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STARTLINO SEXUAL SECRETS! 
 
 BOYHOOD'S PERILS 
 
 MANHOOD'S CURSE. 
 
 An Earnest Appeal to Young America. 
 
 " My honor is my proudest heritage. My chastity's the jewel 
 of a noble race, descended to me from many ancestors, which 
 were the greatest obliquy in the world for me to lose." 
 
 By S. PANCOAST, M. D., 
 
 Professor of Microscopic Anatomy, Physiology, and the Institutes of Medicine, in 
 
 Penn Medical University, Philadelphia; Author of " An Original Treatise 
 
 on the Curability of Consumption," " The Family Guide in 
 
 Diseases of the Throat and Chest," &c, &c. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 185 8. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
 
 S. PANCOAST, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court, in and for the Eastern 
 District of Pennsylvania. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The object of this little Treatise is to reveal some ter- 
 rible truths. I do not intend to mince the matter. As 
 the foul ulcer requires the burning cautery for its 
 eradication, so the moral leprosies of humanity must 
 be probed to the quick in order to the purification of a 
 world lying in wretchedness and despair. A squea- 
 mish delicacy or sensitiveness may no longer be 
 indulged, in regard to an evil which is hurling 
 thousands on thousands every year to a loathsome 
 and untimely grave — an evil even threatening the utter 
 and speedy extinction of the human race ! Nothing now 
 will do but plain, blunt, honest, sincere preaching — 
 preaching like that with which Nathan reproved King 
 David — in these our days of gross sensuality and crime. 
 Our object is to do good, by pointing out to the victim 
 of unholy and excessive lust, the horrors that must 
 assuredly overtake his scandalous and outrageous 
 violations of the laws of Nature and of Nature's God. 
 In the almost entire absence of any effort on the part 
 of those whose duty should be to warn the erring and 
 thoughtless of the consequences of particular secret 
 sins, the truly conscientious physician cannot shirk 
 his responsibility to the public ; but should lift up 
 his voice in earnest tones, and fearlessly expose and 
 reprobate the great crimes and pollutions of the 
 human race that now so alarmingly prevail. 
 
 The horrible vice to which I allude is that of 
 Onanism or Masturbation, or in still plainer terms, 
 Self-Pollution ! Masturbation is from manus a 
 hand, and stupro, to commit adultery. It means, in 
 short, the excitement of the genital organs by titi- 
 lation with the hand, to produce that peculiar thrill, 
 
which is usually experienced in the healthy commerce 
 of the sexes. In other words, it consists in the un- 
 natural and unlawful use of the organs which were 
 given by the Creator to mankind for wise and benevo- 
 lent purposes, namely, the continuance of the human 
 race and the reproduction of the human species, agreeably 
 to the Divine injunction, as proclaimed in the first 
 Chapter of Genesis to man, in the memorable words 
 — " Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth" 
 
 According to the Bible, the detestable vice was first 
 practiced by Onan* from whom it is named ; but the 
 Greeks and Romans attribute it to the artful Mercury, 
 who invented it for the benefit of Pan, who had lost 
 his mistress, the beautiful Echo. 
 
 It is an unfortunate fact, that this vice can be 
 traced to the remotest antiquity, and that it has been 
 practiced by the lowest as well as by the highest 
 classes of society, but in no age of the world has Self- 
 Pollution prevailed to the same alarming extent as 
 at the present time. The degrading and destroying 
 sin is practiced by parties to that terrific extent 
 that comparatively very few of the youth of our land 
 are untainted by this most unnatural abomination. 
 Our schools are the very hot-beds of moral pollution 
 and secret vice — our boarding schools especially. 
 Thousands of adults, also, are engaged in this 
 practice. There is no society exempt from the vice. 
 The church is lamentably tainted with it — pastors 
 and people being equally enslaved by the awful 
 debauchery. 
 
 * See Genesis, chap, xxxviii., 9th and 10th verses, " And Onan, 
 knew that the seed should not he his, and it came to pass, when he 
 went unto his brother's wife, that he spilt it on the ground, lest 
 that he should give seed to his brother." " And the thing which 
 he did displeased the Lord, wherefore he slew him also." 
 
Everywhere we see the deplorable evidence of the 
 wreck of mind and body, as a consequence of the pol- 
 luting stream of gross licentiousness and sensuality 
 which is surging widely and wildly through all the 
 ramifications of human society. 
 
 The effects of this vice are the more pernicious the 
 sooner it is practiced. In our generation it is known 
 even to tender childhood. Very many are initiated in 
 such practices by servants and nurses. How impor- 
 tant, therefore, it is for parents, teachers, guardians, 
 clergymen, physicians, moralists and humanitarians, 
 to proclaim to the rising youth the baneful conse- 
 quences of self-pollution, in order to the restoration 
 of their bodily strength, mental vigor and purity of 
 morals. Who will say that it is not the duty of every 
 one to strip the mask from sensualism ere it " bite 
 like an adder," and utterly wound and destroy those 
 who, in reckless ignorance and desperate heedlessness, 
 rush upon misery and ruin. Truly, 
 
 " Yice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 That to be hated needs but to be seen." 
 
 Thus, in view of a vice whose horrors cannot be 
 adequately revealed, even by the keenest and most 
 probing of pens, I feel justified in entering upon a 
 crusade which shall have for its aim the exposure and 
 correction of grievous moral and physical evils — the 
 eradication of Empiricism and Quackery from our 
 midst, and the promulgation of those Physiological, 
 Anatomical and Hygienic laws, which ought to be known 
 to every man, woman and child who would preserve 
 the image of the Creator, and attain to that physical 
 and mental perfection which would be his glorious 
 inheritance, if his line of conduct could be made to 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 square with the dictates of nature and a rigid obedi- 
 ence to her immutable behests. Thei^efore, I purpose — 
 
 1st. To warn the human creature against the con- 
 sequences of an unnatural crime, and the excesses 
 of wildly voluptuous errors and passions. 
 
 2d. To caution the victims of sensuality and secret 
 vices of every kind against committing their lives to 
 the care of the many ignorant and unprincipled har- 
 pies, who fill the journals with the lying statements 
 of their ability to cure all sexual disorders^ when not 
 one of them has the least idea of the functions of the 
 organism, or the curative means that should be used 
 in formidable generative and nervous disorders. The 
 great majority of them are lazy vagabonds, who 
 have never been inside of a Medical College, yet do 
 not hesitate to delude and cheat, nay, positively 
 destroy the lives of fellow-creatures, in order to reap 
 riches for themselves by their abominable charla- 
 tanism. 
 
 3d. To announce a work, that will make its appear- 
 ance about the first of January, 1859, of a purely 
 scientific character, yet adapted to the simplest under- 
 standing, showing by chaste and vivid language, and 
 the means of many colored plates and diagrams, the 
 generative organs, the functional apparatus of both 
 sexes, together with those that may tend to illustrate 
 the frightful consequence of self-pollution and exces- 
 sive amorous indulgences of every kind. 
 
 In order to give a better idea of the work that is 
 forthcoming, the curious facts that are revealed in the 
 following pages should be attentively perused, apper- 
 taining as they do to the Functions and Disorders of 
 the Reproductive Organs, from Youth to matured 
 Manhood and Old Age. 
 
SEXUAL SECRETS. 
 
 For the due performance of the functions of gene- 
 ration, it is necessary that the organs be perfect. I 
 "will not now attempt a description of these organs, in- 
 asmuch as they are given in every elementary treatise, 
 but I may remark, in the language of Carpenter, 
 "that the period of Youth is distinguished by that 
 advance in the evolution of the generative apparatus 
 in both sexes, and by that acquirement of its func- 
 tional activity which constitutes the state of Puberty." 
 At this epoch, a considerable change takes place in 
 the bodily constitution ; the sexual organs undergo a 
 much increased development, while desires are 
 awakened which were before entirely unknown. 
 This instinct the human being shares with the lower 
 animals. Like other propensities, it is excited by 
 sensations, and these sensations may either originate 
 in the sexual organs themselves, or may be excited 
 through the organs of special sense. 
 
 There can be no doubt that venereal desires are in- 
 stinctive in animals at a certain special season. The 
 same is the case with young men at * Puberty ; after 
 long periods of continence, or after leading a quiet 
 country life. Thus at Puberty, " Life is in excess ; 
 the blood boils; the desires are impetuous and tor- 
 menting — Nature is almost an accomplice." We must 
 not forget, however, that as man is at the top of the 
 scale of animal creation, he ought to be a rational 
 and reasoning being. If he be not so, those who had 
 the charge of his youth, are greatly to blame for not 
 
 * The commencement of young manhood, Ac. / 
 
8 
 
 having diverted his inclinations in the right channels. 
 The boy should be taught that his instincts are not 
 to be blindly gratified. There is something in the 
 mere thought of sexual excesses at this period of life, 
 which is positively revolting to a considerate mind. 
 Puberty is a period of trials — danger menaces his 
 dawning manhood, and a fearful bodily and mental 
 wreck will be the consequence, if parents and humani- 
 tarians fail to watch any prurient tendency, and lead 
 him from the perils which environ his thoughtless 
 course of conduct. When a child, who has once 
 .shown signs of a good memory and of considerable 
 intelligence is found to evince a greater difficulty to 
 retain or comprehend what he is taught, we may be 
 sure that it does not depend upon indisposition, as he 
 states, or idleness, as is generally supposed. You 
 may be almost sure that he is a victim of the odious 
 solitary habit. There is now no time to be lost. 
 Steps should be at once taken to prevent Masturbation, 
 or the vice will soon become too inveterate in many 
 instances for successful amelioration. In infants, we 
 must correct the habit by muffling the hands, or in 
 any other judicious manner ; while in the boy, it is of 
 the most vital importance that the mind be directed 
 in a healthful channel, by amusements, recreations, 
 &c, in order to check the secretion of the seminal 
 fluid. * He should be taught to look upon Mastur- 
 bation as a cowardly, selfish, debasing and destructive 
 habit, unfitting him for intercourse with boys of a 
 proper spirit, and generous and noble impulses. We 
 must not only warn our youths against Self-pollution, 
 but we should seek to develop all their muscular 
 powers by means of suitable gymnastic exercise, &c. 
 It is not the strong athletic boy, fond of healthy 
 exercises, who thus early shows marks of sexual 
 desire, but the puny exotic, whose intellectual educa- 
 tion has been cared for at the expense of his physical 
 development. How many parents have been guilty 
 of causing intellectual suicides by their attempt to force 
 
 * Manacles are put on prisoners in jails, penitentiaries, i 
 prevent the unnatural practice. 
 
 c, to 
 
9 
 
 the mental faculties at the expense of muscular 
 development. 
 
 The importance of a proper regulation of the sexual 
 feelings, or the necessity of training to continence, no 
 one has heretofore dared publicly to advocate. Every- 
 body seems to be afraid to touch upon the important 
 theme. Indeed, I have been asked over and over 
 again, to strenuously urge its great claims on the 
 notice of parents and all others interested in the 
 moral, physical and intellectual education of youth. 
 
 If the young men of the present day are accused of 
 leading immoral lives and rioting in sexual gratifi- 
 cations, they can reply with a great deal of pungency 
 and truth — " Have you, our parents and guardians, 
 ever informed us of the pernicious tendency of youthful 
 follies, and taught us how to control our sins and 
 passions ?" 
 
 In view, therefore, of the prevailing licentiousness, 
 I most solemnly protest against allowing our youths 
 to remain in profound ignorance of every thing ap- 
 pertaining to sexual matters. Many a one, for want 
 of that authentic instruction, which might have 
 guided him in the right way, has been led by curiosity, 
 scarcely vicious at first, to obtain scanty information 
 concerning the sexual organs from the male and 
 female veterans of "the town," or the obscene litera- 
 ture which a licentious press is constantly pouring 
 out upon the world. 
 
 Were it not for such pernicious works, it might 
 well be believed that the youths of our land would be 
 better able to restrain their vicious sexual impulses. 
 Timely instruction and warning might disperse that 
 mysterous halo which surrounds the amorous im- 
 pulses when reading of the loves of the gods and 
 godesses, to be found in " Lempriere's Dictionary ," 
 and other text-books, usually placed in the hands of 
 young and thoughtless students and tyros at school. 
 Indeed a large number of sufferers, the children of 
 refined, intellectual and religious parents have as- 
 sured me they had first been led to seek sexual 
 gratification from what they read in the classics and 
 from their imitative talents of those precocious youths 
 
10 
 
 whose imaginations had become wofully corrupted by 
 reading immoral works, in entire ignorance, like them- 
 selves, of the terrible consequences subsequently 
 entailed by the practice of Masturbation and other 
 secret vices. Often have they expressed a wish that 
 they could spare others the miseries which they them- 
 selves had undergone from ignorance of Nature's 
 stern and unerring laws. 
 
THE NOKMAL* FUNCTIONS. 
 
 To enable man to people the earth, God has im- 
 planted in him a sexual feeling that forms a predomi- 
 nant portion of his existence. Subsequent to food, 
 the sexual desire is the next sought after by the 
 male. To live and give life are the dominant passions. 
 Not only was man commanded to "multiply and re- 
 plenish the earth," but the same law is paramount in 
 all organized beings. All are endowed with a sort of 
 transcreation, which serves for the bountiful replenish- 
 ment of every living thing. 
 
 Works on Natural History are full of the enormous 
 productive powers of certain animals. The Aphides, 
 or plant lice, furnish a remarkable instance of fecun- 
 dity. A single sexual intercourse is sufficient to im- . 
 pregnate not only the female parent, but all her 
 progeny down to the ninth generation. At the fifth 
 generation a single aphis might be the great-grand- 
 mother of 5,900,000,000 of young ones ! The progeny 
 of three flesh flies would consume a dead ox as quickly 
 as would a lion ! Nine millions of ova (eggs) have 
 been calculated to be spawned by a single codfish ! 
 
 Thus it is plainly perceived that Providence has 
 seen it necessary to make very ample provision for 
 the preservation and utmost extension of all the 
 species. The aim seems to be to diffuse existence as 
 widely as possible— to fill up every vacant space with 
 some sentient being, to be a vehicle of enjoyment. 
 Hence the sexual passion is conferred in great force, 
 yet the relation between the number of beings and 
 the means of supporting them is placed on a footing 
 of a general and immutable law. Beasts and birds, 
 insects and reptiles, and all other organic or sentient 
 creatures, have a stated and fixed period for sexual 
 commerce, and are by consequence never found vio- 
 
 * Natural, or according to Nature. 
 
12 
 
 lating Nature's laws. Man appears to be the only 
 creature that allows his sexual appetites to run coun- 
 ter to her wise provisions in respect to his own pecu- 
 liar organization and procreative functions. 
 
 To have offspring is not to be regarded as a luxury, 
 but as a great primary necessity of health and hap- 
 piness, of which every fully developed man and woman 
 should have a fair share ; while it cannot be denied 
 that the ignorance of the necessity of sexual inter- 
 course to the health and virtue of both man and 
 woman, is the most fundamental error in medical and 
 moral philosophy. In saying this, we must not, how- 
 ever, forget that man is furnished with reasoning 
 powers; that a "knowledge of good and evil" has 
 been given him. He knows, or ought to know, that 
 he must keep his feelings within bounds, for it is in 
 this discretion alone that he differs from the beasts 
 that perish. I strenuously maintain that a young 
 man at puberty does not and should not indulge all 
 his instincts. Sexual indulgence at this early part of 
 < life is ever attended with the most direful consequen- 
 ces to the witless and misguided individual. Puberty 
 must not only be just dawning ; it must be in full 
 vigor. Hence the necessity of man controlling his 
 sexual powers until the fullest period of manhood's 
 development. To diffuse the species, the species 
 ought to be perfect and in perfection. Immature 
 development of the sexual functions, invariably result 
 in sickly, weakly children, that can be only with great 
 difficulty reared to maturity. All breeders of cattle 
 have long since ceased to raise their stock from either 
 young males or females. In former times, premature 
 sexual commerce was restrained by stringent laws. — 
 Lycurgus forbade men to marry before the age of 
 twenty-seven, and women before the age of twenty. 
 These laws were enacted for the express purpose of 
 raising a vigorous race. Alas ! how far has mankind 
 fallen away from his pristime vigor and glory, through 
 the excesses of his lascivious and voluptuous passions ! 
 
 I would advise all to marry who have reached a full 
 maturity of virile power. This is seldom the case in 
 the male under twenty-five years of age, and in the 
 
13 
 
 female under twenty years. Both sexes should nourish 
 their vitality by a proper course of diet and exercise,' 
 and abandon every act calculated to impair the mental 
 and physical stamina of the organism. 
 
 Physicians and physiologists of all ages, agree in 
 opinion that the loss of one ounce of semen is more de- 
 bilitating than the loss of forty ounces of blood ! Hip- 
 pocrates tells us that the male semen is composed of 
 all the fluids of the body, and that it is the most pre- 
 cious constituent of the human organization. Pytha- 
 goras terms the semen the flower of the blood. His 
 disciple, Alcmeon, considered semen a portion of the 
 brain. Epicurus looked upon semen as a portion of 
 the soul and body. By losing semen, man loses vital 
 principle. It is not to be wondered, therefore, that 
 the excessive loss of semen should enervate and de- 
 stroy body and mind. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that Continence* is 
 detrimental either to the constitution of man or of 
 woman. A life of Celibacyf is never a cause of Iwpo- 
 tency or Sterility ! % On the contrary, it is the abuse 
 of the sexual organs that produces many of the serious 
 "ills to which the flesh is heir," including consump- 
 tion, nervous complaints, and all the other terrible 
 disorders which make up a very large excess of the 
 mortality of our land. 
 
 In a state of pure nature, where the appetites are 
 not stimulated by artificial contrivances, whether en- 
 gendered of food or other means, man would have his 
 sexual instincts under natural restraints ; but possess- 
 ing reason, he is the more able and bound to govern all 
 licentious promptings, and to conform to Nature's 
 pristine mandates. 
 
 Copulation^ in man is by no means a hap-hazard 
 act, but follows the laws which obtain among animals. 
 The spring conceptions are found by careful statistics 
 to average an excess of seven per cent, on those of any 
 other quarter of the year. Criminal statistics show 
 
 * One who abstains from sexual indulgences, 
 f Remaining virtuous and unmarried. 
 
 % Loss of strength, and incapable of the sexual act, or producing 
 offspring. \ Sexual intercourse. 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 that rapes are usually committed in the spring and 
 .summer months. These facts fully confirm my propo- 
 sition that man has his season of venereal activity as 
 well as the lower animals. 
 
 The seminal secretion takes place very slowly in 
 the continent man — so slowly, in fact, that little or 
 none is formed in healthy adults whose attention is 
 not directed to sexual subjects, or who take a great 
 deal of strong exercise. The same may be said of 
 animals that are not allowed sexual congress. I 
 affirm, that if we create a demand by the practice of 
 gymnastics, the human blood can be directed from the 
 sexual organs to the muscles. The effect of exercise 
 in diverting the activity of the genital organs into 
 other channels was known to the ancients. The 
 Athletae were remarkable for their continence. It is 
 a well known fact, that those who undergo great phy- 
 sical exertion, almost entirely abstain from sexual 
 pleasures. I cannot, therefore, too often impress on 
 the attention of my young readers the great truth, 
 that whereas licentious reading and idleness will in- 
 duce carnal desires, exercise and a wholesome diet, 
 with moderate intellectual employment, will, on the 
 contrary, for the time being, completely paralize the 
 sensual passion. 
 
 Persons are daily coming to me asserting that they 
 have become suddenly impotent. I usually find that 
 the non-secretion depends upon causes such as I have 
 already named. When the patient returns to proper 
 or natural habits all fears of impotency cease. 
 
 The late Father Mathew knew his countrymen ex- 
 ceedingly well when he enjoined not moderate indul- 
 gence ; but total abstinence from spirituous liquors. 
 So it is with the sexual passion. It is easier to ab- 
 stain altogether than to be continent for a time and 
 run into wild excesses at another' period. He would 
 be considered a fool who would open the flood-gates 
 of an ocean and then attempt to prescribe at will a 
 limit to the inundation. 
 
 Some of my patients have said " if we do not exer- 
 cise our organs they will become atrophied:* there- 
 
 * Reduced in size. Emaciation of the body, or any organ. 
 
15 
 
 fore it is necessary that we commit fornication. " 
 Now this idea is fallacious — an egregious error. As 
 well say that it is necessary to eat or walk all day, 
 lest the muscles become absorbed. There is no phy- 
 siological truth in this want of exercise of the sexual 
 organs. I have never seen a single instance of atrophy 
 of the generative organs from this cause; but in very 
 many cases from the abuse of them. The organs then 
 cease to act; hence atrophy. 
 
 Physiologically speaking, it is impossible for the 
 " sexual passion". to be annihilated in well-formed 
 adults. The functions of the organs go on unceasingly 
 from puberty to old age. The seminal vessels may 
 be full at times, and empty at others. Emissions at 
 night may be frequent, yet the man remain in perfect 
 health. The fear of atrophy, from leading a continent 
 life is certainly apocryphal. It is a device of the 
 unchaste — a bugbear at once repugnant to physiology 
 and common sense. Emissions, in fact, act as a 
 safety-valve in man. I can produce .abundant data 
 to prove that continence is not followed by Impotence 
 or Sterility. Men of fifty years of age, who bad never 
 in a single instance indulged in sexual commerce, 
 have become the fathers of healthy and vigorous chil- 
 dren. The same fact has been most forcibly demon- 
 strated in the case of animals that have never had 
 connection with the female of their kind. They have 
 never failed to ensure offspring, even when advanced 
 in life. Mr. Varnell, of the Veterinary College of 
 London, had a hunting stallion that was never allowed 
 to connect with mares, yet he was always qui of im 
 their presence and hunted regularly. When tnvuty 
 years old he was allowed to mount mares for the first 
 time, and became a sure foal-getter. 
 
 Incontinence, immature and secret states of cohabi- 
 tation, and particularly Self- pollution, I repeat, cannot 
 be too severely reprehended. Continence, chastity 
 and virtue, with marriages under suitable conditions 
 of the organism, will ensure entire exemption from 
 sexual misery, and at the same time greatly enhance 
 the vigor and happiness of either sex. 
 
SELF-ABUSE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 The indulgence of illicit pleasures, sooner or later, 
 is sure to entail the most loathsome diseases on the 
 votaries of Venus* and Priapus.j Among these dis- 
 orders are Gonorrhoea (or clap), Syphilis (venereal 
 ulcers or pox), Spermatorrhoea (waste of semen by 
 daily and nightly involunt ary emissions), Satyriasis, (a 
 species of sexual madness, or a sexual diabolism, 
 causing men to commit rape and other beastly acts 
 and outrages, not only on women and children, but 
 men and animals, as sodomy, pederasty, &c.:) Nympho- 
 mania, (causing women to assail every man they meet, 
 and supplicate and excite him to gratify their lustful 
 passions, J or who resort to means of sexual pollution 
 which it is impossible to describe without shuddering;) 
 together with spinal diseases, and many other dis- 
 orders of the most distressing and disgusting charac- 
 ter, filling the bones with rottenness and eating away 
 the flesh by gangrenous ulcers, until the patient dies, 
 a horrible mass of putridity and corruption. These 
 diseases are frightful enough of themselves, but they 
 are doubly aggravated by the murderous treatment of 
 the mdfny wretched and miserable quacks, who reck- 
 lessly undertake their cure and amelioration, in all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 * The goddess of lustful desires. 
 
 f The son of Bacchus, or one given to the love of wine and wo- 
 men. 
 
 t Vide the Biblical ft^ry of Potiphar's wife and the immaculate 
 Joseph. See Genesis xxxix., verses 7 to 20. 
 
17 
 
 It is not ray purpose, however, in this little tract, 
 to give a minute description of any of these terrible 
 diseases, except that of Spermatorrhoea. This is a ter- 
 rible disorder of almost universal prevalence, that 
 has come very largely under my special notice, in my 
 treatment of nervous affections. 
 
 As before remarked, Onanism, or self-abuse, is a 
 most loathsome vice and a deplorable substitute for a 
 natural gratification of the sexual passion. Its fright- 
 ful development depends more or less upon the age 
 and sex of the patient. It affects both sexes pretty 
 much alike previous to the age of pubescence ; after 
 which its progress is distinctly marked, differing in 
 phenomena between the two, but finally ending in 
 both in a complete derangement of the nervous sys- 
 tem — producing imbecility, idiocy and lunacy, with 
 all their lamentable and destructive concomitants. 
 
 The following picture will give some idea of the 
 gradual effects of this vice : 
 
 The frequent indulgence of the habit soon becomes 
 a daily practice. Not only daily, but several times a 
 day, Masturbation is indulged in. The effect of the 
 abuse is gradually revealed. The child loses its bright 
 complexion, becomes pale, with a greenish tint around 
 the eyes, which are sunken, surrounded by blue mar- 
 gins. The lips lose their vermilion hue; the mind is 
 indolent ; the child sits as if engaged in deep thought, 
 without looking at anything. It is averse to play, 
 seeks solitary places, where it can indulge in its 
 vicious propensities. It becomes obstinate, peevish, 
 irritable ; its motions are slow and heavy, while it is 
 startled and looks frightened when suddenly spoken 
 to and bidden to do anything. It will sleep late in the 
 morning, but without "being refreshed on getting up. 
 It loses its appetite ; its digestion is greatly impaired ; 
 the tongue becomes coated; there is much emacia- 
 tion; the intellect grows weaker and weaker, until 
 imbecility and idiocy overwhelm the victim. Such 
 consequences may continue for years, when the body 
 finally succumbs to the terrible ravages of complicated 
 maladies. Thus the young life perishes even before 
 it has begun to bud, as a young plant withers away, 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 
 at whose root a worm has been gnawing. Truly, there 
 is no more degrading bondage than that of one's own 
 lusts. An impure fire is ever burning and consuming 
 body and soul. If the vicious habit is continued 
 beyond puberty, the nervous derangements are strik- 
 ingly manifest; every pleasure is poisoned, and crazi- 
 ness and suicide are the final results. The victims 
 have horrible dreams; sometimes they are of a lasciv- 
 ious character ; there are emissions several times 
 every night, while the seminal fluid is constantly dis- 
 charged with the urine and the fasces at stools. There 
 is finally no erection nor any peculiar sensation of 
 pleasure. This is the most dangerous form of Sper- 
 matorrhoea. One of the unavoidable consequences of 
 this, weakness is Impotence! The disastrous entail- 
 ments of seminal losses will not astonish any one, 
 who will consider that the semen is the most concen- 
 trated and precious secretion of the human organism. 
 Its production is very slow. This is owing to the 
 length of the canals through which the secretion is 
 eliminated. Were these canals extended in one line, 
 according to the English anatomist Monro, they 
 would reach over 5,000 feet ! The effect of Self- abuse 
 upon the brain and spinal marrow is shockingly disas- 
 trous. Hence the horrors of lunacy, &c. 
 
 In the hospitals and lunatic asylums, there is a 
 large number of both sexes, under treatment for 
 Onanism, or derangements of the entire organism 
 consequent of the vice — such as consumption, cardi- 
 algia, chorea, epilepsy, catalepsy, convulsions, para- 
 lysis, indurations and cancers of the womb, irregular 
 and painful menstruation, hysteria, insanity, &c. It 
 is no matter of astonishment, then, that the bills of 
 mortality show that consumption and nervous disor- 
 ders carry off more than two-thirds of all who die of 
 the thousand diseases incident to the human being. 
 Those who will read the physicians' reports of insane 
 asylums, prisons, penitentiaries, hospitals, &c, will 
 be astounded to find that Self abuse is the great evil 
 against which medical science is most especially 
 directed. Were it not for the almost universal preva- 
 lence of this degrading and destructive vice, there 
 
19 
 
 would be little need of insane asylums, hospitals and 
 penitentiaries; an army of physicians would be dis- 
 pensed with, while the longevity of man would un- 
 doubtedly be increased in a three-fold ratio at least. 
 He might live to eighty or one hundred years, and die, 
 not of disease, but of a ripe old age — an age full of 
 calm serenity, peace and happiness. 
 
 Touching this subject of Spermatorrhoea the follow 
 ing is a translation from Hufeland, a German Physi- 
 ologist of great distinction : 
 
 ik Hideous and frightful is the stamp which Nature 
 affixes on one guilty of unnatural excesses. He is a 
 faded rose — a tree withered in the bud — a wandering 
 corse! All life and fire are killed by this secret 
 cause, and nothing is left but weakness, inactivity, 
 deadly paleness, wasting of body, and depression of 
 mind. The eye loses its lustre and strength ; the eye 
 ball sinks ; the features become lengthened ; the fair 
 appearance of youth departs, and the face acquires a 
 pale, yellow, leaden tint. The whole body becomes 
 sickly and morbidly sensitive; the muscular power is 
 lost ; sleep brings no refreshment ; every movement 
 becomes disagreeable ; the feet refuses to carry the 
 body; the hands tremble; pains are felt in all the 
 limbs; the senses lose their power, and all gayety is 
 destroyed. Boys who before showed wit and genius 
 sink into mediocrity, and even become blockheads; 
 the mind loses its taste for all good and lofty ideas, 
 and the imagination is utterly vitiated. Every glance 
 at a female form excites desire. Anxiety, repentance, 
 shame, and despair of any remedy for the evil, make 
 the painful state of such a man complete. His whole 
 life is a series of secret reproaches, distressing 
 feelings, self-deserved weakness, indecision, and weari- 
 ness of life ; and it is no wonder if the inclination to 
 suicide ultimately arises — an inclination to which none 
 is so prone as those who are, or have been, given to 
 Self-abuse. The dreadful experience of a living death 
 renders actual death a desirable consummation. The 
 waste of that which gives life, generally produces 
 disgust and weariness of life, and leads to that pecu- 
 liar kind of destruction which is characteristic of our 
 
20 
 
 age. Moreover the digestive power is destroyed ; 
 flatulence and pains in the stomach are likely to fol- 
 low, and create constant annoyance ; the blood is viti- 
 ated ; the chest obstructed; eruptions and ulcers 
 break out upon the skin ; the whole body becomes 
 dried and wasted ; and in the end come slow fever, 
 fainting fits, epilepsy, palsy, consumption, insanity 
 and an early death." 
 
 Truly, the above is a most appalling picture, but 
 not more horrible than true, in nearly every case of 
 those who give themselves up entirely to their unnatu- 
 ral beastiality and lustful desires. 
 
 The pious and learned theologian, the Rev. Adam 
 Clarke, D.D., the celebrated Commentator upon the 
 Holy Scriptures, speaks of Masturbation in the 
 following startling manner : 
 
 "The sin of Self- pollution is one'of the most de- 
 structive evils ever practised by fallen man ; in many 
 respects it is several degrees worse than common 
 whoredom, and has in train more awful consequences. 
 It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and 
 produces violent secretions, which necessarily and 
 speedily exhausts the vital principle and energy ; 
 hence, the muscles become flaccid and feeble, the 
 tone and natural action of the nerves relaxed and 
 impeded, the understanding confused, the memory 
 oblivious, the judgment perverted, the will indetermi- 
 nate, and wholly without energy to resist. The 
 eyes appear languishing and without expression, and 
 the countenance becomes vacant; appetite ceases, as 
 the stomach is incapable of performing its proper 
 office, nutrition fails ; tremors, fears, and terrors are 
 generated : and thus the wretched victim drags out 
 a miserable existence, till superannuated even before 
 he had time to arrive at man's estate, with a mind 
 often debilitated, even to a state of idiotism, his 
 worthless body tumbles into the grave and his guilty 
 soul is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge." 
 
 The illustrious physicians Hoffman of England, and 
 M. Louis of France, have also given very frightful 
 pictures of the effects of Masturbation. From the 
 writings of Louis, we translate the following : 
 
21 
 
 "All the symptoms which arise from excesses 
 with females, follow still more promptly in youth the 
 abominable practice of Masturbation; and it is diffi- 
 cult to paint them in as frightful colors as they 
 deserve. Young persons addict themselves to this 
 habit without knowing the enormity of the crime, and 
 all the consequences which physically result from it. 
 The mind is affected by all the diseases of the body, 
 but particularly by those arising from this cause. 
 The most dismal melancholy, indifference and aver- 
 sion to all pleasures, the impossibility to take part in 
 conversation, the sense of their own misery, the con- 
 sciousness of having brought it upon themselves, the 
 necessity of renouncing the happiness of marriage, 
 all affect them so much, that they renounce the world 
 — blessed if they escape suicide." 
 
 The following extracts are taken from a report on 
 the subject of Idiocy presented to the Massachusetts 
 Legislature by Dr. Howe, in February, 1848, in 
 obedience to a resolution of that intelligent body 
 directing a report on this appalling subject: 
 
 " There is another vice, a monster so hideous in 
 mien, so disgusting in feature, altogether so beastly 
 and loathsome, that, in very shame and cowardice, it 
 hides its head by day, and, vampyre-like, sucks the 
 very life-blood from its victims by night ; and it may, 
 perhaps, commit more direct ravages upon the strength 
 and reason of those victims than even intemperance ; 
 and that vice is 
 
 Self-abuse. 
 
 " One would fain be spared the sickening task of 
 dealing with this disgusting subject ; but, as he who 
 would exterminate the wild beasts that ravage his 
 fields, must not fear to enter their dark and noisome 
 dens, and drag them out of their lair ; so he who would 
 rid humanity of a pest, must not shrink from drag- 
 ging it from its hiding-places, to perish in the light 
 of day. If men deified him who delivered Lerna from 
 its hydra, and canonized him who rid Ireland of its 
 serpents, what should they do for one who would ex- 
 
22 
 
 tirpate this- monster vice? What is the ravage of 
 fields, the slaughter of flocks, or even the poison of 
 serpents, compared with that pollution of body and 
 soul, that utter extinction of reason, and that degra- 
 dation of beings made in God's image, to a condition 
 which it would be an insult to the animals to call 
 beastly, and which is so often the consequence of ex- 
 cessive indulgence in this vice ? 
 
 '* It cannot be that such loathsome wrecks of hu- 
 manity as men and women, reduced to driveling 
 idiocy by this cause, should be permitted to float 
 upon the tide of life without some useful purpose ; 
 and the only oue we can conceive, is that of awful 
 beacons to make others avoid— as they would eschew 
 moral pollution and death — the cause which leads to 
 such ruin. This may seem to be extravagant lan- 
 guage, but there can be no exaggeration — for there 
 can be no adequate description even of the horrible 
 condition to which men and women are reduced by 
 this practice. There are among those enumerated in 
 this report, some who not long ago were considered 
 young gentlemen and ladies, but who are now moping 
 idiots, idiots of the lowest kind ; lost to all reason — 
 to all moral sense— to all shame -, idiots who have but 
 one thought, one wish, one passion — and that is, the 
 further indulgence in the habit which has already 
 loosed the silver cord even in their early youth, which 
 has already wasted, and, as it were, dissolved the 
 fibrous part of their bodies, and utterly extinguished 
 their minds. 
 
 " In such extreme cases, there is nothing left to 
 appeal to, absolutely less than there is in dogs or 
 horses — for they may be acted upon by fear of pun- 
 ishment; but these poor creatures are beyond all fear 
 and all hope, and they cumber the earth awhile — 
 living masses of corruption. If only such lost and 
 helpless wretches existed, it would be a duty to cover 
 them charitably with the veil of concealment, and hide 
 them from the public eye, as things too hideous to be 
 seen ; but, alas ! they are only the most unfortunate 
 members of a large class. They have sunk down into 
 the abyss towards which thousands are tending. 
 
23 
 
 " The vice which has shorn these poor creatures of 
 the fairest attributes of humanity is acting upon 
 others, in a less degree indeed, but still most inju- 
 riously — enervating the body, weakening the mind, 
 and polluting the soul. A knowledge of the extent to 
 which this one vice prevails, would astonish and shock 
 many. It is indeed a pestilence which walketh in 
 darkness, because, while it saps and weakens all the 
 higher qualities of the mind, it so strengthens low 
 cunning and deceit, that the victim goes on in his 
 habit unsuspected, until he is arrested by some one 
 whose practiced eye reads his sin in the very means 
 which he takes to conceal it — or until all sense of 
 shame is forever lost in the night of idiocy, with wUich 
 his day so early closes. 
 
 "Many a child who confides everything else to a 
 loving parent, conceals this practice in its innermost 
 heart.- The sons or daughters who dutifully, con- 
 scientiously, and religiously confess themselves to 
 father, mother, or priest, on every other subject, 
 never allude to this. Nay, they strive to cheat and 
 deceive by false appearances ; for, as against this 
 darling sin — duty, conscience, and religion, are all 
 nothing. They even think to cheat God, or cheat 
 themselves into the belief that He who is of purer 
 eyes than to behold iniquity, can still regard their sin 
 with favor. 
 
 M Many a fond parent looks with wondering anxiety 
 upon the puny frame, the feeble purpose, the fitful 
 humors of a dear child, and, after trying all other 
 remedies to restore him to vigor of body and vigor of 
 mind, goes journeying about from place to place, 
 hoping to leave the offending cause behind, while the 
 victim hugs the disgusting serpent closely to his 
 bosom, and conceals it carefully in his vestment 
 
 44 The evils which this sinful habit works in a direct 
 and positive manner are not so appreciable, perhaps, 
 as that which it effects in an indirect and negative 
 way. For one victim which it leads down to the 
 depths of idiocy, there are scores and hundreds whom 
 it makes shame-faced, languid, irresolute, and ineffi- 
 cient, for any high purpose of life. In this way the 
 
24 
 
 evil to individuals and to the community is very 
 great. 
 
 "It behooves every parent, especially those "whose 
 children (of either sex) are obliged to board and sleep 
 ■with other children, whether in boarding-schools 
 boarding-houses, or elsewhere, to have a constant and 
 watchful eye over them, with a view to this pernicious 
 and insidious habit. The symptoms of it are easily 
 learned, and if once seen, should be immediately 
 noticed. 
 
 "Nothing is more false than the common doctrine 
 of delicacy and reserve in the treatment of this habit. 
 All hints, all indirect advice, all attempts to cure it by 
 creating diversions, will generally do nothing but in- 
 crease the cunning with which it is concealed. The 
 way is to throw aside all reserve ; to charge the offence 
 directly home ; to show up its disgusting nature and 
 hideous consequences in glowing colors; to apply the 
 cautery seething hot, and press it into the very quick, 
 unsparingly and unceasingly. 
 
 "Much good may be done by the publication of 
 cheap books upon this subject. They should be put 
 into the hands of all youth suspected of the vice. 
 They should be forced to attend to the subject. There 
 should be no squeamishness about it. There need be 
 no fear of weakening virtue by letting it look upon 
 such hideous deformity as this vice presents. Virtue 
 is not salt or sugar, to be softened by such exposure, 
 but the crystal or diamond that repels all foulness 
 from its surface. Acquaintance with such a vice as this 
 — such acquaintance, that is, as is gained by having 
 it held up before the eyes in all its ugliness, can only 
 serve to make it detested and avoided. 
 
 " Were this the place to show the utter fallacy of 
 the notion that harm is done by talking or writing to 
 the young about this vice, it could perhaps be done by 
 argument, certainly by the relation of a pretty exten- 
 sive experience. This experience has shown, that in 
 ninety-nine cases in a hundred, the existence of the 
 vice was known to the young, but not known in its 
 true deformity ; and that in the hundredth, the repul- 
 sive character in which it was first presented, made it 
 
25 
 
 certain that do further acquaintance with it would be 
 sought." 
 
 "There are cases recorded, where servant-women, 
 who had charge of little girls, deliberately taught 
 them the habits of self-abuse, in order that they 
 might exhaust themselves, and go to sleep quietly. 
 This has happened in private houses as well as in the 
 almshouses ; and such little girls have become idiotic. 
 The mind instinctively recoils from giving credit to 
 such atrocious guilt; nevertheless, it is there, with 
 all its hideous consequences; and no hiding of our 
 eyes, no wearing of rose-colored spectacles — nothing 
 but looking at it in its naked deformity, will ever 
 enable men to cure it. 
 
 "There is no cordon sanitaire for vice; we cannot 
 put it into quarantine nor shut it up in a hospital ; if 
 we allow its existence in our neighborhood, it poisons 
 the very air which our children breathe. 
 
 "The above remarks forcibly apply to all our public 
 schools, for I have become too well acquainted, I was 
 about to say, with the alarming extent with which it 
 prevails, often even in the most open manner. The 
 extent of it is amazing, for it exists both among the 
 teachers and the students, and what can be more ab- 
 surd than the partial, even shunning of the subject ? 
 By so doing, it leads not only to the continuance in 
 some, but the production of it in the yet uninitiated. 
 
 " From this may be inferred that it is a pest, gene- 
 rally engendered by too intimate association of 
 persons of the same sex, that it is handed from one to 
 another like contagion, and that those who are not 
 exposed to the contagion are not likely to contract 
 the dreadful habit of it. Hence we see that not only 
 propriety and decency, but motives of prudence, 
 requires us to train up all children to habits of 
 modesty and reserve. Children as they approach 
 adolescence, should never be permitted to sleep together. 
 Indeed the rule should be — not with a view only to 
 preventing this vice, but in view of many other con- 
 siderations — that, after the infant has left it mother's 
 arms, and becomes a child, it should ever after sleep 
 in a bed by itself. The older children grow and the 
 3 
 
26 
 
 nearer they approach to youth, the more important 
 does this become. Boys even should be taught to 
 shrink sensitively from any unnecessary exposure of 
 person, before each other; they should be trained to 
 habits of delicacy and self-respect ; and the capacity 
 which nature has given to all for becoming truly 
 modest and refined, should be cultivated to the 
 utmost. Habits of self-respect, delicacy, and refine- 
 ment, with regard to the person, are powerful ad- 
 juncts to moral virtues. They need not be confined 
 to the wealthy and favored classes ; they cost nothing 
 — on they contrary, they are the seeds which may be 
 had without price, but which ripen into fruits of 
 enjoyment that no money can buy." 
 
 Copeland, in a work on Insanity, points out the 
 various causes of this terrible affliction, and uses the 
 following language, in speaking of Self-abuse : 
 
 "Many, however, of those causes which thus affect 
 nervous energy, favor congestion of the brain and oc- 
 casion disease of other genital organs, tending to dis- 
 order the functions of the brain sympathetically. Of 
 these, the most influential are Masturbation and 
 Libertinism, or sexual excesses, sensuality in all its 
 forms, and inordinate indulgence in the use of intoxi- 
 cating substances and stimulants. The baneful in- 
 fluence of the first of these causes is very much 
 greater, in both sexes, than is usually supposed, and 
 is, I believe, a growing evil, with the diffusion of 
 luxury, of precocious knowledge, and of the vices of 
 civilization. It is even more prevalent in the female 
 than in the male sex, and in the former it usually oc- 
 casions various disorders connected with the sexual 
 organs — as leucorrhoea, or suppressed or profuse men- 
 struation, both regular and irregular hysteria, cata- 
 lepsy, ecstacies, vertigo, various states of disordered 
 sensibility, &c, before it gives rise to mental disorder. 
 In both sexes epilepsy often precedes insanity from 
 this cause; and either it or general paralysis often 
 complicates the advanced progress of the mental 
 disorder, when thus occasioned. Melancholia, the 
 several grades of dementia, especially imbecility and 
 monomania, are the more frequent forms of derange- 
 
27 
 
 nient proceeding from a vice which not only pros- 
 trates the physical powers, but also impairs the 
 intellects, debases the moral affections, and altogether 
 degrades the individual in the scale of social existence, 
 even wben manifest insanity does not arise from it." 
 
 The Massachusetts Report says, that " one hun- 
 dred and ninety-one of the idiots examined were 
 known to have practiced Masturbation, and in nine- 
 teen of them the habit was even countenanced by the 
 parents or nurses ! One hundred and sixteen of this 
 number were males and seventy-five females. In four 
 hundred and twenty who were born idiots, one hun- 
 dred and two were addicted to Masturbation, and in 
 ten cases the idiocy of the children was 'manifestly 
 attributable to self-abuse in the parents !' The ten 
 cases known, justify the conclusion that in reality 
 there are many more, which proves, beyond a shadow 
 of doubt, that many cases of idiocy in children is 
 attributable to the sexual vice of the parents. Is not 
 this fact almost too fearful for contemplation, and the 
 importance of it to the community incalculable ?" 
 
 Men of such celebrity as Sanctorious, Lommius, 
 Hoffman, Boeerhave, Van Swieten, Kloehof, Mechel, 
 Haller, and Harvey, all have described in vivid and 
 , fearful colors the diseases of those who are addicted 
 to solitary vices, in a manner which must convince the 
 most skeptical." Hufeland, speaking of young girls 
 who are the victims of this fearful vice, says — " She 
 is a withered rose, a tree whose bloom is dried up ; 
 she is a walking spectre." 
 
 " How many persons," exclaims the venerable 
 Portal, a physician who published " Observations on 
 Pulmonary Consumption," " have been the victims of 
 their unhappy passions ! Medical men every day meet 
 with those who, by this means, are rendered idiotic, 
 or so enervated, both in body and mind, that they 
 drag out a miserable existence ; others perish with 
 marasmus, and too many die of a real pulmonary con- 
 sumption." 
 
 Sydenham says, " The organs of respiration are the 
 weakest of all those belonging to the human race; 
 two-thirds of mankind die of diseases of the lungs ; 
 
28 
 
 
 and the most common period in which young persons 
 resort to these vicious habits is precisely that wherein 
 the chest exhibits the greatest susceptibility. There 
 is, moreover, a species of consumption to which wo- 
 men are greatly exposed by the very nature of their 
 constitution, such as tuberculose and lymphatic con- 
 sumption." 
 
 Speaking of early vice, Mr. Fowler, the well-known 
 lecturer on Phrenology, and publisher of many valu- 
 able scientific, medical and hygienic works, and other 
 publications, says : " I would not defame my race, 
 but facts extort the reluctant declaration, that few 
 have more than the faintest conception of the fearful 
 extent to which this vice (Masturbation), in all its 
 appalling forms, is practiced. It is the destroyer of 
 our youth of both sexes, and still more of our hus- 
 bands and wives." Catechise, promiscuously, every 
 boy you meet, and then say, if nine out of every ten, 
 from eight years old and upwards, do not practice it 
 more or less? and I have not the least doubt that 
 nearly every one does so, after they have arrived at 
 the age of puberty. No child is safe from this loath- 
 some habit; and, as I have previously shown, our 
 schools are especially the nurseries of this vice. 
 
 Mr. Woodbridge, in the " Annals of Education," 
 says, " The fatal vice is spreading desolation through- 
 out our schools and families, unnoticed and unknown. 
 Our boarding and day-schools are sources of untold 
 mischief." 
 
 Another writer says, that " at West Point, the men- 
 tal debility occasioned by this vice was the reason 
 why so many of its students were unable to pass ex- 
 amination." " But," continues Mr. Fowler, " our 
 families at least are safe. Exclaims the fond mother, 
 'My daughter's native modesty is her shield of pro- 
 tection.' Would to God this were so ! but facts wrest 
 even this consolation from us. They may be less 
 infected ; yet women, young and modest, are dying 
 by thousands, of consumption, of female complaints, 
 of nervous or spinal affections, of general debility, 
 and of other ostensible complaints innumerable, and 
 some of insanity, caused by this practice." 
 
29 
 
 Mrs. Gove, in her " Lectures to Ladies on Anato- 
 my and Physiology," says — " About eight years since 
 my mind was awakened to examine this subject, by 
 the perusal of a medical work that described the 
 effects of this vice when practiced by females. This 
 was the first intimation I had that the vice existed 
 among our sex. Since that time I have had much 
 evidence that it is fearfully common among them. 
 There is reason to believe, that in nine cases out of 
 ten, those unhappy females who are tenants of houses 
 of ill-fame have been victims of this vice in the first 
 place. Professed Christians are among its victims." 
 
 Medical works are filled with cases of the terrible 
 results of a perseverance in this loathsome vice. It 
 is lamentable to think of the extraordinary expedients 
 that are adopted by many of these poor silly creatures 
 to self-abuse themselves. The subjoined deplorable 
 case is recorded by Chopart. 
 
 "A shepherd, of Languedoc, Gabriel Gallien, about 
 the age of fifteen, became addicted to Masturbation, 
 and to such a degree as to practice it seven or eight 
 times a day. Emission became at last so difficult, 
 that he would strive for an hour, and then discharge 
 only a few drops of blood. At the age of six-and- 
 twenty his hand became insufficient — all he could do 
 was to keep his penis in a continual state of priap- 
 ism.* He then bethought himself of tickling the 
 internal parts of his urethra, by means of a bit of 
 wood, six inches long, and he would spend in that 
 occupation several hours, while tending to his flocks 
 in the solitude of the mountains. By a continuation 
 of this titilation for sixteen years, the canal of the 
 urethra became hard, callous, and insensible. The 
 piece of wood then became as ineffectual as his hand. 
 At last, after much fruitless effort, G., one day in 
 despair, drew from his pocket a blunt knife, and 
 made an incision into his glans along the course of 
 the urethra. This operation, which would have been 
 painful to any body else, was in him attended with a 
 sensation of pleasure, followed by a copious emission. 
 * Priapism signifies a permanent erection of the penis. 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 He had recourse to this new discovery every time his 
 desire returned. When, after an incision into the 
 cavernous bodies, the blood flowed profusely, he 
 stopped the hemorrhage, by applying around the pe- 
 nis a pretty tight ligature. At last, after repeating 
 the same process perhaps a thousand times, he ended 
 in splitting his penis into two equal parts, from the 
 orifice of the penis to the scrotum, very near the 
 symphisis pubis. When he had got so far, unable to 
 carry his incision any farther, and again reduced to 
 new privations, he had recourse to a piece of wood, 
 shorter than the former ; he introduced it into what 
 remained of the urethra, and exciting, at pleasure, the 
 extremities of the ejaculatory ducts, he provoked 
 easily the discharge of semen. He continued this 
 about ten years, ^fter that long space of time, he 
 one day introduced his bit of wood so carelessly that 
 it slipped from his fingers and dropped into the blad- 
 der. Excruciating pain and serious symptoms came 
 on. The patient was conveyed to the hospital at 
 Narbonne. The surgeon, surprised at the sight of 
 two penes of ordinary size, both capable of erection, 
 and in that stage diverging on both sides, and seeing 
 besides, from the scars and from the callous edges of 
 the divisions, that this conformation was not congeni- 
 tal from his birth, obliged the patient to give him an 
 account of his life ; which he did, with the details 
 that have been related. This wretch, cut, as for a 
 stone, recovered of the operation, but died three 
 months after of an abscess in the right side of the 
 chest; his phthisical state having been evidently 
 brought on by the practice of Masturbation, carried 
 on for many years." 
 
 Not only do men and boys frequently use extraor- 
 dinary means to produce the sexual sensation, but 
 young girls and women are also addicted to such 
 practices ; and accidents of a very serious nature 
 have sometimes resulted from such causes. Parnard 
 speaks of a woman, thirty-one years old, who used an 
 ivory whistle, three inches and a-half long, and five 
 lines around its centre ; this she introduced, not into 
 the vagina, but into the urethra ; one day it entered 
 so far that she could not remove it ; after many efforts 
 
31 
 
 it was drawn out with a polypus forceps. Another, 
 a girl, aged seventeen, was in the habit of introducing 
 a large piece of wood into the urethra, which having 
 entered very deeply, fell into the bladder. Faure was 
 called, and was forced to cut for it to extract it. Ri- 
 gal was obliged to do the same, to relieve a young 
 girl twenty years old, who used a wooden needle-case 
 in Masturbation. Needles and pins having often es- 
 caped into these passages. Morgagni says, that it is 
 by no means unfrequent in Italy for the lascivious 
 girls to introduce into the urethra the golden pins 
 worn in their hair, and that they sometimes fall into 
 the bladder ; this they conceal for a long time, but are 
 finally obliged, through pain, to confess their fault. 
 Moinichin names a Venetian girl, who was relieved by 
 Molinetti, of a golden needle, which had slipped from 
 the hand into this organ. Lamotte had a case of an 
 old maid, who had introduced into the bladder a very 
 large pin, which, after sounding several times very 
 patiently and attentively, he felt distinctly ; he sound- 
 ed on the fourth time, when by accident it became 
 engaged in the sound, and wishing to withdraw it, but 
 finding some resistance, he introduced his finger into 
 the vagina and ascertained whence it proceeded ; by 
 skilful manipulation he succeeded in withdrawing it. 
 These accidents only happen in those who are impru- 
 dent and introduce into the urethra an instrument 
 designed for an adjacent passage. Foreign bodies 
 seldom remain in the vagina, it being so short and 
 large. For such a thing to take place, certain condi- 
 tions are requisite, which are possible but not very 
 common. Depuytren mentions the following : — a fe- 
 male consulted him for some derangement in the 
 vulvo-uterine passage ; on examination a foreign 
 body was felt, the nature of which could not at first 
 be determined ; the patient refused to give any in- 
 formation of the subject ; on examination, however, 
 it was found that the body presented a large opening 
 or deep cavity. The tumefied walls of the vagina 
 covering the edges of the kind of vessel, prevented its 
 disengagement ; after much effort the body was re- 
 
32 
 
 moved, and it proved to be a pomatum pot, which 
 had been introduced by its vase. 
 
 Thus we have abundant proof that the infamous 
 practice of self-pollution occasions the sacrifice of 
 more human beings than the fabled Hydras and Cen- 
 taurs of antiquity ; men must be offered up in heca- 
 tombs at its shrine, until some mighty moralist shall 
 arise, by whose energies the monster may be de- 
 stroyed, and humanity be once more rescued from the 
 degradation to which, by its vices, it has been reduced. 
 "Were the extent of the punishments which never fail 
 to follow the commission of a crime well understood, 
 it is possible that the monition thereby conveyed 
 might be sufficient. 
 
 For this purpose, parents, guardians and instruc- 
 tors ought to be well acquainted with the symptoms 
 and cases I have herein detailed. Nay, it is an im- 
 perative duty upon them to apply to early assistance, 
 that, while they themselves enforce upon the youthful 
 mind the religious and moral obligations which 
 demand its restriction from a practice so degrading 
 to all social duties, they may at the same time adopt 
 a method to assist the constitution by an immediate 
 check, and ultimately restore it by the extinction of 
 the beastly propensity. 
 
 As a matter of course, the treatment of Spermator- 
 rhoea demands the most rigid attention of the physi- 
 cian and patient. If we can check the propensity for 
 Masturbation in childhood, vigorous and glorious 
 manhood and womanhood may be expected. Delay 
 our warnings and counsels to precocious youth, until 
 the habit of Self-abuse shall become confirmed, the 
 chances for the improvement of the mental and phy- 
 sical functions will be rendered the more desperate 
 and abortive. Nevertheless, it is never too late to 
 attempt a beneficent purpose. Though the ravages 
 caused in the human system may be obstinate and 
 deep-seated, yet, if the treatment is conducted by a 
 physician of experience, patience and good sense, 
 recovery is not impossible, even in the most complicated 
 of cases. Thousands on thousands of victims, how- 
 ever, throw themselves into the hands of quacks, who 
 
33 
 
 not only rob them of their money, but usually render 
 their disorders more hopeless of cure than ever. I 
 solemnly warn the votaries of solitary vices especially 
 to shun, as they would a pestilence, the dens of the 
 many unprincipled knaves who parade their filthy and 
 lying advertisements in the newspapers of the day. 
 Let all such victims of misguided passions seek out 
 some honorable physician, who not only knows how 
 to use physical, but suitable moral means of cure. 
 
 One reason why so many resort to Quacks and 
 Empirics for treatment of their disorders is, because 
 they advertise that the secrets of their patient are never 
 revealed! &c. Now, the victims of revolting habits, 
 or of any kind of private disease, ought to know that 
 respectable, regularly graduated physicians, are 
 bound by a most solemn oath before leaving their 
 Medical Colleges never to betray any secrets or confi- 
 dence, reposed in them by their patients, whether 
 male or female. Surely such high-minded and honor- 
 able physicians are much more to be regarded as the 
 friends of the erring and thoughtless, than those mis- 
 erable charlatans and scoundrels who play the high- 
 way robber, and demand not only your money but 
 your life I Most assuredly Quacks are not only rob- 
 bers, but the most daring and reckless of assassins ! 
 
 Let none, therefore, despair, for a cure is possible, 
 where a patient will freely confess his errors, make a 
 firm promise to abandon his evil practices, and sub- 
 ject himself to a rigorously systematic medical and 
 hygienic treatment. I have treated hundreds of pa- 
 tients who had despaired of themselves, who not only 
 were restored to perfect health, but became the happy 
 parents of beautiful and vigorous children thereafter. 
 
 Why should our youth, especially, be permitted to 
 crawl upon the earth a living mass of corruption, 
 through a wretched perversion of the meaning of the 
 terms " morality and delicacy f" Forbid it, Humanity ! 
 Forbid it, Virtue! Forbid it, Religion! Forbid it, 
 Heaven ! 
 
HEAR ME FOR MY CAUSE! 
 
 During a practice of many years, specially devoted 
 to the treatment of Consumption, Nervous complaint 
 and diseases of the Urinary and Generative organs, 
 I have invariably noted down very minutely such 
 cases as presented features of peculiar or extraordi- 
 nary interest, and thus have become possessed of 
 many facts not to be found in any of the works of the 
 most celebrated physiologists, anatomists, and pa- 
 thologists, who have enriched medical literature with 
 their wisdom and remarkable scientific researches in 
 modern times. Many of these facts relate to the 
 normal functions of the sexual organs, and the singu- 
 lar aberrations to which they are liable. Accord- 
 ingly, guided by true scientific principles, I have not 
 ignored the existence of sexual feelings, but viewed 
 them in that calm, philosophical spirit which my 
 reason and judgment have instructed shall be for the 
 welfare of the human race, when the secrets of such 
 sexual functions shall become to be generally known 
 and appreciated by intelligent and discriminating 
 physicians and laymen. 
 
 It is clearly evident that in order to understand 
 functional aberrations, it is necessary that we first 
 of all understand their normal conditions. What are 
 these ? Have they ever been clearly described ? Let 
 any one read the modern treatises on Physiology of 
 the Generative organs, and he will find little or 
 nothing of a really practical character, although, I 
 am willing to admit. that their anatomy has been quite 
 
35 
 
 satisfactorily treated. The old standard works in fact, 
 altogether ignore this important subject ; hence, 
 instead of advancing in physiological, pathological 
 and psychological science, we are still compelled to 
 receive the absurd and erroneous views, that were 
 first proclaimed by the ancient fathers of medicine. 
 The last edition of " Carpenter's Physiology," how- 
 ever forms a noble exception to this neglect, and I am 
 proud to have my own personal investigations, and 
 private microscopic inspections corroborated in a 
 large degree by that profound and able searcher into 
 the darksome mysteries of universal nature. Thus 
 I feel that I should have no prudish misgivings, when 
 I would describe an intellectual faculty or a sexual 
 instinct; for the same duty which prompted the 
 learned physiologist I have named, to consider the 
 one, dictated that he should not neglect the other. 
 Independent of the many wonderful facts I have col- 
 lected from my own practice, I have not, however, 
 hesitated to place Natural History, Comparative 
 Anatomy, the Hospitals, the Alms House, and the 
 Insane Asylums under contributions for materials to 
 more fully elucidate the great study of the stxual 
 functions of youth, adult age, and advanced life which 
 will form the subject matter of my forthcoming work. 
 
 I therefore trust that little will be left out of the 
 volume that ought to be described, and that nothing 
 will be admitted that shall in the least militate 
 against the cause of purity and truth. 
 
 The volume entitled Boyhood's Perils and Man- 
 hood's Curse, an Earnest Appeal to Young 
 America, will be published about the First of 
 January, 1859. It will be a work of startling and 
 remarkable interest, revealing many curious sexual 
 secrets heretofore unknown, and presented with a 
 conscientious view to expose the horrors of licentious- 
 ness and debauchery, and to point out the remedies 
 for a perfect restoration of the health, manliness, 
 grace and beauty of those who have been the infatua- 
 ted victims or votaries of excessive lusts and 
 voluptuous passions. 
 
 The Book will be of handsome size, beautifully 
 
36 
 
 printed and richly illustrated with appropriate en- 
 gravings and diagrams. 
 
 Price in muslin, colored, in superior binding and 
 plates, One Dollar. 
 
 Subscriptions now received. As a very large 
 edition will be no doubt demanded, parties wishing 
 the work should forward their order with the cash, 
 without delay. Published and sold only by 
 
 S. PANCOAST, M. D., 
 
 Physician of Thoracic and Nervous Diseases, 
 No. 916 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, 
 
TO POSTMASTERS, PHYSICIANS, ETC. 
 
 Any individual disposed to obtain 
 subscribers to our work, entitled 
 "Boyhood's Perils and Manhood's 
 Curse," will be allowed one copy for 
 every five names forwarded with the 
 cash, whether with the colored or 
 uncolored plates and engravings. 
 
 UBS? 3 * Agents wanted to sell Dr. 
 Pancoast's great forthcoming work of 
 "Boyhood's Perils," &c. 
 
TAKE PARTICULAR NOTICE. 
 
 J^g 53 Clergymen, Postmasters, Phy- 
 sicians, Editors, Parents, Philanthro- 
 pists, and all others interested in the 
 moral and physical welfare of youth of 
 both sexes, are respectfully requested 
 to carefully read this little tract, and 
 place it in the hands of those suspect- 
 ed of vicious secret habits, in order to 
 their reclamation from their errors 
 and restoration to perfect bodily health 
 and mental vigor. Extra copies sup- 
 plied to any one who may require 
 them for gratuitous distribution. A 
 single copy, for private use, will be 
 sent, free of postage, on the receipt of 
 '\ two letter stamps. 
 
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