e right time and in the right way, of the
fundamental principles of reproduction. With such knowledge the girl's
mind will not be distracted by curiosity, or become morbid, when, instead
of intelligent response, the girl meets with evasions and attempted
concealments. She should not receive this knowledge in the form of
isolated facts, but as a correlated part of a great whole to be
assimilated gradually. The girl who is trained in this way will understand
and accept human reproduction as a natural process.

Questionnaires show that a majority of girls hear the facts of
reproduction at the age of seven or eight, a few younger, and a few at
the age of ten,--almost none at a later age. The majority hear these facts
from children a year or two older, a few from their mothers, and the rest
from books. A large number experience a feeling of disgust which remains
with them until they receive better information. Their questions disclose
a depth of ignorance and misconception which is appalling.

Girls, at the age of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, should have presented
to them a course in physiology which includes the anatomy and hygiene of
the reproductive organs. This is carefully omitted from present-day
secondary-school textbooks. This course should use charts, pictures, and
models. The significance of menstruation, the hygiene of the period, and
the causes and prevention of pain should be explained. Under the hygiene
of the period, the daily bath should be urged, with caution against
chills, in which lies the only possibility of injury. The fertilization of
the ovum and cell division may be described by use of the blackboard and
embryological models of the later stages of development. The forces which
bring about labor can be explained without unduly stressing the attending
pain.

The course would be incomplete without a discussion of the necessity of
careful selection in marriage from the eugenic standpoint. The perils and
results of the venereal diseases should be told simply and frankly. The
instruction in eugenics, like that in reproduction, should be progressive
and indirect, at least up to the age of seventeen or eighteen years. Again
it may be correlated with plant life by pointing out the beauty of strong,
hardy plants and their relation to the seeds. Children can be taught to
save the seeds of the most beautiful blossoms for the following year.
Instruction can be continued with the lower animals. The child will t