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out easily. There is, however, no necessity for these special sponges and in practical use it is far better not to have the attachment generally supplied with them, which increases the difficulty of keeping the sponge clean and disinfected.

The sponge has a particularly interesting place in the history of contraception in England, as it was the sponge "as used on the Continent" which was advocated in the "Diabolical Handbills" of 1823–4, and in the Republican in 1835 (see Chapter X on "Early History," p. 268).

There is much to be said for the sponge, and although some of the more modern practitioners greatly condemn it as being impossible to cleanse thoroughly, others still consider it the very best method for general use. Its principal advantages are that it is cheap, generally safe, very easy to manipulate, easily understood even by a stupid woman (and the stupid are exactly the people who most require birth control information, and who in the interests of the State should be encouraged to practise contraception). It does not require accurate adjustment as does the internal cap, and it can be used by the woman herself without the co-operation of her husband, which again is a point of racial value among