THE CALL OF THE LAND 



Much that is termed modesty touching the 

 realm of life and conduct to which I here 

 refer, reminds me of the Pope's regulation 

 when he was temporal ruler in the Papal 

 States, that medical schools should teach 

 obstetrics from the manikin only. Such 

 prudery can produce no good result morally 

 or otherwise. Our experience with young 

 men leads us to suspect that lack of proper 

 instruction in this department of life wrecks 

 armies of youths every year. 



There ought to be some way by which 

 medical people could disseminate the 

 knowledge which they possess regarding 

 obstacles to proper and happy marriage. 

 Physicians know as few others do the sorts 

 of cases where, because of some physical or 

 mental ill in one party or the other, or some 

 incompatibility between the parties, mar- 

 riage, if entered into, is either a crime or an 

 inevitable cause of misery and woe. No end 

 of nervous prostrations, divorces, suicides, 

 and murders result from these mesalliances. 



There should in some way be made 

 known the salient facts about venereal dis- 



362 



