A man who will force his caresses upon his wife can be ranked only with “the brutes that perish.” Of this class also are those who “go in unto their wives” after the manner of brutes. The natural position to which we have alluded suggests itself to every married pair who possess the most remote particle of love for each other. But to make it unmistakable, we would say, that the female should lie upon her back, with her legs straight down—or if the legs are raised, they should be but slightly elevated. All other positions are unnatural and unhealthy. I could illustrate this fact by several cases in point, but the details are too disgusting. Suffice it then to say, that I have known females suffering from painful diseases caused by sexual connection in a standing position—in a position where their partners approached them from behind, and also in one case where the woman was forced or persuaded to lie on her back with her knees up against her chest. No female can desire such intercourse as this, because she cannot enjoy it. It is therefore the libidinous antics of her companion that compels her to it. Very few men of decent breeding require the caution I have here given, but if there be half-a-dozen who profit by it, I shall be compensated for thus alluding to a delicate subject.
It is wisely ordered by Nature that genius, and a high order of intellect, shall not, as a general rule, descend to children. If mankind could impart to offspring an intellectual superiority, we should probably have too many geniuses in the world, and too few workers. The animal propensities, the peculiar disposition, the various passions, the form, features, &c.—these, and other peculiarities of parents are always transmitted to their children; but that lofty, soul-inspiring sentimentality which enlarges the reasoning faculties and bestows mental distinction upon its recipients, seems to be a peculiar gift from the Deity itself.
Some physiologists assert that Nature does not endow the children of distinguished men so bountifully as those of less exalted capacities, and assign as a reason that great minds have their weaknesses and their follies, which are apt to show themselves in a marked manner at the moment they are begetting their children. I do not endorse this doctrine, but suspect that men are beholden rather to their mothers than to their paternal parents for whatever intellectual gifts God, in his wisdom, has bestowed upon them. A healthy, well developed, and naturally intelligent woman will have smart and intellectual children, even though her husband may be a ninny. If you want intelligent children, then, look you out a wife who has a soul above street yarn and love stories. But should you select the best woman from a thousand, you will scarcely find in her a wife capable of breeding you a very moderate genius. It is thought by some people that the state of the intellect at the moment of the nuptial act marks the mind of the child. I do not believe this; for if a crop of geniuses could be raised by minds specially tutored for the occasion, who doubts but that the world would be full of them?