Owen's Moral Physiology; or, A Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question

by Robert Dale Owen

For these general reasons, cognizable by every body, it is of the greatest possible importance that married people should be informed of a method to prevent such tremendous evils.

If methods can be pointed out by which all the enjoyment of wedded life may be partaken of without the apprehension of TOO LARGE a family, and all its bitter consequences, he, surely, who points them out, must be a benefactor of mankind.

The means of prevention are simple, and harmless, and might, but for the false delicacy of the press, or, rather, of those for whom it caters, have been more generally communicated.

A course of experiments instituted several years past, with a view to test the efficacy of the galvanic power, as a check to reproduction, has demonstrated and proved its perfect adaptation, to the accomplishment of this important object. The Editor has a very simple and perfectly harmless instrument, (so far as the health of the mother is concerned,) and one which may be depended upon for this purpose.

The application requires to be immediate, and its effect is instantaneous. Like many other operations, the effect of which is known, it may be somewhat difficult satisfactorily to explain its modus operandi; nevertheless, the certainty of its action has been clearly proved. It is known to impart a slight momentary impetus to the parts, so that the vivifying influence of the semen is destroyed or expelled.

It would be no difficult matter to devise a multitude of ingenious theories of the manner in which this operation may be accomplished, but inasmuch as no practically good effect could arise from it, we content ourselves by simply quoting the concluding remarks of Dr. Maunsell upon the theory of conception, as expressed in Dr. Gilman’s edition: “At present it will be sufficient for our purpose to state simply the facts known and indulge as little as possible in hypotheses which must be more the product of fancy than of reason.”

In offering this instrument to the public, the Editor is aware that his motives may be misconceived and misjudged, and that he may subject himself to be censured by that class of persons who think this too delicate a subject to be even mentioned, much less to be publicly discussed, and a remedy offered in this publication. He will be told by some that the operations of nature ought not to be interfered with, be the consequences what they may. It is well known by every person who is at all conversant with writers upon midwifery, that in consequence of deformity of the pelvis, recourse must be had in many instances to the use of instruments to destroy the child, that the life of the mother may be saved; and where the deformity is very great, resort is had to that most desperate of all remedies, the Cæsarean operation. Dr. Gilman, in the work from which we have already quoted, tells us that this last mentioned operation was performed five times upon the same woman, by Michaelis, of Kiel. It has also been performed twice by Dr. Gibson, of Philadelphia, and once by Dr. R. K. Hoffman, of New York, and by other operators, on the continent of Europe, and in the United States. The same Author tells us, that “A British writer suggest the propriety of dividing the Fallopian tubes when this operation is performed, that thus the women being rendered barren, might be guarded against the possibility of requiring a repetition of this terrible Cæsarean section.”

Improvements have been made in almost every department of the medical profession, and many new and important remedies have been brought to light through the aid of the science of chemistry; but none have heretofore been discovered, which could afford relief in these cases; therefore, it affords us a degree of satisfaction to be able to announce, that a safe and sure preventive of these sufferings will be found in the instrument before mentioned, which we are confident will be acceptable to every father and husband, who regards the safety and happiness of his wife. Perhaps it will be said that these cases seldom occur. In answer, it will be sufficient to state, that this is but one of a numerous class of cases, which imperiously demands the same preventive aid. As the writer, from whom we have just quoted, further remarks: “When an individual woman, has been frequently delivered by perforation of the child’s head, it becomes an object to devise some means for obviating these successive sacrifices, and accordingly it has been proposed in such cases, to induce premature labour at a period of gestation, when the child’s head is sufficiently small to pass through the pelvis.” This, he remarks is a step by no means to be lightly undertaken, as there must always be a certain degree of danger incurred by the mother, and the act itself, even though it be justified by a powerful necessity, is unwarrantable, and even criminal in the eye of the law.

From these quotations it will be perceived that the best and only remedy adapted to these cases, which has heretofore been devised by the profession for the relief of such as cannot safely become mothers, consists in destroying the child, that the life of the mother may be saved, and where a powerful necessity exists, premature labour or abortion at an early stage. Why not anticipate this stage, and prevent the necessity spoken of, by preventing conception? Would not this be more moral, and would it not save the mother from that degree of danger spoken of? Prevention is always to be preferred to cure, and where the remedy is fraught with such dangerous consequences to the patient, it is especially incumbent upon the medical attendant, to devise some means that will supersede the necessity of resorting to these desperate measures.

Since some publicity has been given to the article before mentioned, numerous applications have been made, and much enquiry elicited, which has brought a great variety of cases, under the Editor’s observation. These cases were of such a nature as to demonstrate the necessity of some preventive which should be placed in the right hands, and would have been sufficient to remove any doubt (had any remained) as to the propriety of giving publicity to this instrument. It was but yesterday that the husband of a delicate woman, and the father of a family, in conversation upon this subject, stated that his wife was the mother of two children—that since the birth of the last, she had suffered from five abortions, which had so impaired her health, that he had found it necessary to abstain from all intercourse with her. Numerous cases of a like nature come under his observation almost daily. Shall we be told that it is immoral and unbecoming for the physician to provide a remedy for cases of this description? Will any pretend that the delicacy of the subject should prevent us from directing the proper course to be pursued to insure health and happiness? Away with such mockery—let us speak plainly upon all subjects that equally concern the health and happiness of our fellow beings. It comes within the province of the physician, to investigate this matter in a philosophical manner, and to let nothing but a sense of duty to his patients, and to the public guide him in his determination.