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Index

Abortion, may be regarded by poor as more tasteful than contraception, 81; how the poor achieve, 81

Asclepeia, health resorts in Greece, 47 n.

Bayliss, Sir W., his extraordinary view of normal married love, 227

Birth Control, regarded as a solution of problem of over-population, 5, 28; opposed by Catholic Church, 9, 10; need for, not necessarily due to over-population, 16; medical opinion divided about, 17, 27, 162, 163; advocates of, erroneously insist on reduction of population, 37; decline of Birth Rate possibly due to, 37, 38; advocated as cure for unemployment, 44 n.; its claim to be eugenic, 50, 63; but in fact dysgenic, 51, 54, 63; and unselective, 52; its realised and unrealised alms, 55, 57, 63; appeals least of all to degenerates, 57; selection impossible by means of, 58, 59, 61, 63; limits chances of heredity, 59, 60, 63; conditions under which it would be acceptable, 61; should be enforced on degenerates, 76; too complicated for the poor, 78 n.; but apparently practised to a certain extent, 79; literature of, implies that sexual congress is a joy only to the man, 81; a movement emanating from the debilitated and fireless middle class, 82; the sophistry of its plea that continence is unnatural, 84, 115; melodramatic "sob-stuff" used in advocating, 87, 92, 97; should be used in pathological cases, 98; erroneously assumes that sexual life for male and female are similar, 99, l00, 101, 102, 115; presupposes false analogy between sexual life of men and women, 102–4; supposed to facilitate early marriage, 106; criticism of this contention, 106, 107, 108; has led to decrease in marriage in Holland, 107; the sophistry of regarding it as not opposed to true morality, 108, 112; an attack on the large family, 117; a Puritanical denial of the body, 124; advocated as being fairer to the children, 127; dysgenic because it curtails the chances of heredity, 130, 137; advocated as cure for poverty and overcrowding, 142, 143; sacrifices entailed by, should be made clear, 146; creates unjustified prejudice against large families, 147; poverty as argument in favour of, 147; fallacy of this argument, 148, 149, 150, 151; indirectly connected with disease, 164–72, 208; psycho-physical dangers of, 172–87, 209; the reasoning in favour of, 173; sexual gratification

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    afforded by, not that of Nature, 175; its destruction of complete fusion between lovers, 178; the sadism of the male remains untransmuted with practice of, 179, 180; tends to destroy desire of the male, 180; makes a young woman lose some of her fascination for men, 180, 181; its irksomeness, 182, 183; likely to lead to infidelity, 183, 184; dependent on sensationalism, 185; a creed for Puritans, 186; connected with Feminism, 186, 212; is really anti-Feminine, 187; virginity often better than, 187 n.; condemned by Christianity, 188–211; inconsistent with healthy self-approval in a nation, 192, 193, 210; attitude of Catholic Church towards, 195; sometimes necessary in pathological cases, 195 n., 199, 233; a policy of despair from moral point of view, 197, 198, 210; as practised by savages, 199; a low expedient as compared with self-discipline, 200; valuable qualities destroyed by, 200, 210; the safety of "immorality" by means of, 201; the deleterious effects of this, 202–5; destroys incentives to marriage, 207; exercised in seventeenth century France, 224; advocated as securing emancipation of women, 226; must be advocated by Feminists, 228, 229; no solution for over-population and poverty, 232, 233; likely to be advocated by the legislature which refuses to deal with degeneracy, 249; some medical views on, 276–9

Birth Rate, decline of, 29, 30; reduction of, ascribed by some to fertility waves, 144

Births, do not necessarily succeed each other too rapidly without preventives, 90; some statistics regarding average spacing of, 91, 145; do not occur every year when a woman suckles her child, 92; interval between, 120; intervals between 257–75, 277; optimum interval between, 257, 258, 264, 275 some statistics of births of first child after marriage, 259, 260; contraception does not always account for long interval between, 263

Body, the joys of the healthy, can never pall, 214, 215

Brown, Monsignor, his evidence before the Birth Rate Commission, 191

Cancer, of uterus indirectly caused by Birth Control, 166, 167, 171, 197; its connection with infertility, 169, 170; more common among unmarried women, 170, 208

Catholic Church, opposed to Birth Control, 9, 10, 195

Census Report, figures for degenerates given in, 246

Champneys, Sir F., his approval of Birth Control, 20

Child-bearing, regarded as a disease by Birth Controllers, 101, 105; pain in, now a vested interest, 102; not a disease, 122, 123 n.

Children, number of, advocated by Birth Controllers, 52, 53; average number of, among miners, 91; birth controllers' argument that large families are unfair to, 137; list of famous first, 130;

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    list of famous younger, 131–6; small families not better for the, 139–41; in large families not necessarily neglected, 153; no biological reason for higher death rate among younger, 154, 155, 157, 161; mortality of, in royal families, 156

Christianity, its condemnation of Birth Control, 188; its reasons for this, 189, 190

Cobbett, his view of the advantages of a large family, 125 n.

Complex, the graophile, 181, 182

Continence, sophistic arguments of Birth Controllers against, 84, 85, 86

Contraceptives, necessity for, in pathological conditions, 17; disagreement among medical men regarding harmlessness, of various, 21, 22; useful in rare cases for securing spacing of births, 56; more largely used by better educated classes, 56 n.; little used by the poor, 78, 114; no perfect, yet discovered, 176; might temporarily be sold in the same way as poisons, 253, 254; use of, does not always account for long interval between births, 263

Cox, Harold, on density of population, 29; on increase of population, 30; on ultimate result of this, 31; his claim that Birth Control is eugenic, 55 n.; his ignorance of the physiology of reproduction and laws of fertility, 90; regards parturition as an illness, 93 n.

Criminals, society can always deal with, 137 n.

Degeneracy, present evils due to, rather than to over-population, 45; makes the present a most unfavourable moment to advocate Birth Control, 48; its toll on the nation, 49; destroys a nation's belief in itself, 193; bars the way to satisfactory solution of social problems, 245, 255; removal of, essential before tinkering with old institutions, 246, 248; prevalence of, 247; means for eliminating, 250–5; the hopelessness of present day, 254

Drysdale, Dr. C. V., quoted, 15, 49, 50, 52, 89, 226

Drysdale, Dr. G., his Elements of Social Science, 28; his alarm at population figures shown to be unjustified, 35, 36; advocated Birth Control as cure for poverty, 36

Education, fictitious value attached to, 154

Ellis, Havelock, his misunderstanding of women's needs in marriage, 102, 103, 104

Emigration, of little use in reducing excess population, 32; a dysgenic measure, 32, 33

England, decreasing resources of, 39, 40; destruction of the ideal lover in, 178 n.

Eugenics, demands association of best stock qualities, 59; a measure of, condemned by Monsignor Brown, 191

Eugenist, his confusion of the poorly remunerated with the undesirable, 70 n.

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Fairbairn, Dr. J. S., quoted, 22, 263, 274

Fairfield, Dr. Letitia, quoted, 70, 76, 140

Family, the large, Birth Control an attack on, 117; definition of, 118; number of children in, 120, 125; legitimate grounds for attack on, 121; unjustifiable grounds for attack on, 121, 122; better for the mother, 123, 125; only cruel where pathological conditions exist, 127; not unfair to the children, 127; as a source of many virtues, 128; not dysgenic, 129; not inevitable even without contraceptives, 144, 145; unjustified prejudice against, 147; among the poor not necessarily dysgenic, 151, 152; not more unhealthy than the small, 152, 153; the discipline of, 153; the sacrifices demanded by 154, 158

Family, the small, number of children in ideal, as advocated by Birth Controllers, 52, 53, 95; increase of, 93, 94; if produced by Birth Control deprives women of full sexual enjoyment, 100, 101, 102; not better for the children, 139, 140; dysgenic because it gives fewer chances to heredity, 141

Feminism, its advocacy of Birth Control, 186, 187; in seventeenth century France, 213–25; the pessimism of, 213; hostile to man, 224; its Puritanism, 225; inevitably favours Birth Control, 228, 229; its revolt against sexual discipline, 229, 231; opposed to lactation as destructive of "freedom," 268

Fertilisation, in human beings not inevitable after congress, 259, 261, 262, 270

Fertility, variability of, in different people, 143; causes leading to, 143 n.; reduced by Puritanism, 144 n.; period of woman's greatest, 145 n.

Fibroid tumour, indirectly due to Birth Control, 164–6, 171; some figures concerning, 165, 208

France, strict chaperonage in, 202, 203; Feminism in seventeenth century, 213; Birth Control in seventeenth century in, 224, 230

Franklin, Benjamin, his advice to poor young men to marry old women, 181, 182

Gamgee, Dr. Katherine, quoted, 78, 89, 90, 96, 152, 153, 159

Giles, Dr., his disapproval of Birth Control, 20, 21; on Fibroid tumours, 164, 165

Greeks, their method of dealing with over-population, 46; their health, 47

Haire, Dr. Norman, recommends Dutch pessary, 22, 23; on harmfulness of most contraceptives, 22; disapproves of Pro-Race pessary, 25, 26; in favour of sterilisation of degenerates, 76 n.; realises that sexual congress is as great a joy to women as to men, 81 n.; on optimum interval between births, 96 n.; assumes Birth Control will facilitate early marriage, and diminish irregular unions, 106; admits no perfect contraceptive exists, 176 n.; the objections to his contraceptive, 176, 177

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Hill, Dr. Leonard, quoted, 102, 278, 279

Huxley, would have preferred an ape for his grandfather to a certain type of man, 138, 139

Infanticide, arguments for and against, 241, 242; sentimentality of relaxing laws against, 243; indiscriminate, little better than Birth Control, 244; when it should be allowed, 244

Inge, Dean, his insistence on over-population as a reason for Birth Control, 54 n.; his shallowness and confusion of thought, 68; on necessity for reducing Birth Rate, 69 n.; his wild and shallow judgments, 138; his un-Christian suggestion regarding State education, 153 n.; his inconsistency and irrationality, 190; unfavourably compared with Monsignor Brown, 191; on reasonableness of Feminist claims regarding Birth Control, 228; his unconscious inhumanity, 236

Jews, the, their greatest men often members of large and impecunious families, 128 n.

Kisch, Dr. E. H., quoted, 118, 166, 167, 168, 259, 260, 261, 265, 266, 268, 272

Lactation, prevents too frequent child-bearing, 92; as factor in postponement of menopause, 167, 168; pregnancy exceptional during, 258, 262, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 271, 274; marital continence desirable during, 263 n.; lengthy period of, among various peoples, 265 n.; failure of, leads to frequent pregnancies, 266; average duration of, among savages, 267, 271; reasons why, sometimes fails to prevent conception, 269; prolongation of, as a means of preventing conception, 271, 272 n.; prolongation of, does not mean that child has no other food, 273, 275; prolonged, not cause of rickets, 275

Lane-Claypon, Dr. Janet E., quoted, 168, 169, 170, 269

London General Omnibus Co., its reserve of unemployed, 44 n.

MacBride, Prof., his snobbish confounding of "better" with "richer," 73

Malthus, not a true Christian, 189; his scheme of late marriage with continence, 245

Malthusian League, formation of, 28

Marriage, increase of childless, 93, 94; early, supposed to be facilitated by Birth Control, 106; average age of, in England, 119; should be reward of victorious struggle, 205, 206; this ideal destroyed by Birth Control, 207, 209; revolt against by Feminists, 216, 217; between degenerates should be forbidden, 251

Medical Aspects of Contraception, some comments on this book, 276–9

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Medical Profession, their lack of unanimity regarding Birth Control, 17, 18, 19, 20, 62

Menopause, the, average age of, in England, 118 n.; postponed in women who have suckled many children, 167; figures concerning age at, 167, 168

Mental defectives, reasons for dropping Bill of 1912 dealing with, 69; some statistics concerning, 251; inadequate supervision of, 252

Miscarriages, proportion of, to still-births, 260 n.

Molière, his satire against feminism, 217, 218

Morality, birth controllers' curious ideas regarding "true," 108–12, 115

Murderer, the, less harmful to society than the degenerate, 250

Newsholme, Sir A., his opinion that degeneracy is not more prevalent among the poor than among the rich, 74; can find little evidence to show that average woman is exhausted by child-bearing, 88; advocates contraception in pathological cases, 98

Over-population, Birth Control regarded as cure for, 15, 28; unemployment not proof of, 42–4; might be gauged by number of unemployables, 45; our present evils not due to, 45; would not be cause for complaint in a really healthy nation, 46; problem of, complicated by degeneracy, 49, 60, 62; Nature's way of dealing with, not necessarily progressive, 65; and would favour undesirables and eliminate superiority in the present age, 66, 67; attitude of health and vigorous nation towards, 235; this attitude impossible now owing to degeneracy, 240; must be extricated from problem of degeneracy, 248

Parliament, likely to advocate Birth Control to alleviate immediate pressure, 249

Parturition, should be an orgasm, 124; not a cause of cancer, 167

Pauperism, some figures concerning, 36; reduced in spite of increase in population, 38

Pell, Mr. C. E., a discussion of some of his views on fertility, 143, 144

Pessary, quinine, conflicting medical views about, 20, 21

Pity, the noblest, should be for the sound minority, 249

Poor, the, hostility of, to Birth Control, 78, 82; prefer abortion to contraception, 78; reasons for hostility to Birth Control, 79; their taste in matters of human relationship, 80; their happiness misunderstood by smug middle-class mind, 148, 149, 150

Population, density of, in various countries, 29; increase of, in Great Britain, 29, 30

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Poverty, adduced as an argument against large families, 147; this largely due to lack of imagination of middle-class mind, 148, 149, 150, 151, 160

Puritanism, as a reason for lack of fertility, 144 n.; of Feminism, 225, 230

Rickets, not due to prolonged, lactation, 275

Royal Families, mortality among children of, 156

Sadism, of male untransmuted when Birth Control is practised, 179, 180

Schools for sex initiation, 205 n.

Scott-Lidgett, Dr., his reasons for opposing Birth Control, 196, 197, 198

Segregation, of degenerates more satisfactory than sterilisation, 77

Self-affirmation, inhumanity of, 236, 237, 238; lack of, euphemistically interpreted by modern effete nations, 229, 240

Sévigné, Madame de, a birth controller, 219; her detestation of pregnancy, 220, 221, 222; her pessimism, 223, 230

Shaw, G. B., regards Birth Control as freeing man from thraldom of Nature, 199

Siegel, Dr. P. W., quoted, 118, 119, 145, 154, 155, 156, 157, 258, 261

Snobbery, actuates leading birth-controllers in regarding the rich and the poor as respectively desirable and undesirable, 69

Socialism, the sophistry of, 224 n.

Sterilisation, of degenerates recommended by birth-controllers, 76

Sterility, causes leading to, 143 n.

Still-births, some figures concerning, 260 n.

Stopes, Marie, her criticism of Dutch pessary, 24; her snobbery, 68 n.; her sophistic argument against the unnaturalness of continence, 85 n.; regards lack of Birth Control as barbaric cruelty, 93 n.; her arguments based on pathological cases, 99; admits no perfect contraceptive exists, 176 n.

Undesirability, not to be confounded with unfitness, 70, 114; the criterion of, 71, 72; to be judged by stigmata of degeneration, 75, 76, 114

Unemployment, some figures concerning, 32; not proof of over-population, 42; necessary in our present industrial system, 43; statistics of, 44

Unfit, this technical biological term widely misunderstood, 67; many desirable people among the so-called, 67; necessary to distinguish between undesirable and, 70

Values, must be transformed if degeneracy is to be combated, 253

Women, numbers of surplus in 1921, 33; surplus, not much helped by emigration, 34; normal, not exhausted by child-bearing, 88, 89, 96, 159; find happiness in having large families, 96;

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    whose children are widely spaced less happy than those who have them at shorter intervals, 96 n.; sexual life of, erroneously regarded by birth-controllers to be similar to men's, 99, 100, 101, 102; contraception more cruel to, than to men, 102; sexual function of, cannot be limited to copulation, 104; length of reproductive life of, 118, 119, 123, 124; better for having large families, 123, 126; unmarried, greater sufferers from cancer, 170; young, preferred by men, 180, 181; the greatest sufferers from Birth Control, 187

Wrench, Dr. G. T., quoted, 119, 120, 145, 265



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First Chapter