II.—PRACTICAL METHODS OF PREVENTION.—(Contd.)

B. FOR MEN:

Marriage cannot be made safe, of course, so long as men are permitted to contract venereal diseases, and spread them. Early marriage will greatly lessen the chances of this; tolerated houses under effective medical supervision (such as we had in Paris during the War)[I] would enormously lessen the chances of infection, even where marriage was delayed or interrupted; prophylactic depots where disinfection was properly applied, and efficiently taught on request, would be invaluable; but it is at present from self-disinfection, properly understood and efficiently applied, that the community can hope for the greatest and most immediate gain in sexual cleanliness.[J] The following were the directions I gave the Anzacs during the war, distributing these with prophylactics for men and for women (the directions for women being printed in French and English); this action was endorsed by all the leading British, American and French military and medical authorities, from the Commanders-in-Chief downwards, and the effort undoubtedly saved many thousands of men from damage and ruin:—

"AVOID INFECTION.

"If you become infected with V.D., the fault is really your own. Either do not risk infection at all, or, risking infection, take proper precautions. These are quite simple. If you take the following precautions without delay you are very very unlikely to contract disease:—

1. Use vaseline or some other grease (such as calomel ointment) beforehand, to prevent direct contact with the source of infection.*

(* Note: Any personal discomfort or unpleasantness grease causes is counteracted by the woman's having douched beforehand, as should always be done for the sake of cleanliness. A mere film of grease is sufficient to fill up pores of the skin, cover over abrasions, and prevent penetration of microbes, and it greatly facilitates subsequent cleansing.)

2. Urinate immediately after each connection to wash away all infective material, and to prevent the invasion of the urethra by the microbes of V.D.

3. Wash thoroughly with soap and water, because ordinary soap is destructive to germs—of syphilis and of gonorrhœa—and bathe parts with weak solution of pot. permang.

You had far better carry a blue-light outfit with you as a "town dressing," in the same way as you would carry a "field dressing." If you cannot get an outfit, carry a tiny bottle of pot. permang. lotion and a scrap of cotton wool. If you swob yourself carefully with this, you will not become diseased. Remember always it is delay that is dangerous. If there has been delay, use a syringe sufficiently large for the contents to flood the urethra and slightly distend it, so that every nook and cranny is cleansed.

Whatever you do, make certain of going home clean. Be sure of your health and doubly sure before you embark. While you are in the army and on this side of the world you can be cured easily and privately. If you go home infected, there will be embarrassment and expense to yourself and great danger to the women and children you love.

Get cured NOW." (Paris, April, 1919).[K]

It was clearly proved that so long as men took these simple precautions (which I always explained personally) they were very unlikely to contract disease; most cases of disease came from multiple connections with the women of the cafes, etc. It was difficult to impress on ordinary men's minds the fact that each and every connection was a danger; that the danger of infection began immediately there was any contact, and that it continued until disinfection, and was renewed as well with each fresh connection during the night. If the danger had continued for several hours in this way, the men were told to go to the medical depot or report to a doctor as soon as possible. When they did so they were saved from disease in the vast majority of cases, even up to twenty-four hours afterwards or a little longer.[L]

Nevertheless, the people who would put sacerdotalism before science, and the still meaner minds who would substitute legality for morality, raised storms of objection to my work, in the midst of which came a few strong, clear calls of understanding and encouragement.

One Scotch padre wrote me in 1918:—

"It is a magnificent adventure for a woman to go practically alone on the very edge of things, and I salute you, and congratulate you, and wish you God-speed."

An old family doctor, then with a colonial ambulance, wrote:—

"Many women ... will owe their health and happiness to you, and not a few will be indebted to you for their lives."