim, from an investigation of the
time of the first menstruation in Blgarian, Turk-
ish, Armenian, and Jewish girls, concluded that race
is the most important factor; and Lebrun states
that among 100 girls of Jewish and Slavonian ex-
traction, the majority of the Jewish girls rnenstru
ated at thirteen, while only one Slavonian girl men-
struated at that age. Weissenberg presents statistics
for Jewesses in South Russia from which it is seen
that the first onset of menstruation was on the aver-
age at the age of fourteen; the earliest appearance
was in one girl at the age of ten; and in one it was
as late as eighteen (Weissenberg, "Die Slldrus
sischen J uden," p. 77).
F. Weber investigated the subject in St. Peters-
burg and found the following percentages, "early
appearance" representing cases of fifteen years of
age, and "late appearance" those of seventeen years:
Rus- Jew- Ger-
Poles. Finns.
slans. esses. mans.
-- --
---------
Early appearance ... 48.5 51.5 47.1 52.7 19.0
Late appearance .. 6.36 3.7 2.9 2.9 19.25
Considering as "premature" those who had their
first menstruation at the age of twelve, and as "de-
layed" those at eighteen years, Weber found tho
following percentages:
Rus- Jew- Ger-
Poles. Finns.
s!ans. esses. mans.
----------
Premature ......... 10.6 12.5 8.2 11.7 2.75
Delayed ............. 2.86 1.2 3.8 2.9 0.0
It appears from this that the first appearance of
menstruation is much earlier in the Jewish and in
the Slavonian girls than in tho others.
Joachim's statistics for Hungary show that the
first menstruation takes place there as follows:
Magyar peasant girls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 to 16 years.
Jewish girls". ........................... 14 " 15 "
Slovak girls..... . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 16 " 17 "
Stober(" Topographie et Histoire Medicale de Strass-
bourg," p. 266, Paris, 1864) found that in Strasburg
the first onset of menstruation was at about the
same age in .Jewish girls as in the non-Jewesses.
In no case did he observe it to occur before the
twelfth year, and most had begun to menstruate
between fourteen and seventeen. But he based his
opinion on only a few observations. Raeiborski
(" Traile de la Menstruation, 1' p. 630, Paris, 1868)
found that the first menstruation appeared in Jew-
esses at the average age of 14 years, 3 months, 25
days, as against 15 years, 3 months, 9 days in Sla-
vonian girls.
From the investigations 'of M. Fishberg in New
York it appears that the first menstruation appears
in Jewish girls of that city at the average age of 12
years, 7 months. Of the 483 girls thus investi-
gated 390 were immigrants mostly from eastern
Europe, and 93 were natives, of foreign parentage.
In the American-born girls the first menstruation ap-
peared at the average age of 12 years, 1 month; and
among the foreign-born girls the average age was 13
years, 2 months. The earlier onset of menstruation
in the daughters of immigrants as compared with
their mothers has been observed by Engelman in
other immigrant peoples in the United States (see
"Age of First Menstruation on the North American
Continent" in "New York Medical Journal," lxxv.
221-228, 270-277). After a careful study of statis-
tical evidence he concludes that as regards the time
of functional development the American girls are
very much more precocious than those of other con-
tinents in the same region of the temperate zone,
and more precocious than the peoples from whom
they have sprung. It appears that the Jewish
girls in the United States show similar character-
istics when compared with their sisters in Europe.
The cause of this precocity is to be looked for in the
social and educational conditions surrounding Jew-
esses in the United States.
For laws concerning menstruation see NmDAH,
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Ploss and Max Bartels, Das Weib, 7th ed.,
pp. 364-380; Weber, Ueber Menstrua.lverhliltnisse der
Frauen in St. Petersburo. ln St. Petersburoer Medici-
nische Wochenschrift, lBSa, Nos. 41, 42, 43; Joaehlm. Unoa-
rische ZeitHchrift. Iv . Nos. 20-28; A. Corre, La Mere et !'En-
fant dans les Races Humaines, Paris, 1882.
J. M. Fr.
MENZ, ABRAHAM JOSEPH BEN SIMON
WOLF: Rabbi at Frankfort-on-the-Main at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. He wrote
an elementary text-book on mathematics entitled
"Reshit Limmudim," in three parts: (1) "Kelale
Ifandasah," the general rules of algebra; (2) "Yeso-
dot ha-Gematriot," the elements of geometry; (3)
"Yesod ha-Tekunah," on astronomy; the first part
only has been 'published (Berlin, 1775). It contains
the first book of Euclid, rearranged, with many
original examples by the author.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Stelnschnelder, Cat. Bod!. col. 702; Fi\rst,
Bibi. Jud. !!. 368; Zeltl!n, Bihl. Hehr. p. 238; ~ - u e n n Kene-
set Yisrael, I. 40; Benjacob, O:f:ar ha-Sefarim, p. 542, No. 49.
D. s. J. L.
MEPHIBOSHETH: Only son of Jonathan, son
of Saul, first king of Israel. The chronicler gives
him the name of Merib-baal (I Chron. viii. 34), mean-
ing, perhaps, "Ba'al contends." The relation of the
two names is similar to that existing between Ish-
bosheth ="man of shame," and Esh-baal = "man of
Baal" (ib. verse 33). Upon the slaughter of Saul
and his sons on Mt. Gilboa, the nurse in Jonathan's
house fled with Mephibosheth, and in the flight the
child fell and became a permanent cripple (II Sam.
iv. 4). When David came to the throne his former