oup in which they
can share games and interests--but it does avoid the risks which are
associated with artificial methods of conception control.

It is not proposed to discuss in detail artificial methods in this
pamphlet, because no advice can be wisely given on this subject in a
general way. Those who after careful consideration choose to use
artificial means to prevent child-bearing will be wise if they consult
their medical attendant as to those methods which are least harmful
for their individual case, and ask for careful instruction in their
use.

Most of the methods so widely advertised are productive of diseased
conditions, whether from the nature of the method itself or from the
way in which it is used, and all of those recommended to women
interfere with normal physiological processes. The object aimed at in
methods recommended to women, is either to produce, by drugs or
otherwise, conditions in the vagina inimical to the life of the male
cell, or to prevent by mechanical means the reception of the semen
into the uterus. Owing to the uncertainty in the results of either of
the above methods of prevention, the later editions of books which
teach conception control now advocate the use of both methods at the
same time in order to approximate more closely to certainty of result.

All these artificial preparations for intercourse demand from the
woman an investigation of and interference with her own internal
organs, which is revolting to all decent women, and such teaching is
directly opposed to the advocacy of cleanliness and non-interference
with the genital organs, which is the natural habit of healthy-minded
women.

The effects, however, go further than this. Nature has provided in the
healthy vaginal secretions an antidote to infection which quickly
destroys harmful germs. If the natural secretions are altered it is
difficult to restore them to their natural quality.

Professor Arthur Thomson, F.R.C.S., has shewn ("British Medical
Journal," January 7th, 1922) from observations of the lining of the
womb in animals and in women that "the weight of evidence goes to
prove that its function is more likely to be absorbent than excretive,
and that as such it plays an important part in the animal economy."

After describing at length the evidence that the male secretion
consists largely of the secretions from special glands as well as the
sex cells, he refers to the fact that these are all largely received
i