is an outrage that many delicate, weak girls and women must
stay on their feet all day or work on a machine when they should be at
home in bed or lying down on a couch.

The womb is congested during the period, is larger and heavier than
normal, and it is then that there is often laid the foundation for
some future uterine disease, the well-known "womb trouble," or "female
disease." It is not necessary that work be given up altogether, but
there certainly should be less of it and there should be as much rest
as possible. For delicate and sensitive girls it is always best to
stay away from school during the first and second days. Speaking again
of the average and not the exception, it is best that dancing, bicycle
riding, horseback riding, rowing, and other athletic exercises be
given up altogether during the menses. Automobile riding and railroad
and carriage travelling prove injurious in some instances, greatly
increasing the flow of blood. But these are the exceptions at the
other extreme.

CHAPTER NINE

FECUNDATION OR FERTILIZATION

Fecundation or Fertilization--Process of Fecundation--When the
Ovum Matures--Fate of Ovum When no Intercourse Has Taken
Place--Entrance of Spermatozoa as Result of Intercourse--The
Spermatozoa in Search of the Ovum--Rapidity of Movements of
Spermatozoa--Absorption of Spermatozooen by Ovum--Activity of
Impregnated Ovum in Finding Place to Develop--Pregnancy in the
Fallopian Tube and Its Dangers--Twin Pregnancy--Passivity of Ovum
and Activity of Spermatozooen Foretell the Contrasting Roles of
the Man and the Woman Throughout Life.

Fecundation and fertilization are important terms to remember. They
stand for the most important phenomenon in the living world. Without
it there would be no plants and no animals, excepting a few very low
forms of no importance, and of course no human beings.

=Fecundation= or fertilization is the process of union of the female
germ cell with the male germ cell; speaking of animals, it is the
process of union of the egg or ovum of the female with the
spermatozooen of the male. When a successful union of these two cells
takes place a new being is started. The process of fertilization or
fecundation is also known as impregnation and conception. We say, to
fertilize (chiefly, however, when speaking of plants) or to fecundate
an ovum, or to impregnate a female or woman, and to conceive a child.
We say the woman has become impregnate