Adolescence, the period of growth during youth; or the age that follows childhood, and ends at the age when a man is fully grown. See Growth and Age. This word comes from the Latin adolescere , that is to say, to grow. The state of adolescence lasts so long as the fibers continue to grow and gain in mass. See Fiber.

This period lasts generally from fourteen or fifteen years of age until twenty-five, although, depending on different constitutions, it can be longer or shorter.

The Romans applied it differently to boys and to girls: they counted from twelve to twenty-five years for the former, and from twelve to twenty-one for the latter. See Puberty, etc.

Even their Writers often made indiscriminate use of the terms juvenis and adolescens for all manner of people under forty-five years old.

Once the fibers have reached a degree of consistency and of sufficient tension to bear body parts the matter of nutrition becomes incapable of extending them further and as a result they will no longer be able to grow. See Death.