Part 21 (1/2)

14. _Mock piety_--or perhaps we should more properly designate it as mistaken piety--is another peculiar manifestation of the effects of this vicious practice. The victim is observed to become transformed, by degrees, from a romping, laughing child, full of hilarity and frolic, to a sober and very sedate little--Christian, the friends think, and they are highly gratified with the piety of the child. Little do they suspect the real cause of the solemn face; not the slightest suspicion have they of the foul orgies practiced by the little sinner. By the aid of friends he may soon add hypocrisy to his other crimes, and find in a.s.sumed devotion a ready pretense for seeking solitude. Parents will do well to investigate the origin of this kind of religion in their children.

15. _Easily frightened_ children are abundant among young masturbators, though all easily frightened persons are not vicious. It is certain, however, that the vice greatly exaggerates natural fear, and creates an unnatural apprehensiveness. The victim's mind is constantly filled with vague forebodings of evil. He often looks behind him, looks into all the closets, peeps under the bed, and is constantly expressing fears of impending evil. Such movements are the result of a diseased imagination, and they may justly give rise to suspicion.

16. _Confusion of ideas_ is another characteristic of the devotee of this artful vice. If he attempts to argue, his points are not clearly made. He may be superficially quick and cute, but is incapable of deep thought, or abstruse reasoning; is often very dull of apprehension.

Ideas are not presented in logical order, but seem to fall out promiscuously, and fairly represent the condition of a disordered brain.

Attempts at joking are generally failures, as the jest is sure to be inappropriate or vulgar, and no one but himself sees any occasion for laughter except at his stupidity. Such individuals are not scarce.

17. Boys in whom the habit has become well developed sometimes manifest a decided aversion to the society of girls; but this is not nearly so often the case as some authors seem to indicate. It would rather appear that the opposite is more often true. Girls usually show an increasing fondness for the society of boys, and are very p.r.o.ne to exhibit marked evidences of real wantonness.

18. _Round shoulders_ and a stooping posture in sitting are characteristics of young masturbators of both s.e.xes. Whenever a child seats himself, the head and shoulders droop forward, giving to the spine a curved appearance.

19. _Weak backs, pains in the limbs, and stiffness of the joints_, in children, are familiar signs of the habit. To the first of these conditions is due the habitual stooping posture a.s.sumed by these children. The habit referred to is not the only cause of these conditions, but its causative occurrence is sufficiently frequent to give it no small importance as a suspicious indication.

20. _Paralysis_ of the lower extremities, coming on without apparent cause, is not infrequently the result of solitary indulgence, even in very small children. We have seen several cases in which this condition was traced to the habit of masturbation, in children under six years of age.

21. The _gait_ of a person addicted to this vice will usually betray him to one who has learned to distinguish the peculiarities which almost always mark the walk of such persons. In a child, a dragging, shuffling walk is to be suspected. Boys, in walking rapidly, show none of that elasticity which characterizes a natural gait, but walk as if they had been stiffened in the hips, and as though their legs were pegs attached to the body by hinges. The girl wriggles along in a style quite as characteristic, though more difficult to detect with certainty, as females are often so ”affected” in their walk. Unsteadiness of gait is an evidence seen in both s.e.xes, especially in advanced cases.

22. _Bad positions_ in bed are evidences which should be noticed. If a child lies constantly upon its abdomen, or is often found with its hands about the genitals, it may be at least considered in a fair way to acquire the habit if it has not already done so.

23. _Lack of development of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s_ in females, after p.u.b.erty, is a common result of self-pollution. Still it would be entirely unsafe to say that every female with small mammary glands had been addicted to this vice, especially at the present time when a fair natural development is often destroyed by the constant pressure and heat of ”pads.” But this sign may well be given a due bearing.

24. _Capricious appet.i.te_ particularly characterizes children addicted to secret vice. At the commencement of the practice, they almost invariably manifest great voracity for food, gorging themselves in the most gluttonous manner. As the habit becomes fixed, digestion becomes impaired, and the appet.i.te is sometimes almost wanting, and at other times almost unappeasable.

25. One very constant peculiarity of such children is their extreme fondness for unnatural, hurtful, and irritating articles. Nearly all are greatly attached to salt, pepper, spices, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, mustard, horse-radish, and similar articles, and use them in most inordinate quant.i.ties. A boy or girl who is constantly eating cloves or cinnamon, or who will eat salt in quant.i.ties without other food, gives good occasion for suspicion.

26. _Eating clay, slate-pencils, plaster, chalk,_ and other indigestible articles is a practice to which girls who abuse themselves are especially addicted. The habit sometimes becomes developed to such a wonderful extent that the victims almost rival the clay-eaters of the Amazon in gratifying their propensity.

27. Disgust for simple food is one of the traits which a victim of this vice is sure to possess. He seems to loathe any food which is not rendered hot and stimulating with spices and other condiments, and cannot be induced to eat it.

28. _The use of tobacco_ is good presumptive evidence that a boy is also addicted to a practice still more filthy. Exceptions to this rule are very rare indeed, if they exist, which we somewhat doubt. The same influences which would lead a boy to the use of tobacco would also lead him to solitary vice, and each sin would serve to exaggerate the other.

29. _Unnatural paleness_ and colorless lips, unless they can be otherwise accounted for, may be attributed to secret sin. The face is a great tell-tale against this cla.s.s of sinners. Justice demands, however, that an individual should be given the benefit of a doubt so long as there is a chance for the production of these symptoms by any other known cause, as overwork, mental anxiety, or dyspepsia.

30. _Acne_, or _pimples_, on the face are also among the suspicious signs, especially when they appear upon the forehead as well as upon other portions of the face. Occasional pimples upon the chin are very common in both s.e.xes at p.u.b.erty and for a few years afterward, but are without significance, except that the blood may be somewhat gross from unwholesome diet or lack of exercise.

31. _Biting the finger nails_ is a practice very common in girls addicted to this vice. In such persons there will also be found, not infrequently, slight soreness or ulceration at the roots of the nails, and warts, one or more, upon one or both the first two fingers of the hand--usually the right.

32. The eyes often betray much. If, in addition to want of l.u.s.ter and natural brilliancy, they are sunken, present red edges, are somewhat sore, perhaps, and are surrounded by a dark ring, the patient, especially if a child, should be suspected and carefully watched. It should be observed, however, that dyspepsia, debility from any cause, and especially loss of sleep, will produce some or all of these signs, and no one should be accused of the vice upon the evidence of these indications alone, neither could he be justly suspected so long as his symptoms could be accounted for by legitimate causes.

33. An habitually moist, cold hand, is a suspicious circ.u.mstance in a young person who is not known to be suffering from some const.i.tutional disease.

34. _Palpitation of the heart_, frequently occurring, denotes a condition of nervous disturbance which has some powerful cause, and which may often be found to be the vice in question.

35. _Hysteria_ in females may be regarded as a suspicious circ.u.mstance when frequently occurring on very slight occasions, and especially if there is no hereditary tendency to the disease.

36. _Chlorosis_, or _green sickness_, is very often caused by the unholy practice under consideration. It is very commonly attributed, when occurring in young women, to menstrual derangements; but it is only necessary to remember that these menstrual irregularities are in many cases the result of the same habit, as has been already pointed out.

37. _Epileptic fits_ in children are not infrequently the result of vicious habits.

38. _Wetting the bed_ is an evidence of irritation which may be connected with the practice; it should be looked after.