Reply
Sir.—In general, Dr. Frisch's remarks merely reiterate ideas expressed in earlier publications with which we have dealt in our article. However, there is one important change in her position, as well as in recent work (eg, her reference 6). She now refers to an "average critical weight" (italics mine) for her various samples. Since, in our article, we have shown that this average weight differs not only among racial groups but also among normal samples of the same race, this seems to indicate an acceptance by all that the weight at menarche is not only an individual characteristic, but also one of the most variable of such characteristics associated with development. Thus, the mean weight at menarche, as expressed by Dr. Frisch, is not a "critical" weight, but a central tendency.Now, Dr. Frisch has merely repeated her earlier contention that the significant variable, in an individual, is