THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE SEXUAL INSTINCT ITS USE AND DANGERS AS AFFECTING HEREDITY AND MORALS. Essentials to the Welfare of the Individual AND THE Future of the Race BY JAMES FOSTER SCOTT B.A. (Yale University), M.D., CM. (Edinburgh University) LATE OBSTETRICIAN TO COLUMBIA HOSPITAI, FOR WOMEN, AND LYING-IN ASYLUM, WASHINGTON, D. C; LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL ASSO- CIATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ETC., ETC. 1 l» > « > ' , , , ■ ■ O.J 1 «" I » ». ^ too > *., o i ' • '' >; ",'. >f ">" NEW YORK E. B. TREAT & C0M:F»ANY 241-243 West Twenty-third Street 1902 Copyright, 1898 By E. B. TREAT & COMPANY New York • • •• • • t • • • 1 • • • _ • _ • • « • • • • • • ■ • 1. • • • • - - « • • • • •• • • ft • • 1 • • • > • • • • • • • • • • o • • • • • • • •• • • > • • • • •...• • • • • • • • a • •• • • • • « • • • • • •••:.: « • • .". ••• • • • « • • • • • • • • • ^ • • • • . • •• • • .• • • • • • • • « • • • • V . • • • • . • • • •*..• • • ••• • • « • • • • • • • • • • V ,•• • • ;,• • • • • ••• ... .. • ••• !•• • • • • . • •• • • • • • « • • • • • • ■ S^-IL^^ xt " If it is possible to perfect mankind, the means of doing so toill he found in the medical sciences." Descartes. PREFACE. This book contains much plain talking, for which I offer no defence. Its justification will be found in the body of the work. To see men give rein to their animal passions, sub- jecting themselves and others to so many risks of "^ which they are ignorant, is intensely saddening. ^7 Jeremy Taylor says: "It is impossible to make peo- ple understand their ignorance, for it requires knowl- edge to perceive it ; and, therefore, he that can perceive it hath it not. " Eeaders will pardon me for saying that my object is to make them understand their ignorance — to enable them to perceive it so that they may have it not. The design of this work is to furnish the non-pro- fessional man with a sufficiently thorough knowledge of matters pertaining to the sexual sphere — knowledge ^ which he cannot afford to be without. V Ever mindful of the saying of Huxley, that " knowl- >j^^ edge does not go beyond phenomena," I have endeav- ■?L ored to convey this knowledge in language free as far as possible from technical terms and intelligible to laymen. My endeavor has been to avoid generaliza- 35378(> 6 PREFACE. tion, vagueness and indefiniteness — to truthfully pre- sent physical and ethical facts — not evading unpleasant topics, nor yet transgressing the limits of propriety. Science strips all draperies from the objects it ex- amines, and, in the search after truth, sees no indeco- rum in any earnest line of study, and recognizes no impropriety in looking at objects under an intense light and in good focus. I have conscientiously avoided making any state- ment of fact which I believe to be debatable, and have formulated nothing which I fear to present to the tests of time or criticism. The future prospects of humanity, of course, rest in the sexual domain of those who are now living, and none will dispute that the degradation of mankind is due more to sexual irregularity than to any other cause. It is commonly said that it is a hopeless task to turn the stream of the sexual activities into orderly chan- nels. So also is it a hoj)eless task to do away with murder, theft, drunkenness, lying, and other preva- lent misdeeds. Evils, however, can be mitigated, if not cured, if we subject them to a philosophical analy- sis, which may suggest remedies. Civilization has very slowly come to the race ; and the tribes, originally barbarous, have required long periods of development for their higher enlighten- ment. The operation of Natural Law is leisurely, but unerring in its regular correlation of causes with definite effects ; thus if the individual maintain him- self as a desirable ancestor, the blessings of his self- restraint will, by the operation of the law of the "sur- vival of the fittest," accrue to his posterity, who tend to increase in the ratio of a geometrical progression. PREFACE. 7 On the other hand, the progeny of the careless and the faulty will surely be affected, physically or psychically, or both. In fairness to myself it must be stated that my knowledge of these subjects has been acquired through legitimate channels. Upon my very entrance into university life my attention was first directed to the subject by an address from the late President Porter of Yale University ; then came the experience as a medical student at Edinburgh, Vienna and London ; then a residence of two and a half years in a hospital devoted exclusively to obstetrics and the diseases of women, followed by several years more of hospital and private practice. Thus I have learned to appreciate and respect the role of women in nature, and to abhor the ignorance which will permit men to throw aside the elements of their manhood — veracity, cleanliness, health, and fit- ness for ancestorship. Such men I have seen by hun- dreds in the venereal wards of hospitals and at large. I have made it a point to discuss the subject-matter of this work with several widely different kinds of ad- visers — men of science, doctors, ministers, lawyers, and with quite a large number of "men about town." Some of it has also been prudently discussed with women. It is noteworthy that these various classes of coun- sellors, who surely afford the fairest test, agree with what has been said ; and perhaps the most emphatic assent of all comes from men of loose morals — many of whom, I have cause to believe, have, through free dis- cussion upon the various points in this work, been led to abandon illicit indulgence. 8 PREFACE, Painful as it is to treat subjects so repulsive, a man cannot choose his duty, nor can he honestly evade it. Therefore, knowing of no other book of like character, I present this as the best effort of which I am at pres- ent capable for the preservation of the individual and the welfare of the race. James Foster Scott. Note. — Owing to Dr. Scott's absence from the country while his work was going through the press, he committed the final revision and proof-reading to a medical friend. A very considerable abridgment has been found necessary to bring the book within the re- quired limit of size and price. If, therefore, a want of continuity or of completeness be found in any portion, the responsibility rests upon the reviser and not upon the author. The few notes added by the reviser are signed "Ed." Washington, D.C. October, 1898. CONTENTS. Chapter I. — Introductory — The Sexuatj Instinct and the Im- portance OP A Just Appreciation of its Influence. PAGE Self-preservation and the sexual instinct the two chief impulses which govern human action — Importance of rightly compre- hending the sexual side of one's nature — Sin luxuriates in ignorance and secrecy — Enemies of posterity — Fatherhood and justice to offspring — Character chiefly developed during de- velopmental period — Laws of nature and morality coincide — The grave responsibilities incurred in the lustful life — Chil- dren of the vigorous tend to survive, while the progeny of the vicious tend to become eliminated — Nature leisurely in pun- ishing — No pardon granted for sins against the body — The aftermath of lust which physicians see— No animal so bad as some men — Perfect continence compatible with health — Self- control and altruism — Pure glow of the sexual functions is the well-spring of all the majestic qualities of man — Impairment of sexual vigor a terrible calamity — Ethical defect associated with vitiation of it — Danger for every uuinstructed man — Conscience, duty and sympathy racial instincts — Heredity, the past at work in the present — Progeny of the impure, sons and daughters alike, tend to have a surcharge of erotic inclina- tion — Man, like the animals, should at the least show an equal- ity toward his female, . 17 CHAPTER II. — Physiology of the Sexual Life. The stages of human life — Contrasts between the sexes — Woman's sexual Tole in nature more important — Changes in the male — Changes in the female— Chivalry should always be shown to women — Influence of the reproductive glands on mind and body — Care of the i^ubescent child — Periodicity the law in women — Causes which predispose to masturbation — Children to be taught self-mastery — Puberty the formative and critical period of life — Prudent enlightenment of children essential — Sociability of the sexes a safeguard — Man zoologically classi- fied with the animals— The female more distinctly sexual— 10 CONTENTS. PAOB Nubility, or the proper age for marriage — Female marriage- able before the male — The climacteric, ..... 47 Chaptkr III. — A Proper Calculation op the Consequences of Impurity from the Personal Standpoint. Greatest happiness principle — Two classes of men, the pure and the impure — Chastity a battle royal — Sexual inclinations pow- erful when maturity is reached — Directing iutluence of the sexual instinct — The fountain-source of love — Pure girls often degraded by marriage — Fornicators almost sure to become dis- eased — Sowing of " wild oats" reserved by men for themselves — Brothel inmates and the kind of men who frequent them — Prostitutes not soulless creatures — Venereal diseases exceed- ingly grave — The kind of men seen in venereal dispensaries — Bad work of charlatans — Venereal patients are poisonous ani- mals — Fallen men the enemies of society — Purity of life the greatest incentive to marriage — Intercourse with harlots pol- lutes the mind — Real love — A travesty of love — Varieties of impotence — Percentage of unhappy marriages — The secret of happy marriages — Health not dependent on sexual indulgence — Reproductive glands do not atrophy from disuse — All repu- table scientists advocate purity and self-control — Sexual dis- eases practically never seen in the chaste — Prostitutes treated as wild animals — Woman's honor rests on man's sympathy — Importance of heredity — A chaste man described — The pro- geny of the impure — Reform easier for men than for women — Adultery — Only the chaste feel the pure glow of sexual pas- sion 73 Chapter IV. — Woman, and the Unmanliness op Degrading Her. Woman's rule in nature — Womanly attributes — Manly attributes — Women's gentler qualities unfit them for meeting men on an equal footing — Why men venerate their mothers — Woman's and man's strength contrasted— Woman's sexual feeling strong, while sensuality is weak in her — Man the glory and the shame of the world — Normal man deeply chivalrous to the female sex — Impurity destroys sense of chivalry — Manliness dependent on purity — The essentials of manliness — The impure man lays down the crown of manhood — Defenceless girls the chief suf- ferers—The nature of the love of men and women — Sexual damage destroys capacity to be a lover — Sexuality at the bot- tom of all true conjugal love — Platonic love — Sexual feelings exercise a directive power over most human activities — Wo- CONTENTS. 11 PAGE man the most exalted of created beings — Man's love not so deep and lasting — Romantic love — Woman shows the marks of sin permanently — Woman's true sphere — Her safety lies in higher education — Franchise for women — Age of consent — Unjust legislators — Brutish men the excreta of society and con- sequently they should be set apart, 119 Chapter V. — Some op the Influences which Incite to Sexual Immokality. Abuse of spirituous liquors — Dancing is a secondary sexual love- feast — " Girl of the period " overdressed— Ornamentation de- signed to sexually attract the opposite sex— Fetichism, or in- dividual preferences — Feminine modesty put to severe strain in ball-room— lV;e modern stage — Modern tendency erotic and sensuous — Glorification of vice — Ladies have no excuse for patronizing indecent plays — The stage no place for pure wo- men — The nude and the vulgar in rtr<— Legitimate art elevating — Nature and true art not at variance — Modern art tending to vulgarity — Employment of female models — Demoralizing lit- ■^ erature — Daily press — "Women welcomed by the public only when they amuse — Society seeks pleasure before all else — De- cent members of the community should have higher standards, 147 Chapter VI. — Prostitution and the Influences that Lead a Woman into Such a Life. I Jl'ature of the harlot's work — Penalties all heaped on her — The fallen man more to blame — Woman's extremity too often man's opportunity — Numerous influences which draw women astray f — The lustful passion in women — Prostitutes mostly from lower walks of life— Seduction — Harlotry and drunkenness go hand in hand — Poverty — Starvation wages— Stores, factories \^ and "sweat-shops"— Familiarity and disrespect from men— ' Absence of religious training and belief — Fallen women de- / barred from churches while their paramours are welcomed — Abandonment of wives and false marriages — " .^assage par- lors"— Clandestine prostitutes— Cost of prostitution— Happi- ness for the fallen woman impossible— Suicide frequent — Physical results deplorable to both sexes— Men, not women, the ones to be appealed to — Double standard of morality — If prostitution is necessary, the work cf reformation is a mistake —Civilization somewhat protected by the sterility of profligate men and women— The law of "survival of the fittest" protects 12 CONTENTS. PAOB the race — No man can retainJiis character as a gentleman who allows himself to be classed with such people, . . . 169 Chapter VII. — The Regulation op Prostitution. Some countries enter into the business— Object of regulation is to protect society, but the exact opposite maintains — Abandon- ment of the system in many parts of Europe — Results of the wicked regulation system — Three methods of dealing with prostitution — Let-alone system — Regulation system — Repres- sive system — A judicious repressive system the only proper course — Laws cannot be just when they clash with nature, . 203 Chapter VIII. — Criminal Abortion. Illegitimacy or criminal abortion the goal of lust — Consequences accrue to mother and babe — Foeticide equivalent to murder — Semen — Its sole design is for procreation— Xo time in a wo- man's sexual life when she may not be impregnated — Physi- ology of reproduction and development — Female reproductive elements svipplied monthly independently of the woman's will — Conception and the development of the foetus — Life begins at moment of impregnation — The process more wonderful than a miracle, because it is constantly happening instead of only once — Definition of abortion — Historical — Enormous prevalence of the crime to-day — Evil work of the press in advertising charlatans and nostrums — Therapeutic, or justifiable abortion — Ineffectual punishment of criminal abortion — The abortion- ist described — Risks and dangers of tlie act — Severe hemor- rhage and blood-poisoning the rule — The surgeon's method in inevitable abortions — The abortionist's methods — Women rarely regain complete health after criminal abortion — The glories of maternity — "Women stand at the summit of nature — The infant is the "tutor for the affections" of its parents — Sexual intercourse the highest expression of love — Highest function of a true man is to protect the woman with whom he has mated and also their offspring — Man but the crown of wo- man's glory — Criminal abortion the most unnatural of all crimes— No possible defence — The act shown to be a gross perversion and an ignominious downfall from true manhood or true womanhood, 229 Chapter IX. — Gonorrhcea. Gonorrhoea a serious malady — A prevalent and formidable disease — Historical — Seemingly trifling at first, it tends to do irrep- CONTENTS. 13 PAQK arable damage — Definitions of venereal diseases — Eighty per cent of men are said to have had gonorrhoea at some time in their lives — Gonorrhoea does not taint the blood in the same yv&j that syphilis does— Duo to the growth of the " gonococcus" — Gleet — Any mucous membrane may be attacked — Signs, symptoms and mode of onset of go noivha'a— The various stages — All venereal diseases are elective diseases — Period of incuba- tion—Convalescent stage often prolonged for years — Relapses- Internal remedies alone inadequate to effect a cure — Treatment ofaeute gonorrhea— A description of the treatment gives a clearer insight into the nature of the disease — Ptomains — Gonorrhoeal cases difficult to treat on account of the secrecy required, lying propensities of patients and their bad habits— The abortive method— The general methods— Combined use of irrigations and internal remedies— Chronic gonorrJum — Gleet may remain for years — Tendency for gonorrhoea to remain latent — One at- tack affords no immunity — Spermatorrhoea- Difficulties in de- ciding when a cure is attained — Danger in marriage with such men — 2 he complications of gonorrhcea — Varieties — Damage may become apparent only after tlie lapse of years after patient had supposed himself cwxed— Stricture of urethra — Slow in devel- opment — Constant tendency to grow worse— Urine tends to become foul— Bladder inflammation— Urinary fistulae— Abscess of ■pTostate^Epididi/mitis the most common complication of gonorrhoea— It tends to produce sterility — Inflammation of seminal vesicles — Various other complications in the male, e.g., inflammation of prostate gland, prostatorrhoea, cowperitis, bal- anitis, etc. — Treatment, 307 Gonorrhoea in Women. Gonorrhoea not usually early recognized in the female— Conclu- sions of various authorities— Gonorrhoea in women more se- vere and fatal than syphilis— Mode of onset and gravity of re- sults— Jfcute and chronic forms— Invasion of uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries and peritoneum— Sterility from gonorrhoea- "One-child sterility"— Women usually infected innocently by reformed husbands who were never cured, or by profligate hus- bands, ^'^5 Complications of Gonorrhcea Common to Both Sexes. Inflammation of kidneys and bladder— Buboes— Peritonitis— Gonor- rhoea! rheumatism— Affections of heart and pyaemia- Con- 14 CONTENTS. PAQB junctivitis and ophthalmia — Affections of skin — Gonorrh(m, in the infant — Blindness often results — Any mucous membrane may be infected, 389 Chapter X. — Chancroid. Otherwise called "soft chancre" — Cause— Mode of onset — Fre- quency—Complications — Treatment 395 Chapter XI. — Syphilis. History — Its malignancy among aborigines — Its nature — It is infec- tious, inoculable and transmissible to posterity — The " initial lesion, " or "hard chancre"— Caused, probably, by the bacillus of Lustgarten — Acquired and hereditary forms— Modes of ac- quiring it— Primary, secondary and tertiary stages— Syphilitic patients should be quarantined during active stages — Hered- itary syjyhills — No initial lesion — no well-defined stages — Trans- mission may be from either or both parents — Abortions frequent in syphilis — If born, the child is usually a blasted creature — Shocking complications — Syphilis and marriage — In strict justice syphilitics should not be allowed to marry — Treatment in syphilis 399 Chapter XII. — Onanism. Definition — Predisposing causes — Varieties — Results — Injury to body and mind — Evil effects chiefly expended on the nervous system — Self-control becomes weakened — The imagination and the liner endowments of the individual suffer the greatest dam- age — Onanist may be impotent to copulate or to procreate — He becomes the counterfeit of a man in cases where excess is great — Treatment 419 Chapter XIII.— The Perversions. Definition — Sexually over-stimulated ancestors and evil environ- ment largely the cause — Erotic fetichism — A purely psycho- logical phenomenon — Importance of impressions received at puberty — Various fetiches — Sadism — Desire to inflict cruelty — Lust-murder — Mutilation and defilement of corpses — Injury to women — Sadistic acts on animals — Sadism in women — Maso- chism — Desire for abuse and humiliation — Masochism in women — Sexual hundagc — Contrary sexual instinct — Pederasty — Incest — OtJier gross acts 2yunishable by law, 433 ( CHAPTER I. INTKODUCTION. THE SEXUAL INSTINCT AND THE mPORTANCE OF A JIJ8T APPRECIATION OP ITS INFLUENCE. The strongest of all instincts, pertaining in common to ,:all living beings, mankind included, is admittedly that of <\^^-^lf^Preservation. The second strongest instinct is the of'' Sexual, or the instinct of propagation. These are funda- mental and permanent, whether consciously recognized or not. Upon due reflection, and interpreted broadly, it will be appreciated that the sexual instinct has been deeply stamped upon the individuality of every normal person. And we may safely go so far as to say that the two chief, if not sole, influences which govern all human endeavor and action are these innate propensities of self -conservation and the desire for the reproduction of the species. The instinct of self-preservation leads us to do those things which will bv3 of material advantage to us in assur- ing health and prosperity ; and in fulfilment of this law we are impelled to a steady application to business or other pursuits by which we may accumulate property, and are led to conform to moral restraints and laws for our welfare in this world, and for a deliverance from the penalties of sin, of which we stand in more or less fear, in the life to come. In the process of the building up of our civilization we cannot fail to observe that the confidence in an immortal life beyond the grave has exerted a tremendous influence 2 18 HEREDITY AND MORALS. upon our conduct in this life, so tliat we not infrequently go contrary to our desires out of an extra-rational motive of altruism, largely tlirough a feeling of love to our neigh- bors, and partly on account of the hope of ultimate advan- tage to ourselves. In this respect, the instinct of seK-preservation in man- kind admits of a wider interpretation than it does in the lower animals ; for with us our hopes extend to at least some feeling of reliance in a future state; and it need hardly be pointed out that in the physiology of mankind there is a fixed correlation of the moral and physical natures. With us, therefore, the principle of self-preserva- tion is to no small degree modified by altruism, by which influence we have the power of progress ; and not seldom the rudiments of a self-sacrificing morality are also to be found among the inferior animals. The sexual instinct irresistibly attracts to each other individuals whose generative organs difi'er in physical characteristics, anatomically and physiologically, and it insures the development of families and the perpetuation of the race. It makes one ]')roud of his manhood or of her womanhood, and is in fact the indispensable quality which marks the j)erfect man or perfect woman. " Sexual love is the passion which unites the sexes. The stimulating impressions produced by health, youth, and beauty, and ornaments and other artificial means of attrac- tion, are all elements of this feeling. . . . Around the sex- ual appetite as the leading element there are aggregated manj' different feelings, such as admiration, pleasure of possession, love of freedom, self-esteem, and love of appro- bation. A complete analysis of love would fill a volume." ' It is this instinct which is the source of most that is pure and noble in us ; and if we were bereft of it there would be an arrest of development of all our virile qualities. From it arise our love for home, our rivalry in sports, our ' Westermarck, " History of Human Marriage, " p. 356. INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 19 desire to associate with the opposite sex, our delight in music, poetry, romance, ornamentation, sculjiture, i)aint- ing, and all the attributes of art. Without it, emulation would sleep and virtue flee, and we should be as those who are emasculated or as those whose potency is in anj way impaired — cowardly, unfit for battle, without the distinc- tive qualities of sexual beauty, flabby in muscle, inferior in mental power, lacking in moral sense, and disinclined to courtship. With its disappearance would come the extinction of the family line, while with its vitiation are transmitted to one's offspring evil tendencies which api^ear in multitudinous forms in the provinces of immorality, criminality, insanity, perversit}^, and various other defects traceable to hereditary influence. Every normal individual has unmistakable evidences of sexual longings and desire, and from this domain come those impulses which are foremost in our careers. Consequently it is every man's duty to rightly under- stand this part of his nature, and to have a full compre- hension of the consequences which surely follow upon the vitiation or perverse use of his generative functions. The ^exual _power, if properly subjugated, is capable of uj)lifting man to the highest levels ; but if given license it m^Tbear-iiim: diTR^ir'to~tlie' lowest depths of infamy and disj^ggg, and bring _ down in t he calastrophe^others whose lires^^d fortunes are bound uj) with his. ItTs, then, alnischievoush'- stupid thing to be ignorant in regard to sexual hygiene and conduct, and uo^jrational man should be content to go through life blindfolded to those functions which are the strongest elements of his nature. He who does not in-operly understand this potent factor of sexuality is extremely limited in his power for good, but well equipped for exerting a pernicious influ- ence — for every individual who is possessed of the strongly characteristic attributes of manhood must belong either to 20 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the side wliicli is in favor of purity, or to the faction whicli practises and advocates sensuality. After tlie advent of puberty a neutral or indifferent attitude is impossible. One intelligent, well-informed, vigorous and noble- minded man is of course worth a thousand mediocre men who have distorted tastes and ill-developed physiques ; and none can hope by his influence to elevate or improve the tribe or community in which he lives unless he is in some degree superior to the average more or less irresponsible and flippant members. It is in this way that racial improvement and human progress come about,— by the advancement from the ranks of certain more responsible individuals, who, little by little, set the standards which are ultimateh' accei^ted. Ignorance is a great evil and the best friend of Vice, while knowledge is the very foundation upon which the stability of the state most securely rests. j It is hardly necessary to say that improper sexual con- duct is rife among us, and that it is polluting the sanctity of our homes to a degree only superficialh' apjireciated. The pure, healthy glow of Sexualitj^ which is the greatest boon to the individual and to the race, becomes a curse when debased by Sensualit^y. These two words have be- come confused in the language of men of the world: so much so, that what we grant to be pre-eminently necessary for the assurance of a virile race — namely, sexual power — has been prostituted by sensuality. Voluptuousness, of course, has as its indispensable con- dition the degradation of a large number of women, and it has come to be a turbulent force which is actively consum- ing a large jiroportion of the community of every district, annihilating reputations with disgrace, consuming bodies with disease, polluting the sacredness of the family and the home, caricaturing the loftiness of love, a nd de filing the sacredness of marriage. There aro few of either sex in this aga who do not know INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 21 that vice and immorality and harlotry exist to a shocking degree; and reticence njion tliesc matters cannot improve onr ethics, for sin simply luxuriates in secrecy and igno- rance. — - TtTsiiall be the purpose of this book to sui)ply the reader with all the scientifically accurate teachings which relate to or bear upon a life of immorality, and he shall be left to weigh the results and the conclusions according to his own judgment. The author's aim is not to preach, but to teach, and to present the truth in its absolute form without distortion or bias. Every mature man knows fairly well what the allure- ments to immorality are, and that every well-developed youth must sooner or later pass through the ordeal of temptation; but comparatively few are grounded in the arguments which conclusively show how necessary it is to preserve the sexual glow in its pure and undefiled vigor. What sin is more universal than impurity? It is as ancient as history itself, and it has played the most impor- tant part in the decline and fall of~6nce noble and powerful nationo. The sexual appetite remains with a man and gives a coloring to his life from the time of his puberty all through his active career, sometimes persisting with con- siderable ardor even to extreme old age. Simple warning positively will not save a boy when he has left his neuter characteristics behind him and has been thrown out into the world. He must be taught those things which Le is sure to need when he grows up; for ex- perience teaches that if a man is to remain pure a battle- royal is in store for him, and that he may be overthrown in the struggle unless he is a "hoplite," or heav3^-armed soldier, equipped with helmet, cuirass, greaves and shield, bearing a sword and spear, and sheathe d in the panoply of knowledg e- Thoug htless persons are continually saying that to speak out plainIy~oh these-Bubjects merely fans the erotic fancy 22 HEREDITY AND MORALS. into a flame, and that it is a mistake to suggest anything of a sexual nature. Nothing could be more pernicious than this error, for the imperiousness of the sexual ap- petite will unfailingly assert itself in thought or action throughout manhood's days, and an ignorant person's influence for good will be nil, for he knows neither the truth of that which he speaks, nor the just measure of the results of his actions. Reflect for a moment upon the enormous amount of harm which not speaking out has done ! Ever}" man sooner or later adoj)ts some sort of creed for the conduct of his sex- ual life ; but medical men realize that these opinions are, as a rule, erroneous and immoral. An enormous e\'il is threatening us and surrounds us on every side, poisoning our social relations, our amuse- ments, our literature, our drama and our art. It is spar- ing neither the noble boy nor the innocent maiden, and is exhaling a deadly influence whose venom will continue, through heredity, to fester in generations to come. The enemies of the normal standards which govern the sex-life are bold and active in their abetting of lascivious- ness, and the calamitous results of their work cannot be met by a timid and retiring silence. Society", being at present in a position wherein it tolerates the most odious vices, must learn as well to endure the remedies which aim to secure decency, good order and moralitj'. There is a criminal and degrading ignorance among men otherwise well informed, in regard to the importance and gravity of the sexual act. The Creator of all has made each individual a sub-creator, and it behooves every true man to look forward to fatherhood with a fixed resolve to be just to his ofl'spring. It is, furthermore, the duty of fathers to instruct their sons so that they shall have noth- ing to regret when they look upon their first-born children. If a man who is to be a father plays the fool, his sons and daughters will suffer. The " fathers have eaten sour grapes. IISTTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 23 and tlie cliildren's teeth are set on edge," says the Jewish proverb. The time has come when it will not avail a man to say that he knows nothing definite about these matters, for in the following i)ages the means of becoming intelligent in regard to sexnal conduct are at least indicated. It is a comfort to believe that the majority of men will do right wEen t he y fully understa nd this important subject; aud if any reader is ignorant or rust}' in his knowledge, it is high time for him to "get out a new edition of himself." "Innocence and ignorance in regard to vice are no safe- guard to a young man or woman in this age when it is so evident on every hand, and no fond parent need flatter himself that his pure girl or boy will not sooner or later become subjected to improper conversation and influences. Too often children are sent to schools which are the very hotbeds of temi)tation, without a single word of reliable warning or teaching to guide them. How much more just to them it would be to send them out properly instructed than to leave these momentous questions to their school- mates for settlement ! Youth is the time of life when the boy or girl hopes to develop into a physically beautiful man or woman. Then they have active intellects and ambitious for everything which is good and noble. No one can foretell what a bo}^ will become when he is fully developed ; and as a rule the child appreciates this perfectly well, so that he will, under the stimulus of kindly encouragement, seek the good and eschew evil if he understands the relationship of vice and its consequences. From an educational standpoint this is by far the most important period of life ; for the mature man will almost invariably continue to show the same in- stincts and characteristics which he had when a child, and a boy can no more postpone the developing of his charac- ter to his manhood days than he can the strengthening of his muscles. " It is worthy of remark that a belief con- ^ 24 HEREDITY AND MORALS. stantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is imj)ressible, ajipears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct ; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason." ' How important it is, then, that a child should start out with healthy inclina- tions, and not by great mistakes ! \ A 3'oung man nowadays is expected to know a good deal ^ about sexual matters, and men laugh at those who are ^ entirely ignorant and uninformed. Earely is it i)ossible to find one who has no ideas at all in this direction; nor is such innocence commendable. As a rule, unfortunately, young men attain their knowledge by participation in evil -C ways and from evil conversation, and therefore their con- ^ elusions must necessarily be erroneous. Complete igno- c-= ranee is imj)ossible. Men will have either true or false notions : if false, they will be led into great and irreparable harm ; if true, they will recoil in horror at the awful conse- quences of impurity to themselves, to womankind, and to posterity. One who does not fully understand these ques- ">^ tions is like a ship which puts to sea with a skipper in ^ charge who does not properly understand navigation. ^"^ In the voyage of life, from the port of clearance to the final haven, it is impossible forever to hug the shore ; and he is a poor mariner indeed who is fit only for fair-weather "V sailing. Men are so constituted, in coutradistinction to women, that it is hardly possible for them, if they are sound and strong, to grow up to mature age immaculate, and A p without the fault of a sensual thought, Avord, or deed ; and ^ -^ there can be Ho gainsaying this. But as true men we hope to have ])ower to resist temptation — that the swords which we would wrongfully wield may be as lead, and that whatever knowledge we have may be turned to the benefit and advantage of our brothers. If any one has fallen into the mire, let us " condemn the fault, a nd not the actor of it," and let us help him out, if we can, by showing him "^ ' Darwin, "The Descent of Man," p. 123. ^ JJ INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT. 25 why lie should cultivate his faculty of self-restraint and become a self-governed being. Sidney Smith says : " Yery few young men have the power of negation in any great degree at first. Every young man must be exposed to temptation; he cannot learn the way of men without being witness to their vices. If you attempt to preserve him from danger by keeping him out of the way of it, you render him quite unfit for any style of life in which he may be placed. The great point i s, not to turn him out too soon, and to give him a j)ilot." It will not do to indulge in youthful excesses and dissi- pations, nor to sow " wild oats" of the kind which par- take of the nature of sexual imj^urity, because this sexual instinct is so enormously the imperious and moving power in our whole lives that the early tampering with it msLj produce a lasting impression on the cerebral centres which may color and poison all future sexual acts even after mar- riage. When the reaping of the harvest comes, there is likely to be, in addition to disease which has been acquired, a more or less unconquerable loathing for pure sexual relations with one's wife, if the individual ever marries, partly from fear of imjDotency in the pure relation with her, partly from weakened powers brought about by excesses of venery or masturbation, partlj^ on account of the recollec- tion of some former delectable lascivious situation with a loose woman which has become an imperative and domi- nant concept, and partly, perhaps, from an acquired pref- erence for unnatural and perverted sexual acts. It will not do to sow " wild oats" which leave an ineradicable stain on the mind, nor to implant them in such soil that they may spring up and produce a poisonous crop. Under no cir- cumstances can any one at any time be recommended to trifle with affairs which belong to the sexual domain, for in sowing " wild oats" of a dirty kind a man simply inocu- lates vice into his posterity and throws an injection of 26 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ignoble blood into the course of descent wliich follows after him as an ancestor. Any kind of larks and escapades will do which are manly, and brave, and clean and honest. It is right that any man should " dare do all that may be- come a man; who dares do more is none." ' Suppose a youth does, through innocence, or lack of temptation, or by reason of fortitude, arrive at maturity with a clean record; is he not still beset with danger? Not hj any means so much so if he fully understands the shal- lowness of the pleasures in comparison with the depth of the penalties. T hou sands upon thousands of men would remain pure if they fully understood the responsibilities and dangers incurred by a life of impurity; and to those who do gain a just information upon these matters there is added an increase of respo nsibility, for they can then no longer offer the exciTse tTlat ignorance mitigates their offences. Parents, too often entirely ignorant themselves, say little or nothing to their children about these subjects, leaving them dependent for their views upon the foolish and vicious advice of their companions; and, unfortunately, those chil- dren who are perversely inclined do the most talking and exert the most influence. Whatever counsel or warning in reference to future conduct young people get is usually given to them by their elders either in a way which is un- intelligible, or without any appeal to their reason, and too often the vita sexualis, or sexual life, of the child is left to unfold as an undirected instinct. How much safer and better it would be if the whole truth were expounded with proper discrimination at suitable periods in the develop- ment of the child's functions of body and brain ! It is amazing how much ignorance even the shrewdest and most intellectual men disjjlay upon these topics. Men who in affairs of business carefully consider every aspect of a case before acting, too often put aside all serious re- 1 Macbeth, i., 7. INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT. 27 gard for their physical or moral health. It is this unen- lightened condition which is productive of so much harm, and such a misconception may well be called the " devil's tool" by which men make excuses to their consciences for their wrong deeds. The ignorant or wrongly instructed man with lowered ideals is the one to fall into great harm, b^ng__^nfortified to coi)e with the pressing temptations which will surely assail him. On the other hand, the man who knows what he is about will probably keep his record clean, and will be more apt to transfer to the future the indulgence of his impulses. The sexual functions being without dispute the second most powerful of the natural instincts, there should, then, be given to the consideration of their care and conservation the most healthy attention. It is futile to hope for a per- fect condition of things in a sexual way while ci\dlization remains as it is. Deviations from what is proper in the sexual domain can no more be done away with entireh' than can murder, theft, drunkenness, lying, swearing, or other crimes and vices, and yet thousands can be effectively influenced for good if they are properly informed. Impur- ity cannot be stamped out by making it illegal, but it can be made impossible, to many altruistically inclined indi- viduals at least, by replacing this sin with the law of love for one's neighbor. Until the members of society are ac- tuated by this princii)le of love — a word which in itself sums up the fundamental rules of moral action — some of the selfish ones will continue to rend the weaker to pieces for their own personal gratification. The aim of modern medical science is getting to be more and more not so much to cure as to prevent disease; and prophylaxis, or defending against morbid processes, is now fully recognized to be of paramount importance. Especially does this apply to growing boys and young persons in relation to their sexual conduct, for prevention is far better and more hopeful than cure. In fact, a cure of 28 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the plijsical and mental disease and corruption is too often""^ " impossible — brain-stains being hard to wash out and disr ; ease being often incurable. >>-' '""' *^' ' "-"^-^^ The mythical sorceress Circe first enchanted and then transformed the fellow-voyager* of Ulysses into swine who grovelled at her feet. And even yet, in very truth, men from every sphere of life, married and single, rich and poor, ignorant and educated, continue to drink the poisoned draught from her cup. Again, Ulysses, being warned of the sirens on the shores of Sicilj', who charmed all passers-by with their false songs, stuffed the ears of his sailors with wax, and had himself secureh' fastened to the mast of his vessel until the ship sailed past out of the range of their voices ; and thus he heard their enchanting music without perishing. But no man can go through life protected by having his ears filled with prophylactic wax, nor limited in the range of his vision by the wearing of blinders. Circe and the sirens still continue to enchant and to de- stroy ; and in order to pass hy them unmoved a man must rely on a strong force of will, fortified by a just and appre- ciative knowledge, else " I fear me the skiff and the boat- men will both 'neath the waters drown." It is a vain thing to cry out, " Save our girls !" when par- ents allow their boys to grow up into bad men. How cruel it is to permit a son to advance to manhood without instruc- tion ; to let him flounder along an assuredly dangerous road without giving him all possible directions which could in an}' way help him or perhaps save him from utter ruin ! Unlike the animals, man experiences shame and seeks secrecy when he gratifies his sexual ai)petite. Unchastity, being a secret sin, is therefore all the more dangerous. No child is safe from its subtle influence, and no careless parent can be assured that his household is secure. Few boys in- deed escape from the contamination of the evil teachings of their schoolfellows, and many of them acquire vitiated INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 29 tastes without in anj' way appreciating tlieir gravity, while others inherit weakened wills and "fall victims to their grandfathers' excesses." The saddest sight in the world is to see a man sepulchred while yet living. Diseased himself, and with perverted tastes, he transmits the injury to his innocent wife and children, and no repentance is assuredly effectual unless he remain single. A reformed profligate makes a poor husband, being coiv"^ rupt in body, and the slave of the imperious voluptuous recollections which bring before him the debased images of the harlots with whom he formerly associated. Aye, | women can be found who will marry such .men i but they / and their offspring suffer terribly ! -'^"v^- :5 <* - ' 7^;^' . -'"^ "^ No ma n's qpiniQiJL-On-.. these. matterais^ so much value as the physician's. On account of the nature of his work 'he has an immense advantage, and is peculiarly well quali- fied to speak, because he sees clearlj- in his every-day ex- perience the physical effects of impurity upon the man and his paramours, and, if he marry, upon his wife and poster- ity ; the mental effects in widespread insanity which results from disease ; the moral effects in the loss of character, the breaking up of home life, and the loss of confidence between husl3and jmd jydfe; and the social effects in the ravages which vice makes among a large class of humanity. Every doctor who regards his physicianship as a sacred trust realizes that sexual impurity- is jore-eminently the cause of most of that which stands out as hideous and dis- gusting in society, and feels that silence regarding this question is not in line with his duty. In the case of a thoughtful man there should be no one so much interested in his career as he himself, and he should think out with far more care than any one else the problems of life as they concern him. It is his duty and his legitimate privilege as a man and citizen to ground himself on the standard truths relating to this subject, 30 HEREDITY AND MORALS. wliicli are recognized the world over by the medical pro- fession, and it will tbeu be proper for him to be somewhat dogmatic in his conclusions and arguments. For the forcible presentation of any subject it is of ex- treme importance to beware of such a degree of bias or enthusiasm that one is led to be too ardent in his utter- ances, because in that event the judicial caution is set aside and the ver}- purpose of persuasion defeated by ex- citing oi)i30sitiou or disgust. Many a well-meant argument has gone for naught by reason of this error. Would-be reformers and moralists there are who lay too much stress on those phases of the question which do not appeal to a large majority of men, and the result is that they are laughed at and jeered at and not taken seriously. There are some moralists who sound the slogan : " An equal standard of purity for both sexes !" They accentuate the claim that the sin of unchastity is equally heinous in men and women, and so of course it is morally. But the greater part of mankind are selfish and prefer their own private good before all other things, and by them such an assertion is regarded as unworthy of belief, and is of no effect, true as it may be. Society has always considered that irregular sexual com- merce is a more flagrant transgression in the case of a woman than in that of a man, and, morality aside, it certainly is, for an offence will necessarily be gauged by its conse- quences. It is a greater sin for a woman to be impure be- cause, as a possible mother, she belongs to a higher and more important sphere, to her being intrusted the rearing up of all liosterit}'. While the man retains no marks of in- jury to his anatomy as a result of copulation, nor any other effect to which one can directh^ x^oiiit, unless he contract disease, the woman, on the other hand, does so suffer — in bodily injur}', in the violation of her more tender emotions and affections, and in her very countenance. All the con- spicuous effects of sexual commerce are heaped upon her : INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 31 SO much so, that an observant man can often conchide, with a good deal of accuracy, by the outward appearance and demeanor of a woman whether she is leading an immoral life. An immoral man, on the other hand, is not clearly shown to be unfitted for the society of ladies nor for the ordinary duties of life in the way that the immoral woman is. Her own sex spurn her and call her atrocious. There- fore the argument that the crime is equally heinous in both sexes cannot appeal with great force to the ordinary man of the world who knows better. Morally, his offence is unquestionably baser, for he stifles that chivalric feeling which all men should at all times show to all women ; he assumes the aggressive role, while she is passive ; he seeks to satisfy a carnal pleasure, while she sins out of a pliant acquiescence or for money ; he does the pushing over the precipice in safety, while she suffers the fall; he does the lying, and she the believing; he becomes the father of the illegitimate child and abandons it, while she undergoes the pains of maternity and supports it afterward with her life's blood, unless her moral sense has been so deeply wounded that she is led to destroy it. But such talk is idle for a large number of men. No limit can be placed upon the subterfuges which the lasciv- ious man can invent in answer to such arguments as do not directly appeal to himself. The laws of Nature and the laws of morality which we have accepted for our standards will always be found to coincide ; and human society and sentiment are in accord with them as to the importance of absolute fidelity of mar- ried people to each other. None are so immoral as to openly advocate adultery, for every one execrates the vio- lator of an oath, especially if made at the marriage altar before God and man. "Wliether it be single or double adultery, is immaterial ; if either party or both be married, it is adultery if they have sexual relations. In all coun- tries and ages the punishments for it have been serious, 32 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and the slaying of the male offender b}' a woman's husband is even yet condoned and applauded, while juries do not attempt to be severe in their punishment of the avenger. This is universally recognized in all parts of the world. But with our highly organized civilization, and with our demands for certain comforts which are now deemed essen- tial, marriage is put off more and more remotely, so that many cannot wed at all. "At more advanced stages of civilization, money and inherited property often take the place of skill, strength, and working ability. Thus, wife- purchase and husband-i^urchase still persist in modern society, though in disguised forms." ' It is Dot meant to be inferred that one is to marry for the mere sake of sexual gratification, though marriage properly is and should be firmly founded upon a deep sexual feeling, even though this desire plays an unrecognized part therein. This is a dvnamicnl and leading fact in the sciences of an- thropologj^ and sociology, and can never be lost sight of in the evolution of the successive phases of social develop- ment. Marriage is desirable,' and is the goal toward which every normal man, if circumstances permit, should strive. But even though a man remain unmarried, he can do more good to his tribe or community by setting the example of a glorious life than can others, who do not possess his ster- ling qualities, by the begetting of progeny. What shall those do who cannot marry and who yet feel the natural gnawing of the sexual appetite? Here is the stumbling-block — what men call the "natural, im- perious appetite." These are men who have imposed no oaths or obligations upon themselves ; who see no verj'^ evil consequence to themselves if they follow after the night- walking daughters of Lilith; whom society does not se- verely condemn, and who do not recognize any very de- cisive prohibition. Fornication most certainly is not so wicked as adultery, and many a man persuades himself ■ Westermarck, " History of Human Marriage, " p. 382. INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 33 into the belief that he ma}- properly indulge in it, and that he will in some way escape the responsibility of parentage. How shall such a man act? To aid him in the decision this book is written, he being left to be the judge for him- self. But this much must be demanded of him, that he act intelligently. To some, one argument appeals, while it disgusts others, and many may be offended at any allusion to religion. But in most men there is a religious element inseparably united with the phj^sical ; and some heed must therefore be paid to it physiologically. Christianity says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost and that we are to ke§p them pure and andefiled before God, and every reflec- tive person of course knows that it is the part of wisdom to keep the body clean and to have good and honest pur- poses. The truth of this is seemingly apparent only to a select few, while tens of thousands entirely reject it, sound as it is from a physiological standpoint. A deep impres- sion, however, must be made on any man when the truth is presented in all its aspects, and when there are laid be- fore him for his consideration the fearful responsibilities which he incurs by following a life of immoralitj' and lust — responsibilities for being the father of an illegitimate child which may be and so often is killed by criminal abortion, or which, if it lives, will be a homeless or degraded out- cast; responsibilities for ruining a girl, or, if she has already fallen, for helj^ing to crush the womanhood out of her rather than to help her up ; responsibilities for con- tracting venereal diseases which ruin his health and happi- ness, and which maj^ be imparted to his wife-to-be and off- spring for generations to come ; responsibilities to society for promoting harlotry with all its complex evil conse- quences, and reponsibilities for defiling all the finer moral and emotional parts of his nature. For all of this we ab- solutely know that the offender must personally suffer in this present life, as well as the woman and childi-en who 3 34 HEREDITY AND MORALS. share the good and the bad with him ; and no man can divorce himself from the strong belief that he will have to render an account to his Maker for overstepping the bounds of religion, which, after all, is nothing but an unrecognized branch of higher physiology. The responsibility of tak- ing life has been recognized from the earliest times ; the responsibility of giving birth to life is equally great. For such as are appealed to by any consideration of re- ligion, it is well to reflect that everything in Holy Writ directly teaches that the unreformed profligate, the forni- cator and adulterer, has no place or part in the Holy City ; that his name is blotted out from the "Book of Life," and that he must remain "without," where are "dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." ' The assurance is here emphatically given that the laws of religion, of the true moralist, and of the physician and hygienist are all in complete harmony, and the chaos of confusion only exists in the disordered minds of those who seek for excuses which would shame the inferior animals. As Maudsley says, " The foolishest opinion has commonly some partial facet of sense" ; and men are abroad, filled with sophistry, who make all kinds of pretexts to justify them- selves and others ; who call that which is bitter, sweet ; that which is unhealthy, physiological; that which is evil, good; and that which is a grave social harm, expedient. Fortunately, the most worthless and shameless members of the community are somewhat prevented from propagating their kind by barrenness and sterility, and, as the result of disease, their vitiated progeny are apt to be eliminated in time. To the vigorous, and the active and the sound, whose generative functions remain unimpaired, with a pure and normal glow of healthy activity, comes the satisfaction of knowing that their descendants will be the fittest and the ' Rev. xxii. 15. INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 35 most likely to survive in tlie struggle for existence ; and this is no mean comfort to those who have the normal philo- progenitive ambitions. Tennyson's hero, the spotless, virgin and blameless knight Sir Galahad, who went in quest of the Holy Grail, made this boast : " My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure. " " What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted ! " Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. , iii. , 2. Purity is, in fact, the crown of all real manliness ; and the vigorous and the robust, who by repression of evil have preserved their sexual potency, make the best husbands and fathers, and they are the direct benefactors of the race by begetting progeny who are not predisposed to sexual vitiation and bodily and mental degeneracy. These are laws which are universally recognized bv all breeders of stock and by those who have made a study of the races of mankind. From a purely selfish standpoint a man must give heed to an even stronger impulse than the sexual appetite — namely, to the law of self-preservation. He must consider 1. The peril to his body; 2. The peril to his character or moral constitution. The reader is here cautioned not to rely too much on his own slender experience, but to seek after the unalterable truth ; for his personal observations have probably not led him to see either the death of the body or the damnation of the psychical characteristics, and he is not at once struck by these perils. We must reflect that Nature is leisurely ; and when we have added a considerable number of years to our experience we can see that her laws pursue their course unerringly, and that no pardon is granted for sins committed against the body, whether knowingly or not. 36 HEREDITY AND MORALS. The statement is almost without exception that every one who pursues unlawful sexual indulgence to any consider- able extent gets inoculated with disease sooner or later, and only very rarely is it otherwise. It is the part of a foolish man to say, "I'll take my chances," for he not only im- perils his whole fiiture life, and that of his wdfe-to-be and offspring, but also practically elects to acquire disease. We phj'sicians see these men who have " taken their chances" ; we see sterility acquired by them and imparted to their wives ; we see innocent wives and children suffer from un- merited venereal diseases, the nature of which obviously cannot be revealed ; we see the severest operations, where women's abdomens are cut oi^en by the surgeon's knife for the removal of the diseased reproductive organs ; we fre- quently see young wives rendered chronic invalids from the time of their marriage, and sometimes we see them die; Ave see premature deaths of foetuses from disease, and chil- dren with distorted anatomy and vulnerable tissues ; we see blind asylums and insane asylums recruited as the after- math of men's "chances." We see men who must contin- ually be debased by nursing their genitals ; men with whom we come in contact with disgust, and who render filthy whatever utensil they touch; we see men who cr}' from their very souls : " Woe ! woe ! woe ! would that I had died before I was damned!" We see men who must be in regular attendance upon doctors, sometimes in order even to urinate ; we see men who pay enormous sums of money to doctors unless they dishonestly evade the payment of their bills or take their i)laces in venereal dispensaries with the dregs and scum of the earth. These men must suffer, and cause horrible suffering to others ; and even with the best treatment and care they often cannot be assuredly cured, and often must forever be inferior to what they orig- inally were. Still another of Nature's penalties is over- looked by most men. Those who have been at all obser- vant will appreciate that the lustful act is very closely INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 37 associated with tlie affections, with love, and with senti- ment. Without this disposition of the mind the mere sensual enjoyment of the act, per se, would afford compar- atively little pleasure. With the lower animals this is not so, and they cannot be immoral, experiencing no shame, - being immune from venereal diseases, and having no tribal customs of marriage. So it is not fair to the brute creation to say that the grossly lustful man " makes a beast of himself" when he throws aside the human elements of his nature. And it is certainly true that we can name no animal that is as bad as some men. A man cannot, however, eliminate every spark of hu- manity from himself, nor cast aside entirely his affections and power of loving, and the worst that can be said about any man is probably not true. But these finer qualities of the affections can easily be perverted, in which event they will forever be indelibly contaminating factors in his brain, recurring to him unbidden both in his dream-life and in his memory even after marriage, flavoring the sexual con- gress with his own wife by a reversion of his recollection to former scenes of debauchery which have become with him imperious mental concepts. These memory-pictures are reproduced to the mind with- out effort, spontaneously, by the association of ideas. The nixas seusnalis, or voluptuous orgasm, is attended by an exalted hypersensibility of the cerebral cortex which renders the brain peculiarly receptive at that time to the operation of various concomitant influences, so that whatever impres- sions are brought prominently before the mind during the consummation of the sexual act are at subsequent periods ai)t to be recalled to the memory, unsummoned, through the association of ideas. Promiscuous intercourse with women increases desire beyond natural limits, while it also strongly perverts the tastes and desires in a psychical sense, especially in neuro- .'J537'86 38 HEREDITY AND MORALS. pathic individuals; and in this way perversions of the genesic instinct are readily acquired. That nation, whose men by the courage of their convic- tions exercise patriotism and sjmpathy and altruism and chastity and fidelity to themselves and to their women, has in it the elements of a high civilization which con- stantly tends to rise and to imfjrove, and in the struggle for supremacy among the tribes of the earth it will surely be victorious over other peoples that are lewd and unchaste and ignobly ungallant and unjust to their women. Even the skeptic who entertains the belief that after death there is no judgment to come, must pause to con- sider when he is reminded that there is, after all, such a thing as sin. " Blinded by the concei)tion of sin as an oflfence against a supernatural power, it has been impossible for the indi- vidual to see that sin is foolishness in the natural world, and to realize his responsibility for being sin's fool. If it were desired to breed a degenerate human being, sinful, vicious, criminal, or insane, what would be the safest recipe? To engage his progenitors in an antiphysiological or antisocial life; to impregnate them thoroughly Avith alcohol or with hypocrisy, with syphilis or with selfish- ness, with gluttony or with guile, with an extreme lust of the flesh or an extreme pride of life. When mankind has learned the ways bj' which degenerate beings have come to be, it will be able to lay down rules to prevent their i^ro- duction in time to come ; but in order to do that, it must substitute for the notion of sin and its consequences in a life to come after death the notion oi fault of organic man- ufacture and its consequences from generation to genera- tion in the life that now is — must not rest satisfied to look outside nature for supernatural inspirations, divine or diabolic, but seek for natural inspirations within itself which it can observe, study, and manage." ' ' Maudsley, "The Pathology of the Mind." INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT. 39 If the penalties meted out to tlie impure are so many, there is yet comfort for the unmarried man in those pages which show that perfect continence is quite compatible with perfect health; and thus a great load is at once lifted from the mind of him who wishes to be conscientious as well as virile and in health, with all the organs of the body performing their proper functions. Impurity of course leads downward to decay and death ; and out of consideration for the law of self-jjreservation any wise man will adopt the course of repressing his appetite, for the penalties which attend it are so inexorable as to be beyond accepting. Unless a man understand fairly well that part of his nature which belongs to the sexual domain, he is not effec- tively educated, and is liable to be overtaken by injury and ruin. The result of good education is to teach self-control and a consideration for the welfare of others, while selfish- ness is the attribute of him who has little mentality or education. A wise man will of course wish to know what he ought to do and what he ought to avoid, which is im- possible if he relies solely upon his instincts and the com- mon talk of his companions ; and he will not be safe from harm unless he has a just appreciation of that side of his physical nature which is the well-spring of most that is noble and vigorous and majestic in him. One, if not the chief, object of education is to enable us to gain a mastery over our animal instincts, to raise ourselves above the level of the lower creatures, to occupy a dignified i)ositiou among the solid men of the community, and to learn how to counteract the unfavoralile hereditary tendencies which each individual inherits from some of his numerous ances- tors. So strong is the sexual instinct that it is natural for men to^ long for women, and at some time or other to con- template marriage : one from love, to make Iwmself and the woman supremely happy by having his soul knit with hei^s ; one from the praiseworthy desire to beget children who 40 HEREDITY AND MORALS. shall bring honor to his name and perpetuate the family line ; another from romance ; and others purely for the base purpose of gratifying their sensual appetites. Since men unquestionably devote so much of their at- tention to sexual matters, it is of the highest importance that their thoughts should be directed in i^roper channels, and that they should clearly comi^reheud those funda- mental truths which at present onh^ a select few are privi- leged to know. Any impairment in power or function of the sexual organs is a terrible calamity, because it makes a man decidedly less a man, and because a vitiation of the sexual attributes is physiologically, or rather pathologi- cally, necessarily associated with ethical defect. Anaesthesia, or absence of sexual desire, is dej^lorable ; for then the man has the neuter characteristics of the child or of senility, whom the beauties of women or the pleasure of their companionship do not stimulate to manly ambitions and conduct. Hypei'cestliesia, or increased sexual desire, is deplorable ; for then the man has an inordinate and unnatural concupis- cence, and is thrown into an unseemly excitement, not only by the mere presence of women and i^ersonal contact with them, but also by lascivious mental images, or by anything of a nature which can be distorted into obscenitj-. Such men unduly magnify the importance of the vita sexuali'i, or sexual life, and look upon womankind, and even objects of feminine attire, with sensual eyes. Such a perverted tendencj^ which is easily acquired, leads to very great harm, such as obscenity of conversation and imagination, enthusiasm for vile literature and pictures and debasing theatrical exhibitions, and a preference for consorting with a low set of men and women. Pajxesthesia, or perversion of the sexual instinct, is de- plorable ; for the individual is then a " step-child of Nature. " Largely inherited, it may also readily be acquired by mas- turbating, or practising other execrable sexual acts. Indi- INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 41 viduals whose brains are stained in this waj-, with impres- sions which are often permanent, frequently follow the most abhorrent practices and lead astray' such unfortunate youths as they can find for their victims. Unfortunately, the polluted mind does not appreciate its hurt. It is not to be thought that all men who are impure suffer such penalties as these ; nor yet is it to be thought that these conditions are very rare. It will be well for him who so far considers himself clean and pure not to boast, lest he may fall; for the bright steel of the sword's blade is not safe from rust and corrosion. The dew and the wet will quickly damage that sword unless it is held up and pro- tected ; and although the grindstone and emery-wheel may remove that rust, it will yet be a sword with another face. Every individual has some moral sense, i:)artly inherited, partly acquired, which is stamped upon his personality as his most noble attribute; and it can never be entirely effaced, though it may be much marred by ill-usage or tarnished by exposure to the fumes of an evil atmosphere. Every one is equipped with some conscience which tells him in a way admitting of no dispute what he ought to do ; and although it may fail to restrain him from wrongdoing, nevertheless it fails not to punish by reproaching and con- demning him. This sense of duty, which has come to be regarded as a racial instinct, has, by working atavistically through the education of centuries, become fixed as a principle which we say should be supreme over all our actions, leading us to consider the welfare of others, to ignore ridicule, threats, bribery, flattery, or even to imperil our lives for others who are in danger. Those who have deeply pursued studies in heredity tell us that the past is i)rofouudly at work in the present, and that we may expect life and history in the future to be largely moulded by the vice or virtue, the health or disease, the normal stability of the nervous system or the neuras- 42 HEREDITY AND MORALS. tlienia of those who are now living, to flow down in a stream to the generations to come. Every rightly minded man wishes in his heart to subdue those hereditary tenden- cies which are defects and imperfections, and to consolidate and develoj) within himself and transmit to his descendants certain high and virtuous social instincts of commanding importance, such as love, and sympathy, and self-control, and chivalry toward women, and altruism. This conscience has been defined as the "vicegerent of God," or, as Byron says, " The oracle of God." It is a monitor of the actions of all normal men, preventing the full enjoj-ment of wrong- ful deeds and motives, and reproving them when they dis- obey its voice. Bj- neglecting its monitions one can so blunt its sensibilities that it becomes functionless, and may eventually cease to operate in a healthy way; and when that has occurred he is no longer a desirable mem- ber of a community, but a menace to that good order which renders it possible for the human race to live socially together. By fanning his desire and stifling his conscience, by the emploj-ment of artificial stimulants and mental trickery, a man can force himself to enter iiito pursuits and relation- ships which, could he but know, he would detest in his an- cestors. Men do not seem to realize the tremendous impor- tance of heredity', and that their illegitimate pleasures and acquired preferences for impure courses are as likely to crop out in their daughters as in their sons, invariably in an evil way, sometimes as a surcharge of lustful passion, sometimes as a directing influence toward vice and crime, and sometimes as disease; and it is well recognized that the progeny of the impure have in the domain of their sexual lives a distinct predilection for morbid tendencies colored by eroticism. The lustful impulse which leads a man to seek an agree- able sensation in an evil environment, which is a social sin of extreme moment, is entirely incompatible with this INTRODUCTION — IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 43 racially implanted i^riuciple called conscience upon which the foundations of all moralitj^ rest. Of course the irresponsible fornicator, who allows his lower impulses to become fixed characteristics, cannot for a moment contend that he acts in accordance with true moral- ity for the benefit of others of the race, nor can he at this stage realize to what an extent he shatters all the essential elements of the Laio of Honor ; for if he did, he would burn up with shame at the thought of causing so much suffering, so much agonj', so much saturation of evil to himself, to his paramours, to his wife, to his children and their children, and to society. A decent man, after yielding to a temptation which he feels to be immoral and base, is im- pressed with a feeling of personal dissatisfaction, remorse and shame, and sometimes undergoes such a revulsion of feeling that he effectually repents. Our intellectual functions are so far under the control of the will power that we can by practice largely direct any selected one as we choose. None is so susceptible, if we cheat ourselves into so thinking, as this internal tribunal called conscience, Avhich, by repeated efforts, we may snuff out and cover with a pall. As the cicatrix over a wounded surface, for instance an extensive burn, has an impaired sensitiveness owing to the destruction of the sensory nerves which normally supply the skin, so also does an habitually disregarded conscience lose its sensitiveness and become " seared as with a hot iron." One of the necessary equipments, then, for a pleasurable life of lust is a seared conscience, or else one must suffer the humiliation and remorse which condemn the man who recognizes such a thing as personal account- ability. At the very least, men should exhibit toward women that same equality of consideration and recognition which is common among the brutes to their females. And if ihej but fully realized the truth, they would deeply reverence their 44 HEREDITY AND MORALS. women, who, witli their more heavenl}'- endowments and potentiality for motherhood, rightfully occupy the throne of Nature; and they would jjrotect their mothers' sex with all their force and sympathy and influence. We main- tain that the man who dishonors woman by the purchase of her virtue, by deceit, treachery, savagery, or ruffianism, falls short of the moral jiossibilities of the dog. Travellers in Scotland have the custom, when they climb to the summit of a mountain, of casting a stone upon the "cairn," or heaj) of stones, which one will usually find there. Thus the pile grows and becomes more imposing. So by what is to come we hope to add somewhat to the upbuilding of an imjjortant landmark which is forever prominent in the landscai:)e of every one. It is vain to hoi)e that improvement in morality will come about sijon- taneously, for truth and knowledge are useful only if spread broadcast. The medical profession, the true guar- dians of the public weal, are responsible for the dissemi- nation of specific information on these matters ; but their efforts at instruction must necessarily be met by some concentration of attention on the part of the layman, pref- erably critical rather than apathetic. While manj^ claim that these times are not so corrupt as those of past genera- tions, yet we are suffering for sins which were then com- mitted, and there is much discouraging reason to believe that abortions are more frequent, that unprotected women are more numerous and unsafe, that houses of assignation and ill-fame are more patronized, that venereal diseases are more i^revaleut ; and he who runs may read in the daily press of our large cities advertisements of charlatans, abor- tionists, baby-farmers, and even of bi'othels for sexual perverts under the disguise of "baths and massage." Impuritj", vice and loathsome disease are brought be- fore the eyes of even the tenderest and j^urest boys and girls by these shocking announcements; and in addition to this, a reservoir of erotic and subtly dangerous litera- INTRODUCTION — IMPOKTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 45 ture lias burst fortli in a hissing and horrible torrent which gushes out and threatens the nation, overwhelming such as are unfortunate in hereditary' tendencies or in environment. A community which will knowingly permit this has the elements of decay in it. In a quiet and dignified way it is our duty to discuss this question as man to man, while to remain silent would be to incur a criminal resi^onsibil- ity. We cannot pass our fellow-beings by, no matter how low they have fallen, as if their faces were but mere masks, but must stop to consider the brotherhood and sisterhood which exists between us. If any of our readers are hostile, let us now agree to an armistice — all of us being quite fa- miliar with the customary arguments which are offered in favor of pursuing the war on women — and i)erchance by the honorable truce we may be able to elaborate terms of peace. Otherwise, if we can come to no agreement, if the physi- cian is to be lightly dubbed a fool, let us separate. But before we come to our last review, when Death, who al- ways triumphs, holds his court, when the bugle-call whose summons none can resist sounds out, let us compare notes and observe the sum-total of rewards and punishments which each has earned. The enemy need no recruits, for their regiments are over- crowded ; but with some assurance we hoi:»e that the strong- est and fittest and most genuine and manl}'^ will eventually wear the uniform of honor, and cause good principles to prevail. If we must separate in disagreement, it is but fair to give the admonition that the unanimous voice of that observant profession which alone is qualified to know says — that, ir- respective of the harm you do to others, you are to beware lest you drink a potion foul as hell, and " fall a victim to a cureless ruin." CHAPTER n. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. Human life is divisible physiologically into certain well- defined stages, separable by tolerably clear lines of demar- cation. In our march through life toward our graves, each normal individual, as long as the reproductive glands main- tain the power of their physiological processes, has an inherent desire for the perpetuation of the species. This desire constitutes the sexual instinct. In order to learn how to live rightly we must understand ourselves at each stage of the march, lest a deadly blight settle upon us from which we may not be able to escape, and lest we become " sin's fools," without the power of per- petuating healthy offspring. Time crowds us on from one stage to another, and while we are yet acting children's parts, a mighty change, a new birth almost, ushers us into our most important decade, namely, that period between puberty and maturity. The stages of human life may properly be described as seven in number, as follows : 1. Ten lunar, or nine calendar months within the womb, during which w^e are not "air-breathers." 2. Infanc}', terminating at the time when all the first set of teeth have appeared, which is usually at the end of the second year. During this period the child normally suckles its mother. 3. Childhood, which terminates when the second denti- tion is completed, i.e., at seven or eight years of age. 4. The period of Boyhood or Girlhood, which terminates at puberty. 48 HEREDITY AND MORALS. 5. The ijeriod of Adolescence, i.e., between puberty and tlie full development of manliood or Nvomanliood. 6. The period of mature Manhood or Womanhood, which lasts more or less indefinitely- until 7. Old Age, which is the declining j^ortion of life. The fifth and sixth periods are characterized by an active sex-life, wdth a formal distinction of gender, while the first, second, third, fourth and seventh periods are expressive of a passive existence w'hich, to all intents and purposes, is neuter. Puberty. If we empirically di\ide life into epochs of ten years, the second decade is by far tlie most important in the formation of the mental, moral, and phj'sical qualities, early iu which period puberty, or the development of the reproductive powers, comes on. From this time on, until these func- tions wane, sexual desire is a physiological appetite, though it is not fully felt until sexual maturity, when ado- lescence has passed. Puberty occurs a year or two later in the male than in the female. Climate, race, vigor of constitution, heredity and social conditions have a marked influence on the i^eriod of life at which the earliest active manifestations of sex ap- pear. Thus it occurs earlier in warm countries and in the class of society ^^•hich lives luxuriously than in cold coun- tries and among the poorer classes. In temperate climates a girl arrives at puberty at about the thirteenth, fourteenth, or fifteenth 3- ear; while in the frigid zones it is delayed until the seventeenth, eighteenth, or even twentieth year ; and in the torrid zones it comes on as early as the twelfth or thirteenth year, and sometimes even as early as the eighth year.' Climate has, of course, the same influence on the precocity of boys as it has on that of girls. ' Vide Landois and Stirling's "Physiology," p. 113. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 49 Eace plays an imi)ortaut part ; tlius Jewesses, who belong to an unmixed people, menstruate at about the same age in all latitudes, i.e., at fourteen or fifteen years of age. Com- mingling of races develops a mean; thus Eurasians, or Anglo-Indians, i.e., half-castes with European fathers and Hindoo mothers, arrive at puberty earlier than pure Euro- peans and later than pure Hindoos. Heredity does much to influence the age at which pubes- cence is reached ; thus, some families are notabh^ precocious or notabh^ tard^^ in develoi:)ment. The state of the general health exerts a powerful influ- ence ; thus, if a child is suffering with anj^ wasting or de- bilitating disease, or if pressed too hard by study, puberty is apt to be retarded and disordered. It is said that city- bred children arrive at i)uberty about a year earlier than country children. Until about the age of pubertj-, girls and boys are simply children, who in innocence play unrestrictedly together. The girls are at birth a little smaller than the boys, but at puberty they shoot ahead in both stature and weight, and with these changes in the body are associated corre- sponding changes in the mind, habits and inclinations, which are the signs of an earlier maturity in them. Until this change occurs there are no notable functional or psj^chi- cal differences between the sexes, but the girls and boys associate intimately without any sensual ideas or longings, with their voices pitched in the same key, and with no marked dissimilarity of their skeletal structures. Heretofore the whole energy of their minds and bodies has been directed toward "acquisition," and they are not " productive" in either thoughts or works. In each other's presence they are frank and simple, and are without any marked feeling of modesty or coyness. What gallantry the boy shows before this time is probably due to his edu- cation rather than to his natural tendencies, and what "blushing timidity" the girl displavs is also more the 4 50 HEREDITY AND MORALS. result of external influences than of natural promptings. Thougli tlie boy is naturally more boisterous, and tlie girl more bashful, modest and shy, yet so far ihej are prac- tically generis neutrius, neither male nor female, without any sexual impressions, and they have hardly entered within the portals of real life. But now the greatest physiological era in their lives, next to that of birth, is about to raise a natural barrier between them, and send them along well-defined roads diverging to manhood and womanhood. During this critical j^eriod, when life is yet young, they are initiated into new loveSj new emotions, and even a new type of bod;/ ; they are yet plastic, and good or evil habits are more likely to become fixed upon them now, and in the next few succeeding years, than at any other time in their lives. From now on the similarity between the sexes rapidly disappears ; their un- differentiated sexual characteristics become strongly mas- culine or strongly feminine, and the psychical differences are even more distinctly developed than the bodily changes. These contrasts between the sexes come on gradually, and several years of adolescence are required before the sexual types of body are clearly defined, while even a longer time is expended in the evolution of the mas- culine and feminine types of intellect." It is well recognized that this is a critical jjeriod, during which the hereditary influences for health or disease, for good or bad tendencies, for insanity or mental equilibrium, are most felt, and at this time esi)ecially, as Clouston says, "a man may fall a victim to his grandfather's excesses." The change in the female is more profound than in the male, and the bodih" disturbance of greater intensity ; so much so, that few girls pass through this period without ' "Male and female children resemble each other closely, like the young of so many other animals in which the adult sexes differ widely ; they likewise resemble the mature female much more closely than the mature male. " — Darwin, " Descent of Man, " p. 557. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 51 marked constitutional derangements, or some of tlie multi- form types of hysteria. Woman plays tlie more important sexual role in Nature, being more complex in physical structure, as well as in mental and moral organization. She conceives, gives birth to, and rears every individual, while man is very much less concerned in the perpetuation of the race. A woman's faculties — physical, moral and intellectual — ■ are more prof oundh" influenced and controlled by her sexual functions than are those of man, she being by far more subservient to her corjioreal condition ; and there are few diseases which affect her without having a recix)rocal effect on her sexual organs, and vice versa. Thus, during the thirty years of her rejjroductive life, or distinctive sex-life, the utero-ovarian functions dominate her career, and both influence and are influenced by every vital process. Compared with woman, man's reproductive organs have a more subordinate effect on his organization ; and yet, if the functions of these are abused, his life may be embittered by mental and physical disorders which make him a fit object of study for the alienist and pathologist. AVe must consider a little more fully the distinctive changes which occur in the bo}' and in the girl with the accession of puberty. Clianges in the Male. — Before x)ubert3^ the boy is normally entirely free from all sexual thoughts or impressions. The small and ill-developed penis is covered with an elongated prepuce, and the testicles are very slightly sensitive to pressure. But at puberty there is a determination of blood to the generative organs, so that the penis, testicles and scrotum enlarge, and semen, with its accessor}^ fluids, is secreted, and there then occurs an unmistakable mani- festation of the sexual instinct. Not infrequently the mammary glands enlarge at the time of puberty and be- come sensitive to the pressure of the clothing, and in rare cases they secrete milk. The voice is characteristically 52 HEREDITY AND MORALS. altered, so that tlie " thin, childish treble becomes a deep, manly bass" ; this is dne to the growth of the thyroid car- tilage ("Adam's apple"), which becomes prominent, and to the lengthening of the vocal chords, so that the voice be- comes hoarse, or husky, and " breaks" until it falls a full octave in its register. A coarser hair takes the place of the " down" on the pubes, face, chest, arms, legs, axillae and other parts of the body, and the sebaceous glands develojj and become active, especially on the nose, back and face. These clianges succeed one another so slowly that full sexual vigor is not attained until adolescence has passed. From puberty onward, all through the sexual life, sper- matozoa are constantly being formed in the testicles, and emissions of semen occur i)hysiologically from time to time. Gradually the tyi^e of mind and body assumes the mauh- features, and at twentj^-five years of age the male may be considered as sexually mature. Changes in the Female. — The transition from girlhood to womanhood occurs with a bound, so that the female under- goes the sexual alteration several years before the male. In her the changes in the bodily structure and in the func- tions of the M'hole sj'stem are vasth'- more complex and important. Vascularization, or the increase of blood supply to her internal and external generative organs, is of course more abundant and lavish than in the male, because of the greater area to be supplied and the greater importance of the func- tions of the uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries and breasts. At this time the skeleton and contour of the body become modified and assume the characteristic feminine appear- ance. The hips become broader for the requirements of childbirth ; the breasts notably increase in size and become prepared to secrete milk ; the sebaceous glands become more active, as in the bo}^ ; coarse hair grows over the pubes and in the axillae ; the chest increases rapidl}^ in size, with a cor- PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 53 responding increase of vital capacity ; the larynx becomes elongated, and there is an increased comj)ass of voice, though it is not lowered in its register, nor does it " break" as in the boy, but becomes more liquid, musical, tender and gentle. She becomes more shy before the opposite sex, her romping tendency is subdued, and her whole " form and expression assume the characteristic sex- ual appearance, while the psychical energies also receive an impulse." ' The most important occurrence of all, however, is the periodical occurrence of menstruation, whose most marked phenomenon is a sanguineous discharge from the genitals, normally occurring at intervals of a lunar month— twenty- eight days. This menstruation signifies that the woman is capable of reproduction or child-bearing. Beginning, on the average, soon after fourteen years of age, it continues until the "change of life," or "menopause," or "climacteric," i.e., until about forty -four years of age, and it is, in health, in- terrupted only by pregnane}' and lactation (suckling).' If menstruation begin earlier it ends earlier, and vice versa, so that the child-bearing period of a woman's life, or her distinctive sex-life, lasts about thirty years, though in hot countries it is shorter. Each woman usually has a definite periodicity in her menstruation, the common interval from the beginning of one menstrual period to the beginning of the next being the "twenty-eight-day type," though some menstruate every thirty days, a few every twenty -one days, and fewer still every twenty-seven days. When a girl starts to men- struate there is complete uncertainty as to what the type will be, though when once fully established it remains pretty constant. The amount of blood lost averages from six to eight ' Landois and Stirling's " Pliysiology, " p. 113. • Vide Hart and Barbour's " Gynsecology . " 54 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ounces, tliougli sometimes it may normally be onlj" two or three ounces, or sometimes twelve or fourteen ounces. The discharge usually lasts from two to six days, and is usually more profuse in blondes than in brunettes. Menstruation is by no means merely a monthly flow of blood from the genitals. As Matthews Duncan of Edin- burgh well said, "The red flag at the auctioneer's door shows that something more imj)ortant is going on inside." And so also the flow of blood proves to be but an incident of menstruation, and not at all the important factor — ovu- lation, or the formation of eggs, being the peculiar and interesting event. In viviparous animals there is a condition similar to that of menstruation in women, but in them it is called the "heat" ("rutting" in deer). Usually this season of "heat" in animals occurs but once a year, and at other times the females neither admit the males, nor could they become pregnant if they did. Domestication M'itli its arti- ficialities of diet and tr^mperature has made the recurrence of this i)henomenon uncertain in some of our animals.' ' " Every month or season of the year is the pairing season of one or another mammalian species. But notwithstanding this apparent irrregularity, the pairing-time of every species is bound by an un- failing law : it sets in earlier or later, according as the period of ges- tation lasts longer or shorter, so that the young may be born at the time when they are most likelj' to survive. . . . Thus, the bat pairs in January and Februarj- ; the wild camel in the desert to the east of Lake Lob-nor, from the middle of January nearly to the end of February ; the canis Azarce and the Indian bison in winter ; the wildcat and the fox, in February ; the weazel, in March ; the kulan, from Maj^ to July ; the musk-ox, at the end of August, and, in Asiatic Russia, in September or October ; the wild yak in Thibet, in September ; the reindeer in Norway, at the end of September ; the badger, in October ; tlie Capra pyrenuica, in November ; the chamois, the musk-deer, and the orongo-antelope, in November and December ; the wolf, from the end of December to the middle of Februarj'." — Westermarck, "History of Human Marriage," pp. 25, 26. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 55 A woman when slie is menstruating cannot be said to have a "mens sana in corpore sano," and is thus physically unfitted for the active i)ursuits followed by men. Before menstruation begins there is a feeling of mental irritation and lassitude, fatigue in the lower limbs, congestion in the back, loins and lower abdominal region, sensitiveness on pressure over the abdomen, feelings of heat and cold, dis- orders of appetite and digestion, and various other sys- temic disturbances.' The i)rincipal event in menstruation is the maturation and rui:)ture of a Graafian follicle, the discharge of an ovum, or egg, from one of the ovaries, and its passage along one of the Fallopian tubes to the cavity of the uterus. If the ovum is fertilized by the male reproductive element, or spermatozoid, it finds lodgment in the uterus and de- velops into a foetus ; if not fertilized, it passes off unnoticed in the menstrual discharge. A woman is more liable to conceive immediately after her menstrual period has iiassed ; but it is most imj^ortant to remember that conception may occur at any time during the thirty years of her menstrual life, and that fornication can never be indulged in without the risk of impregnation. Each "monthly sickness" is in reality a sort of mimic parturition or missed pregnancy ; childbirth being physi- ologically tlie aim and object of a Avoman's life, for which, though it may not be accomplished. Nature is nevertheless constantly striving. The sexual impress is thus seen to be stamped upon womankind as a much more powerful factor in their lives than in men's, though we must be careful to avoid confusing the word "sexual" with "sensual." ' "While a man may be said, at all events relatively, to live on a plane, a vi^oman always lives on the upward or downward slope of a curve. This is a fact of tlie very first importance in the study of physiological or psychological phenomena in women. Unless we always bear it in mind we cannot attain to any true knowledge of the physical, mental, or moral life of women. " — Havelock Ellis, "Man and Woman," p. 248. B6 HEREDITY AND MORALS. To bear in mind tlie tender graces of women, their beauty and delicacy-, their susceptible and responsive mental na- tures, their trustful and confiding love, their mission of motherhood with the subsequent rearing of the children, their heavenly influence over our lives, their unfitness to meet us on a common level in the battle of life, mui-t influence every warm-hearted man to ever treat them with chivalry and veneration, to protect their honor, and to oppose their degradation and downfall with all his power. The Influence of the Keproductiye Glands on the Physical and Psychical Development of the Individual. As a proof that it is the sexual organs whose growth and development produce the most i:)rofound dynamic changes in the physical and mental qualities of males and females, it is only necessary to refer to those cases in which either the ovaries or testicles have been early removed, or where they have been congenitally deficient, or vitiated in their functions before maturity ; in which case the sex of the in- dividual becomes so distorted that it tends to assume the physical and psychical type of the opposite sex. Castra- tion or premature senility in girls gives them a masculine quality of voice, and — while afiixing to them man}' of the coarser male characteristics — deprives them of the typical feminine attributes. Similarlj^ if an undeveloped male is emasculated the secondary sexual characteristics fail to api)ear, so that he does not displaj^ the superior size and muscular development, the depth of chest, the pugnacity, or courage, or ruggedness which the virile man does. Famil- iar to us all are the mental and physical differences which exist between the youth and the old man; the girl and the woman who has passed the "change of life"; the potent and impotent man; the castrated man and the man in pos- PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 57 session of liis testicles; the bull and tlie steer; the gelding and the stallion, etc. etc. With the precocious development of the testicles in boys —i.e., earlier than the usual time of puberty— there is a rapid growth of body to the manly type, with hair on the pubes and face, roughness of voice, and unusual stature; while, on the contrary, eunuchs are natural slaves and cowards, unsuited for the pursuit of war, unfitted to be the guardians of undegraded women, and weak in every element of their moral natures. At his master's bidding the eunuch unfeeliugly executes the harshest punishments on others, being without mercy or consideration, and utterly lacking the finer sensibilities of either the masculine or feminine type.' The eunuch, as seen in Constantinople for instance, is at ' "Pope Clement XIV., in the eighteenth century, abolished castra- tion of youths, wliich was then practiseil in Italy for the purpose of retaining the soprano voice. It is well known that the castrated preserve the shrill voice {voix aigue) of infancy, at the same time that the chest becomes fully developed, thus giving volume to the voice. Women were not allowed to sing in the cathedral or church services ; hence this horrid mutilation, as it qualified the victims to sing soprano parts. " — Acton on the Reproductive Organs, p. 219. "In castrated persons, however, the larynx remains puerile, al- though perhaps slightly larger than in women. The old Italian cus- tom of castrating boys to preserve their youthful singing voices bears witness to the close connection between the voice and the or- gans of sex. Delaunay remarks that while a bass need not fear any kind of sexual or other excess so far as his voice is concerned, a tenor must be extremely careful and temperate. Among prostitutes, it may be added, the evolution of the voice and of the larynx tends to take a masculine direction. This fact, which is faiily obvious, has been accurately investigated at Genoa by Professor Masini, who finds that among 50 prostitutes 29 showed in a high degree the deep masculine voice, while the larynx was large and the vocal chords resembled those of man ; only 6 out of the 50 showed a normal larynx ; while of 20 presumably honest women, only 2 showed the ample masculine larynx." — Havelock Ellis, "Man and Woman," p. 237. 58 HEREDITY AND MORALS. once recognizable by liis i>eculiarities, wliicli may be briefly summarized as follows : be is taller tlian the average man, though not powerful; his countenance is distinctive; the chest is narrow ; the hips are broad ; the gait is peculiar, owing to the feminine tendencj^ to knock-knee ; the voice is shrill, inclining to falsetto, and about an octave above the masculine register ; the face and pubes are almost devoid of hair; the skin is delicate; the penis is small and shrivelled, and the disposition is harsh, unmerciful, and servile. They age rapidly, and then become thin and ter- ribly wrinkled. On the other hand, among certain women, especially pros- titutes, whose sexual glands have been destroyed or much damaged by disease, it is not rare to find real viragoes, i.e., women who have the masculine physique, voice, strength, qualit}^ of mind, pugnacity, etc. Thus we see that comj^lete or partial deficiency in the generative functions brings about a strong resemblance to the characteristic type of the opposite sex, and invariably in a manner which excites disgust and contempt. The same peculiarities which are observable in castrated animals apph^ to evirated men, making them deficient in virile sports and occupations, lazj', good-for-nothing indi- viduals contented with their lot, utterly indifferent to the society of the opposite sex, of no force morally or mentally, and of course lacking the intelligence to be discontented with their doom. It is thus evident that none of our functions should be more carefully conserved than those of the generic sphere, for, irrespective of complete effemination or eviration, any impairment or vitiation, or loss of power, or excess of ac- tivity in them, unquestionably produces a most profound effect on the physical and cerebral processes, invariably in a fearfully undesirable manner. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 59 The Cake of the Pubescent Chhj). To understand the changes which occur at puberty and the tendencies inherent in the young of both sexes at this period is of the utmost importance, though few practical subjects are so much neglected by parents, teachers and physicians as the deportment of children at the most im- pressionable ejioch of their lives. At puberty the child's imagination is certain to become active; and peculiar emotions and susceptibilities arise which tend to draw it toward evil. Lacking at this early age the balance-wheel of reflection to control it, the child, unless carefully instructed, is in no little danger of falling a victim to the teachings of evil companions and many other deleterious influences. So when a youth arrives at j^uberty, unless he have a pow^erful moral mentor in his conscience, his thoughts naturally tend to lead him to sensual vices, than which nothing is more degrading and brutalizing. The older we grow the more we must realize how impor- tant it is to start out aright, and to be prudent when one is yet young; for when a person is matured, and perhaps acclimatized to a corrupting environment, it can hardly ever be expected that he shall materially alter either in his manner of life or ideas. To preach wisdom to the old— perhaps the prematurely old— is almost a thankless task; it may convince them, but life-long habits are hard to change. Therefore the great aim should be to educate the individual when he is yet young. For children of these tender years to listen very keenly to the appeals of morality merely for morality's sake is exceptional, though an immense influence can be exercised by telling them that it is base and degrading to tamper with their private parts in any way whatsoever, and that the sin of disobeying this injunction will surely betray 60 HEREDITY AND MORALS. itself in their faces and manners, and prevent their full development into a splendid manhood. At puberty a marked physiological thrill is imparted to the child; and no person, however prudish, can deny that sexuality is the factor which gives origin to feelings, emotions and imaginations which display themselves in characteristic fashion in persons of either sex, usually to a hyperbolic degree. "This awakening into intense activity of such vast tracts of encei)halic tissue [brain tissue], though provided for in the evolution of the organ, does not take x>lace without much risk of disturbance to its [the child's] mental functions, especially where there is an inherited jn-edisposition in that direction." ' We must especially bear in mind that, as Clouston says, new areas of brain tissue — " vast tracts" of it — are called into activity at the time of pubertj-, and that vitiation in the genital zone necessarily results in physical and ethical defect in the cerebral structures and functions. Every fibre in the bod}^ feels and shows the impulse of the change; and so great is the disturbance sometimes, when young peojile are attaining their sexual ecjuipment, that a well-marked "insanit\' of pubescence," or Hebephrenia, is recognized. This disturbance of the functions of the brain is usualh- depressing in character, often assuming a suicidal tendency, or sometimes giving an erotic coloring to life.' ' T. S. Clouston, M.D., F.R.C.P., Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1880-81, p. 5. 2 "Puberty being a travail of transition during which new sensa- tions, new emotions, new ideas spring up, it is inevitably attended with some disturbance of the mental equilibrium, and sometirnes, where that is imstable because of an hereditary strain of weakness, witli a complete overthrow of it. The new-coming feelings and impulses have to find and make their adjustments within and with- out, and until they have done that they occasion much subjective unrest of a vague, yearning kind— blind longings and cravings, undefined aspirations, tremulous pantings for the unknown, large PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 61 In those very frequent cases of pubescent insanity wliicli are accompanied by masturbation we must recognize that the self-abuse is often as much a symptom as a cause of the insanity. Some chiklren get to be "pitiful mind wrecks" at this period of life, partly through their own errors, partly on account of their vicious hereditary ten- dencies, and very largely on account of the lack of a proper education which would teach them self-control. But in ever3' pubescent child, a certain derangement of the emo- tions and disquiet of mind may be confidently looked for. In addition to the mental disturbances, many of the bodily ailments which afflict a child are in reality nothing but the accompaniments of puberty. This is more commonly true in relation to the female sex, because the girl suddenly blossoms into a woman, the change transforming her whole nature in a short period of time, and because the feminine reproductive functions are vastly more pervasive in their physical influence on woman in proportion to her more im- portant sexual role in nature. Periodicity is the law with women, and it must necessarily disturb the equilibrium of their systems once every lunar mouth, unless they are pregnant or suckling ; and any irregularity or sujjpression of this function, instead of being a relief, is a marked and sure cause of systemic derangement. In growing children of both sexes, at about the age of pubert}^ not only is the blood richer in the elements of fibrin and red blood-corpuscles, but the circulation is also more vigorous, so that there are apt to be congestions of various organs, relief from which is afl^orded by the familiar nose- bleeds of children. These nose-bleeds are more common and vague enthusiasms, accompanied by a dreamy sadness, a brood- ing want, a not altogetherimpleasing melancholy. The thrill of the infinite in the individual has somehow to make its accommodations to the finite. So it comes to pass that out of the dim, formless yearnings there spring up ideal forms in the domain of love or religion." — Henry Maudsley, "Pathology of the Mind," p. 387. 62 HEREDITY AND MORALS. in boys, for menstruatiuu more or less takes its place in girls ; but if this plieuomenou fails to operate in tlie latter, there is then not infrequently a "vicarious menstruation," i.e., relief is afforded by hemorrhages from other organs — for instance, from the lungs, stomach, bowels, nose, etc. In normal children, as j^reviouslj' observed, there is before puberty an entire freedom from any ideas about sexual affairs ; but it is a well-known fact, based on obser- vation, that many very joung children take to handling of the genitals with very apparent satisfaction of some sort. Nurses frequently have a most pernicious custom of quieting children by manii)ulation of their genitals; and thus, perliai)S several years before j^uberty, the little ones get into the habit of practising auto-stimulation without ^ in the least appreciating its moral or physical wickedness. Others are led to masturbation by some local irritation ; as from a too long or too tight foreskin, worms in the rec- tum, hiemorrhoids, fissure of the anus, intolerable itching about the anus or vulva, accumulation of a cheesy sub- stance— -smegma- — beneath the foreskin, or, in short, by any cause which produces congestion or inflammation in the genital zone. To prevent attention to these parts it is often necessary for the physician to obviate any abnormal conditions which may be present in children of either sex, e.g., to relieve constipation, to allay the intense itching, to dislodge the worms from the rectum, and, in the case of boys, to x'l'fictise circumcision. With an}- line of treatment the child must in addition be early taught self-mastery and self-reliance. The time of puberty and the next few succeeding years are supereminently important as constituting the formative and critical period of life ; for habits and the general trend of the mind get their motif then, and the individual hardly ever materially changes thereafter, at least in his tendencies and sexual enthusiasms. The sensations which are experi- enced at this time compel the attention of the mind ; and PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 63 tliougli tliey may at first be vague and iudefinite, yet be- fore long the new influence of the reproductive energy promotes unmistakable feelings which, unless controlled, may lead to various forms of illicit gratification. Teachers and i)areuts, culpably ignorant themselves, too often treat children as though they had no sexual organs at all; being all too content if they advance well in their studies. But assuredly they practise the most pernicious prudery by not looking for and anticipating those influences which so often lead pubescent young people astray to the ruin of their bodies and characters. Evil practices are exceedingly^ apt to be learned if these matters are left to Nature and to the child's companions for settlement; for in most schools masturbation and other forms of vice are actually cultivated by that portion of the scholars who are viciously inclined, and who, unfortunately, do the most talking. Through inheritance some children are congenitallj- lack- ing in ethical ideas, and for such the wisest educational measures are urgently called for. Self-control is what the child needs to be taught, for by yielding to impulse and vice the very structure of the brain eventually becomes altered. In fact, many an insane patient is where he is because of yielding to his fancies, and is thus directly re- sponsible for his condition. Every individual naturally has good and bad instincts, and the sexual passion often gives a coloring especially to those which are evil. All these vicious tendencies act more powerfully in perversely in- clined children, partly because their self-control is weaker, and partly because they have abused their sexual natures, while perverse heredity is very probably also operating in them. Very plainly, then, the parent or teacher who fails to realize that some of the children have sexual natures inclining to perversity makes almost a criminal error ; and in view of this his position should always be one of watch- ful expectancy. To leave a child to find out the secrets of 64 HEREDITY AND MORALS. his sexual nature uuaicled is the gravest and most cruel mistake. If this be left to accident, or if the child be abandoned to the false teachings of his wicked school- mates, then onanism with all its injurious effects is almost sure to follow ; and the wrong information which he may have received, or the erroneous conclusions which he may have conceived, may direct him into the most darksome XJaths and to irreparable injury. Children are notoriously imitative and peculiarly sus- cej^tible to the force of example, and consequently the greatest care should be taken to help them to form good associations. The bo^s must be watched for evidences of a tendency to effeminacy, or a fondness for girlish games, and the girls must be influenced against too great an en- thusiasm for boyish sports and the danger of being " tom- boy s." Above all, the boys and girls must be encouraged to exercise sociability and to mix freely with the opposite sex. We must in addition recognize at the time of puberty a strong and peculiar impressionability, and also that the early sexual excitations and lustful sensations are apt to imprint a lasting influence on the child's mind — "impera- tive concepts." The imi^ressions produced by the inten- sity of feeling of the sexual organisms are much deeper than most other impressions, and the mental images then pic- tured in the memory maj% and probably will, excite lustful feelings, through the association of ideas, when they are recalled, suggested, or reproduced, even without actual stimulation of the sexual areas. Most mature readers will, upon due reflection, appre- ciate that in their sexual dream-life their imaginations are tinctured by or revolve around some particular concei)t, or that they are eroticall}^ responsive to some pretty regular and ever-recurring line of action. Furthermore, most men are enthusiastic, to a greater or less extent, and become sexually excited — in their dreams PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 65 and also when awake — about some iDarticular feminine quality, or article of feminine apparel, or peculiar situa- tion; which enthusiasm, being incornx^rehensible to other men, is a personal secret that is carefully kept hidden. These various enthusiasms or mind-pictures, each of which is of importance only to the particular individual, can usually be referred back for their origins to the time of puberty when the special concepts were closely associated wdth the first emissions or with the first pleasurable sexual feelings. Especially bear in mind, then, that the first strong sexual impressions which are felt by the pubescent child are apt to become burned into his nature, and that the accessory factors which caused the lustful feeling, or which were prominently connected with it, are, through the association of ideas and reminiscences, forever after liable to guide his fancy to such a degree that a visual perception, or even a recollection of the same concept which excited him origi- nally, will excite him hereafter. To recognize that these tendencies exist is to be fore- warned in helloing the pubescent child to gain a mastery over impulses which might develop into grave perversions. Few realize, unless their attention is specially called to it, how deep and lasting are these mental associations formed during adolescence. Without; understanding these tenden- cies, men go throughout life blindly, not appreciating their sexual likes and dislikes, or their motives, or the signifi- cance of the mental stains from which those suffer who pollute the very source from which true manhood neces- sarily comes. The Pelmaky and Secondary Sexual Characteristics. It is important to distinguish certain well-marked sexual features in both males and females which are known as the Primary and Secondary Sexual Characters. A man's primary sexual characters are represented by 6 66 HEREDITY AND MORALS. liis genital organs, and centre round the production of sper- matozoa and the function of impregnation; a woman's primary sexual characters centre round her genital organs, the production of ova, and the development and birth of the foetus. The Primary Sexual Characters are, of course, those that pertain to the sexual organs themselves and to their func- tions, and naturally they are the most pronounced of all the sexual attributes. As accessories to these leading sexual features are the Secondary Sexual Characters, which comprise all those at- tributes of hodj and mind not directly related to the sexual organs proper, but which nevertheless are distinctive and constitute notable differences between the sexes. As Darwin has so well shown, these secondary sexual characters help the males to fight for, or to court the sexual favor of the females ; for instance, the horns of the stag and the spurs of the cock are weapons which their owners use against male rivals of their own species, and the strongest gains the consent of the female, who, quietly awaiting the issue, bestows her favors on the victor. So also the func- tion of the lion's mane is to serve partlj^ as a weapon of defence for the i:>rotection of his neck, but chiefly as a mark of beauty to attract the female. Male birds usually effect their conquests, as Darwin further shows,' by peaceful means, such as the melodious- ness of their singing and the gaudiness of their plumage ; e.g., the canary cock's singing, the cock's comb, the tail of the bird-of-paradise, and the superior brilliancy of all male birds. The secondary sexual characters do not appear in ani- mals until they have arrived at an age when they are ca- pable of reproduction; and as a rule the females are not gaudily and showily equipped, because of their greater necessity of protection from beasts of prey. At the rutting '"The Descent of Man," "The Origin of Species." PHYSIOLOGY OP THE SEXUAL LIFE. 67 season, when tlie sexual vigor is at its maximum, the plu- mage is gaudiest, the fur the handsomest, the horns the largest, the voice the loudest, the scent-glands the most odoriferous, and all the sexual characters the most pro- nounced. " Flowers and the songs of birds are the tokens of the reproductive transport of nature, — flowers being the dress of love, and the songs of birds love-songs. Men find these very beautiful in themselves, and think of them as specially designed to gratify their senses. But is it not that they are beautiful, by secret sympathy of being, be- cause they are expressions of the generative energy of nature in which men share? And most felt of beautiful in spring, when the sympathy of a common thrill is active." ' Botanists tell us that cross-fertilization is necessary for the reproduction of i^lants, they having separate sexes like the animals. Some plants are wind-fertilized, and some are visited by insects, the object being in either case an assurance that the pollen, or male elements, shall be car- ried, either by the wind, or water, or insects, from the anthers of one plant to the stigma, or female structure, of another. Flowers which are dependent on the agency of the wind for the scattering of their pollen are never gajdy colored, and "beauty serves merely as a guide to birds and beasts, in order that the fruit may be devoured and the manured seeds disseminated."^ Animals and plants have not been created beautiful in order to delight man, but for sexual reasons, in order to compel sexual conjunction, upon which the future of every species depends.^ > Maudsley, " Pathology of the Mind, " p. 131. * Darwin, "Origin of Species," p. 161. 3 "If beautiful objects had been created solely for man's gratifica- tion, it ought to be shown that before man appeared there was less beauty on the face of the earth than since he came on the stage. Were the beautiful volute and cone shells of the Eocene epoch, and the gracefully sculptured ammonites of the Secondary period, creat- ed that man might ages afterward admire them in his cabinet? 68 HEREDITY AND MORALS. All tlirougliout the organic world these secondary sexual characteristics play a most prominent role; and the same laws of course govern mankind, because zoologically we are of that world, even though at the top of the scale. In man we of course note as secondary sexual characters the greater size and sti-ength of his body, his beard, the hair on his chest, arms and legs, hia rougher voice, his masterful mind, and the natural aggressiveness in his wooing; while we note the superior grace and delicacy of a woman's every movement, her gentler and more musical voice, her crown of superabundant hair, her prominent breasts and wider hips, and, in short, the adaptation of her whole bodj^ for her liighest function of motherhood. Of the two sexes it is thus evident that the female is by far the more distinctly sexual, and that the state of her mind and body is more dependent on her corporeal condi- tion. She assumes the complacent role normally, and is by nature chaste; — though intensely sexual, she is not nat- urallj^ sensual. Nubility. ' By nubility we mean " the quality or state of being nubile or marriageable." As we have observed, the girl reaches the marriageable age sooner than the boj-. A girl of twelve years of age about equals a bo^^ of fifteen, as far as the growth of the body determines maturity' ; and a girl of fifteen nearly equals a boy of nineteen. At eighteen years of age a girl has usualh^ attained her full stature, and socially is fully the equal of a young man of twenty-one years. Along with these physical changes there are correspond- Few objects are more beautiful than the minute siliceous cases of the diatomaceae ; were these created that they might be examined and admired under the higher powers of the microscope?" — Darwin, "Origin of Species," pp. 160, 161. ' Nubo — to "marry." PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 69 ing changes in the minds and social inclinations of the girls which indicate their earlier maturity. Normally, a woman is capable of entering upon her re- productive functions at twenty-one years of age, being fully matured and having attained perfect physical development. If she enter upon marriage before her full development there is a tendency to abortion and diiScult childbirth. The reproductive power further implies, in addition to bringing forth the child, the capacity to supply nourish- ment (milk). While a girl of sixteen, seventeen, or eigh- teen years of age could do this, yet a woman of twenty- one forms a far better wet-nurse, and is even better adapted for this function at twenty -two or twenty -four years of age. If a woman be too young when she enters upon the pro- cess of reproduction, the breasts are not fully developed, and she may run short of milk in six months or less ; and, fur- ther, she is not psychically developed, and is consequently unfit for motherhood. In the male sex, adolescence lasts on the average until twenty-five years of age, before which time there is not the full development of the manly tyi^e. " A young man who marries before his beard is fully grown breaks a law of nature and sins against posterity" (Clouston). Besides the responsibility of procreating healthy children, marriage further entails the exercise of the manifold parental duties. The undeveloped young man who squanders his semen commits a i:)hysiological sin which is manifested by an im- perfect develoi^ment of the mind and lack of consolidation in the physique ; and certainly the functions of the testi- cles, upon which the evolution of the manh^ type wholly depends, should be the very last to be trifled with. "Women may be advised to marry not earlier than twenty-one — between twenty-one and twenty-eight — when in our climate they are best fitted to become wives and mothers. Men had better wait until between twenty-eight and thirty-five before they undertake the responsibilities 70 HEREDITY AND MORALS. of being parents.'" However, if circumstances permit, it is undeniably physiological to marry soon after full ma- turity lias been readied. The Climacteeic. The sexual life of both men and women continues until the climacteric, which is a momentous change, or crisis, in the lives of individuals, when the balance between tissue- waste and restitution is disordered. After this event the indi^ddual is in the afternoon of life and is again sexless from a physiological standpoint.' This physiological change comes on quite abruptly in women sometime between the forty-second and fiftieth years, with the heaviest figures in the forty-fourth j-ear. In men it is gradual and longer deferred, occurring, as a rule, somewhere between the fiftieth and sixt\ -fifth year, though the effects of the change are by no means so clearly appre- ciable in them as in women. As a rule, the male reproduc- tive elements, or spermatozoa, disaj^pear from the semen at about the sixty-second year, though the individual may be quite able to copulate satisfactorih' for some years more. Exceptionally the virile power remains with men even to the most advanced age ; but women, almost without exception, ' Reginald Southey, Quain's "Dictionary of Medicine, " p. 378. ^ " When the animal kingdom is surveyed fi-om a broad standpoint it becomes obvious that the ovum, or its correlative the spermato- zoon, is the goal of an individual existence : that life is a cycle be- ginning in an ovum and coming round to an ovum again. The greater part of the actions which, looking from a near point of view at the higher animals alone, we are apt to consider as eminently the purposes for which animals come into existence, when viewed from the distant outlook whence the whole living world is surveyed, fade away into the likeness of the mere by-play of ovum-bearing organ- isms. The animal body is in reality a vehicle for ova; and after the life of the parent has become potentially renewed in the offspring, the body remains as a cast-off envelope whose future is but to die." —Foster, " Text-Book of Physiology, " p. 720. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 71 are sterile before tliej" have reached the fiftieth year. With the completion of the functions of sperm-formation b}' the male, and of ovulation, or egg-formation, by the female, their sexual lives become forever closed. Such is the history of life ! At first a neuter ; then a rapid growth and development of the bodj' with sexuality as the distinguishing and fashioning feature; then the maturation and expansion of the physical and psychical endowments ; then the reproductive period, followed by that of quiescence and old age, when "... Years steal Fire from the mind, as vigor from the limb ; And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim." ' •Byron, "Childe Harold," canto iii. CHAPTEE III. A PEOPER CALCULATION OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF ntPURITy FEOM THE PEE30NAL STANDPOINT. "They bore as heroes, but they felt as men." — Pope. A LARGE number of men seemingly adopt as their rule in life tlie "Greatest Happiness Principle," loving tliem- selves, as a routine, with an overweight of devotion ; and yet most of them would feel a deep personal dissatisfaction "if they failed to conform to their interpretation of the " Law of Honor." The imjiutation of selfishness or utilitarianism is highly offensive to every one, for all acts which are considered noble are characteristicalh' unselfish; and in every com- munity, civilized or aboriginal, motives are praised only when t\iey are disinterested, and condemned when selfish. Thus the tribal and social ideas which everywhere pre- vail regard selfishness as the most ill-sounding of words and undesirable of qualities. However, self-love is always strongly asserting itself by a natural law whose force it is idle to deny, though some by strength of will succeed in concealing it, and others live it down by the nobility of their lives. ' But however much selfishness is the natural equipment of man, it is nevertheless a comfort to reflect that one cannot be false to others if true to himself. " Self- love is not despicable, but laudable, since duties to self, if self-perfecting— as true duties to self are — must needs be duties to others."" ' "A dog is the only thing on this earth tliat loves you more than he loves himself. "—Darwin, "Descent of Man," p. 70. «Maudsley, "Body and Will," p. 166. 74 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Self-love is assuredly very largely tlie principle of our actions, but "Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin As self-neglecting." ' The Ego, or reflective consciousness of tlie individual, constantly asserts itself by desiring to take an active part in tlie joys and deliglits wbicli its possessor may give to others, and to a certain extent it is laudable to make this the principle of our actions, since it can result in no harm to others while yet harmonizing with the law of self-pres- ervation. But we shall see that the lusting man must be emi- nently selfish, thinking to enjoy himself and benefit him- self at the expense of earth's tenderest and sweetest creatures; that he heeds not the results of his pleasure- seeking; that he violates his mother's sex, juggles with the possibilities of paternity, transmits disease to his wife and posterity, outrages M^thout conscience all rational moral laws, and seeks self-enjoyment as his highest aim in life. Like the ancient school of Greek philosox)hers who maintained the hedonistic ^ doctrine that the pursuit of pleasure for the moment is the highest good, and that a man should direct his i)leasures as he chooses rather than be restrained b\' his will, these men take no account of the welfare of others, but are in their feelings and conduct wholly egoistic in their hedonism, and make the pursuit of pleasure their God — the chief good. Such a kind of self- love and such men society does not want, but rather recog- nizes as honorable a disinterested desire for the prosperity of those who are dear to us and who will survive us, and for others of our race ; and considers this kindlj^ disposi- tion as characteristic of one who has arrived at a high state of civilization and nobility. ' Henry V. , Act ii. , Scene 4. *7/(JowJ — delight, enjoyment, pleasure. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 75 Tliere are in the world two armies of men — one the Army of Impurity, the other the Army of Purity. The former and numerically greater army is camx)aigning against womankind by every device of deceit, treachery and corruption, while the latter represents the strong men and real friends of women and posterity. Many true men, many noble men, many thoughtless men may be in the wrong camp through misconception; but one can hardly conceive of their cause gaining recruits from those who have taken the pains to learn the casus belli. It may be taken for granted that what we desire above all else is to have the noblest possible specimens of man- hood adorning our contemporary history — men who refresh us by their loftiness of character and who command our respect for their heroism and gallantry; and whatever course will acccomplish this result is best — best for us and best for posterity. As an axiom, then, we say that the man who is clean in morals and physique is the right kind of citizen for the hopes of the present and future of society. Of course it is a fight ! Yes, we grant that it is a battle- royal to keep oneself chaste and pure from early man- hood till the sexual powers are extinguished by old age, and for sense to triumph over sin. But when once we fully understand the benefits to be derived from leading a pure life, and the dangers of a contrary course, we shall earnest- ly strive to adhere to the former in spite of all temptations. Nocturnal emissions of semen occur occasionally in all normal men as desirable physiological events which give convincing proof of virility. Every healthy man, after puberty, feels the flame of sexual desire and generative inclination to a very considerable extent. Nature using this as a spur to compel him to accumulate proi:)erty, marry, and perpetuate offspring ; and at times he experiences what are called/' wet dreams" or " pollutions," in which the distended seminal vesicles are relieved of their superabundant semen. 76 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Silly men, wlio gain tlieir information from the evil x>ubli- cations of charlatans who are wholh' mercenary' in their aims, wrongly attribute these losses to some mischief in their generative functions. The emissions occur with varying frequency in different men, and in the same man at diflfereut times. If one takes little exercise, oversleejjs, lives on a rich diet, uses tea, coffee, or tobacco to excess, and stimulates his mind with erotic fancies and pursuits, he will probably experi- ence them with more frequency than the active man who directs his energies more to his brain and muscles than to his sensual nature. According to the trend of the thoughts and the mode of life the " pollutions" may in health occur as frequently as once in every ten or fourteen days, or as seldom as once in several weeks, or very rarely in those who are leading ex- cessively active lives. To the continent man these nocturnal emissions afford a safeguard against sexual, moral and in- tellectual turbulence. It may frankly be admitted that one's amorous desires increase with the accumulation of semen, so that it is more difficult at these times to remain chaste in thought and action; but with the recurrence of this function of ejaculation, a feeling of phj'siological ease follows. There need be no shame or regret over this phe- nomenon, since it is almost as much a man's nature to have an occasional emission of semen as it is a woman's function to menstruate. It is a natural substitute for copulation, and a characteristic sign that the individual still retains the health and power to procreate, though j)otency may remain after emissions have ceased. After maturity is reached a man begins to feel longingc for a wife, and home and children, which sexual inclina- tions are quite different from those of the romantic youth or voluptuary. Unless a stern duty compel him to forego the delights of marriage, one should shape and subordinate his ambition toward the accomplishment of this natural THE CONSEQUENCES OP IMPURITY. 77 and establislied custom at some day, and continually seek to 1) reserve liis bod^^ and character fit to i^erform the func- tions of a lover, husband, father, and good citizen. To at- tain this lofty position it is necessar^^ for him to retrench his pleasures, both for his own welfare and for the sake of his wife, children and society ; and he can lead a perfectly continent life with the assurance that his jDrocreative pow- ers will not the earlier wane on that account. Men of the greatest force are to-day living chastely as bachelors. And as eminent examples of such lives may be mentioned the names of men of such vigor and mental acumen as Sir Isaac Newton, Beethoven, Kant, and Jesus of Nazareth. A man's personal welfare, apart from all considerations of a loftier nature, is certainly not dependent on his sexual gratification. In fact, the proper subjugation of the sexual impulses, and the conservation of the complex seminal fluid, with its wonderfulh^ invigorating influence, develojD all that is best and noblest in men; for love's impidse has its very foundation in the sexual domain. On the contrary, the lusting man, assuming a far greater freedom than the mar- ried man, no sooner experiences the effects of an accumu- lation of semen than he hastens to rid himself of it, with a corresponding loss of health}' animation. Such a course is unphysiological, and prevents the development of the ideal athletic or mental type of manliness. This, as might be anticipated, is shown by the observed results. A char- acter which is chaste and pure continually j)refers higher thoughts to lower thoughts, and manliness to unmanliness ; and if even the lesser degrees of coarseness and lewdness are harbored in the intellect, or if it be stimulated by erotic fancies and associations, its owner will fall short of being a noble man. Invariably the character of an incontinent man is degenerated; and if he is unregenerate, it pro- gressively continues to degenerate. One cannot be a liber- tine or fornicator without telling and hearing lies, nor asso- 78 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ciate in levity with coarse and diseased men and women without contamination; nor is there any j)ossible way in which one can gratify his sexual passions extra-matrimo- nially, and not come off with a character smirched and soiled. Unquestionably the sexual instinct — not the sensual — is the most powerful of the appetites, and exerts a directing influence, beyond the bounds of ordinary belief, over the life-history of every man aDd woman. It were false to deny this; and woe to the world when this is not so! But from every consideration which appeals to reason, or science, or love, or morality, or health, the indulgence of this power- ful passion must be kept within the physiological limits which are afi^orded only by the married life. To accentuate the power of the sexual instinct is not to assume, that normal men's and women's minds are over- burdened with a desire to fornicate ; but we desire to point out that it is this noble instinct which impels love between the sexes, love of i^rogeny, love of home, love of purity, and admiration for true manliness and true womanliness — being, in fact, the very fountain-source of love, which must not be polluted. Love and the sexual instinct go hand in hand. On this account we see a girl fonder of another's brother, and a youth fonder of another's sister; we see it through- out all animate nature, if we will but observe; we see it in all its purity between male and female birds — and nothing is prettier than the share which each loyal parent assumes in constructing and maintaining their nest and family. After a wife has conceived and is carrying the embryo child within her womb, and still more so after parturition, a new and different kind of love springs up in her breast for her husband, and also in the heart of the husband for his wife, both being awed by the feeling that ihej have been permitted in the course of natural law to reproduce a new human being which partakes eciually of their natures. As beautiful an event as we can think of is the transfor- THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 79 mation of a virgin into a wife and mother ; and had society been rightly educated, it would regard the transformation of a man into a husband and father as equalh' l^eautiful. If both are pure, both are ennobled; if one is imj^ure, both are degraded ; they twain are one flesh. An incontinent man forfeits this high privilege. Those of extended experience in the affairs of " men of the world" well know the prevalence of the i^ractice of pro- miscuous fornication, not only among bachelors, but also among married men with families. Such infractions of the moral canons of civilization nature visits with dire punish- ment by the imposition of "venereal diseases." These maladies are most feared b}' those who understand them best ; for ihej often ruin the health of the sufferer, remain latent for long periods of time, and are liable to be trans- mitted to one's wife and posterity. Irregular sexual inter- course among the lower animals is not so punished by venereal disease, for the brutes are far purer in their de- sires and cleaner in their methods than the lewd i)art of humanity. Every physician of much experience can report a multi- tude of instances in which a i)ure girl has been degraded by marriage with a libertine, and infected with an acute or latent form of venereal disease of which she never suspects the nature, but on account of which she enters upon a life of invalidism, her children often sharing in the catastrophe. Women are only exceptionally the aggressors; it is the men who bring the poison into the family circle. It is certain that wives are by far more generally true to their vows, and that they as a rule love the bonds of matrimony more than their husbands do, and that a shameful number of married men secretly violate conjugal vows, only to bring sorrow, disease and destruction into their own households. Such a man approaches the nature of a beast; naj^ he is worse than a beast ; for the beast breaks no vows and en- joys an assurance of immunity from venereal disease, while 80 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the man treads a patli known to be beset witli sorrow, broken vows, separations, disease, augnisli and death. It is a fact that innumerable men, otherwise intelligent, are miserably and calamitously unenlightened concerning matters pertaining to their sexual nature, having an active, deformed ignorance, and being distinguished for their one purpose to enjo}- themselves — men of but one idea, and that a wrong one. Doubtless they think it convenient to be thus ignorant. In affairs of business, men usually have an established mode of investigating every detail, and are guided b}- reason and judgment in their transactions ; but when it comes to the question of health or morals — factors of paramount importance — many give over all responsibil- ity. Because punishment is remote and slow in being meted out, some offenders api)arentl3' escaping, they think to avoid the inexorable retribution which a violation of Nature's laws entails. Several most skilful venereal specialists have recently said in verbal communications to the writer that personally they w^ould rather have an attack of syphilis, if it could be well treated, than a badly treated or neglected case of gon- orrhoea; and this but voices the opinion of the modern profession. ^sop's fox, when he had lost his tail, strove to modify the prevailing fashion by advising his fellow foxes to follow his example and abridge their caudal appendages ; but he never was the same fox. Similarly, a diseased man after a time becomes content with his bodilv condition, actuallv imagines himself cured without authoritative confirmation, and reports to his companions in favor of running the risk ; saying something which sounds like superlative wisdom to the ignorant, many of whom blindly follow his example. Men who make a practice of illicit intercourse almost never escape disease. There may, of course, be a few ex- ceptions to this rule; but practically every worshipper at Phryne's shrine receives as his punishment the inevitable THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 81 sting of disease ; and lie may acquire all tlie forms — gon- orrbcea, chancroids, syiDliilis, and even leprosy, wliicli is largely a venereal disease. "WTien tlie writer was in Vienna lie made tlie friendship of a most intelligent Russian gentleman, a patient in the hospital, who had formerly been a merchant in Bombay. This man was under one professor's treatment for syphilis and under another's for leprosy. Gonorrhoea he of course had had. Oh, the anguish of that sufferer ! Cut off from all fellowship with the world, he 3' et acknowledged that he deserved all he had got on account of his profligacy ; but it was a terrible load to bear — no hope of cure, separate eat- ing utensils, a characteristic uniform, shunned by every one, no friends, no outlook but a i»rogressive advance to a loathsome decay and death. Repentance and contrition he had, so that his moral offence might be forgiven, but the darksome plight of his body was past repair. Leprosy, it is true, does not seriously threaten the care- less man at the present time ; but there are a great num- ber of cases in Norway, Nova Scotia, Louisiana, South America (notably Brazil), the Hawaiian Islands, all throughout Asia, and now and again it is seen sporadi- cally in our large cities. Sexual impurity is closely asso- ciated with its spread. Prof. Howard A. Kelly, of Johns Hopkins University, a surgeon of great experience, says : " It is not a venial sin for men to consort with prostitutes. It blunts a man's finer sensibilities, it lowers his respect for women, it leaves its indelible marks in disease, for sooner or later every man who indulges his passions un- lawfully contracts disease. It is not possible for either men or women who prostitute themselves freelj^ to escape it. And these diseases are not only the most loathsome and the most disgusting in their early manifestations, but they have the horrible characteristic of becoming latent. A man who contracts disease of this sort can never be sure 6 82 HEREDITY AND MORALS. that lie is cured, for venereal disease is not a merciful dis- ease, like cancer, killing its victim within a certain definite time. Eather, it is a death in life ; such local lesion may occur as to destroy forever the sexual function, and the unchaste man finds that he is incapable of realizing one of the chief blessings of life, surrounding himself with a family of children, who will be to him in the struggle of life a daily incentive and comfort, in whom in old age he may live again. "^ It may be observed that men who are on the right track grow better and better as they grow older — that the re- verse is true of those who give themselves up to impurity, and that such degenerate in every fibre of their higher faculties, becoming less and less tj^pes of ideal manhood. How especially repellent it is to see an old man from force of habit and evil desire looking lustfully at young girls and women ! When a crop is sown the reaper gathers in much more than he sowed ; and so also the pleasure derived from lead- ing a voluptuous life is trifling indeed compared to the amount of harm done to one's health, career and character, or to his wife, posterity, or society, not to speak of the risks — usuallj^ regarded by all as worthy the attention — which he incurs by going contrary to the uniform impreca- tions of moral law against such practices. The privilege of sowing " wild oats" has been altogether reserved by men for themselves, never being tolerated in their sisters ; but the only w^ay by which one can enjoy impvirity of life is to put aside all thought for one's health and character, all respect for morality and womankind, all intention of reaping what is sown, and every quality which stamps a true man, and not to burden the mind with a thing so uninteresting as punishment. How disgusting it is to see a man nursing his genital organs, using lotions and drugs, wearing supports, going 'An address to men, delivered in Baltimore, Easter Simday, 1896. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 83 from physician to quack, thinking, pondering, dreaming, talking of and habitually fixing his attention upon his sexual organs ! We doctors wash our hands in antiseptics after touching such men, and yet they go about eating with clean people, using the same towels and water-closets and bath-tubs, and only wait for the external manifestations of their disease to disappear before they return to their lewd- ness, being absolutely thoughtless of the welfare of the poor fallen women. The Factor of Uncleanness among Wosien who are Loose ^^TH their Favors. Men of high intelligence may frequently be heard to say that they feel safe in going to the better grade of bawdy- houses, since it is the business of the inmates to keep themselves clean. Undoubtedly one is less liable to con- tract disease from a professional strumpet than from an immoral servant-girl, shop-girl, or actress, because the latter are strumpets in secret, and practise no ^precautions ; but the choice is only relative, for all loose women are necessarily most unclean. By sinking to a depth of in- famy far below the level of any examples to be found among the brutes, the unchaste members of the human family have transmitted the filthy venereal diseases through the ages, while the lower animals are exemjit. Even among the most degraded human beings there is an instinctive feeling of self-consciousness while in the sexual embrace,' while the brutes are entirely free from all modesty, and, if not frightened, will not hesitate to copu- late before witnesses. This feeling of shame partly ex- plains why venereal affections are called " secret diseases." There is no animal, not even the swine, which from a bac- teriological jDoint of \dew can for a moment be compared in filth and repulsiveness to a prostitute. None can fully ' For a reTolting and perhaps unique exception, vide Xenophon, Anabasis, Lib. V., Cap. 4, adfinem. 84 HEREDITY AND MORALS. appreciate this wlio lias not had an extended hospital and dispensary experience. When one considers what she is no prostitute is attractive ; and a visual, digital and micro- scopical examination of her sexual apjiaratus and its secre- tions would cool the ardor of a satyr, if he were capable of appreciating the scientific procedures. A "kept mistress," who is limited to the embraces of one man, is not, strictly si)eaking, a prostitute, and she may be clean from infection if both she and he remain true to each other. But a prostitute copulates with a large number of men, and the fact that she lives in the most ex- clusive and expensive " house" will not save her from dis- ease ; for the rich and extravagant men who frequent these "high-class" resorts have never beensupiwsed to be a whit less free from disease than their poorer counterparts. Furthermore, it is the rule, almost without exception, that every prostitute of much experience has had gonor- rhoea at some time, and in quite a large number of cases syphilis as well, because they admit diseased men. Gon- orrhoea of the male urethra is the most frequent disease which affects mankind, as all authorities say, and, with here and there an exception, every man who indulges much in venere has had gonorrhoea, or syphilis, or both. Grant- ing that many of these men have, after the lapse of two years or so, recovered to such an extent that there is little likelihood of their transmitting infection to the woman, yet even with the best luck a large number of them will be sure to be suffering from disease; and men who follow after, unless already- infected, cannot long escape contami- nation. A gentleman recently related in the presence of the writer that several years since he was with a very attractive young prostitute, who boasted to him of having received $110 on that single day. Overcome with disgust at such a striking proof that harlots must be promiscuous, he has never visited one since. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY, 85 " The supposition that a prostitute submits to but one act of prostitution every day is ridiculously small. No woman could pay her board, dress, and live in the expen- sive manner common among the class, upon the money she would receive from one visitor daily ; even two visitors is a very low estimate, and four is very far from an um-eason- ably large one." ' By frequent douches, astringent washes, and perfumes, the careful harlot may deceive her paramour into the belief that she is all that his fancy and passion could desire; but chronic and filthy discharges flow profusely from the whole tribe, and the arts of the toilette only conceal the external evidences of their disorders. A very good damper to the longing of one who desires to go into a brothel would be to stand outside for a time and observe the kind of men whom he is to follow— silly fops, diseased and rotten men, worn-out old men, married men, uumarriageable men. While we have been so positive in proclaiming that loose women are diseased and loathsome, yet we do not wish to be understood as being too severe on these poor creatures. It is a hard thing at best for any woman, more especially if unequipped for it, to be compelled to earn her own living in competition with men who are often brutal to her; and circumstances and disposition make it harder for some than for others. These prostitutes are not soulless creatures, and their hearts are by no means barren of good. Manj^ of them, indeed, have kind and honest natures, are self- sacrificing in their devotion to each other when trouble or sickness comes, and often have as good sentiments as many other more fortunate girls. A baptism of suffering and sorrow has added much to their large-heartedness, and the spirit of mirth and revelry which is assumed when they have "company" is merely a thin veneer to their real feel- ings. There is no one for whom we should have so much sympathy and compassion as for a fallen woman who re- 1 Sanger, "History of Prostitution," p. 599. 86 HEREDITY AND MORALS. grets lier position — and multitudes of them are in that con- dition. But the idea that one can cohabit with a clean harlot — one who has not been exi)Osed to the embraces of diseased men — may be absolutely set aside as absurd. No self-resi)ecting man who fully appreciates the risks would expose himself to such dangers, which are i)erhaps greater than the risk of eating mushrooms gathered by ignorant hands. It is well to remember that at certain stages of gonor- rhoea the voluptuous desires of some patients are inordi- nately intensified. The point of importance in this con- nection is that a most dangerous class of diseased men, with almormally strong sexual appetites, are going about without conscience, supervision, or legal restraint, and using these very women whom so many men feel safe in patronizing. Though harlots are so extremely unsafe, it is even more dangerous, as a rule, to fornicate with women clandestinely ; for they act in ignorance, without precautions, and secretly, while their word is obviously untrustworthy. A short time ago the writer saw a married man who came complaining of an irritation and discharge from his penis, for which he could not account, as he had been with no woman except a "i)erfectly honorable married lady" with whom he was in the habit of consorting. From this "perfectly honorable married lady," however, he had ac- quired a gonorrhoea, and with his indisposition to submit to treatment for the proper length of time he will probably never recover from its effects. Venereal diseases are exceedingly grave, and are i)racti- cally sure to be acquired by every man who indulges to any considerable extent in illicit intercourse. Thej'- are, then, practically diseases of choice and selection, which a man really elects to acquire when he puts himself in the way of them. If the ])rostitute were suffering from any of the infectious fevers, such as small-pox, scarlet fever, or THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 87 measles, the visitor would flee precipitately ; and yet any of these are far less harmful in their results, as a rule, than the venereal diseases. The peculiarity of these affections is that their course is long drawn out over a period of years or a lifetime, except in those cases which have a fortu- nate outcome. Unless the signs of disease were very well marked, the layman could not by any possibility recognize them in a woman, even after the most minute inspection ; nor, in fact, could the most skilful physician Avithout care- ful microscopical examination, repeated at intervals over a period of considerable length. ' The Cost in Time and Money. In venereal cases the usual moderate charges in cities are, $10 for the first consultation, and $5 for each sub- sequent one, without credit. The average doctor is pre- eminently easy in financial transactions and uniformly charitable when necessity invites ; but from these notori- ously untrustworthy^ patients, whose diseases are those of election, the fee is very properly expected to be forthcom- ing at each visit. Without treatment one cannot hope to be cured, and must either present himself at the doctor's office, or else be visited, sometimes once daily, sometimes two or three times a day ; and if the expenses for medical treatment, sanitation, loss of time from work, etc., be taken into account, he will be fortunate if he does not have a bill which amounts to several hundreds of dollars. Of course, the average gonorrhoeal patient does not pay any- thing like this amount ; but if the case be complicated, or if syphilis happen to be the form of the venereal disease, the expenses sometimes amount to many thousands of dol- lars, which are distributed over the years of a lifetime. Should the patient not be able to afford paj^ment, he must attend a dispensary for genito-urinary diseases, where he will be thrown into contact with an aggregation of the 1 For fuller explanation, see chapter on Gonorrhoea. 88 HEREDITY AND MORALS. filthiest and most disgusting specimens of humanity, and he will be required to take his seat and rank himself along- side of men whom a clean man touches only from necessity. The expense of keeping a mistress is often greater than what would suffice to support a family; but even that method is not safe. The Factor of the Doctor's Skh^l. Many patients look up to their doctor as a sort of sage, blindly' placing the most implicit confidence in him, and never giving a thought to the possibility that he can do wrong. It is not for the writer to sjjeak disparagingly of a calling to which he belongs, and which he admires with the deei:)est reverence ; but doctors are human, and make many an error. No xih.ysiciau is i)roperly qualified to treat venereal dis- eases who is not skilful in microscopy and bacteriology ; for the criterion of cure, which can be told only by the microscope, is most essential in giving information when to stop and how long to continue treatment. A great num- ber of doctors pronounce the cases cured far too early, to the lasting harm of their patients. In many cases patients are over-treated or maltreated by doctors, and in a majority of cases they themselves are "lacking," as Finger says, "in a quality which cannot be supplied by the apothecary, viz., patience." A large number of foolish men are deluded by the advertisements of charlatans, who not only rob them of all the money they can and give them bad treatment, liut also, v/liat is even worse, i)revent them from receiving good treatment. It is well known by physicians that only a very small propor- tion of venei'eal patients receive anything like adequate attention, partly on account of prescriptions which are carelessly given over the druggist's counter, partly from the mischief done by the press in receiving harmful adver- tisements, and partly owing to the desire among patients THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 89 to cease treatment as soon as possible. Thus the medical profession is handicapped, and cannot begin to grapple with these diseases while such ignorance and apathy are prevalent. Veneeeal Patients are to All Intents and Purposes Poisonous Animals. Loathing themselves, and finding the trouble and ex- pense of treatment irksome, they long for the day when they can consider themselves cured, which they do when the visible signs of disease have disaj^peared. Diseased men get reckless in the indulgence of their passions. Not only have they lost their morale, strong in the belief that there is little more for them to acquire, but also the inflammation in the deep urethra, especially of the caput gallinaginis, morbidly stimulates their passions, so that these men are most highly dangerous to human society, being in fact poisonous men seeking to i^oison others. Excessively lustful, and governed by no moral restraint, they actively seek to gratify their passions at the expense of any available woman's health and life, and at the ex- pense of those foolish men who follow in their tracks. If mothers could only appreciate that such men eagerly seek for invitations to balls, where they can ideally feast their sexual fancies in the midst of so much that is at best unquestionably volui^tuous, they would exercise a far greater caution in making out their lists of invitations. If one will write down the names of the men at any large ball, and scratch off all whom he believes to be unfit to come into close contact with his own sister, he will find an object- lesson of significant import and much food for reflection. Fallen men not only acquire the loathsome venereal dis- eases themselves, but also transmit them to prostitutes, to their wives, families and posterity. They are enemies to societj^, and can offer no excuse which is not characteristic of an. irresponsible selfishness. With darkened intelli- 90 Heredity and morals. gence, and by continual stimulation of their sexual pas- sions with erotic thoughts, sensual conversation and litera- ture, and by rehearsal of lewd stories, they produce in themselves, and in others who fall under their noxious influence, an unconquerable j^assion. The secretion of the testicles is absolutely the only hope of the future of the race, and yet, if wrongfulh^ used, it is so potent that it may figuratively be classed along with the secretions of the poison-fangs of venomous rej^tiles. Whether the semen belong to a healthy or diseased man, it is nevertheless, when unphysiologically used, a concentrated fluid of more venom than any other chemical product in the world. If it be the semen of a syphilitic, then it is without exception the acme of all poisons, which, instead of exercising a rapidly lethal effect like the cobra's or rattlesnake's venom, inflicts its fatally pernicious influ- ence on women and on children who were better far un- born. Figuratively, a poison is " anything noxious or destruc- tive to health or morality," and a venom also is not only actively injurious to health, but, metaphorically, "any- thing that poisons, blights, cankers, or embitters." So without hyperbole every man who violates womankind unlawfully, without sharing the consequences of intercourse, is literally a highly jDoisonous and venomous animal. A Kefokmed Peofligate Makes a Poor Husband. Many an innocent wife is dragged down by the grossness of her husband's nature, and suffers with unmerited dis- ease which has been given to her through his treachery and falseness. This occurs as frequently among the upper as among the lower classes ; but wives do not often appreciate the nature of their illnesses, this being necessarily con- cealed by the physician in the interests of family peace. It is a commonly expressed sentiment that " it is just as well for a man to sow his wild oats when he is young, for, THE CONSEQtJliNCES OF IMPURITY. 91 if lie does not, lie may never get over tlie tendencj-, and perhaps sow tliem after marriage." Nothing couki be more pernicious than such a proj^osition ; for a reformed profligate makes the poorest kind of a husband — often be- ing corrupt in body, and perhaps having imperious mental concepts which we will call brain-stains. Societj' errs in recognizing a necessity to sin ; for the consequences of a surrender to vice are remote and lasting, on account both of the physical harm done, and of the blight of licentious- ness which settles on the consciousness and inner nature of the individual. It is inconceivable that any should be so thoughtless as to advocate a man's bringing the hideous fruits of his licentiousness into the marriage relationship. Intercourse with different women is well known to mor- bidly increase desire, while married life bridles it and keeps passion under projier subjection. The husband who has a clean record and a mind free from stain is far more apt to have perfect ease and perfect love for his wife ; but indulgence in i^romiscuous fornication of course excludes the feeling of love, which is a physiological necessity in a true sexual relationship : and one who has been a fornicator is bound to have a soiled imagination, and perhaps a dis- eased body as well. Purity of life is the greatest incen- tive to marriage; and the lusting man, fortunately, does not feel much impulse to marry, finding elsewhere the opportunities to act a part which he considers natural, and being poisoned in his inner nature at the very sources from which true love springs. Through the association of ideas, trivial circumstances, as is well known, may produce impotency in men, so that they may have, in greater or less degree, a horror femince, or loathing for all or for certain women ; or perhaps they may be compelled to create stimuli ideally in order to be potent. That this should be so is hardly to be wondered at when we consider that the sexual orgasm is attended with the 92 HEREDITY AND MORALS. most intense nerve excitement, and that the cerebral centres which preside over the emotions are in a state of intensified susceptibility during the act of copulation, so that the brain-cells, ujion such occasions, are peculiarly liable tc have permanent impressions firmh' and ineradicably fixed ujjon them. So intense is sexual excitement in some in- dividuals that many of the frequent deaths of elderly men in bawdy-houses are attributed to syncope while in the sexual orgasm. Male insects usually die after sexual con- gress ; and some animals are so rapt in ecstas}^ during the act that they can be mutilated without their paying the slightest attention. Even under the usual degree of in- tensity^ of excitement which is experienced during the con- summation of the act, it is not to be wondered at that mental impressions which are then prominent become deep and lasting. Accordingly, if sentient men fornicate with the coarse, the low, the vicious, the strongly perfumed, and the voluptuously attired harlots, they maj^ render themselves mentally soiled, and perhaps at a remote date be impotent for copulation with their pure wives, unless they resort to some sham or mental trickery. There is an extraordinary' importance attached to certain accidental factors impressed on the mind of many a de- bauchee which are essential to his successful accomplish- ment of the sexual act ; thus, some men are impotent with blondes, some wdth brunettes, and some with naked women, while others can copulate onlj^ if their peculiar fetich is either ideationally or actually present; i.e., their idiosyn- crasy may compel them to imagine themselves to be in some fantastic relationship with the woman, or she must be attired \\dth some special article of apparel, or possess some quality of odor, or peculiarity of manner, or other indispensable prerequisite, the importance of which is in- conceivable to a normal man. De gusfibus non est dis- pidandum. Such an association of ideas is of course pathological, but it often affects a man who has been pro- THE CONSEQUENCES OP IMPURITY. 93 miscuous iu his indulgence, especially if he be of a nervous temjierament, or of a vicious ancestry. It is an acquired taint, making him one of "Nature's stepchildren," and ever afterward coloring and i)laying an active part in his psycho-sexual life. Men who enjoy sexual pleasure with many women indeterminately are not capable of real love, the great satisfaction of which consists in the possession of the beloved one body and soul, and in being i)ossessed by her in the same way, so that the two souls are knit to- gether, each confident of the other, and each representing to the other the sum-total of possibilities of sexual pleas- ures. Some profligate men suffer from an impotence, of which there are several varieties : 1. Impoteniia coeundi, or defect, complete or partial, of jjower to copulate. 2. Impote}itia generandi, or inability to become fathers on account of a lack of spermatozoids in the semen. 3. lielativelmjjotence; i.e., a man may be perfectly potent with some women who fulfil his i^erverted ideals, but impotent with others ; thus, a man may be unable to consummate the sexual act with his wife, but quite able to succeed with prostitutes ; or he may be potent only if the woman be entirely nude, wdiile another similarly afi'ected man might require her to be dressed in some peculiar manner, wearing the articles which form his fetich, before he could induce orgastiii. 4. Fsychical Impotence ; i.e., some nervous men, especially those who have resorted to unnatural means of sexual grat- ification, and those who are frightened by the acquisition of venereal disease, labor under great nervous excitement from a fear of inability to perform their conjugal duties ; in the marriage relationship they are chagrined at failure, but may yet be able to copulate satisfactorily with prosti- tutes. A multitude of married men, supposedly reformed profli- gates, continue to frequent women in secret, though they have promised by their marriage vows to guard theij' wives 94 HEREDITY AND MORALS. or else endure tlie worst ; but tlie women allied witli tliem in ma,rriage consented to do what Portia wiselj^ refused to do — " if I should marry him, I should marry twenty hus- bands." Some statisticians say that seventy-five per cent of mar- riages are unhappy ; nor can it be wondered at so long as a debased society continues to condone profligacy. " Unlike the women [liarlots], the men are di'awn from no single class, condition, or age in the communit}^ but from all alike. They are drawn into the vortex by an instinct, it is true, but not a natural one — a perverted one. It is aston- ishing how little '^''^ission' there is in the trade on either side. So far from the 'hot blood of youth' being chiefly resi)onsible, houses of ill-fame derive two-thirds of their income from married men over forty." * A woman who gets a husband whose sexual excitability is dependent upon peculiar perverted stimuli, which are outside of her i)ower to gratify-, will hardly be able to keep him from going to strumjiets, who alone can, and will, pleasurably stimulate his corruj^ted tastes; nor can she reasonably hope that these extraordinarily j)owerful and imj)erative concepts will ever be rooted out from his psy- cho-sexual life. Marriage cannot be relied upon to trans- form such men's natures, nor to eradicate the impressions which their former lascivious modes of life have fixed as indelible stains on those brain-cells which are concerned in the phenomena of memory and imagination. Those who spend the best years of their lives in seeking for ille- gitimate pleasures, which their reason, if used, would lead them to shun, inevitably get the sting of pain and sorrow for their reward. That is not the way to be happy, nor can any justification be found for leading a reckless life which is injurious to oneself and many others. Tlie essentials of the secret of a happy marriage, by de- ' Woods Hutchinson, M.D., Medical News, New York, June 26th, 1897. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 95 ductiou from tlie foregoing, may be shortly summed up as follows : That the man and woman shall be well mated physi- cally, sexually and mentally, in harmony in their moral sympathies, and possessed of the normal sexual inclina- tions and longings ; that each shall enter into the relation- ship in virginity, chastity and modesty, and that neither shall be the slave of polluted imj^erious mental concejits ; that each shall represent' the sum total of sexual possibili- ties for the other, upon assurance of which there can hardly be jealousy or suspicion; that they shall appreciate that marriage is, in a sense, an immortal relationship, their lives continuing in their posterity ; that the husband shall regard his wife with a deep reverence as occupying the throne of nature, considering her sex and her potentiality^ for motherhood as sacred, and that the wife shall be able to confide in the sure faithfulness and protection of the husband for herself and offspring; and that the founda- tions of their conjugal relationship shall be laid in a love which will bind them together and cause them to endure all and suffer all for each other's sake. " On slight reflection any one wall see tiiat real love (this word is only too often abused) can be spoken of only when the whole person is both physically and mentally the ob- ject of adoration. Love must always have a sensual ele- ment, i.e., the desire to possess the beloved object, to be united with it and fulfil the laws of nature. But when merely the body of the person of the opposite sex is the object of love, when satisfaction of sensual pleasure is the sole object, without desire to possess the soul and enjoy mutual communion, love is not genuine, no more than that of platonic lovers, who love only the soul and avoid sen- sual pleasure." ' Health is Not Dependent on Sexual Indulgence. — There is an erroneous and widespread belief that exercise of the * Von Krafft-Ebing, " Psychopath ia Sexualis, " p. 19. 96 HEREDITY AND MORALS, sexual functions is necessary in order to maintain health. Sophists, calling this a " necessary obedience to the laws of nature," claim the right to degrade and ostracise an enormous number of girls in a most damnable way as an unpitied sacrifice to lust. If this doctrine — that a man cannot have good health unless he fornicates — were granted, the selfishness of our sex would then spur many of us on to the work of degra- dation of women, heeding not the call of gallantrj', and recking not what should betide the unfortunate victims and posterity. This perverse doctrine is so readily ac- cepted because it conveniently fits in with men's desires and gives them a facet of self-justification; but every man knows in his inmost heart that it is not necessary for him to sin, and that a bawdy-house can never be a health resort. The muscles and certain glandular structures, such as the salivary, pei)tic, pancreatic, sebaceous and sweat glands, and the liver, kidneys, and many other secretory organs, must perform their functions contiuuoush', or else they will waste away and lose their activities ; but the reproduc- tive glands have been so constructed that their specific ac- tivities can be suspended for long jjeriods of time without their atrophy or the slightest impairment of function. I From the time of puberty' until senility the testicles con- ; tinue to secrete semen without stimulation, and will never I lose their power from continence. In this particular they resemble the inherent capabilities of a woman's breasts, which can remain quiescent for years, and, when called into demand physiologically, resi^ond with perfect function. One of the world's foremost surgeons says : " The influence of the sexual functions is so great in the economy of human life, that any impairment of the organs concerned is a matter of importance, not only in its effects on the bodih' health, but even more on the mental state of the person affected. ... "The student should remember that 'the functions of the THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 97 testicle, like those of the mammary ghmd and uterus, may- be suspended for a long period, possibl}^ for life ; and jet its structure may be sound and callable of being roused into activity, on any healthy stimulus. Unlike other glands, it does not waste or atrophy for want of use, the physical parts of man's nature being accurately adapted to the necessities of his position, and to his moral being." ' And Prof. Lionel S. Beale, of King's College, London, says: " It cannot too emphatically be stated that the strictest continence and purity are in harmony with i:)hysiological, physical, and moral laAvs, and that the yielding to the de- sires, the passions and inclinations cannot be justified on physiological, physical, or moral grounds." Some ignoble and profane doctors can be found, if one search for them, who will advise men to fornicate, and in times past some instructors have been known to tell medi- cal students that it would be well for them to acquire gon- orrhoea in order to know how to treat it. But one cannot justify himself by getting the sanction of a man who, bear- ing the honorable title of doctor unjustly, prescribes anti- dotes which are poisonous. Reputable physicians and physiologists all unite in ad- vocating a chaste and continent life, simx)ly for the sake of one's health, independently of all other considerations. Speaking of projihylaxis from venereal disease. Dr. Gowers, an eminent London physician, makes the follow- ing excellent remarks in his lectures on Syphilis and the Nervous System : " One method, and one alone is possible, is sure, and that one is open to all. It is the prevention and the safety that can be secured by unbroken chastity. Is this poten- tially becoming greater? As we look back through the long centuries, we see the sensual more dominant in the past, growing less as the race slowly rises. But, as we * Bryant's Surgery, vol. ii , p. 244. 7 98 HEREDITY AND MORALS. look at the present, we can trace small ground for hope that this process will have any appreciable influence unless or until there is some change in men more potent and effective than the slow 'love upward working out the beast' of moral evolution. But that which will not perhaps be for the mass may yet be for the indi\ddual. And, in end- ing, I must ask a question and give a warning that I would fain have left unasked, unsaid. But I cannot, I dare not pass them by. Do we do all we can — and our profession gives us power that no other has — do we do all we can to promote that perfect chastit}' which alone can save from this, and from that which is worse? The opinions that on pseudo-psychological grounds suggest or permit unchastity are absolutely' false. Trace them to their ultimate basis and they are groundless. They rest only on sensory illu- sions, one of the mau}-^ illustrations of a maxim which I have often to enforce on various sufferers: 'There are no liars like our own sensations. ' Bather, I should say, they rest on misinterj)retations, always biassed, and often delib- erate. With all the force that any knowledge I possess can give, and with any authority I may have, I assert as the result of long observation and consideration of facts of every kind, that no man was ever yet in the slightest de- gree or way the better for incontinence ; that for it every man must be worse morally, and that most are worse phys- icall}', and in no small number the result is, and ever will be, utter i^hysical shipwreck on one of the many rocks, sharp, jagged-edged, or' one of the many banks of fester- ing slime, that are about his course, and which no care can possibly avoid. And I am sure, further, that no man was ever yet anything but the better for perfect continence. M}' warning is : let us beware lest we give even a silent sanction to that against which I am sure, on even the low- est grounds that we can take, we should resolutely set our face and raise our voice." ' ' Space permits the use of only a few quotations, but by actual THE CONSEQUENCES OP IMPURITY. 99 It is a pernicious pseudo-physiology wliicli teaches that exercise of the generative functions is necessary in order to maintain one's physical and mental vigor of manhood. For ever}' evil deed that men do they seek some excuse, and long-repeated iteration that exercise of the sexual func- tions is essential for the maintenance of men's healthful- ness — not women's — has caused this doctrine to be enthu- siastically accepted as solving the problem for those who are biassed in favor of fornication. But the excuses for indulging in vice are untenable and the foul deeds are de- fenceless. Nor can fashion, or custom, or weakness, which are the devices of knaves and fools, excuse, for no such plea will gain for any one remission from the sure physi- cal punishment which is visited b}^ natural law upon those who commit fault or sin ; nor can his posterity escape the physical and moral deterioration which is an organic, and not a supernatural penalty. " One argument in favor of incontinence deserves special notice, as it i)urports to be founded on physiology. I have been consulted by persons who feared, or professed to fear, that if the organs were not regularly exercised, they would become atrophied, or that in some way impotence might be the result of chastity. This is the assigned reason for committing fornication. There exists no greater error than this, or one more opposed to i^hysiological truth. In the first place, I may state that I have, after many years' ex- perience, never seen a single instance of atroj^hy of the generative organs from this cause. I have, it is true, met with the complaint — but in what class of cases does it oc- cur? It arises in all instances from the exactly opposite cause — early abuse: the organs become worn out, and hence arises atrophy. Physiologically considered, it is not a fact that the power of secreting semen is annihilated in count the author has at hand the testimony of more than half a hun- dred names of the most eminent medical writers and practitioners that a perfectly chaste life is consonant with tJie most perfect con- ditions of health. 100 HEREDITY AND MORALS. well-formed adults leading a liealtliy life and yet remaining continent. I have daily evidence that the function goes on in the organ always, from puberty to old age. Semen is secreted sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but very frequently only under the influence of the will. I have already referred to the fact — which 1 shall hereafter treat of in more detail — that when the seminal vessels are full, emission at night is not unfrequent. This natural relief will sufiice to show that the testes are fully equal to their work when called upon. No continent man need be de- terred by this apocryphal fear of atrophy of the testes from living a chaste life. It is a device of the unchaste — a lame excuse for their own incontinence, not founded on any physiological law. The testes will take care that their action is not interfered with." ' Until our i:)assions die and we again become neuters, we can nevea' be jierfectly free from temx)tations, but we can at least rationalh^ subjugate them and resist them, so that they do not become ruling f)assions and we passion's slaves. Foresight and the observation of others who have gone along that dangerous x^ath will lead us to see that indul- gence in illegitimate pleasure brings nothing but pain, though the pursuing of that course may, on the surface, seem to be all pleasure. " If a 3'oung man wished to undergo the acutest sexual suffering, he could adopt no more certain method than to propose to be incontinent, with the avowed intention of becoming continent again when he had ' sown his wild oats.' The agony of breaking off a habit which so rapidly entwines itself with every fibre of the human frame is such that it would not be too much to ssix to any youth com- mencing a career of vice : ' You are going a road on which you will never turn back. However much you may wish it, the struggle wall be too much for you. You had better stop now. It is your last chance.' ' Acton on the Reproductive Organs, p. 38. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 101 " There is a terrible significance in the Wise Man's words : 'None that go to her return again, neither take they hold on the paths of life. ' " ' In the treatment of disorders of the sexual organs the most important thing is to maintain a correct hygiene and give rest to the sexual functions. " The majority of sexual invalids (according to Fiirbringer, eighty-nine per cent) attribute their maladj^ to sexual excesses, onanism, and gonorrhoea." " Sexual invalidism, sterility, and nervous disorders in the psycho-sexual domain are thus seen to be the concom- itants not of continence, but of disease and excesses. " In the course of my ovi^n professional exj)erience, I can truthfully say that I have never met with a single instance in which disease of any kind was present as the result of a pure or continent life. On the other hand, I have seen the most horrible results from the unlawful and unprof-^ssioual ad\ice sometimes given by physicians to young men, sug- gesting unchastit}^ as being essential for tlie relief of some physical weakness, though I have never met with a single case in which the slightest benefit had been derived from following such advice. My observations with reference to the character of those who give professional advice of this sort have long ago led me to the belief that, as a rule, only those who have themselves been impure to such an extent that they were bereft of their ability to judge properly of the influence of a pure and continent life are capable of giving such unwise and immoral advice." ^ The lords of the harem are said to be frequently impo- tent at twenty or thirty years of age on account of the un- restrained stimulation of their reproductive functions; and, ' Acton, loc cit., p. 18. ' Schrenck-Notzing, "Suggestive Therapeutics in Psychopathia Sexualis, " p. 92. 3 " Chastity and Health, " J. H. Kellogg, M. D. Transactions of the National Purity Congress, held in Baltimore, October, 1895. 102 HEREDITY AND MORALS. in fact, it is tlie- lascivious man who is the poor, whining sexual hypochondriac, while the continent man suffers no harm and retains his virility unimpaired indefinitely long, Societ}'^ calls those women w^ho have fallen into the sin of unchastity as sacrifices for the fornicators hj the vilest terms, such as "abandoned women," "strumpets," "har- lots," "whores," "prostitutes," "courtezans"; they are cut off from all association with their fellow-beings, and are deserted almost entirely, even by the churches. The poor fallen woman, hounded from garret to cellar, and driven hither and thither, is treated by the police as a sort of wild animal, or criminal; she is segregated with others of her class ; she is an outcast. Society, while not tolerating her, and while giving her the most opprobrious epithets, yet argues that some women must sacrifice them- selves for the good of mankind ! Why, then, if it is neces- sary that these women should exist, should we cast disgrace upon them? Eather should we revere and extol them for the sacrifice of themselves for the public good. If they are necessary, then they have, for man's benefit, thrown away every prospect of the joj's of earth or heaven, of home, of family, of motherhood and wifehood, of love, of respect, and of hope ; having sold their peace of mind, and happiness and honor, they have, in addition, sold their own bodies. If we maintain that their sacrifice is indispensable for the health of the community, then we should worship them for their self-immolation; no martyr ever equalled their devotedness, and each of them, in such an argument, is worthy of a monument ! If such reasoning be absurd, as it assuredly is, how can any genuine man maintain that it is essential for the sake of his health that some woman should sacrifice for him her honor, her health, her respect- ability, and her hope of everything that is sweet? If one has found some poor woman who lives on the money which he pays for her defilement, would that he THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 103 might curb liis passions and lend liis support toward re- forming her and helx)ing her to engage in a reputable pursuit ! Would that men might not trifle with a fellow mortal's annihilation, but help to save her whose honor rests upon our manly sympathy ! Why should Man be the only created being to degrade women, when not a single animal ill-treats, deserts, or destroys the female of his kind, but rather shares with her all the delights of life, its pastimes and its labors ! We are made to help, not to destroy one another, and there can be no logical suj^port for the degradation of one human being to maintain another's health. Mrs. Josephine E. Butler, in an address on the Social Purity question, delivered before the students of Cambridge Universitj^ England, said: " Were it possible to secure the absolute physical health of a whole province or an entire continent b}^ the destruc- tion of only one poor sinful woman, woe to that nation which should dare by that single act to purchase this ad- vantage to the many." In the company of real men, who are well grounded upon the truth, no person can dare to say that the degradation of some particular woman is a necessity for him, without either being kicked out of their j^resence as a poltroon, or being classified as a low, vulgar, villainous rascal. Where these women are forced to congregate there assem- bles a hellish class of abandoned men, liars, thieves, as- sassins, blackmailers, soiled and diseased men, syphilitics, men with chronic gonorrhoea; thieves devise their plans there, criminals and swindlers retreat there, abortionists work there. The police and those familiar with city life will corroborate every word of this. Were it necessary that the sexual functions should be exercised in order to maintain health, men could not sail the seas or make campaigns or undertake explorations without the companionship of women; nor could men 104 HEREDITY AND MORALS. be continent during the months when their wives are pregnant; and the women, being not so different from ourselves, would also have to indulge in the same prescription ; and thus all the bulwarks of home life and of civilization, such as we strive for, would be over- thrown. Whatever ideas men entertain about incontinence, it must, however, be remembered that no equivalent for sex- ual improprieties can ever be advocated for loomen outside of marriage. A father maj- even be found who will en- courage his sons to be impure, but scarcely one who will permit it in his daughters. Outside of marriage, everj- sexual act not having in view the i^ropagatiou of the species is perverse. Marriage is of course exceedingly desirable, and, in that relationship, the temperate gratification of the sexual passion is health- ful, and immensely increases the love between husband and wife. But " purchased or forced love is not real love" (Mantegazza) ; and without this element, and without the intention of assuming the proper responsibility toward the fruits of intercourse, everj^ sexual act is grossly im- moral and a perversion to be greatly ashamed of. Every one is aware of the advantage to a child if its par- ents have both been physically and mentally perfected and prepared for the act of procreation by a hygienic course of li\'ing and thinking from the very initial periods of their life-histories. Mirabeau, in speaking of the proper age at which to begin a child's education, is reported to have said: "I would begin twenty years before he is born by educating his mother"; and Oliver Wendell Holmes has well said: " If you want to reform a man, begin with his grandfather." Any marriageable man is, of course, likely to be the ances- tor of a posterity to whom he is under a certain unwritten obligation ; and, if he be thoughtful, he will not care to be the one to start his race on the road to degeneration hy THE CONSEQUENCES OP IMPURITY. 105 impairing liis own functions of body and character with disease which is the fruit of his sin. " One often hears the expression that a cliild is a chip off the old block; but this is only a very partial truth, for a child is pre-eminently a composite chip off of many old blocks. Galton has compared the comjjlex nucleus of the fertilized ovum" (i.e., the embryo child) "to a modern Italian building which has been constructed of mate- rial — a column here, a cornice there, a lintel yonder — gathered from different classic buildings of varying an- tiquity.'" Of course, then, if a man poison his body and mind by sexual vices, which are more transmissible to posterity than any other, he gives to his heirs i^illars which are rotten. A chaste man holds his head high; obscenity does not percolate from him, and he is strong in the assurance of a perfect, unimpaired manhood ; he is apt to beget not weak- lings, but a vigorous and lusty race. On the other hand, the progeny of the impure are likely to suffer on account of the impaired and vitiated vigor of the parental reproductive functions ; thus they are liable to have a jironeness to sin — organic fault, or physical and moral damage — they inherit a neurasthenic sexual predis- position, a slight resisting power against many morbid tendencies, a constitutionally imj^aired physical and moral stamina, and, in innumerable cases, the awful blight of con- genital syphilis. Not only the sons of the i^rofligate, but also his daughters, inherit the evil legacy, and whatever appears as beautiful in them must chiefly be referred, not to him, but to other ancestors, and to the wholesome influ- ences of education and environment. Every rational man, who is alive to the importance and reality of the transmissions of hereditary strain, must come unreservedly to the conclusion that irregular indulgence of » " Heredity with Variation, " Prof. D. K. Shute. New York Medi- cal Journal, September 11th, 1897. 106 HEREDITY AND MORALS. those very functions b}^ wliicli progeny is begotten is an unmitigated evil without a single excuse. Intercourse with women who receive other men's em- braces is disgustiugh' vulgar to any one who at all appre- ciates the corruptness and i^utridity of such a practice ; and yet if a man strive to avoid this filthiness by procuring a woman who will be true to him alone, he may contract a liaison which will entangle him in such compKcations of sexual bondage that he will be compelled to marry her. Such women being almost invariabl}" of low social station, a marriage of this nature might blast a man's whole career. These women, not sympathizing with the fugitive attach- ments of such men, have frequenth' been known to make away with their paramours who have jilted them ; and jur- ies seldom deal harshlj^ with them. Can money pay for the destruction of a woman's character, the violation of her affections, or the abandonment of her offspring? Few women have ever lived who would be so cruel to a man under similar circumstances. The more we understand women, the more we must re- spect them; even an outcast prostitute has much genuine tenderness and love in her nature ; she will love and cher- ish her illegitimate child of uncertain paternity, spending her all on it, while the father abandons them both, flatter- ing himself that another is the father and that no respon- sibilit}^ rests on him. There is strong reason to believe that, after all, a woman is the finest work of creation, when we consider her large endowment of love and constancy and faithfulness ! In some respects she is the weaker ves- sel, and is often led astray by the decoys which men lay for her under the cloak of love and promise of future repara- tion ; but we must blush for our sex w^hen we consider the amount of harm which manj^ of us do, men being almost invariably the aggressors, and licentious men far outnum- bering the women who are impure. Men have sought for every possible device whereby they THE CONSEQUENCES OP IMPURITY. 107 can worship at the shrine of Yeuus without contracting dis- ease ; but, as might be exj^ected, their efforts have resulted in uniform failure, as all efforts will which are contrary to natural law. Opponents may be relied upon to say that there is nothing unnatural in i:)romiscuous fornication, cit- ing the lower animals as examples ; but the debased ele- ment in the human race has never followed a course in any way parallel with that which the instincts of the brutes dictate. In whatever community sexual irregularities are much i:)ractised, there may be found a large number of in- dividuals of both sexes who are irritable and nervous wrecks in the sexual domain; and by hereditary trans- mission the evil increases, by a process somewhat akin to fermentation, so that in a very short space of time all nat- uralness has disapi)eared. It is absurd to maintain that the methods followed by the prostitutes, and by those who patronize them, are in any sense natural, because the fun- damental design of the sexual act — procreation — is of course not in view ; but, if pregnancy does occur, the offs j)ring is either killed by abortion, a deed not known among ani- mals, or abandoned to an infamous career. Among spar- rows, gorillas or human beings, marriage is essentially consummated bj^ the act of coiiulation, which naturally is an immensely important relationship, implying that the male shall remain near the mother, tight off all enemies from the home, and provide food until both the mother and offspring are able to dispense with his services. Spar- rows and gorillas need no religious or civil performances to bind their marriages; and if men were as natural as they are, the procreative act would mean much more than the gratification of a transient physical appetite. If we are to take our examples from a scientific study of natural history, i.e., from the plant and animal kingdoms, we shall find no argument in support of prostitution or of any sub- stitute akin to it; while, on the contrary, we &hall see that animals and plants elaborate male and female fertilizing 108 HEREDITY AND MORALS. elements which are brought into conjunction solely for the purpose of re^jroductiou of species. To mankind alone is conceded the privilege — a concession which we grant as legitimate — of a temperate gratification of the sexual appe- tite in the marriage relationship, merely for the sake of pleasure. Many of the governments of Europe have sought to les- sen the ravages of syphilis and gonorrhoea by licensing houses of prostitution and enforcing a rigid medical in- spection of the women. The absurdities of this system of medical inspection will be more fully discussed in another part of the book.' It is common for men to j)ass through a stage of frolic- some wildness in which they think it necessarj^ to sow some "wild oats." That "boys will be boys" is just as physiological as that colts should be colts, lambs should be lambs, pui)i)ies should be puppies, or that kittens should be kittens. There is an unrestrainable i^otentiality in the rich young blood which compels the healthy young of all mammals to be buoyant, sportful, nimble, full of pranks, tricks, gambols, escapades and wildness. Something is wrong when a hoj or young man does not feel " ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises," when he has too much of the old man in him and takes himself too seriously ; and happy is the mature man who still retains some of this youthful, sunshiny principle in his nature. This play- element is most effective in keeping the mind and body refreshed and wholesome, and it should never be elimi- nated from one's life. But though it is necessary for the mind and body to relax in sport, it is not necessary to make an abuse of this sport; the "wild oats" s-hould be sown in light soil, where they cannot take deep root and rise up into a luxuriant crop, and no consideration should allow one to so far for- get himself as to sow tares in his neighbor's garden. ' Vide Chapter viL THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 109 All kinds of manly sport antl liealthful amusement should be entered into lieart and soul, but "Let's teach ourselves that honorable stop. Not to outsport discretion. " Othello, Act ii., Sc. 3. " Make BOt thy sport abuses : for the fly That feeds on dung is coloured thereby. " Herbert, "TempZe." Of all tlie varieties of "wild oats," this sin of impurity far exceeds all others in its noxious and jioisonous effects. For a man who is ignorant of the chances of acquiring dis- ease, ignorant of all the physical and moral consequences, to put himself in a position to fall into such a trap is the height of unreason ; even animals, as Darwin says, " learn caution by seeing their brethren caught or jDoisoned." ' One may sow other varieties of "wild oats," perhaps, with impunity ; but before he makes himself liable to the dreadful consequences inseparably connected with licen- tiousness he should at least know just what he is doing. If a man through his licentiousness burden himself with the lasting consequences of disease, he has then done him- self a grievous injury indeed ; but if, by reason of his mis- guided passions, he get and beget disease, then he brings others down with him in his ruin, destroying not o\Aj their bodies, but also disgracing their reputations. The way to reform is much easier for men than it is for women, and there is .no excuse if they do not mend their ways. Occa- sionally' it may seem almost necessary for the outcast wom- an to continue in sin, because she earns her livelihood by it ; but for the man, who spends his livelihood on it, there is never Bjij excuse that does not aggravate the fault. From a purely selfish standpoint we must now see that it is most inexpedient to exercise the sexual functions extra- matrimonially ; for the dangers which beset one who in- dulges in sexual irregularities are extraordinary, disease ' " Origin of Species" ; vide also " The Descent of Man, " p. 80. 110 HEREDITY AND MORALS. being practically assured to every man who exposes him- self to any considerable extent. Masturhation is so well understood to be destructive of every quality of moral and physical manhood and beauty that its devotee never thinks of acknowledging his defile- ment, rarelj^ even to his physician. In that it is a crime against self, it is not so far-reaching in its consequences to society unless the individual marries. It jjroduces its own train of jjersonal neuroses, diseases and degenerations, injuring the character, perverting the instincts, ruining the nervous system, and, by striking at the very founda- tions whence love conies, it unfits the victim for the high functions of a husband and father. It is a " furious task- master," universally berated; practised only in secret, it affords a ready oi)i)ortunit3' for frequent gratification. All the world despises a masturbator, as he does himself. Fornication is a perversion, for it ignores the fundamen- tal consequences of the i)rocreative act — namely, the wel- fare of offspring. Besides the great risk of initiating a new life, or of acquiring execrable i)references and strange plies or inclinations, it necessarily' affects two persons, and thus becomes an act of vital importance to society. To the unenlightened there is a strong fascination about the strange woman who knows how by her dexterous encour- agements and wily arts to inflame a man's passion hy look, gesture and apparel ; but the moth fluttering round the ex- posed electric arc-light is hardly more in danger than he who ventures to cohabit with a woman who is loose with her favors. Adultery, single or double, partakes of all the foul abom- inations of fornication, besides profaning the covenant of marriage, bringing a ruin of distress and disease into the households, and being a civil injury punishable by fine or imprisonment. Gonorrhoea is a most serious disease A\dth a notoriously uncertain course, many cases being followed by remote THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. Ill and lasting results which never can be cured, and it is the most frequent cause of blindness in children. Sypldlis is rampant and easily acquired, and is so un- certain in its course that it is impossible to predict in what order the various lesions will develop ; and it is furthermore impossible at any given time to assure a patient that he is safe from its subsequent reaj)X3earance. Its effects are liable to be transmitted to the third and fourth generation of one's posterity; one's wife is liable to be inoculated; it is an important factor in filling asylums for the insane; it causes paralysis, heart disease, aneu- risms, diseases of the eye, brain, kidneys, liver, bones, and other almost innumerable affections. It often hor- ribly disfigures the countenance with permanent scars; or, by corrosion of the nasal bones, the nose may fall in, and then the victim is labelled with his disease in the most prominent part of his anatom}'. It undermines the health and increases the liability to take diseases of all kinds — consumption, pneumonia, heart disease, etc. At the very best the victim must undergo an active, expensive and irk- some course of treatment. The syphilitic must remain under the observation of his i^hysician for a lifetime ; and he need expect no assurance that the disease may not again manifest itself at some period in his life ; nor must he be offended at the anxietj' of the physician for the welfare of his wife and children, even under the most favorable cir- cumstances which prevail in himself. Oliancroids are local lesions, with no lasting effects on the constitution, but they leave permanent disfiguring scars about and on the genitals. Leprosy is not common in these climes, though not un- known. It has been supposed to be largely a venereal disease, and baffles treatment. The man who makes the gratification of the lustful appe- tite the chief end of his life, giving himself up to the pur- suit of it without restraint, uncontrolled by the law of 112 HEREDITY AND MORALS. self-preservatiou, and deaf to reason or moralit}', and even the man wlio partially goes in for such a course of life, ex- poses himself to the ravages of these loathsome diseases, being led on to cultivate a taste which perhaps is perverse by inheritance, but which is more often unduly stimulated by the influences of evil associations, b}^ 'a vicious mis- information, or b}^ the erotic pastimes of society. T\Tiether he is ignorant or not makes not the slightest difference as to the consequences of his disease, and in any event he has become " sin's fool," with jaded or over-stimulated desires, perverted tastes, and diseased tissues — a stranded wreck, j)enitent perhaps, but unfit to become an ancestor. Fools beckon on fools, the moralist and hygienist are laughed at, and dunces are always ready to follow what is rei^resented to their willing ears as the "manly" path of lust. Excuses for enjoying the delights of love are ready to hand, or responsibility can be stifled and c( nscience re- pressed b^' stupef^ang the senses with alcohol; and then, as when the " governor" of a steam-engine is disordered, the mechanism of the brain's functions is confused, and the um-easoning man rushes on to take the chances of uncertainty. These reckless men, while unreformed, are harmful citi- zens wherever thej- may be. "No fornicator hath inher- itance in the kingdom of Jesus Christ" (Ephes. v. 5), and we do not need them here. Seneca said, "ImjDurity is the foremost of the world's wickednesses"; Cicero said, "There is no more heinous pest than the indulgence of uncleanliness" ; and St. Isidore said, " Whatever sin you name, you shall find nothing equal to this crime." The voice of Nature condemns it by the obvious consequences, and womankind and posterity would say, could they speak out, " Oh, have mercy on us !" To many a diseased man whose reproductive power has expired prematurely, or whose generative functions are disordered, the light of life seems to have gone out. The THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 113 premature extinction of virility causes siicli deep mental depression and sucli despondency tliat the wretched man sees everything as though it were in black, and is, in fact, in mourning, though compelled by policy to wear the "counterfeit mask of dissimulation." Very often such a victim is led to commit suicide, or becomes hypochondri- acal or insane. The continent man, on the other hand, is ready at any time to enter the bridal chamber as pure as his virgin wife. His powers remain normal, and he is not degenerated b}' wrong methods of life and thought. The older he grows the more he appreciates that his virginity is a pearl of great j)rice ; he is a strong man, with his appetites under the control of his higher nature ; his speech and behavior are not likely to be coarse and blasphemous, and his tastes are not toward filthiness in thought, desire or action. He is worthy to be a lover; — " O happy she whose lips he presses ! O happy slie whom he caresses !" He walks the earth with a nobler tread for his cleanness of physique and mind and heart; there is no uncertain paternity haunting him, and he has pushed no woman further down into the mire, but has rather stretched forth his gallant arm to save. He is what the Latin word "i-/r" conveys to us, rather than a mere " homo''' — he is virile, fit to be a lover, hus- band, father and good citizen, and worthy to be a knight at King Arthur's Round Table. The chasteness of his man- ner of life never causes him or others either physical or mental disease, or any impairment of manly quality. If x>eradventure any disease might be conceived of as being attributable to his chastity, it would be immeasur- ably less harmful to himself, to his wife and to his off- spring than an^^ of the diseases of the unchaste. But the loss of virile power and other harms that are predicted for him by the ignorant never come. 8 114 HEREDITY AND MORALS. He lias injured no other person, nor has lie been foolish enough to corrupt his own body — realizing that it is sacred beyond anything else of which he knows. Little danger is there that his progeny will be criminals, liars, thieves, sensualists or weaklings. He is in accord with Nature, with human and moral law, and with love — "the greatest thing in the world." He elevates the foulest society without being contaminated by it ; there is no scent of loathsomeness about him ; and every tailless fox inwardlj' envies him. His passions and powers are pure, full and strong, without unnaturally occupying his mind, and when he marries they will respond with perfect activities. He is apt to be athletic, healthy and vigorous, partly because he likes the kind of life which makes him so, and partlj^ because that mode of living conduces to cleanly manliness. This is the onlj' kind of man to be — a man who liaa not "profaned the God-given strength, and marred the lofty line" of his ancestry, nor preyed upon and blasted his own hopes of being the father of a fair lineage. " He wlio in Pleasure's downy arms Ne'er lost his health, or yoiithful charms, A hero lives ; and justly can Exclaim, 'In me behold a man !' "He prospers like the slender reed Whose top waves gently o'er the mead ; And moves, such blessings virtue follow, In health and beauty an Apollo. "That power divine, which him inspires. His breast with noblest passions fires ; These heavenward soar with eagle flight, And spurn the cold, dark realms of night. " So full of majesty, a god, Shall earth alone be his abode ? With dignity he steps, he stands. And nothing fears ; for he commands. THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 115 "Like drops drawn from the crystal stream, His eyes witli pearty brilliance beam : With blushing signs of health o'erspread. His cheeks surpass the morning's red. " The fairest of the female train For him shall bloom, nor bloom in vain ; O happy she whoes lips he presses 1 O happy she whom he caresses !"' The sufferings of tlie continent man, tlioiigh constantly requiring fortitude, do not compare with those of the in- continent. If a man has been properly brought uj), pro- tected from evil practices, and not early debased by sensu- ality, his habits become fixed, and he prizes his health and virility too much to put them in jeoi)ardy. Love is a necessity of man's nature as he is constituted, and a i^ure attachment for a woman whom he hopes some day to make his wife is most desirable. The intensity of the longing for sexual gratification is readily given as an excuse for satisfying that craving; but, outside of marriage, wilful compliance with these desires stifles the primitive, fundamental purposes of Nature, which has designedly conferred upon every healthy indi- vidual of either sex a lavish, bounteous and almost su- perabundant endowment of sexual longing, the object of which is to render certain the perpetuation of the species. Throughout all Nature this is seen as a passion, and no apology need be offered for saying that chaste men and women experience this sexual passion in fuller force than the unchaste, but not as sensuality. This liveliness of sexual feeling makes a man and a wo- man unite themselves in marriage ; it is the very essence of true conjugal love — the love-compelling princij)le of Nature. The silent music of the boy Cupid strikes its sweet notes ' Burger ; quoted by Hufeland, p. 225. Old German, translated bj' Erasmus Wilson, M. D. 116 HEREDITY AND MORALS. everywhere wliere sexual power remains, and without it the race woukl cease to exist. As Grant Allen says : " To it we owe the paternal, maternal and marital relations; the growth of the affections, the love of little pattering feet and baby laughter; the home, with all the dear associa- tions that cluster around it; in one word, the heart and all that is best in it." ' So we actually boast that the chaste, and that they only, feel this sexual longing in full and natural intensity, being tempted like those who fall, and exijerienciug unmistakable yearnings which are not shameworthy, but physiological. But rational men and women, observant of natural law and of their brethren who have been trapped or poisoned, re- strain themselves from indulging in unnatural and impure practices, because they regard their own bodies and their progeny as the most sacred things in the world. The unchaste man j^i'ostitutes and subverts his purest and most energizing incentive to marriage by otherwise gratifying his longings; and he furthermore defrauds some true woman of her legitimate chance of marriage by his sul)stitution of a selfish sensuality for the highest honor of husbandship and paternity. It surely camiot be that he knows what he is doing in going contrary to the immutable laws of Nature, which never fail to punish artificial infringements upon her rights in a manner quite api^reciable to our earthly senses. It is not a light sin, this perversion of impure sexual gratification, but the most heinous offence against Nature — o]iposiug her prolific aims, begetting loathsome diseases, blighting marriages, tainting offspring, and assuring an- guish and heartrending sorrows; and, furthermore, it is the gravest offence against religion ; for we can clearly see that if a man is so crimiuall}' and voluntarily unfit for this world, he rightly has no inheritance in the Holy City. To an}^ one who may assert that there are two sides to ' "The New Hedonism." THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMPURITY. 117 every important question, we reply that in tliis case there is no question and no room for argument. The outcome of all records, past and present, shows that the man who indulges in sexual irregularities is practically certain to sooner or later undergo suffering so grave as to far out- weigh any possible selfish gratification. The moral sentiments of a community fashion the cus- toms and habits of its individuals ; and those who advocate perversions of the sexual functions which are at variance with natural law and hygiene and morality, must be held accountable for the physical, mental and moral retrogres- sion and decline of human progress ; for they clash against every argument which i^leads for the welfare of the fathers and mothers and children, and trifiingly antagonize scien- tific facts which are absolutely demonstrated to be essential for the promise of the soundness of the race. Morality and virtue are the machinery which render impossible the tri- umph of the sensualists and barbarians. A few men are naturally bad, deaf to the soft voice of Nature, and with little sentiment of justice or humanity ; but an acquaintance with the tremendous personal evils which a life of lust entails might be presumed to restrain them in their mad and wicked careers, if they have not entirely become "sin's fools." We look almost solely to the stupendous force of the sexual instinct, rightfully guided by the harmony of moral- ity and science, to advance civilization to its most fruitful and its highest destiny. CHAPTEE IV. Woman, ajstd the Unmaklikess of Degrading Her. The contemplation of womankind as a theme for study cannot fail to render any right-minded man respectfully enthusiastic over their qualities and functions, and to im- press upon him the significance of the reciprocal relation- ship between the sexes, and the preponderance of moral obligation on his part. The role of the Male in Nature is secondary to that of the Female, for she is the Mother — the Generatrix — of all ani- mate beings ; and it is more important for us to have highly endowed mothers than fathers with like characteristics. Woman represents the prolific energy most conspicuoush', while Man merely has the power of generating or giving origin to life; it is the female parent who perfects and brings forth the new life and nourishes it for many months after parturition, and it is the male parent's duty to pro- tect and provide for tliem both. All the activities of men, with their superior inventive and creative genius, lead to no racial imj^rovement what- ever unless they are directed toward the betterment of pos- terity, the welfare of contemporaneous womanhood, and an obedience to the laws of stirx)iculture, which aims to im- prove the nobility of the race. Reason tells us to guard, protect and reverence this x^otentialit}' of womankind for motherhood, which makes them the holiest of beings ; or at the very least to bear ourselves toward them with the same equality and consideration which is universally shown b}^ all animals toward their females. "They say that man is mighty, He governs land and sea, 120 HEREDITY AND MORALS. He wields a mighty sceptre O'er lesser powers that be : But a mightier power and stronger Man from his throne has hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world." ' So the very liopes of mankind hang on our fidelity toward women and our care of them. The distinctively womanly qualities, which shine forth as rays from heaven in their souls, may be quite accurately expressed by the beautiful words, love, tenderness, gentleness, forgiveness, mercy, pity, compassion, grace, purity, affection, sym- pathy, charity, self-sacrifice, devotion and trustfulness; while bravery-, boldness, strength, jiugnacity, courage, pluck, self-reliance, large-hearteduess, philanthropy, jus- tice and magnanimity may be styled the attributes of ideal and robust men. Both sexes, at this stage of moral development in the world's history, should have in common, as virtues of transcendent importance, a fervent love of the truth, of patriotism, of chastity, and a feeling of obligation to do good. Moderation in any of these qualities is never praised. It is universally admitted that our gentler com- panions "ijour celestial balm" on the hearts of men, and in whatever relationship they may be to us, whether as sisters, daughters, wives or mothers, they have well earned the title of "ministering angels" to mankind. " Everj' mother's son" of us is under obligation to the sex, and we may well pause to consider and prevent, as far as lies in our power, the damnable consignment of a multi- tude of women, mostly young girls with sweetly attractive graces, to the vilest useo known to man on earth, or con- ceivable in hell. It will be noticed that the essentially distinctive attri- butes of women, which we regard as heavenly qualities of » Wallace, "What Rules the World." WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER, 121 mind and heart, would be termed the symbols of strength, were society perfect; but in the hurly-burly of a wicked world they are in reality marked elements of weakness, readily overcome by brutality, falsehood and imj)osition. Man with his rougher qualities is fitted to stand, and re- sembles the oak that resists, while woman with her gentler and yielding nature, being fitted to lean, is too often like the reed that bends, and may easily be trami)led in the mire. And yet there is a bond of relationship between men and women which is totallj^ uuai:)preciated by the mass of peo- ple, and credible to those only who have pursued anatomi- cal and phj^siological studies. Embryologically, both the feminine and the male tyj^es are fulfilled in the person of each individual, i.e., up to the end of the third month of intrauterine life the embryo has the sexual glands of both sexes so perfectly developed that its future gender is still indistinctive and uncertain ; and every man and every wo- man forever retains in rudimentary form the traces of the sexual organs of the opposite sex, Bemember, then, that the human sexual organs, as well as those of all mammals, are thus bisexual, and that the mono-sexual tj^pe begins to develop only at the end of the third month of foetal life. Krafft-Ebing ' points out the possibility that, under x)atli- ological conditions, the cerebral and spinal centres which correspond with these rudimentary^ sexual residua may exert an influence on the dispositions of certain individ- uals, so that they have the feelings of the opposite sex and a sexual inclination toward individuals of their own gen- der, while yet possessing well-formed sexual organs. Though it is probabl}^ never true that a man's skull can contain the brain of a woman, yet it is highly probable that there are rudimentary areas in the brains of all in- dividuals which correspond with the rudimentary rem- nants of the sexual organs of the opposite sex, and that * " Psychopathia Sexualis, " p. 237 et seq. 122 HEREDITY AND MORALS. these areas in tlie brain substance maj^ exert an influence on the nervous system. The possibilities of the female type are represented in every man by embryological residua, such as the Miillerian ducts, and the sinus pocularis or ideras mascuUnus ; the female has the iMvovarium, which is the analogue of the male epididymis ; and so also the clitoris is the homologue of the penis, the labia majora of the scrotum, and the ovaries and testicles are developed from a common germ- epithelium. No mdisputable instance of true hermaphroditism has ever been recorded, each individual being essentially male or female ; but cases are numerous in which there are ap- proximations toward both sexes, with notable alterations of the figure, gait and disposition. Externally a man has mammae, or breasts, with well-de- veloped nipi)les, and daring early babyhood it is quite commonly possible for nurses to express milk from the breasts of infants, this being as frequently observed in one sex as the other. At puberty, also, milk can sometimes be expressed from the male mammae ; and " in man and some other male mammals these organs have been known occa- sionally to become so well develojied during maturity as to yield a fair supply of milk." * Before i^uberty, both the boy and the girl are to all in- tents and purposes of the neuter gender, and their physi- cal and mental characters are not difi'erentiated in any marked degree until the development of their sexual organs has caused them to diverge from their former somewhat parallel course. One cannot, if he would, prevent people saying, " He is so like his mother," or " so like his sister" ; and it is futile for men to refuse to acknowledge some in- fusion of the womanly characteristics into their natures, and reprehensible for them to b& ashamed of their mater- nal inheritance. " A son, who cannot in the nature of the > Darwin, "Tlie Descent of Man," p. 163. WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 123 case exhibit tbera himself, still conveys his mother's spe- cial feminine qualities to his daughter, having them latent in him, as he has in him the rudimentary representatives of the special female organs ; in like manner, a daughter conveys her father's special masculine qualities to her son, having them latent in her, as she has latent in her the rudimentary special male organs. Everybody, male or female, is essentially male and female." ' Strong men have fainted, and you may faint; strong men have wept, and you may weep, as did Exeter over the death of Suffolk : "The pretty and sweet manner of it forced Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd ; But I had not so nmch of man in me, And all my mother came into mine eyes And gave me up to tears. " ^ Shakesi)eare's keen perception did not fail to notice the womanly inheritance of men, and it might be that we should find the source of these " briny rivulets" in the fem- inine residua which are latent within us. Men may have all these attributes of love, tenderness, charity, gentleness, chastity, etc., which are conceded to be womanly, without being effeminate ; and tender women often show "a front of iron," and more pluck, courage and great-heartedness than the best of men. A Jewish rabbi jjoetically said, "The Lord cannot be everywhere, so He made mothers." On account of their mission of motherhood we must regard women as holj^ and may his name be anathema who harms them by treacherj^ deceit, compulsion or seduction ! The love for one's mother is so spontaneous and natural that one hardly stops to consider why he loves her. It is because she harbored him for ten lunar months within her womb, suckled him at her breasts for many months more, ^ Henry Maudsley, " Pathology of the Mind, " p. 49. 'Eenry V., Activ., Sc. 6. 124 HEREDITY AND MORALS educated liim at lier knee, sang sweet songs of comfort liim, and kissed away liis bruises and sorrows, gave joy and peace to his young soul, and pointed him to ways which lead to immortality ; because she was pure and good, and loved him so much that she would have given her all for him, or have died for him. On account of their interdependence, the tie betw^een mother and child is, for some years at least, very much more intimate than that which exists between father and child; and lor many years after infaDcy the child will, as a rule, run instinctively to its mother in j^refereuce to its father. Therefore, recollecting this, men resent nothing so much as a slur on their mothers, and revere their names as holy things. And yet some of these same men will — thought- lessly let us hope — degrade the holiest functions of women, and bastardize their own offspring, who are allowed to grow up as rank weeds, with nothing but bitterness in the place of joy, and coarse names of rex)roach instead of honor. There is a widespread misconception among many per- sons that a woman is naturally delicate and w^eak, and that her chief weapon of defence is the " unansw-erable tear" which serves for her shield and spear. But there are some considerations which argue for her excelling in some points of strength, as she does in beauty. Like many an unsuspecting and honest man w^ho fails to succeed in life bv the usual worldlv standard of success, so also a woman is handicapped by her good faith, and by her tendency to believe too much and reh^ too much on the promises of men. Her faith, which rightl}- should be re- garded as an element of strength, too often leads to her ruin ; her unsuspecting nature being little adapted to pro- tect her from the trickery and deceitful declarations which are so often made under the guise of love. The triumph of civilization is the predominance of moral over physical force; and until this is fully accomplished WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 125 many women can have no chance to withstand the wicked- ness of those men who are brutally sacrificing snch of them as are in need and unprotected for the physical gratifica- tion of a depraved lust. Men are superior in the coarser grades of strength ; and woman's only hope lies in that kind of civilization in which brutality is repressed by reason, and justice, and consider- ation for the welfare of others. But even in j^hysical strength women are easily the equals of men in staging power, for the average of their lives is longer. "Women are not only longer-lived than men, but have greater powers of resistance to misfortune and deep grief. This is a well-known law. " ' They endure accidents and severe surgical operations with more forti- tude and with better chances of recovery than men, and they were foremost in the ranks of the martyrs." They seem to withstand the vicissitudes of temperature better than men; and it is noticeable that more blankets are required in the male wards than in the female wards of hospitals. One or two nights' loss of sleep will exhaust a man, while a woman can remain almost continuously by the sick- bed day and night for long periods of time ; and it is un- questionable that the power of endurance of the male nurse cannot compete with that of the woman nurse in a pro- tracted illness. When the shock and storm of adversity come to a fam- ily, sweeping away the home and all sources of supi^ort, it is very commonly observed that the man founders under the stress of the calamity, giving up all heart; and in such instances, when heroic strength and fortitude are called for, it is not infrequent for a gently nurtured wife or daughter to put aside her finery and come to the salvation of her family by her active exertions. In a quiet way wom- ' Lombroso, "The Female OflFender," p. 125. * Vide Lecky, "History of European Morals." 126 HEREDITY AND MORALS. en show these caijabilities for eudurance, and rise mag- nificently in the face of the greatest calamities and trials. " The tasks which demand a powerful development of muscle and bone, and the resulting capacity for intermit- tent spurts of energy, involving corresponding periods of rest, fall to the man; the care of the children and all the very various industries which radiate from the hearth, and which call for an expenditure of energy more continuous, but at a lower tension, fall to the woman." ' On the race-course the mares have been quite able to hold the laurels for their sex; the she-bear when bereaved of her whelps is terrible beyond the fury of her mate, and the simple word " mother" applied to any animal means "hands off." Women, though hampered by a greater complication of sexual structure and function, nevertheless stand the wear and tear of life fully as well as, or even better than, men ; they live longer, and, if the}' raise families, do more work. They arrive at puberty and maturity earlier than men, and there is far greater activity in their sexual spheres ; they become women before boys become men ; their longing for parentage is greater, so that even as children the}' play with dolls, and throughout life they continue to be fond of chil- dren. Unconsciously a woman has a desire for maternity and an eagerness for a romance ; and her life is continually dominated by her physical sex, whether she is married or single, though the sensual longing is far less energetically manifested in her than in man, and not so liable to overflow into wrong channels. It is essential for a woman to have a greater knowledge of sexual hj^giene — of menstruation, pregnancy and lacta- tion — while sex need exercise comparatively little influence over a man's thought and attention. A clean, pure, un- defiled sexual feeling is thus a fundamental law in woman's nature, for love is her element ; and her sexual feeling is by ' Havelock Ellis, " Mau and Woman, " p. 2. WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 127 no means a liglit tiling, but an inflexible yearning, normalh', toward an honorable maternity, which impulse is infinitely higher in rank than the sensual passion of the libertine and seducer. Devotion is an attribute of strength, and women have that in greater degree than men ; love is also an attri- bute of strength imjilying ardor, and for it a woman will brave all dangers, or bear disgrace, and victimize her- self, by reason of her very nature, for the welfare of the beloved object. Everything is sacrificed for this love toward her offspring and partner, whether in honor or dis- honor. On the other hand, sensual men follow an unnatural role and display a cowardly weakness when they stain their own offspring with the bastard's inheritance, and when they give them mothers wdth tarnished names ; they fulfil no duties to their illegitimate children, usually abandoning both them and the mothers, or at most contributing in a niggardly way to their support, but not at the loss of a single jot of their own comfort or advantage. The out- raged mother, by reason of the strength of her maternal love, will, however, expend her all for her child of shame — endure infamy, shield it, and fight for it as will a tigress for her cubs. Outside of the marriage relationship, no man can indulge in the act of love without offending the dictates of his moral nature and of his manhood. Like a coward the fallen man slinks away from the disgrace and responsibil- ity of his act, refusing to acknowledge his own child, and abandoning to her deplorable infamy the lovable woman, thinking to place a market value on her shame. In trifles many men display before the gentler sex gal- lantries fit for the drawing-room, but in the great affairs of life this conduct is often put aside, and those women who are unprotected are driven to the wall, being the " weaker vessels" indeed in the infamous work of marring Creation's plan and perverting the promptings of Nature. Men de- 128 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sire outward decorations and recognition of their noble- ness and grandeur ; if tliere is a great effort called for, or a wild beast to figlit, the man goes out to do battle for the family, and never tires of hearing his wife and children and neighbors praise and honor his heroism, and call him a strong, noble man. He likes jjraise, flattery, and an ap- preciated record, and desires orders and medals for his service to such a degree that he is unique in the animal kingdom as a medal-wearing animal. Women, on the other hand, are heroic from love, and content themselves with the inner consciousness of right — not receiving and not expecting fame or ai:>plause, and get- ting no outward decorations for their kind of heroism. Women say that men are brave and strong ; men control literature and human activities, agree with the women in their judgments, decorate each other with honors and medals, and, with a questionable magnanimity, have styled themselves the strong sex ! And 3'et in sexual matters they have in many instances acted the i)art of cowards and pol- troons, heaping infamy on the illegitimate child who is absolutely innocent of all harm, outcastiug the mother who comes next in innocence, and in a large measure absolving themselves, who are the principals in the appalling dis- aster. Man, who has a predominant position in the world, is both "the glorj^ and the shame of the universe," the latter characteristic being very largely due to the perversion of his sexual role in Nature. The foregoing observations of course have their excep- tions, and, after all, men and women are brothers and sisters; the man's mother was a woman, and from her he inherits beauties of character, and the woman's father was a man, and from him she inherits ennobling qualities. The two sexes, in fact, have more in common than is dreamed of in the philosophy of a thoughtless person. But yet the two sexes are divergent in physique, func- WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 129 tions, education and inclinations, for "a man is a man even to liis thumbs, and a woman is a woman down to lier little toes."' Normal man lias a profound chivalrous feeling for wom- an which is far superior to the mere equality shared by animals with their females ; and in any shijiwreck he will unhesitatingly say, "Women and children first!" protect- ing them at every cost to himself, and shielding them from imposition and degradation. But if corrosive impurity is harbored in his breast, this natural nobility of character becomes blighted, and his acts of gallantry are nothing but sui)erficialities. Candor compels us to admit that innumerable men have become so infamously perverted from the true spirit of manliness that they harm, destroy, and tyrannize over that portion of womankind who are under no i)rotection, and who, by reason of their ignorance of the world, are unequal to the task of meeting them in competition. Women rarely harm men, but men are rough playfellows to them— shame on our sex! Since history has been recorded, men have been rough to them ; but shall we in this glorious age of enlightenment continue such an infamous business? What true man can join in such sjiort ! Effeminacj' is not to be attributed to the i:)ure, chaste men who are sympathetic and tender and valiant in their protection of women and their ofi'spring, nor can such men see any excuse for the unmauliness of those who sport with women's most priceless jjossessions by pushing them down into the river of filth, and merely feeding them with such requisites and luxuries as will serve to keep them in condi- tion for the satisfaction of their gluttonous depravity. To such lustful men we cry out : " Stop your cowardly wanton- ness ! Abuse yourselves, if you will, by every filthy degra- dation and defilement that is detestable to men, but leave off your brutal coarseness with tender women, in the low- ' Havelock Ellis, loc. cit. , p. 53. 9 130 HEKEDITY AND MORALS. est of whom there is the possibility of motherhood and reform !" The time has come when society, at the very least, should set aside these ghouls upon a common level with their victims; w^hen it should deny them entrance into clean homes, and regard them as a diseased lot of perverted degenerates, unfit for the holy offices of fatherhood, and as the enemies of women, of posterity, and of civilization. Some carnivora kill merely for the j)leasure of destruc- tion ; others, like vampires, suck the blood of their victims and throw the carcasses aside ; and so some men pluck the roses from maidens, and leave them, heart-broken and dis- honored, nothing but the thorns. The man who illegitimately becomes a father commits against both mother and child an awful crime which can only be atoned for by marriage ; nothing else will satisfy both mother and child, — money may appease the mother, but never the child. So also the man who breaks the vows made in marriage by falling into licentiousness, bringing disease to innocent ones, forcing separations and divorces, and degrading her whom he has promised to cherish, is the perpetrator of an unpardonable crime, and shows himself to be a liar whom all decent men should shun. Teue Maxliness is Dependent on PuEiry. In accordance with the ribald teachings of loudly boast- ful and coarse men, youths too often assume to believe that the sooner they throw away their virtue the better, think- ing that they see in the tobacco-stained mouth, in the whisk}' -laden breath, in the oath-polluted lips, in the blustering swagger, or in the other gross indelicacies of the rough, those qualities which will make them manly and gain for them their ambitions to be called " men about town" and "men of the world." To be brave is of course the first desire of normal men, WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 131 and all abhor the charge of effeminacy, which means that one has those qualities which in a man are contemptible weaknesses, making one a milksop, weak and spiritless. A chaste lite could not be advocated if it even pointed in that direction, for then the continent man would be over- whelmed with shame. It is, however, the impure life which either effeminates or else compels a naturally brave man to do things which he knows are abhorrent to his sense of manhood. Because of the great and overpowering importance which is conceded by all to manly courage, it is transcendently necessary that we should understand whj^ licentiousness is impossible for a normally brave man. Loquaciousness, boastfulness, swagger, cursing, and self- assertive braggadocio will not pass for courage among us. "How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk." Merchant of Venice, Act iii., Sc. 2. Such men as these, as well as many of the heroes of romance and poetry, are as much inferior to the genuine flesh-and-blood heroes of real life as a paper flower is in- ferior to the natural blossom when seen in its full beauty under the searching clearness of the microscope. " Of course the greatest type of manhood, or the type wherein our ideal of manliness reaches its highest expres- sion, is where the virtues of strength are purged from its vices. To be strong and yet tender, brave and yet kind, to combine in the same breast the temper of a hero with the sympathy of a maiden — this is to transform the ape and the tiger into what we know ought to constitute the man." ' The man who does not inhibit his sexual longings gives a bitter seasoning to his life, and throws away the elements of strength which must be conserved in order to secure a manly type of phj^sique and mind. Effeminacj^ is readily ' George J. Romanes, Popular Science Monthly, 1887, p. 389. 132 HEREDITY AND MORALS. apparent in tliose who squander tlieir sexuai force ; and all plij^siologists agree that tlie fundamental characteristics of manhood fail to appear in the individual if he has too early in life sacrificed at the altar of lust. By " too early in life" physiologists mean before the period of consolidation, or maturity, i.e., twenty -five years of age, before which time a man should not marry. The physique is unquestionably injured if a young man abuse his reproductive powers to any considerable extent, and Krafft-Ebing' says: "It is psychologically interesting that when the sexual element is early vitiated, then an ethical defect is manifested." The ancients, regarding profligacy and effeminac}^ as in- separable, alwaj's demanded continence from those heroic men to whom tliej' looked for deeds of valor or master- pieces of intellect. Strict continence was also the rule among the ancient German warriors, whose heroic deeds were inspired by a loyalty to their beloved ones. "I find great wisdom in this use of physical love, one of the strongest motives by which human nature is actuated. How widely different has the case become among us ! This propensity which by prudent management may be made the germ of the most exalted virtue, of the greatest hero- ism, has degenerated into whining sensibility, or mere sensual gratification, which people enjoy prematurely, and even to satiety ; the passion of love, which in those pe- riods [old German] was a security against dissipation, is at present the source of the greatest; the virtue of chas- tity, the principal foundation, without doubt, of moral firmness and manliness of character, has become a sub- ject of ridicule, and is decried as old-fashioned pedan- trj' ; and what ought to be the last and sweetest reward of toil, labor, and danger has become a flower which every stripling crops by the way." * ' Loc. cit. , p. 44. ' Hufeland's "Art of Prolonging Life," pp. 327, 228. Translated from the German by Erasmus Wilson, M.D. WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 133 The essentials of manliness are conceded to be mani- fested by a deep reverence for women, the protection of the weak, and unostentatious chivalry toward those who are harassed by misfortune, or who are unable to cope with the stronger in the battle of life. But this is precisely what a licentious man does not and cannot do, for he finds his easiest and most accustomed prey, as a rule, among those who are young and unsuspecting or deej)ly unfortunate. The gentle, soft, yielding, and confiding natures of wom- en, which should hedge them around with a wall of strength for their j)rotection, become frail weaknesses when exposed to the machinations of such men. If a woman has once slipped, these men's hands are against her; if she arrives unprotected in a strange city, methods are applied to lead her on to destruction merely for the sake of wanton jjleas- ure, there never being an intention on the part of the men to share any portion of the responsibility or shame, but they abandon her to any fate rather than suffer the slight- est harm themselves. Such men do to these women those things for doing which to their sisters or daughters they would at once slay another man. Instead of showing symj)athy, or contrib- uting money to help in their reformation, they wantonly bear a share in keeping them down in the bottom-lands of infamy. If pregnancy be a result of their immoral union, the bastard children are abandoned to the mother's care, and the only effective way of righting the wrong, by mar- riage, is laughed to scorn. Deceit and Falsehood are Inseparably Connected WITH Impurity. The making and telling of lies is universally recognized to be but a mere incident in connection with impurity, and without exception fornicators must lie — for a falsehood is the necessary handle to sin. 134 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Of all conceivable things, a lie is tlie most despicable ; and lie who lacks the courage to tell the truth is admittedly an infamous coward who has annihilated the dignity of his manhood. Fortunate is he who advances year by year, always transferring to the future the telling of his first lie ! No cloud casts such a sombre shade over a man's life as this simple word "liar." The telling of one deliberate un- truth is a tragedy in one's Kfe. Just think of its import! It means that (he person who violated the truth will, under pressure, do the same thing again ; it means that that in- dividual can never be implicitly trusted again. If we de- tect a man in even one false statement, we reserve to our- selves the jirivilege forever after of using our own judg- ment whether we shall trust him again. One lie is so terrible because it shatters a man's trustworthiness; for if a person tells one deliberate falsehood, the tendency is in his nature, and he will repeat it whenever convenient. Therefore if a man is known to be a liar, the author puts him upon his reliable list ; for he can be depended on to lie again, and is indeed re-lie-ahle. Evidently it cannot be manly to enter upon any course which necessitates the telling of lies ; but a hundred instances will come to mind to show that fornicators must lie, sometimes to the women, sometimes to the hotel clerks when they register under assumed names, sometimes to their households, sometimes to the police, and sometimes even to their doctors, while as a rule they do so habitually, having acquired the ethical defect which is always manifested by those who pollute the most manly elements of their natures. Impurity surely unmans, and the unchaste man, the dis- eased man, the illegitimate father, the profaner and dese- crator of the standards of chivalry, the liar, cannot hold his head up and look one straight in the face except by a brazen effrontery. An old professor of surgery at Edinburgh University used to say, when the author was a student there, that he WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER, 135 could tell a venereal patient at a glance by his peculiar shamefaced, "crab-like gait," — a one-sided, shifting step. A venereal patient simply cannot look manly ; all that is, temporarily at least, gone from him. Just reflect that a man in order to counterbalance all these terrible responsibilities can only offer the single ex- cuse of the gratification of an immoral impulse. The pen- alties immeasurably outweigh the pleasures : the crown of manhood must be laid down, and the throne of self-respect abdicated. Criminals are noted for their lack of compas- sion and their deficiency in the altruistic feeling, and a sen- sual man must necessarily be at least a moral criminal on account of his egoism and utter carelessness of the welfare of others. The perfidy of lewd men is something exe- crable ; but the ages have not taught a large number of women to beware of their snares, or to analyze their prom- ises, which are often made under the cloak of love, or to see that these men are w'orking with de\'irs tools, or to appre- ciate the vastly more momentous outcome of sexual inter- course to themselves. Tlie cowardliness of immoral men toivard women is self- ajyparent. — It is a commonly accej^ted opinion that modern civilization demands absolute chastity in women. Not at all! Just consider how the matter stands. Those men who argue that impurity is a necessity, reason that this vice should be wddely diffused throughout the male sex, but concentrated in a few of the other sex. That the women w^ho are to be degraded must be health}^ joung, and attractive, is a matter of course, and though they are to be martyred for a supposed public good, yet they are to be excluded from society and dedicated to the satiation of all the coarse and perverted instincts of humanit}-. The women are to have all the bitterness heaped upon them, and that without hope; the brothel is to open its hungry door for them, and then to shut, never to reopen. This sensual dallying with the holiest functions of wom- 136 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ankind has in it all tlie essential elements of cowardice, and no normally brave man can for a moment consent to be a party to such a i)erversion of the male role in Nature. " From the earliest times of Avhich we have historical knowledge there have always been men who have recog- nized the distinction between the nobler and baser parts of their being. The}- have j)erceived that if they would be men, and not beasts, they must control their animal i)as- sions, i)refer truth to falsehood, courage to cowardice, jus- tice to violence, and compassion to cruelty. These are the elementary principles of morality, on the recognition of which the welfare and improvement of mankind depend, and human history- has been little more than a record of the struggle which began at the beginning and will con- tinue to the end between the few who have had ability to see into the truth and loyalty to obey it, and the multitude who by evasion or rebellion have hoped to thrive in spite ofit."^ The Nature of the Love of IVIen and Women. Zangwill (" Without Prejudice," p. 180) has pointed out that " when you start learning a new language jon alwaj's find yourself confronted with the verb 'to love' — invariably the normal type of the first conjugation. In every lan- guage on earth the student may be heard declaring with more zeal than discretion that he and you and they and every other person, singular or plural, have loved, and do love, and will love. 'To love ' is the model verb, express- ing the archetype of activit3\ . . . Not merelj^ have people loved unconditionally in every language, but there is none in which they would not have loved, or might not have loved, had circumstances permitted; none in which they have not been loved, or (for hope springs eternal in the human breast) have been a.bout to be loved." » " Short Studies on Great Subjects, " Froude, p. 18. WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OP DEGRADING HER. 137 The great effort of Maternal Nature is to people the earth with living beings, while Plastic Nature shapes it. All Nature is incessantlj" at work striving to accomplish these two ends, and, in order that the perpetuation of the species may be assured, she provides, in a remarkably lavish man- ner, an enormous excess of reproductive elements, and an imperious biological instinct, or sexual appetite, which, in plain words, is sexual love. As Letourneau says' : " This amorous efflorescence is, after all, the first cause of marriage and of the famil3\" The reason for the existence of love is, biologically, simply to bring about the union of two minute cells — the sper- matozoon and the ovum — all other charms and fascina- tions, which are associated in our minds as belonging to the domain of love, centring in this one deep and natural source." Every menstrual j)eriod of the female and every nocturnal emission of semen by the male are merely expressions of Nature's desire that the species shall be i^ropagated. Nor i.^ the perpetuation of the species left to a mere chance, as among the wind- and water-fertilized i^lants, in which in- stances the agencies of the elements are depended upon to disseminate the pollen; but it is rendered certain by the all-conquering force of a natural instinct secondary only to the primal law of self-preservation. This overpowering impulse is the sexual instinct, or sexual love. Thus Nature employs the force of the love-compelling sexual instinct to constrain males and females to mate in order to ensure a fulfilment of her designs, and not for a moment does she leave the future of the race to the caprice or whims of fickle mankind. Thus sexuality is at the bottom of all true conjugal love ; 1 " The Evolution of Marriage, " p. 6. « Man is classified among tlie animals as a " bimanous, mammifer- OU8 vertebrate, " and the origin of his social desires is unquestion- ably to be found in his animal nature. 138 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and wliere there is no sexual attraction between individuals of opposite sexes, there can be nothing but a f)latonic love, which, being free from sexual longings, is merely friend- ship. Among animals the manifestation of this law works along normal lines, and instances of perversions in which mere sensuality is practised are exceedingly exceptional among them. Thus Letourneau' mentions as exceptions of gross- ness that "the stupid tatoways [armadillos] meet by chance, smell each other, copulate and separate with the greatest indifference. Our domestic dog himself, although so civilized and affectionate, is generallj^ as gross in his amours as the tatoway." In the same way some men, "although so civilized and affectionate," easih^ purchase animal love from prostitutes ; but between this and a noble monogamic love there is the widest possible difference. This normal sexual instinct, then, actuates men and women to love each other, to pair off in marriage, to found homes, and to ju-ovide for the expected offspring; and sexual feelings exercise a directive power over most of the activities of life — moulding our religion, our literature, our art, our etiquette, and, in short, influencing almost every impulse of human endeavor which is not attributable to self- preservation. " Were man to be robbed of the instinct of procreation and all that arises from it mentally, nearly all poetr}^ and, perhaps, the entire moral sense, as well, would be torn from his life" (Maudsley). The fulfilment of the promptings of sexual love, being a law of Nature, is a i)ure and chaste communion when it has in view the perpetuation of the species, and when it is ex- ercised in the married state ; but the lascivious gratifica- tion of sensual desire, which transgresses natural laws and actually aims to violate them, is a marked perversion which places those who indulge in it in a class by themselves be- low the level of the brutes. * Loc. cit., p. 16. WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 139 EiglitfuUy guided, this generative passion leads to the fullest enjoyments of life, such as home, wife and chil- dren, and to morality and every virtue. It is our most priceless heritage when experienced in its jjure and natural glow, but is not to be trifled with without incurring the most inexorable punishments, notably the jjollution of the very fountain-source of love. Among human beings, the simple physical enjoyment of the act of intercourse with- out a mental state at least akin to love cannot be anything but a disapijointment ; for it is wholly imjjossible to divorce the psychical from the physical sensations in this relation- ship. Therefore, as before pointed out, lewd men, whose brains have retained all kinds of corrupt impressions, often cannot enjoy the sexual act without substituting some sham in their imaginations which cheats them into the be- lief that they entertain feelings akin to love for their mis- tresses. But love can be genuine only when the memory is not tinctured with corrupt impressions, and when the man and woman long to possess each other, body and soul, in the relationship of husband and wife. Such love brings tranquillity and joy dependent on a realization that the creative act is the highest function of manhood and woman- hood, and on a full confidence that there is no moral or physical sin in the act; for pledges are given that they shall be mutually responsible for the results of intercourse. In man the longing for sexual intercourse is naturally more powerful than it is in woman, so that his role is that of aggressiveness in courtship; but on the other hand, sex dominates a woman far more, and by far the greater pro- portion of the reproduction and early nurture of the race is laid on her, so that she may well be deemed the most exalted of all created beings by reason of her physical nature. The sensual gratification which a woman experiences in coition is normally not the chief pleasure, but to her the enjoyment of the act is the sum of the lustful satisfaction, 140 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Ijlus the "love touch," jilus the kisses and caresses, plus the feeling of confideuce that her husband will fulfil his share of j^areutal resi^onsibilitj. The sensual factor is much more powerful in man than in woman, and a man's love is naturalh' not so deep and lasting as a woman's — for to her love means everything in life, while to him it is merelj^ one of the great delights of life. As Madame de Stael said : " Love is the history of woman's life; it is an episode in man's," A shock to a woman's real love is almost a mortal blow, while a man more readily recovers himself and finds another object; but the more he is effeminated by sensualit}^, the more dependent he becomes on women, and the more liable he is to be ruined by a series of counterfeit love affairs. Woman loves more specially the soul of the man and the attributes of his mind and heart, and when she becomes a mother she shares her love between the child and her hus- band. Sexual passion in its full force exercises far more influence over the life of a woman, for not only is her cor- poreal condition dominated bj^ her physical sex, but her husband represents the only possible means of gratification for her sexual longings — meaning by this far more than the mere voluptuous embrace. Men who have been passion's slaves, whether b}^ onan- ism or venerj', or men who have had the pure promptings of the sexual instinct vitiated bj^ disease or impure mental stains, are incapable of loving truly. Such indi\'iduals find the chief object of their love in the voluptuous side of women's characteristics ; but such an over-sensual love can- not remain constant and true after desire has failed, nor if a greater degree of satisfaction can be illegitimately ob- tained elsewhere. A form of love which is outside the bounds of physio- logical love, and quite peculiar to the human race, is a "romantic love" of an extravagant, wild, imaginative and idealized form. It is of course wholly unnatural, being WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OP DEGRADING HER. l4l indicative of a mental sickliness, and belonging only to those who liave not thrown off the sentimental thraldom of youth. Romantic love comparatively seldom leads to marriage, and its subtle spell is not to be comjjared to the pure glow of a physiological love. It deals principally with the wooings and cooings and sonnets which are on the borders of love-land, but not with such impulses as spring from true sources of love. In such alliances, when romance dies, love dies. Ileal love is intensely sexual without being sensual. Heal love knits souls together so that one would unhesitatingly suffer all extremes for the other. The feminine grace of a modest and well-bred woman in- fluences her to be reserved and unaggressive, and a woman who makes the advances in courtship is an anomaly. And yet love is a woman's very life, and a necessity to her far more than it is to a man. The penalties of dallying with chastitj- mean almost cer- tain ruin to a woman, because maternity will jirobably fol- low any indiscreej; interchange of embraces on her jjart, and at the best her genitals usually retain permanently the marks of injury by the violator, so that after a single lapse from virtue she forfeits her right to expect marriage or love, while the man escapes these i:)enalties. After intercourse the man speedily loses sensual desire, and all the effects on him are trivial in comparison with the results to her, for, in addition to the physical perils of unchaste intercourse, she suffers a deeper and more lasting mental impression which painfully degrades her purer char- acter. A woman's modest, confiding and yielding nature fills her whole soul with a trustful and jierfect love toward the one to whom she has committed herself; and she has always been too ready to put her whole faith in a man after he has once gained her love, and has too often believed him and relied upon him outside of the bonds of matrimony . It would seem unkind to Satan himself to believe that he 142 HEREDITY AND MORALS. would use the compelliug indueuce of a tliiug so sweet as love to furtlier his diabolical plans; but there are men everywhere who persuade their victims into the belief that a sensual love between them excuses the gratification of their jjassions, and then abandon them. A woman's true sj^here is within the shelter of a home which she adorns with the fair lustre of her virtues, sup- ported and protected by her husband, and in the full enjoy- ment of the sacred delights of maternity. But all of them cannot be so fortunate ; and it is those very women who are in the greatest need of consideration, and who must face the world alone, whom men, as a rule, do not treat defer- entially. Disadvantages are always heaped upon them; they are insulted in the streets if unprotected; their wages are less for eciual work done ; little thought is taken by their emi^loyers as to how they can subsist houorablj- ; and dia- bolically inclined men are always about, striving to lure them to their ruin b}' arts which sometimes deceive and sometimes compel. Men rarely boast of having accomi^lished the ruin of a girl; but if she has taken a single false step, or even de- parted in the slightest degree from the proprieties of womanhood, their hands are against her to prevent her from rising or recovering from her error. Society maintains that a lapse from virtue on a woman's part is unpardonable, because of the risks peculiar to her; but the man who is her partner is morally blameworthy to a far greater degree, since he, as the principal, is the ag- gressor. Not necessarily realizing his vileness, he never- theless is corrupt, untrue and debased. In fact, he is on a moral plane below that of the tatoways. Men have always controlled the laws as well as literature, and have invariably legislated to their own advantage — re- garding women as the weaker sex and imfit to have any WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OP DEGRADING HER. 143 voice in government. But men have demonstrated that they are not trulj- gallant or kind toward women and the weaker members of society ; for they have heaped the most unfair restrictions upon them, and have plainly shown the insin- cerity of their professed respect for womanhood. Within the recollection of the present generation the con- dition of women has changed enormously for the better since they have taken the higher education; and therein lies their promise of safety ; for if they trust to the unin- fluenced generosity of men to grant them even decent rights, they will be disappointed. Until women began to t-ake an interest in affairs of state, all laws which aimed to better their condition invariably met with effectual ox)posi- tion, and whatever improvements have taken place in leg- islation regarding public morals are attributable almost solely to women and their influence. Because women have been silent, men have been led to believe that they are in- different to public morals ; but, though it is characteristic of women to close their eyes and avert their heads at the sight or suggestion of horrible things, yet many noble ones among them have bravely fought for the betterment of their social condition with the grandest results. Women are at bottom the real authors of the recent laws which have been enacted in many of our States — raising the " age of consent" from eight or ten years to fourteen, sixteen, and in some instances eighteen years of age. The technical term " age of consent" denotes the age at which a girl can consent to her own seduction without in- crimination of the violator. These statutes vary in the dif- ferent ci\ilized countries, buf in all of them carnal knowl- edge of a girl under statutory age is punishable as rape, even though she consent. It is a strange anomaly that a girl cannot make con- tracts or marry without parental consent until she is eighteen years of age, and that a man, though not per- mitted by law to make her his wife, may yet with impu- 144 HEREDITY AND MORALS. nity make lier liis mistress before she lias attained tliat age. In some States the " age of consent" has been fixed by law at seven years (Delaware) ; in many others at ten years, and in others at varying ages up to eighteen years. At the earlier ages the unsuspecting child does not, of course, at all appreciate the significance of the sexual act, or the shame and physical iujurj^ to which she is sub- jected.' In England, in 1885, the "age of consent" was, by the influence of women, raised from thirteen to sixteen years of age; and without doubt the time is soon coming when > TTie Philanthropist for March, 1896, published the following data : "protection for GmLHOOD. "During the year we have again secured an official statement, as given by the secretaries of the several States of the Union, concern- ing the age-of -consent laws. As a result we present the following : "In four States — Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama — the Age of Consent is fixed at the shocking low age of ten years. In four States — Kentucky, Virginia, Nevada and West Vir- ginia — the age is fixed at twelve years. In three States — New Hampshire, Utah and Iowa — at thirteen years. In the State of Maryland, in Maine, in Vermont, in Indiana, in North Dakota, in Georgia, in Illinois, and in California, at fourteen years. In Ne- braska and Texas the age limit is fifteen years. In New Jersey, in Massachusetts, in Michigan, Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, the age is six- teen years. In Tennessee, sixteen years and one day. In Florida, seventeen years. In New York, Kan.sas, Wyomirg and Colorado, eighteen years. In Delaware, the original statute pertaining to the crime of rape is still unrepealed, fixing the age at seven years, but the last legislature passed an amended act which, practically, is de- signed to extend legal protection in that State to young girls to the limit of eighteen years. "There is urgent need of added legislation to more adequately pro- tect minors of both sexes against sexual defilement. The Alliance has under consideration, in connection with a committee of jurists, a measure to meet this need." WOMAN, AND THE UNMANLINESS OF DEGRADING HER. 145 carnal knowledge of a girl under eighteen years of age will everywliere be punishable by law as rape. In most of the interests of life the conditions affecting the sexes are identical ; but one sex alone has never been able to and never can justly or intelligently govern the pe- culiar relationships of the two sexes ; and for the proper adjustment of these natural differences the counsel of women is imperatively required. How can legislators, many of whom are notoriously corruj^t, be relied upon to legislate favorably for women when they have no proper respect for them, nor appreciation of the evils and dangers of prostitution and its concomitant disease, illegitimacy, and criminal abortion? The mere sentiment of women has often proved sufficient to defeat the election of legislators of impure fame ; and the time seems to be fast coming when they will have the fran- chise, which is far more powerful than sentiment; and when that responsibility is accorded, and when they have accepted it, it may confidently be predicted, so the author thinks, that the world will improve at a bound. ' Kespect ' "I have been seeking for some years a good, sound reason why women should not vote, and I have, after diligent search, found one, and only one. It is because they are women. There is no other, so far as I have yet been able to discover, which rises above the frivo- lous. . . . "When the war closed, many millions of men and women were made free. In order to enable them to protect their freedom, it was deemed necessary to place the ballot in the hands of the freemen. It did not apparently matter so much about the women ; because, it is presumed, it was thought they could protect themselves or could lean upon the chivalry of the men. With all the power of the United States to back up the government, the black man had still for his protection to be endowed with the ballot. Tlie women could get along without it, beause thej- were tcomen. The only qualifications were that the voter should be of age — and a man. It would have been well to add another qualification — that he should be able to read and write. " The next time we extend the suilrage it is to be hoped we will not 10 146 HEREDITY AND MORALS. for womanliood is tlie great distinguisliing mark of su- periority of our modern times over tlie ancient civilizations, so we all believe ; and we realize that when she who is the centre of home life ceases to be respected by men, or fails to uphold her own dignity, then society will be under- mined and corrupted. If men are wise, and if they are earnest in their desires for a high state of civilization, they will not oppose the noble efforts of women by ridicule, but rather seek their counsel — for in the near future we shall be compelled to pay tribute to the justice, and humanity, and equality which they will have instilled into our hearts and into our laws. repeat the same mistake, but bestow on women who can read and write the right to cast a ballot. Once in possession of the franchise, it would be strange, indeed, if she did not make a better use of it than ignorance and degnidation have ever succeeded in doing. "That the day for the enfranchisement of women in this country is coming cannot be doubted by any one capable of reading the very ap- parent signs which have been shown for some years past. One of the most remarkable of these signs is the desperate struggle those op- posed to woman suffrage are making to prevent its accomplishment. Desperate struggles are not made against attacks less formidable and persistent than those which have been waged so long in favor of placing woman on the same legal level with man, by putting in her hand the only weapon competent for her protection." — " Why Women Should Have the Ballot," by General John Gibbon, U. S. A., in The North American Review, July, 1896. t CHAPTEK V. SOME OP THE INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. The Abuse of Spirituous Liquors is pre-eminently one of the leading factors wliicli promote licentiousness, and the reason is not far to seek — for alcohol notably enfeebles the powers of resistance, confuses the reason, and at the same time awakens and stimulates the desire for sexual gratifi- cation by allowing the lower animal passions to transcend the higher. No healthy person is benefited l\v the use of any fer- mented or distilled driiik, and probably the habitual use of any liquor which contains alcohol is injurious to the normal person. Alcoholic beverages are especially dangerous to the Anglo-Saxon and the Celt, since the tendency in these races is to rashly increase the amount of the alcohol until moderation is set aside. Medicinal!}^ the stimulants are invaluable, and they have been called " the milk of old people" ; but at best they are sharp-edged tools, and quite unsuitable for the ordinary individual. Not to enter into an elaborate discussion, there can, however, be no dispute that the saloons are the dissemina- tors of everything obscene and impure, and the very light- houses of hell. 148 HEREDITY AND MORALS. DaN'CING, and the ImiODESTIES OP DeESS. In tlie ballroom many nnappreciated influences are at work to excite tlie fancies, whicli ma}- operate as visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile impressions. Except in childhood and old age — the neuter periods of life, when the vita sexualis is not largely influencing the thoughts and feelings — most men are naturalh^ more or less excited by close approach to an attractive individual of the opposite sex, as are all animals ; and this excitation is felt in greater intensity if the woman dress so as to accentu- ate and bring into prominence her secondarj^ sexual char- acteristics; and the various fetiches of dress and personal adornment exert even a stronger spell when the woll-known physiological effects of perfumes' and seductive music are superadded. Dr. Galopin quaintly says, "Love begins at the nose"; and every physiologist is well aware of the intimac}- be- tween the olfactory and sexual centres. This need not be further elucidated in this connection, though the matter is of importance in showing how the whole keyboard of the emotions may be i:)layed upon by sensuous stimuli. ' " Owing to the close relations which exist between the sexual in- stinct and the olfactory sense, it is to be presumed that the sexual and olfactory centres lie close together in the cerebral cortex. . . . Among animals, the influence of olfactory perceptions on the sexual sense is unmistakable. Althaus declares that the sense of smell is important with reference to the reproduction of the species. . . . Altliaus also shows that in man there are certain relations between the olfactory and sexual senses. ... In the Orient the pleasant per- fumes are esteeiued for their relation to the sexual organs, and the women's apartments of tlie Sultan are filled with the perfumes of flowers." — KrafTt-Ebing, loc. cit., pp. 26, 27, quod vide. KrafFt- Ebing also mentions, on tlie authority of other observers, the odor of the sweat as being productive of sexual excitation. He, however, is inclined to doubt the importance of olfactory impressions in rela- tion to the sexual appetite in norviul men. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 149 Fui'tliermore, wlien the puncli-bowl is a prominent fea- ture of tlie entertainment, it will at once be perceived that hardlj^ anything more voluptuous and alluring could be devised; and it may safely be affirmed that — for many of the guests at least — the modern ball affords what we may call a secondary sexual love-feast. The greatest enjoy- ment is presumably experienced b}' those who are lustfully inclined — such individuals making it a point to attend all kinds of balls, where they mentally revel in their fancies. It is not to be thought that women, or that most men even, realize what they are doing upon such occasions ; but never- theless they are blindly led on by customs which forever tend toward licentiousness and rapid living. There is a habit of laughing at ministers of the gospel who thunder out denunciations against dancing, but from a purely medical standpoint the customs of the ballroom are j^er- fectly indefensible. It is certainly most noteworthy- that old roues, w-hen speaking seriously, heartily disapprove of dancing and the costuming which is considered a necessary part of it, on the ground that they stimulate the passions and pave the way to familiarity and even worse lai:)ses. In opi^osing such a popular institution we tread on delicate ground indeed, so that we may anticipate the strongest dis- approval from many quarters unless the subject is atten- tively analyzed. But from the well-informed physician, the humanitarian, the student of the times, and from the experienced man of the world, we confidently exjject a unanimous verdict of approval. Among animals, the male is endowed with greater natural beauty ; but men, for their own selfish reasons, love to designate women as the beau- tiful sex, and delight to see them adorn themselves with beautiful apparel and jewels, the underlying reason for which is well understood to have its origin in the sensual inclinations of men. None can deny or doubt that women, whether consciously or unconsciously, endeavor to adapt themselves to the fan- 150 HEREDITY AND MORALS. cies of men, and the reason that tliey make themselves so attractive is to be found in the desire to arrest and retain the notice of the oj^posite sex; and on this account, and this alone, new fashions come and go, so that when one eccentricity of style has become familiar, another mode is suddenly adopted which compels attention. " It shoiild be noted that among savages it is, as a rule, the man only that runs the risk of being obliged to lead a single life. Hence it is obvious that to the best of his ability he must endeavor to be taken into favor by making himself as attractive as possible. In civilized Europe, on the other hand, the opposite occurs. Here it is the woman that has the greatest difficulty in getting married — and she is also the vainer of the two." ' The tendency of the human race is constantly toward exaggeration; and this is observed by anthropologists, among both savage and civilized peojiles, in the promi- nence which is given to those parts of the body that are especially preferred.^ Thus the Chinese women bind their feet; the savage pierces the ears and nose, and wears the hair in a grotesque manner, besides otherwise compelling attention to the ana- tomical peculiarities by tattooing, ornaments, etc. ; the harlot dyes her hair and ai:)plies pigment round her eyes to accentuate their brillianc}- ; and in innumerable ways hu- man beings strive to make themselves sexually attractive. The wearing of labrets and lip-rings ; the piercing of the ears and nose for the reception of ornaments ; the customs of tattooing and painting; the predilection for rings and anklets and bangles and bracelets and necklaces and girdles ; ' Westermarck, " History of Human Marriage, " p. 185. ' " It is noteworthy that in all parts of the world the desire for self-decoration is strongest at the beginning of the age of puberty, all the above-named customs [mutilation, tattooing, ornamentation, etc.] being practised most zealously at that period of life. "—Wester- marck, loc. cit., p. 173. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 151 the blackening and filing of the teetli; tlie pride in the adornment of the hair; the enthusiasm for beads, and all the multitudinous customs of ornamentation, are univer- sally said by travellers, and by those who are versed in the science of man, to be designed for the attraction of the opposite sex — the reasons given being summed up, as Westermarck so well puts it, hj the expressions, "to be agreeable to the women," or "to make herself a delicious morsel for the arms of an ardent lover."' Among the women of civilized countries there is also this most marked tendeucj^ to make prominent those i:)arts which are consid- ered the attributes of feminine beauty ; and nowhere, not even at the seashore, is this so well exemplified as in the ballroom. The ancient Greeks and Romans costumed themselves with graceful and looselj^ flowing tunics, which served to drape them becomingly without unduly marking the dis- similarity between the sexes, and without making the sexual characteristics of anatomy too prominent. But, while modern men do not dress immodestly or sensuousK, the same cannot be said of the toilettes of many women, since their costumes are often not so much adapted for utility as for accentuating too agreeably the sexual points of their beaut}' and disi)laying tlieir figures. In fact, the "girl of the period" is characterized too largely by her clothes, and she suggests too much the mysteries of the toilette, ijaying too little attention to her physical charms and too much to her finei'y — in short, she overdresses." It is easil}' to be seen that fashionable women emphasize those parts of the anatomy which constitute their secon- ^ Compare Westermarck, loc. cit., p. 165 et seq. 2 " Women are everywhere conscious of the value of their own beauty ; and when they liave the means, they take more delight in decorating themselves with all sorts of ornaments than do men. They borrow the plumes of male birds, with which nature has decked this sex in order to charm the females." — Darwin, "The Descent of Man, " p. 597. 152 HEREDITY AND MORALS. dary sexual characteristics, thus bringing out an exagger- ated type of the feminine figure, e.g., the breasts, bosom, waist and hij^s. Nature has ah-eady given a well-formed woman a prominent bust, a graceful waist, and broad hij)S, and it is bej^ond dispute that she is stamped by Providence as being more distinctly sexual in her conformation, and that she is obviously fashioned for the duties of maternity. But fashion has ordained, chiefly out of deference to the unrecognized desires of men, that all these prominent sexual characters shall be enormoush^ accentuated by cor- sets, bustles, padded breasts, and by other devices which display the exaggerated curves.' Thus the corset is employed to constrict the waist, the effect of which is to emphasize the hips and breasts; sleeves are sometimes enormous, sometimes scant}' ; skirts 1 " It would be interesting to trace the origin and development of the modern waist in women. The Greeks of the finest period knew nothing of it, but during tlie period of decadence women began to compress the body with tlie apparent object of emphasizing the sexual attraction of a conspicuously large pelvis. Hippocrates vigor- ously denounced the women of Cos for constricting the waist with a girdle. Among the Romans, who adopted this practice from the depraved Greeks, Martial often alludes to the small waists of the women of his time, and Galen speaks much in the same way as a modern physician regarding the evils of tiglit lacing. Since then matters have changed, but very slightly. Tlie apparent development of the pelvis has been further artificially exaggerated by that contri- vance which in Elizabetlian times was called a ' bum-roll' and more recently a 'bustle.' The tightening of the %vaist dops not merely emphasize the pelvic sexual characters ; it also emphasizes the not- less-important thoracic sexual characters; as Dr. Louis Robinson expresses it (in a private letter) : 'I think it very likely one of the reasons (and there must lie strong ones) for the persistent habit of tightening up the belly-girth among Cliristian damsels is that such constriction renders tlie breathing thoracic, and so advertises the al- luring bosom by keeping it in constant and manifest movement. The heaving of a sub-clavicular sigh is likely to cause more sensa- tion than the heaving of an epigastric or umbilical sigh.'" — :Have- l.ock Ellis, " Man and Woman, " p. 210. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 153 are sometimes too ample, sometimes too tight; and all tliese various fashions have in view the self-same design of impressing on the notice the sexual attraction of the wearer. A gloriously formed woman will by nature have these j)arts of her figure ample and prominent, but there is no sensuality about Nature's handiwork, and to the anatomist these distortions which are decreed hj fashion ajjpear as the greatest possible violations of beaut}^ and of propriety. All these indelicate exposures and oddities of apparel necessarily localize the attention of the beholder on the em- phasized part, and the costuming of fashionable women has to a pernicious degree become too expressive of their sex, and too highly iuflaming to men.* In the ballroom the attire of some of the women, at least, is often sensuous to the extreme limit of propriety ; and it is futile to deny that many men become sexuall3^ excited bj" a close contact with beautiful women who dis- play bare arms and even the dimples between the breasts, and who at the same time attract by the well-known erotic stimuli of perfumes, touch, and other attractive equipments, which, if they do not plainly show, at least suggest. The logic of the changes of fashion is not difficult for physiologists to understand, for the unceasing variations of the caprices of dress follow the well-known i^hysiological law that the nervous system fails to react to a stimulus "in proportion to the duration of the action of the stimulus" (Chaddock). Thus we cease to be excited or attracted by phenomena with which we are constantly associated, while new stimuli compel attention. For this reason the sensible and becoming style of to- day gives place to the absurd, uncomfortable and hideous fashion of to-morrow, the aim being to constantly attract * Court plaster is so called because it was originally used by ladies at court to accentuate some special facial attraction. This is an ex- ample of one of the slighter degrees of accentuation. 154 HEREDITY AND MORALS. attention; and the reason is to be found in tlie desire to sexually please the taste of men. Nor do these efforts fail of their purpose when we consider that manj- men are some- what enthusiastic over the distinctive charms of the femi- nine figure, and that some men are inflammably so. It can confidently be asserted that among the men in the ballroom no inconsiderable number are sexually stimulated by the sensuous attire of the women ; and the most highly excited of all are, of course, the neurotic and lascivious ones, who consequently, in many instances, appear to the best advantage, and are especially popular with the ladies on account of their showing the liveliest and fullest appre- ciation of their charms. Hidden beauties are known to be most powerful in ex- citing the sexual fanc}' b^' provoking a sort of interested disapi)ointment ; and so a costume, perhaps not realh' im- modest, may yet be so designed as to j^rove undul}' fasci- nating. Young girls who have been modestlj^ brought up have been known to cry bitterly from a sense of natural woman- liness the first time they have been made to appear in ball dress; their pure instincts shrinking from showing the great expanse of bare flesh, the dimple between the breasts, and the nude bosom and arms — for, upon their first appear- ance, they inily realize that ihey are indecently clad for the society' of men. "In remarkable contrast with it [feminine modesty] there is occasional exposition of physical charms, conven- tionally sanctioned by the law of fashion, in which eA'en the most discreet maiden allows herself to indulge in the ballroom. The reasons which lead to this display are evident [to be sexually attractive]. Fortunateh', the mod- est girl is as little conscious of them as of the reason for the occasionally recurring mode of making certain portions of the body more prominent; to say nothing of corsets, etc." ' 1 Kralit-Ebing, loc. cit., p. 15. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. l55 In some of these ballrooms one may see upward of an acre of bare slioulders and bosoms and arms, and it is im- possible to doubt that many men are sexually inflamed in such an atmosphere. In fact, these accentuations of cos- tuming are, at bottom, designed for that very jiurpose, though the unreflective portion of humanity do not realize it, and the women err unconsciously. "Were a pious Mussulman of Terghaua to be present at our balls, and see the bare shoulders of our waves and daughters, and the semi-embraces of our round dances, he would silently wonder at the longsufferiug of Allah, who had not long ago poured fire and brimstone on this sinful and shameless generation." ' The beautiful attribute of feminine modesty is at the best put to a severe strain in the ballroom, for the women meet men, many of them impure, under circumstances which cannot bear analysis. Women are largel}' to blame for apatheticallj' i:»ermitting such improperly seductive attire to be worn, and for receiving and even welcoming into their circles men who are known to be unfit for intro- duction to young girls ; in no surer way could they con- tribute to the humiliation of their own sex. Of course dancing is fun ! Who can resist the fascina- tion of the enchanting music which compels the muscles to move in graceful cadence? Of course it must be intoxi- catingly j^leasurable to feel that one is so beautiful and so attractive to the men; and of course it is a treat for men to mix with women who should be at home in their bou- doirs until more fittingly attired. But fun never excuses sin, nor can it be ofi^ered as a palliation for practices and customs which are scientifically known to be subversive of sexual control. The mind naturally enjoys the measured cadence and the rhythmic steps of dancing to music, for harmony of sound and motion is more intensely sweet than either ' O. Peschel, "The Races of Man," Eng. Trans., London, 1876. 156 HEREDITY AND MORALS. alone, and the enjo}- ment is uaturallj- greater if two indi- viduals of opposite sexes dance together, or if a number harmoniously execute certain evolutions of figures. But the trouble lies in the excess of enjoyment. In the ballroom the girl feels secure because she knows that she is safe from the too-open demonstrations of her partner. Before others thej' can almost hug each other to music, jjlace their arms round each other, and revel in the intoxicating fancies which are induced by the attractions of sex, of apparel, perfume, music, etc. And, in addition, there is often a vivaciousness of irresponsibility with all this which is further courted at the punch-bowl ; and alcohol is known to have a far more erotic effect on women than on men. Such scenes could not be enacted in private and without music. "Who quarrels with dancing? But then, peoj^le must dance at their own risk. If Lucy Lamb, by dancing with young Boose}^ when he is tipsy, shows that she has no self- respect, how can I, coolly talking with Mrs. Lamb in the corner, and gravely looking on, respect the 3'oung lady? Lucy tells me that if she dances with James she must dance with John. I cannot deny it, for I am not suffi- ciently familiar with the regulations of the mystery. Only this : If dancing with sober James makes it necessarj^ to dance with tips}^ John— ^it seems to me, upon a hast}' glance at the subject, that a self-respecting Lucy would refrain from the dance with James. Why Lucy must dance with every man who asks her, whether he is in his senses, or knows how to dance, or is agreeable to her or not, is a profound mystery to Paul Potifar." * If a list were made of the gentlemen's names at almost any large ball, manj^ of them would be erased by a careful censor as unfit for association with decent women. This is no mere matter of opinion, but an incontrovertible fact; and those are blind indeed who cannot see that the modern 1 George William Curtis. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 157 ball, witL. every feature in it sensuous and seductive, is what we call a secondary sexual love-feast, and that its present tendency is not in tlie direction of jjurity or a high civili- zation. It must be remembered tliat many of tlie men, and for that matter many of the women as well, are the descendants of ancestors who were lustful and i^erverse in their inclinations, and that such are congenitally vicious and abnormal in their sexual proclivities. To these the foregoing facts are especially applicable, and the grossest evils are of course produced on their neuropathic disposi- tions. For all these reasons we must place dancing, as usually practised, in the category of those influences which pro- mote laxity of morals, and perhaps it will be seen that the province of preaching upon this topic belongs more to the physician than to the clergyman. The Modern Stage is an important factor in debasing public opinion and sexually overstimulating the passions of a large number of individuals. Nations at all periods of history have delighted in some form of drama ; and there is no doubt that grand and en- nobling pla^s, well presented, have an educational influence of much value, and that they afford a legitimate gratifica- tion of the nornjal play-instinct of mankind. But we cannot fail to notice that a large majority of the modern plays and operas have as essential elements of the plot, or of the costuming, something which is unmistakably immoral, salacious and erotic. In fact, there is a glorifi- cation of vice, and modesty and morality are put to shame. Lasciviousness and the waving of enchanting jjetticoats have largely rei)laced oratory and fine acting. "Now, what we get on the English stage is the gross- ness without the vice — or, to j^ut it more accurateh% the vulgarity without the open presentation of vice. You may mean anything, so long as you say something else. Al- most every farcical comedy or comic opera — to leave the 158 HEREDITY AND MORALS. music hall alone — is vitiated by a vein of vulgar indecency wliicli is simph' despicable. The aim of the artist is not to conceal art — there is none to conceal — but to conceal his indecencies decentlj', and yet in the most readily discover- able manner." ' That the tendencies are pernicious cannot be disputed when we see such prominence given to the ballet, skirt- dances, living pictures, and to every other device sugges- tive to the eye and imagination. Some of the shameless "leg artistes" who have invaded the stage, though in no sense actresses nor even artistic ballet-dancers, have gained far more notoriety and wealth bj' their indecent exhibitions than the legitimate jjerformers have been able to do. The stage-dance is sensual in every respect ; the costumes must be spicy, and the draperies — sometimes scanty, sometimes voluminous — are moved in the most suggestive ways under the effects of colored searchlights, etc. A woman who has no talent whatever as an actress can, nevertheless, often cause a furore and draw large crowds to see her if she will strii:) herself of clothing to the extreme limits tolerated by law, and supply- some sort of an apol- ogy for such an appearance. The studj^ of these so-called actresses seems to be constantly to devise something bolder and more indelicate than what any one else has brought out ; and in this way they attract large crowds of men and women, and receive enormous salaries from their managers. Of course no real lady, if she were reflective, could think of allowing herself to be seen in such an assemblage where semi-nude women are openly degrading her sex, nor would a true gentleman attend places where he could not take the ladies of his famih^ " Ladies, who, whether they are married or unmarried, are in England x)resumed to be agnostics in sexual matters, will roar themselves hoarse over farces whose stories could only be told to the ultra-marines. Ibsen may not untie a ' Zangwill, " Without Prejudice," p. 176. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 159 shoe-latcliet in the interest of trutli, while Euglisli bur- lesque managers may i)ut an army of girls into tights." ' To such an extent do many actresses minister to the gratification of the sensual desires of the public, by the subtle art of suggestion, or by artistic lasciviousness, that the police have to keep a constant watch over the theatres in order to prevent the most flagrant indecencies. At the World's Fair in Chicago all kinds of new sensual dances were introduced into the country from all j)arts of the world, the most familiar to the public being the " Danse du Ventre," and the "Kutchi-Kutchi." Those who saw these performances could iiot fail to realize that they were be- holding almost naked i^rostitutes, who were using every effort in their power to sexually excite the audience ; and, to a lesser degree, the same can almost be said of the ballet- girls, who manage their limbs and their scanty drapery in ways which, to say the least, are impossible for j)ure womanhood. These girls who i^erform in the ballet, or who otherwise appear in immodest parts, can be put down, not invariably, but almost without exception, as loose women. Subjected to familiarity, coarse jests, and sensual admiration, and being as a matter of course both vain and poor, they fall easy victims to the debased profligates and fast young men who are so easily admitted to their ac- quaintance. Both in Europe and America these so-called actresses — the chorus-girls and dancers — are classified en masse as loose women, and they are known by the medical profes- sion to be more uniformly infected with venereal disease than are any other class of women. Nor can this be won- dered at : Going from town to town, drinking and carous- ing with impure men in raj^id succession, elated by their association with so-called gentlemen who are above their station in life, thej'' usually submit to the sexual embrace under the disadvantageous necessity of secrecy and with- ^ Zangwill, loc. cit., p. 178. 160 HEREDITY AND MORALS. out any attemi^t at liygieiiic precautious, and as a natural result tliey almost iiuiformly acquire venereal disease. The modern stage is known to be the hotbed of impurity and divorce, and the actress of note who is not a divorcee or who has a clean reputation is the exception. Mary Anderson says in her book that it was " the hap- piest day in my life when I quit the stage forever"; and Madame Janauschek says : " The best thing for a young girl to do, no matter how great she exjiects to become, is to keep away from the theatre, and do an3'thing but go upon the stage. This is what I tell them all." Olive Logan,' herself an actress of note, whose father, mother, and five sisters were members of the theatrical profession, felt obliged to abandon the stage, and w'rote : " I can advise no honorable, self-respecting woman to turn to the stage for support, with its demoralizing influences, which seem to be growing stronger and stronger day by day ; where the greatest rewards are won by a set of brazen- faced, clog-dancing creatures, with dyed yellow hair and padded limbs, who have come here in droves from across the ocean." Little improvement certainly has come about since her day. It is a deplorable thing for the nation that so many of its pure women will consent to patronize these improper amusements, where thej^ appear to revel in an improper curiosity for beholding vice in romantic and interesting guises, and where they calmly behold before the glare of the footlights the open putting to shame of feminine mod- esty and everything characteristic of true womanhood. Secure in the feeling that there is a respectable audience around them, they display no embarrassment at things wdiich they would not tolerate in their own homes, or anj'^- where else than at the theatre. The strongest force which should operate against the terrible licentiousness of the times will continue to remain « " Women and Theatres, " p. 138 ; 1869. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 161 inert so long as pure women countenance and supj)ort tliese amusements; for unquestionabh' tlie erotic stimuli which emanate from tlie modern stage cause tlie gravest injury to the mental health cf the community, and i:»oison the sources from w'hich the stability and morality of future generations must spring. The Nude and- the Yulgar in Art. The loveliness of the rej^resentations of perfect types of men and women is too grand a theme to be x>rudisli about ; and without question it is an advantage to a community if they can have erected in their midst a perfect type of figure whose beauty, whose strength, w'hose grace and dignity they can emulate. No noble bronze or marble statue can have any improper suggestion in it for the pure, nor, if it come from the workshop of an artist who is free from vulgarity, can it afford am' stimulus to the prurient. The best examples of the statues of the ancient Greeks are certainly in no way offensive to modesty, and clothing w^ould seem altogether out of i:»lace upon them ; but when modern sensual realism attempts the same task the impression is usually conveyed that the statues are naked, and that they are designed by their suggestive postures to awaken sensual feelings. True Art, when it has taken lofty and pure subjects for illustration, has indeed done much for civilization; so that we must grant to the painter and the sculptor, if their works show forth the purity of their hearts and minds, a position in the forefront of the world's benefactors. True Art is in harmony with Nature, and must l^e true as far as it goes, ior, as Fairholt says, " Truth is the high- est quality in Art." Nature and true Art cannot be at variance, for Art is merely a method of recording on canvas, or bronze, or stone the glories andfthe truths of Jj^ature^ so that even the quar- JLl 162 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ries can be made by the liands of men to ennoble tlie ideals of liumanity and to point our desires ujjward. Would that in each community there could stand statues of a glorious type of unblemished manhood and of a glori- ous type of maternal womanhood, all models of their sex, with all the expression of nobleness in their countenances, and showing forth in every lineament the majesty of a spotless purity, and the ideal standards of fitness for the hallowed duties of parentage ! True Art is by far too noble to seek to amuse ; but, on the other hand, much of the material that is labeled " art" is in- tensely vulgar, because it presents Nature in the aspect of a buffoon. Xone deplore this vulgarity so keenly as the true artists who are actuated by noble inspirations. Society, however, is showing a taste and even a craving for the nude and the suggestive in art which has over- stei:)ped the bounds of decency. Modern ingenuity has made it possible to reproduce by engravings and chromo-lithographs thousands of pictures at a minimum cost; and as a result lewd illustrations are distributed everywhere, in the paj^ers and magazines, in cigarette boxes, on the fences as theatrical posters, and, in fact, wherever they are likely to catch the public attention. The employment of female models who are required to pose in the nude is a custom of the artist which is un- doubtedly productive of much harm. If a physician were to needlessh' expose a ])atient he would be severely con- demned as unjirofessional ; but surely Art cannot be on such a lofty pedestal as to require the sacrifice of the mod- esty and self-respect of young girls who are reduced by necessitj' to offer up that part, at least, of their virtue. If this practice is a necessity for the good of civilization, then it is proper to call it by its proper designation — hu- man vivisection. No right-minded parent would allow a daughter to pose in scanty attire before any man, however pure — for it is well known that it is exceptional for these INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 163 models to retain tlieir virginitj-. It is certain that this degrading class of work is responsible for the downfall of no inconsiderable number of young women, and that civili- zation is in no way advanced bj^ suggestive pictures, how- ever artistic. Impuee Liteeatuee. The daily press is a power in the community for both good and evil which, on the whole, has no competitor. While its rightful function is to give legitimate news and to instruct and educate, it is, on the other hand, too often the vehicle of untruth, slander, impurity, sensationalism, in- decency' and licentiousness, at one and the same time cater- ing to and begetting a vitiated class out of individuals pre- disposed to a loose manner of thought and action. One is almost led to believe that, even in this republic, a certain censorship will have to be exercised over the press in order to check the moral and esthetic devastation which so many of the papers are producing. Too often they spread to a deplorable extent the inmost details of private scandal, of family misfortune, of crime, filth, and wickedness of all sorts. If any unfortunate one has made a misstep, or attempted suicide, or been the victim of some unusually calamitous circumstance, the pub- lished details, while injuring a certain class of readers and doing good to none, often make it impossible for that in- dividual to recover his standing, or to remain in his ac- customed locality. By its advertisements, the press pretty generally gives to the public such information as will seemingl}^ help them to escape the consequences of licentiousness, by referring them to charlatans, abortionists, and "baby-farmers." President Cleveland, in February, 1897, delivered a most scathing criticism upon the tendencies of modern news- papers to disseminate corruption when he denied a pardon to the editor of one of the Chicago dailies. This editor 164 HEREDITY AND MORALS. was "sentenced in December, 1895, in Indiana, to two years' imprisonment and $250 fine and costs for mailing obscene literature." Tlie President said: " Denied. Tliis convict was one of the editors and pro- prietors, and a distributor tlirougli tlie niails and otherwise, of a disgustingly vile and obscene newsj^aper. His con- viction and sentence was an event distinctly tending to the promotion of public morals and the protection of the sons and daughters of our laud from filth and corrui:)tion at a time when indecent newspaper x>ublications are so dan- gerous and common. Everybody' in favor of cleanliness should encourage the j^unishment of such offences and de- sire that it should be more frequently imposed. While I am much surprised by the number of respectable people who have joined in urging clemency in this case, my duty seems so clear that I am not in the least tempted to inter- fere with the just and wholesome sentence of the court." ' There are in every community individuals who have stigmata of degeneration, either acquired or inherited. Such persons have latent instincts, which are acted on un- favorably by this sensational and impure literature, by the ethics which are often applauded in novels, and by the pornographic illustrations which represent the sole output of some publishing houses. ■' Alas ! that the greed for gain should turn the mighty press of this land into engines of corruption. The degrad- ing of our youth is a crying evil to-day. It is a seed-sowing from which brothels, dives, prisons, penitentiaries, asy- lums, and early graves are fast being recruited. " The report of the New York Society for the Suppres- sion of Vice, which is about completed for 1895, while it shows gratif^•ing results, shows also cause for alarm. " The matters destroyed are one thing. But the matters which are to-day at large (worse than ravenous beasts or poisonous serpents), i:)rowling about the country and trail- J Washington Post, February 25, 1897. INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 165 ing their slimy aucl venomous form among the youth in our institutions of learning, is an entirely different thing. " That rej)ort contains the arrest of 2,044 persons, and the seizure of 63,139 pounds of books, 27,424 pounds of stere- otype i:)lates for printing books, 836,096 obscene pictures, and 5,895 negatives for making the same. Also 96,680 articles for immoral use, 1,577,441 circulars, catalogues, songs, and leaflets, 32,883 newspapers, 1,102,620 names and post-office addresses seized in hands of dealers to which circulars were being sent." ^ Even the most respectable men and women, knowing not what they do, both read and applaud the book which is strongly suggestive of the " Quartier Latin" of Paris, and other books which hintingly portray the sensual side of humanity. Through a dense ignorance of the sexual side of human nature, they fail to observe abuses of decency which are at once apparent to the medical profession. The world's hardest problem has been the subjugation of this social evil of imj^urity ; partl}^ because society is distinguished for its ignorance regarding the sexual life, having as a rule only one idea, and that a wrong one ; and partly because every advance which civilization makes is met by the hostile ridicule of the uninformed, by scurrilous literature, by indecent advertisements, by sensually sug- gestive plays, by the indecencies of fashion and the ball- room, and by many other causes which operate to maintain in a consant state of stimulation the cerebral centres which I^reside over the generative functions. Tlie following quotation succinctly sums up a vast amount of profound wisdom, each clause of which at once suggests the active measures which must be taken for the preservation of the nation: ' "Demoralizing Literature," by Anthony Comstock. Abstract of a paper read at the New York American Purity Alliance Con- ference. 166 HEREDITY AND MORALS. " See the wiles and activity and open warfare of impu- rity. The popular literature of the day is largely subser- vient to it. Novels exhaling its stench burden news-stands and book agents' baskets. Evil pai)ers obtain readers by the hundreds of thousands, and drive out of the market self-respecting and decent i^ublications. Painting and sculpture, whose mission it should be to elevate and ennoble the mind by the representations of humanity's best deeds, reveal the human form in hideous suggestiveness. The- atrical i^osters are to our young people unmistakable ob- ject-lessons in lasciviousness, and the stage, M'hicli might be one of the most useful interpreters of wisdom and virtue, not infrequently becomes the panderer to lowest passions. Cultured society serves the interests of vice by its immodest fashions in dances and in female dress. Public opinion is debased; virtue, it is thought, is sufficiently avenged when a fallen woman is declared an outcast ; but the man Avho compassed her ruin goes scot-free, and is the welcome visitor to club and drawing-room. Laws against open im- morality are dead letters. Tempters to sin ^^romenade un- molested our streets ; homes of iniquity flaunt their wick- edness before the public gaze; orgies born of demons occur in pul^lic halls with the avowed connivance of the police. Sin sets itself up as a profession under shadowy names through which the purpose is easily read, and ad- vertises itself through the columns of our newspapers. Base men and women go around entrapping unwary girl- hood into lives of shame; procurers and procuresses are constantly prowling, as so many jackals, in search of hu- man bodies to cast them in prey to cruel lust. "Laws protect sin. The child of ten or fourteen 3- ears in many places is presumed to be of sufficient age to barter away her innocence, and her seducer cannot be convicted of criine. There are States in the country where the viola- tion of a woman is no violation of law, if her color is not Caucasian white. The impudence of vice attempts to go INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL IMMORALITY. 167 furtlier, and demands that infamy be licensed by law, that women be stamped with the badge of professional vice, and that the partners in their iniquity be protected by the law of the land and be secured by legal inquests from the dis- eases to which criminal indulgence might otherwise expose them.'" The mere fact that fashionable society sanctions a custom does not, as a rule, recommend it; for society is jealous of restrictions which interfere with its jjleasure, and becomes bored by any appeal to be very good. Even the heathen, who are quick to see the evidences of sensuality, would be shocked at many of our fashions and customs. Dr. Butler, in "The Land of the Yeda," says in refer- ence to the Nautch girls : "No man in India would allow his wife or daughter to dance ; and as to dancing with another man, he would for- sake her forever as a woman lost to virtue and modesty if she were to attempt it. In their observation of white women there is nothing that so much perplexes them as the fact that fathers and husbands ^vill i)ermit their wives and daughters to indulge in promiscuous dancing. No argu- ment will convince them that the act is such as a virtuous female should practise, or that its tendency is not licen- tious. The prevalence of the practice in ' Christian ' na- tions makes our holy religion — which they suppose must allow it — to be abhorred by many of them, and often it is cast in the teeth of our missionaries when preaching to them. But what would these heathens say could they enter our opera-housei^ and theatres, and see the shocking ex- posure of their persons which our public women there present before mixed assemblies ! Yefe they would be ten times more astonished that ladies of virtue and reputation should be found there, accompanied by their daughters, to • Archbishop Ireland's address, delivered at the World's Congress on Socal Purity. 168 HEREDITY AND MORALS. witness tlie siglit, and that, too, in the presence of the othei sex ! But then, they are only heathens, and don't appre- ciate the high accomplishments of Christian civilization! Still Heaven grant that the future Church of India may ever retain at least this item of the prejudices of their forefathers !" A thoughtful person cannot help observing that these times are characterized by the reckless abuse of stimulants, material and mental, to which we are fast becoming slav- ishly addicted. Besides alcoholic stimulants, we are pre- sented at ever}' turn with literary, dramatic, political, artistic and other excitants which the general public seems to demand for its mental, moral and physical nourish- ment. The battle against imjiurity cannot prevail unless at least the decent members of the community shall have high standards which discountenance sensuality, and un- less they demand equal legal rights for both sexes, and cease to heap up all the degradation on the weaker sex. Yirtue in a nation will decline unless its citizens exhibit a zeal for what is pure and good ; and no nation can be truly great which does not represent in the aggregate those qual- ities which are great in the individual. America, being related to e\erj nation, has derived something good and something evil from all of them ; and unless we court a national tragedy-, such as those which have blotted out whole empires in the past, we must be awake and active, and demand a due reverence for the family life, while at the same time vigorouslj^ opposing every influence which in any way tends to degrade it. Otherwise we cannot be ascendant and predominant in his- tory. National decay will surely follow if we submit to the seductive influences of the times ; and unless we effec- tively combat the enemies of purity and decency, there is danger that those at least who are city bred will become morally rotten. CHAPTER VI. PROSTITUTION AJSTD THE INFLUENCES THAT LEAD A WOMAN INTO SUCH A LEFE. Preliminary Considerations. — The harlot's class of work is quite anomalous ; in every profession or calling in life the laborer becomes more and more proficient as he or she gains familiarity with the work, and enjoys an increase of pay corresponding to the length of service. But with the harlot the highest remuneration, which is often lavish, comes first, and the less she knows about her business the better. In fact, hardly any woman of even the most bril- liant attainments can earn as much by a reputable class of work as an attractive and fresh young girl can at first com- mand by the sale of her person. To an ignorant young girl in straitened circumstances and of immoral proclivities this opportunity comes as a great temptation, for she does not begin to conceive of the ruin that will speedily convert her into a cast-off hag. As heretofore pointed out, if the harlot be a necessity, then she should be granted every honor which we could bestow upon her for her self-sacrifice. But the conditions are quite the reverse. She, the oppressed and deceived one, is harshly treated, while he, the persuader and the liar, is condoned; she, who earns her living hy i)rosti- tution, comj^elled perhaps by stern necessity, is an out- cast, while he, who perhaps spends enough on venery to support a family, is not only tolerated, but welcomed by society. Thus the man who blasts the life of an innocent woman by lying devices and the pretense of love gets not a tithe 170 Heredity and morals. of the panisliment of the ruined oue. To her the injury is irreparable; to him the injury is chieflj' a private one of dishonor. "The whole force of the world's opinion has been directed, not to the censure of actually guiltj- parties who induced the crime, but to the poor wronged sufferer. She, who is too frequently the ^■ictim of falsehood and deceit, or the slave of an absolute necessity, must expiate her fault by submitting to a constant succession of indignities and anno3'ances. He, whose conduct has made her what she is, escapes all censure. But some moralist will ask, 'How would you have us treat such women?' Treat them, sir, as human beings, actuated by the same passions as your- self; as susceptible beings, keenly sensitive of reproach; as injured beings, who have a claim upon your kindness; as outraged beings, who have a demand upon your justice. Lead them into a path by which they can escape from dan- ger; protect the innocent from the snares which environ them on every side. And when this is done, pour the vials of your hottest wrath on those of your own sex whose machinations have blighted some of God's fairest created beings." ' The consequences of prostitution fall almost solely on the woman. The man, though he suffers in his purse or by disease, finds no impediment to securing employment, no social bar, no objection to his marrying and securing a respectable home, no obstacle to his occupying a pew in church, or to his holding any position which the chaste man may. He may go on his way betraying and ruining girls, spreading disease, begetting illegitimate offsjjring, and working into the hands of the abortionist, and jet go seemingly unpunished; but certainly, as the offender, he is inexpressibly more blameworthy than the offended one. To make a girl a prostitute is easy — horribly easy! The steps are verj* short when one considers them. At I Sanger, " History of Prostitution, '' p. 642. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 171 first her parents, secure in tlie belief that their daughter cannot do wrong, carelessly allow her to roam the streets by day or night with young men whom perhaps they hardh' know by sight. Then come amusements without chaperonage— the carriage drive, the dance-hall, the the- atre. After the theatre the young man perhaps invites her to a little supper, and, if she is foolish, she drinks a little wine with him. Now the ramparts of her moral and psy- chical nature are tottering, and she both allows and courts a little familiarity. The next time, perhaiis under the in- fluence of more alcohol, and flattered with protestations of love, she submits herself and yields her virginity. Preg- nancy i^robablj' follows ; she goes away on a trip with him under some lying pretext; he deserts her; she perhaps cannot go home, and so in desperation she gets iiito a cab and is driven to a brothel. Such a history is by no means uncommon among the lower and middle classes of society. When it is necessary for a girl to earn her own living, perhaps in a strange city and without anj' protection, it can readily be seen that she is in imminent peril if she al- low the least familiarity, or if she can be persuaded to drink. A girl of the wealthier classes, no matter how degraded she may become, almost never sinks to a life of prostitu- tion, for few women follow that calling from any other motive than necessity. Woman is by nature monogamous, and it is well known that almost every i^rostitute has her " lover" — one among her many customers to whom alone she is loyal, whom she sometimes supports, and from whom she often consents to receive the most cruel treatment. This is explained by the natural adaptation of women to sexual bondage, and by the fact that the supreme wish of a woman, however de- graded, is forever and always marriage with one man whom she loves. The instincts of women are naturally in the direction of purity and the home, and before they can 172 HEREDITY AND MORALS. be led to become prostitutes these natural qualities must either be perverted, or put to tlie greatest stress by temp- tation or necessity, or otherwise grievously wounded. Deep dishonor is due to men who argue in favor of pros- titution, for the methods emj^loyed to recruit brothels are those of the crafty hunter and the merciless coward. It is the innocent, unsusiDecting, unprotected and friendless young girl who is ambushed and entrapped by those of both sexes who frequent these places. Little hj little, and b}' one device and another, suitable to each victim, the poor girl is drawn into the hunter's net and ruthlessly de- graded. And furthermore, those who haunt these resorts and who have grown old in their experience inveigle their innocent young men acquaintances into this kind of life, telling them nothing of the disease, crime, suffering and lying which such a life entails, and informing them not of the menace to their whole future health and character. The first step in this direction has turned many a youth toward a career of crime and disgrace. Impurity is the " ill wind" that blows no one any good. For some callous and seared natures there may be a certain fool's pleasure in it, but no happiness. Pleasure takes no thought of the consequences; even the murderer awaiting execution can take pleasure in the meal of his choice, but happy he can- not be, for happiness demands an assurance of future joy and security. Impurity cannot add to one's hapi:)iness when he reflects upon the sure consequences of disease, illegitimacy, child- murder, and ultimate annihilation that must be the lot of himself and his partner unless they repent, make amends, and alter their ways. "AYhen Pleasure treads the Paths which Pieason shuns," then Death treads in its footsteps and leads inevitably' to the destruction of every quality which is dear to mankind ; and surely the destroyer is more guilty than the destroyed. We are forced to the conclusion that the harlot is less PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 173 guilty than the seducer; aud as we study the causes of her downfall let us ever remember, to the unutterable shame of our sex, that woman's extremity is man's oppor- tunity. The Influences ichich Direct a Woman into a Life of Pros- tittition are as numerous as human weaknesses and misun- derstandings can make them — emanating i^artly from men, partly from herself. One would think that a woman would foresee the inevi- table ruin that awaits her, and that she would not put her- self in the w^ay of temptation. Rarely indeed does a woman deliberately enter upon this life from choice, but she is forced into it, or led into it, either by some indiscretion on her part, or infamy on the part of another. Love, flattery, vanity, irreligion, indolence, intemper- ance, necessity, seduction, postponement of marriage, pe- culiar stress of temptation, and many other impulses lead her into it. The sweets come first, while the bitterness is lost sight of. In the stud}' of the factors which lead to prostitution we must recognize that a certain proportion of women are " strumpets at heart," as men so often say — though without understanding whj^ they say it. Lombroso, in "The Female Offender," has shown that there is " an intimate correlation between bodily and mental conditions and processes," and criminologists recognize certain stigmata, or anatomical defects and peculiarities in habitual malefactors, which are much more common among them than among the normal individuals of societ3^ Among criminals, especially habitual criminals, we find j)hysical anomalies of various parts of the anatomj^ such as abnormal crania, misshapen ears, eyes on a different level, or eyes too near together or too wdde apart, crooked noses, hare-lips, cleft palates, highh^ arched palates, mal- formations of the teeth or tongue, supernumerary digits, abnormal limbs and bodies, etc. In fact, there is found to 174 HEREDITY AND MORALS. be a distinct correlation between the i)liysical defects and the mental processes. This is a law in criminology. Lombroso classifies courtezans along with criminals, and shows by strong evidence that a natural courtezan is more clearly marked by stigmata as an offender than any other class of criminals. " Almost all anomalies occur more fre- quently in prostitutes than in female offenders, and both classes have a larger number of the characteristics of de- generation than normal women." ' From measurements of a large number of harlots, Lom- broso shows that they are remarkable for their small cranial capacities. Heredity' and atavism have inclined many to this sort of life, and thus many harlots have "fallen victims to their grandfathers' excesses"; or, as South says, they have been " not so much born, as damned, into the world" through the sins of their parents. Hysteria is exceedingly common among harlots; and it is well known that hysterical women are often intensely erotic, not always so much on account of strong lustful desire as on account of a passion for new emotions and an intense longing for stimuli out of a spirit of adventure. " Legrand du Saulle observed that 12 i)eY cent, of hysterical women took to prostitution out of sheer dilettantism with- out any pressure from miserj', and Madame Tarnowsky found that fifteen per cent, of prostitutes were hysterical." ^ The Lustful Passion in Women. — In the vast majority of cases the desire which is felt by women for sexual gratifi- cation, regarded merely as a lustful longing, is not nearly so strong as in men, but to this rule there are exceptions which we must briefly consider. In both sexes we occa- sionally meet with a pathological increase of this passion which irresistibly impels them to seek sexual satisfaction without any moral deterring influence being exercised. In man, this condition is called Satyriasis; in woman, Nym- » Lombroso, "The Female Offender," p. 85. ' Lombroso, loc. cit. , p. 243. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 175 phomania. Both of these conditions stand on the border- land of insanit}^ and often lead to maniacal outbursts. Of course, there are varying degrees of intensity of satyriasis and nymxjhomania, dependent sometimes upon local causes, sometimes ui)on constitutional disease, or following upon unnatural stimulation of the sexual sphere by masturba- tion or other gross perversions. Such cases are not infre- quent in every insane asylum. A woman with nymphomania is more excessive in her demands than a man who is the subject of satyriasis, partly because he can find some relief by the discharge of semen, while she, having no corresponding alleviation, is driven to any or all means to satisfy her intolerable cravings. Such women will accept the embraces of any man whatsoever, or practise almost continual masturbation, or even resort to bestiality ; and so intense is the lustful feeling that it some- times clouds all conscience, or even consciousness. The . poor victims of this malady are acutely insane on the sub- ject, if not upon others as well. The disease being proba- bly due to a cerebral lesion, little good can be done by removal of the clitoris and ovaries. Nymphomania will account for the occasional pitiable lapses of virtue on the part of women who have been shielded in every way and who possess all the inherent characteristics of ladyhood. Cases are numerous where these disorganized sufferers have wrongfully sworn by the most solemn oaths that they have been violated by some most estimable man, such as their doctor or minister, or some other highly reiDutable person. Extreme degrees of nymphomania are more frequent than extreme degrees of satyriasis, but sexual neurasthenia with an unnatural degree of lust, short of satj^riasis, is probably more common in the male. Men who suffer from sexual neurasthenia as a result of giving free rein to their passions eventually reach a condition in which their thoughts are solely directed to sexual matters, and, after 176 HEREDITY AND MORALS. natural methods cease to gratify-, they not infrequently re- sort to the grossest perversions of sodomy, bestiality, etc. The victim of satyriasis is au exceedingly dangerous mem- ber of the community ; and such men have often been driven to rape and lust-murder, to acts of hair-cutting on women, to exhibition of the private parts in public, and to any or all of the gross j)erversions. Nymphomania leads the sufferer to submit to any deg- radation, to solicit men and hojs, to use indecent language, and to shamelessly expose herself ; it transforms the woman into an irresponsible person who seeks not to hide, but rather to make a spectacle of her sexual fury. It has seemed necessary to speak of this pitiable j)atho- logical condition so that there shall be no misunderstand- ing from a partial exx)lanation of women's lustful passions. Normally, a virtuous woman has very much less sensual de- sire than a man, though stronger in her sexual feelings, as shown by her greater love for children and the home. If women were as passionate as men there could be no jpos- sibility of such a condition of society as we now en]oj — brothels and widespread illegitimacy would sujaplant mar- riages and the familj^ circle. Sexual affairs occupy much of a woman's attention from puberty to the menopause, for once exevj lunar month she is "unwell" for a few days; and if she become a mother, she has a prolonged gestation, the suckling, the nursing, and the rearing of the child. Men perform their sexual function at one time as well as at another, and the act is soon accomplished and ends without further result to them. But women are deterred from intercourse while menstruating and during the later months of pregnancy ; and what seems a simple act, occu- pying but a few moments, may, and probably will, alter their whole course of life. Thus the act of fornication is trivial in its direct results upon the man, all the after-con- sequences being worked out upon the woman. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 177 Men who frequent brothels often find that the inmates seem to have passions which are equal in intensity to their own; but it must be remembered that it is a part of the business of prostitutes to practise this deception — for few men would derive the slightest satisfaction from a frigid woman. In reality these harlots rarely enjoy the act, though they simulate all the intensity of an orgasm, or pleasurable venereal sensation, in order to j)lease their customers and influence them to return. Almost any deception or pretext satisfies the man whose mind is filled with lustful imaginations and desires; and these misleading devices are employed with marked and general success by women who have made their embraces matters of merchandise. Since brothels are the very manufactories of lies, the harlot's word uj^on this subject cannot be received, for her very success in trade is dei:>eudent upon seemingly insatiable passions. But it is well known that after a woman enters upon a life of j)rostitution she soon passes from a stage of hypergesthesia to anaesthesia, i.e., from a high degree of erotic feeling to one of almost complete coldness, and that she soon becomes frigid to most men. The sexual embrace in women requires for its full enjoy- ment a physiological condition of love, which is necessarily wanting in the harlot. It is quite certain, then, that women do not naturally possess anything like the degree of sensual passion which is common among men, and that the psj'chical elements of love and confidence play a much more intense part in their enjoyment of the act than do the physical sensations. Granting that there are exceptions, we may, however, almost eliminate the lustful desire as being in anj^ way an important impulse in leading women into the harlot's man- ner of life. Vanity is an agency which indirectly leads to the ruin of a large number of young women 12 178 HEREDITY AND MORALS. A very considerable number of born and bred ladies un- questionably lapse from virtue, but tliey rarely sink to a life of prostitution in wliicli tliey expect the payment of money for their favors. The vast army of prostitutes is, on the other hand, al- most entirely recruited from women of the lower walks of life, such as domestics, shopgirls, factory -girls, emi'grants, chorus-girls, ballet-dancers, and other similar classes. Conceit of their personal charms or adornments, a mor- bid craving for flattery, desiro for indiscriminate admira- tion, or for presents or applause, and an overweening long- ing for the society and companionship of " fine gentlemen," lead them at first to walk on the brink of the precipice, over which they soon fall. A girl who has some comeliness of face or figure, and who dresses attractively, may keep comi:)any with men who are socially far her superiors, and sometimes is blinded by the opportunities to enjoy wine suppers and the "friend- shii)" of men whom she could not ai^proach without con- senting to do things bordering on the verge of a downfall. First comes the flirtation, then the secret meetings, the caresses and fondling, the protestations of regard or even love, and then the deadfall trap, which is so set in the dreadful ditch as to fall upon and crush her. When a girl of fair intelligence who has to work for a living looks about and thinks, she must observe that no industrial career offers immediate returns which will in any way compare with the amount of money she can make by adopting the life of a courtezan. She must observe that the same men who treat her insolently and heartlessly as employers of her labor will shower favors upon her if she will give up her person to them. By selling the first bloom of her youth and beauty she can, without the slightest ex- ertion, indulge herself in every vain wish of her heart, such as expensive clothing, jewels, rich living, and asso- ciation with "gentlemen." If she remain virtuous she PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 179 sees no reward, but, on the other hand, a life of toil and plain dressing, rebuffs and contumely from her taskmas- ters, and no possibility of coming into friendly contact with the upper classes. " Education raises many poor women to a stage of refinement that makes them suitable compan- ions for men of a higher rank, and not suitable for those of their Own." ' In her simplicity she does not see the penalties of dis- ease, pregnane}^ social annihilation, degradation and death, which vice exacts. She does not see why she should be working in drudgery at two or three dollars a week, when she can readily earn as many hundreds of dollars with no work, and enjoy an "elegant infamy." The business of prostitution, then, is followed by better success the less the prostitute knows about it, and the rich rewards come first, when she is .young and pretty, and not faded by disease and debauchery. Such dangers stand in the way of all ignorant and vain young women who put themselves in the line of temjDtation at theatres, dance- halls, picnics, and other questionable places without a chaperon. If a girl in this country becomes a mistress, she must consent to be secluded, and cannot have her vanity com- pletely satisfied— for men here do not dare to honor their paramours by ax)pearing with them in full view of the public, as they so often do in Continental Europe. Many girls have in them a good deal of that principle or endowment of Nature which Ellice Hopkins calls the " black kitten" — a sort of daredevil spirit which makes them indiscreet enough to try their hands at " sowing wild oats," and which lures them to play and frolic on danger- ous ground, though they do not mean to go beyond cer- tain limits. Ellice Hopkins well says : ' " Do not you think it a little ' Lecky, "History of European Morals," p. 145. 2 "The Ride of Death." 180 HEREDITY AND MORALS. hard that men should have dug bj^ the side of her foolish, dancing feet a bottomless pit, and that she cannot have her jump and fun in safety, and put on her fine feathers like the silly, bird-witted thing she is, without a single false step dashing her over the brink, and leaving her with the very womanhood dashed out of her?" And yet vanity alone does not make them fall, for every girl values her chastity to such an enormous degree that no man could violate it without some subterfuge of love- making, deceit, bribery, or by the aid of intoxicants. Seduction. — Except in the company of the most debased profligates, from whom all sense of chivalry has long since departed, no man would for a moment dare to sa^- that he had been the first to dej^rive a woman of her virtue ; but such is the low degree of honor to which licentiousness has reduced many men, that they consider a girl who has once fallen, no matter how young and innocent, their legitimate prey, and eagerly avail tliemselves of the opportunity to be number two in helping her down to perdition. Once a girl has made a single misstep, every lustful man is against her to prevent her from rising, and keeps trampling her down and pitilessly leading her on until she can sink no lower. In her descent she j^asses through the hands of many men, who, in the eyes of the world, ajipear to become baser and baser as the woman sinks lower and lower in her de- grading calling. But in reality, hy far the Avickedest man is he who inflicted the first terrible injury, and next in order to him come those who complete his work of seduc- tion by trampling out of her every vestige of womanhood. What sensual man ever goes by i^reference to confirmed X^rostitutes when he has the choice of selecting the freshest and sweetest j^oung girl who has just fallen? And yet those who think themselves men allow such fellows to re- count their detestable success with these attractive 3'oung girls without even feeling a desire to kick them out of PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 181 their society. What conceivable excuse can be offered for tlie cowardlj^ malefactors who complete the work of seduc- tion initiated by the first fiend ! No one who is normally endowed with a sense of chivalric manliness, or who has any remnant of the true majesty of his sex, will for a moment admit to his friendship), or even companionship, the man who was the seducer, nor those who completed the irrevocable ruin, of a maiden who might have escaped the despair of an existence which must now, on their account, be terminated by the blistering anguish of social ostracism, shattered health, and a loathsome deg- radation, which, if it does not drive the pitiable victim to a suicide's grave, has yet removed her from every sweet in- fluence which they themselves are permitted to enjoy with- out even any vigorous condemnation from the girl's own sex. Mr. Lecky, the historian of European morals, says on this subject : " When we reflect that the object of such a man is by the coldest and most deliberate treachery to blast the life of an innocent woman; when we compare the levity of his motive with the irreparable injury he inflicts ; and when we remember that he can only deceive his victim by per- suading her to love him, and can only ruin her by persuad- ing her to trust him, it must be owned that it would be difficult to conceive a cruelty more wanton and more heart- less, or a character combining more numerous elements of infamy and dishonor." ' False protestations of affection lead many girls to allow themselves to be seduced; for when once a man has per- suaded a woman that she has his real love, he has over- thrown many obstacles to her reserve. If the girl can be led to venture upon improper escapades with him, and especially if she can be persuaded to drink, she is almost at his mercy ^ — for alcohol paralyzes a woman's power of ne- gation, and renders her more vivacious and amorous, her * Loc. cit, vol. ii., p. 347. 182 HEREDITY AND MORALS. impulsive temperament being far more susceptible to its influence than a man's. Indulgence in strong drink is the precursor of a downfall from virtue for her, and harlotry and drunkenness go hand in hand. * Most ])rostitutes claim that they began their life of shame after being seduced, and in the large majority of cases they speak the truth. Some men certainly began their infamous careers for them, perjured themselves that they might have their trivial sport, lacerated their delicate sensibilities, and polluted their consciences, so that the poor women have only the mere recollection of feelings of self-respect. Con- sequently they now feel that they cannot return to respec- table society' as the men do, and come to believe that they are almost right in giving up hojie and openly soliciting favors from any man. " The probabilities of a decrease in the crime of seduc- tion are \ery slight, so long as the present public senti- ment prevails ; while the seducer is allowed to go unpun- ished and the full measure of retribution is directed against his victim; while the offender escapes, but the offended is condemned. Unprincipled men, read^' to take advantage of woman's trustful nature, abound, and they pursue their diabolical course unmolested. Legal enact- ments can scarcely ever reach them, although sometimes a poor man without friends or money is indicted and con- victed. The remedy must be left to the world at large. When our domestic relations are such that a man known to be guilt}' of this crime can obtain no admission into the family circle ; when the virtuous and respectable members of the community agree that no such man shall be wel- • "Among the many safeguards of female purity in the Roman re- public was an enactment forbidding women even to taste wine ; and this very intelligible law, being enforced with the earliest education, became at last, by habit and traditionary reverence, so incorporated with tho moral feelings of the people that its violation was spoken of as a monstrous crime." — Lecky, loc. eit, p. 93. I PKOSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 183 corned to their society; when worth and honor assert their supremacy over wealth and boklness, there may be hopes of a reformation, but not till then." * Any true man would exert all his influence to make a young woman who had just been seduced retrace her steps while it was not j-et altogether impossible to hide her shame from the world, and this even though she gave him encouragement to complete her ruin; and his hand would wither before he could in any way be a party to her further damage. Poverty is probably the most fruitful of all causes which lead to the downfall of girls. Unquestionably most girls who have themselves alone to support could find some kind of employment which would maintain them if they were willing to work hard; but when ignorance, poverty and vanity combine forces, and a life is opened up to them which seems to offer rich rewards and absolutely no work, then they are indeed in danger. The starvation wages paid to young women in stores, factories, restaurants, etc., compel many of them to earn money elsewhere ; and when they are thrown upon their own resources, unequipped by any training to earn their living, the temptation is very strong to barter away their virtue for what may seem to them adequate money rewards.* ' Sanger, "History of Prostitution," p. 496. 2 "In order to show the relation between unpaid and excessive labor and prostitution, we will instance a few cases. "One young woman said she made moleskin pantaloons (a very strong, stiff fabric) at the rate of 15 cents per pair. She could manage twelve pairs per week when there was full employment ; sometimes she could not get work. She worked from six in the morning until ten at night. With full work she could make $3 a week, out of which she had to expend 38 cents for thread and can- dle. On an average, in consequence of short work, she could not make more than 75 cents a week. Her father was dead, and she had to support her mother, who was sixty j'ears of age. This girl en- 184 HEREDITY AND MORALS. No girl who has any womanly delicacy or attractiveness would or does cast herself away by deliberately prostitut- ing herself, unless under the duress of necessity ; but in- numerable men are ever ready to seduce her and drain her very life's blood, thinking to excuse themselves by the money they pay. Prostitution is very largely the effect of the unfortunate circumstances of these poor girls, and the material for brothels is largely recruited from the stores, the factories and the " sweat-shoi:)S, " where they must work many and weary hours for cruelh- small pay. Factor}^ Inspector O'Lear^^ of New York State, in urg- ing the abolition of the sweating system, says in his Eleventh Annual Eeport (1895) : " With knee-pants bringing but from 50 to 75 cents per dozen, vests from $1 to $3 per dozen, trousers from 12^ to 75 cents per pair, and coats from 32 cents to $1.50 each, with a percentage oft' these prices for the ' boss sweaters ' and another reduction oft' for cost of carting, which the workman is obliged to pay, we cannot expect to find any- thing but destitution, suffering, intellectual and moral de- l^ression, existing among the unfortunate victims of this pernicious system." The temptation which men offer to these poor distressed dured her mode of existence for three years, till at length she agreed to live with a young man. When she made this statement she was within three months of her confinement. She felt the disgrace of her condition, to relieve her from which she said she prayed for death, and would not have gone wrong if she could have helped it. "Such a case as this scarcely comes within the term prostitution, but she stated that many girls at the shop advised prostitution as a resource, and that others should do as they did, as by that means they had procured plenty to eat and clothes to wear. She gave it as her opinion that none of the thousands of girls who work at the same business earn a livelihood by their needle, but that all must and do prostitute themselves to eke out a subsistence.^'' — Sanger, loc. cit., p. 328. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 185 and destitute girls is but too successful a menace to their rectitude, and reform is hardly to be looked for until the social conditions which make the fall so easy are righted by legislation and public sentiment. Men are all agreed upon the fact that women are not well equipped by nature to engage in the struggle of life, and that it is a shame for any woman to be obliged to earn her own living ; but many a poor girl is compelled to leave the shel- ter of her home in order to support herself and perhaps her dependent relatives. It seems hardly necessary to accentuate the fact that great-hearted men are speciallj^ gallant to these unfortu- nates ; but they are offset by the lustful beasts of prey who assail the young women as thej^ quietly walk home from their work at night, and spread before them all sorts of allurements to lead at first a gay, and then a fast life. Familiarity and disrespect are shown to almost every at- tractive woman who has no guardian; and though many of them resent it, quite a large number can be led astray if they are in straitened circumstances and skilfully ap- proached. Men of all ages and conditions, married and single, who are received and recognized in the best social and business circles, have money in abundance with which to x^urchase the degradation of these young women whose " virtue and purity are the most marketable elements in their lives." The defencelessness of their position and the sad cir- cumstance that they are compelled by the hardest kind of work to eke out a bare subsistence should incline the hearts of men to help and protect them ; and if they have fallen on account of the outrageous villainy of others, they should be judged very tenderly, while no punishment could be severe enough for the seducers. Some Girls are Almost Born into Tliis Pi^ofession, many of them being illegitimate, basely born children, or the off- spring of seusual parents, who perhaps begot them while 186 HEREDITY AND MORALS. 4 drunk. But, as a rule, if a prostitute has a girl as lier il- legitimate child, she would rather strangle it than see it lapse from virtue. However much parents may desire to see their children grow up to a better life, this can never be realized as long as the force of an evil example is oper- ating; and unless the mother, particularh', be virtuous, there is little hope that the children will grow up to be sweet and pure. But though the mighty love of even a fallen woman for her child would impel her to shield it from harm, excep- tions are yet as common as the inconsistencies of human beings — for sometimes a mother will make a handsome liv- ing by selling her daughter's favors. Absence of Rdujious Training and Belief leads straight to a life of unchastity in a large number of instances. Re- ligion is the strongest incentive to purity, and, as a rule, when it is put aside, morality expires. Most prostitutes, however, have been brought up in some religious belief, and some are actually churchgoers, though few make any attempt to screen themselves under the gospel colors. It cannot be said of this class of women that they are hypocrites; that they make any attempt to appear to be wearing "the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in"; or that they pretend to be anything but what they are. The beaut}' of the Christian religion, when presented in the way intended bj- its Founder, makes a deep impression on their hearts; but what would the apostles say if they were to see that hardly a pew in any church invites or wel- comes or tolerates them, while fallen men — hypocrites that they are — bow the knee at the communion-table before the world ! "But even with their neglect of the outward require- ments of faith, and while in the actual commission of known and acknowledged sin, they still preserve many traits which PROSTITUTION A]^D THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. l87 are niucli to tlieir credit. They possess one of the chief virtues belonging to the female character, which never seems to become extinct or materially impaired ; namely, kindness to each other when sick or destitute, and indeed to all who are in suffering or distress. This has attracted the attention, and called forth the admiration, of every one who has been thrown into contact with them." ' Overcroivded Dwellings are a prolific source of contam- ination. Among the very poor the members of the famil}', and sometimes several families, are in many instances forced to litter down like pigs in their sleeping apartments, to perform their ablutions and the acts of nature in each other's sight, and to listen to little else but depravity ; so that in such instances the young of both sexes become pre- cocious in their knowledge of licentiousness without ap- preciating the natural barriers ]:)etween the sexes. Sur- rounded by the fumes of alcohol, hearing obscenity and cursing, seeing the indecent l)ehavior of their elders, and being born into such an environment, there can be no won- der that many of these unfortunate children should follow the examples which are set them, and never rise out of the filth of their vicious surroundings. While avaricious landlords and apathetic municipalities permit such travesties of decency, there can be no hope for the growth of these children into anything but the refuse of society — natural criminals and vagabonds. The Ahandonment of Wives, and False 31arriacjes, account for the fall of a considerable number of women. There are some men base enough to gain the love of un- suspecting Avomen, and go through the ceremony of mar- riage, while having wives and children elsewhere. As soon as pregnancy occurs, these poor women are abandoned, and, overcome with shame, are readily persuaded to prosti- tute themselves. ' Sanger, loc. cit., p. 547. 188 HEREDITY AXD MORALS. The Dreadful Traffic in, Girls. — Oue of the consequences of tlie selfish and base demands of men for the gratification of their carnal desires is the unceasing traflic in unpro- tected girlhood — for where there is a demand there will always be a supply. Thus the fresh young girls have commodities of ex- changeable value, which, if offered for sale in the markets, will bring rich prices ; and as long as this demand remains, with money to back it, the market will in some way be sup- plied. In order to satisfy this monstrous exaction of lustful men, male and female procurers j^ercolate the lower strata of society, incessantly recruiting tlie youngest and most at- tractive girls they can find for the bawdy-houses. In Continental Eurojoe there are organized agencies, with branches in remote sections, whose business it is to keep and supply attractive women for immoral purposes; and the same nefarious traffic is flourishing in our own land. The (question for each individual man is, i)lainly, whether he shall be a i:)arty to anything which thrives on the smothering out of the lives and the decency of heli)less and agonized young women. The thoughtless men who patronize brothels are mostly of the opinion that these women are good for nothing else, and that they are permanent fixtures there — little realizing that a large proportion of them die every year, that most of them sink lower and lower with horrible rapidity, and that their places must be filled, not by worthless and ma- ture women, but by the youngest, freshest, and most attrac- tive girls it is j)ossible to secure. Thus a traffic in girls is absolutely essential to supply the demand — and this must be somewhat further elucidated. It is a fact, accepted by those who are well qualified to know, that about one-fourth of the prostitutes drop out every year, and Sanger says :' " The average duration of ' Loc. cit., p. 455. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 189 life among tliese women does not exceed four 3- ears from tlie beginning of tlieir career" ; while some European au- thorities place the duration of life at five years.' Exceptionally, however, some of them remain in seem- ingly fair physical condition for very much longer periods of time; but on an a\'erage one-fourth disappear every year. So, of course, there must be an active recruiting service going on, incomparably more exacting than that required bj' the military forces, taking no account of the innumerable servants, shopgirls, chorus-girls, actresses, waitresses and others, who are led to practise clandestine prostitution. Furthermore, it is estimated, as nearly as can be approximated, that for every prostitute there are five impure men to support her ; and these " kistiug beasts of prey" not only do not want them to reform, but contin- ually demand new and fresh supplies. Therefore, since the two factors of supply and demand are intimately correlated as an axiom of political economy, if the men show a desire to purchase, then the commodities will certainly be supi)lied. Sureh' all the oceans cannot wash away the stains from those who shed the costly blood of these young girls whom they hold so cheap ! There are men and women abroad, called respectively procurers and procuresses, or pimps, whose sole livelihood consists in inveigling young girls into this life by force, or ' Of course it is utterly impossible to obtain reliable statistical in- formation, and these calculations must not be accepted as anything but the mere opinions of trustworthy men who are in a position to ob- serve. The statistics collected by Woods Hutchinson (Medical News, vol. Ixx. , No. 26, p. 801) , supported by the testimony of Du Chatelet of Paris, would place their average life at 9.5 years after entering upon tliis career ; and other statistics from the police of London and Paris demonstrate that death does not account for the greater part of those who disappear. It is certain that where the system of police control is not in force, a very large number of these women become tired of the hardships and ignominy of their lives, receiving less pay as they get older and more familiarized with their work, and that, when possible, they seek employment in a better life. 190 Heredity and morals. fraud, or other means. " Oli, surely this is a mistake !" one cries out in his heart of hearts ; but no — the brothel needs such monsters, who think nothing of entrapping an innocent girl, of turning her imprudent steps along a tor- turing jjath to an outcast's life and a shameful grave, and who for money lead her to suspect no evil and enshroud her with the filthy pall of the courtezan. The price of blood is paid by the defiled men who patronize brothels. The first thing for a procurer or procuress to do is to get acquainted with girls who have lost their natural protectors, or who are away from home in a large city and entirely dependent upon themselves. For some kinds of work the procuress succeeds better, and for others the procurer is better fitted. At " intelligence ofiices" for servants, at lodging-houses, and even at churches, Sunday-schools and hospitals, there are innumerable opportunities to meet girls who are out of employment, or who are dissatisfied with their conditions of life. Many are led into traps by seemingly proper and enticing advertisements which continually appear in the columns of the newspapers. When the unsuspecting young women meet the advertisers, they are delighted with their pleasing manners and the promise of large wages and easy work. Thus very often a country lass does not know that she is a servant in a brothel until many days have elapsed ; and a little drugged wine, the removal of her clothing so that she cannot escape, and tact on the part of the mistress of the house, soon accomplish her ruin. Lurking about the incoming trains are frequently to be seen ladies and gentlemen of benevolent aspect who are eager to assist any innocent-looking girl in finding employment or a nice lodg- ing-house. Even the hospitals are visited and friendships made with destitute girls, by gifts of flowers and other kindnesses, so that when the deluded victims leave the ward they confidingly go with the sanctimonious procuress to their unsuspected doom. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 191 Cabmen sometimes are known to drive girls to wrong addresses and act as agents for the mistresses of brotliels, receiving money rewards, of course, if tlie ruse is successful. In every possible guise of respectability these procurers and procuresses are going about seeking for attractive and juvenile women. They must have youth in their business, for men demand it. Since death flows with a rapid current through the streets of shame, and youth and beauty soon fade, others must be found to fill up the ranks for this lucrative business. Thus the procession goes on and on from the highest grade of bawdy-house down, down, down to the basest hovels, and to the pauj^er's grave. Men force this upon womankind ! In order to make their houses luxurious, the brothel- keepers must spend large sums of monej', and must of course retain the most innocent and beautiful young girls to insure popularity with their customers. If a " madame" is adroit she gets her live-stock largely into her debt, or, as the girls express it, " their trunks are nailed to the floor." Often the very clothes on the girls' backs, and the orna- ments they wear, are owned by the proprietress, whose highest interest it is to have them appear luxurious. When they cease to be a sufficient source of revenue they are kicked out with little grace. " People in Euroj)e speak with indignation of the traffic in negroes. It would be just as well if they would open their eyes to what is going on much nearer throughout the whole of Euroi)e, especially in Germany and Austria, where the exportation of white slaves is carried on on a large scale. A terrible picture is presented to us of the enforced movement to and fro ujjon the face of the earth of these youthful victims of human cruel t}'. Numbers are embarked at Hamburg, whose destination is South America, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro. The greater number are probably engaged for Montevideo and Buenos Ayres; others are sent by the Straits of Magellan to Valparaiso. 192 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Otlier cargoes are sent to North America, some being for- warded through England, others direct. The competition which the traders meet with when they land sometimes constrains them to go farther ahead ; they are found, there- fore, descending the Mississippi with their cargoes to New Orleans and Texas. Others are taken on to California. " In the market of California they are sorted, and thence taken to provision the different localities on the coast as far as Panama. Others are sent from the New Orleans market to Cuba, the Antilles, and Mexico. Others are taken from Bohemia, Germany, and Switzerland across the Alps to Italy, and thence farther south to Alexandria and Suez, and eastward to Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The Russian official houses of vice draw their slaves in a great measure from Eastern Prussia, Pomerania, and Poland. The most important Russian station is Riga ; it is there that the traders of St. Peters- burg and Moscow sort and get read}^ their cargoes for Nijni-Novgorod, aud from this latter place cargoes are sent on to the more distant towns of Siberia, At Tschita a young German was found who had been sold and resold in this manner." ' The outcast class is recruited from women under the age of twenty-one; and one rescue-worker has said, "The last 'strange woman ' I had to deal with was aged seven years." She could be used for the sexual perverts. The children of the poor are forced to go out earh^ in life to work, and in their ignorance and immaturity — the very qualities that are preyed upon to their hurt — they are no match for the scheming destroy er. Girlhood, not ma- ture womanhood, is devoted to this industry-, and, as em- ployees, they are too often subject to the control of men who prove anything but their friends and protectors. If a woman has fallen from virtue there are a score of ' Letter of Mrs. Josephine E. Butler to the International Council of Women at Washington. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 193 influences wliicli prevent lier rising again. Until lately, society has not been represented by any powerful organi- zations aiming to reform and lift up the wounded women; but Christian heroes and heroines — none other — have of late actively begun the life-saving work, and have shown a chivalrj' only possible to the disciples of Jesus, which far surpasses the romantic exploits of paper heroes. There is a something about the visage and the gait of a woman who has been degraded which hints at her shame, so that her countenance is against her, her own sex is against her, and men are against her. It is because she is an outcast. Among the jirostitutes of Japan, and in most of the cities of Southern Europe, the woinen do not so markedly show forth this characteristic expression of countenance, because they have a higher standing in the social scale, and not infrequently marrj-. Hope, and a certain favorable recognition of their services, keep alive in them some of the attributes of women. The Japanese men are said to be not at all averse to marrying a woman after she has lived for a year or so in a tea-house {tskaja) as a prostitute; but then the women in that country seem to be of no account except as mere chattels, and their standing cannot be greatly lowered, for they have little.' ' "In Japan, houses of prostitution are a national institution ; the law regulates the costume of the women who inhabit them, and the duration of their stay. On this point Europe has little to envy Japan. But what is special to Japan is that the tikakie, the inmates of these houses, are placed there by their parents themselves, and for a price tliat is debated beforehand. These inmates of the tea-houses gener- ally enter them from the age of fourteen or fifteen years, to live there till they are twenty-five years old. They are taught to dance, to sing, to play the guitar, and to write letters. They are lodged in handsome apartments, where men go to see them openly and without any mystery. " They are in no wav dishonored by their trade ; manv of them marry 13 194 HEREDITY AND MORALS. But the Anglo-Saxon liarlot can rarely hide the trade- mark of her calling, which is stamped upon her face and gait and deportment. Employment is not readily secured by such women, though most of them could undoubtedly^ abandon their lives of shame if they were treated with ordinary consid- eration. Candor compels us to say, however, that a large number of these women are influenced by their vanity and love of fine apparel to continue in infamous idleness rather than accept menial positions with really hard work and small pay. An ignorant i)rostitute, unfit for anything but labor, can dress expensively and surround herself with comforts such as ladies have, all without effort or any equipment of edu- cation. Thus a large number of harlots are unquestionably so from choice, and prefer a continuance of that life to hard work and small pa^-. Such are ob\'iousl3' "lost women" — after being started on the downward path they elect to continue in this degraded calling. However, scores of women who might be considered "lost" are readily re- stored to decency if they come under the influence of friendly help. Mam^ of these women, after age has rapidly crept on and their charms have faded, become keepers of brothels them- selves, or set up that obnoxious modern innovation so widely advertised in the newspapers as " Massage Parlors," which are nothing but another variety of bawdy-houses adapted to suit another kind of sexual perverts. Not a few women are kept mistresses of rich men and illicitlj^ occupy the j^laces of wives, though entailing greater expense than would suflice to keep a respectable family in comfort. One cannot help wondering what a man can think of himself for keeping down a human being in such very well afterward ; it even happens that respectable citizens go to seek an agreeable wife in these houses of pleasure. "— Letourneau, "The Evolution of Marriage," p. 158. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 195 infamy of slavery and in such cruelly liopeless and relent- less disgrace, when liis money and his so-called "love" might so much better be expended in the achievement of her reformation. With a little assistance and s^'mpathy many an erring woman could unquestionably be saved ; and the contrast between x)ushing a tender, weakly-, and easily persuaded girl down further and further in the mire, and of lifting her up by the manly strength of real love, is as great as what we mean by the difference between Heaven and Hell. Some of them are perhaps too deeply wounded by curses, disease, drink and desj^air to be saved ; but an upright man would not remain in the same class with those who contribute to their ruin, but rather make the attempt to discountenance such traffic and to save them. These prostitutes are indeed outcasts — the law in the State of Missouri even going so far as to say that their testimony cannot be accepted, while further saying that " such character in a man does not in like manner affect his character for veracitj." In the ante-helluia days slaves were cared for by their masters when they became old, and the relationshij) be- tween master and servant was often a tender one. How is it with a man's mistress — his " white slave" ? She becomes of less and less value with length of service and experience, and the man's pseudo-love rapidly passes away when she is no longer pleasing; and if conception occur, both she and the child are usually abandoned. His money will buy younger women in the comparative bloom of innocence ; and the worn-out mistress, like the prostitute of the bawdy- house, becomes a candidate for the jail, the hospital, the poorhouse and the potter's field. All the burden and dis- grace are put on the woman sinner, the attempt being made to make everything safe and attractive for the male ; but the idea is false that he can escape an utter moral degradation, if not physical as well. All Nature, all reason, all pity and all love cry out 196 HEREDITY AND MORALS. against the base doctrine tliat a host of young women must be drawn into the vortex to appease tlie appetites of men. " Mr. Crittenton estimates tliat there are two hundred and thirty -two thousand prostitutes in our country to-day. Their average life is five 3' ears. Every five years, then, two hundred thousand x)ure girls must be dishonored and spoiled to sujiph^ the demand of lust ! Ancient and heathen Athens used to go into mourning because, every nine years, seven youths and seven maidens had to be furnished for the devouring Minotaur of Crete. How ought we, then, as a nation to prostrate ourselves before God in seeking deliverance from this monstrous evil that every year de- vours iortj thousand of our pure maidens and pollutes two hundred thousand of our pure youths !" ' Besides those who earn their living solely bj^ prostitu- tion, there are an enormous number who must be habitually unchaste clandestinely in order to sui)i)ort themselves. A Parisian official, Lecour, in his report upon prostitu- tion, advocated the supervision by the police of large num- bers of the single and unin-otected working-girls who were known to be earning an amount insufiicieut to live uj^on. He claimed that they should be regarded as suspicious characters, and treated to all intents and purposes as har- lots. Much the same condition exists in all our large cities ; and many hard-working girls, victims of their employers' greed, are thus compelled to i:)ractise clandestine prostitu- tion. The general public does not at all appreciate the number of women who have fallen, because thej' are submerged and out of the view of respectable society. In New York ciij, there are estimated to be from 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes; and the statement is made by conservative authorities that out of every fifty -five inhabitants, including men, women and children, one is a i:)rostitute. In the space at our command we cannot enter ink) a ■ Rev. Frank M. Goodchild, in The Arena, March, 1896. PKOSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 197 statistical analysis of tlie yearly cost of prostitution, but the reader will hardly be surprised at the statement that it is enormous. In considering the sum of money which is expended on prostitution it is fair to take account of the fees which are paid to the prostitutes, the usual wines and liquors for which exorbitant prices are charged, the revelry in dance-halls and saloons which are imtronized by prosti- tutes, the medical expenses at hospitals and dispensaries, the care of those who become pauperized, the cost of police supervision, the rental of the houses, etc., etc. Sixty-five millions of dollars a 3' ear paid out for prosti- tution in New York citj' at the present time, without ac- counting for the hospital or police expenses, or the rentals, would be a most conservative estimate, basing this figure on the factors laid down by Sanger in 1858, ' and taking no account of the greater expenditure of money at the close of this century. Fully five times as many men as women are degraded b}^ impurity, and they supply the funds for this business. But the enormous tribute of money which men pay to vice is as nothing in comparison to the racial degra- dation and damnation. Mirth and revelry may seem to be inseparably connected with prostitution, and a casual observer would suj^i^ose that the pleasure of that kind of life predominated over the pain; but the mirth is a sham — for none care for a discon- solate and tearful harlot. Conscious that their condition in every respect is wholly unsatisfactory, that the terms of endearment with which they are addressed mean nothing but a stimulus to a base seutimentalism, and that their path leads away from mar- riage to premature aging, disease and death, they cannot for a moment be happy. " And amid all this array of luxurious homes, of splendid dresses, of comparative affluence, the question arises. Are they happy? A moment's consideration will prompt the ' "History of Prostitution," pp. 600 et seq., quod vide. 198 HEREDITY AND MORALS. answer that tliej' cannot be. Continued indulgence in their course of life tends to obliterate the sense of degra- dation, and makes their career almost second nature, but even the most confirmed must at times reflect. The mem- ory of what the}' have been, the thought of what they are, the dread of what thej' must be, haunt their minds ; con- science will make itself heard. Many a poor girl dressed in silks or satins, gleaming with jewelry, and receiving with a gay smile the lavish compliments of her 'friend,' is mentally racked with a keen appreciation of her true position. She knows that the world condemns her, and her own heart admits the justice of the verdict. She knows that he who is so ostentatiously parading his admi- ration regards her but as a purchased instrument to minis- ter to his gratification. She feels that she is, emphatically, alone in the world, and her merry laugh but ill conceals a breaking heart." ' The number of prostitutes who commit suicide, led to it by the utter hojielessness of their condition, is far beyond what we might expect. As far as this life goes, at least, the women realize that they are utterly ruined, and under such circumstances it seems incomprehensible that am' one could conceive of their being happ3\ Fornicators and prostitutes and the keepers of brothels desire nothing so much as to be let alone ; and he who op- poses them, by endeavoring to bring about reforms, re- ceives their condemnation for calling the public attention to this festering pestilence which is insidiously ruining so large a number of our young men and women. Impurity thrives on ignorance ; but, as in medical prac- tice, the cure can come only when we understand the char- acter, cause, course and prognosis of the malady. A strong and ardent passion which exerts such a venomous power in destroying our homes, and in ruining the stalil ity of society by entailing degradation, illegitimacy, abor- ' Sanger, loc. cit., p. 552. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 199 tions, and ineradicable disease, surely merits the profound consideration of every right-minded man. There are those who contend that a consideration of these matters is ill-timed, immodest, and productive of no good; but this is the talk only of the advocates of impurity. Of course we cannot hope to reform the world entirely", any more than our j^redecessors have been able to eradicate crime by the im^josition of formidable punishments. But we shall have gained a great advance if we can bring the individual and the public to see that social impurity is un- necessary and indefensible u^Don any ground whatever, and when we can secure the associated action of society for the reprobation of those who wantonly indulge in sin to the irreparable damage of their own health and the ombitter- ment of the lives of womankind and posterity. A careful scientific examination of the question shows that the physical results of prostitution are most deplorable to both sexes ; for practically all who transgress are contam- inated sooner or later, and the heritage which posterity gets is a deterioration of infamous proportions. Succeed- ing generations will rise up as a veritable " cloud of wit- nesses" to the shame of such progenitors. Those men who argue in favor of jjrostitution, and live according!}', say that it has always existed since the world began, and that our ancestors surely could not have been entireh^ wrong. But witchcraft, sorcery, and the magic art of di\T[nation, which were accepted by our forbears, have been put aside as unscientific, while prostitution has been retained as a recognized institution because it is pleasur- able. And it is assured permanencj^ to a certain degree until we are aided by the unanswerable truths of science to control ourselves and put it also aside. But it is a terrible and damnable fraud to contend that impurity is in any way necessary for any one ; and it is the bounden duty of each conscientious individual to under- stand the matter fully, decide for himself, and then throw 200 HEREDITY AND MORALS. his influence on whichever side appeals to his manhood and his reason. The efforts which have been exerted heretofore have been mainly in the direction of endeavoring to rescue fallen women; but laudable as this undoubtedly is, it is never- theless ineffective. It is the men who must be appealed to and regulated — for as long as they simply create a demand by their patronage there will surely be a supply. And of what avail can it be if for every rescued girl a fresh one is pushed over the brink to fill up the gap caused by her with- drawal? Evidently then, it is the height of folly, from a scientific standpoint, to attempt to improve these condi- tions while the active and primal cause of the degradation is left untouched. The fault is that there is a Double Stand- ard of morality — one rule for men and another for women. A portion of womankind are told off to lead chaste lives, and another portion to be abominably profligate, while many men reserve the right to be as impure as they please, at least at some time in their lives, and foolishly entertain the pernicious belief that their perversity will not result in lasting detriment to their character and health and off- spring.* If we maintain the doctrine that j)rostitution is a neces- sity, then it is an error to rescue any outcast woman, since her place will then have to be supplied by some young girl who is not yet defiled. Like the leeches in Ceylon, which sometimes adhere so thickly to the beasts when they wade * " Under these circumstances, there has arisen in society a figure which is certainly the most mournful, and in some respects the most awful, upon which the eye of the moralist can dwell. That unhappy being whose very name is a shame to speak ; who counterfeits wuth a cold heart the transports of affection, and submits herself as the passive instrument of lust ; who is scorned and insulted as the vilest of her sex, and doomed, for the most part, to disease and abject wretchedness and an early death, appears in every age as the per- petual symbol of the degradation and the sinfulness of man. " — Lecky, loc. cit., vol. ii., p. 282. PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES TO SUCH A LIFE. 201 tlirougli tlie streams as to cover them, tliey should be al- lowed to remain where they are, for flesh and blood can endure no more dei)letion. The civilization of the future is somewhat protected from vitiation by the incapacity of the profligate class of men and women to procreate ; and the death-rate of these poor women who have been unfitted for motherhood is further augmented by the excessive use of alcohol. This sterility of the prostitutes on account of disease is desirable, since as a rule they are notably ignorant and degenerate, and if they prox^agated their kind to any con- siderable extent the race w^ould be materially corrupted by the twofold influences of undesirable mothers and fathers. Thus the biological law of the " survival of the fittest" protects our race, and the ijerpetuation of the species is mostly left to the healthy men and women, the healthiest and best individuals continually having the favors of Na- ture showered upon them and their children. In view of these unquestionable scientific facts, no man can hope to retain his health of body, nor his character as a gentleman, if he continue in such infamy as we have discussed. Anj- man who is governed by knightly feeling will feel in regard to all women — and especially women who are young and un- protected — that thej^ are somebody's daughters or sisters, and will be most jealous of any license or offence offered to them. CHAPTER Vn. THE EEGULATION OP PKOSTITUTION. European governments have for many decades experi- mented with the legalizing and regulating of prostitution — elevating it to the dignity- of a state institution. In the lands where this infamous system is legalized, the possi- bility that any man shall remain chaste and pure is hardly conceived of by either men or women ; and it is taken for granted that the sons of the family must have their mis- tresses. There being a continual demand for fresh batches of young girls to take the places of those who have been crowded out by disease and death, as i)reviously shown, a lamentable proportion of women have consequently been degraded, and no unprotected girl of the lower classes is safe from the machinations of the procurers and procuresses wherever the sj-stem of Regulation is in force. In those countries the police reports show an increase in the number of brothels, an increase in the number of regis- tered women, and an enormous increase in clandestine pros- titution. Moreover, there has been an increase in the spread of loathsome diseases, and the whole system in every detail has proved a delusion to the men and a snare to the women.' » " There is probably no country in which the provisions of this Contagious Disease Act have been so thoroughly carried out as in Germany ; nevertheless, the commission appointed by the Society of Medicine of Berlin, with Professor Virchow as president, recently reported, as the result of an investigation, that both prostitution and venereal diseases were found to be rapidly increasing in Berlin. For example, the number of regular prostitutes, recognized as such by 204 HEREDITY AND MORALS. The alleged aim aud object of legal* sanction and the state regulation of vice is, of course, to secure the protec- tion of the jjublic health and to shield the pure women from harm; but we shall presently see how prejjosterous are both these j)ropositions. The chief purpose of regulation is to have the harlots examined by medical inspectors, once or twice a week, in order to insure men a relative safety from contracting dis- ease. The advocates of this i^lan claim that there are a large number of vicious men whose appetites must be ap- peased, aud for their sake a proportional number of girls must be set apart and condemned to the lowest abyss of shame. Of course, men must frankly acknowledge that all these regulation schemes have been adopted solely in order to make fornication safe for them, while the women's inter- the police, was, in 1886, 3,006. The number had increased in 1891 to4,oG4, an increase of ahnost 50 per cent. This represents, how- ever, but a small proportion of the women actually engaged in prosti- tution, as 16,000 women are annually arrested for plying their voca- tion upon the streets in Berlin, and it is known that a great number of women live lives of prostitution clandestinely, so that the com- mittee estimate the total number of prostitutes in Berlin at 40, 000 to 50, 000. " Some idea of the number of persons who are annually infected by venereal disease may be gained from the fact that the committee re- ported nearly 80, 000 cases as having been treated at two hospitals alone in Berlin between 1880 and 1889. The fact was also mentioned by the committee that a great number of cases were doubtless not included in this category. They quote the estimate of Blaschko, that one in every nine or ten of the male population of Berlin has been infected with syphilis. "A most convincing evidence of the utter inefficiencj' of the in- spection service in preventing the spread of venereal disease, was shown by the fact developed by ihe committee, that the naked-eye inspection, which has been universally relied upon, detects less than one in five of the cases of gonorrhoea, to say nothing of syphilis. By making a bacteriological examination of eacli case, the proportion of prostitutes found to be suffering from gonorrhoea was increased from 9 per cent to 50 per cent. "—J. H. Kellogg, M. D., loc. cU.,p. 249. THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 205 ests are entirely ignored, since they are to be put into the lazaretto as soon as infected — which they speedily will be — and the vacancies caused bj^ their withdrawal are to be filled with fresh and healthy women. It seems a powerful argument when the promulgators of this sj'stem declare that it is their desire to throw safe- guards around the i)ure women of the community ; but this is a mistaken assumption, since the exact oi3j)osite obtains. It is, indeed, in those very countries and cities where pros- titution is licensed that virtuous women and working-girls cannot walk the streets without being accosted and in- sulted. The advocates of this system would separate women into two classes — the sheep and the goats — saying that these must be absolutely chaste, and those absolutely unchaste ; the barriers between them are to be impenetrable, while the men may freelj" consort with both groups. Harlotry is admittedly the worst use to which a woman can be put, as hanging is for a man ; and the country which goes into such a perfidious business offers a Paradise to knaves, but a Hell to women and children. To some men, all winds are contrary which do not blow in the evil direc- tion they desire ; and such are continually striving to intro- duce into our country- the customs which the governments of Europe have tried and found ineffectual. The wickedness of a nation's laws reflects the weakness and the wickedness of the lawmakers ; and before the bar of Justice and the Court of Heaven a plea that crime must be recognized can gain no remission of the dire conse- quences. Just as men do not demand nor expect chastity from all women, but only from a portion of them, so the law, when it recognizes vice, does not attemjjt to dispense equity nor pretend to expect moralitj^ — only partially so. Certain forms of wickedness — such as murder, theft, arson, perjury, rape, etc. — the law absolutely discounte- nances and does not attempt to trifle with. But while rec- 206 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ognizing that sexual immorality means social degradation, and that it is a most prolific source of crimes in general, it nevertheless tolerates and condones it, and in many coun- tries has even actuallj^ favored it. "There are no grotesques in Nature," and shame will fall upon that nation which adopts the scoundrel maxim that unchastity is necessary for the health of men. The appetite comes by eating ; and vice, if cherished and stim- ulated, will excite a relish for indulgence which Nature never intended, until the frightful monster lashes and stings the immoral gluttons, and menaces with the foulest corruptions the community in which it is tolerated. Such cobweb laws cannot restrain the fixed activities of the uni- verse, and when law is not — at least to some extent — in accord with the eternal truths which science has revealed, then tyrannj' begins. Prostitution is regarded as the shame of women; it is not — it is the shame of men. It is the unwholesome play of men, but the degradation and death of women. In the United States there is no regulation of prostitu- tion oj^enly recognized by law; but projjositions are con- stantly brought before the legislatures of the various States, having in view the " State Regulation and Control of Vice." Within the past few years strenuous efforts have been made to secure the licensing of brothels in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, Pittsburg, San Francisco, and some other cities; but public sentiment has so far caused the i)rojects to fail — with one exception, the St. Louis experiment of 1870-73. This St. Louis experiment of 1870 was the one instance in our country in which regulation was enforced by law, in accordance with the recommendations of commissioners who were sent to Eurojie to study the methods there in vogue. It, however, proved an utter failure, and was re- pealed by the Missouri legislature of 1873 in deference to the appeals of the best citizens, assembled in mass-meet- THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 207 ings. During tlie unwliolesome years in wliicli the license laws were in force tliere, the number of prostitutes in- creased at the rate of twenty per cent a year, and vene- real disease extended in a corresponding ratio, as shown by the records of the United States Marine Hospital. The license system has been found pernicious and has been rej)ealed in many municipalities and localities in France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Hollaud, Sweden, and some other countries; and Great Britain and Norway have absolutely' abolished all regula- tions. For lis to take it up would be a step downward. And yet the reader has probably heard intelligent men — lawyers, doctors, business men, and even occasionally a minister of the Gospel — assert strongly that the i)olice should be given control to license and regulate brothels for the safety of the community and the prevention of disease. To every important question there are two sides — a right and a wrong one — and it is the duty of every citizen to seek light ; to have a reason for the faith that is in him ; to see when he cannot argue against the inevitable, and in no case to be an invertebrate. The expounding of this subject righth'^ belongs to the medical jorofession, while to the layman is left the work of appointing the authorities who shall frame and execute the laws ; so it is surpassingly important for every citizen to be thoroughl}^ informed as to the exact truth. Truth is adamantine— absolutely unbending and uncomplying ; and therefore it is not astonishing that the majority of think- ing men and women, who are in a position to understand the question, are unconditionally opposed to this unscien- tific and unnatural law which is rightly termed license. 208 HEREDITY AND MORALS. The INIedical Examination of Prostitutes for Disease. The plan of compelling tlie inmates of bawdj'-liouses to submit to medical inspection once or even twice a week is so unscientific and unreasonable tliat its absurdity cannot fail to be at once apparent to the merest tyro in medical matters ; and in fact, no government or municipality which has ever enforced this system has been able to materially lessen the disease which goes hand in hand with prosti- tution. In some countries, in certain localities subject to mili- tary rule, the soldiers as well as the j)rostitutes are sub- mitted to insi:)ection by well-qualified surgeons ; and the diseased of both sexes are promptly sent to hospital until no longer considered capable of spreading contamination. Of course this lessens the spread of venereal disease at the military cantonments ; but it must be remembered that most of the women, as soon as they have reason to believe that they are diseased, flee to the surrounding towns in order to avoid the examinations of the military surgeons, and there sjiread havoc among the civilians who are unpro- tected by the same system. Therefore all statistics com- piled from SLTmy records are inapplicable to civilian com- munities w^here the uninspected men are free to roam at will and communicate disease. Laymen impute powers to the medical profession which we do not possess, and think that any doctor can tell at a glance when a man or a woman has venereal disease. But in reality the highest degree of medical skill is required in order to diagnose these disorders, except when they are in an active stage of development ; and one examination, how- ever thorough, is ijractically valueless in giving assurance of the absence of venereal disease. As previously men- tioned, it is at times very easy to say when a patient has venereal disease, but most diflScult to decide that he or she THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 209 has it not. For the detection of gonorrlioea, several exam- inations must be made by the most skilful experts; and for tlie recognition of syphilis we have, during the greater extent of the i)rogre88 of the disease, absolutely no proofs except the jjatient's verbal history of the case — and those who would be subjected to inspection by force of law would naturally lie. To determine bacteriological!}^ whether gonorrhoea is present or not, the venereal specialist is compelled, in doubtful cases, to keep the susi)ect under observation for at least two weeks; and it is a common procedure to arti- ficially produce an irritation in the urethra, in order to favor the reappearance of the disease germs in the dis- charges. The health department of every town quarantines all cases of small-pox, scarlet fever, yellow fever, cholera and diphtheria, whether occurring in man, woman, or child; and yet the regulation system has attempted to examine onl}^ the prostitutes for venereal disease, while it is esti- mated that five times as many men as women are unchaste ! " No system of inspection can ever be effective so long as it applies to but one party in the act, and that j^arty, col- lectively, in the minority. Regulation of vice is not only unjust to women, it is not only immoral and cowardly, but it is utterly unscientific. You might as well try to x>re- vent the spread of small-r^ox or cholera by quarantining one sex only." ' At the time of the medical examination of the i)rostitute for disease she might appear x)erfectly healthy ; for the in- cubation period in gonorrhoea lasts usually from two to six days, and in syphilis usually from ten to forty days, dur- ing which periods there are no symptoms, although the patient is almost certain to spread infection. Dr. Mauriac, attending physician to the Hopital du 1 "Personal Purity," by Prof. Howard A. Kelley, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University. 14 210 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Midi, Paris, and one of tlie greatest authorities in Europe, says : " If jou imagine that the public health is the supreme law, and that it is necessary to emjjloy every means to safeguard it, then strike at the man as well as the woman. . . . You exact from these miserable women guarantees for your health, but what guarantees do you give them? None whatever; you infect, and you expect not to be infected; j'ou have therefore caused the system to fail." At The Hague, in Holland, Dr. Huet, the prefect of police, a surgeon of high standing, says : " The number of ' clandestine ' women cannot be estimated and is continu- ally increased. You ask me if the laws of regulation work well for morality. I i'eply, Ko! Do they work well for suppression of syphilis? I reph^, No! Do they really diminish disease? M3- opinion is. No, no, no!" Ph3-sicians are beginning to deliberate on the expediency of sending in to the health dei)artment reports of every case of venereal disease, just as thej- are now required by law to do in cases of other contagious or infectious dis- eases; for gonorrhoea and syphilis are productive of the most deleterious effects, so that medical men believe that it would be far better for the human family if those who go about uncured were wiped out of existence. If the medical examination of prostitutes did anything to lessen venereal disease and insured a sanitary improve- ment for the community at large — if the experience of other nations had proved it so — if it were scientifically reasona- ble — if it shielded the innocent or diminished the amount of prostitution, — we should be inclined to favor it; for the abolishment of such dire calamity from the present race and from posterity would in a measure counterbalance the degradation inflicted upon these poor women whom men have set aside for torture, just as the physiologists have set aside a lot of guinea-pigs and rabbits and frogs, and THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 211 other animals for vivisection, with the ultimate public good in view. In some parts of Europe the women are driven in vans bi-weekly to disj^ensaries, where they pass in review be- fore the examiners. Surely neither America nor England can abide to see these unsightly covered wagons, nor tole- rate the house-to-house visitation ! " In the year 1869, while studying in Paris, I used often to see passing along the pleasant streets great closed wag- ons, covered with black. Inquiring of my elegant land- lady the explanation of these sombre vehicles, she an- swered sorrowfully : ' It is the demi-monde who go to be examined. ' I then learned for the first time that in Paris fallen women have a legal ' permit ' to carry on what is a recognized business, but must remain secluded in their houses at certain hours, must avoid certain streets, and must go once a week, under escort of the police, to the dispensary for examination and certificate that the}" are exempt from contagious disease. Always after that, those awful wagons seemed to me to form the most heart-break- ing funeral procession that ever Christian woman watched with aching heart and tear-dimmed eyes. If I were asked why there has come about such a revolution in public thought that I have gained the courage to speak of things once unlawful to be told, and you may listen without fear of criticism from any save the base, my answer would be : Because lawmakers tried to import the black wagon of Paris to England and America, and Anglo-Saxon women rose in rebellion. ' " ' To obviate the necessity of appointing public examiners, it has been proposed that the jDrostitutes might be alloAved to choose their own doctors for the examination. In this case then, any one legally' authorized to practise medicine could sign the certificate of health, and the outcasts of the ' Frances E. Willard. Address before the Chicago Central Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 212 HEREDITY AND MORALS. profession would soon get all tliis class of work. Assur- edly none of the women would patronize the scientific spe- cialists — the only ones whose word is worth having in these cases — because their methods are necessarilj' exact and painstaking, and they would require the patient to remain under observation for many days, even in cases api^arently well, before signing any certificate of health. Though we have stated with emphasis that it is quite impossible to demonstrate that a woman is free from gonorrhoea or syph- ilis without the most skilful methods of research, and without keeping the patient under observation for many days or even weeks, still let us grant that a given prostitute is perfectly clean at a given time. What if she is? Does she not go from the examination directly back to her dan- gerous calling, where the first male with whom she cohab- its may be infected with disease? And will not all who follow after this diseased man be jeopardized? Any i^erson of common sense must quickly see that all these perfunctory medical examinations of the prostitutes are outrageously i)reposterous, and that the quarantine, in order to have any value, must be extended so that the equally diseased fivefold majority shall also be subjected to medical inspection before they are allowed to set foot in the brothels. Any system of regulation dealing with the highly in- fectious and serious venereal diseases x^i'ecisely as with the specific contagious fevers would be cordiallj- indorsed by every scientific man, and this is the only possible way in which to check the spread of these maladies; but, in order to enforce it, we should be compelled to provide a large increase in the police force for patrolling the haunts of vice, and to imprison in the lazaretto all those who are diseased, male and female alike. THE REGULATION OP PROSTITUTION. 213 The Cruelty and Injustice of the Eegulation System. Expediency may at times render necessary tlie tempo- rary enactment of laws wliich are not altogether equitable; as, for instance, wlien civil riglits are extinguished or sus- pended by martial law to the fullest extent required by the exigencies of war. But in the ordinary course of things, in a republican form of government, legislation must be api^lied with equal justice to man, woman and child, of all sorts and conditions. Let us consider then, if We can tolerate those iniquitous laws which the European Govern- ments have long enforced, but will abandon, in all proba- bility, within the next few years. Now in vivid narration we must record the self-evident fact that both sexes are concerned in illegitimate love and adultery, but unequally so, with the disadvantage against the men. It is the males who form the fivefold majority, who supply the capital bj^ which the trade thrives, and who create the demand which sui)i)orts the trafiic in girls ■ — it is they who infect their pure wives, and spread conta- gion from one house of ill-fame to another. Any government which enforces unjust legislation com- mits the greatest possible crime against its j)eople; but governments are in the control of men, and men never have been gallant to the weali and the disfranchised. Such laws are axiomatically bad, because they are liable to great abuses ; and there is painful and abundant evidence that respectable girls, who must of necessity go along the streets at night unattended, have been insulted and out- raged bj^ the officials authorized to enforce the provisions of the regulation laws. " Here are a few stories showing how regulation works in foreign lands : ** In Brescia, Italy, a respectable young woman was ar- 214 HEREDITY AND MORALS. rested by the police wlio worked tlie system. She wept and implored to be spared the humiliation of examination, declaring that she was virtuous and pure, and her old father and mother also protested and implored in vain. She was dragged to the hospital and subjected to the examination. When brought before the doctor her manner was entirely changed ; she no longer implored or wept ; she was calm and decided. After the examination, the doctor pro- nounced her a virgin. She waited until he had made a declaration to this effect, and then, without uttering a word, went to the window and threw herself out. She was taken up dead. "In Paris a respectable young working-woman went out in the evening to fetch a doctor for her child, taken sud- denly ill with the croup. The ' morals i^olice, ' as they are hypocritically called in France, chose to ' suspect ' her of being a prostitute, and arrested her. She exj^lained mat- ters to them, and told them that her child was dying of croup. They jeered at her, and insisted on taking her to the examination house. There the poor woman, distraught at being prevented from caring for her child, and appalled by the outrage to which she was subjected, very naturally went into hysterics. Then the police charged her with be- ing ' a drunk and disorderly prostitute, ' and she was sen- tenced to a month's imprisonment. Her baby died during her absence, and when she got out of prison she was child- less and ' a registered i:)rostitute. ' " ' Many, many instances of the grossest cruelty occur daily wherever the inspection system is in force. Police super- vision can reach only a small number of loose women, and such are easily blackmailed. The great mass of harlots seek to hide their shame, and never come for- ward voluntarily to be blacklisted; these go about with ' "State Regulation of the Social Evil," by Howard A. Kelly, A.M., M.D. , Professor of Gynecology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 215 their secret diseases, and never can be included in tlie inspection. The infected women should in every way be encouraged to seek medical relief; but if a clandestine prostitute ap- ply for treatment she is certain to be reported and put on the register. Naturally they detest the thought of be- ing in the power of the jjolice doctors and of being com- pelled to report for examinations ; and they do not wish to be forced to withdraw from thciir avocation, even tempora- rily. Consequently these women, being led to hide their disease, are more dangerous by far than the prostitutes in unregulated countries, who do not hesitate to apply for relief at the dispensaries and hospitals. Compulsory examination is in its abstract audacity a legalized assault. It is an easy matter for the police to entraj) and register and outrage every unprotected woman who has no visible means of support; but it is an awful sight to see those of them who refuse to be degraded by examination in the ugly prison garb which is put upon them as a punishment. Such injustice is intolerable in enlightened countries. Without trial, without the right of appeal, with no provi- sion for redress, robbed of all the most inviolable personal rights, these women are to be more grossly enslaved by the police authorities than ever the Africans were, and are to be forcibly subjected to the authoritative will of the most unscrupulous and inefficient pariahs of the medical profes- sion, — those low-caste officers of the law styled "medical inspectors of prostitutes." The days of a nation are numbered when it allows con- siderations of policy to supersede conscience — when it metes out injustice and brutality- — when it protects a com- merce which places the young, the poor, and the innocent at the merc3^ of the foulest bidders for human flesh, and when it fashions its laws in compromise with the Devil. TJie Results of the Regulation System. — In plain words. 216 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sucli a system gives sanction and i)rotection to brothels, though not disputing that these quarters are the manufac- tories of everything that is indecent, and the harbors of refuge for every class of men whom the detectives seek. In no possible way could the State do more to demoralize society, spread disease, ruin posterity, and protect crimi- nals. This has been so obvious in those countries where the regulation-laws have been in force, that municipality after municipality has seen fit to abandon them ; and royal commissions of eminently well-qualified men, including some of Europe's most eminent scientists, such as Huxley, Virchow, Blaschko, Neumann, etc., have unanimously and unequivocably proclaimed this method most unscientific and a complete fraud. See how the results of this system appeared in Berlin in 1892. "In the consideration of this question, the joropor- tion of public to private prostitution in Berlin is important. "V^'liile more than 5,000 i)rostitutes are registered, accord- ing to police estimates more than 50,000 live by prostitu- tion."' ^ In Paris it is even worse. The police look on stupefied and aghast at the awful condition which has grown up around them, and are forced to acknowledge that their vile system of tyranny can reach only one-tenth of the women who live by prostitution. And even with inspections the police surgeons do not begin to make efficient reports. "Neisser, of Breslau, Avith several assistants, examined 573 prostitutes; and in 21G he found gonococci present (37.6 per cent). Dr. Passavant, of Paris, is quoted as saying that out of every 100 inscribed women, 35 to 50 per cent have venereal disease. Dr. Fiaux shows that in Belgium, in 1881-1889, one-half of the inmates of the licensed houses had to be sent to the hospitals for treat- ' "Suggestive Therapeutics in Psychopathia Sexualis, " Schrenck- Notzing, p. 38. Translated by Chaddock. THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 217 menfc with venereal disease, of wliom about 50 per cent were syphilitic. Of inscribed women, about one-third were treated at the hospitals, about one-sixth of these being syphilitic. Laser, in an extensive examination of prostitutes for the presence of gonococci, found in the ex- amination of the urethra of 353 patients that the gonococci could be demonstrated 112 times, although in four-fifths of these cases there was no macroscopical evidence of gon- orrhea. Several of these i)atients had been discharged from the hospitals as cured." ' After prolonged trial of the method, the consensus of opinion among scientific men and among the police ofii- cials is that the system is inefficient. " The general opinion in the Berlin Congress was that venereal disease was on the increase, and that measures must be taken to check its advance. Blaschko in his paper stated that, from the standpoint of public hygiene, no ben- efit whatever was received from the control as then prac- tised. A commission consisting of Virchow, Blaschko, Meyer, Strassm.an, Langerhaus, Villaret, B. Frankel, Pis- tor, Lewin, S. Neumann, B. and M. Wolf were appointed to consider the subject; and they reported that the sani- tary conditions aud measures existing in Berlin for the prevention and treatment of venereal disease were insuffi- cient. And this was the general opinion arrived at by all the men throughout Europe who had the investigation in hand, that the protection did not protect, neither did the control check the advance of the evil. " Having arrived at this definite conclusion, the next point was what should be done. Here the opinions varied great- ly. One of the French ministers told Lassar that the con- ditions varied so in the different cities that no general law was possible, but that each municipality must deal with the problem as it was presented to it. Another French ' " Prostitution— The Relation of the Experience of Europe to the Solution of the Problem in Boston," by Arthur K. Stone, M.D. 218 HEREDITY AND MORALS. minister, Gaj^ot, wlio Las given this subject a great deal of study and written a book upon prostitution, lias readied the conclusion that abolition is the proper thing and pros- titution is a moral and personal question, and that there was no reason why it should be recognized by j)rotecting law, taking the position that has so far been held in Eng- land and America." ' If one city maintain the regulation system, the neigh- boring cities and towns suffer, because the women very naturally migrate from the "protected" districts, where they will be subjected to outrage, and even imprisonment if diseased. In the same manner, if one nation enforces this SA^stem, the contiguous nations suffer; thus, London is filled with the refuse of Euroi)e's prostitutes. If the advocates of the regulation system are in earnest about protecting the decent members of the comniunity, they will make provision that the men must have licenses to indulge in fornication as well as the women ; that licenses will not under any circumstances be issued to married men, but only to boys past eighteen and bachelors and widowers ; that both sexes must submit to an inspection far more searching than anything now required; that the license of a diseased male or female profligate shall be revoked and the victim incarcerated in a lazaretto until pronounced in- nocuous by a skilled corps of medical examiners, consist- ing of female physicians for the women, and of male phy- sicians for the men ; and that if a woman become pregnant she shall be withdrawn, tenderly cared for in a retreat, and her illegitimate child reared up as a ward of the State until twenty-one years of age. If some lawyer w^ill take his cue from the above and elaborate such a bill in legal form for presentation to a legislative body, there will be thousands of sensible people who will support it. As a rider to his bill he should also make provision for an increase in the local police force in »A. K. Stone., M.D.. loc. cit. THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. '219 order to coutend successfully with tlie oppositiou of the meu who might be relied upcm to rebel against such brutal tj'rami}' and the abrogation of their rights as citizens. Tlte Tliree Methods of Dealing ivith Prosfifutloii. — The following systems present themselves for our considera- tion: I. The Sj^stem of Toleration — laissezfaire — or the "Let- Alone Sj'stem." II. The System of Regulation, or the system of traffic which demands the legal sacrifice of fresh young women continually. II. The Sj'stem of Repression, which seeks to reduce impurity to a minimum. From these three systems our lawmakers have the priv- ilege of selecting. We must candidly own that the proper solution of this problem is ver^^ difficult indeed, being surrounded with obstacles which are all dej)endeut on ignorance and mis- conception ; and we crave pardon for expressing our firm conviction that no individual is competent to -pass judg- ment who does not fully understand all the subject-matter of this book, and even more. The expounding of the ques- tion is i)roperly the task of students w^ho have enlightened themselves on the science of sex-life; but on the other hand, we are often grieved to see men with an equipment of dangerous pseudo-science placed in positions of trust and power. Legislation cannot purify men's hearts nor make them more virtuous ; but it can by corrupt laws rapidly develop an enormous number of uncontrollable libertines whose children will inherit their feelings and tendencies — and then what hope is there for our dear country ? Society cannot be purified by devoting sections of cities to the practice of immoralities which i^oisou the sources whence posterity is to come. This may hide from a portion of the community the external signs of the fructification 220 HEREDITY AND MORALS. of corruption, but it cannot prevent licentiousness from growing and rankling, and extending diffusely. Christianity cannot countenance such immoral laws ; for it has elevated woman to a rightful social equality' with man, and has thus been the most powerful of all influences in establishing a normal standard for the sexual relations. Better the p>olygamy and the harems of the Mohammedans than the devices of the modern God-defying anti-Christians who are more than eighteen centuries behind the times. It must be particularly noticed that, where the Eegula- tion System is in force, the law does not imi)ose j)enalties on the girls for the sin of being prostitutes — far from it ; but only if they refuse to comply with the demands of the police for frequent and brutal examinations. If by chance they escape disease, the law encourages them to continue in their trade, and to ox^Dose themselves to the embraces of unexamined men, an enormous number of whom are diseased. Young girls can be decoyed and bought and destroyed as easily, almost, as sheep; and when the legal stamp of infamy, and the "abiding seal of shame," is affixed to them, they have not even the humane rights which civilized communities accord to animals. How can a chivalrous nation treat unfortunate women as the mere instruments of man's i:)leasure? Why is it that a nation should be so careful to throw safeguards around the vicious men, and bait their ajipetites with healthy girls whom it does not scruple to sacrifice to disease, infamy and death? Why should the State leave the most impor- tant fivefold aggressive majority unregulated? It is partly because vicious legislators are given control, and partly because of the a|)athy and indifference which pure women show for the humiliation of their sex, and the welcome which so-called good society holds out to liber- tines. The Anglo-Saxon race cannot tinderstandingly tolerate such gross injustice to the personal rights and liberties of THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 221 any one class as tliat of enslaving and outlawing tliein, and at the Bame time legally employing them for the wanton pleasure of its coarse men. Better than this is the " Let- Alone System," which jjermits licentiousness to stalk with bold face in our streets, soliciting in our parks and thor- oughfares, and shocking our sense of decency by brazen- faced displa}'. Better to have assignation-houses and brothels spring up sporadically than to establish by legal sanction sections in the city which become the recognized foci from which emanate fornication, adultery, disease, drunkenness, divorce, illegitimacy and abortions — manu- factories for the corruption of our young men, schools for the debasement of the sentiments of society, and will-o'- the-wisps which by their lying lights betray and lure our fellows to destruction. Dr. Chanfleury, of Holland, who was for many j^ears an advocate of the Begulation System, and ojSicially emj^loyed in the work of sujiervision, reported his final conclusions regarding the system to the last meeting of the " Continen- tal Federation for the Suppression of State Kegulation" as follows : " 1st. That it is absolutely impossible by any medical supervision to guarantee the health of a woman leading a life of vice. 2d. That any partial advantages of such supervision are more than compensated by the increase of libertinism engendered by a false sense of securit}', so that such super- vision actually results in increased disease among men. 3d, That the attempt at supervision is demoralizing to all engaged in it." And the eminent French statesman, M. Jules Faure, who exi)resses the verdict of exjoerienced men in conti- nental Europe, says : " Governments have never looked tlie question of i-)rosti- tution fairly in the face ; but when interfering at all, have almost invariably done so in order to elevate it into an 222 HEREDITY AND MORALS. institution, by wliicli means they liave increased and given permanence to tlie evil. Regard for tlie public health is their sole excuse. But even the worst that could befall the public health is nothing to the corruption of morals and national life engendered, i)ropagated, and prolonged by the system of official surveillance. It is utterly inex- cusable, and an act of supreme folly, to give a legal sanc- tion to the licentiousness of one sex and the enslavement of the other." In some of these countries illegitimacy is not considered a great national calamity, for the enormous foundling asjdums supply boys for soldiers, and girls for work in the various state institutions — many of the girls sinking into the brothels. " It ought to arouse suspicion that this movement is sup- ported by the brothel-keepers; but the association has adopted a fair-sounding name, the Woman's Rescue League. It proposes to appeal to the women of the country, appar- ently in the interests of morality, and it professes to be working only for the i^ublic health. Now, all these things are deceptive ; and when it is considered that they are put forward with the aid of persons who make a living out of vice, you may be sure they are meant to be deceptive. I have no doubt whatever but that many good people, many good Christians, even, sincerely believe that the regulation of vice is right and x)roper in the interests of good morals. I am just as sure that if they really knew what regulated vice is they would have none of it ; they would recognize it for what Dr. Charles Bell Taylor, on the second reading of a ' Bill for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, ' in England, called it in the House of Commons, a ' despot- ism so obscenely cruel, so hideously unjust, so unconstitu- tional, that it is impossible to understand how any decent race of men can consent to endure it, even for a day.' It is an interesting comment on a movement which asks the decent men and women of Washington for regulation, to THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 223 read that while the English regulation rules were in force in India, the Parsees of the country and the Buddhists of China defied the Christian English to put the examinations of women in force over their women ! " ' The London Daily News of November 7th, 1896, says : " Our Dunkirk corresx)ondent writes : The police author- ities here have been advised of the arrival, at an early date, of a gang of evildoers, who, for some time past, have with impunity been engaged in an infamous traffic. These scoundrels, who, in reality, are purveyors for houses of low character in New York, Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, etc., operate in the usual manner. By means of advertisements they entrap young girls into accepting situations as governesses, nursery maids, domestic ser- vants, etc. The sequel need hardly be stated. Their vic- tims are conducted to places whose character can be easily defined. Once in such a house, the poor girls are lost for- ever. Fortunately', full information is now in the hands of the authorities, and the band of unjjrincipled ruffians, who have already worked so much mischief, will undoubtedly be at no distant date brought to account." In "unregulated" England such an infamous traffic is not tolerated, while in "regulated" countries it is tacitly countenanced by the i)olice. In the la,iter countries the governments have salaried spies, policemen, doctors and commissioners ; and these men cannot loropper unless they make work for themselves. Do the wretched young women who live in these houses get rich? Oh, no ! They are sold body and sonl to the brothel-keepers, and are in an abject bondage of slavery to the police and to their mistresses. They have no more chances of getting rich than the live-stock on a farm. " The girls suffer so much that the shortness of their miserable life is the only redeeming feature. Whether we *Prof. H. A. Kelley, loo. cit. 224 HEREDITY AND MORALS. look at the wretcliedness of the life itself ; their perpetual intoxication; the cruel treatment to which they are sub- jected by their task-masters and mistresses or bullies ; the hopelessness, suffering, and desxjair induced by their cir- cumstances and surroundings; the depths of misery, deg- radation, and poverty to which they eventually descend; or their treatment in sickness, their friendlessness and loneliness in deaths it must be admitted that a more dis- mal lot seldom falls to the fate of a human being." ' A distinguished Englishwoman, Mrs. Josephine E. But- ler, one of the world's foremost workers for the cause of fallen women, and President of the " British, Continental, and General Federation for the Abolition of State Regu- lated Prostitution," says: " State prostitution is the most rapidly corrui:)tiug influ- ence you can imagine. Pastor Durand said to me at Liege, ' Tell your friends in England thej^ do not under- stand it. It is the greatest and most terrible hindrance to the spread of the Gospel we have in our schools and churches.' In Belgium there is a great moral revival. TMien I was in Brussels I was sjieaking about this to the Minister of Justice, and he said : ' We saw that our nation would cease to be ; it was in an odious state of rottenness in the midst of the nations. It was destroying the physi- cal and mental and moral vitality of the j^eople. We had touched the bottom.' " If the license system were instituted here, there would be an international traffic in women, and scores of out- lawed women and prostitutes with hidden or chronic dis- eases would flock to our shores to get registered, in order to become mistresses of establishments, and would teach new forms of vice to our men and harlots. No vivid word-painter, no mint for the coinage of new and poignant terms, could bring forth language which would fully express the horror of our detestation of such ' Booth, " In Darkest England, " p. 71. THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 225 a fatal j)olicy as legalized vice, promoted libertinism, and encouraged procurement. Let lawmakers foresee tlie after- math and comprehend the after-reckoning, and not think that calamity can be averted by a fondling of or conces- sion to such a monster ! The Repressive System, which aims to subdue and quell this nefarious business, is the onh' method which appeals to the true citizen. A righteous nation will not say that its men must be impure in order to remain healthy and virile ; for that is false physiology, and necessarily demands the sacrifice of women, who every one grants should be chaste. A nation as well as an individual can commit a sin which is bej^ond pardon, and its citizens can just as readily be- come "sin's fools" in the aggregate as in the segregate. Some apologists for prostitution profess to believe that repression would be followed by outbreaks of violent licen- tiousness, and they are in a measure correct. We do not wish to take an extreme position, such as has been tried heretofore, and do not urge measures which will attempt immediately to legislate the communit\^ into morality — for that cannot be done. On the other hand, the visible outbreaks of indecency which are now and again apparent in every locality are no more than symptoms of a diseased society ; and cer- tainly we cannot hope to palliate the malady by recom- mending more of the very poison which produced the toxic effect. We must at least avoid adding fuel to the flames. With so many corrupt men and women in the commu- nity of every large city, and with so many nervous " step- children of Nature," it would be, we think, sheer madness to close at once all the long-endured brothels, and that is not what we mean by the Repressive System. What is first necessary is the enlightenment of the public in the correct phvsiological law that the principles of nature and 15 226 HEREDITY AND MORALS. of hygiene conform, and that one individual's liealth is never dependent on another's damnation. Even in the scheme of government of the universe we are taught that there is a place without the gates of the Holy City where there are reprobates of all kinds ; and quite plainly, also, it is seemingly prudent to tolerate such a vnet, for the immediate present, at least, in our large cities. But the law should take the stand that such a sec- tion is a hell-gate and a mischievous pest, and not the abiding-place of Nature's G(xl. And the law also should at once take the stand that in this destructive business the men should be amenable to the same punishments as the women ; and that the gentler sex, the sex which bears chil- dren, should not be jjortioned off as instruments for the irresponsible lust of profligate men. Alcoholic drinks should not be permitted to be sold in brothels; minors of either sex and married men should not be allowed there; the "age of consent" should be raised to eighteen years ; soliciting on streets, whether by men or women, should be a misdemeanor ; procurers should be dealt with by the imposition of crushing punishments, and in every possible manner the way to reform should be made easy. If temptations be removed, the desires of the men will be lessened, and unprotected women will not be so liable to insult as they are in Continental cities where morality is low. The commerce of procuring is reduced to the lowest possible limits by this method; and only those who are naturally vicious wall resort to licentious- ness. Unquestionably, thousands upon thousands would refrain from immoral jiractices if a judicious repressive system were in force. With the decrease in the number of brothels would coine a decrease also in the amount of clandestine i)rostitution, as we may read from the experi- ence of foreign cities. Fallen women, if they desired, would have a chance to reform ; illegitimacy would be enor- mously lessened, and crimes would diminish, for every THE REGULATION OF PROSTITUTION. 227 policeman and every detective know that brotliels are the hot-beds of every evil machination. Debauchery and disease would lessen, and we should have fewer of those sexual perverts who resort to the low- est degradation of infamy such as are common in vice- infected haunts, and such as the inhabitants of Pompeii practised. Pompeii, the i^agan city whose vileness was covered by "indignant Vesuvius," reads the traveller a lesson on the depths of infamy to which a people who are given up to libertinism will come. Over the doors of her well-preserved brothels, in sight of the passers-by on the streets, are the exaggerated genital organs of the male, which seemed to be facile princeps in their estimation, as in the mind of manj^ a man to-day. On the walls within these brothels there are yet to be seen frescoes, in a wonderful state of preservation, illustratiug every con- ceivable perversion which any demon might invent. And in the locked rooms in the museum at Naples, closed to women, we have seen the obscene statues which point us to that abj^ss of shame to which we too shall descend if we trifle with, or encourage, or countenance impurity in our sexual relations. Repressive measures inflict no hardship on any individ- ual or class, while the license system and the tolerating system do; for where jn-ostitution flourishes, the women's interests are never considered as of anj-thing like equal importance to the men's. Any law liable to great abuse or without equity should have no life in a republic. Laws are meant to punish the vicious, to protect the weak, to throw safeguards around minors and the unprotected, to encourage right-doing, to honor the sanctity of mar- riage ; and not to appoint any policeman, physician, or other agent to degrade himself by the cowardl}' and un- manly work of helping along a traffic whose object is to sacrifice an untold number of young women to the basest passions of a mob of coarse and diseased men. 228 HEREDITY AND MORALS. All tliat we ask is tliat brave and linmane men will merely do their duty as they understand it — reverencing all women, and not consigning, by their influence or their votes, thousands of them to the extremest agony of shame and the darkest abysm of degradation. CHAPTER Ym. Ckiminal Aboetion. "Murder most foul, as iu the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural." Hamlet, Act. i., Sc. 5. Illegiteviacy, or the alternative of Criminal Abortion, is the goal to which the i^ath of lust inevitably leads. To be deprived of the endearing love of a i)arent, to be born out of wedlock, a bastard, is the most unfair legacy which can be bequeathed to a child; while abortion is nothing but "murder most foul," a secret killing -vsdth -pxe- meditated malice — a proof that the " wages of sin is death." The generation of new individuals, i.e., the perpetuation of the species — is of course the result throughout all the animate world when the male and female reproductive elements of like species are brought together under favor- able conditions ; and when a woman, in whom Nature lives and upon whom life depends, plants the seeds of a thorn- tree, she shall surely in the plucking of the fruit be pricked till she bleeds, and it will then be too late to repent her of having harbored the seed from which such fruit grows. The unpitying consequences which follow upon the per- verted abuse of Nature are visited by a dreadful reckoning, not so much on the man, who plays a trifling part in re- I)roduction, as upon the mother and the babe. Illegitimate sexual pleasure is iu no sense a trivial of- fence; for in no possible way can sexual congress be in- dulged in outside of wedlock without the participants either committing the most immoral and despicable acts, or else assuming the responsibilities of parentage. 230 HEEEDITY AND MORALS. Bad in the beginning, the crime of venery is often ren- dered worse by the shedding of blood; and any sophist who defends the slaughtering of the innocent child, at any period of its existence, is held in the deepest contempt by every member of repute in the medical profession, and by every one who is not so dull as to be deceived by impotent conclusions. One must abhorrently spurn such a sacrifice if he will but make the effort to inform himself in regard to the wonderful truths of embryonic development which the following pages attempt to exjjlain clearly. Man is not like the tree, which after the growth of hundreds of years at last falls as a mere log; but, as we believe, his physical nature is inseparably correlated with the moral, so that he hopes to ascend to a higher and a nobler life, coming nearer and nearer to the throne of the Creator; and while he is yet a dumb and unseen embryo, under- going a secret growth, he is by degrees being shaped and perfected for the hopes of the loftiest estate of smj created thing of which we have knowledge. That this hope should be blighted, and that the precari- ous life of the defenceless human being should be snapped off by a violent expulsion from its natural place of lodg- ment, is an outrage which disappointed Nature punishes by calamities to the mother, both physical and moral, of the most threatening kind. We rightly insist that our bodies are temples of the living God; but must we not fear that a blighted foetus is but a ruin of a few columns whose evolution has been ruthlessly cursed bj^ the trans- gressions of its parents? If the murderous, fatal hour come to it untimely, there is registered in heaven a crime of the same magnitude as if its death were brought about after its birth. "WTien some of us as children asked our nurses whence we came and how we got here, they told us that " we dropped down from the clouds." CRIMINAL ABORTION. 231 That seemed wonderfully beautiful— to rest content in the belief that we had been gently deposited on this earth from some bower in the deep blue vault of heaven ! But when those of us who were so j)rivileged came to the time when we began the study of biology, including compara- tive anatomj'-, botany and zoology, along with human anat- omy and embryology, then our souls burned within us at the new wonders of life ; and we have ever since continued to wonder at and to admire the provisions of Nature for the propagation of the species. Modern microscoi)ical ai^pliances have rendered it pos- sible for us to observe the marvellous evolution of a com- plete and highly complicated organism from a single germ of undifferentiated protoplasm; and proof of the cell- theory plainly shows us that the growth of the earliest embryo is precisely of the same nature as the growth of the child and youth. It is of paramount importance for the reader to under- stand the significance of the sexual act, what the fcetus is, and the main facts in its development. The subject of conception and foetal development is one which would over- whelm the average person were he left to consult the tech- nical works on that subject; and yet the essential points of this advanced branch of anatomy may be chronologi- cally presented in a way quite intelligible to the careful reader. It will well repay one to devote some considerable atten- tion to tlie following i:)ages bearing on the nature of our development; and while all may not be perfectly under- stood upon the first reading, and while the terms, derived from the Greek and Latin, may seem perplexing, yet the essential points will clearly appear. These facts every intelligent man should of course know. Hermaphroditism. — As pointed out heretofore, all sexual animals primitively show the characteristics of both gen- ders by actually possessing the male and female genital 232 HEREDITY AND MORALS. glands, whicli ultimately assume, normally, the special characters of one or the other sex. A true hermaphrodite is an animal which has both an ovary and a testis, i.e., the male and female genital glands; and in it reproduction can take place without conjunction with another animal of its own species. There are some true hermaphroditic animals; such is often the case among mollusks and worms. Thus the snail has an ovofesfis which has the functions of an ovary and of a testicle, producing ova and spermatozoa; and several va- rieties of tape-worms, which infest the alimentary tracts of man, the ox and the dog, are true hermaphrodites. Earth- worms, though they copulate, are yet true hermaphrodites, each impregnating the other during the act of conjunction. Both the male and female germ-glands exist in these ani- mals ; and other animals, again, are at one time female and at another male. Thus in some of the Tarhellaria, or cili- ated worms — some of microscopic size, some several inches in length — the individual first attains to maturity as a male, and later as a female, and during coj^ulation among these animals, one is practically a male and the other a female, though later on the role may be reversed. As anomalies among the vertebrate animals, including man, there are authentic instances of one individual having a testicle on one side and an ovary on the other, as well as the other imperfectly developed sexual characteristics of either sex. These monstrosities are however, spurious hermaphrodites, being in reality of one sex or the other, though imperfectly developed as to either. The occasional union of the two sexes in the same human individual is only apparent, and so-called human herma- phrodites exhibit the psycho-sexual peculiarities of only one sex. Psychically and functionally there is no human hermapliroditism. For our procreation, accordingly, it is essential tliat there shall be a union, or "marriage," of the male and female elements of generation provided by two CRIMINAL ABORTION. 233 individuals of opposite sexes. The male element is called the spennatozoo)i, or sijermatorjjiil , and the female element the ovum, or egg ; the special function of the former being io fertilize, or impregnate, the latter, and from the conjunc- tion of these male and female reproductive elements the embryo is conceived, succeeding generations of descendent cells being produced which ultimately bring it to full de- velopment. The Essential 3Iale Reproductive Element.- — The semen is a thick, starchy fluid, of a whitish color and peculiar odor. The amount discharged at each ejaculation varies from a quarter of a teaspoonful to two teaspoonfuls, and it consists of the combined secretions of the testicles and the accessory generative glands— the j^rostofe and Conyers glands, and the secretions of the seminal vesicles and vasa deferentia. The fluid itself is merely a vehicle for the sper- matozoids or essential male fertilizing elements. Impotent men may discharge the normal amount of fluid, in which, however, no spermatozoa exist. In a single drop of semen there are countless thousands of spermatozoa, only one of which is concerned in the im- pregnation of the equivalent female reproductive element. These microscopic sperm-cells give to the seminal fluid its vital characteristic ; and millions are j)i'esent in each discharge, in order to insure the impregnating or ferti- lizing of the ovum provided by the female. Nature is everywhere lavish with the reproductive ele- ments of the two sexes in order to insure fertilization, a familiar example of which is to be observed in the clouds of pollen— the male fecundating element in flowering plants ■ — which at certain seasons of the year are borne by the breezes far and wide, the vast majority of the pollen-grains of course never reaching the ovules, the female fertilizable cells. The male fertilizing elements enormously exceed in number the female fertilizable elements, and in the human 234 HEREDITY AND MORALS. race, with which we are here concerned, there are countless thousands of male sperm-cells to one ovum ; for the female supplies only one ovum at each menstrual period, except in certain exceptional cases of twin- or triplet-births, when two or three ova are supplied. Each spermatozoid is an independent protoplasmic body, or cell, which under the microscope looks remarkably like a tadpole. The length of each spermatozoid is from -g-^ to -^j of (From Century Dictionary under Spermatozoon. ) Fig. I. — A, Two spermatozoa show- Fig. II.— Spermatozoids, lower power ing broad view magnified 600 diameters. of microscope. Bf profile view. an inch. Each one of them is described as having a head, an intermediate segment, and a tail. Under the microscope the seminal fluid is seen to be alive with these spermatozoa, which actively swim in it, each individual element executing spontaneous and power- ful vibratile or lashing movements, and coUectivel}' they appear like "a shoal of microscopic fishes," each one seek- ing to impregnate the ovum, if it be present, and any one by chance or fate succeeding. The consummation of sexual intercourse, impregnation, is ended when one of these countless spermatozoids unites with an o\Tim. All the acts of courtship, marriage and sexual intercourse are CRIMINAL ABORTION. 235 subservient to this one microscopical phenomenon of the " marriage" or fusion of the male and female elements — for Nature has then given origin to a. positive entity be- longing to a new individual. The tail of each spermatozoitl executes rapid undulatory movements, which drive it forward head-first in opposition to the force of gravity and the flow of the secretions in the female ; and the late Dr. Marion Sims said that by virtue of their own motion they would travel from the entrance of the vagina to the womb in three hours. In men who had been executed spermatozoids have been found alive, seventy and even eighty-two hours after death ; in the bull six days after it was killed ; in the oviducts of bitches and rabbits seven to eight days ; in the cow six days after copulation; in the human female they were found endowed with active movements in the cervical canal, by Hausmann, seven days and a half, and by Perry eight days after coition. In the female bat they retain their fecundating jiower for many months, and in the queen bee for more than three years. The spermatozoids of a frog D^y be frozen four times in succession without killing them. They will live for seventy days when placed in the abdominal cavity of another frog. " ' The semen is the most highly vitalized fluid in the body of the male ; and it is amazing to reflect that these inde- pendently active cells, or spermatozoa, remain alive, as cited above, for seventy or even eighty -two hours after every other tissue in a man is dead ! But when the\^ have been planted on favorable soil, such as the warm, moist mucous membrane of the female genitalia, they have been actually observed to retain their life and func- tional activities for upward of eight days, and it is highly probable that tliej^ remain active even longer than this. The profound chemistry of Nature has elaborated no other fluid which can compare in vitality and importance •Parvin, "Science and Art of Obstetrics," p. 108, 236 HEREDITY AND MORALS. , with the semen, the sole design of which secretion is for l^rocreation. The spermatozoa are developed in the testicles — two oval glands, suspended in the loose scrotum by the spermatic cords ; besides forming spermatozoa they also secrete some of the other fluid elements of the semen. Each testicle contains a great number of minute tubules — the tuhuli seminiferi — in which are epithelial cells, called spermato- hlasts, which undergo a series of changes and become con- verted into spermatozoa. From each testicle the vas deferens, or execretory duct, carries the secretions to two pouches on the base of the bladder— the vesicidm semincdes — which serve as reservoirs for the semen, and also secrete a fluid of thinner consistence, which is added to the secre- tions from the testicles. These vesicidce semincdes dis- charge their contents i^eriodically, or under stimulation, into the urethra by means of the two ejaculatory ducts. There are many men who entertain the erroneous idea that a woman is barren for twent}' days of every month ; but when one thinks to select the time of intercourse with a woman at a period when he supposes she cannot be im- pregnated, he must remember that his spermatozoa stay alive in her for more than a week. Practically there is «o time during a woman's sexual life when she may not be impregnated. The conservation and proj^er expenditure of this fluid, upon which the phenomena of life depends, give to man his moral and physical force, while its squan- dering and abuse in any way whatsoever outside of mar- ried life is a perversion to be deeply ashamed of, and every lusting man at least courts, if he does not actually acquire, repulsive disease and moral degradation, and furthermore, he makes himself exceedingly liable to be encumbered with the moral obligations of paternity, from which the weak excuse of "jjater incertus" can hardly free him. Physiology of Beproduction and Develo^jment in the Fe- male. — The most profound attribute of organized beings CRIMINAL ABORTION. 237 is the distinctiou of sex — the essential factor being the generation of sj^jermatozoa by the male and of ova by the female. Reproduction can occur only when the female element is fertilized bj^ the male element ; and this is of course effected b}^ the act of copulation, which, while being the normal way, is by no means essential —for authentic instances are recorded where a virgin has been imijregnated by using a bathtub after a masturbator had defiled it, or after contact with clothes or sheets which had been " wet" with semen. ' The essential jjoint is that the male and female elements must in some way meet within the mother's body, where the " soil" is favorable for the growth of the germ-cell. In most fishes the ova are impregnated externally to the body of the mother. Thus the female "roe,'' or "spawn," of many fish— e.(/., the codfish — contains many millions of eggs which are " spawned" into the water and fecundated by the " utilt,'' or spermatic secretion of the male, without the act of copulation, the meeting of the male and female reproductive elements being left to chance. In the process of fish-culture the spawn and the milt are artificially stripped out of the female and male fish, and mixed together in a specially constructed jar filled with water, when in the course of time myriads of fish are hatched. Among frogs the male embraces the female, and when the latter discharges ova, the male ejects sperm on them. So also, veterinarians, when they have difficulty in mat- ing animals, sometimes inject semen with a sj-ringe into the female genitalia. A royal scion of France is reputed to have owed his existence to the application of this device, while times without number this procedure has been suc- cessfully followed in women hitherto sterile.' A woman at each menstrual period experiences a sort of ' For numerous allied cases, vide " Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, " Gould and Pyle, pp. 40^5. ' Vide Gould and Pyle, loe. cit. , p. 40 ef seq. 238 HEREDITY AND MORALS. " mimic labor," discliarging a sanguiueons fluid vnth which she " lays a little egg" — the ripe ovum. " The menstrual and gravidital changes follow the same C3'cle, and differ from one another essentially only in two points: 1, the time occupied, and 2, the extent of the changes. In fact the alterations, though of the same- char- acter, are greater in extent and occupy a longer jjeriod dur- ing gestation than during menstruation. These considera- tions force us to the conclusion that the gravid uterus is passing through the menstrual cycle prolonged and intensi- fied. The function of gestation is a direct modification of the function of menstruation, and the two are physiologi- cally homologous." ' If one of her ova be fertilized by a spermatozoid, there is at once initiated in the woman a series of astonishingly pronounced and rapid changes, which continue throughout the whole iDeriod of gestation and lactation. Within the short space of nine months, corresponding to the growth of the embryo, there is an enormous increase in the size and poM'er of the uterus, so that it is both adapted to give lodgement to a full-sized babe, and to expel it by tremendous contractions through the " birth-i^assages" at the termina- tion of pregnancy. While performing the functions of gestation and suck- ling, she normally ceases to menstruate, and all her pri- mary and secondary sexual organs undergo marked changes, while her heart and blood-vessels are rendered more powerful, for the increased work which is demanded of them. The secretion of semen is largelj^ controlled by the mental condition of the male, and by his surroundings and habits ; and he can perform the sexual act at one season as well as another, or remain absolutely continent indefinitely with- out impairing his procreative ability. Most of the lower animals have a ''rutting season" or a ' " Human Embryology, " Minot, p. 25. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 28i) time of periodical sexual excitement, being without desire at other times ; but man is entirely independent of this, and maintains the power to found his family in accordance with reason and i)rudence at any time during his sexual life. But Nature has not ventured to subordinate the control of the sexual functions of the woman to her will, and so once every lunar month she involuntarily passes through a series of remarkable transformations which are the expres- sions of desire on the part of Nature that she shall perpet- uate the species. The female sexual apparatus consists primarily of the organs of generation, and secondarily of the organs of lac- tation — the mammary glands or breasts. The vagina is the sexual passage which extends upward from the external genitals to the womb; it serves as the organ of copulation and is the chief part of the " birth pas- sage" during the delivery of the foetus. The uterus, or womb, is a i^ear-shaped, hollow, muscular organ, about three inches in length, communicating below with the vagina by the cervical canal, and receiving the openings of the two Fallopian tubes, at either side, in its upper portion; it is lined with a thick mucous membrane which is shed at each menstrual jDeriod, and its cavity serves as the resting-place in which the ovum, if impreg- nated, is harbored and developed for a period of ten lunar months — two hundred and eighty daj^s — at the termina- tion of which time it expels it as a full-time child. The Fallopian tubes, or oviducts, are two muscular canals which extend in a sinuous wavy manner from either side of the uterus at its ui)X)er part, outward toward the ova- ries. Each is from four to five inches in length, and they are lined with a thick mucous membrane covered with ciliated epithelial cells, which by their lashing movements create a current toward the uterus. At their outer extremi- ties they are provided with finger-like processes, or fmhr ice, whose function is to grasj) the ovaries on either side at the 240 HEREDITY AND MORALS. i:)oint from whicli tlie ripe ovum is about to escajje, and tliese tubes serve to transmit the ova to the uterus. In spite of the current which is established by the ciliated epithelium of the tubes toward the uterus, the spermatozoa, bj their independent vibratorv motions, force themselves contrar}' to it to the extreme limits of the Fallopian tubes, where fertilization of the ovum takes place. The ovaries are a i^air of germ-glands situated in the pel- vic cavity, one on either side, at the extremities of the I'allopian tubes. They are analogous to the testicles of the male, since they develop the essential female reproductive element, or ovum, which when impregnated by a si:)ermatozoon, de- velops into a foetus. (See "Female Genital Organs and Api:)endages, Fig. XL, page 305.) Each ovary is a flattened ovoid hodj about one and one- half inches in length and one-half inch in thickness, slightly varying in size at different times. Each ovary contains upward of seventy thousand Gh^aajian follicles, in each of which there is an ovum or egg-cell. The ovaries of a child a year old contain as many Graafian follicles with their contained ova as do those of the fully developed woman ; but these ova do not begin to " ripen" until i)uberty, and even then only a small minority of the seventy thousand ever come to maturity. Each ovum rests in a Graafian follicle, and as a rule but one of them ripens monthly. As the Ch'aafiun follicle with its enclosed ovum develojis, it moves to the surface of the ovary and produces a protuberance, which finally rujDtures and allows the ovum to escaj)e into the Fallopian tubes. At each menstrual period, one and sometimes two or three ova of mature size burst out from the ovary or ova- ries, and, if unimpregnated b}^ a spermatozoon, pass on into the uterus and are lost in the menstrual discharges. An ovum being discharged at each menstrual epoch, a wo- man may consequently conceive at any time of lier sexual CRIMINAL ABORTION. 241 life from puberty to the menopause, i.e., until the final cessation of her menstruation. If two or three ova are dis- charged, and each imi)regnated, she will bear twins or triplets, though twins, curiously enough, are sometimes developed from a single ovum. This menstruation is a remarkable phenomenon, which comes on in cycles, characterized not only by a periodical flow of blood from the uterine cavity, but also by constitu- tional disturbances ; there is a shedding of the superficial layers of the mucous membrance of the uterus, and at each of the epochs an ovum is discharged from one or other of the ovaries. It occurs in properly developed women, in temperate climates, between the ages of fourteen and fort}-- four years, sometimes normally beginning earlier or ending later than these figures, and being observed earlier in warm and later in cold climates.' Normally this phenomenon occurs thirteen times a year, at intervals of a lunar month — twenty-eight days — and the name is taken from the Latin word mensis, "a month." Duriug all the period of a woman's menstrual life the func^ tion of menstruation can, in health, be interrupted only by pregnancy and suckling, so that it has been quaintly said that " woman only escapes being sick twelve times a year by having an illness — pregnancy — which lasts nine months." The general public, in accordance with their usual erro- neous opinions about physiological subjects, have an idea that intercourse during the first week after a menstrual period is liable to be followed by conception, but that at other times there is no danger of it. " Experience has shown, however, that there is no single day in the intermenstrual period in which conception may not occur. Jewish women indeed, who are forbidden sexual intercourse by the Mosaic law during menstruation and the seven days following, are proverbially fruitful."^ 'Vide Hart and Barbour's "Gynaecology." 'Lusk, "Science and Art of Midwifery," p. 116. 16 242 HEREDITY AND MORALS. After an intercourse occuring just before a menstrual period, one might suppose that the semen and the ovum would be expelled when the flow began, but the spermatozoa pass into the distal, or remote, extremities of the Fallopian tubes within a few hours after intercourse, and^ — the Fallo- pian tubes not actively sharing in the phenomena of men- struation — these spermatozoids, which continue to possess life for upward of eight to ten days, may be retained and impregnate the ovum which is discharged at the menstrual period immediately^ following. The law of reproduction is so strongly impressed on all animate Nature that when a healthy male and a healthy female have sexual congress the chances of inseminaiion are very great indeed. Conception and Development of the Foetus. — By concep- tion is meant the animation of the female reproductive ele- ment by the male reproductive element so that an embryo is formed. The o\n^im represents one cell and the spermatozoid one cell, and when they become fused in the process of concep- tion there results one cell — the impregnated ovum which is now the germ of an embryo. " The earlier the stage the fewer the cells, until we reach the condition when there are but few cells, then two, and finally one only. This cell is the impregnated ovum, the beginning of all develoj^ment, Irat is itself formed of two separate parts, very different in their origin and constitution, namely, the egg-cell or ovum and the spermatozoon, whose union is the act of impreg- nation — the beginning of a new existence." ' Our lives, then, have their origin from two cells of in- tensely vitalized protoplasm which unite to form a single cell. The saying of Linufeus, " Omnevivum ex ovo," is now known to be true, for all animal life springs from a cell which has all the true characteristics of an egg. The ova of all animals higher in the scale of life than the protozoa, i.e., ' Minot, "Human Embryology," p. 35. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 243 from the Porifera, or sponges, up tlirougli the animal kingdom, inchiding man, are scarcely distinguishable from one another in their essential characteristics and their structure, though varying much in size in the differ- ent animals. The ovum, like most cells, is usually of microscopic size, though sometimes it is of enormous bulk, as in the bird- tribe, ostrich's eggs averaging three pounds in weight, and holding about three pints. An ostrich egg is an example of one of the largest cells known to physiologists, but morphologically it dilfers in no degree from the human ovum. The largest known eggs are those of the gigantic fossil bird of Madagascar, Ai!pyornis maximus, being twelve to fourteen inches in length, six times the bulk of an ostrich's egg, and equivalent to twelve dozen hen's eggs. And yet these eggs are single cells ! Other examples of enormous cells are the eggs of all birds, of most fish, of some batrachians, and most reptiles. In some animals the ovum is encased in a hard, chalky egg-shell, while in others it is protected by a more or less tough envelope. But yet these ova are all morphologically similar; in some of them there is an enormous adventitious addition of the albuminous part, or " white" of the egg, which serves to nourish the developing embryo, while the egg-shell is merely a protective envelope of calcareous matter derived during the passage of the ovum down the oviduct or Fallo- pian tiibe of the bird. A hen, like a woman, may " lay" an egg which is inca- pable of developing an embryo, for this is only i^ossible if the ovum has been fertilized b}^ a spermatozoon. At each menstrual period, then, a woman discharges one of these ova, or eggs, similar in every detail morphologi- cally to the ova of all other metazoic animals, i. e. , all animals higher in the scale of life than the protozoa, from sponges up— and unless it is vivified by the male cell it is soon 244 HEREDITY AND MORALS. discharged from her body, successive ova continually ripen- ing, and continuously preparing themselves, as it were, for a possible fecundation. All animals which have feminine sex "lay" eggs, some being hatched outside the body, oviparous ; some hatching within the mother's body with- out having vascular connection with the parent, ovovivipa- rous ; and others, viviparous, establishing a vital connection within the mother by means of a placenta and umbilical cord. All mammals are viviparous with the single exception of the curious Ornifhorhijnchus, or " duck-billed mole" of Aus- tralia, whicli lays eggs like the birds and is oviparous. Most eggs are si)lierical in shape, but some are cylin- drical ; some are ovoid, as in birds ; while others are coni- cal or elliptical. With the exception of the anomalous Ornithorhynchus, the ova of mammals are exceedingly minute sj)herical cells ; but it must be distinctly remembered that they are struc- turalh" the same as all other eggs, the "white" and the "egg-shell" of the latter being merely modifications of homologous parts in the former which serve for the nutri- tion and protection of the embryo. The human ovum has thus been compared with the ova of other metazoic animals, and especially to the ova of birds, because of the familiar acquaintance with the latter, and because they are structually identical. The eggs of hens occasionalh' do not have this "egg- pod," or "egg-shell"; nor do those of the turtle, nor the "roe" of fish — these being encased in tough, elastic "egg- cases" ; and the human ovum also has a ver}^ elastic " egg- case" which is called the zona pellucida. To one unfamiliar Avith physiology the word "cell''' is almost meaningless, but for our present purpose some knowledge of it is essential. Not to be misleading, it must be pointed out that almost all cells are invisible to the naked eye, and the enormous CRIMINAL ABORTION. 245 eggs of birds, tliougli single cells in every resi^ect, are only wonderful and exceptional examples of modification for a particular design. Tlie body of a man contains untold millions of cells, all practically microscopic in size and witli a great divergence of function ; but in the beginning, when the germ was conceived, his existence sprang from a single nucleated cell. The fundamental type of a cell is a minute mass of granular protoplasm having a cell-wall which limits it, and a nucleus and nucleolus, though the cell-walls and nuclei are not essential con- '^ stituents of all cells. Cells are modified in va- rious waj'S to perform the different functions of nutri- tion, sensation, automatic and spontaneous motion, ^ „^ ^^ ■^ , ' FxG. III.— Human ovum, magnifled 350 and reproduction, each cell diameters. Represents a typical cell. A, being an independent organ- ^''^"^f P<^otop\^^m (viteiius or yoik); ° _ '- _ '^ B, cell-wall or zona pellueida; C, nucleus ism which enters into the with nucleolus, called also germinal ves- formation of tissue bv aSSO- Iff ^f^ germlual spot. (From Gray's Anatomy. ) elation with other cells. Thus we have bone-cells, blood-cells, lymph-cells, fat-cells, cartilage-cells, muscle-cells, nerve-cells, mucus-cells, etc., and in addition to these the cells which are concerned in reproduction, e.g., the ova and spermatozoa. Structurally or morphologically, the ovum is similar to other cells; but physiologically it is vastly different, since it is capable, if impregnated, of developing an organism which is the counterpart of the parent. From this semi-fluid, almost homogeneous cell which constitutes the ovum there are developed all the myriads of cells of the body. The higher we ascend in the scale of life the smaller the ova become, until in th^ human female this minute " egg, " or ovum, measures only y^ in. in diameter. 246 HEREDITY AND MORALS. The ovum discharged at each menstrual period, being incapable of locomotion like that of the spermatozoa, is directed by the Fallopian tube, on the side corresponding to the ovary from which it came, into the uterus. The Jimhi'ice, or finger-like processes of the Fallopian tube, grasp the ovary at the point where the rupture of the ovi- sac, or Graafian follicle, is about to occur, and when the ovum is received into one of the tubes it is passed along toward the uterus, i^artly by the current established by the ciliated epithelium lining the tube, and partly by the peristaltic movements of the ducts on either side. The ovum is probably almost alwaj^s impregnated by a spermatozoid not in the uterus, but in the distal, or outer part of one of the Fallopian tubes, one-third to one-half way down from the fimbriated extremity to the uterus, it being remembered that the spermatozoa reach these parts of the Falloi)ian tubes by their own independent active movements. In the ovum discharged once in every lunar month certain important changes occur independently of impreg- nation, so that each ripe ovum is prepared to meet a sper- matozoid whether the latter be there or not. The germinal vesicle moves to the surface of the ovum, disappears from view, and in its place two polar globules appear, while a portion of the original germinal vesicle moves back toward the centre of the ovum to form the female pronucleus. The object of the jjolar, or directing globules, is to facilitate the entrance of a spermatozoid, while the female pronucleus is an indication that the ovum is ready for imjoregnation. The female pronucleus is thus seen to be a part of the original germinal vesicle, and it is now adapted to blend itself with the head of a spermatozoid, which, if it should happen to fuse with the o-^n^im, buries its head and inter- mediate segment in the yolk substance so as to constitute the germ of an embryo. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 247 Especially bear in mind tliat these changes, which result in the formation of the female pronucleus, occur in the ovum, whether it be impregnated or not. If unimpreguated it passes off with the menstrual dis- charges; but if fertilized it plants itself on the mucous membrane of the uterus to develop myriads of cells, which become differentiated and si)ecialized in the fabric of a human being. Out of the tens of thousands of spermatozoa which may have found their way up to the distal extremities of the Fallopian tubes, only one is concerned in the process of fecundation, the other less fortunate ones becoming no more than refuse. All have been trj'ing, as it were, to force their heads through the egg-pod, or zona pellucida, of the ovum, but only the one succeeds. The fecundating part of each spermatozoid is its head and intermediate segment, the tail being designed solely as a locomotor apparatus to j)ropel it to its destination and enable it to penetrate the walls of the ovum.' This zona pellucida of the ovum which the spermatozoon is reciuired to penetrate is analogous to the thin white " skin" envelop- ing a hen's egg, which is readily seen by cracking off the shell from a hard-boiled egg, but, of course, in the human ovum it is much more delicate. The ripe ovum having prepared itself for impregnation by the formation of i\\e female pronucleus and the polar or directing globule, the head of the favored spermatozoid here finds a spot in the cell wall of the ovum which has been thinned out and weakened, and thus it is forced within by the lashing movements of its tail. This conical projection of the ovum, the polar or directing globule, after the head and intermediate segment of the sper- matozoon have entered, contracts and cuts off the latter 's tail, which, having performed its function, is now useless. ' Some embryologists maintain that only the head of the spermato- zoon is tlie fecundating part, 248 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Tlie head and intermediate segment of tlie spermatozoid, being now buried in tlie yolk of the ovum, become sur- rounded with a radiate formation of the granular proto- plasm, which appears like a star, and their metamorphosis results in what is called the male pronucleus, which fuses with the female pronucleus, and the two together form the neiu nucleus of the fertilized ovum, in which are initiated all the activities which finally result in the development of Fig. IV. Fig. V. "Small Portions op the Ovum op Asterias Glactalis." — Fig. IV., a promi. nence is seen rising from the surface of the ovum toward tlie nearest spermato- zo()n. Fig. V., the prominence and spermatozoon have met. (From Balfour's "Comparative Embryolojry, " p. 65.) a human being. This impregnated ovum, though yoi a single cell, is entirely different from the simple ovum. Now a new human life has sprung into existence, and this impregnated ovum is the starting-point in each indi- vidual's life history. Such work seems to be indicative of superhuman power indeed, but we do not call it a miracle simply because it violates none of Nature's laws, and is so frequently- re- peated ; and yet from its infinitude of repetition through- out Nature, these wonderful manifestations would seem to proclaim that there is a Creator in the Universe far more convincingly than if the phenomena had only been observed once and labelled a "miracle." CRIMINAL ABORTION. 249 This single cell has, witliiu tlie sliort space of a few- hours, become an exceedingly interesting new human in- dividual ; and we must insist that if a man wall take the pains to inform himself on the rudiments of embryology, he cannot run the risk of allowing any of his sjiermatozoids to meet within an ovum of any woman but his wife, unless he is either an abandoned man or a fool; for after the semen has left him, he no longer has the slightest control over a single one of the myriads of reproductive elements, all of which are independently and automatically striving to their utmost to fertilize the ovum, w^hich has in- dependently done every- thing in its power to prepare itself for the ad- mission of the head of a sperm atozoid into its yolk - substance, and to fuse with it. The earliest beginning of life, then, is the im- pregnated ovum, or germ- cell, which has the mor- phological V a 1 u e of a single cell, and is endowed with the capacity to ger- minate into the next stage, which embryologists designate the embryo-sfage. The definitions of germ, embryo, and foetus are purely arbitrary, the new individual being called a germ until the rudimentary characteristics appear; then within a short space of time it is called an embryo, and retains this name for the first three months of gestation, or until the placen- tal circulation is established ; then after the formation of the placenta, from the end of the third month to the close of pregnancy, it is called & foetus ; then w^hen it is born and Fig. VI.— "Ovum of Asterias Glacialis, with male and female pronucleus and a ra- dial striation of the protoplasm around the former." (From Balfour's " Comparative Embryology," p. 66.) 250 HEREDITY AND MORALS. separated from intimate connection with its mother it is called a hahe ; then while it is dependent on its mother for nourishment, and while it occasionally attaches itself to her breasts, .it is called an wfant; and subsequently it receives the different titles of child, pubescent, adolescent and adult, until finally it becomes a neuter, to all intents and purposes, with the advance of senile decaj'. It is, of course, the same individual throughout all this course. The reader must not be misled by the scientific phrase- ology into thinking that the newly created being is any- thing but human; for this nomenclature has been adopted merely for convenience of description, and is just as arti- ficial as the divisions into which its later life is marked off. Nature has'no such lines of demarcation. The ovum having become a germ-cell as described, its yolk or vitelline substance contracts around the newly formed nucleus which resulted from the blending of the male and female pronuclei, and then the yolk and this new nucleus spontaneously divide into tivo nucleated spheres, which are simply two new cells, each with a new nucleus, which have been formed by the splitting of the original cell into two halves. Each of these two new cells subdivides into two other cells ; these newl}- formed cells again subdivide in the same manner, each being the i^arent, as it were, of a new nu- cleated cell, and so they continue to subdivide in a geo- metrical ratio of progression forming 4, 8, 16, 32, and so on. This process is called cleavage, or Jission, or segmenta- tion of the cells. In this manner of geometrical increase, rapid multiplica- tion of cells is attained, and the growing child owes its evolution into adult life by the same process oi Jissiparous division of cells. This process — called cleavage of the yolk — is continued until the whole of the yolk is subdivided into numerous small nucleated cells which form an agglomeration within CRIMINAL ABORTION. 251 the zona pellucida looking like a mulberry, from wlieuce it is called the morula stage. While this morula is developing within the ovum, the latter is at the same time increasing in size by the absorp- tion of albuminous fluid which coats it during its descent along the Fallopian tube. Fig. VII. Fig. VIIL Fig. IX Fig. X. First Stages in Segmentation op a Rabbit's Ovum.— Fig. VII., Ovum has split into two cells. Fig. VIII., Four-cell stage. Fig. IX., Eight-cell stage. Fig. X., The morula stage. The cells of the morula, from mutual pressure, become eventually so arranged as to form an envelope, or bladder, which is closel}^ applied all around to the vitelline mem- brane (zona pellucida). This arrangement of the cells which shows the first indications of coherent tissue is called the blastoderm. The blastoderm is the first stej) in the development of the ovum after segmentation of the yolk-substance (vitellus), 252 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and. it gives rise to two germiual layers of cells, the epi- blast and hypohlast, between which there soon develops a third layer of cells, the mesohlast, and from these three germinal layers of cells all the structures of the matu7'e adult are formed. * There appears at one i)art of the epihlast the earliest trace which is at all characteristic of form ; this is called the primitive streak or groove, in close relationship with which the central nervous system, or cerebrospinal axis, is developed. While this is going on, blood-vessels are formed wdthin the mesoblast which become distributed over the blasto- derm. Eight to ten days are supposed to have elapsed since the ovum was fecundated ; it is now about the size of a pea; the first characteristic human shape, the neural canal, has appeared; it is still in the Fallopian tube, where it was fertilized, but presently passes into the uterus, where it finds lodgement for the remainder of the gestation period. While these early changes have been taking place in the ovum, and while it is yet in the Fallojoian tube, certain pre- paratory- changes also occur in the uterus, the mucous membrane of which, through a sj-mpatheti'c reflex trophic influence, becomes swollen and thrown into folds, so that when the eight- or ten-daj-old ovum reaches the uterine cavity it is stopped in its descent by becoming lodged in one of these folds. The o\iim, now resting in a cup-like cavity on the sur- face of the uterine mucous membrane, and being endowed with a wonderfully energetic vitality, seems to exert a peculiar irritative influence upon the area immediately' sur- rounding it, so that the edges of this cup-like cavity grow ' The differentiation and specialization of these cells into the various organs and tissues of the body is exceedingly intricate, and cannot be explained here, and for such enliglitenment the reader is referred to the special works on embryology. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 253 up around it and finally meet so as to include and retain it. Thus is formed what is called the decidua rejlexa (tiirued- back decidua). In addition to this there is a layer of membrane formed, closely applied to the uterine cavit}', which is called the decidua vera (true decidua), and of this that portion which lies immediateh' adjacent to the fecun- dated ovum becomes specialh- modified to form the decidua seroiina, at which site the future placenta is developed. Thus there is a threefold division of the deciduous mem- branes—called deciduous from the fact that they are dis- charged at the time of birth. These deciduous membranes, developed from the uterine mucous membrane, and so of maternal origin, form an ex- ternal investment for the o\'um, while within these are formed yet other membranes of embryonic origin, consti- tuting the foetal parts of the embryonic sac. While these changes are going on in the formation of the membranes the embryo itself continues to grow. The embryo at this very early period, i.e., after the for- mation of the vemxd canal, possesses a thickened anterior extremity, the head or cephalic end, and a ccaidal extremity or tail. From these extremities hollow pouches develop, which finally meet and coalesce to form a single shut sac inclosing the embryo. Thus is formed what is called the amnion. This amniotic sac contains a bland, serous fluid, the liquor amnii, in which the emijryo floats; eventuallj^ this sac fills the entire uterine cavity, being closely ap- plied to the inner surface of the deciduous membranes, and constitutes one of the membranes composing the " bag of waters," which ruptures when labor comes on. Sometimes during birth a portion of the amnion adheres to the child's head as a skull-cap, which event is regarded as an auspi- cious omen hj superstitious midwives, who then say that the child was "born with a caul." The allantois is a membranous pouch which springs from the embryo and ultimately envelops it, so that the 254 HEREDITY AND MORALS. embryo is completely invested by allantois as well as by amnion and deciduous memhranes. Part of the allantois becomes the urinary bladder, part of it forms tlie umbilical cord, and part of it enters into the formation of the placenta by its union with the cliorion. The cliorion is the outermost lajer of the foetal envelope and is of later development ; it is formed by the allantois fusing with the external layer of the amiiion, and these in turn become amalgamated with the vitelline membrane to form a new membrane, which receives the name of " cJiorion." The chorion, then becomes covered externally with a multiplicity of little vascular tufts which give it a shaggy ai)pearance. These little tufts, called chorionic villi, con- sist essentially of minute arterioles and veinlets, held together by connective tissues. These villi are concerned in the early m;trition of the foetus. They eventually disap- pear from two-thirds of the surface of the chorion, leaving this part smooth, and the remaining one-thii-d remains shaggy with the vascular tufts, and forms the foetal part of the placenta. Just here it will be well to remind the reader that the term ovum is used in various senses. In the preceding pages we applied it to the female reproductive element, or immature ovum ; to the impregnated ovum or oosperm ; and to the various later stages of development. We started by calling it a single cell, and later on described it as consisting of myriads of cells. This seems strange indeed, but the reason is to be found in the fact that all the developmental changes of the embryo and of the foetal membranes, take place entirely within the original cell-wall, or vitelline membrane, which of course becomes enormously distended . hj the wonderful changes which occur within it. With this use of the term ovum, a woman who has arrived at the end of the pregnancy, and who has a full-time child within her utenis, is yet spoken of as carrying an entire CRIMINAL ABORTION. 255 ovum, tlie foetus, of course, constituting by far the most im- portant part of the ovum. Furthermore we must acknowledge that the foregoing changes have never all been observed in the human embryo, but that we derive our information from a study of com- parative embryology, concluding by a justifiable inference that the processes exactly describe the earlj^ conditions found in man. "The embrj^os of a man, dog, seal, bat, reptile, etc., can at first hardly be distinguished from each other." ' Among animals the exact date of coitus can be readily fixed, and at any subsequent day the female can be killed for the purpose of studying the development of the embryo. Obviously it is impossible to observe these changes in a woman except by an occasional accident. No human ovum has ever been seen and described during the first week of embryonic development, and very few as early as the third week. Reichert's ovum is one of the earliest ones to have been described. It was taken from the womb of a woman who committed suicide, as supposed, thirteen daj-s after im- pregnation. The placenta, or " after -hirtli,'' is the organ of circulation, nutrition, excretion and respiration of the foetus, and the structure by which the foetus is attached to the wall of the uterus by means of the umbilical cord, or "navel-string." It begins to be formed about the end of the second month of gestation, but is not fully develoi:)ed until the end of the third month. At full-time birth its long diameter is six, to eight inches, while its greatest thickness is from two-thirds to one inch ; its weight is about twenty ounces, and, rough- ly speaking, it is about the size of a soup-plate. It is partly foetal and partly maternal in origin, and ex- ceedingly vascular. The maternal and foetal bood-vessels come into the closest possible relationship to each other, » Darwin, " Descent of Man, " i. . 31. 256 HEREDITY AND MORALS. onl}' the thinnest membranous septum separating them. But the maternal and foetal bloods never mix, there being no direct communication between the two circulations, and yet by diffusion, or osmosis, there is an interchange of nutritive elements and gases, constituting nutrition and the equivalent of respiration. The loiihilical cord, or navel- string, connects the foetus and placenta; it contains two arteries and one vein ; through it the foetus derives its nour- ishment from the j)lacenta, and also gets rid of its waste products. The placenta, navel-string, and foetal and maternal mem- branes together constitute what is called the "after-birth," or "secuudines," which are "born" usually about twenty minutes after the birth of the child. The Growth and Developmeid of the Human Foetus. — The ovum having been impregnated, the phenomenon of seg- mentation follows until a morula is formed. Then, probably on the thirteenth or fourteenth day, there is the appearance of the medullary groove and cephalic expansion, which give the earliest indications of the embr3^onal form. The neural or sjnnal canal having been formed, there develops in it a rod of nerve tissue, the anterior extremity of which enlarges to form the brain. Thus the nervous system is among the first of the structures of the body to be formed. By the end of the second iceeh the primitive heart appears in the form of a tubular cavity, when the embryo is only one-eighteenth of an inch in length. At the end. of the second iccel', or beginning of the third weeli, the heart is actively heating, and at the end of a month the four chambers of the heart have formed. ' The brain-vesicles can now be seen, and the rudiments of the eyes and ears are differentiated. As early as the twenty-first day the limbs begin to appear, as well as the elements of the eyes, nose and mouth. During ihQ fourth week the growth of the embryo is more ' By " month" is here meant a lunar month of twenty -eight days. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 257 active in regard to its changes of form and feature than at any other time. It now changes its attitude, so that from being erect it becomes strongly flexed until the cephalic and caudal extremities meet or even actually overlap. At the end of the fourth week the whole " ovum" is about the size of a j^igeon's egg, the heart has increased in size and power, the rudiments of the limbs are prominent, the primitive intestine is well formed, and the vertebrae and nerve centres are distinct. In the second mo)dh the eyes are distinctly seen, the ex- ternal ear has appeared, and the kidneys are formed. As early as the fifth or sixth week the nose and mouth are formed, and the fingers and toes can be seen. In the second month, also, the external sexual organs are formed, though it is not yet possible to determine the sex, for male and female are apparently identical in their early development. At the end of this month the ovum is about the size of a hen's egg, and the contained embryo from one inch to one and a half inches in length. At three months the embryo is about three and a half inches long in its curved position. * The eyes, ears, fingers, and sexual organs are well formed, and the sex can now be determined. At the end of the third month the placenta is well formed. The foetus is now markedly human, though the head preponderates in size. At the fourth month the foetus is pretty generally covered with dowTiy hairs; the eyes, nostrils and lips are closed; it can move its limbs freely, and is quite human in appear- ance. The external sexual organs are well defined. At the end of four and a half to five montJis a skilled ear can hear the sounds of the foetal heart through the ab- dominal walls of the mother, and in specially favorable cases, if the woman's abdominal walls be not too fat, if the room be quiet, and if the listener be skilled in auscul- tation, it can be heard somewhat earlier. At the close of 17 258 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the fourth montli the mother can usually distinctly feel the active movements of the foetus — "quickening." The heart-sounds of the foetus give absolutely positive signs of pregnancy. The younger the foetus the more rapid they are, and even at birth the child's heart-beats are about twice as frequent as the mother's. A foetus born at fve months breathes, cries faintly, but dies at the end of a few hours. At six months the foetus is a little more than a foot in length and weighs in the neighborhood of two pounds. It may live for from a day to two weeks, and, if kept in an incubator, ma}' j^ossibly survive. At the end of seven months the child is viable — capable of sur\d\'ing — though infants born at this time usually succumb. The popular idea that a "seven mouths' child" is more likely to live than one born at the eighth month is erroneous and unrea- sonable. At the end of the eighth month the foetus is about sixteen inches in length and weighs about five jjounds. At the end of nine months the foetus measures nineteen and a half to twenty -two inches in length, and averages six or seven pounds. A child born at nine months is less ■ energetic than at full term, sleeps the greater part of the time, and is less apt to survive. At the end of pregnancy, i.e., ten lunar montlis — two hundred and eighty days — the average length of the child is from twenty to twentj'-two inches, and its average weight is from six to eight pounds.' Its bod\' is plump and well rounded ; the nails on the fingers and toes are hard, and the finger-nails project beyond the tips of the fingers ; the hair on the head is about half an inch in length ; the child cries lustily on being born, and makes active efforts at sucking any object placed between its lips. It is certainly quite evident that the individual has life, and therefore the rights of a separate being, from the mo- ment of conception, and that the earliest part of that life CRIMINAL ABORTION. 259 is, if anything, fuller of developmental incidents and changes than any of the later periods of existence. Float- ing in a membraneous sac filled with amniotic fluid, the minute embryo assumes constantly varying positions and executes movements which, of course, are too delicate to be perceived by the mother, until at about four and a half months it is powerful enough to " leap within its mother's womb" and make its presence felt. This is called " quick- ening." Some would seek to maintain that the soul does not enter the foetus until this " (piickening" has been felt by the mother, and these are the kind of peoi:)le who would argue as to how many angels could balance themselves on the point of a needle. The soul, being an unsubstantial entity, is, of course, in- capable of demonstration, but if we have faith to believe that mortal man has such a gift, we cannot in reason assume the task of defining when it has entered into the body. We do know that the responsibility of giving birth to life is equally as great as the taking of life, and that if the foetus were left to fulfil its normal destinj^ it would have the chance to round out a useful career ; and it is not for us to say whether it shall be destroyed any more than if it were a few stages further advanced in life. The mass of i^eople of course never see human beings except during their air-ljreathing existence, and they look upon illustrations of the early embryo as being hideously ugly and repulsive, not sto^^ping to realize that each one of us has passed through similar stages, and that, after all, the gradations are hardly more marked than those occur- ring between infancy and senilit3^ Friends who knew us as children pass us by unrecog- nized when we have added years to our bodies, and graded changes are the rule throughout the cycle of life. Under the microscope the early embryo is just as beautiful, so physiologists think, and shows as much, or even more, 260 HEREDITY AND MORALS. vitality in its young tissues than when it Las readied the maturer stages of development. It is a misconception to assume that tlie spark of life in the embryo is precarious and easily quenched. On the contrary it seems that the younger it is the more tenacious is it of life. Even such crude biologists as butchers and fishmongers have daily evidence that some fishes, e.g., shad, will live for upward of thirty-six hours after being removed from their element, and it is well known that turtles will live for more than a day with their heads cut oflf ; so also will snakes and some others of the cold-blooded animals — reptiles and amphibians. In our early development we pass through forms very similar to those of these animals, and the writer has re- peatedly seen evidences of life in foetuses, born before they could respire, for some considerable time after their expul- sion. Thus, for instance, in one foetus, born during an ac- cidental abortion between the third and fourth month, life was observed in a most striking manner. After the mother had given birth to it in the hospital, the nurse placed it in a jar of water, where it remained immersed for more than two hours. Not realizing that there was life in it, it was pinned to a board for the purj^oses of dissection in order to study the foetal circulation. Upon laying open its thorax and abdomen the operators were astonished to see violent respiratory efforts, through the lungs were incapable of expansion at this early date. It being recognized that the foetus was at a non-viable age, and that it was insensitive to pain, the dissection continued, until finally the pericardium was laid open and the beautiful physiological demonstration of a beating human heart was afforded. The auricles and ventricles were then laid open, showing the mechanism of the action of the valves of the heart, and even then the contractions did not cease for almost two hours. CKIMINAL ABORTION. 261 At the risk of the reader misunderstanding how one could make such a dissection on a human being, it is, neverthe- less, here mentioned as a valuable example of the wonder- ful pertinacitj' of life, a point of the utmost imi:)ortance. We believe that what we call " life" was not present dur- ing this observation, but that the muscles merely retained their contractility, as do those of the frog after they have been separated from all connection with the brain. It is a comf)lete demonstration, however, that the esbrly foetus possesses a remarkable vitalitj^ comparable to that commonly observed in the cold-blooded animals, and the writer gives the assurance that it is an exceedingly difficult thing quickly to kill an early embryo; and furthermore, he believes that the younger the embryo the more tena- cious of life it is; and that an embrj'o born even at the first or second month will continue to live, even under very unfavorable circumstances, for several hours, while others may survive, even though maimed by unsuccessful attempts at criminal abortion, and be subsequently born deformed.' Thus we see most plainly that life is present with won- derful activitj^, and with progressive evolutionar}^ advances, and not stopping to discuss the trivial question when the soul meets the body, we are now in a position to proceed intel- ligently to the subject of criminal abortion.'' Definitions. — The definitions of the term "abortion" vary somewhat in different countries, and are not used in the same sense by the medical and legal professions, nor yet by all doctors or all lawj^ers. By many doctors the term " abortion" is confined to the expulsion of the contents of ' Vide p. 286. -Tlie reader who has become interested in embryology, and who wishes to gain more profound information, is referred to the works of standard authority which have been studied by the writer. A few of these specially to be commended are : "Human Embryology," by Charles Sedgwick Minot, of Harvard University ; Lusk's, Playfair's, Parvin's, and King's text-books on obstetrics, and Gray's "Anat- omy," Landois and Sterling's "Physiology." 262 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the womb during the first three months of gestation — i.e., before the placenta has fully formed; "miscarriage" is the term employed from the third month to the end of the sixth or seventh month, when the child is supposed to be viable ; and " premature labor" is said to occur at any time after the child is viable to the end of the full-time pregnancy. Artificial divisions of time for defining abortion are used only for convenience ; but all these are not without great imperfections, for Nature has no fixed rules of time and is not confined to hard lines of demarcation. It is no less difficult than to define " where lamb ends and mutton be- gms. A child may or may not be viable before the expiration of seven mouths, and instances have been recorded where a child born considerabl}^ before the sixth month survived. Bouvier's "Law Dictionary", defines abortion to be the " expulsion of the foetus at a period of utero-gestation so early that it has not acquired the power of sustaining an independent life." Storer defines abortion to be "the vio- lent and premature expulsion of the product of conception, independent of its age, viability, and normal function." ' The " Centurj' Dictionary " saj's that the distinction between the terms abortion and miscarricKje is somewhat use- less, and that " anminal abortion is premeditated or inten- tional abortion jjrocured, at any period of pregnancy, by artificial means, and solely for the purpose of preventing the birth of a living child — foeticide. At common law the criminality depended on the abortion being caused after quickening. Some modern statutes provide otherwise." The law requires that the procuring of abortion, in order to be criminal, must be icith fdonious intent, for it may be necessary as a therapeutic measure. Again, abortion has been legally defined thus : " Any person who does any act calculated to prevent a child from being born alive is guilty of abortion. The intention constitutes the crime, not the 'R. H. Storer, M.D., "Why Not?" CRIMINAL ABORTION. 263 means employed. The drugs may even be harmless." Usually in law, the term abortion is api^lied to deliver}^ at any time before the viability of the child, but it should be extended to the expulsion of the fcetus at any time before the full period of gestation is completed. Bouvier's "Law Dictionary" again says: " In this country [the United States] it has been held that it is not an indictable offence, at common law, to administer a drug or iaerform an operation upon a preg- nant woman with her consent, with the intention and for the purpose of causing an abortion and premature birth of the foetus of which she is pregnant, by means of which an abortion is in fact caused, unless at the time of the admin- istration of such drug or the performance of such an opera- tion such woman was ' quick ' with child." Or, in x)lain language, it says that abortion is not an indictable offence unless the woman be " quick" with child. The English law makes no distinction between a woman "quick" or "not quick," with child. Therein it is better, as will presently appear. ' " Every woman, being ivifh child, who, with intent to pro- cure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself anj^ poison or other noxious thing, or shall uulaw- full}' use any instrument, or other means whatsoever, with the like intent ; and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her, or cause to be taken hj her, any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument, or other means whatsoever, with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement." » Statutes 24 and 35 Vict., c. 100, s 58. 264 HEREDITY AND MORALS. In an editorial appearing in a prominent medical journal tlie punishments accorded to the crime in the various coun- tries of the civilized world are thus summed up. " In England and Ireland the punishment is penal ser- vitude for life, or a less term. Should the mother die, the crime becomes murder, which may be punished bv death. In Scotland (says The Lancet), the punishment is arbi- trary; in France, Spain, the German Empire, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark — in short, throughout the whole of Europe — the crime is punished with imprisonment for from six months to twenty years, or for life. In Sweden the penalt}^ is death if the mother dies; and in Russia the mother, if a consenting party, may be exiled to Siberia; in the Dominion of Can- ada the penalty is imprisonment for life ; in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and in Prince Edward Island it varies from imi)risonment for two years to for life ; in New Brunswick the penalty is death ; in Australia and New Zealand the punishment is very severe, ranging from two years' imprisonment to penal servitude for life; in the United States it is punished with fines ranging from $100 to 85,000, with imprisonment for long periods, and with death."" Signifcaiwe of the Term " Quickening.''' — In the United States many of the States still lay stress in their statutorj^ laws on the objectionable term "quick," though this dis- astrous word has been intelligently stricken out from the laws of many of our commonwealths, and it will doubtless soon be universally recognized by the legal profession that this requirement of " quickening" is of no moment whatever in fixing the degree of the crime of procuring abortion. Had the popular views regarding "quickening" and embryology been correct, it is certain that millions of lives, some undoubtedly of priceless potential value to society, would have been saved. At the date of this occurrence the ' New York Medical Record, August 19, 1893. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 265 foetus is first /e?/ to be uliveby the mother, though of course it has been hitherto steadily developing and making active movements, which, however, have been too feeble to make themselves ai:)parent. Let us here quote from the report of the committee ap- pointed by the New York Medico-Legal Society in 1872 — James J. O'Dea, M.D. (Chairman), Elbridge T. Gerry, George F. Shrady, M.D., William Shrady, Stephen Kogers, M.D., Judge Gunning S. Bedford, committee: "At length Christianity came to measure swords with the growing evil"— «*.e., in the first century. "For a time the contest was warm. A society corrupted by ill-gotten wealth and sensual gratification would not surrender such convenient doctrine without a determined resistance. The battle waxed fierce, but the already assured triumph of the purifying faith was postponed by a compromise (how orig- inated or by whom proposed does not appear) no less dis- astrous than the pagan theory it supplanted. " By this compromise it was agreed to consider the foetus as endowed with life only from the date of the maternal sensation called ' quickening. ' Abortions forced after ' quickening ' were branded as serious crimes, but all so caused before this period were suffered to pass unnoticed. Henceforth ' quick ' became a word of evil omen. It is ti'ue the canon law subsecjuently disregarded this com- promise, declared the foetus alive from conception, and con- demned its destruction at any period of utero-gestation as a great and wicked crime. The Christian Church, to its eter- nal honor be it said, has ever advocated and enforced the jjrinciple of the inviolability of foetal life. But the mis- chief could not be undone. A doctrine, only a degree less heartless than its pagan predecessor, took a firm hold on society. How effectually it influences the opinion and practice of our own time, how completely it has permeated all, but more particularly the higher, ranks of contemporary society, needs not to be insisted upon here. Among those 266 HEREDITY AND MORALS. who are competent to pronounce on this question of ' quickening ' there is, however, but one opinion, and to it your committee ask the undivided attention of the com- munity. Tlie foptus is alive from conception, and all inten- tional killing oj it is murder. The worki is free to discuss the transcendental problem concerning the stage of develop- ment at which the foetus becomes endowed with a soul. If there never were such an existence as a soul, if men per- ished utterly when they died, laws against murder would still hold good, because laws against murder were enforced, not for the soul's sake, but to preserve the peace and even the existence of societ}'." What is the significance of this sinister word " quicken- ing," which has for so many centuries been the cause of millions of deaths, and Avhich has persisted in our statutes, so that our laws have made it the basis of a distinction be- tween the degrees of guilt of criminal abortion'? The de- ductions from the word have been entirely erroneous and immoral. Quickening occurs at that time in the life of the foetus when the mother's i:)erception first enables her to detect life in her womb by its active movements ; then its throes of life unmistakably' arrest her consciousness and render her reasonably certain that she is with child. The movements of the child are due to a reflex action of its nervous system, whereby it assumes x^ositions favorable for its growth, and these motions occur long before the time when there is any possibility of their being perceived by the parent — as may occasionally be seen in the muscular actions of embryos of abortions occurring before the natural time of "quicken- ing." The foetus, in the earlier months of pregnane^-, is very small in proportion to the size of the cavity which it occupies, and, floating in a large membranous sac filled with amniotic fluid, it may freely swim or move about without imparting the slightest sensation to its mother. Later on, as it increases in size, it more completely fills the uter- CRIMINAL ABORTION. 267 ine cavity, aud is able, as it were, to get a " purcliase" on one side of its confiued space while it kicks against the other. These motions are at first sliglit, and Montgomery has compared the sensation which they impart to the mother " to the tremulous motion of a little bird held in the hand" ; others describe it as a " fluttering" or " pulsa- ting" sensation; later on the motions become so violent that bystanders can see the effect by the marked kicking within the mother's womb, and she sometimes cries out in pain and alarm at their intensity. " The pregnant woman receives a great many hints as the signs and symptoms accumulate and corroborate each other that a live and growing foetus is developing in her uterus, but she now waits for a decided kick before she will believe that the foetus is alive. This kick is awaited anxiously by the woman as well as the law to announce that the child is sufficiently formed for its destruction to constitute even a misdemeanor. " It must kick very decidedly and unmistakably for several months before its killing constitutes a felony, and, as one judge has held, should it be knocked on the head with a hammer or strangled with a garter after its head is born, but before it is wliollj^ delivered and separate from its mother, it is not sufliciently alive in the eye of the law for its killing to constitute murder."^ Public opinion and the courts have for a long time seem- ingly contended that at this time the soul meets the bod}^ but we know that the child is as much alive in one mouth as another, that its individuality dates from the time that the spermatozoon first impregnated the o-vn^im, and that subsequently to its creation it was as much alive in the dim dawn of its existence as in maturity. The foetus is quite able to employ its muscles at the tenth week; and "quickening" is frequently felt as early as that, '"Abortion and its Effects." Joseph Taber Johnson, M.D., American Journal of Obstetrics, vol. xxxiii., No. 1, 1896 268 HEREDITY AND MORALS. though usually not until it is about four and a half months old. However, this sensation is sometimes not experienced till the sixth month, and sometimes not at all even when the child is ruddy and strong. The fact that " quickening" has never been felt does not at all imply that the foetus is not per- fectly well and healthy, though the phenomenon does occur in the large majority of pregnancies. "Quickening" is merely an incident, and a trifling one, in the course of the pregnane}^ ; it does not in any way indicate the union of "life" or the "souF' with the body, nor any new state in the existence of the foetus, but is merely an incidental per- ception hj the mother of the very active manifestation of a pre-existing life. Is it not most evidently absurd to sup- pose that the foetus is not endowed with life until the mother can feel its motions? What has it been doing all this time if it has not been growing and developing? Its muscles and the bones to which they are attached must, of necessity, have time to grow and develop before it can make movements of sufficient violence for the mother to detect. As the reader sits in his chair perusing these pages he is not conscious that the blood in his arteries and veins is coursing through them endowed with vitality, and yet, be- cause he cannot detect any sensation whatever, it is none the less vital. Some advance the argument that the foetus, being de- pendent for its existence on its connections with the mother, has not a separate life, and that consequently it may be wilfully destroyed without incurring the guilt of murder. But are we not all of us dependent for our existence upon the media of our environments — the atmosphere we breathe, the food and drink which nourish us, and the fire and raiment which give us warmth? Neither do we adults lead independent existences, and to deprive us of any one of these agencies upon which our lives hang would be mur- der. The infant at its mother's breast is no less dependent CRIMINAL ABORTION. 269 upon her than the foetus which gets its nourishment through the umbilical cord and placenta. The plea that the child may be hilled because it is dependent for its existence upon its mother is as applicable to the suckling as to the foetus. A pregnant woman is sacred and should so be regarded both by herself and others; her hallowed womb is the atelier of Nature, in which the child should be nourished safeh', in i)erfect tranquillity, and undisturbed in its evolu- tionary stages b}^ the faintest suspicion of a plot against its defenceless life. How ineffectual and absurd is the law which requires that " quickening" must have been felt by the mother in order to establish an indictable offence ! If the sensation were denied bj^ the mother to be appreci- able at the time of the deed, who is to gainsay the truth of the assertion? No one except the mother feels the first "quickening," and, especially as it is a painless sensation, she can deny its presence with impunity. Historical. — Let us shortly consider the execrable his- tory of Criminal Abortion, and then inquire further into the frequency of the practice in our i^resent life. It is a picture of human crimes and weaknesses — a histoid' of as- sassination — a consideration of which may j^revent the evil deeds from gaining an infamous acceptance by posterity. Foeticide has been chronicled from the earliest times, and casts a shadow over our land to-day ; it is no new crime, but has been practised among all nations with the sole excep- tion of the Jews. The statutes of Moses registered no laws in relation to this crime, except the sweeping law of the sixth commandment, " Thou shalt not Jdll.'" Jewish wo- men have ever considered it an honor to bear large families to their husbands, and this is one reason why the Jews have spread over the earth and prosjoered in spite of the most violent opposition. This remarkable people, who have a history which is the " standing astonishment of the world," can never rise to preeminence among the nations until the curse under which they labor is removed; nor can they 270 HEREDITY AND MORALS. be annihilated, because they live nuder a blessing — the propitious influence of their kind of ancient civilization being in no small measure due to a strict adherence to the Mosaic laws governing their sexual hygiene and relation- shijis. However, the writer has been told by Jewish doc- tors that the crime is beginning to spread among the Americanized Jewesses, but only among that class who have put aside all religion. Among the Mohammedans the practice is very prevalent, for, although it is contrary to the laws of Mohammed, it is considered less wicked than to give birth to an illegitimate child. In China, Japan, India and Africa this practice has been, and still is, fearfully prevalent. These benighted peo- ples, with their teeming and redundant populations and overtaxed food-supjily, ])lace very little value on human life. It is related that during the last century vehicles went regularly round the streets of Pekin every da}' to col- lect the bodies of infants, martyrs of infanticide; if a Chi- nese sailor fall overboard, he is allowed to perish without any effort to save him ; in India thousands upon thousands of infants, mostly females, were thrown into the sacred Ganges to be devoured hy the crocodiles ; in Madagascar, New Granada and Greenland, if the mother dies during or after confinement, the living child is buried with her ; and in Africa the wives and female infants are frecpiently buried alive with the head of the Aimily. With such ideas of the value of human life, is it to be wondered at that abortion is fearfulh' j)revalent? In Polynesia and among the Indians of our own continent the crime is common. Plato advocated the i^rocuring of abortion in the " Kepub- lic" ; ' Aristotle taught that no child should be permitted to be born alive whose mother was more than forty or whose father was more than fifty years of age." The "Lib. V. «"Polit.,"lib. vii., c. 17. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 271 Athenian mother placed her new-born child at the feet of its father, who decided upon its lot, though the semblance of legality was usually followed by calling in five neighbors as a sort of court. Deformed children, girls, and those of the inferior classes were thus frequentl}^ condemned to death. The teachings of the ancient Greek and Koman philoso- phers resulted so disastrously that it became necessary to denounce the practice, and this was vehemently done by Ovid,' Seneca,' and by Juvenal.^ In one "satire," after praising the exemi)lary patience with which the matrons of the lower classes bore the pains of labor and the fatigues of nursing, he upbraids the ladies of fashion with their unwillingness to submit to these duties. "You'll scarce hear tell," says Juvenal, "of a lying-in among ladies of quality, such is the poAver of art, such the force of medicines prepared by the midwife to cause barrenness and abortion. " "Sed jacet aurato vix ulla puerpera lecto. Tantum artes hujus, tantum medicaniina possunt, Quae steriles facit, atque homines in ventre necandos Conducit." Rome was filled with abortionists, the crime prevailing, as in our own day, chieflj' among the so-called upper classes of society, and infanticide continued to prevail in Rome until the epoch of Ulpian (in a.d. 205) , who repressed it with severe penalties. Throughout these several nations in the difi'erent centuries many millions of lives have been sacrificed, some of which, no doubt, would have been of priceless value to the world. The recorded experience of those times, while shocking us, leads us to consider the advance which we have made in the same direction. Prevalence of the Crime To-day. — With the present stand- '"Amor," lib. ii. 8"Consol. ad. Helv.," 16. 'Satire vi., 591-596. 272 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ard of health iu civilized societj^ one pregnancy out of eveiy five results in accidental abortion, and ninety per cent of married women sniier such a mishap at least once during their child-bearing life. So frequently does this accident occur unintentionally and regrettably that one must be ex- ceedingly loth to impute wrong motives to a woman when- ever he may have cause to believe that she has so suffered. But with every allowance for the great frequenc}' of ac- cidental abortion, it is well recognized, by those who are in a position to know, that the intentional and unnecessary destruction of the foetus represents a carnage of such vast proportions as to be almost beyond belief. There is no darker page in history than the record of this sin, and probably at no period has the slaughter been greater than in our own times. The results to our own country and to the world at large have been disasti'ous to the last degree, and with the spread of atrocious advertising by abortion- ists, and the open disi)lay and sale of alleged abortifacient nostrums bj^ the druggists, one cannot wonder at the fact that it is alarmingly on the increase. The consultation-rooms of physicians are in reality con- fessionals, wherein, trusting in the known inviolability of a doctor's confidence, the patients daily tell of their mis- deeds, led to do so by the desire to aid in their bodily cure. Statistics never have been and never can be pub- lished showing the frequency of the crime, and our only evidence must be by confession, for the deed is done secretly ; the mother of course seeks to hide her shame, and cannot be compelled by the law to testify against her- self, and the abortionist takes good care to stop up the keyhole and the chinks of the door if his treatment room. It is only hj the testimony of many hundreds of physicians that we can gain a fair idea of the frequency of the crime. Countless thousands of abortions occur that are never returned as such to the Health Bureau. Many a death from abortion is reported as being due to heart failure, CRIMINAL ABORTION. 273 anremia, syncope, inflammation of tlie bowels, peritonitis, pelvic abscess, kidnej- diseases, embolism, etc. It is a very difficult matter, in fact, to prove tliat an early abor- tion lias occurred before the positive signs of pregnancy have been distinguished, €.(j., the sounds of the foetal heart, "quickening," and " ballottement, " or the actual feeling of the foetus within the womb by the physician. We physicians, nevetheless, are constantly- called upon to attend women who are aborting or who have aborted. We know criminal abortion to be prominent among the great vices of the day, and it has increased so rapidh' in our day and generation that it has created surprise and alarm in the minds of all conscientious persons who are informed of the extent to which it is carried. A verj- great number of abortions occur which are iDurjiosely concealed even from the knowledge of i:)hysicians, but in most cases the women are eventually compelled to apply for surgical treatment, and to confess the origin of their ailments. Prior to 1840 the testimony of American physicians is that criminal abortion was not practised very generally, and to but a slight extent by married women; but this verification has now all been changed. The "Report of the Special Committee on Criminal Abortion" ' — committee, Edward Cox, H. O. Hitchcock, S. S. French — contains this startling passage : " To so great an extent is this [abortion] now practised by American Protestant women that, by calculation of one of the committee, based upon correspondence with nearly one hundred physicians, there come to the knowledge of the profession seventeen abortions to every one hundred pregnancies ; to these the committee believe ma^' be added as manj- more that never come to the physician's knowl- edge, making thirty-four per cent, or one-third, of all cases ending in miscarriage ; that in the United States the num- ber is not less than one hundred thousand, and the num- ' Transactions of the Michigan State Board of Health, p. 165. 18 274 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ber of women wiio die from its immediate effects not less than six thousand per annum." Dr. W. A. Chandler, a physician of over thirty years' practice, has been quoted as saying that he believed that more than one-half of the human race died before birth, and that three-fourths of these were abortions by intent. Edward Cox, M.D., President of the Michigan State Medical Societ}^ says : "A combination of circumstances has produced a de- praved and debauched x^ublic sentiment that not only winks at but condones, palliates, and defends the crime. It goes further in mau}^ instances ; it recognizes the abortionist as a useful member of society, and even extols him as a bene- factor. It will take line upon line and precept upon pre- cept, facts, figures, and eloquence, to overcome this false and pernicious sentiment. Yet it must be overcome before we can make the least progress in the much-needed refor- mation." ' Some abortionist is found in every town and village, and the crime is not limited to any section or country. No one for an instant supposes that the procreative ability of man- kind has very materially" lessened within the past genera- tion; yet it needs no verj- careful scrutiny to observe that the standard size of our families has fallen from what the average used to be in recent generations. An American family nowadays too often consists of a husband and Avife, with i^erhaps a child or two — not often more than three or four children. Such are the recent statistics, and the cause cannot be referred to a lessened fecundity of the men and women. The reason can, however, not infrequently be found in one of three causes: (a) either one or both of the married parties have been rendered sterile, usually from a gonorrhoea which was thought to be cured ; (h) or criminal abortion is performed; (r) or expedients are ' Transactions of the Michigan Medical Society, Lansing, 1879, p. 369. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 275 adopted for the prevention of conception. In passing we may say that even this latter procedure is a curse to the good health and the morals of both parties, and that there is no harmless way in which to prevent conception. A hoine without the prattle of children is the most dreary, lonely and melancholy of households, only too frequently disordered by estrangements and jealousies and inconstan- cies. To be "barren," or "sterile," without "issue," is the greatest of griefs in a normal marriage relationship. As many as twenty years ago Dr. Nathan Allan, of Massachusetts, pointed out "that the native American stock of that State seemed to be dying out." "VMiereas one hundred years ago it was common to see families with from six to ten children, he said that at the time of which he spoke it was rare to find a family of three children, and not unusual to find only one child or none at all. And, further, the same authority showed that in those towns in which the American families predominated the rate of birth was less than the death-rate, and that the increase of popu- lation was left to those of recent foreign origin. Our large families are more apt to be found among Koman Catholics and those Avho have recently emigrated to this country. In fairness to the Roman Church it must be said to its glory that its women rarelj- resort to this crime, the priests giving the soundest of teaching to their parishioners on these vital points, as follows : " That the destruction of the embryo at anj^ period from the first instant of conception is a crime equal in guilt to that of murder ; that to admit its practice is to open the way for the most unbridled licentiousness, and to take away the responsibility of maternity is to destroy one of the strongest bulwarks of female virtue." The private spiritual and hygienic directions which are given in the " confessionals" by men who are usually intel- ligent and saintly are undoubtedly of great value to certain 276 HEREDITY AND MORALS. classes of people wlio are incapable of judging rightly for themselves. " It is not, of course, intended to imply that Protestant- ism, as such, in any way encourages, or indeed permits, the practice of inducing abortion; its tenets are uncom- promisingly hostile to all crime. So great, however, is the i:)opular ignorance regarding this offence that an ab- stract morality is here comparatively i^owerless ; and there can bo no doubt that the Komish ordinance, flanked on the one hand by the confessional, and bj' denouncement and excommunication on the other, has saved to the world thousands of infant lives." ' And again let us quote from the report of the Special Committee on Criminal Abortion: " It is well known that in this country the faithful minis- trations of the Catholic clergy j)revent the commission of the crime to such an extent that it is very seldom com- mitted by a Catholic married woman, and the committee believes that if the Protestant clergy would proi)erly pre- sent the subject to their congregations, Avith the assistance of the i^ress and other auxiliaries, the crime would soon become as rare among the Protestant as the Catholic wo- men. But the clergy claimed to be ignorant on this sub- ject. They must therefore be instructed and urged on to their duties l\y agitating it through the i)ress and in as- semblies like this and others of which we have spoken. The press needs educating almost as much as the clergj^ before it can place the subject in an intelligent manner be- fore its readers." * The daily press is largely responsible for the increasing frequency of this crime by permitting the obscene adver- tisements of charlatans and abortionists to appear, dis- gustingly aiding in the work of criminal malpractice and ' Storer, Essay, p. 42. * Transactions of the Michigan State Board of Health, 1881, p. 166. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 277 being most efficient accessories in this abhorrent iniquity'' of foeticide. It is the price of hlood. If tlie dail}' papers would consent to give up the fees received for advertising this class of work in their "personal columns," thej' could do more to abolish it than all other agencies combined, and if they will not voluntarily do so the responsibility will then rest on the legislatures which fail to enact laws to prevent the jiublic press from i^rinting suggestive adver- tisements. These avaricious abortionists, ignorant pre- tenders, and unprincipled impostors roam over the country from village to town, putting up their signs, and freely using the daily papers and the mails to allure the ignorant and the wicked and the perverted ones of the community to their ruin. So badly does Lombroso, the great European criminol- ogist, think of the moral laxity of our laws that, with per- fect truth, he says : " Another occasional offence, specifically local, is abortion in the United States, where it is so dif- fused that public opinion has ceased to condemn it. In proof, we have the advertisements of doctors and female midwives who practise chiefly in this branch and recom- mend their establishments in newspapers and on posters."' It is greatly to be desired that Congress shall create an additional office for a cabinet minister, who shall be the director of a national bureau of health. We have cabinet officers to advance the interests of agri- culture, the postal service, and our internal and external policies, but no national influence is at work for the better- ment of our nation's health except the power to establish quarantine. It is true that each of our States represents a sovereignty and that each State is jealous of these rights ; but, nevertheless, a cabinet officer of health could dissemi- nate knowledge and bring about much-needed reforms. It is high time, indeed, that the law should awake to the necessity of appointing censors or supervisors over the ' Lombroso, " The Female Offender. " 278 HEREDITY AND MORALS. public press ; for if left to itself there is every reason to believe tliat it will continue, for the sake of the blood- money, to aid and abet the traffic in human life by admit- ting to its columns the advertisements of abortionists, baby-farmers, procurers and brothels. If the reader is not aware of the truth of this, it is simply because he has failed to inform himself ; and for read}' proof he is referred to the daily papers of our large cities. All the papers do not sin equally in this respect; but if the reader will take the trouble to send for specimen copies, especially of Sunday editions, to Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Phila- delphia, Boston, Washington, Cincinnati, or any other large city, he will see innumerable alluring advertisements plainly inserted by the keepers of houses of assignation and brothels and by abortionists. It is a shame that America tolerates such journalism. In the personal columns of these pajjers may be found such matter as the following : " Ladies in trouble will not regret calling at "; "Mrs. , midwife, receives ladies in trouble" ; " Sanitarium, j^erfect seclusion, fe- male diseases a specialty, results guaranteed" ; " Attention, ladies ! pennyroyal pills are the best" ; " Belief for la- dies, in sealed letter by return mail for tAventj'-five stamps" ; "Women's complaints and irregularities successfully treated by old Dr. . " Along with these there are the open advertisements of "massage parlors," which are per- haps worse than brothels, and of "rubber goods," and such nostrums as claim to " prevent" disease or to " enlarge the i:)arts," or to "restore lost vitality." The medical profession looks upon this ai)athy of the law-makers with utter abhori-ence. Of course there is no misunderstanding these advertisements by " those who are in trouble," and of course the remedies advertised are sold merely for profit and not from philanthropic motives, be- ing utterly inefficient, but nevertheless the minds of the community become poisoned; pregnant women having CRIMINAL ABORTION. 279 tried the abortifacient remedies advertised become desper- .ate after their failure to act, and seek other more effective means, until they succeed in their undertaking. Aborti- facient drugs act by producing violent purgation or vomit- ing, and maj^ so inflame the stomach and intestines as to cause death ; none of them are safe, and none are ever used by physicians even for the purpose of producing " thera- peutic," or necessary abortion. Therapeutic, or Jiistijiahle Abortion. — The law leaves it entirely to the judgment of the medical profession to de- termine when it is necessary and warrantable to i:)roduce abortion. No wise physician, however, would bring this about except after deliberate consultation with one or more fellow-practitioners of repute. There is no immorality in producing an abortion thera- peutically if it gives a chance of saving the life of the mother, when, if it were not done, it would be almost cer- tain that both mother and child would perish. The indications for therapeutic abortion appear " when- ever the mother is suffering from disease arising from the pregnancy or originating before it, or accidentally occur- ring during it, which imperils her life, and there is a rea- sonable probability that she will recover if abortion occur." ' Abortion has been brought on in the interests of the mother in certain diseases; for instance, in severe affec- tions of the heart, or lungs, or kidneys, when acute symp- toms supervene; in certain forms of Bright's disease asso- ciated with excessive dropsy ; in cases where there is an enormous distention of the abdomen from twins or a superabundance of liquor amnii ; in the uncontrollable vomiting of pregnancy ; in pernicious anemia ; in chorea and convulsions ; in hemorrhages from the uterus due to a wrong position of the jilacenta (j^lacenta 2Jrcevia} ; in ex- treme pelvic deformity where it would be impossible for the woman to bear a full-time child; and in certain dis- ' Parvin, " Text-Book on Obstetrics, " p. 603. 280 HEREDITY AND MORALS. placements of the gravid uterus when it has become hv- carcerated and is liable to gangrene. However, the attending physicians would carefully con- sider whether the woman's condition would not be rendered more threatening by the induction of abortion, and they would, in every case where possible, defer the operation until after the time of viability ; and, further, in cases of pelvic deformity they would probably allow the woman to go to full time and then deliver her by the Caesarian section or by the operation of symphyseotomy. No intelligent critic can offer any valid objection to therai:)eutic abortion when it is done after deliberation and consultation, and the law in every civilized community concedes this privilege to the medical profession. In Catholic countries the XJi'iests are called in as consul- tants and assume a i)art of the responsibility. The Ineffectual Fta/iskment of the Crime. — Judicial in- vestigation has proved to be almost totally worthless in regard to this crime, and the administration of justice con- cerning it is jn-actically a dead letter. The crime being I)erpetrated secretly by parties whose mutual interest it is to cover up their guilt, an arrest is seldom made unless the woman dies, while juries, reasoning by some obscure psychological process, seldom convict the abortionist. Except toward the abortionist we can hardly in mercy ask for the severest penalties of legislative enactments ; for the father can rarely be touched, and the woman is usually in a position to ask who shall cast the first stone at her. The proofs which would lead to substantiation are difficult of demonstration, and the community verj^ properly is not disposed to visit the mother with great harshness. Engelmann, in an article on "Abortion," says: "Abortionists everywhere are known. In the larger cities of this continent, as well as Europe, they achieve a widespread fame, are well known, and yet rarely, if ever, convicted. It is a notorious fact that these worst of crimi- CRIMINAL ABORTION. 281 nals almost invariably escajje; and even in the states of Germany, where the laws are strict and rigidly enforced, where the crime of abortion is punished by imprisonment of from four to twenty jears, that eminent teacher of medi- cal jurisprudence, J. L. Caspar, sajs that of all the many accused never a one was condemned, and in no one case was the crime i^roven. They are sheltered by the words of the law and the sympathy of the community." ' Laws have no efficacy unless there is an inclination to obey them; when this inclination is firmly established in a community they serve merely as guide-posts. If the hearts and consciences of the people are callous, if they cannot see the expediency and justice of the laws, and if public opinion does not sustain the decrees of the bench, then the laws are dead letters and should be stricken from the statute books, since they cannot be enforced. However severe the laws may be in posse they have had very little perceptible effect in esse, nor is this to be won- dered at when we consider how much is actuall}- permitted to be done to encourage licentiousness by the toleration of brothels, impure literature, and indecent theatrical shows. If a community admits the untrue physiological propa- ganda that sexual license is necessary for the men, then it will be imi^ossible, as the results have shown, to compel a girl to cherish the badge of her shame while her seducer goes free. Such a community visits all the jjenalties upon the mother and the absolutely innocent child ; so that the destruction of her offspring and the menace to her health seem no more to be feared by her than the cruel punish- ments which the double standard of purity- concerning the sexes visits upon bastardism and feminine unchastity. Mankind will yet be governed by sentiments of love, and society will yet look upon the pregnant woman, whether married or single, as sacred, and " deal gently with those that are with j^oung." ■ Pepper's " System of Medicine." 282 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Whatever can be accomplished iu leading the pregnant woman to refrain from this unnatural crime must come from education and that alone ; for no dread of future pun- ishment in time or eternity seems more deterrent to her than the present disgrace. While pleading for mere}- and comfjassion for the dis- graced woman and her bastard child — the exact opposite of what prevails — we cannot be too severe on the heartless miscreants who are permitted to ply their vile trade with comparative impunity, and we cannot find language strong enough to express our detestation for the laws which do not protect the child in idero until " quickening" has been acknowledged. " There is not a household in the land or in the civilized world which is not more or less permeated by the influence and teaching of the noble science which we practise, and this ignorance of the law of life, or the fact of life, before quickening, could, if we were sufficiently alive to its im- portance, be utterly done away with and wiped ofi" the face of the earth in a single year. Otherwise good women would no longer boast of the number of foetuses they had gotten rid of, and they would no longer teach their sisters how they could accomplish the same 'innocent' feat. AVhen it is known and universally acknowledged that to extinguish the first spark of human life is a crime of the same nature, both against our Maker and society, as it is to destroy an infant, a child, or a man, then, and not until then, will abortion cease to be a common occurrence, and good men and women become readj' to assume the responsibility of their own deliberate acts." ' The attorney-general of the State of Massachusetts re- ported the arrests and trials of thirty -two abortionists dur- ing a period extending over eight years, and not one single conviction resulted. Here in the capital of the nation a notorious abortionist was recenth" found guilty by a jury, ' Joseph Taber Johnson, loc. cit. , p. 7. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 283 and sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude for causing the death of the mother; he is now free and, it is thought, still imbrues his hands in blood with impunity. The proper term for the destruction of the foetus at any stage of its existence is murder in the first degree, and the law should i)uuish it as such. Abortion induced before the time of viability of the foetus — i.e., before the sixth or seventh month^ — necessarily contemplates its death, and even if it be done later it is safe to say that where it is done criminally and not therapeutically the child will be allowed to perish. The arrests of abortionists are usuallj^ not for the crime intended by them, but for bungling work which constitutes a double murder, the mother as well as the child dying as a result of the operation. The Abortionist. — The abortionist fattens on the law which denominates the emptying of the womb of a preg- nant woman merely a misdemeanor before "quickening" and a felony only thereafter. Of course the sensation of "quickening" is denied and none can dispute it. The crime is committed in the dark without witnesses, and the woman is under oath to maintain secrecy, which, being a party to the deed, she naturall}' does, with the occasional exceptions of death-bed repentances. Of course the abor- tionist, for his own selfish reasons, does not contemplate such a contingency as the death of the mother, it being to his interest that she shall survive ; but as regards the foetus the act is one of cool, deliberate, unrelenting murder, and the mother is a party to the crime. What sort of man or woman is it to whom the woman applies for relief? " The professional abortionist is a being who recognizes no higher law than his own base interests, whose heart has long ceased to know a humane feeling, whose soul is freighted with abominable crimes, whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent children, victims of his foul lust for gain. The sentiments of our common humanity revolt 284 HEREDITY AND MORALS. against so vile a wretcli. Shall lie be suffered to return to liis old haunts and his old evil ways, with appetite whetted for more blood, after a few years spent in prison? All experience utters a solemn warning against so blind a policy." ' The father, the mother and the abortionist, who connive at the murder of the fostus, are devoid of all reason, all morality, all pit}-, all mercy, and all love — destitute of natural instinct and regardless of all law, human or divine ; they surely incur the weight of a tremendous res^jonsibility before God, and before the soul of the innocent babe, to whom, as well as to their own consciences, they must be prei)ared to offer a future explanation. How can a man or woman, abandoned to a life of lasciviousness, continue in the perverted courses of vener}', with the resolve to cheat Nature of her just dues, without incurring the wrath to come? Illegitimate sexual congress is sin, not only moral sin, but a natural sin, and those who indulge in it are "sin's fools." It is the abortionist who tells them that chastit}' is prejudicial to health, and that the "relief" which he gives is of advantage to society ; and he is the spontaneous product of the social and national pandering to vice which is fanned and stimulated by the immoral- ities and indecencies of many of our modern amusements and orgies. What are the Bislcs and Dangers Attendant upon the Crime ? — Yery momentous ones indeed ! Each individual organ, and especially the uterus, of a pregnant woman is prepared by a slow and gradual change for the great effort which is to occur at the end of i^reg- nancy, and if this effort be prematurely induced, whether by accident or design, the system is found uui)repared and theimiierfectly developed uterus is taken at a disadvantage, so that it cannot contract with sufficient force to completely ' " Report of Special Committee on Crimioal Abortion, " New York Medico-Legal Society, 1873. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 285 expel its contents. Abortion may result accidentally from blows, falls, wounds, violent coitus, excessive emotion, mental shock, etc. ; or it may be done therapeutically in the interests of the mother's life or health; or it may be brought about criminally by violence, by mechanical injurj^ to the uterus or ovum, or possibly by the use of certain drugs. Criminal abortion is usually done at some period be- tween the third and sixth month of pregnancy, because before the lapse of three months there is no aj^preciable enlargement, so that the woman hopes that she has merely missed her menstrual periods, and is not sure that she is i:>regnant; but after the sixth month the abdominal en- largement is so evident and " quickening" so active that it then seems to her like deliberate murder. At the time of normal birth — i.e., at the end of the two hundred and eighty days — there has occurred what physiologists call a " fatty degeneration" in that portion of the jilaceuta which is at- tached to the uterus, whereby it may be expelled whole and Gutire, thus i)ermittiug the womb to contract firmly, pre- venting an inordinate flow of blood, and allowing the uterus to rapidly return to its natural comparatively small size by a process called "involution." Any deviation from this process entails a chain of events which may lay the founda- tion of a wide range of serious disorders, such as positional displacements of the uterus; a chronic "subinvolution" which keeps up a continued enlargement and engorgement of the womb; leucorrhcea and copious hemorrhages which deplete the system ; ovarian neuralgia, pains in the back, thighs and head; general blood-poisoning leading to death; pus collections in the ovaries. Fallopian tubes and peritoneum ; peritonitis which mats the pelvic organs together by adhesive bands ; the growth of polypi and tumors, and various other serious and permanent disorders. It is rare indeed to find a woman who will confess to an ^86 HEREDITY AND MORALS, abortion, who does not suffer severely and protractedly from its results. An accidental abortion or miscarriage is safer tlian when a criminal operation is done, because in the former the embryo or foetus usually dies some time before its birth, and the fatty degeneration of the placenta has occurred which sometimes allows the free expulsion of all the frag- ments ; but in forced abortions done with criminal intent the dangers are more grave. In the latter event the element of time is eliminated which would allow the placenta to sei)arate by fatty degeneration, the abortion coming on rapidly without any chance of a complete emptying of the uterus; serious damage is often done to the mother by lacerations inflicted by instruments in the hands of bun- gling operators, and then sloughing, mortification, septi- caemia and peritonitis ensue. In addition every woman is bound to feel a strong compunction for this unnatural deed, x)ity for the child nestling within her womb, regret for the loss of her babe which would have proved so dear to her, sorrow and shame at casting from her the product of a husband's or lover's affection, fear of the law, and re- morse for violating the sixth commandment of God's laws. There is no wonder then at the frequency with which her health is sacrificed and her reason overthrown. However active the criminal measures may be, the attempt is by no means always followed by success ; and the child may be born at the natural time with a fractured limb, or blind, or paralyzed, or an epileptic, or idiot. Here is one deplorable case : "A lady, determined not to have any more childi'en, went to a professional abortionist, and he attempted to effect the desired end by violence. With a pointed instru- ment the attempt was again and again made, but without the looked-for result. So vigorously was the effort made that, astonished at no result being obtained, the individual stated that there must be some mistake, that the lady could CRIMINAL ABORTION. ^87 not be pregnant, and refused to perform any further opera- tions. Partially from doubt and i)artially from fear, noth- ing further was attempted, and in due ijrocess of time the woman was delivered of an infant, shockingl^^ mutilated, with one eye entirely put out and the brain so injured that this otherwise robust child was entirely wanting in ordi- nary sense. This j)oor mother, it would seem, needs no future punishment for her sin. Ten years face to face with this poor infant, whose imbecility was her direct work — has it not punished her sufficient!}' ?" ' Abortions are liable to occur with increasing frequency after one has taken place, and the possibilities of impreg- nation, owing to the diseased condition of the woman's reproductive organs, are more remote, so that even though she may subsequently desire children she may then be sterile. In addition, the lives of children born subse- quently are more ax^t to be embittered by unhealthy, dis- eased and deformed bodies. Women are destined by Providence to bear children; it is their natural ro?e and they should submit to it. Either let them and the men totally abstain from coition or else consent to be mothers and fathers. Most women entertain the belief that the earlier the abortion occurs the more trivial are the consequences; but every obstetrician will testify that he would far rather attend a full-time labor than an abortion, and that he fears the latter the less the nearer the woman is advanced toward the full term of gestation. The reader will remember that up to the end of the third month the placenta and chorion are firmly attached to the walls of the uterus, and thus an abortion occurring before the completion of this period is almost certain to terminate in what is called an "incomplete abortion," with retention of fragments of the ovum, so that profuse hemorrhage and grave septic conditions are almost certain to follow unless 'Grander, "Conjugal Sins," p. 138. 288 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the patient falls uucler tlie care of a skilful surgeon. In a case of impending abortion, until some portions of tlie ovum have been expelled, the in-actitioner considers it as a " threatened abortion" and does his best to avert it by ap- propriate treatment, continued for a few days until all the threatening symptoms have passed; and many a woman who has sought the seclusion of hospital treatment has, much to her disgust and disapi)ointment, had the miscar- riage averted. But if the abortion becomes "inevitable," a different policy must be assumed. The patient must be put under the influence of ether or chloroform and submitted to a regular surgical operation, and for this the most scrupulously painstaking prepara- tions must be made. A degree of cleanliness must be at- tained never thought of by the most careful housewife — the object in view being to render the pdd of the operation, the insfnime}its, the hands of the surgeon and of his assistants and nurses, and everything which might touch the area to be operated upon, absolutely free from those microscopic vegetable organisms which are the cause of putrefaction and sei)tic8emia. All the minutice of this surgical technique cannot be here explained, but some idea can be given by the following short description : The hands and arms of the operator and his assistants are thoroughlj- scrubbed for five or ten minutes with a stiff brush and hot soap-suds and water, the finger-nails are cut close and carefully cleaned, and then the hands and arms are soaked for several minutes in some powerful germicide solution, such as a strong solution of permanganate of potash followed by a dip in oxalic-acid solution, in abso- lute alcohol, in a solution of bichloride of mercury, 1 : 1,000, or in some other antiseptic known to be effective. The instruments, the towels and the dressings have all been rendered absolutely "sterile" by either boiling, or CRIMINAL ABORTION. 289 baking tLem in an oven, or exposing tliem to siiperlieated steam. The patient lias been prepared for the operation by ap- propriate medical treatment, and the parts adjacent to the field of operation have been scrubbed with hot soap-suds and irrigated with an antiseptic or boiled water. The body and limbs of the patient are then covered with several wet, sterilized towels, and, the anaesthesia being attended to by an assistant who does nothing else, all is ready for the operation. The preparations occupy far more time and trouble than the operation itself, and no less degree of care and skill is rec^uired than a surgeon would employ in trephining the skull. After the ojoeration the patient is not permitted to leave her bed for at least a week, while rest and quiet are en- joined for several days more until the uterus has regained its normal size and position, and the raw surface within it has entirely healed. With all these jjrecautions, done by skilful hands, dili- gently watched by a skilled surgeon, and treated by rest in bed, good nursing, and a watchful expectancy against sepsis, the operation is usually unattended by evil conse- quences; but, fortunately^ the necessity for resorting to therapeutic abortion is now extremely infrequent since modern surgical advances have made the Cgesarean section and symphyseotomy so safe, though the reputable doctor is frequently called upon to take charge of a case immedi- ately after the attemj)t has been made by the abortionist. How different are the procedures and the subsequent his- tory of the case if the abortion have been done criminally ! In this event a serious operation is done by stealth, with no preliminary prejiarations, by an operator who is no surgeon, heartless, immoral, with hands reeking with the blood of other misdeeds, and wdth no assistants, upon a patient who is desperate, disgraced, abandoned, and per- haps exhausted by her efforts at concealment, 19 290 HEREDITY AND MORALS. The woman, having probably sought some reputable physician to relieve her and having been refused, seeks an advertising abortionist or ignorant midwife, and in many instances even operates upon herself. Everything is done with a total disregard for all surgical rules, in the prepara- tion of the patient, in the preparation of the charlatan's hands and instruments, and in the subsequent care and treatment of the case. The abortionist desires the fee and nothing else, except that the woman shall not die — her shattered health being a matter of no concern to the coarse and unskilful brute. The desperate and exhausted woman, embarrassed at the necessity for concealment, arriAes alone, often after a long journey, with no friend or witness, at the wretched office of this foul man, or woman, and bargains over the life of the babe within her womb. Preparations for the operation would excite suspicion, so there are none. The clandestine operator, ignorant of anatomy and surgical technique, clumsily passes a dirty and septic catheter, or other in- strument, into the womb and ruptures the ovum. The vagina is then stuffed with cotton to conceal the hemor- rhage, and the womac, having paid the largest fee which can be extracted from her, is told to depart, never to return until she again requires similar treatment. After a long journey in a cab or street-car or train, she reaches home, in bad condition indeed, but continues about her usual duties as unconcernedlj' as possible, lest she excite suspicion. Within a few hours "labor pains" come on, and she takes to her bed with the excuse of having cramps in the bowels or perhaps painful menstruation. After a few hours, or i^erhajjs a couple of days, "something" passes, and if it is a formed foetus she hides it and either burns it or throws it down the sewer. Portions of the placenta and chorion are sure to remain firmly fixed to the walls of the uterus, but she is ignorant of that. After the severe pains have subsided she gets up and resumes her CRIMINAL ABORTION. 291 ordinary duties, flattering herself, or perhaps telling a confidential friend, that everything is now all right. For two or three days things continue to go fairly well and she begins to laugh at the doctor who had i^leaded with her and had frightened her with the dangers which menaced her. But now her plight becomes worse and she is compelled to take to her bed with alarming symi:)toms ; a reputable physician is called and the confession made. He finds her to be in a critical condition, with a fever ranging between 104° to 105° Fahrenheit; the tissues of the ovum which were retained have become infected, the hemorrhagic dis- charge is extremely ofi'ensive and putrid, and she shows the sj^mptoms of jjeritonitis and general blood-poisoning, which conditions may directly destroy her life, or result in serious and permanent pelvic disease. In many instances such patients are compelled to submit to severe mutilating operations whereby the abdomen must be cut oi)en for the puri:)ose of evacuating collections of pus from the pelvic tissues, and for the removal of suppurating Fallopian tubes and ovaries. Such are of course rendered sterile, and others apply for relief so late that there is little chance of saving their lives. " Convalescence is generally prolonged from these causes ; and the patient has many weeks, and i)erhaps months, if not years, of invalidism in which to regret the errors of an ill-spent hour. Our free dispensaries and charity hospitals afford innumerable examples of broken constitutions and ruined lives which have had their sad beginning in an im- properly treated abortion. Frequenters of our gynaeco- logical clinics often state that the displacements or inflam- mations of the uterus from which they suffer date back to abortions occurring three, five, or ten years previously. Many of the cases now operated on for otherwise incurable pus tulies or chronic inflammatory disease of the ovaries date all their troubles back to a neglected abortion. These 292 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sufferings are not all confined to the cliarit}'^ patients in tlie lower walks of life. They are as common as is the custom of abortion itself. No one rank in society appropriates them all. The experience of gynaecologists the world over will confirm the statement that a majority of the patients that we are called upon to treat in our offices or in the fine residences of their fair owners are the outcome of abor- tions or of the preventive measures against conception." ' Mau}-^ a woman, on the other hand, feels fairly well soon after an abortion, except that she is pale and bloodless and easily fatigued. Probably' however, within a few weeks she will be compelled to ajiply for relief to a physician, who will find upon examination, serious pelvic trouble; there will probably be a copious leucorrhoeal discharge, the uter- us will be enlarged, soft and tender, and often misplaced and bound down in abnormal position b}^ dense cicatricial bands of connective tissue ; the ovaries and Fallopian tubes will probably be exquisitely tender and perhaps disor- ganized into pus-sacs; inflammation of the bladder is a common comi)lication, and the sejitic infection not iuire- quently damages the kidneys. These i)itiless consequences follow upon what she y)erliaps thought a trivial amorous- ness, and the bad beginning is followed by a miserable ending. The wretched woman, having stooped to such an unnat- ural sin, feels a deep remorse, and no verdict of her own can ever acquit her of guilt. The subsequent history of the woman will be a sad one. She will probably never be entirely well again. Her men- strual periods will be attended with an undue loss of blood and with acute suffering. She will probably suffer with incontinence of urine, wdth continual "spotting" of blood for weeks at a time, and perhaps from a tumor within the womb — either a "polyp" or a "fibroid tumor." If she ever desires to become ijregnant again and bear a child, 'Joseph Taber Johnson, loc. cit., p. 10. CRIMINAL ABOETION. 293 she is likely to be either sterile or to lose the products of conception by an abortion or miscarriage; for one of these calamities prediposes to another, and so on in increasing ratio. In a spontaneous or natural abortion, on the other hand, the results are not often so serious, and where there has been skilled medical attendance it is practically devoid of danger. Even after a criminal abortion, if the woman were to ai)i)ly for efficient medical treatment at once, the results would not often be so serious, though, as a rule, the dirtj^ instruments which have been used upon her have done irreparable mischief. No place could be more favor- able for the growth of septic organisms than the warm, moist cavity of the uterus, rendered especially vascular and succulent by the pregnancy. Of course the operation of criminal abortion, however skilful]}" it might be done even by a trained surgeon, means for the foetus death and murder, and, as it is almost inva- riably practised, it means for the woman the ruin of her health and character, and the jeoj)ardy of her life. The man who got her into this trouble and then aban- doned her, cutting loose from all the promptings of con- science, is, of course, a x^artner with her in guilt and re- sponsibility, and all the oceans of the world cannot cleanse him from blood-guiltiness. Any argument whatsoever which might be brought forward for its being sometimes necessary and expedient may be answered by the reply that "the wages of sin is death." Our sympathy for the seduced woman, under a cloud of shame and with a mind bordering on insanity, is great; but for the man who drives her to this guilt and danger, it is well that a merciful God is the judge. Very often, indeed, the results of a criminal abortion are immediately fatal from a variety of causes, and the medical and lay press teems with the reports of such cases ; and yet the women continue to allow themselves to be practised 294 . HEREDITY AND MORALS. upon with reckless abandon by these unscrupulous vul- tures, who are permitted by the apathy of the law to adver- tise themselves and to exist in every community. Of course the women who seek relief from pregnancy abhor these fiendish abortionists, and rarely apply to them until they have been refused assistance in their wicked work bj^ some reputable physician. The position of physicians is indeed unique ; no other class of men are urged to commit murder as they are, but these temptations, which are presented to every doctor, should be put aside luitliout exception. No argument which the woman may offer to save her from dis- grace, no appeal to his sympathies, no fee which might ex- cite his avarice, should lead him to commit this crime against human and divine law. " Heart's blood weigJis too heavily." "Every man who undertakes the practice of medicine is met upon the threshold of his career by what I do not hes- itate to pronounce one of the most powerful, baneful, dam- ning combinations of temptations that can possibly assail the human heart. All that is good, all that is evil within him is subjected to the utmost pressure that can be brought to bear bj- the combined influences of pity, sympathy, and sometimes greed. Youth and beauty on bended knee, with clasped hands and streaming eyes, implores help with more devoted earnestness of purpose, with more burning reality of feeling, than that with which it approaches the throne of grace." ' A fair and just estimate of all the risks and dangers at- tendant upon the crime will do much toward stopping the prevalence of the custom — more, perhaps, with some peo- ple than any of the other arguments. The JVithdrawal of Maternal and Paternal Protection from the Ofsprinrf. — Many will doubtless be surprised at the statement that criminal abortion is practised much more ' Junius C. Hoag, M. D. , jWedico-LegfoZ JournaZ, September, 1890, p. 117. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 295 frequently by the married than by the unmarried woman. Here is a perversion of Nature indeed! Maternal sym- pathy and care and tenderness are withheld, and harm is plotted for the child by a mother who has failed in her duty. The i^arents who have sworn to the obligations of wedlock, which has for its legitimate end the perpetuation of the species ; or the parents who, by sexftal intercourse, have consummated the recognized rites of marriage, plot for the danger and death of their child, while the lioness will bleed and fight for her cub to the death. The rough hand of the uncouth savage father becomes soft to his babe, and motherhood among all the higher animals means care, and tenderness, and self-sacrifice, and love ; but the sexual parsesthesia and degeneration found in a social life which replaces ethics and religion and physiology with lust, has given to the world tne most formidably i^erverted and sharp-witted creatures known to zoologists. Abortion, as previously mentioned, is usually brought on before the woman has recognized the active motions of the child in her womb; it is, therefore, most frequently done at some time before the end of the third month, before marked enlargement of the abdomen is noticed, and sel- dom after the end of the fourth month. On the other hand, it is not usually thought of until one or more menstrual periods have been missed; for the woman who has only passed one or two periods tries to x^ersuade herself that the alarm is false, and cannot recognize any of the signs of pregnancy, except, perhaps, the "morning sickness." The unmarried woman is not so familiar with the early signs of x>regnancy as a woman who has had a child, and she is more apt to let the time slip by, hoping for a natural return of her courses, until one da}^ she unmistakably feels the child to be alive within her, and then, after quickening, few mothers can be found who will not regard the destruc- tion of the child as murder. The unmarried woman also hopes that her paramour may consent to marry her and 296 HEREDITY AND MORALS. save lier from the awful disgrace, and that the fact of hei lover being the father of her child may arouse his paternal instincts. And, furthermore, the unmarried woman, if pregnant, has little ojjportunitj' of remaining in her room or lying b}- for a few da^s, as the married woman may do, but labors under the embarrassing necessity of doing ever}-- thing in her pfewer to avert suspicion. The single woman who contemplates an abortion usually makes the pretext of visiting friends in a distant city, whom she knows to be in accord with her. On account of the ignorance of unmar- ried girls, and by reason of the difficulties which beset them, it is believed by many physicians that full^' seventy- five to ninety per cent of the criminal abortions are com- mitted by married women. But who ever heard of the law convicting a married wo- man of this offence? Excuses for them are easy. And yet, if we were the judges, we should more readily pardon the despairing, seduced girl, the victim of treachery' and deceit, whose mind is dej^ressed and often actuall}^ de- ranged by her awful shame and sorrow, whose thoughts now turn to a mode of relief from which she would in her right senses recoil in horror and dismay, and whose phys- ical and mental system is weak and prostrated — a wretched girl whose lover has proved to be a devil, whose par-ents have disowned her, who stands ofttimes in her wild frenzy by the river, meditating death, fearing the social degrada- tion to herself and the illegitimac}- of her innocent child, which her natural instinct teaches her to love. But if the fallen girl who is not insane has no justifica- tion for the crime, what pretext can the married woman give for the nullification of the miracle of motherhood? In rare cases it may be that she is ignorant of the true character of the act, but this can hardly be so in this en- lightened age. The fear of childbed cannot be given as a valid excuse, for all doctors agree that an abortion is more dangerous than a full-time delivery. The abortion is "a CRIMINAL ABORTION 297 labor in miuiature, at least so far as it relates to the expel- ling organ and to the expelled product; but not in miuia- ture in regard to the duration of the process and the at- tendant suffering.'" Ambrose Jardien' reports that in thirty -four cases of criminal abortion, where their history was known, twenty-two were followed as a consequence by death. Tardieu, the great French medico-legal authority, states that in one hundred and sixteen cases of this class death occurred in sixty. Joseph Taber Johnson, M.D., says: " It is an every-day occurrence for ladies to consult busy gynaecologists in our large cities in regard to symptoms which, upon inquiry, are found to date back to an unfortu- nate abortion. It would be quite within the limits of truth were I to state that two-thirds of the work of the gyusecolo- gists of this age finds its chief cause in the evils discussed by Dr. Goodell and our essayist ' this evening. It is a sad commentary upon the Christian civilization of the age, but the experience of honest workers in this dej^artment of our science would, I believe, corroborate the truth of this sad- dening statement." Tardieu gives as causes of death embolism, syncope from excessive pain, and moral shock resulting from a con- sciousness of guilt ; and to this may be added hemorrhage and septicaemia. Some married women give as excuses the " demands of society," or say that they are going to take "a trip to Europe and cannot put it off," or that they shrink from the disfigurement of childbirth, or that they are too fond of indolence and luxury, or that " they have not the means to support and educate a larger family." Could they not share what they have with the poor, innocent babe, even though it has come as an unbidden guest? >Parvin, "Text-Book on Obstetrics," p. 294. 2 "Etude medico-legale sur I'lnfanticide, " Paris, 1868. 'J. F. Scott. 298 HEREDITY AND MORALS. To a woman with children who would ask us to perform an abortion on her, we would say : " Madam, let us kill one of the children already born, if you cannot support any more ; it will be far safer to 3^ our health to allow the babe in your womb to go to full time and be delivered naturally, and the crime will be precisely the same." Such a state- ment usually drives your meaning straight home. The Glories of Maternity. — In the beginning, when all was inorganic and chaotic, what a crime it would have been if some evil power should have annihilated the first living cell, a mere mass of primordial protoplasm which had been endowed by the Creator with the principle called Liie! From that vivified protoplasmic cell, touched by the Cre- ator's hand, have come all the phenomena of life, the total- ity of existence; all the plants and creatures of the air, earth, and water ; all the thousands of millions of men and women, placed here to work out a civilization which nor- mallj' points upward to love, and hope, and happiness, and home, and heaven. As Henry Drummond ' has pointed out, the Mother represents " the last and most elaborately wrought pinnacle of the temple of Nature," cro'^iiing the animal kingdom. The highest class of animals, the Mam- malia, or those that bear teats and suckle their young, have taken their name from them, and the mother is the type of the highest exi^ressiou of Nature. " Is it too much to -say that the one motive of organic Nature was to make mothers? It is at least certain that this was the chief thing she did. Ask the zoologist what, judging from science alone. Nature aspired to from the first; he could but answer Mammalia — ^mothers. In as real a sense as a factory is meant to turn out locomotives or clocks, the machinery of Nature is designed in the last resort to turn out mothers. You will find mothers in lower nature at every stage of imperfection ; jou will see attempts being made to get at better types; you find old » " The Ascent of Man, " p. 267 et seq. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 299 ideas abandoned and higher models coming to the front. And when you get to the top you find the last great act was but to present to the world a physiologically perfect type. It is a fact which no human mother can regard without awe, which no man can realize without a new reverence for woman and a new belief in the higher meaning of Nature, that the goal of the whole plant and animal kingdoms seems to have been the creation of a family, which the very naturalist has had to call Mammalia." ' Descending in the scale of Nature to the lowest forms of animal life, we observe that the young are left to hatch and develop without maternal or paternal love or protection ; in fact, it is doubtful if there is such a thing as love in ani- mals lower in the scale than mammals and birds. " What does exist, and sometimes in marvellous perfection, is care for eggs : but that is a wholly different thing, both in its physical and psychical aspect, from love of offspring. The truth is, Nature so made animals in the earl}^ days that they did not need mothers. The moment they were born they looked after themselves, and were perfectly able to look after themselves." * The young of the lower forms of life are so multitudinous that, were they all to develop, the earth and sea would be filled with teeming millions of them ; but only a few of the fortunate ones reach maturity, all of them being entirely dependent on themselves from the moment of birth. It is onlj^ when we reach the higher forms of life that the moth- ers even recognize their young, and for this purpose it is necessarj^ that the offspring shall be few in number, simi- lar in appearance to their parents, and dependent, on ac- count of their helplessness, on their mothers. Such is the case with the Mammalia, in contradistinction, for instance, to the reptiles and batrachians and fish, with their innu- merable progeny. ' Drummond, loc. cit. , p. 268. ' Drummond, ibid. , p. 269. 300 HEREDITY AND MORALS. In the lower forms of animal life tlie maternal care is limited to tlie depositing of the eggs in a safe place, the young being left without parental assistance to hatch by chance and to i:)rovide for themselves from the outset. Parental affection is entirely wanting, since the early stages do not resemble the mature stages, and since the mothers often die soon after they have deposited the eggs. It is not until we ascend in the scale of life to the birds that we find this love and domestic hapi^iness, and here, except among the fowls and barnyard x)oultr3', we find the most intimate and lasting marriages ; and Dr. Brehm' says : "Beal genuine marriage can onl}^ be found among birds." " In bii'ds parental affection has reached a very high de- gree of development, not only on the mother's side, but also on the father's. Male and female help each other to build the nest, the former generally bringing the materials, the latter doing the work. In fulfilling the numberless duties of the breeding season, both birds take a share. Incubation rests principallj- with the mother, but the father, as a rule, helps his companion, taking her place when she wants to leave the nest for a moment, or provid- ing her with food and protecting her from every danger. Finally, when the duties of the breeding season are over, and the result desired is obtained, a period with new du- ties commences. During the first few days after hatching, most birds rarely leave their 3'ouug for long, and then only to procure food for themselves and their family- . In cases of great danger, both parents bravely defend their offspring. As soon as the first period of helplessness is over, and the young have grown somewhat, they are carefully taught to shift for themselves ; and it is only when they are perfectly capable of so doing that they leave the nest and the parents." ^ With the advance to the Mammalia, mothers made an »A. E. Brehm, "Bird-Life," Trans., p. 285. ' Westermarck, " History of Human Marriage, " p. 11. CKIMINAL ABORTION. 301 immense step forward tlirougli the very fact that their young are more deijeudeut, take longer to develoj), and that they must stay close to the parent. The young seeks its mother's teats to derive nourishment, and the mother is no less dependent on it to relieve her breasts of engorge- ment. In this way an inexpressibly powerful affection and endearment grows nj) between the two, which is the stronger in proportion to the fewness of the offspring and the length of the time of dependency. Such a mother will start at the slightest cry of pain from her child ; and if danger threaten, a maternal fury is exhibited which none can ignore with impunit}^ Of all the animals none is so tardy in its develoi^ment nor so utterly helpless in its feebleness as the human babe. A kitten, a calf, or a colt, or a baby monkey, at six months of age knows immeasurably more and is entirely indejjen- dent of care ; but the infant, even at a much later date than that, is absolutely helpless and dependent for its every want. To elaborate such a fine piece of machinery as the Homo sapiens requires time and parental attention, and a lengthened delay b}" its mother's side. It is precisely this mutual interdependence between mother and child, and the child's helplessness and tardy development, which are the cause of the maternal sympathy and tenderness and watch- fulness. The mother runs no less eagerly to the child when it is hurt than the child goes to her ; they are in a relation- ship of perfect trust and perfect love. If, as Henry Drummond has so beautifully pointed out in " The Ascent of Man," the infant has been the " tutor for the affections" of its mother, it also has transformed man from a savage into a loving father, who, with the mother, concentrates his affections on the object which belongs to both, and in loving the one he loves the other with a new love. While among Carnivora the males sometimes eat up the young, so that the mothers frequently have to hide them away, it is nevertheless the rule with the Mammalia that 802 HEREDITY AND MORALS. the male sliall protect and defend liis family. Tlius, Herr von Koppenfells states ' that the male gorilla " spends the night crouching at the foot of the tree, against which he places his back, and thus x)rotects the female and their young, which are in the nest above, from the nocturnal attacks of leopards." And Savage ' says of the gorillas that " when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell that resounds far and wide through the forest. . . . The females and young at the first cry quickly disappear; he then approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in quick succession." This is the function of a father — that of a protector and a food-getter. After the consummation of the marriage by sexual inter- course, and after the birth of tlie infant, there is normally, even among gorillas and chimpanzees and orang-outangs and savages, a sense of permanent relationship to the mother, and a conjugal tie which binds them together. It is a sacred thing indeed to be a mother, for the tie that binds the child to her forever remains more intimate and lasting than the affection for the father. It was the little child which first taught primitive man the qualities of love and tenderness and sympathy ; and it is the j-earning for offspring which normally compels love and marriage be- tween the males and females of all animals. Sexual inter- course is not intended for so trifling a purpose as that of giving a pleasurable sensation, and the mating of the two sexes finds its highest manifestation in this act of love. Sexual pleasure is merely an incident in the union of the sexes, which draws them together in order to ensure a re- sult — birth — which is attended with pain and anxieties and prolonged responsibilities. The highest function of a true man is to protect her whom he loves, and to make the greatest sacrifices for her ' Westermarck, loc. cit. , p. 14. ' " Description of Troglodytes Gorilla, " p. 9 et seq. CRIMINAL ABORTION. 303 and for their offspring. During the months and years while the mother is devoting her whole mind and heart to the rearing of his child, he is to infuse into that family circle a fragrance of manliness. It is man who plays the active, woman the passive part in courtship; and after his approach to the female his man- hood must pledge him, by the power of a natural law, to provide for the subsequent protection and guardianship both of the woman and the offspring. This is a higher law of honor than any made by the decrees of fashion or so- called respectability. Nature struggled up from the first primordial mass of protoplasm, through the plants, and through the lower forms of animal life ; up through the invertebrata and the vertebrata, some types persisting merely as fossils, others modified from their ancestors. Ages have been spent in the evolution of the Mammalia, and the culmination of this in- definitely prolonged extension of time has been the master- piece — Man, or rather the Mother. Nature has made noth- ing superior, and Man is but the crown of Woman's glory. Criminal abortion is thus seen to be the most abhorrent crime against Nature which could be conceived of, and the man who permits the mother and her offspring to struggle through the long and bitter years in illegitimac}', without honoring that family relationship in the natural capacity of a father, refusing to provide food and shelter, and crav- enly withholding his protection, is the i^roduct of a cornipt civilization so much below the gorillas and the sparrows that we can only classify him as a Monster. No mother who understands her position at the summit of Creation, or who has any of the natural instinct of love, can connive at the destruction of her babe, unless she be deranged, without abdicating her lofty and holy position of sover- eignty in Nature ; and if the dumb brutes could speak they would plead with her to ignore public sentiment at any 304 HEREDITY AND MORALS. cost, and to listen to the voice of instinct, o! pity, and ol love. Criminal abortion is the most villainous crime against tlie infant, tlie mother, the family circle, society' and Na- ture. Except therapeutically, the destruction of this hu- man life is absoluteh' indefensible. It is attended with extreme danger to the mother's health of mind and body, to her happiness, and to her life. It is no trifling factor in the awful waste of human life, and is possible only in a community which tolerates one standard of purity for men and another for women. It is wholly irreligious and im- moral, and is but the natural outcome of men's demand for illegitimate sexual gratification. 3 »5* ■n ra > r rn o O o ■n Q ra z rn ?o > H 3 z > z o > ■0 V ra z o > ra n O CD --Ureteritis }\-"Cyslitis u em in at "'Vesiculitis Poster wr UretluHtls Orchil ''"^Prostatitis Cowperitis Deferentitis 'zEfiididymitis Fig. XII. MALE GENITO-URINARY ORGANS. Showing tlie principal gonorrhoea! infections. Page 348. CHAPTER IX. GONOKEHCEA. More diligence lias, perliai)S, been devoted to the study of Gonorrhoea, and especially to the discovery of its cause, than to almost any other disease ; and one who gives to the subject the attention which it merits cannot fail to be moved with admiration at the toilsome laboratory work which has been directed to the elucidation of the many iJroblems which it presents. The greater number of laymen, even those who 3.re the most cultured and highly educated, have entirely erroneous ideas regarding its cause, nature and conse- quences — little appreciating its extreme gravity and the terrible results which it may entail to the person who ac- L^uires it and to his future wife and children who receive it innocently. One often hears of an otherwise intelligent person who is reported to have said that he thought no more of having a case of " clap" than a severe cold, but no one ever hears that remark from a patient in the height of the attack. The well-informed physician knows that its consequences may be most disastrous to the health and happiness of the patient himself, even endangering life ; and that it may bring into his home circle the doom of a partial or complete ster- ility, as well as the gloom of blindness, especiall}- to his offspring. The germs of the disease usually invade the tissues of the genital zone, and may lie dormant in them for long periods of time, to recrudesce, or revive into activ- ity, after any sexual excess, or debauch, or strain, or im- pairment of vitality of the tissues affected. This serious ailment may remain slumbering for years, 308 HEREDITY AND MORALS. after an apparent cure, causing few or no symptoms which are apj^reciable to the infected sufferer, and then break out into a number of subacute attacks which ai'e but recurrences of the original one. In the male the disease very commonly causes a morbid contraction of the urethra, "stricture," which is always a source of distress and danger, often leading to fatal com- plications from bladder and kiduey affections. More gen- eralh' it causes painful conditions, such as abscesses and "swelled testicles," the latter of which is a fruitful source of sterility in men. Even the mildest case of gonorrhoea may be followed by any or all of the grave disorders. In the female its effects are most horrible and appalling, leading, as in the male, to severe bladder and kidnej' in- flammation, and in addition, owing to the anatomical dif- ferentiations of sex, to iufliimmations of the vagina and uterus, the formation of extensive pus collections in the Fallopian tubes and ovaries, and to peritonitis. The larg- est class of patients entering hospitals for the diseases of women, and recpiiring the severest operations known to surgery, come on account of the. ravages of gonorrhoea — it being by no means an unusual thing for women to die from its effects or to sink into a condition of incurable invalid- ism ; and, as a rule, they have acquired it innocently from their impure husbands, who are envenomed with "latent gonorrhoea." Furthermore, the microbes, which are the cause of gon- orrhoea, are in some cases uncontrollable b}^ remedies and become i)rofusely scattered throughout the system, causing a constitutional infection accompanied by the most malig- nant and dangerous inflammations, such as "gonorrhoeal rheumatism" — the severest of all types of rheumatism — and various other inflammations of joints, tendons, and fibrous tissues. The lining membrane of the heart, the endocardium, sometimes shares in this virulent process, and grave forms of heart disease are in this way initiated; GONORRHCEA. 309 and further, tlie meninges, or membranous coverings of tlie brain and spinal cord, may be affected and cause serious and even fatal consequences, while the i)ernicious effects of the organisms ma}' produce the most deleterious results also on the medulla oblongata, the kidneys, the pericar- dium, the large veins, etc. Thus this disease of gonorrhoea, or "clap," which is re- garded by uueuliglitened men as of little moment, is seen to be portentous in its possibilities, even to the extent of becoming a dangerous constitutional infection; though, as a rule, it remains localized at the area of its initial en- trance, becoming less and less virulent by degrees, though never characterized bj^ a single element that is not grave. These facts are a terra incognita to the laitj^ ; and even some doctors, who are behind the enlightenment of the times, make the mistake of regarding the disease as trivial, until a sad experience teaches them otherwise. A very conservative authority' says in his standard text- book: " When we consider the vast range of pathological con- ditions which gonorrhoea may cause or lead to, we are cer- tainly warranted in asserting that it is, taken as a whole, one of the most formidable and far-reaching infections by which the human race is attacked." And Finger, a great German authority on gonorrhoea, says : * "Gonorrhoea of the male urethra is probablj^ the most frequent disease with which the practical physician has to deal. With it he usually begins his early practice, and until the end it causes him many anxious hours. Frequent as is the disease, it is equally ungrateful as regards a pos- itive and radical cure." There is no doubt whatever that this accursed disease has been known ever since history began. The fifteenth • Taylor, " Venereal Diseases, " p. 56. '"Gonorrhoea and its fomplications, " English translation, p. 23. 3]0 HEREDITY AND MORALS. chapter of Leviticus is taken up with an evident descrip- tion of this affection, and explicit directions are therein given for the reguhition of those so infected with "unclean- ness" in their " issues" ; and the literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans, as recorded by Hippocrates, Her- odotus, Pliny, Juvenal, Celsus, Galen, and many others, contains numerous unmistakable references to it and its contagiousness. In the Middle Ages it raged, and continues to this day to be, as Finger says above, " probably the most frequent disease with which the practical i)hysician has to deal." Within the past few years, i.e., the last two decades, there has been a comi)lete and astonishing modification of the ideas which were formerly held regarding this disease and its dangers, due to the perfection of bacteriological science, with the result that it is now recognized as a social danger of the greatest malignity. Seemingly trifling in its initial stages, it nevertheless tends to remain localized in the genital tract, causing in many instances, sometimes slowly and haltingly, sometimes rapidly, an irreparable damage to the procreative organs, to the bladder and kid- neys, to the eyes, the heart, the joints, and various other tissues of the bod^^ In every case where a woman is infected with gonorrhcBa she is in danger, not only of being rendered a permanent invalid and barren, but also of losing her life from perito- nitis and septicaemia. We shall ultimately see the ruin which is visited upon innocent women by husbands who years before had con- tracted a gonorrhoea from which they never were cured ; for only those doctors who are skilled in microscopy and bac- teriological technique are in any way competent to say whether the process is still latent or not. A case is far from cured when the discharge of pus is no longer visible, though all patients and many physicians rest content when this result is accomplished. GONORRHCEA. 311 Gonorrlioea, being essentially a local disease due to defi- nite micro-organisms, is " curable" at auj' stage, though it must be pointed out that the word " cure" is objectionable to many physicians in relation to almost all morbid proc- esses, for a restitutio ad integrum, or restoration to the previous condition, is rarely attained. " Relieved" is a better word than "cured," for the germs can indeed be de- stroyed, with ijerhaps little damage to the tissues ; but in those instances where there are several fresh infections, each attack is modified in intensity and results by the fact that the tissues have been so impaired that the condition becomes more and more favorable for the formation of scar tissue. In other words, gonorrhoea alters the " state of receptivity" of the urethral mucous membrane so that it is rendered a favorable soil for the growth of other harmful organisms. A majority of the cases, however, are " cured" in the or- dinary acceptation of the term. Venus was the Latin name for the "Goddess of Love," while the same deity was identified by the Greeks as Aphro- dite, the patroness of lust. Her name is used in medicine for things rela-ting to sexual love and intercourse; hence the terms venereal and aphrodisiac — pertaining to love or venery. Venereal diseases are such as are intimately associated with the gratification of the sexual passion, and are gonor- rhcBa, chancroid, and syphilis ; and of these gonorrhoea is the most distinctly venereal, since it is rarelj^ acquired in any other way than by sexual intercourse, while the others frequently are. Eicord, the great Parisian authority on venereal diseases, claimed that eight hundred out of every thousand men who lived in large cities had at some time in their lives suffered with gonorrhoea. Gonorrhoea, as previously stated, is probably the most frequent disease which requires treatment; and it stands 312 HEREDITY AND MORALS. near tlie top in tlie amount of harm it does to tlie human race. In contradistinction to syphilis, it is essentially a local disease aud does not taint the blood and thus transmit itself to one's posterity. We have said that the germs of the disease sometimes become scattered throughout the whole body, causing grave constitutional effects, aud that the wife and child may be afflicted; but these facts must not mislead one into the error of regarding gonorrhoea as a disease which taints the blood. The gonorrhosal infection is a typically virulent or venom- ous process, due to the growth of a minute vegetable organ- ism — the "gonococcus" — of which we shall presently' speak. Gonorrhoea can develop only b}^ inoculation with these gonococci, which are usualh* conveyed iu the mucous or purulent discharge from another infected x^erson. It is usually situated iu the sexual organs of the male and female ; the latter sex being the chief source of its trans- mission, while the male sex is more frequently infected — the reason for this being that men are more frequently impure, and because a comparatively^ small proportion of woman, kind cater to the lewd jjassions of men. The main source of gonorrhoea is coitus with a woman so affected, and it is a condiih sine qua non that one in- dividual can contract the disease onl}^ from another who has the malady. Gonorrhoea is termed by physicians a " specific urethri- tis," by which is meant a virulent or poisonous inflamma- tion of the urethra, iu contradistinction to the "simple urethritis,"' which is an inflammatory condition simulat- ing the specific form, but comparatively trivial. Not every case of urethritis, or inflammation in the urethra, is gonor- rhoea. Thus, a man may have a urethritis develop after a pure intercourse with his wife, if she has an acrid dis- 'The termination itis is used by pathologists to signify an inflammation of any organ to the name of which it is suffixed. GONORRHCEA. 313 charge or is menstruating, but it is nonsense to believe that one can contract gonorrhoea from another person who has not gonorrhoea. As explanatory of the above a case recently came to the notice of the author, where a respectable and pure man married and took a wedding trip of several weeks' dura- tion. Upon reaching Washington he apj)lied for medical advice in an agony of mind, saying that he had an inflam- mation in the urethra, and believing that he had acquired gonorrhoea from his wife, for he had been with no other woman. The case was satisfactorily cleared up by the diagnosis, aided by the microscope, which made it j^ossi- ble to assure him that he was suffering from a " simple" or "non-infective urethritis," and not from gonorrhoea. The man then acknowledged that he had insisted on intercourse with his wife, a few days before, in spite of her disapproval and warning that she was menstruating. The above case is mentioned in order to allow no married man to wrongfully blame his wife if he chance to get some of her irritating and acrid discharges into his urethra. She and he are then both blameless in their constancy, and the affair is trivial. This " simple urethritis" is not severe and is no worse than a " cold in the head." Gonorrhoea is what is called a "specific disease," i.e., it is produced by a special or distinctly determined cause, the gonococcus, which has distinctive characteristics of its own. The term is derived from two Greek words j"^>"9," semen," and piit>, to "flow," but its etymology is erroneous and the word is x^arclonable only on account of its antiquity. The gonorrhoeal process maj^ attack any mucous or serous surface ; for instance the mucous membrane of the urethra, vagina, uterus, eye, mouth, nose, ear, anus, but of course it usually attacks the urethra in the male, and in the fe- male the urethra, vagina, uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries and peritoneum. The chronic form of gonorrhoea, which may last for 314 HEREDITY AND MORALS. montlis or j^ears, is termed " gleet. " This word, however^ is rarely employed in scientific phraseology. Gonorrhoea of course may attack individuals of either sex at any x)eriod of life from infancy to extreme old age, if any of the poisonous substance is planted on a mucous membrane in any way whatsoever. Excex)t in rare instances, which are either accidental, or unnatural, accursed and exe- crable, one sex derives it from the other. It may be, and often is, carried by the fingers, or soiled linen, or towels, and then usually affects the mucous mem- brane of the eye; but in the vast majority of cases it is contracted by direct infection during impure intercourse. The most dangerous women are those who are most ex- posed to the acquisition of the disease by the bestowal of their favors on the greatest number of men, and those who practise prostitution clandestinely. Disgusting as it is, the reader must share in the knowl- edge held by the profession of the depths of infamy to which the unbridled gratification of the sexual instinct may lead. Gonorrhoea of the mouth is occasionally contracted by the beastly and UDuatural perversion of buccal intercourse, but the cases, of which there are not a few, are too loath- some to dwell upon. Coitus per rectum sometimes conveys the disease to that region, and many well-authenticated cases of rectal gonor- rhoea have been reported, usually, but not always, from sodomy. ; Winslow ■ reports a case where a hoj in a Baltimore in- stitution contracted urethral gonorrhoea while out on leave, and by pederast}-, or rectal coitus, spread the contagion to ten other boys, who consequently suffered from rectal gonorrhoea. J. A. Murray " reports a case of gonorrhoea • " Report of an Epidemic of Gonorrhoea Contracted from Rectal Coition, " Medical Neirs, August 14, 1886. « Medical News, March 7, 1896. GONORRHCEA. 315 of tlie rectum where tlie iunocent wife of au iuuoceut lius- band coutraetecl tlie disease by using iu lier bathroom a rectal syringe which had just before been used by a ser- vant^girl — who confessed to having gonorrhoea — for gi\T.ng herself a vaginal injection. Many similar cases are re- corded. Gonorrhoea of the rectum causes great pain, a constant desire to go to the closet, agonizing stools and painful urination, with i^urulent and bloody discharges from the rectum. Etiology, or an Account of the Cause and Origin of Gonor- rlioea.- — A widespread belief is prevalent, even among a large class of intelligent laymen, that gonorrhoea and syphilis are closely related; but the two diseases are entirely dis- tinct. The modern scientific impetus to medicine has forever put an end to all doubts regarding this. In 1879 Neisser, of Breslau, discovered au organism, or micrococcus, which he found constantly and invariablj^ in the pus discharge of gonorrhoea of the generative organs and gonorrhal conjunctivitis ; this organism he named the " gonococcus," and scientists now call it the " gonococcus of Neisser. " Gonorrhoea is therefore distinctly proved to be a microhic disease, having for its sole cause this minute vegetable "gonococcus," just as phthisis has been proved to be due to the " tubercle bacillus, " and as diphtheria, typhoid fever, erysipelas, anthrax, etc., are caused each by its own pecu- liar and distinctive organism. The gonococcus is one of the largest of the vegetable mi- cro-organisms which cause disease, but nevertheless it is exceeding minute. The organism can be seen with a micro- scope which magnifies five hundred diameters, but it is more satisfactory to employ an oil-immersion lens which has an amplification of from one thousand to twelve hundred di- ameters. When seen unstained it has a peculiar pearl-like sheen, and a quick, rotatory motion, but in order to observe 316 HEREDITY AND MORALS. it satisfactoril}^, it is necessary, iu addition to the liigli- power maguilication, to stain it with an aniline dye. The organism measures 0.8 to 1.6 micromillimeters, or -j^Vyu to te,\tz of an inch. The gonococci are always found in pairs and are thence called " diplococci," and each diplococcus, or pair of organisms which are coupled together, resembles in shape a French roll, or coffee-bean. Furthermore their "grouping" is characteristic, as they are never found in chains, but always in small clusters or clumps, and the number of the organisms is usually divisible by four. As is well known to most persons, a minute quantity of yeast fungus, saccJiaro))i//ces cerevisice, added to dough, causes it to " leaven," or " rise," hj fermentation, that effect being due to an enormous increase in the number of yeast cells within a short time; so also if a few gonococci are implanted on a mucous membrane, they rapidly multijDly in a manner j^eculiar to these bacterial organisms by " cleaving" or dividing in a geometrical ratio into countless other " daughter" cells. All this would occur within a few hours' time. Thus, one gonococcus cleaves into two; these again subdivide so as to form four ; and these again further split uji into eight, sixteen, thirty -two, sixty-four, and so on until countless thousands are soon propagated. These gonococci, like other bacteria, have a great affinity for aniline dyes, such as methyl violet, fuchsin, gentian violet, and methyl blue, but they lose this stain readily when dipi)ed into alcohol and acids according to " Gram's method," the details o! which would be intelligible only to a microscopist. Suffice it to say that their staining in the aniline dyes, and decolorization bj^ Gram's method, is a valuable means of distinguishing them from other organisms. The mucous membrane of the male and female genitalia, and that of the eye, furnish the best possible "soil," or medium for their culture, a constant, warm temperature, moisture, and fluids upon which the organism thrives. GONOERHCEA. 317 These gonococci, after their proliferation ui)OU the tis- sues, set up a virulent inflammation, soon resulting in the formation of pus, which pours out from the aflfected i)arts. In the interior of the pus cells will be seen microscopically, after staining reagents have been employed, innumerable colonies of gonoccocci, which multiply so rapidl}' that they eventually burst open the pus-cells from over-distention. In the acute stages of gonorrhoea there is no difficulty in recognizing them with the microscope, in the i)us discharge, but in the chronic stages they may be much harder to find, and perhaps may not be found at all in some of the speci- mens examined. In cases of old-standing gonorrhoea where the gonococci cannot be found microscopically, they frequently again come into evidence if the patient indulge in excessive venery, or in drinking alcoholic liquors, or in excessive ex- ercise. As a rule it is not difficult to diagnose a case of gonorrhoea where there is a history of an impure inter- course and a pus-like discharge, but the determination of the disease is absolutely confirmed by the finding of gono- cocci in the pus discharge. Remember, then, (o) that gonococci are the cause of gonorrhoea, because they are invariablij found in the pus discharge of clap, and never are found in diseases which are not gonorrhoeal ; (&) that contamination with pus which does not contain gonococci never produces gonorrhoea, while pus containing gonococci does; (c) that the gono- cocci may be conveyed by any vehicle, but that infection is almost always due to impure intercourse. Signs, Sym23toms and Mode of Onset of Gonorrhoea. — Gonorrhoea, like all virulent processes, e.g., small-pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, etc., has a period of incubation, of invasion, advance, persistence, decline and convalescence; only in this disease, as in syphilis, the period of convalescence is frequently very much prolonged. Every individual who contracts any specific disease has 318 HEREDITY AND MORALS. a definite road to go over, wliicli lie must pass, willv- nillv. For illustration let us take a country' in wliicli table- lands or plateaus exist, wliere the top of tlie mountain is occux)ied by an extent of nearly level land instead of a j)eak. As one advances toward tliis mountain the level plain rei^resents health; the first foot-hills represent the invasion of the disease; the abrupt ascent of the mountain represents the advance of the disease, and the plateau on toj) its persistence : then the descent of the mountain repre- sents the decline of the disease, the foot-hills on the other side convalescence, and the broad plan farther on health regained. Travellers make this journey with varying degrees of comfort and celerity — some on mule-back, some with guides who pull them uj) with ropes, some walking alone, and some carrj' ing heavy packs. In a corresponding man- ner the diseased patient has a difiicult or easy experience according to his constitution and proclivities acquired by habit, the skill of the doctor's treatment, and the virulence of the attack. But once having set out on the mountainous journey, there is no turning back at any price. Most of the severe diseases are accidental and beyond control; but gonorrhoea, syphilis, and chancroid are elective diseases, which the patient decides that he can run the risk of acquiring "for the fun of the thing," just as the moun- tain climber ascends the Matterhorn from choice and not necessity. Climbing the Matterhorn, however, is far safer — for the majority who make that trip never suffer harm, while the impure man practical!}^ never escapes acquiring disease sooner or later. Let us, with our telescopes, observe the traveller on this rough and dangerous journey, refusing to follow him until we see how the parties who take the trip appear at the other side. GONORRHCEA. 319 A fine, healthy young man, fit to be a Imsbaud and father, heedlessly decides that he will take his chances of escajjing disease. In a large number of instances he is bitten upon his first experimental trial, only to find himself a sacrificial sin-offering on the altar of Venus, a mark for the shafts of ridicule from his "friends," and a shamefaced attendant at the doctor's office, remorseful and repentant, but nevertheless compelled to take this difficult journey in common with the coarse and the vulgar and the dissolute. His punishment m,ay be syphilis or chancroid, but let us supjjose that he has acquired gonorrhoea. After the impure intercourse there elapses the ijeriod of incubation, between the introduction of the virus into the body and the commencement of the disease. This incuba- tion period, which is occupied in the maturation of the gonococci, may make itself evident at any time from two to fourteen days after the impure cohabitation, though it usually manifests itself in from three to five days. The reason why this period of incubation varies is that some are naturally less susceptible than others, as we know to be the case in many diseases ; that in some cases the gono- cocci are in such overwhelming numbers as to rapidly over- power the tissues, while in another case there may be com- paratively few organisms ; and, again, that the duration of the impure exposure modifies the time required for incuba- tion, as does also the fact of the vital forces having or not having been rendered less resistive by too much alcoholic indulgence, or by any cause which influences the vulner- ability of the tissues. The gonococci are implanted during coitus either within the urethra or on the lips of the meatus. This being a favorable soil for their growth, they rapidly develop and spread up the canal of the urethra, jiartly by invasion and partly by capillary attraction. The onset of gonorrhoea is usually accompanied by a series of mild general symptoms, i.e., the whole system is 320 HEREDITY AND MORALS. affected, though the disease, except iu rare cases, is a local one. The j^atient, at the beginning of the attack, suffers with chilliness, a rise of temperature, loss of appetite, and mental def^ression. Circles forjn under the eyes and the complexion becomes sallow. Sleei) is disturbed, partly on account of mental anguish, and i:»artlj by morbidly in- creased sexual desire with painful erections. Then during the next two weeks the gonorrhoeal process increases in severity, reaching its acme, in a typical case, in the third week, after which the symptoms decline, and at the end of five or six weeks the patient may no longer notice any in- dications, and may consider himself cured, though this is far from the actual fact unless the course of the disease has been modified by the most skilful treatment. At the end of the period of incubation, i.e., usually from three to five days after the imjjure intercourse, certain prodromal syrtrp- torns are first noticed, such as a slight tickling sensation at the orifice of the urethra, reddening of the lij)S of the meatus, and the exudation of a tenacious, stick}', grayish fluid which glues its lips together. Sometimes these symptoms are severe, sometimes mild. Usually after the lapse of two or three days, during which this secretion is poured out, there is an intense burning sensation felt, which is worse on urination; this is called ardor urina\ During this prodromal stage sensitive patients usually exhibit symptoms of dei;)ression of spirits, lassitude, and loss of appetite, chieflj' on account of anxiety of mind and fear of impending gonorrhoea. After the prodromal symptoms have lasted from two to eight days, there then comes the acute, orjforid stage, which is accompanied b}' the classical sj-mptoms of heat, pain, redness and swelling — "color, dolor, rubor, et tumor.'" The drof) or two of grayish fluid which was first noticed at the meatus now increases in amount and becomes converted into a milky or creamy pus. At first the redness is con- fined to the margins at the orifice of the urethra; but this GONORRHCEA. 321 soon spreads until often the whole glans penis, or head of the organ, and sometimes even the whole penis, is enor- mously swollen and exceedingly painful. Patients with a tight or long foreskin are liable to suffer more, since the tissues which compose this structure are of such a nature that they are liable to swell to an enormous degree and to retain the irritating pus secretion beneath them. In some cases the foreskin is so much swollen that it cannot be drawn back, and then the surgeon is compelled to slit it up in order to liberate the pent-up secretion. Very early in the acute stage, as a rule, the lymphatic glands in the groins become swollen and tender, and one can often trace, from the glans penis to the groins, the red and swollen lymphatic vessels which convey the poison to them. The discharge at about the beginning of the second week becomes thick, creamy, profuse, purulent, and often blood- tinged. It pours out so freely from the urethra day and night, in the form of large, heavj^ drops, that it soils the genitals and clothing of the patient and necessitates the wearing of a protective dressing over the j^enis. Gonorrhoea begins in the anterior part of the urethra, but in from eighty to ninety per cent of cases travels down the canal until almost its whole length is in an intense state of inflammation. In this event, i.e., when the inflam- mation has spread down the urinary passage, even the sub- stance of the penis, as well as the urethra, will be acutely inflamed and swollen, and the patient then finds himself in the undignified position of haviug an absorbing interest in his genital apparatus to the exclusion of all else. It is important to understand that the urethra is a tube — or rather a potential tube, for its walls lie in apj^osition when not distended by urine — with a calibre of about the size of an ordinary lead-pencil, extending a distance of eight or nine inches from the bladder to the exterior, and serving as a passage, or conduit, for the urine and semen. 21 322 HEREDITY AND MORALS. So it is evident tliat the result of a severe inflammatory swelling of its walls, and of the surrounding tissues, will be to narrow very materially the calibre of this tube. Urination, consequently, is now a matter of acute pain and even agon}-, giving a sensation as though a red-hot iron had been i)assed down the urethra, or as if the urine were scalding the canal. This is due partly to the in- creased acidity of the urine, but chiefly to the forcible dis- tention of the inflamed and suppurating canal. In such a case the j^atient exerts ever}' efi'ort to pass his water slowly, and to effect this he holds his breath, relaxes the abdominal muscles, and sometimes even tries to stop the stream of urine. Often there is a spasm of the compi'essor urethne muscle, so that strangiiry, or an inability to pass urine, is caused, which condition maj^ require relief by the passage of a catheter. Owing to the swelling of the ure- thral mucous membrane and the resulting narrowing of the canal, the stream of urine becomes very thin, escaping in drops, or in a twisted, sputtering and weak manner, while sometimes it dribbles awaj- drop by drop involuntarily. In those instances where the inflammation has not spread along the whole canal, these symptoms are not so pro- nounced, their severity varying much in different cases, being usuallj^ more acute in a first attack than in sub- sequent ones, unless there has been an interval of several years between the infections. There is always a muco- purulent secretion, the abundance and pus-like character of which affords a good criterion of the severity of the at- tack. The urethra being freely supplied with a network of capillary blood-vessels, there is frequently", on account of the inflammation, a trickling away of a few drops of blood with the discharge, giving the linen a characteristic san- guineous stain. The amount of the pus discharged is greatest during the night and toward morning, and less during the day, partly because the patient usually urinates only once or twice GONORRHCEA. 823 during tlie niglit, while during tlie day lie performs this function at frequent intervals, and thus washes away the discharge with the stream of urine, not permitting it to collect in abundance. In addition to this he suffers at night from the injurious effects of exercise during the day. During this inflammatory stage of the disease the patient should be kept confined to bed in order to give the parts as much rest as possible, though it is often impossible to ac- complish this without his compromising himself, unless he takes a trip away from home " for the benefit of his health," or on some other pretext. The acute stage usually reaches its worst during the second week, and then still more serious troubles sujier- vene. Almost the entire length of the urethra is now swollen and inflamed ; it is tender upon pressure and there is a feeling of anguish in the testicles, which is rendered worse by walking or jarring. A patient in this stage can usually be recognized by a careful observer ; when he sits down he does so with the greatest deliberation, in such a manner as to i:)rotect his perinseum from pressure ; if he crosses his legs, it is done with the greatest care and with the assistance of his hands. His inguinal glands are swollen and tender, and he suffers with pain in the back. He is now really ill and bed is the proper place for him. As in every disease where there is suppuration, his temperature rises, he has chills, and is pale, worried, anxious, without appetite, and constipated. Whatever comfort the patient may have dur- ing the day is apt to turn into torture during the night. In the earlier days and nights of the stage of acute ure- thritis he has a morbidly increased sexual desire and increased ability for copulation. These symptoms are usually provoked by the warmth of the bed, but even in- dependently of this the symptoms are aggravated at night. So great is the increase of the voluptuous sensations that patients often seek relief by masturbation or fornication. 324 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Many of them, feeling that they must have relief, visit the brothels in spite of the known dangers to the women, and to those who use them afterward. It is well for men to la}^ this jjoint to heart, since a most dangerous class of poisoned and venomous men are going about, unrestrained by the law, with uncontrollable passions. These voluptuous sensations, at first quite agreeable, early become eminently unpleasant, and the sexual irrita- tion soon causes the patient the most aggravated suffering. Verj' frecjuent and surprisingly vigorous erections occur and the penis becomes distorted, much to the mental an- guish and chagrin of the patient, for every man thinks more of the normal shape of his i)rivate organs than of any other part of the body. The penis is sometimes forcibly drawn against the abdomen by the powerful erections, and frequently undergoes a series of most painful spasmodic convulsions. With these erections there are apt to be frequent debilitating and involuntary ejaculations of semen, and these erections and ejaculations are sometimes so intense that they cause rujiture of the inflamed and con- gested urethra, so that blood is mingled wdth the pus and semen. This variety is called "Eussian clap." Sometimes the erections are so strong that they last for hours at a time, and in some cases there is a symptom, called chordee, in which the penis becomes arched like a bow, with the concavity downward. In this condition the virile organ becomes rigid and bent, partly on account of an increased flow of blood to one part of the penis — corpus cavernosum — which makes it less ex- tensible than the corpus spongiosuiii, and partly owing to a spasm of the longitudinal muscular fibres in the urethra. Chordee, though not occurring in the majority of cases, is a most distressing symptom, sometimes so maddening the sufferer by the discomfort and pain that he strives to "break the cord" by straightening the penis forcibly, or by laying the distorted organ on a book and giving it a smart GONORRHCEA. 325 blow. This manoeuvre, however, is exceedingly dangerous, since it is apt to cause a tear in the urethra which may be followed by a serious hemorrhage and which will surely result in stricture ; and cases are reported where death has followed from gangrene of the penis, or from bladder and kidney infection, or from general blood poisoning. The patient's nights are full of misery ; the warmth of the bed and the state of sleep promote the tendency to pain- ful erections and chordee, and as soon as the patient has awakened and relieved himself of one attack by walking on the cold floor and the use of cooling applications, he falls asleep only to be re-awakened by the same occurrence time after time. His nights are so much disturbed that he rises in the morning tired and dejected, and unfit for the duties of the day. There is a discharge of greenish — often blood-tinged — pus during this acute stage of the disease. The discharge of pus from the urethra is often surprisingly profuse, but this is not to be wondered at when one considers the exten- sive amount of tissue involved. Every case of acute septic -urethritis, or clap, does not run precisely this course, but this is a typical description of a typical case. Proper treatment of course modifies the severity of the symptoms. In some cases the voiding of urine causes only moderate suffering, and the erections are painless and cause little discomfort; but every individual who elects to acquire gonorrhoea makes himself liable to the severest and most dangerous forms, and but little comfort can be derived from having a mild attack — for the remote complications may become apparent mouths or years afterward, and the future wife ma^' be rendered an incurable invalid. In a tyi)ical case of gonorrhoea, to sum up, there is a period of incubation, usually of three to five daj's' dura- tion, during which there are no symptoms by which the disease can be recognized ; this is followed by a prodromal 326 HEREDITY AND MORALS. stage of about two clays' duration in wliicli tlie first evi- dences of symptoms appear. Tlie process increases in severity for about fourteen days and reaches its most acute stage during tlie third week ; but then, if the patient has received proper care as to rest, diet, and hygiene, the severity of this acute stage becomes modified at the end of the second or beginning of the third week after the acute symptoms developed. At the end of two or three weeks more the symptoms may disappear, and in an uncomi^licated and fortunate case the entire process would last from five to six weeks. As recovery begins, the discharge becomes more scanty, less greenish, and thinner in consistence, and eventually, under favorable circumstances, becomes a grayish muco- pus which stains the shirt and bed-linen and glues together the lips of the meatus. The foregoing description applies only to gonorrhoea of the anterior urethra, where the process always originates and luxuriates for the first few weeks ; if the disease spread to the i)osterior urethra, as it does in a large majority of cases, the results are much more serious, as will later appear. By attention to all the rules of hygiene and by proper treatment, acute anterior urethritis — uncomplicated clap — may, under the most fortunate circumstances, be recovered from in from six to eight weeks, but such an event is the exception and not the rule. After the acute stage has lasted from one to three months, it passes into the declining stage, which may drag along for many long months more, or even for years. In the declining stage there is not usually much pain, the chief symptom being a more or less copious discharge which soils the patient's shirt and bed-linen, but all through this declining stage the recovery is apt to be interrujjted by severe relapses, especially if he take active exercise, be- come constipated, catch cold, or indulge in excesses in Venere et in Baccho. GONORRHCEA. 327 These relapses are regarded by many patients as fresh attacks of gonorrlicBa, and it is to tliese that one refers when he says that he heeds a case of clap as little as a bad cold ; and from these relapses quacks and charlatans make a great reputation, for the discharge is readily checked by slightly astringent injections. If, however, the urethra were to be examined by the urethroscope in the hands of an expert, areas of inflammatory tissue would be seen in the deeper j^arts, although there might be no external dis- charge whatever. In reality, in these cases, the patient never has recovered, but healing is taking place with relapses whose intensity grows gradualh" less and less severe with each succeeding attack. One is more apt to suflfer set-backs if he be of a weak constitution, if he have previously suffered from syphilis, if he have pollutions, if he indulge in coitus, or in alcoholics, or take too active exercise, or spicy food, or if he be constipated. Should he be so unfortunate as to acquire any other simultaneous illness, he will also very probably suffer a relapse. Of course, many cases of acute gonorrhoea varj- a good deal in the intensity and in the duration of the different stages from the preceding typical description ; for instance, sometimes the period of incuba- tion and the prodromal stage last longer and are less severe, while in other instances all the symjitoms develop more rapidly and are intensified, so as to be even more severe than what has been depicted. Sometimes the amount of pus poured out is small in amount and there is not much discomfort, so that an un- observant patient might miss the fact that he had an at- tack of gonorrhoea, while in other cases, there may be, in addition to the worst symptoms already described, in- voluntary pollutions, gonorrhoeal rheumatism, gonorrhoeal ophthalmia or conjunctivitis, or gonorrhoeal inflammation of the brain or heart, ending fatally. Eemember that even the mildest case of clap may result 328 HEREDITY AND MORALS. clisastronsly by spreading to tlie deep, or posterior portion of the urethra, causing any of these complications, or stricture, prostatitis and sterility. It is erroneous to sup- pose that gonorrhoea limits itself to the anterior urethra. The whole extent of the urethra becomes involved in the large majority of instances. All the symi^toms heretofore described have been quite apparent to the patient, but, in order to follow the course of the disease accurately and scientifically, it is necessary for the physician to make frequent microscopical examina- tions of the discharges and of the urine. During the height of the attack the microscope reveals pus corpuscles and gonococci in enormous numbers, and the treatment will be largely directed by their persistence or decline. By degrees the pus cells and gonococci become less numerous ; but the latter are very liable to recnidesce, or crop up afresh with renewed activity, months after their apparent disappearance. In the early stages there will be noticed in the urine nu- merous little rice-like bodies, resembling fluffy threads or balls; these are called "clap-threads" {Tripperfaden hy the Germans) , and consist of fjus and exfoliated epithelial cells held together by mucus, for which the careful physician must look with his microscope, day by daj^, until they have entirely disappeared. The accurate and systematic observation of the urine affords one of the most reliable means of information in regard to the favorable or discouraging progress of the case, but the processes are far too technical in character for the layman to grasj). Suffice it to say that by an intel- ligent and careful daily examination of the urine the well- equipped physician can conclude as to the progress of the case, even -udthout questioning the patient in regard to his feelings and sensations. Unfortunately relajises in gonor- rhoea are very common, and clap-threads and pus-cells are often present in the urine for months and years, during all GONORRHEA. 329 of wliicli time the patient is, in very truth, a poisonous animal and exceedingly dangerous to any one with whom he may cohabit. " It cannot be repeated too often : clap is a dangerous disease ! Aside from the many complications and conse- quences which it laaj bring to the persons affected, it can make the patient hopelessly blind in twenty-four hours. These facts alone, among a multitude of others equally alarming, which affect the patient's self-love, being duly impressed ujion his mind, we may go a step farther. A dispjiearance of all external evidence of the disease by no means makes the ex-patient unable to cause his wife's death. Lurking in the crypts, follicles and glands of his urethra may be gonococci. In the sexual relation these murderous bacteria are wholly or i)artially emptied out. Enough of them may be projected to pass with the semen to the regions where a future human being should be given life, and the prospective mother then has within her the fungus of destruction." ' The average i)hysiciau tells the patient that he is cured and allows him to pass out of his care far too early ; and the great majority of patients, weary of the exjiense and eager to believe themselves free from a filthy disease, as- sume the responsibility of defining when they are cured by the assertion that it is all over when there is no discharge visible at the meatus. The use of internal remedies alone, such as are i:)rescribed by many physicians and druggists, is not in any event ade- quate to cure gonorrhoea; with these must be combined irrigations and ai^iDlications to the diseased areas. Acute Posterior Urethritis. — In a typical case of uncom- plicated gonorrhoea the disease is confined to the anterior part of the urethra, but in eighty to ninety per cent of 1 Ferd. C. Valentine, M. D. , Professor of Genito-Urinary Diseases, New York School of Clinical Medicine ; Medico-Si.rgical Bulletin, October 1, 1895. 330 HEREDITY AND MORALS. cases tlie inflammatory process invades tlie posterior ure- thra, and forms an ominous complication. " It follows, therefore, that the opinion heretofore enter- tained, that gonorrhoea, as a rule, limits itself to the ante- rior urethra, localizing itself chiefly at the bulbous portion, is wholly incorrect, since the reverse is true — namely, that, as a rule, the infection spreads in between eighty and ninety per cent of cases through the entire length of the urethra, and only exceptionally^ in a minimum of cases is limited to the anterior urethra." ' The symx)toms are not usually noticeable when the dis- ease spreads backward to the deeper portion of the ure- thra, and it is important to remember that this j^osterior urethritis causes the discharge from the anterior urethra to cease, thus misleading the careless physician, or drug- gist, or patient into the momentous error of supposing that a cure has been effected. The blame for this attaches partly to the patient and partly to the physician; the former will not heed advice, will not rest, and will often continue in the indulgence of his sexual passions ; and it is the plain truth that a large number of the latter treat clap in a routine and harmful v/'Sij. In the tyjiical case heretofore described, the reader will remember that improvement sets in after the third w^eek, or acme of the process; but this is a critical time — and a change for the w^orse, wdth ominous symptoms, may occur. Recovery is then very slow and the conditions are favor- able for the development of stricture, epididymitis, in- flammation of the testicles, bladder, seminal vesicles and prostate gland. In posterior urethritis there is a profuse suppuration going on without the patient's knowledge; for the pus does not pour out of the end of the urethra as it does in anterior urethritis, but flow^s backward into the bladder. In this condition the patient will j)robably suffer • Taylor, " "Venereal Diseases, " p. 125. GONORRHCEA. 331 witli a burning pain between the testicles and in the peri- nseum, and will liave a frequent and intense desire to urinate — tenesmus — witliout being able to void liis urine. Sometimes tliere is such a high degree of congestion of the urethra that blood is mingled with the urine. In some cases the tenesmus, or ineffectual straining, is most distressing, and the sufferer has a constant desire to urinate without relief being obtained. Sometimes he sits on the commode almost constantly, passing a few drops of bloody urine now and then, and bathed in a profuse sweat, while at other times, and in other cases, there is inconti- nence of urine, or a condition in whicli he cannot retain his urine from constantly dribbling away. Frequent pollutions are often induced in this condition, causing relapse after relapse, so that the disease may last for weeks, or months, or indefinitely. Such a patient is very liable to be sterile. In men who have hypertrophy of the prostate, or a stricture from an old attack of gonorrhoea, posterior urethritis is a most distressing and sometimes alarming and dangerous comi:)lication, the combination of acute and chronic disorders leading to general blood-poison- ing and an ascending gonorrhoea which attacks the kidneys. Repeated infections of gonorrhoea are more dangerous than a single attack ; for then there is liable to be a sub- acute form, lasting indefinitely and becoming aggravated, as it continues, by varioiis sequelfe and complications which may lead to a fatal termination. Gonorrhoeal rheumatism and involvement of the heart, by endocarditis or pericarditis, are very liable to cause permanent impairment of health and even death; while sterility- may follow upon inflammation of the testicles, epididymes and seminal vesicles, and further grievous damage is not infrequently caused by abscesses of the prostate, peritonitis, bladder and kidnej" comi)lications, and affections of the eyes. The prognosis in each case, of course, depends on the 332 HEREDITY AND MORALS. conduct and prudence of tlie patient as well as the skill in treatment. Wlien one considers that the sexual appetite, in some of these cases, is uncontrollably strong and pas- sionate, and that the patient is degenerated by evil ways of living and thinking, he can readily see that the physi- cian must be guarded in the expression of his oi^inion as to the chances of a recover}' which approaches a cui*e. If jjroper care and treatment are employed, a provisional cure may often, under favorable circumstances, be looked for in a month or two. Tlie Treatment of Acute Gonorrhoea. — A clearer conception of the gonorrhoeal process can be obtained bj' an insight into the general line of treatment than by any other way. Bemember that gonorrhoea, as a rule, remains a local dis- ease, but that tlie gonococci in the urethra elaborate certain poisonous chemical substances — ptomaines — which some- times produce a general constitutional effect of septicaemia, or blood-poisoning, and that sometimes the gonococci themselves enter the circulation and are carried in the blood-stream to the heart, the eyes, the brain and the large joints, where they produce disastrous results. The absolute diagnosis of gonorrhoea can be made only when the physician has demonstrated the presence of gono- cocci in the mucus or pus discharge by microscopical ex- amination ; though of course one can be practically certain of the character of the disease from the information gained by clinical experience. After cohabitation with a susi)icious woman, a man is liable to be worried and anxious and unable to enjoy a single moment's peace of mind. As a rule, therefore, pa- tients present themselves early for treatment, and certainly as soon as the discharge is well developed. There is hardh' any disease for which so many methods of treatment have been tried as for gonorrhoea ; and since uninformed men have fallen into the habit of considering it a trifling ailment, the druggist probably treats more cases GONORRHCEA. 333 in the earl.y stages than the physician, though the latter is bound to receive their visits soon, usually after irrepar- able damage has been done. The " man about town" often has a panacea for clap, which he says has cured him time after time, when, in reality, he never was cured of the virulent attack which he had acquired perhaps years before — these fresh attacks of "bastard clap" being mereh- outbreaks of the original un- cured malady. From false reports such as these the igno- rant are often deluded into self-medication by the use of internal remedies and injections which are "warranted to cure in three days." The penalty in such cases is usually a stricture or sterility. Gonorrhoea is inevitably a self-limited disease, and just as a bone requires at least six weeks for its firm union in spite of the most renowned surgeon's skill, so this disease also requires from five to six weeks for its cure, even under the most favorable methods of treatment ; and if a remedy can ever be found which will give such results in ever}' case, it will be hailed by the profession as a medical triumph. The truth is that gonorrrhoea is one of the most thankless of all diseases to treat if one is to expect recovery with no evil consequences left behind — i.e., a cure, or i^estitutio ad integrum. This view every specialist on venereal diseases supports with emphasis. In many ways this class of pa- tients are most undesirable : social conditions usually make concealment necessary, and any disease treated in privacy is always unsatisfactorily controlled, and the sexual appe- tite, the most powerful of all impulses in these men, is by the nature of the disease abnormally stimulated, while for the subsidence of the inflammatory j^rocess this passion should be at rest. Patients with gonorrhoea under all circumstances wish to be soon rid of it, and in many instances consider a rapid cure imperative. A plan has been adopted to meet this class of cases, called the abortive method. 334 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Tlie Abortive 31etJiod. — This metliod aims to cut short tlie disease at its very inception, before tlie gonoccoci Lave had time to develop — but this can rarely be effected. Any attempt to abort gonorrhoea after pus has been seen at the meatus is useless, but the i)atient's importunity sometimes leads the physician of small experience to make the trial. This method — which need not be described — is very pain- ful; and inflammation, sometimes slight, sometimes severe, is sure to follow, so that there will be a sloughing of the parts touched and an escape of pus from its effects. If the attempt at aborting the gonorrhoea fail, the acute stage will then be rendered much more severe. The abortive method, consequently, is unjustifiable un- less it be used within a few hours after the impure inter- course and before gonorrhcea has actually been diagnosed. General Ilanagemeut and Considerations on the Treatment of Glajp. — The abortive method having failed, as it ordi- narily does, the acute stage, which we now have to treat, is rendered worse. However, in most cases, the abortive method will not have been tried, since the patient rarely consults the physician until the acute stage is well estab- lished. ImxDelled b}' the solicitations and anxiet}^ of the patient, the doctor will frequently employ active treatment at the outset, using a clap-syringe and nauseating potions; but the severity of the disease is often enhanced by these means, for doctors are human in spite of the trust and con- fidence which the ordinary patient reposes in them. Even the medical student, who has just received his license to practise, will often lightly assume the responsi- bilities of treating gonorrhoea, while he M'ould exercise a greater degree of care and assure himself that he was well informed on modern methods before performing delicate surgery or treating diseases of the eye. Modern require- ments have of late years been far more severe, however, and GONORRHCEA. 335 It is too often true that raauy au old-time practitioner, who perhaps does not even possess a microscoiie, is less fitted than the younger man to jjronouuce when the case is cured. Both the physician and the jiatient are far too readj^ to assume, for their self-glorification, that the disease is cured when the external discharge is no longer visible; but this is far from being the case, and the mistake is liable to result in untold harm, even after a long interval, to the patient himself and to any woman with whom he may cohabit. It is important to let the i)atient early understand that his ailment is in no degree trifling, but that it is a menace to his whole future enjoyment of health, to his virility, to his life itself, and to his family circle should he ever marry. The modern specialist on venereal disease will treat a case of gonorrha3a quite differently from many prac- titioners who have failed to ijroperly inform themselves. The details of treatment — lying solely in the physician's province — it is needless to specify here; but too much stress cannot be laid upon the imi:)ortauce of warning the patient that the discharge from his penis is a virulent poison, and that, in order to i)rotect his eyes from contami- nation, he must carefully wash his hands after every manip- ulation of the dressings or handling of the penis. The man is "unclean," and his towels and bed-linen must be used by him alone and washed separately. All the dress- ings and cloths which are contaminated by the discharge must be burned. After a patient has acquired gonorrhoea it is compara- tively easy to be able to inform him of the fact, but a mat- ter of considerable nicety to say when he is free from it ; and yet this latter decision is one of extreme moment, both to himself and to those with whom he may cohabit. It is a very nice matter indeed to manage a case of gonorrhoea just as it should be, for improper treatment, whether of too short or too long duration, or too active oi 336 HEREDITY AND MORALS. too mild, will probably convert a simple case into a clironic one wliicli may last indefiniteh' and be complicated with stricture, sterility and sexual irritative symptoms. Venereal patients are noted for their lying propensities, often referring the origin of their diseases to the contami- nation from water-closets ; indulging secretly in intercourse when the physician has prohibited it ; lying about their habits and symptoms^ either from shame or from a desire to lessen the amount of their expenditures ; and in every way proving so unsatisfactory in their conduct that, in spite of all the physician can do, thej' frequenth^ go from bad to worse, and in every i)articular carrj' out the role of venomous animals who poison innumerable women with disease, insidiously, under the guise of love, not giving warning of danger as the serpents do. The man who lies to his physician is a fool indeed, and the more so if he really expects to hoodwink men whose life-work it is to study human nature and its frailties. Chronic G^o)?or/7icea.— Chronic gonorrhoea is often spoken of as synonymous with " gleet" ; but the former term is more correct — the latter being a mere symptom. There are many influences which cause an acute case of claj:) to become chronic; this mishap, unfortunately, very frequently occurring, in which event the patient is not only liable to a protracted siege of suffering, annoyance and ex- pense, but also for a i)eriod of months or j-ears menaces any woman with whom he may cohabit, as well as all who follow him in his impure intercourse. Of course every case of chronic gonorrhoea develops from a pre-existing acute attack ; and when the declining stage, which is characterized by a clear mucous discharge, re- mains refractory to treatment, the inflammation becomes localized or limited to one patch of the urethra, usually in that part which is the most vascular, and where there are the greatest number of glands, such as the bulbous, mem- branous and prostatic portions of the urethra. GONORRHCEA. 337 Causes or Factors wliich Convert an Acute Attack into Clironic Gonorrhoea. — 1. There is a natural tendency for gonorrhoea to remain indefinite!}^ latent or dormant, be- cause the gonococci bury themselves deeply in the tissues, where they can with difficulty be reached by medicinal ap- plications. 2. Too active or too mild treatment on the part of the physician, along with infractions of hygienic and dietetic rules on the part of the j^atient, such as : (a) the patient, considering himself cured as soon as the discharge is checked, thinks that he will economize by stopping treat- ment, though there yet remain i:)us cells, clap-threads and gonococci in the urine ; (h) he is intemperate in his eating and drinking; (c) he does not refrain from active exercise — if a wage-earner, he must work; {d) he gratifies his ardent sexual desires by fornication or masturbation. The ordinary clap patient concentrates his mind and attention on sexual matters, and, if he cannot fornicate, will com- promise by associating with lewd and loose women whom he can at least hug and kiss, thereby promoting congestion of the alread}' inflamed tissues by sexual excitement; (e) some have jieculiar idiosyncrasies or diatheses which favor the development of the chronic form, e.g., syx)hilis, or the gouty or rheumatic diathesis, or any debilitating disease. 3. Relapses or rai:)idly recurring fresh infections of gonorrhoea favor the acquirement of the chronic type. After a period of treatment of six or eight weeks' duration, during which the patient has been continent, he thinks that he must now reward himself by a spree, either of drinking or of venery ; then comes on a relapse which is treated and disappears. Similar conduct brings on relapse after re- lapse, each one of less intensity and suffering, but con- tinually conducing to the firm implantation of the gono- cocci in the tissues, with a resulting serious and jjermanent damage to important structures. It is thus seen that there are manv influences which favor 22 338 HEREDITY AND MORALS. an attack of gonorrlioea becoming clironic, and no patient can for a moment assure himself that he will escape this misfortune. Can gonorrhoea last for a long time? Indeed it can. " In very many cases of posterior urethritis, there being no visible discharge, and the patients complaining of no symptoms referable to the deep urethra, the affection re- mains dormant, latent and unrecognized. Thus the cases may drag on for one or more, and even five, ten, and twenty years without giving any indication of lurking trouble. In some of these cases an exacerbation occurs, and then the patient realizes that he has had an uncured gonorrhoea." ' Can a i^atient have repeated attacks of gonorrhoea? 1. One attack, after its complete cure, furnishes abso- lutely no immunity. 2. An acute attack may be contracted while yet suffer- ing from chronic gonorrhoea. 3. A fresh attack requires two or three daj'S for its incu- bation or development, while a mere relapse of an old case shows its symjotoms at once. The cause of chronic gonor- rhoea is of course the gonococcus. These gonococci may remain latent for almost indefinite periods of time in cer- tain parts of the genital area, and become enfeebled in power, but not inert; and men who suffer from chronic gonorrhoea infect their wives with a chronic, and some- times with an acute gonorrhoea, perhaps months or years after they have suj^posed themselves cured. Symptoms of Chronic Gonoy^hoea. — Many a man is suffer- ing with chronic gonorrhoea without being aware of it, since there is not always, by an 3^ means, an external discharge from the meatus. A\Tien there is chronic gonorrhoea in the anterior urethra there is apt to be a thin, watery discharge, which later on becomes thick, tenacious, and yellowish, gluing together ' Taylor, "' Venereal Diseases, " p. 168. GONORRHCEA. 339 the lips of the meatus, and constantly staining the linen. To this form the term "gleet" is approjjriate. Dietetic or sexual intemperance renders the patient liable to an acute recrudescence of the morbid process, so that he often thinks that he has contracted a fresh case of gonorrhoea. This gleety discharge trickles away from what is termed the "pendulous urethra," i.e., that j^art of the urethra situated in the portion of the penis which naturally hangs downward when not in a state of erection. Sometimes the discharge is profuse and sometimes there is merely a drop or two of a yellowish or grayish-white secretion seen only in the morning. This is often lightly spoken of by roues as the "good-morning drop." This gleety discharge is the most frequent symptom of chronic gonorrhoea, not, as a rule, causing much pain, though productive of a varying degree of mental distress and melancholy dependent on the sensitiveness of the pa- tient. Often this symptom persists for years and nothing seems to be able to check it. " Cases of gleet are occasionally seen that defy all meas- ures cf treatment. Although trite, the exj^ression of Eicord with regard to the obstinacy of gleet is decidedly pat. This famous specialist once said that he dreamed he was dead and had been sent to purgatory. Upon being asked what sort of a place it was, he replied that it would have been pleasant enough if it had not been for the fact that whole troops of male spectres stalked about him, each pointing its ghastly finger at him and exclaiming : ' Eicord ! Ei- cord ! you could not cure my gleet.' " ' This gleet is kept up by a x^atch of inflammation in the urethra, and so long as it remains localized on the surface of the mucous membrane it will continue until it heals by the formation of scar-tissue. If this inflammatory process spread more deeply into the structures beneath the mucous membrane, and into the substance of the body of the penis, 'G. Frank Lydston, M.D., " Gonorrhoea and its Treatment," p. 79. 340 HEREDITY AND MORALS. as it frequently does, then the condition is much more seri- ous, because scar-tissue forms at that area and retracts, so as to form a dense, gristly constriction, or sfriciure, which encroaches on and narrows the urinar}'^ passage to a dan-' gerous degree. If the chronic gonorrhoea be localized in the posterior urethra, the conditions present a much more serious prog- nosis. This portion of the urethra not being pendulous, the discharge will of course gravitate downward into the bladder. In some cases there is a frequent desire to urinate, with uneasiness or severe pain either at the beginning or end of the act; in others there is a stabbing pain or a throbbing in the perinteum or testicles or in the rectum. These symptoms may not be continuously present, but may vary from da}' to day. If the inflammation has extended to the prostate gland, which is an extremely sensitive and complex organ in close relationship to the sexual apparatus, there are bound to be irritative sensations on urinating, defecating, or on perform- ing the sexual act, and, in addition, irritation of the whole nervous system. Often there is bladder-tenesmus, or a straining effort to pass urine without success, or sometimes there is simi^ly a desire to urinate very frequently, only a few drops passing at a time. In other cases there is derangement in the sexual sphere; pollutions are common, with a corresponding loss of sexual appetite and i)ower. During copulation erection may oc- cur, but there is a premature emission without pleasurable sensation, and even with severe lancinating pains in the testicles, groins, back or thighs. Sometimes on account of a thickish, opaque mucous fluid which escapes involuntarily, the patient imagines that he has spermatorrhoea; but this is merely a prostatorrhoea, or catarrhal discharge from the prostate gland. GONORRHCEA. 341 However, in not a few cases there is a true spermator- rlioea, and spermatozoids can be found in the urine ; and in other instances there is a free discharge of semen during each act of defecation and urination. Conditions like these would, of course, rapidly' bring about impotence and steril- ity with attendant melancholia and apathy. Sometimes there is inflammation and irritability of the caput galUnaginis — a longitudinal fold of mucous mem- brane and other subjacent tissues, exceedingly rich in nerves, situated on the floor of the posterior urethra and intimatel}^ associated with the voluj)tuous sensations of the sexual act. There is then apt to be a condition of sexual neurasthenia, or increased excitability and irritability of the nervous system in regard to sexual and sensual matters. Since the nerve centre which presides over the sexual functions is situated in the spinal cord, these various dis- orders often produce spinal affections, such as partial or complete paralysis of certain groups of muscles, or hyper- sesthesia and extreme excitability of the muscles. " The general condition always remains good, the appear- ance and nutrition may be excellent. Nevertheless the patients are usually in a dejilorable state. The impotence and pollutions depress the mind, the various sensations rouse the belief in some serious disease which is concealed by the physician, the mood is gloomy- and hyijochondriacal. This is especially true when the nervous disturbances spread farther, and other spinal symptoms are added. These include the various manifestations of spinal irrita- tion, pressure and pain in the back, formication, cold or heat along the spine, radiating neuralgias and paralgias, particularly in the lumbo-sacral i)lexus. The neurasthenic symptoms may also spread farther. Digestion then suffers, symptoms of gastric and intestinal catarrh set in, but are only the result of atony. These reduce the patient, and his condition is thus aggravated materially. The nervous symptoms become more severe. There is general depres- 342 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sion, pressure in the head, meutal obtuseness, palpitation of the heart, etc. The unstable vasomotor system causes rapidly changing color, i3allor and redness, especially in the face. Digestion is poor, the local sj'mptoms in the domain of the uropoietic and sexual organs attain consider- able intensity — no wonder that not a few of these patients terminate their existence b}' suicide." ' The Degree of Infectiousness of Chronic Gonoi^hoea. — For the ex-gonorrhoeal patient who is contemplating marriage, and for the married man who has broken the pledge of lidelit}- and constancy implied in his solemn marriage vow, and has become infected, it is exceedingly imi^ortant that they shall distinctly understand that they are, in all seri- ousness, venomous and poisonous and deadh" to whatever woman they approach in the sexual relation, until pro- nounced safe by a skilled specialist, and that many of them never can be cured. Death does not follow in their path at once, but countless numbers of innocent women pay for their husbands' dirty and illegitimate practices with their shipwrecked health and life. Unlike the cobra's and the rattlesnake's bite, the immediate results of infection are not usually seen to be dangerous to life ; but gonorrhoea is characterized by an indefinitely long period of conval- escence, so that wives and children will suffer terrible con- sequences, even years afterward, unless the patient be no longer a gonococcus-bearing animal. Only the physician who is skilled in the modern methods of microscopical research can decide when the patient is no longer a menace to society, and the opinion of no other is of the least value. As mentioned heretofore, the discharge of chronic gonorrhoea may appear at the meatus in the form of a mere drop of pus, hardly noticeable, or it may come from the posterior urethra and not show at all, externally, on account of the backward gravitation of the discharge 'Finger, "Gonorrhoea and its Complications," English trans., p. 148. GONORRHCEA. 343 toward the bladder. In this latter and by far more usual event the recognition of the disease can be made onl}- by microscopical demonstration of jjus-corpuscles and clap- shreds in the urine — a trained eye of course being neces- sary to distinguish them from other objects in the field of vision. Without exception the gonococci can always be found in a case of acute gonorrhoea, but by no means always in chronic gonorrhoea. The finding of gonococci in chronic gonorrhoea of course makes the diagnosis sure, but the failure to find them on the first examination does not at all exclude the possibility of their presence. Pus corpuscles and clap-shreds may be seen day after day with the microscope in a case of chronic gonorrhoea, and no gonococci appear along with them; then, after any debauch or excess on the part of the patient, they may exuberate and come out from their lurking-places in the deep recesses and crypts of the urethra audits accessory canals, and reappear in considerable numbers. In the terminal stages of a case of chronic gonorrhoea specialists sometimes make use of the following plan, in order to see if a man is fit to marry and entirely free from the poison germs : To make certain that the patient is innocuous, after pus corpuscles and clap-shreds can no longer be found by the microscope in his urine, an artificial irritation is induced in the urinary organs in order to temporarily lower the re- sisting power of the tissues, so that if there are anj^ gono- cocci dormant or lurking in the folds and crypts and canaliculi of the genital passages, they may have a fair opportunity to make their appearance. To efi^ect this the patient is either directed to go out and take a large and rather indigestible dinner with plenty of vvine or beer; or a relapse is purposely induced by throwing into his ure- thra a "test irritating injection." These test irritant methods bring about a f^imple nrethritis, with suppuration, and the pus is then examined for gonococci. If gonococci 344 HEREDITY AND MORALS. cannot be found after repeated trials of this artificial metlioci of inducing a relapse, then there are almost certainly none present, and the patient may marry. If, on the other hand, gonococci are found, he must in no event marry until they cannot be made to reappear ; nor for a considerable period, preferably six months, thereafter. If the doctor tell the patient that there are no longer any gonococci, the latter will consider himself cured; but as a rule, after a chronic gonorrhoea, there is not a " cure" in the real sense of the word, since' the urethral tissues have been unfavorably modified by the smouldering in- flammation, and his genital apparatus is not as good as it once was. In order to insure him against a narrowing of the calibre of the urinary tube — stricture— he will present himself more or less frequently, for a period of several months, for the passage of "sounds." "Neisser (1884) was the first who studied the subject scientifically. He proved that the infectiousness of chronic gonorrhoea is a conditional one, in so far as the secretion may contain gonococci, that there are cases in which the secretion con- tains the cocci only at times, and finally others which are always found to be free from gonococci despite the most careful and frequent examinations. Furthermore, since the secretion is small in amount, and after being washed away by the urine requires a considerable time for its regenera- tion, it follows that a single act of coitus with an individual suffering from chronic gonorrhoe t, does not necessarily pro- duce infection. As the result of numerous examinations I concur in this opinion, and permit a patient who is sufi'ering from chronic gonorrhcea, i.e., the morning drop or clap- threads, to have marital intercourse only after I have con- vinced myself by a two to four weeks' daily examination of the secretion or clap-shreds that these contain only epi- thelium and no pus cells, and when, after irrigation of the urethra with a solution of silver nitrate or corrosive subli- mate and consequent sui)puration, the secretion is entirely GONORRHOEA. 345 free from gonococci, and there is no further indication for the continuance of treatment." " Before a man can indulge in marital intercourse, Finger requires three conditions — "the absence of gonococci, pus corpuscles, and peri-ure- thral complications." " One condition I must especially emphasize, viz. , the absence of pus corpuscles. The presence of shreds of pus corpuscles in the secretion is always an indication that the inflammation is not extingiiished. It is possible that the inflammation still continues despite the disappearance of the gonococcus, its original etiological factor, but this will probably not be true of many cases. On the other hand, the question of the presence of gonococci is often answered with difficulty. Positive findings put the matter beyond question, but negative findings do not prove that gonococci are not present. After long and laborious examinations with negative results the gonococci may suddenly reap- pear, so that I most urgently caution against answering the question with regard to marital intercourse from the results of bacteriological examination. This should be refused so long as pus corpuscles are present. " ^ The statements of this great specialist are supported by every surgeon who has to deal with the special diseases of either men or women, and it is a fact, lamented by the whole x)rofession, that an immense amount of sufi^ering among innocent married women is due to the old-standing uncured gonorrhceas of their once profligate husbands. Tlie Treatment of Chronic Gonorrlioea. — Many patients become so neurasthenic and hysterical over their condition that they exaggerate their symptoms and run from one doctor to another, selecting him who wall gratify their anxiety by adopting the most active line of treatment. Many such cases, which are submitted to over-treatment b}^ energetic and unwarrantable methods, sufi'er great damage by the perpetuation of an intractable gleet. Treat- ' Finger; loc. cit., p. 154. * Finger; iMd., d l^r,. 346 HEREDITY AND MORALS. ment will, of course, promise better results in recent caset* than in old, neglected, or over-treated ones, and there Avill be a better outlook if the chronic gonorrhoea is not compli- cated with stricture or neurasthenic symj^toms, such as pollutions, prostatorrhcea, and intense excitability in the sexual domain. While the prognosis may be favorable in simple, uncomplicated cases, we must always bear in mind that the sequelse and involvements and extension of the disease to other organs not infrequently cause serious and permanent damage, and even death. So intractable are these chronic gonorrhoeas that the physician cannot predict with any assurance the length of time which may be required for their treatment, nor, in fact, whether any marked relief can ever be looked for ; nor can he, in some of the cases, ever countenance the marriage of any woman to such an unfortunate mau. There is one i^oint, surprising as it may be, which must be given the greatest consideration — and this is, that a stricture, cr retraction and drawing together of the tissues which were once the seat of the localized inflammation, may develop many years after the patient has considered himself entirely" cured. Out of 164 cases of stricture. Sir Henry Thompson gives the period of development as follows : * 10 cases occurred during the acute gonorrhoea. 71 " developed in 1 year. 41 " « " 3to 4 years. 22 « « cc 7 « g « 20 " « « 20 " 25 " "When a man is yet in the prime of his life his tissues re- sist morbid influences more powerfully, the repair and the waste of all the structures of the bod}' keeping an approxi- mately parallel course ; but when he begins to go down- hill, and has turned his face toward the evening of life, the ' Vide Finger ; loc. cit., p. 144. GONORRHCEA. 347 balance between repair and waste is disordered in favor of the latter, and those parts of bis body which are least re- sistive are the first to suflfer from unfavorable influences. The noondaj' of life is reached earlj or late, according to the previous habits of the individual and his ancestral legacy ; but after this meridian has passed the weak spots begin to appear. Thus, strictures may develop, according to Thompson's statistics, even as long as twenty-five years after the sui^posed termination of the gonorrhoeal attack — scar-tissue forming at the site of the ancient gonorrhoeal inflammation. This is what we mean hj saying that a cure — a restitutio ad mtegrum — cannot he promised, even in any case, however mild. In a work of this nature it would not be wise to attemi:)t even an outline of the various methods of treatment which different cases require. Tlie Complications of Gonorrhoea.- — Gonorrhoea is exceed- ingly liable to be followed by one or more of various com- plications. The male may escaj^e with no jjerceptible remote results; but if the female become infected, it is regarded as a natural consequence and to be expected as a foregone conclusion that the i^rocess will spread through- out the whole extent of her sexual aiDparatus and render her a miserable and incurable invalid. No disease has a more gloomy outlook for the female than gonorrhoea, while for the male there may be the assurance that in a majority of cases he has been more or less permanently injured and rendered, not infrequently, a poisonous and dangerous man for a husband. Certain of the complications are peculiar to each sex, owing to the anatomical distinctions, while others are common to both sexes. The following are the principal comijlications of gonorrhoea : In the 3Iale. 1. Stricture of the urethra. (See !Fig. XI., page 305). 2. Gonorrhoeal invasion of the epididymis and testicle. 348 HEREDITY AND MORALS. 3. Inflammation of the seminal vesicles. 4. Inflammation of tlie i:)rostate gland. 5. Inflammation of Cowper's glands. 6. Peri-uretliral abscess. 7. Inflammation of the glans penis and prepuce. In the Female, 1. Urethritis. 2. Vaginitis, 3. Invasion of Bartholin's glands. 4. Invasion of uterus, Fallojiian tubes, ovaries, and peri- toneum. 5. Residual or latent symptoms of gonorrhoea. 6. Sterility. In Both Sexes. 1. Inflammation of kidneys and bladder. 2. Buboes. 3. Peritonitis. 4. Gonorrhoeal rheumatism. 5. Afi'ections of the heart and pj^aemia. 6. Gonorrhoeal conjunctivitis and ophthalmia. 7. Gonorrhoeal affections of the skin. 8. Gonorrhoea in the infant. Long monographs have been written about each of these topics, and even books upon the subject of stricture. Within the short space at our command we will briefly consider these, paying especial attention to stricture of the urethra, since that is the most important complication in the male, and to epididymitis, which the most frequent. Stricture of the Urethra. — (Latin, stringere, to draw tight, to bind, to contract.) Stricture is a morbid condition of the \irethr?.; of serious significance, in which the normal function of that canal is interfered with, (a), either by spasmodic muscular contractions of the urethral walls ; or, (b), by a definite anatomical change in their structure, whereby its calibre is reduced in certain parts of its course GONORRHCEA. 349 and its dilatabilit}- impaired, (1) either by reason of an in- creased outgrowth and thickening of the mucous membrane, or (2) on account of the formation of a more or less dense connective-tissue, or scar-like tissue, which draws together and contracts the lumen, or passageway, of the canal, with constantly increasing tendency to diminish it more and more with the lapse of years. Obviously the constantly accumulating urine, a waste- product of the body, must have some channel for escape, and, if the urethra become impervious, fstulce, or false passages form, and the urine finds its exit through one or more openings in the penis, scrotum, or surface of the belly; or else the bladder bursts and the j^atient rapidly dies from shock. It may be years after the patient has considered himself cured of the gonorrhoea before the obstruction to the flow of urine becomes so marked as to arrest his attention; for gonorrhoea does not promptly cause stricture — these lesions, as a rule, requiring years for their development. An expert rifle-shot takes great pains to keep the inside of his rifle-barrel untarnished and in i)erfect order; if it become in the least degree rusted, it is never the same, while if it have become badly corroded, even in one spot, it is useless for marksmanship until re-bored to a new cali- bre. So, also, a stricture converts the urethra into a "pathological tube" and unfits it for its proper function. Just as the rifle-barrel must be re-bored, in very nearly the same manner the surgeon must almost literally re-bore and cut and stretch the scarred urethra. True gonorrhoeal stricture is found only in the anterior urethra, i.e., from a point in the urethra slightly posterior to the peno-scrotal angle forward to the meatus. There is, however, an inflammatory condition caused by the strict- ure in the anterior portion, which secondarily afi'ects the posterior urethra and neck of the bladder. A stricture is said to exist when the calibre of the urethra is diminished 350 HEREDITY AND MORALS. from its normal size, iu wbicli event it becomes necessary for the surgeon to restore its patency if the patient is to be in health. The duration of the treatment required lasts, gener- ally speaking, for a period of months, with a supervision extending over j'ears or a lifetime; and it is left for the reader to imagine, if he can, the amount of time and money expended, the inconvenience, and the suffering — physical and mental. There is sometimes a spasmodic stricture, which results from an inflamed and hypersensitive condi- tion of the urethral mucous membrane. This may be caused by the use of an improper saddle, whether on a bicycle or horse, by alcohol or sexual excesses, b}^ colds, irritating condition of the urine, piles, fissure of the anus, constipation, etc. It is due to contractions of the com- X)ressor urethr?e muscle and of the muscular fibres of the urethra itself; and Avhen catheter or sound is passed down a canal so affected there is a sensation of the instrument being firmly grasped by the muscles, or the urethra may close so firmlj'^ as to refuse to admit an instrument. These spasmodic strictures are sometimes troublesome in prevent- ing urination, but we do not look upon them as serious, since they usuidly pass away without serious results. Gouorrhwcd Strictures. — There are three forms of stricture associated with gonorrhoea : ' 1, the soft stricture ; 2, the semi-fibrous stricture ; and, 3, the densely fibrous, or inodular stricture, where the ure- thra is surrounded by an irregular and firm mass of dense, gristly, scar-like tissue. The last and most serious variety results, in gradations, from the second and first forms. The soft stricture is the first to develop, usually in the bul- bous portion of the urethra, and the disease may usually be arrested at this stage. If the case be neglected, however, fibrous tissue forms at the site of the soft stricture and constitutes the semi- fibrous stricture. Here the process may again stop; but ' Compare Taylor, " Venereal Diseases, " p. 326 et seq. GONORRHCEA. 351 if tlie case is treated not at all, or improperly, then a new and firmer growth of fibrous tissue takes place, entirely obliterating the normal structures, so as to form a non-elas- tic, gristly and densely fibrous, or iuodular stricture. Thus we see that the semi-fibrous stricture develops /ro»i the in- cipient soft stricture vdo the densely fibrous variety, and that these three forms are merely different stages which represent the increasing severity of the lesion. It will be well to remember that in every case of gonor- rhoea which becomes chronic there is, on account of the continued inflammation, a growth of new cell elements, which infiltrates the tissues lying immediately beneath the urethral mucous membrane, and that, unless this condition receives skilful treatment early in its inception, it will re- sult in a serious, permanent injury to the urethra, reducing its calibre and impairing its dilatability. The soft stricture, or earliest and least severe of the varieties, may remain soft for months or years, always having a tendency, however, to become firm and fibrous and to contract, which it certainly will do upon the slight- est provoci^tion, e.g., from inordinate sexual indulgence, a reinfection of gonorrhoea, severe exercise, or, in short, from any cause which may inflame the damaged urethra. In the less severe forms of stricture only the mucous membrane and the tissues lying immediately beneath it are affected, while in the severer and later varieties the scar-like tissue forms even in the structures which form the body of the penis, or coriras spongiosum — so that one can feel, by external manipulation, the hard, cord-like masses in which the urethra seems to be embedded. This condi- tion is most common at the peno-scrotal angle, just where the scrotum joins the under surface of the penis. Even a mild case of gonorrhoea may result disastrously ; for the inflammatory processes very frequently last long after the attack is supposed to be over, and are followed by an extensive outgrowth of exuberant and unhealthy tissue. 352 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Many and many a man who lias had gouorrlioea and tliinks himself cured will suffer from stricture when he gets older; the one precaution which it is in his power to take is, to see that he does not get a reinfection of this terrible disease. " In many cases the process remains limited for years, but eyen when it has thus remained dormant it may later on become actiye and inyohe more tissue. This is the underlying cause of the extensiye and deeply inyading strictures which are not uncommonly found in old men." ' Owing to the extremely slow processes which take place in stricture formation they are not common before twenty- fiye years of age, while the greatest number of cases occur between twenty-fiye and forty years, and the next heayiest figures fall between forty and fifty years of age." "It is significant of the usual slowly deyeloi)ing character of stric- ture that the greatest number of patients felt the necessitj'^ of relief between the twenty -fifth and fiftieth years." Strictures yary much in the extent and depth to which they extend, and in their softness or density, their tendency, howeyer, being to grow denser and denser, and to narrow the urinary passage more and more. The layman yery naturally might feel surprise that scar- tissue should be so prone to grow and to show activity, be- cause he notices that scars on the surface of his body remain unchanged for a lifetime. But, b}' way of exiilanation, it must be pointed out that the urethra is not only an ex- tremely delicate tube surrounded by highly vascular tis- sues, but that it also must be in continual use just like the bile ducts, or even the heart; in other words the scar, being in vital tissues, itself keeps vital and takes on renewed activ- ity with every loss of resisting power on the part of the sur- rounding tissues. If scar-like tissue, similar to a stricture, form in the passages which convex* the semen from the testicles, then it does often comi)letely seal up these tubes and render the individual sterile, because these seminal > Taylor, loc. cit. , p. 327. « Compare Taylor, ibid. , pp. 329, 330. GONORRHCEA. 353 passageways are not in any wax essential to life, nor are they by any means so vascnlar as tlie urethra. A stricture which is at first limited to one comparatively small patch of the urethra has a tendency to spread and to travel along the tissues, so that eventually there may be several different places which are the seats of the morbid process. Some- times there is merely a narrow band or ring of stricture- tissue surrounding the urethra, and sometimes the fibrous tissue extends along the tube for four or five inches ; and, again, there may be stricture of the urethra in two, or three, or more places, between which there is a portion of healthy tube. Almost all strictures of long-standing dura- tion are annular, i.e., they have grown until they complete- ly surround the uretliral canal. The stricture tissue — scar-like tissue — does not affect the urethra alone, but extends deeply into the substance of the penis ; what we find in the urethra being only a surface indication of the deeply seated malady. These strictures present many varieties in shape and extent; sometimes they are mere thread-like thickenings in the mucous mem- brane; sometimes there is a crescentic or valve-like flap which juts out into the urethra; sometimes there is a complete diaphragm extending across the canal with an opening in the centre; and sometimes the fibrous tis- sue has grown to such an extent that the urine has to pass through an extremely tortuous, crooked and contracted canal. Stricture formation may be (piite rapid and develop within six months from the initial attack of gonorrhoea, but, generally speaking, the process is long drawn out. It would be assuming a great deal on the part of auj physician to x^romise any man who has ever had a chronic gonorrhoea, however mild, that he will never have a stric- ture. The patient is usually advised to present himself, perhaps not more than two or three times a year, but for manv vears, for observation, in order that sounds may be 23 354 HEREDITY AND MORALS. passed for the purpose of detecting a possible stricture in its very beginning, when the most good can be done. The Symptoms of Striciiire. — To an observant patient the first symptom to i:)resent itself is usually a gleety dis- charge of mucus, or of mucus mixed with pus, which comes from the meatus in the morning, or at intervals throughout the day. He will probably very soon notice that the stream of urine has become narrower than it should be, and divided into two or three jets, or perhaps given a peculiar screw-shaped twist. If the stricture is well advanced there will probably be a constant dribbling awaj' of urine, so that the unfortunate man must wear cloths to receive it. This is due to the fact that the dense and inelastic stricture-tissue does not permit the urethra to firmly close, and the urine escapes in drops through the more or less rigid tube. Long after a gonorrhoea has been supposed to be cured the patient maj', on account of an unrecognized stricture, complain of uneasiness or actual pain in the penis and peri- nseum, and especially at the end of the penis. Sometimes the patient notices that he is required to make greater straining efi'orts in order to expel his urine ; but this symptom eventually passes away in a few weeks, since the bladder-walls become thickened and hypertro- phied in order to overcome the increased resistance which the stricture offers to the flov/ of urine. An unobservant fjerson might not notice these symptoms unless they were very well-marked. As the disease becomes more advanced the bladder be- comes so irritable, as a rule, that the suiferer must rise very frequently during the night in order to urinate, the act being accompanied with pain. Sometimes he must strain for a long time before he can start the flow of urine, and when it does come it may suddenlj^ stop before he has emptied the bladder. In many cases of stricture the first thing to attract atten- GONORRHCEA. 355 tion to the trouble is tlie alarming symi)tom of " retention of urine ," or the inability to void urine, which may have been brought about by exposure to cold, a drinking-bout, indiscretions in diet, or by any cause which inflames the bladder and urethra. The stricture may have been present for months, but in these cases does not, perhaps, manifest itself until irritation is produced from some cause or other. There is hardly any symptom which is so likely to terrify the patient as this — for he knows that every moment will make his condition worse instead of better, and that his very life depends upon his emptying his bladder. Some men who have stricture suffer with retention of urine almost every time they go on a spree, while others never have it. This is due to the fact that retention is more fre- quent when the stricture is situated far back in the urethra behind the peno-scrotal angle, and very infrequent when the trouble is in the anterior part of the canal. Some patients, on the other hand, suffer from " inconti- nence of urine " or the inability to retain their urine. This is especialh' frequent in cases of very tight stricture where the canal is much reduced in calibre. In this condition the bladder is never completely emptied — the patient being relieved of the imperative desire to urinate by the passage of only a part of the secretion. Incontinence of urine is due to a paralysis of the external sphincter vesicce and compressor urethrm muscles, the function of which is to keep the neck of the bladder and the urethra firmly closed until the individual voluntarily decides to urinate. When this miserable condition of incontinence exists — the bladder never being completely emptied, the retained urine becomes foul and ammoniacal and sets up severe in- flammation in the bladder, which ultimatel}^ extends to the kidneys. The overflow of urine continually dribliles away, keeping the genital organs and thighs constantly wet, so that the x>atient has a markedly urinous odor about him. In some of these cases the urine accumulates to such a 356 HEREDITY AND MORALS. degree that it gives rise to distention of the bladder. As this distention increases the walls of the bladder become paral^'zed and lose their power of contracting, so that after a time the amount of urine becomes so great that it over- flows, and finds its way out involuntarily. This condition Gross called the "incontinence of 7^etention," a.nd in such cases the bladder may become so greatly distended as to reach as high as the navel. Important changes also take i)lace behind the stricture. Owing to the mechanical impediment to the flow of urine, that part of the urethra behind the stricture dilates; so that sometimes a j^ouch is formed. The increased hydro- static pressure and the irritating properties of the foul urine cause ulcerations in the i^osterior urethra, and even- tually a few drops of urine percolate into the tissues through the spots where the mucous membrane has been eroded. This starts an abscess in that region, and the urine will now burrow under the skin and ultimately force its way out by fistulous openings either in the perineum or on the surface of the scrotum, or thighs, or as high up on the belly as the navel. Exiravasation of urine, or a diffusion of urine into the surrounding tissues, occurs when the urethra ruptures at the site of the inflamed and devitalized area. It is an ex- ceedinglj' grave complication of stricture and always re- quires prompt surgical aid. It is rendered especially grave from the fact that the urine of patients who are suf- fering with tight strictures is usually foul and decomposed, and urine in such a condition rapidly sets up blood poison- ing and extensive necrosis, or gangrene, of all tissues outside of the urinary passages, with which it comes in contact. The rupture of the urethra may occur when the patient is straining to urinate, or from an uncontrollable spasmodic eft'ort on the part of the abdominal muscles and bladder. At first the patient may exjjerience no pain, but even a feeling of relief from the desire to urinate, though he is GONORRHCEA. 357 surprised that relief lias come without the passing of any arine. The condition is somewhat analogous to what oc- curs when a garden-hose breaks at some part of its course, the water leaking out at the break, but none, or little, com- ing from the nozzle. The urine which leaks out at the site of the break diffuses itself through the tissues and burrows through them in various directions, causing them to swell wherever it goes. The swelling is limited to the subcuta- neous tissues of the i)enis, scrotum, perinseum, and walls of the abdomen. This extravasated and putrid urine con- tinxies to tunnel passages for itself in various directions and by its decomposition sets up symjjtoms which are indicative of blood-poisoning, such as nausea, vomiting, loss of a,]}i>etiie, high fever, chills, urpemic coma, delirium, and death if surgical aid be not i:)romptly given. Some- times the effect of this putrid urine is to cause extensive sloughing of the skin surfaces, so that the testicles may be left bare and denuded of their scrotal covering. After the rupture the patient will be unable to urinate, and a surgeon is quickly called in. Abscess of the prostate sometimes develops as a result of stricture. If the inflammation of the prostate gland, which surrounds the prostatic portion of the urethra, go on to end in pus-formation, the patient will suffer with a throb- bing pain at the neck of the bladder, and an impediment to the free i)assage of urine will occur on account of a i)ressure on the urethra by the enlarged prostate, which may com- pletely close it. In such cases the muscular force de- manded of the bladder, in order to expel its contents, is so great that the bladder walls become enormously hj- pertro- phied and more powerful, the thickening in some cases being five or six times as great as normal. As a conse- quence of this hypertrophy of the bladder walls, the mucous membrane ^^'hich lines the bladder gets thrown into numerous deep folds, and on account of the powerful straining efforts to evacuate the urine, large pouches or 358 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sacs form, whicli may even become larger tlian the bladder itself. In these pouches the urine stagnates and putrefies, and their walls tend to become thinner and thinner from over- distentiou, while calculi, or stones, very frequently form in them by a morbid deposition of the earthy matter and salts of the urine. Sometimes the pouches become so at- tenuated that they burst and allow the j^utrid urine to es- cape into the abdominal cavity, in which event death speedily occurs from shock or peritonitis. Changes in the Urine in Stricture. — In severe and neglected cases of stricture some of the urine is retained in the blad- der and decomposes, with the result that the kidneys be- come involved, and herein lies the chief danger; not in the impediment to urination /)ey se, but in the retention of a portion of the decomposed and sex)tic urine. Such urine — putrid, fetid, and highly poisonous — may so alter the structure of the kidneys by the inflammation excited in them that they cannot eliminate the urine from the system. The i)atient's condition is then trulj' pitiable. He is gravely ill and suffers with urinary fever, severe pains in the back and loins, and dropsy. He usually makes the effort to pass urine every few minutes, i)erhaps succeeding in voiding at each trial only a few drops of offensive and putrid urine which scalds the urethra. The suffering is intense, and such severe cases usually end fatally. The Causes of Stricture. — The chief cause is hng-coii- iinued infammationfolJoioing gonorrhoea, which leads to the growth of cicatricial, or fibrous, tissue in and about the walls of the urethra. A stricture is more apt to follow a gonorrhoea which has lasted for a long time, no matter how mild the attack was ; the shar^jness of the attack hav- ing less to do with the recovery than the length of the pe- riod of convalescence. "We have already discussed spasmodic strictures, but GONORRHCEA. 359 there yet remain two or three rarer varieties. Syphilitic sores at the meatus are sometimes followed by stricture, and excessive masturbation is said to cause it in some in- stances by exciting an active congestion and inflammation of the urethral mucous membrane. In a few other cases strictures may be caused by the use of caustic or irritant . injections used in the attempt to abort gonorrhoea. The chances of stricture increase very much with each fresh attack of gonorrhoea, and the patient who presents himself to a doctor with this lesion will usually give a history of having had more than one infection, or else a recrudescence, or fresh outbreak, of the single original infection. The important point to remember is that even the mildest case of clap is liable to be followed by a stricture unless it be thoroughly and promptly treated, and that the length of its persistence and convalescence has more to do with the formation of stricture than the sharpness of the acute stage. A few points more — mostly recapitulated ^are to be considered regarding stricture. Especially bear in mind that strictures develop very slowl}', constantly tending to become firmer and denser with the lapse of time, and often failing to produce symptoms until many years after the patient has considered himself thoroughly cured. On account of their slow advancement through the pro- gressive changes it is unusual to find the inodular, or densest form, in patients under thirty years of age unless they contracted gonorrhoea when mere children. A stric- ture which is soft and of comparatively large calibre before thirty years of age will jorobably, if untreated, become a tight inodular stricture after the patient has passed the fortieth year of life. These ages are, of course, only ap- proximately correct, and are merely the average figures. If a man have had relapses, or several fresh infections, the outlook is so much the more grave, and almost invariably there is a permanent injury to his procreative organs. 360 HEREDITY AND MORALS. A gonorrlioeal patient may have c^-stitis, or inflamma- tion of the bladder, for several years during the late twenties and early thirties without suffering much impair- ment of his general health, but after he approaches forty and thereafter, the stricture having become denser and more contracted, the urine decomi^oses, on account of the incomplete evacuation of the bladder, and the septic pro- cess travels up the ureters to the kidneys, setting up a severe and dangerous nejihritis, or kidney inflammation, or a pyelitis, with accumulations of pus in those glands. These conditions make a wreck of his health and place him upon the verge of a precipice over which he may fall at the slightest infraction of the laws of hygiene, or upon the receipt of any injury or accident; and they assuredly knock oft' many years from his allotted expectation of life. The prognosis is of course more unfavorable if the patient is blameworthy in his habits, or unfortunate in his tem- perament and heredity. Epididymitis axd Orchitis, or Inflammation of the Epididymis and Testicle. Inflammation of the testicle itself — orchitis — is not so verj' frequent, while inflammation of the epididymis, the convoluted canal which is accessory to the testicle, is the most common of all the complications of gonorrhoea. " Swelled testicle" is the popular term which is applied to both these affections indiscriminately, though it is not strictly proper, since the testicle itself is less often involved than the exjididymis, which lies in close relationship to it within the scrotum. In order to understand the subject clear h', a short ana- tomical descrii:)tion of the seminiferous glands and ducts must here be studied. These semen-producing and semen- eonvejdng structures are of capital importance in procrea- tion, and if they are obliterated the essentials of virility GONORRHOEA. 361 are withered and the man in thenceforth practically a neuter. TJie scrotum is a pendulous double bag which contains the testicles and epididymes and a portion of the spermatic cords. It consists mainly of a brownish integument, or skin, which is very thin and provided ^Yith. scattered hairs and sebaceous follicles, and of darfos—an exceedingly vas- cular connective-tissue layer, containing unstriped muscu- lar fibres, and lying immediately beneath the skin. In the median line, extending from the anus forward, along the under side of the scrotum and penis, is seen a dark seam, or jxiphe, which, especially when the scrotum is contracted under the influence of cold, rises up as a prominent ridge. From the scrotal part of this rapJie the dartos sends in a partition of fibrous tissue, the septum, sa^oii, to the under surface of the penis, thus dividing the scrotum into two lateral compartments. Under certain in- fluences, e.g., cold, the unstriped, or involuntary muscular fibres of the dartos cause the scrotum to contract, so that it is closely applied to the testicles, while under other in- fluences, e.g., warmth, they relax, so that the scrotum is flabby and pendulous. Lining the inside of each compartment of the scrotum is a thin serous membrane, the tunica vaginalis, which also forms an investment for the testicles. The testicles are two oval glands, lying obliquely in the scrotum, whose function it is to secrete the essential male reproductive elements, or spermatozoa, and some of the fluid elements of the semen. Lying upon the outer border of the testicles, close to their convex surfaces, are the two crescent-shaped epididtj- mides, each epididymis being described anatomically as hav- ing a head (globus major), a body {corpus), and tail (globus minor) . In order to study these structures more carefully it is necessary to make a section through them with a sharp 362 HEREDITY AND MORALS. knife, when their anatomical organization can be seen in detail. Upon cutting open a testicle it is seen to be of a drab color, and, if it be dissected out in a basin of water, one can unravel a great number of thread-like filaments, each of which has an average length of two and a half feet ; these filaments are the seminiferous or semen-bearing tubes, each testicle being computed to contain upward of eight hundred of them. Each testicle is subdivided by numerous septa, or parti- tions, into upward of two hundred and fift}^ to four hun- dred compartments, each division containing one or more of the convoluted seminiferous tubules. The seminiferous tubules, approximately eight hundred in number, unite before leaving the testicle into about twenty ducts of larger size, the vasa i^ecta, to form the straight tubules which carry the testicular secretions to the epididymis. They emerge from the testicle at its upijer part, piercing the tunica vaginalis which covers it, and unite together to form the head, globus -major, of the epididymis. The head of the epididymis is thus seen to be firmly connected with the ui)per part of the testicle by these efferent ducts. In the head of the epididymis the tubules are still numerous and much convoluted, or twisted and curved ui:)on themselves, but at the upper part of its body they unite to form a sin- gle tube of larger calibre, approximately twenty feet in length, which by its convolutions forms the body and gIo~ hiis minor. The single tube, no longer convoluted,. then continues under a new name, the vas deferens. The vas deferens {vide Fig. XII.) is a tube, eighteen to twenty -four inches in length, which begins at the lower part of the glo- bus minor and passes upward along the inner side of the testicle, forming a part of the spermatic cord; it then enters the abdominal cavity at the internal abdominal ring, arches over the bladder and descends to its base, where it becomes sacculated, and finally unites at the base of the 'prostate GONORRHCEA. 3G3 gland witli the duct of tlie vesicula seminalis to form the cjaculatory duct, wliicli opens on the floor of the posterior urethra. The vesicidce semmales are two membranous pouches, situated on the base of the bladder, which serve as reser- voirs for storing the semen — each vesicle of a calibre about that of a goose-quill, and from four to six inches in length, though from their convoluted character they ap- I^ear shorter. Each seminal vesicle terminates in a duct which unites with the vas deferens on either side to form a duct of larger size, which then receives the name of the ejaculatory duct. The ejaculatory ducts, one on either side, are each about three-quarters of an inch in length, and pierce the prostate gland to oj^en by two valve-like slits into the pos- terior part of the urethra at the sides of vera moutaiumi. With this short consideration of the anatomical features, of the seminiferous glands and ducts we are now in a bet- ter position to j^roceed to the comijlications of epididymitis and orchitis. The essential elements of the semen are formed in the testicles and conveyed thence by a system of intricately coiled tubes of small calibre to the posterior i^art of the urethra, so that it is not difficult to understand the manner in which the gonorrhoeal process travels backward from the urethra in the reverse direction. Gonorrhoeal inflammation, due to the invasion of gono- cocci, seems to have a special predilection for the tubules in the head of the epididymis; then, next in frequency, it invades the testicle itself; and next the larger sac-like dilatations of the vesiculce semiuales. The gonococci un- doubtedly pass down these tubes by contiguity, infecting as they travel along; but the effects are most usuall}^ to be seen only in the epididymis, though if the base of the bladder were more accessible it would probably be found that the seminal vesicles were first affected. The in flam- 364 HEREDITY AND MORALS. mation wliich is set iip by tlie proliferation of the gono- cocci in the mucous membranes of the seminal passages has a tendency here also to jiass into a chronic stage and to produce an abundant growth of scar-like tissue, which will, almost without fail, leave permanent deleterious re- sults wherever it is localized. Inflammation of the epididymis or testicle, or of both, is more frequent among that class of i)atients who from ne- cessity or policy cannot rest from their ordinary occupa- tions, or among those who have received too active and harsh treatment in the acute stage of gonorrhoea, or who persist in venery and alcoholic excesses. According to Bergh and Tournier, it would seem to occur once in every eighth or ninth case of gonorrhoea in jirivate practice, while Finger ' believes that it occurs in 29.9 per cent of hospital cases, and Ljdston " says that it should not occur ofteuer than once in twenty cases, provided that the patient has skilful treatment and maintains sexual hygiene and rest. Both sides are affected with equal frequency, though it is rare to find the right and left ei)ididymes involved at the same time. Time of Oiiset. — Being a complication of posterior ure- thritis, which does not develoj) at once after infection, the inflammation of the epididymis and testicle does not, as a rule, develop until from two to five weeks after the acute gonorrhoea. If instruments are passed in the acute stage, some of the gonorrhoeal pus is liable to be carried down mechanicallj' to the i)osterior urethra and an epididymitis may then develop within a few days. Occasionall}' these symptoms are not seen until the lapse of one, two, or three years after the beginning of the disease. Symptoms. — The most constant symptom is a severe and sudden pain which attacks one testicle, the agony being so great and the sensations so depressing that the patient's ^Loc. cit., p. 236. '"Gonorrhoea and its Treatment," p. 100. GONORRHCEA. 365 morale is upset, aud lie does not fail to realize tLat a serious complication lias befallen Lim. There is usually a general systemic reaction, with fever, cliills, constipation, furred tongue, hot skin, and a rapid pulse, with frequency of urination and, occasionally, bloody pollutions. With the onset of an epididymitis the urethral discharge usually ceases. Some i^atients continue about their usual duties for a day or so before they are forced to give up ; but, as a rule, suf- ferers with epididymitis or orchitis voluntarily assume the recumbent position within twenty-four hours. The physi- cian will probably find the patient lying on his bach, -oith the leg on the affected side drawn up, and with the scrotum supported either by the patient's hand or by a soft cushion. Pressure on the scrotum causes agonizing pain, and even when the sufferer lies perfectly still the torture is severe and nauseating. In some cases the inflammation also affects the vas deferens. Not infrequently^ the inflammation also attacks the thin serous envelope which lines the interior of the scrotum the tunica vaginalis— ainsmg it to pour out a serous effu- sion which may so distend the affected compartment that the testicle can no longer be felt. This effusion is called an acute hydrocele, and the hydrocele fluid, unless drawn off by the surgical operation of "tapping," will remain indefi- nitely before it is absorbed. The changes just described usually come on rapidly and attain their greatest intensity within from two to five days, though efiicient treatment does much to modify the sever- ity of the symptoms. Within a few days the inflammatory symptoms subside, as a rule, and the patient resumes his ordinary mode of life ; but residua, or left-over effects, are practically sure to persist. Sometimes there is a fatal peritonitis as a consequence 366 HEREDITY AND MORALS. of gonorrlioeal invasion of tlie seminiferous tubes, tliougli usually the inflammation is localized to only a portion of the abdominal viscera. Termination and Results. — A complete cure is rare. After a time the effused fluid is absorbed, all perceptible swell- ing disappears, and the patient, suffering little or no pain or inconvenience, regards himself as well. But some in- duration, or hardening, remains in the globus major of the ei^ididymis, and the skilled phj^sician can usually feel a knot of about the size of a pea even for months or years after all symptoms have subsided. If there has been a severe gonorrhoeal inflammation in the vas deferens, one can usually, for an indefinite time thereafter, trace that structure as a firm, dense cord running upward to the ex- ternal abdominal ring. As might be expected, the inflam- mation is exceedingly liable to permanently seal up the minute calibre of the seminiferous tubes wdth a dense scar- tissue, throwing the affected side completel}' out of service ; Avhile if both sides are obstructed, there is of course com- plete sterility. The individual may thereafter fulh' enjo}^ copulation and have a discharge W'hich he thinks is tnie semen; but in reality he is sterile, the ejaculation being absolutely wanting in spermatozoa. With every rex)eated infection of gonorrhoea there is al- most sure to be an exacerbation of the epididymitis, with increased risk of sterility. Sometimes the testicle breaks down into j)us, suppurates, and becomes an abscess, which discharges its necrosed elements through an external vent. The scrotum of the side so affected maj^ also be destroyed, leaving an unsightly deformit3\ If a man is so unfortii- nate as to have a syphilitic taint, that disease will proba- bly attack the testicle, if inflamed with gonorrhoeal virus, with terrible intensity. Chronic hydrocele frequently persists after epididymitis or orchitis, causing mucn inconvenience and pain and ster- ility. GONORRHCEA. 367 Neuralgia also frequently persists for a long time after such an attack. This testicular neuralgia is often agoniz- ing in its intensity, causing insomnia, loss of appetite, dyspepsia, nervous excitability, hypochondriasis, emacia- tion, and profound depression of spirits. A man natu- rally prizes the integrity of his testicles to the last degree, and any serious damage to them is well calculated to reduce him to despair. We see, then, that partial or complete sterility is liable to result from connective-tissue thickenings in the course of these seminiferous tubes ; the scar-like tissue tending to con- stantly become firmer and denser, so as hoj^elessly to put out of service one-half or the whole of the man's reproduc- tive organs : and, unfortunately, this complication is by no means a rare event among gonorrhoeal patients, none having an assurance of escaping, no matter how mild the case. Ikflammation op the Seiiinal Vesicles. These membranous receptacles for the semen, it will be remembered, lie on the base of the bladder, bet^veen it and the rectum, and their excretory ducts unite with the vasa deferentia to form the common ejaculatory ducts. We saw how the gonococci spread by continuity down the whole length of the urethra and thence along the twenty-four inches of the vas deferens to the ej^ididymis and testicle, and, as might be exi)ected, they also occasion- ally find their way into the seminal vesicles. Like epididymitis, seminal vesiculitis usually occurs within from two to five weeks after the gonorrhoeal infec- tion. It is in almost all cases a complication of gonorrhoeal invasion of the ijosterior urethra ; though it may result, in milder form, from the passage of a bougie down the ure- thra, from injuries received by riding on an improjjer sad- dle, or from any cause which might excite inflammation in the genital sphere. The symptoms resemble those of posterior urethritis 868 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and inflammation of the prostate. In seminal vesiculitis there are almost constant erections, the penis sometimes remaining in a condition of priapism, or continual painful turgescence. There are frequent and involuntary seminal emissions, which, instead of being attended with any pleas- urable sensation, cause a violent and burning pain dur- ing ejaculation. The emission is sometimes blood-stained and partly composed of pus. Such a patient presents a pitiable spectacle ; liis mind is riveted on liis sexual apparatus to the exclusion of all other things ; his sexual passion is enormously increased, but the gratification of the appetite, either by coitus or pollutions, is attended with severe pain; he is hot and feverish ; it hurts him to allow his bladder to become filled and it hurts him to emptj^ it; his sleep is much disturbed; he cannot have a movement of the bowels without severe pain, and he suffers with dull, throbbing pains, which he refers to the rectum, bladder, perineum, or spine. No wonder that such a patient becomes much depressed in spirits, hypochondriacal, and irritable. Numerous cases are mentioned in medical literature where seminal vesiculitis has been followed by abscess for- mation, with subsequent rupture and discharge of the pus into the bladder, i:)eritoneal cavity, or rectum, these cases ending sometimes in death, but usually in the formation of fistulous tracts which are verj' difiicult to heal. As in all gouorrhoeal processes, there is a marked ten- dency for the condition to become chronic; but the symp- toms are so vague and deep-seated that thej' often pass undiagnosed. If the seminiferous tubes have become occluded the patient will be imj)otent, and will soon lose the power of erection and all sexual desire. These miserable individuals wlio have lost their sexual power will put forth their utmost efforts to regain it and hail with delight anything which will give them an erect GONORRHCEA. 369 penis. Some of them have a dribbling of a dirty grajish or brown mucus wliicb stains their clothing, and sometimes they have emissions of gonococci-containing semen mixed \ ith pus and bloody mucus. Others, on the contrary, who have not arrived at this stage, have enormoush^ increased sexual appetites. " Such is the erotic condition of these j)atients that the sight of a prettj" woman, of her breast, or her ankle, throws them into a high state of nervousness and sexual erethism. I have known several instances in which one woman only exerted this morbid influence upon the man. Accidental slight contact, the glance of the eye, the sound of the voice, and the grasp of the hand served to so excite and exalt them sexually that an orgasm, with or without partial erection, would result." ' This is the kind of men who are most dangerous to society. Their lust has been artificialh' magnified to so great a degree and the gratification of it has so promiuentl}^ been the one idea of their lives that they are liable to be- come seducers, ravishers, and fathers of an unhealthy brood of illegitimate children. Such men are bewitched with the society of women, continually indulging in erotic fancies concerning them, frequenting dance-halls, and consorting with many a pure girl who entirely fails to realize their motives. The Prognosis. — The acute form usually disappears with- in a fortnight and a seeming cure may sometimes be se- cured; but the outlook, as in all gonorrhoeal processes, cannot be altogether favorable. Occasionally there is a fatal termination from rupture of the suj^purating sacs ; but more commonly a low grade of chronic inflammation per- sists, which is liable to recrudesce with every fresh infection or with every redevelopment of the original attack, and with each succession of the relapses the gravity of the con- dition is increased. ' Taylor : " Venereal Diseases, " p. 223. 24 370 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Inflammation of the Prostate Gland and Pros- tatorrhcea. Inflammation of tlie prostate is a rather common com- plication of gonorrhoea which not infrequently ends fatally ■ — sometimes rapiclh', but more often remotely. The prostate gland is situated at the very beginning of the urethra, completely surrounding it as well as the neck of the bladder. Posteriorly it lies in close contact with the walls of the rectum. In size and shape it resembles a horsechestnut, having the base directed toward the blad- der and the blunt apex looking forward. It is partly mus- cular and partly glandular in structure, the whole organ being invested with a firm, fibrous, unj-ielding capsule. It consists of three distinct lobes, the two larger being placed laterally and the smaller one between them on the under surface. Three canals run through it, the urethra perforating it above and the two ejaculatory ducts piercing it obliquely to open into the prostatic portion of the ure- thra. The prostate, though containing numerous involuntary muscular fibres, is chiefly composed of glandular tissue, which pours out a fluid of a milkj^ color, of the consistence of a rather weak solution of gum arable. This prostaiic fluid, which is conducted to the urethra by from twelve to twenty minute excretory ducts, serves to lubricate the mu- cous membrane of the urethra and also is a natural vehicle for the semen. The organ has a rich supply' of blood-vessels, lymphatics and nerves, the latter, derived from the sympathetic ner- vous system, being extremely sensitive. Being so intimately associated with the posterior ure- thra and communicating with it so freely hj means of these numerous ducts and passages, it is not to be wondered at that the gonococci readily iuv.ade it and x^roduce untoward GONORRHOEA. 371 results wliicli Lave a tendency to remain chronic indefi- nitely. Prostatitis may result from external injuries, from ex- posure to damp and cold, or from immoderate exercise on an improper saddle; but it is usually a complication of gonorrhoea after it has spread to the posterior urethra. Occasionally it rapidly follows an acute gonorrhoea of the anterior urethra, especially if the abortive method has been unwisely tried, or if a catheter has been passed too early and has carried the virus down the urethra. Sometimes the results are hardly apparent, but usually the prostate is left in a damaged condition and rendered a scarred, shrivelled mass with little or no glandular struc- ture. Symptoms.- — Being, as a rule, a complication of poste- rior urethritis, which ordinarily does not develop until after the third week of the infection, prostatitis is not to be expected very early in the course of the disease. The symptoms begin with a dull pain and a sensation of weight in the perinaeum. There is difficulty in urinating and a de- sire frequently to emptj^ the bladder. A sense of fulness is felt in the rectum which gives rise to frequent calls to go to stool, and often there is a tenesmus of both the bladder and rectum which compels the patient to make the attemj)t to void his urine and faeces, but without success. Some- times urination is an impossibility, so that relief must be given by catheterization. Owing to the swollen condition of the prostate and the consequent i)ressure on the neck of the bladder and urethra, there is great danger that a portion of the urine will be retained and set up severe bladder and kidney complications by its decomposition. If inflamma- tion of the epididymis and seminal vesicles be superadded, the patient's sufferings will be much aggravated. Sometimes the enlarged jirostate impinges on the rectum so as almost comi:>letely to block up that passage and pre- vent defecation. These symptoms may be further aggra- 372 HEREDITY AND MORALS. vated b}' an iucieased sexual excitability, with erections and pollutions, on account of tlie inflammation of tbe veru montanum, which is situated in the prostatic portion of the urethra, and is the chief seat of sexual desire. Few condi- tions of disease cause so much su fleering and agony as a severe inflammation of the prostate— the constant desire to urinate and defecate, the throbbing pains and the general constitutional and mental disturbance punishing the patient with the greatest distress and anguish. Prognosis. — The affection is always exceedingly painful and the dangers grave. The process maj^ abate in three or four weeks, but it is liable to pass into an obstinate and chronic condition which keeps up a persistent sexual neu- rasthenia and irritabilitj'. If an abscess form, and if it be not early operated upon by the surgeon, it may result in pyaemia, septicaemia and death, or it ma}' form a recto-vesical fistula, in which case there is a free vent between the bladder and rectum. Such a fistula is exceedingly difficult to heal ; and the patient, continually dribbling urine from his rectum and being con- stantly x>ervaded with a strong urinous atmosphere, is an object of aversion to every one about him. If there have been extensive suppuration there will be a serious and per- manent damage to the urinary tract ; the former site of the prostate being occupied by a shrivelled, hardened and scar- like mass. The prognosis is more serious in those who have a poor constitution, and in those individuals whose Avill-power fails to restrain them from venereal excesses or indulgence in alcohol. Prostatorrlioea. — By this condition is meant the abnormal flow of a viscid, glycerin-like fluid from the jorostate. It may arise from masturbation, or from direct injuries in the perineal region received bj^ riding on an improper sad- dle, or from axxy influence which inflames the prostate gland, though gonorrhcea is by far its most frequent cause. GONORRHCEA. 873 In this condition tliere is a flow of mucous fluid, some- times tinged with blood, wliicli wells out in excessive amount from tlie prostate into the urethra, sometimes pour- ing out from the meatus so profusely that the wearing of a dressing is necessary in order to receive the discharge. Occasionallj^ the discharge is promoted by the act of defe- cation. In prostatorrhcea there is usualh^ an increased frequenc}' of urination, with pain and a sensation of weight on the perimeum and rectum. During the first few weeks ihere is a great increase oi sexual desire, amounting sometimes co a sexual fury ; bnt eventually the genitals become cold and flaccid and desire fails. Under its effects some men iindergo a complete mental, moral and phj" sical shipwreck, others acquire the habit of masturbation, while others again are led by their satj-riasis to cohabit with any woman whom thej' can approach. An overwhelming melancholy settles upon some of these pa- tients, which influences their every thought and action, the freshness and plumpness of health giving way to emacia- tion and the i:)inched and careworn expression which adorns the advertisements of the charlatan. If a man who has a chronic prostatitis and prostatorrhcea acquires a fresh attack of gonorrhoea, it is certain to travel back to the inflamed and uuresistive tissues and there to luxuriate in an aggravated form. Unfortunately these very patients, with their sexual neurasthenia and satyriasis, are probable candidates for contracting fresh infections, being unrestrained either by love for their neighbors or by the law of self-i^reservation. Inflammation of Coivper^s Glands.^ — These two glands, each the size of a pea, discharge a viscid mucus into the urethra by means of two short ducts. It is hence easy to understand how they may become infected by invasion of ' Vide illustration, p. 306. 374 HEREDITY AND MORALS. tlie gonorrlioeal virus. If one of tliem become so affected it may remain indefinitely as a hardened nodule, or it may suppurate and discliarge pus either into the urethra or ex- ternally. In this manner fistulas sometimes form which allow the urine to trickle ayvax through the vents. Peri-Urethral Abscesses. — In many cases of acute gonor- rhoea the inflammation is not limited to the urethral mucous membrane, but also implicates some of the numerous fol- licles and glands which open bj' minute orifices on its sur- face. The physician maj^ often distinguish one or more of these enlarged follicles along the line of the urethra of a patient in the acute stage, and not infrequently hardened nodules may be found for months or j^ears after the infec- tion. Sometimes these nodules remain in the penis and interfere so much with erection that coitus may be impos- sible ; or they ina,Y suppurate and open into the urethra, or externally, and cause urinary fistula3. In other cases there are chronic indurations, or hardened masses, in the substance of the penis — in its corpm^a caver- nosa — which may cause the organ to become distorted when in a state of erection, or there nia.j be an extensive slough- ing and destruction of the corpora cavernosa, resulting in deformity. Balanitis. — In individuals with a too long or too tight prepuce the gonorrlioeal pus, and other acrid secretions also, may be retained beneath the foreskin and set up an active inflammation of the glans penis and inner surface of the prepuce. This condition cannot develop in those who are circumcised. It sometimes results in erosion of the head of the penis, or in gaugrene of the x-repuce. Buboes, or inflammatory swelling of the lymphatic glands, may form in the groins as a result of this condition. GONORRHCEA. 375 GONOEEHCEA IN WOMEN.' Gonorrhoea in the male in attended with such painful and distinctly marked sj^mptoms that its presence is at once noticed; but in the female its early recognition is tho exception. After puberty ever^^ woman is accustomed to have a x^e- riodical discharge from the genitals, and little surprise is felt at any leucorrhoeal flow, or at a moderate amount of local irritation between the menstrual periods. In fact many women are so accustomed to some vaginal discharge that they pay little attention to any increase of it, nor do they hasten to seek for medical advice under these circum- stances. Discharges which by the naked eye cannot be distinguished from gonorrhoe amay arise from other causes, e.g., "catching cold," uterine tumors, polypi, etc. Even the most unobservant man, having normally no se- cretion from his genital organs, at once notices the slightest discharge, besides suffering severe pain, while the woman may hardlj^ experience any pain at the first onset of the disease. If a married woman has contracted gonorrhoea innocently from her husband, she is of course not informed by either him or her medical attendant ; and if a woman acquires it out of wedlock her natural shame leads her to conceal her plight until she is comjDelled to seek relief for the remote effects. It is notorious as well as surprising that practitioners rarely see cases of acute gonorrhoea in women, except in prostitutes, and that their assistance is usually sought, not on account of the suppuration, but for the relief of the sequelae, or remote effects, only after irreparable damage has been done. ' Vide autlior's monograph \rx American Journal of Obstetrics, vol. xxxiv., No. 3, 1896. 376 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Altliougli gonorrlioea lias been clearly recognized from time immemorial, two decades have uot yet elapsed since tlie medical profession Las learned its true significance and its great social importance. Tlie chief impetus to the study of gonorrhoea has come from gynaecologists and ob- stetricians, who are in the best position to observe its rav- ages in w^omen ; and to-day w^e have a mass of accumulated evidence which puts our ideas regarding this disease on a firm scientific basis. The first intelligent cry of alarm w^as sounded in 1872 ' by Dr. Emil Noeggerath, of New York, a gynsecologist, or specialist in diseases of women. His observations led him to conclude that, as Kicord, of Paris, had previously said, eight hundred out of every thousand men who lived in large cities had had gonorrhoea ; that gonorrhoea in males, in spite of apparent recovery, almost always remained latent for many years or for life; that ninety per cent of women who married these men suffered from either acute or latent gonorrhoea ; and that the majority' of these wives were either sterile or bore at the most from one to three or four children. The following propositions were prosented by him in a second paper in 1876 : ' " 1. Gonorrhoea in the male, as well as in the female, persists for life in certain sections of the organs of genera- tion, notwithstanding its apparent cure in a great many instances. " 2. There is a form of gonorrhoea which may be called latent gonorrhoea, in the male, as well as in the female. " 3. Latent gonorrhoea in the male, as well as in the female, may infect a health}' person either with acute gonorrhoea or gleet. "4. Latent gonorrhoea in the female, either the conse- quence of an acute gonorrhoeal invasion or not, if it pasa ^ " Die lateute Gonorrlioe im weililichen Geschlecht. " * Translations, American Gynaecological Society, 1876, p. 273. GONORRHCEA. 377 from the latent into tlie apparent condition, manifests itself as acute, chronic, recurrent perimetritis (inflammation con- tiguous to uterus) , or ovaritis, or as catarrh of certain sec- tions of the genital organs. " 5. Latent gonorrhoea, in becoming apparent in the male, does so by attacks of gleet or epididymitis. " 6. About ninety per cent of sterile women are married to husbands who have suffered from gonorrhoea either pre- vious to, or during married life." Noeggerath's assertion, that such a vast amount of dis- ease, suffering and sterility in women was due to their marriage with old gonorrhoeal patients, most of whom were supposed to be cured, met with a storm of opposition from medical men in both hemispheres ; but his dignified answer was as follows : " After the gentlemen have given five years or more of careful study to this question, I shall exj^ect to hear more approval than I have done to-day.'" At the present time his name is held in high honor in medical circles, though his views have been considerably modified, as is usually the case with the promulgators of new doc- trines. In the last edition of his standard work on gonor- rhoea, Finger says:^ "At first Noeggerath's conclusions encountered only opposition. ... It was not until the dis- covery of the gonococcus that this question was cleared up and Noeggerath's opinions were found to be in the main correct." The conservative belief of recent times is that a werj large number, a majority, of old gonorrhoeal patients of both sexes continue to harbor gouococci within their genito- urinary spheres for months or years, and sometimes for a lifetime, unless they have received very intelligent treats ment which the most skilful specialists alone are able to give ; and that a certain proportion never can be cured and consequently never should marry. After Noeggerath's stirring propositions, the next im« ^Loc. cit, p. 300. 2 Op. cit.. p. 272, 1893. 378 HEREDITY AND MORALS. portant advance in onr knowledge of gonorrhcEa was made in 1879, when Neisser, ' of Breslan, proclaimed the discov- ery of tlie germ of gonorrhoea, which microbe he named the " Gonococcus." This discovery he further substantiated by a second publication in 1882," and at the present time this gonococcus is definitely accepted by scientists as the infective organism, for it has x^assed through the impera- tive ordeal of Koch's classical tests: («), of being present in every case of gonorrhoea, and in no other disease; (h), of having been proj^agated by culture, the new colonies of germs corresponding to those which are under experimen- tation; (c), of always reproducing the specific disease when implanted on human mucous membranes, e.g.^ the urethra, conjunctiva, etc. No specific microbe has been subjected to such furious opposition as this gonococcus, and for years the contro- versy continued, until in 1892 an Austrian physician, Wer- theim,^ quieted all contention by cultivations of the gono- cocci in human blood serum and subsequent successful inoculations of the cultures into healthy male urethrge. Only since the discovery of this gonococcus has it been possible accurately to diagnose all the phases of gonorrhoea in women, and before that important event medical practi- tioners were quite unable to recognize a large number of such cases — as are those to-day who are not skilled in microscopy — having nothing on which to base their opin- ions except certain inflammatory conditions in the genital area quite undistinguishable from other like conditions which were not gonorrhoeal (e.g., the acrid discharges ac- companying uterine fibroids, polypi, cancers, and catarrhal inflammatory conditions). '"Uebereine der Gonorrhoe eigenthumliche lilicrococcusform," Centralblatt fur die med. Wissenschaften, No. 28, 1879. 2 "DieMicrococcen der Gonorrhoe, " Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, p. 279. ^"Die asceudireude Gonorrhoe beim Weibe, " 1893 Archiv fur Gynakol., Bd. 42. GONORRHCEA. B79 Furtliermore, in addition to the inability to recognize the disease even when actively present, it was also unap- preciated that gouorhoea in women was a most serious aifec- tion, and that its desx)oilments and ravages within her internal sexual organs and peritoneal cavity were far more severe and fatal than those of syphilis. Frequency of Gonorrhoea in Women. — In long-standing cases of gonorrhoea it is often impossible to distinguish gonococci in the discharges, and it may be that they can only be found in the pus and diseased tissues of the ovaries and Fallopian tubes after removal of these argans by surgical means. Hence we cannot rely solely on the gonococcus for diagnosis in all cases, but must also pay careful attention to the clinical, or bedside, data. According to Taylor,' on account of the greater licen- tiousness of men, there are approximately thirty cases of gonorrhoea among them to one case in women. According to Noeggerath's conclusions eighty per cent of married women suffer from latent gonorrhoea. Saenger, of Leipsic, believes that one-eighth of all women who suffer from diseases peculiar to their sex are infected with gon- orrhoea; and Sigmund, director of the venereal clinic in Vienna, found that in seven hundred and fifty-eight i^ublic women, sixty-three per cent wore gonorrhoeal. German authorities impute twenty-three to twent}- -eight per cent of all diseases of the internal sexual organs of women to gonorrhoea; English and American authorities place it at seventy per cent. Pagenstecher," a pupil of Professor Saenger at the gynae- cological clinic in Leipsic, says : " The result of our studies regarding the frequency of gonorrhoea in the female sex is that, according to the mode of living and the morality of the various classes, it covers from twenty to sixtj^-three 1 " Venereal Diseases, " p. 173. ^"Gonorrhoea, its Symptoms and Consequences in Both Sexes," English translation, p. 86, 1896. 380 HEREDITY AND MORALS. per cent, whicli is to say, tliut in good moral families every fifth woman has a gonorrhoea, and among the public women there are two out of three. These figures will surely ap- pear too high, I know well; yet when we consider that at least seven out of ten young men have had a case of gonor- rhoea, and that the most of them are never cured to the point that they can no more be infectious, we shall then understand how, after being married, they contaminate their wives, so that the latter, although virtuous, accpiire the gonorrhoea, for who could give it to them except their husbands?" Valentine,' professor of genito-urinary diseases at the New York school of clinical medicine says : "Noeggerath, of New York, fully thirty' years ago, sounded the first note of alarm in tliis connection. On purely clinical grounds he attributed a vast joroportion of death-dealing diseases in women to gonorrhoea which the husbands had had years before. Noeggerath's assumption has been more than borne out by recent science." These are the views of recognized authorities who cannot lightly be set aside as extremists. Gonorrhoea is a disease wdiich lingers in men long after apparent cure, only to in- fect innocent wives, as well as helpless mistresses, and as Sinclair saj's: " It is the neglected cases of gonorrhoea in the male — those which become chronic — which most frequently give rise to the infection of the female, even though they may have long ceased to show signs of activity." However, whether the foregoing statements have been overdra\^Ti or not, the medical profession has within recent years unanimously come to a realization of the fact that gonorrhoea is the principal cause of the so frequent steril- ity and disease of the sexual organs in women, and that the suffering and racial degradation from this cause is appalling. ' American Medico-Surgical Bulletin, October 1, 1895. " "On Gonorrhoeal Infection in Women," London, 1888. GONOERHCEA. 381 Mode of Onset and Gravity of the Besult. — In the genital organs of the female there is a greater extent of mucous membrane than in the male, and their functions are more active. Furthermore, there is in woman a direct commu- nication between the sexual passages and the peritoneal cav- ity, which renders the consequences far more grave. In woman gonorrhoea not only tends to become chronic and to invade the internal sexual organs with destructive changes, but with each recurrence of menstruation there is also a likelihood of its renewed activity and further spread ; and especially does danger threaten if she become pregnant — the results not showing fully until some weeks after the full-time labor or miscarriage. Gonorrhoea in an acute form may be imparted to a woman by a man suffering from acute gonorrhoea ; and an uncured male with chronic or latent gonorrhoea may communicate to her the disease in a chronic or latent — and sometimes even in the acute — form. 1. In the acute form the initial stage of the disease in the female, as in the male, usuallj^ lasts from two to five days; occasionally it supervenes rapidly within the first day, or is sometimes delayed until the fourteenth day. After the initial period has passed the discharge becomes muco-purulent and yellow and consists of pus cells and serum. In addition to the destructive work of the gono- cocci, other pathogenic, or disease-generating, microbes rapidly multiply in the devitalized tissues and modify the character of the discharges so that they soon become yel- lowish-green. This simultaneous develoi:»ment of gono- cocci and other pus-producing microbes is called a "mixed infection," and it was precisely these adventitious organ- isms which so long baffled the efforts of investigators to isolate the gonococci. On the decline of the purulent stage the secretion becomes thickened, by the agglutination of the pus-cells with mucus, so that yellowish-white clumps are present in the urine of 382 HEREDITY AND MORALS. women as well as in tliat of men. In these fluffy clumps — called " claii-tlireads, " or hj tlie Germans " Tripper-faden" — and in the discharges, and in the rugosities and crypts of the mucous membranes, the gonococci may persist for months or years. Within the first few days following the impure intercourse, or after infection by a diseased hus- band, there occurs a free, purulent secretion from the vulva, vagina and urethra, i.e., from the external sexual appara- tus. The inflammation may remain localized there; but in course of time, as a rule, it spreads to the uterus, ralloi:)ian tubes, ovaries and peritoneal tissues in the pelvis, i.e., to the internal sexual apparatus. So intense may be -the course of the disease that the woman may suffer pitiably — or die from a purulent peritonitis, or from rupture of a suppurating ralloi)ian tube. 2. In the chronic, or latent, form the woman may acquire a gonorrhoea without being able to fix any precise date of infection, and indeed she may never be aware of the cause of her illness. The following supposititious case, illustrative of actual ones dail}^ seen by practitioners, is cited by Valentine:' " A man contracts gonorrhoea. After a time all discharge and other evidences of the disease disappear. His physi- cian dismisses him as completelj' cured. " Five, ten, or more years later he has almost, if not en- tirely, drojDped from his mind this, with other disagree- able recollections. He marries a healthy, strong girl. The young wife soon begins to fade. Vague pains set in. If her friends love her, she will be twitted with congratula- tions and advice regarding the presumed coming maternity. Her form, too, suggests such possibility. But by the time when, or before, the child that is to make her still more loved by her husband is expected, it is found necessary to seek professional advice. ' " Wlien May Gonorrliceal Patients Marry ?" American MedicO' Surgical Bulletin, October 1, 1895. GONORRHCEA. 383 "A cyst of the ovary, a Fallopian tube filled witli pus or some otlier dangerous disease, is discovered. An opera- tion, perilous to life, must be performed to save her. If she survive, she will no longer be a woman, for she cannot become a mother. The light of modern microscojiy, brought to bear upon the tumor, cyst, tube, or other sub- stance removed, shows gonococci. Kemember that this wreck, but a few short months ago a vigorous, healths- woman, was 'as chaste as ice, as pure as snow.' Remem- ber, too, that her husband presented no sensory evidence of the disease that killed his cherished wife. Killed — the word is advisedly employed^for, though she live, she is worse than dead; she is not only unsexed but also x)hysi- cally destroyed." How dismal is the history of many a pure young woman who marries with all the accompaniments of a i^erfect wed- ding celebration ! From their husbands' latent gonorrhoeas many of them contract conditions which alter their lives and even their characters. They suffer from backaches, leucorrhoea, irregular and painful menstruation, urinary disorders, external inflammatory conditions, localized peri- tonitis from escape of gonorrhoeal pus into the abdominal cavity, enlarged and tender inguinal glands, loss of their healthful beauty, lassitude, hysteria, dread of the marital embrace, sterility, abortions and death. The latent, or chronic, form would not necessarily be attributed to the husband's fault; the acute form very probably would be. It is certainly the duty of every man who has had gonor- rhoea to abstain from marriage until permission has been obtained from a trustworthy^ physician ; and no individual who expects ever to marry has any right to indulge in sex- ual impurity. " If then the young man decides to avail himself of the offers of those women who sell their questionable favors, lie exposes himself to infection with syphilis and gonor- 384 HEREDITY AND MORALS. rlioea, botli of wliicli may be communicated to an innocent woman wlio lias tlie misfortune of marrying liim. Syphilis may cause abortions or give rise to the birth of a syphilitic child ; gonorrhea leads often to the deplorable condition we have described above, and is a common cause of blindness in the newborn if it does not entail sterility. " A man may be willing to run the risk of being infected himself, but he has not the right to draw his future wife and his offsi^viug into his own calamity, so much less so as their condition caused by his recklessness is infinitely worse than his own. Many a young man is not only in- different to, but often proud of having acquired, a disease which sometimes does not inconvenience him more than a cold in his head, and yet this slight disease, which even has a pet name, may cost his future wife her life or result in lifelong blindness of his child." ' As previously stated, physicians do not as a rule see the earlier stages of infection in women, but are called in only when all the beacon-fires are lighted and burning. Then they see miserable, suffering wrecks, i)anting with fever, with furred tongues and foul breath, with a history of seri- ous menstrual troubles, with copious and purulent vaginal discharges, and dreading the pain of examination. In such cases it is almost always necessary- to submit the patients to the severest surgical operations, cutting open their abdomens and removing the sexual organs as well as the pus sacs which have formed around them. Let us now shortly consider the favorite sites of gonor- rhoea! infection in women. Gonorrhceal Urethritis. — The female urethra, contrary to former views, is more uniformly infected than any other part. The period of incubation — two to five days— and the general symptoms are much the same as in the male. At first there is a burning sensation during the prodromal ' " Protection for the Future Wife and Children, " H. J. Garrigues, M.D., American Medico-Surgical Bulletin,'' October 31, 1896. GONORRHCEA. - 385 stage, which becomes aggravated with the onset of the acute stage, during which a greenish-yellow pus is poured out, excoriating the surfaces over which it flows. The urethra in women, being a very short (two and a half to three inches) and almost straight tube, is very lia- ble to become infected in its whole length, and by contiguity the bladder also is frequently involved. With the spread of the disease to the bladder there is great sufl'ering, which amounts to agony, frequency of urination, and scalding of the tissues upon which the urine falls. The urethral dis- charge may remain infectious for months, and occasionally the inflammatory condition causes stricture, though not nearly so frequently as in the male. There is also great danger of septic infection of the kidneys, wdiich of course induces invalidism and gravely menaces life. Gonorrhjeal Vaginitis. — The vagina is frequently the pri- mary site of infection. There is the same yellowish-green discharge, which slowly diminishes in amount and eventu- ally disapi)ears. The symptoms may be passed over un- recognized, or there may be intense i:)ain and irritation, A chronic gonorrhoeal vaginitis — vaginitis granulosa — is very common in prostitutes, resulting in a characteristic roughened and leathery condition of the mucous mem- brane. Broese' says: "One can scarcely err if he as- sumes that all prostitutes are infected with gonorrhoea, especially if they have exercised their profession for any length of time." This roughening of the vaginal mucous membrane in prostitutes is partly due to gonorrhoea and partly to the frequent use of astringent injections, employed with a view to make their vaginae appear virginal in size. Gonorrhoeal Invasion of Bartholin's Glands. — Bartho- lin's glands (vulvo-vaginal glands) are two glands situated on either side of the entrance to the vagina ; each gland has a diameter of a little over half an inch, and each ' "Zur Aetiologie, Diagnose und Therapie der weiblichen Gonor- rhbe,'''' Deutsche med. Wochenschrift (quoted by Taylor) , 1893. 25 ;?86 HEREDITY AND MORALS. secretes a lubricating fluid whicli is poured out on tlie vulva just outside the hymen by the intervention of a duct of small co^libre. When gonococci invade these glands, through the ducts, they break down into pus sacs of about the size of a hen's egg and become exquisitely sensitive. It is an extremely obstinate affection, and recovery -uithout surgical aid is not to be expected. The gonococci may remain indefinitely in these glands, and often the only evidence of chronic gonor- rhoea in women lurks within them. The pus from them is highly infectious. This affection is very common in pros- titutes. GonorrlioBol Invasion of iliG Uferus, Fallopian Tubes, Ova- ries and Peritoneal Cavity.— The gravity of the results when gonorrhoea spreads to the internal sexual organs has been sufficiently indicated in the preceding pages to render fur- ther elaboration unnecessary. If a woman contract this terrible disease we look upon it as a matter of course that the process wdll spread in time to her organs of procrea- tion, unless treatment be successful in destroying all the • gonococci. When once the Fallopian tubes, ovaries and peritoneum are involved, we are powerless to stop the rav- ages of the germs, and can only hold ourselves in readiness for the grave mutilating operation which in most cases be- comes necessary in order to save life. The objection of unsexing the women does not apply in these cases, for the disease has already done that. Residiml, or Latent Symptoms of Gonorrhoea ivhich are Characteristic. — Gouorrhcea, unlike syphilis, leaves no deep scars, but nevertheless characteristic alterations are left on the surface of the mucous membranes, which render it pos- sible for the expert to affirm that the woman has at some time had the disease. Saenger, of Leipsic, calls these chronic conditions " residual gonorrhoea, " while others em- ploy Noeggerath's term of " latent gonorrhoea." Instead of ulcers, as in syphilis, there are left behind certain inflam- GONORRHCEA. 887 matory areas, wMcli Professor Saenger calls " gonorrlioeal macnlae." These pathological spots, or maculae, remain for long periods of time, or even permanently, and from them there is a " migration," or exudation of leucocytes, or white blood corpuscles (phagocytes), within which gono- cocci are embedded. As long as the specific infection remains localized in the vagina and other external i)arts of the sexual apparatus there is no great menace to the patient's health or life, ap- parently, but on account of the periodicity in women the disease, as pointed out heretofore, is always liable to in- vade the internal organs of procreation, and almost certain to do so if the woman become pregnant. In pregnancy the enlargement of the uterus facilitates the spread of the disease by opening up the passages of communication, and especially after childbirth or a miscarriage there is almost a certainty that the cavity of the uterus will become in- volved, owing to the physiological denudation at the pla- cental site whereby an ojjen wound is left. In those cases where gonorrhoea has spread to the in- ternal genital organs there is almost surely a complete de- struction of their normal functions ; and in many instances the uterus. Fallopian tubes, ovaries, intestines and bladder are matted together by peritoneal adhesions into a compact mass, so as to render the patient a comj^lete invalid. If operative interference be attemi)ted, as it usualh^ must be, the difficulties presented are extraordinary. These resid- ual signs in the internal structures, though not so conclu- sive as the external maculae, afford ground for referring the cause to gonorrhoea, though other conditions may i^ro- duce very similar results. Sterility from GonorrJicea. — Gonorrhoea is characterized by its great tendency to cause sterility, while the tendencj- of syphilis is to bring about abortion after abortion. Thus nature protects the future of the human race from a pre- ponderance of vicious offspring. Women who are married 888 HEREDITY AND MORALS. to men wlio Lave old, uncured gonorrlioeas — gonococci-bear- ing men — may remain in fairly good liealtli till tlie first pregnancy, after wliicli, as explained, tliej' are liable to be- come sterile and to reqviire tlie gravest surgical operations. The trouble does not usually manifest itself actively until several weeks after cliildbirtli, and thus the correct diag- nosis is generally missed. Saenger calls this " one-child sterility." Many years subsequently', perhaps, another child may be born, but usually the sterility is brought about completely at the first parturition. Of course the wives of many old gonorrhoeal men never have even the one child — the uterus and ovaries becoming embedded in exu- dations very earh* after marriage. " In investigating the causes of sterility, so pronounced among the women of France, the commission charged to study this question reached the following results, ' viz : " Twenty-four per cent of all the French marriages were marked with a complete sterility. " Twenty per cent more never had more than one child, and if the authors of the above statistics have given out that the principal cause of this surprising i)henomenon was the syphilis so general in France, the German physicians have the conviction that it was also greatly due to gonor- rhoea, without at the same time denying the evil influence of syi^hilis." ^ In addition to these causes criminal abortion is also an important factor in keeping down the birth rate. Husbands often lie when questioned about their previ- ous gonorrhoeas, and women, as a rule, are less truthful and communicative regarding their amours than men. But notwithstanding this, the careful physician can often quite accurately conclude whether a woman has had gonorrhoea by learning (1), the history of the first childbirth; (2), whether a second pregnancy- ever resulted; (3), whether »Chervin: Bulletin de l Academic, October 30, 1888. ^Pagenstecher, loc. cit., p. 95. GONORRHCEA. 389 the child's eyes were infected shortly after birth; and (4), the state of the mother's health thereafter,' In sterile marriages it is quite the rule for the husband to put the blame upon the wife, but in a large number of instances he himself has either caused her sterility, or is impotent to jjrocreate. Complications of Gonoerhcea Common to Both Sexes. It has been deemed necessary to devote a relatively large amount of space to the foregoing descriptions of gonorrhoea in the male and female. In few words it would be impos- sible to combat the prevalent erroneous ideas regarding this disease, and forcibly to impress upon the reader the very important fact that it is one of the most pernicious of all maladies. Much could yet be said upon this topic, but, having explained the general history of the disease as it exists locally in the sexual organs, we must condense our remarks on the remaining manifestations. However, the reader must not, because of this condensation, assume that the following affections are in any way trivial, for some of them represent the most aggravated and dangerous of the phases of gonorrhoea. So far in our study of this disease we have only observed it as a local disorder causing mis- chief at sites where gonococci were implanted. But in a certain number of cases these organisms are carried in the blood-stream to remote parts of the body, where they con- tinue their tendency to cause suppuration. When this un- toward result occurs, the gonococci thriving in the joints, heart, brain, or elsewhere, the conditions are uncontrollable by any medical measures, and little can be done, outside of careful nursing, except to watch the uncertain course of the disease. Gonorrhoeal Infammation of the Kidneys and Bladde7\ — Invasion of the bladder often occurs by direct propagation ' Of course it must not be assumed that all cases of complete Sterility or of "one-child sterility" are to be attributed to gonorrlioea. 390 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and spread of tlie gonococci from the uretlira, or bj^ artifi- cial implantation if a catheter has carried the organisms down from that passage. On the other hand, if gonococci are circulating in the blood, they may be eliminated with the urine through the kidneys and thus invade them. Buboes. — Inflammation and suppuration of the inguinal glands sometimes occur as the result of gonorrhoea, though the same condition may result from chancroid, syi)hilis, cancer, tuberculosis, and other afl'ections. Peritonitis. — In the female we saw that i^eritonitis was exceedingly common as a result of the escape of gonorrhoeal pus from the Fallopian tubes into the peritoneal cavity. In the male, peritonitis may also occasionally be caused, not by direct contamination as in the female, but by mi- gration of the gonococci through the tissues, e.g., when the seminal vesicles, which lie in close relationship to the peritoneum, are involved. Intense suffering is always the rule, and death is very frequently the result. Gonorrha'cd Blieumatism. — This affection is a form of septic infection and is in no way akin to ordinar^^ rheuma- tism. It is more common in men because gonorrhoea is far more prevalent among them ; but it may occur in either sex at any age, even in an infant suffering with gonorrhoeal inflammation of the eyes. It usually develops from two to four months after the local infection in the sexual organs. It is caused by gon- ococci entering the blood-stream and being carried to remote parts. The knee-joint is most frequently involved, and, next in frequency, the ankle, wrist, finger-joints, elbow, shoulder, hip, jaw, etc. Many joints, however, may be involved at the same time. The tendency of gon- ococci, wherever situated, is to promote suppuration, and not infrequenth' an ankylosis results in the affected joint, whereby the bones which enter into its formation coalesce, or grow together, so that consolidation or stiffening occurs. As complications of gonorrhoeal rheumatism there may also GONORRHCEA. 391 be serous effusions into tlie slieatlis of tendons, various inflammations in the eyeball, in the large veins, in tlie brain, heart, etc. With each new infection of gonorrhoea there is a great tendency to relapse. Taylor' says that it occurs in ten per cent of gonorrhceal cases. Treatment is exceedingly unsatisfactory, no drug being known which antagonizes the activity of the gonococci, and in many in- stances it becomes necessary for the surgeon to open the joint and wash out the purulent synovial fluids with germi- cides. The severest constitutional effects are as liable to follow upon a mild case of gonorrhoea as upon a severe attack; and in no case can the physician give assurance that grave sei^tic infections will not result. Gonorrhoeal Affections of the Heart, and Pycemia (septic contamination of the blood). — Since the discovery of the gonococcus a number of well-attested cases of gonorrhoeal affections of the heart have been reported, usually occur- ring as complications of gonorrhoeal rheumatism, but not necessarily so. The gonococci produce ulcerative conditions on the valves of the heart, leaving permanent damage behind and making the prognosis grave. Sometimes the microbes are i)resent in such number in the blood that they produce a blood- poisoning and abscesses; and other inflammatory condi- tions may appear in any organ or tissue of the body. The mildest attacks of gonorrhoea may be followed by these constitutional symptoms. Gonorrhoeal Conjunctivitis and Gonorrheal Ophthalmia. — These specific infections of the eye characteristically show the action of the gonococci, the one as a result of local in- fection, the other as a result of systemic invasion. Of the two, gonorrhoeal ophthalmia is the more frequent, while gonorrhoeal conjunctivitis is the more grave. Gonorrhoeal ophthalmia results secondarily from sep- ticaemic infection and is quite uncontrollable by any line of ' Loc. cit., p. 261. 392 HEREDITY AXD MORALS. treatment, but fortunately its results are not usually grave. It is very frequently associated witli gonorrlioeal rheuma- tism, and as a rule reciu's with each fresh infection. Ordi- narily both eyes are involved, and the inflammation chiefly afi'ects the fibrous tissues of the eye, the sclerotic and the iris. Gojwrrhoeal conjunct ivitis is produced primarily by direct contagion, or the local deposition of gonorrhoeal pus upon the mucous membrane of the eye. Ordinarily one eye is involved, though of coiu'se this is fortuitous. As this con- dition is purely an accident, resulting from contamination by the fingers, or towels, or otherwise, it may be acquired readily by a health}' person from an infected one by inocu- lation. The symptoms are among the most urgent and grave of all the emergencies which arise in medical prac- tice, for every hour's delay favors a rapid destruction of the tissues involved. Without the most energetic treat- ment the free discharge of pus is extremely liable to inocu- late the other eye, and rapidly to ulcerate the cornea, so that the contents of the globe, or eyeball, may pour out, and thus the case terminates in total blindness. Every gonorrhoeal patient is therefore the generator of a most virulent poison, one drop of which carried to his eye would, within the space of two or three days, cause complete blind- ness, unless active treatment were at once instituted. And, furthermore, so " unclean" and positively dangerous to the community is such an individual, that he should be quar- antined ; for but few such men can be relied upon to exer- cise care in the use of towels, commodes, bathtubs, etc., which others must use. Gonorrlioeal Affections of the Shin. — Instances of cutane- ous eruj)tions are rare, and on that account interesting. Having observed that the gonococci may enter the blood- stream and thus invade the whole system, it is not, after all, difficult to understand that the minute capillaries of the skin may show their presence by eruptions. GONORRHCEA. 393 A number of sucK cases have been reported, tliose only being accepted in whicli gonococci were deraonstrated in the pus from the eruptions. GONORRHCEA IN THE InPANT. An infant or child of either sex can as readily be infected as an adult if gonococci are inoculated on anj- of its mucous membranes, e.g., the sexual organs, eyes, mouth, nose, rec- tum, etc. In certain instances wicked nurses have taken the grossest liberties with hel})less children and contami- nated them with a secret disease, whose true nature very naturally might be unsuspected by either parents or phy- sician. But these rare cases are of minor importance in compari- son with the terrible and frequent gonorrrhoeal infection of infants' eyes. This inoculation of the new-born infant usuallj' occurs during its birth through the infected maternal passages, and is called "ophthalmia neonatorum." A German accoucheur, Professor Crede, of Dresden, won for himself immortal renown by giving to the profession, in the early eighties, a method of treatment which rendered it possible almost to eliminate the terrors of this fearful affection in new-born babes. In his obstetrical wards he found that the infants' eyes could almost invariably be saved from contamination if, immediately after birth, a solution of nitrate of silver, two grains to ten grains to the ounce, were instilled into both eyes, whether there appeared any need of it or not. At the present time these preventive instillations are uniformly employed in every maternity hospital in the civilized world, and it is considered a great reproach to the medical attendants and nurses if a single case of ocular infection occur. In Professor Saenger's clinic in Leipsic, in 1879, forty per cent of the infants born of gonorrhoea! mothers were affected with ophthalmia neona- torum. But after Crede 's method was instituted, the pro- 394 HEREDITY AND MORALS. portion of infectioD was reduced to two per thousand. Midwives preside over the births of a vast number of chil- dren, and the state is unfortunately too lax in granting them licenses. As a result there is yet a great amount of blind- ness from this cause, although the simple means of pre- venting it are well recognized. " If justification were needed for the discussion of this matter, it would be found in the statistics of the German Empire for 1894. These show that of the women who died of uterine or ovarian diseases, eighty per cent were killed by gonorrhoea. They further show that of children who became hopelessly blind, after having been born with healthy eyes, eighty i^er cent went into a life of darkness from gonorrhoea. " ' The blessings of sight are thus denied to many a poor child through the careless ajjathy of its natural protectors. Note. — It is possible that the non-professional reader may receive the impression that gonorrhoea always causes the results described in this chapter. These occur in but a part of the cases. By no means every man who has had gonorrhoea infects his wife in later years. The idea that this must occur would cause needless suffering to many men. It certainly is not the author's intention to convey such an impression. But the danger is very real and very great — and it is surely not going too far to insist that no man who has ever had the disease has a right to marry until assured after examination by a competent expert that he may safely do so. — Ed. ' F. C. Valentine, M. D. : " The Protection of the Innocent from Gonorrhoea." The Medical Fortnightly, October 15, 1896. CHAPTER X. Chancroid. The cliancroid is a local and highly contagious ulcer, very destructive in its course and usually followed by en- largement and suppuration of the lymphatic glands in immediate anatomical relationship with it. As a rule it is situated on the genital organs, though it may be reproduced by inoculation on any part of the body. The chancroid is otherwise called the " soft chancre" in contradistinction to the " hard chancre" of syphilis. It is entirely a local affection, never producing constitutional after-effects and not being transmissible to posterity. It does not usually endanger the patient's life, though it may terminate fatallj^ from a concomitant erysipelas; or by deeply eroding the tissues it may cause a serious stricture. At the best it leaves compromising scars behind, and iu severe cases it sometimes causes such extensive destruction of tissue that amputation of the penis may become neces- sary. The pus from the primary sore, if inoculated on abraded surfaces, is callable of infecting the patient himself in a number of places, while the primary sore of syphilis has not this characteristic. One attack does not confer immunity, and an individual may have chancroids time and time again. Furthermore, the pus from a chancroid, in contradistinction to the virus of syphilis, is readily transmissible to animals. These contrasts with syphilis are made because the two diseases were confused and erroneously interpreted until recent times. 396 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Cause. — It is now accepted by most authorities tliat chancroid is invariabl}^ jjroduced by the inoculation of virus from another chancroid. Some authorities believe that the chancroidal ulcer is not due to a distinct virus, ' but that it is a hybrid and heterogeneous disease ; that it may origi- nate de novo from local uncleanliness, and that it may be caused by inoculation of various kinds of pus-producing microbes — staphylococci, streptococci, etc. — on excoriated or abraded surfaces. On the other hand Ducrej', Welander, Krefting and others'" maintain that there is a definite micro-organism, or bacillus, which has been satisfactorily demonstrated to be the specific cause. The clinical history, after experi- mental inoculations with chancroidal pus, argues strongly in favor of its being a distinct lesion and not a hybrid dis- ease. In almost all cases it is acquired during sexual inter- course, and is therefore commonlj' situated on the genitalia. But it may as readily be inoculated extra-genitally when- ever the virus is api)lied to an abrasion, e.g., on the lips, nose, eyes, thighs, abdomen, or any cutaneous or mucous surface. Surgeons are sometimes accidentally inoculated on the fingers, and the virus may be carried on towels, drinking-cups, utensils and instruments of all sorts. 3Iode of Onset. — There is no period of incubation, but the ulcer is quickly developed after the deposit of the mi- crobes on the abraded spot, usualh- on the head of the penis and on the prepuce. It may appear in twentj-four hours, or may not be noticed by a careless patient for a week or so. The chancroidal ulcer, differing from that of syphilis, is soft, and presents sharply-defined edges in a characteristic manner, as though the tissues had been cut out with a punch. ' Fide Taylor: "Venereal Diseases," p. 481, 1895. ^Vide White and Martin: " Genito-Urinary and Venereal Dis- eases," p. 274, 1897. CHANCROID. 397 Frequency. — It is more frequent in syphilitic imtients because that disease predisposes to it. Therefore it is specially common among the lower-class prostitutes, and among men who are ignorant and careless about all matters relating to sexual affairs. In many prostitutes it remains indolent and lingers for years. Comj)lications. — Sometimes there is gangrene and con- siderable loss of tissue, resulting in great deformity. Some- times the f)enis is destroyed, or the testicles may be laid bare b}^ destruction of the scrotum. These severe cases, however, are seldom seen except in patients who are much debilitated by syphilis, or by other profoundly depressing diseases, such as diabetes, tuberculosis, diseases of kidneys, liver, etc. This gangrenous form sometimes lasts for years without healing. The most frequent complication is a bubo, or glandular swelling. Supposing the sore to be on the penis, the poison is conveyed by the lymphatic vessels to the nearest group of glands, which are situated in the groins. Usually only a single gland in one groin is involved, though the whole packet of glands in both groins may become indu- rated and eventually break down into pus. No micrococci are found in these buboes, but they are caused by toxins, or chemical irritants, produced by the organisms at the site of the lesion on the penis. The iwn of buboes is sometimes intense, and the exten- sive suppuration, with escape of the pus into the surround- ing tissues, often leaves deforming cicatrices from the pro- longation of the healing process. Treatment. — Many cases heal spontaneouslj^ but surgical dressing or operation is usualh^ necessary. It is very gen- erally advisable to excise the enlarged gland, or bubo, while in other cases circumcision is indicated. In the severest cases it may become necessary to amputate the penis or to castrate the patient on account of the extensive destruction of the scrotum. CHAPTER XI. Syphilis. ' Historical. — No dogmatic expression is possible as to the origin and antiquity of syphilis. Certain facts are defi- nitely known, while other mere conjectures persuade some and repel others. Dr. F. Buret ^ has written a scholarly work purporting to prove that it was known more than five thousand years ago among the Asiatics, the Romans, the Greeks and the Egyptians. Many regard his demonstra- tion as conclusive. Captain Dabray' refers to the works of Hoan-ty, written 2637 B.C., who graphically describes what would fairly seem to be typical cases of syphilis. In short, there is a very large amount of literature on the history of this dis- ease, but little likelihood of the question of its origin ever being positively settled. Nothing however is better known historically than that syphilis was rampant as an epidemic and pandemic in Europe almost coincidently with the discovery of the New World by Columbus. ' For a fuller description of this enormous subject, and for illus- trations, all of which are repulsive in the extreme, consult the vari- ous text-books and atlases on venereal diseases. The horrors of syphilis being in a measure known to every mature person, it is not deemed necessary to give the same space to its consideration as to that of its congener, gonorrhoea, which is, as we have pointed out, in many respects more thankless to treat and more terrible in its results than even syphilis. '"Syphilis in the Middle Ages and in Modem Times," translated by Ohman-Dumesnil, 3 vols. »"La Medecine chez les Chinois," 1863. 400 HEREDITY AND MORALS. "The epidemic of syphilis which stands out so boldly in medical history occurred about the time (the latter part of the year 1494) when Charles VIII., king of France, with a large army, invaded Italj' with the intent of taking posses- sion of the kingdom of Naples, which he claimed by right of inheritance. Charles left Rome on his way to Naples January 28, and reached the latter city Februarj^ 21, 1495. After a time the Neapolitans revolted against the authority of Charles, and, aided by a Spanish army under the command of Gonsalvo of Cordova, they endeavored to drive the French out of Italy. There were then three armies encamped near Naples, and about this time the fearful epidemic broke out. It is not definitely established that the disease first appeared among the troops, but thej' certainly were attacked, and were one means of conveying the disease into other countries. There is ample evidence to prove that wdthin a few years the disease had spread over the greater part of Europe. Thus we find that syphi- lis was by the Neapolitans called the morbus Gallicus, by the French mal de Naples, and w^as also called the Polish, Spanish, Turkish, and Christian disease. It was also named after some saints, and was called the disease of the holy man Job, of St. Leonard, St. Clement, St. Mevius, and St. Roche. It was not known as the American disease until twenty- years after the return of Columbus from his first trip." ' We may conclude from historical readings that there is great probability that syphilis existed in remote antiquity, and that wdth the widespread libertinism in Europe at the latter part of the fifteenth century it redeveloped in France, Italy and Spain with hitherto unknown virulence, and that it was subsequently carried wherever Europeans travelled until it has come to be enormously j^revalent in modern times, even infecting many aboriginal tribes. Syphilis is especially malignant when occurring in a • Taylor : " Venereal Diseases, " p. 20. SYPHILIS. 401 community for the first time — in the great historical Euro- pean outbreak whole families were destroyed and the most revolting deformities and loathsome eruptions were com- mon. Similar malignity has been shown by recent out- breaks among the savage tribes of this continent, and in other localities, for civilized races are now mildh' protected by the syphilis which was worked out with special fury on their ancestors. Nature of Syphilis. Syphilis is a chronic, infectious and inoculable disease, transmissible to posterity. It begins with a local " sore," or " chancre," called the " initial lesion," which is the result of the inoculation from another syphi- litic individual of a special and peculiar virus, the minutest portion of which is sufficient to communicate the disease. In many respects syphilis resembles the exanthematous fevers (small-pox, scarlet fever, measles, etc.), having a period of incubation, invasion, eruption, persistence, de- cline and convalescence. Like them it is attended with l>ractical immunity from a second attack, at least for long periods of time, though second attacks of syphilis are almost as well authenticated as second attacks of the con- tagious fevers. Unlike them, however, in untreated cases the period corresponding to convalescence is prolonged for the re- mainder of the patient's life, during which time grave in- juries are occurring in various parts of the bod}'. In some respects it also resembles leprosy and tubercu- losis, producing a proliferation of new and foreign cells in the tissues, and being protracted and progressive in its nature. In its later manifestations sj'philis is remarkable in simulating almost every other disease without exactly resembling any of them. This is not difficult to under- stand when we consider that the infection eventually invades every organ and tissue in the body, producing functional and organic changes in them which may cause disorders of almost any kind. 26 402 HEREDITY AND MORALS. This disease is remarkably common among tlie vicious, rich and poor alike ; and by them it is often transmitted to the innocent members of the family circle. Cause. — Though absolute proof is still wanting, it is now accepted that the disease is almost certainly associated with the growth of a micro-organism, or bacterium, of vegetable origin. In 1884, Lustgarten, of Vienna, announced the dis- covery of a bacillus which he believed to be the cause of syphilis ; and lately there has been much confirmative evi- dence, especially from Doutrelepont and Klemperer, who have devised special stains for differentiating the bacillus. No cultivations of these organisms having been made out- side the human body — the inoculation of monkeys by Klebs not being as yet satisfactory — we must at present provi- sionally accept this bacillus of Lustgarten, believing that trustworthy details of i)roof will shoi"tly come. A minute portion of the virus or of the blood of a syphilitic being inoculated into another individual, through an abrasion however small, or by absorption through a mucous surface, the microbes rapidly multiph* until a " colony" is locally developed. A local ulcer is then produced in which the organisms have elaborated certain i^oisonous chemical sub- stances called toxins, or ptomains, or virus. This virus is then diffused through the whole system and the char- acteristic phenomena of syphilis aj^pear, such as fever, de- bility, headaches, a distinctive rash, sore throat, falling out of the hair, and the eventual prodiiction of a peculiar growth of cells — called "granulation tissue" — which pro- duce most serious effects. Varieties of Sypliilis. — 1. The acquired form, beginning with a primary sore, or "hard chancre," as the result of inoculation, and followed by constitutional symptoms. 2. Hereditary, or prenatal syphilis, in which one or both parents are actively syphilitic at the time of conception of the embryo. In this form there is no primary sore, but a general systemic infection acquired in utero. SYPHILIS. 403 At present we shall consider the first form. Modes of Acquiring Syphilis. — Syphilis is almost always derived by impure sexual intercourse, and is hence called a venereal disease, although a considerable proportion of cases are acquired unconsciously and innocenth- and with- out an impure history. The cases of extra-genital syphilis, i.e., those which are not associated with lasciviousness, are classified as "unmerited syphilis," or "syphilis of the in- nocent" {''syphilis insontium"). A syphilitic person is a menace to the community in which he lives, and in strict justice he should be quaran- tined until his disease has passed beyond the stage wherein he is capable of contaminating others. The secretion from his primary sore is liighlj' virulent, as are those from the mucous patches which appear in his mouth and on his lips, anus and genitalia. For at least two to three years after infection, even under treatment, his blood and the debris from any pustule, pimple, or ulcer are infectious, and he renders more or less unsafe every article which he touches. This has been proved by experimental inoculations. It is of course wrong to permit such a person to send his clothing to the public laundry, or to jeopardize others in innumerable other ways; and the time may come when such will be as promptly quarantined as are the victims of small-pox. The virus from a patient who is infected with syphilis — "the big-pox" — can inoculate another person through a crack or abrasion in the skin too small to be noticed, or even through an intact mucous membrane. " My studies and observations have convinced me that in the majority of cases in which the treatment has been ample and well di- rected a cure is obtained in two or three years, and then, of course, the subject does not give forth infectious secre- tions. " ' But until the expiration of this time the syphilitic is a dangerous element in society, and it cannot be said ' Taylor : " Venereal Diseases, " p. 536. 404 HEREDITY AND MORALS. that " ample and well-directed treatment" is followed in a majority of cases. The normal secretions of a syphilitic, i.e., the saliva, tears, sweat, urine, semen and milk, are not in themselves contagious; but if one microscopically minute blood-cor- puscle, or a mere particle of tissue-detritus exude with any of these secretions into an abrasion on another individual, infection will follow. Thus, since sore patches in the mouth and about the genitals and on the skin surfaces are common, it is unsafe, from a practical standpoint, to be ex- posed even to the normal secretions of an infected person. In order to acquire syphilis there must be contamination with the virus from another infected person in some way. This ma J' be (a) by direct, or immediate contact; — (&) by indirect, or mediate contact. Infcctio)i Inj Direct Contact. — In the majoritj^ of in- stances sj^philis is both acquired and given during the im])ure sexual act. By some other beastly practices it is also spread, and manj^ an individual, thinking merely to pla}^ with prostitutes without actual fornication, has been inoculated. Thus, the lascivious kisses of syphilitic pros- titutes suffering with mucous patches in their mouths, have often caused chancres on the lips. But aside from venereal practices the disease may be acquired in various other ways by direct contact. Doctors and dentists are sometimes inoculated ui:)on their fingers in oj^erations upon sj^Dhilitic patients. It has been imj^arted b}^ careless physicians in the operation of vaccination, and not infrequently bj- pro- fessional tattooers who moisten the needles and pigment with their saliva. The kisses of syphilitic men have often inoculated wives and pure young children, and in numerous other ways it may be directly communicated. Infection hy Indirect or Mediate Contact.— Thvou^ the intervention of innumerable articles of daily use syphilis has often been communicated to innocent persons. Taylor ' ^Op. cit., p. 539. SYPHILIS. 405 gives tlie following list of articles which have been the agents of infection : " Cigars, cigar- and cigarette-holders, pipes, tooth-brushes, tooth-powders, drinking-utensils, knives, forks, spoons, razors, towels, sponges, i^illows, masks, gloves, wash-rags, linen thread, silk thread, pins, needles, children's toys, nursing-bottles, rubber tubes, babies' rubber rings, trousers, women's drawers, bandages, surgical and cupping instruments, manicure instruments, syringes, scarifiers, dental instruments and appliances, caustic-holders, blowj)ipes, paper-cutters, lead-pencils, speaking-trumpets, musical instruments, fish-horns, whis- tles, the mouth-piece of the telej^hone, chewing-rjum, and even pastilles and candy." Laundresses have been inoculated by washing the clothes of syphilitics; chancres have been acquired on the knuckles by striking the teeth of diseased men in fights ; and in fact there is no limit to the articles which may be the vehicles of infection. Chancres of the lip have been acquired from the communion-cup by infection with the virus which syphilitics have smeared on the rim from the mucous patches in their mouths. The neglect to provide individual communion-cui^s is inexcusable — for even though a syphilitic man might not be apt to attend this solemn service, yet not a few religious wives have been innocently infected by their husbands, without, of course, being in- formed, and such menace all who use the cup after them. The mere reflection that syphilis and tuberculosis are lia- ble to be transmitted in this way should promptly lead all to insist on the same etiquette and decency being observed in this sacred rite as we demand even in the home circle, of having a separate cup for each individual. So also the custom of making witnesses kiss the Bible when oaths are administered is repulsive, for syphilitic virus is readily implanted on it from the mucous patches in the mouths of infected persons. Mode of (}>?se^.— Syphilis invariably begins with a " sore," 406 HEREDITY AND MORALS. whicli is called the "initial lesion," or "chancre"; it is called the "hard," or "Hunterian chancre," to distinguish it from the " soft sore" of chancroid. Three distinct stages are recognized — the primary, secondary- and tertiary. The Pyirnarij Stage. — At the date of the infecting contact, whether by coitus or otherwise, some of the virus is im- planted at the site where the chancre is to develop — gen- itally or extra-genitally. Then for a certain period, called the stage of incubation, nothing whatever betrays the dis- ease. This incubation period lasts from ten to seventy days, but, as a rule, in the neighborhood of twenty-one days, the extreme limits of rajiid or tardy development being unusual. Then a sore is noticed which at first is not indurated, but in ten or fourteen days more it displays the typical signs of the true hard chancre. Now comes a pe- riod of repose, lasting usually for from forty to ninety days, during which interval the patient is merely incon- venienced by the local sore. 77^3 Secondary Stage. — After this period of seeming qui- escence comes the secondary period, or period of constitu- tional invasion, when the virus seems to explode, as it were. The i)atient now suffers with languor, headaches, shooting pains in the limbs, trunk and head, falling out of the hair, sore throat, erui^tions on the skin and mucous membranes, enlargement of the lymphatic glands through- out the whole system, and peculiar milk-white patches upon the mucous membranes of the mouth and anus. With all this there is fever, neuralgia and considerable suffering. This condition lasts for one or two j-ears, during which time the eruptions, though extremely repulsive, are chiefly superficial and tolerably mild iu their effect on the general health. Until the characteristic signs of the secondary stage have appeared, no anti-syphilitic treatment whatever is given by the physician ; otherwise the diagnosis would be obscure and irreparable harm might follow. SYPHILIS. 407 The tertiary stage usually comes on, in untreated cases, at the expiration of two years. In this stage the lesions are mostly found in the deeper parts of the body, causing caries of the bones and other severe complications in the central nervous system and in any or all of the vital organs. It represents the gravest aspect of the disease, and may continue to cause ominous manifestations for the remainder of life. Sj'philis being often compared with the exanthe- matous fevers, this tertiary stage corresponds with the period of convalescence in them ; but in this disease it will be noticed that convalescence is jn-olonged for a lifetime if the malady be allowed to w^ork out its natural course un- modified hj treatment. The division between these three periods in not invari- ably sharply defined, and sometimes they coexist. Pathology, or a Consideration of the Chai^aderistic Prog- ress of the Disease. — The virus ha\dng been elaborated by the "colony" of bacteria at the site of the "initial lesion," it is then absorbed and disseminated throughout the entire system, producing certain deleterious effects of a proteaD, or exceedingl}' variable nature. Transformations then fol- low in the body which cause the disease to be classified along with lei)rosy, tuberculosis, actinomycosis, etc. — the "infective granulomata. " The peculiar effect of the poison is to produce certain cells which, when aggregated, result in the formation of what is called "granulation tissue," "connective tissue," or tissue akin to "proud-flesh" from w^hich scars are gen- erated. When these deposits of granulation tissue — which may appear in any part of the body — are young, they are vascular and proliferative; but soon the blood-vessels in them become fewer, their nourishment is cut off, and they necrose, or die at their centres, eventually becoming cica- trized and causing profound nutritive changes in the vari- ous normal structures of the body. In the secondary, and es^Decially in the tertiary stages of 408 HEREDITY AND MORALS. sypliilis, i.e., when the process lias become constitutional, this proliferation of graunlatiou-tissue is especially active, involving the blood-vessels and lymphatics and forming new growths, called "gnmmata," which have a special predilection for invading the central nervous system and the vital organs. The earliest change produced by consti- tutional sypJiilis is an alteration in the blood whereby tho red blood-corpuscles are much diminished in number and impaired in nutritive qualities, so that marked ansemia results. The virus next involves the lymphatic system, producing enlargements in all the superficial and deep lymi:>hatic glands, those in the neck and on the inner sur- faces of the elbows being specially jn'ominent on account of their readily accessible positions. Along v.ith this glandular enlargement there always is fever, usually slightly marked (102''-103 F.), but some- times very high (103 ^-105 " F.\ With the fever there are loss of appetite, listlessness, dein'ession of spirits, severe neuralgias, intense headache, great tenderness and pain in the bones, of a "bone-breaking" character, pains in the muscles and joints, and sometimes hysteria, insomnia, hallucinations, delusions, delirium, mania and various morbid impulses and aberrations of mind. Then come the characteristic syx)hilitic eruptions of the skin and mucous membranes, of almost endless variety. Almost invariably there is a compromising falling out of the hair, wliich may result in slight or complete baldness, and various "syphilides," or granulation-tissue deposits, develop over the body, showing a characteristic coppery color and a tendency to form scales. Along with all these symptoms, which have been merely touched upon, there a,re often grave manifestations involving the eyes, brain and spinal cord, the osseous system, the testicles, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, and all the other organs and structures of the body. Let us here borrow the words of the most eminent modern syphilographer, Fouruier, who is quoted SYPHILIS. 409 by Taylor in liis text-book ' as follows (the parentbeses are the author's) : " Is it or is it not necessary to treat a syphilitic patient? Is it or is it not beneficial that he should be treated? In order to answer a proposition thus stated, let us consider what risks sach a patient runs, by stating his condition clearly. To what dangers, in fact, is he exposed? Let us set forth his pathological balance-sheet, if I may speak thus — a balance-sheet which, if not certain and inevitable, is at least probable and i)ossible. What can such a i)atient have? What lesions is he liable to develop some day or other? And these lesions, are they of such a character that it will be urgent or advantageous that they should be treated? What he can have are at first lesions without any real gravity, but which are at least ver\' disagreeable to some, particularly if they are visible : thus he may have cutaneous syphilides of various forms, very annoying syphilides of the mucous membranes, engorgements of the ganglia, alopecia (falling out of hair), and onyxis (distor- tions of the nails). In the second place, there are more serious lesions, from the fact that some of them are very painful : they are angina, cephalalgia (head pains), various pains with nocturnal exacerbations, insomnia, myalgia (muscular pains), pain in the joints, inflammation of ten- dons, periostitis, etc. Should not the possible anticipation of such troubles justify the intervention of treatment? But we have really a third order of lesions, which are much more serious and which may involve and comi^romise important organs. Only to cite the most common of this group, we shall find affections of the eye, such as iritis, choroiditis, and retinitis, which are capable of impairing or even ex- tinguishing vision ; sarcocele, which may induce disorgani- zation and atrophy of one or both testicles and thus produce impotence; gummy tumors (gummata), which often perfo- rate and destroy the velum palati (soft palate) and leave a 'Op. cit., pp. 526, 527. 410 HEREDITY AND MORALS. double and revolting infirmit}^ ; paralyses of the eye and face ; hemiplegia and parai)legia; inflammation of bone, caries, ozsena (fcetid breath), flattening and loss of the nose; with- out speaking of the possibility of hereditary transmission and of the introduction of syphilis into the family circle. But this is not yet all. If we consult r. manual of patholog- ical anatomy, we shall find there described fatal lesions at- tributable to sy i^hilis alone. The causes of death in syphilis are many and varied^ — death by hepatic lesions, cirrhosis, and hei^atitis gummosa ; death by lesions of the meninges ; by cerebral gummata and syphilitic encephalitis ; by lesions of tbe spinal cord, which are more common than is generally believed; by exostoses (l)ony outgrowths) of the cranium and vertebne; by lesions of the kidneys, of the larynx, and of the lungs; and, more rareh", by lesions of the oesoph- agus and rectum; death by consumption and progressive cachexia (depraved bodil}' condition). These are, in short, the possible consequences of syphilis, and such is the per- spective offered to a person who contracts this contagion. Dare we call a disease benign which can end thus? Can a disease be called benign which is fraught with such serious accidents and Avhoso pathological anatomy is so rich and varied? Dare we tell jjersons afflicted with this disease to leave it untreated, to let things go, and to wait patiently the possible results of such an infection, without warning them of it?" Tertiary Lesions. — In cases where syphilis runs its regu- lar course, unmodified by treatment, certain lesions of a graver nature, called tertiary lesions, develoj), usually in the third or fourth year of the infection, but sometimes even as late as ten, twenty, or even fifty years (Fournier). With suflicient care in the treatment the tertiary symp- toms may never appear ; but strangely these gravest mani- festations of syphilis are, on account of the negligence in treatment, more apt to follow in cases where the primary and secondary lesions have been mild. For this reason SYPHILIS. 411 they are more common in women, because everything pos- sible is done to keep them in ignorance when they are inno- cently infected. It is this " ignored syphilis" which pre- sents the most shocking complications. Tertiary syphilis is remarkable for its insidiousness and its disorderly course, no two cases being alike. Therefore it is impossible to write a full and clear account within short limits. Sometimes the lesions come on like wildfire within two to four months after infection and raj^idly pro- dace the most threatening complications and even death. This is called "galloping syphilis." But as a rule these tertiarj^ lesions appear some time after the second year. They differ from the secondary lesions in being slower in development, less numerous, and more destructive to the deeper parts of the body, e.g., the brain, spinal cord, heart, blood-vessels, bones, muscles, viscera, etc. The tendency at this late stage of the disease is to a progressive growth of granulation-tissue which jjroduces nodules and tumors ("granulomata," "gummata," or " syphilomata") . With the lapse of time these new-cell infiltrations ulcerate and necrose and otherwise cause cica- trization, or sclerosis, in the most vital tissues of the body. There is a special liability to the most horribly loathsome and disfiguring skin affections. Sometimes the palate and fauces are destroyed, so that the mouth, nose and pharynx are converted into one enormous cavity, allowing food to regurgitate through the nose and giving a distinctive nasal quality to the voice which the French call "duck's voice." In many cases the vocal cords are damaged, so that the voice forever after remains husky. Syphilis, in its later manifestations, is capable of infecting any or all of the tissues in the body ; remotely it frequently causes death, or the most hideous distortions and malformations, insan- ity, paralysis, epilepsy, blindness, destruction of joints, sterility, etc. 412 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Hei-editary Syphilis. — In the hereditary form of syphilis there is no initial lesion, or chancre, and it cannot be divided into well-defined stages. The manifestations of the disease correspond in type to the secondary and tertiary stages, which often coexist. Prenatal infection maj^ overtake the foetus from either the father or motlier, or from both. Paternal Transmission. — After the father's chancre has healed, constitutional symjjtoms having become manifest, his semen may carr}' syphilitic infection during the proc- ess of conception, even though the mother be not inocu- lated. His share in procreation being limited to the mere act of fecundation of the ovule, the blighting influence of paternal descent is not so marked as when the mother has constitutional syi)hilis. Without efiicient treatment pater- nal transmission is probable for at least four years after his infection, and in some cases the child may be born syphilitic even after many years of apparent absence of all manifestations in the ancestor. Maternal Transmission. — After constitutional symj^toms have appeared in the mother, the foitus is liable to be born syx>hilitic if born before the expiration of at least six years. Or a healthy foetus may become infected if the pregnant mother become syphilitic. Syphilis affecting women more profoundly than men, especially in its great tendency to produce a severe type of anaemia in them, the foetus has less chance of developing normalh- when the mother is tainted than when the morbid influence is derived solely from the father. For the proper development and nour- ishment of the foetus in utero it is necessarj- that the mother should have good health, and consequently maternal trans- mission is especially malign in its influence on the child. Furthermore, when the mother is sj-philitic there is great risk of abortion and still-birth, owing to syj^hilitic lesions in the placenta which interfere with the child's vitalit3^ Transmission from Both Parents. — When both parents are syphilitic at the time of imj)regnation, the child will SYPHILIS. 413 surely be tainted. About one-tliird of sucL. cliildreu will perish before birtli, while almost all of those bom will die within the first six months after birth. " According to Kassowitz, ' one-third of all children pro- created of syphilitic parents are dead born, and of those born living twenty-four per cent die within the first six months of life. In his personal experience Fournier ^ found that in private practice more than tw^o out of three heredi- tarily syphilitic children died, either before, at, or soon after birth. In hospital practice Fournier found that out of 167 children born of syphilitic mothers, 145 died; which means that one child out of seven or eight survived. It having been claimed that Fournier's personal statistics made an exceptionally bad showing, and that they were exaggerated, he collected those from the whole world, his own excepted. He gathered the histories of 447 cases of children whose fathers or mothers were syphilitic, and found that out of this number there were 343 deaths, there being only 104 who survived. Of the 343 children who died, only six lived beyond the first j^ear. The proi:)ortion of living children, according to these statistics, is 1 to 4.3. We may understand why the lesions of hereditary syphilis are so severe and extensive, and why its fatality is so great, when we consider how early in foetal life the spe- cific virus exerts its influence, and how thoroujrhly it must be diffused through the organism of the embrj'o." ^ The longer the parents have had syphilis before they beget off- spring the less is the chance of blighting of the fcetus. Transmission is most certain within the first Aear after either or both parents have acquired the disease, and with the lapse of time the chances grow gradually less and less, though many years after all signs of syphilis have api)ar- ently disappeared from the parents, the children may be 1 "Die Vererbung der Syphilis," Vienna, 1876. 2 "La Syphilis hereditaire tardive," Paris, 1886, pp. 160 et seq. 2 Taylor, op. cit., p. 290. 414 HEREDITY AND MORALS. born sypliilitic. This especially applies wlien tlie parents liave not received efficient treatment. A healthy married woman, if she have a healthy hus- band, naturall}^ becomes impregnated, harbors the child for nine calendar months, and thereafter suckles it for from twelve to twenty months. Then, if she be prolific, gesta- tions and sucklings succeed each other for a number of times, births recurring approximately every three 3'ears. But the syphilitic woman is liable to have a greater number of pregnancies than if she were healthy — for abortion after abortion occurs, and the failure to suckle of course renders her more subject to reimpregnation at an early date after each mishap. In tainted mothers each succeeding abortion usually comes on later and later in the foetal development, until after a time a living child msby be born, which, however, probably dies of syphilis. Then the next child may sur- vive and develop, even though congenitally syphilitic, and perhaps the subsequent children may be entirely free from the disease. Thus we see that syphilis gradually loses its tendency to blight progeny, and that, unlike gonorrhoea, it does not usually sterilize men or women, though producing much the same ultimate result by causing successive abortions. *' Conceptional SypJdlis." — Though long disputed, it is now pretty generally accepted that a healthy mother can be infected by a foetus which has been originated by the semen of a syphilitic father. In the large majority of instances the mother is infected with primary' syphilis directly by the father ; but after his chancre has healed he may have coitus with her without inoculating her, though his semen renders the foetus syphilitic. In this event the mother may acquire the disease from the foetus either by absorp- tion of the toxins, or by direct reception of the germs of syphilis into her circulation, if there have been any lacera- tion or solution of continuity at the placental site. SYPHILIS. 415 Prognosis in Hereditary Syphilis. — Wlien either or both parents are coustitiitionally tainted the i)robabilities are, as pointed out, that abortion after abortion will occur — the foetuses being born macerated, or softened by ijrocesses of liquefaction. If the child be born alive it will probably be a wizened, deformed, stunted and blasted little thing, emaciated, hav- ing a peculiar senile expression, and corrupted through and through with the syphilitic virus. Fortunately they usually die within the first few months. Or the child may be born apparently healthy and not show any of the mani- festations of this terrible disease until several weeks have elapsed. In other cases of hereditary syphilis the outbreak may be deferred until the time of the second dentition, or until puberty, or it may not crop out until the child's maturity . It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the special lesions which may appear throughout the life-history of such a blasted innocent, since they are very similar to those re- ferred to under acquired syphilis. Suffice it to say that failures in development and the most hideous and shocking deformities, blindness, deafness, paralysis, epilepsy, im- pairment of mental powers, idiocy, hydrocephalus, and a marked tendency to develop tubercular affections, are the rule. Syphilis and Marriage. — When may a syphilitic marry? Some years ago Fournier and Besnier said that a syphilitic might incur the chances of a possible tragedy by marrying, if he waited for four years after the initial lesion, provided that he had undergone a careful and prolonged treatment. But Besnier and others have recently advanced the limit, and it is now considered that even under the most favorable circumstances five years should elapse before marriage. Morel-Lavallee, ' after presenting indisputable statistical evidence that secondary lesions appear in patients, even ^Rev. de TMrapeut. Med.-Chirurg., November 15, 1896. 416 HEREDITY AND MORALS. when under skilled medical observation, for five, ten, or even more years, maintains that it should be an invariable rule not to allow patients to marry for at least five years after infection, and not even then unless a whole vear has elapsed without any appearance of secondary' symptoms, e.g., mucous patches in the mouth, erosions on lips or tongue, etc. After five years, if vigorous specific treatment has been intelligently followed, the chances that syphilis will be transmitted to the offspring are slight, but in no case can a positive assurance of immunity be given. The advice which the average physician might give to a patient — that he might marry five years after the primary infection and when no signs had been seen for over a jear — would be (juite different from his absolute refusal when the syphilitic contemplated marriage with some member of his own family, even though the suitor had acquired the disease innocenth\ From the standpoint of a wise and thoughtful justice to the interests of the race, syphilitics should never marry ; for, though many undoubtedly eventually have healthy children, yet there can never be a gladsome confidence that lesions will not at some time appear in the children, and that the results will not extend to the children's children. Tlie Treatment of Sijpliilis. — Of all the classes of patients which a physician sees none appear more utterly demoral- ized and frightened than men of intelligence who have acquired syphilis. The lack of happiness in their faces and their apparent abandonment of all hope are quite char- acteristic. Yet, if the patient be not a fool, if he will forego the falsehood customary in venereal afi'airs, if he will submit to the trouble, expense and irksomeness of at least two years of active treatment, and remain under observation for months or years thereafter, the chances are that all the graver manifestations of the disease can be checked. SYPHILIS. 417 If sypliilis be carefully and systematically treated for a sufficient i:>eriod of time it is, as a rule, tractable, so that the appearance of tertiary symptoms is now usuallj^ re- garded as an evidence of neglect. Yet in a certain i)ropor- tion of cases tlie process is malignant and cannot be checked. Syphilis is one of the very few diseases for which we have "specifics," or remedies which are peculiarly efficacious; as quinine is to malaria, so are mercury and the iodides to it. In fact the role of medicine in this aifection is nothing short of brilliant. But certain factors are essential for suc- cess. The patient must select a physician of high repute, to whose requirements he must submit as absolutely as does the traveller to his guide in the dark miles of passage- ways and recesses in the Mammoth Cave. The slightest deviation from the path pointed out by his medical guide, however unattractive or unreasonable that path may seem, will surely result in irreparable damage, and for the next few years every consideration of time, money, or inclina- tion must be subserviently set aside until the patient has been extricated from the labyrinth of corruption. However wearisome it may be, the patient must be docile and absolutely obedient for this prolonged time ; otherwise this disease will produce conditions so horrible as to be quite bej'ond accepting, especially when by care they can be prevented. Given a wise and painstaking physician and an obedient patient, it is now generally recognized that syphilis can almost certainly be overcome in time. In fact there is preponderating evidence that in certain in- stances reinfection has occurred. For more than one hun- dred years mercury has been known as a specific in this disease, and it remains to-day our most efficient drug. Equally useful in their places are the iodides of potash and of soda, the former of which is more commonly em- ployed. The various methods of treatment which are indicated in different cases and in the different stages of the disease are 27 418 HEREDITY AND MORALS. SO technical and professional, and tlirow so little light on the peculiar characteristics of the pathology, that it would here be quite out of place to attempt their consideration. Consequently the interested reader is referred to the vari- ous excellent text-books on the subject. CHAPTER Xn. Onanism. Onanism is a term of comprehensive meaning, applicable in a broad sense to all forms of sexual stimulation emploj^ed by either sex, singly or mutually, to produce orgasm in unnatural ways — i.e., otherwise than by coitus. The onanistic acts are as follows: "Withdrawal," or the offence of Onan'; "coitus in os"; "coitus inter femora" ; pederasty; bestiality; "mutual masturbation"; "self-pol- lution" (masturbation, auto-sexual indulgence) , etc. None of these acts have in view the perpetuation of the species, and all are therefore perversions. We shall here chiefly concern ourselves with onanism in relation to the acts of self-pollution, which, of all the varieties, is b}' far the most frequent. Causes ivhich Predispose to Auto-Sexual Stimulation. — Anything which produces irritation in the genital zone, or which strongly directs the attention to those parts, is liable to result in handling of the privates, and thus the habit is often acquired by children without consciousness of wrong. Eczema, pruritus (intolerable itching locally) , worms in the rectum, a too tight or too redundant prepuce, the accumu- lation of smegma, or the natural cheese-like material, be- neath the foreskin, and various other causes, all lead to manipulation of the sexual apparatus. Certain kind of movements occasion pleasurable lustful feelings in certain individuals ; for instance, the gymnastic feats of swinging on a trapeze, rope-climbing, etc. , are fol- lowed by ejaculation in not a few instances. Dangers also ' Vide Genesis xxxviii., 9. 420 HEREDITY AND MORALS. lurk in improperly adjusted bicycle saddles, badly-fitting clothing, and, occasionally, even in the running of sewing- machines. Pollutions may follow these acts without the individual having the slightest iinpure intent, but are quite harmless unless employed as excuses for indulgence by voluntary self-stimulation. But the more frequent causes of mastur- bation lie in other directions. In every aggregation of children a certain proportion are seduced by the bad ex- ample of their perversely inclined companions. This is, or should be, known to all teachers in schools. In refor- matories for juveniles, and in i)risons for adults, mutual and auto-masturbaticm is notorioush' prevalent, and is only kept down by constant vigilance on the part of the wardens. The author is informed by the attendants at the District Keform School that the boys, most of whom, by the way, have "stigmata of degeneration," or anatomical defects, must bo watched day and night in order to prevent these practices and even then the}' find opportunities for i)erverse indulgence. It is a mistake to assume that this vice is limited to growing boys, for it is practised more or less in every assemblage of either sex where they are groiiped to- gether in large numbers, and also, of course, by numerous individuals of all ages in private life. Some nurses have a vicious habit of quieting children by titillation of their genitals ; and there is no doubt that jileasurable feelings, with erection, can be induced manj' .years before the time of puberty. This, of course, predisposes to furious masturba- tion later on. " There seems hardly any limit to the age at which a young child can be initiated into these abomina- tions, or to the depths of degradation to which it may fall under such hideous teaching."' Sometimes nurses, or servant-maids, practise masturbation on children, chiefly boys, for their own curiosity, and sometimes they actually copulate with them, secure in their opportunities from all ' " Acton on the Reproductive Organa, " p. 39. h ONANISM. 421 chance of exposure. In this way 3'oung children have occasionally been infected with venereal disease. Various habits of children predispose them to vicious ways, such as idleness, apathy in play, too long repose in bed, the use of spicy food, etc. Masturbation is sometimes a symi)tom of brain-disease, and sometimes a legacy inherited along with an unstable nervous sj'stem. It is frequent in hysteria, mania, idiocy, imbecility, insanity, epilepsy and dementia, and such un- fortunates are also very prone to manifest tendencies in the direction of other perversions. Varieties of Mastarhation. — The sexual orgasm may be induced (1), by a local friction and stimulation of the erogenous areas;' (2), solely by a vivid psj^chical excita- tion; (3), or by a combination of the local and imaginative processes. In the adult, masturbation is almost always accomjoanied by lively and highly colored mind-pictures which are ex- cessively i)leasing to the individual; in fact he is sure to picture to himself those ideational concepts which will best help him to reach an extreme acme of orgasm. Such situ- ations as he paints for himself can rarelj' be enjoyed in reality, and thus he often gets to prefer his solitary habit to the normal act. But in a few cases the imagination plays a secondary- part, and the individual derives a purely physical pleasure by friction of the erogenous areas. Some individuals who have resorted to great excesses in verier e and masturbation arrive at a condition where the ^ The primary erogenous areas are : in man, the glans penis, foreskin and testicles ; in woman, the vagina, clitoris, cervix uteri and nipples. Secondary, or artificial erogenous areas may patho- logically exist in almost any locality in certain individuals, e.g., in places in proximitj'to the genital organs and breasts, or in the anus ; and many individuals have certain areas, —ears, lips, wrists, hands, feet, legs, etc., — the manipulations of which at the hands of the opposite sex may excite lustful feelings quite independently of evil intention. 422 HEREDITY AND MORALS. fancy is so abnormally excitable, and where tbey Lave sucli a degree of psycho-sexual hyperaesthesia that they can in- dulge in what is called " iDsychical onanism," " ideal coitus,' or "mental masturbation," In such the mere influence of erotic thoughts and visions can bring about lustful feeling, or even pollution, in the wakeful state and in dreams, and many of them are largelj^ concerned in picturing to them- selves the most pleasing situations of sexual relations. Cases are recorded where persons who have no pleasure from tactile stimulation yet have erection and ejaculation by "ideal coitus." Schrenck-Notzing ' gives the following typical case : " One of my patients is also able to indulge in the pleas- ure of this ideal coitus at anj- time. A quiet, comfortable position, either lying or sitting, is the preparatory measure necessary for success. Then he allows his fancy free rein, and dreams intensely — though consciousness is intact — that he is in the desired situation, until ejaculation takes place." In hyperpesthetic individuals various external influences react on the brain through the senses of sight, hearing, touch and smell, so as to reflexh^ produce sexual stimula- tion and ejaculation; and sometimes even a memory-i)ic- ture, if brought before the mind in an intense light, may produce a similar effect. There are man^^ persons, with- out question, who practise some form of this oculo-cerebral masturbation. The contemplation of lascivious plaj^s and costumes, the masquerading in the attire of the opposite sex, the applause for pictures in the nude, the enthusiasm for the ballet, for erotic literature, and for many other of the immodest amusements of society, all afford onanistic enjoyment — to some at least of the beholders and partici- pants — along these lines. In that such amusements are erotic and highly stimulating sexually to certain nervous individuals predisposed to immorality, they come well 1 "Suggestive Therapeutics in Psychopatliia Sexualis, " p. 10 ONANISM. 423 within the limits of mental masturbation, and should be recognized as such by the censors of public entertainments. Results of Onanism. — Onanism in any form is exceedingly harmful in the injury done to both mind and body, because from its want of conformity to nature it keeps the imagina- tion inflamed with erotic excitement and exaggerates the importance of the sexual functions in the individual's view, besides draining the system of one of the most vital fluids by a frequency of gratification usuall}^ not practised by the fornicator. This form of excitation produces an intense nervous shock, which is greater than that produced in coitus. Psychical Results. — 1. It destroys the normal sexual feel- ing and substitutes for it inflamed passions and a hyper- excitability of the sexual functions. 2. It separates the victim further and further from wo- men and puts him into a peculiarly unnatural relation to them. 3. It renders him indisposed to marriage by poisoning the very source from which the impulse to love comes. 4. It tends to ruin the very foundations of his vita sexualis by substituting an unnatural and purposeless act for the physiological incentive of procreation. 5. The onanist transgresses the law of self-preservation and prostitutes his sexual powers, thereby losing the stimu- lus to put forth his strength, with the loss as well of self- confidence. 6. He becomes a morose, solitary, timid and cowardly' semblance of manhood. 7. He becomes psychically impotent and unfit for nat- ural coitus, because natural means disapjjoint him and are not so pleasing as the fantastic fancies which he pictures to himself. 8. His conscience is perverted by the inherent apper- ception of his sin and shame, and his mental strength and power of concentration become weakened. 424 HEREDITY AND MORALS. 9. Being maintained in a constant state of lustful feel- ing lie is liable to fall a victim to male seducers and pe- derasts, of wliom there are many. 10. Psychically and physically he becomes characterless, less and less a man, and more and more a slave to his j)assions, the opportunity for the gratification of which is alwaj's in his power. Physical Effects. — Our very lives are bound up with our reproductive organs, the testicles being wonderful labora- tories for the development of a secretion which is superla- tively essential in the activities of life. From the time of puberty on, this secretion is constantly being elaborated, and its function is for procreation and not for debasement by sensual pleasure. The constitutional effects of wantonly squandering it are mostly manifested in injury to the ner- vous system. 1. The victim is subject to loss of spirit, weakness of memory, despondency and apathy. y 2. He suffers languor, irritability, headaches, neuralgias, dimness of vision, etc. 3. Ansemia and facial acne are common. 4. There is loss of manly bearing, and proneness to blush. 5. The path leads to imbecility and premature senility. 6. The countenance and demeanor stamp the onanist as an object of reasonable suspicion. / 7. He is often unable to free himseK from the grasp of the habit, because there is poor material on which to call for manly restraint. 8. His genitals bear the marks of his degrading practice. 9. His digestion and heart action are disturbed, and he becomes a moody, apprehensive, hypochondriacal invalid, if not a gross pervert. 10. He may suffer from diurnal and nocturnal involun- tary pollutions, spermatorrhoea or prostatorrhoea. Some- times there is irritability at the neck of the bladder with inability to pass water or to retain it. ONANISM. 425 11. He bequeaths au undesirable legacy to liis posterity, giving both his sous and daughters a proneness to psy- choses and neuroses, especially in their sexual proclivities. " Nothing is so prone to contaminate — under certain cir- cumstances, even to exhaust— the source of all noble and ideal sentiments, which arise of themselves from a nor- mally developing sexual instinct, as the practice of mas- turbation in earh' years. It despoils the unfolding bud of perfume and beauty, and leaves behind only the coarse, animal desire for sexual satisfaction. If an individual, spoiled in this manner, reaches an age of maturity, there is wanting in him that aesthetic, ideal, pure and free im- pulse which draws one toward the opposite sex. Thus the glow of sensual sensibility wanes, and the inclination toward the opposite sex becomes weakened. This defect influences the morals, character, fancy, feeling, and instinct of the youthful masturbator, male or female, in an unfavorable way, and, under certain circumstances, allows the desire for the opposite sex to sink to ?h7; so that masturbation is preferred to the natural mode of satisfaction." ' Some, to whom the sexual functions and their anomalies are a terra incognita, seem to believe that onanism is not necessarily more harmful than coitus if it is kept within proper limits and not performed any more frequently- ; for, they argue, semen is expended in each act, and it matters not where it is deposited. Physically it might not be more injurious if only occasionally indulged in ; but the psychical disaster stands ever prominently in the way, and little by little self-control is lost until the habit has become, as Ci- cero says, "a furious task-master." Certainly every mas- turbator does not sink to the lowest depths, for thousands upon thousands have at some time in their lives indulged in self-abuse to some extent; but the tendencies are all downward, with the chances in favor of the habit getting the mastery over the individual. Naturally enough, the ' Kraflft-Ebing : "Psychopathia Sexualis," p. 188. 426 HEREDITY AND MORALS. longer tlie vice is indulged in and tlie earlier it is com- menced, the more it destroys the morals and the finer qualities of the mind and imagination, so that it is as- suredly true that these attributes — the finer endowments of man — suifer graver lesions than do the physical. In this extraordinary form of sexual gratification the im- agination, in adults at leasb, is almost always brought into play artificially with tremendous force, without which psychical process the act would be bereft of its chief charm. However frightened the masturbator may become when he begins to realize the results of his vice, and however much he may experience a loathing for himself, it is yet most difficult for him to reinstate himself into a normal sexual condition, because of the pathological state into which his mental, moral and physical natures have been degraded — a plight most unfavorable for the exercise of self- control and mastery. T\'hat he supposed to be a slender rope which bound him, he finds to his dismay to be an iron chain when he struggles to free himself. In long-continued cases the mastiu-bator may be worried by pollutions which occur involuntarily day and night, and the spermatorrhoea may sap his vitality without the ac- companiment of any pleasurable feeling. If he undertake to have sexual intercourse he may have i:)remature ejacula- tion in the attempt and the act may result in a farce. Or he may have the power to perform coitus {potentia coeundi), but not the power to procreate {potentia generandi), or both may be absent. This sort of creature is only the counterfeit of a man, and it is well that he is disinclined to marry, for such an ancestor is unfit to found or perpetuate a family. Thus it is evident that masturbation is ahvays harmful, even if seldom performed, not so much on account of the loss of semen as on account of the deep impression on the central nervous system — the brain and spinal cord. Al- most always there is required an extraordinary intense- ONANISM. 427 ness of imagination out of all i)roportion to that experi- enced in the normal act, and so tlie character is injured, the victim becoming independent of the opjiosite sex and ac- quiring imperative mental concepts which may require to be reproduced, either psychically or in reality, if he is to be potent in the sexual act. " The dreams [images] which accompany the ouanistic act are not realized in marriage, and to the great surprise of such patients their virility is well-nigh extinguished." ' The onanist may become both relatively and psychically impotent. By " relative impotence" is meant where a man is potent with special women who please his fancy, and im- potent with others ; thus a man may be frigid toward his wife, though quite potent with prostitutes. In "ijsychical impotence" erection is prevented by in- hibitory nerve-influence from the brain ; thus the consum- mation of the sexual act may be impossible in normal coitus among those men who have employed unnatural and de- grading means for the production of orgasm. The devices emjjloyed by prostitutes may stimulate them to an unnat- ural degree of lustfid passion, while they are impotent for marriage with pure women." If the practice of masturbation be begun before full de- velopment is reached it prevents the evolution cf the mas- culine type of mind and body, and if there is any heredi- tary strain of insanity it is the most favorable means of bringing it to evidence. Furthermore, almost all sexual perverts owe their anomalies of desire, inclination and fancy to the neurasthenia brought on b}' either their own or their ancestors' onanism. If a man is to have progeny with normal nervous systems, he must not b}' any manner of onanism abuse those ver^- functions upon which all in- heritance depends. The act of "withdrawal," or "conju- gal onanism," is merely one form of mutual masturbation; 'Sehrenck-Notziug, loc. cit., p. 17. 'Compare Ultzmaun, "Genito-Urinary Neuroses," pp. 32 and 148. 428 HEREDITY AND MORALS. and, if pregnancy by cliance follows at some time, the cliild will certainly show evidences of abnormality of desire or conformation at some stage in its history. Onanism in any form is thus most unfair to i^osterity— far more so than can be appreciated by a layman who neglects to read works on heredity, criminality and allied medical topics ; and no right-minded person can give any quarter to a vice so de- structive of everything noble and dignified in human nature. Onanism is, of course, sometimes practised by the other sex, but not nearly to the same extent as by men. The dis- astrous results in them do not come about on account of the loss of any vital fluid— though there is, at the height of orgasm, a secretion from the glands of Bartholin — but the act exerts a powerful influence on their more susceptible nervous systems, producing hysteria, convulsions, men- strual disorders, aberrations in the domain of love, etc. A cloud hangs over thousands of homes which shelter these enervated and neurasthenic individuals ; only a few of the unfortunates seek medical advice, partly on account of shame, partly on account of their seeming happiness in their degraded sensuality. The majority— a vast number —are practising the vice in solitude ; some reach the asy- lums ; more fall victims to the wickedness of charlatans and advertising pariahs of the medical profession. Treatment of Onamsm.—'EyeYj child has good and bad propensities, for health and disease, for morality or vice, which tend to unfold themselves at the different stages of life's drama. No family blood is so noble that it is not in a measure contaminated by the legacy of some ancestor, more or less remote,, on either the paternal or maternal side; and a failure to recognize this is to admit one's self to be a fool or a demigod. Well would it be if families looked forward to posterity, for which they are responsible, with the same pride with which they look backw^ard to their ancestors, for w^fom they are not responsible ! To regard any child as free from ONANISM. 429 sensual danger is criminally negligent, while to recognize that all flesh is susceptible to contamination is the part of wisdom. We have daily evidence of the power of early suggestions over human instincts, and it would be well in- deed if we should effectively appreciate the fact that mental and nervous diseases are especially liable to be transmitted to offspring, giving them neuropathic dispositions which are the most favorable foundations upon which to rear temples dedicated to vice. Yet the evil tendencies may as a rule be counteracted by directing the children in right paths and giving them occu- pations which will bring forth healthy minds in sound bodies. Success may more confidently be looked for in the upbuilding of character and jihysique if the child is early sent in the right direction, and his virtues will then overcome his hereditary weaknesses. Powerful though the reversional heritages of both injurious and beneficial qualities undoubtedh' are, yet of even greater importance is the influence of the external surroundings, or environ- ment, on the child — of occupation, of ideals which are set before him, of imitation, of curiosity, or of cultivation of vice. " Environment is the co-operating and to us vitally important factor, inasmuch as it ma,j supplement and thus reinforce the hereditary tendencies, whether good or bad; or it may even tend to turn them into new channels, cor- recting the evil or vitiating the good." ' It must be borne in mind that suggestions received in childhood are prone to have a preponderating influence on the whole future life of the individual in an abnormal or normal direction; so that the surroundings of children must be considered, and thej- must be watched and pro- tected both against contamination by evil companions and from local causes of irritation in the genital area. It is unfair to a child to i^ermit him to be unclean in his geni- 'D. K. Shute, M.D. : "Heredity with Variation." Kew York Medical Journal, September 11, 1897. 430 HEREDITY AND MORALS. tals, and so be must be tauglit, as a part of liis daily ablu- tions, to retract tlie foreskin and to wash away tlie smegma wbicli is secreted by the inner mucous lining of that in- tegumentary covering ; otherwise it often undergoes an am- moniacal decomposition, becomes foul-smelling and keeps up a constant source of discomfort. Better by far would it be if all boys were circumcised, for that safeguard prac- tically excludes all possibility of local irritation and has not a single argument in its disfavor. In this event there is no necessity of paying the slightest attention to the cleanliness of the genitals any more than to other parts of the body. The Jews — that circumcised nation who to this dsij remain as the " standing astonishment of the world" — • are a notxr rhjusi v ])ro1ifip. rnnp. comjiaratively free from mas- turbation and venereal diseases. Curiosity and imitation, as is well known, are almost apishly shown by active children — always with a tendency' to go beyond any evil example which is set, and, if not warned, thej^ are in peril of falling under the influence of older companions of depraved in-oclivities. The young boy enjoys the act of masturbation but little, and is often spurred on by the influence of banter and ridicule, without, as a rule, any definite comi)reliension of wrong. In fact, most persons who have i^ractised this vice have never received careful warning when young. There is no danger of cor- rupting a pure child by a properly given admonition, telling him that he will x^i'obably see others committing the sinful act of play with their private parts, and appealing to him to shun all such companions. Can it be possible to keep a bright child's mind free from sexual matters when he sees sexual acts among the dogs and the cats, in the poultry- -yard and around the bam ; when he reads things in the papers which excite his wonder; w^hen he sees the flaring posters of ballet-dancers; when he comes into contact with badly brought-up schoolmates? No, it is impossible, unless he is reared up as a delicate. onanism:. 431 soft-skinned, girlish boy, and for such the danger is even greater than for the boy of the street. In each individual's character self stands out prominently — in fact self repre- sents the individual. Therefore it is this self which must be early regulated so that the child may become self-gov- erned, self-masterful, self-respecting and self-controlled, all of which requires an effort of repression and mastery. This represents the acme of effective education. Otherwise he must necessarily become self-willed, self-indulgent, self- abased, self-polluted and selfish. It is most highly desir- able that the sexes should be encouraged to find pleasure in each other's society, and that they should not stay too much apart ; for they are the natural complements of each other, and bring out, by the stimulus of friendship, the best qualities in one another. And yet we must discoun- tenance any marked preference for the opposite sex, dis- couraging girls from being tom-boys and boys from i)lay- ing girlish games, for these are evils of a specialh' dangerous tendency. One of the best ways to develop the moral natures of children is by play, which, as every ob- server of child-nature knows, is essential for the making of a fine man or woman. This play-element, furthermore, should be kept active throughout life, for in this way one's mind is kept bright, one's character generous and compan- ionable, and one's physique hearty and strong. Boys should be encouraged to excel in manly sports — to ride, row, swim, etc. ; to have deep chests and hard muscles, to play hard and to stud}' hard. An athletic boy will hardh' fall into great harm, and to the discipline of his muscles there is added a still greater discipline to his mind, and character, and pluck, and iuflexibility and manliness. With all this care it will be an idle effort if the child is left to grow ui) without moral and religious precepts which will equip him with a normal conscience as a mentor of his actions to inhibit his evil passions. Medicinal treatment for the effects of masturbation plays 4S2 HEREDITY AND MORALS. a secondary role, but is not without benefit in suitable cases. The functional disease of the heart, the digestive disturbances, the dimness of vision, the hang-dog counte- nance, and all the other stigmata of the vice, rapidly dis- appear, as a rule, with the abandonment of the practice. CHAPTEK Xin. The Perveksions (Psychopathia Sexualis — Psychopathol- OGY OF THE SeXUAL LdFE). The perversions show the dark side of man's nature, in which normal impulses have become dislocated. This most revolting subject falls mainly within the province of the physician, the alienist or specialist in nervous dis- eases, the jurist and the criminal lawyer; but in the pres- ent work it cannot be entirely ignored. The treatise of von Krafft-Ebing ' is practically the only scientific source of information in this territory, teaching nothing immoral, and containing many beautiful passages in contrast with the horrible details which it is his duty as a psychiatrist to rehearse. As the author's observations in this line have been very limited, he is compelled to draw all his ideas in this realm from this source, claiming no credit. In a jjersonal communication from the distin- guished Vienna professor, permission has been cordially granted and encouragement given to make such use of his work as may be of ser^ice. " The importance of the subject for the welfare of society, especially forensically, demands, however, that it should be examined scientifically. Only he who, as a medico- legal expert, has been in a iDositiou where he has been compelled to pass judgment uj)on his fellow-men, where life, freedom and honor were at stake, and realized pain- fully the incompleteness of our knowledge concerning the pathology of the sexual life, can fully understand the signifi- cance of an attempt to gain definite views concerning it." "^ *" Psychopathia Sexualis," translated by C. G. Chaddock, M. D., 1893. ^ Loc. cit., Preface, p. iv. 434 HEREDITY AND MORALS. Every sexual act is perverse " which does not correspond with the purpose of nature, i.e., propagation." It is im- portant to distinguish between perversion, which is a men- tal disease, and perversity, which is a \dce; the former comes from a clouded intellect, the latter from mere wickedness. By " perversions" we mean cases in which sensual pleas- ure is derived from acts disgusting and repellent, or per- haps simply incomprehensible, to normal persons. The victims of these terrible anomalies of sexual taste, belong- ing mostly' to highly civilized races, have either lost all ideas of morality and propriety, or they have been con- genitally lacking in ethical and aesthetic perceptions. It is most important to understand that sexual perverts are chiefl}- the heirs upon whom the predisposing taint has been cast by sexually overstimulated ancestors. Herein lies one of the greatest dangers in all sexual improprie- ties. The most noteworthy perversions are : Fetichism, in which sexual interest is confined to parts of the bod}^ — as the foot, hand or hair ; or to accidental acces- sories, such as articles of clothing ; or to special materials — as fur, velvet, etc. Sadism, in which lust is combined with — or even satiated by — acts of cruelty, ranging from actual murder to trivial infliction of pain. The term is derived from the infamous Marquis de Sade, ' in whose obscene novels lust and cruelty played an important part. 3Iasochism —ivom. Sacher-Masoch, whose novels were founded on this perversion. The opposite of sadism. An abnormal desire for humiliation and abuse by women. Sexual excitement from whippings seems very common, ' This wretch, personally converting his fictions into fact, was committed to the Bastille, and finally died in the lunatic asylum of Charenton {Vide Barras, "Memoires, " tom. i., pp. 66, 57; Hachette etCie., Paris, 1896).— Ed. I THE PERVERSIONS OF THE SEXUAL LIFE. 435 and sucli tendencies sliould be watched for by those whose duties relate to children. E-ousseau, having been first sensually excited at the early age of eight years by a whipping at the hands of Mile. Lambercier, became a masochist. "Who would believe that this child-punishment, received at eight years old from the hand of a woman of thirty, determined my future taste, my desires, my passions, my whole being for the re- mainder of my life, and that in a manner quite the opposite of what might naturally be expected? ... To fall at the feet of an imperious mistress, to obey her mandates, to be obliged to imjjlore her pardon, were to me most exquisite enjoyments." ' Necrophilism,'^ Homo- Sexuality,^ or Contrary Sexual In- stinct. — This grave and deplorable perversion, little recog- nized but all too common, has f)revailed in all ages and in all nations. It is constantly referred to in Greek literature, and Herodotus speaks of the Scythians as hav- ing learned pederasty in Asia, and becoming transformed into the feminine type. He says that " the goddess Venus Urania let OrjAsia-y >ouit(i> fall upon them — i.e., the passion or disease which transformed them into women. ^ The Orjhia ■jou(T(»} of Herodotus practically means what we call "contrary sexual feeling."'' " There is one element in the study of sexual perversion that deserves especial attention. . . . The offspring of the abnormall}- carnal individual is likely to be possessed of the same inordinate sexual appetite that characterizes the parent. The child of vice has within it, in msmy instances, ' Rousseau's "Confessions," Book I. 2 NE/ipof (Nekros) = corpse. " Addresses and Essays," G. Frank Lydston, M.D., p. 248. FINIS. -f UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. DISCHARGE-URL ■fls'90 to/URL SEP 2 1^7P MAY ^ >^o%5flro m 2 8 1983 *>i 'jut ^2^5^^ t RECTO lO.U«i..^^g I NO- \ U -J iv'VV PSD 2338 9/77 ' I T^ 3 1158 00022 0730 t UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 390 665 8