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

parts. Similarly, I have been at pains to avoid prescribing any sort of bodily exertion which might harm undeveloped genital organs, or those with slight anomalies of structure. Thus, all sudden leaping and jumping, all wrenching and violent slinging of the body have been ruled out; and, indeed, such are wholly unnecessary for our special purpose. Thus there is no absolute need for preliminary gynaecological examination before beginning these pelvic exercises; but I would add that an occasional expert review and testing of the condition of the interior genitalia is very advisable for every woman ; and I agree with Westmann(19) that no woman should take up sports, games and athletics without such preHminary inspection and passing as " fit." And gynaecological inspection becomes urgently advisable in all cases where there is any reason to suppose the existence of morbid conditions, either genitally or anywhere in the abdominal cavity. The presence of inflammations, even in their chronic stage, is an absolute contraindication to pelvic gymnastics. As regards Exercise No. 19 (Film 12), which aims at enabling women to pass at will and with the least possible difficulty from the attitude known as " Watcher's Suspen- sion "—with pendent legs—to the extreme pelvic flexion and vice versa, it may also be said that this advanced gymnastic exercise is calculated slightly to loosen the joints of the separate pelvic bones, and thus to give the whole region a certain dilation. There are great advantages in this effect, as we shall show; but there is also the risk of injury if the dilation exceeds a definite limit or is attempted at an unpropitious stage of growth. Therefore Exercise 19 should not be attempted wholesale or by half-grown girls. The bony girdle between abdomen and lower limbs, which we term the pelvis, has three places in its circumference which—although only permitting a very limited range of separate movement to its several sections—have, in some degree, the nature of joints. Their mobility is strictly limited, both through the structure of the bony surfaces themselves and the extremely tough and strong ligaments which connect these bones. These articulations, as they are