The Four Epochs of Woman's Life - Chapters VI-IX



CHAPTER VI.
THE MARRIAGE QUESTION. 
Herbert Spencer's Definition of Love; What Constitutes a Suitable Husband; 
Best Age for Marriage; Shall Cousins Marry? Contraindications to Marriage; 
Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands? the Proper Length of Time for 
the Engagement; the Right Time of the Year to Marry; the Selection of the 
Wedding Day.

"Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, 
 Thy honourable mettle may be wrought 
 From that it is disposed: Therefore, 'tis meet 
 That noble minds keep ever with their likes. 
 For who so firm that cannot be seduced?" 
-- "Julius Caesar."

Herbert Spencer's Definition of Love.-- "Love is habitually spoken of as 
though it were a simple feeling, whereas it is the most compound, and 
therefore the most powerful, of all the feelings. Added to the purely 
physical elements of it, are first to be noticed those highly complex 
impressions produced by physical beauty; around which are aggregated a 
variety of pleasurable ideas, not themselves amatory, but which have an 
organized relation to the amatory feelings. With this there is united the 
complex sentiment we term affection-- a sentiment which, as it can exist 
between those of the same sex, must be regarded as an independent 
sentiment, but one which is here greatly exalted. Then there is the 
sentiment of admiration, respect, reverence, in itself one of considerable 
power, and which in this relation becomes in a high degree active. There 
comes next the feeling called the love of approbation. To be preferred 
above all the world, and that by the one admired above all others, is to 
have the love of approbation gratified in a degree passing every other 
experience, especially as there is added that indirect gratification of it 
which results from the preference being witnessed by others. Further, the 
allied emotion of self-esteem comes into play. To have succeeded in 
gaining such attachment from and sway over another is a proof of power 
which cannot fail to agreeably excite amour propre. Yet again, the 
proprietary feeling has its share in the general activity. There is the 
pleasure of possession, the two belonging to each other. Once more, the 
relation allows of an extended liberty of action. Toward each other a 
strained behavior is requisite. Around each there is a suitable boundary 
that may not be crossed; an individuality on which none may trespass. But 
in this case the barriers are thrown down, and the love of unrestrained 
activity is gratified. Finally, there is an exaltation of sympathies, 
egotistic pleasures of all kinds are doubled by another's sympathetic 
participation, and the pleasures of another are added to the egotistic 
pleasures. Thus around the physical feeling forming the nucleus of the 
whole, are gathered the feelings produced by personal beauty that 
constitutes simple attachments, of self-esteem, of property, of love of 
freedom, of sympathy. These, all greatly exalted and severally tending to 
reflect their excitements on one another, unite to form the mental state 
we call love. And as each of them is comprehensive of multidinous states 
of consciousness, we may say that this passion fans into immense aggregate 
most of the elementary excitations of which we are capable; and that hence 
results its irresistible power." 

What Constitutes a Suitable Husband.-- It is desirable that the husband 
shall be a few years older than the wife. Man is later in coming to 
maturity, and also retains his sexual powers considerably longer than 
woman; so that for these functions to cease about the same time, the wife 
must be younger than the husband. A difference of from two to five years 
is best; if the parties are young, it is not essential that the husband 
should be much the wife's senior, as it is later in life. The husband may 
be ten years older, but a greater disparity of age than this is rarely 
compatible with congeniality of tastes and dispositions, so essential to a 
happy married life. The woman who risks her happiness with a man many 
years younger than herself violates a precept of nature. 

The average stature of the man is about three inches greater than that of 
the woman, and in the physiologic marriage any great deviation from this 
should be avoided. 

The essentials for a happy marriage may be summed up as follows: that the 
parties shall be of suitable age; that they shall be physically well mated 
and in full sympathy with each other's views of life, of the same social 
position, and of equal education. 

The Best Age for Marriage.-- The reproductive life begins with puberty, 
but maturity is not reached before the age of twenty-one. It is only then 
that the standard of development is reached that is most compatible with 
the successful bearing of the grave responsibilities of wifehood and 
motherhood. The too early exercise of the reproductive functions leads to 
increased suffering on the part of the mother, depresses her vitality, and 
increases her liability to disease. Statistics show that the mortality is 
very much greater where girls marry under twenty years of age. 

The offspring are apt to be small and ill developed, and die in large 
numbers in early life; only a small percentage live long and robust lives. 
In France it has been observed that where the fear of conscription has 
caused many young people to marry the offspring were lacking in vigor. 
Among the offspring of immature parents there is a larger proportion of 
idiots, cripples, criminals, scrofulous, insane, and tubercular than among 
the children of nubile parents. 

In our climate women are best fitted to become wives and mothers between 
the ages of twenty-four and twenty-eight years. Before this age neither 
their self-knowledge, their knowledge of the world, nor their experience 
is sufficiently mature to fit them to wisely make the choice of a 
companion for life, or to become mothers. After forty, most women cannot 
hope for children. Men had better wait until between the ages of twenty-
seven and thirty years, before they undertake the responsibilities of 
parenthood. 

Shall Cousins Marry?-- They might if both families were perfectly healthy; 
but as few families are without some lurking predisposition to disease, it 
is not well, as a rule, to run the risk of developing this by too repeated 
unions. 

Contraindications to Marriage.-- Young women in whose family there is a 
distinct history of such hereditary diseases as cancer, tuberculosis, or 
insanity for two generations back, should not marry at all. Not only is 
this a fearful legacy to hand down to their children, but pregnancy and 
child-bearing very decidedly favor the development of these diseases. 

Syphilis in either sex is a distinct bar to marriage; first, the party 
married is sure to contract the disease, even though it may have been 
supposed to have been cured. Fortunately, the children of such marriages 
are generally still-born; still, they do sometimes live, and are most 
pitiable and sickly objects. For any one to marry under these conditions 
is a crime against society, against the State, and against posterity. 

Women who have serious forms of heart disease, tuberculosis, or Bright's 
disease would, by becoming pregnant, run a serious risk of losing their 
lives toward the close of the pregnancy or at the time of their 
confinement. In case of heart disease, the pulmonary congestion that 
accompanies pregnancy, together with the encroachment of the pregnant 
uterus on the cavity of the chest, would greatly add to the embarrassment 
of the heart's action. 

In normal pregnancy there is some congestion of the kidneys; where there 
is actual disease of the kidneys prior to the pregnancy, this congestion 
is apt to become so severe as to threaten the woman's life. These organic 
diseases are not to be confounded with functional diseases which are 
dependent on some other cause; as palpitation of the heart due to 
indigestion, or heart murmurs dependent on the thin state of the blood, or 
congestion of the kidneys due to exposure to cold;-- all of which may be 
cured by proper treatment. 

Should a woman with a fibroid tumor marry, she would run a great risk to 
her life; she should have the tumor removed, or, if this is not possible, 
she should give up all thoughts of marriage, since the increased 
irritation and congestion consequent upon the marital relations would tend 
to favor its growth. Should pregnancy ensue, delivery might be attended 
with serious complications, as very difficult labor, postpartum 
hemorrhage, or, as these tumors have but little vitality, and the pressure 
to which they are subjected during labor is liable to cause their death, 
disorganization, sloughing, and, as a result, puerperal septicemia. 

Sometimes there is such a lack of development of the genital organs as to 
prevent the woman from having children. 

Two persons with even a slight tendency to the same disease, either 
inherited or acquired, should not intermarry, even if they are in 
comparatively good health at the time. Their offspring would be quite sure 
to inherit their diseased tendencies. 

Persons whose constitutions have been somewhat injured, but who are not 
tainted with actual disease, may rear children much healthier than 
themselves, provided their own lives are wisely regulated. If they are 
growing better all the time, and are not too much broken in constitution, 
it may be safe for them to marry. 

Among the Jews the physician is frequently consulted before matrimonial 
alliances are contracted. This custom could not but be of universal 
benefit; many local or general diseases would be eradicated before 
marriage, and in this way much suffering and unhappiness would be spared; 
or, in other cases, the patient would be advised of the inadvisability of 
marriage. 

Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands?-- The manner of life that has 
been led by this class of men is such as to undermine their health, if not 
to have rendered them physical wrecks. There is the overindulgence in 
alcoholic beverages, and perhaps, added to this, some drug habit. In 
addition to this, these men early in their career are apt to become 
infected with some of the venereal diseases, or perhaps with all of them-- 
gonorrhea, syphilis, and so forth; and these diseases have the horrible 
characteristics of becoming latent. A man who contracts this kind of a 
disease can never be really sure that he is cured. All venereal diseases 
are highly contagious. 

It is now a well-established fact that gonnorrheal infection is not only 
one of the most common causes of pelvic inflammations in women, but that 
these same inflammations are of the most virulent types, unless they are 
recognized and treated in the early stages. It is also a well-known fact 
that a large percentage of married women suffer from this disease. 
Sterility almost always results. 

In the case of a syphilitic parent, one or two children may be born, but 
the offspring is generally sickly and diseased. Inebriety as well as 
sexual excesses are both well recognized as distinct forms of disease 
accompanied by degeneracy of brain tissue. It is nothing less than 
criminal for such men to have children, since these children would at 
least inherit the tendency to the same diseases, if they did not actually 
have them; there is also a strong probability of such children being born 
idiots or imbeciles. 

It is therefore self-evident that, instead of a reformed profligate making 
a good husband, he must make a very diseased one. It has therefore been 
suggested that the parents of the prospective bride should demand from the 
intended groom a certificate of freedom from all venereal diseases by a 
physician of their own selection. Also that there should be legislation 
upon the subject, and that before a man is granted a license of marriage, 
he should have a certificate from the health officer of freedom from 
syphilis, gonorrhea, and tuberculosis. 

The Proper Length of Time for the Engagement.-- A period not shorter than 
three months, nor longer than one year, should elapse between the 
engagement and the marriage. 

There are strong physiologic reasons against long engagements: they keep 
the affections and the passions in an excited and unnatural condition, 
which after a time tends to weaken the nervous system and undermine the 
health. These evil consequences are common to both sexes. It is far better 
that the subject of marriage should not be entertained at all unless the 
circumstances are such that the union might with propriety be effected at 
once. 

The Right Time of the Year to Marry.-- When woman marries she enters upon 
a new life, and a very trying one. Extreme heat and extreme cold are both 
very taxing to the human economy. Midsummer and midwinter are therefore 
both objectionable, but especially the former. 

The Selection of the Wedding-day.-- This is by common consent left to the 
bride. She should select a time about ten or fifteen days after the end of 
one of her menstrual periods, as this is the time of comparative 
sterility, and it is most desirable that the first sexual relations should 
be fruitless. 



PART II. -- MARRIAGE.

CHAPTER VII.
THE ETHICS OF MARRIED LIFE.
The Wedding Journey; the Ethics of Married Life; Shall Husband and Wife 
Occupy the Same Bed? the Comsummation of Marriage; the Marital Relation; 
Times when Marital Relations Should be Suspended.

"If it is possible to perfect mankind, the means of doing so will be found 
in the medical sciences."-- DESCARTES. 

The Wedding-journey.-- The wedding-journey, which was formerly the cause 
of so much discomfort to both husband and wife, has fortunately gone out 
of vogue; and in its place has come the retirement to a quiet country or 
seaside spot, away from the prying eyes of friends. Thus the nervous 
strain incident to sight-seeing and travel is avoided. 

The Ethics of Married Life.-- It has been said that God set men and women 
in pairs in order that they might perfect each other and complete each 
other's happiness. The secret of all true happiness in life lies in the 
spirit of altruism; one must be able to wholly forget herself and to find 
her happiness in the welfare of others. 

The woman who exhausts herself physically and financially on the 
preparation of her trousseau and her wedding does her husband a wrong by 
bringing him a wife who is on the verge of nervous prostration. 

The secret of a happy married life depends to no small extent on the very 
beginning: the relation is so entirely new, and much lies hidden in the 
character of each that was never suspected by the other. 

Between husband and wife there must always be mutual concessions, 
forbearance, and sympathy; a mutual helpfulness to attain all that is 
best. This, of course, implies that the life of each is an open book for 
the other to read; that there is an unreserved exchange of thought; and 
that no privilege is claimed by the one that would not willingly be 
accorded to the other. 

"How many men," says Balzac, "proceed with women as the monkey of Cassan 
with the violin; they have broken the heart without knowing it, as they 
have tarnished and disdained the jewel whose secret they never understood. 
Almost all men are married in ignorance of women and of love. They have 
commenced by forcing open the doors of a strange house and have wished to 
be well received in its salon. But the most ordinary artist knows that 
there exists between him and his instrument-- his instrument which is made 
of wood or ivory-- a sort of indefinable friendship. He knows by 
experience that it has taken years to establish this mysterious rapport 
between an inert material and himself. He could not have divined at the 
first stroke all its resources and caprices, its faults and its virtues. 
His instrument only became a soul for him and a source of melody after 
long study; he only came to understand it as two friends after the most 
learned interrogation. 

"So the world is full of young women who grow pale and feeble, sick and 
suffering. The ones are a prey to inflammations more or less severe; the 
others remain under the dominion of nervous attacks more or less violent. 
All these husbands have caused their own unhappiness and ruin. Never begin 
married life with a rape. To demand of a young girl whom one has seen 
forty times in fifteen days to love you because of the law, the king, and 
justice is an absurdity. 

"Love is the union of necessity and of sentiment. Happiness in marriage is 
the result of perfect understanding between the spirits of husband and 
wife. From this it happens that in order to be happy, a man is obliged to 
bind himself to certain rules of delicacy and honor. After taking 
advantage of the social laws which consecrate the necessity, it is 
necessary to obey the secret laws of nature, in order to make the 
sentiments flourish. If a man places his happiness on being loved, it is 
necessary that he should love sincerely; nothing resists a veritable 
passion." 

Shall Husband and Wife Occupy the Same Bed?-- Among civilized nations 
custom differs in this regard; in Germany, for instance, the husband and 
wife occupy separate beds in the same room; formerly in this country it 
was almost the universal custom for husband and wife to occupy the same 
bed. The current of opinion has changed in this respect, and it is now 
considered in the highest interests of both that they shall occupy not 
only separate beds, but separate rooms; these rooms communicating through 
a door which connects their respective dressing-rooms. This is 
unquestionably the best arrangement from the hygienic as well as from the 
ethical point of view. Health requires that one-third of the time shall be 
spent in sleep; the bed was made for sleep; and the most refreshing sleep 
can only be obtained by occupying the bed alone. If two persons occupy the 
same bed and one is restless, the sleep of the other is necessarily 
disturbed. Again, two persons occupying the same bed necessitates the same 
hour for rising and retiring, which is not always convenient or agreeable. 
Balzac writes on this subject: "To put the system of separate bed-rooms 
into practice is to attain to the highest degree of intellectual power and 
of virility. By what syllogism man arrived at establishing as a custom 
that of man and wife sleeping together, a practice so fatal to happiness, 
to health, to pleasure, and even to self-love, would be curious to seek 
out." If for financial reasons it is not possible to have separate bed-
rooms, the German custom of having separate beds should be adopted. 

The Consummation of Marriage.-- The consummation of marriage is often 
attended with difficulty owing to the rigidity of the hymen; this, if 
present, must usually be ruptured before connection takes place. Great 
gentleness and care must be exercised by the husband if it does not 
readily yield, the use of hot vaginal injections should be kept up for 
several weeks before the trial is repeated. These usually relax the parts 
very considerably; but if coitus is still found impossible, it is better 
to consult a physician at once, when a simple operation will generally 
remove the trouble and the woman is spared much suffering. In no case is 
any violence on the part of the husband allowable, as it might produce 
irreparable injuries. 

There is always more or less suffering on the part of the wife at first, 
partly due to the rupture of the hymen, and partly to the forcible 
dilatation of the vagina and she should be allowed a sufficient time for 
nature to repair these injuries. By so doing, the constitutional 
disturbances and the nervous disorders which are so very prevalent may be 
prevented. Too frequent indulgence at this period is a prolific source of 
inflammatory diseases, and often occasions sterility and ill-health. 

The first nuptial relations should be fruitless, in order that any 
indisposition arising therefrom should have had time to disappear before 
the woman becomes pregnant. 

The Marital Relation.-- It is most important for the interest of both 
parties that there should be chastity in the marriage relation as well as 
out of it. Many young couples have had their lives ruined by excessive 
sexual indulgence. The effect is usually most severe upon the husband, yet 
the wife becomes weak, nervous, and excitable. Sexual excess is also the 
grave of domestic affection. The general rule given is that coitus should 
never take place oftener than every seven or ten days. When coitus is 
succeeded by langour, depression, or malaise, it has been indulged in too 
frequently. 

Among civilized people there are three widely diferent views as to the 
proper course to be pursued: 

First, those who maintain that sexual intercourse should not take place 
except for the propagation of the species. 

Second, those who believe that the act is a love relation, mutually 
demanded and enjoyed by both sexes, and serving other purposes besides 
that of procreation. 

Third, those who hold that sexual intercourse is a physical necessity for 
the man, but not for the woman. 

The first theory, "that the sexual relations should never be sustained 
save for the purpose of procreation," has many advocates. They teach that 
there are other uses for the procreative element than the generation of 
offspring, and far better uses than its waste in pleasures. They claim 
that a life of total chastity increases the physical and mental vigor; and 
there will result a procreation on the mental and spiritual planes, 
instead of on the physical ones. 

They also claim that to woman belongs the creative power; that she must 
choose when a new life shall be evolved; and that only by adhering to this 
law can she be protected in the highest function of her being-- the 
function of maternity. 

The adherents of the second theory, "that the act is a love relation, 
mutually demanded and enjoyed by both sexes, and that it serves other 
purposes besides that of procreation," claim that the female sexual life 
indicates that the healthy woman is neither indifferent nor passive in the 
generative act. It has much the same effect as in man-- a powerful 
increase in her sensations, whole groups of muscles are set in motion, and 
the uterus as well as the entire nervous system are in an excited 
condition and activity. And that it is the province of the mother to 
decide when a new life should begin. 

The third theory, "that sexual intercourse is a physical necessity for the 
man, but not for the woman," is by far the most widely accepted. We will 
consider, first, the practical results of this last theory; and, second, 
the scientific basis on which it rests. 

It is generally acknowledged that this practice has done more to cause 
domestic misery, sickness, and death than that dreadful scourge of the 
human race, tuberculosis. 

This man, accustomed all his life to gratify his sexual passions 
promisculously, marries a virtuous young girl. In her menstrual periods 
she has had to do only with the secondary phenomena; with the expulsion of 
the ova not at all. She has had no instruction in the corresponding 
physiologic life of the man, and is astonished at the male sexual 
indications, and is led to believe in their physiologic necessities. The 
result is that she not only suffers physically, but feels outraged and 
disgraced. She is liable to the chance of maternity at any time; and such 
offspring will probably be sickly. 

Passion is presented to the young wife in so hideous a guise that it will 
take the utmost consideration of her husband afterward to enable her to 
completely overcome her repugnance. If she be worn and weary of excesses 
in the early days of her married life, the husband will have only himself 
to blame if he is bound all his life to an apathetic and irresponsive 
wife. Husbands place great strains upon the affections of their wives, and 
lower themselves almost past reinstatement in their respect and esteem. 

Lastly, on what scientific basis does this "physilogic necessity" for 
sexual gratification on the part of the male rest? Analogy with the lower 
animals does not bear it out. Among animals, except in rare instances 
under domestication, the female admits the male in sexual embrace only for 
procreation. Among many savage tribes this same rule has but few 
exceptions. The analogies between the male and the female sexual organs; 
between seminal emissions and menstruation; between the sexual life of the 
male and of the female, only go to accentuate the fact that this so-called 
physiologic necessity on the part of the male has arisen chiefly through 
the difference of education; so that it has come to be that the woman is 
chaste and the man is degraded; that the woman is too sentimental and the 
man too passionate. From a purely medical standpoint, the most eminent 
physicians and physiologists of the day all unite in advocating a chaste 
and continent life, simply for the sake of the man's own health, 
independently of all other considerations. 

Times when Marital Relations Should be Suspended.-- The marital relations 
should always be suspended during the menstrual period. During pregnancy 
intercourse should never, or at least very rarely, be indulged in. At this 
time the mother needs to conserve all her strength and energies for 
herself and child; and any sexual relations during this time increase the 
sufferings of the mother and impair the vitality of the child. It has been 
even suggested that much of the pain during parturition would be avoided 
by entire continence during pregnancy. Intercourse during the early months 
of pregnancy is a frequent cause of abortion. Women who have supposed that 
they have never been pregnant have in reality been having abortions every 
second or third month. 

A woman should never be subjected to coitus until three months after 
delivery. During lactation intercourse should never, or at least very 
rarely, be indulged in; as the function of lactation makes a heavy drain 
on the strength of the mother, and anything which would further weaken her 
would tend to impoverish the quality of the milk and thus the child would 
suffer. 



CHAPTER VIII.
SEXUAL INSINCT IN WOMEN.
Sexual Instinct in Women; Excessive Coitus; Causes of Sexual Excitability.

"Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, 
 Is the best gift of heaven." 
-- ARMSTRONG. 

Sexual Instinct in Women.-- After careful observation of the sexes in the 
married state, it is found that the sexual appetence is less in women than 
it is in men. Much of this difference in sexual appetence is doubtless due 
to the chastity of their lives, coupled with and resulting from the 
difference of education. The girl is taught repression, and the boy 
expression; that girls must be chaste; that chastity for boys is 
impossible. 

According to the intensity of the sexual instinct women have been divided 
into three classes: A larger number than is supposed have little or no 
sexual feeling. Second, those who are subject to strong passion; this 
class is larger than the first, but small as compared with the whole of 
their sex. Third, those in whom the sexual appetite is moderate; this 
class comprises the vast majority of women. 

And, even granting to woman more pleasure in sexual indulgence than 
usually comes to her by largest allowance, it is safe to say that in nine 
cases out of ten maternity, with its early pains and later cares, greatly 
lessens her power of enjoyment; and that for the larger part of her 
married life she is either positively distressed by the apparently 
necessary demands of her husband upon her, and irresponsive to them, or 
kept to a cheerful response by a self-abnegation and regard for his 
comfort, not to say fear of his moral aberration, which is a positive 
drain upon her health and strength. 

Excessive Coitus.-- Those who are most frequently found to suffer from 
venereal excesses are the newly married; especially if they have weak 
constitutions and excitable temperaments. A great deal of mischief is done 
by two persons of unequal constitutions being matched together; the 
husband may exhaust the wife or vice versa, the weaker party being 
constantly tempted to exceed their strength. In all sexual matters there 
must be a consideration for others. It is not so much from selfishness as 
from ignorance that such a mistake is made. The ignorance comes from a 
lamentable morbid delicacy which prevails on all sexual matters, and which 
prevents all open and rational conversation on them, even between those 
who have the most intimate knowledge of each other. 

When the conjugal act is repeated too often, the man will become gradually 
conscious of diminished strength, diminished nerve force, and diminished 
mental powers. Excess weakens a man's energies, and enervates and 
effeminates him. Moreover, it renders him liable to an infinity of 
diseases and a readier victim to death. 

Not only is the strength of the constitution lowered by the excessive 
expenditure of force and matter requisite for the perpetuation of the 
species, but this lowered standard of vitality is transmitted to children. 
There can be but little doubt that this is one of the reasons why so many 
healthy parents beget sickly children, who die early. They have exhausted 
themselves of the material from which a new life is created, and so it is 
not properly started at the beginning and never reaches its highest 
development. To the truth of this statement attests the mental imbecility, 
the pallid and attenuated forms, of the children who are the earlier 
products of marriage. The effect of excessive coitus in women is seen by 
the confirmed ill health of so many women after marriage and repeated 
child-bearing. A large number of these cases are dependent upon alteration 
and diseases of the genitalia; but a considerable number are unconnected 
with local disease, and in many other cases the health is never regained 
after all local phenomena have disappeared. 

Sexual excitement in the woman causes certain congestion of the genital 
organs; and at the time of the orgasm there is a reflex movement which 
corresponds to erection, and which consists of a peristaltic movement of 
the tubes and uterus; to the uterus also is ascribed an act of suction by 
which the spermatozoa are drawn up into its interior. Even when pregnancy 
does not follow, the too frequent excitation and activity of the uterus in 
weak constitutions causes illness, first of the genital organs and then of 
the nervous system. 

Local diseases caused in women by excessive coitus are: vaginal catarrh, 
acute catarrh of the vulva, acute inflammation of the lining membrane of 
the uterus as well as of the uterus itself, inflammation of the ovaries, 
and even peritonitis. It is also known to be an important factor in the 
origin of blood-tumors and of cancer of the uterus. Especially is coitus 
at a time of great physical fatigue liable to be provocative of uterine 
inflammations. Aside from ethical considerations, coitus during the 
menstrual period may be the cause of rupture of the impaired blood-
vessels, thus causing blood-tumors. Excessive coitus is a well-known cause 
of chronic inflammation of the uterus; that is, a habitual congestion of 
the uterus is induced by excessive sexual intercourse. This has been 
frequently mentioned by authors as leading to enlargement of the uterus in 
the non-pregnant condition; and it is a still more potent factor in the 
recently impregnated organ, whose tissues are succulent and the vessels 
enlarged, a condition inviting congestion and enhancing the susceptibility 
to engorgement. 

The general manifestations of impaired health in women due to excessive 
coitus are: chronic anemia, with malnutrition; impaired and altered 
functions in all the organs, especially those of the nervous system. 
Menorrhagia is apt to be induced by overstimulation of the ovaries, 
together with exhaustion and sexual apathy. 

The source of so much misery is the increasing physical weakness of the 
female and the increasing nervous weakness of the male, with an increasing 
sexual excitability, two factors of tragic effect for the wife. Here is 
seen the unfortunate result of teaching two kinds of morals, one for men 
and another for women. 

Causes of Sexual Excitability.-- Too frequent genital irritation, onanism, 
too frequent intercourse, alcohol, too rich and too highly seasoned foods, 
lack of exercise. 

Treatment of Sexual Excitability.-- Avoid alcohol and precocious puberty. 
Strictest attention must be paid to the diet; everything is to be avoided 
which is difficult of digestion or which retards it. The following 
articles of diet must all be avoided: cheese, foods seasoned with pepper 
and curry, highly salted and acid foods, and all rich foods; and meat must 
be eaten only in moderate quantities. Constipation irritates the genitalia 
directly and increases the inflammation. The close relation of Venus and 
Bacchus is known not only in mythology. Carbonated waters are to be 
especially avoided, such as soda, seltzers, Preblauer, Geisshubler, and 
acid waters; also champagne and beer, heavy Italian, Spanish, and English 
wines. All alcoholic drinks must be forbidden. 

As heavy gymnastics as the strength of the individual will admit, and 
plenty of exercise out-of-doors must be taken. There must also be constant 
mental and physical employment. In women sexual excitability is often 
caused by local diseases, and passes off with their cure; if not, she must 
use her will-power, and take the various forms of cold baths. Sexual 
intercourse not oftener than once in two or three weeks, and avoid all 
intimate approaches; if this is not sufficient, she will have to leave her 
husband for a few months. 



CHAPTER IX.
STERILITY.
Sterility; the Prevention of Conception and the Limitation of Offspring; 
the Crime of Abortion; Infidelity in Women.

"Never let yourselves do evil that good may come. If you do, you hinder 
the coming of the real, the perfect good in its due time." 
-- PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

Sterility.-- Conception is least apt to take place from the tenth day 
after one period until the third day before the next; but there is 
practically no time during a woman's sexual life when she may not be 
impregnated; in this connection it must be remembered that the spermatozoa 
stay alive in her for more than a week. 

During lactation women are generally sterile, especially in the first 
months which follow the accouchement, because the vital forces are then 
concentrated on the secretion of milk. 

The age of the wife at the time of marriage has much to do with the 
expectation of children. As the age increases over twenty-five years the 
interval between the marriage and the birth of the first child is 
lengthened. For it has been ascertained that not only are women most 
fecund between twenty and twenty-five years, but that they begin their 
career of child-bearing sooner after marriage than either their younger or 
older sisters. 

A wife who has had children and ceases to conceive for three years will 
probably bear no more. 

When marriages are fruitless, the wife is almost always blamed; but it is 
by no means the wife that is always at fault; many husbands are absolutely 
sterile. Every man is not prolific who enjoys good health and is vigorous. 
Gross states that in one case out of six the sterility was due to the 
male. Kehrer, after a series of carefully conducted experiments, has 
arrived at the conclusion that in at least a third of the cases of sterile 
marriages the husband was the party at fault, and that gonorrhea was the 
cause of the barrenness. 

Venereal diseases have their share of influence, and the gonorrheal 
infection is a potent cause of sterility. It is by no means proved that 
syphilis has any unfavorable influence on conception, though abortions due 
to this are frequent. 

Gonorrhea often prevents conception by the inflammation traveling up the 
womb, and along the Fallopian tubes to the ovaries, whose covering is 
rendered thick and dense, so that the ovum cannot escape, or if it does, 
the fimbriated end of the tube is so agglutinated that it cannot grasp the 
ovum. 

Alcoholism is considered a cause of sterility. It evidently does diminish 
the sexual potency in the male, and for this the female is often blamed. 

It does not follow because a woman has not given birth to a child that she 
has not conceived. The life of an infant for a long time after birth is a 
frail one, and before birth its existence is extremely precarious; it 
often perishes a few days after conception. A period coming on a few days 
late, and at the same time one which is unusually profuse, is the only 
evidence which the young wife may have of an abortion. Among prostitutes, 
the frequent delay of menstruation, then abundant hemorrhage, is in many 
cases only habitual abortion, and leads to changes in the generative 
organs which must result in sterility. A tendency to miscarriage may 
therefore be all that stands in the way of having a family; this can 
frequently be remedied. 

Sexual incompatibility is well known to exist; prominent examples being 
Augustus and Livia; Napoleon and Josephine. It is also a well-known fact 
that frigidity is a cause of barrenness. A short separation of husband and 
wife is often salutary in its influence upon fertility. 

It is a well-established fact that the time immediately before the period, 
but still more that immediately following the period, are the most 
favorable times for conception to take place; the remaining quiet in bed 
of the woman after the generative act is also favorable to conception. 

The most frequent causes of sterility in women are inflammation of the 
lining membrane of the uterus, or of the neck of the uterus, or of both. 
The source of this condition in women who have had children is most 
frequently due to parturition or abortion. In the newly married it may be 
due to a previously existing slight uterine catarrh in a displaced uterus, 
or it may be a manifestation of a run-down state of the system. In a 
majority of the newly married, however, the inflammation of the 
endometrium is probably due to the first efforts at conjugal approach. 
Many young women as the result of the preparation of the trosseau, 
augmented by a round of gaities at the time of marriage, enter the married 
state in a condition bordering on physical and nervous exhaustion; and 
then begin engorgements and inflammations which lead to future suffering 
and to sterility. Displacements and flexions of the uterus also cause 
sterility. Such displacements of the neck of the uterus may occur that, 
instead of lying in a pool of semen, as it should, it is above, in front 
of, or away from it, and this may prevent conception. 

Vulvar and vaginal hyperesthesia, inflammations of the vulva, undue 
shortness of the vagina, unless great care is exercised by the husband, 
will induce painful coitus, and may bring about sterility by favoring the 
formation of a copulation sac outside of the axis of the uterine canal, 
and consequently misdirection of the semen. 

Scrofula, probably by its effects on the general condition, leading to 
deficient development of the whole body, the genital organs included, may 
be productive of sterility. 

The female being less passionate than the male, the orgasm comes on later 
with her, or the male orgasm occurs so soon that she may not reach that 
stage at all. If both were simultaneous, it is reasonable to suppose that 
conception would be more likely to occur. 

Ovulation is doubtless more frequently performed in some women than in 
others. Some women conceive with more or less regularity every fifteen or 
eighteen months, and others at intervals of several years. 

The effect of repeated coition, provided that impregnation does not take 
place at once, is to engorge the uterine vessels, to alter the nature of 
the glandular secretions, to cause profound reflex disturbances, and thus 
to produce such changes in the endometrium as to lead to local 
inflammation and to general nervous exhaustion. Backache, leucorrhea, and 
irritable bladder are the first symptoms of this disorder; but frequently 
there are added to these, headache, indigestion, rectal tenesmus, painful 
and profuse menstruation. In many cases the disease continues in a mild 
catarrhal form, giving the woman little inconvenience besides the slight 
leucorrheal discharge which stains her clothing; but often this is 
indicative of such a change of the lining membrane of the uterus as to 
render it unfit for the fixation and development of the ovum, even should 
impregnation take place. 

Under normal conditions, during the intermenstrual period, a plug of clear 
viscid mucus, which is secreted by the glands of the cervical canal, 
blocks up that passage, but is washed away each month by the menstrual 
discharge. Under ordinary conditions this obstruction must seriously 
interfere with the entrance of the spermatozoa into the cavity of the 
uterus, and renders the former theory, recently revived by Bossi, quite 
tenable, that impregnation is most likely to occur just after the 
menstrual epoch. 

The vaginal secretion under certain pathologic conditions may become so 
acid that it induces sterility. Women who suffer m severe vaginal catarrh 
are frequently sterile, the spermatozoa being found dead in the vagina 
some hours after copulation, although an examination a shorter time 
afterward revealed them still alive. In cases where conception takes place 
in spite of a very acid condition of the vaginal secretion, it is probable 
that some of the spermatozoa enter the uterus before the secretion has had 
time to act on them, or possibly the spermatozoa being injected in a mass, 
the acid secretion is unable to penetrate and kill them all. 

The reaction of the normal vaginal mucus is always acid, that of the 
cervix alkaline; but as the result of the inflammatory condition, the 
reaction of each is often intensified, especially that of the vagina, 
which has an exceedingly sour and penetrating odor. This acid discharge, 
bathing the neck of the uterus, penetrates more or less into the cervical 
plug and causes coagulation of the alkaline mucus. 

The chief constituent of the semen is albumin; agents which affect 
albuminous substances influence the functional activity of the 
spermatozoa-- heat, concentrated acids, and probably concentrated 
alkalies. In normal conditions the alkalinity of the seminal fiuid seems 
to be sufficient to neutralize the acidity of the vaginal secretions, so 
that the spermatozoa may remain seventeen days or more (Bossi) within the 
vaginal canal, even during a menstrual period, without having their 
vitality destroyed. 

When hyperacidity of the vaginal secretion is present, it is probable that 
the fertilizing element is at once rendered inert; but should some of the 
spermatozoa succeed in reaching the interior of the cervical canal, the 
increased alkalinity of the secretion there would in all probability put 
an end to all further progress. 

The conditions, then, which appear to prevent fecundation are: First, the 
absence of the proper nidus for the ovum; second, the obstruction of the 
cervical canal by a mucus plug; third, increased alkalinity of the 
cervical secretion, often accompanied by the increased acidity of the 
vaginal secretion. Three conditions must, then, be determined: First, are 
there spermatozoa in the semen? Second, do they get into the uterocervical 
canal? Third, do the secretions in the canal poison the spermatozoa? 

"For those who are very anxious for offspring," wrote Marion Sims, "I 
usually order sexual intercourse on the third, fifth, and seventh days 
after the flow has ceased; and on the fifth and third days before its 
return. For the most obvious reasons this would always be before going to 
bed at night, instead of just before rising in the morning. The horizontal 
position favors the retention of semen; the erect its expulsion. I am 
satisfied that too frequent sexual indulgence is fraught with mischief to 
both parties. It weakens the semen; in other words, that this is not so 
rich in spermatozoa after too frequent indulgence; and when carried to the 
extent of a debauch, the fiuid ejaculated may be wholly destitute of 
spermatozoa. Thus it will be seen that it will be much better to husband 
the resources of both man and wife." 

The Prevention of Conception and the Limitation of Offspring. -- Some of 
the contraindications to procreation are when either parent suffers from a 
disease which is transmissible, and such diseases frequently manifest 
themselves only after marriage; when the pregnancy would endanger the 
mother's life, or even where the pregnancy is a nine months' torture to 
her; where either parent is suffering from ill health; or where for 
economical reasons no more children are desired. 

If there exists no condition in either parent or in their circumstances 
why they should not have children, the next consideration due to their 
children, is how the same may be procreated under the most favorable 
conditions possible; this condition can only be secured by making the 
circumtsances such that the mother shall be able to choose the time for 
their conception when both parents are in the best physical condition. 
That children should be brought into the world haphazard, as the result of 
accident, is to degrade the human race below that of the lower animals, 
where the female admits the male only at the time of the rut, which in the 
majority of cases occurs only once a year. 

Another requisite to bearing healthy children is that the pregnancies 
shall not follow each other too rapidly. Aside from the consideration for 
the health of the mother herself, she must be in good physical condition 
to bear the healthiest children she is capable of giving birth to; and for 
this there must be from two and a half to three years between the 
successive pregnancies. The results of overproduction on the children are 
frequently, that they are sickly, short-lived, or suffer from rickets, 
cerebral paralysis, idiocy, or imbecility. 

And last, but certainly not least, many women become chronic invalids, or 
are hastened to premature graves, by having children as fast as they 
possibly can. 

The most natural and moral way for the artificial prevention of 
conception, when on account of ill health or for economic reasons no more 
children are desired, is to abstain from sexual intercourse. But in the 
majority of cases the husband will not agree to this, and so the greatest 
number of methods have come to be used to prevent conception. 

Perhaps the most frequent method use to prevent conception is withdrawal 
before the ejaculation of semen. While this is most injurious to the 
husband-- debility, nervous prostration, and even paralysis are said to 
ensue-- the health of the wife also suffers. If, this interrupted sexual 
congress is continued for years, there develop gradual nervous 
disturbances on both sides, and a serious disease of the uterus makes 
itself felt. The generative organs become engorged with blood, but are not 
permitted to enjoy relaxation consequent upon the full completion of the 
act. This engorgement may lead to undue local nutrition, and diffuse 
growth and proliferation of the connective tissue may take place. Hence 
the uterine walls become dense and thickened and the nerves compressed. Of 
course, pain and tenderness and a sense of bearing down will be the 
result. Flexions and versions may be consequent upon the engorgement. The 
nerves become shattered, and the woman will be fortunate if she contracts 
no serious womb trouble. 

"It is strange," says John Stuart Mill, "that intemperance in drink or any 
other appetite, should be condemned so readily, but that incontinence in 
this respect should always meet not only with indulgence, but with praise. 
Little improvement can be expected in morality until the producing of too 
large families is regarded with the same feeling as drunkenness, or any 
other physical excess." 

Sismondi writes: "When our true duties toward those whom we give life are 
not obscured in the name of a sacred authority, no man will have more 
children than he can properly bring up. If a woman has a right to decide 
any question it is how many children she should bear. Whenever it becomes 
unwise that the family should be increased, justice and humanity require 
that the husband should impose on himself the same restraint which is 
submitted to by the unmarried." 

In the opinion of Dr. Edward Reich, it is very much to be wished that the 
function of conception should be placed under the domain of the will. But 
the strongest appeal has been made for the sake of morality itself; 
namely, to prevent the crime of abortion. Dr. Raciborski, of Paris, took 
the position that the prevention of offspring to a certain extent is not 
only legitimate, but it is to be recommended as a means of public good. 

Continence, self-control, and a willingness to deny himself-- that is what 
is required of the husband. But suffering women assure us that this will 
not suffice; that men refuse to restrain themselves; that it leads to loss 
of domestic happiness, to illegitimate amours; or that it is injurious 
physically and mentally; that, in short, such advice is useless because it 
is impracticable. 

Dr. Napheys writes: "Is it amiss to hope that science will find resources, 
simple and certain, which will enable a woman to let reason and sound 
judgment, not blind passions, control the increase of her family?" 

The Crime of Abortion.-- From the moment of conception a new life begins, 
a new individual exists; another child is added to the family. The mother 
who deliberately sets about to destroy this life by want of care, or by 
taking drugs, or by the use of instruments, commits a great crime, and is 
just as guilty as if she strangled her new-born infant. The crime she 
commits is child-murder. Women in their frenzy at finding themselves in 
this condition, and with no slightest idea of the sin that they are 
committing, are constantly guilty of committing abortions on themselves, 
or going to professional abortionists to have this crime of child-murder 
committed. This is another of the sins due to the ignorance of the sex in 
all matters pertaining to reproduction; and it is a fearfully prevalent 
one. 

Infidelity in Women.-- "We have now reached the last infernal circle of 
the divine comedy of marriage; we are at the depths of the inferno. There 
is something, I do not know what, terrible in the situation in which a 
married woman finds herself when an illegitimate love has ruined her for 
the duties of a wife and mother. As has been so well and strongly 
expressed by Diderot, infidelity in woman is like incredulity in a priest; 
it is the last step in human forfeitures; it is for her the great social 
crime, for it implies all the others. 

"Weigh the sufferings of the future, the agonies of years by the ecstasy 
of half an hour. If this conservative sentiment of the creature, the fear 
of death, does not stop her, what could be expected of laws? Oh, sublime 
infamy!"-- (Balzac).