we
recall what has already been pointed out (_ante_ p. 577)
concerning the influence of erotic excitement in the woman in
securing conception; it is obviously a serious task for even the
most susceptible woman to evoke erotic enthusiasm _a propos_ of a
medical syringe. Schwalbe, for instance, records a case
(_Deutsche Medizinisches Wochenschrift_, Aug., 1908, p. 510) in
which,--in consequence of the husband's sterility and the wife's
anxiety, with her husband's consent, to be impregnated by the
semen of another man,--he made repeated careful attempts to
effect artificial fecundation; these attempts were, however,
fruitless, and the three parties concerned finally resigned
themselves to the natural method of intercourse, which was
successful. In another case, recorded by Schwalbe, in which the
husband was impotent but not sterile, six attempts were made to
effect artificial fecundation, and further efforts abandoned on
account of the disgust of all concerned.

Opinion, on the whole, has been opposed to the practice of
artificial fecundation, even apart from the question of the
probabilities of success. Thus, in France, where there is a
considerable literature on the subject, the Paris Medical
Faculty, in 1885, after some hesitation, refused Gerard's thesis
on the history of artificial fecundation, afterwards published
independently. In 1883, the Bordeaux legal tribunal declared that
artificial fecundation was illegitimate, and a social danger. In
1897, the Holy See also pronounced that the practice is unlawful
("Artificial Fecundation before the Inquisition," _British
Medical Journal_, March 5, 1898). Apart, altogether, from this
attitude of medicine, law, and Church, it would certainly seem
that those who desire offspring would do well, as a rule, to
adopt the natural method, which is also the best, or else to
abandon to others the task of procreation, for which they are not
adequately equipped.

When we have ascertained that two individuals both belong to sound and
healthy stocks, and, further, that they are themselves both apt for
procreation, it still remains to consider the conditions under which they
may best effect procreation.[462] There arises, for instance, the
question, often asked, What is the best age for procreation?

The considerations which weigh in answering this question a