al blindness, though, to which this
rule does not apply. Criminals, alcoholics, and persons
disproportionate in size should not marry. In the last-mentioned, lack
of mutual physical adaptability may produce much unhappiness,
especially on the part of the wife. Serious local disease, sterility,
and great risk in childbirth may result. Disparity of years, disparity
of race, a poverty which will not permit the proper raising of
children, undesirable moral character are all good reasons for not
marrying.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION BEFORE MARRIAGE

Medical examination as a preliminary to marriage is practically more
valuable than a marriage license. Since many entirely innocent young
girls to-day suffer from disease, incurred either through hereditary
or accidental infection, a would-be husband may be said to be quite as
much entitled to protection as his bride-to-be. Prohibitive physical
defects are also discovered in this connection.

CHAPTER VIII

SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION

THE WIFE

Girls marry, in the final analysis, because love for the male is an
innate natural principle of the female nature. At its best this love
is pure and chaste. The good woman realizes that its first purpose is
not mere carnal pleasure. It is a special avowal of the wife's
relations to her husband, and its natural as well as moral end is the
establishment of the family on the basis of a healthy progeny.

BEFORE MARRIAGE

The wife-to-be, like her prospective husband, will be well advised to
ask for a medical health certificate. No man, no matter how good his
reputation may be, should marry (on his own account as well as that of
the girl) without thorough examination by a physician. The
consequences of venereal infection administered to unborn children by
their parents are too horrible to allow of any risk being taken.
Another bit of advice, which cannot be too highly commended, is that
the prospective husband and wife, before they marry, have a plain talk
with each other regarding individual sexual peculiarities and needs. A
heart-to-heart talk of this kind would be apt to prevent great
disappointments and incompatibilities which otherwise may become
permanent.

THE WIFE AND HER POSITION

The natural instinct of a man is to seek his mate. On her he depends
for an orderly and l