It will be thus seen that the proper union of the sexes is at that moment when the mind and body are at rest, and when both parties are in a mood for mutual caresses. Certain moral and intellectual perceptions undoubtedly govern their feelings under such circumstances, and aid in producing that intense pleasurable feeling which a healthy and proper connection will always promote.
As to the times when sexual union should be avoided, I would say that during five or six days after the monthly turn of the female commences, it is absolutely unhealthy to both. Married men of cleanly habits will religiously observe the Jewish law in this respect, and wait seven days. It was formerly thought that connection with a female during the menstrual flow, was the origin of a certain sexual disease called gonorrhœa; but such is not the fact. Connection during that period is, however, unnatural, hurtful, and often painful to the female. Neither should there be any intimacy of this kind when the female is troubled with fluor albus, or whites, as then there is danger that the male may contract gonorrhœa. When a girl appoints her wedding day, she should reckon as near as possible a time when she will be fully over her monthly turn. If subject to fluor albus, she should first seek the most efficient means of cure; and if possible, a cure should be effected before she marries. Girls subject to this complaint seldom enjoy the constant sexual intercourse incident to married life. Medical science can manage this disease so easily and effectually by the aid of the Truss, or Abdominal Supporter, that there is no excuse for neglecting it. Unless the strictest cleanliness is practiced by the wife while she has the whites, she may give her husband the disease called gonorrhœa. She should never have any connection with him in the morning until she has risen and washed the part thoroughly. Suspicious men have often believed their wives unfaithful because they have contracted gonorrhœa from the whites. But the fact is well known to medical men that that alone is the original cause of the disease.
In Persia, and indeed in most Mahomedan countries where a plurality of wives is allowed, it is considered indecent to approach a woman for sexual intercourse during pregnancy, or when she is suckling her child. This custom is highly commendable, and if observed among Christians it would tend to promote the health of both the mother and her offspring, for Nature never intended that the nuptial act should be performed solely for the gratification of our passions. Nevertheless, I do not say that a moderate indulgence during pregnancy would be hurtful to a robust woman; though to a weak and nervous one it surely is. But after the child is born, sexual intercourse should cease until it is weaned, to insure its health. Many sucking children die in consequence of the sexual indulgences of their parents, and none are wholly unaffected thereby.
TIME AND MANNER OF IMPREGNATION.
We have stated elsewhere that there are certain times during the month when it is impossible for a woman to be impregnated by sexual connection. This is a fact that may be relied upon with the utmost certainty, and we will discuss it more in detail. The Vesicles of the Ovary are constantly growing and ripening, as we have shown. Once in four weeks one or more of them is ready to leave its cell. Inflammation commences—which is called the Menstrual Flow—the Vesicle then begins to enlarge, and by the time the flow ceases, it bursts open, when the Ovum or Egg within escapes and is taken up by some very curious little membranes and drawn into the Fallopian Tube. It passes through this tube into the Womb, and it is generally two days, and often longer, in making the passage. Meantime a thin, delicate membrane, called the Decidua, forms in the Womb, and is ready to receive the Egg and detain it there, otherwise it would pass out and be lost. This membrane will generally last about a week, when it gradually loosens and passes out, taking the Egg along with it. If, however, the Egg be impregnated—in other words, if the female have connection with a man, and the Semen comes in contact with the Egg during this period, the Decidua from that moment begins to grow fast to the Womb, and becomes one of the coverings that protect the new being during the fœtal state.
It will thus be understood that during the first twenty-four hours after the Menstrual Flow has ceased, there is very little danger of impregnation, and in some females this time might be extended to two or three days with safety. The Zoospermes of the Semen will live for twenty-four hours within the Womb, and it is possible for the Egg to be impregnated by them the moment it leaves the Fallopian Tube. We therefore state the probable time that impregnation cannot take place to be twenty-four hours, allowing the second twenty-four hours for the possibility of there being living Semen in the Womb. After the Decidua and Egg have passed out of the Womb, which is from ten to sixteen days after the Menstrual Flow has ceased, impregnation, or conception, is then utterly impossible until after another monthly turn is over, and so on. French women are famous for a clear understanding of all the phenomena attending impregnation, and they generally avoid it at pleasure. They know exactly when the Decidua and Egg leaves them—they watch for it, and it is said many of them search for it and take it away violently. At all events, there are multitudes of the class called grisettes—females who are content to live and cohabit with any decent man who offers them a support—who never get into the family way at all. Their secret is supposed to be a physiological knowledge, or art, which enables them to destroy the Decidua, or membrane which keeps the Egg from passing out of the Womb. We confess we cannot understand how so delicate an operation can be performed by a woman upon her own person; but the thing is not impossible.
Married people who desire to avoid having children might generally attain their object by refraining from sexual intercourse for a week or ten days after the cessation of the Menstrual Flow; or, they might follow the precaution recommended in our chapter on Prevention during that period. It is supposed that conception takes place within seven days after the monthly turn nineteen times out of twenty. But to be on the safe side, you should wait longer—even to sixteen days—unless you can discover when the Decidua and Egg pass off. There are certain symptoms connected with this expulsion of the Egg which may be detected. A thin, colorless, watery fluid comes from the Vagina, and is often so abundant as to wet the external parts. This will continue for some hours, and will be followed by a grayish-white clot about the size of a pea. The discharge of this clot is frequently accompanied by slight pains and bearing down of the Womb. This is the Decidua and Egg. When a woman can discover, with certainty, the passage of this clot, she is then safe from impregnation until after her next monthly turn.
The manner in which the Egg of the female is impregnated by the male Semen is curious and interesting. In its first state, while in the Ovary, there may be seen within it a little dot called the Germinal Vesicle. When the Egg is fully ripe, and just as it leaves the Ovary, this little dot is by some unknown process expelled, leaving an open passage to the very centre. The Egg is then ready for impregnation; for, on passing into the Womb, if the male Semen come in contact with it, one of the animalculæ instantly darts into this open passage and buries itself. All these curious operations of Nature have been discovered by the use of the Microscope, and they are not only very interesting, but are of great importance to mankind.
It will be seen from these explanations of the principles of Impregnation, that a healthy woman may conceive under almost any circumstances—that the idea that a first and only connection would not impregnate is erroneous—that the most brutal violation may cause conception—in short, that if a female were rendered senseless by drugs, or by a blow upon the head, this would not prevent the impregnation of the Egg if the time were propitious.