ction. One is,
that no organ or function in plant, animal, or human kind, can be
properly regarded as a disability or source of weakness. Through
ignorance or misdirection, it may limit or enfeeble the animal or
being that misguides it; but, rightly guided and developed, it is
either in itself a source of power and grace to its parent stock, or a
necessary stage in the development of larger grace and power. The
female organization is no exception to this law; nor are the
particular set of organs and their functions with which this essay has
to deal an exception to it. The periodical movements which
characterize and influence woman's structure for more than half her
terrestrial life, and which, in their ebb and flow, sway every fibre
and thrill every nerve of her body a dozen times a year, and the
occasional pregnancies which test her material resources, and cradle
the race, are, or are evidently intended to be, fountains of power,
not hinderances, to her. They are not infrequently spoken of by women
themselves with half-smothered anathemas; often endured only as a
necessary evil and sign of inferiority; and commonly ignored, till
some steadily-advancing malady whips the recalcitrant sufferer into
acknowledgment of their power, and respect for their function. All
this is a sad mistake. It is a foolish and criminal delicacy that has
persuaded woman to be so ashamed of the temple God built for her as to
neglect one of its most important services. On account of this
neglect, each succeeding generation, obedient to the law of hereditary
transmission, has become feebler than its predecessor. Our
great-grandmothers are pointed at as types of female physical
excellence; their great-grand-daughters as illustrations of female
physical degeneracy. There is consolation, however, in the hope, based
on substantial physiological data, that our great-grand-daughters may
recapture their ancestors' bloom and force. "Three generations of
wholesome life," says Mr. Greg, "might suffice to eliminate the
ancestral poison, for the _vis medicatrix naturae_ has wonderful
efficacy when allowed free play; and perhaps the time may come when
the worst cases shall deem it a plain duty to curse no future
generations with the _damnosa hereditas_, which has caused such bitter
wretchedness to themselves."[2]

The second consideration is the acknowledged influence of beauty.
"When one sees a god-like countenance," said Socrates to Phaedrus, "or
some bod