PART VII.
The Physiology of Wedlock.
The extraordinary delicacy of this subject is such as to have hitherto absolutely prevented its discussion; but when ministers publicly declaim from the pulpit on the crime of ante-natal infanticide, and the press teems with minute details of the last act of a daily presented tragedy, we think it time that the drama should be faithfully elaborated and the earlier scenes equally exposed, and with the same lawful purpose—the prevention of crime, and of consequent domestic unhappiness. It is with this object in view that we venture to penetrate the secrecy of the nuptial chamber, and discover there the very beginning of evils so universally acknowledged, yet so little understood.
From the preceding chapters the different relations of man and woman on the night following the solemn ceremony which has made them one flesh can be comprehended at a glance. But few words, then, are needed to explain these differences. Of course, what we have to say regarding the woman supposes her to be, at least physically, a
virgin. The poor girl has been for weeks an object of open commiseration and sympathy on the part of all the old women and young girls of her acquaintance. It is not so much what has been said as what has been mysteriously hinted by looks and actions more suggestive than words. She has been taught to regard this night as one of unspeakable horror and torment; not alone her virginity, but her utmost capacity for physical pain, are to
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