children; and that it should be possible for a married
pair to have the fullest gratification without fear of children unless
they desire them.

Others, but these are extremists, go so far as to claim that apart
altogether from marriage vows, sexual intercourse should be the
experience of all, and that knowledge of how to avoid the birth of
illegitimate children should be given to all.

The discussion of this subject has taken place under the title of
Birth Control, but the control or regulation of births is not really
the point under discussion. A very big factor in the diminution of
births comes under the heading of abortions, whether voluntary or
through conditions which might be remedied. That subject is not
touched upon in this paper, but only methods which avoid conception,
which is, of course, a very different subject from the larger one of
avoiding births.

At first sight it might seem a comparatively simple thing, in view of
the knowledge which already exists of the physiological processes
involved in conception, to advise a method which shall prevent
conception at will without harmful effect upon man or woman and yet
leave intercourse unimpaired. But even at first sight it is obvious
that whatever knowledge may be available, and whatever methods may be
devised, it would not be easy to convey this knowledge rightly to the
individual it is hoped to benefit without doing harm to others.
Further thought shows that the national problems involved are so
important and far reaching in effects that they might well arrest the
attention of the most careless advocate of indiscriminate conception
control.

This is a subject, therefore, which requires careful consideration
from the point of view of the individual, of public morality, and of
national welfare--and the more closely it is studied the more apparent
are the far reaching issues involved. It is improbable that the
practice of using contraceptives will continue for even a generation
without revealing the harmful effects which must to some extent ensue.

In the whole discussion of this subject it is important to keep in
mind that the physical is only one aspect of the sex relation.

In the evolution which sex has shared with all else, the psychic side
appears even in the higher animals. In them the desire is not for mere
indiscriminate physical satisfaction, but the element of choice comes
in, a factor which sometimes upsets the plans of breeders. In man this