he becomes more and more conscious that she is, in "her graceful innocence,” exposed to his uncontrolled freedoms; and what may possibly follow? Yet, so circumstanced, men-midwives pretend, and would have the world believe, that the situation in which women are prevents the difference of their sex from being capable of producing its natural effects on their thoughts and passions! Why, this "bangs Bannager," as O'Connell would say. Let the public reflect if the pretence is not palpably prepos

terous.

If these pages were not to illustrate the arguments advanced by facts, it might be suspected by close reasoners, and asserted by the interested, that confining the dissertation to mere assertion, and founding objections upon assumptions only, the practice objected against was not proved to be objectionable; and was this treatise, in truth, open to such charges, it would be perfectly nugatory;

therefore, actual facts in their true light are placed before readers. And abjuring all desire of adapting these pages, of enlightenment and information, to suit prurient and vicious fancies, the professional work before alluded to is again availed of for elucidation on this obstetric subject:

"The os externum (which is the entrance of the vagina) must be gradually opened by introducing the fingers one after another, in form of a cone, after they have been lubricated with pomatum, moving and turning them in a semicircular motion as they are pushed up. If the head is so low down that the hand cannot be introduced high up in this form, let the parts be dilated by the fingers turned in the direction of the coccyx," &c. &c.

At first, as one who sought access, but fear'd To interrupt, sidelong he works his way."

As relates to the consideration of the sexes, what must be thought under circumstances like the foregoing, in point of delicacy and modesty? And taken in connexion with preceding observations as to the danger of inflammation and laceration, what can be thought also of the woman's safety? That the great distension which attends the birth produces a natural predisposing tendency towards inflammation, cannot be wondered at; and assuredly so much, or even any friction of a part so predisposed, must tend to augment the degree of inflammation. Great is the marvel then, that a part of such exquisite sensibility should be subjected for hours to this process of digitation and unnatural friction, by men pretending to pathological knowledge; though the wonder ceases, and the fact is accounted for, in the consideration of the sex of the operator. If it is denied that the fact of the diversity of sex operates in such cir

cumstances upon either the patient or the operator, the affirmative of the proposition is maintained, and the natural probability is supported by the considerations which will presently be submitted in addition to those which have already been advanced.

The consideration of the sexual influences must not, in fact, be dismissed until thoroughly investigated, for it is the pivot upon which the main argument and well-founded objections turn: and whether sexual feelings are operated through the system by the electric, or nervous influence of contact, or by whatever other mysterious course of nature, it is sufficient that the danger is present, and therefore ought to be avoided.

Mr. Coulson, in his late celebrated work on Deformities of the Chest and Spine, observes that "the whiteness and the animation of the skin, however, do not alone constitute its beauty; there is still another quality which is absolutely

necessary to it. This is the softness and the polish which is one of the first conditions of physical beauty. In woman, this is probably derived from a slight degree of oleaginous secretion. Hence she has few asperities of the skin, especially on the surface of the bosom, and elsewhere. Brown women, who probably have more of this oleaginous secretion, are said to possess in a greater degree the polish of skin which gives impressions so agreeable to the organ of touch; and hence Winckelmann has said that persons who prefer brown women to fair ones, allow themselves to be captivated by the touch, rather than the sight."

Here is Mr. Coulson's testimony as a surgeon as to the polish of skin in woman, "which gives impressions so agreeable to the organ of touch;" and Winckelmann's authority as to men "allowing themselves to be captivated by the touch?"