Woman | Page 2

is even more important for women than it is for men. I have examined carefully the books that have been written for girls and women, and I know that it is not bias, nor carping criticism, but strict honesty that forces me to say that I have not found one satisfactory girl's or woman's sex book. There are some excellent books for girls and women on general hygiene; but on sex hygiene, on the general manifestations of the sex instinct, on sex ethics--none. I have attempted to write such a book. Whether I have succeeded--fully, partially or not at all--is not for me to say, though I have my suspicions. But this I know: in writing this book I have been strictly honest with myself, from first page to last. Whether everything I have written is the truth, I do not know. But at least I believe that it is--or I would not have written it. And I can solemnly say that the book is free from any cant, hypocrisy, falsehood, exaggeration or compromise, nor has any attempt been made in any chapter to conciliate the stupid, the ignorant, the pervert, or the sexless.
As in all my other books I have used plain, honest English. Not any plainer than necessary, but plain enough to avoid obscurity and misconception.
Science and art are both necessary to human happiness. This is not the place to discuss the relative importance of the two. And, while I have no patience with art-for-art's-sake, I recognize that the scientist can not be put into a narrow channel and ordered to go into a certain definite direction. Scientific investigations which seemed aimless and useless have sometimes led to highly important results, and I would not disparage science for its own sake. It has its uses. Nevertheless I personally have no use for it. To me everything must have a direct human purpose, a definite human application. When the cup of human life is so overflowing with woe and pain and misery, it seems to me a narrow dilettanteism or downright charlatanism to devote one's self to petty or bizarre problems which can have no relation to human happiness, and to prate of self-satisfaction and self-expression. One can have all the self-expression one wants while doing useful work.
And working for humanity does not exclude a healthy hedonism; not the narrow Cyrenaic, but an enlightened altruistic hedonism. And in writing this book I have kept the human problem constantly before my eyes. It was not my ambition merely to impart interesting facts: my concern was the practical application of these facts, their relation to human happiness.
If this book should be instrumental, as I confidently trust it will, in destroying some medieval superstitions, in dissipating some hampering and cramping errors, in instilling some hope in the hearts of the hopeless, in bringing a little joy into the homes of the joyless, in increasing in however slight a degree the sum total of human happiness, its mission shall have been gloriously fulfilled.
For this is the mission of the book: to increase the sum total of human happiness.
W.J.R.
12 Mount Morris Park W., New York City. Jan. 1, 1917.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PARAMOUNT NEED OF SEX KNOWLEDGE FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN 23
Why Sex Knowledge is of Paramount Importance to Girls and Women--Reasons Why a Misstep in a Girl Has More Serious Consequences than a Misstep in a Boy--The Place Love Occupies in Woman's Life--Woman's Physical Disabilities.
II. THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS; THEIR ANATOMY 31
The Internal Sex Organs--The Ovaries--The Fallopian Tubes--The Uterus--The Divisions of the Uterus--Anteversion, Anteflexion, Retroversion, Retroflexion, of the Uterus--Endometritis--The Vagina--The Hymen--Imperforate Hymen--The External Genitals--The Vulva, Labia Majora, Labia Minora, the Mons Veneris, the Clitoris, the Urethra--The Breasts--The Pelvis--The Difference Between the Male and Female Pelvis.
III. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS 49
Function of the Ovaries--Internal Secretion of the Ovaries-- Function of the Internal Secretion--Number of Ova in the Ovaries--The Graafian Follicles--Ovulation--Corpora Lutea--Function of the Fallopian Tubes--Function of the Vagina--Functions of the Vulva, Clitoris and Mons Veneris-- Function of the Breasts--Besides Secreting Milk Breast Has Sexual Function--The Orgasm--Pollutions in Women--Secondary Sex Characters--Differences Between Woman and Man.
IV. THE SEX INSTINCT 62
Universality of the Sex Instinct--Not Responsible for Our Thoughts and Feelings.
V. PUBERTY 65
Physical Changes in Puberty--Physical Changes in the Genital Organs and in the Rest of the Body--Psychic Changes--Puberty and Adolescence--Nubility.
VI. MENSTRUATION 71
Definition of Menstruation--Where Menstrual Blood Comes From--Age of Menstruation--Age of Cessation of Menstruation--Duration--Amount--Regularity and Irregularity.
VII. ABNORMALITIES OF MENSTRUATION 75
Disorders of Menstruation--Menorrhagia--Metrorrhagia-- Amenorrhea--Vicarious Menstruation--Dysmenorrhea of Organic and of Nervous Origin.
VIII. THE HYGIENE OF MENSTRUATION 78
Lack of Cleanliness During Menstrual Period--Superstitious Beliefs--Hygiene of Menstruation.
IX. FECUNDATION OR FERTILIZATION 82
Fecundation or Fertilization--Process of Fecundation--When the Ovum Matures--Fate of Ovum When no Intercourse Has Taken Place--Entrance of Spermatozoa as Result of Intercourse--The Spermatozoa in Search of the Ovum--Rapidity of Movements of Spermatozoa--Absorption of Spermatozo?n by Ovum--Activity of Impregnated