nfluence on the
whole of organic life. Hahn has suggested that the reason why mythological
systems do not usually present the moon in the supreme position which we
should expect, is that its immense importance is so ancient a fact that it
tends, with mythological development, to become overlaid by other
elements.[82] According to Seler, Quetzalcouatl and Tezeatlipoca, the two
most considerable figures in the Mexican pantheon, are to be regarded
mainly as complementary forms of the moon divinity, and the moon was the
chief Mexican measurer of time.[83] Even in Babylonia, where the sun was
most specially revered, at the earliest period the moon ranked higher,
being gradually superseded by the worship of the sun.[84] Although such
considerations as these will by no means take us as far back as the
earliest appearance of menstruation, they may serve to indicate that the
phases of the moon probably played a large part in the earliest evolution
of man. With that statement we must at present rest content.

It is possible that the monthly character of menstruation, while
representing a general tendency of the human race, always and everywhere
prevalent, may be modified in the future. It is a noteworthy fact that
among many primitive races menstruation only occurs at long intervals.
Thus among Eskimo women menstruation follows the peculiar cosmic
conditions to which the people are subjected; Cook, the ethnologist of the
Peary North Greenland expedition, found that menstruation only began after
the age of nineteen, and that it was usually suppressed during the winter
months, when there is no sun, only about one in ten women continuing to
menstruate during this period.[85] It was stated by Velpeau that Lapland
and Greenland women usually only menstruate every three months, or even
only two or three times during the year. On the Faroe Islands it is said
that menstruation is frequently absent. Among the Samoyeds, Mantegazza
mentions that menstruation is so slight that some travelers have denied
its existence. Azara noted among the Guaranis of Paraguay that
menstruation was not only slight in amount, but the periods were separated
by long intervals. Among the Indians in North America, again, menstruation
appears to be scanty. Thus, Holder, speaking of his experience with the
Crow Indians of Montana, says: "I am quite sure that full-blood Indians in
this latitude do not menstruate so freely as white women, not usually
exceeding three d