The time between engagement and marriage should be neither too short nor too long. A period not shorter than three months and no longer than a year should elapse between the engagement and the marriage. It is an absurdity to expect real love from a young man and a young woman, who have seen each other only a few times, because of the legality of the act. Especially does it require a certain length of time and considerable skill and delicacy to overcome the tendency of shyness, which is a part of a woman’s nature, and of prudishness, which is instilled in the girl from the very moment she is capable of thinking. This questionable virtue is taught at home and at school, and becomes a part of her very being. It follows her as she grows up, clings to her, influences her and molds her. Hence, if the husband does not wish to begin married life with rape, he will have to associate with her long enough, till she becomes aware that the wife has no need of maidenly coyness and may indulge in the luxury of bestowing gallant attention without appearing indelicate and bold. The girl also needs enough time to study the man, his mode of life, his habits, his degree of honesty and purity, and what is the principal thing, his health. Love will surely desert the home where the young bride has left her bridal chamber afflicted with gonorrhoea or syphilis, and happiness will scarcely attend the wife and the husband who has spent the strength of his youth on venal creatures and now looks for a cure and for restoration by the impotent soiling of a chaste virgin. Enough time, therefore, should be given both parties for mutual study. On the other hand, too lengthy engagements keep the affections and the passions in an excited and unnatural condition, which after a time tends to weaken the nervous system and thus undermines health. The following case is very instructive. Mr. L., twenty-seven years of age, an assistant professor in a well-known college, and his bride, a teacher, thought that their economic conditions did not allow them the luxury of an increase in the family. So they agreed to a total abstinence of marital relations in the first year of their married life, but fully indulged in frustrate erotism, such as caressing, etc. The result is that L. has now to be treated for atonic impotence, manifested by premature ejaculation.