“Thou shalt not leave thy vital force unutilized; thou shalt not menstruate unless thou hast the firm will and desire to become pregnant; thou shalt allow thy vital force in the form of milk to flow from thy breasts for the benefit and enjoyment of other human beings.”
“Thou shalt not leave thy vital force unutilized; thou shalt not menstruate unless thou hast the firm will and desire to become pregnant; thou shalt allow thy vital force in the form of milk to flow from thy breasts for the benefit and enjoyment of other human beings.”
Buttenstedt, who possesses some historical knowledge, wishes also to make the breasts of men lactiferous (p. 24), so that the sexes can exchange their “blood through the breasts,” thus become more and more alike one another, and ultimately become urnings!
This beautiful lactation idyll or, more correctly, mammalian idyll, will not bear the test of scientific criticism. In the first place, the effect of the proposed manipulations is exceedinglydubious, and would only produce the desired result in exceptional cases; in the second place, such an artificial lactation, continued for a long period, would be extremelyharmful, just as an excessive protraction of lactation after normal delivery is known to be deleterious; and in the third place, last, not least, the reputed anticonceptional effect would, in the majority of cases,fail to occur. At any rate, there appears to be no reason why pregnancy should not ensue, since the condition of the genital organs would apparently permit this, and would certainly differ from that which obtains in women who give suck in a normal manner after giving birth to a child.
2.Divergences from the Normal Mode of Coitus.—Attempts have been made to prevent fertilization by means of various modifications of the sexual act. Thus, starting from the old belief that active participation in the sexual act on the part of the woman, as well as libido and the sexual orgasm on her part, are indispensable prerequisites of the occurrence of impregnation, a more passive demeanour of the woman has been recommended—a distraction of the mind and the senses from the sexual act, after the manner of thecong-fouof the Chinese, who frequently employ this trick during intercourse. This opinion is deceptive, for, in the absence of all activity and orgasm on the part of thewoman, in the most diverse conditions possible, conception mayensue.[727]Thus, in this case also we have to do with a quite untrustworthy method.
Trustworthy, on the other hand, and therefore extremely widely diffused, is the so-calledcoitus interruptus—interrupted intercourse, in which the penis is withdrawn from the vagina shortly before the ejaculation of the semen (so-called “withdrawal,” “Zuruckziehen,” “Sichinachtnehmen,” “fraudieren,” “congressus reservatus, onanismus conjugalis”). The views regarding the harmfulness of this method, by which pregnancy can certainly be prevented, have in recent years undergone considerable change, in so far as the disadvantages are to-day considered less serious than they formerly were. More especially, Dr. Alfred Damm, in his work “Neura,” overestimated the harmful effects ofcoitus interruptus, inasmuch as he attributed to it the entire degeneration of a race. These extreme views, supported by no facts whatever, of the degeneration fanatic Damm are briefly described in a little book by E. Peters, “The Sexual Life and Nervous Energy” (Cologne,1906).[728]
It cannot be denied—and has, in fact, been maintained by other physicians such as Gaillard Thomas, Goodell, Valenta, Bergeret, Mantegazza, Payer, Mensinga, Beard, Hirt, Eulenburg, Freud, von Tschich, Gattel, and others—that the “ineffective” excitement occurring duringcoitus interruptus, the absence of the natural discharge of sexual tension, the voluntary postponement of ejaculation, the strain put upon the will during the sexual act, may have a transient harmful influence upon the nervous system; but, according to recent researches, it is only in those who arealreadyneuropathic that permanent troubles result, in the form of “anxiety-neurosis” (which, asFreud[729]has proved, is actually dependent uponcoitus interruptus), or in the form of other neurasthenic and hysterical troubles, and also sometimes of local irritative conditions. The harmful influence of frustrated sexual excitement is shown also by the frequency of nervous troubles during the period of engagement, which, as a witty colleague of mine remarked, must be regarded as a single, long-drawn-outcoitus interruptus. But it has not been proved thatin healthy individualscoitus interruptus, even when the practice is continued for a long time, gives rise to serious and permanent injuries to health. According to the experience of Fürbringer, Oppenheim, von Krafft-Ebing, Rohleder, Spener, and, above all, of L. Löwenfeld, who has instituted exceptionally exact researches into the matter, such consequences are quite exceptional. This is also true of the disorders whichcoitus interruptusis reputed to cause in women.
Another method for the prevention of pregnancy, which, according to Barrucco, is practised especially in Italy, is the prolongation of sexual enjoyment by means ofrepeatedinterruptions of the act, followed byrenewederections. This, naturally, is extremely harmful. Fürbringer, however, reports the case of certain frigid men who were able to extend the act of conjugal intercourse for long periods, without any disastrous effect upon their health. One of these men was able to find time during the act for smoking and reading!
3.Mechanical Means for the Prevention of Conception.—According to Kisch, in Transylvania and in France a method is in use according to which, during the sexual act, the woman, at the commencement of ejaculation in the male, presses her finger forcibly upon the root of his penis just in front of the prostate gland. In this way the passage through the urethra is temporarily occluded, and ejaculation of the semen is prevented: it regurgitates into the bladder, and is subsequently evacuated with the urine. Unquestionably this manipulation would be likely to prove exceedingly injurious to health.
In Italy and in New Guinea many women expel the semen from the vagina, as soon as coitus is completed, by means of muscular action, by vigorous movements of the perineum.
A mechanical apparatus for the prevention of conception which is unquestionably carefully thought out is the so-calledocclusive pessaryof Dr. Mensinga—a hemisphere of rubber surrounded by a steel ring, introduced into the vagina before coitus, and even leftin situfor prolonged periods, so that the os uteri is occluded. When accurately applied, it does, in fact, definitely prevent fertilization. Various considerations, however, render its use undesirable: (1) the difficulty of the introduction, which most women are unable to master; (2) liability to displacement of the pessary during the act; (3) the occurrence of irritative conditions of various kinds (discharges, diseases of the uterine annexa, etc.), if, as often happens, the pessary is allowed to remain in the vagina for a long time. Recently a pessary has beenconstructed of waterproof cambric, which is said not to produce any such irritative reaction. Moreover, Mensinga himself, and Earlet, have made other improvements upon the occlusive pessary. Easier to introduce is Gall’s “balloon occlusive pessary.” In this instrument, by means of a compressible rubber ball and tubing, air is blown into the interior of a thin-walled rubber ring which surrounds a soft elastic rubber disc. Adangerousarticle, andone to be avoided, is Hollweg’s “obturator.” The ideal mechanical means for the prevention of pregnancy is, once more, thecondom, regarding the application and qualities of which we have already said all that is necessary (vide supra,pp. 378,379). Simple in its mode of application, it is, when of good quality, certain in its effect, and is relatively themost harmlessof all preventive measures. When it is used, coitus runs a perfectly normal course, with the sole exception of the sensation during ejaculation. We must reject as harmful the use of the so-called “stimulant condom,” which bears a ring of spines or points, in order to increase libido in the woman.
4.Chemical Physical Preventive Measures.—To these belong, above all,douchingof the vagina immediately after sexual intercourse, for which purpose cold water, solutions of alum (1 per cent.), copper sulphate (1⁄2to 1 per cent.), sulphate of quinine (1 : 400), etc., may be used. The douching must be effected when the woman is in the recumbent posture, and the vaginal tube must be introduced deeply. This method, however, is veryuntrustworthy.[730]
The same is true of attempts to destroy the spermatozoa by the insufflation of chemically activepowders; or by the insertion of antiseptic “security sponges,” which Rohleder has rightly named “insecurity sponges”; untrustworthy also is the combination of these with mechanical apparatus.
The number of articles belonging to this category is legion. I need mention a few only: “Security ovals,” containing boric acid, quinine, or citric acid; “little vaginal plugs”; “salus ovula”; Kamp’s anticonceptional cotton-wool plugs; Hüter’s vaginal insufflator “for the malthusian”; Noffke’s tampon-speculum;“spermathanaton”;[731]Weissl’s preservative (a combination of speculum and rubber discwith a steel spring and a cotton-wool plug impregnated with a drug); the “Venus apparatus” (a double rubber ball, the smaller ball filled with “Venus powder” (sic) being introduced within the vagina, whilst the woman herself, at the moment of ejaculation, presses the larger ball lying near to her thighs, whereupon the powder is expelled from the smaller ball into the vagina); the “duplex occlusive pessary” (an occlusive pessary with double walls, perforated with round apertures, containing in its interior boric acid tablets for the purpose of killing the spermatozoa).
The number of articles belonging to this category is legion. I need mention a few only: “Security ovals,” containing boric acid, quinine, or citric acid; “little vaginal plugs”; “salus ovula”; Kamp’s anticonceptional cotton-wool plugs; Hüter’s vaginal insufflator “for the malthusian”; Noffke’s tampon-speculum;“spermathanaton”;[731]Weissl’s preservative (a combination of speculum and rubber discwith a steel spring and a cotton-wool plug impregnated with a drug); the “Venus apparatus” (a double rubber ball, the smaller ball filled with “Venus powder” (sic) being introduced within the vagina, whilst the woman herself, at the moment of ejaculation, presses the larger ball lying near to her thighs, whereupon the powder is expelled from the smaller ball into the vagina); the “duplex occlusive pessary” (an occlusive pessary with double walls, perforated with round apertures, containing in its interior boric acid tablets for the purpose of killing the spermatozoa).
It may be that now and again, by some of the means just mentioned, conception may be prevented. But on the whole they are very uncertain; and, on the other hand, it is doubtful if the chemical substances introduced in this way are harmless. It is possible that many peculiar inflammatory conditions of the male and female genital organs may be referred to their use. For example,Blumreich[732]reports the case of a man who, after coitus in which a means of this kind had been used, had an extremely obstinate inflammatory eruption upon the penis.
I take this opportunity of pointing out that the so-calledherpes progenitalis, a peculiar vesicular eruption of the genital organs, occurring chiefly in males, which alarms a great many patients, because they regard it as the result of syphilitic infection, is, in the great majority of cases, a perfectly harmless affection caused by some transientirritation.[733]
I take this opportunity of pointing out that the so-calledherpes progenitalis, a peculiar vesicular eruption of the genital organs, occurring chiefly in males, which alarms a great many patients, because they regard it as the result of syphilitic infection, is, in the great majority of cases, a perfectly harmless affection caused by some transientirritation.[733]
Besides the above-mentioned methods for the prevention of pregnancy, we have also to consider two radical means of practical malthusianism which belong to thepurely medicalprovince, and canonlybe employed when life and death are involved, when pregnancy and parturition would entail upon the woman severe illness or certain death. These two means are the operative induction ofartificial sterilityandartificial abortion.
Artificial sterility can be produced by various measures, as by the intentionally effectedmalpositionof the uterus, such as is practised among the indigens of the Malay Archipelago; bysection of the Fallopian tubes, as recommended by Kehrer; by the so-calledcastratio uterinaby means ofvaporization(the application of superheated steam by the method of Pincus, whereby menstruation is suspended and the uterine cavity is obliterated); and finally bycastrationproper, theextirpationof theovaries[734](oöphorectomy, spaying, Battey’s operation), which was carried out in ancient times by quite savage races, in order to preventreproduction.[735]In France, theoretically anti-malthusian, but practically through and through malthusian, in the country from which the song originates—
“Ah! l’amour, l’amour!C’est le plaisir d’un jourPour le regret d’ neuf mois.”[“Ah! love, love!’Tis the pleasure of a dayFor the regret of nine months”]
“Ah! l’amour, l’amour!C’est le plaisir d’un jourPour le regret d’ neuf mois.”[“Ah! love, love!’Tis the pleasure of a dayFor the regret of nine months”]
“Ah! l’amour, l’amour!C’est le plaisir d’un jourPour le regret d’ neuf mois.”
[“Ah! love, love!’Tis the pleasure of a dayFor the regret of nine months”]
—it appears, according to recentdescriptions,[736]that oöphorectomy is greatly prized by distinguished ladies as a means for the prevention of pregnancy. It is said that there even exist “specialists” for the production of these child-hating “ovariées,” men who undertake this operation at a high fee. In Germany, happily, this radical measure for the prevention of conception is not employed in healthy persons; the operation is performed only in women who are seriously ill, and strictly for therapeutic purposes.
The preventive measures previously mentioned, if we exceptcoitus interruptusand the condom, are all very untrustworthy, as we learn from the extreme frequency of deliberate, artificial abortion in all countries, and among all classes of thepopulation.[737]Artificial abortion is, as is well known, a criminal offence, punishable by a long term of imprisonment for all those concerned, the pregnant woman herself and her accomplices. In the Orient and among savage races, however, abortion is not punishable. Among the civilized nations of Europe artificial abortion is punished; in Germany the mereattemptat abortion is punishable, even though only an imaginary pregnancy is present. That the State must take steps to prevent abortion, as an immoral and unnatural action, is obvious, and this is necessary above all because intentional abortion in so many cases endangers the life and health of women. But in order that such punishment should be reasonable,it is essential that society should work to this end, that thesocial conditionsupon which the frequency of the practice depends should be abolished;society should abandon the artificial defamation of illegitimate motherhood, and should in every possible way work for the improvement of the possibilities of motherhood—should found homes for mothers and for pregnant women, should provide for the insurance of mothers, etc. It is a remarkable contradiction, to which Gisela vonStreitberg[738]draws attention, that illegitimate pregnancy is regarded as sinful and shameful: simultaneously the life of the childabout to be bornis regarded as sacred; whilst this same child,as soon as it is born, is once more regarded as infamous. In fact, to the illegitimate child, in the social morality of our time, which is at once ridiculous and profoundly perverted, there inevitably attaches something despicable and dishonourable. It is right that those who make the procuring of abortion aprofessional occupationshould be severely punished; but, on the other hand, it is doubtful whether it is right to punish mothers, and more particularly the mothers of illegitimate infants, against whom the Criminal Code is especially directed, for artificially inducing abortion. It is, in fact, open to question whether the punishment is even legal. It is well known that according to § 1 of the Civil Code the rights of a human being are said to begin only with the completion ofbirth,[739]and it is certainly open to question whether the as yet undeveloped human fœtus has any personal rights at all. Without doubt we have to do with a being which has not yet begun to exist, but which is only in process of becoming. Thus, juristically, and from the standpoint of the philosophy of law, the foundation for the punishment for abortion is a very unstable one. Consider, for example, impregnation resulting fromrape. Should not the woman concerned have the right to employ any and all means available to her to destroy at the very outset the child thusforced upon her?
The means for the induction ofabortion[740]prior to the twenty-eighth or thirtieth week of pregnancy are very various, and may be considered under the two categories ofinternalandmechanicalmeans respectively. Infallible internal abortifacientsdo not exist; and almost all abortifacients aredangerousowing to their toxic effects. Those most commonly employed are ergot, ethereal oil of savin (Juniperus sabina), varieties of thuja, yew (Taxus baccata), turpentine, oleum succini, tansy, rue, camphor, cantharides, aloes, phosphorus, etc. Mechanically, abortion may be effected by blows, by violent movements (for example, during coitus), massage, perforation of the membranes, hot injections, steam, manipulations with the finger at the os uteri, the introduction of sounds and other objects through the os uteri, venesection, application of the electric current, etc. With all these practices there is involved great danger of injury, poisoning, infection, rupture and perforation of the uterus, the entry of air into the uterine veins, scalding of the internal genital organs, etc. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that death so frequently ensues, and that almost always severe illnesses result from the use of these abortifacients.
The State would in this way best put a stop to artificial abortion if, in addition to the above-mentioned removal of the disgrace attached to illegitimate motherhood, it diffused widely among all classes of society a knowledge of thepermissiblemeans for the prevention of pregnancy.
The fact that neo-malthusian methods are chiefly employedin large towns, indicates their dependence upon economical considerations, and upon the struggle for existence, which is especially severe in large towns. Hope for the future rests upon the removal of moral and legal coercion in marriage, in which Gutzkow (“Säkularbilder,” i. 174, 175) saw the principal causes of social and sexual misery; and upon the rational regulation of methods for the prevention of pregnancy, which must be regarded as in no way identical with the hostility to “fruitfulness” in the sense of Weininger. On the contrary, the yearning for children, and the joy in their possession, will then, for the first time, obtain their natural satisfaction.
[709]Cf.his classical essay, “Population: its Natural Subdivision and Movement,” published in “Elements of General Political Economy,” vol. i., pp. 158-187 (Leipzig, 1901).[710]Cf.Franz Oppenheimer, “The Law of Population of T. R. Malthus, and the more Recent Political Economists: a Demonstration and a Criticism” (Bern, 1900). See also the interesting demonstration and criticism of the malthusian doctrine in the work of Henry George, “Progress and Poverty.”[711]A notable example of such advances is found in the recently discovered method ofinoculating the soil with nitrifying organisms, whereby barren lands are made fertile at trifling cost.-Translator.[712]Eli Metchnikoff, “The Nature of Man.”—English translation by Chalmers Mitchell, pp. 101-107; Heinemann, London, 1903.[713]A more detailed account of this interesting “politico-economical” operation will be found in the work of Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 297, 298 (Leipzig, 1893).[714]The ancients were also familiar with preventive methods of intercourse and with abortion. Widely renowned is the passage of the historian Polybius (XXXVII. ix. 5) in which we read: “In my time the whole of Greece suffered froman insufficiency of children—speaking generally, froma lack of men; for men had become so much accustomed to good living, to the greed for money, and to every comfort, thatthey no longer wished to marry, or, at any rate, they wished to have only a few children. Not the sword of the enemy was it that depopulated the ancient States, but the lack of offspring.” In Spain also, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in consequence of the wealth acquired in the New World, there resulted an overwhelming dread of marriage and child-bearing, so that the population became reduced to nine millions, and the bringing up of four children was rewarded with a title of nobility (cf.J. Unold, “Duties and Aims of Human Life,” p. 110; Leipzig, 1904).[715]Cf.E. H. Kisch, “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’s “Real-Enzyklopädie,” third edition, 1900, vol. xxiii., p. 372. See also the elaborate discussion of artificial sterility and means for the prevention of conception in Kisch’s work, “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, London, 1908).[716]A. Hegar, “The Sexual Impulse,” pp. 58, 59, 104, 105 (Stuttgart, 1894).[717]M. Gruber, “Hygiene of the Sexual Life,” pp. 60-62 (Stuttgart, 1905).[718]L. Löwenfeld, “The Sexual Life and Nervous Disorders,” pp. 154-156.[719]C. Hasse (Mensinga), “Facultative Sterility,” fourth edition (Berlin and Neuwied, 1885); same author, “How is the Life of Married Women best Safeguarded?” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1895); same author, “Prognosis of Married Life for Women” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1892); same author, “Vom Sichinachtnehmen” [Coitus interruptus, seep. 702] (Neuwied, 1905).[720]P. Fürbringer, “Sexual Hygiene in Married Life,” published in Senator and Kaminer’s, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 209 (London, Rebman Limited, 1906).[721]Spener, the article “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’sEncyclopedic Annual of the Medical Sciences, vol. i., pp. 456-459 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).[722]L. Bergeret, “Des Fraudes dans l’Accomplissment des Fonctions Génératrices,” fourteenth edition (Paris, 1893). See also Toulouse, “Les Conflits Intersexuels,” pp. 41-58 (Paris, 1904).[723]H. Ferdy, “Means for the Prevention of Conception,” eighth edition, two parts (Leipzig, 1907); same author, “Moral Self-restraint: the Reflections of a Malthusian” (Hildesheim, 1904).[724]Karl Buttenstedt, “Happiness in Marriage (Revelation in Woman): a Nature Study,” third edition (Friedrichshagen, 1904).[725]Richard E. Funcke, “A New Revelation of Nature: a Secret of the Sexual Life. No more Prostitution” (Hanover, 1906).[726]Dietrich Wilhelm Busch, “The Sexual Life of Woman in Physiological, Pathological, and Therapeutical Relations,” vol. ii., p. 94 (Leipzig, 1840): “The gradual swelling of the breasts, and the presence of milk in these organs, arouses to a high degree the suspicion of pregnancy, but gives no certain proof of the existence of this condition. These organs often swell very gradually in certain pathological states, and in virgins, unimpregnated wives, widows, old women, and even in men, milk has been found in the breasts.”[727]Mensinga, in a most readable short study, “A Contribution to the Mechanism of Conception” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1891), has considered this question in detail.[728]To propagate Damm’s idea, the German Society for Regeneration was founded, whose first president was the above-named Peters; the organ of the society is the newspaperVolkskraft.[729]S. Freud, “Collection of Minor Writings upon the Doctrine of Neurosis,” pp. 70, 71 (1906).[730]The most convenient and complete apparatus for vaginal douching is the American irrigating syringe known as the “Lady’s Friend.” The technique of vaginal douching is very thoroughly described by L. Volkmann, “Solution of the Social Problem by Means of Woman,” pp. 29-31 (Berlin and Leipzig, 1891).[731]R. Braun recently reported (“Experiments made with Spermathanaton Pastilles,”Medizin. Woch., 1906, No. 13) successful results with this means. But, in general, this, like all chemical means, cannot be absolutely depended upon to prevent pregnancy.[732]L. Blumreich, “Diseases of Women, including Sterility,” in Senator-Kaminer, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 769et seq.(London, Rebman Limited, 1906).[733]Cf.the account of herpes progenitalis given in Iwan Bloch’s “Origin of Syphilis,” part ii., pp. 385-388.[734]A detailed account of “Operative Sterility” will be found in Kisch’s “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, 1908).[735]Cf.the accounts of this operation among the Australians given by Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 306, 307 (Leipzig, 1895).[736]Cf.R. Schwaeblé, the chapter “Ovariées” in “Les Detraquées de Paris,” pp. 255-258. [This aspect of the operation of oöphorectomy is the foundation of some of the most striking incidents in Zola’s novel “Fécondité.”—Translator.][737]Cf.H. Ploss, “The History of Abortion” (Leipzig, 1883); Galliot, “Recherches Historiques sur l’Avortement Criminel” (Paris, 1884).[738]Countess Gisela von Streitberg, “The Right to Destroy the Germinating Life: § 218 of the Criminal Code, from a New Point of View” (Oranienburg, 1904).[739]In a work recently published, which I have not yet been able to obtain, entitled “Nasciturus: Life before Birth, and the Legal Rights of the Being about to be Born,” the gynæcologist F. Ahlfeld discusses this question very thoroughly.[740]Cf.Lewin and Brenning, “Abortion induced by Means of Poisons” (Berlin, 1899); E. von Hoffmann’s “Textbook of Forensic Medicine,” edited by A. Kolisko, ninth edition, pp. 220-258 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).
[709]Cf.his classical essay, “Population: its Natural Subdivision and Movement,” published in “Elements of General Political Economy,” vol. i., pp. 158-187 (Leipzig, 1901).
[710]Cf.Franz Oppenheimer, “The Law of Population of T. R. Malthus, and the more Recent Political Economists: a Demonstration and a Criticism” (Bern, 1900). See also the interesting demonstration and criticism of the malthusian doctrine in the work of Henry George, “Progress and Poverty.”
[711]A notable example of such advances is found in the recently discovered method ofinoculating the soil with nitrifying organisms, whereby barren lands are made fertile at trifling cost.-Translator.
[712]Eli Metchnikoff, “The Nature of Man.”—English translation by Chalmers Mitchell, pp. 101-107; Heinemann, London, 1903.
[713]A more detailed account of this interesting “politico-economical” operation will be found in the work of Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 297, 298 (Leipzig, 1893).
[714]The ancients were also familiar with preventive methods of intercourse and with abortion. Widely renowned is the passage of the historian Polybius (XXXVII. ix. 5) in which we read: “In my time the whole of Greece suffered froman insufficiency of children—speaking generally, froma lack of men; for men had become so much accustomed to good living, to the greed for money, and to every comfort, thatthey no longer wished to marry, or, at any rate, they wished to have only a few children. Not the sword of the enemy was it that depopulated the ancient States, but the lack of offspring.” In Spain also, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in consequence of the wealth acquired in the New World, there resulted an overwhelming dread of marriage and child-bearing, so that the population became reduced to nine millions, and the bringing up of four children was rewarded with a title of nobility (cf.J. Unold, “Duties and Aims of Human Life,” p. 110; Leipzig, 1904).
[715]Cf.E. H. Kisch, “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’s “Real-Enzyklopädie,” third edition, 1900, vol. xxiii., p. 372. See also the elaborate discussion of artificial sterility and means for the prevention of conception in Kisch’s work, “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, London, 1908).
[716]A. Hegar, “The Sexual Impulse,” pp. 58, 59, 104, 105 (Stuttgart, 1894).
[717]M. Gruber, “Hygiene of the Sexual Life,” pp. 60-62 (Stuttgart, 1905).
[718]L. Löwenfeld, “The Sexual Life and Nervous Disorders,” pp. 154-156.
[719]C. Hasse (Mensinga), “Facultative Sterility,” fourth edition (Berlin and Neuwied, 1885); same author, “How is the Life of Married Women best Safeguarded?” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1895); same author, “Prognosis of Married Life for Women” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1892); same author, “Vom Sichinachtnehmen” [Coitus interruptus, seep. 702] (Neuwied, 1905).
[720]P. Fürbringer, “Sexual Hygiene in Married Life,” published in Senator and Kaminer’s, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 209 (London, Rebman Limited, 1906).
[721]Spener, the article “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’sEncyclopedic Annual of the Medical Sciences, vol. i., pp. 456-459 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).
[722]L. Bergeret, “Des Fraudes dans l’Accomplissment des Fonctions Génératrices,” fourteenth edition (Paris, 1893). See also Toulouse, “Les Conflits Intersexuels,” pp. 41-58 (Paris, 1904).
[723]H. Ferdy, “Means for the Prevention of Conception,” eighth edition, two parts (Leipzig, 1907); same author, “Moral Self-restraint: the Reflections of a Malthusian” (Hildesheim, 1904).
[724]Karl Buttenstedt, “Happiness in Marriage (Revelation in Woman): a Nature Study,” third edition (Friedrichshagen, 1904).
[725]Richard E. Funcke, “A New Revelation of Nature: a Secret of the Sexual Life. No more Prostitution” (Hanover, 1906).
[726]Dietrich Wilhelm Busch, “The Sexual Life of Woman in Physiological, Pathological, and Therapeutical Relations,” vol. ii., p. 94 (Leipzig, 1840): “The gradual swelling of the breasts, and the presence of milk in these organs, arouses to a high degree the suspicion of pregnancy, but gives no certain proof of the existence of this condition. These organs often swell very gradually in certain pathological states, and in virgins, unimpregnated wives, widows, old women, and even in men, milk has been found in the breasts.”
[727]Mensinga, in a most readable short study, “A Contribution to the Mechanism of Conception” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1891), has considered this question in detail.
[728]To propagate Damm’s idea, the German Society for Regeneration was founded, whose first president was the above-named Peters; the organ of the society is the newspaperVolkskraft.
[729]S. Freud, “Collection of Minor Writings upon the Doctrine of Neurosis,” pp. 70, 71 (1906).
[730]The most convenient and complete apparatus for vaginal douching is the American irrigating syringe known as the “Lady’s Friend.” The technique of vaginal douching is very thoroughly described by L. Volkmann, “Solution of the Social Problem by Means of Woman,” pp. 29-31 (Berlin and Leipzig, 1891).
[731]R. Braun recently reported (“Experiments made with Spermathanaton Pastilles,”Medizin. Woch., 1906, No. 13) successful results with this means. But, in general, this, like all chemical means, cannot be absolutely depended upon to prevent pregnancy.
[732]L. Blumreich, “Diseases of Women, including Sterility,” in Senator-Kaminer, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 769et seq.(London, Rebman Limited, 1906).
[733]Cf.the account of herpes progenitalis given in Iwan Bloch’s “Origin of Syphilis,” part ii., pp. 385-388.
[734]A detailed account of “Operative Sterility” will be found in Kisch’s “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, 1908).
[735]Cf.the accounts of this operation among the Australians given by Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 306, 307 (Leipzig, 1895).
[736]Cf.R. Schwaeblé, the chapter “Ovariées” in “Les Detraquées de Paris,” pp. 255-258. [This aspect of the operation of oöphorectomy is the foundation of some of the most striking incidents in Zola’s novel “Fécondité.”—Translator.]
[737]Cf.H. Ploss, “The History of Abortion” (Leipzig, 1883); Galliot, “Recherches Historiques sur l’Avortement Criminel” (Paris, 1884).
[738]Countess Gisela von Streitberg, “The Right to Destroy the Germinating Life: § 218 of the Criminal Code, from a New Point of View” (Oranienburg, 1904).
[739]In a work recently published, which I have not yet been able to obtain, entitled “Nasciturus: Life before Birth, and the Legal Rights of the Being about to be Born,” the gynæcologist F. Ahlfeld discusses this question very thoroughly.
[740]Cf.Lewin and Brenning, “Abortion induced by Means of Poisons” (Berlin, 1899); E. von Hoffmann’s “Textbook of Forensic Medicine,” edited by A. Kolisko, ninth edition, pp. 220-258 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).
“Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horse, cattle, and dogs, before he matches them; but when he comes to his own marriage, he rarely, or never, takes such care. Yet he might by selection do something, not only for the bodily constitution and frame of his offspring, but for their intellectual and moral qualities.”—Charles Darwin.
Sexual hygiene as social hygiene — Its foundation by Darwin — Recent works — “Reproductive hygiene” — Degeneration and regeneration (hereditary taint and hereditary enfranchisement) — Possibility of the disappearance of morbid tendencies — “Eugenics” (Galton) — Love’s choice and sexual selection — Principles — Darwin’s prescriptions regarding sexual selection — Prohibition of marriage — Inheritance of morbid tendencies and morbid constitutions — Danger of alcoholism for the offspring — Families of drinkers — Direct influence of alcohol upon the germ-plasm — Observations on this subject — Syphilis as a cause of racial degeneration — Syphilis and the duration of life — Degenerative effects of tuberculosis — Direct infection — Inheritance of the tubercular habit of body — Mental disorders, diatheses, and malignant tumours — Nervous disorders — Inheritable atrophy of the female mammary glands — Recent works on this subject — Effect of excessive youth or excessive age of the married pair — Influence of blood-relationship — Significance of breeding in-and-in in relation to the evolution of the race — The dangers of too close blood-relationship — Importance of spiritual qualities in relation to love’s choice — The breeding of talent — Importance of this in relation to the woman’s question — In relation to the improvement of the race — Greater resisting powers possessed by women towards degenerative influences — A quotation from Carl Vogt — Unfavourable influence of coercive marriage morality and of mammonism — Importance of racial hygiene and of the sexual sense of responsibility.
Sexual hygiene in individual relationships has already been discussed in previous chapters, and more especially in those upon the prophylaxis and suppression of venereal diseases, upon the question of sexual abstinence, upon sexual education, and upon the use of methods for the prevention of pregnancy. Here we merely propose to deal shortly with thesocialrelationships of the hygiene of the sexual life. After Darwin, more particularly in his work on the “Descent of Man,” had published fundamental observations regarding the social importance of sexual hygiene, other writers, influenced by recent anthropological and ethnological research, occupied themselves with these problems, more especiallyHegar,[741]A.Ploetz,[742]and R.Kossmann;[743]the subjects considered by these writers have been aptly comprised under the name “reproductive hygiene,” which constitutes a part of general racial biology.
Unfortunately, racial biology, as MaxGruber[744]justly remarks, has formed exaggerated estimates of the ideas of “degeneration” and “hereditary taint”; and, on the other hand, the complementary ideas of “regeneration” and “hereditary enfranchisement” have been unduly neglected. And yet it is certain that these latter influences are continually in active operation in the direction of the resanation and invigoration of the race: that the introduction ofnew and healthy bloodis competent to bring about reanimation and regeneration, even in degenerate families. Gruber says with justice (“Hygiene of the Sexual Life,” p. 55, 1905):
“Completely normal, and entirely free from hereditary taint, no single human being can be; and, on the other hand, experience teaches us, that just as morbid tendencies make their appearance in certain families, so alsothey may disappearfrom these families. Many of these tendencies can be rendered ineffective by a suitably chosen mode of life for the individual; and by means of repeated crossing with stems which are free from these particular taints, the morbid tendency can be led to disappear, unless the degenerative impulse is too powerful.”
“Completely normal, and entirely free from hereditary taint, no single human being can be; and, on the other hand, experience teaches us, that just as morbid tendencies make their appearance in certain families, so alsothey may disappearfrom these families. Many of these tendencies can be rendered ineffective by a suitably chosen mode of life for the individual; and by means of repeated crossing with stems which are free from these particular taints, the morbid tendency can be led to disappear, unless the degenerative impulse is too powerful.”
The recognition of this fact does not in the least diminish the great importance of purposive choice in love and marriage; nor does it diminish the sense of sexual responsibility in relation to the great fact ofheredity. But the recognition of the fortunate fact of hereditary enfranchisement supports, on the other hand, all our endeavours in the direction of rational “eugenics”(Galton),[745]in accordance with which we must, as Nietzsche says, not merely reproduce, but produce in an upward direction (“nicht bloss fort-, sondern auchhinaufpflanzensollen”).
The central problem of reproductive hygiene is that oflove’s choice, of sexual selection. It is a most difficult task, one which is rarely fulfilled to the utmost, for the right man to find the right woman, so that their individualities may in every respect correspond to and complement one another. In most cases it is necessary to be contented with relative harmony, and with sufficienthealthon both sides. The laws of a refined, differentiated marriage choice have not yet been discovered. HavelockEllis[746]has instituted exhaustive researches on this subject, without, however, attaining any positive result. He was only able to establish the general proposition, that in love’s choiceidentity of raceand ofindividualcharacters (homogamy), and at the same timeunlikeness in the secondary sexualcharacters (heterogamy), are to be preferred. In other respects, however, very various and complicated influences are determinative in sexual selection. Havelock Ellis also detected a natural disinclination towards love between blood-relatives, which, however, he regards as merely due to the customary life in close association from childhood onwards.
Darwin propounded the principle for sexual selection, that both sexes should avoid marriage when in any pronounced degree they were defective, either physically or mentally. Upon this idea rests the old and widely diffused custom of killing or exposure of sickly children, as well as the more recent prohibitions of marriage in certain States of the American Union—for example, Michigan, in which the marriage (also sexual union for procreative purposes?) is forbidden on the part of thosementally diseased and of those who are infected with tubercle orsyphilis.[747]
The most important fundamental principle, however, of rational reproductive hygiene is, without doubt, that onlyhealthyindividuals should pair, or, at any rate, those only whose abnormalities or diseases, if any, would not injure their offspring, physically or mentally. Not in disease itself, but in theinheritanceof disease, lies the great danger for the deterioration of the family and the race. It is for this reason that the study of the inheritance of morbid predispositions and morbid constitutions is of such enormous importance in racial biology.
With regard to illnesses to which attention must especially be paid in connexion with sexual selection, we have here, in the first place, to consider the “three scourges” of humanity:alcoholism,syphilis, andtuberculosis.
Apart from the fact that alcoholism leads in the drinker himself to nervous weakness, to mental disturbances of all kinds (delirium tremens, imbecility, mania, peripheral neuritis, etc.), it also exercises a very serious influence upon the offspring, who are, unfortunately, in many cases verynumerous,[748]as the study of “drinker families” shows (cf.Jörger, “The Family Zero,” published in theArchives for Racial Biology, 1905, vol. ii., pp. 494-559). Only a very small fraction of the offspring of such families are physically and mentally normal (about 7 to 17 %); the majority display arapidly progressive degeneration, which manifests itself physically more especially by the tendency to tuberculosis and epilepsy, and mentally by the tendency to drunkenness, crime, and imbecility. Alcohol is a direct poison to the germ cells, so much so that, according to the degree of drunkenness, it is almost possible to estimate beforehand the degree of hereditary taint. Moreover, anotherwise healthyfather, in a single severe acute alcoholic intoxication, may procreate a child either quite incompetent to live, or weakly, or completely degenerate. On the other hand, it has been observed that a person given to chronic alcoholism is competent, during a temporarydiminutionin his consumption of alcohol, to procreate a comparatively vigorous child. From this it follows that marriage, or sexual union in general for reproductive purposes, with a man or woman addicted to alcohol, and no less the act of procreation in a state of intoxication, are absolutely to be condemned.
The danger of alcoholism to the offspring is illustrated by the experience that about one-eighth of the surviving children of drunken parents become affected with epilepsy, and that more than one-half of idiotic children are born of drunken parents (Kraepelin, “The Psychiatric Duties of the State,” p. 3; Jena, 1900).
In an earlier chapter (pp. 361-363) attention was drawn to the fact that syphilis rivals alcohol in its potency as a cause of racialdegeneration.[749]Thanks to the researches of Alfred Fournier and of Tarnowsky, the sinister influence of syphilis in this respect is now widely recognized. E. Heddaeusrightly[750]asserts that since at the present day the whole world is contaminated with congenital or acquired syphilis, the eradication of syphilis is the most important task of reproductive hygiene. The previously mentioned etiological and prophylactic-therapeutic researches, among which may be included the quite recent discovery of syphilitic antibodies in the system of those who have formerly suffered fromsyphilis,[751]open to us a prospect of the realization of this magnificent idea. The weakening and degeneration of the individual by acquired and inherited syphilis, is also shown by the recent researches into the influence of syphilis upon the duration of life, among which I may mention the works of A.Blaschko[752]and HansTilesius.[753]Regarding the disastrous influence of syphilis continued into the second and third generations, see the monograph of B. Tarnowsky, “La Famille Syphilitique et sa Descendence” [Clermont (Oise), 1904]. (See note[325]top. 363.)
The third disease leading to degeneration is tuberculosis, which may be inherited either by direct infection of the germ, or (more frequently) by the transmission of a predisposition to the offspring. This simple predisposition, recognized by the so-called “tubercular physique” (long, thin individuals, with a flattened chest, poorly developed muscles, and a pale countenance), does not offer any absolute ground for prohibiting reproductive activity, since the health of the other party to the marriage may diminish or entirely remove the danger of inheritance. But, on the other hand, manifest tuberculosis or scrofula is a contra-indication to marriage.
The same is true of actualmental disorders, of severe diatheses, such as gout, obesity, or diabetes; and of cancer and other malignant tumours; whereas the bulk of “nervous” affections and other bodily diseases only exclude marriage in certain specialcircumstances.[754]
Very unfavourable to the offspring is the atrophy of the female breasts, and the consequent incapacity for lactation, a matter to whichMensinga,[755]G. vonBunge,[756]G.Hirth,[757]EmilAbderhalden,[758]A.Hegar,[759]and others, have referred, and which exercises a very unfavourable influence upon the offspring, since natural lactation cannot be adequately replaced by artificial feeding. According to Bunge, alcoholism, tuberculosis, syphilis, and mental disorders of the ancestry are the principal causes of atrophy of the mammary glands. Whether atrophy of the mammary glands is really on the increase, and whether it is hereditary, are matters demanding, as Abderhalden insists, more careful critical investigation.
Marriage at an agetoo youthful(below twenty on the part of the woman, below twenty-four on the part of the man) and attoo advancedan age (above forty on the part of the woman, above fifty on the part of the man) is also disadvantageous tothe offspring, as manifested by higher mortality of the infants, by the more frequent occurrence of malformations, idiotcy, rickets, etc. Equally disadvantageous istoo close relationship byblood,[760]since in this way any unfavourable tendencies are greatly strengthened. Upon a certain degree of inbreeding, or, rather, upon an approximation to inbreeding, depends the formation of every race. The “racial problem” in this sense is a kind of exaltation of the inbreeding principle, for the very idea ofraceimplies a more or less close relationship between all the members of a definite stock. Thus the entire absence of fresh blood does not necessarily give rise to any degeneration; but it is certain thatlong-continued close in-and-in breedingon the part of near blood-relatives in the same family results in aprogressive tendency to degeneration, because, among those who unite in marriage, the same morbid tendencies are present, and accumulate in consequence of the inbreeding. This is shown very clearly by some statistics collected by Morris (published by Gruber,op. cit., p. 32). Marriage between uncle and niece, or between aunt and nephew, and the, unfortunately, far too frequent marriages between first cousins, are therefore to be condemned.
The greatest value is to be placed, in love’s choice, uponintellectualqualities. Intelligent persons, and those full of character, are to be preferred. Precisely in relation to the breeding of talents, Nietzsche recommended (“Posthumous Works,” vol. xii., p. 188; Leipzig, 1901) polygamy for men or women of predominant intellectual capacity, so that they might have the opportunity of reproducing their kind in intercourse with several persons of the opposite sex, and in this way, since the later children of the same women are not so powerful nor of such striking capacity as the first-born, they might have the possibility of being the parents of several talented and distinguished individuals. In relation to the woman’s question, the breeding of women well endowed with talent is a matter of especial interest. CharlesDarwin[761]writes: