The Sexual Question Part 5

It is impossible to comprehend the deep meaning and lofty aim of an act like that of s.e.xual union without knowing the details of conjugation and the origin of man as we have explained them in the preceding chapters.

Conjugation requires the bringing together of two cells, and consequently the movement of at least one of them. This cellular movement suffices for the lower forms of union and is usually limited to the male cell. Owing to its movement it plays the active role, while the pa.s.sive role is reserved for the female cell. Hence we see in the higher plants the male cells, or pollen, transported to the pistil by the wind or by insects, and thence reach the egg by mechanical endosmotic attraction which brings about conjugation.

This takes place in an a.n.a.logous manner in lower animals, but the male cell is generally endowed with special movement. As soon as we deal with complicated animals, mobile in themselves and composed of cells differentiated to form complex organs, we see a second phenomena of reproductive movements appear in the animal phylogeny, namely the movement of the whole individual bearing male cells toward the individual bearing female cells. This simple fact gives rise to the formation of correlative s.e.xual differences between the individuals bearing each kind of germinal cells. As the result of the evolution of these two phylogenetic systems of motor phenomena tending to establish conjugation, we obtain for each s.e.x two categories of s.e.xual formations:

(1). The _germinal cells themselves_, the female form of which becomes larger, more rich in protoplasm, and remains immobile, while the male form, or spermatozoid becomes extremely small and is provided with motor apparatus (Fig. 11).

(2). The _individuals_ with their correlative s.e.xual differences proper to the male and female, disposed in a way to give the male the active role and the female the pa.s.sive role.

Normal hermaphrodism, complete or reciprocal (snails, etc.) const.i.tutes an intermediate stage. Here each individual bears two kinds of germinal cells and possesses also male and female copulative organs, so that there only exists one form of individuals which copulate reciprocally; the male organ of one penetrating the female organ of the other and vice versa. It is obvious that this excludes the formation of correlative individual s.e.xual characters.

In the second category, the male always differs from the female, at least in the s.e.xual organs, and usually in other physical and mental characters. The difference in the s.e.xual functions leads to the formation of differences in other parts of the body, and in instincts and sentiments, which find their material expression in the different development of the brain.

Certain specific functions in society may, in social animals like the ants, lead to the formation or differentiation of a third or fourth kind of individuals. This is what is called _polymorphism_. Here it is not the s.e.xual function causes the correlative differences of the individuals, but division of social labor. The ecphoria of the hereditary mneme which produces the polymorphous, and more or less as.e.xual individual forms (workers, warriors,) still proceeds through the energies of the reproducing germs. Here the action of selection is necessary to explain the phenomena.

In man, s.e.xual differentiation has led to the formation of two kinds of individuals, differing little in their correlative attributes, but each bearing one kind of germinal cells. In s.e.xual union man plays the active part, woman, the pa.s.sive. When s.e.xual activity, in the animal kingdom, is no longer limited to the movement of one of the cells but requires the displacement of the whole individual, we can quite understand that the organization of these individuals must become much more complex, and that it requires a central nervous system as a directing apparatus. s.e.xual individuality thus involves collaboration of the other organs of the body, and especially that of the central organs for reflex movements, the instincts and the higher mental faculties of man, in the accomplishment of the fecundating act those which are the consequences of it.

From this simple animal origin is evolved the complex s.e.xual love of man. The duty of the active or male individual is to bring the spermatozoa to a point where they can easily reach the female cells or ovules. When this is done the duty of the male is accomplished. In the pa.s.sive or female individual of the higher animals, pairing and conjugation are only the commencement of reproductive activity.

However, this is not the case in the whole animal kingdom. For instance, fish have distinct s.e.xes, but in them the female deposits her non-fecundated eggs in the water and is not concerned with them any further. The male then arrives and discharges his sperm on the eggs. In this case fecundation takes place without copulation. With such a system s.e.xual love and maternal love lose their _raison d'etre_, for the young fish are capable of providing for themselves as soon as they are born. There are, however, a few exceptions, one of the most curious being that of certain fish of the Dead Sea, in which the male incubates the eggs by taking them into his buccal cavity.

=Reproduction in Vertebrates.=--We should never finish if we were to describe even the chief varieties of s.e.xual union among the vertebrates. As a rule, the male possesses a copulating organ which projects externally, while the female presents an inv.a.g.i.n.ated cavity, more or less cylindrical, into which the male organ can penetrate. A certain amount of sperm is deposited by the male in the neighborhood of the mature ovules (Fig. 18) discharged from the female germinal gland or ovary, which renders conjugation possible. By means of their mobile tails, the spermatozoa (Fig. 11) are able to reach the ovules and fecundate them. The manner in which the egg when fecundated, either in the mother's body or after being laid, continues its development, varies enormously in different species. The eggs are often deposited by the female and the embryo develops outside the mother's body. This occurs in insects, mollusks, fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and the lowest mammals or monotremes (ornithorhynchus and echidna).

In the lower mammals is developed an organ called the womb which allows the embryo to remain longer in the maternal body. This organ is very incomplete in them, and a pocket or fold in the skin of the belly allows the mother to carry her young, which are extremely embryonic at birth, till they have developed sufficiently to live alone. This occurs in marsupials (kangaroos and opossums), in which the v.a.g.i.n.a and uterus are double.

In the higher mammals the womb becomes more and more developed, opening into a single v.a.g.i.n.a in the middle line of the abdomen, between the two ovaries, and const.i.tuting a highly specialized organ which allows the mother to preserve the young for a long time in her belly. In most mammals the uterus has two elongated diverticula, each of which may contain a successive series of embryos. In man it forms a single cavity and normally contains a single embryo, occasionally two or more. These facts show that the role of the female mammal in reproduction is more important than that of the male. But this is not all. Whether it still lays eggs, or whether it gives birth to young which are more or less developed its s.e.xual role is far from ended.

The higher oviparous vertebrates, especially the birds, take care of their progeniture for some time after laying. The young are still fed by the mother, either by milk from the teats, as in mammals, or by nourishment obtained from outside, as in birds, or by both methods combined or succeeding each other, as in cats.

In many animals the male contributes to the raising of the young; a point to which we shall return. Here, we indicate these complicated details simply to show that s.e.xual union only contributes one link in the long chain of reproduction. Let us study its mechanism in man.

=The Copulatory Organ of Man. The t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. The Seminal Vesicles.=--Nature is often very sparing even in the highest organizations. It has thus combined in the male the urethra with the copulatory organ, and the s.e.xual germinal glands, or _t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es_, with an accessory gland, the _epididymis_. Hundreds of thousands of spermatozoa are contained in the glandular tubes of these organs, which, when they are mature can always produce new ones by cell division. The spermatozoa acc.u.mulate at the extremity of the duct of the gland in a reservoir called the _seminal vesicle_, where they float in the mucus, thus const.i.tuting the seminal fluid or _sperm_.

This liquid has a special odor. The two seminal vesicles are situated in the abdominal cavity underneath the urinary bladder, each having a duct which meets that of the other side and opens by the side of it in the deep part of the urethra. Here the secretion of several other glands, especially of the _prostate_, is added to the sperm and mixes with it. The point where the two seminal ducts open into the urethra forms a small elevation, the _verumontanum_. From this point the male urethra emerges from the abdominal cavity and is continued along the special prolongation which forms the p.e.n.i.s, or virile member of copulation. In the ordinary way the p.e.n.i.s only serves for the emission of urine. It hangs flaccid and terminates in a rounded swelling called the glans, at the end of which opens the urethra (Fig. 18). This opening serves also for the emission of the sperm.

=Erection. The Corpus Cavernosum.=--The most curious part of this apparatus is the mechanism of _erection_, or the power possessed by the p.e.n.i.s of swelling under the influence of certain nervous irritations, increasing in length and diameter as well as becoming rigid. This phenomenon is produced by three organs called the _cavernous bodies_ which form the princ.i.p.al bulk of the p.e.n.i.s. One of them, situated in the middle and underneath and formed by two bodies united into one, surrounds the urethra and terminates in front in a dilatation which const.i.tutes the glans already mentioned. The two others are situated symmetrically on the dorsal part of the p.e.n.i.s. All three consist of caverns or diverticula formed by blood-vessels, which are empty when the p.e.n.i.s is flaccid. By a complex nervous mechanism based on vascular paralysis due to nervous phenomena called inhibition and dynamogeny, the nervous irritations cause an acc.u.mulation of blood in the s.p.a.ces of the cavernous bodies which become so gorged with blood as to form stiff and hard rods. The size of the p.e.n.i.s is thereby increased considerably and its stiffness allows it to penetrate the v.a.g.i.n.a of the female. At the same time and by the same mechanism the verumontanum swells so as to close the ureter from the bladder, while the seminal ducts open toward the urethral orifice. In this way the copulatory organ is ready for its function.

Repeated irritations are however necessary to provoke the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of s.e.m.e.n. This is finally produced by excitation of a special muscle which compresses the seminal vesicles in a spasmodic manner and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.es the s.e.m.e.n by the urethra. After e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, the acc.u.mulation of blood in the cavernous bodies gradually diminishes and the p.e.n.i.s again becomes flaccid.

This apparatus is thus very complicated and is put in action by several nervous irritations which may be disturbed in many ways in affections of the nervous system. We may observe here that the nervous centers of erection and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n may be put in action directly by the brain, or indirectly by peripheral irritation of the glans.

Those peripheral nerves which provoke s.e.xual excitation are especially the nerves of the glans. This possesses a skin or mucous membrane which is extremely delicate and is protected against external irritation by a fold of skin called the _prepuce_, or foreskin. The prepuce is often too narrow so that it cannot be withdrawn behind the glans. It then forms a pocket in which sebaceous matter, s.e.m.e.n, urine, etc., acc.u.mulate and decompose. This anomaly, called _phimosis_, does not exist among the Jews owing to circ.u.mcision, or the removal of the prepuce in the newly born, which forms part of their religious rites.

Hygienic considerations sometimes oblige us to perform this operation in others. The bad habit of masturbation, so common in boys, is often provoked by phimosis, and shows that simple mechanical irritation of the glans, due here to secretions contained in the prepuce, may lead to e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of s.e.m.e.n as well as to erection.

We have seen above that the male and female germinal glands arise from the same primitive organ in the embryo. If the embryo becomes male, this organ is transformed into the two t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es which descend gradually in the ca.n.a.l of the groin and become placed in the s.c.r.o.t.u.m.

If it becomes female, the two s.e.xual glands remain in the abdominal cavity and are transformed into ovaries.

=The Genital Organs of Woman.=--The organs described in Chapter II (Figs. 18 and 19), const.i.tute the internal and more important part of the female s.e.xual apparatus. In women, the urethra opens externally on its own account. It is much shorter and wider than in men. At its external extremity is a small cavernous body called the _c.l.i.toris_, which corresponds embryologically to the p.e.n.i.s in man, and chiefly to the glans. Like the latter it is specialized for s.e.xual irritation and possesses very sensitive nerves. The opening of the female urethra is situated in front of the v.u.l.v.a directly under the pubic bone, at the same place as the root of the male p.e.n.i.s. From this point, on each side of the middle line, extend two longitudinal folds, one external covered with skin and called the larger lip of the v.u.l.v.a (Fig. 18, _l.a.b.i.a majora_), the other internal, hidden under the first, called the lesser lip of the v.u.l.v.a (_l.a.b.i.a minora_), and covered with thin mucous membrane. Between the two lesser lips is the s.e.xual aperture, which, with the l.a.b.i.a majora and minora is called the _v.u.l.v.a_. This opening is distinct from that of the urethra, and leads to the internal cavity or _v.a.g.i.n.a_ (Fig. 18). The v.a.g.i.n.a is about ten to twelve centimeters long (2 to 2- inches) and terminates in a _cul-de-sac_ which surrounds the v.a.g.i.n.al portion of the womb, of which we have spoken above.

In virgins the entrance to the v.a.g.i.n.a is more or less closed by a delicate transverse membrane called the _hymen_, which is only perforated by a narrow opening. At the first coitus the hymen is torn, causing a certain amount of pain and bleeding. The walls of the v.a.g.i.n.a are thrown into transverse folds, which render them somewhat rough.

The remains of the hymen torn by the first coitus afterward form behind the v.u.l.v.a small excrescences named _carunculae myrtiformes_.

In the first chapter we have spoken of the changes undergone by the fecundated ovule till it becomes the embryo and then the infant. It remains to speak of the mechanism of expulsion of the ovule and of its fecundation, as well as the changes in the womb which result from these phenomena.

=Menstruation.=--About every four weeks, one or two ovules (rarely more) mature and are discharged into the Fallopian tubes, down which they pa.s.s by the movement of the vibratile cilia of the mucous membrane, to the uterus, to the walls of which they become attached if they have been fecundated on the way (Fig. 18). Fecundation or conjugation takes place most often in the Fallopian tube, sometimes in the uterus. The maturation and expulsion of the ovule are generally accompanied in women by a nervous phenomenon closely related to erection in man. The mucous membrane of the cavity of the uterus is very rich in blood vessels which become dilated and gorged with blood under the inhibitory influence of certain nerve centers. As the mucous membrane is very thin, the result is otherwise than in man; the blood transudes through the mucous membrane and flows away. This is called _menstruation_ ("courses" or monthly periods). The object of this is, no doubt, to prepare the mucous membrane of the womb for the fixation of the fecundated egg which will become grafted on its surface. The courses in women generally last three or four days, but are often very irregular. It is necessary to point out that they do not depend on ovulation (expulsion of the egg). The two phenomena may take place independently of each other, for menstruation in itself depends only on nervous irritation, which may be provoked or averted by hypnotic suggestion, for example.

Moreover, there are women who never menstruate and who, in spite of this, not only regularly discharge ovules but may be fecundated and become pregnant. Usually, however, the two phenomena are a.s.sociated by nervous reflexes, so that menstruation takes place first and then the ovule commences its migration.

=The Mechanism of Coitus.=--Copulation, or coitus, takes place as follows: After a certain degree of excitation, both mental and sensory, the male introduces the erect and stiffened p.e.n.i.s into the v.a.g.i.n.a. In the case of advanced pregnancy he should place himself behind, so as to avoid injuring the unborn child. Rhythmic movements of the two individuals, especially of the man, gradually increase the excitation of the mucous membrane or skin of the genital organs of each party, till voluptuous sensations, arising chiefly in the glans p.e.n.i.s and c.l.i.toris, spread to the whole nervous system and the entire body, const.i.tuting what is called the _venereal o.r.g.a.s.m_, and terminating in the man by the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of s.e.m.e.n.

The localizations of irritability in woman are multiple, and to the c.l.i.toris must be added the nipples, the v.u.l.v.a, and even, it is said, the neck of the womb. In man the parts round the a.n.u.s may also, besides the glans p.e.n.i.s, form an excitable region. At the acme of erection the glans is turgid, and is applied directly against the neck of the womb (Fig. 18). In this way the sperm is e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed directly against the neck of the womb.

In the woman an a.n.a.logous phenomenon takes place; the c.l.i.toris becomes turgid and the mild and repeated friction of the mucous membranes, together with contact on other sensitive parts, produces a voluptuous sensation as in the man. Through nervous a.s.sociation, the repeated excitation determines secretion from certain glands of the v.a.g.i.n.a which lubricate the v.u.l.v.a (glands of _Bartholin_). At the maximum point of voluptuous feeling the woman experiences something a.n.a.logous to the venereal o.r.g.a.s.m of the man. There is thus manifested in the two s.e.xes an intense and reciprocal desire of penetration one by the other, a desire which powerfully favors fecundation. In the woman as in the man the end of the o.r.g.a.s.m is followed by an agreeable relaxation which invites sleep.

The hereditary or instinctive nervous actions produce after coitus a profound effect of contrast. When the s.e.xual appet.i.te commences, the odors, especially those of the s.e.xual organs, the contacts, the movements, and the sight of the individual of the opposite s.e.x, all increase desire, producing a voluptuous excitation stronger than all contrary feeling. Hardly is the s.e.xual act consummated than all vanishes like a dream. What was a moment before the object of the most violent desire becomes indifferent, and sometimes even excites a slight feeling of disgust, at least as regards certain odors, sometimes even regarding touch and sight. The name s.e.xual appet.i.te (libido s.e.xualis) is given to the pa.s.sionate and purely s.e.xual desire of the two s.e.xes for each other. It varies greatly in different individuals.

According to _Ferdy_ and other authors, the neck of the womb, during the venereal o.r.g.a.s.m of the woman, executes movements of suction in the glans p.e.n.i.s. I do not know if this is a fact, but it is certain that the female o.r.g.a.s.m is useless for conception. Absolutely cold women, incapable of the least voluptuous sensation are as fruitful as those who have p.r.o.nounced venereal o.r.g.a.s.ms. It proves that the spermatozoa arrive at their goal even when the womb is entirely pa.s.sive. The great variation of s.e.xual desire in different individuals renders mutual adaptation often very difficult. The venereal o.r.g.a.s.m is sometimes more rapid in man, sometimes in woman (more rarely in the latter). This inequality is rather to the detriment of the woman, for the man can still satisfy himself when the o.r.g.a.s.m of the woman has terminated, while the contrary is not possible without artificial manipulation.

Moreover, the frequence and intensity of the s.e.xual appet.i.te are often much greater in one than in the other, which is detrimental to both.

Here again it is the woman who suffers the most, for the man can always satisfy himself without the woman having voluptuous sensations.

What is commonly called good manners generally prevents the conjoints from speaking of their s.e.xual desires before marriage. This very often results in grave deceptions, dissensions, and often even divorce. I shall return to this subject in Chapter XIV.

Voluptuous sensations only represent the means employed by nature to bring together the s.e.xes with the object of reproducing the species. A woman can be fecundated and give birth to a child by the aid of s.e.m.e.n injected into the uterus by a syringe. Moreover, it is rather exceptional for the venereal o.r.g.a.s.m to occur in the two s.e.xes at the same moment. It is essential for fecundation that the s.e.m.e.n should enter the womb. When the spermatozoa have reached the neighborhood of the neck of the womb they swim by their own movements, not only along the whole uterine cavity, but also along the Fallopian tubes and even in the abdominal cavity, so that the force of e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n is of little importance.

=Pregnancy.=--The womb enlarges considerably during pregnancy. It exceeds the size of an adult head, and the muscles of its walls are greatly increased, so as to be capable of expelling the child later on.

The phenomena of pregnancy, birth and suckling are known to all, so that I shall be brief. The almost sudden activity of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s after childbirth is a very interesting correlative phenomenon. It suffices to glance at one who has just become a mother and to observe the complications which profoundly influence all her organism with regard to the life of the infant, to comprehend to what extent the role of s.e.xual life is more important, more profound, even more vital, in woman than in man. The latter no doubt requires a more violent appet.i.te to urge him to copulation because he plays the active part, short though it be. But fecundating coitus having been effected, his contribution to the reproduction of the species is ended.

While the activity of man is terminated at conception, that of woman only begins at this moment. In the first chapter we have indicated in a few words the transformations of the human embryo up to its birth.

During nine months it grows from the size of a pin's head (the ovule) to that of the new-born child. Although a woman seldom bears more than one embryo at the same time, twins being rare on the whole, she has nevertheless more pain and fatigue to bear than any female animal.

This is due not only to the fact that our artificial and alcoholized civilization, with its specialized labor which disturbs vital equilibrium, has made women indolent and degenerate, but also to the enormous development of the human brain. The head of the human embryo is disproportionately large because the brain, as I showed with _Schiller_ in 1889, already contains at birth all the nerve elements which it will possess during the rest of its life (_Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Sciences_). No doubt these elements are small and embryonic but the nerve fibers are ready to be covered with myelin and to enter upon their functions, and all this requires a cranium of considerable size. But it is not everything for the mother to nourish with her blood the brain and the cranium of the child; it is also necessary for this relatively large head to pa.s.s through the pelvis at the time of childbirth, and we know that this moment is the most dangerous for the life of the pregnant woman. As boys have on the average a larger brain and cranium than those of girls, their birth is usually more difficult.

=Accouchement.=--The s.e.xual organs of woman undergo great changes in order to render childbirth possible. These organs become larger and more vascular, especially the womb, the growth of which is astonis.h.i.+ng. Originally the size of a small egg (a guinea fowl's) it exceeds the size of a human head, and there is an enormous increase of muscular tissue in its walls. Large blood vessels develop in the uterine wall, especially in the placenta (Figs. 22 and 23), where they enter into endosmotic relations with the circulation of the embryo.

From the abdomen of the embryo arises an organ, the _allantois_, which is destined to carry the blood-vessels of the embryo to the placenta, and at the same time to give rise to the formation of the latter. In the placenta the blood-vessels of the embryo are separated from those of the mother by walls so thin that the nutritive juices of the maternal blood transude into the venous blood of the embryo, as well as combined oxygen in the blood necessary for its respiration. Up to this point the vitellus of the egg, nourished by endosmosis through its membranes, had sufficed for the nutrition of the still very small embryo. While these phenomena are taking place, and while the substance of the two conjugated germs divides into an ever increasing number of cells, which become differentiated in layers to form the future organs (Fig. 21), while certain groups of cells are prepared some to form the intestinal ca.n.a.l, others the muscles and blood vessels, others the skin and organs of sense, others arising from the last to form the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, the mother can still live her ordinary life. She suffers, however, from different disorders connected with what is pa.s.sing on in her body.

It is a curious fact that these disorders are more accentuated at the commencement of pregnancy, when the womb is hardly enlarged, than at the end. They consist chiefly of nervous troubles--slight derangement of the cerebral functions and sensations, etc. Obstinate vomiting, peculiar desires, and changes of temper are some of the most frequent troubles of pregnant women, and probably arise more from local nervous irritation than from general transformations of the nutrition of the body. The mother's body is becoming adapted to the development of the infant in the womb. However embarra.s.sed a woman may be in the last months of pregnancy by the great swelling of the belly (Fig. 22) the disorders are less accentuated than at the beginning of pregnancy.

During pregnancy menstruation ceases. The s.e.xual appet.i.te is very variable; in many pregnant women it is diminished, in others there is no change, and it is seldom increased. There are other troubles which are more or less frequent, such as varicose veins in the legs caused by pressure of the uterus on the veins.

But all the sufferings of pregnancy and childbirth are compensated for by the ardent desire of the normal woman to have a child, and by the happiness of hearing its first cry. Proud and happy to give life to a new human being, which she hopes soon to suckle and carry in her arms, she cheerfully bears all the inconveniences and pains of pregnancy and childbirth. The latter is actually painful, for in spite of all that nature does to relax the pelvis and render it elastic, to dilate the neck of the womb, the v.a.g.i.n.a and the v.u.l.v.a, the pa.s.sage of the enormous head of a human infant through all these relatively narrow apertures is extremely difficult (Figs. 22 and 23). The pa.s.sage is forced by the powerful contractions of the muscles of the womb.

However, they do not always succeed by themselves, and in this case the accoucheur is obliged to apply the forceps to extract the head of the child. Very often the neck of the womb, the v.a.g.i.n.a or the perineum (the part situated between the a.n.u.s and the v.u.l.v.a) become torn during labor, and this may lead later on to disorders such as prolapse of the womb, etc.; disorders which may last through life.

When the child is born, the umbilical cord (that is the transformed allantois, Fig. 23) cut, and the placenta extracted, the connecting nutrition and respiration between the child and its mother are suddenly interrupted. Nourished hitherto by its mother's blood through the placenta and the vessels of the umbilical cord which supplied the necessary oxygen, the infant is suddenly obliged to breathe and feed for itself. Its lungs, hitherto inactive, expand instantaneously under the nervous influence produced by the blood saturated with carbonic acid, and the first cry is produced. Thus commences individual respiration. Several hours later the cessation of maternal nutrition causes hunger, and this the reflex movements of suction, and the child takes the breast. During this time the empty womb contracts strongly and retracts enormously in a few days. The increase of blood produced by the maternal organism, by its adaptation to the nutrition of the embryo, is then employed in the production of milk in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s or lactiferous glands, which were already well developed during pregnancy.

=Suckling. Maternity.=--The mother is instinctively disposed to suckle her child as the infant is to suck. At the end of four to six weeks, the womb has almost completely regained its former size.

In savage races suckling at the breast lasts for two years or more. It is useless to mention here to what point the capacity for suckling and the production of milk have diminished among the modern women of civilized countries. This sad sign of degeneration is due to a large extent, as _Bunge_ has shown by careful statistics, to the habit of taking alcoholic drinks, and is combined with other blastophthoric degenerations due to hereditary alcoholism. The future will show whether the artificial feeding of infants with cows' milk will benefit humanity. In any case it allows infants to survive who would die without it. On the other hand the development of a degeneration can hardly be an advantage for the species and we should hope for a return to the natural rule by abstinence from all alcoholic drinks.

The false modesty of women concerning their pregnancy and everything that concerns childbirth, the pleasantries often made with regard to pregnant women are a sad sign of the degeneration and even corruption of our refined civilization. Pregnant women ought not to hide themselves, or to be ashamed to carry a child in their womb; on the contrary they should be proud. Such pride would certainly be much more justified than that of the fine officers parading in their uniforms.

The external signs of the formation of humanity are more honorable to their bearers than the symbols of destruction, and woman should become imbued more and more with this truth! They will then cease to hide their pregnancy and to be ashamed of it. Conscious of the grandeur of their s.e.xual and social duty they will raise aloft the standard of our descent, which is that of the true future life of man, at the same time striving for the emanc.i.p.ation of their s.e.x. Viewed in this way, the s.e.xual role of woman becomes elevated and solemn. Man should less and less maintain his indifference towards the social miseries to which the slavery of woman has led, which has lasted thousands of years and which has dishonored the highest functions of her s.e.x, by abuses without number.

The hygiene of pregnancy, labor and its sequels, is of the highest importance. It certainly should not consist in exaggerated care and precaution, for in spoiling and softening women by inaction more harm than good is done. On the other hand, the social cruelty which neglects poor women of the people in confinement, often even without giving them sufficient nourishment, is revolting, and it is here especially that the reform of social hygiene becomes an elementary necessity for humanity.