The human element in sex : a consideration of facts in relation to the physical and mental organisation of men and women, addressed to students of medicine / by E. Blackwell.

  • Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human element in sex : a consideration of facts in relation to the physical and mental organisation of men and women, addressed to students of medicine / by E. Blackwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tients that elementary virtue in Christian civilisation must be carefully cherished by the physician who, more than any other, is acquainted with its influence on the sexual nature. The common resort to sexual examination is an evil grown up in medical practice of comparatively modern date. The use of the speculum should be strictly limited by absolute ne- cessity. Its reckless use amongst the poor is a serious national injury. I know from thirty years' medical experience amongst the poor, as well as the rich, that this custom is a real and growing evil. It should be a last resort of medical necessity, and it is so regarded by thoughtful physicians. That it is frequently a necessity is unhappily true; and when a poor sufferer learns from her trusted adviser that such investigation is quite unavoidable, acceptance of such judgment is the part of wisdom and true modesty. But it is essential that the medical judgment thus rendered should be final—the result of age and special expe- rience. The wise custom of many physicians to de- cline practice in which a very special training has not given them the positive knowledge of an expert, should be an universal rule. It is a social wrong when the serious character of this branch of medicine is not conscientiously acknowledged, I have known the natural sentiment of personal modesty seriously injured amongst respectable people by the resort to a succession of incompetent advisers. But a really