Sterility

Sterility, barrenness in regard to reproduction of the species, is a term applied both to plants and animals, and may be due to external conditions, functional disorder, organic defects, or, in human beings, the results of surgical treatment. See FLOWERS (FERTILISATION OF), REPRODUCTION, EMBRYOLOGY, SEX, HYBRID, PUBERTY, &c. Impotency renders a marriage void; sterility in no way invalidates the marriage tie. As is well known, it frequently happens that children are born to parents who have been childless for many years. See works cited at OBSTETRICS and MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE; Dr S. W. Gross, On Impotency and Sterility of Males (1881); Dr Matthews Duncan, On Sterility in Women (1884).