Idees_, Feb., 1909.)

The movement of sexual freedom in Russia lies much deeper,
however, than this fashion of sensual license; it is found in
remote and uncontaminated parts of the country, and is connected
with very ancient customs.

There is considerable interest in realizing the existence of
long-continued sexual freedom--by some incorrectly termed
"immorality," for what is in accordance with the customs or
_mores_ of a people cannot be immoral--among peoples so virile
and robust, so eminently capable of splendid achievements, as the
Germans and the Russians. There is, however, a perhaps even
greater interest in tracing the development of the same tendency
among new prosperous and highly progressive communities who have
either not inherited the custom of sexual freedom or are now only
reviving it. We may, for instance, take the case of Australia and
New Zealand. This development may not, indeed, be altogether
recent. The frankness of sexual freedom in Australia and the
tolerance in regard to it were conspicuous thirty years ago to
those who came from England to live in the Southern continent,
and were doubtless equally visible at an earlier date. It seems,
however, to have developed with the increase of self-conscious
civilization. "After careful inquiry," says the Rev. H.
Northcote, who has lived for many years in the Southern
hemisphere (_Christianity and Sex Problems_, Ch. VIII), "the
writer finds sufficient evidence that of recent years intercourse
out of wedlock has tended towards an actual increase in parts of
Australia." Coghlan, the chief authority on Australian
statistics, states more precisely in his _Childbirth in New South
Wales_, published a few years ago: "The prevalence of births of
ante-nuptial conception--a matter hitherto little understood--has
now been completely investigated. In New South Wales, during six
years, there were 13,366 marriages, in respect of which there was
ante-nuptial conception, and, as the total number of marriages
was 49,641, at least twenty-seven marriages in a hundred followed
conception. During the same period the illegitimate births
numbered 14,779; there were, therefore, 28,145 cases of
conception amongst unmarried women; in 13,366 instances marriage
preceded the birth of the child, so that the children were
legitimatiz