Produced by Ron Swanson
[Illustration: The Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich.]
[Frontispiece: Yours truly, J. H. Kellogg]
PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG.
BY
J. H. KELLOGG, M.D.,
MEMBER AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROSCOPY, MEMBER MICH.
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BATTLE CREEK
SANITARIUM, AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS WORKS ON HEALTH, ETC.
PUBLISHED BY
SEGNER & CONDIT,
BURLINGTON, IOWA.
1881.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
J. H. KELLOGG, M.D.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D.C.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PREFACE.
The publishers of this work offer no apology for presenting it to the
reading public, since the wide prevalence of the evils which it exposes
is sufficient warrant for its publication. The subjects with which it
deals are of vital consequence to the human race; and it is of the utmost
importance that every effort should be made to dispel the gross
ignorance which almost universally prevails, by the wide diffusion,
in a proper manner, of information of the character contained in this
volume.
This book has been written not for the young only, nor for any single
class of persons, but for all who are old enough to be capable of
understanding and appreciating it. The prime object of its preparation
has been to call attention to the great prevalence of sexual excesses
of all kinds, and the heinous crimes resulting from some forms of sexual
transgression, and to point out the terrible results which inevitably
follow the violation of sexual law.
In order to make more clear and comprehensible the teachings of nature
respecting the laws regulating the sexual function, and the evils
resulting from their violation, it has seemed necessary to preface the
practical part of the subject by a concise description of the anatomy
of reproduction. In this portion of the work especial pains has been
taken to avoid anything like indelicacy of expression, yet it has not
been deemed advisable to sacrifice perspicuity of ideas to any prudish
notions of modesty. It is hoped that the reader will bear in mind that
the language of science is always chaste in itself, and that it is only
through a corrupt imagination that it becomes invested with impurity.
The author has constantly endeavored to impart information in the most
straightforward, simple, and concise manner.
The work should be judiciously circulated, and to secure this the
publishers will take care to place it in the hands of agents competent
to introduce it with discretion; yet it may be read without injury by
any one who is sufficiently mature to understand it. Great care has
been taken to exclude from its pages those accounts of the habits of
vicious persons, and descriptions of the mechanical accessories of vice,
with which many works upon sexual subjects abound.
The first editions of the work were issued with no little anxiety on
the part of both author and publishers as to how it would be received
by the reading public. It was anticipated that no little adverse
criticism, and perhaps severe condemnation, would be pronounced by many
whose education and general mode of thought had been such as to unfit
them to appreciate it; but it was hoped that persons of more thoughtful
and unbiased minds would receive the work kindly, and would readily
co-operate with the publishers in its circulation. This anticipation
has been more than realized. Wherever the book has been introduced,
it has met with a warm reception; and of the several thousand persons
into whose hands the work has been placed, hundreds have gratefully
acknowledged the benefit which they have received from its perusal,
and it is hoped that a large proportion have been greatly benefited.
The cordial reception which the work has met from the press everywhere
has undoubtedly contributed in great measure to its popularity. The
demand for the work has exhausted several editions in rapid succession,
and has seemed to require its preparation in the greatly enlarged and
in every way improved form in which it now appears. The addition of
two whole chapters for the purpose of bringing the subject directly
before the minds of boys and girls in a proper manner, adds greatly
to the interest and value of the work, as there seemed to be a slight
deficiency in this particular in the former editions.
J. H. K.
BATTLE CREEK, MICH.,
_October, 1879_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
_SEX IN LIVING FORMS_.
Living beings--Animals and vegetables--Life force--Reproduction--
Spontaneous generation--Simplest form of generation--Hermaphrodism--
Sex in plants--Sex in animals--Other sexual differences--Men and women
differ in form--Modern mania for female pedestrianism--3,000 quarter
miles in 3,000 quarter hours--A female walking-match--The male and
female brain--Vital organs of man and woman--Woman less muscular,
more enduring--A pathological difference--Why a woman does not
breathe like a man--The reproductive elements--Sexual organs of plants--
Polygamous flowers--The female organ of flowers--Sexual organs of
animals--The spermatozoon--The ovum--Fecundation--Fecundation in
flowers--Union of the ovum and zoosperm--Curious modes of
reproduction--Human beings are developed buds--Fecundation in
hermaphrodites--Development--Unprotected development--Partial
protection of the ovum--Development in the higher animals and in man--
The uterus--Uterine gestation--The primitive trace--Curious relations to
lower animals--Simplicity of early structures--The stages of growth--
Duration of gestation--Uterine life--How the unborn infant breathes--
Parturition--Changes in the child at birth--Nursing--Anatomy of the
reproductive organs--Male organs--The prostate gland--Female organs--
Puberty--Influence of diet on puberty--Brunettes naturally precocious--
Remarkable precocity--Premature development occasions early decay--
Early puberty a cause for anxiety--Changes which occur at puberty--
Menstruation--Nature of menstruation--A critical period--Important
hints--Menorrhagia--Dysmenorrhoea--Amenorrhoea and chlorosis--
Hysteria--Prevention better than cure--Extra-uterine pregnancy--Twins--
Monsters--Hybrids--Law of sex--Heredity--Ante-natal influences--Law
universal--A source of crime--Circumcision--Castration . . . . . . . 25
_THE SEXUAL RELATIONS_.
Sexual precocity--Astonishing ignorance--Inherited passion--Various
causes of sexual precocity--Senile sexuality--Marriage--Time to
marry--Application of the law of heredity--Early marriage--Mutual
adaptation--Disparity of age--Courtship--Long Courtships--
Flirtation--Youthful flirtations--Polygamy--Polyandry--Divorce--
Who may not marry--Do not be in a hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
_CHASTITY_.
Mental unchastity--Amativeness--Unchaste conversation--Causes of
unchastity--Early causes--Diet vs. chastity--Clerical lapses--Tobacco
and vice--Bad books--Idleness--Dress and sensuality--How young women
fall--Fashion and vice--Reform in dress needed--Round dances--Physical
causes of unchastity--Constipation--Intestinal worms--Local
uncleanness--Irritation of the bladder--Modern modes of life . . . . 174
_CONTINENCE_.
Continence not injurious--Does not produce impotence--Difficulty of
continence--Helps to continence--The will--Diet--Exercise--Bathing--
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
_MARITAL EXCESSES_.
Object of the reproductive functions--Results of excesses--Effects
upon husbands--Testimony of a French physician--Continence of
trainers--A cause of throat disease--A cause of consumption--Effects
on wives--The greatest cause of uterine disease--Legalized murder--
Indulgence during menstruation--Effects upon offspring--Indulgence
during pregnancy--Effect upon the character--A selfish objection--
Brutes and savages more considerate--What may be done--Early
moderation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
_PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION_: ITS EVILS AND DANGERS.
Conjugal onanism--"Male continence"--Shaker views--Moral bearings of
the question--Unconsidered murders--The charge disputed--Difficulties--
Woman's rights--What to do--A compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
_INFANTICIDE AND ABORTION_.
Not a modern crime--Causes of the crime--The nature of the crime--
Instruments of crime--Results of this unnatural crime--An unwelcome
child--The remedy--Murder by proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
_THE SOCIAL EVIL_.
Unchastity of the ancients--Causes of the "social evil"--Libidinous
blood--Gluttony--Precocious sexuality--Man's lewdness--Fashion--Lack of
early training--Sentimental literature--Poverty--Ignorance--Disease--
Results of licentiousness--Thousands of victims--Effects of vice
ineradicable--The only hope--Hereditary effects of venereal disease--
Man the only transgressor--Origin of the foul disease--Cure of the
"social evil"--Prevention the only cure--Early training--Teach
self-control--Mental culture--Early associations . . . . . . . . . . 284
_SOLITARY VICE_.
Alarming prevalence of the vice--Testimony of eminent authors--Not a
modern vice--Victims of all ages--Unsuspected rottenness--Causes of
the habit--Evil associations--Corruption in schools--Wicked nurses--Not
an uncommon case--The instructor in vice--Local disease--An
illustrative case--Other physical causes--Influence of stimulants--
Signs of self-abuse--Suspicious signs--General debility--Early symptoms
of consumption--Premature and defective development--Sudden change in
disposition--Lassitude--Sleeplessness--Failure of mental capacity--
Fickleness--Untrustworthiness--Love of solitude--Bashfulness--Unnatural
boldness--Mock piety--Confusion of ideas--Round shoulders--Weak backs--
Pains in the limbs--Stiffness of the joints--Paralysis--Gait--Bad
positions--Lack of development of the breasts--Capricious appetite--
Eating clay--The use of tobacco--Unnatural paleness--Acne--Biting the
finger nails--Palpitation of the heart--Hysteria--Chlorosis--Epileptic
fits--Wetting the bed--Unchastity of speech--Positive signs--Results of
secret vice--Effects in males--Local effects--Urethral irritation--
Stricture--Enlarged prostate--Urinary diseases--Priapism--Piles--
Prolapsus of rectum--Extension of irritation--Atrophy--Varicocele--
Nocturnal emissions--Exciting causes--Are occasional emissions
necessary or harmless?--Emissions not necessary to health--Eminent
testimony--Diurnal emissions--Cause of diurnal emissions--Internal
emissions--An important caution--Impotence--General effects--General
debility--Consumption--Dyspepsia--Heart-disease--Throat affections--
Nervous diseases--Epilepsy--Failure of special senses--Spinal
irritation--Insanity--A victim's mental condition pictured--Effects in
females--Local effects--Leucorrhoea--Uterine disease--Cancer of the
womb--Sterility--Atrophy of mammae--Pruritis--General effects--A
common cause of hysteria--Effects upon offspring--Treatment of
self-abuse and its effects--Prevention of secret vice--Cultivate
chastity--Timely warning--Curative treatment of the effects of
self-abuse--Cure of the habit--How may a person help himself?--Hopeful
courage--General regimen and treatment--Mental and moral treatment--
Exercise--Never overeat--Eat but twice a day--Discard all stimulating
food--Stimulating drinks--Sleeping--Dreams--Can dreams be controlled?--
Bathing--Improvement of general health--Prostitution as a remedy--
Marriage--Local treatment--Cool sitz bath--Ascending douche--Abdominal
bandage--Wet compress--Hot and cold applications to the spine--Local
fomentations--Local cold bathing--Enemata--Electricity--Internal
applications--Use of electricity--Circumcision--Impotence--Varicocele--
Drugs--Rings--Quacks--Closing advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
_A CHAPTER FOR BOYS_.
Who are boys?--What are boys for?--Boys the hope of the world--Man the
masterpiece--How a noble character is ruined--The marvelous human
machine--The two objects of human existence--The nutritive apparatus--
The moving apparatus--The thinking and feeling apparatus--The purifying
apparatus--The reproductive apparatus--How a noble character and a sound
body must be formed--The downhill road--Self-abuse--A dreadful sin--
Self-murderers--What makes boys dwarfs--Scrawny and hollow-eyed boys--
Old boys--What makes idiots--Young dyspeptics--The race ruined by boys--
Cases illustrating the effects of self-abuse--Two young wrecks--A
prodigal youth--Barely escaped--A lost soul--The results of one
transgression--A hospital case--An old offender--The sad end of a young
victim--From bad to worse--An indignant father--Disgusted with life--Bad
company--Bad language--Bad books--Vile pictures--Evil thoughts--
Influence of other bad habits--Closing advice to boys and young men. 419
_A CHAPTER FOR GIRLS_.
Girlhood--How to develop beauty and loveliness--The human form divine--A
wonderful process--Human buds--How beauty is marred--A beauty-destroying
vice--Terrible effects of secret vice--Remote effects--Causes which lead
girls astray--Vicious companions--Whom to avoid--Sentimental books--
Various causes--Modesty woman's safeguard--A few sad cases--A pitiful
case--A mind dethroned--A penitent victim--A ruined girl--The danger of
boarding-schools--A desperate case--A last word--A few words to boys and
girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
INTRODUCTION.
Books almost without number have been written upon the subject treated
in this work. Unfortunately, most of these works are utterly unreliable,
being filled with gross misrepresentations and exaggerations, and
being designed as advertising mediums for ignorant and unscrupulous
charlatans, or worse than worthless patent nostrums. To add to their
power for evil, many of them abound with pictorial illustrations which
are in no way conducive to virtue or morality, but rather stimulate
the animal propensities and excite lewd imaginations. Books of this
character are usually widely circulated; and their pernicious
influence is fully as great as that of works of a more grossly obscene
character. In most of the few instances in which the evident motive
of the author is not of an unworthy character, the manner of presenting
the subject is unfortunately such that it more frequently than
otherwise has a strong tendency in a direction exactly the opposite
of that intended and desired. The writer of this work has endeavored
to avoid the latter evil by adopting a style of presentation quite
different from that generally pursued. Instead of restricting the
reader's attention rigidly to the sexual function in man, his mind is
diverted by frequent references to corresponding functions in lower
animals and in the vegetable kingdom. By this means, not only is an
additional fund of information imparted, but the sexual function in
man is divested of its sensuality. It is viewed as a fact of natural
history, and is associated with the innocence of animal life and the
chaste loveliness of flowers. Thus the subject comes to be regarded
from a purely physiological standpoint, and is liberated from the gross
animal instinct which is the active cause of sensuality.
There are so many well-meaning individuals who object to the agitation
of this subject in any manner whatever, that it may be profitable to
consider in this connection some of the principal objections which are
urged against imparting information on sexual subjects, especially
against giving knowledge to the young.
I. _Sexual matters improper to be spoken of to the young._
This objection is often raised, it being urged that these matters are
_too delicate_ to be even suggested to children; that they ought to
be kept in total ignorance of all sexual matters and relations until
nature indicates that they are fit to receive them. It is doubtless
true that children raised in a perfectly natural way would have no
sexual thoughts until puberty, at least, and it would be better if it
might be so; but from facts pointed out in succeeding portions of this
work, it is certain that at the present time children nearly always
do have some vague ideas of sexual relations long before puberty, and
often at a very early age. It is thus apparent that by speaking to
children of sexual matters in a proper manner, a new subject is not
introduced to them, but it is merely presenting to them in a true light
a subject of which they already have vague ideas; and thus, by
satisfying a natural curiosity, they are saved from supplying by their
imaginations distorted images and exaggerated conceptions, and from
seeking to obtain the desired information from evil sources whence they
would derive untold injury.
What reason is there that the subject of the sexual functions should
be treated with such maudlin secrecy? Why should the function of
generation be regarded as something low and beastly, unfit to be spoken
of by decent people on decent occasions? We can conceive of no answer
except the worse than beastly use to which the function has been so
generally put by man. There is nothing about the sexual organism which
makes it less pure than the lungs or the stomach. "Unto the pure all
things are pure," may have been written especially for our times, when
there is such a vast amount of mock modesty; when so much pretense of
virtue covers such a world of iniquity and vice. The young lady who
goes into a spasm of virtuous hysterics upon hearing the word "leg,"
is perhaps just the one who at home riots her imagination in voluptuous
French novels, if she commits no grosser breach of chastity. The parents
who are the most opposed to imparting information to the young are often
those who have themselves indulged in sexual excesses. In the minds
of such persons the sexual organs and functions, and everything even
remotely connected with them, are associated only with ideas of lust
and gross sensuality. No wonder that they wish to keep such topics in
the dark. With such thoughts they cannot well bear the scrutiny of
virtue.
Sexual subjects are not, of course, proper subjects for conversation
at all times, or at any time in a spirit of levity and flippancy.
II. _Knowledge is dangerous._
Very true, knowledge is dangerous, but ignorance is more dangerous
still; or, rather, partial knowledge is more dangerous than a more
complete understanding of facts. Children, young people, will not grow
up in innocent ignorance. If, in obedience to custom, they are not
encouraged to inquire of their parents about the mysteries of life,
they will seek to satisfy their curiosity by appealing to older or
better informed companions. They will eagerly read any book which
promises any hint on the mysterious subject, and will embrace every
opportunity, proper or improper--and most likely to be the latter--of
obtaining the coveted information. Knowledge obtained in this
uncertain and irregular way must of necessity be very unreliable. Many
times--generally, in fact--it is of a most corrupting character, and
the clandestine manner in which it is obtained is itself corrupting
and demoralizing. A child ought to be taught to expect all such
information from its parents, and it ought not to be disappointed.
Again, while it is true that knowledge is dangerous, it is equally true
that this dangerous knowledge will be gained sometime, at any rate;
and as it must come, better let it be imparted by the parent, who can
administer proper warnings and cautions along with it, than by any other
individual. Thus may the child be shielded from injury to which he would
otherwise be certainly exposed.
III. _Young people should be left to find out these things for
themselves._
If human beings received much of their knowledge through instinct, as
animals do, this might be a proper course; but man gets his knowledge
largely by instruction. Young people will get their first knowledge
of sexual matters mostly by instruction from some source. How much
better, then, as we have already shown, to let them obtain this
knowledge from the most natural and most reliable source!
The following paragraph from Dr. Ware is to the point:--
"But putting aside the question whether we ought to hide this subject
wholly from the young if we could, the truth, it is to be feared, is
that we cannot if we would. Admitting it to be desirable, every man
of experience in life will pronounce it to be impracticable. If, then,
we cannot prevent the minds of children from being engaged in some way
on this subject, may it not be better to forestall evil impressions
by implanting good ones, or at least to mingle such good ones with the
evil as the nature of the case admits? Let us be at least as wise as
the crafty enemy of man, and cast in a little wheat with his tares;
and among the most effectual methods of doing this is to impart to the
young just and religious views of the nature and purposes of the
relation which the Creator has established between the two sexes."
_When Shall Information Be Given?_--It is a matter of some difficulty
to decide the exact age at which information on sexual subjects should
be given to the young. It may be adopted as a safe rule, however, that
a certain amount of knowledge should be imparted as soon as there is
manifested a curiosity in this direction. If there is reason to believe
that the mind of the child is exercised in this direction, even though
he may have made no particular inquiries, information should not be
withheld.
_How to Impart Proper Knowledge._--No little skill may be displayed
in introducing these subjects to the mind of the young person in such
a way as to avoid arousing his passions and creating sexual excitement.
Perhaps the general plan followed in the first portion of this work
will be found a very pleasant and successful method if studied
thoroughly and well executed.
All information should not be given at once. First obtain the child's
confidence, and assure him by candor and unreserve that you will give
him all needed information; then, as he encounters difficulties, he
will resort for explanation where he knows he will receive satisfaction.
When the little one questions, answer truthfully and carefully.
The following paragraph by Dr. Wilkinson is suggestive:--
"When we are little boys and girls, our first inquiries about our
_whence_ are answered by the authoritative dogma of the 'silver spade;'
we were dug up with that implement. By degrees the fact comes forth.
The public, however, remains for ages in the silver-spade condition
of mind with regard to the science of the fact; and the doctors foster
it by telling us that the whole subject is a medical property.... There
is nothing wrong in the knowing; and, though the passions might be
stimulated in the first moments by such information, yet in the second
instance they will be calmed by it; and, ceasing to be inflamed by the
additional goad of curiosity and imagination, they will cool down under
the hydropathic influences of science. Well-stated knowledge did never
yet contribute to human inflammation; and we much question whether the
whole theory of the silver spade be not a mistake; and whether children
should not be told the truth from the first; that before desire and
imagination are born, the young mind may receive, in its cool innocency,
a knowledge of the future objects of powers and faculties which are
to be subject afterward to such strong excitements."
The experience of hundreds in the circulation of this work has proven
beyond all chance for question the truth of the foregoing remarks, and
often in a most striking manner. Scores of persons have written us,
"I would give all I possess in this world could I have had a copy of
'Plain Facts' placed in my hands when I was a lad," or, "Words cannot
express the gratitude I would now feel had some kind friend imparted
to me the invaluable information which this book contains; it would
have saved me a life of wretchedness."
We have had the satisfaction of knowing in numerous instances that the
virtue and happiness of whole families have been secured by the timely
warnings of danger which parents have obtained from this work. We are
glad to be able to feel that it is now thoroughly demonstrated that
intelligent persons who have given this subject thought universally
approve of the objects of the work and the manner of presenting the
subject adopted in it. Those who at first question the propriety of
discussing the subject so freely and thoroughly as is here done, lose
their prejudice entirely upon giving the work a careful perusal. In
numerous instances it has occurred that those who were most decided
in their denunciations have become the most zealous and efficient
agents in its circulation after becoming more fully acquainted with
it.
SEX IN LIVING FORMS.
Life, in its great diversity of forms, has ever been a subject of the
deepest interest to rational beings. Poets have sung of its joys and
sorrows, its brilliant phantasies and harsh realities. Philosophers
have spent their lives in vain attempts to solve its mysteries; and
some have held and thought that life was nothing more than a stupendous
farce, a delusion of the senses. Moralists have sought to impress
mankind with the truth that "life is real," and teeming with grave
responsibilities. Physiologists have busied themselves in observing
the phenomena of life, and learning, therefrom, its laws. The subject
is certainly an interesting one, and none could be more worthy of the
most careful attention.
Living Beings.--Man possesses life in common with other beings almost
infinite in number and variety. The hugest beast that roams the forest
or plows the main is no more a living creature than the smallest insect
or microscopic animalculum. The "big tree" of California and the tiny
blade of grass which waves at its foot are alike imbued with life. All
nature teems with life. The practiced eye detects multitudes of living
forms at every glance.
The universe of life presents the most marvelous manifestations of the
infinite power and wisdom of the Creator to be found in all his works.
The student of biology sees life in myriad forms which are unnoticed
by the casual observer. The microscope reveals whole worlds of life
that were unknown before the discovery of this wonderful aid to human
vision,--whole tribes of living organisms, each of which, though
insignificant in size, possesses organs as perfect and as useful to
it in its sphere as do animals of greater magnitude. Under a powerful
magnifying glass, a drop of water from a stagnant pool is found to be
peopled with curious animated forms; slime from a damp rock, or a speck
of green scum from the surface of a pond, presents a museum of living
wonders. Through this instrument the student of nature learns that life
in its lowest form is represented by a mere atom of living matter, an
insignificant speck of trembling jelly, transparent and structureless,
having no organs of locomotion, yet able to move in any direction; no
nerves or organs of sense, yet possessing a high degree of sensibility;
no mouth, teeth, nor organs of digestion, yet capable of taking food,
growing, developing, producing other individuals like itself, becoming
aged, infirm, and dying,--such is the life history of a living creature
at the lower extreme of the scale of animated being. As we rise higher
in the scale, we find similar little atoms of life associated together
in a single individual, each doing its proper share of the work
necessary to maintain the life of the individual as a whole, yet
retaining at the same time its own individual life.
As we ascend to still higher forms, we find this association of minute
living creatures resulting in the production of forms of increasing
complicity. As the structure of the individual becomes more complex
and its functions more varied, the greater is the number of separate,
yet associated, organisms to do the work.
In man, at the very summit of the scale of animate existence, we find
the most delicate and wonderfully intricate living mechanism of all.
In him, as in lower, intermediate forms of life, the life of the
individual is but a summary of the lives of all numberless minute
organisms of which his body is composed. The individual life is but
the aggregate life of all the millions of distinct individuals which
are associated together in the human organism.
Animals and Vegetables.--The first classification of living creatures
separates them into two great kingdoms, animals and vegetables.
Although it is very easy to define the general characteristics of each
of these classes, it is impossible to fix upon any single peculiarity
which will be applicable in every case. Most vegetable organisms remain
stationary, while some possess organs of locomotion, and swim about
in the water in a manner much resembling the movements of certain
animals. Most vegetables obtain their nutriment from the earth and the
air, while animals subsist on living matter. A few plants seem to take
organic matter for food, some even catching and killing small insects.
It is found impossible to draw the precise line between animals and
vegetables, for the reason just mentioned. The two kingdoms blend so
intimately that in some cases it is impossible to tell whether a certain
microscopic speck of life is an animal or a vegetable. But since these
doubtful creatures are usually so minute that several millions of them
can exist in a single drop of water, it is usually of no practical
importance whether they are animal or vegetable, or sometimes one and
sometimes the other, as they have been supposed to be by some
biologists.
All living creatures are _organized_ beings. Most possess a structure
and an organism more or less complicated; but some of the lowest forms
are merely little masses of a transparent, homogeneous jelly, known
as protoplasm. Some of the smallest of these are so minute that one
hundred millions of them could occupy the space of a cube one-thousandth
of an inch on each side; yet each one runs its course of life as regularly
as man himself, performing its proper functions even more perfectly,
perhaps.
Life Force.--To every thinking mind the question often recurs, What
makes the fragrant flower so different from the dead soil from which
it grows? the trilling bird, so vastly superior to the inert atmosphere
in which it flies? What subtle power paints the rose, and tunes the
merry songster's voice? To explain this mystery, philosophers of olden
time supposed the existence of a certain peculiar force which is called
life, or vital force, or vitality. This supposition does nothing more
than furnish a name for a thing unknown, and the very existence of which
may fairly be doubted. In fact, any attempt to find a place for such
a force, to understand its origin, or harmonize its existence with that
of other well-known forces, is unsuccessful; and the theory of a
peculiar vital force, a presiding entity present in every living thing,
vanishes into thin air to give place to the more rational view of the
most advanced modern scientists, that vital force, so-called, is only
a manifestation of the ordinary forces of nature acting through a
peculiar arrangement of matter. In other words, life depends, not upon
a peculiar force, but upon a peculiar arrangement of matter, or
organization. It is simply a peculiar manifestation of the force
possessed by atoms exhibited through a peculiar arrangement of atoms
and molecules. This arrangement is what is known as organization; and
bodies which possess it are known as organized or living bodies. The
term life may be understood as referring to the phenomena which result
from organization.
That life results from organization, not organization from life, is
more consonant with the accepted and established facts of science than
the contrary view. We might adduce numerous facts and arguments in
support of this view of the nature of life, but will not do so here,
as we have considered the subject at some length elsewhere.[1]
[Footnote 1: See "Science and the Bible," pp. 36-46.]
_Nutrition_ and _reproduction_ are the two great functions of life,
being common not only to all animals, but to both animals and plants,
to all classes of living creatures. The object of the first, is the
development and maintenance of the individual existence; the second
has for its end the production of new individuals, or the preservation
of the race. Nutrition is a purely selfish process; reproduction is
purely unselfish in its object; though the human species--unlike the
lower animals, which, while less intelligent, are far more true to
nature--too often pervert its functions to the most grossly selfish
ends.
The subject of nutrition is an important one, and well worthy the
attention of every person who values life. The general disregard of
this subject is undoubtedly the cause of a very large share of the ills
to which human flesh is heir; but our limited space forbids its
consideration here, and we shall confine our attention to reproduction.
REPRODUCTION.
As before remarked, reproduction is a function common to all animals
and to all plants. Every organized being has the power to reproduce
itself, or to produce, or aid in producing, other individuals like
itself. It is by means of this function that plants and animals increase
or multiply.
When we consider the great diversity of characters illustrated in
animal and vegetable life, and the infinite variety of conditions and
circumstances under which organized creatures exist, it is not
surprising that modes of reproduction should also present great
diversity both in general character and in detail. We shall find it
both interesting and instructive to consider some of the many different
modes of reproduction, or generation, observed in different classes
of living beings, previous to entering upon the specific study of
reproduction in man. Before doing thus, however, let us give brief
attention to a theoretical form of generation, which cannot be called
reproduction, known as
Spontaneous Generation.--By this term is meant the supposed formation
of living creatures directly from dead matter without the intervention
of other living organisms. The theory is, in substance, an old one.
The ancients supposed that the frogs and other small reptiles so
abundant in the vicinity of slimy pools and stagnant marshes, were
generated spontaneously from the mud and slime in which they lived.
This theory was, of course, abandoned when the natural history of
reptiles became known.
For several thousand years the belief was still held that maggots found
in decaying meat were produced spontaneously; but it was discovered,
centuries ago, that maggots are not formed if the flesh is protected
from flies, since they are the larvae, or young, of a species of this
insect. A relic of the ancient belief in spontaneous generation is still
found in the supposition that horse-hair snakes, so-called, are really
formed from the hairs of horses. This belief is quite common, but
science long ago exposed its falsity.
When the microscope was discovered it revealed a whole new world of
infinitesimal beings which were at first supposed to be of spontaneous
origin; but careful scientific investigation has shown that even these
mere specks of life are not independent of parentage. M. Pasteur and,
more recently, Prof. Tyndall, with many other distinguished scientists,
have demonstrated this fact beyond all reasonable chance for question.
It is, then, an established law that _every living organism originates
with some previously existing living being or beings_.
It may be queried, If it be true that life is but a manifestation of
the ordinary forces of matter,--which are common to both dead and living
matter,--being dependent upon arrangement, then why may it not be that
dead matter may, through the action of molecular laws, and without the
intervention of any living existence, assume those peculiar forms of
arrangement necessary to constitute life, as supposed by the advocates
of the theory in question? It is true that some who recognize the fact
that life is the result of organization maintain the doctrine of
_spontaneous generation_; that is, the production of life without any
agency other than the recognized forces of nature being brought about
simply by a fortuitous combination of atoms. Although this doctrine
cannot be said to be inconsistent with the theory of life presented,
yet it is by no means a legitimate or necessary result of it; and
observation proves its falsity.
The testimony of all nature, as almost universally admitted by
scientific men, is that life originated through a creative act by the
first Great Cause, who gave to certain bodies the requisite arrangement
or organization to enable them to perform certain functions, and
delegated to them the power to transmit the same to other matter, and
thus to perpetuate life. The Creator alone has the power to originate
life. Man, with all his wisdom and attainments, cannot discover the
secret of organization. He may become familiar with its phenomena, but
he cannot unravel, further, the mystery of life. The power of organizing
is possessed only by the lower class of living or organized bodies,
those known as vegetable organisms or plants. A grain of wheat, a kernel
of corn, a potato, when placed under favorable conditions, takes the
inert, lifeless particles of matter which lie about it in the earth
and air, and organizes them into living substances like itself.
To man and animals the Creator delegated the power to form their own
peculiar structures from the vitalized tissues of plants. Thus, both
animal and vegetable life is preserved without the necessity of
continued acts of creative power, each plant and each animal possessing
the power not only to preserve its own life, but also to aid, at least,
in the perpetuation of the species. The record of creation in Genesis
harmonizes perfectly with this view, it being represented that God
formed (organized or arranged) man, animals, and vegetable productions
from the earth.
Simplest Form of Generation.--Deep down beneath the waters of the ocean,
covering its bottom in certain localities, is found a curious slime,
which, under the microscope, is seen to be composed of minute rounded
masses of gelatinous matter, or protoplasm. By watching these little
bodies intently for a few minutes, the observer will discover that each
is a living creature capable of moving, growing, and assuming a variety
of shapes. Continued observation will reveal the fact that these little
creatures multiply; and a more careful scrutiny will enable him to see
_how_ they increase. Each divides into two equal parts so nearly alike
that they cannot be distinguished apart. In this case the process of
generation is simply the production of two similar individuals from
one.
A small quantity of slime taken from the surface of a stone near the
bottom of an old well, or on the seaside, when placed under the
microscope, will sometimes be found to contain large numbers of small,
round, living bodies. Careful watching will show that they also
multiply by division; but before the division occurs, two cells unite
to form one by a process called _conjugation_. Then, by the division
of this cell, instead of only two cells, a large number of small cells
are formed, each of which may be considered as a bud formed upon the
body of the parent cell and then separated from it to become by growth
an individual like its parent, and, like it, to produce its kind. In
this case, we have new individuals formed by the union of two
individuals which are to all appearance entirely similar in every
particular.
Sex.--Rising higher in the scale of being, we find that, with rare
exceptions, reproduction is the result of the union of two dissimilar
elements. These elements do not, in higher organisms, as in lower forms
of life, constitute the individuals, but are produced by them; and being
unlike, they are produced by special organs, each adapted to the
formation of one kind of elements. The two classes of organs usually
exist in separate individuals, thus giving rise to distinctions of
_sex_; an individual possessing organs which form one kind of elements
being called a male, and one possessing organs for the formation of
the other kind of elements, a female. The sexual differences between
individuals of the same species are not, however, confined to the sexual
organs. In most classes of plants and animals, other sexual differences
are very great. In some of the lower orders of animals, and in many
species of plants, the male and female individuals are so much unlike
that for a long time after they were well known, no sexual relation
was discovered.
Hermaphrodism.--An individual possessing both male and female organs
of reproduction is called an _hermaphrodite_. Such a combination is
very rare among higher animals; but it is by no means uncommon among
plants and the lower forms of animal life. The snail, the oyster, the
earth-worm, and the common tape-worm, are examples of true
hermaphrodites. So-called human hermaphrodites are usually
individuals in whom the sexual organs are abnormally developed so that
they resemble those of the opposite sex, though they really have but
one sex, which can usually be determined with certainty. Only a very
few cases have been observed in which both male and female organs were
present.
There is now living in Germany an individual who bears the name of a
woman; but learned physicians have decided that the person is as much
man as woman, having the organs of both sexes. What is still more curious,
this person has the feelings of both sexes, having loved at first a
man, and afterward a woman. There have been observed, also, a very few
instances of individuals in whom the sexual organs of neither sex were
present. It thus appears that a person may be of both sexes or of no
sex at all.
Sex in Plants.--To one unacquainted with the mysteries of plant life
and growth, the idea of attaching sexuality to plants seems very
extraordinary; but the botanist recognizes the fact that the
distinctions of sex are as clearly maintained in the vegetable as in
the animal kingdom. The sexual organs of the higher orders of plants
are flowers. That part of the flower which produces seeds answers to
the female; another part, which is incapable of forming seeds, answers
to the male. The fertile and sterile flowers are sometimes produced
on separate plants. Very frequently, they are produced upon separate
parts of the same plant, as in the oak, walnut, and many other forest
trees, and Indian corn. In the latter plant, so familiar to every one,
the "tassel" contains the male flowers, and the part known as the
"silk," with the portion to which it is attached--which becomes the
ear--the female or fertile flowers. In a large number of species, the
male and female organs are combined in a single flower, making a true
hermaphrodite.
Sex in Animals.--As previously remarked, individuals of opposite sex
usually differ much more than in the character of their sexual organs
only. Among higher animals, the male is usually larger, stronger, and
of coarser structure than the female. The same contrast is observed
in their mental characters. With lower animals, especially insects,
the opposite is often observed. The female spider is many times larger
than the male. The male ant is small in size when compared with the
female. Nevertheless, in all classes of animals the difference in the
structure and the functions of the sexual organs is the chief
distinguishing character. These differences are not so great, however,
as they might at first appear. The male and female organs of
reproduction in man and other animals, which seem so dissimilar, when
studied in the light shed upon this subject by the science of embryology,
are found to be wonderfully alike in structure, differing far more in
appearance than in reality, and being little more than modifications
of one general plan. Every organ to be found in the one sex has an
analogue in the other which is complete in every particular,
corresponding in function, in structure, and usually in position.
Other Sexual Differences.--In this country there is between five and
six inches difference in height and about twenty pounds difference in
weight between the average man and the average woman, the average man
being about five feet, eight inches in height, and weighing one hundred
and forty-five pounds; while the average woman is five feet, two or
two and one-half inches in height, and weighs one hundred and
twenty-five pounds. The relation of the sexes in height and weight
varies in degree in different countries, but is never changed. The
average height and weight of American men and women is considerably
above that of the average human being.
Men and Women Differ in Form.--The differences in form are so marked
that it is possible for the skilled anatomist to determine the sex of
a human being who has been dead for ages, by an examination of the
skeleton alone. In man, the shoulders are broad, the hips narrow, and
the limbs nearly straight with the body. In woman, the shoulders are
narrow and usually rounded, and set farther back, the collar-bone being
longer and less curved, giving the chest greater prominence; while the
hips are broad.
The consequence of these differences is that woman is generally less
graceful and naturally less skillful in the use of the extremities than
man, and hence less fitted for athletic sports and feats requiring great
dexterity. A girl throws a stone awkwardly, less from want of practice
than from a natural peculiarity of physical structure. A woman walks
less gracefully than a man, owing to the greater relative breadth of
her hips, requiring a motion of the body together with that of the limbs.
In consequence of this peculiarity, a woman is less fitted for walking
long distances.
Modern Mania for Female Pedestrianism.--Nothing could be much more
inhuman than the exhibitions made in satisfying the mania for female
pedestrianism which has recently arisen. Not long since, in walking
down one of the principal streets of Boston, we passed, in going a
distance of thirty rods, three illuminated placards announcing to the
public that in as many different public halls four female pedestrians
were exhibiting their walking talents for the gratification of the
crowds of bawdy loafers and jockeys who congregated to criticize their
several "points," and bet on their walking capacity, as though they
were horses on a race-course or hounds on a fox hunt.
3,000 Quarter Miles in 3,000 Quarter Hours.--We visited the halls and
ascertained that two of these misguided women were attempting the feat
of walking respectively 2,700 and 3,000 quarter miles in an equal number
of successive quarter hours. This would require almost incessant
exertion for nearly twenty-eight days in one case, and for more than
thirty-one days in the other, without at any time a period of unbroken
rest longer than ten minutes. Such a procedure, in the light of
physiology, is a greater inhumanity than the most merciless Boston
teamster would inflict upon his dumb brutes. Why does not Mr. Bergh
exercise his function in such cases? We did not wonder that the poor
women looked pale and suffering, and trudged along with a limping gait.