1 "^'^^^^^^^ .^ustiu pfe»ttm CaUectim; cop ^ IJrcsPitted 1944 Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. University of Illinois Library M 2 1 136: JUfl -3 1 AUG 1 9 1981 A'JS IJAN 0 2 I98li DEC 1 8 ]9i DE C 01 of-} DEC 1 1 1992 OCT ;2 7 1994 OCT 0 4 I9S4 1981 15 JAN 2 8 1^' w L161— H41 THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE." THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE By JOHN COWAN, M.D. * Knowledge must precede virtue, for no chance act can be a moral one. We must KNOW in order to J)0." NEW YORK COWAN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS No. 746 Broadway 1870 If ever the reformation of the world is to be accomplished — if ever the millenium of purity, chastity and intense hap- piness reaches this earthy it can only do so throtcgh rightly di- rected pre-natal laws. 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. ten. L TO ALL THE MARRIED, BUT PARTICULARLY TO THOSE WHO CONTEMPLATE MARRIAGE, THIS BOOK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND LOVINGLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. INCE the creation of man, there has been no subject that so im- mediately concerns the Hfe 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 desideratum 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 involved, must embody perfection of body, brightness of intellect, and pu- rity of soul. In proportion as these principles are observed, 9» 10 PREFACE, just in that proportion will this earth be freed from sin, and happiness unalloyed prevail ; 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 cloud with the silver lining." 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 — that believes in a God and a life beyond the grave. Without doubt, there are errors of omission 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. Preface, Introduction, 9— -lO 19 — 22 Part First CHAPTER I. — Marriage and its Advantages. Men who are bqmarried Reasons advanced for remaining single Marriage a natural con- dition of adult itfe- — 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, , 30 — 35 CHAPTER III.— The Law of Choice. Its great importance It is as easily understood and as applicable as any other la^^ 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.— Ix^vE Analyzed. Is love, as popularly used, - feqiiirem^Lnt vn 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 its existence Sick- ness and filthy habits as a bar to its existence, 45 — 50 P2 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER v.— Qualities the Man should Avoid in Choosing. Transmitted disease Hysterical women Small waists Why their possessors are incapa- ble of making good wives Natural waists, or no wives Why large men should 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 are 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 Widows 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 CH^TER VL—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 of 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 The vagina Labia-r 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 — 84 CHAPTER VIII. — The Anatomy and Physiology of Generation in Man. Prostrate gland Cowper glands Testes Scrotum Structure of the testes Vasa recta Vasa deferens Spermatic cord Vesiculse seminales Ejactilatory ducts Semen Its nature, how it originates, and how perfected Spermatozoa Effect of first appearance of semen on boy Effect of its re-absorption in the continent man The 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, ... 85—94 ' (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 oa TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 by amativeness 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 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, 108 — 1x3 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 intercours*e 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 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 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 niother All the workings of this uijiverse, 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 CHAPTER X. — The Prevention of Conception. CHAPTER XI.— The Law of Continence. CHAPTER XII. — Children — their Desirability. CHAPTER XIIL— The Law of Genius. 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. appearance explained The immense importance of a right birthright on the future welfare of mankind Extending into eternity An 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 Farmers Farming the most desirable occupation in life Where they fail and how they fall 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 as 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 consumniation, . 169 — 172 CHAPTER XV. — The Physiology of Intra-Uterine Growth. Growth of the egg 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. IS nication 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. — Pregnancv, 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 XVIIL— Disorders of Pregnancy. The bearing of children a natural process Why some women have easy, and others difficult births The underlying cause of 111 health during pregnancy Nausea and vomiting Longings Fainting Sleeplessness Costiveness Diarrhoea Piles Pruritus Heartburn Toothache Headache Palpitation of the heart Swelhng 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, .... 224 — 237 CHAPTER XIX.— Confinement. Mode of life to be adopted to insure an easy birth Clothing Food that will prematurely harden the bones Food that 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 mdications 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, . 249 265 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 child 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 the health and character of the child Effect of mental effort on the nursing child The mother can transmit desirable mental and physical qualities to the child during this period Full directions to this end, 266 272 1 6 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 their 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, 253 367 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 hymen Struc- TABLE OF CONTENTS. 17 ture 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 vagina Undeveloped ovaries Impotencv 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 XXVn.— Subjects of which More Might be Saio. Woman's Rights Influence of slaver^' 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 for a divorced man or woman to again marry Some of the causes for the great proportion of mis-mated misery in married lives Selfishness and lustTulness Carelessness of ministers in uniting without question all who present ther.-i- 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, 378—392 CHAPTER XXVIII.— A Happy Married Life— How Secured. How it occurs that, after a few days of wedd(5d 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 difterences 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 whose desire is for a growth into a perfect love-union,. . 393 — 402 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Uterus and its appendages, - - - - - - - - ' - 75 The uterus, vertical section, - -- -- -- --76 Graafian follicle, near the period of rupture, . _ - _ - _ 79 Ovary, with Graafian follicle ruptured, --------So Graafian follicle, vertical section, - -80 Ovary, showing corpus luteum, - - - - - - - - - 81 Section of mammary gland, - - - - - - - - 83 The testis, 86 Vertical section of the testis, ---------88 Base of the bladder, with the vasa deferentia and the vesiciffe seminales, - - - 89 Spermatozoa, - - - - - - - - - - • ^ Appearance of human ovum at fourteenth day, - - - - - - ^74 2 1 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Impregnated uterus, showing the formation of decidua, - > - - . 17^ Impregnated uterus, showing how decidua encloses egg, - - - - - 174 Pregnant uterus, showing iormation of placenta, 175 Segmentation of vitellus, - - - - - - - - -176 Impregnated egg, showing commencement of formation of embryo, - - - 178 Human ovum at end of first month, - - - - - _ _ -179 Human ovum at end of third month, - - - - - _ -179 Gravid uterus and contents, - - - - - - - - -180 Placenta, showing maternal and foetal side, - - - * - . - 181 Head of human embryo at twentieth day, - 185 Head of human embryo at end of sixth week, - - - - - -186 Head of human embryo, at end of second month, j86 Prolapsus uteri, - - - - - - - - - - 3'7 Retroversion and anteversion, . - - . _ _ . -319 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 civiHzed 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 ill-mated 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 19 20 INTRODUCTION. 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 pleas-ant 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 continuance of the present state of society, as exemplified in its social relations, 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 rnust 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 reforms 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, brings the perpetrators thereof to a life of bodily sickness, mental suffering, and, in thousands of cases, is the direct and controlling means of shortening life. The one great cause for 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 which 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 superstructure for all the positively nervous, and nearly all the inflan^matory and chronic diseases that affhct 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 L 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, 25 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 Hved 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, having thq desire to marry, but who, 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. This 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. MARRIA GE AND ITS AD VANTA GES. 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 way is the certainty of success so 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 their nature into the practical, well knows that a small, soft hand, or a beautiful face, or a small waist, or graceful carriage, or good talker, 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 affect 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 eariier — 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, 30 AGE AT WHICH TO MARRY. 31 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 grgwth, 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 1 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, is much more noticeable ; for the life-power, changed from the building up to perfect growth of the body, is directed to the nqurishment 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 reaHties of Hfe, 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 waives 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, Avith 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, could 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. The union 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 are 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. Women, 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. r 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 hfe 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 that govern 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. 38 777^ 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 .f^///- 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 ofier. 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 individ-ual 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 quahties, 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 in the choice of a horse, property, or any business venture or speculation, than they do in the choice of a wife. This may have an appearance of exaggeration, yet it cannot Avell 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 for exercise of 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 and a higher and more aesthetic culture — that the man and woman 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 ; but THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. as wealth is but a minor requisite to happiness, it maybe 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 ever 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 w^ell-developed amativeness, a large love of offspring, a greater love for home and home 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 ; in all these things should the wife of his choice be in possession of The man having combativeness enough to resent 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 senise 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 non-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 tlie 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 augJit 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. ru . 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 impossibihty 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 45 46 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, all of it, and not succeed in being 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 pai't 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, as in 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 marjriage, 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 requirements 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 Avidely 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 who, in the space of say a month, is 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 perfeet 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 the adoption of 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 perfect love, there are other requisites 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 lease and building of my Love Is as the very centre of the Earth, Drawing all things to it."— Shakespeare CHAPTER V. QUALITIES THE MAN SHOULD AVOID IN CHOOSING. ) 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, if 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, U. OF ILL LIB. 52 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, there is no misery for a man greater than to be united to a woman of deHcate 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 attribute of 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 they encompass sickness, premature decay and death. Such women are not capable of pure love, or right judgment, or, what is so essen^tially 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 ; and, 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 110 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-sufii- 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 shines out bright and clear the benefits accruing from a personal, practical knowledge of details. Especially should you avoid being lured to an engage- ment through a superficially beautiful face — a face that may hide much other than the requisites for a true w^ife. 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, wdiile 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 aw^ay from the true line of a simple, chaste and pure life, and relapsing into barbarism. No Avoman 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 is as appli- cable to her inward life as to 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 the per cent, 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 w^as suspected to have existed in several other cases, in w^hich 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, Avrong 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 AVOID, 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 hving 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 Avill probably be no children ; or, if they have children, they will either be still-born, or die at the end of 58 777^ 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, would 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 up 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 w^ho 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 yoitr ev- ery-day attire and your 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 w^ife, 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 no other ; and, on comparing her 6o 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 pircise point is ar- rived at, love, inipnlse and the feelings should not he exer- cised, bnt 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 subjects 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, 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 feehngs 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, not one 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 AVOID. 6i 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 iinding none that will suit him — lie 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 w^ay 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 desire 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 — 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, very 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 thiere 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 especially be careful in avoiding 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, effecting 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 AVOID, 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 Jiow 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, and who therefore get, not to hke 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 difl*erent offers of marriage, and all of them from men of influence and position, simply because they used tobacco, and she remained single until the offer presented itself to accept 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 tobacio-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 liquors, 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 Avith moderate drinking of strong drinks, is not the man to look to for high hopes, pleasurable expecta- QUALITIES THE WOMAN SHOULD A VOID. 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 unpitifuUy 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 equality, 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 the accepting of an effeminate man, for they, lack- • ing the requisites that go to make a perfect man, and lacking the formation for a perfect woman, approach the mediocre, and are 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 same argument in the man's marrying his blood-rela- tions applies with equal force to women. She should not marry her cousin, or any man near 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. Or a man of irreligious and profane shade of mind. Or a man who is known to frequent gambling tables, and places of like character. 70 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. Or a man who has an established reputation as a mean, sordid, close-fisted man. Or a man who has the out-croppings of a lazy, inert, shift- less character, for such carry in their wake a world of untold misery. Or a man who treats his sister or mother unkindly or in- differently. Such treatment is a sure indication of meanness and wickedness. Or a 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. Soine women jump right into the fire zuith 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 ];ier 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 of 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, t\ comparison tell whether it 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 end. 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 WTong con- structions on it, and more especially because the world is 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, remam 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 GENERATION IN WOMAN. ) 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 knowledge of the carrying out of this desire for a new existence is the examination and study of the anat- omy and physiology of the reproductive elements — a knowl- edge that is essential to all who think of entering the mar- ried state — a study that should be as widely taught and known as are the rites that join the two in marriage. 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- 74 SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, 75 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 Hypten, 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. The Uterus, or womb, is the organ of gestation. Fig. I. The Uterus and its Append ages. An- 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; J J, Fimbriated Extremities ; K, Bristle passed through Ostium Abdominale; LL, Round Ligament 76 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 iLteriy 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, Fro. The Uthk.s, Containing the rectum. . , , 1 % ^- ,, T, . • • . • The cavity of the uterus Divided longitudinally, showing its interior cav- ^ ity. G, Mouth: C, Passage from Cavity to the is Small iu COmparisOn with Mouth; E, Triangular-shaped Cavity ; FF, Fal- ^< - lopian Tubes. the Organ; the upper por- SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, 77 tion, corresponding to the body of the organ, is triangular ; at each 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 muctis 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 imisctilar 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 mnctis 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 hning 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 intro-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 ol(3 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 licles^ which are lined with a layer of cells called the mcm- braiia gramdosa. Each one of these Graafian follicles con- tains a single ovinn or egg, which is a sm^ll, 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 of 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 to one-one-hundred-and-twen- tieth of an inch in diameter. It consists externally of a transparent envelope— the zona pelhiciday or vitelline vieni' brane — which is colorless and transparent. Within this, and in close contact with it, is the yelk^ or vitellns, 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 folHcle, 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. At the moment of rup- ture, or immediately after it, 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 bite- tnn. At the end of eight* or nine weeks it is reduced to the condition of an insignificant, yellowish, cicatrix-like spot, and on cutting Fig. 4. Ovary, With Graafian Follicle Ruptured, showing Egg .just discharged, with a portion of Membrana Granulosa. Fig. 5. Graafian Follicle, Recently Ruptured during Menstrua- tion, shown in lon- gitudinal section. SEXUAL ANA TOMY AND PHYSIOLOG Y, 8 1 open will have the appearance as in annexed engraving. After a period of seven or eight months it completely dis- appears. There is a dift'erence 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 Fig. 6. Ovary, condition of the entire system, known showing Corpeus Luteum nine weeks after Menstruation. usually as the rutting condition, or '^oestruation," 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 the 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 Avoman 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 ot 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 of Mammary some fifteen or twenty cylindrical 1 . 1*1 r \\ 1 AA, Galactophorous Duct; BB, ducts, which open finally, by as many Lobuu. 84 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. iE male 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 85 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 Sci'ottim 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 of 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 Ttniica 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 Albnginea 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 Ttmica Vascidosa is the vascular layer of the testis, consisting of a plexus of blood-vessels held together by del- icate areolar tissue. The stricctnre 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- 88 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, 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 netwoiik of anastomosing tubes, which constitute the rcte 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 Ejferentia ; 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- 9. Vertical Section of the Testis. A, Vas Deferens ; B, Spermatic Artery , C, Vas Aberrans; D, Body of Epididy- mis; E, Globus Minoj; F, Rete Testis; G, Mediastinum ; H, Vasa Recta ; I, Tu- nica Vaginalis ; K, Vasa Efferentia ; L, Globus Major ; M, Tunica Albuginea. SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 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 Vesiculce 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 tathat of the testicles. They meas- ure about two and a half inches in length, about five inches in breadth, and from two to three lines in thick- ness, varying much in size. Their upper surface is in contact with the base of the bladder, extending from near the termination of the ureters to the base of the prostate gland, and their under surface rests upon the rectum. •The Ejacidatory Ducts, two in number, one on each side, are formed by the junction of the duct of the vesiculas 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 semmis, which is transparent, colorless, and of an albuminous composition; and solid particles — namely, the seminal granules and sper- matozoa. ^\\^ Spermatozoa, or animated filaments, are the essential Fig. 10. Base of the Bladder, with the Vasa Deferentia and Vesicul.^?: SE^^^•ALES. A, Base of Bladder. B, Line of Reflection of Pe- ritoneum. C, Triangular Space. D, Vas Deferens. E, Vas Deferens Dissected. F, Vesicula Seminalis Duct. GG, Ureters. H, Vesicula Seminalis, Un- raveled Duct. I, Right Ejaculatory Duct. J, Prostate Giand. L, Urethra. 90 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, agents in producing fecundation. They are minute, elong- 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. SpJrmatozoa "'^^ reference to the engravings (Figs. 9 and a, Human; b, I o) this whole subject can perhaps be made of Rat. plainer. There is given off from the great artery of the body — the aorta — a short distance below the renal 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, is 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 Hved and does live a pure life, whose sexual organism has just awakened to life, when this secretion of minute cells SEXUAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, 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 sensuahst, 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 seminale3, 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 the 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- hcles 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 physiol- ogists have yet been able to fully comprehend. It is asserted by some that the parent possessing the greatest amount of vital force w^ill confer the sex of the off- spring. This may be so in some instances ; but the princi- ple involving no law, only accident or chance, amounts to nothing as a guide. Another theory is, that if conception takes place just be- fore menstruation the child will be male ; while if after, a fe- male. This is simply absurd. Again, some believe that the relative ages of the parents influence the sex of the offspring produced. To some ex- tent this may be so, and yet in no wise serve as an index to the discovery of the law. Others, again, imagine the moon has an influence in de- termining the sex ; while others assert that, if at the time of procreation the body be placed in a line with certain direc- tions of the compass, sexes can be produced at will. This theory is about as satisfactory as those before mentioned. The latest theory that will bear analyzing is that elabo- THE LA W OF SEX, 93 orated, 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 corresponding ovum, and that only ; that in coition the sperm is only injected from one testicle, which is drawn up in the scrotum immediately before the orgasm. His experiments on animals to prove this theory are said to have been successful in every instance. Whenever the left testicle was removed, the animal would only beget males ; and when the right one, only females — the same result being attained by extracting one or the other ovary from the fe- male. In the application of this theory, Dr. Sixt says : If, then, a boy is to be generated, the man has to mi- nutely observe the following rules : 1. He must, previous to coition, and before the spermatic vesicles become compressed by the muscles, lie to the right of his wife, put the right knee over first, for by so doing he produces a stronger tension of the muscle which is to draw up the right testicle, after which he draws in the left knee. 2. Take his position in such a manner that the right side becomes rather more strained than the left — therefore he is to bend the upper part of his body toward the left. If; however, in spite of all these precautions, from a trifling neglect, the left testicle should become drawn up toward the abdomen, it may be pushed down quite easily, without any violence or pain, during coition, and the right one pushed up at the same time, and then one may be sure of attaining the desired end, because it depends only upon the testicle, w^hether the right or left, being drawn up at the moment of the effu- sion. Nor is it to be apprehended that the testicle which has been drawn up once will afterward go down again through the motion, and the left one raised instead. And that the right testicle acts upon the right spermatic vesicle, which 94 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, alone is evacuated during the spasmodic effect upon the ner- vous system, has been sufficiently demonstrated before to need repetition here. It is almost superfluous to explain how girls may be gen- erated, as every reflecting person can easily infer it from the preceding. The man must, of course, lie on the left side of his wife, put the left knee across first, and stretch the upper part of the body more toward his right side, or lay his head upon the left shoulder of the woman, to effect a stronger tension of the larger abdominal muscles of the left side. In short, he has got to take care that the left testicle be drawn up toward the abdomen, and the right one remain down. Observing these rules, one may be sure to effect one's purpose, and become convinced of the correctness of my views. However, it is to be understood that in either case coition must be practiced in the same way, until it is no more doubtful whether the wife has actually conceived ; for if they were to cohabit both ways promiscuously, it would be better not to observe the above rules at all, and leave it to chance, inasmuch as it is not to be ascertained which out of the many coitions has been the fertile one." Though the subject has been thoroughly experimented on by Sixt, it yet needs closer and more extended observation to confirm the theory and establish the law. CHAPTER IX. AMATIVENESS — ITS USE AND ABUSE. HE cerebellum^ or little brain, is that portion of the ence- phalon that occupies the low- er occipital fossa, or the whole cavity of the cranium beneath the tentorium cerebeUi. 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 more complicated and numerous ; 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. 95 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 pecuhar 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- brum 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 AMA TIVENESS. 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 orga7i in the brain, the greater the pleasitre and happi- ness derived from its exereise. 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 know^n 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 or 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 animal food, 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- AMATIVENESS, 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 vesiculae 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 he 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- lOO 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 otJie^' than impure and sensnaL 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 Avhat 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, AMATIVENESS, lOI 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 recapitulate 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 w^eakened, 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 I02 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. and premature death as being caused by consumption, or some other disease of a hke 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 he has offspring his chil- dren's children will have taints of it? One of vthe saddest of sad cases to me was that of a boy five years of age — bright, intelligent and beautiful — a boy whom to see w^as 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 perehance the only, venture into the mire of prostitu- tion, this disease may claim the victim for its own, and which 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 for him. This is no overdrawn picture — nothing but plain, indispu- AMA TIVENESS. 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 Avard — 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 or 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, 7ievcr 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. I04 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. There are women — strongly passionate and often diseased — who, Hke 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 Avhen Avomen 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, 110 man or woman can possibly love or be loved wlio lives other than a life of striet eontinenee. 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 AMA TIVENESS. 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. io6 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 Av^omb, barrenness, abortion, and cancer of the womb or breast, are directly or indirectly caused by •excessive indulgence in married life. 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, friend^, 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, have 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 the desire to pre- vent undesirable results in the wife or betrayed woman. By those married, the reasons giv- en for the desire 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 full 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 no THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, man's health is the same, perchance worse, as 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, to discard 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 iii 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 w^ho are used by their husbands simply as usufructs — lay 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 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 eonneetion 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. ii 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 reproductive ele- ment in man is greatly mis- used, and the under- lying 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 record 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. 114 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 couFd, 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 Avhat 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. ii6 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 w^iole 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 cither Jmsband 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 trne solution of God's divine law in the government of the reprodnctive clement 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 hmit fixed for a life of purity and strict continence between the man and wife, I beHeve 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 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, Avith all the ac- companying misery — a strictly continent life is to be avoid- ed. A man having a large development of amativeness, ii8 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 Avould 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 d oes, 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 LA W 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 bhghted, and love, religion and God cannot dwell within him. Arrests his growth, and brings on premature old age. Destroys his manhood, and the ofi*spring propagated by him are sickly, scrofulous, deformed, and die prematurely. And is, all Si 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 I20 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 generally failed, because lacking in strength of will and firmness of purpose and the knt)wledge 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 in this way : 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 777^ LAW OF CONTINENCE, 121 semen from puberty to death, though the individual Hve a hundred years, and the frequency of involuntary nocturnal emissions is an indubitable proof that the parts, at least, arc 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. In 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 will 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 alcohohc 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 them 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 do not complete the work of destruction, the last invariably does. 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 LA W OF CONTINENCE. 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 saHvated, 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 unbolted, 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 Iwt 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. In 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 natu- 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 LA W OF CONTINENCE. 125 an important period in the life of the incontinent individual, and the plan all such should adopt is to leap oitt of bed tin- mediately they zvake 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 such will feel than if they had expended their 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 Avater, 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 w^ithout much trouble form the acquaintance of a class of associates that will lead him very far from the pure, chaste, continent life he hitherto had 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 7{p ; 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 lead 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 LA W 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 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 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, enumerated 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 short-lived life. The things below enumerated you are THE LA W OF CONTINENCE, 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 waking in the morning, and going to bed at an early and regular hour. 9 I30 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, Bedroom to be well lighted, and to be thoroughly venti- lated at nigJit 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 will 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. E necessity for advocating the desirability of propagating and rearing children, most readers may think a superfluity ; yet a few paragraphs on the sub- ject are, nevertheless, required. It is an essential requisite in 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, lovable 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 w^ealthier classes. It is the underlying cause for the so- called trouble in rearing children ; for when children are not propagated under right conditions, how can any sane parent 131 132 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 avoidance on the part of intelligent, educated and wealthy people of 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, and who therefore do not desire or 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- V 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 riglit conditions, beaitty is retained^ if not acquired, and old age is pnt off a very great way. A married Hfe 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 incornpleteness 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 lovable 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 must have bounded with honest exultation when he beheld such a calvacade 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 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, and exit from this beautiful world cannot be here re- corded. A noticeable requirement, in those Avho 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. 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 df 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 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 CHILDREN— THEIR DESIRABILITY. 135 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 capabiHties." • 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 lovable desire of the parents, and that these nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine children are en- 136 THE LA W OF GENIUS, 137 dowed with the accumulated sins of the parents, is it any wonder that there is so much sin, sickness, drunkenness, suf- fering, Hcentiousness, murder, suicide and premature death, and so little of purity, chastity, success, godliness, happiness and long life in the world ? If ever the reformation of the world is to be accomplished — if ever the millennium of pu- rity, chastity and intense happiness reaches this earth, it can only do so through rightly directed 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, unsuccessful Hfe. 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 Avere 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 enced 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 importance 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, immediately 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 absobUely any form of body and soitl the pareiits 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. I40 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. It is required, in the generation of healthy, inteUigent and lovable children, primarily that the woman have perfect health — and this implies a rigid observance of the Plan of Life in a former chapte/. 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 w^omen 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 they 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 tobacco and alcoholic liquors. That he be a continent man. That he be a Christian man. ^ And finally, and most important of all, that 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 prepm^ation. The next di- vision — the nine months of intro-uterine life, or the pei^iod of gestatory influence ; and the last division — the twelve months of nursing, the period of nursing inflnence. 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 lacks in firmness of texture, and this lack 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 — sperm- 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, fouf 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 four 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 Hve.'' 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 near as pos- sible the Plan of Life given in a preceding chapter. The principal requisite required to transmit desirable qual- ities to the offspring is simply 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 zvill follow out the principles of this ' Science of a New Life' — zve 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, accompHsh 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^Js so ; although, where cither parent has a com- bination of faculties that approximate in their 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, that 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 they equally possess genius. It is re- quired in a successful shoemaker as much as in a successful novelist that they equally 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 w^ho 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 in what particular department in the world's workshop he will enter. " Will we make of him a minister t)r 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 ehoiee of trade or profession for the Nezv Life be decided on before even its eoneeption. The mother and father must de- cide, before the commencement of the four weeks of prepa- ration, what character and occupation the future 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, lO 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 ahnost 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, weakens it ; 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, and hence 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. H7 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 large 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 great 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 against the rearing of clean, healthy and beauti- ful children, is the unnecessary filth that usually attaches it- self to farms and farmers whose ideality is undeveloped. A pure, sweet, healthy child cannot be raiseH in the vicinity of a hog-pen, and 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 happiest life on this earth. He should possess a small farm of not more than fifty acres. He should adopt one — not more than tw^o special- ities — 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 cleanHness 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 no way is the wrong life of the farmer so demonstra- ble as in the daily life of the women of his household ; for if there is 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 as 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 allow^s the woman time for recreation, reading, thought, observation ; while the farm-laborers, husband and family w^ill, 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 I50 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 in 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 the 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 LAW OF GENIUS. 151 quests, subsisted on vegetable productions. In the training for the pubHc 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 arc 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 the 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 fi^st thing the husband and wife are to 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 difter- 152 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, ent faculties ; an,d 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 do 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 his wife's organization absorbing from his nature the debilitating essences of the excretory de- partment of his body. This of itself is sufficient to trans- mit the habit, not mentioning 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 LA W 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 by thought, word or action ; for if there is one sin more wide-spread than another, in this our day and generation, it is the one 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, they should persistently avoid them, and stremt- onsly ciUtivate tJie 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 ^s 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 reproduce 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- 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 rnay suggest itself. What if we decide for 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 desired results, 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 w^oman 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 medioci«e men- companions. 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 prcpai^ation as wotdd 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 that 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 chosen from 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. 155 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 w^ould cost, in after years, to educate their children and train them for some special trade or pro- fession, and which they will probably have no taste for. And here it should be recorded that poets, novelists, inventors, etc., are not made by cdtieation or training ; they are and innst be born with the quality of geniiLSy else all the teaching and traij;iing of a life-time will be of no avail. They will ever remain at and 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 which 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 lived), the parents should devote t^ieir 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 yi 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 the parents encourage one another, help one another, and especially en- deavor to excel each other. The same directions apply to THE LA W 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 oi' 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, canvas, etc. 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 such — 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 such 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 an analyzer of human character, thought and action. It is a splendid department in the world's workshop, this one of teacher and lecturer, and is 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, fronix the smallest to the greatest, the positive, determined, and loving exercise of the faculties required in the knowledge of it will insure its great augmentation in the character of the New Life. This Law of Genius can be adopted 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 practiced by all mankind. It must be understood that the parents, in the practice 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. /;/ tJiis ten inontlLS 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, zvJiich in their plastie state take on in size^ quality and power ^ the elements zvhieh constitute genius. Therefore, parents will understand that in the exercise of the requirements essential to constitute genius in their un- born child, it is not so necessary to accomplish a full knowl- edge of the particular trade or profession as it is to try, to experiment, to endeavor. Try liai'd, try persistently, try eon- stantly, duriiig the period of transmitted infuenee, 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 rehgious nature, a Christian nature, a truthful nature, a hopeful nature, a benevolent, de- votional, spiritual nature. Our existence on this world 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 sufiering, 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 observe and practice, and so incorporate i6o 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 prayer 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 desire. 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 growth 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 as 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, w^iich 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 living in or near a city, art and picture galleries should b@ 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 777^ LA W OF GENIUS, i6i them get a picture of a perfect human form. The pictures may be Hthographs, 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 beautiful portrait which a gentleman had hanging in his room, and of 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 strongest Jacob's." Conceived under right conditions, a child may be made to take on any form of face and body — a beautiful face and 1 1 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 constant fretful, irritable, peev- ish, cross, crying dispositions of the childfen, 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, and 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 slioidd 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, ok they fail in business, or serious accidents occur, let them go uncomplainingly, joyously, even laughingly, and repair their troubles. In all the minor cares and troubles that waylay life's pathway, let them persistently determine to laugh them out 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. 163 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 : " Have we obeyed this divine law of continence ? Have we, during this season of transmitted influence, refrained 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, yoic have transmitted the qualities that went to make your boy an Onanist or a sensualist, and your daughter a prostitute, and yon stand guilty before God for this great wrong done your children. Much more might be said on the responsibility of parents in transmitting bad quaHties 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, unconvincing, 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 to the god Mammon must, if he desires success, devote every 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-n— 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. i6s of a 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 *Mive 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 longs and desires to leave this world ; and he lays 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 be- cided on the line of life 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 is 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 I/O 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 em- ployed 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, brigJit day, what the sun is sJiiningy shotild be employed in which to generate the New Life, The hour of day most desirable for conception is next to be considered. The hiwnan body never has the same force of vital power during the twenty-four hours. A man or woman is 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, a7id this is the only period in which a child of genius, beaitty and strcfigth shonld 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- 1/2 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, ^tRe 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 exchange 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 hght of day the New Life is con- ceived and generated — a new soul started into eternity. " A child is born ; 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 INTRA-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 fecundating egg is lodged. At this point of 173 174 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. IiMpregnatei) Ute- Uterus, at Fourteenth Day. rus, Showing the formation of De- Showing how the projecting folds cidua. The Decidua is rep- of the Decidua have grown up resented in black; and the around and completely inclosed egg 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, 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 Chorion. 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. 17, d). 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, h), the edges and angles of which are rounded off, and w^hich 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. 1/6 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 vitelHne 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, w^iich 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 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. Segmenta- 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 comphcated in structure, arise out of it, by modification and development of its difierent 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 ; w^hile 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 12 178 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIPE. 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.' 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. 18. Impregnated therefore Called the ' dorsal plates.' They , ' . r at last meet on the median line, so as to in- Witn commencement of ' formation of embryo ; close the furrow above described and con- showing embryonic spot, ^^^^ j^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^j^j^ aftCrWard bc- 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 foetus 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 foetus, is united with the vitelline mem- brane and outer lamina of the amniotic fold, and is then 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 foetus 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 i8o 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 Contenxs, Showing the relations of the Cord, Placenta, Membranes, etc., about the end of the seventh 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. i8i 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 it into a compact mass, and become adherent to some por- tion of the uterus. There is formed thus a placenta, made of two portions — the maternal side (Fig. 22) toward the 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, though it has its own individual circulation and life, all its Fig. 22. Fig. 23. 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 w^hich 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 tweiity-first day the embryo resembles an ant, or a lettuce-seed ; its length is from four to five lines, and its weight three or four grains. Many of its parts now begin 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 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 weeky 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 forrn in the lower jaw INTRA - UTERINE GR O WTH. ■ 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 tlwee 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 fcetus ; 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 montlis the length of the body is eight to ten inches, and it weighs from eight to eleven ounces. At six montJis 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 montlis 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 montlis 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 about 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, ^4- Head of Human Embryo, into a single piece, but remains permanently di- about the twen- vided, in the lower animals, by a suture upon ^^^^^ ^^y- ^^^^"^ Longet ; from a the median Ime. specimen in the ^'As the frontal process grows from above '^^"^f"" 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 afe already consolidated with 1 86 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. 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^Joy the intermaxillary processes which grow down between them. They then unite with the intermaxillary pro- "^^^^^A 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 alse nasi (wine^ of the nose) also adheres to the Head of Hu- . MAN Em- superior maxillary process and unites with it, leaving only a curved crease or furrow, as a At about end of . . i 1 i • r • i sixthweek. Af- sort of cicatrix, to mark the Ime of union be- terDalton. tWCCU 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 H^i|||ji||r^^ have their axis nearly parallel and looking ^ig. 26. directly forward. This change in the situa- Head of Human Em- tion of the eyes is effected by the more rapid ^^^o> ^ ^ ^ ^ 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 Fcetus. — 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 he 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. I CHAPTER XVL 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 i88 '^5^^ Vy^."^ 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 Avith 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 foetus 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 niuscular 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 afiect 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 Avith 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 quaHties on every globule of blood that I90 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. .comes through her system, and, as a necessity, on the rapid- growing tissues of the child, and after its birth she 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 perfod, 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- ing for and surfeiting of 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 g^ven 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 particulars. 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 germ 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- 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 and full 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- Hshed and faithfully followed. 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 followed 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 assayed 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 take is walking. Alone, or with her husband or other companion, she should, about ten o'clock in the forenoon, take a walk of from three to six miles. On returning, a bath should be taken as above, with 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 hfe — 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 in 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 co7i- gress should not be had between husband and ivife. 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 that 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 tJie 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 the adoption and practice of this 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 faith 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 well-directed laws, in the propagating 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 qualities 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 would 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 tunc 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 tlie ivholc-sotilcd desire, and the determined, persistent effort in the direction required. This mother had no other desire, in the transmitting of the quality of music 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 answ^er 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 transmitted musical abilities — abilities, I presume, that w^ere 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 Avas 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 this girl follow and grow into the require- ments necessary to succeed 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-estabHshed usages ; No, if you decide by the Law of Genius, Avhich 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 Avomen 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 perfect physiological dress for woman will in no way prevent her from adopting any of the departments of Avork occupied by man. Another, and perhaps the only other objection that can be advanced, is that it Avould place Avoman 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 Avere no inequality in the number of the sexes — if there Avere no more Avomen 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 — Avomen largely predominate, and, judged by past records, they Avill continue to do so. NoAV these Avomen must live, unless the Chinese plan of kill- ing them off in their infancy be adopted. Already there are thousands of Avomen in this comparatively ncAV continent Avho do not live — they only exist, and a Avretched existence it is at that. This being so — and it cannot Avell 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 women, whose husbands dy- ing, they are thus very often thrown on 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 employment. 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 ; only so far as in advising 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 will 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 may be 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, Williamx 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 to 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 Avhere 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 remotes^pottage, 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 s 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 are men, ereated by God, responsible to God ; who zvork in any meanest 7noment of time what will last through 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 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 sensibihties 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 httle doubt." These illustrations of the tendency of perverted influence 2o6 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 — th^ husband and wife — during this period of gestative 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, the parents of which previous to his birth had a difficulty, resulting in the mother for a time refusing to speak to her husband. After a time the child was born, and in due time 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 which, 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 2o8 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 pecuHarities : 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 swelhng 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 wTong 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 hving 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 2IO THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. domen is impeded, the regular nourishment of the foetus is also impeded, 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 w^eak 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 liquors and tobacco as does the father. This is an undeniable fact, and parents 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, bid 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. In doing this PERIOD OF GESTATIVE INFLUENCE. 211 they will not fail in having 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 t/ic 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 an usufruct 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 surpassijig even the most sanguine hopes of his friends acquired the profession of law. The evening that he was ; 2 12 THE SCIENCE OF 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, Avith 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 in- consistency. To a mind truly enlightened such scenes are most revolting. It savors strongly of pagan idolatry. It is, at least, mocking God w^th 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, 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 17 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 Jiabitiics 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*hcr 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 qualities enumerated 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, would die an early death, so that no harm would 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 : am guilty, and have no hopes of other than sufiering death — for has not my life been one great record of sin ? Only in the prime of life, I have been arrested times w^ithout 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 2i6 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 me. Oh ! not 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 exercised in a right, loving and holy endeavor, will produce fruit that will redound to your honor, the world's happiness, and God's glory. Exercised 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 dehcate 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 the menses 217 2i8 • 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. NaiLsca, or morning sichicsSy' 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 Httle 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 ivomb. — 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 difi*ers materially in its growth from the enlargement caused by pregnancy. Qinekeningy 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, or 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. Ditration of pVQgnaiicy. — 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 calendar months, or two hundred and eighty days, is the generally accepted length of this period. If women who led 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 time they w^ere 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 ofTspring 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 w^as 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 Avas 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 does 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 tlian 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 oY 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 afiections 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, 221 thirteen inches, and the weight one pound and thirteen ounces, av6irdupois. 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 tiiree 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 glance 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 prevaihng 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 this 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 is caused by or through 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, raorning 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 possess longings caused as 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." Costivcness 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 fainting. 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 Diarrhcea. — 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 for 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. Prttritits^ or ItcJiing. — A great many w^omen, 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. Heartbitrn.--^Y^x\\^.^^ 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 acidity of 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 desist in 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 waler-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 also 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. ToothacJic. — 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 pf 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 Avrong in her Hving and adopt the right, when, as a sure result, the headache will disappear. Palpitation of the hearty 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. Szvelling 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. 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. Jatcndice 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 generally. 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 injufy 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, and exces- sive fatigue. And lastly, it may be caused designedly, either by medi- cine or violence, w^hich 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 Foeticide (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. Fh^st 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, thefe 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. F'or instance, some will experience only an indistinct, dull, aching pain in the loins, or back, or some other part, either constant or coming 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 Avhat I call the ^ second stage.' This is a stage of liope, and with striet 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. 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 fo produce it previously ; and maintaining the recumbent posture upon the bed or sofa most or all of the term, for a few Aveeks during that stage of pregnancy at which previous miscarriages have taken place. CHAPTER XIX. CONFINEMENT. r 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 attest 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- 238 V ^ CONFINEMENT, 239 ters. Especially should great care be taken in keeping 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 position — 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, used. 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 wull, 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 w^ould 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 certainly 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, tinwliolcsome and tmhygienic 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 foetus, 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 Avill 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 persoii 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 side 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. btjections, — 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, and can be obtained of any druggist. Air a7id 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 so ; 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 desire 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 isj^W 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 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 dowjt, 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, the 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 fingers, 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 drazvn, 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 finger, 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- cl^othing. 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 from 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 ofi* 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, d-ecline 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 remove 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 dehvery 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 gfeat comfort by its tonic effects, increasing her strength, soothing her ner- vous system, and promoting a desire for Hfe-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 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. Nor 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 MANA GEMENT AFTER DELIVER, V. 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 never happens 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 evpry pre- caution to oblige the inmates to breathe over and over again the same poisoned atmosphere. Not only should the room be kept of 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 ofiicious, 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 J^HE 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 w^ay, 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 w^ith the thumb and finger 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 i§ 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- MAN A GEMENT AFTER DELIVER V. 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 n^w-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 ofT 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- 256 777^ 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 nieconhun^ 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 tzvo or tJwce tca-spoonfuls of cool zvatcr. 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 MANA GEMENT 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 incco- iiiiiin — 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 colestricm^ 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 MANA GEMENT AFTER DELIVER V. 259 habit, e many patients are unable to walk or even stand, and espec- cially so during the bearing-dow^n 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, 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 meitstritatioii. In a perfectly healthy 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 hfe, 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 treattnent, that a rigidly chaste and continent life be observed. Sexual intercourse 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 menstrication 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 nienstrtiation, 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 law^s 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. Chlo7'osis, 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 ; the 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 desires 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 recommended in a previous chapter. Water is the best and only allowable drink. When any article of food disagrees with the patient its use should be discontinued ; for food, when undigested, irritates and weakens, rather than strengthens. The dress should be warm, equally covering the extremities, and loose enough to allow the most perfect freedom of every movement. The daily sponge, air and sun-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 appHcation 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 arc much more positive, the whole system being involved in the feverish disturbance. Clironic inflarnniation 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 or so^ne 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. Ulce7'ation of the uterus 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 leucorrhoeal, the quantity being usually increased after ea^:h 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 efiected without caustics, and the patient should never allow their use. Tumors in the icterus 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 3i6 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, may be developed. In the first stage, that of hardeitingy the symptoms are such as arise from pressure ; while in the sec- ond stage, or that of open ttlceration, 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 in 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 nicer and canlijloiver 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 profuse 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 ntcrns. 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 pai'tial 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 falling 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 w^alking, and are most troublesome in the evening. There is also, not unfrequently, a whitish discharge, and 3i8 THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE, some straining or difficulty in evacuating the bladder and bowels. There is generally 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 w^ater 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 as 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, leucorrhoea, 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. Ret7'ove7'sion of tJie tttcriis. 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 retj'oflexion (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 28. 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 7ttcrtis. In antcvcrsion (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 anteflexion (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. ^ Leiico7'rho3a, 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 sw^ollen. 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 w^ith chronic whites," beside pains in the back and low^er 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 w^ith 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 Avater, 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 cleanhness ; 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. Vulvitis, or inflammation of the external organs of gene- ration, has as symptoms heat, swelling, redness, and a throb- bing pain extending to the groim When the inflammation extends or is confined to the mucus membrane, there will be a leucorrhoeal discharge, Avith 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, nympJiomaiiia 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 Nothing 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 and 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 TECULIAR TO MEN — THEIR CAUSES AND SYMP- TOMS, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR HOME-TREATMENT AND CURE. IVING other than a conti- nent, chaste, and true hfe, 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 hfe — Avith i t s 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, loathsome ulcer ; the poison eating away 324 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, loathsome 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. Gonoi'rhcea 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, Avhich 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, w^ien 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 ^he penis is bent in the form of an arc, produ- cing c/iordec, 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 buboes. 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 wath women who themselves have not the disease. Gonorrhoea, in the woman, may occur in the urethra, vulva or vagina — one being affected, the others w^ill 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 yulva 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 aftbrd 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 ot 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 w^ith tepid w^ater, which will slightly increase the discharge at first, the temperature should be daily lowered, so that at the end of a week very cold w^ater 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 saiHng 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 w^ould 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 w^arm 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. Parapliimosis. When the prepuce has been drawn or forced 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- THE SCIENCE OF A NEW LIFE. tion in the treatment is to reduce the inflammation as in piiimosis, 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 uretJira 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 DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN. 331 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 p7'ostate 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. Inflammatio7i 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 w^ith on the mucus membrane covering 332 TUB 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. T/ic cJiancroid. 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 are 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, w^hile that of the chan- croid, so far as w^e 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 mueiLS 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 6f 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 w^hich 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 simi^r 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- gha, 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 bicbo^ 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 berteath 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 vimlent btcbOy 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 conveyancfe, by means of the lym- phatics, to the ganglion. It is usually situated on the same side as 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 hiibo, the inflammation of which is of a subacute character, closely resembling the Avell-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. 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 in 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 follow^s what is called the period of incitbation. 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 inflam7 matory condition of the head of the organ, smarting sensa- tion after urinating, and 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- men^t, 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 spreads and takes on phagedenic action. May afiect the same person an indefinite number of times. CHARACTERISTIC GLAND AFFECTION, 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 ;n about six weeks from the appearance of the sore, and very rarely delay longer than six 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 constitiUional 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 cartilages 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 fiour, 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 ofif, 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, 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 w^hen 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 07ily 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 natttrcB 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, et;:., 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 Avhen 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, se- rious constitutional effects. Should the emissions occur oft- ener than this the symptoms of impairment of the health are 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 w^io, 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 theMnvoluntary 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, gonorrhoea, 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, 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, w^ill 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 zuonld 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 desire — 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 07ily 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, docs 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. Ditirnal 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. , SpcrmatorrJiooa. 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 diffi- 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- aDuraged 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 an^d 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. to be distinguished by its own symptoms as fever, or any other general disease. Of course, many a man has behcved 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 is applicable in this. 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 Avater, 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 disorder's affecting erection, emission and the semen. There are morbid states, affecting the perfect fulfill- 3 so 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. S/ozv 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, Avhen 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." Premattcre ejaailation 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 s^lf- 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 beheve, 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 deferentia. This disorder, as a rule, requires surgical treatment. CHAPTER XXV. MASTURBATION — ITS CAUSE, RESULTS AND CURE. )OKS 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. 23 353 354 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 uHne, hysteria, paralysis, involuntary seminal emissions, impotency, consumption, insanity, etc. It must not be understood that these diseases are ahvays caused by this degrading vice ; but that they arc 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, her 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 MASTURBATION, 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 been 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, Avhen 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 rrlany 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 feeble, 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 in 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 natural means known to it — that of self-abuse. Especially will it be prompt in adopting this 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- 36o 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, usually, 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 health, the diminished energy of 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 intelligent and competent guardian of youth." O. S. Fowler gives the following summary of the signs of masturbation : Tiie 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 natu^s. 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 rulef* 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 outw^ard 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 cf 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, 1« 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 Avatch 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., XII., 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 for 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. 369 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 bhndly 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 sterihty 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 24 370 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 result, 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- rhoea, 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 leucorrhoea is present, as it almost always is in the above state, conception cannot result. Ulceration of the os cervix, or mouth of the uterus — one of 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 5 TERILITY A ND IMPO TENCE. 3 ; i 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 to 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, is 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 dysmenorrhoea, 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 ster- ility. The treatment and cure for sterility caused as above, by 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." r 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 and 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 leucorrhoea, 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 found 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 ™E 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- ever, 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 w^orn. Rehef, 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 commaild 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, 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 cause, — 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, because 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 ; ajid 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 378 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 growth backward into the shadowy depths of hell. Out of freedom comes 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 38o 777^ 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- WOMAA'S RIGHTS. 381 pertaining to the various educational institutions throughout the land. 6 — and last, but certainly not the least — t/ie riglit 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 hves 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 i860, 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, w^ho Vely upon their fathers, we see what the effect of dependence is. Generally it robs the young man of energy, arid 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 when 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 inteUigence. 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.) 1. 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 w^omen 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 w^ay. 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 w^ill be the time you will afterward find to have been best spent ; and 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, to be what 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 cf man, in separating or being divorced from such DIVORCES, 387 a husband. The same argument appHes 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 tJiat it is right for cither the divorced or separated man or zvoman 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 388 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 Avas 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 wrong 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 str{)ng, 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- lutely required in all those whose desire is for clearness of skin and purity of body. The sun and aii'-batli can be enjoyed only on a clear and bright day, when, with the body entirely nude, lying on a mattress 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 w^ash-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 w^ater 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 THE 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. Tlie zvct 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. It 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 manner 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 garth's surface, be- fore half their days were spent. Since the creation of the world — or since the days of Hippocrates, if you will — dricgs never have cured one single person Jiaving 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 d^'itgs^ 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 Avould 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 393 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 i-s secured on account of incompatibihty." It is a noticeable thing that these same parties who have rushed out of an unhappy union on account of incompatibihty,'* 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 writers and speakers are doing much toward the de- sired end, yet will women have to sufier, 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 Avould I most earnestly advise the husband and wafe 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 w^ay 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 alwayk 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 and 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 Avhen seen w^aiting 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 stomadlh 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 Avill greatly assist to tlie 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 Avith full force in the direction of all husbands and wives 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' wiihout 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 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- eJ 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 — withoiit 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 events 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 w^ife. 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 th