"The infringement of this law regulating intercourse during pregnancy also reacts injuriously upon the mental capacity of the child, tending to give it a stupid, animalized look; and, there is also good reason to believe, aids in developing the idiotic condition."
[A Selfish Objection.]—The married man will raise the plea that indulgence is to him a necessity. He has only to practice the principles laid down for the maintenance of continence to entirely remove any such necessity should there be the slightest semblance of a real demand. Again, what many mistake for an indication of the necessity for indulgence, to relieve an accumulation of semen, is in fact, to state the exact truth, but a call of nature for a movement of the bowels. How this may occur, has already been explained, as being due to the pressure of the distended rectum upon the internal organs of generation situated at the base of the bladder. It is for this reason, chiefly, that a good share of sexual excesses occur in the morning.
But, aside from all other considerations, is it not the most supreme selfishness for a man to consider only himself in his sexual relations, making his wife wholly subservient to his own desires? As a learned professor remarks, in speaking of woman, "Who has a right to regard her as a therapeutic agent?"
[Brutes and Savages More Considerate.]—It is only the civilized, Christianized (?) male human being who complains of the restraint imposed upon him by the laws of nature. The untutored barbarian, even some of the lowest of those who wear the human form, together with nearly all of the various classes of lower animals, abstain from sexual indulgence during pregnancy. The natives of the Gold Coast and many other African tribes regard it as a shameful offense to cohabit during gestation. In the case of lower animals, even when the male desires indulgence, the female resents any attempt of the sort by the most vigorous resistance.
Are not these wholesome lessons for that portion of the human race which professes to represent the accumulated wisdom, intelligence, and refinement of the world? Those who need reproof on this point may reflect that by a continuance of the evil practice they are placing themselves on a plane even below the uncouth negro who haunts the jungles of Southern Africa.
We quote the following from the pen of a talented professor in a well-known medical college:—
"I believe we cannot too strenuously insist upon this point—that sexual intercourse should never be undertaken with any other object than procreation, and never then unless the conditions are favorable to the production of a new being who will be likely to have cause to thankfully bless his parents for the gift of life. If this rule were generally observed, we should have no broken-nosed Tristram Shandys complaining of the carelessness of their fathers in begetting them."[24]
24 Dr. Gerrish.
[What May Be Done?]—But what is the practical conclusion to be drawn from all the foregoing? What should people do? what may they do? Dr. Gardner offers the following remarks, which partially answer the questions:—
"We have shown that we can 'DO RIGHT' without prejudice to health by the exercise of continence. Self-restraint, the ruling of the passions, is a virtue, and is within the power of all well-regulated minds. Nor is this necessarily perpetual or absolute. The passions may be restrained within proper limitations. He who indulges in lascivious thoughts may stimulate himself to frenzy; but if his mind were under proper control, he would find other employment for it, and his body, obedient to its potent sway, would not become the master of the man."