Note DX — Chapter XXIII · SEXUAL MORALITY

“It is, indeed,” says Hartmann, “her own bed which the immoral wife besmirches. While the husband misconducts himself outside the family circle, the iniquity of the woman is bound to effect a change in the home.”

Even the unchastity of the single woman has far more serious biological consequences than that of the man. Her transgression creates a perfect blood chaos in her future offspring. Long after a man’s death a woman sometimes bears children to another man, who resemble the first. The absorbed sperma seems to leave an indelible impression upon the woman.