Conception Control and Its Effects on the Individual and the Nation Part 2

CHAPTER III

METHODS

There are certain points in regard to methods of preventing conception which should be made clear.

It is, of course, obvious that conception can be voluntarily controlled by abstention from intercourse except when children are desired. This has been called a counsel of perfection. It could only rightly be so described where such a method of life was both desired and approved by both husband and wife. It would not be a fair thing for either to enforce a practically celibate life on the other without the fullest understanding and consent before the marriage vows were taken.

But conception can also be controlled by avoidance of those parts of the monthly cycle in which conception most commonly takes place. That in the great majority of women there is a time in the monthly cycle when no conception occurs has been noted for a long time. The rough-and-ready method of reckoning the date of birth in relations to the last menstrual period is an example of the a.s.sumption that conception will probably have taken place a week later, and the frequency with which such reckoning is justified shows that it is not altogether unfounded. During the war it was possible to make some more exact observations owing to the short leave granted to soldiers to visit their homes. Seigel has published a paper in the "Munchener Medizinische Wochenschrift," 1916, in which he gives information regarding the conception of between two and three hundred children born during the war. He finds that the likelihood of fertilisation increases from the first day of menstruation, reaching the highest point six days later, the fertile period remains almost at the same height till the 12th or 13th day, and then declines gradually until the 22nd day, after which there is absolute sterility.

This suggests that conception control can be attained without artificial methods if intercourse is confined to one week in the month.

Such control of conception, though natural, does not make it any more desirable to s.p.a.ce the births unduly so that the children are brought up in separate units instead of in a happy family group in which they can share games and interests--but it does avoid the risks which are a.s.sociated with artificial methods of conception control.

It is not proposed to discuss in detail artificial methods in this pamphlet, because no advice can be wisely given on this subject in a general way. Those who after careful consideration choose to use artificial means to prevent child-bearing will be wise if they consult their medical attendant as to those methods which are least harmful for their individual case, and ask for careful instruction in their use.

Most of the methods so widely advertised are productive of diseased conditions, whether from the nature of the method itself or from the way in which it is used, and all of those recommended to women interfere with normal physiological processes. The object aimed at in methods recommended to women, is either to produce, by drugs or otherwise, conditions in the v.a.g.i.n.a inimical to the life of the male cell, or to prevent by mechanical means the reception of the s.e.m.e.n into the uterus. Owing to the uncertainty in the results of either of the above methods of prevention, the later editions of books which teach conception control now advocate the use of both methods at the same time in order to approximate more closely to certainty of result.

All these artificial preparations for intercourse demand from the woman an investigation of and interference with her own internal organs, which is revolting to all decent women, and such teaching is directly opposed to the advocacy of cleanliness and non-interference with the genital organs, which is the natural habit of healthy-minded women.

The effects, however, go further than this. Nature has provided in the healthy v.a.g.i.n.al secretions an antidote to infection which quickly destroys harmful germs. If the natural secretions are altered it is difficult to restore them to their natural quality.

Professor Arthur Thomson, F.R.C.S., has shewn ("British Medical Journal," January 7th, 1922) from observations of the lining of the womb in animals and in women that "the weight of evidence goes to prove that its function is more likely to be absorbent than excretive, and that as such it plays an important part in the animal economy."

After describing at length the evidence that the male secretion consists largely of the secretions from special glands as well as the s.e.x cells, he refers to the fact that these are all largely received into and absorbed by the glands of the womb, and he discusses the probability that such absorption profoundly and beneficially affects the physiological reaction in the woman. He points out that the use of artificial checks "while preventing fertilisation may also be the means of depriving the female of certain secretions which may exercise a far reaching influence on her economy"; and he concludes, "As a rule we cannot interfere with the normal course of nature without some consequent evil result. May this not be an instance in which for some apparent gain in one direction, the woman pays the penalty?"

CHAPTER IV

THE EFFECT OF WIDESPREAD CONCEPTION CONTROL ON NATIONAL EFFICIENCY

In every nation individual capacity varies within wide limits. We have men and women of brilliant attainments, and of all grades of intelligence ranging downwards to the mentally defective. There is no doubt that all grades of intelligence can be improved by education, but there appears to be a limit to the capacity of development of each individual. Lower intelligence, therefore, is not only due to lack of opportunity, but to an inborn const.i.tutional defect.

Further study has shewn this defect to be hereditary--the parents or grandparents of such people shew defective intelligence, and their offspring are likely to do the same; indeed, if two mentally defective people marry it is fairly certain that their children will all be mentally defective.

There are, however, no sharply defined cla.s.ses of intelligence; just as the mentally defective are in many grades, so ordinary men and women vary from low or average intelligence up to outstanding cases of genius or capacity.

By the newer methods of mental testing it has been shewn that children of various cla.s.ses of the community, as well as men and women of different races, can be grouped according to their intellectual capacity, and that no educational facilities will develop that capacity beyond a certain point.

Professor W. McDougall, F.R.S., in his most useful and interesting book on _National Welfare and National Decay_, reaches the important conclusion "that innate capacity for intellectual growth is the predominant factor in determining the distribution of intelligence in adults, and that the amount and kind of education is a factor of subordinate importance." He claims that the evidence is overwhelming as to the validity of the results obtained by mental testing.

A few examples of experimental work given in Professor McDougall's book will suffice to show the trend of these results.

Tests of intelligence were carried out on recruits for the American Army, white and coloured, and they shewed marked superiority of the white race.

A special test was carried out in Oxford by Mr. H.B. English, who compared the capacity of boys in a school attended by children of the intellectual cla.s.ses with that of boys in a very good primary school, whose fathers were shop-keepers, skilled artisans, etc., coming from homes which were good, with no sort of privation. The result showed marked superiority of the sons of intellectual parents. Mr. English concludes that the children of the professional cla.s.ses, between 12 and 14 years of age, exhibit very marked intelligence, and he is convinced that the hereditary factor plays an altogether predominant part.

In another experiment, Miss Arlitt, of Bryn Mawr College, tested 342 children from primary schools in one district, who were divided into four groups:--

Group 1. Professional.

Group 2. Semi-professional and higher business.

Group 3. Skilled labour.

Group 4. Semi-and unskilled labour.

Marked differences between the groups were shewn. The intellectual capacity was represented by figures as follows:--

Group 1 125 Group 2 118 Group 3 107 Group 4 92

A further research of 548 children, grouped according to the occupation of their father, gave its results in terms of the percentage of children in each group who scored a mark higher than the median for the whole 548. They are as follows:--

Professional group 85% Executive group 68% Artisan group 41% Labour group 39%

In the "Journal of Educational Psychology," Vol. IX, 1916, Mr. A.W.

Kornhauser gives evidence from the examination of 1,000 children drawn from five schools in Pittsburgh.

Schools A and B were attended by children of unskilled manual workers.

Schools C and D by children of skilled artisans and small shopkeepers.

School E by children of parents in very comfortable circ.u.mstances.

The results are tabulated as--

r.e.t.a.r.ded, _i.e._, below average.

Normal, _i.e._, average.

Advanced, _i.e._, above average.

| r.e.t.a.r.ded. | Normal. | Advanced.

A } Manual workers {| 45.2 | 47.1 | 7.7 B } {| 36.7 | 55.9 | 7.4 | | | C } Artisans, etc. {| 29.4 | 50.2 | 20.7 D } {| 28.8 | 50.2 | 19.5 | | | E Most comfortable | 12.7 | 62.7 | 24.6[A]

[Footnote A: I am indebted to Professor McDougall's book for information here given.]

These experiments all shew the trend of intelligence (and with it will power or power of concentration, and what we may call general capacity) to be more concentrated in the so-called higher grades of society, and to be less and less evident as we descend in the scale from skilled to unskilled workers. It would, of course, be clear to all that the children of mentally deficient parents can only be a burden on the State or can rarely contribute anything of value to the common weal.

Now the teaching and advocacy of methods of conception control is most easily a.s.similated and practised by the intelligent cla.s.ses; indeed, we may say with certainty that such methods can only be used effectively by the intelligent members of the community, such as leisured, professional and mercantile cla.s.ses, skilled artisans and better cla.s.s workers, whereas the lowest type of casual labourers whose home conditions render the use of preventive methods difficult or impossible, and the mentally deficient and criminal cla.s.ses, are unaffected by such teaching.

The result in a few generations must be a marked decrease in the numbers of the intellectual and efficient workers, while the hopelessly unfit continue to produce their kind at the same rate as before.

The figures given do not suggest that individuals with marked ability are to be found in the upper cla.s.ses only, but they do indicate that there is a larger proportion of boys and girls in the more comfortable cla.s.ses whose inherited ability is above the average, though this may be partly due to the more intellectual atmosphere in which their early childhood has been pa.s.sed.

The provision of education for all, with facilities for children of every cla.s.s to pa.s.s on to higher grades of work, is essential if the latent powers in all, whatever they may be, are to be developed to the utmost.