The most common position is for the woman to lie flat on her back, with her legs spread wide apart, and her knees drawn up so that the angle made by the upper and lower part of the leg shall be less than a right angle.  Her head should not be too high, there should be no pillow under it.

Into her arms, and between her spread legs as she lies thus, her lover should come.  His body will thus be over and above her, and he should sustain himself on his elbows and knees, so that little or none of his weight may rest upon her.  In this position, face to face (and it should be noted that only in the human family is this position of coitus possible!  Among mere animals, the male is always upon the back of the female.  They—­mere animals—­can never look each other in the eye and kiss each other during the act!  This is another marked and very significant difference between human beings and all other animals in this regard) it is perfectly natural and easy for the organs to go together, when properly made ready, as here-before described.  The woman should also place her heels in the knee-hollows of her lover’s legs, and clasp his body with her arms.

The entrance of the penis into the vagina should not be too abrupt, unless circumstances are perfectly favorable for such meeting and it is the wish of the wife that it be made in this way.  It is only fair to say, though, that such bold and pronounced entrance is often greatly desired by the woman, if her passion has been fully aroused at this stage of the act.  Such union is not infrequently of the greatest delight to her, if everything is favorable for its being so made.  But, if there is any pain produced in her by the coming together, the meeting should be gentle and slow, the penis working its way into the vagina by degrees, till, finally, it is entirely encased therein.  Once thus happily together, the vagina and uterine cavity will still further expand, till, in due order, the two organs will be fitted together perfectly, a single unit, one, in the highest sense of unity.

This is the second act in this wonderful play.

Once well together, and the organs perfectly settled and adapted to each other, the third act begins, namely, the motion of the organs—­the sliding of the penis back and forth, partly in and out of the vagina, though this is not really the best way of describing just what should take place.  What should actually be done is, that the two organs should engage in this motion, which is common to them both.  They should mutually slip a few inches, back and forth, each party to the motion doing a fair half.

It is often supposed, by both an uninitiated husband and an “innocent” wife, that all the motion should originate with the husband—­that he should slide his penis in and out of the vagina, while the woman should lie still and “let him do it all.”  This is, however, a great mistake, and one that has caused an endless amount of ill to untold numbers of husbands and wives.  And for the following reasons: