Note 709 — Chapter XXVII

Cf. his classical essay, “Population: its Natural Subdivision and Movement,” published in “Elements of General Political Economy,” vol. i., pp. 158-187 (Leipzig, 1901).

[710] Cf. Franz Oppenheimer, “The Law of Population of T. R. Malthus, and the more Recent Political Economists: a Demonstration and a Criticism” (Bern, 1900). See also the interesting demonstration and criticism of the malthusian doctrine in the work of Henry George, “Progress and Poverty.”

[711] A notable example of such advances is found in the recently discovered method of inoculating the soil with nitrifying organisms, whereby barren lands are made fertile at trifling cost.-Translator.

[712] Eli Metchnikoff, “The Nature of Man.”—English translation by Chalmers Mitchell, pp. 101-107; Heinemann, London, 1903.

[713] A more detailed account of this interesting “politico-economical” operation will be found in the work of Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 297, 298 (Leipzig, 1893).

[714] The ancients were also familiar with preventive methods of intercourse and with abortion. Widely renowned is the passage of the historian Polybius (XXXVII. ix. 5) in which we read: “In my time the whole of Greece suffered from an insufficiency of children—speaking generally, from a lack of men; for men had become so much accustomed to good living, to the greed for money, and to every comfort, that they no longer wished to marry, or, at any rate, they wished to have only a few children. Not the sword of the enemy was it that depopulated the ancient States, but the lack of offspring.” In Spain also, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in consequence of the wealth acquired in the New World, there resulted an overwhelming dread of marriage and child-bearing, so that the population became reduced to nine millions, and the bringing up of four children was rewarded with a title of nobility (cf. J. Unold, “Duties and Aims of Human Life,” p. 110; Leipzig, 1904).

[715] Cf. E. H. Kisch, “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’s “Real-Enzyklopädie,” third edition, 1900, vol. xxiii., p. 372. See also the elaborate discussion of artificial sterility and means for the prevention of conception in Kisch’s work, “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, London, 1908).

[716] A. Hegar, “The Sexual Impulse,” pp. 58, 59, 104, 105 (Stuttgart, 1894).

[717] M. Gruber, “Hygiene of the Sexual Life,” pp. 60-62 (Stuttgart, 1905).

[718] L. Löwenfeld, “The Sexual Life and Nervous Disorders,” pp. 154-156.

[719] C. Hasse (Mensinga), “Facultative Sterility,” fourth edition (Berlin and Neuwied, 1885); same author, “How is the Life of Married Women best Safeguarded?” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1895); same author, “Prognosis of Married Life for Women” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1892); same author, “Vom Sichinachtnehmen” [Coitus interruptus, see p. 702] (Neuwied, 1905).

[720] P. Fürbringer, “Sexual Hygiene in Married Life,” published in Senator and Kaminer’s, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 209 (London, Rebman Limited, 1906).

[721] Spener, the article “Artificial Sterility,” published in Eulenburg’s Encyclopedic Annual of the Medical Sciences, vol. i., pp. 456-459 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).

[722] L. Bergeret, “Des Fraudes dans l’Accomplissment des Fonctions Génératrices,” fourteenth edition (Paris, 1893). See also Toulouse, “Les Conflits Intersexuels,” pp. 41-58 (Paris, 1904).

[723] H. Ferdy, “Means for the Prevention of Conception,” eighth edition, two parts (Leipzig, 1907); same author, “Moral Self-restraint: the Reflections of a Malthusian” (Hildesheim, 1904).

[724] Karl Buttenstedt, “Happiness in Marriage (Revelation in Woman): a Nature Study,” third edition (Friedrichshagen, 1904).

[725] Richard E. Funcke, “A New Revelation of Nature: a Secret of the Sexual Life. No more Prostitution” (Hanover, 1906).

[726] Dietrich Wilhelm Busch, “The Sexual Life of Woman in Physiological, Pathological, and Therapeutical Relations,” vol. ii., p. 94 (Leipzig, 1840): “The gradual swelling of the breasts, and the presence of milk in these organs, arouses to a high degree the suspicion of pregnancy, but gives no certain proof of the existence of this condition. These organs often swell very gradually in certain pathological states, and in virgins, unimpregnated wives, widows, old women, and even in men, milk has been found in the breasts.”

[727] Mensinga, in a most readable short study, “A Contribution to the Mechanism of Conception” (Berlin and Neuwied, 1891), has considered this question in detail.

[728] To propagate Damm’s idea, the German Society for Regeneration was founded, whose first president was the above-named Peters; the organ of the society is the newspaper Volkskraft.

[729] S. Freud, “Collection of Minor Writings upon the Doctrine of Neurosis,” pp. 70, 71 (1906).

[730] The most convenient and complete apparatus for vaginal douching is the American irrigating syringe known as the “Lady’s Friend.” The technique of vaginal douching is very thoroughly described by L. Volkmann, “Solution of the Social Problem by Means of Woman,” pp. 29-31 (Berlin and Leipzig, 1891).

[731] R. Braun recently reported (“Experiments made with Spermathanaton Pastilles,” Medizin. Woch., 1906, No. 13) successful results with this means. But, in general, this, like all chemical means, cannot be absolutely depended upon to prevent pregnancy.

[732] L. Blumreich, “Diseases of Women, including Sterility,” in Senator-Kaminer, “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” p. 769 et seq. (London, Rebman Limited, 1906).

[733] Cf. the account of herpes progenitalis given in Iwan Bloch’s “Origin of Syphilis,” part ii., pp. 385-388.

[734] A detailed account of “Operative Sterility” will be found in Kisch’s “The Sexual Life of Woman,” English translation by M. Eden Paul (Rebman Limited, 1908).

[735] Cf. the accounts of this operation among the Australians given by Max Bartels, “Medicine among Savage Races,” pp. 306, 307 (Leipzig, 1895).

[736] Cf. R. Schwaeblé, the chapter “Ovariées” in “Les Detraquées de Paris,” pp. 255-258. [This aspect of the operation of oöphorectomy is the foundation of some of the most striking incidents in Zola’s novel “Fécondité.”—Translator.]

[737] Cf. H. Ploss, “The History of Abortion” (Leipzig, 1883); Galliot, “Recherches Historiques sur l’Avortement Criminel” (Paris, 1884).

[738] Countess Gisela von Streitberg, “The Right to Destroy the Germinating Life: § 218 of the Criminal Code, from a New Point of View” (Oranienburg, 1904).

[739] In a work recently published, which I have not yet been able to obtain, entitled “Nasciturus: Life before Birth, and the Legal Rights of the Being about to be Born,” the gynæcologist F. Ahlfeld discusses this question very thoroughly.

[740] Cf. Lewin and Brenning, “Abortion induced by Means of Poisons” (Berlin, 1899); E. von Hoffmann’s “Textbook of Forensic Medicine,” edited by A. Kolisko, ninth edition, pp. 220-258 (Berlin and Vienna, 1903).