. Or again,
the ovum may be arrested in its passage through the Fallopian tube,
causing what is termed _tubal pregnancy_; or, after it has been expelled
from the ovary, it may fail to be received by the fimbriated extremity,
and escape into the cavity of the abdomen, forming what has been termed
_ventral pregnancy_. If the microscopic germ lodges in some slight
interstice of fiber, during its passage through the walls of the uterus,
it may be detained long enough to fix itself there, and when this
occurs, it is termed _interstitial pregnancy_. All these instances of
extra-uterine pregnancy may necessitate the employment of surgical
skill, in order that they may terminate with safety to the mother. Their
occurrence, however, is very rare.

The intense nervous excitement produced by the act of coition is
immediately followed by a corresponding degree of depression, and a too
frequent repetition of it is necessarily injurious to health. The
secretions of the seminal fluid being, like other secretions, chiefly
under the influence of the nervous system, an expenditure of them
requires a corresponding renewal. This renewal greatly taxes the
corporeal powers, inducing lassitude, nervousness, and debility. It is a
well known fact that the highest degree of mental and bodily vigor is
inconsistent with more than a moderate indulgence in sexual intercourse.

To ensure strength, symmetry, and high intellectual culture in the human
race, requires considerable care. Consideration should be exercised in
the choice of a companion for life. Constitutional as well as hereditary
ailments demand our closest attention. Age has also its judicious
barriers. As before stated, when reproduction commences, growth, as a
rule, ceases, therefore, it is inexpedient that matrimony should be
consummated before the parties have arrived at mature stature.

PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION.

Much has been written upon the question whether married people have a
right to decline the responsibilities of wedlock. The practice of
inducing abortion is not only immoral but criminal, because it is
destructive to both the health of the mother and the life of the embryo
being. If both the parties to a marriage be feeble, or if they be not
temperamentally adapted to each other, so that their children would be
deformed, insane, or idiotic, then to beget offspring would be a
flagrant wrong. If the mother is already delicate, possessing feeble
constitutional powers, s