Exercise 1.—Position of Fig. 1. Swing the arms forward till they touch in front, return to side (Fig. 1).
Ex. 2.—Swing the arms to vertical. See Fig. 9 for position of arms. Return to Fig. 1.
Ex. 3.—Swing the arms backward as far as possible.
Ex. 4.—Swing both the arms downward to the hips and return to position (Fig. 1).
Ex. 5.—Position of Fig. 1. Swing the hands to the shoulders by flexing the arms at the elbows (palms up).
Ex. 6.—Position of Fig. 1. Swing the hands to the arm pits by flexing the arms at the elbows (palms down).
Ex. 7.—Position of Fig. 1. Circumduct the arms, making the fingers describe a circle and the whole arm a cone. (Arms perfectly straight.)
Ex. 8.—Open and shut the fingers, gripping the fist as tightly as possible, also extending them as far as possible.
Ex. 9.—Position of Fig. 1. Keep the arms on a level with the shoulders, bend the body sideward to the left as far as possible. (See Fig. 2.)
Ex. 10.—Same as Ex. 9, to the right side.
Ex. 11.—Combine Ex. 9-10.
Ex. 12.—Position of Fig. 1. Rotate (twist) the body sideward left as far as possible. See Fig. 3 for position. Keep feet in place.
Ex. 13.—Same as Ex. 12, to the right side.
Ex. 14.—Combine Ex. 11 and 12. Rotate from side to side, arms to be kept on a level with the shoulders and rigid.
Ex. 15.—Hands placed on hips, bend forward and swing hands downward toward the toes as far as possible. See Fig. 4.
Ex. 16.—Position of Fig. 4. Hold and swing both arms sideward up as far as possible.
Ex. 17.—Same position. Swing the arms forward up as far as possible, arms will then be straight out over the head.
Position of Fig. 5. Arms folded and the left toe touching at the side.
Exercise 1.—Hop on the right foot and touch the left foot across in front of the right, at the same time unfold the arms and swing them sideward to their own sides. See Fig. 1 for the position of the arms.
Ex. 2.—Same as Ex. 1, with the right foot.
Ex. 3.—Hop on right foot, the left foot in position of Fig. 5.
Ex. 4.—Hop on the left, right toe to the side.
Ex. 5.—Arms in position of Fig. 5 and the left toe extended forward till the toe touches the floor; hop on right, keeping the left leg extended.
Ex. 6.—Same as Ex. 5, with the right foot forward.
Ex. 7.—Hands on hips, raise the left knee high up in front with the toe pointed downward. See Fig. 6.
Ex. 8.—Same as Ex. 7, with the right leg.
Ex. 9.—Position of Fig. 6. Hold, straighten the knee, raising the foot on a level with the thigh.
Ex. 10.—Same with the right leg.
Ex. 11.—Hands on the hips feet together, swing the left foot sideward left as far as possible with the weight of the body resting on the right leg.
Ex. 12.—Same as Ex. 11, with the right leg.
Hands on the back of the head. See Fig. 7.
Exercise 1.—Bend the body as far forward as possible, keeping hands on head.
Ex. 2.—Bend body sideward left as far as possible.
Ex. 3.—Bend body sideward right as far as possible.
Ex. 4.—Alternate left and right.
Ex. 5.—Keep the fingers locked as in Fig. 7, thrust the hands upward to vertical till arms are straight.
Ex. 6.—Position of Fig. 7. Draw the head forward with the hands, keep the back straight, resist with the neck muscles.
Ex. 7.—Draw the head backward and resist with the hands.
Ex. 8.—Swing the elbows forward till they touch in front of the face, then swing them backward as far as possible.
Ex. 9.—Position: Feet together, arms down to the side, lean forward and swing the arms to the side, lift left leg upward about five inches, leg and arms rigid. See Fig. 8.
Ex. 10.—Same as Ex. 9, with right leg extended.
Ex. 11.—Position of Fig. 8. Hold, swing arms forward till they touch. Repeat several times.
Ex. 12.—Position of Fig. 8. Swing left foot forward till foot is about 8 inches above floor, lean backward to keep the balance. Do not let the left foot touch the floor. Repeat several times.
Ex. 13.—Position: Swing the arms upward to vertical and rise on toes as high as possible (Fig. 9).
Ex. 14.—Same position as Ex. 9 (Fig. 8). Hold that position and hop on the right foot at least twelve times.
Ex. 15.—Same as Ex. 14, hopping on the left foot.
Ex. 16.—Hands on the hips, rise high on the toes.
Ex. 17.—Hands on the hips, raise the toes off the floor, weight on the heels.
Ex. 18.—Position: (Squat) lower the body by bending the knees as low as possible and swing the arms forward up to the front horizontal.
Ex. 19.—Same as Ex. 18, but swing arms sideward up to side horizontal.
Towel
Position with the towel on the back of the neck. (Fig. 10.)
Exercise 1.—Straighten the arms, thrusting the towel to vertical.
Ex. 2.—Pull with the left hand till the arm is straight out to the side and the right arm is across the neck.
Ex. 3.—Same as Ex. 2, with the right arm.
Ex. 4.—Fig. 10, bend body sideward left.
Ex. 5.—Fig. 10, bend body sideward right.
Ex. 6.—Combine left and right.
Ex. 7.—Bend body forward, keeping towel in position.
Ex. 8.—Towel up to vertical, bend forward and swing towel down to the toes.
Ex. 9.—Swing the towel downward and backward to the hips. Take a wide grasp on towel.
Ex. 10.—Towel on back of hips (see Fig. 11), bend body forward and swing towel upward to vertical.
Ex. 11.—Position of Fig. 11. Bend body sideward left as far as possible, swinging towel right.
Ex. 12.—Same as Ex. 11, bend body right.
Ex. 13.—Alternate left and right.
Ex. 14.—(Squat) lower the body by bending the knees till the towel touches the heels.
Ex. 15.—Position of Fig. 11. Swing towel backward as far as possible without bending the back.
Ex. 16.—Position: Towel across in front of hips, arms rigid, swing towel to the left and in a vertical position. See Fig. 12.
Ex. 17.—Same to the right.
Ex. 18.—Bend forward, touching towel to toes. See Fig. 4 for position of body.
Floor Exercises
Sit on the floor or bed with the legs straight, knees touching the floor.
Exercise 1.—Swing arms to side horizontal and back as far as possible (Fig. 13); then swing forward, touching the fingers to the toes.
Ex. 2.—Swing arms to vertical (see Fig. 14 for position of arms), then swing to toes.
Ex. 3.—Flex left leg and swing arms to vertical (Fig. 14).
Ex. 4.—Flex right leg and swing arms to vertical (Fig. 14).
Ex. 5.—Flex both legs.
Ex. 6.—Hands on floor, swing left leg to left side.
Ex. 7.—Hands on floor, swing right leg to right side.
Ex. 8.—Hands on floor, swing both legs to their own side.
Ex. 9.—Extend the toes as far as possible, then flex them.
Ex. 10.—Arms at side in Fig. 13; swing the arms forward and clap hands in front, also extend the toes at same time.
Ex. 11.—Hands on floor, keep knees straight, raise the left foot as high off the floor as possible.
Ex. 12.—Same as Ex. 11, with right leg.
Ex. 13.—Both feet.
Ex. 14.—Hands on floor, swing to vertical and clap hands over head.
Many exercises can be added to the above by lying on the floor and raising the feet, etc.
You are now old enough to be exposed to all of the temptations and dangers incident to your approaching and rapidly developing manhood. Previously, we have referred to many things in an elementary way, which you should now have more fully explained. There are a number of practical and vital facts connected with the sexual organs and their separate and combined functions of which you should have a thorough knowledge.
The nature of the sexual life.—The child resembles the father physically, mentally and morally, because the sperm cell formed from the father’s blood, that took part in the initial of the child’s life, had in it the essence of the father’s life, physical, mental and moral. For the same reason the child resembles the mother in these three ways. When the males of the domestic animals are deprived of their generative glands they are not able to develop the peculiar physical masculine characteristics that distinguish them from the females. They are also less independent, more inactive and show less rudimentary manifestations of intelligence. If man be made an eunuch, when he is a boy, he never fully develops masculine characteristics, and he develops little mental and moral tone. Similar results would follow in the female, if her generative glands were removed in childhood. It is quite noticeable that any form of sexual dissipation usually underminds the physical health, weakens the mental faculties and leads to loss in moral tone. It is equally noticeable that the intelligent retention of this energy leads to physical improvement, intellectual brilliancy and soul enlargement. These illustrations reveal that the creative life has other uses than selfish gratification and unselfish reproduction. It is vitally related to the psychic life, health and happiness of the individual.
Other purposes of sex.—The primary purpose of sex is that of reproduction. There are many reasons why the reproductive function of sex should be limited to a period of twenty-five years—from twenty-five to fifty years of age. Statistics show that this is man’s period of greatest reproductive possibility. Children born to men of younger or older age do not receive as favorable heredity as children born within the period mentioned. The sexual organs, like all other organs, require activity. Two boys are made eunuchs; one at six months of age and the other just before puberty. The last mentioned develops much better in physical, mental and moral tone. This shows that these glands are active, that they generate energy, even before puberty, which is essential to their health and the development of every part of the boy. But even the boy, made an eunuch at fourteen, will be a very defective man at twenty-five. This indicates that the sexual glands are generating a creative energy, during this period of adolescence, that is needed to prepare him for the period of largest possibilities of fatherhood. As a general rule, until he is twenty-four, this sex life should never be expressed for reproductive purposes. The young man has other needs for it. When he arrives at his fiftieth milestone, if he has conserved this energy, in youth, he will thus have added thirty or more years to the fifty already lived. The old men who wear a halo of health, energy, nobility, happiness and purity (there are but few), are men, who in youth, young manhood and middle life, conserved the energy of manhood.
Man is hereditarily degenerate.—Man cannot understand, why his hardest battles are not with enemies on the outside, but with his own inherent inclinations to do wrong; why he makes such slow progress; why the mass of his fellow men are so indifferent to the development of ideal manhood, until he gets a vision of the real cause of human degeneracy. The one basic cause of all degeneracy in the past and present has been and is the dissipation of the creative life. It is possible and highly probable that the original cause of the origin of degeneracy involved the violation of the laws of sex. All practical and independent students of sociology are rapidly recognizing that this is the chief cause of the present day degeneracy. They are recognizing that most children are the products of uncontrolled desire, that their prenatal rights were not respected, that many were not warmly welcomed at birth, and but few are properly instructed in regard to the laws of sex and the importance of purity. They see that the hope of the nation and the human race is to come back to nature, be natural, not to substitute artificial laws for nature’s laws, but to intelligently study and apply the laws of nature. They see that the initial of every child’s life should be intelligently and prayerfully planned, prenatally protected, also the birth warmly welcomed, environment safeguarded and education natural and wise.
The sexual system has two functions.—Take three brothers who have received good heredity and give them the best environment. We will make this difference between these boys; the first is made an eunuch when one year old, the second when he is fourteen, the third is permitted to grow up normal. When they reach maturity, we find they have developed differently. The first has grown only a few scattering short hairs on his face, his voice is like a girl, his shoulders are round and drooped; he is cowardly, without capacity for business, with but very little mental capacity and wholly without mental ambition. The second one has slight but noticeable improvements in all of these particulars. The third is normal. These facts show that the sexual organs have two functions, and that the organs of a small boy are not wholly inactive as believed by most people. Before puberty these glands are generating an energy of great value to the boy that cannot be chemicalized and ejected from the body. When puberty dawns, the sexual organs become more noticeably active and a part of this energy, at least, becomes chemicalized into a fluid containing active cell life which may be absorbed by the body or ejected from the body. Before puberty this sex life helps to change the baby into a perfect boy. From fourteen to twenty-four this sex life helps to change the perfect boy into a perfect man. In these two periods the sex life has the one special mission, making a perfect man. In the latter “teens” and early “twenties” it would be possible to force this sex life into the function of reproduction. But this is not its natural mission during these early years. He now enters the period of greatest reproductive possibilities. This period should last for twenty-four to twenty-six years. During this period this creative life has two distinct functions. The first in importance is that of reproduction. This is the highest, noblest, purest and most sacred function of manhood. In rare cases, such as an unfortunate heredity, accident or disease, over which the man has had no control, may unfit him for normal reproduction. He is to be pitied not censured. Through the effects of bad habits, upon sexual manhood, many men are unfit for normal reproduction. The second function of this creative life is to maintain perfect manhood. Sexual excess in the married life is just as much a violation of the laws of sex as sexual vice before marriage. The fourth period in a man’s life begins when he is forty-five to fifty-five, and includes the remainder of his life. During this period the creative life has the one primary mission of maintaining his manhood. While the reproductive function remains possible it rarely would be advisable to express this energy in this way.
The creative life.—Until recent years nearly all students of sexology considered sex as essentially physical. Now the idea is growing that sex is vitally a part of the physical, mental and soul life of the individual. The sexual organs are simply the generators of the creative life and mediums through which this creative life is expressed in reproduction.
The meaning of passion.—The consciousness of normal sexual desire is not an evidence of sinfulness and it is not an excuse for dissipation. Sexual desire rightfully interpreted means that we are conscious of the possession of creative life. This can be utilized in several ways. It can be built into the body, into the mind, into the moral nature, it can be used in reproducing the species, or it can be dissipated. Man must decide the way he will use it. The disposition he makes of his sex life will determine whether he and others are blessed or injured by the use he makes of it.
How to build this creative life into the body.—On the road might be seen a pair of strong draught horses pulling a wagon containing only an armful of wood. Becoming interested in knowing why those horses are not able to pull a larger load, you find, upon investigation, the wagon to be so frail that, if you should double the load the wagon would break down. The horses represent a strong, educated mind and the wagon a frail body. Such a person is handicapped in the march of life. Others with stronger bodies, but with less of mental ability, will win more honors, receive larger remuneration and accomplish more in life. One needs a strong healthy body in which to train the mind and achieve results. In most cases, it is a sin and a shame not to have a sound and perfect body.
By keeping the mind pure, taking regular, systematic physical exercise, deep prolonged breathing and observing ordinary health laws this creative life can be built into tissue and muscle, developing the body of an athlete. There are examples where men, who by the secret vice, have brought on initial stages of consumption, afterward broke from the vice and by control of the mind and physical culture cured the disease, restored health and developed a fine physique.
How to build the creative life into a greater mind.—The organs of generation are life generators. They create life, physical, mental and spiritual. This life is embodied in a very nutritious substance. This valuable food material, with its essence of pure life, if not dissipated by vice, is absorbed by the blood. Nature sends the blood most freely to the parts most used. If physical exercise is taken and the mind neglected, the body will be strong and the mind weak. If both the mind and body are uniformly exercised, they will be uniformly developed.
If the mind is allowed to revel in lascivious thoughts many times as much of this creative life will be formed as the blood can absorb. Thus the blood is robbed of nutritious material and life that should never have been removed. This surplus cannot be reclaimed by the body but must be dissipated. Keeping the mind pure is of paramount importance. To do this, the mind must constantly be engaged in some worthy activity. Keep company with great men and women by reading their articles in magazines and their books. Think great thoughts of your own. Be hopeful, cheerful and determined. The prize of a great mind will be yours.
How to build the creative life into a larger social and moral life.—Emotions, sentiments, feelings, hope, faith and charity are essential elements of a man’s nature. He is not a full man, a well rounded man, a perfect man if these elements of his nature are neglected. These elements of his nature are fed on spiritual exercise. Man’s degeneracy is an appalling fact. Regeneration, or Christ is a necessity in every life. Christ loved the unlovely, inspired the discouraged, wept with those that wept, and lifted the burdens of struggling ones. By following this example we will build His life, our creative life, into a larger social and moral life.
It has been several months now since we had our last confidential talk. Many changes have taken place in your body and mind during these months. You have been inclined to be more with large boys and young men and this is due to the changes that are going on. With the coming months you will have less the feelings of the boy and more the feelings of the man.
The two forms of incontinence.—I have been anxious to have a talk with you on the subject of continence. By this word as applied to young men, we mean abstinence from all voluntary sexual gratification. Having given you talks on the subject of the “solitary vice,” which is one form of sexual gratification, I will now talk with you about the other form of incontinence, cohabitation or sexual relation with women.
A false idea.—There is a widely prevailing idea among young men that they must gratify their sexual desire in some way, and that if they do not they will lose their reproductive power, or their ability to become fathers. They have an idea that sexual gratification is essential to sexual and physical health, mental development and manliness. They think young men are weak-minded and incapable who do not gratify themselves in one of these two ways. Where did they get this idea?
The wrong application of biological law.—They will tell you that doctors teach that young men should gratify themselves. They will tell you then that the non-use of an organ will lead to the loss of its function. The illustration they use is, “If the arm be kept in a sling for a year, one will find he has lost the use of his arm for several days. If the arm should be kept in a sling for ten years, he would likely lose the use of his arm for life and the arm would wither; therefore, if a young man should live a continent life for ten years, his sexual organs would atrophy and he would lose his powers of fatherhood.”
No reliable physician holds to the sexual necessity theory.—In reply to these arguments, no intelligent and reliable physician to-day teaches sex necessity. Some ignorant, unreliable, “quack” doctor occasionally tells a young man that his physical, mental and sexual strength will be ruined unless he indulges in sexual gratification. This young man will tell twenty young men what he has learned and each of these will tell twenty others. It is in this way that so many young men get the idea that doctors advise sexual indulgence.
Continence does not destroy virility.—Ten years, twenty years, or even more, of absolute continent living will no more cause a man to lose his virility than twenty years of absence from nursing a child will destroy the function of lactation in a woman.
Only the unreliable doctors advocate sexual necessity.—In every profession of men there are some fakes. This is as true of the medical profession as it is of other professions. In all large cities and in many small towns there are ignorant, unreliable and unscrupulous doctors. In almost every State, I have had young men to tell me that they have been advised by doctors to visit the prostitute. Such frauds are a great social and moral misfortune to any community. The high-minded, capable, honorable doctors all advocate continence for young men. They are real friends to young men. Even the young man who has made his mistakes will find the advice and treatment of this class of doctors to be far the safest and cheapest in the end.
Unanswerable arguments.—It is not an uncommon occurrence to hear some very prominent citizen advocate the necessity for a few public characters in every community to conserve the health of young men by ministering to their sexual necessity and in this way protecting the virtue of innocent girls and respectable women.
The test of sincerity and honesty of a man who claims to believe in foreign missions, is his willingness to go, to allow his child to go, or to help support those who do go as missionaries. The test of the sincerity and honesty of a man who advocates the necessity for the immoral woman, is his willingness to contribute a mother, wife, sister, or daughter to the philanthropic interest of masculine health and the safeguarding of innocent girls and respectable women. If he is not willing to make this contribution he is not honest and not sincere when he advocates public prostitution.
If public prostitution protects innocent girls and respectable women from the abnormal man, cases of rape and seduction would occur most frequently where there are no lewd women. But the reverse is true. The continent young men would be guilty of committing all the assaults on female virtue. But it is the incontinent men who commit all the crimes of this kind.
If the social evil is a necessity and the immoral woman protects the virtue of the innocent girls and virtuous wives, is she not a benefactor? Who is engaged in a more commendable, philanthropic or Christian service? Then why should she be treated as an outcast? Should she not be invited as a guest of honor at our social functions? Should she not sing in the choir, or sit in a front pew in the most aristocratic church?
The pugilist and athlete, in their training for special tests of strength, endurance, and skill, abstain for long periods from all sexual gratification.
It is by living a continent life that the lower animals, unmolested by man, reach a state of physical perfection.
Effects of incontinence upon the married life.—An incontinent single life will naturally lead to excesses in the married life. Such young men get the idea that marriage means unlimited gratification. With these perverted views they enter and soil the sacred precincts of marriage and parentage. By marital excess, indulged in by no other animal or savage, their health is injured, their lives are shortened and their children are poorly born. This is a very common harvest reaped in the married life. Back of this harvest, and back of the sowing is ignorance.
From these facts and many others that could be had we see that absolute continence is not unnatural, but it is the only sane solution to a young man’s sex problems.
We have talked over many of the problems of boys and young men. You are now sixteen and new problems are constantly coming up in your life for solution. I would like to speak with you on this occasion about the very vital problem of illicit intercourse with women. By this expression is meant all sexual intercourse with women outside of holy wedlock.
Men are as fallen as women.—When this sin occurs among single people it is fornication, when among the married, it is adultery. Whether this occurs among the single or the married, it is prostitution. In this sin there is no difference, in character, between the male and the female, the married and the single prostitute; in either case, the priceless gem of virtue has been forfeited.
Men think less of their virtue than women.—Partly due to a bad heredity and largely due to a false training and the existence of a double standard of morals, boys and men are more willing to sacrifice their virtue than are girls and women. There are a few degenerate girls and some who have been reared in immoral homes who willingly sacrifice their virtue. But these represent only a very small part of the girls who annually fall. Most of those who are known as fallen women were induced to fall by designing men. Many methods are used to accomplish the fall of girls. Lady clerks, stenographers and servants in homes and hotels receive such meager wages that they are often unable to meet their necessary expenses. Men have taken advantage of their financial need and by skillful advances, artful entreaties and by offering to supplement their income for special favors, they succeed in ruining many girls.
Few women go wrong from choice.—Some men use the dance, the theater, alcoholic drinks, certain stimulating drugs, buggy rides and late hours at night as means of accomplishing their fiendish purposes. Victory once won, clandestine relations are continued until the girl finds that she is to be a mother, or her guilt becoming known, being often forced from her own home, ostracized by society, shunned by professing Christians, she now becomes an outcast. Few girls ever go wrong from choice. Great as her sin is, it is small compared with his. There is not greater sin and crime than his. Possessed of one spark of manhood, he would marry the girl; instead, he is more likely to boast of his achievement.
No less a sin because the fallen woman accepts a “price.”—Young men often ask, “What harm can there be in seeking sexual gratification with a woman who voluntarily gives her consent for a price?” There are many reasons why this is wrong. The Bible condemns it as a very great sin. Civil law condemns adultery as a crime. By both civil and divine law it is considered as great a crime as stealing, murder or drunkenness. If men controlled their passions, there would be no fallen women. If men would not visit them, they would reform or become Christians. Thus men are not only largely responsible for the fall of women, but they are largely responsible for their remaining fallen.
Man’s appreciation of pure women destroyed.—Constant association with fallen women degrades or destroys a man’s conception and appreciation of pure womanhood. He may become so degraded as to believe that all women have their “price.” Such a man could not appreciate a pure sister, daughter, wife or mother. Such men become sensualists and should they marry, their excesses would wreck the health and happiness of their wives, and their children would receive an unfortunate heredity.
A great physical risk.—For physical reasons a visit to the fallen women would be a hazardous risk. These women are nearly always diseased. In this way young men become diseased and they infect their wives and transmit serious troubles to their children.
Self-respect lost.—From a moral point of view a visit to the strange woman is wholly inadmissible. You could never wholly recover your self-respect. A young man has no moral right to demand purity of his sweetheart at the marriage altar unless he can offer her a pure life.
Danger of becoming an illegitimate father.—Finally, through illicit intercourse a young man is constantly in danger of becoming a father. An illegitimate father never loves, feeds, clothes, shelters, educates and trains his own child. Every instinct of nature demands this much of him. The child is blood of his blood, bone of his bone, life of his life; it is as truly his child as if it had been conceived in wedlock. Sin that will so degrade a man as to leave him without sense of honor, justice and right in his relation to his own child certainly has no equal in the catalogue of crime.
The pure man is worthy of a pure wife.—The young man who keeps himself as pure as a virgin will be worthy of one of God’s queenly women, he will be capable of making her a kingly husband, and, conscious of their dignity, purity and virility, he and his wife will become the happy parents of a brood of fair girls and lusty boys.
The bad cold “fallacy.”—Most boys and young men are disposed to think of venereal diseases as a joke. They often compare them with a bad cold. They are often heard to boast of having had one or more attacks from which they easily recovered. This is due to the fact that these young men have no just conception of the grave consequence of these diseases.
Two principal diseases.—There are two principal kinds of venereal disease: gonorrhea, in street vernacular known as clap, and syphilis, popularly called pox. These diseases are due to specific disease germs and require a specific treatment. These diseases originate as a result of illicit intercourse, never originating in the married life where husband and wife are true to each other. Sometimes a husband or wife may be infected by accidentally coming in contact with the disease germs by kissing an infected person, the use of public towels, closets, etc.
As old as prostitution.—Venereal diseases are as old as prostitution. These diseases evidently originated as a result of prostitution. Venereal diseases are known to have been in existence more than 2000 years B.C. All venereal diseases were thought to be one until 1838.
These diseases may be acquired by the use of a closet, towel or bath tub previously used by an infected person.
The immoral woman dangerous.—All immoral women, whether they live in public houses or in private homes, are diseased some of the time, and some of them are diseased all the time. No young man can know, not even a doctor, when a man may or may not be infected by having sexual relations with either class of these women.
Facts show that eighty per cent. of the young men of this country become infected with gonorrhea between the ages of eighteen and thirty. This would indicate that only a few who visit the immoral woman escape, because at least ten per cent. of our young men never visit fallen women. The ten per cent. of our young men is increasing.
Immediate medical attention.—Should a young man be so thoughtless and unfortunate as to visit one of these women and become infected, he should go at once to a competent physician and follow his advice and take his treatment. He should not postpone treatment one hour, send off for some remedy he sees advertised, or go and get some patent remedy to be obtained at a drug store. Money, time, health and even life itself are too valuable to be hazarded in this way. If this advice were always followed the diseases could in many cases be cured in their first stage and most of the after evil results be prevented.
Discovery of the disease germs.—In 1879, Dr. Neisser discovered the specific germ of gonorrhea, called the Neisser gonococcus. In 1895, two German doctors discovered the germ of syphilis, spirochetæ pallida.
Gonorrhea.—The disease appears from three to five days after exposure, and is heralded by the swelling of the urethra, and an itching, burning sensation during urination. These symptoms continue for a week or ten days when a thick greenish yellow discharge begins. Under careful and prompt treatment the disease may be permanently cured. Even under prompt and skillful treatment some cases have a persistent tendency to run into a chronic condition.
Complicated chronic conditions often occur from poor treatment or neglect. When the disease reaches a chronic form it is likely to continue for years. Some of the complications of this disease are: chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the urethra, accompanied by a constant discharge.
Stricture.—A tightening or narrowing of the urethra at some point. This is called stricture. Urinating becomes difficult and painful. A lengthy and difficult treatment may be required and sometimes a painful operation.
Inflammation of the prostate.—If the prostate gland becomes the seat of this disease, it will cause great inconvenience and may result in painful treatment, surgical operation, loss of health and mental vigor, with possible loss of the power to become a father.
If both testes become inflamed, the victim often becomes sterile. A dangerous and painful operation is sometimes required. He will never be what he once was, or might have been.
Gonorrheal rheumatism.—If the gonorrheal germs get into the blood and find their way to the joints of the bones, the result is gonorrheal rheumatism. This is one of the most painful and difficult diseases to be cured known to medical science.
Ophthalmia.—Should some of this poisonous pus be transferred to his eye or the eye of another, it would cause gonorrheal ophthalmia, a disease of the eye that often results in blindness in a few hours or unsightly sore eyes for life.
Wife and children the greatest sufferers.—If the guilty young man were the only one to suffer, it would not be so serious. His future wife and children may be the greatest sufferers. It is now known that these disease germs may remain for years in a young man’s body in an inactive and weakened state; and that too, after he thinks he is perfectly cured. In this condition he is likely to infect his wife. These weakened germs will now take on new life in her body and produce gonorrheal conditions. She will mistake the disease for leucorrhea and treat herself for a time. During this loss of time, various complications have developed. One or more of her sexual organs are now inflamed and ulcerated. One organ after another may have to be removed by a surgical operation to save her life. Tumors, nodules, and ulcers must be removed by the knife. The doctor feels that it is best to leave the husband, as well as the wife, to believe that the whole trouble is due to the weakness of woman. Perhaps the wife dies under the knife and leaves a husband and children. In preaching her funeral, the pastor tries to console the bereaved by laboring to reconcile Providence and the unfortunate death.
Blind children.—If she becomes a mother before these operations are made, as the child passes from her body it gets some of the gonorrheal germs in its little eyes and in a few hours or days it is totally blind from gonorrheal ophthalmia. Or, if the doctor suspects this trouble and puts a drop or two of a solution of silver nitrate in the eyes of the new-born baby, no serious trouble may come to the child because of the father’s sin. An eminent physician in Germany says that there are 30,000 blind people in Germany because of gonorrheal ophthalmia. No statistics have been kept in this country, but reliable physicians claim that there must be as many as 15,000. What right has a young man to engage in a sin that will cause his wife and child a lifetime of suffering?
Syphilis is by no means as common as gonorrhea, there being only eight to eighteen per cent. of the young men who contract this disease as compared with eighty per cent. who contract the other. The germs that produce gonorrhea have only to come in contact with the mucous membrane for infection to follow.
The germs of syphilis have to reach the blood by means of a sore or small crack in the skin or mucous membrane.
Three stages of syphilis.—Syphilis develops by three stages, known as primary, secondary and tertiary syphilis. If treated promptly and properly during the first stage, it may be cured without great injury following, or danger of return. In other stages a much longer treatment will be required, with many possible complications and dangers. Before the doctor can check the disease it may attack the bones, muscles, arteries and the internal organs. This disease causes 90 per cent. of locomotor ataxia, much of apoplexy, paralysis and sudden deaths long after the disease is supposed to be cured. It is a prolific cause of insanity. The descendants of a syphilitic father or mother are often still-born, die prematurely, or become insane later in life. Syphilis shortens the lives of its victims one-third.
An innocent person can be infected.—By using or handling something used by a diseased person an innocent person may be infected. A person infected with one of these diseases is absolutely unclean and dangerous. There are better reasons for putting such a man in the pesthouse than one who has smallpox.
A certificate of good health should be required.—It will not be long before a young man will have to present a certificate of freedom from these diseases, obtained from a reputable physician, before he is granted a license to be married.
An example.—The President of a college Y. M. C. A. recently said to me, “Five years ago I was in poor health due to a long and excessive practice of the secret vice. I went to a doctor for advice. He suggested that I should occasionally visit the prostitute. I made but one visit. That night I caught syphilis. For five years I have been under the treatment of doctors. I have been to Hot Springs. Doctors tell me that I cannot be cured under two more years of this treatment. Even then, the risk of its return will be so great they say, that I should never think of marrying.” Then he added, “That is what one visit has cost me. Three times in these five years I have planned to commit suicide.”
Another example.—Only a few days since a young man called at my office for an interview. His story was, “Three years ago I was induced by other boys to visit the ‘Red Light’ district of this city. On my second visit I was infected with gonorrhea. My income was small. The doctor’s fees were beyond my reach. I tried patent remedies sold in drug stores guaranteed to cure the worst case in three to five days. Failing to cure myself in this way I was compelled to go to doctors. At times I seem to be cured. Then I make another visit and the old trouble comes back on me. This has been repeated three times in two years. I am now in a worse shape than I have ever been.” He then asked my advice. I told him to select the most reliable doctor he could find, and regardless of price take his treatment until he was pronounced cured. Then twice a year for several years, to have a State Health Board to make a microscopic examination. If they find no gonococci for two or three years, he might consider himself well. But marriage will then be a risky proposition.
These two recent cases are selected from a thousand experiences related to me in the last five years, many of which were far worse than these. The reader can judge for himself whether or not these diseases are no worse than a “bad cold.”
You have a social nature.—This nature should be developed. Boys and girls, men and women, are complements of each other. Every boy needs a sister and every girl needs a brother. It is a good thing for boys and girls of different families to be schoolmates and occasionally to engage together in games. Where co-educational colleges are wisely managed, young men and women develop socially in a more normal way than when they are separated. The matured young man is never quite himself until he finds his mate. The same can be said with equal force of the matured woman.
Relation of the social and sex natures.—The social nature of an eunuch has been arrested in its development to such an extent that he appears to be without a social nature. He does not attract the opposite sex, admires no woman, has no interest in children, and does not care to mingle with people in a social way. The secret sin often causes a young man to be exceedingly indifferent and to shun the company of young women.
These facts show clearly that there is a vital relation between the sexual nature and the social nature. If developed and kept normal, they will contribute much to the enjoyment of life. Like all great blessings they have their dangers. Whatever, in the social relations of young men and women, leads to the excitement of the sexual instinct means danger, temptations and ofttimes social disaster. Almost all men have either inherited or acquired a strong tendency toward easy sexual excitement. Most young men are ignorant of their weakness and the laws of sexual excitement. In these regards the birds and lower animals are much truer to nature than is, degenerate, man. Among them the sexual exciting relations, preparatory to the reproductive act, are never indulged in by the male except during the mating season. The lower animals never violate these laws of normal sexual excitement.
A pernicious custom.—Many young men, ignorant of these laws, prompted by an over-developed sexual condition, have the habit of pinching the arms of girls, patting their cheeks and chins, squeezing their hands, playing with the hair, hugging and kissing them, and other indiscreet and dangerous habits. These relations are known by modern society as “spooning.” It is seriously common. It is more dangerous to physical, sexual, mental and moral health than the secret sin or prostitution. It is the kindergarten for both. Few young people would ever fall were it not for these pernicious and foolish customs.
You should treat every young lady as you would have other young men treat your sister. You should have a correct knowledge of these laws and by an intelligent choice and a manly, strong purpose, refuse ever to engage with young women in any social relation that would endanger your honor or their virtue.
Friendship and love.—For a number of years you may for social reasons wish to call occasionally on one or more girls for whom you will entertain only thoughts of friendship. However, friendship occasionally assumes a more serious turn and is transformed mysteriously into love. If this love is natural, prompted by your paternal nature, approved by your reason and judgment, no mistake will be made. Love can be blinded by lust, paralyzed by wealth and hypnotized by beauty and in either event, marriage would be a failure.
A good wife is a helpmate.—If a young man has perfect control of his sex nature, I would not advise marriage before he is twenty-three or four. If he has a few hundred dollars ahead, a good education, or a good paying position, has good health and has found the girl of his choice, he should not postpone marriage until he has accumulated more. A good wife is a helpmate.
Long engagements.—Such engagements are seldom necessary and rarely advisable. Don’t be in a hurry. The first chance may not be the best one. Study her and her family well. Your children’s rights should be respected; choose for them a good mother. A young man should never trifle with his affections or the affections of young women by numerous engagements. This is a serious matter. The affectional nature can be trifled with until it cannot be relied upon.
Certain rights not yours.—After you are satisfied with the choice you have made, the important question been asked, a favorable answer received, and the engagement has been effected with the approval of both families, remember that there are privileges that are not yours until the legal phase of marriage has completed your oneness. Any violation of chastity before marriage is a sin against society, weakens self-respect, causes a loss of confidence in each other, and often leads to domestic discord in the future.
When you call.—After the engagement is made you will want to be with your betrothed much of the time. When together have something sensible to talk about. It is a good thing for lovers to read interesting stories to each other. While sentiment and the occasional repetition of the avowal of marriage will add interest to these calls yet this can be over-done and becomes very monotonous. Be frank, sincere, versatile and entertaining, but be discreet.
The nuptial night.—In relation to the nuptial night there is some very delicate and vital information every engaged young man should possess. The primary purpose of marriage is reproduction. Marriage is said to be “Consummated in the first act of cohabitation.” In Greece it was a custom for three days to intervene between the marriage ceremony and the “consummation of marriage.” This was a very wise custom. The bride is usually nervous, exhausted and excited over the occasion. However much she may love her husband, he is yet to her a stranger. This nuptial night should be a night of sweetest, tenderest courtship. The bride should be promptly assured that she will be protected by her lover and that no sexual demand will be made until she extends the invitation. You have often noticed reports in the daily papers of the young bride deserting her husband a day or two after marriage, or committing suicide. Their husbands were ignorant, low and brutal, in almost every case. A young man should understand that his bride is not in a condition of body and mind to meet the sudden change which the marital relation brings.
The considerate young husband.—If a young husband is considerate, awaits his wife’s invitation, practices self-control and moderation for the first few weeks of marriage, his wife will be spared much anxiety, nervousness, and possibly diseases of the genital organs and an invalid condition for life.
If an engaged young man is informed, sensible and pure, and his bride possesses these qualities, there would be nothing indiscreet, unmanly, or even unchristian for him to assure his betrothed that she need have no fear in approaching the nuptial night.
Few perfect men.—When we study man in his relation to the world about him, in relation to his physical, mental and moral possibilities, we get a glimpse of what nature and his Creator planned for him to be. In sacred and profane history, on the farm and in the shop, behind the counter and at the bar; in Congress and in Senate, on the platform and in the pulpit; we find some splendid examples of ideal manhood. But look at humanity in the mass. How few perfect men do you find in a community! Look at the enervated and stunted fathers, the nervous and sickly mothers, the puny and weak children, the poorly developed babies and dwarfed minds, the crowded reformatories, penitentiaries and asylums. Why are sixty-seven per cent. of the children defective at birth? Why the aimless, shiftless, purposeless, ne’er-do-well men? Why so much of deteriorated manhood? The causes are many. Many people are ignorant of the most common laws of health. Many live in unappeased hunger and some are improperly fed. Whisky, tobacco, opium and morphine are all doing their part in wrecking manhood. But the most prolific cause of blighted manhood is the sin of sensuality. It is fully equal to all other causes combined. One state health board asserts that if all men understood the laws of sex and kept them, there would not be the need of one doctor in ten that we now have. This indicates the injurious physical effects of this sin.
Wrecked minds.—An eminent doctor of France claims that the insanity of eighty-two per cent. of all the females and seventy-eight per cent. of all the males in the asylums of that nation involves their sexual mechanism, function, or both, and that early sex instruction would have wholly precluded much of it and postponed the mental break much later in life in many other cases. This indicates the mental effects of this sin.
Kept from Christ.—More people are kept from Christ and more fail to live the Christian life because of their sex problem than because of all other problems put together. This indicates the moral effects of this sin.
Regained—extent.—The extent to which injured, impaired or wrecked manhood due to dissipated sex life, may be regained, will be determined by the number of years he has indulged, the excessiveness of his vice, his age when he reforms, the exercise of his will and the help he seeks from God. When nature is given a fair show, it is wonderful what she will do in a few years. When God is given a fair chance in a man’s life, it is equally wonderful what he can do for a man. God and nature work together in the restoration of manhood.
The diagnosis.—A study of the causes and the conditions of wrecked manhood will aid us to understand what must be done, if manhood is to be restored. Nearly all cases of sexually injured or wrecked manhood first originated in wrong mental relations to matters of sex. The mind has the power to excite to greater than normal activity many of the glands of the body. In the presence of food, or fancying that one is in the presence of food, the mind so influences the salivary glands that they secrete saliva much faster than at other times. In the same way, when the mind is called to the sexual organs, and thought and desire for sexual gratification are aroused by handling these organs, or when gazing upon lewd pictures, reading obscene literature, telling or hearing a smutty joke, “spooning” with a girl, reveling in lascivious desire, or when constipated these organs are stimulated to unusual activity. Blood rushes to the genital organs, the capillaries are dilated and gorged with blood and many times as much semen is formed in a given period, as would be formed, if the mind was otherwise engaged. The body has its limit in absorbing the vital substance. Much of it that should never have been taken from the blood must be thrown off from the body by seminal emissions, the secret vice, prostitution or marital excess. When improper mental relations are continued for months or years, gradually there is established a tendency for too much blood to flow to the genitals, the capillaries become easily dilated, the organs are constantly excited and inflamed and the habit of generating too much semen is formed. This leads to impaired manhood.
All causes of wrong mental thinking must be avoided.—If constipated, this must be corrected. If accustomed to handling the organs with the hands, this must be stopped. Learn instinctively to shun the vulgar story teller, close your eyes to every lewd picture, burn every obscene book in your possession, keep company with only the discreet, chaste girls who wear a full dress, banish every lascivious thought, and keep your mind engaged in other things. This desired mental control does not come in a moment, an hour, a day or a month of effort. It will take a year, it may take more to become master of the mind.
A young man must quit the sin. It can be done at once, but not in every case. It may take months or a year.
If a true conversion to Christ means anything, it means a purification of the mind from a willful choice to engage in impure thoughts. From my point of view this is one of the most important steps for a young man to take in the solution of his sex problem.
A pathological condition.—It is vitally important for a young man to understand that, even when he has fully decided in his mind on reform and has accepted Christ, that this reformation of mind and regeneration in his moral nature do not change the pathological condition of the genital organs, due to years of violating nature’s laws. These steps are all important. Restoration to manhood would not be possible without one or both. The physiological facts are, years of wrong thinking, the secret vice or prostitution has established a tendency for too much blood to flow to these parts and consequently too much semen is formed. This will continue until nature has had time to restore normal conditions. This could never be done by nature without the causes being removed. Nature’s work of restoration is always gradual. She cannot be hurried. She always does her best. Her best is always measured by the opportunity given her. Start in time, be faithful in removing all hindrances and she will accomplish results.
Hindrances and helps.—You cannot help nature in this trouble by using drugs, stimulants or galvanic batteries. Marriage only substitutes one form of sexual waste for another. Prostitution is not a remedy; that simply destroys two souls and bodies instead of one. The use of tobacco and alcoholic drinks tends to inflame the passions. These habits must be entirely quit if restored manhood is desired. Absolute cleanliness, bathing of parts with cold water, eating nature’s foods, vegetables and cereals, meat sparingly, if at all, taking plenty of open air exercise, including deep breathing; these are the remedies nature delights in using.
A fact that should be clearly understood.—After one has fully decided upon a changed life, at certain periods he will be very severely tested by the constant recurrence of impure thoughts and a strong desire for sexual gratification. Many men doubt their conversion or decide that there is no hope for them. If they yield and practice the secret vice, they chide and condemn themselves, become despondent and decide there is no hope for them. They should understand that these thoughts and desires are not of moral choice, but they arise purely from a pathological condition of the genital organs. The changed mind and heart did not stop the usual flow of blood to these organs and the generation of too much semen. The surplus could not be absorbed by the body. It caused the ducts and vessels to become gorged. It was this condition that caused the improper thoughts and desires. Nature has a relief for this while she is gradually producing a cure. The relief is a seminal emission. If these men would resist the temptation for a few more hours or a day, nature would come to their help with an emission. Then for several days they would be free from impure thoughts and desires. The next period would not be so severe. The will would be stronger and resistance easier. If this is kept up, less and less blood will go to the genital organs, less and less semen will be formed, and after one, two or three years a normal condition will be established and manhood restored.
If venerealized, consult a good doctor.—If wrecked manhood involves some form of venereal complication, the sufferer should go to the most reliable home physician he can find, take his treatment and follow his directions. Even in these cases, if the directions given are followed, the remedies given by the doctor will be made more effective.
All out of the asylum can if they will.—To the young man with seminal weakness, or loss of virility, we can offer no easy, short cuts to recovery. For years you have violated nature’s laws. The way back is not easy. Only the brave and the determined will make it. All out of the asylum can if they will. There is hope, there is help, there is recovery. It is worth fighting a lifetime for.
To the great army of young men who are unchaste in minds, many in habits, conscious of no serious results, as yet, we would wave the flag of warning.
Are men naturally more passionate than women?—The accumulated hereditary effects of the double standard for centuries and his acquired tendencies have made man more sensual than woman. Reasoning from the lower animals and from all natural conditions there is no reason why a woman should be less passionate than man. Centuries of false training in impure mental revelings, obscene language and vicious habits have had a growing tendency to establish lust in man. Most of man’s lust is the child of his own cultivation. If the double standard had never existed and men and women had been equally moral, men would be no more passionate than woman and both would be better sexed and far less sensual.
What are the causes of acquired sensuality in men?—The chief cause is wrong mental relations to matters of sex and reproduction. The following are contributory causes: The false impressions made by parents on the child; the half truths clothed in the most obscene language received from servants and playmates; obscene books, pictures, shows and the dance. All these lead to sexual excitement through the mind. The use of tobacco and alcoholic drinks tend to inflame the passions.
What are the principal causes of sterility in men?—Some authorities claim that twenty per cent. of childless homes are due to men having had certain chronic forms of gonorrhea. Excessive use of tobacco and alcoholic drinks produces temporary sterility. The secret sin, when continued for many years, often results in temporary sterility. The inability to become a father, due to one of the last causes, may be regained on one or more years of abstinence from the cause. Loss of reproductive powers due to gonorrhea, in most cases cannot be restored.
Eighty per cent. of sterility among married women is due to gonorrheal infection. In nearly every case they were infected by their husbands who thought themselves cured. From these facts we see that men, not women, are largely responsible for sterile homes.
Are occasional seminal emissions natural?—If men inherited normal sexual conditions and never violated sexual laws, it is reasonable to suppose that men would be as free from sexual losses as are the males of lower animals. But this ideal state does not exist with men. Nature has wisely provided for the escape of all surplus secretions from the various glands of the sexual system. This occurs without any special shock to the nervous system and the amount of loss is usually small. Often what is called an emission is but the loss of fluid from the seminal vessels and not from the testes. This does not contain true semen. Practically no harm results from these last discharges.
When do these emissions begin on a young man?—This depends upon the sexual development and the habits of the youth. In some it occurs much earlier than in others. If a young man has lived a continent life, he may expect an occasional emission when he is eighteen or twenty. If he has used narcotics, entertained impure thoughts, or practiced the secret sin, he may expect them sooner. All young men who practice the secret vice would have frequent emissions if they were not disposing of their surplus energy in this way. The young man who thus voluntarily gratifies his sexual desires is losing more energy than he would be doing if he were to discontinue the habit.
Among many letters received recently are letters from two young men living nearly a thousand miles apart. Their cases are very similar. Each began the secret sin when he was only six or seven years old; both were taught the vice by companions older than they; neither ever received a word of warning from a parent or teacher. One got to practicing the vice as often as seven times a day before he was thirteen. He is now eighteen and having emissions as often as four times a night. He has varicocele on both sides. The other one is now twenty-two, has practiced the secret sin as often as four times a day, and now has varicocele on the left side. Of course these are extreme cases, but they are more common than most people think.
Are there some young men who never have emissions?—It is no doubt true that all normal young men who are living pure lives have an occasional emission. In a few young men it may occur during urination and therefore be unobserved. A young man who willfully dissipates his energy as fast as it is formed, by means of masturbation or prostitution, may not have emissions. But let him stop his bad habits and he will experience them.
Are seminal emissions injurious?—Unnatural emissions are injurious; the natural emissions are not.
What is the difference between a natural and an unnatural emission?—The natural emission is a discharge from the seminal vessels; the unnatural emission is a discharge from the testes. The natural one contains no sperm cells; the unnatural one does. The first is wholly involuntary; the second one is due to sexual excitement caused usually by impure thinking. If a young man keeps his mind pure and avoids all habits that excite the sexual organs, practically all the sexual life formed by the testes will be absorbed. Whenever he maintains a high state of passion for several minutes, several hundred of the latent sperm cells in the epididymis will take on active life and be sent over to the ampullæ, and emissions under this condition would contain many sperm cells. This is why the unnatural emission is injurious. Owing largely to our artificial methods of living, when a boy is eighteen, the seminal vessels secrete more than can be absorbed. The surplus is thrown off from one to four times a month. This is nature’s plan of relieving the gorged condition.
How can one prevent too frequent emissions?—Such dietetic measures as eating non-stimulating foods, discontinuing the use of tobacco and alcoholic drinks, and such hygienic measures as emptying the bowels and bladder just before retiring, sleeping on the side, and preventing constipation, will aid in the control of emissions. But the most important measure to be used is that of mental control. The cure in all cases will be gradual and the time required will depend on the condition of the victim and his determination to conquer the habit.
Can seminal weakness or loss of manhood be cured by the use of medicine of any kind?—The idea that a young man suffering from this trouble, by opening his mouth and swallowing pills or drinking medicines, can cure himself is an absolute false hope. No intelligent, conscientious doctor will advise the use of drugs for seminal weakness. The only safe, sane and sound prescription that can be given one in this condition is a strict continent life, aided by pure thinking, proper diet, and hygiene.
Would you advise the use of any drug or medicine in case of seminal weakness?—Absolutely, No. I have no confidence in medicine for such cases. In no case place your trouble in the hands of a specialist who claims to cure seminal weakness. Your home doctor is your best friend when you need medical advice. No well informed doctor will recommend the use of drugs in such cases.
How may manhood be restored?—One suffering from seminal weakness must abandon the secret sin, get control of his mind, have only pure thoughts, exercise the mind along other lines, take plenty of outdoor exercise and avoid all stimulating foods and drinks, especially narcotics. If not a Christian, become one at once. A genuine conversion will be the most helpful means of bringing his mind to a pure state of thinking. Remember that the creation and distribution of this energy is largely under the control of the will.
How long will it take a young man to recover from the effects of masturbation?—There are so many things to be considered in each individual case that this question cannot be answered in other than general terms. The age when the habit was commenced, the age when the habit was quit, the frequency and the number of years of indulgence, the inherited constitution, the extent of lascivious thinking and the use or non-use of coffee, tea, tobacco and alcoholic drinks, all play a part in the correct answer to the question. I recall one young man of a frail constitution and a nervous temperament, who had practiced the vice two to four times a week for four years. He had nearly all the complications resulting from a greater excess and a much longer period of indulgence. He used coffee, tobacco, and had been addicted to much impure thinking. His will-power was weak. He had a long, hard struggle in breaking the habit. It required four years for him to recover. Here is a remarkable example. One of my correspondents, twenty-eight years old, began the habit at the age of eight and practiced the habit two and three times a day for twenty years. He had very few of the troubles following the habit of masturbation. Satisfactory recovery took place in a year’s time. He had everything to his advantage. He had inherited an ideal constitution and moral tendencies. He had never used coffee, tea, tobacco or alcoholic drinks. He had never allowed himself to indulge in obscene language, to read immoral books, to associate with bad company or to have improper thought about women. He had cultivated studious and industrious habits, and tried hard to live a Christian life. These ideal conditions had largely counteracted the injurious effects of the secret sin and made recovery possible in the brief period of one year. I regard this as the most remarkable case that I have ever had under my advisement.
Where one has practiced the secret sin from four to ten or more years and had the symptoms of greatly injured or lost manhood, it will require from one to four years for nature to restore his manly powers. Nature cannot counteract the loss of vitality and restore years of waste in a few days or weeks of time. Where one has been a victim of this habit for years he must be patient with nature. Years of practice have established a stream of waste from his body. In most cases it will require six months to one year for nature to check this waste. Until this is done, the patient cannot hope to be conscious of the delightful thrill of manhood being restored. Just here, I find many of my correspondents become discouraged. Failing to realize results in a few weeks, they are tempted to feel that the advice found in this book will not bring relief when followed, or that their case is a helpless one. They need to be patient with nature in her slow but sure method of producing real results.