Page:Contraception; 1st ed. (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.94163).pdf/281

much wiser or much worse than in earlier Generations they were; who are afraid of what they so much wished for; who look upon the Fruitfulness of wives to be less eligible than their Barrenness; and had rather their Families should be none than large."

The following year Venette used a curious theological argument against the possibility of contraception when discussing "Si les charmes peuvent rendre un Homme impuissant et une Femme sterile."^[1] He said "L'enfant qui se-forme dans les flancs de sa mere ne s'y forme que par un exprès commandement de Dieu. Le Démon n'a nul pouvoir d'empêcher la génération . . . & plustot, si le Prince des puissances de l'air, pour me Servir de l'expression de Saint Paul, exerce son pouvoir sur les incrédules, et sur les rebelles, ce n'est point par fort, mais par l'impie credulité d'une femme . . ."

A contraceptive measure, still greatly in vogue, came into use about this time, and sheaths, made of fine linen, appear to have been used in Italy so early as the middle of the sixteenth century, see Ellis,^[2] and these