ewarded, if these
suggestive remarks of ours tend in any way to remove or alleviate the
sufferings of an uncomplaining and loving wife. Our sympathies, always
susceptible to the conditions of sorrow and suffering, have been
enlisted to give faithfully, explicitly, and plainly, warnings of danger
and exhortations to prudence and nothing remains for us but to maintain
the principles of morality, and leave to the disposal of a wise and
overruling Providence the mystery of all seemingly untoward events. In
every condition of life, evils arise, and most of those which are
encountered are avoidable. Humanity should be held accountable for those
evils which it might, but does not shun.

By a statute of the national government, prevention of pregnancy is
considered a punishable offense; whereas every physician is instructed
by our standard writers and lecturers on this subject, that not only
prevention is necessary in many instances, but even abortion must
sometimes be produced in order to save the mother's life. As we view the
matter, the law of the national government asserts the ruling principle,
and the exceptions to it must be well established by evidence, in order
to fully justify such procedure. The family physician may, with the
concurrence of other medical counselors, be justified, in rare cases, in
advising means for the prevention of conception, but he should exercise
this professional duty _only_ when the responsibility is shared by other
members of the profession, and the circumstances fully and clearly
warrant such a practice.

After fecundation, the length of time before conception takes place is
variously estimated. Should impregnation occur at the ovary or within
the Fallopian tubes, usually about a week elapses before the fertilized
germ enters the uterus, so that ordinarily the interval between the act
of insemination and that of conception varies from eight to fourteen
days.

DOUBLE CONCEPTION.

If two germs be evolved simultaneously, each may be impregnated by
spermatozoa, and a twin pregnancy be the result. This is by no means a
rare occurrence. It is very unusual, however, to have one birth followed
by another after an interval of three or four months, and each babe
present the evidences of full maturity. Perhaps such occurrences may be
accounted for on the supposition that the same interval of time elapses
between the impregnation of the two germs as there is difference
observed in their birth;