this book is simply a recapitulation of the results of anthropological and biological research, of the science of reproduction and propagation since Darwin. It incorporates the interesting studies made by Westermarck on human marriage, and it sums up the present condition of those sciences which, of all others, are perhaps the most important, and certainly the most interesting for the whole human race.

English prudery is an abnormal growth, it may be compared to malignant cancer which eats away the healthy tissue and thus weakens the whole body.

The prosecution has dexterously used your innate aversion to the discussion of matters sexual for a wanton attack on modern science, and indirectly it slanders by these proceedings our greatest men. Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Asa Grey are dead, and cannot defend the accused, but their works live, and these I must invoke for the defence.

The High Court of Justice, to which we have applied to remove this case to the Queen's Bench with the view of bringing it before a special jury, has decided that the jury of the Old Bailey constitutes the proper tribunal for deciding scientific questions of evolution and biology, and I must bow to this decision. I can only hope, gentlemen, that you will grasp the meaning of the passages read to you, and that you will understand the explanation which will be given by the author of the book whom I will call as a witness.

It is a deplorable trick, used by the prosecution, to mix up with this affair the photographs of art works which have been found at Mr. Gilbert's shop. I will show you, that, without exception, these pictures are representations of ancient and modern sculptures, in fact, the greatest of all works of plastic art.

The suggestion that the accused has played the indicted book or other similar books into the hands of Psyche Hockey, a girl of seventeen, will be refuted by Psyche herself, who is a very intelligent girl. But even if Mr. Gilbert had placed the book in her hands no harm could have been done. On the other hand, the photographs of art works will rather educate than corrupt the soul of any pure-minded person.

The definition of marriage which my learned friend finds so shocking, because it does not coincide with Mrs. Grundy's definition, emanates from Darwin's brain, and Westermarck in his work has adopted it. I am sorry for all who do not know the name and the works of the latter scientist; he is the first authority on the anthropological and biological aspects of marriage, not of the legal marriage, but of the marriage as he defines it. His and Darwin's definition is, no doubt, the only workable one for scientific purposes, as it has to include all forms of marriage, that of the savages and apes as well as that of civilised nations, polygamy, polyandry, and monogamy. Natural history and science does not know a marriage for life with a Divorce Court.

The meaning of the term Sexual Selection has been thoroughly misunderstood by the prosecution, and you will hear from the author of the book what it really means.

The word sexual seems in itself to frighten the uneducated English citizen, and that must account for the Rev. Whitfield's absurd contention, supported by counsel for the prosecution, that the title of this book was indecent and suggestive.

I will summarily dispose of the passages read to the jury, they are one and all of a scientific character, and most of them refer to biological facts, excluding hypotheses and speculation.

My learned friend has remarked that the book ignores the biblical history of creation, and especially that of our alleged parents Adam and Eve. That scientific investigation cannot be based on the stories contained in the Bible has been recognised by cultured men more than two hundred years ago, and I am not here to prove to you that the book of Genesis is not of such a nature as to form the starting point of anthropological science.

The prosecution finds obscenity in the mentioning of the reproductive process, and in the comparison of the generative functions of men and animals. I say that this is the only possible way to arrive at satisfactory results; the arrogance of those who reject the idea that man is an animal, the highest of the mammalia, is deplorable, but not worth a serious argument in contradiction.

As to another passage read by my learned friend, that in which

it is stated that the mammæ of men have occasionally been found so developed during maturity as to yield milk, why, I cannot see how this amply authenticated fact described by Darwin can be considered obscene or suggestive.

It seems that to those who instituted these proceedings, every mention of the reproductive organs appears obscene; but this is as ridiculous as it is absurd. A better knowledge of the reproductive process would indeed be highly desirable.

My learned friend is shocked that the author (in reality it is Charles Darwin) calls the females of the gorilla "wives," but why? Is it because the gorilla is not married at an English church or at an English consulate in an African town? The passage commencing, "The final aim of all love intrigues," which is included in this indictment, is cited by Darwin in his Descent of Man as the opinion of one of the greatest of German philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer.

And who of you, gentlemen, can in his heart object to Darwin's recommendation to use in the breeding of man the same care as we use in the breeding of horses, cattles, and dogs.

The inclusion of a passage from the Encyclopædia Britannica, the one on Parthenogenesis, in this indictment is highly ridiculous. Not even to the prurient mind this paragraph can appear indecent; it has been mentioned simply to throw sand into the eyes of the jury, as probably not one of you, gentlemen, will understand the meaning of this definition.

Parthenogenesis has never been observed in higher animals, and I must call your attention to the fact that the only case of parthenogenesis in mammalia is that recorded in the Bible, the birth of Christ from a virgin.

THE LORD MAYOR: Shocking!

THE RECORDER: I must ask counsel for the defence to abstain from reference to the sacred books of the Christian Church.

MR. MACINTOSH WOOD: I bow to your lordship's ruling, but I may say that science, ignoring the case mentioned in these sacred books of the Christian Church, has never observed a case of Par

thenogenesis in man, and the paragraph taken from the Encyclopædia Britannica refers to lower animals only, especially to tenthredinæ, cynipidæ, and crustacea.

The same remark applies to hermaphroditism.

The description of marriage customs and rites, contained in this book, are not the author's, and not even Westermarck's, but those of well-known travellers and scientists. There is no reason why the author should express disgust or even disapproval. Such disapproval would not have altered the facts, and could not have made indecent or vicious practices more decent or less vicious. Dr. Havelock Ellis, a well-known scientific writer on sexual matters, whose work has also formed the object of a prosecution at this court, very properly has observed in his Studies in the Psychology of Sex as follows:

"I have sought to avoid that attitude of moral superiority which is so common in the literature of this subject, and have refrained from pointing out how loathsome this phenomenon is or how hideous that. Such an attitude is as much out of place in scientific investigation as it is in judicial investigation, and may well be left to an amateur. The physician who feels nothing but disgust at the sight of disease is unlikely to bring either succour to his patients or instruction to his pupils."

This statement might apply to sexual discussions in general, and it cannot fail to convince the right-minded that it is not within the province of the scientific man to manifest either approval or disgust at scientific facts, but simply to ascertain them, and to draw his conclusions, no matter how disagreeable these be to his moral sense.

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I will not enter into these elementary questions any further; in every other country of Europe my remarks would seem ludicrous, because everywhere else the independent position of scientific research has been acknowledged even by the uneducated.

That in the land of Darwin, Tyndall, and Spencer, I am compelled to prove the origin of certain well-known passages is in itself deplorable.

THE RECORDER: I must here say that, if the jury finds that the book is obscene as a whole or in certain parts, the question who

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originally wrote the indicted passages, is quite irrelevant, and testimony as to their origin cannot affect the case.

MR. MACINTOSH WOOD: With your lordship's permission, I contend that it will greatly affect the issue. If a book should be indicted as obscene which contains only extracts from Shakespeare or from the Bible, (an event which after this prosecution is quite within the realm of possibility), and, if I could prove this fact, would that not greatly influence an English jury in coming to a verdict in favour of the compiler and of the distributor of such a book? What I want to prove is that Darwin's and Westermarck's works do not contain one single indecent sentence, not one particle of obscenity, and that this book is nothing but a resumé, a summary of the works of the great evolutionists.

THE RECORDER: Well, go on.

MR. MACINTOSH WOOD: I will call William Newton Cecil, the author of the book first.

Mr. Cecil, you are the author of a book entitled Sexual Selection and Human Marriage, are you not?

MR. W. N. CECIL: Yes, I am.

MR. MACINTOSH WOOD: Have you a University degree, and are you a Member of Scientific Societies?

MR. W. N. CECIL: I am an M.A. of Oxford and a Doctor of Medicine of the Berlin University. I am a member of Philosophical and Anthropological Societies, and I am also a Fellow of the Royal Society.

MR. MACINTOSH WOOD: Will you tell his lordship and the jury of what nature are the contents of this book, and what is meant by "Sexual Selection"?

MR. W. N. CECIL: My book is mainly a recapitulation of Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, of Westermarck's History of Human Marriage, and of other works which have supplemented the results of the scientific research carried out by these two authorities.