conjoints, dissensions and infidelity, which may cause separation of a
sexual union, but as is frequently the case, rejected love may
transform into perpetual martyrdom the life of a person imbued with
such ideas. The ascetic sentimentalism which results from this has a
strong element of suggestion which is bad to cultivate.

If we would give the one who does not love the absolute right of
repelling the sexual advances of the other, not only the law but
morality should in return allow the rejected lover to make another
choice, where his desire for love will find an echo.

At the present day many people, especially women, prefer to endure
their unhappiness and even that of their children to the opprobrium to
which they are often exposed by public opinion in divorce or
remarriage, or even in becoming engaged to another person, when their
love has been rejected. It is, therefore, the duty of the legislator
to banish from the law everything which may appear to sanction such
opprobrium.

Most laws recognize not only impotence, but also assault, cruelty,
venereal disease, adultery, etc., as grounds for divorce, but the
pressure of public opinion causes the existing laws to be too little
used. We must remember that such violations of conjugal duties give
the injured party the right of claiming damages.

Nevertheless, we may say that the simplest civil action by one
conjoint against the other is veritably monstrous when it is not
accompanied by an action for divorce. When once the couple have come
to legal disputes, their marriage is in reality dissolved and its
continuation is an absurdity.

=Venereal Diseases.=--A very important question from the humanitarian
and hygienic point of view is that of venereal disease. A man (or
woman) who knows himself (or herself) to be affected with a venereal
disease in an infectious state, and who in spite of this has
connection with a woman, should be regarded as a criminal, at least if
the woman with whom he has connection is not affected with the same
disease.

Here the law should intervene by awarding heavy damages to the party
who has been infected; eventually it may be treated as a criminal
offense. In such cases claim should be made by the injured party, but
unfortunately this is seldom done owing to feelings of shame. In the
future, however, we may hope that the law may be improved for the
benefit of humanity, for this would be one of the most efficacious
means of combating v