“There never was,” said he, “a lack of wise doctors amongst men who were always ready with a sure cure for the ills that beset the race. Some of them now proposed as a remedy for the social maladies a plan of life that was not new nor original, but which differed as far as possible from the hereditary notions of the western nations. This was nothing less than polyandry or the plurality of husbands. They said, let every woman have three husbands and harmony and peace will be restored, and vice be deprived of excuse. They said this was no experiment, but had been practiced successfully amongst some of the eastern nations from time immemorial. They referred to the case of the Ladaks, a highly civilized, steady and religious people of the Buddhist faith, who inhabit the lofty and circumscribed valley at the head waters of the Indus. The place will support only so many people. If too many were born they could not emigrate to a lower country on account of the oppression of the heavier air. For a converse reason no immigrants ever attempt to settle there. But the population is kept uniform and steady by the simple plan of giving each wife three husbands. This has been successful for a thousand years on a small scale and there seemed no reason why it would not work on a large scale. But this scheme was promptly and emphatically rejected by the women of influence and authority, the moment it was proposed. They asserted there was no civilized relationship except Monogamy. That alone brought equality of the sexes and equality alone stood between the race and barbarism. “It was true that polyandry was already practiced surreptitiously to a certain extent in America, but it was the disreputable exception and they did not propose to make it the honorable rule. They denounced the plan as being scarcely one remove from the “social evil” itself. Polygamy, they said, is natural, made so by immemorial usage. The race was brought up on that and is built with reference to it. But polyandry, No! nothing in nature so repulsive and revolting. That settled it.” CHAPTER X. The Third Sex. “It is a painful tale you have told me, Professor,” said I, “I sincerely hope you have got a pleasanter sequel to take off its sting. Well, our race has always had its ups and downs. The one seems always to breed the other. So as it has received a check now, that must be a prophecy of better times ahead. After all I shall be disappointed if human wit has been so completely baffled by that problem of population that it has failed to find a way for its regulation without violation of the generous instincts of humanity.”