Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].

too often neglected with disastrous consequences to sexual efficiency and happiness * ; and there will be—even in the most fortunate cases—the need to restore the tense elasticity of all the genital and perineal tissues. The majority of these tissues are formed of voluntary muscles, and this gives the clue to success in curing certain damages of pregnancy and birth. This restorative treatment must be based on the recovery of muscular tone, through deliberate and appropriate exercises ; we will leave medical massage—though invaluable in special circumstances—out of consideration for the time being. Another obvious thought arises. The muscular layer of the pelvic floor sustains great pressure and distension during birth. If it is more than usually dense and strong, it will offer extra resistance and not only hinder the emergence of the child's head, but also entail a great risk—in fact a certainty—of bad tears and all they inflict. Therefore, the pelvic floor must not only be strengthened, it must be brought so under the power of the will that it may be appreciably relaxed when required. This natural trend of reasoning is fully confirmed by obstetric experience. And our experience leads us to the emphatic demand for elasticity, suppleness and co-ordinated control in the feminine pelvic organs. The vagina is not only the passage traversed by the child at birth; it is also the feminine organ of copulation. A true communion of sex, an act which is desired by and delightful to both partners, must imply some degree of active feminine participation ; and this participation is expressed by the voluntary movements of the muscles encircling the vagina. Among women of the European races to-day, there is often no instinctive aptitude for this particular form of muscular action. (This is also the case with muscles in other bodily organs and regions, which have almost atrophied among many of us, but which are quite active and under the full control in some individuals, e.g., the muscles which move the ears.) The pelvic floor may be moved, to some extent, by volitional effort: but this effort should not be localised on the whole muscular stratum, but * Cf. " Ideal Marriage," pp. 61, 62, 69, 70.