Page:Contraception; 1st ed. (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.94163).pdf/399

very evident, that the training for the medical profession is generally based on the foundation of an assumption that the medical practitioner is a doctor of disease. Hence that it is necessary for him (or her) to be trained in all that appertains to every common and as many rare diseases as the college years permit. True preventive medicine has not yet reared its edifice on the firm rock of a thorough understanding of and training in the requirements of normal health. The proper use of contraceptives, as being the greatest safeguard of the race in preventing weakness, induced, and inherited disease, is not yet officially recognized in the Medical Schools, although in many subjects less tinged with feeling and surrounded by ancient taboos than those involved in sex matters, this newer and sounder attitude is being widely adopted.

In March 1922 I sent a special letter of inquiry to all the leading Medical Schools in Great Britain asking whether any classes or lectures on contraception were available for their medical students: most of these sent replies, either from their respective Deans or Secretaries and all (with one exception) replied with a categorical negative. A typical reply was as