Part 4 (1/2)
The advantage, it has been observed, which the parent, relative, or instructer, derives, from himself in forming the adolescent in the new faculty which is developed in him, is to prevent his choosing, among corrupt servants or ignorant youths of his own age, the confidants of his pa.s.sion. The parent or instructer, moreover, is then justly ent.i.tled to, and has gratefully given to him, the entire confidence of the adolescent; and he is thereby enabled exactly to appreciate the degree of power of the propensity which he desires to divert or to guide.
Such being the case, it is the business of the parent to present a true picture of the effects of too early a.s.sociation of this kind, on the stature, the various development of the figure, the muscular power, the quality of the voice, the health, the moral sense, and especially on the acuteness, the power, the dignity, and the courage, of the mind.
In doing this, it would be as stupid as injurious to employ the slightest degree of false representation, of unjust reprimand, or too much of what is called moralizing, which is often only the contemptible cant of a being who cannot reason, especially when it takes the place of a simple and powerful statement of facts. All of these would only render the young man a dissembler, and would compel him to choose another confidant.
Among other considerations, varying according to the circ.u.mstances of the case, those stated below may with advantage be presented.
At a certain period in the life both of plants and animals, varying according to their kind and the climate they live in, they are fit for and disposed to the reproduction of their species. The s.e.xes in both are then attracted to each other. In plants, the powder termed pollen, in animals a peculiar liquid which, deriving its name by a.n.a.logy from the seeds of plants, is termed seminal, is secreted by the male plant or animal, and, by organs differently formed in each kind, is cast upon ova or eggs either contained within, or deposited by, the female. The details of this process are among the most beautiful and interesting of the living economy. In mankind, the attainment of this period is termed p.u.b.erty.
It is with this critical period, and his conduct during it, that all that the youth deems most valuable, all that can decide his fortunes and his happiness in the world, his stature, figure, strength, voice, health, and mental powers, are most intimately connected.
In regard to stature, the body appears to complete its increase in height chiefly at the age of p.u.b.erty, and during the first years which succeed that age. To be a.s.sured of the powerful influence of his own conduct, at this period, upon his stature, the youth has only to compare the tall men and women of the country as in Yorks.h.i.+re, Lancas.h.i.+re, Westmoreland, c.u.mberland, and the Scottish borders, where they have not been overworked, with the stunted and dwarfed creatures of the metropolis, where a stranger, when he first enters it, is apt to think he sees so many ugly boys and girls, whereas, they are full-grown London men and women. Half the population of the metropolis is affected in this way; and it is the obvious consequence of the acceleration of p.u.b.erty by confinement, stimulating food, indecent plays, and s.e.xual a.s.sociation.
In regard to the perfect development and beauty of the figure, the youth is probably aware that the most beautiful races of horses and dogs rapidly deteriorate, if men do not carefully maintain them by continence as well as by crossing. The too early employment, the depraved abuses, the injury, or the removal, of the s.e.xual organs, are all of them causes still more certain of deformity. The latter of these causes acts, of course, most obviously; and it is evidenced in the almost universal malformation of eunuchs, geldings, &c.
That, in regard to bodily strength, s.e.xual continence adds energy to the muscular fibre, is clearly seen by observing the most ardent quadrupeds previous to the time of the union of their s.e.xes. But, this being past, precisely in the same proportion does the act of reproduction debilitate and break down the strongest animal. Many male animals even fall almost exhausted by a single act of union with the opposite s.e.x.
Every cla.s.sical student has read the beautiful allegory of Hercules, who, having spun at the knees of Omphale ([Greek: omphalos] the navel, here put for the most essential part of the female generative organ), thereby lost his strength: this beautifully expresses the abas.e.m.e.nt of power amid the indulgences of love. Euripides also depicts the terrible Achilles as timid before women, and respectful with Clytemnestra and Iphigenia. Hence, when a foolish lord reproached the poet Dryden with having given too much timidity toward women to a personage in one of his tragedies, and added that he knew better how to employ his time with the ladies, the poet answered: ”You now acknowledge that you are no hero, which I intended that personage to be.”
As to voice, which depends on the muscles of respiration, and more immediately on those of the mouth and throat, as general strength does on the muscles of the whole body, both merely affording expressions of the mind, the influence of the s.e.xual union upon it is prodigious. How entirely it is altered by the removal of the testes in eunuchs is known to every one: in corresponding proportion, is it altered by every act of the generative organs, but especially by s.e.xual indulgence during p.u.b.erty. The horrible voice of early libertines and prost.i.tutes presents an alarming example of this. To those who value voice in conversation, in the delightful and humanizing exercise of music, or in the grander efforts of public speaking, nothing more need be said.
As to health, the less we are prodigal of life, the longer we preserve it.
Every one capable of observing may see that the stag loses his horns and his hair after procreation; that birds fall into moulting and sadness; and that male insects even perish after this effort, as if they yielded their individual life to their progeny. Indeed, everything perishes so much the more readily, as it has thus transmitted life to its descendants, or has cast it away in vain pleasures.
In mankind, as in other animals, to procreate is in effect to die to one's self, and to leave one's life to posterity; especially, if this takes place in early life. It is then that man becomes bald and bent; and that the charms of woman fade. Even in advanced age, epicures are so well aware of this, that they are known to abstain from amorous excess, as the acknowledged cause of premature death.
In relation to mind--as the generative power is the source of several characteristics of genius, the exhaustion of that power at an early age must take away these characteristics. Genius as surely languishes and is extinguished amid early s.e.xual indulgence, as do the faculties of voice and locomotion, which are merely its signs and expressions.
It is thus with all our faculties, locomotive, vital, mental, at an early age. They are strengthened by all that they do not dissipate; and that which their organs too abundantly dispense is not only taken immediately from their own power, and mediately from that of the other organs, but it ensures the permanent debility of the whole.
It is true that the strong pa.s.sions which are modified or characterized by the s.e.xual impulse, excite the imagination and impel the mind to sublime exertions; but the sole means of either obtaining or preserving such impulsion is, to shun the indulgence of pleasure in early life, and its waste at later periods.
It has accordingly been observed, that the pa.s.sion of love appears to be most excessive in animals which least excel in mental faculties. Thus the beasts which are the most lascivious, the a.s.s, the boar, &c., are also the most stupid; and idiots and cretins display a sensuality which brutifies them still more. Hence, the Homeric fable that Circe transformed men into beasts.
It would also appear that the most stupid animals, swine, rabbits, &c., in general produce the greatest number of young; while men of genius have engendered the fewest. It is remarked that none of the greatest men of antiquity were much given to s.e.xual pleasure.
It is, then, of the greatest importance to young men who are ambitious of excellence, to mark well this truth, that the most powerful and distinguished in mental faculties, other things being equal, will be he who wastes them least in early life by s.e.xual indulgence--who most economizes the vital stimulant, in order to excite the mental powers on great occasions. By such means may a man surely surpa.s.s others, if he have received from his parents proportional mental energy.
Beside the means already indicated, there is one proposed by an able writer, as serving to divert the instinct of propagation when too early and excessive, and consequently dangerous: that is, the sentiment of love.
To employ this means, he observes, ”it is necessary to search early, after knowing the character of the adolescent whom it is wished to direct, for a young woman whose beauty and good qualities may inspire him with attachment. This means will serve, more than can easily be imagined, to preserve the adolescent both from the grosser attractions of libertinism and the disease it entails, and from _the more dangerous snares of coquetry_. It is,” he adds, ”a virtuous young woman and a solid attachment that are here spoken of.”--At some future period I shall probably show how wise this recommendation is, as well as the necessity and the advantages of early marriages, under favorable circ.u.mstances.
Having now shown the evils of early s.e.xual a.s.sociation, I may briefly notice those of later libertinism.
If, even in more advanced life, and when the const.i.tution is stronger, the instinct of propagation be not restrained within just limits, it degenerates into inordinate lewdness or real mania: ”Repperit obscaenas veneres vitiosa libido.” By such depravation, n.o.bleness of character is utterly destroyed.
This scarcely evitable consequence of great fortune and of the facility of indulgence, it has been justly observed, will ever be the ruin of the rich, and a mode of enervating the most vigorous branches of the most powerful house.
The libertine, then, owing to exhaustion, by s.e.xual indulgence, is characterized by physical and moral impotence, or has a brain as incapable of thinking, as his muscles are of acting.