Part 24 (1/2)

”For statistics and further information on this all-important subject, we must refer the reader to the opinions of physicians who have the charge of our retreats for the insane, lunatic asylums, and the like; to the discriminating physicians of the families of the upper cla.s.ses--stimulated alike by food, drinks, scenes where ease is predominant, where indolence is the habit and novel-reading is the occupation--for further particulars on a subject here but barely alluded to.”[53]

[Footnote 53: Gardner.]

EFFECTS UPON OFFSPRING.

If sterility does not result, children are liable to be ”delicate, puny, decrepit, or subject to various congenital maladies, especially of the nervous system, to idiocy from deficient development of the brain, to hydrocephalus, to epilepsy, convulsions, palsy. The scrofulous diathesis, tubercular and glandular maladies, diseases of the vertebrae and of the joints, softening of the central portions of the brain, and tuberculous formations in the membranes, palsy and convulsions, ch.o.r.ea, inflammations of the membranes or substance of the brain or spinal cord, and numerous other affections to which infants and children are liable, very commonly result from the practice of self-pollution by either of the parents previous to marriage. But the evil does not always stop at this epoch of existence, it often extends throughout the life of the offspring, or it appears only with p.u.b.erty and mature age.”

Too frequently, the victim of self-abuse, when he finds himself suffering from the first results of his sin, neglects to adopt any measures for the cure of the disease. Not understanding its inveterate character, he labors under the delusion that it will cure itself in time. This is a fatal mistake. The diseased conditions induced by this vice never improve themselves. Their constant tendency is to increase in virulence and inveteracy. The necessity of taking prompt measures for relief is too apparent to need especial emphasis.

TREATMENT OF SELF-ABUSE AND ITS EFFECTS.

After having duly considered the causes and effects of this terrible evil, the question next in order for consideration is, How shall it be cured? When a person has, through ignorance or weakness, brought upon himself the terrible effects described, how shall he find relief from his ills, if restoration is possible? To the answer of these inquiries, most of the remaining pages of this work will be devoted.

But before entering upon a description of methods of _cure_, a brief consideration of the subject of _prevention_ of the habit will be in order.

PREVENTION OF SECRET VICE.

For the rising generation, those yet innocent of the evil practices so abundant in this age of sensuality, how the evil habit may be prevented is the most important of all questions connected with this subject. This topic should be especially interesting to parents, for even those who are themselves sensual have seen enough of the evils of such a life to wish that their children may remain pure. There are, indeed, rare exceptions to this rule, for we sometimes learn of parents who have deliberately led their own children into vice, as though they desired to make them share their shame and d.a.m.nation.

Cultivate Chast.i.ty.--From earliest infancy all of those influences and agencies which cultivate chast.i.ty should be brought into active exercise. These we need not repeat here, having previously dwelt upon them so fully. The reader is recommended to re-peruse the portion of the work devoted to this subject, in connection with the present section.

If parents have themselves indulged in this vice, they should use special care that all of the generative and gestative influences brought to bear upon their children are the purest possible, so that they may not inherit a predisposition to sin in this direction.

Special care should be exercised to avoid corrupt servants and a.s.sociates. Every servant not known to be pure should be suspected until proof of innocence has been established. They should be especially instructed of the evil arising from manipulation of the genitals even in infants, as they may do immense harm through simple ignorance.

Timely Warning.--But, in spite of chaste surroundings and all other favorable circ.u.mstances, if the child is left in ignorance of his danger, he may yet fall a victim to the devices of servants or corrupt playmates, or may himself make a fatal discovery. Hence arises the duty of warning children of the evil before the habit has been formed. This is a duty that parents seldom perform even when they are not unaware of the danger.

They in some way convince themselves that their children are pure, at least, even if others are corrupt. It is often the most difficult thing in the world for parents to comprehend the fact that _their_ children are not the best children in the world, perfect paragons of purity and innocence. There is an unaccountable and unreasonable delicacy on the part of parents about speaking of s.e.xual subjects to their children.

In consequence, their young, inquisitive minds are left wholly in ignorance unless, perchance, they gain information from some vile source.

Objections are raised against talking to children or young persons about matters in any degree pertaining to the s.e.xual organs or functions.

Some of the more important of them are considered in the introduction to this work, and we need not repeat here.

The little one should be taught from earliest infancy to abstain from handling the genitals, being made to regard it as a very improper act.

When the child becomes old enough to understand and reason, he may be further informed of the evil consequences; then, as he becomes older, the functions of the organs may be explained with sufficient fullness to satisfy his natural craving for knowledge.

If this course were pursued, how many might be saved from ruin! It is, of course, necessary that the parents shall themselves be acquainted with the true functions of the organs before they attempt to teach any one else, especially children. Many parents might receive benefit from being obliged to ”study up;” for it is a lamentable fact, the ill effects of which are every day seen, that a great many people have spent a very large portion of their lives without ever ascertaining the true function of the reproductive organs, though living in matrimony for many years. Some of the consequences of this ignorance have been portrayed in previous pages.

”Oh! why did not some kind friend tell me of the harm I was doing myself?”

has been the exclamation of many an unfortunate sufferer from this vice.

A warning voice should be raised to save those who are ignorantly working their own destruction. Parents, teachers, ministers, all who have access to the youth, should sound the note of alarm in their ears, that if possible they may be saved from the terrible thralldom pictured by a writer in the following lines:--

”The waters have gone over me. But out of the black depths, could I be heard, I would cry to all those who have set a foot in the perilous flood. Could the youth look into my desolation, and be made to understand what a dreary thing it is when a man shall feel himself going down a precipice with open eyes and pa.s.sive will--to see his destruction and have no power to stop it, and yet to feel it all the way emanating from himself; to perceive all goodness emptied out of him, and yet not be able to forget a time when it was otherwise; to bear about with him the spectacle of his own self-ruin; could he feel the body of death out of which I cry hourly with feebler and feebler outcry to be delivered.”

CURATIVE TREATMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE.

When the habit and its effects are of very short duration, a cure is very readily accomplished, especially in the cases of children and females, as in them the evils begun are not continued in the form of involuntary pollutions. In cases of longer standing in males, the task is more difficult, but still the prospect of recovery is very favorable, provided the cooperation of the patient can be secured; without this, little can be done. But in these cases the patient may as well be told at the outset that the task of undoing the evil work of years of sin is no easy matter. It can only be accomplished by determined effort, by steady perseverance in right doing, and in the application of necessary remedies. Those who have long practiced the vice, or long suffered severely from its effects, have received an injury which will inevitably be life-long to a greater or lesser extent in spite of all that can be done for them. Yet such need not despair, for they may receive inestimable benefit by the prevention of greater damage, which they are sure to suffer if the disease is allowed to go unchecked.

Cure of the Habit.--The preliminary step in treatment is always to cure the vice itself if it still exists. The methods adopted for this purpose must differ according to the age of the individual patient.