Elements of Social Science

Condemned by critics as "the Bible of the brothel" and "the most demoralising book of the century," Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion (later retitled The Elements of Social Science) was one of the most daring critiques of Victorian morality ever published. Presenting a case for free sexual unions before marriage, widespread contraception and family limitation, use of condoms to guard against venereal disease, and the replacement of Judeo-Christian spirituality with a science-based "religion" (really, a set of humane values) that respected the human body, Drysdale challenged the antisensual currents of his time and anticipated the sexual revolution of the 1960s. In this carefully abridged edition, the author presents the bulk of Drysdale's polemic, which has not been reprinted since 1905. He introduces the work with a substantial essay setting out the context in which Elements was written, the influence it exerted, and its relevance to contemporary debates about sex education, control of venereal disease, sexual morality, and the roles of science and religion in society and in our personal lives.

Dr. Robert Darby (Canberra, Australia) is an independent scholar and the author of five books, including A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain. Most recently, he edited Round the Red Lamp and Other Medical Writings by Arthur Conan Doyle.