We will not dwell upon the volitive aspsychicalorgans, except to show that, when their influence is transmitted to the body, they act asphysiologicalorgans, and thus demonstrate that all parts of the brain have their physiological, as well as mental functions. When Andrew Jackson uttered with great emphasis the memorable words, "BY THE ETERNAL," the effect was like a shock from a galvanic battery, thrilling the cells in his own body, and paralyzing with fear every one in Calhoun's organization. This is an illustration of the power or range of action of these faculties. Breadth or copiousness is illustrated in Gen. Grant's reply, "I PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER." Such a temperament has a profusion of constitutional power, great durability of the life-force, and, in our opinion, the combined height and breadth of this region correctly indicate the natural hardihood of the body and itsretentiveness of life. No one need doubt its influence upon the sympathetic system, and, through that system, its power over absorption, circulation, assimilation, and secretion, as well as the voluntary processes. Mental hardihood seems wrought into concrete organization. It checks excess of glandularabsorption, restrains the impulses of tumultuous passion, tones and regulates the action of the heart, and helps to weave the strands of organization into a more compact fabric. The toning energies of the volitive faculties are better than quinine to fortify the system againstmiasmaormalaria, and they co-operate with all tonic remedies in sustaining organic action. Fig. 91 is a portrait of Prof. Tyndall, the eminent chemist,whose likeness indicates volitive innervation, showing great strength of character and of constitution; he is an earnest, thorough, and intense mental toiler; ambitious, but modest; brilliant, because persevering; diligent in scientific inquiry, and who follows the star of truth, whithersoever it may lead him. The expression of his countenance indicates his honest intentions, and displays strength of conscientious purpose; his physical constitution may be correctly interpreted in all of its general characteristics by the analysis of his energetic temperament, the great secret of his strength and success.
Illustration: Fig. 91.Fig. 91.
Illustration: Fig. 92.Fig. 92.
We desire to offer one more illustration of a marvelous blending of this temperament with large mental and emotional faculties. Fig. 92 is a representation of the martyred President Abraham Lincoln. During an eventful career, his temperament and constitution experienced marked changes, and while always distinguished for strength of purpose and corresponding physical endurance, he was governed by noble, moral faculties, manifesting the deepest sympathy for the down-trodden and oppressed, blending tenderness and stateliness without weakness, exhibiting a human kindness, and displaying a genuine compassion, which endeared him to all hearts. He was hopeful, patriotic,magnanimouseven, while upholding the majesty of the law and administering the complicated affairs of government. The balances of his temperament operated with wonderful delicacy, through all the perturbating influences of the rebellion, showing by their persistence that he was never for a moment turned aside from the great end he had in view; the protection and perpetuation of republican liberty. His life exhibited a sublime, moral heroism, elements of character which hallow his name, and keep it in everlasting remembrance.
We have treated the brain, not as a mass of organs radiating from the medulla oblongata as their real center, but as twocerebral masses, each of which is developed around the great ventricle. We have freely applied an easy psychical and physiological nomenclature to the functions of its organs, knowing that there is no arbitrary division of them by specific number, for the cerebrum, in an anatomical sense, is a single organ. The doctrine of cerebral unity is true, and the doctrine of its plurality of function is true also. Whatever effect an organ produces when acting in entire predominance, is regarded as the function of that organ and is expressed by that name. Although our names and divisions are arbitrary and designed for convenience, yet they facilitate our consideration of the psychical, and their corresponding physiological functions. Every cerebral manifestation denotes apsychicalorgan, and in proportion as these acts are transmitted to the body it becomes aphysiologicalorgan. We have ventured to repeat this proposition for the sake of the non-professional reader, that he may be able to distinguish between' the two results of the manifestation of one organ. The transmission of the influence of the brain into the body enables the former to act physiologically, whereas, if its action were confined within the cranium, it would only be psychical. In the language of Prof. J.R. Buchanan, "every organ, therefore, has its mental and corporeal, its psychological and physiological functions—both usually manifested together—either capable of assuming the predominance." We have already seen to what degree theWilloperates upon the organism, or how "the soul imparts special energy to single organs, so that they perform their functions with more than usual efficiency," and thus resist the solicitations of morbific agents. Doubtless our best thoughts are deeply tinged by the healthful or diseased conditions of such organs as the stomach, the lungs, the heart, or even the muscular or circulatory systems, and these impressions, when carried to the sensorium, are reflected by the thoughts, for reflex action is the third class of functions, assigned to the cerebrum. These reflex actions are either hygienic and remedial, or morbid and pernicious. Hence, it is philosophical not only to interpret the thoughts as physiological and pathological indications, but to consider the cerebrum as exerting real hygienic and remedial forces, capable of producing salutary reparative, and restorative effects. When a boiler carries moresteam than can be advantageously employed, it is subjected to unnecessary and injurious strain, and is weakened thereby; so, when the body is overtasked by excessive pressure of the volitive faculties, it is prematurely enfeebled and broken down. There are many individuals who need to make use of some sort of safety valve to let off the surplus of their inordinate ambition; they need some kind of patent brake to slacken their speed of living; they should relieve the friction of their functional powers by a more frequent lubrication of the vital movements, and by stopping, for needed refreshment and rest, at some of the many way-stations of life.
The encephalic temperament is distinguished by prominence and breadth of the forehead, or by a full forehead associated with height and breadth at its coronal junction with the parietal bones, and extending toward the volitive region. (See Fig. 10, the space between 1 and 2 represents the coronal region, 1 indicating the frontal bone, and 2 the parietal). Prominence and great breadth of the forehead displayanalytical, i.e., scientific powers applicable to concretes, whereas a fair intellect, associated with a preponderating development of the coronal region, indicatesanalogicalpowers,i.e., faculties to perceive the relation and the agreement of principles. The former classifies and arranges facts, the latter invests them with moral and spiritual import. The one treats of matter, its physical properties, and chemical composition, the other of thoughts and intentions which involve right and wrong, relating to spiritual accountability. The intellect is employed upon an observable order of things, while the emotive faculties arrange the general laws of being into abstract science.
Fig. 93, a portrait of Prof. Tholuck, is a remarkable example of an encephalic organization. Figs. 72 and 79 fairly indicate the effects of undue mental activity, the intellect causing vital expenditure resulting in the devitalization of the blood. While the intellect displays keen penetration, subtle discrimination, and profound discernment, the emotions exhibit intense sensitiveness, acute susceptibility, and inspirational impressibility.The encephalic temperament is characterized by mental activity, great delicacy of organization, a high and broad forehead, expressive eyes, fine but not very abundant hair, great sensitiveness, refined feelings, vividness of conception, and intensity of emotion. If the brain is developed on the sides, there is manifested Ideality, Modesty, Hope, Sublimity, Imagination, and Spirituality. If the brain and forehead project, the Perceptive, Intuitive, and Reasoning faculties predominate. If it rises high, and nearly perpendicularly, Liberality, Sympathy, Truthfulness, and Sociability are manifested. When the emotive faculties are large, Faith, Hope, Love, Philanthropy, Religion, and Devotion characterize the individual. It is an artistic, creative, and aesthetic temperament, beautiful in conception and grand in expression, yet its sensitiveness is enfeebling, and its crowning excellence, when betrayed by the propensities, trails in defilement. Its purity is God-like, its debauchment, Perdition!
Illustration: Fig. 93.Fig. 93.
Fig. 94 is the likeness of Prof. George Bush. His forehead is amply developed in the region of Foresight, Liberality, Sympathy, Truthfulness, and Benevolence; his mouth expresses Amiability and Cheerfulness, and the whole face beams withKindness and Generosity. This philanthropist, who is both a preacher and an author, has published several works upon theology, which distinguish him for great research and originality.
Illustration: Fig. 94.Fig. 94.
Fig. 95 represents the sanguine-encephalic temperament, the two elements being most happily blended. The portrait is that of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the great scholar and spiritual divine. The reader will observe how high and symmetrical is the forehead, and how well balanced appears the entire organization. He was remarkable for vivid imagination, great scientific acquirements, and all his writings characterize him as a subtle reasoner.
When the encephalic predominates, and the sanguine is deficient in its elements, we find conditions favorable towasteandexpenditure, and adverse to a generoussupplyandreformationof the tissues. A child inheriting this cerebral development is already top-heavy, and supports, at an immense disadvantage, this disproportionate organization. The nutritive functions are overbalanced; consequently there is apredisposition to scrofulous diseases and disorders of the blood, various degenerating changes taking place in its composition; loss of red corpuscles, signified by shortness of breath; morbid changes, manifested by cutaneous eruptions; exhaustion from lack of nourishment, etc., until, finally, consumption finishes the subject.
Illustration: Fig. 95.Fig. 95.
Harmony is the support of all institutions, and applies with special cogency to the maintenance of health. When the mind dwells on one subject to the exclusion of all others, we call such a condition monomania. If we have an excessive development of mind, and deficient support of body, the result is corporeal derangement. It is unfortunate for any child to inherit unusually large brain endowments, unless he is possessed of a vigorous, robust constitution. Such trainingshould be directed to that body as will encourage it to grow strong, hearty, and thrifty, and enable it to support the cerebral functions. The mental proclivities should be checked and the physical organization cultivated, to insure to such a child good health. Cut off all unnecessary brain-wastes, attend to muscular training and such invigorating games and exercises as encourage the circulation of the blood; keep the skin clean and its functions active, the body warm and well protected, the lungs supplied with pure air, the stomach furnished, with wholesome food, besides have the child take plenty of sleep to invigorate the system, and thus, by regular habits, maintain that equilibrium which tends to wholesome efficiency and healthful endurance.
As has been already stated in the chapter on Biology, reproduction of the species depends upon the union of a sperm-cell with a germ-cell, the male furnishing the former and the female the latter. It is a well-known fact that the marriage of persons having dissimilar temperaments is more likely to be fertile than the union of persons of the same temperaments; consanguineous marriages, or the union of persons nearly related by blood, diminish fertility and the vigor of the offspring. Upon this subject Francis Galton has given some very interesting historical illustrations in his well-known work, entitled "Hereditary Genius." The half-brother of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I, King of Egypt, had twelve descendants, who successively became kings of that country, and who were also called Ptolemy. They were matched in and in, but in nearly every case these near marriages were unprolific and the inheritance generally passed through other wives. Ptolemy II married his niece, and afterwards his sister; Ptolemy IV married his sister. Ptolemy VI and VII were brothers, and they both consecutively married the same sister; Ptolemy VII also subsequently married his niece; Ptolemy VIII married two of his sisters in succession. Ptolemy XII and XIII were brothers, and both consecutively married their sister, Cleopatra. Mr. Galton and Sir Jas. Y. Simpson have shown that many peerages have become extinct through the evil results of inter-marriage. Heiresses are usually only children, the feeble productof a run-out stock, and statistics have shown that one-fifth of them bear no children, and fully one-third never bear more than one child. Sir J.Y. Simpson ascertained that out of 495 marriages in the British Peerage, 81 were unfruitful, or nearly one in every six; while out of 675 marriages among an agricultural and seafaring population, only 65 were sterile or barren, or a little less than one in ten.
While the marriages of persons closely related, or of similar temperaments are frequently unfruitful, we would not have the reader understand that sterility, or barrenness, is usually the result of such unions. It is most frequently due to some deformity or diseased condition of the generative organs of the female. In the latter part of this work may be found a minute description of the conditions which cause barrenness, together with the methods of treatment, which have proved most effectual in the extensive practice at the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute.
The temperaments may be compared to a magnet,the like poles of which repel, and the unlike poles of which attract each other.Thus similarity of temperament results in barrenness while dissimilarity makes the vital magnetism all the more powerful. Marriageable persons moved by some unknown influence, have been drawn instinctively toward each other, have taken upon themselves the vows and obligations of wedlock, and have been fruitful and happy in this relation. Alliances founded upon position, money, or purely arbitrary considerations, mere contracts of convenience, are very apt to prove unhappy and unproductive.
Men may unconsciously obey strong instinctive impulses without being conscious of their existence, and by doing so, avoid those ills, which otherwise might destroy their connubial happiness. Thephilosophyof marriage receives no consideration, because the mind is pre-occupied with newly awakened thoughts and feelings. Lovers are charmed by certain harmonies, feel interior persuasions, respond to a new magnetic influence and are lost in an excess of rapture.
If the parties to a marriage are evenly balanced in organic elements, although both of them are vigorous, yet it is physiologically more suitable for them to form a nuptial alliance withan unlike combination. The cause of the wretchedness attending many marriages may be traced to a too great similarity of organization, ideas, taste, education, pursuits, and association, which similarity almost invariably terminates in domestic unhappiness. The husband and wife should be as different as the positive and negative poles of a magnet. When life is begotten under these circumstances we may expect a development bright with intelligence.
"Love is the root of creation; God's essence; worlds without numberLie in his bosom like children; he made them for this purpose only.Only to love and to be loved again, he breathed forth his spiritInto the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid itsHand on its heart, and felt it was warm with a flame out of heaven."—LONGFELLOW.
"Love is the root of creation; God's essence; worlds without numberLie in his bosom like children; he made them for this purpose only.Only to love and to be loved again, he breathed forth his spiritInto the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid itsHand on its heart, and felt it was warm with a flame out of heaven."—LONGFELLOW.
Love, that tender, inexplicable feeling which is the germinal essence of the human spirit, is the rudimental element of the human soul. It is, therefore, a Divine gift, a blessing which the Creator did not withdraw from his erring children, when they were driven from a paradise of innocence and loveliness into a world of desolation and strife. He left it as an invisible cord by which to draw the human heart ever upward, to a brighter home—the heavenly Eden. Love is the very essence of Divine law, the source of inspiration, even the fountain of life itself. It is spontaneous, generous, infinite. To its presence we are indebted for all that is good, true, and beautiful in Art and Nature. It endows humanity with countless virtues, and throws a mystic veil over our many faults. It is this feeling, this immutable law, which controls the destiny of the race. From its influence empires have fallen, scepters have been lost. Literature owes to Love its choicest gems.The poet's lay is sweeter when Cupid tunes the lyre. The artist's brush is truer when guided by Love. Greece was the cradle of letters and art. Her daughters were queens of beauty, fitted to inspire the Love of her noblest sons.
Illustration: Fig. 96.Fig. 96.
The materialism of the nineteenth century has sought to degrade Love; to define it as purely physical. The result has been a corresponding degradation of art, and even literature has lost much of its lofty idealism. Nudity has become a synonym of vulgarity; Love, of lust. "Evil be to him who evil thinks." True Love never seeks to degrade its object; on the contrary, it magnifies every virtue, endows it with divinest attributes, and guards its chastity, or honor, at the sacrifice of its own life. It increases benevolence by opening the lover's heart to the wants of suffering humanity. Ideality is the canvas, and imagination the brush with which Love delineates the beauties of the adored. Love heightens spirituality, awakens hope, strengthens faith, and enhances devotion. It quickens the perceptions, intensifies the sensibilities, and redoubles the memory. It augments muscular activity, and imparts grace to every movement. The desire to love and to be loved is innate, and forms as much a part of our being as bone or reason. In fact, Love may be considered as the very foundation of our spiritual existence, as bone and reason are the essential bases of our physical and intellectual being. Every man or woman feels the influence of this emotion, sooner or later. It is the Kadesh-barnea of human existence; obedience to its intuitions insures the richest blessings of life, while neglect or perversion enkindles God's wrath, even as did the disobedience of the wandering Israelites.
The one great fact which pervades the universe isaction. The very existence of Love demands its activity, and, hence, the highest happiness is attained by a normal and legitimate development of this element of our being. The heart demandsan object upon which to lavish the largess of its affection. In the absence of all others, a star, a flower, or even a bird, will receive this homage. The bird warbles a gay answer to the well-known voice, the flower repays the careful cultivator by displaying its richest tints, the star twinkles a bright "good evening" to the lonely watcher, and yet withal there is an unsatisfied longing in the lover's heart, to which neither can respond; the desire to be loved! Hence, the perfect peace of reciprocated love. If its laws are violated, nature seeks revenge in the utter depression or prostration of the vital energies. Thus has the Divine Law-giver engraven His command on our very being. To love is, therefore, a duty, the fulfillment of which should engage our noblest powers.
This emotion manifests itself in several phases, prominent among which is filial affection, the natural harmonizer of society. Paternal love includes a new element—protection. Greater than either, and second only in fortitude to maternal affection, is
"He is blest in Love aloneWho loves for years and loves but one."—HUNT.
"He is blest in Love aloneWho loves for years and loves but one."—HUNT.
With Swedenborg, we may assert, "that there is given love truly conjugal, which at this day is so rare, that it is not known what it is, and scarce that it is." The same author has defined this relation to be a union of Love and Wisdom. The fundamental law of conjugal love isfidelity to one love. God created but one Eve, and the essential elements of paternal and maternal love pre-suppose and necessitate, for their normal development, the Love ofoneonly. Again, Love is the sun of woman's existence. Only under its influence does she unfold the noblest powers of her being. Woman's intuitions should therefore be taken as the true love-gauge. If she desire a plurality of loves, it must be a law of her nature; but is communism the desire of our wives and daughters? No! Every act which renders woman dear to us, denounces such an idea and reveals the exclusive sacredness of her Love. As condemning promiscuity in this relation, we may cite the lovers' pledges and oaths of fidelity, the self-perpetuity of Love itself,the common instincts of mankind, as embodied in public sentiment, and the inherent consciousness that first love should he kept inviolable forever. Again, Love is conservative. It clings tenaciously to all the memories connected with its first object. The scenes consecrated to "Love's young dream" are sacred to every heart. The woodland with its winding paths and arbors, the streamlet bordered with drooping violets and dreamy pimpernel, the clouds, and even "the very tones in which we spoke," are indelibly imprinted on the memory. There is also the "mine and thine" intuition of love. This sentiment is displayed in every thought and act of the lover. Every pleasure is insipid unless shared by the beloved; selfish and exacting to all others, yet always generous and forgiving to the adored. "Mine and thine, dearest," is the language of Conjugal Love.
The consummation desired by all who experience this affection, is the union of souls in a true marriage. Whatever of beauty or romance there may be in the lover's dream, is enhanced and spiritualized in the intimate communion of married life. The crown of wifehood and maternity is purer, more divine, than that of the maiden. Passion is lost; the emotions predominate.
The connubial relation is not an institution; it was born of the necessities and desires of our nature. "It is not good for man to be alone," was the Divine judgment, and so God created for him "an helpmate." Again, "Male and female created He them;" therefore, sex is as divine as the soul. It is often perverted, but so is reason, aye, so is devotion.
The consummation of marriage involves the mightiest issues of life. It may be the source of infinite happiness or the seal of a living death. "Love is blind" is an old saying, verified by thousands of ill-assorted unions. Many unhappy marriages are traceable to one or both of two sources, Physical Weaknesses and Masquerading. Many are the candidates for marriage who are rendered unfit therefor from weaknesses of their sexual systems, induced by the violation of well-established physical laws.
We cannot too strongly urge upon parents and guardians the imperative duty of teaching those youths who look to them forinstruction, in all matters which pertain to their future well-being such lessons as are embraced in the chapter of this book entitled, "Hygiene of the Reproductive Organs." By attending to such lessons as will give the child a knowledge of the physiology and hygiene of his whole system, the errors into which so many of the young fall, and much of the misery which is so often the dregs of the hymeneal cup, will be avoided.
Masquerading is a modern accomplishment. Girls wear tight shoes, burdensome skirts, and corsets, all of which prove very injurious to their health. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, our young ladies are sorry specimens of womankind, and "palpitators," cosmetics, and all the modern paraphernalia of fashion are required to make them appear fresh and blooming. Man is equally to blame. A devotee to all the absurd devices of fashion, he practically asserts that "dress makes the man." But physical deformities are of far less importance than moral imperfections. Frankness is indispensable in love. Each should know the other's faults and virtues. Marriage will certainly disclose them; the idol falls and the deceived lover is transformed into a cold, unloving husband or wife. By far the greater number of unhappy marriages are attributable to this cause. In love especially, honesty is policy and truth will triumph.
Polygamy and Monogamy. We propose to give only a brief dissertation on the principles and arguments of these systems, with special reference to their representatives in the nineteenth century. Polygamy has existed in all ages. It is, and always has been, the result of moral degradation or wantonness. The Garden of Eden was no harem. Primeval nature knew no community of love. There was only the union of two "and the twain were made one flesh." Time passed; "the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." The propensities of men were in the ascendant, and "God repented Him that He had created man." He directed Noah to take into the ark, two of every sort, male and female. But "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," and tradition points to Polygamy as the generally recognized form of marriage among the ancients.The father of the Hebrew nation was unquestionably a polygamist, and the general history of patriarchal life shows that a plurality of wives and concubines were national customs. In the earlier part of Egyptian history, Menes is said to have founded a system of marriage, ostensibly monogamous, but in reality it was polygamous, because it allowed concubinage. As civilization advanced, the latter became unpopular, and "although lawful, was uncommon," while polygamy was expressly forbidden. Solomon, according to polygamous principles, with his thousand women, should have enjoyed a most felicitous condition. Strange that he exclaimed "A woman among all these have I not found." According to the distinguished Rabbi, Maimonides, polygamy was a Jewish custom as late as the thirteenth century. When Cecrops the Egyptian King, came to Athens (1550, B.C.) he introduced a new system, which proved to be another step toward the recognition of Monogamy. Under this code a man was permitted to have one wife and a concubine. Here dawned the era of Grecian civilization, the glory of which was reflected in the social and political principles of Western Europe. During the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., concubinage disappeared, but, under the new regime, the condition of the wife was degraded. She was regarded as simply an instrument of procreation and a mistress of the household, while a class of foreign women, who devoted themselves to learning and the fine arts, were the admired, and often the beloved companions of the husbands. These were the courtesans who played the same role in Athenian history, as did the chaste matron, in the annals of Rome. When Greece became subject to Rome and the national characteristics of these nations were blended, marriage became a loose form of monogamy. In Persia, during the reign of Cyrus, about 560 B.C., polygamy was sustained by custom, law, and religion. The Chinese marriage system was, and is, practically polygamous, for, from their earliest traditions, we learn that although a man could have but one wife, he was permitted to have as many concubines as he desired.
In the Christian era the first religious system which incorporated polygamy as a principle was Mohammedanism. This system, which is so admirably adapted to the voluptuouscharacter of the Orientals, has penetrated Western Europe, Asia, and Africa. Hayward estimated the number of its adherents to be one hundred and forty millions. The heaven of the Mohammedan is replete with all the luxuries which appeal to the animal propensities. Ravishing Houris attend the faithful, who recline on downy couches, in pavilions of pearl. On the Western Continent a system of promiscuity was practiced by the Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, and the barbarous tribes of North America.
The Mormon Church was founded by Joseph Smith, and professes to be in harmony with the Bible and a special revelation to its leading Saint. According to the Mormon code, "Love is a yearning for a higher state of existence, and the passions, properly understood, are feeders of the spiritual life;" and again, "nature is dual; to complete his organization a man must marry." The leading error of Mormonism is that it mistakes a legal permission for a Divine command. The Mormon logic may be premised as follows: the Mosaic law allowed polygamy; the Bible records it; therefore, the Bibleteachespolygamy.
A Mormon Saint can have not less than three wives but as many more as he can conveniently support. The eight fundamental doctrines of the Mormon Church are stated as follows: 1. God is a person with the flesh and form of a man. 2. Man is a part of the substance of God and will himself become a god. 3. Man is not created by God but existed from all eternity. 4. Man is not born in sin, and is not accountable for offenses other than his own. 5. The earth is a colony of embodied spirits, one of many such settlements in space. 6. God is president of the immortals, having under Him four orders of beings: (1.) Gods—i.e., immortal beings, possessed of a perfect organization of soul and body, being the final state of men who have lived on earth in perfect obedience to the law. (2.) Angels, immortal beings who have lived on earth in imperfect obedience to the law. (3.) Men, immortal beings in whom a living soul is united with a human body. (4.) Spirits, immortal beings, still waiting to receive their tabernacle of flesh. 7. Man, being one of the race of gods, became eligible, by means of marriage, for a celestial throne, and his household ofwives and children are his kingdom, not only on earth but in heaven. 8. The kingdom of God has been again founded on earth, and the time has now come for the saints to take possession of their own; but by virtue, not by violence; by industry, not by force. This sect has met with stern and bitter opposition. It was successively located in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, from the last of which it was expelled by force of arms, and in 1848 established in Utah. Its adherents number, at the present time, more than two hundred thousand.
Another organization, differing from the Mormons, in many of its radical principles, is that of the "Communists," popularly termed "Free Lovers." It is located at Lennox, Madison Co., N.Y. Its members advocate a system of "complex marriage" which they claim is instituted with a conscientious regard for the welfare of posterity. They disclaim "promiscuity," and assert that the tie which binds them together is as permanent and as sacred as that of marriage. Community of property is commensurate with freedom of Love. They define love to be "social appreciation," and this element in their code of civilization, which they deem superior to all others, is secondary to "bodily support." The principles upon which their social status is founded may be briefly summarized as follows: "Man offers woman support and love (unconditional). Woman enjoying freedom, self-respect, health, personal and mental competency, gives herself to man in the boundless sincerity of an unselfish union. State—, Communism." In this, as in all forms of polygamous marriages, love is made synonymous with sexuality, and its purely spiritual element is lost. In every instance this spiritual element should constitute the basis of marriage, which, without it, is nothing more than legal prostitution. Without it, the selfish, degrading, animal propensities run rampant, while the emotions with all their boundless sweetness lie dormant. Woman is regarded as only a plaything to gratify the animal caprice.
That Monogamy is a law of nature is evident from the fact that it fulfills the three essential conditions which form the basis of true marriage: (1.) The development of the individual (2.) The welfare of society. (3.) The reproduction of the species.
PHYSICALLY. Reciprocated love produces a general exhilaration of the system. The elasticity of the muscles is increased, the circulation is quickened, and every bodily function is stimulated. The duties of life are performed with a zest and alacrity never before experienced. "It is not possible for human beings to attain their full stature of humanity, except by loving long and perfectly. Behold that venerable man! He is mature in judgment, perfect in every action and expression, and saintly in goodness. You almost worship as you behold. What rendered him thus perfect? What rounded off his natural asperities, and moulded up his virtues? Love mainly. It permeated every pore, so to speak, and seasoned every fiber of his being, as could nothing else. Mark that matronly woman. In the bosom of her family, she is more than a queen and goddess combined. All her looks and actions express the outflowing of some or all of the human virtues. To know her is to love her. She became thus perfect, not in a day or a year, but by a long series of appropriate efforts. Then by what? Chiefly in and by love, which is specifically adapted thus to develope this maturity." But all this occurs only when there is a normal exercise of the sexual propensities. Excessive indulgence in marital pleasures deadens all the higher faculties, love included, and results in an utter prostration of the bodily powers. The Creator has endowed man and woman with passions, the suppression of which leads to pain, their gratification to pleasure, their satiety to disgust. Excessive marital indulgence produces abnormal conditions of the generative organs and not unfrequently leads to incurable disease. Many cases of uterine disease are traceable to this cause.
MORALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY. In no country where the polygamous system prevails do we find a code of political and social ethics which recognizes the rights and claims of the individual. The condition of woman is that of the basest slave, a slave to the caprice and tyranny of her master. Communism raises her from the slough of slavery, but subjects her to the level of prostitution. An inevitable sequence of polygamy is a decline of literature and science. The natural tendency ofeach system is tosensualism., The blood is diverted from its normal channels and the result is a condition which may be appropriately termedmental starvation. Sensualism is in its very nature directly opposed to literary attainments or advancement. Happily there is a golden mean, an equalization of those elements which constitutes the acme of individual enjoyment.
The general law of ethics, that "whatever is beneficial to the individual, contributed to the highest good of society andvice versa," applies with equal force to the hygienic conditions of marriage. Each family, like the ancient Roman household, is the prototype of the natural government under which it lives. Wherever the marriage relation is regarded as sacred, there you will find men of pure hearts and noble lives. Of all foreign nations the Germans are celebrated for their sacred regard of woman, and the duties of marriage, and all scholars from the age of Tacitus to the present day, have concurred in attributing the elevation of woman to the pure-minded Teutons. In America, the law recognizes only Monogamy; but domestic unhappiness is a prominent feature of our national life; therefore, argues the would-be free-lover, monogamy does not accord with the best interests of mankind. The fallacy lies in the first premise. Legally, our marriage system is monogamous butsociallyandpracticallyit isnot!Prostitution is the source of this domestic infelicity. The "mistress" sips the sweet nectar that is denied to the deceived wife. Legislators have battled with intemperance, but have done comparatively little to banish from our midst this necessary (?) evil. They recoil with disgust from this abyss of iniquity and disease. Within it is coiled a hydra-headed monster, which invades our hearthstones, contaminates our social atmosphere, and whose very breath is laden with poisonous vapors, the inexhaustible source of all evil.
The perverted appetites of mankind are mistaken for the natural desires and necessities of our being; and, accordingly, various arguments have been advanced to prove that monogamy is not conducive to social developement. It is curious that no one of these arguments refers to the health and well-being oftheindividual, thus overlooking, perhaps willfully, the great law of social economy. Even a few medical writers sometimes advocate the principles of this so-called liberalism. In a recently published work, there are enumerated onlytwodemerits of polygamy andsixof monogamy. These six demerits which the author is pleased to term a "bombshell," he introduces on account of his moral convictions no less than humanitarian considerations. The same author terms monogamy a "worm-eaten and rotten-rooted tree." The worm that is devastating the fairest tree of Eden and draining its richest juices is what our contemporary thinks, may be "plausibly termed, a necessary evil." It is claimed that monogamy begets narrow sympathies and leads to selfish idolatry. The fallacy of this argument lies in the misapprehension of the termselfishness. Self-preservation is literally selfishness, yet who will deny that it is a paramount duty of man. If perverted, it may be vicious, even criminal; but selfishness, in so far as it is generated by monogamy, is one of the chief elements of social economy; furthermore, it favors the observance of the laws of sexual hygiene. As we have said elsewhere, true loveincreases benevolence, and correspondingly expands and develops the sympathies. Selfish idolatry is preferable to social neglect. This argument will not bear a critical examination; for it is asserted that in a happy union, "love is so exclusive that there is hardly a liking for good neighbors, and scarcely any love at all for God." If the "good neighbors" were equally blessed, they would not suffer from this exclusiveness, and it is practically true that there is no higher incentive to love and obey our Maker than the blessing of a happy marriage.
The third essential object of marriage is the perpetuation of the species. The desire for offspring is innate in the heart of every true man or woman. It is thus a law of our nature, and, as such, must have its legitimate sphere. The essential features of reproduction proclaim monogamy to be the true method of procreation. Promiscuity would render the mother unable to designate the father of her children. Among lower animals, pairing is an instinctive law whenever the female isincapable of protecting and nourishing her offspring alone. During at least fifteen years, the child is dependent for food and clothing upon its parents, to say nothing of the requisite moral training and loving sympathy, which, in a great measure, mould its character. Fidelity to one promotes multiplication. It has been argued by the advocates of polygamy that such a system interferes with woman's natural right to maternity. Of the many marriages celebrated yearly, comparatively few are sterile. The statement that many single women are desirous of having children, would apply only to a very limited number, as it is seldom that they would be able to support children without the aid and assistance of a father. Promiscuity diminishes the number andvitiates, the quality of the human products. "Women of pleasure never give to the world sons of genius, or daughters of moral purity."
Every individual derives existence from aparent, which word literally means one who brings forth. We restrict the meaning of the termreproduction, ordinarily, to that function by which living bodies produce other living bodies similar to themselves.Productionmeans to bring forth;reproduction, the producing again, or renewing. To protract individual existence, nutrition is necessary, because all vital changes are attended bywearandwaste. Nutrition is always engaged in the work of reparation. Every organism that starts out upon its career of development depends upon nourishing materials for its growth, and upon this renewing process for its development. Nutrition is all the while necessary to prolong the life of the individual, but at length its vigor wanes, its functions languish, and, finally, the light of earthly life goes out. Although the single organization decays and passes away, nevertheless the species is uninterruptedly continued; the tidal wave of life surges higher on the shores of time, for reproduction is as constant and stable as the attractive forces of the planetary system.
It is a fact, that many species of the lower order of animals which once existed are now extinct. It has been asserted and denied, that fossil remains of man have been found, indicating that races which once existed have disappeared from the face of the earth. The pyramids are unfolding a wonderful history, embracing a period of forty-five hundred years, which the world of science receives as literally authentic, and admits, also, that fifty-four hundred years areprobablyas correctlyaccounted for. The extinction of races is not at all improbable. At the present time, the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent seem to be surely undergoing gradual extinguishment! It, therefore, seems to be possible for a weaker race to deteriorate, and finally become extinct, unless the causes of their decadence can be discovered and remedied. All people are admonished to earnestly investigate the essential conditions necessary for their continuance, for the rise and fall of nations is in obedience to natural principles and operations. Viewed from this standpoint, it is possible that a careful study of the human temperaments and their relations to reproduction may be of greater moment than has hitherto been supposed, and a proper understanding of them may tend to avert that individual deterioration, which, if suffered to become general, would end in national disaster and the extinction of the race.
Until recently, even naturalists believed that descendants were strictly like their parents in form and structure. Now it is known that the progeny may differ in both form and structure from the parent, and that these may produce others still more unlike their ancestry. But all these peculiar and incidental deviations finally return to the original form, showing that these changes have definite limits, and that the alterations observe a specific variableness, which is finally completed by its assuming again the original form. (Seepage 16, Figs. 2 and 3).
Reproductionmay besexualornon-sexual.In some plants and animals it is non-sexual. The propagation of species is accomplished by buds. Thus the gardener grafts a new variety of fruit upon an old stock. The florist understands how to produce new varieties of flowers, and make them radiantly beautiful in their bright and glowing colors. The bud personates the species and produces after its kind. Some of theannelides, a division of articulate animals, characterized by an elongated body, formed of numerous rings or annular segments, multiply by spontaneous division. A new head is formed at intervals in certain segments of the body. (See Fig. 97).
Something similar to this process of budding, we find taking place in a low order of animal organization. Divide the fresh water polyp into several pieces, and each one will grow intoan entire animal. Each piece represents a polyp, and so each parent polyp is really a compound animal, an organized community of beings. Just as the buds of a tree, when separated and engrafted upon another tree, grow again, each preserving its original identity, so do the several parts of this animal, when divided, become individual polyps, capable of similar reproduction.
Illustration: Fig. 97. An annelid dividing spontaneously,Fig. 97. An annelid dividing spontaneously, a new head having been formed toward the hinder part of the body of the parent.
The revolving volvox likewise increases by growth until it becomes a society of animals, a multiple system of individuals. There are apertures from the parent, by which water gains a free access to the interior of the whole miniature series. This monad was once supposed to be a single animal, but the microscope shows it to be a group of animals connected by means of six processes, and each little growing volvox exhibits his red-eye speck and two long spines, or horns. These animals also multiply by dividing, and thus liberate another series, which, in their turn, reproduce other groups.
Generation requires the concurrence ofstimuliandsusceptibility, and, to perfect the process, two conditions are also necessary. The first is the sperm, which communicates the principle of action; the other is the germ, which receives the latent life and provides the conditions necessary to organic evolution. The vivifying function belongs to the male, that of nourishing and cherishing is possessed by the female; and these conditions are sexual distinctions. The former representswillandunderstanding; the latter,vitalityandemotion. The father directs and controls, the mother fosters and encourages;the former counsels and admonishes, the latter persuades and caresses; and their union in holy matrimony represents one; that is, the blending of vitality and energy, of love and wisdom,—the elements indispensable to the initiation of life under the dual conditions of male and female,—one in the functions of reproduction.
Let us consider the modes of Sexual Reproduction, which arehermaphroditicanddioecious.
We have said that two kinds of cells represent reproduction, namely, sperm and germ-cells. These may be furnished by different individuals, or both may be found in one. When both are found in the same individual, the parent is said to be anatural hermaphrodite. A perfect hermaphrodite possesses the attributes of both male and female—uniting both sexes in one individual. Natural hermaphroditic reproduction occurs only among inferior classes of animals, and naturalists inform us that there are a greater number of these than of the more perfect varieties. These are found low in the scale of animal organization, and one individual is able to propagate the species. In the oyster and ascidians no organs can be detected in the male, but in the female they are developed. Polyps, sponges, and cystic entozoa, may also be included among hermaphrodites.
It is only very low organisms indeed in which it is a matter of indifference whether the united sperm-cells and germ-cells are those of the same individual, or those of different individuals. In more elaborate structures and highly organized beings, the essential thing in fertilization is the union of these cells specially endowed bydifferentbodies, the unlikeness of derivation in these united reproductive centers being the desideratum for perpetuating life and power.
In other classes, asentozoa, there appear to be special provisions whereby the sperm-cells and germ-cells may be united;i.e., the male organs are developed and so disposed as to fecundate the ova of the same individual. Sexual and non-sexual modes of reproduction are illustrated by that well-defined group of marine invertebrate animals, calledcirripediaFig. 98 represents one of this genus.
Illustration: Fig. 98. Pollicipes Mitella.Fig. 98. Pollicipes Mitella.
Some of these are not only capable of self-impregnation, but likewise have what are calledcomplemental malesattache to some of the hermaphrodites. In the whole animal kingdom, it may be doubted if there exists another such class of rudimentary creatures as the parasitic males, who possess neither mouth, stomach, thorax, nor abdomen. After exerting a peculiar sexual influence, they soon die and drop off; so that in this class of animals may be found the sexual distinctions of male, female, and perfect hermaphrodites.
Illustration: Fig. 99. Rotiferia; Brachionus Urceolaris; largely magnified.Fig. 99. Rotiferia; Brachionus Urceolaris; largely magnified.
There is a class of wheel-animalcules termedrotifera, of which the revolving volvox is one example. They have acquired this name on account of the apparent rotation of the disc-like organs which surround their mouths and are covered withcilia, or little hairs. They are minute creatures, and can best be viewed with a microscope, although the larger forms may be seen without such assistance. They are widely diffused on the surface of the earth, inhabit lakes as well as the ocean, and are found in cold, temperate, and tropical climates. The rotifera were once supposed to be hermaphrodites, but the existence of sexes in one species has been clearly established. The male, however, is much smaller, and far less developed than the female. In some of these species, germ-cells, or eggs, are found, which do not require fecundation for reproduction or development, so that they belong to the non-sexual class.
The third variety of hermaphrodites embraces those animals in which the male organs are so disposed as not to fecundatethe ova of the same body, but require the co-operation of two individuals, notwithstanding the co-existence in each of the organs of both sexes. Each in turn impregnates the other. The common leech, earth-worm, and snail, propagate in this manner.
Unnatural hermaphrodismis characteristic of insects and crustaceans, in which the whole body indicates a neutral character, tending to exhibit the peculiarities of male or female, in proportion to the kind of sexual organs which predominates. Half of the body may be occupied by male, the other half by female organs, and each half reflects its peculiar sexual characteristics. Some butterflies are dimidiate hermaphrodites;i.e.one side of the body has the form and color of the male, the other the form and color of the female. The wings show by their color and appearance these sexual distinctions. The stag-beetle is also an example. We have accounts of dimidiate hermaphrodite lobster, male in one half and female in the other half of the body.
Among the numerous classes of higher animals, which have red blood, we have heard of no well-authenticated instance of hermaphrodism, or the complete union ofallthe reproductive organs in one individual. True, the termhermaphroditeis often applied to certain persons in whom there is some malformation, deficiency, or excess, of the genital organs. These congenital deformities consisting of combined increase or deficiency, supernumerary organs, or transposition of them, which usually render generation physically impossible, have been calledbisexual hermaphrodismand classed as monstrosities. We have many published accounts of them, hence, further reference to them here is unnecessary. We would especially refer those readers who may desire to make themselves further acquainted with this interesting subject, to the standard physiological works of Flint, Foster, Carpenter, Bennett, Dalton, and others equally eminent in this particular branch of science.
Certain theories have been advanced concerning conditions which may influence the sex of the offspring. One is that the right ovary furnishes the germs for males, the left for females that the right testicle furnishes sperm capable of fecundating the germs of males, and the left testicle, the germs of the leftovary, for females. That fecundation sometimes takes place from right to left and thus produces these abnormal variations. We merely state the hypothesis, but do not regard it as accounting for the distinction of sex, or as causing monstrosities, though it is somewhat plausible as a theory, and is not easily disproved. In the lower order of animals, as sheep and swine, one of the testicles has been removed, and there resulted afterward both male and female progeny, so that the theory seems to lack facts for a foundation.
We sometimes witness in the child excessive development, as five fingers, a large cranium, which results in dropsical effusion, or deficient brain, as in idiots; sometimes a hand or arm is lacking, or possibly there is a dual connection, as in the case of the Siamese twins; or, two heads united on one body. It is difficult to give any satisfactory explanation of these abnormal developments. From age to age, the type isconstant, and preserves a race-unity. The crossings of the races are only transient deviations, not capable of perpetuation, and quickly return again to the original stock. This force is persistent, for inasmuch as the individual represents the race, so does his offspring represent the parental characteristics, in tastes, proclivities, and morals, as well as in organic resemblances. This constancy is unaccountable, and more mysterious than the occasional malformation of germs in the early period of foetal life. If to every deviation from that original form and structure, which gives character to the productions of nature, we apply the termmonster, we shall find but very few, and from this whole class there will be a very small number indeed ofsexualmalformations. If the sexes be deprived of the generative organs, they approach each other in disposition and appearance. All those who are partly male and partly female in their organization, unite, to a certain extent, the characteristics of both sexes. When the female loses her prolific powers, many of her sexual peculiarities and attractions wane.
Dioeciousis a word derived from the Greek, and signifiestwo households;hence,dioecious reproductionis sexual generation by male and female individuals. Each is distinguished by sexualcharacteristics. The male sexual organs are complete in one individual, and all the female organs belong to a separate feminine organization. In some of the vertebrates, impregnation does not require sexual congress; in other words, fecundation may take placeexternally. The female fish of some species first deposits her ova, and afterwards the male swims to that locality and fertilizes them with sperm.
In higher orders of animals, fecundation occursinternally, the conjunction of the sperm and germ cells requiring the conjugation of the male and female sexual organs. The sperm-cells of the male furnish the quickening principle, which sets in play all the generative energies, while the germ-cell, susceptible to its vivifying presence, responds with all the conditions necessary to evolution. The special laboratory which furnishes spermatic material is thetestes, while the stroma of theovariescontributes the germ-cell. Several different modes of reproducing are observed when fecundation occurs within the body, which vary according to the peculiarities and organization of the female.
Modes of Dioecious Reproduction.—A very familiar illustration of one mode is found in the common domestic fowl, the egg of which vivified within the ovarium, is afterward expelled and hatched by the simple agency of warmth. This mode of reproduction is calledoviparous generation.
The ovaries, as well as all their latent germs, areremarkablyinfluenced by the first fecundation. It seems to indicate monogamy as the rule of higher sexual reproduction. The farmer understands that if he wishes to materially improve his cows, the first offspring must be begotten by a better, purer breed, and all that follow will be essentially benefited, even if not so well sired. Neither will the best blood exhibit its most desirable qualities in the calves whose mothers have previously carried inferior stock. So that there are sexual ante-natal influences which may deteriorate the quality of the progeny. The Jews understood this principle, in the raising up of sons and daughters unto a deceased brother. The fact that the sexual influence of a previous conception is not lost, is illustrated when, in a second marriage, the wife bears a son or daughter resembling bodily or mentally, or in both of these respects the formerhusband. This indicates a union for life by natural influences which never die out.
With some species of fish and reptiles, the egg is impregnated internally, and the process oflayingcommences immediately, but it proceeds so slowly through the excretory passages, that it is hatched and born alive. This is calledovo-viviparous generation.
As we rise in the scale of organization, animals are more completely developed, and greater economy is displayed in their preservation. The germ passes from the ovary into an organ prepared for its reception and growth, to which, after fecundation, it becomes attached, and where it remains until sufficiently developed to maintain respiratory life. This organ is called thewomb, oruterus, and is peculiar to most mammalia. This mode of reproduction is termedviviparous generation.
The kangaroo and oppossum are provided with a pouch attached to the abdomen, which receives the young born at an early stage of development. They remain in contact with the mammæ, from which they obtain their nourishment, until their growth is sufficiently completed to maintain an independent existence. This is calledmarsupial generation. The variety of reproduction which is most interesting, is that of the human species, and is calledviviparous generation. It includes the functions of copulation, fecundation, gestation, parturition, and lactation.
For the full and perfect development of mankind, both mental and physical chastity is necessary. The health demands abstinence from unlawful intercourse. Therefore children should not be allowed to read impure works of fiction, which tend to inflame the mind and excite the passions. Only in total abstinence from illicit pleasures is there moral safety and health, while integrity, peace, and happiness, are the conscious rewards of virtue. Impurity travels downward with intemperance, obscenity, and corrupting diseases, to degradation and death. A dissolute, licentious, free-and-easy life is filled with the dregs of human suffering, iniquity, and despair. The penalties which follow a violation of the law of chastity are found to be severe and swiftly retributive.
Illustration: Fig. 100. MaleFig. 100. Male
Illustration: Fig. 101. FemaleFig. 101. Female
Illustration: Fig. 102. Outline of the Female Urinary and Generative Organs.Fig. 102. Outline of the Female Urinary and Generative Organs.
The union of the sexes in holy matrimony is a law of nature finding sanction in both morals and legislation. Even some of the lower animals unite in this union for life, and instinctively observe the law of conjugal fidelity with a consistency which might put to blush other animals more highly endowed. It is important to discuss this subject and understand our social evils, as well as the unnatural desires of the sexes, which must be controlled or they lead to ruin. Sexual propensities are possessed by all, and they must be held in abeyance, until they are exercised for legitimate purposes. Hence parents ought to understand the value of mental and physical labor to elevate and strengthen the intellectual and moral faculties of their children, to develop the muscular system and direct the energies of the blood into healthful channels. Vigorous employmentof mind and body engrosses the vital energies and diverts them from undue excitement of the sexual desires.
Illustration: Fig. 103. Outline of the Male Reproductive Organs.Fig. 103. Outline of the Male Reproductive Organs.
Sexual generation by pairing individuals is the most economical mode of propagating the species. The lower orders of animals possess wonderful multiplicative powers and their faculty for reproduction is offset by various destructive forces. The increased ability for self-maintenance implies diminished reproductive energy; hence the necessity for greater economy and safety in rearing the young. As certain larvæ and insects increase, the birds which feed upon them become more numerous. When this means of support becomes inadequate, these same birds diminish in number in proportion to the scarcity of their food. Many have remarked that very prolific seasons are followed by unusual mortality, just as periods of uncommon prosperity precede those of severe disaster.
The increased mental and moral cultivation of mankind imposes upon them the necessity for greater physical culture."Wiser and weaker," is a trite saying, and means that the exercise of the higher nature discloses the equivalent necessity of culturing the body, in order to support the increasing expenditures of the former. Mental and moral discipline are essential for a proper understanding how to provide for the body, for physical training increases the capacity of the individual for self-preservation. Constant vigilance is the price of health as well as of liberty.
It is an interesting physiological fact that, while the growth and development of the individual are rapidly progressing, the reproductive powers remain almost inactive, and that the commencement of reproduction not only indicates an arrest of growth, but, in a great measure, contributes toward it. From infancy to puberty, the body and its individual organs, structurally as well as functionally, are in a state of gradual and progressive evolution. Men and women generally increase in stature until the twenty-fifth year, and it is safe to assume that perfection of function is not established until maturity of bodily development is completed. Solidity and strength are represented in the organization of the male, grace, and beauty in that of the female. His broad shoulders represent physical power and the right of dominion, while her bosom is the symbol of love and nutrition. The father encounters hardships, struggles against difficulties, and braves dangers to provide for his household; the mother tenderly supplies the infant's wants, finding relief and pleasure in imparting nourishment, and surrounds helpless infancy with an affection which is unwearied in its countless ministering attentions. Her maternal functions are indicated by greater breadth of the hips. Physical differences so influence their mental natures, that, "before experience has opened their eyes, the dreams of the young man and maiden differ." The development of either is in close sympathy with their organs of reproduction. Any defect of the latter impairs our fair ideal, and detracts from those qualities which impart excellence, and crown the character with perfections. Plainly has Nature marked out, in the organization, very different offices to be performed by the sexes, and has made these distinctions fundamental.
Likewise, Nature expresses the intention of reproductionby giving to plants and animals distinctive organs for this purpose. These are endowed with exquisite sensibility, so that their proper exercise produces enjoyment beneficial to both. Excessive sexual indulgence not only prostrates the nervous system, enfeebles the body, and drains the blood of its vivifying elements, but is inconsistent with intellectual activity, morality, and spiritual development. The most entrancing delights and consummate enjoyments are of the emotive order, ideal, abstract, and pure, so inspiring that they overpower the grosser sensual pleasures and diffuse their own sweet chastity and refining influence over all the processes of life.
Hence, the gratification of the sexual instincts should always be moderate. It should be regulated by the judgment and will, and kept within the bounds of health. No person has a moral right to carry this indulgence so far as to produce injurious consequences to either party, and he who cannot refrain from it is in no proper condition to propagate his species. In all culture there must be self-control, and the practice of self-denial at the command of love and justice is always a virtue. Self-government is the polity of our people, and we point with pride and laudable exultation to our political maxims, laws, and free institutions. The family is the prototype of society. If self-restraint be practiced in the marital relation, then the principle of self-control will carry health, strength, and morality into all parts of the commonwealth. The leading characteristics of any nation are but the reflection of the traits of its individual members, and thus the family truly typifies the practical morality and enduring character of a people.
TheOvariesare those essential parts of the generative system of the human female in which the ova are matured. There are two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus, and connected with it by the Fallopian tubes; they are ovoidal bodies about an inch in diameter, and furnish thegermsor ovules. These latter are very minute, seldom measuring 1/120 of an inch in diameter, and frequently are not more than half that size. The ovaries develop with the growth of the female, so that, finally, at the pubescent period, they ripen and liberatean ovum, or germ vesicle, which is carried into the uterine cavity through the Fallopian tubes. With the aid of the microscope, we find that these ova are composed of granular substance, in which is found a miniature yolk surrounded by a transparent membrane, called thezona pellucida. This yolk contains a germinal vesicle in which can be discovered a nucleus, called thegerminal spot. The process of the growth of the ovaries is very gradual, and their function of ripening and discharging an ovum every month into the Fallopian tubes and uterus is not developed until between the twelfth and fifteenth years.
This period, which indicates, by the feelings and ideas, the desires and will, that the subjects are capable of procreation, is calledpuberty. The mind acquires new and more delicate perceptions, the person becomes plumper, the mammæ enlarge, and there is grace and perfection in every movement, a conscious completeness for those relations of life for which this function prepares them. The period of puberty is also indicated by
The catamenial discharge naturally follows the ripening and liberation of an ovum, and as the ovaries furnish one of these each month, this monthly flow is termed themenses(the plural of the Latin wordmensis, which signifies a month). The menstrual flow continues from three to five days, and is merely the exudation of ordinary venous blood through the mucous lining of the cavity of the uterus. At this time, the nervous system of females is much more sensitive, and from the fact that there is greater aptitude to conception immediately before and after this period, it is supposed that the sexual feeling is then the strongest. When impregnation occurs immediately before the appearance of the menses, their duration is generally shortened, but not sufficiently to establish the suspicion that conception has taken place. The germ is the contribution of the female, which provides the conditions which only require the vivifying principle of the sperm for the development of another being. The period of aptitude for conception terminates at the time both ovulation and menstruation cease,which, unless brought about earlier by disease, usually occurs about the forty-fifth year of her age.
Since in the beginning God created male and female, and said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," it is evident that what was originated by creation must be continued by procreation. The process of generation the reader will find described on pages12and13. Then commences a wonderful series of transforming operations, rudimentary changes preliminary to the formation of tissues, structures and functions, which finally qualify the organism for independent existence. The ovum, when expelled from the ovary, enters the fimbriated, or fringe-like extremity of the Fallopian tube, to commence at once its descent to the uterus. The process of passing through this minute tube varies in different animals. In birds and reptiles, the bulk of the expelled ova is so great as to completely fill up the tube, and it is assisted in its downward course, partly by its own weight and partly by the peristaltic action of the muscular coat of the canal. In the human subject, however, the ova are so minute that nature has supplied a special agent for their direct transmission; otherwise they might be retained, and not reach their destination. Accordingly, the fimbriated, trumpet-shaped extremity of the Fallopian tubes, which is nearest to the ovaries, and, consequently from the ovary first receives the ovum when expelled; is provided with a series of small hairs, termedcilia, forming the lining or basement membrane of the tubes, and, the movements of these cilia being towards the uterus, transmit, by their vibrating motion, the ovum from the ovary, through the Fallopian tubes, to the uterus.
The mature ovum, however, is not by itself capable of being converted into the embryo. It requires fecundation by the spermatic fluid of the male, and this may take place immediately on the expulsion of the ovum from the ovary, or during its passage through the Fallopian tube, or, according to Bischoff, Coste, and others, in the cavity of the uterus, or even upon the surface of the ovary. Should impregnation, however, fail, the ovum gradually loses its vitality, and is eventuallyexpelled by the uterine secretions. It occasionally happens that the descent of the impregnated ovum is arrested, and the formation of the embryo commences in the ovary. This is termedovarian pregnancy. Or again, the ovum may be arrested in its passage through the Fallopian tube, causing what is termedtubal pregnancy; or, after it has been expelled from the ovary, it may fail to be received by the fimbriated extremity, and escape into the cavity of the abdomen, forming what has been termedventral pregnancy. If the microscopic germ lodges in some slight interstice of fiber, during its passage through the walls of the uterus, it may be detained long enough to fix itself there, and when this occurs, it is termedinterstitial pregnancy. All these instances of extra-uterine pregnancy may necessitate the employment of surgical skill, in order that they may terminate with safety to the mother. Their occurrence, however, is very rare.