The views of the Christian religion on sexual matters are well known. The leaders of Christianity abstained from sexual intercourse and recommended their conduct to others. St. Paul more than once affirmed his own continence. “For I would that all men were even as I myself; but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore, to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I; but if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.”[207] The religions of savage races are equally concerned with the reproductive functions. There are many extremely strange facts known concerning this matter, and among such I may mention that the Sandwich Islanders have a deity who presides at abortions. This god is made in the form of an elongated wooden instrument, and is known as “Kapo.” The upper part of the deity is shaped into a grotesque head, while the lower portion terminates in a point and serves to induce abortion by entering the uterus and rupturing the fœtal membranes.[208] Many other idols are used by savages as protections against disease. Ploss-Bartels,[209] in his treatise on “Medicine among Primitive Races,” has described a large collection of talismans of this kind. The ruling idea in the manufacture of these is that diseases are due to the presence of evil spirits, who are to be scared away as soon as possible. The Goldi of Siberia construct straw or wooden figures of men and animals to absorb the spirits of diseases. The Guilaks make wooden human figures, on the breasts of which are fashioned images of toads. These talismans are used as remedies for diseases of the chest and stomach. In higher forms of religion there remain abundant traces of such notions. Even Martin Luther declared that disease was supernatural in origin. “Behold a matter on which there is no room for doubt,” he stated, “and that is that the plague, fevers, and other diseases are the work of the devil.” A number of religious ceremonies were specified as the best remedies for diseases. The plague has left many deep marks on human history, and it is natural that a malady so terrible should have attracted serious attention. It was usually attributed to divine wrath, which was to be appeased by purification and sacrifice. Human beings were slain on altars to appease the wrath of God and to lessen the mortality from plague. Such religious customs have disappeared almost completely with the advancing culture of man, but traces of them survive and become apparent on occasions. Quite recently, when the King of England, Edward VII., was afflicted with an abdominal suppuration, he was given the assistance of the most highly skilled modern surgery, but at the same time special services were held in the churches to aid the cure of the royal invalid.