The reasons that may exist for limiting the progeny of each particular pair cannot be formulated into a code, for these are questions of conscience, between the individuals and their Creator, on the one hand, and on the other, they should be influenced by economic conditions and physical or constitutional taints of the progenitors. I do not believe in the truth of the law of Malthus, that there is a tendency for population to increase faster than the means of subsistence, but I am inclined to the view held by John Stuart Mill, that “no one has a right to bring children into life to be supported by other people.” But when the same eminent authority designates the procreative act as brute instinct, I think he is in great error, for that is not so. Conjugal affection and the sentiment of love spring from the reproductive systems, through the reflex action of the brain, and these have their moral significance, and should not be branded as brutal, for upon their normal functions depends the perpetuation of the race, and as it was so ordained by the Creator, it cannot be an unholy passion.
To be physically strong and well are the prerequisites for happiness, and if we cannot transmit to our offspring this essential quality, it would be much better for society if we were not instrumental in bringing defective children into the world. The competitive struggle for existence is hard enough for the vigorous and robust; how much greater must it be for the constitutionally infirm? When these conditions of infirmity exist, they should influence our course as progenitors; this appears to me self-evident, and I trust in the wisdom that is innate to the human soul, that only the best ends will be subserved.
An expedient that is to accomplish the object in view, must be in the nature of a wholesome sanitary measure, that violates no law of nature. The inordinate use of any preventive, coupled with excessive indulgence, cannot be without ill effects. Excesses must be studiously avoided, so as not to incur the diseases of which mention has already been made. The employment of a vaginal douche of the proper temperature, medicated with a little pure alcohol, is not injurious and is the most reliable of all preventives, provided it is intelligently used and without delay. The quantity of fluid to be used is a quart of warm water, of 103 to 105 degrees Fahr., to which two tablespoonfuls of alcohol is added; of this, three-fourths or all is to be douched through the vagina.
The vaginal irrigation is to be undertaken immediately after the act; if sufficient time is allowed to pass, the spermatozoa will have entered the mouth of the womb; then they are clearly beyond the reach of the wash. The warm water and the necessary paraphernalia are to be held in readiness so as to lose no time in making the toilet, nor should there be unnecessary exposure to the danger of catching cold. The nozzle of the syringe should always be of hard rubber, because that is not likely to rust or corrode. The syringe is to be kept scrupulously clean by means of occasional brushings in soapy water. Vaginal injections should never be taken in the morning, if the person is required to exercise on her feet, and for the same reason, should any husband have marital relations with his wife before rising in the morning, the wife is likely to suffer all day, either by soreness or pain or by a dragging sensation of the womb and vagina.
The same rule is to be followed in vaginal irrigation as for other purposes, the main point being to throw the fluid well up into the vagina, and that can only be done if the nozzle is carried directly backward and not upwards. No violence or force is to be used, under any circumstance.
CHAPTER VII.
CRIMINAL ABORTION OR FETICIDE.
I have so far endeavored to give a cursory description of avoidable causes, which were inadvertantly or thoughtlessly encouraged, and it is to be hoped that my friendly reproof and counsel will incite my readers to modify their pernicious habits and direct the currents of their thoughts into channels more or less in harmony with the hygiene that I have been at liberty to suggest.