itions in the woman (at times in
man also), within wedlock, may render parturition an immediate danger
to the life of the mother or of the child or of both together, for
instance, cancer of the womb or other affections of the uterus, kidney
disease, a deformed pelvis. Surely in such cases it is the bounden
duty of the physician to intervene and council against, nay,
absolutely forbid impregnation. Well, how is it to be done? Must
husband and wife, who love and esteem each other, be separated? It
would be unnatural, in fact it is quite impossible. Or should they
abandon sexual intercourse all together and live like brother and
sister? Well, a few exceptionally cold natures may have will power
enough to carry into effect such a pact. But in 99 out of 100 cases
the interdict of the sexual act sends the husband to satisfy his
cravings elsewhere and contract disease, or he falls in love with
another woman and wrecks home and family.

Similar conditions may be brought about by other causes as well. Take,
for instance, the poor workingman or mechanic who has already six or
seven children and whose wife is unusually fertile, giving birth to
children year after year. The wages of the father do not suffice to
properly support them all. The food that can be purchased with the
slender means is not at all adequate. Rent and other bills fall behind
and the man gets in debt. They are both young yet. What is to be done?
If they follow the natural law there will be an increase in the family
every year. Moreover, these ever-recurring labors weaken the
constitution of the woman and sap away her strength. Starvation?
Sexual continence in wedlock? It is strange, indeed, to hear rich men,
well-fed clergymen, pious zealots and reformers, leaning back in their
comfortable chairs after a sumptuous meal and smoking an expensive
Havana cigar, discuss this burning question and bewail the immorality
of the common people.

Statistics prove that these very people, who extol to the poor all the
blessing of a big family, never live up to their teachings either in
theory or in practice. The majority of these apostles of morality have
no children at all, or at the utmost two or three. Why should that be
so? What interesting reading it would make if the sexual history of
these persons were followed up and printed.

Money, hygiene, reason, and the most elementary laws of humanity
demand that the wife, who is fertile above the average, should have a
res