completely absorbed.

[Illustration: THE FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION]

Note that the little two months embryo has projecting from its abdomen
a large structure which is labeled "cord." This cord is a part of what
is called the umbilical cord, and it is this that joins the embryo
to the mother. Note in Figure III the large stalk of this cord passing
upward from the body of the embryo and merging into the structures in
the top of the uterus. Note further that there are little branching
structures passing from the base of this stalk up into the base of the
uterus. These branching structures are loops of blood-vessels, and
they form part of the placenta, or "afterbirth." Through this cord the
embryo receives its nourishment from the mother. The blood of the
mother bathes these loops of blood-vessels, and the embryo absorbs
from the mother's blood the nourishment which builds its bones,
muscles, brain, spinal-cord, and glands. From the same source the
embryo receives the oxygen necessary for the maintenance of its life.

From the third month on to the end of the nine months, the amount of
material which the mother must provide for the development of the
child within her womb amounts to no small draft on her physical
resources. It is not at all uncommon for a mother in the later months
of pregnancy to become quite pale, her blood having been impoverished
to provide material for the development of her child.

MATERNITY.

What has been said above regarding the contributions which the
maternal organism must make toward the development of the offspring
must have impressed on the mind of the reader that _maternity means,
first of all, sacrifice_.

This sacrifice begins when the girl first enters upon womanhood.

With the expulsion of the ripened ovum comes, each month, a week of
special physical drain, when work must be lightened and vigorous
exercise curtailed, when exposure to cold or dampness may mean loss of
health.

Under these circumstances a woman should at this time deny herself the
pleasure of dancing; of skating or swimming; of sleigh-rides or
cross-country walks and the young man should make it less difficult
for her by acquiescing without question or demur in her request to be
excused from such recreation.

It is a fact that more sacrifice is involved in maternity among the
more highly cultivated nations of the human race than is true of
aboriginal peoples, or among the lower animals. Conditions of mod