[304] Even the Church to some extent adopted this allotment of the responsibility, and “solicitation,” i.e., the sin of a confessor in seducing his female penitent, is constantly treated as exclusively the confessor’s sin.

[305] Adolf Gerson, Sexual-Probleme, Sept., 1908, p. 547.

[306] It has already been necessary to refer to the unfortunate results which may follow the ignorance of husbands (see, e.g., “The Sexual Impulse in Women,” vol. iii of these Studies), and will be necessary again in Ch.  XI of the present volume.

[307] Pepys, Diary, ed.  Wheatley, vol. vii, p. 10.

[308] Lombroso and Ferrero, La Donna Delinquente; cf.  Havelock Ellis, Man and Woman, fourth edition, p. 196.

[309] Gury, Theologie Morale, art. 381.

[310] “Men will not learn what women are,” remarks Rosa Mayreder (Zur Kritik der Weiblichkeit, p. 199), “until they have left off prescribing what they ought to be.”

[311] It has been set out, for instance, by Professor Wahrmund in Ehe und Eherecht, 1908.  I need scarcely refer again to the writings of Ellen Key, which may be said to be almost epoch-making in their significance, especially (in German translation) Ueber Liebe und Ehe (also French translation), and (in English translation, Putnam, 1909), the valuable, though less important work, The Century of the Child.  See also Edward Carpenter, Love’s Coming of Age; Forel, Die Sexuelle Frage (English translation, abridged, The Sexual Question, Rebman, 1908); Bloch, Sexualleben unsere Zeit (English translation, The Sexual Life of Our Time, Rebman, 1908); Helene Stoecker, Die Liebe und die Frauen, 1906; and Paul Lapie, La Femme dans la Famille, 1908.

CHAPTER X.

MARRIAGE.

The Definition of Marriage—­Marriage Among Animals—­The Predominance of Monogamy—­The Question of Group Marriage—­Monogamy a Natural Fact, Not Based on Human Law—­The Tendency to Place the Form of Marriage Above the Fact of Marriage—­The History of Marriage—­Marriage in Ancient Rome—­Germanic Influence on Marriage—­Bride-Sale—­The Ring—­The Influence of Christianity on Marriage—­The Great Extent of This Influence—­The Sacrament of Matrimony—­Origin and Growth of the Sacramental Conception—­The Church Made Marriage a Public Act—­Canon Law—­Its Sound Core—­Its Development—­Its Confusions and Absurdities—­Peculiarities of English Marriage Law—­Influence of the Reformation on Marriage—­The Protestant Conception of Marriage as a Secular Contract—­The Puritan Reform of Marriage—­Milton as the Pioneer of Marriage Reform—­His Views on Divorce—­The Backward Position of England in Marriage Reform—­Criticism of the English Divorce Law—­Traditions of the Canon Law Still Persistent—­The Question of Damages for Adultery—­Collusion as a Bar to Divorce—­Divorce