Tokology: A Book for Every Woman Book

I read the revised edition published in 1890. I bought it for $15 because I liked the blind tooling on the cover. Most of the health advice is consistent with what we know about pregnancy and childbirth today. There's useful advice on diet, exercise, dress reform, and marital relations. (I might try the stretching exercises and some of the recipes later.)

This book also provided the simplest and best explanation for life beginning at conception. (I am still pro-choice, however, because I don't agree with legislation restricting such decisions.) Excluding the supernatural, matter has two states: alive or not alive. If the embryo is not alive then the body would reject it as foreign material instead of nourishing it and allowing it to grow. Hard to argue with that logic (though I am sure someone will try).