Part 7 (2/2)
If emissions are too frequent for the individual case, they are followed by depletion and malaise. Even if they occur as infrequently as once in two weeks and are followed by the above symptoms, they must be considered as too frequent, or abnormal in that case. On the other hand, they may occur as frequently as twice a week in plethoric robust individuals, and especially in men who have had frequent s.e.xual intercourse, and who have for some reason discontinued it. And even though they occur as frequently as twice a week, if they are followed by a feeling of relief and wellbeing, they must not be considered as too frequent for that individual under the conditions.
So the frequency limit of nocturnal emissions is more or less independent of the time and quite dependent upon the reaction of the individual to the emission. If, following the criterion above outlined, one finds that his emissions are too frequent, because of accompanying depletion and malaise, this frequency may be modified either by changes of the diet or by changes of hygiene.
For a more extended discussion, see text above on nocturnal emissions.
3. _Do the organs of reproduction actually develop after the age of seventeen or nineteen or even to the twenty-fifth year as is the case with the physical and mental powers?_
The brain of an individual adds no nerve cells after a very early age.
The brain increases only very slightly in size and weight after the age of p.u.b.erty, and then only under special conditions and this increase in weight and size is not due to the addition of any new cells, but simply to a slight increase in the bulk of those cells already present. In a similar way the s.e.xual apparatus undergoes, during the period of p.u.b.erty (fifteen to seventeen) a very rapid growth, reaching by the end of the period of p.u.b.erty (seventeenth or nineteenth year) their full size.
4. _Are enlarged veins in the s.c.r.o.t.u.m dangerous?_
Enlarged veins of the s.c.r.o.t.u.m represent dilatation of the veins of the epididymis. These are thin walled vessels that respond to any increased internal blood pressure, perhaps showing a special tendency in this direction during that period of rapid growth of the s.e.xual apparatus in the early part of the adolescent period. If the enlargement is only moderate, it may disappear, or at least become spontaneously arrested in its growth, in which case it need cause no concern. If these veins, however, dilate until they form a considerable ma.s.s, known as VARICOCELE, they may affect the s.e.xual apparatus deleteriously in two ways: (1) The increased weight in the scrotal sac may cause the sac to become elongated and to annoy the subject by its traction on the spermatic cord. This lengthened s.c.r.o.t.u.m with its contents may also be exposed to mechanical pressure or even to injury from the clothing, etc., which would not occur if the scrotal sac were short, holding the testes close to the body. (2) Of far more importance is the danger of the varicocele gradually encroaching by pressure upon the testis, perhaps to cause a partial atrophy of that gland. This condition is a comparatively rare one, and inasmuch as it seldom occurs in both testes, the possibility of causing sterility on the part of a man is remote.
The extension of the s.c.r.o.t.u.m and the ”bearing-down” sensation may be relieved through the wearing of a suspensory bandage. Such a bandage may be obtained at any drug store or surgical instrument house, and if properly fitted, will usually relieve any such discomfort as described above. If the varicocele is quite large, the subject will do well to consult a competent surgeon and to take his advice.
5. _Is the emptying of the seminal vesicles thru nocturnal emission a universal phenomenon among continent men?_
The nocturnal emission is not a universal method of emptying the seminal vesicles. Some continent men never have nocturnal emissions.
The reason may be sought in one of two directions: (1) The usual cause of absence of nocturnal emissions is to be found in the fact that in the man in question the seminal vesicles are periodically drained by _involuntary diurnal emissions_, occurring usually when the individual is at stool. These emissions are likely to occur once in two to four weeks and take the place of the nocturnal emission. (2) Rarely we find virile, continent men whose vesicular secretion is so scanty that they are never conscious of its emission.
6. (a) _Should a man who for three to six years of his boyhood practiced masturbation think of wedlock?_
(b) _If one has not lived a pure life but has reformed, may he ask a pure woman to be his wife?_
Such questions as these are very frequently asked and with most serious motives. A vast majority of boys and young men who practice self-abuse, do so either wholly ignorant of the fact that it is wrong or cognizant only in a vague way of the evil of the practice.
To consign a man to the Hades of homelessness and the sorrow of childlessness because through ignorance he lapsed from purity during a few months or years of his life, would be meting out a retribution far in excess of the sin. If nature intended such a retribution to be meted out she would have led the way by causing an atrophy or some other form of disease in the subject who had abused his s.e.xual organs.
But nature does not do that. If the young man who, from his twelfth to his eighteenth year, has practiced masturbation, is shown the error of his way and breaks the habit absolutely, nature quickly comes to his rescue and rehabilitates his virility completely, unless he has been guilty of extreme excess in the habit. This rehabilitation of virility after self-abuse is usually experienced in from one to three years, according to the case and the extent of the practice.
The complete mastery of a habit after it has through years been forging its chains about the youth, is in itself no small victory and should go a long way towards extenuating his lapse. The young man who can conquer himself and learn to lead a pure life, free from his early habit and above reproach not only in his acts toward womankind but also in all his thoughts of woman deserves his well-earned reward. He deserves the respect of all pure women and should be able to win the love of one whom he may with clear conscience ask to be his wife, and with whom he may confidently expect to build a typical home.
7. _Should a man have intercourse for any purpose other than for procreation?_
In the normal course of events, if intercourse is indulged in for procreation only, it would come as often as once, perhaps twice in a month; that is, either just before the menstrual period of the woman or just after, the woman being most easily impregnated at these two periods.
A man who has led a continent life before marriage should have no difficulty in controlling his s.e.xual appet.i.te to that extent. If the s.e.xual intercourse occurs as infrequently as once or twice in a month, the man, by living thus continently, will find it much more easy to maintain his continence during the twelve-month period after his wife becomes pregnant before he can properly have intercourse with her again, than would be the case if he had had s.e.xual relations much more frequently.
That the man desires intercourse much more frequently than as above outlined and that the woman, in the vast majority of cases, does not desire intercourse except for procreation and about as frequently as above indicated is, without any reasonable doubt, due to hereditary tendencies. Under primeval conditions, and in fact, until comparatively recent times, the vast majority of mankind were polygamous, the strong men of the race--those who procreated their kind--having as many wives as they could support and protect, the weak men of the race being crowded aside, sometimes castrated, to become the burden bearers for the strong.
Under conditions of polygamy the woman is rarely subjected to s.e.xual intercourse for other than procreative purposes, and even granting that the man has intercourse for procreation only, if he had twelve wives, he would be having it twelve times as frequently as any one of them. That these experiences on the part of a long line of maternal ancestors should lead the women of today to desire s.e.xual intercourse for procreation only, is easy to understand; that the impulses transmitted along the paternal line of ancestors should lead the men of today to desire intercourse far more frequently than this can, under monogamous conditions be indulged, is also easy to understand.
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