Safe Marriage | Page 8

sexual intercourse. It may occur many hours, or even two or three weeks, after connection, because the spermatazoa have motion of their own. They are tiny threadlike bodies, which may work their way towards the ovum long after they have left the body of the man and been placed in the body of the woman, and the uterus has a searching movement, and may by its pulsations draw the spermatazoa upwards. For these reasons a woman cannot be quite sure of the exact time of fertilisation, and hence cannot predict exactly the date of the child-birth. Generally the pregnancy lasts nine months, but it may last longer--say ten months on rare occasions; and it may be extended apparently by a delay in fertilisation.
PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION.
For many reasons which I need not enumerate here, the precautions against impregnation can most easily and effectively be taken by the woman, rather than by the man. She is the one fertilised, and therefore she is the one to guard herself against fertilisation.
There are two methods of preventing fertilisation:--
(1) The chemical method, that is, the destruction of the male cells (spermatazoa) by means of a suitable germicidal substance, such as many of the disinfectants; and
(2) The mechanical method, that is, the adoption of measures which keep the male and the female cells apart from one another.
[Illustration: INNER SIDE OF THIGH.
DIAGRAM 1.--Female organs of generation in normal condition. This shows diagrammatically the position of the organs if a woman were cut in two between the thighs. The rubber pessary is shown in position, slightly distending upper end of vagina (or front passage), and covering the opening into interior of womb. A suppository introduced beforehand will dissolve and occupy the dotted space above rubber pessary, forming a pool around the mouth of the womb. The walls of the vagina are elastic and collapsible. Infection with gonorrhoea may occur in the female urethra (or water passage) or in the vagina, etc. Syphilis may infect internal and external parts of female organs; also breasts, mouth, tongue, etc., and other openings of the body.]
Neither of these two methods in practical application by ordinary women can be said to be completely certain. Both are apt to fail at times. The chemical method, that is, the application by the woman of a suitable soluble contraceptive suppository before connection, or of a germicidal douche (such as a dilute solution of lysol) after connection, or both these measures taken consecutively, may fail because of some fault in application, or because the seminal fluid actually enters the womb during intercourse; that is to say, when emission takes place, the end of the male organ may be exactly opposite and close to the mouth of the womb, and the spermatazoa in the seminal fluid enter directly into the womb, and cannot then be removed or destroyed by douching or contraceptives of any kind. Now if the physical conformation of the reproductive organs of the husband and the wife render this event possible or probable, then soluble suppositories and contraceptive douching are alike unreliable, by themselves or in combination. On the other hand, the mechanical method, that is, the use of a rubber protector, preferably the spiral-spring occlusive[G] "Dutch" pessary, by the woman may also fail, because the protector is porous or ill-fitting. But--_if the two methods are combined, the chemical method and the mechanical method, then the protection against fertilisation may be regarded as almost absolute_. The completeness of the protection depends, of course, upon the proper application and combination of the measures advised.
[Footnote G: Judging by certain original letters (dated December, 1888, to November, 1892), which I have seen myself, by the courtesy of Messrs. E. Lambert & Son, of 60, Queen's Road, Dalston, London, E.8, the rubber spring pessary was first suggested here by an English doctor, and manufactured for him by Mr. E. Lambert Sen. Under date December 23rd, 1888, the doctor wrote:--
"I think highly of the watch-spring rim. There will be very little fear of conception with one of these new pessaries properly adjusted, as the rim will press equally all round. The inflated pessary would be the most perfect, however, if you could only contrive some method to prevent escape of air and consequent flattening. Such a pessary would be most comfortable."]
[Illustration: UTERUS, OVARY AND FALLOPIAN TUBE.
DIAGRAM 2.--The Fallopian tubes and ovaries are not shown on Diagram 1. There are two ovaries and two Fallopian tubes, one on each side of the uterus. The female cells or ova are formed in the ovaries and discharged into the Fallopian tubes, along which they travel into the uterus. It is believed that the union of the male with the female cell usually occurs in the Fallopian tubes, but that it may occur in the uterus.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 3.--This diagram shows the male urethra or