[DE] E. Kraus (Centralblatt f. Gynaecol., 1911, p. 747) found that all chemicals which are recommended for the prevention of conception prove themselves extremely unreliable in the practice. His experiments with 4 per cent. boric acid, 0.8 per cent. citric acid, etc., on hares and rabbits failed entirely. For this reason, namely, that there is no anti-conceptional device in existence which affords real security against pregnancy, there arose recently certain sociologists and physicians in Europe who demand the abrogation of the laws contra abortionem. The Pirogoff medical society in Russia demands the legalization abortionis. Hans Gross (Gross Archiv, Vol. 12, p. 345) says that in his opinion the time is not far away when abortion will not be punished any longer. Ed. v. Liszt (Die kriminelle Fruchtabtreibung, Zürich, 1910) says, the punishment for committing abortion should only take place after the pregnancy has advanced to a certain point. The possibility of recognizing the human form or of distinguishing the sex of the embryo or the capability of motion should mark the point in question. The moment, after which abortion would be punished, would thus coincide with the end of the second month. Such proposals can only be made in countries where Roman law is in force. From the point of view of the Roman law the embryo is “pars viscerum mulieris.” Hence if she has a right to remove any part of her body, she may also remove her embryo. No law denies a man his right to have his healthy appendix removed even against the advice of his surgeons, if he thinks it may bother him later on. Hence if the woman thinks that carrying her embryo to term will subject her and her child to great hardships, she has a right to have it removed. But in our free country, under Anglo-Saxon law, nobody has a right over his own body. Suicide is a crime. A woman has no right to remove a part of her bowels. She and her body belong to the State. For the same reason sterilization or castration for prevention of conception must be considered criminal according to the philosophy of our laws. The operation for the permanent destruction of the faculty of propagation is nothing less than a partial homicide. For it destroys the individual’s growth in the infinite. Hence the physician who performs the operation of sterilization to prevent conception in a perfectly healthy person is guilty of a crime, just as the homicide committed, in the interest of euthanasia, upon the victim’s request, is a criminal offense. [DF] In their natural sexual life, men live at a loss, hence are more katabolic, i. e., the changes in consequence of their sexual activity are disruptive. Women, living at a profit, are more anabolic, i. e., the male sperma absorbed by her organs serve for constructive processes. But erethism of any kind, in both male and female, represents a katabolic crisis. PART VIII. MORALITY[DG] CHAPTER XXII