538 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



. . . Yet, when in the general state of nervous and 

 physical excitement attendant upon coitus, when the 

 organs principally engaged in this act are congested 

 and turgid with blood, do you think you can with im- 

 punity throw a flood of cold or even lukewarm water 

 far into the vitals in a continual stream? Often, too, 

 women add strong medicinal agents, intended to de- 

 stroy by dissolution the spermatic germs, ere they have 

 time to fulfill their natural destiny. These powerful 

 astringents suddenly corrugate, and close the glandu- 

 lar structure of the parts, and this is followed, neces- 

 sarily, by a corresponding reaction, and the final result 

 is debility and exhaustion, signalized by leucorrhea, 

 prolapsus, and other diseases. 



"Finally, of the use of intermediate tegumentar> 

 coverings, made of thin rubber or gold-beater's skin, 

 and so often relied upon as absolute preventives, 

 Madame de Stael is reputed to have said, 'They are 

 cobwebs for j)rotection, and bulwarks against love.' 

 Their employment certainly must produce a feeling 

 of shame and disgust utterly destructive of the true 

 delight of pure hearts and refined sensibilities. They 

 are suggestive of licentiousness and the brothel, and 

 their employment degrades to bestiality the true feel- 

 ings of manhood and the holy state of matrimony. 

 Neither do they give, except in a very limited degree, 

 the protection desired. Furthermore, they produce 

 (as alleged by the best modern French writers, who 

 are more familiar with the effect of their use than we 

 are in the United States) certain physical lesions from 

 their irritating presence as foreign bodies, and also 

 from the chemicals employed in their fabrication, and 

 other effects inseparable from their employment, oft- 

 times of a really serious nature. 



