,,moral ,,physiology ,,by ,,ralph ,,glover1 ,m4,d4 ,illustration3 ,alas6 that it ever should have been born4 ,,owen',s ,,moral ,,physiology3 ,,or1 ,a ,,brief ,,and ,,plain ,,treatise ,,on ,,the ,,population ,,question4 ,,second ,,edition1 ,,with ,,alterations ,,and ,,additions1 ,,by ,,ralph ,,glover1 ,m4,d4 8,the principle of utility is the foundation of the present work40 ,bentham on ,morals and ,legislation4 ,,new ,,york3 ,,published ,,by ,r4 ,,glover1 #b ,,ann-,,st4 #ahdf4 ,,entered ,according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahdf1 ,,by ,,ralph ,,glover1 ,in the ,clerk's ,office of the ,district ,court for the ,southern ,district of the ,state of ,new ,york4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,contents ,,explanation ,,of ,,frontispiece4 ,,editor',s ,,preface4 ,,preface4 ,,introduction4 ,,moral ,,physiology4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,statement ,,of ,,the ,,subject4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,question ,,examined ,,in ,,the ,,abstract4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,question ,,in ,,its ,,connexion ,,with ,,political ,,economy4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,question ,,considered ,,in ,,its ,,social ,,bearings4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,subject ,,considered ,,in ,,its ,,immediate ,,connexion ,,with ,,physiology4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,additional ,,remarks4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,to ,,the ,,married ,,of ,,both ,,sexes ,,in ,,genteel ,,life4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,purposes ,,and ,,obligations ,,of ,,marriage4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,concluding ,,remarks4 ,,explanation ,,of ,,frontispiece4 ,the frontispiece which accompanies this treatise1 represents a poor mother abandoning her infant1 at the gate of the ,htel des ,enfans trouvs1 7,foundling ,hospital7 at ,paris4 ,the original painting1 from which this is a faithful copy1 is by ,vigneron1 a ,french artist of celebrity2 it was purchased at the price of one thousand dollars for the ,galerie ,royale1 and is now in the possession of the ,french king4 ,the ,htel des ,enfans trouvs1 than which a more humane institution was never founded1 exhibits1 in its every arrangement1 order1 economy1 and1 above all1 a beautiful tenderness of the feelings of those poor creatures who are thus compelled to avail themselves1 for their offspring1 of the asylum it affords4 ,no obtrusive observation is made1 no unfeeling question asked3 the infant charge is received in silence1 and either trained and supported until maturity1 or1 if circumstances1 at any subsequent period1 enable the parents to claim their offspring1 it is restored to their care4 ,there is surely no sect or creed so frozen1 or ritual so rigid1 that it can systematize away the common feelings of humanity1 or dry up1 in the breasts of some gentler spirits1 the milk of human kindness4 ,the benevolent founder and indefatigable supporter of this noble institution1 was a ,jesuit6 ,be the good deeds of ,st4 ,vincent de ,paul remembered1 long after the intrigues and cruelties of his fellow sectaries are forgotten6 ,the case selected is one of mild1 of modified1--,i had almost said1 of favoured misfortune3 an extreme case were too revolting for representation4 ,but even under these comparatively happy circumstances1 when benevolence extends her ,samaritan care to the destitute and the forsaken1 who that regards for a moment the abandoned helplessness of the deserted child1 and the mute distress of the departing mother1 but will join in the exclamation1 8,alas6 that it should ever have been born60 ,,editor',s ,,preface4 ,ten years have already elapsed since the publication of the last edition of ,mr4 ,owen's book1 and it is believed that such change of public sentiment has taken place1 as will render a republication of the work1 with such additions and alterations as the discoveries and improvements in this department of physiology have brought to light1 acceptable to the author1 his friends1 and the public4 ,several years spent in a course of experimental investigation1 have brought to the ,editor's knowledge some practical facts1 which1 taken in connexion with the author's candid investigation of the subject1 would be sufficient apology 7were any necessary7 for the publication of this little treatise1 at the present time4 ,moreover1 a train of circumstances have developed themselves during the last few years1 which have done much to remove a bias from the public mind1 unfavourable to the subject matter herein discussed4 ,these circumstances will insure for it a more favourable reception at this time4 ,it is a self-evident fact1 that every discovery in science which serves to make mankind happier and better beings1 and at the same time evidently tends to the prevention of crime and to the removal of moral evil1 deserves to be extensively made known4 ,,preface4 ,it may be proper to state1 in few words1 the immediate circumstances which induced me1 at the present time1 to write and publish this treatise4 ,some weeks since1 a gentleman coming from ,england brought with him two pretty specimens of ,english typography4 ,one represented a triumphal arch with a statue of the late king1 and was made up of #ag1jjj different pieces of common printing type2 the other1 an altar piece1 having the ,lord's ,prayer1 ,creed1 and ,commandments1 printed within it1 and composed of about #ac1jjj separate pieces4 ,the gentleman was requested by a ,brighton printer who executed them1 to present these1 as specimens of ,english typography1 to some of his brethern craftsmen in ,america4 ,he presented them to me4 ,i admired the ingenuity displayed in the performance2 but thought they ought to have been presented rather to some printers' society than to an individual4 ,i therefore addressed them to our ,typographical ,society in ,new ,york1 accompanied by a note simply requesting the society's acceptance of them1 as specimens of the art in ,england4 ,i thought no more of the matter1 until ,i received1 the other day1 my specimens back again1 with a long and not a little angry letter1 signed by three of the members1 accusing ,robert ,dale ,owen of principles subversive of every virtue under heaven1 and calculated to lead to the infraction of every commandment in the decalogue3 and1 more especially1 accusing him of having given his sanction to a work1 as they expressed it1 8holding out inducements and facilities for the prostitution of their daughters1 sisters1 and wives40 ,i subsequently learned1 from one of the society1 circumstances which somewhat extenuate 7albeit nothing can excuse7 their childish incivility4 ,a gentleman who busied himself last year in making out a notable reply to the 8,society for the ,protection of ,industry10 got up1 at a late ,typographical meeting1 and read to the ,society several detached extracts from a pamphlet written by ,richard ,carlile1 entitled 8,every ,woman's ,book10 which extracts he pronounced to be excessively indecent2 and asked the ,society whether they would receive any thing at the hands of a man who publicly approved a book of a tendency so dreadfully immoral2 which1 he averred1 ,i had done4 ,the society were 7or affected to be7 much shocked1 and thereupon chose a committee to return to me the heretical specimens1 which committee penned the letter to which ,i have alluded4 ,probably some members of the society really did believe the work to be of pernicious tendency4 ,had some garbled extracts only from it been read to me1 ,i might possibly have utterly misconceived its tone and tendency1 and its author's motives4 ,but he must be blind indeed1 who can read the pamphlet through1 and then 7whether he approve it or not7 can attribute other than good intentions to the individual who was bold enough to put it forth4 ,as to the book itself1 ,i was requested1 two years since1 when residing in ,indiana1 to publish it1 and declined doing so4 ,my chief reasons were1 that ,i doubted its physiological correctness2 that ,i did not consider its style and tone in good taste2 but chiefly 7as ,i expressed it in the ,new ,harmony ,gazette7 because ,i feared it would be circulated in this country only 8to fall into the hands of the thoughtless1 and to gratify the curiosity of the licentious1 instead of falling1 as it ought1 into the hands of the philanthropist1 of the physiologist1 and of every father and mother of a family40 ,the circumstances ,i have just detailed may afford proof1 that my fears regarding the hands into which it might fall1 were well founded4 ,my principles thus officiously and publicly attacked1 ,i have felt it a duty to the cause of reform to step forward and vindicate them2 and this the rather1 because1 unless ,i give my own sentiments1 ,i shall be understood as unqualifiedly endorsing ,richard ,carlile's4 ,now1 no one more admires than ,i do the courage and strength of mind which induced that bold advocate of heresy to broach this important subject2 and to him be the praise accorded1 that he was the first to venture it4 ,but the manner of his book ,i do not admire4 ,there is in it that which was repulsive 7,i will not say revolting7 to my feelings1 on the first perusal2 and though ,i afterwards began to doubt whether that first impression was not attributable1 in a great measure1 to my prejudices1 yet ,i cannot doubt that a similar1 and even a more unfavourable impression1 will be made on the minds of others1 and thus the interests of truth be jeopardized4 ,then again1 ,i think the physiological portion of his pamphlet somewhat incorrect as to the facts1 and therefore calculated to mislead1 where an error might be of fatal consequence4 ,it may seem vanity in me to imagine1 that this treatise is free from similar objections2 yet ,i have taken great pains to render it so4 ,r4 ,d4 ,o4 ,,introduction4 ,the reader1 after having been taxed with the perusal of two prefaces before reaching the subject matter1 may consider it a hardship to be further called upon to read a somewhat lengthy introduction1 when the title of a book should be its best preface2 but the ,editor would ask your indulgence while he briefly states the object and design of the following pages4 ,it has often been held of questionable propriety1 whether the public should be furnished with medical readings1 it being presumed that such literature tended to thwart the very purposes it professed to encourage3 that1 instead of affording an exposition of the ills of our nature1 whereby we might avoid or remove them1 its effect necessarily1 from the probable absence of all preliminary medical knowledge on the part of the reader1 was but to create confusion and alarm1 and1 even where understood1 only to magnify the fear2 and this latter notion is grounded on the popular error1 that even professional men1 from the same cause1 are least efficient when in attendance upon themselves4 ,the doubt1 however1 may now be considered as removed if we but observe how of late years the desire to possess general information on all matters relative to the functions of life1 has manifested itself1 by the public attendance at the various learned institutions1 and how also it has been encouraged by men eminent for their talents and worth1 devoting themselves to the unfolding and simplification of the professional lore they had been years in acquiring4 ,lectures have been given1 and large crowds of silent and anxious auditors have attended them--edition after edition of popular works on similar subjects1 by the same men1 have been called for1 and eagerly caught up--the mysteries of physiology have been laid open from the lowest to the highest scale of creation3 the history of man has been displayed1 and his several elements have been demonstrated--the phenomena of respiration1 digestion1 and the circulation of the blood1 have all had their share of attention1 and many of the most prevalent diseases of humanity have been discussed and examined1 their causes exposed1 and the means of their avoidance detailed4 ,so far from the public suffering from this diffusion of medical knowledge1 immense advantages have accrued to all classes of mankind4 ,among all the departments of anatomical research thus introduced1 public decorum has judiciously excluded popular enquiries into the physiological laws of generation4 ,i say judiciously1 for the discussion of such topics1 constituted as society is1 could not be tolerated in large assemblies1 and probably of both sexes1 without the risk of engendering associations inimical to morality and virtue2#a but no one can be blind to the creeping progress there is daily being made1 of touching upon these subjects in popular journals and publications1 and no one can deny at least the importance of obedience to the laws that abide over the procreation of a healthy or diseased population4 ,in the absence of information afforded through legitimate channels to the public1 and feeling sensible that many errors are committed through ignorance1 and endured through shame1 this little work is tendered1 accompanied with the hope that its usefulness may not be deteriorated by any misinterpretation of the writer's motives4 ,the philosopher1 in asking himself the question1 what is love1 solves it by asking another question1 what is an animal1 or what is man8 ,looking at mankind1 he finds them of two classes1 male and female1 varying but little as to external form or internal character4 ,he finds that they possess the same passions1 the same desires1 that they live by the same means1 and with the difference of the female being the body qualified to breed the species1 he sees them in every respect to be exactly alike4 ,reproduction or accumulation of identities similar to self is a common law of animal and vegetable matter2 and the disposition to reproduce in all well-formed and healthy subjects is as powerful as hunger1 or thirst1 or the desire of self-preservation4 ,it is a passion not criminal in the indulgence1 but criminality attaches where the indulgence is withheld2 because health1 and even life1 is endangered4 ,it is not an artificial passion1 such as a craving to exhibit the distinctions of society2 but a natural passion1 which we hold in common with every other animal4 ,it grows with our growth1 and is strengthened with our strength4 ,to prove that genuine love is nothing but this passion1 it is sufficient to refer to the period at which it comes on1 and at which it leaves us4 ,we hear not of love in decaying age or in infancy2 and the attachments of habit1 of kindness1 of gratitude1 or of human1 social1 individual1 parental1 filial1 or domestic affection1 have no connexion with the passion of love4 ,we talk of a love1 of virtue1 of friendship1 of heroism1 of character1 of generosity2 but this kind of love is a matter wholly distinct from the passion of love between the male and female4 ,all men are apt to feel the tender passion of love for a beautiful woman3 all women for a handsome and agreeable man3 but this is nothing more than a desire to associate ourselves with the most agreeable objects for sexual commerce4 ,the every day occurrences of mankind explain this matter1 and hence the many violences and intrigues connected with the passion of love2 hence seductions1 adulteries1 rapes and intercourses pronounced unlawful in different countries4 ,the present purpose of this work is1 to explain the physiology of the reproductive organs1 and the social bearing that a proper control of the reproductive instinct will have upon society1 and its consequences when uncontrolled1 and the benefits that must necessarily accrue when kept under due restraint4 ,chemical science and experimental investigation1 aided by the recent discoveries in that department of literature1 have enabled the ,editor to offer to the suffering mother a safe and sure preventive of conception4 ,the expediency and moral propriety of its use he trusts will be satisfactorily explained in the subsequent pages4 ,,moral ,,physiology4 ,i sit down to write a little treatise1 which will subject me to abuse from the self-righteous1 to misrepresentation from the hypocritical1 and to reproach even from the honestly prejudiced4 ,some may refuse to read it2 and many more will misconceive its tendency4 ,i would have delayed its publication1 had the choice been permitted me1 until the popular mind was better prepared to receive it2 but the enemies of reform have already foisted the subject1 under an odious form1 on the public3 and ,i have no choice left4 ,if1 therefore1 ,i prematurely touch the honest prejudices of any1 let them bear in mind1 that the occasion is not of my seeking4 ,the subject ,i intend to discuss is strictly a physiological subject1 although connected1 like many other physiological subjects1 with political economy1 morals1 and social science4 ,in discussing it1 ,i must speak as plainly as physicians and physiologists do4 ,what ,i mean1 ,i must say4 ,pseudo-civilized man1 that anomalous creature who has been not inaptly defined 8an animal ashamed of his own body10 may take it ill that ,i speak simply3 ,i cannot help that4 ,a foreign princess1 travelling towards ,madrid to become queen of ,spain1 passed through a little town of the peninsula1 famous for its manufactory of gloves and stockings4 ,the magistrates of the place1 eager to evince their loyalty towards their new queen1 presented her1 on her arrival1 with a sample of those commodities for which alone their town was remarkable4 ,the major domo1 who conducted the princess1 received the gloves very graciously2 but when the stockings were presented1 he flung them away with great indignation1 and severely reprimanded the magistrates for this egregious piece of indecency4 8,know10 said he1 8that a queen of ,spain has no legs40#b ,i never could sympathize with this major domo delicacy2 and if you can1 my reader1 you had better throw this book aside at once4 ,if you have travelled and observed much1 you will already have learnt the distinction between real and artificial propriety4 ,if you have been in ,constantinople1 you probably know1 that when the grand seignor's wives are ill1 the physician is only allowed to see the wrist1 which is thrust through an opening in the side of the room1 because it is improper even for a physician to look upon another man's wife2 and it is thought better to sacrifice health than propriety4#c ,if you have sojourned among the inhabitants of ,turcomania1 you know that they consider a woman's virtue sacrificed for ever1 if1 before marriage1 she be seen to stop on the public road to speak to her lover3#d and if you have read ,buckingham's travels1 you may remember a very romantic story1 in which a young ,turcoman lady1 having thus forfeited her reputation1 is left for dead on the road by her brothers1 who were determined their sister should not survive her dishonor4 ,perhaps you may have travelled in ,asia4 ,if so1 you cannot be ignorant how grossly indecorous to ,asiatic ears it is1 to enquire of a husband after his wife's health2 and probably you may know1 that men have lost their lives to atone for such an impropriety4 ,you know1 too1 of course1 that in ,eastern nations it is indecent for a woman to uncover her face2 but perhaps you may not know1 unless your travels have extended to ,abyssinia1 that there the indecency consists in uncovering the feet4#e ,in ,central ,africa1 you may have seen women bathing in public1 without the slightest sense of impropriety2 but you were doubtless told1 that men could not be permitted a similar liberty2 seeing that modesty requires they should perform their ablutions in private4 ,if my reader has seen all or any of these countries and customs1 ,i doubt not that he or she will read my little book understandingly1 and interpret it in the purity which springs from enlarged and enlightened views2 or1 indeed1 from common sense4 ,if not--if you who now peruse these lines have been educated at home1 and have never passed the boundary line of your own nation--perhaps of your own village--if you have not learnt that there are other proprieties besides those of your country2 and that1 after all1 genuine modesty has its legitimate seat in the heart rather than in the outward form or sanctioned custom--then1 ,i fear me1 you may chance to cast these pages from you1 as the major domo did the proffered stockings1 unconscious that the indelicacy lies1 not in my simple words1 or the ,spanish magistrates' honest offering1 but in the pruriently sensitive imagination that discovers impropriety in either4 ,yet1 even though inexperienced1 if you be still young and pure-minded1 you may read this book through1 and ,i shall fear from your lips1 or in your hearts1 no odious misconstruction4 ,young men and women6 you who1 if ignorant1 are uncorrupted also2 you in whose minds honest and simple words call up none but honest and simple ideas2 you who think no evil2 you who are still believers in human virtue and human happiness2 you who1 like our fabled first parents in their paradise1 are yet unlearned alike in the hypocritical conventionalities and the odious vices of pseudo-civilization2 you1 with whom love is stronger than fear1 and the law within the breast more powerful than that in the statue book2 you whose feelings are still unblunted1 and whose sympathies still warm and generous2 you who belong to the better portion of your species1 and who have formed your opinion of mankind from guileless spirits like your own--young men and women6 it is to your pure feelings ,i would fain speak3 it is by your unsophisticated hearts ,i would fain have my treatise and my motives judged4 ,libertines and debauchees6 this book is not for you4 ,you have nothing to do with the subject of which it treats4 ,bringing to its discussion1 as you do1 a distrust or contempt of the human race--accustomed as you are to confound liberty with license1 and pleasure with debauchery1 it is not for your palled feelings and brutalized senses to distinguish moral truth in its purity and simplicity4 ,i never discuss this subject with such as you4 ,it has been remarked1 that nothing is so suspicious in a woman1 as vehement pretensions to especial chastity2 it is no less true1 that the most obtrusive and sensitive stickler for the etiquette of orthodox morality is the heartless rake4 ,the little intercourse ,i have had with men of your stamp1 warns me to avoid the serious discussion of any species of moral heresy with you4 ,you approach the subject in a tone and spirit revolting alike to good taste and good feeling4 ,you seem to pre-suppose--from your own experience1 perhaps--that the hearts of all men1 and more especially of all women1 are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked2 that violence and vice are inherent in human nature1 and that nothing but laws and ceremonies prevent the world from becoming a vast slaughter-house1 or an universal brothel4 ,you judge your own sex and the other by the specimens you have met with in wretched haunts of mercenary profligacy2 and1 with such a standard in you minds1 ,i marvel not that you remain incorrigible unbelievers in any virtue1 but that which is forced on the prudish hotbed of ceremonious orthodoxy4 ,i wonder not that you will not trust the natural soil1 watered from the free skies and warmed by the life-bringing sun4 ,how should you8 you have never seen it produce but weeds and poisons4 ,libertines and debauchees6 cast my book aside6 ,you will find in it nothing to gratify a licentious curiosity2 and1 if you read it1 you will probably only give me credit for motives and impulses like your own4 ,and you1 prudes and hypocrites6 you who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel2 you whom ,jesus likened to whited sepulchres1 which without indeed are beautiful1 but within are full of all uncleanness2 you who affect to blush if the ancle is incidentally mentioned in conversation1 or displayed in crossing a style1 but will read indecencies enough1 without scruple1 in your closets2 you who1 at dinner1 asked to be helped to the bosom of a duck1 lest by mention of the word breast1 you call up improper associations2 you who have nothing but a head and feet and fingers2 you who look demure by daylight1 and make appointments only in the dark--you1 prudes and hypocrites6 ,i do not address4 ,even if honest in your prudery1 your ideas of right and wrong are too artificial and confused to profit by the present discussion2 if dishonest1 ,i desire to have no communication with you4 ,reader6 if you belong to the class of prudes or of libertines1 ,i pray you1 follow my argument no farther4 ,stop here1 and believe that my heresies will not suit you4 ,as a prude1 you would find them too honest2 as a libertine1 too temperate4 ,in the former case1 you might call me a very shocking person2 in the latter1 a quiz or a bore4 ,but if you be honest1 upright1 pure-minded--if you be unconscious of unworthy motive or selfish passion--if truth be your ambition1 and the welfare of our race your object--then approach with me a subject the most important to man's well-being2 and approach it as ,i do1 in a spirit of dispassionate1 disinterested free enquiry4 ,approach it1 resolving to prove all things1 and hold fast that which is good4 ,the discussion is one to which it is every man's and every woman's duty1 7and ought to be every one's business17 to attend4 ,the welfare of the present generation1 and--yet far more--of the next1 requires it4 ,common sense sanctions it4 ,and the national motto of my former country1 8,honi soit qui mal y pense10#f may explain the spirit in which it is undertaken1 and in which it ought to be received4 ,reader6 it ought to concern you nothing who or what ,i am1 who now addresses you4 ,truth is truth1 if it fall from ,satan's lips2 and error ought to be rejected1 though preached by an angel from heaven4 ,even as an anonymous work1 therefore1 this treatise ought to obtain a full and candid examination from you4 ,but1 that you may not imagine ,i am ashamed of honestly discussing a subject so useful and important1 ,i have given you my name on the title page4 ,neither is it any concern of yours what my character is1 or has been4 ,no man of sense or modesty unnecessarily obtrudes personalities that regard himself on the public4 ,and1 most assuredly1 it is neither to gratify your curiosity or my vanity1 if ,i now do violence to my feelings1 and speak a few words touching myself4 ,i do so1 to disarm1 if ,i can1 prejudice of her sting2 and thus to obtain the ears1 even of the prejudiced2 and also to acquaint my readers1 that they are conversing on such a subject as this1 with one1 whom circumstance and education have happily preserved from habits of excess and associations of profligacy4 ,all those who have intimately known the life and private habits of the writer of this little treatise1 will bear him witness1 that what he now states is true1 to the letter4 ,he was indebted to his parents for habits of the strictest temperance--some would call it abstemiousness--in all things4 ,he never1 at any time1 habitually used ardent spirits1 wine1 or strong drink of any kind3 latterly1 he has not even used animal food4 ,he never chanced to enter a brothel in his life2 nor to associate1 even for an evening1 with those poor1 unhappy victims1 whom the brutal1 yet tolerated vices of man1 and sometimes their own unsuspicious or ungoverned feelings1 betray to misery and degradation4 ,he never sought the company but of the intellectual and self-respecting of the other sex1 and has no associations connected with the name of woman1 but those of esteem and respectful affection4 ,to this day1 he is even girlishly sensitive to the coarse and ribald jests in which young men think it witty to indulge at the expense of a sex they cannot appreciate4 ,the confidence with which women may have honored him1 he has never selfishly abused2 and1 at this moment1 he has not a single wrong with which to reproach himself towards a sex1 which he considers the equal of man in all essentials of character1 and his superior in generous disinterestedness and moral worth4 ,i check my pen4 ,i have said enough1 perhaps1 to awaken the confidence of those whose confidence ,i value2 and enough1 assuredly1 to excite the ridicule1 or the sneer1 of him who walks through life wrapped up in the cloak of conformity1 and laughs among his private boon companions1 at the scruples of every novice1 who will not1 like himself1 regard debauchery and seduction 7in secret7 as manly and spirited amusements4 ,and now1 reader6 if ,i have succeeded in awakening your attention1 and enlisting in this enquiry your reason and your better feelings1 approach with me a subject the most interesting and important to you--to me--to all our fellow-creatures4 ,reader6 if you be a woman1 forget that ,i am a man3 if a man1 listen to me as you would to a brother4 ,let us converse1 not as men1 nor as women1 but as human beings1 with common interests1 instincts1 wants1 weaknesses4 ,let us converse1 if it be possible1 without prejudice and without passion4 ,reader6 whatever be your sex1 sect1 rank1 or party1 to you ,i would now1 ere ,i commence1 address the poet's exhortation--here1 far more strictly applicable1 than in the investigation to which he applied it3-- 8,retire6 the world shut out3 thy thoughts call home4 ,imagination's airy wing repress4 ,lock up thy senses2 let no passion stir2 ,wake all to reason2 let her reign alone40 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,statement ,,of ,,the ,,subject4 ,among the human instincts which contribute to man's preservation and well-being1 the instinct of reproduction holds a distinguished rank4 ,it peoples the earth2 it perpetuates the species4 ,controlled by reason1 and chastened by good feeling1 it gives to social intercourse much of its charm and zest4 ,directed by selfishness1 or governed by force1 it is prolific of misery and degradation4 ,whether wisely or unwisely directed1 its influence is that of a master principle1 that colours1 brightly or darkly1 much of the destiny of man4 ,it is sometimes spoken of as a low and selfish propensity2 and the ,shakers call it a 8carnal and sensual passion40#g ,i see nothing in the instinct itself that merits such epithets4 ,like other instincts1 it may assume a selfish1 mercenary1 or brutal character4 ,but in itself1 it appears to me the most social and least selfish of all our instincts4 ,it fits us to give1 even while receiving1 pleasure2 and1 among cultivated beings1 the former power is ever more highly valued than the latter4 ,not one of our instincts1 perhaps1 affords larger scope for the exercise of disinterestedness1 or fitter play for the best moral feelings of our race4 ,not one gives birth to relations more gentle1 more humanizing and endearing2 not one lies more immediately at the root of the kindliest charities and most generous impulses that honor and bless human nature4 ,its very power1 indeed1 gives fatal force to its aberrations2 even as the waters of the calmest river1 when dammed up or forced from their bed1 flood and ruin the country3 but the gentle flow and fertilizing influence of the stream are the fit emblems of the instinct1 when suffered1 undisturbed by force or passion1 to follow its own quiet channel4 ,that such an instinct should be thought and spoken of as a low1 selfish propensity1 and1 as such1 that the discussion of its nature and consequences should be almost interdicted in what is called decent society1 is to me a proof of the profligacy of the age1 and the impurity of the pseudo-civilized mind4 ,i imagine that if all men and women were gluttons and drunkards1 they would1 in like manner1 be ashamed to speak of diet or of temperance4 ,were ,i an optimist1 and1 as such1 had ,i accustomed myself to judge and to admire the arrangements of nature1 ,i should be inclined to put forward1 as one of the most admirable1 the arrangement according to which the temperate fulfilling of the dictates of this1 as well as of almost all other instincts1 confers pleasure4 ,the desire of offspring would probably induce us to perpetuate the species1 though no gratification were connected with the act4 ,in the language of the optimist1 then1 8pleasure is gratuitously super-added40 ,but instead of pausing to admire arrangements and intentions1 the great whole of which human reason seems little fitted to appreciate or comprehend1 ,i content myself with remarking1 that this very circumstance 7in itself surely a fortunate one1 inasmuch as it adds another to the sources of human happiness7 has often been the cause of misery2 and1 from a blessing1 has been perverted into a curse4 ,enjoyment has led to excess1 and sometimes to tyranny and barbarous injustice4 ,were the reproductive instinct disconnected from pleasure of any kind1 it would neither afford enjoyment nor admit of abuse4 ,as it is1 the instinct is susceptible of either2 just as wisdom or ignorance governs human laws1 habits1 and customs4 ,it behooves us1 therefore1 to be especially careful in its regulation2 else what is a great good may become for us a great evil4 ,this instinct1 then1 may be regarded in a two-fold light2 first1 as giving the power of reproduction3 secondly1 as affording pleasure4 ,and here1 before ,i proceed1 let me recall to the reader's mind1 that it is the province of rational beings to bear ,,utility strictly in view4 ,reason recognizes as little the romantic and unearthly reveries of ,stoicism1 as she does the doctrines of health-destroying and mind-debasing debauchery4 ,she reprobates equally a contemning and an abusing of pleasure4 ,she bids us avoid asceticism on the one hand1 and excess on the other4 ,in all our enquiries1 then1 let reason guide us1 and let ,,utility be our polar star4 ,i have often had long arguments with my friends1 the ,shakers1#h touching the two-fold light in which the reproductive instinct may be regarded4 ,they commonly stand out stoutly against the propriety of considering it1 except as a means of perpetuating the species2 and1 apart from that1 they deny that it may be regarded as a legitimate source of enjoyment4 ,in this ,i totally dissent from them4 ,it is a much more noble1 because less purely selfish1 instinct1 than hunger or thirst4 ,it is an instinct that entwines itself around the warmest feelings and best affections of the heart2 and though it differ from hunger and thirst in this1 that it may remain ungratified without causing death4 ,i have yet to learn1 that because it is possible1 it is therefore also desirable1 to mortify and repress it4 ,i admit1 to the ,shakers1 that in the world1 profligate and hypocritical as we see it1 this instinct is the source of infinite misery2 perhaps even1 on the whole1 of a balance of unhappiness3 and ,i always freely admit to them1 that if ,i had to choose between the life of the profligate man of the world and that of the ascetic ,shaker1 ,i should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter4 ,but for admitting that the most social and kindly of human instincts is sensual and degrading in itself1 ,i cannot4 ,i think its influence moral1 humanizing1 polishing1 beneficent2 and that the social education of no man or woman is fully completed without it4 ,its mortification 7though far less injurious than its excess7 is yet very mischievous4 ,if it do not give birth to peevishness1 or melancholy1 or incipient disease1 or unnatural practices1 at least it almost always freezes and stiffens the character1 by checking the flow of its kindliest emotions2 and not unfrequently gives to it a solitary1 anti-social1 selfish stamp4 ,i deny the position of the ,shaker1 then1 that the instinct is justifiable 7if1 indeed1 it be at all7 only as necessary to the reproduction of the species4 ,it is justifiable1 in my view1 just in as far as it makes a man happier and a better being4 ,it is justifiable1 both as a source of temperate enjoyment1 and as a means by which the sexes can mutually polish and improve each other4 ,if a ,shaker has read my little book thus far1 and cannot reconcile his mind to this idea1 he may as well shut it at once4 ,i found all my arguments on the position1 that the pleasure derived from this instinct1 independent of1 and totally distinct from1 its ultimate object1 the reproduction of our race1 is good1 proper1 worth securing and enjoying4 ,i maintain1 that its temperate enjoyment is a blessing1 both in itself and in its influence on human character4 ,upon this distinction of the instinct into its two-fold character1 hinges the chief point in the present discussion4 ,it sometimes happens1 nay1 it happens every day and hour1 that mankind obey its impulses1 not from any calculation of consequences1 but simply from animal impulse4 ,thus many children that are brought into the world owe their existence1 not to deliberate conviction in their parents that their birth was really desirable1 but simply to an unreasoning instinct1 which men1 in the mass1 have not learnt either to resist or control4 ,it is a serious question--and surely an exceedingly proper and important one--whether man can obtain1 and whether he is benefitted by obtaining1 control over this instinct4 ,,is ,,it ,,desirable1 ,,that ,,it ,,should ,,never ,,be ,,gratified ,,without ,,an ,,increase ,,to ,,population8 ,,or1 ,,is ,,it ,,desirable1 ,,that ,,in ,,gratifying ,,it1 ,,man ,,shall ,,be ,,able ,,to ,,say ,,whether ,,offspring ,,shall ,,be ,,the ,,result ,,or ,,not8 ,to answer the questions satisfactorily1 it would be necessary to substantiate1 that such control may be obtained without the slightest injury to the physical health1 or violence to the moral feelings2 and also1 that it should be obtained without any real sacrifice of enjoyment2 or1 if that cannot be1 with as little as possible4 ,thus have ,i plainly stated the subject4 ,it resolves itself1 as my readers may observe1 into two distinct heads2 first1 the desirability of such control2 and1 secondly1 its possibility4 ,in discussing its desirability1 ,i enter a wide field--a field often traversed by political economists1 by moralists1 and by philosophers1 though generally1 it will be confessed1 to little purpose4 ,this may be1 in a great measure1 attributed rather to their fear than their ignorance4 ,the world would not permit them to say what they knew4 ,i intend that my readers shall know all that ,i know on the subject2 for ,i have long since ceased to ask the world's leave to say what ,i think1 and what ,i believe to be useful to the public4 ,i propose to begin by considering the question in the abstract1 and then to examine it in its political and social bearings4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,question ,,examined ,,in ,,the ,,abstract4 ,is it in itself desirable1 that man should obtain control over the instinct of reproduction1 so as to determine when its gratification shall produce offspring1 and when it shall not8 ,but that common sense is so scarce an article1 and that the various superstitions of the nursery pervade the opinions and cramp the enquiries1 even of after life--but for this1 the very statement of the question might suffice to obtain for it the assent of every rational being4 ,nothing so elevates man above the brute creation1 as the power he obtains over his instincts4 ,the lower animal follows them blindly1 unreflectingly4 ,the serpent gorges himself2 the bull fights1 even to death1 with his rival of the pasture2 the dog makes deadly war for a bone4 ,they know nothing of progressive improvement4 ,the elephant or the beaver of the nineteenth century1 are just as wise1 and no wiser1 than the elephant or the beaver of two thousand years ago4 ,man alone has the power to improve1 cultivate1 elevate his nature1 from generation to generation4 ,he alone can control his instincts by reflection of consequences1 and regulate his passions by the precepts of wisdom4 ,it is strange1 that even at this period of the world1 we should have to remind each other1 that all knowledge of facts is useful2 or1 at the least1 cannot be injurious4 ,the knowledge of some facts may be unimportant2 the knowledge of none is mischievous4 ,a human being is a puppet--a slave1 if his ignorance is to be the safeguard of his virtue4 ,nor shall we know where to stop1 if we follow up this principle4 ,shall we give our sons lessons in mechanics8 but they may thereby learn to pick locks4 ,shall we teach them to read8 but they may thus obtain access to falsehood and folly4 ,shall we instruct them in writing8 but they may become forgers4 ,such1 in effect1 was the reasoning of men in the dark ages4 ,when ,walter ,scott puts in the mouth of ,lord ,douglas1 on the discovery of ,marmion's treachery the following exclamation1 it is strictly in accordance with the spirit and prevailing opinions of the times3 8,a letter forged6 ,saint ,jude to speed6 ,did ever knight so foul a deed6 ,at first in heart it liked me ill1 ,when the king praised his clerkly skill4 ,thanks to ,saint ,bothan1 son of mine1 ,save ,gawain1 ne'er could pen a line3 ,so swore ,i1 and so swear ,i still1 ,let my boy bishop fret his fill40 ,but the days are gone by when ignorance may be the safeguard of virtue4 ,the only rock-foundation for virtue is knowledge4 ,there is no fact1 in physics or in morals1 that ought to be concealed from the enquiring mind4 ,let that parent1 who thinks to secure his sons' honesty or his daughters' innocence1 by keeping back from them facts--let that parent know1 that he is building up their morality on a sandy foundation4 ,the rains and the floods of the world's influence shall beat upon that virtue1 and great shall be the fall thereof4 ,if man1 then1 can obtain control over this most important of instincts1 it is1 in principle1 right that he should know it4 ,if men1 after obtaining such knowledge1 think fit not to use it2 if they deem it nobler and more virtuous1 to follow each animal impulse1 like the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air1 without a thought of its consequences1 or an enquiry into its nature--then let them do so4 ,the knowledge that they have the power to act more like rational beings1 will not injure1 if it fail to benefit them4 ,they are at perfect liberty to set it aside1 to neglect it1 to forget it1 if they can4 ,only let them show common sense enough to permit that others1 who are more slow to incur sacred responsibilities1 and more willing to give reason the control of instinct1 should obtain the requisite knowledge1 and follow out their prudent resolutions4 ,if this little book were in the hands of every adult in the ,united ,states1 not one need profit by it1 unless he sees fit4 ,nor will any man admit that he can possibly be injured by it4 ,oh no4 ,his virtue can bear any quantity of light4 ,but then1 his neighbour's1 or his son's1 or his daughter's6 ,this would lead me to discuss the social bearings of the question4 ,but1 as conceiving it more in order1 ,i shall first speak of it in connexion with political economy4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,question ,,in ,,its ,,connexion ,,with ,,political ,,economy4 ,the population question1 as it is called1 has of late years occupied much attention1 especially in ,great ,britain4 ,it was first prominently brought forward and discussed1 through two large volumes1 by ,malthus1 an ,english clergyman4 ,godwin1 ,ricardo1 ,thompson1 ,place1 ,mill1 and other celebrated cotemporary writers1 have all discussed it1 with more or less reserve1 and at greater or less length4 ,malthus' work has become the text book of a large politico-economist party in ,england4 ,his doctrine is1 that 8population unrestrained1 will advance beyond the means of subsistence40 ,he asserts1 that in most countries population at this moment presses against the means of subsistence2 and that in all countries1 it has a tendency so to do4 ,he recommends1 as a preventive of the growing evil1 celibacy till a late age1 say thirty years2 and he asserts1 that unless this 8moral restraint0 is exerted1 vice1 poverty and misery1 will and must become the checks to population4 ,his book1 in my opinion1 has done infinite mischief4 ,i have heard his disciples openly declare1 that they considered the crimes and wretchedness of society to be necessary--to be the express ordainings of ,providence1 intended to prevent the earth from being over-peopled4 ,i have heard it argued by men of rank1 wealth and influence1 that the distinctions of rich and poor1 and even of morality and immorality1 of luxury and want1 will and must exist to the end of the world2 that he who attempts to remove them fights against ,god and nature2 and1 if he partially succeed1 will but afford the human race an opportunity to increase1 until the earth shall no longer suffice to contain them1 and they shall be compelled to prey on each other4 ,it must be confessed1 that this is a comfortable doctrine for the rich idler3 it is a healing salve to the luxurious conscience2 an opiate to drown the still small voice of truth and humanity1 which calls to every man to be up and do his part towards the alleviation of the human suffering that every where stares him in the face4 ,it is vain to argue with these defenders of the evils that be1 that the day of overstocking is afar off4 ,they tell you1 it must come at last2 and that the more you do to remove vice and misery--those destroyers of population--the sooner it will come4 ,and what reply can one make to the argument in the abstract8 ,i believe it to be proved1 that population1 unrestrained1#i will double itself on an average every twenty-five to fifty years4 ,if so1 it is evident to a demonstration1 that1 if population be not restrained1 morally or immorally1 the earth will at last furnish no foothold for the human beings that will cover it4 ,take a medium calculation as to the natural rate of increase1 and say1 that population1 unrestrained1 will double itself every thirty-three and a third years4 ,that it has done so1 7without reckoning the increase from emigration17 in many parts of this continent1 is certain4 ,then1 if we suppose the present numerous checks to population1 viz4 want1 war1 vice1 and misery1 removed by national reform1 and if we assume the present population of the world at one thousand millions1 we shall find the rate of increase as follows3 ,at the end of #ajj years1 there will be #h1jjj millions4 ------------- #bjj ------------------- #fd1jjj --------- ------------- #cjj ------------------ #eab1jjj --------- ------------- #djj ---------------- #d1jif1jjj --------- ------------- #ejj --------------- #cb1gfh1jjj --------- ,and so on1 multiplying by #h for every additional hundred years4 ,so that1 in #ejj years1 there would be more than thirty thousand times as many as at present3 and in #ajjj years1 upwards of a thousand million times as many human beings as at this moment3 consequently1 one single pair1 if suffered to increase without check1 would1 in #ajjj years1 increase to more than double the present population of the globe4 ,it appears evident1 then1 to a demonstration1 that population ,,cannot be suffered to increase unrestrained for more than a very few hundred years4 ,we are thus compelled to admit to ,malthus1 that1 sooner or later1 some restraint or other to population must be employed2 and compelled to admit to his aristocratic disciples1 that if no other better restraint than vice and misery can be found1 then vice and misery must be2 they are the lot of man1 from generation to generation4 ,let me repeat it3 it is no question--never can be a question--whether there shall be a restraint to population or not4 ,there ,,must be2 unless indeed we find the means of visiting other planets1 so as to people them4 ,in the nature of things1 there must be a check1 of some kind1 at some time4 ,the only question is1 what that check shall be--whether1 as heretofore1 the check of war1 want1 profligacy1 misery2 or a 8moral restraint10 sanctioned by reason and suggested by experience4 ,let those1 then1 who cry out against this little treatise1 be told1 that though they may postpone the question1 no human power can evade it4 ,it must come up4 ,had the friends of reform been left to choose their own time1 it might1 perhaps with advantage1 have been postponed4 ,and it is an imaginable case1 that prejudice might delay it until a general famine or a universal civil war became the frightful checks4 ,but will any man of common sense argue the propriety of suffering such a crisis to approach8 ,malthus saw this4 ,he saw that some check must exist2 and1 whatever some of his disciples might permit themselves to say1 he did not choose to be considered the apologist of vice and misery4 ,his theory1 indeed1 supplied specious arguments to those who asserted1 with the ingenious author of the ,fable of the ,bees1#aj that 8private vices are public benefits20 and in consequence1 its tendency appears to be essentially aristocratic and demoralizing1 as tending to produce supine contentment with a vicious and degrading order of things4 ,but ,malthus himself declares the only proper check to be1 the general practice of celibacy to a late age4 ,he employs all his eloquence to persuade men and women that they ought not to marry till they are twenty-eight or thirty2 and that if they do1 they are contributing to the misery of the world4#aa ,now1 ,mr4 ,malthus may preach for ever on this subject4 ,individuals may indeed be found1 who will look to distant consequences1 and sacrifice present enjoyment2 even as individuals are found to become and remain ,shaking ,quakers3 but to believe that the mass of mankind will abjure1 through the ten fairest years of life1 the nearest and dearest of social relations2 and during the very holiday of existence1 will live the life of monks and nuns--all to avert a catastrophe which is confessedly some hundreds of years distant--to believe this1 requires a faith which no accurate observer of mankind possesses4 ,this weak point the aristocratic expounders of ,malthus' doctrines were not slow to discover4 ,they broadly asserted1 that such 8moral restraint0 would never be generally practiced4 ,they asked1 whether a young woman1 to whom a comfortable home and a pleasant companion were offered1 would refuse to accept them1 on this theory of population2 whether a young man who had a fair 7or even but a very indifferent7 prospect of maintaining a family1 would doom himself to celibacy lest the world should be over-peopled4 ,and they put it to the advocates of late marriages1 whether1 in one sex at least1 the recommendation1 if even nominally followed1 would not almost certainly lead to vicious excess and degrading associations2 thus resolving the check into vice and misery at last4 ,if experience answered these questions in the negative1 was it not clear1 7they would exultingly ask17 that vice and misery are the natural lot of man2 and that it is quixotic1 if not impious1 to plague ourselves about them1 or to attempt1 by their suppression1 to controvert the decrees of ,god8 ,it was very easy for generous feelings to reply to so heartless an argument4 ,it was easy to ask1 whether even the apparent hopelessness of the case formed any legitimate apology for supine indifference2 or whether1 where we cannot cure1 we are absolved from the duty of alleviating4 ,but it was not very easy fully and fairly to meet the question4 ,it was idle to deny that preaching would not put off marriage for ten years3 and if no other species of moral restraint than ten years ,shakerism could be proposed1 it did appear evident enough1 that moral restraint would be by the mass neglected1 and that the physical checks of vice and misery must come into play at last4 ,i pray my readers1 then1 distinctly1 to observe how the matter stands4 ,population1 unrestrained1 must increase beyond the possibility of the earth and its produce to support4 ,at present it is restrained by vice and misery4 ,the only remedy which the orthodoxy of the ,english clergyman permits him to propose1 is1 late marriages4 ,the most enlightened observers of mankind are agreed1 that nothing contributes so positively and immediately to demoralize a nation1 as when its youth refrain1 until a late period1 from forming disinterested connections with those of the other sex4 ,the frightful increase of prostitutes1 the destruction of health1 the rapid spread of intemperance1 the ruin of moral feelings1 are to the mass1 the certain consequences4 ,individuals there are who escape the contagion2 individuals whose better feelings revolt1 under any temptation1 from the mercenary embrace1 or the ,circean cup of intoxication2 but these are exceptions only4 ,the mass must have their pleasures2 the pleasures of intellectual intercourse1 of unbought affection1 and of good taste and good feeling1 if they can2 but if they cannot1 then such pleasure 7alas6 that language should be perverted to entitle them to the name67 as the sacrifice of money and the ruin of body and mind can purchase4#ab ,but this is not all4 ,not only is ,malthus' proposition fraught with immorality1 in that it discountenances to a late age those disinterested sexual connexions which can alone save youth from vice2 but it is impracticable4 ,men and women will scarcely pause to calculate the chances they have of affording support to their children ere they become parents3 how1 then1 should they stop to calculate the chances of the world's being over-peopled8 ,malthus may say what he pleases1 they never will make any such calculation2 and it is folly to expect they should4 ,let us observe1 then3 unless some less ascetic and more practicable species of 8moral restraint0 be introduced1 vice and misery will ultimately become the inevitable lot of man upon earth4 ,he can no more escape them1 than he can the light of the sun1 or the stroke of death4 ,what an incitement1 this1 to the prosecution of our enquiry6 ,here is a principle set up1 which is all but an apology for the apathy that prevails among the rich and the powerful--among governors and legislators--in regard to human improvement4 ,how important1 how essential for the interests of virtue1 that it should be refuted6 ,how beneficent that knowledge1 which discloses to us some moral1 practicable check to population1 and relieves us from the despairing conclusion1 that the irrevocable doom of man is misery1 without remedy and without end6 ,in the absence of such knowledge1 truly the prospects of the world were dark and cheerless4 ,the modern doctrine of population has weighed like a spell on the exertions of benevolence1 and chilled1 almost to inaction1 even the warm heart of charity4 ,philanthropy herself pauses1 when she begins to fear that all her exertions are to result in hopeless disappointment4 ,and yet--such is this world--even the ablest opponents of ,malthus stop short when they come to the question1 and leave an argument unanswered1 which a dozen pages might suffice for ever to set at rest4 ,let one of the most intelligent of these opponents1 a man of splendid and sterling talent--let ,,mill1 the celebrated political economist and talented author of 8,british ,india10 speak for himself4 ,i extract from the article 8,colony10 in the supplement to the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 and which is from the pen of ,mill1 the following paragraph3 8,what are the best means of checking the progress of population1 when it cannot go on unrestrained without producing one or other of two most undesirable effects1 either drawing an undue portion of the population to the mere raising of food1 or producing poverty and wretchedness1 it is not now the time to enquire4 ,it is1 indeed1 the most important practical problem to which the wisdom of the politician and the moralist can be applied4 ,it has1 till this time1 been miserably evaded by all those who have meddled with the subject1 as well as by those who were called upon by their situation to find a remedy for the evils to which it relates4 ,and yet1 if the superstitions of the nursery were disregarded1 and the principle of utility kept steadily in view1 a solution might not be very difficult to be found2 and the means of drying up one of the most copious sources of human evil--a source which if all other sources were taken away1 might alone suffice to retain the great mass of human beings in misery1 might be seen to be neither doubtful nor difficult to be applied40 ,let my readers bear in mind1 that this is from the pen of one of the most justly admired writers of the present day2 a man celebrated throughout all ,europe1 for his works on political economy1 and whose writings are not unknown even on this side the ,atlantic4 ,he considers the question now under discussion to involve 8the most important problem to which the wisdom of the politician and moralist can be applied40 ,this question1 he admits1 has ever been 8miserably evaded40 ,yet even a man so influential and enlightened as ,mill1 must himself yield to the weakness he reprobates2 must speak in parables1 as the ,nazarene reformer did before him2 and1 even while commenting on the 8miserable evasion0 of a subject so engrossingly important1 must imitate the very evasion he despises4 ,i will not imitate it4 ,i am more independently situated than the ,english economist2 and ,i see1 as clearly as he does1 the extreme importance of the subject4 ,what he saw and declared ought to be said1 ,i will say4 ,before concluding this chapter1 let me state distinctly1 that ,i by no means agree with ,malthus and other political economists in believing1 that1 at this moment1 there is an actual excess of population in any country 7,china perhaps excepted7 in the known world4 ,i believe that there is more than enough land in every country of ,europe to support1 in perfect comfort1 all its present inhabitants4 ,that they are not supported in comfort1 is1 in my opinion1 attributable1 not to overpopulation1 but to mal-government4 ,monopolies favour the rich1 taxes oppress the poor1 commercial rivalry grinds its victims to the dust4 ,to such causes as these1 and not to overpopulation1 at the time being1 is the mass of distress 7felt more or less over the civilized world7 to be attributed4 ,thus1 if the enemies of reform would but let us alone1 we might long postpone to other and more important discussions1 this population question4 ,but they will not4 ,they force it upon us4 ,and though it might have evinced want of judgment to obtrude it unnecessarily or prematurely on the public1 it would betray cowardice to evade it now1 when thrust upon us4 ,besides1 though it be undeniable that iniquitous laws and a vicious order of things often produce the result that is falsely attributed to overpopulation1 it is yet equally undeniable1 that the most perfect system of laws in the world could not ultimately prevent the evils of a superabundant population4 ,and it is no less certain1 that1 in the meantime1 the pressure of a large family on the labouring man greatly augments the evil1 and often deprives him of that very leisure which he might employ in devising constitutional means to better his condition1 instead of leaving public business in the hands of political gamblers4 ,thus an answer to the population question is offered as an alleviation of existing evils1 not as a cure for them4 ,population might be but half what it is1 and unjust legislation and vicious customs would still give birth1 as they now do1 to luxury and want4 ,the laws and customs ought to be1 must be changed2 but while the grass is growing1 let us prevent the horse from starving1 if we can4 ,enough has been said1 probably1 in this chapter1 to determine the question1 whether it is1 or is not1 desirable1 in a political point of view1 that some check to population be sought and disclosed--some 8moral restraint0 that shall not1 like vice and misery1 be demoralizing1 nor1 like late marriages1 be ascetic and impracticable4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,question ,,considered ,,in ,,its ,,social ,,bearings4 ,this is by far the most important branch of the question4 ,the evils caused by an overstocking of the world1 if even inevitable1 are distant2 and an abstract view of the subject1 however unanswerable1 does not come home to the mind with the force of detailed reality4 ,what would be the probable effect1 in social life1 if mankind obtained and exercised a control over the instinct of reproduction8 ,my settled conviction is--and ,i am prepared to defend it--that the effect would be salutary1 moral1 civilizing2 that it would prevent many crimes and more unhappiness2 that it would lessen intemperance and profligacy2 that it would polish the manners and improve the moral feelings2 that it would relieve the burden of the poor1 and the cares of the rich2 that it would most essentially benefit the rising generation1 by enabling parents generally more careful to educate1 and more comfortable to provide for1 their offspring4 ,i proceed to substantiate as ,i may these positions4 ,and first1 let us look solely to the situation of married persons4 ,is it not notorious1 that the families of the married often increase beyond what a regard for the young beings coming into the world1 or the happiness of those who give them birth1 would dictate8 ,in how many instances does the hard-working father1 and more especially the mother1 of a poor family1 remain slaves throughout their lives1 tugging at the oar of incessant labour1 toiling to live1 and living only to die2 when1 if their offspring had been limited to two or three only1 they might have enjoyed comfort and comparative affluence6 ,how often is the health of the mother1 giving birth every year to an infant--happy1 if it be not twins6--and compelled to toil on1 even at those times when nature imperiously calls for some relief from daily drudgery--how often is the mother's comfort1 health1 nay1 her life1 thus sacrificed6 ,or1 if care and toil have weighed down the spirit1 and at last broken the health of the father1 how often is the widow left1 unable1 with the most virtuous intentions1 to save her fatherless offspring from becoming degraded objects of charity1 or profligate votaries of vice6 ,fathers and mothers6 not you who have your nursery and your nursery-maids1 and who leave your children at home1 to frequent the crowded rout1 or to glitter in the hot ball-room2 but you by the labour of whose hands your children are to live1 and who1 as you count their rising numbers1 sigh to think how soon sickness or misfortune may lessen those wages which are now but just sufficient to afford them bread--fathers and mothers in humble life6 to you my argument comes home1 with the force of reality4 ,others may impugn--may ridicule it4 ,by bitter experience you know and feel its truth4 ,it will be said1 that government ought to provide for the support and education of all the children of the land4 ,no one is less inclined to deny the position than ,i4 ,but it does not support and educate them4 ,and1 if it did1 a period must come at last1 when even such an act of justice would be no relief from the evils of overpopulation4 ,yet this is not all4 ,every physician knows1 that there are many woman so constituted that they cannot give birth to healthy--sometimes not to living children4 ,is it desirable--is it moral1 that such women should become pregnant8 ,yet this is continually the case1 the warnings of physicians to the contrary notwithstanding4 ,others there are1 who ought never to become parents2 because1 if they do1 it is only to transmit to their offspring grievous hereditary diseases2 perhaps that worst of diseases1 insanity4 ,yet they will not lead a life of celibacy4 ,they marry4 ,they become parents1 and the world suffers by it4 ,that a human being should give birth to a child1 knowing that he transmits to it hereditary disease1 is1 in my opinion1 an immorality4 ,but it is a folly to expect that we can ever induce all such persons to live the lives of ,shakers4 ,nor is it necessary3 all that duty requires of them is1 to refrain from becoming parents4 ,who can estimate the beneficial effect which rational moral restraint may thus have1 on the health1 beauty1 and physical improvement of our race1 throughout future generations8 ,but1 apart from these latter considerations1 is it not most plainly1 clearly1 incontrovertibly desirable1 that parents should have the power#ac to limit their offspring1 whether they choose to exercise it or not8 ,who can lose by their having this power8 and how many may gain6 may gain competency for themselves1 and the opportunity carefully to educate and provide for their children6 ,how many may escape the jarrings1 the quarrels1 the disorder1 the anxiety1 which an overgrown family too often causes in the domestic circle8 ,it sometimes happens1 that individual instances come home to the feelings with greater force than any general reasoning4 ,i shall1 in this place1 adduce one which came immediately under my cognizance4 ,in ,june1 #ahbi1 ,i received from an elderly gentleman of the first respectability1 occupying a public situation in one of the western states1 a letter1 requesting to know whether ,i could afford any information or advice in a case which greatly interested him1 and which regarded a young woman for whom he had ever experienced the sentiments of a father4 ,in explanation of the circumstances to which he alluded1 he enclosed me a copy of a letter which she had just written to him and which ,i here transcribe verbatim4 ,a letter more touching from its simplicity1 or more strikingly illustrative of the unfortunate situation in which not one1 but thousands1 in married life1 find themselves placed1 ,i have never read4 ,l9999991 ,,kentucky1 ,,may #c1 #ahbi4 ,,dear ,,sir1 ,the friendship which has existed between you and my father1 ever since ,i can remember2 the unaffected kindness you used to express towards me1 when you resided in our neighbourhood1 during my childhood2 the lively solicitude you have always seemed to feel for my welfare1 and your benevolence and liberal character1 induce me to lay before you1 in a few words1 my critical situation1 and ask you for your kind advice4 ,it is my lot to be united in wedlock to a young mechanic of industrious habits1 good dispositions1 pleasing manners1 and agreeable features1 excessively fond of our children and of me2 in short1 eminently well qualified to render himself and family and all around him happy1 were it not for the besetting sin of drunkenness4 ,about once in every three or four weeks1 if he meet1 either accidentally or purposely1 with some of his friends1 of whom1 either real or pretended1 his good nature and liberality procure him many1 he is sure to get intoxicated1 so as to lose his reason2 and1 when thus beside himself1 he trades and makes foolish bargains1 so much to his disadvantage1 that he has almost reduced himself and family to beggary1 being no longer able to keep a shop of his own1 but obliged to work journey work4 ,we have not been married quite four years1 and have already given being to three dear little ones4 ,under present circumstances1 what can ,i expect will be their fate and mine8 ,i shudder at the prospect before me4 ,with my excellent constitution and industry1 and the labour of my husband1 ,i feel able to bring up these three little cherubs in decency1 were ,i to have no more3 but when ,i seriously consider my situation1 ,i can see no other alternative left for me1 than to tear myself away from the man who1 though addicted to occasional intoxication1 would sacrifice his life for my sake2 and for whom1 contrary to my father's will1 ,i successively refused the hand and wealth of a lawyer and of a preacher2 or continue to witness his degradation1 and bring into existence1 in all probability1 a numerous family of helpless and destitute children1 who1 on account of poverty1 must inevitably be doomed to a life of ignorance1 and consequent vice and misery4 ,the dreadful sentence pronounced against me by my father for my disobedience1 forbids me applying to him1 either for advice or any thing else4 ,my husband being somewhat sceptical1 my father attributes his intemperance to his infidelity2 though my brother1 as you know1 being a member of the same church with my father1 is nevertheless1 though he does not fool away his property1 more of a drunkard than my husband1 and ranks among the faithful4 ,you will therefore plainly see1 that for these and other reasons1 ,i stand the more in need of your friendly advice2 and ,i do hope and believe1 you will give me such advice and counsel as you would to your own daughter1 had you one in the same predicament that ,i am4 ,in so doing1 you will add new claims to the gratitude of your friend1 ,m4 ,w4 ,need ,i add one word of comment on such a case as this8 ,every feeling mind must be touched by the amiable feeling and good sense that pervade the letter4 ,every rational being1 surely1 must admit1 that the power of preventing1 without injury or sacrifice1 the increase of a family1 under such circumstances1 is a public benefit and a private blessing4 ,will it be asserted--and ,i know no other even plausible reply to these facts and arguments--will it be asserted1 that the thing is1 in itself1 immoral or unseemly8 ,i deny it2 and ,i point to the population of ,france1 in justification of my denial4 ,where will you find1 on the face of the globe1 a more polished or more civilized nation than the ,french1 or one more punctiliously alive to any rudeness1 coarseness or indecorum8 ,you will find none4 ,the ,french are scrupulous on these points1 to a proverb4 ,yet1 as every intelligent traveller in ,france must have remarked1 there is scarcely to be found1 among the middle or upper classes1 7and seldom even among the working classes17 such a thing as a large family2 very seldom more than three or four children1 ,a ,french lady of the utmost delicacy and respectability will1 in common conversation1 say as simply--7ay1 and as innocently1 whatever the self-righteous prude may aver to the contrary7--as she would proffer any common remark about the weather3 8,i have three children2 my husband and ,i think that is as many as we can do justice to1 and ,i do not intend to have any more40#ad ,i have stated notorious facts1 facts which no traveller who has visited ,paris1 and seen any thing of the domestic life of its inhabitants1 will attempt to deny4 ,however heterodox1 then1 my view of the subject may be in this country1 ,i am supported in it by the opinion and the practice of the most refined and most socially cultivated nation in the world4 ,will it still be argued1 that the practice1 if not coarse1 is immoral8 ,again ,i appeal to ,france4 ,i appeal to the details of the late glorious revolution--to the innumerable instances of moderation1 of courage1 of honesty1 of disinterestedness1 of generosity1 of magnanimity1 displayed on the memorable 8three days10 and ever since2 and ,i challenge comparison between the national character of ,france for virtue1 as well as politeness1 and that of any other nation under heaven4 ,it is evident1 then1 that to married persons1 the power of limiting their offspring to their circumstances is most desirable4 ,it may often promote the harmony1 peace1 and comfort of families2 sometimes it may save from bankruptcy and ruin1 and sometimes it may rescue the mother from premature death4 ,in no case can it1 by possibility1 be worse than superfluous4 ,in no case can it be mischievous4 ,if the moral feelings were carefully cultivated1 if we were taught to consult1 in every thing1 rather the welfare of those we love than our own1 how strongly would these arguments be felt8 ,no man ought even to desire that a woman should become the mother of his children1 unless it was her express wish1 and unless he knew it to be for her welfare1 that she should4 ,her feelings1 her interests1 should be for him in this matter an imperative law4 ,she it is who bears the burden1 and therefore with her also should the decision rest4 ,surely it may well be a question whether it be desirable1 or whether any man ought to ask1 that the whole life of an intellectual1 cultivated woman1 should be spent in bearing a family of twelve or fifteen children2 to the ruin1 perhaps1 of her constitution1 if not to the overstocking of the world4 ,no man ought to require or expect it4 ,shall ,i be told1 that this is the very romance of morality8 ,alas6 that what ought to be a matter of every day practice--a common-place exercise of the duties and charities of life--a bounden duty--an instance of domestic courtesy too universal either to excite remark or to merit commendation--alas6 that a virtue so humble that its absence ought to be reproached as a crime1 should1 to our selfish perceptions1 seem but a fastidious refinement1 or a fanciful supererogation6 ,but ,i pass from the case of married persons to that of young men and women who have yet formed no matrimonial connexion4 ,in the present state of the world1 when public opinion stamps with opprobrium every sexual connexion which has not received the orthodox sanction of an oath1 almost all young persons1 on reaching the age of maturity1 desire to marry4 ,the heart must be very cold1 or very isolated1 that does not find some object on which to bestow its affections4 ,thus1 early marriages would be almost universal1 did not prudential considerations interfere4 ,the young man thinks1 8,i must not marry yet4 ,i cannot support a family4 ,i must make money first1 and think of a matrimonial settlement afterwards40 ,and so he goes to making money1 fully and sincerely resolved1 in a few years1 to share it with her whom he now loves4 ,but passions are strong1 and temptations great4 ,curiosity1 perhaps1 introduces him into the company of those poor creatures whom society first reduces to a dependence on the most miserable of mercenary trades1 and then curses for being what she has made them4 ,there his health and his moral feelings alike are made shipwreck4 ,the affections he had thought to treasure up for their first object1 are chilled by dissipation and blunted by excess4 ,he scarcely retains a passion but avarice4 ,years pass on--years of profligacy and speculation--and his first wish is accomplished2 his fortune is made4 ,where now are the feelings and resolves of his youth8 ,like the dew on the mountain1 ,like the foam on the river1 ,like the bubble on the fountain1 ,they are gone--and for ever6 ,he is a man of pleasure--a man of the world4 ,he laughs at the romance of his youth1 and marries a fortune4 ,if gaudy equipages and gay parties confer happiness1 he is happy4 ,but if these be only the sunshine on the stormy ocean below1 he is a victim to that system of morality1 which forbids a reputable connexion until the period when provision has been made for a large1 expected family4 ,had he married the first object of his choice1 and simply delayed becoming a father until his prospects seemed to warrant it1 how different might have been his lot6 ,until men and woman are absolved from the fear of becoming parents1 except when they themselves desire it1 they ever will form mercenary and demoralizing connexions1 and seek in dissipation the happiness they might have found in domestic life4 ,i know that this1 however common1 is not a universal case4 ,sometimes the heavy responsibilities of a family are incurred1 at all risks2 and who shall say how often a life of unremitting toil and poverty is the consequence8 ,sometimes--if even rarely--the young mind does hold to its first resolves4 ,the youth plods through years of cold celibacy and solitary anxiety2 happy1 if before the best hours of life are gone1 and its warmest feelings withered1 he may return to claim the reward of his forbearance and his industry4 ,but even in this comparatively happy case1 shall we count for nothing the years of ascetical sacrifice at which after-happiness is purchased8 ,the days of youth are not too many1 nor its affections too lasting4 ,we may1 indeed1 if a great object require it1 sacrifice the one and mortify the other4 ,but is this1 in itself1 desirable8 ,does not wisdom tell us1 that such sacrifice is a dead loss--to the warm-hearted often a grievous one8 ,does not wisdom bid us temperately enjoy the spring-time of life1 8while the evil days come not1 nor the years draw nigh1 when we shall say1 #8,we have no pleasure in them8'0 ,let us say1 then1 if we will1 that the youth who thus sacrifices the present for the future1 chooses wisely between two evils1 profligacy and asceticism4 ,this is true4 ,but let us not imagine the lesser evil to be a good4 ,it is not good for man to be alone4 ,it is for no man's or woman's happiness or benefit1 that they should be condemned to ,shakerism4 ,it is a violence done to the feelings1 and an injury to the character4 ,a life of rigid celibacy1 though infinitely preferable to a life of dissipation1 is yet fraught with many evils4 ,peevishness1 restlessness1 vague longings1 and instability of character1 are among the least of these4 ,the mind is unsettled1 and the judgment warped4 ,even the very instinct which is thus mortified1 assumes an undue importance1 and occupies a portion of the thoughts which does not of right or nature belong to it2 and which1 during a life of satisfied affection1 it would not obtain4 ,i speak not now of extreme cases1 where solitary vice#ae or disease1 or even insanity1 has been the result of ascetical mortification4 ,i speak of every day cases2 and ,i am well convinced1 that1 7however wise it often is1 in the present state of the world1 to select and adhere to this alternative17 yet no man or woman can live the life of a conscientious ,shaker1 without suffering1 more or less1 both physically1 mentally1 and morally4 ,this is the more to be regretted1 because the very noblest portion of our species--the good1 the pure1 the high-minded1 and the kind-hearted--are the chief victims4 ,thus1 inasmuch as the scruple of incurring heavy responsibilities deters from forming moral connexions1 and encourages intemperance and prostitution1 the knowledge which enables man to limit his offspring1 would1 in the present state of things1 save much unhappiness and prevent many crimes4 ,young persons sincerely attached to each other1 and who might wish to marry1 would marry early2 merely resolving not to become parents until prudence permitted it4 ,the young man1 instead of solitary toil or vulgar dissipation1 would enjoy the society and the assistance of her he had chosen as his companion2 and the best years of life1 whose pleasures never return1 would not be squandered in riot1 or lost through mortification4 ,my readers will remark1 that all the arguments ,i have hitherto employed1 apply strictly to the present order of things1 and the present laws and system of marriage4 ,no one1 therefore1 need be a moral heretic on this subject to admit and approve them4 ,the marriage laws might all remain for ever as they are2 and yet a moral check to population would be beneficent and important4 ,but there are other cases1 it will be said1 where the knowledge of such a check would be mischievous4 ,if young women1 it will be argued1 were absolved from the fear of consequences1 they would rarely preserve their chastity4 ,unlegalized connexions would be common and seldom detected4 ,seduction would be facilitated4 ,let us dispassionately examine this argument4 ,i fully agree with that most amiable of moral heretics1 ,shelley1 that 8,seduction1 which term could have no meaning in a rational society1 has now a most tremendous one40#af ,it matters not how artificial the penality which society has chosen to affix to a breach of her capricious decrees4 ,society has the power in her own hands2 and that moral ,shylock1 ,public ,opinion1 enforces the penality1 even though it cost the life of the victim4 ,the consequences1 then1 to the poor sufferer1 whose offence is1 at most1 but an error of judgment or a weakness of the heart1 are the same as if her imprudence were indeed a crime of the blackest dye4 ,and his conduct who1 for a momentary1 selfish gratification1 will deliberately entail a life of wretchedness on one whose chief fault1 perhaps1 was her misplaced confidence in a villain1 is not one whit excused by the folly and injustice of the sentence4#ag ,some poet says1 8,the man who lays his hands upon a woman ,save in the way of kindness1 is a wretch ,whom 'twere gross flattery to call a coward40 ,what epithet1 then1 belongs to him who makes it a trade to win a woman's gentle affections1 betray her generous confidence1 and then1 when the consequences become apparent1 abandon her to dependence1 and the scorn of a cold1 a self-righteous1 and a wicked world2 a world which will forgive any thing but rebellion against its tyranny1 and in whose eyes it seems the greatest of crimes to be unsuspecting and warm-hearted6 ,i will give my hand freely to a galley-slave1 and speak to the highway-robber as to an honest man2 but there is one character with whom ,i desire to exchange neither word nor greeting--the cold-hearted1 deliberate1 practiced1 and calculating seducer6 ,and1 let me ask1 what is it gives to the arts of seduction their sting1 and stamps to the world its victim8 ,why is it1 that the man goes free and enters society again1 almost courted and applauded for his treachery2 while the woman is a mark for the finger of reproach1 and a butt for the tongue of scandal8 ,because she bears about her the mark of what is called her disgrace4 ,she becomes a mother2 and society has something tangible against which to direct its anathemas4 ,nine tenths1 at least1 of the misery and ruin which are caused by seduction1 even in the present state of public opinion on the subject1 result from cases of pregnancy4 ,perhaps the unfeeling selfishness of him who fears to become a father1 administers some noxious drug to procure abortion2 perhaps--for even such scenes our courts of justice disclose6--perhaps the frenzy of the wretched mother takes the life of her infant1 or seeks in suicide the consummation of her wrongs and her woes6 ,or1 if the little being lives1 the dove in the falcon's claws is not more certain of death1 than we may be1 that society will visit1 with its bitterest scoffs and reproaches1 the bruised spirit of the mother and the unconscious innocence of the child4 ,if1 then1 we cannot do all1 shall we neglect a part8 ,if we cannot prevent every misery which man's selfishness and the world's cruelty entail on a sex which it ought to be our pride and honor to cherish and defend2 let us prevent as many as we can4 ,if we cannot persuade society to revoke its unmanly and unchristian#ah persecution of those who are often the best and gentlest of its members--let us1 at the least1 give to woman what defence we may1 against its violence4 ,i appeal to any father1 trembling for the reputation of his child1 whether1 if she were induced to form an unlegalized connexion1 her pregnancy would not be a frightful aggravation8 ,i appeal to him1 whether any innocent preventive which shall save her from a situation that must soon disclose all to the world1 would not be an act of mercy1 of charity1 of philanthropy--whether it might not save him from despair1 and her from ruin8 ,the fastidious conformist may frown upon the question1 but to the father it comes home2 and1 whatever his lips may say1 his heart will acknowledge the soundness and the force of the argument it conveys4#ai ,it may be1 that some sticklers for orthodox morality will still demur to the positions ,i defend4 ,they will perhaps tell me1 as the ,committee of a certain ,society in this city lately did1 that the power of preventing conceptions 8holds out inducements and facilities for the prostitution of their daughters1 their sisters1 and their wives40#bj ,truly1 but they pay their wives1 their sisters1 and their daughters1 a poor compliment6 ,is1 then1 this vaunted chastity a mere thing of circumstance and occasion8 ,is there but the difference of opportunity between it and prostitution8 ,would their wives1 and their sisters1 and their daughters1 if once absolved from the fear of offspring1 all become prostitutes--all sell their embraces for gold1 and descend to a level with the most degraded8 ,in truth1 but they slander their own kindred2 they libel their own wives1 sisters1 and daughters4 ,if they spoke truth--if fear were indeed the only safeguard of their relatives' chastity1 little value should ,i place on virtue like that6 and small would ,i esteem his offence1 who should attempt to seduce it4#ba ,that chastity which is worth preserving is not the chastity that owes its birth to fear and to ignorance4 ,if to enlighten a woman regarding a simple physiological fact will make her a prostitute1 she must be especially predisposed to profligacy4 ,but it is a libel on the sex4 ,few1 indeed1 there are1 who would continue so miserable and degrading a calling1 could they but escape from it4 ,for one prostitute that is made by inclination1 ten are made by necessity4 ,reform the laws--equalize the comforts of society1 and you need withhold no knowledge from your wives and daughters4 ,it is want1 not knowledge1 that leads to prostitution4 ,for myself1 ,i would withhold from no sister or daughter1 or wife of mine1 any ascertained fact whatever4 ,it should be to me a duty and a pleasure to communicate to them all ,i knew myself3 and ,i should hold it an insult to their understandings and their hearts to imagine1 that their virtue would diminish as their knowledge increased4 ,vice is never the offspring of just knowledge1 and they who say it is1 slander their own nature4 ,would we but trust human nature1 instead of continually suspecting it1 and guarding it by bolts and bars1 and thinking to make it very chaste by keeping it very ignorant1 what a different world we should have of it6 ,the virtue of ignorance is a sickly plant1 ever exposed to the caterpillar of corruption1 liable to be scorched and blasted even by the free light of heaven2 of precarious growth2 and1 even if at last artificially matured1 of little or no real value4 ,i know that parents often think it right and proper to withhold from their children--especially from their daughters--facts the most influential on their future lives1 and the knowledge of which is essential to every man and woman's well-being4#bb ,such a course has ever appeared to me ill-judged and productive of very injurious effects4 ,a girl is surely no whit the better for believing1 until her marriage night that children are found among the cabbage leaves in the garden4 ,the imagination is excited1 the curiosity kept continually on the stretch2 and that which1 if simply explained1 would have been recollected only as any other physiological phenomenon1 assumes all the rank and importance and engrossing interest of a mystery4 ,nay1 ,i am well convinced1 that mere curiosity has often led ignorant young people into situations1 from which a little more confidence and openness on the part of their parents or guardians1 would have effectually secured them4 ,in the monkish days of mental darkness1 when it was taught and believed1 that all the imaginations and all the thoughts of man are only evil continually--when it was deemed right and proper to secure the submission of the mass by withholding from them the knowledge even how to read and write--in those days1 it was all very well to shut up the physiological page1 and tell us1 that on the day we read therein we should surely die4 ,but those times are past4 ,in this nineteenth century1 men and women read1 think1 discuss1 enquire1 judge for themselves4 ,if1 in these latter days1 there is to be virtue at all1 she must be the offspring of knowledge and of free enquiry1 not of ignorance and mystery4 ,we cannot prevent the spread of any real knowledge1 even if we would2 we ought not1 even if we could4 ,this book will make its way through the whole ,united ,states4 ,curiosity and the notoriety which has already been given to the subject1 will suffice at first to obtain for it circulation4 ,the practical importance of the subject it treats of will do the rest4 ,it needed but some one to start the stone2 its own momentum will suffice to carry it forward4 ,but1 if we could prevent the circulation of truth1 why should we8 ,we are not afraid of it ourselves4 ,no man thinks his morality will suffer by it4 ,each feels certain that his virtue can stand any degree of knowledge4 ,and is it not the height of egregious presumption in each to imagine that his neighbour is so much weaker than himself1 and requires a bandage which he can do without8 ,most of all1 is it presumptuous to suppose1 that that knowledge which the man of the world can bear with impunity1 will corrupt the young and the pure-hearted4 ,it is the sullied conscience only that suggests such fears4 ,trust youth and innocence4 ,speak to them openly4 ,show them that you respect them1 by treating them with confidence2 and they will quickly learn to respect and to govern themselves4 ,you enlist even their pride in your behalf2 and you will soon see them make it their boast and their highest pleasure to merit your confidence4 ,but watch them1 and show your suspicion of them but once--and you are the jailor1 who will keep his prisoners just as long as bars and bolts shall prevent their escape4 ,the world was never made for a prison-house2 it is too large and ill-guarded3 nor were parents ever intended for goal-keepers2 their very affections unfit them for the task4 ,there is no more beautiful sight upon earth1 than a family among whom there are no secrets and no reserves3 where the young people confide every thing to their elder friends--for such to them are their parents--and where the parents trust every thing to their children2 where each thought is communicated as freely as it arises2 and all knowledge given1 as simply as it is received4 ,if the world contain a prototype of that ,paradise1 where nature is said to have known no sin or impropriety1 it is such a family2 and if there be a serpent that can poison the innocence of its inmates1 that serpent is ,,suspicion4 ,i ask no greater pleasure than thus to be the guardian and companion of young beings whose innocence shall speak to me as unreservedly as it thinks to itself2 of young beings who shall never imagine that there is guilt in their thoughts1 or sin in their confidence2 and to whom1 in return1 ,i may impart every important and useful fact that is known to myself4 ,their virtue shall be of that hardy growth1 which all facts tend to nourish and strengthen4 ,i put it to my readers1 whether such a view of human nature1 and such a mode of treating it1 be not in accordance with the noblest feelings of their hearts4 ,i put it to them1 whether they have not felt themselves encouraged1 improved1 strengthened in every virtuous resolution1 when they were generously trusted2 and whether they have not felt abased and degraded1 when they were suspiciously watched1 and spied after1 and kept in ignorance4 ,if they find such feelings in their own hearts1 let them not self-righteously imagine1 that they only can be won by generosity1 or that the nature of their fellow-creatures is different from their own4 ,there are other considerations connected with this subject1 which farther attest the social advantages of the control ,i advocate4 ,human affections are mutable1 and the sincerest of mortal resolutions may change4#bc ,every day furnishes instances of alienations1 and of separations2 sometimes almost before the honey-moon is well expired4 ,in such cases of unsuitability1 it cannot be considered desirable that there should be offspring2 and the power of refraining from becoming parents until intimacy had1 in a measure1 established the likelihood of permanent harmony of views and feelings1 must be confessed to be advantageous4 ,the limits which my numerous avocations prescribe to this little treatise1 permit me not to meet every argument in detail1 which ingenuity or prejudice might put forward4 ,if the world were not actually afraid to think freely or to listen to the suggestions of common sense1 three-fourths of what has already been said would be superfluous2 for most of the arguments employed would occur spontaneously to any rational1 reasoning being4 ,but the mass of mankind have still1 in a measure1 every thing to learn on this subject4 ,the world seems to me much to resemble a company of gourmands1 who sit down to a plentiful repast1 first very punctiliously saying grace over it2 and then1 under sanction of the priest's blessing1 think to gorge themselves with impunity2 as conceiving1 that gluttony after grace is no sin4 ,so it is with popular customs and popular morality4 ,every thing is permitted1 if external forms be but respected4 ,legal roguery is no crime1 and ceremony-sanctioned excess no profligacy4 ,the substance is sacrificed to the form1 the virtue to the outward observance4 ,the world troubles its head little about whether a man be honest or dishonest1 so he knows how to avoid the penitentiary and escape the hangman4 ,in like manner1 the world seldom thinks it worth while to enquire whether a man be temperate or intemperate1 prudent or thoughtless4 ,it takes especial care to inform itself whether in all things he conforms to orthodox requirements2 and1 if he does1 all is right4 ,thus men too often learn to consider an oath an absolution from all subsequent decencies and duties1 and a full release from all after responsibilities4 ,if a husband maltreat his wife1 the offence is venal2 for he premised it by making her1 at the altar1 an 8honest woman40 ,if a married father neglect his children1 it is a trifle2 for grace was regularly said1 before they were born4 ,so true is this1 that if some heterodox moralist were to throw out the idea1 that many of the rudenesses and jarrings1 and much of the indifference and carelessness of each others' feelings that is exhibited in married life1 might be traced to the almost universal custom 7in this country though not in ,france7 of man and wife continually occupying the same bed--if he put it to us whether such a forced and too frequent familiarity were not calculated to lessen the charms and pleasures1 and diminish the respectful regard and deference1 which ought ever to characterize the intercourse of human beings--if1 ,i say1 some heretical preferrer of things to forms were to light upon and express some such unlucky idea as this1 ten to one the married portion of the community would fall upon him without mercy1 as an impertinent intermeddler in their most legitimate rights and prerogatives4 ,with such a world as this1 it is a difficult matter to reason4 ,after listening to all ,i have said1 it may perhaps cut me short by reminding me1 that nature herself declares it to be right and proper1 that we should reproduce our species without calculation or restraint4 ,i will ask1 in reply1 whether nature also declares it to be right and proper1 that when the thermometer is at #if1 we should drink greedily of cold water1 and drop down dead in the streets8 ,let the world be told1 that if nature gave us our passions and propensities1 she gave us also the power wisely to control them2 and that1 when we hesitate to exercise that power we descend to a level with the brute creation1 and become the sport of fortune--the mere slaves of circumstance4#bd ,to one other argument it were not1 perhaps1 worth while to advert1 but that it has been already speciously used to excite popular prejudice4 ,it has been said1 that to recommend to mankind prudential restraint in cases where children cannot be provided for1 is an insult to the poor man2 since all ought to be so circumstanced that they might provide amply for the largest family4 ,most assuredly all ought to be so circumstanced2 but all are not4 ,and there would be just as much propriety in bidding a poor man to go and take by force a piece of ,saxony broadcloth from his neighbour's store1 because he ought to be able to purchase it1 as to encourage him to go on producing children1 because he ought to have wherewithal to support them4 ,let us exert every nerve to correct the injustice and arrest the misery that results from a vicious order of things2 but1 until we have done so1 let us not1 for humanity's sake1 madly recommend that which grievously aggravates the evil2 which increases the burden on the present generation1 and threatens with neglect and ignorance the next4 ,and now1 let my readers pause4 ,let them review the various arguments ,i have placed before them4 ,let them reflect how intimately the instinct of which ,i treat is connected with the social welfare of society4 ,let them bear in mind1 that just in proportion to its social influence1 is it important that we should know how to control and govern it2 that1 when we obtain such control1 we may save ourselves--and1 what we ought to prize much more highly1 may save our companions and our offspring1 from suffering or misery2 that by such knowledge1 the young may form virtuous connexions1 instead of becoming profligates or ascetics2 that1 by it1 early marriage is deprived of its heaviest consequences1 and seduction of its sharpest sting3 that1 by it1 man may be saved from moral ruin1 and woman from desolating dishonour2 that by it the first pure affections may be soothed and satisfied1 instead of being thwarted or destroyed--let them call to mind all this1 and then let them say1 whether the possession of such control be not a blessing to man4 ,it shocks the mind of a woman at the first thought2 but once practiced1 all prejudice flies1 and gratification must be the consequence4 ,to weak and sickly females1 to those to whom parturition is dangerous1 and who never produce living or healthy children1 the discovery is a great blessing4 ,and it is also a real blessing in all other cases1 where children are not desired4 ,it will become the very bulwark of love and wisdom1 of beauty1 health1 and happiness4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,subject ,,considered ,,in ,,its ,,immediate ,,connexion ,,with ,,physiology4 ,it now remains1 after having spoken of the desirability of obtaining control over the instinct of reproduction1 to speak of its practicability4 ,as1 in this world1 the value of labour is too often estimated almost in proportion to its inutility1 so in physical science1 contested questions seem to have attracted attention and engaged research1 almost in the inverse ratio of their practical importance4 ,we have a hundred learned hypotheses for one decisive practical experiment4 ,we have many thousands of volumes written to explain fanciful theories1 and scarcely as many dozens to record ascertained facts4 ,it is not my intention1 in discussing this branch of the subject1 to examine the hundred ingenious theories of generation which ancient and modern physiologists have put forth4 ,i shall not enquire whether the future human being owes its first existence1 as ,hippocrates and ,galen asserted1 and ,buffon very ingeniously supports1 to the union of two life-giving fluids1 each a sort of extract of the body of the parent1 and composed of organic particles similar to the future offspring2 or whether1 as ,harvey and ,haller teach1 the embryo reposes in the ovum until vivified by the seminal fluid1 or perhaps only by the aura seminalis2 or whether1 according to the theories of ,leuvenhoeck and ,boerhaave1 the future man first exists as a spermatic animalcula1 for which the ovum becomes merely the nourishing receptacle2 or whether1 as the ingenious ,andry imagines1 a vivifying worm be the more correct hypothesis2 or whether1 finally1 as ,perault will have it1#be the embryo beings 7too wonderfully organized to be supposed the production of any mere physical phenomenon7 must be imagined to come directly from the hands of the ,creator1 who has filled the universe with these little germs1 too minute1 indeed1 to exercise all the animal functions1 but still self-existent1 and awaiting only the insinuation of some subtle essence into their microscopic pores1 to come forth as human beings4 ,still less am ,i inclined to follow ,hippocrates and ,tertullian in their enquiries1 whether the soul is merely introduced into the ftus1 or preexists in the semen1 and becomes1 as it were1 the architect of its future residence1 the body2#bf or to attempt a refutation of the hypothesis of the metaphysical naturalist1#bg who asserts1 7and adduces the infinite indivisibility of matter in support of the assertion17 that the actual germs of the whole human race1 and of all that are yet to be born1 existed in the ovaria of our first mother1 ,eve4 ,i leave these and fifty other hypotheses as ingenious and as useless1 to be discussed by those who seem to make it a point of honour to leave no fact unexplained by some imagined theory2 and ,i descend at once to the terra firma of positive experience and actual observation4 ,all things having life1 increase and multiply upon an analogous principle1 but the method of effecting that increase differs very considerably4 ,in the human race1 nature has furnished the sexes parts1 which it is necessary for the purpose of reproduction1 should approximate and commingle their elements or rudiments of future existence1 and that1 that intermixture should take place in the womb of the female4 ,in some of the lower order of animals and in the vegetable world the sexes are combined in one object which object possesses the power of increase4 ,to enter into the physiological minut of impregnation would be embarking more scientifically in these matters than this little book professes to do1 it being our intention more to hold up a popular view than to discuss the various opinions upon any given point4 ,it is exceedingly to be regretted that mankind did not spend some small portion1 at least1 of the time and industry which has been wasted on theoretical researches1 in collecting and collating the actual experience of human beings4 ,but this task1 too difficult for the ignorant1 has generally been thought too simple and common-place for the learned4 ,to this circumstance1 joined to the fact1 that it is not thought fitting or decent for human beings freely to communicate their personal experience on the important subject now under consideration--to these causes are attributable the great and otherwise unaccountable ignorance which so strangely prevails1 even sometimes among medical men1 as to the power which man may possess over the reproductive instinct4 ,many physicians will positively deny that man possesses any such power4 ,and yet1 if the thousandth part of the talent and research had been employed to investigate this momentous fact1 which has been turned to the building up of idle theories1 no commonly intelligent individual could well be ignorant of the truth4 ,i have taken great pains to ascertain the opinions of the most enlightened physicians of ,great ,britain and ,france on this subject2 7opinions which popular prejudice will not permit them to offer publicly in their works27 and they all concur in admitting1 what the experience of the ,french nation positively proves1 that man may have a perfect control over this instinct3 and that men and women may1 without any injury to health1 or the slightest violence done to the moral feelings1 and with but small diminution of the pleasure which accompanies the gratification of the instinct1 refrain at will from becoming parents4 ,it has chanced to me1 also1 to win the confidence of several individuals1 who have communicated to me1 without reserve1 their own experience3 and all this has been corroborative of the same opinion4 ,thus1 though ,i pretend not to speak positively of the details of a subject1 which will then only be fully understood when men acquire sense enough simply and unreservedly to discuss it1 ,i may venture to assure my readers1 that the main fact is incontrovertible4 ,i shall adduce such facts in proof of this as may occur to me in the course of this investigation4 ,however various and contradictory the different theories of generation1 almost all physiologists are agreed1 that the entrance of the sperm itself 7or of some volatile particles proceeding from it7 into the uterus1 must precede conception4 ,this it was that probably first suggested the possibility of preventing conception at will4 ,the ,author informs us1 that among the modes of preventing conception which may have prevailed in various countries1 that which has been adopted and practiced by the cultivated classes1 on the continent of ,europe1 by the ,french1 the ,italians1 and to some extent by the ,spaniards and ,germans1 consists in a complete withdrawal1 on the part of the man1 immediately previous to emission4 ,this is undoubtedly effectual where it can be done1 but as our author remarks1 that he can readily imagine1 that there are men who1 in part from temperament1 but much more from their continued habits of unrestrained indulgence1 may have so little command over their passions as to find difficulty in practising it1 and some there may be who will declare it to be impossible4 ,if there be any to whom it is impossible1 ,mr4 ,owen tells us1 that he is convinced that the number is exceedingly small4 ,in this1 however1 the ,editor thinks the ,author is in error4 ,numerous facts have come to the ,editor's knowledge which have demonstrated the impracticability of this check1 and have convinced him that the number who are physically incapable of profiting by the ,author's recommendation1 is much greater than he imagined4 ,it is not unusual to see men1 in a fit of anger1 lose all self-control4 ,why1 then1 should we suppose them capable at all times of exercising restraint over the strongest passion of our nature8 ,mankind are endued with different degrees of passion4 ,some never loose that perfect command of their feelings which enables them to profit by the ,author's suggestions1 while others differently constituted cannot practice the same forbearance4 ,the ,editor knows many affectionate husbands and kind fathers who would most gladly practice the check before mentioned had they the ability to do it4 ,it is but recent that the father of a very large family1 consulted the ,editor on this subject1 and in the course of conversation1 he stated that he had read ,mr4 ,owen's book1 and had endeavoured to adopt the course recommended by him1 but found himself totally unable4 ,several others have mentioned the same fact4 ,the ,author tells us that the practice is attended with but trifling diminution of physical enjoyment2 but however trifling it may be to some1 it is not so to all1 for however great their sense of duty1 or however weighty the risk of incurring sacred responsibilities1 they are unable to exercise the necessary restraint4 ,it is a commendable virtue in those who have the ability to practice it1 but for such as cannot or will not1 and such as are regardless of consequences1 it is of the utmost moment to the mother that the power of control should be placed in the right hands4 ,how frequently do we hear the mothers say1 ,i have all the family ,i want1 and am determined to have no more children if ,i can prevent it2 but alas3 she has not the power1 when the partner of her bosom loses the self-control of his passions4 ,she who bears the burden and suffers the affliction1 should be able to protect herself and the fault is her own if she does not4 ,mr4 ,owen was aware of the strong objection which would be urged against the practicability of the preventive recommended by him1 for in speaking of it1 he remarks1 that it places the power in the hands of the man1 and not in those of the woman--she who is the sufferer is not secured against the culpable carelessness1 or perhaps the deliberate selfishness of him1 who goes free and unblamed whatever may happen4 ,to obviate this defect1 spoken of by the ,author1 and to provide a remedy for the suffering mother by placing it in her own hands1 is the object of the ,editor of the present edition of ,mr4 ,owen's work4 ,the science of medicine and surgery is indebted to galvanism for some of its most important remedial agents4 ,physiological facts of great utility to the medical profession1 have through its agency been demonstrated1 and physicians have been enabled to turn the electrical influence to many useful purposes1 in the treatment of diseases1 and in furnishing a remedy for functional derangements4 ,it is capable of exercising a powerful influence over the nervous system1 and in the hands of the physician1 is a most potent remedy4 ,the discovery which has enabled us to obtain such control over uterine action or seminal influence1 as to prevent conception1#bh was effected through its aid4 ,in the present state of society1 a great number of persons are compelled to make an appearance and to live in a style1 which consumes all their incomes1 leaving nothing1 or next to nothing1 as a provision for their children4 ,to such persons a great number of children1 is a never failing source of discomfort and apprehension2 of a state of bodily1 mental1 and pecuniary vexation and suffering1 from which there is no escape4 ,this state of things pervades1 to a very great extent1 that respectable class of society called genteel4 ,to those whose incomes depend on some particular exertion1 which cannot be remitted1 these distressing circumstances are1 from various causes1 greatly increased4 ,to those who constitute the great mass of the community1 whose daily bread is alone procured by daily labour1 a large family is almost always the cause of ruin1 both of parents and children3 reducing the parents to cheerless1 hopeless1 and irremediable poverty2 depriving the children of those physical1 moral1 and mental helps which are necessary to enable them to live in comfort1 and turning them out at an early age to prey upon the world1 or to become the world's prey4 ,for these general reasons1 cognizable by every body1 it is of the greatest possible importance that married people should be informed of a method to prevent such tremendous evils4 ,if methods can be pointed out by which all the enjoyment of wedded life may be partaken of without the apprehension of ,,too ,,large a family1 and all its bitter consequences1 he1 surely1 who points them out1 must be a benefactor of mankind4 ,the means of prevention are simple1 and harmless1 and might1 but for the false delicacy of the press1 or1 rather1 of those for whom it caters1 have been more generally communicated4 ,a course of experiments instituted several years past1 with a view to test the efficacy of the galvanic power1 as a check to reproduction1 has demonstrated and proved its perfect adaptation1 to the accomplishment of this important object4 ,the ,editor has a very simple and perfectly harmless instrument1 7so far as the health of the mother is concerned17 and one which may be depended upon for this purpose4 ,the application requires to be immediate1 and its effect is instantaneous4 ,like many other operations1 the effect of which is known1 it may be somewhat difficult satisfactorily to explain its modus operandi2 nevertheless1 the certainty of its action has been clearly proved4 ,it is known to impart a slight momentary impetus to the parts1 so that the vivifying influence of the semen is destroyed or expelled4 ,it would be no difficult matter to devise a multitude of ingenious theories of the manner in which this operation may be accomplished1 but inasmuch as no practically good effect could arise from it1 we content ourselves by simply quoting the concluding remarks of ,dr4 ,maunsell upon the theory of conception1 as expressed in ,dr4 ,gilman's edition3 8,at present it will be sufficient for our purpose to state simply the facts known and indulge as little as possible in hypotheses which must be more the product of fancy than of reason40 ,in offering this instrument to the public1 the ,editor is aware that his motives may be misconceived and misjudged1 and that he may subject himself to be censured by that class of persons who think this too delicate a subject to be even mentioned1 much less to be publicly discussed1 and a remedy offered in this publication4 ,he will be told by some that the operations of nature ought not to be interfered with1 be the consequences what they may4 ,it is well known by every person who is at all conversant with writers upon midwifery1 that in consequence of deformity of the pelvis1 recourse must be had in many instances to the use of instruments to destroy the child1 that the life of the mother may be saved2 and where the deformity is very great1 resort is had to that most desperate of all remedies1 the ,csarean operation4 ,dr4 ,gilman1 in the work from which we have already quoted1 tells us that this last mentioned operation was performed five times upon the same woman1 by ,michaelis1 of ,kiel4 ,it has also been performed twice by ,dr4 ,gibson1 of ,philadelphia1 and once by ,dr4 ,r4 ,k4 ,hoffman1 of ,new ,york1 and by other operators1 on the continent of ,europe1 and in the ,united ,states4 ,the same ,author tells us1 that 8,a ,british writer suggest the propriety of dividing the ,fallopian tubes when this operation is performed1 that thus the women being rendered barren1 might be guarded against the possibility of requiring a repetition of this terrible ,csarean section40 ,improvements have been made in almost every department of the medical profession1 and many new and important remedies have been brought to light through the aid of the science of chemistry2 but none have heretofore been discovered1 which could afford relief in these cases2 therefore1 it affords us a degree of satisfaction to be able to announce1 that a safe and sure preventive of these sufferings will be found in the instrument before mentioned1 which we are confident will be acceptable to every father and husband1 who regards the safety and happiness of his wife4 ,perhaps it will be said that these cases seldom occur4 ,in answer1 it will be sufficient to state1 that this is but one of a numerous class of cases1 which imperiously demands the same preventive aid4 ,as the writer1 from whom we have just quoted1 further remarks3 8,when an individual woman1 has been frequently delivered by perforation of the child's head1 it becomes an object to devise some means for obviating these successive sacrifices1 and accordingly it has been proposed in such cases1 to induce premature labour at a period of gestation1 when the child's head is sufficiently small to pass through the pelvis40 ,this1 he remarks is a step by no means to be lightly undertaken1 as there must always be a certain degree of danger incurred by the mother1 and the act itself1 even though it be justified by a powerful necessity1 is unwarrantable1 and even criminal in the eye of the law4 ,from these quotations it will be perceived that the best and only remedy adapted to these cases1 which has heretofore been devised by the profession for the relief of such as cannot safely become mothers1 consists in destroying the child1 that the life of the mother may be saved1 and where a powerful necessity exists1 premature labour or abortion at an early stage4 ,why not anticipate this stage1 and prevent the necessity spoken of1 by preventing conception8 ,would not this be more moral1 and would it not save the mother from that degree of danger spoken of8 ,prevention is always to be preferred to cure1 and where the remedy is fraught with such dangerous consequences to the patient1 it is especially incumbent upon the medical attendant1 to devise some means that will supersede the necessity of resorting to these desperate measures4 ,since some publicity has been given to the article before mentioned1 numerous applications have been made1 and much enquiry elicited1 which has brought a great variety of cases1 under the ,editor's observation4 ,these cases were of such a nature as to demonstrate the necessity of some preventive which should be placed in the right hands1 and would have been sufficient to remove any doubt 7had any remained7 as to the propriety of giving publicity to this instrument4 ,it was but yesterday that the husband of a delicate woman1 and the father of a family1 in conversation upon this subject1 stated that his wife was the mother of two children--that since the birth of the last1 she had suffered from five abortions1 which had so impaired her health1 that he had found it necessary to abstain from all intercourse with her4 ,numerous cases of a like nature come under his observation almost daily4 ,shall we be told that it is immoral and unbecoming for the physician to provide a remedy for cases of this description8 ,will any pretend that the delicacy of the subject should prevent us from directing the proper course to be pursued to insure health and happiness8 ,away with such mockery--let us speak plainly upon all subjects that equally concern the health and happiness of our fellow beings4 ,it comes within the province of the physician1 to investigate this matter in a philosophical manner1 and to let nothing but a sense of duty to his patients1 and to the public guide him in his determination4 ,the only thing that is a matter of surprise to the ,editor is1 that this subject should have been so long neglected by the profession4 ,he is convinced that this little book and the means of prevention herein recommended1 will do more to prevent that moral evil1 abortion among married females1 than all the penal enactments of our legislators1 and the criminal courts which enforce them4 ,yes1 it is his firm conviction that a moral check to reproduction1 will do what judges and juries have in vain attempted4 ,it will put an end to the occupation of the abortionist by removing the cause and thus striking at the root of the evil4 ,the want of the means of prevention has lead to the commission of a crime revolting to our feelings4 ,how many lives of mothers would have been spared1 had the power of preventing conception been known to them6 the feelings of the community would not be so often shocked by those horrid tales1 which are so frequently related in the daily papers1 of child murders3 and the incensed feelings of the community1 ready to burst forth in mobs1 and other demonstrations of popular indignation1 against those who commit such crimes4 ,i here quote a paragraph which recently appeared in one of the ,new ,york daily papers1 for the purpose of showing the feeling of the community on this subject3 8,the residence of ,madame ,restell1 in ,greenwich street1 was beset yesterday afternoon by a vast concourse of people of all classes1 many of them1 doubtless1 drawn thither by curiosity1 or a vague idea that something extraordinary was about to be enacted in reference to this notorious woman1 and not a few who came apparently with the intention of being actors in some scene of violence and popular outbreak4 ,there were very many of our most respectable citizens noticed among the mass--a result unlooked for1 and certainly ominous of a deep and abiding feeling of abhorrence and detestation among the better classes1 for the practices of this miserable female1 which may yet prove of fearful import to her1 and to those who countenance and support her in the vile and unholy occupation1 the known existence of which in our midst1 in defiance of all law1 and outraging every sense of decency and morality1 has been suffered so long to rest1 as a foul plague-spot upon our city4 ,we learn that in anticipation of some energetic demonstration in the course of the day1 ,madame ,restell early left her house1 and secretly repaired to the dwelling of some unknown friend1 seeking a shelter from her fears in a hiding-place1 far from the scene of her iniquitous practices4 ,meanwhile although the ,chief of ,police1 aided by a strong body of officers1 were upon the ground of the disturbance1 it seemed for some hours as though the neighbourhood was slumbering upon a volcano1 which a mere breath would inflame into fierce and terrible action4 ,curses loud and deep upon ,restell and her coadjutors1 were rife amid the crowd1 and cries of #8,haul her out6' #8,where's ,mary ,applegate's child8' #8,where's the thousand children murdered in this house6' #8,where is ,miss ,munson6' #8,throw her in the dock6' #8,hanging is too good for the monster6' #8,who murdered ,mary ,rodgers6' and other inflammatory exclamations of a like nature1 were continually uprising from the excited multitude4 ,through the whole vicinity1 the windows on both sides of the street were upraised1 and filled with anxious faces1 intently watching the movements of the mass below2 and there were not wanting those1 among the inmates of the neighbouring houses1 and those inmates too1 females of respectability and refinement1 who joined in the universal cry for vengence and retribution4 ,it did indeed seem as though the strong feeling of popular indignation was about to be manifested in an outbreak of a serious character1 and that the unhappy object of their dislikes was about to realize that there is in this land1 a power above all law1 whose mandates would--when the arm of justice became paralysed and insufficient1 and was daringly sneered at by those who depend upon their ill-earned wealth1 and certain peculiar influences for impunity from the just reward of crime--be suddenly executed in violence and confusion4 ,owing1 however1 to the prompt exertions of the ,chief of ,police1 under whose directions one or two arrests were made of the most active spirits among the assembled mass1 the threatened disturbance was finally put down1 and at this time1 7late in the evening7 order and quiet are restored to the neighbourhood4 8,we do not envy the feelings of the wretched woman during the existence of the threatening outbreak1 for although at some distance from the scene yet she well knew what was going forward1 being made acquainted at short intervals with the position of affairs4 ,we trust that from the experience of yesterday1 ,madame ,restell is now convinced of the necessity of immediately closing her unlawful business2 otherwise1 there seems to be a most fearful certainty that the end is not yet40 ,see1 what a mass of evil arises from bastard children1 from child-murder1 from deserted children1 from diseased children1 and even where the parents are most industrious and most virtuous1 from a half-starved1 naked1 and badly housed family1 from families crowded into one room1 for whose health a house and garden is essential4 ,all these matters are a tax upon love1 a perpetual tax upon human pleasure1 and upon health2 a tax that turns beauty into shrivelled ugliness1 defaces the noble attitude of mankind1 and makes their condition worse than that of the cattle of the field4 ,then comes the consideration--what a dreadful thing it is1 that health and beauty cannot be encouraged and extended1 that love cannot be enjoyed without the danger of a conception1 when that conception is not desired1 when it is a positive injury to the parties and to society4 ,this circumstance has been a great bar to health1 strength1 and beauty4 ,what is to be done to remedy this evil8 ,there is something to be done3 a means has been discovered1 a simple means1 criminal in the neglect1 not in the use4 ,the destruction of conceptions have been sought by acts of violence1 by doses of poison1 that injure1 and sometimes destroy the mother1 to reach the ftus in her womb4 ,this is dreadful1 truly dreadful4 ,yet custom has made it a common matter4 ,every village has its almost yearly cases of the kind4 ,in this country1 hundreds of infants are yearly destroyed at birth3 some cases are discovered1 but many pass undiscovered4 ,we condemn and shudder at the infanticides of ,china and other countries3 yet it is a question1 if infanticide ever prevailed in any country to a greater extent than in our own4 ,here1 then1 as in every other case of disease or other evil1 it is better to prevent than to cure1 and here prevention is most simply practicable1 a means within the reach of all4 ,those who have no means of arriving at a knowledge of the extent of this evil1 could scarce realize it2 since the investigation of this subject was commenced and since mention has been made publicly of the instrument before alluded to1 numerous facts have come to the ,editor's knowledge which would be sufficient to convince every candid reflecting person1 that the utmost extent of the credulity of those who have taken but little pains to inform themselves upon this part of the subject is not half equal to the extent of this vice4 ,he is inclined to believe that his statement would be doubted were he to relate the number of calls he has received from persons seeking this kind of medical service under a misapprehension of his notice4 ,the number is not confined to such as cannot legitimately become mothers1 but what is most surprising1 parents who move in what is called respectable society1 appear to feel no delicacy in asking relief1 in these cases1 at the hands of the physician4 ,for the purpose of illustrating still more forcibly1 the extent to which the business of the abortionist is carried on in this city1 and likewise the dangers to which the victim is exposed1 we propose to make some extracts from a case reported by ,dr4 ,bedford1 the eminent ,professor of ,midwifery in the ,university of the city of ,new ,york4 ,several physicians had been called in1 the patient had been in labour for twenty-four hours1 and they severally professed their ignorance of the nature of the case4 ,dr4 ,b4 then goes on to say3-- 8,mrs4 ,m4 had been taken in labour ,monday1 ,dec4 #ahth1 at seven o'clock1 ,p4 ,m4 and on ,tuesday at seven o'clock1 ,p4 ,m41 ,i first saw her4 ,her pains were then almost constant1 and such had been the severity of her suffering that her cries for relief1 as her medical attendants informed me1 had attracted crowds of persons about the door4 ,as soon as ,i entered her room1 she exclaimed1 #8,for ,god's sake ,doctor1 cut me open or ,i shall die3 ,i never can be delivered without you cut me open4' ,i was struck with this language1 especially as ,i had already been informed1 that she had previously borne two children4 ,at the request of the medical gentlemen1 ,i proceeded to make an examination per vaginam1 and ,i must confess that ,i was startled at what ,i discovered1 expecting every instant1 from the intensity of the contractions of the uterus1 that this organ would be ruptured in some portion of its extent4 ,i could distinctly feel a solid1 resisting tumor at the superior strait1 through the walls of the uterus1 but could detect no opening in the womb4 ,in carrying my finger upward and backward toward the cul-de-sac of the vagina1 ,i could trace two bridles1 extending from this portion of the vagina to a point of the uterus1 which was quite rough and slightly elevated2 this roughness was transverse in shape1 but with all the caution and nicety of manipulation ,i could bring to bear1 ,i found it impossible to detect any opening in the womb4 ,in passing my finger with care1 from the bridles to the rough surface1 and exploring the condition of the parts with an anxious desire to afford the distressed patient prompt and effectual relief1 ,i distinctly felt cicatrices1 of which this rough surface was one4 ,here1 then1 was a condition of things produced by injury done to the soft parts1 at some previous period1 resulting in the formation of cicatrices and bridles1 and likewise in the closure of the mouth of the womb4 ,at this stage of the examination1 ,i knew nothing of the previous history of the patient more than ,i have already stated1 and the first question ,i addressed to her was this3 #8,have you ever had any difficulty in your previous confinements8 have you ever been delivered with instruments8' c41 c4 ,she distinctly replied1 that her previous labors had been of short duration1 and that she had not been delivered with instruments1 nor had she ever sustained any injury in consequence of her confinements4 ,this information somewhat puzzled me1 for it was not in keeping with what any one might have conjectured1 taking into view her actual condition1 which was undoubtedly the result of direct injury done to the parts4 ,on assuring her1 that she was in a most perilous situation1 and at the same time1 promising that we would do all in our power to rescue her1 she voluntarily made the following confession3 8,about six weeks after becoming pregnant1 she called on the notorious ,madame ,restell1 who1 on learning her situation1 gave her some powders with directions for use2 these powders did not appear to produce the desired effect4 ,she returned again to this woman1 and asked her if there was no other way to make her miscarry4 #8,yes1' says ,madame ,restell1 #8,i can probe you2 but ,i must have my price for this operation4' #8,what do you probe with8' #8,a piece of whalebone4' #8,well1' thought the patient1 but without expressing it1 #8,i cannot afford to pay your price1 and ,i will probe myself4' ,she returned home1 and used the whalebone several times2 it produced considerable pain1 followed by a discharge of blood4 ,the whole secret was now disclosed4 ,injuries inflicted on the mouth of the womb1 by these violent attempts1 had resulted in the circumstances as detailed above4 8,it was evident from the nature of this poor woman's sufferings1 and the expulsive character of her pains1 that prompt artificial delivery was indicated4 ,accordingly1 without loss of time1 7she then having been in labor twenty-nine hours17 ,i performed the operation4 ,in a short time1 ,mrs4 ,m4 was delivered of a vigorous1 full grown child1 whose boisterous cries were heard with astonishment by the mother1 and with sincere gratification by her medical friends4 ,the expression of that woman's gratitude1 in thus being preserved from what she and her friends supposed to be inevitable death1 was an ample compensation for the anxiety experienced by those1 who were the humble instruments of affording her relief4 ,this patient recovered rapidly1 and did not during the whole of her convalescence1 present one untoward symptom4 ,it is now ten weeks since the operation1 and she and her infant are in the enjoyment of excellent health4 8,at my last visit to this patient1 with ,dr4 ,forry1 she made some additional revelations1 which ,i think should be given not only to the profession1 but to the public1 in order that it may be known that in our very midst1 there is a monster who speculates with human life with as much coolness as if she were engaged in a game of chance4 ,this patient1 with unaffected sincerity1 and apparently ignorant of the moral turpitude of the act1 stated1 most unequivocally1 to both ,dr4 ,forry and myself that ,mad4 ,restell1 on previous occasions1 had caused her to miscarry five times1 and that these miscarriages had1 in every instance1 been brought about by drugs administered by this trafficker in human life4 ,the only instance in which medicines failed1 was the last pregnancy1 when at the suggestion of ,madame ,restell1 she probed herself1 and induced the condition of things described1 and which most seriously involved her own safety1 as well as that of her child4 ,in the course of conversation1 this patient mentioned that she knew a great number of females1 who were in the habit of applying to ,madame ,restell1 for the purpose of miscarrying1 and that she scarcely ever failed in affording the desired relief4 ,among others1 she cited the case of a female residing in ,houston-street1 who was five months pregnant2 ,madame ,restell probed her1 and she was delivered of a child1 which1 to use her own expression1 #8kicked several times after it was put into the bowl4' ,it1 indeed1 seems too monstrous for belief that such gross violations of the laws1 both of ,god and man1 should be suffered in the very heart of a community professing to be ,christian1 and to be governed by law and good order4 ,yet these facts are known to all who read4 ,this creature's advertisements are to be seen in our daily papers2 there she invites the base and the guilty1 the innocent and the unwary1 to apply to her4 ,she tells publicly what she can do1 and without the slightest scruple1 urges all to call on her who may be anxious to avoid having children4 ,here1 then1 is a premium offered for vice1 to say nothing of the prodigal destruction of human life1 that must necessarily result from the abominations of this mercenary and heartless woman40 ,there is an erroneous impression upon the minds of a certain class of the community4 ,they make no distinction between the commission of crime1 and the means that are used to diffuse information1 and remove the inducement to commit moral offence4 ,ignorance and prejudice--the parents of vice--have blinded or misguided those who have not or would not properly investigate the subject matter of this discussion4 ,however1 we are consoled by the reflection that the day is dawning which shall dispel the mist and vapours which have heretofore clouded and benighted the human understanding1 upon matters that infinitely concern the happiness of the great mass of the human family4 ,we take pleasure in stating that since the publication of ,mr4 ,owen's little work1 7now ten years17 we have good reason for believing that the public mind is better prepared for the reception of the ,editor's amended edition of his book4 ,as each revolving year passes over1 and as truth overcomes error1 and as the diffusion of knowledge dispels ignorance1 so will the subject elicit additional inquiry1 and the merits of the work be more justly appreciated by the enlightened portion of the community4 ,a further discussion and investigation of the subject will cause it to be better understood1 and a public opinion favourable to the subject will be formed1 of immense moral utility4 ,as in the language of the author1--,how mighty and how beneficent the power which such an influence might exert1 and how essentially and rapidly it might conduce to the gradual1 but thorough extirpation of those selfish vices1 legal and illegal1 which now disgrace and brutify our species1 it is difficult even to imagine4 ,in the silent1 but resistless progress of human improvement1 such a change is fortunately inevitable4 ,we are gradually emerging from the night of blind prejudice and of brutal force2 and1 day by day1 rational liberty and cultivated refinement1 win an accession of power4 ,violence yields to benevolence1 compulsion to kindness1 the letter of law to the spirit of justice2 and1 day by day1 men and women become more willing1 and better prepared1 to entrust the most sacred duties 7social as well as political7 more to good feeling and less to idle form--more to moral and less to legal keeping4 ,it is no question whether such reform will come3 no human power can arrest its progress4 ,how slowly or how rapidly it may come1 is a question2 and depends1 in some degree1 on adventitious circumstances4 ,should this little book prove one among the number of circumstances to accelerate1 however slightly1 that progress1 its author will be repaid1 ten times over1 for any trifling labour it may have cost him4 ,in conclusion1 the author remarks1 that a knowledge of the check to population spoken of1 and recommended by him1 with other preventive means was for many years extensively disseminated in most of the populous towns in ,great ,britain2 not only through the medium of 8,every ,woman's ,book10 but1 previously to its publication1 by hundreds of thousands of handbills1 which were gratuitously distributed from benevolent motives4 ,the men who were first instrumental in making them known in ,england1 are all elderly men1 fathers of families of children grown up to be men and women2 men of unimpeachable integrity1 and of first rate moral character2 many of them men of science1 and some of them known as the first political economists and philanthropists of the age4 ,besides the allusion to the subject already given from the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 it is adverted to in ,mill's 8,elements of ,political ,economy20 in ,place's 8,illustrations of the ,principle of ,population20 in ,thompson's 8,distribution of ,wealth10 and probably in other works with which ,i am unacquainted4 ,it was also 7disguisedly7 broached in several ,english newspapers1 and was preached in lectures to the labouring classes1 by a most benevolent man1 at ,leeds4 ,i do not believe the subject has ever been touched upon1 in one single instance1 except by men of irreproachable moral character1 and generally of high standing in society4 ,the chief difference between this little treatise1 and the allusions made by the distinguished authors above mentioned1 is1 that what public opinion would only permit them to insinuate1 ,i venture to say plainly4 ,my readers may implicitly depend on the accuracy of the facts ,i have stated4 ,though in the present state of public opinion1 ,i may not1 for obvious reasons1 give names in proof1 yet it is evident that ,i cannot have the shadow of a motive to mislead or deceive4 ,i shall consider it a favour if any individuals who can adduce1 from personal experience1 facts connected with this subject1 will communicate them to me4 ,note4 ,the enlightened ,condorcet1 in his well-known 8,esquisse des progres de l'esprit human10 very distinctly alludes to the safety and facility with which population might be restrained1 8,if reason should but keep pace with the arts and sciences1 and if the idle prejudices of superstition should cease to shed over human morals an austerity corrupting and degrading1 not purifying or elevated40 ,see his ,esquisse1 pages #bhe to #bhh1 ,paris ,ed4 #ahbb4 ,malthus 7,see his 8,essays on ,population10 ,book #c1 chap4 #a7 8professes not to understand0 the ,french philosopher4 ,no ,frenchman could misunderstand him4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,additional ,,remarks4 ,that most practical of philosophers1 ,franklin1 interprets chastity to mean1 the regulated and strictly temperate satisfaction1 without injury to others1 of those desires which are natural to all healthy adult beings4 ,in this sense1 chastity is the first of virtues1 and one most rarely practiced1 either by young men or by married persons1 even when the latter most scrupulously conform to the letter of the law4#bi ,the promotion of such chastity is the chief object of the present work4 ,it is all-important for the welfare of our race1 that the reproductive instinct should never be selfishly indulged2 never gratified at the expense of the well-being of our companions4 ,a man who1 in this matter1 will not consult1 with scrupulous deference1 the slightest wishes of the other sex2 a man who will ever put his desires in competition with theirs1 and who will prize more highly the pleasure he receives than that he may be capable of bestowing--such a man appears to me1 in the essentials of character1 a brute4 ,the brutes commonly seek the satisfaction of their propensities with straight-forward selfishness1 and never calculate whether their companions are gratified or teased by their importunities4 ,man cannot assimilate his nature more closely to theirs1 than by imitating them in this4 ,again4 ,there is no instinct in regard to which strict temperance is more essential4 ,all our animal desires have hitherto occupied an undue share of human thoughts2 but none more generally than this4 ,the imaginations of the young and the passions of the adult are inflamed by mystery or excited by restraint1 and a full half of all the thoughts and intrigues of the world has a direct reference to this single instinct4 ,even those who1 like the ,shakers1 8crucify the flesh10 are not the less occupied by it in their secret thoughts2 as the ,shaker writings themselves may afford proof4 ,neither human institutions nor human prejudices can destroy the instinct4 ,strange it is1 that men should not be content rationally to control1 and wisely to regulate it4 ,it is a question of passing importance1 8,how may it best be regulated80 ,not by a ,shaker vow of monkish chastity4 ,assuredly not by the world's favourite regulator1 ignorance4 ,no4 ,do we wish to bring this instinct under easy government1 and to assign it only its due rank among human sentiments8 ,then let us cultivate the intellect1 let us exercise the body1 let us usefully occupy the time1 of every human being4 ,what is it gives to passion its sway1 and to desires their empire1 now8 ,it is vacancy of mind2 it is listlessness of body2 it is idleness4 ,a cultivated race are never sensual2 a hardy race are seldom love-sick2 an industrious race have no time to be sentimental4 ,develop the moral sentiments1 and they will govern the physical instincts4 ,occupy the mind and body usefully1 intellectually2 and the propensities will obtain that care and time only which they merit4 ,upon any other principle we may doctor poor human nature for ever1 and shall only prove ourselves empirics in the end4 ,mortifications1 vestal vows1 mysteries1 bolts and bars1 prudish prejudices--these are all quack-medicines2 and are only calculated to prostrate the strength and spirits1 or to heighten the fever1 of the patient4 ,if we will dislodge error and passion from the mind1 we must replace them by something better4 ,they say that a vacuum cannot exist in nature4 ,least of all can it exist in the human mind4 ,empty it of one folly1 cure it of one vice1 and another flows in to fill the vacancy1 unless it find it already occupied by intellectual exercise and common sense4 ,husbands and fathers6 study ,franklin's definition of chastity4 ,your fears1 your jealousies1 have hitherto been on the stretch to watch and guard3 reflect whether it be not pleasanter and better1 to enlighten and trust4 ,honest ascetics6 you have striven to mortify the flesh2 ask yourselves whether it be not wiser to control it4 ,you have sought to crucify the body2 consider whether it be not more effectual to cultivate the mind4 ,have you succeeded in spiritualizing your secret thoughts8 ,if not1 enquire whether all human propensities1 duly governed1 be not a benefit and a blessing to the nature in which they are inherent4 ,human beings1 of whatever sex or class6 examine dispassionately and narrowly the influence which the control here recommended will produce throughout society4 ,reflect whether it will not lighten the burdens of one sex1 while it affords scope for the exercise of the best feelings of the other4 ,consider whether its tendency be not benignant and elevating2 conducive to the exercise of practical virtue1 and to the permanent welfare of the human race4 ,the following remarks are addressed to the reasonable and considerate among mechanics1 the most numerous and most useful class of society4 ,it is a great truth1 often told1 and never denied1 that when there are too many working people in any trade or manufacture1 they are worse paid than they ought to be paid1 and are compelled to work more hours than they ought to work4 ,when the number of working people in any trade or manufacture1 has for some years been too great1 wages are reduced very low1 and the working people become little better than slaves4 ,when wages have been thus reduced to a very small sum1 working people can no longer maintain their children as all good and respectable people wish to maintain their children1 but are compelled to neglect them2--to send them to different employments2--to mills and manufactories1 at a very early age4 ,the misery of these poor children cannot be described1 and need not be described1 to you who witness them and deplore them every day of your lives4 ,many indeed among you are compelled for a bare subsistence to labor incessantly1 from the moment you rise in the morning1 to the moment you lie down at night1 without even the hope of ever being better off4 ,the sickness of yourselves and your children1 the privation and pain and premature death of those you love1 but cannot cherish as you wish1 need only be alluded to4 ,you know all these evils too well4 ,and1 what1 you will ask1 is the remedy8 ,how are we to avoid these miseries8 ,the answer is short and plain2 the means are easy4 ,you have but to use the ,electro-,galvania as directed and previously explained2 it will prevent conception1 and thus1 without diminishing the pleasures of married life1 or doing the least injury to the health of the most delicate woman1 both the woman and her husband will be saved from all the miseries which having too many children produces4 ,by limiting the number of children1 the wages both of children and of grown up persons will rise2 the hours of working will be no more than they ought to be2 you will have some time for recreation1 some means of enjoying yourselves rationally1 some means as well as some time for your own and your children's moral and religious instruction4 ,at present1 every respectable mother trembles for the fate of her daughters as they grow up4 ,debauchery is always feared4 ,this fear makes many good mothers unhappy4 ,the evil when it comes make them miserable4 ,and why is there so much debauchery8 ,why such sad consequences8 ,why8 ,but because many young men1 who fear the consequences which a large family produces1 turn to debauchery and destroy their own happiness as well as the happiness of the unfortunate girls with whom they connect themselves4 ,other young men1 whose moral and religious feelings deter then from this vicious course1 marry early and produce large families1 which they are utterly unable to maintain4 ,these are the causes of the wretchedness which afflicts you4 ,but when it has become the custom here as elsewhere1 to limit the number of children1 so that none need have more than they wish to have1 no man will fear to take a wife1 all will be married while young2--debauchery will diminish3--while good morals1 and religious duties will be promoted4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,to ,,the ,,married ,,of ,,both ,,sexes ,,in ,,genteel ,,life4 ,among the many sufferings of women1 as mothers1 there are two cases which command the utmost sympathy and commiseration4 ,the first arises from constitutional peculiarities1 or weakness4 ,the second from mal-conformation of the bones of the pelvis4 ,besides these two cases1 there is a third case1 applicable to both sexes2 namely1 the consequence of having more children than the income of the parents enables them to maintain and educate in a desirable manner4 ,the first named case produces miscarriages1 and brings on a state of existence scarcely endurable4 ,it has caused thousands of respectable women to linger on in pain and apprehension1 till1 at length1 death has put an end to their almost inconceivable sufferings4 ,the second case is always attended with immediate risk of life4 ,pregnancy never terminates without intense suffering1 seldom without the death of the child1 frequently with the death of the mother1 and sometimes with the death of both mother and child4 ,the third case is by far the most common1 and the most open to general observation4 ,in the middle ranks1 the most virtuous and praiseworthy efforts are perpetually made to keep up the respectability of the family2 but a continual increase of children gradually1 yet certainly1 renders every effort to prevent degradation unavailing1 it paralyzes by rendering hopeless all exertion1 and the family sinks into poverty and despair4 ,thus is engendered and perpetuated a hideous mass of misery4 ,the knowledge of what awaits them deters vast numbers of young men from marrying1 and causes them to spend the best portion of their lives in a state of debauchery1 utterly incompatible with the honorable and honest feelings which should be the characteristic of young men4 ,the treachery1 duplicity1 and hypocrisy that they use towards their friends and the unfortunate victims of their seductions1 while they devote a large number of females to the most dreadful of all states which human beings can endure1 extinguishes in them1 to a very great extent1 all manly1 upright notions2 and qualifies them1 to as great an extent1 for the commission of acts1 which1 but for these vile practices they would abhor1 and thus1 to an enormous extent1 is the whole community injured4 ,marriage in early life is the only truly happy state1 and if the evil consequences of too large a family did not deter them1 all men would marry when young1 and thus would many lamentable evils be removed from society4 ,a simple1 effectual1 and safe means of accomplishing these desirable results has long been known1 and to a considerable extent practiced in some places4 ,but until lately has been little known in the ,united ,states4 ,accouchers of the first respectability1 and surgeons of great eminence1 have in some peculiar cases recommended it4 ,within the last two years1 a more extensive knowledge of the process has prevailed and its practice has been more extensively adopted4 ,it is now made public through the medium of this book2 and to those who deem its use expedient1 may not only prevent much unhappiness and physical inconvenience1 but will be of incalculable benefit to society4 ,the great utility and importance of the use of this instrument1 may be summed up under the following heads3 #ast4 ,that no married couple shall have more children than they wish to have and can maintain4 #bnd4 ,that no unhealthy woman shall bear children1 that cannot be reared1 and which endanger her own life in the parturition3 8,women1 for no other crime than having followed the dictates of a natural appetite1 are driven with fury from the comforts and sympathies of society4 ,it is less venial than murder6 and the punishment which is inflicted on her who destroys her child to escape reproach1 is lighter than the life of agony and disease to which the prostitute is irrecoverable doomed4 ,has the woman obeyed the impulse of unerring nature2--society declares war against her1 pitiless and eternal war2 she must be a tame slave1 she must make no reprisals3 theirs is the right of persecution1 hers the duty of endurance4 ,she lives a life of infamy2 the loud and bitter laugh of scorn scares her from all return4 ,she dies of long and lingering disease3 yet she is in fault1 she is the criminal1 she the froward and untameable child--and society1 forsooth1 is the pure and virtuous matron1 who casts her as an abortion from her undefiled bosom6 ,society avenges itself on the criminals of its own creation2 it is employed in anathematizing the vice to day1 which yesterday it was the most zealous to teach4 8,young men1 excluded by the fanatical idea of chastity from the society of modest and accomplished women1 associate with the most vicious and miserable beings1 and thus destroy those exquisite and delicate sensibilities1 whose existence cold-hearted worldings have denied2 thus they annihilate genuine passion1 and debase that to a selfish feeling which is the excess of generosity and devotedness4 ,their body and mind become a hideous wreck of humanity2 idiocy and disease are perpetuated in their miserable offspring1 and distant generations suffer for the ignorance of their forefathers40 ,it has also been objected1 that if the physical means of preventing undesirable conceptions were to become general1 debauchery1 immorality1 and misery would be increased1 and society would be much more degraded than it is4 ,but this is a fallacy easily exposed1 and those who conclude that dissolute conduct would be increased1 are but ill-formed as to the actual amount of such conduct1 and it is more than probable that if the facts were disclosed to them as they are known to exist by magistrates1 overseers1 and medical men1 they would be astounded4 ,multitudes of men never marry1 a still greater number refrain from marrying until they grow comparatively old2 yet most such men are practiced debauchees1 and the mischief they do by the fraud and hypocrisy they produce is incalculable4 ,this would not be so were a freer intercourse permitted and physical means adopted to prevent conceptions4 ,but the great good which would result from physical preventives1 would be1 that alliances would be early formed and in most cases would be lasting4 ,girls would not then surrender themselves to the caprice and injustice of men as they do now2 men would not then be able to practice upon them as they do now4 ,a girl would then tell her lover that there was no impediment to their submitting to the form whatever it was that society had established1 and as she would be sure to make a match1 she would take care to keep herself in that state which would induce the man she liked to conform4 ,the great obstacle to marriage under its present form1 is the fear of a large family1 and the poverty which results therefrom4 ,this removed1 marriages would become much more common4 ,people would form alliances while young and unpracticed in deceit and hypocrisy1 and would live virtuously and happily all their lives4 ,whoever will examine the statements here put forth1 will assuredly be convinced that a physical preventive of conception1 if in general use1 would put an end to an immense quantity of debauchery1 and its attendant--misery2 and would greatly improve the condition of the whole body of the people4 ,women1 if we may be allowed the expression1 would then be in much greater demand1 as every young man would take a wife1 and women would be all but infinitely more respected1 than they are now4 ,it is not possible to anticipate the happiness which would result from the physical check1 if once brought into general use4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,purposes ,,and ,,obligations ,,of ,,marriage4 ,it is a strange world and man is a strange animal4 ,it may appear wonderful that with such passions and powers as he possesses he should be so controllable1 that he should become tamed down into a civilized being1 and submit to such impositions on his desires1 that make him a mere creature of circumstance2 and yet from this very submission does he secure to himself the greater amount of joys and delights3 so that what he partakes of by tolerance1 or call it the unanimous consent of his fellow-men1 is absolutely and infinitely more gratifying to him than would be the unrestricted indulgence of his appetites4 ,the world abounds with inexhaustible sources of enjoyment1 and man has capacity for all2 but were it not for civil and wholesome restraints1 it would be one continued brute struggle for possession4 ,for no one circumstance have we more reason to rejoice in our civilization1 than for the regulations regarding marriage4 ,it is the basis of a nation's prosperity and of individual happiness4 ,it gives legal and strong possession of the object of our most earnest wish4 ,it establishes regulation and order1 forms ties of relationship1 and makes each country one family4 ,a happy marriage is the alpha and omega of every man's hopes1 nor is it less momentous to our companion4 ,there is no pleasure in this life comparable to it where it is unalloyed by physical or mental disqualifications3 but alas6 how rarely is such a consummation to be found4 ,it is a happy state indeed 8when the fountain is blessed1 and he rejoiceth with the wife of his youth1 and she is to him as the loving hind and the pleasant roe1 and he delights in her continually40#cj ,although this marriage is but a civil contract1 it should not be forgotten that if injudiciously made or its obligations be not fulfilled1 the most calamitous results oftentimes ensue4 ,imagine a bargain1 made between two persons1 in which both parties have assumed more or less disguise or dissimulation towards the other1 and which are only discovered when the treaty cannot be annulled4 ,the lady's dower may be handsome1 or the gentleman's prospects good and his pursuits most thriving2 their respective families and connexions may be equally respectable1 and neither consort nor husband have reason to regret that part of the arrangement1 which the world only sees or hears of4 ,it may be a love match1 a match of many years' making1 a match in which the most delicious of all anticipations assumed every likelihood of being realized1 and yet which one hour's possession has destroyed4 ,if the denouement be not so sudden1 there may grow up a secret sorrow1 a sorrow that has its source1 like any other feeling1 in some cause1 just or evil1 by the discovery of some concealed hindrance to mutual love4 ,there may arise some justifiable personal dislike1 there may be found to exist some impediment to the full and proper enjoyment of those connubial delights which instinct has taught each party to expect from the other4 ,it is true1 and well it is so1 that all marriages have not hidden griefs1 but that renders not those which have1 the more endurable4 ,marriage mostly is a matter of love1 policy1 or convenience2 it ought no less to be a matter of conscience4 ,the legal right which the ceremony gives to the man1 of his wife1 which alienates her from the world1 which enslaves her to his person and passions1 or shuts her for ever out from the indulgence of her own1 should not be sought without reflection2 for although the law awards its punishment for infidelity which is sure to follow such dissimulation1 it is a poor compensation for the mortification and distress which accompanies it4 ,the very proceeding may prove alike that nature1 as well as honour1 have been outraged4 ,love is not the parent of sexual desire--it is the offspring2 and if that instinctive passion be frustrated or deprived of its just entitlement1 love soon loses its name1 and goes one knows not whither4 ,yet there are proper bounds to every thing1 an excess is frequently attended with more unhappy results than want4 ,the end of marriage1 then1 is to afford the legitimate use of amative enjoyments2 to regulate the procreation of children2 to ensure succession1 and thereby transmit one's property and identity2 to cultivate domestic happiness1 and thereby give all an equal incentive to aspire to the same possession2 and also to afford protection when so obtained4 ,if any deception be practiced towards each other the culpable party will incur1 sooner or later1 the rarely failing punishment--disappointment in their pleasures1 their domestic anticipations1 and their hopes of hereditary succession4 ,women have their disqualifications for the marriage bed--many from causes which we have already enumerated1 and many from others over which they have no control4 ,among the latter1 absolute fear of the consequences imbibed through early intuition of some disappointed maiden-aunt--some from acquired notions of the immorality of the proceeding--others from personal disrelish--a total absence of desire2#ca and many1 although an ungenerous world may be sceptical of the truth hereof1 have not the least idea of the difference even of the sexes2 at least the use and purposes of that difference4 ,there are ways of preparing females for what they will have to encounter at all periods of life2 and no mother should fail to instruct her child1 as circumstances demand1 of the expectancy of each succeeding era of her coming existence4 ,it is not intended thereby to be urged1 that females cannot be too early initiated into the mysteries of matrimonial ceremonies and consequences2 but there is a time1 and an age1 when such intelligence should be conveyed to them1 and by no means should they be allowed to form alliances without such knowledge4 ,the reader1 ,i repeat1 may possibly express a doubt whether such an event ever did occur2--he may be assured that many such have1 and do still occur1 and are productive of much distress4 ,nor is it intended that the physiology of reproduction should form part of the preliminary education of a boarding-school young female2 but no woman ought to become a mother without knowing something of the phenomena of conception4 ,it is really astonishing to see the very great ignorance of these matters entertained by woman in general3 it may be constructed into a specimen of ,american modesty3 but it occasions many needless fears and anxieties that sometimes prove of serious consequence to a lying-in woman4 ,at the hour of peril1 as it is called1 how few women1 except those in humble life1 and who have earnt their little knowledge by dear-bought experience1--have any idea of aiding their fellow-sister at the moment of their affliction3 indeed by the ignorance1 fear1 and impatience they display1 they unnecessarily alarm the patient or themselves1 and put a whole family into confusion2 whereas1 by the help of a little information on this subject1 they might allay the fears of the timid and assist the weak1 and not unfrequently be the instruments whereby the life itself of the infant1 or mother1 might be saved4 ,we have before stated1 that persons subject to hereditary diseases ought not to become parents1 because by so doing they will bring into the world a progeny1 whose issue will eventually become extinct4 ,and it is to these persons that we now more particularly address our remarks4 ,the same laws which regulate the perfection of plants1 the growth of corn1 the fleetness of the greyhound1 and the symmetry of the horse1 govern the physical and mental culture of man4 ,in the vegetable kingdom1 the agriculturalist is aware that the success of his crops depends upon the condition of what he sows1 and the fertility of the soil wherein it is sown4 ,it is precisely the case with the propagation of the human species4 ,the race may be improved1 or deteriorated1 accordingly as the laws which govern the continuance of mankind are more or less observed4 ,but we are digressing from the subject of which we intended to speak--that of the transmission of diseases from parent to child4 ,parents exercise a mighty influence over the physical condition of their offspring1--the general constitution1 mental and physical qualities1 and even individual peculiarities1 being transmitted from sire to son4 ,premature marriage1 and1 consequently too early sexual congress1 although it may not prove detrimental to the parents1 except where its privileges are intemperately exercised1 may be1 and often is a great disadvantage to the children1 they being generally delicate1 imperfect1 and seldom arriving at maturity4 ,the same results follow1 where the parents1 or either of them are at the moment of conception in ill-health4 ,and shall the circumstances of early marriage1 or a bad state of health1 debar the sexes from the satisfaction of the holiest and most ennobling of the passions8 ,would it not be far more just and moral1 then1 to make use of a preventive of conception1 when from motives of economy1 offspring is not desired1 or1 from the reasons mentioned above1 health cannot be given at the same time that life is imparted8 ,the candid reader will have but one answer4 ,physicians1 generally1 when referring to the subject of the transmission of disease1 lay it down as a law1 that persons so affected should not marry4 ,here we beg leave to differ from them1 and1 we think1 justly4 ,consumptive or scrofulous persons certainly should not beget offspring2 but we cannot see why they should be prevented from enjoying the pleasures of the married state4 ,it is necessary for the general health of an individual1 that the sexual embrace should be occasionally enjoyed--indeed it is an established fact1 that many of those women who die unmarried1 owe their early death1 to a species of consumption1 excited by deprivation of the sexual act4 ,we think therefore1 that all ought to be married1 and that those who cannot produce healthy progeny1 should make use of means to prevent conception4 ,enough has been said already to remove the maudlin delicacy which some people entertain on the subject of human reproduction1 and as it seems to us not out of place1 we will say a few words on the subject4 ,copulation should never be an act of effort4 ,to use a quaint but selfish phrase1 8it should only be used when the man listeth40 ,much mischief may be done by fruitless endeavours2 violent palpitations of the heart may ensue that so quicken the circulation of the blood1 and propel it with such violence towards the brain as to induce apoplexy4 ,i have often had the question put as to which was the most fitting season for sexual indulgence4 ,we know that man is omnivorous1 and after certain intervals1 is capable of reperforming the procreative act4 ,some hold morning to be the most healthy time1 as the body is renovated by the night's rest1 but the lassitude which follows encroaches on the business duties of the day1 and it is more probable that so far as the health is concerned1 night is the preferable2 the quietude and secrecy thereby afforded are additional incentives to love1 and the exhaustion of the body is repaired by the several hours sleep that follows4 ,too frequent indulgence in venereal pleasures are strongly opposed to the procreation of children4 ,abstemiousness in sexual pleasures is a physical virtue where issue be desirable2 and probably the period when conception is most likely to occur1 is to refrain from intercourse till a day or two after the female has ceased menstruating4 ,women may be sterile1 but they are rarely impotent4 ,sterility may depend upon the absence of a uterus1 of which many instances are on record4 ,it may depend upon morbid conditions of that organ where it exists2 such as excessive debility1 frequent floodings1 prolapsus or descent of it1 eversion or misplacement of it2 from a retention of the menstrual secretion1 from the presence of leucorrha1 or the debility induced by a long prevalence of that disorder4 ,too frequent indulgence in cohabitation1 promiscuous intercourse1 c41 as with those unfortunates who gain their subsistence by such means1 are direct causes of infecundity4 ,to bring this subject to a close1 ,i may observe1 that although nature has been apparently thus freaksome in the constitution of mankind1 she is amply generous and kind to those who choose to study and observe her laws4 ,she pays no distinction to the past1 present1 or future4 ,for many of our infirmities we have to thank those who have gone before us1 and many are of our own producing1 the conjoined consideration ought to induce us to reflect how we are justified in transferring them to those who follow4 ,there are seasons for all enjoyments1 and limits set to all2 if we infringe those limits1 we are answerable for the consequences3 there is much happiness in this world and much misery3 a skilful pilot will see most of it and live longest in it4 ,the ,instrument which we have brought before the public1 for preventing conception1 depends for its virtue upon the electric fluid4 ,the public are well acquainted with the common shock of an electrical apparatus2 they are probably aware that many physiologists consider electricity analogous to the principle of life itself4 ,they know that lightning is a display of the electric power--that it abounds in all nature1 but not in equal intensity4 ,they may possibly have heard of its efficacy in cases of ,rheumatism1 ,palsy1 and many other diseases--that its property is to stimulate1 and1 in excess1 to kill4 ,they may be familiar with the terms ,magnetism1 ,galvanism1 c41 but1 in fact1 they all are the effects of one cause1 differing only in the intensity of their action1 and their mode of development4 ,what is now called electro-magnetism1 or magnetic electricity1 is merely electricity in a modified form2 the result of its application is the same4 ,the public may be told of the extraordinary powers possessed by this fluid in supporting partial life1 when it is established in nervous communications4 ,digestion depends upon the uninterrupted nervous communication between the brain and the stomach2 if that is destroyed1 digestion ceases2 but if electricity or galvanism be applied to the divided ends of the nervous channels1 digestion proceeds as before1 and for a very considerable time4 ,its usefulness1 therefore1 can be fully appreciated when applied through the instrumentality of the nerves1 to those organs or structures1 that are not sufficiently endued with vital influence4 ,the many hindrances heretofore existing in the employment of electricity1 as a preventive1 owing to the circumstance of favourable weather being required for its exhibition1 and it also being difficult and formidable in its application1 are now obviated by the introduction of this instrument4 ,the advantages are1 that it can be used at any time1 and under all circumstances4 ,it is perfectly safe1 and that it is certain1 is attested by the fact1 that of the large number already sold1 not one has been returned1 although the purchasers have had the liberty given them of doing so1 should the instrument fail in effecting its object4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,concluding ,,remarks4 ,after the publication of ,mr4 ,owen's first edition of this work1 several communications were received by him1 approbatory of his book1 some of which ,i think of sufficient importance to be introduced into this edition1 inasmuch as they contain facts that are worthy of being treasured up in the recollection of all young married persons4 ,in the one to which ,i now allude his correspondent remarks as follows3 8,i have read your little work with much interest1 and desire that it may have a wide circulation1 and that its recommendations may be adopted in practice4 ,if you publish a third edition1 ,i could wish that you would add a piece of advice of the greatest importance1 especially to young married persons4 ,many women are ignorant1 that1 in the gratification of the reproductive instinct1 the exhaustion to the man is much greater than to the woman3 a fact most important to be known1 the ignorance of which has caused more than one husband to forfeit his health1 nay1 his life4 ,,tissot tells us1 that the loss by an ounce of semen is equal to that by forty ounces of blood2#cb and that1 in the case of the healthiest man1 nature does not demand connexion oftener than once a month4#cc 8,how many young spouses1 loving their husbands tenderly and disinterestedly1 if they were but informed of these facts1 would watch over and preserve their partners' healths1 instead of exciting them to over-indulgence4 8,i send you a copy of ,italian verses1 appropriate1 like the ,german stanzas you have quoted in your work1 to the above remarks3 8#8,merta gli alleri al crine ,chi scende in campo armato1 ,chi a cento squadre a lato1 ,impallidir nun sa3 ,ma piu gloria ha nel fronte ,chi1 alla ragion soggetto1 ,d'un sconsigliato astello ,trionfator si f4'#cd ,l4 ,g40 ,mr4 ,fowler the ,phrenologist in speaking upon this subject in his pamphlet entitled1 8,amativeness warning and advice to married and single10 makes the following remarks1 that 8a hard day's work does not equally prostrate and fatigue4 ,the fallow-buck after his passion has subsided is tamed down by exhaustion1 that he can be approached and almost caught by hand4 ,frequent indulgence in any of its forms will run down and run out any one of either sex4 ,those who would write or speak or study must forego this indulgence or intellectual exertion or else die4 ,powerful constitutions will stand an immense drain before they finally break1 but terrible is the result4 ,mere animal temperaments are less injured1 because by supposition their vitality is abundant1 and its drain by other functions is slight2 nor do they enjoy this function as do those more highly organised and hence are proportionally less exhausted2 such live1 to be sure2 so do brutes--carnal grovelling1 sensual1 low-lived animals1 living mainly on a single pleasure1 when their nature serves up so many4 ,let such revel in lust because capable of little else4 ,but then highly organised must partake rarely1 else it will excite to distraction and proportionally exhaust40 ,,finis4 ,,advertisement4 ,the readers of the editor's second enlarged edition of the ,hon4 ,r4 ,d4 ,owen's ,moral ,physiology1 are apprized that since the publication of his first edition of this work1 considerable opportunity has been afforded by the sale of the ,electro-,galvania alluded to in this work1 for testing its efficacy as a preventive of conception4 ,time is required to test the effect and establish the certainty of every new remedial agent4 ,sufficient opportunity has been afforded in this instance1 since this instrument was first introduced to public notice1 for proving the certain control which the electrical influence is capable of exercising over the nervous system4 ,the increased demand for the instrument has demonstrated its perfect adaption to the accomplishment of the important object for which it is designed1 and has most fully established its claim to the confidence heretofore reposed in its preventive influence4 ,communications from abroad1 and orders for this work or the article herein alluded to1 addressed to ,dr4 ,r4 ,glover1 ,new ,york1 will meet with due attention4 ----- ,footnote #a3 ,the ,greeks and ,romans considered that by familiarizing the population with the exhibition of the human figure completely naked1 libidinous propensities and desires would be less excited4 ,the continence and chastity of the half-clad ,germans1 ,tacitus highly extols1 and contrasts with the effeminate and luxurious habits of the more polished nations of his time4 ,the worship of the ,phallus1 or erect penis1 is of the most remote antiquity1 and derived its origin not from vulgar or obscene notions1 but from a consideration that the generative powers of nature were thus best personified2 and to render the type more complete1 the ,deities were often made ,hermaphroditic or of a two-fold sex1 to show that either alone would be incomplete without the other1 to represent nature engendering and reproducing4 ,the ,phallus was also used as an amulet or charm suspended from the neck1 and its exhibition over a house in ,pompeii is explained by the words 8domus felicitatis40 ,on this interesting subject1 ,mr4 ,o',brien's learned1 but too fanciful work1 on the ,round ,towers of ,ireland1 will throw considerable light4 ,footnote #b3 ,see 8,memoires de la ,court d',espagne10 by ,madame d',aunoy4 ,footnote #c3 ,see ,tournefort's ,travels in ,turkey4 ,footnote #d3 ,see ,buckingham's ,travels in ,asia4 ,footnote #e3 ,see ,bruce's ,travels in ,abyssinia4 ,footnote #f3 ,one of the ,english kings1 ,edward ,,iii41 in the year #acdd1 picked up from the floor of a ball-room1 an embroidered garter1 belonging to a lady of rank4 ,in returning it to her1 he checked the rising smile of his courtiers with the words1 8,honi soit qui mal y pense60 or1 paraphrased in ,english1 8,shame on him who invidiously interprets it60 ,the sentiment was so greatly approved1 that it has become the motto of the ,english national arms4 ,it is one which might be not inaptly nor unfrequently applied in rebuking the mawkish1 skin-deep1 and intolerant morality of this hypocritical and profligate age4 ,footnote #g3 ,see 8,a brief exposition of the principles of the ,united ,society called ,shakers10 published by ,calvin ,green and ,seth ,y4 ,wells1 #ahcj4 ,footnote #h3 ,i call them my friends1 because1 however little ,i am disposed to accede to all their principles1 ,i have met1 from among their body1 a greater proportion of individuals who have taken with them my friendship and sympathy1 than perhaps from among any other sect or class of men4 ,footnote #i3 ,by unrestrained1 ,malthus and his disciples mean1 not restricted or destroyed by any incidental check whatever1 moral or immoral1 prudential or violent4 ,thus1 poverty1 war1 libertinism1 famine1 c4 are all powerful checks to population4 ,in this sense1 and not simply as applying to preventative moral restraint1 have ,i employed the word throughout this chapter4 ,footnote #aj3 ,mandeville4 ,footnote #aa3 ,some wag1 adverting to the fact1 that ,mr4 ,malthus himself has a large family1 remarked1 8that the reverend gentleman knew better how to preach than to practice40 ,footnote #ab3 ,lawrence1 the ingenious author of the 8,empire of the ,nairs10 says shrewdly enough1 8,wherever the women are prudes1 the men will be drunkards40 ,footnote #ac3 ,it may perhaps be argued1 that all married persons have this power already1 seeing that they are no more obliged to become parents than the unmarried2 they may live as the brethern and sisters among the ,shakers do4 ,but this ,shaker remedy is1 in the first place1 utterly impracticable1 as a general rule2 and1 secondly1 it would chill and embitter domestic life1 even if it were practicable4 ,footnote #ad3 ,will our sensitive fine ladies blush at the plain good sense and simplicity of such an observation8 ,let me tell them1 the indelicacy is in their own minds1 not in the words of the ,french mother4 ,footnote #ae3 ,for a vice so unnatural as onanism there could be no possible temptation1 and therefore no existence1 were not men unnaturally and mischievously situated4 ,it first appeared1 probably1 in monasteries2 and has been perpetuated by the more or less anti-social and demoralizing relation in which the sexes stand to each other1 in almost all countries4 ,in estimating the consequences of the present false situation of society1 we must set down to the black account the wretched1 wretched consequences 7terminating not unfrequently in incurable insanity7 of this vice1 the preposterous offspring of modern civilization4 ,physicians say that onanism at present prevails1 to a lamentable extent1 both in this country and in ,england4 ,if the recommendations contained in this little treatise were generally followed1 it would probably totally disappear in a single generation4 ,footnote #af3 ,see letter of ,percy ,byssche ,shelley1 published in the 8,lion10 of ,december #e1 #ahbh4 ,footnote #ag3 ,every reflecting mind will distinguish between the unreasoning--sometimes even generous1 imprudence of youthful passion1 and the calculating selfishness of the matured and heartless libertine4 ,it is a melancholy truth1 that pseudo-civilization produces thousands of seducers by profession1 who1 while daily calling the heavens to witness their eternal affections1 have no affection for any thing on earth but their own precious and profligate selves4 ,it is to characters so utterly worthless as these that my observations apply4 ,footnote #ah3 ,jesus said unto her1 8,neither do ,i condemn thee40--,john viii4 #aa4 ,footnote #ai3 ,what is the actual state of society in ,great ,britain and even in this republic1 that pseudo-civilization1 in her superlative delicacy1 should so fastidiously scruple to speak of or to sanction a simple1 moral1 effectual check to population8 ,are her sons all chaste and temperate1 and her daughters all passionless and pure8 ,i might disclose1 if ,i would1 in this very city of ,new ,york--and in our neighbour city of ,philadelphia--scenes and practices that have come to light from time to time1 and that would furnish no very favourable answer to the question4 ,i might ask1 whether all the houses of assignation in these two cities are frequented by the known profligate alone8 or whether some of the most outwardly respectable fathers--ay1 mothers of families--have not been found in resorts supported and frequented only by 8good society0 like themselves8 ,as regards ,great ,britain1 ,i might quote the evidence delivered before a 8,committee of the ,house of ,commons1 on ,labourers' ,wages10 by ,henry ,drummond1 a banker1 magistrate1 and large land-owner in the county of ,surrey1 in which the following question and answer occur3 ,q4 8,what is the practice you allude to of forcing marriages80 ,a4 8,i believe nothing is more erroneous than the assertion1 that the poor laws tend to imprudent marriages2 ,i never knew an instance of a girl being married until she was with child1 nor ever knew of a marriage taking place through a calculation for future support40 ,mr4 ,drummond's assertions were confirmed by other equally respectable witnesses2 and from what ,i myself have learnt in conversation with some of the chief manufacturers of ,england1 ,i am convinced1 that the statement1 as regards the working population in the chief manufacturing districts1 is scarcely exaggerated4 ,i might go on to state1 that the spot on which the ,foundling ,hospital in ,dublin now stands1 formerly went by the name of 8,murderer's ,lane10 from the number of child murders that were perpetrated in the vicinity4 ,i might adduce the testimony of respectable witnesses in proof1 that1 even among the married1 the blighting effects of ergot are not unfrequently incurred2 by those very persons1 probably1 who1 in public1 would think fit to be terribly shocked at this little book4 ,but why multiply proofs8 ,the records of every court of justice1 nay1 the tittle tattle of every fashionable drawing-room1 sufficiently marks the real character of this prudish and pharisaical world of ours4 ,footnote #bj3 ,see letter of the ,committee of the ,typographical ,society to ,robert ,dale ,owen1 published in the ,commercial ,advertiser of the #bith of ,september1 and copied into the ,free ,enquirer of the #ith of ,october1 #ahcj4 ,for a statement of the circumstances connected with that letter1 and which induced me1 at this time1 to write and publish the present treatise1 see ,preface4 ,footnote #ba3 ,i should like to hear these gentlemen explain1 according to what principle they imagine the chastity of their wives to grow out of a fear of offspring2 so that1 if released from such fear1 prostitution would follow4 ,i can readily comprehend that the unmarried may be supposed careful to avoid that situation to which no legal cause can be assigned2 but a wife must be especially dull1 if she cannot assign1 in all cases1 a legal cause2 and a husband must be especially sagacious1 if he can tell whether the true cause be assigned or not4 ,this safeguard to married chastity1 therefore1 to which the gentlemen of the ,typographical ,committee seem to look with so implicit a confidence1 is a mere broken reed2 and has been so1 ever since the days of ,bethsheba4 ,yet conjugal chastity is that which is especially valued4 ,the inconstancy of a wife commonly cuts much deeper than the dishonor of a sister4 ,in that case1 then1 which the world usually considers of the highest importance1 the fear of offspring imposes no check whatever4 ,it cannot make one iota of difference whether a married woman be knowing in physiology or not2 except perhaps1 indeed1 to the husband's advantage2 in cases where the wife's conscience induces her at least to guard against the possibility of burthening her legal lord with the care and support of children that are not his4 ,constancy1 where it actually exists1 is the offspring of something more efficacious than ignorance4 ,and if in the wife's case1 men must and do trust to something else1 why not in all other cases1 where restraint may be considered desirable8 ,shall men trust in the greater1 and fear to trust in the less8 ,whatever any one may choose to assert regarding his relatives' secret inclinations to profligacy1 these arguments may convince him that if he has any safeguard at present1 a perusal of ,moral ,physiology will not destroy it4 ',tis strange that men1 by way of suborning an argument1 should be willing thus to vilify their relatives' character and motives1 without first carefully examining whether any thing was gained to their cause1 after all1 by the vilification4 ,footnote #bb3 ,instances innumerable might be adduced4 ,not one young person1 for example1 in twenty1 is ever told1 that sexual intercourse during the period of a woman's courses is not unfrequently productive1 to the woman of a species of fluor albus1 and sometimes 7as a consequent7 to the man of symptoms very similar to those of urethritis or gonorrha1 but more easily removed4 ,yet what fact more important to be communicated6 ,and how ridiculous the mischievously prudish refinement that conceals from human beings what it most deeply concerns them to know8 ,the following case is related by ,dr4 ,dewees in his work on ,diseases of ,females3 8,we have known a complaint communicated to the male by intercourse with a woman labouring under ,pruritis4 ,it was very similar to that which affected the female in its general character4 ,when this occurs with the married man1 much disturbance is sometimes created from a supposition that the wife has been unfaithful1 and the contrary4 ,indeed it has occurred in more instances than one1 within our own knowledge1 where the woman has thought herself the injured party2 and in one case1 the recrimination was mutual4 ,in this instance1 the friends of the parties assembled to determine on the terms of separation1 when it was suggested1 by one of those who happened to be more rational than the rest1 that before they proceeded to such an extremity1 their family physician should be consulted4 ,we were accordingly sent for4 ,after an attentive hearing of both parties1 and an examination of the parts1 we were satisfied that there was not the slightest ground for either to be charged with want of fidelity1 and we assured the parties that this was the case1 and were fortunate enough to cause all further proceedings to be suspended40 ,footnote #bc3 ,le premier serment que se firent deux tres de chair1 ce fut au pied d'un rocher1 qui tombait en poussire2 ils attestrent de leur constance un ciel qui n'est pas un instant le mme3 tout passait en eux1 et autour d'eux2 et ils croyaient leurs curs affranchis de vicissitudes4 ,o enfans6 toujours enfans6 ,,diderot2 ,jacques et son maitre4 ,footnote #bd3 ,some ,german poet1 whose name has escaped me says1 8,tapfer ist der ,lowensieger1 ,tapfer is der ,weltbezwinger1 ,tapferer1 wer sich selbst bezwang60 8,brave is the lion-victor1 ,brave the conqueror of a world1 ,braver he who controls himself60 ,it is a noble sentiment1 and very appropriate to the present discussion4 ,footnote #be3 ,see 8,historie de l',acadmie des ,sciences10 for the year #afgi1 page #bgi4 ,footnote #bf3 ,hippocrates positively asserts this latter hypothesis1 and is outrageous against all sceptics in his theory4 ,in his work on diet1 he tells us1 8,si quis non credat animam anim misceri1 demens est40 ,tertullian warmly supports the orthodoxy of this opinion4 ,footnote #bg3 ,bonner1 ,i believe4 ,footnote #bh3 ,velpeau defines conception to be1 that change which takes place between the instant of vivification1 and the period at which the germ shows evidence of development4 ,footnote #bi3 ,my father1 ,robert ,owen's definition of chastity is also an excellent one3 8,,prostitution1 ,sexual intercourse without affection3 ,,chastity1 ,sexual intercourse with affection40 ,footnote #cj3 ,proverbs v4 #ah4 ,footnote #ca3 ,it is not uncommon to hear of women deriving no pleasure from the sexual embrace2 and however powerful an inducement the expected reward of the highest sensual gratification may be to encourage propagation1 such a consummation1 although much it may be wished for1 is not absolutely necessary for impregnation4 ,i have met with numerous females who1 like #cethe mother of one of ,napoleon's ,generals1 have declared3 8,qu'elle n'avoit eu que les douleurs d'enfanter40 ,footnote #cb3 ,this1 of course1 must be rather a matter of conjecture and approximation1 than of accurate calculation4 ,footnote #cc3 ,and ,i doubt whether she permits it1 without more or less of injury1 to the average of constitutions1 oftener than once a week4 ,certain ,i am1 that any young man who will carefully note and compare his sensations1 will become convinced1 that temperance positively forbids such indulgence1 at any rate1 more than twice a week2 and that he trifles with his constitution who neglects the prohibition4 ,how immeasurably important that parents should communicate to their sons1 but especially to their daughters1 facts like these6 ,footnote #cd3 ,for the ,english reader1 ,i have attempted the following imitation of the above lines3 ,crown his brows with laurel wreath1 ,who can tread the field of death-- ,tread--with armed thousands near-- ,and know not what it is to fear4 ,but greater far his meed of praise1 ,juster his claim to glory's bays1 ,who1 true to reason's voice1 to virtue's call1 ,conquers himself1 the noblest deed of all6 ,footnote #ce3 ,elliotson's notes to ,blumenbach's ,physiology4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,table of ,contents added by transcriber4 #b4 ,silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling4 #c4 ,archaic1 non-standard1 and uncertain spellings retained as printed4 #d4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4