MARRIAGE AND SEX [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Dr.
Williams' article in your current issue is good reading, which is more, as it seems to me, than can be said for what the Rev. S. A. MeDowall wrote. Mr. McDowall's conclusions are sound? but they are not impressive, owing
to the shambling way in which he reaches them. The phrase " we are driven " and " we are bound to admit " are rickety stepping stones towards valuable truths.
I pass what he says about the married state—I do not like
it, its tone contrasts unfavourably with that of the Lambeth Conference on the same subject—but there are statements with references to the unmarried which are regrettable and dangerous. I cannot suppose that Mr. McDowall holds that the "improvement of contraceptive methods " makes sexual
vice moral. It might as well be argued that poisoning became legitimate when the skill of the poisoner defie 1 detection. But, certainly, the remark about " temporary unions " and
companionate marriage " are not likely to exercise a restraining influence upon the " excitable and uncontrolled."
It is a thousand pities that Mr. McDowall failed to state his right conclusions in a vigorous and unmistakable way.—
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