Climacteric Years

Climacteric Years (from Gr. klimaktēr, 'the step of a stair or ladder,' klimax). It was long believed that certain years in the life of man had a peculiar significance to him, and were the critical points, as it were, of his health and fortunes. The mystical number 7 and its multiples with odd numbers (e.g. 35, 49) constituted crises of this kind. The most important of all was the 63d year, called, by way of eminence, the 'climacteric year' or 'grand climacter,' which was supposed to be fatal to most men; its influence being attributed to the fact that it is the multiple of the two mystical numbers 7 and 9. An actual 'change of life' (Fr. âge critique) in woman is marked by the cessation of menstruation, usually between the 48th and 52d years. Astrologers called any period which an evil conjunction marked as threatening, a climacteric time.