expressed the opinion that the practice would be a salutary one
for all men. The maintenance of scrupulous cleanliness, by daily
cleansing, is at least an imperative duty.

In some countries, females are also circumcised by removal of the
nymphae. The object is the same as that of circumcision in the male.
The same evils result from inattention to local cleanliness, and the
same measure of prevention, daily cleansing, is necessitated by a
similar secretion. Local cleanliness is greatly neglected by both sexes.
Daily washing should begin with infancy and continue through life, and
will prevent much disease.

Castration.--This operation consists in the removal of the testes of
the male. It does not at once obliterate the sexual sense, especially
if performed after puberty, but of course renders the individual
impotent, or incapable of reproduction. Persons upon whom it has been
performed are called eunuchs. It was a very common custom in ancient
times, being usually prompted by the jealousy of rulers, who allowed
no males but eunuchs to associate with their wives and concubines. The
effect upon the male is to render him effeminate in appearance and weak
in mind. If performed before puberty, the growth of the beard is scanty,
and the voice never acquires that deepness of tone natural to the
masculine voice.

An analogous operation, termed _spaying_, is performed upon females,
consisting in the removal of the ovaries; effects similar to those in
the male, _sterility_ without entire immediate loss of sexual sense,
being the usual result. Spaying is much more rarely performed than
castration. Both operations are now quite rare, seldom being resorted
to except in surgical cases. Castration is still practiced in some
Eastern countries.

THE SEXUAL RELATIONS.

Just in proportion as the perpetuation of the race is more important
than the existence of any single individual, the organs of reproduction
may in a certain sense be said to rank higher than any other organs
of the human frame, since to them is intrusted the important duty of
performing that most marvelous of all vital processes, the production
of human beings. That this high rank in the vital economy is recognized
by nature, is shown by the fact that she has attached to the abuse of
the generative function the most terrible penalties which can be
inflicted upon a living being. The power of abuse seems to be almost
exclusively confined to man; hence, we find