, 1867-07-19

the sensibilities Of the virtuous and suQ0estin in0
evii 70 The innocent; and on this account they
are often allowed to extend themselves wirhou,
resisunee, till society is threatened with utter
corruption and decay. Such is the fact now,
| win the crime Of infanticide before birth or
more accurately, feticide. So general and de.
strueuVe has the crime become ss TO cause rea>
sonaoie alarm, and at last the silence is broken
and the doctors of medicine and divinity uuite
IN solemn remonstrance and appeal against its
gullt aud danger. A most impressive article on
the subject appears 10 the Boston CONGREGATION.
alist fom me pen Of Rev. Or. Todd, OF Pitiaseid
DR.. Morse Stewart, an influential physician Of
Detroit, Michigan, has contributed TO the Wss.
| tern Medtedt ReUter, paper discussing the phys-
| biological effects of abortion, as to the moral
guilt Of the practice, aud making startling dis.
closures as to its prevalence and the immense
amount of disease ana death resulting from it,
DR.. Stewart declares that the statistics, con-
frmed by the observation of physicians. proye
that there is no crime more surely punished in
the persons of those committing il than that of
abortion, and that more lives are lost bV IL than
| by childbirth. OF those who survive the opera,
ton, the majority are made iuvalids for life by
complication of incurable disorders that break
down the constitution and often produce insan>
ity. When the attempt fails the child that es-
capes the fate plotted for it and often the sue
eeeding chil1ren will be deformed, idiotc or
| diseased in various ways. The crime is never
safe, and when the evil consequences of the
unnatural act are apparently evaded at the time
they are certain to be developed later and TO
bring terrible retribution upon the mother.
! There is general concurrence iu the opinion
that the practice Of abortion has rapidly increas
ed within few years, until it may be said to be
| common. DR.. Stewart declares that il every
mother guilty of it should be hung for murder,
the married women would be almost decimated,
for the criminals are mostly married women.
For the single woman, deceived and betrayed
there would seem to be some excuse 10 resortiug
| to this means to conceal her shame. The wife
who desires to escape the pain of childbirth and
the trouble of rearing offspring, and so ruthless.
ly outrages her maternal instincts and destroys
her unborn children, cannot satisfy her con-
| science with the selfish and cowardly reasons
which move her to the unnatural crime. New
York physician states that there are in that city
over fous hundred professional abortionists, most
Of whom do an extensive business and somo of
whom advertise in the leading papers. These
are establishments for the purpose adapted to
the different classes, some fitted up luxuriously
for the rich who pay as high as $500 for the ser
vice. Beside the professed abortionists, there
are some regular physicians who secretly assist
their patients in the commission of the crime at
their own homes, and hundreds of ignorant
quacks, men and women, to fall into whose hands
is almost certain death, and whose Sole recon-
mendation is that they do their terrible work
qlickly and cheapIJ. rue Specihcs advertised
ia the metropolitan papers for causing abortion
ate generally but bats and advertisements of
the practising abortionists, for they almost in>
variably fail of their purpose, while the direc-
tions accompanying them point to the establish
ments where the work may be surely accom-
plished. 10 addition to these systematic meth
DDS of procuring abortion, the physicians are
often called upon to prescribe for women who
have attempted the crime upon themselves, with
sIch crude means as were in their power, and
these some of the worst cases in their results
of sickness and pain.
Abortion would seldom be practiced If it were
felt to be crime. There is a prevailing notion
that the life of human germ Is not sacred, and
that it may be destroyed without guilt at any
moment before it exhibits life or, indeed, at any
moment previous to birth. DR.. Todd tells us
that Catholic Christians are better instructed on
this subject than the Protestants. The confess
ional guards human life from its first stage, and
fearful penalties are threatened against those
who interfere with its natural growth. The
Catholic bishop OF Boston, says on this subject
as follows:
'The very instant conception has taken place,
there lies the vital germ of man. True, it is
hidden in the darkness of the womb and is help
less but it has sacred rights, founded on Gods
law, and so much the more to be respected be-
cause it is helpless. 1t may be already living
man, for neither mother nor physicians can tell
when life is infused. They can only tell when
its presence is manifested. There is a wide dif>
ference between the two things. At any rate, it
is from the first moment potentially man, with
a body and soul destined most surely by the will
of the Creator and by his law, to be developed
into the fulness of human existence. No one
can prevent that development without resisting
and annullug one of the most sacred and import
ant laws tabshed by the Divine Author of the
universe. He is criminal and a murderer who
deals an exterminating blow to the incipient
man, and drives back into nothingness q being
whom God designed to give living body and
an immortal SOUL"
Dr. Todd thinks it quite time that the Protest
ant church, through its pastors and teachers,
should bear an equally decided testimony against
the crime. And there is more need of this if, as
he asserts, the practice is far more common
among Protestants than Catholics. In this fact
doubtless lies the explanation in whole or in
part of the decline of our Protestant population
as compared with the Catholic. 1t is not com>
mon to find mote than two or three children in
our Protestant families Those who have abun-
dant means for the care and education of child.
rem, are more likely to limit their families by
unnatural methods than their poorer neghbors
Women in the higher circles of society eVade the
duty of maternity on the pretense that they are
too delicate for it, and by that evasion often bes
come helpless invalids for life, while all obser-
vation confirms the fact asserted by DR.. Todd,
that 'the fairest, healthiest, happiest and most
useful of women that have ever lived, have been
the mothers of large families" 1t might also
be shown that many cases of domestic nfelicity
and alienation of husband and wife, Of late so
common, originate in the premature sterility
caused by the attempt to circumVent the divine
laws.
Our women nsed to be taught thst the laws of
nature could not be evaded, nor its processes
obstructsd in anyway without incurring the
penalty. The penalty will be fearful in propor>
tion to the crime and perVersion. Health and
enjoyment of body, mind and heart, come only
through obedience to law. II we should return
to q simple, purer, more natural life, the origi-
nal and only universal sacrament would again
be the chief joy and blessing Of this world, and
the preparation and foretaste Of better
Springfield (AGssaehusetts) Republican.
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A BEAUTIFUL SENTIMENT.-When the
HindOo priest is about to baptize an infant,
he utters the following beautiful sentiment:
''Little babe, thou enterest the world weep
ing, while all around smile; coLtrive 50 to