E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Jeannie Howse, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 24708-h.htm or 24708-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/0/24708/24708-h/24708-h.htm)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/0/24708/24708-h.zip)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has |
| been preserved. |
| |
| Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For |
| a complete list, please see the end of this document. |
| |
| Text enclosed by equal signs was in bold face in the |
| original (example: =bold=). |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
THE BIOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION
* * * * *
Letters from Prominent Educators.
"I consider the treatment of the subject the most sane and
practical that I know of, and therefore feel that I can
conscientiously recommend the book most heartily. There is no
subject so much hampered by ignorance, misconception and
prejudice as that with which the book deals. I am sure the
treatment of the matter will result in a more wholesome and
healthful conception of the entire subject."--=Dr. Henry F.
Kallenberg, The Institute and Training School of Young Men's
Christian Associations.=
"Chapter four naturally brings everything to a practical focus
and seems to me admirable. Chapter five, too, impressed me as
very useful. The topical questions and their answers in the
appendix was a very happy thought and adds materially to the
value of the book."--=Dr. G. Stanley Hall, President Clark
University.=
"I have gone through the book carefully and I am greatly pleased
with it. I think it is admirably adapted to the needs and
temperament of college men, and possibly all men. The topics
discussed are of prime importance and interest for young men,
the method of presentation is in all respects commendable, and
the style is practical and concrete. The book ought to find its
way into the hands of a great many young men. It should be in
the hands of fathers and even mothers who have sons in the
adolescent period."--=Prof. M.V. O'Shea, University of
Wisconsin.=
"I have no hesitancy in saying that it is by far the best
presentation of this very important subject that I have ever
seen. It answers many important questions for which I have seen
no answer elsewhere."--=Prof. William R. Manning, Purdue
University.=
"I have heard the lecture and read the book and do not hesitate
to recommend it. It is all that a young man needs to read to
inform him of his duties and his perils in this matter. The
ethical ideals are high and the advice sensible and wise."--=Dr.
Charles R. Henderson, Department of Sociology, University of
Chicago.=
"Some day Sexual Hygiene will have a place in the curriculum of
every college. It is a subject that every college man does
consider in one way or another, but often ignorantly, or under
unwise guidance. Dr. Hall's book is so simple and sane as well
as scientific, that I wish it might be in the hands of every
college man in the country."--=Dr. George A. Coe, Northwestern
University.=
"I consider it admirable in both conception and execution. So
far as I know, it is unique in its presentation of these
matters, especially on the hygienic side and shall be pleased to
recommend it at every opportunity."--=Dr. William T. Belfield,
Bush Medical College, University of Chicago.=
"The book seems to me calculated to be very useful, and should
be in the hands of a large number of college
undergraduates."--=Dr. Isaac Sharpless, President Haverford
College.=
"I have read the book and had other priests read it and all
concur in my opinion that it is destined to become a powerful
auxiliary to our young men in their struggle for a purer life.
The language is not vague, but to the point, and every young man
will understand it."--=Rev. A.M. Kirsch, University of Notre
Dame.=
"I have the strongest praise for the book as a whole--the
biological foundation, directness, freedom from cant and prudery
and the practical way in which the author gets to the level of
his readers."--=Dr. C. Judson Herrick, Denison University,
Ohio.=
"I have read Dr. Hall's book with the keenest curiosity and
interest. Why could not such a book have been in the hands of
the youth of the past generations? We should have been all the
better for it. The work seems to me to be simply and plainly
stated. With such apparent thoroughness and good sense, good
taste, I am sure the book will commend itself to every
thoughtful reader."-=-Dr. Chas. M. Stuart, Garrett Biblical
Institute, Evanston, Illinois.=
[Illustration: (signed) Yours sincerely
Winfield S. Hall]
* * * * *
THE BIOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION
Also Sexual Hygiene with Special Reference to the Male.
by
WINFIELD S. HALL, Ph.D. (Leipzig), M.D., (Leipzig),
Professor of Physiology, Northwestern University Medical
School, Chicago; Member of the American Physiological
Society; Chairman of the Section of Pathology and Physiology,
American Medical Association 1904-5; Fellow of
The American Academy of Medicine, President
1905-6; Fellow of American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Etc., Etc.
Twelfth Edition
1911
Wynnewood Publishing Co.
2421 Dearborn St.,
Chicago.
Copyright
1907
by Winfield S. Hall
To the YOUNG MAN, who is
devoting years of his life to
secure the HIGHEST DEGREE OF
DEVELOPMENT of those powers
of BODY and MIND that are to
be HIS INSTRUMENTS in solving
LIFE'S PROBLEMS, this little
volume is DEDICATED in the
spirit of FRATERNITY.
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION.
The cordial reception given to this little book by the medical
profession, by educators, and especially by the young men of the
country, have by their demands for the book necessitated the
appearance of new editions in such rapid succession that no
far-reaching changes in the text have been possible even if they had
been needed. Happily, no extensive changes have been required.
In the second edition several corrections, typographical and verbal,
were made and additions made to the appendix. To the third edition the
chapter on Development was added. The fourth and fifth editions
received verbal changes here and added paragraphs there.
The sixth edition differs from the fifth in the addition of the
author's portrait as a frontispiece, the addition of an answered
question to the appendix and the listing of certain lecture topics,
with press notices and letters.
The book seems to be meeting a demand for accurate information briefly
and clearly stated.
THE AUTHOR.
Chicago, November 1, 1908.
FOREWORD.
Several years ago the author was asked by his students to present to
them some of the facts of Sexual Physiology and Hygiene. The plea of
"not a specialist in that line" was not accepted; so after a few weeks
devoted to a careful study of the literature the subject was
presented. It seemed to be acceptable, and other invitations followed
in successive years not only from the author's own institution but
from many others.
In the last few years the subject has been presented at all of the
leading institutions of learning in the middle west--at some of them
several times and always to large audiences.
In response to repeated requests for "a book" the author has finally
prepared this brief volume in which he has endeavored to present a
difficult subject in the true university spirit, frankly calling
things by their right names, always keeping in close accord with the
latest researches.
It is hoped that the chapter on Hygiene will in itself be a
justification for the book.
WINFIELD S. HALL,
December, 1906. Chicago.
CONTENTS.
Chapter I.
REPRODUCTION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BIOLOGY.
1. General Activities of Living Organisms 11
A. The Egoistic Activities 12
B. The Phyletic Activities 13
a. Reproduction 13
b. Support and Protection of Offspring 13
c. Support and Protection of Weaker Members of Society 15
2. Some General Principles of Biology 15
A. Sacrifice and Compensation in Egoistic Activities 15
B. Sacrifice and Compensation in the Phyletic Activities 16
a. Lower Organisms 16
b. Higher Organisms 19
C. Summary of Principles 24
a. The propagation of offspring and the protection
and support of the young and defenseless,
always involve sacrifice on the
part of the parents and the stronger members
of the race 24
b. Sacrifice made consciously for the race is,
in the natural order of things, compensated 24
Chapter II.
ADOLESCENCE IN THE MALE.
1. Physical Changes 28
A. General Changes in the Body 28
a. Pilosity 28
b. The Voice 29
c. Bone, Muscle and Gland 30
B. The Genital System 32
a. Structural Changes 32
b. Functional Changes 32
2. Psychical Changes 33
A. Play and Work 33
a. Sports 33
b. Productive Employment 34
B. Society 35
C. Religion 36
Chapter III.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE MALE GENITAL ORGANS.
1. Anatomy 39
a. The Penis 39
b. The Testes 41
c. The Spermatozoon 44
d. The Epididymis 44
e. The Seminal Vesicles 45
f. The Prostate Gland 45
2. Physiology 46
a. Urethra 46
b. Cowper's Glands 46
c. The Prostate Gland 48
d. The Seminal Vesicles 48
e. Testes 55
3. Virility 60
Chapter IV.
SEXUAL HYGIENE OF THE ADOLESCENT MALE.
1. Illicit Intercourse with Women 74
a. Chancroid or Soft Chancre 78
b. Gonorrhea 79
c. Syphilis 80
2. Masturbation 84
3. Continence 90
Chapter V.
HYGIENE.
1. Diet 95
a. Choice of Food 95
b. Stimulants and Narcotics 97
c. The Dietetic Control of the Bowels 104
d. The Dietetic Control of Sleep 110
e. The Dietetic Control of the Kidneys and Skin 111
f. The Dietetic Method of Curing a Cold 111
2. Baths 112
a. The Bath for Cleanliness 112
b. The Tonic Bath 114
3. Exercise 115
4. The Hygienic Requirements of Sleep 118
5. The Control of the Thoughts 120
Chapter VI.
DEVELOPMENT.
1. The Child 125
2. Maternity 128
3. Paternity 130
APPENDIX.
Answers to questions 135-149
CHAPTER I.
REPRODUCTION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BIOLOGY.
REPRODUCTION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BIOLOGY.
I. GENERAL ACTIVITIES OF LIVING ORGANISMS.
The casual observer, even if he watches thoughtfully the various
activities of plants and animals, would hardly believe these
activities capable of classification into two general classes. He
notes the germination of the plant seed and its early growth, step by
step approaching a stage of maturity; it blossoms, produces seed, and
if it is an annual plant, withers and dies. If it is a perennial plant
its leaves only, wither and die at the approach of winter, the plant
passing into a resting stage from which it awakes the following spring
to repeat again its annual cycle.
If he observes an animal he finds that it similarly develops to a
stage of maturity, reproduces its kind, withers and dies; but incident
to these general activities he notes numerous others that seem to have
no relation to the activity of the plant. He sees men tilling the
fields, felling the forests, building houses, factories and railroads;
he sees them build hospitals, colleges and churches. Is it possible to
group all of these activities of plants and animals into two general
groups? A more critical view of these activities makes it evident that
they are all directed either to the maintenance and protection of the
individual, or the maintenance and protection of the race. Those
directed towards the maintenance of self are called egoistic
activities, while those directed to the maintenance of the race are
called _phyletic activities_.
The Egoistic Activities.
The term egoistic implies that the effort is directed towards the ego
or self, and includes all of those activities directed to the support,
protection, defense and development of oneself. As illustrated in the
plant organism, the taking of nourishment from the air and soil, the
development of the stem, branches, roots and leaves, are egoistic
activities. In the animal--we may take, for example, man--the egoistic
activities begin with the drawing of nourishment from the mother's
breast and include all those activities of early childhood usually
called play, the real significance of which is to develop the
neuro-muscular system and the special senses, to that condition of
alertness and strength that will make the growing individual
self-supporting. A very large part of the activities of the
self-supporting human subject are directed towards the earning of his
daily bread, and of clothing and shelter. The activities of the school
and college period, devoted, as they are, almost exclusively to the
development of the youth's powers, intellectual or physical, are also
egoistic. Even the pursuit of pleasure and of sense gratification on
the part of the individual belongs to this same group of activities.
The Phyletic Activities.
As the etymology of the term suggests, these activities are devoted to
the propagation, maintenance and protection of the race.
a. =Reproduction.=--The most fundamental one of the activities for the
maintenance of the race is reproduction. Every living organism,
whether plant or animal, possesses the power to reproduce its kind.
Some plants produce spores and some produce seeds. Reference was made
above to the production of the flower in plants. The flower represents
the reproductive organ of the plant, and the real object of the flower
is to produce the seed. Animals produce eggs from which the young
develop, either through a process of incubation outside of a maternal
body or an analogous process within the maternal body. In the latter
case the young are brought forth as living organisms.
b. =Support and Protection of Offspring.=--Whether we consider the
plant seed, or the animal egg or newborn--in any case the parental
organism must provide for the support and protection of the offspring
during those stages of development when it is unable to support and
protect itself.
The plant deposits in or about the seed a supply of nourishment
sufficient to support it during the germinating process and until it
is able to gain its own support from the soil and air. Furthermore,
the plant protects the seed by means of the various seed envelopes,
against the cold and moisture of winter.
In a similar way the young animal is supplied by its parents with
nourishment. The young bird is incubated within the egg where a supply
of nourishment is provided sufficient to develop the bones, muscles,
nervous system, blood, glands and covering--all developed to a point
that makes the bird able to take from the mother during the early
weeks after its release from the shell, such nourishment as the mother
may provide. In the meantime it must be brooded and protected in the
parental nest until it is able to provide for its own protection.
Similarly the young mammal is developed within the body of the
maternal organism to a point where it is able to perform the primitive
functions of life. For weeks, months or even years, according to the
class of the animal, it must be supported and protected by its
parents. The human young receives milk from its mother's breast and
protection in its mother's arms during its first year, after which it
continues to receive nourishment, clothing and protection under the
parental roof for a period varying from eighteen to twenty years, or
even longer.
c. =Support and Protection of Weaker Members of Society.=--Young
animals are supported and protected because they are unable to support
and protect themselves. If they were not thus cared for the race would
become extinct. Now, there are certain individuals, orphans for
example, who have, through some accident, been deprived of their
natural support and protection. If these weaker members of society,
not yet able to support and protect themselves, were not provided for,
they would perish and become thus lost to the race. From the time of
primeval man to the present, these weaker individuals of society who
have been deprived of their natural protectors, have been cared for by
the stronger members of society and afforded such support and
protection as they may need to make them independent. In a similar way
the sick and defective members of society are cared for by the strong.
Thus we see that the building and maintenance of orphanages,
hospitals, asylums and "homes," are activities that belong clearly to
the group of phyletic or altruistic activities.
2. SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY.
Sacrifice and Compensation in Egoistic Activities.
The thoughtful student is very likely to ask--Why does man till the
fields? Why does man fell the forest trees? Why does he cultivate
domestic animals? Why does he delve in the earth for minerals? These
are all strenuous activities that require the outlay of time, talent
and strength. We may say that they are sacrifices that he makes and,
apparently, willingly. We have only to study the problem more closely
to see that he tills the fields and cultivates his domestic animals
for food; that he fells the forest trees to make for himself shelter;
that he cultivates certain plants and animals to procure for himself
clothing; that he delves in the earth to bring out mineral products to
use in the various industries that supply various elements of his
livelihood. It becomes manifest then that the egoistic activities of
an organism represent sacrifice followed by compensation. The
individual sacrifices in order that he may reap his reward or receive
his compensation. It may be stated as a general biological truth that,
_nature demands sacrifice or work on the part of all living organisms;
and, under normal conditions, metes out a compensation commensurate
with the sacrifice made_.
Sacrifice and Compensation in the Phyletic Activities.
a. =Lower Organisms.=--As an example of a lower organism we may take
the _amoeba_. If one watches an amoeba under the microscope he may see
it move about the field, creeping along the surface of the glass
plate; throwing out a pseudopodium here; invaginating a mouth or
stomach there; taking in and digesting minute plant organisms;
transporting itself across the field of the microscope through the aid
of improvised locomotory organs. All these activities are egoistic.
The amoeba is putting forth effort to gain its sustenance; it is
sacrificing energy to receive compensation in the form of support. If
we continue to watch this minute organism we will find that sooner or
later it goes into a resting stage which does not last long before we
can observe important internal changes making themselves manifest
first at the nucleus, which slowly divides into two equal portions
that separate, each carrying with it about half of the protoplasm of
the parent organism. As these two young amoebae lie side by side under
the microscope the thoughtful student will inquire--what has become of
the parent organism? Whereas at first there was one mature amoeba, now
we have before us two young amoebae of the next succeeding generation.
The parent organism has sacrificed its substance and its individuality
absolutely and completely for the next generation.
[Illustration: Plate I Reproduction in the Amoeba.]
It may be said in general that _reproduction always involves a
division of the parent organism_. In the case of the amoeba the
division is into two equal portions. In the case of some of the lower
plants and animals the substance of the parent organism is divided
into many equal minute spores or eggs, each of which develops a new
organism.
b. =Higher Organisms.=--These also suffer a division of their body
protoplasm. However, instead of dividing into two or more equal parts
and merging their individuality immediately into the next generation,
the higher organisms divide off a very small portion of their
protoplasm to make an egg or seed while the parent organism lives on
to produce eggs or seeds on subsequent occasions.
While the parental sacrifice in eggs or spermatozoa is minute and
inconsiderable in the higher animals, the sacrifices subsequent to
this initial division are incalculably greater in higher animals than
in the lower organisms. We can cite no better example than the human
subject. The human ovum, divided off from the maternal organism, is a
minute globule of protoplasm, almost microscopic in size. The
sacrifice of the mother in producing the ovum is inconsiderable, but
the production of the ovum is simply the first step in the sacrifice
which the maternal organism makes.
The fertilized ovum makes a lodgment on the inner surface of the
uterus or womb and begins immediately to absorb its nourishment from
the maternal organism. It soon develops a heart and blood vessels so
related to the blood vessels of the mother that throughout its
intra-uterine existence the mother's blood supplies the growing child
all of the substance that is built up into bone, muscle, brain and
glands, preparing the young child to come into the world a living,
breathing, sentient organism. These draughts upon the vitality of the
maternal organism are so great that they frequently result in a very
sensible depletion of the mother's physical power, particularly
manifest in the depletion of the blood.
During the period when the young child is developing within the body
of the mother, she must make other sacrifices, viz., the withdrawal
from society more closely within the four walls of her home where she
busies herself many days in preparation of the wardrobe for the
expected child. Then there are sacrifices incident to childbirth
represented especially in the pain and travail of parturition. During
the first year of the child's life in normal cases, it draws its
nourishment from its mother's breast. This nourishment in turn is
elaborated by the milk-secreting glands from the mother's blood--still
further depleting her system. During its childhood and youth the
mother prepares the food, clothing and shelter of her child at no
small expense of her own time and strength. For years the mother holds
herself ready to watch by the bedside of her child should he fall
sick, and there is hardly a mother in the land who has not spent many
nights in this vigil by the bed of her sick child.
We might turn now briefly to the consideration of the sacrifices that
the father makes.
As is the case with mother so with the father, the initial sacrifice
in the division of a portion of his body is too small to be
considered, but in his case as in the case of the mother, the
sacrifice for the coming progeny is only initiated with the act of
procreation and continues through a period of fifteen, twenty or even
thirty years--sometimes progressively increasing to the last. These
sacrifices take the form, for the most part, of support and
protection, and begin soon after conception on the part of the
mother--as the pregnant woman usually requires much greater solicitude
and care on the part of the husband than she does on other occasions.
The normal father, like the normal mother, holds himself in readiness
to watch by the bedside of the sick child should the occasion arise,
and to make other sacrifices incident to the protection and support of
the child.
It is shown above that sacrifices incident to the egoistic activities
receive their compensation. The question next demanding our attention
is--do the sacrifices which are made incident to our phyletic
activities receive a compensation? The most striking solution of this
question would be a personal solution. Let any young man ask his
parents if they have been compensated for all the sacrifices they
have made for him. If this son is such a one as brings pride and
satisfaction to the parents it is very evident what their unhesitating
answer would be, viz., that they have been compensated many times over
for all the sacrifices they have made. In what does such compensation
consist? It can be expressed most briefly: LOVE OF OFFSPRING. This
principle of _love of offspring_ seems to be a more or less general
one in the whole realm of conscious living nature. That a tree could
possess this no one would suggest; that a sea urchin could possess it
no one would be likely to contend. It is probably possessed by all of
those animals that are conscious of sacrifices; that is, if an animal
is conscious of sacrifice he is capable of being conscious of this
compensation which we term, _love of offspring_. For organisms too low
in the scale of life to be conscious of either sacrifice or love of
offspring, nature seems to have arranged another scale of sacrifices
and compensations--sacrifice taking the form of contention for
possession of females and sacrifice in their support and protection,
the recompense being the gratification incident to sexual intercourse.
That this last factor may enter, to a certain extent, as a determining
factor among the higher animals cannot be questioned. The higher we
get in the scale of animal life the less the part played by _sexual
gratification_ and the greater the part played by _love of offspring_.
In some of the higher animals, especially those in which the family
circle is maintained or the community life highly developed, there is
frequently at work still another consideration that may play no small
part in ameliorating or compensating the sacrifice incident to
reproduction. Reference is here made to the expectation on the part of
the parents that support and protection will be provided for them in
their old age when they are unable to support or protect themselves.
That this plays any great part in determining the procreation in the
first place is not probable; but that it later becomes a matter of
consideration is not to be doubted. However, in so far as these
considerations of personal welfare enter into the compensation of the
parents for the sacrifices that they have made for their offspring, in
just so far do we remove these considerations from the realm of the
phyletic and place them within the realm of the egoistic.
Reverting again to a discussion of the lower organisms--we have yet to
consider the character and extent of the compensation which these
organisms, which are unconscious of sacrifice, receive. The conscious
sacrifice of higher animals receives a conscious compensation;
similarly the unconscious sacrifice of lower organisms receives an
unconscious compensation.
It will be remembered that the amoeba did not die, but that it was
_rejuvenated in its offspring_. In the next and every succeeding
generation there is no death, but a rejuvenation. It thus transpires
that these lowly organisms enjoy immortality; or perhaps it may be
better stated, that the protoplasm of these organisms enjoys
immortality and this immortality is the compensation for the sacrifice
which each successive individual makes unconsciously in the division
of its protoplasm. This principle of biology was first discovered and
formulated by the great German Biologist, Weissmann.
Summary of Principles.
a. The propagation of offspring and the protection and support of the
young and defenseless always involve sacrifice on the part of the
parents and the stronger members of the race.
b. Sacrifice made consciously for the race is, in the natural order of
things, compensated.