4 THE WAY LIFE BEGINS 



very great; we do not escape the harm that may be thus 

 caused, however, by denying ourselves the rich reward of 

 discovering the facts of nature and of seeing in them human 

 meanings. To dwell only upon facts impoverishes the spirit, 

 makes for a false and mechanistic materialism, and, as has 

 so often been said, contributes nothing to the moral life. 

 They may even enable their possessor to defeat his own moral 

 interests and those of his fellows. 



Many say that nature facts and their meanings are insuf- 

 ficient; that sex education must draw its inspiration, and not 

 a little of its guidance, from religion. Nothing that we have 

 said in this book can be taken as a denial of this claim. Men 

 lived the best of lives long before much was known about 

 nature, and they will continue to do so without much regard 

 to the workings of natural law. We should not be committed 

 to a decision of which is the greater authority, soul or nature. 

 For aught we know the two are the same. If there is any 

 merit in this book it will lie in the fact that priority is not 

 claimed for the 'facts', the 'laws', or the 'principles' of nature, 

 or of their interpretation in terms of the things for which we 

 most care, or, again, for the regulative powers of religion and 

 ethical ideals. Must we be charged with contradiction, how- 

 ever, when we assert that we should go to nature not to get 

 support and justification for sex education, but rather in and 

 for herself? Our conclusion is that men live best when they 

 neither deny themselves the verdict of the head nor the 

 intimations of the heart, but seek a working harmony of both. 



If this book contributes even a small share in making the 

 task an easier one for the many earnest teachers and parents 

 who to-day are facing the problem of sex education, our efforts 

 shall have been well repaid. 



Our readers, as well as we ourselves, are indebted to a 

 number of educators, physicians, and others interested in 

 the social hygiene movement, who have contributed gener- 

 ously of their time to the reading and criticism of the 

 manuscript. 



The Authors 

 New York 



