ybe when you put a body into a
grave you put a soul there too. And maybe you put neither there. It's
not so easy to say.

I can't see anything in the things you call spiritual more marvelous
than what you call the physical birth of a baby from a mother. Maybe
you know all about it. I don't. I know nothing about it. To me it's
mysterious. To me it's the supreme demonstration of the spiritual.

How that a baby comes from a man and a woman. I want that kept clean.
It starts clean. Why do we corrupt it? You who disparage it corrupt
it. You ascetics anywhere. You libidinous roues anywhere. You corrupt
it. By your excesses. You who never say yes. You who never say no. You
corrupt it.

You parents. You professors. You prudes. This is addressed to you.
What have you got to say about it? You have tremblingly closed the
question. I would coolly open it. You have rebuked God by silence. I
would praise God by speech.

II

THE ARGUMENT AND THE INFORMATION

No apology is offered for what is said in the following pages, but
a brief explanation is virtually necessary to make clear, from the
outset, the reasons why it has been written.

It is one of the chief characteristics of the human race that
the knowledge acquired by one generation can be passed on to the
generations that follow; and that, in this way, progress in the
betterment of life's results and the adaptation of means to ends can
make a steady and reliable advance.

Such a method of evolution and growth is not possible in the vegetable
or animal kingdom, where _instinct_ is the only means for the
transmission of acquired knowledge. It is this feature that
differentiates man from all other created beings.

But here is a curious fact: In one realm of human experiences, in all
Christian civilized countries, it has been considered wrong, even in
some cases being counted a criminal offense, punishable by fine and
imprisonment, for anyone to make any record of, or transmit to
anyone else, any knowledge that may have been acquired regarding sex
relations in the human family.

To be sure, there has been preserved, from time to time, a body
of _professional_ knowledge of this sort, made and prepared by
physicians, but _confined strictly to that class of people_. No
attempt has been made to disseminate such knowledge among those who
most need it--the common people. On the contrary, every possible
effort is put forth to keep such knowledge from them. This is wholl