Marked by sympathy.—Ten days ago I was entertained by a family having a very nervous temperament. The son-in-law sat in a rocking chair on the front veranda holding his three-year-old child in his arms. The child was helpless, emaciated and in breathing made a wheezing noise. This condition had obtained since her birth. During the period of gestation, a sickly, poor, wheezing, half-grown hog was kept in the yard and cared for by the nervous mother of the child. The condition of the hog constantly enlisted the sympathy of the mother. This was the history of the case as told me by the child’s father. This birthmark was caused by unusual sympathy.
An amusing case.—In most cases abnormal maternal impressions do not result in serious injuries to children.
While lecturing at M——, Ky., I was told by a mother how she had marked one of her children. She had listened, a few days before, to some lady callers explaining the cause of a woman’s giving birth to twins. These uninformed women claimed that if a prospective mother should find and become interested in a number of twin objects in nature, such as eggs with double yolks, twin apples, peaches, ears of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, etc., that she would most certainly be the mother of twins. A few days after this conversation she was gathering cucumbers. The vines were wet and the ground soaked by frequent showers. For this reason she was barefooted. She stooped over to remove from between two toes a small object that had lodged between them. The object proved to be a most perfect small twin cucumber. The mother recalled the conversation of her friends, and this experience came up in her mind so often that she would not have been surprised at twins. The child born later had the most perfect twin toes.
A sad case.—While delivering a lecture on heredity in a leading Western college my attention was called to a very intelligent face in the audience. It was a young lady who appeared to have no hands orarms. Later I observed tiny undeveloped hands largely concealed by very short sleeves. At the close of the address I asked the president about her. He informed me that she was unusually bright and that her affliction was from birth. He arranged for me to have an interview with her. I found that she had two and three fingers to the hand and that her hands and arms had not grown since birth. In every other particular she was a most attractive and perfect figure. Her mother’s explanation was that before her birth she was one day holding her brother, then a baby, in her lap while operating the sewing machine. The little fellow put his hand where the needle was forced through his finger. The mother fainted. The mental picture in the mother’s mind was that some of the baby’s fingers were cut off. The mental impression lingered in the mother’s mind. The young lady’s arms were about six inches long. On one hand there were two fingers, on the other there were three fingers. Her arms and hands had not grown any since birth. Otherwise she was normally developed.
Marked her child twice.—About the close of a lecture in one of the Central Western states, a lady asked me to call at the Cash Store, explaining that she wanted an hour’s interview with me. I found her to be a lady of extremely susceptible temperament, refined and cultured, but a bundle of nerves. She wasthe mother of three little nervous children. Before calling in her oldest child, which she had marked twice, she explained her experience. She said, “In our early marriage we owned a cow that we were very proud of. Husband and I had often wished that she were dehorned. One morning my husband’s brother secretly dehorned her. The servant boy finding it out ran to the house and urged me to go out to the barn and see what had occurred. When I rushed suddenly upon the scene, I seized the fingers of the right hand with the left and screamed. There were several large clear blisters on the cow’s head. When my little girl was born the index finger of the right hand was off at the second joint, the other three fingers were entirely absent and several blisters had to be removed by the physician.
“During the second or third month of gestation I was told that one of the neighbors had given birth to a child with one foot turned entirely around. My curiosity led me to go over and see the child. When our girl was born her left foot was turned completely around, the toes pointing backwards. We have spent sixteen hundred dollars trying to have the foot turned back. We have succeeded only in a small measure.” Then she said, “I never heard of birthmarks until after my child was born. If I could have heard your series of lectures, it would have been worth a fortuneto me. I believe this misfortune could and would have been avoided.”
The reader must not conclude that these pathetic cases are common. They are not. The cases cited here represent fully one-half of the extreme cases that I have personally studied during years of travel and lecturing. They forcefully illustrate the possibilities of maternal impressions on the forming child.
HEREDITY CHART OF EMMA W.HEREDITY CHART OF EMMA W.
The burden of the feeble-minded.—The history of Emma W., at one time an inmate of Letchworth Village, a New York institution for the feeble-minded, should be convincing that it is bad policy to let the feeble-minded drift in and out of the almshouse; that it is but humanity and economy to segregate them, and to strike at the causes of mental defect. Emma W. came to life in an almshouse, stamped with illegitimacy and feeble-mindedness. Her family’s record reads: mother, two brothers, and a sister feeble-minded; mother’s father feeble-minded and mother’s mother tuberculous. When a second child was expected themother was induced by well-meaning people to marry the father, who was a drunken epileptic. Two children were born. Still later the same well-meaning people aided her to get a divorce in order to marry the father of another child about to be born. Since then four more have been born. All of these children are feeble-minded. Entire family, with exception of the oldest child, is at large. The accompanying chart, taken fromThe Survey, March 2, 1912, shows graphically her heredity.
Our studies at Vineland have shown that 65 per cent. of feeble-minded people are the children of feeble-minded people; in other words, that the condition is strongly hereditary. Therefore, if these people are allowed to become parents, they will bring into the world another group of people like themselves who will thus perpetuate the social waste.
The following charts show the heredity of two families. We have two hundred like these—65 per cent. of all our inmates show such history.
The symbols used in the charts are the following: Square indicates male. Circle indicates female. A capital letter indicates disease, habit, or condition, as follows: A, alcoholic (habitual drunkard); B, blind; C, criminal; D, deaf; E, epileptic; F, feeble-minded, either black letter, or white letter on black ground (the former when sex is unknown); I, insane; N, normal;Sx, grave sexual offender; Sy, syphilitic; T, tuberculosis. Any of these letters may be used with no square or circle when sex is unknown. When even the letter is omitted the vertical line points to the fact that there was an individual of whom nothing is known. Small black circle indicates miscarriage—time is given (in months) when known, also cause; stillbirth is shown as a miscarriage at nine months; b = born; d = died; m = married; inf = infancy; hand shows which child is in the institution for feeble-minded; illeg = illegitimate; heavy line under any symbol indicates that the person is in some institution at the expense of society.
Chart I.Chart I.
Chart I shows the descendants of a feeble-minded woman who was married twice. Her first husband was normal. There were four normal children, one of whom is alcoholic. This alcoholic son married a normal woman and produced two feeble-minded and three normal children. This is another instance ofthe defect skipping a generation, being transmitted by the grandmother through the father.
The second marriage of this feeble-minded woman was with an alcoholic and immoral man. The result was four feeble-minded children. One of these became alcoholic and syphilitic and married a feeble-minded woman. She was one of three imbecile children, born of two imbecile parents. The result here could, of course, be nothing but defectives. There were two stillborn, and three that died in infancy. Six others lived to be determined feeble-minded. One of these was a criminal. Two are in the institution at Vineland. The mother’s sister also has a feeble-minded son.
CHART II A.CHART II A.
Chart II (in two parts) is in some ways the most astonishing one we have. There are in the institution at Vineland five children representing, as we had always supposed, three entirely independent families.We discovered, however, that they all belonged to one stock. In Chart II,A, the central figure, the alcoholic father of three of the children in the institution, married for his third wife a woman who was a prostitute and a keeper of a house of ill fame, herself feeble-minded, and with five feeble-minded brothers and sisters. One of these sisters is the grandmother represented on Chart II,B.
OnAit will be seen that this alcoholic man was four times married. He comes from a good family but was spoiled in his bringing up, became alcoholic and immoral—a degenerate man. His first wife, however, was a normal woman and it is claimed that the two children were normal. For his second wife, he took out of the poorhouse a feeble-minded woman. Her children were: two normal, one that died young, and one feeble-minded. He married the third time. The woman was the prostitute above referred to. She had three illegitimate children, all feeble-minded. After their marriage, they had three children, all of whom are feeble-minded. Two of these are in this institution. The father then deserted this woman and married a fourth wife, who is alcoholic and a prostitute. Of this union, however, there are no children.
There is, moreover, very strong evidence that he is the father of the third child in this institution by another woman, who is also feeble-minded.
Chart II B.Chart II B.
Chart II,B, will be understood if we note that the mother’s mother is a sister of the third wife of the much-married man of Chart II,A. This sister married a feeble-minded man, and the result of that union was seven feeble-minded children, of whom one is a criminal and one an epileptic. Four are married. The feeble-minded epileptic woman married a normal man, who is one of a fairly good family. His mother was insane, the father died in an almshouse; however, we find no mental defect. As the result of this marriage, we have seven feeble-minded children, four others that died in infancy, and there were two miscarriages. This is the fourth child of this strain that is in our institution. The fifth one referred to is a half-sister of the other girl referred to on Chart II,A.
The foregoing charts and description were taken from the article of Henry H. Goddard, Ph.D., Director of Vineland, N. J., School for Feeble-minded, in the March 2nd, 1912, issue of theSurvey.
The agencies of improvement.—In all organic life, vegetable, animal and man, two agencies are ever operative; heredity and environment. In plant life these two agencies operate entirely on the physical plain. This is perhaps true among the lower forms of animal life. But, among the higher forms of animal life, we find very distinct manifestations of rudimentary intelligence. Among the higher animals, experiments show that these agencies are operative on the physical and mental plains. In man these agencies are operative on the physical, mental and moral plains. Among plants and animals, where these two agencies are under the intelligent control of man, improvements are marked and rapid. Where they are not under the control of man, progress is scarcely perceptible.
Plants and animals live in harmony with law, man appears to be largely out of harmony with law; plants and animals keep law, man violates law. That man is fallen and needs additional help to heredity and environment is apparent to all who think. This help we call conversion, regeneration or redemption. It is not the province of this chapter to advocate any theory of religion. The purpose of this chapter is to show the relation of these agencies in the improvement of the human race.
What one receives at birth constitutes his heredity.—This consists of a normal or defectivephysical constitution, the natural bent of mind and its rudimentary possibilities and the innate tendencies toward good or evil. The physical, mental and moral influences one receives after birth constitute his environment. Ideal environment tends to direct, develop and to mature the results of good heredity and to correct the results of bad heredity. Bad environment tends to neutralize the effects of good heredity and to intensify the effects of bad heredity. If a child has inherited a frail constitution, this can be overcome largely or entirely by proper physical training, appropriate food and observing other health laws. In such cases, heavy drugging will do but little good. If nature is aided by intelligent parents, who have inspired their unfortunate child with an intense interest and purpose to out-grow every defect, he will accomplish wonders. If a child has inherited a tendency toward tuberculosis, this can be entirely overcome by physical training, deep breathing, nutritious food and ventilated bed rooms. The same is true of many other physical defects.
Our mental possibilities are largely inherited.—Schools and colleges do not produce great minds. They direct, train and develop the inherited mental possibilities. Children of mediocrity should have every possible encouragement and opportunity for mental improvement. They cannot succeed withoutit. Their offspring will inherit improved mental possibilities, if their parents are wisely trained in childhood. Children who have inherited special genius will succeed in spite of limited opportunities, but they will succeed better by having the advantage of a good education. A practical study of the psychology of childhood, in relation to mental heredity, would lead parents and teachers to be more patient, sympathetic and wise in the mental training of many children.
Heredity and moral tendencies.—Heredity is just as potential in the moral realm as in the physical and mental. Children inherit tendencies toward good or evil, virtue or vice. What they inherit morally is determined by the relation of their ancestors to moral laws.
Parental responsibility.—Parents are not only responsible for the number of children born in the home, whether few or many, close together or far apart, but they are also largely responsible for their children’s being born with strong or weak constitutions, brilliant or stupid minds, good or bad tendencies. When this responsibility is more fully understood by parents, their children will be better born. The greatest blessing parents can bequeath to their children is not wealth, but a good heredity. A very large part of a child’s training, good or bad, is prenatal. Right from birth, before environment has had time to influencethe child, examples of children who are easily trained, and cases that are trained with the greatest difficulty, are perfectly familiar to all of us.
Environment is fully as potential in a child’s life as is heredity.—A child may receive the most unfavorable heredity, and good environment may lead the child to become much superior to his parents, brothers and sisters. Again, a child may receive the very best heredity, and a bad environment may lead him to mental neglect and moral disaster. Parents can determine largely the heredity of the child; but they can furnish only a small part of a child’s environment. Unknown to the parents, a playmate, a neighbor, a servant, in a few words or a single act, may give a child an impulse toward vice that may lead the child into years of sin. The real cause of the child’s going wrong may ever remain unknown to the parents.
Value of early environment.—The total of a child’s environment is furnished by the whole of society. Fortunately, parents have largely the control of the first years of a child’s environment. Unfortunately, most parents have tried to safeguard the virtue of their children by keeping them ignorant of everything pertaining to their sex natures. Just here parents have often failed because of their false idea of good environment. Ignorance of the sex nature is not a safeguard. Children are often engaging in sexual sinsmonths or years before the parents dream of danger. Many servants employed in and about the home are impure in mind or practice or both; often they are sex perverts. They take a fiendish delight in teaching vice to even a small child. Parents cannot be too careful in the selection of servants. They should have the most positive understanding that no profanity, obscenity or vice is to be engaged in by the servant. Sexual vice is the most common and dangerous vice of childhood. It always leads to other forms of wrong-doing. Proper sex instruction, given by the parents at the right time and in the right way, is the only sane safeguard to the virtue of childhood.
Heredity, environment, Christ.—A bad environment may lead a child of good heredity for a number of years into vice and sin; but the inherent good tendencies often assert themselves and help the prodigal to return.
A child with a bad heredity, made and kept good by an ideal environment, is never as strong or safe as a child of good heredity and good environment.
Every child at birth is the sum total of all the influences, good and bad, along the line of his lineage back to Adam. Every child has more or less of hereditary degeneracy. All children are exposed more or less to bad environment. All children need to accept Christ, to be transformed by His power and freed from thedomination of inherited and acquired evil. Good heredity and good environment make it easy for children to accept Christ and live the Christ life. Bad heredity and bad environment make it difficult for children to accept and live the Christ life.
It is the duty of parents to know and practice the laws of heredity and prenatal culture; to furnish the child as far as possible with a good environment and a sane knowledge of himself; and to influence him to accept Christ.
Each child’s duty to himself is to recognize his conscious personal obligation to himself and to society, of mastering every inherited and acquired weakness, of developing fully every inherent possibility, and of accepting Christ as a necessity to the fullest attainment of the loftiest ideals.
God’s greatest blessing, offered to every individual, is personal redemption through faith in His Son.
These three agencies, good heredity, good environment, and redemption; or right generation, right education and regeneration, are essential to a perfect life.
The modern girl.—A quarter of a century ago a community knew a year ahead when one of its young women was going to be married. In this fast age, some parents don’t find it out until after their daughter has been married six months or more. When the author was a boy, the engaged girl spent her spare time piecing quilts, making feather pillows and beds, drying apples, peaches and pumpkins, making preserves, gathering garden seed and raising a flock of chickens. She had religious convictions. The Bible idea of a woman is a “help meet.” She was preparing to help meet the expenses of a home. The modern girl too often helps spend her gentleman friend’s hard-earned money at the soda fountain, on livery rigs and at the ten cent shows. Thousands of young men are not getting married to-day, because they are afraid of the expense of these modern help-eats, help-wears and help-spends.
Customs have changed.—True, times and customs have changed and much of the work of women a quarter of a century ago is no longer profitable. The
same is true of the work of men. But these changes do not justify a large number of girls idling away a number of years waiting for men to come along and marry them. Such girls make extravagant wives. They cannot know the value of a dollar.
The independent girl.—Parents should furnish their daughter with remunerative labor, or they should see that she is fitted for some position that will enable her to be independent. The independent girl is no more likely to fall than the idle girl at home. The independent girl who gets out into the world with her brother, shoulders the same burdens, masters the same difficulties, fights the same battles, acquires a poise and dignity, a freedom of action and speech, a knowledge of business and economy that give her an attractiveness that the idle fashion-plate girl on the bargain counter of the marriage market cannot compete with. This class of girls do not have to marry the first chance that comes around in order to have a home.
Parents too anxious to get their girls married.—The financial burden of supporting from two to four idle girls is no small item. Many parents are anxious to get them married as soon as possible. The girls soon find it out. When ten years old, such girls are making goo-goo eyes at the boys; when eleven, they are passing notes to every Tom, Dick and Harryin the schoolroom; when twelve, they are desperately in love; when thirteen and fourteen, they have their mother’s consent to marry; when fifteen, they are in the divorce courts, and three months later they have their second husbands.
One of the St. Louis dailies, over one year ago, had a notice of two “runaways.” One girl was twelve and the other thirteen. When overtaken by their fathers, brought back home and locked up in a room, to prevent a second attempt, one admitted to a reporter that up to that time she had not learned that Santa Claus was not a real being and the other sent for her dolls to play with.
Another case.—In one town in which I lectured I was told of a mother who accompanied her thirteen-year-old-daughter and an eighteen-year-old boy to the county clerk’s office and gave her consent to her daughter’s marriage. To the clerk’s question, “Don’t you think your daughter rather young to be married?” she replied. “Gee, I got married when I was thirteen and my oldest daughter got married when she was fourteen.” Didn’t she need the protection of an asylum?
A woman in Arkansas.—In Arkansas, you know what does not happen anywhere else sometimes happens in that state. I found a woman who ran away to get married when she was thirteen, had been marriedthree times, had three divorced husbands, three families of children, aggregating twelve in number; was still a young woman and trying to get married the fourth time. That was courtship, marriage and divorce with a vengeance!
In this country anything can get married.—A confirmed degenerate criminal can marry, as soon as his term expires in a reformatory, or penitentiary. A feeble-minded person can improve a little, be returned home, and get married. A few years later we are supporting them and their delinquent progeny. We can never empty the reformatories, penitentiaries and asylums until we quit producing these classes. Immature marriages can no more produce perfect offspring than can the mating of immature domestic animals. The girl is not mature until she is nineteen or twenty and a boy until he is twenty-two or twenty-four.
Better customs and laws needed.—We are in need of social and legal reform in the social relations of young people, marriage and divorce. In England and Canada, rarely does a girl keep company with a young man as a sweetheart before she is eighteen and rarely married before she is nineteen or twenty. She is usually chaperoned by an older woman when she goes out to drive, attend a lecture or to take a stroll with a young man. In this country, little, innocent,undeveloped, irresponsible girls are permitted to go buggy riding at night, attend cheap shows and go on excursions unchaperoned, with young men whose reputations are not the best. We are reaping the fearful harvest. One-half of our erring girls fell before they were seventeen, and over one-half of our divorces occur among women who married before they were seventeen. Our social customs make it possible for one-half of our erring girls to fall before they know the name of the act that involves their character and destiny. Girls sixteen years old have not had time to develop mentally to where they can safely choose a companion for life. If a girl, one day younger than eighteen, should buy a pig without her father’s consent, the law gives him the right to compel the former owner to take the pig back and to return to him the money. The state reasons that a girl under eighteen is not sufficiently developed in judgment to be held responsible for buying a pig. But, according to our customs and laws, a girl can intelligently tie herself up for life to the unfortunate appendix to the wet end of a cigarette, or a miserable old jug-handle, and be held responsible for her choice. In other words, we think that it takes less judgment for a girl to choose a life partner than it does to buy a half-grown hog.
Divorce is on the increase.—Births and marriages are on the decrease. In 1870, we had one divorceto every thirty-eight marriages. In 1900, we had one divorce to every fourteen and a half marriages. Now we are having one divorce to every eleven and a quarter marriages. I noticed in one of the Ohio dailies a few days ago that one county had one hundred and thirty-two divorces in twelve months. All last year, Canada had only seventeen divorces. Several counties in the United States, each had ten times as many divorces last year, as did the entire Dominion of Canada. Canada has more stringent marriage and divorce laws than the United States.
It is the maternal and paternal instincts that prompt the lower animals to pair off and mate. Their love for each other and their young is the child of their sex nature. The desexed lower animals are devoid of the instinct that prompts wooing and mating.
It is the promptings of the paternal and maternal natures, which are inseparable from the normal sex nature, that lead to a beautiful and joyful courtship, to a harmonious, happy marriage and to a family of fair daughters and lusty sons.
Causes of wrecked homes.—“Intemperance,” “abuse,” “non-support,” or “desertion,” reply the jury in the court room and the judge on the bench. These are, usually, only indirect causes. The one main cause of wrecked homes, the abuse of marital rights, is rarely mentioned in the court room. If all marriedpeople were normal in their sex natures, unselfish love would reign in the homes and divorce courts would be largely a thing of the past.
Through universal ignorance of the true nature and functions of the God-given, God-honored and sacred sanctuary of reproduction, the youth, by mental and mechanical abuse of these functions, becomes more or less sensual. Sexuality is slowly transformed into sensuality and love into lust. Ignorant of the laws of life, the duties and responsibilities of marriage and parentage, men are often prompted more by uncontrolled desire than by unselfish love in their choice of a wife, they are largely governed by physical attractions, or wealth. The present ethics of marriage makes the wife submit to the sensual demands of the husband. This view of marriage converts love into lust, prevents the harmonizing of their differences, the proper blending of their personalities and the two never become one.
Divorce is not the cause of wrecked homes.—Wrecked homes are the cause of divorce. The divorce problem will be solved in the solution of the home problems. The home problems will be largely solved when children and youths receive proper sex instruction, when young people are properly safeguarded in their social relations as friends and lovers, and when they are properly educated in home-building.
Marriage a civil and Divine institution.—The sacred institution of marriage is being trifled with. Easy to get married, and easy to get divorced, are a nation’s shame and will quickly bring a nation’s fall. By a system of sane education and legislation the paramount importance, dignity, responsibility and sacredness of marriage over other institutions would be impressed on the mind of the masses. Marriage is both a civil and religious institution. Civil law should protect the rights of marriage and judiciously determine who shall and who shall not marry. The marriage ceremony should be performed, when possible, in a church and a minister of recognized qualifications should officiate. The church should be decorated not only with flowers and foliage, but also the nation’s flag and colors should have prominent display. Not only should some of the church officers be present, but also, some of the civil officers should be present. The church and state should bear this expense. No marriage fees should be charged or expected from rich or poor. The parties to be married and the community would see that the state and church are substantially interested in home and nation building. In this way marriage would be placed on a high and dignified basis. When a man and woman take the marriage vows, they have assumed duties and responsibilities more vital and far greater than does a governoror president-elect assume, when he takes the oath of office. The primary purpose of marriage is to increase the species. In this function they are to serve the nation by helping to furnish the next generation of citizens. The most illiterate and poverty-stricken couple, who faithfully do their best to raise a family of children, are of far more value to a nation’s strength and perpetuity than a millionaire home consisting of husband, wife and a poodle dog.
New marriage laws.—We should have uniform state laws restricting the marriage of men and women who are in advanced stages of consumption, of the feeble-minded, the confirmed criminal, the degenerate and the venereally diseased. We need uniform state laws requiring a reasonable knowledge of the laws of life, of marital rights, of heredity and prenatal culture and of the duties and responsibilities of marriage and parentage. To make such restrictions and education possible all candidates for marriage should be required to register their proposed marriage with the county clerk at least three months before the license is granted. At the expense of the state, this proposed marriage should be announced through at least one paper during this period. This publicity would prevent all clandestine marriages and would rob the white slave procurer of one of his chief methods of securing his victims. In recent years, in nearlyevery community, a stranger has won the affections of an unsuspecting girl and the confidence of her family, married her, and in six months time it was whispered that he had another family somewhere that he ought to be supporting. The white slaver uses the love method very effectively. The law suggested would prevent these impositions and crimes against society.
When the proposed marriage is registered, the state should furnish each with a book presenting in simple language the information to which reference was made in a preceding paragraph. At the expiration of three months, let them give satisfactory evidence of a reasonable knowledge of the teaching of the book.
Before the marriage license is finally granted, each should furnish the state with a certificate of good health. This would prevent the marriage of the physically and mentally unfit.
If properly enforced, these new marriage laws would promote domestic harmony, prevent untold misery, stop the crime of feticide, reduce the annual birth of defective children and increase the birth-rate of normal children. The young man should have not less than five hundred dollars in money or property, or he should have a fair education and a position with adequate income to support a wife.
Similarity of changes in the sexes.—Men and women are complements of each other. They have two correspondingly important and similar periods in life. In man, the first is when the genital glands begin to secrete procreative life. This usually occurs when he is from fourteen to fifteen. This change indicates that nature has begun her work of preparing the male genital organs for their primal function—fatherhood. Nature’s processes work gradually. She is apparently in no hurry. If not interfered with, she will accomplish a perfect work. Hence we find, that while nature is preparing the boy for fatherhood, this function is not possible for three or four years after the change begins; and that the function performed at this time would mean a defective child. Careful investigations show that among children whose fathers married at
Well Preserved and Contented in Old AgeWell Preserved and Contented in Old Age
twenty or younger, eight to ten per cent. more of these children die in the first year than among children whose fathers married at twenty-four or later. This would indicate that the sexual life of the male has a double creative function. The first is to create a father, which requires eight to ten years. This, however, is only preparatory to the second, the primal function of fatherhood. The second change in man occurs when he is from forty-five to fifty-five and the physical indications are that this period of procreation should close.
In woman, the first important period usually occurs from twelve to fourteen, when the functions of menstruation and ovulation begin. The change indicates that nature has begun her work of fitting the female genital organs for their primal function—motherhood. In woman as in man, nature takes her own time. As a rule motherhood would not be possible for a year or two after this change has begun. Even then the child would reveal defects. Carefully gathered facts show that among children, whose mothers married at sixteen, four to five per cent. more die in the first year than among children whose mothers married at or near twenty. This would indicate that the sexual life of the female has a double creative function. The first is to create a mother, which requires a period of six to eight years. This, however, also isonly preparatory to the primal functions of the sexual life—motherhood. The second change in a woman’s life occurs when she is from forty to forty-nine and the physical changes which occur bring her procreative period of life to a close.
The primal purpose of marriage.—If boys and girls were properly trained and safeguarded, if our customs and habits of life were natural instead of artificial; they would use up their sexual energy in their various activities. Under such normal conditions the gradually developing paternal and maternal instincts, which are the products of maturing sexual life, would be under perfect control and lead them to marry for the primal purpose of procreating the species and perpetuating the race. This God-implanted paternal and maternal instinct, in their relation to the normally developing sexual natures, are so strong that matured young people are willing to assume every burden connected with maintaining a home and every sacrifice incident to raising a family of children.
Maternity not an affliction.—No normal wife, properly educated, who has the right view of marriage, looks upon maternity as an affliction. No woman, capable of normal motherhood should marry, who considers maternity a great affliction. The woman who is willing to sell the use of her body to one man in marriage for the consideration of being married, forfood, clothing and shelter, and who deliberately and willfully avoids maternity, is but little better than the woman who prostitutes herself to a number of men for a price. The motives that lead a man and woman to commit prostitution outside of the bonds of marriage cannot be made sacred and pure by the sanction of law and a marriage ceremony. When husband and wife are mutually agreed, in this crime, he is as guilty as she.
Procreative periods in the sexes.—The possible procreative period of man extends from about seventeen to the close of life. His normal procreative period extends from about twenty-four to the beginning of his change of life. The possible procreative period of woman extends from puberty to the close of the change of life. Her normal procreative period extends from about twenty to the beginning of her change of life.
Function of menstruation.—The function of menstruation is to prepare the womb for the reception of embryonic life. Since the womb during menstruation is not prepared for the reception of this beginning life, the wife instinctively repels the sexual approaches of her husband.
Pregnancy a period of continence.—When impregnation occurs and the womb becomes the closed home of embryonic life, sexual desire largely or entirelyceases in the normal woman. She now enters a nine-month period of gestation. Again it is natural for her to repel sexual approaches of her husband. All the pregnant females among the lower animals and savage man faithfully repel the approach of their mates during gestation. This law is violated alone by semi-civilized and civilized man. The females among the lower animals and savage men do not dread maternity and the males are normal and do not force their demands upon their mates during gestation.
Why maternity is regarded as an affliction.—Among the civilized races, artificial customs, a false education and a selfish devotion to an unnatural social system, lead many women to dread maternity and to look upon this most sacred and glorious function of womanhood as a very great social affliction.
Enslaved motherhood the crowning curse of the age.—The artificial life of civilization leads men to become sexually abnormal. Law, custom and a misinterpretation of certain passages of the Bible have given men and women the erroneous idea that the wife must submit herself to the husband’s sexual demands, even during pregnancy. Hence the civilized woman submits to her husband’s demands. Another reason why she does not repel his approaches is because she feels that the “worst has already happened.” Enslaved motherhood is the crowning curse of an artificialcivilization. If Bible students had given more sincere thought and time to the study of the redemptive meaning of, “And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he (Joseph) called his name Jesus,” than they have to the doubtful meaning of a passage found in the writings of Paul, past legislation, education and evangelization would have accomplished more in the redemption of the race from the slavery and curse of lust.
Mysteries made clear.—When we keep in mind the primal purpose of marriage, the function of menstruation, the period of normal child bearing, it will not be difficult for us to understand why there should come a change in middle-aged woman, when menstruation, ovulation and child bearing should cease. Understanding that normal passion in woman is nature’s call for maternity, the reason for her repelling the approaches of her husband, during the change of life, and why sexual desire largely ceases with this change, will be clear to us. When the thoughtful husband, who loves his companion, understands the nature of this experience in the wife, he will be more considerate, sympathetic and self-controlled. Continence during this change will not only be a blessing to his wife, but it will be of physical and mental benefit to himself.
The age when the change of life occurs.—In this country, as a rule, the change of life occurs fromforty to fifty. A few thousand miles south it occurs sooner. Climatic conditions hasten or retard both puberty and the change of life. If the age at the dawning of puberty is multiplied by three, this will give the age when the change of life will usually begin. There are other causes that may hasten or retard the approach of this change. Women have been known to reach the age of sixty and one woman to reach the age of seventy, before the change occurred. On the other hand there are cases where the change has occurred as early thirty-five and rare cases as early as twenty-eight and thirty.
Other names for the change of life.—This change is sometimes known as the “menopause,” referring to the cessation of the function of menstruation. It is also referred to as the “climacteric” period, meaning that a climax in life has been reached.
The nature of the change.—As a result of this change the period of reproduction ceases. To affect this change ovulation must cease. As menstruation is normally associated with ovulation, this must cease. The ovaries become reduced in size, the walls of the womb become thinner and the whole sexual system is undergoing a change, adapting itself to the new order of things, which will be a part of her life for years to come.
The duration of the change of life.—No generalrule can be stated as to the length of this period. The average time is from two to three years. Occasionally it covers a period of six or seven and in rare cases ten or twelve years. In rare cases the period has been known to be only a few weeks or months in length. In some women the change causes but little inconvenience.
Evidences of the change.—The approach of the change of life may be heralded by a variety of symptoms, which may in part be present in one woman and absent in another. The menstrual change manifests itself in a number of ways. In one woman the flow may cease at the approach of the menopause, never to return. In other cases the intervals of flow are irregular. In still others, menstruation may be frequent, almost continuous, or at times amount to flooding. In some cases the abdomen swells, a feeling of fullness is experienced and the woman may be convinced that she is pregnant. Any one or more of the following symptoms may be experienced: dizziness, trouble with the sight, voice, heart, lungs, constipation, diarrhea, neuralgia of the joints, limbs and head. These symptoms can be greatly modified by exercise of the will. A woman need not be alarmed at any one or more of these symptoms. They are due to a readjustment of the body to the new conditions that are to follow. While this is a real crisis in a woman’s life, it does notfollow that there is any serious danger. Yet she should take every precaution to keep herself in a good condition.
Some precautions.—Fifteen or twenty minutes of time should be given, to light exercise, each day.
There will be a tendency in most cases toward constipation. Drink one or two glasses of water on rising each morning and drink freely during the day, make a meal occasionally of fruits. If this does not correct the trouble, flush the colon with tepid water.
Special attention should be given to the diet. This should be wholesome and nutritious. She should never over-eat. If inclined to be nervous, coffee and tea should not be used; if at all, with moderation. Other stimulating drinks should be avoided.
She should have some light occupation of interest to her. Idleness during this period may lead to despondency, melancholy, or hysteria. Her mind should be engaged in something all the time.
We are learning more and more that the body is very much subject to the mind. A feeling of dejection and despondency and many other ailments associated with this change can be greatly reduced by a strong will. This is not saying that all of her discomforts are imaginary. They are largely real, but they can be greatly reduced by self-control.
Some physical disorders.—At the time of thechange of life, any one of a number of physical troubles may arise. In the event of any of these, a reliable physician should be consulted. Apparent flooding or small hemorrhages may occur. This usually gives rise to great alarm. Unless the amount appears excessive, no serious concern need to be felt.
Fibroid tumors of the womb and cancer of the womb or breasts are more likely to occur at this period of life than any other. These troubles are largely due to miscarriages, willful abortions, injuries done the womb at birth or some bruise of the breasts. Where these troubles occur, a physician should be consulted. They usually yield to proper treatment.
Changes in the reproductive system.—About the close of the change of life in a woman, the ovaries become reduced in size, the walls of the womb thinner and smaller in size and the vagina undergoes a similar change. Similar changes occur in the sexual organs of the male.
Sex problems explained.—As already observed, sexual desire begins to abate with the approach of the change of life in both sexes. If this does not occur, it shows an abnormal sexual condition, or some aggravating cause in some neighboring organ. Occasionally all desire ceases in the woman at the beginning of the period. In other cases it does so gradually for a few years. If the husband has practiced reasonableself-control, the experience in his case is somewhat similar. He should have no sexual relations during the change of life in his wife. If the husband wishes to protect the health of his wife and himself, prolong their lives, increase their usefulness and happiness he must bring himself to complete self-control.
The later half of life.—When the reproductive system has been readjusted, by the change of life processes, to the new conditions of the closing period of this life, if both are considerate of each other’s comfort and happiness, they soon realize that they have entered into an existence of a larger manhood and womanhood, with limitless opportunities of loving each other, of enjoying life, of being useful and a blessing to the world. The transient pleasures of passion are not to be compared by them with the abiding delights, pleasures and joys that flow from intellectual and spiritual natures surrounded by a halo of glory that indicate a readiness for a golden sunset and a final transition into another period of existence circumscribed by the eternities and limited in progress and joy only by the inexhaustible resources of the Infinite.
Strange as it may seem, middle-aged and old men are quite as ignorant of their sexual natures and the changes incident to their age, as is the average youth. Very few men know that at the age of forty-five to fifty-five a gradual but distinct and vital change will occur in their lives.
Important periods of life.—A boy of seven has a very distinct and intense interest in the origin of animals and man. When he is fourteen puberty dawns and he enters the “stormy period of adolescence.” When twenty-two to twenty-four his sexual powers are matured and he enters a period of some twenty-five years during which his procreative powers are at their best. It is in this period of life that nature indicates he should become the father of children. In this period his physical strength is greatest and his mental and moral development are most active. He is now capable of transmitting the largest endowments to his children. It is natural that at the close of this period, of largest reproductive possibilities, sexual