[32] Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, September, 1866, p. 191. New York Monthly Medical Journal, November, 1866, p. 156. [33] Prize Essay of the American Medical Association, p. 79. [34] Percival. Medical Ethics, p. 79. [35] Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Managers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, pp. 33 to 37. Legislative Document. Albany, 1867. [36] Criminal Abortion in America. Philadelphia, 1860. Title-page. V. ARE THESE RIGHTS ABSOLUTE, OR RECIPROCAL, WITH DUTIES? In the first place, let us see under what circumstances the rights I have now described were assumed, and whether it was by the power of the strong over the weak, or from a belief that woman was in reality inferior to man, as well as physically not as fully developed, or whether it was from a belief that such assumption was intended by the Creator, and inculcated both by natural and revealed religion, and in the latter instance by both the old and the newer Scripture. Probably all these arguments have weighed, but stronger than these even has been possession, that nine points of the law. Custom, handed down from father to son, from time immemorial, has sanctioned what so often results in tyranny. Appeals are made to Genesis, to the Proverbs, and to the Acts of the Apostles, and it is asserted that the inferiority of woman is thus proved to a demonstration, just as the Bible has been made to evidence the divinity of the institution of slavery, and to disprove—for some still assert this—the truths of geology, astronomy, and all other natural science. If no man should put asunder those whom God has joined, we must confess, in all conjugal matters at least, their full equality; and in relinquishing the title of lord and master, we must also waive the point of unreasoning and blind obedience, and so shall we gain the more complete obedience where such is really to be desired.