76 



AMAND ROUTH, M.D., F.R.C.P., ON MOTHERHOOD. 



personal matter, wisdom is often neglected and only blind love is 

 followed. 



But progress has been made in this direction, and we trust the 

 Chairman's efiorts will be more and more crowned with success. 



I ask you to accord the vote of thanks to our Chairman by 

 acclamation. (Applause.) 



Dr. David Axdersox-Berry writes : " I have the honour of 

 agreeing with our learned Lecturer. 



" But referring to page 59, last paragraph, it is with joy that I own 

 myself a native of Scotland, a land of all lands celebrated for the 

 breadth of its marriage laws. Apart from its regular marriages 

 there are those known as irregular. These are : (1) By habit and 

 repute. If the two persons live together as man and wife for some 

 time, it constitutes a marriage. I remember a family of some 

 repute where this was done. In order to make it sure, the man 

 called his friends and, standing before them, holding the woman 

 by the hand, and thro^ving the cloak he wore over the children, he 

 owned her as wife and the children as his children. Afterwards 

 the son thus owned rose to a position of great honour and dignity 

 in the service of his country. (2) If intercourse takes place on 

 promise of marriage, established afterwards by a written promise 

 or on the oath of a defender, the Courts Tvdll recognize this as a 

 marriage under the term suhsequente copula. (3) If the 

 parties own themselves as man and wife before -witnesses or 

 in a court of law, this constitutes a marriage per verba de 

 presenii. Now all marriages in Scotland legitimize the children 

 born beforehand, whether the marriage is a regular or an 

 irregular one. 



*' Lord Brougham's Act of 1856 requires 21 days' residence as a 

 pre-requisite. 



Referring to ' Marriage without Motherhood,' about 33 years 

 ago, I then being a young general practitioner in the West of London, 

 there came under my care a woman whose case caused me much 

 perplexity. I took her to Dr. Amand Routh, and to my surprise 

 he at once solved the mystery. Nature was avenging herself on 

 her who was a party to playing Neo-Malthusian tricks on the Great 

 Mother. Once that ceased the woman recovered her health and 

 became a happy mother of healthy children. Only the other day 



