Page:Contraception; 1st ed. (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.94163).pdf/49

be treated primarily as a problem for the perfectly healthy woman, and, therefore, should not be complicated by any accessory requirements. Wholesome contraception is a valuable tool in the hands of those who work toward elevating our sex knowledge in the way urged by Professor Bayliss.^[1] The main and most legitimate objects of a true contraceptive are to permit of the full benefits of coitus, the complete absorption of all that can naturally be absorbed and used from the seminal fluid, and the prevention of the union of the spermatozoa with the ovum,

This seems a very simple requirement, but partly owing to the prudery which has surrounded and kept the subject from being studied properly, and partly from the complexity of the psychological reactions involved in the act of coitus, even yet, after many centuries of use, we are far from a complete knowledge of contraceptives. So far as I can discover nothing better for the perfectly normal woman exists than the internal cap, which will be described and dealt with on p. 140.