the resources of nature are great." He does not, however, think that "it is so easy to repair the injury inflicted on nutrition during the development of the body; nevertheless, the consequences disappear readily, and all the functions become re-established: not so, however, when masturbation occurs after puberty." (Vol. i, p. 468.) PREVENTIVE TREATMENT.-I cannot but think that much of this evil could be prevented, by wisely watching children in early life; and where a sexual temperament, a suspicion of the practice having been begun,-or other circumstances rendered it desirable, by pointing out the dreadful evils that result from it, kindly but solemnly warning them against it. I have noticed that all patients who have confessed to me that they have practiced this vice, have lamented that they were not, when children, made aware of its consequences, and I have been pressed over and over again to urge on parents, guardians, schoolmasters, and others interested in the education of youth, the necessity of giving their charge some warning, some intimation of their danger. Almost all coincide in the opinion. that at the early age at which these practices are generally learnt, it is generally mere curiosity which prompts them. And it is often only when too late, that the adult finds out that the idle and gnorant, if not innocent trick of the child, has resulted in seriously impaired health, if not in calamities that embitter his whole afterlife. It is not to be denied, however, that there are great difficulties in the way of carrying out this protective method. I find, for instance, that the parents of boys about to be sent to school are, not unnaturally, most unwilling to speak of these matters to their sons. In addition to the instinctive shrinking which every right-minded person must feel from putting ideas of impurity into a child's innocent mind, the parents' pride leads them to hope that their boys are above any such mean and disgusting practices, and that, at any rate, they can leave these matters to the master, whose interest as well as duty it is to check any such evils for the credit of his school.

The schoolmaster, on the other hand, is just as disinclined to move. Till it is positively forced upon his notice, he will, most naturally, persist that the practice never has or will exist in his school. Many masters feel, and say, that such things are no business of theirs. They hint at the delicacy of the subject, and ask how they can even allude to matters of this kind, which do not properly come under their supervision. They say, as we might

of

expect, that it is a parent's task, and that if fathers and mothers will take care that their boys are well brought up, they will not fall into dirty habits of any kind, much less so filthy a one as masturbation. And, indeed, it is a good deal to ask of a schoolmaster. He naturally feels that, when he has done all he can in the way supervision and management to prevent his boys from indulging in evil propensities, the responsibility of warning them against habits. which he hopes they have never heard of, and which might be put into their heads if he were to broach the subject at all, is greater than he ought to be called upon to bear. If he were, he says, to discover any boys practicing or inciting others to practice the evil. habit, they would of course be severely punished or even expelled; but never having discovered any such offenders, he does not believe the habit is indulged in at all, and declines to mention it. Now if testimony is to be believed, it is certain that these practices are still (though perhaps less frequently than formerly) indulged in; yet no one considers that it is his duty to try to prevent them, except indirectly. As I have said, it is my deliberate opinion that in many cases it would be true wisdom and true kindness, openly and in plain and solemn language to lay before a child the full extent of his danger, and impress upon him, as urgently as possible, the fact that it is a danger, and that the consequences of yielding on his part will be most lamentable. I have myself no hesitation. as to the advice I should give to parents in such matters. In all cases, I would tell them, the best preventive step to be taken is to watch their children, if not actually to warn them against what is to be hoped they are ignorant of, and to develop all their muscular powers by strong gymnastic exercises. For, as any one may observe, it is not the strong athletic boy, fond of healthy exercise, who thus early shows marks of sexual desires, but your puny exotic, whose intellectual education has been fostered at the expense of his physical development.

Little do parents know or think of what they sacrifice in unnaturally forcing the intellectual at the expense of muscular development. Our ancestors valued a man for his muscle-we go into the other extreme; and, unfortunately, many of the attempts of modern education tend only to the development of intellectual superiority, and children are confined to the school-room for hours that, at an early age, had better be passed in the open air.

If such parents would read the biographies of eminent characters who have succeeded in the highest walks of their various professions, they will find that one of the most necessary means of success is a strong constitution. If on this be engrafted superior intellectual endowments, accompanied by that energy of character which usually attends the strong, success in after-life may be nearly insured. Such are not the youths whom we see cut off in the prime of life just as they are giving promise of great distinction, and whose parents look back with regret, and ask themselves, with justice, if they have not been partially instrumental in causing these intellectual suicides.

A vigorous healthy boy is not likely to have any tendency to debase himself, and it is a question with many if it is well (on his going to school) to caution him against the vile habit of masturbation and its consequences. My own impression long was, that it would be a pity to poison the mind of a high-spirited lad with any cautions about vile practices; but the confessions of many, who, in ignorance of the results, have, by the example of others, been led to practice masturbation, have very much altered my opinion; I believe that in many cases a parent should at least hint to his son that he may very possibly have to witness infamous practices, and conjure him at once manfully to resist and oppose them, pointing out at the same time the consequences to which they tend. Of course he runs the risk of tainting an ingenuous mind when he broaches such a subject, and unfolds before it this distressing page in the book of knowledge of good and evil. But when it is needful he should, in my opinion, accept the grave responsibility; for knowing what I know, and seeing what I see, I could not face the greater unknown ill of dismissing my child to the probability of contamination by those whose corruption has but lately gone before, without an attempt to save him. I esteem it false delicacy and a wrong, that a parent should demur to accept the office of exponent, when he can, at the most, anticipate by a few days or weeks the offices of a schoolmaster in vice, as ignorant of consequences as the pupil, and unable to administer the antidote with the poison.

The exposition would not often be so unintelligible to a child as is sometimes supposed. Parents are often disinclined to acknowledge that their children can have any information on sexual matters. They should bear in mind that although the father may have

omitted to allude to sexual matters, yet that a mere child, with its keen curiosity, and eyes always on the alert for anything new, may acquire in a very short time an astonishing amount of information even about sexual matters-quite sufficient at any rate to be very dangerous to him if not guided and corrected by the wise precautions of his parent.

It is, indeed, hardly possible to keep children ignorant; and therefore, where the likelihood is so great that a boy will learn for himself, or as soon as he goes to school be taught, all sorts of information on sexual subjects, I would put it to any parent whether he would not rather be his boy's instructor, than leave him to his own fancies, or the possible misleading of foolish or wicked companions. Whatever is the best course for ordinary children, on one point my mind is fully made up. If I saw a child, a few years old, paying attention to female children only, and toying with them, I should watch over his future most anxiously. On the occurrence of any symptoms of debility, paleness, or ill health, my vigilance would be still greater, particularly if I saw any development of the idées génésiques, as Lallemand calls them. In such a case, I should have no hesitation in calling the precocious child's attention to the pitfall yawning before him, fully convinced that not only could advice do no harm, but that I should not be teaching such a lad what he ought not to know by calling his attention to sexual subjects. I am of opinion that I should but anticipate the natural curiosity of such peculiarly organized children, who early acquire, from the habit of watching animals, and reading books that come in their way, a smattering of knowledge which excites their feelings, but which teaches them nothing of the ill consequences of the only sexual indulgences they can practice at this early age. To suppose that a parent can keep such a sexually disposed child from a knowl edge of much that he had better not be acquainted with, shows a grievous ignorance of the infantile mind. But this mind may be regulated, and the dangerous consequences of the practices may be pointed out.1

1 As I was preparing this the third edition for the press, a stranger called on me to ask my opinion as to what he should do in the case of a boy of twelve years whom he suspected of evil practices. The boy had fallen away in his studies, had dark patches under his eyes, and was depressed in spirits. In such a case I told him I should have no hesitation in quietly talking to the boy without taxing him with any evil practices (which he would probably deny). I should tell him that it

Although I would not give too much weight to the opinions of patients, yet I cannot refrain from introducing the following unsolicited letter from a patient on this duty of parents to their children:

"I fear you may think me somewhat presuming if I say how entirely I agree with you as to the desirableness, not to say absolute duty, of parents and others duly to caution youths as to their conduct in early life relating to sexual matters. Had my father taken such a course with me, I am fully justified in saying I should not have fallen into an error which I now most deeply deplore. This was all that was wanted, for the strictly moral way in which I have been brought up has prevented me running into any of the excesses of the day. But, of course, I went to a large public school, and there, of course, became acquainted with the practice of masturbation, and almost equally as a matter of course, indulged in the habit, and, without a thought of its baneful consequences, have practiced it for years. In fact: I fear you must somewhat doubt this statement, but I assure you it is the literal fact, I pursued the practice from an idea of its necessity, and was fortified in my supposition (so ignorant was I) by the idea that, if omitted, nocturnal emissions supplied the omission of the practice. Besides, I considered it a natural means for allaying the sexual desire, the act relieving me from such desire for some time.

"I see now and regret deeply the great folly of which I have been guilty; but am I wrong in feeling some indignation at not having been put better on my guard by those I considered my instructors? Recently, however (I am now near twentytwo), I happened to discover the disastrous results likely to ensue, and also that nocturnal emissions are symptoms of disease. I, of course, immediately relinquished the habit, never to resume it. I must say, however, that it never had the effect upon me I should have expected from reading your book, inasmuch as I have always appeared and felt strong, healthy, vigorous at school, very fond of play, subsequently well able to perform my daily duties either as regards business or intellectual engagements, and have never been averse to society."

In nearly all young children the practice has only to be left off, and the system will speedily rally. One great advantage in warning a boy therefore is, that, as he derives no pleasure from the act, if he is thoroughly frightened at the probable consequences, he will abandon the practice at once. His example and advice may, moreover, deter others, who are not so well informed. So strongly do I feel the propriety of such a course of proceeding in the case of sexually disposed children, that I would urge parents, if they feel themselves unequal to the responsibility, to transfer the duty to their medical adviser.

Besides the physical symptoms already mentioned, there are was well recognized that secret vices are sometimes carried on at schools. I should tell him that such practices cannot be continued with impunity, and warn him against them. Steps must, of course, be taken at the same time to improve his general health.