nditions against
which no successful effort is possible. Even her prayers are futile,
because the wrong is implanted in the constitution of the child and the
remedy is beyond her power to find. These are the tragedies of life,
which no words may adequately describe, and compared to which the
incidental troubles of the world at large are as nothing.

If the conditions are not as bad as those depicted above, the original
infection may have rendered her sterile. If the germs reached the womb
and tubes, the inflammatory process may close these tubes, with the
result that conception is impossible. In these cases the woman has to
bear the stigma and disgrace of a childless union, though she is not
the guilty party. Many husbands are sterile, however, as a result of
venereal disease. It is claimed that eighty per cent. of childless
marriages are caused by sterility of the male partner. Curiously and
unfortunately these men never suspect themselves. The wife is the
delinquent member, in their estimation. She is the victim of jest and
suspicion, and later of jibes and insults. Many women have had their
lives rendered miserable and unhappy because of this suspicion. They are
compelled by their husbands to submit to examination and unpleasant and
painful treatment and operations with the intention of rectifying a
defective condition that does not exist. Many conscientious physicians
refuse to treat women patients against whom the charge of sterility is
made, before subjecting the husbands to thorough examination, and, since
eighty per cent. of childless marriages are due to sterility in the
male, this is a just and reasonable course to pursue.

During the course of all this domestic trouble and tragedy, the young
wife's health has suffered--she scarcely enjoys one day of good health.
Her mental condition is even worse. She submits to innuendo and insult
under the impression that she is the unwitting cause of all the domestic
wretchedness and often wishes she had never entered the marriage state.
We must remember that these conditions wreck ideals and homes, and that
they frequently render inefficient both husband and wife. The economic
business of marriage becomes a failure, ambition is crushed and hope
dies in the heart.

If the mother has been inoculated with the virus of syphilis her
existence is equally wretched; her health is ruined; her efficiency is
forever mortgaged. If she becomes pregnant she will most likely abort
an