To get a clear idea of the sexual system of a man, it is necessary first to learn the structure and function of sexual organs; that is, to get a brief acquaintance with their anatomy and physiology.
This is just the very purpose of this book, to give to intelligent and self-conscious boys and men this necessary knowledge, to give them guidance and information, which they need on different occasions, to solve and clear up their many doubts and questions that come up in the intimate recesses of their minds and which arise on different experiences of sexual life.
The sexual system of a man consists of the penis, two testicles with two seminal ducts, two seminal vesicles, and one prostate gland. The penis is a composite structure, as it has a double function of sexual and urinary organ. It consists of three cavernous, erectile elastic bodies capped in front by a head part—two of them on the sides and one underneath. These bodies contain numerous spaces, collapsible in the time of quiescence, but in time of sexual excitement, in the state of erection, those spaces fill up with blood and render the penis turgid and hard. Underneath the side cavernous bodies, piercing thru the lower cavernous body, goes the urethral canal, which starts from the bladder and reaches the external opening. The urethra has a double function: it carries urine from the bladder out of the body and it serves as a carrier for natural sexual secretions. The testicles are the most important sexual glands, as they produce human living cells—embryos—so-called spermatozoa. The testicles, two in number, are pigeon egg sized bodies, suspended by the spermatic cord in a sac called the scrotum.
The natural seminal secretion, semen, or sperma, after its production in the testicle, is carried out thru a long seminal duct, which, when unraveled, measures about twenty feet long, but in a natural condition is twisted and folded on itself many hundred times, forming a bundle-like swelling in the back of the testicle—epididymis. This detail is good to remember, as epididymis plays a very important part in venereal diseases.
The seminal duct goes thru the spermatic cord a long way and passes thru the inguinal canal, located in the groin and enters the seminal vesicles, which are located in the rear of the base of the urinary bladder. The seminal vesicles are the reservoir tanks for the seminal fluid, which resemble small pouch pockets, where it is stored up and accumulated before it is ejected thru the ejaculatory duct into the deep part of the urethral canal and then carried outward, spontaneously in a wet dream or actively in sexual intercourse. The seminal vesicles also produce their own viscid fluid-secretion, which probably preserves the spermatozoa in time of storage.
The spermatic cord serves as a cable connecting the testicles with the rest of the body, and contains the seminal duct, nerves, and blood vessels that give vitality and blood supply to the testicles.
Last, but not least in importance among organs of the male sexual system, is the Prostatic Gland. The prostatic gland resembles in form a chestnut, and is located deep under the urinary bladder, right between the seminal vesicles. This gland is very rich in muscles, which surround the deep part of the urethral canal, where it starts from the bladder, and takes an active part in closing up and opening the bladder in time of urination. The Prostate Gland is also very rich in nerves, which connect it with almost every part of the body. For this reason, as will be seen in the chapter on sexual diseases, the healthy condition of the Prostate Gland is absolutely necessary for a normal and happy life. The Prostate Gland also produces a very important sexual secretion well familiar to all—a grayish white milky emulsion with characteristic sweetish odor and alkaline reaction. This secretion is very important, as it preserves and stimulates the vitality of the spermatozoa before they reach the female embryo ovum for the purpose of fertilization.
Thus it can be seen that the seminal secretion a man loses, either during a wet dream or in sexual intercourse, is not a simple, but a composite fluid, consisting of secretions of the testicles, prostatic gland, seminal vesicles, and also numerous mucous glands of the urethral canal.
The most important element of the seminal fluid is the secretion produced by the testicles and containing spermatozoa. Spermatozoa, or human embryos, are microscopically small living cells, which resemble very much in appearance tadpoles. They consist of a pear-like head, thread-like tapering neck and tail, and thousands of them can be seen in a drop of sperma under a microscope, as rapidly moving and swarming around little worms.
Let us consider now briefly the function of sexual organs. The structure and mutual adjustment of the parts in time of function clearly indicate that the main purpose and vital function intended by Nature for these organs is procreation and transmission of life. Every single organ of the sexual system is constructed and provided with wonderful creative power and natural appliances, all to one purpose—to preserve and to facilitate the transmission of the living spermatozoa to a meeting place of its mate of fertilization and conception—the female embryo—ovum. This is the reason why sexual organs are also called generative organs. This must also be the reason why Nature has timed the awakening of the sexual impulse with the period of the greatest development of all the faculties of the human body and mind, so as to render a man mature and prepared to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of husband and father. Unfortunately, under modern economic and social conditions the physical and mental maturity does not coincide with the economic and social readiness to take up the obligations of family life, and marriage is often forcibly deferred to many years after the physical age of maturity. This brings under discussion the most important practical question of sex continence.
The question whether sexual relationship is a natural necessity and whether a man can abstain from sexual indulgence and remain in perfect health is commonly debated in bachelors’ quarters, and seems to have been decided by popular opinion in the negative. But a glance at the scientific bases of this problem and every-day experience of every unbiased man is sufficient to show that nothing could be further from the truth.
Sex is a biological, not a physical function; that is, the evacuation of the seminal fluid out of the body is intended by Nature for the purpose of fertilization only, and is not necessary for the physical well-being of the individual. The general stimulating and vitalizing effect of the internal secretions of the sexual glands is best obtained and subserved by retaining these fluids in the body; that is, by abstaining from free sexual intercourse. That this is so can be readily substantiated by practical observation; whenever a man undertakes to perform some mental or physical task, he has to lead an abstinent and moderate life to get out the maximum of his efficiency.
Nature has wisely provided man with a wonderful self-regulating appliance, which fact explodes the popular belief about danger to health in overaccumulation of the seminal secretions in the body. Whenever such accumulation of the seminal fluid takes place in a healthy man, and he begins to feel a certain nervous tension and blood-flushes, Nature opens her safety valve and the overdistended seminal vesicles by pressure bring in motion the nervous muscular apparatus of the sexual organs, and this accumulated surplus comes out at night in sleep as a “wet dream” night emission, medically called “pollution.” The best proof that this phenomenon is normal, natural, and purposeful can be seen in the fact that the morning after it the man loses all the disturbing sensations of nervous tension and at once regains his freshness and vigor. A man may have these emissions once or twice a month, even once a week, and he does not have to worry about it in the least, provided that after each night emission he feels fresher and more vigorous than before it.
In discussing sexual abstinence and its possible injurious effect on health, some very important facts bearing on the question should be brought out.
First, the popular idea that sex is as much a physical necessity as are other instincts of self-preservation, such as hunger, thirst, or sleep, is fundamentally wrong. Hunger, thirst, etc., are imperative at all ages and under all circumstances. The lack of their satisfaction for a very few days leads to wasting, destruction of the body, and physical suffering. The sexual impulse awakens only at a certain age, lasts a certain period of time, and gradually goes down, leaving the physical welfare of the body undisturbed.
Individual Variations.—Another extremely important difference is that hunger, thirst, sleep, and other bodily instincts are implanted in every human being, and individual natural differences in regard to these instincts are so insignificant as to be negligible. (We wish to emphasize the word “natural” in its true sense, as in actual life many people develop so many different habits as to the quality and quantity of food and drink and in their ignorance call them their “nature.”) How different it is with the sex function. People are so different as to their sexual capacity and preferences, commonly called “temperament,” that no hard or fast rules can be enjoined on the average man or woman, and not even approximate limits can be given in an individual case. There are many so-called frigid natures, particularly among women, who feel not the slightest attraction for the members of the opposite sex, and are able to go for years and even thruout life without any active desire for sexual relationship. On the other hand, there are some individuals who, either thru heredity or thru personal unbridled indulgence, are so obsessed by sexual passion that their mind remains shut off to every refined and moral influence, and they turn into low, beastly slaves of their brutal passions. What is sexually exciting and attractive to one man, leaves another man perfectly indifferent, and may be disgusting and repulsive to a third. Surely an instinct that is so changeable and so widely differs with different people is not a physical necessity of our body, and can be held in abeyance for a long period of time.
It has been pointed out above that besides its primary and main biological function of the transmission of life, sex also has a powerful stimulating and vitalizing influence on the development of the individual, which is particularly conspicuous in time of adolescence and approaching puberty. But the influence of sex is not only limited to the physical sphere; in fact, its influence on the psychology and mentality of the individual is equally powerful, far-reaching, and lasting thru the greater part of life. Sex unquestionably is the greatest emotional power in human life, the greatest and strongest single factor controlling human feelings and emotions. From a mere physical animal instinct of procreation as it is manifested in the animal world, in the man Nature has transformed and has exalted sex into the highest all-pervading function of human life, has spiritualized and beautified this physical impulse into a most ennobling and ecstatic passion of the human soul—the passion of love.
Love between a man and woman and its consummation in marriage and formation of the unit, the family, is the highest expression and development of the primitive sex instinct; it is the only form of expression of the sexual impulse intended by Nature and sanctioned by religion and the social code of morals. Sex, in its spiritualized and purified form of love, has ever been the dominating and controlling factor in the history of the human race. Love has furnished more to the content of the emotional life of human kind than any other emotional force. Love has been at all times the source of inspiration to the greatest creative geniuses of all arts, be it music, literature, drama, pictures, etc. Nothing thrills an average man or woman as much, nothing strikes a vibrating response of a human heart as quickly as an artistically presented romance of love. The only instinct that rivals in intensity the love between man and woman is mother’s love, which is also based on the sex impulse, tho of a wider import. Mother love is, as it were, a continuation of the biological function of sex, a Nature’s provision to protect and to raise the offspring begotten in love.
The power of sex for good or evil in human life is unlimited. A spiritualized sex impulse—love—ennobles the man and renders him responsive to the best and highest sentiments, inspires him to noblest deeds of devotion and self-sacrifice. The sex impulse, not exalted by the divine touch of love, and left unbridled in its primitive form, becomes a destructive and brutalizing force, that not only inflicts the physical punishment of disease and loss of sexual power, but also destroys the best and noblest elements of manhood.
The fact that every man and boy suffering from a venereal disease or a disorder resulting from bad sexual habits feels ashamed, degraded, and deeply disgusted with himself, is due not only to the fear of public disgrace and ridicule, but it is essentially a feeling of guilt against his own physical and moral self.
Besides the emotional sphere, sex exerts an equally far-reaching influence on the sphere of mentality. The faculties of intellect and reasoning are not affected directly by the sexual impulse, but indirectly the intellectual capacity is greatly dependent upon sexual characteristics of the man. A man leading a normal sexual life, that is, being continent if he is below the age of full sexual maturity, and, being married, if he is above the age, commands the best conditions of intellectual efficiency. His mind being undisturbed and unshaken by periodical waves of sexual excitement, of casual indulgences and nervous exhaustions following sexual excesses or abuses, remains steadily in a state of perfect repose and continual freshness, which renders him capable of the greatest mental concentration and vigorous sustained mental effort.
In the case of a married man, the state of mental energy and efficiency is still more increased by a powerful incentive and stimulation felt by every normal man to exert his best efforts and to strive to the best of his ability for the welfare and good name of his family. Strange as it may seem to some, the sexual impulse and feeling has had the greatest influence on the development of morals and social ethics. The popular old-time idea that the sexual organs and feeling are something shameful, disgusting, and loathsome is based on a gross ignorance and on a crude, vulgar, and narrow-minded interpretation of the great natural provision. Whatever shameful, immoral, or degrading there may be about the sexual feeling and function is put into it by the ignorant, vicious, and vulgar mental attitude and unclean thoughts of man.
Surely the impulse and organs of the human body, designed by the Great Creator for the highest function of human life—that of transmission of life—cannot be shameful, nor vulgar, nor immoral. The broad and intelligent interpretation of sex raises it above a mere animal instinct, ennobles and purifies it from any element of low and brutal passions, and by instilling in the man a feeling of sacredness and moral obligation on his part towards the future family, renders the sex problem a subject worthy of reverence and earnest study.
For a clear understanding of the natural mechanism by which a sexual impulse is originated, set in motion, and brought to its natural climax—ejaculation (emission of the seminal fluid)—it is necessary to explain briefly the nervous apparatus controlling this sexual function. The main nervous center directly controlling and setting in motion every successive step in the sexual act is located in the lumbar (loin) part of the spinal cord. This is the center of erection. This center can operate under certain circumstances spontaneously, without active control of the will or consciousness, but ordinarily it is under full and absolute control of the brain centers forming sexual ideas and impulses. The center of erection can be stimulated or excited either by impulses from the sexual brain center, which is by far the most frequent way of the two of forming sexual desire, or it can be stimulated by impulses from the genital organs. The most common causes producing erection thru impulses from the genital organs are: a mechanical friction or tickling of the genital organs (intentional, as in self-abuse, or accidental and spontaneous); irritative influences in various diseases of the genital organs; pressure on the nerves by the bladder distended with urine (particularly on awakening in the morning); the seminal vesicles overfilled with seminal fluid, or even the blood congestion caused by lying on the back. All these causes, with the exception of a deliberate masturbation (self-abuse), can produce an erection without active participation of the consciousness or will power: they belong to the realm of subconscious acts, but their intensity never grows sufficiently strong to bring about a natural resolution of the sexual reflex thru the ejaculation of the seminal fluid. The only exception is the sexual irritation produced by the seminal vesicles overdistended with secretion; in this case it comes to a resolution thru a “wet dream,” or night emission. The very fact that a healthy, normal man never has wet dreams in the daytime in a waking state conclusively shows that under normal circumstances a natural sexual feeling is never so intense or imperative as to consider it as a natural necessity, calling for gratification. The ordinary active state of mind and concentration of attention on the regular pursuits of life is sufficient to keep vague sexual impulses in the realm of the subconscious. It is only the active participation of mind and the concentration of attention on these impulses that brings them out on the surface of consciousness. Once this vague impulse or idea is perceived by the mind as a sexual idea or emotion, if the will power of the man is not strong enough to push it back again and to submerge the impulse in the realm of the subconscious, the imagination steps in and, by conjuring up various lascivious and sensual images and dreams, stimulates and fans up the flickering light of the original impulse into a mighty, all-devouring, irresistible flame of sexual passion, overpowering all reasoning and self-control of the man. Once it has yielded and has permitted the sexual subconscious impulse into the field of consciousness and attention, the mind becomes less resistent, more sensitive and susceptible to all sexual stimulation, the imagination runs riot, and every sensual impression is not only not resisted, but eagerly sought for. The slightest stimulating impression that leaves a man with normal acting mind perfectly indifferent and cold, or even evokes a feeling of disgust, such as vulgar, indecently-dressed women, suggestive stories, ribald songs, etc., sets such a man on fire and renders him a helpless slave to an animal passion.
And yet how easy it would have been to stem this tide of passion in the beginning, just with the slightest effort of will power, by not allowing these vague impulses to come into the realm of consciousness, and by concentrating the attention on some purposeful occupation or healthy pleasure.
Thus it can be readily seen that the sexual impulse can never spontaneously intrude itself into the consciousness of a man, and that the sexual desire grows in intensity and becomes overwhelming only with the active participation of the man’s mind and the connivance of his will power. This fact is of tremendous practical importance for the problem of sexual continence and its solution.
When the mind is clean, and the attention is purposefully occupied, all danger of temptation and sexual missteps is eliminated. The main center of the sexual desire lies in the brain and in the mind, and not in the body. No “natural physical necessity” will be felt if one has full control of his mind. A mere abstinence from the physical act of sexual intercourse does not make a man moral, nor is it physically healthy or worthy of his great effort of self-control. His mind is torn asunder by a constant internal struggle between wildly-running imagination and will power, his mental repose is disturbed, his mental or physical efficiency is impaired. There is only one rational, scientifically correct effective way to control a sexual instinct; that is, to control the body by controlling the mind first. The easiest and most certain manner of obtaining this control of the mind is by keeping the mind busy and engaged by active, purposeful, and healthy interests. These interests by themselves, as it were, automatically, will keep the attention and all the faculties of the mind engaged, and thus in a natural way, without any special effort, the sexual impulses will be kept in the realm of the subconscious, as inner vague feelings, not interfering with the man’s comfort and efficiency nor disturbing his mental repose.
These theoretical contentions are fully borne out by practical observations in regard to the influence of the mind on the sexual instinct.
Practical experience shows that no other function of the body is so absolutely controlled by the nervous system and more dependent on the state of the mind than the function of sex. All other instincts and functions of the body, like hunger, sleep, digestion, breathing, etc., are controlled to some extent by mind influences. Different feelings and emotions, like fright, worry, sorrow, etc., check and retard all functions for a while, but they cannot retard them for a long time, and surely cannot stop them altogether. How different it is with the sexual impulse. Different mental states can not only subdue the sexual impulse for many, many months, but they can completely check it for an indefinite period of time. The every-day experience of any man will show that when a man’s mind is occupied by any healthy and normal interest, when he is absorbed by mental or physical work, when his energy and attention are used up in a purposeful and productive occupation, no lascivious thought enters his mind, no sexual impulse disturbs his repose. It is only when the mind is idle, and the body did not work off its surplus of energy, that the fancy runs riot and a man is bent on mischief. Take one hundred cases, when a man or boy breaks loose and takes a plunge into the quagmire of prostitution, analyze the circumstances and influences that bring about this misstep, and you will find that in ninety-nine of these hundred cases the hero of this adventure is more of a victim than an active, deliberate perpetrator. Usually it is first a case of overeating rich, stimulating food that heats the blood and clouds clear judgment, the imbibing of sweet wine or alcoholic liquors still more excites and intoxicates our hero; heavy smoking adds its effects to ever-increasing dulling of intellect and checks the normal feeling of self-control and discrimination; vulgar jokes and smutty stories still more stir up sensuality; add to it vicious and stupefying influence of low-grade dancing halls, and as a last and finishing touch, the powerful effect of “gang-spirit”—the hue and cry of the crowd of “boys,” and you will easily see how our hero is swept away like a frail vessel by a mighty tide into the abyss of prostitution. This picture of every-day life plainly shows that under ordinary circumstances boys and men do not get into mischief unless their minds are idle and their judgment is clouded, unless their nerves are high-strung and their senses are inflamed by intoxicating and stimulating influences. This fact carries in itself a very valuable and encouraging lesson to those clean-minded and refined boys who make sincere and earnest efforts to overcome all possible temptations and to carry securely the treasure of their untainted manhood thru the trying and stormy period for a happy family life in the future.
In a nutshell, this lesson reads: Keep your mind busy and your body working; do not overeat; avoid alcoholic and stimulating liquors; be a moderate smoker; avoid vulgar and vicious company; keep away from degrading and low temptations that you know will drag you down into the abyss of vice and shame, and you will find that it is not so hard to keep in the straight path, if only you do not take any chances from the very start. There is no better antidote for a young man against the annoyance of sexual excitement than athletic work and an athletic mode of life. Any and all physical sports and games, particularly outdoor in the fresh air, moderate eating and sleeping in a hard bed in a cool room, active and busy life and avoidance of narcotic, stimulating or body-weakening habits and drinks will make you physically strong and will render the problem of sexual continence an easy and natural task for a long period of time.
Such is in brief words the structure and function of the sexual system of a man, and such are the practical conclusions and advices based on these theoretical facts. It is the writer’s hope that his words of enlightenment and counsel may keep some of the boys away from the “danger zone.” Yet it is natural to expect that in spite of the best warnings and the best intentions of the boys themselves, there will always be such, who, thru lack of will power, light-mindedness, or vicious influences of the older companions, will succumb to the impulse of the moment and will trespass the forbidden territory of “sowing wild oats.”
Mainly for these victims of their own indiscretions the writer devotes the second part of this book—“The Pathology of the Sexual System.” Let them know the dangers they are courting, let them know the possible influence it may have on their own health and the health and happiness of their future family. Should they be unfortunate enough to contract a venereal disease, it is to their own interest to know all the possible complications and developments of these diseases; to prevent, thru intelligent handling of their cases, all the evil consequences and to protect themselves from a damage that so often follows ignorance, neglect, and indifference to the sickness.