FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY, 
OR THE 
PRIVATE COMPANION 
OF 
ADULT PEOPLE. 
BY 
CHARLES KNOWLTON, M. D. 
•* Knowledge is Wealth.” 
FOURTH EOITIO.V, WITH ADDITION*. 
Price, One Dollar. 
PHILADELPHIA. 
F. P. ROGERS, PRINTER. 
1839. Enatn n P>stnct of Pennsylvania, to ml 
BE JT REMEMBERED, that on t>'<; 
Ninth day of September, Anno Domin' 
One Thousand Eight Hundred >UI,| 
Thirty Nine, Charles Knovvlton, 31. D., of the sai< 
District, hath deposited in this office the Title ot 
a Book, the Title of which is in the words loilo" 
ing, to wit: , 4 
Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion <? 
Adult People, Jiy Charles Kuowlton, M- 
11 Knowledge is WealthFourth Edition, trif" 
additions. 
The riglit whereof he claims as author, in 
formity with an Act of Congress, entitl' d ‘ * 
Act to amend the several Acts respecting f U 
Rights.” 
ERA. 1IORK1NSON, 
Clerk ojthe Dial rut- 
1. 8. 
Extract from the Copyright Lqic- 
'•* Sec. 7. And he it further enacted, That, if a!‘pjjnt; 
son or persons, after the recording ihe title of a". • jo0f 
cut or engraving, map, chart, or musical eon'IV? ,i,c 
according to the provisions of litis act, shall, ''ll v„rk, 
termor terms limited by this act, engrave, etch- l’r jn t|ie 
sell, or copy, or cause to be engraved *c-, g1111® main 
whole, or bv varying, adding to, or diminishing u -nt,,r 
design, with intent io evade the law; or shall I , for 
import for sale, or cause to be printed or wjih- 
sale, any such map, chart, &c., or Any parts liter* o. 
out the consent of the proprietor, fcc., or, * no' *jj 0r 
same to he so printed or imported, shall pojnisn, 
expose to sale. Scc.; ihen such offender or oftsn«c‘ 
forfeit, Jtc. ,te. INTRODUCTION 
It is now eight years 'since theory led me it* 
adopt and to recommend to others, a simple, cheap, 
and harmless method of preventing1 conception, 
without requiring any diminution or sacrifice of 
that enjoyment wliich attends the gratification of 
the re-productive instinct. During this eight years 
J have permitted this work to pass through three 
editions, comprising in all only seven thousand 
copies. I have thus limited the circulation of the 
work with a view of becoming entirely sure, from 
my own immediate observation and experience, 
that my method is infalliable, before I gave the 
work free circulation. I can now say, that I have 
not a shadow of doubt, but that the method of pre- 
venting conception, under free and entire inter- 
course, to which I allude, will invariably prove ef- 
fectual; the directions herein after given being 
duly followed. 
To convey a knowledge of this method, or of 
what may be called the anti-conception art, in such 
a manner as shall command the confidence of all IV 
who may wish to adopt it, is tho lending ol»j«:ct of 
tbit work. 
I am aware that wUfc minds tlu; first 
impression will be, that this -object is not good. 
But I am also fury satisfied, from what has al- 
ready fell under my observation, that the more; 
such minds reflect upon the subject tho more favour- 
able opinion will they have of it. At any rate, it is a 
subject of too great and abiding influence to be 
passed over without a serious and impartial cxnuii* 
nation. I am perfectly willing that the anti-con- 
ception art stand or fall according to its merits. 
But I do desire that these merits be inquire d into 
before sentence is passed—1 do desire that the 
reader will try to divest himself of all prejudice— 
if sensible he has any—and go along witli me into 
an examination of its merits arid demerits. 
As this work will of course he restricted to pri- 
vate perusal, I think it will be well to make it a 
medium of considerable information concerning 
the genital systems, their diseases, &c., which all 
people desire to obtain, and ought to possess, hut 
which can be derived only from some medical 
source. And I give such information the more 
readily, because the people have been grossly im- 
posed upon by unprincipled persons who have at- 
tempted to write popular physiological treatises on 
generation, dux, when they were totally unqualified 
lor the task, and have consequently presented the 
reader with a jumble of truth and error, of science V 
and olwcencty, which, while it may have lieen sa- 
tisfactory to those unqualified to judge of the truth 
of what they read, must have been productive of 
quite as much mischief as benefit. I now ulindc 
to a work ascribed to Aristotle, and to all similar 
works tliat have been circulated more or less pri- 
vately among the |*c>plo. 
Ai»d e-qieciully do 1 ulludc to “Canfield’s F<ec- 
lures »»n Sexual Physiology,” and to uu other work 
entitled “ Marriage Physiologically Diicust-d," 
probably from the same pen, recently puhlislied 
ami falsely pnrjiorting to Ic translated from the 
French. .Neither of these works were written by 
a person of sound bend or pure heart. They arc 
both violations of uiy copyright, lint in the au- 
thor’s attempt to convey inv ideas in his own lan- 
guage, and to vary mv directions under the talse 
notion that he would thus evade the law of copy- 
right, or escape the charge of phigarism, he has 
committed the grossest errors, and di-eovered uu 
entire ignorance of the subject* of which lie treats. 
And, what is jtecidiarly provoking, this areli lit hri. 
citor of dirty stories has the impudence to set forth, 
that he has devoted many years to the subject of 
“Sexual physiology,” Alc., and claims to In* origi- 
nal, when it is perfectly clear tliat every u*elul, 
«»d almost every decent idea, which his Uonbs con- 
tain, were gathered from works which had Invn 
circulated from one to three years lie'.ore, and iu 
the city where his were published. VI 
Whoever places any confidence in either of 
the above mentioned works, may find himself de- 
ceived, when it may be difficult to remedy the 
mischief growing out of such deception. There 
is scarcely a page in the latter part of “ Marriage 
Discussed,” but what contains positive error, or 
discovers great ignorance in the writer. 
Athjield, Franklin Co., Mass , Sept. 4, 1839. CHAPTER I. 
THE ARGUMENT. 
In deciding whether any thing be good or evil, 
we must, (ever keeping human nature in view,) 
consider whether it will be productive of more or 
less misery than happiness. If more of the 
former than of the latter, it is evil, bad, wrong 
&c., but if more of happiness than misery, it is 
good, right, &c. 
Upon this principle let us now proceed to weigh 
in the scale of reason, the evil that is likely to 
arise from a knowledge of the anticonception art, 
against the good that may be derived from the 
same knowledge. 
And first, of the evil. Perhaps no person has 
had a better opportunity than myself to hear 
the objections that can be brought against this art. 
Yet I have heard of but two. One, that it will 
lead to illegal intercourse, second, that it is 
“ against nature.” 
In relation to the first I contend, that in al- 
most all cases in which the chastity of a female 
can be overcome, with the knowledge which this 8 
book conveys, it could and would be overcome 
without such knowledge. However erroneous the 
opinion, the workings of common sense have led 
and do lead almost all to believe, that there is a way 
in which nearly a complete intercourse may he 
enjoyed without any risk of conception. Ami 
where fear of conception is the only barrier (and 
surely it is only by removing this feur that it 
can be said this work will lead to illegal inter- 
course) the seducer, to obtain his object, has 
nothing more to do than to satisfy the female that 
he will practice this “way.” And when the 
reader has been made acquainted with the means 
which 1 propose for preventing conception, I think 
lie will admit, that when a male and female have be- 
come so familiiar as to propose to use these means, 
they would practice the “way” or draw-back, to 
wliicli I have alluded, if no such hook as this had 
ever been written. This being the fact, I do not 
see that a knowledge of the check which I pro- 
pose can have any ot Ik reflect than that of enabling 
the parlies to enjoy a more complete, agreeable, 
but not a more hurtful intercourse, than they other- 
wise would, and this toe, without any risk of con- 
ception, whereas the draw-back, as usually prac- 
ticed is not (probably) quite sure, os I shall here- 
after show. I wish the reader to ponder over 
these remarks, for if they be correct, then is the 
greatest objection which can be raised against 
tills book reduced to something less than nothing. 9 
Tlie second olijoction is, that it is “ against na- 
ture.” Will, what if it is 1 In this restricted 
sense of the word, it is also against nature to cut 
our nails, our hair, or to shave the beard. What 
is civilized life hut one continual warfare against 
nature? The high prerogative of man consists 
in his power to counteract and to controlc nature. 
Art, as opposed to natu e—though in one sense, 
art and every tiring else is natural—is what raises 
man from a stale of nature, that is, from a savage 
to a civilized slate. Many diseases, as well as 
the infirmities of old age, are the natural effects 
of natural causes ; and the natural course of many 
diseases is to a fatal termination, yet we often sue- 
cessfully resort to art for the cure of them, and no 
one thinks it wrong to do so. To direct tire elec- 
tric fluid from its natural course by lightning rods 
is to oppose nature. Those who raise this objec- 
tion ought to consider that if it be wrong in the 
abstract to opjtose nature iu one case, it is in all, 
and consequently we ought to obey the voice of 
nature, and gratify all our natural desires. Men 
and women, iutcad ot mortdying the flesh, ought 
to cohabit as frequently as their natural inclina- 
tions prompt them to do so. Mucli more might 
be said, tending to show the futility of this ob- 
jection, but in fact, it is not worthy of the notice 
I have dread}’ taken of it. Undoubtedly the time 
has been, when the greatest good of the greatest 
number required that man should “multiply and 10 
replenish the corth," but the Fame object now re- 
quires that he should have power to control tin* 
number of his offspring without sacrifice of en- 
joyment. 
I now proceed to suggest to the reader the sev- 
eral advantage« of this art; and this 1 shall do, 
mainly, by shewing the evils that may be mitigated 
or avoided by it. 
First. As a means of preventing over population. 
That u population, unrestrained, will advance be- 
yond the means of suppoit,” is a fact which no 
one will deny. It has been ascertained that where 
the natural increase of the human species is not 
restrained by want, war, vice, or some other means 
—besides those totally beyond the power of man 
to avoid—population will double on the average, 
once in about thirty three and a third years, that 
is, three times in a century. Accordingly if we 
compute the present population of the world at 
1,000 millions, there would be at the end of 100 
years from the present lime, 8,000 millions; at 
the end of 200 years, 64,000 millions ; at the 
end of 300 years, 512,000 millions; and soon 
mullipliing by eight for every additional hundred 
years. If this natural increase should go on with- 
out check of some kind, for 1,500 years, one single 
pair would increase to thirty five thousand one 
hundred and eighty four times the population of 
the whole earth. 
Some kind of check, then, there certainly must 11 
be ; and if there be no other, the time must come 
when it would be starvation or cannibalism. Hence 
some have maintained, with apparent plausibility, 
that vice, war, misery, &c., arc the express ordain- 
ings of Providence, intended to prevent the greater 
evil of over population ; and that it would be use- 
less, if not impious, to attempt to remedy or prevent 
them. Malthus, an English divine, duly impressed 
with the fact that there must be some check, and 
not wishing to advocate war, intemperance, crimes, 
unjust laws that oppress the labouring classes, and 
and such like evils—which have heretofore been 
the common checks to the nutural increase of 
population—proposed what he misnamed w moral 
restraint,” that is cele!>ucy to a late age, say thirty 
years. This, on the whole, the reverend gentlema n 
regarded as the best means of preventing over 
population, with its many attendent evils, within 
his knowlodge. But is this the sad condition of 
the human family,? is there no better cticck than 
this of Malthus, which is useless, if not worse ? 
Useless, because though Malthus and his many 
followers (in theory) may preach forever on the 
subject, the moss of mankind will not follow his 
injunction. 
But if this injunction were to be generally fol- 
lowed, only look at the probable consequences. 
O” “ The most enlightened observers of mankind 
are agreed that nothing contributes so positively 
and immediately to demoralize a nation as for its 12 
youth to refrain until u late age, from forming 
disinterested connexions with those of the other 
sex. The frightful increase of prostitution, the 
destruction of health, the rapid spread of intem- 
perance, the ruin of moral feelings are to the 
mass, the certain consequences.” 
Only let the physiological check proposed in 
this work become generally known, and all the 
evils of over population, as well as those of Mai- 
thus’ proposed remedy for the same, may, and 
probably would be avoided. Every person would 
then have it in his or her power to take care of 
one, and if this were done, then every one would 
be taken care of. No man would need have more 
children than he could see a fair prospect of pro- 
jierly educating and providing for; and as no one 
would need look ahead further than one genera- 
tion, or for his own offspring, no one would be 
likely to err greatly in his calculations. 
It is unquestionably to some artificial chock to 
conception that Mill, the talented anther of “ Bri- 
tish India” alludes in the following extract (taken 
by Owen) from the article “ Colony,” in the sup- 
plement to the Encyclopaedia Britlanica. 
“ What are the best means of checking the pro- 
gress of population, when it cannot go on unre- 
strained without producing one or other of two 
most undesirable effects, either drawing an undue 
portion of the population to the mere raising of 
food, or producing poverty and wretchedness, it is 13 
siot now the time to enquire. It is, indeed, the 
most important practical problem to which the wis- 
dom of the politici;>n and the moralist can be ap- 
plied. It has, till this time, been miserably evaded 
by all those who have meddled with the subject, 
as well as by those who were called upon by their 
situation to find n remedy for the evils to which it 
relates. And yet, if the superstitious of the nursery 
were disregarded,, and the princijde of utility kept 
steadily in view, a solution might not be very dif- 
ficult to be found ; and the means of drying up one 
of the most copious sources of human evil—a 
source which, if all other sources were taken away, 
might alone suffice to retain the great mass of hu- 
man beings in misery, might be seen to be neither 
doubtful nor difficult to be applied.” 
A nation is composed of individuals, and to be a 
happy nation the individuals must be happy. At 
the present time, the situation of many individuals 
in the United States would be much better if they 
were not borne down, as they are, by a numerous 
offspring; yet I do not think there is now an ex- 
cess of population in these States—I do not think 
that the greatest good of the greatest number re- 
quires that the population of these Slates, taken as 
a whole, should be less. But this cannot be said 
of every nation—especially China, in some of the 
large cities of which, it is said that men, appointed 
for the purpose, pass through the streets every 
morning with carts to pick up the infants which 14 
the inhabitants are permitted to throw out, dead or 
alive; a practice which is not tolerated because the 
Chinese ore inhuman beings, but because of the 
excess of population. It is Borne consolation to 
know that tko evils which have heretofore been the 
common checks to population may be removed, 
and yet an excess of population may be prevented, 
short of the ascetic im-“ moral restraint” pro- 
posed by Malthus: and thus forever save us from 
the horrid practice of the Chinese. If physiolo- 
gical cltecks were generally known, and generally 
believed to be as harmless and as effectual as 
some, from actual experience, have reason to be- 
lieve them to be, I do not think the effect, at pre- 
sent, in the United States, would be to check the 
general increase of population. [ think that this 
knowledge, while it would prevent so many over- 
grown and consequently poor families among us, 
would at the same time, promote early marriages; 
and nearly all, after being married a few years, 
would be able to support, and would desire to have 
a few children. Hence, for one or more centuries, 
the general increase would be about the same as at 
present 
The second evil to be mitigated by the anticon- 
ception art, is prostitution. The unreflecting may 
smile at this idea; but I would ask why it is, that 
there is so much prostitution in this land. Is it 
not because there are so many unmarried men and 
women—men of dissipation and profligacy, owing 15 
to their not having married in their younger days, 
and settled down in life? But why are there so 
many unmarried men (and consequently women) 
in the country ? Not because young hearts, when 
they bceomc of age, do not desire to marry, if they 
could do so and yet get along as well; but bccauso 
prudential considerations interfere. The young 
man thinks, I cannot marry yet, I cannot support 
a family. 1 must make money first, and think of 
matrimony afterwards. And so it is, that through 
fear of being encumbered with children before they 
have made some headway in the world, and of be- 
ing thereby compelled to “ tug at the oar of inces- 
sant iabour” throughout their lives, thousands of 
young men do not marry, but go abroad into the 
world, and form vicious acquaintances and prac- 
tices ; or, having passed many years in mortifica- 
tion, a habit is formed, the fire of youth has abat- 
ed, amitiveness has become dormant, avarice, or 
some other selfish passion has got possession of the 
man, and he docs not wish to marry. 
Prostitution is an evil which, in my opinion, 
will never be diminished permanently, and to any 
great degree, by any mode of operation that has 
ever yet been pursued tor the purpose. Nature 
will have its course through some channel or other, 
and to dam the stream or to smother the flame is 
to furnish no lasting security against floods and 
fire. Mankind must undergo some essential 
change, not to be expected, before any regulations 16 
which war against nature’s strongest impulses will 
avail much. All past experience shows that both 
law and gospel, when opposed to man’s natural in- 
stincts are as ineffectual as attempts to tame par- 
tridges; and it is strange that we have been so 
slow to profit by this experience. Murriage, early 
and genera], is the grand remedy for prostitution. 
It would operate in more ways than one. i\l ore 
moles than females are born into the world, and if 
nearly all our young men should marry, there 
would necessarily be but very few females left, to 
lead dissolute lives, if there should be a demand 
for them. 
If our virtuous females would diminish the evil 
of which we are speaking then instead of giving 
their money to build up an “ Asylum” for the 
abandoned females of our cities, (and to remove 
these would only make room for fresh hands— 
thus running many more through the mill,) let 
them encourage early marriages. This they can 
do in various ways. In the first place, there be- 
ing means which give control over the number of 
offsprings, let them not contemn these means, but 
approve of them; and when they become com- 
mon or fashionable, the practice of them will not 
be thought indelicate, any more than it now is to 
marry, or to have a niale accoucheur. In the 
next {dace let every daughter, rich or poor, be 
taught to manage house-hold affairs, and to xoork. 
Discountenance expensive fashions and customs, 17 
among the young and newly married, such as 
having a female servant, “ making parties,” See. 
The rich set a pattern, the poorer try to follow it, 
and no wonder our young men in moderate cir- 
cumstances are afraid to marry when they con- 
sider the expenses which attend “ keeping house," 
under existing fashions. But if offspring be avoid- 
ed, and the young wife would be prudent, and 
would do the necessary housework for herself and 
husband, he could then accumulate property quite 
as fast with, as without her. A book might be 
written on the subject now before me, but I leave 
it to the reflections of the reader. 
Third. Poverty, ignorance, and crime may in- 
directly, and to a considerable degree, be prevent- 
ed by the practice of the anticonception art. No 
one will deny that in a large proportion of the 
families, even in the United States, the number of 
children is beyond the means of their parents for 
comfortable support. With incessant toil and 
rigid economy they may, to be sure, all be kept 
alive, without becoming a public charge; but they 
cannot be properly educated and provided for. 
They come upon the stage ignorant and poor. If 
they be ambitious, they not un frequently try some 
honest or dishonest rcheme for getting money 
uiat involves them iu gmt di'le«4*U-1. K» , n. 
bitious, tney rvq«M*i,.U r. It ». *.ty 
true that crimes are by no means confined to the 
children of the poor man; the rich man’s son, 18 
having acquiicd profligate, instead of industrious 
and economical habits, becomes jxjor, and com- 
mits crimes; but it is equally true, generally 
speaking, that poverty and ignorance lend to 
crime ; and that an excess of offspring is very fre- 
quently the cause of poverty and ignorance. 
A writer in the Ediurrburgh iXeto Philosojthical 
Journal, for April 183-1, Inning shown that in 
Europe the uverage age of man has bom much 
increased, within the last century, by the progress 
of civilization, makes the following remarks:— 
“ The life of man is tlnw not only embellished 
in its course by the advancement of civilization, 
but is even extended by it, and rendered less doubt- 
ful. The effects of the amelioration of’ the. social 
condition arc, to restrain uml diminish, in proywr- 
tion to the jmjnilutiun, the annual number of births, 
and in a still greater degree that of deaths; on 
the contrary, u gnat number of births equalled or 
even exceeded by that of deaths, is a characteristic 
sign of a state of barbarism.” 
Modi more might be said, showing tlie evils of 
a large family of children to a man in low, or 
even moderate circumstances; but it avails but 
little to talk to those who uro iucn|*»blr of reflec- 
tion, and to those who are ca|Kibic, enough has 
already been said to set them a thinking. Hut 
before 1 pass to oilier subjects, 1 must present the 
following eloquent extract from Moral Phi/sioloiry, 
a work which I wish every body would rcud. 19 
“ Iii liovv many instances docs the hard-working 
father, and more especially the mother, of a pooc 
family, remain slaves throughout their lives, tug- 
ging at the oar of incessant labour, toiling to live 
and living but to die ; when, if their offspring had 
been limited to tivocr three only, they might have 
enjoyed comfort, and comparative affluence! How 
often is the health of the mother, giving birth every 
yeur to an infant—happy, if it be not twins!— 
and com|»e)lcd to toil on, even at those times when 
nature ini|>eriously calls for some relief from daily 
drudgery—how often is the mother’s comfort, 
health, nay her life, thus sacrificed ! Or, if care 
and toil have weighed down the spirit, and at last 
broken the health of the father, how often is the 
widow left, unable, with the mo t virtuous inten- 
tions, to save her fatherless offspring from becom- 
ing degraded objects of charity, or profligate vota- 
ries of vice! 
“ Fathers and mothers! not you who have your 
nursery and your nursery maids, and who leave 
your children at home, to fretpieist the crowded 
rout, or to glitter in the hot ball-room; but you 
by the labour of whoso hands your children are to 
live, ami who, as you count their rising numbers, 
*igh to think how soon sickness or misfortune 
may lessen those wages which arc now but just 
suiHcient to afford them bread—fathers and 
mothers in humble life! to you my argument 
comes home, with the force of' reality Others 20 
*nay impugn—may ridicule it By bitter ex- 
perience you know and feel its truth.” 
A fourth advantage is, the prevention of here- 
ditary diseases. It would require more space 
than I can spare, to convince any but enlightened 
physicians of the vast benefit that might be derived 
to the human family in this respect, by checks so 
simple, sure, and harmless, that to be in general 
use, they need only be generally known. But 
such physicians know full well that hereditary 
taints, predispositions and infirmities give rise to 
a large proportion of their professional business, 
especially among chronic diseases. Scrofula, in 
all its various forms, one of which is genuine con- 
sumption, sweeping off its fifty-five thousand an- 
nually in England, and its tens of thousands in 
these United States, is a hereditary disease. Most 
diseases of the nervous system, as Insanity, Epilep- 
sy, Apoplexy and Palscy, arc more or less heredita- 
ry-; so, also, are Cancer, causing, it is said, one 
seventh of the deaths in Paris; Gout, probably 
Rheumatism, urinary complaints, and many other 
diseases that might be mentioned. Many cases 
of disease not regarded as hereditary, are yet ren- 
dered difficult to cure by some hereditary taint or 
infirmity; and many diseases are of a hereditary 
origin, although the parents of their victims had 
never been visited with diseases of the same name 
as these diseases of their children. Thus, a son 
or a daughter may be insane, owing to hereditary 21 
predisposition, yet neither of their parents were 
insane, but epileptic, perhaps, or only very nervous. 
Persons knowing themselves to be predisposed to 
any of these diseases, or knowing these diseases to 
be in their families, may do much to prevent their 
propagation and diffusion in society, by refraining 
from offspring—an act which they would not be 
likely to do, if they could not do it without the 
sacrifice of domestic enjoyment Many a healthy 
young man of blood uucontaminatcd there may be, 
who desires to marry—and who would marry—a 
certain female, but that lie fears she would give 
birth to weakly children, or that her health is not 
equal to the risks and hardships of rearing a family ; 
but let this young man and woman know that they 
need have no children unless they choose to do so, 
they will then marry, and thus tho happiness of 
loth be promoted. 
Closely connected with this our fourth advan- 
tage of the unticoncep ion art, is the preservation 
and improvement of the species. Spur/.heim, known 
to the reading world a.; a person who devoted his 
life to the study of man, says, “ I think that as 
soon as young persons understand the difference 
and the distinction of the sexual functions, they 
should be taught the laws of propagation, and not 
be kept in a state of ignorance that may provoke 
a fatal curiosity, compromising in the end, their 
own and their descendants’ bodily and mental 22 
constitution.”* And in his work on Education 
he has a chapter “ On the laws of hereditary de- 
scent” on reading which, I was forceably im- 
pressed with the idea that a few certain pages 
from Fruits of Philosophy, would be a most ap- 
propriate appendix to it, as they contain informa- 
tion that would enable and induce people to observe 
those laws of hereditary descent and degradation, 
which it is so important should be obeyed. From 
this chapter 1 shall here present some extracts, as 
being not only consistent with the general design 
of this work (which is to put into the hands of 
young men and women—information not easily 
obtained elsewhere—which they ought to have), 
but as tending to show the importance of the anti- 
conception art, ns a means to be resorted to in 
preserving and improving the species. 
“ The developemcnt of the human body is fa- 
voured, retarded, or disordered, according to the 
general laws of organization, in the same wav as 
that of other living beings, animal and vegetable. 
Consequently, children participate in the bodily 
configuration and constitution of their parents, and 
also in the particular manifestations of the mind, 
these licing dependent on the individual parts of 
the brain. * * * \Vc might, naturally sup- 
pose this fact sufficcnt to induce reasonable beings 
to take at least as much care in regard to their 
* Phrenology, vol. i. p. 155. Poston. 23 
offspring as they do in relation to their sheep, pigs, 
dogs, and horses. Unt man wishes to make him- 
self an exception from the immutable laws of 
Nature, and the result of his ignorance and self 
conceit is lamentable. 
“ For the sake of bodily health, many natural 
philosophers, a long time ago, insisted on the 
necessity ofa better regulation of marriage. Their 
benevolent design was supported by the constant 
observation, that health dc|)cnds on organization, 
and that the latter is propagated bv birth. 4 Sir 
John Sebright,’ says Dr. Adams,4 informs us, that 
if a stock of sheep, in which there is any delect, 
arc permited to breed in and in the defect will 
gradually increase among them; and Colonel 
Humphries, by selecting for breeding a marked 
variety, has succeeded in procuring a stock with 
deformed Iwncs., * * * * There arc few 
families where there is not one jwrl of the body 
weaker than the rest, the lungs, tor instance, the 
eyes, tiie stomach, the liver, intestines, some other 
viscus, the brain, »to. 
44 Children born of healthy parents, and belonging 
to a strong stock, always bring into the world a 
system formed hv nature to resist the causes of dis- 
ease. While the children of delicate, sickly pa- 
rents, are overpowered by the least unfavourable 
circumstance. In curing diseases, nature is often- 
times more powerful than art, and the latter is in- 
effectual if not assisted by the former. Longevity 24 
depends more on innate constitution than on tiic 
skill of physicians. Is it • jt astonishing, then, 
that this knowledge, ns a pr~<-,;cal piece of infor- 
mation, is not taught to, am -cininatcd among 
young people? Indeed it otr to be familiarly 
and generally known : not Leo -e it is ex (meted 
tliat every one would be rensoc ,i>b enough to re- 
gulate his conduct by it, but in order to induce as 
many as possible to do so [a knowledge of the 
anticonception art should greatly increase the 
number that would do so.] A great number are 
too selfish to be guided in their own enjoyments !>v 
a regard to the condition of their offspring; but 
many, on the other baud, who rolled on the future, 
may be induced to avoid, even from a solli>li mo- 
tive, a union with a person who will be likely to 
embitter their future days. Even the unthinking 
must perceive, that the enjoyments of life are ren- 
dered impossible, when diseases make their rava- 
ges in a family; and that love, for the most part, 
ceases, when poverty takes up its aliode in the 
house. Others, who wish to live in their jKjstcri- 
ty, will, when acquainted with the immutable 
laws of nature, submit to them, in order to lay a 
foundation for the prosjtcrity of their descendants. 
The phytical education, then, of both sexes, de- 
serves the greatest attention, and it is unjiardoii- 
able to neglect that of girls.’' 
The manifestations of mind depend on tlie ner- 
vous system, and certain feelings and intellectual 25 
powers, arc transmitti <1 from parent to child. Here 
then, is an additional motive to be careful in the 
choice of a |*artncr in marriage. No person can 
be indifferent about having selfish or benevolent, 
stupid, or intelligent children. The condition of 
the mother is commonly less valued than it ought 
to be. It is, however, observed that boys com- 
monly resemble their mother, and girls their fa- 
tlicr, and that men of great talents generally de- 
scend from mothers of a superior organization. 
Spurzhciin farther remarks, 
“ lie w lie can convince the world of the imj>ort- 
ance of the laws of hereditary descent, and induce 
mankind to conduct themselves accordingly, will 
do more good to them, and contribute more to their 
improvement, than all institutions, and all systems 
of education; families and nations might be im- 
proved beyond imagination, in figure, statute, com- 
plexion, health, talents, and moral feelings.” 
If a nation should ever l»e aroused to the im- 
|K>itanec of this subject, and any general attempt 
should be made to improve the s|>eeies by attend- 
ing to the laws ol hereditary descent, of what vast 
utility in furthering Ibis attempt would physiologi- 
cal cliccks to conception then be seen to lie! None 
would need lie debarred from gratifying their in- 
stinct, while the sjieeics would lie propogated only 
by the best of breeders! Improvement would pro- 
gress from generation to generation, until there 26 
would again Ik* “giants in the land,” both physi- 
cal and mental!!! 
Fifth. By Ihr art much misery may Is* prevent- 
ed: by preserving the character of the lecherous, 
by preventing artificial a hoi l ions, and by dimi- 
nishing infanticide. I know that some un- 
lcoiing wou!d-U-thouglit-to.be conservators ol 
‘•Public Morals,” which is much talked of as if it 
were something distinct from the nr In »f itnlirin'u- 
ul$, but of which no other idea can lie fonm d, 1 
know that some such, ignorant of human nature, 
and satiated by gratification, preach up the doc- 
trine that the characters of those un'brtunalo be- 
ings, whose organization is such (together witbliio 
circumstances bv which they have been surround- 
ed' that their feelings have been too strong for 
their discretion, outfit nut to be preserved; Imt 
that their missteps, though taken with no ill in- 
tent to any one, ought to become known to the 
world ; and vet, tiic punishment widen society in- 
dicts in such a case, tar exceeds what is often in- 
dicted by legal authorities upon the criminal of 
evil intentions. With such men I differ entirely 
in opinion. Their views of human nature and 
their system of ethics—if they have any—must 
be essentially different from mine. Human hap- 
piness is not promoted, either directly or in the 
long run, by having these missteps made mauilcst 
to the world. No reason can be given why it should 
be so promoted, except that it may prevent others 27 
from taking the like missteps. Hilt this is not a 
good reason. Ja;I us examine it. I mi*r!it in the 
first place demand of these men to make it appear 
by sound reasoning how much real evil—how 
much real misery, over and above the happiness— 
attends or arises from any of these rnisstejis, pro- 
vided that, none of them are followed lnj conception. 
We know that young widows, not encumbered 
with children, arc as readily taken in marriage as 
those who have ever remained single. But ad- 
mitting tint illegalized embraces are as evil as the 
heretofore liability of their causing conception has 
rendered it necessary lor mankind to regard them, 
(and 1 shall hereafter show wherein they would be 
of evil tendency, though never followed bv preg- 
nancy) still l think they arc not to be rendered 
less frequent by having some of them made mani- 
fest to the world by illegitimate births. Whv 
should they ? Fear of conception, which some 
seem to regard as the principal preserver of chas- 
tity—though it is the preserver of only that kind 
of chastity which it does not preserve!—fear of 
conception, I say, would not be weakened, if the 
birth of an illegitimate should not occur in a ten 
mile circle once in five years. If no such births 
should occur, still all would know that conception 
is liable to occur, if a chance be given ; and it 
would not be known but that the infrequency of 
such births was owing to infrequency of illegal 
intercourses. On the other hand, what most rarc- 28 
ly happens is most talked about. The tree which 
stands alone upon the plain is most noticed. Only 
let the births of illegitimates become quite rare, 
and this very circumstance will serve to still ren- 
der them so. The innate modesty of females 
shrinks from the idea of standing alone, degrad- 
ed, as the subject of the world’s observation and 
remark. It is something so with males. But 
what is common is but little regarded. When a 
man can look about him and see that parson A, 
lawyer B, doctor C, and farmer D have been in 
scrapes,—lord ! what does he care, comparatively, 
if he too gets into one ? I say, then, that the only 
reason which can be given why the doings of the 
ainarous should be suffered to become known, is 
not a good reason. 
But there is yet another idea of this subject. I 
leave the reader to imagine the misery of the un- 
fortunate female, as alone she weeps, who knows 
that a few months must develop that which will 
degrade her in the eyes of the community; I say 
nothing of her paramour, who may be a generous 
but warm-hearted young man—but then, their re- 
latives—their parents, brothers, and sisters. Think 
of a large family of sisters who feel (though they 
ought not) that odium is brought upon them by an 
act of which they are entirely innocent. Ought 
the just to suffer for the unjust? Is this the way 
to promote human happiness—to bring sorrow 
upon a whole family, when a little medicated wa- 29 
ter, without injury to any one, would have prevent* 
ed the cause of it ? Of artificial abortions, which 
are doubtless produced daily within the United 
States, I scarcely need speak. All will readily 
admit that prevention is better than cure. Nor 
need I attempt to tell how miserable that female 
must be who is forced to commit an act so abho- 
rent to her own natural feelings, and so pregnant 
with danger to her own life, as that of killing her 
infant child. Stop, reader, and ponder on these 
subjects. Ask yourself if pregnancy is not what 
would give to the seduction of one of your daugh- 
ters its sharpest, deepest sting. 
Sixth. In a medical point of view, great benefit 
may be derived by resorting to the art. Many 
women are so subject to flooding on “ lying in,” 
that it is extremely difficult to keep them alive; and 
some die from this cause, even in the presence of 
their physician. I do not here speak of floodings 
before the birth of the child, which may occur to 
any one, and yet the patient be no more liable to 
them afterwards, than any other one. I allude to 
those cases, not rare, in which flooding occurs 
after the birth of every child, and generally be- 
comes worse each succeeding birth ; rendering the 
woman so feeble (if life be saved) that nervous and 
dyspeptic complaints arise, and, altogether, render 
her unfit for business or enjoyment for months. 
And when she does at length partially recover her 
strength, pregnancy again occurs, bringing along 30 
with it its usual diseases—which her still feeble 
system is ill able to bear—and an anxiety and sor- 
row of mind, which is the very essence of misery— 
causing her to weep half the time, perhaps for 
weeks, a state of mind which greatly assists the 
other diseases in debilitating the system. And 
the debility and irritability induced by these com- 
bined causes, increases still further the tendency 
to flooding. Thus it is, that some cases get to 
running. The woman passes many years of her 
prime in uselessness and misery. 1 have seen 
such cases, and have every reason to believe they 
were remedied by the art. 
I will not describe the scenes that not unfre- 
quently occur in the chamber, where the wife and 
the mother, perhaps of a large family, is dying, or 
is supposed to be instantly dying, by loss of blood; 
but whoever has witnessed sucli a scene will not 
condemn this work, if he believe it may be the 
means of preventing only a few of them. 
In other cases, the deformity of the pelvis is 
such that the woman cannot be delivered of a liv- 
ing child. Its head must be perforated, or it must 
even be dissected, and extracted in pieces—an 
operation painful and hazardous to the woman. 
Indeed, sometimes not even this can be done, and 
the woman must die, for the Caesarean operation 
but rarely saves her. It is true that these defor- 
mities of the pelvis will rarely be known until the 
woman is in labour with her first child ; but it is 31 
no small matter to be able, afterwards, to avoid 
pregnancy without sacrifice of enjoyment. This 
is a general remark that will not strike the unre- 
flecting reader like a particular fact; and as most 
readers are of this class, 1 will here give a particu- 
lar case that has recently been related to me A 
young married woman was told by her physician, 
after her first child had been taken from her, that 
she must not again become pregnant, as probably 
she could not live through the operation of being 
delivered. She had much affection for her hus- 
band, and he for her, so they continued to live to- 
gether, but slept in separate beds. After some 
time had passed in this way, she went to his bed 
and said, “I have come to receive my death 
wound.” She conceived, and died in child-birth. 
1 believe this to be a true story, but if not, 
it is certainly an affecting and a rational one, 
and not essentially different from many other 
cases. May the curse of Nebuchadnezzar fall 
upon the creature that would prevent the informa- 
tion contained in this work from reaching such a 
woman! 
These cases of distorted pelvis, or rather the 
necessary operations by which they give rise, are 
the evils to which Burns alludes in his Principles 
of Midwifery, vol. i, p. 236, where he recom- 
mends producing abortion by taping the ovum, 
“ in order to prevent a greater evil.” But is not 32 
even taping the ovum a greater evil than prevent- 
ing conception? Certainly it is. And had the 
lecturer of Glasgow or any other writer on mid- 
wifery known the method I propose for prevent- 
ing conception, it certainly would have been re- 
commended in cases of known contraction of the 
pelvis instead of artificial abortion. I mention 
this circumstance in defence of my claims to ori- 
ginality, which some have seemed disposed to 
deny me. I have heard of some physicians say- 
ing that the check which I propose has long been 
known to the medical profession, and in my tra- 
vels I once met with a physician apparently of re- 
spectable standing, who made the same remark. 
We were strangers to each other, and on my de- 
fying him to produce any work, published prior to 
the first edition of this work, that contains any 
such idea, he appeared all at once to be appre- 
hensive that he was talking with a physician, and 
replied that “ he did not know as the idea was to 
be found in books, but it had been handed down 
orally, from one physician to another!” It is all 
false. 
With many women the sympathetic diseases of 
pregnancy are so very severe that it is extremely 
desirable that pregnancy should in future be avoid- 
ed. They are sometimes so severe that abortion 
or premature delivery has with the utmost propriety 
been resorted to, as the only means of saving the 
life of the patient. But this course has not been 33 
so frequently resorted to as it ought to have been. 
A few months ago, and within a few miles of me, 
a woman’s life was destroyed by vomiting. But 
if her physicians, being sensible of the danger she 
was in, had considered that when gestation ceases, 
the sympathetic diseases of pregnancy also cease, 
and had accordingly punctured the membranes, 
her life would probably have been preserved. ' 
But cases in which the utility of the art, in a 
medical view, is, perhaps, still more conspicious, 
are those of habitual abortion. These cases have 
generally been found very difficult to remedy. 
Many a woman has miscarried five, ten, twenty, 
and even more times. Conceptions and abortions 
follow each other in such close succession that no 
time is given for the powers of the system to be 
restored. Her life is miserable. But let concep- 
tions be prevented until the uterine system shall 
have time to regain its vigor, of to loose its habit 
of throwing off its contents at or near a certain 
period of gestation, and the woman may yet give 
birth to an heir. I have already had experience 
in two cases, confirmatory of the utility of the art 
in these cases. 
I have thus far presented the advantages of the 
art, rather as a means of preventing misery, than 
as a direct means of promoting that most distinct 
and positive portion of happiness, called pleasure; 
and it is in the former light that I feel most dis- 
posed to recommend it But doubtless there are 34 
many persons in affluent circumstances, of well 
formed bodies, and good constitutions, who think 
(and surely every one must be admitted to be his 
own best judge) that their happiness would be 
promoted by the power to limit and regulate the 
births of their children. Men of buisness or of 
pleasure, who may wish to be from home some 
eight or ten months from the time being, who may 
wish, perhaps, to visit some foreign country, with 
or without their wives, may so manage that the 
latter shall not be confined only when both are at 
home. 
Many advantages of the art I have now weighed, 
as in the balance, against the only two evils I have 
ever heard urged against it. Probably other advan- 
tages may hereafter be found to arise from it. It 
is rarely the case that all applications of 
any discovery in the sciences are seen at once or 
ever seen by the one who makes the discovery. 
If the increase of the human species, by simple 
and safe means, can be regulated and controlled, 
without warring against nature, as I am sure it 
can, it is certainly an important point gained ; and 
all philanthropists—all real reformers—will 
“ stick a pin there,” and then look further, before 
they censure the man or men who have made 
the discovery. 35 
CHAPTER II. 
GENKRAT ION. 
By the term generation I here mean all those 
actions that take place in organized beings, whether 
male or female, that are peculiarly and essentially 
necessary in the reproduction of the species. In 
this sense, generation is a process consisting of 
many steps, some of which are known and others 
unknown. These unknown steps have given rise 
to conjecture or hypothesis; and as one man has as 
g ood right to conjecture as another,many conjectures 
have been offered concerning each of these unknown 
steps; aud as every one of these conjectures, is 
termed an hypothesis it is not strange that Drelin- 
court, who lived in the latter part of the last century, 
was able to collect 260 hypotheses of generation. 
The most eminent physiologists have investigated 
the subject of generation with a labour and zeal 
indicative of a presentiment, that some great good 
to mankind would be derived from a correct and 
perfect knowledge of this process. But there is 
nothing on record, so far as my reading extends, 
to show in what way they supposed this good would 36 
bp derived from such knowledge; nor can I con- 
ceive of what practical utility it can be, except as 
a means of enabling us to promote and prevent 
conception. It seems to me, indeed, that here is 
the place, and now is the hour, to settle, if possible, 
this long disputed subject; and such is the im- 
portance of the leading object of this book that I 
should feel justifiable in writing a large volume on 
the single subject of generation, if it were necessary 
in accomplishing this object. But I think I may 
pass over many disputed points, many conjectures, 
many arguments, and even many facts, and yet 
present such a view of the subject as shall inspire 
confidence in the means of preventing conception, 
which I shall, in the course of this work, propose. 
It must be obvious to every person of common 
understanding, that it would be as impossible to ex- 
plain any process or function of the animal economy, 
so as to be understood, before the organs which per- 
form the function have been described, as it would 
be to explain the operation of an intricate piece of ma- 
chinery by words, without first naming the several 
parts of it, and pointing out their several relations 
to each other. No writer can be understood when 
he uses terms that have never been defined to the 
reader, and what is a system of descriptive anatomy 
but a dictionary of the animal system, containing the 
names of organs so defined, that is, the organs so 
described, that the reader may form ideas of what 
is meant hv these names? Hence it is that 37 
physiologists, although they usually write lor those 
who have already studied anatomy, always precede 
their explanations of functions by a more cr less 
complete description of the organs that porfom the 
functions. I shall so far pursue the same course 
as to define all the anatomical terms that will ne- 
cessarily be used in treating of conception. 
Srxrrio.N I. Of the Male.—The male organs 
of generation are the testicles, vcsicul© scmir.aics, 
prostate gland and penis. 
The testicles arc two oviform bodies situated in 
the scrotum. In size they vary considerably in dif- 
ferent individuals. But the “ amitiveness” of indi- 
viduals is by no means always in proportion to the 
size of these organs. They are first formed in the 
abdomen, and if, in some rare cases, they never 
descend into the scrotum, virility is not by tins cir- 
cumstance impaired. Their office is to secrete or 
form the principal part of that fluid which iseniited 
in sexual intercourse, called semen. The excretory 
duct of the testicle is called ras deferens, and it 
forms a part of the s|x?rmatic cord which may be 
felt extending from the testicle to the lowest part 
of the abdomen or belly where it dips into that 
cavity, and crooks about in such a manner as to 
open into the urethra. The restatin' sauinalrs are 
two small irregular bodies situated at the lower 
and posterior part of the bladder, near its neck, 
and of course between the bladder and that extreme 
portion of the intestinal canal called rectum. 38 
Kadi of these vesicles opens into the vas deferens 
of the same side, and it has been supposed that the 
secretion from the testicles passes into them—that 
they are in fact sem inal reservoirs. But this opinion 
is probably incorrect. The prostate gland, is a 
firm dense body resembling in shape a chcsnut, 
but a little larger. It is situated at the neck of the 
bladder, and in such a manner as to surround the 
urethra. This gland secretes a small quantity of 
whitish fluid, which mixes with the semen on its 
passage through the urethra. The penis is an ob- 
long body composed of three principal parts, besides 
its integuments, namety, the corpora cavernosa, and 
the urethra, with its spongy covering, called corpus 
spongiosum urethra. 
The Corpora 'Cavernosa are two irregular 
cylinders, having a strong, dense, clastic mem- 
brane without, and a substance of a cellular struc- 
ture within. These two bodies unite soon after 
their origin from the bones of the pelvis, and form 
the principal part of the body of the penis. Divest- 
ed of their covering, they still retain the appear- 
ance of two cylinders applied to each ether length- 
wise, for above these is a superficial groove pass- 
ing in that direction, which is occupied by a vein; 
and below there is a much deeper groove occu- 
pied by the urethra. 
The Urethra is the canal whicli extends from 
the bladder to the orifice at the extremity of the 
penis. It is formed of membrane; and having 39 
parsed through the prostate gland, it is surround* 
cd, within three fourths of an inch of that body, 
by a spongy substance, said by some to consist of 
a plexus of veins. This is the corpus spongiosum. 
It extends along the urethra to the extremity of 
the penis, and there expands over the ends of the 
corpora cavernosa, cap-like, and thus forms tlie 
glans penis, the abrupt and prominent edge of 
which, is called the corona glandis, and is endowed 
with much sensibility. 
Along the course of the urethra are the orifices 
of many mucous ducts or sinuses, which pass ob- 
liquely backwards. They secrete the mucus 
which lubricates the urethra and defends this 
highly sensible organ from the acrid urin. Un- 
der some circumstances so much of this mucus is 
secreted that it makes its appearance at the orifice 
of the urethra. When these sinuses are inflamed 
they secrete the puriform discharge which taker 
place in gouorrhsea. 
Of the integuments which envelop the severa 
organs I have now described, no particular de 
scription is necessary. I may remark, however 
that the loose fold which lies around, and seine 
times extends beyond the glans penis, is called ii 
scripture language the foreskin, in anatomical th 
prepuce; and that small longitudinal fold which i 
always attached to the lower angle of the orific 
of the urethra is called/renam. 
Blood is sent from the heart to all parts of th 40 
body by arteries, and returned to the heart by 
veins. The penis, like all other erectile organs, 
as the nipples and clitoris, is plentifully supplied 
with these vessels. Like all other parts in which 
a sensation can be excited, it is also furnished with 
nerves. But I shall not confuse the reader with a 
particular description of these vessels and nerves. 
The distention or erection of the penis is a 
phenomenon not yet fully explained. We know 
that when this distention exists, the cellular parts 
of the corpora cavernosa are filled with blood; we 
know that titillution, as well as certain thoughts, 
give rise to this congestion or turgcscncc, but in 
what way these thoughts produce this' effect, we 
do not exactly know. Plausible conjectures might 
be offered, but it would be occupying to much 
room to no very useful purpose. 
The pleasurable sensation experienced by the 
male, is mainly owing to the state of the nerves 
of his genital organs, and I believe principally to 
that of the nerves of the urethra and glans penis. 
The nerves of the urethra are in such a state that 
the semen passing over them excites tiic greatest 
degree of pleasure, but the nerves of the glans 
penis, and especially of the corona glandis may 
be pleasurably excited by external agents, and 
without any seminal emission. By the state of 
these nerves I not only mean their peculiar organi- 
zation, their nature, but also the condition they 
may be in at the time. Their condition may 41 
suddenly and frequently vary, but their organiza- 
tion changes very gradually, if at all. It may be 
different in old age than in youth. 
The penis is an organ which differs very much 
in size in different individuals. Blit the power of 
giving and receiving pleasure depends but very 
little upon the size of this organ. Four or five 
inches in length, and one in diameter will do very 
well, though I suppose this is considerably less 
than the average size. I am induced to make these 
remarks by the recollection of an inexperienced 
young man, who was in a most unhappy state of 
mind, and refraining from marriage, because he 
entertained the false notion, that lie could not give 
a female partner complete satisfaction, owing to 
the somewhat diminutive size of his member. 
I have said that the pleasurable sensation is 
mainly owing to the state of certain nerves. But 
I believe it depends in some degree on the quality 
of the semen. When emissions are rare, the 
semen is more thick—owing to the absorption of 
its thinner parts—and it emits a stronger odour, 
hence it is but reasonable to suppose, that it is 
capable of making a stronger impression upon the 
nerves of the urethra; and consequently the 
stronger sensation experienced after abstinence is 
not wholly owing to the accumulated excitability 
of these nerves. 
All our organs were made to act, or else made 
in vain, for they can perform no office without ac- 42 
Uon. And it is essential to their lull development 
and good condition, that they be exercised in some 
greater or less degree. If our muscles ore not 
exercised, they become weak and diminish in 
volume; if we sleep too much and think but little 
our intellects become dull. On the other hand, if 
these organs are excessively excited they are 
thereby injured: either their organization is im- 
paired, their excitability is exhausted, or perhaps 
tiiey have even so drawn upon the common stock 
of vitality (whatever sort of material this maybe) 
that the digestive organs have been robbed 
and debilitated to such a degree that they cannot 
furnish a due supply of material for the formation 
of the unknown nervous energy, in the existence 
of which all physiologists believe, and upon which 
most of our vital actions essentially depend. So 
it. is with the gental organs. During a short ab- 
stinence, they acquire increased excitability, just 
as the brain and muscles do by short periods of 
rest; but let this abstinence be very long con- 
tinued, and their share of nervous energy seems 
to take a different course. The individual will 
not so frequently desire, as if he had been in the 
habit of enjoying himself at shorter intervals. 
Of the Semen.—The lluid emitted by the male 
consists of a secretion from tire testicles, the vesi- 
culce seniinales, the prostate gland, and perhaps 
from two small bodies called Covvper’s glands, 
uhich I have not thought it worth while to de- 43 
scribe. This compound fluid is wimt is commonly 
meant by the term semen; and it is this only that 
has been examined by physiologists, naturalists, 
and chemists. Were I attempting to give a com- 
plete view of generation, I should speak of the 
powers by which these fluids are retained, circu- 
lated and ejected, but I proceed to speak of the 
physical, chemical, and physiological properties of 
the compound fluid. “ At the moment the semen 
passes from the urethra, it is composed of two 
substances, the one fluid and the other thick arid 
nearly opaque. When loll to themselves these 
substances mix, and the mass liquifies in a few 
minutes. The odour of the semen is strong and 
peculiar, its taste saltish, and even a little acrid.”* 
Chemically examined, it has been found by Pro- 
lessor Vuuquclin to be composed of 900 parts of 
water, GO of animal mucilage, 10 of soda, and 30 
of phosphate of lime. Its physiological property 
consists in its power to impregnate. But to be 
more particular:— 
When tho semen is examined by the micro- 
scope, there can bo distinguished a multitude of 
small animalcules, which appear to have a rounded 
head, and a long tail. These animclculse move 
with a certain degree of rapidity; they appear to 
avoid tho light, and to delight in the shade. They 
have been found in tho seminal fluid of all ani- 
* “ Summary of Physiology,” by F. Magendie, 
as translated by John Revere, M. D., p. 385. 44 
inaU whoso semen physiologists liavo been able to 
collect and examine—differing somewhat in dif- 
ferent kinds of animals, yet bearing a close resem- 
bluncc to each other; and they arc unlike the ani- 
malcule of any other fluid. “They cannot be 
detected in the semen, when either from age or 
disease, the animals are rendered sterile.”* Leeu- 
wenhoek, if not the discoverer of the seminal ani- 
malcule, was the first who brought the fact of 
their existence fully before the public. With re- 
spect to their size he remarked that ten thousand 
of them may exist in a space not larger than a 
grain of sand. He believed them to be the germs 
of future animals—that they are of different 
sexes, and even thought that he could discover 
such difference. 
Buffon and Needham, two distinguished na- 
turalists, regarded the seminal animalcules, not 
as regularly organized and independent being3, but 
what they merely termed vital particles. In this, 
however, they differed with most philosophers. 
Bostock gives us quite a list of most respectable 
authors who have given their full assent to the ac- 
curacy of Leeuwenhoek’s descriptions of these 
animals. But what I most wish to impress upon 
the reader’s mind is, that whether the seminal 
animals were regarded as sucii in reality, or only 
as vital particles, all seem to have agreed that in 
* Bostock’s Physiology, vol. iii. p. 23. 45 
gome way or other, they arc otfcntial to impreg- 
nation. Mngendie, however, tellg a* that Spall* 
nnzani has proved by experiment* tliat they arc 
not necessary to this end. But Bostock, a later 
writer than Magendie, mentions no such fact; on 
the contrary he says that, “if the experiments 
and observations of Spallanzani and the Genevese 
physiologists are to be relied on, we can scarcely 
refuse our assent to the position, that these ani- 
malcules are, in some way or other, instrumental 
to the production of the fotus.” For my own 
part, I cannot imagine how it can be proved by 
experiment that they arc not necessary. Arc we 
for a moment to suppose that every one of these 
microscopic animals have been taken from a por- 
tion of semen, and the remaining fluid so used as 
to produce conception ? It is true that Spallanzani 
believed the semen to act only as a peculiar stimu- 
lus to the female organs, and not, like Lecuven- 
hock, that it furnishes any material which enters 
into the composition of the foetus. But this is not 
to deny that the seminal animalcules are necessa- 
ry to fecundation; for the supposed stimulating 
quality of the semen may be dependent on them. 
The experiments of Spallanzani to which Magen- 
die unquestionably alludes, do not warrant tjie 
conclusion he has drawn from them. I will here 
present Bostock’s brief account of them, that the 
reader may the better judge for himself.—“ Hav- 
ing ascertained that in many of the oviprous 46 
quadrupeds impregnation takes place out of the 
body of the female, he [Spallanzani] was induced 
to try whether he could not effect the operation, 
by applying a portion of the seminal fluid to some 
of the detached ova. He found that the quantity 
which was necessary was very small, and upon 
diluting the semen with water until the mixture 
contained not much more than one three thou- 
sandeth part of the secretion, he found that a drop 
of this diluted fluid was capable of producing im- 
pregnation.”* Is this extreme dilution any proof 
that not a single animalcule came in contact with 
each ovum that was impregnated ? or any proof 
that these animals or vital particles are not in some 
way or other necessary to fecundation in the hu- 
man species ? 
“The secretion of semen commences at the 
age of puberty; before this period the testicles 
secrete a small quantity of viscid transparent fluid, 
which differs essentially from semen. The revo- 
lution which the whole economy undergoes at this 
period, such as the tone of voice, the development 
of hairs, the increase of the muscles, the bones, 
See., is intimately connected with the existence of 
the testicles, and the secretion of this fluid. Eu- 
nuchs preserve the same form as in childhood; 
their larynx does not increase, their chin is not 
covered with hair, and their disposition is general- 
* System of Physiology, vol. iii. p. 51. 47 
ly timed; and finally, their physical and moral 
character very nearly resembles that of females. 
Nevertheless many of them take delight in vene- 
real intercourse, and give themselves up with ar- 
dour to a connexion which must always be un- 
fruitful.” (Magendie.) 
In case the testicles are absorbed, as sometimes, 
though rarely happens, the individual is probably 
placed upon an equal footing with the eunuch in 
respect to his virile powers; but if only one testis 
perish, or be otherwise diseased, he may get 
children of cither sex. The pleasure of the female, 
I opine, depends very little if at all on the mere 
emission of semen. I make this remark in this 
place, because, rare as are the instances of atrophy 
of the testis, I have been consulted in such a case 
by a young man otherwise in good health, as to 
the fairness and propriety of his entering into the 
matrimonial state. 
Section 2. Of the Female.—The female organs 
of generation are described by anatomists under 
the two heads of External and Internal Organs. 
Of the External.—The female orifice com- 
mences immediately below that prominence which 
is termed Mons Veneris. On each side of this 
orifice is a prominence continued from the mons 
veneris, which is largest above, and gradually 
diminishes as it descends. These two prominences 
are called the Labia Externa. Their conjunction 
below is denominated the fourchette. The space 48 
between the place of their junction and the anug 
is rather more than an inch in extent, and is cal- 
led the perineum. In the upper angle formed by 
the labia externa, a small cylindrical body is 
situated, which receives the name of Clitoris. It 
is in most of its length pretty closely confined to 
the bone; and is of variable size in different 
females; It is analagous in its structure to the 
penis, except that it has no urethra. It is ex- 
quisitely sensible; being, as is supposed, the more 
particular seat of pleasure. Like the penis it is 
subject to distention, and from like causes. It is 
an excessive developement of this organ, more 
frequently, perhaps, than any other abnormal 
structure, that has given rise to stories about hcr- 
mophrodites. 
The skin which lines the internal surface of 
the labia externa is folded in such a manner as to 
form two flat bodies, the exterior edges of which 
arc convex. They are called the Nymphs.. They 
extend downward, one on each side from the 
clitoris to near the middle of the orifice, somewhat 
diverging from each other. Their breadth is in 
some instances very great; but in most cases 
about equal to one fourth of their length. They 
are well supplied with blood-vessels, and proba- 
bly somewhat tumid on certain occasions. They 
have been supposed to regulate the course of the 
urine in its flow from the urethra ; and to favour 
the necessary enlargement of the parts in parturi- 49 
tion. The orifice of the urethra (the canal, short 
in females, which leads to the bladder) is situated 
rather more than an inch further inward than the 
head of the clitoris, and is a little protuberant. 
Passing by the external lips, the clitoris, the 
nymphos, and the orifice of the urethra, we come 
to the membrane called the Hymen. It is situated 
just at or a trifle behind the orifice of the urethra 
It is stretched across the passage, and were it a 
complete septum, it would close up the anterior 
extremity of that portion of the passage which is 
called the vagina. Dut the instances in which 
this septum or partition is complete, are very rare; 
there being, in almost all cases, an aperture either 
in its centre, or, more frequently in its anterior 
edge, giving the membrane the form of a crescent. 
Through this aperture passes the menstrual fluid. 
Sometimes, however, this septum is complete, and 
the menstrual fluid is retained in the vagina and 
uterus, month after month, until appearances and 
symptoms much like those of pregnancy are pro- 
duced, giving rise, perhaps, to unjust suspicions. 
Such cases require the simple operation of divid- 
ing the hymen. In many instances the hymen is 
very imperlcct, insomuch that some have doubted 
whether it is to be found in the generality of 
virgins. Where it exists it is generally ruptured 
in the first intercourse of the sexes, and the lemale 
is said to loose her virginity. In some rare in- 
stances it is so very strong as not to be ruptured 50 
by such intercourse; and -the nature of the diffi- 
culty not being understood, the husband has sued 
for a divorce. But all the difficulty may be re- 
moved by a slight surgical operation. The hymen 
is peculiar to the human species. 
The Internal female organs of generation, are 
the vagina, the uterus, the ovaries, and their ap- 
pendages. 
The Vagina is a membranous canal, commenc- 
ing at the hymen and extending to the uterus. It 
is a little curved, and extends backwards and up- 
wards between the bladder, which lies before and 
above it, and the rectum, which lies behind, and 
somewhat below it—even in the erect position. 
It is rather more narrow at its beginning than it 
is further inward, and is larger in those who have 
borne children than in those who have not. The 
coal or membrane which lines the internal surface 
of the vagina forms a number of transverse ridges. 
These ridges are to be found only in the lower or 
anterior half of the vagina, and they do not extend 
all around the vagina, but are situated on its an- 
terior and posterior sides, while the lateral sides 
are smooth. It may be well to remember these 
ridges, and all other parts in and about the 
vagina", as a knowledge of them is calculated 
to lead to a more thorough use of the check I 
shall hereafter mention. In those who have 
borne children these ruga3 or ridges are not so 
prominent as in others. Throughout the extent 51 
occupied by these rugae, arc to be seen, in 6ome 
cases v/ith the naked eye, the orifices of mucous 
folicles or ducts, which occasionally discharge 
considerable quantities of mucus. 
Exterior to this lining membrane of the vagina 
is a dense cellular or fibrous structure, of a lightish 
colour, and very vascular. It may be very much 
distended, and seems to have a contractile power. 
At the anterior extremity,of the vagina, on each 
side of it, there is, superadded to this, a cellular or 
vascular substance, from two thirds of an inch to 
an inch in breadth ; which when cut into resembles 
the corpora cavernosa, or the corpus spongiosum of 
the penis. These bodies commence near the body 
of the clitoris, and extend downwards on each side 
of the vagina. They have been called corpora 
cavernosa vaginae, and are supposed to be occasion- 
ally distended with blood. These corpora cavernosa 
are covered by muscular fibres which constitute 
the sphincter vaginae muscle, and contract the vagina 
at the place where they are situated. 
Probably this muscle is in some degree under 
the control of the will, (for all sphincter muscles 
ought to be) and as a few small muscles of the 
human system are powerless in most persons, 
because they have seldom or never been called into- 
action, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the 
power of this may be increased by repeated volun- 
tary efforts. 
The Uterus or womb is situated between the 
bladder and sectum, but above the vagina. Such-- 52 
is its shape that it has been compared to a pear 
with a long neck. There is of course considerable 
difference between the body and the neck, the 
former being twice as broad as the latter. Each 
of these parts is somewhat flattened. In subjects 
of mature age, who have never been pregnant, the 
whole uterus is about two inches and a half in 
length, and more than an inch and a half in breadth 
at the broadest part of the body. It is near an 
inch in thickness. The neck of the uterus is 
situated downward, and may be said to be inserted 
into the upper extremity of the vagina. It extends 
into the vagina the better part of an inch. The 
uterus is suspended in its situation by certain 
ligaments, with a description of which I shall not 
confuse the reader. But I may remark that these 
ligaments sometimes become weak and relaxed, 
suffering the uterus to settle downwards, which 
state of the organ is familiarly called a “ bearing 
down.” In the uterus is a cavity, which approach- 
es the triangular form, and from which a canal 
passes downward through the neck of the uterus 
into the vagina. This cavity is so small in the 
unimpregnated state that its sides arc almost in 
contact, so that the uterus is a thick firm body for 
so small a one. comparing the cavity of the uterus 
to a triangle, we say the upper side or line of this 
triangle is transverse with respect to the body, and 
the other two lines pass downwards and inwards, 
so that they would meet and form an angle below, 
did they not take a course less inward so as to 53 
form the canal through the neck. In each of the 
upper angles of this triangular cavity there is an 
orifice of such size as to admit a hog’s bristle. 
These little orifices arc the mouths of two tubes, 
called the Fallopian tubes, of which more will be 
said presently. The canal which passes through 
the neck of the uterus, connecting the cavity of 
this organ with that of the vagina, is about three 
lines [twelve lines make an inch] in diameter.* It 
is different from other ducts, for it seems to be a 
part of the cavity from which it extends, inasmuch 
as when the cavity of the uterus is enlarged in the 
progress of pregnancy, this canal is gradually 
converted into a part of that cavity. It is about 
an inch in length. On the anterior and posterior 
portions of its surface arc many small ridges, most 
of which have a transverse direction ; and in the 
grooves between these ridges are the orifices of 
many mucous ducts. This canal is constantly 
lined, if not filled, with a thick ropy mucous. 
The cavity of the uterus (which in the unimpreg- 
nated state would not admit more than a bean) is 
also constantly filled with such mucous. 
* All the canals, tubes, mouths, and other parts 
that I am now describing, have a bearing on an 
important question which will yet come before us; 
and if the reader wishes to be qualified to judge 
for himself he must remember them. 54 
The lower extremity of the neck of the uterus is 
irregularly convex and tumid. The orifice of the 
canal in it, is oval, and so situated that it divides 
the convex surface of the lower extremity of the 
neck into two portions, which are called the lips 
of tiic uterus—the anterior of which is larger 
and more tumid than the posterior. The orifice 
itself is called os tineas, os uteri, or, in English, the 
mouth of the womb. With those who have borne 
many children, or when the parts which sustain 
the uterus are much relaxed from any cause, the 
mouth or neck of the uterus is quite low,—even 
resting on the perineum; and in almost all cases 
it may be easily reached by a finger introduced 
per vaginam, especially by a second person, who 
so proceeds as to have the perineum press upon 
the space between the fore and middle finger of the 
right hand. 
Some have been disposed to deny that the ute- 
rus is a muscular organ, but this is a dispute 
about words, for it is certain that it contracts pow- 
erfully on certain occasions. It is by this means 
that it expels its contents. Labour is but very lit- 
tle if at all assisted by the voluntary—more strict- 
ly the instinctive—efforts of the abdominal mus- 
cles. 
The very great increase in the size of the ute- 
rus, in case of pregnancy, is not attended with 
any considerable diminution of thickness in its 55 
substance. Its blood vessels arc much enlarged, 
and its structure is more evidently fibrous and mus- 
cular. 
The Ovaries, or ovaria, arc two bodies of a 
flattened oval form; one of which is situated on 
each side of the uterus on tiie proslerior surface 
of the broad ligament, at some distance from the 
uterus. It is generally between ten and twelve 
lines in length. Each ovarium or ovary is form- 
ed by an external, firm membrane, and the inte- 
rior by a peculiar cellular tissue, of a soft texture, 
and well supplied with blood vessels. In those of 
a mature age, who have never conceived, each 
ovary contains from ten to twenty vesicles, formed 
of a delicate membrane, filled with a transparent 
fluid. Some of these vesicles are situated so near 
to the surface of the ovary as to be prominent on 
its surface; others are near the centre. They are 
very different in size, the largest being between two 
and three lines in diamatcr. In those who have 
ever conceived, one or more of these vesicles have 
been removed, and in their place a cicatrix or scar 
is formed, which continues through life. How- 
ever, the number of cicatrices docs not always cor- 
respond with the number of conceptions, as once 
supposed. They often exceed it, (after allowing 
two for twins, and so on) and are sometimes found 
where conception has riot been known to have 
taken place. These vesicles bear much the same 
relation to women, that the unimpregnated eggs of 56 
birds, reptiles, and fishes do to them. The place 
in the ovarium, left by the vesicle, is filled with a 
yellow substance, called corpus luteum. In a few 
months it is absorbed, leaving nothing hut the ci- 
catrix. 
It is true that the condition of the uterus has 
great influence on the whole system, as to health ; 
yet the peculiarities of females are more espe- 
pecially dependent on the ovaria; and when they 
are not developed, as sometimes happens, the ef- 
fects on the economy, though not similar, are ana- 
lagous to those of emasculation on the male. 
The Fallopian Tubes are two canals from four 
to five inches in length, which proceed between 
the laminae of the broad ligaments, from the upper 
angles of the cavity of the uterus, in a transverse 
direction to some distance from the uterus, when 
they form an angle, and take a direction down- 
wards towards the ovaria. At their commence- 
ment they are very small, their mouths only ad- 
mitting a bristle; but they enlarge as they pro. 
gress; and their large extremities, having left the 
broad ligaments, hang loose in the posterior cham- 
ber of the pelvis, hard by the ovaria. The mar- 
gins of their large and open mouths consist of 
fringed processes; each margin is oblique with 
respect to its tube ; and the longest of the fringed 
processes hang from the lowest side of the mar- 
gin, while the others regularly diminish on each 
side of them. These processes constitute the 57 
Fimbria of the fallopian tubes. They arc highly 
charged with blood vessels, and well situated to 
grasp the ovaria, as they do in ease of eonccption. 
Menstruation.—A function of the uterus, ob- 
viously connected with the process of reproduc- 
tion, is that, of menstruation. It consists in a 
monthly sanguineous discharge, termed the menses; 
and to have it is to menstmte. The age at which 
menstruation commences varies with different in- 
dividuals, and also in different climates. The 
warmer the climate, the earlier it commences and 
ceases. In temperate climates, it generally first 
appears at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and ceases 
at forty-five, or a little later. Whenever it com- 
mences, the girl is said to arrive at the age of 
puberty, and acquires a more womanly appearance. 
Though it be of a darkish red colour, it cannot 
properly he called blood; for it does not coagulate 
nor separate into different parts. It is a secretion 
of the uterus, i.c., the minute vessels distributed to 
the inner coat of the uterus select, as it were, from 
the blood, and pour out in a gradual manner, the 
materials of this fluid. The duration anil quantity 
of this discharge, and even its colour and consist- 
ence, are quile variable; but generally speaking it 
amounts to six or eight ounces, and is from two to 
four days’ continuance. When it continues eight 
or ten days, it acquires the properties of arterial 
blood, and may be considered as a disease. During 
menstruation, the susceptibility of females is much 58 
increased, noise frightens, and a slight contradic- 
tion affects them. Various unpleasant feelings at- 
tend it. The regularity of. the return of the 
“ monthlys,” “ turns,” or “ courses,” the nature and 
quantity of the fluid evacuated, and the duration 
of the evacuation, are all intimately connected with 
the health of the individual, and deserve the parti- 
cular attention of physicians; and, in case of girls, 
of older and more experienced friends. 
No female, but the human, is subject to this 
evacuation; and various, but unsatisfactory rea- 
sons, have been assigned for this peculiarity. 
Menstruation does not take place during preg- 
nancy or nursing; unless the latter be continued 
too long—in which case the milk becomes bad. 
Some, however, are subject to a sanguineous dis- 
charge that occurs with considerable regularity 
during pregnancy, and leads them to believe that 
they have their courses at such times, but it is ex- 
tremely difficult for physicians to admit this— 
knowing that the inner surface of the uterus is 
now lined with a membrane which adheres to it, 
and has no outlet They believe such discharges 
to be real blood. For rnyself, however, I see no 
difficulty in admitting that the vessels about the 
mouth and neck of the uterus may secrete these 
discharges, especially when we consider that the 
menstrual discharge does not always take place 
from the uterus, but, in some rare instances, from 
the mucous membrane of the bowels, stomach, 59 
lungs, and even the eye. Indeed, even the akin 
has been known to discharge blood periodically; 
thus it has been known to issue monthly, from one 
or more of the fingers, the check, the skin of the 
abdomen, &c„ unnecessarily alarming the patient 
and her friends. 
The use of menstruation seems to be to prepare 
the uterine system for conception ; for females do 
not conceive before they commence nor after they 
cease having their courses : nor while they are 
suppressed by some disease, by cold, or by nurs- 
ing, or are attended with great pain. Many credi- 
ble women, however, have said that they became 
pregnant while nursingwithout having menstruated 
since their last accouchement. It is believed that 
in these cases they had some discharge, colourless 
perhaps, which they did not notice, but which an- 
swered the purpose of the common one. The fact 
is, the old adage that “ there are exceptions to all 
general rules” holds true in relation to many func- 
tions of the animal economy; thus although wo- 
men generally conceive soon after and not soon 
before being unwell, yet they may conceive at any 
time; and I am acquainted with one author, no 
less respectable than Magendie, who says, 
“Young girls have been known to conceive before 
menstruation had taken place; old women, in 
whom the course had ceased at the ordinary pe- 
riod, have had them re-appear at the age of sixty 
or seventy, and they have become mothers; lastly, 60 
women in whom menstruation has never been ob- 
served, have nevertheless become pregnant.” I 
cannot testify to the truth of any of these remarks 
of Magendie; and I opine there are not many 
who can. 
But although the use of the menstrual secre- 
tion seems to be, to prepare for conception, it is 
not by any means to be infered that “ amitiveness” 
ceases at the “turn of life,” that is, when the wo- 
man ceases to menstruate. 
Section 3. The Physiology of Generation.— 
The process of generation in the different classes 
of animals is carried on in three if not four dif- 
ferent ways. The first is that which occurs in 
the higher orders of animals, where the sexual 
congress of two individuals is essential to the pro- 
duction of the foetus. The second is where the 
co-operation of the two sexes is necessary, but 
where both sexes exist in the same individual. 
The third is with those animals where nothing 
resembling sexual organs can be delected; but 
where we merely observe the foetus to be detached 
from the body of the parent; while in other cases 
the body of„thc parent itself is divided into two or 
more portions, each portion, after the separation, 
acquiring those parts which are necessary for its 
perfect existence. It is to the first of these modes 
that I shall now confine my attention. 
The nature and origin of the first rudiments of 
the foetus is a question that has given rise to much 61 
speculation. Many eminent naturalists, both an* 
cient and modern, have held that such rudiments 
consist of particles of matter derived from each of 
the parcnts.Leeuwenhoek supposed that the seminal 
animalcules are the proper rudiments of the foetus ; 
and that the office of the female is to afford them a 
suitable receptacle, where they may be supported 
and nourished, until they arc able to exist by the 
exercise oftheir own functions. A third hypothesis 
is that of pre existing germs. It supposes that the 
fetus exists in the female, previously to sexual 
congress, and receives no proper acu.ition from the 
male: the male fluid only serving to excite those 
actions which are necessary for its developcment. 
According to this hypothesis, the ovaria of Mrs. 
Adam must have contained a number of liomun- 
cules, [little human beings] one within another, like 
nested boxes, equal to all the human births that 
ever have been and will be—to say nothing of 
abortions ! But I will not discuss the merits of 
this third hypothesis, nor the merits of the first. 
It is all matter of conjecture; and I choose to oc- 
cupy my limited space in ottering what I conclude, 
on the whole, to be the most probable and rational 
view of the subject. 
I conjecture, with Leeuwenhoek, that the se- 
minal animalcules are the proper rudiments of the 
fetus, and are, perhaps, of different sexes; that 
in case of impregnation one of them is carried not 
simply to, but into a vesicle of an ovary, which 62 
vesicle is in a condition to receive, and be duly 
affected by it. It is here surrounded by the al- 
buminous fluid which the vesicle contains. This 
fluid being somewhat changed in its qualities by 
its new comer, stimulates the minute vessels of’ 
die parts by which it is surrounded, and thus causes 
more of this fluid to be formed—enlarging the 
vesiclo and nourishing the animalcule; at the 
same time tbe absorbent vessels of the ovary 
being aroused they remove such superficial part 
of the ovary as has retained the vesicle, and thus 
the vesicle is set free. Containing the animalcule 
in its centre, it now takes the name of ovum; and is 
received by the fimbriated extremity of the fallo- 
pian tube, which by this time has grasped the 
ovary; and is by this tube slowly conveyed into 
the uterus, to the inner surface of which it is at- 
tached, through the medium of a membrane 
which is formed by the uterus itself in the in- 
terum between impregnation and the arrival of 
the ovum. 
As to the origin of the seminal animalcules, I 
believe they are daily formed in the male, (after 
the age of puberty,) and furnisli us with one of 
the most incontestible instances of spontaneous 
generation. 
A curious question connected with the function 
of generation, regards the circumstances which 
determine the future sex of the foetus. According 
to Hippocrates, the future sex is determined prim 63 
cipalJy by the prevalence of the male or female 
semen, either as to the quantity of it which enters 
Into its composition, or what lie terms its strength. 
But the idea of “female semen,” is probably er- 
roneous. No doubt that in many constitutions 
the female orgasm increases, like that of the male, 
until an emission of fluid takes place; but this 
mucous fluid is probably nothing more than the 
result of exalted excitation, analagous to the in- 
creased secretion of other organs from increased 
stimulation, as the salivary glands from eating, 
&c. 
Leeuwenhoek thought that the seminal animal- 
cule arc of dillercnt sexes, and determine the sex of 
the foetus. 
Another opinion, which was current among the 
ancients, is that one sex arises from the right 
ovary, and the other from the left; and (favour- 
ing this doctrine) I know of some experienced and 
observing women who confidently believe that if 
they turn upon the right side immediately after 
intercourse, and so remain tor some time, they will 
be very likely to bring forth a male child; but if 
they so turn upon the left side, a female. It 
would seem, however, that this notion is over- 
thrown by a case that occurred to one Dr. Gran- 
ville of a female, who had borne children of both 
sexes, and the ovary belonging to the left side was 
entirely wanting—as shown by dissection. 
How is impregnation produced in the human 64 
epeeies ?—It is universally agreed that sometime 
after a fruitful connection, a vesicle (two in case of 
twins) of one or the other ovary becomes so en- 
larged that it bursts forth from the ovary, and 
takes the name of ovum; which is taken up—or 
rather received as it bursts forth—by the fimbri- 
ated extremity of the fallopian tube, and is then 
slowly conducted along the tube into the uterus, 
to the inner surface of which it is attached. 
Here it becomes developed into a full foetus, and is 
brought forth in about forty weeks from the time 
of conception, by a process termed parturition. But 
as “ nothing can act where it i3 not, any more 
than when it is not,” the question arises, in what 
way does the semen operate in causing the vesicle 
to enlarge, &c. ? Docs the semen itself or any 
part thereof reach the ovary, and if so, in what 
way is it conveyed to them ? 
It was long the opinion that the semen was 
ejected into the uterus in the act of coition ; and 
that it afterwards by some unknown means finds 
its way into and along the fallopian tubes to the 
ovaria. But there are several facts which weigh 
heavily against this opinion, and some that en- 
tirely forbid it. In the first place, there are many 
well attested instances in which impregnation 
took place while the hymen remained entire, and 
in which this membrane was found uncommonly 
thick and strong at the commencement of labour ; 
where the vagina terminated in the rectum ; and 65 
where it was so contracted by an old cicatrix that 
it could not have admitted the penis. In all 
these cases, the semen could not have been lodged 
anywhere near the mouth of the uterus, much 
less ejected into it. Secondly, it has followed a 
connection where, from some defect in the male 
organs, as the urethra terminating some inches 
behind the end of the penis, it is clear that the 
semen could not have been ejected into the uterus, 
nor lodged near its rnouth. Third, the neck of 
the unimpregnated uterus is so narrow as merely to 
admit a probe, and is filled like the bean-like cavity 
of the uterus, with a thick tenacious fluid, which, 
seemingly, could not be forced away by any 
power which the male organs possess of ejecting 
the semen—even if the month of the urethra were 
in opposition with that of the uterus. Eut, fourth, 
the mouth of the uterus is by no means fixed; by 
various causes it is made to assume various posi- 
tions; and probably the mouth of the urethra 
scarcely ever comes—and for any length of time 
remains—in contact with it. 
Fifth.—“ The tenacity of the semen,” says De- 
wees, “ is such as renders its passage through the 
small aperture in the neck of the uterus impossi- 
ble, even by a power or force much superior to that 
which we may rationally suppose to reside in the 
male organs of generation.” More than this, it 
is very difficult to conceive, nor does any one pre- 
tend to know, how the semen—admitting it to 66 
have /bund its way inio the cavity of the uterus— 
cgii reach and pass into the minute orifices of the 
fallopian tubes, at the top of this cavity, and then 
lie passed along1 these tidies to the ovaria. It may 
Ik' imagined that the fimbriated extremities of the 
fallopian IiiIk's grasp the ovaria at the time or very 
soon after coition, but there is no proof that they 
do so, until after the ovaria have been influenced 
by the semen. 
Sixth.—“llarvey and Do (<raaf dissected ani- 
mals at almost every period alter coition,” says 
the last quoted author, “ lbr the express purpose of 
discovering the semen, but were never able to de- 
tect the smallest vestage of it in the uterus, in any 
one instance.” 
Srrcnth.—Dr. Haighton divided the fallopian 
tubes of living rabbits in numerous instances,, 
and found that after this operation a foetus is never 
produced, but that corpora lutca were formed. 
The obvious conclusions from these facts are, that 
the semen docs not traverse the fallopian tubes; 
yet that the ovum becomes imgregnated while in 
the ovarium, and consequently that the semen 
reaches this organ in some other way. 
Eighth.—A female conceiving while she is al- 
ready pregnant constitutes superfodation. Such 
cases disprove this hypothesis ; for even the abet- 
tors of it are so sensible that the semen cannot 
enter and traverse the impregnated uterus, that 
they deny the occurrence of superfeetation. Facts, 67 
however, are not to be overthrown by hypothesis,* 
but the reverse. Cases of well established super- 
fetation are so numerous that we cease to note 
them in our reading. As it relates to my methods 
of presenting conception, it is of more conse- 
quence to prove that the semen does not enter 
the uterus, than it is to refute any other opinion 
of the manner in which the semen reaches or in- 
fluences the ovaria; therefore I will here intro- 
duce two cases which can scarcely fail to convince 
the reader of the reality of superfetation. The 
first is given by Dr. Dewees, the celebrated late 
Professor of Midwifery in the first medical school 
in the United States, in his M Essays on Various 
Subjects.” 
“ A white woman,” says he, “ servant to Mr. 
II., of Abington township, Montgomery county, 
was delivered about five-and-twenty years since of 
twins, one of which was perfectly white; the 
other perfectly black. When 1 resided in that 
neighbourhood I was in the habit of seeing them 
almost daily, and also had frequent conversations 
with Mrs. H. respecting them. She was present 
at their birth, so that no possible deception could 
have been practised respecting them. The white 
girl is delicate, fair skinned, light hair, and blue 
eyed, and is said very much to resemble the mo- 
ther. The other has all the characteristic marks 
of the African; short of stature, flat, broad nosed, 
thick lipped, woolly headed, flat footed, and pro- 68 
jccting heels; she is said to resemble a negro they 
had on the farm, but with whom the woman never 
would acknowledge an intimacy; but of this there 
was no doubt, as both he and the white man with 
whom her connexion was detected, ran from the 
neighbourhood as soon as it was known the girl 
was with child.” In connection with this, Dr. 
Dewees gives from his own practice another case, 
which leads him to conclude, as it must other 
medical men, that a second conception took place 
about five months after a first. 
The second case may be found in the “ Ameri- 
can Journal of the Medical Sciences,” taken from 
a Dublin Journal; and is as follows :—“ A mar- 
ried woman, aged twenty-two, was delivered Janu- 
ary 25th, 1832, in the lying-in-hospital, at Berlin, 
of twins. The children were both girls. One 
was white, the other evidently a half caste, as in- 
dicated by the shape of its head, and by the colour 
of its face, hands, and feet Their birth took 
place before the end of the seventh month, and 
they died two hours after their birth. On inqui- 
ry, it appeared that she was in habits of intimacy 
with a negro ; shortly after or at the time she had 
conceived by her husband.” 
In favour of the hypothesis now before us, and 
in opposition to the preceeding facts and reason- 
ings, it has been contended that the semen has ac- 
tually been Been in the uterus and fallopian tubes. 
Ruysch, an anatomist of considerable eminence 69 
who flourished at the close of the seventeenth 
century, asserts in the most unequivocal manner, 
that he found the semen in its gross white state in 
one of the fallopian lubes of a woman, who died 
very soon after, or during the act of coition, but, 
as Dewccs well says, “ the semen, after it has es- 
caped from the penis, very quickly loses its albumi- 
nous appearance, and becomes as thin and trans- 
parent as water; and we are certain that Ruysch 
was mistaken. Some alteration in the natural se- 
cretion of the parts was mistaken for semen; this 
was nowise difficult for him to do, as he had a 
particular theory to support—and more especially 
as this supposed discovery made so much for it. 
It is not merely speculative, when we say that 
some change in the natural secretion of the parts 
may be mistaken for semen, for we have the testi- 
mony of ."Morgagni on our side. He tell us he has 
seen similar appearances in several instances in 
virgins and others, who had been subject in their 
lives to leucorrhcea, and that it has been mistaken 
by some for male semen. 
A second hypothesis is, that the semen is ab- 
sorbed from the vagina, into the general circulat- 
ing system, where it is mixed with the blood, and 
goes the whole round of the circulation, some of 
it being carried to the head, hands, and all other 
parts of the body, and all of it subject to the influ- 
ence of those causes which certainly produce great 
changes in the blood itself. 70 
To this hypothesis it has been objected that 
-while there is no direct evidence in support of it, 
it is exceedingly unreasonable, inasmuch as we 
can scarcely believe that the semen can go the 
whole round of the circulation and then find its 
way to the ovary in such a pure unaltered state as 
the experiments of Spallanzani arc supposed to 
prove it must be in, that it may impregnate. I 
shall have occasion to consider these objections 
hereafter. 
A third set of theorists have maintained that 
only an imperceptible something which they call 
aura teminalig passes from the semen lodged in 
the vagina, to the ovary, and there excites those 
actions which are essential to the development of 
an ovum—a something so volatile, I suppose, that 
it needs no vessels in which to pass, but may go 
cross-lots, through all kinds of textures. Others, 
again, have told us that it is all done by aympathy: 
that neither the semen nor any volatile part of it, 
finds its way to the ovary; but that it excites the 
parts with which it is in contact in a peculiar 
manner, and by a law of the animal economy 
termed sympathy or consent of parts, a peculiar 
action commences in the ovkry, by which an ovum 
is developed, &c. 
To both these last conjectures, it may be ob- 
jected, that they hatfc no foundation but the sup- 
posed necessity of adopting them, to account for 
tire effect of impregnation; and further, they make 71 
no provision for the formation of mules; for the 
propagation of peculiarities, likenesses, and pre- 
dispositions to diseases, from fathers to their chil- 
dren ; for the production of mulattoes, &c. 
A fifth view of the subject is that of our distin- 
guished countryman, Dr. Dewces, of Philadelphia. 
He believes that there is a particular set of vessels, 
which he calls seminal absorbents, leading from 
the inner surface of the labia externa and from 
the vagina, directly to the ovaria, the sole office of 
which is, to absorb the semen and convey it to the 
ovaria, without suffering it to enter the general 
circulation. He says the existence of these ves- 
sels is now rendered almost certain, as Dr. Gart- 
ner, of Copenhagen, has discovered a duct lead- 
ing from the ovary to the vagina. 
This modification of the theory of absorption, so 
well harmonized with all facts relating to concep- 
tion, that were known to me when I wrote Fruits 
of Philosophy, that I had but little if any doubt of 
its correctness. I still adhere to the theory of ab- 
sorption ; but I somewhat question whether the 
semen do not enter the general circulation, or, if it 
do not, whether it may not be taken up by absorb- 
ent vessels in other parts of the body than the mu- 
cous surface of the labia and vagina, and conveyed 
to the ovaria. As grounds for thus questioning, 
I give in the first place the following article from 
the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 
Na xxxvL p. 475. 72 
“ Is conception possible without coition ? Under 
this title, Dr. Casper, editor of the Woohenschrift 
fur die gesammte Heilkunde, has published in his 
journal a memoir taken from the manuscripts of 
Professor Heim, comprising seven cases which 
have for their object to establish an affirmative 
answer to the foregoing question. It is a problem, 
undoubtedly, of great importance, with respect not 
only to physiology, but also to legal medicine. 
Examples are incontestible of pregnancy while the 
hymen remains entire. The celebrated Heim, a 
man of great name and high authority in Ger- 
many, has even collected instances where concep- 
tion took place, although the spermatic fluid [se- 
men] was lodged only at the entrance, or before 
the orifice of the vagina. We may conceive this 
possible, if toe admit that the fecundation of the 
ovum takes place from the emenation of the aura 
scminalis. [Or admit the theory of ahsoiption.] 
But Heim goes still further, and allows the possi- 
bility of fecundation by the simple aspersion of the 
semen on the lower part of the abdomen [belly.] 
In support of this opinion, he cites four cases, 
which he met with in his own practice, and three 
others from the papers of M. Ribkc, professor of 
midwifery ; which cases, according to him, leave 
no doubt of the possibility of the fact which he ad- 
vances. We will confess that the perusal of these 
cases has not left on our mind the same conviction 
which appears to animate the author. But could 73 
this be otherwise ? This conviction of the cele- 
brated Heim, was it not in consequence of the re- 
liance which he placed on the persons who were 
the subjects of his observations. It is a purely 
moral conviction which he has acquired, and 
which cannot be possessed by him who has not 
the same faith in the veracity of the persons whose 
cases Heim relates. 
These facts are of no importance by them- 
selves. They only obtain weight from the name 
of two celebrated men who have published them, 
and who still enjoy, among our German neigh- 
bours, unbounded credit and confidence. The last 
consideration alone has induced us to dwell on 
this delicate and long unresolved question; to 
which we call the attention of French accoucheurs 
and medical jurists.— Gazette Medicate de Paris, 
20 Sep., 1836.” 
Hasty conclusions from a limited number of 
facts have done more to retard the progress of sci- 
ence than incredulity; and the above expressed 
scepticism of the French editor, if taken as proba- 
bly meant, is commendable. The practice, how- 
ever, of withholding our assent, or even denying 
well authenticated facts, because we cannot ac- 
count for them, may be carried to an unjust ex- 
treme. If facts are of “ no importance,” until 
enough are accumulated to establish a principle, 
then I admit that the above are so; yet the pub- 
lication of them may lead to important results. 74 
They struck me very forcibly, because I have been 
assured by several persons that they had been the 
cause of pregnancy, they knew not how; as they 
meant to, and thought they did practice with- 
drawal completely and invariably. Such relations 
I only regarded as probable evidence of absorption 
from parts anterior to the vagina,and of the trifling 
amount of semen required to produce effect. So 
I can give neither names nor numbers; but I have 
an impression that four or five such statements 
have been made to me in an equal number of 
years. 
Since writing the above, a very striking case in 
favour of impregnation by absorption from the 
■urfa9$ of the abdomen, has come to my know- 
ledge; and as this question is of vast importance 
I must give the case somewhat in detail. And 
although 1 cannot give the name of the subject of 
this ease, still I do hope the reader will give more 
credit to my statements—as I give him my red 
name and place of residence in the fore part of this 
book—than what is due to many stories recently 
published in several catch-penny works, purport- 
ing to be translated from some foreign language, 
or written in English by some M. D., “ Member 
of the London Royal College of Surgeons," dec., of 
a foreign country. 
A few months since, while attending on a lady 
in her accouchment, I fell into conversation with 
the female attendants respecting checks to concep. 75 
tion; and one of them remarked, that she did not 
believe there was any way to prevent it—that if a 
woman suffered a man to come near her, she was 
liable to conceive. Knowing this lady to be a sen- 
sible, well informed woman, and the mother of five 
children, her remark somewhat surprised me—for 
she evidently spoke in seriousness. I pondered 
over it for some time. At length it occurred to 
nic, that she supposed herself to have been impreg- 
nated under the practice of the drawback. Being 
desirous to ascertain this fact, I took out my pen- 
cil and wrote upon a piece of paper as follows :— 
“ Some of the most eminent German physicians 
believe that a female may conceive, when the 
sperm is only lodged upon the belly. Is there 
anything in your experience that goes to confirm 
this idea ?” On reading it, she exclaimed, “ It is 
true, I know it is so. I know that in every one 
of my children, nothing was left any where in the 
natural place, and it has always been a great mys- 
tery with me, how I should ever have any.” I had 
more conversation with the lady, but the reader 
niuat be content with what is already given. I 
Was well acquainted with her. She is altogether 
respectable, and there could be no inducement for 
her to deceive me. In short, I am sure that this 
woman is entirely satisfied that all her pregnancies 
took place by way of absorption from the abdomi- 
nal integuments. 
Within a very few years certain fundamental facts 76 
in relation to the action of organic tissues, and the 
penetration of liquids and gasses through them, 
have been discovered, which shed much light on 
some of the most important mysteries of physio- 
logy. To give the common reader any adequate 
idea of these facts would require quite too much 
space; but medical men who have watched the 
progress of their science will readily conceive that 
I allude to the discoveries of H. M. Dutrochet, Dr. 
J. K. Mitchell, professor Graham, of Glasgow, and 
particularly to the experiments of Dr. R. E. Ro- 
gers, related in the American Journal of Medical 
Sciences, for August, 1836. These experiments 
show that the structure or tissue, which is inter- 
posed between different liquids and gases, is not 
passive during the passage of these substances 
through it; but exercises a kind of elective influ- 
ence. And they have led me to conjecture—not 
simply the well known fact, that from some cause 
or other certain substances act upon certain parts 
of the animal system in preference to other parts, 
as cantharides upon the urinary organs, mercury 
upon the liver and salivary glands, &c.,—but that 
different organs have affinities for different sin- 
stances, so that some substances will find their 
Way to some organs in preference to other organs. 
Consider, then, the inosculating and web-like 
arrangement of the innumerable absorbent vessels 
all over the system, and say, ye learned physiolo- 
gists of tiie present day, if it be so very incon- 77 
ceivablc, that semen may be absorbed from the 
skin of the abdomen, and find its way to the ova- 
ries without entering the general circulation. But 
supposing it do enter the general circulation, is 
there any proof that its doing so would destroy its 
fecundating property ? May not the means be 
necessary to the end T that is, if it undergo any 
change, rnay not this change be necessary to com- 
plete its fecundating property, instead of destroy- 
ing it? Dr. Dewees says no, and gives as his 
reason, that in Spallanzani’s experiments unaltered 
semen was necessary. But these experiments 
must have been, and were, performed on such ani- 
mal’s ova as are alw'ays impregnated after they 
have left the body of the female. Here the pro- 
cess of generation is quite different than in the 
human species; and here the male furnishes se- 
men requiring no change, which may not be the 
case with man. But it is not certain that the se- 
men would soon undergo any essential change if 
ft should enter the general circulation. Who be- 
lieves that cantharides, by doing so, lose the pro- 
perty by which they stimulate the skin before they 
reach the urinary organs; or that spirits of tur- 
pentine, alcohol, &c., soon lose their peculiar pro- 
perties after entering the general circulation. Dr. 
Dewees does as much as to say, that the peculi- 
wity of the semen would be immediately lost, if 
taken up by any absorbents—but hit! 
On the whole, I would say, that in some, few 78 
case*, when the mouth of the uterus is uncommonly 
relaxed and open, a little semen may chance to 
get into it, but then it is probably lost, as to the 
matter of conception; for it is not consistent with 
analogy to suppose that the uterus has vessels 
particularly for absorbing the semen and convey- 
ing it to the ovaria, considering the other important 
functions which we know it performs. I believe 
in the doctrine of absorption. I believe that this 
absorption takes place from the vagina, and from 
parts anterior to it; and that the drawback, with- 
out more than usual precaution, is not sure. I 
scarcely believe the semen enters the general 
circulation ; nor is it of any practical importance 
whether it do or do not So too with respect to 
the idea of sympathy, and the aura Semimlis, my 
plan of preventing conception will meet either of 
them. For, after all, it is the peculiar—fecun- 
dating property of the semen that causes conception, 
and the means and facility of destroying this 
property do not depend on the manner of its oper- 
ation. 79 
CHAPTER III. 
OF PREVENTING CONCEPTION WITHOUT SACRIFICE OF 
ENJOYMENT. 
Several ways and means have been proposed and 
published, by men not of the medical professions, 
for preventing’ conception. But, all things consid- 
ered, I do know that not one of them can bear any 
comparison with the means I am about to propose ; 
therefore I shall not he at the trouble even to 
mention them. 
My method operates in a two fold manner, either 
of which might, perhaps, be effectual. It consists 
m syringing the vagina, soon after the male emission 
mto it, with some liquid, which will not merely 
dislodge nearly all the semen, as simple water 
would do—the female being in the most proper 
Position for the operation—but which will destroy 
the fecundating property of any portion of semen 
that may remain. 
Various kinds of liquids may be used for this 
purpose, and some may be preferable to others, in 
certain cases, according to the state of the parts as 
to sensibilityr disease, &c. If much relaxed, with- 80 
out being in a sore or tender state, a solution of 
alum would be good ; and infusions of almost any 
astringent vegetables, as white oak bark, hemlock 
bark, red rose leaves, green tea, raspberry leaves or 
roots, &,c., would answer; but alum is the most 
convenient, and its solution does not undergo any 
change. If the woman be subject to leucorrhcea, or 
“whites” as it is commonly called, and there be not 
much tenderness,sulphate of zinc, called in commerce 
white vitrol, will make a very suitable solution. 
If there be relaxation and a weakening discharge 
existing together, as there frequently is, a combina- 
tion of the zinc and alum would be the most 
suitable. There are two kinds of sulphate of zinc 
in market. The purist and best is crystalized, 
and very much resembles epsom salts. If there 
be tenderness about the parts, as is frequently the 
case, a solution of sugar of lead may be used. It 
is frequently used in this way, as a medicine, in 
such cases. Perhaps, as a general thing, a solu- 
tion of sal eratus is the best and most convenient 
thing to use. It leaves the parts in a smooth 
agreeable state, whereas, for an hour or so after 
zinc or alum have been used, there is a roughness 
about the parts which would not be agreeable to 
the male on a second copulation. As a general 
thing, this roughness is no objection to the zinc or 
alum, as the natural secretion of the vagina always 
soon removes that state which communicates the 
feeling of roughness to the male. 81 
I fully believe that the fecundating- property of 
the semen depends on the seminal animalcules, as 
it seems to be admitted on all hands, that these 
animalcules “ cannot be detected in the semen 
when from age or disease the animals are render- 
ed sterile.” But whether it depends on these 
animalcules or not, the semen certainly does pos- 
sess a fecundating property, and it seems to rne 
more than probable, that this property may be 
easily destroyed by any liquid, which by its 
chemical or other properties, can produce any con- 
siderable change in the semen, when brought in 
contact with it. This opinion is now rendered so 
far certain by experience that I cannot say I have 
a single doubt of its truth. And yet I am, and 
ever have been fully aware of the difficulty of 
proving this matter by experience, and of the 
that ought to be exercised against draw- 
ing conclusions from a too limited number of facts 
°r cases. 
1 am quite confident that a liberal use of pretty 
cold water would be a never failing preventative. 
If rightly applied; (and I shall soon speak of the 
best mode of operating,) it would wash away 
nearly all the semen, and it does appear to me 
that the chill of it would quite destroy the fecundat- 
mg property of every particle that might remain 
lodged among the folds and ridges. 
As to the strength of any of the solutions I 
have mentioned, J[ can do no better than to say, 82 
let each individual use them as strong as she finds 
ghe can, without producing any disagreeable sen- 
sation. If the sensibility of the parts was the 
same in all, and every one had small scales and 
weights, and exact measures on hand, which is 
very far from being the case, I could easily give 
exact formula for making all the solutions. Should 
either of the solutions be a good deal too strong, 
no harm will result from one trial of them, except 
unpleasant feeling of short duration. Yet be- 
ginners will desire some directions for making a 
first trial, accordingly I here give what I think 
about right for the generality of females, 
1. Of Alum, to a pint of water, a lump as large 
as a large chesnut. 
2. Of Sulphate of Zinc, to a pint of water, a 
large thimble full. 
3. Of Sal Eratus, to a pint of water, two com- 
mon sized even teaspoons full. 
4. Of good Vinegar, to a pint of water, four or 
five greatspoons full. 
5. Liquid Chloride of Soda, to a pint of water, 
four or five greatspoons full. 
A female syringe, which is a simple and cheap 
instrument, will be required, and one can be ob- 
tained in any apothecary’s shop. Arrangements 
are in contemplation for furnishing them, with 
other facilities, in connexion with this book, and 
tetter ones too than are generally made. Many of 
them are too short, and none that I have seen, are 83 
made so strong, and of as good materials as is de- 
sirable. They are too easily braised, which ren- 
ders them unfit for use. 
I wish the following directions to be particu- 
larly attended to. Let the quantity of tow on tho 
piston of the syringe be such that it will draw 
well, and yet move tolerably easy. If there be 
any little accidental hole in the body of the 
syringe, as there sometimes is, it must be closed 
by touching it with a hot iron. Having put the 
end of the syringe into the liquid, and filled it by 
drawing up the piston, with the thumb and middle 
finger hold of the body of the syringe, and the 
forefinger in the ring of the piston, let the syringe 
be deeply introduced into the vagina, and then 
push home the piston with the forefinger, and 
with tolerable force. The woman being in the 
right position (and this, common sense cannot fail 
to dictate) the fluid, together with most of the se- 
men, will pass out of the vagina into the vessel, as 
the syringe is withdrawn. Be not sparing of the 
bquid, but repeat this operation two or three times. 
It will be found to be very simple, and very easy, 
requiring but a minute’s time, and no light, if the 
liquid be at hand. Do not delay the operation 
°ver five minutes, nor so long, if there be no rea- 
s°n for doing so. Yet if peculiar circumstances 
should compel you to delay half an hour, it would 
still be worth while to use the injection; for we 
ilo not certainly know how soon the absorbent 84 
vessels begin to take up the semen, nor do we 
know but that they would take up some of the in- 
jected liquid, which would thus follow after the 
absorbed semen, and prevent its peculiar operation 
on the ovary or vesicles of the ovary. Resort to 
the means invariably, except in case of existing 
pregnancy, recent delivery, or a decidedly diseased 
state of the menstruation. Because a menstrual 
period is near at hand, or because the female ex- 
periences no pleasure, it will not be safe to omit. 
No doubt a very small quantity of semen lodged 
any where within the vagina or within the vulva, 
may cause conception, if it should escape the in- 
fluence of cold, or some chemical agent. 
The chloride of soda is a very cleansing, heal- 
ing, and unirritating application, and I have no 
doubt it would be a very good article to use as a 
“ check yet I have no experience of its use for 
this purpose. I believe it is much used in cities 
as a cosmetic, but its expense, and the present 
difficulty of obtaining it in the country is an ob- 
jection against its general use. Vinegar has not 
been used, but I have mentioned it, knowing it is 
handy and would be harmless, and fully believing 
it would be quite effectual. Alum and zinc do in 
some degree coagulate the semen, while sal era- 
tus renders it soon liquid, like water. The two 
former, and especially the zinc, have been far the 
most tried, within my knowledge, but 1 have con- 
siderable more than a theoretical confidence in the 85 
sal eratus. And old fashioned pearlash, and sal 
soda, so much used of late in washing cloths, are 
very much like sal eratus, and doubtless would 
answer as well, in little less quantities. If, under 
any circumstances, it is desirable to prevent any 
of these solutions from freezing by the addition of 
spirits, it may be safely done. 
The use of the syringe chock requires the wo- 
man to leave the bed; but this is an objection of 
Rifling weight, compared with the pleasure it en- 
ables us to enjoy, or with the anxieties and other 
troubles that must or may arise from not using it. 
It is in a cold room that this objection can have 
scarcely any weight, and it would require no great 
ingenuity so to construct and arrange things, that 
one’s sleeping room need not be cold in the even- 
ing certainly, if not in the morning. In tavour of 
this check, it may be said, that it is sure, that it 
costs nearly nothing; that it requires no sacrifice 
°f enjoyment; that it is in the hands of the female, 
'vhere for good reasons it ought to be ; it is harm- 
,ess; it is condusive to cleanliness, and tends to 
Preserve the parts from relaxation and disease, to 
v.’hich they are very subject; and its use does not 
prevent conception at any future period, whenever 
desired. 
I have said it is harmless ; that is, it is as much 
or even more so than celebacy. That pregnancy 
Iriay be advantageous to a very few unhealthy 
"’omen, will be readily admitted ; but the question 86 
is, will healthy women be more likely to retain 
their health, if they bear children occasionally, 
than if they do not ? At first thought, it is very 
natural to suppose that they will. But 1 think it 
a disputable question. Is the mare and other 
domestic animals which arc permitted to breed, 
any more healthy than those which are not ? I 
can easily conceive that in the case of an ardent 
married woman, whose “ amitiveness” is nearly 
or wholly suspended during pregnancy, this 
state may be of advantage to her; but it would 
not be correct to ascribe to voluntary barrenness, 
the nervousness, stomach complaints, debility, &c., 
which arise from intemperance. 
It was in the year 1831, that the subject of checks 
to conception was first suggested to me, by the per- 
usal of a work entitled Moral Physiology and writ- 
ten by Robert Dale Owen, the late almost suc- 
cesful candidate for congress in Indiana. I was 
strongly impressed with the incalculable advantages 
that some good check would confer upon mankind, 
but I was altogether dissatisfied, disappointed, and 
even mortified, to find that no such check had been 
discovered. I could not learn that any medical man 
had ever directed his attention to the subject, and 
I was resolved to do so myself; and this I did with 
a kind of presentiment, that I should hit upon some- 
thing better than had yet been discovered; yet I 
had not the least conception of what it would be. 
My first step was to examaine the various theories 87 
Conception, with a view lo decide the real process 
by which impregnation is effected. Having satisfied 
myself as to this point, my object now was to dis- 
cover some sure, cheap, convenient, and harmless 
Method, which should not in any way interfere with 
enjoyment. Strange as it now seems to me, and 
must seem to others, l spent days and nights in close 
reflection on this point, before I arrived at my pre- 
sent mature idea. A first thought that glanced 
through my mind, was to wash out the semen with 
the syringe; but then it occurred to me, that this 
'v°uld not answer, because almost certainly there 
"’Quid be a trifle of semen lodged among the folds 
°nd ridges of the vagina that would not be washed 
aw«y, and this trifle would be enough to cause com 
ception. So this idea was dismissed ; but it at 
fongU) occurred to me, to add something to the 
"’ater that should not hurt the woman, but yet kill 
the little tender animacules, or in other words, 
destroy the fecundating property of the semen, 
whether it bo or be not dependent on these animal- 
cules. I now had all the confidence that theory alone 
cculd ever give a man, and I sat down and wrote 
he first edition of this work, intending to put it to 
Press immediately. But by the time it was written, 
began to consider that I did not positively knoto 
hat my plan would never fail, and to reflect on the 
great amount of evil that I might be instrumental 
ln Pr°ducing, if by publishing, I should excite a 
confidence in my readers which ray plan does not 88 
merit So I laid aside my manuscript But about 
four months afterward, while relating my views to 
an old acquaintance, who had seen much of the 
world, and was withall a curious kind of a genius, 
he agreebly surprised me, by assuring me that my 
plan would ‘ carry,1 as he well knew from ten years 
experience in his own family. And from the par- 
ticulars which he communicated to me, I was fully 
satisfied that in his family it had succeeded; and of 
course it possessed the power of succeeding in others. 
He, i.e., his wife, used simple water, and from his 
accounts of her health, former habits, &c., no phy- 
sician could entertain much doubt, that for about 
four years water alone was successful; and if it 
were so, then its failure must be attributed to an 
ineffecient application of it. After its failure he 
added something to it, and I think it'was sugar of 
lead. On receiving this information, I no longer 
hesitated to put my manuscript to press. Since 
that period my own individual experience, together 
with information more or less directly received 
from others—and being a practicing physician, 
enjoying a full share of the confidence of those 
around me, my opportunity for acquiring informa- 
tion has not been small—have been such, that I 
think I should have full confidence in the plan, 
even if I were wholly ignorant of physiology. 
Any publication, great or small, mentioning the 
syringe (or anything else that operates upon the 
same principle) as a means of preventing concep- 89 
tion—whatever liquid may be recommended—is a 
violation of my copyright. It is this syringe check, 
together with the idea of destroying the fecundating 
property of the semen while in the vagina, that in 
niy estimation gives this work its peculiar value. 
A great part of the work is written with a view 
to elucidate the subject of generation so as to give 
common people confidence in this check. I never 
should have written any such book as this, but for 
my discovery of this plan. I have devoted much 
time and thought to the leading subject of this 
Work. I have done so under a strong conviction 
that I was rendering a signal service to frail and 
suffering humanity; and if the result of my la- 
bours be worth anything, it is my property; but 
worthless, no one ought to sell it for a price, 
even if it were not secured to me. 
CHAPTER IV. 
I|r. Dewees remarks that, “our experience fur- 
wishes no certain mark, by which the moment 
conception takes place is to be distinguished. All 
aPpeals by the woman, to particular sensations 
experienced at the instant, should be very guard- 
edly received; for we are certain they cannot be 
SECTION I.—OF THE SIGNS OF PREGNANCY. 90 
rr*!i»-»l upon; fT»r enjoyment and indifference arc 
alike fallacious. Nor uro certain nervous tremh- 
lino nausea, |Kilpitutinn of tliu heart, the sensa- 
tion of something (lowing from them during coi- 
tion, »V<\, more to be relied U|ton.” Burns, how. 
ever, says, “ some women feel immediately after 
coooc|ttion, a peculiar sensation which apprises 
tliciu of tlwir situation; hut such instances arc 
rare, and generally the first circumstances which 
lead a woman to suppose Iter-elf pregnant, arc the 
suppression of the menses, and an irritable or 
dysjiejitic st:;to of the stomach.” Such state of 
the stomach is indicated by a fickle appetite, some 
sickness, per I trips vomiting in the morning; re- 
luming qualms, or fits of langcur in the afternoon, 
heartburn, and disturbed sleep, 'l'ltc mind some- 
times becomes irritable, sometimes melancholy. 
Tlic breasts at first often lircome smaller; but about 
tlic second or third inontii they enlarge, and occa- 
sionally lr-comc tender and painful. The nipples 
are surrounded with an nrcola or circlo of a deep- 
er chestnut colour than bcibre. l’ltc woman 
loses her looks, Itccomea paler, and the under part 
of lire lower eyelid is often somewhat of a leaden 
hue. Thu features become shatter, and some- 
times the whole body begins to emaciate, while 
tlic pulse quickens. In many instances salivation, 
tootliachc, and jaundice are caused. In others, 
very little disturbance is produced, and the woman 
is not certain of her condition until the time of 91 
'luickcning, which is generally about four months 
from the time of conception. It is possible for 
Women to mistake the effects of wind for the mo- 
hon of u foetus, cs[>ccial!y if they have never 
home children, and arc anxious for a family, but 
the sensations produced by wind in the bowels, 
;,re not so much confined to one spot, but are often 
felt in parts of the abdomen where the motion of 
a foetus could not possibly be felt. Quite as fre- 
quently, perhaps, do fleshy women think them- 
selves dropsical, and mistake foetal motions for 
movements of water within the abdominal cavity. 
After the uterus has become so enlarged that it 
arisen out of the pelvis into the abdominal 
cavity, it may be felt with the hands through the 
"’alls of the abdomen like a ball—not a very hard 
to be sure, but sufficiently so to be retdily 
distinguished in most eases; especially if the ab> 
nominal muscles be relaxed, the woman not very 
ueshy, and tolerable pressure be made with the 
bands. Morning sickness and other sympathetic 
effects of pregnancy now abate, and the health 
"••proves. 
f here arc other signs by which a physician is 
nsswted in determining the existence of pregnan- 
cy I but it would bo of no practical use to com- 
mon readers to mention them. Most of those I 
•nve mentioned may be deceptive, and it is their 
existing together that gives them weight Sup- 
pression of the menses may arise from cold and 92 
other causes; and so may the stomach and ner- 
vous affections. Perhaps in the early stages no 
one symptom is more to be relied upon, than a 
distinctly increased colour of the circle around 
the nipple. After quickening, the tumour in the 
middle and lower part of the abdomen is almost 
infallible. 
Section 2. Of the Term of Utero-Gestution.— 
The length of time from conception to the com- 
mencement of labour, in the human species, is 
not precisely determined by physiologists. “ It 
seems, however,” says Dcwces, “ from the best 
calculations that can be made, that nine calender 
months, or forty weeks, approaches the truth so 
nearly, that we can scarcely need desire more ac- 
curacy, could it be obtained.” Unquestionably, 
however, some cases exceed this period many 
days, or even weeks; and it is a question which 
has been much agitated, how far this period is 
ever exceeded. It is a question of some moment 
in a legal jxjint of view ; and the knowledge and 
use of clucks may greatly assist in deciding it. 
Cases are reported where the usual period was ex- 
ceeded by five or six months; cases, too, where 
the circumstances attending them, and the re- 
spectability of their reporters are such as to com. 
mnnd our belief. 
Dr. Dewees has paid much attention to this 
subject, and he declares himself entirely convinced, 
“ that the commonly fixed period may be extend- 93 
'd from thirteen days to six weeks, under the in- 
fluence of certain causes or peculiarities of the 
constitution.” And he expresses himself “ se- 
verely disappointed” that Dr. Beck, an accredited 
W riter of this country on Medical Jurisprudence, 
should treat the idea of extended gestation with 
so much scepticism and levity as he has done; 
und this too, without adducing any opposing facts, 
or employing any apposite reasoning. 
The occasional departures from the general rule 
will be the more readily admitted when we con- 
sider that they are not confined to the human spe- 
cies. Thus, from the experiments of Tessier it 
appears that:— 
“ In 575 cows, 21 calved between the two hun- 
dred and fortieth and two hundred and seventieth 
days, average two hundred and fifty-nine; 544 
between the two hundred and seventieth and two 
hundred and ninety-nine days, average two hun- 
dred and eighty-two; and 10 between the two 
hundred and ninety-ninth and three hundred and 
twenty-first days, average three hundred and six 
days; average on the whole, 282 days; so that, from 
flic shortest to the longest period, there is a dif- 
ference of eighty-one days, that is, more than one 
fourth of the average time.” 
Similar variations were observed in mares. In 
with foal for the first time, the average term 
the whole was three hundred and forty-seven 
days, and the difference between the extremes, 
one hundred and thirty-two days. 94 
In 110 mares which had fouled before, the 
average of the whole was three hundred and forty- 
one days, and tire difference between the shortest 
and longest j>criods was ninety-seven days. 
“ In 21 2 sheep, the mean time of gestation was 
nlioiit one hundred, and fi fly-one days, and the ex- 
trvine ditferenec, only eleven days." 
“ In 25 swine, the extremes wcie from one hun- 
dred and nine to one hundred and thirty-three 
days.” 
Mln 101 rabbits, the extreme terms were from 
twenty-seven to thirty-five days.” 
Section 3. Of the Nature or Life of the Foetus: 
Hat it any Rights?—It was the practice with 
men in former ages, whenever they could not ex- 
jtluin certain phenomena of nature, to cut the 
Gordian-knot, by ascribing them to unknown 
agencies, which they imagined to exist, and to 
which they gave names. By such procedure, 
many thinglcss names were brought into use, 
which have been great stumbling-blocks in the 
way to truth. These names were used as if they 
were the names of real existences—as must needs 
be, if used at all—and being continued in use, for 
convenience’s sake, they have greatly served to 
deceive mankind, and to maintain a belief in the 
reality of the imaginary things they were first 
used to designate. Of this description of names 
is the word Life. 
The two grand classes of organized beings, 95 
'Ogctablcs and animals, possess certain organic 
properties or powers to which the organic union 
°f their component parts, Inis given rise ; by virtue 
°f which properties they exhibit many phenomena 
peculiar to tlicmselvcs—that is, not exhibited by 
bodies. It is because they do exhibit 
these phenomena that they arc said to be alive, or 
t° possess life; and when.their nice, internal or. 
fanization, is so impaired that they no longer cx- 
mbit these phenomena, they are said to be dead. 
W', tlicn, is a thinglcss name. There is no real 
pchig or agent in existence for it to signify; and 
11 i* only out of respect to its age, and the use 
"'hicli the ]>opular language of the day still com- 
1*1* us to make of it, that we consent to give it 
JV definition at alt When applied to an indivi. 
dun], as a whole, it signifies the sum total of tho 
*ganic properties of such individual; when ap- 
Phed to a part of an individual, as a limb of a man 
°r of a tree, it signifies all tlic organic pro|x rlics 
y such part, and no more. We sec tlicn that dif- 
crc®t parts, os well as different animals and 
Jelfctables, possess different lives. In fact, tlie 
•ves 0f no jwo differently organized beings are 
‘Jhke; for difference of organization gives rise to 
■ucrcncc of properties. Aud when die organize- 
l°n is doily changing, as in die fmtus, die life is 
. **ly changing. Tho (ictus, then, has life. But 
18 *t vegetable life, or is it animal ? Before we 
Wn»wer diis question, we must point out that or« 96 
panic property which is essential to animal life 
and which distinguishes it from vegetable. 
Is it self motion, that is, the power of movinj 
on the application of a stimulus, and without th< 
application of physical force ? No; for some or 
ganized beings which all agree to call vegetables* 
as the sensitive plant, and the Hedysarum gyronf 
of tlte East Indies, possess this property in a re- 
markable degree. It is feasibility, or that pro- 
perty by virtue of which a sensation may be ex- 
cited. It is not voluntary motion, (which differs 
from self-motion, as above defined,) for although 
most seutient beings—most animals—possess 
this power, yet some, I believe, do not possess it} 
and further, contractions of voluntary muscles 
(not voluntary motions) may and do take place 
after all would say that animal life is extinct 
Who has not heard of the astonishing motions 
excited in M dead” men by galvanism ? 
The life of the fetus, then, is vegetable, until its 
nervous system has become so fir completed as to 
give rise to the property of sensibility, after which 
it is animal. But it is doubtless a low degree of 
animal life until near its birth; and even imme- 
diately before this event—although it may be said 
to possess the power of seeing, tasting and perhaps 
hearing and smelling, as well as feeling; yet none 
of these powers, except feeling, have been called 
into action; and feeling but very slightly. It has 
acquired no ideas, or certainly not enough to 97 
Constitute a personal identity. It in a* much a 
part of the female to which it ia vitally attached, 
'",'l can with no more propriety be said to possess 
a,1y rightgt than any one of her extremities, or 
'••an a sensible tumor, as a wen, upon the outer 
surface of her body. Wo are apt to take a dif- 
ferent view of it, because wo associate with it an 
•dea 0f \V|,at it will be according to the ordinary 
of nature. But I am sjicaking of it as it 
>f' while it is a fetus, and not of what it will be 
a«er it has undergone important changes. The 
earU» under our feet will yet undergo such changes 
58 to become men, but who will say it has rights 
0,1 this account ? 
Consciousness and muscular motion arc two dia- 
U,,ct things, though often existing togcllicr, even 
and effect The motions of decapitated 
a,,,,,,pls urc entirely inde])cndent of consciousness; 
’’olwithstanding tlic absurd talcs about guillo- 
1,led heads turning themselves, (us if to notice. 
.'Grounding objects) an act physically impossible 
or them to perform, though they were |w6scsscd 
a* much feeling and intelligence as Indore sepu- 
r,,t'-d from their bodies; no jmrt can be moved by 
‘muscles, unless these muscles are attached to some 
f n /wr*' The heart acts regularly and power 
*7-v iudcpcndcnf of consciousness. The motions 
0 lhc foetus in utero ore no proof of conscious* 
r|c‘''s’ and probably most of them arc r.ot volun- 
<try* They mainly depend on the state of the 98 
ft inn Vs i*.<]y am! mind; am! arc not performed 
•tyllr to avoid pain, or to obtain something 
which wliili- ligating in the waters; it either ieeli*, 
sees. bvar.' m The Uws ::i this country 
nsain.-t alsrtion v.*er« i»v. n;..*ie by physiolo- 
gists ; and 1 should hardly think by men of Itu*- 
innno fitlinys. 
Skttiox J. Of Hr ?.Vrchjtntr.it of the l-Win*.— 
f hnitliug all account of tl»c changes produced in 
the uterus u:id its ajijeiidagcs by impregnation, 
ami attempting no minute explanation of Die mm- 
nrr in which the .*•'» !,:s is developed, which would 
be difficult to understand; I shall briefly sketch 
tin- progress of its growth. A knowledge of this: 
prioress, 1 conecive, may be advantageous to many 
person*—csjwcial'y to those who miscarry und 
yet think they hare not done so, because they 
couki not discover such ujijjcarnnccs in tho dk- 
diarges a.* llieir.wniit of this knowledge lmd led 
them to expect; and consequently ore not likely 
to be so cautious in a future' doubtful eitnatim, as 
the}* would be if tliey knew they lad miscarried 
one or inure time's. 
Many circumstances accelerate and others re- 
tard the growth of the embryo or ftetus, as is the 
ease with all organized bodies; and we can only 
show what seems to be tiro most common progress 
of its development. 
From disaections made under favourable cir 
cuinstances for discovering the situation and con- 99 
dition of tike human orum in a {riven time alter 
conception: and also from analogical evidence, it 
appears tliat it does not reach the uterus until 
about four weeks from tlic time of impregnation. 
And it seems to bo doubtful whether it coutaine 
any tiling but a transparent fluid until sometime 
after this ixriod. According to Dr. Beck, who 
has entered into a hliorious investigation of the 
subject, the embryo is about tiic size of a barley 
corn in thirty days after “the first evidence of im- 
pregnation but wliat this evidence is, or at 
wliat time after successful intercourse it first 
makes its ap|>eurancc, he wiith not Bums says, 
* I have examined carefully a most perfect ovum 
1,1 tli ninth week after menstruation, and conse 
'lucntly not less (probably) tlian the fifth aftei 
conception. In it no embryo could be detected— 
nothing but Iraiuqrarmt fluid.” From this author.- 
'nattily, I extract tlic following description:— 
When Ihe huimui firtus is first distinctly visible 
’••trough the membrane, if. is not above a line in 
'Ctiglh, til id of an obiong figu In the sixth 
"cek, ii is seen slightly curved, resembling, as it 
float* in tlm water, a split pea. In tlic seventh 
"ei:k, it is equal in size to a small bee; and, by 
the conclusion of the second mouth, it is bent, and 
as long a.; a kidney bean. At first it appears like 
° oval bodies united by a neck. One of these 
ls the head, the other the trunk. The head is a 
Membranous bag, largo in proportion to tho body; 100 
IhiI uiUr the first mouth of its distinct uppcarance,. 
its relative size decreases: on opening it, nothing 
but a soli pulp is found within. In n little time, 
•lie face apjicars, the most prominent features of 
which are tlie eyes; these arc |>roportionably 
larger in the embryo than in the advanced ftetus, 
and are placed low down. The face itself is small* 
tunijiarcd to tlie cranium. Tlie nose does not ap- 
ja-ar until tlie end of tlie second month; but somo- 
wliat sooner we may olwirvc two apertures in tlie 
situation of (lie nostrils. The mouth at first is a 
round hole, but by thirers the lips appear; and 
alter tlie third month they are closed, but do not 
voiier*. Tlie external car in not formed at once, 
’nit in |wrts, and is not completed before tbe fifth 
month: even then it dillcrs in shape from tlie oiu 
•iticr birth- It is at first like a gently depressed 
:ir« b. 
The extremities appear like the liuds of a plant. 
Tlie arms s.re dirc»:led obliquely forward, toward 
•lie linv, ami are larger Ilian tlie interior extreme 
lies. The ♦:*'iii'a»s jhr a time are scarcely to Is- 
obs* rved : hut in a third mouth, they arc large in 
propulsion >i* the In dy. 
\\ licit the rii»1*rvu does not weigh more than 
:er«i|J«’. 1 he membranes arc as large as a small 
• gg. * >n Its** otl** r hand, at the full time, when 
:1m: lii»ii» weighs men j«oumIs. iIk: placenta and 
i.io .oraii *! • i.„[ weigh a pound and a hall, and 
:1m propotli<». Oi the iiyw nnm< is greatly leu- 101 
KCn°d- In tJie twcin.li week the fiatas weighs 
••early two ounces, and measures, when stretched 
o«t, about thr«e incites, TIic membranes are 
larger than a goose's egg, and weigh, it'wo include 
liquor anuii, several ounces. In the fourth 
•nonth, the (aius is about live inches long. In 
Ulc fifth uioutli it measures six or seven indies, 
iu the sixth mouth tin; lirtus is well formed, 
"‘ensures eight or nine incites, and weigh* about 
‘HM; |tom»d troy : whilst Uie placenta and mem- 
brane* weigh a! tout halt* a |touud, uxdusivu ol* 
"•o liquor ojmii. In the seventh uioutli, it lias 
joined about three incites in length, and it may 
IVc independent ot* tlic uterus, blit its dwnce of 
JWrviving six hours after birth, is much against it. 
. dto eight month, it measures about tiftceu 
‘"cites, and weighs four or five (toutids. These 
vary according to sex, and the eon- 
*°fuialion of parent*. Male children generally 
'Vc‘'gh more titan fomalc*; and litcir average 
has been estimated at twenty inches and a 
mird, and that of females at a trifle less than 
Evenly inches. 102 
CHAPTER V. 
SECTION I. REMARKS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT. 
I scarcely need observe that by this instinct is 
meant the desire for sexual intercourse. Blumen- 
b&ch speaks of it, as “ superior to all others in uni- 
versality and violence.” Perhaps hunger is an ex- 
ception. But surely, this instinct commands a 
great proportion of our thoughts; and has \great in- 
fluence upon our happiness for better or for worse. 
“ Controlled by reason and chastened by good 
feelings as remarked by Owen in his Moral Phy- 
siology—u it gives to social intercourse much of 
its charms and zest; but directed by selfishness, 
or governed by force, it is prolific of misery and 
degradation. In itself, it appears the most social 
and least selfish of all our instincts. It fits us to 
give, even while receiving pleasure; and among 
cultivated beings, the former power is even more 
highly valued than tbe latter. Not one of our 
instincts, perhaps, affords larger scope for the 
exercise of disinterestedness, or fitter play for 
the best moral feelings of our race. Not one 
gives birth to relations more gentle, more hu- 103 
Ionizing and endearing; not one lies more 
immediately at the root of the kindliest charities 
and most generous impulses that honour and bless 
human nature. It is a much more noble, because 
less purely selfish instinct' than hunger or thirst 
Ii is an nstinct that entwines itself around the 
Wannest ■ jelings and best affections of the heart” 
But frequently its strength, together with 
deficient moral cnlturc, is such that it is not “ con- 
trolled by reason;” and consequently from time 
memorial it has been gratified, cither in such a 
mischievous manner, lo such an intemperate de- 
ffree, or under such impro|»cr circumstances, as to 
S*vo rise to an incalculable amount of misery. 
For this reason it has by some been regarded as 
a low, degrading, and “carnal” passion, with 
which a holy life must ever be at war. But in the 
mstinct itself, the philosopher sees nothing deserv- 
l0g of degrading epithets; it is os much of a heav- 
e®ly origin as any other part of the human consti- 
tution ; and he sees not that nature should war 
uguinst herself. lie believes that among the un- 
•ophisticated natives of the forest it is, and in wisely 
organized societies of duly cnlightned beings it 
"light be, a source of tenfold more happiness than 
misery. 
. Physicians, of all others, ought to rise above self- 
tthness—a difficult act, I grant—and having made 
memselves acquainted with human nature and all 
**■ frailties, they ought to strive—not to alter this 104 
nature, for this they cannot do—but to diffuse 
among the people such information as shall enable 
them to avoid the evils which are liable to arise 
from gratifying those calls of nature which are inse- 
pcrable from their existence. It is more useful and 
more noble to prevent than to cure; and people 
ought to regard those who do the former, as the 
greater benefactors. 
In books, pamphlets, journals, &c., some benevo- 
lent physicians have already laid much useful in- 
formation before the public respecting eating, drink- 
ing, bathing, lacing, contagion, air, exercise, &c., 
while the hypocracy and prudery of the age have 
been such as to render it excusable in them to pass 
by the more important subject now before us. 
This instinct is liable to be gratified at improper 
times; to an intemperate degree; and in a mis- 
chievous manner. This latter error I shall make 
the subject of the next section. 
True philosophy dictates that this and all other 
appetites be so gratified as will most conduce to 
health and happiness—not merely the happiness 
attending the gratification of one, but all the senses 
—not merely sensual happiness, but intellectually; 
and, finally, not merely the happiness of the indi- 
vidual, but of the human family. 
It ought not, either in males or females, to be 
gratified until the system is fully grown, and some- 
what matured. Perhaps, as a general rule, in this 
country, it would be well, on this account, for 105 
females not to marry before they are nineteen 
years of age; and males not before they are two 
°r three years older. Those who refrain until 
these ages, will enjoy firmer constitutions, gener- 
ally speaking, and will ultimately be able to derive 
more pleasure from the gratification of this instinct 
than if they indulged earlier—especially to any 
considerable extent. I admit, nay, I verily believe 
that certain cases of disease, both in the male and 
female—but especially in the latter—form cx- 
ceptions to this general rule. 
A due regard to health and happiness also en- 
joins some restraint on this passion—indeed at all 
times—but especially for a lew years after the 
mentioned ages. It ought not to be rashly 
Indulged at first; as all great and sudden changes 
*n our habits are detrimental to the healthy sys- 
tem ; as are all active medicines. Yet in some 
diseases, advantage may be taken of the influence 
°f sudden changes. 
Many young married people, ignorant of the 
consequences, have debilitated the whole system, 
the genital and nervous systems in particular ; have 
impaired their mental energies; have induced 
consumptive, and other diseases; have rendered 
themselves irritable, unsocial, and melancholy; 
and finally, much impaired, if not destroyed their 
Sections for each other, by an undue gratification 
°f the reproductive instinct. In almost all dis- 
eases, if gratified at all, it should bo very teni- 106 
peratcly. It ought not to be gratified during 
menstruation; nor on the part of the female, soon 
after an accouchmcnt or an abortion. In case ot 
pregnancy a temperate indulgence for the first 
three or four months may be of no particular in- 
jury in those not disposed to miscarry. Jhit it 
ought to be known that the growth of the ftctm in 
utero may be impaired, and the seeds of future 
bodily infirmity and mental imbecility of the off- 
spring may be sown by much indulgence during 
pregnancy; particularly where the woman expe- 
riences much sensation in such indulgence. 
Having glanced at some of the bad effects of 
an undue as well as untimely gratification, I have 
but little more to offer under the head of intemper- 
ate degree. 
It will be borne in mind that temperance or in- 
temperance in this matter is not to be decided by 
numbers ; but depends on circumstances. What 
would be temperance in one may be intemperance 
in another ; and with respect to the same indi- 
vidual, what he might enjoy with impunity were 
he a muscular labourer, would, were he a student 
or mental labourer, unfit him for the successful 
prosecution of his business. 
Sexual intemperance has a tendency to lead to 
intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. The 
languor, depression of spirits, in some instances 
faintness, and even want of appetite, induced by 107 
the former, call loudly for some stimulus*, and give 
a relish to spirits. 
The male system is much more exhausted by 
sexual commerce than the female. It seems, 
indeed, to have but very little effect, comparatively, 
upon some females ; but with respect to the male, 
it has been estimated by Tissot, that the loss of 
°ne ounce of semen is equal, in its effects upon 
the system, to the loss of 40 ounces of blood. As 
it respects the immediate effects, this estimation, 
Possibly, may not be to great, generally speaking ; 
hut a man living on a full meat diet, might doubt- 
less part with fifty ounces of semen in the course 
°fa year, with far less detriment to the system, 
than with 2,000 ounces of blood. 
It is a fact, that mode of living, independent of 
0ccupation, makes a great difference with respect 
to what the system will bear. A full meat diet, 
turtles, oysters, eggs, wine, &c., certainly promote 
the secretion of semen, and enable the system to 
hear its emission. But a cool, vegetable, and milk 
diet calms all the fiercer passions, the venereal 
Specially. Persons of tolerable “ amativcncss,” 
who adopt such a diet as this, and wait for the 
genital system to operate upon the mind, rather 
than seek occassions which operate on the mind, 
ar*d, through the mind, on the genital system, will 
enjoy clear intellects and a fine flow of spirits. 
Section 2. Of Onanisn,and Involuntary Seminal 
‘Missions.—By Onanism is, now generally meant 108 
self or solitary gratification, which, however, diiTers 
materially from the act of Onan, mentioned Gen. 
eh. xxxviii, ver. 9. 
I believe it is the general opinion of enligtcued 
physicians, that this practice is far more injurious 
to the system than gratification in the natural 
way. Hut it is not easy to give any very satisfac- 
tory reason why the same amount emitted in this 
way should bo more injurious, than if emitted in 
sexual congress.i’rohahlij we are to look to the mind 
lor the cause of its l>cing so. We may well sup- 
pose that the thoughts which attend and follow 
gratification with females arc of a more agree- 
able cast; it is probable, too, that having enjoyed 
the highest degree of pleasure, the mind is more at 
ease and satisfied, and docs not dwell so incessantly 
on one thing, as when only self gratification has 
been experienced. These suppositions being well 
founded, those who are aware of the great influence 
of the mind over the body, will think the fact of 
greater injury from solitary gratification sufficiently 
accounted for. 
But probably those addicted to onanism, emit 
more frequently than others ; for many circum- 
stances operate to hinder at least illegal intercourse, 
which have no control over the 6elf-devoted de- 
bauchee; and his thoughts being much engrossed 
with his passion, he frequently falls into the act. 
But gratification in any way is injurious until 
the system becomes well developed, and in a mea- 109 
matured; and perhaps the mere knowledge 
of this fact will have as much controlling influence 
over young men, and icomcn too, as if it were ac- 
companied with the explanations which might be 
given. 
To prevent any confusion of ideas, I will here 
remark that the voluntary gratification of the 
venereal instinct, in any manner, or to any ex- 
tent whatever, is not itself a disease, but an act 
which may cause disease, and which may some- 
times be caused by disease. That is, some morbid 
•rritation in the system—perhaps in the genital 
organs themselves, or in the rectum, the bladder, 
'he brain, or elsewhere, may give rise to such fu- 
rious desires that no moral resolutions can with- 
stand them, as those who make and administer 
-Ws ought to be aware. The act then, is not a 
disease ; nor does it, though commenced ever so 
in life, or practiced ever so frequently, pro- 
duce a particular set of sjunptoms in every case: 
,;iat is, symptoms that do not attend other diseases, 
•'••id arc not produced by other causes. Of all the 
mentioned by Tissot, there is not one 
"’hich may not arise from oilier causes than im 
1'roper venereal indulgences. 
I believe the practice of Onanism, is quite pre 
'illent and pernicious; that its bad effects arc by 
110 means confined to those devoted to it, hut e.v- 
f°ud to their progeny; and that Tissot’s treatise 
*s well calculated to check it. But still I think 110 
this treatise, and some others extant, on some ac- 
counts objectionable. It is in a great measure 
filled with a collection of desperate cases, and 
when a young man, ignorant of medicine, reads 
these cases, and the multitudes of symptoms 
which, amongst all the cases, he will meet with, 
he must be an uncommonly sound and healthy 
man, or he will believe that he has already done 
himself great, if not irreparable injury; and will 
suffer more in" mind, and consequently in body, 
than if he had never seen the book, but had con- 
tinued his practice. It is truly astonishing what 
a degree of mental disquietude will arise in a 
young man from the idea that his.virile powers 
are injured, and this too by his own mal-practice; 
and equally astonishing, except to the enlightened 
physician, how this state of the mind will impair 
the bodily powers. In all the cases in Tissot’s 
treatise, the mischief is attributed to Onanism, or 
to excess with women, without any intimation in 
any of the cases that the morbid symptoms might 
be owing to some disease, in the production of 
which the evil practice or excess had nothing to 
do: or any intimation that the excess itself might 
be owing to some disease over which the patient 
could have no control. A man marries a young 
wife and in three weeks becomes blind, and in 
four months dies; another is attacked the day af- 
ter marriage with acute fever, and two others a week 
after; another has an epileptic fit, as he was in the 111 
habit of doing before he married; a young wo* 
Man becomes chlorotic, &c., &c.; and all these 
diseases arc, by Bekkers and Tissot, attributed to 
'encry as a matter of course. I do not believe 
that in any case more good than evil arises from 
erroneous views or false colouring. If a young 
Man have a fever or a young woman become pale 
and weak soon after marriage, the world need not 
suppose it is necessarily owing to intemperance. 
When vve sec a man have a voracious appetite 
f°r food or for nature’s drink, [water,] we suppose 
that his stomach or some other part is diseased; 
*ind this disease may have been caused by excesses 
111 eating and drinking, or it may not; so, too, an 
excessive venereal appetite may have been pro- 
duced by other causes than excessive indulgence, 
when a physician is called to a patient whose 
corporeal and mental powers arc much impaired, 
and he can discover no cause more probable than 
Venereal excesses, he is still to inquire if these 
excesses have been such as would so reduce a well 
person; and if they have he is still to inquire ?f 
there be not some morbid state of the system, or 
so,nc local irritation, which is the cause and not 
the effect of such excesses. 
Excess at a mature age is now and then pro- 
ductive of great infirmity in both sexes, but pro- 
bably it is premature indulgence, and especially 
that is doing the most and worst mis- 
chief. This practice in boys not only impair# 112 
their growth, and weakens the mental and corpo- 
real powers : but it attracts the vital fluids to the 
genital organs, giving rise to an habitually preter- 
natural secretion of semen, and, finally, inducing 
that irritability and repletion of these organs which 
are the principle cause of involuntary nocturnal 
emissions ofsemen. This stale of these organs causes 
the lascivious dreams, which, to be sure, are in most 
cases, the immediate cause of these emissions. I 
am inclined to the opinion that in most cases this 
state of these organs is induced by premature and 
unnatural indulgence, because, according to Blu- 
mcnbach, no animal but man is subject to these in- 
voluntary emissions of semen. 
I would say, then, that if a youth be given to the 
practice of masturbation or Onanism, he will be 
liable : First, to render the genital organs irritable, 
and produce in them a habit of secreting a supera- 
bundance of semen. Second, if all at once he become 
continent, procuring no voluntary emissions in any 
way, there will soon be repletion, giving rise to 
dreams and involuntary emissions. 
Though I find it convenient in the arrangement 
of my ideas to consider involuntary emissions as 
constituting a disease; still there are all degrees 
of difference as to their frequency, as well as to 
their effects upon the system; and in many cases 
they ought to give rise to no uneasiness of mind 
whatever. Blunicnbuch, a very eminent physiolo- 
gist, regards them as “ among the natural cxcrc- 113 
hons, intended to liberate the system from the 
otherwise urgent and superfluous semen, more or 
*°ss frequently, according to the variety of tem- 
perament and constitution. “ I willingly grant,’’ 
says he, “ that barbarous nations of a phlegmatic 
temperament, and copulating promiscuously, do 
not require this excretion; but I must contend 
that it is a perfectly natural relief in a young 
n,an, single, sanguineous, full of juices, with a 
strong imagination, and living high, although en- 
joying the complclcst health in all other respects.” 
' Institutes of Physiology, p. 208. 
In other cases, however, these emissions give 
r*ae to us deplorable effects us any voluntary cr- 
osses. They effeminate the system, making ba- 
k'es of men; they produce an effect upon the 
nervous system much like long continued griefj or 
other depressing passions, so that moral causes 
which would but little disturb a sound man, de- 
press these patients very much, and not unfrequent- 
v cause them to weep. They reflect much on 
what they consider their miserable prospects of 
toture happiness ; and these sad reflections do the 
system immense injury. Let a young man once 
become possessed with the idea that his virility is 
Impaired, and that sexual intercouse would greatly 
,njurc him, if not ultimately destroy; and, my 
Word for it, his mind will wear down his machine 
oster than any degree of intemperance that is at 
a Prevalent. Let him now have no adviser but 114 
Tis6ot’B treatise, and lie will certainly die ! Once 
on a time, before I studied medicine, I was most 
intimately acquainted with a young man who 
was subject to these emissions from the age of 17 
to that of 21 ; lie had them not oftener, on an 
average, than about once a week, and sometimes 
he would pass a month without any ; his appetite 
and digestion were good, and for the most part he 
slept well, nor did he part with any semen in any 
other way; yet such was the state of his mind in 
relation to his complaint, that he all the while 
gradually lost strength, was considerably emacia- 
ted, and not a little nervous. The passage I have 
just quoted from Blumenbach would have done 
him more good than all the medicine, which he 
was for years continually pouring down, from no 
less than eight physicians, who at different times 
prescribed for him. For a short time he was so 
low that the emissions were not attended with 
erections, and with but very little agreeable sensa- 
tion. 
With some patients, the mere presence of fe- 
males give rise to emissions ; with others, a little 
semen now and then passes off on going to stool. 
There are others, again, who are subject to a pe- 
lucid discharge from the urethra itself, without 
erection, but with venereal thoughts while awake. 
This, of course, is not semen, but a fecretion of 
the urethra, owing, probably, to relaxation or de- 
bility. A diseased state of the urethra may give 115 
r»se to a purulent discharge, unattended with la* 
c*vious ideas, and not caused by an impure con- 
flection. 
Tissot warns females against the practice of 
self-gratification, and says it produces in them as 
deplorable effects as in males ; “ besides rendering 
them not unfrequently sterile, and even indifferent 
to the pleasures of the marriage bed.” 
As to the medical treatment of those who have 
lnjtired themselves by premature, unnatural, or 
excessive venery, I shall say but little. In some 
cases of nocturnal emissions, the remedies here- 
after mentioned for impotency would be proper, 
common remedies for debility brought on by 
venereal excesses, whether attended by these emis- 
s‘ons or not, are tincture of flies, bark, preparations 
°* iron, cold bath, exercise, and employment that 
"'ftl, if possible, divert the mind, &c. Where the 
desires are so strong that the patient cannot re- 
frain from voluntary emissions—constituting a 
disease called Styriasis—Opium, in large and re- 
Peatcd doses, is good; as also spare vegetable diet, 
nitre, neutral salts, and other medicines 
supposed to be cooling, close study ! 
To prevent nocturnal emissions the male may 
uerive some advantage by any contrivance his in- 
genuity can invent, which shall so confine the 
ftenis that erection cannot take place without pro- 
ving an uneasiness which will awake him, in 
tnany instances, before the omission takes place. 116 
I would suggest a bandage around the body just 
nbove the hips, opposite the centre of the back, at- 
tach the end of another bandage to the. first, and 
bring it forward between the thighs; cut in it a 
small hole in the right place for passing through 
the penis, and then carry it up towards the navel, 
and fasten it to the first bandage. Passing the 
penis through the hole, turn it down towards the 
perineum, and there confine it with two or three 
pieces of tape, attached to the bandage on which 
the penis now lies. In most of these cases, stimu- 
lating, tonic, and astringent medicines are worse 
than useless. Remedies that allay irritation and 
remove the causes of it are the proper -ones. Cos- 
tiveness should be obviated by cooling apperients, 
such as epsom salts; and before going to bed, let 
the patient, by means of an India-rubber bag and 
pipe, inject into the rectum half a pint or more of 
tepid water, to unload the rectum before he retires, 
and also to allay irritation in that quarter. In 
some obstinate cases, cold water, or a very weak 
infusion of lobelia, as a teaspoonful of the powder- 
ed leaves, or a half a teaspoonful of the seed, to the 
half pint of water, may operate better than sim- 
ple warm water. If neither succeed in lengthen- 
ing the intervals between the emissions to a con- 
siderable extent; half a grain of opium dissolved 
in two ounces of water, or ten to fifteen drops of 
laudanum in two ounces of fresh oil or thin starch, 
may be injected after the tepid water injection has 117 
Passed off. If there be any disorder of the sto- 
mach or other digestive organs, it must by all 
,r>eans be attended to. 
The patient should avoid stimulating foods and 
drinks, and late suppers. He should not drink 
freely of any liquids in the evening; and should 
lake care to empty the bladder, not only on going 
1° bed, but whenever he awakes during the night, 
bed should be hard and not over warm, and 
”e should avoid lying on the back, as much as 
Possible. 
But for nocturnal emissions in youngcrly per- 
sons, whose constitutions are not all broken down, 
*he best remedy is marriage. It restored the 
young man whose case I have mentioned to health 
j*nd strength in the course of a few months; and 
b® is now the father of several healthy children. 
was induced to take this step by hearing that 
others like himself had been cured by this inea- 
sure. Since I have been in the practice of medi- 
an0 I have recommended this course to a very 
fow; ancj i know that success in one case, (and I 
not know but in all) has followed the adoption 
it. I am thus particular to mention these facts, 
because the situation of some of these patients is 
lllQst pitiable, because medicine will not always 
them, and because no writer to my know- 
Cc%e, has recommended marriage in these cases, 
"'here the system is much debilitated. But in the 
Case I have mentioned, the patient could take but 118 
little exercise, and was so weak, especially in the 
back, that to stand erect ten or fifteen minutes 
was a great task. Marriage in such cases is a 
course which many physicians would at first 
thought pronounce detrimental; but man, take 
him mind and body together, is a curious piece of 
composition, and often confounds those who sit in 
closets and speculate. I see no great difficulty, 
however, in accounting for the good effects of 
marriage in these cases; I say marriage, as it 
would be difficult in these civil times to enjoy all 
the desirable circumstances without it. We all 
know that certain thoughts are a most powerful 
stimulus to the genital system ; and .the object is 
to have all fear and restraint, set aside—to have 
the company of a female perfectly free and con- 
stant—to have the patient become satisfied, not to 
say satiated, so that the imagination may be still, 
and suffer the mind to get hold of, and dwell upon 
some other subject. Such company, so enjoyed, 
is also comforting, calming, restorative, to the 
long agitated and irritable nervous system. Be- 
sides all this, in marriage there is a natural ex- 
cretion of that which would otherwise excite 
dreams, and thus effect its own emission, and 
cause the miserable patient to think, “ alas 1 I 
am no better—I have doctored and doctored, but 
it does no good—every time makes me more 
difficult to cure—I am gradually loosing ground— 
what shall I do ? must I die ?” which thinking, if 119 
80 it may be called, is very injurious to Uie syg 
tern. 
My experience in these cases has been with 
those who “ had not known women.” How mar- 
riage would operate with those who have freely 
enjoyed female company, I am not so sure. Much, 
I think, would depend on circumstances. 
While I would advise—nay, urge, those who 
have unfortunately fell into the unsocial and nig- 
gardly practice of onanism, to abandon it at once; 
still I would apprise them that by so doing, they 
hray expect to have an emission in their sleep now 
a,'d then ; but if they are not alarmed at it, as they 
need not be, it will do them no more harm than if 
Voluntarily induced. For want of this information, 
issot’s treatise is calculated to do some harm, as 
J-hose who read it may quit the practice, then 
have involuntary emissions, and be much fright- 
ened. 
Section 3. Of Sterility.—Sterilityor barren- 
hess, is not considered in itsc If as a disease; 
hot as the consequence of some general or local 
forbid state. For this or some other reason, too 
Jttle attention has been paid to it by the medical 
Profession. A complete and able treatise on steri- 
II y and impotency would be very acceptable not 
oierely to the many individuals personally interes- 
, but to medical practitioners. Long attention 
o the subject, and better opportunities for making 
°hservations than any one, to my knowledge, has 120 
yet enjoyed, are necessary to the production of 
such a treatise. In many cases of sterility even 
where offspring are desired, the subjects of it feel 
an undue delicacy in consulting a physician; 
which, taken in connection with their faith- 
lessness in the powers of medicine, prevents them 
from doing so; while on the other hand, the in- 
frequency of such applications, deprives physicians 
of good opportunities for acquiring skill in the 
treatment of such cases, and also contributes in no 
small degree to the almost total neglect of the sub- 
ject by practitioners. 
My present design is, to show what cases of 
sterility are probably curable ; to mention a few 
means proper to be tried w'ithout applying to a 
physician; and to induce those sujccts of these 
cases, who desire offspring, to make such applica- 
tion ; if the means I shall mention prove ineffectual. 
Sterility may be said to be owing to imperfect 
organization, or imperfect action of the organs of 
generation. The imperfection of organization may 
be congenital, that is from birth; and may consist 
in a very strong hymen, partially or wholly imper- 
forate—which however does not invariably prevent 
conception—in narrowness of the vagina; in defi- 
ciency of ovaria; in shortness or imperviousnessof 
the fallopian tubes, See. In other cases the organi- 
zation is rendered imperfect by some organic 
disease; such as large polypi in the uterus or 
vaginia, dropsy of the ovaria Sec. 
Most cases of sterility from mal-organization. 121 
either congenital or acquired are incurable. Where 
it is owing to narrowness of the vagina, however, 
“soap baths, vapour baths, the introduction of fine 
sponges imbibed with oily or mucilaginous sub- 
stances, frictions of the perineum with oil or lard, 
and coitus immediately after menstruation,” have 
been recommended with good prospect of success. 
Where the hymen forms the obstruction, a slight 
surgical operation is all that is required. Where 
the ovaria are imperfect or wholly wanting, the 
menses do not appear; the breasts are not de- 
veloped, sexual desire is inconsiderable, or wholly 
absent, and the case incurable. 
But in by far the greater proportion of cases of 
sterility; it is the action of the organs of generation 
that is in fault; or at least, there are no evident 
marks of organic imperfection. The predisposing 
causes of this imperfect action are, a phlegmatic or 
masculine constitution; serious diseases, as fevers, 
dropsy, &c., venereal excesses, solitary or othcr- 
VVjse. Obesity seems also to be a frequent predis- 
posing cause; as “ very corpulent women arc often 
barren, for their corpulence depends either upon 
'vant of activity of the ovaria, spayed, or castrated 
anmials generally becoming lat, or it exists as a 
mark of weakness of the system.”—Burns. 
. In most of these cases of imperfect action, there 
18 some irregularity ofthe menses; being obstructed, 
or Bparing, or attended with much pain; or they are 
00 profuse, or too frequent. “ It is extremely rare,” 122 
says Bums, “ for a woman to conceive, who does 
not menstruate regularly; and, on the other hand, 
correct menstruation generally indicates a capability 
of impregnation on the part of the woman.” But it 
has been ascertained that a male and female may 
be sterile in relation to each other, though neither 
of them be so with others. 
Where the menstruation is imperfect, the first 
step is to correct this; for which purpose the ad- 
vice of a physician will generally be necessary ; for 
these irregularities are so various, and depend on 
such various causes and states of the system, that it 
would be inconsistent with the plan of this work to 
give sufficient directions for treating them, but 
where the general health is tolerably good, and 
there is no more imperfection of the menstruation 
than in thousands of females who are not sterile, 
we must suppose there is a peculiar weakness, 
atony, or torpor of the organs immediately con- 
cerned—unless the fault bewith the husband. I 
will mention some measures, easily put in practice, 
calculated to remove this peculiar atony, &c. 
A tonic diet, consisting in a good proportion of 
meat; travelling; cold bathing; tincture of can- 
tharides taken internally, and frictions with volatile 
linament containing some tincture of cantharides 
on and below the loins, or even a blister upon that 
part of the back that is below the loins. The flesh 
brush may be generally applied, and light shocks 
from the electric machine may be sent through the 123 
pelvis. Cayenne taken freely on food or in any 
other way. Occasionally a brisk purge, and nightly 
an aloetic pill, so as to act a little on the bowels 
the next day. A moderate salivation by mercury 
iS sometimes successful. A temporary separation 
from the husband, and then copulation some two 
°r three days after the termination of a menstrual 
course. Let this copulation take place in free 
pure air, for the warm, foul air, of the bed is sup- 
posed to be unfavourable. Let the husband be ab- 
stemious (not as to diet) before this copulation, 
that the semen may be more active, and for some 
days afterwards, on the woman’s account. And 
if conception do take place, let him still be tem- 
perate, and cautious not to frustrate the action of 
gestation. There is great sympathy between the 
breasts and the generative organs. Therefore let 
the breasts be frequently but gently handled, the 
nipples tittilated, sucked, &c. The mind may be 
operated upon by all those endearing attentions 
which common sense can suggest, and what are 
called lascivious books and engravings may be of 
use. What more powerfully stimulates the 
organs of generation than the imagination ? 
When sterility—if so it may be called—is 
owing to frequent abortions, conception must be 
for some time prevented, as suggested in the first 
chapter of this work, and the system strengthened. 
Tincture of cantharidea may be prepared by 
Putting a drachm of Spanish flies, a little bruised, 124 
into a gill of common spirits. It will be fit for 
use in six or eight days. From ten to twenty 
drops of it may be taken in a little water three 
times a day, and the dose may be increased a drop 
or two each day, even to one hundred drops, if it 
should not previously produce any unpleasant ef- 
fect, and the first and only unpleasant effect will 
probably be strangury, that is a frequent desire to 
urinate, and some pain or scalding in doing so. 
This will soon pass away by omitting the medicine, 
and more readily if milk and water, flaxseed or 
slippery elm tea, be freely drank ; after which the 
medicine may be again taken, beginning with 
small doses. In this way it may be well to perse- 
vere for three or four months. This tincture is 
about a third stronger than that kept in apothecary’s 
shops. This medicine taken as above is one of the 
best for leucorrhoea, or the “ whites.” Particularly 
old and bad cases. 
The volatile linament may be prepared by put- 
ting some olive [sweetj oil into an opodeldock or 
other open mouthed phial, then turn in about half 
as much aqua ammonia, which is liquid hartshorn, 
and shake them briskly together. Two or three 
teaspoonfuls of tincture of cantharides may be 
added to this linament, if the linament alone do not 
evidently stimulate the skin. 
The aloetic pills consist of equal parts of aloes 
and castile soap, and are known by this name, by 
all regular physicians and apothecaries. 125 
The African cayenne is much stronger than the 
American. 
Section 4. Of Impotency—This term seems 
not to be used in precisely the same sense by all 
Writers. It is generally considered as an inability to 
Perform on the part of the male. Sir A. Cooper, in 
speaking of it, says that it consists “ in an irrita- 
bility of the visiculce seminales, and perhaps of 
the vasa deferentia, which is evinced by this; a 
Wan going to be connected with a woman, the 
Woment his organs come in contact with hers, an 
emission takes place, and all inclination ceases.” I 
do not question but that in such cases there is an un- 
due “ irritability” of the genital organs, the parent 
of which, in elderly persons, is probably debility. 
But I consider such cases as constituting only one 
variety of impotency. According to my views, 
Wipotency consists in an inability of giving, or of 
receiving pleasure; and females as well as males 
Way be subjects of it, yet neither the one or the 
?ther shall be sterile. That is, the semen of the 
male may be of a fructifying quality; 
and the female may conceive though she have no 
Pleasure in the act which causes her to do so. 
According to this view, there are some varieties 
at)d all degrees of impotency The male may be 
'''ell able to produce pleasure, but not to enjoy it 
Were the erection is good, and of long continu- 
ance; but the secreting and ejeculating organs arc 
not “ irritable,” but torpid; and the sensibility 126 
of tlie nerves of the glans penis and urethra may 
also be diminished, or the semen may be of a va- 
pid, unirritating quality, and so make but a weak 
impression on the nerves of the latter part. This 
is one variety. Another is that of Cooper, already 
mentioned. A third consists in the absence of de- 
sire and erection, then there is the case of females, 
who experience no pleasure, and so on. 
I wish it were as easy to give directions which, 
if followed, would cure all cases of impotency, as 
it is to distinguish different varieties among them. 
For in the young and middle aged, especially in 
some situations of life, impotency is certainly a 
serious misfortune, to say the least-of it. The 
whole evil by no means consists, in every case, in 
the loss of a source of pleasure. All young peo- 
ple ought to be apprized of the causes of it— 
causes which in many instances greatly lessen 
one’s ability of giving and enjoying that pleasure 
which is the root of domestic happiness. 
Premature and excessive indulgence, either soli- 
tary or natural, arc the most frequent causes of 
impotency. Injuries of the head, spine, or geni- 
tal organs, may be causes of it. In the sense I 
use the term, almost all diseases, and especially 
diseases of the stomach, are causes of temporary 
turns of it, in some degree. There is a close 
sympathy between the testicles and stomach in 
the male, and probably between the ovaria 
tainly the uterus) and the stomach in the female; 127 
and very slight derangements of the stomach will 
impair the veneveal desire, &c., so long as such 
derangements continue. Hence emetics and cath- 
artics often seem to stimulate the genital organs, 
as they often cause in them renewed action and 
feeling. The use of opium, tobacco, and other nar- 
cotics, seems to impair the sensibility of the nerves 
of the genital organs. Sedentary habits, close study, 
and depressing passions, as anxiety, grief, &c., 
impair the male power of giving, and more espe- 
cially do they impair both the male and female 
power of receiving or enjoying pleasure. And 
hence in attempting a cure of impotency, all 
these causes are to be removed or avoided as much 
as possible. 
Sir Astlcy Cooper says, “ If it arise, as it fre- 
quently does in old people, from an affection of the 
mind, two instances of which I have known in 
men of property and resectability, married to a6 
fine and handsome women as could be seen, which 
attributed to a conciousness of incapability, as 
here was a considerable disparity in years, make 
fight of the complaint; but, at the same time as- 
SUre them of a certainty of cure, or at least of 
getting better ; and prescribe pills composed of any 
mert substance, desiring them to be careful to take 
°ne only at night, and by no means have any con- 
action with their wives; and it is seldom that 
more than half a dozen are swollowed before a good 
account is given by the patient of their surprising 
effiaoy. >fr. Hunter recommended a patient who 128 
was complaining of impotence to sleep with a fe- 
male, but forbade him to have any connexion 
with her for several nights. In this case, the dis- 
ease being merely a mental affection, he was com- 
pletely relieved by pursuing the plan only a night 
or two, as nature was found to be ever vigorous.”— 
Cooper's Lectures by Snyder. 
But in most cases, real medicine will be proper. 
Where the erection is tolerably good, but the emis- 
sion too early, we should say that opium will be 
beneficial; and at the same time let the mind 
dwell on the affection, and on women, as little as 
possible. Where the emission is tardy, and the 
sensation deficient, let the patient persue such 
courses and take such medicines as prescribed for 
sterility; especially the tincture of flies—taken for 
a long time, perhaps a year, and in large doses if 
necessary it sometimes does wonders, in cases of 
seminal atony. It invigorates the whole system, 
and enlivens the mind ; which is generally much 
depressed in these cases. The greater the debility 
of the general system, or of the generative, the 
greater doses will be required and borne. Drs. 
Francis and Hosack of New York esteemed this 
medicine very highly in these cases. 
Females whose desires are deficient or wanting, 
may also persue the course recommended for 
sterility; and many of them, being in a state of 
general debility, with pale countenances, will be 
much benefitted by adding to this course prepara- 
tions of iron. P05-51