In normal pregnancy there is some congestion of the kidneys; where there is actual disease of the kidneys prior to the pregnancy, this congestion is apt to become so severe as to threaten the woman’s life.  These organic diseases are not to be confounded with functional diseases which are dependent on some other cause; as palpitation of the heart due to indigestion, or heart murmurs dependent on the thin state of the blood, or congestion of the kidneys due to exposure to cold;—­ all of which may be cured by proper treatment.

Should a woman with a fibroid tumor marry, she would run a great risk to her life; she should have the tumor removed, or, if this is not possible, she should give up all thoughts of marriage, since the increased irritation and congestion consequent upon the marital relations would tend to favor its growth.  Should pregnancy ensue, delivery might be attended with serious complications, as very difficult labor, postpartum hemorrhage, or, as these tumors have but little vitality, and the pressure to which they are subjected during labor is liable to cause their death, disorganization, sloughing, and, as a result, puerperal septicemia.

Sometimes there is such a lack of development of the genital organs as to prevent the woman from having children.

Two persons with even a slight tendency to the same disease, either inherited or acquired, should not intermarry, even if they are in comparatively good health at the time.  Their offspring would be quite sure to inherit their diseased tendencies.

Persons whose constitutions have been somewhat injured, but who are not tainted with actual disease, may rear children much healthier than themselves, provided their own lives are wisely regulated.  If they are growing better all the time, and are not too much broken in constitution, it may be safe for them to marry.

Among the Jews the physician is frequently consulted before matrimonial alliances are contracted.  This custom could not but be of universal benefit; many local or general diseases would be eradicated before marriage, and in this way much suffering and unhappiness would be spared; or, in other cases, the patient would be advised of the inadvisability of marriage.

Do Reformed Profligates Make Good Husbands?—­ The manner of life that has been led by this class of men is such as to undermine their health, if not to have rendered them physical wrecks.  There is the overindulgence in alcoholic beverages, and perhaps, added to this, some drug habit.  In addition to this, these men early in their career are apt to become infected with some of the venereal diseases, or perhaps with all of them—­ gonorrhea, syphilis, and so forth; and these diseases have the horrible characteristics of becoming latent.  A man who contracts this kind of a disease can never be really sure that he is cured.  All venereal diseases are highly contagious.

It is now a well-established fact that gonnorrheal infection is not only one of the most common causes of pelvic inflammations in women, but that these same inflammations are of the most virulent types, unless they are recognized and treated in the early stages.  It is also a well-known fact that a large percentage of married women suffer from this disease.  Sterility almost always results.