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 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
A MEDICAL ADDRESS 
 
 THE BENEVOLENCE OF MALTBUS, 
 
 CONTRASTED WITH 
 
 THE CORRUPTIONS OP NEO- 
 MALTIIUSIANISM. 
 
 BY 
 
 Dr. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 
 
 Printed by Request for Private Circulation. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T. W. DANKS & CO., STEAM PRINTERS, 71 DEAN STREET, 
 SOHO, w. 
 
 1888. 
 
A MEDICAL ADDRESS 
 
 M 
 
 ON 
 
 THE BENEVOLENCE OF MALTHUS, 
 
 CONTRASTED "WITH 
 
 THE CORRUPTIONS OF NEO- 
 MALTHUSIANISM. 
 
 BY 
 
 Dr. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 
 
 Printed by Request for Private Circulation. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 T. W. DANKS & CO., STEAM PRINTERS, 71 DEAN STREET, 
 SOHO, w. 
 
 1888. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/medicaladdressonOOblac 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A painful experience of the results which may follow 
 upon any practical reference to the subject of the size of 
 families occurred to me in 1870. In that year I had been 
 invited to address the Working Woman’s College, and chose 
 as my subject, “ How to Keep a Household in Health.” After 
 referring to many other conditions of health, I dwelt on the 
 importance of considering the influence of heredity in 
 forming marriage unions, and illustrated, from a wide expe- 
 rience amongst the poor, the cruelty of bringing sickly 
 children into the world. I then made the following state- 
 ment : — 
 
 “ Another important point for parents to observe in 
 securing good constitutions to their children is not to burden 
 the household (of which the mother is the centre) with 
 more children than it can bear. This subject is largely 
 under the control of established physiological laws, which 
 should be known to parents ; and the wife’s health and hap- 
 piness should be considered of paramount importance.” 
 
 That was the whole statement. 
 
 A clever literary lady who was present, sent to the Pall 
 
 B 
 
4 
 
 Mali Gazette of tliafc day a garbled report of this statement. 
 Almost immediately letters began to reach me from various 
 classes of the community — Members of Parliament, army 
 officers, clergymen, &c. — some enclosing fees, which had to be 
 returned (as I never correspond on this subject), and all re- 
 questing full and minute information as to how to prevent the 
 increase of children. But a more serious evil was the attitude 
 then assumed by a portion of the medical profession. It was 
 the time when a brave attempt was being made in Edinburgh 
 to open the Profession to women in Great Britain, and the 
 difficulties to be encountered were immense. A celebrated 
 physician in the Edinburgh Medical School, since dead, 
 seized the occasion of the opening address to his students, to 
 denounce the movement for giving a medical education to 
 women, asserting the bad use which was being made of 
 medical knowledge by the first woman who had received a 
 medical degree, saying, “ There was Elizabeth Blackwell 
 going about the country for the purpose of teaching women 
 how not to have children.” Some of the medical papers fol- 
 lowed suit in this coarse and false misrepresentation. The 
 brave leader of the woman’s medical effort in Edinburgh, 
 wrote me that much mischief was resulting to the work from 
 the paragraphs which were going the round of the press, and 
 begging me to contradict them. So I was compelled to pub- 
 lish an emphatic denial of the Professor’s unmanly misre- 
 presentation of my remarks, and challenge him to prove his 
 misstatements, which of course he was unable to do. This 
 unpleasant episode occurred in 1870. "When, three years 
 later, I published my first serious warning to parents on 
 the danger of neglecting the sexual education of their 
 
5 
 
 children, this subject naturally came up again, and I wrote 
 some pages on the true view of the ante-natal responsibility 
 of parents, a subject of very grave importance. So little 
 however, was then thought of the wide reaching character 
 of sexual purity, that an intelligent lady friend assured me 
 that my name would be “ a forbidden word in England ” if I 
 published the “ Counsel to Parents.” 
 
 Eemembering the obloquy with which my former refe- 
 rence to the size of families had been received, I struck out 
 the pages bearing directly on this subject, fearing that they 
 might prejudice the main purpose of my book. * 
 
 It is therefore only after mature consideration that I 
 again take up this population question ; for I am convinced 
 that the time has arrived when it is the duty of the 
 Christian physician to pronounce a clear judgment on this 
 matter, and state the right views and methods respecting the 
 increase of the population, and the regulation of family 
 life. 
 
 I have referred to the painful experience of 1870, be- 
 cause the difficulty of clearly stating the truth on this deli- 
 cate subject still exists, and it is made all the more difficult 
 on account of the erroneous and even obscene teaching which 
 is circulated enormously in the present day. 
 
 It is however because there are distinctly right and 
 wrong courses of practical action that may be pursued ; and 
 
 * This work, now published under the title “ The Moral Education 
 of the Young, in Relation to Sex,” was refused by fourteen of the lead- 
 ing London publishing houses; and the chief lady member of the 
 house that first undertook its publication, threw the book into the fire, 
 and desired that the edition should be suppressed. 
 
6 
 
 because they are the wrong, not the right courses which are 
 being so widely advocated, that I am compelled as a con- 
 scientious physician to give serious warning to women. 
 
 Information and advice of a most injurious character are 
 being spread amongst young men and women by printed 
 literature, by cheap periodicals and lectures, by trade adver- 
 tisements of chemists’ shops, and special depots. * It is not 
 only by such methods that wide spread mischief is being done, 
 but mixed conferences, meetings of the young, and familiar 
 conversation on topics formerly considered too private and per- 
 sonal for common talk, are now carried on with a superficial 
 knowledge, and ignoring of natural reserve, that form a 
 remarkable feature of the present time. When, in addition 
 to these sources of corruption, we find our Government 
 unable to devise any method of restraining the infamous 
 publication of obscene books which sell in unlimited quan- 
 tities, we see that social life is in serious danger of decay. 
 
 In England the popular advocacy of checks to population 
 has been of much slower growth than in France or the 
 United States. But the social community of nations has so 
 increased within the present generation that international 
 influence grows steadily, both in good and bad ; and the dif- 
 fusion of imperfect self-knowledge on the population question 
 is now spreading with the injurious rapidity of a moral 
 Canada thistle, choking healthy human growth. 
 
 * I learn from trustworthy chemists that the most profitableq>oition 
 of their trade is cut off, when from conscientious scruples, they refuse to 
 deal in French appliances, urged upon them at cheap wholesale rates by 
 male and female foreign agents. 
 
THE POPULATION QUESTION. 
 
 The subject of tbe rapid increase of the population must 
 be considered under two aspects, viz. : — first, under its social 
 aspect, which chiefly deals with the welfare of the poorer 
 classes ; and, secondly, under the physiological aspect, which 
 requires a knowledge of the subject of procreation, and this 
 creative faculty being the joint work of men and women, 
 necessarily brings up the sexual relation. These two parts 
 of the subject cannot ultimately be separated, but this latter 
 aspect is one that many persons shrink from, who do not 
 hesitate to support the social necessity as they believe it to be. 
 
 Respecting this social side of the subject, any one consider- 
 ing it seriously is bound first of all to answer the question, “ Is 
 it necessary, under any circumstances, for parents to limit the 
 size of a family ? ” I think that it is so necessary. 
 
 In a new country the great primitive work of cultivating 
 the soil, and subduing the hostile forces of nature, require 
 an increasing population to conquer those forces ; there we 
 see the necessity of that great command, “ Be fruitful and 
 multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it.” But in an old 
 country, where the conquest of nature is completed by 
 
8 
 
 industry and science, a new command is issued, “ Seek ye 
 first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” that “ all 
 these things may be added unto you.” The conditions have 
 changed in the older nation ; the aim to which the human 
 race is tending through all its mysterious and troubled 
 history, becomes clearer. The moral and intellectual develop- 
 ment of human beings is seen to be the purpose of the Divine 
 Government, and an ever-increasing number of persons in the 
 higher races of mankind, seek both consciously and uncon- 
 sciously to carry out the Divine purpose. The welfare of 
 the human race has now become an object of passionate 
 devotion to large numbers of thoughful men and women. 
 
 It will be found, therefore, as the race grows and conditions 
 change, that it does become necessary for the welfare of 
 children, to consider whether it is right to multiply them 
 without thought of responsibility. 
 
 In all that may now be said in condemnation of danger- 
 ous physiological errors, the utmost sympathy is felt for those 
 who are profoundly impressed by the social misery they 
 see around them. The physiological side of the question is 
 only very imperfectly understood by such persons, for the 
 majority of people, who are not physiologists, cannot realise 
 the dangers which may arise from certain practices. Rut 
 everyone can be shocked by the horrible misery of the slums. 
 It requires no education or study to understand the intoler- 
 able distress of our crowded towns, and our destitute peasantry. 
 A. powerful appeal can easily be made to popular sentiment 
 from the social side of this question. Superficial reasoning 
 may lead to the conclusion that if there were only one-third 
 the people, there would be two-tliirds less misery. To 
 diminish the population and circumvent nature by 
 clever contrivances, may thus be made to seem a 
 royal road by which to travel away from poverty 
 and its evils, and make a short cut to prosperity. 
 Recognising fully the benevolent intentions of many of those 
 
9 
 
 who are now supporting Neo-Malthusianism, and their loyal 
 desire to help women, it can nevertheless be shown how the 
 present persistent ignoring of the moral law in the popula- 
 tion question is tending towards sexual degeneracy. The 
 benevolent intentions of old Malthus recognised the power of 
 the human being to exercise self-command. This rational view 
 is being replaced by the advocacy of unrestrained lust in Neo- 
 Malthusianism. It can be shown that Neo-Malthusianism 
 concerns itself especially with a false view of the physio- 
 logical side of the question, and is using the social aspect as 
 a blind to the benevolent, and a vantage ground from which 
 to base attacks upon marriage, parentage, continence, and 
 Christianity. What is now styled the “ Art of Neo-Mal- 
 thusianism,” as developed in the numerous books, pamphlets, 
 &c., very widely circulated, inevitably leads to a debasement 
 of womanhood such as we only find in the last days of every 
 decaying civilisation. 
 
 At the outset of this % inquiry a criticism of Malthus himself 
 must be made. It is necessary to draw a broad distinction 
 between the false assumption on which this benevolent 
 clergyman based his reasoning, and the wise practices by 
 means of which he hoped to mitigate the terrible evils which 
 he saw spreading around him. All Malthusians accept a 
 false view of the terrestrial conditions of this life. They 
 take as their text the fallacy, that the reproductive power of 
 human beings is greater than that of the lower animal and 
 vegetable life, which serve as food for the human race ; they 
 therefore believe that the multiplication of human beings 
 must be checked from fear of starvation. This is a double 
 error. The lower creation used for food multiplies with 
 enormously greater rapidity than any possible increase of 
 human beings ; consequently it is not the niggardliness of 
 nature in relation to food supply which produces social 
 misery. It is our ignorance of true economic laws in relation 
 to land and labour, respecting the production and distribution 
 
10 
 
 of food ; and our tardiness in applying rational methods, as 
 we discover them, to the arrangements of human industry, 
 which are the chief causes of the present appalling misery of 
 the great masses of the people.'*' 
 
 In the time of Malthus the old and selfish errors of 
 political economy had not been seriously called in 
 question. Co-operation, with all that it may lead to, had 
 not triumphantly asserted its strength against unlimited 
 competition. Malthus could not realise the progress in 
 thought of a later age, and thus his wise counsels were based 
 on the false motive of fear of starvation. 
 
 But whilst rejecting the fallacy on which the old Mal- 
 thusians base their teaching, we may as Christian physiologists 
 accept that teaching on the nobler ground of parental 
 responsibility and the welfare of the family, which is the 
 corner-stone of national prosperity. 
 
 Human procreation possesses a double relation, viz. : — 
 first, a relation to the race ; and, second, a relation to the 
 individual. In the former character, as the inevitable method 
 of continuing the race, it is a great Providential law whose 
 mysteries we by no means comprehend, and which is placed 
 quite beyond the control of the human will ; but as an 
 individual act, our power and responsibility are great. The 
 wise principle that Malthus teaches is that premature 
 marriages are wrong, that parents must realise the responsi- 
 bility that attaches to parentage, that they must by their 
 acts, honestly fulfil this responsibility, and that the number 
 of children born in a family should not be a haphazard 
 affair, the result of selfish or thoughtless sensual 
 
 indulgence. On the contrary, it should involve a 
 tender and rational exercise of cn-eat power of procreation, 
 
 * Impoitant proof's of this are given in an article in the Nineteenth 
 Century for June, 1888, entitled “ The Coming Reign of Plenty.” 
 
11 
 
 which in the human being possesses the distinctive human 
 mark of self-control. 
 
 In considering the subject of procreation in its 
 relation to the individual, the] beneficent educational uses of 
 parentage to the individual must be realised, and the irre- 
 parable loss that human society would sustain, from the 
 absence or serious diminution of the parental relation. 
 Parentage is the most potent and persistent civiliser and 
 educator of our race. This is a positive and weighty fact, 
 which serves as a guide, and also as a warning, in studying 
 the social aspect of the population question. There is no 
 other influence that will compare with the deep-seated and 
 unique power of parentage, in breaking down the narrow 
 unsocial barrier of exclusive individual selfishness. There is 
 no other influence so potent in raising men to a higher 
 moral status. Much has always been said and written about 
 maternal love, but there is a very deep significance in the 
 persistence with which the Hebrew scriptures exalt the 
 power, the supreme beneficence of fatherhood, and there is a 
 profound reason why universal Christendom is taught to 
 address “ Our Father who art in heaven.” It is a special 
 lesson to men. The mother, by the inevitable facts of her 
 nature, when that nature is not corrupted, is moulded into 
 tenderness and providential watchfulness over the weak and 
 helpless ; her nature is a harmonious whole, and as a beneficent 
 general rule, all women are potential mothers. But nature 
 does not so inevitably educate men. It is only when his 
 first-born child is laid in his arms, that the man awakens 
 fully to the wonder and infinite tenderness of paternity. The 
 character of the childless woman does not suffer from the 
 absence of that beneficent discipline and development which 
 come from parentage, as does the character of the man. It is 
 very instructive to observe how unmarried or childless 
 women replace by adoptions or by pets their unexercised 
 natural affections. 
 
 C 
 
12 
 
 The educational influence of parentage as a funda- 
 mental fact in human progress, must he borne in mind with 
 all the reverence which is due to it, when we seek to remedy 
 the hideous perversions of natural sentiment which we find in 
 our unhuman slums. It is not by destroying parentage, 
 but by teaching its responsibilities, and by restoring its 
 educational influence upon the adult, that we must hope for 
 progress. It is by the humanity of old Malthus, not the 
 corruption of the new school, that reformers must act. 
 
 There is, therefore, a fundamental reason in the unchange- 
 able constitution of the human being, why parentage is 
 necessarily connected with sexual intercourse. Any failure 
 to realise the Divine purpose in this joining together of cause 
 and effect, amongst the mass of mankind, any efforts which 
 tend to diminish respect for the parental relation, and destroy 
 the perception of its essential sacredness, must be disastrous 
 to the welfare of a nation. 
 
 The more fully this subject is considered in relation to the 
 whole of human life, the more serious will be seen to be the 
 evil effects of corrupt teaching upon this vital subject of 
 sexual relations. The systematic endeavour to divorce the 
 natural sequence of cause and effect in these relations, by 
 establishing childless unions, by avoiding the trouble and 
 care of children, and by exercising lust without the tender- 
 ness and responsibility which convert it into love, constitute 
 a dangerous perversion of intelligence ; for it is an attack 
 upon the method by which the Creator gradually developes 
 even the lowest forms of mankind, through parentage. 
 
 In seeking therefore to bring into the freedom of humanity, 
 not only the swarms of poor fellow creatures sweltering in 
 city slums, but all classes of human beings struggling in the 
 slough of unrestrained lust, w T e must reverently study 
 Nature’s laws, as they are giadually discovered in relation to 
 parentage. It is not by selfishly or thoughtlessly exercising 
 a physiological function and then unnaturally endeavouring 
 
13 
 
 to destroy its effects, that we can hope to raise the condition 
 of an overcrowded population. 
 
 The moral difference between violating a physical function 
 to gratify unrestrained indulgence, and studying that function 
 in order to submit to its wise restraints, is immense. In this 
 difference is found the wrong of the Neo-Mai thusians as 
 opposed to the right of old Maltlius. It is the difference 
 which exists between the short sight of materialism, and the 
 clear sight of Christian physiology which recognises the 
 supremacy of the spiritual nature and aspirations of man, 
 over the limitations of his physical nature. 
 
 As it is necessary that this vital difference, which affects 
 practical action, should be clearly understood, it will be 
 necessary to speak as freely of physical function as in a 
 medical lecture room, I shall make no apology for doing so, 
 because the dearest interest of womanhood, her position as 
 wife and mother, are now threatened. 
 
 It may be asked why are such structural details as I am 
 about to enter into, necessary for persons who are not phy- 
 sicians, and particularly for women, whose natural instinct 
 and religious education would lead them to shrink from 
 methods of action, which substitute the indulgences of lust 
 for the mutual reverence and devotion of love ? 
 
 But those who would doubt the necessity of such instruc- 
 tion, fail to realise the gravity of the crisis upon which we 
 have entered, or the extent to which this moral epidemic of 
 Neo-Malthusianism has spread. 
 
 It is a pitiful thing to find clever women blindly accepting 
 the statements of sensual men ; and flippantly spreading 
 gross errors, from whose results in all their wide bearing, I 
 believe they would shrink with horror, if only their intel- 
 ligence were sufficiently trained to perceive them. 
 
 To meet this mischievous superficiality, I see no way but 
 to address ourselves directly to women, and show them 
 
14 
 
 slowly and patiently all those physical facts, upon which our 
 Christian life is built, as upon a rock. 
 
 Accepting then tire social fact, that in densely crowded 
 populations, and in many struggling families, during the con- 
 tinuance of our present imperfect social organisation, children 
 as well as parents suffer deplorably from inability to secure 
 the conditions of decent living ; and that in all classes a wise 
 foresight should be exercised by parents as to the best 
 interests of their families, it is necessary to consider the 
 physiological facts, which constitute the second aspect of the 
 population question. For if it be true that it is often a duty 
 to limit the size of a family, at once follows the vital 
 question, How is this to be done ? 
 
 I therefore ask now for consideration of the plain physical 
 aspect of the important function of procreation. This may 
 startle those who are not accustomed to study our bodily 
 structure ; for to all higher natures, the hierarchy or govern- 
 ment of our physical by our spiritual faculties is a funda- 
 mental fact. To such, the transfiguration of our lower by our 
 higher powers is so essential a method of existence, that it 
 may seem unnatural or unworthy to separate them. 
 
 But plain speaking has become indispensable to any 
 radical method of cure, applicable to the widespread moral 
 disease which is based upon erroneous physiology. 
 
 The essential material fact in procreation is the contact 
 of the semen of the male with the ovum of the female. If 
 this contact do not take place, conception is impossible. 
 Knowing this positive fact, and that contact is produced by 
 the penis of the male entering the female passage, and there 
 discharging the semen, the Neo-Mai thusians teach that it is 
 very easy to prevent conception. They lay the duty of doing 
 this upon the woman. They state that it is quite a simple 
 thing for the woman to prevent conception by stopping up 
 the upper part of the vagina, or passage of the female, "where 
 the mouth of the womb rests, by introducing a piece of 
 
15 
 
 sponge or india-rubber into the vagina, so that the semen 
 which is ejected into the vagina by the male, may not pass 
 high up and enter the uterus or womb. The directions given 
 by these persons also state that by syringing the vagina with 
 some astringent lotion after sexual intercourse has taken 
 place, the semen will be washed away or destroyed 
 before it can enter the womb to carry on the work of 
 impregnation. They argue that by the employment 
 of these means an unlimited amount of sexual intercourse 
 may be carried on, by any man and woman without risk of 
 conception. 
 
 This is the essential point in the teaching of Neo- 
 Malthusianism. It is not any counsel in regard to limita- 
 tion in sexual intercourse, nor self-command according to 
 the dictates of reason and affection ; nor delay of pre- 
 mature marriage, as Malthus advises, which are enjoined by 
 the Neo-Malthusians as the great remedial measures for what 
 may be considered a too redundant population, but the pos- 
 sibility of unrestrained indulgence without incurring the risk 
 of consequences. This is the doctrine which is being sown 
 broadcast amongst the people by ceaseless activity of 
 propagandism. 
 
 These methods, it will be observed, require precautions to 
 be taken solely by the woman ; both preparation before the 
 sexual act is entered into, and precautions to be immediately 
 applied after it is over. The woman is to prevent the 
 natural or possible consequences of the conception which 
 may result from the man’s- special act. 
 
 In these instructions of the Neo-Malthusians it is, how- 
 ever mentioned, that indulgence in sexual intercourse without 
 risk of offspring may also be obtained, if the male associate in 
 the act withdraws from the woman before the semen is 
 ejected ; or if before connexion he cover the penis with a 
 sheath. But these practices are discouraged by Neo-Malthu- 
 sians as inconvenient to the man. 
 
16 
 
 It is very important to note this fact ; for the determina- 
 tion increasingly manifested by these new corruptors of 
 society to throw the responsibility of conception, and the 
 burdens of pregnancy exclusively upon the woman, very 
 plainly indicate the tendency of Neo-Malthusianism, and the 
 degrading subjection to which its teachings would reduce 
 women. 
 
 Eight-minded women may here be tempted to exclaim, 
 such shocking and disgusting proceedings must be excep- 
 tional ; surely it is not necessary to compel us to take note 
 of them. 
 
 This is a grave and ostrich-like error ; for this corrup- 
 tion has spread into all classes, and reached all ages, and 
 the poison is infecting our social atmosphere. Eight- 
 minded women, therefore, who care for the young, or possess 
 SDcial influence, must know the facts of our physical nature 
 as well as its spiritual aspect. 
 
 Let me give the proofs of the extent of this' corrupt 
 teaching. They are so numerous that selection becomes 
 difficult — 
 
 There is a work which was published anonymously in 
 1854, by a “Doctor of Medicine,” which may be called the 
 Bible of Neo-Mai Lhusians. This work, of 604 closely written 
 pages, has been exerting its baleful influence by repeated 
 editions ever since that date, more than a generation ago. In 
 the last edition — the sixty-first, issued in 188G — this “ Doc- 
 tor of Medicine ” writes as follows : — 
 
 “ The withdrawal of the penis immediately before 
 ejaculation takes place (which is very frequently practised 
 by both married and unmarried men) is apt to produce 
 nervous disorder and sexual enfeeblement and congestion, 
 from the sudden interruption it gives to the venereal act, 
 whose pleasure, moreover, it interferes with. The use of the 
 sheath also, dulls the enjoyment, and frequently produces 
 impotence in the man, and disgust in both parties ; so that 
 
17 
 
 it also is injurious. Any preventive means, to be satisfactory, 
 must be used by the woman (author’s italics), as it spoils 
 the passion and impulsiveness of the venereal act, if the man 
 have to think of them.” 
 
 Here, in this chief teacher of the Neo-Mai thusians, the 
 cloven foot is fully revealed. This popular author who, in 
 many parts of his book, denounces marriage as the enslave- 
 ment of men and women; who sneers at continence, and 
 rages at Christianity as a vanishing superstition — all under 
 a specious pretence of benevolence, and desire for the ad- 
 vancement of the human race, here clearly shows what he is 
 aiming at, and what his doctrines lead to. Male sexual 
 pleasure must not be interfered with, male lust may be in- 
 dulged in to any extent that pleasure demands, but women 
 must take the entire responsibility that male indulgence be 
 not disturbed by any inconvenient claims from paternity. 
 Whatever consequences ensue the woman is to blame, and 
 must bear the whole responsibility. 
 
 A doctrine more diabolical in its theory and more destruc- 
 tive in its practical consequences, has never been invented. 
 This is the doctrine of Neo-Malthusianism* 
 
 Many are the indications showing how the evil seed thus 
 sown in 1854 is bearing fruit at present. 
 
 It is a noteworthy though deplorable sign of the age, that 
 many intelligent women are deluded by the sophistries, now 
 actively promulgated by lust. 
 
 The most widely known lady advocate of this doctrine, 
 blindly following corrupt male instruction, writes as follows, 
 <‘In France the check most generally used, is that of withdrawal 
 
 * The French nation which leads corrupt modem society in the 
 acceptance of a double standard of sexual morality and which carries out 
 the results of this heresy with clear and pitiless logic, has always 
 obstinately refused to grant “ la recherche de la paternite,” and denies 
 any investigation as to the fathers of illegitimate children. 
 
18 
 
 but many doctors regard this action on the part of the man, 
 as injurious to the nervous system.” So, misled by an honest 
 wish to help over-burdened women, but without the enlighten- 
 ment of wide medical experience, she too falls into the snare. 
 She lays upon women the responsibility of taking measures 
 that male lust shall be satisfied without danger of trouble from 
 offspring ; and gives in detail preventive measures of a 
 character most injurious to health. 
 
 Another clever but medically ignorant woman (author of 
 “ Scientific Meliorism,”) whose book has been widely praised 
 in the press, scatters all through her work such instruction as 
 the following. 
 
 “ In conscious evolution, sexual functions cease to be 
 regarded as essentially allied with propagation.” “ By use 
 of artificial checks, parentage and propagation of disease may 
 be avoided, and individuals free to marry as spontaneous 
 impulse dictates.” “ Where animalism is strong and love of 
 offspring deficient, the cares of parentage are not desired, and 
 will be easily and intentionally avoided by artificial checks.” 
 “ Diseased persons may be allowed to marry but not propagate, 
 &c.” “Early marriage is necessary, it should precede rather than 
 follow after the student life,” “ but dissolution of marriage 
 should be as free a transaction as its formation.” But I need 
 not continue quotations showing gross physiological and 
 medical ignorance, as well as utter blindness to the methods 
 of moral growth. It is, however, necessary to realise our 
 dangers, when such books are not only highly recommended 
 by the press, but are made the text book for study and 
 discussion in mixed societies of the young, and are written 
 by teachers of youth, and above all, by women. 
 
 One of the latest publications put forth and steadily 
 advertised, is by a gentleman in good society, engaged in 
 active social propagation of his views both publicly and 
 privately amongst ladies and gentlemen, he writes as follows : 
 “We hold it unbearable that church or society should in any 
 
19 
 
 official form interfere with lovers In the society of 
 
 the future, if the birth is santioned the State should guard its 
 child-bearing women. An un-sanctioned birth would receive 
 no recognition from the State, and in times of over-popula- 
 tion it might be necessary to punish both father and mother.” 
 This author remarks, “ free sexual union seems to us the 
 first outcome of socialism as applied to sex.” ISTow as such 
 punishment for child-birth could only be applied to the 
 woman, it being impossible in the reign of free lust to ascer- 
 tain paternity with certainty, we see here another indication 
 of a spreading conspiracy against the honour and happiness 
 of womanhood. 
 
 The tendency of such teaching is to prepare for the 
 subjection of women to an immeasurably more hopeless 
 condition than now too often results from the present inequality 
 of our marriage laws. Similar indications as to inevitable 
 practical results are found in another modern pamphlet 
 written by a distinguished French man, and translated by an 
 equally distinguished English woman. This pamphlet 
 advocates the abolition of all laws for the punishment of 
 seduction, and recommends instead, as follows, viz. : — “ A law 
 which should allow women to contract prospectively for the 
 support of the possible fruits of union, before the risks of 
 maternity were incurred.” 
 
 I might multiply indefinitely the proofs of this wide- 
 spread corrupt teaching, but the foregoing specimens are 
 certainly sufficient, and must convince all thoughtful persons 
 of the social misery which they would produce when put into 
 action. I wish now to call attention particularly to the 
 injury to health, from following out the measures urged upon 
 women by Neo-Malthusians. 
 
 I will first examine the false and dangerous physiological 
 teaching of these active propagandists. 
 
 As a physician of forty years’ experience of medical 
 practice amongst women, I assert the truth of the following 
 propositions. 
 
20 
 
 1st. There is no known method of absolute security from 
 conception, if the semen of the male is once allowed to enter 
 the vagina of the female. 
 
 2nd. Any attempt by non-professional persons to intro- 
 duce mechanical appliances into the vagina, for the special 
 purpose of preventing conception, will generally result in 
 failure. 
 
 3rd. The use of astringent or poisonous injections to 
 destroy the semen, is highly injurious to the physical health 
 of women. 
 
 4th. The frequent excitement of the female generative 
 organs by sexual intercourse without the natural action of 
 the semen on those parts, produces special forms of disease in 
 the female. 
 
 I will consider these propositions seriatim. 
 
 1st. It is popularly supposed that the passage leading 
 to the womb, is a short, straight, smooth-lined passage easily 
 washed out. This is a physiological error. The vagina is a 
 very curved or crooked passage, thick, being capable under 
 the slow and painful process of labour, of distention 
 to the size of an infant’s head. In its ordinary state, 
 however, the sides of this passage are narrow and 
 folded together. The thick mucous membrane which 
 lines this passage, is rich in follicles and absorbent tissue. 
 It is, moreover, marked by longitudinal and transverse 
 folds, which whilst facilitating the enormous distention that 
 takes place in child birth, change its character from the 
 ordinary smooth mucous membrane of other organs, leaving 
 inequalities and hiding places in its apparently smooth 
 structure. 
 
 It is thus described by the experienced French gynaeco- 
 logist, Courty : “ The interior of this organ, i.c., the vagina, 
 or passage leading to the womb, is remarkable for the 
 transverse elevations of its mucous membrane, which form 
 fjlds or wrinkles in its substance. These folds, extend- 
 ing from each side, join together in the anterior middle 
 
21 
 
 line, and form a projection or column, which, extends 
 through the whole length of the organ. These folds and 
 columns give rise to innumerable little furrows, which may 
 become reservoirs containing infectious matter of various 
 kinds. This peculiar structure of the mucous membrane is 
 required by the great distentions to which this organ is 
 necessarily adapted.” 
 
 Besides these inequalities of the mucous membrane, which 
 produce hiding places in its surface, another quality in the 
 structure of this organ must be noted, which directly bears 
 upon the question -we are considering. This is the large 
 amount of contractile and erectile muscular tissue that 
 enters into these parts. The distention and congestion pro- 
 duced in the female generative organs by sexual intercourse 
 tends to arouse their muscular activity, and the specific 
 action which semen exercises upon them continues the con- 
 tractile movement towards the uterus, after the conjugal act of 
 the male is over. That is, the direction in which this 
 muscular substance contracts under the stimulus of the 
 semen is designed to carry that secretion on, in the direction 
 where it can aid in the work of procreation. 
 
 The spermatozoa also, endowed with vibratile activity, 
 may hide in the folds of the mucous membrane, or be pro- 
 jected against the lips of the uterus by the great force of 
 the sexual act, and conception may take place, in spite of the 
 speedy use of vaginal injections to wash the semen away. 
 
 The use of water by both sexes after union is a wise 
 sanitary custom often adopted. This has no relation to the 
 dangerous advice of injecting poisonous drugs for preventive 
 purposes. Any addition to the water injection, of alum, sul- 
 phate of zinc, or other powerful drug for the purpose of des- 
 troying the semen, would also destroy in a short time the 
 health of the vaginal structures. The fact that these power- 
 ful injections may sometimes be resorted to temporarily in 
 states of disease, in no way invalidates the assertion, that they 
 
22 
 
 would prove highly injurious to the health of the woman, 
 when habitually resorted to, or when used during the con- 
 dition of involuntary natural congestion which the sexual 
 act produces. 
 
 If the second advice of the Neo-Malthusians has been fol- 
 lowed, and some mechanical substance, such as sponge, 
 india-rubber, or other foreign body has been introduced 
 before connection takes place, no absolute reliance can be 
 placed on such endeavours to prevent conception. 
 
 In the first place, by the introduction of any foreign sub- 
 stance, an unnatural pressure is exercised upon the extremely 
 tender internal parts of the female during sexual intercourse. 
 I have found both version of the titerus and flexions of its 
 neck upon its body, as well as serious inflammation, pro- 
 duced by the continued use of such appliances. But if this 
 risk be run, the difficulty of applying and maintaining such 
 a foreign body in situ is insuperable. Even if the substance 
 has been skilfully placed over the mouth of the womb, the 
 most carefully adjusted foreign body is liable to be displaced 
 during the unconscious violence or commotion of the sexual 
 act. The semen, whose vitality under favourable circum- 
 stances continues for hours, may still find its way into the 
 womb after the foreign substance is withdrawn. 
 
 When however, the difficulty of introducing and adjustin 
 these foreign substances by anatomically ignorant people, is 
 understood, the real deception and cruelty of these false 
 doctrines, preached under specious appearance of benevolence, 
 will be apparent. 
 
 The finger of even the ordinary student of medicine, who 
 has a perfect theoretical knowledge of anatomical structure, 
 is entirely confused in making a blind exploration of any in- 
 ternal part. In relation to this part of the human body 
 there are special difficulties to be overcome before the 
 various parts of this passage, and their exact position can 
 be recognised. Without such recognition any attempt to 
 
23 
 
 block up the entrance to the womb, is mere guess work. 
 The soft irregular and collapsed condition of the walls of this 
 passage, its length, which is often 'apparently greater than 
 the ordinary finger, its curved shape always leading the un- 
 instructed in a wrong direction ; the difficulty of recognising 
 the very small closed aperture leading into the uterus ; the 
 varying direction which the uterine mouth takes, assuming 
 a different position in different individuals, and changing its 
 position in the same person, sometimes inclined backwards 
 or tilted upwards or leaning to one side — all these are 
 obstacles that cannot be overcome by persons ignorant of 
 practical anatomy. Indeed, the organ is often so placed that 
 a skilled medical practitioner has great difficulty in bringing 
 it into the end of the speculum when investigation is 
 necessary. All these combined difficulties which male 
 digital examination by an unskilful hand utterly worthless, 
 are yet increased if the individual attempts to make a per- 
 sonal examination. I have never known such personal ex- 
 ploration correct. Again and again, patients have imagined 
 some swelling or morbid condition of these parts in what was 
 perfectly natural ; and no physician would trust the intro- 
 duction of a suppository or medical application to a patient 
 if its exact contact with the os or cervix uteri was essential, 
 yet it is an exact contact that is needed for the purpose 
 aimed at. What I distinctly maintain is that exact applica- 
 tion of any foreign substance to the mouth of the womb, and 
 its maintenance there during the sexual act, is necessary, if 
 such attempt to prevent conception is to have any chance of 
 success. The supposition that the mass of poor women can 
 be thus trained to limit their families, that the responsibility 
 of so doing is to be laid upon them, and that they are to be 
 blamed for not succeeding, appears to me the most insulting 
 and cruel mockery that has ever been thrown at our much- 
 tried poor sisters. 
 
 The fourth proposition which I have laid down is this, 
 
24 
 
 viz., that the frequent excitement of the female generative 
 organs by sexual intercourse, without the natural action of 
 the semen on those parts, produces special forms of disease 
 in the female. 
 
 To understand the reason of this, it must be stated that 
 certain physical changes take place in the uterus as the 
 result of sexual intercourse, as well as after pregnancy and 
 childbirth, so that the appearance of the organ varies in the 
 unmarried, the childless married woman, and the mother of 
 one or of many children. The physical differences observable 
 in these different states are well marked, so that it is possible 
 for the skilled practitioner to recognise from the appearance 
 of these parts of the body, to which class the individual 
 belongs. Sexual intercorrrse affects especially the lower 
 segment or neck of the uterus, which fits into the upper part 
 of the vagina, enlarging that segment. If in due time 
 pregnancy follows the act of union, then the whole organ 
 becomes naturally and harmoniously developed. The danger 
 of certain displacements (to which I shall refer later) is 
 avoided, because no one portion of the organ remains unduly 
 enlarged. 
 
 Probably many women would hardly know what is meant 
 when I state that masturbation, or self-abuse, is unhappily 
 frequently practised by young women as well as young men, 
 and that the disastrous consequences of such an insidious 
 habit, when it has become confirmed, are a source of serious 
 warning to patients by physicians. Now masturbation 
 means the frequent excitement of the genital organs and en- 
 deavour to produce the sensual pleasure of sexual spasmodic 
 action by one individual alone. In the healthy human 
 intercourse of conjugal life, love is the first condition of inter- 
 course. Sexual intercourse should never take place without 
 that strong and tender feeling which draws two human beings 
 into a life union. Marriage*love deepens as life is passed 
 together, and oneness of interests, and the unique tie of 
 
25 
 
 parentage become established. The quality of this love 
 changes. Its early excitement is gradually transformed into 
 a profounder and stronger sympathy, as the unity of life 
 takes the place of the first new experiences. But it remains 
 love, more tranquil but deeper, and without this marriage- 
 love all sexual intercourse is degrading. If intercourse is en- 
 forced on either side it becomes rape. 
 
 There is a physiological reason for the necessity of pro- 
 found tenderness in love, it is the necessity which Christian 
 physiology teaches. Tender love is a mental quality, and 
 the attitude of the mind to the nervous system, excites or 
 diminishes the electrical force generated in the nervous 
 system. The entrance of love into the nervous substance of 
 the human body creates additional force in that substance. 
 The mind thus supplies to the body the additional amount of 
 nervous force which is necessary for the interchange of 
 physical sympathy. It is through love that the physical 
 action and reaction take place beneficially to both man and 
 woman in the conjugal relation, strengthening not exhausting. 
 But in masturbation both the love impulse which creates 
 nervous force, and the physical interchange, are wanting, 
 whilst the opportunity for solitary indulgence is unlimited. 
 The indulgence of lust without its ennobling master, love, 
 always tends to become a diabolical tyranny over the nature 
 of man, which nature is a spiritual and physical compound. 
 
 How the man or woman who makes careful preparation for 
 sexual intercourse, by endeavouring to arrange mechanical 
 appliances to prevent the natural contact of semen with 
 these parts, enters in many respects into the category of 
 masturbators, and many of the physical evils which attach to 
 that unfortunate class will in time afflict such a person. 
 
 In fact the physical appearances of the female mastur- 
 bator’s infernal organs, are identical with those of the 
 married woman, where precautions have always been taken 
 to prevent conception. 
 
26 
 
 There are three kinds of derangement to health, either of 
 which may and does frequently follow upon the excitement 
 of the genital organs without the natural sequence of union. 
 These are congestion of the os uteri, flexion or version of the 
 uterus, and nervous exhaustion from frequent excitement 
 without the restorative effects of complete union * 
 
 The two forms of injury to the uterus, viz, flexion and 
 version, will often take place from the frequent exercise of 
 the conjugal act in incomplete sexual union. Flexion is the 
 bending of the slender neck of the organ upon its body, for 
 when the whole organ has not been proportionately developed 
 by the natural process of child-bearing, its neck may be 
 completely curved upon its body. 
 
 Version is the permanent displacement of the whcle organ 
 from its natural position, for this part necessarily is not 
 attached immovably as aie other organs ; and frequent 
 pressure in a wrong direction, either backwards, forwards, or 
 to one side, will produce the injurious displacement of 
 version. 
 
 I need not enlarge upon the various forms of suffering 
 produced by version, flexion, and congestion of the uterus. 
 Suffice it to say that they may disable the woman in many 
 ways for the practical duties of life ; may cause sterility, and 
 often produce that wearing and constantly-recurring suffer- 
 ing of painful menstruation, a suffering so agonising that a 
 woman will often gladly submit to a dangerous operation 
 which destroys sex, in order to escape from such periodical 
 torture. 
 
 Again, frequent excitement of the generative organs in an 
 unnatural manner, leads to nervous exhaustion, to hysteria, or 
 
 * I do not dwell here upon the unnatural parchment-like condition of 
 the vaginal mucous membrane observed in many female harlots, where 
 the tissue is so disorganised that it cannot absorb virus into the system 
 of the individual, but only transmit it to the vicious companion. 
 
27 
 
 even insanity, or to other perversions of the mental and 
 moral nature. Both masturbation and imperfect sexual 
 union, are unnatural conditions. The healthy woman who 
 loves her husband, finds in the loving relation of marriage 
 both mental and physical support. 
 
 It is a great fact that we must learn to recognise that in 
 sexual intercourse as ordained by the Creator, men and women 
 give to each other ; there is a mutual exchange of mental and 
 physical effects, in this natural relation. Marriage is an 
 unnatural relation, if it is entered into with the determination 
 never to have children, and a childless union is a risk to the 
 physical health of the woman. It must be clearly recognised 
 that the changes of form and structure which take place in 
 healthy pregnancy, strengthen the whole organ, the uterus, in 
 relation to sexual intercourse ; they prevent danger of those 
 flexions, &c., from the non-development of the whole organ, 
 to which I have referred when frequent excitement and sexual 
 intercourse take place, without this harmonious development 
 of the organ. 
 
 Of course, it will be clearly understood that I give full 
 weight, to the various diseases which now result from unfor- 
 tunate pregnancies, and lyings-in. Many of these, however, 
 are due to what must be called the sexual drunkenness of 
 present marriage relations, which we see so lamentably 
 frequent around us. 
 
 I now only speak of positive physical facts and real 
 dangers, which result from the foolish and presumptuous 
 attempt which is being made to persuade women that they 
 can circumvent their own organisation, by preparing them- 
 selves to be the passive instruments of lust. 
 
 What then is the right way of exercising foresight, and 
 considering the size of the family in relation to the best 
 interests of all concerned. 
 
 Human marriage must be regarded as a life companion- 
 ship, in which the satisfaction of physical desires forms a 
 
28 
 
 secondary, not a primary part. When so entered upon, love 
 will direct its relations, for the good of the two joined together 
 in this unique union. The ancient legal oppression which is 
 still upheld under the title of “ conjugal rights,” is a remnant 
 of that old lustful subjection of the physically weaker to the 
 stronger, which is disappearing in the higher moral develop- 
 ment of our age, and the gradual approach of genuine 
 Christianity. The old Common law has not recognised 
 women. Christian law will do so. The man joins himself 
 to the woman in loving companionship, and her constitution 
 henceforward, must determine the times of the special act of 
 physical union. 
 
 The periodicity which governs both the male and female 
 physical natures, is much stronger and more marked in the 
 female organisation. As child-bearing is the woman’s special 
 and exclusive power, her wishes and welfare must determine 
 the size of the family. It is gradually becoming clear to this 
 age, that rape may be committed in marriage, as well as 
 without legal sanction. A man who commits rape in marriage 
 is even a meaner criminal than one who exposes himself to 
 the just punishment which is attached to violence outside 
 marriage. In Mr. H. Arthur Allbutt’s book (for publishing 
 which he was expelled from the Profession), he takes for 
 granted that rape in marriage is universal. The opening 
 sentence of this “ Handbook” is as follows “ From the first 
 marriage night no woman under forty-five years of age can 
 consider herself safe ” If the full meaning of this is under- 
 stood, it is an acceptance of human degradation below the 
 level of the brutes. Sexual congress without refinement and 
 delicacy is brutal not human ; but sexual congress with 
 violence, is not brutal but diabolical. 
 
 All moral regulation of the size of families, must be con- 
 nected with, and largely depend upon the peculiarities of the 
 female constitution. 
 
 In this important subject of procreation, no one can speak 
 
29 
 
 with scientific precision, and lay down absolute rules respect- 
 ing its complete method of action. It has been wisely said by 
 one of the most skilful and experienced french physicians :* 
 “In this most delicate matter, no opinions put forth, reconcile 
 all facts. We are obliged to confess that there is a mystery in 
 this subject that our most ingenious theories fail to enlighten, 
 and which will probably always escape our most careful 
 investigations.” 
 
 Irregularities of structure also, in individual cases, will 
 not unfrequently, set at defiance our ordinary calculations. 
 
 “We are ignorant of why some well-formed women 
 remain sterile ; why some women who have been married 
 several times, had no children by the first husband, although 
 they have by later marriages, and when, as has been observed 
 sometimes, the first husband has had children by a former 
 marriage.” 
 
 Practical experience, however, has shown us that there is 
 a very intimate relation between certain physical states of 
 the female generative organs, and the aptitude for concep- 
 tion. This fact is so well established, that if generally acted 
 upon, it is quite certain that the increase of the race, as a 
 whole, would be diminished. 
 
 The striking observations made by Raciborsky the 
 famous German physician, in a former generation, have been 
 amply confirmed by later investigations, and by the expe- 
 rience of physicians who have taken the trouble to carefully 
 sift testimony on this subject. 
 
 The fact established by Raciborsky and later observers is 
 the following : — 
 
 “ The period when conception is most likely to take place 
 is near the time of menstruation, either just before it, or during 
 a few days after the time. The essential female organs of 
 re-production are at that time specially prepared for their 
 work.” 
 
 * See Cazeaux “ Des Accouchement?.” 
 
30 
 
 It is not asserted that conception in the human race, is 
 necessarily limited to this interval of time ; for it is true that 
 great stimulus of the organs, produced at any period of the 
 month, may bring about a similar congestion, or special 
 aptitude for conception. Much experience, however, proves 
 the truth of the statement, that conception is much less 
 likely to take place during that period of the month when 
 the generative organs are quiescent, and not congested by the 
 occurrence of the monthly function. 
 
 From medical testimomy and practical observation, we 
 can lay down the following law which should be known to all 
 young married persons, viz. : — 
 
 That the periodic character of the woman’s constitution 
 regulates the probability of conception to so great an extent, 
 that if sexual intercourse only took place during the quies- 
 cent period, that is, — from two or three days after the com- 
 plete cessation of menstruation, until a da} or two before its 
 return, — the rapidity of human increase would be very 
 greatly diminished. 
 
 By this law higher and lower sentient beings are 
 brought into harmony, and woman assumes her due place as 
 the regulator of sexual intercourse. Throughout the animal 
 world, procreation is governed by the will of the female. Not 
 violence, but gentleness, is shown by the male to the female. 
 Her refusal or desire guides sexual intercourse amongst the 
 lower animals. 
 
 To raise the human race to this higher animal level from 
 which it has fallen, is a special task of advanced physiology, 
 which can show the physical method and reason of this 
 redemption. 
 
 The foregoing physiological law is then, in my judgment, 
 the one great truth which needs to be universally known and 
 acted upon, by all persons who enter upon the solemn and 
 ennobling association of Christian marriage. It is a truth 
 full of hope, and promise of indefinite progress ; for all 
 
31 
 
 nations have hitherto perished through the abuse and degra- 
 dation of women. The regulation of sexual intercourse in the 
 best interests of womanhood, is the hitherto unrecognised 
 truth of Christianity, towards which we are slowly groping. 
 "When it is fully accepted a fresh spring of vigour will have 
 been discovered for the human race. 
 
 Let it be clearly understood that self-command over the 
 sexual instincts is quite as important to man as to woman. 
 It presupposes that beneficial self-discipline of youth, which 
 preserves manly strength, and establishes a Providential 
 hierarchy over the faculties, i.e., the government of the lower, 
 or material, by the higher or spiritual powers of the human 
 being, to which hierarchy alone, the Creator has attached the 
 permanent welfare of the race. 
 
 The sexual drunkard is a slave to lust. Any man who has 
 become such in youth, enters in chains upon the marriage 
 relation, and imposes the burden of those chains upon his 
 wife and family. 
 
 Let women realise this fact, as their sons and daughters 
 grow up around them, and the period of their marriage ap- 
 proaches ! 
 
 To the man who enters chastely upon marriage the ob- 
 servance of the law of union here laid down will be no 
 intolerable burden, but on the contrary, a source of self 
 respect and conscious strength. It is only those unhappy 
 ones who have sinned against their bodies before marriage, 
 who will be compelled to regain their lost honour by painful 
 and long continued self-discipline. 
 
 I have purposely confined my remarks to proving what the 
 health and dignity of women demand in relation to them- 
 selves, but this address would be incomplete without reference 
 to the health of men. 
 
 The assertion made by Neo-Malthusians in relation to the 
 evil effects to a man’s health caused by withdrawal before 
 ejaculation takes place is, as stated by them, an unproved 
 
32 
 
 assertion. The Profession does not contain the series of 
 careful medical records on which such a broad statement can 
 be based. To form an accurate judgment it would be 
 necessary to separate men into classes. Distinction must be 
 made between those licentious men who seek unlimited in- 
 dulgence in sexual excitements, whether in or out of 
 marriage, and those healthy and tender husbands who respect 
 their wives personality. 
 
 To the former class undoubtedly the warning and con- 
 demnation will apply ; for the uncontrolled indulgence of the 
 sexual instinct is always dangerous, and generally injurious 
 to physical health. The man who gives way to this keen 
 excitement uncontrolled by reason and affection, but resolve 1, 
 by withdrawal, to avoid the claims of paternity, will 
 undoubtedly injure health. But this is not the case with the 
 husband, who thinking as much of his wife’s welfare as his 
 own physical satisfaction, occasionally exercises this right of 
 withdrawal out of loving regard. 
 
 It must be distinctly understood that the healthy and 
 chaste man preserves entire control over this function. He 
 knows instinctively when the moment for withdrawal arrives. 
 The full satisfaction of this act of union with all its mutual 
 magnetism, has been gained before the final moment is reached. 
 In my judgment although the constant resort to this practice 
 is selfish, dangerous, and fraudulent ; yet its occasional 
 exercise with mutual assent, and under special circumstances, 
 is a right whose wisdom marriage love can alone determine.* 
 
 The truth in relation to practical action, both in regard to 
 the use of water injections, and of withdrawal, in exceptional 
 
 * There is no parallel between such exercise of reason and affection 
 on the part of husband and wife, and the refusal of the ancient Jew to 
 follow the custom of his tribe and marry his sister in-law. In Chap. II 
 of “ The Human Element in Sex,” the physiological error is noted which 
 underlies the older idea of procreation. 
 
33 
 
 cases where the regulation of the size of a family has become 
 necessary I believe to be as follows: — The use of plain 
 water as a hygienic practice after sexual congress, is a tonic 
 and beneficial custom for both sexes. There are cases also 
 where the use of tepid injections after intercourse with the 
 object of avoiding conception is entirely justifiable. If the 
 observance of the law of the female constitution has failed, 
 but the health of the parents, or circumstances which can 
 only be determined by the tender consideration of the married 
 pair themselves, render it important that no further addition 
 to the fa mil y shall take place ; it is not wise to divorce 
 husband and wife, or lay the restriction of celibacy upon loving 
 and faithful partners. Both the occasional withdrawal of the 
 man, and the employment of tepid water injections by the 
 woman, form a wiser course of action than the enforcement of 
 total abstinence. 
 
 In this most intimate relation of life, where the parties 
 love each other, there are many circumstances peculiar to 
 individuals, which cannot be reduced to rule. There are 
 temporary conditions of health in both husband and wife, 
 where the regulation of intercourse must be left to the 
 instinct of true affection, or occasionally to the wise counsel 
 of a trusted physician. For, as no two individual experi- 
 riences are exactly alike, so circumstances will often arise 
 which require medical counsel adapted to the individual. 
 
 In this important subject no written statement can ever 
 meet all special cases. This fact alone shows the 
 physical mischief which must be done by the flooding of our 
 streets with Neo-Malthusian leaflets ; but the moral evil is 
 incalculable. It is both an outrage on decency to strip off the 
 reverence with which true love clothes its expressions, and 
 it is criminally misleading to scatter false physiology broad- 
 cast under a hypocritical pretence of benevolence. 
 
 In the dangerous assault which is now made upon the 
 Family, it appears to me to be the duty of the Profession to 
 
34 
 
 lay down the right rule of conduct in marriage, and to plant 
 the danger signal of sound physiology, where ignorance or 
 selfishness lures the unwary to moral and physical 
 destruction. 
 
 We derive the following conclusions from a careful study 
 of physiology : — 
 
 Marriage without love, or with the unnatural resolve 
 to avoid procreation, is dangerous to the physical health of 
 women. 
 
 Sexual intercourse before the constitution is consolidated, 
 is injurious to the individual and to the race. 
 
 Virginity in man and woman, permanence of union, and 
 the educational influence of parentage, are essential con- 
 ditions of the marriage state, through which state alone the 
 highest civilisation can be maintained. 
 
 From the outset of marriage the wife must determine the 
 times of union, this is the only natural method of regulating 
 the size of the family. Through the guidance of sexual 
 intercourse by the law of the female constitution, the 
 increase of the race will be in accordance with reason, and 
 our highest welfare. 
 
 The habitual or frequent practice of withdrawal, is 
 physically and morally injurious to both parties. 
 
 The methods recommended to women by Neo-Malthu- 
 sians are ineffectual, and if widely practised will subject 
 women to a more degrading slavery than has hitherto been 
 devised by the insanity of lust. 
 
 The foregoing conclusions are based upon the ineradi- 
 cable principles of our human constitution, in its progress 
 from lower to higher conditions. 
 
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