As to the outrageous slander which here and there one has been heard to utter against the fair sex, in saying that fear of conception is the foundation of their chastity, it must be the sentiment of a "carnal heart," which has been peculiarly unfortunate in its acquaintances. "To the pure, all things are pure." Chastity, as well as its opposite, is in a great degree constitutional; and ought, in a like degree, to be regarded as a physical property, if I may so say, rather than a moral quality. Where the constitution is favorable a very indifferent degree of moral training is sufficient to secure the virgin without the influence of the above-mentioned fear; but where it is the reverse you may coop up the individual in the narrow dark cage of ignorance and fear, as you will, but still you must watch. An eminent moralist has said, "That chastity which will not bear the light [of physiology] is scarcely worth preserving." But verily, I believe there is very little such in the market. What there be is naturally short-lived, and, after its demise, the unhappily constituted individual stands in great need of this light to save her from ignominy. What might it not have prevented in the Fall River affair? And if one of two things must happen--either the destruction of fecundity or the destruction of life--which of the two is the greater evil? In these cases alone this light is calculated to do sufficient good to counterbalance all the evil that would arise from it; so that we should have its important advantages to the married in a political, a domestic and a medical point of view, as so much clear gain. This, of course, is my opinion; but since I have probably reflected more upon the subject than all the persons concerned in my imprisonment put together, until it can be shown that I have not as clear a head and as pure a heart as any of them, I think it entitled to some weight. End of Project Gutenberg's Fruits of Philosophy, by Charles Knowlton