injurious. The same is true of mental labor as of physical exercise.
Plenty of sleep, and regular habits of retiring and rising, are
important. Dozing is bad at any time; for it is a condition in which
the will is nearly dormant, though consciousness still lingers, and
the imagination is allowed to run wild, and often enough it will run
where it ought not. Late study, or late hours spent in any manner, is
a sure means of producing general nervous irritability and sexual
excitement through reflex influence.
_Bathing_.--A daily bath with cool or tepid water, followed by vigorous
rubbing of the skin with a coarse towel and then with the dry hand,
is a most valuable aid. The hour of first rising is generally the most
convenient time. How to take different kinds of baths is explained in
other works devoted to the subject.[10] General and local cleanliness
are indispensable to general and local health.
[Footnote 10: See "Uses of Water" and "The Household Manual."]
_Religion_.--After availing himself of all other aids to continence,
if he wishes to maintain purity of mind as well as physical
chastity--and one cannot exist long without the other--the individual
must seek that most powerful and helpful of all aids, divine grace.
If, in the conflict with his animal nature, man had only to contend
with the degrading influences of his own propensities, the battle would
be a serious one, and it is doubtful whether human nature alone--at
least in any but rare cases,--would be able to gain the victory; but,
in addition to his own inherent tendencies to evil, man is assailed
at every point by unseen agencies that seek to drag him down and spoil
his soul with lust. These fiendish influences are only felt, not seen,
from which some argue that they do not exist. Such casuists must find
enormous depths for human depravity. But who has not felt the cruel
power of these unseen foes? Against them, there is but one safe,
successful weapon, "the blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin."
The struggling soul, beset with evil thoughts, will find in prayer a
salvation which all his force of will, and dieting, and exercising,
will not, alone, insure him. Yet prayer alone will not avail. Faith
and works must always be associated. All that one can do to work out
his own salvation, he must do; then he can safely trust in God to do
the rest, even though the struggle seems almost a useless one; for when
the soul has been long in bondage to concupiscence, the mind a hold
of foul and lustful thoughts, a panorama of unchaste imagery, these
hateful phantoms will even intrude themselves upon the sanctity of
prayer and make their victim mentally unchaste upon his knees. But
Christ can pity even such; and even these degraded minds may yet be
pure if with the psalmist they continue to cry, with a true purpose
and unwavering trust, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me." "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
At the first suggestion of an evil thought, send up a mental prayer
to Him whose ear is always open. Prayer and impurity are as incompatible
as oil and water. The pure thoughts that sincere prayer will bring,
displace the evil promptings of excited passion. But the desire for
aid must be sincere. Prayer will be of no avail while the mind is half
consenting to the evil thought. The evil must be loathed, spurned,
detested.
It would seem almost unnecessary to suggest the impropriety of
resorting to prayer alone when sexual excitability has arisen from a
culpable neglect to remove the physical conditions of local excitement
by the means already mentioned. Such physical causes must be well looked
after, or every attempt to reform will be fruitless. God requires of
every individual to do for himself all that he is capable of doing;
to employ every available means for alleviating his sufferings.
MARITAL EXCESSES.
It seems to be a generally prevalent opinion that the marriage ceremony
removes all restraint from the exercise of the sexual functions. Few
seem to even suspect that the seventh commandment has any bearing upon
sexual conduct within the pale of matrimony. Yet if we may believe the
confessions and statements of men and women, legalized prostitution
is a more common crime than illicit commerce of the sexes. So common
is the popular error upon this subject, and so strongly fortified by
prejudice is it, that it is absolutely dangerous for a writer or speaker
to express the truth, if he knows it and has a disposition to do so.
Any attempt to call attention to true principles is mocked at, decried,
stigmatized, and, if possible, extinguished. The author is vilified,
and his work is denounced, and relegated to the ragman. Extremist,
fanatic, ascetic, are the mildest terms employed concerning him, and
he escapes with rare good fortune if his chastity or virility is not
assailed.
We are not going to run any such risks, and so shall not attempt to
enunciate or maintain any theory. We shall content ourselves with
plainly stating established physiological facts by quotations from
standard medical authors, leaving each reader to draw conclusions and
construct a practical formula for himself.
Object of the Reproductive Functions.--Man, in whatever condition we
find him, is more or less depraved. This is true as well of the most
cultivated and refined ladies and gentlemen of the great centers of
civilization, as of the misshapen denizens of African jungles, or the
scarcely human natives of Australia and Terra del Fuego. His appetites,
his tastes, his habits, even his bodily functions are perverted. Of
course, there are degrees of depravity, and varieties of perversion.
In some respects, savages approach more nearly to the natural state
than civilized man, and in other particulars, the latter more nearly
represents man's natural condition; but in neither barbarism nor
civilization do we find man in his primitive state.
In consequence of this universal departure from his original normal
condition,--the causes of which we need not here trace, since they are
immaterial in the consideration of this question,--when we wish to
ascertain with certainty the functions of certain organs of the human
body, we are obliged to compare them with the corresponding organs of
lower animals, and study the functions of the latter. It is by this
method of investigation that most of the important truths of physiology
have been developed; and the plan is universally acknowledged to be
a proper and logical one.
Then if we wish to ascertain, with certainty, the true function of the
reproductive organs in man, we must pursue the course above indicated;
in other words, study the function of reproduction in lower animals.
We say _lower animals_, because man is really an animal, a member of
the great animal kingdom, though not a beast--at least he should not
be a beast, though some animals in human form approach very closely
to the line that separates humanity from brutes. We are brought, then,
for a solution of this problem, to a consideration of the question,
What is the object of the reproductive act in those members of the animal
kingdom just below man in the scale of being? Let science tell us, for
zoologists have made a careful study of this subject for centuries.
We quote the following paragraphs from one of the most distinguished
and reliable of modern physiologists;[11] the facts which he states
being confirmed by all other physiologists:--
"Every living being has a definite term of life, through which it passes
by the operation of an invariable law, and which, at some regularly
appointed time, comes to an end.... But while individual organisms are
thus constantly perishing and disappearing from the stage, the
particular kind, or species, remains in existence.... This process,
by which new organisms make their appearance, to take the place of those
which are destroyed, is known as the process of _reproduction_ or
_generation_.
"The ovaries, as well as the eggs which they contain, undergo, at
particular seasons, a periodical development, or increase in growth....
At the approach of the generative season, in all the lower animals,
a certain number of the eggs, which were previously in an imperfect
and inactive condition, begin to increase in size and become somewhat
altered in structure."
"In most fish and reptiles as well as in birds, this regular process
of maturation and discharge of eggs takes place but once in a year.
In different species of quadrupeds it may take place annually,
semi-annually, bi-monthly, or even monthly; but in every instance it
recurs at regular intervals, and exhibits accordingly, in a marked
degree, the periodic character which we have seen to belong to most
of the other vital phenomena."
"In most of the lower orders of animals there is a periodical
development of the testicles in the male, corresponding in time with
that of the ovaries in the female. As the ovaries enlarge and the eggs
ripen in the one sex, so in the other the testicles increase in size,
as the season of reproduction approaches, and become turgid with
spermatozoa. The accessory organs of generation, at the same time,
share the unusual activity of the testicles, and become increased in
vascularity and ready to perform their part in the reproductive
function."
"Each of the two sexes is then at the same time under the influence
of a corresponding excitement. The unusual development of the genital
organs reacts upon the entire system, and produces a state of peculiar
activity and excitability, known as the condition of 'erethism.'"
"It is a remarkable fact, in this connection, that the female of these
animals will allow the approaches of the male only during and
immediately after the oestral period; that is, just when the egg is
recently discharged, and ready for impregnation. At other times, when
sexual intercourse would be necessarily fruitless, the instinct of the
animal leads her to avoid it; and the concourse of the sexes is
accordingly made to correspond in time with the maturity of the egg
and its aptitude for fecundation."
"The egg, immediately upon its discharge from the ovary, is ready for
impregnation. If sexual intercourse happens to take place about that
time, the egg and the spermatic fluid meet in some part of the female
generative passages, and fecundation is accomplished.... If, on the
other hand, coitus do not take place, the egg passes down to the uterus
unimpregnated, loses its vitality after a short time, and is finally
carried away with the uterine secretions."
"It is easily understood, therefore, why sexual intercourse should be
more liable to be followed by pregnancy when it occurs about the
menstrual epoch than at other times.... Before its discharge, the egg
is immature, and unprepared for impregnation; and after the menstrual
period has passed, it gradually loses its freshness and vitality."
[Footnote 11: Dalton.]
The law of periodicity, as it affects the sexual activity of males of
the human species, is indicated in the following remarks by the same
author:--
"The same correspondence between the periods of sexual excitement in
the male and female, is visible in many of the animals [higher mammals],
as well as in fish and reptiles. This is the case in most species which
produce young but once a year, and at a fixed period, as the deer and
the wild hog. In other species, on the contrary, such as the dog, the
rabbit, the guinea-pig, etc., where several broods of young are
produced during the year, or where, as in the human subject, the
generative epochs of the female recur at short intervals, so that the
particular period of impregnation is comparatively indefinite, the
generative apparatus of the male is almost always in a state of full
development; and is excited to action at particular periods, apparently
by some influence derived from the condition of the female."
The facts presented in the foregoing quotations from Dr. Dalton may
be summarized as follows:--
1. The sexual function is for the purpose of producing new individuals
to take the place of those who die, and thus preserve the species from
becoming extinct.
2. In the animal kingdom generally, the reproductive function is
_necessarily_ a periodical act, dependent upon the development of the
reproductive organs of both the male and the female at stated periods.
3. In those exceptional cases in which the organs of the male are in
a state of constant development, sexual congress occurs, in lower
animals, only at those periods when the periodical development occurs
in the female.
4. Fecundation of the female element can only take place about the time
of periodical development in the female.
5. The desire for sexual congress naturally exists in the female only
at or immediately after the time of periodical development.
6. The constant development of the sexual organs in human males is a
condition common to all animals in which development occurs in the
female at short intervals, and is a provision of nature to secure a
fruitful union when the female is in readiness, but not an indication
for constant or frequent use.
7. The time of sexual congress is always determined by the condition
and desires of the female.
An additional fact, as stated by physiologists, is that, under normal
conditions, the human female experiences sexual desire immediately
after menstruation more than at any other time. It has, indeed, been
claimed that at this period only does she experience the true sexual
instinct unless it is abnormally excited by disease or otherwise.
From these facts the following conclusions must evidently be drawn:--
1. The fact that in all animals but the human species the act can be
performed only when reproduction is possible, proves that in the animal
kingdom in general the sole object of the function is reproduction.
Whether man is an exception, must be determined from other
considerations.
2. The fact that the males of other animals besides man in which the
sexual organs are in a state of constant development do not exercise
those organs except for the purpose of reproduction, is proof of the
position that the constant development in man is not a warrant for their
constant use.
3. The general law that the reproductive act is performed only when
desired by the female, is sufficient ground for supposing that such
should be the case with the human species also.
The opinions of writers of note are given in the following quotations:--
"The approach of the sexes is, in its purest condition, the result of
a natural instinct, the end of which is the reproduction of the species.
Still, however, we are far from saying that this ultimate result is,
in any proportion of cases, the actual thought in the minds of the
parties engaged."
"The very lively solicitations which spring from the genital sense,
have no other end than to insure the perpetuity of the race."[12]
[Footnote 12: Dr. Gardner.]
"Observation fully confirms the views of inductive philosophy; for it
proves to us that coitus, exercised otherwise than under the
inspirations of honest instinct, is a cause of disease in both sexes,
and of danger to the social order."[13]
[Footnote 13: Mayer.]
"It is incredible that the act of bringing men into life, that act of
humanity, without contradiction of the most importance, should be the
one of which there should have been the least supposed necessity for
regulation, or which has been regulated the least beneficially."[14]
[Footnote 14: Dunoyer.]
"But it may be said that the demands of nature are, in the married state,
not only legal, but should be physically right. So they are, when our
physical life is right; but it must not be forgotten that few live in
a truly physical rectitude."[15]
[Footnote 15: Gardner.]
"Among cattle, the sexes meet by common instinct and common will; it
is reserved for the human animal to treat the female as a mere victim
to his lust."[16]
[Footnote 16: Quarterly Review.]
"He is an ill husband that _uses his wife as a man treats a harlot_,
having no other end but pleasure. Concerning which our best rule is,
that although in this, as in eating and drinking, there is an appetite
to be satisfied, which cannot be done without pleasing that desire,
yet since that desire and satisfaction were intended by nature for other
ends, they should never be separated from those ends."
"It is a sad truth that many married persons, thinking that the
flood-gates of liberty are set wide open, without measures or
restraints (so they sail in the channel), have felt the final rewards
of intemperance and lust by their unlawful using of lawful permissions.
Only let each of them be temperate, and both of them modest."[17]
[Footnote 17: Jeremy Taylor.]
Says another writer very emphatically, "It is a common belief that a
man and woman, because they are legally united in marriage, are
privileged to the unbridled exercises of amativeness. This is wrong.
Nature, in the exercise of her laws, recognizes no human enactments,
and is as prompt to punish any infringement of her laws in those who
are legally married, as in those out of the bonds. Excessive indulgence
between the married produces as great and lasting evil effects as in
the single man or woman, and is nothing more or less than legalized
prostitution."
Results of Excesses.--The sad results of excessive indulgences are seen
on every hand. Numerous ailments attributed to overwork,
constitutional disease, or hereditary predisposition, know no other
cause and need no other explanation.
_Effects upon Husbands_.--No doubt the principal blame in this matter
properly falls upon the husband; but it cannot be said that he is the
greatest sufferer; however, his punishment is severe enough to clearly
indicate the enormity of the transgression, and to warn him to a
reformation of his habits. The following is a quotation from an eminent
medical authority:--
"But any warning against sexual dangers would be very incomplete if
it did not extend to the excesses so often committed by married persons
in ignorance of their ill effects. Too frequent emissions of the
life-giving fluid, and too frequent excitement of the nervous system
are, as we have seen, in themselves most destructive. The result is
the same within the marriage bond as without it. The married man who
thinks that because he is a married man he can commit no excess, however
often the act of sexual congress is repeated, will suffer as certainly
and as seriously as the unmarried debauchee who acts on the same
principle in his indulgences--perhaps more certainly from his very
ignorance, and from his not taking those precautions and following
those rules which a career of vice is apt to teach the sensualist. Many
a man has, until his marriage, lived a most continent life; so has his
wife. As soon as they are wedded, intercourse is indulged in night after
night, neither party having any idea that these repeated sexual acts
are excesses which the system of neither can bear, and which to the
man, at least, are absolute ruin. The practice is continued till health
is impaired, sometimes permanently, and when a patient is at last
obliged to seek medical advice, he is thunderstruck at learning that
his sufferings arise from excesses unwittingly committed. Married
people often appear to think that connection may be repeated as
regularly and almost as often as their meals. Till they are told of
the danger, the idea never enters their heads that they are guilty of
great and almost criminal excess; nor is this to be wondered at, since
the possibility of such a cause of disease is seldom hinted at by the
medical man they consult."
"Some go so far as to believe that indulgence may increase these powers,
just as gymnastic exercises augment the force of the muscles. This is
a popular error; and requires correction. Such patients should be told
that the shock on the system each time connection is indulged in, is
very powerful, and that the expenditure of seminal fluid must be
particularly injurious to organs previously debilitated. It is by this
and similar excesses that premature old age and complaints of the
generative organs are brought on."
"The length to which married people carry excesses is perfectly
astonishing."
"Since my attention has been particularly called to this class of
ailments, I feel confident that many of the forms of indigestion,
general ill health, hypochondriasis, etc., so often met with in adults,
depend upon sexual excesses.... That this cause of illness is not more
generally acknowledged and acted on, arises from the natural delicacy
which medical men must feel in putting such questions to their patients
as are necessary to elicit the facts."
"It is not the body alone which suffers from excesses committed in
married life. Experience every day convinces me that much of the languor
of mind, confusion of ideas, and inability to control the thoughts,
of which some married men complain, arise from this cause."[18]
[Footnote 18: Acton.]
The debilitating effects of excessive sexual indulgence arise from two
causes; viz., the loss of the seminal fluid, and the nervous excitement.
With reference to the value of the spermatic fluid, Dr. Gardner
remarks:--
"The sperm is the purest extract of the blood.... Nature, in creating
it, has intended it not only to communicate life, but also to nourish
the individual life. In fact, the re-absorption of the fecundating
liquid impresses upon the entire economy new energy, and a virility
which contributes to the prolongation of life."
Testimony of a French Physician.--A French author of considerable
note,[19] remarks on the same subject:--
"Nothing costs the economy so much as the production of semen and its
forced ejaculation. It has been calculated that an ounce of semen was
equivalent to forty ounces of blood.... Semen is the essence of the
whole individual. Hence, Fernel has said, 'Totus homo semen est.' It
is the balm of life.... That which gives life is intended for its
preservation."
[Footnote 19: Parise.]
It may be questioned, perhaps, whether physiology will sustain to the
fullest extent all the statements made in the last quotation; but
perhaps physiology does not appreciate so fully as does pathology the
worth of the most vital of all fluids, and the fearful results which
follow its useless expenditure.
Continence of Trainers.--"The moderns who are training are well aware
that sexual indulgence wholly unfits them for great feats of strength,
and the captain of a boat strictly forbids his crew anything of the
sort just previous to a match. Some trainers have gone so far as to
assure me that they can discover by a man's style of pulling whether
he has committed such a breach of discipline over night, and have not
scrupled to attribute the occasional loss of matches to this
cause."[20]
[Footnote 20: Acton.]
A Cause of Throat Disease.--The disease known as "_clergyman's sore
throat_" is believed by many eminent physicians to have its chief origin
in excessive venery. It is well known that sexual abuse is a very potent
cause of throat diseases. This view is supported by the following from
the pen of the learned Dr. X. Bourgeois:--
"We ought not, then, to be surprised that the physiological act,
requiring so great an expenditure of vitality, must be injurious in
the highest degree, when it is reiterated abusively. To engender is
to give a portion of one's life. Does not he who is prodigal of himself
precipitate his own ruin? A peculiar character of the diseases which
have their origin in venereal excesses and masturbation is chronicity."
"Individual predispositions, acquired or hereditary, engender for each
a series of peculiar ills. In some, the debility bears upon the
pulmonary organs. Hence results the dry cough, prolonged hoarseness,
stitch in the side, spitting of blood, and finally phthisis. How many
examples are there of young debauchees who have been devoured by this
cruel disease!... It is, of all the grave maladies, the one which
venereal abuses provoke the most frequently. Portal, Bayle, Louis, say
this distinctly."