, adapted to each other by mutual
concessions.

Apart from this, menstruation and accouchement constitute the only
exceptions based on physiology. According to Grueber (_Hygiene des
Geschlechtslebens_) accouchement requires an interruption of at least
four weeks; I should say at least six weeks. Every husband, with the
possible exception of the most horrible satyrs, can submit to this
without much discomfort. Pregnancy, on the contrary, does not require
continence, provided the husband takes account of his wife's condition
and treats her with care.

During the last months of pregnancy all violent movements and pressure
on the abdomen should be avoided during coitus, so as not to injure
the embryo. This may be effected by coitus in the lateral position.

Professor Pinard of Paris advises the prohibition of coitus during the
latter part of pregnancy, because it may lead to premature birth. As
regards accouchement at the seventh, eighth or even at the beginning
of the ninth month, this might, it is true, be proved by figures, but
at this time the embryo is sufficiently protected, and with the
precautions indicated above, I consider the danger as nil. As regards
the end of the ninth month, the margin of errors as to the movement of
conception and the signs of birth at term hardly allow of statistics
which exclude subjectivism, and the danger becomes less and less. In
any case a conscientious husband would run no risks under these
circumstances if he was aware of the danger.

What is more important for the wife is that she should have sufficient
rest between her pregnancies. A year at least should elapse between
parturition and the next conception; this gives approximately two
years between the confinements. This is easily managed by the aid of
the preventive animal membranes we have mentioned. In this way the
wife keeps in good health and can bear healthy children at pleasure.
It is certainly better to procreate seven healthy children, than to
procreate fourteen of which seven die, to say nothing of the mother
who rapidly becomes exhausted by uninterrupted confinements.

No rule can be given for the frequency of sexual connection in
marriage; this is a matter for reciprocal arrangement. Luther's rule
of two or three times a week may be considered a normal average for
virile persons of good constitution.

Women who are sexually cold and fond of children, but who have a
horror of coitus, cannot, in my opinion, be regar