Chapter 17

6. A WRONG TO THE MOTHER AND CHILD.--Sometimes the mother is diseased; the outlet from the womb, as a result of laceration by a previous child-birth, is frequently enlarged, thus allowing conception to take place very readily, and hence she has children in rapid succession. Besides the wrong to the mother in having children in such rapid succession, it is a great injustice to the babe in the womb and the one at the breast that they should follow each other so quickly that one is conceived while the other is nursing. One takes the vitality of the other; neither has sufficient nourishment, and both are started in life stunted and incomplete.

7. FEEBLE AND DISEASED PARENTS.--If the parties of a marriage are both feeble and so adapted to each other that their children are deformed, insane or idiots, then to beget offspring would be a flagrant wrong; if the mother's health is in such a condition as to forbid the right of laying the burden of motherhood upon her, then medical aid may safely come to her relief.

8. "THE DESIRABILITY AND PRACTICABILITY of limiting offspring," says Dr. Stockham, are the subject of frequent inquiry. Fewer and better children are desired by right-minded parents. Many men and women, wise in other things of the world, permit generation as a chance result of copulation, without thought of physical or mental conditions to be transmitted to the child. Coition, the one important act of all others, carrying with it the most vital results, is usually committed for selfish gratification. Many a drunkard owes his lifelong appetite for alcohol to the fact that the inception of his life could be traced to a night of dissipation on the part of his father. Physical degeneracy and mental derangements are too often caused by the parents producing offspring while laboring under great mental strain or bodily fatigue. Drunkenness and licentiousness are frequently the heritage of posterity. Future generations demand that such results be averted by better prenatal influences. The world is groaning under the curse of chance parenthood. It is due to posterity that procreation be brought under the control of reason and conscience.

9. "IT HAS BEEN FEARED THAT A KNOWLEDGE of means to control offspring would, if generally diffused, be abused by women; that they would to so great an extent escape motherhood as to bring about social disaster. This fear is not well founded. The maternal instinct is inherent and sovereign in woman. Even the prenatal influences of a murderous intent on the part of parents scarcely ever eradicate it. With this natural desire for children, we believe few woman would abuse the knowledge of privilege of controlling offspring. Although women shrink from forced maternity, and from the bearing of children under the great burden of suffering, as well as other adverse conditions, it is rare to find a woman who is not greatly disappointed if she does not, some time in her life, wear the crown of motherhood.

"An eminent lady teacher, in talking to her pupils once said, 'The greatest calamity that can befall a woman is never to have a child. The next greatest calamity is to have one only.' From my professional experience I am happy to testify that more women seek to overcome causes of sterility than to obtain knowledge of limiting the size of the family or means to destroy the embryo. Also, if consultation for the latter is sought, it is usually at the instigation of the husband. Believing in the rights of unborn children, and in the maternal instinct, I am consequently convinced that no knowledge should be withheld that will secure proper conditions for the best parenthood."

10. THE CASE OF THE JUKE FAMILY.--We submit the following case of the Juke family, mostly of New York state, as related by Dr. R.L. Dugdale, when a member of the prison Association, and let the reader judge for himself:

"It was traced out by painstaking research that from one woman called Margaret, who, like Topsy, merely 'growed' without pedigree as a pauper in a village of the upper Hudson, about eighty-five years ago, there descended 673 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, of whom 200 were criminals of the dangerous class, 280 adult paupers, and 50 prostitutes, while 300 children of her lineage died prematurely. The last fact proves to what extent in this family nature was kind to the rest of humanity in saving it from a still larger aggregation or undesirable and costly members, for it is estimated that the expense to the State of the descendants of Maggie was over a million dollars, and the State itself did something also towards preventing a greater expense by the restrain exercised upon the criminals, paupers, and idiots of the family during a considerable portion of their lives."

11. MODERATION.--Continence, self-control, a willingness to deny himself--that is what is required from the husband. But a thousand voices reach us from suffering women in all parts of the land that this will not suffice; that men refuse thus to restrain themselves; that it leads to a loss of domestic happiness and to illegal amour, or it is injurious physically and morally; that, in short, such advice is useless because impracticable.

12. NATURE'S METHOD.--To such we reply that nature herself has provided to some extent, against overproduction. It is well known that women, when nursing, rarely become pregnant, and for this reason, if for no other, women should nurse their own children, and continue the period until the child is at least nine months or a year old. However, the nursing, if continued too long, weakens both the mother and the child.

13. ANOTHER PROVISION OF NATURE.--For a certain period between her monthly illness, every woman is sterile. Conception may be avoided by refraining from coition except for this particular number of days, and there will be no evasion of natural intercourse, no resort to disgusting practices, and nothing degrading.

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PRENATAL INFLUENCES.

1. DEFINITION.--By prenatal influences we mean those temporary operations of the mind or physical conditions of the parents previous to birth, which stamp their impress upon the new life.

2. THREE PERIODS.--We may consider this subject as one which naturally divides itself into three periods: the preparation which precedes conception, the mental, moral and physical conditions at the time of conjunction, and the environment and condition of the mother during the period of gestation.

3. PROMINENT AUTHORITIES.--A.E. Newton says: "Numerous facts indicate that offspring may be affected and their tendencies shaped by a great variety of influences, among which moods and influences more or less transient may be included."

Dr. Stall says: "Prenatal influences are both subtle and potent, and no amount of wealth or learning or influence can secure exemption from them."

Dr. John Cowan says upon this subject: "The fundamental principles of genius in reproduction are that, through the rightly directed wills of the father and mother, preceding and during antenatal life, the child's form or body, character of mind and purity of soul are formed and established. That in its plastic state, during antenatal life, like clay in the hands of the potter, it can be molded into absolutely any form of body and soul the parents may knowingly desire."

4. LIKE PARENTS, LIKE CHILDREN.--It is folly to expect strong and vigorous children from weak and sickly parents, or virtuous offspring from impure ancestry.

Dr. James Foster Scott tells us that purity is, in fact, the crown of all real manliness; and the vigorous and robust, who by repression of evil have preserved their sexual potency, make the best husbands and fathers, and they are the direct benefactors for the race by begetting progeny who are not predisposed to sexual vitiation and bodily and mental degeneracy.

5. BLOOD WILL TELL.--Thus we see that prenatal influences greatly modify, if they do not wholly control, inherited tendencies. Is it common sense to suppose that a child, begotten when the parents are exhausted from mental or physical overwork, can be as perfect as when the parents are overflowing with the buoyancy of life and health? The practical farmer would not allow a domestic animal to come into his flock or herd under imperfect physical conditions. He understands that while "blood will tell," the temporary conditions of the animals will also tell in the perfections or imperfections of the offspring.

6. HEALTH A LEGACY.--It is no small legacy to be endowed with perfect health. In begetting children comparatively few people seem to think that any care of concern is necessary to insure against ill-health or poverty of mind. How strange our carelessness and unconcern when these are the groundwork of all comfort and success! How few faces and forms we see which give sign of perfect health. It is just as reasonable to suppose that men and women can squander their fortune and still have it left to bequeath to their children, as that parents can violate organic laws and still retain their own strength and activity.

7. RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS.--Selden H. Tascott says: "Ungoverned passions in the parents may unloose the furies of unrestrained madness in the minds of their children. Even untempered religious enthusiasm may beget a fanaticism that can not be restrained within the limits of reason."

In view of the preceding statements, what a responsibility rests upon the parents! No step in the process of parentage is unimportant. From the lovers first thought of marriage to the birth of the child, every step of the way should be paved with the snow-white blossoms of pure thought. Kindly words and deeds should bind the prospective parents more closely together. Not mine and thine, but ours, should be the bond of sympathy. Each should be chaste in thought and word and deed as was Sir Galahad, who went in search of the Holy Grail, saying:

"My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure."

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VAGINAL CLEANLINESS.

1. The above syringes are highly recommended by physicians as vaginal cleansers. They will be found a great relief in health or sickness, and in many cases cure barrenness or other diseases of the womb.

2. CLEANLINESS.--Cleanliness is next to godliness. Without cleanliness the human body is more or less defiled and repulsive. A hint to the wise is sufficient. The vagina should be cleansed with the same faithfulness as any other portion of the body.

3. TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER.--Those not accustomed to use vaginal injections would do well to use water milk-warm at the commencement; after this the temperature may be varied according to circumstances. In case of local inflammation use hot water. The indiscriminate use of cold water injections will be found rather injurious than beneficial, and a woman in feeble health will always find warm water invigorating and preferable.

4. LEUCORRHOEA.--In case of persistent leucorrhoea use the temperature of water from seventy-two to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.

5. THE CLEANSER will greatly stimulate the health and spirits of any woman who uses it. Pure water injections have a stimulating effect, and it seems to invigorate the entire body.

6. SALT AND WATER INJECTIONS.--This will cure mild cases of leucorrhoea. Add a teaspoonful of salt to a pint and a half of water at the proper temperature. Injections may be repeated daily if deemed necessary.

7. SOAP AND WATER.--Soap and water is a very simple domestic remedy, and will many times afford relief in many diseases of the womb. It seems it thoroughly cleanses the parts. A little borax or vinegar may be used the same as salt water injections. (See No. 6.)

8. HOLES IN THE TUBES.--Most of the holes in the tubes of syringes are too small. See that they are sufficiently large to produce thorough cleansing.

9. INJECTIONS DURING THE MONTHLY FLOW.--Of course it is not proper to arrest the flow, and the injections will stimulate a healthy action of the organs. The injections may be used daily throughout the monthly flow with much comfort and benefit. If the flow is scanty and painful the injections may be as warm as they can be comfortably borne. If the flowing is immoderate, then cool water may be used. A woman will soon learn her own condition and can act accordingly.

10. BLOOM AND GRACE OF YOUTH.--The regular bathing of the body will greatly improve woman's beauty. Remember that a perfect complexion depends upon the healthy action of all the organs. Vaginal injections are just as important as the bath. A beautiful woman must not only be cleanly, but robust and healthy. There can be no perfect beauty without good health.

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IMPOTENCE AND STERILITY.

1. Actual impotence during the period of manhood is a very rare complaint, and nature very unwillingly, and only after the absolute neglect of sanitary laws, gives up the power of reproduction.

2. Not only sensual women, but all without exception, feel deeply hurt, and are repelled by the husband whom they may previously have loved dearly, when, after entering the married state, they find that he is impotent. The more inexperienced and innocent they were at the time of marriage, the longer it often is before they find that something is lacking in the husband; but, once knowing this, the wife infallibly has a feeling of contempt and aversion for him though there are many happy families where this defect exists. It is often very uncertain who is the weak one, and no cause for separation should be sought.

3. Unhappy marriages, barrenness, divorces, and perchance an occasional suicide, may be prevented by the experienced physician, who can generally give correct information, comfort, and consolation, when consulted on these delicate matters.

4. When a single man fears that he is unable to fulfill the duties of marriage, he should not marry until his fear is dispelled. The suspicion of such a fear strongly tends to bring about the very weakness which he dreads. Go to a good physician (not to one of those quacks whose advertisements you see in the papers; they are invariably unreliable), and state the case fully and freely.

5. Diseases, malformation, etc., may cause impotence. In case of malformation there is usually no remedy, but in case of disease it is usually within the reach of a skillful physician.

6. Self-abuse and spermatorrhoea produce usually only temporary impotence and can generally be relieved by carrying out the instructions given elsewhere in this book.

7. Excessive indulgences often enfeeble the powers and often result in impotence. Dissipated single men, professional libertines, and married men who are immoderate, often pay the penalty of their violations of the laws of nature, by losing their vital power. In such cases of excess there may be some temporary relief, but as age advances the effects of such indiscretion will become more and more manifest.

8. The condition of sterility in man may arise either from a condition of the secretion which deprives it of its fecundating powers or it may spring from a malformation which prevents it reaching the point where fecundation takes place. The former condition is most common in old age, and is a sequence of venereal disease, or from a change in the structure or functions of the glands. The latter has its origin in a stricture, or in an injury, or in that condition technically known as hypospadias, or in debility.

9. It can be safely said that neither self-indulgence nor spermatorrhoea often leads to permanent sterility.

10. It is sometimes, however, possible, even where there is sterility in the male, providing the secretion is not entirely devoid of life properties on part of the husband, to have children, but these are exceptions.

11. No man need hesitate about matrimony on account of sterility, unless that condition arises from a permanent and absolute degeneration of his functions.

12. Impotence from mental and moral causes often takes place. Persons of highly nervous organization may suffer incapacity in their sexual organs. The remedy for these difficulties is rest and change of occupation.

13. REMEDIES IN CASE OF IMPOTENCE ON ACCOUNT OF FORMER PRIVATE DISEASES, OR MASTURBATION, OR OTHER CAUSES.--First build up the body by taking some good stimulating tonics. The general health is the most essential feature to be considered, in order to secure restoration of the sexual powers. Constipation must be carefully avoided. If the kidneys do not work in good order, some remedy for their restoration must be taken. Take plenty of out-door excercise avoid horseback riding or heavy exhaustive work.

14. FOOD AND DRINKS WHICH WEAKEN DESIRE.--All kinds of food which cause dyspepsia or bring on constipation, diarrhea, or irritate the bowels, alcoholic beverages, or any indigestible compound, has the tendency to weaken the sexual power. Drunkards and tipplers suffer early loss of vitality. Beer drinking has a tendency to irritate the stomach and to that extent affects the private organs.

15. COFFEE.--Coffee drank excessively causes a debilitating effect upon the sexual organs. The moderate use of coffee can be recommended, yet an excessive habit of drinking very strong coffee will sometimes wholly destroy vitality.

16. TOBACCO.--It is a hygienic and physiological fact that tobacco produces sexual debility and those who suffer any weakness on that source should carefully avoid the weed in all its forms.

17. DRUGS WHICH STIMULATE DESIRE.--There are certain medicines which act locally on the membranes and organs of the male, and the papers are full of advertisements of "Lost Manhood Restored", etc., but in every case they are worthless or dangerous drugs and certain to lead to some painful malady or death. All these patent medicines should be carefully avoided. People who are troubled with any of these ailments should not attempt to doctor themselves by taking drugs, but a competent physician should be consulted. Eating rye, corn, or graham bread, oatmeal, cracked wheat, plenty of fruit, etc. is a splendid medicine. If that is not sufficient, then a physician should be consulted.

18. DRUGS WHICH MODERATE DESIRE.--Among one of the most common domestic remedies is camphor. This has stood the test for ages. Small doses or half a grain in most instances diminishes the sensibility of the organs of sex. In some cases it produces irritation of the bladder. In that case it should be at once discontinued. On the whole a physician had better be consulted. The safest drug among domestic remedies is a strong tea made out of hops. Saltpeter, or nitrate of potash, taken in moderate quantities are very good remedies.

19. STRICTLY SPEAKING there is a distinction made between; _impotence_ and _sterility._ _Impotence_ is a loss of power to engage in the sexual act and is common to men. It may be imperfection in the male organ or a lack of sufficient sexual vigor to produce and maintain erection. _Sterility_ is a total loss of capacity in the reproduction of the species, and is common to women.

There are, however, very few causes of barrenness that cannot be removed when the patient is perfectly developed. Sterility, in a female, most frequently depends upon a weakness or irritability either in the ovaries or the womb, and anything having a strengthening effect upon either organ will remove the disability. (See page 249.)

20. "OVER-INDULGENCE in intercourse," says Dr. Hoff, "is sometimes the cause of barrenness; this is usually puzzling to the interested parties, inasmuch as the practices which, in their opinion, should be the source of a numerous progeny, have the very opposite effect. By greatly moderating their ardor, this defect may be remedied."

21. "NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE.--A certain adaptation between the male and female has been regarded as necessary to conception, consisting of some mysterious influence which one sex exerts over the other, neither one, however, being essentially impotent or sterile. The man may impregnate one woman and not another, and the woman will conceive by one man and not by another. In the marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine no children were born, but after he had separated from the Empress and wedded Maria Louisa of Austria, an heir soon came. Yet Josephine had children by Beauharnais, her previous husband. But as all is not known as to the physical condition of Josephine during her second marriage, it cannot be assumed that mere lack of adaptability was the cause of unfruitfulness between them. There may have been some cause that history has not recorded, or unknown to the state of medical science of those days. There are doubtless many cases of apparently causeless unfruitfulness in marriage that even physicians, with a knowledge of all apparent conditions in the parties cannot explain; but when, as elsewhere related in this volume, impregnation by artificial means is successfully practised, it is useless to attribute barrenness to purely psychological and adaptative influences."

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PRODUCING BOYS OR GIRLS AT WILL.

1. CAN THE SEXES BE PRODUCED AT WILL?--This question has been asked in all ages of the world. Many theories have been advanced, but science has at last replied with some authority. The following are the best known authorities which this age of science has produced.

2. THE AGRICULTURAL THEORY.--The agricultural theory as it may be called, because adopted by farmers, is that impregnation occurring within four days of the close of the female monthlies produces a girl, because the ovum is yet immature; but that when it occurs after the fourth day from its close, gives a boy, because this egg is now mature; whereas after about the eighth day this egg dissolves and passes off, so that impregnation is thereby rendered impossible, till just before the mother's next monthly.--_Sexual Science._

3. QUEEN BEES LAY FEMALE EGGS FIRST, and male after wards. So with hens; the first eggs laid after the tread give females, the last males. Mares shown the stallion late in their periods drop horse colts rather than fillies.--_Napheys._

4. IF YOU WISH FEMALES, give the male at the first sign of heat; if males, at its end.--_Prof. Thury._

5. ON TWENTY-TWO SUCCESSIVE OCCASIONS I desired to have heifers, and succeeded in every case. I have made in all twenty-nine experiments, after this method, and succeeded in every one, in producing the sex I desired.--_A Swiss Breeder._

6. THIS THURY PLAN has been tried on the farms of the Emperor of the French with unvarying success.

7. CONCEPTION IN THE FIRST HALF of the time between the menstrual periods produces females, and males in the latter.--_London Lancet._

8. INTERCOURSE in from two to six days after cessation of the menses produces girls, in from nine to twelve, boys.--_Medical Reporter._