Studies in the Psychology of Sex Volume Vi Part 38

[427]

Mardrus, Les Mille Nuits, vol. xvi, p. 158.

[428]

Sidney Webb, Popular Science Monthly, 1906, p. 526 (previously published in the London Times, Oct. 11, 16, 1906). In Ch. IX of the present volume it has already been necessary to discuss the meaning of the term, "morality."

[429]

Thus, in Paris, in 1906, in the rich quarters, the birthrate per 1,000 inhabitants was 19.09; in well-to-do quarters, 22.51; and in poor quarters, 29.70. Here we see that, while the birthrate falls and rises with social cla.s.s, even among the poor and least restrained cla.s.s the birthrate is still but little above the general average for England, where prevention is widespread, and very considerably lower than the average (now rapidly falling) in Germany. It is evident that even among the poor cla.s.s there is a process of leveling up to the higher cla.s.ses in this matter.

[430]

I have developed these points more in detail in two articles in the Independent Review, November, 1903, and April, 1904. See also, Bushee, "The Declining Birthrate and Its Causes," Popular Science Monthly, Aug., 1903.

[431]

Francis Place, Ill.u.s.trations and Proofs of the Principle of Population, 1822, p. 165.

[432]

See, e.g., a weighty chapter in the s.e.xualleben und Nervenleiden of Lowenfeld, one of the most judicious authorities on s.e.xual pathology. Twenty-five years ago, as many will remember, the medical student was usually taught that preventive methods of intercourse led to all sorts of serious results. At that time, however, reckless and undesirable methods of prevention seem to have been more prevalent than now.

[433]

Michael Ryan, Philosophy of Marriage, p. 9. To enable "the conservative power of the Creator" to exert itself on the myriads of germinal human beings secreted during his life-time by even one man, would require a world full of women, while the corresponding problem as regards a woman is altogether too difficult to cope with. The process by which life has been built up, far from being a process of universal conservation, has been a process of stringent selection and vast destruction; the progress effected by civilization merely lies in making this blind process intelligent.

[434]

Thus, in Belgium, in 1908 (s.e.xual-Probleme, Feb., 1909, p. 136), a physician (Dr. Mascaux) who had been prominent in promoting a knowledge of preventive methods of conception, was condemned to three months imprisonment for "offense against morality!" In such a case, Dr. Helene Stocker comments (Die Neue Generation, Jan., 1909, p. 7), "morality" is another name for ignorance, timidity, hypocrisy, prudery, coa.r.s.eness, and lack of conscience. It must be remembered, however, in explanation of this iniquitous judgment, that for some years past the clerical party has been politically predominant in Belgium.

[435]

It has been objected that the condom cannot be used by the very poorest, on account of its cost, but Hans Ferdy, in a detailed paper (s.e.xual-Probleme, Dec., 1908), shows that the use of the condom can be brought within the means of the very poorest, if care is taken to preserve it under water when not in use. Nystrom (s.e.xual Probleme, Nov., 1908, p. 736) has issued a leaflet for the benefit of his patients and others, recommending the condom, and explaining its use.

[436]

Thus, Kisch, in his s.e.xual Life of Woman, after discussing fully the various methods of prevention, decides in favor of the condom. Furbringer similarly (Senator and Kaminer, Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage, vol. i, pp. 232 et seq.) concludes that the condom is "relatively the most perfect anti-conceptual remedy." Forel (Die s.e.xuelle Frage, pp. 457 et seq.) also discusses the question at length; any aesthetic objection to the condom, Forel adds (p. 544), is due to the fact that we are not accustomed to it; "eye-gla.s.ses are not specially aesthetic, but the poetry of life does not suffer excessively from their use, which, in many cases, cannot be dispensed with."

[437]

L'Avortement, p. 43.

[438]

There are some disputed points in Roman law and practice concerning abortion; they are discussed in Balestrini's valuable book, Aborto, pp. 30 et seq.

[439]

Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Bk. XXII, Ch. XIII.

[440]

The development of opinion and law concerning abortion has been traced by Eugene Bausset, L'Avortement Criminel, These de Paris, 1907. For a summary of the practices of different peoples regarding abortion, see W. G. Sumner, Folkways, Ch. VIII.

[441]

Die Neue Generation, May, 1908, p. 192. It may be added that in England the attachment of any penalty at all to abortion, practiced in the early months of pregnancy (before "quickening" has taken place), is merely a modern innovation.

[442]

Even Balestrini, who is opposed to the punishment of abortion, is no advocate of it. "Whenever abortion becomes a social custom," he remarks (op. cit., p. 191), "it is the external manifestation of a people's decadence, and far too deeply rooted to be cured by the mere attempt to suppress the external manifestation."

[443]

Cf. Ellen Key, Century of the Child, Ch. I. Hirth (Wege zur Heimat, p. 526) is likewise opposed to the encouragement of abortion, though he would not actually punish the pregnant woman who induces abortion. I would especially call attention to an able and cogent article by Anna Pappritz ("Die Vernichtung des Keimenden Lebens," s.e.xual-Probleme, July, 1909) who argues that the woman is not the sole guardian of the embryo she bears, and that it is not in the interests of society, nor even in her own interests, that she should be free to destroy it at will. Anna Pappritz admits that the present barbarous laws in regard to abortion must be modified, but maintains that they should not be abolished. She proposes (1) a greatly reduced punishment for abortion; (2) this punishment to be extended to the father, whether married or unmarried (a provision already carried out in Norway, both for abortion and infanticide); (3) permission to the physician to effect abortion when there is good reason to suspect hereditary degeneration, as well as when the woman has been impregnated by force.

[444]

Cf. Dr. Max Hirsch, s.e.xual-Probleme, Jan., 1908, p. 23.

[445]

Bausset (op. cit.) sets forth various social measures for the care of pregnant and child-bearing women, which would tend to lessen criminal abortion.

[446]

Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, vol. i, p. 564.

[447]

F. E. Daniel, President of the State Medical a.s.sociation of Texas, "Should Insane Criminals or s.e.xual Perverts be Allowed to Procreate?" Medico-legal Journal, Dec., 1893; id., "The Cause and Prevention of Rape," Texas Medical Journal, May, 1904.

[448]

P. Nacke, "Die Kastration bei gewissen Kla.s.sen von Degenerirten als ein Wirksamer Socialer Schutz," Archiv fur Kriminal-Anthropologie, Bd. III, 1899, p. 58; id. "Kastration in Gewissen Fallen von Geisteskrankheit," Psychiatrisch-Neurologische Wochenschrift, 1905, No. 29.

[449]

Angelo Zuccarelli, "Asessualizzazione o sterilizzazione dei Degenerati," L'Anomalo, 1898-99, No. 6; id., "Sur la necessite et sur les Moyens d'empecher la Reproduction des Hommes les plus Degeneres," International Congress Criminal Anthropology, Amsterdam, 1901.

[450]

Nacke, Neurologisches Centralblatt, March 1, 1909. The original account of these operations is reproduced in the Psychiatrisch-Neurologische Wochenschrift, No. 2, 1909, with an approving comment by the editor, Dr. Bresler. As regards castration in America, see Flood, "Castration of Idiot Children," American Journal Psychology, Jan., 1899; also, Alienist and Neurologist, Aug., 1909, p. 348.

[451]

It is probable that castration may prove especially advantageous in the case of the feeble-minded. "In Somersetshire," says Tredgold ("The Feeble-Mind as a Social Danger," Eugenics Review, July, 1909), "I found that out of a total number of 167 feeble-minded women, nearly two-fifths (61) had given birth to children, for the most part illegitimate. Moreover, it is not uncommon, but, rather the rule, for these poor girls to be admitted into the workhouse maternity wards again and again, and the average number of offspring to each one of them is probably three or four, although even six is not uncommon." In his work on Mental Deficiency (pp. 288-292) the same author shows that propagation by the mentally deficient is, in England, "both a terrible and extensive evil."

[452]

This example is brought forward by Ledermann, "Skin Diseases and Marriage," in Senator and Kaminer, Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage.

[453]

I may here again refer to Lea's instructive History of Sacerdotal Celibacy.

[454]

In England, 35,000 applicants for admission to the navy are annually rejected, and although the physical requirements for enlistment in the army are nowadays extremely moderate, it is estimated by General Maurice that at least sixty per cent. of recruits and would-be recruits are dismissed as unfit. (See e.g., William Coates, "The Duty of the Medical Profession in the Prevention of National Deterioration," British Medical Journal, May 1, 1909.) It can scarcely be claimed that men who are not good enough for the army are good enough for the great task of creating the future race.

[455]

The recognition of epilepsy as a bar to procreation is not recent. There is said to be a record in the archives of the town of Lucon in which epilepsy was adjudged to be a valid reason for the cancellation of a betrothal (British Medical Journal, Feb. 14, 1903, p. 383).

[456]

British Medical Journal, April 14, 1906. In California and some other States, it appears that deceit regarding health is a ground for the annulment of marriage.

[457]

Sir F. Galton, Inquiries Into Human Faculty, Everyman's Library edition, pp. 211 et seq.; cf. Galton's collected Essays in Eugenics, recently published by the Eugenics Education Society.

[458]

For some account of the methods and results of the work in schools, see Bertram C. A. Windle, "Anthropometric Work in Schools," Medical Magazine, Feb., 1894.

[459]

The most notable steps in this direction have been taken in Germany. For an account of the experiment at Karlsruhe, see Die Neue Generation, Dec., 1908.