A FEW EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM NOTICES RECEIVED IN RELATION TO 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE 
 
 BY JOHN COWAN, M. D. 
 
 These no res -were entirely unsolicited. They are the free untrammelled 
 expression , *>f papets of acknowledged authority and power; of persons of 
 rVtgnizcd met it and reputation; and of readers, who on paying for and 
 studying the book, felt impressed to send their meed of praise. Of the many 
 extracts from readers letters, those given here are but a moiety of the hundreds 
 on file at the office of the publishers. 
 
 No other book yet published on the subject on -which this one treats, has met 
 with so universal an approval for the unexceptionable manner in which it 
 advances rules and suggestion for the elevation and happiness of man and 
 womankind. 
 
 [From the Christian Union, Neiu York.~\ 
 
 A new Edition of "The Science of a New Life' 1 gives us the opportuni- 
 ty of saying that it seems to us to be one of the wisest and purest and most 
 helpful of those books which have been written in recent years with the 
 intention of teaching men and women the truths about their bodies which 
 are of peculiar importance to the morals of society. It will be understood 
 that we here refer to treatises on sexual physiology. No one can begin to 
 imagine the misery that has come upon the human family solely through 
 ignorance upon this subject. Of course, only a man who is more than 
 learned, who is wise and good also, can snfely be entrusted with the duty of 
 writing such a book. The spirit in which Dr. Cowan has written is ap 
 parently that of earnest devotion to the welfare of mankind.
 
 \_From Wm, Lloyd Garrison, Boston.~\ 
 
 On a careful examination of Dr. Cowan's "Science of a New Life" I am 
 prepared to give it my very cordial approval, and to wish that it might be 
 m the possession of the two large classes for whose guidance and happiness 
 it was written, namely, "all who are married, and particularly those who 
 contemplate marriage'," not excepting those who do not intend or are not 
 likely to marry, but who cannot fail to be enlightened and aided by its 
 teaching. It deserves to be in every family, and read and pondered, as 
 closely relating to the highest moral and physical well-being of nil its mem- 
 bers. With here and there an opinion or a rule that may be questionable, 
 it is nevertheless a volume admirable for the purity of its tone and purpose, 
 unquestionably sound in its hygienic directions and physiological aver- 
 ments, and extremely valuable in the lessons it inculcates. "The people 
 perish for lack of knowledge" is an ancient declaration, almost as applica- 
 ble now as it was when first uttered; and it is largely owing to a profound 
 ignorance of the law of birth and parentage, and the laws of our physical 
 organization generally, that "the lusts of the flesh" have gained such wide- 
 spread ascendancy that millions of the human race are suffering both bodi- 
 ly and mental depravation, that the marriage relation has been so fearfully 
 violated, and that licentiousness and foul disease are inflicting the very 
 life-blood of the people. The essential remedy for these great evils is to 
 be found in Dr. Cowan's work; therefore, may it be circulated fnr and wide. 
 Yours, for suffering humanity, WM. LLOYD GARRISON. 
 
 [From the Round Table, New York.~* 
 
 The dedication of Dr. Cowan's book "To all the Married, but particu- 
 larly to those who contemplate Marriage'' .sufficiently indicates its scope 
 and purpose. It is an earnest plea for temperance in. all things, for the 
 subjection of the senses to the spirit, for the rule of purity and continence, 
 especially in that relation of life which most people seem to. enter only to 
 find a pretext for discarding both. Without subscribing fully to all of Doc- 
 tor Cowan's views, which are marked by a strictness approaching austerity 
 it is impossible not to admire and applaud the entire delicacy of manner 
 and the loftiness of aim with which he treats a nice and difficult subject. 
 In an age given over to sensuality, it is pleasant to find one man lifting up 
 his voice in behalf of a pure morality; and we are disposed to condone, if 
 not forgive, an error on the side of severity. The chapters entitled ''The 
 IMW of Continence'', "The Prevention if Conception' 1 ' (wherein the author 
 takes the true Christian ground that the only legitimate prevention is ab- 
 stinence) Children their Desirability, and Feticide, might be read with 
 especial profit by that class of the community for whom the book is in- 
 tended. What they say can scarcely be said to often, and is seldom said 
 at all outside of medical text books, or in a way to make it suitable or use- 
 ful to the general reader. Dr. Cowan's views about the transmission of 
 genius and the determination of offspring are curious, and not without plau- 
 sibility, and his medical principles are simple, and for the most part sound. 
 Regularity, frugality, temperance in diet, personal cleanliness, daily baths, 
 not alone of water but of sun and air, a proper amount of sleep ; and a 
 moderate degree of exercise a strict observance, in short, of natural laws, 
 will insure health and go far to insure happiness. If only for the earnest- 
 ness with which it denounces and condemns the atiocious practice of ante- 
 natal infanticide, or the scarcely less revolting indecencies of prevention, 
 the legal prostitution of all sorts for which modern marriage is made the 
 flimsy veil, this book would be worthy of the praise of every pure-minded 
 man and woman; but it calls for even higher approbation by its recognition 
 and emphatic assertion of what to-day is so rarely recognized or admitted 
 the essential nobleness, purity, and holiness of the martial state. 
 
 2
 
 [From James Parton, the Eminent Biographer and Lecturer.] 
 DEAR SIR: The theme which you have treated, in your work entitled 
 "The Science of a New Life," is certainly one of veiy great importance. 
 It must be apparent to all observing persons that we need above all things 
 a physical regeneration the essential preliminary to a spiritual one. There 
 are many things in your book that are new to me, and concerning the truth 
 of which I am not competent to give an opinion; but I cannot, doubt that 
 its general purport is sound, and likely to be beneficial to all who atten- 
 tively read it. I shall be glad to hear of its universal circulation. 
 
 Respectfully yours, JAMES PARTON. 
 
 [From Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.] 
 
 I have read Dr. Cowan's work, and made it my text-book in lectures, 
 "to woman alone," for several years. As it is far easier to generate a race 
 of happy, healthy men and women than to regenerate the disease and dis- 
 cordant humanity we now have, I heartily recommend the study of "The 
 Science of a New Life" to every mother in the land. 
 
 ELIZABETH CADY STANTON- 
 
 \_Extract of a letter from Robert Dale Owen to the Author.~\ 
 I thank you much for the brave book you were so kind as to send me. 
 The subjects upon which it touches are among the most important of any 
 connected with Social Science, and the world is your debtor for the bold 
 stand you have taken. Yours sincerely, 
 
 ROBERT DALE OWEN. 
 
 [From the Pastor and People. Wm. M. Cornell, M. D. LL. D. Editor.] 
 The external and internal beauty of the book and its numerous illustra- 
 tions in such contrast with the mass of catchpenny works relating to simi- 
 lar subjects, is in harmony with the ideal of purity, health and happiness, 
 with which the author seeks to invest the domestic and conjugal states, and 
 by which especially to lay the broad foundation for the health and happi- 
 ness of the children which may bless the founders of the new home, the 
 originators of the New Life. Without endorsing every idea or expression 
 contained in this volume, which we have carefully read, we are free to say 
 that its suggestions followed with any resonable degree of fidelity would 
 give health to many a wearied wife and wretched husband; would bring 
 peace to many a disturbed and troubled home, and confer blessings on many 
 children yet unborn. "The Science of a New Life" is no cheap medium 
 ior the adverti.-ement of drugs, nostrums and humbugs, but it is a sensible, 
 interesting book, containing nothing to offend the purest mind, but minis- 
 tering to the interests of virtue, health and religion, and profitable to all 
 who may rend it. 
 
 [From Dr. Dio Lewis, of Boston, Author and Lecturer.] 
 Dr. COWAN Dear Sir: I have read your work, "The Science of a New 
 Life.' 1 I have more than read it I have studied, I have feasted upon it. 
 
 During the last twenty years I have eagerly sought everything upon this 
 most vital subject, but I have found nothing which approaches in simplicity, 
 delicacy, earnestness and power this work. On my own account, and in 
 behalf of the myriads to whom your incomparable book will carry hope and 
 life, I thank you. 
 
 For years I have been gathering material for such a work. Constantly I 
 have applications for the book, which years ago I promised the public. 
 Now I shall most conscientiously and joyfully send them to you. 
 
 I am most respectfully yours, DIO LEWIS. 
 _^__ 3
 
 \_FromRev. Octavius B. Frothingham of New York.'] 
 I have read \\ith care "The Science'of a New Life". If a million of the 
 married and unmarried would do the same, they would learn many things 
 of deepest import to their welfare. 
 
 Not that I am prepared to give it my unqualified praise ; but the substance 
 of the book is excellent, its purpose high, its counsel noble, its spirit earnest, 
 humane, and pure. I trust it will have a very wide circulation. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 6. B. FROTHINGHAM. , 
 
 \_From the Christian at Work.~] 
 
 This book is remarkable for the fund of physiological information con- 
 tained between its covers, nowhere else attainable within so small a corn- 
 pass, and not to be had in its entirely except by those familiar with the 
 French books on physiology. 
 
 [From Judge J. W. Edmonds, Ex-chief Justice of tJte Supreme 
 
 Court, New York.'] 
 
 I have read the work "Science of a New Life'' by Dr. John Cowan and 
 I ought not to withhold from you the expression of my approbation of it. 
 I would have given a good deal for the knowledge it contains in my boy 
 days some 60 years ago, and I rejoice greatly that it has at length been 
 put in a form to he accessible to all. Not being a physician I do not feel 
 myself competent to express an opinion as to the manner in which the work 
 has been done. It has however been so. well done, that I easily understand 
 it and two educated intelligent married woman, who have read it, say to 
 me, on returning it "it is in many respects most excellent and the tendency 
 is to elevate." J. W. EDMONDS. 
 
 \_From the Index, Francis E. Abbot, Editor."] 
 
 Dr. John Cowan's "Science of a New Life" is a work devoted to all that 
 relates to marriage and written in a style and spirit that command our un- 
 qualified approbation. It is plain, direct, and practical yet permeated with 
 so deep a reverence for the marriage relation, and so utter an abhorrence 
 of what we are ashamed to call fashionable abominations, that pruriency 
 will be rebuked, and the love of purity heightened by its perusal. There 
 can be no question that physiological knowledge of this character is sorely 
 needed by thousands and thousands of people, whose innocent cffspiing 
 must pay the penalty of their parents' ignorance or vice. To those who 
 would put a really unexceptionable book on these subjects in the hands of 
 young persons approaching maturity, we can conscientiously recommend 
 this as one that will enlighten without debasing. 
 
 \_From the Pittsburg Dispatch."] 
 
 This is the title of a volume just issued from the press, the author being 
 Dr. John Cowan an eminent physician, and who, judging from the tone of 
 his book, must likewise be a true Christian philanthrophist. It takes up 
 the theory that if ever the reformation of the world is to be accomplished, 
 it can only come through the medium of rightly directed observance ot 
 ante-natal laws. Dr. Cowan holds to this belief firmly and supports it by 
 illustrations and arguments whose force will appeal to every intelligent 
 reader. * * * * Desire for physiological knowledge is daily spreading and 
 when taught through such an excellent and correct medium as this, its re- 
 sults cannot be other than valuable. 
 
 4
 
 [From Moore 1 s Rural New Yorker. ] 
 
 "If ever the reformation of the world is to be accomplished if ever the 
 millenium of purity, chastity, and intense happiness reaches this earth, it 
 can only do so through rightly-directed pre-natal laws." Such is the sen- 
 timent upon which this book is built up a sentiment not admirably ex- 
 pressed, but admirable in its meaning. To a correct understanding of the 
 laws pre-natal and post-natal, as also to a more thorough comprehension 
 of what marriage should be, and what it should accomplish for mutual hap- 
 piness, these four hundred and five octavo pages by Dr. Cowan must great- 
 ly conduce. They are devoted to topics concerning which no person ar- 
 rived at years of thoughtiulness should be ignorant. They treat of these 
 topics in a plain, sensible manner, in language that none but a prude can 
 object to, and are apparently written in no spirit of quackery, but for a 
 worthy purpose. Could the book be placed in the hands of every young 
 person contemplating matrimony, it would assuredly do much good. 
 
 [From the Albany Argus.] 
 
 This excellent work is so superior in style and matter to the numerous 
 worthless books, with which the country is flooded that we are not willing 
 to let it pass without commending it to the thoughtful consideration of our 
 readers. Treating of those important topics that refer to the health and 
 purity of mind and body, ignorance of which, at this enlightened day, is 
 inexcusable; in a manner, earnest and forcible, but chaste and elegant, -it is 
 a reliable hygenic and moral guide. Parents often make a terrible mistake, 
 in not speaking freely to their children of physiological laws, and of the 
 social and moral evils, that may beset them in life, and too frequently they 
 acquire dangerous information and fatal habits from corrupt associations. 
 On all the subjects in which men and women are most deeply interested 
 this book is a sound teacher, and to married persons its lessons are invalu- 
 able. 
 
 [From the Christian Advocate, New York.] 
 
 It is a difficult as well as a delicate task to discuss in a proper manner the 
 subject of reproduction of a new human life. This the author of this work 
 has undertaken, going into details of facts and philosophy, with constantly 
 applied suggestions of a physiological, sanitary and moral character. The 
 method and execution of the work are quite unexceptionable, and many ot 
 its practical suggestions are certainly valuable. 
 
 [From the Hartford Courant.] 
 
 This work is very different from the works that are usually published on 
 this subject. It is a plain but chaste book, dealing with the physical pro- 
 blems which most concern all human beings in the spirit of science and 
 humanity. What we all, as society, need is a better understanding of phy- 
 siology and the laws of health, so that men and women, knowing these laws 
 and their own constitutions, can live properly, in such physical estate as 
 shall produce the best mental state. This book is a very valuable contri- 
 bution to that end. There is a lamentable ignorance and shame-facedness 
 about some of the most important offices of life. We have no doubt that 
 with the dissipation of this ignorance there will be a truer modesty, less 
 disease and a happier and purer society. 
 
 [From The Sunday Dispatch, Philadelphia, Pa. ] 
 
 This work is one of the best of its kind that has been issued from the 
 press during many years. 
 5
 
 [From the Methodist Home Journal, Philadelphia, Pa. ] 
 This work is a clear, comprehensive, and yet concise treatment of laws 
 which regulate human life, as well as those which pertain to the married 
 relation. It is an evidently candid attempt to popularize information on one 
 of the most important subjects which come within the range of human 
 thought. The book is \vorthy an extended sale. 
 
 [From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.] 
 
 We can conscientiously commend "The Science of a New Life" to all 
 married persons and those contemplating marriage, for whom it is designed. 
 Its purpose is to thoroughly acquaint the people with the laws, that most 
 intimately effect their being, in such a way as to promote chastity and a 
 pure life. If husbands will heed it wives will bless them. Plainness of 
 speech is used; but the requirements of delicacy, nevertheless, are strictly 
 followed. We are quite sure the work will meet the approval of the medi- 
 cal profession. There is no question upon which there is more ignorance; 
 none en which we need more thorough knowledge. And of all the abuses 
 of men, there are none more disasterous than those which this healthy vol- 
 ume seeks to correct. 
 
 [From the Woman's Advocate.] 
 
 The title of this work suggests the idea of another life on this earth- 
 plane of existence higher, holier, and purer in its aims, aspirations, and 
 desires, and yet it does not suggest, or even intimate, to the prospective 
 reader the true character and nature of the volume in its mission before 
 the world. To the actual reader the title is truly significant and appropri- 
 ate as the writer so beautifully unfolds the Laws of Reproduction, by and 
 through the observance of which the highest and purest type of humanity 
 may be and is produced. The regeneration of the race, through the laws 
 of physiological and psychological reproduction, is the leading and perhaps 
 the grandest thought of Dr. Cowan's work. If in the reproduction ot 
 offspring, all parents would faithfully and persistently observe the laws so 
 fully elucidated by Dr. Cowan in his chapter on " The Land of Genius " 
 the aggregate virtue, mentality developed in four generations would for- 
 ever redeem the world from the lost blight and curse of sin. If it were 
 within our power, we would put a copy of Dr. Cowan's work into every 
 household of the nation fully confident that the truth therein contained 
 would do more towards regenerating the race than all the pulpits of the 
 land are doing-while the masses are groping in heathenish darkness and 
 ignorance of the Laws of Re-production, by and through which human 
 beings are or may be created spirits of light or spirits of darkness, at 
 the bidding of the human will. This work is written in pure, chaste 
 language, free from all medical technicalities. Of all the works extant 
 on "Re-production" or the "Social Question" now agitating the public 
 mind, we cheerfully concede to it the preference. 
 
 [From The Ladies Own Magazine.] 
 
 This is a scientific work in the true sense. Science being defined to be 
 an aggregation of truths and facts properly related to each other from 
 which valuable deductions may be drawn. Dr. Cowan is a reformer of the 
 radical type, who believes in going to the root of an evil and correcting it 
 there, and we can truly say he goes to the root of the social and physical 
 evils now so deeply afflicting society. Having no faith in negative virtue, 
 or ignorant innocence, he adopts for his motto "knowledge must precede 
 virtue". We commend this work to the careful perusal of the earnest and 
 thoughtful of both sexes. 
 
 6
 
 \_Froni the Scientific Press, San Francisco. ] 
 
 It is, in our opinion, a mistaken idea on the part of parents and others to 
 allow children to acquire the knowledge of the sexual relations from chance 
 sources, for these sources are ah\ays impure. The sexual instinct is im- 
 planted in everybody, and makes itself known as surely as the body ripens. 
 And as imagination forms a very large portion of life, we think it far better 
 to have the subjects treated of plainly and publicly rather than to have 
 them restrained to secret companions and to the debased imagination. 
 We, therefore, welcome such a book as this, as one greatly needed. The 
 chapter on "The Law of Continence", "The Prevention of Conception" 
 and "Fceticide" are especially profitable for reading at the present time. 
 
 [From The Banner of Light, Boston.~\ 
 
 We welcome a publication of this sort with undisguised sincerity, thank- 
 ful that the time at last has come when fundamental and radical physiolo- 
 gical truths may be told to the people plainly. Had such books been placed 
 in the hands of our younger men two and three generations ago, their 
 effect would have been visible enough in the physical character and habits 
 of the men ' f to-day. All the miseries and happiness of married life are 
 sketched with the hand of one who is perfectly familiar with his theme, 
 and a master. Could men, and women, too, become familiar .with such 
 plain and controlling truths as Dr. Cowan here sets forth with such relig- 
 ious seriousness, and form the resolutions forthwith to lead such lives as 
 the following of his simple precepts would render essential, there would, in 
 time, be a visible diminution of a large part of the unhappiness, unquiet, 
 aimlessness and positive misery that afflict society, and a brightening and 
 looking up of faculties now clouded and buried in the thick folds of a need- 
 less ignorance. The great specific for health and happiness is Continence. 
 JS'o one ever suffered from that, while the ranks of the wretched, from its 
 opposite, are being continually recruited from all classes of society alike. 
 
 [from a young Minister in Pa. ] 
 
 I never can tell how thankful I am that God put it in my way in the 
 morning of life. I never had seen the standards of purity lifted so high 
 before, but my heart responded to them the first time I read them. I said 
 this is the truth and though I have never seen or heard it before, by thai 
 will I require my life. 
 
 [From the New York Albion.~\ 
 
 "The Science of a New Life" by John Cowan, M. D., is a hygienic and 
 social guide which many men, whether married or single, will be the better 
 for carefully perusing. * * * It is written in a scientific spirit by one who 
 is evidendly Capable of giving good advice. It is not strictly speaking a me- 
 dical work, although it treats of the science of the human body and deals to 
 a considerable extent with matters that fall within the province of the phy- 
 sician. But if gives rules for the practice of good and health promoting 
 habits which may be read with profit, especially by young men. It has 
 much to say about the married state and the choice of husbands and wives, 
 with a view to the welfare of their children, but it discusses these and 
 kindred subjects in a refined and Christian spirit, and with much good 
 sense. It devotes a large space to matters more or less physiological in 
 their character, and in so doing treads upon somewhat delicate ground ; 
 yet we have failed to detect anything which might be regarded as inad- 
 missible in a book intended for the instruction and to promote the well- 
 being of those into whose hands it may fall. 
 7
 
 [From the Albany Evening Journal.] 
 
 The title of this book does not clearly indicate the matter of which it 
 treats, and yet its appropriateness is seen as soon as the reader comprehends 
 the Authors high purpose. The book relates to the fundamental laws regu- 
 lating intercourse between the sexes. The mass of such books are disgust- 
 ing catchpennies, cheaply printed, and, if riot directly obscene, are without 
 any higher purpose on the part of the writers than to minister profitably to 
 a depraved curiosity. Of Dr. Cowan we do not kno-iv except what insight 
 his book gives us. It is evidently written for a conscientious purpose 
 that of doing good. The subject is one of extraordinary delicacy, but 
 there is no lack of courage in meeting it, and no want of that refinement 
 of language which alone can commend such a work to the good and the 
 virtuous. As an aid in imparting knowledge on various delicate subjects 
 and in exposing the evils connected with the abuse of the system, we can 
 earnestly commend this book. Those who sin through ignorance will be 
 enlightened; those who wish to be purer, and can be influenced by a high 
 minded appeal, will be strengthened ; and neither the impure nor the in- 
 nocent will be made the worse by it. The influence of Christianity is re- 
 cognized and made the basis for the reform advocated. The general sub- 
 iect is one of such immense importance that any books which conscien- 
 tiously supplies information without minisering to depraved passions should 
 be welcomed. There can be no indelicacy in popularizing the knowledge 
 of evils into which tens of thousands rush blindly, and in making'men 
 and women acquainted with the responsibilities they assume and the dan- 
 gers they incure when they enter into the marriage relation. 
 
 [From the Utica Herald and Gazette.] 
 
 This work is a treafise on matters relating mainly to the physical welfare 
 of the race. It is a timely warning against the many evils which arise 
 from an abuse or ignorance of the laws which govern the relation of the 
 sexes. As such it is a medical book. It rises, however, above the mere 
 details of anatomy and discusses conscientiously the effects which are in 
 various ways produced upon the character and life. It is outspoken against 
 that sensousness which is to often made to crush out the higher thoughts 
 and aims which should characterise the life union. The matters which fill 
 its chapters are to little understood by those who should know them well. 
 There has been no lack of quack publications called marriage guides, but 
 a plain, truthful treaties, from one whose name is a surety of value, has a 
 good work to perform. Such a book is the publication before us. A por- 
 tion of its pages is devoted to a denunciation of the apparently increasing 
 crime of child-murder. As a source of information upon matters of vital 
 importance to the classes f3r whom it is intended Dr. Cowan's treaties can 
 hardly fail to be of great value and utility. 
 
 [From the Scottish American, N. Y.~\ 
 
 Books of this character can not be multiplied too rapidly, nor can the 
 influence of such works as this, in releasing men and women from the 
 strong bonds of ignorance, vice, and crime, be too highly estimated. The 
 human race, we know, needs something stronger and more powerful than 
 the influence of a single volume, however good, to remove the many evils 
 of social and domestic life line upon line, precept upon precept a little 
 here, and a great deal more there, can alone accomplish the gr-at work o 
 reformation, and restore the wasted, sin-polluted lives of our fellow-beings 
 to a condition of moral purity; but we must admit that Dr. Cowan has 
 done all that any lover of his race can do to check the downward course 
 of the ignorance, thoughtless, and sinful.
 
 [From a IVifi and Mother. ] 
 
 * * * I can spend my time in no better way than canvassing ior such a 
 book. I have a copy of it have read and re-read it. O if I had only had 
 it two years earlier, the tears it might have saved me. Would that I could 
 be an aid to put it into the hands of every man and woman in the land. 
 God will certainly bless you in your earnest endeavours to rescue mankind 
 from the depths of the darkness into which they have been plunged. 
 
 \_From various Readers.] 
 
 Your book is received. I am well satisfied with it, and think it will be 
 found a great aid in the inculcation of a higher tone of Christian morality. 
 
 W. J. CURRIE A. M., M. D. 
 
 The chapter on "The Law of Continence" is more than worth the price 
 of the book to every earnest man and woman. I never saw the truth printed 
 on that subject before. You may have to wait long ere the world will acknow- 
 ledge it, but Angels will bless you if man does r-^t. 
 
 ANNIE J. DEERING, M. D. 
 
 I admire it? direct, pointed and yet delicate method of discussion, its 
 high moral tone, its evident purpose to do good, and I hope it will have a 
 wide circulation. J. TENNY, Sup't of Schools. 
 
 While recently over in Oregon I providentially saw for the first time a 
 copy of your valuable, because much needed work "The Science of a New 
 Life" I had not read an hour in it until satisfied it was the book of all others 
 this generation most needed. For thirty years I have seen a need for this 
 work and have hoped some one of sufficient information, standing, and 
 talent would produce it. I have purchased and read the copy alluded to, 
 and find it more than meets my highest expectation of moral and scientific 
 worth * Wishing to be as useful to my fellow creatures as possible, 
 
 I have resolved to write out a few lectures from it, and deliver them to the 
 public as I travel through this territory. Of course I will give you credit 
 
 for the subject matter and recommend the work. J. F. R . 
 
 (For 30 years a minister and 20 years a physician.) 
 
 There is no work extant that I think calculated to do the good that your 
 work will. STEPHENSON ORGAN, M. D. 
 
 My opinion of the book is the world wants it, the present state of huma- 
 nity demands it. Nor can the physical and moral condition of the world be 
 
 improved until humanity feels their need for this book. J. W . 
 
 (An agent who has sold over 1000 copies of the work.) 
 
 * I immediately procured a copy from your agent Mr. E , which 
 I have carefully studied with increasing interest and now unhesitatingly 
 pronounce it the work of the age, deserving to be handed down to all gener- 
 ations along with the bible, as one of its most powerful auxilliaries in purg- 
 ing them of sin and uncleanliness. N. C . 
 
 I am impressed with the earnestness of its purpose and the great value 
 f many of its suggestions. GEO. L. GARY, 
 
 (Prof, in Meadville Theo. School.)
 
 [From the Farmer, Bridgeport, Conn.~\ 
 
 Upon no topics connected with our physical well-being does so much ig- 
 norance prevail, and consequent abuse or wrong-doing, as upon those 
 so fully treated of in this book. The poet has told us that "the proper 
 study of mankind is man. He might have put it in stronger terms and 
 truly said that the most important study of mankind is man. But a false 
 modesty has forbidden and prevented the discussion of the topics referred 
 to, so intimately connected with the best interests of society, and the result 
 has been an accumulation of moral evil, wickedness and crime, which no 
 amount of effort seems now adequate to remove. T he author of this book 
 however has ventured to undertake the work of reform, and make a be- 
 ginning on the subject with a manly frankness and religious earnestness 
 befitting its great importance. He has no faith in negative virtue, or 
 ignorant obediance, and adopting the motto: "knowledge must precede 
 virtue," he fully discloses the relations of the sexes and plainly lays down 
 the rules upon which physical redemption must bearchieved, and the great 
 social and moral evils referred to remedied. The book should have a wide 
 circulation. The author has dedicated it to "all the married, and particu- 
 larly those who contemplate marriage." He should have dedicated it to 
 "all the world, and the rest of mankind," for its expositions and teachings 
 are important not only to the married and those who contemplate marriage, 
 but to all, both of high degree and low degree, civilized or savage." Its 
 study cannot fail to give such a knowledge of the human system and 
 physiological laws as will promote the health and purity of both body 
 and mind. 
 
 [From one of the World's Workers, .] 
 
 I sincerly believe if "The Science of a New Life" whenever read by an 
 intelligent individual, it will do him or her more good than the getting of 
 Religion in the popular way. My heart is full of thanks for its author. 
 Ever since I was a young man, I have taken much interest in reading books 
 of like contents, but I never found a work that went in such good earnest 
 to the bottom of the subject of Human Reform. I verily believe that any 
 agent who will sell looo copies of "The Science of a New Life" will be 
 the means of accomplishing more positive and lasting good than any fash- 
 ionable preacher will accomplish in forty years of his ministerial service, 
 for the kind of preaching that is now mostly needed, is that which teaches 
 and enlightens people on the subject of generation, securing to posterity 
 a sound virtuous and intelligent generation, and where this is accomplished 
 there will be less need to talk of Re-generation. 
 
 \_From the Syracuse Courier. ~\ 
 
 The Science of a New Life is the title of a new and valuable treatise by 
 Dr. John Cowan, on all that pertains to marriage. The author is masterly 
 and exhaustive in his treatment of topics so vitally connected with the 
 Christian perfection and perpetuity of the race; and while his language is 
 plain, it is never suggestively impure or unchaste. The book will educate 
 in a direction where it is greatly needed. 
 
 [From The American Wesleyan.~\ 
 
 There is a growing desire for knowledge in regard to the wonderful 
 phenomenon of human life. Dr. Cowan writes not to gratify an idle or 
 prurient curiosity, but to give knowledge, which will lead to obedience, 
 virtue and happiness. The book is for the thoughtful and earnest reader, 
 and no such reader will rise from its perusal without a conscious elevation 
 of thought, and a stronger desire to live a pure and worthy life. 
 . 10
 
 [From The Cleveland Commercial Review.] 
 
 Works of this character conform to the prevailing progressive spirit and 
 are the vital necessities of the age. Their province is broad and eminently 
 useful, and they command the hearty support 'of all who take an interest in 
 civilization and the dissemination of knowledge conducive to the well being 
 of individuals and society. The author is evidently a close observer and 
 brings to bear on his subject an abundance of knowledge acquired from long 
 experience and diligent research. He treats the subject in an intelligent, 
 comprehensive, and philosophical manner, manifesting a thorough famil- 
 iarity with all its details, and, while from the nature of the subject he is of 
 necessity plain, and direct in his expression, the distinguishing characteris- 
 tic of the work is its morality. 
 
 [From the Rev. N. E. Boyd.] 
 
 The noble standards the ideals of marriage and parentage held up to the 
 reader of "The Science of a New Life" win increasing admiration as I per- 
 use the work afresh. For me, I shall always feel grateful that God put it 
 into your heart to write the book and that you obeyed his divine call. And 
 that it fell in my way to read it too. NICHOLAS E. BOYD. 
 
 [From the Lowell Daily Courier."] 
 
 This is the only book of the character we have ever seen which seem to 
 be imbued with a conscientious spirit from beginning to end. Hundreds 
 of books on love, marriage, and the relations of the sexes, have been 
 written to sell. Many of them have done infinite harm, instead of reme- 
 dying the evils they pretended to combat ; but nobody can practice on the 
 principles laid down by Dr. Cowan without being better and wiser.
 
 PUBLISHERS SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 We trc in want of more agents in places yet uncanvassed, or only partially 
 canvassed, to help circulate this book, and perhaps YOU can aid us in this 
 direction. Among your immediate friends and neighbors, you might, with 
 but little effort, succeed in taking orders for fifteen, twenty five, or fifty 
 copies, and so not only do good, but get well paid for it. Or, if you are not 
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 up a club among your friends for five, ten or fifteen books and so secure 
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 who desire to make a business of canvassing for the book. In no instance 
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 this, because many send for our confidential circulars, with the purpose of 
 getting a copy at agents prices. The agent himself has to pay full price for 
 the first copy besides an additional sum for the "outfit." Again, it is 
 useless asking for "The Science of a New Life" at the bookstores, because 
 it is sold only by our duly authorised agents, and by the publishers to whom 
 address for further particulars in regard to agency or club rates. No man 
 or woman can do better missionary work than by helping to circulate 
 this book. 
 
 A FURTHER SUGGESTION. 
 
 We do not advocate the loaning and borrowing of books, yet you can do 
 much good by allowing a neighbor, relative or friend who may not be in 
 a position to purchase a copy, the privilege of reading and studying the in- 
 formation contained in "The Science of a New Life." The wear and tear, 
 and annoyance sometimes incidental to loaning will be vastly overshadowed 
 by the possible great good that may come of reading it. After you have 
 read the book tell your friends of it, and if you cannot prevail on their 
 purchasing a copy, loan them yours. Especially should you do this, if your 
 thoughts and desires are in harmony with the suggestions and principles 
 therein advanced.
 
 What God, in the might of His wisdom and the greatness 
 
 of His love, has created, no man or woman need be 
 
 ashamed to read, talk of, learn and know ; 
 
 For it cannot be that He has so ordered it that know! 
 edge so essential to the well-being of mankind can 
 destructive to moral purity.
 
 THE 
 
 SCIENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 A NEW LIFE 
 
 BY JOHN COWAN, M.D. 
 
 ' Knowledge must precede virtue, for no Chance act can be a mrat one. VT* muM 
 KNOW in order to DO." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 FOWLER & WELLS CO., PUBLISHERS. 
 753 BROADWAY.
 
 The reformation of the world can never be accomplished, . 
 the mtllcnium of purity, chastity and intense Jiappiness can 
 never reach this earth, except through cheerful obedience to 
 pre-natal laws. Page 137. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
 
 JOHN COWAN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
 of New York.
 
 TO 
 
 ALL THE MARRIED, 
 
 BUT PARTICULARLY TO 
 
 THOSE WHO CONTEMPLATE MARRIAGE, 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND LOVINGLY DEDIC \TED. 
 
 2049G45
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 INCE the creation of man, there 
 has been no subject that so im- 
 mediately concerns the life and 
 happiness of the individual, the 
 love and harmony of friends, and 
 the stability and prosperity of 
 states and kingdoms, as does that 
 of the reproduction of the best, 
 most beautiful and original forms 
 of humanity for this world and 
 the next. To this end have I 
 recorded in these pages, in a plain, essentially practical, and 
 thoroughly systematic way, my thoughts as to how this great 
 desidcratinn can be reached by all classes high and low, rich 
 and poor. 
 
 Beginning with the requirements necessary to a perfect 
 union of the man and woman ; the importance involved in 
 the right use of the social faculties ; the glorious and perfect 
 manhood that comes of a chaste and continent life ; the pos- 
 itive and immense influence of the mother in the health, 
 character, capabilities and beauty of the new life, and the 
 preparations necessary to this end, a child is born a child 
 that, if originated under the conditions herein enjoined, must 
 embody perfection of body, brightness of intellect, and pu- 
 rity of soul. In proportion as these principles are observed,
 
 io PREFACE. 
 
 just in that proportion will this earth be freed from sin, and 
 unalloyed happiness secured; and in no other way, that I 
 know of, can it be done so .promptly and effectually. 
 
 In the last part will be found that which goes to make up 
 the shadows of life, and the mode to be pursued to catch a 
 glimpse of the bright side the silver lining of the cloud. 
 
 And in the last chapter of all will be found hints and sug- 
 gestions as how to bring within the bounds of love those 
 who are " matched but not mated." 
 
 In the inscribing of the subject-matter in these pages, not 
 a word has been employed that would offend the sense of the 
 most pure in thought, let alone those who may possess the 
 quality termed " mock" modesty. 
 
 Out of the fullness of an observing, earnest, truthful nature 
 have come the words of instruction, of advice, and of warn- 
 ing that go to make up the pleasant and inviting pages of 
 this book words that apply to and concern every boy and 
 girl, man and woman married or single who believes in a 
 God and a life beyond the grave. 
 
 Without doubt, there are errors of pmission and commis- 
 sion ; yet I cannot believe that any person, who exercises the 
 unselfish and impartial of his or her nature, can possibly 
 read and reflect on its contents without being impressed, in 
 a greater or smaller measure, with the requirements so neces- 
 sary in all that goes to constitute life as God first planned it. 
 
 JOHN COWAN.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PKKPACR, 
 IimtODUcnojf, 
 
 1921 
 
 PART FIRST 
 
 CHAPTER I. MARRIAGE AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 
 
 Men who are unmarried Reasons advanced for remaining single Marriage a natural con- 
 dition of adult life The great desires and aims of life, how only to be secured through 
 
 marriage OBJECTS IN MARRYING False objects How mistakes are made in choos- 
 ing Should those afflicted with consumption and other diseases marry? The great 
 
 wrong done in this direction The true and only objects in marrying, . . 25 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. 
 
 How determined Puberty, how accelerated, how retarded The error in fixing the popular 
 
 age for marriage The true age at which to marry as determined by physiology Why 
 
 children born of early marriages are undesirable The effect of early marriage on the 
 
 woman On the man The result of unions between persons of disproportionate ages 
 
 Between old men and young women, 3 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. THE LAW OF CHOICE. 
 
 Its great importance It is as easily understood and as applicable as any other law that governs 
 
 mind and matter Mode of forming matrimonial alliances among the Assyrians Chi- 
 nese Moors Turks Tartars Siberians The custom of purchasing wives 
 
 Modern marriages analyzed The every-day result The choosing a wife and purchas- 
 ing a farm compared Wherein consists the difference The great error made in choos- 
 ing The only true mode Resulting in a harmonious and perfect love union Phre- 
 nology as a guide in choosing, 36 44 
 
 CHAPTER IV. LOVE ANALYZED. 
 
 Is love, as popularly used, a requirement in choosing a wife or husband ? Poets and novelists 
 
 on love The mistiness surrounding the true meaning of the word The mistake made 
 
 in its application Characteristics of mock love Rationale of true love The defini- 
 tion of perfect sexual love Parental love Brotherly and sisterly love Love of God 
 
 Reciprocity of thought and feeling as a requirement in love Love at first sight Can 
 
 perfect love exist ? Health and purity of body as a requirement to it* existence Sick- 
 ness and filthy habits as a bar to its existence, 45 5*
 
 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID IN CHOOSING. 
 
 Transmitted disease Hysterical women Small waists Why their possessors ar incapa. 
 
 ble of making good wives Natural waists, or no wives Why large men sh<*il<l not 
 marry small women Ignorant and wrongly educated Strong-minded women Mod- 
 ern accomplishments, their utter uselessness in married life Knowledge of household af- 
 
 fairs a requisite in all women who marry Skin-deep beauty and true beauty compared 
 
 Extravagance of dress and ornament False hair, false "forms," etc Women who ar 
 
 indolent and lazy Marriage of cousins, right or wrong ? Extracts from the works of 
 
 Drs. Carpenter and Voisin The author's opinion and advice on the subject Temper- 
 aments Widpws Divorced women Difference in religious faith Women who 
 
 have a greater fondness for balls, parties and gossip, than for home associations Other 
 
 qualities that are to be avoided How and when to see women to learn their characteristics 
 
 Phrenology as a help What should be done on choosing and being accepted^ Adver- 
 tising for a wife Arguments favoring its use Mode to proceed Objections consid- 
 ered, '. 51 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD AVOID IN CHOOSING. 
 
 The feverish desire of women to get married Indications of the result^ Who responsible-^ 
 
 Perfect womanhood should be reached before the thought of marriage is entertained Sick- 
 ness and ill health in the man Men possessing the disgusting habit of using tobacco, and 
 
 the degrading one of using alcoholic liquors, should be avoided Why? An unsolved 
 
 mystery Lustful and licentious men^ Are moderate drinkers desirable as husbands ? 
 
 The "fast" man and "rake," and woman's shame in recognizing such Fallen women. 
 
 and woman's duty to such Effeminate men Men having no visible means of support 
 
 Blood-relations Widowers Divorced men Irreligious and profane men 
 
 Gamblers Mean men Lazy men Marrying strangers on short acquaintance 
 
 Marrying for money or a home^ Woman, in being sought after, should appear only in her 
 
 every-day character The importance of this as affecting her future welfare Should 
 
 women be allowed to advertise for husbands? Doubts on the subject If attempted, 
 
 how to avoid evil results Failing an offer of marriage, what then ? " Old" maids 
 
 Words of cheer and consolation to unmarried women, 64 73 
 
 CHAPTER VII. THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OK GENERATION IN WOMAN. 
 
 The importance of a knowledge of reproductive physiology in all who think of marrying The 
 uterus^ Ligaments-^ Cavity of the uterus^^ Structure^ Fallopian tubes Ovaries 
 
 Their structure Graafian follicles Ovum, or egg Size and formation of human 
 
 egg^ How it ripens and is thrown off The corpus luteum The febrile excitement 
 
 produced by the ripening of the Graafian vesicle and escape of the egg ITie vagina 
 
 Labia-^ Hymen^ Menstruation^ When it first appears and when it ceases Its ori- 
 gin and nature Ovarian pregnancy Tubal pregnancy The mammary glands 
 
 Nipples The secretion of milk^ Colestrum, ...... 74~&4 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF GENERATION IN MAN. 
 
 Prostrate gland Cowper glands Testes Scrotum Structure of the testes Vasa 
 
 recta Vasa deferens Spermatic cord Vesiculae seminales Ejactilatory ducts 
 
 Semen Its nature, how it originates, and how perfected Spermatozoa Effect of firs! 
 
 appearance of semen on boy Effect of its re-absorption in the continent man TH 
 
 LAW OF SEX Is there a law governing the production of children of different sexes at 
 
 will ? Different theories on the subject The latest theory probably the right one - 
 
 Mode of procedure, as given by the discoverer, to generate male or female children at 
 will, .... 8504 
 
 CHAPTER IX. AMATIVENESS ITS USE AND ABUSE. 
 
 The cerebellum Its two-fold nature Amativeness Its size in proportion to rest of brain 
 
 Its location The higher the organ of the brain, the greater the pleasure derived from 
 
 its exercise The nervous fluid Where originated The effect when largely drawn on
 
 TABLE. OF CONTENTS. 13 
 
 by amatiTeness Sensuality Its universality among all classes and all ages Th 
 
 effect on amative desires by the observance of right and wrong dietetic habits Causes of 
 
 abnormal amative desires in men The results of the abuse of amativeness The ef- 
 fect on the nervous system The semen, capable of giving life, is, when re-absorbed, capa- 
 ble of renewing life Promiscuous indulgence Risks incurred A sad case Hos- 
 pital sights Excessive indulgence between the married The slave-life of the wife in 
 
 this direction The results Amative excesses in those newly married No pure love 
 
 where there is sexual excess Disgust, not love, born of this great wrong Easily read 
 
 signs of sexual excess in the man and woman The great necessity for a reformation in 
 
 this direction, 95 107 
 
 CHAPTER X. THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. 
 
 The true reason of the desire for knowledge on this subject Mode adopted by the " Perfec- 
 tionists" Its difficulty of observance Its harmfulness The method advocated by 
 
 latter-day physiologists, founded on the theory of the monthly arrival at and departure from 
 the womb of the ovum Wherein it fails Intercourse during lactation How it re- 
 sults in conception Other methods of conception, and the harm they do The only 
 
 true method of prevention as ordained by God The observance of which carries with it 
 
 no bad after-effects, 108113 
 
 CHAPTER XL THE LAW OF CONTUTENCE. 
 
 Its great importance The prevailing ignorance on the subject Definition of the word con- 
 tinence How often is the sexual act permissible between a man and wife living a pure and 
 
 chaste life The only true solution being God's divine law in this direction The only 
 
 natural time for intercourse Anything differing from this carries with it sin and sickness 
 
 Some objections to a continent life considered. Locke, Newton and Pitt, men who never 
 
 married, and who were known to live continent lives The elementary differences between 
 
 a life of licentiousness and a life of strict continence The true use of the reproductive ele- 
 ment The difficulty in adopting and living a continent life Rules for guidance The 
 
 reaction produced by a sudden arrest of sexual excess and the use of alcoholic liquors com- 
 pared and explained Health not compatible with seminal emissions PLAN OF LIFE 
 
 Tobacco Alcoholic liquors Gluttony Food to be used and avoided Bread 
 
 Dress Exercise Beds and sleeping rooms Hours for rest and exercise Habits 
 
 Employment Choice of companions Training of the will-power Drug and pat- 
 ent medicines Quack doctors Cultivation of the religious sentiments, . 114 130 
 
 CHAPTER XII. CHILDREN THEIR DESIRABILITY. 
 
 An essential requisite in a perfect union that parental love be present The command to "in- 
 crease and multiply" Why children are troublesome to rear The remedy Small 
 
 families and no families among the married on the increase Large families a thing of the 
 
 past The cause for the growing antipathy to have children Beauty and youth retained, 
 
 if not acquired, by having children under right conditions The loneliness and desolation 
 
 of life without children The bearing and rearing of children a glorious privilege The 
 
 perfection of love and happiness that comes of generating bright and beautiful children 
 
 Abdon, Judge of Israel, with his forty sons and thirty grandchildren Increase of offspring 
 
 and overcrowded populations, 131 135 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. THE LAW OF GENIUS. 
 
 Plainness and mediocrity among mankind the rule, and beauty and genius the exception The 
 
 cause Educational and benevolent institutions, in the elevation of humanity, of very 
 
 small moment in comparison with the pre-natal influence of the mother All the workings 
 
 of this universe, from the smallest to the greatest, governed by law In the production of 
 
 offspring there too must be a law The law of chance, or accident, the law observed by the 
 
 mass of mankind The great wrong done by the non-observance of the law of reproduc- 
 tion The deformed, homely and diseased The mediocre The world's great, their
 
 I 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 appearance explained The immense importance of a right birthright on the future welfare 
 
 of mankind Extending into eternity Au imbecile or idiot here cannot bloom into a 
 
 Shakespeare or Milton in the next world A nature endowed by the parents with a licen- 
 tious, gluttonous, wicked nature, will not, on leaving this earth, take on the garments of pu- 
 rity, innocence and holiness The fundamental principles of genius in reproduction 
 
 Some obstacles to its observance Their remedies The requirements in women whose 
 
 desire it is to observe the law of genius in the production of bright and beautiful children 
 
 The requirements in men Three periods of transmitted influence Period of introduc- 
 tory preparation Period of gestatory influence Period of nursing influence The 
 
 mother's influence during these periods The father's influence The time at which the 
 
 ovum, or egg, is in its freshest and ripest state, at which time it should be impregnated 
 
 Husband and wife's duty during the period of introductory preparation The principle 
 
 requisites required to transmit desirable qualities to the offspring The quality of genius, 
 
 or beauty, not necessary in the parents to enable them to transmit these qualities to their off- 
 spring Definition of genius as given by Webster Talent always in demand, medioc- 
 rity always at a discount The pursuit of life for the child to be determined on before con- 
 ception Fanners Farming the most desirable occupation in life Where they fail and 
 
 how they fail What they are and what they should be Other occupations Adam 
 
 Smith on vegetarianism First thing to be done in the observance of the season of intro- 
 ductory preparation The importance of a life free from filthy and injurious habits during 
 
 this period Order Truthfulness Reverence for God Unity of plans and desires 
 
 The introductory period one of intensity of thought and action Suppose a plan of life be 
 
 adopted for a male child, and a female appear What then? Instruction by examples 
 
 The expense for educating the future child should commence with the introductory period of 
 
 preparation This law of genius can be adopted by the poorest as well as the richest 
 
 Is a necessity as much to the laborer as to the diplomatist In transmission of genius, the 
 
 parents do not require to know, so much as to try, to experiment The transmission of ac- 
 cessory qualities as guides and aids to the predominant faculty Religious sentiments 
 
 Transmitted beauty of face and form Parents can as easily have beautiful children a* 
 
 they can homely ones Rules to be observed Examples Parents can generate chil- 
 dren of a cheerful, healthy, laughing nature as easily as they can the reverse The plan to 
 
 be followed easy of observance The importance of a life of strict chastity during these dif- 
 ferent periods of pre-natal influence The feverish pursuit of money as a barrier to the ob- 
 servance of this law The father's direct influence on the new life ends with the period of 
 
 introductory preparation The importance of its close observance by him The result of 
 
 a united observance of this law, . . 136 166 
 
 PART SECOND THE CONSUMMATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. THE CONCEPTION OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 The proper season The best months Best time of day Light and darkness Light the 
 
 source of life Darkness the synonym of death The new life should be generated when 
 
 the husband and wife are at their perfection of physical and mental strength The time of 
 
 day this occurs The sleeping room The morning exercise of the devotional senti- 
 ments Out-door exercise Purity of thoughts The consummation, . 169 17? 
 
 CHAPTER XV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 
 
 Growth of theegg after fecundation The remarkable change that takes place Segmentation 
 
 of the vitellus Blastodermic membrane External layer Internal layer Chorion 
 
 Ovum at end of first month Relation of the cord, placenta, membrane, &c. Em- 
 bryo, how nourished Placenta Foetal circulation Description of growth of ovum 
 
 from tenth day to ninth month Growth and development of the face, . . 173 187 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 
 
 The fecundated egg When the physical life commences When the soul life commences 
 
 The medium of communication between the soul and the body The medium of commu-
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 15 
 
 ication between the mother and foetus The first great requirement to be observed by the 
 
 mother during this period The food to be used at this time The only allowable drink 
 
 Dyspepsia, how transmitted The importance of air and light Baths Sleep 
 
 Habits of thought and action to be observed Period of gestative influence to be divided 
 
 into two sections The first four months, the physical in the mother predominating The 
 
 last five, the mental predominating Indisputable reasons why sexual congress should not 
 
 take place between the husband and wife during this period Illustrations of the wonderful 
 
 power of pre-natal influence A young prodigy An engineer Woman's right to 
 
 choose new paths of labor Woman's mediocrity in her present allotted paths of labor 
 
 How to be remedied Napoleon I The poet Burns Why Scotland produces such a 
 
 number of literary and scientific men Other illustrations The result, when thfs law is 
 
 slighted and disregarded Children with bad tempers Untruthful, sickly, scrofulous, 
 
 consumptive, homely, desire for tobacco, fondness for alcoholic liquors, licentious, imbecile, id- 
 iotic, dishonest, revengeful Cases illustrating these facts The great responsibility pa- 
 rents accept in generating new beings for eternity, . .... 188 216 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. PREGNANCY, ITS SIGNS AND DURATION. 
 
 How originating a new life affects the nature of the mother Signs indicating that pregnancy 
 
 has taken place Failure in recurrence of the menses Morning sickness Salivation 
 
 Mammary changes Secretion of milk Enlargement of the abdomen Quicken- 
 ing Pregnancy may exist without any of these signs Duration of pregnancy Via- 
 bility of the child Plan to adopt to save life in a birth at the seventh month, . 217 223 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 
 
 ITie bearing of children a. natural process Why some women have easy, and others difficult 
 
 births The underlying cause of ill health during pregnancy Nausea and vomiting 
 
 Longings Fainting Sleeplessness Costiveness Diarrhoea Piles 
 
 Pruritus ^Heartburn Toothache Headache Palpitation of the heart Swelling 
 
 of the feet and legs Pain in the breast Hysteria Irritation of the bladder Jaun- 
 dice Vomiting of Blood Vaccination Salivation ABORTION, or MISCARRIAGE 
 
 What it indicates Its frequency, how caused Effects on the woman serious and 
 
 lasting Symptoms How to arrest How to prevent, . . . 124 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. CONFINEMENT. 
 
 Mode of life to be adopted to insure an easy birth Clothing Food that will prenaturely 
 
 harden the bones FooaA.t will keep them in a cartilageous state Prevention from suf- 
 fering in parturition The time when this particular kind of food should be used Baths a 
 
 great help to easy child-birth Injections Pure air and sunlight Exercise PRE- 
 PARATIONS FOR CONFINEMENT The presence of gossiping friends and neighbors undesira- 
 ble Who should be present Commencement of labor First indications How to 
 
 proceed in case the accoucher fails to attend, ...... 238 248 
 
 CHAPTER XX. MANAGEMENT OF MOTHER AND CHILD AFTER DELIVERY. 
 
 Removal of soiled clothes Bathing How the abdominal bandage is useless What to 
 
 substitute in its place Visitors Ventilation of the lying-in chamber Mistakes in re- 
 gard to diet at this time The breasts Milk-fever Care' of nipples Management 
 
 of child after birth Baths Dress Exercise Nursing-room Food Soothing 
 
 syrups How often should a child be nursed When should it be weaned, . 349 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. PERIOD OF NURSING INFLUENCE. 
 
 How the character of the child is influenced by the mother during this period The great 
 
 wrong done the -hild when not nursed by the mother Maternal influence during this pe- 
 riod greatly under-estimated Effect of the use of wrong food and drink by the mother on 
 
 thr health and character of the child Effect of mental effort on the nursing child The 
 
 . mother ran transmit desirable menta. nd physical qualities to the child during this period 
 full directions to this end, ...., 266272
 
 16 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PART THIRD WRONGS RIGHTED. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. FCETICIDE. 
 
 Its extent A nation of murderers As prevalent in the country as in the city Proofs 
 
 The crime a murder no more no less Arguments the perpetrators advance to shield theii 
 
 iniquity When life is present in the embryo When the soul is present Classes of 
 
 society in which the women are found who practice ante-natal child-murder Church-mem. 
 
 bers and professing Christians not exempt The crime against the wife and child of an un- 
 
 desired maternity Who responsible Letters from women who have suffered, exposing 
 
 the cause and its results in all their hideous deformity Results of forced abortions on the 
 
 body and soul of the mother Proportion who die The local effects Effects on the 
 
 children born after Sterility a frequent result Beauty destroyed Old age hastened 
 
 Remorse of conscience The ever-present phantom of a great crime These unde- 
 veloped souls as witnesses in the next world Advice offered, the observance of which will 
 
 result in less danger and harm to the mother Effect on the child should the woman fail in 
 
 accomplishing her desire Suggestions as to how this great crime is to be treated and pre- 
 vented No forced abortions practiced by Roman Catholics The duty of ministers and 
 
 teachers Parting words to unmarried women, 275 305 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN THEIR CAUSE, 
 
 And symptoms ; directions for home-treatment and cure Why women are so universally com- 
 plaining A rich field for quacks and patent-medicine venders Absent menstruation , 
 
 Retained menstruation Suppressed menstruation Chronic suppression Irregular 
 
 menstruation Painful menstruation Profuse menstruation Vicarious menstruation 
 
 Cessation of menstruation Chlorosis Inflammation of the ovaries Inflamma- 
 tion of the uterus Chronic inflammation Ulceration of the uterus Tumor in the 
 
 uterus Cancer of the uterus Corroding ulcer Cauliflower excrescence Displace- 
 ment of the uterus Prolapsus uteri, or falling of the womb Retroversion of the uterus 
 
 Retroflexion Ante-version Leucorrhoea or "whites" . . 306 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN THEIR CAUSE, 
 
 And symptoms, with directions for home-treatment and cure Gonorrhoea Gleet . 
 
 Phimosis Paraphimosis Stricture of the urethra Swelled testicle Inflamma- 
 tion of the prostate gland Inflammation of the bladder Vegetations The chan- 
 croid and chancre Buboes Syphilis Diagnostic difference between the chancroid 
 
 and chancre Involuntary nocturnal emissions Spermatozoa Miscellaneous disor- 
 ders affecting emission, erection and the semen, . . . 324 352 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. MASTURBATION. 
 
 Its cause, results and cure Its extent Its effects on the character and future prospects of 
 
 the individual Evidence from the superintendent of a lunatic asylum as to its preva- 
 lence Exciting and transmitted causes Signs in the boy, girl or man, that he who runs 
 
 may read Home-method of cure and restoration to perfect manhood Requirements 
 
 necessary to its prevention, 353 367 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 
 
 Cause, treatment and cure One of the first laws promulgated by the Almighty, " Increase 
 
 and multiply" The incapacity to observe this law a source of life-long misery and unhap- 
 
 piness Sterility, in most cases, susceptible of removal Two classes Violated physi- 
 ological laws as causes How excess in the newly married results in sterility Why a 
 
 large proportion of the newly married have no desire for children How sterility occurs 
 
 after the birth of one or two children Inflammation of the uterus as a cause Genera- 
 debility Prolapsus and obliquity of the womb as causes Imperforate hymer. Struc-
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 17 
 
 hire of the vagina Tumors Stricture of the neck of the uterus Obliteration of Fal- 
 lopian tubes Inflammation of ovaries Absence of uterus Congenital shortness of 
 
 yagina Undeveloped ovaries IMPOTENCY IN MAN Lowering of the vital force by 
 
 excess Masturbation Want of sexual feeling Non-descent of the testicles Her- 
 nia Varicocele Stricture of the urethra Obesity Abnormal condition of the erec- 
 tile tissue A natural phimosis Temperament, . . . 368 377 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. SUBJECTS OF WHICH MORE MIGHT BE SAID. 
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS Influence of slavery on woman Of freedom How keeping woman 
 
 in her old sphere of serfdom affects the man The rights that woman should strive for, ob- 
 tain and exercise WOMAN'S WORK An ever-recurring question: What shall we do 
 
 with our daughters ? The great number of women who must remain unmarried The 
 
 remedy They should be fitted equally with man for different occupations A letter of 
 
 advice and encouragement from Florence Nightingale DIVORCES Are divorces and 
 
 separations allowable? The question not difficult of solution Cases where divorces are 
 
 allowable It should not be allowed fora divorced man or woman to again marry Some 
 
 of the causes for the great proportion of mis-mated misery in married lives Selfishness and 
 
 lustfulness Carelessness of ministers in uniting without question all who present them- 
 selves A remedy proposed BATHS How TO TAKE THEM Towel or sponge-bath 
 
 Sun and air-bath Hip or sitz-bath Wet-sheet packing Wet girdle Injec- 
 tions General bathing rules QUACKS, DRUGS AND PATENT MEDICINES Quack doc- 
 tors a curse to civilization They should at all times be avoided When a man has trans- 
 gressed and suffers, what he should do Drugs and patent medicines a great curse to God's 
 
 human family They never have cured a single person having disease of any na- 
 ture, 37839 3 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE How SECURED. 
 
 How it occurs that, after a few days of wedded life, differences and troubles arise The first 
 
 requirement to be observed by those whose desire is for a happy and lovable married life 
 
 The Law of Continence No secrets to be kept from each other The wife to avoid hav- 
 ing a confidant in some "very dear friend" When any differences have occurred, what 
 
 should be done What the husband should be toward the wife What the wife should be 
 
 toward the husband The banes of domestic life The effect of food and a dyspeptic 
 
 stomach on the disposition and temper of the individual The necessity of employment to 
 
 happiness the strife after wealth a barrier to happiness The importance of guarding 
 
 all secrets of home-life Wrangling or jesting between husband and wife should never be 
 
 tolerated What constitutes the secret of a perfect union An illustration A religious 
 
 life a necessity in those who^e desire is for a growth into a perfect love-union, . 393 402 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Uterus and its appendages, -...-----75 
 
 The uterus, vertical section, ...... - - . 76 
 
 Graafian follicle, near "the period of rupture, ...... 79 
 
 Ovary, with Graafian follicle ruptured, .-.-.---80 
 Graafian follicle, vertical section, - - - - - - - -80 
 
 Ovary, showing corpus luteum, ------ ---81. 
 
 Section of mammary gland, ------'-83 
 
 The testis, ...-....---86 
 
 Vertical section of the testis, --------- 
 
 Base of the bladder, with the vasa deferentia and the vesiculae seminales, - - 89 
 
 Spermatozoa, -------.-- 90 
 
 Appearance of human ovum at fourteenth day, - - - - - '74 
 
 2
 
 18 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Impregnated uterus, showing the formation of decidua, 
 
 Impregnated uterus, showing how decidua encloses egg, 
 
 Pregnant uterus, showing formation of placenta, 
 
 Segmentation of vitellus, 
 
 Impregnated egg, showing commencement of formation of embryo, 
 
 Human ovum at end of first month, 
 
 Human ovum at end of third month, 
 
 Gravid uterus and contents, 
 
 Placenta, showing maternal and foetal side, 
 
 Head of human embryo at twentieth day, 
 
 Head of human embryo at end of sixth week, 
 
 Head of human embryo, at end of second month, 
 
 Prolapsus uteri, 
 
 RetroTersion and anteversion, - 
 
 '74 
 '74 
 
 J 75 
 176 
 
 179 
 i So 
 181 
 185 
 186 
 186 
 3'7
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 'ARRIAGE, in the popular accepta- 
 tion of the term, signifies the legal 
 union of a man and woman for life 
 a contract, both civil and relig- 
 ious, by which the parties engage 
 to live together in mutual affection 
 and fidelity until death shall sepa- 
 rate them. 
 
 The "legal union and contract, 
 both civil and religious," is the rule generally observed in all 
 civilized nations ; the " mutual affection and fidelity until 
 death shall separate them," the very rare exception, in both 
 civilized and barbarous nations. 
 
 That there is, in our present age, and without any appa- 
 rent drift toward a higher and better order of things, a large 
 amount of sin and suffering, the result of mis-mating men and 
 women, is a fact as sad as it is evident ; and yet, when the 
 various reasons, causes and objects are given as the desire for 
 marrying and giving in marriage, the sorrow, in one of a 
 pure mind, turns to disgust. 
 
 The girl growing into womanhood is taught and educated 
 in the belief that the object and aim of her life is the secur- 
 ing of a husband ; and, that failure may be impossible, a su- 
 perficial education, deceit and lying, are ingrained in her
 
 20 INrtlODVCTION. 
 
 very nature, the whole strategy of which is employed in 
 compassing the body, if not the heart, of some " lord of cre- 
 ation," without any reflection as to whether the man is to 
 make for her a pleasant or miserable married life ; whether 
 he is to cull for her the sweet-tasting blossoms of a joyous, 
 happy, lovable life, or the sharply-pointed thorns of discon- 
 tent, hate and misery. 
 
 From out of this wrongly educated life of the woman 
 there is reflected, in the man, a sense of superiority that is 
 physically wrong, and a sense of egotism that is morally 
 wrong, the result being that he lives a life of constant advan- 
 tage in all his relations with woman ; and, until woman is 
 educated up to a higher, a purer and nobler standard of life, 
 and so reach her position as man's equal (which she is and 
 should be in every relation of life), man will be the master 
 woman the slave, and love, perfect love, cannot be, and the 
 present state of society, as exemplified in its social rela 
 tions, will continue to the end of time. 
 
 The impartial observer and thinker will allow that two- 
 thirds, if not three-fourths, of the misery of the world arises 
 from the infelicity of the conjugal relations ; and to no single 
 country or nation is it confined, but it pervades all society the 
 world over. 
 
 " For a result, then, so universal there must be a cause or 
 causes as universal, not depending on any particular customs, 
 manners or religion or political institutions. And what are 
 these causes ? Many things do puzzle me in this strange 
 world of ours many things in which the new world and the 
 old world are equally incomprehensible. I cannot understand 
 why an evil everywhere acknowledged and felt is not rem- 
 edied somewhere, or discussed by some one with a view to a 
 remedy ; but no it is like putting one's hand into the fire 
 only to touch upon it ; it is the universal bruise, the putrefy- 
 ing sore, on which you must not lay a finger, or your patient 
 (that is, society) cries out and resists, and, like a sick baby, 
 scratches and kicks its physician."
 
 INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 That marriage, consummated under right conditions, for 
 right purposes, bears intimately on the prosperity and wel- 
 fare of communities and states, and is the source of all in- 
 dustry, subordination and government among men, the au- 
 thor firmly believes. He, therefore, who shall succeed in 
 rendering marriage a matter of serious consideration, and not 
 blind experiment, will deserve well of society, and cannot of- 
 fend against delicacy or religious feeling. 
 
 Closely allied to a true and perfect marriage is the com- 
 mand to increase and multiply a command that, among the 
 better and higher classes of society, is in danger of being 
 sadly neglected. Its importance in the solution of life's 
 problems the hopes and fears, pleasures and pains, health 
 and sickness, prosperity and adversity is not lightly to be 
 estimated. In the propagating of the species knowingly and 
 understandingly, the father and mother can do more toward 
 a true solution of the questions of the age, than can all the 
 temperance societies, religious denominations, and reform in- 
 stitutions in the world. Parents, exercising a lovable and 
 true use of this life-giving power the power of creating man 
 in God's own image can, it they earnestly will and work for 
 it, re-create and people the world with mortals just, pure, 
 loving and Christ-like. A great and arduous responsibility 
 rests on every father and mother who entertain the desire of 
 bringing into life a new being, but it is a responsibility which, 
 if exercised as unperverted nature intended it to be, brings 
 with it naught but ineffable pleasure, holy joy, and unalloyed 
 happiness. 
 
 But this heaven-ordained law to increase and multiply and 
 replenish the earth is being, in this our age and continent, 
 greatly perverted, avoided, broken, and by ways and means 
 that not only prevent the carrying out of the spirit of the 
 command, but, with a just judgment, bring the perpetrators 
 thereof to a life of bodily sickness, mental suffering, and, in 
 thousands of cases, are the direct and controlling means of 
 shortening life. The one great cause of this wide-spread sin
 
 22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is the universal ignorance of the masses in this " Science of a 
 New Life." Sexual physiology and its outlying branches are 
 frowned down, hid away in dark corners, or talked of in whis- 
 pers, as knowledge that is contaminating, and therefore dan- 
 gerous, and to be avoided ; and, when carefully inquired into, 
 it will almost invariably be found that the men and women 
 who most decry this species of knowledge are the ones who, 
 through wrong and perverted natures, have committed sex- 
 ual sins, and for the right guidance of whom to a strong and 
 perfect manhood, and pure and lovable womanhood, just such 
 knowledge is required. 
 
 Springing out of the disobeying of the laws that govern 
 the sexual system are diseases innumerable ; but, primarily, 
 the nervous system is so influenced and disorganized as to 
 lay the sub-structure for all the positively nervous, and 
 nearly all the inflammatory and chronic diseases that afflict 
 mankind, and especially womankind. If there was one proof 
 more than another required to show the prevailing ignorance 
 on sexual subjects, the one of universal nervousness (which 
 implies want of nerves, or absence of nerve-power) abroad 
 among all man and womankind would of itself suffice. 
 
 To live a true, pure and successful life socially, morally 
 and spiritually should be the object and aim of all ; and, as 
 one of the steps toward this end, is advised the reading and 
 digesting of this "Science of a New Life."
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 THE PREPARATION.
 
 THE 
 
 SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MARRIAGE AND ITS ADVANTAGES OBJECTS IN MARRYING. 
 
 [HE growing tendency of the age 
 inclines toward celibacy in man, 
 and, as a result, maidenhood in 
 woman, and the reasons ad- 
 vanced for declining to enter into 
 matrimony are many and un- 
 sound. 
 
 One of the prime and most 
 universal reasons is the want of 
 money to support the wife in 
 the position in which she has 
 hitherto moved. A young man 
 with a stated salary, or com- 
 mencing business, dreads the re- 
 sponsibility of a wife and the 
 subsequent family. This fails in being a good reason, for it 
 proceeds as much from selfishness as from dread of poverty. 
 A man who advances this as a cause for remaining single, will 
 be found, on examination, to spend more money on his own 
 person and friends than would easily support a woman hav- 
 ing his interests, welfare and happiness at heart. Especially 
 is this so if he be of the kind termed "fast," for such men,
 
 26 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 as well as all who associate with such, exercise assiduously 
 the animal part of their natures, and in the sowing of their 
 "wild oats" their feet tread dangerously near the paths that 
 lead to destruction ; and the money required to pay their 
 way would, if they married a true woman and lived a pure 
 life, give them glimpses of heaven they never would know 
 of in their, degrading, doubtful single blessedness. 
 
 Others dread the care, trouble and doubts that are usually 
 associated with married life. For such it is better that they 
 remain single ; for, wanting the strength that comes of just 
 endeavor, and the requisites that lead to perfect manhood, 
 their progeny is not desirable. 
 
 Others, again, decline marrying through fear of being 
 united to a woman who, not suited to their temperament, 
 will make their life anything but a pleasant one ; and yet 
 others, who have the desire to marry, but, judging from 
 the accounts of the family quarrels, divorces and separations 
 that are continually coming to the surface in the daily and 
 weekly records of our time, have a dread of the very word 
 marriage. In the light of a new method of choosing a wife, 
 to be hereafter herein recorded, these doubts and dangers 
 can be avoided, and success, or comparative success, be se- 
 cured, and all risk as to unhappy marriages evaded. 
 
 That marriage is a natural condition of adult life, and a 
 requisite to every man and woman's perfect happiness and 
 success in this world, requires no argument, or needs none 
 of the many divine and human authorities to attest the fact ; 
 and no man who fails to enter this condition at the proper 
 period can be considered as compassing all the relations for 
 which his Creator designed him in other words, he is not a 
 complete man. TMs also applies to woman. 
 
 The great desire and aim of life is happiness, and a first 
 requisite to an attainment of this end, in a man or woman, is 
 matrimony. In the shadows of the present records of sepa- 
 rations and general unhappiness in married life this may be 
 doubted ; yet, these things being due to avoidable causes, it 
 does not in the least alter the fact.
 
 MARRIAGE AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 27 
 
 Another requisite in the acquirement of happiness is health. 
 The single state being an abnormal and unnatural condition, 
 it is, as a rule, unfavorable to health and longevity. That 
 this is true of length of life is demonstrated by the fact that, 
 in the list of individuals who have lived to a great age, there 
 are no unmarried persons. 
 
 It is almost a universal belief that the accumulation of 
 property and the possession of wealth are requisite to happi- 
 ness. This is open to doubt ; but, allowing it to be so, in 
 no other way is success so certain and easy of attainment as 
 in marrying. (In all these allusions to marrying, it is to be 
 understood that the parties united are suited to each other, 
 mentally and physically.) In the getting of riches, the sel- 
 fish propensities are brought powerfully into play, and of 
 these acquisitiveness takes the lead. In marrying, this sav- 
 ing and acquiring faculty is greatly increased, and in years is 
 doubled and quadrupled. Young men, as a rule, before be- 
 coming husbands and fathers, are as wasteful of their time as 
 they are prodigal of their money ; and should it be their de- 
 sire to reform and become prosperous and wealthy, the best 
 known recipe is to marry, not a rich, but a frugal companion. 
 
 A meal eaten alone may gratify the appetite ; yet even the 
 pleasures of the palate are greatly increased by the exquisite 
 satisfaction derived from eating at our own table, surrounded 
 by our family and friends. 
 
 What is true of acquisitiveness and alimentiveness is 
 equally so of all other faculties, the combining of which, in- 
 dividually and collectively, with each and all other faculties, 
 augments their power of exciting to the highest' pitch of 
 pleasurable or painful action, according as they are properly 
 or improperly directed. 
 
 Nothing has been said as to reproduction, in which happiness 
 is most highly symbolized, as it will be written of elsewhere. 
 Matrimony gives the opportunity and occasion to improve 
 all the domestic, social and higher faculties of the mind, and 
 .of guiding the man and woman to a higher and holier stand- 
 ard of life.
 
 28 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 OBJECTS IN MARRYING. The motives which influence 
 the majority of men and women in contracting matrimonial 
 unions are generally false, selfish, and most detrimental to 
 the happiness of the individuals, and to the procreation of 
 sound and vigorous offspring such as ambition, wealth, rank, 
 title, interest, a love of independence, of an establishment, a 
 desire to escape parental restraint, anger, a determination to 
 disinherit relations, disdain for a faithless lover or mistress, 
 necessity, obligation, passion, imitation, and very rarely the 
 only proper motive pure and virtuous affection. It is also 
 generally admitted that parental authority cannot reasonably 
 or morally compel alliances, when the inclination of the indi- 
 vidual most concerned is opposed ; although we see too 
 many forced and unhappy marriages which are to be as- 
 cribed to this cause. 
 
 There is no other business in life undertaken with such 
 false objects in view as the business of choosing a wife or 
 husband. Men, at the commencement of an undertaking 
 largely involving their reputation and interests, carefully can- 
 vass every possible shade of profit and loss, risk or gain ; but 
 in the choice of a wife, in the absence of a systematized 
 mode of choosing, they undertake it blindly, if not igno- 
 rantly. The admiration of some single quality in a woman 
 results in many marriages. A person, sinking the imagina- 
 tive of his nature into the practical, well knows that a small, 
 soft hand, or a beautiful face, or a small waist, or graceful 
 carriage, or good talking, will not, in themselves, indicate the 
 true character of their possessors, and yet how many unions 
 are formed through some one or other fancy, the result al- 
 most invariably being a sudden waking up to a realization of 
 the fact that it takes other qualities than a beautiful hand or 
 face to constitute a happy married existence. 
 
 Another reason for marrying, though one not generally 
 observed, is the marrying of those afflicted with peculiar dis- 
 eases, it being popularly supposed that, in some mysterious 
 way, marriage will assist a recovery, if not effect a cure. No
 
 OBJECTS IN MARRYING. 
 
 29 
 
 more dangerous doctrine ever was promulgated, for the ef- 
 fect on the sick individual after marriage is constantly, and 
 often rapidly, toward an increase of the sickness and a short- 
 ening of life ; and even if this could be doubted, and pos- 
 sibly were not so, the joining of a sick man to a healthy 
 woman, or the reverse, is, to use a mild phrase, barbarous ; 
 but the entailing of disease on the offspring is worse than 
 barbarous it is sinful. Let no man or woman marry with 
 any such object in view. If through sin you suffer, bear the 
 whole burden on your own shoulders ; and, if otherwise un- 
 avoidable, die with it ; but do not saddle posterity with it. 
 
 The true object of marriage, and the only one that should 
 be entertained, is the perfection of existence that comes of a 
 physiological union, and the propagation of offspring that go 
 to make such a union complete, and it is the combining of 
 all which perfects love, intensifies happiness, and makes life 
 worth living for.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. 
 
 HE proper age for marriage, as 
 fixed by law in all countries, con- 
 flicts with the physiological law 
 that guides the growth of the 
 body. The capabilities to repro- 
 duce, as indicated by the arrival 
 of puberty, is the time usually 
 fixed as the marriageable age. 
 In countries having climates of 
 moderate temperatures, this takes 
 place, in girls, at from thirteen to 
 sixteen years of age ; in boys, at 
 from fifteen to eighteen years of 
 age, depending greatly on the 
 temperament and mode of life. 
 Very rich and nutritious food, 
 spices, tea, coffee, alcoholic liq- 
 ors. tobacco, life in large cities, 
 and moral influences, greatly and 
 unnaturally accelerate this very important period. 
 
 As heat increases the vital energy in all organized bodies, 
 and renders their growth more rapid, it must necessarily 
 hasten the period of puberty ; and, as a result, in all trop- 
 ical climates puberty in women commences much earlier 
 generally from nine to ten years of age. 
 
 This early development of the reproductive organs and 
 functions is by no means advantageous, for individuals reach- 
 ing maturity early are generally short-lived ; beauty early 
 departs, and old age comes on rapidly. On the contrary,
 
 AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. $i 
 
 the slow arrival at maturity insures the retaining to an ad- 
 vanced age of strength, beauty, and reproductive power. 
 
 The great error in fixing the present age for marriage 
 arises from taking the arrival of puberty as the proper time, 
 it being popularly supposed that when this is present the 
 woman is capable of reproduction and ready for marriage. 
 This is a fallacy, for marriage should be consummated 
 only between a physiologically perfect man and woman. 
 Physical perfection implies ripeness, indicated by the full 
 growth of every organ in the human organization. Now, 
 when puberty first shows itself, the osseous part of the sys- 
 tem is not fully grown, which implies seeing that the osse- 
 ous frame is the structure which supports the muscular, ner- 
 vous, arterial, digestive and other parts of the body that 
 the reproductive element is not full-grown ; but its appear- 
 ance only indicates its continuance to perfect growth, in har- 
 mony with all the other organized parts of the body. 
 
 There are many bones of the body that are not completely 
 ossified or full-grown until the twenty-fifth year of age. The 
 clavicle, or collar-bone appearing before any other bone in 
 the body does not attain its full growth until the eighteenth 
 year. The scapula, or shoulder-blade, is not completely 
 formed until the twenty-fifth year ; as also the bones of the 
 pelvis and leg. Now, this being so, is it not reasonable to 
 argue that the appearance of puberty at fourteen to eighteen 
 years of age is not an indication of ripeness of body. Care- 
 ful investigation shows that the women of temperate cli- 
 mates do not get their growth until the twenty-fourth year. 
 They may get their height at, perhaps, sixteen or eighteen ; 
 but until twenty-four, if a right mode of life is allowed them, 
 they grow broader, more solid and robust 
 
 In man, the period of perfect growth does not arrive until 
 the twenty-eighth or thirtieth year. Through the early ex- 
 cesses of men, or rather boys for they are usually enacted 
 before the thirtieth year nature is thwarted in her endeav- 
 ors to build up a perfect manhood, the life-power is directed
 
 32 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 into wrong channels, and a weak, inferior, unhealthy organi- 
 zation is the result 
 
 In woman, child-bearing omitting to mention the results 
 of excesses before the age of twenty-four, are much more 
 noticeable ; for the life-power, changed from the building up 
 to perfect growth of the body, is directed to the nourishment 
 of the embryonic life, the result being the birth of an unripe 
 child from an unripe mother. 
 
 The children born of early marriages are feeble, liable to 
 disease, and generally die young ; and, though they have an 
 appearance of perfect health and robustness, they seldom 
 reach the age of manhood, and old age is out of the ques- 
 tion. 
 
 The growth of the mother is arrested and diminished, del- 
 icate and bad health follows, with all its attendant miseries, 
 and old age rapidly comes on ; for it may be stated, and it 
 can be affirmed from personal observation by any person 
 anxious to test the assertion, that for every year inside of 
 twenty a woman marries, she takes on three years of prema- 
 ture age. 
 
 The man who marries before twenty-eight or thirty, or 
 who commits sexual excesses, or lives other than a life of 
 strict continence, arrests the growth of his body, weakens 
 his entire system, his muscles become pale and flabby, nerves 
 weak, brain forever oppressed and clogged, and he is no more 
 capable, in . his work in life's vineyard, to make a name for 
 himself among the earth's great ones, than the veriest born 
 fool. Disease, premature age and early death make his life a 
 sad failure. 
 
 Writing on the subject of early marriages, the author of 
 a valuable work entitled " Marriage" says : 
 
 " Very early marriages are, in our opinion, a serious evil. 
 Acting under the impulse of headstrong passions, or caprice, 
 or dissatisfaction, young persons too often prematurely rush, 
 thoughtlessly and blindly, into engagements which, in after 
 life, become matters of deep and painful regret. The fancy
 
 AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. 33 
 
 visions of love's paradise now vanish, and the sober realities 
 of life, its cares, its difficulties, and its positive evils, soon 
 lead to discontent, and, worse than all, to a growing mutual 
 indifference. Would that such cases were only rare, or only 
 speculative ; but the fact is otherwise. We every day see 
 boys and girls at the head of families who want discretion to 
 direct themselves. No wonder that families are ill-governed, 
 children ill- managed, and their affairs ill-directed, when the 
 helm is intrusted to unskillful and inexperienced hands. Is 
 it possible, we would ask, that wives of sixteen or eighteen 
 years of age should possess that discretion, prudence and 
 wisdom so essential to enable them to govern households, 
 rear children, and form their tempers and their principles ?" 
 
 The ancient Germans did not marry until the twenty-fifth 
 year, previous to which they observed the most rigid chastity, 
 and in consequence of which their offspring acquired a size 
 and strength that excited the astonishment of Europe. Com- 
 mon sense should indicate that a giddy youth, at the age of 
 puberty, with the down on his chin, can not communicate a 
 perfect vitality ; or that a girl, at puberty, with the disorders 
 of pregnancy, and the fatigue of labor and suckling, cannot 
 develop other than sickly, puny offspring. 
 
 No man or woman should perform the act of marriage un- 
 til the body has acquired all the development necessary to 
 its full growth. Nature always tends to perfection in all her 
 operations, and assuredly a feeble being, and one imperfectly 
 grown, can not be the source of a sound and vigorous gene- 
 ration ; at the same time, the premature exercise of certain 
 functions, essentially debilitating even to individuals fully de- 
 veloped, cannot but remarkably retard the growth and vigor 
 of persons under the adult age. 
 
 All unions between persons of disproportionate ages, on 
 account of pecuniary or other worldly considerations, should 
 be avoided, for they are usually followed by much misery. 
 The power of fecundity ceasing with one party is the cause 
 of great immorality, leading the husband to debauchery, and 
 
 3
 
 34 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the wife to all the excesses of jealousy. Offspring, the re- 
 sult of such ill-assorted marriages, are always delicate, and 
 physically and mentally worthless. 
 
 This especially applies to old or elderly men, for such 
 unions, being entirely contrary to all physiological law, en- 
 tail naught but suffering on the perpetrators ; yet, if there 
 be such men, who are tired of health and life, there is no 
 more certain method of acquiring disease, and reaching a 
 rapid end, than by this way. 
 
 Says Parise : " There are great risks run ; for in the ex- 
 treme disparity of age, and ofttimes condition as when the 
 man is rich and the girl is young Nature avenges herself 
 by spreading scandals, doubts about paternity, and domestic 
 troubles ; everything is at variance age, disposition, char- 
 acter, tastes and amusements. ' What shall I do with him, 
 and what will he do with me ?' said a clever young girl of 
 eighteen, whose parents wished her to marry an old gentle- 
 man. With regard to health and vital force, it is easy to 
 foresee what will become of them in these unequal mar- 
 riages, where a young and fresh girl is 'flesh of the flesh' of 
 a man used up from age, and perhaps from excesses. Evi- 
 dently she commits a suicidal act, more or less certain or 
 rapid. On the other hand, experience shows that the el- 
 derly man, who thus risks his repose and his existence, speed- 
 ily finds his health grievously affected." 
 
 The time required for the full growth of the body, owing 
 to climate, temperament, and other influences, differs in al- 
 most all individuals the difference not amounting to any 
 great degree, yet sufficient to fix an age for marrying that 
 would be equally applicable to all. Nevertheless, it is safe 
 to say that no man, having a just desire for the acquiring 
 and retaining of health and happiness, should marry under 
 twenty-five years of age, and it would be better that he wait 
 until the thirtieth year before marrying. 
 
 Woman, with greater risks and more arduous duties to un- 
 dergo, and who for these reasons require the full amount of
 
 AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. 
 
 35 
 
 health and strength that comes of perfect growth, should 
 under no consideration marry before twenty-one years of 
 age, and it would be much toward her after welfare if she 
 did not marry until she arrived at the age of twenty-four. 
 
 The wife, owing to her unphysiological mode of life, to 
 child-bearing, and the licentiousness that belongs to the ma- 
 jority of husbands, takes on premature age much sooner 
 than does the husband, and, for these and other reasons, the 
 husband in all cases should be from three to six years older 
 than his wife. 
 
 A man, having arrived at thirty years, full grown, per- 
 fectly developed, and desirous of marrying, should choose a 
 woman who is not below twenty-four years of age ; and a 
 woman, at twenty-four, perfectly developed, ripe and lov- 
 able, should choose or perhaps I should say accept for a 
 helpmate a man not less than thirty. 
 
 The union of a man and woman at these ages, under right 
 conditions, constitutes the first step toward a perfect mar- 
 riage.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LAW OF CHOICE. 
 
 T having been decided that it 
 is not good for man to be 
 alone, one of the most im- 
 portant questions that arises 
 in the seeker for a mate for 
 life is : How am I to choose 
 a wife ? how a husband ? 
 Which of the scores of wo- 
 men in the circle of my ac- 
 quaintance will make me 
 the best better-half? What 
 mode should I employ to 
 determine which of all or 
 any of the women will suit 
 my temperament ? What 
 of love in the choice ? Is 
 there a positive method of 
 choosing the right one, and 
 so avoid after mis-mated consequences ? Or am I to at- 
 tempt it ignorantly and blindly ? 
 
 These and many other questions of a like nature only 
 sometimes trouble thoughtful persons in their reflections on 
 the subject ; the majority of mankind, in their love for 
 wealth, station and pleasure especially the pleasure that 
 comes of overgrown amativeness are generally satisfied to 
 attempt it blindly. 
 
 This should not and need not be. There must be a law 
 as applicable to the choosing of a life-companion as there are 
 
 36
 
 THE LA W OF CHOICE. 37 
 
 laws governing every other relation in matter that goes to 
 show God's greatness in the ruling of a world. But man, 
 living a wrong life in thought, word and deed, has, in his de- 
 sire for the unattainable, so blotted and blurred the pure and 
 spiritual that is within him, as to constantly break this law, 
 as he has done all other laws intended for his welfare and 
 happiness. 
 
 A brief glance at the mode of forming matrimonial alli- 
 ances among the people of different nations will show some 
 striking peculiarities. 
 
 The ancient Assyrians once a year assembled at a great 
 fair all the marriageable girls of a province, when the public 
 crier put them up for sale at auction. First were put up the 
 most beautiful, for whom the rich strove against each other, 
 until the competition carried up the price to the highest 
 point. When one beautiful woman had thus been disposed 
 of, one less favored by Nature was put up ; and here the auc- 
 tion was reversed. The question was not how much will any 
 one give, but how little will any one take ; and he who bid 
 her off at the lowest dowry took her for his wife, so that the 
 price paid for the beautiful went to give dowries to the' ugly, 
 an advantage the Assyrian ladies had over their modern sis- 
 ters, inasmuch as none were without husbands. 
 
 A Chinaman may, and often does, sell his daughter in 
 marriage, with as much unconcern as he does his other mer- 
 chantable property. 
 
 The Moors betroth their children in infancy. The girl 
 may dislike or despise the man chosen for her ; but, if his 
 character is good and he can pay the purchase money, the 
 hatred is regarded as a " womanly freak," and all her en- 
 treaties are of no avail. 
 
 In Sumatra men purchase their wives, and, if they find 
 they have been duped, they gamble them away, or sell them 
 for a mere pittance. 
 
 The Turks are allowed four wives ; but the wife or hus- 
 band has no choice, for they never meet until the marriage 
 day.
 
 38 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 In Western Tartary women cost from twenty to five hun- 
 dred roubles, though among the pastoral tribes, where they 
 are cheaper, a very pretty girl can be bought for two or 
 three roubles. 
 
 The marriage of the Soongas, a Tartar tribe, consists of a 
 race on horseback. The female is mounted on a fleet horse, 
 and, if she permits her lover to overtake her, he conducts 
 her to his tent, and she becomes his wife, with no other cer- 
 emony than a marriage feast. 
 
 In Siberia, after the marriage feast, the wife pulls off her 
 husband's boots, as a sign of her subserviency. In another 
 part of this province, the bride's father presents the bride- 
 groom with a whip, with which he disciplines his wife as of- 
 ten as he thinks proper. 
 
 It is noticeable, in examining the records of these and all 
 other barbarous and semi-barbarous nations, that they, in 
 common with modern civilization modern, progressive civil- 
 ization regarded women in the light of slaves, in the widest, 
 broadest sense of this term. 
 
 The custom of purchasing wives appears to have generally 
 prevailed as soon as the rights of property began to be re- 
 spected. From the moment that the rights of property were 
 recognized, everything was considered as such, even to a 
 man's wife and children, and the idea of property in wives 
 and children has never been lost, and is fully recognized by 
 our common law. 
 
 How of modern marriages ? To what purpose do they 
 tend ? In what do they differ from the marriages of those 
 outside the circle of civilization ? The difference, when care- 
 fully compared and analyzed, is not much. " A man wants 
 a cook, washerwoman, housekeeper ; he wants a woman to 
 contribute to his happiness, and to satisfy the demands of his 
 perverted nature. He wants a wife because Nature designed 
 the union of the sexes. But, instead of learning the divinity 
 of .?0/- marriage, he has only been taught the marriage 
 recognized by law and theology material unions, for fame, 
 home-comforts, position, etc.
 
 THE LA W OF CHOICE. 39 
 
 "And how does he choose a wife? He looks about 
 among the girls in his own sphere, and selects the one best 
 suited to his interests. In his best attire he goes wooing the 
 fair maiden. Like persons in a masquerade, they flirt and 
 say soft and sentimental things, without knowing anything 
 about the brain behind the mask. After a few flirtations, 
 the wife-seeker proposes himself in marriage, and the woman, 
 often by virtue of necessity, accepts the offer. The two go 
 to a minister or magistrate, when the man promises support, 
 and the woman obedience." 
 
 The results of such marriages are every day demonstra- 
 ble. Before the honeymoon has well reached its full, indi- 
 cations at first slight commence to crop out that life has 
 in it some gall, and as the cloyed sweetness of the animal 
 pleasures wears off, and life in its practical, every-day aspect 
 appears, the gall and wormwood is tasted in all its positive 
 bitterness, and matched but not mated life is but a series of 
 petty troubles, disappointments, doubts, despairs and miser- 
 ies, splendid in the gilt and glitter of its setting, or hideous 
 in all the wretchedness of its rags. 
 
 And why should this not be so ? Why should there be so 
 very few really happy married lives in this nineteenth cen- 
 tury of ours ? To every man and woman who will consult 
 their own inner lives as to why and wherefore they married, 
 the answer will be apparent. For every reason and under 
 every condition but the right one did they marry. This step 
 of choosing a husband or wife has more to do with the hap- 
 piness and success of the individual than has any other at- 
 tainable desire in this world, and deserves all the thought, 
 plan and argument that can be brought to bear on its en- 
 lightenment. 
 
 When a man is desirous of purchasing a farm, he carefully 
 examines the nature of the land, and its bearing and sup- 
 porting qualities, by rules and laws as affirmed by chemistry, 
 and in no wise need he err in a choice that will repay him 
 ample interest on his investment
 
 40 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 If, after purchasing, he desires to stock it, he need make 
 no mistake in his choice of animals. His horses and cattle, 
 judged from well understood anatomical rules and peculiari- 
 ties, and from desirable qualities imparted to them by their 
 parents, are just such as suit his requirements. 
 
 But in the choice of a wife, the same man, if he be a bach- 
 elor, inquires for no laws, seeks for no peculiarities, and has 
 no rules to observe in his choice. Some habit in the woman 
 is plainly observable she is strong, or perchance fine-look- 
 ing, or is a good housekeeper ; and, without other thought, 
 he imagines that she will make him a wife good and true, and 
 he may have secured such ; but the probabilities are greatly 
 in favor of the reverse. 
 
 This comparing the choice of a wife with that of a farm, 
 horse or cow, may be thought inappropriate ; yet the illus- 
 tration is perfectly applicable. A man need no more err in 
 choosing a wife than he would in choosing a farm, if done 
 knowingly. The difference arises in its importance. Most 
 men give exceedingly more care, inquiry, and investigation 
 to the choice of a horse, property, or any business venture 
 or speculation, than they do to the choice of a wife. This 
 may have an appearance of exaggeration, yet it cannot well 
 be disputed. 
 
 The first and greatest error that occurs in the popular 
 mode of choosing a mate is in doing it through the propen- 
 sities or feelings, rather than through the intellectual or ob- 
 serving, comparing and reflective faculties, guided by the 
 moral sentiments. More unions are formed through the ab- 
 normal workings of amativeness and acquisitiveness than 
 through any other aim or object. For a man or woman 
 having matrimony in view, and possessing no broader or 
 higher aim than the securing of a home, wealth, position, or 
 the opportunity of exercising the impure that is within 
 them, it is next to needless to write of higher hopes, purer 
 aspirations, and the rational object and mode of soul-union. 
 
 But there is a rapidly growing class of mankind who,
 
 THE LA W OF CHOICE. 41 
 
 though sorely encumbered with society's many-corded tram- 
 mels, yet have that within them that longs for, desires and 
 hopes for a plainer way, a purer life, and a more successful 
 existence. 
 
 This should be a law with all seekers for a wife or husband, 
 that in their choice they must keep dormant that part of 
 their natures broadly termed the feelings, and exercise only 
 the intellectual. This will be more fully understood and ap- 
 preciated when we come to what constitutes the requirements 
 for a perfect union, and the true definition of sexual love. 
 
 It may be premised that love, in the popular acceptation 
 of the term, as existing between lovers and the newly mar- 
 ried, is a misnomer, as is also love at first sight. Why this 
 is so will presently appear. 
 
 It is necessary to a perfect union a requisite to happiness 
 4nd a higher and more aesthetic culture that the man and 
 tvoman to be married have no positive traits of character 
 that differ in the least from one another. A husband, having 
 abnormally developed amativeness, married to a woman in 
 whom it is well balanced, is sure to breed discord. A hus- 
 band, having a deficiency in the moral sentiments, joined to 
 a woman who aspires after goodness, virtue and purity, will 
 assuredly make married life other than a success. And so in 
 all that goes to make up character a similarity is necessary, 
 to insure a close joining of soul to soul. 
 
 If the man have the social faculties fully developed, so 
 should his wife. If the man have a large moral and relig- 
 ious nature, so should the wife. If the man possess well-de- 
 veloped perceptive, reasoning and reflective power, so should 
 the wife ; and so, in the selfish sentiments and propensities, 
 it is necessary to a perfect union that the man and wife be 
 equally developed, or as nearly so as possible. 
 
 There may be one or two exceptions to this rule as in 
 the money-getting faculty. A man having the ability to 
 make money, but lacking the ability to hold it, could, by the 
 possession of an economical and saving wife, get rich ; yet
 
 42 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 as wealth is but a minor requisite to happiness, it may be 
 doubted if such a disresemblance is requisite. 
 
 The question is suggested while reading : Would it be right 
 to join a man having very large amativeness to a woman 
 with it equally developed ? Decidedly so ; for if the man is 
 married to a woman having it small, the result is disgust 
 ending in separation or divorce ; whereas, if both husband 
 and wife are equally developed, and especially equally uned- 
 ucated in its legitimate use, they together acquire ill health,, 
 and together prematurely leave this world, and so allow room 
 for others whose objects in life are higher. 
 
 Would it be right that a man having large destructiveness, 
 secretiveness and cautiousness, and deficient in the moral 
 sentiments (the requisite faculties for an essentially bad char- 
 acter a thief or murderer), to marry a woman having similar 
 developments ? In the first place, a man possessing such 
 qualities of character should not be allowed to marry ; yet, 
 if allowed, the woman should be none other than one having^ 
 the like mental similarity, if a perfect union was looked for. 
 But you say, if a woman of higher developments was united 
 to this man, it would have a tendency to lead him to her 
 standard of life. Such results seldom or never occur; it runs, 
 contra to the philosophy of things. The tendency on her 
 part would be downward, making her life a failure and his. 
 miserable. 
 
 And so, in all the greater or smaller shades and shadows, 
 of mental development, the resemblance should be complete, 
 or nearly so. The man having well-developed amativeness, 
 a large love of offspring, a greater love for home and borne 
 associations than he has for outside friendship and pleas- 
 ure, versatility of thought and feeling, a strong attachment 
 for one, and one only, of the opposite sex all these things 
 should the wife of his choice be in possession of. 
 
 The man having combativeness enough to resist imposi- 
 tion and ignorance, a full requisite of acquisitiveness, a good 
 and hearty appetite for plain food and drink, a fair desire to-
 
 THE LA W OF CHOICE. 43 
 
 acquire property, candid, open-hearted, truthful ; large pru- 
 dence and forethought, moderately ambitious, high-minded, 
 independent and self-confident ; a just amount of stability 
 and firmness of character ; in all these things should the wife 
 of his choice be his counterpart. 
 
 The man having a sense for the beautiful and pure, an ap- 
 preciation of the sublime and magnificent in nature and art, 
 a bright, sunny, laughing nature ; the perceptive faculties 
 fully developed ; a philosophizing, investigating, original cast 
 of mind ; governed by the highest order of moral principles ; 
 sanguine and enterprising ; large spirituality reverence for 
 religion and things sacred ; a heart overflowing with kind- 
 ness and sympathy for humanity ; in all these traits should 
 the wife chosen resemble the man. 
 
 In no way can this unity of thought, feeling and action 
 be so well secured as through Phrenology a science that is 
 to do more for the welfare of the human race than any here- 
 tofore or hereafter to be discovered. Through the right ap- 
 plication of this wonderful science, no mistake need be made 
 in wife or husband-choosing, no risks need be run and no 
 doubts need be entertained, but all is made clear as the truths 
 of which it is the exponent. Masks avail nothing decep- 
 tion, hypocrisy and untruth avail nothing under the search- 
 ing analysis of the brain's soul-chambers. 
 
 " But I don't believe in Phrenology !" 
 
 Then you have my sympathy ; and my advice to you, and 
 all who think alike, is to study and cultivate the higher or- 
 ders of your nature, and grow into the belief of this science 
 of the mind, and so claim brotherhood with the progressive 
 army of noble workers, whose motto is "Onward and up- 
 ward." 
 
 George Stearns, in a little work on " How to Marry," 
 gives the following rules as a guide to conjugal harmony : 
 
 " Marry your conjugal mate your personal duplicate 
 your approximate equal in development, and your like 
 
 " i. In Age. The old and young are as nort-intermarri- 
 ageable as black and white.
 
 44 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 " 2. In Temper. They who love spiritually should not 
 marry such as love carnally. Between Platonic and Epicu- 
 rean lovers no fellowship is possible. 
 
 "3. In Intelligence. A simpleton is a poor associate for a 
 sage, as well as a clown for a scholar. 
 
 " 4. In Sentiment. Let not progressives consort with 
 conservatives. A liberal soul cannot be harmoniously mar- 
 ried to a bigot 
 
 "5. In Devotion. A husband and wife should have but 
 one sanctuary, whether it be under a steeple, or be roofed 
 only by the broad canopy of heaven. 
 
 " 6. In Taste. A tidy woman cannot admire a sloven ; 
 and every man who has an eye to port abhors a slattern. 
 
 " 7. In Habitudes. A vegetarian, at the table of a pork- 
 eater, remembers the fox that dined with a stork. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Will-ey don't sleep together, because he eschews feath- 
 ers and she can't endure straw. 
 
 " 8. As to the Goal of Life. They who are always aim- 
 ing at what is in a name, should not be sought in marriage 
 by such as care only for what is in Nature. One who lives 
 for aught in any calling will be more successful, and there- 
 fore happier, without a colleague, than with such a pretender 
 as really lives for nought." 
 
 It having been assumed that unity of mind is the princi- 
 ple which lies at the base of a perfect marriage, and that the 
 science of Phrenology is the lens through which we approx- 
 imate this unity, one of the mists of the ages, in the right 
 choice of a mate, is cleared up, and bright and clear as noon- 
 day appears the Law of Choice.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LOVE ANALYZED. 
 
 F this mode of mate-choosing is 
 physiologically and psycholog- 
 ically right, as all clear- minded 
 : and right-thinking persons will 
 allow, then it must, as a result, 
 dispense with the attribute of 
 love as a preliminary require- 
 ment. And so it does. Love, in 
 the popular sense of the term, 
 as applied to the union of the 
 sexes, is a fallacy, and is not 
 only not required, but is an 
 impossibility in the initial re- 
 quisites to the choice of a wife 
 or husband. This may be regarded as absurd, for the rea- 
 son that we never hear of a marriage (rare cases excepted) 
 but that love is not only believed to be present, but the uni- 
 versal use of the word is supposed to indicate that people 
 cannot well live without it. And this is so, in a measure, 
 but can be explained by its correct analysis. 
 
 Poets, from the laureates to the village aspirants, have 
 given, in good and bad verse, in every manner and all meas- 
 ures, words concerning love ; novelists have written of it, 
 and readers, on and off the stage, have acted it ; and yet ask 
 any of these readers or actors what they understand by the 
 word love, and they are, with the poets, hopelessly adrift at 
 sea. Verse piled on verse, and line upon line, enough to 
 easily fill a score of books of this size, might here be quoted, 
 and an inquirer might patiently and carefully wade through
 
 46 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 all of it, and not succeed in getting enlightened on the sub- 
 ject 
 
 The great mistake in the use of the word, in relation to 
 the union of the sexes, is, first, in its part application ; and, 
 second, the supposition that mock love a species of Mes- 
 merism is true love. Perfect sexual love comes only of a 
 perfect union a union of resemblance in mind, soul, and 
 body, and this is one reason for my so earnestly advising the 
 employment of the reason in selection ; for in and through 
 the intellect you only can choose one who approximates to 
 your standard of character in all its details. The union be- 
 ing consummated, perfect love results as naturally and har- 
 moniously as do all the workings of all other of Nature's 
 laws, and this love, guided by the moral sentiments, through 
 the similarity of its component halves, grows strong, more 
 lasting, pure and holy through the days and months of life's 
 pilgrimage, and in years its purity and strength meet and af- 
 filiate with the spirit of the great I AM, whose presence and 
 power are only exercised through love. 
 
 Filial love is only found in those children who were know- 
 ingly, earnestly and lovingly desired by the parents, and 
 such children, having transmitted them the counterparts of 
 their originators' mental and moral organization, will, cannot 
 help, being largely filled with love of parents sweet, ear- 
 nest, pure and perfect filial love. In the increase of a family 
 under like conditions, the children will love each other, con- 
 stituting perfect brotherly and sisterly love. 
 
 Love of God, in its perfect manifestation, is an impossi- 
 bility at least in this present age of the world. It is ap- 
 proached in its exercise only by those who earnestly strive 
 after and continually endeavor to so regulate their every-day 
 thoughts, words and actions as to avoid all that is wrong, 
 and to grow into all that is right. In the doing of this, the 
 mental, moral and spiritual nature of the individual takes on, 
 in a measure, perfection, establishing reciprocity of soul- 
 thought with that of Christ, and so constituting love of God.
 
 LOVE ANALYZED. 47 
 
 And this love of God can only be experienced in this way ; 
 for sudden conversion to a love of God, like sudden love 
 between man and woman, is a misnomer, and is contrary to 
 the law that governs the birth, growth, and perfection of all 
 matter. 
 
 Love, as applied to the present mode of courtship and 
 marriage, is, as already stated, used but in part. A woman 
 marries a man because, as she says (and perhaps believes), 
 she loves him. How? Because her self-esteem prompts 
 her to avoid being an " old maid," and inhabitiveness or love 
 of home, and acquisitiveness or love of- money, prompts her 
 to marry the man of her choice. It matters not what may 
 be the man's acquirements as compared with hers, provided 
 he possess money and a home for her. This woman marries 
 through love ; but it is a selfish, animal love, and is widely 
 different from the pure and holy love that comes of a perfect 
 union of soul with soul. 
 
 A man marries a woman because, as he says (and prob- 
 ably believes), he loves her. How ? Because, through his 
 ideality or love for the beautiful, and through his perverted 
 amativeness or love for the gross and sensual, ambition 
 prompts him, and perhaps opposition determines him, to 
 marry her. This man marries for love ; but it is a love that 
 is as evanescent as the wind, and a miserable help to happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Again, there are thousands of women, and tens of thou- 
 sands of men, who imagine they marry through love, when 
 it is only a counterfeit mock love, a species of magnetism 
 or Mesmerism which one party, knowingly or unknowingly, 
 brings to bear upon the other. A few days of wedded ex- 
 perience sadly dispels the illusion. When you hear of a man, 
 a perfect stranger, passing through a country district, and 
 in the space of say a month, being married to half a dozen 
 women, and perhaps engaged to a dozen, these marriages 
 and engagements were affairs, not of love, but of magnetism 
 or love in part. When you hear of a seduction, mock love
 
 48 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 is involved never true love. When you know of a moping > 
 haggard wretch, who looks as if he were going to hang him- 
 self, because Mary Jane does not " care a straw for him," it 
 is a plain case of mock love. When you hear of a woman 
 having committed suicide because of unrequited "love," you 
 can be assured that there was no true love involved in the 
 matter nothing more or less than mock love. True love 
 NEVER acts in any of these directions, or under any of these 
 conditions. 
 
 These cases will illustrate what is meant by marrying 
 through love in part. Instead, when being mated, all of 
 the domestic and selfish propensities, intellectual, and espec- 
 ially the moral sentiments being alike, or nearly so, in both 
 man and woman, so constituting a basis for the birth and 
 growth of perfect sexual love, modern love is expressed only 
 in part through some one or more of the propensities or sen- 
 timents, making the most desirable of all earthly requisites 
 perfect love utterly impossible. 
 
 Another assertion may be recorded as a support to this re- 
 quired similarity in the mental organs, constituting perfect 
 love namely, that there can be no true love where there is no 
 reciprocity. The man having large benevolence, it is nec- 
 essary to reciprocity of feeling that the woman should be 
 possessed of a like quantity, else disagreements and no love. 
 The woman having ideality largely developed, it is necessary 
 to perfect reciprocity of feeling that the man have it devel- 
 oped in like manner, else disagreements and a bar to love. 
 In like manner, through all that goes to make character, a 
 similarity must exist to allow a reciprocity of thought, feel- 
 ing and action, and the growth of love. 
 
 The disregard of this Law of Choice lies at the founda- 
 tion of the bulk of the misery associated with married life, 
 and in no other way than by obedience to this law can a 
 happy union be secured. 
 
 Judged by this law of required similarity, love at first sight 
 is but a phase of fiction ; for it, in accord with all other of
 
 LOVE ANALYZED. 49 
 
 Nature's laws, is of slow growth ; and, where it is asserted 
 to exist, it is but the exercise of some single faculty of the 
 mind. 
 
 People vary so much in what constitutes character, that it 
 may be doubted if a man and woman could be found of per- 
 fectly similar organization. This may be so ; but it is not 
 absolutely required that they be similar, yet it is necessary 
 that they as nearly as possible approximate in the greater 
 shades of character. The nearer the similarity is secured, 
 the nearer is the approach to a perfect union, and a secure 
 basis for the birth and growth of love. When such a union 
 is consummated and especially if guided by religious aspi- 
 rations, in the exercise and friction that comes of united en- 
 deavor all the minor shades and shadows of difference in 
 mind and soul are softened and harmonized ; and, as the 
 months wear on, the similarity increases ; and, as the years 
 wear on, the similarity is complete and love is perfected. 
 
 In this growth to pertect love, there are other things 
 required beside the similarity of mind. It needs that the 
 united man and woman have all the physical functions in vig- 
 orous and normal exercise good health, with positive free- 
 dom from pain and disease, for it is only through a sound 
 and vigorous health that the mind is enlarged and love grows. 
 Sickness and its attendant miseries are in contravention of 
 Nature's laws, and in opposition to the harmony and unison 
 necessary to love. A man using tobacco or alcoholic liq- 
 uors, and living on gross food, is no more capable of grow- 
 ing into perfect love and its enjoyments than he is capable 
 of appreciating what constitutes perfect health. Perfect love 
 is of and from God pure in its exercise, holy in its aspira- 
 tions, and how can such a man, possessing as he does a body 
 and soul foul with the disgusting emanations of tobacco, 
 whisky and wine, find a pure thought within for its lodge- 
 ment. The conception is not only absurd it is sacrilegious. 
 
 Therefore, in addition to the required similarity of the 
 mental and moral natures, it is required that a sound, healthy, 
 
 4
 
 50 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 clean and sweet body is essentially requisite to the perfect- 
 ing of this soul-union. 
 
 " Time, Force and Death, 
 Do to this body what extremes you can ; 
 But the strong base and building of my Lore 
 Is as the very centre of the Earth, 
 Drawing all things to it" SHAKESPBARE
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID IN CHOOSING. 
 
 O a man earnestly desirous 
 of being lovingly mated, no 
 other rules than this Law of 
 Choice, and its resulting Law 
 of Love, would be necessary ; 
 but to the heedless and doubt- 
 ing, whose natures lack the 
 intelligence and culture to ap- 
 preciate the benefits resulting 
 from such a union, there are 
 general rules, easy of appli- 
 cation, which, if observed, 
 will help palliate, it not altogether prevent, much after mis- 
 ery in married lives. 
 
 Taking it for granted that the man has arrived at a mar- 
 riageable age twenty-eight or thirty and that he be of 
 sound mind and perfect health, and desirous of marrying, he 
 should avoid, in his choice, any woman having ill health, and 
 especially if she be of a family having consumption or scrof- 
 ula in its organization. There is no more important peculi- 
 arity to avoid than this one of inherent or transmitted sick- 
 .ness. Scrofulous or consumptive women, with colorless faces, 
 flabby muscles, and waxy skins even if they have the ap- 
 pearance of being tolerably strong themselves cannot pos- 
 sibly have other than sickly and short-lived children. 
 
 Avoid marrying, if possible, a woman of an hysterical 
 temperament. A few tears may be very interesting during 
 that treacle period called the honeymoon ; but, in after life,
 
 52 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 there is no misery for a man greater than to be united to a 
 woman of delicate fibre and weak digestion, who upon all 
 and no occasions throws herself into that incurable and mis- 
 ery-causing malady a fit of hysterics." A sound mind in 
 a sound body lies at the foundation of all that goes to make 
 life a success. 
 
 An outward indicationof an abnormal, unhealthy and un- 
 physiological life is a small waist, whether abnormally natu- 
 ral, or caused by the wearing of corsets ; avoid them as you 
 would the plagues of Egypt, for tjiey encompass sickness, 
 premature decay and death. Such women are not capable 
 of pure love, or right judgment, or, what is so essentially 
 important, giving birth to healthy, vigorous offspring. Their 
 very souls are malformed in harmony with their bodies. 
 Some men admire small waists, but they are men who pos- 
 sess but a modicum of brains or, if otherwise, they may 
 admire, but they carefully guard against ever marrying them. 
 If it is your desire to secure a wife that will be free from 
 eternal nervousness, headache, pains, ill temper, and espec- 
 ially if you aim to have children that will not be sickly and 
 short-lived, I pray you avoid marrying a woman with a small 
 waist. I consider this matter of large waists such a neces- 
 sity, in a woman who aspires to be a wife and mother, that, 
 to impress it more positively on the minds of all men in search 
 of wives, I will again repeat, in large letters, SHUN SMALL 
 WAISTS, and act on the rule of " NATURAL WAISTS, 
 or no wives." 
 
 If you be a man of full or large stature, avoid marrying a 
 small woman ; for large men, in some way, have a partiality 
 for small women. This should not be, for many self-suffi- 
 cient reasons, the principal one of which is, the difference in 
 physical qualities entails intense suffering on the part of the 
 woman, and intense disappointment on the part of the hus- 
 band ; and, should the wife bear him a child, great danger 
 of life attaches to the mother, while the premature death of 
 the child, in innumerable cases, results. A full sized, or large
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID. 53 
 
 and well-developed woman, is at all times the most desirable 
 wife for a large or small man. 
 
 In your search for the attainable, avoid the ignorant and 
 wrongly educated. There is current a dread of the learned, 
 otherwise called " strong-minded" women, and broad doubts 
 of their making desirable wives. Let this not trouble you ; 
 given all the required conditions for a perfect union, your 
 wife cannot possibly be too learned. 
 
 When I allude to educated women, it must not be under- 
 stood as including the so-called " modern accomplishments." 
 It is best to be shy of women possessing such, unless you 
 may want a singing or dancing wife, or one possessing enough 
 of the modern languages to show her ignorance of them. 
 For the acquirement of these and other similar "accom- 
 plishments," girls will study for years ; eventually they mar- 
 ry, and the honeymoon has not well waned ere these super- 
 ficial modern accomplishments are forgotten, and the learn- 
 ing of the practical, every-day duties, so entirely misplaced 
 and neglected during girlhood, begins, under disadvantages 
 great and many. See to it that the woman of your choice 
 be educated in the practical details of every household duty; 
 that she be as capable of cooking a relishable meal as she is 
 of playing a gem from the last new opera on the piano ; that 
 she is as competent to mend her stockings as to dance the 
 quadrilles ; that she is as qualified to make a bed, a shirt, or 
 dress, as she is to speak the French, German or Italian lan- 
 guages ; not of a necessity that she be required on marry- 
 ing to cook, mend, make beds or dresses, but that she pos- 
 sess such a knowledge of the details of all household mat- 
 ters that she can, with just judgment, direct their doing. 
 What would a merchant, possessing a ship and valuable car- 
 go, want with a captain who did not know the practical use 
 and application of every rope and yard in a vessel ? No 
 more, then, should a husband with a wife who is not edu- 
 cated in household details ; and this knowledge, as with the 
 captain, is used only in directing and ordering, unless when a
 
 54 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 stress of weather or poverty comes ; then shine out bright 
 and clear the benefits accruing from a personal, practical 
 knowledge of details. 
 
 Especially should you avoid being Jured to an engage- 
 ment through a superficially beautiful fac,e a face that may 
 hide much other than the requisites for a true wife. Deceit 
 and hypocrisy are so universal in our day that, by other than 
 a scientific analysis of the brain and face, surface indications 
 and manners go for little. Beauty unless it is the outgrowth 
 of the soul's goodness and purity, reflecting in well-cut fea- 
 tures and rounded outlines* the joyous, happy and bright 
 light from within is but an evanescent affair. A man soon 
 gets tired of the doll-beauty of his wife, which, in a very few 
 years begins to fade, while the beauty of a strong, pure and 
 educated woman grows, increases and ripens with age, a joy 
 for ever. 
 
 Avoid being misled through extravagance of ornament 
 Women who are overloaded with outre-shaped ear-rings, 
 bracelets, finger-rings, and other cheap, gilt trinkets, ap- 
 proach, in their want of taste, simplicity and common sense, 
 the Indian in his paint and feathers growing away from the 
 true line of a simple, chaste and pure life, and relapsing into 
 barbarism. No woman should wear other ornament than 
 the rich and unfading one of a meek, pure and lovable spirit, 
 save and except the circlet of gold that is the emblem of her 
 union with a kindred spirit. 
 
 As in ornament, so in dress false hair, false " forms," 
 etc., on any woman is deception personified, and her inward 
 life may be justly inferred from her outward form. 
 
 Extravagance in dress is to be shunned ; for, apart from 
 the costliness of such a quality, it may be set down as a rule, 
 that the handsomest, most sensible and desirable girls and 
 women are those who dress plainest ; for such women, espec- 
 ially if they be beautiful, do not require the extra adorn- 
 ments of dress and jewelry. Whenever, therefore, you see 
 one of the gaudily arrayed creatures of fashion, you can ar-
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID. 55 
 
 rive at a just conclusion that she is not naturally beautiful, 
 in either body or mind. 
 
 And yet another woman to avoid is one who is indolent 
 and constitutionally lazy. A young man may well think 
 twice before committing his fortunes and future prospects 
 into the hands of such a wife. Though the man's income 
 be never so great, it will all be necessary to support the 
 waste and extravagance of a lazy wife. An indolent girl or 
 woman is almost sure to be a peevish, fretful one ; she has 
 nothing to do but brood over her cares and worries until 
 they become mountains. They are not desirable either as 
 companions or wives. 
 
 " Would it be right for me to marry a woman who is a 
 near relation say a cousin ?" This question is being con- 
 tinually asked, and deserves a careful inquiry. If judged by 
 the statistics of charitable institutions, the reply would be in 
 the negative ; for these figures (which are supposed to be in- 
 capable of lying) show that a majority of the deaf, dumb 
 and blind, a limited number of lunatics, and a much larger 
 number of feeble-minded or idiotic children, are the offspring 
 of the marriage of cousins. Carpenter, in his " Principles 
 of Human Physiology," says : " Out of three hundred and 
 fifty-nine idiots, the condition of whose progenitors could be 
 ascertained, seventeen were known to have been the children 
 of parents nearly related by blood ; and this relationship was 
 suspected to have existed in several other cases, in which 
 positive information could not be obtained. On examining 
 into the history of the seventeen families to which these in- 
 dividuals belonged, it was found that they had consisted in 
 all of ninety-five children ; that of these no fewer than forty- 
 four were idiotic, twelve others were scrofulous and puny, 
 one was deaf, and one was a dwarf. In some of these fami- 
 lies, all the children were either idiotic, or very scrofulous 
 and puny ; in one family of eight children, five were idiotic.'"' 
 There is, judged by statistical tables, just cause to avoid in- 
 termarriage of relations ; yet these statistics are almost val-
 
 56 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ueless, as they give no idea of the hereditary antecedents or 
 physical condition of the parties. 
 
 I opine that this fearful array of idiocy and feeble medioc- 
 rity should be ascribed to other causes than the one of inter- 
 marriage. Ill health, abused amativeness, wrong living, dis- 
 proportionate ages, a low organic quality of the brain, all 
 would tend to propagate the low and idiotic. If a robust, 
 handsome and healthy young man marry his own cousin, 
 who is equally healthy and beautiful all other conditions 
 being in accordance with the Law of Choice and should 
 they propagate offspring under conditions recorded further 
 on in these pages, their children could not possibly be other 
 than strong, beautiful, talented and long-lived. If consan- 
 guinous marriages result injuriously, it is because the hered- 
 itary imperfections, like factors when multiplied into them- 
 selves, produce their squares. 
 
 There is a family of Jews at Amsterdam who have inter- 
 married for centuries, and yet their physique is superb. 
 
 To elucidate the truth of the general thesis, that consan- 
 guinous marriages produce disease and idiocy in the off- 
 spring, M. Voisin, of France, has made some very minute 
 researches in the commune of Batz, a little place at the mouth 
 of the Loire, which contains a population of three thousand 
 three hundred people, exclusively occupied in the cultivation 
 of salt marshes. Hardly any outsiders are ever drawn to 
 this place, and the marriages take place, by special dispensa- 
 tion, even within the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by 
 the Church. M. Voisin minutely investigated the circum- 
 stances of forty families resulting from such marriages, and 
 has prepared tables to show that neither vices of conforma- 
 tion, insanity, idiocy, cretinism, deaf-muteness, epilepsy or 
 albinism existed among any of these families, but that other- 
 wise the stock had remained very handsome and very 
 pure. 
 
 A remarkable story, verifying the old adage that " truth is 
 stranger than fiction," was lately told of a woman in one of
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD A VOID. 57 
 
 the Western States, who married her second husband, which 
 marriage was an intensely happy one. Through a chain of 
 circumstances not necessary here to mention, the husband 
 and wife found out that they were brother and sister ! both 
 being ignorant of the fact that they possessed a living rela- 
 tion. Two children were born of this union, who were 
 bright, beautiful and healthy. 
 
 And yet I do not advise the intermarriage of relations. 
 If there were a scarcity of women to choose from, the mar- 
 rying of cousins might be allowed ; but facts show the re- 
 verse there being two and, in many places, three marriage- 
 able women to one marriageable man. Again, although it 
 may, in exceptional cases, appear that such consanguinous 
 unions are free from other than perfect results, it does not 
 follow that the conditions exist for its practical, every- day 
 demonstration. Far from it. Men and women will have to 
 live a more correct, pure, abstemious and holy life, before 
 they can attain to a standard of health and strength that will 
 enable them to marry cousins with impunity. As long as 
 mankind continue in this wrong course of life, and marry and 
 intermarry under these false conditions, so long will we have 
 among us the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, the de- 
 formed, feeble-minded, idiotic, lunatic, etc. 
 
 Therefore, I counsel you not to marry your cousin, or any 
 other woman closely or distantly related to you, unless there 
 happens to be not one other marriageable woman within one 
 thousand miles of you, and even then I would not advise 
 you other than to remain single until the arrival of some em- 
 igrant train, when a choice could be secured. The adoption 
 of this plan will insure you against all doubts of consangui- 
 nous results and their attendant miseries. 
 
 Much importance is attached by some physiologists to the 
 temperamental conditions of those who marry ; for, say they, 
 if, when both parties to a marriage are temperamentally the 
 same, there will probably be no children ; or, if they have 
 children, they will either be still-born, or die at the end of
 
 58 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 two or three years. If the temperaments of parties differ 
 only in part, or are physiologically incompatible, they will 
 have children who will eventually die of consumption, etc. 
 This I consider open to much doubt. If the causes of ster- 
 ility, blindness, deafness, monstrosities, consumption, imbe- 
 cility, etc., usually ascribed to mis-mated temperaments, 
 could be thoroughly investigated, it would be found that the 
 causes lay entirely outside of the temperamental conditions, 
 and would be found In the wrong habits of life observed by 
 the husband and wife. If the parties married are of a suit- 
 able age, perfectly healthy, joined under conditions that look 
 to similarity of character, and adopt chaste, continent and 
 hygienic habits of life, the results will be all that are most 
 desirable. If others think that a judicious crossing of tem- 
 peraments, without reference to aught else, embodies a per- 
 fect union, why, let them think so. 
 
 It is best to avoid marrying widows, who may have had 
 one or more men as husbands, whose premature deaths were 
 caused by other than accident, or other plainly unavoidable 
 cause ; for, as will be explained further on, they are likely to 
 possess qualities inherent in them, that in their exercise use 
 tip the husband's stock of vitality, rapidly weakening the sys- 
 tem, and so causing premature death. It is best, with Sami- 
 vel Weller, to " beware of vidders." 
 
 For reasons good and evident, but hardly necessary here 
 to record, it is advisable to avoid marrying a divorced wo- 
 man, or even the daughter of such, or a woman of a widely 
 different religious faith. 
 
 Especially avoid all women who in any way show disre- 
 spect for their parents, or who dislike children, or who light- 
 ly talk of religion or kindred subjects, or who have a greater 
 fondness for balls, parties, gossip, than for home associations ; 
 for it is a requisite in all women who aspire to be wives and 
 mothers, that they be possessed of large parental love, and a 
 deep and broad sense and feeling of things moral and relig- 
 ious. No conditions so favor a more perfect union, and a
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD A VOID, 59 
 
 pure and holy love, than does the marriage of an eminently 
 Christian woman with an eminently Christian man. 
 
 There are other qualities to be thought of in the choice of 
 a wife as money, station in life, etc., which the good sense 
 of the individual will appreciate at their just value. 
 
 These objections having been considered and established, 
 the man's next move is to put these Laws of Choice into 
 practice, and much might be said of the proper use of the 
 observing powers in this direction. A prime requisite in vis- 
 iting ladies for this object, is to try and see the woman in her 
 every-day life, before awakening in her mind any suspicion 
 that you may possibly be her lover. If attainable, become a 
 member of the family of which she is a member, by board- 
 ing or otherwise. In doing this, show yourself in your ev- 
 ery-day attire and yqur every-day temper. Hypocrisy 
 should be shunned, for it is dangerous both to yourself and 
 to her to pass yourself off for what you are not Let the 
 rough points in your character stand out in all their natural 
 ruggedness. If it shock her to come in contact with them,, 
 the sooner the better. If she turn you off upon the discov- 
 ery of them, so much the more fortunate for her, at least, if 
 not for you. 
 
 But there is a more satisfactory and more positive mode of 
 choosing one in which hypocrisy and deceit avail nothing, 
 and one which every man and woman is earnestly enjoined 
 to adopt. It is by and through Phrenology. Go to a good 
 phrenologist and obtain a written analysis of your character, 
 with a fully marked chart, which retain for comparison. 
 When you, in your search for a wife, come across a woman 
 who. you think has an appearance of approximating your 
 standard of character, have her secure a chart (if she already 
 does not possess one) and show it to you, when, having all 
 her perfections and defects in print, you can compare it with 
 yours. In doing this, do it fully above board, giving the fact 
 expression that you are in search of a wife, and believe in 
 this mode of choosing and in no other. On comparing her
 
 60 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 chart with yours, if the comparison results unfavorably, 
 plainly tell her so, and, if necessary, give her the reason. If 
 the comparison is favorable to a perfect union, then an en- 
 gagement may be formed, and until this precise point is ar- 
 rived at, love, impulse and the feelings sJiould not be exer- 
 cised, but kept perfectly dormant. Now, if the man believes 
 not only in the Law of Choice, as recorded herein, but also 
 in the Law of Continence, etc., so positively urged, he should 
 immediately after his engagement purchase for, or loan, a 
 copy of this " Science of a New Life" to the woman of his 
 choice for her perusal and enlightenment. The Author la- 
 ments the fictitious modesty that prevents such matters be- 
 ing talked of and canvassed at any and all times between 
 those immediately interested, and longs for a brighter day, 
 when these vital subjects may be conversed of as freely, be- 
 tween the engaged man and woman and parents, as would 
 be the bridal outfit 
 
 Chosen in this way, it is impossible to err impossible to 
 secure other than a union that will result in unapproachable 
 happiness, unalloyed bliss, and is worth all the endeavor of 
 a score of years. 
 
 Perhaps it would be well to re-assert that this perfect 
 choice cannot be secured if the feelings are in any way en- 
 gaged. Reason, observation, and judgment should and must 
 only be employed ; for if you sink your judgment, and al- 
 low your feelings and impulses to run rampant, instead of 
 choosing and marrying a woman suited to your character- 
 istics, you will probably choose and marry a ringlet, a dim- 
 ple, a set of white teeth, a silky eyelash, a peach-blossom 
 cheek ; a lithe and willowy waist, a glimpse of a pretty an- 
 kle, a chance touch of tender taper fingers, the lingering 
 echo of a winsome laugh either of these, or any of num- 
 berless beautiful things, none of which are, in themselves, 
 necessarily required in a choice. 
 
 Cultivate the philosophic in your nature, and observe, judge 
 and choose with your eyes wide open.
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD A VOID. 61 
 
 Just here a new difficulty may arise. You have canvassed 
 the qualities of every lady within the circle of your acquaint- 
 ance, and even have solicited introductions to numberless 
 women, and yet you have failed in finding one that will, as 
 you think, approximate your character ; and the next ques- 
 tion that naturally arises is : " What am I to do ?" 
 
 Do not regard it as absurd and wrong if I advise you to 
 do precisely as a farmer would, who, desiring to purchase a 
 farm, and having examined all within his county that are for 
 sale, and finding none that will suit him he advertises. 
 Comparisons are, as a rule, allowed to be odious. Compari- 
 son, in this connection, I allow to be just and applicable. 
 The world, in its progressive, onward march, with its thor- 
 ough intermixture of race and quality, offers a broader and 
 wider field for the selection of a rightly constituted mate, 
 than does the narrow field of a village or city ward, and the 
 people of this wide-world area can in no better way be, 
 reached than through the advertising columns of the news- 
 paper. 
 
 You draw up an advertisement, stating in as few words as 
 possible your idiosyncrasies, and inviting replies from only 
 those who imagine they approach your standard of charac- 
 ter. You insert it in one or more papers of large circula- 
 tion, and it is read by thousands of marriageable women, 
 and among them, it is possible, the one who would make you 
 an unapproachable mate, and who, of course, could not pos- 
 sibly have ever heard of you other than in this way. A cor- 
 respondence is commenced with a score or more of those 
 having an appearance of suiting ; a phrenological analysis of 
 the character of each is requested by you, and which, being 
 received, is compared and returned ; presently the right one 
 is discovered, and an engagement follows. 
 
 There is much that could be said in favor of this mode of 
 selection, the best of which is that it prevents the feelings 
 being engaged in the choice, which of itself is an eloquent 
 and convincing argument in its favor. It allows an im-
 
 62 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 mensely wide field for a right selection, and in a dispassion- 
 ate and philosophical manner, each correspondent acting on 
 the Law of Choice, and in writing unfolding each other's char- 
 acteristic traits ; or, what is more preferable, more desirable, 
 and requiring a much shorter correspondence, temporarily 
 exchanging and comparing phrenological charts of character. 
 They encompass ends that in no other way could be ap- 
 proached. 
 
 And something might be said against this mode. Char- 
 acters of impure formation might adopt, probably have 
 adopted this way of securing a victim to their lustful 
 natures. This is allowed ; but this rule is applicable, in a 
 hundred times its intensity, to the usual mode of choice ; and 
 no such wrong results need occur, if care is only observed. 
 An undesirable termination is less likely to occur in this way 
 than in any other, if a few plain rules are observed. In this 
 direction, as in all other directions socially, woman is gener- 
 ally the wronged party and man the wrong-doer, and, I pre- 
 sume, will continue to be, until women are educated to a 
 higher and purer standard of life. The exercise of com- 
 mon sense a sense termed common, yet so very, bery 
 rare and the observance of the ordinary rules of right and 
 wrong, will be a sufficient guard against all undesirable re- 
 sults. 
 
 Therefore, I record and advise that, if you desire 
 a woman as a wife who approaches or duplicates your 
 physical and mental characteristics, and cannot find such 
 in the circle of your acquaintance, that you advertise 
 advertise thoroughly and continuously, and in papers of all 
 shades of opinion. 
 
 It needs no argument to show that there is something rad- 
 ically wrong in the present mode of mate-choosing. The 
 every-day records of family quarrels, scandals, separations 
 and divorces, too sadly prove the fact that the present meth- 
 od of forming matrimonial alliances must in some measure 
 be changed, if a happy and enjoyable married existence is
 
 QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID. 63 
 
 desired. That the adoption of Phrenology and advertising 
 can make matters worse is simply absurd, as all right-think- 
 ing persons must allow ; and so I repeat the assertion, that 
 to secure a perfect love-union the parties should use Phre- 
 nology as a guide, and failing to secure a choice in the cir- 
 cle of their acquaintances that they use the advertising col- 
 umns of a widely circulated newspaper.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD AVOID IN CHOOSING. 
 
 S there are qualities in women 
 which men in their choice should 
 be careful to avoid, so there are 
 qualities, positive and lasting in 
 their effects, which women who 
 desire a happy married existence, 
 should be especially careful to 
 avoid in men. 
 
 Women do not as yet possess 
 the privilege of making marriage 
 proposals, but they do in the 
 very broadest sense of the word 
 choose the one whom they pre- 
 fer, and this choice, affecting so vitally their welfare, should 
 be positive in its enlightened exercise. Though marriage 
 and parentage are the purposed intention of woman's exist- 
 ence, yet they should not allow the anxiety of a feverish and 
 misdirected desire to constantly obtrude itself at all times on 
 all observers ; for until the age of twenty-one or, better, 
 twenty-four is reached, woman should do naught but grow 
 in body and mind, cultivating in the quiet walks of life, in 
 the busy marts of trade, or in the sphere of the professions, 
 as her lot may be cast those positive traits of character and 
 finer qualities of soul which spring out of a life well and per- 
 fectly grown a ripe woman, truly capable of working, think-
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD A VOID. 65 
 
 ing, loving, and especially of taking on the tender duties and 
 arduous responsibilities of a mother. 
 
 A girl does not reach perfect womanhood until she is 
 twenty-four years of age, and until she arrives at this age 
 the thought of marrying and marriage should be to her a very 
 minor consideration. But if she has arrived at twenty-two 
 or twenty-four years of age, fully grown in mind and body, 
 free from disease, well versed in all the requirements neces- 
 sary to the working and governing of a house and family, 
 she should avoid, in her choice of a husband, a man who has 
 not perfect health. Ill health, whether inherited or acquired, 
 is not to be desired in either the father of a family or the 
 provider of a family, and all women who think more of health 
 than sickness, or pleasure than misery should unhesitatingly 
 reject such. 
 
 Closely allied to ill health it may be the underlying cause 
 of it are habits essentially bad, foul and filthy namely, the 
 use of tobacco and alcoholic liquors; and the victims of these 
 two habits, O woman trusting and pure, I warn you to shun ! 
 I warn you, as you hope for a clean, healthy and enjoyable 
 married existence, to avoid marrying a man who comes to 
 you exuding from his breath, his clothes, his body, his very 
 soul, the dirty effluvia of tobacco, the excreted essence of 
 his selfish, unnatural, perverted desires with the intention 
 of marriage, with a hope of uniting his foul body to your 
 pure existence. Reject, promptly and positively, his ac- 
 quaintance, as promptly and positively as you would a chew 
 of his fine-cut tobacco or a puff from his cigar. 
 
 It has been to me one of the unsolved mysteries, how a 
 woman with fine instincts, clear intuition, pure mind and 
 clean body, could accept the company of much less live in 
 union with such a man. There are thousands, aye, millions 
 of women who do it, and how do they do it ? Will some 
 such woman inform me ? It can be accounted for only by 
 the supposition that such women take after, and are the 
 daughters of fathers whose existence was tinctured with to- 
 
 5
 
 66 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 bacco, aad who therefore get, not to like it, but simply to 
 endure it. In no other way can it be explained ; for and 
 the question again asserts itself how can a healthy, pure 
 woman, born of healthy, pure parents, affiliate with a man 
 impure, unclean, unhealthy from the use of tobacco ? Girls, 
 women and mothers, think of these things, and reflect and 
 act on them. 
 
 A lady friend of the author declined three different offers 
 of marriage, and all of them from men of influence and 
 position, simply because they used tobacco, and she remained 
 single until the opportunity presented itself of a union with 
 a man who had never known its use, and she now enjoys a 
 happy, pleasurable married life. Women, one and all, I 
 urge on you the rule of freedom from tobacco, or no husbands. 
 
 An adjunct and accessory in those who use tobacco are 
 divers other bad habits. A man who uses tobacco will gen- 
 erally be found an intensely lustful man, and for this reason 
 especially to be avoided by all right-thinking women ; but 
 pre-eminently is the tobacco-user an imbiber of strong liq- 
 ors. Tobacco and alcoholic liquors are as closely and har- 
 moniously connected as are day and night. The exceptions 
 to this rule are so rare that it may be considered a law, that 
 no man chewing, smoking or snuffing tobacco, but publicly 
 or privately uses alcoholic liquor, in some one or other of 
 its poisonous formulas. This being so, the reasons for wo- 
 men avoiding all tobacco-users increase in an intensely vital 
 ratio. 
 
 That alcohol and alcoholic liquors whisky, rum, brandy, 
 champagne, wine, beer, ale, cider, etc. are detrimental to 
 the welfare and happiness of the individual, no right-think- 
 ing person will deny. That they in themselves are the cause 
 of wide-spread sickness, sin, suffering and misery, all observ- 
 ing natures will affirm. A man whose finer senses have 
 grown blurred, whose inner conscience is paralyzed, whose 
 soul is deformed with moderate drinking of strong drinks, is 
 not the man to look to for high hopes, pleasurable expecta-
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD AVOID. 67 
 
 tions, or holy aspirations, and is to be carefully shunned as a 
 choice for a husband, or even as a companion. It does not 
 require that a man be seen on the streets drunk to affirm his 
 character as a lover of or victim to spirituous liquors ; for a 
 man may use liquor a life-time and never be drunk, and yet 
 his body, soul and mind may be so befogged, blurred and 
 grimed with moderate drinking as essentially to place him 
 below the level of some of the higher order of inferior ani- 
 mals. If a man is the son of a parent or parents who have 
 been moderate or immoderate users of liquors and tobacco, 
 you can with a certainty decide that the son, if not already, 
 will soon be a follower in their footsteps. Poverty, sickness, 
 rags, misery, premature death, follow closely on the wake of 
 users of tobacco, and moderate or immoderate users of al- 
 coholic liquors ; and therefore, O woman, be guided by these 
 facts etchings from the records of ages and shun the users 
 of tobacco and wine, and let your decision be, FREEDOM 
 FROM TOBACCO AND ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS, OR 
 NO HUSBANDS. 
 
 As already mentioned, there is allied to and ingrained 
 with liquor and tobacco an overgrown, perverted amative- 
 ness, exercised not in the bright light of day, or in the pure 
 social companionship of sister, mother, or a " nearer and 
 dearer" one ; but in the dark ruts of disease and pollution, 
 and with those "whose feet take hold on hell." Why should 
 a man live a life of social sin, breaking every week of his sin- 
 gle existence the seventh commandment, and yet be looked 
 upon by society with favor? Why is it, that if a woman 
 makes one mis-step in the obeying of this same command- 
 ment, society points its finger in scorn at her, tramples and 
 crushes her to the earth ? Can you tell me why this is so, 
 and with whom the solution rests ? Who is it that looks 
 with such favor on the acknowledged " fast man" or " rake," 
 who is thought so much more of because he is sowing, or 
 has sowed, his " wild oats ?" Woman ! Who is it that so 
 unpitifully and unmercifully tramples under foot the woman
 
 68 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 on whom the wiles and deceits of, perchance, this same 
 "fast" man has doomed to but one breaking of this same 
 seventh commandment? Man? O no; woman! Is this 
 just ? Is this righteous ? If woman desires to elevate her 
 own sex, to rise out of the position of slave to her right one 
 of equal, she must disown and refuse to acknowledge any 
 acquaintance with a man who has a reputation for licentious- 
 ness, and instead of putting to shame a fallen sister, take her 
 by the hand and help her to a higher standard of life, and 
 instead of courting the acquaintance of her traducer, trample 
 his reputation in the mud, and shut him out from the circle 
 of all pure society. Believe me, dear women, if you adopt 
 this correct and only just mode of procedure, you will do 
 much toward the right adjustment of one of the great wrongs 
 of our social life. 
 
 Therefore, as you value a pure married existence, a hap- 
 py, enjoyable love-union, avoid marrying a man whose rep- 
 utation is tarnished with either tobacco, wine or women. 
 
 Avoid accepting an effeminate man, for he, lack- 
 ing the requisites that go to make a perfect man, and lacking 
 the formation for a perfect woman, approach the mediocre, 
 and is as small and effeminate in soul and mind as in body. 
 A. full or large and well-built man approaches to the noble, 
 generous and perfect in mankind, and is always the most de- 
 sirable for a husband. 
 
 But if the woman is of small build, she must avoid mar- 
 rying one of these large men, and accept one nearer her own 
 height ; and she can do this and yet avoid the effeminate 
 man, who is essentially neither tall nor short, but an almost 
 distinct genus, and almost impossible to confound with any 
 other type of the race. 
 
 In this connection, it might be attempted to demonstrate 
 that the effeminacy of the majority of men can be established 
 by the nature of their occupation. Witness any of our dry- 
 goods establishments, and the men therein, who sell you a 
 spool of thread or a yard of tape, monopolizing a branch of
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD AVOID. 69 
 
 trade that is essentially woman's. Think you, dear woman, 
 that a man possessed of the innate qualities of a true man 
 largeness of soul, strength of character, clearness of mind, 
 and freedom of spirit would be confined in a close atmos- 
 phere of slavery, from early morn to late night, doling out 
 threads, tapes, cottons ? No ; he would accept, as more su- 
 premely honorable, manly and ennobling, the position of a 
 hewer of wood and drawer of water. With the untilled 
 lands of half a continent waiting for the turning up, and into, 
 wealth, health and happiness, what business has this class of 
 men, with their legion of effeminate co-workers, in our cities 
 and towns ? Do not marry, or recognize as a companion, a 
 man whose soul is not educated to compass more than a yard 
 of tape, or the contemplation of a row of pins. 
 
 Especially avoid a man who has got no visible means of 
 support, for the suspicion of a misused life is always to be 
 attached to such. 
 
 The argument against the man's marrying his blood-rela- 
 tions applies with equal force to woman. She should not 
 marry her cousin, nor any man nearly or distantly related. 
 So also of widowers, or men who have had one or more 
 wives, whose premature deaths as is the result in nearly all 
 such cases have been caused by a hugely overgrown, mis- 
 directed, abnormal amativeness, causing, in the minds and 
 bodies of his so-called wives, intense misery, bitter disgust, 
 sickness, and altogether a wretched existence, cut short by 
 premature death. It is not necessary to here say more of 
 such men, for every town, village and hamlet has its living 
 prototype. No woman having fine and clear intuitions, and 
 a lover of the pure and right, need be warned against the 
 marrying of such licentious Bluebeards. 
 
 In the same category, and next in number and nature, are 
 divorced men. Do not marry a divorced man. 
 
 Nora man of irreligious and profane shade of mind. 
 
 Nora man who is known to frequent gambling tables, and 
 places of like character.
 
 70 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Nora man who has an established reputation as a mean, 
 sordid, close-fisted man. 
 
 Nora man who has the out-croppings of a lazy, inert, shift- 
 less character, for such carry in their wake a world of untold 
 misery. 
 
 Nora man who treats his sister or mother unkindly or in- 
 differently. Such treatment is a sure indication of meanness 
 and wickedness. 
 
 Nora sloven, for a man who is negligent of his person or 
 dress is filthy in his habits, and his external appearance is a 
 sure index of his soul. 
 
 Never marry a stranger, or one whose character is not 
 known or tested. Some women jump right into the fire with 
 their eyes wide open. 
 
 And finally, never marry simply for money or a home. 
 These things are requisite accessories to a marriage ; yet no 
 woman having a just respect for her independence of body 
 and soul, should so far degrade her higher nature as to mar- 
 ry for other reasons than the full acquirement of perfect hap- 
 piness, that comes of a union in harmony with the Law ot 
 Choice. 
 
 These objections being considered and noted, the question 
 occurs : How is the woman to put them into practice ? She 
 being an entirely passive party in the required approach to a 
 choice, not much is required, other than that she shun hy- 
 pocrisy and deceit, showing herself in her every-day charac- 
 ter, and in her every-day thoughts and habits of action ; and 
 that the man or men who visit her have none other than rep- 
 utations that approximate a high standard, and characters 
 that do not in a large measure conflict with hers. This 
 knowledge can be acquired by well-directed observation and 
 inquiry ; but, better still, a talking of, followed by suggesting 
 and asking his or their phrenological analysis of character. 
 On its receipt and perusal she can tell if he possess such 
 traits of character as are desirable in an acquaintance or com- 
 panion ; or, if she possess a chart of her own, she can by
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD AVOID. 71 
 
 comparison tell whether he approximates her level of charac- 
 ter, and by spoken words, or plainly expressed likes or dis- 
 likes, can so impress her male friend as to give him to un- 
 derstand her thoughts on the situation, and in this way reach 
 the desired erid. 
 
 Not succeeding in this mode of finding a desirable mate, 
 the thought occurs : " Am I, too, privileged to advertise ?'' 
 Though I have warmly urged men to advertise for wives, I 
 am in doubt as to the desirability of extending the privilege 
 to woman. Not but that she is equally entitled to this priv- 
 ilege : but society's " prudish prudes" would put wrong con- 
 structions on it, and more especially because the world if 
 cursed with a class of men who, wherever woman is impli- 
 cated and the chance offers, exercise the low and filthy of 
 their natures. Yet these vampires may be thwarted ; and 
 should the woman possess that requisite of character that 
 can laugh at society's sneers, she may and can advertise as 
 does the man. If she possess a father, brother, or male 
 friend, who, when replies come to such an advertisement, 
 would open and read them, and so sift the chaff from the 
 wheat, all danger and impropriety could be avoided. 
 
 Should these two modes of securing a husband, in accord- 
 ance with the Law of Choice, be without success, what 
 then? 
 
 Wait patiently and hopefully, doing the work accorded 
 you in life's vineyard not with mute repining or grievous 
 complaining, but smilingly, trustingly, nobly, making your 
 existence one of practical usefulness, reflecting in your face 
 a life well lived, radiating from your contented soul joy, hap- 
 piness, and peace to your fellow- workers. 
 
 This feverish desire of girls to get married before they 
 have reached woman's estate, is in itself an evidence of things 
 wanting of a body undergrown, and a mind narrow and 
 perverted of a growth and cultivation at variance with Na- 
 ture's just laws. These wrongs are largely if not altogether 
 to be ascribed to the mother, who, before the girl is well
 
 72 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 out of pinafores, instills in her mind the absurdity that her aim 
 in life is to get married, and, to reach this end, no opportu- 
 nity must be shunned to secure its attainment. Of the re- 
 sults of this education, in its practical application, there is 
 no need to write of, for are not the highways and byways of 
 life crowded with heart-sore devotees of early marriages, 
 whose unhappiness, if not suffering and misery, should de- 
 termine all rightly educated girls and women to patiently 
 wait and knowingly choose ? 
 
 " But I dread the name and life of an ' old maid !' " 
 
 This, again, proceeds from your wrong growth and educa- 
 tion. The term " old maid" is used in derision only by those 
 whose natures are of a low order, and whose opinions, there- 
 fore, are of very small moment. " Some of the nearest ap- 
 proaches to the perfection of a woman's nature have been 
 made by maiden women, and they reach this high eminence 
 without brushing off the bloom of their modesty by ostenta- 
 tious displays of their self-sufficiencies. They pursue their 
 high calling without noise, almost without being aware that 
 they are moving in an exalted sphere. Their thought is not 
 of spectators. They ask not the acclamation of the world. 
 Their eye is not upon their reward. In their work they find 
 their motives and their wages. They live in their sympa- 
 thies, and walk in the sunshine of their own broadly- diffused 
 love." 
 
 I record it as an indisputable assertion, that, unless a wo- 
 man is united to a man according to the Law of Choice so 
 clearly enunciated herein, that she had better, if her desire in 
 living is as it ought to be happiness and a pure and perfect 
 growth in body and soul remain single live single, die 
 single ; and if you are inclined to doubt this assertion, ob- 
 serve and inquire for yourself into married life as it is, and 
 any doubts you may have will be speedily dissipated. 
 
 Girls ! entertain no thoughts of marriage until you be 
 full-grown until you have arrived at the time termed wo- 
 manhood. Women ! choose and accept only such offers of
 
 QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD A VOID. 73 
 
 marriage as will tend to make your united existence a per- 
 fect unity, as is required for the birth and growth of love and 
 its attendant pleasures. Failing this, remain single, doing 
 your life-work with an earnest nobleness of purpose, grow- 
 ing in strength, beauty and purity of soul.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 GENERATION IN 
 
 O far, our thoughts have been 
 with the choice of a perfect union 
 between the man and woman a 
 union from which the birth and 
 growth of love so surely follows. 
 Yet a something is necessary to- 
 the higher perfecting of this 
 union, and the complete eleva- 
 tion and intense enjoyment of 
 this love ; and this something is 
 a baby typical, in its beauty, 
 and purity, and innocence, of the 
 perfect joining together of the 
 man and woman, and of an inten- 
 sified peace, happiness and love 
 that angels might envy, and that 
 approaches in its exercise the 
 very gates of Paradise. 
 To a right carrying out of this desire for a new existence, 
 a knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the repro- 
 ductive system is essential ; and a thorough study of these 
 branches, by all who think of entering the married state, 
 should be held as indispensable as the rites which join the 
 two in wedlock. 
 
 The reproductive elements in woman consist of the ova- 
 ries, or the germ-preparing organs ; the Fallopian tubes, 
 which bring the germ from the ovary to the uterus ; the ute- 
 rus, or receptacle of the germ, where it remains during ges~
 
 SEXUAL ANA TOMY AND PHYSIO LOG Y. 7 5 
 
 tation ; the vagina, or passage to the mouth of the womb ; 
 and the mammary glands. 
 
 Connecting the uterus with the labia majora and labia mi~ 
 nora is the vagina, a 
 membraneous canal, nar- 
 row and constricted at its 
 commencement, dilated 
 at its uterine extremity, 
 and so attached to the 
 uterus that the mouth of 
 the womb projects a short 
 distance into the vaginal 
 canal. 
 
 At the lower part of the 
 vagina is a thin fold of 
 mucus membrane, extend- 
 ing across the orifice, of 
 variable shape, called the 
 Hymen. The presence 
 of this membrane is pop- 
 ularly required as proof of 
 virginity ; but this is fal - 
 lacious, for through acci- 
 dent and disease it is of- 
 ten destroyed, and occa- 
 sionally is absent alto- 
 gether ; while in healthy 
 women who are widows 
 or long separated from 
 their husbands, it will 
 grow and reappear in 
 some one of its many 
 forms. 
 
 AN- 
 
 The Uterus, or womb, 
 
 FIG. i. THE UTERUS AND rrs APPENDAGES. 
 
 TERIOR VIEW. 
 
 A, Body of Uterus ; B, Neck : C, Fundus ; D, Va- 
 ginal Part, Anterior Lip ; E, Posterior Lip ; F, In- 
 terior of Vagina; G, Broad Ligament; H, Ovary; 
 II, Fallopian Tubes; JJ, Fimbriated Extremities : K, 
 
 LL, 
 
 . , - Bristle passed through Ostium Abdominale ; 
 
 is the organ of gestation, Round Ligament
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 which receives, retains, and supports the fecundated ovum 
 during its development. 
 
 In its unfecundated, healthy state, it is pear-shaped, two to 
 three inches long, one to two inches broad, about an inch in 
 thickness, weighing from an ounce to an ounce and a half, and 
 situated in the cavity of the pelvis, between the bladder and 
 rectum, being retained in its position by the broad and round 
 ligaments. Its upper or broad extremity is called the fun- 
 dus ; the body gradually narrows from the fundus to the 
 neck, its lower round and constricted portion, which is termed 
 the cervix. At its vaginal extremity is an aperture called 
 the os uteri, bounded by two lips, the anterior one being 
 thick, the posterior one narrow and long. 
 
 To retain the uterus in its place are six ligaments two in 
 front, two behind, and two laterally. They are formed by 
 folds of the peritoneum the membrane that invests the 
 whole external surface of the abdomen. The two anterior 
 ligaments are the semi-lunar folds, which pass between the 
 
 neck of the uterus and the 
 
 posterior surface of the blad- 
 der. The 'posterior liga- 
 ments pass between the sides 
 of the uterus and rectum. 
 The two lateral or broad lig- 
 aments pass from the sides 
 of the uterus to the lateral 
 walls of the pelvis, forming a 
 septum across the pelvis 
 which divides this cavity in- 
 to an anterior part, contain- 
 ing the bladder, urethra and 
 vagina, and a posterior part, 
 containing the rectum. 
 
 The cavity of the uterus 
 is small in comparison with 
 the organ; the upper por- 
 
 FIG. a. THE UTERUS, 
 
 Divided longitudinally, showing its interior cav- 
 ity. G, Mouth ; C, Passage from Cavity to the 
 Mouth ; E, Triangular-shaped Cavity; FF, Fal- 
 lopian Tubes.
 
 SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 77 
 
 tion, corresponding to the body of the organ, is triangular ; 
 at eadfi of the upper angles is a funnel-shaped cavity, from 
 which spring the Fallopian tubes ; at the lower angle is a 
 small, constricted opening, the internal orifice, which leads 
 into the cavity of the cervix ; this cavity communicates be 
 low with the vagina. 
 
 These two cavities not only differ in shape, but also in the 
 structure of their mucus membrane the mucus membrane 
 of the body of the uterus being smooth and rosy in color, 
 and closely adherent to the sub-adjacent muscular tissue. 
 It consists of minute tubular follicles, ranged side by side, 
 and opening by distinct orifices upon its free surface, the se- 
 cretion of these follicles being destined for the nutrition of 
 the embryo during the earlier periods of its formation. 
 
 The internal surface of the neck of the uterus (C), on the 
 other hand, is raised in prominent ridges, having the appear- 
 ance of arbor vitae. The follicles of this part of the mucus 
 membrane are of a globular and sac-like form, and secrete 
 a very firm, adhesive, transparent mucus, the purpose of 
 which is to block up the cavity of the cervix during gesta- 
 tion, and to guard against the accidental displacement of the 
 
 egg- 
 
 The structure of the uterus is composed of three coats 
 an external, middle and interior coat. The external or se- 
 rous coat is derived from the peritoneum, and invests nearly 
 all of the uterus. The middle or muscular coat forms the 
 chief bulk of the substance of the uterus. In the unimpreg- 
 nated state, the muscular tissue becomes more prominently 
 developed, and is disposed in three distinct layers. The in- 
 ternal or mucus coat is thin, smooth, and closely adherent 
 to the sub-adjacent tissue. It is continuous, through the 
 fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tubes, with the perito- 
 neum, and, through the os uteri, with the mucus lining of 
 the vagina. 
 
 The arteries of the uterus are remarkable for their tortu- 
 ous course in the substance of the organ, and for their fre-
 
 78 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 quent anastomoses. The veins are of large size, and corre- 
 spond in arrangement with the arteries. In the impregnated 
 state they are termed uterine sinuses or canals, in which the 
 highly vascular vili and tufts of the placenta are so closely 
 connected, and from which, through the umbilical cord, the 
 foetus is nourished during the middle and later period of its 
 intra-uterine existence. 
 
 During and after menstruation the uterus is enlarged and 
 more vascular. During pregnancy it increases in weight 
 from one pound and a half to three pounds. After partu- 
 rition it nearly regains its usual size, weighing from two to 
 three ounces, but its cavity is larger than in the virgin state. 
 In old age, the uterus becomes atrophied, and paler and 
 denser in structure. 
 
 Branching off from each superior angle of the uterus, in- 
 closed between two folds of the peritoneum, which consti- 
 tute the broad ligaments are the Fallopian tubes. (Fig. i.) 
 They are about four inches in length, with an exceedingly 
 minute canal, widening gradually into a trumpet-shaped ex- 
 tremity, the margins of which are surrounded by a fringed- 
 like process termed fimbria, which process, during the re- 
 quired excitement, embraces the ovaries, and so conveys the 
 ova to the cavity of the uterus. 
 
 The ovaries are two oval-shaped bodies of an elongated 
 form, situated one on each side of the uterus, in the poste- 
 rior part of the broad ligament, behind and below the Fallo- 
 pian tubes. They are of a whitish color, and present either 
 a smooth, or puckered, uneven surface. In size they are 
 about one inch and a half in length, three-quarters of an 
 inch in width, about the third of an inch thick, and weigh 
 from one ounce to two drachms each. 
 
 The structure of the ovary is extremely dense and firm, 
 and incloses a peculiar, soft, fibrous tissue, or stroma, abun- 
 dantly supplied with blood-vessels. Imbedded in the mesh- 
 es of this tissue are numerous small, round, transparent ves- 
 icles, in various stages of development, called Graafian fol-
 
 SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 79 
 
 liclcs, which are lined with a layer of cells called the mem- 
 brana granulosa. Each one of these Graafian follicles con- 
 tains a single ovum or egg, which is a small, spherical body, 
 situated, in the early periods of their growth, when the fol- 
 licles are immature, near the centre ; but in the mature ones, 
 in which the follicles become enlarged by the accumulation 
 of serous fluid in their cavity, near the free surface. 
 
 This will be more fully understood by referring to the an- 
 nexed illustration (Fig. 3) of a Graafian follicle, full grown, 
 and near the period of 
 its rupture. First we 
 have the tissue of the 
 ovary, with its cover- 
 ing of peritoneum ; 
 next its albugineous tu- 
 nic ; next the mem- 
 brane of the transpa- 
 rent Sack Or Vesicle, with FIG. 3. GRAAFIAN FOLLICLE, NEAR THE PERIOD or 
 
 its thin layer of granu- RuPTURE - 
 
 lar cells ; the membrana granulosa, filled with a clear, color- 
 less, albuminous fluid ; and near its surface, surrounded by 
 the membrana granulosa, is the egg, in which is seen the 
 germinal vesicle, containing the germinal spot. 
 
 The human egg is exceedingly minute, measuring from 
 one two-hundred-and-fortieth toone-one-hundred-and-twen- 
 tieth of an inch in diameter. It consists externally of a 
 transparent envelope the zona pellucida, or vitelline mem- 
 brane which is colorless and transparent. Within this, and 
 in close contact with it, is the yelk, or vitellus, which consists 
 of granules and globules of various sizes, imbedded in a 
 more or less viscid fluid. Imbedded in the substance of the 
 yelk is a small, vesicular body the germinal vesicle which 
 is in size about one-seven-hundred-and-twentieth of an inch 
 in diameter, and consists of a fine, transparent, structureless 
 membrane, which contains the germinal spot, which is 
 opaque, of a yellow color, finely granular in structure, and
 
 8o 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 measuring from one-thirty-sixth-hundredth to one-twenty- 
 four-hundredth of an inch. 
 
 When the time approaches for the egg to be discharged, 
 the Graafian follicle, being gradually enlarged by the con- 
 stant accumulation of fluid in its cavity, exerts such a steady 
 and increasing pressure from within outward, that the albu- 
 gineous tunic and the peritoneum successively yield before 
 
 it, until the Graafian follicle 
 protrudes from the ovary 
 the walls of the vesicle next 
 yielding in its most promi- 
 nent portion, and the egg 
 with its contained fluid is 
 driven out with a gush by the 
 reaction and elasticity of the 
 neighboring tissues. 
 FIG. 4. OVARY, At the moment of rup- 
 
 With Graafian Follicle Ruptured, showing Egg t Qr i mme diately after it, 
 
 [ust discharged, with a portion of Membrana 
 
 Granuiosa. an abundant hemorrhage 
 
 takes place from the vesicles of the follicle, by which its 
 cavity is filled with blood. The blood coagulates, and is re- 
 tained in the interior of the Graafian follicle, 
 for the opening by which the egg makes its 
 escape being by a very minute, rounded per- 
 foration, prevents the escape of blood. This 
 clot, which at first is large, soft and gelati- 
 nous, begins to contract by the separation of 
 its serum, which is absorbed by the neighbor- 
 ing parts, and the clot grows every day small- 
 er and denser than before, until after a time it 
 becomes thickened, convoluted and solidified, 
 when it receives the name of the corpus lute- FIG. 5. 
 um. At the end of eight or nine weeks it is , 
 
 Recently Ruptured 
 
 reduced to the condition of an insignificant, during Menstrua- 
 
 ......... . tion, shown in Ion- 
 
 yellowish, cicatnx-hke spot, and on cutting gi tu dinai section.
 
 SEXUAL ANA TOMY AND PHYSIOLOG Y. 8 1 
 
 FIG. 6. OVARY, 
 
 Showing Corpeus Luteum nine 
 weeks after Menstruation. 
 
 open will have the appearance as in annexed engraving. 
 After a period of seven or eight months it completely dis- 
 appears. 
 
 There is a difference between the 
 corpus luteum of menstruation and that 
 of pregnancy, the latter taking much 
 longer to disappear. 
 
 The formation, development and 
 ripening of the Graafian vesicles con- 
 tinue uninterruptedly from infancy to 
 the end of the fruitful period of woman's 
 life. The ripening and discharge of 
 the eggs is accompanied by a peculiar 
 tondition of the entire system, known 
 isually as the " rutting" condition, or 
 "cestruation," accompanied nearly always by a certain 
 amount of congestion of the entire generative apparatus 
 Fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina, and external organs. It is 
 only during or immediately after this season, in animals, that 
 *ihe female will allow the approach of the male that is, just 
 when the egg is recently discharged and ready for impreg- 
 nation. At all other times the instinct of the animal leads 
 her to avoid sexual intercourse. 
 
 MENSTRUATION. The occurrence and ripening of an egg 
 from the ovary, and its passage through the Fallopian tube 
 to the uterus, and its discharge at intervals of four weeks, or 
 successive lunar months, constitutes the phenomenon known 
 as menstruation. The menses return with regularity from 
 the time of their first appearance until about the age of forty- 
 five years, during which period the female is capable of bear- 
 ing children. After the forty-fifth year the periods become 
 irregular, and then cease altogether, and their final disap- 
 pearance is an indication that the woman is no longer fertile, 
 and that pregnancy cannot take place. 
 
 If, during the child-bearing period, pregnancy occurs, the 
 
 6
 
 82 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 menses are suspended during the continuance of gestation, 
 and so continue after delivery, and as long as the mother 
 nurses her child, after which they recommence and continue 
 to reappear as before. 
 
 When the expected period is about to come on, the female 
 is affected with a certain degree of discomfort and lassitude, 
 a sense of weight in the pelvis, and more or less disinclina- 
 tion to society. These symptoms are in some instances 
 slightly pronounced, in others more troublesome. 
 
 The menstrual discharge consists of an abundant secretion 
 of mucus mingled with blood. This blood comes from the 
 whole extent of the mucus membrane of the body of the 
 uterus, and is discharged by a kind of capillary hemorrhage ; 
 but owing to its being gradually exuded from many minute 
 points, and mingled with a large quantity of mucus, it does 
 not form any visible clot. 
 
 The egg, when discharged from the ovary, enters the 
 wide, fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube, and com- 
 mences its passage toward the uterus. The Fallopian tube 
 is lined with celiated epithelium, the movement of which is 
 constantly directed from the ovary to the uterus, producing 
 a kind of converging stream or vortex, by which the egg is 
 drawn toward the cavity of the uterus. 
 
 It occasionally happens, through accidental causes, that 
 the regular passage of the egg is thwarted. It may be ar- 
 rested at the surface of the ovary, where, if impregnated, it 
 gives rise to "ovarian pregnancy;" or it may escape from 
 the fimbriated extremity into the peritoneum, causing " ab- 
 dominal pregnancy ;" or, finally, it may stop at any part of 
 the Fallopian tube, and so give origin to " tubal pregnancy." 
 
 The egg, on its escape from the ovary and arrival in the 
 uterus, is ready for impregnation ; and if sexual intercourse 
 takes place at this time, fecundation results, and if the egg 
 remains after impregnation, and is attached to the walls of 
 the uterus, conception is accomplished. If, on the other 
 hand, coitus does not take place, the egg after a time loses
 
 SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 83 
 
 its vitality, and is finally carried away along with the uter- 
 ine secretions. 
 
 THE MAMMARY GLANDS. The Mammae, or breasts, are 
 accessory glands of the generative system which secrete the 
 milk that is to supply the offspring with food until the teeth 
 are developed. They also exist in the male, but in a rudi- 
 mentary form. They are situated in the pectoral region, 
 corresponding to the interval between the third and sixth or 
 seventh ribs, and extending from the sides of the sternum or 
 breast-bone to the auxilla. Their weight and dimensions 
 differ at different periods of life and in different individuals. 
 They are small before puberty, increase during pregnancy, 
 and especially after delivery, and in old age become atro- 
 phied. 
 
 The Nipple, situated on the surface and near the centre of 
 the breast, is a conical eminence of a pink or brownish hue, 
 its surface wrinkled and provided with papillae, and its sum- 
 mit perforated by numerous orifices, 
 the opening of the milk ducts. Glands 
 at its base secrete a peculiar fatty sub- 
 stance, which serves as a protection 
 to the integument of the nipple in the 
 act of sucking. 
 
 The mammary glands are conglom- 
 erate glands, consisting of numerous 
 secreting sacs or follicles grouped to- 
 gether in lobules, each lobule being 
 supplied with a common excretory 
 duct, which joins those coming from 
 the adjacent parts of the gland. In 
 this way, by their successive union, 
 they form larger branches and trunks, 
 until they are reduced in number to FIG. 7. SECTION or MAMMARY 
 some fifteen or twenty cylindrical 
 
 , 1-1 f 11 i AA, Galactophorous Duct; BB, 
 
 ducts, which open finally, by as many LO\>U\I
 
 8 4 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 minute orifices, upon the extremity of the nipple, and which 
 correspond with the number of globes composing the gland. 
 At the end of two or three days after delivery the secre- 
 tion of milk is fairly established. The first fluid discharged 
 from the nipple is of a 'yellowish, turbid mixture, which is 
 called colestrum ; but at the end of two or three days this 
 ceases to be discharged, and is replaced by the true milky 
 secretion.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF GENERATION IN MAN. 
 
 HE maje organs of genera- 
 tion are the Penis and Tes- 
 tes, with their appendages, 
 the former of which serves 
 conjointly as the organ for 
 urination and copulation. 
 
 The Prostate Gland is a 
 pale, firm, glandular body, 
 which surrounds the neck 
 of the bladder and com- 
 mencement of the urethra. 
 In shape and size it resem- 
 bles a horse-chestnut. Its 
 substance is of a pale, red- 
 dish, gray color, very fri- 
 able, but of great density. 
 Its secretion is a milky fluid, 
 
 having an acid reaction, which presents, on microscopic ex- 
 amination, granular nuclei. The prostatic ducts open into 
 the floor of the prostatic portion of the urethra. 
 
 The Cowper Glands are two small, rounded, and some- 
 what lobulated bodies, of a yellowish color, about the size 
 of peas, placed beneath the fore part of the membraneous 
 portion of the urethra. Each gland consists of several lob- 
 ules, held together by fibrous investment. The excretory 
 duct of each gland, nearly an inch in length, passes obliquely
 
 86 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 forward, and opens by a minute orifice on the floor of the 
 bulbous portion of the urethra. They gradually diminish in 
 size as age advances. 
 
 The Testes are two small, glandular organs, of an oval 
 form, from one and a half to two inches in length, and one 
 inch in breadth, weighing from six to eight drachms, situ- 
 ated in the scrotum, being suspended by the spermatic cords. 
 It is in these glands the semen is secreted. Lying upon the 
 outer edge of the testicle is a long, narrow, flattened body 
 called the Epididymis, which consists of a central portion or 
 body ; an upper, enlarged extremity, 
 the globus major or head ; and a lower, 
 pointed extremity, the tail or globus 
 minor. The globus major is intimately 
 connected with the upper end of the 
 testicle by means of its efferent ducts, 
 and the globus minor with its lower end 
 by cellular tissue and a reflexion of the 
 tunica vaginalis. Attached to the up- 
 per end of the testis, or to the epididy- 
 mis, is a small, pedunculated body, the 
 use of which is unknown. 
 
 At an early period of foetal life the 
 testes are contained in the abdominal 
 cavity, behind the peritoneum. Before 
 birth they descend to the inguinal ca- 
 nal, along which they pass with the 
 spermatic cord, and, emerging at the 
 external abdominal ring, descend into 
 the scrotum. They are well protected 
 from injury, having some six distinct 
 coverings, the two outer ones, the skin and dartos muscle, 
 forming the scrotum or bag. 
 
 The Scrotum is divided into two lateral halves, the left be- 
 ing somewhat longer than the right, and corresponding with 
 the greater length of the spermatic cord on the left. The 
 
 FIG. 8. THE TESTIS IN SITU. 
 
 A, Testis ; B, Head of Epi- 
 didymis ; C, Body of same ; D, 
 Tunica Vaginalis Parietal 
 Layer ; E, Cremaster ; F, Ar- 
 tery of Cord; G, Spermatic 
 Cord ; H, Tail oi Epididymis.
 
 SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 87 
 
 external aspect of the scrotum varies under different circum- 
 stances ; thus, under the influence of warmth, and in old 
 persons, as well as in those who are sickly and debilitated, 
 it becomes elongated and flaccid ; but under the influence of 
 cold, and in the young and robust, it is short, corrugated, 
 and closely applied to the testes. One of the sure indica- 
 tions of a sound, healthy, unabused body is the close con- 
 traction of the scrotum. The man who has abused himself, 
 either mentally or physically, and especially sexually, will 
 have the scrotum elongated and flabby, indicating an ex- 
 treme depression of the system. 
 
 The Tunica Vaginalis is the serous covering of the tes- 
 tes. It is a pouch of serous membrane, derived from the per- 
 itoneum during the descent of the testes, in the foetus, from 
 the abdomen into the scrotum. 
 
 The Tunica Albuginea is the fibrous covering of the tes- 
 tes. It is a dense, fibrous membrane, of a bluish-white 
 color, composed of bundles of white, fibrous tissue, which 
 interlace in every direction. 
 
 The Tunica Vasciilosa is the vascular layer of the testis, 
 consisting of a plexus of blood-vessels held together by del- 
 icate areolar tissue. 
 
 The structure of the testis consists of numerous lobules, 
 estimated at from three hundred to four hundred, differing 
 in size according to their position those in the middle of 
 the glands being larger and longer. Each lobule is conical 
 in shape, the base being directed toward the circumstance of 
 the organ, the apex toward the mediastinum. Each lobule 
 consists of from one to three or more minute convoluted 
 tubes, which tubes may be separately unraveled under wa- 
 ter, and may be seen to commence either by free caecal ends 
 or by anastomotic loops. The total number of tubes is con- 
 sidered by Monroe to be about three hundred, and the length 
 of each sixteen feet. In diameter they vary from one-two- 
 hundredth to one one-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. They 
 consist of a basement membrane lined by epithelium, con-
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 j. 
 
 sisting of nucleated, granular corpuscles, and are inclosed in 
 a delicate plexus of capillary vessels. In the apices of the 
 lobules the tubuli become less convoluted, assume a nearly 
 straight course, and unite together to form from twenty to 
 thirty large ducts of about one-fifteenth of an inch in diam- 
 eter, and these, from their straight course, are called the vasa 
 recta. 
 
 The Vasa Recta enter the 
 fibrous tissue of the mediasti- 
 num, and pass upward and back- 
 ward, forming in their ascent a 
 close network of anastomosing 
 tubes, which constitute the rete 
 testis. At the upper end of the 
 mediastinum, the vessels of the 
 rete testis terminate in from 
 twelve to fifteen or twenty ducts, 
 the Vasa Efferentia ; they per- 
 forate the tunica albuginea, and 
 carry the seminal fluid from the 
 testis to the epididymis. 
 
 The Vas Deferens, the excre- 
 tory duct of the testis, is the 
 continuation of the epididymus, 
 commencing at the lower part 
 of the globus minor ; it extends 
 along the posterior and inner 
 side of the testis and epididymis, 
 and along the back part of the 
 spermatic cord, through the sper- 
 matic canal, to the internal ab- 
 dominal ring. It is about two feet in length, and about a 
 line and a quarter in diameter. Its walls are of extreme 
 density and thickness, measuring one-third of a line, and 
 its canal is extremely small, measuring about half a line. 
 The Spermatic Cord composed of arteries, veins, lym- 
 
 FIG. 9. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE 
 TESTIS. 
 
 A, Vas Deferens ; B, Spermatic Artery , 
 C, Vas Aberrans; D, Body of Epididy- 
 mis; E, Globus Minor; F, Rete Testis; 
 G, Mediastinum ; H, Vasa Recta ; I, Tu- 
 nica Vaginalis ; K, Vasa Efferentia ; L, 
 Globus Major: M, Tunica Albuginea.
 
 SEXUA L ANA TO MY A ND PHYSIO LOG Y. 89 
 
 phatics, nerves, and the excretory duct of the testicle, con- 
 nected together by areolar tissue, and invested by its proper 
 coverings extends from the internal abdominal ring to the 
 back part of the testicle. 
 
 The Vesiculcz Seminales 
 are two lobulated, mem- 
 braneous pouches, placed 
 between the base of the 
 bladder and rectum, serv- 
 ing as reservoirs for the se- 
 men, and secreting some 
 fluid to be added to that of 
 the testicles. They meas- 
 ure about two and a half 
 inches in length, about five 
 inches in breadth, and from 
 *iwo to three lines in thick- 
 ness, varying much in size. 
 Their upper surface is in 
 contact with the base of 
 
 the bladder, extending from FlG - I0 - BA SE OP THE BLADDER, WITH THE VASA 
 ,1 , r .-, DEFERENTIA AND VESICUL/E SEMINALES. 
 
 near the termination of the 
 
 A, Base of Bladder. B, Line of Reflection of Pe- 
 UreterS tO the base Of the ritoneum. C, Triangular Space. D, Vas Deferens. 
 
 prostate gland, and their E> VaS Deferens Dissected. F, Vesicula Seminalis 
 
 Duct GG, Ureters. H, Vesicula Seminalis, Un- 
 
 Under Surface rests Upon raveled Duct I, Right Ejaculatory Duct J, 
 
 the rectum Prostate Giand. L, Urethra. 
 
 The Ejaculatory Ducts, two in number, one on each side, 
 are formed by the junction of the duct of the vesiculae sem- 
 inales with the vas deferens. 
 
 The Semen is a thick, whitish fluid, having a peculiar 
 odor. It consists of a fluid called the liquor seminis, which 
 is transparent, colorless, and of an* albuminous composition; 
 and solid particles namely, the seminal granules and sper- 
 matozoa. 
 
 The Spermatozoa, or animated filaments, are the essential
 
 90 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 agents in producing fecundation. They are minute, 
 
 ated particles, about the one five-hundredth of 
 an inch in length, consisting of an oval extrem- 
 ity or body, and a long, slender caudal filament. 
 They are organic forms, of a homogeneous, firm, 
 albuminoid substance, and are produced in the 
 testicle, just as the eggs are produced in the ova- 
 ries. One of the peculiarities of these spermato- 
 zoa is their power of keeping in constant motion 
 a motion analogous to that of a ciliated epi- 
 thelium cell. 
 FIG. ii. g v re f erence to the engravings (Figs. Q and 
 
 SPERMATOZOA. J 
 
 a, Human; b, 10) this whole subject can perhaps be made 
 plainer. There is given off from the great artery 
 of the body the aorta a short distance below the renai 
 arteries, two small, slender arteries, called the spermatic. 
 These arteries, bringing the freshest and purest of blood, 
 carry it down to the testicles, where by many branches it is 
 carried to the several lobules of the vasa recta. Here, in 
 the glandular structure of the testis the number and length 
 of which are wonderful through some hidden and not yet 
 understood process, are slowly secreted cells. These cells, 
 developed in bundles of ten or twenty, being held together 
 by the thin, membraneous substance that surrounds them, 
 are afterward set free by the liquefaction of the vesicles, and 
 then filling the entire cavity of the semeniferous ducts, min- 
 gled with a minute quantity of transparent fluid, they slowly 
 enter the rete testis ; then into the vasa efferentia, which it 
 fills up and distends ; and, consisting almost entirely of nu- 
 cleated cells in an opaque, semi-fluid state, they enter the 
 single duct which leads to the globus minor and body of the 
 epididymis, following the long and tortuous course of this 
 tube some twenty feet until it reaches the vas deferens. 
 
 In the boy of sixteen or eighteen years of age, who has 
 lived and does live a pure life, whose sexual organism has 
 just awakened to life, when this secretion of minute cells
 
 SEXUA L ANA TO MY A ND PHYSIO L OGY. 91 
 
 reaches the vasa deferentia, it is re-absorbed into the blood, 
 directed into the nerve-channels of the system and, as a 
 result, his voice is altered, becoming more full and deep, 
 hair begins to grow on his face, his figure is rounded out, 
 his manner of thought and habit are altered, and he takes 
 on a new life. In the mature man, who lives a life of com- 
 parative continence, the cells or semen is secreted very slow- 
 ly, and on reaching the vas deferens is absorbed, and so en- 
 dows him with a status of health, a clearness of brain, a 
 strength of purpose and might of will that the poor miser- 
 able sensualist, in the wildest flight of his diseased imagina- 
 tion, knows not of. 
 
 Being further mixed with a glairy, mucus-like fluid, se- 
 creted by the walls of the epididymis and vas deferens, it 
 enters the vesiculae seminales, which serve as the reservoir 
 for the semen, and in which the spermatozoa are evolved 
 and elaborated from the cells. Here it is retained ready for 
 use at a moment's requirement ; and as with the man who 
 cannot get his morning dram or after-dinner smoke, who 
 has a craving for unfilled desires, and who is miserable until 
 obtained so the man who has sexually abused himself, when 
 the daily or weekly chance fails to offer, the vesiculae semi- 
 nales become so filled that they, by pressure on the delicate 
 nerves, cause a feeling of fullness and oppression, until an 
 early morning dreaming of past or desired pleasure relieves 
 him by a night emission. 
 
 .In the continent man the secretion takes place slowly, and 
 is as slowly re-absorbed, making the strong man grow in 
 strength, and day by day so renewing life that, if all other 
 of Nature's laws are as faithfully obeyed, perfection of body 
 and soul, as far as it is possible in this world, is realized. 
 
 When the evacuation of the sperm takes place, it is driven 
 out from the seminal vesicles by the muscular contraction of 
 the surrounding parts, and meets in the urethra with the se- 
 cretions of the prostate gland, the gland of Cowper, and th< 
 mucus follicles opening into the urethral passages. All these
 
 92 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 organs are at that time excited to an unusual activity of se 
 cretion, and pour out their different fluids in great abun- 
 dance. 
 
 The sperm, therefore, as it is discharged from the urethra, 
 consists of the spermatozoa derived from the testicles, to- 
 gether with the secretion from the epididymis and vas de- 
 ferens, the prostate and Cowper glands, and the mucus fol- 
 licles of the urethra. Of all these ingredients, it is the sper- 
 matozoa which constitute the essential part of the seminal 
 fluid. They are the true fecundating element of the sperm, 
 while all others are secondary in importance, and perform 
 only accessory functions. 
 
 THE LAW OF SEX. That there must be a law that gov- 
 erns the development of sex, is as reasonable to suppose as 
 that there is a law governing the tides and winds ; but what 
 the nature of this law may be is more than modern physioiU 
 ogists have yet been able to fully comprehend. 
 
 It is asserted by some that the parent possessing the 
 greatest amount of vital force will confer the sex of the off- 
 spring. This may be so in some instances, but as there are 
 constant exceptions occurring, the principle does not seem to 
 involve any law. 
 
 The strong and persistent exercise of the will power is also 
 supposed to largely determine the result. The exercise of 
 the will or soul power, in its intensity, would, I imagine, have 
 some influence, as the same power when exercised in other 
 directions as in the recovery from, or avoidance of, disease 
 works effectively. Yet it is a question, whether under the 
 conditions mankind are mated, the judicious exercise of the 
 will power will ever be paramount to the blind exercise of lust. 
 
 Some believe that the relative ages of the parents influence 
 the sex of the offspring. To some extent this may be so, 
 and yet not serve as an index to the discovery of the law. 
 
 The next theory worth mentioning is that first given by a 
 Professor, of the Academy of Geneva, M. Thury, and widely
 
 THE LA W OF SEX. 93 
 
 experimented on in the breeding of stock; namely, that 
 "conception in the first half of the time between menstrual 
 periods, produces female offspring and male in the latter." 
 A physician who has observed the working of this theory 
 writes, "Whenever intercourse has taken place in from two 
 to six days after the cessation of the menses, girls have been 
 produced; and whenever intercourse has taken place in from 
 nine to twelve days after the cessation of the menses, boys 
 have been produced. In every case I ascertained not only 
 the date at which the mother placed conception, but also the 
 time when the menses ceased, the date of the first and sub- 
 sequent intercourse for a month or more after the cessation 
 of the menses." The experiments of stock breeders, and the 
 experience of observing physicians certainly appears to indi- 
 cate that there must be some reliability, to be placed on this 
 law if it can be called a law. 
 
 The last theory that will bear analizing is that elaborated, 
 if not originated by a German physician named Sixt. He 
 believes that each testicle secretes its peculiar sperm, and each 
 ovary contains its peculiar ovum the right one being the 
 male principle, and the left, the female, and that this sperm 
 will fructify its peculiar ovum, and that only; that in coition 
 the sperm is only injected from one testicle, which is drawn 
 up in the scrotum before the orgasm. 
 
 His experiments on animals to prove this theory are said 
 to have been very elaborate and successful in every instance. 
 Whenever the left testicle was removed, the animal would 
 beget males; and when the right one, only females the 
 same result being attained by extracting one or the other 
 organ from the female. 
 
 Though the subject of the production of sexes at will, has 
 been largely experimented on, it yet needs closer and more 
 extended observation, to establish the true law. 
 
 TWINS, TRIPLETS, &c. The rule is for woman to give 
 birth to but one child at the time. When an exception
 
 94 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 occurs, it is usually owing to a transmitted peculiarity. This 
 hereditary tendency to plurality of birth is often remarkable, 
 and can be traced through successive generations, sometimes 
 on the fathers side, and at other times on the mothers. The 
 birth of twins and triplets are not desirable, because, as a 
 rule, they are apt to be wanting in physical stamina and 
 mental vigor, not to mention, bodily infirmities, imbicility, &c. 
 The fact that twins so closely resemble each other in looks, 
 character, and talents, can be accounted for on the supposition, 
 that they are the results of one conception created at the 
 same time.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AMATIVENESS ITS USE AND ABUSE. 
 
 HE cerebellum, or little brain, 
 is that portion of the enceph- 
 alon which occupies the low- 
 er occipital fossa, or the whole 
 cavity of the cranium beneath 
 the tentorium cerebelli. It is 
 the second ganglion of the 
 encephalon in respect to size. 
 It differs from the cerebrum, 
 or large brain, in the form and 
 disposition of its convolutions 
 they penetrating deeper, 
 and being moj-e complicated 
 and numerous 7 and though it 
 is much smaller than the cer- 
 eburm, it contains a much 
 larger quantity of gray mat- 
 ter in proportion to its size. It also differs widely in size in 
 different individuals, and in the same individual at different 
 ages. The number of the convolutions, and the size, has 
 much to do with the intelligence and strength of the indi- 
 vidual. In the child it is comparatively undeveloped, and it 
 is not until between the twenty-fifth and fortieth years that 
 it reaches its maximum weight. It is relatively greater in 
 the female than in the male.
 
 96 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 The cerebellum possesses a two-fold nature first, as being 
 the seat of the domestic propensities ; and second, its power 
 of associating or co-ordinating the different voluntary move- 
 ments of the body. Flourens first described, and Dalton 
 has affirmed by experiments on pigeons, that, if the cerebel- 
 lum was extracted from the pigeon, the animal lost all 
 power of harmonizing its muscular system, as shown in its 
 peculiar uncertainty of gait, and in the movement of the 
 wings. If the cerebellum was completely extracted, it lost 
 altogether the power of flight, and could not walk, or even 
 stand, only with great difficulty. The same experimenters, 
 on extracting the cerebrum or large brain, found that the 
 pigeon retained all of its muscular power, but plunged the 
 animal into a state of profound stupor, in which it is almost 
 entirely inattentive to surrounding objects. 
 
 That this harmonizing or associating power of the cere, 
 bellum is required in the ordinary positions of standing, sit- 
 ting, walking, running, movements of the hands or fingers, 
 or the still more delicate movements of the brain, cannot 
 well be doubted ; for it is observable that a person with a 
 large cerebellum, and, as a result, having large domestic pro- 
 pensities, invariably has a grace and charm of movement and 
 action, and quick appreciation of men and things, widely 
 different from the person whose possession of a small cere- 
 bellum is accompanied by an ungainly, ungraceful carriage, 
 and slow physical and mental action. This cannot be ex- 
 plained other than by this supposable co-ordinating power 
 of the cerebellum. 
 
 What concerns us more at this time is the fact that the 
 cerebellum is the seat of the domestic propensities and of 
 these amativeness predominates. In the child or youth the 
 organ of amativeness constitutes about one-twentieth of the 
 whole brain ; while in those who have attained their full 
 growth twenty-fifth year it constitutes fully one-seventh 
 of the entire brain. This large size would lead one to think 
 that it constitutes a very important organ in the government
 
 AMATIVENESS. 97 
 
 of the individual ; and so it does. Yet, situated as it is on 
 the lower story of the brain's workshop, it is included in the 
 preservatives of life, rather than in the observing, reflecting 
 and governing powers. It should be recorded here as a fact 
 to be thought of and acted on, that the higher the position 
 of the organ in the brain, the greater the pleasure and happi- 
 ness derived from its exercise. This fact should be ingrained 
 in the life-tissue of all mankind ; for it is a widely spread 
 opinion that, by and through the gratification of amative- 
 ness, the greatest enjoyment may be obtained. This error, 
 in its every-day practice, has led to untold misery. The 
 young man and young woman look forward to the time when 
 the active exercise of amativeness can be indulged in, and 
 frequently, impatient of the delay of growth of body, quaff 
 riotously at the forbidden cup while yet they are boys and 
 girls, and so bring sorrow on themselves, with its attendant 
 pain, sickness, and premature death. 
 
 The early ripening of amativeness, especially if coupled 
 with its early exercise, is an unmistakable sign of short 
 life. 
 
 One of the products of the brain is a nervous fluid in- 
 tended for the supply of the vital power inherent in the liv- 
 ing body. When any special organ is greatly employed, 
 this fluid is diverted from its ordinary channels to the organ 
 exercised. If amativeness is greatly and constantly exer- 
 cised, it can only be done at the expense of all the other or- 
 gans. Cases have been known where men, in a supreme 
 excess of licentiousness, have made such great and sudden 
 draughts on the organ of amativeness as to cause death before 
 reaction took place. Similar cases have been known in the 
 sudden exercise of destructiveness an organ much smaller 
 than amativeness when the draught on the vital fluid was 
 so great as to prevent the formation of a fresh supply before 
 death ensued, and the man literally died in a passion. 
 
 That the prevalence of sensuality is wide-spread, in this 
 our day and generation, is a fact sadly evident. From the 
 
 7
 
 98 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 lad at school, who, with his associates, in secret destroy 
 themselves, all the way up to the full-grown and ripened 
 man and woman, this curse of our age is practiced. In the 
 matrimonial bonds and out of them, rich and poor, high and 
 low, learned and unlearned, sexually thwart the chief end 
 and aim of their existence. The abuse of amativeness is the 
 great crying wrong of the age. The knowledge of its right 
 use is the great requirement of the age, for it is only in and 
 through the right application of this knowledge that man- 
 kind can hope for a purer life here and a higher life here- 
 after. 
 
 To make myself fully understood by the " abuse of am- 
 ativeness" I mean the practice of self-abuse in boys, girls 
 and men ; but especially do I mean excessive cohabitation in 
 man and woman married or single. 
 
 The causes for this abnormal growth and exercise are as 
 many as they are universal. Pre-eminently the first great 
 cause stands out as being transmitted from parents to off- 
 spring. A wrong understanding of the laws of reproduc- 
 tion affects the unborn more in the direction of amativeness 
 than any other single organ. This will be more fully ex- 
 plained and enlarged on in a future chapter. The man and 
 woman whose parents have bequeathed them such an unde- 
 sirable inheritance as abnormally-developed amativeness, 
 have greater need of closely obeying all the laws that tend 
 to continence, than those in whom it is acquired through ig- 
 norance of its results. 
 
 Next in the list of causes that conspire to a growth of li- 
 centiousness, is the perversion of the appetite by the food 
 and drink used. 
 
 The large quantity of flesh meats, together with oysters, 
 eggs, fish, salt, pepper, spices, gravies, beer, porter, cider, 
 wine, and other alcoholic liquors, tobacco, tea, coffee, choco- 
 late, salted meats, pies, bread made from fine white flour 
 all these things have a direct influence on the abnormal 
 exercise of the sexual system. Tea, coffee, tobacco, alco-
 
 A MA TIVENESS. 99 
 
 holic liquors, and animal food, are all stimulating' or narcotic 
 in their nature ; and whatever is taken into the body of a 
 narcotic or stimulating nature irritates the nervous system, 
 but especially the nerves of the sexual system, and through 
 the reflex action on the base of the brain, amativeness is in- 
 flamed and excited, and in this way come lustful desires. 
 Salt, pepper, mustard, salt food, and fine-flour bread, in their 
 use, all tend to constipation, and, as a result, costiveness and 
 hardened fceces, which irritate the nerves of, and press 
 against, the vas deferens and vesiculas seminales, and so pro- 
 duce morbid amative desires, which could not even remotely 
 exist if the cause was removed. Costiveness, the result of 
 concentrated food, is one of the many causes of self-abuse in 
 boys and girls. 
 
 Let any man or woman who doubts these things live for 
 a season on plain, nutritious, unstimulating food, and during 
 the time lead a strictly continent life, and after getting their 
 new mode of existence well established, let them take a cup 
 of strong coffee or tea, and the desire for sexual congress 
 appears at once ; or a couple of glasses of wine or ale, and 
 amativeness promptly proclaims : " I am excited, and must 
 be exercised ere I am appeased ;" or let them go to a hotel 
 or boarding-house, and partake heartily of such conglomer- 
 ate dinners as are served to the patrons of such establish- 
 ments, and my life on it they cannot pass the night without li- 
 centious desires. I here lay it down as an undeniable law, 
 that a man or woman, living as men and women usually 
 live eating what they eat, drinking what they drink, cannot 
 live a pure life, cannot possibly live other than a life of de- 
 bauchery and licentiousness. 
 
 The great provocative of amative desires in woman, next 
 to a wrong quality and quantity of food, is dress. The con- 
 stricting of the waist and abdomen by corsets, girdles and 
 waistbands, prevents the return of the venous blood to the 
 heart, and the consequent overloading of the sexual organs, 
 and, as a result, the unnatural excitement of the sexual sys-
 
 ioo THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 tern. In the mode of wearing the hair, it is observable that 
 the majority of women, adoring followers of the goddess 
 Fashion, wear the hair in a large, heavy knot on the back 
 part of the head, and when their own is" insufficient to make 
 a roll large enough, false hair is added. This great pressure 
 of hair on the small brain produces great heat in the part, 
 and causes an unusual flow of blood to amativeness, and, if 
 persisted in, a chronic inflammation of the organ, and a 
 chronic desire for its sexual exercise. 
 
 Closely allied to food and dress, in woman, as a producer 
 of evil thoughts, is idleness and novel-reading. It is almost 
 impossible for a woman to read the current " love-and-mur- 
 der" literature of the day and have pure thoughts, and when 
 the reading of such literature is associated with idleness as 
 it almost invariably is a woman's thoughts and feelings can- 
 not be other than impiire and sensual. 
 
 " Something to do" is as great a necessity to womankind 
 as it is to mankind, and yet in our towns and cities hundreds, 
 aye thousands, of married men who, with their wives, live in 
 hotels and boarding-houses, leave for business every morn- 
 ing, not returning till perhaps late at night ; and the wives 
 of these men, having absolutely nothing to do, perchance 
 take a short walk, do some shopping, return, eat a stimula- 
 ting dinner, read the last sensation novel and can anything 
 pure and good come out of such a life ? Or the novel-read- 
 ing is followed by a confidential gossip with some man- 
 boarder, married or single, who also has nothing to do, and 
 the small size of whose soul is located in his amative pro- 
 pensities; and the husband may not know what follows, but 
 all acute observers within range do. " Nothing to do," as 
 in times past, as now, and as it will continue, has done more 
 to lower man and woman's nature morally, mentally, so- 
 cially, and physically than the non-observance of any other 
 requirement in living. 
 
 What are the results of this wide-spread, abnormal exer- 
 cise of amativeness ? How does it affect the growing boy,
 
 AM A TIVENESS. 101 
 
 the married man, the wife, and the unborn child ? the 
 health and strength of mankind? the happiness of the in- 
 dividual ? the welfare of the soul ? These are important 
 questions, and deserve careful and undeniably truthful an- 
 swers ; and, if such are granted them, the horrible enormity 
 of this crying sin will stand out with fearful distinctness. 
 
 It may be well here to re-affirm the fact that in coition 
 two important principles of the life-force are involved. First, 
 the semen, which is elaborately secreted from the highest 
 active principle of the blood of the man, and which is capa- 
 ble of giving life to a new being, and which, of a necessity, 
 if re-absorbed into the blood of the individual, is capable, 
 not of giving, but of renewing life. The second principle 
 involved is that of the nervous system. In the exercise of 
 coition through the abnormal development of amativeness, a 
 great quantity of the nervous fluid of the brain is used up. 
 This nervous fluid, when used in legitimate directions, is in 
 a great measure supplied or vitalized by the re-absorbed se- 
 men, or rather the cells secreted from the testicle before thezoa- 
 sperms are developed. This being so, the exercise of ama- 
 tiveness uses up the very life-power of the individual, and in 
 doing this the life-force of the system is greatly lowered and 
 weakened, laying the body open to all manner of diseases, 
 contagious, inflammatory and chronic, insuring an existence 
 weak and sickly, a life a great and miserable failure, and a 
 death early and painful. 
 
 To prove these physiological facts, it is only necessary to 
 record a few every-day illustrations of the abuse of amative- 
 ness. 
 
 The boy in school, or the young man out of school im- 
 patient of slow growth and the legitimate exercise of ama- 
 tiveness, by example, or instinct bequeathed him by his pa- 
 rents practices and delights in self-abuse ; and, without 
 knowing of the fearful penalty in store for him, he continues 
 it, until, as in thousands of cases, idiocy, insanity, or death 
 sets in, and his parents or friends account for his ill health
 
 102 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 and premature death as being caused by consumption, or 
 some other disease of a like nature. These sad facts apply 
 with equal force to the girls and young women, though per- 
 haps not in the same ratio. 
 
 If self-abuse leads to such great and wretched results, no 
 less does the promiscuous indulgence by the young or aged, 
 'married or unmarried. How sadly must the high and holier 
 part of a man's nature be lowered who can, without the 
 smallest whisperings of conscience, enter the den or palace 
 of a professed prostitute, or the room of a " kept" mistress ! 
 Where are the thoughts, the feelings, the souls of such men ? 
 Have they mothers loving and true ? sisters affectionate 
 and pure ? wives confiding and sincere ? Apart from the 
 degradation of soul, do such men know the risks they run ? 
 Do they know that every ninety-nine such women out of a 
 hundred are more or less diseased ? that over fifty per cent, 
 of the women who ply the vocation that leads to destruc- 
 tion have syphilis ? and that this dread disease, once in the 
 system, is there for ever, and if they have offspring their chil- 
 dren's children will have taints of it ? One of the saddest 
 of sad cases to me was that of a boy five years of age 
 bright, intelligent and beautiful a boy whom to see was to 
 love. On his being requested to open his mouth, it was 
 seen that nearly the whole of the upper part of the roof of 
 his mouth had been eaten away by syphilis. Outside 
 clean, bright, beautiful ; inside decay, death ; an unmer- 
 ciful and yet a righteous judgment on the father for his li- 
 centious deeds. It is a fact to be noted, that on the first, 
 and perchance the only, venture into the mire of prostitu- 
 tion, this disease may claim the victim for its own, and that 
 nothing but a life of rigid continence, strict dieting, and right 
 habits of thought and action will help palliate its destruc- 
 tive effects for all the quacks in Christendom, and all the 
 physicians, regular, irregular and eclectic, can do nothing fot 
 him. 
 
 This is no overdrawn picture nothing but plain, indispu-
 
 AMATIVENESS. 103 
 
 table facts. If any man who inclines to the licentious of his 
 nature doubts these words, and is careless about adopting a 
 true line of life, will come with me into any of our large 
 city hospitals, he can be shown women in all stages of putre- 
 faction living deaths, the sight of which would make him 
 vow, then and there, to shun the broad road that leads to 
 destruction ; and, if this did not have its just effect, in an- 
 other ward in the men there exposed in all the hideousness 
 of sores and ulcers his own life and end would be fore- 
 shadowed. 
 
 It is a common belief that a man and woman, because they 
 are legally united in marriage, are privileged to the unbri- 
 dled exercise of amativeness. This is wrong. Nature, in 
 the exercise of her just laws, recognizes no human enact- 
 ments, and is as prompt to punish any infringement of her 
 laws in those who are legally married as in those out of the 
 bonds. Excessive indulgence between the married produces 
 as great and lasting evil effects as in the single man or 
 woman, and is nothing more or less than legalized prosti- 
 tution. 
 
 A man with great vital force is united to a woman of evenly 
 balanced organization. The husband, in the exercise of 
 what he is pleased to term his "marital rights," places his 
 wife, in a very short time, on the nervous, delicate, sickly 
 list. In the blindness and ignorance of his animal nature 
 he requires prompt obedience to his desires, and, ignorant of 
 the law of right in this direction, thinking that it is her duty 
 to accede to his wishes, though perhaps fulfilling them with 
 a sore' and troubled heart, allows him passively, never loving- 
 ly, to exercise daily and weekly, month in and month out, 
 the low and beastly of his nature, and eventually, slowly but 
 surely, to kill her. And this man, who has as surely com- 
 mitted murder as has the convicted assassin, lures to his net 
 and takes unto him another wife, to repeat the same pro- 
 gramme of legalized prostitution on his part, and sickness 
 and premature death on her part.
 
 104 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 There are women strongly passionate and often diseased 
 who, like such men, are endowed with strong animal na- 
 tures, who, when they marry, in the intense exercise of their 
 lustful natures, soon reduce the husband to a standard that 
 physically and mentally places him below the brute, and, 
 long before the fulfillment of his just allotment of time on 
 earth, he too dies. The number of such women is very 
 much smaller than is the number of men with like tenden- 
 cies ; but when women are diseased in this direction, they 
 go much further than is possible with men. It is for this 
 reason I advised, in a former chapter, in the choice of a hus- 
 band or wife, the avoidance of widows or widowers, the 
 death of whose partners was caused by other than accident 
 or well-understood disease ; for when such cases, at the last 
 day, come before the bar of judgment, it will be found that 
 these premature deaths were murders, and that these sen- 
 sualists were murderers. 
 
 The exercise of abnormal amativeness is known in all its 
 positive intensity by those newly married. The honeymoon 
 is one nightly repetition of legalized prostitution, sinking the 
 pure, high and holy into the low, debasing and animal. 
 Think you, oh ! new-made husband and wife, that in this 
 you do right ? that in this you elevate your better natures ? 
 that in this you find peace, strength and happiness ? 
 that in this you grow into that pure and holy passion akin to 
 God in its exercise the passion of love ? Do not, I pray 
 you, deceive yourselves ; for in this exercise of the sexual 
 part of your nature you lower your standard of body and 
 soul ; and, as for love, no man or woman can possibly love 
 or be loved who lives otJicr tJian a life of strict continence. 
 This subject of newly-married excess is to be seriously 
 thought of and carefully guarded against, for it is fraught 
 with immense danger to the future peace, happiness, strength 
 and love of the newly united. There cannot be a growth of 
 love in such a union, for no man or woman ever practiced 
 repeatedly the breaking of this Law of Continence, but that
 
 AMATIVENESS. 105 
 
 a mutual disgust was born of it a disgust that in time be- 
 comes chronic, and the source of all after mated misery. It 
 should be understood, by all married men and women, that 
 the- result of marital excess is as disastrous to the body, 
 mind and soul of the individual as is unlegalized prostitu- 
 tion. It is necessary to a perfect sexual congress that the 
 wife have a natural desire for such, which natural desire oc- 
 curs only immediately after her "monthly sickness." At 
 this time all healthy married women have such a desire ; and 
 if she earnestly express a wish for congress, and the husband 
 accedes, a perfect union results. But if the husband de- 
 mands his rights from the wife, who only accedes through 
 dread of consequences, the effect on the man's brain and 
 nervous system is very little different from that produced by 
 self-abuse. 
 
 To enter more into detail : the effects of excesses and 
 whether they be produced by self, by legalized or unlegal- 
 ized prostitution, the results are not greatly different first 
 noticeable is shown in a general weakness of the nervous 
 system, and, through the medium of the great sympathetic 
 system of nerves, this want of nervous vital power is com- 
 municated to all the muscular departments of the body. The 
 stomach the laboratory of the body first feels the effects, 
 and shows its weakened power in its inability to promptly 
 digest ordinary food. After a time, should the excesses be 
 continued, dyspepsia takes place, which, in connection with 
 the failure of power in other parts of the body, is called gen- 
 eral debility, which general debility is very soon followed by 
 consumption. 
 
 The fact that the small brain, in which amativeness is lo- 
 cated, is also the co-ordinating or harmonizing power of the 
 muscular system, explains why sexual excesses are so soon 
 followed by a weakening of the joints, and especially the 
 joints of the knees, a softening of the muscles, a want of 
 strength, and a motion of an unsteady, dragging nature, dif- 
 fering so noticeably from the springing, strong, elastic car* 
 riage of the continent individual.
 
 106 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Noticeably in many ways do sexual excesses affect the 
 brain. The faculty of memory is weakened and impaired, 
 the person gradually lacking his usual power to remember 
 men and things. The eyes are also affected ; disordered vis- 
 ion is almost always a prompt indication of abused amative- 
 ness. The eyes are easily affected by night lights, and any 
 ordinary effort strains and hurts them. The hearing is also 
 in many cases impaired. Paralysis of the lower extremities 
 occasionally results. Neuralgia, affecting any part of the 
 system, is among the frequent consequences. More than 
 half the cases of epilepsy are unmistakably owing either to 
 sexual or self-abuse. Falling of the womb, barrenness, 
 abortion, and cancer of the womb or breast, are directly or 
 indirectly caused by excessive indulgence in married lift. 
 Fickleness of temper, irresolution, and premature old age. 
 are penalties that attach themselves indiscriminately to all 
 who violate the laws of their organization. 
 
 It is also noticeable that when any man or woman is af- 
 fected with any of these maladies, their relatives, friends, and 
 even physicians, ascribe the effect to an entirely different 
 cause. This may not be done intentionally, for in a great 
 measure it is the result of ignorance of the subject. 
 
 This list of diseases, the result of sexual abuse, is but a 
 partial one ; for in the abnormal exercise of amativeness, the 
 great drain of the nervous fluid and the loss of semen one 
 ounce of which is equal to forty ounces of blood in any other 
 part of the body so lowers the life-force as to form the 
 foundation for, and lay open the system to, all manner of 
 contagious, acute and chronic diseases, and in this way 
 though sexual excesses may not be the immediate cause of 
 sickness and premature death it in thousands of cases is 
 the remote cause. 
 
 Any reader who, with clear and impartial mind, will care- 
 fully read and consider these facts, will allow that, in and 
 through the perverted use of amativeness, they depart from 
 the true line of life's object the securing of strength, peace
 
 AMATIVENESS. 107 
 
 and happiness, and the successful cultivation of the higher 
 and more spiritual part of their natures. The thinking and 
 reflecting man or woman who, through ignorance of organic 
 laws, has done these things, and who, knowing that the 
 time on earth allotted for the preparation for their appear- 
 ance in the Great Beyond is so very short, will at once see 
 the great need of adopting a purer line of life ; for it is an 
 unanswerable assertion, that in no other way can mankind so 
 effectually fall from grace as through perverted animal de- 
 sires. In no other way can mankind so soil, foul and debase 
 the pure and spiritual that is within them as through the per- 
 verted use of amativeness. 
 
 These facts being established, the question naturally oc- 
 curs : "What is right in the exercise of the sexual instincts? 
 How often ? for what object ? and at what time should sex- 
 ual congress be desirable ?" In the chapter on the Law of 
 Continence will be found the only true solution of these 
 questions.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. 
 
 NE of the sequences to licen- 
 tiousness is a desire to pre- 
 vent undesirable results in the 
 wife or betrayed woman. By 
 those married, the reasons giv- 
 en for the wish to avoid child- 
 bearing are many, and a few 
 of them may be entitled to 
 some weight. Thus, a mar- 
 ried woman having a small 
 pelvis has a just dread of child- 
 bearing. A mistake occurs in 
 such a woman marrying at all, 
 or , at least to a man much 
 larger in stature than herself. 
 Again, through constitutional 
 or local disease, she cannot 
 become pregnant without endangering her life. Another of 
 the reasons why conception should not take place, is through 
 a desire to prevent the entailment of hereditary disease. 
 People so situated, rather than seek means to prevent ill re- 
 sults, should be placed in such relations to life as would re- 
 store them to sound health. 
 
 The prime reason for the desire for knowledge on this sub- 
 ject is that licentiousness may have full play without restric- 
 tion ; and it will be found, in the great majority of married
 
 THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. 109 
 
 lives, that it is the wife who desires this knowledge, so as to 
 guard her health, aye, her very life, against the unbridled 
 passion of the husband. The pains, the troubles, the heart- 
 burnings, the sickness, the danger of premature death, the 
 woman has to experience through man's lust is beyond all 
 comprehension, and if there is one direction more than an- 
 other in which " Woman's Rights" should assert itself, it is 
 in this one of choice of time for sexual congress. 
 
 To compass the end of prevention all manner of means 
 are and have been used, but, as a rule, all tending more or 
 less to the physical and spiritual harm of the individual. 
 
 The first mode to be noticed is that practiced, or said to 
 be practiced by a community in the State of New York 
 named " Perfectionists." It is briefly this : the enjoyment of 
 amativeness, through sexual embrace, without a fall orgasm 
 that is, stopping short of emission. It is requisite to this 
 mode of prevention that the individual have a very strong 
 will and a moderate development of amativeness. It is 
 claimed for this method of sexual exercise that it will develop 
 and augment more pleasure and happiness than could result 
 from the complete fulfillment of the act. There are two de- 
 cided objections to this mode of continence as practiced by 
 the Oneida " Perfectionists." As mentioned in a former 
 chapter, it is only through the exercise of the higher senti- 
 ments and faculties that perfect pleasure and happiness can 
 result. Now amativeness is located below the level of all the 
 other organs of the brain, and in its exercise, as practiced 
 by the " Perfectionists" and others, the resulting pleasure is 
 of a low, animal nature, and cannot possibly be of a pure 
 and spiritual nature. The second objection is that, in this 
 part exercise, the zoosperms are developed from the sperm- 
 cells located in the vas deferens and carried to the vesiculae 
 seminales, where, owing to the full condition of that recep- 
 tacle, they must be thrown off in a night or morning emis- 
 sion ; so that, though at the time the exercise stops short of 
 emission, its" only result is to delay it, and the effect on the
 
 I io 777^ SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 man'shealth is the same as, perchance worse, than if he had had 
 a full orgasm. These two reasons, coupled with the fact 
 that not one man in a thousand possesses the health of body 
 and power of will required to stop at the proper time, are 
 sufficient, I think, for discarding this mode of intercourse. 
 
 Another method of prevention is in a measure similar to 
 the above, and is widely circulated in many small and large 
 books. It was practiced as far back as the days of Pharaoh, 
 and can be found by referring to the ninth verse of the thirty- 
 eighth chapter of Genesis. The least that can be said of this 
 mode is that it is beastly, and not one iota different, in its ef- 
 fects on the mind and body of the man, from self-abuse. 
 
 The employment of coverings for the male organ, made 
 of rubber or gold-beater's skin, is certainly effectual ; but 
 there is no pleasure, either animal or spiritual, derived from 
 their use, and they so irritate the delicate, nervous mucus 
 membrane of the vagina as to inflame and weaken it, and 
 also produce ulceration of the womb, and altogether cause 
 much after-trouble to the woman. A person once using 
 these coverings never, as a rule, has a desire to repeat the 
 experiment. 
 
 The use, by the woman, of sponge or rubber pads, placed 
 against the mouth of the womb, to prevent the entrance of 
 the sperm, are somewhat used, and widely advertised and 
 sold under many different names by quacks. This, as with 
 the rubber covering for males, prevents the very pleasure 
 that is the object of licentious people ; for it 'is the coming 
 together of the extremely delicate and sensitive glands of the 
 male organ with the highly nervous and sensitive lips of the 
 mouth of the uterus that constitutes the highest pleasure of 
 the sexual act, and sponge, rubber, or other substances, ef- 
 fectually prevent enjoyment. Owing to the very liable mis- 
 placement of the sponge, or other pad, by action, it is not 
 in any sense a reliable method. 
 
 Another mode of prevention, and one widely advocated 
 by latter-day physiologists, is that founded on the theory of
 
 THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. in 
 
 the monthly arrival at and departure from the womb of the 
 ovum. During each menstrual period an ovum ripens, is 
 carried to the uterus, and in from eight to fourteen days is 
 passed off. This allows about two weeks in which the ute- 
 rus contains no germ-cell, and during which time, if sexual 
 intercourse is had, no impregnation can follow. This, hav- 
 ing a physiological basis, has an appearance of being free 
 from dreaded results. But there are causes that would 
 thwart this theory. It requires, for a perfect sexual con- 
 gress, that the man and woman have each the feeling and 
 desire for such anything differing from this is, as already 
 mentioned, as hurtful to the man as is self-abuse and the 
 woman, in her unfilled desire, must, as a natural sequence, 
 get sexually excited. This excitement hastens the prema- 
 ture ripening and meeting of the germ-cell with the sperm- 
 cell, and impregnation results, though intercourse does oc- 
 cur in the specified two-weeks' absence of the egg from the 
 uterus. But if the woman as nearly all women do who are 
 used by their husbands simply as chattels lie passive and 
 motionless, the husband may have intercourse and no im- 
 pregnation follow. As to the possible pleasure to him of 
 such a union, he might as well practice solitary indulgence, 
 for the one could not possibly do him more harm than the 
 other. 
 
 During lactation, when the mother is nursing her babe, it 
 is popularly supposed that sexual intercourse can be had 
 with impunity. This is a great error, as many find to their 
 surprise. Through the excitement of the act in the woman, 
 the ovaries are affected, an egg is ripened and thrown off, 
 and impregnation results. The nerve-force of the sexual or- 
 ganism being expended in the mammary glands, prevents 
 the usual indications of menstruation, and renders it impos- 
 sible to know when an egg has ripened. 
 
 Another method of prevention to be noticed is that by the 
 use of the syringe, and the injection of cold water immedi- 
 ately after intercourse. This may or may not be successful,
 
 112 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 and there is really nothing reliable in it ; beside, the injec- 
 tion of cold water into a cavity of such a high temperature 
 as the vagina, carries with it much injury to the woman. 
 
 The same objections hold good when with the water is dis- 
 solved any of the many powders used for such purposes, 
 with this addition that it is much more damaging to the 
 vitality of the part than when water is used alone. 
 
 Water alone or with drugs only has an effect upon the 
 semen in the vagina ; for if but one zoosperm enters the ute- 
 rus, the injection of water fails. 
 
 There are other methods of prevention, and some of them 
 more disastrous in their effects than any enumerated, the 
 rationale of which it is needless to mention. 
 
 There is but one positively sure method of preventing con- 
 ception one within the reach of all, and which has no bad 
 effects afterward, and that is to refrain from the sexual act. 
 
 And this is not at all difficult, if the parties but educate 
 themselves to it. A man's morbid imagination, or morbid 
 desires, have much more to do with his licentious acts than 
 has the abnormal of his sexual nature ; and if a man can so 
 argue the subject in his own mind as to convince himself that 
 a continent life is not only a true one, but that the effects of 
 such a life, as affecting his growth toward strength and pu- 
 rity of mind, soul and body will be immense, he will grow 
 out of his ever-present sexual thoughts, and so lose his un- 
 natural desires, and, as a result, will be able without much 
 trouble to accept and observe the law of abstinence as a pre- 
 ventive of conception. 
 
 Men and women in all ages have experimented on meth- 
 ods of prevention, and so far have been comparatively un- 
 successful. When an exception does occur, it is always at 
 the expense of the health of the individual. Than this fact, 
 there is not a more convincing proof that sexual connection 
 was intended only for the propagation of the species ; for had 
 God intended it otherwise, He would, in the greatness of His 
 wisdom, have adapted some peculiarity of structure in the
 
 THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. 113 
 
 sexual organism that would have enabled mankind to exer- 
 cise the lustful of their natures without the danger of im- 
 pregnation following.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. 
 
 " So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity, 
 That, when a soul is found sincerely so, 
 A thousand liveried angels lackey her." MILTON. 
 
 HAT the mis-use of the 
 reproductive element in 
 man, is the underlying 
 cause of much of the 
 sickness, suffering, and 
 premature death of man- 
 kind, is a fact that, stand- 
 ing out sharply as it does 
 on the Yecord of the 
 world's progress, cannot 
 well be controverted. 
 
 That this mis-use and 
 its sad consequences are 
 due to ignorance of the 
 Law of Continence is 
 equally beyond doubt ; 
 for, though there are mul- 
 titudes that knowingly 
 break the laws that govern their organization, yet the ma- 
 jority of mankind need but know these laws to follow them. 
 There is no other law connected with the directing and 
 governing of the human body and soul that so affects the 
 individual's welfare, happiness and success in life, as does the 
 Law of Continence, and for this reason it deserves all the 
 thought and argument that can be brought to bear on it
 
 THE LA W OF CONTINENCE. 115 
 
 By the use of the term continence is meant : " the volun- 
 tary and entire absence from sexual indulgence in any form, 
 and the having complete control over the passions by one 
 who knows their power, and who, but for his pure life and 
 steady will, not only could, but would indulge them." 
 
 " Voluntary and entire absence" is not meant to exclude 
 intercourse having reproduction as its object. 
 
 The foregoing definition, involving the principles of the 
 Law of Continence, and especially the practice of it, will be 
 regarded with much disfavor by a multitude of mankind, in- 
 terfering as it so essentially does with the record of their 
 past and present lives, for its popular definition is usually de- 
 monstrated in a ratio with the perverted amative power of 
 the individual. 
 
 Ask a man of an overgrown and intensely perverted am- 
 ativeness what he considers a right definition of continence, 
 and he will tell you that having nightly intercourse with his 
 wife is with him a law of necessity, and his definition of con- 
 tinence. And there are thousands of men and women and 
 especially those newly married who by nightly debauchery 
 record this as their solution of the Law of Continence ; but 
 it is a solution that involves in it immensely disastrous re- 
 sults to the individuals' present and future welfare of soul 
 and body. 
 
 Ask another man, with more moderate desires, and he 
 will tell you that thrice, twice, or perchance once a week, 
 entitles him, as he considers it, to be classed as a continent 
 man. 
 
 Ask yet another man, who, though possessing the full re- 
 quirement of amative desires, yet has reflected and been 
 somewhat enlightened on the subject, and he may tell you 
 that, in his opinion, a man entitled to be classed among the 
 continent men is one who, like himself, has intercourse 
 monthly or semi-monthly. 
 
 This is about as high as you can get in the popular defi- 
 nition of this law.
 
 1 1 6 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 What constitutes the basis for this wide difference in the 
 popular definition of continence ? Perverted amativeness, 
 coupled with ignorance of the laws of life. Just in propor- 
 tion as a man is lustful is he continent ; just in proportion as 
 a man has large perverted amativeness, and is ignorant of its 
 true use, will he define and act out a continent life. There- 
 fore, this popular definition of continence, being based en- 
 tirely on the individual's own selfish sexual nature, is worth- 
 less as a just law or true guide to the disciples of a chaste and 
 pure life. 
 
 A true solution of this difficulty, and one having unper- 
 verted nature for its exponent, can be secured by establish- 
 ing the periods at and between which woman should repro- 
 duce and bear offspring. 
 
 The highest enjoyable season at which a healthy woman 
 desires sexual congress is immediately following the cessa- 
 tion of her monthly menses, and this is the season in which 
 the reproductive element is most intensified, and when her 
 whole organism is ready to take on the loving and holy du- 
 ties of reproduction the originating and developing of a 
 new life. 
 
 The man and wife come together at this period with the 
 desire for offspring ; impregnation and conception follow, 
 and from that time until the mother has again menstruated 
 which occurs after the weaning of the child, and which in 
 duration extends to about eighteen or twenty-one months 
 sexual intercourse should not be had by eitJier husband or 
 wife. 
 
 " Do you mean that the man should have no sexual inter- 
 course for twenty-one months ?" 
 
 That is precisely what is meant precisely what Nature 
 intended. This is the only true solution of God's divine law 
 in the government of the reproductive element in mankind, 
 and no man, since the time of Adam, has in the remotest 
 manner broken this law, but has in some measure suffered 
 the just penalty attached to it.
 
 THE LA W OF CONTINENCE. 117 
 
 Though twenty-one months is the limit fixed for a life 
 of purity and strict continence between the man and wife, I 
 believe in a yet further extension of time. The twenty-one 
 months of reproductive effort, on the part of the mother, 
 necessarily in a measure lowers her vital powers, and there- 
 fore, after' weaning, she should be allowed at least from one 
 year to fifteen months to rest and recuperate. This may not 
 be required in a perfectly healthy woman, but healthy wo- 
 men being an exception, the rule holds good. This would 
 create an interval of nearly three years in which no inter- 
 course should be had by the husband or wife, and in those 
 who faithfully observe this rule is found the only strictly con- 
 tinent of mankind. 
 
 " What if the mother should either not want to, or not be 
 able to nurse her child ?" 
 
 The woman who lacks the desire to nurse her child has 
 a something connected with the formation of her soul that is 
 radically wrong or greatly deformed, and the woman who, 
 through ill health or other cause, cannot nurse her child, 
 should not be a wife, or at least not a mother. 
 
 A continent man, therefore, is one who possesses the pow- 
 er to reproduce his species, and who, through a true life and 
 firm will, exercises his reproductive element only at the right 
 seasons, and only for the purpose of reproduction. 
 
 I know that this rule is not the one generally advocated 
 by medical or reform writers, and that it will have many op- 
 ponents ; yet there can not be produced in opposition to it 
 an argument that can, in the remotest way, affect the truths 
 of which it is the exponent. 
 
 What are some of the objections to a life of continence ? 
 Some writers would have us believe that because some ec- 
 clesiastic, monk or priest who has inhabited a monastery, and 
 who, because having lascivious dreams, seeing voluptuous 
 images, and having uncontrollable desires, with all the ac- 
 companying misery a strictly continent life is to be avoid- 
 ed. A man having a large development of amativeriess,
 
 n8 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 shut up in the cell of a monastery, debarred from all healthy 
 exercise of body and mind, could not well have other than 
 abnormal sexual desires, and amounts to nothing as an argu- 
 ment. 
 
 Locke, Newton and Pitt, men of extraordinary power of 
 will and great breadth of intellect, never married, and, it is 
 well known, never in any way gratified the sexual desires. 
 
 Another objection occasionally advanced is that, through 
 want of exercise, the male organ will decrease in size ! When 
 any such decrease in size does occur, it will be found to be 
 caused by exactly the reverse namely, excessive exercise 
 by self-abuse. 
 
 Another objection that might be advanced is that, through 
 a life of continence for two or three years, the ability to re- 
 produce would be lost lost, as in the above objection, 
 through want of exercise. This is fallacious, never has oc- 
 curred, and never possibly can occur in a healthy man. 
 
 What other objections are there to the adoption of a con- 
 tinent life ? None, unless the blind assertions of over-de- 
 veloped amativeness be accepted as such ; and these objec- 
 tions, having no reason or other foundation, will be adopted 
 by the majority of mankind, who, through the intensely ani- 
 mal and selfish elements of their nature, desire to preach and 
 practice a life of licentiousness in preference to a life of chas- 
 tity. What are the elementary differences between a life of 
 licentiousness and a life of strict continence ? 
 
 The individual who leads a licentious life does, in part or 
 in whole 
 
 Weaken his nervous system, and through that the digest- 
 ive system is disorganized, the stomach, liver, kidneys, etc., 
 are diseased, and dyspepsia, rheumatism, apoplexy, paraly- 
 sis, and a score of other diseases, assert their sway. 
 
 Weaken his lungs, and consumption appears. 
 
 Disable his special senses his sight, hearing and taste are 
 affected. 
 
 Disorganize his brain-tissue memory is weakened, per-
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. 119 
 
 ceptive and reflective power is weakened, as seen in imbecil- 
 ity of plan and purpose, and indecision of thought and ac- 
 tion ; the moral sentiments are debased, the soul blighted, 
 and love, religion and God cannot dwell within him. 
 
 Arrests his growth, and brings on premature old age. 
 
 Destroys his manhood, and the offspring propagated by 
 him are sickly, scrofulous, deformed, and die prematurely. 
 
 And is, all in all, a blot and stain upon God's beautiful 
 earth, a failure in this life and in the next a . 
 
 Note well the difference in the individual who leads a life 
 of chastity a strictly continent life : 
 
 The nervous system is invigorated and strengthened. 
 
 The special senses the sight, hearing, etc. are strong, 
 delicate and acute. 
 
 The digestive system is kept normal, and the man knows 
 not what a sick day is. 
 
 The growth of body is filled up and rounded out, and a 
 full measure of years may come, but old age never ; for the 
 last days, in their pleasurable enjoyment of good health and 
 a sound mind, are as were the days of his childhood. 
 
 The brain is enlarged and perfected, memory grows strong, 
 the perceptive and reflective faculties increase in power, as 
 shown in the ability to originate and execute, the calm, self- 
 possessed strength to endure, and gentleness, courage, gen- 
 erosity and nobleness of character. The moral sentiments 
 are elevated, love grows and ripens, and the soul, in its ex- 
 ercise, reaches up and commingles with the spirit of God. 
 
 The reproductive element is preserved, in all its life-re- 
 newing and life-giving power, until full ripeness of years. 
 
 This is, in part, the difference between a life of licentious- 
 ness, or semi-continence, and a life of strict continence. 
 Which will ye choose ? 
 
 That God intended the reproductive element in mankind 
 to be used only as a means to propagate the species no clear- 
 minded, right-thinking man can deny ; and when used with 
 any other object, it is a waste of one of the finest and most
 
 120 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 subtle essences of the soul's interior presence, and deserves 
 as it invariably receives punishment prompt and lasting. 
 
 Knowing that a continent life is the true one, a difficulty 
 arises, in the thoughts of those who have led a different life, 
 as to how it is to be maintained. 
 
 Many who have been persuaded to attempt to live a con- 
 tinent life have failed, because they were lacking in strength 
 of will, firmness of purpose and the knowledge of hy- 
 gienic laws. A man who has been in the habit of using al- 
 coholic liquors, on trying to abstain, will feel somewhat weak, 
 irritable, and exceedingly nervous, and an almost intolerable 
 desire to renew his drinking. It is precisely so with a man 
 who has led a life of licentiousness, who, on being continent, 
 will feel an irrepressible desire for sexual intercourse, and es- 
 pecially will this be so if he eat and drink as is usual with 
 him. This is explained as follows : his licentiousness of a 
 necessity caused a great drain on his vitality such a drain 
 as required the whole life-force of his system to supply ; the 
 nervous power that directs this supply to the testicles cannot 
 stop as short as does the individual in adopting a continent 
 life, and, as a result, the receptacle for the semen is crowded ; 
 this causes, by reflex action on the brain, an intense desire 
 for intercourse. But if the individual has the strength of 
 will to persist in his life of chastity, the system will be re- 
 lieved by an emission. Now, if the man adopt the plan of 
 life given hereafter, the sexual department of the system will 
 gradually take on its normal action ; but before this is ac- 
 complished there may be several emissions, and as long as 
 seminal emissions occur it must be understood that the sex- 
 ual organism has not regained its healthy action. It is a 
 popular opinion that a healthy man who is continent should 
 occasionally have seminal emissions, and, like many other 
 popular opinions, is wrong. A perfectly healthy, continent 
 man, living a right life socially, morally and physically, does 
 not and cannot have seminal emissions. " Health does not 
 absolutely require that there should ever be an emission of
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. 121 
 
 semen from puberty to death, though the individual live a 
 hundred years, and the frequency of involuntary nocturnal 
 emissions is an indubitable proof that the parts, at least, are 
 suffering under a debility and morbid irritability utterly in- 
 compatible with the general welfare of the system, and the 
 mental faculties are always debilitated and impaired by such 
 indulgence." 
 
 A man who has grown with or established a continent life 
 should be very careful at any time exercising his sexual or- 
 ganism, unless for reproduction ; for " if any one wishes to 
 undergo the acutest sexual suffering, he could adopt no more 
 certain method than to be incontinent, with the 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 say to any young man commen- 
 cing a career of vice : ' You are going a road on which you 
 will never turn back. However much you may wish to, it 
 will be too much for you. You had better stop now. It is 
 your last chance !' " 
 
 There is a terrible significance in the words of Solomon : 
 " None that go to her return again, neither take they hold on 
 the paths of life." 
 
 In no way is the importance of a continent life so clearly 
 shown as in the rules required for its attainment. It is re- 
 quired, in the individuals whose desire it is to join the noble 
 army of the continent of mankind, that they relinquish many 
 of their souls' idols. The object aimed at is a high one, and 
 they will have many sore and bitter trials ; but the exercise 
 of a firm will, the strength of a new manhood, and the cour- 
 age of a positive soul will conquer, and so enable them to 
 enjoy the glorious attribute of continence. 
 
 By the individual whose earnest desire is for a pure and 
 healthy life, no suggestion or hint should be overlooked that 
 will, in the remotest way, help to the desired end. An indi- 
 vidual, be he never so incontinent or licentious, will, if he
 
 122 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 adopt this Plan of Life very speedily recover though it 
 may cause him much mental and bodily misery. A sound 
 faith, coupled with determined perseverance, will accomplish 
 the desirable and happy end. 
 
 PLAN OF LIFE. 
 
 So closely is the nature of licentiousness interwoven with 
 that of alcoholic liquors, opium and tobacco, that it is diffi- 
 cult to tell which depends upon the other for its stimulus ; 
 but be that as it may, it is required as an absolute necessity 
 that the individual give up the use of tobacco in all its forms, 
 and ale, wine, whisky, cider, and all other alcoholic liquors; 
 for a man or woman cannot possibly live a chaste life, sexu- 
 ally or otherwise, who uses these soul-debasing articles ; and 
 if the individual cannot or will not give up these habits, it is 
 almost useless for him to read further. No other two hab- 
 its so blot, stain and deform the soul of man, made in God's 
 own image, as do tobacco and alcohol, and it is useless for a 
 man to try and live a healthy or continent life who, in the 
 remotest way, continues in their use. 
 
 The next notable requirement in this Plan of Life is the 
 being moderate in eating. An almost constantly-present 
 result of licentiousness is gluttony ; and when the first does 
 not complete the work of destruction, the last invariably 
 does. A licentious person is always a gluttonous person, 
 unless when tobacco and alcoholic liquors are used, which in 
 their effect take slowly away the appetite for plain and 
 healthful food, and continue to do so gradually and more 
 markedly until death asserts its presence. Therefore, eat 
 only to live. All food of a sweet, greasy or stimulating 
 nature should be avoided. Tea, coffee and chocolate should 
 be dispensed with especially should this rule be observed 
 by women. No drink should be used but water, unless per- 
 haps, if desired, a small quantity of pure milk. There are 
 three glands in the mouth whose office it is to secrete a wa-
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. 123 
 
 tery fluid intended for the moistening of the food during thor- 
 ough mastication, evincing the fact that Nature requires the 
 food to be masticated and salivated, and not washed down in 
 lumps by tea, coffee or other drinks. Pork and fat meats at 
 all times should be avoided, and when meat is used, it should 
 be but once a day, and consist of lean roast beef, beefsteak 
 or mutton. All other kinds of animal food should be ig- 
 nored, as should also eggs, lobsters, crabs, oysters, and fish 
 of all kinds, for these have a direct stimulating influence on 
 the sexual system, and therefore should carefully be avoided 
 by the continent man. 
 
 Bread made from fine white flour, owing to its very con- 
 stipating effects and other causes, should never be used when 
 brown or Graham flour can be had. Bread, being the ac- 
 knowledged staff of life, is of more importance in the diet 
 of a continent person, than any other article of food. The 
 true mode of making bread is first to have perfectly sound 
 winter wheat, free from smut, ground on rather sharp stones, 
 and tmbolted, which with the only addition of pure water, 
 placed in pans about two inches square and three-fourths of 
 an inch deep, and baked in a hot oven ; this palatable and 
 delicious bread can be eaten while hot with impunity, and 
 altogether constitutes the true staff of life. 
 
 Salt, if used at all, should be used in very moderate quan- 
 tities, and pepper, vinegar, mustard, and all other condi- 
 ments should be eschewed. 
 
 The dress, adapted to the temperature, should be clean 
 and comfortable ; all constricting bands should be avoided, 
 and braces always used to support the pantaloons. 
 
 By women, corsets, garters, and all articles of clothing hav- 
 ing a tendency to interfere with the full play of the internal 
 organs should positively be avoided. 
 
 Closely connected with food and raiment is exercise. A 
 certain amount of physical and mental exercise and rational 
 amusement is required every day. There is no more na f u- 
 ral, healthy and invigorating exercise than that of walking
 
 124 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 and by walking I do not mean the mincing, affected, formal 
 or fashionable style of walking ; but the free, loose, natural 
 swing of the arms and legs, and the harmonious action of 
 the body in living, happy, exhilarating, electrical motion. 
 Persons whose occupations are of a sedentary nature should 
 on every day of their lives take a walk of from five to 
 ten miles ; and when the inner workings of a man's own 
 brain are not sufficient to keep him from noticing the fatigue 
 incident to the walk, he should have with him a companion 
 and perhaps it is always best to have such, and especially 
 so if the companion be of a pleasant, social nature. A man 
 or woman whose occupation is of a physical nature, needs, 
 beside moderate walking, a daily exercise of the brain-pow- 
 er ; and this is never to be accomplished by the reading 
 of sensation novels, but rather by the study of some of the 
 many arts or sciences. Cities in which horse- cars have been 
 introduced do much toward creating a dislike for walking. 
 Clerks and business men living in such cities would do much 
 toward the acquirement of good health if they would at all 
 seasons avoid cars, omnibuses and carriages, for no better 
 exercise can be secured by such men than the morning and 
 evening walk to and from their place of business one, two, 
 or five miles of a walk morning, and evening, should be 
 hailed by such as a boon greatly to be desired and appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 The bedroom should be large, light and well ventilated 
 day and night. Feather beds and pillows should be avoid- 
 ed. The best bed is a mattress made from straw, corn husks, 
 curled hair, or compressed sponge. No more bed-covering 
 should be used than is absolutely required to keep the per- 
 son comfortable ; it is much more desirable to be a little cool 
 or cold in bed than to be too warm No article of clothing 
 should be worn at night that is worn during the day. 
 
 The individual should go to bed at a regular hour say 
 nine o'clock (eight o'clock would be better), and rise at five, 
 six or seven o'clock, as is most desirable. The morning is
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. '125 
 
 an important period in the life of the incontinent individual, 
 and the plan all such should adopt is to leap out of bed as 
 soon as they wake in the morning. The close observance 
 of this rule will enable the man to avoid many evil results. 
 Thousands of men wake in the morning, having the rectum 
 distended with hardened foeces, and pressing on the seminal 
 receptacles behind, with the distended bladder pressing in 
 front, and they think that the sexual part of their system is 
 urgent for intercourse, when it is only their bowels and blad- 
 der that want evacuating. This should be well understood, 
 for the habit of early morning licentiousness is wide-spread, 
 and in many instances is caused in this way, and it can al- 
 ways be avoided by leaving the bed immediately on waking 
 in the morning. If it is six, five, or even four o'clock, rise, 
 bathe, dress, and go out for a good sharp walk before break- 
 fast, and see how much better you will feel than if you had 
 expended your vitality in sexual intercourse. Try it, prac- 
 tice it, and live up to it, for it will insure much toward a con- 
 tinent life. 
 
 A daily bath of the whole body is a necessity ; but by 
 this is not meant the immersing of the body in a large quan- 
 tity of water, and the splashing about in it for half an hour 
 or more, for this almost invariably has a debilitating effect. 
 The principal and only object of bathing is for personal 
 cleanliness. Now this can be done with a quart or half gal- 
 lon of pure, fresh water in the smallest bedroom. Have a 
 sponge, or small, rather coarse towel kept for the purpose ; 
 after wetting and rubbing a third of the body with another 
 towel, dry rapidly, and so continue with the remaining two- 
 thirds. This bath can be taken in ten minutes, and as thor- 
 oughly and effectually as if taken in the middle of Lake On- 
 tario. This daily morning hand-bath should be taken by 
 every man and woman, be their occupation whatever it may. 
 If you are sick, avoid Turkish, Russian, Electric, and other 
 baths of a like nature ; but especially should you avoid them 
 if you are comparatively well, and desire to lead a healthy,
 
 126 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 continent life. If you aspire to rival the Turk, in his effem- 
 inate, licentious life, take daily or weekly a Russian or Turk- 
 ish bath, with or without its after-accompaniment of coffee 
 and tobacco. 
 
 Every-day employment should be as much of a necessity 
 to every man (and woman) as is eating. A man who is con- 
 stitutionally lazy and careless about working is nearly always 
 a licentious man. An idle life and a chaste and continent 
 life cannot possibly be found in the same individual ; there- 
 fore it is required in the man who desires to live a continent 
 life that he have constant employment, involving either the 
 healthy exercise of the brain or muscular system, or both 
 together. 
 
 The choice of companions is not lightly to be disregarded. 
 A young man, leaving the pure associations of a happy 
 home, and entering any of our large cities, can without much 
 trouble form the acquaintance of a class of associates that 
 will lead him very far from the pure, chaste, continent life he 
 hitherto has led, and in this way the ability and genius of 
 thousands of young men, who commence life with such bright 
 hopes and good prospects, are fouled, blighted, and eventu- 
 ally destroyed in the mire of tobacco, women and wine. 
 Choose for companions, my boy, only those who by precept 
 and example will lead you up ; shun as you would the Devil 
 personified those who by hint, innuendo, practice or precept, 
 will destroy your purity of soul and drag it into the filth. 
 
 Especially should the continent man exercise and train his 
 will-power, for the doing of this not only enables him to 
 Jead a continent life, but it as surely guides to success in all 
 business undertakings. Through the right exercise of the 
 will the body is strengthened, the soul enlarged, and right 
 habits of thought and action increase and grow ; for every 
 victory over one's bad habits strengthens the victor. The 
 first mis-step through want of will-power is but " the com- 
 mencement of a long series of failures. Every succeeding 
 conflict is harder, because the last has been lost. Every
 
 THE LAW OF CONTINENCE. 127 
 
 defeat lessens the last trembling remnants of self-reliance. 
 And at last, with the bitterest pain of all self-contempt 
 gnawing at his heart with no strength to say, ' I will not' 
 under the tyrannous dominion of foul passions, which what- 
 ever of good is left in him abhors, the man slinks and stum- 
 bles toward his grave." 
 
 A young man, exercising a firm will and determined pur- 
 pose, can surmount all obstacles that obstruct the path to a 
 continent life. Says Acton : 
 
 " A striking example of what resolution can do was re- 
 lated to me lately by a patient. ' You may be somewhat 
 surprised, Mr. Acton,' said he, ' by the statement I am about 
 to make to you that before my marriage I lived a perfectly 
 continent life. During my university career my passions 
 were very strong, sometimes almost uncontrollable, but I 
 have the satisfaction of thinking that I mastered them ; it 
 was, however, by great efforts. I obliged myself to take vi- 
 olent physical exercise ; I was the best oar 1 of my year, and 
 when I felt particularly strong sexual desires, I sallied out to 
 take more exercise. I was victorious always ; and I never 
 committed fornication. You see in what robust health I am ; 
 it was exercise that alone saved me.' I may mention that 
 this gentleman took a most excellent degree, and has reached 
 the highest point of his profession. Here is an instance of 
 what energy of character, indomitable perseverance, and 
 good health will effect." 
 
 To recapitulate, in as few words as possible, the following 
 are to be strictly avoided by. those whose desire it is to lead 
 a pure, chaste and continent life: 
 
 Tobacco in all its forms. 
 
 All manner of alcoholic liquors. 
 
 Late suppers and over- eating. 
 
 Sweetmeats, candies, etc. 
 
 White bread, when it is possible to get the Graham. 
 
 Pork, and all fat and salt meats, sausages, pickles, oysters, 
 lobsters, eels, etc.
 
 128 THE. SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Salt, except in moderate quantities, pepper, mustard, 
 spices, vinegar, and other condiments. 
 
 Mince and other pies, and all manner of pastry. 
 
 Tea, coffee and chocolate. 
 
 All constriction of dress about the body. 
 
 Idleness and inaction of body and mind. 
 
 Feather beds and pillows, and heavy bed coverings. 
 
 Unventilated and unlighted bedrooms. 
 
 Remaining in bed in the morning after awaking. 
 
 Companions of doubtful or bad natures. 
 
 Irresolute will. 
 
 Uncleanliness of body. 
 
 Turkish and Russian baths. 
 
 Drugs and patent medicines. 
 
 Plantation and all other kinds of " Bitters." 
 
 Quack doctors. 
 
 In the foregoing list there are many things that the ma 
 jority of mankind will think twice about before relinquishing 
 their use. Yet, to the individual whose desire is for a true 
 life, all and each item of the list must be discarded. There 
 is not an article of food, condiment, or so-called luxury, 
 mentioned above, that is in the remotest way necessary to 
 the growth and nourishment of a healthy body and soul. I 
 assert, without the fear of successful contradiction, that any 
 person disregarding, in whole or in part, the foregoing Plan 
 of Life, cannot be healthy, chaste, continent, or even a Chris- 
 tian. A man cannot have a pure, clean, lovable soul in a 
 foul, filthy body, and purity of soul is essentially requisite in 
 a good Christian. Therefore, oh ! man, young and hopeful 
 oh ! woman, fair and trusting, see to it that you discard 
 and avoid these abominations of modern civilization, and use, 
 observe and enjoy only that required for your growth, purity 
 and health of body and soul. 
 
 The things above enumerated you are commanded to dis- 
 card, if you would avoid a sickly, irritable, fretful, licentious, 
 and curtailed life. The things below enumerated you are
 
 THE LA W OF CONTINENCE. 129 
 
 requested to observe, use and enjoy, if you would live a 
 healthy life, a continent life, a happy and a long life : 
 
 Moderate eating of food, and in as nearly as possible its 
 natural condition. 
 
 Two meals a day breakfast at seven or eight o'clock; 
 dinner at two or three o'clock, P.M. 
 
 If more than two meals are taken, the supper to be not 
 later than six o'clock, and very light say, a piece of bread 
 and a glass of water. 
 
 Regularity in eating. 
 
 Using as food 
 
 Bread, mush or gruel made from unbolted wheat ; mush 
 or cakes made from oatmeal, cornmeal; hominy, samp, 
 rice, etc. 
 
 Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, strawberries, blackberries, 
 plums, melons, oranges, figs not in the shape of jellies, pre- 
 serves, etc., but in as nearly their natural state as possible 
 during their season; out of their season, from the dried fruit, 
 in the form of stews, etc. 
 
 Potatoes common and sweet green corn, tomatoes, 
 green peas, squash, cabbage- cut up fine and eaten in its 
 natural state without vinegar shell and string beans, spin- 
 age, spring greens, etc. 
 
 Milk in moderate quantities, cream, butter and cheese in 
 very small quantities, if perfectly sweet, fresh and new. 
 
 Lean mutton, lean beef, chicken ; as little animal food as 
 possible ; best if altogether discarded. 
 
 Not a particle of food, candies, nuts, etc., to be eaten be- 
 tween meals. 
 
 The regular morning evacuation of the bowels. If possi- 
 ble, acquire the habit of evacuating them, at a regular hour, 
 just before retiring to bed. 
 
 Bed and pillows made of corn husk, hair or sponge. 
 
 Rising with prompt and careful regularity immediately on 
 wakijig in the morning, and going to bed at an early and 
 regular hour. 
 
 9
 
 130 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Bedroom to be well lighted, and to be thoroughly venti- 
 lated at night as well as day. 
 
 A hand-bath to be taken every morning, thoroughly and 
 quickly cleaning the surface of the body ; after drying, rapid 
 friction with the palms of the hands (no Turkish or other 
 coarse towels or brushes to be used for this purpose). After 
 friction, while in the nude state, slightly exercise the body 
 by throwing the arms suddenly and forcibly in different di- 
 rections ; and during all this time, if the sun be shining, al- 
 low its rays to fall directly on the body. Between ten and 
 twelve o'clock in the forenoon is the best time for this life- 
 renewing bath and exercise ; but to those 'whose business 
 will not permit this, the early morning hour after rising, or 
 after the morning walk, will suffice. 
 
 During waking hours, excepting while at meals, the con- 
 stant and active exercise of body and brain. 
 
 The daily walk of from five to ten miles morning or eve- 
 ning. 
 
 The cultivation of a firm and determined will. 
 
 The active morning and evening exercise of the religious 
 sentiments. 
 
 In the right and faithful observance of these laws, man 
 vill find all the requirements necessary to the growth of per- 
 fect health, purity of body, nobleness of soul, and, above and 
 over all, continence. By the just observance of these laws, 
 woman will acquire and retain beauty beauty of face, form 
 and character ; and she will retain and gain strength strength 
 of body, mind and soul ; but, above and over all, will she be 
 pure, lovable and chaste.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CHILDREN THEIR DESIRABILITY. 
 
 " Give me children, or else I die." BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 HE necessity for advocating the 
 desirability of propagating and 
 rearing children, most readers 
 may think a superfluity ; yel 
 a few paragraphs on the suh 
 ject are, nevertheless, required. 
 It is absolutely essential to 
 the perfect union of a man and 
 woman that they be endowed 
 with large parental love the 
 desire for and love of chil- 
 dren ; for if they possess not 
 this requisite, it is next to 
 needless for them to marry. 
 The command to " increase 
 and multiply" should be obeyed only in a pure and loving 
 spirit. The originating of children in God's own image 
 should be an intensely active, loving desire on the part of 
 both man and wife. The non-observance of this require- 
 ment is the underlying cause of the dislike for offspring a 
 dislike that is observable among the higher and especially 
 the wealthier classes. It is the underlying cause for the so- 
 called trouble in rearing children ; for when they are not 
 propagated under right conditions, how can any sane parent
 
 132 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 imagine they can be reared under right conditions. Chil- 
 dren can as easily be brought into the world with happy, 
 sunny, laughing natures, as with cross, fretful, irritable na- 
 tures. 
 
 It is a practice to be greatly deplored, this aversion on 
 the part of intelligent, educated and wealthy people to hav- 
 ing large families ; for they could, if their thoughts and ac- 
 tions were rightly directed, do much toward peopling the 
 earth with a better and nobler class of beings. As it is, 
 what a pitiable sight! A husband and wife, educated and 
 surrounded with all that wealth can command, with one or 
 two pale, sickly children, the result of perhaps a ten or 
 twenty years' union. And this dislike for rearing children is 
 infecting the middle and lower classes, and the effects can be 
 distinctly observed in many localities on this broad conti- 
 nent 
 
 What is the cause for this growing antipathy to the gene- 
 rating of bright, sweet and beautiful children ? There are 
 many; but the great, prime cause is licentiousness. Ab- 
 normal amativeness may not in fact, does not often form 
 a constituent part of the woman's organism ; but abnormal 
 amativeness in the man and husband is the answer that 
 solves this riddle of non-desire for children. Next in the 
 list of causes is the trouble mothers have to undergo in 
 their rearing ; and this, coupled with the sickness and danger, 
 attendant on birth and gestation, comprises all the available 
 reasons, on the part of the mother, that can be advanced, 
 excepting those that are of a physical or constitutional na- 
 ture. 
 
 There are some women born with very small parental 
 love, who therefore do not wish nor care for children. 
 Such women are to be pitied and shunned by all men desir- 
 ing wives and mothers. This unnatural quality is as often 
 perhaps oftener found in high life than in any other stratum 
 of society. 
 
 Youth and beauty are both desired by mankind, but es-
 
 CHILDREN THEIR DESIRABILITY. 133 
 
 pecially are they desired by womankind ; and married 
 women need but understand this fact to appreciate it that, 
 in bearing children under right conditions, beauty is retained, 
 if not acquired, and old age is put off a very great way. 
 
 A married life without children is an unlovable and unsat- 
 isfactory life. It is incomplete. It lacks the bands that 
 make perfect the love- union between man and wife the new 
 birth, that makes the twain as one in flesh and spirit. But 
 this incompleteness continues, is widened and confirmed, 
 when the new birth is undesired by either party. 
 
 Men and women do not reach their true status in this 
 world do not fulfill their mission to populate do not attain 
 the full royalty of their natures, until they originate and 
 rear a child ; and in proportion to the number of children 
 they rear is the royalty of their souls perfected, 
 
 Children ! Ah, yes ; it is a glorious privilege, an incom- 
 parable privilege the privilege of rearing, under loving 
 conditions, a family of strong, able, bright, intelligent boys, 
 and healthy, beautiful and lovable girls. Think of the pride 
 and pleasure of Abdon, the Judge of Israel, whose forty sons 
 and thirty grandchildren filed off before him, mounted on 
 threescore and ten ass-colts. How the old man's heart must 
 have bounded with honest exultation when he beheld such 
 a cavalcade of his own raising ! 
 
 Children conceived under the laws laid down in these 
 pages will be to their parents a well-spring of joy, desirable 
 and enjoyable in their sweet innocence, their pleasant ways, 
 their happy natures emblems of a love-life here and a 
 higher love-life hereafter. In the ministering to the child's 
 daily growth of body and expansion of intellect, the mother 
 takes on a renewal of beauty, health and youth. No pleas- 
 ure so intense, no joy so unalloyed, as is the pleasure of a 
 baby born under right conditions. The pleasure, joy and 
 happiness savor of heaven. 
 
 But the child born under undesirable conditions ! Ah, the 
 sorrow, suffering and misery that attend its entrance into
 
 134 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 and exit from this beautiful world cannot be here re- 
 corded. 
 
 A noticeable requirement, in those who endeavor to lead 
 a true and pure life, is that in their every-day expressions 
 and actions they be as little children ; and in no way can the 
 hard-worked man of business or labor so renew his purity of 
 life and freshness of youth as in the companionship of little 
 children while with them to be as one of them, forgetting 
 all outside trouble, living only in the presence of happy, 
 smiling, talkative, lovable, innocent childhood. 
 
 " Blessings on the blessing children, sweetest gifts of heaven to earth, 
 Filling all the heart with gladness, filling all the house with mirth, 
 Br njring with them native sweetness, pictures of the primal bloom, 
 Which the bliss forever gladdens, of the region whence they came." 
 
 The advocating of increase in number of offspring, may 
 suggest to some minds the question of overcrowded popula- 
 tions, with its attendant starvation and misery. This prob- 
 ability has been a source of anxiety to writers on political 
 economy one of them, a reverend philanthropic econo- 
 mist, having assumed that " population unrestrained will ad- 
 vance beyond subsistence" " that population in most coun- 
 tries, at the present period, presses against the means of sub- 
 sistence, and that it tends to do so in all countries." These 
 fears about overcrowding populations are groundless, for *' it 
 is only necessary to remember that, notwithstanding the 
 immense power of reproduction possessed by the animal and 
 vegetable kingdoms, we do not find, after the lapse of many 
 thousand years since their creation, either the terrestrial or 
 celestial spheres insufficient to contain their inhabitants ; nor 
 has the incalculably large reproduction of fishes as yet filled 
 up the ocean ; nor is there, at this day, a civilized popula- 
 tion in any country on the -face of the globe without the 
 means of subsistence." 
 
 " If progress is the fundamental and all-pervading law of 
 the universe, and if the human race is no exception to that
 
 CHILDREN THEIR DESIRABILITY. 135 
 
 law, there is and must be a self-adjusting principle to which 
 mankind will eventually attain. Otherwise there can be no 
 millennial period this side of the future state no rational ba- 
 sis on which to predicate any great reform among men, or 
 advancement of the whole human family in knowledge, vir- 
 tue and happiness." 
 
 When mankind approach the standard of a true life, as 
 they eventually must, the same area of country that now 
 supports ten millions will then support a hundred millions. 
 "The imagination of man cannot compass the magnificence 
 of material wealth, beauty and happiness to which this planet 
 is destined ; or, what is the same thing, of which it is capa- 
 ble. It is not likely that God or man will stop short of work- 
 ing out all its capabilities."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE LAW OF GENIUS. 
 
 O have children is a thing to 
 be greatly desired ; but to 
 have children of well-bal- 
 anced organizations, healthy, 
 beautiful, and possessing the 
 quality of genius in some one 
 or other direction, is a thing 
 every parent should long, 
 strive and work for. 
 
 Why is it that there is so 
 much of the plain and medi- 
 ocre of mankind in the world ? 
 Why is it that, where there 
 is one success in life's en- 
 deavors, there are thousands 
 of failures? Why is it that 
 there is so much sin, misery, 
 suffering and premature death, and so little, so very little of 
 genuine success and happiness ? Why is there so much of 
 the wrong in life, and so little of the right ? These are im- 
 portant questions, and yet easy of solution ; for when it 
 comes to be understood that not more than one child in per- 
 haps ten thousand is brought into the world with the con- 
 sent and loving desire of the parents, and that the other nine 
 thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine children are en-
 
 THE LAW OF GENIUS. 137 
 
 clowed with the accumulated sins of the parents, is it any 
 wonder that there is so much sin, sickness, drunkenness, suf- 
 fering, licentiousness, murder, suicide and premature death, 
 and so little of purity, chastity, success, godliness, happiness 
 and long life in the world ? The reformation of the world 
 can never be accomplished; the millenium of purity, chas- 
 tity and intense happiness can never reach this earth, except 
 through cheerful obedience to pre-natal laws. 
 
 All the educational institutions in the world all the be- 
 nevolent, industrial and reform societies all the anti-tobacco 
 advocates all the temperance societies and all the divines in 
 the world, combined and working harmoniously together, 
 cannot do as much in a life-time of effort, in the elevation of 
 mankind, as can a mother in nine months of pre-natal ef- 
 fort. This is an important assertion, and yet is one that has 
 law, right and God on its side. 
 
 It is a noticeable thing that, in the ruling and guiding of 
 this world, there is absolutely nothing done by chance, from 
 the growth of the smallest insect to that of the largest quad- 
 ruped ; from the falling of a sparrow, to the death of a sin- 
 ner or a Christian ; from the forming of the tiny crystal of 
 dew, to the laborings of the destructive hurricane. In all, 
 and through all, and over all, is the working of God's om- 
 nipotent presence His unchangeable and undeviating laws. 
 In the production of offspring there too must be a law a 
 law of right and wrong and the non-observance of this law 
 entails on its violaters the penalty of a sickly, effeminate, * 
 mediocre, short-lived progeny ; while its close observance 
 brings with it an approach to perfection, in form, feature and 
 soul, of the new-born. 
 
 In the conception of a new soul, the mass of mankind ob- 
 serve no law, unless it be the law of chance. Out of the li- 
 centious or incontinent actions of a husband's nature, con- 
 ception, after a time, is discovered to have taken place. No 
 preparation of body, mind or soul by either parent simply 
 the accidental infusion of the man's hugely abnormal exist-
 
 138 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ence into the unimpregnated germ of the mother ; and un- 
 desired by the father, as interfering with his incontinent na- 
 ture, and dreaded and hated by the mother, a new soul is 
 born into the world a soul having for its inheritance all the 
 essential qualities necessary for a puny, brief, and unsuccess< 
 ful existence. 
 
 And such a formidable array of wrong does this chance 
 mode of creating new beings produce, that it might well 
 have caused angels to weep, and God to have sent His Son 
 as a living exponent of a right, holy and lovable birth, and 
 a pure, sinless and righteous life. Witness the thousands of 
 the lame, the halt, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the de- 
 formed, the idiotic, the weak, the diseased, the drunkards, 
 the gluttons, the debased, that suffer the righteous penalty 
 of a broken sexual law, and that mar the fair surface of this 
 beautiful earth. 
 
 Next comes the great array of the mediocre of mankind, 
 who in conception may or may not have been desired, but 
 who, in the required abilities for the attainment of a high 
 standard of life, are sadly deficient ; and it is with their abil- 
 ities as with their sins they are of the kind that may be 
 termed harmless. They do not enjoy, for they cannot ap- 
 preciate, the glorious privilege of a true existence. It might 
 with truth be said of this large class : they do not live they 
 only vegetate. 
 
 And next follows that class of mankind few in number 
 who, through accident, were generated under nearly right 
 conditions, and who, therefore, while on this earth, asserted 
 the strong individuality of their high natures, and who so 
 stamped the original of their souls on the world's highways, 
 and byways, as to require no granite pile or marble monu- 
 ment to record the fact that they were born, lived and died. 
 
 And lastly we come to that class fewest in number of 
 all who, desired by both parents, were generated under 
 right, loving and holy conditions, and who in their life-pil- 
 grimage knew only of the bright side of life, and experi-
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 139 
 
 meed only the successes of life ; who, in their pre-natal 
 formation, took on the joy, the glory and happiness that ap- 
 pertain to a soul in harmony with God's divine law of love, 
 and who during life here maintained their supremacy of 
 character and soul over their unfortunately conceived fellow- 
 beings, and who during the life hereafter will increase and 
 establish that supremacy. 
 
 The influence of a right birthright on the future welfare 
 of mankind is immense. A statistician has estimated that 
 every married couple producing offspring may calculate upon 
 over four million of descendants in five hundred years. And 
 then the influence of well-directed or mis-directed laws, 
 in the conception of a new life, does not stop at its exit from 
 this world. Oh ! no ; it extends into eternity. Give birth 
 to a human being under conditions that will make it an im- 
 becile or an idiot, and the parents or any sane person will 
 not for a moment think that, after its death, it will in the 
 next world bloom into a Shakespeare, a Milton, or Bacon. 
 Endow a new life with a licentious, gluttonous, unclean and 
 wicked nature, and no right-thinking observer will decide 
 that, as soon as such a soul leaves this earth, it will take 
 on the garments of purity, innocence, chastity and holiness. 
 Therefore, it behooves all parents to see to it that they learn 
 the law, understand and practice it. 
 
 The fundamental principles of genius in reproduction are 
 that, through the rightly-directed efforts of the wills of the 
 mother and father, preceding and during ante-natal life, the 
 child's form of body, character of mind, and purity of soul, 
 are formed and established. That in its plastic state, during 
 ante- natal life, like clay in the hands of the potter, it can be 
 'molded into absolutely any form of body and soul the parents 
 may knowingly desire. 
 
 And now for the unfolding of this law : 
 
 There are in this direction, as in many others, obstacles 
 some trifling, some apparently insurmountable. Let me no- 
 tice some of them.
 
 140 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 It is required, in the generation of healthy, intelligent and 
 lovable children, primarily that the woman have perfect 
 health and this implies a rigid observance of the Plan of 
 Life in a former chapter. Now some women are not healthy, 
 and while there is the remotest indication of any mental or 
 physical disease nervous, inflammatory or chronic they 
 should not bear children until they regain their normal 
 standard of life. Women who prevent the normal working 
 of their life's internal economy by corsets, or strictures of 
 any kind, should not bear children, for they cannot possibly 
 rear healthy or desirable offspring. It is useless for this 
 class of women to say that their corsets and bands are worn 
 loose ; for they must, if they desire the pleasures rather than 
 the pains of maternity, discard them at once and for all 
 time. If they assert that their smallness of waists are not 
 made by corsets or tight dresses, but as Nature (!) made 
 them, the reason is much more palpable that they bear no- 
 children until, through proper exercise and living, they as- 
 sist Nature to give them a proper form. 
 
 Another class of women who should not bear offspring are 
 those whose only aim and purpose in life is to observe, study 
 and follow the empress Fashion. A woman and there are 
 many having no higher aim or object in life than the de- 
 sire to be in the latest fashion, cannot bring into life a being 
 that will redound to her own honor and God's glory. 
 
 The requirements in the woman who aspires to be a moth- 
 er, under the directions of this Law of Genius, are : 
 
 That she be perfectly healthy, having no acquired or her- 
 editary disease. 
 
 That she be well formed, with a full-sized waist and broad 
 pelvis. 
 
 That she be capable of nursing her children. 
 
 That she think more of the vital purposes of life than of 
 the superficial follies and fashions of the day. 
 
 That she possess a religious nature. 
 
 The requirements in the man are:
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 141 
 
 That he be perfectly healthy, having no constitutional or 
 hereditary taint of disease. 
 
 That he be well formed. 
 
 That he be free from the disgusting and degrading habits 
 of using toba -co and alcoholic liquors. 
 
 That he be a continent man. 
 
 That he be a Christian man. 
 
 Finally, v hat is most important of all, let the husband 
 and wife be one, or nearly one, in mind and soul, unselfishly 
 and lovingly living together, and working together for the 
 common object of success, and the pleasure that comes of 
 success. 
 
 The perfectly healthy and loving union of the husband and 
 wife being established, the next move leads us into the in- 
 quiry concerning the time or times of preparation for con- 
 ceiving and establishing the character of the New Life. 
 
 The period of transmitted influence may be divided into 
 three distinct divisions the first, the one lunar month before 
 the morning of impregnation, which four weeks may be 
 called the period of introductory preparation. The next di- 
 vision the nine months of intro- uterine life, or the period 
 of gestatory influence ; and the last division the twelve 
 months of nursing, the period of nursing influence. 
 
 During, or rather at the end of the period of introductory 
 preparation, the husband's impress of life and character is 
 direct on the formation of the New Life. During the last 
 two divisions his impress is only accessory that is, only as 
 he can influence and guide the soul of the mother. 
 
 During the different periods, the mother's influence is 
 present and paramount, and on her, in the greatest measure, 
 rests the high and holy destiny of the child. 
 
 When, in the woman, an egg leaves the ovaries, it is car- 
 ried to the uterus, where it remains some days, and is finally 
 cast off. The longer the egg remains in the uterus, the more 
 it loses in firmness of texture, and this loss of firmness con- 
 tinues until it is thrown off. Therefore, the egg should be
 
 142 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 impregnated in its freshest and firmest state and this is as 
 soon after the cessation of the menses as is desirable. If 
 then impregnated, you have a strong, firm, healthy organ- 
 ized child ; whereas, if impregnated at or just before being 
 cast off, the chances are a weak, puny child. 
 
 The period of introductory preparation, then, ante- dates 
 four weeks from the time desired for sexual congress, which 
 time is to follow the cessation of the menses. 
 
 Now, during this four weeks an egg is ripening in the 
 ovary of the woman, and during this period the mother can 
 exert a wonderful influence on the future life of the child. 
 
 In the husband, during this period of four weeks ante-da- 
 ting sexual congress, will slowly be secreted if he is as he 
 ought to be, a continent man spernir cells. These sperm- 
 cells, through his earnest desire for offspring, will slowly take 
 on the nature of zoosperms, and as in proportion to the ef- 
 fort of his four-weeks' introductory preparation, and its im- 
 pression on the zoosperms, so will his desires be incorpo- 
 rated in the life-tissue of the child. 
 
 It must be remembered that, in all these seasons of prepa- 
 ration, the husband and wife must have precisely similar ob- 
 jects in view. Their hopes and aims must be alike ; their 
 desires, thoughts and actions must be similar. 
 
 Though I have allotted but four weeks as the season of 
 introductory preparation, yet, if either parent have bad hab- 
 its they do not wish to transmit to their offspring, they 
 should make this period much longer say, four or six 
 months, or, if required, twelve months. Some insects . live 
 from two to four years in preparation for the generative act, 
 and then, so great is the drain on their life-force, that after 
 it they live but an hour. 
 
 The man should during this introductory period of foui 
 weeks, four or twelve months 
 
 If he use tobacco, give up its use. 
 
 If he use alcoholic liquors, relinquish the habit 
 
 If he be gluttonous, to " eat only to live."
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 143 
 
 If he have irregular habits, he should adopt order and 
 method. 
 
 If he be of an untruthful nature, he should endeavor to 
 be truth personified. 
 
 If he have profane tendencies, he should cultivate rever- 
 ence for things sacred. 
 
 It must be understood that this four weeks of introductory 
 preparation is only applicable to the man who approaches a 
 high standard of life ; four to twelve months being almost a 
 necessity for the man whose habits of life are false, unnatu- 
 ral and undesirable. 
 
 The woman, during this four weeks, should 
 
 If she dresses tightly, adopt a very loose and short dress, 
 so arranged with braces that the weight of the clothes will 
 rest on the shoulders. 
 
 If she be much in-doors, take a daily walk or pleasant 
 out-door exercise. 
 
 If she be greatly troubled with company friends or tran- 
 sient visitors she should induce them to postpone their vis- 
 its until a more convenient season. 
 
 If she have irregular habits of life, she should cultivate or- 
 der in all the daily household requirements. 
 
 The husband and wife, during this period, should occupy 
 separate beds, and altogether should follow, as nearly as pos- 
 sible the Plan of Life given in a preceding chapter. 
 
 The chief requisite in those who would transmit desirable 
 qualities to the offspring is strength of will and firmness 
 of purpose. The determined exercise of the will-power is 
 an essential requisite, and one that all parents should assidu- 
 ously cultivate. If a husband and wife say: " We will follow 
 out the principles of this ' Science of a New Life' we will 
 do all these things," and constantly and persistently exercise 
 the will-element in the required direction, they can, in the 
 formation of the New Life, accomplish almost any idea of 
 the human form desired. 
 
 If inquired into, it will be noticed that the majority of the
 
 144 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 parents of the world's acknowledged great and good men 
 and women, were not in any way renowned for the gifts 
 their sons and daughters so markedly displayed that they 
 in most cases are never mentioned, never even thought of. 
 They simply, through the accidental observance of this Law 
 of Genius, bequeathed to their children genius in full or 
 great measure. This being so, it is not difficult to under- 
 stand that the possession by both parents of an ordinary, or 
 full and evenly developed organization, coupled at all times 
 with the full exercise of the will-power, is all that is requi- 
 red, intellectually, to generate beautiful and talented chil- 
 dren. 
 
 And this is so ; although, where either parent has a com- 
 bination of faculties that approximates in its exercise the 
 quality of genius, by the assiduous cultivation of this qual- 
 ity during the periods of preparation, it can be greatly in- 
 creased in quantity and quality in the offspring. Yet it is 
 not absolutely required that the parents have other than an 
 even and well-balanced mental and physical organization. 
 
 Perhaps, before going further, it would be well to define 
 what is meant by genius. Webster defines it to be " the pe- 
 culiar structure of mind which is given by Nature to an in- 
 dividual, or that disposition or bent of mind which qualifies 
 him for a particular employment ; a particular natural talent 
 or aptitude of mind for a particular study or course of life ; 
 as a genius for history, for poetry, or painting." 
 
 It may be argued that, if this Law of Genius should be 
 adopted by the majority of parents, the world would be 
 overcrowded with geniuses. And this is just what is de- 
 sired and hoped for by the author. Why is it that every 
 trade and profession in life, from the boot-black to the teach- 
 er and minister, is so crowded with the mediocre, and there- 
 fore so unsuccessful ? Simply from lack of genius. Why is 
 it that so many fail in mercantile pursuits ? Simply from 
 lack of genius. Why is it that there are so few success- 
 ful farmers ? so many inferior mechanics ? in short, so
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 145 
 
 much misery ? Simply and only because of lack of genius. 
 It is required in a successful mechanic as much as in a suc- 
 cessful statesman that he should possess genius. It is re- 
 quired in a successful shoemaker as much as in a successful 
 novelist that he should possess genius. This being so, 
 we cannot possibly over-people the earth with offspring hav- 
 ing the divine quality of genius. 
 
 The demand for talent which implies genius in every 
 department of life's efforts is great and constantly increas- 
 ing. Men (and women) of common-place abilities are super- 
 abundant, whereas the men of energy, of ability and genius, 
 are sadly few. In this intensely progressive age, only those 
 who are strong of body and brilliant of intellect are asked 
 for and wanted. 
 
 Parents having a grown son, whose education is complete, 
 a great trouble arises as to what particular department in the 
 world's workshop he shall enter. " Shall we make of him a 
 minister or carpenter ? an editor or peddler ? a statesman 
 or farmer ?" And when eventually the choice is made, the 
 chances are as one in a thousand that he has made a mis- 
 take that the department chosen is not suited to his abili- 
 ties. Now, by the observance of this Law of Genius, this 
 doubt of choice can be avoided ; for it is required that the 
 choice of trade or profession for the New Life be decided on 
 before even its conception. The mother and father must de- 
 cide, before the commencement of the four weeks of prepa- 
 ration, what character and occupation the coming child is to 
 possess and follow, and by and through this decision the fu- 
 ture success of the individual is not only settled but guar- 
 anteed. 
 
 Life being so short, and art so long, it is always desirable 
 in the conception of a new being that but one trade or pro- 
 fession be fixed on, and but one branch of that trade or pro- 
 fession. If, for instance, it is the desire of the parents to 
 have the child an artist, it should be some one of the divis- 
 ions of artist-life either a painter of human heads, animals, 
 
 10
 
 146 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 or landscapes. If a farmer, that it should be a stock-raiser, 
 a fruit-grower, a grain-grower, etc. and so, in almost every 
 department of labor, only one line or specialty should be 
 adopted ; for the quality of genius, spread over many branch- 
 es or departments of labor, is weakened; whereas, if embod- 
 ied in one single quality or combination of qualities, it 
 grows, increases and is strengthened by exercise, and is in- 
 variably more thoroughly effective in its action. 
 
 I think that there is no occupation so favorable and so de- 
 sirable for the growth and welfare, prosperity and happiness 
 of the individual as is farming. Farmers, under right con- 
 ditions and habits of life, are, or should be, the blessed of 
 mankind. From their loins should spring, in echo to the 
 Law of Genius, the bright, the beautiful, the successful, the 
 geniuses of the world. And yet this is lamentably not the 
 case, and why ? Because they live under such wrong con- 
 ditions of life, when it is within their reach to live as nearly 
 within the line of Nature's laws as it is possible for mortals. 
 Why is it that sons and daughters born on the farm possess 
 such an eager, determined desire to leave it ? Because, 
 through these same wrong conditions of life, the mother is 
 worried, tired and sick of the drudgery of farm-life, and 
 longs to be released from it. This desire by the mother is 
 ingrained in the organization of the unborn, which is the 
 reason so many young men leave the bright, beautiful coun- 
 try, and crowd into the dusty heated cities. Now there 
 must be something radically wrong in the life of a farmer, 
 else this could not be, and the cause of this particular evil 
 happens to be the root of all evil money. If I possessed 
 the re-distributing of the land on this continent, I would 
 apportion it thus : To all farmers, fifty acres each ; to subur- 
 ban residents, five acres each ; and to residents of cities, one 
 city lot each with no privilege, at any or at all times, to 
 increase these respective quantities. A farmer who does his 
 work thoroughly and understandingly, can make more mon- 
 ey (if this be his object in life) with less work and more
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 147 
 
 pleasure and recreation, on a small farm of twenty-five or 
 fifty acres, than he could by the possession of a farm of five 
 hundred or a thousand acres only half tilled. 
 
 In England, many farmers support large families on the 
 produce of six English acres of land, beside paying heavy 
 taxes. Many in Germany do even better than this. 
 
 There are a few instances where men may occasionally 
 succeed, but they are exceptions to the rule of large farm- 
 ing. The large farmer has to expend more than the small 
 farmer in the way of teams, wagons, implements and ma' 
 chinery ; hired help ; heavy taxes on large tracts of land ; 
 stock and personal properties, which he necessarily has to 
 accumulate ; then there is the wear and tear of harness and 
 tools ; the continual expense of keeping up fences, build- 
 ings, etc. Last, and not least, there must needs be a great 
 amount of capital invested in all this necessary outfit for a 
 large farm. 
 
 The small farmer, on his fifty acres or less, with one good 
 team, himself and a little hired help, or his own boys, if he 
 has any, can perform the labor of improving his farm, culti- 
 vating and harvesting his crop, with a moderate expenditure ; 
 and when he foots up his accounts at the end of the year, 
 will come out ahead of his large-farm neighbor. The secret of 
 success in farming is manuring, deep plowing, and thorough 
 tillage. This is more easily done on small tracts of land, and 
 much more likely to be done, than on the large farm. 
 
 Small farming can be done more scientifically and syste- 
 matically than it is generally practicable to have done on 
 large farms ; and the consequence is that more is produced 
 - to the acre than is the result of large farming. 
 
 The safe and sure guide for the farmer is to attempt the 
 cultivation of no more acres than he can keep in perfect 
 good . heart, and every day's experience demonstrates the 
 fact that, with occasional exceptions, a little farm well tilled 
 is more profitable in the end than a large one indifferently 
 cultivated. We once read a story of a Frenchman who had
 
 148 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 two daughters. One of them married, and received one- 
 half of the paternal vineyard as her dowry. To the old 
 man's surprise, the half he had reserved, receiving as much 
 cultivation as he formerly bestowed upon the whole, yielded 
 as much as the whole had. The second married, and he 
 gave her one-half of what he had left, and still had as many 
 grapes from his remaining fourth as he used to get from the 
 whole. There is a whole volume of practical truth in this 
 little anecdote. Its moral is : attempt the cultivation of no 
 more land than you can cultivate well and thoroughly. 
 
 Another thing against the purity of a farmer's life, and es- 
 pecially so adverse to rearing of clean, healthy and beauti- 
 ful children, is the unnecessary filth that usually attaches it- 
 self to the farms of those whose ideality is undeveloped. A 
 pure, sweet, healthy child cannot be raised in the vicinity of 
 a hog-pen, with its ever-present foul odors tainting God's 
 pure atmosphere. But to stop here at what farmers should 
 not do I will briefly mention what a farmer should do, 
 whose desire is for the most legitimate, healthy, artistic and 
 happy life on this earth. 
 
 He should possess a small farm of not more than fifty 
 acres. He should adopt one not more than two special- 
 ties the raising of apples, peaches, small fruits, or grain ; 
 horses, cattle and sheep, etc., to be decided on by the na- 
 ture of his land, location, etc. It should be understood, in 
 this age of rapid progress, that the man who adopts special- 
 ties is for many reasons most likely to succeed. He should 
 employ, as fast as it is in his power to do so, all the modern 
 implements of husbandry, and so allow him more time for 
 exercise of brain and less labor of muscle. He should cul- 
 tivate the beautiful on his person, family, in and around his 
 house and this does not imply a great outlay of money. 
 Neatness and cleanliness of person, perfect order in all the 
 household economy ; a vase of flowers here, and a house- 
 plant there ; one or more steel engravings, lithographs, chro- 
 mos or photographs adorning the walls ; a few books, and
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS, 149 
 
 one or two weekly and monthly publications all these are 
 within the reach of the poorest, and should be adopted by 
 all. A farmer's work should be so arranged as to allow him 
 a certain portion of each day for instruction and recreation. 
 In nothing else are his mistakes so demonstra- 
 ble as in the daily life of the women of his household ; for 
 if there be one position in life more than another in which the 
 term " slave" is applicable, it is the position of wife and wo- 
 men-assistants to a farmer. A woman, in her health, youth 
 and beauty, marries a farmer, and in a few, very few years 
 she is woefully altered. The everlasting household drudgery 
 of the farm-life dulls and lowers her fine organization, sinks 
 all the spiritual into the animal of her nature, and unfits her 
 to be a mother in Israel. 
 
 The principal cause of this overwork in the woman, next 
 to the extra drudgery attendant on the possession of an over- 
 sized and under-worked farm, is in the preparation of the 
 meals for the family. It is popularly supposed that a farmer 
 requires more nourishment than any other class of laborers. 
 This is so only in a measure, and if farmers would adopt a 
 vegetarian diet and the two-meals-a-day system, of break- 
 fast at eight and dinner at two or three o'clock, they would 
 do an immense deal toward helping their wives to a more 
 enjoyable and natural mode of life ; for it is noticeable that 
 the breakfast is not well over before it is time to commence 
 dinner, and dinner is not well cleared away before it is time 
 for supper ; especially is this so in the short days of winter. 
 Now most of the overwork can be avoided by the two-meals 
 vegetarian system. The adoption of this plan allows the 
 woman time for recreation, reading, thought, observation ; 
 while the farm-laborers, husband and family will, after being 
 acclimated to this new mode of life, be stronger, healthier, 
 happier, more intelligent and wealthier. This system of veg- 
 etarianism and two meals a day is one among the great re- 
 forms of the age, and I earnestly advise, not alone farmers, 
 but all other classes of society, to seriously think of it, to
 
 ISO THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 purchase works on the subject, to inquire into it, and espec- 
 ially to give it a long and thorough trial, and in no wise, 
 without thought and reflection, set their faces against it. 
 Next to licentiousness, gluttony is the great crying evil of 
 the day, and in no way can it be so well avoided as by adopt- 
 ing the system of a vegetarian diet and two meals a day. 
 
 I do not intend, at this time, to enlarge on the benefits to 
 be derived from vegetarianism and the two-meals system, 
 but will here give an extract from Adam Smith's " Wealth 
 of Nations," and hope it will tend to provoke inquiry, 
 thought and action on the subject. 
 
 Adam Smith informs us that 
 
 " The most beautiful women in the British dominions are 
 said to be, the greater part of them, from the lower ranks of 
 the people of Ireland, who are generally fed with potatoes. 
 The peasantry of Lancashire and Cheshire, also, who live 
 principally on potatoes and buttermilk, are celebrated as th& 
 handsomest race in England. 
 
 " The peasantry of Wales, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Den- 
 mark, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, 
 Portugal, and almost every country in Europe, from the most 
 northern part of Russia to the Straits of Gibraltar, subsist 
 principally, and most of them entirely, on vegetable food. 
 The Persians, Hindoos, Burmese, Chinese, Japanese, the in- 
 habitants of East India Archipelago, of the mountains of 
 Himalayah, and, in fact, most of the Asiatics, live upon veg- 
 etable productions. The great body of the ancient Egyp- 
 tians and Persians confined themselves to a vegetable diet ; 
 and the Egyptians of the present day, as well as the Ne- 
 groes (whose great bodily powers are well known), live 
 chiefly on vegetable substances. The brave Spartans, who, 
 for muscular power, physical energy, and ability to endure 
 hardships, perhaps stand unequalled in the history of na- 
 tions, were vegetarians. The departure from their simple 
 diet was soon followed by their decline. The armies of 
 Greece and Rome, in the times of their unparalleled con-
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 1 5 1 
 
 quests, subsisted on vegetable productions. In the training 
 for the public games in Greece, where muscular strength was 
 to be exhibited in all its various forms, vegetable food was 
 adhered to ; but when flesh-meat was adopted afterward, 
 those hitherto athletic men became sluggish and stupid. 
 From two-thirds to three-fourths of the whole human fam- 
 ily, from the creation of the species to the present time, have 
 subsisted entirely, or nearly so, on vegetable food; and al- 
 ways, when their alimentary supplies of this kind have been 
 abundant and of good quality, and their habits have been in 
 other respects correct, they have been well nourished and 
 well sustained in all the physiological interests of their na- 
 ture." 
 
 I earnestly enjoin not only parents who are farmers, but 
 all other parents who purpose generating a new life, and de- 
 sire to practice this Law of Genius, that they adopt the veg- 
 etarian mode of life, for it will tell wonderfully and power- 
 fully on the beauty, health, strength, intelligence and ability 
 of their offspring. 
 
 The cities would be no cities were it not for the country. 
 The strength, the beauty, the ability, the bone and sinew of 
 a nation's hopes and successes, lie dormant in the men and 
 women of the country ; and for this reason have I said so 
 much of farmers and farming because of its very great im- 
 portance. 
 
 The first thing the husband and wife should do, in the 
 formation of the New Life, is to decide on the particular 
 trade or profession, or particular department of that trade or 
 profession, the unborn is to follow a farmer, actor, watch- 
 maker, tanner, singer, musician, orator, historian, landscape 
 or portrait painter, milliner, merchant, soldier, shoemaker, 
 manufacturer, sculptor, mechanic, lecturer, machinist, preach- 
 er, printer, phrenologist, gardener, inventor, florist, canvas- 
 ser, engraver, chemist, contractor, author, baker, architect, 
 dentist, physician, diplomatist, explorer, etc. Each of these 
 trades or professions require different combinations of differ-
 
 152 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ent faculties ; and yet, as will be shown further on, it is not 
 necessary that the parents have any previous knowledge of 
 the practical workings of any of these trades or professions, 
 to enable them to transmit the desired qualities to their off- 
 spring. 
 
 This having been done, the next move is a series of self- 
 inquiries, by the parents, concerning different qualities, hab- 
 its, or idiosyncrasies of character, that they do not desire to 
 transmit to their offspring. Let me illustrate : if one or 
 both parents are in the habit of using tobacco this not be- 
 ing a desirable quality to transmit it should, if only for a 
 time, be rigidly kept out of the system ; and so of alcoholic 
 liquors. For be it understood, that a child born of parents 
 who are perfect, pure, and clear from any taint of tobacco or 
 alcohol, will not, cannot, during any time of its life on earth, 
 be bribed or tempted to touch these abominations ; whereas 
 a child born of parents who use both will take as naturally 
 to tobacco and whisky as does the father or mother. In this 
 matter of transmitted vices, it is not necessary that both pa- 
 rents should practice them. The ' father alone doing so is 
 sufficient. A husband using tobacco or alcoholic liquors, 
 living in the same house, sleeping in the same bed with his 
 wife, cannot do so without her organization absorbing 
 irom his, the debilitating essence of the excretory de- 
 partment of his body. This of itself is sufficient to trans- 
 mit the habit, not to mention the husband's direct influence 
 on the character of the unborn. 
 
 Again, if one or both of the parents lack system or or- 
 der, they should, during the four weeks of preparation, as 
 well as during the gestatory and nursing periods, cultivate as- 
 siduously the faculty of having a place for everything, and 
 everything in its place. Order is the first great law of Na- 
 ture. Order of thought of mind, of person, of surround- 
 ings, of action, is a fundamental necessity to success. There- 
 fore, in all you do, from the least thing to the greatest, care- 
 fully observe order.
 
 THE LAW OF GENIUS. 153 
 
 Again, if one or both parents lack truthfulness of charac- 
 ter and action, they should strive, with the whole force of 
 their better nature, not to lie in thought, word or action ; 
 for if there be one sin more wide-spread than another, in this 
 our day and generation, it is that of lying 
 
 Again, if the parents lack reverence for God and things 
 holy, they should cultivate the spiritual and devotional of 
 their natures during this period. 
 
 Or if the parents have any other undesirable qualities of 
 thought or action, great or small, which they do not desire 
 to transmit, tJiey should persistently avoid them, and strenu- 
 ously cultivate the opposite. 
 
 So far, then, it is understood that the husband and wife 
 are lovingly mated ; that they are both in perfect health, 
 free from all physical and mental incongruities ; that they 
 have lived strictly continent lives ; that they have adopted 
 the Plan of Life as their rule of life ; that they have decided 
 on the trade or profession desired in the offspring ; that they 
 have well-balanced organizations, and can generate offspring 
 of happy, sunny, loving dispositions ; having some one trait 
 of character the exercise of which constitutes genius ; and 
 that, finally, they both knowingly, earnestly, and lovingly 
 desire to produce a child. 
 
 Now we have arrived at the commencement of the period 
 of Introductory Preparation the four weeks preceding the 
 time fixed for the generative act. This period should be 
 characterized by its intensity of thought, feeling and action 
 in the parents. They should work together lovingly, per- 
 sistently, determinedly, in the direction for the formation of 
 the character of the New Life. If they have bad habits of 
 mind and body, they should, with the whole force of strong 
 and determined wills, trample them under foot, annihilate 
 them, forget them, and in their stead cultivate the right, the 
 true, the pure and the beautiful. 
 
 This much determined on and acted on, brings us to the 
 requisites necessary to establish, in the life-tissue of the un-
 
 154 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 born, the pursuit of life intended for its support and educa- 
 tion, happiness and welfare, while in this world a trade or 
 profession the faculty or combination of faculties required 
 for such having in their origin and exercise the element of 
 genius. 
 
 Just here a new difficulty may suggest itself. " What if 
 we decide upon a trade or profession intended for an unborn 
 boy> and a girl should present herself instead ?" This can 
 be avoided by attention to the paragraphs on the Theory of 
 Sex in a former chapter. Yet, if these theories should fail 
 in their application, no harm would be done rather 
 good. There should be no station in life in which man 
 works that woman, under right conditions, should not be 
 competent to fill. And she can and will fill it, in opposition 
 to all opposers of " Woman's Rights," if from her birth she 
 be endowed with the genius requisite for its demonstration. 
 Endow the unborn woman with the genius for an inventor, 
 lecturer, farmer, chemist, sculptor, editor, jeweler, naviga- 
 tor, soldier, etc., and she will, notwithstanding all opposition, 
 assert her ability and individuality over her mediocre male 
 competitors. Therefore, if, on closely following the Theory 
 of Sex, it should fail in its hoped-for results, be not discour- 
 aged, but carry out precisely the same line of preparation as 
 would have been done if the birth had been of the male 
 sex. 
 
 I will, by way of illustrating the habits of thought and 
 action the husband and wife should follow, give the details of 
 preparation for one or more trades or professions : 
 
 Let us suppose that it is the desire of the parents to have 
 a child who will be an inventor. In this case the parents 
 should practically cultivate, by thought, word and action, 
 the requirements for a genius for invention, and this choice 
 of employment can be made through the attempt to discover 
 a new motor power to the origination of some article or im- 
 provement that would apply to every-day household require- 
 ments, and that would be a necessity to the age. Make
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 1 5 5 
 
 models of it, think of it, talk of it. They should subscribe 
 to one or more scientific papers, should read the lives of em- 
 inent inventors, and especially study and interpret scientific 
 works ; the husband and wife to work together, think to- 
 gether, talk together, experiment together, with the enthu- 
 siasm of intensely interested souls. 
 
 Just here it would be .well to observe that, previous to the 
 commencement of any conformity to the Law of Genius, it 
 is almost absolutely necessary that the parents should supply 
 themselves with all the books and any papers that may be 
 devoted to the specialty of the trade or profession they pur- 
 pose endowing the New Life with. 
 
 This may entail some expense at the time, but nothing in 
 comparison to what it would cost, in after years, to educate 
 their children and train them for some special trade or pro- 
 fession, which they would probably have no taste for. And 
 here it should be recorded that poets, novelists, inventors, 
 etc., arc not made by education or training ; they are and 
 must be born with the quality of genius, else all the teaching 
 and training of a life-time will be of no avail. They will 
 ever remain at or below the level of mediocrity ; they never 
 will, never possibly can, rise into the realms where genius 
 predominates and directs. 
 
 There is no such thing as a " self-made man," concerning 
 whom we hear and read so much of; for if a man has not 
 transmitted to him by his parents the qualities necessary to 
 great success, all the self-exertion of a life-time will not raise 
 him above the line of mediocrity ; whereas, if a child is en- 
 dowed with genius supposing he be suckled in poverty, 
 reared in adversity, and attain his growth in rags he will, 
 despite his advent under such adverse circumstances, rise 
 slowly, it may be, but nevertheless surely into the dignity 
 of success, and the rank of that of a so-called " self-made 
 man," which is but a name or indication of a worked- out 
 and developed quality of transmitted genius. 
 
 In the expense for the education of a child, the debtor
 
 156 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 side of the account should be opened before the child is gen- 
 erated at least before the end of its pre-natal existence. 
 This early opening of the account will do more toward the 
 after-education of the child than all the schools, academies 
 and colleges in Christendom. 
 
 If it is desired to make the New Life a fruit- grower (a 
 more natural, pleasant, and happier life than which is not to 
 be found), the parents should devote their whole attention to 
 such. They should experiment with different varieties of 
 fruits, should study the nature of fruit-sex, and the origina- 
 ting of new varieties, and they should together enthusiastic- 
 ally read, study and eat fruit. 
 
 Or a geologist. They should together take long walks, 
 into different parts of the country, and study the earth's na- 
 ture or formation, and especially read, get interested in and 
 admire books on the subject. 
 
 Or a working engineer. The wife, after discarding her 
 fashionable, wide and long dress, and adopting a short, close, 
 comfortable, and more natural costume, should have the 
 privilege of assisting or working with her husband in a ma- 
 chine-shop or engine-room. They together, with their books 
 on the subject, and papers with the latest mechanical discov- 
 eries, should get intensely interested in all the details of me- 
 chanical movements, power, velocity, etc. 
 
 Or a portrait painter. In the direction of artist-life, it is 
 desirable that the wife have a slight taste for or knowledge 
 of drawing. Yet, if the woman is anxious and earnest in the 
 desire to have her child an artist, this may not be required. 
 After reading books on the subject, the lives of eminent art- 
 ists, and perhaps a few lessons (or lessons may be taken du- 
 ring the three periods of transmitted influence, though this 
 would have a tendency to destroy originality), let the pa- 
 rents but especially the wife^-every day of this season of 
 preparation practice drawing and painting. Let them 
 encourage one another, help one another, and especially en- 
 deavor to excel each other. The same directions apply to
 
 THE LAW OF GENIUS. 157 
 
 landscape and animal painting, still life, etc. ; only it must be 
 remembered that in this department, as in all others, when 
 they are capable of subdivision, only one department or spec- 
 ialty must be adopted. If it is the desire to have a child who 
 will be a portrait painter let it be only a portrait painter ; 
 if a painter of humorous scenes of life let only the comic 
 side of life be transferred to paper, and canvass. 
 
 Or, if a teacher, let the husband and wife take charge for 
 a time of a small class of children including their own, if 
 they have any on week-days, and a class on Sunday. Let 
 them lovingly and knowingly educate these children, and in 
 'educating them let them apply the rudiments of phrenology 
 and physiognomy in the character of the analysis of each 
 pupil, and in their instruction and management let them be 
 guided by this analysis. The position of teacher is one of 
 the most important positions in this world, and I think no 
 man or woman should be one unless they know how to ap- 
 ply the truths of phrenology. Beside this, the parents in 
 turn should give the pupils short lectures or discourses on 
 practical physiology, the right and wrong way of life, etc. 
 The adoption of this pursuit for the unborn child, and its ac- 
 tive and intense application by the parents insures to the 
 New Life the genius for teaching, lecturing, and analyzing 
 human character, thought and action. It is a splendid 
 department in the world's workshop, this one of teacher and 
 lecturer, and one in which there is much mediocrity 
 and very little genius. 
 
 Or, if a musician, let the parents learn, understand and 
 practice music, and let it be but one of its many depart- 
 ments sacred, operatic, social, martial, comic or national. 
 Let them try to compose original pieces, and continue try- 
 ing. A song-writer and music-composer combined in the 
 same individual is rare, and yet it gives the composer a won- 
 derful advantage to set music to his own words. The pa- 
 rents having the shadow of ability in this two-fold direction, 
 should carry out and impress the desire on the soul of the 
 unborn.
 
 158 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Or, if a short-hand reporter, let the parents obtain the 
 books, learn the art, and together industriously practice it. 
 
 And so of any other trade or profession in life, from the 
 smallest to the greatest, the positive, determined, and loving 
 exercise of the faculties required in the knowledge of it will 
 insure their great increase and improvement in the character 
 of the New Life. 
 
 This Law of Genius can be followed by the poorest as well 
 as richest, and is as much a requirement to the day-laborer 
 as to the diplomatist. The quality of genius is as necessary 
 to the making of a pair of boots as in the directing of an 
 army ; as necessary in the hoeing of a hill of corn as in the 
 construction of a steamship ; as necessary in the building of 
 a stone fence as in the erection of a cathedral and, for these 
 reasons, this law should be observed by all mankind. 
 
 It must be understood that the parents, in the observance of 
 this law during the period of transmitted influence, do not 
 require to learn any trade or profession they fix on, so much 
 as to try to learn it. In this ten months of determined effort 
 lies concealed the influence that makes the child a genius. 
 The active exercise of any organ or combination of organs, 
 in the continued and persistent direction of any particular 
 employment, causes a large flow of blood and increased ner- 
 vous power in that organ, or combination of organs, which 
 is reflected directly to the self-same organs of the child in 
 utero, which in their plastic state take on in size, quality and 
 power, the elements which constitute genius. 
 
 Therefore, parents will understand that in the exercise of 
 the requirements essential to establish genius in their un- 
 born child, it is not so necessary to acquire a full knowl- 
 edge of the particular trade or profession as it is to try, to 
 experiment, to endeavor. Try hard, try persistently, try con- 
 stantly, during the period of transmitted influence, and my 
 word on it aye, my very life on it, the results will more 
 than exceed your greatest hopes and most anxious de- 
 sires.
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS, 159 
 
 Genius of itself, unless well directed, is not to be desired, 
 and to this end there are what are called governing faculties, 
 and faculties that assist and wait on the predominant power. 
 The principal of these, and ones that should ever be present 
 in the life-plans of the individual, are the moral sentiments. 
 No child should be brought into the world without its hav- 
 ing within it the essence of a religious nature, a Christian 
 nature, a truthful nature, a hopeful nature, a benevolent, de- 
 votional, spiritual nature. Our existence on this earth be- 
 ing but transitory, and intended only as a preparation for a 
 higher and holier life, the cultivation and transmission of the 
 moral sentiments is a necessity to every man and woman 
 born of the flesh. 
 
 And this being so, it is also a necessity to genius ; for ge- 
 nius, guided by the religious element, is intensified and glo- 
 rified ; while, if directed by the propensities, it is apt to err, 
 to trip and fall. 
 
 Therefore, when the parents have chosen the line of life 
 for the unborn, in which they desire in full measure the qual- 
 ity of genius to be transmitted, they should exercise assidu- 
 ously the religious of their natures. And this exercise does 
 not imply only the attendance at church twice a week and 
 an occasional prayer-meeting ; for a man or woman may ex- 
 ercise the spiritual of their nature and never see the inside 
 of a church. It is required that the parents live, in every- 
 day thought, word and action, a religious life ; for a religion 
 that can be put on and taken off as a garment is not true 
 religion it is but a counterfeit. True religion implies that 
 the parents daily and hourly should aspire after goodness, 
 virtue and purity ; that they knowingly do no wrong ; that 
 they look only on the bright side of life ; that they have ever- 
 present sympathy for the suffering, the wronged and op- 
 pressed, and do good without the hope of reward ; that they 
 possess faith, are spiritual- minded, and have a reverence for 
 religion and things sacred. These attributes the parents 
 should endeavor to cherish and intensify, and so incorporate
 
 160 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 them with the soul of the unborn. Every night and every 
 morning, on bended knees, an earnest, whole-souled prayed 
 should be sent heavenward, offering thanks for past successes, 
 uttering hopes and desires for future plans. An intensely 
 uttered earnest desire, repeated morning and evening, will 
 originate the power to do, start the effort, and secure the 
 end. In these morning and evening exercises, the hus- 
 band and wife should alternately give voice to the express- 
 ions of thanksgiving and desire. 
 
 Closely allied to the power of genius and beauty of holi- 
 ness is beauty of person. The fortunate possessor of beauty 
 a beauty that is the outgrowth of a strong and healthy 
 body, lovable spirit, and educated intellect, has a magic tal- 
 isman that wonderfully helps to success in all life's endeavors. 
 It is wrong, to discourage the culture of soul-beauty, for in 
 all God's works there is an ever-present growth toward the 
 beautiful. Parents can as easily have beautiful children a 
 they can homely ones. It should be remembered, in this 
 direction, that the highest type of beauty in the offspring is 
 only attainable by those who live a pure, healthy, continent 
 life, and who exercise the intellectual of their natures equally 
 with the physical. The possession of surface, or doll-like 
 beauty is not consonant with genius. To the end of attain- 
 ing the beautiful in the child of genius, it is necessary for 
 the parents to surround themselves with the beautiful in art 
 and nature. Their living-room, which should be the largest, 
 lightest and pleasantest room in the house, should have on 
 its walls pictures that are gems of natural or idealized beauty. 
 Plaster casts and bas-reliefs of face and form should fill con- 
 venient niches and corners, and if they live in or near a city, 
 art and picture galleries should be frequented. 
 
 Now it might be that these requirements for the attain- 
 ment of beauty in the offspring may not be within the reach 
 of all parents ; and this may be so and yet beautiful children 
 may be generated. Let the parents get one picture it may 
 be an ideal face, or the face of a beautiful person and let
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 161 
 
 them get a picture of a perfect human form. The pictures 
 may be lithographs, chromos, or photographs handsomely 
 colored. Let the wife and husband impress the beautiful 
 face of the one and the beautiful form of the other on their 
 minds. Let them constantly admire them, and especially 
 earnestly desire a child having a like resemblance, and they 
 will without fail have embodied in their child's organization 
 beauty of form and face. 
 
 " A gentleman had hanging in his room a beautiful 
 portrait, ot which a friend, as he .once entered the room, 
 when this gentleman's child was sitting in it, exclaimed : 
 ' Why, what a fine likeness that is of your child !' 'No,' re- 
 plied the gentleman, ' the child is the likeness of the pic- 
 ture.' ' How so ?' inquired his friend. It proved that the 
 mother of his child had so intensely kept the image of this 
 picture in her mind, and looked at it so much and so admir- 
 ingly, during her pregnancy, that it reflected its beauties 
 upon the young child's face ! It had daguerreotyped them 
 there, both in color and in features." 
 
 As far back as the days of Jacob this law was understood 
 and practiced, for in the Book of Genesis we are told that 
 " Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of the hazel and 
 chestnut tree, and pilled white streaks in them, and made 
 the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the 
 rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters 
 and in the watering-troughs when the flocks came to drink, 
 that they should conceive when they came to drink. And 
 the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cat- 
 tle, ring-streaked, speckled and spotted. And it came to 
 pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob 
 laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that 
 they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle 
 were feeble he put them not in ; so the feebler were Laban's 
 and the stronger Jacob's." 
 
 Conceived under right conditions, a child may be made to 
 take on any form of face and body a beautiful face and 
 
 II
 
 1 62 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 perfect form, or a plain face and unsymmetrical form. And 
 this law, necessary to all parents and applicable to all na- 
 tures, is as old as is God's conception of this beautiful 
 world. 
 
 Next in importance to genius, holiness and beauty in the 
 offspring, is a sunny, cheerful, laughing disposition. One 
 great cause of trouble in the rearing of a family next to 
 wrong habits of life is the constantly fretful, irritable, peev- 
 ish, cross, crying dispositions of the children, entailing on the 
 parents a world of trouble in their care and management. 
 Now it is just as easy for a mother to have a baby that will 
 be of a cheerful, sunny nature, will be to her, in truth and in 
 deed, "the sunshine of life," as it is to give birth to a child 
 of a fretful and unhappy disposition, and be to her a source 
 of life-long trouble. To this end, during the period of trans- 
 mitted influence, the parents should not allow the shadow of 
 a trouble to cross their paths. They should determine to 
 make the best of everything. If the house burn down, or 
 they fail in business, or serious accidents occur, let them go 
 uncomplainingly, joyously, even laughingly, and repair their 
 losses. As to the minor cares and troubles that infest 
 life's pathway, let them persistently determine to laugh them 
 r>ut of countenance. In all the greater troubles of life let 
 them hopefully, lovingly and joyously look for and see only 
 the bright side the silver lining to the dark cloud ; if not at 
 all times, at least during the season of transmitted influ- 
 ence. 
 
 Doing this faithfully and hopefully, you will have a child 
 that, in its well directed genius, its perfect beauty, and hap- 
 py, sunny, laughing nature, will be a joy, and glory, and 
 happiness to you all the years of your life, and that will 
 make you envied above all womankind. 
 
 A requisite to the acquirement of an intellectual, religious, 
 beautiful and sunny nature in the life of the offspring, is a 
 life of chastity of strict continence. I do earnestly advise 
 that husbands and wives, in the practice of this Law of Ge-
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 1 63 
 
 nius, and during the period of transmitted influence, observe 
 closely the Law of Continence, and refrain at all times and 
 under all conditions from the sexual act, save and only as it 
 is required to start the New Life on its voyage into life and 
 .eternity. Do you know why it is there is so much licen- 
 tiousness in the world ? Do you know why a son, while yet 
 a boy, practices self-abuse ? Do you know why a son, be- 
 fore even he has reached manhood, seeks through prostitu- 
 tion and seduction to foul, blot and weaken his soul and 
 body ? Do you know why it is that a daughter allows her 
 purity to be defiled, and takes so naturally, as many of them 
 do, to a life of prostitution ? Would you, oh ! parents, solve 
 these questions ? You have but to ask yourselves : " did 
 we obey this divine law of continence ? Did we, during 
 the season of transmitted influence, refrain from all sex- 
 ual sin ?" For if you have not done these things, and have 
 exercised at any or all times the licentious that is within 
 you, you have transmitted the qualities that went to make 
 your boy an Onanist or a sensualist, and your daughter a 
 prostitute, and you stand guilty before God for this great 
 wrong done your children. 
 
 Much more might be said on the responsibility of parents 
 in transmitting bad qualities of head and heart to their chil- 
 dren, and the importance of the avoidance of these bad 
 qualities by the parents during the period of transmitted in- 
 fluence ; but as what I have already recorded will enable all 
 parents desirous of propagating clean, pure, intelligent, truth- 
 ful, religious, bright, happy, sunny, laughing offspring, it 
 were needless to say more. Parents of advanced minds and 
 ready convictions will need no further law or argument to 
 decide them on following this only true mode of generating 
 a new soul ; while of parents who are of slow, unconvinceable 
 mulish natures, all the laws and arguments of eighteen cen- 
 turies compressed into a dozen pages would not persuade 
 them to alter their mode of life. " No ; what was good 
 enough for my parents and grandparents is good enough for
 
 1 64 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 me." In the rapid strides of social progress, this class of 
 " doubting Thomases" must eventually see the folly of their 
 old ways, and turn into the full light of this Science of a New 
 Life, or else relapse into barbarism. 
 
 There is one more point to be touched on before ending 
 this chapter, and that is the subject of money. The feverish 
 pursuit of money is and will be a sad preventive to the gen- 
 eral adoption of this Science of a New Life, for the hot 
 haste for wealth leads mankind very far from the true line of 
 life. The devotee of the god Mammon must, if he desires 
 success, devote e.very hour of his life apart from the few 
 daily hours applied to eating and sleeping in getting and 
 keeping other men's earnings ; and in doing this, other men's 
 wants and sufferings are ignored, and the human in his na- 
 ture is blunted. He cannot enjoy the pleasures of life not 
 even the air he breathes, the food he eats, or the water he 
 drinks. Wife and children are to him a very secondary con- 
 sideration. Witness our friend Robinson ; " he has made 
 one fortune, but did not consider it large enough, and is now 
 busy in making another. He is off to the city at 8 A.M., 
 never returning till 8 P.M., and then so worn out and jaded 
 that he cares for nothing beyond his dinner and sleep. His 
 beautiful house, his conservatories and pleasure-grounds de- 
 light not him ; he never enjoys he only pays for them. He 
 has a charming wife and a beautiful family, but he sees little 
 of either the latter, indeed, he never sees at all, except on 
 Sundays. He comes home so tired that the children would 
 only worry him. To them 'papa' is almost a stranger. 
 They know him only as a periodical incumbrance on the 
 household life, which generally makes it much less pleasant. 
 And when they grow up it is to such a totally different ex- 
 istence from his, that. they usually quietly ignore him. 'Oh, 
 papa cares nothing about this ; no, no, we never think of 
 telling papa anything' until some day papa will die and 
 leave them a quarter of a million. But how much better to 
 leave them what no money can ever buy the remembrance
 
 THE LA W OF GENIUS. 165 
 
 or * father ! A real father, whose guardianship made home 
 safe whose tenderness filled it with happiness who was 
 companion and friend, as well as ruler and guide whose in- 
 fluence interpenetrated every day of their lives, every feeling 
 of their hearts who was not merely the author of their be- 
 ings, but the originator and educator of everything good in 
 them the visible father on earth, who made them under- 
 stand dimly ' our Father which is in heaven.' " 
 
 The feverish pursuit of wealth is to be deprecated and 
 avoided by all men whose desire it is to " live while they 
 live." Money, I grant you, is a requirement in life's travels; 
 but in getting it make haste slowly very slowly. Do not 
 start in life with the intention of accumulating a fortune and 
 then retiring to enjoy it. This retiring on the getting of a 
 fortune is one of the great mistakes of life ; for no man or 
 woman should think of retiring from life's work until they 
 retire to their graves. The man who lives a true and pure 
 life, works until he is forty, sixty, or ninety years of age 
 every day of his life, until the day comes when, tired of life's 
 work, he desires and longs to leave this world ; and he lies 
 down to sleep, and in sleeping, without fear or pain, his soul 
 escapes to higher realms. 
 
 Do not let the getting of money interfere with your en- 
 deavors for a true life. Get it by all legitimate means, but 
 get only what is required for your present wants, and to 
 guard against prospective accidents. In doing this you in- 
 sure more practical enjoyment and happiness than ever was 
 dreamed of by the man whose sole object in life is the get- 
 ting of money. 
 
 This brings us once more to the commencement point in 
 the period of transmitted influence the four weeks of in- 
 troductory preparation. The husband and wife, having de- 
 cided on the right course to be adopted for influencing the 
 character of the New Life, should with all the force of their 
 wills and intensity of their natures practice, by thought, 
 word and action, the desire for the implanting of a right life
 
 1 66 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 in the New Life. Especially should the husband, during 
 this preliminary four weeks, exercise his department of 
 thought and action, for it is his only chance to influence di- 
 rectly the character of the unborn. The following is an il- 
 lustration from Darwin : 
 
 "A country gentleman, being much enamored of the 
 daughter of a farmer on his estate, was unable to conquer 
 her virtuous scruples ; but her image being constantly pres- 
 ent to his mind, his wife conceived and bore him a child 
 whose features presented a perfect resemblance to the object 
 of his affections." 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the husband and wife must 
 have precisely the same objects in view, and that each pa- 
 rent, during this four weeks of introductory preparation, 
 must, in thought, word and deed, act out this object, with 
 all the vitalized intensity of will and desire their natures can 
 bring to the effort.
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 THE CONSUMMATION
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CONCEPTION OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 PROPER season for con- 
 ception is an important 
 consideration in the gene- 
 rating of a strong and 
 healthy offspring. 
 
 The best month for this 
 purpose is the month of 
 August or September; this 
 would bring the birth of 
 the child in the month of 
 May, when the New Life 
 would commence its exist- 
 ence at the same time the 
 old earth renews the youth 
 of its years. The advan- 
 tage in this choice of 
 months, if any choice be 
 necessary, is that the child 
 can enjoy what it so much requires out-door life. This, of 
 course, applies only to the colder belts of the continent. 
 Too much out-door light and exercise cannot possibly be 
 furnished the young life, and at no season of the year is the 
 earth so enjoyable to the old as well as young as in the 
 spring, with its wealth of green verdure and its fragrant 
 buds and blossoms, its warm atmosphere, clear sky and 
 
 16,
 
 1 70 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 bright sun. Childhood revels in it grows strong, healthy 
 and bright in it. If a child of a score of weeks old, born in 
 the genial spring-time, was gifted with language, its uttered 
 reverie would run in this wise : 
 
 " Well, here I am there is no doubt of that ; but where 
 I am is a question for early consideration. I have traveled, 
 and know all about where I am. I have been into the gar- 
 den and fields, and my private opinion to you is that this is 
 a pretty world. When I was out I felt happy very happy. 
 I revelled on the green grass and among the beautiful flow- 
 ers ; I tried to catch the sun's rays, but could not. I could, 
 I think, live here for ever, so bright and beautiful is this new 
 existence. I have had a happy time ; but I am very tired. 
 I think, mother, your baby is going to sleep." 
 
 Children born in the fall and winter of a necessity have to 
 be much in-doors, and this confinement in badly ventilated 
 rooms greatly tends to fretting and sickness ; whereas, if 
 born in the spring, and having every day out-door exercise, 
 their vital powers get so strengthened as to enable them to 
 enjoy cold weather, and resist any bad effects arising from 
 it. 
 
 As mentioned on a former page, conception should occur 
 immediately following the cessation of the menses or monthly 
 courses, because at this time the egg is in its firmest and 
 freshest state, and, when impregnated, is more likely at this 
 time than later to develop a strong and healthy organism. 
 
 Next in importance is the time of day that should be se- 
 lected for sexual congress. As though there was something 
 sinful and wrong in it, the hours of darkness are usually em- 
 ployed for this purpose. There is as little of reason used in 
 this choice of hours, by the majority of mankind, as in the 
 observance of any other department of the reproductive 
 law. Now the best and only physiological time to generate 
 a new life is in the broad light of a clear, bright day. Light 
 implies health ; darkness disease. Light is the source of 
 life ; darkness is the synonym of death. Let your New
 
 THE CONCEPTION OF A NEW LIFE. 171 
 
 Life be a child of light rather than of darkness. Not only 
 should the hour of darkness be avoided, but also dark, 
 cloudy and rainy days. Only a clear, bright day, when the 
 sun is shining, should be employed in which to generate tJie 
 New Life. 
 
 The hour of day most desirable for conception is next to 
 be considered. The human body never has the same force 
 of vital power throughout the twenty-four hours. Men and 
 woman are never so strong at night as they are in the morn- 
 ing, and they are not so strong in the morning as they are in 
 the middle of the day. After rising,,the bodily powers in- 
 crease until noon, after which they gradually decline until 
 the setting of the sun. From nightfall until sunrise the 
 strength of the body is at its lowest ebb its weakest state. 
 Therefore, the healthy husband and wife are in their perfec- 
 tion of physical and mental strength at between eleven and 
 twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and this is the only period in 
 which a child of genius, beauty and strength shoiild be gen- 
 erated. 
 
 The sleeping-room should be one of the largest, pleasant- 
 est, best lighted and ventilated in the house. No blind or 
 curtain should ever obstruct the sun's rays from entering 
 therein ; and at night, as well as during the day, the pure 
 air of heaven should be allowed to circulate freely. 
 
 To recapitulate : The husband and wife lovingly united, 
 in perfect health and strength mutually desire to generate 
 a pure, bright, happy, healthy love-child, having implanted 
 in its organization the qualities of genius, chastity and holi- 
 ness. They have fixed on the qualities to be transmitted, 
 and the date for conception. They have assiduously, ear- 
 nestly and lovingly observed the four weeks of preliminary 
 preparation. They have slept during this time in different 
 beds, if not in different rooms. The morning betokening 
 a clear, bright, beautiful day arrives. On arising, they take 
 their usual morning bath, and dress in loose, bright, enjoyable 
 costume. If they never have heretofore exercised the spir-
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 itual of their natures, let them this morning, on bended 
 knees, before the throne of grace, give earnest utterance to 
 their thanks and desires. 
 
 O God, our God ! This morning, in the full glory of Thy 
 ever-present presence, we supplicate the aid of Thy love, 
 Thy glory, Thy power, in this our souls' desire. Into this 
 New Life implant, in full measure, the wishes of our hearts. 
 Of and from Thee let the light come that is to guide it into 
 life, through life, and into eternity. Make it as we so ear- 
 nestly desire a bright, happy, loving and beautiful child. 
 Implant in its organism the qualities that will enable it to 
 live and grow toward perfection. Give it, we pray Thee, the 
 elements of a holy life, so that all its thoughts, words and 
 actions will be a reflex of Thy ever-present loving care. 
 And to the end of doing these our desires, impart, O God, 
 strength of will, firmness of purpose, purity of life, and the 
 full measure of Thy daily and hourly presence. And to 
 Thee, O Thou Ancient of Days, be the glory, the honor and 
 praise. 
 
 An enjoyable walk and saunter, of an hour or more, into 
 the pleasant morning sunshine. Breakfast at about eight 
 o'clock a breakfast of plain, unstimulating food. Again 
 into the open air and bright sunshine ; and for a couple of 
 hours the husband and wife should lovingly and enthusiastic- 
 ally e'xchange thoughts, hopes and desires. Keeping their 
 natures as is the bright sun, with not the smallest cloud in- 
 tervening to darken their joy and happiness, they enter their 
 chamber, and in the clear light of day the New Life is con- 
 ceived and generated a new soul started into eternity. 
 
 " A child is bom ; now take the germ and make it 
 
 A bud of moral beauty. Let the dews 
 Of knowledge, and the light of virtue wake it 
 In richest fragrance and in purest hues."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INTR A- UTERINE GROWTH. 
 
 MMEDIATELY the egg is fe- 
 cundated, the mucus membrane 
 of the uterus takes on an ac- 
 tivity of growth. It increases 
 in thickness, becomes tumified 
 and vascular, and projects in 
 rounded convolutions into the 
 cavity of the uterus. "In this 
 process, the tubules of the ute- 
 rus increase in length, and also 
 become' wider, so that their 
 open mouths may be readily 
 seen, by the naked eye, upon 
 the uterine surface, as numer- 
 ous minute perforations. The 
 blood-vessels of the mucus membrane also enlarge and mul- 
 tiply, and inosculate freely with each other, so that the vas- 
 cular network encircling the tubules becomes more extensive 
 and abundant. 
 
 " The thick, rich, soft, vascular and velvety lining, the re- 
 sult of this process, was formerly supposed to be an entirely 
 new product, but it is now known to be no other than the 
 mucus membrane, greatly thickened, but still retaining all its 
 natural connections and its original anatomical structure." 
 
 At the fundus of the uterus, in one of the projecting con- 
 volutions, the fecundated egg is lodged. At this point of 
 
 173
 
 1/4 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 lodgment, the mucus membrane takes on a still more rapid 
 development, projecting its folds, and so growing up and 
 around the egg as to inclose and shut it off from the rest of 
 the uterus. This new growth of the mucus membrane is 
 called the Decidua Reflexa, while the original lining mem- 
 brane of the uterus is called the Decidua Vera. 
 
 The egg, which during this time has considerably enlarged, 
 throws out projecting filaments (Fig. 14), which insinuate 
 themselves, as they grow, into the folds of the decidual sur- 
 
 FIG. 12. IMPREGNATED FIG. 14. APPEARANCE OF EGG FIG. 13. IMPREGNATED UTE. 
 
 UTERUS, AT FOURTEENTH DAY. RUS, 
 
 Showing the formation of De- Showing how the projecting folds 
 
 eidua. The Decidua is rep- of the Decidua have grown up 
 
 resented in black; and the around and completely inclosed 
 
 5g is seen at the fundus of the Egg. 
 
 the uterus, engaged between 
 two of its projecting convo- 
 lutions. 
 
 face (Fig. 15) in contact with the egg, and spreading in all 
 directions from its external surface. It is through these fila- 
 ments the nutritious fluids are imparted for its nourishment. 
 As the egg increases in growth a greater supply of nour- 
 ishment being necessary the decidua in contact with that 
 part of the projecting filaments of the chorion (Fig. 16) con- 
 tinues to grow, while over the remaining portion of its sur- 
 face they disappear, and become concentrated and developed 
 at the situation of the future placenta, which it helps to 
 form.
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 175 
 
 The germ-cell or egg, consisting of a vitellus or yelk, and 
 its cover of vitelline membrane, is fecundated by the sperm- 
 cell, and is then called the embryonic cell. 
 
 This embryonic cell absorbs into itself a portion of the nu- 
 triment prepared within the ovary for its use, and thus com- 
 mences its own development. 
 
 And now, to quote from Prof. Dalton to whom I am in- 
 debted, in great measure, for the illustrations and subject- 
 matter of this chapter " a remarkable change takes place in 
 
 FIG. 15. IMPREGNATED UTERUS, FIG. 16. PREGNANT UTERUS, 
 
 Showing connection between villosities of Cho- Showing formation of Placenta, by the united 
 rion and decidual membranes. development of a portion of the Decidua and 
 
 the villosities of the Chorior.. 
 
 the impregnated egg, which is known as the spontaneous di- 
 vision, or segmentation, of the vitellus. A furrow first shows 
 itself, running around the globular mass of the vitellus in a 
 vertical direction, which gradually deepens until it has di- 
 vided the vitellus into two separate halves or hemispheres 
 (Fig. 1 7, a). Almost at the same time, another furrow, run- 
 ning at right angles with the first, penetrates also the sub- 
 stance of the vitellus, and cuts it in a transverse direction. 
 The vitellus is thus divided into four equal portions (Fig. 17, 
 b], the edges and angles of which are rounded off", and which 
 are still contained in the cavity of the vitelline membrane. 
 The spaces between them and the internal surface of the vi- 
 telline membrane are occupied by a transparent fluid.
 
 176 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 The process thus commenced goes on by a successive 
 formation of furrows and sections in various 
 directions. The four vitelline segments al- 
 ready produced are thus subdivided into six- 
 teen, the sixteen into sixty-four, and so on, 
 until the whole vitellus is converted into a 
 mulberry-shaped mass, composed of minute, 
 nearly spherical bodies, which are called the 
 .'vitelline spheres' (Fig. 17, c). These vitel- 
 line spheres have a somewhat firmer consist- 
 ency than the original substance of the vi- 
 tellus, and this consistency appears to in- 
 crease as they successively multiply in num- 
 bers and diminish in size. At last they have 
 become so abundant as to be closely crowded 
 together, compressed into polygonal forms, 
 and flattened against the internal surface of 
 the vitelline membrane (Fig. 17, d). They 
 have by this time been converted into true 
 animal cells ; and these cells, adhering to 
 each other by their adjacent edges, form a 
 continuous, organized membrane, which is 
 termed the Blastodermic Membrane. 
 
 " The next change which takes place con- 
 sists in the division or splitting of the blasto- 
 dermic membrane into two layers, which are 
 known as the external and internal layers of 
 the blastodermic membrane. They are both 
 still composed exclusively of cells ; but those 
 of the external layer are usually smaller and 
 SEGMENT*, more compact, while those of the internal are 
 rather larger and looser in texture. The 
 egg then presents the appearance of a globular sac, the walls 
 of which consist of three concentric layers, lying in contact 
 with and inclosing each other, namely first, the structure- 
 less vitelline membrane on the outside ; second, the external 
 
 FIG. 17. 
 TION OF VITELLUS.
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 177 
 
 layer of the blastodermic membrane, composed of cells ; and 
 third, the internal layer of blastodermic membrane, also com- 
 posed of cells. The cavity of the egg is occupied by a trans- 
 parent fluid, as before mentioned. 
 
 "The entire process of the segmentation of the vitellus 
 and the formation of the blastodermic membrane is one of 
 the most remarkable and important of all the changes which 
 take place during the development of the egg. It is by this 
 process that the simple globular mass of the vitellus, com- 
 posed of an albuminous matter and oil granules, is converted 
 into an organized structure. For the blastodermic mem- 
 brane, though consisting only of cells nearly uniform in size 
 and shape, is nevertheless a truly organized membrane, made 
 up of fully formed anatomical elements. It is, moreover, 
 the first sign of distinct organization which makes its appear- 
 ance in the egg ; and as soon as it is completed the body of 
 the new foetus is formed. The blastodermic membrane is, 
 in fact, the body of the foetus. It is at this time, it is true, 
 exceedingly simple in texture ; but we shall see hereafter 
 that all the future organs of the body, however varied and 
 complicated in structure, arise out of it, by modification and 
 development of its different parts. 
 
 " The two layers of the blastodermic membrane, above 
 described, represent together all the organs of the foetus. 
 They are intended, however, for the production of two dif- 
 ferent systems ; and the entire process of their development 
 may be expressed as follows : The external layer of the blas- 
 todermic membrane produces the spinal column and all the 
 organs of animal life ; while the internal layer produces the 
 intestinal canal and all the organs of vegetative life. 
 
 "The first sign of advancing organization, in the external 
 layer of the blastodermic membrane, shows itself in a thick- 
 ening and condensation of its structure. This thickened por- 
 tion has the form of an elongated, oval-shaped spot, termed 
 the 'embryonic spot' (Fig. 18), the wide edges of which are 
 somewhat more opaque than the rest of the blastodermic 
 
 12
 
 1 78 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 membrane. Inclosed within these opaque edges is a nar- 
 rower, colorless and transparent space, the ' area pellucida.' 
 and in its centre is a delicate line or furrow, running longitu- 
 dinally from front to rear which is called the ' primitive trace. 1 
 " On each side of the primitive trace, in 
 the area pellucida, the substance of the blas- 
 todermic membrane rises up in such a man' 
 ner as to form two nearly parallel vertical 
 plates or ridges, which approach each other 
 over the dorsal aspect of the foetus, and are 
 FIG. is. IMPREGNATED therefore called the 'dorsal plates.' They 
 
 EGG, . , .... . 
 
 w . . r at last meet on the median line, so as to m- 
 
 With commencement of 
 
 formation of embryo; cloSC the furrOW above described and COn- 
 showing embryonic spot, yert j t j nto a canal This afterward be _ 
 area pellucida, and prim- 
 itive trace. comes the spinal canal, and in its cavity is 
 
 formed the spinal cord, by a deposit of nervous matter upon 
 its internal surface. At the anterior extremity of this canal 
 its cavity is large and rounded, to accommodate the brain 
 and medulla oblongata ; at its posterior extremity it is nar- 
 row and pointed, and contains the extremity of the spinal 
 cord. 
 
 " The process of development may be briefly recapitulated 
 as follows : 
 
 " i. The blastodermic membrane, produced by the seg- 
 mentation of the vitellus, consists of two cellular layers an 
 external and an internal blastodermic layer. 
 
 " 2. The external layer of the blastodermic membrane in- 
 closes by its dorsal plates the cerebro-spinal canal, and by its 
 abdominal plates the abdominal or visceral cavity. 
 
 " 3. The internal layer of the blastodermic membrane 
 forms the intestinal canal, which becomes lengthened and 
 convoluted, and communicates with the exterior by a mouth 
 and anus of secondary formation. 
 
 "4. Finally, the cerebro-spinal axis and its nerves, the 
 skeleton, the organs of special sense, the integument and the 
 muscles are developed from the external blastodermic layer;
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 179 
 
 while the anterior and posterior extremities are formed from 
 the same layer by a process of sprouting or continuous 
 growth." 
 
 From the external layer of the blastodermic membrane is 
 formed the amnion or inner membrane, which secretes upon 
 its inner surface the liquid in which is suspended the fcetus 
 during the whole period of gestation. 
 
 From the inner layer of the blastodermic membrane is 
 formed the allantois, which on attaining its full growth en- 
 tirely surrounds the fcetus, is united with the vitelline mem- 
 brane and outer lamina of the amniotic fold, and is then 
 
 FIG. 19. HUMAN OVUM AT THK FIG, 20. HUMAN OVUM AT END 
 
 END OF FIRST MONTH. OF THIRD MONTH. 
 
 termed the chorion, and thus becomes the sole external 
 membrane of the egg. 
 
 The chorion or outer covering (Fig. 14). throws out villi, 
 which after a time gather at one point, uniting with the de- 
 cidua or inner surface of the uterus, and forms the placenta, 
 by which the fcetus is nourished from the blood of the 
 mother. 
 
 Fig. 19 shows the human ovum at the end of the first 
 month. In the middle of the amniotic fluid is seen the um- 
 bilical vesicle, which contains the fluid for the first nourish- 
 ment of the embryo. It after a time is absorbed, and after 
 the third month the sac gradually disappears. Next is seen 
 the amnion, which secretes the amniotic fluid in which the
 
 1 8o THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 foetus floats ; and lastly, the chorion, which was formed from 
 the internal layer of the blastodermic membrane, and on 
 which is seen the villi, which carry nourishment to the em- 
 bryo. As the foetus grows, the tufts of the chorion greatly 
 develop at one point (Fig. 19), disappearing elsewhere, and 
 the quantity of the amniotic fluid continues to increase, to 
 allow the free movements of the foetus. At the same time, 
 the umbilical cord elongates, in proportion to the increased 
 size of the amniotic cavity. It contains the vein and two 
 arteries through which the foetus receives its nourishment. 
 A gelatinous matter, covering the vessels with a thick, elas- 
 tic envelope, protects them from injury. 
 
 FIG. 21. GRAVID HUMAN UTERUS AND CONTENTS, 
 
 Showing the relations of the Cord, Placenta, Membranes, etc., about the end of the serenth month 
 A, Decidua Vera ; B, Decidua Reflexa ; C, Chorion ; D, Amnion. 
 
 In Fig. 21 is shown the relation of the cord, placenta, 
 membranes, etc., about the end of the seventh month. The 
 decidua vera (A) and the decidua reflexa (B) about this time 
 fuse together and form a single thin layer. The chorion (c),
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 181 
 
 from which is seen the vascular tufts which go to make the 
 placenta. At this period the amniotic fluid has so increased 
 as to fill the cavity of the uterus, and the amnion (D) "is 
 seen lying close up to the chorion, and surrounding and form- 
 ing the umbilical cord. 
 
 As already mentioned, during the first weeks of the growth 
 of the embryo it is nourished, as the young chicken is, by 
 the yelk of the egg. But soon the villi of the chorion gather 
 into a compact mass, and become adherent to some por- 
 tion of the uterus. There is thus formed a placenta, made 
 of two portions the maternal side (Fig. 22) toward the 
 
 FIG. 22. FIG. 23. 
 
 walls of the uterus, and the foetal (Fig. 23), in which the 
 vessels unite into two arteries and one vein, which with their 
 envelopments form the umbilical cord and communicate with 
 the foetal heart. The vein carries red, arterial, nutritive 
 blood from the placenta to the child, to be distributed to all 
 parts of its system. The two arteries carry the dark, ve- 
 nous blood from the child back again to the placenta, there 
 to be purified and rendered nutritious. 
 
 The blood itself does not pass from the system of the 
 mother to the child, or from the child to the mother ; but, 
 Chough it has its own individual circulation and life, all its
 
 1 82 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 nutriment, from the time this connection is formed until it is 
 severed at birth, comes from the mother. 
 
 The placenta is circular in shape, having two flattened 
 surfaces ; it is from one to two inches in thickness in its cen- 
 tral and thickest part, and six or eight inches in diameter. 
 Its flattened surface, most distant from the child, is closely 
 attached, and adheres tightly to some portion of the inner 
 surface of the womb. It is formed for merely a temporary 
 use, and does not constitute, in any proper sense, a part of 
 either the mother or child. 
 
 The placenta, the umbilical cord, and the membranes of 
 the ovum, constitute the after-birth. 
 
 The growth of the egg after fecundation is very rapid. On 
 the tenth day it has the appearance of a semi-transparent 
 grayish flake. On the twentieth day it is nearly the size of a 
 pea, filled with fluid, in the middle of which is an opaque 
 spot, presenting the first appearance of an embryo, which 
 may be clearly seen as an oblong or curved body, according 
 as it is viewed, and plainly visible to the naked eye on the 
 fourteenth day. Its weight, at this time, is about one grain. 
 
 On the twenty-first day the embryo resembles an ant, or a 
 lettuce-seed ; its length is from four to five lines, and is 
 weight three or four grains. Many of its parts now commence to 
 show themselves, especially the cartilaginous beginnings of 
 the bones of the spinal column, the heart, brain, etc. 
 
 On the thirtieth day the embryo is as large as a horse-fly, 
 and resembles a worm bent together. There are as yet no 
 limbs, and the head is larger than the rest of the body. 
 When stretched out, the embryo is nearly half an inch long. 
 
 Toward the fifth week, the head increases greatly in pro- 
 portion to the remainder of the body, and the rudimentary 
 eyes are indicated by two black spots turned toward the 
 sides, and the heart exhibits its external form, being a toler- 
 ably close resemblance to that in the adult. 
 
 In the seventh week bone begins to form in the lower jaw
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 183 
 
 and clavicle. Narrow streaks on each side of the vertebral 
 column show the beginning of the ribs ; the heart is perfect- 
 ing its form, the brain enlarged, and the eyes and ears grow- 
 ing more perfect, and the limbs sprouting from the body. 
 The lungs are mere sacs, about one line in length, and the 
 trachea is a delicate thread, but the liver is very large. The 
 arms are still imperforate. In the seventh week are formed 
 the renal capsules and kidneys, and the sexual organs are 
 speedily evolved, but the sex of the foetus is not determined 
 until some time after. The embryo is now nine lines or 
 three-fourths of an inch in length. 
 
 At two months the forearm and hand can be distinguished, 
 but not the arm ; the hand is larger than the forearm, but it, 
 is not supplied with fingers ; the distinction of sex is yet 
 difficult ; the eyes are prominent, but the lids, from being 
 still rudimentary, do not cover the eyeball ; the nose forms 
 an obtuse eminence ; the nostrils are rounded and separated ; 
 the mouth is gaping, and the epidermis can be distinguished 
 from the true skin. The embryo is from one and a half to 
 two inches long, and weighs from three to five drachms, the 
 head forming more than one-third of the whole. 
 
 At from sixty to seventy days the development is rapid, 
 and all the parts are in the course of progressive formation. 
 The eye enlarges, the lids are visible, the nose grows promi- 
 nent, the mouth enlarges, the external ear is formed, the 
 brain is soft and pulpy, the neck well defined, and the heart 
 fully developed. 
 
 At the end of the three months the eyelids are distinct, 
 but shut, the lips are drawn together, the forehead and nose 
 are clearly traceable, and the organs of generation are prom- 
 inent in both sexes. The heart beats with force, the larger 
 vessels carry red blood, the fingers and toes are well defined, 
 muscles begin to be developed, and the foetus is four or five 
 inches in length, and weighs from two to four ounces. 
 
 At the fourth month the embryo takes the name of foetus ; 
 its growth is not so rapid in the commencement as at the end
 
 1 84 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 of this month. The body is six to eight inches in length, 
 and weighs from seven to eight ounces. The face still re- 
 mains but little developed, although more elongated than it 
 has previously been. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are 
 closed. The skin has a rosy color, and the muscles now 
 produce a sensible motion. A foetus born at this period 
 might live for several hours. 
 
 At five months the length of the body is eight to ten 
 inches, and it weighs from eight to eleven ounces. 
 
 At six months the length is eleven to twelve and a half 
 inches, and the weight about one pound. The hair appears 
 upon the head, the eyes closed, the eyelids somewhat thicker 
 and their margins, as well as the eyebrows, are studded with 
 very delicate hairs. 
 
 At seven months every part has increased in volume and 
 perfection ; the bony system is nearly complete. Length, 
 twelve to fourteen inches ; weight, two and a half to three 
 pounds. If born at this period, the foetus is able to -breathe, 
 cry and nurse, and may live to grow up, if properly cared 
 for. It is frequently too feeble to endure being either washed 
 or dressed, and must necessarily sleep nearly the whole time, 
 except for the short periods required for the taking of its 
 food. Its power of generating heat within itself is also ex- 
 tremely feeble ; it should, therefore, be kept wrapped in a 
 warmed, soft flannel blanket, and laid close beside the moth- 
 er, or held in the lap of some other person, in order that 
 their warmth or animal heat may be constantly imparted to 
 it. 
 
 At eight months the foetus seems to grow rather in thick- 
 ness than in length ; it is only sixteen to eighteen inches 
 long, and yet weighs from four to five pounds. The skin is 
 very red, and covered with down and a considerable quantity 
 of sebaceous matter. The lower jaw, which was at first very 
 short, is now as long as the upper one. 
 
 Finally, at term, the foetus is from nineteen to twenty- 
 three inches long, and weighs from six to nine pounds. The
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 185 
 
 red blood circulates in the capillaries, and the skin performs 
 the function of perspiration. 
 
 There is nothing more interesting in the growth of the 
 foetus than is the development of the face. Says Dalton : 
 
 " From the sides of the cephalic mass five buds or pro- 
 cesses shoot out and grow toward each other, so as to ap- 
 proach the centre of the oval orifice (Fig. 24.) One of them 
 grows directly downward from the frontal region, and is 
 called the frontal or intermaxillary process, because it after- 
 ward contains in its lower extremity the intermaxillary bones, 
 in which the incisor teeth of the upper jaw are inserted. 
 
 "The next process originates from the side of 
 the opening, and, advancing toward the me- 
 dian line, forms, with its fellow of the opposite 
 side, the superior maxilla. The processes of 
 the remaining pair also grow from the side, and 
 form, by their subsequent union upon the me- 
 dian line, the inferior maxilla. The inferior 
 maxillary bone is finally consolidated, in man, FlG - 24 - HEAD OF 
 into a single piece, but remains permanently di- At 7 t th 7 n . 
 vided, in the lower animals, by a suture upon tieth da y- After 
 
 Longet ; from a 
 
 the median line. specimen in the 
 
 "As the frontal process grows from above ^ tion f M- 
 downward, it becomes double at its lower ex- 
 tremity, and at the same time two offshoots show themselves 
 upon its sides, which curl round and inclose two circular or- 
 ifices, the opening of the anterior nares ; the offshoots them- 
 selves become the alae nasi (Fig. 25.) The mouth at this 
 period is very widely open, owing to the imperfect develop- 
 ment of the upper and lower jaw, and the incomplete form- 
 ation of the lips and cheeks. 
 
 " The processes of the superior maxilla continue their 
 growth, but less rapidly than those of the inferior ; so that 
 the two sides of the lower jaw are already consolidated with
 
 1 86 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 FIG. 25. 
 HEAD OF HU- 
 MAN EM- 
 BRYO, 
 
 At about end of 
 sixth week. Af- 
 ter Dalton. 
 
 each other, while those of the upper jaw are still sepa- 
 rate. 
 
 " As the processes of the superior maxilla continue to en- 
 large, they also tend to unite with each other on the median 
 line, but are prevented from doing so by the intermaxillary 
 processes which grow down between them. 
 They then unite with the intermaxillary pro- 
 cesses, which have at the same time united with 
 each other, and the upper jaw and lip are thus 
 completed (Fig. 26.) The external edge of the 
 alae nasi (wing of the nose) also adheres to the 
 superior maxillary process and unites with it, 
 leaving only a curved crease or furrow, as a 
 sort of cicatrix, to mark the line of union be- 
 tween them. 
 
 "The eyes, at an early period, are situated upon the sides, 
 of the head, so that they cannot be seen in 
 a front view (Fig. 24.) As development 
 proceeds, they come to be situated further 
 forward (Fig. 25), their axis being divergent 
 and directed obliquely forward aud out- 
 ward. At a later period still they are placed 
 on the anterior plane of the face (Fig. 26), and 
 have their axis nearly parallel and looking FlG 26 
 directly forward. This change in the situa- HEAD OF HUMAN EM- 
 tion of the eyes is effected by the more rapid IYO ' 
 
 J J About the end of the 
 
 growth of the posterior and lateral parts of second month. After 
 
 the head, which enlarge in such a manner as 
 
 to alter the relative position of the parts seated in front of 
 
 them." 
 
 POSITION OF FOZTUS. The foetus lies curved within the 
 bag formed by the membranes ; usually the head is some- 
 what flexed, the chin resting on the breast ; the feet are bent 
 up in front of the legs the latter strongly flexed on the
 
 INTRA-UTERINE GROWTH. 
 
 187 
 
 thighs ; the knees are separated from each other, but the 
 heels lie close together on the back part of the thighs ; the 
 arms are placed so as to receive, as it were, the chin be- 
 tween the hands. The foetus, thus folded on itself, forms an 
 oval, whose longest diameter is about eleven inches. Why 
 the foetus takes this position in utero has not yet been clearly 
 explained.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 
 
 N the fecundated ovum the size 
 of which is one two-hundred- 
 and-fortieth of an inch in diam- 
 eter, and a thousand of which 
 could be placed on the thumb- 
 nail is contained the principle 
 of a new life the elements of a 
 new soul. Embodied in its un- 
 developed organization is the 
 future statesman or orator, farm- 
 er or mechanic. Ingrained in 
 its tissue may be scrofula, con- 
 sumption, insanity or deformity. 
 This minute speck represents 
 an individual who eventually 
 will be temperate, or else a 
 drunkard or glutton ; who will be chaste or licentious ; 
 whose life will be a success or a failure, depending alone or 
 altogether on what the parents choose to make it. 
 
 From the moment the egg is fecundated there is life for 
 that matter, there must be life in the germ-cell and sperm- 
 cell before impregnation, else there could be no conception ; 
 but when conception does occur, the life of a new being is 
 established, and this new being has within it the elements of 
 a new soul, as well as body. This soul grows and expands
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 189 
 
 with the growth of the body, and in harmony with the qual- 
 ity and character of the body. 
 
 The medium of connection between the soul, which is im- 
 mortal, and the body, which is mortal, is the nervous sys- 
 tem. Through the wonderful system of nerves, the soul 
 takes on the impress of the body's habits of thought and ac- 
 tion ; and through the nervous system does the soul, in its 
 intensity of action, find expression through the body. Du- 
 ring ante-natal life, the soul, in harmony with the body, takes 
 on the character transmitted to it by the parents, and this 
 character, in a great measure, clings to it through post-natal 
 life, and after death into eternity. 
 
 This birth of the soul in common with the creation of the 
 body is a fact that carries with it great significance, and one 
 that, more than aught else, should determine parents to be- 
 get a new being under loving and holy conditions. 
 
 There being no nervous connection between the fcetus and 
 mother, it is through the blood of the mother only that the 
 body of the child is nourished, its character influenced, and 
 its habits of life formed. 
 
 This being so, the first great requisite in the mother, du- 
 ring this gestative period of influence next to right habits 
 of thought and action is a correct diet. Her food, during 
 this period, makes not only her own blood, but also the 
 blood of the child ; and this blood, vitalized by her nervous 
 system, imparts its vitality to the nervous and muscular sys- 
 tem of the child, and in this way is the character of the new 
 life influenced. A man or woman's daily thoughts and ac- 
 tions affect and impress the secretions of the nutritive sys- 
 tem, and through this the blood ; and in this way, through 
 its reaction on the nervous system, the character of the man 
 increases for better or worse, as may be. It might with 
 truth be said, that a drop of blood represents in its elements 
 the character of the individual who manufactured it 
 
 The mother of a gloomy, morose, sullen or fretful disposi- 
 tion impresses these qualities on every globule of blood that
 
 190 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 comes through her system, and, as a necessity, on the rapid- 
 growing tissues of the child, which after its birth will have 
 embodied in its organization all these undesirable quali- 
 ties. 
 
 Undeniably, the best food for mothers, during this period 
 of pregnancy, is fruit and vegetables, in as nearly their nat- 
 ural condition as possible. When apples, grapes, peaches, 
 plums, etc., are eaten, the skins of such fruit should inva- 
 riably be eaten along with the substance. One great trouble 
 with pregnant women is costiveness, and this can in a great 
 measure be avoided by the adoption of this rule. Graham 
 bread, so highly recommended as the true staff of life, is to 
 be used in very moderate quantities during this season, for it 
 has a tendency to prematurely harden the bones, causing in- 
 creased difficulty in parturition. Pure blood being a re- 
 quirement in the right growth of the child, it is almost un, 
 necessary to say that a clean, sweet, lovable baby cannot be 
 grown by a mother who uses fat meats, pork, spices, grease, 
 tea, coffee, beer, whisky, wine, etc. ; and even lean, fresh or 
 healthy beef or mutton, the least hurtful of flesh diets, are 
 not fit to make babies of the right stamp. 
 
 It is a popular opinion with women, during this period v 
 that they require double or treble their usual quantity of 
 food. This is a mistake, and is the cause of much physical 
 suffering. A healthy woman will not and ought not to re- 
 quire (in the early months of pregnancy) more than her 
 usual amount of food, and she will not have that craving af- 
 ter all manner of food that many women have. This crav- 
 ingfor and surfeiting with unusual articles of diet proceeds en- 
 tirely from a disorganized nervous system, and not from the 
 foetus in utero, and is easily avoided by the adoption of a 
 right life. 
 
 A woman, during this period of gestative influence, if she 
 desires to carry out the Law of Genius, should closely follow 
 the Plan of Life given in a former chapter, excepting the fa- 
 rinaceous food, which should be used in moderate quantities.
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 191 
 
 The only allowable drink to be used during this period is 
 water, and if spices and condiments are abstained from very 
 little of that will be required. 
 
 It should be understood by parents that, through the 
 wrong use and abuse of food over-eating, fast eating, in- 
 dulging in hot food and hot drinks, eating indigestible food, 
 as new bread, pastry, pickles, sweetmeats, oily and greasy 
 meats, mince pie, condiments, etc. it is as easy to transmit 
 dyspepsia, with its attendant horrors, to the unborn child, as 
 it is to transmit much less important attributes. Dyspepsia 
 is as often hereditary as is consumption, scrofula, insanity, 
 etc. This of itself is an argument that should influence the 
 mother in a right choice of drink and diet. 
 
 Next in importance to proper food is pure air and light. 
 The mother should at all seasons have an abundance of pure 
 air, and especially so during her sleeping hours. Open fire- 
 places are at all times the most desirable ; but where tight-fit- 
 ting stoves are used, ample arrangements should be made for 
 thorough ventilation. In the room in which the mother 
 lives, the light of the sun should never be obstructed by 
 blind or curtain. Many people, thinking much more of their 
 carpets and furniture than of their own health, keep their 
 houses, by the aid of blinds, curtains or trees, in a state of 
 Egyptian darkness. No more fatal error ever was made. 
 Under the influence of the sun's heat, air and moisture, a 
 new seed or plant will germinate, grow, and gradually de- 
 velop into health and beauty of leaf and flower ; whereas, if 
 kept in darkness, it may grow to a certain extent, but its 
 leaves and stem are of a sickly yellowish hue, and is in its 
 appearance an undesirable thing. This is applicable, with 
 much greater force, to the human organism. A child of 
 light is a child of joy, of purity, of health ; while a child 
 whose mother has lived in a dark, unventilated room during 
 this period will be a child of many troubles, Deformities, 
 rickets, bad teeth, crooked spine, pale and sickly-looking 
 skin, soft and flabby muscles, enfeebled digestive organs al-
 
 192 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 together a most undesirable list of results. Not only should 
 pregnant women, but all mankind should live in the light of 
 the life-giving sun, and only court darkness during the hours 
 of sleep. 
 
 The daily bath, during this full term of nine months, 
 should never be neglected. The best time in the day for 
 bathing is in the forenoon, between eleven and twelve 
 o'clock, when the body is at its highest state of health and 
 strength. As before mentioned, the taking of it should oc- 
 cupy as short a time as is consistent with its being thor- 
 oughly done. After drying and friction with the hands, the 
 mother for a few moments should allow the full rays of the 
 sun to fall direct on her nude body, and during this time she 
 should take deep inspirations of pure air, filling her 
 lungs to their full extent. This water, sun and air-bath 
 after dressing in part or in whole should be followed by a 
 rest of fifteen or thirty minutes in bed or on a lounge. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to again say that the dress of the 
 woman during this period must be perfectly loose, having no 
 constrictions of any kind or nature, and that the extremities 
 be warmly and comfortably clad. 
 
 A full measure of sleep should always be secured. A 
 regular hour of going to bed and rising should be estab- 
 lished and faithfully adhered to. No feathers are to be allowed 
 near the bed, and the room to be large, pleasant and well 
 ventilated. 
 
 This brings us to the habits of thought and action to be 
 observed by the mother, in order to secure in her offspring 
 health and beauty of form and feature, and the elements of 
 character that in their action will constitute genius. 
 
 The period of gestative influence is to be divided into two 
 sections the first four months and the last five months. 
 During the first four months the physical in the mother 
 should predominate, while during the last five months the 
 mental should predominate. 
 
 The positive and intense exercise of the mental faculties,
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 193 
 
 during the period of preliminary preparation, should, imme- 
 diately following conception, be arrested, and no more in- 
 tense exercise of the mental power should be essayed until 
 the arrival of the fifth month of pregnancy. 
 
 During this first four months of gestative influence, the 
 mother should daily take ample physical exercise, and the 
 best exercise she can have is walking. Alone, or with her 
 husband or other companion, she should, about ten o'clock 
 in the forenoon, go on a walk of from three to six miles. On 
 returning, a bath should be taken as above, and a short rest 
 afterward. It is important that during this walk the mother 
 feel no sense of being tired. By pleasant talk, if with a com- 
 panion, or, if alone, by pleasant thoughts of her plans and 
 purposes in the growth and life of the new being, the time in 
 walking will pass unperceived otherwise there may be 
 present a feeling of lassitude, which ultimately may do her 
 more harm than good. Having a free, loose, comfortable 
 dress, with well-fitting, heavy shoes, and no vail, she should 
 give full swing to her arms and legs, when every muscle, 
 nerve and artery in her body will feel the electric effects of 
 motion and rapid, renewed life. This walk should, rain or 
 shine, be taken every day of this period of gestative influ- 
 ence, up to within a few days of parturition. If faithfully 
 observed, it has a wonderful happy effect on the whole pro- 
 cess of gestation and parturition. 
 
 Otherwise, during this four months, the mother should 
 live what might be termed a negative life that is, without 
 employing in any great measure her intellectual faculties, she 
 should carefully avoid all the bad qualities she does not wish 
 to transmit to the child. If she have a fretful or irritable 
 disposition, she should carefully guard against it, and endeav- 
 or to cultivate only the bright and cheerful of her nature ; 
 and so of any other greater or smaller idiosyncrasy of char- 
 acter that she would not desire to have incorporated in the 
 life of the child. 
 
 To impress the matter more fully on the minds of parents, 
 
 13
 
 194 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 I will again repeat that, during this full period of gestative 
 influence, as well as during the period of nursing, sexual con- 
 gress should not be had between husband and wife. This is 
 the law of Nature, the law of God, and outside of Christen- 
 dom it is never violated. Animals will not permit it sav- 
 ages will not permit it, and over three-quarters of the world 
 it is looked upon as infamous by our own species. A man 
 acting out the licentious of his nature with his wife during 
 gestation is worse than a brute in fact, there is no species 
 of the animal to which he can be compared, unless it be the 
 tobacco-flavored, whisky-steeped hanger-on to a rum-shop 
 whose life is an epitome of tobacco, whisky and licentious- 
 ness. Do not, I pray you, O parents, do this unclean thing. 
 Do not taint your clean bodies, do not foul your pure souls 
 with the lustful of your natures, while a new body is being 
 developed, a new soul being organized ; but by sweet words, 
 loving caresses, endearing actions and warm kisses, cultivate 
 within you the love-element that, in its pure exercise, joins 
 together two souls, and brings in its path such a measure of 
 peace and happiness as must be realized ere it can be ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 When the fifth month has arrived, the mother should car- 
 ry out, by persistent mental effort, the plan of life decided 
 on for the child's post-natal existence, and this effort should 
 be continued up to the day of its birth. To this end, all the 
 thoughts and suggestions given in Chapter XIII. should be 
 closely observed and followed. If it is the -.desire of the pa- 
 rents that the child be a carpenter, a minister, a fruit-grower, 
 a novelist, an inventor, a house-builder, etc., this later period 
 of gestative influence is the period in which to impress on 
 the child's organism the qualities that will, when he or she 
 arrives at manhood or womanhood, constitute in their action 
 the desirable quality of genius, so necessary to success in any 
 line of life chosen. 
 
 During this period the father should, when absence from 
 his daily avocation is permissible, lovingly think and act in
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 195 
 
 harmony with his wife. They together should by repeated 
 expression strengthen their will-power in the direction de- 
 sired. They should help each other to avoid all that is un- 
 congenial in their nature, and cultivate only desirable quali- 
 ties of head and heart, so that the growth of the new being 
 will tend toward perfection, rather than back into barbarism 
 for it should be noted that there is no mid-way in life's 
 endeavors mankind must either recede or advance. 
 
 In their efforts to conform to the Law of Genius, the pa- 
 rents, and particularly the mother, must carefully avoid anx- 
 iety of mind for desired results, for over-solicitude will in the 
 child work anomalies. Over-anxiety, vastly increased, will 
 be transmitted to the New Life, and be to it a source of life- 
 long trouble. This undesirable quality can easily be avoided 
 by the cultivation of a bright, cheerful, reliant disposition, a 
 belief in the law of transmitted influence, and trust in God's 
 care and presence. The parents must not only have faith in 
 this law, but in its practice they must feel confident of suc- 
 cess, for people who have no faith care for nothing, and as 
 an inevitable consequence accomplish nothing. 
 
 To the end that faith, in the minds of doubting parents, 
 may grow and increase in the direction of the wonderful 
 power of pre-natal influence, I will here give some illus- 
 trations of the results of chance acts, as well as of intelligent 
 obedience to law, in the propagation of offspring. 
 
 Some years ago a man, one of whose hobbies was that 
 unless an individual was a musician there was something rad- 
 ically wrong in his make-up, married a woman who did not 
 know the first elements of music. This woman, his wife, 
 knowing his desire for musical abilities in children, and his 
 utter carelessness or want of interest in children who did not 
 possess such, at first had a dread that she would bear a child 
 wanting in his desires. But she made up her mind that 
 such should not be the case, and to this end she obtained a 
 piano, practiced upon it for a certain number of hours daily, 
 and daily cultivated what voice she had in singing. Coupled
 
 196 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 with this was the strong desire of her whole soul to have a 
 child possessing a genius for music, so that in its birth and 
 growth it would be a well-spring of pleasure to the father, if 
 not to her. This mother has now two children, both of 
 which are born-musicians. They can sing any tune they 
 once hear, and can already play the most difficult music 
 placed before them. They delight and revel in it. This 
 mother, in a measure, accidentally observed the Law of Ge- 
 nius, as the results so plainly prove. She, it must be noted, 
 never did, and never possibly can, excel as a musician. As 
 already mentioned, this is not necessary, the principal re- 
 quirement being the whole-souled desire, and the determined, 
 persistent effort in the direction required. This mother had 
 no other wish in transmitting musical capacities 
 to her offspring, than the pleasing of her husband. In no 
 other quality were the children improved, in mental or phys- 
 ical peculiarities, than the single one of music ; for otherwise 
 they have inherited characteristics from their parents which 
 in themselves are not desirable. Yet she done much in hav- 
 ing children with such a love and genius for music, for music 
 should be much more cultivated than it is. " Every heart 
 should be the home of music. Every home should be an 
 orchestra for sacred, and an opera for sprightly, gladsome 
 music. The richest sentiments of the heart are to -be sung. 
 The holiest feelings of the soul find their best utterance in 
 music. The warmest, purest affections express their fervor 
 in song. Music is the natural language of a full soul. The 
 mourner yes, even the mourner loves the mellow, grief- 
 laden cadences of slow and solemn music. The patriot ex- 
 presses his bursting joy in the rich notes of the bugle ; the 
 warrior shouts in answer to the stirring fife and drum ; the 
 worshiper rises in praise with the swelling strains of the or- 
 chestra ; the lover melts to the soft tones of his ravishing 
 lute, whose very melody seems the sweet breath of love. It 
 is proper, then, that all should be masters of this glorious 
 science One day, which is to come, all must be taught, and
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 197 
 
 will willingly yea, gladly join in the anthem of redemp- 
 tion. All souls will one day be full of love and praise, of 
 heavenly aspiration and glorious sentiment. At once, then, 
 they should enter upon a preparation for that great day of 
 the fullness of glory ; at once they should begin to taste a 
 prelibation of that flood of angel-music which is to be poured 
 into the ear of creation's King. While the infant mind is 
 untarnished with sin and corroding care, this heavenly ele- 
 ment should be awakened to a chorus of harmony that shall 
 ever swell above the harsh discord of life. Early should the 
 soul's great powers be developed for the work of the immor- 
 tal world, and the enjoyment of immortal felicities." 
 
 As another illustration of inherited musical abilities 
 abilities, I presume, that were transmitted accidentally, and 
 not knowingly or designedly I give the following, taken 
 from a Connecticut paper : 
 
 " A YOUNG PRODIGY. There is a little child living in the 
 village of Baltic, only four years old, who plays more than 
 forty tunes correctly on the piano. Her name is Susa 
 
 M , daughter of George M , chorister in the Baptist 
 
 church. She played, a few Sabbaths since, all the tunes 
 sung in the Sabbath-school concert, to the delight and as- 
 tonishment of a large concourse of people. But what is 
 more wonderful, perhaps, in the case of the little musician, 
 is that she has never been taught to read. Her knowledge 
 of music seems to be intuitive." 
 
 A man who by profession was an engineer, and who had 
 just started business on his own account, received a commis- 
 sion from a prominent and wealthy firm to construct a large 
 and peculiar steam engine. So desirous was he to succeed, 
 and please and satisfy his employers, that he worked whole 
 days and evenings, in concentrated study, to perfect the de- 
 sign. In doing this, his wife, who was along in pregnancy, 
 got interested, and together they thought, talked and plan-
 
 198 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ned. When the time arrived a daughter was born, who, in 
 growing, developed in an unusual degree a talent to invent 
 and construct great mathematical and mechanical powers. 
 The parents, no doubt, will make of this girl an ordinary 
 every-day woman, having no special aim or object in life. I 
 would advise that she follow and attain those qualifications 
 necessary to her success as a designer and constructor of 
 engines, the genius for which was transmitted to her during 
 the period of gestative influence. " An unwomanly em- 
 ployment," you say. Yes, if you decide by old-established 
 usages ; No, if you decide by the Law of Genius, which im- 
 plies fitness. " A dirty business," you say. Not necessarily 
 more so than washing dishes or peeling potatoes. "Would 
 not woman's dress interfere with the practical details of con- 
 structing or superintending mechanical work ?" Yes, if such 
 women dressed as at present, which mode is as unnatural in 
 its form and purpose as it is destructive to the wearer's life 
 and health. A perfectly physiological dress for woman will in 
 no way prevent her from adopting any of the departments 
 of work occupied by man. 
 
 Another, and perhaps the only other objection that can 
 be advanced, is that it would place woman out of her true 
 sphere of life that of mother, companion to her husband, 
 and educator of her children. This objection might hold 
 valid if there were no inequality in the number of the sexes 
 if there were no more women than men. But unfortu- 
 nately this is not the case. In Great Britain, many parts of 
 Europe, parts of the United States not mentioning China 
 and other Asiatic countries women largely predominate,, 
 and, judging by past records, they will continue to do so. 
 Now these women must live, unless the Chinese plan of kill- 
 ing them off in their infancy be adopted. Already there are 
 thousands of women on this comparatively new continent 
 who do not live they only exist, and a wretched existence 
 it is at that. This being so and it cannot well be denied 
 there must be through all time a preponderance of unmar-
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 199 
 
 ried women, and these unmarried women should possess the 
 privilege, if they have the genius, to fill any sphere in life 
 that will allow them not only to be independent, but that will 
 enable them to cultivate and perfect the imperfect that is 
 within them. Again, there are, very often, women who, at the 
 death of their husbands are thrown upon their own resources 
 
 And, allowing that a woman be born with a genius for an 
 employment that is pre-eminently fitted for man, it does not 
 follow that she, in pursuing that employment, need part with 
 the qualities that constitute a true woman, a loving and faith- 
 ful wife, and a pure and good mother. 
 
 Originate a woman having in full measure the quality of 
 genius, and place her in any department of life's workshop 
 monopolized by man, and she will much more naturally fall 
 into that particular station than will a man possessed of 
 second-rate talents. And notwithstanding the custom that 
 confines her to particular spheres which custom was born 
 of her slavery she will be admired for her genius and sought 
 after for her ability. 
 
 And yet there is much that women, or the mothers of 
 women, can perfect themselves in, before it will be necessary 
 for them to largely infringe on masculine occupations. Why 
 is it that there is so much want, misery, and ultimately lives 
 of shame among women especially women in large cities ? 
 Simply because of a lack of ability, capacity, genius. And 
 this lack of ability, mind you, is in employments that are or 
 have been allotted to women. The most successful and most 
 fashionable bonnet and dressmakers at this time in Paris are 
 men. A woman requires the training, the ability and the 
 element of genius as much in cleaning and making up a 
 shirt, as in carving from marble an idealized fancy ; as much 
 in making a loaf of bread, as in writing a novel ; as much in 
 cooking a dinner, as in singing an operatic air. Yet this is 
 lamentably not the case, and until women are educated, 
 trained, and born to some particular employment, so that 
 they will be masters of its every detail, so long will they be
 
 200 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 dependent on the first offer of marriage that comes along, be 
 the man what he may ; so long will they be dependent on 
 friends or relatives for a home ; so long will they be depend- 
 ent on the grasping avarice of moneyed monopolies ; and, 
 failing in husband, friends and low wages a life of shame. 
 Much more might be said on this woman-question, but I 
 will refrain ; except so far as to advise mothers who are rear- 
 ing girls, that they from the beginning bequeath them in full 
 measure the quality of genius in some department of life's 
 efforts, and that after birth they continue in full measure the 
 plan of life intended for the unborn, even allowing the child 
 should prove a girl when a boy was desired, and up to the 
 full age of womanhood, allowing no present- thoughts of mar- 
 riage to intervene, the education be continued and completed. 
 In this way can you have a woman who will be an honor 
 and glory to her parents, and a bright and shining star 
 among womankind. 
 
 The genius of Napoleon I. affords another instance of the 
 effects of pre-natal influence. The mother of Napoleon, 
 some months previous to his birth, shared the fortunes of 
 war with her husband. On horseback most of the time, she 
 acquired active and health-inspiring habits. During this 
 time she was in constant peril and danger, and not only sur- 
 rounded with, but intensely engaged in, all the pomp and 
 circumstance of war, and in this .way not only became famil- 
 iar with the horrors and anguish of war, but also became 
 reconciled to it, and in a measure enjoyed it. This being so, 
 it could not possibly be otherwise that in her son was im- 
 planted that indomitable spirit, that unbounded ambition and 
 passion for warlike pursuits, that in its exercise did not stop 
 short of the subjugation of a world. 
 
 In the mode of life necessary to transmit the quality of 
 genius, much maybe gleaned from a perusal of the pre-natal 
 life of the poet Burns, who was from and of the people, and 
 whose efforts are and ever will be regarded with wonder and 
 delight by the Saxon race.
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 201 
 
 " The mother of Burns was a native of the county of 
 Ayr ; her birth was humble, and her personal attractions 
 moderate ; yet, in all other respects, she was a remarkable 
 woman. She was blessed with singular equanimity of tem- 
 per ; her religious feelings were deep and constant ; she 
 loved a well-regulated household ; and it was frequently her 
 pleasure to give wings to the weary hours of a checkered 
 life by chanting old songs and ballads, of which she had a 
 large store. In her looks she resembled her eldest son ; her 
 eyes were bright and intelligent ; her perception of character 
 quick and keen. She lived to a great age, rejoiced in the 
 fame of the poet, and partook of the fruits of his genius." 
 
 And of the father it is said that 
 
 " Amid all these toils and trials, William Burns remem- 
 bered the worth of religious instruction, and the usefulness 
 of education in the rearing of his children. The former 
 task he took upon himself, and, in a little manual of devotion 
 still extant, sought to soften the-rigor of the Calvinistic creed 
 into the gentler Armenian. He set, too, the example which 
 he taught. He abstained from all profane swearing and vain 
 discourse, and shunned all approach to levity of conversation 
 or behavior. A week-day, in his house, wore the sobriety 
 of a Sunday ; nor did he fail in performing family worship in 
 a way which enabled his son to give to the world that fine 
 picture of devotion, the 'Cotter's Saturday Night.' 
 
 " The education of Burns was not over when the school 
 doors were shut. The peasantry of Scotland turn their cot- 
 tages into schools ; and when a father takes his arm-chair by 
 the evening fire, he seldom neglects 1o communicate to his 
 children whatever knowledge he possesses himself. Nor is 
 this knowledge very limited ; it extends, generally, to the 
 history of Europe, and to the literature of the island but 
 more particularly to the divinity, the poetry, and what may 
 be called the traditionary history of Scotland. An intelli- 
 gent peasant is intimate with all those skirmishes, sieges, 
 combats and quarrels, domestic or national, of which public
 
 202 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 writers take no account. He has by heart, too, whole col- 
 umns of songs and ballads ; nay, long poems sometimes 
 abide in his recollection ; nor will he think his knowledge 
 much, unless he knows a little about the lives and actions of 
 the men who have done most honor to Scotland. In addi- 
 tion to what he has on his memory, we may mention what 
 he has on the shelf. A common husbandman is frequently 
 master of a little library ; history, divinity and poetry but 
 mostly the latter compose his collection. Milton and Young 
 are favorites ; the flowery meditations of Hervy, the religious 
 romance of the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' are seldom absent ; 
 while, of Scottish books, Ramsay, Thompson, Ferguson, and 
 now Burns, together with song and ballad-books innumer- 
 able, are all huddled together, soiled with smoke, and frail 
 and tattered by frequent use. The household of William 
 Burns was an example of what I have described ; and there 
 is some truth in the assertion that, in true knowledge, the 
 poet was, at nineteen, a better scholar than nine-tenths of 
 our young gentlemen when they leave school for college. 
 
 The great number of literary and scientific men Scotland 
 has produced, when compared with her sister kingdoms, is, 
 to many reflecting minds, matter of surprise and wonder. 
 The preceding account of the general literary taste and ac- 
 quirements of the people, together with the following opinion 
 of one of the most original thinkers of the age, may furnish 
 an explanation, and, at the same time, support the theory of 
 transmission and inheritance contended for in these pages : 
 
 " A country where the entire population is, or even once 
 has been, laid hold of, filled to the heart with an infinite re- 
 ligious idea, has made a step from which it cannot retro- 
 grade. Thought, conscience the sense that man is denizen 
 of a universe, creature of an eternity has penetrated the 
 remotest cottage, to the simplest heart. Beautiful and awful, 
 the feeling of a heavenly behest, of duty God-commanded, 
 over-canopies all life. There is an inspiration in such a peo- 
 ple ; one may say, in a most special sense, ' the inspiration
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 203 
 
 of the Almighty giveth them understanding.' Honor to all 
 the brave and true ; everlasting honor to the brave old Knox, 
 one of the truest of the true ! That in the moment while 
 he and his cause, amid civil broils, in convulsion and confu- 
 sion, were still but struggling for life, he sent the schoolmas- 
 ter forth to all corners, and said : ' Let the people be taught' 
 this is but one, and, indeed, an inevitable and compara- 
 tively inconsiderable item of his great message to men. His 
 message, in its true compass, was : ' Let men know that they 
 (ire men, created by God, responsible to God ; ivho work in 
 any meanest moment of time what will last throiigh eternity.' 
 It is, verily, a great message. This great message Knox did 
 deliver with a man's voice and strength, and he found a peo- 
 ple to believe him. Of such an achievement, we say, were 
 it to be made once only, the results are immense. Thought, 
 in such a country, may change its form, but it cannot go 
 out ; the country has attained majority, thought, and a cer- 
 tain spiritual manhood, ready for all work that man can do. 
 It may take many forms the form of hard-fisted, money- 
 getting industry, as in the vulgar Scotchman, the vulgar 
 New Englander ; but as compact, developed force, and alert- 
 ness of faculty, it is still there. It may utter itself as the co- 
 lossal skepticism of a Hume (beneficial, this, too, though 
 painful, wrestling, Titan-like, through doubt and inquiry, to- 
 ward new belief); and again, in some better day, it may ut- 
 ter itself in the inspired melody of a Burns ; in a word, it is, 
 and continues in the voice and the work of a nation of hardy, 
 endeavoring, considering men, with whatever that may bear 
 in it, or untold from it. The Scotch natural character origi- 
 nates in many circumstances ; first of all is the Saxon stuff 
 there was to work on ; but next, and beyond all except that, 
 the Presbyterian Gospel of John Knox." 
 
 Mrs. Hester Pendleton says : 
 
 "Two of my early friends, of very dissimilar characters, 
 married about the same time, and their children have par- 
 taken strongly of the peculiarities of their mothers one of
 
 204 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 whom was of a dull, sluggish nature, and as much averse to 
 mental as to physical activity. Her conscience appeared 
 quite at ease if her fingers were employed, even in the most 
 trifling occupation ; and the less mental effort her work re- 
 quired, the more pleasing it was to her. While thus em- 
 ployed, she frequently beguiled the time by caroling senti- 
 mental songs and ballads. The phrenological developments 
 of her eldest daughter correspond perfectly with the habits 
 and pursuits of the mother during her pregnancy : tune, 
 large domestic sentiments and animal propensities, large 
 reflective organs, moderate perceptive ones, small quite 
 deficient in the organ of weight, and very near-sighted. That 
 the last two defects were caused by the personal inactivity of 
 the mother, and by her sight being constantly confined to 
 small and near objects, appears the most probable, as her 
 last children's organs of weight and vision were perfect she 
 having removed to the country, and been obliged to perform 
 the active duties of her family. 
 
 " The other youthful mother was blessed with a most hap- 
 py, joyous temper, and possessed of mental and personal ac- 
 tivity in a high degree passionately fond of dancing, walk- 
 ing, riding on horseback, and all other exercise requiring ac- 
 tion, skill and grace. She was a perfect economist of her 
 time, allowing no portions of it to be wasted. Her house- 
 hold was regulated with order, neatness and taste. By her 
 habit of early rising, she was enabled to arrange all her do- 
 mestic matters before breakfast ; after which, she usually oc- 
 cupied herself with plain needlework, while her husband read 
 aloud the morning papers. She would then accompany him 
 in a walk of three miles to his office ; and on her return, de- 
 vote the remainder of the morning to pursuits congenial to a 
 highly cultivated literary taste ; and thus, on her husband's 
 return to dinner, she had something new, interesting, and 
 amusing to read or relate to him. A portion of the after- 
 noon was generally devoted to exercise in the open air ; or, 
 the weather not permitting, to a game of battle-door, or the
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. ' 205 
 
 graces at home ; or to chess, reading or needlework. Born 
 under such pleasant influences, the children were sprightly, 
 active and graceful perfect emanations of joy their per- 
 ceptions quick, their sensibilities acute, their understanding 
 vigorous no lesson a task, no duty a burden. Their father 
 was a man of sense and feeling, who perfectly understood the 
 influence of the mother's mind, during the period of gesta- 
 tion, on the temper and disposition of her child ; therefore, 
 never allowed her feelings to be disturbed, irritated or an- 
 noyed. Hence, the sweetness, docility and tractability of 
 their children ; and hence their dissimilarity to those first 
 mentioned, whose parents allowed no such influence, nor 
 gave themselves any trouble or thought about the matter 
 and their children were perfect clods of dullness, ill temper 
 and stupidity." 
 
 The same writer gives another remarkable instance of the 
 'effects of the habits and pursuits of the mother on her off- 
 spring : 
 
 " Mrs. A was a melancholy instance of strength of 
 
 mind perverted to selfish ends. Ambitious of power and in- 
 fluence, she was unscrupulous in the means by which they 
 were obtained. Owing to her plausibility and pertinacity, 
 she once was elected to an office of trust in a benevolent so- 
 ciety of which she was a member. This was a situation of 
 great temptation to one in whose head the selfish sentiments 
 predominated, as the event proved ; for, at the expiration of 
 the year, she was dismissed, under the imputation of having 
 appropriated a portion of the funds of the society to her own 
 
 use. During the year in which she held this office, Mrs. A 
 
 gave birth to a daughter, whose first manifestations were ac- 
 quisitiveness and secretiveness in excess, or a propensity to 
 theft. That the great development and activity of those or- 
 gans in the head of the child were the effect of the dishonest 
 practices of the mother, previous to her birth, there can be 
 but little doubt." 
 
 These illustrations of the tendency of perverted influence
 
 206 . THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 on the New Life might be continued interminably ; but this 
 is unnecessary for any reader need but knowingly observe 
 the offspring of families in his immediate neighborhood to 
 be convinced of these indisputable facts to be convinced of 
 the truth that the great law of pre-natal influence is based on 
 the principle that like produces like. As are the parents' 
 lives during the period of preliminary preparation as is the 
 life of the mother during the period of gestation and nur- 
 sing, so will be the child, a duplicate in physical, mental and 
 moral peculiarities. It is only necessary, in the proving of 
 the fact that like produces like, that parents but compare 
 their lives, in thoughts, words and actions, during these sea- 
 sons of preparation, to account for the character of mind and 
 body of any of their offspring. 
 
 Now the right observance of the laws and rules laid down 
 in these pages will cannot help resulting in beautiful, tal- 
 ented, healthy offspring ; and yet, if any parents doubt these 
 truths or assertions, let them follow their old ways. 
 
 Let them if they have no desire for pure, bright, and 
 more perfect offspring adopt the opposite plan, and see for 
 themselves the result. 
 
 Let them the husband and wife during this period of 
 gostative influence, disagree as much as possible fall out and 
 quarrel about the most trifling subjects, and the results will 
 be, in a measure, as was the case with a boy in Vermont, 
 whose parents previous to his birth had a difficulty, 
 resulting in the mother for a time refusing to speak to her 
 husband. After awhile the child was born, and in due season 
 began to talk, but when sitting on his father's knee was inva- 
 riably silent. It continued so until the child was five years 
 old, when the father, having exhausted his powers of persua- 
 sion, threatened it with punishment for its stubborness. 
 When the punishment was inflicted, it elicited nothing but 
 sighs and groans, which told but too plainly that the little 
 sufferer could not speak, though he invariably endeavored to 
 do so. This child has reached manhood, and even now^ his
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 207 
 
 efforts to converse with his father can only produce the most 
 bitter sighs and groans. 
 
 Let the parents, during this period, lead untruthful lives. 
 Let the mother lie whenever the least opportunity offers. It 
 is not necessary that she tell positive lies, for the effect will 
 be the same if they are of a negative character whether 
 they be " white lies" or society-lies yea, even unexpressed 
 untruths, are as efficient as would be a lie under oath. Do- 
 ing this, can you have a child that will be the embodiment 
 of truth and honor ? Oh, no ; you will have a child similar 
 to a very large class of mankind, who by thought, word or 
 action live untruthful lives ; who are, every day of their ex- 
 istence, in a very small or very great measure to use a 
 plain Saxon word liars ; and of whom, because of their 
 great number, no individual illustration need be given. 
 
 Apropos to this subject is the following anecdote, which I 
 have noticed drifting through the papers : 
 
 " A Canadian boy too young to fully comprehend the 
 doctrine of total depravity (?), but old enough, at least to 
 have a vague idea of the hereditary principles of mankind 
 was recently detected by his paternal ancestor in a falsehood, 
 and punished therefor by solitary confinement. The pun- 
 ishment over, the youngester accosted his father with the 
 question : 
 
 " ' Pa, did you tell lies when you were little ?' 
 " The father, perhaps conscience-smitten, evaded an an- 
 swer ; but the child, persisting, again asked : 
 " ' Did you tell lies when you were little ?' 
 " 'No,' said the father; 'but why do you ask ?' 
 " ' Did ma tell lies when she was little ?' he then asked. 
 " ' I don't know, my son ; you must ask her.' 
 "'Well/ retorted the boy, 'one of you must have told 
 lies, or you would not have a boy who would.' ' 
 
 If to an untruthful life be added a disrespect for God's 
 name a breaking of the third commandment a combina- 
 tion will be transmitted to the child's organism that will
 
 208 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 greatly tend toward making it an essentially bad character. 
 Let the parents during this period if they desire pale, 
 weak, scrofulous, consumptive, short-lived children care- 
 fully live a confined life, in a close, dark, stove-heated, un- 
 ventilated house ; avoiding all out-door exercise and amuse- 
 ment ; eating all manner of rich, greasy and concentrated 
 food, spices, hot and sweet drinks, carefully abstaining from 
 daily baths, and they will have, with a tenfold increase, their 
 desire fulfilled, as did the following parents, who certainly 
 did not desire offspring with such peculiarities : 
 
 " I was married at the age of twenty-five, inheriting from 
 both my parents a most vigorous constitution. My husband 
 was four years my senior, and alike blessed with most per- 
 fect health. But we started wrong after all, for we both de- 
 termined to be rich, let what would come. We occupied a 
 large farm, and I, in my eagerness to amass wealth, which 
 has been a canker to my happiness, would never employ 
 help for a day, frequently doing all the labor for a family of 
 twenty during the period of gestation. My first children 
 were twins. My living at the time was what is commonly 
 called the plain living of farmers, but what I now consider 
 as much too luxurious for health. 
 
 "Previous to my accouchment, a cutaneous eruption ap- 
 peared on my face, neck and hands, together with swelling 
 of the joints. This I looked upon as the effect of heat, 
 which would soon pass off; but what was my disappoint- 
 ment, at the birth of my babes, to have presented to me two 
 emaciated little beings, covered with this eruption, which was 
 found to be scrofula, induced by wrong living. I had most 
 ardently desired children, and my love of riches gave way to 
 my maternal feelings ; but in less than four months both the 
 little sufferers were carried to their resting place. I regarded 
 myself as stricken of God ; I sought to submit to my trying 
 fate as a Christian for I did not regard myself as having 
 anything to do with my affliction. A third, fourth and fifth 
 child followed, diseased in the same way, and only lingered
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 209 
 
 for a short period. At length my desires were gratified in 
 everything except living children. I wept and prayed much 
 for a child that might bless our old age. 
 
 "At length the illness of a beloved parent called me to a 
 different scene, and during almost the entire period of preg- 
 nancy with my sixth child I was occupied in her care. Be- 
 ing no longer actively engaged, my mind turned naturally 
 to investigating the causes that had co-operated to produce 
 such painful results, if causes there were. Does God, I 
 asked, arbitrarily punish us in this world for infringements 
 of His moral law ? If so, of what use is the atonement or 
 death of Christ ? Then first dawned upon my mind the be- 
 lief that there were natural as well as moral laws given to 
 govern us, and that an infringement of them would meet with 
 punishment. The period of parturition arrived. Conceive, 
 if you can, the joy and gratitude of my heart to find myself 
 the mother of a fair and beautiful boy, which still lives to 
 bless and comfort me ; but although he lives, and the three 
 daughters which followed him, yet they too partake of the 
 feeble constitution which I have entailed upon them, for my 
 own health had become greatly impaired by my wrong mode 
 of life and struggle after riches." 
 
 Or, if any parents have an antipathy to following the laws 
 given for the production of beautiful children, they can by 
 the avoidance of the beautiful in art and nature, and the cul- 
 tivation of the homely, rustic and coarse embodied in their 
 immediate surroundings ; the exercise of the propensities of 
 their natures ; the living on rich food, and in unlighted and 
 unventilated rooms ; but especially by the wearing of corsets 
 by the mother, and general constriction of dress secure not 
 only homeliness of feature in the offspring, but deformity of 
 soul as well as body. In no way does the fashionable or un- 
 fashionable mother so influence the appearance of the child, 
 during and immediately preceding gestation, as by constric 
 tion of the body by corsets, tight dresses or bands. By this 
 unnatural habit the circulation of the blood through the ab- 
 
 14
 
 210 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 domen is impeded, the regular nourishment of the foetus is 
 also checked, and so the child is born with not only high 
 shoulders, awkward figure, pinched up and painful express- 
 ion of countenance, but also with a weak and sickly organi- 
 zation. The Romans were so well aware of the mischief 
 caused by compression of the waist during gestation, that 
 they enacted a positive law against it ; and Lycurgus, with 
 the same view, is said to have ordained a law compelling 
 pregnant women to wear very wide and loose clothing. 
 
 Or if the parents wish a child that will possess a desire for 
 using tobacco, or a fondness for alcoholic liquors, it is only 
 necessary that the father during the period of preliminary 
 preparation use moderately or in excess tobacco, wine, 
 whisky, beer, etc. If the mother have her morning or eve- 
 ning glass of beer, ale, wine, cider, or whisky spiced, hot 
 or plain the effect on the character of the New Life will be 
 much more positive. The children born of parents under 
 these conditions will, long before they have grown to man- 
 hood (or womanhood), take as naturally to alcoholic liquor? 
 and tobacco as does the father. This is an undeniable fact, 
 and people have only to glance around them to be con- 
 vinced of it. A boy, man or woman, born of parents who 
 are healthy "and perfectly free from these curses of modern 
 civilization, will not only not adopt these debasing practices, 
 but cannot be made to do so. Born of a clean, pure, holy 
 conception, he will remain while he lives clean, pure, and 
 free from the body-corrupting, soul-destroying practices of 
 smoking, chewing or snuffing tobacco, or the use of alcoholic 
 liquors. 
 
 Or if the parents desire a child that will be the embodi- 
 ment of licentiousness, it is only necessary that during these 
 periods of preparation and influence beside eating of rich 
 food and using hot drinks, alcoholic liquors and tobacco 
 they practice the abnormally amative of their natures that 
 they together lead incontinent lives that they put to shame 
 the beasts of the field in their unnatural lust. By doing this
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 211 
 
 they will not fail to have children whose unnatural desires 
 will crop out very long before they have reached manhood 
 or womanhood long before their bodies are so grown and 
 perfected as to be prepared to take on the holy duties and 
 responsibilities of a loving and pure married existence. 
 Think you I harp too much on this theme of the abnormal 
 exercise of amativeness, and especially at these seasons of 
 the birth and growth of a new life? You cannot so think, 
 if you are of an observing and reflecting nature. Ask any 
 discreet, watchful and observing male or female teacher of 
 any one of the primary schools in town or country, and you 
 will be told that the practice of self-abuse is next to univer- 
 sal in children ; that it is practiced by girls as well as boys ; 
 that children before they reach the age of five years practice 
 it practice it in company and alone ; that these children, as 
 they grow up, become pale, weak and sickly caused, as the 
 fond parents suppose, by hard study ; that eventually many 
 of these young men become insane, while others die of some 
 unpronounced disease consumption or general debility 
 when the cause of death was the body-disintegrating, soul- 
 destroying habit of self-abuse. And the great underlying 
 cause for the practice of self-abuse in the child was the fact 
 that it was transmitted by the parents, during some one or 
 other of these seasons of pre-natal influence. 
 
 This transmitted sexual desire may not take on the form 
 of self-abuse, for the child may grow up to manhood without 
 doing this great wrong to his body though this seldom or 
 never happens ; but when it does, as well as when it does 
 not, his inherited licentiousness is exercised in a compara- 
 tively legitimate way legitimate, if the using of his wife as 
 a chattel or the sexual acquaintance of harlots be a legiti- 
 mate way. And yet the results are almost the same : a 
 sickly, diseased, unnatural life, and an early death. 
 
 " J. P. finished early his college course, and with a rapid- 
 ity surpassing even the most sanguine hopes of his friends 
 acquired the profession of law. The evening that he was
 
 212 THE SCIENCE O* A NEW LIFE. 
 
 admitted to the bar saw him the husband of a lovely and 
 pure-hearted woman. He rose in his profession with a ra- 
 pidity unequalled ; but his wife drooped in spirits and health ; 
 her happiness had been evanescent as the dew, for she had 
 too late learned that her husband, like his father, was a prof- 
 ligate, licentious man. A few months previous to the birth 
 of their son, he had abandoned the young and tender wife. 
 That son, at the age of nineteen, when I first knew him, was 
 the most brilliant young man in mind, the most noble in 
 form and feature, of any person I had ever known ; but he 
 was pursuing a reckless, licentious course, and was self-in- 
 dulgent in all his appetites to a degree unparalleled. The 
 child was trained, with the exception of proper physical 
 training, with great care. Often, after receiving a letter from 
 his mother, in which she gave excellent advice, and much re- 
 ligious counsel and exhortation, have I known him to shut 
 himself up for days, and fast and pray, and weep like an in- 
 fant over his transgressions. I have heard him make the 
 most solemn promises before God of entire reformation. 
 Again and again I have seen this strong man bowed to the 
 very earth under a sense of his transgressions. But when he 
 went forth it was to eat and drink, and again to go out and 
 commit the same sins, perhaps to a more fearful extent. 
 
 " Now did not that father stamp his character upon his 
 child most perfectly. The mother was a noble, highly gifted 
 woman ; but the baser passions of the father were stronger 
 than the moral ones of both. But had one-half of the study 
 of the mother been directed to acquiring a knowledge of the 
 laws of Nature, she might have saved him much suffering; 
 she might have given to his constitution a shield that would 
 have protected him from temptation to which he was ex- 
 posed. For she would have taught him that, by living on a 
 mild, unstimulating diet, together with bathing, air and ex- 
 ercise, those baser passions might be controlled and brought 
 into due subjection to his higher nature. But ignorantly she 
 fed the volcanic fires in him, which in after life she vainly
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 213 
 
 sought to quench. She loved, when her fair boy came home 
 from school, to have something prepared to please and pam- 
 per his vitiated appetite. Thus she, like thousands of oth- 
 ers, took the most sure means to prevent an answer to her 
 daily nay, almost hourly prayer, that God would keep pure 
 her son. Would that parents when they surround their 
 luxurious boards, furnished with tea, coffee, flesh-meats, con- 
 diments, etc., and lift up their voices and ask of God to bless 
 the food to the strengthening of their bodies, and then rise 
 with those bodies stimulated and unnaturally excited, and 
 their spirits groveling and fleshly could but see their ia- 
 consistency. To a mind truly enlightened such scenes are 
 most revolting. They savor strongly of Pagan idolatry. It is, 
 at least, mocking God with lip-service, while the heart is so 
 debased, low and sensual, that the higher natures are dor- 
 mant, and their religion sensualism." 
 
 The following single paragraph, from a late daily paper, 
 gives, in strong relief, three instances of the effects of the 
 parents' licentiousness during the ante-natal life of the 
 child : 
 
 " Within a short time the Police have become acquainted 
 with the facts connected with the abandonment by three 
 young girls of their homes, and their deliberate entry upon 
 lives of prostitution. In one instance, the father came to 
 this city, and finding his daughter in a house of ill-fame, pre- 
 vailed upon her to accompany him home. She remained 
 there, however, but a short time, when she again deserted 
 her family, and is now leading a life of infamy. A second 
 case was that of a young girl, who came to this city and was 
 admitted into a house of improper character, but only after 
 she had brought from her mother a written document, sta- 
 ting that she had abandoned her, and had no objection to 
 her leading a life of shame. The paper was probably a for- 
 gery. Last night, in a cell in one of the Station-houses of 
 the city, a very beautiful girl, only 1 7 years of age, was con- 
 fined for having deserted her mother, and voluntarily entered
 
 214 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 upon a career of crime and dissipation. The mother had 
 been in search of her for some weeks, and yesterday suc- 
 ceeded in finding her in a fashionable place of resort on Sixth 
 street. The young girl stated that the 'woman at whose 
 house she was discovered and the habitues of the place had 
 all urged her to go home and lead a pure and virtuous life, 
 and had pointed out to her the inevitable and certain end of 
 the career upon which she was embarking, but that she had 
 thought the matter all over, and had fully determined to con- 
 tinue on her course." 
 
 Where there are three such cases as the above come to the 
 knowledge of the public, there are thousands that do not. 
 And substitute three young men in place of the above three 
 young women, and you can substitute millions for thousands, 
 so great in number are they who live other than pure lives. 
 Live a licentious married life, and you cannot possibly ex- 
 pect to have children that will be other than licentious and 
 incontinent. Live a pure, chaste and continent married life, 
 and your children will be as God intended they should . 
 embodied reflections of His love, purity and goodness. 
 
 Or, if the parents desire a child that will not only be de- 
 ficient in mental or moral qualities, but will be idiotic, it is 
 only necessary that, immediately preceding the period of 
 conception, the parents judiciously combine some of the 
 principal bad conditionsenumerated above that, beside living 
 on wrong food living in dark, unventilated rooms, they use 
 in excess alcoholic liquors, and the abnormally amative of 
 their natures, and they will not fail in producing children 
 that will be blots on this beautiful earth. The fact is estab- 
 lished, that the parents who use alcoholic liquors, tobacco or 
 opium, either moderately or in excess, and otherwise mis- 
 use the laws of life, have generated children who were par- 
 tially or fully idiotic. 
 
 Or, if the parents desire to generate a child that will pos- 
 sess the qualities that will go to make it a murderer, it is only 
 necessary to add to some one or more of the above enume-
 
 PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 215 
 
 rated abnormal characteristics the one on the part of the 
 mother to desire to get rid of the unborn child, the attempt 
 to do so, and its failure. Somewhere I have read of a child, 
 whose mother so desired to get rid of it, to murder it, in the 
 early months of pregnancy, but without success. From the 
 time the boy was five years old, he was not allowed to play 
 or associate with other children unless carefully watched, as 
 already he had made several attempts to kill his fellow-play- 
 mates. Of course, the hate, loathing, and desire for the 
 death of the unborn, must be deep and positive to produce 
 such an effect as this. The pain, grief and sorrow of that 
 mother might be imagined, but not described. She longed 
 for and prayed that her boy, in some way, might die an 
 early death, so that no harm should befall others through the 
 murderous propensities bequeathed him. 
 
 Happening into a court house, where a crowded and anx- 
 ious audience filled every seat and aisle, I ascertained that 
 the prisoner at the bar was arraigned for murder. Presently 
 the jury appeared, the foreman of which, in a clear voice, 
 returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. The judge 
 asked the prisoner if he had aught to say why sentence of 
 death should not be passed on him. 
 
 The prisoner, a man in the prime of life, well formed, and 
 of rather prepossessing appearance, lifted his eyes toward the 
 judge, and, in a voice husky with emotion, said : 
 
 "I am guilty, and have no hopes of other than suffering 
 death for has not my life been one great record of sin ? 
 Only in the prime of life, I have been arrested times without 
 number. I have led a licentious, wicked life. I have done 
 all manner of positive wrong lied, robbed counterfeited, and 
 now murdered. And yet I should not suffer death, for I 
 have not done one of these things willingly. The wicked- 
 ness that was transmitted, bequeathed, and that is in me, I 
 have striven against, fought against, yea, even prayed 
 against. Where is my father, who bequeathed me this de- 
 formed soul ? Where is my mother who nurtured and more
 
 216 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 firmly implanted in me this wicked nature ? For it is they 
 who embodied these qualities in my organization that have 
 culminated in murder, and it is they to whom this sentence 
 of death should be addressed, and not to me. Oh ! not to me 
 for have I not wrestled and fought against it all the days of 
 my life ? But do what I would, strive as hard as I might, it 
 would assert the individuality of its transmitted nature. In 
 saying this, I have said all that I have to say in extenuation 
 of my guilt." 
 
 This argument an argument that can be used and ap- 
 plied by nearly every wrong- doer brought before the dis- 
 pensers of law and justice of course availed nothing with 
 the judge. A jury of his countrymen had found him guilty, 
 and he must suffer the extreme penalty of the law death. 
 
 And yet, was he guilty ? 
 
 On you, O parents, in the generating of a new life, rests a 
 great responsibility a responsibility that, if assumed in a 
 right, loving and holy endeavor, will produce fruit that will 
 redound to your honor, the world's happiness, and God's 
 glory. Assume it in a wrong, unloving and unholy spirit, 
 and O the trouble, the anxiety, the pain, the penalties that 
 will result will be more than a single soul can bear. 
 
 See to it, therefore, that you faithfully read, diligently 
 study, and ever obey the laws that govern your sexual or- 
 ganism, in the production of souls in the image of God.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PREGNANCY ITS SIGNS AND DURATION. 
 
 HEN a new life is started on its 
 growth toward perfection, the 
 whole nature of the woman 
 takes on, or seems to take on, 
 new life and vigor. She en- 
 joys better health, and feels 
 more cheerful and buoyant in 
 spirits, and often becomes more 
 fleshy than is usual with her. 
 This fact is especially notice- 
 able in those women who pos- 
 sess a delicate constitution and 
 somewhat feeble health. Oth- 
 ers, again, go through the va- 
 rious stages of pregnancy with- 
 out experiencing any marked change in the general state of 
 their systems ; while others, still, suffer more or less severely 
 from a variety of harassing and painful symptoms. But all, 
 or nearly all, upon becoming pregnant, or very soon after, 
 experience changes from their previous condition more or 
 less diversified, numerous and important. 
 
 A woman in perfectly good health, having her stomach 
 and other digestive organs properly performing their appro- 
 priate functions, and hitherto having been constantly regular 
 in menstruating, will have, as a first intimation that preg- 
 nancy has taken place, failure in the recurrence of tlie menses
 
 218 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 at the expected period. This is a good and positive sign in 
 a woman who hitherto has been strong, healthy and regular. 
 In weak and sickly women the cessation of the menses may 
 be owing to other causes. It is asserted by some physiolo- 
 gists that this is not a reliable sign, as a woman may be 
 pregnant and menstruate at the same time. This I believe 
 to be wrong ; for, when such an exception occurs, it has its 
 source in ulcers or abrasions of the mouth and lips of the 
 womb, and not from the interior of the womb, where the im- 
 pregnated egg is located, and from whence the true men- 
 strual flux has its origin. 
 
 Nausea, or " morning sickness" occurs about the third or 
 fourth week, although it may be present almost immediately 
 after conception. Nausea, depending as much, and perhaps 
 more, on the morbid condition of the patient than on preg- 
 nancy, is not an ever-present sign ; but when it occurs and 
 is unaccompanied by any other derangement of the health, 
 it may be regarded as a sign of no inferior importance. 
 
 Salivation of a very peculiar character affects some women 
 during pregnancy. The saliva is extremely white, a little 
 frothy, very tenacious, and difficult to deliver from the mouth. 
 As a sign of pregnancy, it is to be regarded as an exception 
 rather than the* rule. 
 
 Mammary changes. From the fourth to the twelfth week 
 after pregnancy the breasts will be found to have increased 
 in size, and to have formed round the base a circle of darker 
 color than formerly, with here and there scattered upon the 
 surface a number of prominent points or pimples. As time 
 advances, the circle will be found to increase in its dimen- 
 sions, to become of a still darker color, and the little promi- 
 nences to have increased in size. In some these changes- 
 begin to appear within two or three weeks after conception ; 
 in others they appear at a much later period ; and in many 
 none of them are ever manifested ; so that although their 
 appearance, and particularly the appearance of these little 
 prominences, is considered as almost a positive indication of
 
 PREGNANCY. 219 
 
 pregnancy their absence is very far indeed from being any 
 important evidence to the contrary. 
 
 Secretion of milk. At the time when the breasts begin 
 to enlarge, milk, or rather a milky fluid is secreted ; but the 
 secretion of this fluid takes place under many conditions 
 where pregnancy does not exist. Any derangement of the 
 health, causing the interruption of the menses, may result in 
 the enlargement of the breasts, and even the secretion of 
 milk. 
 
 Enlarged womb. From six to ten weeks after conception, 
 women who are thin and not fleshy can, by pressing the 
 fingers upon the lower part of the abdomen just above the 
 frontal bone, feel the enlarged womb, in the shape of a hard, 
 round substance or ball, about the size of an orange. This 
 can only be done when the abdominal muscles are relaxed, 
 by lying down on the back, with the shoulders slightly 
 raised and the knees drawn up. 
 
 Enlargement of the abdomen takes place about the third 
 month. During the second month it is usually much flat- 
 tened. From the third until the eighth month it continues to 
 enlarge at first along the median line, or directly in front, 
 and at quite its lower part. Until the fourth month the 
 sides, between the ribs and hips, appear to diminish, instead 
 of enlarging the growth being from below upward, directly 
 in front, while the sides are for a long time considerably flat- 
 tened. Enlargement of the abdomen may be caused by 
 dropsy, ovarian disease, or tumors, but differs materially in 
 its growth from the enlargement caused by pregnancy. 
 
 Quickening, which occurs about the fourth month, when 
 the motions of the child are first observed by the mother, is 
 commonly regarded as an unequivocal sign. These motions, 
 which may occur as early as the third month, are at first 
 very feeble, and are described as producing a feeble, flutter- 
 ing sensation, causing the woman to experience an uncom- 
 fortable feeling of nausea and faintness. After a time the 
 motions are more quick and elastic, and are usually felt very
 
 220 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 frequently during the remainder of the time, until confine- 
 ment puts a termination to them. 
 
 Pregnancy may exist with none of the above signs, of 
 with all of them ; but in a woman who is healthy, and who 
 has led a regular life, the appearance of any or all of them is 
 almost proof positive that pregnancy does exist. In cases 
 where character is at stake, and doubts prevail, there are less 
 equivocal sources of evidence, by which any well-informed 
 physician can solve such doubts. 
 
 Duration of pregnancy. Owing to the fact that concep- 
 tion is, as a rule, a chance act, having in it no educated de- 
 sire, preparation or method, and therefore an impossibility to 
 fix the exact period of conception, there is much discrepancy 
 of opinion with regard to the duration of it. Nine calender 
 months, or two hundred and eighty days, is the generally 
 accepted length of this period. If women who lead conti- 
 nent lives, and who adopt the laws of generating a new be- 
 ing laid down in these pages, would make a note of the pe- 
 riod of conception, they could not only tell to a day the du- 
 ration of pregnancy in their cases, but would know of a cer- 
 tainty the next tfme they were pregnant (under like condi- 
 tions), the very hour they would be confined, which of itself 
 would be a wonderful satisfaction to the mother. Of course, 
 this only can be done by women who are allowed by their 
 husbands to live pure and healthy lives, and who generate 
 offspring under true and lovable conditions. 
 
 It sometimes occurs that the period of pregnancy extends 
 to more than two hundred and eighty days. 
 
 "Some years ago there was held, in England, a legal trial 
 of a case involving the question of the duration of preg- 
 nancy. It was called the Gardiner Peerage case, and was in- 
 stituted for the purpose of settling the title of a claimant of 
 that peerage. Many eminent medical men were examined 
 on the occasion, and the result was that no absolute term of 
 pregnancy was ascertained. Moved by the interest excited 
 in that case, Dr. Merriman, of London, took the greatest
 
 PREGNANCY, 221 
 
 pains to ascertain the duration of pregnancy in a great num- 
 ber of women, and succeeded in satisfying his mind of the 
 great correctness of the computation for one hundred and 
 fourteen cases of mature children. He gave a tabular state- 
 ment, designating the number of days' duration of each 
 case, from which it appears that there were 
 
 3 born during the thirty-seventh week. 
 
 13 " " thirty-eighth week. 
 
 14 " " thirty-ninth week. 
 33 fortieth week. 
 
 22 " " forty-first week. 
 
 15 " forty-second week. 
 10 " " forty-third week. 
 
 4 " forty-fourth week. 
 
 " From this, as well as from a great amount of other testi- 
 mony to the same effect, it appears certain that the term or 
 duration of pregnancy is far from being absolutely fixed ; 
 that, while in some cases the foetus may become mature in 
 less than two hundred and sixty days, in others it doe's not 
 become so until the completion of the three hundred or 
 more the time varying much, according to the vital force 
 with which it is endowed and other circumstances perhaps 
 unknown." 
 
 Viability of the child. It sometimes happens that the 
 child is born before its natural time. This occurs generally 
 in first pregnancies, when the womb, on account of its being 
 unaccustomed to distension, or from other causes, takes on 
 the expulsive contractions of labor, and terminates the preg- 
 nancy before the foetus has arrived at maturity. The earli- 
 est period at which the child is enabled to carry on an inde- 
 pendent existence is involved in much uncertainty. The pe- 
 riod generally assigned is the end of the seventh month. 
 
 A case is given by Dr. Rodman, of a woman who gave 
 birth to a child, the period of her gestation being less than
 
 222 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 nineteen -weeks. She had borne five children previously, and 
 in this instance premature labor came on in consequence of 
 fatiguing exertions, and she was delivered of a living male 
 child. 
 
 " Not daring to allow the washing of the infant's body, 
 he was speedily wiped, and wrapped in flannel, with only an 
 opening in the dress around his mouth for the admission of 
 air ; and by the time the dressing was over, the mother was 
 ready to take him into the warm bed with herself. It is 
 common, if there be much apparent weakness, to feed a child 
 the first twelve hours after birth very frequently ; yet, in this 
 instance, although the child was weak, no feeding was at- 
 tempted until beyond that time ; the nourishing heat with 
 the mother in bed was relied on. On the following day, the 
 head, body and extremities of the child were surrounded 
 with fine cotton wool, pressed to appear like cloth, to the 
 thickness of two or three folds, and over that the flannel, as 
 before ; and again the child was given to the mother in bed. 
 His vital energy was so deficient that, even with this dress, 
 of himself, he was unable to support the degree of warmth 
 which was necessary to his existence. The heat of a fire 
 was evidently injurious, as he soon became weaker when ex- 
 posed to it ; while the warmth of the mother in bed enli- 
 vened and strengthened him. Too much heat induced a 
 sickly paleness of the face, with an obvious expression of un- 
 easiness in his countenance ; and the abstraction of heat, 
 even by tardily undressing his head, brought on a nervous 
 affection, or starting of the muscles all over his body. From 
 seeing how these morbid affections were induced, the child 
 was kept regularly and comfortably warm, by the mother 
 and two other females alternately lying in bed with him, for 
 more than two months. After that, he could be left alone 
 from time to time, but was still undressed very cautiously, 
 and only partially at any one time. It was not till the child 
 was three weeks old that the length or the weight of the 
 body could be ascertained. The length was found to be
 
 PREGNANCY. 
 
 223 
 
 thirteen inches, and the weight one pound and thirteen 
 ounces, avoirdupois. It was extremely difficult to get the 
 child to swallow nourishment the first week ; the yellow gum 
 soon came on, and the thrush seized him severely on the 
 eighth day, and was not cured till the end of the third week. 
 During the first week, he was fed with toasted loaf bread, 
 boiled with water, sweetened and strained through fine lin- 
 en ; in the second week, twenty drops of beef tea were ad- 
 ded to the two or three tea-spoonsful of his mother's milk, 
 and in two days afterward he made exertions to suck. His 
 mother's milk was gradually substituted, at least in part, for 
 the panada, though this was still continued occasionally. 
 Under this careful management he attained the age of four 
 months, at which time his health and excretory functions 
 were peculiarly regular." 
 
 A child born at the expiration of the seventh month is 
 usually so far developed as to survive, if properly taken care 
 of; and it is possible for a child born of a healthy mother, at 
 the end of the sixth month, to live, if very great care is 
 taken of it.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 
 
 EFORE noticing the require- 
 ments that go to make child- 
 birth natural, and therefore 
 easy, it may be well to glancr 
 at some of the disorders inci 
 dent to pregnancy. 
 
 It should in the commence- 
 ment be understood that the 
 bearing of children is a natural 
 process that the pre-natal 
 growth and birth of the child 
 should not cannot in a per- 
 fectly healthy woman, entail 
 any disorder, disease, or even 
 pain, and the prevailing opinion 
 that suffering and danger are inseparable from parturition is 
 a reflection on God's loving justice and mercy. It is as nat- 
 ural for a woman to have a child as it is for a tree to bear 
 fruit, or an animal to bring forth its young ; and, being nat- 
 ural, the process should be one of pleasure rather than pain 
 one of desire rather than dread. 
 
 We are told that Indian women, whether at home or 
 marching, without physician or even companion, will give 
 birth to a child, and immediately after are ready for the ob- 
 servance of their duties, whether it be the drudgery of their 
 home-life or the fatigues of a long march.
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 225 
 
 It can be offered in argument against this fact of easy 
 births in native women, that they belonging to a low scale 
 of civilization, the heads of their children are very mod- 
 erately developed, which allowing of easy birth, might ac- 
 count for their general freedom from accident and pain; 
 whereas, when the mother belongs to a grade of society who 
 are highly intelligent, well learned, and progressive in their 
 modes of thought, the head of such a child will be from a 
 quarter to a third more in size than that of the child of the 
 uneducated mother. And yet, making all due allowance 
 for this fact, if the civilized mother be endowed with perfect 
 health, and closely follow the laws of life, child-birth will be 
 as easy and painless as Nature intended it should be. The 
 period of pregnancy should be one of increased health, 
 rather than one of increased disorders. The mother who 
 has hitherto led a true life will, during this period, experi- 
 ence an exhilaration of spirits, a redundancy of health and 
 cheerfulness of mind that is not to be enjoyed or experienced 
 at any other time of life. But such is lamentably not the 
 case, else there would be no need of including this chapter 
 on the disorders incident to this period. 
 
 The underlying source for much of the ill health during 
 pregnancy, may be discovered in the nervous system. The 
 nerves of organic life with, which the uterus is supplied are 
 never sensitive in a healthy state ; it is only in disease they 
 have pain. During pregnancy, while the evolution of a new 
 being is going on in the uterus, a large supply of nervous 
 power is drawn from the rest of the system to supply the de- 
 ficiency in the diseased or weakened nerves of the uterus 
 hence the outlying organs of the body suffer. The stomach 
 has less power of digestion, and consequently there is nausea 
 and vomiting ; and low spirits and hysterical feelings arise 
 from the limited supply of blood to the brain. 
 
 Nausea and vomiting usually called morning sickness, 
 because occurring in the morning when the woman first as- 
 sumes an erect posture is one of the first signs of preg- 
 
 15
 
 226 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 nancy in most women who are not of perfectly healthy na- 
 tures. It usually commences from two to three weeks after 
 the beginning of pregnancy, although it may begin on the 
 very day after conception. On rising from her bed, the 
 woman will not feel as well as usual she will have nausea 
 followed by retching. It may not occur until after break- 
 fast, which, eaten with a good relish, will almost immediately 
 be thrown up again. This may continue more or less con- 
 stant and severe for several weeks, and in some instances un- 
 til near the time of quickening. Some physicians assert 
 that morning sickness is of a serviceable nature, in its opera- 
 ting as a safety-valve for its protection from actual disease, 
 and in exciting a more vigorous action of the uterus. This 
 is wrong, for these symptoms are unnatural ; and it is possi- 
 ble so to live that a pregnant woman need not have them 
 any more than any one else. The women of savage nations 
 never experience it. A close observance of the rules for 
 living, mentioned in a former chapter, will enable women to 
 greatly palliate, if not altogether avoid, morning sickness. 
 They should be very careful what food they use, eating small 
 quantities at regular intervals say, twice a day. All long- 
 ings for all sorts of things should be kept down, and abso- 
 lutely nothing eaten between meals. In the morning a glass 
 of pure, cold water should be swallowed, a quickly-taken 
 bath, with rapid friction of the skin by the hands of the wo- 
 man or an assistant. After dressing, a brisk, enjoyable walk 
 in the open air, and on returning a very light breakfast. As 
 little plain food as possible, eaten at regular intervals; the 
 daily sponge, air and sun bath, and active daily out-door ex- 
 ercise, will do all that can be done to ameliorate or prevent 
 this distressing disorder of morning sickness. 
 
 Longings. Many pregnant women experience odd de- 
 sires and longings for particular and often out-of-the-way ar- 
 ticles of diet. These longings never occur in women who 
 are healthy. On examination it will be found that it occurs 
 particularly among those who have little or no physical or
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 227 
 
 mental exercise, who find it difficult to "kill time," and who 
 altogether are constitutionally indolent in their habits. 
 Again, it occurs in those who are or have been pampered 
 and indulged on every occasion by a lenient husband or 
 over-kind friend, with the supposition that in so doing they 
 help to a better life, while in fact they adopt the plan that 
 will surely culminate in a sickly wife and scrofulous offspring. 
 Many of these women believe that, if their longings are not 
 satisfied during pregnancy, they will in some way be incor- 
 porated on the child's body. This belief in general cases is 
 erroneous ; for the majority of women, especially such as 
 belong to the class described above, do not exercise in their 
 longings a sufficiency of energy, strength of character, or 
 force of will, to transmit any deformities or idiosyncrasies. 
 The only way they do affect the child is imparting to it a 
 more or less sickly and diseased organism. The remedy for 
 these abnormal desires is active exercise, plain and unstimu- 
 lating food, and altogether living out the Plan of Life laid 
 down in a former chapter. 
 
 Fainting. In women of a weak, nerveless body, fainting 
 sometimes happens, caused in some manner by the derange- 
 ment of the heart's action through the nervous connection 
 with the gravid uterus. Some women are very subject to it, 
 from the slightest causes, during the whole period of preg- 
 nancy, while others experience it only occasionally, and some 
 periodically. When it occurs, the patient should be laid 
 down with the head low, plenty of air admitted, the dress 
 loosened, and the face sprinkled with water. The restoring 
 of the general health will prevent its re-appearance. 
 
 Sleeplessness, in a greater or less degree, often occurs du- 
 ring pregnancy, and it is sometimes so troublesome as to al- 
 together prevent sleep. It "most frequently affects the 
 weak, nervous and irritable, occurring sometimes early in 
 pregnancy, but oftener toward the end of the term. The 
 limbs are agitated by involuntary contractions of the mus- 
 cles, which, by the frequency and suddenness of their mo-
 
 228 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 tion, instantly interrupt the sleep to which the woman was 
 at the moment strongly inclined. Those who bathe daily, 
 exercise judiciously, and, when possible, in the open air, 
 drink only pure soft water (and all can have this from the 
 clouds), partake only of plain and unstimulating food, and 
 sleep upon hard beds and pillows, in cool, fresh air, will 
 rarely, if ever, be troubled with want of sleep." 
 
 Costiveness is very apt to be present during nearly all pe- 
 riods of pregnancy. This is caused in a measure by the 
 pressure of the enlarged womb upon the lower bowel, but 
 primarily by the quality and quantity of food used super- 
 fine flour, butter, fat meats, tea, coffee, cakes, sweetmeats, 
 pastry, etc., coupled with physical and mental inactivity. 
 
 "This condition of the bowels induces of itself numerous 
 other difficulties. Headache is often brought on solely by 
 constipation that is, in many cases we remove the consti- 
 pation, and the headache is sure to leave with it. Sickness 
 of the stomach is always aggravated and often caused by it. 
 The same may also be said of heartburn, palpitation and 
 tainting. Sleeplessness, and, in fact, almost every one of the 
 disorders of pregnancy, may be said to be caused directly, 
 or greatly aggravated, by constipation of the bowels. Even 
 miscarriage has been known to be induced by it." 
 , Constipation can always be cured by the simplest means. 
 The use of fine flour should be entirely dispensed with in 
 such cases, and the unbolted wheat meal or Graham flour 
 used in its stead. The cracked wheat, cooked in various 
 ways, is also an appropriate and excellent article of diet. 
 All kinds of sweetmeats, cakes, pastry, tea and coffee must 
 be rejected. The laxative fruits such as figs and dates ; 
 apples, either raw or very plainly cooked ; vegetables ; a 
 very moderate use of milk, if the patient desire it, although 
 pure water should at all times be the only allowable drink. 
 This diet, in connection with regular exercise, an occasional 
 hip-bath, and, if required, an injection of tepid or cool water, 
 will cure and prevent this most troublesome complaint
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 229 
 
 Diarrhoea. It occasionally happens that diarrhoea occurs 
 in place of costiveness. When such is the case, it should be 
 treated on the same general principles as constipation a 
 careful diet, the hip-bath often repeated, and cold injections 
 taken as often as there is any disposition of the bowels to 
 act, are effectual means. 
 
 Piles. Pregnant women are often subject to piles. Of 
 all the causes which operate in their production, habitual 
 constipation of the bowels is most frequent. If this is avoid- 
 ed by the means already pointed out, there will not often be 
 any suffering from them ; but if this is permitted to exist, 
 the woman may during the whole remainder of her life be 
 more or less annoyed by them, and may suffer far more than 
 the inexperienced can easily imagine ; for they are often ex- 
 ceedingly painful and troublesome, and daily so. Hence the 
 importance of keeping the bowels in their proper condition 
 at all times, and especially during pregnancy ; for it is in this 
 way, and in this way only, that the beginnings of the evil 
 may be prevented. 
 
 Pruritus, or Itching. A great many women, when preg- 
 nant, are most sadly annoyed with a severely distressing 
 pruritus or itching. The cause of this affection cannot al- 
 ways be ascertained, but a want of proper cleanliness is no 
 doubt one of the principal sources of it. The most effective 
 remedy is the use of cold, shallow hip-baths, the vaginal in- 
 jection of cold water, the application of cold, wet cloths, or 
 the application of ice, as often as is required. Some physi- 
 cians advise the washing of the affected parts several times 
 a day with a strong solution of borax, made by dissolving 
 one ounce or more in a pint of soft water. But the cold 
 water alone, no doubt, is as equally effective in palliating, if 
 not curing the disease. 
 
 Heartburn. Perhaps there is no more frequent trouble 
 during pregnancy than that which is experienced from heart- 
 burn. This distressing complaint frequently commences im- 
 mediately after impregnation. It is caused by the acidity of
 
 230 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the stomach, . and acidity of the stomach comes 
 from improper food. Seldom or ever will a pregnant woman 
 be troubled with heartburn who adopts correct rules for eat- 
 ing and living, and especially as relating to the quantity of 
 the food eaten ; for it is an indisputable fact that ninety-nine 
 out of every one hundred women eat too much food while 
 in the pregnant state. When heartburn first shows itself, the 
 woman must diminish the quantity of food taken. If she on 
 rising in the morning experience its symptoms, she may con- 
 clude that portions of the food eaten the day before, instead 
 of digesting, have passed into acetous fermentation, and thus 
 caused the difficulty she experiences. The introduction into 
 the stomach of more food at this time will but make matters 
 worse ; therefore, fasting a meal, or, if required, two meals, 
 with water-drinking in place, is the best possible thing to do, 
 for the absence of food will allow the stomach to regain its 
 vigor. If a quick succession of tumblers of warm water are 
 swallowed, vomiting will take place and relief follow. If 
 vomiting should not follow, the water, by diluting the offend- 
 ing matter in the stomach, will still afford relief. This is the 
 only rational way of treating heartburn, and is at all times to 
 be preferred to the use of lime-water, lemon-juice, soda and 
 other alkalies, which in the end do more harm than good. 
 
 Toothache. Owing to the increased irritability of the ner- 
 vous system in pregnant women whose bodies are out of or- 
 der, erratic pains in the face, but especially in the teeth, often 
 occur. The toothache may occur in decayed teeth or per- 
 fectly sound teeth. If the tooth is a decayed one, no harm 
 will follow in having it extracted ; but the legitimate method 
 of cure is by proper attention to eating, drinking, exercise, 
 etc. 
 
 Headache. This same nervous irritability, caused in a 
 measure by disregarded hygienic laws, is early indicated in 
 pregnant women by headache, which may appear and dis- 
 appear at any part of the period. Caused as it is by wrong 
 living the use of tea and coffee, improper food, unventilated
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 231 
 
 rooms, and want of judicious exercise it is only required in 
 its treatment that the woman avoid the wrong in her living 
 and adopt the right, when, as a sure result, the headache 
 will disappear. 
 
 Palpitation of the heart, occurring for the first time during 
 pregnancy, is rarely connected with any disease of the heart 
 itself, and should therefore cause no alarm. The heart being 
 in direct nervous sympathy with the stomach, palpitation is 
 generally caused as is nearly every other disorder during 
 this period by wrong, dietetic habits, and therefore the rem- 
 edy is to adopt and carefully follow right dietetic habits. 
 
 Swelling 1 of the feet and limbs. During the latter months 
 of pregnancy, the feet and legs generally become much 
 swollen, particularly in the after part of the day. In the 
 great majority of cases this is a trifling disorder, requiring 
 simply the strictest temperance in eating, even a spare diet, 
 and a loose state of the bowels, procured by the means 
 recommended when speaking of costiveness. 
 
 Pain in the breasts. When there is pain in the breasts, as 
 often occurs during the first pregnancy, washing the parts 
 with cold water, and wet cloths worn upon the parts, are the 
 means to be employed for relief. Compression by clothes 
 should be avoided, as this is often the cause. 
 
 Hysteria. In women who live a life of excitement, attend- 
 ing frequently balls, theatres and public exhibitions late at 
 night, and especially such as are much addicted to tea and 
 coffee-drinking and the use of stimulating food, there ap- 
 pears during pregnancy a greater tendency to hysterical 
 symptoms than at any other time. Women can and should 
 avoid these causes of so pitiable a disease for, whether in 
 pregnancy or at other times, hysteria cannot come upon 
 those who live correctly, and maintain at all times good and 
 permanent health. 
 
 K. Irritation of the bladder. Pressure upon the urethra or 
 neck of the bladder is one of the mechanical evils of preg- 
 nancy, rendering the evacuation of the urine difficult and
 
 232 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 sometimes painful. To prevent this, the patient should be 
 exceedingly careful to evacuate the bladder frequently, and 
 never to allow the calls of nature to go unanswered. 
 
 Jaundice is another disorder of pregnancy that occasion- 
 ally makes its appearance between the fourth and eighth 
 month. It is generally preceded by a disorganized state of 
 the stomach and alimentary canal. When it is at- 
 tended with violent symptoms, as is sometimes the case, act- 
 ive measures must be employed, but, in the majority of cases, 
 a few days of abstemious living, alternating, now and then, 
 with a day of entire fasting, together with the daily bath and 
 drinking of pure water, will suffice to effect a cure. 
 
 Vaccination. Women during this period should not be 
 vaccinated, or, for that matter, at any other period. 
 
 Salivation. Probably most women experience at this 
 time a more than ordinary flow of the salivary fluid. It is 
 usually simply an observable phenomena, not demanding 
 any treatment whatever. Yet it sometimes becomes very 
 excessive and troublesome to the patient, especially at night, 
 when the sleep is disturbed by the frequent necessity of emp- 
 tying the mouth. Those women who follow a right mode of 
 living will be troubled very little, or not at all, by saliva- 
 tion. 
 
 Vomiting of blood sometimes occurs when there is a gen- 
 eral fullness of the system, or perhaps from the cessation of 
 the menstrual function in the earlier periods of pregnancy. 
 It is generally small in quantity, and continues but a short 
 time. If it arises from too great fullness of the system, it 
 can be prevented by abstinence and fasting. Failing in this, 
 cold, wet compresses should be placed upon the abdomen, 
 and otherwise proceed upon the same general principles as 
 in any other case of hemorrhage. 
 
 Abortion or miscarriage. By abortion is meant the expul- 
 sion of the foetus before the seventh month (should it take 
 place between the seventh and ninth months it is called a 
 premature birth.)
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 233 
 
 " There is no accident befalling female health which forms 
 a greater source of dread, anxiety, and subsequent regret to 
 a married woman, than miscarriage or abortion. When this 
 occurrence becomes habitual, there are no circumstances the 
 consequences of which are productive of more serious injury 
 to the constitution, blasting the fairest promises of health, 
 and oft-times laying the first seeds of fatal disease." 
 
 It often occurs within three or four weeks from the period 
 of conception, but it more frequently occurs from the eighth 
 to the twelfth week than at any other time, and is most likely 
 to occur at the time the catamenia should have appeared, if 
 pregnancy had not taken place. 
 
 What are the causes for this unnatural and undesirable ac- 
 cident in the pregnant woman ? In the first place, there are 
 certain classes of females more subject to it than others. 
 Those who are fleshy or excessively fat ; those who experi- 
 ence excessive menstruation ; those possessed of a scrofulous 
 organization ; and those who have dropsy or are affected 
 with cancers, are all in a measure, unless very guarded as to 
 their mode of life, predisposed to miscarriage during preg- 
 nancy. It is often brought on, or in a remote way caused by 
 excessive drinking of strong tea and coffee, eating habitually 
 highly concentrated food, living a life of excitement, frequent- 
 ing balls, parties, and theatres late at night ; constant novel- 
 reading, and especially in those women who during this pe- 
 riod are used by their brutish husbands in the sensual exer- 
 cise of what they are pleased to term their marital rights. 
 
 Again, the death or premature expulsion of the foetus may 
 be caused by extreme costiveness, purging, vomiting, tight 
 clothing, acute disease, terror, fright, falls blows, or exces- 
 sive fatigue. 
 
 And lastly, it may be caused designedly, either by medi- 
 cine or violence, which of all the causes entails the most 
 danger to the life of the mother, as by the resulting exces- 
 sive flooding or inflammation of the bowels it frequently ter- 
 minates fatally. Under the head of Fceticide (Chapter XXII),
 
 234 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 I have fully enlarged on this great sin and its undesirable 
 penalties. 
 
 The effects of abortion on the woman are serious and last- 
 ing. There is a stronger tendency to a recurrence of the 
 evil, for those who miscarry once are apt to do so again ; 
 menorrhagia, or an immoderate flow of the menses, always 
 results, as does also irregularity of the monthly periods, these 
 occurring either too often or too seldom; menstruation with 
 more pain and suffering than attend labor itself; hysteria; 
 dissatisfaction with the pursuits and pleasures of life, with an 
 habitually melancholic state of the mind, are nearly always 
 present. All women should earnestly strive to guard against 
 and prevent miscarriage, when it is affirmed that one abor- 
 tion is far more trying and worse upon the constitution than 
 half-a-dozen natural labors at the full term. 
 
 Abortion always indicates a bad state of the system gen- 
 erally, and the first thing a woman should do to prevent its 
 occurrence during pregnancy, is during the period of prelim- 
 inary preparation to place herself in as close relations to a 
 sound mind in a sound body as is possible for her to do. A 
 healthy woman, following closely the Plan of Life and Law 
 of Genius already recorded, cannot possibly miscarry. For 
 this reason, the woman, to prevent the possibility of this se- 
 rious accident occurring, should carefully eat only plain, sim- 
 ple food, drink only pure water, bathe daily, exercise daily, 
 breathe pure air, and live much in the light of the sun. She 
 should also avoid feather beds and pillows, over-heated 
 rooms, tea, coffee and alcoholic liquors, all manner of med- 
 icines, all undue mental excitement, and, above all, sexual 
 indulgence. The following this line of life will make assur- 
 ance doubly sure. 
 
 In those women who have not lived natural lives, on the 
 threatening of miscarriage, the symptoms noted are, to quote 
 Dr. Tracy : 
 
 " When, at any period of pregnancy, we have regular 
 pains in the back and region of the womb, more especially if
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 235 
 
 attended with a feeling of weight, griping, difficulty in pass- 
 ing water, and it coming away in drops, and a feeling of de- 
 scent of the womb, we may infer that abortion will take 
 place. 
 
 " Now and then, particularly when it occurs for the first 
 time, the whole process of a miscarriage does not occupy 
 more than six or seven hours from the very earliest symp- 
 toms of its approach to its final completion. But in by far 
 the greater majority of cases, more especially when it has 
 become ' habitual,' its progress is not terminated in as many 
 days or even weeks. 
 
 " When this is the case, it may be clearly separated into 
 three distinct stages. By adopting this division, I shall be 
 able to bring the most important portions of this subject be- 
 fore you in a clear light, and to give with more brevity and 
 distinctness those directions which are to be followed. 
 
 " First stage. I shall speak of that as the ' first stage' in 
 which the child has as yet received no essential injury in 
 which the symptoms are only those menacing a miscarriage. 
 This is the stage of warning, and by improving it in time 
 the unhappy event may frequently be avoided. 
 
 " The first symptom, frequently, is a feeling of great de- 
 pression of strength and spirits, for which no assignable cause 
 can be given. The patient loses her appetite, and has a lit- 
 tle fever; pains about her back, loins, hips, and the lower 
 part of the abdomen soon follow. These are at first very 
 transitory ; they come and go, and, after a while, increase in 
 frequency. Or, in case she has a strong and vigorous con- 
 stitution, there will be an excited condition of the circulation, 
 manifested by increased frequency and fullness of the pulse, 
 throbbing in the temples, followed by headache, a hot skin, 
 thirst, and no inclination for food, and, united with the pain 
 in the loins, a feeling of weight and tension in the region ol 
 the womb." 
 
 These are so many symptoms threatening abortion, but, 
 of course, they are always modified by the constitution and
 
 236 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 previous state of health of the individual. For instance, 
 some will experience only an indistinct, dull, aching pain in 
 the loins, or back, or some other part, either constant or 
 coining and going, with or without slight languor, continu- 
 ing many days, without any other or more severe symptoms. 
 
 Such symptoms, however slight, should receive prompt at- 
 tention, especially if they come on about the same period of 
 pregnancy at which the patient has previously miscarried ; if 
 they do not, she has every reason to expect that the same 
 event will again befall her. 
 
 In the treatment of this stage, the woman should retire to 
 bed, and confine herself strictly to it, resting on a mattrass, 
 with but few clothes upon her, in a cool room. If she eat 
 anything, it should be simply cold gruel, and her drink 
 should be cold water alone. This is the time when means 
 can be used with the most prospect of success, and almost 
 everything depends upon their being put in operation at a 
 sufficiently early period. It is best, after observing the 
 above directions, to send for the family physician, whose 
 rules should be carefully followed. 
 
 " Second stage. But suppose the patient has not heeded 
 these symptoms ; that, never having miscarried, she has 
 thought nothing of a little pain in the back, etc., and has 
 treated them as of no importance, what will be the conse- 
 quence ? In all probability the local pains will increase in 
 frequency and severity, and soon a small discharge of blood, 
 perhaps in clots, will be discovered. This indicates that a 
 partial separation of the ovum from the womb has taken 
 place, and marks the arrival of what I call the 'second 
 stage.' 
 
 " This is a stage of hope, and with strict attention that 
 hope may be realized. But in order for its realization, in a 
 situation so critical, a prompt and vigorous practice on the 
 part of the medical attendant, and an equally decided and 
 vigilant conduct on the part of the patient herself will be re- 
 quired.
 
 DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY. 237 
 
 " If the premonitory symptoms already described as con- 
 stituting the ' first stage' have been present for any length 
 of time, it is comparatively seldom necessary that the pro- 
 cess should advance to this second stage, unless there has 
 been a death of the foetus, or the ovum is diseased ; but it 
 not unfrequently happens that the flowing of the second 
 stage appears almost from the first ; this, indeed, is most fre- 
 quently the case when a sudden shock or fall causes the 
 threatening symptoms." 
 
 In the treatment of the second stage, the patient should, 
 until the physician arrives, pursue the same course as already 
 pointed out to be followed in the first stage, with the addition 
 of keeping a linen cloth wet with cold water upon the lower 
 part of the bowels, and extending downward between the 
 limbs ; this should be frequently exchanged for another, so 
 as to keep a cold one upon her constantly, and ice water 
 may be injected up the vagina. She should lie upon her 
 back, with the hips a little raised, and her head and shoul- 
 ders lower than usual, and lower than the hips, if it can eas- 
 ily be done. 
 
 " Third stage. The third stage is indicated by an in- 
 creased flow of blood. Sometimes the flooding is truly 
 alarming. The pains, too, increase in frequency and sever- 
 ity, and become expulsive and bearing down, indicating an 
 entire separation of the ovum from the womb. When the 
 process has arrived at this point, there, of course, remains 
 no hope of preventing a miscarriage, and it only remains for 
 the medical attendant to conduct his patient safely through 
 to the end." 
 
 The habit of aborting is to be avoided by maintaining the 
 general health in as good a condition as possible, agreeable 
 to the directions already given in the preceding pages, and 
 avoiding the causes named above, or any other causes that 
 have been known to produce it previously ; and maintaining 
 the recumbent posture upon the bed or sofa most or all of 
 the term, for a few weeks during that stage of pregnancy at 
 which previous miscarriages have taken place.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CONFINEMENT. 
 
 T is asserted by some reform 
 physiologists that in giving birth 
 to children women should not 
 suffer any pain. This, I think, 
 is going to extremes, although 
 many every-day evidences seem 
 to bear out the assertion. Be this 
 as it may, the pregnant woman 
 can, by the adoption of a right 
 life, so fortify and strengthen 
 and prepare the system for its 
 labor of gestation and partu- 
 rition, that the pain will be 
 greatly ameliorated, if not alto- 
 gether avoided, and accidents or after-disorders cannot pos- 
 sibly happen. 
 
 In Chapter XVI., and previous chapters, is given the 
 mode of life that should be adopted by the pregnant woman. 
 But to impress the matter more fully on the minds of those 
 interested, I will here briefly recapitulate the requirements 
 necessary in the life of those women whose desire it is to 
 have a natural and easy child-birth : 
 
 Clothing. The clothing should be light, loose and com- 
 fortable during the whole period. There must be absolutely 
 no constriction of any kind by corsets, bands, or even gar-
 
 CONFINEMENT. 239 
 
 ters. Especially should great care be taken to keep the 
 breasts from being in the remotest manner compressed by 
 the clothing, and the nipples should be effectually protected 
 from any influences that will tend in the least to prevent 
 their enlarging and standing out prominently from the 
 breasts as they should do. Much suffering has been caused 
 by lack of proper attention in this respect 
 
 Do not let a falsely educated modesty interfere with the 
 full, free, and loose mode of wearing the dress. Women 
 especially those who court the pleasures and flatteries of the 
 great hollow sham, Society have been known, by tight 
 lacing and dressing so as to avoid the appearance of their 
 natural condition to bring forth children that were greatly 
 deformed, and of sickly, pale and weak organizations. The 
 woman pregnant with a new life, instead of assuming a mod- 
 esty that is as wrong as it is unnatural, should glory in the 
 opportunity and privilege of being the mother of a new be- 
 ing, the developer of a new soul. 
 
 Food. The food used exerts a wonderful influence on the 
 health and strength of the pregnant woman and on the easy 
 birth of the child, and therefore all care should be taken to 
 follow as closely as possible correct dietetic laws. Flesh- 
 meats, tea, coffee, grease and spices should be avoided, and 
 a judicious use of the grains, vegetables, and especially 
 fruits, made. It should never be forgotten that a pregnant 
 woman, in a perfect state of health, does not require any 
 more food because pregnant than she should if otherwise. 
 Women would add much to their health during this period 
 if they would adopt the two-meals-a-day system. When 
 this cannot or will not be done, the last meal should be very 
 light and very simple. Altogether, the Plan of Life given 
 in a former chapter should as closely as possible be adopted. 
 
 A too early consolidation of the bones of the foetus is one 
 of the reasons for dangerous and painful child-birth. This 
 in a great measure can be avoided, and the pain and labor 
 greatly lessened, if the woman will, for about two weeks
 
 240 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 previous to confinement, abstain from all food having in it 
 the bone-forming material phosphate of lime and magnesia 
 as Graham or white flour, beans, peas, barley, and all fa- 
 rinaceous substances, and milk, butter and cheese ; in the 
 place of these, using only fruits and vegetables ; and of the 
 former, the apple is at all times the most palatable, most 
 healthy and nutritious. The child born under these condi- 
 tions will be softer and smaller than usual, but will soon 
 grow into strength and beauty. 
 
 Rickets, spina-biffida, etc., in the infant, originating, as is 
 generally supposed, from want of earthy matter in the 
 bones, may lead thinking persons to infer that the adoption 
 of this plan would be at too great an expense to the health 
 of the child in comparison with the freedom of pain it 
 would allow the mother. This would surely be so if it 
 were certain that such diseases of the bones were alto- 
 gether caused in this way. It will be found on inquiry, that 
 the parents of children having rickets or kindred diseases, 
 disobey the laws of life in scores of ways that would pro- 
 duce these undesirable diseases, as living in unlighted, un- 
 ventilated rooms, lack of exercise, uncleanliness of body, 
 unwholesome and unhygienic food, and irregular habits. A 
 woman who has suffered much in parturition, who closely 
 obeys the rules laid down in these pages, and who observes 
 this precaution, of avoiding food, containing in it the bone> 
 forming element, for two or three weeks previous to con- 
 finement, will experience much freedom from suffering, and 
 the child will in no way be abnormal. A woman who has 
 heretofore had a succession of still-born children, caused by 
 the large size of the fcetus, or the small size of the pelvis, if 
 this rule is adopted, and all the other requirements of baths, 
 exercise, etc., be observed, will not fail in giving birth to a 
 living child. 
 
 The last day or two previous to confinement, it will 
 greatly help the woman, if she abstain from food in part if 
 not altogether. The Drink should be only pure water.
 
 CONFINEMENT. 241 
 
 Baths. If the woman desires to experience the pleasures 
 rather than the pains of maternity, the daily water, air and 
 sun-bath, taken under conditions already mentioned, must 
 not be omitted during the whole nine months of pregnancy. 
 At the time the bath is taken the breasts should be well 
 bathed, dried, and thoroughly rubbed with the dry hand. 
 This rubbing commencing with the commencement of preg- 
 nancy, and repeated at every daily bath, will strengthen and 
 toughen the parts and so prevent that chapped and fissured 
 state of the skin, and the sore and cracked nipples that very 
 often trouble and distress the poor mother every time the 
 child is applied to the breast. Twice a week, not less than 
 once a week, a sitz-bath should be taken. The mode of 
 taking the sitz-bath is to fill an ordinary common-sized tub 
 with sufficient water of cool or cold temperature, so that 
 when the person sits down, the water will cover the hips 
 and lower portions of the abdomen. When convenient a 
 vessel should be made for the purpose, having the bottom 
 raised a few inches from the floor, and the back raised 
 to rest against. All clothing being removed, the woman 
 should be wrapped up in her bath with a blanket or com- 
 fortable. Sometimes it is necessary that the feet should be 
 placed in a warm foot-bath ; when this is done, they should 
 be dipped in cold water when taken out of the warm bath. 
 The best time for the pregnant woman to take this bath is 
 just before taking her daily bath at noon; although should 
 circumstances not allow, it may answer to take it just before 
 going to bed. The woman can remain in her hip-bath from 
 fifteen minutes to half an hour, as her feelings may decide. 
 These baths at all times must be taken in a room of a nat- 
 ural and pleasant temperature, for when they cannot be taken 
 under pleasant and enjoyable conditions they do more harm 
 than good. 
 
 Injections. It is desirable through the whole period of 
 pregnancy that the bowels be moved daily. When this does 
 not occur naturally an injection of water of a cool tempera- 
 
 16
 
 242 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ture should be employed at or about the time the natural 
 passage should have occurred. During the last weeks of 
 pregnancy the daily movement of the bowels should never 
 be neglected. The injections are made with any one of the 
 patent elastic rubber syringes, which can be obtained of any 
 druggist. 
 
 Air and light the importance of which has been so 
 plainly stated must not be neglected. Especially should 
 the bed-chamber, at all periods of the day and night, be 
 thoroughly ventilated, and no curtain or blind be permitted 
 to obstruct the sun's rays. 
 
 Exercise. Daily physical exercise, so important in ameli- 
 orating the pain of confinement, should never be omitted. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR CONFINEMENT. In the preparation 
 for confinement, the room, bed and clothing for the infant 
 should all be put in perfect order and readiness. 
 
 Notice should be given to the friend who is desired to be 
 present. She should have some knowledge and personal 
 experience in such matters. The medical attendant should 
 also be apprised. Many women, when in this condition, 
 dread the presence of a male accoucheur, and perhaps justly 
 *o ; whenever the opportunity presents itself, the preference 
 should be given to an educated and experienced female mid- 
 wife. If women closely obeyed the rules laid down in these 
 pages for the right government of the sexual organism, they 
 would not require the attendance of either male or female 
 midwife. These persons the female friend and medical at- 
 tendant, and perhaps the husband are all that should be al- 
 lowed in the room during confinement. A crowd of women 
 in the lying-in chamber, as is often the case, is at all times 
 to be deprecated and avoided, for they oft-times exceedingly 
 irritate and annoy the patient, and otherwise in a variety of 
 ways do much harm. 
 
 Some days previous to the commencement of labor there 
 is a diminution in the size of the body and a subsidence of
 
 CONFINEMENT. 243 
 
 the abdomen, caused by the sinking of the womb and its 
 contents into the brim of the pelvis. When this takes place, 
 the stomach is more or less relieved, and there is a much 
 more general feeling of comfort and elasticity than has been 
 experienced for a long time. If, after a week or ten days 
 following this " settling down" of the womb, the woman feels 
 unusually well, she may expect to become a mother within 
 twenty-four or forty-eight hours. 
 
 The remainder of this chapter I abridge, in a great meas- 
 ure, from a work entitled " The Mother and her Offspring," 
 by Dr. Tracy. 
 
 The commencement of labor is usually first indicated by 
 the occurrence of one or more of the following symptoms, 
 particularly the last named : 
 
 1 . An irritability of the bladder, and perhaps of the lower 
 bowel, causing the patient to have an almost constant desirt 
 for their evacuation. 
 
 2. Rigors or shiverings, unattended with any sensation of 
 cold. 
 
 3. An increased mucus discharge or flow, sometimes 
 streaked with blood. 
 
 4. Nausea and vomiting. The occurrence of this is re- 
 garded as a good sign, as it is known to indicate that the 
 mouth of the womb is rapidly dilating. 
 
 5. The occurrence of true labor pains. 
 
 These frequently commence in the back ; sometimes they 
 are first felt in the uterine region, or lowest and front part of 
 the abdomen, and extending from thence to the loins, the 
 lower part of the back, and the inner sides of the thighs. 
 They are not constant, but periodical or intermittent that 
 is, pain is felt for a moment or two, and then it entirely 
 ceases for a considerable time. At the commencement there 
 is often merely a feeling of uneasiness ; and when active 
 pains first begin they are short and slight, having long inter- 
 vals between them, of perhaps half an hour or more, each 
 pain lasting but a few moments. By degrees, they become
 
 244 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 more and more frequent, longer and harder, till the termina- 
 tion of labor. 
 
 During the last weeks of pregnancy, women are not un- 
 frequently troubled with irregular pains in the bowels, back, 
 and other parts, which are called false pains, because they so 
 closely simulate those of true labor. 
 
 When the labor-pains commence in the manner described, 
 the woman may either sit in an easy chair, or lie down, as 
 may be most agreeable to her feelings. There is usually no 
 occasion for sitting still or lying down at once when the 
 pains first commence, as many do, and perhaps some are 
 compelled to do. It is much better to keep about and busy 
 one's self in some way as long as may be. 
 
 It is, in most cases, several hours after the pains com- 
 mence before the mouth of the womb becomes sufficiently 
 dilated for the " sac of waters" to be formed ; and in first 
 labors it is usually, but not always, much longer than in sub- 
 sequent ones. The woman should, during this time, attend 
 to the evacuation of water frequently ; and if the bowels 
 have not recently been evacuated, it will be well to make use 
 of an injection, so as to remove everything from their lower 
 portion. 
 
 Should the hour for the regular meal occur, she should 
 refrain from more than a very small quantity of food bet- 
 ter none at all. During the whole period of labor little or 
 no nourishment should be taken, and that, if any, of the 
 lightest kind. If there is thirst, cold water may be taken 
 freely. 
 
 Should the medical attendant fail to arrive at this time, as 
 sometimes happens, the woman should be guided by the fol- 
 lowing rules: 
 
 She should continue to move about, etc., until the pains 
 become so severe that she feels indisposed to move about 
 any longer, or until she feels a disposition to " bear down" 
 during each pain. 
 
 This disposition to "bear down" is the distinctive mark of
 
 CONFINEMENT. . 245 
 
 the ending of the first stage of labor (the complete dilation 
 of the mouth of the uterus, etc.), and the commencement 
 of the second stage (the expulsion of the child.) The first 
 stage is by far the longest usually, the pains being short and 
 far between, becoming longer and more frequent as the stage 
 advances, but unaccompanied by any disposition to bear 
 down, and, so long as the pains are not bearing down, the 
 patient may keep about with advantage. 
 
 After the bearing-down pains commence, she should keep 
 her bed most, if not all the time. It is quite probable that 
 about this time the mouth of the womb is rapidly becoming 
 fully dilated, so as to admit of the exit of the child's head, 
 causing a considerable degree of nausea, and perhaps vomit- 
 ing once or twice. When this occurs, the labor is always 
 found to proceed rapidly. 
 
 During this time, perchance, she will be importuned by 
 the attendants "to bear down forcibly" that is, to exert the 
 muscle, under the power of the will, in forcing downward. 
 This is a very bad practice ; to do so greatly fatigues the 
 woman, but does not hasten the labor. She will soon be 
 obliged to bear down, and then it will be useful. 
 
 After the nausea ceases, and the head begins to press upon 
 and to dilate the parts below the womb,, the pains will be- 
 come harder and harder, and more and more frequent. At 
 this time there will probably be felt a disposition to hold the 
 breath and bear down whenever the pains occur ; this may 
 be done. 
 
 She may also feel a disposition to press with her feet 
 against the foot of the bedstead, and to take hold of the 
 hands of her assistant and pull at the same time ; this she 
 may also do. 
 
 As the labor draws to a close, the woman may very likely 
 feel that she will never live to see the end. Should such 
 feelings be present, she must not indulge them, but keep up 
 good courage ; for they will soon give way to a feeling of 
 strength, and of ability to help herself by bearing down,
 
 246 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 holding her breath, pushing with her feet, and pulling with 
 her hands. 
 
 Up to this time she can lie upon her back or upon either 
 side, as is liked best from time to time ; but now she should 
 lie upon her left side, with the back near the edge of the bed, 
 and retain this position until after the child is born. 
 
 In due time a long and hard pain will expel the head of 
 the child from the womb. One of the attendants should now 
 receive the head upon one of her hands, and in this manner 
 support it, so that its weight will be sustained by the neck. 
 
 She should also now ascertain whether the umbilical cord 
 is wound round the child's neck, and, if it is so, she should 
 endeavor to loosen it, so as to slip it down over the shoul- 
 ders ; but this must be done with great care, and without 
 the exertion of much force upon the cord. If it can not be 
 done easily, she should desist from further attempts. 
 
 While in this condition, tbe patient may have a long in- 
 terval of rest before the recurrence of another pain, and the 
 attendant may be frightened because the child does not 
 breathe ; but she has no occasion to be so, inasmuch as the 
 child has never yet breathed, and the circulation is still car- 
 ried on through the umbilical cord and placenta. 
 
 Soon another pain will expel the remainder of the child. 
 At this time the attendant will very carefully bear the head 
 upon the palm of her right hand, and convey it downward 
 away from the patient, just so fast as is necessary to make 
 room for the advancing body. 
 
 (If the membranes have not been ruptured, and the child 
 is born inclosed within them, as is sometimes the case, they 
 should be immediately ruptured, either with a pair of scis- 
 sors or the ringers, and the child removed from its perilous 
 inclosure.) 
 
 She will now place the child's head in a position where it 
 will rest easy, and have no obstruction in the way of its 
 breathing. It will very soon begin to breathe, and perhaps 
 cry. This first cry of the child often has a powerful effect
 
 CONFINEMENT. 247 
 
 upon the feelings of the now exquisitely happy, overjoyed 
 mother. 
 
 When the infant is born, and the function of respiration is 
 well established, the beating of the artery of the umbilical 
 cord will cease, when it may be tied. It should be remem- 
 bered that until all pulsation has ceased in the cord which 
 can be ascertained by placing the cord between the thumb 
 and finger it should not be separated. It may be tied in 
 two places one about an inch from the body, and the other 
 two inches further distant from the child. This should be 
 done with a small, strong ligature, passed two or three times 
 around it, tightly drawn, and tied in a hard knot. The um- 
 bilical cord may then be divided, with a pair of scissors, 
 midway between the two ligatures, carefully avoiding the 
 cutting of a ringer, toe, etc., of the infant, who in its strug- 
 gles is apt to get some of these parts in the way just as the 
 cut is being made. All this should be done under the bed- 
 clothing. 
 
 The child is then to be carefully taken out of the bed, and 
 wrapped up closely in a soft flannel blanket well warmed, 
 but so placed as to allow it the most free respiration of pure 
 air. 
 
 In the course of from fifteen to thirty minutes the pains 
 will again commence for the expulsion of the after-birth 
 when the woman may bear down, and probably before long 
 its expulsion will be effected. 
 
 There is an impression upon the minds of many women 
 that it is necessary for some one to hold the umbilical cord 
 in their hands all the time, after it has been separated frc/m 
 the child, until the after-birth has been expelled ; but there 
 is no occasion for this, if a ligature has been tied around it, 
 as I have directed, to prevent its bleeding. 
 
 Sometimes it does not pass off for several hours, unless 
 removed by other means than the contractions of the womb ; 
 but it is a delicate matter for a person not well instructed in 
 the business to attempt to remove it, and I would have you
 
 248 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 decline the services that may be proffered for its removal by 
 any but experienced hands. It will be much better to wait 
 many hours for the efforts of nature to eject it, than to 
 run any risk of injury from its forcible removal by any but a 
 skillful accoucheur.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF THE MOTHER AND CHILD AFTER 
 DELIVERY. 
 
 UPPOSING that the child has been 
 born, the after- birth cast off, and 
 that otherwise the delivery has ter- 
 minated favorably, what next is to 
 be observed as a requirement to the 
 rapid recovery of the mother. 
 
 If the mother has heretofore ob- 
 served the practice of taking daily 
 baths, the first thing that may be 
 done, after the removal of all soiled 
 bed and other clothes, is to give 
 her a bath. If the precaution is 
 taken of placing a blanket or other 
 extra article under her, this can be done by an attendant, 
 rapidly and effectually, without the woman leaving her bed. 
 This bath will cause in the mother a sense of great comfort 
 by its tonic effects, increasing her strength, soothing her ner- 
 vous system, and promoting a desire for life-renewing 
 sleep. 
 
 Among the many whims and caprices that custom has en- 
 tailed on society, is the one of bands to support the abdo- 
 men immediately after delivery. The healthy woman who 
 follows closely a right line of life will require no such band- 
 age. Yet, when such is desired, a wet one is at all times the
 
 250 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 most desirable and effective in its action. The principal rea- 
 son for the almost universal use of the bandage after deliv- 
 ery is that, unless applied, the woman's form will be in- 
 jured. 
 
 " The sum and substance of this whole matter is just this : 
 whatever tends to weaken the constitution in general, and 
 the abdominal muscles in particular, must have a tendency 
 to produce laxity of the fibres, thus rendering the part more 
 pendulous. On the other hand, whatever tends to strengthen 
 the system, and to give tone to its fibres, must have a con- 
 trary effect. Now, the dry belly-band, even when it is so- 
 arranged as to keep its place- which it generally is not is 
 apt to become heating, and, of course, a source of debility 
 under such circumstances. For this reason it is plain that a 
 cold, wet girdle is altogether better than a dry one. Noi 
 should this even be left on too long at a time without chang- 
 ing and re-wetting it. This should be done, as a general 
 thing, every three or four hours at farthest, and in warm 
 weather oftener." 
 
 If, in place of the wet bandage, a rather large, coarse towel 
 is dipped in cold or cool water, the surplus water wrung out, 
 and then placed on the abdomen, with one end of it brought 
 down between the thighs, a more easy and effective applica- 
 tion could not be had. It should be changed as often as is 
 directed in the case of a wet bandage, mentioned above. 
 The immediate effect of the wet bandage or towel is to 
 strengthen the abdominal muscles, and so prevent pendu- 
 lousness, and to cause the womb to firmly contract and rap- 
 idly regain its usual size, and so preventing all danger from 
 hemorrhage, fever, etc. 
 
 It may be that this method of applying water to the 
 mother after delivery will cause, in a large class of women, a 
 feeling of horror ; but it must be remembered that though 
 not generally practiced, and as a rule looked on with suspic- 
 ion, it is no new thing. The application of cold water soon 
 after delivery was practiced by the Romans, and to this day
 
 MA NA CEMENT AFTER DELIVER Y. 251 
 
 is practiced by savage nations. It only requires a trial 
 with the previous preparation by baths, exercise, etc. to 
 convince the most skeptical of its wonderful effects in palli- 
 ating the pains and perils of child-birth. 
 
 During the time occupied in changing of clothes, position, 
 baths, etc., after delivery, the mother must in no way exert 
 herself, allowing her attendants to do all that is required in 
 the way of effort. 
 
 The soiled clothing having been changed, the body bathed, 
 and the wet bandage or wet towel applied, the woman should 
 be allowed to sleep ; as long as the desire is present. The 
 danger of hemorrhage and sudden flooding occurring during 
 the sleep is very slight when the delivery is effected under 
 right conditions. The bed-clothes should be light, so as to 
 avoid over-heating of the body. The room should be well 
 lighted and thoroughly ventilated during this whole period 
 of recovery. I urge the observance of this rule, for it is the 
 practice with many to exclude every breath of fresh air, as 
 well as light, from the lying-in chamber, taking every pre- 
 caution to oblige the inmates to breathe over and over again 
 the same poisoned atmosphere. 
 
 Not only should the room be kept at a proper tempera- 
 ture and well ventilated, but it should also, for the first week 
 at least, be kept entirely free from all visitors. This advice 
 is most important and should be faithfully observed, for much 
 trouble, and oft-times great danger, is caused by mental ex- 
 citement after delivery, brought on by the officious, though 
 perhaps well-meant presence of visitors. Says Velpeau : 
 
 " Most of the diseases which affect a woman in child-bed 
 may be attributed to the scores of visits of friends, neigh- 
 bors, or acquaintances, or the ceremony with which she is 
 too often oppressed ; she wishes to keep up the conversation ; 
 her mind becomes excited, the fruit of which is headache 
 and agitation ; the slightest indiscreet word worries her ; the 
 slightest emotions of joy agitate her in the extreme. And I 
 can affirm that among the numerous cases of peritonitis I
 
 252 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 have met with, there are few whose origin is unconnected 
 with some moral condition." 
 
 With regard to food and drink : 
 
 " The patient should begin directly with the same kinds 
 which she intends to use during the period of nursing. If 
 she is to eat fruit which I consider good for her she 
 should take it from the first. Prudence should, of course, 
 be exercised in regard to quantity as well as quality of food 
 under these circumstances. 
 
 " One of the greatest and most common errors in regard 
 to the diet soon after labor, is that of partaking of articles 
 which are too fine and concentrated in their nature. The 
 bowels tend naturally to sluggishness for some days after 
 confinement ; hence the diet should be of an opening na- 
 ture such as brown bread, cracked-wheat mush, good fruit 
 in its season, and good vegetables. It is a poor practice to 
 keep a patient for nine days on tea, superfine bread, toast 
 and butter, and the like articles. It is no wonder that 
 women, dieted in this way, become constipated, nervous, 
 low-spirited and feverish." 
 
 The daily bath must be continued after delivery, at the 
 same time of day and under the same conditions as before 
 delivery. The day after delivery the woman should be lifted 
 out of bed, and given a sitz-bath of from fifteen to thirty 
 minutes, in water of a cool or cold temperature. The sitz- 
 bath may be continued for a week or fortnight, until perfect 
 strength is secured. Whenever the sitz-bath is given it 
 should immediately precede the general bath. The daily 
 bath, during this condition, should always be followed by 
 rest, and, if possible, by sleep. 
 
 " About the third or fourth day after confinement the 
 breasts will become much distended with milk. They may 
 be hard and painful ; but if the milk is drawn out of them 
 frequently, either by the babe or by some other means, and 
 the patient has been careful to refrain from any but a very 
 small quantity of the plainest kind of food, there will prob- 
 ably not be much trouble in this way."
 
 MANAGEMENT AFTER DELIVERY. 253 
 
 At this time, however, she may expect to have something 
 of a chill, followed by more or less headache and fever 
 called the milk fever for a day or two, when it will pass 
 off; but from the time labor commences until the fever is 
 past, none but the plainest and lightest food should be 
 taken. 
 
 In order to prevent the nipples from becoming sore, the 
 mother should each time immediately after the child has 
 done nursing, after having with the thumb and ringer gently 
 compressed it, so as to empty the capillary vessels that were 
 filled by the suction with a sponge or soft linen cloth bathe 
 them thoroughly, and, after carefully wiping perfectly dry, 
 they may be dusted over with pulverized starch, fine arrow- 
 root powder, or any other dry substance of a like inert or 
 harmless nature. 
 
 If the breasts and nipples are treated as recommended in 
 a former chapter, and the above course be observed, there 
 need be no trouble whatever with either breasts or .nip- 
 ples. 
 
 After the birth of the child, or as soon after as is conve- 
 nient, it should be carefully washed all over in soft water, 
 neither too warm nor too cold, with the addition of a little 
 mild soap. A temperature of about eighty degrees, Fah- 
 renheit, will be found the best. The dress should be loose, 
 and merely sufficient for the purpose of warmth. The child 
 should not in any way be bound with its clothing, nor should 
 a binder or bandage be put about its abdomen, for the rea- 
 son that it always causes more or less harm that is, if there 
 is no malformation of parts and always tends to induce the 
 very difficulty it is desired to prevent namely, that of rup- 
 ture. 
 
 The child should have a daily bath, given between eleven 
 and twelve o'clock, great care being taken not to hurt and 
 fatigue it by rough handling, and that it be done as quick as 
 possible. 
 
 " During this daily process of washing, which should not
 
 254 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 be done languidly, but briskly and expeditiously, the mind 
 of the little infant should be amused and excited. In this 
 manner, dressing, instead of being dreaded as .a period of 
 daily suffering instead of being painful, and one continued 
 fit of crying, will become a recreation and amusement. 
 
 " In this, treat your infant, even your little infant, as a 
 sensitive and intelligent creature. Let everything which 
 must be done be made, not a source of pain, but of pleas- 
 ure, and it will then become a source of health, and that 
 both of body and mind ; a source of exercise to the one, and 
 of early discipline to the other." 
 
 In the dressing of the child, the principal object is to have 
 it warm, light and loose. The extremities should be as 
 warmly clad as are the other parts of the body, and short 
 sleeves and low-neck dresses should be avoided as being no 
 more suitable for children than for adult persons, and at all 
 times being unphysiological and promotive of sickness and 
 premature death. 
 
 " These remarks in regard to dress are particularly appli- 
 cable to the first stages of infancy, for many children suffer 
 severely, and even fatally, for want of proper clothing, whose 
 parents, blinded by fashion, are not aware of it. 
 
 " Mothers are apt to forget that their children need exer- 
 cise ; that, even in the earliest days of infancy, they wish to 
 kick with their feet, and perform a thousand other muscular 
 movements, which they will not be able to do with the free- 
 dom desirable if their clothing is either too heavy or put on 
 improperly." 
 
 The nursery-room, in which the child is to live princi- 
 pally, should be well lighted and well ventilated. If proper 
 ventilation is such an important consideration for mankind, 
 it is much more so for babykind. Says Sturno : 
 
 "Warm rooms, in my opinion, principally contribute to 
 the extraordinary mortality of children, who are carried off 
 by convulsions during the first months of their life. 
 
 "The practice of keeping nurseries very warm is particu-
 
 MANAGEMENT AFTER DELIVERY. 255 
 
 larly detrimental to children during the period of teeth- 
 ing. 
 
 "The custom of feeding children with inappropriate ar- 
 ticles almost as soon as they are born is extremely repre- 
 hensible. No sooner is the infant washed and dressed, than, 
 in quite too many instances, the nurse is ready with her 
 spoon in hand, and with her cup of gruel, pulverized cracker, 
 or some other equally injurious preparation to fill its stom- 
 ach to the utmost of its capacity. This process of stuffing 
 is often continued with a ruinous degree of diligence and 
 perseverance, placing the new-comer in a most pitiable con- 
 dition. Being incapable of making known its wants by 
 words, its screams of distress, occasioned by the colic and 
 griping thus induced, are taken either as manifestations of 
 hunger and, to appease this, the stomach is constantly 
 kept in a state of distension by food or of griping, to re- 
 lieve which, and ' to enable the little fellow to throw the 
 wind off from his stomach,' recourse is had to catmint tea, 
 aniseseed tea, Godfrey's cordial, soothing syrup, paregoric, 
 or some other palliative or nostrum, by which another source 
 of gastric derangement and indigestion is brought into ope- 
 ration. Thus, between the two, the helpless babe has no 
 chance of escaping from the torments and ruinous conse- 
 quences of its unfortunate condition." 
 
 As with the adult, so with the child ; wrong food, in wrong 
 quantities, at wrong intervals, has much to do with its sick- 
 ness and premature death. At first affecting the stomach, 
 it causes acidity, flatulency, vomiting, diarrhoea and emaci- 
 ation. If the over-feeding and wrong feeding is kept up, 
 there usually results, from the irritation thus kept up in the 
 stomach, chronic and unmanageable diarrhoea, slow fever, 
 chronic affection of the liver, epilepsy, dropsy of the brain, 
 convulsions, and other dangerous and fatal maladies. 
 
 "It not unfrequently happens that the digestive functions 
 are, in the brief period that intervenes between the birth of 
 the infant and the secretion of the mother's milk, so de-
 
 256 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ranged and impaired, that even the wholesome and conge- 
 nial fluid furnished by the maternal breasts will not be easily 
 digested. Nature herself points out the impropriety of this 
 practice of feeding new-born infants by withholding the 
 nourishment which she provides until many hours after 
 birth." 
 
 Perhaps I shall not find a more appropriate place than 
 this to speak of the pernicious practice of feeding children, 
 when just born, with certain articles (some of which are too 
 disgusting to be even named) with the view of purging off 
 the contents of the bowels, which is called meconium, and 
 certain other articles to prevent the red gum or the jaundice, 
 just as though Nature did not provide for the proper care of 
 the young. I pray you, suffer nothing of the kind to go 
 into the mouth of your infant child. 
 
 " It is very well, immediately after the child has been 
 washed and dressed, to feed it with two or three tea-spoonfuls 
 of cool water. This operates to cleanse the mouth and pre- 
 vent it from becoming sore, as babes' mouths are somewhat 
 apt to do if this is neglected ; and on this account it should 
 be repeated every morning. In cases where the child seems 
 hungry, it appears to satisfy it as well as anything that can 
 be given. 
 
 "If this is done, children will most commonly lie quiet for 
 an hour or two, or at least till the mother has become so far 
 rested as to be able to have her babe applied to the breast 
 This may be done, if it is wakeful and disposed to nurse, as 
 soon as she feels able ; but if the child is disposed to lie 
 quietly, either sleeping or waking, it may be well to let it 
 lie in some warm place, as in the nurse'.s lap, or, better still, 
 close by its mother's side. 
 
 "In the course of a few hours, probably, the child will 
 manifest some disposition to nurse, and in that case it should 
 be put to the breast and allowed to draw as much as it 
 pleases ; but in case it lies quietly, and shows no such dis- 
 position, you should, by all means, let it lie, and not disturb
 
 MA NA CEMENT AFTER DELIVER Y. 257 
 
 it, or be in the least alarmed on this account I have known 
 lambs to run about and be quite active for two, three, or 
 four of the first days of their lives, without receiving any- 
 thing into their stomachs ; and you may rest assured that, 
 if your child lies quietly by your side, breathing easily, and 
 sleeping or not sleeping, it is doing well, and should not be 
 disturbed till it manifests some uneasiness or a disposition to 
 nurse. If well, it will certainly do so in the course of twenty- 
 four hours. 
 
 " Do not let the desire to see his bright eyes lead you to 
 disturb his quiet slumbers, nor your desire to see him mani- 
 fest his uncommon brightness get the better of your sober 
 judgment Let him rest. When he wakes nurse him, 
 change any of his clothing that may require it, and let him 
 sleep. 
 
 " Babes treated in this way will usually sleep a great part 
 of the time for several of the first weeks of their lives. No 
 fears should be entertained in regard to the health of a new- 
 born babe so long as it rests quietly ; and it should not be 
 disturbed, as is too often done through mistaken kindness, 
 or to gratify the curiosity or any other feelings of the mother 
 or others." 
 
 It is generally supposed that the child must take some- 
 thing to purge off the contents of the bowels, called meco- 
 nium a tenacious, semi-fluid substance, of a dark color, 
 which, if not carried off within a few days after birth, may 
 become a source of irritation ; but it should be remembered 
 that Nature has provided for this want 
 
 "The fluid secreted in the mother's breasts before the 
 birth of the child, is as different from the milk that is fur- 
 nished by them afterward, as the contents of the child's 
 bowels are from that found in them after it has begun to 
 nurse, and is exactly fitted for the purpose of purging it 
 off. 
 
 " If the child is put to the breasts as soon as he seems dis- 
 posed to nurse, he will obtain enough of this fluid, which is 
 
 17
 
 258 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 technically called colestrum, even when the mother supposes 
 there is nothing there. I repeat, even in this case he will, 
 in nine cases out of ten, at least, get enough to meet the ne- 
 cessities of the case, and the meconium will be purged off 
 by the colestrum without occasioning any colic, griping, or 
 other unpleasant symptoms. It will not act like physic, 
 producing a rapid succession of stools ; but more slowly, 
 and in the course of two or three days the work will be 
 done, and done as it should be. 
 
 " If the mother is able to nurse her child, nothing should 
 be allowed to enter its mouth, for the first few days at least, 
 except the cool water that I have already spoken of, and 
 what it gets from her." 
 
 How often should a child be nursed, is a question of some 
 importance. Some advocate every four hours ; others, 
 again, three hours between the times of nursing. Either 
 will do. It is not so much the observance of a certain num- 
 ber of hours between the periods as in the regularity in 
 feeding. To give the child the breast every hour one day 
 In feeding, and then perhaps the next the mother to absent 
 herself for many hours, is certainly not a good practice. By 
 endeavoring to accustom and train the infant, as far as pos- 
 sible, to regular periods for feeding, and all other natural op- 
 erations, much of the trouble otherwise attendant upon the 
 nursery may be avoided, and its quiet much less frequently 
 disturbed. 
 
 Healthy infants can be habituated to sleep through the 
 night without waking to nurse during the whole time. This 
 should be done whenever it is possible, for it is a bad prac- 
 tice to allow the child to take the breasts during the night- 
 time. 
 
 " If the infant is encouraged to start up at any time of 
 the day or night and demand the breast, or if the latter is 
 constantly offered to it as a means of soothing its cries, 
 whether it be hungry or not, perpetual restlessness and dis- 
 content must be the result ; and these once established as a
 
 MA NA CEMENT AFTER DELIVER Y. 259 
 
 habit, the mother's peace and enjoyment, and the child's 
 health and welfare, are sure to be sacrificed. 
 
 " The infant may be quieted for the moment in this way, 
 but it will be at the expense of ten-fold trouble and disap- 
 pointment at a future time. 
 
 " By suitable care, almost any child may be taught to re- 
 quire food only at something like stated intervals, and the 
 danger of over-distension of the stomach may thus in a 
 great measure be avoided. 
 
 " Care should be taken to avoid provoking the infant to 
 take the breast, in order to appease restlessness that may arise 
 from any cause except hunger. It is surprising how soon, 
 by a neglect of this rule, a morbid appetite is created. 
 
 " It is too often the custom of mothers and nurses to 
 take it for granted that because the child cries, that it is hun- 
 gry, and then to force it to take the breast ; or, when fretful 
 from any cause, to appease it by the same means. In this 
 way a quiet is often produced, through the apoplectic state 
 of the stomach, induced by this over-feeding ; but, as I have 
 already intimated, it is at the expense of the healthy tone of 
 the stomach, and, when often repeated, can not fail to pro- 
 duce a disordered action of the digestive organs, and thus 
 do permanent harm." 
 
 Mothers whose desire it is to have children free from sick- 
 ness, and to grow up to adult life, should avoid and shun all 
 manner of patent nostrums such as paregoric, cordials, 
 soothing syrups, etc., all of which contain opium, and all of 
 which, in their use, are destructive to the nervous system 
 and digestive organs of the child, and seriously affect the 
 .child's future health, well-being, happiness and usefulness 
 through life. And especially should those vile, starchy 
 compounds called pap, panada, and the like, be positively 
 prohibited. 
 
 WET-NURSE. When circumstances are present which 
 prevent the mother from suckling her infant, a wet-nurse is
 
 26o THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the best substitute, provided she be healthy and have a good 
 supply of milk. 
 
 In the selection of a wet-nurse great care should be taken. 
 She should be young, perfectly healthy, of a pleasant, cheer- 
 ful disposition and even temper, and free from all deformi- 
 ties such as squinting, stuttering, and the like. She should 
 have two good breasts of milk, and the age of her child 
 should be near that of the one she is to nurse, as the milk 
 changes so during the first month that the milk of a nurse 
 with a child six months old would not be proper food for a 
 child just born. 
 
 In the feeding of the child the utmost vigilance should be 
 exercised by the mother, as all sorts of deceptions are prac- 
 ticed by professional wet-nurses. 
 
 "At one time the stomach of the child is engorged to its 
 greatest extent, in order that the nurse may have the time 
 to herself, and then all nourishment is withheld for an un- 
 reasonable period for the same reason ; laudanum and pare- 
 goric are administered clandestinely that the child may not 
 disturb her rest, and all sorts of deceptions, which require 
 the constant watchfulness of the mother to detect and pre- 
 vent. 
 
 " The diet of the nurse should be the same as for any per- 
 son in good health ; the food should be plain, abundant, and 
 taken only at the regular hours. It is not a fact that a wo- 
 man while nursing requires a large amount of rich food, or 
 that she should eat before going to bed ; all these irregular- 
 ities tend to destroy the health, which, of course, injures the 
 milk. There are no women with breasts better filled with 
 milk than the peasant women, who subsist on food of the 
 very simplest kind. The practice of allowing nurses por- 
 ter, ale, or spirits of any kind, while nursing, is always un- 
 necessary ; a healthy nurse requires nothing of the kind, and 
 no other should be engaged. 
 
 " The nurse should be required to exercise in the open air 
 for some time each day, and to take an entire bath as often 
 as twice during the week."
 
 MA NA CEMENT A FTER DELIVER Y. 26 1 
 
 ARTIFICIAL FEEDING. Failing a wet-nurse, artificial 
 feeding, or bringing the child up by hand, as it is called, is 
 the last resort 
 
 " The kinds of food recommended for the diets of infants 
 are very numerous, but nothing is better than pure cow's 
 milk ; it must be perfectly sweet, and, if possible, always 
 from the same cow. There is a great difference in the milk 
 of different cows, though fed upon the same food, and a 
 mixture of the milk of several cows, or a continual change 
 from one to another, is much less likely to agree with the in- 
 fant than the milk from the same cow uninterruptedly. It 
 is desirable that the nutriment provided for the infant should 
 approach as near as possible to the natural food, and for the 
 child at birth equal parts of milk and water, with a little 
 white sugar, warmed to the temperature of ninety-eight de- 
 grees ; this approaches very near to the natural aliment, and 
 is the only food required for the first eight or ten months ; 
 the water may be gradually decreased, until the end of the 
 seventh month, at which time the pure milk may be given. 
 In cases where the milk disagrees with the child, cream and 
 water will be found an excellent substitute ; cream is lighter 
 than milk, it is easily digested, and being more nutritious, a 
 smaller quantity may be given. In many cases the fault is 
 not so much with the food as in the way in which it is given, 
 and in many cases where it is thought to disagree with the 
 infant, if it were given in smaller quantities, and at longer 
 intervals, with perfect rest for half an hour after eating, the 
 trouble would be done away with. 
 
 "The food should be taken into the stomach slowly ; and 
 here again we should imitate Nature, and allow the child to 
 suck its nourishment from a bottle, instead of being fed with 
 a spoon. In the act of sucking the food is mixed with the 
 saliva, which is an assistant to digestion, and which the di- 
 gestive organs are deprived of, to a great extent, if any other 
 mode of feeding be adopted. 
 
 " A variety of contrivances have been recommended for
 
 262 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the administration of food to infants ; any glass bottle of a 
 convenient shape and size, with a few folds of fine, soft linen 
 pierced with a small hole, and adapted to the mouth in the 
 form of a nipple, will answer every purpose. Particular at- 
 tention must be paid to keeping the bottle perfectly clean ; 
 it should never be filled without being previously subjected 
 to a thorough washing of both bottle and nipple in hot wa- 
 ter. It will be well to provide two bottles, that one may al- 
 ways be in a condition for immediate use ; the bottle should 
 always be glass, its transparency enabling the mother the 
 more readily to detect any uncleanliness." 
 
 The nipple-sheath, made of rubber, as well as rubber 
 toys, should be kept out of the reach of infants, for the rea- 
 son that in the manufacture of rubber large quantities of 
 white lead are used. In the action of biting or sucking 
 through the rubber toy or nipple, the white lead is in a 
 measure disengaged and absorbed into the child's organism, 
 where it injures the bones, causing curvature of the spine, 
 bad teeth, rickets, etc., and otherwise affecting more or less 
 the general health of the child. 
 
 WEANING. The growth and protrusion of the teeth is a 
 certain index of the development of the child's digestive or- 
 gans, and indicates with great exactness that a change of 
 food is required, and that the digestive organs are in a con- 
 dition to dispose of the simple varieties of nutriment upon 
 which the child will now be required to subsist. This usu- 
 ally happens from the tenth to the fourteenth month, and if 
 the child has been accustomed gradually to other nutriment, 
 weaning will in most cases be attended with little or no in- 
 convenience. This change should be very gradual, and 
 commence soon after the protrusion of the two first teeth. 
 
 It is generally recommended in books and by physicians 
 to feed the infant, at this time of weaning and after, on pre- 
 parations of arrowroot, pulverized cracker, corn-starch, etc. 
 . articles that possess little or no nutriment, and if there was
 
 MANAGEMENT AFTER DELIVERY. 263 
 
 no milk given along with such food the child would after a 
 time starve. It has been proven by physiologists that ar- 
 ticles of diet made from white flour will not in themselves 
 support life. The experiment has been tried on dogs, one 
 dog being fed exclusively on bread made from superfine 
 white flour, and the other on bread made from the whole 
 grain (Graham flour.) 'At the end of thirty-five days the 
 first dog was dead, having gradually died of starvation, 
 while the dog fed on unbolted wheat bread was strong and 
 healthy. When it is understood that three out of every five 
 children fail to reach their tenth year, I think a radical 
 change is demanded, not only in the department of diet of 
 infants, but also in clothing, pure air, etc. 
 
 As the period of weaning approaches, small portions of 
 pure and fresh milk, thickened with soft-boiled rice, apple- 
 sauce, slightly sweetened, and fresh cream, or a thin gruel 
 made from finely ground unbolted wheat flour, should be al- 
 lowed the child two or three times a day. 
 
 It is desirable that the gradual increase in the quantity 
 should keep pace with the more or less rapid appearance of 
 the teeth, so that after the first eight teeth have made their 
 exit from the gums, the child shall have been, as it were, in- 
 sensibly weaned. By this course of management the in- 
 fant's stomach will be gradually accustomed to a more sub- 
 stantial diet, and will be sufficiently prepared, when the 
 proper time of weaning arrives, to admit of an exclusively 
 artificial aliment, with but little, if any, risk of injurious con- 
 sequences. 
 
 After weaning, the staple article of diet for the child 
 should be made from unbolted, well-cleaned and finely- 
 ground wheat, for this grain contains all the constituents de- 
 manded by the system of a growing child for nourishment 
 the bone, muscle, and nerve-making properties. The best 
 and simplest food made from unbolted flour is Graham pud- 
 ding, the mode of making which is as follows : 
 
 " Stir slowly into fast-boiling water, sprinkled from the
 
 264 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 hand, sufficient Graham flour to make a thin pudding. Let 
 it boil five or ten minutes and it is done. If set away from 
 the fire for a few minutes before taking up, it will cleave read- 
 ily from the kettle, leaving it more easy to be washed. Very 
 much depends on the manner of making, as from the same 
 materials a most delicious dish may be made, or one not fit 
 to eat. 
 
 " The pudding left from one meal is allowed to cool in the 
 table pudding-dish, and inverted on a platter of the same 
 form for the next meal. Any of this that may be left can 
 be dissolved in the water in which the next pudding is to be 
 made, and so made over ; or a better way is to brown slices 
 of it on a griddle." 
 
 Unfermented Graham bread, corn bread, and dishes 
 made from unbolted wheat, corn and oatmeal, plainly, sim- 
 ply and palatably cooked ; apples, and all other fruit in 
 season, and milk, are the only articles from which a diet 
 should be selected for the child, and, for that matter for 
 the adult whose desire is for a pure and healthy life. 
 
 Care should be taken that suckling is continued no longer 
 than is consistent with the welfare of either mother or child. 
 Says Dr. Eberle : 
 
 " To the mother, the effects of unduly protracted lac- 
 tation are sometimes extremely pernicious. We not un- 
 frequently see women frail, debilitated, and constantly tor- 
 mented with dyspeptic and nervous affections, suckling 
 their infants for eighteen or twenty months, without sus- 
 pecting that their ill health is the result of exhaustion from 
 the constant drain of the nutritious element of the blood, 
 which is kept up by suckling. The mother is not the only 
 sufferer from this habit of protracted lactation. After 
 the proper period for weaning the infant, there is a decided 
 change takes place in the milk ; it not only diminishes in 
 quantity, but deteriorates in quality, and becomes more and 
 more unwholesome in its character in proportion as lactation 
 is protracted. Let me say here to those mothers who think
 
 MA NA CEMENT A FTER DELIVER Y. 265 
 
 to lessen the supposed dangers of the second summer by 
 suckling the child through that period, that they are actu- 
 ally increasing the danger by allowing the infant food from 
 which it derives but little nutriment, and which is decidedly 
 unwholesome. I have been particular to point out the evils 
 of this habit, as it is a very common one in our country." 
 
 The best months in the year for weaning are the 
 months of March, April and May, September, October, and 
 November.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PERIOD OF NURSING INFLUENCE. 
 
 ENIUS, to be successfully- 
 transmitted to the child, must 
 be conceived in the period of 
 preparation, exercised in thfc 
 period of gestation, and the 
 exercise continued during the 
 whole period of nursing. In 
 the period of preparation the 
 character of the child, in the 
 rough, is originated ; in ante- 
 natal life this character is de- 
 veloped ; while during the 
 nursing period its character is 
 perfected and established. 
 
 The mother's influence du- 
 ring the time of nursing, therefore, is not one lightly to be 
 estimated ; and the following expressed thoughts in regard 
 to its observance should be carefully noted and followed by 
 the mother who has obeyed the previous directions in regard 
 to rearing beautiful, healthy and talented children. 
 
 To the mother who, through some physical abnormal 
 quality, cannot nurse her child, or who, through some ab- 
 normal mental characteristics, will not nurse her child, this 
 chapter does not, of course, apply. 
 
 To the first, who, notwithstanding a just observance of
 
 PERIOD OF NURSING INFLUENCE. 267 
 
 right rules for living and a careful trial of remedial measures, 
 is unable to nurse her child, I have naught to say ; but to 
 the mother who can, but will not, nurse her child, it seems 
 to me that such a woman must have some great abnormal 
 quality of soul that lowers her vastly in the scale of human 
 kind. This great duty, this sacred trust, should rest with 
 the mother alone, and she who commits the suckling of her 
 child to another, while her own breasts are ready to furnish 
 an ample supply of milk, does not, cannot, possess the qual- 
 ities of a mother or Christian. 
 
 It is indeed a most extraordinary circumstance that a duty 
 which is so strongly enforced by the commands of Nature, 
 and which is connected with so many delightful and hallowed 
 sentiments of the maternal heart, should ever be voluntarily 
 relinquished ; and it is never done without subjecting both 
 mother and child to great liability to injurious conse- 
 quences. 
 
 There is no period of woman's life in which she has such 
 great enjoyment, such perfect physical health, as when she 
 is nursing the offspring of her own blood. 
 
 When a mother, through causes avoidable or unavoidable, 
 allows her child to nurse at the breast of a stranger, she 
 loses the chance of permanently fixing and completing the 
 character of the infant, and in a great measure the child 
 draws from the breast of the strange mother mental and 
 physical characteristics that may be undesirable. 
 
 The importance of the mother's influence during the pe- 
 riod of nursing is greatly under-estimated, and by very 
 many not even believed in. When it is understood that the 
 food the mother daily uses goes to furnish the food of the 
 infant, and that, in being converted into milk in the mam- 
 mary glands, is influenced not only by the quality and quan- 
 tity of the food eaten, but also by the mental state of the 
 mother during and immediately preceding its secretion, and 
 that this influence is carried in the milk directly to the child's 
 organism, and affects in a smaller or greater measure the
 
 268 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 child's mental and physical character, it must be allowed, by 
 all candid, thinking mothers, that its importance cannot pos- 
 sibly be over-estimated. 
 
 I have known an instance in which a mother, after a vio- 
 lent altercation with a neighbor, immediately after gave suck 
 to her infant. The child had not been at the breast but a 
 moment when it went into violent convulsions, and for a time 
 it had every appearance of dying. If it had died, there 
 need have been no great surprise expressed thereat. It is 
 well known that men have died in a passion, and the same 
 greatly unbalanced and disorded state of the nervous system 
 of the mother, acquired during a " fit of passion," through 
 the medium of her milk, transmitted to the delicate organ- 
 ism of the child, would bring on premature death, or greatly 
 help to do so. 
 
 So, in a smaller or greater measure, the mother's every- 
 day state of mind and body is carried to and impressed on 
 the mind and body of her infant. If the mother, during the 
 two previous periods of introductory and gestative influence, 
 be of a morose, gloomy, fault-finding disposition, and she 
 continues the exercise of these abnormal characteristics du- 
 ring the period of nursing, she will, without the least doubt 
 of the fact, impress the like undesirable qualities of charac- 
 ter on her child, and every day's suckling, up to the time of 
 weaning, will more fully and perfectly establish them. 
 
 And so of grief and sorrow, pain and anguish, anxiety 
 and fear, or any other of the passions that in their exercise 
 lower and unbalance the nervous force. 
 
 In the same way that the mother's habits of thought af- 
 fect the child's character, so does the food she eats affect the 
 child's physical growth and health, and, in a close manner, 
 its mental characteristics. Eating indigestible articles of 
 diet will cause in the child a disturbed state of the bowels 
 colic, griping, intestinal fever, etc. ; or drinking ale, beer, 
 wine, whisky, or that filthy mess called porter so often ad- 
 vised for nursing mothers, to " strengthen them" (!) will
 
 PERIOD OF NURSING INFLUENCE. 269 
 
 cause in the child not only a predisposition to disease, but 
 also a tendency to be a drunkard. 
 
 The use of spirituous and fermented drinks is at all times 
 improper, but especially so during the nursing period. When 
 given to increase the milk they may do so, but it is always 
 at the expense of its quality. The child may seem to thrive 
 nicely for a time, but eventually it will be in great danger of 
 being severely afflicted with some form of cutaneous dis- 
 ease, or something worse, before it is two years old. Says 
 Dr. Tracy : 
 
 " One of the worst cases I ever saw was caused in this 
 way. The mother drank porter and ale, one or both freely, 
 while nursing ; the child grew very fast and very fat, but 
 such a sight as it after awhile presented, I never wish to see 
 again." 
 
 The mother of advanced ideas, who has faithfully followed 
 the directions to be observed during the periods of prepara- 
 tion and gestation, and whose desire it is to continue faith- 
 fully to the end, will, during the period of nursing, closely 
 adhere to the plan of life and habits of thought decided on 
 in the commencement. 
 
 To this end, she must be as careful as ever, if not more 
 so, in the food eaten. Only the very plainest and simplest 
 food should be used, and eaten at regular intervals. She 
 should, as she values her own peace and ease, and her child's 
 health and happiness, exercise all due care against evils of 
 this kind, for any momentary gratification of her appetite 
 will be dearly paid for by the distress and, if no more, tem- 
 porary illness of her babe. 
 
 Especially during this period of nursing should the mother 
 exercise the qualities (decided on from the beginning) that 
 in their transmitted action will constitute genius. The nine 
 or twelve months of nursing will be the mother's last chance 
 to directly perfect and establish the character of the child, 
 and in no wise should it be slighted. The main require- 
 ments to be observed in this direction are but a repetition of
 
 270 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 those given in Chapters XIII. and XVI., with the additional 
 rule that they be observed immediately preceding each time 
 the child is given the breast. 
 
 After an intense application of the brain-power in the di- 
 rection required be it that of mechanic, author, inventor, 
 k editor, teacher, singer, etc. the mother immediately follow- 
 ing this application should give her child the breast. And 
 precisely so in every department of thought or action in- 
 tended for the child's future existence, immediately follow- 
 ing the persistent, active effort in trying, the child should be 
 given the breast. These efforts of the mother should be so 
 timed as to precede the child's regular time for feeding ; for 
 it is a requirement in the right development of the child, 
 that order in all things feeding, bathing, sleeping, etc. be 
 closely observed. The philosophy of this requirement is, 
 that the active mental .exercise of any organ or set of or- 
 gans of the mother, impresses the qualities exercised on the 
 milk globules being secreted in her mammary glands ; for it 
 is with the milk as with the blood from which it is secreted 
 every globule takes on and represents the character of the 
 mother who manufactured it. These milk globules having, 
 through the rightly-directed, active mental and physical ex- 
 ercise of the mother, taken on a positive character in har- 
 mony with that of the mother are through suckling carried 
 to the child's organism, where it, of course, cannot possibly 
 do otherwise than reproduce its like. In this way the quality 
 desired to be reproduced in the child is perfected and estab- 
 lished but' only perfected and established, for during the 
 periods of preparation and gestation they should be origi- 
 nated and developed. 
 
 During this period as during the two former periods 
 the mother and child should live much in the open air. She 
 should continue to take daily exercise ; never omit the daily 
 sponge, air and sun-bath ; wear comfortable and loose cloth- 
 ing ; exercise daily and hourly the bright, happy and joyous 
 side of her nature ; ever surround herself with pleasant and
 
 PERIOD OF NURSING INFLUENCE. 271 
 
 beautiful associations ; breathe pure air ; drink only pure 
 water ; eat principally ripe fruits, fresh vegetables, unleav- 
 ened bread made from unbolted wheat, etc., and, in com- 
 pany with her husband, cultivate the department of thought 
 that is intended for the child's pursuit in life especially 
 exercising it in positive earnestness just before the time 
 for giving her child the breast. 
 
 During this period as during the two former periods 
 she should not use alcoholic liquors of any kind, strength, 
 or quality ; tea, coffee, or chocolate ; pickles, vinegar, or 
 spices of any kind, and as little salt as is possible to get 
 along with ; sweets, pastry, etc. ; medicines, patent or oth- 
 erwise ; and, above all, she should not allow her husband to 
 have sexual acquaintance with her. Succeed in carrying 
 out, during these three periods of preparation and influence, 
 a strictly pure, chaste and continent life, and you will have 
 done more for the future health and welfare of the child's 
 soul and body than could be done in any other way, time or 
 manner. 
 
 During the nursing period of the child's life feed it regu- 
 larly ; keep its extremities warm and comfortable ; in clear 
 weather give it all the out-door sunshine that can be had ; 
 } 4t it sleep all it wants to ; bathe it daily; do not, I pray 
 you, give it any cordial, soothing syrup, or any other pat- 
 ented trash ; and, when it comes to be weaned, let it be 
 done in a gradual manner. 
 
 With the weaning of the child I would fain close this 
 chapter, but am tempted to give a few general but very im- 
 portant directions for the child's future guidance. 
 
 Up to the age of ten years fifteen would be better no 
 book should be allowed in the child's hands, for during this 
 time the child should be allowed simply to grow sleep, eat, 
 exercise and grow no more, no less. 
 
 All indications of precocity and " smartness" should be 
 suppressed, and it should be made to exercise only the 
 physical, keeping dormant the mental and spiritual depart- 
 ments of .its nature.
 
 272 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Only the plainest and simplest food, free from sugar, 
 spices, candies, etc., should be allowed it 
 
 No drugs or patent medicines of any kind should be given 
 it. 
 
 The child should be carefully guarded against associates 
 of a bad or doubtful character. 
 
 Girls and boys, during this time, should be dressed pre- 
 cisely alike, and in every way treated alike. The more of a 
 " torn-boy" the girl can grow into, the better for her future 
 health, strength and beauty. 
 
 The child should at all times be dressed physiologically. 
 It astonishes me beyond measure to see a little girl having 
 her arms and legs bare, and otherwise gaudily bedecked, on 
 the streets, led by her mother, who, though much more 'able 
 to withstand atmospheric changes, is dressed from head to 
 foot warmly and comfortably. Societies for the protection 
 of animals against cruelty are good enough in their way, but 
 societies for the protection of babies against cruelty would 
 be much more productive of lasting benefit, at least to un- 
 grown humanity at large. It is not only a shame, it is a 
 great sin, this modern style of half dressing children that is 
 so largely practiced in so-called " good society." Dress 
 your children, at all seasons of the year, from the points of 
 the toes to the tips of the fingers, equally warm and com- 
 fortable, without band or constriction of any kind, and so al- 
 low them to grow into perfect models of manly strength or 
 womanly beauty.
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 WRONGS RIGHTED.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FCETICIDE. 
 
 UT of the overgrown, abnormally 
 developed and wrongly directed 
 amativeness of the man out of 
 the social bondage and pitiable 
 slavery of the woman, there have 
 been born such wrongs, such 
 miseries, such sufferings, aye, 
 such murders, as to lead an ob- 
 serving and reflecting mind to 
 wonder why God, in the might 
 of His wrath, does not, by an ef- 
 fort of His omnipotent will, sweep 
 off from the face of this beauti- 
 ful earth the great multitude of 
 people who, knowingly or igno- 
 rantly, break His divine laws. 
 Out of the licentiousness of the man and bondage of the 
 woman there is developed the ever-present and ever-increas- 
 ing great wrong and monstrous crime of an undesigned and 
 undesired maternity^ a wrong and crime, the perpetrators 
 of which, rather than be thwarted in the exercise of the li- 
 centious of their nature, commit without thought of conse- 
 quences here or hereafter, the crime of fceticide the killing 
 of the foetus while in the mother's womb the murder of the 
 unborn.
 
 276 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 That this crime is not only wide-spread on this great con- 
 tinent, but is rapidly on the increase, we have the testimony 
 of physicians, whose investigations have been thorough, and 
 whose social standing and integrity cannot be questioned. 
 
 Dr. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, has declared in a paper 
 read before a late meeting of the American Social Science 
 Association, that no where in the history of the world was 
 the practice of abortion so common as in this country ; and 
 he gave expression to the opinion that, in New England 
 alone, many thousand abortions are procured annually. 
 
 Says Dr. Reamy, of the Ohio State Medical Society : 
 
 " From a very large verbal and written correspondence in 
 this and other States, together with personal investigation 
 and facts accumulated * * * that we have become a 
 nation of murderers." 
 
 And not to large cities alone is this great crime confined, 
 but from towns, villages and hamlets do the death wails of 
 the murdered innocents go up to God for vengeance. 
 
 A noticeable proof that forced abortions are on the in- 
 crease, or that an almost equally great wrong is done by the 
 prevention of pregnancy, is found in the small size of fami- 
 lies. Especially is this observable in the New England 
 States, where the native population is stationary or decreasing. 
 
 In the paper already referred to, Dr. Allen says : 
 
 " Examining the number of deaths, we find that there are 
 absolutely more deaths than births among the strictly Amer- 
 ican children, so that, aside from immigration and births of 
 children of foreign parentage, the population of Massachu- 
 setts is rapidly decreasing. * * * The birth-rate in the 
 State of New York shows the same fact, that American fam- 
 ilies do not increase at all, and inspection of the registration 
 in other States shows that the same remark applies to all." 
 Dr. Allen may well ask : " What then is to be the state of 
 society in New England fifty or a hundred years hence ?" 
 
 Says the Rev. Dr. Eddy, in a late number of the Christ- 
 tan Advocate :
 
 FCETICIDE. 277 
 
 " We could prove that in one little village of one thou- 
 sand inhabitants, prominent women have been guilty of what 
 we will presently show to be 'murder. And sadder still, 
 half of these are members of Christ's Church. Yet here, 
 and elsewhere, where fifteen per cent, of wives have the 
 criminal hardihood to practice this black art, there is a still 
 large and additional per cent, who indorse and defend it. 
 One of the worst features of the case is the fact that, if a 
 young, pure and inexperienced wife is shocked by revela- 
 tions made by hardened abortionists, she is straightway ridi- 
 culed into silence or argued into acquiescence. The very 
 worst feature, however, is, that young girls, too young to 
 marry, are initiated into these mysteries of massacre, thor- 
 oughly imbued with a dislike of children, especially their 
 future own, and are thus prepared to perpetrate this horrid 
 villainy, when their more aged instructors are gone up be- 
 fore God. We protest that it is pitiful. To fortify these 
 statements we have Dr. Stewart's testimony: 'But few of 
 either sex enter the marital relations without full information 
 as to the ways and means of destroying the legitimate re- 
 sults of matrimony. Among married persons, so extensive 
 has this practice become, that people of high repute not 
 only commit this crime, but do not even shun to speak 
 boastingly among their intimates of the deed and the means 
 of accomplishing it.' ' 
 
 It cannot be possible that the large class of women who 
 Commit the crime of feticide, or that class, still greater in 
 number, who are accessories to such wrongs, can be aware 
 of the full import of what they do. They cannot know that 
 in the sight of God and man the deed they do is murder, 
 and that at the Day of Judgment as murderers they will 
 stand before the throne of God. Let us hope that in doing 
 these things it is because they know not what they do. 
 
 Many, to shield themselves from the imputation of wrong, 
 will deny that the killing of the fetus before its natural time 
 of birth is murder. This is most easily decided.
 
 278 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 First, as to what constitutes murder. The taking away 
 the life of any human being designedly, expresses in a gen- 
 eral way the crime of murder. Now a great army of self- 
 justifiers will say that life is not present in the child until 
 " quickening" is noticed by the mother ; while others, again, 
 may assert that life is not present until the first cry of the 
 child announces its birth. This is a great fallacy. Says 
 Beck, in his " Medical Jurisprudence :" 
 
 " The absurdity of the principle upon which these distinc- 
 tions are founded is of easy demonstration. The foetus, pre- 
 vious to the time of quickening, must be either dead or liv- 
 ing. Now that it is not the former is most evident from 
 neither putrefaction nor decomposition taking place, which 
 would be the consequence of an extinction of the vital prin- 
 ciple. The embyro, therefore, before the crisis, must be in 
 a state different from that of death, and that can be no other 
 than life." 
 
 Life is present from tlte very moment of conception. There 
 must be life at this time, else there could be no conception 
 that is, there must be a germ-cell and a sperm-cell con- 
 tained in each life, and the moment 'these two elements are 
 united, there is born a being containing the elements of a 
 soul. At no other possible time of pre-natal or ante- natal 
 life can the soul and body of a new being be originated than 
 At its conception; and the forcible removal of this being du- 
 ring its growth in the mother's womb causes its premature 
 death, and therefore its MURDER, and the party or parties 
 who do it, or are accessory to it, are MURDERERS. 
 
 Says Dr. Eddy : 
 
 " Independent of all laws, human authorities or decisions, 
 the true Christian theory is that the THOUGHT of man in the 
 mind of God embraces the entire period of his earthly rela- 
 tions, between the -extreme limits of embryo tic existence 
 and old age. Who with sacreligious hand does violence to 
 this chain of sacred relations is a MURDERER." 
 
 This brings us to the class or classes of society in which 
 are found those who practice forced abortions.
 
 FCETICIDE. 
 
 279 
 
 1. Those in whom, by reason of malformation of body, it 
 is found necessary to produce abortion or bring on prema- 
 ture birth. 
 
 2. Those women who, being unmarried, are seduced 
 through misrepresentation by men of licentious natures. 
 
 3. Those who, being married, desire no offspring, as inter, 
 fering with their pleasures. 
 
 4. Those who, being married, and maternity being forced 
 on them, desire no offspring, because of poverty or sickness, 
 or otherwise being unprepared to lovingly assume the burden 
 of a desired maternity. 
 
 These classes are largely made up of church-members and 
 professing Christians. They belong, as a rule, to the middle 
 and higher classes of society, and are distributed about 
 equally in the cities, towns and villages. 
 
 Of the first class those women who require a forced 
 abortion, owing to some physical malformation I have 
 nothing to say. When it is required to save the life of the 
 mother by the premature death of the child, it should never 
 be decided on or performed without the presence of at least 
 three able and conscientious physicians. The wrong and sin 
 done by such women consists in their marrying at all, or in 
 marrying men of greatly disproportioned sizes. This class 
 is so rare that it is almost unnecessary to mention them. 
 
 Those who belong to the second class come first in num- 
 ber of those who designedly practice pre-natal murder. In 
 proportion to the number of this class, there is not near the 
 number of forced abortions produced as in those who are 
 married. When a woman has been betrayed into relinquish- 
 ing her virtue, and pregnancy follows, she should allow it to 
 go on to its full term. In doing this she will do infinitely 
 Jess harm to her organization than if she had killed the foe- 
 tus, and will also be free from a guilty conscience. But 
 " let no woman, who would avoid a life of shame and dis- 
 grace, trust the promises of any man until legally married, 
 for all experience shows that, aside from the moral pollution,
 
 280 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 she has a right to expect to be deserted, or at least reluc- 
 tantly married, without the respect or confidence of her hus- 
 band, with her own confidence in his honor gone ; distrust 
 and unhappiness must inevitably result. If she fails to be 
 married to the man, aside from her own spiritual degrada- 
 tion, and feeling of unworthiness to ever enter the marriage 
 relation with a pure-minded, man when occasion offers, her 
 good name, if not destroyed by pregnancy or by some filthy 
 disease, is at the mercy of a base libertine, who will not 
 scruple to throw out to his associates insinuations as to his 
 success and her folly, which will sooner or later destroy her 
 peace. By a single false step she has entered the broad road 
 that leads to destruction, and she will find little peace in any 
 direction." 
 
 What can be said of the third class of wrong-doers, who 
 desire no offspring because interfering with the follies and 
 pleasures of their fashionable existence ? Not one good 
 word in extenuation of their unholy lives and unlawful 
 crimes. This class of women, of all these classes, is the 
 most to be reprobated, and deserve in full measure the se- 
 vere pains and penalties attached to their wrong-doings. 
 Low indeed must that woman be sunken in iniquity, sadly 
 blighted must be her soul, who will allow a love of the hol- 
 low pleasures and vanities of a " society" life to overcome 
 the instinctive desire for children, and to such a degree as 
 not to hesitate at the murder of her unborn child. 
 
 And lastly, we come to the fourth class a class largely 
 exceeding in number all those already mentioned put to- 
 gether. It is in connection with this class that the unre- 
 strained licentiousness of the man is paramount. Exercising 
 the low and animal of his nature, without any thought of the 
 loving preparation so necessary to the originating a new 
 soul, and against the wishes of the woman, the man forces 
 an undesired and undesigned maternity on his wife. 
 
 What is the result ? " On discovering the fact, it becomes 
 repulsive to her nature. She is not prepared to bear the
 
 FCETICIDE. 281 
 
 cross and endure the crucifixion. Instantly her soul is filled 
 with murderous intent She resolves to nip and crush the 
 opening bud of life to procure abortion that is, to com- 
 mit the deed of ante-natal child-murder. She does not feel 
 that it is Jier child. She may regard it as yours, but she 
 cannot acknowledge it as her own ; and though it must re- 
 ceive its gestational development in her organism, she can- 
 not tenderly and lovingly cherish and guard it as bone of 
 her bone, flesh of her flesh, and soul of her soul. It is so 
 in fact, but not in her feelings. She asked not for it ; her 
 soul repels it as an intruder, thrust upon her without her 
 consent, and in contempt, it may be, of her earnest remon- 
 strance for thus it often is. The child, she feels, has no 
 right to an existence at her expense. An uninvited and 
 hated intruder is exhausting her vital energies, and robbing 
 her of that which no earthly treasures can ever restore or 
 recompense. Through her physical suffering and mental 
 anguish, an unbidden and loathed guest is feeding and thriv- 
 ing on her heart's blood. Desperation and the bitterness of 
 death are in her heart. MURDER fills her soul toward your 
 unconscious and innocent babe. 
 
 " Who is responsible ? On whom rests the guilt ? It is 
 vour work. You forced that heavy burden upon her, and 
 compelled her to bear it. You thrust your child, as an in- 
 truder, into the sacred domain of her life, to derive existence 
 through her organism and at her expense, knowing that she 
 *vas not prepared to welcome it, and to bend the forces of 
 her nature to its growth and support ; and contrary, it may 
 be, to her earnest entreaties that she might be spared this 
 pain and anguish till she was ready joyfully to welcome 
 them. But you heeded not her prayer ; you assumed the 
 right to decide for her when she was prepared to endure 
 these trials, and under what circumstances she should be a 
 mother. You must have your stated gratification ; you have 
 abused your manhood and your wife till this indulgence, as 
 you think, has become as essential a want of your life as
 
 282 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 your daily food as the drunkard feels that alcohol is as es- 
 sential as air to his existence and happiness ; and so you im- 
 pose on her a maternity which her soul abhors. You hor- 
 ribly tax her vital energies ' without her consent.' Murder 
 is in her heart toward the uninvited and hated intruder you 
 have introduced into the sanctuary of her life. 
 
 " What else do you do, when you impose on your wife a 
 maternity unasked and abhorred ? You commit the devel- 
 opment and education of your child, during the most impor- 
 tant and susceptible period of its existence, to one who as- 
 sures you she is not prepared for the charge, who entreats 
 you to spare her, and who loathes the very thought of its 
 existence. Every element of her womanly nature, for the 
 time being, recoils from its presence in her system. She 
 pleads that you would spare her this burden, at this time, 
 and until her nature calls for it, and is prepared joyfully to 
 meet the martyrdom maternity must bring to her. Heed- 
 less of her prayers, and, it may be, of threats of death to 
 your child, you demand the surrender of her person to your 
 passion. Maternity ensues. Murder enters her heart to- 
 ward your child at the same time. She tries to ' get rid of 
 it' to murder it. She succeeds. The young life you had 
 committed to her care is nipped in the bud, as you were as- 
 sured it would be before you resigned it to her keeping. 
 Where rests the responsibility ? On you, primarily and 
 mainly. You murdered your own child not, indeed, with 
 your own hands you drove another to do the desperate 
 deed, and that other, your wife, who came to you, with a 
 loving and trusting heart, to save and be saved ; and you, 
 to gratify your selfish passion, drove her to the commission 
 of the crime of ante-natal child-murder a crime that must 
 for ever weigh upon her soul like a mountain of guilt and 
 shame ; a deed, after the doing of which no true woman can 
 ever, in this life, stand proud and stainless, in conscious in- 
 nocence and dignity, before the tribunal of her womanhood. 
 She has done a deed for which great Nature can find no ex-
 
 fCETICIDE. 283 
 
 cuse but ignorance; but which, even when done in igno- 
 rance, she regards as a violation of her just laws, and pun- 
 ishes as such with appropriate penalties the loss of self-re- 
 spect and the consciousness of degradation." 
 
 The following letters giving a plain, unvarnished insight 
 into the life of women wedded to men who, through over- 
 developed or misdirected amativeness, bring such sin and 
 sorrow on what would otherwise be happy and enjoyable 
 lives I copy from a work entitled " The Unwelcome Child," 
 by Henry C. Wright, to which book I am also indebted for 
 the above-quoted paragraphs : 
 
 " Before we married, I informed him (the husband) of my 
 dread of having children. I told him I was not yet prepared 
 to meet the sufferings and responsibilities of maternity. He 
 entered into an arrangement to prevent it for a specified 
 time. This agreement was disregarded. After the legal 
 form was over, and he felt that he could now indulge his 
 passion without loss of reputation, and under legal and re- 
 ligious sanctions, he insisted on the surrender of my person 
 to his will. He violated his promise at the beginning of our 
 united life. That fatal bridal night ! It has left a cloud on 
 my soul and on my home that can never pass away on earth. 
 I can never forget it. It sealed the doom of our union, as it 
 does of thousands. 
 
 " He was in feeble health ; so was I ; and both of us men- 
 tally depressed. But the sickly germ was implanted, and 
 conception took place. We were poor and destitute, having 
 made no preparations for a home for ourselves and child. I 
 was a stricken woman. In September, 1838, we came to 
 , and settled in a new country. In the March follow- 
 ing my child developed under a heart throbbing with dread 
 and anguish at the thought of its existence, was born. Af- 
 ter three months' struggle, I became reconciled to my, at 
 first, unwelcome child. But the impress of my impatience 
 and hostility to its existence, previous to its birth, was on 
 my child, never to be effaced ; and to this hour that child is 
 the victim of an undesired maternity.
 
 284 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 " In one year I found I was again to be a mother. I was 
 in a state of frightful despair. My first-born was sickly and 
 very troublesome (how could it be otherwise ?), needing con- 
 stant care and nursing. My husband chopped wood for our 
 support. Of the injustice of bringing children into the 
 world to such poverty and misery I was then as sensible as 
 now. I was in despair. I felt that death would be prefer- 
 able to maternity under such circumstances. A desire and 
 determination to get rid of my child entered into my heart. 
 I consulted a lady-friend, and by her persuasion and assist- 
 ance killed it. Within less than a year, maternity was again 
 imposed upon me, with no better prospect of doing justice 
 to my child. It was a most painful conviction to me ; I felt 
 that I could not have another child at the time. All seemed 
 dark as death. I had begged and prayed to be spared this 
 trial again, till I was prepared to accept it joyfully ; but my 
 husband insisted on his gratification, without regard to my 
 wishes and condition, 
 
 " I consulted a physician, and told him of my unhappy 
 State of mind, and my aversion to having another child, for 
 the present. He was ready with his logic, his medicines and 
 instruments, and told me how to destroy it. After experi- 
 menting on myself three months, I was successful. I killed 
 my child about five months after conception. 
 
 " A few months after this, maternity was again forced 
 upon me, to my grief and anguish. I determined, again, on 
 the child's destruction ; but my courage failed as I came to 
 the practical deed. My health and life were in jeopardy ; 
 for my living child's sake I wished to live. I made up my 
 mind to do the best I could for my unborn babe, whose ex- 
 istence seemed so unnatural and repulsive. I knew its 
 young life would be deeply and lastingly affected by my 
 mental and physical condition. I became, in a measure, 
 reconciled to my dark fate, and w.as as resigned and happy 
 as I could be under the circumstances. I had just such a 
 child as I had every reason to expect. * I could do no just- 
 ice to it. How could I ?
 
 FCETICIDE. 285 
 
 " Soon after the birth of my child, my husband insisted 
 on his accustomed injustice. Without any wish of my own, 
 maternity was again forced upon me. I dared not attempt 
 to get rid of the child, abortion seemed so cruel, so inhu- 
 man, unnatural and repulsive. I resolved again, for my 
 child's sake, to do the best I could for it Though I could 
 not joyfully welcome, I resolved quietly to endure its exist- 
 ence. 
 
 " After the birth of this child, I felt that I could have no 
 more to share our poverty, and to suffer the wrongs and tri- 
 als of an unwelcome existence. I felt that I had rather die 
 at once, and thus end my life and my power to be a mother 
 together. My husband cast the entire care of the family on 
 me. I had scarcely one hour to devote to my children. 
 My husband still insisted on his gratification. I was the 
 veriest slave alive. Life had lost its charms. The grave 
 seemed my only refuge, and death my only friend. 
 
 " In this state, known as it was to my husband, he thrust 
 maternity upon me twice. I employed a doctor to kill my 
 child, and in the destruction of it, in what should have been 
 the vigor of my life, ended my power to be a mother. I 
 was shorn of the brightest jewel of my womanhood. I suf- 
 fered, as woman alone can suffer, not only in body, but in 
 bitter remorse and anguish of soul. 
 
 " All this I passed through under the terrible, withering 
 consciousness that it was all done and suffered solely that the 
 passion of my husband might have a momentary indulgence. 
 Yet, such had been my false religious and social education, 
 that, in submitting my person to his passion, I did it with 
 the honest conviction that, in marriage, my body became the 
 property of my husband. He said so ; all women to whom 
 I applied for counsel, said it was my duty to submit ; that 
 husbands expected it, had a right to it, and must have this 
 indulgence whenever they were excited, or suffer ; and that 
 in this way alone could wives retain the love of their hus- 
 bands. I had no alternative but silent, suffering submission
 
 286 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 to his passion, and then procure abortion or leave him, and 
 thus resign my children to the tender mercies of one with 
 whom I could not live myself. Abortion was most repul- 
 sive to every feeling of my nature. It seemed degrading, 
 and at times rendered me an object of loathing to my- 
 self. 
 
 " When my first-born was three months old, I had a des- 
 perate struggle for my personal liberty. My husband in- 
 sisted on his right to subject my person to his passion, be- 
 fore my babe was two months old. I saw his conduct then 
 in all its degrading and loathsome injustice. I pleaded, with 
 tears and anguish, for my own and my child's sake, to be 
 spared ; and had it not been for my helpless child, I should 
 then have ended the struggle by bolting my legal bonds. 
 For its sake, I submitted to that outrage, and to my own 
 conscious degradation. For its sake, I concluded to take 
 my chance in the world with other wives and mothers,- who, 
 as they assured me, and as I then knew, were, all around 
 me, subjected to like outrages, and driven to the degrading 
 practice of abortion. 
 
 " But, even then, I saw and argued the justice of my per- 
 sonal rights in regard to maternity, and the relation that 
 leads to it, as strongly as you do now. I saw it all as clearly 
 as you do. I was then, amid all the degrading influences 
 that crushed me, true and just in my womanly intuitions. I 
 insisted on my right to say when and under what circum- 
 stances I would accept of him the office of maternity, and 
 become the mother of his child. I insisted that it was for 
 me to say when and how often I should subject myself to 
 the liability of becoming a mother. But he became angry 
 with me ; claimed ownership over me ; insisted that I, as a 
 wife, was to submit to my husband ' in all things / threat- 
 ened to leave me and my children, and declared I was not 
 fit to be a wife. Fearing some fatal consequences to my 
 child or to myself being alone, destitute, and far from help- 
 ful friends, in the far West, and fearing that my little one
 
 FCETICIDE. 287 
 
 would be left to want I stifled all expression of my honest 
 convictions, and ever after kept my aversion and painful 
 struggles in my own bosom. 
 
 " In every respect, so far as passional relations between 
 myself and husband are concerned, I have ever felt myself 
 to be a miserable and abject woman. I now see and feel it 
 most deeply and painfully. If I was with a child in my 
 arms, I was in constant dread of all personal contact with 
 my husband, lest I should have a new maternity thrust upon 
 me, and be obliged to wean one child before its time to give 
 place to another. In my misery, I have often cried out : ' O 
 God ! is there no way out of this loathsome bondage ?' 
 
 " It was not want of kindly feelings toward my husband 
 that induced this state of mind, for I could and did endure 
 every privation and want without an unkindly feeling or 
 word, and even cheerfully, for his sake. But every feeling 
 of my soul did then, does now, and ever must, protest 
 against the cruel and loathsome injustice of husbands to- 
 ward their wives, manifested in imposing on them a mater- 
 nity uncalled for by their own nature and most repulsive to 
 it, and whose sufferings and responsibilities they are unpre- 
 pared and unwilling to meet. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 In commenting on this, Mr. Wright says : 
 
 " ' Strong language !' ' too strong and sweeping epithets !' 
 Can you, as a man, a husband, and a father, read the above 
 extract, and feel or say that my language is too strong ? 
 The above is the experience of a living wife and mother, 
 nearly verbatim as written by herself. It is a simple, un- 
 varnished, affecting story, but bearing on its face the stamp 
 of truth, and the evidence of a sense of conscious injustice 
 inflicted by the husband, and of a degradation self-inflicted, 
 solely to escape what seemed to her a greater evil. Can 
 such ' loathsome injustice,' on the part of husbands and fath- 
 ers, toward their wives and unborn children, be reprobated 
 in too strong terms ?
 
 288 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 " Husbands ! it is your licentiousness that drives your 
 wives to a deed so abhorrent to their every wifely, womanly 
 and maternal instinct ; a deed which ruins the health of 
 their bodies, prostitutes their souls, and makes marriage, 
 maternity, and womanhood itself degrading and loathsome. 
 No terms can sufficiently characterize the cruelty, meanness, 
 and disgusting selfishness and injustice of your conduct, 
 when you impose on them a maternity so detested as to 
 drive them to the desperation of killing their unborn chil- 
 dren, and often themselves." 
 
 The following letter gives the experience of a husband 
 and wife, and by a mutual friend, who is also a wife and 
 mother : 
 
 " Some fifteen years ago, a man of culture, and engaged 
 in public life, was united in marriage with an intimate friend 
 of mine. With pride and confidence, he selected her from 
 a large and admiring circle of friends, as one embodying his 
 ideal of womanly excellence. My friend was thought a for- 
 tunate girl (only seventeen), and many thought him quite as 
 fortunate. They were much in society, and she began to 
 enjoy life intensely. 
 
 " She was too much a woman not to desire offspring some 
 time, but she felt unprepared to have maternity forced upon 
 her youth and inexperience. It came at a time when her 
 husband's calling led him much from home, to mix in the 
 society she so much enjoyed, and which she felt was con- 
 tributing to make her what she so much desired to be her 
 husband's fitting and equal companion. It was not without 
 a severe struggle she resigned these advantages and checked 
 her aspirations. However, she submitted, though she keen- 
 ly felt the sacrifice. 
 
 " Though overwhelmed with the greatness of her respon- 
 sibilities, and an undefined dread of physical suffering, she 
 was determined not to appear weak, but bravely to meet and 
 bear the burden imposed upon her. Her husband was absent 
 when the trial hour came ; but when he returned, he took
 
 FOZTICIDE. 289 
 
 nis babe and wife to his bosom with pride and joy, though 
 its gestational development had, apparently, scarcely given 
 him an anxious thought. 
 
 " My friend's future looked bright. She did not see or 
 understand the fact, that she was to continue to develop the 
 germs of human beings into life, with little sustaining help 
 from the father, whose caresses generally ended in exhaust- 
 ing her vital powers by passional indulgence. She did not 
 complain, but rather rejoiced, as she saw her other powers 
 of attraction to her husband depart one by one, that she was 
 so organized as to be able to meet what she knew he consid- 
 ered an essential want of his nature. 
 
 " Eleven years passed, at which time she gave birth to 
 her sixth child. She was a devoted mother, of a joyous 
 spirit, and possessed of wonderful elasticity. But woman 
 cannot be entirely happy in maternity alone, without the 
 presence and sustaining power of her husband. If she is a 
 true wife, she desires to be more to her husband than merely 
 the mother of his children. 
 
 " Her husband made for her a beautiful material home, 
 and seemed happy when with her ; but he was much away ; 
 he sought other pleasures, social and intellectual, in which 
 she could not participate ; she must stay at home, alone, 
 with her children. Little did he know the trials of patience 
 and strength in his wife, in being compelled to bear the re- 
 sponsibility of the health and training of 'her little ones 
 alone. The world called her a happy wife, and she felt that 
 she ought to be so ; but a dark cloud was coming over her 
 once joyous spirit. She began to realize the fact, so fatal to 
 a wife's happiness, that her husband did not feel her to be 
 his equal, and a fitting companion to meet his social and in- 
 tellectual necessities. When he brought home a friend, she 
 listened to conversations and discussions in which she could 
 not participate. She felt keenly the growing distance be- 
 tween them, and she knew too well how it had come 
 about. 
 
 19
 
 290 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 " She quietly made up her mind to have no more children. 
 How did she propose to bring it about ? Not by asking her 
 husband to deny himself his accustomed indulgence ; no, 
 that, she thought, would be to cut herself off from her 
 strongest hold on his affection and confidence, and to sever 
 the last link of the chain that bound them together. She 
 did not expect that any precaution would enable her to es- 
 cape conception. She brought 'herself to do what was most 
 repugnant to her nature, and which, as she felt, would de- 
 stroy her self-respect, and make her, in her own estimation, 
 a degraded woman namely, TO PROCURE ABORTION. 
 
 " The first shock given to her constitution by this abuse 
 of her nature was comparatively light. But once did not 
 suffice. As a longer interval passed without a new-born 
 babe than ever before, she had begun to take her place by 
 her husband's side in society, earnestly praying that she 
 might be spared maternity evermore. Her husband de- 
 lighted to have her with him. He felt that he had a right, 
 by law and the customs of society, to his gratification ; he 
 persevered in demanding it, and she continued to yield. 
 Several times in four years did she nip the young flower of 
 foetal life in the bud, and each time told more and more ter- 
 ribly on her constitution, until the power of conception was 
 nearly destroyed, at little more than thirty-five years of age. 
 She was shorn of her womanhood, and became a sickly, 
 broken-down wife and mother, in the very spring-time, as it 
 were, of her life, being driven frequently to perpetrate a de- 
 grading outrage upon herself, or endure a maternity abhor- 
 rent to her soul ; and all to gratify the sensual passion of 
 her husband, thinking thereby to secure his affection and 
 respect. How fatally mistaken ! By yielding, she strength- 
 ened his passion, but not his love. 
 
 " Reflecting on her sad experience, in the light of your 
 book on ' Marriage and Parentage,' which I had placed in 
 her hands, she saw clearly where the wrong had been, but 
 for a long time felt powerless to destroy what she regarded
 
 F(ETICIDE. 291 
 
 as her last hold on her husband. He was absent, and I pre- 
 vailed on her to write and lay the matter frankly and plainly 
 before him, and send him your book. She was then pros- 
 trated in body and soul by the last outrage upon her woman- 
 ly and maternal nature. She wrote, and, hoping that you 
 may do good with these letters, the husband and wife have 
 granted me the privilege of copying portions of them for 
 you. Here is a part of hers to him : 
 
 " ' MY DEAR HUSBAND : 
 
 " ' I feel like lying down and weeping that I have become 
 unworthy, intellectually and spiritually, of mating with you ; 
 but love is the foundation of true marriage, is it not ? and I 
 feel strong in my love-nature. It is high, and deep, and 
 rich, and who shall say, if rightly cultivated, what flowers ot 
 intellect and spirituality might not blossom out from its 
 soil ? 
 
 " ' My husband ! forgive me if I say that I deeply and 
 sadly feel that my womanhood has been robbed of its most 
 precious charm for your sake, through a weak indulgence and 
 subjection to that in you which is lower than the spiritual. 
 My body has been painfully desecrated, perhaps not more 
 by your act than mine. You suffer the loss of that refining 
 and ennobling influence which only an undefiled woman can 
 impart to man. 
 
 " ' In view of our past, words cannot express my remorse 
 and self-condemnation ; but, believe me, the bitterest suffer- 
 ing is caused to me by the knowledge that, through this sin 
 and misery, I am rendered incapable of becoming to you a 
 tithe of what I desire to be. How can you do otherwise 
 than shrink from the wreck I am fast becoming ? And al- 
 though I may feel, in my moments of anguish and remorse, 
 that you are as much the cause of my mental and physical 
 wreck and imbecility as I am, God grant I may not unjustly 
 murmur or accuse you ! 
 
 " ' It is said : " Men never love complaining women.
 
 292 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Alas ! if they treated their wives with half the respect and 
 tender consideration they do other women, there would be 
 less ground for complaint. I am convinced, that in propor- 
 tion as woman yields to the demands of animal passion in 
 her husband, in that same ratio he loses his love and respect 
 for her. By bitter and humiliating experience this convic- 
 tion is forced upon me. 
 
 " ' My husband ! I love you. The power lies in you to 
 bless and save me , the power lies in me to bless and save 
 you ; but have we not cursed each other instead ? I cry 
 unto you for life will you give me death ? I would make 
 my womanhood a crown of glory to your life your man- 
 hood to mine. Shall we allow the very life-essence of our 
 being to be exhausted in sensual indulgence, till we lose the 
 power to feel and appreciate a pure spiritual love ? My 
 heart is reaching out to you for life, at the same time that 
 my body is suffering untold agonies from the outrages per- 
 petrated on my nature to escape the anguish and horror of 
 an unwelcome maternity ; outrages which have polluted and 
 humbled my soul, and nearly destroyed my body all for 
 your sake ; that I might retain your love and respect 
 
 " I would rather lay down my life now than live without 
 your love. Can we not love purely and nobly, without 
 prostituting that love in mere sensual indulgence ? My soul 
 would arise and go to you as an inspiration from God ; but 
 I am suffering, and a realization of my present condition, 
 my physical diseases, and mental anguish, and the knowl- 
 edge that it was all caused by having maternity put upon 
 me when I was not prepared joyfully to meet its trials and 
 responsibilities, and the consciousness of the terrible out- 
 rages that I have been driven to perpetrate on myself and 
 your unborn children, harden my. soul, and lower me in my 
 own opinion, so that I do now feel, and shall yet more deeply 
 feel, if this function is still to be imposed upon me, that I 
 am unworthy to appear in society. But for the conscious- 
 ness that your passion has been, unconsciously and igno
 
 FCETICIDE. 293 
 
 rantly, it may be, the primary cause of my misery and con- 
 scious degradation, I should scarcely dare to claim the right 
 any more to rest in your bosom as your wife. We have 
 both erred. 
 
 " ' You love my person ; you worship the animal in me. 
 If you love not my mind, my heart and soul more, and feel 
 not more reverence and worship for the God in me than for 
 the animal if I am unworthy and unable to meet the wants 
 of your intellectual and spiritual nature, PERISH ALL OUT- 
 WARD BONDS ! Tell me, have I no power to hold you by 
 any bonds but the sensualistic ? Has my soul no power 
 over you ? If this be so, let me no longer seek to hold you 
 at all. It crushes me, and overwhelms me with conscious 
 degradation, to feel that I have no power over your intellect- 
 ual and moral nature ; that you come to me, caress me, and 
 call me WIFE, only that I may administer to your sensual 
 pleasure, and that you have no fond regard and loving ado- 
 ration for me, except for my mere outward, physical woman- 
 hood. I cannot live so, feeling that your presence and ca- 
 resses are ever to be but a prelude to the surrender of my 
 person to your animal passion. 
 
 " ' I know' I have powers of soul, which, if suffered to be 
 developed, without this horrible crucifixion, might bless you. 
 I will not yet believe that you will turn a deaf ear to this ap- 
 peal of your wife, who, as you know, has had and can have 
 no life apart from you. I pray, with tears, that you will 
 spare me from a maternity which my soul repudiates, and 
 vhose sufferings I cannot endure. You will not deny me 
 this privilege, which, more than anything else, I ask of 
 you. 
 
 " ' Though much guilt is on my soul, through repeated 
 efforts to get rid of the results of your passional relations 
 with me, and save myself from the pain and anguish of a 
 maternity I have felt unable to bear, and of giving birth to 
 children that I do not want, yet I will not despair of salva- 
 tion reaching me through your love. To live as pure as
 
 294 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 my aspirations are, and have my life the natural outgrowth 
 of the deep love which I feel and must express or die, would 
 bring us both nearer heaven. 
 
 " ' I cannot consent to have the woman, the real soul-and- 
 spirit woman in me, obliterated. I cannot believe it is my 
 destiny to have the woman expunged from my nature. I 
 want to be a strong, pure woman. I want to be lovely to 
 you. Yet, heretofore, the strongest manifestations of love 
 to you have, usually, had little other effect than to arouse 
 your animal nature, and thus have been so turned as to ren- 
 der me unlovely ; for a wife must become unlovely and re- 
 pulsive to her husband the moment he ceases to reverence 
 her soul, and feels that she is to him but the means of mer< 
 sensual gratification. 
 
 " ' You will acknowledge that there is a terrible wrong 
 somewhere. May God show us a Moses to lead us out of 
 this wilderness, this Egypt ! You have often chided me fof 
 feeling unworthy of your love ; reminding me how strange 
 it was, since other and worthy men regarded me highly, and 
 that I did not feel myself unworthy their regard. Were 
 there no abuse of our sexual nature, your tender and noble 
 love would so elevate and consecrate the functions of my 
 womanhood, that I should no more be tormented with that 
 want of self-respect, which, alone, ever causes me to doubt 
 your love, and feel unworthy of it. I feel, at times, that 
 love would not, could not, thus crush my womanhood ; that 
 it would, by intuition, guide you in your passional relations 
 with me, so as never to do a wrong or outrage to my nature, 
 even unwittingly. The feeling which other men's regard 
 awakens in me is not brought down and thus prostituted to 
 sensual gratification, but is awakened only to vitalize and 
 bless soul and body. Help me and save me, by your manly 
 strength, even from myself! 
 
 " ' I appeal to you, in behalf of myself, of my husband, 
 and my children. Deep and enduring consciousness of guilt 
 and shame must rest on my soul, in view of the outrages I
 
 FCETICIDE. 295 
 
 have perpetrated on myself and my unborn children, whom 
 I was reduced to the necessity (as it then seemed to me) of 
 killing before they were born, or of cursing with an exist- 
 ence loathed and detested even by the mother that bore 
 them. 
 
 " ' My husband ! you will, for my sake, for your own sake, 
 for our children's sake, reflect on these things, and send me 
 your reflections. You will respond to this appeal from 
 
 "'YOUR LOVING WIFE.' 
 
 "THE HUSBAND'S RESPONSE. 
 
 " ' MY SUFFERING WIFE : 
 
 " ' I have a word to say to you now, such as I never said 
 before. Your letter has revealed you to me as I have never 
 before seen you. It shows me to what utter misery I have 
 brought you how, for my gratification, you have descended 
 into the lowest hell. 
 
 " ' You intimate that I treat other women, personally, 
 more tenderly and reverently than I do you. That is true : 
 to my shame and regret I say it. And yet, why should I 
 do so ? Why should I crush and desecrate you, while I 
 have too much respect for other women ever to think of do- 
 ing the same to them ? There is no reason for it. You are 
 my dearest love. I should treat you more tenderly than any 
 others ; be more careful of your health, and beauty of body 
 and soul. Of all women, the husband should most anxiously 
 watch over the health of his wife, and most shrink from the 
 abuse and desecration of her physical as well as spiritual 
 womanhood. 
 
 " ' But I have not been wholly blind to your deep misery. 
 I have seen it, and, at times, feared that I might be the 
 cause. I did not dare ask the cause. Feeling not myself 
 that degradation and misery of which you speak, I did not 
 know how you suffered ; but I should have known, had I 
 not been blinded by passion, and by the false idea that
 
 296 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 had a right to the indulgence of his passional nature when- 
 ever he wished it, and that, too, without regard to the feel- 
 ings of his wife, or the welfare of the child that might 
 ensue. 
 
 " ' True, I, at times, heard your words of remonstrance 
 and entreaty, but they did not touch my heart ; my passion 
 made me deaf or indifferent to your appeals to my manhood 
 to spare you from a maternity which you could not joyfully 
 welcome. I was lost in my own hell, and tormented. I 
 was blind ; but now and then glimpses came to me, from 
 your own keen anguish, of the real truth. But the blur of 
 selfish, craving passion would come over my sight, and I 
 would go on my old way, cheating myself always, and some- 
 times you, into the feeling that it was all right ; that man 
 had a right to that indulgence, whatever might be the con- 
 dition of the wife, and whatever her feelings in regard to 
 maternity. At least, I persuaded myself and you that 1 
 could not help it, and that my health would suffer unless I 
 frequently held that relation with you. 
 
 " ' Now that blind dominion of passion is at an end. Your 
 appeal to my manhood has reached its deepest depths. The 
 gratification of animal passion shall no more guide me in 
 my relations to you. That it ever has is my shame, as well 
 as your degradation. I wish you could see my soul as it 
 now is ; you would see a resolution in it. The deep wail of 
 your spirit has reached my heart, and I am ready to go up 
 with you out of the perdition into which my uncontrolled 
 sensualism has cast us. 
 
 " ' You have descended into hell, for my gratification. You 
 have consented to terrible anguish of body and soul, for no 
 higher object than my momentary pleasure. You have sac- 
 rificed your body and soul, your self-respect, your unborn 
 children, on the altar of my ungovernable passion. From 
 this hour, I will seek to repair the wrong I have done you. 
 I have forced on you, in contempt of your entreaties, a ma- 
 ternity which could not be otherwise than most hateful to
 
 FCETICIDE. 297 
 
 you. I have compelled you to pass through sufferings of 
 body and anguish of mind which you were not ready to 
 meet, and which were all the more severe because they were 
 imposed by one whom you loved, and who should have 
 known better. I have imparted to you the elements of a 
 new life, when your very soul spurned and loathed them. I 
 have rilled your heart with deadly hatred toward the young 
 life, my own child, that was being developed beneath it. I 
 have compelled you to a deed of all others the most loath- 
 some and hateful to a pure, refined and noble woman to 
 the murder (it should have no other name) of your children, 
 to the murder of my children, ere they were born, to save 
 them from the more fearful and horrible doom of an unwel- 
 come and hated existence. 
 
 " ' Talk not to me of your guilt, of your unworthiness to 
 stand by my side, and to tread with me the path of life as a 
 true, noble and loving wife. If you are guilty, what am I ? 
 If you feel degraded by the loss of self-respect, what ought 
 I to feel ? The fault is all my own. I should have known 
 better, and had a higher appreciation of the passional rela- 
 tion. Had I consulted your wishes as to maternity, had I 
 counselled with you as to when you could, with safety and 
 exultation, take charge of the germ of my child, and natu- 
 rally develop it into life had I never imposed on you a re- 
 pulsive and abhorred maternity, would the stain of abortion 
 now darken your soul ? Yes, I see it all ; the deep damna- 
 tion of the deed is my own, and would to God that the pen- 
 alty might descend on me ; that I could save you, my long- 
 suffering, too lenient and forgiving wife, the pain and an- 
 guish. 
 
 " ' God help me ! I am very sick at heart. The bitter- 
 ness of death enters my soul, as I reflect on the unseen and 
 unexpressed pain of body and desperation and anguish of 
 soul to which my ungoverned passion has brought you. 
 Can you forgive me ? Can you again restore me to your 
 loving confidence ? Can you ever again respect my man-
 
 298 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 hood, which has brought upon you all this woe ? I will, 
 henceforth, comply with the teachings of the book you sent 
 me, and hold my entire nature in abeyance to your wishes 
 and happiness, and in all my passional relations with you, 
 my object shall be your health and happiness, rather than 
 my own gratification. 
 
 " ' Dearest ! believe and trust me now, for I mean what I 
 say, and it shall be done. I have written it here, and this 
 shall be my pledge; and if ever I urge on you a relation 
 that will subject you to the liability of maternity, when you 
 do not call for it, lay this pledge before me, and it shall be 
 respected. 
 
 " ' We shall yet rejoice together on earth as we never did 
 before. This world may not bring to you entire restoration 
 to health of body, nor peace of mind, nor yet self-abandoned 
 trust in your husband ; but the effort to effect this, on my 
 part, shall not be wanting. Believe me, and trust to the 
 love, the faith and energy which your letter, and that expe- 
 rience of Ernest and Nina, have awakened in me. We will 
 together seek the aid of the angel helpers, who never con- 
 demn save to restore and bless, and who are even now lifting 
 up and vitalizing the desponding and heart-stricken. 
 
 " ' Dear wife ! look up, and trust trust TRUST ! and 
 with strong nerve, and in conscious pride and innocence, you 
 shall yet stand by my side, and tread with me the pathway 
 of the future, a proud, loving, trusting, joyous wife. Your 
 soul shall yet shine with deeper lustre on my manhood, to 
 elevate and save your conscience-stricken, but not despairing 
 husband. You shall yet be, in deed and in truth, my sa- 
 vior, and I will be yours. 
 
 " ' These are not idle words, but come from the heart of 
 your loving, penitent, yet hopeful and confident 
 
 " ' HUSBAND.' 
 
 " It will do your heart good to know that that husband 
 has, thus far, been true to his pledge ; that that wife is now
 
 FCETICIDE. 299 
 
 blooming again in comparative health. Hope and triumph 
 are shining in her face, love quickens the intellect and vital- 
 izes the whole woman. And woman is intuitional, to under- 
 stand and appreciate a true and noble manhood. You will 
 not wonder, then, that she feels nearer to him, in mind and 
 spirit, than ever before for now she understands him, and 
 he her. Could they have talked over the subject of passional 
 relations, and understood each other before they entered 
 upon their marriage life, it had saved her years of anguish. 
 May their history be a beacon-light to warn others to shun 
 the rocks and shoals that lie, unseen, in the inner depths of 
 wedded life! 
 
 " God speed you in your efforts to vindicate the most sa- 
 cred and important of all human rights the right of woman 
 to say when and tinder what circumstances she shall assume 
 the office of maternity, and the right of her child to a joyous 
 welcome into life. 
 
 " With fervent prayers for the triumph of truth on this 
 subject, I am 
 
 " Your friend, 
 
 Commenting on the foregoing letter, Mr. Wright says : 
 " My friend, how many wives would thus appeal to their 
 husbands, if they dared ? ' Sever the last link of the bond 
 that binds her to her husband !' Mere sensualism 'the last 
 iink' in such a union ! I do not like to talk of chains, links 
 and bonds, in connection with such a relation. Talk of these 
 in connection with slaveholders and slaves, but let them not 
 sully a relation like this ! ' The last link,' indeed ! Yet it 
 is true ; it is, often, the first, and last, and only link that 
 binds the husband to the wife, in what is called marriage. 
 Man seeks woman as a legal wife, that he may legally and 
 respectably give indulgence, without restraint, to his passion. 
 If the wife seeks to preserve her soul and body from dese- 
 cration, he threatens to leave her, and seek his gratification 
 where he can find it. She submits, to keep him with her ;
 
 300 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 both of them unmindful and regardless of the results to the 
 child. ' Perish all outward bonds' of marriage at once, rath- 
 er than that the relation should continue in this way !" 
 
 Let us look at some of the effects of forced abortions on 
 the body and soul of the mother. 
 
 In producing abortion at any period of gestation she runs 
 a great risk of losing her life ; death may occur from flood- 
 ing or subsequent inflammation. Very many women die 
 from this cause, whose acquaintances and even near friends 
 never know the true origin. It is difficult to get at a nearly 
 right proportion of deaths, but it may be safely stated that 
 one woman in every ten who effect forced abortions die 
 either at the time from hemorrhage, or shortly after through 
 inflammation, etc. 
 
 " It is a mistake to suppose that death must be immedi- 
 ate, and owing only to the causes just mentioned. The ra- 
 pidity of death, even when directly the consequence, greatly 
 varies ; though generally taking place almost at once if there 
 be hemorrhage, it may be delayed even for hours where 
 there has been great laceration of the uterus, its surrounding 
 tissues, and even of the intestines ; if metro-peritonitis en- 
 sue, the patient may survive for from one to four days 
 even, indeed, to seven and ten. But there are other fatal 
 cases, where on autopsy there is revealed no appreciable le- 
 sion, death, the penalty of unwarrantable interfering with 
 nature, being occasioned by syncope, by excess of pain, or 
 by moral shock from the thought of the crime." 
 
 A score of natural births at the full period, under right 
 conditions, would not entail on the mother a shadow of as 
 much pain and danger as would one forced abortion. 
 
 Allowing the woman has been so fortunate as to escape 
 death, there follows in the wake of the crime done such an 
 array of evil results as might well deter any woman from the 
 commission of this great crime. Diseases of the pelvis 
 such as vesical and uterine fistula, adhesions of the os or va- 
 gina, etc., all of which are often incurable ; uterine displace-
 
 FCETICIDE. 301 
 
 ments, and all their attendant miseries. Sterility sooner or 
 later results, so that when the woman really desires offspring, 
 her desires and prayers bring no echoing response. Should 
 the woman succeed in bearing children, they will likely be 
 puny, unhealthy, deformed and short-lived. 
 
 If there is one thing more than another that will destroy 
 beauty it is the one of criminal abortion. Tight dressing, 
 corsets, licentiousness, and, above all, abortion, will in whole 
 or in part very effectually and very quickly destroy the most 
 beautiful face and form a lovely woman ever was endowed 
 with, and hurry her with rapid strides to premature age, 
 with its attendant faded skin, wrinkled face and bent form. 
 The woman who produces abortion destroys the bloom of 
 her ripe womanhood, hardens and deepens the face-lines, 
 angularizes the hitherto rounded contours, the outward lov- 
 ing expression of the soul's interior presence is darkened, 
 the rich maternal love-nature is lost, and premature old age 
 comes on with galloping strides. 
 
 When the " turn of life" arrives, there is often present a 
 tendency to that fatal disease, cancer. 
 
 And lastly, there is the ever-present remorse of conscience 
 the ever-present phantom of a great crime a crime against 
 humanity a crime against the loving mercy and justice of 
 God, ever asserting the individuality of its thought-nature, 
 ever destroying all peace and happiness of the perpetrator. 
 And well it may ; for if murder will not do it, and espec- 
 ially the murder of one's own child, what will do it ? what 
 can do it? 
 
 If the result of a forced abortion is so great in its effects 
 on the organism of the mother, would it not be preferable 
 and advisable to allow the child to arrive at its full develop- 
 ment, and after birth, by a dose of Prussic acid, or a cord 
 round its neck, put an end to its existence ? " This," you 
 may exclaim, " is horrible !" No doubt of it ; but it does 
 not differ in the least from the taking life during its existence 
 in the mother's womb and it has this to recommend it:
 
 302 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 that the murder of the child after birth would prevent all the 
 serious after-consequences to the mother that attend its pre- 
 natal murder. Without doubt, the doing this would subject 
 the perpetrator to arrest, imprisonment and trial for murder 
 before a jury of her countrymen, yet this trial and punish- 
 ment would be but an evanescent and trifling affair in com- 
 parison with the trial she will have to encounter at the Bar 
 of Judgment, the throne of God, before the earth's assem- 
 bled multitudes, and having as witnesses these undeveloped 
 souls that she thoughtlessly and recklessly or knowingly and 
 determinedly deprived of life before even they entered on 
 their post-natal existence. For it should be remembered 
 that the moment conception takes place at that moment a 
 new soul is originated, and that this soul, cut off by a mur- 
 derer's hand from growing and developing into perfection, 
 wings its flight to another world, there to remain and be a 
 witness against the one who loosed it from its earthly tene- 
 ment. There is no doubt about this, and all self- argument 
 will avail naught against the great truth that the soul no 
 matter what its stage of development never dies. 
 
 Says Bishop Coxe, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of West- 
 ern New York, in concluding a late Pastoral Letter to his 
 people : 
 
 " I have heretofore warned my flock against the blood- 
 guiltiness 'of ante-natal infanticide. If any doubts existed 
 heretofore as to the propriety of my warnings on this sub- 
 ject, they must now disappear before the fact that the world 
 itself is beginning to be horrified by the practical results of 
 the sacrifices to Moloch which defile our land. Again I 
 warn you that they who do such things cannot inherit eter- 
 nal life. If there be a special damnation for those who 
 'shed innocent blood,' what must be the portion of those 
 who have no mercy upon their own flesh ?" 
 
 Should the woman fail in accomplishing her desire, as very 
 often happens, the child will likely be born with fractured 
 limbs, club feet, loss of sight, hydrocephalus, or in some
 
 FCETICIDE. 303 
 
 other way will be deformed. But whether it will be de- 
 formed or not, it will be born with a disposition quarrelsome, 
 revengeful, and often murderous in its tendencies. 
 
 What are the means to be employed to prevent the fur- 
 ther growth of this tendency to produce forced abortions ? 
 A great number of women who are guilty of this great sin 
 do it through ignorance, and they need but fully realize the 
 enormity of the crime to forever banish all thoughts of mur- 
 dering their unborn offspring. 
 
 It is noticeable that among Roman Catholics fceticide is 
 not practiced. It is prevented through the terrors of the 
 confessional, for it is included in their faith that a child dying 
 in utero is unsaved because unbaptized. If this is so, and 
 Protestants continue to practice fceticide to such an extent 
 as is at present done, there is no reasonable doubt why the 
 Roman Catholic Church will not ultimately attain the as- 
 cendancy on this continent, and so hold the balance of pow- 
 er in its management truly not a desirable prospect. 
 
 The underlying cause for this great wrong is the over- 
 grown and misdirected quality of amativeness, coupled with 
 love of wealth and display. This may be considered the 
 root of the whole matter ; and until women but especially 
 men are educated into a right understanding of the use 
 and abuse of amativeness, or, better still, until they are born 
 with normal and well-regulated social propensities and gov- 
 erning sentiments, just so long will the crime of foeticide be 
 prevalent in society. 
 
 If ministers would learn more of human physiology and 
 phrenology, and less of the dogmas of religion, and preach, 
 practice and teach them, they would do infinitely more for 
 the good of their congregations in particular and humanity 
 in general. All ministers and teachers should be as well 
 learned in the laws that govern the sexual organism, and 
 other departments of human physiology, as they are in the 
 supposed legitimate pursuit of their lives. Every college, 
 academy and school should have a department allotted to
 
 304 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the study of physiology, and especially that branch of it so 
 necessary to a right knowledge of life socially and sexually. 
 And until this knowledge is taught and disseminated equally 
 with geography, astronomy, French, etc. branches that are 
 of infinitely less importance just so long will there be 
 abroad among the people the sexual and social iniquity that 
 springs from ignorance of the laws of the human organism, 
 which are the laws of God. 
 
 The class in which foeticide most largely predominates is 
 the last in the list above enumerated those who, being 
 married, have, through the licentious needs of the husband, 
 maternity forced on them when they do not desire it, or in 
 no way are prepared for the duties and responsibilities at- 
 tending it. When such a husband persists in debasing, 
 through the exercise of his animal propensities, not only his, 
 own higher nature if he has such a quality but also the 
 loving, trusting and pure nature of his wife, I know of no 
 other remedy that would be effectual than that of separation 
 of the wife from her licentious master, the husband. This 
 may involve circumstances that would cost the wife much 
 anxiety, but it cannot be the consequences never so seri- 
 ous, and the future prospect never so gloomy cost as much 
 as would her debasing slave-life with her so-called hus- 
 band. 
 
 Prevention in this, as in all other departments of human 
 wrong, is at all times preferable to a cure ; and if, in marry- 
 ing, the Law of Choice is closely observed, no such social 
 errors can possibly happen. 
 
 " Maidens ! a word to you. Never enter into the physi- 
 cal relations of marriage with a man until you have con- 
 versed with him freely and fully on maternity, and the rela- 
 tion that leads to it. Learn distinctly his views and feel- 
 ings, and his expectations, in regard to that purest and most 
 ennobling of all the functions of your nature, and the most 
 sacred of all the intimacies of conjugal life. Your respect, 
 your beauty, your glory, your heaven as a wife, will be more
 
 FCETICIDE. 305 
 
 directly involved in his feelings and views and practices, in 
 regard to that relation, than in all other things. As you 
 would not become a weak, a miserable, imbecile, unlovable 
 and degraded wife and mother, in the very prime of your 
 life, come to a perfect understanding with your chosen one, 
 ere you commit your person to his keeping in the sacred in- 
 timacies of home. Beware of that man who, under pre- 
 tence of delicacy, modesty and propriety, shuns conversa- 
 tion with you on this relation, and on the hallowed function 
 of maternity. Concealment and mystery, in him, toward 
 you, on all other subjects pertaining to conjugal union, might 
 be overlooked ; but if he conceals his views here, rest as- 
 sured it bodes no good to your purity and happiness as a 
 wife and mother. You can have no more certain assurance 
 that you are to be victimized, your soul and body offered 
 up, slain, on the altar of his sensualism, than his unwilling- 
 ness to converse with you on subjects so vital to your hap- 
 piness. In the relation he seeks with you will he, practi- 
 cally, hold his manhood in abeyance to the calls of your na- 
 ture and to your conditions, and consecrate its passions and 
 its powers to the elevation and happiness of his wife and 
 children ? If not, your maiden soul had better return to 
 God unadorned with the diadem of conjugal and maternal 
 love, than that you should become the wife of such a man, 
 and the mother of his children ?" 
 
 In the right observance of the Law of Choice ; the suc- 
 ceeding growth into a true love-marriage a perfect soul- 
 union ; a faithful conformity to the Law of Continence ; and, 
 when a love-child is desired, the fulfillment of the Law of 
 Genius, is found the only true line of life, and the only real 
 mode of avoiding sexual sin and preventing its attendant 
 miseries.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMAN THEIR CAUSES, SYMP- 
 TOMS AND CURE. 
 
 ISEASES peculiar to wo- 
 men are so many in their 
 variety, so serious in their 
 results, and of such fre- 
 quent occurrence, as to be 
 a source of large revenue to 
 physicians, who otherwise 
 would have to take to a 
 change of occupation to 
 earn a livelihood. And not 
 only does the so-called reg- 
 ular physician reap the ben- 
 efits derived from woman's 
 heedless observance of the 
 laws that govern her organ- 
 ism, but quacks with their 
 patented nostrums, and 
 their quack instruments of support, likewise patented, 
 coupled with their indelicate and unnatural quack examiha- 
 tions almost entirely rely on this class of complaints for the 
 money with which they so sumptuously live and so lavishly 
 advertise. 
 
 Out of a hundred women, in any large or medium sized 
 city, there may on examination be found one who has a per- 
 fect normal play of all the functions of her body the re-
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 307 
 
 maining ninety-nine being troubled with neuralgia, or oth- 
 erwise " dreadfully nervous," or have some one or other of 
 the many "female complaints." 
 
 This state of things will continue to increase, unless wo- 
 men adopt the true mode of life sexually, socially and mor- 
 ally and especially until they come to understand that in 
 being sick they sin ; and instead of ever bringing to the 
 surface their petty sickness and ailments, they should be 
 ashamed to allow even their near friends know their condi- 
 tion -just as much ashamed as if caught in breaking the 
 eighth or ninth commandments, or any other law or com- 
 mandment intended for our physical or moral guidance. 
 
 This assertion, applying equally to man, may appear se- 
 vere, but yet it cannot be gainsayed. A man or woman is 
 as responsible to God for laws broken and sins committed 
 physically, as they are responsible for the non-observance oi 
 the moral law intended for their spiritual guidance. A mat* 
 being sick from over-eating, drinking alcoholic liquors, sex- 
 ual excesses or a woman from tight dressing, wafer-soled 
 shoes, corsets, or idleness, is as liable to the inevitable 
 punishment consequent on his wrong-doing, as if he had 
 fouled his spiritual nature by lying, swearing, stealing, etc., 
 and in either case should, when possible, in shame hide the 
 effect and endeavor to remedy the' cause. 
 
 Corsets, constrictions of dress, love of display, idleness, 
 and sexual excesses, are the positive underlying causes for 
 most of the diseases peculiar to women enumerated below ; 
 and to regain health it is only necessary to return to a just 
 and faithful observance of these unbending laws, that govern 
 and direct the delicate machinery of " the house we live 
 in." 
 
 . Absent menstruation is where the menses never have made 
 their appearance. The time at which menstruation should 
 first appear in women varies so, according to climate, hab- 
 its, etc., that it is impossible to fix a definite time for its ap- 
 pearance. It usually occurs at about fifteen in the southern
 
 308 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 part of the continent, and a little later in the northern. 
 Provided the girl is otherwise healthy, the non-appearance 
 of the menses should cause no anxiety, and medicine used 
 for the purpose of bringing them on should be shunned. It 
 is a fact that females may menstruate without any hemor- 
 rhagic discharge being visible. When their non-appearance is 
 owing to absence of the ovaries or womb, the sexual char- 
 acteristics of woman are wanting the breasts being small 
 and flabby, the body lacking fullness and roundness of out- 
 line, and occasionally there is a slight beard on the upper 
 lip. When this state is not indicated in the young woman, 
 but she otherwise embodies a healthy, happy, enjoyable 
 state of being, no means should be employed to force the 
 appearance of the menses, other than a right observance 
 of eating plain food, drinking only pure water, and plenty 
 of out- door exercise. The longer a woman puts" off the 
 ripening of the first ovum, by living on plain and unstimu- 
 lating food, freedom from mental excitement, reading nov- 
 els, dancing, etc., and the avoidance of all that tends to a 
 " hot-house growth," the longer will she retain her youth 
 and beauty. 
 
 When through debility, congestion, and other symptoms, 
 indicating a low state of the vital powers, they do not ap- 
 pear at the proper time, the symptoms noticeable will be : 
 *n effort at menstruation every month, marked by shiver- 
 ings, pain in the small of the back and the lower part of the 
 abdomen, aching down the thighs, with a feeling of weight 
 and fullness of the womb. The general symptoms are pain 
 and throbbing in the head, pain in the side, stomach and 
 bowels, a feeling of great weakness, etc. In the treatment, 
 the first requirement is to remove the general debility, and 
 strengthen the system by a vigorous attention to right die- 
 tary rules, baths, exercise, and especially by the breathing 
 at all times pure air, and so give Nature a chance to per- 
 form her requirements. Above all, do not use any forcing 
 remedies, for these are not only ineffectual, but oft-times
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 309 
 
 dangerous. The sitz-bath is a valuable agent to assist. It 
 should be taken of a temperature to suit the patient, daily, 
 before going to bed, remaining in it from ten to fifteen min- 
 utes. A vaginal syringe injection should be employed at 
 the same time. The daily sponge, air and sun-bath, already 
 mentioned, should never be omitted. The clothing should 
 be warm and loose, and the feet kept dry and warm. Good 
 fruit, coarse bread, corn bread, unseasoned vegetables, etc., 
 should be used as food. Out-door exercise such as brisk 
 walking, rowing, horseback riding, or any variety of calis- ' 
 thenic exercise are great aids. 
 
 Retained menstruation occurs when the blood, through 
 some impediment closing of the mouth of the uterus, ad- 
 hesion of the walls of the vagina, imperforate hymen, etc. 
 is not expelled. It may be known by a sense of weight 
 or fullness in the pelvic region, which is increased at each 
 menstrual period ; a feeling of weakness and heaviness in 
 the back and loins, aching sensations down the thighs, etc. 
 The treatment required is mainly of a surgical nature, and is 
 unnecessary to give here. 
 
 Suppressed menstruation is caused by sudden colds, bodily 
 injuries, debility, mental shocks, inflammation of the ovaries 
 or womb, from exhaustion by amative excesses, etc. When 
 suddenly arrested it constitutes acute suppression ; if the 
 suppression be gradual, chronic suppression. The symptoms 
 of suppression are sometimes quite violent, while at other 
 times but little disturbance ensues. The treatment does not 
 differ from that in the case of absent menstruation. The pa- 
 tient's general health should be carefully restored. The use 
 of warm hip and foot-baths and the wet bandage should 
 form part of the treatment. 
 
 Chronic suppression may result from an acute attack, or it 
 may arise from enfeebled health or some disease of the vital 
 organs, as the lungs, stomach, etc. It should be treated on 
 the same plan recommended in absence of the menses. 
 
 Irregular menstruation. The menses without being en-
 
 310 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 tirely suppressed, may be irregular in time, in quality, or in 
 quantity, caused by some derangement of the general heajth. 
 The treatment is similar to that mentioned in absence of the 
 menses. 
 
 Painful menstruation is caused by sudden colds at the 
 menstrual period, or soon after delivery, by exhaustion, 
 caused by the luxurious indulgences of civilized life, by un- 
 natural or excessive excitement of the organs. The symp- 
 toms present are more or less pain in the pelvis, weakness 
 and distress in the small of the back, tenderness and swelling 
 of the breasts, headache, etc. Clots of blood" are formed in 
 the uterus, and sometimes a false membrane is thrown off, 
 either entire or in shreds, which is expelled with violent 
 bearing-down efforts, with intervals of comparative ease, like 
 those of child-birth. These pains, and the expulsion of a 
 membrane, might readily be mistaken for a miscarriage. 
 The attacks last from one to four days, during which time 
 many patients are unable to walk or even stand, and espec- 
 cially so during the bearing-down contractions of the uterus, 
 while others are obliged to keep their beds. A cure can 
 only be effected by means of proper treatment during the in- 
 tervals. The bowels should be kept regular by right diet, 
 and, when constipated, should be freed by enemas of tepid 
 water. Vaginal injections of warm water, and warm or hot 
 sitz-baths, and otherwise the treatment as recommended in 
 the case of suppressed menstruation should be commenced 
 in earnest to prevent its recurrence. Every law of health 
 should be observed, and every possible cause of ill health 
 abstained from. A free, happy, unexcited and unexhausting 
 life will greatly help. During the attack a cold or hot sitz- 
 bath should be taken, and continued while the pain lasts. 
 The relief is more immediate by the hot bath ; but the cold 
 bath, at a temperature of from sixty to seventy- five degrees, 
 is the best. At the same time a hot foot-bath, as well as 
 vaginal injections, may be employed. These baths should 
 be repeated on every return of the pain.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 311 
 
 Profuse menstruation. In a perfectly heatthy state, the 
 menstrual discharge is light in color, lasts about three days, 
 and does not generally exceed two ounces ; yet the quantity 
 of blood discharged varies so much with different females, 
 that any excess over this amount would not be a symptom 
 of excessive menstruation, unless accompanied .with a failure 
 of the general health. Natural menstrual fluid does not co- 
 agulate or clot, and when clots do appear, they indicate not 
 only that the discharge is unhealthy, but also the presence 
 of excessive menstruation. The causes for this disease are 
 repeated child-bearing, excessive coition, enervating modes 
 of life, mental excitement, hard and exhausting labor, etc. 
 
 But the great cause is produced by husbands who, by ex- 
 cessive and sensual indulgence, claim the legal right to de- 
 stroy and oft-times murder their wives, and in such a way 
 that no coroner can hold an inquest. It is required, during 
 the existence of this disease and its treatment, that a rigidly 
 chaste and continent life be observed. Sexual intercourses 
 should be totally abstained from until the cure is complete 
 and permanent ; and when the husband will not allow this, 
 the wife should separate from him, either permanently or for 
 a time, or else make up her mind to a wretched present ex- 
 istence, with no better prospect than a premature death. 
 During the flooding the patient should lie down on a mattress, 
 and remain perfectly quiet until all threatening symptoms 
 have passed off. If this does not check the discharge, suffi- 
 ciently cold wet cloths should be applied to the abdomen, 
 and frequently changed, and cold water injected into the va- 
 gina. Cold water may be drank freely from the beginning. 
 During the intervals, to effect a perfect cure, a close observ- 
 ance of the laws of health should be carried out. Espec- 
 ially should a chaste and continent life be observed. 
 
 Vicarious menstruation occurs when there is hemorrhage 
 from any other part of the system than from the uterus as 
 from the nose, lungs, stomach, bladder, nipples, or some 
 other part of the body which takes the place of the proper
 
 312 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 menstrual discharge. The sudden arrest of an accustomed 
 discharge is usually the immediate cause of vicarious men - 
 struation. This disease, not usually a dangerous one, can 
 be cured by restoring to its normal action the obstructed 
 menstruation by the means already given. 
 
 Cessation of menstruation, occurring at between the ages 
 of forty-five and fifty, and commonly termed " turn of life" 
 or " time of life," is not to be regarded as morbid in itself, 
 but only where the woman has been or is in ill health, when 
 she will be peculiarly liable to a variety of maladies as 
 rheumatism, cutaneous eruption, ulcers of the legs, cancer 
 and other affections of the breasts, apoplexy, insanity, etc. 
 This predisposition to disease, on the cessation of the men- 
 strual function, can only be avoided by a close observance of 
 the laws of health ; for if the woman is in sound health, the 
 " turn of life" will cause her no more trouble or suffering 
 than would the cessation of lactation. 
 
 Chlorosis, or " green sickness," is generally connected 
 with some one of the various disorders of menstruation. 
 It is more a disease of general debility than of abnormal 
 uterine action. Among the usual causes are the indolent 
 and luxurious habits of life of the wealthy, and excessive la- 
 bor, insufficient and wrong food, and impure air, etc., of the 
 poor. Amative exhaustion, self-abuse, constipating food, 
 patent medicines, idleness, impure air, tea, coffee, excess of 
 flesh meats, etc., tend alike to enfeeble the body in general 
 and the digestive organs in particular, so that there is not 
 sufficient vital power to establish and carry on menstruation, 
 and " green sickness" is the result. The mind of a chlorotic 
 woman is a prey to fretfulness and gloomy forebodings ; her 
 sleep is broken and disturbed by frightful dreams ; there is 
 singing in the ears; specks before the eyes ; partial loss of 
 sight ; trembling of the limbs ; nervous pains in the face and 
 in various parts of the body. The stomach loathes food, or 
 craves the most disgusting and unwholesome things as 
 chalk, dirt, ashes, and even insects. The bowels are gener-
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 313 
 
 erally costive, but sometimes loose, and the urine is pale and 
 generally scant ; the face is bloated, the eyes are sad and 
 languishing, the lips pale, and the skin cool, clammy, and 
 often cold, especially about the hands and feet. In the 
 treatment of chlorosis, the great object is to improve and 
 restore the general health. The patient should breathe pure, 
 bracing air ; she should exercise as much as her strength 
 will allow ; her diet to consist of ripe fruits, laxative vege- 
 tables, brown bread, etc., as *ecommended in a previous 
 chapter. Water is the best and only allowable drink. When 
 any article of food disagree? with the patient its use should 
 be discontinued ; for food, v/hen undigested, irritates and 
 weakens, rather than strengthens. The dress should be 
 warm, equally covering th~ extremities, and loose enough to 
 allow the most perfect freedom of every movement. The 
 daily sponge, air and s*m-bath should never be neglected. 
 Some judgment may be required, in extreme cases, in man- 
 aging the bathing appliances. It is better to commence with 
 water of a warm temperature, slowly reducing the tempera- 
 ture as the circulation improves. The mind should be di- 
 verted by innocent amusements, social intercourse, and works 
 of charity and benevolence ; and all depressing mental influ- 
 ences, and every thing calculated to work on the feelings and 
 affect the nerves should be studiously avoided. All prepa- 
 rations of iron, chalybeate water, or drugs of any kind, pat- 
 ent or otherwise, should also be carefully shunned. They 
 invariably do harm never any good. 
 
 Inflammation of the ovaries is comparatively rare. When 
 present, it is characterized by deep-seated and severe pain, 
 accompanied with heat and swelling in one or both groins. 
 It is to be treated as would any other inflammation by the 
 constant application of cloths or bandages dipped in cold 
 water ; frequent hip-baths ; bowels to be kept open by ene- 
 mas of tepid water ; rest, and a very plain and abstemious 
 diet. 
 
 Inflammation oj the uterus is common with married
 
 314 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 women rarely affecting the unmarried. It is caused by- 
 blows, falls, violent exertions, etc. The symptoms are chil- 
 liness, followed by fever ; heat and uneasiness in the region 
 of the womb, with occasional sharp pain in the back, darting 
 forward and down the thighs. The pain is much increased 
 by coughing and by hard pressure over the womb. In se- 
 vere cases the symptoms are much more positive, the whole 
 system being involved in the feverish disturbance. 
 
 Chronic inflammation is a much more common disease 
 than the above. It is very insidious, and may make consid- 
 erable progress before attracting the attention of the patient. 
 When the local symptoms are noticeable, there is a dull pain 
 in the lower part of the abdomen ; depression or sinking 
 down of the womb sometimes ; and frequently a mucus, or 
 white discharge, which is sometimes tinged with blood, if 
 there is ulceration. Pain in sexual intercourse is perhaps 
 one of the earliest and most common symptoms. Pain oj- 
 some uneasiness in emptying the bladder and bowels is also 
 a common symptom. In the treatment of acute inflamma- 
 tion of the uterus, when there is much fever, the body should 
 be frequently sponged with cold water, or the cold wet-sheet 
 pack should be employed once a day for an hour. Two or 
 three times a day moderately cool sitz-baths should be 
 taken. A cold wet bandage should be kept on the lower 
 part of the abdomen, and renewed as often as it becomes 
 warm. Frequent injections of cold water into the vagina, 
 and occasional injections of water, either cold or warm, into 
 the rectum, if there is constipation, will be beneficial. The 
 patient should breathe pure air, in a cool, well-ventilated 
 room, and take no food until the violence of the disease is 
 . abated, and then it should be as simple as possible. Should 
 the disease be of the chronic form, the above treatment may 
 be adopted, but with a moderation in the temperature of the 
 water and in the number of baths ; otherwise the great aim 
 should be to improve the general health. 
 
 Ulceration of the titerus is one ot the effects or termina-
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 315 
 
 tions of inflammation, and is produced principally by the ir- 
 ritation caused by excessive sexual intercourse. Among 
 prostitutes the disease is almost universal. All manner of 
 ememagogues greatly help to produce the disease, as does 
 also habitual constipation and wrong habits generally. The 
 symptoms are nearly similar to those of inflammation. At 
 first there is a mucus discharge, but after a time it may be- 
 come leucorrhceal, the quantity being usually increased after 
 each menstruation. The treatment consists of the same gen- 
 eral plan as that mentioned for inflammation, the first re- 
 quirement being to regain the general health. For local 
 treatment there is nothing better than repeated vaginal in- 
 jections of cold water, from fifteen to thirty minutes at a 
 time. The doing this faithfully ten to fifteen times a day, 
 with careful observance of the Plan of Life, and absolute 
 freedom from sexual intercourse, will insure a speedy recov- 
 ery. A cure can always be effected without caustics, and the 
 patient should never allow their use. 
 
 Tumors in the uterus grow either in its walls, in a solid, 
 fleshy body when they are called fibrous or they are at- 
 tached to the mouth by a slender stalk or pedicle, in which 
 case they are called polypous tumors. The fibrous tumors 
 seldom produce any constitutional effect, and the symptoms 
 are mostly mechanical. These are comparatively rare. 
 Polypous tumors vary in size from a pea to a child's head. 
 When they attain a considerable size there is a bearing-down 
 pain, straining and difficulty in evacuating the bladder and 
 bowels, and sometimes frequent and profuse floodings. 
 When the disease progresses so as to cause paleness, loss of 
 flesh, palpitation of the heart, etc., it should be removed by 
 a skillful physician. 
 
 Cancer of the uterus is the most fearful and fatal disease 
 to which the womb is exposed. It rarely attacks young 
 women, and is most common about the " change-of-life" pe- 
 riod. The disease is frequently hereditary, and when there 
 is a predisposition and cause likely to excite the womb, cancer
 
 316 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 may be developed. In the first stage, that of hardening, the 
 symptoms are such as arise from pressure ; while in the sec- 
 ond stage, or that of open ulceration, the pain is severe, acute 
 and darting, or burning. In this stage there is more or less 
 loss of blood, which when discharged is thin, greenish, black, 
 dirty white or brown, and has a very offensive smell. The 
 skin is yellow, or of a yellowish hue, there is slow fever, 
 night sweats, loss of flesh, want of appetite, and, in short, 
 general derangement of all the functions of the body. There 
 is only one possible cure for this disease the strictest hy- 
 gienic diet, verging on starvation, the purest and most invig- 
 orating life, and a course of the most active purification by 
 a judicious use of baths, air, light, exercise, drinks, food, 
 etc. By the adoption of this course in the early stages a 
 cure is possible, and at any stage it is the only hope. 
 
 Corroding ulcer and cauliflower excrescence. These are 
 also malignant diseases of the womb. The symptoms very 
 much resemble those of cancer so much so that the distinc- 
 tion cannot well be made in domestic practice. About the 
 only difference between corroding ulcer and cancer is the ab- 
 sence, in the former, of the filling up and around the dis- 
 eased part, and the thickening and hardening, which has 
 been described as the first stage of cancer. The most dis- 
 tinctive symptom of cauliflower excrescence is a copious 
 watery shedding at first, which after awhile is streaked with 
 blood, and finally changes to a profuse flooding. The other 
 symptoms are almost identical with cancer, and the treat- 
 ment should be conducted on the same plan. 
 
 Displacements of the uterus. These disorders, so common 
 in women more, perhaps, than any other disease arising 
 from a local cause indicate the great extent to which women 
 have departed from a natural life. Especially is this appli- 
 cable to the "higher classes" of society, although it is to be 
 found in all classes. Few disorders cause more suffering, 
 and few are worse managed. 
 
 Prolapsus uteri, or falling of the womb, may be classed
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 
 
 317 
 
 under two different heads that of partial, when it is within 
 the vaginal passage, and that of complete prolapsus, when it 
 protrudes externally. 
 
 The engraving (Fig. 27) exhibits (A) the uterus in its nat- 
 ural position, from four to six inches from the external open- 
 ing. In its partial descent (B), it ranges from being merely 
 depressed below its normal position to its descent to the 
 bottom of the vaginal canal. Its complete prolapsus is 
 shown in the third drawing (C.) 
 
 The local causes for prolapsus are 
 found in the relaxation of the vagina 
 and the muscles of the abdomen, ex- 
 cessive sexual excess, and a constantly 
 constipated rectum, with the daily effort 
 to empty it. The general cause is tight 
 dressing and weight of clothes on the 
 hips, forcing the viscera down on the 
 uterus, and bad habits of life generally 
 as wrong food, causing constipation, 
 etc., and breathing impure air, sleeping 
 on feather beds, idleness, producing, al- 
 together, debility, and a weak state of 
 the vital power. The exciting cause 
 may be a fall, lifting heavy weights, 
 straining, as in evacuating the bowels, 
 getting up too early after confinement, 
 although this last would never result in 
 tailing of the womb, if women would 
 leave off their enervating habits, and 
 live so as to give proper strength and firmness to their mus- 
 cles. 
 
 The symptoms are pain or weakness in the back, with a 
 dragging, bearing-down sensation, as if something were 
 about to come away. These feelings are intensified in stand- 
 ing or walking, and are most troublesome in the evening. 
 There is also, not unfrequently, a whitish discharge, and 
 
 FIG. 27-
 
 318 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 some straining or difficulty in evacuating the bladder and 
 bowels. There is commonly present a sense of oppression or 
 " goneness" at the pit of the stomach, palpitation of the 
 heart, sadness, low spirits, weakness of the knees, and gen- 
 eral exhaustion. The " courses" generally continue regular, 
 there being nothing in the prolapsus to prevent this. 
 
 Whatever diminishes vitality in the woman may cause 
 prolapsus uteri, and therefore the acquirement of perfect 
 health must be the first aim in its treatment. Before any 
 mode of local treatment be commenced, the dress must be 
 so made and worn that it will be perfectly loose, and in no 
 manner or form constrict the body. The whole weight of 
 the clothing should rest on the shoulders ; with women, as 
 with men, this should be a law. It is useless for any woman 
 who is troubled with falling of the womb to think of curing, 
 or attempting to cure it, until she adopts a short and perfect- 
 ly loose dress, the weight of which, with the rest of her 
 clothing, should hang entirely from her shoulders. The 
 woman, having decided on the reform in dress, has more 
 than half adopted the plan for a certain and rapid recovery. 
 Next in importance is the adoption of right dietetic habits. 
 What is meant by this has already been so often mentioned 
 as to require no further details. Of course, a life of chastity 
 must be observed. The daily bath, with thorough after- 
 friction and kneading, especially in the region of the abdo- 
 men and loins, by the hands of a strong, healthy person, 
 should be had, in the rays of the sun, when it is shining. 
 The local treatment should consist of vaginal injections of 
 cold water, these injections to be repeated several times a 
 day ; hip-baths of cool or cold water taken daily, followed 
 by friction ; enemas of water thrown up the rectum to keep 
 the bowels in order. Should the womb be partly or entirely 
 out, a stream of cold water from the syringe should be made 
 to play directly on it, after which the woman lying on her 
 back it should gently and gradually be pushed up as far a>j 
 practicable. The woman should retain the horizontal posi-
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 319 
 
 tion from half an hour to an hour afterwards. Before rising 
 a temporary support may be employed, by the introduction 
 of a piece of very soft sponge, but it should never be allowed 
 to remain in longer than an hour at a time, as in that case it 
 may do more harm than good. 
 
 In the treatment of falling of the 
 womb, if the patient has a desire for a 
 speedy recovery, she will reject the ap- 
 plication of caustics, supports, and es- 
 pecially pessaries, for they will do great 
 harm and positively no good. The use 
 of pessaries causes great pain, irritation, 
 leucorrhcea, and often ulceration. Cases 
 are recorded where the pessary has 
 passed into the bowels. 
 
 The loose dress, hip and general 
 baths, thorough rubbing and manipula- 
 tion of the abdominal muscles, cold 
 water vaginal injections, improvement 
 of the general health, and avoidance of 
 constipation by proper food and ene- 
 mas, will insure a perfect, radical cure 
 of this most frequent and most annoy- 
 ing of complaints. 
 
 Retrovcrsion of the uterus. After 
 prolapsus of the womb, this is the most 
 common displacement. In this form, 
 the fundus of the uterus generally tilts 
 backward against the rectum. (Fig. 
 28, D.) In an extreme case it is called 
 retroflexion (A.) It may be caused by 
 congestion of the fundus, rendering the 
 upper part of the womb heavier than in 
 its natural state. It most commonly 
 occurs in the early stages of pregnancy, 
 by suffering the urine to accumulate in FlG , 8 .
 
 320 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the bladder. The symptoms are straining and difficulty in 
 passing the urine and in emptying the bowels ; a dull, aching 
 and constant pain in the back, and a sense of weight in the 
 rectum. The treatment after first restoring the uterus to 
 its normal position, by bringing the cervix down with the 
 forefinger of one hand, and pushing up the fundus with the 
 other consists in precisely the same plan as that given for 
 prolapsus. 
 
 Antcversion of the uterus. In anteversion (B) the body of 
 the organ inclines forward toward the bladder, and the neck 
 projects backward toward the rectum. When the fundus and 
 neck are flexed on each other at an acute angle, it is called 
 antefiexion (C.) The causes for the uterus bending forward 
 are weakness of the abdominal muscles, constipation of the 
 bowels, presence of tumors, or violent accidents. The treat- 
 ment, after returning the organ to its natural position, is the 
 same as in prolapsus. 
 
 Leucorrhcea, or "whites," is the term applied to a color- 
 less, white or yellowish discharge, secreted from either the 
 mucus membrane of the vagina or uterus, or both. The in- 
 flammation may be either acute or chronic, the last being 
 most common. Among the numerous causes for this dis- 
 ease mentioned by writers are a sedentary life, reading books 
 of fiction, too early marriages, solitary pleasures, sexual 
 excesses, frequent child-bearing, abortion, stimulating and 
 constipating food and drinks, want of cleanliness, ill venti- 
 lated rooms, mental emotion, pessaries in the vagina, etc. 
 The symptoms in the early stages, should the inflammation 
 be of an acute character, are heat, soreness about the vagi- 
 na, with a feeling as if the parts were swollen. The dis- 
 charge is at first small in quantity, thin, and of a whitish 
 character, but it gradually becomes more profuse, thicker, 
 and assumes a yellowish or greenish hue. Generally, these 
 earlier and more acute symptoms are not present, -and the 
 disorder is marked more by its effects on the constitution, 
 than by great pain and uneasiness in the parts affected.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 321 
 
 When the inflammatory symptoms have continued an 
 uncertain length of time, or when the disease has gradually 
 undermined the constitution without any permanent local 
 symptoms, there is the following train of sympathetic and 
 general disorders resulting from this apparently trivial whit- 
 ish discharge, which has become so common in civilized life 
 that many women consider it natural to them, and not an 
 evidence of disease resulting from bad habits. Patients af- 
 flicted with chronic " whites," beside pains in the back and 
 lower part of the abdomen, and in various parts of the body, 
 suffer from depraved appetite, from sour stomach, headache, 
 hiccough, and, in short, the thousand-and-one symptoms of 
 dyspepsia. They are sensitive to cold, especially about the 
 feet, while the head is unusually hot ; they are troubled with 
 palpitation of the heart and fainting fits, with pains in the 
 breast, etc. ; the face becomes pale, the eyes hollow, and 
 they weep without cause ; they become careless, impatient, 
 and feel a sort of languor and dejection, a sensation of strang- 
 ling or choking, and an involuntary sadness ; they are apa- 
 thetic, melancholy, hypochondriacal, etc. The treatment, in 
 a great measure, should be of the same general and local 
 plan as for prolapsus. In the early stages vaginal injections 
 of tepid water, followed by cold water, five or six times a 
 day, should be observed. The hip-bath, repeated twice or 
 thrice a day, from five to ten minutes at a time, followed 
 each time by active friction on the back, hips, and lower 
 part of the abdomen, is one of the main reliances for a 
 speedy cure. Sexual intercourse must be rigidly abstained 
 from. It often happens that husbands having intercourse 
 during the presence of the " whites," contract a disease 
 which may readily be mistaken for that foul and disgusting 
 disorder arising from impure sexual intercourse. When leu- 
 corrhoea is symptomatic of displacement of the uterus, as it 
 very often is, the first requirement in a cure is the return of 
 the displaced organ to its natural position. If women would 
 avoid this undesirable disease, they must abandon their 
 
 21
 
 322 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 present sedentary habits, and take oft- repeated exercise in 
 the open air ; they must pay more attention to bathing and 
 cleanliness ; they must avoid works of fiction, and shun 
 those places of amusement which tend to excite the sexual 
 organs ; they must discontinue the use of highly stimula- 
 ting food and drinks, and especially tea and coffee ; they 
 must lead chaste and continent lives ; and, in short, they 
 must remodel all their habits of life. 
 
 Vulvttis, or inflammation of the external organs of gene- 
 ration, has as symptoms heat, swelling, redness, and a throb- 
 bing pain extending to the groin. When the inflammation 
 extends or is confined to the mucus membrane, there will be 
 a leucorrhceal discharge, with a disagreeable smarting. In 
 the early stages the disease may be aggravated by the rub- 
 bing of the affected part by the patient in her effort to re- 
 lieve the uneasiness. The cause of this, as in other diseases 
 of a like nature, is to be attributed to the wrong mode of 
 life the person follows. Perfect cleanliness of the parts, 
 bathing and right habits of living, are the requirements nec- 
 essary to its cure. 
 
 Pruritis occurs when, with inflammation of the vulva, 
 there is an intolerable itching of the part affected. The 
 symptoms are an intolerable itching, attended with a burn- 
 ing, smarting, disagreeable and sore feeling. Through sym- 
 pathy, and through the desire to rub the parts, which is al- 
 most irresistible, nymphomania is sometimes produced. Says 
 Dr. Churchill: 
 
 "In severe cases, when the parts are very tender, there is 
 no sexual desire excited ; but in other and slighter cases, 
 where friction does not occasion distress, this is sometimes 
 the case ; and that which was at first adopted for the relief 
 of the pruritis, may give rise to other sensations as imperi- 
 ous in their desire of gratification, and which increase by in- 
 dulgence, so that the patient is reduced to a very melancholy 
 condition ; utterly unfit for society, she is injured by soli- 
 tude, which leaves her to the uncontrolled dominion of her
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 323 
 
 imagination ; her mind, influenced by the excitement of the 
 organs affected, is occupied with lascivious thoughts and im- 
 pure desires, and her conduct (in defiance of herself, as a 
 patient expressed it) toward the other sex shows the influ- 
 ence of her bodily disorder." 
 
 The cause for this disease is somewhat obscure. In its 
 treatment, " the whole mass of blood should be purified of 
 its grossness and irritating humors as rapidly as possible. 
 The wet- sheet pack, and the prolonged tepid half- bath, are 
 usually indicated. Sitz-baths of a mild and soothing tem- 
 perature from seventy-five to eighty-five degrees should 
 be employed with a frequency proportionate to the urgency 
 of the case. The bowels must be thoroughly cleared of all 
 irritating fcecal matter by means of copious enemas of tepid 
 water ; and the patient's diet should be extremely abstemi. 
 ous, and restricted to plain brown bread arid unsugared 
 fruit, until the local irritation is overcome." 
 
 There are other diseases and malformations of the exter- 
 nal organs as adhesion, absence, excessive development, 
 etc., of the labia, enlargement of the clitoris, etc., that might 
 be mentioned here ; but as they are of rare occurrence, and 
 require, in most instances, the presence ot a surgeon, I omit 
 them.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN THEIR CAUSES AND SYMP- 
 TOMS, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR HOME-TREATMENT AND 
 CURE. 
 
 IVING other than a conti- 
 nent, chaste, and true life, 
 man entails on his own con- 
 stitution, and oft-times on 
 his children- and his chil- 
 dren's children, penalties of 
 such a foul, disgusting and 
 loathsome nature, as in 
 their presence and develop- 
 ment to warn all who have 
 doubts as to whether a li- 
 centious life with its great 
 and ever-present penalties 
 . or a strictly continent 
 life with its attendant 
 strength, beauty, growth, 
 and development of the physical and soul-life of the indi- 
 vidual is the most preferable and most desirable for exam- 
 ple and precept 
 
 If men whose abnormal desires lead them into the ways 
 of promiscuous intercourse, could but see some one or more 
 of the victims to be found at all times in any of the large 
 hospitals the foul, loathsdme ulcer ; the poison eating away
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 325 
 
 gradually, slowly, but surely, the flesh ; the eyes gone, the 
 nose destroyed, giving the face a most hideous aspect ; the 
 bones of the skull eaten, exposing the brain; the mark of 
 manhood obliterated altogether, a loathsome living death 
 they would think twice before venturing into the meshes of 
 her whose " feet take hold on hell." The breaking of no 
 other human law entails on the wrong-doer such fearfully 
 prompt, repulsive and incurable penalties as does the un- 
 natural one of miscellaneous intercourse. The very first 
 transgression oft-times develops the poison of syphilis, the 
 non-desire for which may be inferred from what one of the 
 most distinguished of French surgeons has said : " I would 
 not have a chancre of the size of a pin's head on my person 
 for all Paris." 
 
 But, alas ! notwithstanding such dangers, such possible re- 
 sults, and the express commandments of God, men will do 
 this unclean thing, and in doing it they will suffer the pen- 
 alty attached to the transgression, and how to avoid the full 
 measure of the penalty all such anxiously desire to know. 
 
 Gonorrhoea is so named from two Greek words meaning a 
 flow of semen, it being supposed, in the early history of the 
 disease, that the discharge consisted of semen, instead of a 
 mixture of mucus and pus, its true nature. 
 
 The symptoms, appearing between the second and fifth 
 day, are at first very slight, there being an uneasy, tickling 
 and smarting sensation at the mouth of the canal, which on . 
 examination is found to be more florid than usual, and moist- 
 ened with a small quantity of colorless and viscid fluid, 
 which glues the lips of the meatus together. This moisture, 
 after a time, loses its clear, watery appearance, and assumes 
 a milky hue. These early symptoms are present when the 
 contagion is yet confined to the extreme portion of the 
 urethra. This first stage generally lasts from two to four 
 days, when the symptoms gradually become more intense, 
 until, in about a week after exposure, the second or inflam- 
 matory stage may be said to commence. During this stage
 
 326 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the mucus membrane covering the glans has a reddened and 
 angry look, the extremity of the organ is swollen, the dis- 
 charge now of a thick, yellowish, creamy color has be- 
 come copious, there is intense pain in passing the urine, ex- 
 cited by the irritation produced by the salts contained in the 
 urine, and in consequence of the urethra being contracted 
 and more or less obstructed by the discharge, the stream is 
 forked or otherwise irregular. A person with gonorrhoea is 
 apt to be troubled with nocturnal erections, when it often 
 happens that the penis is bent in the form of an arc, produ- 
 cing chordee, caused by the effused lymph on the under sur- 
 face of the organ rendering it less extensible than the re- 
 maining portion. It sometimes happens that sympathetic- 
 ally there is enlargement and tenderness of one or more 
 glands in the groin, producing bilboes. This second stage 
 lasts from one to three weeks. This is followed by the third 
 or final stage, which is characterized only by the disappear- 
 ance of the more prominent symptoms, and a gradual return 
 to health, the discharge becoming less and less purulent, and 
 finally completely disappearing. This last stage may last for 
 weeks or months, depending on whether it is treated and the 
 mode of treating it. 
 
 The causes of gonorrhoea, in the male, are produced from 
 having intercourse with a woman having this disease, or from 
 a woman having simply inflammation of the uterus, 
 " whites," dysmenorrhoea, or even if intercourse be had du- 
 ring the menstrual period. When produced in this last way, 
 the man and woman or husband and wife, as sometimes 
 happens must otherwise lead irregular and unhygienic lives ; 
 but established and reliable authorities have asserted that it 
 may arise from intercourse with women who themselves 
 have not the disease. 
 
 Gonorrhoea, in the woman, may occur in the urethra, vulva 
 or vagina one being affected, the others will be more or 
 less so. For many reasons, it is much less common in 
 women than in men. The symptoms often obscure do-
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 327 
 
 not differ from the usual early symptoms of inflammation of 
 the other mucus membranes. The discharge, at first tran- 
 sparent, becomes muco-purulent, and, when the disease has 
 attained its height, thoroughly purulent. When secreted 
 from the vagina it is of an acid, creamy, fluent nature. When 
 the vulva is affected, there is an early sensation of heat and 
 itching, the labia and nymphae swelling to a great degree. 
 This form of gonorrhoea occasions intense suffering in the 
 woman. When the "vagina is affected, it rarely fails to ex- 
 tend to the cervix, and so produce barrenness. 
 
 In the treatment of gonorrhoea, the indications are first to 
 restore the general health; and second to allay the local in- 
 flammation. It is a fact that cannot be gainsayed, that the 
 men who acquire such diseases are almost invariably gross, 
 as well as licentious in their habits of living. The first re- 
 quirement in the direction of a cure (and this will apply 
 with equal force to all acute diseases of the sexual organs) 
 is that the patient give up the use of tobacco, alcoholic 
 liquors, milk, flesh, grease, seasoning, and a stimulating diet. 
 He should live on the very plainest of food, such as baked 
 apples and potatoes, thin gruel, unleavened bread, tomatoes, 
 prunes, oranges, etc. During the stage of acute inflamma- 
 tion, but very little of any kind of food should be taken ; 
 perfect rest, in bed or on a lounge, should be observed. 
 Next in importance to a right diet is bathing the whole body 
 with tepid water, this to be repeated until the superficial 
 heat is reduced to a normal standard. For the local treat- 
 ment, sitz-baths of tepid or cool water, varying in time from 
 fifteen minutes to an hour changing the water, if neces- 
 sary will afford decided relief. The sitz-bath should be re- 
 peated as often as the inflammatory symptoms are aggra- 
 vated. When resting, the genital parts should be enveloped 
 in wet cloths. 
 
 In women, in addition to the above, vaginal injections of 
 tepid water should be used often. 
 
 The adoption of the above mode of treatment will effect
 
 328 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 a prompt and permanent cure, when a drug-treatment, with 
 its calomel, sugar of lead, caustic, copaiba, cubebs, turpen- 
 tine, etc., will not only aggravate the disease, but perhaps 
 produce gleet, buboes or stricture. 
 
 Gleet. When an attack of gonorrhoea is badly treated, 
 and not thoroughly cured, there may follow immediately, or 
 perhaps not until after an interval of several weeks or even 
 months, a thin, watery discharge from the urethra, which is 
 termed gleet. This discharge may continue for months, and 
 in many cases for years. In most cases of gleet the dis- 
 charge is the only symptom. In some instances, however, 
 there may be a feeling of uneasiness in the organ or perito- 
 neum, or an itching about the glands, which may either be 
 constant or attendant only upon the passage of the urine. 
 In some cases the discharge is constant, and sufficiently co- 
 pious to stain the linen, but in the majority it is perceptible 
 only in the morning on rising. It is a well-established fact, 
 that persons infected with gleet will communicate gonor- 
 rhoea to healthy subjects, and that by aggravation gleet is 
 readily transformed into gonorrhoea. A hearty meal, alco- 
 holic stimulants, sexual indulgence, violent exercise, expo- 
 sure to sudden changes of temperature, may bring on a co- 
 pious purulent discharge, attended by tumefaction of the 
 parts, scalding in urination, and all the symptoms of acute 
 gonorrhoea. 
 
 In the treatment of gleet the directions for general treat- 
 ment in gonorrhoea should be adopted. For the local treat- 
 ment the sitz-bath is indicated. Commencing with tepid 
 water, which will slightly increase the discharge at first, the 
 temperature should be daily lowered, so that at the end of a 
 week very cold water may be used. This bath may be ap- 
 plied two or three times a day, fifteen to twenty minutes at 
 a time. The case of a gentleman who had gleet at this mo- 
 ment occurs to me. It had been of some two years' dura- 
 tion, the patient having tried the best physicians in vain. 
 Drugs, applications and injections of all kinds had been
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 329' 
 
 tried, only to make the discharge seem worse, The patient 
 had the offer of a sea trip on a sailing vessel, which he ac- 
 cepted. The trip lasted for nearly three months, during 
 which time, owing to peculiar circumstances, the food was 
 not only of the plainest in quality, but of the smallest in 
 quantity. The patient landed in better health than he had 
 for a long time experienced, and entirely cured of his gleet. 
 I mention this case simply to show that in this disease, as in 
 almost all others of a sexual nature, if the patient would 
 adopt a line of life involving in it pure air and plenty of it, 
 simple diet and little of it, rest, cleanliness of body, freedom 
 from tobacco, alcoholic liquors, and sexual intercourse, it 
 would absolutely be all that would be required to cure him 
 of his disease and restore him to perfect health. 
 
 Phimosis. When the prepuce or skin is in such a con- 
 dition as to prevent its being drawn behind the glans, the 
 disease is called phimosis. It may be congenital, or result 
 from inflammation or obstruction. When the affection is 
 congenital, the cure is effected by dividing the prepuce, or 
 performing circumcision. When it is caused by an inflam- 
 matory engorgement, a prompt reducing of the inflamma- 
 tion, by the application of alternate warm and cold-water 
 dressings, is desirable. The system should be kept free 
 from feverishness by bathing, and the bowels should be 
 moved by copious enemas of tepid water. 
 
 Paraphimosis. When the prepuce has been drawn or 
 Ibrced above and behind the glans, and cannot be drawn 
 over it, the disease is- called paraphimosis. Persons having 
 phimosis may draw the prepuce violently behind the base 
 of the glans without being able to replace it, thus inducing 
 paraphimosis. After the lapse of a few hours or days, the 
 parts behind and in front of the stricture become swollen, 
 when ulceration or gangrene may follow, and perhaps relieve 
 the stricture, but with an unnecessary loss of tissue. Para- 
 phimosis is sometimes met with in boys, as the result of 
 their first attempt to expose the glands. The first indica-
 
 330 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 tion in the treatment is to reduce the inflammation as in- 
 phimosis, to be followed by an attempt to reduce the stran- 
 gulation by compressing the glans, and carrying the prepuce 
 over it to its normal position. Failing in this, the last resort 
 is to excise the ring causing the strangulation. 
 
 Strictures of the urethra may be classified as transitory or 
 permanent transitory when the result of muscular spasm, 
 congestion or inflammation permanent when through wrong 
 treatment there is produced a permanent thickening and 
 contraction of the urethral canal. Transitory stricture of 
 the inflammatory form is produced by gonorrhoea and its 
 mal-treatment, and the injudicious use of catheters or bou- 
 gies. It is known by local heat, pain or swelling, with in- 
 ability to urinate, unless with extreme pain. When of the 
 spasmodic variety, it is usually seated at the neck of the 
 bladder. It may be induced by violent exercise, long reten- 
 tion of the urine, or sexual excesses. Permanent stricture 
 may be located in any part of the urethra, but it more fre- 
 quently occurs in the membraneous and bulbous portions of 
 the canal. It generally comes on slowly and insidiously. 
 The individual first observes a few drops of water remain 
 after the whole seems to have been discharged, then notices 
 a fine spiral or divided stream, and lastly, discharges his 
 urine by drops only, requiring a long time to empty the 
 bladder. It occasionally happens that the patient loses all 
 control, and the urine dribbles away continually. The usual 
 methods in treating stricture are by the introduction of bou- 
 gies, the application of caustic, or by incision all impossible 
 in the home-treatment of the disease. If the patient will 
 but firmly resolve to lead a rigidly plain and simple life ab- 
 solute freedom from all stimulating food and drink, tobacco, 
 flesh-meat, etc., eating less of plain food than the system is 
 capable of assimilating, living a strictly continent life, and, 
 along with the every- day general bath, to take twice a day, 
 for half an hour at a time, a cool or cold-water sitz-bath, 
 drinking nothing but pure water, and as much of it as may
 
 DISEA SES P ECU LI A R TO MEN. 3 3 1 
 
 be desired he will, in the course of from one to three 
 months, be thoroughly cured of transitory stricture, and in 
 from four to twelve months depending much on the pre- 
 vious habits of the individual he will be cured of perma- 
 nent stricture, and that without any of the dangers or after- 
 results attendant on the introduction of bougies, caustics, 
 etc. The very worst cases of permanent stricture, after long 
 trials and failures with bougies, etc., have in this way been 
 permanently removed and effectually cured. 
 
 Swelled testicle is one of the most frequent complications 
 of gonorrhoea of the urethra. Before the commencement of 
 the tenderness and swelling, there is sometimes felt a dull 
 pain in the peritoneum and in the groin. As a rule, swelled 
 testicle may be said to supervene on gonorrhoea after the 
 fourth or fifth week. It always disappears on the effective 
 cure of the gonorrhoea. 
 
 Inflammation of the prostate gland is another result of 
 mal-treatment of gonorrhoea. The gland a small body 
 about the size of a chestnut, situated before the neck of the 
 bladder is enlarged, causing a frequent desire to urinate; 
 the stream, being generally quite small, is only forced out by 
 prolonged straining, and excites a severe scalding sensation 
 in the deeper portion of the canal. Complete retention of 
 the urine sometimes occurs, requiring the use of the cathe- 
 ter. Tepid and cold hip-baths, with moderate quantities of 
 dry food, along with other hygienic requirements, are all 
 that is necessary to perfect a cure. 
 
 Inflammation of the bladder is attributable to the same 
 cause as the preceding. The inflammation is almost always 
 confined to the neck of the bladder, causing difficult urina- 
 tion and a frequent desire to urinate. The treatment is the 
 same as in inflammation of the prostate gland. 
 
 Vegetations are papillary growths, identical in their nature 
 with warts, which appear on different parts of the integu- 
 ment, in the neighborhood of the genital organs. They are 
 most frequently met with on the mucus membrane covering
 
 332 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the glands and lining of the prepuce, upon the margin of 
 the urethra, upon the vulva in women, and occasionally upon 
 the neck of the uterus. They are in no way connected with 
 venereal disease, though they are most frequently observed 
 in those who "have been affected with gonorrhoea or syphilis. 
 The treatment consists in their removal by the knife, caustic 
 or ligature. The best mode of destroying them is by that 
 of caustic, and the best caustic for the purpose is nitric 
 acid. 
 
 The chancroid. By the chancroid is meant the " simple," 
 " soft," " non-infecting," or " non-indurated chancre" of va- 
 rious authors. It is a contagious and local ulcer of the geni- 
 tals. In the comparison of the three poisons of gonorrhoea, 
 the chancroid and syphilis, Bumstead, in his "Venereal Dis- 
 eases," says : 
 
 " The only property common to them all is their commu- 
 nication, for the most part, by contact with the genital or 
 gans. The poisons of gonorrhoea and of the chancroid art- 
 alike, in that their action is limited and never extends to the 
 general system ; nor does one attack afford the slightest pro- 
 tection against a second. They differ in that the poison of 
 gonorrhoea may arise spontaneously, while that of the chan- 
 croid, so far as we know, never thus originates ; that gonor- 
 rhoea chiefly affects the surface true ulceration being rarely 
 induced and, in its complications, most frequently attacks 
 parts connected with the original seat of the disease by a 
 continuous mucus surface, as the prostate gland, bladder and 
 testicles ; while the chancroid, on the contrary, is an ulcer 
 involving the whole thickness of the integument or mucus 
 membrane, and its complications are seated in the absorbent 
 vessels and ganglia. It would also appear that the poisons 
 of these two affections are limited to one common vehicle 
 namely, pus. This conclusion is sustained by the fact that 
 neither the poison of gonorrhoea nor that of the chancroid 
 ever reaches the general circulation, and it is well known 
 that pus globules are not capable of absorption. When the
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN, 333 
 
 purulent matter of a chancroid enters the absorbent vessels, 
 as occurs in the formation of a virulent bubo, it is arrested 
 by the first chain of lymphatic ganglia, and goes no further. 
 The syphilitic virus is alone capable of infecting the system 
 at large, and of affording protection by its presence against 
 subsequent attacks. Unlike the poisons of gonorrhoea and 
 the chancroid, it is not limited to purulent matter, but exists 
 in the blood, in the fluids of secondary lesions, in the se- 
 men, and probably in other secretions. There is no opposi- 
 tion whatever between these three poisons ; they may all co- 
 exist in the same person, who may at the same time have 
 gonorrhoea, a chancroid, and a chancre of the syphilitic le- 
 sion." 
 
 The chancroid arises only in consequence of contagion 
 from its like. It is most generally found in the vicinity of 
 the genital organs, although it is sometimes found in urethra, 
 vagina and rectum, or wherever there is a mucus surface. 
 It is rarely met on the head or face, where, on the contrary, 
 the initial lesion of syphilis is not uncommon. The vehicle 
 of the chancroid virus is the secretion of the ulcer, which, if 
 it be inserted beneath the epidermis of any other part of the 
 body, a chancroid is equally the result. 
 
 The following are the symptoms of a chancroid when fully 
 formed : 
 
 " Its outline is circular, unless modified by the shape of 
 the solution of continuity in which it is implanted ; it has a 
 punched-out appearance ; the edges are jagged, abrupt and 
 sharply cut, and do not adhere closely to the subadjacent 
 tissues ; the fluid secretion is copious and purulent, and it is 
 surrounded by an areola which varies in width and depth of 
 color with the degree of inflammation present. They are 
 more frequently multiple than single ; but when one chan- 
 croid appears at the outset as the immediate result of con- 
 tagion, others are apt to spring up around it from successive 
 inoculation, since the original ulcer pours out an abundant 
 secretion, and its presence confers immunity against others."
 
 334 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 In the treatment of chancroid, prompt attention to the 
 general health of the individual is almost all that is required, 
 for the disease being a self-limited one, it will get well in the 
 absence of all treatment, other than that of perfect cleanli- 
 ness of the parts. But when not promptly attended to, by 
 the adoption of a strict diet of plain food and bathing, it is 
 apt to be followed by a bubo. If the pustule is noticed the 
 second or third day after contagion, it can be destroyed by 
 burning with nitrate of silver ; but after this time say, with, 
 in from three to six days nitrate of silver will be too feeble, 
 and it will require the application of a much more powerful 
 caustic, as nitric or sulphuric acid, applied by means of a 
 glass rod with a rounded extremity, although a simple piece 
 of wood as an ordinary lucifer match will do. On the 
 acid first touching the ulcer, the pain for an instant will be 
 very severe, but it becomes much less acute on subsequent 
 applications, of which there should be several to render the 
 destruction complete. Great care must be taken to prevent 
 the acid from touching the neighboring surfaces, which 
 should be protected by dry lint or other material. When it 
 is too late to apply the acid, cloths wet in water should be 
 kept on the parts affected, and often changed. When the 
 application of acid has produced suppuration, the wet (linen) 
 cloths should also be employed. This, with the perfect 
 cleanliness of the parts, and perfect cleanliness of the cloths 
 used, and careful attention to the general health, will always 
 result in a cure. 
 
 Chancroids may occur upon the integuments of the penis, 
 in the urethra, near the meatus, on the female generative or- 
 gans, and on the anus and rectum. The treatment, except 
 where they cannot be got at, is similar to that recommended 
 above. 
 
 Buboes. This is an affection of the lymphatic ganglion, 
 dependent, in the great majority of cases, upon the presence 
 of a chancroid, although they may be caused by gonorrhoea 
 or sexual excess. A bubo, with a primary syphilitic sore,
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 335 
 
 or chancre, which is accompanied by induration of the gan- 
 glia, which never suppurate unless under the influence of 
 some additional exciting cause. The occurrence of buboes 
 is favored by a scrofulous constitution, by wrongly-treated 
 chancroids, by mechanical violence, undue exercise, excesses 
 in diet, and by sexual intercourse during the existence of a 
 chancroid or gonorrhoea. 
 
 Bumstead divides buboes into three classes : first, the sim- 
 ple, inflammatory bubo, the symptoms of which are a swelling 
 in the groin, attended with tenderness on pressure and pain, 
 which is aggravated by pressure or the standing posture. 
 The gland is felt to be somewhat enlarged, but is still mov- 
 able beneath the integument, which preserves its normal 
 color. This condition may last for an indefinite period du- 
 ring the continuation of the ulcer, or even after its cicatriza- 
 tion, and yet finally disappear without suppuration. In sim- 
 'ple inflammatory bubo, most frequently, only one gland is 
 affected ; if others are involved, they are commonly so to a 
 less degree. In less fortunate cases, the inflammatory symp- 
 toms increase in severity ; the tumor acquires larger dimen- 
 sions, and becomes adherent to the skin and underlying fas- 
 cia, so that it is no longer movable ; the pain and tenderness 
 are increased ; motion is difficult ; the skin becomes red- 
 dened ; suppuration is ushered in with a chill ; the presence 
 of matter is indicated by a soft spot in the midst of the gen- 
 eral hardness, and soon after by distinct fluctuation ; and al- 
 though resolution is still possible, yet commonly the con- 
 tents of the abscess are discharged through an opening in 
 the integument formed by the process of ulceration. 
 
 Second, the virulent bubo, which receives its name from 
 the fact that the pus which it contains is contagious, and will 
 upon artificial inoculation give rise to a chancroid. A vir- 
 ulent bubo is due to the absorption of virus from the surface 
 of a chancroid, and its conveyance, by means of the lym- 
 phatics, to the ganglion. It is usually situated on the same 
 side is the chancroid, but sometimes upon the opposite side,
 
 336 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 and sometimes both groins are affected, especially when the 
 ulcer is upon any part in the median line. Prior to its spon- 
 taneous or artificial opening, the course of a virulent bubo 
 is that of a simple bubo, and the patient should understand 
 that the early symptoms of the two are identical ; though 
 the distinction between them is fully justified by the inevi- 
 table suppuration and specific properties of the one, and the 
 possible resolution and simple character of the other. 
 
 Third, the indolent bubo, the inflammation of which is of 
 a subacute character, closely resembling the well-known 
 scrofulous inflammation of the glands of the neck in chil- 
 dren. There may be a moderate amount of pain, tender- 
 ness on pressure, and difficulty of motion, although these 
 are rarely severe or of long continuance. The tumor very 
 slowly enlarges, perhaps to the size of a hen's egg ; the skin 
 covering it becomes thin, and of a livid red color, and fluc- 
 tuation can be detected without being ushered in by chills 
 and fevers, as in the case of inflammatory bubo. After a 
 time several openings form spontaneously, and there escapes 
 a thin, flaky, watery-looking fluid. 
 
 The object to be aimed at in the treatment of buboes is 
 to subdue inflammation and avert suppuration, if possible. 
 To this end, perfect rest and a low diet of plain, simple food 
 is of the first importance. In the early stages, cold wet 
 cloths, frequently renewed, should be constantly kept on the 
 swelling. Three or four times a day the parts may be fo- 
 mented for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time, and then im- 
 mediately after covered with cold wet cloths, over which dry 
 ones should be placed. Twice a day a sitz-bath, moderately 
 cool, may be employed. The close observance of these 
 rules in the early stages will certainly prevent suppuration ; 
 but should the bubo indicate by its tenseness and throbbing 
 pain the commencement of suppuration, warm wet cloths 
 should be constantly employed until matter forms, when, if 
 the abscess does not open spontaneously, it should be cut 
 with a lancet.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 337 
 
 Syphilis. This disease is propagated in various ways, but 
 in most cases it depends principally upon sexual intercourse. 
 Being an infectious disease, the presence of the virus, when 
 brought ip contact with surfaces covered with thin epidermis, 
 or when denuded of its cuticle, it is transmitted from one in- 
 dividual to another. 
 
 After contagion, there follows what is called the period of 
 incubation. This period continues until the first indication 
 of a sore the future chancre and lasts from ten to twenty 
 days. The first noticeable symptoms after infection are a 
 sense of heat and tenderness of the urethra, slight inflam- 
 matory condition of the head of the organ, smarting sensa- 
 tion after urinating, arid after a time the appearance of a mi- 
 nute red and hard pimple the chancre. When the chancre 
 is on the internal surface of the prepuce, and so protected 
 from the air and friction, " it has a circular but sometimes 
 irregular outline. Its surface is smooth, often looking as if 
 polished, destitute of the consistent and adherent exudation 
 of the chancroid, and of a red or grayish color. Its secre- 
 tion is a clear serum free from pus globules, unless the sore 
 has been irritated which may often be seen issuing from 
 minute pores, after the previous moisture has been wiped 
 away. It has no surrounding areola, and leaves no cicatrix 
 to mark its site. When situated upon the external integu- 
 ment, as the sheath of the organ where most venereal ul- 
 cers are chancres and exposed to the air, it becomes cov- 
 ered with scabs, which give it the appearance of a pustule of 
 ecthyma, or a patch of scaly eruption, and which may read- 
 ily lead to an error in diagnosis." 
 
 In the primary indications of venereal disease involving 
 as much as they often do of the character and future health 
 of the individual great care is required in deciding the true 
 nature of the existing ulcer. The chancroid is apt to be 
 taken for the chancre of syphilis, and vice versa. This can 
 be avoided by a close comparison of the character of both. 
 The following table, by Dr. Bumstead, gives the diagnostic 
 
 22
 
 338 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 
 
 characters of the chancroid and chancre in a manner that is 
 clear and easily understood : 
 
 DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS OF THE CHANCROID AND 
 
 CHANCRE. 
 
 THE CHANCROID. 
 
 ORIGIN. 
 
 Always derived from a chancroid or virulent 
 
 bubo. 
 Has no period of incubation. 
 
 ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS. 
 
 Generally multiple, either from the first or by 
 successive inoculation. 
 
 An excavated ulcer, perforating the whole 
 thickness of the skin or mucus membrane. 
 
 Edges abrupt and well-defined, as if cut with 
 a punch, not adhering closely to subjacent 
 tissues. 
 
 Surface flat but uneven, "worm eaten," 
 wholly covered with grayish secretion. 
 
 No induration of base, unless caused by 
 caustic or other irritant, or by simple in- 
 flammation, in which case the engorge- 
 ment is not circumscribed, shades off into 
 surrounding tissues, and is of temporary 
 duration. 
 
 PATHOLOGICAL TENDENCIES. 
 
 Secretion copious and purulent, auto-inocu- 
 lable. 
 
 Slow in healing. Often spreajs and takes on 
 phagedenic action. 
 
 May affect the same person an indefinite 
 number of times. 
 
 CHARACTERISTIC GLAND AFFKCTION. 
 
 Ganglionic reaction absent in the majority 
 of cases. When present, one gland acutely 
 inflamed and generally suppurates. Pus 
 often inoculable, producing a chancroid. 
 
 PROGNOSIS. 
 
 Always a local affection, and cannot infect the 
 system. 
 
 THE CHANCRE. 
 
 ORIGIN. 
 
 Always derived from a chancre or syphilitic 
 
 lesion. 
 Has a period 'of incubation. 
 
 ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS. 
 
 Generally single ; multiple, if at all, from the 
 first ; rarely, if ever, by successive inocula- 
 tion. 
 
 Frequently a superficial erosion ; not i nvolv- 
 ing the whole thickness of the skin or mu- 
 cus membrane, of a red color, and nearly on 
 a level with the surrounding surface. Some- 
 times an ulcer, when its 
 
 Edges are sloping, hard, often elevated, and 
 adhere closely to subjacent tissues. 
 
 Surface hollowed or scooped out, smooth, 
 sometimes grayish at centre. 
 
 Induration firm, cartilaginous, circumscribed, 
 movable upon tissues beneath. Sometimes 
 resembles a layer of parchment lining the 
 sore. Generally persistent for a long pe- 
 riod. 
 
 PATHOLOGICAL TENDENCIES. 
 
 Secretion scanty, chiefly serous; inoculable 
 with great difficulty, if at all, upon the pa- 
 tient, or upon any person under the syphi- 
 litic diathesis. 
 
 Less indolent than the chancroid. Pha- 
 gedena rarely supervenes and is generally 
 limited. 
 
 One attack affords complete or partial pro- 
 tection against a second. 
 
 CHARACTERISTIC GLAND AFFECTION. 
 
 All the superficial inguinal ganglia, on one 
 or both sides, enlarged and indurated : 
 distinct from each other, freely movable ; 
 painless, and rarely suppurate. Pus never 
 inoculable. 
 PROGNOSIS. 
 
 A constitutional affection. Secondary symp- 
 toms, unless prevented or retarded by treat- 
 ment, declare themselves in about six 
 weeks from the appearance of the sore, 
 and very rarely delay longer than sue 
 months.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 339 
 
 During the first week and invariably within the first 
 three weeks of the ulcer, induration of the glands of the 
 groin takes place, forming buboes, and so insidiously that 
 the patient may be entirely ignorant of them. When firm 
 pressure is made on them, there is a feeling of slight tender- 
 ness, but not of severe pain. After the chancre has disap- 
 peared, the induration of the glands will remain for months, 
 and while it lasts is an indication of the previous existence 
 of a chancre. A syphilitic bubo differs from a chancroid 
 bubo in that it seldom or ever suppurates. 
 
 The constitutional symptoms show themselves in from three 
 to five months, when, if the patient has went without treat- 
 ment, or been badly treated, there will be noticed a general 
 lassitude, accompanied by headache and fleeting pains in 
 various parts of the body ; slight itching and tenderness of 
 the scalp ; an eruption of blotches or pimples upon the skin-, 
 pustules upon the hairy scalp ; eating away of the cartilage* 
 of the nose, throat, etc. 
 
 In the treatment of syphilis, the " regular" way has been 
 by mercury and iodide of potassium, which has and ever 
 will result in harm to the patient. In the first stages, im- 
 mediately the nature of the sore has been decided to be a 
 chancre, the patient should look to the conditions that regu- 
 late his general system. If he uses tobacco and alcoholic 
 liquors, he must discard them completely. He should avoid 
 all gross and stimulating food, and all manner of spices and 
 condiments, as well as tea, coffee and chocolate. He should 
 confine his diet to the smallest possible quantity of ripe 
 fruits, bread made from unbolted wheat flour, cracked corn, 
 cracked wheat, etc., and pure water. This may seem a rigid 
 and severe initial requirement in the treatment, but as it is 
 the only possible way of assisting Nature to throw off the 
 poison, the patient must adopt it in full measure, if a radical 
 cure is earnestly desired. Next in importance to diet is 
 bathing. Upon rising in the morning the patient should 
 take a sitz-bath, and at the same time a foot-bath. The
 
 340 . THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 water in the sitz-bath should be, at the commencement, of a 
 tepid temperature, and gradually lowered until it is cold 
 as cold as the patient can comfortably bear it. The water 
 of the foot-bath should be warm, and increased in tempera- 
 ture until it becomes hot. At the close of the bath it should 
 never be neglected to, dash cold water on the feet, or dip 
 them for a moment into cold water. This sitz and foot- 
 bath should last from fifteen to thirty minutes. Between 
 ten and eleven o'clock, A.M., this hip and footh-bath should 
 be repeated, followed by a general bath of the whole body, 
 given thoroughly, effectually and rapidly. After drying, 
 thorough friction of the whole body by the hand, from five 
 to fifteen minutes, by the patient, and, if convenient, assisted 
 by an assistant ; this should on no account be neglected. 
 Should the sun shine, allow its rays to fall directly on the 
 patient's nude body during the time of friction. Before go- 
 ing to bed, which should be at an early hour in the evening, 
 the sitz-bath should be repeated, with the addition that, be- 
 fore it is taken, cloths wet in hot water should be wrapped 
 around the loins, half way down the thighs, and including 
 the generative organs. These should be kept on until there 
 is decided redness of the skin after taking them off, to be 
 immediately followed by the sitz-bath, the water of which 
 should be, as already mentioned, of a tepid temperature, and 
 gradually increased during the bath to as low a temperature 
 as the patient can bear and readily react after. 
 
 If the bowels are costive they must be kept open by ene- 
 mas of water. The head should be kept cool by the appli- 
 cation of cold wet cloths. The mind should be kept free 
 from all irritating thoughts, and the surroundings should be 
 pleasant and enjoyable. 
 
 If these directions are promptly begun and faithfully ob- 
 served, the constitutional indications of the disease will be 
 prevented ; and the continuance of this plan of treatment 
 for months, and if necessary for years, will effectually erad- 
 icate the disease from the system.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 341 
 
 But with many, owing to the fact that the superficial chan- 
 cre the form which most generally precedes syphilis is so 
 indolent and so insignificant a sore that it may readily pass 
 unnoticed, or, if seen, be mistaken for a mere abrasion, the 
 constitutional symptoms heralded in by headache, giddi- 
 ness, diminished mental vigor, uneasiness about the neck, 
 pains in the joints, and weakness of the legs often present 
 themselves before the patient is aware that the poison of 
 syphilis has taken hold of his entire body. 
 
 When this has occurred, the treatment requires a closer 
 observance of hygienic laws, and a very much longer time 
 to effect a radical cure. The remarks as to diet and habits 
 of life in the primary indications, apply with four-fold force 
 when the disease is constitutional. Patients who acquire 
 syphilis have almost invariably heretofore led wrong lives 
 eating too much and wrong kinds of food, drinking alcoholic 
 liquors, using tobacco, and in many other ways being irreg- 
 ular in their habits. If a cure is desired and who with 
 syphilis does not desire a cure ? a prompt and radical 
 change must be adopted. Tobacco and all manner of stim- 
 ulating drinks and foods must be shunned ; gluttony must 
 be avoided, making it a rule to eat only to live ; general hab- 
 its of life must be reconstructed, and a plan of life marked 
 out, the close observance of which will allow the vis medic- 
 atrix naturce of the body to assert its all-healing pres- 
 ence. 
 
 The baths should consist of a wet-sheet pack lasting from 
 fifteen to sixty minutes, according to the feelings of the pa- 
 tient, taken daily between the hours of eight and nine in the 
 morning. At between eleven and twelve o'clock the daily 
 towel or sponge-bath should be taken, followed by friction 
 and the air and sun-bath ; and three times a week, an hour 
 or so before going to bed, a sitz-bath, together with the hot 
 water foot-bath. 
 
 Abundant exercise when possible, in the open air should 
 always be had.
 
 342 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Great care must be employed in keeping surface-sores 
 perfectly clean, and all cloths, water, etc., used about them 
 should be handled with great care, as the exuding virulent 
 matter, even when diluted, is capable, when brought into 
 contact with any abraded surface, of propagating the dis- 
 ease. 
 
 To free the system entirely of the disease, it may be nec- 
 essary to follow up this line of treatment for years. Day 
 after day, month after month, and year after year, the pa- 
 tient should never neglect to closely follow all the require- 
 ments necessary to the regaining of a clean, sweet, healthy 
 body, free from the faintest syphilitic taint. 
 
 It is the opinion of many that a few doses of mercury, in 
 some one of its many forms, will cure syphilis. This is a 
 great error. Mercury or no other drug ever has or ever 
 will cure syphilis or, for that matter, any other disease. 
 The use of mercury in this disease, instead of curing it, sim- 
 ply for a time prevents its outward manifestation, and when 
 the peculiar effect of the mercurial poison has weakened, the 
 syphilitic poison more virulent and more destructive than 
 ever again appears, making it more difficult than ever for 
 the life-force of the individual to get rid of it. Allowing 
 two persons to have syphilis, one of them to be treated with 
 mercury, and the other without mercury or any treatment 
 whatever, I would in the end much rather be the possessor 
 of the constitution of the individual who had used no mer, 
 cury or other treatment, than that of the one who had used 
 mercury. 
 
 It is sometimes asked, in the case of persons who have 
 had syphilis, how soon they could marry, without the chance 
 of entailing the disease on their offspring, and it is a ques- 
 tion rather difficult to decide. If the disease has not yet 
 passed into the constitutional stage, and the reform plan of 
 treatment here given be adopted and faithfully observed for 
 two years, I think the system of a naturally strong person 
 would in this time be entirely free from the taint of syphilis.
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 343 
 
 If the disease has passed into the constitutional stage, and 
 has in a measure destroyed parts of the body by ulceration, 
 it may require for its total extinction the close and faithful 
 observance of hygienic and reform remedial measures for 
 from five to eight years, and even then there might be 
 doubts of its non-transmissibility. 
 
 Involuntary nocturnal emissions. This disorder, so wide- 
 spread, occurs generally at night during sleep, when there is 
 an involuntary erection of the organ, followed by a general 
 genital excitement and a discharge of semen. It is the gen- 
 eral prevailing opinion that if these involuntary emissions 
 do not occur oftener than once in two or three weeks, no 
 harm to the individual is done, the emissions acting as Na- 
 ture's safety-valve. Notwithstanding all that physicians and 
 others may say to support this assertion, it is a great error 
 an error that entails on the individual, sooner or later, st-~ 
 rious constitutional effects. Should the emissions occur orN 
 ener than this the symptoms of impairment of the health arc 
 more pronounced. The morning after the emission the first 
 noticeable symptoms of the harm done the body are a pain 
 above the eyes, or on the top or back of the head ; eyes 
 sensible to light ; ringing in the ears ; tenderness of the 
 spine ; weakness of the back ; pain in the legs, from the 
 knees to the ankles, and coldness of hands and feet. He 
 gradually grows into vascillating habits of thought and ac- 
 tion, weakening his will-power ; continually possessed with 
 doubts and fears as to the future ; irritable in temper, and 
 unhappy in all his social relations. 
 
 There is another class of men those possessing a prepon- 
 derance of the vital temperament in which seminal emis- 
 sions develop a different train of symptoms, such as dyspep- 
 sia, constipation, torpid liver, and diseased state of the skin, 
 as shown by the eruption on the face. This class of patients 
 are much easier to cure than the first mentioned, whose ner- 
 vous system is primarily involved. A noticeable difference 
 in the symptoms between these two types is in the loss of
 
 344 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 memory the first scarcely ever showing a loss of memory 
 until the disease has progressed almost beyond hopes of re- 
 covery ; while in the last, dullness of perception and loss of 
 memory is one of the first indications of impairment of the 
 constitution. 
 
 The causes for seminal emissions are self-abuse at some 
 time of life, and sexual excesses at any time of life, or it 
 may be of a hereditary nature. The disease may be devel- 
 oped in a person who has committed sexual excesses, and 
 who never has practiced masturbation. The prime cause is 
 the practice of self-abuse at some time of life. There are 
 many married men who, although they get what they de- 
 mand sexually, will yet have seminal emissions while occu- 
 pying the same bed with their wives. 
 
 Just here I must protest against the often-advised remedy 
 for involuntary emissions and spermatorrhoea namely, that 
 of marriage. A man having these diseases, and following 
 out. this advice, will soon sorely repent of the deed, and be 
 tempted to curse his adviser. Marrying, as a supposed help 
 to a cure, implies that through sexual excess or legalized 
 prostitution, the disease, or rather the involuntary emissions, 
 will, through voluntary action, be diverted into a possibly 
 legitimate channel. This is not only a great error, it is a 
 great sin a sin and wrong done the man's own body, done 
 the woman he marries, and the children he generates. If 
 he have children, they will not only be predisposed to the 
 disease, but will very likely, when they arrive at a mar- 
 riageable age, be either impotent or sterile. No man hav- 
 ing seminal emissions, gonorrhcea, consumption, or any other 
 disease, should marry, or even in the remotest way think of 
 it, until he recovers fully from the disease. It is a help to a 
 cure, in the man having this disease, to court the society of 
 females, enjoying their companionship, living purely and 
 chastely in their presence but no further, until he can lay 
 claim to a perfect manhood. 
 
 In the cure of this disease, that so insidiously destroys the
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 345 
 
 intellect, strength, and very manhood of the individual, the 
 first great requirement in its successful treatment is to lead 
 a perfectly continent life. If he be married or not, and co- 
 habits little or much, he must stop it at once. If he prac- 
 tices self-abuse, he must also stop it at once. The next re- 
 quirement is to follow out as closely as possible the Plan of 
 Life laid down in a former chapter. One of the items of 
 this plan is the constant exercise of the will-power in every 
 required direction necessary to a cure a most important 
 adjunct, and one that can be used with much effect in the 
 permanent prevention of emissions. 
 
 " In waking moments, every man who has not debased 
 and enervated his will is perfectly able to keep his thoughts 
 entirely pure. It is of his own free will that he sins. Hardly 
 less is his power of keeping his dreaming thoughts pure, if 
 he goes the right way to work. Not at all less is it his duty 
 and his true profit to endeavor to do so. Patients assert 
 that they cannot control their dreams. This is not true. 
 Those who have studied the connection between thoughts 
 during waking hours and dreams during sleep, know that 
 they are closely connected. The character is the same sleep- 
 ing or waking. It is not surprising that, if a man has al- 
 lowed his thoughts during the day to rest upon libidinous 
 subjects, he finds his mind at night full of lascivious dreams 
 the one is a consequence of the other, and the nocturnal 
 pollution is a natural consequence, particularly when diurnal 
 indulgence has produced an irritability of the generative or- 
 gans. A will which in our waking hours we have not exer- 
 cised in repressing sexual desires, will not, when we fall 
 asleep, preserve us from carrying the sleeping echo of our 
 waking thoughts further than we dared to do in the day- 
 time. An Italian gentleman, of high station and character, 
 was troubled with frequent emissions, which totally unnerved 
 him. He determined, resolutely, that the first time any li- 
 bidinous idea presented itself to his imagination he woula 
 awake ; and, to insure his doing so, dwelt in his thoughts on
 
 346 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 his resolution for a long time before going to sleep. The 
 remedy, applied by a vigorous will, had the most happy re- 
 sults. The idea, the remembrance of its being a danger, and 
 the determination to awake, was never dissociated even in 
 sleep, and he awoke in time; and this reiterated precaution, 
 repeated during some evenings, absolutely cured the com- 
 plaint." 
 
 The patient should never eat a late meal. If he can con- 
 form to two meals a day the last one at two or three 
 o'clock in the afternoon so much the better ; it will do a 
 great deal toward helping him to a cure. His bowels should 
 be freed every night just before going to bed ; when this 
 cannot be done naturally, the bowels should be moved by 
 the injection of tepid water. The bladder should be evacu- 
 ated once or twice during the night. The mind should be 
 kept employed during the day, and free from any reading or 
 conversation that would have a tendency to excite the ama- 
 tory feelings. Daily physical exercise should never be neg- 
 lected. The bed or pillows should not be of feathers. 
 Early to bed should be the rule, and to rise immediately on 
 waking should never be omitted. To prevent lying on the 
 back during sleep, tying a towel round the waist, so as to 
 bring a hard knot opposite the spine, will be serviceable, and 
 of itself will often prevent emissions. The close observance 
 of -these rules, and especially the close observance of the 
 Plan of Life already referred to, will enable a man who is. 
 troubled with nocturnal seminal pollution to cure himself, 
 and regain his perfect manhood. It is a fact that should 
 impress itself on the mind of the man having this disease- 
 that as long as he has seminal emissions, whether they occur 
 frequently or at comparatively long intervals, just so long is 
 he losing from the fountain-head of his system the etherial 
 requisites that go to make up the sum of his growth toward 
 perfect manhood and physical perfection. A man living a 
 pure, chaste and continent life, exercising his sexual nature 
 only for the purpose of reproduction ; abstaining from all
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 347 
 
 the gross, filthy and debasing that attaches itself to the 
 thought, the breath, and the nourishment of modern civili- 
 zation, will, can, does live a life the span of which may stretch 
 over a period of fifty, seventy or a hundred years, and not 
 have one single nocturnal emission. This is as Nature in- 
 tended it, as God ordained it, and anything differing from 
 this, even in the smallest measure, entails on the doer the 
 penalty attached to all violated laws. 
 
 Diurnal emissions include any emission of semen, volun- 
 tary or involuntary, occurring during the waking hours, and 
 not necessarily preceded by erection the immediate exci- 
 ting cause being sexual excitement, defecation or micturi- 
 tion. This condition is rare, and indicates a very weak state 
 of the sexual organism. The treatment is the same as in 
 nocturnal emissions. Great care must be taken in noticing 
 the nature of the discharge, and not to confound semen with 
 the secretion of the prostate and other glands. It is just at 
 this point that quack doctors frighten nervous individuals 
 into the belief that the fluid they occasionally secrete in this 
 way is the true semen, and so extort money from their pa- 
 tients, and, if they use their medicines, ultimately completely 
 undermine their health. 
 
 SpermatorrJioea. When involuntary seminal emissions 
 especially if connected with self-abuse or sexual excesses 
 have continued for some time, there is produced in the indi- 
 vidual a state of enervation, a weakening of the life-force, 
 characterized as spermatorrhoea. The ancients evidently 
 knew something of this disease, for Hippocrates, in describ- 
 ing a disease which he calls tabes dorsalis, says : 
 
 " Tabes dorsalis proceeds from the spinal cord. It is fre- 
 quently met with among newly-married people and liber- 
 tines. There is no fever, the appetite is preserved, but the 
 body falls away. If you interrogate the patients, they will 
 tell you that they feel as if ants were crawling down the 
 spine. In making water or going to stool, they pass much 
 semen If they have connection, the congress is fruitless.
 
 348 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 They lose semen in bed, whether they are troubled with las- 
 civious dreams or not ; they lose it on horseback or in walk- 
 ing. To epitomize : they find their breathing become dim- 
 cult, they fall into a state of feebleness, and suffer from 
 weight in the head and singing in the ears." 
 
 The symptoms of spermatorrhoea are well described by 
 many authors, and may be summed up in the following fear- 
 ful catalogue : 
 
 " Weakness ; emaciation ; listlessness and languor ; dim- 
 ness of vision ; mental indolence or stupidity ; loss of mem- 
 ory ; a wandering or dreamy state of the mental powers, 
 with inability to concentrate the mind on any particular ob- 
 ject or pursuit ; aversion to society, especially that of fe- 
 males ; melancholy ; indifference to ordinary sports and so- 
 cial pleasures ; palpitations of the heart ; shortness of breath ; 
 coldness of the extremities ; flushed face ; cadaverous ap- 
 pearance of the skin, often accompanied with a peculiar and 
 very disagreeable odor ; irritation, uneasiness, or a creeping 
 sensation in the spinal marrow ; gnawing at the stomach ; 
 voracious appetite ; soft and flabby flesh ; vacant expression 
 of the countenance, etc. 
 
 " Some of the above symptoms may be absent in a given 
 case, but the majority are usually noticeable. In some cases 
 the patient will be timid and confused ; easily agitated ; dis- 
 couraged about trifles ; annoyed with constant apprehension 
 of indefinable calamities ; especially weak in the loins, back 
 and legs ; absent-minded, querulous, etc. 
 
 " Impotence, loss of sexual power or passion, or the op- 
 posite extreme constant and insatiable desire, convulsive 
 and epileptic affections, paralysis, confirmed dyspepsia, ma 
 rasmus, consumption, mania and idiocy, are among the final 
 and fatal consequences. 
 
 " In a great number of individuals, both young and adult, 
 an enervated state of the body exists, which the profession, 
 as well as patients, characterize by this somewhat vague 
 term of spermatorrhoea, which is as peculiar and as certainly
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 349 
 
 to be distinguished by its own symptoms as fever, or any 
 other general disease. Of course, many a man has believed 
 himself laboring under the complaint when he was not 
 This is the case with various other diseases. There is, how- 
 ever, as regards this particular ailment, an additional reason 
 for the existence of much hypochondriacal fancy about it. 
 From the painful stigma which its existence casts on the 
 past life of the patient, and the secresy he would naturally 
 desire, as well as from the somewhat doubtful nature of the 
 symptoms to an experienced eye, this disease has been and 
 is used by unprincipled practitioners as a means of imposi- 
 tion to a very great extent. Every disease or fancied ail- 
 ment which their unfortunate victim can be persuaded into 
 believing spermatorrhoea, is called spermatorrhoea forthwith ; 
 and, in the agony and terror of humiliation, the wretched 
 and often innocent patient becomes a fit subject for the wick- 
 edest cruelty, and, I need hardly add, the most extravagant 
 extortion." 
 
 In the treatment of spermatorrhoea, much discrimination 
 is required in applying rules adapted to the circumstances of 
 each individual case. The directions given for the cure of 
 nocturnal seminal emissions are applicable here. In addi- 
 tion to the morning towel or sponge-bath on rising, followed 
 by friction, at noon, between eleven and twelve o'clock, a 
 sitz-bath of from ten to twenty minutes, in cool or cold 
 water, should be taken daily. It should be followed by fric- 
 tion and the sun and air-bath. When there is a tendency to 
 coldness of feet or great heat of head, the hot foot-bath, 
 followed by dipping the feet for a moment into cold water, 
 should be employed daily at bed-time. A faithful and per- 
 sistent observance of the Plan of Life, and the directions 
 mentioned in connection with involuntary seminal emissions, 
 and the above simple baths, will, unless the disease has made 
 very great progress, effect a rapid and permanent cure. 
 
 Miscellaneous disorders affecting erection, emission and the 
 semen. There are morbid states, affecting the perfect fulfill-
 
 350 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ment of reproductive requirements, that occasionally happen 
 and give rise to much trouble. I will briefly enumerate 
 some of them. 
 
 Slow erection is more frequently a peculiarity arising from 
 temperament than a disorder. Men of a lymphatic temper- 
 ament experience this symptom, just as a person possessing 
 a highly nervous organization experiences the reverse. 
 Stimulants of any nature, intended to hasten the act, will do 
 great harm, and should never be employed. When it arises 
 from temperament, no interference is required. Non-erec- 
 tion, when not caused by self-abuse or spermatorrhoea, may 
 be the result of intense mental application ; and, when so 
 caused, simply refraining from brain-work will remedy the 
 trouble. Imperfect erection is understood when erection may 
 occur, but not to its proper extent ; or, when it does take 
 place, it lasts so short a time that intromission of the male 
 organ is impossible. Premature excitement and perversion 
 of energy is one cause, while a previous habit of masturba- 
 tion is very often the underlying cause. A careful treat- 
 ment of the cause will easily cure the disorder. Irregular 
 erections occur when, through violence or some other cause, 
 inflammation of the spongy portion of the urethra takes 
 place, followed by a deposit of plastic lymph, preventing the 
 natural distension of the part, and so causing a curved ap- 
 pearance of the organ on erection, producing great pain 
 while it lasts. This disorder but rarely happens. Priapism 
 or permanent erection erection, instead of being absent or 
 imperfect, may be only too perfect and too persistent, re- 
 maining erect either permanently or during long periods. 
 This disorder is caused by some peculiar condition of the 
 spinal cord and brain. It may also be caused by uncleanli- 
 ness of the parts ; sitz-baths will almost always effect a cure. 
 The parts underneath and around the prepuce should always 
 be kept clean. In a man whose desire it is to lead a conti- 
 nent life, the daily morning and evening washing of this 
 part should never be neglected. Satyriasis. " Erection,
 
 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 351 
 
 again, may be not only morbidly frequent and persistent, 
 but connected with maniacal: sensuality that is one of the 
 most awful visitations to which humanity can be subject. 
 Continual erections, immoderate desire for connection, and 
 erotic delirium, have been given as the definition of satyri- 
 asis. The probable explanation of such aberration is, that 
 the brain or medulla oblongata has received some injury 
 from excessive indulgence that seems irreparable. A low 
 animal organization, with a strong hereditary disposition to 
 lust, has been overtaxed by the enormous license the victim 
 has permitted himself, or some undetected lesion has taken 
 place, which puts the man at once beyond his own control, 
 almost out of the category of rational or moral agents, and 
 leaves him in a condition in which there seems, indeed, little 
 hope of any restoration." 
 
 Premature ejaculation is one of the most common sexual 
 complaints met with. " Patients complain that semen is 
 emitted so readily that if they even converse with women, 
 or if they ride on horseback, it will come away; that the 
 friction of the trowsers will often be sufficient to produce 
 emission, and that ejaculation is attended with scarcely any 
 spasm. In other instances, erection is hardly complete be- 
 fore emission follows, and then, as the erection immediately 
 ceases, the intended intercourse fails." The causes for this 
 disorder, primarily, are that the parts are weakened by self- 
 abuse or sexual excess while nervousness, want of will- 
 power, or natural impetuosity may be the immediate cause ; 
 uncleanliness of the glands, and the accumulation of smegma 
 under the prepuce are also prolific causes. The remedy is 
 to restore and strengthen the parts by the means already 
 given, and the living of a continent life. 
 
 Non-emission. A man may be able to have connection, 
 with perfect erection, but having no emission following, and 
 no feeling of pleasurable sensation. 
 
 " Among the causes of this, the most frequent, perhaps, 
 is stricture, often of old standing. In such a case the me-
 
 352 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 chanical obstruction prevents the passage of the semen, and 
 it is only when erection has passed away that the fluid oozes 
 out. In very severe cases, I believe, the semen, if emitted, 
 passes back into the bladder, instead of forward, and may 
 be noticed in the urine in the form of a thick, viscous sub- 
 .stance. But I would here warn the reader against mistaking 
 for semen all deposits observed in the urine. These are of 
 the most miscellaneous and varying composition. Mucus 
 from the bladder, the lithates, the phosphates, produced by 
 a variety of causes which this is not the place to inquire 
 into, and which only a medical man can diagnose. True 
 semen is very rarely found in any perceptible quantity de- 
 posited in the urine." Non-emission may also be caused by 
 a want of consentaneous action between emission and erec- 
 tion, or by complete obstruction of the vasa deferential. 
 This disorder, as a rule, requires surgical treatment 
 
 l\
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MASTURBATION ITS CAUSE, RESULTS AND CURE. 
 
 OOKS and pamphlets on this 
 subject, in great numbers, for 
 scores of years past, have been 
 printed and widely dissemi- 
 nated ; and yet, if we are to 
 believe those physicians and 
 educators whose paths lie 
 across the records of deeds 
 done in secret, masturbation 
 is as prevalent and perhaps 
 more so in our day as in 
 days gone by. In schools 
 and out of schools females 
 as well as males married as 
 well as single are to be found 
 those bearing the imprint of the great wrong done their 
 souls by this low, debasing, unmanly, cowardly practice of 
 self-abuse. 
 
 The extent of this vice cannot be ascertained-' its nature 
 prevents it ; but that it is, in connection with sexual excess, 
 lowering and undermining the health, strength and ability 
 of thousands of the young who otherwise would make 
 their mark in this world is palpable to all who possess the 
 skill to rightly judge from plainly visible effects back to le- 
 gitimate causes. 
 
 23 391
 
 354 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 The practice of this vice, so common among boys, and 
 not very uncommon among girls, is one of the great reasons 
 why they never attain distinction in their educational en- 
 deavors, or attain high positions in the world's department 
 of work. 
 
 Let us glance at some of the results of masturbation, as 
 affecting the health and character of the individual ; the ar- 
 ray is altogether an undesirable one : headache, dyspepsia, 
 costiveness, spinal disease, epilepsy, impaired eyesight, pal- 
 pitations of the heart, pain in the side, incontinence of urine, 
 hysteria, paralysis, involuntary seminal emissions, impotency, 
 consumption, insanity, etc. It must not be understood that 
 these diseases are always caused by this degrading vice ; but 
 that they are often so caused, abundant evidence will show. 
 Affecting so markedly the physical part of the individual, it 
 affects in as marked a manner the moral department of the 
 masturbater. 
 
 "He lays down his nobleness, dignity, honor and man- 
 hood, and is no longer bold, resolute, determined, aspiring, 
 dignified, but becomes depreciated, irresolute, undermined, 
 undetermined, tamed, and conscious of his degradation. No 
 longer comprehensive in planning, efficient in executing, cor- 
 rect in judgment, full of thought, strong in intellect, courte- 
 ous in manner, noble in mien, and gallant to woman ; but 
 he becomes disheartened, uncertain in his plans, and ineffi- 
 cient in their execution, and a drone to himself and society. 
 So, too, the female, diseased here, loses proportionably the 
 amiableness and gracefulness of her sex, her sweetness of 
 voice, disposition and manner, frer native enthusiasm, her 
 beauty of face and form, her gracefulness and elegance of 
 carriage, her looks of love and interest in man and to him, 
 and becomes merged into a mongrel, neither male nor fe- 
 male, but marred by the defects of both, without possessing 
 the virtues of either." 
 
 Thousands of sick ones are treated for diseases that nei- 
 ther physician or friends know the real cause and nature of.
 
 MA S TURBA TION. 3 5 5 
 
 Consumption or a wasting fever resembling it carries off 
 its thousands yearly. Insane asylums, whether the keepers 
 allow it to be so or not, are more than half filled by the vic- 
 tims of this degrading vice. Says Dr. Workman, in his An- 
 nual Report of the Toronto Lunatic Asylum : 
 
 " There is one cause, of a physical form, which I fear is 
 very widely extended, but which I almost dread to mention, 
 which all over this continent appears to be peopling our asy- 
 lums with a loathsome, abject, and hopeless multitude of in- 
 mates. Its victims are not intemperate ; nay, indeed, not 
 unfrequently very temperate as to indulgence in alcoholic 
 beverages ; these are very modest, very shy, very (dare I 
 say it ?) pious as such, at least, they often are sent here, 
 with sufficient credentials ; very studious, very nervous, very 
 everything save what they really are. * * * * I have 
 recently made a careful scrutiny of the character of the cases 
 of insane men on behalf of whom applications have beei* 
 made, and from whose friends and physicians details, in our 
 circular form, have been received. The result has been 
 frightful. I hesitate to state the proportion in which I feel 
 fully assured or morally certain secret vice is present. * 
 * * * In hardly any instance is it found that parents 
 have any suspicion of its existence, when they place the vic- 
 tims in the asylum ; indeed, very many of them appear to 
 be totally ignorant of the very existence of such a habit ; 
 and nothing can be more painful and embarrassing to an 
 asylum physician than correspondence by letter with such 
 persons, when the conviction is established in our minds that 
 the insanity of their beloved one is associated with the de- 
 structive habit, and that in all probability it has been pro- 
 duced by it. The very frequent, indeed almost invariable 
 observance, that the habit of secret indulgence is encoun- 
 tered, not in persons of rough manners and what are called 
 coarse morals, but in those of an opposite character ; not in 
 the grossly ignorant, nor even in the profane, but in the bet- 
 ter informed and passingly religious ; not in the lover of
 
 356 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 manly sports and invigorating enjoyments, but in the osten- 
 sible economizers of constitutional power, and the shunners 
 of youthful frivolities ; not in those who, in language or in 
 acts, are regarded as overstepping the limits of modesty or 
 chastity, but among those who evince no wish to mingle 
 with the other sex, or sometimes, indeed, evince an utter 
 aversion to it; the observance of these and many other re- 
 lated facts, has constrained me to the belief that modern so- 
 ciety, modern training, and modern exaction, are all too se- 
 vere upon youth." 
 
 To refute the argument that love and religion are the 
 prime causes for insanity, Dr. Workman says : 
 
 "The skillful physician, who measures the ffceble, paltry, 
 accelerated, yet lazy pulse who feels the clammy, cool, 
 somewhat repulsive skin who notes the pallid countenance, 
 the waxy features, and frequently foul breath who tries to 
 gain one steady, confiding, open look from his patient, and 
 whose questions in a certain suspected direction are met with 
 hesitation, equivocation, or affected mortification, well knows 
 how much truth there is in the charge against love ; and he 
 will, in similar cases, acquit religion. 
 
 " I have in strong remembrance a case apparently charge- 
 able to religion. The patient, before entering here, did 
 hardly anything but attend prayer-meetings and preachings ; 
 he was away from one church, and off to another, as fast as 
 opened doors permitted him. In the climax of this fervor 
 he was sent to the asylum. We know how much religion 
 had to do with his insanity not more than smoke has in 
 kindling the fire from which it proceeds." 
 
 Dr. Workman well asks : 
 
 " What is to be done to check the progress of the evil ? 
 for that it is progressing and accumulating is beyond doubt. 
 Surely the right course cannot be to avoid all notice of it, 
 or to do all we can to ignore its very existence ; much less 
 to manifest disapproval of those who proclaim the evil. Yet 
 this is exactly what many do. It is unnecessary to speak
 
 MASTURBATION. 357 
 
 more pointedly; those who have so done will be able to ap- 
 ply these remarks it is to be hoped profitably and will 
 see that they have erred in believing that their mistaken del- 
 icacy is to be regarded as the equivalent of their neglect of 
 duty. The first rational step toward the removal of an evil 
 is the recognition of its existence and the ascertainment of 
 its magnitude. Can it be right that, through a fastidious 
 delicacy on the part of those possessed of information, the 
 youth of our country should be permitted to fall into the 
 traps and pitfalls with which their paths are studded ? Of 
 all the hidden dangers besetting them, assuredly none is of a 
 more hideous or more destructive character than that here 
 alluded to." 
 
 What are some of the causes for the adoption and prac- 
 tice of masturbation by boys and girls, and its continuance, 
 in very many cases, to manhood and womanhood ? The 
 great underlying cause, that of perverted amativeness, is un- 
 doubtedly transmitted by the parents to the child. As al- 
 ready explained in a former chapter, the husband and wife, 
 in their life of lust and licentiousness, especially during the 
 ante-natal life of the child, endow in full measure the quality 
 of abnormal and perverted amative desires in the nature of 
 the child. The child, on arriving at five, eight, or ten years 
 of age, adopts, as naturally as it would the observance of 
 any other transmitted quality, the exercise of its perverted 
 amativeness, by the only means known to it that o} 
 self-abuse. Especially will it be prompt in adopting thia 
 foul and sickening habit, if its father in connection with the 
 exercise of licentiousness during the child's ante-natal life . 
 has at any time of his life practiced self-abuse. A father^ 
 having been at any time of his life a masturbater, and lead- 
 ing other than a perfectly chaste and continent life during 
 the child's growth in the mother's womb, will, as surely as 
 night succeeds day, have a child that will likewise mastur- 
 bate. There is no doubt about this. A man and woman, 
 perfectly healthy, closely observing the Law of Genius in
 
 358 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 the development of a new being, will have a child that will 
 grow up to perfect manhood or womanhood without even 
 the thought of masturbation entering his or her head ; and 
 if, on attaining a reasoning age, they are advised and in- 
 structed in the right object and use of the sexual depart- 
 ment of their system, they cannot, by example or otherwise, 
 be made to do this unclean thing. 
 
 It being decided that transmitted abnormal amativeness is 
 the underlying cause for masturbation in children, let us 
 glance at some of the immediate exciting and predisposing 
 causes. 
 
 One of the most effective of the exciting causes is wrong 
 dietetic habits. That a child as thousands are can be fed 
 on highly seasoned and gross food lard, eggs, pastry, ani- 
 mal food, pepper, salt, candies, pickles, tea, coffee, etc., and, 
 as very many are, on some form or other of alcoholic liquors 
 and not have amative desires, is utterly impossible. Feed- 
 ing with food, gravies, pies, tea and coffee, to a five or ten- 
 year old angel from heaven, would produce in it a tendency 
 to self-abuse, avoiding all mention of a child of the earth, 
 born with an inherited tendency. 
 
 Uncleanliness of the body, sleeping on feather beds and 
 feather pillows, sleeping with bedfellows, unventilated sleep- 
 ing rooms, confinement in doors, constipation, worms in the 
 intestines, retention of urine, late suppers, tobacco and alco- 
 holic liquors, are a few of the many exciting causes inducing 
 this habit. 
 
 Example is often a strong and ruling cause, as is also the 
 practice that very many nursery-maids have in producing 
 friction of the genital organs of the child to keep it quiet. 
 The foolish practice that many parents have a reflex of 
 their own perverted natures of talking to children about 
 "sweethearts" and " lovers," will start a train of thought in 
 the child's mind that will lead to an early adoption of the 
 habit, if not already practiced. 
 
 Before giving the means necessary to effect a cure of this
 
 MASTURBATION. 359 
 
 disorder, it would be desirable to notice some of the signs 
 indicating the presence of the habit in the individual. Says 
 Dr. J. C. Jackson : 
 
 " Of the signs whereby masturbation is almost infallibly 
 indicated, impairment of nutrition, accompanied by capri- 
 ciousness of appetite, stands prominent. Proverbially true 
 is it, that all masturbating boys and girls, whether of younger 
 or older ages, are voracious eaters, though exceedingly ca- 
 pricious in their appetites, and are not satisfied with any food 
 unless it is so highly seasoned or highly flavored as to an- 
 swer for the present their apparent demands. I have never 
 seen a person who was a habitual indulger in this vicious 
 practice who could be satisfied, on any occasion, with the 
 presentation to him or her of nutrient food, simply yet 
 healthfully and relishably cooked. One of the signs, there- 
 fore, whereby I am led to decide whether or not persons are 
 in the habit of masturbating, is the particular disgust or dis- 
 like which they show for food, which they are otherwise ac- 
 customed to eat, if it is simply cooked. I could give a list 
 of articles which masturbaters have a great liking for, and 
 for which but very few other persons care, unless they are in 
 the same relative condition of health, caused by sexual ex- 
 cesses. I never knew a girl to eat lime off the wall, or to 
 chew up her slate-pencils, who was not to a greater or less 
 extent a victim of this practice. I never knew a boy who 
 was accustomed to eat lumps of salt without anything with 
 it, and in fact I might say who was a very inordinate eater 
 of salt upon his food, who was not, or had not been at some 
 period of his life, a masturbater. I do not believe that there 
 is a boy fourteen years old to be found in the United States, 
 who uses tobacco habitually in any form, who is not a mas- 
 turbater ; and I am sure that the same may be said with 
 truth of both boys and girls who are in the daily habitual 
 use of stimulating drinks, whether they be of liquors that 
 are distilled or those that are fermented ; also those who 
 have a passion, as we term it, for eating spices and condi-
 
 360 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 ments ; boys and girls who have a hankering after cloves, 
 cinnamon, carraway, mace, and the like, are surely habitu- 
 ally associated with this practice. 
 
 " Of girls, there is more liability to be deceived, in en- 
 deavoring to find out the causes for their apparent ill-health 
 than there is of boys ; because neither parents nor members 
 of the family, nor in fact physicians, are at liberty, under the 
 laws regulating the social relations of the sexes, to exercise 
 as frank, free and full inspection and examination into all the 
 causes that produce disease among females as they are among 
 males. Owing to this, masturbation is practiced with much 
 more unsuspiciousness among girls than among boys, espec- 
 ially at or about the time of puberty. If, at that period, the 
 girl shows any infirmity, feebleness, lack of vigor, or any- 
 thing of that sort, the mother has all her attention directed 
 toward the development of the menstrual function. She is 
 afraid that the child who is " getting to be a woman" is 
 likely to fail in the upspringing of this new activity, and to 
 have, in consequence, " a sick time ;" she is apt, therefore, 
 to draw a foregone conclusion about it, and to proceed to 
 " doctor" her daughter. In a large number of cases, what 
 are supposed to be the derangements of the menstrual func- 
 tion, consequent upon a girl's arrival at puberty, as shown 
 in her illness or perhaps severe sickness, should be attributed 
 to a habit of rousing up, by artificial means, her sexual or- 
 ganism to unnatural excitement, the reactionary effects of 
 which are seen in her morbid states of body, and about 
 which her parents and friends are so often alarmed. Let it 
 be borne in mind, then, by parents, whenever any such par- 
 ticular, unnatural, or unaccountable conditions of appetite 
 show themselves as I have alluded to in fact, when any 
 strange, out-of-the-way alimentive caprice, is exhibited by a 
 boy or girl, for which there is not the most obviously plain 
 interpretation at hand the exposition of it is to be had only 
 by and through the acknowledgment of the fact that the 
 party is a masturbater.
 
 MASTURBATION. 361 
 
 " Another sign of masturbation upon which I have accus- 
 tomed myself to place great reliance, and which I have sel- 
 dom known to be incorrect, is the particular gait which mas- 
 turbating girls and boys show when the habit has become 
 ripe in them. One used to close and specific observation in 
 this direction can detect a boy who is educated to this vice, 
 by the peculiarity of the motion which is discernable at the 
 junction of the locomotive organs with the body. Such a 
 victim, though he may be young, quite young, or though he 
 may be in his teens, walks, when you see him posteriorly, as 
 if he were stiffened. He does not show the peculiarity so 
 much when walking slowly, or when running very fast, as he 
 does when walking fast ; then he impresses the looker-on 
 that he is rheumatic, and suffering from stiffness in the small 
 of his back. As far as you can see such a boy, when he is 
 in rapid walking-motion, you can tell him. 
 
 " A masturbating girl who is past the age of puberty may 
 be known by her gait, notwithstanding the difficulties in the 
 way growing out of her style of dress, although it is by no 
 means as easy to settle the matter as in the case of the other 
 sex. Girls who have followed masturbating habits, from the 
 age of ten years up to that of seventeen or eighteen, show, 
 visually, strong indications of it in the failure of their gland- 
 ular development. Such persons are apt to be flat-breasted, 
 or, as we term it, flat-chested the breasts not filling as they 
 would do under better and healthier states of the nutritive 
 and secretory systems. They become round-shouldered ; 
 their heads seem to be dropping forward all the time, and 
 their shoulders are drawn forward, as if forced in that direc- 
 tion and kept there by mechanical appliances. They fall in 
 and become hollow at the pit of the stomach; and they uni- 
 formly, as masturbating boys do, sit crookedly. They are 
 particularly subject to a sideling gait, going one side *at a 
 time, as it were, as though there were a spirit of antagonism 
 set up between their organs of locomotion, one leg being 
 impelled to motion, while the other is as strongly impelled
 
 362 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 to rest ; and so alternations of activity and repose become 
 manifested more in opposition than in co-operation. This 
 gait or style of motion, therefore, may be characterized as a 
 wiggle rather than a walk, which peculiarity by such persons 
 is sometimes made more positive than is necessary in order 
 to conceal so much of it as is inevitable." 
 
 Lallemand observes : 
 
 " When a child, after having proofs of memory and intel- 
 ligence, experiences daily more and more difficulty in retain- 
 ing and understanding what is taught him, we may be sure 
 that it is not only from unwillingness or from idleness, as is 
 commonly supposed. Beside the slow and progressive de- 
 rangement of his or her healch, the diminished energy o 
 application, the languid movement, the stooping gait, the 
 desertion of social games, the solitary walk, late rising, livid 
 and sunken eye, and many other symptoms, will fix the at- 
 tention of every, 'ntelligent and competent guardian of 
 youth." 
 
 O. S. Fowler gives the following summary of the signs of 
 masturbation : 
 
 " The private sensualist may be further known by his pal- 
 lid, bloodless countenance, and hollow, sunken, and half- 
 ghastly eyes, the lids of which will frequently be tinged with 
 red ; while, if his indulgence has been carried very far, he 
 will have black and blue semi-circles under his eyes, and also 
 look as if worn out, almost dead from want of sleep, yet un- 
 able to get it, etc. He will also have a half wild, or half 
 lascivious, half foolish smile, especially when he sees a fe- 
 male. He will also have a certain quickness yet indecision 
 of manner ; will begin to do this thing, then stop and essay 
 to do that, and then do what he first intended ; and in such 
 utterly insignificant matters as putting his hat here and 
 there, etc. The same incoherence will characterize his ex- 
 pressions, and the same want of promptness mark all he 
 does. Little things will agitate and fluster him, nor will he 
 be prompt, or resolute, or bold, or forcible ; but timid, afraid
 
 MASTURBATION. 363 
 
 of his own shadow, uncertain, waiting to see what is best, 
 and always in a hurry, yet hardly knows what he is doing, 
 or wants to do. Nor will he walk erect, or dignified, as if 
 conscious of his manhood, and lofty in his aspirations, but 
 will walk and move with a diminutive, cringing, sycophantic, 
 inferior, mean, self-debased manner, as if depreciated and 
 degraded in his .own eyes ; thus telling you perpetually by 
 his shamed looks and sheepish manner that he has been do- 
 ing something low, contemptible and vulgar. This secret 
 practice has impaired both his physical and mental manhood, 
 and thereby effaced the nobleness and efficiency of the mas- 
 culine, and deteriorated his soul, beside having ruined his 
 body. 
 
 " He will, moreover, be dull of comprehension, incorrect, 
 forgetful, heedless, full of blunders of all sorts ; crude and 
 inappropriate in his jokes, slow to take the hint, listless, in- 
 attentive, absent-minded, sad, melancholy, easily frightened, 
 easily discouraged, wanting in clearness and point of idea, 
 less bright than formerly, and altogether depreciated in looks 
 and talents compared with what he would have been, if he 
 had never contracted this soul and body ruining prac- 
 tice." 
 
 In the adoption of a plan for restoration to perfect man- 
 hood, it is required as a preliminary that the habit be at 
 once abstained from. Few persons will defile themselves in 
 this unnatural way, when they learn the consequences such 
 acts will entail on their physical and moral natures. Total 
 abstinence being decided on, the next requirement is found 
 in right dietetic habits. Nothing but the very plainest and 
 simplest food should be used, and late suppers, or, what is 
 better, suppers of any kind, should be avoided. All kinds 
 of animal food, milk, eggs, spices, etc., should be shunned. 
 Ripe fruits, in their natural state or plainly cooked, brown 
 bread, wheaten grits, hominy, and vegetables plainly cooked, 
 are the best articles of diet for persons in this condition. If 
 patients have the courage to adopt, as near as they can, a
 
 364 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 starvation diet, though it will cause depressed feelings at 
 first, their recovery to perfect health will be much more 
 rapid. The bed or pillows should not be of feathers or of 
 down, but otherwise of material that will make it as hard as 
 can be endured without discomfort. The bed-covering 
 should be very light, even in cold weather ; the bedroom 
 should be thoroughly ventilated both night and day. " Early 
 to bed and early to rise" should be an invariable rule. No 
 second morning nap should be allowed, but as soon as the 
 person first awakes he should leap immediately out of bed. 
 When possible, sleeping on the back should be avoided. On 
 arising, the towel-bath, with thorough after-friction^ should 
 be taken daily, followed by a brisk walk out into the fresh 
 morning air, returning in time for breakfast. A sitz-bath of 
 cool or cold water, lasting for about fifteen minutes, may be 
 taken daily, at any hour most convenient. 
 
 The mind of the person must be directed in legitimate 
 channels. All thoughts that bear the impress of impurity 
 must be promptly dethroned, and the mind directed to the 
 subjects of his daily employment, and on plans and opera- 
 tions that look far outward into the future ; the past to be as 
 a dream, and, if possible, to remain as such ; the future to 
 contain some high aim, and the endeavor required to reach 
 such will carry with it a return to perfect health, perfect man- 
 hood and perfect happiness. No man (or woman) is born 
 into this world without having, in a smaller or greater meas- 
 ure, some predominant quality necessary to success in life, 
 the just exercise of which will not only benefit his fellow- 
 beings, but will, or should, perfect his own soul-life, in this 
 world, in preparation for the next. Let the patient find out 
 what particular department in life's workshop he is able by 
 his talents to fill, and, when decided on, let him with the 
 whole earnestness of his nature, the enthusiasm of a new- 
 found life, and the ardor of an earnest soul, follow out by 
 untiring application the attainment of his plans and de- 
 sires.
 
 MASTURBATION. 365 
 
 " Nothing serves so well to strengthen and sustain the 
 young person who has resolved to attempt self-reformation, 
 as a lively interest in the various reforms of the day ; and 
 in becoming a laborer in the cause of temperance reform, 
 health reform, moral reform, etc., he finds himself surrounded 
 by an influence which seems to buoy him up, and give him 
 energy and fortitude to accomplish his own particular reno- 
 vation of habits. His reading, and studies, and reflections, 
 should be carefully directed to practical and not to specula- 
 tive subjects. I do not mean that he should become a lead- 
 er among men in any sense, nor go forward as a champion 
 in any cause ; this requires all the vigor of body and energy 
 of mind that we find in those who have never wasted any 
 portion of their vitality ; but that he seek such persons as 
 associates, and try to identify himself with and interest his 
 feelings in the principles which they advocate." 
 
 The patient should so regulate his every-day employment 
 and exercise as to be tired, at least physically, if not men- 
 tally, when he retires to bed. 
 
 It requires nothing more than total abstinence from the 
 habit, and a close observance of the Plan of Life, to effect a 
 thorough and radical reformation. 
 
 Should seminal emissions result, as is often the case, the 
 plan of treatment given in the last chapter is to be adopted. 
 Marriage is sometimes recommended as a remedy for this 
 habit, especially when it has so grown on the individual as 
 to be difficult of treatment. The remarks made on page 
 344, in reference to marrying as a cure for seminal emissions, 
 are equally applicable here. The remedy, in its exercise, is 
 much worse than the disease, beside involving in filthy and 
 lustful associations the pure and clean nature of the new- 
 made wife. The man practicing self-abuse, and lacking the 
 force of will to adopt proper remedial measures, and daring 
 to give his enervated, shrunken, almost lifeless soul to the 
 purity, strength and beauty of a ripe womanhood, should, if 
 God would exercise a special indication of His displeasure,
 
 366 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 be stricken from the crown of his head to the soles of his 
 feet with palsy, and so make of him a living, yet a dead ex- 
 ample to. all whose thoughts lead them in the desire to marry 
 as a remedy for this filthy and soul-debasing practice. 
 
 In girls or women who practice masturbation, in addition 
 to the rules above mentioned, they must avoid all constric- 
 tion of dress. The wearing of corsets whether worn tight 
 or not or constrictions of any kind around the body, pre- 
 vent a free circulation of the blood, and also operate against 
 its purification, confining it in abnormal quantities in the pel- 
 vic portion of the body, and so irritating and creating a de- 
 sire in the sexual, department of the woman that must be al- 
 layed in some way either by an early marriage to the first 
 man offering, and the resulting sexual excess, by clandes- 
 tine and unlawful excess, or by self-abuse. This fact, hav- 
 ing for its basis physiological laws that cannot be gainsayed, 
 is an important one, in the easy treatment of young girls or 
 women for self-abuse. The fashionable women, or the imi- 
 tators of such, who wear corsets, long dresses, and a pile of 
 false or natural hair, covering that part of the brain in which 
 amativeness is located, will take as naturally to a life of sex- 
 ual excess legitimate or otherwise as would a whisky- 
 steeped, tobacco- flavored male sensualist. Such a woman 
 cannot possibly lead a continent life, and it is almost impos- 
 sible, in the nature of things, that she should lead other than 
 a life of sexual excess. 
 
 In young children, who have been led into the practice by 
 their nurses, it is only necessary to closely watch them, and 
 with right food, bathing, pure air, and exercise, they will 
 rapidly recover. 
 
 The requirements necessary for the prevention of mastur- 
 bation must, of course, commence before the generating of 
 the child, and continue during its ante-natal life. If parents 
 would only adopt the rules and suggestions given in Chap- 
 ters IX., XIL, and XIII., the habit of perverted sexual de- 
 sires in children would never exist.
 
 MASTURBATION. 
 
 367 
 
 Next in importance, as a preventive, is the instructing and 
 enlightening of children in the true use of their sexual or- 
 ganism. In a frank, kind, loving way, the parents should 
 instruct their boys and girls as to the nature, objects and re- 
 quirements of this great power for good or evil. They 
 should warn them against the danger resulting from abusing 
 it ; and if, by accident, they should personally see or be 
 asked to join in the practice, they should be instructed to 
 refuse, and in future to avoid such company. If parents, 
 through ignorance of the subject, or through false delicacy, 
 decline to do this, they should purchase popular works on 
 physiology, and place them in the hands of their children. 
 Parents who allow children to grow up without in any way 
 or at any time instructing or advising with them in the use 
 and abuse of the sexual department of their systems, do 
 them a very great and lasting wrong.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE THEIR CAUSES, TREATMENT 
 
 AND CURE. 
 
 NE of the first laws promul- 
 gated by the Almighty, in 
 the peopling of this earth, 
 was the command : " Be ye 
 fruitful and multiply" a 
 command that embodies in 
 its natural and legitimate 
 observance incomparable 
 happiness a happiness that 
 is above and beyond all else, 
 and supreme among the re- 
 quirements intended f o r 
 man's growth and perfec- 
 tion. When, through causes 
 avoidable or non-avoidable, 
 this divine law cannot be 
 observed, and no children 
 appear to bless and perfect 
 the love-union of the husband and wife, then there follows, 
 oft-times, great and life-long unhappiness and misery. For 
 the benefit of this last class a very large one is this and 
 the succeeding chapter written. 
 
 Apart from transmitted physical causes, sterility in most 
 cases is susceptible of removal under certain conditions ; yet 
 most women, believing themselves in perfect health, at least 
 368
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 360 
 
 not imagining they have any local disease which might be 
 the cause of their condition, think it a dispensation of the 
 Almighty that they should have no children, and therefore 
 take no further thought on the matter ; whereas, if they had 
 consulted a reliable physician, the difficulty would have been 
 explained to them, and perhaps removed, and a fruitful and 
 happy life secured. 
 
 Sterility in women. Sterility, as occurring in women, may 
 be divided into two classes the married woman who never 
 has Had children, and the woman who, having had one or 
 two, has nevertheless been sterile for many years. 
 
 There are two requisites necessary in a woman who is ca- 
 pable of being fecundated. The first is that she has arrived 
 at a mature age ; and the second, that she has not passed 
 the term after which conception is possible. 
 
 Those causes for sterility depending on violated physio- 
 logical laws will be first mentioned. Of these, the one that 
 meets us on the very threshold that of the unlimited sex- 
 ual excess of the newly married, stands prominent and par- 
 amount. If the newly married, before entering into the 
 " bonds," would but learn and know the laws that govern 
 their sexual organism, they would certainly avoid the path 
 that has led so many strong men and blooming women into 
 conditions that involve weakness, sickness, sterility, and pre- 
 mature death. Obeying no law, exercising blindly only the 
 animal of their natures, impregnation may result again and 
 again ; but, through the repetition and intensity of the act, 
 they destroy what they produce. After a time, should this 
 unnatural excess be continued, inflammation is set up in the 
 uterus, which inflammation soon becomes chronic, and, of 
 course, when this results, though impregnation may take 
 place, conception cannot, and sterility results sterility that 
 will be likely to last for years. This result in those newly 
 married explains the cause why so many of this class are 
 married three, four or five years before they have offspring. 
 
 A large proportion of the newly married have no desire 
 
 24
 
 3/0 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 for children, interfering as they would with their so-called 
 pleasures ; and, by causes above mentioned, they, without 
 knowing it, are generally successful in the fulfillment of their 
 wishes. But when, after a time, the desire is present as it 
 always is, sometime or other, in married people who are hu- 
 man it will be found that sterility in the woman or impo- 
 tence in the man asserts itself as a just punishment for laws 
 transgressed. 
 
 Again, notwithstanding sexual excess, impregnation and 
 conception may ensue and sterility not appear until after the 
 birth of one or two children. This is sometimes the result 
 of lacerations of the neck or lips of the uterus in the first 
 confinement. When such is the case, the accompanying 
 symptoms are those of painful menstruation, profuse leucor- 
 rhcea, etc. 
 
 Sterility may also result through inability of the uterus to 
 retain the impregnated ovum, in consequence of weakness 
 and relaxation of its fibres, caused by tight lacing, impure 
 air, want of exercise, etc. 
 
 When leucorrhcea is present, as it almost always is in the 
 above state, conception cannot take place. 
 
 Ulceration of the os cervix, or mouth of the uterus one 
 *if the most ordinary forms of uterine complaints in women 
 of leisure is a frequent cause' of sterility. 
 
 When, through long-continued self-abuse, the woman has 
 greatly lowered her supply of vital force, and especially when 
 she arrives at the stage where self-gratification is preferred 
 to natural intercourse with her husband, barenness almost 
 always ensues. 
 
 Again, through the almost ever-present and universal de- 
 bility in women, produced by such utter disregard of all 
 laws physical, mental or moral the uterus, from local 
 weakness or other causes, may 'be so displaced as to prevent 
 the entrance of the spermatic fluid into its cavity. This con- 
 dition will be easily understood by reference to figure 28, on 
 page 319. The flexion of the womb in the direction of the
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 371 
 
 rectum (A and D), or in the direction of the bladder (B and 
 C), so doubles the organ as to close at its neck the entrance 
 tc it, and thus preventing the semen entering its cavity. An 
 almost always present symptom of this condition is painful 
 menstruation. 
 
 " In these cases, the menstrual fluid being secreted within, 
 12 discharged with more or less pain, often with very great 
 accompanying suffering, by means of the muscular uterine 
 force. No such force is exerted, or can be, to force in the 
 seminal fluid, which consequently rarely reaches within the 
 uterus. I am convinced that this obliquity is the present 
 cause not only of sterility, but also of dysmenorrhcea, in 
 very many cases, from the number of such instances which 
 have, within a short time, fallen under my observation." 
 
 A prolapsed condition of the uterus will also favor stej-. 
 ility. 
 
 The treatment and cure for sterility caused as above, b> 
 sexual excess, general weakness, and lack of life-force, pro- 
 duced in any way, are found in the close observance of the 
 laws and suggestions to be found in Chapters IX., XL, and 
 XIII. Most sterile women believe themselves in perfect 
 health at least they do not imagine that they have any lo- 
 cal disease which might be the cause of their condition. 
 
 When there is displacement of the uterus present, the or- 
 gan must be returned to its natural position, and retained 
 there by the means stated in Chapter XXIII. 
 
 If, through any of the above causes, sterility is present, 
 it is only required that a return be made to a strictly chaste 
 and continent life, until such time as the wife and husband 
 are restored to vigorous and perfect health, when, if the di- 
 rections heretofore given for the generating of a new life be 
 observed, conception will surely follow. 
 
 The hymen, usually a thin and easily lacerated membrane, 
 may be so thick and strong as to prevent an entrance into 
 the vagina. .When this is the case, there is usually a small 
 opening through which the menstrual discharge escapes,
 
 372 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 causing some pain. But there are cases on record when no 
 such opening existed, and the menses had been retained un- 
 til the quantity was immense. The treatment required for 
 imperforated hymen is its division by the scalpel, and re- 
 quires the aid of a surgeon. Its division causes absolutely 
 no pain, and not even bleeding, and therefore no hesitation 
 need be entertained as to its removal. 
 
 Through ignorance of the parties on sexual subjects, even 
 a comparatively normal hymen may prevent the consumma- 
 tion of the act. Says Acton : 
 
 " So common is this ignorance, that it is far from seldom 
 that I have met with cases in which the hymen has never 
 been ruptured. I have no doubt that there are many hus- 
 bands and wives living together, who believe that everything 
 usual has taken place, although the marriage has never been 
 actually consummated, and that this is far from the least fre- 
 quent cause of infertility." 
 
 Through the effects of disease or accident, followed by 
 adhesive inflammation, there may result such a contraction 
 or stricture of the vagina as to prevent the consummation 
 of the act, and so prevent impregnation. Sterility caused 
 in this way can only be removed by very gradual dilitation 
 by means of prepared sponge, etc., and requires a long time 
 ^nd much patience. When the stricture is caused by inju- 
 ries, the difficulty of treatment is greatly increased. 
 
 The presence of tumors or other abnormal growths in the 
 vagina, or in the neck or mouth of the uterus, will also pre- 
 vent conception. When they are located in the neck of the 
 uterus, they may be so insignificant as not to be easily no- 
 ticeable, and yet large enough to fill the passage and prevent 
 the ingress of the seminal fluid into the cavity of the organ. 
 It usually requires, in the treatment of sterility caused by 
 intra-vaginal or intra-uterine tumors, that they be removed 
 by means that requires the presence of a physician ; al- 
 though, when of small growth, a rigid attention to hygienic 
 laws, and local and general baths, will often result in their 
 disappearance.
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 373 
 
 Stricture of the canal of the neck of the uterus often re- 
 sults after the subsidence of chronic leucorrhcea, and, until 
 removed, will prevent impregnation. 
 
 The Fallopian tubes may be ruptured or obliterated. 
 This occurs generally at the fimbriated extremity. Stricture 
 may also be present in the tube, as may also disease, de- 
 formity, or misplacement of its fimbriated extremity. 
 
 The ovaries, through chronic congestion or inflammation, 
 may lose their power to develop the germ-cell, and having 
 no service to perform, gradually wither and become atro- 
 phied. Tumors or dropsy may also destroy the ovaries, or 
 interfere with the fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube 
 in grasping the ripe ovum. 
 
 Congenital shortness of the vagina, preventing perfect co- 
 ition, is an incurable cause, although it may not be accom- 
 panied by sterility. A woman of short stature will have a 
 vagina also short, and if she marry a tall man, as very many 
 such women do, there always results great, and often intense 
 pain, when the sexual act is performed, and very frequently 
 sterility results. 
 
 The uterus itself may be absent A married lady who 
 recently came under my notice, on examination for an en- 
 tirely different object, was discovered to have no uterus, the 
 vagina, about two inches long, ending in a cul de sac. This 
 very rarely occurs. 
 
 The ovaries are sometimes feebly developed, and occa- 
 sionally are entirely absent. 
 
 Impotence in man. " Impotence is the term given to all 
 those morbid conditions in man or woman which are op- 
 posed to the physiological union of the two sexes that is 
 to say, coition ; or, in less accurate language, it may be said 
 to be general inability to consummate marriage. Sterility is 
 the term reserved for all those morbid states which, either in 
 the one or the other sex, prevent the reproduction of the 
 species. When, however, the term sterility is mentioned, it 
 more especially applies to the female, and is synonymous
 
 374 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 with what is generally known as barrenness impotency be- 
 ing usually applied to the man. 
 
 " The forms that impotence assumes are various, though 
 the result is the same in all cases namely, inability to per- 
 form the sexual act. Thus, a man may be entirely impo- 
 tent, whether he has or has not erection attendant on desire. 
 Again, there may be only a partial erection, lasting an in- 
 sufficient length of time for penetration ; or the erection may 
 be so weak, or the emission so quick, as practically to render 
 the man impotent; or a man may be impotent from no 
 emission at all taking place ; or emission may not take place 
 until some time after connection has been attempted." 
 
 In the man, as in the woman, continued sexual excess 
 will so lower the vital force of the body, and as a sequence 
 destroy the life-generating power of the seminal fluid, as to 
 make him, at least for a time, impotent. When this is the 
 case, it is only required that the person adopt for a season a 
 continent life, to regain, in a measure, his power to repro- 
 duce. 
 
 Excess in early married life is almost always certain to 
 produce impotence late in life. 
 
 A temporary impotency is sometimes produced by intense 
 and continued mental effort, but is always removed when the 
 drain on the nervous fluid ceases, and the body regains its 
 normal condition. 
 
 Masturbation, when practiced for some time, always results 
 in impotency. The very nature of the habit tends in that 
 direction. Lallemand says : 
 
 " This solitary vice has a tendency to separate those prac- 
 ticing it from women. At first, of course, it is on the sex 
 that their thoughts dwell, and they embellish an ideal being 
 with all the charms of imaginary perfection ; the habit, how- 
 eve/-, .which enslaves them little by little, changes and de- 
 praves the nature of their ideas, and at last leaves nothing 
 but indifference for the very reality of which the image has 
 been so constantly evoked to aid their criminal indulgence."
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 375 
 
 Says Acton : " This strange phenomenon, of self-abuse 
 affording greater gratification than does intercourse with the 
 other sex, the idea of whom, after all, creates the excite- 
 ment, is more common than generally supposed, and more 
 in accordance with what we should expect than at first sight 
 appears. The masturbater, as Rousseau has described, has 
 to picture in his imagination all the female charms that can 
 exist, so as to be able to rouse his flagging sexual desires. 
 But when he attempts for the first time, or at long intervals, 
 to accomplish sexual intercourse, he finds much difficulty 
 and very little pleasure." 
 
 The cure for masturbation, and restoration to perfect man- 
 hood, has been fully given in Chapter XXV. 
 
 Want of sexual feeling in the man, and a dislike or dis- 
 gust for the wife, are also given as occasional causes for im- 
 potency. 
 
 " Want of sympathy or want of feeling, on the woman's 
 part, is not an infrequent cause of apathy, coldness, indiffer- 
 ence, or frigidity on the part of the husband. A first failure 
 will so annihilate a man's sexual feeling, that he is never able 
 or anxious to attempt connection the second time. Again, 
 there are cases of amiable men who carry the consideration 
 for the woman they love to such an extent, as to render 
 themselves practically impotent, for very dread of inflicting 
 pain." 
 
 Non-descent of the testes is a cause of partial impotence, 
 and almost always attended by sterility. There may be ex- 
 ceptions to this rule, but they are rare. 
 
 The presence of hernia, with the required use of trusses, 
 seriously interferes with the reproductive powers ; especially 
 is this noticeable when a double truss is worn. Relief, in 
 most cases, can be secured by the careful and judicious al- 
 teration in the size, shape, point of pressure, and method of 
 attachment of the truss. 
 
 The enlargement of the veins of the cord varicocele is 
 another disorder that, in its severe forms, aggravates, if it
 
 376 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 does not produce impotency. A suspensory bag, right 
 bathing, and careful attention to diet will generally remedy 
 the disorder. 
 
 One of the most common causes of impotence in the man 
 is produced by stricture of the urethra. When the stricture 
 is of a serious nature, after connection the semen will either 
 dribble away, or be thrown back into the bladder. The 
 proper treatment for stricture has been given in a previous 
 chapter. 
 
 Obesity is another cause for impotency. " That impo- 
 tency in males frequently depends upon fat, may be consid- 
 ered an established fact. There is every reason to believe 
 that the same cause occasionally induces sterility in fe- 
 males." 
 
 The cure for sterility or impotence, when produced by the 
 cause last named, is the careful avoidance of food containing 
 the fat-producing principle ; by a very abstemious diet ; by 
 bathing and thorough friction of the skin ; by active daily 
 exercise ; and last, but by no means least, a life of strict 
 continence. 
 
 I will here embrace the opportunity to remark, that a 
 plain, abstemious and simple life is always favorable to fe- 
 cundity. Let the husband and wife determine to live on the 
 plainest kinds of food, and in as near its natural condition as 
 possible, and bearing in constant remembrance that they 
 should eat only to live ; take daily a reasonable amount of 
 healthful exercise, and live, as much as they can, in the 
 open air and sunshine ; bathe frequently, accompanying it 
 with friction of the entire body, thus keeping the skin al- 
 ways clean and bright ; avoid feather beds and pillows ; keep 
 regular hours; live a chaste, continent and lovable life, and 
 the command to " increase and multiply" will be easy of at- 
 tainment. 
 
 Impotency may also result from abnormal conditions of 
 the erectile tissue, as manifested in slow erection, non-erec- 
 tion, imperfect or irregular erection ; or it may be caused by
 
 STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE. 377 
 
 non-emission of the semen, as mentioned above ; by obliter- 
 ation of the canal of the urethra, from stricture or other 
 causes ; by a natural phimosis, confining the gland in such a 
 manner as to prevent the emission of semen ; by retraction 
 of the organ, from stone in the bladder or some other uri- 
 nary disease ; and lastly, constitutional syphilis or chronic 
 gleet may destroy, by its admixture, the vitality of the sem- 
 inal emission. 
 
 Temperament as a caiise. Similarity of temperament in 
 the husband and wife has been advanced, by some latter- 
 day physiologists, as being one of the causes of sterility; 
 and when children have resulted from such a union, their 
 early deaths are always predicted. No more foolish doc- 
 trine has ever been promulgated. The assertion that a 
 man and woman of well balanced and precisely similar tem- 
 peraments, in perfect health when marrying, will, bemuse of 
 this similarity, be sterile, or, if they have children, they will 
 die prematurely, has no foundation in fact or fiction. The 
 union of a man and woman, both of whom are in perfect 
 health I care not what their temperaments be, whether 
 they are precisely alike or totally dissimilar cannot be oth- 
 erwise than fruitful, and they cannot have other than healthy 
 children. When a husband and wife who, through supposed 
 temperamental conditions, are sterile, let them adopt a con- 
 tinent life, and follow it out until they both, under condi- 
 tions mentioned in the Plan of Life, regain in full measure 
 their health of body and mind, and then let them proceed to 
 generate a new life under conditions given in these pages, 
 and I will stake my existence on an unequivocally desirable 
 result healthy, beautiful, intellectual children, and many of 
 them.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SUBJECTS OF WHICH MORE MIGHT BE SAID. 
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS. 
 
 NWARD, with steady tread, 
 does progression, the great 
 active and vital principle of 
 this, as of all other worlds, de- 
 velop all that is required in 
 the growth, toward the per- 
 fection of laws, required in the 
 social and moral governments 
 of the human race ; and in no 
 way is this so palpable as in 
 the emancipation of woman 
 from the slavery and thraldom 
 of past ages. Hitherto looked 
 on in the light of property, 
 and, as property, subject to 
 the whim and caprice of her 
 owner abused, maltreated 
 victimized, used for the exercise of his lust, his passion, his 
 vanity ; bartered and sold she is now in a fair way of se- 
 curing what she is and was entitled to from the days of 
 Adam equality in freedom of thought and action, and right 
 in person and property equally with man. 
 
 The non-progressives of society the drags upon the 
 
 37
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS. 379 
 
 wheels of human progress assert that women not only do 
 not desire this freedom, but that, should they receive it, it 
 would in a measure unsex them, and render them unfit for 
 the peculiar sphere allotted to them. No more absurd doc- 
 trine was ever promulgated, for in proportion as women de- 
 sire, receive and act out the freedom that rightly belongs to 
 the lowest as well as the greatest of God's representatives on 
 earth, just in that proportion will they be enabled to attain 
 perfection and enjoy happiness, and, as a sequence, be able 
 to fill their sphere, be it in the quiet walk of home or in the 
 excitement of legislative debate; be it in the rearing of a 
 family, or in governing the destinies of a nation ; be it in 
 educating the youthful mind, or in preaching Christ's Gospel 
 of salvation. 
 
 Out of slavery comes superstition, imbecility, weakness, 
 degradation, and a lapse backward into the shadowy 
 depths of hell. Out of freedom come liberty of thought 
 and action, strength of mind, firmness of will, perfection of 
 body and soul, and a sure and steady growth into the glori- 
 ous light, joy and happiness of heaven. 
 
 Women who are inert, or who oppose this movement for 
 equal rights with men in property and self, know not what 
 they do. If such women have men's adulation and appro- 
 bation, they think that naught else is requisite, forgetting 
 in the fullness of their vain, frivolous, egotistical lives that 
 they, separately and individually, will have to answer in the 
 day that is coming for the use or abuse of the talents placed 
 in their keeping, and that their natures the unawakened 
 capabilities, undeveloped love-power, and untrained soul-life 
 can only grow into a resemblance and counterpart of that 
 of the great Master, by the privilege of the most perfect 
 freedom of thought and action, and the fullest rights in both 
 person and property consonant with the rule of rules the 
 Golden Rule. 
 
 If men could but understand and realize that the keeping 
 of woman in her old sphere of serfdom prevents their own
 
 380 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 growth into a more perfect manhood, they would, without 
 the delay of an hour, not only grant her all the freedom 
 which they now possess, but also would educate her into the 
 great and glorious advantages resulting from the acquire- 
 ment of that freedom. 
 
 As are the women of a nation, so are the men of a na- 
 tion ; as are the women of a family, so are the men of a fam- 
 ily. Keep a. woman a mother in bondage, and the low 
 conditions that spring from a life of bondage will develop 
 themselves in her sons the future men of the nation. Al- 
 low a woman a mother freedom, and the noble and radi- 
 ant conditions that are born of freedom will develop them- 
 selves in her children the future men and women of the na- 
 tion. These vital facts cannot be misunderstood or contro- 
 verted by any one who has carefully read and fully under- 
 stood the chapter in a former part of this work on the Law 
 of Genius, and the immense and almost unbounded influ- 
 ence of the mother on the destiny of the child during its. 
 pre-natal influence. Endow a woman with the right of suf- 
 frage, the right to her own person, and the right to her own 
 property rights that are as much of a necessity to every 
 one of God's children as the right to live and, if she be a 
 mother, the influence appertaining to the exercise of these 
 rights will, in the life of the child, develop all that tends to 
 make man and woman true, pure, charitable, and Christ- like 
 citizens of this present world, and God-like citizens of the 
 next. 
 
 To be more explicit : the rights that women should strive 
 for, obtain, and exercise, are : 
 
 1. The right of suffrage. 
 
 2. The right to own, possess, and manage property. 
 
 3. The right to a share in the management of the govern- 
 ment of the country local and general. 
 
 4. The right to adopt any employment in life for which 
 her capabilities adapt her with equal pay for equal work. 
 
 5. The right, equally with man, to all the advantages ap-
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS. 381 
 
 pertaining to the various educational institutions throughout 
 the land. 
 
 6 and last, but certainly not the least the right to her 
 own person. 
 
 The violation of this last "right" by the man and hus- 
 band, whose existence centres in the animal, and the sensual 
 pleasures that come of perverted amativeness, has done 
 more for woman's debasement, degradation and misery, than 
 has the violation of all the other " rights" enumerated. This 
 fact will be more fully understood and appreciated by those 
 who have read Chapters IX. and XL, but especially Chap- 
 ter XXII. 
 
 Let unprogressive men object and oppose ; let inert 
 women despise and decry ; the time must come is even 
 here when, notwithstanding the galling servitude of ages, 
 all womankind will secure in full measure liberty and equal- 
 ity equally with man, and the perfection and happiness that 
 comes of 'its exercise. 
 
 All honor to the noble women and brave men, the ad- 
 vanced apostles in the cause of universal emancipation the 
 perfect freedom of the whole human race, irrespective of col- 
 or, sex, or nationality for in doing this, the work of their 
 lives, they have advanced, with mighty strides, the kingdom 
 of God on earth. Their reward in the next life will be great 
 and enduring. 
 
 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 An ever-recurring question to mothers is : " What shall 
 we do with our daughters ?" and the almost constant solu- 
 tion is : " Get them married." So the plan of life for the 
 daughter is arranged. She is put to school, where she ac- 
 quires the accomplishments necessary to the securing of the 
 condition aimed at these accomplishments tending, as a 
 rule, to make her life more than ever a superficial and de- 
 ceitful one. Her " education" finished, she lives in a condi-
 
 382 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 tion of comparative idleness and dependence until the hoped- 
 for event is reached. 
 
 Even allowing this to be the true mode of life to be 
 adopted for girls and young women which it certainly is 
 not one- quarter to one-half of these women cannot be- 
 come wives. In England and Wales there are from four to 
 five thousand women who are obliged to remain single in 
 consequence of the excess in numbers. In Massachusetts, 
 in the year 1860, the women outnumbered the men by thirty 
 thousand ; and in the State of New York there are nearly 
 forty thousand more women than men, between the ages of 
 fifteen and twenty, and the same relation holds good with 
 nearly all the older States. This large number of women, 
 who have no hopeful chance of getting married, must do 
 either of two things live a life of dependence, or work, 
 and the question presents itself: "What can they do?" 
 Heretofore, unmarried women have been restricted to serv- 
 ice, sewing, teaching, or writing occupations of a necessity 
 that are crowded, making the pay for labor done very small. 
 The remedy a simple one is to throw open to her every 
 avocation for which she possesses a decided talent. Equally 
 with boys, she should be started in life with the purpose of 
 acquiring and cultivating the qualities necessary to the trade 
 or profession she is to adopt. She should not only be born 
 with a talent or genius for the department of life which she 
 is intended to fill, but she should be reared and educated to 
 it ; and, on attaining majority, she should keep the object in 
 view with a singleness of aim and steadiness of purpose that 
 will preclude the dreaming and castle-building appertaining 
 to marrying and marriage. In doing this, should the offer 
 of marriage present itself, and it consort with the Law of 
 Choice, good and well. Should the offer not present, or if 
 presented be undesirable, still good and well; for a woman, 
 young or old, having in her, by transmission or thorough 
 cultivation, the talents which when exercised, make her in- 
 dependent, she can enjoy the pleasure of life much more in-
 
 WOMAN'S WORK. 383 
 
 tensely, whether married or unmarried, and much more so 
 unmarried than when married and not mated. 
 
 " We do not see why women should not do light work on 
 the farm, keep books, become tellers in the banks, agents 
 for insurance companies, engage in various kinds of busi- 
 nesses, enter the professions. At present her education un- 
 fits her for many of these, but training comes from experi- 
 ence. No one can learn how to swim until he goes into the 
 water. When we enter upon this experiment, then women 
 will learn from practice to do many things for which both 
 she and the community now think her unfitted. 
 
 "When a young man becomes of age, he is expected to 
 take care of himself, and this stimulates him to exertion. 
 In the few cases of rich men's sons, who rely upon their 
 fathers, we see what the effect of dependence is. Generally 
 it robs the young man of energy, and begets habits of idle- 
 ness and indulgence. Can our girls be trained to depend- 
 ence without like results ? 
 
 " We do not advocate a plan of life, or system of educa- 
 tion, which ignores the generic differences of sex. What we 
 maintain is, that woman should be trained to do the work 
 for which she is fitted, and should do this just as men do 
 theirs. 
 
 " What can she do ? This must be determined by trial, 
 and not be prejudiced by false theories. The changes that 
 have already been made have improved her industrial and 
 social position. It is comparatively within a short period 
 that woman's work was limited to domestic service, sewing 
 and teaching. 
 
 " Let woman be trained to the employments which require 
 skill, and you at once raise her wages. Open new avenues 
 of work, and she will not be obliged to stitch her own death- 
 shroud. At once she becomes more independent, and rises 
 in intelligence. When young, the girl will not be simply 
 fondled as a doll, or treated as a toy, but be educated in 
 the invaluable habits of self-reliance and independence.
 
 384 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 Her character will be strengthened, and her faculties en 
 larged. 
 
 "But we are told that if you educate the daughter for a 
 distinct vocation or profession, you unfit her for domestic 
 duties. This is not true, as experience testifies. 
 
 "In fact, we maintain that the training which comes from 
 these varied vocations is a much better preparation for the 
 duties of a wife or mother than the girl gets at our fashion- 
 able boarding-school, or in a life of ease at home alterna- 
 ting between idleness and parties. We have vastly more 
 hope of the future generation, when our mothers early in 
 life are trained to some industrial employment or profession, 
 than now, when in so very many cases that period is 
 wasted." 
 
 Much encouragement, and much good, sound, practical 
 advice is contained in a late letter from Florence Nightin- 
 gale, who says : 
 
 " I have worked hard very hard that is all and I have 
 never refused God anything ; though, being naturally a very 
 shy person, most of my life has been distasteful to me. I 
 have no peculiar gifts. And I can honestly assure any 
 young lady, if she will but try to walk, she will soon be able 
 to run the ' appointed course.' But then she must learn to 
 walk, and so when she runs she must run with patience. 
 (Most people don't even try to walk.) 
 
 " I. But I would also say to all young ladies who are 
 called to any peculiar vocation, qualify yourselves for it as a 
 man does for his work. Don't think you can undertake it 
 otherwise. No one should attempt to teach the Greek lan- 
 guage until he is master of the language ; and this he can 
 become only by hard study. And, 
 
 " 2. If you are called to man's work, do not exact a 
 woman's privileges the privilege of inaccuracy, of weak- 
 ness, ye muddleheads. Submit yourselves to the rules of 
 business, as men do, by which alone you can make God's 
 business succeed ; for He has never said that He will give
 
 WOMAN'S WORK. 385 
 
 His success and His blessing to inefficiency to sketching 
 and unfinished work. 
 
 " 3. It has happened to me more than once to be told by 
 women : * Yes, but you had personal freedom.' Nothing 
 can well be further from the truth. I question whether God 
 has ever brought any one through more difficulties and con- 
 tradictions than I have had. 
 
 . "4. But to women I would say, look upon your work, 
 whether it be an accustomed or an unaccustomed work, as 
 upon a trust confided to you. This will keep you alike from 
 discouragement and from presumption, from idleness and 
 from overtaxing yourself. Where God leads the way, He 
 has bound Himself to help you to go the way. 
 
 " If I could really give the lessons of my life to my coun- 
 trywomen and yours (indeed, I fain look upon us as all one 
 nation) the lessons of my mistakes as well as of the rest 
 I would ; but for this there is no time. I would only say 
 work work in silence at first, in silence for years it will 
 not be time wasted. Perhaps in all your life it will be the 
 time you will afterward find to have been best spent ; an4 it 
 is very certain that without it you will be no worker. You 
 will not produce one ' perfect work,' but only a botch in the 
 service of God." 
 
 As far as women become self-supporting, they will be 
 emancipated from the bondage of dependence, and be more 
 free in respect to marriage. This relation will not be en- 
 tered upon to secure a support, as is so often done now, but 
 more from the promptings of affection. The home will not 
 be less sacred and hallowed, but will rest on a more secure 
 basis. 
 
 This movement in favor of woman's emancipation finds a 
 cordiality in the spirit and influence of Christianity. Every 
 step made in improving her condition has been stimulated 
 by the teachings of Christ. As we carry on this work, re- 
 ligion will be the gainer, society reap the benefit, and home 
 be made more effective. 
 
 25
 
 386 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 DIVORCES. 
 
 Marriage, as God intended it should be, differs 
 widely from the institution concerning which ministers, in its 
 performance, say: "What God has joined together let no 
 man put asunder." I do not believe that in thousands of 
 these so-called marriages God or His divine laws have any- 
 thing to do with them, for to imagine so would be to assert 
 that He is fallible. The great aim and object of existence 
 in this world is to perfect each one themselves, to help oth- 
 ers to do so, and to enjoy the happiness that comes of well- 
 doing. As a necessity to the attainment of this highest 
 state of perfection and happiness, the divine institution of 
 marriage was originated coeval with Adam and Eve on 
 earth. 
 
 That marriage, in our age, fails in this its divine purpose 
 is lamentably the case ; yet, in so failing, is it right that the 
 union should be continued, or a separation take place, or a 
 divorce be granted. The question, I think, is not difficult 
 of solution ? If a man and woman enter the state of mat- 
 rimony, and after a time discover that through deceit, hy- 
 pocrisy, intrigue or force, one or the other develops qualities 
 that tend to debase, degrade, and make miserable a human 
 life instead of elevating, ennobling, and making happy and 
 perfect two human lives then it is naught but right that a 
 divorce be granted, or at least a separation take place. I 
 hold that anything that is an obstacle to the individual's at- 
 tainment of perfection and happiness, in this life, should be 
 avoided or removed when it does not conflict with the right 
 of others ; and that therefore a wife who, although doing all 
 that her best nature can do to make her married existence 
 one of enjoyment and perfection, is nevertheless abused, 
 maltreated, or wronged in any of the many ways that sor- 
 did, licentious, brutal, or covetous husbands may demon- 
 strate, is perfectly justified by the laws of Nature, if not by 
 the laws of man, in separating or being divorced from such
 
 DIVORCES. 387 
 
 a husband. The same argument applies with equal force to 
 the man when the wife is the transgressor. 
 
 Yet, though I hold divorce to be a necessity under these 
 circumstances, I do not allow that it is right for either the 
 divorced or separated man or woman to again marry. It sa- 
 vors too much of uncleanliness, adultery and fornication. 
 It runs contra to all that is pure, clean and chaste, that a 
 separated or divorced man or woman should again marry. 
 Beside, such men and women are apt to make precisely the 
 same mistakes in forming new unions, and repeating the 
 same role of mis-mated miseries, separation and divorce, 
 making the institution that should be divine in its nature and 
 observance a mockery and a farce. 
 
 The subject is too deep and too broad to here enter large- 
 ly into details ; but let us look briefly at some of the causes 
 for this great proportion of mis-mated misery and the sub- 
 sequent separation and divorce. 
 
 Primarily stands out boldly the selfishness and lustfulness 
 (coupled with ignorance of physiological laws) of human- 
 kind in the choice of life-companions. When any of these 
 traits are in danger of being exercised, or physical laws 
 broken, the State or Government, as guardians of their peo- 
 ple's welfare, should step in and prevent the consummation 
 of what would be known by those better educated as certain 
 to terminate disastrously. 
 
 This is lamentably not the case ; for, " while one-half the 
 clergy spend their time and energies in denouncing divorces, 
 the other half seem equally busy in preparing the way for 
 them. We have already mentioned the case of an Episco- 
 pal clergyman in this city, who recently married a school- 
 girl of sixteen to a young fellow who applied to him to per- 
 form the ceremony, and cases of this kind are of constant 
 occurrence. A St. Louis paper states that a clergyman 
 there, after marrying one couple, wanted to know, in that 
 playful spirit so becoming to the clerical character, if there 
 were any other parties who desired to be married, when a
 
 3 88 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 couple of young people, deeming it a good joke, stepped up 
 and were married also. They were greatly surprised to 
 learn that the ceremony was no joke, but that they were ac- 
 tually made one, and compelled to live together, for better 
 or worse, till death. Yet these same clergymen will insist 
 that marriage is a divine institution that the parties to it 
 have been ' joined together by God,' and that they must not 
 be 'put asunder by man.' There is nothing more impious 
 than such pretensions, and nothing more prolific of divorces 
 than marriages thus performed." 
 
 Now, if ministers of God's Word teachers of the people 
 in the way of life act in this loose and careless manner in 
 the performance of what should be a divine institution, what 
 can be expected of the selfish, licentious and heedless mul- 
 titude, who hurriedly crowd into the doing of all that is 
 Hrong in life ? 
 
 As a preventive to mis-mated marriages, laws should be 
 enacted that would reduce the number of persons authorized 
 to perform the marriage ceremony. These authorized per- 
 sons, before being allowed to unite persons applying, should 
 .require sworn proof: I. That the man and woman have ar- 
 rived at proper ages (which proper ages are recorded in a 
 previous chapter) ; 2. That they are mutually willing to be 
 married ; 3. That they furnish evidence of good character 
 and good health ; 4. That they produce evidence that they 
 have never been heretofore married, and subsequently sepa- 
 rated or divorced ; 5. The consent of the parents or guard- 
 ians might or might not be deemed necessary, depending 
 on whether the laws allowed children to marry ; and that the 
 violation of any of these requirements be promptly followed 
 by a penalty, and that some one be appointed to enforce 
 such laws and penalties. 
 
 If the above precautions were adopted, and good faith 
 fully observed, coupled with the education of the masses in 
 the true laws of living, and the elevation of woman to an 
 equality with man, much if not all the misery, separations
 
 BATHS HOW TO TAKE THEM. 389 
 
 and divorces that appertain to married life would disappear, 
 giving place to marriages that would embody what God in- 
 tended they should ineffable peace, holy joy, intense hap- 
 piness, and the daily growth into a love so strong, so pure, 
 so radiant, as to imply fellowship with Jesus the Christ. 
 
 BATHS How TO TAKE THEM. 
 
 Scattered through these pages are allusions to the taking 
 of different kinds of baths. To enable the reader, or pa- 
 tient, as the case may be, to more fully comprehend their 
 nature, mode of employing, etc., is the object of their inser- 
 tion here. 
 
 Towel or sponge-bath. Rubbing the whole surface of the 
 body rapidly with a coarse, wet towel or sponge, followed 
 by a dry towel and after-friction with the hands, constitutes 
 this process. This bath may be taken daily, and is abso- 
 utely required in all those whose desire is, for clearness of 
 v kin and purity of body. 
 
 The sun and air-bath can be enjoyed only on a clear and 
 Bright day, when, with the body entirely nude, lying on a 
 .nattress or lounge, the direct and unobstructed rays of the 
 sun are allowed to fall on the body. Persons unused to this 
 bath should at first not remain in it longer than five or ten 
 minutes, gradually extending the time to thirty minutes. 
 The life-giving qualities of this bath, to be understood and 
 appreciated, require only an occasional trial. 
 
 Hip or sitz-batli. A small-sized wash-tub will do for 
 this, although tubs constructed with a straight back, and 
 raised four or five inches from the floor, are much the most 
 agreeable. The water should just cover the hips and lower 
 part of the abdomen. A blanket should be thrown around 
 the patient, who will find it also useful to rub or knead the 
 abdomen with the hands or fingers during the bath. This 
 bath may be continued from fifteen to thirty minutes. 
 
 Wet-sheet packing. On a bed or mattress two or three
 
 390 777^ SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 comfortables or bed-quilts are spread ; over them a pair of 
 flannel blankets, and a wet sheet (rather coarse linen is best) 
 wrung out lightly. The patient, undressed, lies down flat 
 on the back, and is quickly enveloped in the sheet, blanket, 
 and other bedding. The head must be well raised with pil- 
 lows, and care must be taken to have the feet well wrapped. 
 If the feet do not warm with the rest of the body, a jug of 
 hot water should be applied ; and if there is tendency to 
 headache, several folds of a cold wet cloth should be laid 
 over the forehead. The usual time for remaining in the 
 pack is from forty to sixty minutes. It may be followed by 
 a towel or sponge-bath. 
 
 The wet girdle. Three or four yards of crash toweling 
 makes a good one. One half of it is wet and applied round 
 the abdomen, followed by the dry half to cover it. Tt* 
 should be wet as often as it becomes dry. 
 
 Injections. These are warm or tepid, cool or cold. The 
 former are used to allay pain and produce free discharges ; 
 the latter to check excessive evacuations and strengthen the 
 bowels. For the former purpose a large quantity should be 
 used, and for the latter purpose only a small quantity. 
 
 General bathing rules. Never bathe soon after eating, but 
 only when the stomach is empty, or nearly so. The water 
 should be soft, and the room of a comfortable temperature. 
 No bath should be taken when a feeling of fatigue is pres- 
 ent. Between eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon is 
 the best time for bathing. After a bath is taken, and the 
 skin thoroughly dried, the surface of the body should be 
 briskly rubbed for five minutes with the dry hands. And 
 remember, that without proper and careful attention to diet, 
 exercise, rest, and pure air, bathing in itself will not amount 
 to much as a health restorative. 
 
 QUACKS, DRUGS, AND PATENT MEDICINES. 
 Patients who may be afflicted with any disease mentioned
 
 QUACKS, DRUGS, ETC. 391 
 
 in Chapters XXIII. and XXIV., must, if they desire a quick 
 recovery, avoid, in any shape or any form, or under any 
 conditions, the leeches who, through ingeniously devised ad- 
 vertisements, circulars, or yellow- covered pamphlets, pro- 
 pose, for a consideration in advance, secretly and confiden- 
 tially to cure them of their trouble. These quack doctors 
 are a curse to civilization. They never get a victim within 
 their cunningly contrived coils, but that they rob him not 
 only of money, but of health and often in such a measure 
 that they never recover it. In the testimonials of cure they 
 flourish, they lie ; in the assertion that they studied in Lon- 
 don or Paris, they lie ; in the declaration that they are reg- 
 ularly graduated M.D.'s, they very often lie; and in their 
 promise to cure, they lie knowingly and understandingly 
 lie. The lives of these men or rather charlatans are 
 made up of brazen-faced hypocrisy, low cunning, theft and 
 lying hypocritical in their assertions, cunning in their ex- 
 pressions, thieving in their extortions, and lying in all they 
 do or say. When a man has transgressed and suffers the 
 penalty, let him, if he be a young man, confide in his pa- 
 rents or the family physician, instead of writing to some far 
 distant, or personally applying to some near by quack. The 
 parents will advise and suggest, and the family physician, or 
 any other physician or surgeon of good repute, will help him 
 to a cure, and both will do so without the smallest breach of 
 trust. It is through fear of exposure that many patients are 
 led to consult with quacks, but such patients should under- 
 stand that no physician living in their immediate neighbor- 
 hood, having a just regard for his own character and repu- 
 tation, will allow the slightest hint to escape concerning the 
 maladies of any of his patients. Therefore, avoid all man- 
 ner of quack doctors, for, no matter in what form they pre- 
 sent themselves, they carry in their wake deceit, robbery, 
 and disease aggravated and intensified. 
 
 If one could, by some sleight-of-hand endeavor, convert 
 a small portion of every drug and patent medicine into the
 
 392 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 embodiment of a quack doctor, they would represent and re- 
 quire for their exposition precisely the same words as have 
 been applied to these self-same quacks, with the additional 
 result that premature death much sooner overtakes the vic- 
 tims. Drugs, no matter in what form, under what condi- 
 tions, in what quantity, under what name, patented or oth- 
 erwise, have been, are, and will continue to be, in proportion 
 to their use, a great and positive curse to God's human family. 
 This great and almost universal delusion namely, that by 
 the taking of drugs or patent medicines a sick person can be 
 restored to health, is shown in all its absurdity, in the suppo- 
 sition that what will make a well person sick will make a sick 
 person well. This is a great fallacy, as is sadly shown by 
 the millions that have passed off from the earth's surface, be- 
 fore half their days were spent Since the creation of the 
 world or since the days of Hippocrates, if you will drugs 
 never have cured one single person having disease of any na- 
 ture. When it is asserted they have done so, it will be found 
 on close examination and argument that the person has re- 
 covered comparative health in spite of the drugs, and not 
 through their influence.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE HOW SECURED. 
 
 UPPOSING the husband and wife 
 to have been united under the 
 conditions mentioned in a former 
 part of this book, it would hardly 
 be necessary to say much con- 
 cerning the heading of this chap- 
 ter, for they would in fact could 
 not well help living, an enjoy- 
 able, harmonious, and lovable 
 married life. 
 
 But, unfortunately, where one 
 couple are united under physiological principles, there are a 
 hundred thousand that are not, and, as an almost certain re- 
 sult, there follows unhappiness in some one or other of its 
 many developments. Now, if these "married but not 
 mated" parties would notice and follow a few plain, gener- 
 ally applicable, and easily observed rules, they would do 
 much toward mitigating the many trials that appertain to 
 married life as exemplified in this nineteenth century. 
 
 In the choosing of husbands and wives, it is patent to all 
 observing minds that the selfish and secretive faculties large- 
 ly predominate with the vast majority of human-kind. Af- 
 ter a few days of wedded life after the glamour that at- 
 taches itself to the exercise of the lustful that is in them is 
 exhausted idiosyncrasies of habit and character that neither
 
 394 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 admire or desire show themselves in each other ; and it may- 
 be, and often does happen, that in due time a separation or 
 divorce is secured on account of " incompatibility." It is a 
 noticeable thing that these same parties who have rushed 
 out of an unhappy union on account of "incompatibility," 
 are just as ready to rush into another marriage, seemingly 
 quite as injudicious as the one they have escaped from. 
 
 The first great requirement necessary in those whose de- 
 sire is for a happy and lovable married life, is that the hus- 
 band and wife come to a definite and conclusive understand- 
 ing as regards the Law of Continence. The faithful observ- 
 ance of this law I consider one of the fundamental require- 
 ments in a successful married life. A life of chastity is pre- 
 eminently a true and lovable life, while a life of lust leads 
 very far from the growth of two souls into one. It should 
 be allowed by the husband that with the wife should rest the 
 question as to the time when she wished to accept the sa- 
 cred trust of maternity. What a great, dark, heavy cloud 
 would be swept off from the hearts of womankind married 
 womankind if this law, the right of woman to her own per- 
 son the right to deny all approaches, save and only when 
 she desired maternity was universally respected. But ah ! 
 the millennium is yet a very great way off, and although re- 
 form write'rs and speakers are doing much toward the de- 
 sired end, yet will women have to suffer, endure and wait. 
 
 If it can be agreed upon between the husband and wife 
 that they will endeavor, by the best efforts of their nature, 
 to live a pure, chaste and continent life, they will have made 
 a very long step in the direction of growth toward a perfect 
 unity of souls 
 
 A great assistance to a just observance of this Law of 
 Continence between the husband and wife is the occupying 
 of different beds ; for that matter, no two or more persons 
 should make a practice of habitually sleeping together, for 
 the reason that, by contact, the weaker in vital force will ab- 
 sorb from the stronger, and so produce in the stronger a loss
 
 A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE. 395 
 
 of power in the nervous system, as indicated by peevish- 
 ness, fretfulness, fault-finding, etc. For this reason, children 
 should not be allowed to sleep together or with grown-up 
 persons ; men should not sleep with men, women with 
 women, or should husbands and wives who desire to lead a 
 true, pure, and lovable married life habitually sleep to- 
 gether. 
 
 Especially should wives, when they imagine their hus- 
 bands have slighted or ill used them, avoid recounting their 
 troubles to some " very dear friend," who, in nine cases out 
 of ten, will so argue the subject as to make the wife really 
 begin to feel that she is sadly abused, and in a dreamy way 
 to think of separation. The only proper plan is to go to 
 the husband, and in a quiet way recount to him her sup- 
 posed grievances. It may be, and is often the fact, that the 
 husband may be entirely ignorant of the pain or trouble he 
 carelessly is inflicting, and only requires his attention drawn 
 to the fact to prevent a repetition. 
 
 Perfection, in the very far off future, may appear on earth, 
 but just now the human race lacks the elements necessary to 
 this end. To look for perfection in a husband or wife is 
 simply an absurdity. We all have our faults, failings, and 
 backslidings. Some of these are infinitessimal in their pro- 
 portions, and capable of being remedied by earnest endeav- 
 or ; while some of them are so glaring and positive in their 
 character as to be a deformity in the soul of the individual. 
 Of the small faults the disputes, the differences, the sudden 
 angers, etc. the explosives of imperfect human souls, these 
 would I most urgently advise the husband and wife to strive 
 earnestly to avoid. It is astonishing how, with the vast ma- 
 jority of mankind, and especially womankind, little trifles, 
 little troubles, and little pains will cut so much deeper and 
 last longer than would any great wrong. When anything 
 has occurred that appears in the remotest way to disturb the 
 harmony of married life, immediately should the party who 
 has done the wrong make a full and open confession. It is
 
 396 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 hard for some to do this especially is it so for the majority 
 of men but it is the only true way of reparation ; confess, 
 and promise to try not to repeat the deed done. Our Sa- 
 viour has said : " Offences will come," and at the same time 
 He gave the remedy, good for all time : " Go and tell it be- 
 tween thee and him alone." The neglect of this simple rule 
 has been not only a cause of estrangement between hus- 
 bands and wives, but between relatives, friends and neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 Says Alger, in his "Friendships of Women :" 
 
 " Let a husband be the pure and true guardian of his fam- 
 ily, laboring always to adorn himself with the god-like gems 
 of wisdom, virtue, and honor ; let him bear himself in rela- 
 tion to his wife with gracious kindness toward her faults, 
 with grateful recognition of her merits, with steady sympa- 
 thy for 'her trials, with hearty aid for her better aspirations, 
 and she must be of a vile stock if she does not revere him 
 and minister unto him with all the grace and sweetness of 
 her nature. 
 
 " Let a wife, in her whole intercourse with her husband, 
 try the efficacy of gentleness, purity, sincerity, scrupulous 
 truth, meek and patient forbearance, an invariable tone and 
 manner of deference, and if he is not a brute he cannot help 
 respecting her and treating her kindly, and in nearly all in- 
 stances he will end by loving her and living happily with 
 her. 
 
 " But if he is vulgar and vicious, despotic and reckless, so 
 as to have no devotion for the august prizes and incorrup- 
 tible pleasures of existence ; if she is an unappeasable ter- 
 magant or a petty worrier, so taken up with trifling annoy- 
 ances that wherever she looks ' the blue rotunda of the uni- 
 verse sinks into a housewifery room ;' if the presence of 
 each acts as a morbid irritant on the nerves of the other, to 
 the destruction of comfort and the lowering of self-respect, 
 their companionship must infallibly be a companionship in 
 wretchedness and loss.
 
 A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE. 397 
 
 " The banes of domestic life are littleness, falsity, vulgar- 
 ity, harshness, scolding, vociferation, an incessant issuing of 
 superfluous prohibitions and orders, which are regarded as 
 impertinent interferences with the general liberty and repose, 
 and are provocative of rankling or exploded resentments. 
 The blessed antidotes that sweeten and enrich domestic life 
 are refinement, high aims, great interests, soft voices, quiet 
 and gentle manners, magnanimous tempers, forbearance from 
 all unnecessary commands or dictation, and generous allow- 
 ances of mutual freedom. Love makes obedience lighter 
 than liberty. Man wears a noble allegiance, not as a collar, 
 but as a garland. The Graces are never so lovely as when 
 seen waiting on the Virtues ; and, where they thus dwell to- 
 gether, they make a heavenly home." 
 
 Closely allied to a man's disposition or " temper," as also 
 the woman's, is the food they eat and the stomach they put 
 it into. I have no doubt that in thousands of cases, from 
 the baby up to the father, these " offences" of disposition in 
 the members of a family are caused by indigestion, badly 
 cooked and unhygienic food, placed in a stomach for solu- 
 tion and digestion that is irritable, feverish, worn out, and 
 Incapable of promptly converting the mess sent down into 
 blood without many and positive expostulations, which ex- 
 postulations are sent by nerve-telegraph to the individual's 
 brain, producing in his soul that state of feeling best adapted 
 to be at war with all mankind, his family, and himself. There 
 is no doubt about it, that many a person feels irritable, pee- 
 vish, fretful, fault-finding, cross, etc., who only requires to 
 live on plain, unstimulating diet and two meals a day to re- 
 gain their normal and natural beauty and harmony of mind 
 and disposition. 
 
 Another requirement, in those who desire a pleasurable 
 married life is employment. It is a necessity to our exist- 
 ence on this earth that we work so that work, rest and 
 recreation will greatly assist to the end we are all striving 
 for : happiness and growth toward perfection. Now, if a
 
 398 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 wife be of the kind termed "lazy," and especially if she be 
 of the fashionably lazy variety, family quarrels, with their 
 attendant miseries, and perhaps eventually separation, are as 
 sure to follow as day follows night Show me a man who 
 lives and does not work, and I will show you a rascal. And 
 if a man or woman have not sufficient mental or physical 
 work to keep them employed during the day, you can assert 
 with a certainty that mischief, either of a physical or moral 
 nature, will result. These facts apply with full force in the 
 direction of all husbands and wifes who desire to live united 
 lives. 
 
 In the doing of work, great care must be taken not to 
 overlook its legitimate object. Work, as a road to wealth, 
 a fortune and retirement, runs contra to all divine laws; and 
 yet 
 
 "The great aim of the mass of mankind is, to get money 
 enough ahead to make them 'comfortable;' and yet a mo- 
 ment's reflection will convince us that money will never pur- 
 chase 'comfort,' only the means of it. A man may be 'com- 
 fortable'* without a dollar; but to be so, he must have the 
 right disposition that is, a heart and a head in the- right 
 place. There are some persons who are lively, and cheerful, 
 and good-natured, kind and forbearing in a state of poverty, 
 which leans upon the toil of to-day for to-night's supper and 
 the morning's breakfast. Such a disposition would exhibit 
 the same loving qualities in a palace or on a throne. 
 
 "Every day we meet with persons who in their families 
 are cross, ill-natured, dissatisfied, finding fault with every- 
 body and everything whose first greeting in t the breakfast 
 room is a complaint, whose conversation seldom fails to -end 
 in an enumeration of difficulties and hardships, and whose 
 last word at night is an angry growl. If you can get such 
 persons to reason on the subject, they will acknowledge that 
 there is some 'want' at the bottom of it; the 'want' of a 
 better house, a finer dress, a more handsome equipage, a 
 more dutiful child, a more provident husband, a more cleanly
 
 A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE. 399 
 
 or systematic or domestic wife. At one time it is a ' wretch- 
 ed cook,' which stands between them and the sun ; or a lazy 
 house-servant, or an impertinent carriage-driver. The ' want' 
 of more money than Providence has thought proper to be- 
 stow, will be found to embrace all these things. Such per- 
 sons may feel assured that people who cannot make them- 
 selves really comfortable in any one set of ordinary circum- 
 stances, would not be so under any other. A man who has 
 a canker eating out his heart, will carry it with him wherev- 
 er he goes ; and if it be a spiritual canker, whether of envy, 
 habitual discontent, unbridled ill-nature, it would go with 
 the gold, and rust out all its brightness. Whatever a man is 
 to-day with a last dollar, he will be, radically and essentially, 
 to-morrow with a million, unless the heart is changed. Stop, 
 reader, that is not the whole truth, for the whole truth has 
 something of the terrible in it. Whatever of an undesira- 
 ble disposition a man has to-day without money, he will 
 have to-morrow to an exaggerated extent, unless the heart 
 be changed the miser will become more miserly; the drunk- 
 ard more drunken; the debauchee more debauched; the 
 fretful still more complaining. Hence, the striking wisdom 
 of the Scripture injunction that all our ambitions should be 
 gin with this : ' Seek first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness that is to say, that if you are not comfort- 
 able, not happy now, under the circumstances which sur- 
 round you, and wish to be more comfortable, more happy, 
 your first step should be to seek a change of heart, of dis- 
 position, and then the other things will follow without the 
 greater wealth /" 
 
 The wife, equally with the husband, should guard with 
 jealous care, all secrets of home-life. Many wives have the 
 faculty of going around among their neighbors, and expos- 
 ing often in a greatly magnified form every little event 
 that transpires between the inmates of her household a 
 most reprehensible practice. Consider, I pray you, all the 
 troubles, differences and irritations, be they great or small,
 
 400 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 as inviolate secrets, known only to your husband, yourself, 
 and your God. 
 
 To a couple that are newly married, I think it is a neces- 
 sity to their happiness that they, in commencing a home- 
 life, exclude therefrom everybody mothers, brothers, fath- 
 ers, aunts, etc., who should not be allowed to help make up 
 the new household. The presence of any one or more of 
 these relatives prevents, in a thousand ways, the growth into 
 the aims involved in a true married life. Mothers-in-law, 
 especially, have an established reputation for starting little 
 troubles and differences between husband and wife. Of 
 course, there are mothers who are noble exceptions to this 
 rule, but alas ! they are rare. 
 
 Zchokke, in one of his tales, gives the following excellent 
 advice : 
 
 " In" the first solitary hour after the ceremony, take the 
 bridegroom and demand a solemn vow of him, and give a 
 vow in return. Promise each other sacredly, never not 
 even in jest to wrangle with each other, never to bandy 
 words or indulge in the least ill-humor. Never I say, nev- 
 er ! Wrangling in jest, putting on an air of ill-humor 
 merely to tease, becomes earnest by practice. Mark that ! 
 Next, promise each other, sincerely and solemnly, never to 
 keep a secret from each other, under whatever pretext, and 
 whatever excuse it might be. You must continually, and 
 every moment, see clearly into each other's bosom. Even 
 when one of you has committed a fault, wait not an instant, 
 but confess it. And as you keep nothing from each other, 
 so, on the contrary, preserve the privacies of your house, 
 marriage state, and heart, from father, mother, brother, sis- 
 ter, aunt, and from all the world. You two, with God's 
 help, build your own quiet world. Every third or fourth 
 one you draw into it with you will form a party, and stand 
 between you two. That should never be. Promise this to 
 each other. Remember the vow at each temptation. You 
 will find your account in it. Your souls will grow, as it
 
 A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE. 401 
 
 were, to each other, and at last will become as one. Ah, if 
 many a pair had, on their marriage-day, known the secret, 
 how many a marriage were happier than, alas, they are !" 
 
 When a married couple are really desirous of living a 
 true, pure, and harmonious life, the object to be aimed at, to 
 secure such a result, is the daily growth into unity of thought, 
 of purpose, and of mind. This approach to similarity of 
 souls constitutes the great secret of a perfect union. I am 
 acquainted with a gentleman who is eighty years of. age, and 
 also with his wife, who is seventy-five. You would imagine, 
 on first seeing them, that they were brother and sister, so 
 closely do they resemble each other ; and not only in the 
 face is this similarity noticeable, but also in their talk, ex- 
 pressions, and actions. Now this couple began married life 
 as country people usually do, and, of course, had their little 
 differences of character when first married ; but fifty 'years of 
 married life a simple, earnest, Christian married life has 
 resulted in the perfect union of two souls a union that will 
 be continued, and grow stronger, purer, and more Christlike 
 in the next world. In these days of unhappy marriages, 
 separations and divorces, it does one an infinity of good to 
 meet such a perfect married couple. Incidentally I may 
 mention that they have reared eleven children, every one of 
 them being alive and healthy ; and I may also mention an- 
 other fact namely, that the husband, every night of his 
 life, with his family gathered around him, reads a chapter in 
 the Bible, followed by prayer. Now it is jus't as easy for 
 the great majority of married people to emulate this couple 
 as it is for them to do the reverse. All that is required i 
 unbounded patience with each other, while each is trying to 
 wear smooth the jarring angularities that appertain to all 
 individualities. Smoothness and similarity come after a time, 
 and eventually growth into a perfect love-union results. 
 
 Does it ever happen, once in a hundred thousand times, 
 that a newly-married wife and husband, especially during the 
 so-called " honeymoon," ever bend their knees in prayer be- 
 
 26
 
 4>2 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 
 
 fore the throne of God, asking for His assistance, His guid- 
 ance, His love, in their new sphere of life ? I think not. 1 
 may be mistaken in the proportion ; but certainly, in tht 
 great majority of newly married lives, instead of thoughts oi 
 Christ and purity, will be found the works of lust and the 
 Devil. 
 
 Now I record it as an incontrovertible fact, that in no 
 married circle can true peace, love, purity, chastity and hap- 
 piness be found in which is not present the spirit of Christ, 
 and the daily and hourly striving after loving obedience to 
 His divine commands, and especially the nightly prayer for 
 blessings received or desires unfulfilled. 
 
 Let the married adopt and follow these hints ; let them ex- 
 ercise common sense, sympathy, sensibility and benevolence 
 toward each other ; let them wear the garb of modesty and 
 delicacy, cheerfulness and contentment ; let them grow into 
 a love of domestic life ; let them have children and love 
 them ; let them ever exercise the spirit of self-denial, never 
 omitting mutual concessions and forbearance ; let them ever 
 observe order and system, neatness and industry, economy 
 and frugality ; let them ever exercise the true and pure that 
 is in them, and nightly let their united souls join in prayer 
 to the Father of us all ; let them grow into the best part of 
 their natures, and grow out of the bad that is in them, and 
 with hearts, heads and destinies united, they will go up into 
 the Mount of Transfiguration, and bring to earth the King- 
 dom ot Heaven.
 
 Abortion, 232. 
 Age at which to many, 30. 
 Advertising for a wife, 61, 71. 
 Alcoholic liquors, use of, 66, 152, 210. 
 Amativeness, 95. 
 
 perverted, 67. 
 
 cause foiabuse of, 98. 
 
 After-birth, expulsion of, 247. 
 
 Amnion, 179. 
 
 Allantois, 179 
 
 Air and light, 191. 
 
 A happy married life how secured, 393. 
 
 Abdomen, enlargement of, 219. 
 
 Baths, 125, 192, 389. 
 
 riread, how to make, 123. 
 
 Bedrooms, 124. 
 
 Bathing rules, 390. 
 
 Beds, 124. 
 
 Business, retiring from, 164. 
 
 Blastodermic membrane, 176. 
 
 Burns, the poet, 200 
 
 Breasts, pain in the, 231. 
 
 Bladder, inflammation of, 331. 
 
 -+ Irritation of, 231. 
 
 Buboes, 334. 
 
 Causes for remaining single, 15. 
 Cousins, marrying, 55, 69. 
 Corpus Luteum, 80. 
 Cowper glands, 85. 
 Conception, prevention of, 108. 
 Continence, law of, 114, 162. 
 
 * definition of, 116. 
 
 Companions, choice of, 126. 
 Children, their desirability, 131. 
 
 beautiful, 160, 209. 
 
 idiotic, 214. 
 
 Crowded populations, 134. 
 Chastity, 162. 
 
 Conception of a new life, 169. 
 Chorion, 174, 179. 
 Costiveness, 228. 
 Chancroid, the, 332. 
 Colestrum, 84, 258 
 Cerebellum, 95. 
 Child, dressing of, 954 
 
 Child, Feeding of, 255. 
 Confinement, 238. 
 
 Preparations for, 242. 
 
 clothing in, 238 
 
 Food in, 239. 
 
 Drink in, 240. 
 
 Baths in, 241. 
 
 Injections in, 241. 
 
 Air and light in, 241. 
 
 Chlorosis, 312. 
 
 Dress and ornament, 54, 123. 
 Disposition, 162. 
 Decidua reflexa, 174. 
 
 vera, 174. 
 
 Diet of mothers during gestation, 189 
 
 Diarrhoea, 229. 
 
 Delivery, management of, 249. 
 
 Bandage after, 250. 
 
 Visitors after, 251. 
 
 Divorces, 386. 
 
 Divorced women, marrying, 58. 
 
 Early marriages, evil results of, 32. 
 
 Epididymis, 86. 
 
 Ejaculatory ducts, 89. 
 
 Eating, 122. 
 
 Exercise, 123. 
 
 Employment, 126. 
 
 Education, when it should be commenced, 145. 
 
 Egg, fecundated, 173. 
 
 growth of, 182. 
 
 Enlarged womb, 219. 
 
 Emissions, involuntary nocturnal, 343. 
 
 diurnal, 347. 
 
 Face, a beautiful, 54. 
 
 development of, 185. 
 
 Fallopian tubes, 78. 
 
 Fainting, 227. 
 
 Feet and limbs, swelling of, 231. 
 
 Farmers and farming, 146. 
 
 Fruit-growers, 156. 
 
 Foeticide, 275 305. 
 
 Gestative influence, period of, 188. 
 
 Graafian follicles, 78. 
 
 Genius, law of, 136. 
 
 definition of, 144.
 
 404 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Genius, principles of, 139. 
 
 Gestatory influence, period at, 141. 
 
 Geologist, 156. 
 
 Gonorrhoea, 325. 
 
 Gleet, 328. 
 
 Heartburn, 229. 
 
 Headache, 230. 
 
 Heart, palpitation of, 231. 
 
 Hysterical women, 51. 
 
 Hymen, 75. 
 
 Hip or sitz-bath, 389. 
 
 Hysteria, 231. 
 
 Impotence in man, 373. 
 
 Injections, 390. 
 
 Ill health in women, 51. 
 
 Intra-uterine growth, 173. 
 
 Introductory preparation, period of, 141. 
 
 Inventor, 154. 
 Infants, artifici 
 
 3.1 feeding of, 261. 
 weaning of, 262, 
 
 Jaundice, 232. 
 Law of choice, 36. 
 Love analyzed, 45. 
 
 mock, 46. 
 
 filial, 46. 
 
 brotherly, 46. 
 
 of God, 46. 
 
 Labia majora, 75. 
 
 ininora, 75. 
 
 Licentiousness, inherited, 211. 
 
 Longings, 226. 
 
 Licentious life, effects of, 118. 
 
 Labor, commencement of, 243. 
 
 Leucorrhcea, 320. 
 
 Masturbation, 353. 
 
 Marriage, 19, 25. 
 
 Marrying, objects in, 28. 
 
 Magnetism, 47. 
 
 Modern accomplishments, 53, 
 
 Men, effeminate, 68. 
 
 large, 68. 
 
 Menstruation, 81. 
 
 Mammary glands, 83. 
 
 Musicians, 157. 
 
 Moral sentiments, 159. 
 
 Money, feverish pursuit of, 164. 
 
 Morning sickness, 218, 
 
 Mammary changes in pregnancy, ai8. 
 
 Miscarriage, 232. 
 
 Milk fever, 253. 
 
 Meconium, 253. 
 
 Menstruation, absent, 307. 
 
 retained, 309. 
 
 suppressed, 309. 
 
 chronic, 309. 
 
 irregular, 309. 
 
 painful, 310. 
 
 profuse, 311. 
 
 cessation of, 312. 
 
 Napoleon I., 200. 
 
 Non-emission, 351. 
 
 Nipples, 83. 
 
 Nausea, 218. 
 
 Nursing influence, period of, 141. 
 
 Nipples, sore, 253. 
 
 Nursing influence, period of, a66. 
 
 Ovaries, 78. 
 
 inflammation of, 313. 
 
 Ovum or egg, 141. 
 Order and system, 313. 
 Phrenology, 59, 43. 
 
 Prolapsus uteri, 316. 
 
 Pruritus, 322, 2*). 
 
 Phimosis, 329. 
 
 Paraphimosis, 329. 
 
 Puberty, 31. 
 
 Placenta, 174, 181. 
 
 Purchasing wives, 38. 
 
 Piles, 226. 
 
 Patent medicines, 391- 
 
 Prostate gland, inflammation of, 331. 
 
 Pregnancy, ovarian, 8i. 
 
 abdominal, 82. 
 
 tubal, 82. 
 
 signs of, 218. 
 
 duration of, 220. 
 
 disorders of, 225. 
 
 Prostate gland, 85. 
 
 Plan of life; 122. 
 
 Quacks and drugs, 390. 
 
 Quickening, 219. 
 
 Religion, what it consists in, 159. 
 
 Sex, law of, 92, 154. 
 
 Syphilis, 337. 
 
 Spermatorrhoea, 347. 
 
 Sterility in women, 369. 
 
 Sun and air-bath, 389. 
 
 Soul-life, when it commences, 188. 
 
 Sexual congress during gestation. 194. 
 
 Salivation, 218. 
 
 Secretion of milk, 219. 
 
 Sleeplessness, 227. 
 
 Scrotum, 86. 
 
 Spermatic cord, 88. 
 
 Semen, 89. 
 
 Spermatozoa, 89. 
 
 Sexual excesses, effects of, 105. 
 
 Salt, 123. 
 
 Self-made men, 155. 
 
 Salivation, 232. 
 
 Teacher, 157. 
 
 Truthfulness, 153, 207. 
 
 Testicle, swelled, 331. 
 
 Transmitted influence, period of, 141. 
 
 Tabes dorsalis, 347. 
 
 Toothache, 230. 
 
 Towel or sponge-bath, 389. 
 
 Temperaments, 57. 
 
 Tobacco, use of, 65, 152, 210. 
 
 Testes, 86. 
 
 Urethra, structure of, 330. 
 
 Uterus, 75. 
 
 cavity of, 77. 
 
 structure of, 77. 
 
 inflammation of, 313. 
 
 ulceration of, 314. 
 
 tumors in, 315. 
 
 cancer of. the, 315 
 
 corroding ulcer of the, 316. 
 
 displacements of the, 316. 
 
 anteversion of, 320. 
 
 retroversion of, 319. 
 
 Umbilical cord, 247. 
 
 Vaccination, 232. 
 
 Vegetarianism, Adam Smith on, 15*. 
 
 Vegetarian diet, 149. 
 
 Vesiculae seminales, 89. 
 
 Vomiting of blood, 232. 
 
 Vitellus, segmentation of, 175. 
 
 Vulvitis, 322. 
 
 Viability of child. 221. 
 
 Vegetations, 331.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 Vagina, 75. 
 Va*deferens, 88. 
 Woman's rights, 378. 
 Widowers, 69. 
 Woman's work, 381. 
 Wife, how to choose a, jj. 
 Wet-sheet packing, 389. 
 Wet girdle, 390. 
 Waists, small, 52, 14*. 
 
 Will-power, training of, ia6, 14 j. 
 Wet-nurses, 259. 
 Women, small, 52. 
 
 strong-minded, 53, 
 
 lazy, 55. 
 
 Fashionable, 140. 
 
 Weaning, 262. 
 Widows, marrying, 38. 
 Zoosperms, 142. 
 
 AUTHOR'S NOTK 
 
 The subjects of Pre-natal Influence, Law of Continence, Law of Sex, etc , as con- 
 tained in this work, are of such manifest importance, and so intimately affect the wel- 
 fare of the human race, as to merit much more inquiry and investigation than has here- 
 tofore been bestowed on them. If any reader, in the fulness of a practical, observing mind, 
 has noticed any particular facts, or can make any suggestions, the Author would be 
 pleased to have such person communicate with him. No theories or fancies are desired ; 
 only facts practical, demonstrable facts. Letters to be addressed to cre of Publishers
 
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