The reasons that may exist for limiting the progeny of each particular pair cannot be formulated into a code, for these are questions of conscience, between the individuals and their Creator, on the one hand, and on the other, they should be influenced by economic conditions and physical or constitutional taints of the progenitors. I do not believe in the truth of the law of Malthus, that there is a tendency for population to increase faster than the means of subsistence, but I am inclined to the view held by John Stuart Mill, that “no one has a right to bring children into life to be supported by other people.” But when the same eminent authority designates the procreative act as brute instinct, I think he is in great error, for that is not so. Conjugal affection and the sentiment of love spring from the reproductive systems, through the reflex action of the brain, and these have their moral significance, and should not be branded as brutal, for upon their normal functions depends the perpetuation of the race, and as it was so ordained by the Creator, it cannot be an unholy passion. To be physically strong and well are the prerequisites for happiness, and if we cannot transmit to our offspring this essential quality, it would be much better for society if we were not instrumental in bringing defective children into the world. The competitive struggle for existence is hard enough for the vigorous and robust; how much greater must it be for the constitutionally infirm? When these conditions of infirmity exist, they should influence our course as progenitors; this appears to me self-evident, and I trust in the wisdom that is innate to the human soul, that only the best ends will be subserved. An expedient that is to accomplish the object in view, must be in the nature of a wholesome sanitary measure, that violates no law of nature. The inordinate use of any preventive, coupled with excessive indulgence, cannot be without ill effects. Excesses must be studiously avoided, so as not to incur the diseases of which mention has already been made. The employment of a vaginal douche of the proper temperature, medicated with a little pure alcohol, is not injurious and is the most reliable of all preventives, provided it is intelligently used and without delay. The quantity of fluid to be used is a _quart_ of warm water, of 103 to 105 degrees Fahr., to which two tablespoonfuls of alcohol is added; of this, three-fourths or all is to be douched through the vagina.