were apparently unaffected. Of them, as of men of old, it might justly be said:—

"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted."

And now large numbers of hospitals all over the Empire are issuing appeals for the means to treat venereal disease.

"It is tragic," says one London hospital, "to see the sufferers—men, women and even little children—innocent little mites, knowing not from what they suffer or why they should. It is thought by many that venereal disease is a sign of guilt, but large numbers of our patients are innocent victims."

Is it not time then that we all stopped repeating timid platitudes about making vice safe, and did something practical to make marriage safe?

Why don't we?

Is it because we are afraid to define the terms we use so glibly? We talk of promoting chastity, for example. What is chastity? Surely chastity is happy, healthy sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who love one another; and unchastity is sexual intercourse between those who do not love one another. No sexual intercourse at all is neither chastity nor unchastity; it is the negation of both, and it ends in extinction. Why trouble so much about a negation that inevitably means racial death? Why not devote ourselves to life and love; to the building of a happy healthy human family—a family that instinctively realises that the clean blood-stream of a nation is its most priceless possession?

But the national blood-stream can never be clean until there is a complete knowledge of sexual control and sanitation among all of us, and especially among women. One of the very first things which women must learn to understand is the control of conception and the control of venereal diseases. They must learn how to prevent the birth of the unfit; how to secure the birth of the fit; and even though their husbands are infective they must learn how to break the chain of infection in their own bodies, so that what is bad for the race does not become worse. If women are brave enough and wise enough, they can in most cases wipe out the scourge of venereal diseases from their own hearths and homes, and ensure that every child born is at least physically fit. But this cannot be done without knowledge, and that knowledge is at present lacking.

The following pages are written with the object of imparting useful, practical knowledge to sensible and serious women. The women who accept and apply this knowledge can rest calm in the sure and certain faith that it is their offspring who will build up the coming race.

II.—PRACTICAL METHODS OF PREVENTION.

A. FOR WOMEN:

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION.

To understand the practical methods of birth-control, or the control of conception, we must first have a clear view of the processes involved when the reproductive organs are in activity, and of the nature and situation of the sexual organs themselves. The diagrams on pages 34, 35 and 36 show in general outline the reproductive organs of man and woman.

Now fertilisation does not necessarily occur whenever the male organ comes in contact with the female organ. Fertilisation occurs only when a male-cell (spermatazoon) unites with a female-cell (ovum); in other words, when the spermatazoa in the seminal fluid of a man meet and unite with the germ or ovum in the body of a woman. That is the beginning of the child. This union of the two cells need not take place during or immediately after sexual intercourse. It may occur many hours, or even two or three weeks, after connection, because the spermatazoa have motion of their own. They are tiny threadlike bodies, which may work their way towards the ovum long after they have left the body of the man and been placed in the body of the woman, and the uterus has a searching movement, and may by its pulsations draw the spermatazoa upwards. For these reasons a woman cannot be quite sure of the exact time of fertilisation, and hence cannot predict exactly the date of the child-birth. Generally the pregnancy lasts nine months, but it may last longer—say ten months on rare occasions; and it may be extended apparently by a delay in fertilisation.

PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION.

For many reasons which I need not enumerate here, the precautions against impregnation can most easily and effectively be taken by the woman, rather than by the man. She is the one fertilised, and therefore she is the one to guard herself against fertilisation.

There are two methods of preventing fertilisation:—

(1) The chemical method, that is, the destruction of the male cells (spermatazoa) by means of a suitable germicidal substance, such as many of the disinfectants; and

(2) The mechanical method, that is, the adoption of measures which keep the male and the female cells apart from one another.

Inner Side Of Thigh

Diagram 1.—Female organs of generation in normal condition. This shows diagrammatically the position of the organs if a woman were cut in two between the thighs. The rubber pessary is shown in position, slightly distending upper end of vagina (or front passage), and covering the opening into interior of womb. A suppository introduced beforehand will dissolve and occupy the dotted space above rubber pessary, forming a pool around the mouth of the womb. The walls of the vagina are elastic and collapsible. Infection with gonorrhœa may occur in the female urethra (or water passage) or in the vagina, etc. Syphilis may infect internal and external parts of female organs; also breasts, mouth, tongue, etc., and other openings of the body.

Neither of these two methods in practical application by ordinary women can be said to be completely certain. Both are apt to fail at times. The chemical method, that is, the application by the woman of a suitable soluble contraceptive suppository before connection, or of a germicidal douche (such as a dilute solution of lysol) after connection, or both these measures taken consecutively, may fail because of some fault in application, or because the seminal fluid actually enters the womb during intercourse; that is to say, when emission takes place, the end of the male organ may be exactly opposite and close to the mouth of the womb, and the spermatazoa in the seminal fluid enter directly into the womb, and cannot then be removed or destroyed by douching or contraceptives of any kind. Now if the physical conformation of the reproductive organs of the husband and the wife render this event possible or probable, then soluble suppositories and contraceptive douching are alike unreliable, by themselves or in combination. On the other hand, the mechanical method, that is, the use of a rubber protector, preferably the spiral-spring occlusive[G] "Dutch" pessary, by the woman may also fail, because the protector is porous or ill-fitting. But—if the two methods are combined, the chemical method and the mechanical method, then the protection against fertilisation may be regarded as almost absolute. The completeness of the protection depends, of course, upon the proper application and