spirit of revolution.  But during the present century revolutionary activity has largely ceased.  It has been, to a considerable extent, replaced by a movement of interest in sexual problems and of indulgence in sexual unrestraint, often taking on a somewhat licentious and sensual character.  “Free love” unions have been formed by the students of both sexes for the cultivation of these tendencies.  A novel, Artzibascheff’s Ssanin, has had great influence in promoting these tendencies.  It is not likely that this movement, in its more extravagant forms, will be of long duration. (For some account of this movement, see, e.g., Werner Daya, “Die Sexuelle Bewegung in Russland,” Zeitschrift fuer Sexualwissenschaft, Aug., 1908; also, “Les Associations Erotiques en Russe,” Journal du Droit International Prive, Jan., 1909, fully summarized in Revue des Idees, Feb., 1909.)

The movement of sexual freedom in Russia lies much deeper, however, than this fashion of sensual license; it is found in remote and uncontaminated parts of the country, and is connected with very ancient customs.

There is considerable interest in realizing the existence of long-continued sexual freedom—­by some incorrectly termed “immorality,” for what is in accordance with the customs or mores of a people cannot be immoral—­among peoples so virile and robust, so eminently capable of splendid achievements, as the Germans and the Russians.  There is, however, a perhaps even greater interest in tracing the development of the same tendency among new prosperous and highly progressive communities who have either not inherited the custom of sexual freedom or are now only reviving it.  We may, for instance, take the case of Australia and New Zealand.  This development may not, indeed, be altogether recent.  The frankness of sexual freedom in Australia and the tolerance in regard to it were conspicuous thirty years ago to those who came from England to live in the Southern continent, and were doubtless equally visible at an earlier date.  It seems, however, to have developed with the increase of self-conscious civilization.  “After careful inquiry,” says the Rev. H. Northcote, who has lived for many years in the Southern hemisphere (Christianity and Sex Problems, Ch.  VIII), “the writer finds sufficient evidence that of recent years intercourse out of wedlock has tended towards an actual increase in parts of Australia.”  Coghlan, the chief authority on Australian statistics, states more precisely in his Childbirth in New South Wales, published a few years ago:  “The prevalence of births of ante-nuptial conception—­a matter hitherto little understood—­has now been completely investigated.  In New South Wales, during six years, there were 13,366 marriages, in respect of which there was ante-nuptial conception, and, as the total number of marriages was 49,641, at least twenty-seven marriages in a hundred followed