STRICT MORALITY vs. FALSE MODESTY.
In preparing both the first and later editions of this little work (that
has brought happiness to so many by opening the way to knowledge of a
proper means of cure and methods of regaining health and vigor), +the
utmost care and circumspection have been exercised in an endeavor to
exclude from its pages anything that could be construed by the most
fastidious as immodest, obscene, or in any way offensive to decency,
morality or good breeding+. Indeed, although purely and essentially
+a medical work, and intended solely for such persons whose duty it is
to be acquainted with the facts given+, in order to understand their
complaint, to place themselves under proper treatment, and to avoid
the dangers of quackery, we have in many instances wholly excluded
or materially modified the wording of passages in order to comply
with our original ideas of the strictest purity of thought and speech
commensurate with a truthful and honest statement of facts.
We wish it distinctly understood that +this treatise is intended solely
for persons suffering from Genito-Urinary Diseases+, and that it is
+never mailed to any person who has not voluntarily requested us to send
it+, and then +not to boys+ or to members of the +opposite sex+. (Our
application books show a large number of such refusals.)
We look upon our special mission in the field of medicine as +distinct+,
+laudable+ and +holy+. There are those who look down upon this special
branch of medicine, and some ignoramuses who assert that such diseases
only exist in the imaginations of such patients as a result of reading
the pamphlets of quacks who paint frightful pictures of insanity,
idiocy, etc. To such men as these we have only this to say: Consult the
works of Hammond, Black, Acton, Wilson, Lallemand, Civialè, Courtenay,
Lee etc., etc., the authors of which have world-wide reputations, not
only as physicians, but as truthful, honest and moral men. They will
then see how really grave are such affections and how needful of aid.
God knows that the misery, despondency and actual organic disease,
as a result of early vices, are prevalent enough even to-day to make a
lover of his fellow men sincerely pity and desire to help them. And we
claim (and every honest man cannot but admit) that it is only by the
+widespread dissemination of a knowledge of certain facts+ to young and
old, especially the former, that such vice and its consequences can be
met and overcome. We are daily spreading such knowledge throughout the
length and breadth of this land, not only warning and advising the young
and cautioning the older, but also pointing out to all such as need it a
perfect and easy means of cure and restoration to health and vigor.
Our mission is as real, noble and important as that of preaching the
Gospel, and aside from its bearing on the enlightenment of those who
would otherwise go astray, and offering the means of relief to those who
have already sinned against Nature, it is of a broader and even more
sweeping importance. As every whole must needs be the sum total of its
integrals, so +each nation+ and +people must+--in mental, moral and
physical traits--+be that which its individual members make it+.
Hence, if perfect general health, full procreative ability and healthy
offspring mark the majority of the individuals, so naturally must the
health, vigor, populousness and power of the nation be accordingly.
+As secret vice diminishes, public virtue and morality become greater.+
Diseases of the Prostate Gland, Urinary Organs and Sexual Apparatus are
as +real, as embarassing+ and +as needful of cure+ as those of the
lungs, heart, stomach, or any other organ--indeed, more important, for
the latter only affect the life or health of the individual immediately
concerned, while the former concern not only the person affected, but
his offspring also.
There is no reason why false modesty or pseudo-delicacy should reign
supreme here. If the Almighty had intended these matters to be viewed
and treated in the light which some fanatics and extremists seem to
desire, we would certainly have been created without the power of
procreation entirely. As it is, such organs and such diseases +do
exist+, are of the greatest (individual and national) importance, and
provided a +full knowledge of the causes and consequences of vice and
abuse as related to these parts can be brought vividly and strongly
before the mind of every man, young or old, in a chaste, decent and
strictly professional manner+, the result can only be a good one, and
those who deny it are engaged in moral hair-splitting.
We felt that the foregoing remarks were both +apropos+ and necessary
with a view to contradicting some statements recently made regarding
the uselessness and demoralizing effects of everything concerning this
branch of medical practice, and as due ourselves in distinctly recording
our belief and practice in the matter; more especially to refute the
false accusation that special medical treatises were being scattered
broadcast over the land and made to invade the privacy of homes, and
coming into the hands of young boys and females.