MENTAL AND PHYSICAL RESULTS. 263 



trated from animals. In a state of nature, sterility is extremely 

 rare, nearly all individuals being perfectly fertile. Many animals 

 which are perfectly fertile in a state of nature become sterile when 

 kept in captivity or when only kept as pets. Such sterility arises 

 from the fact that the animals are placed in an unnatural condi- 

 tion, and not being capable of adapting themselves to circum- 

 stances, their reproductive organs are injuriously affected, though 

 they are otherwise perfectly healthy. In the early history of the 

 human race, and during many ages, men and women lived out- 

 doors and roamed freely through the woods. In modern civiliza- 

 tion they are crowded into cities and spend much time in circum- 

 stances wholly unlike those to which their ancestors were exposed. 

 As a consequence many women become sterile or semi-sterile, and 

 when we see such sterility it is very plain that they were advanced 

 in civilization before they were prepared for it. In other words, 

 the majority of sterile or semi-sterile women are not proper mem- 

 bers of the circles in which they move, but belong in a less advanced 

 civilization. 



That form of acquired sterility which arises from a vicious or 

 unnatural life is so closely allied to that other form just described 

 that it is not always possible to distinguish between the two. Prop- 

 erly speaking it arises in individuals who are perfectly adapted to 

 live in the most advanced state of society, but who misuse the 

 opportunities placed in their way and live a kind of a life not at all 

 necessary to higher civilization. If not actually vicious they cer- 

 tainly are reckless, and lack of good judgment leads them into dis- 

 sipations that result in sterility or semi-sterility. 



PREMEDITATED STERILITY. 



The last form of sterility, that which results from premeditated 

 acts, becomes more common as the density of the population in- 



