,,private ,sex ,advice to ,women ,by ,r4 ,b4 ,armitage1 ,m4 ,d4 ,for ,young ,wives and those who ,expect to be ,married4 ,this book was written so as to give enlightenment to those entering into wedlock so their married life will be one of happiness and pleasure4 ,,defiance ,,publishing ,,co4 #aaj ,w4 #djth ,,st4 ,new ,york1 ,n4 ,y4 ,,copyright1 #aiag ,,chicago1 ,,ill4 ,sex ,advice to ,women ,,contents4 ,,lesson ,i--,,foreword ,important information which all women should possess1 but which few are given the opportunity of acquiring4 ,the necessity of rational instruction on ,sex ,physiology1 ,sex ,anatomy1 and ,sex ,hygiene4 ,the danger of false information from polluted sources4 ,the conventional taboo against ,sex ,knowledge1 which is inherited by the race from the ,middle ,ages4 ,the ,reign of ,prurient ,prudery4 ,ignorance of ,sex ,science is a frequent cause of immorality1 and the real reason of marital inharmony and unhappiness4 ,the special need of ,sex ,instruction on the part of women4 ,the sex-life of the woman is fuller and more complex than that of the man1 hence her special need of sane information on the subject4 ,nature's handicap on woman #g ,,lesson ,,ii--,,anatomy ,,of ,,the ,,female ,,sex ,,organism ,a scientific but plain lesson on the ,female ,sex ,anatomy4 ,the ,external ,sex ,organism of ,woman fully described and explained4 ,what every woman should know about herself1 but which but few intelligently understand4 ,plain facts cleanly stated in simple terms4 ,the ,internal ,sex ,organism of ,woman fully described and explained4 ,the ,vagina4 ,the ,uterus or ,womb4 ,displacements of the ,uterus described4 ,prolapsus4 ,antroversion4 ,anteflexion4 ,retroversion4 ,retroflexion4 ,the ,fallopian ,tubes4 ,the ,ovaries4 ,general ,summary of the ,female ,reproductive ,organism #ac ,,lesson ,,iii--,,physiology ,,of ,,the ,,female ,,sex ,,organism ,the ,ovaries and their functions4 ,primary and secondary ,functions of the ,ovaries4 ,the ,ova1 or human eggs1 and their natural history4 ,the ,process of ,ovulation4 ,menstruation and its incidents4 ,the phenomena of ,puberty4 ,the incidents of the ,menopause or ,change of ,life4 ,the ,dangerous ,age of ,woman4 ,the ,life ,history of the ,ovum4 ,the ,birth of the ,ovum4 ,the ,journey of the ,ovum4 ,the ,process of ,fecundation4 ,the ,spermatozoa and their offices4 ,the ,segmentation-,nucleus4 ,the ,division and ,sub-division of the ,ovum4 ,the ,primitive ,trace4 ,the ,beginning of the life of the embryo #ba ,,lesson ,,iv--,,gestation ,,or ,,pregnancy ,the ,period of ,pregnancy4 ,how to calculate the ,date of ,delivery4 ,development of the ,fertilized ,ovum4 ,the ,embryo4 ,the ,fetus4 ,how ,nature builds up the child from the simple cell4 ,the yolk-sack or umbilical vesicle4 ,the ,allantois4 ,the ,placenta and its offices4 ,the ,umbillical ,cord4 ,osmosis4 ,the ,amnion4 ,sex in ,embryo and ,fetus4 ,position of the ,fetus4 ,the ,table of the ,development of the ,unborn ,child4 ,stage of ,development of each month described fully4 ,the ,physical ,signs of ,pregnancy4 ,the ,disorders of ,pregnancy4 ,practical ,suggestions for ,pregnant ,women4 ,childbirth and its incidents #cc ,,lesson ,v--,,general ,,advice ,,to ,,women ,,on ,,sex ,,subjects ,much needed1 though seldom obtainable1 information on important subjects4 ,the ,truth about the ,sexual ,emotions plainly stated4 ,alcohol and ,sexuality4 ,a ,startling ,statement4 ,a ,warning to ,women4 ,the ,menstrual ,period and its ,disorders4 ,simple methods of treatment fully described4 ,dysmenorrhea4 ,amenorrhea4 ,menorrhagia4 ,the ,hygiene of ,menstruation4 ,plain ,talk on a ,delicate ,subject4 ,leucorrhea3 what it is1 and how it may be treated by simple methods4 ,general ,treatment and ,special ,methods4 ,uterine ,displacements1 and simple treatments therefor4 ,marital ,relations and ,menstruation4 ,marital ,relations and ,pregnancy4 ,sterility in ,woman4 ,practical ,advice to ,sterile ,women4 ,miscarriage and ,abortion4 ,sensible ,advice to ,women #di ,,lesson ,,vi--,,the ,,science ,,of ,,eugenics ,the ,new ,science4 ,the ,science of ,parenthood4 ,biological ,ethics4 ,race ,culture4 ,scientific ,parenthood4 ,preventive ,eugenics4 ,constructive ,eugenics4 ,race ,suicide1 real and false4 ,conservation and ,preservation of the ,race4 ,prevention of ,criminal ,offspring4 ,the ,causes of ,degeneracy4 ,prevention of the ,transmission of ,disease and ,insanity in ,offspring4 ,protection for ,mothers4 ,education for ,parenthood4 ,terrible ,effects of ,ignorance of ,eugenic ,science4 ,desired and ,prepared-for ,children versus ,accidents and ,undesired ,children4 ,not more children1 but better ones2 not more births1 but fewer deaths among children4 ,survival ,values versus ,production ,values #fe ,,lesson ,,vii--,,prenatal ,,influences ,influencing the ,child before birth4 ,family ,characteristics4 ,transmission of ,parental ,traits4 ,influence of ,maternal ,impression4 ,heredity in ,general4 ,opinion of the ,best ,authorities4 ,transmission of ,acquired ,characteristics4 ,heredity versus ,environment4 ,the ,eugenic ,rule regarding ,heredity4 ,fitness for ,parenthood4 ,preparation for ,parenthood1 physical1 mental1 and spiritual4 ,maternal ,impressions4 ,the ,several ,theories4 ,both ,sides of the ,question4 ,a ,highly ,important ,subject4 ,proofs and ,illustrations of ,maternal ,impressions4 ,valuable ,information for ,prospective ,parents4 ,how the ,pregnant ,mother may influence and shape the physical1 mental1 and moral character of her unborn child #hj ,,lesson ,,viii--,,eugenics ,,and ,,character ,influence of ,parental ,factors upon the ,character of their ,offspring4 ,what ,parental ,conditions produce the ,best ,quality of ,children4 ,the ,most ,favorable ,age for ,parenthood4 ,what statistics show4 ,the ,vaerting ,tables4 ,the ,influence of ,fathers4 ,the ,influence of ,mothers4 ,the ,havelock ,ellis ,studies and ,reports4 ,the ,production of ,men of ,genius4 ,the ,investigations of ,marro the ,italian ,scientist4 ,the ,redfield ,investigation and ,theories4 ,the ,influence of ,parental ,age on ,genius4 ,how ,ability is ,transmitted4 ,why ,delayed ,parentage produces ,better ,offspring than ,premature ,parentage4 ,latest ,discoveries of ,sexual ,science concerning an important subject #ajc ,,lesson ,,ix--,,the ,,determination ,,of ,,sex ,how the ,sex of ,offspring is ,determined1 and how ,controlled or ,produced at ,will4 ,the ,biological ,viewpoint4 ,the ,practical ,viewpoint4 ,the ,chromosome ,theory4 ,artificial ,influencing of ,sex in ,offspring4 ,professor ,doncaster's ,reports4 ,dawson's ,theory4 ,are there alternate male and female ova8 ,the ,effect of ,nutrition in ,sex-,determination4 ,schenk's ,theory and ,methods4 ,influencing the ,ovum4 ,male and ,female ,elements4 ,yung's ,experiments in ,sex-,determination1 and their ,startling ,results4 ,changing ,sex in ,tadpoles at will4 ,how the ,bees determine the sex of their larva4 ,experiments upon ,butterflies4 ,why more ,boys than ,girls are born after ,great ,wars4 ,other ,theories of ,sex ,determination1 and the ,methods of ,application4 ,the ,consensus of the best scientific thought on the subject #aae ,,lesson ,x--,,what ,,birth ,,control ,,is1 ,,and ,,is ,,not ,control not identical with ,prohibition or ,prevention4 ,control means governing1 regulating1 or managing influences4 ,true ,birth ,control would not reduce the population of civilized countries1 but would increase the same and improve the quality thereof4 ,not only a normal ,birth ,rate but also a normal ,death ,rate4 ,birth ,control not anti-social or immoral1 but highly social and highly moral4 ,misconception due to ,ignorance and ,prejudice4 ,unbalanced ,idealism and ,fanatical ,extremists responsible for the mistaken ideas upon the subject of ,birth ,control4 ,birth ,control ,versus ,abortion4 ,higher ,phases of ,birth ,control4 ,the ,history of ,birth ,control4 ,the ,causes of the present interest in the subject4 ,nature's tendencies toward ,birth ,control4 ,how ,nature exerts ,birth ,control in the ,world4 ,natural ,law and ,biological ,principles4 ,the ,high ,ideals of true ,birth ,control #abg ,,lesson ,,xi--,,the ,,fetich ,,of ,,the ,,birth ,,rate ,the ,evolution of ,public ,opinion concerning the ,birth ,rate4 ,the old ideal of ,quantity at the expense of ,quality4 ,the ,swing of the ,pendulum in the ,opposite ,direction4 ,the ,rational ,reaction4 ,the ,decline in the ,birth ,rate4 ,the ,new ,ideal4 ,quality rather than ,quantity4 ,decreased ,death ,rate accompanies ,decreased ,birth ,rate4 ,survival ,values rather than ,production ,values4 ,how ,increased ,death ,rate accompanies an ,increased ,birth ,rate4 ,no ,high ,birth ,rate without a ,high ,death ,rate4 ,the new ,birth ,control ,policy in ,europe4 ,the ,result in ,holland4 ,the ,progress of the ,new ,ideals4 ,the ,struggle against ,ignorance1 ,prejudice1 and ,hypocrisy4 ,the ,higher ,morality4 ,the ,rational ,view4 ,the ,policy of ,wisdom4 ,plain ,facts on an ,important ,subject #ade ,,lesson ,,xii--,,the ,,argument ,,for ,,birth ,,control ,general ,argument in ,favor of ,birth ,control4 ,honesty versus ,hypocrisy4 ,birth ,control decreases ,abortion4 ,birth ,control produces ,better ,offspring1 under ,better ,environment4 ,birth ,control produces a lower ,death ,rate4 ,birth ,control provides ,better ,conditions for ,children4 ,birth ,control promotes ,marriage4 ,birth ,control curbs ,prostitution4 ,birth ,control promotes ,health among ,wives4 ,birth ,control tends toward ,morality among ,married ,men4 ,birth ,control makes for ,justice to ,children4 ,birth ,control1 if universally practiced1 would work great reforms1 and would metamorphose undesirable conditions of modern society4 ,birth ,control is advisable because along the lines of the highest evolution of the race1 and opposed to the conditions which have held the race back in the past #aeh ,,lesson ,,xiii--,,the ,,argument ,,against ,,birth ,,control ,popular objections advanced against ,birth ,control1 and the rational answer to each4 ,is ,birth ,control opposed to ,religion8 ,the relation of ,religion to ,morality discussed4 ,the ,position of the ,churches on the subject of ,birth ,control4 ,no prohibition of ,birth ,control in the ,scriptures4 ,objections to ,birth ,control on the part of certain religious bodies seen to be based upon arbitrary ruling rather than upon the true teaching of ,religion1 or the dictates of ,morality4 ,the ,silence of most of the ,churches on the subject4 ,in the future1 ,birth ,control will be sanctioned and encouraged by the best religious thought4 ,birth ,control is not ,immoral2 it is essentially ,moral and in the best interests of morality in our civilization4 ,birth ,control not injurious to ,health1 but is in accordance with the ,health of the ,race4 ,birth ,control not ,unnatural1 and the reason why this is so #agb ,,lesson ,,xiv--,,race ,,suicide ,the argument that ,birth ,control favors ,race ,suicide1 and the refutation thereof4 ,birth ,control keeps up the population to a normal stand by reducing the ,death ,rate4 ,birth ,control eliminates the waste caused by excessive infant mortality4 ,birth ,control does not discourage children in families1 but places children upon a better basis4 ,the old time family and its cost in child-lives4 ,wherever the ,birth ,rate goes down1 the ,death ,rate goes down to even a greater degree4 ,proofs from ,modern ,history4 ,tables of ,mortality tell the true tale4 ,the ,story of ,statistics4 ,the eight countries in ,europe with the highest ,birth ,rate have the highest ,death ,rate and the lowest average culture4 ,birth ,control does not tend to ,race ,suicide1 but toward ,race ,progress and ,race ,betterment4 ,the ,balance between ,quantity and ,quality struck rationally by ,birth ,control4 ,no real danger of ,race ,suicide in the ,world #aij ,,lesson ,,xv--,,birth ,,control ,,methods ,the ,three ,classes of ,birth ,control ,methods4 ,the ,method of ,continence1 with the argument for and against the same4 ,the opinion of ,eminent ,authorities4 ,illustrations from ,history4 ,the ,physiology of ,continence4 ,the ,methods of ,temporary ,continence4 ,the ,methods of ,semi-,continence1 with the argument for and against it4 ,noyes' ,male ,continence4 ,karezza4 ,dianism4 ,the ,parkhurst ,theory and ,method4 ,the ,psychology of these methods4 ,opinions of ,eminent ,authorities4 ,tolstoi's views4 ,the ,methods of ,contraception4 ,distinction between ,contraception and ,abortion4 ,prevention versus ,destruction4 ,the ,law on the subject of ,contraception4 ,need of education on the subject1 followed by change in the laws4 ,education1 not ,anarchy4 ,cautionary ,advice4 ,a ,sane1 ,clean1 presentation of the ,subject #bjc ,sex ,advice to ,women ,,lesson ,i ,,foreword ,in this book the writer thereof seeks to convey to women--particularly to young wives and women expecting to be married--certain important facts of knowledge1 certain necessary information1 which all such women should possess1 but which few are given the opportunity to acquire4 ,it would seem to require no argument to convince a rational individual that before a woman is capable of intelligent motherhood she should be made acquainted with the physiological processes which are involved in the sexual functions leading to the state of motherhood2 but we are confronted by the fact that few young women are given such instruction4 ,it is a strange thing that while even the ordinary school child is made acquainted with the physiological processes concerned with the processes of digestion1 respiration1 circulation1 elimination1 etc41 and while such education is highly commended1 yet at the same time not only are the young of both sexes reared as if there was no such thing as sexual functions in existence1 but even full-grown adults are left to pick up their instruction on sexual subjects from chance sources--often polluted sources4 ,even those about to enter into the important offices of matrimony and parenthood are permitted to assume those duties and responsibilities without intelligent and scientific information or knowledge being given them4 ,what would we think of expecting a woman to cook1 without previous experience and without even the most elementary instruction on the subject8 ,what would we think of expecting any person to undertake any important task or duty without experience or instruction regarding the same8 ,and yet we seem content to allow young women to enter into the important relationship of marriage1 and to undertake the important office of motherhood1 often in absolute ignorance of the physiological processes involved1 and the physical laws governing the same4 ,all this absurd practice and custom results simply from the antiquated notion that it is not nice to speak or think of the subject of the sex functions4 ,the subject has been considered taboo by our particular section of the human race since the ,middle ,ages1 because the ascetic ideals of that dark period of human history brought forward a totally false and unnatural conception of sex as fundamentally impure4 ,if the results were not so deplorable and often tragic1 this condition of affairs would be a fit subject for laughter and scornful ridicule4 ,but1 alas6 on the part of the thoughtful observer of this state of things there is rather great wonder and amazement accompanied by the feeling of deep sorrow4 ,it cannot be honestly denied that in our present age1 and period of modern civilization1 and particularly among the ,anglo-,saxon branch of the race1 the question of the sex functions is associated with impurity1 at least so far as the popular mind is concerned4 ,in previous civilizations the subject was accorded its proper place1 and was discussed sanely and thoughtfully1 without any sense of shame or impurity4 ,the ,middle ,age ideals of celibacy and asceticism brought about the public conception of the human body as a thing impure--something to be modified1 tortured1 subdued and reviled2 and a corresponding conception of sex as a vile1 impure thing above which the pure in heart rose entirely and completely1 and which those of a lesser spiritual ideal were permitted to indulge with a due sense of their degradation and weakness4 ,it was considered a most worthy thing to lead an ascetic life with its accompaniment of disdain and punishment of the body4 ,it was considered most pious and spiritual to forego the ordinary human relations of sex1 marriage and parenthood4 ,from these distorted conceptions naturally evolved the idea that sex1 and all connected with it1 was a subject unclean and impure in itself1 and to be avoided in thought1 conversation and writing4 ,not only the ordinary sex relations of human life were placed under this taboo1 but also the phenomena of birth and parenthood4 ,not only did these incidents of life grow to be considered impure1 but they became that which to many was still worse1 that is to say1 they became to be regarded as not respectable4 ,ignorance regarding the plain elementary facts of sexual physiology is undoubtedly the cause not only of much immorality among young people of both sexes1 but also of many unhappy and inharmonious marriages4 ,the intelligent portion of our race is now beginning to realize very keenly the fact that the first requisite of sane marital relations and intelligent parenthood is a practical and clear knowledge of the physiology of sex2 education concerning the sexual organism1 its laws1 its functions1 its normal and healthy conditions1 its anatomy1 its physiology and hygiene4 ,the average physician of experience in general or special practice can tell tales of almost incredible ignorance on the part of young women who have recently entered into the relationship of marriage4 ,in some cases the ignorance is more than a mere absence of knowledge--it consists too often of false-knowledge1 untruthful ideas concerning matters of the most serious import4 ,it is sad enough to think how such persons may work results harmful to themselves1 but it is even sadder still to realize that these same ignorant young women must eventually gain their real knowledge through sad experience--experience paid for not only by themselves but also by their children4 ,it is a hard saying1 but a true one1 that the knowledge of many young wives and mothers is to be gained by experience paid for by their 7as yet7 unborn children4 ,the writer of the present work is one of the rapidly growing number of thinking persons who believe that the time has come to educate the race concerning the importance of sane instruction concerning the functions of sex4 ,he1 and those who think as he does1 believe that the time has come to ,turn on the ,light6 ,they believe that the importance of the subject will be realized by all intelligent persons1 once that their attention is directed to the subject1 and once they have considered it apart from the old prejudices and distorted customs4 ,when public opinion on this subject is reformed1 then will the taboo fall away from the body of truth2 then will the subject take its place among the respectable topics which may be considered1 discussed1 and taught1 without loss of caste or prestige4 ,in a few decades1 perhaps even much sooner1 it will be regarded as quite reprehensible to permit young persons to enter into the relationship of marriage without a sane1 practical knowledge of their own reproductive organism and the functions thereof1 and of their physiological duties to themselves1 to their companions in marriage1 and to their children born or to be born4 ,we may even see the practical application of the somewhat startling prophecy of ,newell ,dwight ,hillis1 ,d4 ,d41 who said3 ,the ,state that makes a man study two years before a license as druggist is given2 that makes a young lawyer or doctor study three years before being permitted to practice2 ought to ask the young man or young woman to pass an equally rigid examination before license is given to found an ,american home1 and set up an ,american family4 ,while the information above alluded to should be given alike to the young husband and the young wife1 it cannot be doubted that the latter is the one of the pair who is most in need of this kind of instruction4 ,while both the young man and the young woman require this instruction1 the need is the greater in the case of the young woman1 by the very nature of the case4 ,the sex functions and processes play a much more important part in the life of the woman than in that of the man1 the protests of some of the modern feminists to the contrary notwithstanding4 ,the careful student of the sex life of men and women frankly confesses that in both the physical and the psychical realm the sex offices make a greater demand upon the time and attention of the woman than of the man4 ,the love-life of the woman is far fuller and more absorbing than is that of the man4 ,unhappiness concerning her love-life renders the remainder of the life of the average woman of comparatively little account2 while1 with a happy love-life she will put up cheerfully with the absence of many other things which are usually regarded as necessities for happiness4 ,as a writer has said3 ,essentially1 a woman is made for love--not exclusively1 but essentially2 and a woman who has had no love in her life has been a failure4 ,the same rule operates on the physical plane4 ,as the same writer has said3 ,physically1 the woman is also much more cognizant of her sex and much more hampered by the manifestation of her sex nature than man is4 ,the manifestation of the incidents of menstruation is a constant reminder to the woman that she is a creature of sex4 ,the phenomenon of pregnancy is1 likewise1 something from which the man is free4 ,and1 finally1 the menopause1 or change of life1 with its incidents greatly influencing the physical1 mental1 and emotional well-being of the woman1 is ,nature's final word to the woman that she is the active pole of sex-life4 ,as the above-quoted writer has said3 ,altogether it cannot be denied that woman is much more a slave of her sex-nature than man is of his4 ,nature has handicapped woman much more heavily than she has man4 ,and so1 in this book1 the young woman--the young wife--is directly addressed1 her companion and mate being referred to only indirectly4 ,,lesson ,,ii ,,anatomy ,,of ,,the ,,female ,,sex ,,organism ,every woman should be given plain1 practical1 sane1 sensible instruction concerning the sex organism of woman1 its functions1 its laws1 its use1 and its abuse4 ,this important feature of the physical organism plays an all powerful part in the life of every woman1 and particularly in the life of the married woman4 ,it is nature's mechanism for the reproduction of the race4 ,every child that is born into the world is conceived1 gestated1 and finally delivered as a result of the functioning of this organism4 ,therefore1 such instruction and knowledge is vitally necessary1 not only for the intelligent performance of the duties of parenthood1 but also for the best interests of race-preservation1 race-culture1 and the physical well-being and health of the individual woman4 ,and yet1 custom and ancient prejudice have drawn the veil over this most important subject1 so that it is difficult for the average woman to find practical1 clean information concerning her own anatomy and physiological functions concerned with her sex-life4 ,to many it has appeared that the particular organs and parts of the body concerned with the reproductive functions of the woman are base1 unclean1 and impure1 and that any woman discussing them1 or seeking information regarding them1 must be immoral or at least not respectable4 ,anatomical charts and physiological treatises on the subject are tabooed outside of the doctor's office4 ,women are considered immodest if they seek to acquaint themselves with the facts of life concerning one of their most important classes of physical functions4 ,it is considered not nice for a young woman to know anything about her physical being in those phases which play the most important part in her life4 ,can there be anything more ridiculous and insane8 ,this is a matter which excites the most intense surprise1 disgust1 and despair in the average person possessing a scientific tendency4 ,but the dawn is breaking1 and a better day is ahead of the race concerning these things4 ,the sex organs of the woman are divided into two classes1 as follows3 7#a7 ,the external organs2 and 7#b7 the internal organs4 ,let us consider each of these classes in turn4 ,,the ,,external ,,sex ,,organs ,,of ,,the ,,woman4 ,the external sex organs of the woman are as follows3 ,the ,mons ,veneris2 the ,labia ,majora2 the ,labia ,minora2 the ,clitoris2 the ,meatus ,urinarius2 and the ,vaginal ,orifice4 ,the term the ,vulva is applied to the external sex organs of the woman in general1 but more particularly to the ,labia ,majora and the ,labia ,minora 7the larger and smaller lips1 respectively74 ,the term ,vulva is the ,latin term meaning folding doors4 ,,the ,,mons ,,veneris is the fatty eminence or elevation just above the other external organs1 which forms a mount from which its name 7literally1 ,the ,mount of ,venus7 is derived4 ,at puberty it becomes covered with hair4 ,,the ,,labia ,,majora are the large outer lips or folds of skin which enclose the ,vaginal ,orifice1 and which are situated just below the ,mons ,veneris4 ,,the ,,labia ,,minora are the small inner lips of folds of membrane1 which are concealed within the ,labia ,majora1 or outer lips1 and are seen only when the latter are parted4 ,,the ,,clitoris is a small organ1 about an inch in length1 situated at the upper part of the ,labia ,minora or inner lips1 and usually being partly or wholly covered by the upper borders thereof4 ,at its extremity it has a small rounded enlargement which is extremely sensitive and excitable1 and which is the principal seat of sensation in the woman's sexual organism4 ,,the ,,meatus ,,urinarius is the orifice of the urethra of the woman1 the purpose of which is to afford an exit for the urine4 ,it is located about an inch below the ,clitoris and is just above the ,vaginal ,orifice4 ,it is a common error among uninformed women that the urine passes out through the ,vagina2 but this1 of course1 is incorrect1 as the two canals and their respective orifices are entirely separate from each other1 though situated closely together4 ,,the ,,vaginal ,,orifice is the outer entrance to the ,vagina1 or ,vaginal ,canal or ,channel4 ,this orifice is located just below the ,meatus ,urinarius4 ,in the virgin it is usually partly closed by what is known as ,,the ,,hymen1 7vulgarly known as the maiden head71 although in many cases the latter is absent even in the case of young girl infants4 ,it was formerly regarded as an infallible sign of virginity1 and its absence was regarded as a proof that virginity was lacking4 ,but this old superstition is passing away1 for science has shown that the ,hymen is often absent even in the case of young children and infants1 and1 on the other hand1 is sometimes present after several years of married life1 and even during pregnancy4 ,much unhappiness has been caused in some cases where the husband has doubted the virginity of his wife because of the absence of the ,hymen1 but consultation with a capable physician usually removes this misunderstanding4 ,the ,hymen is a membranous fold1 sometimes circular in shape1 with an opening in the center1 though in other cases it extends only across the lower part of the orifice4 ,the opening in the center is for the purpose of allowing the menstrual blood and the other secretions of ,uterus and ,vagina to flow through4 ,in a few cases this opening is absent1 the ,hymen being what is called imperforate2 in which case the girl experiences difficulty when menstruation begins1 and a physician is required to make a slit or opening in it4 ,in some girls and women the ,hymen is quite tough1 while in others it is very thin and is easily broken4 ,in the latter cases the young girl frequently breaks the membrane during vigorous exercise1 such as jumping rope1 etc4 ,and1 as has before been said1 in some cases infant girls are born without even a trace of the ,hymen4 ,under the circumstances1 it is seen that the presence or absence of the ,hymen is far from being an infallible proof of the presence or absence of virginity1 and the belief in the same is now regarded as almost a superstition of the past4 ,,the ,,internal ,,sex ,,organs ,,of ,,the ,,woman4 ,the internal sex organs of the woman are as follows3 ,the ,vagina2 the ,uterus and its appendages2 the ,fallopian ,tubes2 the ,ovaries1 and their ligaments1 and the round ligaments4 ,,the ,,vagina is the canal or channel leading from the ,vaginal ,orifice to the ,uterus or womb4 ,it is situated in front of the rectum1 and behind the bladder4 ,in length1 it averages from three to five inches2 and it curves upward and backward1 reaching to the lower part of the neck of the womb1 or ,uterus1 which part of the neck is enclosed by it4 ,it is a strong fibro-muscular structure1 lined with mucous membrane2 and is not smooth inside1 but is arranged in inner folds or rings which are capable of great extension4 ,on either side of the ,vagina1 near the outer orifice1 are two small glands1 about the size of a pea1 which secrete a peculiar fluid1 and which are known as the ,glands of ,bartholine4 ,the office of the ,vagina is that of a complementary to the male organ during the copulative process2 to also sustain the weight of the ,uterus2 to also afford a passage for the infant at the time of its birth2 and also to serve as a passage for the menstrual fluid4 ,,the ,,uterus1 or ,womb1 is the internal sex organ of the woman which serves to hold the fertilized ovum1 or egg1 from the time of impregnation1 during the period of pregnancy during which the ovum develops into the young child1 and until the time of the delivery of the child4 ,the ,uterus is a hollow pear-shaped muscular organ1 about three inches in length1 nearly an inch thick1 and about two inches broad across its upper part1 or ,,fundus2 the lower part1 or ,,cervix1 being much narrower4 ,the ,,cervix1 or neck of the womb1 projects into the ,vagina1 forming the os uteri1 or mouth of the womb1 at that point4 ,the ,uterus is composed chiefly of a muscular coat1 its walls consisting of strong muscular fibres which contract independently of the will1 as do similar muscles in the stomach and bladder4 ,these muscular walls are capable of enormous distention during pregnancy4 ,the muscles of the healthy womb are capable of a tremendous pressure and resistance1 and are capable of expelling the child with but slight labor at the time of delivery4 ,the ,uterus is located just behind and slightly above the bladder1 and is supported by eight ligaments which1 in a healthy condition1 hold it firmly and easily in place4 ,displacements of the ,uterus are due to the weakening or relaxing of some or all of these ligaments1 generally caused by general weakness or else by excessive physical exercise or labor4 ,the principal ,,displacements ,,of ,,the ,,uterus are as follows3 ,prolapsus1 or lowering of the womb in the vagina2 ,antroversion1 or the bending forward of the womb2 ,anteflexion1 or the doubling up of the womb ,,forward on itself2 ,retroversion1 or the bending backward of the womb2 and ,retroflexion1 or the doubling up of the womb ,,backward on itself4 ,extreme degrees of the last four mentioned forms of displacement often interfere with impregnation4 ,the internal surface of the ,uterus is lined with mucous membrane thickly studded with minute hairlike cells which manifest continuous motion4 ,this motion1 in the lower part of the womb1 is in the direction of the fundus or upper part of the womb2 in the upper part of the womb1 the motion is in the opposite direction2 the purpose of these opposing movements being to carry the male elements toward that portion of the womb into which the ,fallopian ,tubes discharge the products of the ,ovaries1 as we shall see presently4 ,the ,uterus is supplied with follicles around its neck which secrete a very firm1 adhesive mucus substance1 which serves as a gate or door across the mouth of the womb during the period of pregnancy1 and which also serves to prevent the accidental displacement of the ovum or egg4 ,during and just after menstruation1 the ,uterus becomes enlarged and more vascular4 ,during pregnancy1 it largely increases in weight4 ,after delivery1 it resumes its normal size1 but the cavity is larger than before conception4 ,in old age1 it becomes atrophied and denser in structure4 ,,the ,,fallopian ,,tubes are the ducts of the ,ovaries1 and serve to convey the ova1 or eggs1 from the ,ovaries to the cavity in the ,uterus4 ,they are two in number1 one on each side1 each tube being about four inches in length4 ,they extend from either side of the fundus of the womb1 through the broad ligaments which hold them and the ,ovaries in position until they communicate with the ,ovaries4 ,they are lined with a membrane composed of the same kind of peculiar hair-like cells which are found in the lining of the womb1 the purpose in this case being to urge forward the ova or eggs toward the ,uterus4 ,at the ovarian end of the tubes the latter expand into a fringed1 trumpet-shaped extremity1 the fringe being known as the fimbria4 ,the tubes are only about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter1 and their small caliber makes it easy for them to clog up as the result of slight inflammation1 or to become clogged up or sealed at their mouths or openings1 thus causing sterility or inability of the woman to conceive4 ,if the tubes are clogged1 or sealed up1 it of course is impossible for the ova or eggs to reach the uterus4 ,,the ,,ovaries are the two oval-shaped bodies lying one on either side of the ,uterus4 ,in them the ova1 or eggs1 are formed4 ,they are each about one and one-half inches long1 about one inch wide1 and about one-half an inch thick4 ,in addition to their attachment to the broad ligament1 they are held in position by folds or ligaments running to the fundus of the ,uterus and to the fimbriated extremities of the ,fallopian ,tubes4 ,the ,ovaries are covered by a dense1 firm coating which encloses a soft fibrous tissue1 abundantly supplied with blood-vessels1 which is called the stroma4 ,imbedded in the mesh-like tissue of the stroma are found numerous small1 round1 transparent vesicles1 in various stages of development1 known as the ,graafian follicles1 which are lined with a layer of peculiar granular cells4 ,these ,graafian follicles are the receptacles or sacs which contain the ova1 or eggs1 which constitute the female reproductive germ4 ,each vesicle contains a single ovum or egg4 ,summary4 ,from the foregoing1 it is seen that we may enumerate the sex organs of the woman as follows1 proceeding from the external to the internal organism3 ,first1 the ,mons ,veneris1 or prominent eminence above the more important external sex organs2 then the ,labia ,majora1 or large outer lips or folds1 which are plainly discernable to the ordinary view2 then the ,labia ,minora1 or smaller inner lips or folds1 and the ,clitoris or small sensitive organ1 and the ,meatus ,urinarius or urinary orifice1 all of which are discernable only when the folds of the ,labia ,majora are parted or opened4 ,then1 proceeding upward and backward from the ,vaginal ,orifice1 we find the ,vagina1 or channel or canal leading to the ,uterus or ,womb2 then we find the ,uterus or ,womb at the upper end of the canal or channel of the ,vagina4 ,then extending from either side of the ,uterus or ,womb we find those two important sets of organs known as the ,fallopian ,tubes1 and the ,ovaries1 respectively4 ,the ,ovaries discharge their ova1 or eggs1 into the ,fallopian ,tubes1 from whence they are conveyed to the ,uterus or ,womb1 with which the tubes are connected and into which they open at its upper and large end4 ,,the ,,pelvis is that bony arch in the cavity of which are contained the internal sex organs of the woman4 ,the ,pelvis is a bony basin which holds and supports the pelvic organs1 and is composed of three important parts1 as follows3 7#a7 ,the ,sacrum1 consisting of five sections of the vertebral column1 or spine1 fused together so as to constitute the solid part of the lower spine and the back of the ,pelvis2 7#b7 the two ,hip-,bones1 one on each side of the ,pelvis2 7#c7 the ,pubic ,arch1 or the front part of the ,pelvis1 formed by the junction of the two ,hip-,bones in front4 ,attached to the ,hip-,bones are the thighs1 and also the large ,gluteal ,muscles which constitute the buttocks1 or seat4 ,the ,pelvis of the woman is quite different from that of the man4 ,it is shallower and wider1 and lighter in structure than that of the male1 and the margins of the ,hip-,bones are more widely separated1 thus making the hips of the woman far more prominent than those of the man4 ,also1 the ,sacrum is shorter than that of the man1 and the ,pubic ,arch wider and more rounded than his4 ,this difference in the bony structure is made necessary by the demand for larger space in the female ,pelvis required for the purposes of childbirth4 ,these differences are not so perceptible in childhood1 but become marked and pronounced at puberty4 ,,lesson ,,iii ,,physiology ,,of ,,the ,,female ,,sex ,,organism ,in the preceding lesson you have been shown just what each one of the sex organs of the woman ,,is4 ,in the present lesson you will be shown just what each of these organs ,,does--what its functions and offices are4 ,the preceding lesson dealt with the ,,anatomy of these organs2 the present lesson will deal with the ,,physiology thereof4 ,beginning with the ,ovaries1 the fundamental and basic sex organs of the woman1 you will have explained to you the wonderful processes performed by each of these organs in turn4 ,,the ,,ovaries4 ,the ,ovaries in the woman are akin to the testicles in the man4 ,without the ,ovaries there would be no ova or eggs1 and without the ova there would be possible no reproductive purposes1 and therefore no office for the sex organs at all1 for reproduction is the fundamental office1 function1 and purpose of the entire sexual organism4 ,in our consideration of the office1 purposes1 and functions of the ,ovaries1 however1 we must not overlook a certain secondary phase of such functioning4 ,while it is true that the primary purpose of both the testicles of the male1 and the ,ovaries of the female1 is that of providing ,,seed from which the offspring of the individual may be produced1 it is likewise true that there exists a secondary purpose which may be called the individual purpose as contrasted with the racial and primary one4 ,this secondary or individual purpose of the ,ovaries is that of manufacturing certain secretions which are absorbed by the blood of the woman1 and which play an important part in her physical and mental well-being and activities4 ,these secretions begin before puberty in the woman1 and continue after her menopause2 whereas the manufacture of the ova begins only at puberty1 and ceases with the menopause1 keeping pace with the manifestation of menstruation in its beginning and its ending4 ,nature provides these chemical secretions from the ,ovaries for the purpose of giving the woman her characteristic physical form and contour1 her form1 her breasts1 her long hair1 her broad pelvis1 her soft voice1 and other secondary sex characteristics2 and also of providing for the normal development of the other sex organs4 ,as a proof of this statement1 science shows us that if a woman's ovaries are completely removed there is usually a consequent atrophy or drying up of the ,uterus and the ,vagina1 and often even of the ,vulva4 ,moreover1 the presence of this internal secretion manifests in arousing and maintaining in the woman her normal sexual desire1 and her normal pleasure in the company of her mate2 it being noted that if the ovaries are removed1 particularly in early life1 the woman is apt to lose all sexual desire and normal womanly feeling toward the other sex4 ,and1 finally1 these secretions make for general physical and mental health and well-being in the woman1 and contribute to her vivacity1 energy1 and activity in all directions4 ,as writers on the subject have well pointed out1 this is the reason that capable surgeons usually try to leave at least a portion of the ,ovaries when performing an operation for the removal of those organs on account of diseased condition4 ,,the ,,ovum4 ,the ,ovum1 or human egg1 is a small spherical body1 measuring from one two-hundred-and-fortieth to one one-hundred-and-twentieth of an inch in diameter4 ,it has a colorless transparent envelope1 the latter enclosing the yolk which consists of granules or globules of various sizes embedded in a viscid fluid4 ,in the center of the yolk is found a very small vesicular body consisting of a tenuous transparent membrane1 which is known as the germinal vesicle2 this1 in turn1 contains a very tiny granular structure1 opaque1 of yellow color1 known as the germinal spot4 ,when the time is reached in which the ovum or egg is to be discharged1 the ,graafian follicle becomes enlarged by reason of the accumulation of the fluids in its interior1 and exerts such a steady and increasing pressure from within1 outward1 that the surrounding tissue yields to it1 and it finally protrudes from the ,ovary1 from whence it is then expelled with a gush1 owing to the elasticity and reaction of the neighboring tissues4 ,following this rupture there occurs an abundant hemorrhage from the vesicles of the follicle1 the cavity being filled with blood1 which then coagulates and is retained in the ,graafian follicle4 ,the formation and development of the ,graafian follicle begins at puberty and continues until the menopause or change of life of the woman4 ,many follicles are produced1 but many do not produce ova1 and so gradually atrophy4 ,the ripening and discharge of the eggs produce a peculiar condition of congestion of the entire female sexual organism1 including the ,fallopian ,tubes1 the ,uterus1 the ,vagina1 and even of the ,vulva1 which results in a condition of ,sexual ,excitement4 ,among the lower animals the female will allow the male to approach her for copulation only at this period1 this being the time when the egg is ready for fertilization4 ,when the female infant is born1 her ,ovaries contain the germs of about #ajj1jjj ova4 ,the greater portion of these1 however1 disappear1 until at the time of her puberty the number of germs of ova contains only about #cj1jjj ova4 ,this number is far more than the woman will ever need1 and is ,nature's provision against diseased portions of the ,ovaries1 accidents1 etc4 ,only one ovum ripens and matures each month from puberty until menopause1 so that the woman really requires only about #cjj to #cej ova on the average4 ,this liberality on the part of ,nature1 however1 does not begin to approach her lavishness in the case of seed of the male1 for in his case while only one spermatozoon is required to fertilize an ovum 7and in fact only one is permitted to do so71 we find that in each normal act of ejaculation of semen by the male over #bej1jjj spermatozoa are projected4 ,the ripening and discharge of the egg from the ,ovaries1 and the consequent congestion above referred to1 accompanied by what is called ,menstruation1 occurs regularly each lunar month 7#bh days74 ,what is called ,ovulation consists of the monthly maturing and expulsion of the ripe ovum or egg1 while ,menstruation 7as we shall see later on7 consists of the monthly discharge of blood and mucus from the inner surface of the ,uterus2 the two processes occur in connection with each other1 yet neither can be considered as the cause of the other4 ,,menstruation4 ,it may be well to call your attention at this point to the process known as ,menstruation1 or the monthly flow1 or the courses of women4 ,menstruation is the monthly flow of bloody fluid which occurs in all healthy 7non-pregnant7 women from puberty to the menopause or change of life4 ,by ,,puberty is meant the age at which a woman begins her period of possible child-bearing experience4 ,in temperate climates the average age of puberty is about fourteen years1 while in tropical countries it is often a year or so earlier1 and in arctic countries a year or so later4 ,the time1 however1 depends materially upon the temperament1 race1 hygiene1 and general environment of the individual girl4 ,at this period the girl gradually changes into the young woman4 ,her figure changes1 her bust develops1 her hips broaden1 and her mental and emotional nature undergoes a change4 ,also the menstrual flow begins to manifest at this time2 at first scanty and irregular1 but gradually changing into the characteristic flow each month4 ,at the period of puberty1 the girl undergoes marked emotional changes4 ,she becomes very emotional as a rule1 and quite sensitive4 ,she becomes filled with strange1 unaccountable longings1 ideas1 and notions4 ,she usually manifests a great emotional interest in her girl friends1 and often manifests marked jealousy in connection with these friendships4 ,the girl is apt to indulge in day-dreaming at this period1 and becomes quite romantic and flighty4 ,she devours love stories1 and delights in imagining herself as the heroine of similar adventures4 ,the period from the beginning of puberty to that of the attainment of full sexual maturity is known as the period of adolescence1 and generally extends to about the age of eighteen in the case of girls4 ,by the ,,menopause is meant that period of the woman's change of life1 the average time of which is about the age of forty-five years1 although this varies greatly in different individuals4 ,as a rule1 it is held that the period of the woman's child-bearing possibility extends over an average period of thirty years4 ,at the ,menopause the woman's reproductive activity declines and finally ends4 ,the ,ovaries diminish in size1 the ,graafian follicles cease to form and develop2 the ,fallopian ,tubes atrophy2 and there occur other physical1 mental1 and emotional changes in the woman4 ,while the age of forty-five is held to be the average age at which the ,menopause occurs in women1 still it is not at all uncommon to find women who menstruate regularly up to the age of fifty1 or fifty-two1 or even fifty-five1 while a large number of women menstruate regularly at the age of forty-eight4 ,some women undergo little or no physical or emotional disturbance at the time of the ,menopause4 ,in such cases their periods become more or less irregular1 with extending intervals between periods2 the flow becomes more and more scanty2 then several periods are skipped altogether2 and finally the periods cease entirely4 ,other women1 however1 experience more or less physical disturbance during the years of the change4 ,they sometimes experience loss of appetite1 or a capricious appetite1 headaches1 loss of weight1 or else a sudden taking on of fatty tissue4 ,they often become quite irritable and notiony1 and often become quarrelsome and pugnacious1 and in some cases manifest unreasonable jealousy4 ,but1 in the opinion of many of the best authorities1 much of this trouble comes from the mental expectancy of them by the woman1 resulting from the notion that a woman must have these things happen to her4 ,the power of the mind over the body is now well known1 and we have here another instance of its effect4 ,the remedy is obvious4 ,another matter which disturbs the woman at this time1 in many cases1 is the common belief that after the change she will lose all of her sex attractiveness1 and her sexual feelings1 etc4 ,this is a grave error1 for the experience of all observing physicians is that no such results follow this period of the woman's life4 ,many women become even more attractive to the other sex after this time1 by reason of acquiring a certain maturity and ripeness which proves very attractive to many men--often to young men as well as older ones4 ,moreover1 the sexual desires do not cease with the cessation of the reproductive functions4 ,on the contrary1 it often happens that such emotions and desires are increased in the woman at1 and after1 this time of her life4 ,so true is this that this period has been called ,the ,dangerous ,age for women1 and the experience of many a woman of forty-five to fifty will corroborate this statement4 ,the woman at this time should beware of contracting unwise love affairs and entanglements1 and of yielding to impulses toward men other than her mate4 ,a word to the wise should be sufficient in this case4 ,to return to the main subject of ,menstruation1 it may be said that the monthly flow1 when once established1 occurs at intervals of every twenty-eight days1 on the average1 although in some individual cases it occurs as often as every twenty-one days1 while in others it occurs as seldom as once in every six weeks1 all without exceeding the bounds of normal functioning4 ,menstruation ceases temporarily during pregnancy1 in normal cases1 and often also ceases during the period of lactation or nursing4 ,the menstrual period lasts on an average for four or five days1 the flow increasing for the first half of the period1 and decreasing during the last half4 ,at the beginning of the period there is often manifested a general congestion of all of the sexual organs of the woman1 and often of the breasts as well4 ,there is also usually found a sense of physical discomfort1 from which more or less irritable feeling arises4 ,in rare cases there are found severe cramps and pains1 and in some cases the woman finds it necessary to call in medical aid1 or to go to bed1 or both4 ,in such cases a cure is often worked by improving the general health1 and by observing common sense hygienic rules4 ,menstruation is caused by a hypertrophy of the mucus membrane of inner surface of the ,uterus1 which is followed by a shedding of the hypertrophied membrane4 ,this leaves exposed the underlying vessels1 which bleed4 ,new mucus membrane is formed after the period4 ,the menstrual flow consists of a thin1 bloody fluid1 having peculiar odor1 in which is combined blood1 thin skin1 and mucus membrane1 and also mucus from the ,uterus and the ,vagina1 the blood being light in consistency and not clotted4 ,during the menstrual period the ovum1 or egg1 is discharged1 and enters the ,uterus1 as we shall see presently4 ,,the ,,life-,,history ,,of ,,the ,,ovum4 ,the physiology of the remaining sexual organs of the woman may perhaps best be studied by considering the story of the ,life-,history of the ,ovum1 or human egg1 for the functions of such organs are concerned with such life-history of the egg1 and really exist merely to create such a history1 or rather1 to produce the process which constitutes the basis of such history4 ,the ovum1 or egg1 when discharged from the ovary1 is at first surrounded by a few cells which serve as nourishment1 but which soon disappear4 ,it enters the ,fallopian ,tube and begins its journey toward the ,uterus1 being urged on its way by the constant movement of the lining-cells of the interior of the tube1 in the direction of the ,uterus4 ,certain changes in structure occur4 ,its passage to the ,uterus may be interrupted1 and the ovum lost and finally cast off4 ,but the ovum that is successful finally arrives at the ,uterus where it awaits impregnation or fertilization by the spermatozoon of the male4 ,if copulation occurs within a reasonable time after the arrival of the ovum1 it is impregnated or fertilized4 ,fecundation results and conception ensues1 the ovum then remaining attached to the walls of the ,uterus1 and in time develops into the foetus4 ,if1 however1 the ovum is not impregnated1 because of absence of copulation or from other causes1 it gradually loses its vitality1 and is finally cast off with the several uterine secretions4 ,it should be explained here that the spermatozoon of the male 7the plural of the term is spermatozoa7 is the male generative seed4 ,the sperum1 semen1 or seminal fluid of the male is filled with hundreds of thousands of spermatozoa4 ,each spermatozoon is a minute living1 moving creature1 resembling a microscopic tadpole4 ,it has a head1 a rod-like body1 and a thin hair-like tail1 the latter being kept in constant motion from side to side1 by means of which the tiny creature is enabled to travel rapidly from one point to another4 ,the human spermatozoon measures about one six-hundredth of an inch in length4 ,it is composed of protoplasm1 the substance of which all living creatures are composed4 ,the spermatozoa are believed to be developed from a parent sperm-cell1 by the process of segmentation or subdivision1 which process is common to all cell-life4 ,the numerous spermatozoa dwell in a gelatinous substance1 which1 mingling with the other fluidic secretions of the glands of the male1 constitutes the male seminal fluid1 sperm1 or semen1 which is ejaculated by the male during the process of copulation4 ,fecundation 7i4 e4 fertilization1 impregnation2 the process by which the male reproductive element is brought in contact with the female ovum or egg7 is brought about by the blending of the male reproductive element 7or spermatozoon7 with the female reproductive element 7or ovum1 or egg74 ,this blending is of course accomplished by the bringing together in mutual contact the two reproductive elements just mentioned4 ,the sexual act which results in this bringing together of the two elements is known as copulation1 or coition4 ,in copulation or coition the seminal fluid of the male1 containing an enormous number of spermatozoa1 is ejaculated from the male intromittent organ into the receptive canal or channel of the female 7the ,vagina71 and in this way finally comes into actual contact with the female ovum or egg which is awaiting it in the ,uterus of the female4 ,the spermatozoa 7in the process of copulation7 are deposited in the ,vagina of the female1 usually at its upper end1 but sometimes in the lower portion2 and in rare and peculiar cases even at or about the ,vaginal ,orifice or outer vaginal opening4 ,in either case they travel up the remaining portion of the ,vagina and finally enter the ,uterus or womb4 ,the spermatozoa possess wonderful vitality and power of locomotion4 ,there are cases recorded in which the spermatozoa deposited on or about the outer female genitals have managed to travel inward and upward until they have finally reached the ,uterus1 where conception has resulted4 ,such cases1 of course1 are rare1 but they exist1 well authenticated and accepted by medical science as facts4 ,it must not be supposed1 however1 that the impregnation of the ovum occurs only in the womb proper4 ,cases are known in which the spermatozoa have traveled along the ,fallopian ,tubes and impregnated the ovum there2 and in very rare cases the spermatozoon seems to have penetrated even to the ,ovary itself1 and there impregnated the ovum on the surface of the ,ovary4 ,some excellent authorities1 in fact1 insist that all normal impregnation occurs at the end of the ,fallopian ,tube--the point of its entrance into the upper part of the womb1 rather than in the body of the womb1 or at its mouth1 as the older authorities taught4 ,but wherever the actual contact of spermatozoon and ovum occurs1 the blending of the elements is performed and fertilization1 impregnation1 or fecundation is accomplished4 ,as a result of copulation1 then1 the spermatozoon 7or a number of spermatozoa7 comes in contact with the female ovum or egg4 ,then one or more of them1 by means of a furious lashing of the tiny tail1 manages to penetrate the outer covering of the ovum1 and enters the space between the outer covering and the real body of the egg4 ,several spermatozoa may effect an entrance into this outer space1 ,,but ,,only ,,one ,,is ,,permitted ,,to ,,enter ,,the ,,real ,,body ,,of ,,the ,,egg4 ,twins are produced by the impregnation of two ova by two spermatozoa1 at the same time4 ,the presence of the two ova at the same time is unusual4 ,the moment that the real body of the ovum is penetrated by the successful spermatozoon1 a tough covering or thick membrane forms around the ovum and thus prevents the entrance of other spermatozoa4 ,the successful spermatozoon then loses its tail1 and the remaining head and body become what is known as the male pronucleus4 ,the authorities are uncertain as to the exact nature of the change which occurs when the ovum is penetrated by the spermatozoon4 ,the outward manifestations of the change and transformation arising from the blending of the male and female elements are of course well known1 but the life process eludes the power of the microscope4 ,when ,nature forms the thick membranous coating over the impregnated ovum1 she draws the veil over one of her most important secrets4 ,the first segmentation-nucleus having been formed by the blending and forging together of the male and female pronuclei1 the process of segmentation begins4 ,segmentation proceeds as follows3 the impregnated egg splits into halves1 forming two joined cells2 then into quarters1 forming four joined cells2 then into sixteenths1 then into thirty-seconds1 sixty-fourths1 and so on1 until the ovum consists of a combined mass of very minute granular-like cells1 the whole resembling a mulberry4 ,the segmentation of the nucleus precedes and then continues with the segmentation of the yolk4 ,after the egg has been divided into a great number of these cells1 the latter begin a centrifugal action resulting in the formation of a complete inner lining of closely packed cells1 with a central cavity filled with the yolk liquid4 ,in the meantime1 the ,uterus has been prepared for the reception of the impregnated and transformed ovum4 ,a thick1 spongy1 juicy1 mucus membrane forms1 into which the changing ovum passes and attaches itself2 the mucus membrane soon enveloping it and shutting it off from the rest of the ,uterus4 ,there now appears at one point on the ovum an opaque streak1 which is called the primitive trace of the embryo--the first beginning of the young living creature4 ,the primitive trace then grows in length and breadth4 ,at this point we must leave the history of the ovum1 or human egg1 for the present2 its further development will be related in the succeeding lesson1 the subject of which is ,gestation4 ,,lesson ,,iv ,,gestation ,,or ,,pregnancy ,gestation is the act of carrying young in the ,uterus1 from the time of conception to that of parturition4 ,conception occurs at the moment of the impregnation of the ovum2 parturition is the act of delivery1 or childbirth4 ,pregnancy is the state of being with child4 ,the terms period of gestation1 and period of pregnancy1 respectively1 are employed by medical authorities to designate the time during which the mother carries the young within her own body--from the moment of the impregnation of the ovum until the moment of the final delivery of the child into the outer world4 ,the term of pregnancy in woman continues for over nine calendar months 7or ten lunar months7--from about #bge to #bhj days1 though in exceptional cases it may be terminated in seven calendar months1 or on the other hand may continue for ten calendar months4 ,the usual method is to figure #bhj days from the ,,first ,,day of the ,,last ,,menstruation4 ,a simple method of calculating the probable date of delivery is as follows3 ,,count ,,back ,,three ,,months1 ,,and ,,then ,,add ,,seven ,,days1 ,,and ,,you ,,will ,,have ,,the ,,date ,,of ,,probable ,,delivery4 ,example3 ,a woman's ,,first ,,day ,,of ,,last ,,menstruation is ,march #bh4 ,counting back three months gives us ,december #bh2 and adding seven days to this gives us ,january #d1 as the date of probable delivery4 ,there will always be a possible margin of a few days before or after the ascertained probable date--but the delivery will very closely approximate said date4 ,ignore the shortage of days of ,february in this calculation1 the same being covered by the general margin allowed4 ,,development ,,of ,,the ,,impregnated ,,ovum4 ,in the preceding lesson we terminated our consideration of the impregnated ovum at the point at which1 after the process of segmentation1 the primitive trace had appeared4 ,this primitive trace appears as an opaque streak1 or straight line1 formed of an aggregation of cells of a distinctive quality4 ,this delicate trace or streak is the first indication of the form of the coming child4 ,it is the basis1 pattern1 or mould1 in or around which the spinal column is to be formed1 and around which the entire young body is to be developed by the wonderful and intricate processes of dividing and reduplication1 and the folding and combination of cells4 ,from one end of this trace develops the head2 from the other end develops the lower end of the spine4 ,at a later stage there appear tiny buds in the positions at which the arms and legs should be2 these gradually develop1 and their ends split into tiny fingers and toes1 and finally are transformed into perfect little arms and legs1 miniatures of those of the adult human being4 ,the term the embryo is employed to designate the developing young creature in the earlier stages of its development1 particularly before the end of the third month of its existence4 ,after the end of the third month the embryo is called the fetus4 ,in the short space of #bhj days the young creature evolves and develops from a single simple cell into a complex organism--a perfect miniature human being4 ,nature works a wonderful miracle here1 and yet so common is it that we take it all as a matter of course1 and lose sight of the miracle4 ,from the most simple forms are formed in the developing creature the most complex organs and parts4 ,the heart is formed from a tiny straight line of cells1 by enlargement and partition4 ,the stomach and intestines1 likewise1 develop from a tiny straight line of cells arranged as a tiny tube--the stomach is formed by dilation of one part of the tube1 while the large intestine experiences a similar though lesser distention and a greater growth in length2 the smaller intestines being formed by growth in length and circumference4 ,the other organs evolve from similar simple beginnings4 ,the embryo is nourished during its earlier stages by means of the yolk sack1 or umbilical vesicle1 which is outside the body of the embryo1 being joined to it by means of the umbilical duct4 ,this yolk sack 7originally formed by a drawing together in the ovum1 which thus separates itself into two portions or areas7 is an important feature of the life of the embryo1 as it nourishes and sustains it in its earlier stages4 ,blood vessels form in this yolk sack1 and after a time its fluid is absorbed1 and after the third month the sack gradually disappears4 ,after the passing away of the yolk sack1 the embryo is nourished and sustained by the allantois1 another peculiar sack which is formed4 ,this sack readily becomes filled with blood-vessels1 and serves to nourish the embryo by sustenance obtained from the body of the mother through the walls of the ,uterus1 a direct communication with the blood-vessels of the mother thus being secured4 ,the blood in the embryo1 and that in the mother1 come into close contact1 thus allowing the embryo to be nourished by the blood of the mother4 ,after a time1 in turn1 the allantois diminishes and dwindles away1 its offices being taken up and performed by the placenta or afterbirth4 ,,the ,,placenta ,,or ,,afterbirth4 ,the ,placenta1 or afterbirth1 is a round1 flat substance or organ1 contained within the ,uterus1 by which communication and connection is established and maintained between the fetus and the mother1 by means of the umbillical cord4 ,it is a flat1 circular mass1 about seven inches in diameter1 and weighing about sixteen ounces4 ,it is attached to the sides of the ,uterus of the mother during the period of gestation1 and is expelled from the body of the mother1 as the afterbirth1 after the birth of the child4 ,let us pause a moment1 and reconsider the several steps in ,nature's plan for nourishing the embryo and fetus4 ,in the first place1 as we have seen1 there is the yolk sack or umbillical vesicle1 filled with a fluid which nourishes the embryo4 ,this gradually disappears in time1 and is replaced by the allantois which by connection with the walls of the ,uterus is enabled to nourish the fetus from and by the blood of the mother4 ,for a short time1 however1 the embryo is nourished by both the yolk sack and the allantois4 ,then the allantois assumes the entire task1 and the yolk sack passes away4 ,then1 later1 the placenta replaces the allantois1 and the latter passes away as did its predecessor4 ,the placenta works along the same general lines as the allantois1 but is a far more complex way and with a much higher degree of efficiency1 as we shall see presently4 ,the placenta is connected with the body of the fetus by what is known as the umbillical cord4 ,the umbillicus or navel in the human being marks the place at which the umbillical cord entered the body of the fetus1 from which it was severed after the birth of the child4 ,the purpose of the umbillical cord is to contain and support the umbillical arteries and veins through which the fetus obtains nourishment from the placental substance1 and through which the return blood flows4 ,the rich red arterial blood is carried from the placenta to the fetus1 and is then distributed over the body of the fetus1 nourishing and building it up2 the dark venous blood1 laden with the waste products of the body of the fetus1 is carried back to the placenta1 there to be repurified and rendered again rich and nourishing4 ,the story of the circulation of the blood of the fetus is most interesting4 ,although the fetal blood is derived from that of the mother1 as we have said1 yet the maternal blood does not pass directly from the circulatory system of the mother into that of the fetus2 nor does the blood of the fetus return directly into the circulatory system of the mother4 ,in fact1 the fetal blood never comes in direct contact with that of the mother1 or vice versa4 ,the fetus has an independent circulatory system of its own1 and yet1 at the same time1 from the moment of the placental connection until the moment of childbirth1 all its nourishment is derived from its mother4 ,the secret of the above paradoxical statement is made apparent when we understand the meaning of the scientific term osmosis4 ,osmosis is the passage of a fluid through a membrane2 it is a chemical process1 caused by the chemical affinity between two liquids or gases separated one from the other by a porous diaphragm or substance4 ,in the process of osmosis in the case before us1 the fetal blood takes up nourishing substances and oxygen from the blood of the mother1 and passes on to the latter the waste products of the fetal system1 by means of passing these substances through the thin porous membranes which separate the two independent systems of blood vessels1 i4 e41 the system of the fetus1 and that of the mother4 ,before birth1 in fact1 the fetus has its blood nourished and oxygenated by means of the food partaken of by its mother1 and the oxygen taken in by the mother in her breathing4 ,after its birth1 the infant eats and breathes for itself1 and thus nourishes its blood supply directly1 instead of receiving it indirectly from the mother4 ,the ,placenta begins to be formed about the third month of gestation1 and continues to develop steadily from that time4 ,at the time of the delivery of the child the ,placenta covers nearly or quite one-third of the inner space of the distended ,uterus of the mother4 ,the total afterbirth consists of the ,placenta1 the umbillical cord1 and the remaining membranes of the ovum1 all of which are expelled after the birth of the child4 ,,the ,,amnion4 ,an important appendage contained in the ,uterus in connection with the developing fetus is that known as ,the ,amnion4 ,this is an inner sack which forms within the womb1 and which serves to enclose the fetus1 and also to sheath the umbillical cord4 ,the ,amnion encloses the embryo very snugly during the early stages of its development1 but it gradually becomes distended with a pale watery fluid1 known as the amniotic fluid1 the purpose of which is to float the fetus and to give it mechanical support on all sides4 ,this fluid is composed of water carrying in solution small quantities of albumin1 urea1 and salt4 ,,sex ,,in ,,the ,,embryo ,,and ,,fetus4 ,it is impossible to determine the sex of the embryo during its early stages4 ,during the fourth week the first traces of the sexual glands appear1 but not until the fifth week can the sex be determined even by the microscope4 ,if the embryo is to become a male1 certain ducts are transformed into convoluted tubules1 and each is attached to the testes which have been formed from the genital nucleus4 ,if the embryo is to become a female1 the ducts join to form the uterus and vagina1 other portions being transformed into the fallopian tubes and connecting with the ovaries which have been formed otherwise4 ,the outer genitals appear in the early stages of the embryo1 but there is no apparent distinction between the sexes1 the external organs being the same in all cases1 and consisting of a small tubular organ with a small lateral fold of skin on either side4 ,later1 in the male1 a groove appears on the under side of this primitive organ1 thus forming the urethra1 the scrotum being formed from the folded skin at the side4 ,in the female1 the primitive organ ceases to develop as in the male1 and thus becomes proportionately smaller1 and evolves into the clitoris of the female2 the two lateral folds1 on each side1 being transformed into the labia majora1 or outer lips of the female external genitals4 ,,position ,,of ,,the ,,fetus4 ,during the period of gestation the fetus lies curled up in the bag of the amnion4 ,the head is usually relaxed and inclined forward1 the chin resting on the breast2 the feet are bent up in front of the legs1 the legs bent up on the thighs1 the knees separated from each other1 but the heels almost touching on the back of the thighs2 the arms bent forward and the hands placed between them as though to receive the chin between them4 ,the folded-up fetus forms an oval1 the longest diameter of which is about eleven inches at its greatest stage of growth4 ,nature here shows a wonderful ability to pack the fetus into as little space as possible1 and in such a position as to protect it from injury1 and to discommode the mother as little as possible4 ,the following interesting statement made by ,helen ,idleson1 ,m4 ,d41 in a ,european medical journal several years ago1 gives a very clear idea1 expressed in popular terms1 of the appearance and characteristics of the embryo or fetus in the various stages of its development3 ,the growth of the embryo after fecundation is very rapid4 ,on the ,,tenth ,,day it has the appearance of a semi-transparent grayish flake4 ,on the ,,twelfth ,,day it is nearly the size of a pea1 filled with fluid1 in the middle of which is an opaque spot1 presenting the first appearance of an embryo1 which may be clearly seen as an oblong or curved body1 and is plainly visible to the naked eye on the fourteenth day4 ,the ,,twenty-,,first ,,day the embryo resembles an ant or a lettuce seed4 ,many of its parts now begin to show themselves1 especially the cartilaginous beginnings of the spinal column1 the heart1 etc4 ,the ,,thirtieth ,,day the embryo is as large as a horse-fly1 and resembles a worm1 bent together4 ,there are as yet no limbs1 and the head is larger than the rest of the body4 ,when stretched out it is nearly half an inch long4 ,toward the fifth week the heart increases greatly in proportion to the remainder of the body1 and the rudimentary eyes are indicated by two black spots toward the sides1 and the heart exhibits its external form1 bearing a close resemblance to that in an adult4 ,in the ,,seventh ,,week1 bone begins to form in the lower jaw and clavicle4 ,narrow streaks on each side of the vertebral column show the beginning of the ribs4 ,the heart is perfecting its form1 the brain enlarging1 and the eyes and ears growing more perfect1 and the limbs sprouting from the body4 ,the lungs are mere sacks1 and the trachea is a delicate thread1 but the liver is very large4 ,in the seventh week are formed the renal capsules and kidneys4 ,at ,,two ,,months1 the forearm and hand can be distinguished1 but not the arm2 the hand is larger than the forearm1 but it is not supplied with fingers4 ,the distinction of sex is yet difficult4 ,the eyes are prominent4 ,the nose forms an obtuse eminence4 ,the nostrils are rounded and separated4 ,the mouth is gaping1 and the epidermis can be distinguished from the true skin4 ,the embryo is from one-half to two inches long1 the head forming more than one-third of the whole4 ,at the end of ,,three ,,months1 the eyelids are distinct but shut2 the lips are drawn together2 the forehead and nose are clearly traceable1 and the organs of generation prominent4 ,the heart beats with force2 the larger vessels carry red blood2 the fingers and toes are well defined1 and the muscles begin to be developed4 ,at the ,,fourth ,,month1 the embryo takes the name of 'fetus4' ,the body is six to eight inches in length4 ,the skin has a rosy color1 and the muscles produce a sensible motion4 ,a fetus born at this time might live several hours4 ,at ,,five ,,months the length of the body is from eight to ten inches4 ,at ,,six ,,months1 the length is twelve and one-half inches4 ,the hair appears on the head1 the eyes closed1 the eyelids somewhat thicker1 and their margins1 as well as their eyebrows1 are studded with very delicate hairs4 ,at ,,seven ,,months1 every part has been increased in volume and perfection2 the bony system is nearly complete2 length1 twelve to fourteen inches4 ,if born at this period1 the fetus is able to breathe1 cry and nurse1 and may live if properly cared for4 ,at ,,eight ,,months1 the fetus seems to grow rather in length than in thickness2 it is only sixteen to eighteen inches long1 and yet weighs from four to five pounds4 ,the skin is very red1 and covered with down and a considerable quantity of sebaceous matter4 ,the lower jaw1 which at first was very short1 is now as long as the upper one4 ,finally1 at term1 ,,nine ,,months1 the fetus is about nineteen to twenty-three inches long1 and weighs from six to eight pounds4 ,the red blood circulates in the capillaries1 and the skin performs the functions of perspiration2 the nails are fully developed4 ,another writer says3 ,there is a superstition that a child born at eight months is not as liable to live as if born at seven months2 indeed1 many suppose that an eight months' child never survives4 ,facts do not prove this idea to be correct4 ,personally1 ,i have known several eight months' babies to live and do well1 and ,i believe that their chance of life is much greater than if born at seven months4 ,children born in the seventh month of gestation are capable of living1 though great care is required to rear them for the first few months after birth4 ,the incubators now so common in large cities have greatly increased the chances of the seven months' child1 and1 for that matter1 of those born even earlier4 ,there are a number of cases of record where children have been born after six months of gestation1 and a few even before the six months1 but these cases are rare and unusual1 and such children usually die soon after birth4 ,the following table1 given by a good authority1 shows the average length and weight of the human embryo and fetus3 ,age4 ,length in inches4 ,weight4 #b weeks #j4a ,not given #c weeks #j4b #c grains #d weeks #j4c ,not given #e weeks #j4e ,not given #f weeks #j4g ,not given #g weeks #j4i ,not given #h weeks #a4e #d drachms #c months #c4j #b ounces #d months #f4j #e ounces #e months #i4j #aj ounces #f months #ab4j #a pound #g months #ae4j #c pounds #h months #ag4j #e pounds #i months #bj4j #f to #i pounds ,professor ,clark holds that if at birth the infant weighs less than #e pounds1 it rarely thrives1 though the records show that many infants weighing much less than this have lived and thrived4 ,in very rare cases1 infants have been known to weigh no more than one pound at birth1 and to have still survived and thrived4 ,and1 on the other hand1 many cases are known where infants were born1 and thrived1 who weighed more than twice the average weight4 ,so1 at the last1 it is difficult to lay down hard and fast rules in the case4 ,,delivery4 ,at the termination of the period of gestation1 the child is born into the world1 and1 instead of depending upon the blood of the mother for nourishment and oxygen1 it begins to ingest its own food1 to eliminate its own waste matter through the regular channels of the body1 and to use its own lungs for the purpose of obtaining oxygen for its blood and to burn up the waste products in the lungs4 ,the process of bringing a child into the world is called parturition4 ,the fetus is expelled from the body of the mother by the contraction of the muscles of and around the ,uterus1 and also by the contraction of the abdominal walls4 ,in the early stages of labor1 the uterine muscles are brought into play2 but when the fetus enters into the vaginal passage the abdominal muscles manifest their energy4 ,the uterine and abdominal muscular movements are purely involuntary1 although the mother may aid in the delivery by voluntary muscular movements4 ,the involuntary muscular movements are due to the reflex action originating1 probably1 in a part of the spinal cord4 ,the uterine contractions are rhythmical1 and have been compared to the contraction of the muscles of the heart4 ,each labor pain begins with a minimum of contraction1 the activity increasing until a maximum is reached1 when it gradually decreases1 only to be followed a little later by a new contraction4 ,when the fetus is finally expelled from the ,uterus 7followed later by the placenta or afterbirth7 that organ begins a gradual contraction to its normal size1 shape1 and condition1 the restorative process usually lasting over several weeks4 ,,the ,,physical ,,signs ,,of ,,pregnancy4 ,the physical signs of pregnancy in the case of women of normal health are as follows3 7#a7 ,,cessation ,,of ,,the ,,menses1 ,,or ,,menstruation4 ,while it is true that a non-pregnant woman may occasionally pass over a menstrual period1 yet as a general rule the complete cessation of a period by a married woman1 particularly when the woman has previously been regular in this respect1 may be considered a probable indication of pregnancy2 and when the second period has been passed the probability merges almost into a certainty4 ,an examination by a competent physician will set all doubts at rest4 7#b7 ,,enlargement ,,of ,,the ,,breasts4 ,this indication usually manifests itself in about six or eight weeks after conception4 ,this enlargement is usually preceded by a sensation of tingling and throbbing4 ,the enlargement is manifested in the form of a rather hard and knotty increase1 differing from the ordinary fatty increase2 the lobules1 arranged regularly around the nipple1 are plainly distinguishable beneath the skin by means of the touch of the fingers4 7#c7 ,,darkening ,,of ,,the ,,areolar ,,tissue ,,surrounding ,,the ,,nipple4 ,in the unimpregnated condition this tissue is of a pinkish shade2 but after impregnation the shade grows darker and the circle increases in size4 ,however1 when the woman bears several children in somewhat rapid succession1 this dark color may become permanent and accordingly ceases to be an indication4 7#d7 ,,enlargement ,,of ,,the ,,abdomen4 ,this indication manifests itself about the second month1 at which time the ,uterus begins to elevate the intestines by rising up from the pelvis4 ,in the fourth month the ,uterus has risen so far out of the pelvis that it assumes the form and appearance of a hard round tumor4 ,the entire abdomen then begins to enlarge4 ,the ,uterus causes an enlargement in the region of the navel at the sixth month1 and the region of the diaphragm at the ninth month4 7#e7 ,,quickening1 ,,or ,,signs ,,of ,,life4 ,this indication manifests first from the fourth month to the fifth--at about the exact half of the entire period of gestation4 ,at this time1 and afterward1 the movements of the embryo are plainly discernable to the mother4 ,,the ,,disorders ,,of ,,pregnancy4 ,there are a number of physical disorders usually accompanying pregnancy1 some of which are trifling1 but some of which require the advice of a competent physician4 ,the best plan is for the woman to consult a physician shortly after she discovers herself to be pregnant1 and thereafter to visit him occasionally for advice during the period of gestation4 ,the too common plan of postponing the call upon the physician until the eighth or ninth month is not a wise one1 for in many cases the advice of a competent physician at an earlier stage of the pregnancy will obviate serious complications4 ,the call upon the physician should usually be made not later than the third or fourth month1 and positively not delayed longer than the fifth month4 ,the physician should make an examination to ascertain whether the child is in the normal position in the ,uterus1 and should also examine the urine each month to ascertain whether the kidneys are functioning normally4 ,what is called morning sickness is one of the most common of the disorders of pregnancy4 ,it is marked by nausea or vomiting1 or both1 early in the morning1 usually shortly after arising4 ,some women have at least faint symptoms of this disorder from the very beginning of conception1 but usually it does not manifest until the third1 fourth1 or fifth week of pregnancy4 ,it usually ceases at the end of the third or fourth month4 ,except in very severe cases1 in which the physician should be consulted1 the disorder is not serious1 and requires but a little common-sense treatment1 and rational habits of living4 ,an authority says3 ,eat of some fruit that best agrees with palate or stomach2 drink hot water2 eat nothing until a real hunger demands food4 ,where nausea occurs after eating1 a tart apple or orange is good4 ,another authority says3 ,let women suffering from morning sickness try acid fruit--apples1 oranges1 or even lemons1 if their sourness is not unpleasant4 ,if a single orange or apple after each meal does not suffice1 let them try two2 let them eat ten if that number is necessary to conquer the distress4 ,the principle is a correct one1 and the relief certain4 ,let fruit be eaten at all hours of the day--before meals and after1 on going to bed at night and at getting up in the morning4 ,if berries are in season1 let them be eaten in the natural state--that is1 without sugar4 ,if the sickness still continues1 omit a meal now and then1 and substitute fruit in its stead4 ,by persistence in this course1 not only will nausea be conquered1 but an easy confinement guaranteed4 ,the pregnant woman often develops a capricious appetite4 ,this disorder may manifest in one or more of several forms1 as for instance3 the woman may lose her appetite1 and take but little food2 or she may develop an abnormally large appetite1 and eat much more than is necessary2 or she may take a dislike to certain kinds of food--many women have an aversion toward meat during pregnancy2 or she may have a craving for certain articles of food1 sometimes for kinds of food not liked at other times1 such as sour pickles1 sour cabbage1 etc4 ,a little common sense1 and the presence of attractive articles of fruits1 etc41 will do much to relieve these troubles2 in extreme cases the physician's advice will help4 ,the pregnant woman should have her teeth put in good order as soon as possible1 as troubles with teeth sometimes manifest themselves during pregnancy1 and give much trouble and annoyance4 ,difficulty in urination1 constipation1 piles1 irritation or itching of the genital organs1 varicose veins1 liver spots1 and similar disorders1 which are sometimes manifest during pregnancy1 in some form or degree1 should receive the attention and care of a competent physician4 ,the following general advice from a competent authority is worthy of being followed3 ,if everything is satisfactory1 if there is no severe vomiting1 kidney trouble1 etc41 the usual mixed diet may continue4 ,the only changes ,i would make are the following3 ,drink plenty of hot water during the entire time of pregnancy3 a glass or two in the morning1 two or three glasses in the afternoon1 the same at night4 ,from six to twelve glasses may be consumed4 ,also plenty of milk1 buttermilk and fermented milk4 ,plenty of fruit and vegetables4 ,meat only once a day4 ,for the tendency to constipation1 whole wheat bread1 rye bread1 bread baked of bran1 or bran with cream4 ,as to exercise1 either extreme must be avoided4 ,some women think that as soon as they become pregnant1 they must not move a muscle2 they are to be put in a glass case1 and kept there until the date of delivery4 ,other women1 on the other hand1 of the ultra-modern type1 indulge in strenuous exercise1 and go out on long fatiguing walks up to the last day4 ,either extreme is injurious4 ,the right way is moderate exercise1 and short1 non-fatiguing walks4 ,bathing may be kept up to the day of the delivery4 ,but warm baths1 particularly during the last two or three months1 are preferable to cold baths4 ,,childbirth4 ,the first indication of approaching delivery of the child is that of the descent of the child into the pelvis of the mother1 from its former position up near the diaphragm4 ,when this occurs1 the mother usually experiences a feeling of relief1 and a greater ease in breathing because of the relaxation of the former pressure on the diaphragm4 ,sometimes this occurs several days preceding delivery1 while in other cases it occurs only a few hours before delivery4 ,there usually occurs about the same time a slight discharge of mucus tinged with blood4 ,the latter is called the show1 and is caused by the unsealing of the mouth of the womb1 and indicates that the ,uterus is preparing to discharge its contents4 ,labor1 in childbirth1 consists of three stages4 ,in the first stage1 the ,uterus alone contracts1 and the mouth of the womb dilates2 in the second stage1 the abdominal muscles assist the ,uterus in expelling the child2 in the third stage1 the ,placenta 7afterbirth7 and membranes are expelled4 ,after the delivery of the child1 and after the pulsation in the umbillical cord has ceased 7usually from ten to thirty minutes after delivery71 the umbillical cord is severed and tied by the physician4 ,in natural labor1 the expulsion of the afterbirth occurs from within a few minutes to an hour after the delivery of the child4 ,nature is sometimes slow in expelling the afterbirth1 but caution should be exercised in the matter of using force to assist ,nature in this matter1 for injury to the ,uterus has often resulted from malpractice in such a case4 ,the afterbirth is not firmly attached to the womb1 but is like the peel of an orange which ,nature sloughs off in due time4 ,,lesson ,v ,,general ,,advice ,,to ,,women ,,on ,,sex ,,subjects ,in this lesson the writer seeks to direct the attention of his women readers to certain subjects upon which the average woman is not well informed1 and upon which she usually requires sound1 sane1 clean1 frank information4 ,in many cases women hesitate to ask even their family physicians for such information1 and1 although there is no rational reason for it1 they even shrink from consulting better informed and capable women concerning these subjects4 ,,sexual ,,feeling4 ,owing to erroneous teachings1 and irrational prejudices arising from ancient distorted and perverted ideals of sex1 many women have grown to maturity under the erroneous belief that it is a sign of immorality1 or at least low ideals and depraved nature1 for a woman to experience sexual emotions or feelings1 wishes or desires4 ,so true is this that even many married women seek to withhold from their husbands the knowledge that any sexual feeling is experienced by the wife4 ,such a belief is of course absurd4 ,it is as natural for a woman to experience normal sexual feeling as it is for her to experience any other feeling aroused by natural instincts and organism4 ,without such instinct and the feelings arising therefrom1 there would be no mating or marriage1 and no perpetuation of the race4 ,the woman experiencing such feelings should not allow herself to imagine that she is depraved or perverted1 or immoral in thought and feeling4 ,incredible as it may appear to a normal1 healthy-minded man1 it is true that thousands of young women have lost self-respect1 and have lapsed into a morbid state of mind1 because of the occasional manifestation of their normal sexual feeling4 ,this does not1 of course1 mean that the woman must necessarily manifest into action the feeling experienced by her4 ,on the contrary1 she must acquire self-mastery and self-control1 just as she must in other phases of her life4 ,it may help some women of this kind to realize that the sex feeling and impulses1 arising unbidden 7and often unwelcomed7 from the depths of their subconscious mentality1 are essentially ,,creative impulses4 ,if the woman be unmarried1 or if married and placed under conditions in which the marital relation with the husband is impossible or undesirable1 then she can ,,transmute this creative energy in some form of creative work--in work which leads to the creation1 manufacture1 building-up1 or composing something4 ,there is a hint here which will prove a great blessing to the woman who will understand and apply the principle suggested--for many other women have found it so4 ,as for the married woman1 there is no reason whatsoever why she should seek to withhold from her husband the knowledge that she is possessed of normal1 natural1 healthy sexual feeling4 ,in fact1 the withholding of such information1 and the concealment and deception arising therefrom1 has often done much to bring marital inharmony between husband and wife4 ,if there is any deception to be practiced in the marital association of husband and wife1 it should rather be in the opposite direction1 i4 e41 in the direction of pretending the emotional feeling when it exists only partially or is absent4 ,the last matter1 however1 is one for the exercise of the judgment and conviction of each individual woman2 but the first mentioned admonition is one which should be observed1 as it is based on honesty1 truth1 and good judgment as well4 ,,alcohol ,,and ,,sexuality4 ,it needs no extended argument to convince the average person that an individual will do things when under the influence of drink that he or she would not do when perfectly sober4 ,it is an old saying that ,when the wine is in1 the wits are out4 ,but there is a deeper connection and relation between alcoholic drink and sexual indiscretions than is usually realized by the average person4 ,besides the commonly known weakening of will-power and self-control arising from the influence of strong drink1 there are certain influences concerning the sexual nature and arising from the presence of alcohol in the system1 which are not known to most persons4 ,so true is this that the writer has thought it well to utter a few words of warning to his women readers concerning these things4 ,in the first place1 there is an exhilarating effect arising from certain kinds of liquor1 wines1 and other forms of alcoholic drinks1 which manifests directly in an excitement of the sexual centers and organism4 ,in many cases a strong sexual excitement1 absent at other times1 is aroused1 and the person is carried away with the force of passion unknown under other circumstances4 ,added to this the weakened will-power arising from too much drink1 and we have an explanation of many cases of mistakes of women4 ,it would appear that women are even more susceptible than are men to unusual sexual excitement arising from alcoholic drinks2 and that1 therefore1 they should be especially cautious in the indulgence in such drinks1 particularly when in the company of strange men1 or men careless in regard to sexual morality and respect for women in their company4 ,but there is still a deeper reason1 based upon the latest discoveries in psychology1 why caution in this respect should be observed by women4 ,we allude to the discovery that alcohol first affects the mental and emotional tendencies of more recent racial acquirement1 acting so as to paralyze and inhibit the activities thereof1 and to thus release the activity of the more primitive emotions and motive activities4 ,thus1 the woman under the influence of alcohol finds that the more recent racial traits1 such as sexual control1 restraint1 sexual morality1 conventional observations1 etc41 are practically temporarily paralyzed in inhibitual--or to use the current slang phrase1 are put out of commission for the time being2 and1 at the same time1 the old elemental1 savage1 barbaric1 cave man instincts1 habits1 and methods of action1 are brought to the surface1 and proceed to manifest their activity if opportunity be granted for the same--and the opportunity is usually granted4 ,this being seen to be true1 it is seen that the woman so under the influence of liquor is1 for the time being1 little more than a cave woman1 or barbarian1 with all the lax sex morality of the latter1 and with all the tendencies to manifest into activity the primitive impulses arising in her nature and demanding expression4 ,added to this the weakening of will-power always accompanying the alcoholic influence1 it is seen that the woman under the influence of strong drink is an easy prey to designing men1 and a willing victim to her own lower passions4 ,an authority of sex subjects says3 ,that ,bacchus1 the god of wine1 is the strongest ally of ,venus1 the goddess of love1 using the term ,love in its physical sense1 as the ,french use the word 'amour1' has been well known to the ancient ,greeks and ,romans1 as it is well known today to every saloon-keeper and every keeper of a disreputable house4 ,and all measures to combat venereal diseases and to prevent girls from making a false step will only be partially successful if we do not at the same time carry on a strong educational campaign against alcoholic indulgence4 99 99 99 ,of what use are warnings to a girl1 when under the influence of a heavy dinner and a bottle of champagne1 to which she is unaccustomed1 her passion is aroused to a degree she has never experienced before1 her will is paralyzed and she yields1 though deep down in her consciousness something tells her she shouldn't8 ,she yields1 becomes pregnant1 and is in the deepest agony for several months1 and has a wound which will probably never heal for the rest of her life4 ,of what use have all the lectures1 books1 and maternal injunctions been to her8 99 99 99 ,i believe that the sex instinct can be stimulated artificially beyond the natural needs1 and among the artificial stimulants of the sex instinct alcohol occupies the first place4 ,and bear in mind that alcohol produces even a stronger effect upon women1 in exciting the sexual passion1 than it does on men4 ,women are more easily upset by stimulants and narcotics1 and that is the reason why it is more dangerous for women to drink than it is for men4 ,it is impossible to give statistics and exact or even approximate figures4 ,but there is no question in my mind1 in the mind of any careful investigator1 that if alcoholic beverages could be eliminated1 the number of cases of venereal infection would be diminished by about one-half4 ,and what is true of venereal disease is also true of the seduction of young girls4 ,alcohol is the most efficient weapon that either the refined ,don ,juan or the vulgar pimp has in his possession4 ,our advice to the woman who is asked to drink liquor when in the company of a man outside of her immediate family circle is emphatically this3 ,,don',t ,,do ,,it6 ,,the ,,menstrual ,,period4 ,as strange as it may appear to those women who have had the advantage of intelligent maternal advice1 it is a fact known to all physicians that many mothers permit their young daughters to enter into the stage of puberty1 with the accompanying menstrual flow1 without having first instructed the daughter as to the meaning and character of this phenomenon of her nature1 and without having given her advice concerning the proper care of herself during this period4 ,physicians constantly experience cases in which the young girl to whom the first menstrual flow having come1 without previous knowledge on her part1 has supposed it to be the result of a wound1 or of a diseased condition1 and has attempted to stop the flow by the application of cold water4 ,even where a partial knowledge has been attained by the girl1 she is found to lack the knowledge of the proper hygienic care of herself during the period4 ,the mothers in such cases are criminally negligent1 and have alluded a false modesty or prudery to interfere with a natural and necessary maternal duty4 ,the approach of the first menstruation is often accompanied by unusual physical1 mental and emotional changes in the young girl4 ,her nervous system is affected1 and she is apt to become irritable or morbid1 or even somewhat flighty4 ,her appetite may become irregular1 and there is often present a craving for indigestible food4 ,a physical languor is often experienced1 and there may be pains in the back and legs1 chilliness and headaches1 and a general upsetting of the usual physical condition1 accompanied by a manifestation of peevishness and irritability4 ,these unpleasant symptoms usually disappear when the periodical menstrual flow is permanently established4 ,in fact1 they are frequently superseded by the awakened energy and heightened spirits of healthy1 normal adolescence4 ,the time of the beginning of the menstrual period varies according to climate1 race1 condition of health1 and temperament4 ,in the tropical countries1 menstruation begins from the tenth to the fourteenth year2 in temperate countries1 from the thirteenth to the sixteenth2 in cold countries1 from the fifteenth to the twentieth year4 ,the ,italian1 ,hebrew1 ,spanish1 or ,french girl is apt to menstruate earlier than the ,english1 ,german1 or ,swedish girl4 ,the ,negro girl menstruates early1 as a rule4 ,the full-blooded girl usually menstruates earlier than the anemic one4 ,normally1 menstruation should proceed naturally and without pain or suffering4 ,when pain or suffering is experienced in connection with menstruation1 it is simply because of some lack of health in the general system2 and when such general health is restored1 the trouble ceases4 ,painful menstruation is called dysmenorrhea1 and arises from several causes1 principal among which are the following3 ,errors in diet1 errors in dress1 undue exposure1 constipation1 lack of proper exercise1 or to a contracted or congested condition of the ,uterus or the ,fallopian ,tubes4 ,the pain1 however1 cannot be considered as a feature of normal menstruation1 for the latter is no more painful than a normal movement of the bowels--the painful condition results from abnormal conditions1 the removal of these conditions resulting in the cure of the complaint4 ,,dysmenorrhea should be treated by the discarding of all unhygienic clothing1 tight shoes1 etc41 and their replacement by rational clothing2 the dietary should be carefully scanned1 and improper articles replaced by nourishing elements of food--discard the pastries1 pickles1 confections1 and stimulants1 and substitute sensible articles of diet2 if constipation is present1 remove it by eating articles of food which promote free movements of the bowels1 and drink more water each day2 take a proper amount of exercise--housework is as good a form of exercise as any2 many authorities advocate the free drinking of water prior to and during the menstrual period--some going so far as to say that ,,where ,,there ,,is ,,painful ,,menstruation ,,there ,,is ,,always ,a ,,lack ,,of ,a ,,proper ,,amount ,,of ,,water ,,taken ,,into ,,the ,,system4 ,in some cases ,dysmenorrhea is due to disorders of the general nervous system1 and treatment therefore should be sought at the hands of a capable physician4 ,,amenorrhea1 another disorder arising in connection with the menstrual process1 consists of the retention or suppression of the menses1 or of scanty menses1 or occasional skipping of the periods4 ,this condition is apt to be manifest in cases of extreme obesity or fatness2 the nervous system being burdened with superfluous flesh1 its menstrual rhythm is often affected4 ,suppression of the menses also sometimes results from exposure and disturbing mental emotions4 ,the most approved treatment is that of remedying the abnormal general physical condition1 proper diet1 and the use of hot drinks1 hot sitz baths1 and hot enemas about the time of the beginning of the normal period4 ,,menorrhagia1 another menstrual-period disorder1 consists of very profuse flowing--it is1 in fact1 a mild form of hemorrhage4 ,it usually arises from general debility1 shocks1 too violent exercise or labor1 and also in many cases from undue and too frequent sexual intercourse4 ,sometimes the excessive flow occurs during the regular menstrual period1 while in other cases it may manifest itself out of season--sometimes as often as two or three times a month4 ,the duration of the normal period of menstrual flow1 however1 varies greatly among different women2 the normal period may be said to last from two to six days1 so what might be an excessive flow for one woman would be only normal for another--temperament plays a large part in determining the quantity of the menses4 ,some of the accompanying symptoms of ,menorrhagia1 or profuse flow1 are lassitude1 shortness of breath1 faintness1 dizziness1 headache1 irritability and nervousness1 and often also leucorrhea between periods4 ,the general treatment consists in measures calculated to bring the general health of the woman back to the normal4 ,the building up of the general system1 by means of nourishing food1 proper exercise1 etc41 will almost always result in curing this disorder4 ,a well-known authority has well said3 ,the hygiene of menstruation can be expressed in two words3 ,,cleanliness ,,and ,,rest4 ,so far as ,rest is concerned1 the woman need not be urged to take it at this period--that is1 if she is able to do so4 ,care should be taken not to exercise unduly at this time1 and under the head of exercise may be included dancing1 horseback riding1 and automobiling1 as well as the more common forms of athletic work4 ,it would seem that common sense and the general desire for cleanliness and daintiness would cause all women to observe the plain hygienic laws of ,cleanliness at the time of the menstrual period4 ,and1 indeed1 it is probable that such would be the case were it not for the fact that some ancient superstitions still exert their power over the mind of many women1 in regard to the use of water during the menstrual period4 ,while it is true that cold baths1 or cold-water bathing1 are not advisable for the average woman during the menstrual period 7although some especially robust women bathe and swim as usual during this period71 this prohibition does not apply to the use of ,,warm water during the period4 ,lukewarm baths are permissible at this time2 and the woman should wash the external genital parts with warm water1 with soap if desired1 every morning and evening of the period4 ,a vaginal douche of lukewarm water is an excellent adjunct to the bathing of the parts4 ,it is astonishing to meet with the superstitious prejudice existing in the minds of some women concerning the use of the vaginal douche2 these good creatures seem to think that it is either unnatural and unhealthy1 or else is something not respectable1 and fit only for the use of immoral women4 ,these women should get in touch with modern hygienic methods1 and learn to use the douche at least during their menstrual periods4 ,at this time1 if the plain rules of cleanliness are not observed1 there often occurs a decomposition of the blood which has gathered in or about the genitals1 and an offensive odor is manifested4 ,some women1 while feeling distressed about this odor1 are afraid to use lukewarm water in washing themselves1 owing to some old unexplored superstition handed down from the great-grandmother's time4 ,the napkins should be changed at least every morning and evening4 ,unclean napkins may lead to infection1 and it is probable that many cases of leucorrhea have their origin in lack of cleanliness concerning the napkins1 cloths1 or rags1 used during menstruation4 ,it may seem almost incredible to the average woman reader1 but physicians know of cases 7usually among the poorer and more ignorant foreign classes7 in which the girl is instructed by her mother1 grandmother1 or aunts1 that she must wear the original cloth or rag during the entire period1 as she will catch cold by a change to a clean1 fresh cloth while the flow continued4 ,imagine the result of such a practice6 ,this last is an extreme instance1 of course1 but it will serve to show the absurd and harmful notions prevalent concerning this important natural function1 and its incidents4 ,,leucorrhea4 ,a very common disorder among women is that known as ,leucorrhea1 or the whites4 ,it consists of a discharge from the ,vagina1 or the ,uterus through the ,vagina4 ,it is1 in fact1 of a catarrhal nature1 and results from an over-secretion of the mucus fluids which1 in proper quantity1 keep the mucus membrane of the said organs in good condition4 ,the discharge manifests in various shades and degrees of consistency4 ,from the character of the discharge1 physicians are able to determine whether it comes from the ,vagina or the ,uterus4 ,the discharge from the ,vagina usually is a light creamy fluid2 that from the neck of the ,uterus is a sticky1 thick fluid flowing rather freely2 that from the lining of the ,uterus is alkaline1 and generally precedes and follows menstruation2 and that accompanying ulceration of the womb is semi-purulent and offensive in odor4 ,leucorrhea has many causes1 among which may be mentioned the following3 getting chilled feet or body1 particularly during the menstrual period2 over exertion and overwork standing on one's feet2 chills following dancing in overheated rooms2 excessive worry or emotional strain1 etc4 ,it is a quite common complaint1 and some assert that fully twenty-five per cent 7perhaps more7 of all women suffer from it to at least some extent4 ,the general treatment of ,leucorrhea consists of the building up of the entire system by the proper hygienic methods4 ,constipation should be removed1 and the system is built up by the proper articles of food1 exercise1 etc4 ,the use of the proper douches are also advised by the best practitioners4 ,physicians also treat inflamed areas by local treatments consisting of painting the ,vagina or neck of the ,uterus with certain medicinal solutions4 ,certain suppositories and douches are also employed in some cases4 ,it is always better to consult a good physician in these cases1 particularly where the trouble is aggravated or of long standing4 ,a popular writer on the subject gives the following prescription for a vaginal injection3 ,white ,fluid ,hydrastics1 #b ounces2 ,borax1 #a_/b ounce2 ,distilled ,witch ,hazel ,extract1 #a pint4 ,use of this preparation ,,one ,,ounce1 ,,diluted ,,in ,a ,,pint ,,of ,,lukewarm ,,water1 as a vaginal injection1 taken twice each day4 ,a well-known authority gives the following advice concerning treatment of ,leucorrhea3 ,one of the simplest things is an alum tampon4 ,you take a piece of absorbent cotton1 about the size of a fist1 spread it out1 put about a tablespoonful of powdered alum on it1 fold it up1 tie a string around the center1 insert it in the vagina as far as it will go1 and leave it in twenty-four hours4 ,then pull it gently by the string and syringe yourself with a quart or two of warm water4 ,such a tampon may be inserted every other day or every third day1 and ,i have known where this simple treatment alone produced a cure4 ,in some cases1 however1 douches work better1 and the two best things for douching are3 tincture of iodine and lactic acid4 ,buy1 say1 four ounces of tincture of iodine1 and use two teaspoonsful in two quarts of hot water in a douche bag4 ,this injection should be used twice a day1 morning and night4 ,of the lactic acid you buy1 say1 a pint1 and use two tablespoonsful to two quarts of water4 ,the lactic acid has the advantage over the tincture of iodine that it is colorless1 while the iodine is dark and stains whatever it comes in contact with4 ,sometimes ,i order the use of the tincture of iodine and the lactic acid alternately3 for one douche the tincture of iodine1 for the next the lactic acid1 and so on4 ,when the condition improves1 it is sufficient to use one teaspoonful of the tincture of iodine and one tablespoonful of the lactic acid to two quarts of water4 ,these injections are quite efficient and have the advantage of being perfectly harmless4 ,one point about the injections3 they should be taken not in the standing or squatting position 7in which position the fluid comes right out71 but while laying down1 over a douche pan4 ,the douche bag should be only about a foot above the bed1 so that the irrigating fluid may come out slowly2 the patient1 after each injection taken in the daytime1 should remain at least half an hour in bed 7in the nighttime she stays all night in bed47 ,this gives the injection a better chance to come in contact with all the parts of the vagina1 and a portion of it comes in contact with the cervix1 where it exerts a healing effect4 ,avoid the use of patent medicines4 ,,uterine ,,displacement4 ,the woman suffering from ,uterine ,displacement should1 of course1 consult a competent physician and be governed by his advice4 ,the following suggestions1 however1 will be found to be of service in many cases3 ,in the case of ,,prolapsus1 or falling of the womb1 many women have found great relief1 and in many cases permanent improvement1 by taking occasional rests in bed for an hour or so1 with the feet and lower part of the legs raised at least eight inches above the level of the head4 ,in this plan1 the ,uterus is replaced by gravitation4 ,some authorities advise practicing waist-breathing while lying in this position1 thus exercising the abdominal muscles4 ,dr4 ,taylor says3 ,increase the pump-like action of the chest1 and it will be found that the displaced viscera will return to their normal position4 ,some have also found relief from the use of alum-water vaginal injections once or twice each day4 ,the alum-water is prepared by dissolving one heaping teaspoonful of powdered alum in a pint of lukewarm water4 ,this last treatment often strengthens the vaginal muscles whose yielding has at least partially been the cause of the falling womb4 ,in cases of ,,retroversion1 in which the ,uterus is turned or bent backward1 the knee and chest position will often aid in causing the organ to regain its normal position4 ,in this position the woman kneels1 and rests her chest upon the bed1 thus causing the hips to be elevated4 ,in cases of ,,antroversion1 in which the ,uterus is turned or bent forward1 relief is often obtained by the woman resting upon the back1 using a pillow to elevate her hips4 ,,intercourse ,,during ,,menstruation4 ,it would seem that the natural esthetic repulsion to the exercise of the marital relations during the menstrual period should be sufficient to deter men and women from indulgence at this time2 but many seem to have overcome this instinctive repulsion1 and to these a stronger reason must be given--and the reason is at hand4 ,the reasons in question are as follows3 first1 that congestion of the ,uterus and ,ovaries sometimes results from this unnatural practice2 second1 that the man may possibly contract an inflammation of the urethra by infection from the degenerated membrane1 tissue1 blood1 etc41 of the menstrual flow2 and third1 that such practices may result in the aggravation of discharges from the woman1 such as leucorrhea1 etc4 ,,intercourse ,,during ,,pregnancy4 ,the best authorities advise total abstinence from sexual intercourse during the period of pregnancy2 but in view of the fact that such abstinence is very difficult for most men1 and that few will persist in it1 it is thought well to point out the fact that at least an extreme moderation is desirable in such cases4 ,a leading authority says on this point3 ,during the first four months of pregnancy1 no change need be made in the usual sex relations2 their intensity should be moderated1 their frequency need not4 ,during the fifth1 sixth1 and seventh months1 intercourse should be indulged in at rarer intervals--once in two or three weeks--the act should be performed without any violence or intensity4 ,during the eighth and ninth months relations had best be given up altogether4 ,and this abstinence should last until about six weeks after the birth of the child4 ,during this period the uterus undergoes what we call involution2 that is1 it goes back to the size and shape it had before pregnancy1 and it is best not to disturb this process by sexual excitement1 which causes engorgement and congestion4 ,,sterility ,,in ,,women4 ,sterility1 or barrenness1 i4 e41 the inability to bear children1 is frequently met with among married people4 ,it is usually blamed upon the woman1 whereas in at least one-half of the cases the fault is with the man4 ,the causes of sterility in women are usually one or more of the following3 ,inflammation of the ,fallopian ,tubes1 which may have been caused by gonorrhea or ordinary inflammation--in some rare cases childbirth has been known to set up an inflammation in this region1 which has prevented the woman from future childbearing--the inflammation causes the tubes to clog up or become closed1 so that no more ova can pass through them from the ovaries to the womb2 in some cases1 also1 severe cases of leucorrhea have caused sterility1 as the discharge is sometimes fatal to the life of the spermatozoa and destroys them2 in other cases misplacement of the womb causes sterility2 also severe inflammation of the neck or mouth of the womb operates in the same way1 in some cases4 ,in cases of sterility1 the woman should have an examination made by a competent physician1 and it often will be found that the cure of the disorders above noted will work a cure of the sterility4 ,but1 in all cases of sterility1 it will be found that the husband should be examined as well as the wife--in fact1 many authorities insist that the husband should be examined first4 ,venereal diseases frequently produce sterility in the man1 although he is loath to admit this and is apt to place the blame entirely upon the woman4 ,,miscarriage ,,and ,,abortions4 ,the terms miscarriage1 and abortion1 respectively1 mean the expulsion of the fetus from the womb before its natural time of delivery4 ,in common usage1 the term miscarriage is usually employed to indicate instances in which the premature delivery has occurred without any voluntary act on the part of the woman1 or other persons acting with her permission2 the term abortion being reserved for instances in which the miscarriage has been voluntarily produced4 ,when the fetus dies within the womb of the mother1 it is usually expelled spontaneously within a few days or even a few hours4 ,some women suffer from certain weakness which result in habitual miscarriage2 such women seem unable to carry the child for the full natural term1 and lose it at some time during the period of gestation4 ,like results often arise from certain diseases1 principal among which is syphilis4 ,in some cases the physician produces what is known as therapeutic abortion1 for the purpose of saving the life of the woman--this is sanctioned by medical custom and by law4 ,other forms of abortion1 performed for the purpose of preventing the progress of the gestation1 and designed for the destruction of the embryo or fetus1 are known as criminal abortion1 and are punishable by several legal penalties4 ,abortions are frequently followed by severe illness1 invalidism1 or even death for the woman4 ,many women have had their entire lives ruined by this evil practice4 ,it is one of the curses of modern civilization1 and one which must be removed by means of rational instruction and education along the lines of sexual science if the race is to be prevented from deterioration4 ,the subject will be further considered in the subsequent lessons in this book4 ,the best advice to those who have contemplated the performance of abortion is simply this3 ,don't2 ,,don',t2 ,,don',t6 ,,lesson ,,vi ,,the ,,science ,,of ,,eugenics ,no one who keeps in even only fair touch with the affairs of the world of today can have failed to notice the frequent mention of the term ,eugenics in the newspapers1 magazine1 and books of the hour4 ,and yet1 many persons seem to be in doubt as to the meaning and use of the term2 some thinking that it refers to some new ism or ology1 or perhaps to some new and strange doctrine concerning the relations of the sexes4 ,in view of this fact1 the writer has thought it well to give the readers of this book a brief1 though somewhat comprehensive1 view of the general subject of ,eugenics4 ,eugenics1 sometimes known as the ,science of ,parenthood1 has well been styled the ,new ,science1 for it has forced itself into public notice within the past ten or fifteen years1 whereas before that time it was practically unknown to the general public4 ,at the present time some of the world's greatest thinkers have spoken or written on the subject1 and many regard it as one of the most vital branches of human research1 endeavor1 and study1 for the future of the race is involved in the solution of its problems4 ,in its general phase of race-betterment1 ,eugenics is receiving the attention of statesmen1 sociologists and patriots2 in its particular phases1 the earnest attention1 interest and study of men and women who wish offspring of the best quality obtainable4 ,the spirit of ,eugenics may be expressed in the words of ,dr4 ,g4 ,stanley ,hall1 president of ,clark ,university1 who has said3 ,our duty of all duties is to transmit the sacred torch of life undiminished1 and1 if possible1 a little brightened1 to our children4 ,this is the chief end of men and women4 ,all posterity slumbers in our bodies1 as we did in our ancestors4 ,the basis of the new biological ethics of today1 and of the future1 is that everything is right that makes for the welfare of the yet unborn1 and all is wrong that injures them1 and to do so is the unpardonable sin--the only one nature knows4 ,that phase of ,eugenics which has brought the new science more prominently before the public mind1 and which has enrolled on its roster the names of some of the world's most eminent scientists1 sociologists1 and writers--the phase of race-betterment from the standpoint of sociology--has led many to believe that ,eugenics is confined to that phase1 and is but a movement toward the successful breeding of the human race on a universal scale4 ,to many1 such a movement while deemed commendable and desirable nevertheless lacks the appeal of the heart and affections--it seems to be of the head alone4 ,but when such persons are brought to their realization that ,eugenics is also a movement to promote the bearing of children--to enable each mated couple to bring forth perfect offspring--then the heart is enlisted as a co-worker with the head4 ,the sociological phase of ,eugenics--the phase of ,race ,culture in general--is being vigorously advanced by societies and organizations in various parts of the world1 the parent organization being the ,eugenics ,education ,society1 of ,london1 ,england4 ,dr4 ,c4 ,w4 ,saleeby1 one of those prominent in the work of the said ,society1 has the following to say concerning the work of that organization3 ,the ,eugenics ,education ,society exists to uphold the ideal of ,parenthood as the highest and most responsible of human powers2 to proclaim that the racial instinct is therefore supremely sacred1 and its exercise through marriage1 for the service of the future1 the loftiest of all privileges4 ,it stands for a transfigured sentiment of parenthood which regards with solicitude not child and grandchild only1 but the generations to come hereafter--fathers of the future creating and providing for the remote children4 ,that which too many schools of thought and practice have derided or defiled1 it seeks to elevate and ennoble4 ,parenthood on the part of the diseased1 the insane1 the alcoholic--where these conditions promise to be transmitted--must be denounced as a crime against the future4 ,in these directions the ,society stands for active legislation1 and for the formation of that public opinion which legislation1 if it is to be effective1 must express4 ,parenthood on the part of the worthy must be buttressed1 guided1 and extolled4 ,the ,society stands for the education of the young regarding the responsibility and holiness of the racial function of parenthood4 ,the ,eugenists hold that in the near future our children1 looking back upon the present and the past state of indifference and neglect concerning the important subject of bearing and rearing of children1 will experience the same horror that we now feel when we look back upon the indifference to the horrors of human slavery1 imprisonment for debt1 cruelty toward prisoners1 treatment of the insane1 executions for trivial offences1 etc41 on the part of our ancestors4 ,our descendants will deem it almost inconceivable that we1 their ancestors1 could have been so blind and criminally negligent4 ,but1 as leading ,eugenists have pointed out1 the new science does not confine its attention to the subject of preventive measures1 important as they are--it also directs its attention to the constructive phase of the subject1 i4 e41 the production of better children4 ,while ,eugenics strives to prevent the unfit from flooding the race with unfit progeny1 it at the same time strives to educate the race so that the fit may bear and rear better offsprings4 ,it is not sufficient merely to eliminate the unfit--we must also improve1 and still further render fit1 the fit members of the race4 ,the fit must not be allowed to remain merely the fit--we must evolve a fitter--and ever move onward toward the realization of the ideal of the fittest4 ,we must not only strive to eliminate the beast in the race of men--we must also aid the race to unfold in the direction of the super-man4 ,the ,eugenists know that much of the talk concerning ,race ,suicide is not only futile and uncalled for1 but is also in a sense misleading and actually dangerous4 ,the real danger of ,race ,suicide comes not from the decreasing birth-rate1 but from the excessive1 ignorant1 and unscientific bearing and rearing of children by unfit parents4 ,it is not so much a matter of ,,how ,,many children are born1 as of ,,how they are born1 what kind of children they are1 and how they are reared physically1 mentally and morally1 and how many survive4 ,it is not so much that the lower death-rate be avoided1 says the ,eugenist1 as it is that the higher death-rate be overcome4 ,the intelligent stockbreeder grasps this scientific law of the ,eugenists when he endeavors to produce the best young1 and then to take care of them that they survive and reach a healthy maturity4 ,to the ,eugenist1 it is not so much a question of more1 but of better--not so much a question of quantity as of quality--not so much a question of production1 but of conservation and preservation4 ,dr4 ,saleeby refers to the death-rate of ,london1 which is but #af to the #ajjj1 as compared to that of ,bombay1 which is #gi to the #ajjj4 ,he adds3 ,it is asserted that in many large ,indian cities the infant mortality approaches one-half of all the children born4 ,what it amounts to in such cities as ,canton and ,pekin we can only surmise with horror4 99 99 99 99 ,unless it be supposed by bishops and others1 then1 that a peculiar value attaches to the production of a baby shortly to be buried1 the suggestion evidently is the same as that to which every humanitarian and social and patriotic impulse guides us1 namely1 the reduction of the death-rate1 and especially of infant mortality4 99 99 99 99 ,hence the ,eugenists and the ,episcopal ,bench may join hands so far as the reduction of the death-rate is concerned1 and the only persons with whom a practical quarrel remains are those who applaud the mother who boasts that she has buried twelve4 ,the ,eugenists urge that if the principles applied to plant-life by that master of his science1 ,luther ,burbank1 were applied to the production and rearing of young human life1 in a few generations we should have a race so far advanced beyond the present average as to be almost god-like by comparison4 ,but this means a far different thing from the ideal of merely more children--it requires the manifestation of the ideal of better children1 well born1 carefully reared1 well nourished1 and scientifically educated4 ,and this rearing1 nourishing1 and education must not be confined to the physical part of the child's nature--it must proceed along the three-fold line of physical1 mental1 and moral culture4 ,the ,eugenists have been actively concerned with the question of the prevention of the transmission of undesirable qualities to offspring4 ,they have held that while crime is more frequently rather the result of evil environment than of criminal heredity1 nevertheless there is a large class of children who are born criminals--that is1 born with such a decided tendency toward criminal acts that the slightest influence of environment may1 and often does1 serve to kindle into a blaze the undesirable and criminal characteristics4 ,dr4 ,saleeby says of this3 ,in the face of the work of ,lombroso and his school1 exaggerated though some of their conclusions may be1 we cannot dispute the existence of born criminals and the criminal type4 ,there are undoubtedly many such persons in modern society4 ,there is an abundance of crime which no education1 practiced or imaginable1 would eliminate4 ,present day psychology and medicine and1 for the matter of that1 ordinary common-sense1 can readily distinguish cases at both extremes--the mattoid or semi-insane criminal at one end1 and the decent citizen who yields to exceptional temptation at the other end4 ,the ,eugenists quote as an instance of the above contention the celebrated case of ,max ,jukes1 a notorious criminal and drunkard1 who as the records show us was the ancestor of a foul brood of descendants which cost the ,state of ,new ,york over a million dollars in seventy-five years4 ,among these descendants were #bjj thieves and murderers2 #bhe subject to idiocy1 blindness or deafness2 #ij prostitutes2 and #cjj children born prematurely4 ,it is possible that a portion of this evil result was caused not alone by bad heredity but1 at least in part1 by the suggestion of the environment1 and the influence of example of the parents2 but even so1 the primal cause was that ,max ,jukes1 the notoriously unfit ancestor1 was allowed to propagate this evil brood1 destined to be born and reared under the most adverse conditions and environment4 ,the ,eugenists also place great importance upon the prevention of insane persons becoming parents4 ,to those who consider that this is but an exceptional and rare occurrence1 the ,eugenists reply that a large percentage of insane patients in asylums have a family history showing insanity in one or both parents2 that reports show that there are thousands of feeble-minded women in every large city allowed to 7yes1 often actually compelled to7 bear children to their husbands or male companions4 ,ribot says3 ,every work on insanity is a plea for heredity4 ,maudsley says3 ,more than one-fourth and less than one-half of all insanity is heredity4 ,riddell says3 ,of the great causes of insanity1 alcoholism is perhaps the greatest1 while morbid heredity ranks next4 ,insanity is largely the result of degeneracy4 ,most persons who become mentally deranged are the offspring of neurotic1 drunken1 insane or feeble-minded parents4 ,while it by no means follows that one must manifest traits of insanity or mental disturbance simply because one of his parents suffered from a like trouble--and we believe that many a one has frightened himself into those conditions by pure auto-suggestion inspired by a one-sided belief in heredity--still it is unquestionably true that a fair mind must concede that wisdom and a proper sense of right and justice would require that parents of unsound mental tendencies should not be permitted to bring into the world children who might inherit a tendency toward a like1 or worse1 condition4 ,the ,eugenists also have called the attention of the thinking public to the danger of deaf-and-dumb persons transmitting their condition to their offspring4 ,of this ,dr4 ,saleeby says3 ,the condition known as deaf-mutism is congenital or due to innate defect in about one-half of all the cases in ,great ,britain4 ,dr4 ,love says3 ,in every institution1 examples may be found of deaf-mute children who have had one or two deaf parents or grandparents1 and of two or more deaf-mute children belonging to one family4 ,a case is noted in ,england where a deaf-and-dumb man having been killed by an accident1 his relatives could not identify the body1 as the wife and sister were blind1 deaf-and-dumb1 and the four children were deaf-and-dumb4 ,the man and his wife were both deaf-and-dumb when they were married1 the wife being also blind4 ,perhaps no subject has aroused the active ,eugenists to a greater pitch of indignation than the ascertained results of the effect upon offspring of parents addicted to the over-indulgence in alcohol4 ,it is known by the records that a large number of cases of feeble-mindedness and actual insanity are due to inebriety of parents1 and often of grandparents1 or ancestors for several generations4 ,epilepsy1 idiocy1 and criminality are also traceable in many cases to drunkenness of parents4 ,dr4 ,saleeby1 moved by indignation by the ascertained results of the investigations of the ,eugenists1 has said3 ,parenthood must be forbidden to the dipsomaniac1 the chronic inebriate1 or the drunkard1 whether male or female4 ,professor ,grenier1 writing on the subject of alcoholic degeneration1 has said3 ,alcohol is one of the most active agents in the degeneracy of the race4 ,the indelible effects produced by heredity are not to be remedied4 ,alcoholic descendants are often inferior beings1 a notable proportion coming under the categories of idiots1 imbeciles1 and the debilitated4 ,the morbid influence of parents is maximum when conception has taken place at the time of drunkenness of one or both parties4 ,those with hereditary alcoholism show a tendency to excess2 half of them become alcoholics2 a large number of cases of neurosis have their principal cause in alcoholic antecedents4 ,the larger portion of the sons of alcoholics have convulsions in early infancy4 ,epilepsy is almost characteristic of the alcoholism of parents1 when it is not an index of a nervous disposition of the whole family4 ,the alcoholic delirium is more frequent in the descendants of alcoholics than in their parents1 which indicates their intellectual degeneration4 ,what has been said of alcoholism of course applies to the use of narcotics and other drugs4 ,galton cites a case in which a man who had had two healthy children acquired the cocaine habit1 and while suffering from the symptoms of chronic poisoning engendered two idiots4 ,and yet had anyone publicly instructed the wife of this man regarding the use of contraceptives1 such person would have been liable to imprisonment6 ,another subject engaging the active attention of the ,eugenists1 and which is discussed to considerable extent in the privacy of their meetings1 but which must be voiced only very carefully in the public prints owing to the murderous silence which society prefers to maintain on the subject1 is of the influence of venereal diseases as racial poisons transmissible to offspring4 ,dr4 ,saleeby has well said3 ,no other disease can rival syphilis in its hideous influence upon parenthood and the future4 ,but it is no crime for a man to marry1 infect his innocent bride and their children2 no crime against the laws of our lawgivers1 but a heinous outrage against nature's decrees4 ,when at last our laws are based on nature's laws1 criminal marriages of this kind may be put an end to4 ,the above stated facts are not pleasant reading for most persons1 and many pass over them hurriedly1 thereby hoping to escape the mental discomfort which the hearing and learning of unpleasant truths so often produce4 ,but the subject will not down--it is forcing itself to the attention of the thinking members of society today in a manner which will admit of no escape4 ,these facts must be faced1 and steps must be taken by society to protect the race from degeneration and actual ,race ,suicide4 ,and the ,science of ,eugenics is pointing the way4 ,dr4 ,saleeby says of this phase of ,eugenics3 ,negative ,eugenics will seek to define the diseases and defects which are really hereditary2 to name those the transmission of which is already known to occur1 and to raise the average of the race by interfering as far as may be with the parenthood of persons suffering from these transmissible disorders4 ,only thus can certain of the gravest evils of society1 as1 for instance1 feeble-mindedness1 insanity1 and crime due to inherited degeneracy1 be suppressed2 and if ,race-,culture were absolutely incapable of effecting anything whatever in the way of increasing the fertility of the worthiest classes and individuals1 its services in the negative direction here briefly outlined would be of incalculable value4 ,to this policy we shall most certainly come2 but here1 as in other cases1 ,i trust far more to the influence of an educated public opinion than in legislation2 though there are certain forms of transmissible disease1 interfering in no way with the responsibility of the individual1 the transmission of which should be visited with the utmost rigor of the law1 and regarded as utterly criminal1 no less than sheer murder4 ,but the ,science of ,eugenics is concerned not only with telling society what not to do--it is equally concerned with telling it what to do4 ,it has its ,positive as well as its ,negative side4 ,after pointing out the evils of procreation on the part of the unfit1 it then proceeds to tell the fit how to best serve the interests of the unborn4 ,eugenics is not satisfied with merely plucking out the foul weeds which have encumbered the fair garden of life--it seeks also to furnish to the real flowers better soil1 and improved conditions1 and to give them the benefit of the best selection1 breeding and conditions1 that they may evolve and improve into still more glorious products of nature's power4 ,the ,eugenists earnestly advocate laws and public opinion tending to protect mothers and expectant mothers4 ,they recognize the supremacy of motherhood1 and aim to encourage and protect it4 ,they decry the common indifference toward this function which is all important in the preservation and evolution of the race1 and which neglect is well expressed in the complaint of ,bouchacourt1 who said3 ,the dregs of the human species--the blind1 the deaf-mute1 the degenerate1 the imbecile1 the epileptic--are better protected than are pregnant women4 ,the ,eugenists believe in educating women for motherhood1 and in protecting them from conditions which interfere with that important function of their life4 ,they are not fully agreed upon the methods to be pursued in cases of expectant mothers whose lack of proper support prevents them from obtaining the proper nourishment1 etc41 but in a general way it may be said that they agree in holding that the expectant mother should be looked upon as the honored ward of the ,state1 and should be properly provided for from the public funds4 ,the ,eugenists also believe in educating the father1 or prospective father4 ,they hold that every man should be made acquainted with the duties and responsibilities of fatherhood1 and should so conduct and order his life that the production and rearing of a family should result as a consummation of a long cherished ideal4 ,the man should be taught to prepare himself1 physically1 mentally1 and morally1 for his coming responsibility to the race4 ,he should also be taught to respect and regard motherhood1 and to make it his business to secure and preserve the best possible conditions for the mother of his own children1 and the mothers of other men's children1 not as an act of mere sentiment1 but as a public duty1 a patriotic service1 a racial obligation4 ,the ,eugenists believe in teaching young men and young women on the subject of sexual physiology and psychology4 ,they hold that the race is now criminally negligent in such matters1 and that young men and women1 by the thousands1 enter into the state of marriage and parenthood with no knowledge regarding the sacred functions which they are to bring into activity4 ,they believe that the first requisite of scientific parenthood is and must be a sane knowledge of the physiology of sex1 and the psychology of sex4 ,there must be sane education concerning the sexual organism1 its laws1 its functions1 its normal and healthy condition1 its anatomy1 physiology and hygiene4 ,the average physician of several years' experience can tell tales of almost incredible ignorance on the part of persons who have recently entered into the relationship of marriage4 ,in some cases the ignorance is more than a mere absence of knowledge1 for it consists of an array of false-knowledge1 untruthful ideas1 of often serious importance4 ,it is sad enough to think how the ignorance and false-knowledge may work results hurtful to the young couple themselves1 but it is even sadder to realize that these same ignorant or wrongly-informed young persons must gain their real knowledge through sad experience which is to be paid for not only by themselves but also by their children4 ,it is a hard saying1 but true that the knowledge of the majority of young parents is gained by experience paid for by their unborn children4 ,the ,eugenists look forward to the coming of the day when it will be regarded as reprehensible to allow young persons to enter into the relationship of marriage without a sane1 practical knowledge of their own reproductive organism and functions1 and of their physiological duties to themselves1 their companions in marriage1 and to their children born or to be born4 ,we may1 in due time1 see a practical realization of the ideal set forth by ,dr4 ,newell ,dwight ,hillis1 who said3 ,the ,state that makes a man study two years before a license as druggist is given2 that makes a young lawyer or doctor study three years before being permitted to practice1 ought to ask the young man or young woman to pass an equally rigid examination before license is given to found an ,american home1 and set up an ,american family4 ,this idea of the scientific preparation for parenthood is a new one for many1 but the coming generations will recognize its importance to the individual and to the race4 ,many who recognize the influence of pre-natal culture in so far as is concerned the physical1 mental1 and moral condition of the mother during pregnancy1 have failed to perceive that an equally important influence is exerted by the physical1 mental and moral condition of ,,both ,,parents before the conception of the child4 ,these conditions are reflected1 often very markedly1 in the child1 and an avoidance of consideration in this respect is often almost criminal negligence4 ,eugenists deplore the haphazard way in which children are so often conceived4 ,more care is often bestowed upon the conditions precedent to the conception of the domestic animals than is given by their owners to the conditions preceding the conception of their own offspring4 ,too often1 while in the case of the domestic animals the utmost care is exercised regarding the arrangement for the breeding of valuable stock1 the human offspring are mere accidents1 conceived without intention1 forethought1 or preparation2 and too often is such conception undesired1 regretted and unwelcome4 ,this state of affairs is utterly unworthy of civilized man with the knowledge of science at his command1 and the intellect and will with which to carry out the plain dictates of reason and duty4 ,nature does her part unhindered in the case of the lower animals1 and man should use her principles as a foundation upon which to build a structure which reason and intelligence should supply the materials4 ,instead of this1 man too often discards ,nature's plain rules entirely1 and also refuses to use his reason1 and1 instead1 allows himself to be ruled by selfish inclinations and desires1 and ignoble motives4 ,to those who may ask3 ,but why should we give all this time1 care and trouble to the young of the race--what is their claim upon us that demands so much of us in return for so little on their part8 the answer is plain4 ,we should do this not alone because of the natural feeling of love for our own offspring which is innate in all normal human beings1 but we should also do this because we owe a duty to the race in and which we are units--a duty which demands that we supply to the race the best material1 and only the best1 for its preservation1 continuance1 and betterment4 ,the spirit of the age is pointing out the direction indicated by ,eugenics and scientific ,birth ,control4 ,and it is a spirit in which the best mental and spiritual powers of man are called into action4 ,a new consciousness--the race consciousness--is awakening within the best of the race1 and accompanying it is a new ,,conscience--a race conscience--is manifesting within us1 and is giving the individual a sense of right and wrong toward future generations1 just as his earlier-awakened social conscience has opened his eyes to his duties toward his neighbors4 ,man is beginning to feel that all men are his brothers1 and that the future generations of men are in a sense his children4 ,the new ideal of ,let us build posterity worthily has begun to supplant the old narrow idea humorously expressed in the famous bull of ,sir ,boyce ,roche1 who said1 ,why should we do anything for posterity--what has posterity ever done for us8 ,as ,dr4 ,saleeby has well said3 ,if the struggle toward individual perfection be religious1 so assuredly is the struggle1 less egoistic indeed1 toward racial perfection4 99 99 99 ,and they that shall be of us shall build up the old waste places2 for we shall raise up the foundations of many generations4 ,and in all this1 also1 we find ever present the distinctive note of modern thought1 viz41 ,,not ,,more ,,children1 ,,but ,,better ,,ones2 ,,not ,,more ,,births1 ,,but ,,less ,,deaths ,,and ,,more ,,survivals2 ,,not ,,numerical ,,birth ,,values1 ,,but ,,qualitative ,,birth ,,values ,,and ,,numerical ,,survival ,,values4 ,,lesson ,,vii ,,pre-,,natal ,,influences ,the term ,pre-,natal of course means before birth1 and ,pre-,natal ,influences are those influences exerted upon the child before its birth into the world4 ,the students of ,eugenics are vitally interested in the subject of ,pre-,natal ,influences1 as they recognize that therein is to be found the secret of much which will work along the line of better offspring1 and general race-betterment4 ,pre-,natal ,influences 7as the term is used in the present consideration of the subject7 may be considered as manifesting in three phases1 as follows3 7#a7 ,the influence of the physical1 mental1 and moral family characteristics of the parents1 transmitted to the child along the lines of heredity4 7#b7 ,the influence of the acquired personal characteristics of the parents 7particularly the acquired characteristics which are especially active at and just previous to the time of actual conception71 transmitted to the child along the lines of heredity4 7#c7 ,the influence of maternal impressions 7after conception1 and during the period of gestation or pregnancy7 transmitted to the child physiologically and psychologically4 ,i shall now ask you to proceed with me to a consideration of the various phases of ,pre-,natal ,influences coming under the above name three general classes1 and the principal factors involved therein4 ,heredity in ,general4 ,by heredity is meant the tendency which there is in each animal or plant1 in all essential characters1 to resemble its parents2 or the hereditary transmission of physical or psychical characteristics of parents to their offspring4 ,there is a great disagreement among the authorities as to how far the principle of heredity really extends1 and the real causes of heredity are in dispute4 ,in the present consideration we shall1 of course1 pass over the technical phases of the subject1 and shall touch only upon the general features and principles involved4 ,shute1 in his work entitled ,organic ,evolution1 says3 ,that an offspring always inherits from its parents many of their characteristics is well known2 that it always varies1 more or less1 from them1 is also equally well known4 ,heredity and variation are twin forces that play upon every creature1 holding it rigidly true to the parental type or compelling more or less divergence therefrom1 according to the strength of the one or other power2 so that every creature is the resultant of the activities of these two great parallel forces4 ,variation is co-extensive with heredity1 and every living creature gives evidence of the existence of variations4 ,mental heredity can be illustrated by studying the genealogies of such persons as ,aristotle1 ,goethe1 ,darwin1 ,coleridge1 ,milton1 etc4 ,probably the ,bach family1 of ,germany1 supply one of the best illustrations of the inheritance of intellectual character that we know of4 ,the record of this family begins in #aeej1 lasting through eight generations to #ahjj4 ,for about two centuries it gave to the world musicians and singers of high rank4 ,the founder was ,weit ,bach1 a baker of ,presburg1 who sought recreation from his routine work in song and music4 ,for nearly two hundred years his descendants1 who were very numerous in ,franconia1 ,thuringia1 and ,saxony1 retained a musical talent1 being all church singers and organists4 ,when the members of the family had become very numerous and widely separated from one another1 they decided to meet at a stated place once a year4 ,often more than a hundred persons--men1 women1 and children--bearing the name of ,bach were thus brought together4 ,this family reunion continued until nearly the middle of the eighteenth century4 ,in this family of musicians1 twenty-nine became eminent4 ,inheritance of moral character is well known4 ,heredity1 in its relation to crime and pauperism1 has been thoroughly investigated by ,mr4 ,dugdale in his most instructive little work entitled ,the ,jukes4 ,in this work the descendants of one vicious and neglected girl are traced through a large number of generations4 ,it reveals that a large proportion of the descendants of this woman became licentious1 for1 in the course of six generations1 fifty-two percent of the children were illegitimate4 ,it shows also that there were seven times more paupers among the women than among the average women of the state1 and nine times more paupers among the male descendants than among the average men of the state4 ,the inheritance of physical peculiarities is so obvious as to need no illustration4 ,among the ancients the ,romans stereotyped its truth by the use of such expressions as 'the labiones' or thick-lipped2 'the nasones1' or big-nosed2 'the capitones1' or big-headed1 and 'the buccones1' or swollen-cheeked1 etc4 ,in more recent times we read of the ,austrian lip and the ,bourbon nose4 ,but in all considerations of the subject of heredity1 one must always remember that the inheritance of physical1 mental1 and moral characteristics is not alone from the immediate parents1 but rather from many ancestors further removed in order and time4 ,back of each person there is a long line of paternal and maternal ancestors1 extending back to the beginning of the race4 ,and in that line there are influences for good and evil1 awaiting favorable environment for awakening into new life unless restrained by the will of the individual4 ,as ,shute says3 ,there will come a time when the fertilized ovum will have a highly complex nucleus composed of many different ancestral groups of hereditary units4 ,one often hears the expression that a child is a chip of the old block2 but this is only a very partial truth1 for the child is pre-eminently a composite chip of many old blocks4 ,and ,luther ,burbank has well said3 ,heredity means much2 but what is heredity8 ,not some hideous ancestral spectre1 forever crossing the path of a human being4 ,heredity is simply the sum of all the environments of all past generations on the responsive ever-moving life-forces4 ,transmission of ,acquired ,characteristics4 ,one of the great disputes of biology is that concerning the question of whether or not parents may transmit to their offspring their personal acquired characteristics as well as those inherited from their line of ancestors4 ,one side of the controversy points to the observed cases of children and grandchildren resembling each other1 physically1 mentally1 and morally1 in acquired characteristics2 but the other side explains these facts as due to environment rather than to heredity4 ,the best authorities seem to favor a middle-view1 holding that acquired characteristics may be and are transmitted as tendencies in the offspring4 ,thus as each succeeding generation manifests the acquired tendency1 it adds a cumulative force to the family heredity4 ,at the same time they hold that environment is needed to draw out the inherited tendency4 ,for instance1 a child born with evil tendencies1 and placed in an evil environment1 will most likely manifest evil conduct4 ,the same child1 if placed in a good environment1 will not have the evil tendencies drawn out by the environment1 and will probably not manifest evil conduct4 ,the same rule applies to the child drawn with good tendencies4 ,in short1 it is held that heredity and environment tend to balance each other--the something within is called out 7or not called out7 by the something without4 ,the life of the individual is held to be a continuous action and reaction between heredity and environment1 and both of these elements must be taken into consideration when we think of the subject4 ,shute says3 ,as influencing a man's life and character1 which is the strongest factor1 heredity or environment8 ,in our opinion1 as the result of long study and reading1 where we have an average man of a sound mind in a sound body1 there environment will be the strongest factor whether for good or evil--that is1 in men in general1 who have no organic defect1 such as insanity or idiocy1 and allied affections1 the stronger force is environment2 but in those having such defect1 heredity is the controlling power1 and we may add1 the destroying power4 ,the ,eugenic ,rule ,regarding ,heredity4 ,it is one of the cardinal principles of ,eugenics that those with a bad family history should not become parents4 ,by this it is not meant that the manifestation of undesirable tendencies1 physical1 mental1 and moral1 on the part of certain individuals of a family necessarily constitutes a bad family history4 ,on the contrary1 many of the best families have1 from time to time1 individuals who manifest undesirable tendencies1 and who are in general out of harmony with the general family standard4 ,it is an old axiom that there is a black sheep in every flock2 and the flock must be measured by its general standard1 and not by its exceptional black sheep4 ,a bad family history is one in which the family has clearly manifested certain undesirable physical1 mental1 and moral traits in a marked degree1 and in a sufficient number of instances to establish a standard4 ,some families have a bad family history for inebriety2 others for epilepsy2 others for licentiousness2 others for dishonesty--the history extending over several generations1 and including a marked number of individuals in each generation4 ,individuals of such a family should refrain from bearing children2 and if children be born to such the greatest care should be exercised by the parents in the matter of surrounding the child with the environment least calculated to draw out the undesirable characteristic4 ,the child has a right to be well born1 and to be protected from being brought into the world subjected to the handicap of a bad family history4 ,if individuals cannot endow their children with a good family history1 they should refrain from bearing children--such is the ,eugenic advice on the subject4 ,the same rule applies to the question of acquired characteristics of the parents--especially those acquired characteristics which are especially active at or just before the time of the contemplated conception4 ,though the family history of both husband and wife be ever so good1 it is held that if one or both of the parents have acquired undesirable and transmissible characteristics1 physical1 mental1 or moral1 then the question of bringing children into the world should be carefully considered1 and conscientiously decided1 after competent authorities have been consulted concerning the case4 ,the prospective child should always be given the benefit of the doubt in such cases4 ,to bring children into the world merely to gratify personal pleasure or pride1 regardless of the welfare of the child1 is something utterly unworthy of an intelligent and moral human being4 ,fitness for ,parenthood4 ,in determining the fitness for parenthood1 on the part of husband and wife1 the mental1 physical1 and moral qualities should all be taken into consideration4 ,weak or abnormal mentality2 chronic immorality or perverted moral sense2 or diseased or abnormal physical conditions--these should always be regarded as bars to parenthood4 ,to violate this principle is to deliberately violate the fundamental laws of ,nature1 as well as those principles which are accepted as representing the best thought and customs of the race4 ,a mental1 moral1 or physical pervert or defective is manifestly an unfit1 considered as a prospective parent4 ,parenthood on the part of such individuals is not only a crime against society1 but always a base injustice perpetrated upon the offspring4 ,a very interesting phase of the general subject now before us for consideration is that which touches upon the effect of those particular acquired characteristics which are especially active at the time1 or just before the time of conception4 ,the best authorities hold that the influences manifest and active in the prospective father and mother during the period immediately preceding conception will have a marked effect upon the character of the child4 ,the following quotations from authorities on the subject will serve to illustrate this idea4 ,riddell says3 ,the transient physical1 mental and moral conditions of the parents1 prior to the initial of life1 at the time of inception1 do affect offspring4 ,dr4 ,cowan says3 ,through the rightly directed wills of the mother and father1 preceding and during ante-natal life1 the child's form of body1 character of mind1 and purity of soul are formed and established4 ,that in its plastic shape1 during ante-natal life1 like clay in the hand of the potter1 it can be molded into absolutely any form of body and soul the parents may knowingly desire4 ,newton says3 ,numerous facts indicate that offspring may be affected and their tendencies shaped by a great variety of influences1 among which moods and influences more or less permanent may be included4 ,riddell says3 ,the influence of environmental conditions and pre-natal training are ever evident4 ,colts from dams that have been under regular training are faster than those from the same mother foaled before she had been trained4 ,the puppies of the trained shepherd dog learn much more rapidly than do those from the untrained animal4 ,no sportsman would think of paying a high price for a puppy1 the mother of which was stupid and untrained4 ,the same law applies1 only with greater effect1 to the human family4 ,greer says3 ,no married couple will desire1 design and love a babe into existence without the first requisite--good physical health4 ,grant ,allen says3 ,to prepare ourselves for the duties of maternity and paternity by making ourselves as vigorous and healthful as we can be1 is a duty we owe to children unborn4 ,holbrook says3 ,it is essential1 therefore1 that if children are to be well-born1 the parents should be careful that at the moment of procreation they are fitted for the performance of so serious an act4 ,another authority says3 ,generation should be preceded by regeneration4 ,cowan says3 ,in the conception of a new life1 the mass of mankind observes no law unless it be the law of chance4 ,out of the licentious or incontinent actions of a husband's nature1 conception after a time is discovered to take place4 ,no preparation of body1 mind1 or soul is made by either parent4 ,not more than one child in perhaps ten thousand is brought into the world with the consent and loving desire of its parents4 ,the other nine thousand1 nine hundred1 and ninety nine children are endowed with the accumulated sins of the parents4 ,is it any wonder that there is so much sin1 sickness1 drunkenness1 suffering1 licentiousness1 murder1 suicide1 and premature death1 and so little of purity1 chastity1 success1 goodness1 happiness and long life in the world8 ,preparation for ,parenthood4 ,the ancient ,greeks attached great importance to the mental1 moral and physical condition of the parents at the moment of conception1 and for a period preceding the same4 ,the ,investigations of modern scientists have tended to corroborate the facts upon which the ancient theories were based4 ,modern science teaches that the life-cells of each parent are impressed with the condition of the respective parents1 and retain this impression until they meet and finally coalesce and combine1 the combined cell then receiving the result of the original impressions4 ,the best authorities on the subject claim that a reasonable time of self-restraint and continence should be observed by the prospective parents before the conception of the child4 ,this contention is borne out by the experience of the breeders of fine horses and cattle1 who have discovered that the best offspring are produced when the animals have been restrained from sexual intercourse for a reasonable time2 this precaution being particularly observed in the case of the male parent animal4 ,writers on the subject cite a number of instances to prove that this law maintains in human as well is in animal life4 ,it is claimed that ,sir ,isaac ,newton was conceived after a period of over a year of total sexual abstinence on the part of his parents4 ,many other celebrated men are said to have been conceived after an absence from home on the part of the father1 or a temporary absence from home on the part of the mother4 ,many physicians are able to cite many similar cases observed in the course of their own experience4 ,the prospective parents should endeavor to bring themselves up to a high degree of physical health and well-being4 ,the blood of the mother should be enriched by proper nutrition1 and the organs of the body should be brought to a state of normal functioning along the lines of digestion1 assimilation1 and elimination4 ,the minds of both parents should be exercised by reading the right kind of books1 and by paying attention to natural objects of interest4 ,a little change of scene will tend to awaken the powers of observation and attention4 ,riddell says3 ,if the prospective parents will habitually exercise the reasoning faculties and inventive powers1 usually the offspring will have a fair degree of inventive talent and originality1 even where these qualities are originally deficient in the parents4 ,when there is a considerable natural talent or where there are latent inventive powers1 constant training on the part of the parents will usually give the offspring exceptional powers in this direction4 ,the prospective parents should also develop and exercise their moral faculties in the period preceding conception4 ,this course will tend to reproduce the same quality in the child4 ,the reverse of this1 alas1 is also true4 ,a case is cited of a man who procreated a child while plotting a nefarious crime2 and the child in after life manifested a tendency toward theft1 roguery and rascality1 even at a very early age4 ,the lack of moral fibre so often noticed in the sons of rich men who have attained their success through questionable methods is perhaps as much attributable to these pre-conceptual influences as to the spoiling environment of the child after birth4 ,in the period of physical1 mental1 and moral preparation for parenthood the leading thought of both parents should be3 ,,do ,,we ,,wish ,,our ,,child ,,to ,,be ,,like ,,this8 ,this thought1 if carried as an ideal1 will act both in the direction of self-restraint and self-development4 ,the actual time of the conception of the new life should be carefully chosen1 so that it may occur under the best circumstances and conditions4 ,the suggestions embodied in the preceding paragraphs should have been carefully observed2 and the time chosen should be one in which a peaceful and happy state of mind is possessed by both parents4 ,the ovum of the woman is believed to have its greatest vitality about the time of the close of each menstrual period1 and many good authorities hold that this is not only the natural period for sexual intercourse1 but is also the exact period in which the life-forces in the ovum are strongest2 and that1 consequently1 the child conceived at this period is likely to be stronger and more vigorous than the one conceived at a later time between the menstrual periods4 ,dr4 ,stall says3 ,medical authorities attach great importance to the mental condition at the moment of conjunction and conception4 ,it is quite universally believed that this is a moment of unparalleled importance to the welfare of the future being4 ,it is an awful crime to beget life carelessly1 and when in improper and unworthy mental states4 ,some people seem to think that the matter of begetting a child1 like the matter of selecting a wife1 should be left wholly to blind chance4 ,neither of these two important events can be too much safeguarded by wise and thoughtful consideration4 ,if conception is permitted to take place when either one or both of the parents are in bad health2 if the wife is an unwilling mother1 and the embryo is developed by her while her whole nature rebels against the admission into the family of a child who is not wanted1 the children begotten and born under such circumstances can never be other than sickly1 nervous and fretful during their entire childhood1 and cross and uncompanionable throughout their whole lives4 ,much of the differences which exist between children of the same parents may be easily attributed to the different bodily and mental conditions of the parents at the period of conjunction1 the changed physical1 intellectual and emotional states of the parents at the different periods of conception producing the corresponding differences in their offspring4 ,the results of purposed and prepared parenthood are so great and so desirable that a husband and wife should consider these matters carefully1 making preparations1 and approach the period when they would beget offspring and bring immortal beings into the world with the greatest thoughtfulness1 consideration1 and also with prayer4 ,dr4 ,hufeland says3 ,in my opinion1 it is of the utmost importance that the moment of conception should be confined to a period when the sensation of collected powers1 ardent passion1 and a mind cheerful and free from care1 invite to it on both sides4 ,riddell says3 ,the law of initial impressions is well established4 ,it has been understood and applied by stock-raisers for centuries4 ,experiments prove that the qualities most highly excited in animals prior to their union are most fully transmitted4 ,the speed of horses and the acquired characters of the dog have been improved by the applications of the law4 ,history and classic literature contain many references that recognize its importance1 like ,shakespeare's ',come on1 ye cowards2 ye were got in fear4' ,ancient laws forbade union while parents were intoxicated1 because such unions resulted in the production of drunkards and monstrosities4 ,the asylums for the feeble-minded contain hundreds of unfortunate ones that are the product of such unions4 ,the law of initial impressions1 like the other laws of heredity1 is traced most easily where morbid conditions are transmitted2 but fortunately it is quite as potential in the production of desirable qualities4 ,unusual excitement to the social1 intellectual or religious powers on the parents just prior to the inception of the new life frequently produce in the child corresponding tendencies4 ,dr4 ,stockham says3 ,many a drunkard owes his lifelong appetite for alcohol to the fact that the inception of his life could be traced to a night of dissipation on the part of his father4 ,fleming says3 ,not only do drunkards transmit to their descendants tendency toward insanity and crime1 but even habitually sober parents who at the moment of conception are in a temporary state of drunkenness beget children who are epileptic or paralytic1 idiotic or insane1 very often microcephalic1 or with remarkable weakness of mind1 which is transformed at the first favorable occasion into insanity4 ,the time of conception should undoubtedly be chosen to correspond to a time in which the sex-powers of both parents are at their maximum4 ,this is arrived at by a reasonable period of previous continence and abstinence from sexual relations between the married couple1 and by an observance of the natural law which renders the woman most strong sexually at the close of the menstrual period4 ,the husband1 as well as the wife1 is most strong sexually at this period1 as under normal conditions his sex-power is most actively called forth by that of the woman at this period4 ,at this period the wave of sex-power is at its height1 and this is the best time for the beginning of the new life4 ,as ,riddell says3 ,strong1 vigorous1 chaste sexuality at the time of conception is of supreme importance2 it is indispensable to good results4 ,no number of other conditions or factors can be so favorable as to justify the creation of a new life when the vitality of either parent is low4 ,parents transmit their physical constitution1 intellect and morals only to the extent of the sex-power at the time of inception4 ,it is needless to say that there should exist between the prospective parents a strong bond of affection and attraction4 ,by an irony of civilized life1 the term love child is applied only to the offspring of unmarried lovers--men and women whose affection or passion have run away with their judgment1 and who have loved not wisely1 but too well4 ,some of the world's greatest men and women have been love children of this kind2 and in such cases it is probably true that their physical and mental strength has been the result of the ardent feeling animating the parents at the moment of conception4 ,such children seldom result from the tired bed or worn-out passion1 love killed by sexual excesses1 indifference on the part of one of the participants of the union1 duty intercourse without affection or passion1 or forced sexual relations4 ,every child should be a love child in the true sense of the term4 ,the term should be one of respect1 not of reproach4 ,there should be no children but love children4 ,the fruit of the perfect mating and marriage should be the perfect love child--and it would always be so if husbands and wives would but observe the laws of the normal1 natural1 sex-life4 ,and1 last of all--and perhaps more important than all--is the fact that at the moment of conception the minds and hearts of both of the prospective parents should be united in a strong love and desire for the hoped-for child4 ,at that moment their best natures should blend into each other1 and their love for each other fuse into a new love--the love of the child of the union4 ,under such circumstances1 in such act the ,cosmic ,forces flow unhindered through the beings of the parents1 and the new life is begun under the approving smile of ,nature4 ,maternal ,impressions4 ,one of the oldest and most firmly-rooted beliefs of the race is that which holds that the pregnant mother may1 and often does1 consciously or unconsciously1 impress upon her unborn child certain mental1 moral1 or physical traits4 ,the majority of persons accept this idea as self-evident1 and are able to cite cases within their own personal experience which go to prove the correctness of the popular belief4 ,but certain modern authorities have sought to tear down this belief1 and to discredit the general idea4 ,let us briefly consider both sides of this question4 ,on the side of the generally accepted belief1 ,riddell says3 ,the more ,i study the influence of maternal impressions upon the life1 mentality and character of men1 the more ,i am led to believe that the education and moral training that a child receives before it sees the light of day are the most influential1 and1 therefore1 the most important part of its education4 ,newton says3 ,a mother may1 during the period of gestation1 exercise some influence1 by her own voluntary mental and physical action1 either unwittingly or purposely1 in determining the traits and tendencies of her offspring4 ,this is now a common belief among intelligent people4 ,every observant teacher could doubtless bear witness to the same general facts1 and it would be easy to fill a volume with testimonials from various sources illustrative and confirmatory of the law under discussion4 ,such facts establish beyond question the conviction that the mother has it largely in her power to confer on her child such a tendency of mind and conformation of brain as shall not only facilitate the acquisition of knowledge in any specific direction1 but make it certain that such knowledge will be sought and acquired4 ,dr4 ,fordyce ,baker says3 ,the weight of authority must be conceded to be in favor of the idea that maternal impressions may effect the growth1 form and character of a forming child4 ,dr4 ,rokitansky says3 ,the question whether mental emotions do influence the development of the child must be answered ',yes6' ,dr4 ,brittain says3 ,the singular effects produced on the unborn child by the sudden mental emotions of the mother are remarkable examples of a kind of electrotyping on the sensitive surface of living forms4 ,it is doubtless true that the mind's action in such cases may increase or diminish the molecular deposits in the several portions of the system4 ,the precise place which each separate particle assumes may be determined by the influence of thought or feeling4 ,if1 for example1 there exists in the mother any unusual tendency of the vital forces to the brain at the critical period1 there will be a similar cerebral development and activity in the offspring4 ,newton says3 ,the human embryo is formed and developed in all its parts1 even to the minutest detail1 by and through the action of the vital1 mental1 and spiritual forces of the mother1 which forces act in and through the corresponding portions of her own organism4 ,and while this process may go on unconsciously1 or without the mother's voluntary participation or direction1 yet she may consciously and purposely so direct her activities as1 with a good degree of certainty1 to accomplish specifically desired ends in determining the traits and qualities of her offspring4 ,professor ,bayer says3 ,the influence of the mind of a prospective mother upon her child1 before its birth1 is of tremendous importance to its active existence as a member of society1 from the fact that it lies in the mother's power to shape its mentality1 that it may be a power for good or for evil4 ,the views of that school of thought which is opposed to this old and generally accepted idea of material impressions1 are ably presented by ,dr4 ,saleeby1 as follows3 ,consider the case4 ,the baby is at this time already a baby1 though rather small and uncanny1 floating in a fluid of its own manufacture4 ,its sole connection with the mother is by means of its umbilical cord--that is to say1 blood-vessels1 arterial and venous4 ,there is no nervous connection whatever2 absolutely nothing but the blood-stream1 carried along a system of tubes4 ,this blood is the child's blood1 which it sends forth from itself along the umbillical cord to a special organ1 the placenta or afterbirth1 half made by itself and half made by the mother1 in which the child's blood travels in thin vessels so close to the mother's blood that their contents can be interchanged4 ,yet the two streams never mix4 ,the child's blood1 having disposed of its carbonic acid and waste products to the mother's blood1 and having received therefrom oxygen and food1 returns so laden to the child4 ,pray how is the mother's reading of history to make the child a historian8 ,we see now how the learning of geometry on the part of the mother before its birth will not set her baby upon that royal road to geometry of which ,euclid rightly denied the existence--any more than after its birth4 ,such a thing does not happen--,,unless ,,we ,,are ,,to ,,call ,,in ,,telepathy4 ,all this argument may seem quite convincing--at first4 ,but when we begin to consider the matter carefully1 we begin to perceive the weak places in the argument as above presented4 ,in the first place1 it is known that emotions powerfully affect the condition1 quality1 and life of the blood4 ,we know that cheerful emotions impart certain uplifting qualities to the blood1 while depressing emotions correspondingly react upon it4 ,fear1 worry1 fright1 jealousy1 etc41 are actual poisons to the blood1 and have brought on diseased conditions to the persons manifesting these emotions4 ,moreover1 it is known that impaired quality of the blood reacts upon the brain4 ,is it so unreasonable1 then1 to hold that emotional states in the mother may react upon the mental and physical condition of the unborn child1 through the blood8 ,does not something similar occur in the case of the babe1 after its birth1 when it is affected by the conditions of its mother's milk brought on by her depressing emotions1 fright1 etc48 ,this would seem to explain at least the matter of emotional reactions between mother and unborn babe4 ,but the case is not closed with the presentation of the evidence of physiology1 important though that may be4 ,there is an entirely different field of science to be drawn upon before the case is closed4 ,the orthodox physiologist makes the mistake of supposing that all mental impulses and transmission of psychic energy require the service of nerves as channels of transmission4 ,while such channels are usually required1 we have good reasons for believing that there are exceptions to the rule4 ,there have been found tiny creatures1 possessing life and energy1 performing the functions of nourishment1 elimination1 and even of reproduction--and yet without a nervous system4 ,in one well-known instance1 that of the moneron1 we find not only an absence of a nervous system but also the lack of organs of any kind--and yet the creature lives1 acts1 moves1 eats1 thinks1 and reproduces itself4 ,then1 again1 consider the moving cells of the blood1 unconnected with the brain1 unattached to the nervous system1 and yet rushing to the work of repairing a wound1 or of repelling an intruding germ1 in obedience to a mental command from the controlling subconscious mental regions of the living creature4 ,how does the mental impulse reach these cells and others of similar nature in the system8 ,if we were not so sure of the facts1 might we not feel inclined to say with ,dr4 ,saleeby1 in the above quoted sentence3 ,such a thing does not happen--unless we are to call in telepathy4 ,moreover1 examining ,dr4 ,saleeby's statement1 we see mention made of the placenta at being half made by the embryo1 and half made by the mother4 ,how does this co-operation and co-ordination of effort and subconscious will arise8 ,how does the subconscious mentality of the embryo know that the subconscious mentality of the mother is making its half of the placenta1 or vice versa8 ,again1 how is the subconscious mentality of the mother affected by the presence and development of the child--how do her mammary glands respond to the growth and development of the child8 ,in short1 how is the manifest co-operation and co-ordination between the nature of the mother and the nature of the child possible1 unless there exists some psychical1 as well as some physical1 relation between the two beings4 ,the person conscientiously considering this subject must include in his thought the discoveries of modern psychology concerning what is known as the subconscious mind1 which controls the unconscious and instinctive functions of the physical body1 and also receives impressions and suggestions from the surface consciousness of its owner4 ,this factor being admitted to our thought on the subject1 we may find it possible to accept the idea of material impressions from mother to child operating from the subconscious mind of the mother to that of the child4 ,in other words1 that there is a subconscious mental connection1 as well as the physical connection1 between the mother and her unborn child4 ,many careful thinkers 7and observers7 find it just as easy to accept the fact of this strange sympathetic co-ordination between a mother and her unborn child as it is to accept the very frequent sympathetic sickness of the husband during the pregnancy of his wife--or of the sympathetic labor pains so often experienced by the husband during the confinement of his wife4 ,both of the latter two cases occur too often to permit the phenomenon to be denied off hand by those who would set aside all facts not agreeing with their particular personal theories4 ,there is no nervous system connecting husband and wife1 and of such cases the critic like ,dr4 ,saleeby might say3 ,such a thing does not happen--,,unless ,,we ,,call ,,in ,,telepathy6 ,the fact remains that many things actually happen which according to the orthodox physiological theories ,,cannot happen4 ,but they ,,do happen1 nevertheless1 whether we call it telepathy or merely label it certain facts1 the exact causes of which ,science in the present state of its knowledge 7or ignorance7 cannot definitely determine4 ,one irrefutable fact outweighs a ton of mere general denials of possibility4 ,it is recorded that the mother of ,charles ,kingsley believed in maternal impressions1 and during her period of pregnancy exercised her imagination and emotions in the direction of wishing1 and imagining1 that the coming child should have the same love of ,devonshire scenery that so delighted her4 ,the result proved her theory1 for though ,kingsley never saw ,devonshire until he was a man of thirty years of age1 every ,devonshire scene had a mysterious charm for him throughout his entire life4 ,it is said that ,robert ,burns was so strongly impressed parentally by the old ,scotch songs and ballads that his mother sung during her pregnancy1 that his whole nature longed to express itself in like measure and substance4 ,he always believed that his poetic spirit was kindled by this tendency on the part of his mother during the period preceding his birth4 ,the mother of ,napoleon ,bonaparte during several months of her pregnancy1 accompanied her husband during his military campaigns in ,corsica1 and during the entire term she lived in an atmosphere of battles1 military strategy1 and troops4 ,when the boy was very young he manifested an unusual interest in war and conquest1 and his whole mind had the military bent1 although his brothers were in no wise remarkable in this direction4 ,the artist1 ,flaxman1 stated that his mother had related to him how for several months prior to his birth she had spent many hours each day studying drawings and engravings1 and endeavoring to visualize by memory the beautiful figures of the human body drawn by the masters4 ,the result was that from early childhood ,flaxman manifested an intense delight in drawing2 and in after life his drawings were regarded as masterpieces4 ,he1 and his mother1 always attributed his talent to the parental impressions above mentioned4 ,buffalo ,bill was believed to owe his characteristics to the mental states of his mother1 the family living in ,missouri during the days of frontier fights and disturbances1 the mother being called upon several times to exercise resourceful courage and fortitude4 ,a well-known worker along the lines of liberal ,christianity is said to have attributed his tendencies in that direction to the prayers of his mother1 during her pregnancy1 that the child might be true to the teachings of the ,christ1 and should be a laborer in the cause of human brotherhood4 ,this man1 relating the fact1 said3 ,i may have been converted before ,i was born4 ,a well-known writer along the lines of moral philosophy is believed by friends to owe his talent to the earnest thoughts and hopes of his mother during pregnancy--she is said to have pictured the child as a son destined to become a great moral philosopher1 her mind being so firmly fixed on this fact that she felt it was already an assured fact4 ,the ,greeks were wont to surround the pregnant women with beautiful statuary1 and it is recorded that in many cases the children afterward born closely resembled these works of art and beauty4 ,it is claimed that many ,italian women closely resemble the face shown in ,raphael's ,madonna1 copies of this celebrated picture being quite common in ,italian households4 ,frances ,willard1 the temperance worker1 is said to have very closely resembled a young woman of whom her mother was very fond4 ,many family resemblances are believed to have arisen in this way1 rather than by heredity4 ,zerah ,colburn1 the mathematical prodigy whose feats astounded the scientific world in the early part of the last century1 is said to have derived his wonderful faculty from maternal impressions of this kind2 his mother is said to have occupied much of her time during her pregnancy in studying arithmetic and working problems1 the study being quite new to her and proving very interesting4 ,cases similar to those above quoted might be duplicated almost indefinitely4 ,the story is practically the same in each and every case4 ,the principle involved is always that the pregnant mother took a decided interest in certain subjects1 studies1 and work1 and that the child when born manifested at an early age similar tastes and inclinations4 ,but far more important to the average prospective parent is the fact that many authorities positively claim that ,,any ,,pregnant ,,mother ,,may ,,consciously ,,and ,,deliberately ,,influence ,,and ,,shape ,,the ,,character1 ,,physical1 ,,mental1 ,,and ,,moral ,,of ,,her ,,unborn ,,child4 ,newton well says1 on this subject3 ,in the cases usually given to the public bearing on this topic1 the moulding power appears to have been exercised merely by accident or chance2 that is1 without any intelligent purpose on the part of mothers to produce the results4 ,can there be any doubt that similar means1 if purposely and wisely adopted1 and applied with the greater care and precision which enlightened intention secure1 would produce under the same law even more perfect results4 ,is it not altogether probable that an intentional direction of the vital or mental forces to any particular portion of the brain will cause a development and activity in the corresponding portion of the brain of the offspring8 ,there seems to be no reasonable ground on which these propositions can be denied4 ,the brain is made up of a congeries of organs which are the organs of distinct faculties of the mind or soul4 ,it follows1 then1 that if the mother during gestation maintains a special activity of any one brain organ1 or group of organs1 in her brain1 she thereby causes more development of the corresponding organ or group in the brain of the fetus4 ,she thus determines a tendency in the child to special activity of the faculties1 of which such organs are the instruments4 ,it is plain1 furthermore1 that if any one organ or faculty may thus be cultivated before birth1 and its activity enhanced for life1 so may any other--and so may all4 ,it would seem1 then1 clearly within the bounds of possibility that a mother1 by pursuing a systematic and comprehensive method1 may give a well-rounded and harmoniously developed organism to her child--notwithstanding her own defects1 which1 under the unguided operation of hereditary law1 are likely to be repeated in her offspring4 ,or it is within her power to impart a leading tendency in any specific direction that she may deem desirable1 for a life of the highest usefulness4 ,,in ,,this ,,way ,,ancestral ,,defects ,,and ,,undesirable ,,hereditary ,,traits1 ,,of ,,whatever ,,nature ,,or ,,however ,,strong1 ,,may ,,be ,,overcome1 ,,or ,,in ,a ,,good ,,degree ,,counterbalanced ,,by ,,giving ,,greater ,,activity ,,to ,,counteracting ,,tendencies2 and1 in this way1 too1 it would appear the coveted gifts of genius may be conferred4 ,in other words1 it would seem to be within the mother's power1 by the voluntary and intelligent direction of her own forces1 in orderly and systematic methods1 both to mold the physical form to lines of beauty1 and shape the mental1 moral1 and spiritual features of her child to an extent to which no limit can be assigned4 ,i think that in the pages of this particular part of the book the prospective parent may find hints and general directions toward a clearly defined ideal1 which is carefully studied1 and as carefully put into practice will produce results far beyond the dreams of the average man and woman4 ,the hope is a magnificent one1 and the best testimony is in favor of the possibility of its actual realization4 ,,lesson ,,viii ,,eugenics ,,and ,,character ,the rapidly growing interest in ,eugenics1 and the scientific consideration of the world-wide decline in the birth-rate have drawn attention to the study of the eugenic factors which determine the production of high ability in offspring4 ,many distinguished investigators have conducted long and exhaustive investigations for the purpose of ascertaining and summarizing all possible biological data concerning the parentage and birth of the most notable persons born in ,european countries1 and to a lesser extent in ,america4 ,the investigations are now acquiring a fresh importance1 because1 while it is becoming recognized that we are gaining a control over the conditions of birth1 the production of children has itself gained an importance4 ,the world is no longer to be bombarded by an exuberant stream of babies1 good1 bad1 and indifferent in quality1 with mankind to look on calmly at the struggle for existence among them4 ,whether we like it or not1 the quantity is steadily diminishing1 and the question of quality is beginning to assume a supreme significance4 ,the question then is being anxiously asked3 ,what are the conditions which assure the finest quality in our children8 ,a ,german scientist1 ,dr4 ,vaerting1 of ,berlin1 published just before the ,war a treatise on the subject of the most favorable age in parents for the production of offspring of ability4 ,he treated the question in an entirely new spirit1 not merely as a matter of academic discussion1 but rather as a practical matter of vital importance to the welfare of modern society4 ,he starts by asserting that our century has been called the century of the child1 and that for the child all manner of rights are now being claimed4 ,but1 he wisely adds1 there is seldom considered the prime right of all the child's rights1 i4 e41 the right of the child to the best ability and capacity for efficiency that his parents are able to transmit to him4 ,the good doctor adds that this right is the root of all children's rights2 and that when the mysteries of procreation have been so far revealed as to enable this right to be won1 we shall1 at the same time renew the spiritual aspect of the nations4 ,the writer referred to decided that the most easily ascertainable and measurable factor in the production of ability1 and efficiency in offspring1 and a factor of the greatest significance1 is the age of the parents at the child's birth4 ,he investigated a number of cases of men of ability and efficiency1 along these lines1 and made a careful summary of his results4 ,some of his results are somewhat startling1 and may possibly require the corroboration of other investigators before they can be accepted as authoritative2 but they are worthy of being carefully considered at the present time1 pending such further investigation4 ,vaerting found that the fathers who were themselves not notably intellectual have a decidedly more prolonged power of procreating distinguished children than is possessed by distinguished fathers4 ,the former may become the fathers of eminent children from the period of sexual maturity up to the age of forty-three or beyond4 ,when1 however1 the father is himself of high intellectual distinction1 the records show that he was nearly always under thirty1 and usually under twenty-five years of age at the time of the birth of his distinguished son1 although the proportion of youthful fathers in the general population is relatively small4 ,the eleven youngest fathers on ,vaerting's list1 from twenty-one to twenty-five years of age1 were with one exception themselves more or less distinguished2 while the fifteen oldest1 from thirty-nine to sixty years of age1 were all without exception undistinguished4 ,among the sons on the latter list are to be found much greater names 7such as ,goethe1 ,bach1 ,kant1 ,bismarck1 ,wagner1 etc47 than are to be found among the sons of young and more distinguished fathers1 for here is only one name 7,frederick the ,great7 of the same caliber4 ,the elderly fathers belonged to the large cities1 and were mostly married to wives very much younger than themselves4 ,vaerting notes that the most eminent men have frequently been the sons of fathers who were not engaged in intellectual avocations at all1 but earned their living as humble craftsmen4 ,he draws the conclusion from these data that strenuous intellectual energy is much more unfavorable than hard physical labor to the production of marked ability in the offspring4 ,intellectual workers1 therefore1 he argues1 must have their children when young1 and we must so modify our social ideals and economic conditions as to render this possible4 ,vaerting1 however1 holds that the mother need not be equally young2 he finds some superiority1 indeed1 provided the father is young1 in somewhat elderly mothers1 and there were no mothers under twenty-three on the list4 ,the rarity of genius among the offspring of distinguished parents he attributes to the unfortunate tendency to marry too late2 and he finds that the distinguished men who marry late rarely have any children at all4 ,speaking generally1 and apart from the production of genius1 he holds that women have children too early1 before their psychic development is completed1 while men have children too late1 when they have already in the years of their highest psychic generative fitness planted their most precious seed in the mud of the street4 ,the eldest child was found to have by far the best chance of turning out distinguished1 and in this fact ,vaerting finds further proof of his argument4 ,the third son has the next best chance1 and then the second1 the comparatively bad position of the second being attributed to the too brief interval which often follows the birth of the first child4 ,he also notes that of all the professions the clergy come beyond comparison first as the parents of distinguished sons 7who are1 however1 rarely of the highest degree of eminence71 lawyers following1 while officers in the army and physicians scarcely figure at all4 ,vaerting is inclined to see in this order1 especially in the predominance of the clergy1 the favorable influence of an unexhausted reserve of energy and a habit of chastity on intellectual procreativeness4 ,it should be remembered1 however1 that ,vaerting's cases on his list were all those of ,germans1 and1 therefore1 the influence of the characteristic social customs and conditions of the ,german people must be taken into account in the consideration4 ,havelock ,ellis in his well known work ,study of ,british ,genius dealt on a still larger scale1 and with a somewhat more precise method1 with many of the same questions as illustrated by ,british cases4 ,after the publication of ,vaerting's work1 ,ellis re-examined his cases1 and rearranged his data4 ,his results1 like those of the ,german authority1 showed a special tendency for genius to appear in the eldest child1 though there was no indication of notably early marriage in the parents4 ,he also found a similar predominance of the clergy among the fathers1 and a similar deficiency of army officers and physicians4 ,ellis found that the most frequent age of the father was thirty-two years1 but that the average age of the father at the distinguished child's birth was #cf4f years2 and that when the fathers were themselves distinguished their age was not1 as ,vaerting found in ,germany1 notably low at the birth of their distinguished sons1 but higher than the general average1 being #cg4e years4 ,he found fifteen distinguished sons of distinguished ,british fathers1 but instead of being nearly always under thirty and usually under twenty-five1 as ,vaerting found it in ,germany1 the ,british distinguished father has only five times been under thirty1 and among these only twice under twenty-five4 ,moreover1 precisely the most distinguished of the sons 7,francis ,bacon and ,william ,pitt7 had the oldest fathers1 and the least distinguished sons the youngest fathers4 ,ellis says of his general conclusions resulting from this investigation3 ,i made some attempts to ascertain whether different kinds of genius tend to be produced by fathers who were at different periods of life4 ,i refrained from publishing the results as ,i doubted whether the numbers dealt with were sufficiently large to carry any weight4 ,it may1 however1 be worth while to record them1 as possibly they are significant4 ,i made four classes of men of genius3 7#a7 ,men of ,religion1 7#b7 ,poets1 7#c7 ,practical ,men1 7#d7 ,scientific ,men and ,sceptics4 7,it must not1 of course1 be supposed that in this last group all the scientific men were sceptics1 or all the sceptics scientific47 ,the average age of the fathers at the distinguished son's birth was1 in the first group1 #ce years2 in the second and third group1 #cg years2 and in the last group1 #dj years4 7,it may be noted1 however1 that the youngest father of all the history of ,british genius1 aged sixteen1 produced ,napier1 who introduced logarithms47 ,it is difficult not to believe that as regards1 at all events1 the two most discrepant groups1 the first and last1 we come upon a significant indication4 ,it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the production of men of religion in whose activity emotion is so potent a factor1 the youthful age of the father should prove favorable2 while for the production of genius of a more coldly intellectual and analytic type more elderly fathers are demanded4 ,if that should prove to be so1 it would become a source of happiness to religious parents to have their children early1 while irreligious parents should be advised to delay parentage4 ,it is scarcely necessary to remark that the age of the mothers is probably quite as influential as that of the fathers4 ,concerning the mothers1 however1 we always have less precise information4 ,my records1 so far as they go1 agree with ,vaerting's for ,german genius1 in indicating that an elderly mother is more likely to produce a child of genius than a very youthful mother4 ,there were only fifteen mothers recorded under twenty-five years of age1 while thirteen were over thirty-nine years2 the most important age for mothers was twenty-seven4 ,on all these points we certainly need controlling evidence from other countries4 ,thus1 before we insist with ,vaerting that an elderly mother is a factor in the production of genius1 we may recall that even in ,germany the mothers of ,goethe and ,nietzsche were both eighteen at their distinguished son's birth4 ,a rule which permits of such tremendous exceptions scarcely seems to bear the strain of emphasis4 ,the student1 however1 must always remember that while the study of genius and exceptionable talent is highly interesting1 and even1 as is quite probable1 not without significance for the general laws of heredity1 still we must beware of too hastily drawing conclusions from it to bear on the practical questions of eugenics4 ,genius is rare--and1 in a certain sense1 abnormal4 ,laws meant for application to the general population must be based on a study of the general population4 ,vaerting1 himself1 realized how inadequate it was to confine our study to cases of genius4 ,another investigator1 ,marro1 an ,italian scientist1 in his well-known book on puberty which was published several years ago1 brought forth some interesting data showing the result of the age of the parents on the moral and intellectual characters of school-children in ,northern ,italy4 ,he found that children with fathers below twenty-six at their birth showed the maximum of bad conduct and the minimum of good2 they also yielded the greatest proportion of children of irregular1 troublesome1 or lazy character1 but not of really perverse children--the latter being equally distributed among fathers of all ages4 ,the largest number of cheerful children belonged to the young fathers1 while the children tended to become more melancholy with ascending age of the fathers4 ,young fathers produced the largest number of intelligent1 as well as of troublesome children2 but when the very exceptional intelligent children were considered separately1 they were found to be more usually the offspring of elderly fathers4 ,as regarded the mothers1 ,marro found that the children of young mothers 7under twenty-one7 are superior1 both as regards conduct and intelligence1 though the more exceptionally intelligent children tended to belong to more mature mothers4 ,when the parents were both in the same age-groups1 the immature and the elderly groups tended to produce more children who were unsatisfactory1 both as regards conduct and intelligence--the intermediate group yielding the most satisfactory results of this kind4 ,havelock ,ellis makes the following plea for further investigations along these lines1 in the interest of the well-being of the race3 ,but we have need of inquiries made on a more wholesale and systematic scale4 ,they are no longer of a merely speculative character4 ,we no longer regard children as the 'gifts of ,god' flung into our helpless hands2 we are beginning to realize that the responsibility is ours to see that they come into the world under the best conditions1 and at the moments when their parents are best fitted to produce them4 ,vaerting proposes that it should be the business of all school authorities to register the ages of the pupils' parents4 ,this is scarcely a provision to which even the most susceptible parent could reasonably object1 though there is no cause to make the declaration compulsory where a 'conscientious' objection existed1 and in any case the declaration would not be public4 ,it would be an advantage--although this might be more difficult to obtain--to have the date of the children's marriage1 and of the birth of previous children1 as well as some record of the father's standing in his occupation4 ,but even the ages of the parents alone would teach us much when correlated with the school position of the pupil in intelligence and conduct4 ,it is quite true that there are unavoidable fallacies4 ,we are not1 as in the case of genius1 dealing with people whose life-work is complete and open to the whole world's examination4 ,the good and clever child is not necessarily the forerunner of the first-class man or woman2 and many capable and successful men have been careless in attendance at lectures1 and rebellious to discipline4 ,moreover1 the prejudice and limitations of the teachers have to be recognized4 ,yet when we are dealing with millions most of these fallacies would be smoothed out4 ,we should be1 once for all1 in a position to determine authoritatively the exact bearing of one of the simplest and most vital factors of the betterment of the race4 ,we should be in possession of a new clue to guide us in the creation of the man in the coming world4 ,why not begin today8 ,considerable attention on the part of the ,american thinking public has been directed toward the investigations and researches of ,casper ,l4 ,redfield4 ,mr4 ,redfield combats the orthodox scientific position that the acquired qualities are not transmitted to offspring2 and he most positively states that such characteristics are transmitted to offspring1 and are really the causes which have tended toward the evolution and progress of the race4 ,but he insists upon this vital point1 namely1 that the parent must already have acquired improved quality before he can transmit improvement to the offspring--and that before he can have acquired this improved quality1 he must have lived sufficiently long to have experienced the causes which have developed improvement in himself4 ,consequently1 he holds that ,,delayed ,,parentage ,,produces ,,great ,,men4 ,mr4 ,redfield several years ago offered a prize of two hundred dollars to anyone who could show that a single one of the great men of history was the product of a succession of young parents1 or was produced by a line of ancestry represented by more than three generations to a century4 ,but no one ever claimed the prize money4 ,according to ,mr4 ,redfield's doctrine1 race improvement is and will be accomplished as the result of effort1 physical and mental1 upon the part of prospective parents1 particularly if the period of effort is sustained over a considerable number of years previous to reproduction4 ,the following quotations from ,mr4 ,redfield's writing will give a general idea of his lines of thought and his theories4 ,he says3 ,at some time in the past there was a common ancestor for man and the ape4 ,at that time the mental ability of the man was the same as that of the ape1 because at that time man and the ape were the same person4 ,from that common ancestor there have been derived two main lines of descent1 one leading to man and the other to the ape of today4 ,in the line leading to man1 mental ability has increased little by little so that today the mental ability of the man is far above that of the ape4 ,while it may not be literally true for each and every generation between that common ancestor and man of the present time1 still we will commit no error if we divide the total increase in mental ability by the number of intervening generations and say that each generation in turn was a little superior to that which produced it4 ,now it happens that mental ability is something which is inherited--is transmitted from parent to offspring4 ,take that fact with the fact that there has been a regular 7or irregular7 increase in mental ability in the generations leading to man1 and it will be seen that each generation in succession transmitted to its offspring more than it inherited from its parents4 ,,but ,a ,,parent ,,cannot ,,transmit ,,something ,,which ,,he ,,did ,,not ,,have4 ,where and how did those generations get that ability which they transmitted but did not inherit8 ,mr4 ,redfield in his writings shows that what is true of the human race is true of high-bred domesticated animals1 namely1 the cow of high milk producing breeds2 the fast running and trotting horses2 and the highly developed hunting dogs4 ,to each case he applies his question3 ,where and how did those generations of animals get that power which they transmitted but did not inherit8 ,in his investigations he claims to have discovered the secret1 namely1 that the ancestors1 throughout several generations1 had each acquired the power which it transmitted1 which added to the inherited power raised the general power of the stock4 ,this arose from careful breeding1 and directly from the fact that the average age of the parent was much higher in the highly-bred stock than in the scrub or ordinary run of stock4 ,in other words1 ,,delayed ,,parentage ,,produced ,,better ,,offspring4 ,mr4 ,redfield proceeds to argue from these facts as follows3 ,at one time man and ape reproduced at the same average age1 whereas now they reproduce at widely different ages4 ,going back to the time when man and ape separated1 our ancestors survived by physical and mental activity in securing food and escaping from enemies4 ,as time went on man reproduced at later and later average age until now he reproduces at about thirty years from birth of parent to birth of offspring4 ,when time between generations stretched out in the man line more than it did in the ape line1 the man acquired ,,more ,,mental ,,development ,,before ,,he ,,reproduced than did the ape1 and he did this because he was mentally active more years before reproducing4 ,the successive generations leading to modern man transmitted to offspring more than they inherited from their parents1 and the generations which did this are the same generations which acquired1 before reproducing1 the identical thing which they transmitted in excess of inheriting4 ,coming now to those rare men of whom we have only a few in a century1 how were they produced8 ,it should be noted that each one had two parents1 four grandparents1 and eight great-grandparents4 ,also that they are certainly improvements over their great-grandparents4 ,if they were not such improvements1 then there would be many 'rare' cases in a century4 ,in looking into the pedigrees of these great men it is found that they were sons of parents of nearly all ages1 but were predominantly sons of elderly parents4 ,while we sometimes find comparatively young parents in the pedigree of a great man1 we never find a succession of young parents4 ,neither do we find an intellectually great man produced by a pedigree extending over three generations4 ,the great man is produced only when the average for three generations is on the elderly side of what is normal4 ,the average age of one thousand fathers1 grandfathers1 and great-grandfathers in the pedigrees of eminent men was found to be over forty years4 ,great men rise from ordinary stock only when several generations in succession acquire mental efforts in excess amounts before reproducing4 ,it is the opinion of the present writer that the theories of ,mr4 ,redfield are in the main true1 and that in the future much valuable information will be obtained along the same lines1 which will tend to corroborate his general conclusions4 ,one's attention needs but to be plainly directed to the matter1 and then he will see that it is absurd to think of a creature transmitting to his offspring qualities which neither he or his mate had inherited or acquired4 ,if there were no transmission of acquired qualities there would be no improvement--and in fact1 we know that the bulk of inherited qualities were at some time in the history of the race acquired4 ,and1 reasoning along the same line1 we may see that the young parents who have not had as yet an opportunity to acquire mental power cannot expect to transmit it to their offspring--all that they can do is to transmit the inherited stock qualities plus the small acquired power which they have gained in their limited experience4 ,and1 finally1 it is seen that offspring produced at a riper age of parenthood1 continued over several generations1 tend toward unusual ability and powers4 ,consequently1 the people or nation with a higher average age of parenthood may logically expect to attain greater mental powers than the peoples lacking that quality4 ,and what is true of a people or nation is of course true of a particular family4 ,the subject touched upon in this part of our book is one of the greatest interest to careful students of ,eugenics2 and is one which calls for careful and unprejudiced consideration from all persons having the interest of the race at heart4 ,,lesson ,,ix ,,the ,,determination ,,of ,,sex ,the term ,the ,determination of ,sex is employed in two general senses in scientific circles4 ,the first usage is that of the biologist1 and it includes within its scope merely the discovery and understanding of the ,,causes which determine whether the embryo shall develop into a male or into a female4 ,in the discussion of the subject from this standpoint there is but little1 if any1 attention given to the question of whether the sex of the unborn child may be determined by methods under the control of man4 ,the biologist simply studies the causes which seem to lead to the production of an individual of one or the other sex1 without regard to whether these causes1 when discovered1 may or may not be amendable to human control4 ,an authority1 speaking of this standpoint concerning the question referred to1 says3 ,we may discover the causes of storms or earthquakes1 and when our knowledge of them is sufficiently advanced we may be able to predict them as successfully as astronomers predict eclipses1 but there is little hope that we shall ever be able to control them4 ,so it may be with sex2 a complete understanding of the causes which determine it may not necessarily give us the power of producing one or the other sex at will1 or even of predicting the sex in any given case4 ,whether we shall ever be able to influence the causes of sex-determination cannot as yet be foretold2 at present1 biologists are engaged in the less practical1 but immensely interesting1 problem1 of discovering what those causes are4 ,the second usage of the term1 includes and embraces the idea of the voluntary determination or control of the sex of the future child1 by means of certain methods or certain systems of treatment1 etc4 ,of recent years1 science has been devoting considerable attention to the question of whether or not man may not be able to produce any particular sex at will1 by means of certain systems or methods of procedure4 ,many theories have been evolved1 and many plans and methods have been advocated1 often with the expenditure of much energy and enthusiasm on the part of the promulgators and their adherents4 ,in this lesson there will be briefly presented to you the general consensus of modern thought on the subject1 with a general outline of the favorite methods and systems advocated by the several schools of thought concerned in the investigation4 ,professor ,doncaster1 the well-known authority on the subject1 says3 ,but little progress has been made in the direction of predicting the sex of any child1 and1 if possible1 even less in artificially influencing the determination of its sex4 ,when the general principles arrived at are borne in mind1 it must be confessed that the prospects of our ever attaining this power of control or even of prediction are not very hopeful1 but the possibility of it cannot be yet regarded as entirely excluded4 ,the general conclusions arrived at are that sex is determined by a physiological condition of the embryonic cells1 that this condition is induced1 at least in the absence of disturbing causes1 by the presence of a particular sex-chromosome4 ,a chromosome is a portion of the chromatin1 or substance characteristic of the nucleus of the cell1 this nucleus seemingly controlling the life-processes of the cell4 ,but there is evidence1 which for the present at least cannot be neglected1 that certain extraneous conditions acting on the egg or early embryo may perhaps be able to counteract the effect of sex chromosome4 ,quite generally1 then1 there are two conceivable methods by which the sex might be artificially influenced in any particular case2 firstly1 if means could be found of ensuring that any particular fertilized ovum received the required chromosomes2 and1 secondly1 by the discovery of methods which always effect the ovum or embryo in such a way as to produce the desired sex4 ,many suggestions for applying both methods have been made1 some of which have attained considerable notoriety1 but hitherto none of them has stood the test of practical experience4 ,in the case of the higher animals1 especially of the mammals1 in which the embryo develops in the maternal uterus until long after the sex is irrevocably decided1 it is obviously difficult to apply methods which might influence the sex after fertilization1 even if it were certainly known that such methods were ever really effective4 ,apart from the few experiments like those of ,hertwig on rearing tadpoles at different temperatures1 there have been a very few cases in which there is even a suggestion that the sex of the fertilized egg can be modified by environment1 and the belief that this is possible has been entirely abandoned by many of the leading investigators of the subject4 ,it is probable1 therefore1 that if it will ever be possible to predict or determine artificially the sex of a particular child1 the means will have to be sought in some method of influencing the output of germ-cells in such a way that one kind is produced rather than the other4 ,it is in this way that ,heape and others interpret the results of their investigations2 they find that certain conditions affect the sex-ratio of cells1 and they explain the result by assuming that ,,under ,,some ,,circumstances ,,male-,,determining ,,ova ,,are ,,produced ,,in ,,excess1 ,,and ,,under ,,other ,,circumstances1 ,,female-,,determining4 ,professor ,rumley ,dawson holds to the opinion that the male-determining and female-determining ova are discharged alternately from the ovaries4 ,in woman one ovum is usually discharged each month1 and it is maintained that on one month the ovum is male-determining1 and in the next1 female-determining4 ,it is obvious that exceptions must occur1 for boy and girl twins are quite common1 but if the cases which support the hypothesis are taken by themselves1 and the exceptions explained away1 it is possible to make out a strong case in favor of this theory4 ,some authorities hold that the right ovary produces male-determining ova1 and the left ovary female-determining1 and that the two ovaries discharge an ovum alternately1 but an impartial examination of the evidence for this belief shows that it rests on very slender foundations4 ,experiments on the lower animals have shown that after the complete removal of one ovary the female may produce young of both sexes4 ,women1 also1 have produced children of a particular sex after the corresponding ovary has been removed1 and it is hardly possible to believe that the removal in all these cases was incomplete4 ,on the whole it must be concluded that the theory is insufficiently supported by the evidence4 ,another widely promulgated and vigorously supported theory is that which holds that the sex of the future child may be determined by specific nutrition of the mother before conception1 and in some cases after conception4 ,schenk's theory1 advanced about #aijj1 attracted much attention at the time4 ,he based his method on the observation that a number of women whose children were all girls all excreted sugar in their urine1 such as happens in the case of persons affected with diabetes4 ,from this he suspected that the physiological condition which leads to the excretion of sugar was inimical to the development of male-determining ova1 and that males could be produced by its prevention4 ,he therefore recommended that those who desire a male child should undergo treatment similar to that prescribed for diabetes for two or three months before conception1 and held that a boy would be produced by these methods4 ,although this method has had considerable vogue1 it cannot be held to have been established on a scientific basis4 ,doncaster says ,the general conclusion with regard to man must therefore be that if sex is determined solely by the spermatozoon there is no hope either of influencing or predicting it in special cases4 ,on the other hand1 there is considerable evidence that the ovum has some share in the effect1 and if this is so1 before any practical results are reached it will be necessary to discover which of two conceivable causes of sex-determination is the true one4 ,it is possible that there are two kinds of ova1 as well as two kinds of spermatozoa1 and that there is a selective fertilization of such a kind that one kind of spermatozoon only fertilizes one kind of ovum1 the second kind of spermatozoon the second kind of ovum4 ,if this should prove to be the case1 it is possible that means might be found of influencing or predicting that kind of ovum which is discharged under any set of conditions4 ,secondly1 it is possible that the ova are potentially all alike1 but that their physiological condition may under some circumstances be so altered that the sex is determined independently of the spermatozoon4 99 99 99 ,it is hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that the sex of the offspring may be influenced1 at least under certain circumstances1 by the mother4 ,the search for means of influencing the sex of the offspring through the mother is not of necessity doomed to failure4 ,no results of a really positive kind have been obtained hitherto1 and some of the facts point so clearly to sex-determination by the male germ-cell alone in man and other animals that many investigators have concluded that the quest is hopeless2 but until an adequate explanation has been given of certain phenomena discovered in the investigation of the subject1 it seems more reasonable to maintain an open mind1 and to regard the control of sex in man as an achievement not entirely impossible of realization4 ,another writer on the subject has said3 ,every individual among the higher animals1 whether male or female1 begins as an impregnated ovum in the mother's body4 ,any such ovum contains elements of constitution from both of its parents4 ,in the earliest existence of this impregnated ovum1 there is a season of sexual indifference1 or indecision1 in which the embryo is both male and female1 having the characteristic rudiments of each sex1 only indifferently manifested4 ,in this stage1 the embryo is susceptible of being influenced by external conditions to develop more strongly in the one or the other direction and thus become distinctly and permanently male or female4 ,it is evident that this is the season in the development of the individual in which influencing conditions and causes must operate in deciding its sex1 although it is possible in some of the lower animals to alter the tendency of sex in the embryo from one sex to the other1 even after it has been quite definitely determined4 ,it is well established1 in fact1 that differences do not come from a difference in the ova themselves2 that is1 there is not one kind of ova from the female which becomes female1 while other ova become male1 for it is possible to alter the tendency toward the one sex or the other after the ovum has been fertilized and the embryo has begun its career of development4 ,this possible change in sex tendency in the embryo also proves that sex is not decided by a difference in the spermatozoa2 that is some of the sperm cells from the father are not male1 while others are female1 in their constitution4 ,it is incorrect to suppose1 as has been held by some theorists1 that one testicle give rise to male spermatozoa and the other to female spermatozoa1 for both male and female offspring have been produced from the same male parent after one testicle or the other has been removed4 ,the same is true in cases in which either ovary has been removed from the mother2 that is1 male and female offspring are produced from mothers in whom either ovary has been removed4 ,in like manner1 the sex of offspring is shown not to be materially affected by the comparative vigor of the parents2 thus1 a stronger father than mother does not necessarily produce one sex to the exclusion of the other4 ,these negative decisions are important because they simplify the solution of the problem of sex-determination1 by excluding1 more or less fully1 various causes which have been supposed to operate quite forcibly in deciding the sex of offspring4 ,some of the more positive agencies that enter into the determination of sex are found 7#a7 in the influence of nutrition upon the embryo during its indifferent stage of sexual development1 and 7#b7 in the constitution and general condition of the mother before and during the early stages of pregnancy4 ,these two factors appear to enter more fully than any others in the decision of the sex in offspring1 and deserve the greatest consideration4 ,the influence of food in supplying the embryo with nourishment for its development is1 perhaps1 the most potent of these determining causes4 ,investigators along the line of theory indicated in the above last quotation1 i4 e41 the theory of sex determination by means of nourishment of the mother and embryo1 have presented a volume of reports which demand respectful consideration4 ,the general report may be said to be the discovery that ,,abundant ,,nourishment ,,during ,,the ,,period ,,of ,,sexual ,,neutrality ,,tends ,,to ,,produce ,,females2 ,,while ,,lack ,,of ,,abundant ,,nutrition ,,during ,,such ,,period ,,tends ,,to ,,produce ,,males4 ,these experiments1 of course1 have been chiefly performed upon the lower animals4 ,the frog has been a favorite subject of such experiments--the tadpole stage being the one selected1 because in that stage there exists a lack of sex1 the stage being one of sex neutrality4 ,professor ,yung's celebrated experiments will illustrate this class of experiments4 ,here were chosen #cjj tadpoles1 which when left to themselves manifested a ratio of #eg prospective females to #dc prospective males4 ,these were divided into three classes of #ajj tadpoles each4 ,each class was then fed upon one of several kinds of nutritious diet in order to ascertain the change in sex-tendency due to such food4 ,the first set1 with an original ratio of femaleness of #ed to #df1 were fed abundantly on beef1 and the ratio of femaleness was changed to #gh to #bb4 ,the second class1 with a ratio of femaleness of #fa to #ci1 were fed on fish 7specially nourishing to frogs71 and the ratio changed to #ha to #ai4 ,the third class1 with a ratio of #ef to #dd1 were fed upon a still more nutritious diet 7i4 e41 that of frogs' flesh71 and the ratio was raised to #ib to #h4 ,in short1 the experiments showed that the increase of nourishment in diet changed every two out of three male-tendency tadpoles into females4 ,the experiment was held to prove that a rich diet1 affording nourishment1 during the period of sexual neutrality in the embryo1 tended to develop femaleness4 ,the advocates of this theory also point to the instance of the bees4 ,with the bees1 the larva of ordinary worker-bees are fed ordinary food1 and do not develop sex2 while the larva which is intended to produce the queen-bee is fed specially nutritious royal food1 and consequently develops larger size and full female sex powers4 ,if the queen is killed1 or dies1 the hive of bees proceeds to produce a new queen by means of feeding a selected larva with the royal food and thus developing full femaleness in it4 ,it is said by some authorities that in cases in which some other of the larva accidently receive1 through mistake1 crumbs of the royal food1 they1 too1 grow to an extraordinary size1 and develop fertility4 ,this fact is held by the advocates of the nutrition theory to go toward establishing the fact that abundant nourishment of the embryo1 during the neutral stage1 tends to produce femaleness in it4 ,they also claim that caterpillars which are very poorly nourished before entering into the chrysalis stage usually develop into male butterflies1 while those highly nourished in the said stage tend to become females4 ,experiments on sheep have shown that when the ewes are particularly well nourished the offspring will show a large proportion of females4 ,a writer1 favoring the theory in question1 says3 ,in general1 it is reasonable to infer that the higher sexual organization which constitutes the female is to be attained in the greatest number of cases by embryos which have superior vital conditions during the formative period4 ,among human beings1 some facts of general observation become significant in the light of the foregoing inferences4 ,after epidemics1 after wars1 after seasons of privation and distress1 the tendency is toward a majority of male births4 ,on the other hand1 abundant crops1 low prices1 peace1 contentment and prosperity tend to increase the number of females born4 ,mothers in prosperous families usually have more girls2 mothers in families of distress have more boys4 ,large1 well-fed1 fully developed1 healthy women1 who are of contented and passive disposition1 generally become mothers of families abounding in girls2 while mothers who are small or spare of flesh1 who are poorly fed1 restless1 unhappy1 overworked1 exhausted by frequent childbearing1 or who are reduced by other causes which waste their vital energies1 usually give birth to a greater number of boys4 ,as a general proposition1 the facts and inferences tend to establish the truth of the doctrine with women1 that1 the more favorable the vital conditions of the mother during the period in which the sex of her offspring is being determined1 the greater the ratio of females she will bear2 the less favorable her vital conditions at such times1 the greater will be her tendency to bear males4 ,that many apparent exceptions occur does not disprove the general tendency here maintained4 ,moreover1 it is impossible to know in all cases what were the conditions of the mother's organism at the time in which her child was in its delicate balance between predominant femaleness and maleness2 else many cases which seemingly disprove the proposition would be found to be forcible illustrations of its truth4 ,still further1 it is probable that other causes besides those here mentioned act with greater or less effect in determining the sex of offspring4 ,based upon this general theory of the relation of nutrition to sex-determination1 many methods and systems have been devised by as many authorities1 and have been followed and promulgated by as many schools4 ,without going into the almost endless detail which would be necessitated by a synopsis of these various methods and systems1 it may be said that they all consist of plans having for their object the decrease of nutrition of the woman in cases in which male children are desired1 and the increase of nutrition in cases in which female children are sought for4 ,this increase or decrease in nutrition is enforced for a reasonable period before the time selected for the conception of the child1 and also for a reasonable period after the time of conception4 ,the decrease in nutrition does not consist of starvation1 but rather of a training diet similar to that followed by athletics1 and from which dietary all rich foods1 sweets1 etc41 are absent4 ,in fact1 the average dietary advocated by the ,eat and ,grow ,thin writers would seem to be almost identical with that of the male offspring theorists4 ,many persons who have followed the methods and systems based on the nutrition theory above mentioned claim to have been more or less successful in the production of the particular sex desired1 but many exceptions to the rule are noted1 and some writers on the subject are disposed to regard the reported successes as mere coincidences1 and claim that the failures are seldom reported while the successes are widely heralded4 ,the present writer presents the claims of this school to the attention of his readers1 but without personally positively endorsing the idea4 ,he is of the opinion that the data obtainable is not as yet sufficient to justify the strong claims made for the theory in some quarters2 but1 at the same time1 he does not hesitate to say that there are many points of interest brought out in the presentation of the theory1 and that many thoughtful persons seem to accept the same as reasonably well established and logical4 ,another theory which has been heard of frequently of late years is that in which it is held that the ova are expelled in alternating sex1 each month4 ,thus1 if a male ovum is expelled in ,january1 the ,february ovum will be a female one1 according to this theory4 ,under this theory if the date of conception of a child be ascertained1 and the sex of the child noted at its birth1 it is a simple matter to count forward from the menstrual period following which the child was conceived1 and thus determine whether the ovum of any succeeding period is male or female4 ,it should be noted1 however1 that the periods are regulated by the lunar months1 and not the calendar months4 ,the fact that twins of different sexes are sometimes born would seem to disturb this theory--but not more than any other theory of sex-determination voluntarily produced1 for that matter4 ,the several schools explain this apparent discrepancy by the familiar saying that exceptions prove the rule4 ,another theory of sex-determination is that which holds that when conception occurs within a few days after the last day of menstruation1 the child will be a girl2 and that when conception occurs at a later period1 the child will be a boy4 ,methods and systems based upon this theory are also reported as being reasonably successful in producing satisfactory results4 ,but1 inasmuch as there appears to be a great difference in individual women in this respect 7even according to the claims of this school of sex-determination71 it would seem that it would be difficult to proceed with certainty in the matter in most cases4 ,one of the writers advocating this method1 says3 ,conception within five days after the end of the menstrual period is almost certain to produce a girl child2 within five days to ten days1 it may be either a boy or a girl2 from ten to fifteen days1 it is almost sure to be a boy2 from eighteen to twenty-five days is the period of probable sterility1 in which conception is extremely unlikely to occur4 ,in conclusion1 it may be said that ,nature undoubtedly has certain rules of sex-determination which govern in these cases2 and that it is possible if not indeed probable that these rules may some day be discovered by man1 and turned to account2 but that it is very doubtful whether the secret has as yet been solved by the investigators4 ,the writer may be pardoned for suggesting that1 in his opinion1 if the discovery is ever made it will likely be found to be very simple--so simple that we have probably overlooked it because it was in too plain sight to attract our attention4 ,nature's methods are usually very simple1 when once discovered4 ,she hides her processes from man by making them simple1 it would seem4 ,,lesson ,x ,,what ,,birth ,,control ,,is1 ,,and ,,is ,,not ,the student of the progress of human affairs1 or even the average person whose knowledge of the doings of mankind is derived from a hasty and casual reading of the daily newspapers and the popular magazines1 cannot plead ignorance of the growing interest in the general subject which is embraced within the content of the term ,birth ,control4 ,but while the general meaning of the term is at least vaguely grasped by the average member of the human crowd--the individual to whom we refer as the man on the street--we find a startling condition of mental confusion and often positive misconception concerning the essence and spirit of the general idea expressed by the term in question4 ,while the fact is a reflection upon the average intelligence of the general public1 it must be admitted that to the average person1 or the man on the street1 ,birth ,control means simply the teaching and practice of certain methods whereby men and women may indulge their sexual appetites1 in or out of marriage1 without incurring the liability or risk of conception and child-bearing4 ,the average person does not stop to consider that such teachings and practices do not constitute ,birth ,control at all1 but are1 rather1 merely the theory and practice of ,birth ,prevention1 desirable only to those who seek sexual indulgences without being called upon to shoulder the responsibilities attached by ,nature to the physical sexual union of men and women4 ,the term ,,control does not mean prohibition1 or prevention2 but1 on the contrary1 means governing1 regulating1 or managing influence4 ,birth ,control1 in the true meaning of the term1 does not mean the prevention or prohibition of the birth of children1 but rather the encouragement of the birth of children under the best possible conditions and the discouragement of the birth of children under improper or unfavorable conditions4 ,birth ,control1 in the true meaning of the term1 does not mean theories and practices which would tend to reduce the population of the civilized countries of the world1 but rather theories and practice which would inevitably result in the production of an adequate ratio of increase in the population of such countries1 not only by reason of a normal birth-rate1 but also by reason of a diminishing death-rate among infants--by the production of healthier children1 accompanied by the raising of the standard of the average child born in such countries4 ,birth ,control1 in the true meaning of the term1 therefore1 is seen to consist not of the ,,prohibition or ,,prevention of human offspring1 but rather of the ,,governing1 ,,regulating1 ,,and ,,managing of the production of human offspring1 under the inspiration of the highest ideals and under the direction of the highest reason1 for the purpose of the advancement and welfare of the race and that of the individuals composing the race4 ,instead of being an anti-social and anti-moral propaganda1 ,birth ,control when rightly understood is perceived to be in accordance with the highest social aims and aspirations1 and in accordance with the highest and purest morality of the race4 ,much of the opposition toward the general movement of ,birth ,control which has been manifested by many well-meaning1 though misinformed1 persons1 has arisen by reason of the erroneous conception and understanding of the term itself1 and of misleading information concerning the true nature of the best teachings on the subject4 ,this prejudice has been heightened by certain zealous but ill-balanced advocates of the general movement who have overemphasized the incidental feature of the limitation of offspring under certain conditions1 and who have appealed to the attention and interest merely of those who wished to escape the responsibilities of parenthood4 ,this has caused much sorrow and distress to the many persons who have the highest ideals and results in view1 and who deplore this unbalanced propaganda under the name1 and apparently under the cloak of the general movement4 ,such persons have felt inclined to cry aloud ,good ,lord1 deliver us from our so-called friends6 ,one of the most distressing features of the popular prejudice against ,birth ,control1 arising from a total misconception of the subject1 has been the widely spread and popularly accepted notion that ,birth ,control is practically analogous to abortion--or1 at the best1 but a more refined and less repulsive and less dangerous form of abortion4 ,in view of the fact that one of the important results sought to be obtained by a scientific knowledge of ,birth ,control actually is the prevention and avoidance of the crime of abortion which has wrought such terrible havoc among the women of civilized countries1 it is most distressing and discouraging to the conscientious and high-minded advocates of ,birth ,control to have it said and believed that their teachings encourage and justify abortion4 ,a reference to any standard dictionary or textbook will reveal the fact that ,abortion means3 the premature expulsion of the human embryo or foetus2 miscarriage voluntarily induced or produced1 etc4 ,it is seen at a glance that the essence and meaning of abortion consists in the destruction of the human embryo which has resulted from conception4 ,the embryo human child must already exist in its elemental form1 before it can be destroyed by abortion4 ,therefore1 if no such embryo form exists1 it cannot be destroyed1 and therefore there can be no abortion in such a case4 ,and1 it may positively be stated1 no true advocate of ,birth ,control can possibly justify1 much less advocate1 the destruction of the human embryo or foetus1 which act constitutes abortion4 ,the difference between true ,birth ,control teachings and methods1 and that of the advocates of abortion1 is as great as the difference between the two poles4 ,instead of the two being identical or similar1 they are diametrically opposed one to the other--they are logical opposites1 each the antithesis of the other4 ,even in those forms or phases of the ,birth ,control propaganda in which the use of contraceptives1 or preventatives is considered justified in certain cases--and these forms and phases are far from being the most important1 as all students of the subject know--even in these exceptional forms and phases of the general subject the idea of abortion is combatted1 and never justified or encouraged4 ,a contraceptive agency merely tends to prevent or obviate undesirable conception2 it never acts to destroy the result of previous and accomplished conception4 ,a contraceptive merely prevents the union of the male and female elements of reproduction1 and consequently the process from which evolves the foetus or embryo4 ,a leading medical authority has said regarding this distinction3 ,in inducing abortion1 one destroys something already formed--a foetus or an embryo1 a fertilized ovum1 a potential human being4 ,in prevention1 however1 one merely prevents chemically or mechanically the spermatozoa from coming in contact with the ovum4 ,there is no greater sin or crime in this than there is in simple abstinence1 in refraining from sexual intercourse4 ,what then must we say when we consider the higher and more advanced forms and phases of ,birth ,control1 those phases and forms which may be said to be mental or emotional contraceptives1 rather than physical8 ,surely these cannot be considered as identical with or similar to abortion4 ,and when we consider those phases and forms of ,birth ,control which are concerned with ,pre-,natal ,culture--the culture of the child before its birth--can one1 even though he be intensely prejudiced against ,birth ,control1 assert that there is to be found here anything which in any way whatsoever can be considered as relating to the theory or practice of abortion8 ,and what must we say of the still higher phases in which the teachings are concerned with the mental and physical preparation of the parents prior to the conception of the child1 to the end that the child may have the best possible physiological and psychological basis for its future well-being8 ,is not this the very antithesis and opposite of all that concerns abortion or abortive methods8 ,the trouble about all great movements designed for the benefit of the human race is that at the beginning there is attracted to the movement1 by reason of its novelty and newness1 certain elements which seize upon certain incidental features of the general idea1 make them their own while excluding or ignoring the more important things1 and then exploit these incidental features in a sensational way1 thereby attracting public attention and gaining much undesirable notoriety1 and as a consequence bringing discredit and disfavor1 prejudice and misunderstanding1 to the general movement4 ,birth ,control has passed through this apparently inevitable experience1 and has suffered greatly thereby4 ,but the ,light is being thrown on the ,dark ,places1 and the more intelligent portion of the public is beginning to realize that there is another side to the shield of ,birth ,control4 ,and1 as a consequence1 much of the original prejudice is disappearing1 and a new understanding of the subject is arising in the minds of many of the best individuals of the race4 ,it is the purpose of this book to help to dispel the ignorance and misconception concerning this great subject of ,birth ,control1 and to aid in presenting the higher and nobler aspects of the general movement to the attention of those who are concerned with the advance and progress of the race as a whole1 and of the individual members thereof4 ,the student of the subject of ,birth ,control will fall into grievous error if he begins his consideration of the subject under the impression that the questions concerned therein are new to the world of living things4 ,if the process of ,birth ,control were something which had suddenly sprung into existence in the consciousness of man1 without having an antecedent activity in the history of the race1 and of living creatures in general1 we might well hesitate to go further in the matter without the most serious and prolonged consideration of the entire principle by the careful thought of the wisest of the race4 ,but while such consideration is advisable1 as in the case of any and all important problems presenting themselves for solution and judgment1 it is found that those so considering the subject have a sound and firm foundation upon which to base their thought and to test their conclusions4 ,as many thoughtful students of the subject have pointed out to us1 the question of ,birth ,control has been with the race practically since the beginning of human history2 and it has its correspondences in the instinctive actions of the lower forms of life4 ,the chief difference is that we are now seeking to deal with these problems consciously1 voluntarily1 and deliberately1 whereas in the past the race has dealt with them more or less unconsciously1 by methods of trial and error1 through perpetual experiment which has often proved costly but which has all the more clearly brought out the real course of natural processes4 ,we cannot hope to solve problems so ancient and so deeply rooted as these by merely the rational methods of yesterday and today4 ,to be of value our rational methods must be the revelation in deliberate consciousness of unconscious methods which go far back into the remote past4 ,our deliberate methods will not be sound except in so far as they are a continuation of those methods which1 in the slow evolution of life1 have been found sound and progressive on the plane of instinct4 ,this is particularly true in the case of those among us who desire their own line of conduct in the matter to be so closely in accord with natural law1 or the law of creation1 that to question it would be impious4 ,it may be accepted without an extended argument or presentation of evidence that at the outset the prime object of ,nature seems to have been that of ,reproduction4 ,there is evident1 without doubt1 an effort on the part of ,nature to secure economy of method in the attainment of ever greater perfection in the process of reproduction1 but we cannot deny that the primary motive seems to be that of reproduction pure and simple4 ,the tendency toward reproduction is indeed so fundamental in ,nature that it is impressed with the greatest emphasis upon every living thing4 ,and1 as careful thinkers have told us the course of evolution seems to have been more of an effort to slow down reproduction than to furnish it with new facilities4 ,reproduction appears in the history of life even before sex manifests itself4 ,the lower forms of animal and plant life oftener produce themselves without the aid of sex1 and some authorities have argued that the presence of sex differentiation serves rather to check active propagation rather than to increase it4 ,if quantity1 without regard to quality or variation1 be the object of ,nature1 then that purpose would have been better served by withholding sex-differentiation than by evolving it4 ,as ,professor ,coulter1 a leading ,american botanist1 has well said3 ,the impression one gains of sexuality is that it represents reproduction under peculiar difficulties4 ,to those who find it difficult to assimilate this somewhat startling idea1 we now present a brief statement of the infinitely greater facility toward reproduction manifested by living creatures lacking in sex-differentiation as compared with those possessing it4 ,it is seen that bacteria among primitive plants1 and protozoa among primitive animals1 are patterns of very rapid and prolific reproduction1 though sex begins to appear in a rudimentary form in very lowly forms of life4 ,a single infusorian becomes in a week the ancestor of millions1 that is to say1 of far more individuals than could proceed under the most favorable conditions from a pair of elephants in five centuries2 and ,huxley has calculated that the progeny of a single parthenogenetic aphis1 under favorable circumstances1 would in a few months outweigh the whole population of ,china4 ,it must be noted1 however1 that this proviso under favorable circumstances reveals the weak point of ,nature's early method of reproduction by enormously rapid multiplication4 ,creatures so easily produced are easily destroyed2 and ,nature1 apparently in consequence1 wastes no time in imparting to them the qualities needed for a high form of life and living4 ,and1 even after sex differentiation had attained a considerable degree of development1 ,nature seemed slow to abandon her original plan of rapid multiplication of individuals4 ,among insects so far advanced as the white ants1 the queen lays eggs at the enormous rate of #hj1jjj a day during her period of active life4 ,higher in the scale1 we find the female herring laying #gj1jjj eggs at one period of delivery4 ,but in both of these cases we find the manifestation of that apparently invariable rule of ,nature1 viz41 that ,a ,,high ,,birth-,,rate ,,is ,,accompanied ,,by ,a ,,heavy ,,death-,,rate1 whether that high death-rate be caused by natural enemies1 wars1 or disease4 ,at a certain stage of the evolutionary process1 ,nature seems to have awakened to a realization of the fact that it was better1 from every point of view1 to produce ,a ,,few superior beings rather than a vast number of inferior ones4 ,here1 at last1 ,nature discloses a heretofore hidden aim1 namely1 the production of quality rather than quantity2 and once she has started on this new path1 she has pursued it with even greater eagerness than that of reproduction pure and simple4 ,and here we pause to note a principle laid down by the students of ,evolution1 viz41 that ,,advancing ,,evolution ,,is ,,accompanied ,,by ,,declining ,,fertility4 ,this new stage of ,nature's processes is marked by a constant and invariable manifestation of diminished number of offspring1 accompanied by an increased amount of time and care in the creation and breeding of each of the young creatures4 ,accompanying this1 we find that the reproductive life of the creature is shortened1 and confined to more or less special periods2 these periods beginning much later1 and ending much earlier1 and even during their continuance tending to operate in cycles of activity4 ,here1 we see1 ,,nature1 ,,grown ,,wiser ,,by ,,experience1 ,,herself ,,began ,,to ,,exercise ,,her ,,power ,,in ,,the ,,direction ,,of ,,birth ,,control--,,the ,,use ,,of ,,preventive ,,checks ,,on ,,reproduction4 ,a writer has said along these lines3 ,as reproduction slackened1 evolution was greatly accelerated4 ,a highly important and essential aspect of this greater individuation is a higher survival value4 ,the more complex and better equipped creature can meet and subdue difficulties and dangers to which the more lowly organized creature that came before--produced wholesale in a way which ,nature seems to look back on as cheap and nasty--succumbed helplessly without an effort4 ,the idea of economy began to assert itself in the world4 ,it became clear in the course of evolution that it is better to produce really good and highly efficient organisms1 at whatever cost1 than to be content with cheap production on a wholesale scale4 ,they allowed greater developmental progress to be made1 and they lasted better4 ,even before man began it was proved in the animal world that ,,the ,,death-,,rate ,,falls ,,as ,,the ,,birth-,,rate ,,falls4 ,let us compare the lowly herring with the highly evolved elephant4 ,the herring multiplies with enormous rapidity and on a vast scale1 and it possesses a very small brain1 and is almost totally unequipped to grapple with the special difficulties of its life1 to which it succumbs on a wholesale scale4 ,a single elephant is carried for about two years in its mother's womb1 and is carefully guarded by her for many years after birth2 it possesses a large brain1 and its muscular system is as remarkable for its delicacy as for its power1 and is guided by the most sensitive perceptions4 ,it is fully equipped for all the dangers of life1 save for those which have been introduced by the subtle ingenuity of modern man4 ,though a single pair of elephants produces so few offspring1 yet their high cost is justified1 for each of them has a reasonable chance of surviving to old age4 ,this contrast1 from the point of view of reproduction1 of the herring and the elephant1 well illustrates the principle of evolution previously referred to4 ,it brings clearly into view the difference between ,nature's earlier and her later methods--the ever increasing preference for quality over quantity4 ,unless we grasp this underlying principle of ,nature in its wider aspects we may fail to perceive its operations in the case of man1 which latter we may now consider4 ,it is1 of course1 impossible to speak positively regarding the birth-rate and death-rate of the pre-historic primitive races of mankind1 for there is not data upon which to base such a report4 ,but reasoning upon the basis of conditions existing among the primitive tribes of the present time we are justified in holding that in the early stages of the evolution of the race there was manifested a high birth-rate and a correspondingly high death-rate4 ,upon the basis of conditions now existing among savage tribes it would appear that primitive man has a higher birth-rate than the average of mankind today1 and likewise a higher death-rate4 ,the rapidly increasing number of children born to the tribe was counteracted by deaths among children caused by neglect1 poverty1 and disease4 ,in some cases the population was prevented from becoming larger than the means of subsistence justified by the practice of infanticide4 ,as to the condition of the race in the early stages of modern civilization1 we have modern ,russia as a surviving instance of this stage4 ,in modern ,russia we find1 side by side with the progress in neighboring nations1 conditions which a few centuries ago existed all over ,europe4 ,here we have an enormous birth-rate1 and a terrible death-rate caused by ignorance1 superstition1 insanitation1 filth1 bad food1 impure water1 plagues1 famines1 and other accompaniments of overcrowding and misery4 ,we find a mortality among young children which sometimes destroys more than half of the children born before they have attained the age of five years4 ,as high as is the ,russian birth-rate1 it is a matter of record that at times the death-rate has actually exceeded it4 ,and among the survivors there is found a startlingly large percentage of chronic and incurable diseases1 with a large number of cases of blindness and other defects4 ,similar results follow in ,china1 where the birth-rate is exceptionally high1 and the death-rate correspondingly large2 and where there is a large percentage of inferior physical development and pathological defects1 the evil conditions which produce death also tending to produce deterioration in the survivors4 ,in both of these countries we have an example of the result of unrestricted reproduction1 and unrestricted destruction--as among herrings1 so among men4 ,and yet this condition of unrestricted reproduction is the logical goal of certain persons who1 inspired by the best possible intentions1 in their ignorance and criminal rashness would dare to arrest that fall in the birth-rate which is now beginning to spread its influence in every civilized land4 ,in ,western ,europe before the nineteenth century the population increased very slowly4 ,the enormous birth-rate was nearly equalled by the exceedingly heavy death-rate caused by plagues1 pestilences1 and famine1 and by the frequent wars large and small4 ,the mortality among young children was particularly heavy4 ,writers have pointed out that the old family records show frequently two or three children of the same ,christian name1 the first child having died and its name given to a successor4 ,during the last quarter of the eighteenth century1 when machinery was introduced and a new industrial era opened1 the birth-rate rose rapidly4 ,factories springing up gave increased support to many1 and as children were employed as hands in the mills at an early age1 the richest family was the one with most children4 ,the population began to increase rapidly4 ,but soon disease1 misery1 and poverty arose from filth and insanitation1 immorality and crime1 overcrowding and child-labor1 drink and lack of sane courses of conduct4 ,in time1 however1 progress set in1 and social reformers began the great movement for the betterment of the environment1 sanitation1 shorter hours of labor1 and restriction of child-labor1 factory regulation1 etc4 ,and when the environment is bettered1 the death-rate drops1 and the birth-rate accompanies it on its downward progress4 ,as ,leroy-,beaulieu says3 ,the first degree of prosperity in a rude population with few needs tends toward prolificness of reproduction2 a later degree of prosperity1 accompanied by all the feelings and ideas stimulated by the reduction of such prolificness4 ,the law of the reduction of reproduction in response to the improvement of environment is a natural law1 arising from fixed biological principles4 ,this is because when we improve the environment we improve the individual situated in that environment2 and the improvement of the individual has always resulted in a check upon reproduction4 ,we must remember1 however1 that this change is not the result of conscious or voluntary action2 instead it is the result of unconscious activities and instinctive urge4 ,as ,sir ,shirley ,murphy has said3 ,birth ,control is a natural process1 and though in civilized men1 endowed with high intelligence1 it necessarily works in some measure voluntarily and deliberately1 it is probable that it also works1 as in the evolution of the lower animals1 to some extent automatically4 ,science shows us that even among the most primitive micro-organisms2 when placed under unfavorable conditions as to food and environment1 they tend to pass into a reproductive phase and by sporulation or otherwise begin to produce new individuals rapidly4 ,this1 of course1 because of the fact that their death-rate is increased1 and an increased birth-rate must be manifested in order to maintain a balance4 ,if the environment be improved1 the death-rate decreases1 and this is followed by a fall in the birth-rate1 according to the constant laws of ,nature manifesting in such cases4 ,the same law is seen to be manifested in the case of ,man4 ,improve his environment1 and his death-rate drops1 which is accompanied by a falling birth-rate4 ,here1 once more we see the application of the scientific axiom ,improve the environment and reproduction is checked4 ,as ,leroy-,beaulieu has said3 ,the tendency of civilization is to reduce the birth-rate4 ,and as ,professor ,benjamin ,moore has said3 ,decreased reproduction is the simple biological reply to good economic conditions4 ,and as ,havelock ,ellis has said3 ,those who desire a higher birth-rate are desiring1 whether they know it or not1 the increase of poverty1 ignorance1 and wretchedness4 ,among men1 ,birth ,control has now evolved from the unconscious and instinctive phase1 and is now unfolding and manifesting on the plane of conscious and voluntary activity4 ,the influence of deliberate intention and conscious design is now one of the important factors in the process4 ,here at this point we reach a totally new aspect of reproduction4 ,in the past stages of evolution the original impetus toward reproduction has been checked and directed by ,nature1 working along instinctive and unconscious lines2 and the result has been an extreme diminution of the number of off-spring2 a prolongation of the time devoted to the breeding and care of each new member of the family1 in harmony with its greatly prolonged life2 a spacing out of the intervals between the offspring2 and1 as a result1 a vastly greater development of each individual1 and an ever better equipment for the task of living4 ,all this was slowly attained automatically1 without any conscious volition on the part of the individuals1 even when they were human beings1 who were the agents4 ,now1 however1 we are confronted with a change which we may regard as1 in some respects1 the most momentous sudden advance in the whole history of reproduction1 namely1 the process of reproductive progress now become conscious and deliberately volitional4 ,birth control1 no longer automatic1 is now being directed by human mind and will precisely to the attainment of ends which ,nature has been struggling after for millions of years2 and1 being consciously and deliberately directed1 it is now enabled to avoid many of the pitfalls into which the unconscious method fell4 ,havelock ,ellis says3 ,the control and limitation of reproductive activity by conscious and volitional effort is an attempt by open-eyed intelligence and foresight to attain those ends which ,nature through untold generations has been painfully yet tirelessly struggling for4 ,the deliberate co-operation of ,man in the natural task of ,birth ,control represents an identification of the human will with what we may1 if we choose1 regard as the divinely appointed law of the world4 ,we can well believe that the great pioneers1 who1 a century ago1 acted in the spirit of this faith may have echoed the thought of ,kepler when1 on discovering his great planetary law1 he exclaimed in rapture3 ',o ,god6 ,i think ,thy thoughts after ,thee6' ,the following brief general history of the modern ,birth ,control movement is quoted from ,havelock ,ellis1 and will be of interest to students of the subject3 ,the pioneers of modern ,birth ,control were ,english4 ,among them ,malthus occupies the first place4 ,that distinguished man1 in his great and influential work1 ',the ,principles of ,population1' in #agih1 emphasized the immense importance of foresight and self-control in procreation1 and the profound significance of birth limitation for human welfare4 ,malthus1 however1 relied on ascetic self-restraint1 a method which could only appeal to the few2 he had nothing to say for the regulation of conception in intercourse4 ,that was suggested twenty years later1 very cautiously by ,james ,mill1 the father of ,john ,stuart ,mill1 in the ',encyclopaedia ,britannica4' ,four years afterwards1 ,mill's friend1 the ,radical reformer1 ,francis ,place1 advocated this method more clearly4 ,finally1 in #ahca1 ,robert ,dale ,owen1 the son of the great ,robert ,owen1 published his ',moral ,physiology1' in which he set forth the ways of preventing conception2 while a little later the ,drysdale brothers1 ardent and unwearying philanthropists1 devoted their energies to a propaganda which has been spreading ever since and has now conquered the whole civilized world4 ,it was not1 however1 in ,england but in ,france1 so often at the head of an advance in civilization1 that ,birth ,control first firmly became established1 and that the extravagantly high birth rate of earlier times began to fall2 this happened in the first half of the nineteenth century1 whether or not it was mainly due to voluntary control4 ,in ,england the movement came later1 and the steady decline in the ,english birth-rate1 which is still proceeding1 began in #ahgg4 ,in the previous year there had been a famous prosecution of ,bradlaugh and ,mrs4 ,besant for disseminating pamphlets describing the methods of preventing conception2 the charge was described by the ,lord ,chief ,justice1 who tried the case1 as one of the most ill-advised and injudicious ever made in a court of justice4 ,but it served an undesigned end by giving enormous publicity to the subject and advertising the methods it sought to suppress4 ,there can be no doubt1 however1 that even apart from this trial the movement would have proceeded on the same lines4 ,the times were ripe1 the great industrial expansion had passed its first feverish phase1 social conditions were improving1 education was spreading4 ,the inevitable character of the movement is indicated by the fact that at the very same time it began to be manifested all over ,europe1 indeed in every civilized country of the world4 ,at the present time the birth-rate 7as well as usually the death-rate7 is falling in every country of the world sufficiently civilized to possess statistics of its own vital movement4 ,the fall varies in rapidity4 ,it has been considerable in the more progressive countries2 it has lingered in the more backward countries4 ,if we examine the latest statistics for ,europe1 we find that every country1 without exception1 with a progressive and educated population1 and a fairly high state of social well-being1 presents a birth-rate below #cj per #a1jjj4 ,we also find that every country in ,europe in which the mass of the people are primitive1 ignorant1 or in a socially unsatisfactory condition 7even although the governing classes may be progressive or ambitious7 shows a birth-rate of above #cj per #a1jjj4 ,france1 ,great ,britain1 ,belgium1 ,holland1 the ,scandinavian countries1 and ,switzerland are in the first group4 ,russia1 ,austro-,hungary1 ,italy1 ,spain1 and the ,balkan countries are in the second group4 ,the ,german ,empire was formerly in the second group1 but now comes within the first group1 and has carried on the movement so energetically that the birth-rate of ,berlin is already below that of ,london1 and that at the present rate of decline the birth-rate of the ,german ,empire will before long sink to that of ,france4 ,outside ,europe1 in the ,united ,states just as much as in ,australia and ,new ,zealand1 the same progressive movement is proceeding with equal activity4 ,the same authority sums up the present attitude of the advocates of scientific and rational ,birth ,control1 as follows3 ,the wide survey of the question of birth limitation has settled the question of the desirability of the adoption of preventing conception1 and finally settled those who would waste out time with their fears that it is not right to control conception4 ,we know now on whose side are the laws of ,god and ,nature4 ,we realize that in exercising control over the entrance gate of life we are not fully performing1 consciously and deliberately1 a great human duty1 but carrying on rationally a beneficial process which has1 more blindly and wastefully1 been carried on since the beginning of the world4 ,there are still a few persons ignorant enough or foolish enough to fight against the advance of civilization in this matter2 we can well afford to leave them severely alone1 knowing that in a few years all of them will have passed away4 ,it is not our business to defend the control of birth1 but simply discuss how we may most wisely exercise that control4 ,,lesson ,,xi ,,the ,,fetich ,,of ,,the ,,birth-,,rate ,to the student of the progress of the human race the consideration of the state of public opinion regarding the ,birth-rate of nations is of great interest4 ,to the careful observer there is evident the gradual evolution of intelligent public opinion on this subject even in the comparatively short space of time in which the present generation has played its part on the great stage of human development4 ,public opinion on this subject during the period named may be said to have passed through three general stages4 ,these stages are1 of course1 more clearly defined among the peoples of the most prosperous and intelligent countries1 as for instance1 in ,western ,europe and ,america1 and particularly in ,england1 ,france1 and the ,united ,states4 ,while the peoples of certain of these countries have passed through these stages somewhat more rapidly than have others1 still it is perceived that each of these peoples have in the main followed the same general course4 ,the first stage of this evolution of popular opinion may be said to have been begun about #ahej1 and to have ended about #ahhj4 ,in this stage the ideal of a large and rapidly increasing birth-rate became a popular fetich before which all men and women were supposed to fall down and render worship4 ,in this period public opinion manifested great satisfaction and joy in the evidences of a high and rapidly increasing birth-rate4 ,it was held that this increasing birth-rate tended toward the success and glory of the particular nation1 and incidentally to the race as a whole4 ,the idea of ,,quantity was elevated to the throne of public favor1 and the question of ,,quality was ignored or overlooked4 ,this period was one of an unusual expansion of industry1 and the rising birth-rate was regarded as a token that the world was destined to be exploited and eventually governed by the people of those nations who were able to demonstrate the greatest efficiency in industrial pursuits1 and who at the same time were wise enough to increase their respective populations by an increasing birth-rate4 ,the populace were excited by the idea of the dominance and prosperity of their own countrymen1 while the leaders of industry were delighted with the idea of an increasing supply of laborers which would tend to keep down the rate of wages which otherwise would have reached proportions which would have interfered with competition with other countries4 ,at the same time1 the militarists were secretly delighted by the signs of an increasing supply of military material with which to build up gigantic armies4 ,a writer on the state of public opinion on this subject during this period has well said3 ,it seemed to the more exuberant spirits that a vast ,british ,empire1 or a mighty ,pan-,german1 might be expected to cover the whole world4 ,france1 with its low and falling birth-rate1 was looked down at with a contempt as a decadent country inhabited with a degenerate population4 ,no attempt to analyze the birth-rate1 to ascertain what are really the biological1 social1 and economic accompaniments of a high birth-rate1 made any impression on the popular mind4 ,they were drowned in a general shout of exultation4 ,but this period of uncritical optimism was followed by a natural reaction4 ,the pendulum stopped in its course1 and soon began to swing in the opposite direction4 ,here1 about #ahhj1 the second stage may be said to have begun4 ,public opinion began to manifest a subtle change1 and this mental attitude was accompanied by a physical manifestation in the form of a decreasing birth-rate4 ,the rate of births began to fall rapidly1 and has continued to fall steadily since that time4 ,the writer above quoted from says of this second period3 ,in ,france the birth-rate fell slowly1 in ,italy more rapidly1 and in ,england and ,prussia still more rapidly4 ,as1 however1 the fall began earliest in ,france1 the birth-rate was lower there than in the other countries named4 ,for the same reason it was lower in ,england than in ,prussia1 although ,england stands in this respect at almost exactly the same distance from ,prussia today 7#aiag7 as thirty years ago1 the fall having occurred at the same rate in both countries4 ,it is quite possible that in the future it may become more rapid in ,prussia than in ,england1 for the birth-rate of ,berlin is lower than the birth-rate of ,london1 and urbanization is proceeding at a more rapid rate in ,germany than in ,england4 ,it is not difficult to arrive at the psychological reason underlying this great change in public opinion1 as manifested in this second stage4 ,in the first place1 the wonderful era of world-expansion was arrested1 by natural causes well understood by students of sociology4 ,the ambitious dreams of world-empires were rudely interrupted4 ,moreover1 public opinion was being affected by a quiet education along the lines of sociology and economics4 ,the working classes began to perceive1 on the one hand1 the tendency of overpopulation to hold down1 or even decrease1 the scale of wages4 ,the evils of over-production1 and of under-consumption were dimly perceived4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the capitalists began to perceive that another factor was at work--one which they had failed to include in their optimistic calculations4 ,instead of the cheaper wage rate which they had expected by reason of the over-abundance of human material1 they found that the growth of popular education in the democratic countries had caused the working classes to demand greater comforts of life1 and to oppose the cheapening of human labor4 ,and at the same time1 the masses began to revolt against the idea of raising children to become cannon fodder for ambitious autocratic rulers4 ,the masses began to protest against selling their labor and their lives so cheaply4 ,these changed viewpoints of the working classes began to result in attempts on their part to form associations to resist the tendency on the part of capitalists to force down the scale of wages to fit the increased population4 ,trade unions flourished and became powerful1 and the same impulse carried many into the ranks of socialism1 and still beyond into the fold of anarchism and syndicalism4 ,and1 here note this significant fact1 with these new perceptions and these new movements among the masses1 ,,the ,,birth-,,rate ,,began ,,to ,,fall ,,rapidly4 ,the writer above quoted from says of this period3 ,the pessimists were faced by horrors on both sides4 ,on the one hand1 they saw that the ever-increasing rate of human production which seemed to them the essential condition of national1 social1 even moral progress1 had not only stopped but was steadily diminishing4 ,on the other hand1 they saw that1 even so far as it was maintained1 it involved1 under modern conditions1 nothing but social commotion and economic disturbance4 ,there are still many pessimists of this class alive among us even today1 alike in ,england and ,germany1 but a new generation is growing up1 and this question is now entering another phase4 ,it would seem that the race is now well started in the third period1 phase1 or stage of this conception of the birth-rate4 ,even the ,great ,war is not likely to seriously interrupt its ultimate progress1 though conditions in all civilized countries will unquestionably be disturbed by the unusual conditions now prevailing and caused by the great conflict4 ,the spirit of this third stage seems to be that the ,truth is to be found between the two extremes1 viz43 7#a7 the extreme of passive optimism of the first stage2 and 7#b7 the extreme of passive pessimism of the second stage4 ,it realizes that there is excellent ground for hope in better things2 but it equally realizes that hope alone is vain1 and will accomplish nothing unless it is accompanied with and directed by a clear intellectual vision manifested in individual and social action based on that clear intellectual vision4 ,the writer above quoted from says of this developing period3 ,it is today beginning to be seen that the old notion of progress by means of reckless multiplication is vain4 ,it can only be effected at a ruinous cost of death1 disease1 poverty1 and misery4 ,we see this in the past history of ,western ,europe1 as we still see it in the history of ,russia4 ,any progress effected along that line--if 'progress' it can be called--is now barred1 for it is utterly opposed to those democratic conceptions which are ever gaining greater influence among us4 ,moreover1 we are now better able to analyze demographic phenomena1 and are no longer satisfied with any crude statements regarding the birth-rate4 ,we realize that they need interpretation4 ,they have to be considered in relation to the sex-constitution and the age-constitution of the population1 and ,,above ,,all1 ,,they ,,must ,,be ,,viewed ,,in ,,relation ,,to ,,the ,,infant ,,mortality ,,rate4 ,the bad aspect of the ,french birth-rate is not so much its lowness as that it is accompanied by a high infantile mortality4 ,the fact that the ,german birth-rate is higher than the ,english ceases to be a matter of satisfaction when it is realized that ,german infantile mortality is vastly greater than ,english4 ,a ,,high ,,birth-,,rate ,,is ,,no ,,sign ,,of ,a ,,high ,,civilization4 ,,but ,,we ,,are ,,beginning ,,to ,,feel ,,that ,a ,,high ,,infantile ,,death-,,rate ,,is ,a ,,sign ,,of ,a ,,very ,,inferior ,,civilization4 ,a ,,low ,,birth-,,rate ,,with ,a ,,low ,,infant ,,death-,,rate ,,not ,,only ,,produces ,,the ,,same ,,increase ,,in ,,population ,,as ,a ,,high ,,birth-,,rate ,,with ,a ,,high ,,death-,,rate1 ,,which ,,always ,,accompanies ,,it 7,,for ,,there ,,are ,,no ,,examples ,,of ,a ,,high ,,birth-,,rate ,,with ,a ,,low ,,death-,,rate71 ,,but ,,it ,,produces ,,it ,,in ,a ,,way ,,which ,,is ,,far ,,more ,,worthy ,,of ,,our ,,admiration ,,in ,,this ,,matter ,,than ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,russia ,,and ,,china ,,where ,,opposite ,,conditions ,,prevail4 ,the evolutionary process which all students of sociology clearly perceive to have been underway in the matter of the attitude of public opinion toward the birth-rate1 and which is now underway with increased impetus1 is perceived to be a natural process4 ,it is a natural process which has been underway from the beginning of the living world4 ,for a long time it operated and manifested along unconscious and instinctive lines of activity1 but now it has emerged into the light of human consciousness and manifests along the lines of conscious1 voluntary1 and deliberate human action4 ,in its present state of evolutionary progress human thought along these lines has found expression in what is generally known as ,birth ,control4 ,the process which has been working slowly through the ages1 attaining every new forward step with waste and pain1 is henceforth destined to be carried out voluntarily1 in the light of human reason1 foresight1 and self-restraint4 ,the rise of ,birth ,control may be said to correspond with the rise of social and sanitary science in the first half of the nineteenth century1 and to be indeed an essential part of that movement4 ,the new doctrine of ,birth ,control is now firmly established in all the most progressive and enlightened countries of ,europe1 notably in ,france and ,england2 in ,germany1 where formerly the birth-rate was very high1 ,birth ,control has developed with extraordinary rapidity during the present century4 ,in ,holland its principles and practice are freely taught by physicians and nurses to the mothers of the people1 with the result that there is in ,holland no longer any necessity for unwanted babies1 and this small country possesses the proud privilege of the lowest death-rate in ,europe4 ,in the free and enlightened ,democratic communities on the other side of the globe1 in ,australia and ,new ,zealand1 the same principles and practice are generally accepted1 with the same beneficent results4 ,on the other hand1 in the more backward and ignorant countries of ,europe1 ,birth ,control is still little known1 and death and disease flourish4 ,this is the case in those eight ,european countries which come at the bottom of the list of the ,birth ,control scale1 and in which the birth-rate is the highest and the death-rate the heaviest--the two rates maintaining such a constant correspondence as to lead to the inevitable conclusion that they are associated as cause and effect4 ,but even in the more progressive countries ,birth ,control has not been established without a struggle1 which has frequently ended in a hypocritical compromise1 its principles being publicly ignored or denied and its practice privately accepted4 ,for1 at the great and vitally important point in human progress which ,birth-,control represents1 we see really the conflict of two moralities4 ,the morality of the ancient world is here confronted by the morality of the new world4 ,the old morality1 knowing nothing of science and the process of ,nature as worked out in the evolution of life1 contented itself with assuming as a basis the early chapters of ,genesis in which the children of ,noah are represented as entering an empty earth which it is their business to populate diligently4 ,so it came about that for this morality1 still innocent of eugenics1 recklessness was almost a virtue4 ,children were held to be given by ,god2 if they died or were afflicted by congenital disease1 it was the dispensation of ,god1 and1 whatever imprudence the parents might commit1 the pathetic faith still ruled that ,god will provide4 ,but in the new morality it is realized that in these matters ,divine action can only be made manifest in human action1 that is to say through the operation of our own enlightened reason and resolved will4 ,prudence1 foresight1 self-restraint--virtues which old morality looked down upon with benevolent contempt--assume a position of first importance4 ,in the eyes of the new morality the ideal woman is no longer the meek drudge condemned to endless and often ineffectual child-bearing1 but the free and instructed woman1 able to look before and after1 trained in a sense of responsibility alike to herself and to the race1 and determined to have no children but the best4 ,such were the two moralities which came into conflict during the nineteenth century4 ,they are irreconcilable and each firmly rooted1 one in ancient religion and tradition1 the other in progressive science and reason4 ,nothing was possible in such a clash of opposing ideas but a feeble and confused compromise such as we find still prevailing in various countries of ,old ,europe4 ,this is not a satisfactory solution1 however inevitable1 and is especially unsatisfactory by the consequent obscurantism which placed difficulties in the way of spreading a knowledge of the methods of ,birth ,control among the masses of the population4 ,for the result has been that while the more enlightened and educated have exercised a control over the size of their families1 the poorer and more ignorant--those who should have been offered every facility and encouragement to follow in the same path--have been left1 through a conspiracy of silence1 to carry on helplessly the bad customs of their forefathers4 ,this social neglect has had the result that the superior family stocks have been tampered by the recklessness of the inferior stocks4 ,in ,america1 we find the two moralities in active conflict today4 ,until recently ,america has meekly accepted at the hand of ,old ,europe the traditional prescription4 ,on the surface1 the ancient morality had been complacently1 almost unquestionably1 accepted in ,america1 even to the extent of tacitly permitting the existence of a vast extension of abortion1 under the surface of society--a criminal practice which ever flourishes where ,birth ,control is neglected4 ,but today1 a new movement is perceptible in ,america4 ,it would seem that1 almost in a flash1 ,america has awakened to the true significance of the issue4 ,with that direct vision of hers1 that swift practicality of action1 and above all1 that sense of the democratic nature of all social progress1 we see her resolutely beginning to face this great problem4 ,in her vigorous tongue she is demanding ,what is all this secrecy about1 anyway8 ,let us turn on the ,light6 ,and the best authorities agree that ,america's answer to the demand will be of the greatest importance1 and of immense significance to the whole world4 ,in concluding this portion of our discussion1 ,i ask my readers to consider the following quotations from writers who have touched upon the question of the stimulation of the birth-rate by the ,state1 for the purpose of military policy4 ,these quotations speak for themselves1 and need but little comment4 ,the first authority1 a ,german1 whose name has escaped me for the moment1 laments the falling birth-rate in his country1 and urges his own nation to stimulate it by offering bounties2 he says3 ,woe to us if we follow the example of the wicked and degenerate people of other nations4 ,our nation needs men4 ,we have to populate the earth1 and to carry the blessings of our ,kultur all over the world4 ,in executing that high mission we cannot have too much human material in defending ourselves against the aggression of other nations who are jealous of us and our achievements and progress4 ,let us promote parentage by law2 let us repress by law every influence which may encourage a falling birth-rate2 otherwise there is nothing left us but speedy national disaster1 complete and irremediable4 ,havelock ,ellis1 an ,englishman1 says3 ,in ,germany for years past it has been difficult to take up a serious periodical without finding some anxiously statistical article about the falling birth-rate1 and some wild recommendations for its arrest4 ,for it is the militaristic ,german who of all ,europeans is most worried by this fall2 indeed ,germans often even refuse to recognize it4 ,thus today we find ,professor ,gruber declaring that if the population of the ,german ,empire continues to grow at the rate of the first five years of the present century1 it will have reached #bej1jjj1jjj at the end of the century4 ,by such a vast increase in population1 the ,professor complacently concludes1 ',germany will be rendered invulnerable4' ,but ,gruber's estimate is entirely fallacious4 ,german births have fallen1 roughly speaking1 about #a per #a1jjj of the population1 every year since the beginning of the century1 and it would be equally reasonable to estimate that if they continue to fall at the present rate 7which we cannot1 of course1 anticipate7 births will altogether have ceased in ,germany before the end of the century4 ,the ,german birth-rate reached its climax forty years ago 7#ahga-ahhj7 with #dj4g per #a1jjj2 in #aijf it was #cd per #a1jjj2 in #aiji it was #ca per #a1jjj2 in #aiab it was #bh per #a1jjj2 in an almost measurable period of time1 in all probability before the end of the century1 it will have reached the same low level as that of ,france1 when there will be but little difference between the 'invulnerability' of ,france and of ,germany1 a consummation which1 for the world's sake1 is far more devoutly to be wished than that anticipated by ,gruber4 ,writers of ,teutonic sympathies have asserted that the aggressive attitude of ,germany at the beginning of the ,great ,war was to be legitimately explained and apologized for on the ground that the ,war was the inevitable expansive outcome of the abnormally high birth-rate of ,germany in recent times4 ,dr4 ,dernburg1 the ,german statesman1 said not very long ago3 ,the expansion of the ,german nation has been so extraordinary during the past twenty-five years that the conditions existing before the war had become insupportable4 ,another writer has said3 ,of later years there has arisen a movement among ,german women for bringing abortion into honor and repute1 so that it may be carried out openly and with the aid of the best physicians4 ,this movement has been supported by lawyers and social reformers of high position4 ,thus1 it would seem that a birth-rate stimulated by unusual circumstances or by deliberate ,state encouragement1 seemingly draws upon it the operation of natural laws which tend to increase its death-rate by ,war1 as well as by an increased number of abortions1 and an increased death-rate4 ,it would seem as natural laws operate to bring down the population to normal by war if the other factors do not operate sufficiently rapidly and efficiently4 ,havelock ,ellis makes the following interesting statement3 ,if we survey the belligerent nations in the war we may say that those who took the initiative in drawing it on1 or at all events were most prepared to welcome it1 were ,germany1 ,austria1 ,serbia1 and ,russia--all nations with a high birth-rate1 and in which the fall of the birth-rate has not yet had time to permeate4 ,on the other hand1 of the belligerent peoples of today1 all indications point to the ,french as the people most intolerant1 silently but deeply1 of the war they are so ably and heroically waging4 ,yet the ,france of the present1 with the lowest birth-rate1 was a century ago the ,france of a birth-rate higher than that of ,germany today1 and at that time the most militarist and aggressive of nations1 a perpetual menace to ,europe4 ,finally1 let us quote ,havelock ,ellis once more2 he says3 ,when we realize these facts we are also enabled to realize how futile1 how misplaced and how mischievous it is to raise the cry of ',race ,suicide4' ,it is futile because no outcry can affect a world-wide movement of civilization4 ,it is misplaced because the rise and fall of the population is not a matter of birth-rate alone1 but of the birth-rate combined with the death-rate1 and while we cannot expect to touch the former we can influence the latter4 ,it is mischievous because by fighting against a tendency which is not only inevitable but altogether beneficial1 we blind ourselves to the advance of civilization and risk the misdirection of our energies4 ,how far this blindness may be carried we see in the false patriotism of those who in the decline of the birth-rate1 fancy they see the ruin of their own particular country1 oblivious of the fact that we are concerned with a phenomenon of world-wide extension4 ,the whole tendency of civilization is to reduce the birth-rate4 ,we may go further1 and assert with the distinguished ,german economist1 ,roscher1 that the chief cause of the superiority of a highly civilized state over lower stages of civilization is precisely a greater degree of forethought and self-control in marriage and child-bearing4 ,instead of talking about ,race ,suicide1 we should do well to observe at what an appalling rate1 even yet1 the population is increasing2 and we should note that it is everywhere the poorest and most primitive countries1 and in every country 7as in ,germany7 the poorest regions1 which show the highest birth-rate4 ,the same authority says3 ,one last resort the would-be patriotic alarmist seeks when all others fail4 ,he is good enough to admit that a general decline in the birth-rate might be beneficial4 ,but1 he points out1 it affects social classes unequally4 ,it is initiated1 not by the degenerate and unfit1 with whom we could well dispense1 but by the very best classes in the community1 the well-to-do and the educated4 ,one is inclined to remark1 at once1 that a social change initiated by its best social class is scarcely likely to be pernicious4 ,where1 it may be asked1 if not among the most educated classes1 is any process of amelioration to be initiated8 ,we cannot make the world topsy-turvy to suit the convenience of topsy-turvy minds4 ,all social movements tend to begin at the top and to permeate downwards4 ,this has been the case with the decline of the birth-rate1 but it is already well marked among the working classes1 and has only failed to touch the lowest stratum of all1 too weak-minded and too reckless to be amenable to ordinary social motives4 ,the rational method of meeting this situation is not a propaganda in favor of procreation--a truly imbecile propaganda1 since it is only carried out and only likely to be carried out1 by the very class which we wish to sterilize--but rather by a wise policy of regulative eugenics4 ,we have to create the motives1 and it is not an impossible task1 which will act even upon the weak-minded and reckless lowest social stratum4 ,,lesson ,,xii ,,the ,,argument ,,for ,,birth ,,control ,let us now consider the general and special arguments advanced in favor of rational and scientific ,birth ,control1 as stated by the advocates thereof4 ,,general ,,argument4 ,the general argument in favor of ,birth ,control may well be begun by the statement that rational and scientific ,birth ,control is not the fixing upon the race of a new and unfamiliar practice or policy1 but is rather the scientific correction of a practice and policy which is now followed by the majority of married persons in civilized countries1 though in a bungling1 unscientific1 and frequently a harmful manner4 ,the modern advocates of scientific methods of ,birth ,control seek to replace these bungling1 unscientific1 and frequently harmful methods by sane1 scientific1 harmless methods1 approved of by capable physicians and other experienced and capable authorities1 and under the sanction of the law rather than contrary to it4 ,the advocates of ,birth ,control seek to place upon a scientific basis1 under cover and protection of the law1 a subject which heretofore has been but imperfectly known1 and more imperfectly practiced in some form by the majority of married couples1 and which has heretofore been under condemnation of the law so far as concerned the actual dissemination of information concerning methods of contraception4 ,they hold that it is the veriest hypocrisy to pretend ignorance of the fact that the great majority of married couples in civilized communities know and practice to some extent contraceptive methods--usually imperfectly and bunglingly1 it must be added4 ,one has but to consider the families of married couples1 and to count their children1 to become aware that at least some form of contraception has been known and practiced in many cases4 ,this is particularly true of the more intelligent and cultured members of civilized society1 among whom we find large families of children to be the exception1 and small families to be the general rule4 ,among the less intelligent and uncultured classes the reverse of this condition is found4 ,it is hypocritical folly to assert that these small families to be found among the more intelligent classes of society are due to the fact that the husbands and wives are physically incapable of procreating off-spring--the mere suggestion produces an incredulous smile from the reader4 ,no one who is acquainted with the habits and customs of married people would in good faith offer such an explanation4 ,rather is it tacitly acknowledged by all thinking persons that such married couples practice some form of ,birth ,control1 or else commit the crime of abortion4 ,all physicians1 particularly those who practice in the large cities1 are fully informed as to the appalling facts concerning the prevalence of abortion among the women of the respectable classes1 and are likewise fully informed as to the terrible consequences so frequently arising from this criminal course4 ,the question1 then1 to many intelligent persons is not so much that of ,should contraception be employed in order to avoid excessively large families8 as that of ,should not contraception be employed to obviate the crime of abortion with its terrible train of consequences8 ,and the ,birth ,control propaganda which is so vigorously underway in all civilized countries may be stated to be designed for the following purposes3 7#a7 to replace abortion1 and other harmful methods of restricting the size of families1 with rational and scientific methods of contraception2 and 7#b7 to supply to married persons the best scientific knowledge concerning the regulation of the size of families1 and the methods of producing the best kind of children1 under the best conditions1 and at the times best adapted for their proper care and well-being4 ,these advocates of the ,betterment of the ,race face the facts of human nature and married life fearlessly1 instead of trying to cover them over with pretty words and sentimental generalities4 ,they take things as they are1 and not as certain persons insist that they should be--they live in a world of facts and try to better things as they find them1 instead of trying to live in a fool's paradise and contenting themselves with denying the existence of the facts which they consider ugly4 ,dr4 ,william ,j4 ,robinson1 one of the leading ,american workers in the field of ,birth ,control1 ably presents the main contention of the ,birth ,control advocates as follows3 ,we believe that under any conditions1 and particularly under our present economic conditions1 human beings should be able to control the number of our offspring4 ,,they ,,should ,,be ,,able ,,to ,,decide ,,how ,,many ,,children ,,they ,,want ,,to ,,have1 ,,and ,,when ,,they ,,want ,,to ,,have ,,them4 ,and to accomplish this result we demand that the knowledge of controlling the number of offspring1 in other and plainer words1 the knowledge of preventing undesirable conception1 should not be considered criminal knowledge1 that its dissemination should not be considered a criminal offense punishable by hard labor in ,federal prisons1 but that it should be considered knowledge useful and necessary to the welfare of the race and of the individual2 and that its dissemination should be permissible and as respectable as is the dissemination of any hygienic1 sanitary or eugenic knowledge4 ,there is no element of force in our teachings2 that is1 we would not force any family to limit the number of children against their will1 though we would endeavor to create a public opinion which would consider it a disgrace for any family to have more children than they can bring up and educate properly4 ,we would consider it a disgrace1 an anti-social act1 for any family to bring children into the world which they must send out at an early age into the mills1 shops1 and streets to earn a living1 or must fall back upon public charity to save them from starvation4 ,public opinion is stronger than any laws1 and in time people would be as much ashamed of having children whom they could not bring up properly in every sense of the word1 as they are now ashamed of having their children turn out criminals4 ,now1 no disgrace can attach to any poor family1 no matter how many children they have1 because they have not got the knowledge1 because society prevents them from having the knowledge of how to limit the number of children4 ,but if that knowledge became easily accessible1 and people still refused to avail themselves of it1 then they would properly be considered as anti-social1 as criminal members of society4 ,as far as couples are concerned who are well-to-do1 who love children1 and who are well capable of taking care of a large number1 we1 that is1 we ,american limitationists1 would put no limit4 ,on the contrary1 we would say3 ',god bless you1 have as many children as you want to2 there is plenty of room yet for all of you4' ,another writer1 a celebrated ,english thinker along these lines1 has said of the general argument in favor of ,birth ,control3 ,it used to be thought that small families were immoral4 ,we now begin to see that it was the large families of old which were immoral4 ,the excessive birth-rate of the early industrial period was directly stimulated by selfishness4 ,there were no laws against child-labor2 children were produced that they might be sent out1 when little more than babies1 to the factories and the mines to increase their parents' incomes4 ,the diminished birth-rate has accomplished higher moral transformation4 ,it has introduced a finer economy into life1 diminished death1 disease1 and misery4 ,it is indirectly1 and even directly1 improving the quality of the race4 ,the very fact that children are born at longer intervals is not only beneficial to the mother's health1 and therefore to the children's general welfare1 but it has been proved to have a marked and prolonged influence on the physical development of children4 ,social progress1 and a higher civilization1 we thus see1 involve ,a ,,reduced ,,birth-,,rate ,,and ,a ,,reduced ,,death-,,rate4 ,the fewer the children born1 the fewer the risks of death1 disease1 and misery to the children that are born4 ,the fact that civilization involves small families is clearly shown by the tendency of the educated and upper social classes to have small families4 ,as the proletariat class becomes educated and elevated1 disciplined to refinement and to foresight--as it were aristocratised--it also has small families4 ,civilizational progress is here on a line with biological progress4 ,the lower organisms spawn their progeny in thousands1 the higher mammals produce but one or two at a time4 ,the higher the race1 the fewer the offspring4 ,thus diminution in quantity is throughout associated with augmentation in quality4 ,quality rather than quantity is the racial ideal now set before us1 and it is an ideal which1 as we are beginning to learn1 it is possible to cultivate1 both individually and socially4 ,that is why the new science of eugenics or racial hygiene is acquiring so immense an importance4 ,in the past1 racial selection has been carried out crudely by the destructive1 wasteful1 and expensive method of elimination1 through death4 ,in the future1 it will be carried out far more effectively by conscious and deliberate selection1 exercised not merely before birth1 but before conception and even before mating4 ,galton1 who recognized the futility of mere legislation to elevate the race1 believed that the hope of the future lay in eugenics becoming a part of religion4 ,the good of the race lies1 not in the production of a super-man1 but of a super-humanity4 ,this can only be attained through personal individual development1 the increase of knowledge1 the sense of responsibility toward the race1 enabling men to act in accordance with responsibility4 ,,the ,,leadership ,,in ,,civilization ,,belongs ,,not ,,to ,,the ,,nation ,,with ,,the ,,highest ,,birth-,,rate1 ,,but ,,to ,,the ,,nation ,,which ,,has ,,thus ,,learnt ,,to ,,produce ,,the ,,finest ,,men ,,and ,,women4 ,let us now proceed to a consideration of the special arguments in favor of rational and scientific ,birth ,control as advanced by its leading advocates4 ,the advocates of rational and scientific ,birth ,control have presented the strongest points of their case in their replies to those opposing the general idea1 and without positively taking the stand that the burden of the proof in the argument concerning ,birth ,control rested upon those opposing the idea1 have practically assumed that position4 ,they claim that the right to ,birth ,control is so self-evident1 and its application so generally recognized 7though usually sought to be smothered with silence7 that the case in favor of ,birth ,control is really quite apparent to anyone seriously considering the same without prejudice4 ,the opposing side of the question is held by them to be represented principally by statements based on prejudice and disingenuous statements1 which are capable of being turned against those advancing them4 ,and1 the present writer1 likewise is of the opinion that the strongest possible case for ,birth ,control is presented in the answer to the arguments advanced by the opponents thereof4 ,but1 before proceeding to the latter phase of the argument1 it may be well to examine briefly the several leading points of argument advanced by the advocates of rational and scientific ,birth ,control1 in order to clear the way for the answers to the opposite side of the question4 ,the reader is1 therefore1 invited to consider the said points1 briefly presented in the following paragraphs3 ,,birth ,,control ,,encourages ,,marriage4 ,the advocates of ,birth ,control hold that a scientific knowledge of contraception would speedily result in a large increase of marriages1 particularly among persons of limited incomes4 ,persons who have not been able to accumulate the little nest egg which prudent persons consider a requisite on the part of those contemplating marriage and the responsibilities of rearing a family of children1 are in many cases caused to hesitate about contracting marriage1 and often relinquish the idea altogether4 ,many of these persons are well adapted for marriage1 being of the domestic temperament and having the home ideal prominent in their mental makeup4 ,the increasing number of bachelors and unmarried women past thirty years of age1 who are in evidence in all large centers of population at the present time1 is undoubtedly due to a great extent to the fear on the part of these men and women regarding the proper support of a family of children4 ,many men and women feel that the man is able to earn enough to support himself and wife comfortably1 by the exercise of economy1 but that the said earnings are not sufficient to provide properly for a family of children4 ,some would be willing to have one or two children1 born after the couple have well established themselves1 but are appalled at the thought of bringing into the world a practically unlimited number of little children for whom they would not be able to provide properly4 ,these people shrink at the idea of abortion1 and doubt the efficacy of the popular so-called contraceptive methods of which their friends tell them1 and they either defer the marriage until later in life1 or else give up the idea altogether as being impossible for them under the existing circumstances4 ,a scientific knowledge of the subject would give to such persons--and there are many thousands of such--an assurance of their ability to safely and properly control and regulate the size of their families1 and would lead to many a marriage which would otherwise be out of the question4 ,if it is agreed that the marriage state is the one normal to the average man and woman1 and that marriages are in the interests of society--and few would seek to dispute this--then it would seem that anything that would tend to encourage marriage among the right kind of persons should receive the encouragement of society and be fully protected by the laws of society2 and that the old prejudice against the subject1 and the laws which discourage the same1 and place a penalty upon the dissemination of scientific methods leading to the said result1 are unworthy of civilized society and modern thought4 ,,earlier ,,marriages ,,and ,,curb ,,on ,,prostitution4 ,it is generally conceded by students of sociology that earlier marriages tend to decrease the causes of the evil of prostitution1 illicit sexual relations1 and general sexual morality2 and the consequent spread and existence of the venereal diseases which have followed in the trail of such relations4 ,and it is likewise conceded that prostitution is an evil1 and a cancer spot upon modern social life1 and that venereal diseases constitute a frightful menace to the health and physical welfare of the race4 ,therefore1 it would seem that anything which would promote early marriages among healthy1 intelligent young men and women would be a blessing to the race and to society4 ,and as these earlier marriages are unquestionably prevented in a great number of cases by reasons of the fear of inadequate financial support for large families of children1 it would seem to follow that the best interests of society would be served by the encouragement by public opinion1 under the protection of the law1 of the teaching by competent authorities upon the subject of rational and scientific methods of ,birth ,control4 ,,health ,,of ,,wives4 ,the advocates of ,birth ,control lay considerable stress upon the fact that a scientific knowledge of ,birth ,control would practically obviate the state of broken-down health so common among married women1 particularly among those who have been compelled to bear large numbers of children during the first few years of married life4 ,many a young married woman is in bad health--often reaching the state of chronic invalidism--as the result of having had to bear too many children1 and in too close succession4 ,not only is the above the case1 but there is to be found on all sides many cases of invalidism and shattered health caused by the horrible practice of criminal abortion4 ,it is doubted whether anyone outside of medical circles can even faintly begin to realize the frequency of this practice of abortion among the well-to-do1 and those in comfortable circumstances--not to speak of the countless deaths which arise from the prevalence of this curse4 ,were a physician to even faintly indicate the number of cases coming under his personal professional attention1 in which the patient is suffering from the effects of one or more abortions1 he would be accused of gross exaggeration1 and would be condemned as a sensationalist4 ,without going into detail concerning these things1 the writer states that it is a matter of common knowledge among physicians that in every large city there are thousands of unscrupulous 7including those who call themselves physicians7 who are kept busy every week in the year performing criminal operations designed to produce abortions4 ,some of these practitioners have many regular patients--women who visit them regularly for the purpose of having abortions produced by criminal operations4 ,it seems almost incredible1 but it is a veritable fact1 that there are to be found many women in the large cities who actually boast to their friends of the number of operations of this kind they have had performed on them4 ,surely1 any instruction which would prevent the physical breakdown of so many women by reason of excessive child-bearing on the one hand1 and abortion on the other hand1 would seem to be worthy of the hearty support of society1 and the encouragement of its laws1 rather than the reverse4 ,so true does this seem1 that it is difficult to realize that there are any intelligent persons who would condemn such instruction as evil and harmful to society4 ,that such persons do exist is a striking proof of the persistence of ancient superstitions and the survival and tenacity of old prejudices4 ,,morality ,,of ,,married ,,men4 ,it is a matter of common knowledge among physicians1 and students of sociology1 that many married men1 particularly those living in the large cities1 indulge in extra-marital or illicit sexual relations1 with prostitutes and other women of loose morals1 and this not because these men are naturally vicious1 depraved or licentious1 but rather because they fear causing their wives to bear them more children--the wives either being in delicate or broken-down health1 or else the family already too large to be reared properly in justice to the children4 ,many persons who would see only what ought to be1 and who refuse to see things as they are in modern society1 will be disposed to pooh-pooh the above statement1 and to accuse those making it to be sensational or even morbid on the subject4 ,but those who are brought in close contact with men and women1 as are family physicians and specialists1 as well as honest students of sociology1 know only too well that the above is not an over-statement1 but is rather a very conservative recital of certain unpleasant1 but true1 facts of human society4 ,,justice ,,to ,,the ,,children4 ,the advocates of scientific ,birth ,control hold that a scientific knowledge along the lines favored by them would prevent the gross injustice to children which is now only too obvious to anyone who candidly considers the matter without prejudice4 ,the child brought into the world1 unwanted1 undesired1 unprepared for1 and unprovided for before and after birth1 is handicapped from the very start of its existence upon earth4 ,the present state of affairs works a terrible injustice upon countless children brought into the world in such conditions4 ,nothing that the present writer could put into words would state this fact more concisely and clearly than the following statement made by ,dr4 ,wm4 ,j4 ,robinson1 a leading authority along these lines1 who has said3 ,the responsibility of bringing a child into the world under our present social and economic conditions is a very great one4 ,the primitive savage or the coarse ignorant man does not care4 ,it does not bother him what becomes of his offspring2 if they get an education1 if they have enough to eat1 if they learn a trade or a profession1 well--if they don't1 also well2 if they achieve a competence or a decent social position1 he is satisfied--if not1 he can't help it4 ,god willed it so4 ,but1 on the other hand1 the cultured1 refined man and woman look at the matter differently4 ,the thought of bringing into the world a human being which may be physically handicapped1 which may be mentally inferior1 which may have a hard struggle through life1 which may have to go through endless misery and suffering1 fills them with anguish4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we see about us millions of working men and women who go through life1 from cradle to grave1 without a ray of joy1 without anything that makes life worth living4 ,in the higher classes we see a constant1 hard1 infuriated struggle to make a living1 to make a career1 and the spectre of poverty is almost as unremittingly before the eyes of the middle and professional classes as it is before the eyes of the laborer4 ,and all over we see ignorance1 superstition1 beliefs bordering on insanity1 hardness1 coarseness1 rowdyism1 brutality1 crime and prostitution2 prostitution of the body1 and what is worse1 prostitution of the mind1 the hiding or selling of one's convictions for a mess of pottage4 ,and our prisons1 asylums1 and hospitals are not decreasing1 but increasing in number and inmates4 ,it is my sincerest and deepest conviction that we could accomplish incomparably more if only a small part of the energy and money now spent on philanthropic efforts were expended in teaching the women1 the married women of the poor1 how to limit the number of their children2 in other words1 how to prevent conception4 ,it would work a wonderful reform in the lives of the poor1 and our slums would be metamorphosed in ten years4 99 99 99 ,it is we who are to blame now for the large families of the poor1 and for this reason we are morally obligated to give them the financial and medical aid that they demand4 ,but when effectual means are put into their hands for limiting the number of their offspring1 then they1 and not we1 will be to blame if they do not make use of them4 99 99 99 99 ,the rich and the upper-middle classes1 those to whom several children would be the least burden1 are quite familiar with the various means of prevention4 ,the poorer middle classes use preventives recommended by their friends2 these preventives sometimes succeed1 sometimes fail1 and sometimes ruin the woman's health4 ,while the very poor1 the wage-earners1 those who can least afford to have unlimited progeny1 knowing no means of prevention1 go on breeding to their own and to the community's detriment4 ,the result1 as you can plainly see1 is a general lowering of the physical and mental stamina of the race4 ,for if the cultured and the well-to-do do not breed1 or have only a few children1 while the poor and the ignorant go on having a numerous progeny for which they cannot well provide1 and which they cannot afford to educate properly1 it stands to reason that the percentage of the uneducated1 the unfit and the criminal1 must go on constantly increasing4 ,and this is something that no lover of humanity can look upon with equanimity4 ,surely the above recited special points of argument in favor of ,birth ,control seem to be statements of self-evident facts to the unprejudiced mind1 do they not8 ,and the person of this kind who considers them carefully for the first time usually finds himself wondering what rational argument can be fairly urged on the other side of this important question4 ,and1 when he acquaints himself with the arguments of the other side he usually finds himself even more established in the belief that scientific ,birth ,control is advisable1 sane1 and along the lines of the mental evolution of the race4 ,at any rate1 it is difficult to escape the conviction that the burden of proof needed to controvert a proposition so nearly self-evident as intelligent and scientific ,birth ,control1 must be placed squarely upon the shoulders of those opposing the proposition4 ,,lesson ,,xiii ,,the ,,argument ,,against ,,birth ,,control ,the argument against ,birth ,control1 urged by those who are opposed to the dissemination of scientific information on the subject1 may be reduced to a few general points4 ,these points of objection ,i shall now state1 together with the rejoinder to each as given by the advocates of the proposition4 ,i think that these points cover the main argument advanced against ,birth ,control1 and ,i shall endeavor to state them as fully and as fairly as possible4 ,,opposed ,,to ,,religious ,,teachings4 ,one of the most common arguments advanced against ,birth ,control is the one which holds that the idea is opposed to religious teachings4 ,the statement1 however1 is usually made in a vague general way1 the charge of irreligious being hurled without explanation1 and usually without any attempt to show any proof of the accusation4 ,as a matter of fact1 as the advocates of ,birth ,control have pointed out1 there is nothing whatsoever in the ,new ,testament which in fairness may be construed as indicating ,birth ,control as sinful2 in fact1 it has been frequently asserted by authorities on the subject that there is nothing to be found in either the ,old ,testament or the ,new ,testament which directly or indirectly prohibits the limitation of offspring1 or which encourages the production of an unlimited number of children regardless of all other conditions4 ,nor do the majority of the various religious denominations seem to have in their statements of doctrine and living anything in the nature of prohibition along the lines indicated above4 ,it is true1 however1 that the ,roman ,catholic ,church does quite positively1 and vigorously1 condemn and prohibit the use of contraceptive methods among its members2 and ,i have been informed that its priests place such methods in the category of methods producing abortion1 both being regarded as practically identical with infanticide4 ,i have been informed1 however1 that in this ,church the restriction of marital relations to certain periods of the month in which conception is held to be not so likely to be effected1 with abstinence at other periods1 is a method of limiting offspring that does not come under the ban1 particularly if there be a reasonable excuse offered for the desire to limit the size of the family2 though1 as a rule1 even such method is frowned upon unless the reasonable excuse be forthcoming4 ,in the case of members of the ,catholic ,church--and these only--there may seem to be warrant for the objection to ,birth ,control as contrary to religion1 it being assumed that the teachings and rules of the ,church constitute the true measure of religion4 ,to such there is1 of course1 only one answer1 and that is that if the teaching or practice of ,birth ,control methods be held by them to be contrary to religion 7according to their definition of religion7 then they have merely to adhere to the said religious teachings1 and to refuse to learn anything about ,birth ,control4 ,the matter undoubtedly is one entirely for the exercise of their own judgment and conscience4 ,there is no desire on the part of the advocates of ,birth ,control to insist that such people must limit the size of their families--or for that matter that there is any must about it for anyone whatsoever4 ,but we must not lose sight of the fact that the laws and customs of society in general are not based upon1 or bound up with1 the teachings and rules of this particular ,church4 ,on the contrary1 particularly in the instance of ,marriage and ,divorce1 many of our customs sanctioned by our laws permit and sanction things which are not countenanced or approved of by the ,church in question4 ,but just as persons outside of that ,church are in no way bound by the teachings or rules thereof in the matter of ,marriage and ,divorce1 so are they in no way bound by the teachings and rules of the said ,church concerning the limitation of the size of families4 ,the ,church in question does not regard civil marriages as true marriages at all--yet our laws1 and general public opinion1 countenance such marriages2 and it is extremely probable that within a comparatively short time the status of ,birth ,control will likewise manifest the same conflict between ,state and ,church4 ,but just as no ,catholic is ,,compelled to accept or practice civil marriage1 so no ,catholic will be compelled to accept or practice ,birth ,control4 ,religion is entirely a matter of individual belief and faith1 and binds no one not agreeing with its precepts4 ,there is no union of ,church and ,state in this country1 or in most other modern civilized countries2 and we are not under the jurisdiction of the ,church in matters of conscience or conduct1 unless we voluntarily so place ourselves under such jurisdiction and control4 ,the argument that ,birth ,control which is based upon the assertion that it is opposed to the edicts or dogmas of some particular ,church organization1 is found to be no true argument for the reasons given above2 and such argument must be dismissed as fallacious by those who base their judgments and conduct upon the dictates of science1 reason1 and common-sense1 rather than upon the dogmas or decrees of any ,church organization4 ,the answer to those who urge that ,birth ,control is contrary to the teachings of the ,catholic ,church is3 ,well1 what of it8 if you are not a ,catholic6 ,the force of the above objection to ,birth ,control becomes important when we find that those who are opposed to ,birth ,control merely because their ,church condemns it do not content themselves with letting alone the subject1 but would also endeavor to fasten the rule of their ,church upon the rest of society4 ,while such persons are undoubtedly acting in good faith1 and inspired by motives which seem good to them1 they should stop to remember that general society refuses to accept the rules of their ,church in the matter of ,marriage and ,divorce1 and is likely to refuse a like attempt to fasten upon it the rules of the ,church in the case of ,birth ,control4 ,the general public1 here and in the first mentioned cases1 will insist upon entering a plea of ,,lack ,,of ,,jurisdiction4 ,in the cases of persons outside of the ,church in question who may consider ,birth ,control to be contrary to their religious convictions and teachings1 there is to be made the same answer given above1 namely1 that the advocates of ,birth ,control are not trying to force anything upon those who entertain such religious or conscientious scruples--they would leave such persons free to follow the dictates of their own conscience or the religious teachings favored by them4 ,but at the same time they would demand the legal and moral right to follow the dictates of their own conscience and reason1 and would insist upon their right to receive legal protection for the dissemination of their scientific teachings4 ,all that the advocates of ,birth ,control are claiming is the right of free speech and free knowledge concerning this subject which they deem concerned with the future progress and well-being of the race4 ,the argument against ,birth ,control which is based upon the claim that it is irreligious1 arises from the general tradition based upon the ,hebrew conception of a ,deity who bade the legendary first families of the race to increase and multiply4 ,according to the scriptural narrative this authoritative command was addressed to a world inhabited by eight people4 ,from such a point of view a world's population of a few thousand persons would have seemed inconceivably great4 ,but the old legendary command has become a tradition which has survived amid conditions totally unlike those under which it arose4 ,under this old traditionary conception reproduction was regarded as a process in which men's minds and wills had no part4 ,to those holding it1 knowledge of ,nature was still too imperfect for the recognition of the fact that the whole course of the world's natural history has been an erection of barrier against wholesale and indiscriminate reproduction4 ,thus it came about that under the old dispensation1 which is now forever passing away1 to have as many children as possible and to have them as often as possible--providing that certain ritual prescriptions were fulfilled--seemed to be a religious duty4 ,today the conditions have altogether altered1 and even our own feelings have altered4 ,we no longer feel with the ancient ,hebrew who bequeathed his ideals1 though not his practices1 to ,christendom1 that to have as many wives and concubines and as large a family as possible is both natural and virtuous and in the best interests of religion4 ,we realize1 moreover1 that such claimed ,divine ,commands were the expression of the prophets and rulers of the people to whom they were addressed1 and in accordance with the ideals concerning race-betterment which were held by these self-constituted authorities4 ,to the educated men and women of today1 it is seen that these ideals of human-betterment 7no longer imposed upon the people under the guise of ,divine ,commands1 but rather by an appeal to their reason and judgment7 are no longer based upon the sanctification of the impulse of the moment1 but rather involve restraint of the impulse of the moment as taught by the lessons of foresight and regard for the future which the race has received4 ,we no longer believe that we are divinely ordered to be reckless1 or that ,god commands us to have children who1 as we ourselves know1 are fatally condemned to disease or premature death4 ,matters which we formerly believed to be regulated only by ,providence1 are now seen to be properly regulated by the providence1 prudence1 foresight1 and self-restraint of men themselves4 ,these characteristics are those of moral men1 and those persons who lack these characteristics are condemned by our social order to be reckoned among the dregs of mankind4 ,our social order is one in which the sphere of procreation could not be reached or maintained by the systematic control of offspring4 ,more and more is ,religion perceived to be more than a mere matter of the observance of certain ritual and ceremonies1 or the belief in certain dogmas4 ,more and more is true religion seen to be vitally concerned and bound up with the relations of man to man1 and the welfare of society in general4 ,more and more is it being perceived that anything which is decidedly anti-social1 or opposed to the best interests of human-betterment1 is not truly religious1 no matter how sanctified by tradition1 or bound up with ritual and ceremonies it may be4 ,the spirit of modern ,christianity is seen to consist of two fundamental principles1 viz43 7#a7 the love of ,god2 and 7#b7 the ,golden ,rule4 ,the conscientious ,christian who uses head and heart in harmony and unison1 cannot avoid the conclusion that the avoidance of the bringing into the world of offspring destined by social and economic conditions to misery1 poverty1 and sin1 is more in accordance with the true spirit of ,christianity than opposed to it--the ancient dogmas and traditions of the ,church to the contrary notwithstanding4 ,modern religion is based upon ,reason as well as upon ,faith1 and it is safe to predict the time when ,birth ,control will not only be sanctioned by religion1 but also encouraged by it4 ,,is ,,it ,,immoral8 ,akin to the objection urged against ,birth ,control on the score of conflict with religious teachings1 we find the one which states that it is ,,immoral4 ,morality means quality of an action which renders it right or good2 right conduct4 ,right conduct or good action depends upon the effect of the conduct or action upon the individual1 other individuals1 or society in general4 ,the standards of morality1 right conduct1 and good actions have changed from time to time in the history of the race1 and are not fixed4 ,reason teaches that that which is for the benefit of the individual and the race is and must be moral1 and that which is harmful to the individual and the race is and must be immoral4 ,as to whether ,birth ,control is helpful or harmful to the individual and the race--moral or immoral--the individual student of the question must decide for himself after having given the subject careful and unprejudiced consideration4 ,the advocates of ,birth ,control hold that every fair argument and consideration of the question must bring the unprejudiced person to the conviction that the ideals advanced by them are in the direction of the betterment of the race1 and the increased happiness of the individuals composing the race4 ,if such be the case1 then ,birth ,control must be regarded as positively moral in character and principles1 and its teachings directly in the interests of morality4 ,so true is the above statement that every argument of the advocates of ,birth ,control is based upon the assumption of its morality1 in the sense of making for human betterment4 ,if it be shown that the teachings are in anywise immoral1 in the sense indicated1 then no one would be quicker to condemn them than the intelligent and conscientious advocate of ,birth ,control1 for the reason that his whole case is based upon the inherent morality of his ideals4 ,any one who has made a careful and unprejudiced study of the subject of ,birth ,control will discard the idea that a tendency so deeply rooted in ,nature as is ,birth ,control can ever be in opposition to morality4 ,it can only be so held as contrary to morality when men confuse the eternal principles of morality1 whatever they may be1 with their temporary applications1 which are always becoming modified in adaptation to changing circumstances4 ,the old ideals of morality placed the whole question of procreation under the authority 7after ,god7 of men4 ,women were in subjection to men1 and had no right of freedom1 no right to responsibility1 no right to knowledge1 for1 it was believed1 if they were entrusted with any of these they would abuse them at once4 ,this view prevails even today in some civilized countries1 and middle-aged ,italian parents1 for instance1 will not allow their daughters to be conducted by a man even to ,mass1 for they believe that as soon as they are out of their sight they will be unchaste4 ,that is their morality4 ,our morality today is different4 ,it is inspired by different ideas1 and aims at a different practice4 ,we are by no means disposed to rate highly the morality of a girl who is only chaste so long as she is under her parents' eyes2 for us1 indeed1 that is much more like immorality than morality4 ,we1 today1 wish women to be reasonably free2 we wish them to be trained in a sense of responsibility for their own actions2 we wish them to possess knowledge1 more especially in the sphere of sex1 once theoretically opposed to them1 which we now recognize as peculiarly their own domain4 ,our ideal woman today is not she who is deprived of freedom and knowledge in the cloister1 even though only the cloister of her own home2 but rather the woman who being instructed from early life in the facts of sexual physiology and sexual hygiene1 is also trained to exercise judgment1 will1 self-restraint1 and self-responsibility1 and able and worthy to be trusted to follow the path which is right according to the highest ideals of the society of which she is a part4 ,that is the only kind of morality which now seems to us to be worth while4 ,and1 as any unprejudiced intelligent person is forced to admit1 there is nothing in the policy of scientific ,birth ,control to run contrary to such an ideal of moral womanhood4 ,but the relation of ,birth ,control to morality is1 however1 by no means a question which concerns women alone4 ,it equally concerns men4 ,here we have to recognize1 not only that the exercise of control over procreation enables a man to form a marriage of faithful devotion with the woman of his choice at an earlier age than would otherwise be possible1 but it further enables him1 throughout the whole of his married life1 to continue such relationship under circumstances which might otherwise render them injurious or else undesirable to his wife4 ,that the influence exerted by a general knowledge of scientific methods of ,birth ,control would suffice to entirely abolish prostitution it is foolish to maintain1 although it would undoubtedly tend to decrease the social evil4 ,and even the partial elimination of prostitution would be in the interests of general morality1 not only in the direction of lessening the brutal demand of women to serve in the ranks of prostitution1 but also in many other ways of importance to society as a whole4 ,the decrease of venereal disease would follow a decrease in prostitution caused by a general knowledge and practice of scientific methods of ,birth ,control on the part of married people2 and it must be remembered that venereal disease spreads far beyond the patrons of prostitution and is a perpetual menace to others who may become innocent victims4 ,and any influence that serves to decrease prostitution and the spread of venereal disease1 must be placed in the category of moral1 and certainly not in the opposite one4 ,the objection is frequently heard that the general knowledge of scientific methods of contraception would lead to increased illicit relations among unmarried persons1 particularly among the young people4 ,this argument is apparently based upon the belief1 or fear1 that the fear of conception is the only thing which prevents many persons from indulging in illicit relations4 ,it assumes that a large portion of our womankind are chaste simply because of fear of pregnancy2 and that this fear once removed these women would at once plunge into such relations4 ,in other words1 it assumes that mentally and in spirit these women are already unchaste1 but are restrained from physical unchastity by reason of the fear of conception4 ,the answer of the advocates of ,birth ,control takes direct issue with the above contention4 ,on the contrary1 it asserts that the chastity of our women is the result of their general training1 education1 heredity1 observance of the accepted customs and standards of their community1 religious and moral training1 etc4 ,the woman who is chaste simply through fear1 usually manages to allay that fear in one way or another1 often by mistaken methods which work great harm to the woman and the community in general4 ,the general knowledge of scientific contraceptive methods might result in such women manifesting their inclinations and desires in a safer manner1 but this safety would not consist of protection against conception 7for that they already think they have7 but rather of a protection against the dangers of abortion and similar evil practices4 ,some of the writers go further in this matter1 as for instance ,dr4 ,robinson1 who says3 ,if some women are bound to have illicit relations1 is it not better that they should know the use of scientific preventives than that they should become pregnant1 disgracing and ostracising themselves1 and their families2 or that they should subject themselves to the degradation and risks of an abortion2 or failing this1 take carbolic acid or bichloride1 jump into the river1 or throw themselves under the wheels of a running train8 ,the objection to ,birth ,control on the ground that it would increase illicit relations among men and women by means of removing the fear of physical consequences1 seems to many careful thinkers to be akin to the old objection 7now happily passing away7 to the dissemination of the knowledge of the treatment of venereal diseases1 and to the public cure of such diseases1 on the ground that by so doing a part of the fear concerning illicit relations was removed1 and thereby illicit relations actually encouraged4 ,the result of this fallacious argument was the enormous spread of venereal diseases1 to the great hurt of the race2 and the encouragement of quacks and charlatans who fattened on the gains received from the sufferers from this class of complaints4 ,the argument against ,birth ,control on similar grounds will be seen to be equally fallacious1 and capable of equally evil consequences1 if the matter be fairly and carefully considered4 ,illicit relations1 if prevented or regulated at all by society1 must be so regulated or prevented by other means than fear of conception4 ,such fear1 though it may deter for a short time1 will usually be overcome in time if the desire and temptation remain sufficiently strong4 ,it is doubtful whether any considerable number of women remain chaste for any length of time simply by reason of fear of conception4 ,if such fear be the only remaining deterring factor1 it will usually be swept away in time under continued temptation1 opportunity1 and desire4 ,chastity and virtue must have a far more solid foundation than such fear2 and experience repeatedly shows that such fear is but as shifting sand sought to be employed as a foundation for the structure of chastity4 ,there is no reason whatsoever for believing that the scientific knowledge of contraceptive methods1 if generally possessed by married people under the sanction of the law and society1 would result in any more cases of illicit relations than exist at the present time4 ,it might1 it is true1 result in less evil consequences of such relations in some cases1 as ,dr4 ,robinson has so clearly pointed out in the above quotation2 but the relations in such cases would exist in either event4 ,fear of conception1 like fear of infection1 has never1 and will never entirely prevent illicit relations between men and women2 and to oppose scientific information in the one case on these grounds1 is as futile as to oppose scientific treatment in the other case on the same grounds4 ,and when it is considered how society in general is injured by the withholding of such information or treatment1 respectively1 the argument in favor of such suppression of scientific truth and method is seen to be actually dangerous to society and sub-service of the public good4 ,i would like to add a few words concerning the question of morality in the matter of practicing scientific ,birth ,control4 ,to me what ,i shall say in the succeeding paragraphs of this chapter have a vital bearing on the whole subject1 and should be taken into serious consideration by the fair-minded and conscientious student of the subject4 ,here follows my thought in the matter3 ,in my consideration of the arguments against scientific ,birth ,control ,i am impressed with one particular thought which refuses to be silenced1 but which insists upon persistently presenting itself to my consciousness4 ,this particular thought may be expressed as follows3 ,it is admitted by unprejudiced students of the subject that the educated and cultured portions of the civilized countries of modern times do actually practice1 to some extent1 in some form1 manner1 or degree1 the limitation of offspring--no honest observer will dispute this statement4 ,this being so1 does it not seem that the race should fairly and squarely1 honestly and frankly1 face this question and decide whether or not such rules of conduct are right or wrong--moral or immoral--and to what extent1 if any1 they should be permitted or encouraged to be practiced toward the ends of individual and race happiness and betterment4 ,if the decision is totally against this rule of conduct1 then it should be vigorously denounced1 and all honest people should refrain from it4 ,if1 on the contrary1 the decision should be that this mode of conduct1 or some phases of it1 are justified1 then1 in the name of ,honesty and ,truth1 let us turn on the full light of general information1 knowledge1 and instruction on the subject1 under the full protection of the laws and public opinion4 ,why should we not throw aside the mask of cowardly hypocrisy1 and stand before the world showing ourselves as just what we really are8 ,my thought1 in essence1 is that the chief wrong1 and immorality about the whole matter consists in our present practice of doing one thing in private1 and condemning the same thing in public4 ,there can be no excuse1 to the intellectually honest person at least1 for the course of tacitly holding that a certain thing is all right for us1 while all wrong for the other folks4 ,,is ,,it ,,injurious ,,to ,,health8 ,it is sometimes urged against ,birth ,control that the use of contraceptive methods is injurious to the health of women1 in some cases a long list of physical and mental ills being given as possible of being caused by such methods4 ,opposed to this is the contention of the members of the medical profession who have arrayed themselves on the side of scientific ,birth ,control4 ,the latter authorities positively contradict the assertion that women's health is injured by the practice of rational and scientific methods of ,birth ,control2 although these authorities freely admit1 in fact they ,,claim1 that certain unscientific methods and practices popular among certain persons--such as the use of certain chemicals and mechanical appliances--undoubtedly have resulted in physical harm1 and they strongly advise against the use of such bunglesome methods4 ,one of the leading medical advocates of scientific ,birth ,control in the ,united ,states throws down the gauntlet squarely before those of his profession1 and others1 who urge this objection to scientific ,birth ,control1 in the following challenging words3 ,i challenge any physician1 any gynecologist1 to bring forth ,a ,,single ,,authenticated ,,case in which disease or injury resulted from the use of modern methods of prevention4 ,i know they cannot do it4 ,and others in the ranks of the medical profession have made similar assertions and claims4 ,the unprejudiced person who will consult the best medical authorities on the subject will unquestionably agree that the best medical opinion of the day holds that scientific ,birth ,control is not in fairness to be open to this objection4 ,,is ,,birth ,,control ,,unnatural8 ,another favorite argument of the opponents of scientific ,birth ,control is the broad statement and claim that all voluntary attempts to limit procreation are unnatural1 and therefore wrong4 ,this objection1 while usually offered without any particular argument1 explanation1 or proof1 must be carefully and honestly met and answered by the fair-minded advocate of ,birth ,control4 ,in the first place1 it may as well be admitted that regulation1 restriction1 or control of the procreative functions by application of the intellect or reasoning processes ,,is unnatural1 in the sense of not being indicated by ,nature and enforced through the instinctive actions of the race4 ,the only instinct which primitive man seems to have had in this case 7and these he held in common with the lower animals7 was that of free and unlimited sexual intercourse1 in response to his instinctive desires1 with this exception 7and this exception should be carefully noted71 i4 e43 that the male respected the instinctive disinclination to cohabit during the period in which the woman was pregnant1 and often also during the period in which she nursed her infant4 ,this instinct1 unhappily for the race1 the civilized man has overridden until it has practically ceased to manifest its voice4 ,the lower animals1 obeying this primitive instinct1 do not manifest violation of this law of ,nature4 ,on the contrary1 the female will not allow the male to approach her at such times1 and will fight savagely at any attempt to violate this instinctive law of her nature4 ,the male usually recognizes the existence of this law1 and makes no attempt to violate it1 but should he attempt the same he is defeated by the female as above stated4 ,it has remained for ,man alone to override and violate1 and to eventually render nul and void this wise instinctive provision of ,nature4 ,but beyond this there is no natural1 instinctive regulation of the sexual activities of animal or man1 other than the desires of the male and female4 ,if civilized man adhered wholly to the natural in this respect1 he would obey the voice of instinct alone1 and would show reason and intellect the door in such matters1 and would also bid defiance to all legal or ecclesiastical authority when it sought to control his activities along these lines4 ,but1 it is needless to say1 such is not the case4 ,not only has the ,law of the ,church insisted upon certain control of these matters--as witness the laws against adultery1 illicit relations1 incest1 bastardy1 etc4--but man1 himself1 has asserted a greater and still greater voluntary control over the reproductive functions as he has risen in the scale of civilization and culture4 ,today it is only the lowest and least cultured classes of society who 7to use the expressive but somewhat inelegant term7 persist in breeding like pigs4 ,all other classes exercise a greater or less degree of control of some kind in the matter of limitation of offspring4 ,in making this broad assertion ,i1 of course1 have in mind not only the modern methods urged by the advocates of scientific contraception1 but also the control and regulation observed by married persons in either total abstinence from the marital relations for a stated time1 or else the abstinence from such relations during certain portions of the lunar month1 the latter method 7somewhat uncertain1 however1 in its efficacy in some cases7 being apparently favored by certain ecclesiastical authorities as the only moral method4 ,in view of the above facts1 which might be enlarged and extended if necessary1 it is seen that as soon as man rises above the level of the beast or savage--as soon as he begins to manifest culture and civilization--he begins to exercise a certain control over the procreative ,,function1 and in the direction of the limitation of the size of his family of offspring4 ,the contention of the modern advocates of scientific ,birth ,control is that the new ideas on the subject are simply a natural and inevitable evolution from the degrees of control which man has exercised since the time he emerged from savagery4 ,the later developments are no more unnatural than the earlier--nor the accepted methods and forms any more natural than those which are now opposed by the more conservative elements of society4 ,when anyone begins to talk about things being natural or unnatural1 respectively1 he should tread softly and watch his steps carefully4 ,for at every step he treads upon instances of unnatural modes and methods of living4 ,strictly speaking1 it is unnatural to wear clothes1 or to cook food1 or to live in houses1 or to ride in conveyances or on horseback4 ,all of these things have been evolved by the use of intellect and reason1 and are not instinctive or natural to man4 ,birds build nests1 wasps build shelter1 hornets build homes1 bees build honey-combs1 worms build cocoons1 snails build shells--all by instinct and naturally--and the young of such species do not have to be ,,taught how to do these things4 ,but the young of the human race requires to be taught such things as above mentioned as having been evolved by man in the course of his rise from savagery--instinct will not do it for them4 ,and all of these things outside the plane of instinct1 and within the plane of intellect1 cannot be called natural in the strict sense of the term4 ,you think that ,i am exaggerating the matter1 perhaps4 ,well1 then1 ,i ask you to consider the meaning of the two terms which ,i have employed so freely in the foregoing paragraphs3 ,first1 let us consider the term1 ,,natural2 we find it defined as ,,fixed ,,or ,,determined ,,by ,,nature1 ,,and1 ,,therefore1 ,,according ,,to ,,nature1 ,,and ,,not ,,artificial1 ,,assumed1 ,,or ,,acquired4 ,next1 let us consider the term1 ,,instinct2 we find it defined as ,,natural ,,impulse1 ,,or ,,unconscious1 ,,involuntary1 ,,or ,,unreasoning ,,prompting ,,to ,,any ,,action4 ,it will be seen1 accordingly1 that merely the most elemental and primitive activities of man are natural in this sense2 and that all his acquired activities and methods are not natural4 ,the activities of man which are in the not natural class may be either desirable for the individual and the race1 or else undesirable for both4 ,therefore1 it will be seen1 all such activities must be subjected to the test of reason and experience in order to determine whether they are in the best interests of the individual and the race1 or else opposed to these4 ,this is the only sane method of testing the validity and desirability of such things--,birth ,control among the others4 ,the claim of not natural1 if applied at all1 must be extended to ,,all things which are not strictly natural or instinctive--it is casuistical to apply the term in reproach to certain things and to withhold it from others in the same general class4 ,,lesson ,,xiv ,,race ,,suicide ,a favorite argument of certain opponents of scientific ,birth ,control is that such teachings and modes of conduct tend toward ,race ,suicide1 and the consequent weakening and final destruction of the human race by means of bleeding it white by draining from it its normal supply of children4 ,those who hold this view argue that if ,birth ,control methods become popular1 and sanctioned by the law and public opinion1 then the race will eventually die out and disappear from the face of the earth4 ,some vary the argument by insisting that those nations favoring ,birth ,control would suffer decline and gradual extinction at the hands of other nations opposed to scientific methods of regulating the number and frequency of offspring4 ,this is a serious charge against ,birth ,control1 which if proved would probably serve to array all right-thinking persons against it4 ,but the advocates of ,birth ,control seriously and positively controvert and deny the validity and truth of this argument4 ,on the contrary they claim that scientific ,birth ,control would not only keep up the population of all countries1 or any country1 to a normal standard proportionate to its ability to sustain properly such population1 but will also act to render that population stronger and better1 physically1 mentally and morally1 and far more efficient in every way owing to improved quality of the stock4 ,the first requisite is met by ,,the ,,reduction ,,of ,,the ,,death ,,rate to meet the decreasing birth-rate2 and the second requisite is met by the improvement of the stock by proper rearing and training made possible by the decreased size of the average family4 ,,birth ,,control ,,serves ,,to ,,eliminate ,,the ,,waste ,,caused ,,by ,,excessive ,,infant ,,mortality1 and to thus fully counterbalance the decreased birth rate4 ,the advocates of ,birth ,control assert that the natural instinct of parenthood1 the love of children1 and the desire for offspring and the perpetuation of the family name and stock1 are too firmly rooted and grounded in human nature to be seriously affected by such knowledge and practice on the part of the race4 ,they point to the fact that in many families in which intelligent modes of ,birth ,control are favored1 and in which the size of the family has been limited to a few children1 the children are1 as a rule1 better cared for and provided for1 better reared and better educated1 than in the case of families in which children are brought into the world without thought or reason1 and without the possibility of proper care and rearing4 ,birth ,control1 say its advocates1 will not do away with children1 but will merely regulate their number to rational limits1 and at appropriate intervals between births4 ,moreover1 it is claimed1 that while the birth-rate in such families may be smaller1 ,,the ,,death-,,rate ,,is ,,also ,,smaller4 ,and1 at the last1 it is the number of children that ,,survive that counts with the race1 not those who merely are ,,born4 ,the fact that many persons consult physicians for a cure for sterility1 and go to great trouble and expense to further the bearing of children1 and the fact many childless couples adopt children rather than to have a childless home1 are evidence of the fact that there is no danger of the parental instinct dying out4 ,it is the experience of physicians generally that the patients who desire information regarding scientific contraceptive methods are usually those who already have as many children as they can well take care of1 and not those who wish to escape parenthood in toto4 ,we are constantly reminded that the size of the average family is much smaller than it was a hundred years ago--but still the race is rapidly increasing1 owing to the decreased death-rate resulting from a better knowledge of hygiene and medicine4 ,moreover1 it is positively asserted that the old time large family frequently had one father but several mothers--the husband marrying several times in order to replace with a new life the old wife who had broken down and died from overwork and excessive childbearing4 ,it is claimed that in ,holland1 in which ,birth ,control is recognized by law1 and where it is legally sanctioned and even encouraged among those who are not able to support large families1 statistics show that the population is increasing more rapidly than before1 owing to the decreased mortality of infants and young children arising from the better care of those who are born4 ,dr4 ,robinson says on this point3 ,here we have a whole country1 ,holland1 in which the prevention of conception is legally sanctioned1 in which the use of preventives is practically universal--and is this country dying out8 ,on the contrary1 it is increasing more rapidly than before1 because we have this remarkable and gratifying phenomenon to bear in mind1 that ,,wherever ,,the ,,birth-,,rate ,,goes ,,down1 ,,the ,,death ,,rate ,,goes ,,down ,,pari ,,passu1 ,,or ,,even ,,to ,a ,,still ,,greater ,,degree4 ,this can be proven by statistics from almost every country in the world4 ,for instance1 in #aiaj the birth-rate in ,holland was #cb1 and the mortality #ah2 in #aiab the birth-rate fell to #bh1 but then the mortality rate fell still lower1 namely to #ab1 so we see an actual gain in population1 instead of a loss4 ,and the physical constitution of the people has been improving 99 99 994 ,and in ,new ,zealand1 where the sale of contraceptives is practically free1 the birth rate is now #bj1 and the mortality rate is #aj4 ,does that look like race suicide8 ,on the contrary1 there is a steady increase at the rate of ten per cent1 while sickness and death of children1 with their attendant economic and emotional waste1 are reduced to a minimum4 ,not only are the children of small families as a rule better cared for1 from economic reasons easy to discern1 but it is also a fact that the health of the mothers is far better1 and consequently the health of the children when born is better than the average4 ,one has but to look around him upon the families who boast of having had eight1 ten1 and twelve children born to them1 to see what a frightful average percentage of deaths of infants and young children is present1 and which brings down the number of the survivors4 ,dr4 ,alice ,hamilton1 in ,the ,bulletin of the ,american ,academy of ,medicine1 for ,may1 #aiaj1 reports that she has investigated the families of #a1fjj wage workers1 and found the following death rate per #a1jjj birth among them1 viz43 ,families of #d children and less #aah deaths per #a1jjj births ,families of #f children #bfg deaths per #a1jjj births ,families of #g children #bhj deaths per #a1jjj births ,families of #h children #bia deaths per #a1jjj births ,families of #i children or more #cjc deaths per #a1jjj births ,dr4 ,hamilton sums up her investigation as follows3 ,,our ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,poorer ,,working ,,class ,,shows ,,that ,,child ,,mortality ,,increases ,,proportionately ,,as ,,the ,,number ,,of ,,children ,,increase1 ,,until ,,we ,,have ,a ,,death ,,rate ,,in ,,families ,,of #h ,,children ,,and ,,over ,,which ,,is ,,two ,,and ,a ,,half ,,times ,,as ,,great ,,as ,,that ,,in ,,families ,,of #d ,,children ,,and ,,over4 ,the facts above mentioned1 and other facts of the same nature which will be disclosed in the progress of our consideration of the matter in the present book1 have evidently been overlooked1 deliberately or otherwise1 by the fanatics in this country and in ,europe who have been preaching to the people that a falling birth-rate means a decaying nation4 ,careful students of sociology now dismiss altogether the statement so often made that a falling birth-rate means an old and decaying community4 ,the ,germans for years have contemptuously been making this remark about ,france1 but today they have been forced to recognize an unexpected vitality in the ,french1 while1 in fact1 their own birth-rate has been falling more rapidly than that of ,france4 ,nor is it true that a falling birth-rate means a falling population4 ,the ,french birth-rate has been steadily falling for a number of years1 yet the ,french population has been steadily increasing all the time1 though less rapidly than it would had not the death-rate been abnormally high4 ,it is not the number of babies born that counts1 but the net result in surviving children4 ,an enormous number of babies are born in ,china2 but an enormous number die while still babies4 ,so that it is better to have a few babies of good quality than a large number of indifferent quality1 for the falling birth-rate is more than compensated by the falling death-rate4 ,in ,england1 as the statistics show1 while the birth-rate is steadily falling1 the population has been steadily growing4 ,small families and a falling death-rate are not merely no evil--they are a positive good4 ,they are a gain for humanity4 ,they represent an evolutionary rise in ,nature and a higher stage in civilization4 ,we are here in the presence of a great fundamental principle of progress which has been working through life from the beginning4 ,at the beginning of life on the earth1 reproduction ran riot4 ,of one minute organism it is estimated that1 if its reproduction were not checked by death or destruction1 in thirty days it would form a mass a million times larger than the sun4 ,the conger-eel lays fifteen million eggs1 and if they all grew up1 and reproduced themselves on the same scale1 in two years the whole sea would become a wriggling mass of eels4 ,as we approach the higher forms of life1 reproduction gradually dies down4 ,the animals nearest to man produce few offspring1 but they surround them with parental care1 until they are able to lead independent lives with a fair chance of surviving4 ,the whole process may be regarded as a mechanism for slowly subordinating quantity to quality1 and to promoting the evolution of life to even higher stages4 ,this process1 which is plain to see on the largest scale throughout living nature1 may be more minutely studied1 as it acts within a narrower range1 in the human species4 ,here we statistically formulate it in the terms of birth-rate and death-rate2 by the mutual relationship of the two courses of the birth-rate and death-rate we are able to estimate the evolutionary rank of a nation1 and the degree in which it has succeeded in subordinating the primitive standard of quantity to the higher and later standard of quality4 ,especially in ,europe we can investigate this relationship by the help of statistics which in some cases extend back for nearly a century4 ,we can trace the various phases through which each nation passes1 the effects of prosperity1 the influence of education and sanitary improvement1 the general complex development of civilization1 in each case moving forward1 though not regularly and steadily1 to higher stages by means of a falling birth-rate1 which is to some extent compensated by a falling death-rate1 the two rates nearly always running parallel1 so that a temporary rise in the birth-rate is usually accompanied by a rise in the death-rate1 by a return1 that is to say1 towards the conditions which we find at the beginning of animal life1 and a steady fall in the birth-rate is always accompanied by a fall in the death-rate4 ,it is thus clear that the birth-rate combined with the death-rate constitutes a delicate instrument for the measurement of civilization1 and that the record of their combined curves registers the upward or downward course of every nation4 ,the curves1 as we know1 tend to be parallel1 and when they are not parallel we are in the presence of a rare and abnormal state of things which is usually temporary or transitional4 ,a study of the statistics of ,european countries furnishes us with evidence of the facts above stated4 ,it is instructive to perceive how closely the birth-rate and the death-rate of the several ,european countries agree4 ,it is perceived that ,,the ,,eight ,,countries ,,of ,,europe ,,which ,,register ,,the ,,highest ,,birth-,,rate ,,are ,,the ,,identical ,,countries ,,registering ,,the ,,highest ,,death-,,rate4 ,this is as might be expected1 for a very high birth-rate seems fatally to involve a very high death-rate4 ,the study of the following table may prove interesting--it certainly is instructive4 ,in the following table the ,european countries having the highest birth-rate are stated in the order of rank according to size of such rate2 and the countries having the heaviest death-rate are stated in the order of their rank in size of such rate3 ,highest ,european ,birth-,rate4 ,highest ,european ,death-,rate4 ,russia4 ,russia4 ,roumania4 ,roumania4 ,bulgaria4 ,hungary4 ,serbia4 ,bulgaria4 ,hungary4 ,spain4 ,italy4 ,serbia4 ,austria4 ,austria4 ,spain4 ,italy4 ,moreover1 ,japan1 with a rather high birth-rate1 has the same death-rate as ,spain2 and ,chile1 with a still higher birth-rate1 has a higher death rate than ,russia4 ,so1 we see1 that among human peoples we find the same laws prevailing as among animals1 and the higher nations of the world differ from those which are less highly evolved precisely as the elephant differs from the herring1 though within a narrower range1 that is to say1 ,,by ,,producing ,,fewer ,,offspring ,,and ,,taking ,,better ,,care ,,of ,,them4 ,so1 when we get to the root of the matter1 the whole question of ,does ,birth ,control tend toward ,race ,suicide8 becomes clear1 and we are able to answer1 positively1 ,it certainly does not2 on the contrary it tends toward ,race ,progress and ,race ,betterment4 ,we see that there is really no standing ground in any country for the panic-monger who bemoans the fall of the birth-rate1 and storms against small families4 ,the falling birth-rate is a world-wide phenomenon in all countries that are striving toward a higher civilization along lines which ,nature laid down from the beginning4 ,we cannot stop it if we would1 and if we could we should be merely impeding civilization4 ,it is a movement which rights itself and tends to reach a just balance4 ,instead of trying to raise the birth-rate by offering a bonus on babies as has been proposed in some quarters1 it would be saner and better calculated for the betterment of the race to offer a bonus upon young men and women who attained maturity with a definite high standard of physical and mental development4 ,as a writer on the subject has well said3 ,but we need not therefore fold our hands and do nothing4 ,there is much still to be effected for the protection of motherhood and the better care of children4 ,we cannot1 and should not1 attempt to increase the number of children born2 there is still far more misery in having too many babies than in having too few2 a bonus on babies would be a misfortune1 alike for the parents and the ,state4 ,,but ,,we ,,may ,,well ,,work ,,for ,,the ,,better ,,quality ,,of ,,babies4 ,there we should be on very safe ground4 ,more knowledge is necessary so that all would-be parents may know how they may best become parents1 and how they may1 if necessary1 best avoid it4 ,procreation by the unfit should be1 if not prohibited by law1 at all events so discouraged by public opinion that to attempt it would be considered disgraceful4 ,much greater public provision is necessary for the care of mothers during the months before1 as well as in the period after1 the child's birth4 ,along such lines as these we may hope to increase the happiness of the people and the strength of the ,state4 ,we need not worry about the falling birth-rate4 ,the more that one intelligently examines the argument against ,birth ,control based upon fear of ,race ,suicide1 the more one becomes convinced that not only is there nothing to it1 but that every fact brought to light in the inquiry reveals itself in the nature of proof of the desirability of ,birth ,control as a factor of ,race ,evolution1 rather than evidence to the contrary4 ,therefore1 the more inquiry and investigation that such argument brings forth1 the stronger is the case disclosed for ,birth ,control1 and the greater the amount of public opinion created in its favor4 ,in all considerations of the general question of ,race ,suicide1 one must take note of the general question of ,eugenics or ,human ,breeding4 ,this because the sound breeding of the race operates in a direction diametrically opposed to ,race ,suicide1 while unsound breeding operates directly in favor thereof4 ,when we consider the general subject of ,eugenics we touch upon the highest ground1 and are concerned with our best hopes for the future of the world4 ,there can be no doubt that ,birth ,control1 considered as a phase of ,eugenics1 is not only a precious but also an indispensable instrument in moulding the coming man to the measure of our developing ideals4 ,without ,birth ,control we are powerless in the face of the awful evils which flow from random and reckless reproduction4 ,with it we possess a power so great that some persons have professed to see in it a menace to the propagation of the race1 amusing themselves with the idea that if people possess the means to prevent the conception of children they will never have children at all4 ,it is not necessary to discuss such a grotesque notion seriously4 ,the desire for children is far too deeply implanted in mankind and womankind alike ever to be rooted out4 ,if there are today many parents whose lives are rendered wretched by large families and the miseries of excessive child-bearing1 there are an equal number whose lives are wretched because they have no children at all1 and who snatch eagerly at any straw which offers the smallest promise of relief to the craving4 ,certainly there are people who desire marriage1 but--some for very sound and estimable reasons and other for reasons which may less well bear examination--do not desire children at all4 ,for the class of married people who do not desire children at all1 contraceptive methods1 far from being a social evil1 are a social blessing4 ,for nothing is as certain as that it is an unmixed evil for a community to possess unwilling1 undesirable parents4 ,birth ,control would be an unmixed blessing if it merely enabled us to exclude such persons from the ranks of parenthood4 ,we desire no parents who are not competent and willing parents4 ,only such parents are fit to father and to mother a future race worthy to rule the world4 ,it is sometimes said that the control of conception1 since it is frequently carried out immediately upon marriage1 will tend to delay parenthood until an unduly late age4 ,birth ,control has1 however1 no necessary result of this kind1 and might even act in the reverse direction4 ,a chief cause of delay in marriage is the prospect of the burden and expense of an unrestricted flow of children into the family2 and it is said that in ,great ,britain1 since #aiaa1 with the extension of the use of contraceptives1 there has been a slight but regular increase not only in the general marriage rate but also in the proposition of early marriage4 ,the ability to control the number of children not only enables marriage to take place at an early age1 but also makes it possible for the couple to have at least one child soon after marriage4 ,the total number of children are thus spaced out1 instead of following in rapid succession4 ,it is only of late years that the eugenic importance of a considerable interval between births has been fully recognized1 as regards not only the mother--this has long been recognized--but also the children4 ,the very high mortality of large families has long been known1 and their association with degenerate conditions and with criminality4 ,however1 of recent years1 evidence has been obtained that families in which the children are separated from each other by intervals of more than two years are both mentally and physically superior to those in which the interval is shorter4 ,investigators have found that children born at only a short interval after the birth of a previous child are notably defective1 even at the age of six1 in a large percentage of cases2 and when compared with children born at a longer interval1 or with first children1 they are1 on the average1 three inches shorter and three pounds lighter4 ,these are facts of the most vital significance4 ,thus when we calmly survey1 in however summary a manner1 the great field of life affected by the establishment of voluntary human control over the production of the race1 we can not see a cause for anything but hope4 ,it is satisfactory that it should be so1 for there can be no doubt that we are here facing a great and permanent fact in civilized life4 ,with every rise in civilization1 indeed with all evolutionary progress whatever1 there is what seems to be an automatic fall in the birth-rate4 ,that fall is always normally accompanied by a fall in the death-rate1 so that a low birth-rate frequently means a high rate of natural increase1 since most of the children born survive4 ,thus in the civilized world of today1 notwithstanding the low birth-rate which prevails as compared with earlier times1 the rate of increase in the population is still appalling--nearly half a million a year in ,great ,britain1 over a million in ,austro-,hungary1 and three-quarters of a million in ,germany4 ,when we examine this excess of births in detail we find among them a large proportion of undesired and undesirable children4 ,there are two alternative methods working to diminish this proportion3 the method of regulating conception under the methods of scientific ,birth ,control1 or the bungling substitutes for the same1 on the one hand1 and the method of preventing live births after conception by means of the abominable practice of abortion4 ,there can be no doubt about the enormous extension of the practice of abortion in all civilized countries1 even although some of the extravagant estimates of its frequency in countries1 the ,united ,states for example1 be discarded as unwarranted4 ,the burden of bearing excessive children on the overworked and underfed mothers of the working classes becomes at last so intolerable that almost anything seems better than another child4 ,as a woman in ,yorkshire once said to an ,english investigator of this evil3 ,i'd rather swallow the druggist's shop and the man in it1 than have another kid4 ,a community which takes upon itself the responsibility of encouraging abortion lays itself open to severe criticism4 ,and it must be admitted that just as all those who work for ,birth ,control are really diminishing the frequency of abortion1 so every attempt to discourage ,birth ,control promotes abortion4 ,we have to approach this problem calmly1 in the light of ,nature and reason4 ,we have each of us to decide on which side to range ourselves4 ,for it is a vital problem concerning which we cannot afford to be indifferent4 ,there is no desire here to exaggerate the importance of ,birth ,control4 ,it is not a royal road to the millennium of the race2 and like all other measures which the course of progress forces us to adopt1 it has its disadvantages4 ,but fairness and honest thought should admit freely that so far as is concerned the question of its being a factor toward ,race ,suicide1 we must pronounce a verdict of ,not ,guilty upon ,birth ,control4 ,on the contrary1 the contrary course of teaching and practice1 if carried to their full logical conclusion1 would inevitably bring the race to such a stage of degeneracy1 and retrogression to primitive type1 that a fate far worse than suicide would befall the human race4 ,for the race1 as well as the individual1 may commit suicide and an end to its career1 not only by a will-not-to-live but also by a will-to-degenerate4 ,the face of ,birth ,control is set toward the rising sun of ,race ,betterment1 not toward the setting sun of ,racial ,decline4 ,its ideas are those of ,race ,life1 not of ,race ,death4 ,it bids the race not to perish1 but rather to live on in greater strength1 happiness1 and efficiency4 ,birth ,control is in full accord with the ,racial ,will-to-,live1 and not opposed to it4 ,all humanity1 all civilization1 all human progress1 call upon us to take our stand upon this vital question of ,birth ,control4 ,and1 as a writer has well said1 in doing so we shall each of us be contributing1 however humbly1 to that one far-off event1 to which the whole creation moves4 ,,lesson ,,xv ,,birth ,,control ,,methods ,the general subject of ,birth ,control necessarily includes the special subject of ,birth ,control ,methods1 viz41 of the methods of association between husband and wife under which offspring is conceived only at such times as desired1 and consequently only in the number desired4 ,these methods may be grouped into three general classes1 as follows3 ,i4 ,,methods ,,of ,,continence 7,,total ,,or ,,temporary74 ,in the practice of the methods under this class1 there is an avoidance of sexual relations between husband and wife1 either continuously or for certain periods during which the liability to conception is great4 ,,ii4 ,,methods ,,of ,,semi-,,continence4 ,in the practice of the methods under this class1 there is a partial manifestation of the sexual relation accompanied by an absence of the manifestation of the procreative functions4 ,,iii4 ,,methods ,,of ,,contraception4 ,in the practice of the methods under this class1 the usual manifestations of the sexual relation are observed1 accompanied by an avoidance of the union of the male and female elements of reproduction which result in conception4 ,the student of the subject of ,birth ,control1 of course1 familiarizes himself or herself with each of the several classes of methods above noted1 for the purpose of understanding the characteristic distinctions between them1 and the respective advantages and disadvantages of each class4 ,in the following pages each class will be briefly considered1 that the student may acquire a general understanding thereof1 and may be enabled to reason intelligently concerning them4 ,in this presentation there will be sought a fair statement of each class1 without any desire to influence the student for or against either of them4 ,continence4 ,continence 7which in this special sense means the avoidance of sexual relations between husband and wife71 in the strict sense1 is based upon the idea that the sexual relation should not be exercised except for the purpose and intent of procreation4 ,in the restricted usage of the term1 it refers to the abstinence from sexual intercourse during stated periods in which the liability to conception is greatest4 ,rev4 ,sylvanus ,stall1 the author of several widely-read works on the subject of ,sex1 says of strict continence3 ,one theory is that the reproductive function is not to be exercised except for the purpose of procreation4 99 99 99 ,there are some married people1 more numerous than some suppose1 who have adopted the idea of uniform continence1 and who call the reproductive nature into exercise for the purpose of procreation only1 and who assert that the maintenance of continence secures not only the greater strength and better health1 but greater happiness also4 99 99 99 ,while the results of our investigations do not enable us to assert that it is the true theory1 we are yet prepared to say that it is worthy of thoughtful consideration4 ,if it is possible for married people to maintain absolute continence for a period of six months or a year1 it must be conceded that it would be possible to extend that time to a longer period4 ,the maintenance of this theory would require such a degree of self-control as is far beyond the possession of the great mass of humanity4 ,we fear1 also1 that there are but few1 even if they entered upon a life union with such thought and intention1 who would be willing to maintain their principles for any considerable period4 99 99 99 ,the other theory1 and that which many men and women who are eminent for their learning and religious life hold to be the correct theory1 is that while no one has a right to enter upon the marriage relation with the fixed purpose of evading the duty of parenthood1 yet that procreation is not the only high and holy purpose which ,god has had in view in establishing the marriage relation1 but that the act of sexual congress may be indulged in between husband and wife for the purpose of expressing their personal endearments1 and for quickening those affections and tender feelings which are calculated to render home the place of blessing and good which ,god intended4 99 99 99 ,it is held by those who advocate this theory1 that while it would be possible to restrict the exercise of the reproductive functions to the single purpose of procreation1 yet in the great majority of instances the effort to live by that theory would generally result in marital unhappiness4 99 99 99 ,due regard is not only to be paid to the perpetuity of the race1 but to the well-being and perpetuity of the individual4 ,the advocates of continence1 except for the purpose of procreation1 advance many arguments and evidence to justify their contention that this is the only course justified by ,nature and ,morality4 ,we need not present this argument here1 for it is outside the particular question now under consideration4 ,however1 in all fairness and justice1 there should be presented here the general outline of their argument that there is no rational basis for the widely accepted idea that abstinence from sexual relations is in any way harmful or detrimental to the health and physical well-being of the human race4 ,the advocates of continence cite the cases of many continent men who have been noted for their vigor and activity2 and claim that such cases also justify their claim that continence makes for the sound mind in the sound body of mankind4 ,the following quotations from authorities will give the general spirit of this contention4 ,dr4 ,kellogg says3 ,it has been claimed by many1 even physicians1 and though with but a slight show of reason1 that absolute continence1 after a full development of the organs of reproduction1 could not be maintained without a great detriment to health4 ,it is needless to enumerate all the different arguments employed to support this position1 since they are1 with a few exceptions1 too frivolous to mention4 ,dr4 ,mayer says3 ,this position is held by men of the world1 and many physicians share it4 ,this belief appears to us erroneous1 without foundation1 and easily refuted4 ,no peculiar disease nor any abridgement of the duration of life can be ascribed to such continence4 99 99 99 ,health does not absolutely require that there should ever be an emission of semen1 from puberty to death1 though the individual live a hundred years4 ,dr4 ,kellogg also says3 ,this has been amply confirmed by experiments upon animals1 as well as by the experience of some of the most distinguished men who have ever lived1 among whom may be mentioned ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 ,kant1 ,paschal1 ,fontenaille1 and ,michael ,angelo4 ,these men never married1 and lived continent lives4 ,some of them lived to be a very great age1 retaining to the last their wonderful abilities4 ,in view of this fact1 there is certainly no danger4 ,another writer has said3 ,the ,greek athletes training for the great ,olympic ,games were compelled to observe strict continence1 the experience being that by this course they were able to conserve their vigor and strength much better4 ,the prize-fighters of today are compelled by their trainers to observe strict continence during the period of training4 ,many of the former champions who went to pieces suddenly1 owe their downfall to a violation of this rule4 ,another has said3 ,chastity1 even continence1 is the prime necessity of the successful athlete4 ,dr4 ,kellogg forcefully says3 ,breeders of stock who wish to secure sound progeny will not allow the most robust stallion to associate with mares as many times during the whole season as some of these salacious human males perform a similar act within a month4 ,dr4 ,warbasse has said3 ,testicular fluid in the seminal vesicles1 under unexciting conditions1 does not require to be discharged at intervals4 ,i have not been able to find in the studies of the physiologists that its retention is abnormal or unhygienic4 99 99 99 ,i do not conceive of a man suffering from the ills of continence who has been cast away on a desert island1 with no immediate prospect of relief1 and whose mind and hands are occupied with raising grain1 catching fish for subsistence1 and constructing a boat for escape4 ,all that has been said of men may be said of women4 ,dr4 ,talmey has said3 ,continence1 if long continued1 has been claimed to be the cause of impotence4 ,but there is no valid reason for this belief4 ,to prove the harmfulness of continence an analogue is brought forward between the atrophy of a muscle in enforced idleness and the injury to the sex organs in enforced abstinence4 ,but the proof is somewhat feeble4 ,the essential organs of generation are not muscles1 but glands1 and who has ever heard of a tear gland atrophying for lack of crying4 99 99 99 ,there is no valid proof of the harmfulness of total abstinence in a healthy individual4 ,a perfectly healthy man is never injured by abstinence4 ,at least there is no sufficient proof that he ever was2 but there are unmistakable proofs that total abstinence does not harm the individual4 ,dr4 ,stockham has said3 ,the testes may be considered analogous to the salivary and lachrymal glands1 in which there is no fluid secreted except at the demand of their respective functions4 ,the thought of food makes the mouth water for a short time only1 while the presence of food causes abundant yield of saliva4 ,it is customary for physicians to assume that the spermatic secretion is analogous to bile1 which1 when once formed1 must be expelled4 ,but substitute the word 'tears' for bile1 and you put before the mind an idea entirely different4 ,tears1 as falling drops1 are not essential to life and health4 ,a man may be in perfect health and yet not cry once in five or even fifty years4 ,the lachrymal fluid is ever present1 but in such small quantities that it is unnoticed4 ,where are tears while they remain unshed8 ,they are ever ready1 waiting to spring forth when there is an adequate cause1 but they do not accumulate and distress the man because they are not shed daily1 weekly1 or monthly4 ,the component elements of the tears are prepared in the system1 they are on hand1 passing through the circulation1 ready to mix and flow whenever they are needed2 but if they mix1 accumulate and flow without adequate cause1 there is a disease of the lachrymal glands4 ,while there are no exact analogies in the body1 yet the tears and the spermatic fluids are much more closely analogous in their normal manner of secretion and use than are the bile and the semen4 ,neither flow of tears nor of semen is essential to life or health4 ,both are largely under the control of the imagination1 the emotions1 and the will2 and the flow of either is liable to be arrested in a moment of sudden mental action4 ,parkhurst says3 ,the prostatic fluid1 according to ,robin1 is secreted at the moment of ejaculation4 ,the remaining element of the spermatic secretion is produced1 under normal circumstances1 only as required1 either for impregnation or for the maintenance of the affectional function4 ,the theory that the sperm is naturally secreted only as it is required1 brings it into harmony with other secretions4 ,the tears1 the saliva1 and the perspiration1 are always required in small quantities1 and the secretion is continuous2 but if required in great quantities1 the secretion becomes great almost instantly4 ,the mother's milk is chiefly secreted just as it is required for the infant1 and when not required the secretion entirely ceases2 yet it recommences the moment the birth of another child makes it necessary4 99 99 99 ,a man accustomed to abstinence will not suffer from any accumulation of secretions1 while a man whose absorbing glands have never had occasion to take up the secretions will be in trouble2 just as a dairy cow which has not been milked will be in trouble1 though if running wild she would never have any necessity for milking4 99 99 99 ,the objection that man needs physical relief from a continuous secretion is answered by the admitted fact that men not deficient in sexual vigor live for months1 and probably for years1 in strict abstinence1 and with no physical inconvenience such as is often complained of by men who happen to be deprived of their accustomed indulgence for a week or two at a time4 ,dr4 ,nystrom1 the eminent ,swedish writer on the subject1 however1 utters the following warning to those who would make hasty generalizations on the subject3 ,in speaking of relative abstinence or regulation and command of the sexual instinct1 ,i warn against absolutism in this regard1 and especially against the generalizing of abstinence as possible for everybody4 ,although abstinence during an entire lifetime does not injure certain individuals1 it cannot be endured by others for some length of time without undesirable consequences4 ,i therefore oppose the principle of absolute continence as in the main false4 ,it may possibly be applied to a few deeply religious or philosophical persons1 but not to the majority of normal people1 despite good resolutions and habits4 99 99 99 ,we must consider the different bodily constitutions and passions--why some people without difficulty1 others with the greatest difficulty1 can master their feelings regarding sexual relations4 99 99 99 ,may those who try to better humanity in sexual respects first give their attention to the subject when well prepared with a rich experience and deep study1 for otherwise they cannot give advice which can be followed1 and their work should fail as being contrary to human nature4 ,,temporary ,,continence4 ,many married couples who are desirous of preventing too-frequent conception1 or conception following too soon after the birth of the youngest child1 practice the method of refraining from the marital sexual relations during certain periods in which conception is most likely to occur4 ,this custom is said to be favored by those acting under the advice of their religious instructors1 and who regard all methods of birth-control other than continence as sinful4 ,even the most orthodox objectors to birth-control as a general principle seem to regard this particular method as free from objection1 providing that the married couple do not seek to entirely escape parenthood in this manner4 ,this plan is based upon the well-known1 and well-established physiological principle that ,,the ,,time ,,immediately ,,before ,,the ,,menstrual ,,period1 ,,and ,,still ,,more1 ,,immediately ,,after ,,the ,,period ,,is ,,the ,,most ,,favorable ,,to ,,conception4 ,impregnation is most likely to occur just after the menstrual period2 while from about two weeks after the beginning of the period1 to a few days before the beginning of the next period1 is the time of comparative sterility when impregnation and conception are the least likely to occur4 ,consequently1 the authorities hold that the period of from ten to fifteen days after the ,,end of the menstruation is one peculiarly free from the probability of impregnation and conception4 ,this plan of temporary continence1 continuing during the period in which conception is most probable1 and terminating when that period has passed each month1 until the new period approaches1 is followed by many married couples with the full approval of the conscience and their religious guides4 ,in many cases the result fulfills the expectations1 though as there is a considerable variation observed among different women there is no absolute certainty to the plan considered as a birth-control method--at the best it is but taking advantage of the law of probabilities1 the chances being in favor of the result sought4 ,semi-,continence4 ,semi-,continence 7in the sense in which the term is employed herein7 consists of the abstinence from the exercise of the procreative functions1 while there is a partial manifestation of the sexual relation4 ,under various fanciful names1 backed by as many curious theories1 this birth-control method is practiced by very many married couples in this and other countries4 ,among the earlier advocates of this general class of birth-control methods was ,noyes1 the founder of the one-time famous ,oneida ,community1 who taught the doctrine of what he called ,male ,continence4 ,the gist of his teaching was as follows3 ,that the sexual relation 7in its entirety7 should be exercised solely for the purpose of reproduction1 all else being contrary to nature4 ,but1 he held1 notwithstanding this1 there was possible and proper a certain degree of such physical relation which1 while not opposing ,nature's laws of reproduction1 yet was sufficient to afford a complete manifestation of the affectional desire and function4 ,in other words1 as a writer has expressed it1 that one might manifest a marked degree of sexual gratification and still remain continent1 while feeling none of the irksome restraints of continence4 ,noyes claimed that his community followed this plan with satisfactory results1 the ordinary sexual relations being manifested only when reproduction was specially desired and deliberately decided upon4 ,noyes claimed that in this way there was no secretion of the seminal fluid1 and therefore no waste of the same1 and no unnatural practices such attached to the common custom of tricking ,nature by methods of preventing impregnation and conception4 ,parkhurst 7who1 as we shall see presently1 followed ,noyes7 objected to the ,noyes plan1 claiming that it necessarily stimulates into activity the generative functions of the sexual batteries1 and this not only causes a wasteful use of sperm1 but diverts the sexual batteries from their affectional function1 diminishing amative attraction4 ,in the year #ahif1 ,dr4 ,alice ,b4 ,stockham1 of ,chicago1 published a book called ,karezza which has since attained an enormous sale1 the leading principle of which seems to have been almost similar to that of ,noyes1 as above stated4 ,the book was built around the idea previously announced by the same author in an earlier book1 which she stated as follows3 ,by some a theory called 'secular absorption' is advanced4 ,this involves intercourse without culmination4 ,in her book ,karezza this author further stated3 ,karezza so consummates marriage that through the power of will1 and loving thoughts1 the crisis is not reached1 but a complete control by both husband and wife is maintained throughout the entire relation1 a conscious conservation of the creative energy4 99 99 99 ,it is both a union on the affectional plane1 and a preparation for the best possible conditions for procreation4 ,about #ahhb1 ,henry ,m4 ,parkhurst published a booklet called ,diana1 which since that time has passed through several editions1 and has had a large number of readers4 ,the principle advocated is radically different from that of ,noyes or ,dr4 ,stockham1 above mentioned1 although some of the writings of ,dr4 ,stockham seem to favor the ,parkhurst idea as much as the one advanced by herself4 ,parkhurst1 as we may see by reference to a quotation from him in connection with the ,noyes' idea1 did not approve of the male continence as taught by the latter1 although he seems to have considered it a step in the right direction4 ,the gist of the ,parkhurst idea is expressed in the following quotations from his booklet1 ,diana3 ,in order to secure proper and durable relations between the sexes1 it is necessary to live in harmony with the law of ,alphism1 that is ,,abstinence ,,except ,,for ,,procreation4 ,but if that principle is adopted alone1 no means being taken to provide for the due exercise of the sexual faculties1 it will likely be abandoned or lead to a life of asceticism4 ,in order to make ,alphism practicable for ordinary men and women1 another law has to be observed1 that is1 the law of ,,sexual ,,satisfaction ,,from ,,sexual ,,contact2 understanding by the term 'contact' not merely physical external contact1 but using the term in its more general sense to include sexual companionship1 or even correspondence1 bringing the minds into mental contact4 ,the observance of this law will lead to complete and enduring satisfaction in abstinence4 ,it is an observed fact that contact incites to activity the affectional action1 99 99 99 extending over the whole frame1 and by their activities satisfies them1 without calling into action the special generative function of the generative organs4 ,and it is also an observed fact that the repression of this affectional activity naturally creates a desire for the exercise of the other2 so that a true remedy for sexual intemperance is the full satisfaction of the affectional mode of activity by frequent and free sexual contact4 ,sexual satisfaction may be obtained by personal presence1 conversation1 a clasp of the hands1 kissing1 caressing1 embracing1 personal contact with or without the intervention of dress4 ,the exercise of the affectional function tends to satiety and exhaustion in the same way as all other physical or mental exercise2 but if it is not carried to excess it is a permanent benefit4 99 99 99 ,the principle of ,alphism will tend to diminish prostitution1 not only by diminishing sexual intemperance1 even if the principle is not at once accepted in practice to the full extent1 thus diminishing the temptation of the present generation1 and the hereditary temptation of future generations2 but also by correcting the physiological error which has led astray so many1 i4 e41 that total abstinence is not conducive to health1 or to the highest physical pleasure1 but that the ordinary physical relation is an essential feature in male existence4 ,to avoid misapprehension1 these two theories should be clearly defined and the distinction between them explained4 ,the doctrine of ,alphism is confined to one principle1 i4 e41 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,abstinence ,,except ,,for ,,procreation4 ,those who believe in this doctrine may be divided into different classes4 ,some believe in it as a matter of duty1 to be enforced by precept and self-denial2 and some believe in it as a matter of right1 requiring no self-denial4 ,in the latter is included the doctrine of ',diana1' which may be defined as ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,sexual ,,satisfaction ,,from ,,sexual ,,contact4 ,in other words1 ,dianism is ,alphism as the result of sexual equilibration4 ,the general idea of ,parkhurst1 and those who have followed his teachings in some modified or adapted form1 may be said to be based upon the following general proposition3 ,that there is a dual function in the sexual relations1 which may be stated as follows3 7#a7 the function exercised from purely physiological causes1 and which expresses the desire for the relation resulting in procreation2 and 7#b7 the function exercised from emotional causes1 and which expresses what may be called the affectional desire1 i4 e41 the desire for the embrace1 caress1 fondling1 and general companionship with the loved one of the other sex4 ,the first one of these phases1 i4 e41 the reproductive function1 is manifested by the lower animals as well as by man1 and is elemental and primitive in character4 ,it is often manifested by man without the accompaniment of the affectional function1 and at times seems to be almost entirely divorced from the idea of high human affection4 ,the second one of these phases1 i4 e41 the affectional function1 usually accompanied the procreative function in the human sexual relation1 at least in the highest forms of that relation4 ,but also1 it may be and often is manifested independently of the procreative function by men and women of refinement4 ,in fact1 it would seem to be the form of physical attraction accompanying the very highest phase of love1 particularly in women4 ,it is this affectional function which is manifested by betrothed lovers in their beautiful period of mutual understanding1 sympathy1 and affection4 ,it is that characteristic of the courting days which is so precious to the woman1 but which is too often sadly missed by the wife after the honeymoon4 ,it exists often before the fires of passion are kindled1 and it persists often after the flame of passion has died away4 ,it is the expression of the purest love of youth1 and of the tenderest affection of age4 ,it is this form of sexual relation1 physical though it may be1 that is the outgrowth of evolution in man4 ,may it not be that in this way man has improved upon the sexual habits of the animals2 and that when man violates the natural restrictions held sacred by animal life1 and indulges in excessive sexual relations in and out of season1 that he is really manifesting a degenerative tendency instead of taking an upward step on the evolutionary scale4 ,there have been many excellent authorities who have held that this affectional function1 and its manifestation1 is far better calculated to satisfy the sexual instincts of advanced men and women than is the ordinary physical sexual relation4 ,they claim that in the higher form of this affectional relation is to be found the secret of the joy1 bliss1 and happiness of the betrothed lovers1 which alas6 too often disappear when the other form of the relation is manifested1 particularly when manifested to excess in the manner customary to so many married men4 ,they claim that in the recognition of this fact of human life and love is to be found the secret of married happiness between wedded advanced and cultured individuals4 ,they assert that the experience of the race1 rightly considered and understood1 full proves this contention4 ,edward ,carpenter has the following to say on this point3 ,it is a matter of common experience that the unrestrained outlet of the purely physical desire leaves the nature drained of its higher love-forces4 99 99 99 ,there are grounds for believing in the transmutability of the various forms of the passion1 and grounds for thinking that the sacrifice of a lower phase may sometimes be the only condition on which a higher and more durable phase can be attained2 and that1 therefore1 restraint 7which is absolutely necessary at times7 has its compensation4 ,anyone who has once realized how glorious a thing love is in its essence1 and how indestructible1 will hardly need to call anything that leads to it a sacrifice2 and he is indeed a master of life who1 accepting the grosser desires as they come to his body1 and not refusing them1 knows how to transform them at will into the most rare and fragrant flowers of human emotion 99 99 99 ,between lovers1 then1 a kind of hardy temperance is to be recommended--for all reasons1 but especially because it lifts their satisfaction and delight in each other out of the regions of ephemeralities 7which too often turn into dull indifference and satiety7 into the region of more lasting things--one step nearer at any rate to the eternal kingdom4 ,how intoxicating1 indeed1 how penetrating--like a most precious wine--is that love which is the sexual transformed by the magic of the will into the emotional and spiritual6 ,and what a loss1 on the merest ground of prudence and the economy of pleasure1 is the unbridled waste along physical channels6 ,so nothing is so much dreaded between lovers as just this--the vulgarization of love--and this is the rock upon which marriage so often splits4 ,there is a kind of illusion about physical desire similar to that which a child suffers from when1 seeing a beautiful flower1 it instantly snatches the same and destroys in a few moments the form and fragrance which attracted it4 ,he only gets the full glory who holds back a little1 and he only truly possesses who is willing if need be not to possess4 99 99 99 ,it must be remembered1 however1 that in order for a perfect intimacy between two people their physical endearment must by the nature of the case be free to each other4 ,the physical endearment may not be the object for which they come together2 but1 if it is denied1 its denial will bar any real sense of repose and affiance1 and make their mutual association restless1 vague1 tentative and unsatisfied4 ,i think1 from various considerations1 that1 generally1 even without the actual physical sex-act1 there is an interchange of vital and ethereal elements--so that it may be said that there is a kind of generation taking place within each of the persons concerned1 through their mutual influence on each other1 as well as that more specialized generation which consists in the propagation of the race4 ,count ,tolstoi said on this subject3 ,the difference in organization between man and woman is not only physiological but extends also into other and moral characteristics1 such as go to make manhood in man1 and womanhood 7or femininity7 in woman4 ,the attraction between the sexes is based not merely upon the yearning for physical union1 but likewise upon that reciprocal attraction exerted by the contrasting qualities of the sexes each upon the other1 manhood upon womanhood1 and womanhood upon manhood4 ,the one sex endeavors to complement itself with the other1 and therefore the attraction between the sexes demands a union of spirit precisely identical with the physical union4 ,the tendency toward physical and spiritual union forms two phases of manifestation of one and the same fountain-head of desire1 and they bear such intimate relations to each other that the gratification of the one inclination inevitably weakens the other4 ,so far as the yearning for spiritual union is satisfied1 to that extent the yearning for physical union is diminished or entirely destroyed2 and1 vice versa1 the gratification of the physical desire weakens or destroys the spiritual4 ,and1 consequently1 the attraction between the sexes is not only physical affinity leading to procreation1 but is also the attraction of opposites for one another1 capable of assuming the form of the most spiritual union in thought only1 or of the most animal union1 causing the propagation of children1 and all those varied degrees of relationship between the one and the other4 ,the question of upon which footing the relation between the sexes is to be established and maintained1 is settled by deciding what method of union is regarded at any given time1 or for all time1 as good1 proper1 and therefore desirable4 99 99 99 ,the nearer the union approaches the extreme physical boundary1 the more it kindles the physical passions and desires1 and the less satisfaction it gets2 the nearer it approaches the opposite extreme spiritual boundary1 the less new passions are excited and the greater is the satisfaction4 ,the nearer it is to the first1 the more destructive it is to animal energy2 the nearer it approaches the second1 the spiritual1 the more serene1 the more enjoyable and forceful is the general condition4 99 99 99 ,taking into consideration the varying conditions of temperament1 and above all what the contracting parties regard as good1 proper1 and desirable1 marriage for some will approach the spiritual union1 and for others the physical2 but the nearer the union approaches the spiritual the more complete will be the satisfaction4 ,the substance of what has been said is this3 that the relation between the sexes have two functions1 i4 e41 the reproductive1 and the affectional2 and that the sexual energy1 if only it have no conscious desire to beget children1 must be always directed in the way of affection and love4 ,the manifestation which this energy assumes depends upon custom or reason2 the gradual bringing of the reason into accord with the principles herein expounded1 and a gradual reorganization of customs consonant with them1 results in saving men from many of their passions1 and giving them satisfaction for their higher sexual instincts and desires4 ,some capable writers on the subject have held that in the practice of the methods of semi-continence1 such as have been referred to in the foregoing pages of this part of the book1 there may lie the danger of excessive stimulation of the sexual centres1 without the safety-valve of the physical and nervous relief which follows as a natural sequence in the ordinary sexual relations4 ,the advocates of these methods1 however1 reply that such objections while valid in the case of persons who practice the same only because opportunity prevents the performance of the usual physical relation1 still have no true application to those who adopt these methods in a conscientious and honest manner1 and who maintain ,,the ,,proper ,,mental ,,attitude toward the whole question4 ,these advocates say that the ,,mental ,,effect upon the secretions of the body must be taken into account in all considerations of the question4 ,they say that just as the gastric juice will begin to flow in response to the mental image or idea of food1 and the mother's milk in response to the cry of the child for food1 so do the sexual secretions1 direction of the circulation1 and other physiological activities result from the mental pictures or idea of sexual congress4 ,they hold that if the mind of the husband be filled with mental images of sexual congress1 then there is set into operation the process of secretion of seminal fluids1 and the consequent engorgement of the blood-vessels concerned therewith1 which are denied the normal physiological relief1 and accordingly produce bad effects upon the nervous system4 ,but they likewise claim that if the mind of the husband entertains ideas merely of physical endearment and caress as an end to itself1 then there is no mental incentive toward the secretion of the seminal fluids1 and the constant engorgement of the blood-vessels1 and no nerve force is generated--and therefore no nerve-shock is experienced by reason of frustrated manifestation and expression4 ,parkhurst says regarding the point just mentioned3 ,in the relations between the sexes1 the question of how the association of the husband and the wife shall stimulate the affectional or generative action or sexual batteries must depend greatly upon their habits of association4 ,we have only to accustom ourselves to associating the relation with the affectional action1 by repeated repetition when the affectional action is all that is felt or thought of1 in order to cultivate such habits and associations as will make the association tend to ,,repress passional desires1 by the direction of the sexual forces into the channel of affectional attraction and functioning4 99 99 99 ,the form of the sexual manifestation will be largely influenced1 by the mind1 and largely by force with these principles1 and the gradual formation of habits consistent therewith1 will make more and more evident their beneficial operation4 ,there is much interest now being taken by thinking people in some phases of the general subject of semi-continence1 and many thoughtful and conscientious persons find in it at least the promise of a worthy and honest solution of the problem of ,continence as applied to ,birth ,control4 ,such persons claim to find in this general class of ,birth ,control methods a happy medium between the rigid practice of absolute ,continence in the marriage relations1 on the one hand1 and the more popular methods of ,contraception1 on the other hand4 ,contraception4 ,we now come to the consideration of the subject of ,contraception1 pure and simple1 the methods of which contemplate the manifestation of the usual physical sexual relations between husband and wife1 accompanied by an avoidance of the union of the male and female elements of reproduction which result in conception4 ,it should once more be positively emphasized that ,,by ,,contraception ,,is ,,not ,,meant ,,abortion4 ,,abortion means the premature expulsion of the human embryo or foetus2 miscarriage4 ,,contraception1 on the other hand1 means simply the prevention of the union of the male and female elements of reproduction1 and consequently1 the preventing of the process which evolves the foetus or embryo4 ,,contraception ,,is ,,prevention2 ,,abortion ,,is ,,destruction4 ,there is here a difference as wide as the poles4 ,as ,dr4 ,william ,j4 ,robinson says1 in a paragraph previously quoted in this book3 ,in inducing abortion1 one destroys something already formed--a foetus1 or an embryo1 a fertilized ovum1 a potential human being4 ,in prevention1 however1 one merely prevents chemically or mechanically the spermatozoa from coming in contact with the ovum4 ,there is no greater sin or crime in this than there is in simple abstinence1 in refraining from sexual intercourse4 ,unfortunately for the cause of scientific ,birth ,control in ,america1 the laws of the ,united ,states 7and of most of the separate ,states7 at present prevent the public dissemination by written or printed words1 or by public teaching of information concerning the contraceptive methods known to all intelligent physicians and others who have made a scientific study of the subject4 ,the conveyal of such information1 in the manner stated1 is made a criminal offence1 subject to heavy fines and imprisonment4 ,though there is a strong movement underway on the part of many intelligent and earnest citizens of this country1 having for its object the repeal of such prohibitive laws1 and the passage of careful legislation designed to give the dissemination of such instruction a legal and certain status1 under the restrictions imposed by common sense1 intellectual honesty1 and the best interests of the race--to place it upon the same footing as in certain advanced ,european countries--the fact remains that at the present time no person may give such information without subjecting himself to indictment and probable conviction as a law-breaker and enemy of society4 ,,under ,,the ,,circumstances1 ,,of ,,course1 ,,there ,,has ,,been1 ,,and ,,will ,,be1 ,,no ,,attempts ,,to ,,furnish ,,such ,,forbidden ,,information ,,in ,,this ,,book4 ,so long as these laws stand unrepealed on the statute books1 they must be observed by all law abiding citizens4 ,dr4 ,wm4 ,j4 ,robinson1 an authority on the subject1 says3 ,we believe that under any conditions1 and particularly under our present economic conditions1 human beings should be able to control the number of their offspring4 ,they should be able to decide how many children they want to have1 and when they want to have them4 ,and to accomplish this result we demand that the knowledge of controlling the number of offspring1 in other and plainer words1 the knowledge of preventing undesirable conception1 should not be considered a criminal offence punishable by hard labor in ,federal prisons1 but that it should be considered knowledge useful and necessary to the welfare of the race and of the individual2 and that its dissemination should be as permissible as is the dissemination of any hygienic1 sanitary or eugenic knowledge4 ,,the ,,only ,,possible ,,relief ,,from ,,the ,,present ,,condition ,,is ,,seen ,,by ,,careful ,,thinkers ,,to ,,be ,,in ,,the ,,education ,,of ,,the ,,public ,,as ,,to ,,the ,,needs ,,of ,,the ,,case1 ,,and ,,the ,,presentation ,,of ,,the ,,scientific ,,argument ,,in ,,favor ,,of ,,rational ,,and ,,proper ,,birth ,,control1 ,,to ,,the ,,end ,,that ,,public ,,opinion1 ,,once ,,seeing ,,the ,,truth ,,in ,,the ,,case1 ,,may ,,be ,,sufficiently ,,strong ,,as ,,to ,,bring ,,about ,a ,,change ,,in ,,the ,,present ,,antiquated ,,and ,,bigoted ,,laws4 ,,but1 ,,so ,,long ,,as ,,the ,,laws ,,remain ,,on ,,the ,,statute ,,books1 ,,they ,,must ,,be ,,observed ,,and ,,obeyed4 ,,education1 ,,not ,,anarchy1 ,,is ,,the ,,true ,,remedy4 ,the following general remarks on the subject of ,contraception1 by ,havelock ,ellis1 the well-known ,english authority of the subject of ,sex in ,modern ,society1 may perhaps prove interesting to students of the general subject3 ,ellis says3 ,many ways of preventing conception have been devised since the method which is still the commonest was first introduced1 so far as our certainly imperfect knowledge extends1 by a clever ,jew1 ,onan 7,genesis1 ,chap4 ,,xxxviii7 whose name has since been wrongly attached to another practice with which the ,mosaic record in no way associates him4 ,there are now many contraceptive methods1 some dependent on precautions adopted by the man1 others dependent upon the woman1 others again which take the form of an operation permanently preventing conception1 and1 therefore1 not to be adopted save by couples who already have as many children as they desire1 or else who ought never to have children at all and thus wisely adopt a method of sterilization4 ,it is unnecessary here1 even if it were otherwise desirable1 to discuss these various methods in detail4 ,it is even useless to do so1 for we must bear in mind that no method can be absolutely approved or absolutely condemned4 ,each may be suitable under certain conditions and for certain couples1 and it is not easy to recommend any method indiscriminately4 ,we need to know the intimate circumstances of individual cases4 ,for the most part1 experience is the final test4 ,forel compared the use of contraceptive devices to the use of eyeglasses1 and it is obvious that1 without expert advice1 the results in either case may sometimes be mischievous or at all events ineffective4 ,personal advice and instruction are always desirable4 ,in ,holland nurses are medically trained in a practical knowledge of contraceptive methods1 and are thus enabled to enlighten the women of the community4 ,this is an admirable plan4 ,considering that the use of contraceptive measures is now almost universal1 it is astonishing that there are yet so many 'civilized' countries in which this method of enlightenment is not everywhere adopted4 ,until it is adopted1 and a necessary knowledge of the most fundamental facts of sexual life brought into every home1 the physician must be regarded as the proper adviser4 ,it is true that until recently he was generally in these matters a blind leader of the blind4 ,nowadays it is beginning to be recognized that the physician has no more serious and responsible duty than that of giving help in the difficult path of sexual life4 ,very frequently1 indeed1 even yet1 he has not risen to a sense of his responsibilities in this matter4 ,it is well to remember1 however1 that a physician who is unable or unwilling to give frank and sound advice in this most important department of life1 is unlikely to be reliable in any other department4 ,if he is not up to date here1 he is probably not up to date anywhere4 ,whatever may be the method adopted1 there are certain conditions which it must fulfill1 even apart from its effectiveness as a contraceptive1 in order to be satisfactory4 ,most of these conditions may be summed up in one3 the most satisfactory method is that which least interferes with the normal process in the act of intercourse4 ,every sexual act is1 or should be1 a miniature courtship1 however long marriage may have lasted4 ,no outside mental tension or nervous apprehension must be allowed to intrude4 ,any contraceptive proceeding which hastily enters the atmosphere of love immediately before or immediately after the moment of union is unsatisfactory and may be injurious4 ,it even risks the total loss of the contraceptive result1 for at such moments the intended method may be ineffectively carried out1 or neglected altogether4 ,no method can be regarded as desirable which interferes with the sense of satisfaction and relief which should follow the supreme act of loving union4 ,no method which produces a nervous jar in one of the parties1 even though it may be satisfactory to the other1 should be tolerated4 ,such considerations must for some couples rule out certain methods4 ,we cannot1 however1 lay down absolute rules1 because methods some couples may find satisfactory prove unsatisfactory in other cases4 ,experience1 aided by expert advice1 is the only final criterion4 ,when a contraceptive method is adopted under satisfactory conditions1 with a due regard to the requirements of the individual couple1 there is little room to fear that any injurious results will be occasioned4 ,it is quite true that many physicians speak emphatically concerning the injurious results to husband or to wife of contraceptive devices4 ,although there has been exaggeration1 and prejudice has often been imported into this question1 and although most of the injurious results could have been avoided had trained medical help been at hand to advise better methods1 there can be no doubt that much that has been said under this head is true4 ,considering how widespread is the use of these methods1 and how ignorantly they have often been carried out1 it would be surprising indeed if it were not true4 ,but even supposing that the nervously injurious effects which have been traced to contraceptive practices were a thousandfold greater than they have been reported to be--instead of1 as we are justified in believing1 considerably less than they are reported--shall we therefore condemn contraceptive methods8 ,to do so would be to ignore all the vastly greater evils which have followed in the past from unchecked reproduction4 ,it would be a condemnation which1 if we exercised it consistently1 would destroy the whole of civilization and place us back in savagery4 ,for what device of man1 ever since man had any history at all1 has not proved sometimes injurious8 ,every one of even the most useful and beneficial of human inventions has either exercised subtle injuries or produced appalling catastrophes4 ,this is not only true of man's devices1 it is true of ,nature's in general4 ,let us take1 for instance1 the elevation of man's ancestors from the quadrupedal to the bipedal position4 ,the experiment of making a series of four-footed animals walk on their hind-legs was very evolutionary and risky2 it was far more beset by dangers than is the introduction of contraceptives2 we are still suffering all sorts of serious evils in consequence of ,nature's action in placing our remote ancestors in the erect position4 ,yet we feel that it was worth while2 even those physicians who most emphasize the evil results of the erect position do not advise that we should go on all-fours4 ,it is just the same with a great human device1 the introduction of clothes4 ,they have led to all sorts of new susceptibilities to disease and even tendencies to direct injury of many kinds4 ,yet no one advocates the complete disuse of all clothing on the ground that corsets have sometimes proved harmful4 ,it would be just as absurd to advocate the complete abandonment of contraceptives on the ground that some of them have been misused4 ,if it were not1 indeed1 that we are familiar with the lengths to which ignorance and prejudice may go we should question the sanity of anyone who put forward so foolish a proposition4 ,every great step which ,nature and man have taken in the path of progress has been beset by dangers which are gladly risked because of the advantages involved4 ,we must never loose sight of the immense advantages which ,man has gained in acquiring a conscious and deliberate control of reproduction4 ,,the ,,end4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,numerous minor typographical errors have been corrected without note4 ,variations in spelling 7e4g4 fetus_/foetus71 capitalization1 and hyphenation have not been standardized4 ,where a misspelling was used five or more times 7e4g4 umbillical71 no correction has been made4 ,no attempt has been made to correct factual errors or poorly constructed sentences4 ,the following corrections were also made to the text3 p4 #aa3 femininists to feminists 7modern feminists7 p4 #ab3 phenomena to phenomenon 7phenomenon of pregnancy7 p4 #bg3 laceration to lactation 7lactation or nursing7 p4 #bg3 is to are 7there are found severe cramps7 p4 #cf3 of added 7period of gestation7 p4 #gc3 degeration to degeneration 7degeneration and actual ,race ,suicide7 p4 #hd3 in added 7in men in general7 p4 #he3 for added 7for inebriety7 p4 #ib3 strongly to strong 7the woman most strong sexually7 p4 #ajd3 the added 7the best ability and capacity7 p4 #aaj3 are added 7there are unavoidable fallacies7 p4 #aac3 grandparents to great-grandparents 7eight great-grandparents7 p4 #ace3 individualation to individuation 7greater individuation7 p4 #aci3 is added 7,this is because7 p4 #adc3 below to above 7shows a birth-rate of above #cj7 p4 #aed3 of added 7who of all ,europeans7 p4 #agj3 preventitives to preventives 7use preventives recommended7 p4 #aij3 weaking to weakening 7consequent weakening7 p4 #aib3 passi paru to pari passu 7goes down pari passu7 p4 #aif3 furnish to furnishes 7furnishes us with evidence7 p4 #aih3 of added 7general question of ,eugenics7 p4 #bjj3 not added 7we can not see a cause7 p4 #bjc3 ,,semi-,,conception4 to ,,semi-,,continence4 7,,methods ,,of ,,semi-,,continence47 p4 #bji3 are removed 7some people are without to some people without7 p4 #bag3 be removed 7must be by the nature to must by the nature7 p4 #bbb3 potention to potential 7potential human being7 p4 #bbf3 both removed 7to both husband or to wife to to husband or to wife7