of the Sexes. 4^4 BOOK 176.J553 c. 1 JEWETT # PHILOSOPHY OF SEXES 3 T153 D00b35D5 1 i ^ij^^f A V ^^^ 1 Y IkiV '"^ ^s (h ' I i BE TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS. PHILOSOPHY OF THE SEXES. • 5 4 4 Br AN OLD PRACTITIONER. CHICAGO, ILLS.: LAKE CITY PUBLISHING CO., 1882. >1t 3=^ ^3 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, By M. JEWETT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. TjlOE. offering tliis book to the public the publishers have no apology to make. The evils which it ex- poses, and of which it treats, prevail to so alarming an extent, that they in confidence point to them as suffi- cient grounds for its publication. The subjects will be readily recognized as of vital importance, concern- ing as they do, the physical and moral welfare of the human race ; and no efforts should be spared to arouse the criminal indifference that is manifested, and to dispel the gross ignorance that exists regarding crea- tion's most important commands. The physical and moral degeneracy of our race, arising from violations of nature's holiest laws, is no mere outgrowth of modern times. It is rather the culmination of ages of physical excesses and viola- tions, persisted in by men and women ; and having foundation in their blindness, indifference, and an unpardonable ignorance. We find it coeval almost (3) V \ SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Preface. with creation itself, and through successive ages, are afforded glimpses of its existence and growth, teem- ing with evidences of the low estate into which man has fallen — though endowed with God-like compre- hension and reason. Philosophers, scientists and philanthropists, througli all ages, have sounded notes of warning, and yet man- kind has persisted, and still persists in its willful indul- gence, and gross ignorance ; and it seems to have remained for the present century — a century boasting of its superior intelligence, and claiming as its espe- cial care, the physical and moral advancement of man and woman — to oifer a chapter burdened with heinous and revoltinoj crimes against nature's laws, that attest the prevalence of sexual excesses and transgressions, appalling to tlie observer, and disgraceful in Christian nations. The evidences of these crimes are upon every hand. We meet them at every turn. The high- way of life is lined and strewn with wrecks of physi- cal and moral degeneracy. These works are the direct result of a violation of heaven's leading laws. They have their origin in the Secret Sins of Society — sins which are indulged in willfully and ignorantly, which are blighting in their character, and which if persisted SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Preface. in, are followed bj destruction and utter ruin. The oLJGct therefore of this compilation is to, as clearly and forcibly as possible, delineate these transgressions which are so prevalent — to depict the evils which are sure to follow an indulgence, and to point out the remedies that exist. In so doing we liave relied upon the experience and observations of careful and noted students of the questions involved — those who have give lives of thought to the subject. "We claim to no originality in matter — save that we have combined the results of well known authors in a shape that has been long needed by the general public. Though we pre- sent nothing new in the way of thought or discovery, we will at least have added line upon line, precept upon precept, in a matter that is deeply interesting to our fellow creatures — for there is no question of such vital importance to the human race, as that which regulates the sexual functions, and the evils which surely follow their violations. Such are the motives that have prompted us in our undertaking, and if in its prosecution we shall have caused but one man or woman to pause in terror from the brink of physical and moral degeneracy, we shall not have labored in vain. CuicAGo, III., February, 1882. CONTENTS. Philosophical Introduction Pages 17-22 PART I. EDUCATING AND TRAINING OF BOYS AND YOUNG MEN. The Importance of Rig-ht Training— Startling- Facts— Proper In- dulgence—The Bulwark of Virtue — The Mysterious Instinct — Onanists— Parents Responsible for the Vice— Sexual Instinct — Early Associations — Positive Knowledge the only Means of De- fense—Their Powers of Observation— Sleeping in the Same Bed— Lust not the only Passion Developed— Protest against Boardmg Schools— A Word to Parents— Proper Development- Lessons Rightfully Learned, 23-31 PART II. EDUCATION AND TRAINING OP GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN. Causes of Everlasting Ruin — Hereditary Vices in the Constitution — Natural Defects and their Remedies — Physical Improvement Demanded — Some Illustrations — Ignorance of Life — An Illus- tration — Health and Happiness — Isolation of the Sexes — Love of Dress in Girls — A Horrible Rivalry — Children's Parties — The Fashionable World — A Single " Bad Girl " — Novel Reading — Voluptuous Education — The Genteel Way of Legalizing Im- proper Relations — Improprieties accorded Acknowledged Lov- ers — Suggestive Scenes — Matrimonial Prospects — scandalous Flirtations — Degrees of Libertinism — Where the Danger Lies — Be on your Guard — ^The Latest Proposition — Nobleness of Character — Passionate Nature, 35-50 (7) SECRET SIKS OF SOCIETY. Contents. PART III. MALE SELF-ABUSE. The Most Fatal of Vices— " Wise Woman "—Tlieir Plan— Sad Case of a Child of Five Years — Other Cases — Terrible Case — Combination of Miseries — Tenible Case, continued — Extinction of Memory — Loathsome Condition of Body and Mind — A Pic- ture — The Wretched Victims — Physical Symptoms of the Mas- turbator — Moral Degradation even Worse — Terrible Picture Drawn — Different Degrees of Punishment — Indulge only in Wedlock, .......... 61-63 PART TV. FEMALE SELF-ABUSE. Female Masturbation the Demon of Evil — The Shame of Discov- ery — Vice Detected — Origin of many Female Diseases — Mental and Moral Symptoms — Solitary Habits should Awaken Suspi- cion — Different Cases — Virgin Pm-ity, , , . 64^69 PART Y. THE SOLITAKY VICE — SEXUAL POVERTY. Sexuality of Animals — Female Forms — ^Male Farms — Sexual Ail- ments — Its Demoralizing Evils — The Wasting of Vitality — Sem- inal Losses — ^The Causes of Insanity — It Destroys the Matrimo- nial Sentiment — The Transmitting Period — Need of Timely Knowledge — Sacred Duty of Parents — Drain of Vital Forces — Cause of Nervous Ailments — Indulgence is utter Ruin — The Pledge of Chastity — When and How should Youth Learn Sex- ual Truths — Teacher's ResponsibiUty — Parents should impart Sexual Law to their Children — Sexual Education of Girls — Du- ty of Right-minded People — Efforts to Save the SexuaUy Fall- en, 70-84 PART YI. GENEllATION. What Mankind Require — Function of the Animal Economy — Fe- male Organs Described — Principal Seat of Pleasure — ^Menstrual SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Contents. Fluid — Imperfect Human Uterus — Where Situated — Fallopian Tubes — The Ovaries — Menstruation — Amount of Discharge — Avoiding Exposures — Menstrual Discharge — The Male in Con- ception — Secretion of the Semen — Reproduction of Male and Female — A Case of Twins — Impregnation v/hiLe the Hymen Remains Entire — Tenacity of Male Semen — Animals at the Period After Coition — Harmonizing Facts Relating to Concep- tion — Female Seminal Fluid — Female Secretion in the Act of Coition — Particles Derived From Each of the Parents — Ru- diments of the I'oetus — The Living Fluid — Observations of Haller and SpaUanzani — Pre-Existing GeiTus — Manner of Im- pregnation — Seminal Animalcule — Number of Animalcule in the Human Semen — The Doctrine of Sympathy — An Instance of Superfoetation — A Singular Case of Twins — The Uterus — Cir- cumstances Under Which a Female is Most Likely to Conceive ■ — An Exceptional Case — The Term of Utero — Gestation — No Certain Sign to Tell When Conception Has Taken Place — Peculiar Sensation of Some Women — Suppression of the Mensus Not a Sure Sign — Established Facts With Animals — Irregular- ities of Women — The Removal of Sterility — Arousing the Gen- ital Organs — Time Women are Most Likely to Conceive — The Root of Domestic Happiness — Remedies for Impotency . 85-139 PAET VII. THE EEPRODUCTIVE INSTISTCT. Controlled by Reason — Evil Consequences — Gratification of the Senses — Ignorance of Young Married People — Temperance in all Things — Loss of Semen — Effects upon the System — Unnatu- ral Habits, 140-148 PAET YIII. ADAPTATIONS OF THE SEXES. Similarity of the Functions — Sex a Division of Nature's Forces — Man's Power over the Foetus — Wrong and Right Conditions of Parents — Man and Woman's Desire — Physical and Moral Monsters — Sentiments Established during Pregnancy — Truths of Nature 149-156 10 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Contents. PAET IX. PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. Desires of the Newly Married — Woman's Special Magnetism- Sexual Influences — Action of Love Power Beyond our Control— The Promptings of Nature's Forces— Perfect Conjugal Life — Every Requirement of Love Fulfilled in Marriage, . 157-163 PAET X. CO-HABITING ERRORS — EMBARRASSMENTS — UNDUE HASTE — MARITAL EXCESSES, ETC. rhe Relation of Man and Woman on their Wedding Night — Shrinking Timidity — Ungovernable Boldness — Secret of the Fall of Mairied Women — Nuptial Chamber — Advice to the Husband — Advice to the Newly Married — How Often May the Conjugal Act be Repeated — Both Sides Require Moderation — A Sample Case — Woman Ought to Control Her Own Body — Legal Excuse to Destroy Each Other — Importance of Sexual Science — Mankind's Unfamiliaiity of the Formation of the Human Race — Sexual Frenzy — Examples of Animals — The Enhancement of Drapery, 164-176 PAET XI. DIVORCES AND FAMILY DISCORDS. Its Effect on the Sacred Interests of Society — Divorce Reform called for — Its Complications — What good Men and pure Women de- mand — Rights of Children — Tlie most Prolific Cause — Degra- dation of Social Powers — The Abuse of the Maternal Instinct — Disappointments in Married Life — Perplexities of the Married — Conditions that cannot be Harmonized — Before Marriage — After Marriage — Marriage Fidelity — Infidelity — Abuse of each other — Illustrative Cases — Right Course to Pursue, . 177-191 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 11 Contents. PART XII. rNPANTCrOE AND ABORTION. A Revolting Practice — A Revolting Confession — The only Life Preventation — Several Illustrative Cases — ^Three Hundred Abor- tions by an M. D. — The Prediction of Scientists — Legitimate Aid of Science — The most Terrible of Crimes — Justifiable In- fantcide — Worse than Pagans — Its Humiliating Tendency — The effects of Toxics— Several Cases, . . . 192-202 PAET XIII. PRKVENTING CONCEPTION. The Different Methods— The Upper Tendom— Conjugal Onanism — Its effects — Onanism vis Masturbation — Condoms do not Lessen the Evil— The only Lawful Methods— Partial With- drawals — Its evil Effect— The old Notion of Conception— More Methods to Cheat Natm-e, . . . Pages 20^-209 . PAET XIY. ■woman's RIGHTFUIj CONTKOI, over the GENERATIVB FUNC- TION. The Masculine Law— Its Power — The Feminine Law — Its Power — Sexual Desire Always Together— An Unsexed Woman— The Sexual Passion— Why Young Girls are Seduced— Who seek the Assignation House — Men and Women lose their Sense of Right^An Adulterous Husband— Results of Nervous Debility — Man's Responsibility for Illegitimate Children — Sorrows of Woman in Conception, .... Pages 210-220 PART XV. SPECIAL HINTS ABOUT OUR SEXUAL RELATIONS. Ante-nuptial Relations— Causes of Uterine Trouble— Honey-moon Journey— Shameful Manners in Wedlock— His Keen Sense of Self-abasement— No Self Control— What Provokes the Desure —The 111 Effects of Such Practices— Husband Should Practice Self-control, 221-228 12 SECRET SINS LF SOCIETY. Contents. . PART XYI. PROSTITUTION. Its Prevalence — Brazen Effrontery — Its Origin and Cause — How- Fastened — Woman Vends her Body — Man the ready Buyer — The Inevitable Consequence — A Blunted Mind— The Result of the Ten-ible Scourge, 229-233 PAET XYII. The Causes op Prostitution. The Demand and Supply — How Regulated — Strong Desire for Sex. ual Intercourse by the Male — The Force of Sexual Desire — The Standard of Human Perfection — The Two Caseb — Mutual and One-sided Enjoyment — How the Mind and Body become De- moralized — The Demands for Prostitution — The Artificial State of Societj' — A woman with Half the Woman Gone — Ss^xu- ally Strong in Proportion as it is Encouraged — Causes that Lead the Mind to Form a Degraded Estimate of the Sex— The Faults of Society — Preventing Early Marriages — AVhat Society Allows — Worldly Difficulties — The Tyranny of Society, and the Re- sults — The Conditions that Providence h as Ordained — Profli- gacy of the Female — Ultimate Resistance Almost Impossible — The Results of Promiscuous Herding of the Sexes — Scheming and Lustful Men, 234-251 PART XVIII. THE ORIGIN OP STPHrLIS. The Different Suppositions — Was it of American Origin — Horrible Accusation — Its Appearance in the Fifteenth Century — The Disease Known from the Remotest Antiquity — Regulated Houses of Pleasure — Terrible Contagion — 30,000 Families De- stroyed — Spreading of the Disease all over Europe — People Living in the Most Disgusting Filth — The Virus Caixied in the Atmosphere, . . . • ... 252-261 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY, 13 Contents. PAKT XIX. SUPPEESSION OF SYPHILIS. Life's Great Destroyer — The rJreat Need of Restraint — ^Venereal Contagion — Restricting all Participants — Our Future Needs — Posterity the Ones that Suffer — No Taking Chances — Ordi- nances of St. Louis — Registering Participants in the Social Evil — ^The Per Cent. Suffering from Contagious Diseases — Ex- traordinary Number of Syphilic Cases — Corroborative Facts Presented — Secondary Outbreaks of the Disease — Compared ■with other Contagious Diseases — How the Sj^philitic may Pass for a Gentleman — Its Immediate Victims not the only Suffer- ers — No Class of Society is Exempt — The Unfortunate of the Social World — A Period of Physical Deterioration — Leading Features of Syphilis — Various Cures — No Time that we are Safe — Relapse Lialjle to Occur at any Time — Its Dangers — Le- gal Restrictions — Houses of Prostitution — Regulating the In- mates — The Demands of Public Opinion — A Sample Case — Restricting Syphilitic People — A Double Check on Venere a Diseases, 262-285 PAET XX. SPEKMATOERRHOHA. The Consequences of Masturbation — Nocturnal Emissions — ^No Sign of the Disease — How the Genital Organs will Recover, 286-288 PART XXI. GONORRHCEA. Origin of the Disease — Who are Liable — "^Vhat Gonorrhoea Causes in the Female — Cases Occasioned by Impure Coitus — Woman frequently Give Gonorrhoea without Having it, . . 289-292 PART XXII. THE NATURAL TIME FOR MARRIAGE. Effect of Former Bad Habits — Differences of Ages — Conjugal Per- fections — Intercourse Before Marriage — No Substitute for Mar- 14 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Contents. riage — Matrimonial Excursion — Deferred Marriages — Be Guided by Judgment. Instead of Passion, , , 293-299 PAKT XXIII. WHO ARE ADAPTED TO EACH OTHER AND "WHO ARE NOT. Importance of Conjugal Fitness — Disabilities That are a Burden to the Husband — Muscular Strength and Female Beauty — In- door Clerks and Puny Dandies — Marriage of Cousins — What One Woman Likes Another Dislikes — Tenderness of Woman- hood — Blighted Lives for Want of Companionship — Attraction of Delicacy and Coarseness — Little Polks and Their Prospects — Marrying of Opposites — Products of Such Marriages — What Characteristics Should and Should Not Marry — Masculine Woman, 300-313 PART XXIY. THE KIND OF WOMEN THAT MEN ADMIRE. What is Most Admired of God's Creation — Women the Best Ex- ponents of the Beautiful — What is the Most Beautiful to Man — How Man is Enamored — What Gives Power of Attraction to the Female — Why Harlots Hold Men Spell-bound — Why Wo- man Yields Less Readily than Man — Want of Adaptation Characteristic of Society — Why Men Admire Mental Traits in Women — Highest Type of Physical Qualities, , 314-323 PAET XXY. THE KIND OF MEN WOMEN ADMIRE. Woman's Admiration for Manliness — Men that Attract Woman — Henpecked Men — What Kind of Men Women Despise — Manly Traits that Women Admire — Homely Men — Their Advantage — Desirable Qualities — Honesty and Dignity — Extraordinary Cases— Ideal Standard, 324-331 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 15 Contents. PAKT XXYI. THE FASCINATING QUALITIES OF MEN AND WOMEN. Captivating QuaHties of Manliness — The Elements of Manhood and Womanhood — Undesirable Qualities in Woman — The Power of Woman in the Social Circle — Man's Peculiarities — How to Keep a Husband — His Delusion — Attraction of the Sexes — When Man Ought to be Happy — The Dignified Plan —Act Manly and Womanly, .... 332-340 PART XXYII. INCONSISTENCIES OF MEN AND WOMEN. Woman's Fickleness — ^The Charge of Inconsistency — Man's Own Work — Man's Ingenuousness — Hiding his Wrong Doing — His Promiscuous Gallantries — Woman Dies for Love — Absorbed by one Passion — Woman Blinded with Love — He Loves to be Loved — She Loves to Love — Not Trusted too Far, . 841-348 PART XXXYIII. ^ HINTS TO WOMEN. Keeping np Appearances — ^How Ambitious Mothers Break Down — The Banishment of the Corset — Causes of Pale and Flat- chested Women — Concealing a Lack of Needful Organs — Physi- cal Education of our Daughters — Esercise during Monthly Sickness — Literature that Inflames the Passions. . 349-355 PART XXIX. woman's FOLLIES. A Fashionable Woman's Habits — Her Peculiar Case — Physical Effects of such a Life — Her Pastime and Neglect of Family — Infirmities She Attempts to Conceal — A Life of Nothingness — Her Heartlessness and Self-indulgence. , . 356-363 16 SECKET SIKS OF SOCIETY. Contents. PART XXX. MAGNETISir OP MEN AND WOMEN. Women as Ma^ets — Circle of Human Magnetism — Woman fur- nishing the Weapons to Betray her — When Men are Dehghted — Woman Measured by Convenience — Man's Imaginary Being — The Changeableness of Magnetic Women — Her Sensibility — Appearances do not Stir Her — The Advantage of Magnetism to Charm of Person and Manner — When Man ceases to be Hu- man — An Illustration of Disappointed Love — In the Relation of the Sexes — Woman the Secret AUy of Man — Why Magnetic Women enters Hyman's Temple Early — Unfavorable Atmos- phere for Wedlock — The Humiliation of a Fascinated Man — His loss of Manhood — The Abject Idolator — Every Woman has her Master — Eveiy Man his Mistress — When Women prefer Principles to Persons — Fools, and Victims of Magnetic Women —The True Magnetic Woman, .... 364^381 PART XXXI. OUR SOCIAL RELATIONS. The Deplorable State of Society — The Power of Young Women — The Legacy of a Depraved Organization — ^The Diseased State of Society — Woman's Sensitiveness to External Influence — What Women Demand from Men — Man's Fancy — Woman Under- stands it — Association of Lust and Fancies — Vices of Men and Dress of Women Compared — Woman's Condition in Society — Man and Woman Should Understand Sexual Law— Labor Not Demanded of Women — Price Paid for Woman's Shame — Wo- man's Alternative — When Woman is Compelled to Unsex Her- self, 382-394 PART XXXII. MODERN MARRIAGE. Laws and Customs — Average Life of the Married and Unmarried — The Advantages of Re-marrying — Social Restraints — Pecu- liarities of the French System of Marriage — Favorable Condi- tions for Marriage in the United States, , ', 395-400 PHILOSOPHICAL mTRODDCTION. pONSCIOUSNESS is not a " principle" or substance of any kind, nor is it, strictly speaking, a property of any substance or being. It is a peculiar action of tlie nervous system, and the system is said to be sensible, or to possess the property of sensibility, because those sentient actions which constitute our different concious- nesses may be excited in it. The nervous system in- cludes not only the brain and spinal marrow, but numer- ous soft wliite cords, called nerves, which extend from the brain and spinal marrow to ev^ry part of the body in which a sensation can be excited. A sensation is a sentient action of a nerve and tlie brain; a. thought, or idea (both the same thing) is a sentient action of the brain alone. A sensation or a thought is consciousness, and there is no consciousness but that which consists either in a sensation or a thought. Agreeable conciousness constitutes what we call 2 (17) IS SKCKi'rr sixs of fociety. Philosophical Introduction. happiness, and disagreeable consciousness constitutes misery. As sensations are a higher degree of con- sciousness than mere thought, it follows that agreeable sensations constitute a more exquisite happiness than agreeable thoughts. That portion of happiness which consists in agreeable sensations is commonly called pleasure. !No thoughts are agreeable except those which were originally excited by or have been asso- ciated with agreeable sensations. Hence, if a person never had experienced any agreeable sensation, he could have no agreeable thoughts, and would of course be an entire stranger to happiness. There are five species of sensation, — seeing, hearing, smellinir, tasting and feeling. There are manv varie- ties of feeling — as the feelings of hunger, thirst, cold,' hardness, etc. Miftiy of these feelings are excited by agents that act upon the exterior of the body, such as solid substancesof every kind, heat, and various chem- ical irritants. These latter feelings are Q,?i\\edi passions. Those passions which owe their existence chiefly to the state of the brain, or to causes acting directly upon the brain, are called the moral passions. They are grief, anger, love, etc. They consist of sentient ac- tions, which commence in the brain and extend to the SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 19 ■ 1 Philosophical Introduction. nerves in the region of the stomach, lieart, etc. Bnt when the cause of the internal feeling or passion is seated in some organ remote from the brain, as in the stomach, genital organs, etc., the sentient action which constitutes the passion commences in tlie nerves of such organ and extends to the brain, and the passion is called an appetite^ instinct or desire. Some of these passions are natural, as hunger, thirst, the reproduct- ive instinct, the desire to urinate, etc. Others are gradually acquired bv hfibit. A hankering for stimulants, as sj)irits, opium, and tobacco, is one of these. Such is the nature of things that our most vivid and agreeable sensations cannot be excited under all cir- cumstances, nor beyond a certain extent under any circumstance, without giving rise in one way or another to an amount of disagreeable consciousness or misery, exceeding the amount of agreeable conscious- ness which attends such ill-timed or excessive gratifi- cation. To excite agreeable sensations to a degree not exceeding this certain extent is temperance ; to excite them beyond this extent is intemperance ;(jiot to ex- cite them at all is mortification or abstinence^ This certain extent varies with different individuals, accord- 20 SECEET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Philosophical Introduction. ing to their several circumstances, so that what wonlJ be temperauce in one person may be intemperance in another. "* To be free Irom disagreeable consciousness is to be in a state which, compared with a state of misery, is a happy state i yet absolute happiness does not exist in the absence of misery ; if it do, rocks are happy .^ It consists, as aforesaid, in agreeable consciousness. Tliat which enables a person to excite or maintain agreea- ble consciousness is not happiness ; but the idea of having such in one's possession is agreeable, and of course is a portion of happiness.\ Health and wealth go far in enabling a person to excite and maintain agreeable consciousness. \. That which gives rise to agreeable consciousness is good,) and we desire it. If we use it intemperat ely, such use is bad, and the thing itself is still good. Those acts (and intentions are acts of that part of man which intends) of human beings which tend to the promotion of happiness are good ; but they are also called virtu- ous, to distinguish them from other things of the same tendency. There is nothing for the word virtue to signify but virtuous actions. Sin signifies nothing but sinful actions, and sinful, wicked, or vicious, or SECRET SIIS'S OF SOCIETY. 21 Philosophical Introduction. bad actions are those wliich are productive of more misery than happiness. When an individual gratifies any of his instincts in a temperate degree, he adds an item to the sum total •of human happiness, and causes the amount of human happiness to exceed tlie amount of misery farther than if he had not enjoyed himself, therefore it is virtuous, or, to say the least, it is not vicious or sinful for him to do so. i But it must ever be remembered that this temperate degree depends on circumstances ;^hat one person's health, pecuniary circumstances, or social re- lation may be such that it would cause more misery than happiness for him to do an act which being done by a person under different circumstances would cause more happiness than misery. < Therefore it would be right for the latter to perform such act, but not for the former. Again : owing to his ignorance, a man may not be ^ able to gratify a desire without causing misery (where- * fore it would be wrong for him to do it), but with knowledge of means to prevent this misery, he may so gratify it that more pleasure than pain will be the re- sult of the act, in which case the act, to say the least, is justifiable. Now, therefore, it is virtuous, nay, it is 22 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. PliiJosophical Introduction. the duty^ for him who has knowledge of such means, to convey it to those who have it not, for by so doing he furthers the cause of human happiness. Man, by nature, is endowed with the talent of devis- ing means to remedy or prevent the evils that are lia* ])le to arise from gratifying our appetites ; and it is as much the duty of the physician to inform mankind of the means to prevent the evils that are liable to arise from gratifying the productive instinct, as it is to in- form them how to keep clear of the gout or dyspepsia. *1 Let not the old ascetic say we onght not to gratify our j^ijK.^^ f appetites any further than is necessary to maintain health and to perpetuate the species. Mankind will not so abstain, and if means to prevent the evils that may arise from farther gratification can be devised, they need not. Heaven has not only given us the capacity of greater enjoyment, but the talent of devising means to prevent the evils that are liable to arise therefrom, and it becomes us, " with thanksgiving," to make the most of them. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. PAET I. EDUCATION ANDTrwVININGOF BOYS AND YOUNG MEN. npO the boys of the present generation we must look for the future of our nation ; and if the training of our boys be bad, so will the mental and moral condition of our country be. I A few good and pure Christian men and women can neither enact nor enforce good laws if the mass of the populace be low and vile, and brutal in their tastes and desires. \ ^Neither can a populace of mental imbeciles be depended on to carry on the reforms and plans of progress devised and set in motion by the master minds of the recent past.'^j IIow important, then, that the training of the young of the present be of that nature that shall keep the body strong and vigorous and the mind pure and virtuous. • (23) 24: SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Importance of Right Training— Startling Facts. Those habits which impair the life of youth, will crop out in the form of imbecility of mind and body in old age. Thus impaired, the strength and vigor of manhood can never be regained, and existence in this stage must therefore become less tolerable. It is the fault of the present system of education that the young of our land are improperly trained, and in some vitally important matters receive no in- struction at all. Boys and girls, possessed of various faculties, corresponding to and representative of cer- tain wants, are sent to school only to be partially and, indifferently educated. Besides a certain amount of drilling of their intellectual faculties, little else is done for them. \ Their moral and spiritual natures are left to starve, or to become the play-grounds of blind passion and riotous living,! X The absence of moral training in our schools, and the indiscriminate mixing of the sexes, has not proven the best way to develop refinement and personal ex- cellence. >Too free intermingling of boys and girls at school are followed by results unfavorable to modesty and decent reserve, which is the basis of virtue. It is not the special aim of this book to overturn tlie pres- ent plan of education, but to show that the naturui SECRET SINS OF SOCIE'lT. 2o Proper Indulgence the Bulwark oi Virtue. exercise of the several faculties in man is consistent with jSTature's divine order. )/All faculties of mind and functions of body may and should be properly em- ])loyed and indulged for tlie attainment of the largest measure of enjoyment and happiness. ji|^Facnltie3 and powers rightly exerted impart health, strength and in- terest to life. Vxhe larger the ratio of development — the greater number of faculties schooled — the larger the capacity to accomplish good, to enjoy and dignify life and human nature, y The righteous use of God- given powers is man's only hope of safety and peace. The fact that some faculties are educated and trained while others are not, or imperfectly so, is plain to be seen in the present condition of society — nota- bly the sexual instinct, which in many cases is pervert- ed to a degree ruinous to manhood. Strongly plant- ed in human nature by the Infinite, this instinct should be indulged always under proper restraints and conditions. \ In many young persons, as well as old, it predominates, and becomes an ungovernable pas- sion. \The boys of the present time, as early as six- teen years — in some cases earlier — are alive to this instinct, whereas they should not more than feel its presence at their maturity. "What shall be thought 26 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Mysterious Instinct. of boys of twelve to thirteen years who vaunt of the signs of coming virility? All along through years ot schooling and boyhood, the plays of tricks, flirtations and stolen intimacies are kept up, bad stories are told and listened to, gossipy papers and trash literature are read. The twelve-year-old " hopeful " reaches the mark of the libertine ere he arrives at his fifteenth year. The state of school children generally is rather alarming. The morals of the young are in jeopardy, and expert medical men will not disagree as to their present weak physical condition. \ In the social body, an unbalanced, unevenly educa- ted and thoughtless person, is a dangerous element. Where there are many such persons, tlie social body must be unfavorably affected. As the years pass it is becoming more corrupt. To-day we find the social state to be precarious. | Unenlightened selfishness and uuguided instinct ma,y be set down as the worst of all elements the pliilosophies of the world have ever grap- pled with. II The dissipations and practices of youth are passed by unobserved by parents and guardians. Instances of detection are rare, so negligent are they whose duty it is to guard their children's welfare. Roues among boys rather than onanism, prevails in SECRET SI^'S OF SOCIETY. 27 Onanists— Parents Responsible for the Vice. greatlv increased ratio. Abhorred as is the hitter form of vice, it has sufficient art to keep out of sii^lit, while the other reveals itself on all occasions. \ The one involves ruin of body and mindAthe other waits on appetite that he may live for mischief. l^otwithstanding onanism is a secret vice, it depend- ed upon association for its origin. The stupid reti- cence of parents and guardians has been the occasion of great injury to boys, who should have been shield- ed from liability of falling into libidinous habits by unrestrained intercourse with each other. It is a mis- take to presume that boys are unmindful of such things, and will not think of and talk them over among themselves. They are permitted to run at large and take on the dirt and smut from the grovelling and slimy. And so it happens tliat boys deserving of a better fate are lost to society as worthy of its confidence and sympathy. That which may be thought a mere freak of animalism in a boy, to be outgrown as he g-rows in vears, often extends to advanced ao;e. The testimony of physicians, who have closely watched the victims of onanism, goes to show that compara- tively few are free from its effects. The streets and houses of worship are alive with the victims of this 28 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETr. Sexual Instinct— Early Associations. leprosy, and the social body has caught the infection. School arrangements should be such as to throw every possible safeguard around the scholars while under the rule of teachers. Those entrusted with the bringii.g up of children should instruct and control so that this habit, with its train of evils, may be banished. In cases not susceptible to parental instruction or author- ity, the family physician may have iuflnence and com- mand attention to some purpose. \ "When the youth of the land fail to hearken to the voice of their par- ents and special friends, then they should be passed to the physician or general friend, who may further en- lighten them as to their duty. \ y The associations of boys will bear close watching./ The average boy is not above learning obnoxious things. He is an apt scholar. /He is always ready to receive a lesson in immorality from any one mean enough to give it to him.,' A careless servant or hired man might, in the absence of parents or guardians, let him into a knowledge of vices hitherto unknown, /and in a little time the lower would be at serious enmity with the higher nature./' The danger of onanism among boys is increased by visiting among each other, and occupying the same SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 29 Positive Knowledge the Only Means of Defense. bed at night./ A night with a stranger may be the beginning of a jonrne}^ on the road to destruction./ A boy who has contracted this vice will debauch smaller boys as chance may enable him to do so, and thus children from six to twelve years are victimized by those of twelve and upward. The young might with greater safety know the results of such things, since it is impracticable to keep them aloof in their earlier years. jjProper care and education with reference to them is the only basis of hope, if not certain means of making them virtuous. iJThe responsibility of pa- rents in the raising of children is enhanced by the presence of these social vices, which must be guarded against. Children should be charo^ed about them, and armed with adequate means of defense. They should have some positive knowledge as to evil sur- roundings, and be enlightened as to the consequences of evil associations. Those who make evil communi- cations do not teach how to get over evil effects. Hence the parents or others must be swift to teach prevention, in the face of evils which surround their children. The reason why knowledge on this subject should be imparted to the young, may be inferred when we 30 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Their Powers of Observation— Sleeping in the Same Bed. affirm the fact that this practice is widely known among them. Few half-grown boys but know all about it and the terms used in describing it. / Tlie time-honored custom of putting children of opposite sexes to sleep in the same bed, has been and must be followed by disastrous results. /Children are ready in observation and comparison.// ThroM-n closely to- gether, they notice the difference of the sexes, and be- come unduly familiar with them.. Often those in ciiarge of children are obliged to reprove them for knowing too much, as a result of the exercise of the faculty of comparison. /The members of the juvenile fraternity have not been credited with the quick wit and power which they possess. /Another dangerous impropriety is that of elder sisters sleeping with their younger brothers./ In many cases this is a practice of girls who have passed the stage of womanhood. Experience has shown that early separation of the sexes is necessary as a preventive of vices which have their inception in tender years. \ This should occur at the age of four or five years, v Blind passion or un- educated desire seems to be unavoidable in boy life, because of immature mental state and want of experi- ence.^ The passions of boyhood are likely to extend SECKET SIN'S OF SOCIETY. 31 Lust not the only Passion Developed. to manhood, and all througli life interpose as stum- blinf^-blocks in tlie waj of healtli and happiness./ It is the duty of parents to enlij^hten young minds in the simplest ways, in order to aiford a proper outlet of their impulses, y This will prove most effectual in youth, and give insurance of integrity in after life. X jj Habits ruinous to men, are capable of correction in boys. I' Being mere creatures of impulse, but cunning in nature, children take on the bad as well as the good, with equal facility. They seek out assurance in gratification of desire, whether good or bad. 'They begin early to employ the arts of deceit to furtlier gain their wishes. They sliould be trained according to their respective characters, and stimulated to think, — to think rightly and conscientiously, jf It will take years of cool-headed care and warm-hearted sympathy on the part of those overlooking them, to bring the young safely over the bridge of childhood, jj The cost and trouble of training will be paid back in good character and gratitude, which motliers and fathers value above all other things. || Teach them the right .ise of their power of will. Guard them against the vices of extravagance and cupidity. These may be far removed in early years; not so easily, or hardly at 32 SECRET SIKS OF SOCIETY. Protest against Boarding Schools. all, afterward. I The worst specimens of liimianity lay their bad qualities against those who bronght thera into being. It is the recollection of such things that is hninil- iating in later years. The ills of boyhood may haunt the mind, or crop out witli all the greater violence, in manhood's prime. The position of each child in the family should be recognized; causes of undue excite- ment or reason for complaint provided against. But children will not bear much humoring. As we near the close of this chapter, we feel dis- posed to enter a protest against boarding-house schools, as organized at the present day. ("We know not that these should be regarded as other than necessary evils. Surely they deserve no more ennoljling name. '■ As irenerally mana^-ed, thev are scenes of irood and evil actions, so commingled as to prove more bad than good. I Measured by results they are pernicious, as they are known as the way-stations of vice, j It is true that these schools are stopping-places of young roughs — sons of people who don't want their boys to be with the herd in the common school, from which they have been expelled. I "With especial reference to their means of securing the physical SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 33 A Word to Parents — Proper Development. and moral welftire of scholars, these institutions are sadlj at fault. The management is too general and irresponsible to meet the wants of the special case. The daily routine of duty is gone through with from term to term, and many attendants of the schools return to their respective homes dwarfed by habits contracted while under the charge of their teachers. / Think of the youth who leaves home for instruction and training, but comes back with every sense cor- rupted!| Those who have felt the pang of disappoint- ment at the loss of a boy or friend, consumed by vice, are most competent to appreciate the responsibleness of the position of teacher. A. Parents! we beseech of you to take your boys into your confidence! ' Treat them as younger brothers.' Break over the 1*0011811 barrier that prevents you from telling them plainly the right course for them to pur- sue. Be as honest with them as you are with your neighbors. Show them that it is necessary to properly protect and develop their sexual organs, as it is to develop any other part of their bodies. That over- work of the body will transform them into miserable, scrubby hunchbacks, or slender, puny striplings, lia- ble to fall a victim to the first attack of disease. So, 34: SECIiET SINS Oi'" SOCIETY. Lessons Rig'.tfully Lenriicd. too, excesses and overwork of the delicate organs wisely implanted for important use, will retard and dwarf them beyond hope of recoverj,\ and not only that, but as likely as not carry them down to a prema- ture, disgraced and dishonored grave. )( Do not let any diffidence or prudery prevent you from doing your whole duty, for your children had far better learn such lessons rightfully, from you, than wrongfully, from some vicious person or lewd or pol- luted companion, y SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 35 Causes of Everlasting Ruin. PAET II. EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN. i'^ONSIDERED in its largest sense, education is the medium through wliich the youth of both sexes be- come strong, healtlij, intelligent and honest. Thus it comprehends our physical and moral training. Ex- perience has proved again and again that something should be said — that words of warning should be given to girls just emerging into womanhood, on a subject of vital importance to their future healtli and happiness. Glance around and see the dwarf and sickly specimens of feminine humanity, and observe at once how our sys- tem is actually conducted, almost to the ruin and dis- grace of our race. We have said elsewhere that these inherent qualities do not belong to any particular class of American youth. We cannot keep our lips and eyes closed to the fact that thousands of the fairest and best of our girls are being driven into everlast- 36 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Hereditary Vices in the Constitution. ing ruin by a soul-destroying vice which works un- seen, but not unknown to the careful observer. We propose to state some of these evils and the errors of our system of training. A healthy mind and a healthy body is the great desideratum. V The mind seconds the body in all its vices. \ The more feeble the body, the more it commands; the stronger the body the more it obeys. Among the animal kingdom and in the uncivilized world, the feeble or imperfect die before reproducing themselves, but with civilized nations science preserves the exist- ence of the debilitated creatures, who marry and re- produce their similars. \ The science of medicine may have succeeded in preserving the existence of such beings, but it has failed to erase the hereditary vices of the constitution.\ Our world is made up of facts illustrating this great natural law of hereditary de- 8cent.\ No facts in nature are more sure or wonderful.^ You, of this life, are just what this law has made you — the very image of your parents — mentally and phys- ically. Medicine does not affect these facts. The child who inherits consumption is exposed carelessly all his early life; the son of a madman placed in a school-house, and his inherited mania developed ; and SECRET SINS OF SOCIETr. 37 Natural Defects and their Kemediea lie who inherits intestinal diseases is delivered up to tliG management of chance or caprice. Constitu- tional defects and weaknesses, studied nor alleviated, at home, in public, or in private establishments. With tlie ignorant and the poorer classes these facts apply with still greater force, but happily for them, misery kills off the weaker. If nature had a fair chance, these diseased proclivities could be staved off. The various changes of air, water, and places, which our system of railroad puts at our disposal, enable us to reg- ulate, to a great extent, these hereditary taints./ It is not to be expected that the constitutional vices of our parents can be brought up to a standard of perfect health; but we do claim that these natural defects can be remedied to a very great extent. ■ We are not al- ways born with the diseases our parents are afflicted with, but only with a tendency to them. ' The weak systems are not the only ones that suffer from the pre- vailing false notions of education, but the most ro- bust and healthy are often debilitated and destroyed. We see children — girls especially — excluded from light and air, and condemned to inaction at an age when the organism demands these very things, and are thus made to violate the most obvious laws of na- 3S SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Physiral Improvement Demanded. tare. Days and diiys are passed in the parental man- sion, without beholding a ray of sunlight, or breath- ing the external air, and it would seem as if everything was specially devised to weaken the body and moral sense of these children. Pupils in our educational establishments are condemned to breathe the impure atmosphere, and at the same time to be subjected to an amount of mental application to which even adult natures would succumb. In most of these establish- ments, there are no provisions made for the physical development. Girls are deprived of those physical advantages that boys have, because it is the fashion. Girls in our cities are objects of sympathy, whether they belong to the fashionable or to the semi-fashion- able classes. \ This is a fast ageJ and there are many methods cal- culated to force premature womanhood upon the poor girl, and our only wonder is that we have any women at all. A girl thus raised in the city, without air, light and exercise, is but a puny house-plant, no more able to buffet her way in the world than an infant. She may be accomplished in the fragile arts — may sing divinely, and waltz for an hour like a fairy — but let real, downright vicissitudes come, let her be crowded SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Some Illustrations— Ignorance of Life. through the threshing-machine of adversity, and you will see but a wisp of straw and a little chaif, instead of the golden grain of a good, well-developed constitution. " Dear Gawge," said Seraphina, one of these fragile beauties, " when we are married, and go to your farm, out West, you won't ask me to do vulgar housework, will you ? You must get me a pony and phaeton, and an upright piano, and lots of good books and mag- azines, and I will take my canary and dear little poo- dle, Snap, and will take such good care of them, and read and sini^, and ride out, and, oh! we shall be so happy. Cousin Sadie can go with us and keep me company ; and you can hire Susan Jones to go along and do the housework, for Susan is a real good house- keeper, and can cook just splendid. She is awful good-hearted, and would be good to the hired men, and may be might some day ' make a mash ' on some of them and get married, and, oh! wouldn't that be ro- mantic! ' Poor Susan,' I like her, but then'slie is so ignorant and awkward. By the way, Gawge, don't you think you had better go over to Mrs. Jones' and make a bargain with Susan to go, for I can't think of depending on some strange girl, away out "VYest, that might be wicked and steal all my jewelry." 40 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. An Illustration— Health and Happiness— Isolaticn ct the Sexes And "Gawge" went to see Susan Jones, and then went again and again, and one day Seraphma received a note from the West, stating that " Gawge " had de- cided to take Susan Jones out West alone, as it was cheaper to marry Susan than to marry Seraphina and then hire Susan, and buy a piano and pony and phae- ton, all at once, when he needed money badlyj to build barns and buy farm machinery with. And so Seraphina reads " dish water " novels and weeps over her canary and poodle, " while poor Su- san," healthy, happy and contented, sings a lullaby to a fat crowing baby, and George blesses the day he married the hired girl, instead of the fragile Seraphina and her canary and poodle dog. This system of training pursued is done at the ex- pense of maidenly freshness, and promotes a precocious sexual development. We propose to bring out a few facts within the knowledge and observation of all. K We plead strongly for the isolation of the sexes — not a complete separation of children of the same family, but isolation in sleeping and dressing, and those little matters which expose the difference of physical organizations. With the opulent this can be easily done, and with nearlj' all classes it can be carried out to the extent necessary. SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 41 Love of Dress in Girls— A Horrible Rivalry— Children's Parties.. Love of dress with girls is one of the passions early implanted by example. ITothing is more dangerous to the health of body or mind, or even to chastity itself. The statistics of prostitution abundantly prove this assertion, and snows the ruinous condition that mothers are bringing their daughters to. The desire that should actuate a mother to decorate her little daughters should only be a desire to dress them with neatness and propriety. ( It is a common custom now to have children's par- ties ; and a horrible rivalrv has sprung up in that direction, wherein the extravagances and dissipations of their elders are imitated to the very letter. | Each fond parent seems to seek to out-do her acquaintances in the show and magnificence displayed upon her little ones. By this unnatural course the bnds of sen- timents, instincts and desires, are forced to bloom years in advance, and these little misses, who ought to be romping in the meadows or playing with their dolls in the nursery or garden, are actually talking fashionable gossip, and burning their poor little half- made bodies out by longings and desires as premature as they are disastrous and wicked. The newspapers minister to this morbid element, 42 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Fashionable World— A Single "Bad Girl "—Novel Reading. and the superb toilets of the misses and masters are elaborately written up in their columns, to satisfy that growing desire to be publicly known in the fashion- able world. ( Little children from eight to fifteen are thus initiated into the mysteries of dissipation, in- cluding flirtation and liaisons. \ It is much worse for girls than for boys. If it is dangerous to send our boys to boarding-schools, it is much more so to send our girls. ; A single " bad girl " in a boarding-school will corrupt the entire numberXas it is almost impos- sible for a pure-minded girl to avoid listening to, or beholding the debased conversation and actions that may be carried on, and no young lady can listen and behold without pollution. The first impressions of a bad education affect the whole moral nature. T Ail authorities agree that a lux- urious and voluptuous education is the most calcula- ted to destroy the moral sentiments of the heart, and expose the nervous sj^stem to the most fatal perturba- tions. . N^ovel-reading, theaters, dancing and the like, are sources of untold mischief. \ As for the reading of novels, attending balls and theaters, the perusal of sensational newspapers— i- should be prohibited as positively as are the taking of arsenic or any rank SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. 43 Voluptuous Education— The Genteel Way of Legalizing Improper Rciaauui. poison. ThereTnedj is before us, will you follow it ? Parents ' will you profit by the medical experience of every age and country ? will you put forward a helping hand to save your girls from this wide- spread ruin? i Overtaxing any one organ robs another. So this form of licentiousness robs the entire person — both body and mind. ^ Your daughters are dying by the thousands, ostensibly of consumption, female com- plaints, nervous and spinal affections, general debility, and other ailments caused solely from this practice. I Generally evil consists in the abuse of good things, and it would be better if we would compromise witli the demands of the times and require that lessons in both music and dancing be made a task, rather than the work of pleasure. Many will read these pages with a certain amount of prudery, but who would not scruple to place in the hands of their daughters the journals of the day, teeming with items of the most re- volting character. Young America in petticoats or in trowsers does not seem to have an intermediate stage of existence between childhood and old age. If the young girl does not marry from the school-room, she is at least engaged. The excerptions are those who do 44: SECRET SINS OF SOCIETT. Improprieties Accorded Acknowledged Lovers. not secure eligible lovers, or those who are too i na- tractive to find any.^ An engagement in these mo Je.n times is the genteel way of legalizing improper re- lations with some favored one of the opposite sGxi|j I These singular relations often exist for a long time, and are known to all the world before being suspected by the parents. { Often the girl is "engaged to be married" many times before the " right one" is secured. y: Tlien have mercy on the " right one," for the young heart is used up by that t'lmeJC Look at the impropriety of per- mitting young ladies and gentlemen to hold posses- sion of the drawing-room night after night, while their parents or guardians are too indolent to inveigh against these privileges which are so improperly ac- corded to those who acknowledge the relation of lovers. It is th e a-bominabje, custom to give these favored ones all the rights of privacy and solitude that could be expected if the marriage ceremony had been performed. Except in a private bedroom they are as secluded as any married couple could wish. With doors locked and curtains drawn, they pass the night learning the details of passion, and often its entire mysteries, to the detriment of their physical SECRET SI^S OF SOCIETY. 45 Suggestive Scenes— Matrimonial Prospects. and moral health. Only a short time ago there ap- peared in one of our prominent weeklies a beautifully executed design, representing two lovers unwilling to say good-night. The young gallant sinks back ex- hausted into a large arm-chair. On the mantel stands a clock indicating half-past twelve, to which the charming betrothed regretfully points, while riveting a gaze of languid passion on her admirer, who returns it with meaning glances. The whole scene is very suggestive, and is notable for its truthful revelation of our national style of courtship. | When pointed out to a young lady who " had been there," she said the young lady's hair and dress were too smooth and un- ruffled for the occasion. Think of it, ye fathers and mothers who have the good of your daughters at heart. It is not surprising that a broken engagement should seriously compro- mise a young lady's matrimonial prospects, and that young men should be shy of those whose charms have already been freely lavished on another. How many young ladies there are, very pretty and attractive, who shine in society year after year, who cannot obtain hus- bands, owing solely to the fact that they are too well known to the young men as those with whom the ut- 46 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Scandalous Flirtations— Degrees of Libertinism. most freedom can be taken without being rebuked, but even encouraged. What are the fathers and mothers ot America thinking of when thej allow their daughters to _take lon g drives and walks in solitary pairs, go to balls and parties without a protecting eye, and even to church, which is oiten followed by flirtations too scandalous to mention. Should not their own experi- ence teach them to guard those dependent upon them from such dangers? If there are any who do not heed the authority of their parents or guardians, let_^them receive instruc- tions from one who knows thoroughly the weakness of women and the perfidy of men. Young women, if you knew how lightly you were esteemed by those who so earnestly and passionately seek your favors, you would deny them every favor they ask.. < There are several degrees in libertinism — the affectionate caress, the wanton impropriety, and the deliberate se- duction ; and it is a fact that these several stages are at the command of him to whom you surrender the outposts of your purity .yThe truth of this maxim has been demonstrated time and time again. "If a wo- man hesitates she is lost." All history shows this to be the universal sentiment of mankind, and the more SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 47 Where the Danger Lies— Be on your guard. innocent a girl may be at heart, the more certain she will-fall if she surrenders her advance guards of honor. /\No girl should permit the slightest familiarity, unless j impelled to do so by strong sentiments of love. Witli- out this element of passion, love would not exist. If it once becomes developed, it is uncontrollable in pi-o- portion to the strength and confidence. The very thought of your surrendering yourself to the power v^ of any man is so startling, that it should put you on )^onr guard against surprise of any kind. JC The indulgence of pleasures are the poisoned ar- rows that destroy every power of resistance^ Let no man take liberties that will put you in that melting, helpless mood, for therein the danger lies/ It makes but little difference whether the physical virginity be lost or not, if the purity of the heart be gone /for all degrees of sensuality have been taken except the consummation of the physical./ The majority of girls are educated with the idea that marriaire is the end and aim of existence. The first "look out" is to mari-y wealthy if possible — but marry any how. The daily conversation of our young misses consists of building air-castles, with a man in them; but not a favorable word for " old maids." 48 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Latest Proposition— Woman's Rights— Political Eligibility. The latest proposition is that woman shall have the same political privileges as men. This heresy is con- ducted under the cognofnen of " Woman's Eights, " and seems to have become almost epidemic. If car- ried into actual practice, woman would become rapid- ly unsexed and degraded from her present position, without securing any of the advantages of man. Ev- ery argument that has been brought forward has as- sured them that they are deprived of their just rights, and it is of little moment to them of what those rights consist, so long as they feel dissatisfied with their condition. Carry those so-called " Woman's Rights " into practice, and it will speedily bring the gentle mother and loving wife down to the level of the brawling Amazon. We all admit that it is very dif- ficult to reform a single abuse, but it is easy to imag- ine the effect that the "political eligibility" of wom- en would liave on society. It would be the cause of introducing an element of discord into the family cir- cle which would nigh ruin its sacred ties. What there is of families is held together by the graces and vir- tues of woman. Reforms are needed; and tlie remedy can be supplied by woman; but only as a wife and mother. To make home " the sweetest place on eai;th;" SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY * 49 Nobleness of Character, — Passinate Nature. to direct and inspire her sons and daughters to be- come noble characters, which is the surest guarantee of respect; to throw around them such safeguards as shall prevent them from falling into the many paths of intemperance ere tlieir bodies or minds become moulded into mature forms, and to advise them wise- ly in the dawning years of tlieir womanhood and man- hood, so that no mis-step shall be taken, or if taken unawares, shall be speedily retraced. \ Out of every hundred courtesans that pollute our country, at least ninety were seduced and ruined be- fore their eighteenth birthday,\ and the remainder probably fell after that age only because earlier oppor- tunities did not offer. Persons predisposed to pul- monary and other hereditary ailments, if carefully nursed and carried past a certain critical age, will probably live to a fair old age;)(just so with girls who, having inherited a passionate nature, are prone to gratify those passions in the exuberance of dawning womanhood, can, by a course of careful watching and training, be held in check until years of discretion furnish the surest safeguard, be made the noblest, purest, and best of wives and mothers, with never a fear of an indiscretion in after years.X 50 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Kobleness of Character— Passionate Nature. How infinitely important, then, that childhood be bereft of those passional circumstances that serve to excite and inflame the budding desires that, when de- veloped at the right age, and under right conditions, are the greatest sources of human pleasure and human development, implanted in our natures by an All- wise Creator. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 51 The most Fatal of Vices. ^A PAET III. MALE SELF-ABUSE. LL over this world the criminal and sexual demor- alization is carried on to an alarming and fatal ex- tent. Our country suffers no evil to compare with it; it is encountered everwhere — from the cradle to the old man just on the verge of the grave. It is the vice of vices, and has caused more sexual depravities than all other evils combined. Drunkenness, swindling, cheat- ing, mnrderings and pestilences of all kinds, and even war itself, do not cause as much misery in the human family as this secret sin. ^ It is no wonder that parents and teachers are be- coming alarmed at the awful ravages of thie revolting crime. The great majority that indulge in this vice to a moderate extent escape detection, but it no less affects their intellectual and physical being. It is from the 52 SECRET SINS OF SOCIEIT. " Wise Women" — Their Plan. ages of fourteen or fifteen that its ravages are tlie most deplorable, and thej continue on forever, unless great efforts are put forward to stop it at once. Tiie nervous system in the human organization too often predominates in children, which is the predis- l)Osing cause of vice, urged' on a^ it is generally by an inherited tendency to precocity. Of course it cannot be attributed to stimulation exerted on the genital organs by the presence of the spermatic fl.u id, for in them this secretion does not exist. It often happens that the organs of generation in young subjects become the seat of abnormal sensitive- ness, which is the signal of this most terrible and fatal passion. This will explain why the genital organs of " slumbering childhood " are often observed in a state of excitement unnatural at that age. It is obvious that the least accidental touch, or even involuntary movement, may very easily lead to the most frightful and devouring passion. There is no doubt but that the most common origin of this precocious sensibility is caused by the passionate creatures to whose care these little beings are confided, as nurses, or young servants. \ Some "over- wise women" have adopted this method SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 53 t Sad Case of a Child of Five Years— Other Cases. of quieting the cries of young infants. Sooner or later these children avail themselves of this discovery, and they soon become crazed with the passion. \ Thus initiated, a case of a child is related who contracted this halnt at the age of five years, went insane at eleven, and died at sixteen. A prominent writer on onanism speaks of a con- firmed masturbator at eighteen months. A physician was called to attend a case of inveterate priapism in a child of four years. The urine was voided drop by drop, and the suffering was extreme at intervals, and the little patient was found surrounded by wise old women, who endeavored to reduce the organ by im- modest proceedings. The whole trouble consisted of the presence of minute calculi which had lodged in the urethra, and which being removed the trouble sub- sided. A case of a child seven years old — supposed to have been instructed by a female servant — polluted himself so_that he died of slow fever. His passion for this act was so great that it could not be prevented, even in the last daj'S of his life. A young man relates that " I knew nothing of this vice until I was ten years of age, when one of my schoolmates instructed me. I 64: SECPtET SINS OF SOCIETV. Terrible Case— Combin ition of Miseries. could not tell the nurabor of times I practiced it up to the age of fifteen, but for three jeava since I liave not fallen. I have, however, frequent pollutions, which occur in spite of myself, during five or six nights in succession. I cannot enjoy a tranquil repose, and the whole day I am sad. I have changed my school, but everywhere I meet this libertinism carried on to ex- cess. \ It is doubtless due to my temperament that I have outlived nearly all of my comrades." \ The following case we copy entire from a well known author : " A watchmaker had been virtuous and healthy un- til the age of seventeen. At that time he delivered himself up to masturbation, which he repeated three times a day, and the consummation of the act was al- ways preceded and accompanied by a slight loss of consciousness, and a convulsive movement of the ex- tensor muscles of the head, which was forcibly thi-own back, while the neck became extraordinarily swollen. In less than one year he began to experience great weakness after eacli act. This warning was not suf- ficient to drive him from the danger. His mind was wholly given up to this infamy, was no longer ca- pable of other ideas, and the repetition of the crime SECREf SINS OF SOCIETY. 65 Terrible Case— continued. become everj' day more frequent, until he found him- self in a condition which led him to be apprehensive .of death. Wise too late, the evil had made such pro- fxress tliat he could not be cured, and the genital or- gans became so irritable and so feeble that there was no longer required the act to produce seminal emis- sion. The spasm which formerly occurred only at the con- summation of the act, and ceased at the same time, had become habitual, and often seized him without apparent cause and in so violent a fashion that during the whole time of the paroxysm, which sometimes lasted fifteen hours and never less than eight, he experienced in the back of the neck such violent pains that he commonly raised, not cries, but howls, and it was impossible for him daring all this time to swallow either liquids or solids. His voice became hoarse, but was more so during his paroxysms. He lost his strength entirely, and was obliged to abandon his pro- fession ; incapable of anything, overwhelmed with misery, he languished almost without succor during several months, so much the more to be pitied that a trace of memory, which had nearly vanished, only served to recall to him incessantly the causes of liia 56 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Extinction of Meniory— Loathsome condition of Body and Mivid. misfortune, and to augment all the horror of his re- morse. I learned his case and visited him. I found but little more than a corpse groaning upon the straw — emaciated, pale, filthy — exhaling an infectious odor — almost incapable of any movement. He lost often a pale and watery blood at the nose ; a constant slime flowed from the mouth ; attacked with diarrhoea, he rendered his excrements in bed without knowledge of the fact ; the spermatic flux was continued ; bleared, troubled, dull, he had no longer the faculty of motion. The pulse was extremely small and rapid, the respiration very labored, the emaciation excessive, except at the feet, which commenced to be dropsical. The disorder of the mind was not less: without mem- ory, incapable of connecting two phrases without re- flection, without inquietude as to his fate; with no other sentiment than that of pain, which returned with all the accessions at least every three days ; a being far below the brute; a spectacle of which it is impossible to conceive the horror; one would with diSiculty rec- ognize that he formerly belonged to the human species. I succeeded promptly by the aid of remedies in con- trolling those violent spasmodic accessions, which only recalled him so cruelly to consciousness by the SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 0< A Picture— The Wretched Victims. pains. Content to have relieved him in this respect, I discontinued remedies which could not ameliorate his condition. He died at the end of some weeks (June IT, 1857), dropsical from head to foot." — {Onan- ism par Tissot.) Our insane asjlums and poor-houses are crowded with these wretched victims. We have watched them in their drooling idiocy, a mere mass of corrupted flesh in the semblance of a man. !Nor are all the vic- tims of this dread disease driven speedilv to their graves or the almshouse. Many who possess strong physical constitutions, linger along in the ordinary avocations of life, to an imbecile old age. Others, less w€ll organized, drift into low, filthy avocations, and eke out a miserable existence. One man at the age of forty, who had reduced the sexual organs to a mere flabby rudiment, by this vice, sought a livelihood by buying and hauling dead hogs to a soap factory. Another, hump-shouldered, lop-sided, blear-eyed, drooling and filthy, carted swill to feed a few swine. The poor miserable creatures we see in large cities, gathering rags and bones and garbage, and living in huts and goods boxes, and dens, are almost all of this low, brutalized class. 58 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Physical Symptoms of the Masturbator. Young men, for God's sake, and jour own sake, heed our warnings, or these revolting pictures may- be but a photograph of your now unseen future. Bet- ter would it be for you if you had died in your in- fancy. To detect this vice, a mawkish, shamed, repellent look is the surest sign. The onanist presents an as- pect of languor, weakness and thinness. The counte- nance is pale, sunken, flabby, and more or less livid, with a dark circle around the sunken eyes, which are dull and lowered or averted. There is a dry cough, oppression, panting and fatigue on the least exertion, palpitation, obscured vision, dizziness, tremulousness, painful cramps, convulsive movements like epilepsy, pains in the limbs or at the back of the head, in the the spine, breast or stomach, great weakness in the back, sometimes lethargy, at other times slow, hectic consumptive fever, digestive derangements, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite or progressive emaciation. Sometimes the body is bent, and often there are all the appearances of pulmonary consumption or the charac- teristics of decrepitude joined to the habits and pre- tensions of youth. This is tlje condition of the confirmed onanists. It SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 59 Moral Degradation even Worse. is true that every case does not present all the evils described, but enough has been said to enable an in- telligent observer to recognize the confirmed onanist. The downcast and averted look is perhaps the most invariable and earliest sign, with the disposition to solitude. As bad as the plijsical conditions are, the moral degradation is worse. The characteristics are the loss of memory and intelligence, morose, an une- qual disposition, indifierence to pleasures and sports, mental abstractions, stupid stolidity, etc. A distin- guished German physician, Gottlieb "Wogel, gives the ibllowing truthful picture: "The masturbator gradu- ally loses his moral faculties; he acquires a dull, silly, listless, embarrassed, sad, effeminate exterior, lie becomes indolent, averse to and incapable of all intellectual exertion; all presence of mind deserts him; he is discountenanced, troubled, inquiet; when- ever he finds himself in company, he is taken by sur- prise and even alarmed if required simply to reply to a child's question; his feeble mind succumbs to the lightest task; his memory daily losing more and more, be is unable to comprehend the most common things, or connect the simplest ideas; the greatest means and the most sublimevtalents are soon exhausted; previous- 60 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Terrible Picture Drawn Ij acquired knowledge is forgotten; the most exquis- ite intelligence becomes naught, and no longer bears fruit; all the vivacity, all the pride, all the qualities of the spirit by which these unfortunates formerly subjugated or attracted their equals, abandon them, and leave them no longer aught but contempt; the power of the imagination is at an end for them; pleas- ure no longer fawns upon them, but in revenge, all that is trouble and misfortune in the world seems their portion. '' Inquietude, dismay, fear, which are their only affec- tions, banish every agreeable sensation from their minds. "The last crisis of melancholy, and the most fright- ful suggestions of despair commonly end in hastening the death of these unfortunates, or else they fall into complete apathy, and sunken below those brutes which have the least instinct, they retain only the figure of their race. It frequently happens that the most com- plete folly and frenzy are manifest from tlie first. " Masturbators are dangerous to society. Consider such beings bent under the weight of crime and in- famy dragging down into utter darkness every par- ticle of material and animal life. Sinning against SECEET SINS OF SOCIETT. 61 DifTerent Degrees or Punishment. God, against nature and against himself — violating these laws, and changing liis own person into that of the beast — even below the brute, and like him looks only on the ground. His dull and stupid glance can no longer raise it§elf towards heaven ; he no, longer dares lift his miserable brow already stamped with the seal of reprobation ; he descends little by little into death, and a last conclusive crisis comes at length, violently to close this strange and horrible drama." Properly only a small number die in this manner, yet those who persist in the practice will sooner or later be included. Let no one flatter himself that he can be exempt from this universal law. There is no exemption, and those who persist will surely die the most horrible of deaths — and those who practice it to a limited extent will be punished in pro- portion to their crimes. While individuals seem to escape, they frequently fall victims to some grave chronic disease, the germs of which they owe to this detestable vice. The reformed onanists are the ones that fall the ear- liest in severe epidemics — as cholera, yellow fever, etc., — by reason of their bad antecedents, and the de- teriorated condition of their constitutions. 62 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. ■ Indulge only in Wedlock. The onlj way is to abstain totally from this degra- ding vice. Every indulgence weakens hope. This is true of all bad habits. It is for you to choose — a liv- ing slavery and horrible death, or long life and happi- ness. Banish all unclean thoughts, and indulge only in wedlock. Too many writers on these subjects have discouraged these victims, and in many instances prevented an at- tempt at reform. This is all wrong. Not one existing case in one hundred but what will yield to a proper course of treatment. This quack or that has, perhaps, told you that this nostrum, or that sold only by him- self, was your only hope. Away with such bosh ! A determined mind and a wet towel will accomplish more than all the nostrums on the globe. I once knew three bed-ridden brothers — splendid fellows, too, — who had been victims five, eight and twelve years. They are all well now. Cured by a course at a " Water Cure." One of the worst masturbators I ever knew was married at forty, and is now a healthy and happy hus- band and father. Another, who seriously contempla- ted castration as the only relief, is now a healthy and thriving lawyer. SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 63 Indulge only in Wedlock. O. S. Fowler, in his matchless work, "Science of Life," advises all victims to desist at once, and as soon as approximate health has returned, to niarrj, and al- low a moderate and natural gratification of the sex- ual desires to complete the restoration of health, which it will surely do with a fair, chance, and total abstinence from vice. 6-i SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 7einale Masturbation the Demon of Evil. PAET lY. FEMALE SELF-ABUSE. rpHE brightest sight the human eye can rest upon; the sweetest picture the human mind can paint, is a bevy of happy innocent girls; in fact they are consid- ered the typical representatives of innocence and pu- rity. Oh, that it were possible to always keep them thus! but the demon of evil is always abroad, and even these little flowers of humanity must feel the sting of his poisoned dart; that too, without a warning word or a kind friend to point out the danger until it is, often, forever too late. "VYe say it with regret, with pain, with downright sorrow, that many, alas ! too many of these darling little innocents are being led astray, and into this most contemptible of all vices. What ! says some fond mother, not my little daughters. It must be the daughters of some one else. No, we mean your SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 65 The Shame of Discovery — Vice Detected. daughters; and if we are mistaken, happy will it be for you and them. The little girls and young women are dying by thousands; going into declines; suffer- ing from a hundred ills, all because they are victims of this detestable vice, and their mothers are so blinded that they cannot detect it. Self-abuse among young females exists, and in treatment of maladies many physicians seem ignorant of its existence. All young girls ailing should be questioned, their acts carefully scrutinized, and nothing left undone that may help give a true analysis of the case. Physicians should have these things in mind when called upon to furnish a remedy for the afflictions of young girls. The symptoms by which self-abuse are made known, are : emaciation; pale complexion; whiteness of the teeth; discoloration around the eyes, which are sunken and dull; inflated, flabby, discolored physiognomy; general feeling of languor, and oppres- sion and panting on the least exertion: Boarding and day schools are sources of untold mis- chief. The evidences of it are seen in letters from twelve and fourteen-year-old girls, who use the most extravagant, gross and passionate expressions. Read- 66 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Origin of Many Fema'.e Diseases. ingtrasliy novels, and the clandestine reading of im- pure books, wliicli latter are now so profuse and easily distributed, render the work of corruption more cer- tain and complete. The genital organs are capable of excessive action, the same in girls as with boys. The young are always liable to find out this source of morbid pleasure, and early begin to exercise themselves for self-gratification. Girls are often led to this by a kind of instinct. The liabit is so easily acquired and practiced, and so little suspected, that it may well excite astonishment and alarm. The physicians often find it difficult to dis- cover the cause of many of the female diseases for wliich they are called to prescribe. AVithout knowl- edge of their source, they prescribe without avail. The beauty of form, which is the glory of females, is too often impaired by this secret sin. The moral aspects are similar to those seen in the male sex. The absence of the seminal secretion in woman fur- nishes no reason to presume that this practice is less ruinous in females than in man. The facts bear us out in the assertion that at least fifteen cases out of every twenty of "whites," are the effects of self- abuse; and that chronic inflammation of the womb, SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 67 Mental and Moral Symptoms. SO common, most frequently owes its origin to excesses of this nature. A single case of self-abuse will bear its fruits in the corruption of others. Hence its frequency in those places where the young are gathered together. Young persons who prefer solitude should be sus- pected and watched. It is not natural for a sound person to be alone. The genus human is organized on the social basis; he is emphatically a social being, and loves company. The solitary habits of young people should be noted as an unfavorable sign, for self-abuse leads to solitude. The practice of mastur- bation is indulged soon after retiring or just before rising. At these times the masturbator may be sur- prised in the act. Her hands are always under cover, and usually she prefers to hide her head the same way. As soon as she touches the bed she becomes inflamed, but appears in a profound slumber. This spell should be broken, when suspicioned, in every case. It gives assurance of something wrong. The , entire covering of the body and cuddling of the extremities often contributes to undue excitement of the vital organs. This pretended sleep often serves to betray her. When taken in the act, she may G8 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Solitary Habits Should Awaken Suspicion. appear slightly perturbed, blush, and be covered with perspiration not warranted by the temperature of the room or any other visible cause. This practice prevails in alarming ratio among fac- tory operatives. Even the daughters of the best edu- cated have been placed in insane asylums on account of it. Little girls under twelve years of age are often seen playing with their mates, who most of the time have their hands under their clothes upon their vital parts. It is no uncommon thing to see girls who have, physically and mentally, become impaired by this worst of sins. Nature never intended that our young women, who have been furnished with good bodies, and fine complexions, should become dwarfed and pallor-stricken, even before raid-life. One of the greatest dangers which beset young women, is that of lascivious thoughts, which seem to come unbidden, and which if encouraged, tempt to immoral acts. Many a young woman is made nervous and feverish by entertaining lewd thoughts. This feverish excite- ment wears out the nervous system, and shuts out the noblest elements of womanhood. Great efforts should be made to overcome this voluptuous reverie. SECKET SlJfS OF SOCIETY. 09 Different Cases— Virgin Purity. "We could give instances without number of differ- ent cases reported, to show the prevalence and destruc- tive nature of this vice among girls. We have said enough we think to startle parents, and arouse their precaution against it. Yirgin purity is beyond price, and to preserve it at all hazaras should be our aim. 70 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Sexuality of Animals. PAKT . Y. THE SOLITARY VICE— SEXUAL POVERTY. "jITAN is the highest type of animal life. He is en- dowed with greater capacity and power, and if he had always lived a perfect life he would transcend the lower animals as much sexually as he does in mental and moral gifts. Seldom do we find signs of impaired gender in the voices of animals, while man's, with very few exceptions, is husky and broken. The voices of animals are true to the gender of the species, while the voice of man is resounding in every key of the gamut, from end to end of the scale. Some voices are piping while others are clamorous — the most of them are unnatural. In voice and form the females are in a worse condition. Few men are straight in body, strong of limb, com- manding in appearance. Few women are robust, blithe and gracious. Fine specimens of manhood are SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 71 Female Forms— Male Forms uncommon, and the physical state of our women is alt(jgel:her alarming. Their organs of reproduction are weakened, the frame bent, and all the parts seem reaJy to collapse. In addition to tliis, the mind is " il! at ease," and the soul is in misery. The sexual ailment is the great evil of the social body. Signs of it may be seen by any observing per- son. Blanched faces and changed color about the eyes, are everywhere to be taken as evidence of this disease. Emissions during the hours of sleep, or steady vent day and niglit, prove destructive to health and comfort of the single men. Married men are re- duced by this same cause. Marriage is not proof against this disability. When it takes hold it runs on through all the ages of man. It has a firm grip on the vitals of the societary body, and holds on with the might of an inveterate foe. The liveliest imagina- tioii fails to measure the mag-nitude of this evil. Be- ! fore this incubus the genius of man and the loveli- ' ness of woman vanishes as the elements before the magician's wand. Poor, short-lived man ! Where is your command of wisdom, your knowledge of holi- ness? The habit of self-pollution, now almost universal, 72 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Sexual Ailments— Its Demoralizing Evils. is tlie bitter curse of society. All points of. ISTature's great law of health and beauty are violated in the people's practical life. "Witness on every hand, in all houses, the wreck of mind and matter in the persons of cherished ones. "Were it not shocking and hard on false pride, very many boys and girls would admit their experiences in this respect. This is just what they ought to do, and pray for relief. Many students in institutions of learning are without reason in the premises, and practice masturbation without realizing that it is a crime against Nature and fatal to physical life. How many will say they do not practice this habit, but show their guilt in some other way. It is a fruit- ful source of ill-health among our young men. Those in charge of hospitals, and the physicians generally, will admit this fact. A spoonful of semen is worth more to the body than a ladle of blood from the heart. By the loss of semen the vitality of the system is re- duced in the ratio of forty to one. At this rate, the victim of masturbation must succumb in the earlier years of manhood. No matter how robust tlie constitution, it must on- ly a little later on give waj' to this waste. Those not SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 73 The Wasting of Vitality -Seminal Lo-ses. naturally strong must speedily run down in mind and body beyond all hope of relief. The vitality of the body requires thought and care for its supply and waste. Seminal losses draw at the fountain-head of life, and open the way for other diseases. Thus the whole being becomes demoralized after puberty in the persons of young men on account of this vile habit. Those in the vio:or of manhood lose their enero-v and relish of life by too frequent discharges of this vital element. TJiere is no greater cause of insanity. It reduces the power of digestion, and puts the stamp of disease in the system. The ills bred by it are con- sumption, spinal complaints, aching eyes, nervous headache, and other forms of disease. Constipation is caused by it, as also sour stomach, flatulence, liver trouble, morbidity and melancholy. Self- pollution of parents is seen years afterward in children which die of summer complaints in infancy. By this means tbe unborn are cheated out of their birth-rights. It stupefies the brain and the faculties of the whole being. It casts a shadow over the life, and renders the person unfit for social contact. It drives out the natural vivacity of human nature, and fills the void 74 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Causes of Insanity. with bad impulses. It creates moroseness — confuses the thoughts — fires the temper. As a cause of iu- saiiitj it is most active. lu a Massachusetts insane asylum, in 1838, twentj'^-four out of one hundred and twenty-eight males, were confined there as victims of this secret vice. The Worcester asylum, in 1836, re- ported, as most prolific causes of insanity, the habits of intemperance and masturbation. Dr. "Woodward Bays of this latter, that " no cause is more influential in producing insanity." The condition of men who are joined to this prac- tice is deplorable in the extreme. They are worse off than those who live on the common plane of the prostitute. Undue excitement of the vital organs creates restive and feverish conditions in the whole system. It saps the vital principle, and the body dwindles to a mere shell, all brightness about it being vitiated. As with a millstone about the neck, the victim is drawn under the current and disappears from view. With alarm many splendid young men indulging this habit will sometime cry out, "My God! what shall I dp? I am going mad!" — as in the case of one who was driven to insanity by it. They may give all they have for what they have lost. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 75 It Destroys the Matrimonial Sentiment, and then not find it. Think of this, young men, — you who have commenced this sin in moderate de- gree. Halt wliere you are, that you may be saved from the abomination. It creates sexual nausea, and destroys the desire for marriage. It hinders natural growth of the sexual organs in both sexes, as it ban- ishes the spirit which made them. The vital organs are priori love organs. Back of tliese the love ele- ment dwells. That which weakens the love element, reacts against the orijans of love. And this is usuallv the cause of the difficult menstruation among young girls of the present day. It brings to youtli the lan- guor of age. It detracts from all the high moral qualities of manhood, and all that is beautiful in woman. It is the Wight of graciousness and refine- ment. It destroys dignity and personal excellence. It does away with female loveliness, and makes light of purity. It develops vulgarity in both sexes. Its efiect upon the young is similar to that of emascula- tion on animals: they are stripped of the glory of sex, and laid under the ban of insignificance; they be- come inefficient, careless, and unfortunate in design and action. The vice breeds all manner of trouble, from pain to poverty. It makes social drones, as it 76 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Transmitting Period— Need of Timely Knowledge. paralyzes the faculties and powers. It kills, often beyond resurrection, the natural sweetness of disposi- tion in girlhood, changes the voice, and dwarfs the bodj'. It exhausts the fine love-nature of girls, and the interest which they have in their kind. It makes a laughing-stock of the female sex and virtue. It takes from girls their delicacy, and leaves them at the mercy of impulse, blinded" by ignorance. It makes girlhood dull and uninteresting, causes aversion to matrimony, and increases the number of celibates. In relation to early sexual association, it cannot be doubted, that when the instinct of reproduction begins to be developed, the reserve which parents, relatives, and guardians adopt on this subject, is often the means of producing injurious effects, because a system of concealment on this subject, as observed in a pre- ceding chapter, is quite impracticable. Discoveries made by young persans in obscene books, the un- guarded language or shameless conduct of grown up persons, have the most fatal consequences. Parents and teachers ought, therefore, at the earliest period, to give rational explanations as to the motive of the object of the sexual functions, the mechanism of reproduction in various vegetable and animal be- SECRET SIjXS OF SOCIETY. 7Sy Sacred Duty of Parents— Drain of Vital Forcea. iugs, and the fatal consequences to which the abuse of these functions may lead. In doing this it would be as stupid as injurious to employ the slightest degree of false representation, or even what is called moral- izing, which is only the contemptible cant of beings who cannot reason. Young persons should avoid the evils of licentiousness. Keep the imagination from impure thoughts. Characters are ruined, homes made desolate, and fond hearts broken, by this negligence. Keep your self- respect at all times in your mind; mingle not in im- pure places. Many a young person indulges their imagination in wandering where tliey cannot follow in person ; in hearing what they dare not tell ; in seeing what shame would forbid them to disclose ; and in seeking what modesty would blush to reveal. These flights of unbridled fancy cannot be indulged in with safety ; they are the prolific source of crime and sin, and shame, and he who supposes that such hu- moring of the imagination is not wrong, may and probably will, live to repent of its gratification. This vice cannot be stayed by ignorance. Parents have an utter disregard for their duty, who do not warn their children in time to save thein from destruction. 78 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Hi Cause of Nervous Ailments. !No cause produces so much insanity as is attested by the catalogues of our institutions. The brain and nerves are the instruments of the mind, and all our capacities come through them. They are indirectly in sympathy with the sexual organs, so that self-abuse is most fatal to sensation and intellect. It causes more nervous ailments than all other causes combined. It renders its victims morbid, confused, and hardly con- scious of what they do, wild with false excitement, and trembling all over on slight occasions. Every indul- gence weakens hope, and is like rowing down the Niagara rapids, instead of towards their banks. Now is the accepted time to stop, and stop short. Some advise occasional enjoyment, (Ijut it should be con- demned, as every indulgence augments passion and weakens resistance^ If you cannot stop now you never can. [{Summon ever}^ energy — adopt at once perfect continence; it is your only hopeTu Why will you go on when you know that a life of misery awaits you? Will you, for this low-lived, animal gratification, give up all your intellectual endowments and physical powers? Stop now, or you are ruined forever, and no power on earth can save you. ^Flee at once to j^erfect continence — your only city of refuge^ Look not back SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 79 Indulgence ia utter ruin — The Pledge of Chastity. toward Sodom, lest you die. "Why will you go on to suicide? O son and daughter of sensuality, are you of no value? Snatch the priceless gem of 3^our natures from its impending destraction. Indulgence is utter ruin. [Ahstinence or death is your only alterna- tivej Stop now and forever, or abandon all hope. Which do you choose? "Which path do you take? Up or down? If down, "Good-bye;" if up, here is your life-long pledge and anchor of hope. Here alone, and known only to myself and my Maker, with the dreadful past stretching back into past indis- cretions, with a dark and yawning chasm before me on the one hand, and a bright sunny landscape on the other; with the life-throb still resounding through my vitals; with the breath of life still trying to sustain me — and better still, with the vital spark of intellect still unclouded — shattered though I am, loathsome in the sight of man and lowered in the sight of God ; realizing my weakness, and praying for a return of strength, I pledge mysef to total abstinene from sexual abuse. I promise to turn my face toward the sunny fields of right, and hope the horrors of the past may never rise before me except to warn me not to weaken in this holy resolve. I take this pledge in all so SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. When and How Should Youth Learn Sexual Truths sincerity ; I know it is my only hope ; I will keep it inviolate. I will banish all unclean thoughts and feelings, and indulge only in holy wedlock. I will again press forward in the road of intellectual attain- ment and moral progression, and all the more eager because of this hindrance. I drop but this one tear over the past, and then bury both my sin and shame in future efforts of self-improvement and labors of love. I yet will rise. As mourning over my fall does not restore, but unnerves resolution and cripples effort, I cast the mantle of forgetfulness over the past — have now to do only with the future — but must not remain a moment passive or idle. I have a great work before me, to repair my shattered constitution, which is the work, not of a day, but the remainder of my life ; and also recover my mental and moral standing, and if possible, to soar higher still, "And departing, leave behind me Footprints in the sands of time." There is a best time for youth to get sexual knowl- edge. "What principle proclaims it ? Is the policy of allowing them to learn as little and late as pos- sible the true one? The existing amount of sexual depravity utters an appalling ITo, and its condemna- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 81 Teachers Responsibility. tion is terrific. Any change must needs be for the the bettei*. Ignorance might be bliss if it suppressed this feeling, which is there equally with and without it. Knowledge can guide and sanctify, but ignorance can neither extirpate nor materially lessen this burn- ing faculty. Nature compels children to learn some- time and somehow ; if not by books and teachers, then by " sad experience," but at all events they cannot remain in ignorance. Then had they not better learn sexual truths as they learn other lessons, from books and by the aid of competent instructors? Teachers in the public schools dare not even hint at these things, because ignorant directors and pa- rents would howl, Obscenity ! Indecency ! Yul- garity ! The minister in the pulpit would rather risk his life than endanger his reputation by broach- ing this " tabooed " subject. The uneducated mother and father do not feel qual- ified to instruct their children*in this respect, and as likely as not are still tainted with similar vices, while the educated are oftentimes prevented by a sickly prudery. Meanwhile the poor little innocents suffer on and grow into a lil^ of sickness, sorrow, shame and insanity. 6 /i%T/^ 83 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Parents should Impart Sexual Law to their Children. Teachers, if von love hiiinanitj, urge the mothers and fathers of yonr little flock to not only allow jou to instruct them, but to assist you. Ministers, if right is right and wrong is wrong, and you are har- nessed in the fight against evil, quietly urge your parishioners at some special meeting to look after this important lesson. Parents, if you love your little ones and desire their purity, health, and success in life, throw all diffidence to the winds, and do your duty from now henceforward; and if you do not feel qualified, ask your physician to secure you a good work on this important subject, and when secured, study it carefully, and you will never hesitate again. Knowledge should precede practice in ail depart- ments. Knowledge of law should precede the prac- tice of law. Knowledge of medicine should precede the practice of medicine. Knowledge of the arts should precede the practice of the arts. So should knowledge of the sexual organs precede the earliest possible use or abuse of them. Puberty brings this experience, and should be preceded by sexual instruction. Could anything be clearer ? Has this reasoning any flaw ? This amatory sentiment should be educated as fast as nature develops it. This conclusion can neither be o^ainsaid nor resisted. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 83 Sexual Education of Girls— Duty of Eight-minded People. To the sexual education of girls these principles ap- ply with redoubled force. At what age do you wish your parents or instructors had taught you ? Teach your children earlier than that ; for children of to-day develop younger than in your day, and know ten times more than you give them credit for. Professor William Denton, in his lecture on intem- perance, touches this and other branches of intemper- ance fearlessly, and it is gratifying to see how well the people are beginning to stand it. All adults should teach and guard juveniles; every youth should be precious to all adults. If parents do not warn and save them, others should. Every adult member of every community is under special obliga- tions to preserve all juveniles; all elders should try to save all juniors. If any one knows any special means better than any otlier, then let that means be known, and let all right-minded people unite and re- solve themselves into a "committee of the whole" on the preservation of our youth. Those who are older and reckless in vice, have taught these little ones the wrong; then let all attempt to snatch these precious brands from this terrible burning. Editors, you too have something to do in this respect. Do not think 84 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Efforts to Save the Sexually Fallen. your duty done by admitting the foul and corrupting; " ads. " of a few specialists. The people want pre- vention, not medicine; instruction, not ridicule. See that you do your duty. It is the protection of the innocent little ones, by preventing the sowing of seeds of vice, that this chap- ter has to deal, and not with the'eure of the confirmed masturbator of either sex; that must be left for another chapter — the all-important pledge of total ab- stinence being the first great step; but inasmuch as it is infinitely harder to reclaim the inebriate than to train the child in temperance, so must the efibrts be correspondingly greater to save the person who is sexually fallen. The hopes of the nation for a great and general temperance reform, lie not in legislation as much as in education; so too the hope of a purer minded, better sexed, healthier race of people, lies in the proper education and training of our precious boys and girls; and may an army of wise teachers rise up to assist, and a nation of little ones heed and cherish the lessons taught, is the wish and prayer of every true philanthropist. SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. What Mankind Require. PAET YI. GENERATION. npHE subject of generation is not only interesting as -'- a branch of science, but it is so connected with the happiness of mankind that it is highly important in a practical point of view. Such, to be sure, is the cus- tom of the age, that it is not considered a proper sub- ject to investigate before a popular assembly, nor is it proper to attend to the calls of nature in alike place; yet they must and ought to be attended to, for the good, the happiness of mankind require it; so, too, for like reason the subject of generation ought to be in- vestigated unlil it be rightly understood by all people, but at such opportunities as the good sense of every individual will easily decide to be proper. This we presume to say, not simply upon the abstract princi- ple that all knowledge of nature's workings is useful, and the want of it disadvantacjeous, but from the 85 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. What Mankind Require. known moral fact that ignorance of this pro cess has in many instances proved the cause of a lamentable " mishap," and more especially as it is essential to the attainment of the great advantages which it is the chief object of this work to bestow upon mankind. People generally, as it was the case with physicians until late years, entertain a very erroneous idea of what takes place in the conception. Hence it is necessary to correct a long held and widely extended error. But this we cannot expect to do by simply saying it is an error. Deeply rooted and hitherto undisputed opinions are not so easily eradi- cated. If we would convince any one that the steps in one of the most recondite processes of nature are not such as he has always believed, it will greatly serve my purpose to show what these steps are. We must first prepare him to be reasoned with, and then reason the matter all over with him. "We must point out the fact which disprove his opinion, and show that our own is unattended with difficulties. But what can be more obvious than that it is abso- lutely impossible to explain any process or function of the animal economy, so as to be understood, before the names of the organs which perform this function SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 87 Function of the Animal Economy. have been defined, that is, before the or;^ans them- selves have been described. !N"ow it is well known to every anatomist, and indeed it may be obvious to all, that in describino^ any organ or system of organs, M'e must always begin with some external and known parts, and proceed regularly, step by step, to the inter- nal and unknown. As in aritlimetic, "everything must be understood as vou go alono'." Fully to effect the object of this work, it is there- fore a matter of necessity that we give an anatomical description of certain parts — even external parts — which some, but for what I have just said, might think it useless to mention. It is not to gratify the idle curi- osity of the light-minded that this book is written ; it is for utility in the broad, and truly philosophical sense of the term; nay, farther, it shall, with the exception of here and there a little spicing, be confined to practical utility. We shall therefore endeavor to treat of the subject in this chapter so as to be understood, without giving any description of the male organs of genera- tion; though I hold it an accomplishment for one to be able to speak of those organs, as diseases often put them under the necessity of doing, without being qpm- pelled to use low and vulirar language. But we must 8S SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Female Organs Described. Lrieflj descril)e the female organs; in doing which, Ave mast, of course, speak as do other anatomists and physiologists; and whoever objects to this will dis- cover more affectation and prudery than good sense and good will to mankind. The adipose or fatty matter immediately over the share-bone, forms a considerable prominence in females, which at the age of puberty is covered with hair, as in males. This prominence is called Mons Veneris. The exterior orifice commences immediately below this. On each side of this orifice is a prominence continued from the mons veneris, wliich is largest above and gradually diminishes as it descends. These two prominences are called the Labia Externa, or external lips. ITear the latter end of pregnancy they become somewhat enlarged and relaxed, so that they sustain little or no injury during parturition. Just within the upper or anterior commissure, formed by • the junction of these lips, a little round oblong body is situated. The body is called the clitoris. Most of its length is bound down, as it were, pretty closely to the bone; and it is of very variable size in different females. Instances have occurred where it was so SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 89 Principal Seat of Pleasure. enlarged as to allow the female to liave venereal com- merce with others; and in Paris this fact was once made a public exliibition of to the medical faculty. "Women thus formed appear to partake in their general form of the male character, and are termed hermaphrodites. The idea of human beings called hermaphrodites, which could be either father or mother, is doubtless erroneous. The clitoris is analogous in its structure to the penis, and like it, is exquisitively sensitive, being as it is sup- posed, the principal seat of pleasure. It is subject to erection or distension, like the penis, from like causes. The skin which lines the internal surface of the ex- ternal lips is folded in such a manner as to form two flat bodies, the exterior edges of which are convex. They are called the nymphse. They extend downwards, one on each side, from the clitoris to near the middle of the external orifice, somewhat diverging from each other. Their use is not very evident. The orifice of the urethra (the canal, short in females, which leads to the bladder) is situated an inch or more further inward than the clitoris, and is a little protuberant. Passing by the external lips, the clitoris, the nj'm- phse, and the orifice of the urethra, we come to the 90 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Menstrual Fluid. membrane called the hymen. It is situated just at or a trifle behind the orifice of the urethra. It is stretched across the passage, and were it a complete septum, it would close up the anterior extremity of that portion of the passage which is called the vagina. But the instances in which the septum or partition is complete are very rare, there being in almost all cases an aper- ture either in its centre or more frequently in its an- terior edo:e, ffivino; the meinbrane the form of a cres- cent. Through this aperture passes the menstrual fluid. Sometimes, however, this septum is complete, and the menstrual fluid is retained month after month, until appearances and symptoms much like those of pregnancy are produced, giving rise perhaps to unjust suspicions. Such cases require the simple operation of dividing the hjnnen. In many instances the hy- men is very imperfect, insomuch that some have doubted whether it is to be found in the generality of virgins. "Where it exists, it is generally ruptured in the first intercourse of the sexes, and the female is said to lose her virginity. In some rare instances it is so very strong as not to be ruptured by such inter- course, and the nature of the difliculty not being un- derstood, the husband has sued for a divorce. But SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 91 Imperfect Hymen — Uterus, where Situated everything maj^ be put to rights by a slight surgical operation. The parts here described are among those called the external parts of generation. The internal organs of generation consist in tlie female, of tlie vagina, the uterus, tlie ovaries and their appendages. The vagina is a membranous canal, commencing at the hymen and extending to the uterus. It is a little curved, and extends backwards and upward between the bladder, which lies before and above it, and that extreme portion of the bowels called the rectum, which lies behind it. The coat of membrane which lines the internal surface of the vagina forms a nuni- ber of transverse ridges. The ridges are to be found only in the lower or anterior half of the vagina, and they do not extend all around the vagina, but are situ- ated on its anterior and posterior sides, while their lateral sides are smooth. The uterus or womb is also situated betvreen the bladder and the rectum, but above the vagina. Such is its shape that it has been compared to a pear with a long neck. There is, of course, considerable differ- ence between the body and the neck, the first being twice as broad as the last. Eacli of these parts is 92 SECRET SIISIS OF SOOIETY. Fallopian Tubes. somewhat flattened. In subjects of mature age who have never been pregnant, the whole of the uterus is about two inches and a half in length, and more than an incii and a half in breadth at the broadest part of the body. It is near an inch in thickness. The neck of the uterus is situated downwards, and may be said to be inserted into the upper extremity of the vagina. It extends down into the vagina the better part of an inch. In the uterus is a cavity which ap]>roaches the triangular form, and from which a canal passes down through the neck of the uterus into the vagina. This cavity is so small that its sides are almost in con- tact. So that the uterus is a thick, firm organ for so small a one. Comparing the cavity of the uterus to a triangle, we say the upper side or line of this triangle is transverse with respect to the body, and the otiier two lines pass downwards and inward, so that they would form an angle belov/, did they not before they meet take a turn more directly downwards to form tlie canal just mentioned. In each of the upper angles, there is an orifice of such size as to admit of a hog's ■bristle. These little orifices are the mouths of two tubes called the fallopian tubes, of which more will be said presently. The canal which passes through the SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Ovaries. neck of the uterus, connecting the cavity of this or- gan with that of the vagina, is ahont a quarter of an inch in diameter. It is different from other ducts, for it seems to be a part of the cavitj from which it extends, inasmuch as when the cavitj of the uterus is enlarged in the process of pregnancy, this canal is gradually converted into a part of that cavity. The lower extremity of the neck of the uterus is irregularly convex and tumid. The orifice of the canal in it is oval, and so situated that it divides the convex surface of the lower extremity of the neck in two portions, which are called the lips of the uterus. The anterior is thicker than the posterior. The ori- fice itself is called os tincm or os uteris or in English, the mouth of the womb. "When the parts are in a weak, relaxed state, the mouth or neck of the uterus is quite low, and in almost all cases it may be reached by a finger introduced into the vagina, especially by a second person who carries the hand behind. The ovaries are two bodies of a flattened or oval form, one of which is situated on eacli side of the uterus, at a little distance from it, and about as high up as where the nterus becomes narrow to form its neck. The longest diameter of the ovarium is about 94 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Ovaries. an inch. Each ovarium has a firm coat of membrane In those who have not been pregnant, it contains from ten to twenty vesicles^ which are little round bodies, formed of a delicate membrane, and filled with a transparent fluid. Some of these vesicles are situated so near the surface of the ovarium as to be promi- nent on its surface. Tliey are of different sizes, the largest nearly a quarter of an inch in diameter.* In those in whom conception has ever taken place, some of these vessels are removed, and in their place a cicatrix or scar is formed, which continues through life. However, the number of cicatrices does not al- ways correspond M'ith the number of conceptions. They often exceed it, and are sometimes found where conception has not been known to take place. The fallopian tubes are two canals four or five inches in length, proceeding from the upper angles of the cavity of the uterus, in transverse direction in respect to the body. Having so i)roceeded for some distance, they turn downwards towards the ovaries. At their com- * The vesicles here mentioned are the so-called Graafian vesicles, or ovisacs, each of which contains in its interior a little ovum or egg. In the hiiman female the ovum is ex'remely minute, so as only to be visible with the aid of a lens. The Graafian vesicles are not limited to a certain small number, as was formerly thought, but continue to be formed in the ovaries, and to discharge at inter\als mature ova during the whole of the fruitful period of life.— G. B. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 95 Menstruation. meijcement in the uterus tliej are very small, but tliey enlarge as much as they progress. The large ends which hang loose, terminate in open mouths, tlie margins of which consist of linihrlateJ processes, and nearly touch the ovaria. We are now 2)repared to treat of conception. Yet, as menstruation is closely connected with it. and as a knowledge of many things concerning menstruation may contribute much to the well-being of females, for whom this work is at least as much designed as for males, I shall first briefly treat of this subject. 3Ienstruat'ion. — When females arrive at the age of puberty they begin to have a discharge once every month, by way of the vagina, of the color of blood. This discharge is termed the menses. To have it, is to menstruate. The age at which menstruation com- mences varies with different individuals, and also in different climates. The warmer the climate the earlier it commences and ceases. In temperate climates it. generally commences at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and it ceases at forty-four, or a little later.* Whenever it commences the girl acquires a more * Dr. Chavasse, on p. 94, of hi.s "Advice to a Wife" (published by W. H Smith & Son), gives instances of very early menstruation and consequent fecundity. — [Publishers' note. 9Q SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Amount of Discharge — Avoiding Exposures. womanly appearance. It is a secretion of the uterus, or in other words, the minute vessels distributed to the inner coat of the uterus, select as it were, from the blood, and pour out in a gradual manner the ma- terials of this fluid. It has one of the properties, color, of blood, but it does not coagulate, or separ- ate into different parts like blood, and cannot proj)- crlj be called blood.* When this discharge is in all respects regular, it amounts in most females to six or eight ounces, and is from two or four days' continu- ance. During its continuance the woman is said to be unwell, or out of order. Various unpleasant feel- ings are liable to attend it ; but when it is attended with severe pain, as it not unfrequently is, it becomes a disease, and the woman is not likely to conceive until it be cured. During the existence of the "turns," or "monthlies," as they are often called, indigestible food, dancing in warm rooms, sudden exposure to cold or wet, and mental agitations, should be avoided as much as possible. The " turns " do * " The menstrual discharge," says Dr. Kirks, " consists of blood effused from the inner surface of the uterus, and mixed with mucus from the uterus, vagina, and the external parts of the generative apparatus. Being diluted by this admixture, the menstrual blood coagulates less perfectly fhan ordinary blood ; and the frequent acidity of the vaginal mucus tends still further to diminish its coagulability."— Handbook of Physiology, 8th ed., p. 727, 187-1.— L. G. B. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY, 97 Menstrual Discbarge. not continue during pregnancy, nor nursing, unless nursine" be continued after the "turns" recommence. Some women, it is true, are subject to a slight hem- orrhage, that sometimes occurs with considerable reg- ularity during pregnancy, and which has led them to suppose they have their turns at such terms ; but it is not so ; the dischai'ge at such times is real blood.* The use of the menstrual discharge seems to be, to prepare the uterine system for conception. For fe- males do not become pregnant before they commence, nor after they cease having their turns ; nor while they are suppressed by some disease, by cold, or by nursing. Some credible women, however, have said that they become pregnant while nursing, without having had any turn since their last lying-in. It is believed that in these cases they had some discharge, colorless, per- haps, which they did not notice, but which answered the purposes of the common one. Women are not nearly so likely to conceive during the week before a monthly, as during the week immediately after.f * Consult on the whole of this Dr. Chavasse's hook, pp, 91-101, where full details are given.— [Publishers' note. t See however, Dr. Bull's '• Hints to Mothers," pp. 51-58, and 127-129 (published by Longinan, Green & Co.).— [Publishers' note. 7 98 SECHET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Male in Conception. But altlioui^li the use of this secretion seems to be to prepare for conception, it is not to be inferred that tlie reproductive instinct ceases at the " turn of life," or wlien tlie woman ceases to menstruate. On the contrary, it is said that this passion often increases at this period, and continues in a greater or less degree to an extreme age. Conception. — The part performed by the male in the reproduction of the species consists in exciting the organism of the female, and depositing the semen in the vagina. Before we inquire what takes place in the females, we propose to speak of the semen. This fluid, which is secreted by the testicles, may be said to jDOSsess three kinds of properties — pliysical chemical, physiological. Its physical properties are known to every one, — it is a thickish, nearly opaque fluid, of a peculiar odor, saltish taste, etc. As to its chemical properties, it is found by analysis to consist of 900 parts of water, 60 of animal mucilage, 10 of soda, 30 of phosphate of lime. Its physiological prop- erty is that of exciting the female genital organs in a peculiar manner. "When the semen is examined by microscope, there can be distinguished a multitude of small animalculae. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 99 Secretion of the Semen.- which appears to have a rounded head and a long tail These animalculas move with a certain degree of ra- pidity. They appear to avoid the light and to delight in the shade. Leeuwenhoek, if not the discoverer of the seminal animalculse, was the first who brought the fact of their existence fully before the public. "With respect to their size, he remarked that ten thou- sand of them might exist in a space not larger than a grain of sand. They have a definite figure, and are obviously different from the animalculse found in any other fluid.* Leeuwenhoek believed them to be the beginnings of future animals — that they are of differ- ent sexes, upon which depends the future sex of the foetus. Be this as it may, it appears to be admitted on all liands that the animalculse are present in the semen of the various species of male animals, and that they cannot be detected when either from age or disease the animals are rendered sterile. '\IIence," says Bostock, " we can scarcely refuse our assent to the position that these animalculae are in some way or other instrumental to the production of the foetus." The secretion of the semen commences at the age * See Dr. Carpenter's " Animal Physiology," p. 558 (published by H. Q. Bohn) ; Nichol's " Human Physiology," pp. 253-255 (Published by Trubner & Co.).— [Publishers', note. 100 SECEfIT SINS OF SOCIETY. Reproduction of Male and Female. of puberty. Before this period tlie testicles secrete a viscid, transparent fluid, which has never been ana- lyzed, but which is doubtless essentially different: from semen. The revolution which the whole economy undergoes at this period, such as the tone of the voice, and development of hairs, the beard, the increase of the muscles and bones, etc., is intimately connected with the testicles and the secretion of this fluid.* " Eunuchs preserve the same form as in childhood; their voice is effeminate, they have no beard, their dis- position timid; and finally, their physical and moral character very nearly resembles that of females. Nevertheless many of them take delight in venereal intercourse, and give themselves up with ardor to a connection which must always be unfruitful.f The part performed by the female in the reproduc- tion of the species is far more complicated than that performed by the male. It consists in the first in- stance, in providing a substance which, in connection with the male secretion, is to constitute the foetus; in furnishing a suitable situation in which the foetus may be developed; in afiording due nourishment* for its growth; in bringing it forth, and afterwards furnish- *Nlchol's "Human Physiology," pp. 257, 256.— [Publishers' note. t Magendic's Physiology.— [Author's note. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 101 A Case of Twins. ing it with food especially adapted to the digestive organs of the young animal. Some parts of this pro- cess aj*e not well understood, and such variety of hy- potheses have been proposed to explain them, that Drelincourt. who lived in the latter part of the 17th century, is said to have collected 260 hypotheses of generation. It ought to be tnown that women have conceived when the semen was merely applied to the parts anterior to the hymen, as the internal surface of the external lips, the nymphse, etc. This is proved by the fact that several cases of pregnancy have occurred when the hymen was entire. This fact need not surprise us, for, agreeable to the theory of absorption, we have to account for it only to suppose that some of the ab- sorbent vessels are situated anterior to the hymen — a supposition by no means unreasonable. There are two peculiarities of the human species representing conception which we will notice. First, unlike other animals, they are liable and for what has been proved to the contrary, equally liable — to conceive at all seasons of the year. Second, a woman rarely, if ever conceives until after having several sex- ual connections ; nor does one connection in fifty 102 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Impregnation while the Hymau remains Entire. cause conception in the matrimonial state, where the husband and wife live together uninterruptedly. Pub- lic women rarely conceive, owing probably to a weak- ened state of the gential system, induced by too fre- quent and promiscuous intercourse. It is universally agreed, that some time after a fruitful connection, a vesicle (two in case of twins) of one or the other ovary becomes so enlarged that it bursts forth from the ovary and takes the name of ovum, which is taken up, or rather received, as it bursts forth, by the fimbriated extremity of the fal- lopian tube, and is then conducted along the tube into the uterus, to the inner surface of which it attaches itself. * * Since Dr. Knowlton's work was written, the very important fact has been discovered that ova are periodically discharged from the ovaries in the human female and other animals, not in consequence of fruitful con- nection having taken place, as was formerly believed, but quite independ- ently of intercourse with the male. Such a discharge of ova occurs in the lower animals at the time of heat or rut, and in women during menstrua- tion. At each menstrual period, a Graafian vesicle becomes enlarged, bursts, and lets the ovum which it contains escape into the fallopian tube along which it passes to the uterus. "It has long been known," says Dr. Kirlv, "that in the so-called oviparous animals, the separat on of ova from the ovary may take place independently of impregnation by the male, or even of sexual union. And it is now established that a like maturation and discharge of ova, independently of coition, occurs in Mammalia, tiie peri- ods at which the matured ova are separated from the ovaries and received into the lallopian tubes being indicated in the lower Mammalia by the phenomena of heat or rut; in the human female by the ptienomena of men- stniation. Sexu.il desire manifests itself in the human female to a greater degree at these periods, and in the female of mammiferous animals at no other time. If the union of the sexes takes place, the ovum may be fecun- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY 103 Impregnation while the Hymen Remains Entire. Here it becomes developed into a full-r;rown foetus, and is brought forth about fortj-two weeks from the time of conception, b j a process termed parturition. But one grand question is, how the semen operates itself, or any part thereof, reaches the ovarj, and if so, in what way it is conveyed to them. It was long tiio opinion that the semen was ejected into the uterus in the act of coition, and that it afterwards, by some un- knov»m means, found its way into and along the fallopian tubes to the ovary. But there are several facts which weigh heavil}'- against this opinion, and some that entirely forbid it. In the first place, there are several well attested instances in which im- pregnation took place while the hymen remained en- tire, where the vagina terminated in the rectum, and where it was so contracted by a cicatrix as not to ad- mit the penis. In all these' cases the semen could not liave been lodged anywhere near the mouth of the uterus, much less ejected into it. Secondly, it has fol- lowed a connection where, from some defect in the male organs, as the urethra terminating some inches behind the end of the penis, it is clear that the semen dated, and if no union occur, it perishes. From what has been said it may therefore be concluded that the two states, heat and meustruatiou. are anal- agous, and that the essentuil accompaniment of botli is tlie nialuratiou and extrusion of ova," " Handbook of Physiology," page 724.— [G. R. lOtt SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. .Tenacity of Male -Semen. could not have Leen injected into the nteriis, nor even near its mouth. Tiiird, the neck of the unim- pregnated uterus is so narrow as merely to admit a probe, and is filled with a thick tenacious fluid, which seemingly could not be forced away by any force which the male organ possesses of ejecting the semen, even if the mouth of the male urethra were in opposition with that of the uterus. But fourth, the mouth of the uterus is by no means fixed. • By various causes it is made to assume various situations, and probably the mouth of the urethra rarely comes in contact with it. Fifth, " the tenacity of the male semen is such as renders its passage through the small aperture in the neck of the uterus impossible, even by a power of force much superior to that which we may rationally sup- pose to reside in the male organs of generation." Sixth, " Harvey and DeGraaf dissected animals at almost every period after coition, for the express pur- pose of discovering the semen, but were never able to detect the smallest vestige of it in the uterus in any one instance." * Aware of the insurmountable objection to this view of the manner in which the semen reaches the ovary, * Dewees' Essay on Superfoetation.— [Author's note. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 105 Animals at the Period after Coition. it has been supposed by some phj'siologists that the semen is absorbed from the vagina into the great circulating system, where it is mixed, of course, with the blood, and goes the whole round of the circula- tion, subject to the influence of those causes which ])roduce great changes in the latter fluid. To this hypothesis it may be objected, that while there is no direct evidence in support of it, it is ex- ceedingly unreasonable, inasmuch as we can scarcely believe that the semen can go the whole ronnd of circulation, and then find its way to the ovary in such a pure unaltered state as the experiments of Spallan- zani prove it must be in, that it may impregnate. A third set of theorists have maintained that an im- perceptible something, which they have called aura seminalis^ passes from the semen lodged in the vagina to the ovary, and excites those actions which are es- sential to the development of an ovum. Others again have told us that it is all done by sympathy. That neither the semen nor any volatile part of it finds its way to the ovary ; but that the semen excites the parts with which it is in contact in a peculiar manner, and by a law of the animal economy, termed sympath_y, or consent of parts, a peculiar action commences in the ovary, by which an ovum is developed. 106 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Harmonizing Facts Relating to Conception To both these conjectures it may be objected that they have no other foundation but the supposed ne- cessity of adopting them, to account for the effect of impreojnation ; and further, "they make no provision for the formation of mules ; for the peculiarities of, and likeness to, parents, and for the propagation of predisposition to disease, from parent to child ; for the production of mulattoes," etc. A fifth, and to me far more satisfactory view of the subject than any other, is that advanced by our distin- guished countryman, Dr. Dewees, of Philadelphia. It appears to harmonize with all known facts relating to the subject of conception, and something from analogy may also be drawn in its favor. It is this: that there is a set of absorbent vessels leading directly from the inner surface of the lahia exteima, and the vaffina to the ovaries, the whole oflSce of which vessels is to absorb the semen and convey it to the ovaries.* * This view is not held at the present day. The commonly received doc- trine now is that the seminal fluid enters the uterus, M'hether during the intercourse or after it, and passes along the fallopian tubes to the ovaries ; and that fecundation takes place at some point of this course, most frequent- ly in the tubes, but also at times in the ovary itself, or even, perhaps, in the uterus. It is essentially necessary for fecundation that the spermatozoa should come into actual contact with the ovum. " That the spermatozos make their way toward the ovarium, and fecundate the ovum cither before it entirely quits the ovisac or very shortly afterward;" says Dr. Carpenter, "this appears to be the general rule in regard to the Mamma)ia ; and theirpower of movement must obviously be both vigorous and long continued to enable SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 107 Female Seminal Fluid. I do not know that these vessels have yet been fully discovered, but in note on the sixteenth page of his "Essay on Various Subjects," the doctor says: "The existence of these vessels is now rendered almost cer- tain, as Dr. Gartner, of Copenhagen, has discovered a duct leading from the ovary to the vagina." Another question of considerable moment relating to, generation, is from which parent are the first rudi- ments of the foetus derived. The earliest hj'potliesis with which we are acquaint- ed, and which has received the support of some of the most eminent of the moderns, ascribes the original formation of the foetus to the combination of particles of matter derived from each of the parents. This hy- pothesis naturally presents itself to the mind as the obvious method of explaining the necessity for the co- operation of the two sexes, and the resemblance in external form, and even in mind and character, which the offspring frequently bears to the male parent. " The principal objections," asijs Bostock, " to this hy- them to traverse so great an extent of mucous membrane, especially when it is remembered that they ascend in opposition to the direction of the ciliary movement of the epithelial cells, and to the downward peristaltic action of the fallopian tubes . . . There can be no doubt that it is the contact of the spermatozoa with the ovum, and in changes which occur as the immediate consequence of that contact, that the act of fecundation e-^sientially con- s sts."— " Principles.of Human Physiology," Sth ed., p. 961, 1S70.— ^G. R. 108 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Female Secretion in the Act of Coition. pothesis, independent of the want of any direct proofs of a female seminal fluid, are of two descriptions — those which depend upon tlie supposed impossibility of un- organized matter forming an organized being, and those which are derived from observations and expei'i- ments of Haller and Spallanzani, which they brought forward in support of their theory of pre-existent germs. In relation to these objections we remark, first, tliat those whose experience has been with hale females, we suspect, can have no doubt but that the female or- ganism increases like that of the male, until an emis- sion of fluid of some kind or other takes place. But whether the secretion may properly be called semen, whether any part of it unites with the male semen in forming the rudiments of the foetus, is another ques- tion. For my part, we are inclined to the opinion that it does not.* We rather regard it as the result of exalted excitation, analogous to the increased secre- tion of other organs from increased stimulation; and if it be for any object or use, as it probably is, it is *With regard to this secretion in the female, which has nothing of a seminal character, Dr. Carpenter observes : "Its admixture with the male semen has been supposed to have some connection with impregnation ; but no proof whatever has been given that any such admixture is necessary."— •' Human Phyaiol.igy," p. 901.— [G. R. SECRET SmS OF SOCIETY. 109 Particles Derived From Each of the Parents. that of affording nature a means of relieving herself; or, in other words, of quieting the venereal passion. If this passion, being once roused, could not by some means or other be calmed, it would command by far too great a portion of our thoughts, and with many constitutions the individuals, whether male or female, could not conduct themselves with due decorum. One fact which leads me to think that the female secretion in the act of coition is not essential to im- pregnation is. that many females have conceived, if their unbiased testimony may be relied on, when they experienced no pleasure. In these cases it is more than probable that there was no orgasm, nor any se- cretion or emission of fluid on the part of the female. As to the objection of the supposed impossibility of unorganized matter forming an organized being, we do not conceive that it weighs at all against the hypothesis before us, for we do not believe such as thing takes place, even if we admit that "the original formation of the foetus is a combination of particles of matter derived from each of the parents." What do, or rather what ought we to mean by organized matter? Not surely that it exhibits some obvious physical structure unlike what is to be found in inor- 110 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Rudiments of the Tcetus. ganic matter, but that it exhibits phenomena, and of course may be said to possess properties unlike any kind of inorganic matter. Matter unites with matter in three ways: mechanically, chemically and organic- ally, and each mode of union gives rise to properties peculiar to itself. When matter unites organically, the substance or being so formed exhibits some phe- nomena essentially different from what inorganic bodies exhibit. It is on this account that we ascribe to organic bodies certain properties which we call physiological properties, such as contractility, sen- sibility, life, etc. "When from any cause these bodies have undergone such a change that they no longer exhibit the phenomena peculiar to them, they are said to have lost these properties, and to be dead. A substance need not possess all the physiological properties of an animal of the liigher orders, to entitle it to the name of an or- ganized or living substance, nor need it possess the physical property of solidity. The blood, as well as many of the secretions, does several things, exhibits several phenomena, which no mechanical or mere chem- ical combinations of matter do exhibit. We must therefore ascribe to it certain physiological properties, SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Ill The Living Fluid. and regard it as an organized, a living fluid, as was contended bj tlie celebrated John Hunter. So with respect to the semen, it certainly possesses physiologi- cal properties, one in particular, peculiar to itself, namely, the property of impregnating the female; and upon no sound principle can it be regarded in any other light than as an organized, and of course a living fluid. And if the female secretion or any part of it unite with the male secretion in the formation of the rudiments of the foetus in a diflerent manner than any other substance would, then it certainly has the prop- erty of doing so. whether we give this property a name or not; and a regard to the soundest principles of physiology compels us to class this property with the physiological or vital, and of course to regard this se- cretion as an organized and living fluid. So, then, unorganized matter does not form an organized being, admitting the hypothesis before us as connect. That an organized being should give rise to other or- ofanized beinijs under favorable circumstances as to nourishment, warmth, etc., is no more wonderful than that Are should give rise to fire when air and fuel are present. To be sure, there are some minute steps in the processes which are not fully known to us ; still, if they 112 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Observations of Haller and Spallanzani. ever should be known, we should unquestionably see that there is a natural cause for every one of them ; and that they are all consonant vpith certain laws of the animal economy. We should see no necessity of attempting to explain the process of generation by bringing to our aid, or rather to the darkening of the subject, any imaginary principle, as the nisus forma- tivus of Blumenbach. As to the "observations and experiments of Hal- ler and Spallanzani," we think with Dr. Bostock, that they weigh but little, if any, against the theory be- fore us. We shall not be at the labor of bringing them forward, and showing tlieir futility as objections to this theory, for I am far from insisting on the cor- rectness of it ; that is, we do not insist that any part of the female secretion, during coition, unites witli the male semen in the formation of the rudiments of the foetus. The second hypothesis or theory, we sliall notice, as to the rudiments of the foetus, is that of Leeuwen- hoek, who regarded the seminal animalcules of the male semen as the proper rudiments of the foetus, and thinks that the office of the female is to afford 3ECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 113 Pre-existing Germs. them a suitable receptacle, where they may be sup- ported and nourished until they are able to exist by the exercise of their own functions. This is essential- ly the view of the subject which we adopt, and which ■we intend to give more particularly presently. We know of no serious objections to this hypothe- sis, nothing but the " extreme improbability," as its opponents say, " that these animalcules should be the rudiments of being so totally dissimilar to them." But we wish to know if there is more difference be- tween a foetus and a seminal animalcule, than there is between a foetus and a few material particles in some other form than that of such animalcules? Tlie third hypotheses, or that of pre-existing germs, proceeded upon a precisely opposite view of the sub- ject to that of Leeuwenhoek, namely, that the foetus s properly the production of the female; that it exists previous to the sexual congress with all its organs, in some part of the uterine system; and that it receives no proper addition from the male, but that the seminal fluid acts merely by exciting the powers of the foetus, or endowing it with vitality. It is not known who first proposed this hypothesis; but strange as it may appear, it has had the support 114 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Manner of Impregnation. of such names as Bonnet, Haller and Spallai.zani, and met with a favorable reception in the middle of the last century. Agreeable to this hypothesis, our com- mon mother Eve contained a number of homuncules (little men) one within another, like a nest of boxes, and all within her ovaries, equal to all the number of births that have ever been, or ever will be, not to reckon abortions. Were we to bring forward all the facts and arguments that have been advanced in sup- port of this idea, it seems to me I should fiiil to con- vince sound minds of its correctness; as to arguments against it, they surely seemed uncalled for. Having now j)resented several hypotheses of generation, some as to the manner in which the semen reaches or influ- ences the ovary, and others as the rudiments of the fcetus, we shall now bring together those views which upon the whole appear to me the most satisfactory. We believe, with Dr. Dewees, that a set of absorb- ent vessels extend from the innermost surface of the labia externa, and from the vagina to the ovary, the whole office of which is to take up the semen or some part thereof and convey it to the ovary. We believe, with Lceuwenhoek, that the seminal animalcules are the proper rudiments of the foetus, and are perhaps SECBET SINS OF SOCIETY. 115 Manner of Impregnation. ^ of different sexes; that in case of impregnation one of them is carried not only to, but into, a vesicle of an ovary, which is in a condition to receive and be duly affected by it.* It is here surrounded by the album- inous fluid which the vesicle contains. This fluid be- • ing somewhat changed in its qualities by its new-com- er, stimulates the minute vessels of the parts which surround it, and thus causes more of this fluid to be formed; and while it affords the animalcule material for its development, it puts the delicate membrane of the ovary which retains it in its place upon the stretch, and flnally bursts forth, surrounded probably by an ex- ceedingly delicate membrane of its own. This mem- brane, with the albuminous fluid it contains and the animalcule in the center of it, constitutes the ovum or egcr. It is received by the fimbriated extremity of the fallopian tube, which by this time has grasped the ovary, and is by this tube slowly conveyed into the uterus, to the inner surface of which it attaches * The opinion that the spermatozoa of seminal filaments are real animal- cules is now abandoned, but it is held by Dr. Carpenter and other authorities that they actually, as here stated, penetrate into the interior of the ovum. " The nature of impregnation," says Dr. Hermann, " is as yet unknown. In all probability it is, above all, essential, in order that it should occur, that one or more spermatozoa should penetrate the ovum. At any rate, sperma- tozoa have been found within the fecundated eggs of the most diverse species of animals."—" Elements of Human Physiology," translated from tha 5th ed., by Dr. Gamgee, p. 534, 1875.— [G. R. 116 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Seminal Animalcule. itself, through the medium of the membrane, which is formed bj the uterus itself in the interim between im- pregnation and the arriving of the ovum in the way we have just mentioned. The idea that a seminal animalcule enters an ovum while it remains in the ovarj, was never before ad- vanced, to my knowledge ; hence I consider it incum- bent upon me to advance some reason for the opinion. First, it is admitted on all hands that the seminal animalcules are essential to impregnation, since ''they cannot be detected when either from age or disease the animal is rendered sterile." Second, the ovum is impregnated while it remains in the ovary. True, those who never met with Dr. Dewees' theory, and who consequently have adopted the idea that the semen is ejected into the uterus, as the least improbable of any with which they were ac- quainted, have found it very difficult to dispose of the fact that the ovum is impregnated in the ovary, and have consequently presumed this is not generally the case. They admit it is certainly so sometimes, and that it is difficult to reject the conclusion that it is always so. Dr. Bostock — who doubtless had not met with Dewees' theory at the time he wrote, and SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 117 Kumber of Animalcules in the Human Scmaa. who admits it is impossible to conceive liowthesemen can find its way along the fallopian tubes, how it can find its way towards the ovary, farther, at most, than into the uterus, and consequently cannot see how the ovura can be impregnated into the ovary — says, " Perhaps the most i-ational supposition may be that the ovum is transmitted to the uterus inthe unimpreg- nated state; but there are certain facts which seem almost incompatible with this idea, especially the cases which not unfrequently occur of perfect foetuses hav- ing been found in the tubes, or where they escaped them into the cavity of the abdomen. Hence it is de- monstrated the ovum is occasionallj' impregnated in the tubes (why did he not say ovaria ?), and we can scarcely resist the conclusion that it must always be the case." . . . " Haller discusses this liypothesis (Bostock's ' most natural supposition, perhaps ') and decides against it" ..." The experiments of Cruik- shank, which were very numerous, and appear to have been made with the requisite degree of skill and correctness, led to the conclusion that the rudiment of the young animal is perfected in the ovarium." . . . "A case is detailed by Dr. Granville of a foetus, which appears to have been lodged in the body of the 118 SECRET SmS OF SOCIETY. The Doctrine of Sympathy. ovarium itself, aud is considered by its author as a proof that conception always takes place in this or- gan." The above quotations are from the third volume of Bostock's Physiology. Now, as the seminal animalcules are essential to im- pregnation, and as the ovum is impregnated in the ovarium, what more probable conjecture can we form than an animalcule, as the real proper rudiment of the foetus, enters the ovum, where being surrounded with albuminous fluid with which it is nourished, it grad- ually becomes developed? It may be noticed that Leeuwenhock estimates that ten thousand animalcules of human semen may exist in a space not larger than a grain of sand. There can, therefore be no difficulty in admitting that they may find their way along ex- ceedingly minute vessels from the vagina, not only to, but into, the ovum, while situated in the ovarium. We think no one can be disposed to maintain that the animalcule merely reaches the surface of the ovum, * and thus impregnates it. But possibly some may contend tliat its sole office is to stimuhite the ovum, *I say surface of the ovum, for it is probably not a mere drop of fluid, but fluid surrounded with an exceedingly delicate membrane.— [Author's note. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 119 The Doctrine of Sympathy. and iu this way set going that train of actions which are essential to impregnation. But there is no evi- dence in favor of this last idea, and certainly it does not so well harmonize with the fact that the offspring generally partakes more or less of the character of its male parent. As Dr. Dewees says of the doctrine of sympathy', " It makes no provision for tlie formation of mules; for the peculiarities of, and likeness of pa- rents; and for the propagation of predisposition to disease from parent to child; for the production of mulattoes," etc. Considering it important to do away with the popular and mischievous error that the semen must enter the uterus to eflect impregnation, we shall, in addition to what has been already advanced, here notice the experiments of Dr. Haighton. He divided the fallo- pian tubes, in numerous instances and found that after the operation a foetus is never produced, but that corpora lutea were formed. The obvious conclusions from tliese facts are that the semen does not traverse the fallopian tubes to reach the ovaria; yet that the ovum becomes impregnated while in the ovarium, and consequently that the se- men reaches the ovum in some way, except by the 120 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. An Instance of Superfoetation. uterus and fallopian tubes. We maj remark, howev- er, that a corpus luteum is not positive proof that im- pregnation at some time or other has taken place; yet they are so rarely found in virgins that they were re- garded as such proofs until the time of Blumenbach, a writer of the present century.* " Harvey and DeGraaf dissected animals at most every period after coition, for the express purpose of discovering the semen, but were never able to detect the smallest vestige of it in the uterus in any one in- stance." — Dewees' Essay on Superfcetation. The fact of superfoetation furnishes a very strong argu- ment against the idea that the semen enters the uterus in impregnation. A woman being impregnated while she is al- ready impregnated, constitutes superfoetation. It is established beyond a doubt that such instances have occurred, yet those who have supposed that it is nec- essary for the semen to pass through the mouth of the uterus to produce conception have urged that super- *A corpus luteum is a little yellowish body, formed in the ovaiy by changes that take place in the Graafian vesicle, after it has burst and dis- charged its contents. Corpora Men were formerly considered a sure sign of impregnation, as they were thouf^ht to be developed only or chiefly in cases of pregnancy, but it is now known that they occur in all cases where a vesicle has been ruptured and an ovum discharged ; though they attain a larger size and are longer visible in the ovary when pregnancy takes place than when it does not.— [G. R. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 121 A Singular Case of Twins. foetation could not take place, because, saj tliej — and thej saj correctly — " so soon as impregnation shall have taken place, the os nteri closes and becomes im- pervious to the semen ejected in subsequent acts of coition." Dr. Dewees related two cases, evidently cases of Buperfoetation, that occurred to his own personal knowledge. The first shows that, agreeable to the old theory, the semen must have met with other difficul- ties than a closed mouth of the uterus, — it must have passed through several membranes, as well as tlie waters surrounding the foetus, to have reached even the uterine extremity of a fallopian tube. The second case we will give in his own words : " A white woman, servant to Mr. H. of Abington township, Montgomery county, was delivered about five and twenty years since of twins, one of which was perfectly white, the other perfectly black. When I resided in that neighborhood I was in the habit of seeing them almost daily, and also had frequent con- versations with Mrs. H. respecting them. She was present at their birth, so that no possible deception could have been practised respecting them. The white girl is delicate, fair-skinned, light-haired and blue- 122 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Uterus. eyed, and is said very mncli to resemble tlie mother. The other has all the characteristic marks of the African; short of stature, flat, broad nosed, thick-lip- ped, woolly-headed, flat-footed, and projecting heels; she is said to resemble a negro they had on the farm, but with whom the woman never would acknowledge an intimacy; but of this there was no doubt, as both he and the white man, with whom her connection was detected, ran from the neighborhood so soon as it was known tlie girl was with child." We are aware that some have thought they had ac- tually discovered semen in the uterus, while Kuysch, an anatomist of considerable eminence, who flourished at the close of the 17th century, asserted in the most une- quivocal manner that he found the semen in its gross white state in one of the fallopian tubes of a woman, who died very soon after, or during the act of coition; but says Dewees, " The semen, after it has escaped from the penis, quickly loses its albuminous appearance, and becomes as thin and transparent as water. And we are certain that Euysch was mistaken. Some al- teration in the natural secretion of the parts M^as mis- taken for senien. This was nowise difiicult for him to do, as he had a particular theory to support, and SECRET SliS'S OF SOCIETY. 123 Circimistances under which a Female is most likely to Coucelve. more especially as this supposed discovery made so much for it. It is not merely speculative when we say that some change in the natural secretion of the parts may be mistaken for semen, for we have the tes- timony of Morgani on our side. He tells us he lias seen similar appearances in several instances in vir- gins and others, who had been subject during their lives to leucorrhcea, and that it has been mistaken by some for male semen." On the whole, we would say, that in some instances, where the mouth of the uterus is uncommonly relaxed, the semen may, as it were, accidentally have found its way into it; but that is not generally the case, nor is it essential to impregnation; and further, that what- ever semen may at any time be lodged in the uterus, has nothing to do with conception. It is not consist- ent with analogy to suppose that the uterus has ves- sels for absorbing the semen and conveying it to the ovaria considering the other important functions which we know it performs. The circumstances under which a female is most likely to conceive, are first, when she is in health; second, between the ages of twenty-six and thirty; third, after she has a season been deprived of those 12-i SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Circumstances under which a Female is most likely to Couceive intercourses she bad previously enjoyed; fourth, soon after menstruating. Respecting this latter circum- stance, Dr. Dewees remarks, " Perhaps it is not err- ing greatly to say that the woman is liable to conceive at any part of the menstrual interval. It is generally supposed, however, that the most favorable instant is immediately after the catamenia have ceased." Per- haps this is so as a general rule; but it is certainly li- able to exceptions,* and he relates the following case, which occurred to his own notice : "The husband of a lady who was obliged to absent himself many months in consequence of the embar- rassment of his affairs, returned one night clandes- * This view, whicli concerns a question of the utmost practical import- ance, is held at the present day by the groat majority of physiologists. It it believed that although conception may occur at other times, it is much more likely to happen from intercourse a few days before or after the menstrual periods ; that is to say, during the time when ova are in process of being ripened and detached from the ovaries, and before they perish and are con. veyed out of the body. " There is a good reason to believe'," says Dr. Car- penter, " that in the human female the sexual feeling becomes stronger at the period of menstruation ; audit is quite certain that there is a greater aptitude for conception immediately before and after that epoch, than there is at any Immediate period. This question has been made the subject of special inquiry by M. Raciborski, who affirms that the exceptions to the rule — that conception occurs immediately before or after or during menstruation — are not more than six or seven per cent. Indeed, in his latest work on the subject, he gives the details of fifteen cases, in which the date of conception could be accurately fixed, and the time of the last appearance of the cata- menia was also known, and in all but one of them the corie^pondence be- tween the two periods was very close. " — " Human Physiology,'" p. 959. So^ too. Dr. Kirke remarks, that "although conception is not confined to the periods of menstruation, yet it is more likely to occur within a few days after cessation of the menstrual flux than at other times," — " Handbook of Physiology," p. 725. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 125 An Exceptional Case. tinely, his visit being only known to his wife, his mother, and myself. The consequence of this visit was the impregnation of his wife. The lady was at that time within a week of her menstrual period ; and as this did not fail to take place, she was led to hope that she had not suffered by the visit of her hus- band. But her catamenia not appearing at the next period, gave rise to a fear that she had not escaped; and the birth of a child nine months and thirteen days from the night of clandestine visit proved her apprehension too well grounded." "We think this case is an exception t© a general rule; and, furthermore, favors an idea which reason and a limited observation rather than positive knowledge, has led me to advance above, namely, that a woman is more likely to conceive, other things being the same, after being deprived for a season of those inter- courses she had previously enjoyed. Had this lady's hnsband remained constantly at home, she would probably either not have conceived at all, or have done so a fortnight sooner than she did. This case is also remarkable for two other facts : one, " that a woman in perfect health, and pregnant with a healthy child, may exceed the period of nine 126 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Term of Utero-Gestation. months by several days; the other, that a check is not always immediately given to the catamenial flow by an ovum being impregnated." Probably it is not so generally so as many suppose. The terra utero-gestation, or the length of time from conception to the commencement of hibor, is not pre- cisely determined by physiologists, " It seems, how- ever," says Dr. Dewees, " from the best calculations that can be made, that nine calendar months, or forty weeks approaches the truth so nearly that we can scarcely need desire more accuracy, could it be ob- tained." Unquestionably, however, some cases exceed this period by many days, or even weeks, and it has been a question much agitated, how far this period is ever exceeded. It is a question of some moment in a legal point of view. Cases are reported where the usual period was exceeded by five or six mouths ; cases, too, where the circumstances attending them, and the respectability of their reporters are such as to command our belief. Dr. Dewees has paid much at- tention to this subject, and he declares himself entirely convinced, "that the commonly fixed period may be extended from thirteen days to six weeks, under the SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 127 Xo certain Sign to tell when Conception has Taken Place. inflnence of certain causes or peculiarities of constitu- tion." * These occasional departures from the general rule will, perhaps, be the more readily admitted when we consider that they are not confined to the human species. From the experiments of Tessier, it appears that the term of utero-gestation varies greatly with the cow, sheep, horse, swine, and other animals to which his attention was directed. Properly connected with the subject of generation are the signs of pregnancy. Dr. Dewees remarks that " our experience furnishes no certain mark by which the moment conception takes place is to be distin- guished. All appeals by the women to particular sen- sations experienced at the instant should be very guardedly received, for we are certain they cannot be relied upon ; for enjoyment and indifference are alike fallacious. Nor are certain nervous tremblings, nau- sea, palpitation of the heart, the sensation of some- thing flowing from them during coition, etc., more to be relied upon." Burns, however, says, " Some women feel, immediately after conception, a peculiar sensa- tion, which apprises them of their situation, but such * See tables in Dr. Bull's " Hints to Mothers," pp. 130-141.— [Publishers' note. 128 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Peculiar Sensations of Some Women. instances are not frequent, and generally the first cir- cumstances which lead a wonnan to suppose herself pregnant are the suppression of the menses"; a fickle appetite, some sickness, perhaps vomiting, especially in the morning ; returning qualms, or languor in the afternoon ; she is liable to heart-burn, and to dis- turbed sleep. The breasts at first often become small- er, and sometimes tender ; but about the third month they enlarge, and occasionally become painful. The nipple is surrounded with an areola or circle of a brown color, or at least of a color sensibly deeper or darker than before. She loses her looks, becomes paler, and the under part of the lower eyelid is often somewhat of a leaden hue. The features become sharper, and some- times the whole body begins to emaciate, while 'the pulse quickens. In many instances particular sym- pathies take place, causing salivation, toothache, jaun- dice, etc. In other cases very little disturbance is produced, and the woman is not certain of her condi- tion until the time of quickening, which is generally about four months from conception. It is possible for a woman to mistake the efiects of wind for the motion of the child, especially if they have never borne children, and be anxious for a family; but the i SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 129 Peculiar Sensations of Some Women. sensation produced by wind in the bowels is not con- fined to one spot, but is often felt at a part of the ab- domen where the motion of a child could not possibly be felt. Quite as frequently, perhaps, do fleshy wo- men think themselves dropsical, and mistake motions of the child for movements of water within the ab- dominal cavity. The motion of the child is not to be confounded w^itli the sensations sometimes produced by the uterus rising out of the pelvis, which produces the feeling of fluttering. At the end of the fourth month, the uterus becomes so large that it is obliged to rise out of the pelvis, and if this elevation takes place suddenly, the sensation accompanying it is pret- ty strong, and the woman at the time feels sick or faint, and in irritable habits, even a hysterical fit may accompany it. After this the morning sickness, and other sympathetic effects of pregnancy generally abate, and the health improves. Yery soon after impregnation, if blood be drawn, and suiFered to stand a short time undisturbed, it will become sizy, of a yellowish or bluish color, and some- what of an oily appearance. J3ut we cannot from such appearances of the blood alone pronounce a woman pregnant, for a suppression of the menses, accom- 9 130 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Suppression of the Menses not a Sure Sign. panied with afebrile state, may give the blood a like appearance as pregnancy; so. also may some local dis- ease. Of the above-mentioned symptoms, perhaps there is no one on which we can place more reliance than the increased color of the circle around the nip- ple.* • Six or eight weelcs after conception, the most sure way of ascertaining pregnancy is to examine *the mouth and neck of the uterus, by way of the vagina. The uterus will be found lower down than formerly, its mouth is not directed so much forward as before impregnation; it is more completely closed, and the neck is felt to be thicker, or increased in circumfer- ence. When raised on the finger, it is found to be heavier or more resisting. Whoever makes this examination must have examined the same uterus in an unimpregnated state, and retained a tolerably cor- rect idea of its feeling at that time, or he will be liable to uncertainty, because the uterus of one woman is naturally different in magnitude from that of another, and the uterus is frequently lower down than natural from other causes than pregnancy, f * See "Advice to a Wife" P. H Chavasse, pp. 115-124, where many de- tails are given.— [PublLshers' note. t No one but a doctor, or one trained in physiology, could of course, ms-ke any such examination with safety and utility.— [I'ub.ishers' note. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 131 Established Facts with Animals. It lias not been fully ascertained how long it is after a fruitful connection before any effect is produced upon the ovaria — that is, before any alteration could be discovered, were the female to be dissected. But Haighton's experiments have established the fact, that with rabbits, whose term of utero-gestation is but thirty days; no effect is propagated to the ovaria until nearly fifty hours after coition ; we should judge, there- fore, that with the human species it must be several days, and it is generally estimated by physiologists that the ovum does not reach the uterus until the ex- piration of twenty days from the time of connection.* It is probable that in all cases in which any matter is absorbed from any portion of the animal system, some little time is required for such matter, after its application, to stimulate and arouse the absorbent ves- sels to action; hence it is probable that after the semen is lodged in the vagina, it is many minutes, possibly some hours, before any part of it is absorbed. Sterility depends either on imperfect organization, or imperfect actions of the organs of generation. In the former cases, which are rare, the menses do not •" The time occupied in the passage of the ovum from the ovary to the uterus," says Dr. Kirkes, " occupies jjrobably eight or ten days in the hu- man female."—" Handbook of Physiology," p. 741.— [O. R. 132 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Irregularities of Woman. generally appear, the breasts are not developed, and the sexual desire is inconsiderable. There is no reme- dy in these cases. The action may be imperfect in several respects. The mensem may be obstructed or sparing, or they may be too profuse or frequent. It is extremely rare for a woman to conceive who does not menstruate regularly. Hence where this is the case the first step is to regulate this periodical discharge.* For this purpose the advice of a physician will generally be required, for these irregularities depend upon such various causes and require such a variety of treat- ment, that it would be inconsistent with the plan of this work to give instructions for remedying them. A state of exhaustion, or weakness of the uterine sys- tem, occasioned by too frequent intercourse, is a fre- quent cause of sterility. The sterility of prostitutes is attributed to this cause, but I doubt it being the only one. "With females who are apparently healthy, the most frequent cause is a torpor, rather than weak- ness, of the gential organs. For the removal of sterility from this cause, we shall give some instructions, and this we do because • Chavasse, pp. 87-10", deals very fully with this point.— [Publishers' note SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 133 The Removal of Sterility. the requisite means are such as will regulate the menses in many cases, where they do "not appear so early in life, so freely or so frequently as they ought. In tlie first place, it will generally be necessary to do something towards invigorating the system by exer- cise in the open air, by nourishing food of easy diges- tion, by sufficient dress, particular!}'- flannel, and es- pecially by strict temperance in all things. With this view, also, some scales which fall from the blackr smith's anvil, or some steel filings, may be put into old cider or wine (cider the best), and after standing a week or so, as much may be taken two or three times a day as can be borne without disturbing the stomach. All the while the bowels are to be kept rather open, by taking from one to three of pill rufi every night on going to bed. These pills consist of four parts of aloes, two parts of myrrh, and one of saf- fron, by weight. These measures having been regularly pursued until the SYSitcm be brought into a vigorous state, medicines which are more particularly calculated to arouse the genital organs from a state of torpor may be com- menced, and continued for months if necessary. The cheapest, most simple (and we are not prepared to say 134: SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Arousing the Genital Organs, it is not the most effectual in many cases), is cayenne. All the virtues of this article are not generally known, even to physicians. We know it does not have the effect upon the coats of the stomach that many have conjectured. It may be taken in the quantity of from one to two rising teaspoonsful, or even more, every day, upon food or in any liquid vehicle. An- other medicine of much efficacy, is Dewees' Yolatile Tincture of Guiac. It is generally kept by apothe- caries, and is prepared as follows : Take of gum guaiacum, in powder eight ounces; carbonate of potash, or of soda, or (what will answer) salaratus, three drachms; allspice, in powder, two ounces; any common spirits of good strength, two pounds or what is about the same, two pints and a gill. Put all into a bottle, which may be shaken now and then, and use of it may be commenced in a few days. To every gill of this, at least a large teaspoon- ful of spirits of ammonia is to be added. A tea- spoonful is to be taken for a dose, three times a day in a glass of milk, cider or wine. It is usually given before eating; but if it should chance to offend the stomach when taken before breakfast, it may in this case be taken an hour after. SEOEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 135 Arousing the Genital Organs. Dr. Dewees found this tincture, taken perhaps lor months, the most effectual remedy for ptiinful men- struation, which is an obstinate complaint. If there be frequent strong pulse, heat, thirst, florid counte- nance, etc., it is not to be taken until these symptoms be removed by low diet, a few doses of salts, and bleed- ing, if required. Another excellent plan to follow in the treatment of the genital organs is the " water cure." A person suffering with this derangement should also have a due amount of exercise. Sound health of the bodily functions is impossible without it. The heart and lungs cease to work only with the cessation of life, and those who imitate as it were these involuntary organs, and continue to transact the business of life to the last, be it physical or mental, without falling into the error of over-taxing their bodies, generally live not only the longest but the healthiest lives. In many cases of sterility, where the general health is considerably in fault, and especially when the di- gestive organs are torpid, I should have much confi- dence in a Thomsonian course. It is calculated to arouse the capillary vessels throughout the whole sys- tem, and thus to open the secretions, to remove ob- 136 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Time Woman is Most likely to Couceive. structions, and free the blood of those efiete and plilet^mj materials which nature requires to be thrown off. The views of the Thomsonian as to heat and cold appear to ine nnphilosophical. But this has nothing to do with the efficiency of their measures. In relation to sterility, we would here bring to mind, what has been before stated, that a woman is most likely to conceive immediately after a menstrual turn : And now, also, let me suggest the idea that nature's delicate beginnings may be frustrated by the same means that put her agoing. This idea is cer- tainly important when the woman is known to have miscarried a number of times. Sterility is sometimes to be attributed to the male, though he apparently be in perfect health. It would be an interesting fact to ascertain if there be no seminal animalcules in these cases, and whether medicines of any kind are avail- able. It has been ascertained that a male and female may be sterile in relation to each other, though neither of them be so with others. The foregoing measures lor sterility are also suit- able in cases of irapotency. This term, we believe, is generally confined to, and defined as a want of desire SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 137 The Root of Domestic Happiness. ^ or ability, or both, on the part of the male ; but we see no good reason why it should not comprehend the case in which there is neither desire or pleasure with the female. Such females, it is true, may be fruitful ; but so on the other hand, the semen may not have lost its fecundating property. Impotency at a young or middle age, and in some situations in life especially, is certainly a serious misfor- tune, to say the least of it. The whole evil by no means consists, in every case, in the loss of a source of pleas- ure. All young people ought to be apprised of the causes of it, — causes which in manj/' instances greatly lessen one's ability of giving and receiving that pleas- ure which is the root of domestic happiness. We shall allude to one cause, that of premature, and es- pecially solitary gratification, in another place. In- temperance in the use of spirits is another powerful cause. Even a moderate use of spirits, and also of tobacco, in any form, have some effect. It is a law of the animal economy, that no one part of the system can be stimulated or excited, without an expense of vitality, as it is termed. The part which is stimulated draws the energy from other parts. And hence it is, that close and deep study, as well as all the mental 138 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Kemedies for Impotency passions when excessive, impair the venereal appe- tite. All excesses, all diseases and modes of life which impair the general health, impair his appetite, but irome things more directly and powerfully than others. As to the remedies for impotency, they are much the same as for sterility. It is of the first importance that the mind be relieved from all care and anxiety. The general health is to be improved by temperance, proper exercise in the open air, cheerful company change of scenery, or some occupation to divert the mind without requiring much exercise of it; nourish- ing food of easy digestion ; flannel worn next the skin. The cold bath may be tried, and if it be followed by agreeable feelings, it will do good. The bowels may be gently stimulated by the pills before mentioned; and preparation of iron also, already mentioned, should be taken. To help stimulate the genital organs to a healthy action a due amount of exercise is necessary; if it is denied, very little benefit can be expected from other sources, and a steady impairment of the bodily func- tions will continue. It is the utmost importance to those who have a bodily ailment of this kind that they understand this matter fully. SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 130 Kemedics for Impotency. By adopting a regular mode of exercise, and keep- ing the mind engaged in a ustifiil channel, will, if the foregoing is followed, lessen nocturnal emissions very materially. In very bad cases whei-e little or no pleasure or erection attend these emissions — cases brought on by debauchery, or in elderly persons — we would recommend that the advice of a competent physician be obtained before a treatment is attempted. In the place of a physician it is best to follow the foregoing rules until some strangury be felt, or some beneht received. In this afiection, as well as in all cases of impaired virility, the means I have mentioned are to be pursued for a long time, unless relief be ob- tained. These have cured after having been taken for a year or more, without the result. In all cases of impotency not evidently depending upon the disease of some part besides the genital organs, I should have much confidence in blisters applied to the lo\7er part of the spine. Occasional nocturnal emissions, accompanied with erection and pleasure, are by no means to be considered a disease, though they have given many a one much un- easiness. Even if they be frequent, and the system con- siderably debilitated, if not caused by debauch, and the person be young, marriage is the proper measure- 140 SECEET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Controlled by Reason. PAET YII. THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT. TT7E scarcely need observe that by tliis instinct is meant the desire for sexual intercourse. Bla- menbach speaks of this instinct as " superior to all others in universality and violence." Perhaps hunger is an exception. But surely no instinct commands a greater proportion of our thoughts, or has a greater influence upon happiness for better or for worse. " Controlled by reasofl and chastened by good feeling, it gives to social intercourse much of its charm and zest, but directed by selfishness or governed by force, it is prolific of misery and degradation. In itself it appears to be the most social and least selfish of all instincts. It fits us to give even while we receive pleasure, and among cultivated beings the former power is even more highly valued than the latter. Not one of our instincts perhaps afibrds larger scope SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 141 Controlled by Eeason. for the exercise of disinterestedness or fitter play for the best moral feelings of our race, l^ot one gives birth to relations more gentle, more humanizing and endearing; not one lies more immediately at the root of the kiadliest charities and most generous impulses that honor and bless human nature. It is a much more noble, because less purely selfish instinct than hunger or thirst. It is an instinct that entwines itself around the warmest feelings and best affections of the heart." — Moral Physiology. But too frequently its strength, together with a want of moral culture, is such that it ; is not "controlled by reason ;" and consequently, I I from time immemorial, it has been gratified, either in a mischievous manner, or to such an intemperate ) degree, or under such improper circumstances, as to ^-give rise to an incalculable amount of human misery. , For this reason it has, by some, been regarded" as a . [ low, degrading, and " carnal " passion, with which a holy life must be ever at war. But, in the instinct itself, the philosopher sees nothing deserving of de- grading ephithets. He sees not that nature should war against herself. He believes that in savage life it is-, and in wisely organized societies of duly en- 142 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Evil Consequences. lio^htened and civilized beings it would he^ a source of ten-fold more happiness than misery. A part of the evil consequences to which this in- stinct is daily giving rise under the present state of things, it belongs more particularly to the moralist to point out; whilst of others, it falls within the province of the physician to treat. But let me first remark, that physicians have hitherto fallen far short of giving those instructions concerning this instinct which its importance demands. In books, pamphlets, journals, etc., they have laid much before the public respecting eating, drinking, bathing, lacing, air, exercise, etc., but have passed by the still more important subject now before us, giving only here and there some faint allusion to it. This, it is true, the customs, not to say pruderies, of the age have compelled them to do in publications designed for the public eye, yet in some small work, indicated by its title to be for private perusal, they might with the utmost propriety have embodied much highly useful instruction in relation to Ihis instinct. Tliis instinct is liable to be gratified at improper times, to an intemperate degree, and in a mischievous manner. SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 143 Gratification of the Senses. True philosophy dictates that this and all other ap- petites be so gratified as will most conduce to human happiness — not merely the happiness attending the gratification of one of the senses, but all the senses — not merely sensual happiness, but intellectual — not merely the happiness of the individual, but of the hii- man family. First, of the times at which this instinct ought not to be gratified. "With females it ought not to be gratified until they are seventeen or eighteen years of age, and M'ith males not until they are a year or two older. The reason is, if they refrain until these ages, the passion will hold out the longer, and they will be able to derive much more pleasure from it in aftei life, than if earlier gratified, especially to any great extent. A due regard to health also enjoins with most persons some restraint on this instinct — indeed, at all times, but especially for a few years after the above-mentioned ages. It ought not be rashly grat- ified at first. Begin temperately, and as the system becomes more mature, and more habituated to the ef- fects naturally produced by the gratification of this instinct, it will bear more without injury. Many young married people, ignorant of the con- 144: SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Ignorance of Young Married People. sequences, have debilitated the whole sj'stem — the genital system in particular ; have impaired their mental energies ; have induced consumptive and other diseases ; have rendered themselves irritable unsocial, 'melancholy, and finally, much impaired, perhaps destroyed their affection for each other by an undue gratification of the reproductive instinct. In almost all diseases, if gratified at all, it should be very temperately. It ought not to be gratified dur- ing menstruation, as it might prove productive, to the man, of symptoms similar to those of sj-philis,* but more probably to the woman of a weakening disease called Jluor alhus. In case of pregnancy a temperate gratification for the first two or three months may be of no injury to the woman or the forthcoming off- spring. But it ought to be known that the growth of the foetus in utero may be impaired, and the seeds of future bodily infirmity and mental imbecility of the offspring may be sown, by much indulgence dur- ino" utero-gestation or pregnancy, especially when the * Gonorrhoea, or a purulent discharge, and not syphilis, is evidently what jS here meant by Dr. Knowlton. The two affections were at one time cnn- founded together, and were often thought to be different forms of the same same disease, but they are now known to be quite distinct. Syphilis is the product of a peculiar blood-poison, and never arises except by contagion, from another person suffering from a similar disease.— {G. K. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 145 Temperance in all things. woman experiences much pleasure in such indul- gences. Having already glanced at some of the bad effects of an undue gratification of this instinct, we have but little more to offer under the head of Intemperate Degree. It will be borne in mind that intemperance in this thing is not to be decided by numbers, but that it depends on circumstances; and what would be temperance in one, may be intemperance in another. And with respect to an individual, too, what he might enjoy with impunity, were he a laboring man, or a man whose business requires but little mental exer- cise, would, were he a student, unfit him for the suc- cessful prosecution of his studies. Intemperance in the gratification of this instinct has a tendency to lead to intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. The languor, depression of spirits, in some instances faint- ness and want of appetite, induced by intemperate gratification, call loudly for some stimulus, and give a relish to spirits. Thus the individual is led to drink. This inflames the blood, the passions, and leads to further indulgence. This again calls for more spirits; and thus two vicious habits are commenced, which mutually increase eacli other. Strange as it may ap- 10 146 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Loss of Semen— Effects upon the System. pear to those unacquainted with the animal economy, an intemperate indulgence sometimes gives rise to the same disease — so far as the name makes it so — that is frequently cured by a temperate indulgence, viz., nocturnal emissions. Every young married woman ought to know that the male system is exhausted in a far greater degree than the female by gratification. It seems indeed to have but little effect, comparatively, upon some fe- males. But with respect to the male, it has been esti- mated by Tissot that tlie loss of one ounce of semen is equal in its effects upon the system of 40 ounces of blood. As it respects theimmediat3 effects, tliis esti- mation, generally speaking, may not be too great. But a man living on a full meat diet might, doubtless, part with fifty ounces of semen in the course of a year, with far less detriment to the system than with 2,000 ounces of blood. It is a fact that the mode of living, independent of oc- cupation, makes a great difference with respect to what the system will bear. A full meat diet, turtles, oys- ters, eggs, spirits, wine, etc, certainly promote the se- cretion of semen, and enable the s^^stem to bear its emission. But a cool veoretable and milk diet calms SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 147 Unnatural Habits. all the fiercer passions, the venereal especially. Most men adopting such diet as this will suffer no incon- venience in extending the intervals of their gratifica- tion to three or four weeks ; on the contrary, they will enjoy clear intellect, and a fine flow of spirits. This is the diet for men of literary pursuits, especially the unmarried. As to the mischievous manner, it consists in the un- natural habit of onanism, or solitary gratification; it is an anti-social and demoralizing habit, which, while it proves no quietus to the mind, impairs the bodily powers, as well as mental, and not unfrequently leads to insanity. "While the gratification of the reproductive instinct in such manner as mentioned leads to bad consequen- ces, as a temperate and natural gratification, under proper circumstances, is attended with good; besides the mere attendant pleasure, which alone is enough to recommend such gratification. "We admit that hu- man beings might be so constituted that if they had no reproductive instinct to gratify, they might enjoy health; but being constituted as they are, this instinct cannot be mortified with impunity. It is a fact universally admitted, that unmarried females do not 148 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Unnatural Habita. enjoy so much good health and attain to so great an age as the married ; notwithstanding that the latter are sabject to the diseases and pains incident to child- bearing. A temperate gratification promotes the se- cretions, and the appetite for food; calms the restless passions; induces a pleasant sleep; awakens social feeling; and adds a zest to life whicli makes one con- wjious that life is worth preserving. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 149 Human Desires. PAET YIIT. ADAPTATION OF THE SEXES. rpHE human race is perpetuated through a powerful ■^ instinctive desire. The arousing of this desire affects the mental and moral feelings, and uncon- sciously forms an attachment for the opposite sex, called love. This is the combination of reason, im- agination and moral feelings. Wlien there is perfect physical and mental adaptation, the culmination of this desire yields to man the highest possible bliss. How important it is, then, to understand this law of our being, that we may fully enjoy nature's gifts. The human system is the highest type of organism, yet its nerves and delicate fibres have been subjected to the most demoralizing influences, caused by igno- rance of nature's foremost law. 150 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Sex a Division ol Nature's Forces. Among tlie lower animals, as in the vegetable kingdom, the generative process is a real necessity of their condition, except in the case of domestic animals, whose conditions have been changed by care and control of man. In the human life this law of necessity has been so changed bv artificial conditions, that we have lost sight of the natural law. In nianj cases this necessity is lost sight of alto- gether, whereby the laws of life and health and common decency are violated. In the formation of human life we have the mas- culine and feminine law; the one forms the external productive labor; the other the internal, central and re-productive. Sex is the division of nature's forces, and the bet- ter these forces are understood, the more perfect will be the results. The most perfect work will last the longest, and always supercedes the imperfect. The laws of personal transfer from the father to the embryos are involuntary. This model of ancestral type in man is thrown off as it exists in his own organism, but he does not change the moulds in which these types are run. He SECRET SINS OP SOCIETY. 151 Man's Power over the Foetus. can only modify tliem, and improve the faculties of his own organs. In this way he may make an im- provement in the ancestral type, but it is a personal improvement^ which may be transmitted to his chil- dren. Pie possesses a great power over the foetus in an Indirect way — through the organism of the mother. "The man cannot materially change his own organ- ism; neither could his father have done it by pei'- sonal transmission; hut his mother, under different conditions, could have made him, in power and spir- it, a very different man from what he is. "The mother cannot transcend the power of her own ■system in giving strength to the child; but, under conditions of weariness, anxiety and anguish of spirit, her power may be so absorbed and exhausted that she will give birth to a weak, sad, spiritless child; when, under right conditions of gestation, she might have given birth to a happy, energetic being, whose organ- ism would have greatly improved the ancestral type." The whole nervous system of the child is transmit- ted to it by its mother. The mother can give energy and power to the child, though tlie father may be comparatively a weak man ; but strong, energetic men are never born from weak women, no matter how 152 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Wrong and Rijjht Conditions of Parents. strong the fatlier may be. The weakness of tlie mother will descend to the child, though a passive woman may yield all the strength of her system, and thus develop a strong and energetic man not unlike his father in character, hut the child would have been much letter halanced with a stronger maternal influ- ence. The wrong conditions of the parents produce chil- dren that are cursed with weaknesses, both mentally and physically. This is too often the case; which shows the unpar- donable io-norance of men and women regarding the fundamental laws of our being. The impressions of the mother have different effects on the male and female fcetus, because one follows the feminine law, the other the masculine law. Impressions of dislike, aversion or disgust in the mother will produce the same feeling in the daughter; whereas it might produce the opposite in the son. This country is full of natural drunkards and liber- tines, because of the impressions received by the mother which were stamped upon the growing foetus. To cite the fact: the daughters of a family whose father was a drunkard, will have a strong aversion to SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 153 Man and Woman's Desire. the use of alcoholic drinks; whereas, the sons gener- ally will follow the course of the father. If all moth- ers could know their power over the foetus, much of the world's misery might be prevented. jSTo matter how bad a man or woman may be, it is their desire to have good and noble children; and they could have them if they would give the tbetus the right conditions. It seems strange, when we stop to think of it, that there is so little knowledge on this subject among people in' general. Children are brought into this world without their knowledge or consent, and we owe to them a right inheritance. Human generation belong to woman, but its con- ditions depend upon man. He surrounds woman with impressions that produce good or bad results; therefore very much depends on man's ruling power. Great advance has been made in knowledge of our bodies; and we seem to be on the borders of psycho- logical knowledge, of w£ich it is bewildering to think. If the knowledge of physiology in all its branches, and of heredity, could be applied to the production of wiser and better people, it would be a fitting culmina- tion of this glorious century. This can be done if 154 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Physica] and Moral Moiibters. people can be induced to lay aside those scruples which are plainly traceable to a wrong education re- ^rardint? nature's laws, "We used to be tauo-ht that •hildren come into this world like sheets of white pa- ._)er, ready to receive whatever impress mothers wished or were able to make. This is all wrong. The proof hat the mental power and moral tendencies of chil- dren are determined before birth, is overwhelming. Until this knowledge is accepted and people conscien- tiously act upon it, they will go on lopping off the branches of evil, instead of uprooting it; dipping away at the broad current of vice, instead of stopping its sources. Physical monsters are caused by arrested develop- ment through a shock of some sort experienced by the mother. May not moral monsters also be caused by sudden ill-temper, or the indulgence of evil pro- pensities? The stream of tendency may be deflected from its course by accidental causes. Marcus Aurelius, one of the noblest and wisest of men and emperors, was the father of the drunken, brutal WTetch, Coramoders; the explanation being that the empress was a profligate woman. Who could have thought that the life led by Lilithe SECRET SINS OF SOCIETT. 155 Sentiments Established During Matrimony. Bonaparte, a comparatively obscure woman, during a short period would have intluencad the destinies of millions and changed the map of Europe; but from her life on horseback, sharing the military expeditions of her husband, made by circumstances intense, am- bitious and warlike in feeling, came the selfish, in- sanely ambitious and powerful Napoleon, the only one of her large family whose character was abnormal in those directions. It seems to be established that the sentiment most" active in the mother during pregnancy becomes most prominent in the child, rather than those latent and natural, but for the time little exercised. If this rule were generally understood, surprise at the widely varying children in the same family would cease. Musicians have been born into unmusical families, made such by tlie effect of exquisite music, often heard, upon the mother's sensitive mind, as poetical children, refined and beautiful, are born into coarse, unlovely families from accidental influences. Persons of either sex, intending to become parents, will do well to pause and consider whether a work of regeneration in themselves ought not to precede generation. 166 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Truths of Nature. Hold ! poor, weakly, half demented, prudish man or woman, before you denounce this book for thus mi- nutely describing the creative act of man, the highest of God's creatures. Do not the writers on botany dwell carefully on the deposition of the pollen of tlie plant and the reception of the same, by the stamens '. Did you ever see a lady throw down her work on botany and cry out: " Oh, how horridly obscene this is?" It is only the weak and foolish that wince at the 'great and wonderful truths of nature, and we only wish that every man, woman and child could read this book, and learn the true relations and offices of the sexual organs. « SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 157 Desires of the Newly Married. PART IX. PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. "jl/TARRIAGE is a contract between male and female to cohabit, and is due notice to the community that they have assumed certain special relations. The natural object of these relations is the consummation of the desire to procreate. It is the parent of fraternal love and benevolence, and under right conditions, stimulates us to a good and noble life. The most healthy persons are the best fitted to perform this mission and more readily do they unite in and enjoy these relations. That woman who is the most perfect, physically and mentally, the most desires the matri- monial state. They find pleasure in the fulfillment of all the obligations growing out of it, while she who fails in this fails in all the essence of woman- hood. He is the most perfect man who can best fulfill all 158 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Woman's Special Magnetism. the requirements of the marriage state. Conjugal happiness arises from tlie most perfect fulfillment of this sexual mission. Conjugal alien-ations grow out of improper intercourse. Wedlock must be right in its conditions to be enjoyed. Those who would be happy in other respects must first be happy in this. The man and woman must be bound together as a sexual unit to enjoy perfect conjugal happiness. The sexual bond is tlie " tie that binds" us all, or else is the bone of contention. Promise to marry involves the assurance of cohabi- tation. The liusbftnd who has proper sexual connec- tion with his wife honors and gratifies her, w^iile he who fails here is regarded with loathing. Wi^ves can, by filling the office of intercourse, gain the greater power over their husbands for the accomplishment of their wishes. This charm is held over men by harlots for evil purposes. It might better be employed by wives for their own good. A man may be over-passionate, and disgust the woman. But the shrewd woman — the woman of tact and good sense — can throw over the man a mag- netic aura, whose influence shall be felt in the quiet- ing of his passion. She can keep him by her side, SECKKT SIXS OF SOCIETY. 159 Sexual Influences. pleasurablj charmed, until she desires and he is fit to join in blissful intercourse. Bv lier sexual magnetism she can lead him to prefer her ha])piiiess and the peace of the home instead of the gratification of gross desire. Slie can shield him from the slough of beast- liness, or lead him into temptation. Her power is exceeding great for good or evil, and it is her duty to require only that the man shall act under the rule of manly self-control. Married people are under obliga- tions to society and themselves, and tiiey cannot fulfil these obligations by going to extremes in sexual com- merce. Intercourse is a luxury beyond any other, but its abuse is a blight upon the conjugal relations. So great is the change made in some women by inter- course that the}'' scarcely know themselves. It is the same with man. Persons that were before only half developed, become through the marriage relations changed into a new being. All men and women are susceptible to sexual influ- ence, and their lives are controlled by it. For good, it may be invoked by good women. In bad women it is perverted, ajid becomes a power for mischief and ^n element of ruin. 160 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Action of Love Power Beyond our Control. Those persons who many and afterward become alienated or disgusted, will find, on self-examination, that they have unwittingly dropped down to the ani- mal plane of indulgence, and degraded the laws of the sexual functions. It is abuse of the sexual office which takes the charm out of love, and makes mar- ried people unhappy. Many persons, under cover of marriage, seek to gratify lust instead of carrying out the benign principle of love. Hence the ranks of so- ciety are full of married loathers and broken down bodies. This demoralizes the social element, and brings down o^ decency and virtue the tirade of ob- loquy. Marriage is begotten by love, and is, therefore, a necessity. It is ingrained in the whole being. Man is incompetent to resist the impulse to act upcn the sexual plane. Having been endowed by IS'ature with nerves, he must feel, and permeated through by that subtlest of all elements — love — he must act. Love commands all the elements, and all must obey its mandates. It cannot be successfully resisted any more than the motion of worlds in their orbits. In mankind it is the mastering emotion. In pro- portion to the sexual state of persons, it is weak or SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 161 The Promptings of Nature's Forces. strong, and aifords most satisfaction and benefit to those who conform to its principles. Love is stronger than money; more men work for money to spend on women they love, than for any other purpose. They give sparingly in dollars to the chnrch, public chari- ties, amusements and vanities, as compared with their their gifts to love. "Women are eager in the employ- ment of means to enamor men. All the arts of the toilet is used that they may captivate and draw the attention of men. Men in all departments of life work diligently for money to bring comfort and good cheer to loved ones. They spend most for that which brings them the most happiness. The institution of marriage is made divine by love, out of which it grows. It is sanctified only by love, that power which takes the deepest hold upon human nature. One must bow down to its behest, and care for his owner night and day. The whole life is mod- ified and made happier by it. There is a force in its promptings which impels one to the choice of a sexual associate from the opposite sex. It should be our pleasure, as it is our duty, to supply this sexual need. Thosd who suffer for the want of it, suffer as the hun- 11 162 SECRET siKS OF socip:tt. Perfect Conjugal Life. grj for food, Manhood is rendered incomplete and miserable without lo^e. Those who do not love, lose the best gifts of nature. There is something in each one which responds to the idea of paring with a member. of the opposite sex. Those most inclined choose their opposites, and "live and love forever." They regard union as a " pearl of great price," which, when found, is never to be thrown away. Those deficient in this feeling are unstable, frivolous and false, loving liglitly here and there, as mere impulse leads them. The love of one is genuine love. It cannot bless other than its one chosen object. "Wrapped up in true love is virtue, and this, so valued by all, will be more and more honored as time rolls on. All prize that wliich prom(-)tes enjoyment, and loathe whatever makes them wretched. Enjoyment comes in many forms, but the reciprocity of love is unequalled by any other joys. The first contact of a loving couple renders the second more pleasurable, and all succeeding intercourse sacred. The lonorer they live together, the sweeter life will be. A life filled thus with actual love-experiences, all centered SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 163 Every Requirement of Love Fulfilled in Marriage. in the same conjugal partner, may be set down as sacred and worth the living. Love extends from the honeymoon to old age. It does not naturally die out. The young and old enjoy this love-life with equal relish, and delight in its deep- est, holiest charm. The old in years will feel the vig- or of youth in the ratio of their obedience to the law of love. The young will become infirm b}'- violating that law. Love claims its object as exclusively its own, as illustrated by such terms as "my own dear one," "my husband," "my wife." Love has its perfect adaptation and exercise in mar- riage. Nothing else will meet its desires. Therein it ob- tains its full measure of activity and culture. Only in marriage can love be rightly consummated. Therein love is divinely ordered, and those who love are loved and exalted. Those who do not love are condemed for neglect of manhood's duties, while those who assume love privileges outside of marriage, are censured for its perversion. Marriage is the only plane on which to carry out the promptings of the love element. All else fails to meet this great aim of life IGi SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Relations of Man and Woman on their Wedding Night. PAET X. COHABITING ERRORS— EMBARRASSMENTS—UNDUE * HASTE— MARITAL EXCESSES, ETC. rpHE relations of man and woman on tlie niglit follow- ing the marriage ceremony, liav^e everything to do with their future happiness. Wives by millions look back to this night as by far tlie worst, most sickening, and loathed of their whole lives. It makes many downright sick for day?, and miserable forever after. For weeks previous to the marriage ceremony she has been an object of com- miseration and sympathy by all the old women and young girls of her acquaintance. It is not so much at what has been said as what has been mysteriously hinted at by looks and actions — more suggestive tlian words. She has been led to believe that this night is to be one of unspeakable horror and torment; that her virginity and her utmost capacity for physical pain is SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY 165 Shrinking Timidity— Ungovernable Boldness. to he offered as a sacrifice at this marriage-feast. She is jaded and worn out, and above all, frightened. In this state she is incapable of the faintest spark of sex- ual passion — in no condition for a sexual repast. And yet she is to receive a husband, who in the majority of cases has obtained his education for this occasion in the brothel, By nature kind and considerate, but his whole thoughts and experiences center upon the con- summation of this sexual feast. These differences of forces, shrinking timidity and ungovernable boldness assuming sexual conjunctions, is terrible indeed. Assaulted, actually forced, she is left mangled and terrified. !No wonder that she is dis- appointed, humbled, ashamed and maddened. No won- der that the affections of the stricken woman are well nigh crushed out. 'No wonder that her mental ejacu- lation is — O, that I had not married ! He has killed his own love for her, and thrown all her feelings in revolt against him thereby almost betraying both. Recovery from a shock thus horrible is ahnost im- possible. Through the long and dreary hours of that night she listens to the heavy respirations of her gross companion, whose slightest movement causes 166 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Secret of the Fall of Married Women. her to shrink with terror. She is fortunate in- deed if her miseries be not renewed ere she leaves tlie bridal chamber. Under such circumstances, is it a wonder that the loves of both have perished together, victims of sexual errors? Again and again these nights of horror are repeated, each, if possible, more hateful than the 'first, until her monster rests from sheer exhaustion. Passion is forever killed, or if capa- ble of resuscitation, is not at the hands of him who de- stroyed it. It ma}'^ be that another can awaken the slumbering spark, and when that time does come, the flame will be all the wilder for the rights it has been denied. Should this tremendous passion be awakened, and the restraints of religion do not protect her, op- portunity and the occasion are sure to carry the day. Herein lies one of the secrets of the fall of married "women, and the few revelations bear but a small pro- portion to the number of such falls. Intrigue and adultery stalk boldly through the laud, and by the devil's own cunning are enabled to carry on their nefarious practices almost in the face and eyes of the public. The number of hoodwinked people in this world is astonishing, as the few revela- tions will bear testimony. SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 1G7 Nuptial Chamber— Advice to the Husband. If there was no remedy to offer for this sickening exposure we should deem the foregoing too wanton for apology. Young husbands should wait for an in- vitation to this banquet of love, and they will be amply repaid by the very pleasures sought. If the treat- ment of this indomitable passion in the boy could be- gin at its earliest manifestations, and follow him through the dangerous years, it would be well. But as this is impossible in the present state of affairs, we must take him as he is when he closes the door to the nuptial cliamber — perhaps a " reformed rake," and say to him in solemn warning, "hold!" In your keeping we place the destinies of this shrinking wo- man, for wedded happiness or wedded woe, and upon your tranquility and peace of mind depend, per- haps, the welfare of you both. " Be cautious how you investigate the mysteries before you. Yoii have need of all the self-possession and fortitude you can possibly summon to your aid, in this great emergency. Instincts of nature will avail you noth- ing, for they have probably been brutalized in you. You have the double task before you of curbing yours, and developing that of another. The instincts of nature in this case would probably make the mar- 168 SECRKT SINS OF SOCIETY. Advice to the Husband. riage consnraiiiation a very awkward proceeding, for nature lias got these instincts sadly out of time for both of you. 'By proper caution and delicacy on your part they may be harmonized, and thus a perfect accord se- cured. Your first words should be those of assurance and sympathy. Assure her that all her apprehensions are groundless as far as you are concerned, and that no consummation shall occur until her wishes and yours exactly harmonize. Above all, inform her that whenever your liappy marriage shall be consummated, neither violence or suflering shall attend it, but per- fect reciprocal happiness shall crown the act. You should know that gentle moderation and rea- sonable cultivation of her womanly passions will en- able you to fulfill your pledge to the very letter. You should know that in rare cases, days, and even weeks, must elapse before entire consummation can be efiected ; but when it does occur the slight pain she will sufier will be of such a character as will increase rather than diminish her pleasure. Experience will teach that deliberation and prudence. The slightest intimation of pain or of fear should warn you to de- desist, as under no circumstances should violence be used that ^- "ot obviously invited and shared. SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 169 Advice to the Newly Married. Beware of committing a veritable outrage on the person given into your hands for a life companion. Take time ; haste shortens and kills, while delibera- tion prolongs and enriches its enjoyments. How can you enjoy as much in two minutes as you can in ten? All husbands should humor and assuage female modesty, and overcome 'it by approachiiig gently and gradually. Little things often embarrass young females much; then why not humor those embarrass- ments ? Every female should overcome this if possi- ble, for when agitated she can neither give nor take pleasure in it, and will dissatisfy and be dissatisfied. Embarrassment has no place in the sexual embrace, and she must lay aside all squeamishness, and even modesty, so far as it infringes on the perfect self- abandon. Young husbands, you should avoid the com- mon error of undue haste in your wedded career. Be always assured that your wife is in entire sympathy with your own condition. It is rare that two natures are exactly in harmony with each other, and the rule should be for the one who loves the most to measure his ardor by the one who loves the least. It is the prevailing opinion that the marriage cere- mony removes all restraint from the exercise of the 170 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. How often may the Conjugal Act bo Repeated. sexual functions. No positive rule can be given on this subject, as there are such a great variety of indi- v'idual temperaments, state of health, etc., but gener- il principles can be given. "Woman should be the inal umpire as to its frequency, as she cannot always "■e prepared, and should be left to determine when s]ie 3. Following her lead will conduct all to connubial bliss, except when a sickly one decides wrongly, and even then her husband should accept the situation. Sometimes nynphomania makes her require undue frequency. Man should never gratify his own desire at the expense of his wife's comfort or inclination. Lawful pleasures of wedlock should never be permit ted to degenerate into mere animal lust, and in all cases never to excel the limits of fond desire. An un- bridled indulgence in wedlock often kindles passional fires, which inflame and exhaust the sexual functions, Franklin's rule for eating — to rise from the table with an appetite for more — may be applied to the con- jugal act ; never repeat so frequently but that the ability exists on both sides for further indulgence. A woman of a strong and passionate organization, will often ruin a man of feebler sexual functions, and it is important that she should be familiar with the SECRET SINS OF SOcIeTT. 171 Both Sides Require Moderation— A Sample Case. " pbjsiolog}'' of marriage," enough so, at least, to re, frain from too frequent demands. She should always remember that delicacy as well as common sense re- quire her to await the advances of her companion be- fore she manifests a desire for his aj^proaches. A nian is bound to respect the temporary condi- tions of his wife, and she, on her part, is bound equally to preserve to her husband an amount of womanly re- serve. This reserve will prove to her a most alluring attribute, as well as a guarantee of her future conjugal happiness. In a letter from a patient to her physician, she says: " I informed my husband of the doctor's positive in- junction, to which he promised a cheerful obedience, and we commenced to occupy separate a]3artments. But after three or four days he came to me one morn- ing, and insisted on my complying with his wishes. In vain I pleaded my physician's instructions. He urged the following plea: ' Mrs. ■, I toil early and late at my business, and amass wealth, which I lavish freely upon you ; I give you horses and carriages, servants, social position, and luxuries of every sort, (Oh, doctor, if he would only give me the luxury of letting me alone,) and I only ask in return that you 172 SEOEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Woman cught to Control her Own Body. accord to me vay just and lawful rights as your hus- band. The doctor is paid for curing you — lie must know enough to do it without such an unnecessary ' restriction.' Oh, doctor, what could I do ? There was much force in what he said, and it seemed cold and selfish in me to refuse." Now, when it is consid- ered that this woman was suffering from a connubial inflammation of the bladder, womb and rectum, and that that act could only be attended with absolute tor- ture, the brutal selfishness is apparent to all. This case is not an extreme one, as hundreds will testify. Physicians have the greatest difficulty in treating such cases wherever continence becomes a necessity. Man's very nature is hard, selfish and tyrannical to woman. Christianity has in a great many respects ameliorated the condition of woman, but it has shown a surprising difiidence in dealing with the brutalities which she is subjected in the marriage chamber. A woman of distinction once said: "When my hus- band closes the door of our apartments at night, he is no longer a man — li-e is a monster." For a woman to be subjected to the most hellish tortures under the forms of " marital rights " there seems to be no redress, either in " Church or State," for they both say: " Your duty to your husband is submission.'* SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 173 Legal Excuse to Destroy Each Other— Importance of Sexual Science. Under the present regime there is committed more intemperate excesses in sexual commerce, than wom- ankind should ever be compelled to submit to. With too many people marriage seems to bring a mind and body-destroying tendency by giving the sexes legal license to invade, pollute and destroy each other. But when mankind learns to obey the higher law of nature, health, which under existing marital customs is so recklessly secrificed, will then be insured. In view of the grave importance of a proper elucida- tion of these principles, strange it is, that the investi- gation of correct sexual relations have so long been neglected by the great mass of mankind, and diseased, degraded, suffering humanity, is left to wander into the dark and intricate mazes of ignorance; and by marriage customs fools are permitted to rush in where angels scarce should dare approach. Go where we may, into our various institutions of learning, and we will find these pupils engaged in studies of compara- tively little importance, while that great and beautiful science which teaches us the nature of ourselves and our relations to each other, to external universe, and the perfect system of laws which govern all nature, is passed by unheeded. 174 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Mankind's unfa miliarity with the Formation of the Human Race. There are a few objects indeed with which we are less acquainted than with our own natures; and yet we are continually acting as though we were familiar with ourselves, our capacities, our wants, and the means of improving our moral, physical and intellectual condi- tion, which can never be accomplished until judgment begins at " the liouse of God;" and every earnest worker who desires to assist in rebuilding the walls of scathed and shattered humanity, must commence by "each man repairing the breach over against his own house." Mankind as a mass, should be more perfectly familiar with the nature of that beautiful organization whicli constitutes the creation and for- mation of the human race, as also well drilled and disci- plined in obedience to those unchangeable laws which regulate development and maintain healthy action down to the lowest period of life. It seems strange that some relief should not be given to unfortunate victims of beastly and licentious men. In order that married people should fully enjoy co- habitation to a natural extent, in a perfectly natural and healthy manner, and to the entire satisfaction of both, it should be their study to observe nature's SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 175 Sexual Frenzy. laws and demands, and engage in coition only for the purpose of fraternity, and that only when both are cool, quiet and unexcited. This is an excitable ag3 and nation, and this redoubles false excitement at co- habitation, yet makes self-control then doubly impor- tant. That sexual frenzy thus created is most inju- rious to offspring, by rendering them most irritable, impulsive, furious, and wild with false excitements, which promotes demoralization and prevents enjoy- ment. And the more nervous the parties, the great- ter their need of self-possession then. So both should be deliberate and quiet and not agitate each other. Bridal embarrassment works this same evil, yet it is almost universal, especially in young females. All males should humor and assuage this female modesty, and overcome it by approaching gently and gradually. Every female should overcome it; or if this is impos- sible, postpone or abstain; for when agitated, she can neither give nor take pleasure in it, and will dissatisfy and be dissatisfied by it. She is the one to say aye or no; and if " aye," must surmount all em- barrassment, lay aside all queamishness, and all mod- esty, so far as it inl'ringes on this required perfect abandon. 176 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Examples of Animals— The Enhancement of Drapery. Haste doubles, delay halves, both nervous excite- ment and embarrassment. This function should be be- gun very gently and slowly; because it must martial every human function, which takes time. Animals set us examples here, especially females, by keeping the male at bay. Nature always spoils it, unless she is allowed this leisure; because haste must mar or prevent progeny. Then how perfectly obvious that whenever pleasure is its " chief end," both should " take their time," because haste shortens and kills, while deliberation both prolongs and enriches its en- joyments. How can they possibly enjoy as much in two min- utes as in twenty? especially when they enjoy not half as much fcr minute. Something should always be held in reserve, no less than her capacity for bestow- ing and receiving enjoyment, than of her own peculiar charms. Tlie imagination should always be left to oc- cupy itself in depicting those treasures which it has enjoyed but never beheld; and thus the husband will remain the lover, and courtship continue until death do them part. In the estimation of men, drapery en- hances the female attraction of person, and the rustle of a woman's garment is more potent to charm than he lavish exposure of the proportions of a Yenus. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 177 Its EflFect on the Sacred Interests of Society. PAKT XI. DIVORCES AND FAMILY DISCORDS. A I^OTHER great evil of the day, and one which menaces the most sacred interests of society, is the facility with which divorces may he obtained. The number of divorces applied for in those States where they are the most easily obtained, tell a story of conjugal infelicity almost beyond belief, and yet not one in twenty apply who would gladly do so but for its odium, the breaking up of families, evils to their children, or business, or some other like motives. At a meeting of the Episcopal conference, held in 'New York on April 11, a report on divorce was rea'l. The report stated that divorces were obtained on tlie most frivolous pretexts. In New England the propor- tion of divorces was one to eleven marriages. The frequency with which divorces were obtained and the laxity of popular sentiment on the subject wereshock- 12 178 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Divorce Reform called for. inff. It was not to be disguised that severences of the marriage tie were the direct outgrowth of ungodly lust seeking new affinities. There ought to be a reform m our divorce laws, and the people's neglect in this matter has already be- come a great national wrong, if not a crime. TJpon this subject we add the following ably prepared arti- cle in Demoresf s Monthly: "It should be especially interesting to the women, and the male sex can but indorse the sentiments : Surely women ought to rise as one man (no joke in- tended) against our absurd divorce laws. They ought to hold conventions in every State, and national con- ventions once a year, to urge an amendment to the federal Constitution, making the laws affecting the relation of the sexes uniform in every State of the union. Under our present State enactments, a man may be married in New Jersey, yet be a single per- son in New York ; while a woman might be in the eyes of the law a wife in one State, and a concubine in another. Then there are complications about chil- dren and property, which are a source of confusion and loss, as well as a social discomfort, for which really there is no necessity." SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 179 Its Complications. In New York a person divorced for cause cannot re-marrj. But in Connecticut and New Jersey tliere is no impediment to their taking another legal part- ner. In the meantime, precedents are being estab- lished of a very grave and dangerous character. A woman in Illinois claimed a portion of the estate of a married man after his death. She proved that a con- tract existed by which she was to receive a certain portion of his estate, in consideration of having lived with him and borne him children. Judge Miller, of the United States Circuit Court, a high authority in legal matters, decided that the contract was a valid one, and the money was paid over to the woman. If this decision holds good, then it is idle to talk of il- licit relations between men and women. For con- cubinage, on the basis of a contract, has the sanction of the law. At this time the French chamber is dis- cussing the question of divorce. In France marriage is indissoluble, a fact which has proved a very great hardship in many cases. It is proposed to permit di- vorces under certain circumstances. M. Cazot was the principal opponent in the senate, and his argument was that the men of France did not require any law of divorce, as custom or convention ISO SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. What Good Men and Pure Women demand. gave them all the freedom in marriage which they wanted This sneer at marriage was received with applause. Indeed this question of marriage and di- vorce is agitating every country in Christendom. But all good men and pure women should unite in demanding marriage laws which would preserve the sanctity of the home, and secure to children the care and oversight of both parents. Why don't the women move in this matter? The statistics of divorces are appalling. In the good old State of Maine, the number of separation of husband from wife is steadily on the increase. There are twenty-three divorces to-day where one occurred fifty years ago, and so throughout the country. We live in an age when discontent is rife and traveling is easy and cheap, and the temptation to seek fresh fields and pastures new is ever present. Marriage is no longer regarded as a religious sacra- ment. It is a civil contract, amenable to the pas- sion and caprices of the parties to it, and the result is dissevered homes, perpetual estrangement of people who, in the olden times, would have lived fairly com- fortable lives together. And, worse than all, in tens of thousands of homes are children, deprived, some of SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 181 . • . Rights of Children— The most Prolific Cause. a mother's care, others of a father's protection. The birth of children carries with it, of necessity, the in- idssolubility of the marriage tie. The child has a right to demand the care of both its parents until it becomes of age. As this involves at least twenty years, other children ai'e born in the interval, and so the union naturally becomes one for life. "Whenever par- ents separate, they do cruel wrong to their offspring, and should be under the ban of society for so doing. Are there no ministers, male or female, to uphold the sanctity of the home, and to demand that they who bring children into the world shall sacrifice their own vagrant fancies for the sake of their offspring ? There are various causes that contribute to the dis- solution of the marriage tie. The most prolific is in- considerate marriages, and the escape from them is so easy that mutual adaptation is wholly overlooked by the contracting parties. The great majority of mar- ried couples are seriously dissatisfied. Thousands consult about their conjugal differences — though these are the last things disclosed, unless compelled by aggravating suffering, without then telling half their troubles. Secrets that are down deep in the heart remain untold — closed against all confessions. 1S2 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Degrad tio i of Social Powers. Smouldering fires burn slowlj, but surely, and the charred remains of their soul-vitals lay in a smothered heap — only to char more fatally. Society is founded on the union of the sexes, and the obligations are the same for both. Each is con- stituted the guardian of the purity of the other. The harmony of personal and social life is disturbed if either degenerates to coarseness or weakness. The man who uses his power to corrupt woman, is self-de- graded and cowardly. The woman who uses her influ- ences to corrupt others, debases herself, and makes her life a moral anomaly. The marriage bond is the only adequate acknowl- edgment of the laws appointed to regulate human so- ciety. This alone gives us the family, which is the prima- ry form of society. Marriage implies a mutual pledge to lifelong, consistent endeavor to reach the highest standard of human attainment. In the family circle, the relations of the husband, wife and children provide for various duties incidental to these relations. The maternal instinct of man, when properly tempered, is one of the noblest and most valirable emotions of the human heart. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 1S3 The Abuse of the Maternal Instinct. It commences early, and often accompanies us to the closing scene of life, Bj the abuse of this instinct we see strange inter- mixtures of the noblest of virtues, and the foulest vices. It runs to extremes, and is continually hunting for something; new; crallantrv deo^enerates into seduc- tions; fine trembling honor, into an irritable thirst to avenge trifles; the heart is full of restlessness and fever. In the general pursuit of happiness content- ment is unknown. Marriage properly entered into, and the relations rightly understood, is the happiest condition of man- kind; but so few understand the law's governing these relations that alienations and disgust often take the place of what should have been perfect happiness. On every hand is to be seen husbands and wives whose raiarried life has proved to be a canker, eating out the very best elements of their natures. How many wives there are, leading a miserable life of suffering who would rather die than tell their friends of their conditions. How many husbands there are whose affections and regard for home ties have been completely killed. "What is the cause of all this? Ignorance of nature's foremost laws. 184 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Disappointmcnla in Married Life. A large portion of the married, if the true story of their lives could be told, would attest to their dis- appointments in the conjugal state. It is the expecta- tion of people when thej first enter into married ob- ligations, that life's greatest desires will culminate in their relations, and if tliey understand themselves and nature's laws they would not be disappointed. "Why is it that we see so many unmarried men and women, apparently perfect physically and mentally, so well calculated to enjoy married life ? It is be- cause they have seen so much married misery among their acquaintances that they had rather go through life in single blessedness than risk the uncertainty of happiness in marriage. It is a terrible condition of society and a reproach to mankind that such a state of things exist. Many a single woman after living among her married friends assert, that — " you don't catch me marrying — I've seen too much." Such cases are in every community, and if the number could be known it would astonish us all. It can be set down as a fact that those who discourage others from marrying have suffered themselves or seen others suffer. The relation of the husband and wife ought to bring out the best impulses of human nature; but if the SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 185 Perplexities of the Married. young wife finds that her husband thinks more of grat- ifying his own passion than he does her feelings, she soon becomes disgusted, her anticipation of pleasure vanishes, and she is soon convinced that she has been denied by nature what rightfully belonged to her. Sometimes, if she is ignorant of these subjects, as the majority of women are, she will naturally assume airs of superiority over her more passionate sisters on account of her imagined purer nature. The husband's early impetuosity and ignorance brings about unsatisfactory conjugal relations. He, finding an unreciprocal wife, doubts her afiec. tion for him. She, because of her defrauded woman- hood, feels debased by his conjugal approach, especial- ly an enforced one. Disappointments in married life are on every hand, in all classes of society, and in all shades of religious belief. Age has nothing to do with it, as it is found among young as well as those who have lived to a ripe old age. Men and women should know more of Nature's laws and their intri- cate ways, and follow reason rather than blind pas- sion, which would prove an antidote to our present inharmonious relations. 186 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Conditions that Cannot be Harmonized. There are many causes that would warrant a divorce, but the most perplexed and difficult one is where two persons of honest intentions, who look upon divorce is a disgrace, who find themselves united together for •life, and that their spirits are not in harmony, their natures are at war with each other's, and that they cannot be harmonized. Thousands are in this condi- tion. No law can be made to reach all alike, there- fore reason, judgment, and surrounding circumstances should govern each separate case. There is no wis- dom in exposing the faults and imperfections of others to the world, unless great good is accomplished thereby. The young, innocent child and the foolish, can repeat what they hear and see, but no one will claim that any great wisdom is displayed. The object of social reform should be to harmonize the male and female, instead of getting up an antag- onistic feeling between them, by making one party the great "bugbear" of society, the other neglected, abused slave. The injustice existing between the sexes originates with blame on both sides, perhaps not equally alike, but neither sex is free from imper- fections. We should not ask why people are not all made good, pure and noble, but should, strive to im- SKCSET SIXS OF SOCIETY. 187 Before Marriage — After Jlarriage. prove Inunanitj in all its diversified stages of devel- opment. Among tlie features which characterize the mar- ried and single, the difference in bearing, speech and appearance, are the most striking. The contrast is surprising. A bride g'oing West on her wedding trip, called hei husband "Darling Charlie," at Chicago; "Charles,' at Denver; and " here, you," at San Francisco. A husband said : " The first few weeks of my marriage, I loved my wife so well I felt as if I could eat her up, and now I wish to God I had — I hate her so." This is caused by disobeying natural laws which regulate the married relations. How few persons there are that know what the nat- ural laws are in the married relations, which, if dis- regarded, bring apathy, disease, suffering and death. Every effort should be made to reveal these laws, that when rightly used promotes the health and happiness of mankind. In married life, fidelity of heart and respect of per- son belong as a condition necessary to the well-being cf all parties concerned. 188 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Marriage Fidelty — Infidelity. • Infidelity is liable t(1^'bi'ing the blight of infection to an innocent party, and stamp the worst of diseases npon offspring. If there is one crime more accursed than another,* it is taintino- a trustino; wife with dis- ease. To victimize one's wife, who perhaps has suf- fered the pangs of motherhood — to impose such a bur- den of shame, sufferinc: and endurance, is too o-riev- ous to be borne without indignant protest. Nature never begins what she cannot consummate: never "puts her hand to the plow" where she is oblio-ed to look back; and hence will not let those hegin to love who are too uncongenial to continue, and even re-increase. The mere fact of two, having once lov'cd, guarantees that both can restore and re- double. All the difficulty lies in something else than " natural incompatibility." You throw off upon this convenient "scape-goat" the consequences of your own mutual abuse of each other. Each dislikes be- cause both mutually wrong each other. Abuse throws the abused on his native dignity, and raises him too far above his enemy to indulge rancor, or take re- venge. Hate is mutual only where hoth have wronged each other. Those who never wrong never hate, liowever much wronged; but those who are ever 8ECKET SINS OF SOCIETT. 189 Abuse of Each Other. wronging are ever hating; because of their own self- convicted consciences. Conjugal loathers, please ex- amine this principle, as a veritable law of universal applicability, and apply it to your own conjugal feel- ings. Of course the one who hates the most has wronged the most. Obviating the causes of an evil removes it. Ton loved once; then what prevents your affections from re-doubling with years? Only your own abuse of each other. You inflict misery on each other, and thereby generate your mutual "incompatibility." You are "uncongenial" because you have been un- C07ijvgal, and can re-establish congeniality by re- turning to true conjugality. All can treat each other politely at least, and thus get on passably well together. Two really polite persons, who are obliged to be together, would not wrangle; much less a true gentleman and lady; especially if they have ever loved each other or their mutual children. If your uncon- geniality is constitutional, why did you not perceive it before marriage? Because "infatuated?" Tlien get infatuated over again. Establish a partial union if you can do no better. Unite as far as you are con- genial, yet each leave the other to act separately on 190 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Illustrative Cases. points of dissimilarity. If you disagree on religion, politics, tastes, morals, or other questions, each accord to the other the largest individuality; yet as far as you can, unite on other points. There are interests you can share in common, and grounds for community of feeling. Uniting on them will induce sympathy on others. If your husband drinks, or is unfaithful, or j^our wife scolds, or is hate- ful, reform efforts are better for both than abandon- ment. If our Heavenly Father should abandon us on account of any one of our numerous sins, on whom would He not turn His back forever? Then shall we abandon the father or mother of our dear children for some one's sin, though grievous? The doctrine of for- giveness is true humanity as well as Christianity, and nowhere as beneficial or necessary as in marriage. Head this chapter to your consort, in a softened, easy manner. Present the desirableness of reconciliation. Cut off all issues but this. Ascertain how much each desires to live in affection. Probably each will learn with surprise that the other is w^illing and anxious. If so, restoration is easy, for " where there is a will there is a way." Probably both would gladly rush right into the arms of the other, if only certain of re- ciprocation. SECRET SIKS OF SOCIETV. 191 Right Course to Pu rsue. " 0, I would give the world if, as I go home to- night, I could go right to my wife,*as of old, and, en- circling her in my arms, kiss and caress, and be kissed and caressed hy her." Yet quite likely she is feeling precisely the same towards you. At all events, just try. Proffering a fond kiss can surely break no bones; or wife pursue a like course. If either finds any lingering fondness still remaining, express it. Sometimes the beclouded sun reappears suddenly. Probably either could break the fatal spell which separates you in one minute, just by one frank proffer of affection. If you are willing to be reconciled, try every means to show to each other that you are in earnest, and you will discover that each is only too glad to aid in the recon- ciliation. 192 SECRET Sm& OF SOCIETY. A Revolting Practice. PAET XII. INFANTICIDE AND ABORTION. piHILDEEISr are born, and it is their God-given ^ right. That this privilege should ever be ques- tioned is to cap the climax of abominations. The history of abortions shows that the custom has existed since the earliest times, and all the influence of Christianity has failed to prevent the eviL The Homan women did not scruple to free tliem selves from pregnancy, which interfered with their pleasures, and until Ulpian repressed the practice, they carried it on to an alarming extent. Plato and Aristotle advocated it for the purpose of preventing excessive population, and taught that a child only acquires a soul at the moment of birth. Their teachings were that the embryo did not possess animation, therefore it was not murder. How revolting this practice to every principle of humanity! How many in this SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. 193 A Revolting Confession. Christian land tate what is calculated to cause mis- carriage, and for this purpose only. The following experience is related by a woman who was persuaded to visit one of those infamous physicians about six weeks after becoming pregnant. She says, "She gave me some powders, with directions for use, which did not produce the desired result; returning, I asked her if there was no other way to produce miscarriage. ' Yes,' she replied, ' I can probe you, but I must have my price.' ' What do you probe with? ' 'A piece of whalebone.' ' Well,' I observed, ' I cannot afford to pay that price, and will probe mj'self ' I used the whalebone several times; it produced considerable pain, followed by a discharge of blood." Injuries on the mouth of the womb by other violent attempts, had caused all this agony. An almost desperate sur- gical operation barely saved her life. She further confessed that this abortionist had pro- duced five miscarriages, adding that she knew many respectable ladies on whom she had operated, one five months advanced, whose child struggled violently after having been thrown into the wash-bowl. A Kew York physician boasts of having produced abor- tions on no less than one thousand women ; and this 13 194 SECRET SINS OF SiJCIETY. The only Safe Preventative. was the work of only one doctor! Many an aborted one has returned home completely destroyed — her vitals tapped and bleeding, who lingers along a few short months and dies — the victim of passion. The only safe and sure preventative of such results is virtue. Every law of nature protests against such deeds that ruin the health of the mother, and destroy the sexual organs. Kothing of man can assume the functions of Divine Providence. The mother's health has often been restored by the very means which the judgment of man appeared most calculated to destroy it. A few illustrations are given: A lady who had suffered a serious complication of dis- eases in a former pregnancy, was told by several physi- cians that she could never hope to survive becoming a mother again; nevertheless she became pregnant after this, and by concurrent advice of a number of physi- cians submitted to the operation of abortion. Subse- quently she passed through another term of pregnancy^ and now rejoices in excellent health and a splendid boy A second, who had "children enough" when she found herself embarrassed with a prospective increase to her family, tried every means known to her, but SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 195 Several Illustrative Cases. without success, A few days before the birth of a beautiful boj, she had to mourn the loss of her only son by a terrible accident. A third, who had in view a summer tour, vainly sought to obtain relief from an inconvenient pregnancy, succeeded in " liaving it done for her " by an inferual rascal, and she was laid lielpless and suffering through those long summer months in which she had anticipated so much pleasure — not only losing her only baby and her journey, but her health — that only thing that makes life worth liv- ing. A fourth, left almost penniless by the death of her husband, made the attempt to murder the child — prompted by advice of misguided friends — which is now her support in her declining years. Hundreds of such instances are within the knowledge of physi- cians. Ask the physicians of your acquaintance — they will verify our words. The most common reasons given for this act are founded in motives of economy and convenience. The "medical code" requires the recommendation of only two or three regular physicians to warrant the commission of an act which the same science pro- nounces the taking of human life. 19G SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Three Hundred Abortions by an M. D. —The Prediction of Scientists. Cases without number could be cited where these opinions have been obtained upon the most frivolous pretexts, by the patients being influential and wealthy. In 1861 a medical writer of some note published a painphletjin which he declared he had performed over three hundred abortions. The same writer admits that in all that number of cases he found only four necessary to save the life of the mother — thus confessinof the immense number of cases performed on other grounds. Several times in this little work he speaks of using a " certain instru- ment with success." This scoundrel of the medical fraternity is account- ed " a brother in good standing," notwithstanding sev- eral attempts made to expel him from the society. This "medical code" is responsible to a certain extent that this rascal remains unhung. The min- isters of tlie Gospel should be lieid accountable, next to the "medical code," for the present condition of society. Cases are common where the most scientific men have committed the most serious blunders in diagnosis. Many times the prediction is made that such a woman could "never have a living child" — that she must "die in labor;" that another "could SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 197 Legitimate Aid of Science. not live through pregnancy again ;" these assertions have been completely falsified by subsequent events, which shows that this mere fiat of human iudguient is a questionable ruling. Suppose that the opinion of man was correct, who constituted him the arbitra- tor of human life ? Did Almighty God ? No man dare decide this issue. Every pregnancy should be allowed to go on to its fall completion. When this course is adhered to, it is wonderful to behold the extraordinary evolutions of nature to rescue both lives from danger; or it may be that the same beneficent nature elects the mater- nal life, and permits the infant to perish the earliest. It is at this point that science comes legitimately to her aid, and determines the exact moment that the young life has taken its flight, and on that instant proceeds to an operation which, a moment earlier would have been murder. She has now only to deal with the dead foetus, which it is her duty to remove with the utmost dispatch. Those women who "walk in the knowledge and love of God," should scorn the proposition to destroy the lives of their unborn chil- dren, from whatever source it may come. Murder your own child never ! yet it is one of the principal 198 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. The most Terrible of Crimes. sins of society, and we stand aghast at this appalling fact. All possible miscarrying means are equally suici- dal. Probing endangers the sexual organs almost as much as the life of the child. Since these organs sympathize with her entire physiology, and mentally of course, whatever impairs them correspondingly in- jures her entire nature. If the prospective mothers only understood this law of intimacy, they would no more attempt abortion than suicide. How dare a mother jeopardize her own life ? How dare she stand before the bar of God's eternal retribution, a partial or total suicide, in addi- tion to that of child murder ? Infanticide is the most terrible of all crimes; and yet it is perpetrated by respectable ladies, and even by church members, as a matter of course. It might be expected of harlots, but is astounding in those who lay claim to respectabilit}' or conscience. Killing is awful; but murdering one's own child, nothing — and partake of communion next service-day. Science can no more condemn to death the being in the womb than out of the womb; and it should limit itself merely to the discharge of its duty, and in SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 199 Justifiable Infanticide. the majoritj of cases, many lives would be saved where they are now sacrificed. If the plan here ad- vocated were enforced by the combined influences of the civil and medical codes, a far greater number of infantile lives would be saved, and fewer maternal lives perish, than under the present outrageous and unnatural system. The "justifiable" infanticide opens the door for the most frequent and frightful abuses of the " privilege," by leaving the legality of the question in most instances impossible to deter- mine. Thousands of lives are sacrificed under the plea of necessity, where one " legal " necessity exists, and these decrees of law and of science should be changed. In all pagan nations, where the destruction of the offspring is of common occurence, the pregnancy is allowed to progress and the child to be born, to dis- cover whether it is worth preserving. It is humiliating to us as a nation, to know that we are becoming worse than the pagans of old. Of all sins, none are so utterly to be condemned, as the one so common as the destruction of the child in the womb, and none are more repugnant. Few realize how many in this Christian land do and take what 200 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Worse than Pagans— Its Humiliating Tendency. is calculated to cause miscarriage, and for this sole purpose. So intimate is the relation between'mother and cliild, that its life cannot be destro^^ed without doing fatal violence to hers. How can strong decoctions of ergot, tansj, etc., poison her blood so effectually as to quench its life, without thereby proportionately poisoning her own ? The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal calls attention to the toxics effects of tansy, in the report of several cases of grave poisoning. In case I, about fifteen di'ops of the oil were taken at ele\^cn o'clock in the forenoon. At two o'clock p. m., after a hearty meal, ateaspoonful more was taken. Convulsions and shock immediately followed. There was also general cyanosis. The patient recovered. The menses ap- peared on the following day three or four days before time. The remaining seven cases are reported from various sources. In case II, a teaspoonful of the oil was taken to promote the catamina. Convulsions, ir- reo-ular pulsations and laborious breathing followed, and death ensued in one hour and a ha''.f. In case III, an unknown quantity of the oil was taken with crimin- al intent. Convulsions, labored and stertorous breath- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 201 The effects of Toxics— Several Cases. ing followed, and death in three and a quarter hours. A well formed four-month foetus was found at the autopsy undisturbed in the uterus. From certain facts it was estimated that eleven drachms of the oil had been taken. Case TV, a tea- spoonful of the oil of tansy was taken to induce mis- carriage. The young woman recovered after becoming comatose from the effects of the drug, which failed to exite the abortion. In case Y, four drachms of the oil of tansy were taken. Spasms, disturbed respira- tion, and great feebleness of the heart's action followed, and death ensued. Case YI, was one of rapid death following the use of the oil, without effecting abortion. In case YII, a decoction of tansy leaves was taken with a criminal intent. Paralysis, contracted pupils and coma followed, and death in twenty-four hours. without action of the uterus. Case YIII, was that of a woman three months advanced in pregnancy, who had taken a daily draught of the infusion of tansy for a week, for the purpose of exciting abortion. She also used a stronger decoction as a vaginal injection. The following morning she aborted, but suffered subse- quently from metritis and general peritonitis, and re- covery was delayed for three months. From these 202 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Effects of Toxics— Several Cases. reports it is evident that the use of tansy is attended with danger. It is a potent poison, requiring in some cases but one teaspoonfnl of the oil to cause death. In the eight cases in which the drug was taken in vary- ing quantities, death was the result in five, — a result M'hich should terrify those who use this drug to induce abortion. The drug, moreover, is shown to have little, if any, emmenagogue properties. Of the five cases in which it was employed to excite abortion, only one gave evidence that the ovum was disturbed, and this disturbance did not occur until the drug had been used for a week. Arsenical poisoning is scarcely less fatal, and certainly more emmenagogue in its results. If, therefore, one must be used, the latter is prefer- able. SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 203 The Different Methods— The Upper Tendom. PART XIII. PREVENTING CONCEPTION. rpHERE are many methods practiced for avoiding an increase of family, and some of them are of the most revolting character. It does not seem pos- sible that persons with any pretentions to decency could adopt them. Onanism is the commonest form. It is vulgar, de- basing, and repugnant to all purity and refinement. It is the product of the animal form of amativeness, without one shadow of rational excuse. Few things are more unsexing, and inflammatory to the nervous system. Masturbation is no more so; because both exhaust their own sexual magnetism, without either obtaining a re-supply from the other. The conjugal onanists of this age are more numerous than the ex- ceptions. Prominent church members, even ministers of the Gospel, and the very elite of society, almost 204 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Conjugal Onanism— Its Effects. monopolize this art, for it is far less common to find repugnance to offspring in the lower classes than in npper-tendora. The husband is not alone to blame for this crime, for the wife too, often gives her con- sent, and hy a voluntary efibrt she facilitates its accom- plishment. Without a single exception, to practice withdrawals is productive of terrible consequences to health. Yet this practice is so common that it well may be termed a national vice. It is acknowledged by its perpetra- tors, and the husband is eulogized by his wife and applauded by her friends for committing this vice, which is the scourge and the desolation of marriage. Onan has imitators all over this civilized land, but that the crime should be found among men of the highest respectability would surpass our belief if it were not notoriously true. Onanism should never be committed, even if moral considerations were out of the question. The efi'ects of this practice on man is similar to that of masturbation but they are not so prominent because of certain conditions which are wanting, but its influence over the mind and body is only a degree less. Nature revenges herself for the violated laws in disease of the brain and spinal mar- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 205 Onanigm vis ^[asturbalion. TOW, organic diseases of the heart, lungs, and kidnejs, wasting of the muscles, and frequently by impotence. These effects are slow in development, but they are sure to come, and the victim will at last find himself with some chronic disorder, when his epitaph may be written, " Therefore, the Lord slew him because he did a detestible thing." Its effects upon woman is more obvious, because more immediate and local. The orgasm induced in the female organs by the conjugal act, is such that, if left incomplete, the congestion does not immediately relieve itself, and inflammation, ulcerations, and final sterility, are the results. Those so-called female weaknesses are oftener produced by this evil than all other causes combined. Derange- ments of the bladder, rectum and womb, arising from this cause, are well-nigh intractable. It is impossible for either man or woman — passion- ate and loving as they may be — to reach the true crisis of the sexual act when onanism is practiced. In nearly every instance where onanism is performed, it does injustice to the woman, in the incompleteness of the conjugal act. These incomplete sexual approaches, if continued, will obliterate all ideas of enjoyment on the part of 206 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Condoms do not.Lessen the Evil— The only Lawful Methods. the wife, and is productive of conjugal unhappiness. These facts have but little weight with men, it can he said to their shame. The gratification of their own criminal passions seems to be the leading idea with the majority of men, thus defiling their own marriage- bed. "Wearing the condom does not lessen the evil. Hundreds of thousands of these vile things are sold every year by the drug stores, and double that num- ber of caps for the penal gland. And how many times are each of these used ? These are the half-brothers to that French invention for female masturbation. Is there a limit to sexual depravity? There are two lawful methods of preventing an in- crease of offspring, and tliey are the only ones that should ever be used. One of the most judicious of these methods is entire continence during the time it is desirable to remain exempt. The other method is the partial continence or the absolute avoidance of the conjugal act for the term of fourteen days after the cession of the last monthly period. This is the ex- treme limit, and in certain cases should be shortened two or three days. These are the most rational metliods for preventing conception, and none others should be used. All other methods save these, are disgusting. 8ECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 207 Partial Withdrawals— Its evil Effect. beastly, as well as unnatural, and physically injurious. Some of the methods used are terrible in their effects — debasing to all purity and refinement. That of withdrawal immediately before emission is certainly effectual, if practiced with sufficient care, but the practice is abominable and disgusting, as well as injurious to health. But if Dr. Dewees' theory of con- ception be correct, and as Spallanzani's experiments show, that only a trifle of semen, even largely diluted with water, may impregnate by being injected into the vagina, it is clear that nothing short of entire with- drawal is to be depended upon. But the old notion that the semen must enter the uterus to cause concep- tion, has led many to believe that the partial with- drawal is sufficient, and it is on this account that this error has proved mischievous, as all important errors generally do. It is said by those who speak from ex- perience, that the practice of withdrawal has an effect upon the health similar to intemperance in eating. As the subsequent exhaustion is probably mainly owing to the shock the nervous system sustains in the act of coition, this opinion may be correct. It is further said that this practice serves to keep alive those fine feelings with which married people first come to- 208 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETT. The old Notion of Conception. getlier, but every day evidence show that the contrary is the case, as it is an act against nature. The Old idea of conception has led some to recom- mend with considerable confidence, the introducing into the vagina, previous to connection, a very deli- cate piece of sponge, moistened with water, to be im- mediately afterward withdrawn by means of a ribbon attached to it. But this is not a sure preventative, and is one of the disgusting schemes to cheat nature As there are many little ridges or folds in the vagina, we cannot suppose the withdrawal of the sponge would dislodge all the semen in every instance. Another method in use, such as syringing the vagi- na immediately after connection, with a solution of sulphate of zinc, of alum, pearl-ash or any salt that acts chemically on the semen, is one that has been scattered far and wide by advertising quacks, and while it has probably prevented conception in num- berless cases, yet it is far from being a positive rem- edy ; and the most that can be said of it is that it has probably done less real injury than most of the other means, because the very syringing process is conducive of cleanliness, and aids in strengthening the relaxed muscles of the genital organs. It is further a SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 209 More Methods to Cheat Nature. well known fact that similar injections are recommend- ed bj all physicians in cases of jprocidentia uteri or a sinking down of the womb, flour alius and kin- dred weakening diseases. In the use of the above remedies for a legitimate object, we have nothing to find fault with, and believe that nine-tenths of the female weaknesses would be obviated by using them in a proper manner at proper times, and in a solution of suflScient strength to contract the flaccid muscles, and still not harm the delicate membranes of the gen- ital organs. It is also said that a vegetable astringent, such as an infusion of white oak bark, red rose leaves of nut-gall and the like, are equally effective in all cases where the salts mentioned are considered a medicinal remedy. 14 210 SECBET SINS OF SOCIETY. ;he Masculine Law— Its Power. PABT XIY. WOMAN'S RIGHTFUL CONTROL OVER THE GENERA- TIVE FUNCTION. rpiIE natural laws of sex in their action, position ■*■ and relation toward each other, teach us the true relations, positions and labors of men and women in tlie family, in society and in the governmental orders. As tlie feminine is everywhere tlie controlling power, this power must be recognized in woman and its law obeyed, before we can ever have order and harmony in any of the relations of life. The masculine law, as represented in man, is everywhere, and has always been recognized as the external executive force, which gives him the right of supremacy. His strength and ability in the field of labor gives him the right. Ills might makes the right. The central power of woman in the maternal office gives her not only the power of control over herself and the fcetus, but it also gives her SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 211 The Feminine Law — Its Power. the right of control over man in the sexual relation? This right of control belongs to M'oman because she possesses the power. Her ^ower gives her the right. Meii are already beginning to recognize woman's right of control in the sexual relation. They have dis- covered that it is not right to force a woman, or sub- ject her to beafi' children against her will. That as to her belong the burdens and responsibilities of child- bearing, it is for her to say whether or no she will assume these responsibilities. Under right conditions every true woman will bear children. The strongest law of woman's nature is the love of children, and to a mother a man is but a grown ujp child. The strongest law of man (outside of self) is the love of, or, in a perverted condition, the lust of woman. But because women love children, they do not wish to be compelled to bear one every year, like the beasts of the held. The first and most important condition in the right generation of humanity, is obedience to the sexual laws of nature. The brute follows the yearly period of law of physical necessity; the human female combines both the physical and mental laws 212 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Sexual Desire always Together in the reproductive function. Monthly periods are to the human what the yearly are to the brute, and here- in lies tlie true law for the exercise of the sexual func- tion — that is where offspring are desirable. In all nature the generative function is controlled by periodical laws, and the generative power of the male, as well as the female, would be much greater and better if the organs never had more than a month- ly use. These periodical laws are the controlling powers of generation, whether in male or female. The brute male always obeys the law of the female. He never violates, but always respects it from beginning to end, through gestation and lactation. What a beautiful lesson for the human animal. The genera- tive function of man is almost lawless Cat least to the law of control), and his whole character partakes of this lawlessness. In the brute mammal, generation and sexual de- sire always go together. This desire is always first manifested by the female and obeyed by the male. The human(?) male has usurped the might of his authori- ty over the woman, and her laws of order in the gena- tive and maternal functions. "We see the direful re- sults. All order and harmony are lost in the sexual SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 213 An Unsexed Woman— The Sexual Passion reli.tion. Disorder, disease, pollution and crime, fol- low in tbeir train. There can never be harmony in family, society or government, until man removes his foot of authority from the neck of woman, and per- mits her to control in the sexual relation accordinff to the maternal laws of order; because the sexual rela- tion underlies family, society and government. As is the sexual relation, so is the family; as is tlie fami- ly, so is society: as is society", so is government. All, all depends upon the sexual relations, because it gives birth to good or bad children, according to its condi- tions. Men and women must both understand the righteous laws of maternity; woman, that she may control her- self and man; man, that he may be controlled. A woman is unsexed by prostituting or misdirecting the sexual forces; a man becomes a neuter or a eunuch in spirit by the total prostration and loss of all power, though the sexual organs may still remain. An un- sexed woman or a prostitute is much worse than a lib- ertine, simply because she has the power to be. She sustains less loss in the sexual act than he. Men and women have cultivated the sexual passion by exer- cise, and handed it down by transmission, until sexual 214 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Why Young Girls are Seduced desire is no longer a safe guide for its indulgence, as among respectable brutes. As long as sexual desire, with maternity for its end, was under the control of the female, it was safely followed; but in the hands of the male, this law has become an all-devouring fire, too often consuming all that is good in his nature. Sexual abuses have produced more diseases, and are the sources of more evil and crime in the world than all other causes put together. A very large class of our male population will per- sist in running into sexual excesses, even when many of them must know that it is destroying their lives. They are monomaniacs on this subject, and because the majority of wives will persist in being women and mothers, instead of prostitutes, young girls are se- duced and kept, and their passions cultivated until many of them lose almost every vestige of their wo- manly nature. Why do they do this, when they must know that the inevitable will be personal ruin? They do it be- cause the law of self-control is not in their nature, and woman is under man's domain. Men often plead that sexual indulgence is necessary for health, to relieve the system. Why ? Because such a draft, such a de- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 215 Who Seek the Assignation House mand for nervous energy and mucous material has been produced in the sexual chambers, through the sexual channels, by such a frequent opening and out- let of the elements, that the passages become gorged if tliey are closed longer than usual. It is a terrible necessity^ produced by a terrible habit. It is a ne- cessity, just as the drunkard's dram is a necessity, and the man has as little control over himself in the one case as the other. Lust can no more be cured by in- dulgence than alcoholic intemperance, only as it pro- duces a total loss of sexual power and manhood. The husband, too, sometimes digs the grave of his own haj)piness and home, when he cultivates in the wife a love and habit of frequent indulgence. As such habits always produce nervous weakness and ir- ritability of temper, the husband and wife get angry and quarrel for some foolish cause, and the wife as well as the husband seeks the house of assignation. Thus men and women, by cultivating their sexua'i. propensities, are ready to run off with a paramour, forgetful of their obligations to each other, and what is much worse, of their duties to their children. Where the mind is so repeatedly drawn into the sexual channel of desire by useless indulgence, it is impos- 216 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Men and Women lose their Sense of Right. sible to cultivate a high moral sense of the use of tlie sexual organs as a parental function. Its frequency destroys all sense of its importance in the formation of a new life. It is excessive sexual abuse that liat produced so much nervous debility in men and women, in part; we have inherited it from our ancestors, and we transmit it to our children. This is the reason why every generation grows weaker as it grows wiser. 'No wonder " the years of our lives are only three- score and ten, and full of sorrow and trouble. In the abuse of the sexual organs, men and women lose theii sense of right and wrong, and even their affection for children. The whole soul becomes so absorbed in this channel that the voice of conscience, and even the sacred yearnings of maternal love, is stifled by its in- creasing demands. More than half of the poor little innocents that see the light of day, tell us plainly that they are not worth raising, by withering and dying at the first rude blast of life; and as long as there is a constant abuse of the maternal law by tlie parents, the W' rl 1 will never be bettered by its children. The mascu- line law of generation must be under the control of the maternal — not as now, lawless, and too often at the SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 217 An Adulterous Husband. mercy of unsexed females. Bv weakening the system^ sexual abuse opens all its avenues to disease. We do not mean sexual diseases, so-called; but when the system is weakened by nervous prostration, every form of disease takes hold of it. There is not suffi- cient strength left to digest the food properly, or to resist and overcome the changeable conditions of the weather, and other external influences. "The strong man of the house " lies bound and prostrate, drunk with passion. Houses of infamy and their pollutions are not the worst results of sexual abuses, because they are not confined to them; they are diffused into families and transmitted to children. To curse one's self is bad enough, but this is a light sin compared with the crime that entails misery upon innocent babes, and curses future generations. Unsexed, abandoned wo- men, never bear children; it is well so. They do not propagate pollution through their own flesh and blood; nevertheless their evils do not die with them. Yirtuous women are often diseased through an adul- terous husband, and their children cursed by its transmission. The evils of sexual abuse lurk in almost every 218 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Results of Nervous Debility. houseliold; thej have cursed all the past of humanity, and must curse generations jet unborn. In wedlock the abnormal use of the sexual fanctioii is called vir- tuous, because the law sanctions whatever is done un- der the cover of marital law; but all civil laws of the land can never prevent its evil effects. It has pro- duced a race of men physically weak, but with such strong sexual propensities that they must indulge, at whatever cost to wife or children, and at the cost of maintaining a class of outcast females for their accom- modation. It has also given birth to a class of ab- normal females ready for self-pollution, or willing to abandon themselves to the lusts of men. Sexual commerce is just as bad as self-abuse, when carried to the same excess. In a certain sense it is even worse. It is from nervous debility, produced by sexual abuse and other causes, not unfrequently by too hard labor in the middle and lower classes, that two-thirds of our children have not strength enough to live through the period of infancy, and combat the diseases to which it is incident. If two- thirds of the young of our useful, valuable, domestic animals should die in this way, we should think there was something wronsf somewhere. Human beingfs SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 219 Man's Responsibility for Illegitimate Children are animals in tlie liigliest sense of the word. Right conditions are vastly more important to them than to the lower animals, because their organizations are so much higher- and finer, and so much more sensitive to surrounding influences. Man has generally recog- nized in some way the natural sexual division of la- bor. l£e has constituted himself woman's protector, and generally assists the mother in the labor of rais- ing the children. Nevertheless, we are painfully re- minded by the number of illegitimate children and infanticides in the world, that the exercise of man's responsibility depends very much upon his own will. A woman cannot so easily throw off her maternal re- sponsibilities. "When she does shirk them as far as possible by killing her own children, let no man be too much shocked at her inhumanity, but let them consider that their own want of manhood has driven her to the deed. A woman cannot well be father and mother both for her child, and provide for her own wants, too, in a condition of society where her labor is not considered worth paying for. In the married relation, if, added to the functional burdens of maternity, the mother is subjected to eevere toil, the curse of weakness will fall in some 220 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Sorrows of Women in Conception. waj upon the heads of her children. Mothers, who labor severely in the open air, may produce children healthy and tongh, but they will be mentally dull and stinted in size — not powerful either in mind or body. If the mother uses her strength in her muscles she cannot give it to her children. Nature will not be cheated. Beware how you keep your account with her. She will demand of you "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," and future generations " shall pay the utmost farthing," for all our abuses ot life, as we are paying to day for the abuses of the past. "The sins of the parents shall be visited upon tlit children." Frequently we see strong and healthy mothers with weak, nerveless children. Such results are always the abuse of power in some way. A willful disobedience of Nature's laws have greatly multiplied the sorrows of woman in conception aiid child-bearing, consequently, man has ruled over her because she has brought forth sons of lust and passion. As disobedience to natural laws has driven humanity into its perverted state, nothing short of obedience can restore it. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 221 Ante-nuptial Relations. PART XY. SPECIAL HINTS ABOUT OUR SEXUAL RELATIONS. A RGUIl^G from a strictly practical, and not from a sentimental point of view, but with all reverence, we hold that the love interchanged between man and woman is no mere operation of the mind, no sheer in- tellectual process. However pure this passion may be, it is necessarily twofold in its nature. It is an al- loy, made up, like ourselves, of body and mind — the grosser mould so intermixed with the more ethereal, that the one finds its most passionate expression in the fruition of the other. Abstract love between the sexes cannot, therefore, exist in any other sense than those engendered by blood-ties. Forgetful of this abso- lute law of our being, sentimentalists have judged too harshly of Abelard, and lavished too one-sided a sym- pathy upon Heloise. Without further comment, the ante-nuptial relations, at least such customs are there- 222 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Causes of Uterine Trouble. fore, when prolonged, very disturbing elements to a young girl's health. Long engagements, by keeping np a wearing nerv- ous erethism, are not only recognized, but even classi- fied, by alienists, as one of the causes of insanity among women. Much more frequently the nervous exaltation is spent upon the reproductive organs ; for there follows an awakening of sense which is not, as in man, appeased by the distractions of business pur- suits. Uterine trouble from this source any open- eyed physician will over and over again see. If the caresses of lovers are prejudicial to good health, every like relation between the sexes must be exposed to like dangers. In too many rural districts, and in the lower classes of citizens, such license is tol- erated in the social intercourse between the youth of each sex, as must be destructive both to good health and to good morals. The "old folks" are shelved too soon. Young people are left too much to themselves, and thrown too much together. Their social gather- ings are too rarely presided over by their mothers or their seniors. As a very natural consequence, their games become coarse, their forfeits immodest; and lit- tle by little this freedom from restraint is liable bEOitEl- SINS OF SOCIETY. 223 Honey-moon Journey. tinall}'^ to degenerate into such gross familiarities as would be improper between even affianced lovers. An unnatural sexual excitement is thus kept np, which must do physical harm. The excesses of the honeymoon journey, conjoined with its fatigue and its discomforts, are too often the starting-point of uterine disease. All excesses in the sexual relations between husband and wife — relations which, when abused, are productive of much mischief, particularly among the newly married. Un mastered importunity, and too submissive an affection, must be met by separate beds, by uucommunicating rooms, and if need be, by strong expostulation. But there are yet other se- cret sins which, like the plague of the frogs, creep in- to our "houses and bed-chambers and beds ;" sins which are vile and filthy. Everywhere we find heads of large families that are practicing detestable arts to avoid offspring. Physicians are consulted every day for the mental and bodily infirmities resulting from these and other sexual sins. The moral and physical degradation resulting from these vicious sexual relations is irreparable; so dama- ging are they to good health and good morals, so fatal to national prosperity, that we cannot go far astray in assaulting; them with evcrv avai^a^^^'^ ""^"-^on. 224: SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. Shameful Maneu^ ers in Wedlock. The sexual instinct has been given to man for the perpetuation of his species; but in order to refine this gift, and to set limits to its abuse, it has been wisely- ordered that a purely intellectual quality — that of love — should find its passionate expression in the gratifi- cation of this instinct. Disassociate the one from the other, and man sinks below the level of the brute. Destroy the reciprocity of the union, and marriage is no longer an equal part- nership, but a sensual usurpation on the one side, and a loathing submission on the other. Consider tlie moral efiects of such shameful maneuvers: wedlock lapses into licentiousness; the wife is degraded into a mistress; love and affection change into aversion and hate. Without sufi'ering some penalty, man cannot disturb the conditions of his well-being or trespass beyond its limitations. Let him transgress her physical laws, and Nature exacts a forfeit; dare he violate his moral obligations, an ofi*ended Deity stands ready to avenge them. That this law is immutable, witness from the history read to you — the estrangement between husband and wife; witness her ill health and ill temper, and the wreck of body and mind to which she has been re- duced. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 225 His Keen Sense of Self-abasement— No Self-control. The husband suffers mentally, because no man can behave in so unmanly a way without a keen sense of self-abasement, without being stung by tlie chastise- ment of remorse. Dishonor the body, the temple of the soul, and you dishonor the soul. Again, by this cowardly recoil, his enjoyment in the act is so blunted that he is tempted to seek elsewhere for those pleas- ures which are denied him at home. Further, he suffers physically, because although he passes through the crisis of the sexual act, and com- pletes it in that sense, yet, owing to his with- drawal from the person of his wife just before the moment of ejecnlation, this acme of the organism, by the lack of the normal and necessary adjuvant, viz: the rugous and constringing vagina, is not sufficiently prolonged to wholly empty the vasa deferentia. Enough of the semen remains behind to tease his or- gans and kindle in him desires too importunate to tol- erate any great self-control. He is thus goaded on to such sexual excesses as no brain nor brawn can long support; for a constant drain on the life-giving fluid implies — a constant decrepitude will inevitably ensue if this practice of " conjugal onanism " is persisted in Nor is this name a misnomer; for there is no essen- 15 226 secrf;t sins of suciety. What Provokes the Desire. tial difference between this habit and that of mastur- bation. Both injure in precisely the same way, and for precisely the same reasons. It does indeed seem to be tlie law of nature that man must suffer the pun- ishment of the onanist if he parts with the " seed of another life " in any other way than that by which it tends to become fruitful. The w^ife suffers the most, because she both sins and is sinned against. She sins, because she shirks those responsibilities for which she was created. She is sinned against, be- cause she is defrauded of her rights. Lawful congress completely performed so far satisfies an imperious in- stinct, that attendent local congestions are at once re- lieved, and to great nervous excitement succeeds a calm repose of body and mind. On the other hand, conjugal onanism provokes in her desires which keenly solicit that very gratification which is denied by the nature of the act. The excessive stimulation of the whole reproductive apparatus remains unappeased. A nervous superexcitation continues, which keeps up, as in our patient, a sexual excitement and a hyperaes- thesia of the parts. By forfeiting her conjugal rights, she does not reach that conjuncture which loosens the tension of the coarctative muscles of her erectile tissues. SECUET SIXS OF SOCIETY. 227 The 111 Effects of such Practices. Hence the congestive orgasm of the vagina, womb ovaducts, and oi' the ovaries, does not at once pass away, but persists for some time — perhaps is not wholly eft'aced before another incomplete coition brings a fresli installment. Thus arise engorgements, erasions, and displacementsofthe uterus, and inflamma- tion of its appendages, accompanied, of course, by all those protean mental and physical manifestations which M'e so often see. She takes distorted views of life and of the marriage rehition, and harbors resentment against her husband as the author of all her ills. Again: for the ill efiects of such practices accumu- late — the very barrenness aimed at by these criminal expedients is in itself a source of disease. In the sterile woman the absence of pregnancy pre- vents a break in the constantly recurring catamenia and the physiological congestion of the womb by ceaseless repetition, is liable to become pathological. Add to this the unrelieved congestions arising from incomplete intercourse, and a prolific source of nterine and of hepatic disorders is at once manifest. In this relation we call attention to another source of sexual trouble — either from nndue order on the part of the husband, or from the too frigid nature of the wife — the 228 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Husband should Practice Self-controL sexual crisis with him is over before hers is reached. Such misadventures are productive not only of un- liappiness, but also of disease. Here, as in conjugal onanism, the female reproduc- tive organs are kept in a state of congestion, which is followed by like ill results, the difference being only in degree and not in kind. For this lack of recipro- cation — not, however, necessarily fatal to impregna- tion — the husband should practice self-denial as re- gards the frequency of congress, and greater self-con- trol during the act, together with a recourse to such promptings as a warm and an honorable affection may suggest. Marriage, without children, acts like a slow poison on the constitution of most women. Show me a house without children, and, ten to one, you show me an abode dreary in its loneliness, disturbed by jealousy or by estrangement, distasteful from wayward caprice or from unlovable eccentricity. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 229 Its PreTalence— Brazen Effrontery PAET XYI. PROSTITUTION. FTIHE most abominable of all the sins of societj, and that which has smirched and blackened humanity from the earliest periods of time, is that of illicit in- tercourse, or prostitution. No terms are too strong in its condemnation, no judgment too severe. Untold millions have succumbed to this unholy crime. Its loathsome subjects show their hideous deformities, alike among the highly cultured, and the lowly ig- norant. Dens of this vice abound in every city, vil- lage and hamlet throughout Christendom. Their habitues^ without shame, and with brazen fronts, walk the most public thoroughfares, infest halls of legislation and justice; appear in everyplace of entertainment, and even desecrate the house of God, flaunting their infamy in the face of Christianity purity and virtue. Wherever man is, and wherever 230 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Its Origin and Cause. he goes, there will the scarlet woman follow; though she has to brave the terrors and wildness of a miner's camp, far beyond the confines of civilization. The attention of philanthropists and legislators has been time and again called to prostitution's alarming* increase, and the direful results that attend it. Scheme upon scheme, theory upon theory, have been advanced toward a solution of this question. The authors of each have claimed the possession of a specific. Tet the scourge remains. No nation has escaped its fear- ■ful ravages. In the history of all, the hidden head of licentiousness is found sapping their vitality and strength, and finally hurling to destruction people, who, though they have le^ the world captive, finally fall before the assault of their own beastly passions. Yet, though the past is replete with terrible lessons we of the present day have not heeded the warning contained therein. The cloven hoof of the withering curse is seen in every avenue of modern society, and the question arises, "What are the causes of a vice so monstrous in its character, and so gross in its out- rages upon nature's laws?" "Why will women sell their bodies, violating by the act heaven's grandest design, and calling upon themselves a most terrible BECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 231 How Fostered.' " retribution? It in the main has its origin in the transmission of sensual prQclivities. History is re- plete with numerous illustrations of this. They are repeated both in biblical and profane writ, when the daughters of rulers and law-givers discerned evident tendencies towards moral turpitude, such as character- ized their parents. Through all classes, high and low, rich and poor, cultured and ignorant, from earth's dawn almost un- til now, this principle has its numberless illustrations and examples. Founded in perverted sexual laws, it has been encouraged and fostered by a laxity of paren- tal discipline, and by a non-observance of that proper instruction which is demanded at the fireside. Again, conjugal infelicity has aided towards the great demor- alization, together with a false and pernicious pride, which is the direct outgrowth of fashionable follies and desires. A debased and lecherous literature joins ' in the work of affording sustenance to their sensual pro- ' ciivities, while the press of the present day adds its fuel to the flame, by its beastly rehearsals of the various phases of society's worst and most damnable sins. The result is, harlotism appearing under all shapes and forms. 232 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Woman Vends her Body— Man the Ready Buye It is seen not only in the brothel, and upon the highways, shamelessly brazen, but it hides itself under the mantle of outward cleanliness and decency, defil- ing with its cursed influence the innocent and pure who come in contact with it. Woman's shame is the high- est priced of the world's commodities, and men freely paj' for it. The vender, with syren voice cries its sale, ready to deliver up her body to the highest bidder. To him who has a sincere regard for humanity there is no more appalling sight than is presented by this sexual and social crime. In no particular is there a greater violation of heav- en s holiest laws, to say nothing of the physical ruin that it entails; all the finer sensibilities of the heart and mind are blunted — the natural consequences — when purity and chastity have fled. That chief bulwark of society — the home-circle — re- lies upon this purity and chastity for its main support. When it falls the nation falls. It is an inevitable con- sequence. History ever repeats itself. That of ours will be no exception, unless society makes some effort to purge itself of this terrible sin. Is it indeed to be that this Nation, peopling the fairest garden of all earth, rejoicing in a superior intelligence, favored with SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 233 The Result of the Terrible Scourge opportunities far beyond those of any other, and ca- pable of obtaining the highest plane of humanity, is to yet fall and crumble to pieces before this scourge which is sweeping over our land ? Such will be the resnlt r.nless society pauses to consider its iniquity, and re- turn to a proper observance of the sexual laws and re- lations which are so intimately connected with this question. 234 SECTET SINS OF SOCIETY, The Demand and Supply— How Regnlated. PAET XYII. THE CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION. WE will, to the best of our ability, call attention to prostitution as it exists among us at the present day. At the outset we will consider the causes that produce, or tend to perpetuate the evil state of things which has become a foul blot upon civ- ilization. "We may first of all broadly state the somewhat self- evident proposition that prostitution exists and flour- ishes, because there is a demand for the article sup- plied by its agency. Supply, as we all know, is regu- lated by demand, and demand is the practical expres- sion of an ascertained want. Want and demand may be either natural or artificial. Articles necessary for the support or protection of life, such as meat and drink, fire, clothes and lodging, are the objects of natural de- mand. In these the extent of the demand is meas- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 235 Strong desire for Sexual Intercourse by the Male. ured entirely by the want, and this latter will neither be increased by an abundance of supply, nor diminished by a scarcity. Articles of luxury are the objects of artificial de- mand, which depends, not merely on the want, but is actually increased by the supply ; that is to say, the desire for these articles grows with the possession and enjoyment of them. This feature is peculiarly notice- able in prostitution, though in strictness, perhaps, it cannot be placed in the category of artificial wants. The want of prostitutes grows with the use of them. We may also observe that in other cases the demand is active, and the supply passive; in this the supply is active, so that we may almost say the supplj^ rather than the want creates the demand, "We must not here lose sight of the fact that the desire for sexual inter- course is strongly felt by the male on attaining pu- berty, and continues through his life, an ever-present, sensible want ; it is most necessary to keep this in view, for, true though it be, it is constantly lost siglit of, and erroneous theories, producing on the one hand coercive legislation, on the other, neglect of obvious evils, are the result. This desire of the male is the want that produces 6ECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Force of Sexual Desire the demand, of which prostitution is a result, and which is, in fact, the artificial supply of a natural de- mand, taking the place of the natural supply through the failure of the latter, or the vitiated character of the demand. It is impossible to exaggerate the force of sexual desire; we must, however, bear in mind that man is not a mere material existence; his nature inchides also mind and spirit, and he is endowed with con- science to admonish, reason to regulate, and will to control his desires and actions. "Woman was created to be the companion of man, and her nature presents the exact counterpart of his. It is evident that if so composite a being permits any of the different con- stituent parts of his nature to attain to undue propor- tions, he thereby impoverishes and weakens the others, and in proportion as he does this, and ac- cords indulgence to one set of qualities and in- clinations at the expense of the rest, he deteriorates from his real nature. lie is, in truth, an unmanly man, who devotes all his time and care to athletic and ph3^sical pursuits and enjoyments; so is the man who forgets or despises his body, and gives all his care to the mind and intellect ; and so, also, is the man who SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 237 The Standard of Human Perfection. withdraws from life its enjoyments and duties, and devotes himself exclusively to meditation and spirit- ual exercise. Men, in proportion as the different ele- ments in their being receive fair play and produce their desires, may be considered to approach more or less nearly the standard of human perfection. The intercourse, therefore, of man or woman ought to ap- peal to their threefold organization of body, mind and spirit. If the first predominates over and excludes the others, sexual desire degenerates into lust ; when all are present, it is elevated into love, which appeals to each of the component parts of man's nature. The men who seek gratification for, and the woman who bestows it on, one part of their being only, are in an unnatural state. And here we may distinguish the indulgence of unlawful love from commerce with pros- titutes; the one is the ill-regulated but complete grat- ification of the entire human being; the other affords gratification to one part only of liis nature. One other distinction also we must carefully notice, and that is, that in the one case the enjoyment is mutual; and that in the other the enjoyment is one- sided, and granted not as the expression and reward of love, but as a matter of commerce; but if it is 238 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The two Cases— Mutual and one-sided Enjoyment. derogatory to their being, and unnatural to bestow gratification on the one part of their nature only, what shall we say of the condition of those unfortu- nate women to whom sexual indulgence affords no pleasure, and who pass their lives in, and gain their living by, affording enjoyments which they do not share, and feigning a passion which has ceased to move them. The woman who abandons herself for gain, instead of in obedience to the promptings of desire — " Who, while her lover pants upon her breast. Can count the figures on an Indian chest," is in an unnatural state; and so is the man who uses her, and obtains for a mere money consideration that enjoyment of the person which should be yielded only as the result and crowning expression of mutual pas- sion. We may now consider a little more in detail, the want, the demand, and the supply. The want is, in its inception, a natural want, and is simply the perversion of the natural desire of every male for female compan- ionship; it is asserted by some writers that indulgence in sexual intercourse is necessary for the male as soon as he has attained puberty, and they present us with pitiable pictures of the unhappy condition to which SECRET SIISS OF SOCIETY. 239 How the Mind and Body become Demoralized. many are reduced, who from timiditj or religious or moral influences, refrain from giving free scope to their desires, and who deduce from this the somewhat startling proposition that freer sexual intercourse than is at present countenanced by tlie conscience and prac- tice of society, should be accorded, ^o doubt the cases cited by the supporters of this theory are very pitiable; they will, liowever, scarcely have the hardi- hood to assert that marriage immediately on attain- ing puberty, would tend to the proper dev^elopment of the man, or be otherwise than injurious, ratlier than marriage or sexual gratification. We wouM suggest, as the true remedy, that morbid excitement should be con-ected by healthy bodily exercise, and mental application. If the young permit themselves to dwell unduly on sexual ideas, a demoralizing con- dition of mind and body must result. The want that finds relief in prostitutes, is the un- bridled desire of precocious youths and vicious men. In like manner the demand is occasioned by the in- dulgence of the vicious, and therefore, unnatural want. It arises from men forgetting that they are not placed in this world merely to gratify their appetites. Man's plain duty is to seek in honorable love the 240 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Demands for Prostitution. gratification of manly desire, and to wait for enjoy- ment till he has earned the right to it. There is a right and wrong way of gratifying natural desires; it is, as we have seen, not only possible to choose the right, but more beneficial both to mind and body. The demand for prostitution arises, then, from ill-reg- ulated and uncontrolled desire, and may be referred to the following heads: The natural instinct of man. His sinful nature. The artificial state of society rendering early marriages difiicult, if not impossible. The unwillingness of many, who can afford marriage, to submit to its restraint and incur its obligations. To a man's calling preventing him from marrying, or debarring him when married from conjugal inter- course. The unrestrained want and lawless demand, call for the infamous supply; but want and demand are in- sufficient of themselves to create supply; they are strong provoking causes, but not creative. "We must go a step further to discover the source of supply. It is derived from the vice of women, which is occasioned by SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 241 The Artificial State of Society. Natural desire. Natural sinfulness. The preferment of indolent ease to labor. Yicious inclinations strengthened and ingrained by earlj neglect, or evil training, bad associates, and an indecent mode of life. Necessity, imbued by the inability to obtain a living by hottest means, consequent on a fall from virtue. Extreme poverty. To this black list may be added love of drink, love of dress, love of amusement, while the fall from virtue may result either from a woman's love being bestowed on an unworthy object, who fulfills his professions of attachment by deliberately exposing her to temptation. Every unchaste woman is not a prostitute. By un- chastity a woman becomes liable to lose character, position, and the means of living; and when these are lost is too often reduced to prostitution for support, which, therefore, may be described as the trade adopted by all women who have abandoned or are precluded from an honest course of life, or who lack the power or the inclination to obtain a livelihood from other sources. What is a prostitute? She is a woman who gives for mowey that which she ought to give only 16 242 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. i A Woman with half the Woman gons. for love; who ministers to passion and lust alone, to the exclusion and extinction of all higher qualities, and nobler sources of enjoyment, which combine with desire to produce the happiness derived from the in- tercouse of the sexes. She is a woman with half the woman gone, and that half containing all that elevates her nature, leav- ing her a mere instrument of impurity; degraded and fallen, she extracts from the sin of others the means of living, corrupt, and dependent on corruption, and therefore interested directly in the increase of immor- ality — a social pest, carrying contamination and foul- ness to every quarter of the world. Such women, ministers of evil passions, not only gratify desire, but also arouse it. Compelled by necessity to seek for customers, they throng our streets and public places, and suggest evil thoughts and desires which might otherwise remain undeveloped. Confirmed profligates will seek out the means of gratifying their desires; the young from a craving to discover unknown mysteries, may approach the haunts of sin, but thousands would remain uncon- taminated if temptation did not seek them out. Pros- titutes have the power of soliciting and tempting. SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 243 SexualPassion Strong in Proportion as it is Encouraged. The sexual passion is strong in every man, but it is strong in proportion as it is encouraged or restrained ; and every act of indulgence only makes future absti- nence more hard, and in time almost impossible. Some consider that prostitution is the safety-valve of society, and that and serious diminution of the num- ber of prostitutes would be attended with an increase of clandestine immodesty. Such a consequence is not one we think need be apprehended ; the insinuation that virtuous women, to bo made to yield, require only to be assaulted, is a base and unworthy calumny; nor is it to be supposed that the man who will use a harlot is prepared to insult or injure a modest woman. But intercourse with depraved women debases the mind, and ^raduallv hardens the heart, and each act of gratification stimulates desire and necessitates fresh in- dulgence; and when grown into a habit, not only breeds distaste for virtuous society, but causes the mind to form a degraded estimate of the sex, until women seem mere objects of desire and vehicles of indulgence. The prostitute is a sad burlesque of woman, pre- senting herself as an object of lust instead of an object of honorable love, a source of base gratification, in- stead of a reason for self-restraint; familiarizing man 244 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Causes that lead the Mind to form a Degraded Estimate of the Sex. with this aspect of women till lie can see no other, and his indulged body and debased mind lead him to seek in them only sensual gratilication, and to make, if possible, of every woman tlie thing that he desires — a toy, a plaything, an animated doll; a thing to wear like a glove, and fling away; to use like a horse and to send to the knackers when worn out; the mere object of his fancy and servant of his appetite, instead of an immortal being, composed like himself of body, soul and spirit — his associate and consort, endowed with memory and hope and strong'affections — with a heart to love, to feel, to suffer; man's highest prize and surest safeguard; the inspirer of honest love and manly exer- tion. It may be said, indeed, that the primary causes and the first two subdivisions of the secondary, nam el j^: the artificial and local, are causes tending to produce prostitution as a system, of which we may predicate that it always must exist in a greater or less degree of intensity; while the individual causes are those which enable us to account for the presence in the class of unfortunates of the ditferent individuals, of which tlie following are the principal — seduction, poverty, idle- ness, love of dress, love of 'pleasure, vicious training and associations, and evil habits. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 245 The Faults of Society— Preventing Early Marriage. Again, the laws which society imposes in the pres- ent day in respect to marriage upon young men be- longing to the middle class are, in the highest degree, unnatural, and are the real cause of most of our social corruptions. The father of a family has, in many in- stances, risen from a comparatively humble origin to a position of easy competence. His wife has her car- riage; he associates with men of wealth greater than his own. His sons reach the age when in the natural course of things, they ought to marry and establish a home for themselves. It would seem no great hard- ship that a young couple should begin on the same level as their parents began, and be content for the first few years with the mere necessaries of life; and there are thousands who, were it not for society, would gladly marry on such terms. But here the tyrant world interposes; the son must not marry until he can maintain an establishment on much the same footing as his father's. If he dare to set the law at defiance, his family lose caste, and he and his wife are quietly dropped out of the circle in which they have hitherto moved. All that society will allow is an en- gagement, and then we have the sad but familiar sight of two young lovers wearing out their best years 24:6 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. What Society allows— Worldly Diflaculties. with hearts sickened with hope long deferred; often; after all ending in disappointment, or in the shattered health of the poor girl, unable to bear up against the harrassing anxiety. Or even when a long engage- ment does finally end in marriage, how diminished are the chances of happiness. The union, which if al- lowed at first, would have proved happy, under worldly difficulty has lost its brightness when postponed until middle life, even with competence and a carriage. There are very many young men who are keeping themselves pure amid all temptations, but we know too, that there are thousands who are living in sin, chiefl}'' in consequence of the impossibility (as the world saj^s) of their marrying. Some go quietly with the stream, and do as others do around them, almost without a thought of the misery they are causing, and the curse they are laying up for them- selves. But many, perhaps most of them, are wretch- ed under the convictions of their conscience. We must in sadness confess that in face of the powerful tyranny of social law in this country, it is difficult to suggest any general remedy for the evil. But the mischief is on the increase with our increasing wor- ship of money, and public attention ought to be ap- pealed to on the subject. SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 247 Social Tyranny and its Results— Providential Law. If our young men would shake off these affecta- tions, and claim a position in society for themselves and for their wives, because tney are qualified for it by education and character, and not merely because they represent so much money, they will soon force the world to give way, and strike down one of the greatest hindrances to their own happiness. It would not be difficult to bring the daughters over to the same opinion. The recognition of this principle would do much to check some of our most deadly social evils. A great law of providence cannot be neglected with impunity, and this undue, artificial, and unnatural postponement of marriage ends in a great blot upon our social system. Yice is the result, and vice creates a class of victims to indulge it. If providence has ordained that man should not live alone, and if conventional maxims or mere empty fashions and the artificial attractions of society lead to overlooking or superseding or tampering with this law, the neglect of a providerftial law will surely avenge itself in social disease and corruption in one or the other parts of the system. The fear of poverty has become morbid, and men cry out not only before they 248 SECRET SIMS OF SOCIETY. Profligacy of the Female are liurt, but before there is any reasonable prospect of it. Thej forget that married raeu can worh^ and that marriage is a stimulus to work, and again and again elicits those latent activities of mind which pro- duce not only competency, but affluence. Inability to marry, unwillingness to accept the ob- ligations imposed by married life, vicious habits, idle- ness and love of pleasure — are all causes which operate on individual men, and induce them to have recourse to the society of prostitutes. The causes of the supply have now to be examined. It appears to be pretty generally admitted that uncon- trollable sexual desire of her own, play but a little part ill inducing profligacy of the female. They yield to desires in which they do not share, from a weak gen- erosity which cannot refuse anything to the passionate entreaties of the man they love. There is in the warm, fond heart of woman a strange and sublime unselfish- ness, which men too commonly discover only to profit by. Many — far more^han would generally be believed — fiill from pure unknowingness. Their affections are engaged, their confidence secured, thinking no evil themselves, they permit caresses which, in themselves SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 249 tnttmate Resistance almost Impossible. and to them indicate no wrong, and are led on igno- rantlj and thoughtlessly from one familiarity to an- other, not conscious where those familiarities must in- evitably end, till ultimate resistance becomes almost impossible, and they learn when it is too late, what women can never learn too early, or impress too strongly on their minds — that a lover's encroachments, to be repelled successfully, must be repelled and neg- atived at the very outset. Many women stray from the paths of virtue, and ultimately swell the ranks of prostitution through being, by their positions, peculiarly exposed to temp- tation. The women to whom this remark applies are chiefly actresses, milliners, shop girls, domestic serv- ants, and women employed in factories. Of these many, no doubt, fall through vanity and idleness, love of dress, love of excitement, love of drink; but by far the larger proportion are driven to evil courses by cruel, biting poverty. It is a shameful fact, but no less true, that the low- ness of the wages paid women in various trades, is a fruitful source of prostitution. Unable to obtain by their labor the means of procuring the bare neces- saries of life, they gain, by surrendering their bodies 250 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Results of Promiscuous Herding of the Sexes. to evil uses, food to sustain and clothes to cover them. What wonder if, urged on by want and toil, encour- aged bj evil advisers, and exposed to selfish tempters, a large proportion of these poor girls fall from the path of virtue. A still more frightful cause is found in the promiscuous herding of the sexes through the want of sufficient house accommodation, and the in- decent mode of life resultnig therefrom. A whole family — the father and mother, the sons and daughters — young men and young women and children, are thrown together in the same room. Cous- ins, too, of both sexes are often thrown together into the same room, and not unfrequently into the same bed. In low lodging-houses — the most detestable haunts of vice — men, women and children are received indiscriminately, and pass the night huddled together, without distinction of age or sex — not merely in one common room, but often one common bed; even if privacy is desired, it is impossible of attainment; no accommodation is made for decency, and the practices of the inmates are on a par with the accommodation. It is fearful to contemplate human beings so utterly abandoned — reduced below the level of the brute cre- ation — with the absolute neglect of children by pa- SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. 251 Scheming and Lustful Men. rents, and the interminable scheming of lustful men. We end the roll of causes which have operated in this direction since the dawn of civilization, and sini^lj or combined, will so continue, we presume, to operate for all time. 252 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Different Suppositions. PART XYIIL THE ORIGIN OF SYPHILIS. rriHE question concerning the origin of syphilis, has given rise to much argument, and to many learned discussions. The three suppositions that appear most worthy of notice, are: 1st. That the disease was brought from America by the Spaniards. 2nd. That it originated in Europe. 3rd. That it has been observed from the earliest periods of human existence. The first of these suppositions was promulgated to a great extent by Ovedio, a Spaniard; indeed, he re- ceived from writers upon this subject the entire credit of having traced the course of the disorder. To what- ever reputation, however, may attach to such research, Ovedio was not entitled, inasmuch as Leonliard Schmauss, professor at Salzburg, in the year 1518, SKCRKT SINS OF SOCIETY. 2j3 Was it of American Origin. had declared the same fact. The opinion of Schmauss was adopted bj Chevalier Ulrich Yon Iiutton (known afterwards for his zeal and attachment to the cause of Luther), A. D. 1819. The assertion, nevertheless, of its American origin did not find very manj support- ers, notwithstanding it was strenuously advocated and enforced by Oveido. Among those, however, whose minds were impressed with its truth, were several in- dividuals of much celebrity. If Oveido was quite sin- cere in the opinion he expressed, it is certain that feel- ings of a personal nature very much contributed to augment the warmth and energy with which he main- tained his position. Among the distinguished opposers of the American origin of this disease was Yan Helmont, who be- lieved it to be a new disease, supposed its birthplace to be Europe, and that it was generated in the army of Charles YIII, at the siege of Naples. Howard, at a later period, supported the same opinion. In the year 1680, Samuel Jansen, who had resided for some years in the West Indies, not having observed the appearance of syphilis endemically, supposed that it was brought by the slaves from Africa. It is well known that both Sydenham and Boerhaave favored 254: SECRET SINS OF SOCIETT. Horrible Accusation. this opinion, and the latter defended it warmly in 1751. But slaves were not carried to America pre- vious to the year 1503, and at that time the disease was prevailing over all Europe. An Italian alchemist propagated, also, a very curi- ous idea concerning the origin of this disease. Lord Bacon credited the story, and endeavored by his writings to render it more plausible. " The length of the siege of Naples," says Lenoardo Fioravanti, "having caused a famine among the French and Spanish troops, the merchants brought food to the soldiers, sold them various articles prepared from human flesh, and all those who made use of the horrible aliment were soon affected with syphilis, which was disseminated by contagion through Italy, France and Spain." Finalh', J. Astruc, a man of mnch learning and great natural talent, but whose acquirements, according to Jourdan, have been great- ly exaggerated, endeavored, and succeeded in many instances, in convincing the world that the disease was imported from America. He was supported, also, by Christoplier Gertonner, a person of many and varied literary and scientific attainments. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETV. 255 Its Appearance in the Fifteenth Century. But Jourdan, taking up the arguments that were brought forward, disposes of thera one bj one in a most satisfactory manner. His pamphlet bears the impress of deep thought, and of a vast amount of learning, toil and research, and should be pursued by every student who is inter- ested in this subject. He says (p. 44): "The question is generally put, did syphilis appear for the first time towards the fifteenth century? The terms are not sufiiciently explicit, since, as a preliminary matter, it is necessary to ex- plain what is meant by syphilis. l*^ow this definition, which has been neglected by all writers, is the only way of duly appreciating, judging, reconciling the diflferent opinions successively advanced on this sub- ject. By the term syphilis therefore, is to be under- stood, First. A general affection of the system, which presents itself under a most frightful aspect, with many particular modifications, assuming a real epi- demical character. In this sense the word desio^nates the disease whicli bi-oke out towards the end of tiie fifteenth century. Second. It may serve to express morbid symptoms 256 SECRET SIXS OF SOCIETY. The Disease known from the Remotest Antiquity. arising from an intercourse with a disordered person, communicated in the same way to other individuals, and having with each other a more or less intimate connection. Now, if we use the word syphilis in this last sense, it can be incontestably proved, that from the remotest antiquity the diseases which it designates were known." He then proceeds to prove his above statement with a "master hand," and mentions among others who have noted the disease, Guy de Chauliac. . Peter Ar- gelata says that pustules arise on the penis ex materia " venenosa quae retinetur et remanet inter praejputl- uni et pellem cutis ex actione viri cum faeda uin- lierey In the thirteenth century, Lanfranc, Solict and others, spoke of the same disease in terms which prove how far they consider it worthy of attention. There have been also many passages collected by Becket from manuscripts which make mention of it. What likewise proves that the diseases of the period were considered of a serious and formidable character is, that the authorities in order to prevent their propa- gation, enacted severe laws,the penalties for the viola- tion of which were rigidly exacted. Hence the regu- lations for the Houses of Pleasure in London, in the years 1162 and 1430. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 257 Regulated Houses of Pleasure. Similar establishments and regulations existed in most of the large cities of Europe from the time oi Charlemagne. Medical and historical writers make mention of dis- eases contracted at such houses, called clajy'iers. Jourdan quotes many authorities in favor of the af- fection having been noticed and mentioned bj wri . tersat a very early date, but it is unnecessary that they should be named here. He is also of the opinion that the terrible epidemic which prevailed about the close of the fifteenth century originated with the marranes (hogs). This term was applied to those Moors and Jews who had entirely disregarded the teachings of Christianit}^ and refused to enlist under its banner; for this offense they were expelled from Spain by an edict of King Ferdinand, dated March, 1492. The persecutions were unremitting, and the tor- tures, to avoid which they concealed their belief, but secretly praticed those rules that were prescribed by their religion. They are described as living in the most disgusting and loathsome manner, and leprosy among them was alleged to be common. They were driven from their homes, not allowed to carry with them anj'^ of tlieir property, and very many 17 258 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Terrible Contagion— 30,000 Families Destroyed. of them retired to the northern coasts of Africa, where thej propa;^ated a disease so teiTiblv contagious that of 170,000 families Avho crossed to Africa 30,000 were destroyed. Jourdan says: "When we compare the tes- timonies of the most veridical historians and physi- cians, we think it impossible to doubt its being de- rived from the Murranes, who were expelled from Spain before the discovery of America." Fulgasi, among others, tells us that it originated in Ethiopia. At that time all the parts of Spain occupied by the Moors were called Africa, and afterwards Ethiopia. The period of its appearance exactly corresponds to that of the expulsion of the Marranes. Fulgasi. announces its existence in Lombard^' as early as 1492. We find it among tlie Germans in 1-193 and 1491: John Pomarus says it appeared in Saxonj' in 1493. Henry Bemsting affirms the same thing for Bruns wick and Lunenburgh. According to John Scipho- ver, it broke out in 1494 in Westphalia, from whence it soon spread from the coasts of the Baltic Sea to Pomerania and Prussia ; and, as mentioned by Lin- turius, it manifested itself in 1494 on the borders of the Rhine, in Luabia, Franconia and Bavaria. Now, the expulsion of the Marranes dates from the year SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 259 Spreading of the Disease all over Europe. 1492. These unfortunate wretches who left Spain, ac- cording to Fabricius, to the number of 124,000 fami- lies, or over 170,000, as mentioned bj Mariana, lost, according to tlie same Fabricius and Mariana, 30,000 families, of a most fatal epidemic, which appeared to be of a peculiar nature. The disease not merely spread to Rome, as mentioned bj Infessura but also in- fected Naples, according to Zureta and Collenuccio, and even was propagated to the coasts of Barbarj. Leo, the African, says that the disease, anterior to the landing of theMarranes, was unknown in Africa. Paul Jovins attributes also the extension of the disease to these exiles. Finally, some passages from Peter Mar- tyr, Francis de Yellaloros, and Peter Pinctor, which, owing to their want of clearness, have been refuted by the partisans of the American origin, seem to indicate that the epidemic clearly existed in Spain during the last twenty years of the fifteenth century, consequent- ly before 1490. It is not surprising that such con- .siderable collections of people, whom the avarice of Ferdinand had deprived of all the necessaries of life, and consequently thrown into the most disgusting filth, the inseparable attendant on misery, should have spread wherever they passed a contagious, cutaneous 260 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. People Living in the most Disgusting Filth. disease, complicated with scorbutic symptoms, which were necessarily produced by the dampness and the the excessive heat of the weather. This is the idea we naturally form of the terrible epidemic of the fif- teenth century. The epidemic thus spread over all portions of Eu- rope, la Germany the propagation of the disease was principally attributed to the Lansquenets, a mil- itary rabble, who were constantly ready to sell their lives and blood to the highest bidder. In the latter end of the fifteenth century, the whole of Europe being engaged in war, the disease once propagated among the common soldiers, readily spread over the whole continent. A similar confusion prevailed in regard to the mode in which the disease was propagated. It was believed hy many that the virus could be carried in the atmos- phere, or that any article which a person aflclicted with the disease had touched, was capable of imparting the disorder. Fallopias supposed that the disease might be propagated by the holy water, into which a syph- ilitic patient had dipped his finger. In the year 1556, Fernel proved that the disease originated from a specific cause, emanating from some SECRET SIKS OF SOCIETY. 261 The Vims Carried in the Atmoaphere. affected individual, and acting upon one in health; lie opposed the idea of transmission of the virus by the atmosphere, and denied the belief in cosmic or astrological influences; he also described with tolerable accuracy its mode of transmission. After a lapse of three hundred years, Fernel's picture of the syphilitic disease is still true, as is shown by the de- scriptions of the most enlightened and learned phy- sicians of the present day. 262 SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Life's Great Destroyer. PAET XIX. SUPPRESSION OF SYPHILIS. rpHE subject of the suppression of syphilis may seem to some, who perhaps have only given it a cursory consideration, to be reductio ad ahsurdum,' but upon a more mature deliberation, we can but hope all will join us in wondering why the subject has not had a Murphy, or a Moody, or an IngersoU, or a Parnell, or some other great champion, to sound the battle-cry against this great destroyer — venereal contagion. Phy- sicians have lent their influence in legislative affairs, and have added to their pockets fat and frequent fees by appointments in social evil hospitals, and as phy- sicians in charge of assignation prostitutes. The pre tense of doing good was quite sufiicient to mask their aim at getting cash from the female portion of the social-evil constituents, and it was not desirable to re- strict the masculine division, or the highly profitable SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 2G3 The Great Need of Restraint. business might be markedly diminished; and men in high standing, who are now covered by legal gauze, would be exposed and dishonored. If " ignorance is bliss," etc., the zealous divine in his honest will at doing good, and the industrious Murphy in his most excellent labors at weaning the drunkard from his grog, are working in no more deserving and honorable cause than is he who would battle against and mark out a barrier to syphilitic contagion. The extent that restraint or the degree of suppres- eion may be brought about; the measures based up- on mature reflection is yet to appear; but there is need of restraint, and that measures looking to such an end are possible, is in our mind the farthest from doubt. When laws become possible that deal with males and females upon the basis of equality, then wc may hope. But so long as it is only talked and prac- ticed that females shall be submitted to a registrative maculation, it need not be considered possible for hu- mianity to escape the social monster. Enactments of unusual stringency must necessari- ly be made before our people shall be safe, even in the most pious realms of our society. The people of our country through their religious principles, are now in 264: SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Venereal Contagion — Restricting all Participants. their supposed efforts at doing good, militating against the interest of their own posterity. Thej hold their hands nplifted in horror at the thought of legalizing prostitution, or passing any laws pertain- ing to registration and inspection. They must be taught by the physician that such a law is not intend- ed to favor vice and crime, but to rob them of their lasting results. As prostitution has existed since the days of Rahab, it will probably exist in spite of laws and priests; but good people should join to deprive it of its dire sequelae and lasting curse — venereal conta- gion. In this conflict, for such it is, we meet two classes of active opponents ; first, the conscientious people, who are acquainted only with the cause, and therefore cannot consider the effects; second, the participants of the social-evil. As it must be admit- ted that prostitution cannot be wiped out, we must accept the situation, and if possible, induce legisla- tive restraint over its evil consequences. We can see no better plan of extending the law around this class of human beings, than by licensing and thereby re- stricting all participants, male and female, who de- sire to use i.'licitly the means by which syphilis is propagated. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 205 Our Future Needs— Posterity the ones that Suffer. The first action looking to such legislative meas- ures must be directed toward convincino: Christain people, that any method checking the results of vice is not so dire a sin as the silent submission to the vice itself. "We are sorry to admit that it is an open ques- tion as to how we can best restrain vice and its evils by statute law^s; but the results of this vice should be submitted in a forcible style to the people, advoca- ted by medical men and teachers of science. We are not so selfish that we would have our personal views, which are expressed in these pages, placed in advance, unless such views should appear to be the all- sufficient skeleton for the future needs of whatever may be required. Syphilis is a disease that comes principally to the notice of the physician. If it should be his fixed du- ty to report every case to a public registrar, or board of health, as is the case in all large cities with other contagious diseases, the records would show the de- gree of contamination, or purity of our people, after a period of a few generations. It will be said, we are aware, this would be disclosing our secrets ! It is our custom to protect the secrets of our patients. But we ask, if it should be the physician's solemn 266 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. No taking Chances— Ordinance of St. Louis. duty to secrete the shame of one man and permit his posterity to suffer from contagious disease, or for ^ the great public good, should the plij'siciaii be com- pelled to make common this knowledge, offering the 'greatest good to the greatest number ? We shall not attempt to solve these questions, but have simply propounded them that they may be considered at leisure. Again, if we possessed such public records, and these records were open for inspection for every inter- ested person — every one contemplating marriage — much deception and misery might be avoided. The fear of being placed on record would make both male and female careful beyond the probability of taking chances; and might we not hope to dimin- ish contagion and protect so-called decent society? The ordinances of St. Louis during the social-evil days, were of more than ordinary importance. When females were in a diseased condition they were taken to the social evil hospital, or submitted to the care of the house physician. The ordinance was in many re- spects a good one; but the so-called "good people" of that city regarded it as a greater evil than prostitu- tion with all its consequences. They employed their SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 267 Registering Participants in the Social Evil. united influence to procure its repeal, and were suc- cessful. Some statistics in regard to the reported results of social-evil laws cannot be out of place. The St. Louis records are of little value from the short period of time the measure was in force. The re- corded facts obtained from the " Blue Booh " of the Koyal Commission may be taken, as far as data is re- corded, as exhibiting the results generally observed under the legislative acts of other places. It must be remembered, however, that all figures are based upon a restriction of only one-half of the participants in the social evil ; women only were reg- istered and inspected. Men were simply inspected where they applied for treatment, after contagion had taken place; but they were not prevented from re- turning to places of prostitution and spreading it among healthy women. "We see no more reason for permitting a man atifected with syphilis to have his liberty from restriction than a woman. The restric- tion of males would be quite easily enforced in large garrisons. Morgan writes that the proportion of the male population that suffers from general diseases cannot be less than fifty to sixty per cent. Again, he writes : " It is not too strong a statement to make, 2G8 SECBET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Per Cent. Suffering from Contagious DLseasea. that amongst the lower order and artisan male pop- ulation, sixty-five to eighty per cent, suifer from the contagious diseases in some form; and that in the so- cial scale, while the percentage of soft irritative sores diminish, gonorrhoea and infecting syphilis increase; but I doubt if the percentage even then of those wlu) suffer, can be less than fifty to sixty per cent." This statement is in perfect harmony with the great Bora- stead and writers of experience throughout this coun- try. "In three months there were treated in Dublin (Morgan) four hundred and eighty cases of sj'philitic and four hundred cases of gonorrhoea, a total of eight hundred and eighty cases out of ? ffirrison averaging four thousand three hundred and seven men; so that in a year, at the same ratio, a number representing the entire garrison would have been under treatment — a monstrous state of things, if preventable, when it is considered in how many of these instances the seeds of ultimate deterioration would fructify almost indef- initely; and taking the soldier at the estimate cost of JEIOO, the state has in Dublin £430,700 worth of its soldiers diseased in twelve months." This is not dif- ferent from the state of affairs in our late war. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 269 Extraordinary Number of Syphilitic Cases. " In Davenport and Plymouth, where from the first the system has been most carefully and vigorously ad- ministered, the state of syphilitic diseases in 1864, be- fore legislation, showed 274 cases out of 2,481 strength; in 1865, before the act of 1864 had made any im- pression, the number rose to 342 cases; in 1866, when only women informed against or strongly suspected of being affected with contagious disease, were brought up for examination, the number fell to 200. In 1867, where the same system prevailed, a further reduction from 209 to 185 was reached. In 1868, under the monthly examination for the latter half of the year, the figures were reduced from 185 to 159. In 1869, when the fortnightly examination was first instituted, the figures rose from 159 to 162, and in the following year were reduced to 85, or nearly one half The strengtli of the garrison was nearly the same throughout these years." — {Morgan.) Taking the aggregate of twenty- eight stations of troops in the United Kingdom, the ratio per one thousand of primary venereal sores, in 1865, was 120; it continued to diminish until 1870, when a ratio of 54 cases only was marked by the register. If space had permitted, we would have prepared a table includins: the figures of results under the statis- 270 SECEET SINS OF SOCIETY. Corroborative Facta Presented. tics in Paris, New Orleans, St. Louis and other cities; but we shall simply remark that such figures are only corroborative of the figures presented above, in a com- mon showing of the good accomplished in all large cities where the act has existed. It is not pretended that a good showing could be made in a year or a de- cade, but in a century a great restraining influence would most certainly be manifested were the restric- tions based upon the rules of justice to honest people and general equality with both sexes. But we must leave the statistical part of the subject, and direct at- tention to some of the remote changes of syphilis. We may the more readily see the necessity of some extra- ordinary efibrt to procure the much needed legislation. It is against these that we most need to exercise our whole energies. These remote changes are so much more direful than those of the primary and secondary disease, because they are generally deep-seated and masked. It is not the gangrenous genitals we would picture to you; neither is it the common manifestations that show themselves in the forms of secondary outbreaks; such as ulceration of the throat, syphilitic exanthe- mata, olopecea, etc. These are too well known. Of SECRET SINS OF SOCIETr. 271 Secondary Outbreaks of the Disease. the more masked forms that do not show themselves until a tertiary period, when our patient is supposed to be " cured;" and to the hereditary features, we wish to give you a lair and truthful picture. Syphilis as a cause of many nervous diseases, will furnish yon area for contemplation of no small dimensions. An exten- sive observation and much reflection compel us to re- mark that o.ne half of the organic pathological change in nerve structures are caused immediately or remotely by syphilis. Our space is too limited to give but a cursory glance at the dangers and horrors that threaten our posterity. If great changes are not effected in customs, habits and legislative enactments of all nations, the people will certainly be greatly endan- gered. The utterly loathsome character of the disease has prevented a proper consideration, and thereby the en- acting laws to prevent its spread. Public authorities quarantine against the maladies much less offensive, and people submit. But this is a contagious disease of a most virulent characier; yet it has not received the attention from public authorities and boards of health which would indicate it to be a disease of a contagious variety. 272 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY, Compared with other Contagious Diseases. "Why should it be necessary to report a case of yel- low fever or diphtheria to our health departments, or establish quarantine af^ainst yellow fever more than syphilis? "Why submit a patient suffering from a contagious disease, or one that comes to him in en- demic or epidemic form, as a thief in the night, to quarantine rules and isolation, and permit the disease that never seeks a victim, and the patient that has gone where the disease existed — a voluntary exposure — to go free and unrestrained, with a liberty to carry the disease to innocent and unsuspecting parties with- out comment? The subject must go where syphilis is, or he will not likely become its victim. It is not so with other contagious diseases. The subject of contagion in such cases has no choice. Innocent persons are made the victims of syphilitic contagion. It is a grievance worth}' of the strongest execration that profound si- lence compels chaste wives unknowingly to undergo exposure to this contagion; where, if every victim of the disease was registered, she could search his blood- history in the public archives. Under such a restraint every such a man would become cautious, and post- matrimonial contagion would be rare. Such an enact- SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 273 How the Syphilitic may pass for a Gentleman. nient should not be made to expose the victims of post-contagion, but put into effect at a future date, when every man and woman had been duly warned of tlie penalty for vice. Then no man or woman would submit to sexual embraces without exchai"iging health-certificates, if either had a reputation to lose. Syphilis and inebriety should be regarded by all good citizens as "twin-relics," and no greater advocates are demanded to oppose the latter than the former. Both are sapping health and loveliness in our best circles of societ}'. The masses know of the evils of inebriety ; its worst features are superficial; but the physician only knows of the misery and suffering caused hy syphilis. It lurks concealed, and preys upon unsus- pecting innocence. Inebriety often sliows its worst features, and the culpable individual is branded an outcast, and neither respected nor trusted; but the syphilitic may pass for a gentleman of noble blood, and be- sought as a husband for the daughters of pure and noble families. He ia permitted entrance by wedlock into the bosoms of families, and to introduce the bitter sequences by rotten offspring into his own house. How would a young mother feel, when she is 18 274 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. Its Immediate Victims not the only Sufferers. losing her infant offspring in their tender weeks, and she listens to the kind clergy's gentle remarks : " The good God has seen fit in his all-wise provi- dence to remove yonr infant, etc.," if she had but known that the fell destroyer Syphilis had done the Avork, and that her kind and loving husband had been the author of all these frequent causes to mourn ! Could this mother but know the doctor's secrets ! Could she have had access to public archives ! Had she not been clouded by this profound silence, she would not think the good God so unkind in His ad- ministrations. We are not aiming to overdraw this picture, nor can we represent this cursed evil as it is observed by the physician for himself. This great evil has no public opponent. There is no one to pro- claim from the pulpit or the platform a crusade against this dire enemy. Physicians talk of public liygiene, public health, etc. They come to societies and cursorily discuss symptomatology and treat- ment. But who says anything about arresting its progress ? Who says anything about quarantining against this social evil ? In syphilis the immediate victim is not the last or onl}' sufferer. " The sins of the father are visited upon the children to the third SECKKT SINS OF SOCIETY. JiO No Class of Society is Exempt. and fourth generation," contaminating mind and body and making life a curse. It has been said that the effects are observed in the fourth generation in the form of tuberculosis, scrofula, diseases of the brain and mind, hydrocephalus, glandular diseases, idiocy and insanity. If we could have true reports, skowing exact fio^ures from which to arranj^e a statistical ta- ble of mortality of children, we would certainly be stricken with horror and alarm. An infant inarticu- lo mortis from congenital syphilis, is an occurrence so frequent, especially in our large cities, as to evoke little attention. The lower classes are sometimes truly registered a3 to the cause of deaths, where they die of syphilis. But who would brand a person of social and financial in- fluence with such a stigma ? Then if the doctor's bill s forthcoming, it is easy to write the cause of death "eczema or congestion." It is often impossible, at the present, for a physician to state the true cause of death in plain language on a burial certificate. T .tu it will readily appear to you how impossible it is to obtain anything like correct figures for a statistical report; but we know that such a report, based upon the true state of affairs, would show up surprisingly. 276 SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. The Unfortunates of the Social World. 'No class of society is exempt from this curse, as every physician of experience can testify. Station, ednca- tiou and wealth, form no barrier to this monster. Vice has its votaries, without regard to station. A victim may prolong liis life by his wealth, but our population of the diddle class, as a rule, are freest from the taint. Their bodies are not subject to over-feeding, therefore the disease seldom causes so great a general breaking down of tissues as in the case of the wealthy, who have been "stall-fed," as it were, by highly seasoned food. The poorer classes, by reason of the greater number of their offspring as compared with the num- ber of children begotten by wealthy parents, when they are contaminated, give the disease a wider dif- fusion. The disease soon breaks down the constitu- tion of poorly-fed children, and hurries them to an early grave. In the extremes of the social world are the unfortunates who suffer more physically; those of the middle classes are freest from vice, and there- fore most exempt from venereal contagion. But it cannot be said that any class is even comparatively free from this dire scourge. In reference to the very poor classes, it has been said that they suffer more personally from want of SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 277 A Period of Physical Deterioration. care or necessaries of life, and their cliiklren seldom live to become parents, which is not true of the wealth}", who have every me^ns to procure medical skill, and thereby prolongation of life. They live to become parents of a devitilized offspring, on and on. These, by medical aid, good food, plenty of fresh air, favorable surroundings, live on, and beget feeble children; and so on for three or four generations/ Occasionally, the family name becomes extinct. Yet by all kinds of favorable surroundings and in- termarriages with individuals of pure blood, a few of the posterity survive. If no new contagion has been introduced, an improvement is observed and the up- ward tendency is rapid, until a normal physical being is before us. Thus in accordance with the law called " survival of the fittest," we see them daily advancing to a position or sphere, in which they flourished gen- erations before, but were compelled to pass through a dark period of physical deterioration, visited upon them as a penalty for the sins of their parents. Every physician conversant with the sequelae of syphilis, has observed patients, who in early manhood had gone through a course of treatment for this dis- ease (and cured); all svmptomshad long since passc;owers, ringing in the ears, loss of strength, emacia- tion, and great bodily disturbance, dyspepsia, consti- pation or diarrhoea, and flatulence, until finally the mind itself shows symptoms of decay. So long as the power of complete erection continues, and the patient does not lose semen involuntarily or unconsciously (whicli is very rare), the genital organs will recover themselves under proper treatment. Yery frequently, what is mistaken for spermator- rhoea is some slight mucous discharge, the result of irritation of the urethra. Proper treatment however involves as its most essential feature the renounce- ment of the habit of self-abuse, and either abstinence or only moderate indulgence in sexual intercourse. If the patient cannot be persuaded to put this re- straint on himself, he deserves the ruin that will fall on him. With this, and tonic regimen, an active exercise of body and mind, recovery will be regular and perma- nent. Real impotence may of course occur, but it is very rare. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 289 Origin of the Disease— Who are Liable. PAKT XXL GONORRHCEA. ryiHIS disease owes its origin to sexual intercourse, and is almost exclusively a local disease, yet it has constitutional manifestations also. The disease is so much more slight in women that the descriptions of it are always taken from the male sex. In females it aifects chiefly the vulva and vagina; rarely the urethra or bladder. It is difficult or impossible to distinguish aggra- vated leucorrhoea from mild forms of gonorrhoea; nor is it of much importance, since doubtless such leu- corrhoea will excite gonorrhoea in the male. Prosti- tutes are especially liable to leucorrhoea, in conse- quence of the constant excitement of the generative organs; but the certifying surgeons under the Con- tagious Diseases Acts only think it necessary to se- 19 290 SECTET SINS OF SOCIETY. What Gonorrhoea Causes in the Female. elude those in whom the discharge is purulent. Tliere is a foi-ni of purulent discharge from the vulva pretty often seen in young children — the leucorrhoea infantum — which was at one time confounded with gonorrhoea, and was believed to be due to impure con- nection; but this, in the great majority of cases, is an unfounded suspicion. In some cases no doubt 3'oung children are affected with ordinary gonorrhoea, but in such instances marks of violence about the vulva will exist, and will show that forcible entrance has been attempted; or possibly, if the case be seen soon after the rape, spermatozoa may be discovered in the vulva. Usually, however, this discharge originates either from dirt or from some cause difficult to discover. Many of the children certainly suffer from worms. Attention to the general health, strict cleanliness, fre- quent washing out of the vagina, and the use of a tent steeped in some astringent lotion, will effect a cure. Gonorrhoea in the female causes acute inflamma- tion of the vagina and vulva, frequently accompanied by swelling of the nymphje, which protrude beyond the labia. The discharge is sometimes very profuse, and there are often excoriations in various parts of SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 291 Cases Occasioned by Impure Coitus. the vagina; the labia are frequently much swollen. and abscess often forms there. Hence there is much pain in walking and in ssxual intercourse. The acuter attacks of gonorrhoea are painful, but there is rarelj any scalding in micturition, as in men. The symptoms vary greatl}' in different individuals. In the majority of instances gonorrhoea is occa- sioned by impure coitus ; but there are many dis- charges from the urethra which are occasioned by copulation with menstruating women, or those hav- ing leucorrhoea, or some acid discharge from the gen- itals. This no doubt is of frequent occurrence, and should be remembered by the physician before giving a positive diagnosis. Nothing is more common than to find women who have communicated blennorrhoea. the most intense, the most persistent, the most varied and of the gravest character, who were only affected with uterine catarrhs, which sometimes were scarcely purulent. In other cases the menstrual flux seems to have been the only cause of the communicated disease. Finally, in a great number of cases, there is noth- ing at all, or onlj^ simply changes in diet ; fatigue ; excesses in sexual connection ; the use of certain drinks — beer ; or certain food — asparagus. 202 BECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. Woman Frequently give Gonorrhoea without having it. From this arises that frequency of belief on the part of patients, a belief very often legitimate, that thej owe their clap to a perfectly healthy woman. On this point is most assuredly known all the causes of error, and all should be on their guard against frauds of every kind, scattered in the path of the observer ; but it is with the knowledge of the cause that we advance this proposition : women fre- quently give gonorrhcsa without having it. We do not go too far in saying that women give twenty claps for one they receive. Masturbation is also another frequent cause of urethrites ; the passage of bougies ; the internal administration of both mercury and cantharides ; worms in the rectum, and other causes. SECRET SINS OF SOCIETY. 293 Eftect of Former bad Habits. PART XXII. THE NATURAL TIME FOR MARRIAGE. A T what time should people marry? is a question ^-*- often discussed, but seldom satisfactorily an- swered. There is a natural time for everything, and the natural time for marriage is when a complete love is formed. No sickly, puny, puppy love; no juve- nile and tender fancy, but a deep, strong, healthy, manly and womanly affection — and when this love comes, marry at once. Wrong physical habits in boyhood fan the fires of sexual excitement and make premature men. Often these boys, before puberty, have love affairs and prac- tice all the vices of men, rendering their affections violent and yet dainty and disordered. A girl's weak^ because immature, love is easily reversed, and a riper love would easily supplant it Young sparks who would set her wild at sixteen, would be barely toler- 294: SECRET SINS OF SOCIEXr. Differences of Age. ated at eighteen, and at twenty she would consider them too " spoony " " for anything." A young lady is physically much much better able to consummate a true healthy love marriage at the age of twenty than before, and much less liable to those peculiar afflictions that weakened female consti- tutions are subject to. Males should be from two to four years older. Twenty -four years in man and twenty-three in woman is the best age for marriage, if all of nature's laws have been observed. Don't wait longer if you are a perfect being. Up to twenty- two those who marry should be about the same age. A difference of ten years after the younger is twenty-five need not pre- vent a marriage, if everything else is favorable. A man of forty-five may marry a woman of twenty-six or upwards much more safely than one of thirty a girl below twenty. Though a man of forty should not marry one below twenty, yet a man of fifty may ven- ture to marry a woman of twenty-five, if he is hale, and descended from a long-lived ancestry. No girl under twenty should ever marry a man over twenty- six. Under certain circumstances the marriage of a young man to an elderly woman may be justified. An SECKET SINS OF SOCIETY. 295 Conjugal Perfections. elderly woman, possessing superior natural excellen- cies, may compensate for her age by her superiority, but for a youn