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[Illustration: _By courtesy of The New York Times_
NEW YORK'S BETTER BABY
Little Hiss Johanna Wiggers, who won the first prize in New York's
Better Babies Contest by scoring 100 points, is the type of little girl
that will make the best mothers, and the better race tomorrow. Her score
card showed; age, 28 months; weight, 33 lbs. 14 ozs.; height, 35-1/2
inches; circumference of head, 19-1/2 inches: circumference of chest, 20
inches; lateral diameter of chest, 6 inches; diameter of chest from
front to back, 4-1/2 inches; length of arm to tip of middle finger,
14-1/2 inches; length of leg to the sole of the foot, 16-1/2 inches;
total, 100 points.]
The Eugenic Marriage
A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies
By W. GRANT HAGUE, M. D.
_College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University), New York;
Member of County Medical Society, and of the American Medical
Association_
In Four Volumes
VOLUME II
New York
THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS COMPANY
1914
Copyright, 1913, by
W. GRANT HAGUE
Copyright, 1914, by
W. GRANT HAGUE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SEX HYGIENE FOR THE BOY
CHAPTER XII
BUILDING OUR BOYS
PAGE
A word to parents--Interest in sex hygiene--The "Social Evil"--Ten
millions suffering with venereal diseases in the United
States--Immorality not confined to large cities--Venereal diseases
common in country places--What are the consequences of venereal disease
to the boy?--Gonorrhea, or clap--Symptoms of gonorrhea in the
male--Complications of gonorrhea--Syphilis, or the "pox"--How syphilis
is acquired--Syphilis attacks every organ in the body--Not possible to
tell when cured--The chancre--Systematic, or constitutional
symptoms--Mucous patches and ulcers--Syphilis of the blood vessels and
lymphatic glands--The interior organs--Brain and spinal cord--The nose,
eye, ear, throat--Hair and nails--What the boy with venereal disease may
cause in others--The infected wife--A girl's fate when she
marries--Young wife rendered sterile--Young wife made to miscarry--Is
the husband to blame--Building the man--Age of puberty--"Internal
Secretion" ... PAGE 139
CHAPTER XIII
THE PARENTS AND THE BOY
Abuse of the procreative function--The continent life--Provide the
environment necessary to the clean life--The period of procreative
power--Self-abuse--Masturbation--Treatment of masturbation--Night losses
or wet dreams--Causes of night emissions--Sexual excesses--Treatment of
sexual excesses--What parents should know about the so-called "social
evil" before speaking with authority to the boy--The need of
enlightenment in sexual matters--"No one told me, I did not know"--Fake
medical treatment of venereal diseases--Sowing wild oats--Should
circumcision be advised ... PAGE 153
SEX HYGIENE FOR THE GIRL
CHAPTER XIV
A MOTHER'S DUTY TO HER DAUGHTER
What a mother should tell her little girl--Where do babies come
from--How baby birds and fish come from eggs--How other animals have
little nests of their own--The duty of mothers to instruct and
direct--What a mother should tell her daughter--Every mother should
regard this duty as sacred--Every female child is a possible future
mother--Motherhood the highest function of the sex--Health the one
necessary essential--Symptoms of the first, or beginning
menstruation--The period of puberty in the female--Changes in the
reproductive organs at puberty--The female generative organs--The
function of the reproductive organs--The age of puberty in the
female--The function of the ovary--The function of the womb--Why
menstruation occurs every twenty-eight days--The male or papa egg--The
function of the spermatozoa--"Tell the whole story"--"How do these
spermatozoa get there"--The union of the species--"How can a baby live
in there for such a long time"--How the baby gets its nourishment in the
womb--Girls must not become mothers ... PAGE 173
CHAPTER XV
PREPARING FOR MOTHERHOOD
Menstruation--Irregular menstruation--Changes in the quantity
of the flow--How the womb is held in place--Symptoms of
menstruation--Menstruation should not be accompanied with pain--Don't
give your daughters patent medicines, or "Female Regulators"--Take your
daughter to the doctor--Leucorrhea in girls--Bathing when
menstruating--Constipation and displaced wombs--Dress and
menstruation--Absence of menstruation, or amenorrhea--Treatment of
amenorrhea--Painful menstruation, or dysmenorrhea--Causes of
dysmenorrhea--Treatment of dysmenorrhea--Sterility in the
female--Conditions which affect the fertility of women--Climate, station
in life, season of the year, age, the tendency to miscarry--Causes of
sterility in the female--Displacement of womb--Diseases of womb,
ovaries, or tubes--Malformations--Lacerations--Tumors--Leucorrhea--Physical
debility--Obesity--Special poisons--"Knack of miscarrying"--Miscarriage--Cause
of miscarriage--The course and symptoms of miscarriage--What to do
when a miscarriage is threatened--Treatment of threatened
miscarriage--Treatment of inevitable miscarriage--After
treatment of miscarriage--The tendency to miscarriage ... PAGE 187
THE BABY
CHAPTER XVI
HYGIENE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BABY
What to prepare for the coming baby--Care of the newly-born baby--The
first bath--Dressing the cord--Treatment after the cord falls off--A
pouting navel--Bathing baby--Clothing the baby--Baby's night
clothes--Care of the eyes--Care of the mouth and first teeth--Care of
the skin--Care of the genital organs--Amusing baby--Temperature
in children--The teeth--The permanent teeth--Care of the
teeth--Dentition--Treatment of teething--How to weigh the baby--Average
weight of a male baby--Average weight of a female baby--Average height
of a male child--The rate of growth of a child--Pulse rate in
children--Infant records, why they should be kept--"Growing
pains" ... PAGE 209
CHAPTER XVII
BABY'S FEEDING HABITS
Overfeeding baby--Intervals of feeding--How long should a baby stay at
the breast--Vomiting between feedings--Regularity of feeding--Why is
regularity of feeding important--A baby never vomits--What is the
significance of so-called vomiting after feedings--Mother's milk that is
unfit for baby--Fresh air for baby--Air baths for baby ... PAGE 223
CHAPTER XVIII
BABY'S GOOD AND BAD HABITS--FOOD FORMULAS
Baby's bed--The proper way to lay baby in bed--Baby should sleep by
itself--How long should a baby sleep--Why a baby cries--The habitual
crier--The habit of feeding baby every time it cries--The habit of
walking the floor with baby every time it cries--Jouncing, or hobbling
baby--Baby needs water to drink--The evil habit of kissing
baby--Establishing toilet habits--Baby's comforter--What can be done to
lessen the evil effects of the comforter habit--Beef juice--Beef juice
by the cold process--Mutton broth--Mutton broth with cornstarch or
arrowroot--Chicken, veal, and beef broths--Scraped beef or meat
pulp--Junket or curds and whey--Whey--Barley water--Barley water gruel
or barley jelly--Rice, wheat or oat water--Imperial Granum--Albumen
water--Dried bread--Coddled egg ... PAGE 235
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING
CHAPTER XIX
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING
Elementary principles of milk modification--The secret of the efficiency
of mothers' milk--Two important factors in successful artificial
feeding--Every child is a problem in itself--Proprietary foods of little
value as infant foods--Their value is in the milk added to them--The
credit belongs to the cow--Difference between human and cow's milk--What
"top-milk" feeding means--Utensils necessary for home modification of
milk--Artificial feeding from birth to the twelfth month--How to
measure "top-milk"--Easy bottle-feeding method--Condensed milk
feeding--Objections to condensed milk feeding ... PAGE 249
CHAPTER XX
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING (_continued_)
How to prepare milk mixtures--Sterilizing the food for the day's
feeding--How to test the temperature of the food for baby--When to
increase the quality or quantity of food--Food allowable during the
first year in addition to milk--Beef-juice--White of egg--Orange
juice--Peptonized milk--The hot or immediate process--The cold
process--Partially peptonized milk--Completely peptonized milk--Uses of
peptonized milk--Objections to peptonized milk--What a mother should
know about baby's feeding bottle and nipple--Should a mother put her
baby on artificial food if her supply of milk during the first two weeks
is not quite enough to satisfy it--Certain conditions justify the
adoption of artificial feeding from the beginning--Mothers' mistakes in
the preparation of artificial food--Feeding during the second
year--Sample meals for a child three years of age--The diet of older
children--Meats, vegetables, cereals, bread, desserts, fruits ... PAGE 259
WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD KNOW
CHAPTER XXI
THE EDUCATION OF THE MOTHER
What mothers should know about the care of children during illness--A
sick child should be in bed--The diet of the sick child--A child is the
most helpless living thing--The delicate child--How to feed the delicate
child--How to bathe the delicate child--Airing the delicate
child--Habits of the delicate child--Indiscriminate feeding--Poor
appetite--Loss of appetite--Treatment of loss of appetite--Overeating in
infancy--What correct eating means--Bran as a food--Breakfast for a
child at school--Lunch for a child at school--Bran muffins for school
children--Bran muffins in constipation--Hysterical children--What a
mother should know about cathartics and how to give a dose of castor
oil--Castor oil--Calomel--Citrate of Magnesium--When to use castor
oil--When to use calomel--Vaccination--Time for vaccination--Methods of
vaccination--Symptoms of successful vaccination ... PAGE 277
CHAPTER XXII
CONSTIPATION IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN
Constipation--Regularity of bowel function--The function of the
stomach--Fermentation--Incomplete constipation--Importance of a clean
bowel--A daily movement of the bowel necessary--Constipation in
breast-fed infants--Treatment of constipation in breast-fed
infants--Constipation in bottle-fed infants--Treatment of constipation
in bottle-fed infants--Constipation in children over two years of
age--Diet list for constipation in children--Bran muffins in
constipation--Treatment of obstinate constipation--Oil injections in
constipation ... PAGE 303
CHAPTER XXIII
CONSTIPATION IN WOMEN
Chief cause of constipation in women--Constipation a cause of domestic
unhappiness--The requirements of good health--The cost of
constipation--Constipation and social exigencies--One of the important
duties of mothers--Constipation and diseases of women--Constipation is
always harmful--Constipation and pregnancy--Explanation of incomplete
constipation--Causes of constipation--Negligence--Lack of exercise--Lack
of water--Lack of bulk in the food taken--Abuse of cathartic drugs and
aperient waters--Overeating--Treatment of constipation in
women ... PAGE 315
SEX HYGIENE FOR THE BOY
CHAPTER XII
"The evil that men do lives after them. The good is often
interred with them."
"The pleasure in living is to meet temptation and not yield to
it." Elmer Lee, M. D.
BUILDING OUR BOYS
A Word to Parents--Interest in Sex Hygiene--The "Social
Evil"--Ten Millions Suffering with Venereal Diseases in the
United States--Immorality not Confined to Large
Cities--Venereal Diseases Common in Country Places--What Are
the Consequences of Venereal Disease to the Boy?--Gonorrhea, or
Clap--Symptoms of Gonorrhea in the Male--Complications of
Gonorrhea--Syphilis, or the "Pox"--How Syphilis is
Acquired--Syphilis Attacks Every Organ in the Body--Not
Possible to Tell When Cured--The Chancre--Systematic or
Constitutional Symptoms--Mucous Patches and Ulcers--Syphilis of
the Blood Vessels and Lymphatic Glands--The Interior
Organs--Brain and Spinal Cord--The Nose, Eye, Ear, Throat--Hair
and Nails--What the Boy with Venereal Disease May Cause in
Others--The Infected Wife--A Girl's Fate When She
Marries--Young Wife Rendered Sterile--Young Wife Made to
Miscarry--Is the Husband to Blame?--Building the Man--Age of
Puberty--"Internal Secretion."
A WORD TO PARENTS.--Within recent times the subject of sex hygiene has
been freely discussed by members of the medical profession and through
them the general public has been made more or less acquainted with the
problem. It has therefore acquired a degree of genuine interest which
speaks well for the future of the eugenic ideal. Eugenics is based to a
very large extent upon the principles underlying sex hygiene.
As a result of this widespread interest and investigation, we have
discovered that the only method that promises actual progress, is to
talk plainly and to tell the actual truth. The day of the prude has
passed. To attempt to achieve results in the education of youth in sex
problems, without giving, facts, is wasted effort. To give facts we must
explain each problem so that its principles may be clearly understood
and its meaning grasped. To point out the duty of youth is not
sufficient. They must be shown why it is to their best interest to live
the clean life. In every department of education we are beginning to
appreciate that to achieve results it must be based upon the individual
equation. This is why we have found it necessary to assert that it is
the duty of parents to make sex hygiene a personal matter and to
acquaint their children with the facts relating to this problem. It has
been discovered, however, that a very large percentage of parents are
inadequately informed on these subjects, in fact they know practically
nothing about the actual facts which they are supposed to teach. I shall
try to tell the story in a way which every parent will understand.
When a boy reaches the age of puberty he is susceptible to sexual
desire. If he has not been told the story of his growth from boyhood to
man's estate he will either begin to abuse himself, or he will be later
enticed to commit himself to intercourse with some unclean female and he
will acquire a disease as a result.
Inasmuch as it has been asserted that practically every boy has been
addicted to self-abuse at some time, and that eighty per cent. of all
males, between the ages of sixteen and thirty years, are victims of
venereal disease, it would seem justifiable to assume that the boys who
are informed of the facts in time are the boys who constitute the
percentage who escape. This, of course, may not be literally true, but
it is a reasonable assumption.
While self-abuse is a pernicious habit and may be attended with serious
consequences, it is not a disease and, as will be explained later, it
can be cured. It is therefore a menace to the individual, not to the
race, and consequently need not concern us at the present time. On the
other hand the venereal diseases are not to be considered as individual
problems since they affect the welfare of the race. The venereal
diseases which we will consider are gonorrhea and syphilis.
THE SOCIAL EVIL.--It has been estimated that there are more than _ten
millions_ of people in this country to-day suffering from the effects of
venereal diseases. In New York city alone, there are _two million_
victims suffering from the direct or indirect consequences of these
diseases. It has been authoritatively asserted that, out of every ten
men between the ages of sixteen and thirty, eight have, or have had, one
or other of these diseases. When it is remembered that these diseases
are not merely temporary incidents, but that they may be regarded as
practically incurable in the vast majority, because of antagonistic
social conditions and ignorance, and that they are highly infectious, we
may begin to realize how important they are from the standpoint of race
regeneration.
Statistics of these conditions are never reliable because much of the
evil is hidden and lied about. It is quite probable,--if the estimates
were based upon absolute knowledge--that the extent of the prevalency of
these diseases would be greatly increased rather than reduced. It is
however a fact, that the combined ravages of the Great White Plague,
leprosy, yellow fever, and small-pox, are merely incidents compared to
the effects which the venereal diseases have had upon mankind. It is
useless to think that these diseases can be driven out of the land. Any
hope of this nature is the impression of the dreamer. By a propaganda of
education, by the spread of the eugenic idea and ideal, we may, however,
reasonably hope to minimize the evil and, at least, to protect the
innocent.
THE SOURCES OF IMMORALITY.--It is a fallacious idea to assume that the
sources of immorality are confined to the large cities. This is far from
the truth. In smaller towns and country places the diseases are quite
common and conditions there tend to the spread of the contagion in a
more intimate and a more harmful way. The individuals who are most
likely to become affected are those most liable to succumb to temptation
and whose home ties are of the best. There are many instances on record
where one or two loose women spread the infection all over the country
communities, infecting boys and men alike. No one can estimate what the
final effect of such an epidemic may mean or how many innocent
individuals may have their lives wrecked as a direct consequence. It is
because these consequences are the product of ignorance in a very large
percentage of the cases that there is such urgent need for
enlightenment. It is at least our plain duty to tell the boy the actual
facts--to post him with reference to consequences. The more thoroughly
we instruct him in the elementary facts relative to the venereal
diseases, the safer he will be from temptation, and if he possesses this
knowledge and acquires disease, he will be more likely to immediately
seek competent aid and advice.
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF VENEREAL DISEASE TO THE BOY HIMSELF?
GONORRHEA OR "CLAP."--This is the most frequent of the venereal
diseases. It is also the most serious. It is an unfortunate fact, that
in the past,--and even to-day--boys have been told that gonorrhea is no
worse than "a bad cold." This lie has been responsible for much evil and
a great amount of unnecessary suffering and misery.
Gonorrhea is caused by a germ, obtained, as a rule, during intercourse
with an infected person. This germ is called gonococcus. It thrives on
any mucous membrane; it is not, therefore, limited to the sexual organs.
For this reason it may attack any part of the body where mucous membrane
is. It is particularly liable to damage, sometimes seriously and
permanently, the eye. It may be spread from one person to another, or
from any infected article to a person in numerous ways. The innocent may
thus suffer as a result of the carelessness of the vicious.
THE SYMPTOMS OF GONORRHEA IN THE MALE are slight itching and burning of
the mouth of the urethra. This is noticeable at any time from the third
to the fourteenth day after exposure. These symptoms become more
pronounced and a slight discharge appears. The patient is compelled to
urinate frequently and it is painful and difficult. The discharge
increases, it becomes thicker and looks like ordinary yellow pus. If the
case is a severe one, the discharge may be blood stained, and if this
symptom is present urination is more painful and more frequent.
In about ten days the disease reaches its height; it remains stationary
for a number of weeks and then slowly, seemingly, gets better. The
discharge grows thinner, less in quantity and lighter in color. It may
refuse, despite the most careful and efficient treatment, to stop
altogether; it is then known as "gleet." If the discharge stops
completely the patient is apparently cured, as far as any external
manifestation of the disease is concerned. _In seventy-five per cent. of
the cases, however, this apparent cure is no cure at all, as will be
seen later._
Certain complications are likely to arise in the course of gonorrhea.
The infection itself may be of such an acute or virulent type, that it
invades the deeper structures of its own accord and despite the most
careful, competent treatment; or if the treatment is not adequate or
skillful it may be forced backward; or through neglect in not beginning
the right kind of treatment in times, a simple infection may grow in
degree into a serious disease, and invade the more important structures.
In this way are produced disease of the bladder, prostate gland, seminal
vesicles, testicles, and of the kidneys. Gonorrheal rheumatism may
follow, and even disease of the lining membrane of the heart, and death.
When disease of the deeper parts occur the patient is frequently
incapacitated and compelled to go to bed. He may have chills, fever and
sweats, intense pain and the passage of bloody urine. He may have to be
operated upon, and his general health may be permanently wrecked. So
long as the germs are present there is danger despite the most
scientific treatment. It is not the quality of the treatment that is at
fault, it is the presence of the germs; and since it is impossible to
pursue any certain method of eradication, we must continue treatment--as
long as the germs are present--and hope for favorable results. The
infection may last for many years. The germs having found entrance into
the small tubes in the interior organs they can only be dislodged with
difficulty, if at all. These pockets of germs may be excited to renewed
activity by sexual intercourse, or by injury to the parts, and may
reinfect the patient at any times. In a very considerable number of
these cases where the deeper structures are involved, the patient may
recover from the acute or painful period of the disease, only to find
that he is sterile. There are many such cases, and the most vindictive
individual who may believe that every who sins should be punished will
admit that sterility, as the price of a moment's forgetfulness, is a
terrible fee to pay.
SYPHILIS, OR THE "POX," is an infectious, germ blood disease. It is most
frequently acquired through sexual intercourse.
It may be acquired by direct contact with a diseased person. In order to
render such contact effective, it is essential that the skin of the
healthy person be abraded, or the contact may be directly on a mucous
membrane, as the mouth in the act of kissing.
It may be acquired by using any article which has been used by a
syphilitic, as a drinking cup, or towel.
It may be acquired through hereditary transmission.
Surgeons frequently contract syphilis while operating on, or examining
patients who have the disease. Dentists may convey it by means of
instruments which have not been rendered aseptic, or thoroughly clean.
Using a towel which has been used by a syphilitic has many times
conveyed the infection to an innocent party. For this reason the roller
towel has been done away with, and some states have legislated against
its use in hotels and other public places. To use dishes, spoons,
tobacco pipe, beer glasses, etc., which have been used by one having the
disease is an absolutely certain way of being infected. Cigars which may
have been made by a syphilitic will infect whoever smokes them with the
virus of the disease. Syphilis has been known to have been caught from
using the church communion cup. The public drinking-cup has been a
prolific source of syphilitic dissemination to innocents. Legislators
are just waking up to the danger that lurks in this institution and it
will no doubt be done away with, not only in public places, but on all
railroad and steamboat lines.
An infected mother can transmit syphilis to her child. If the father is
affected, but not the wife, the child may escape.
Syphilis attacks every organ in the human body. The actual degree of
infection has no relation to the size or character of the external
manifestations. The external evidence may be minute and insignificant,
while the internal extent and ravages of the disease may be tremendous
and of large proportions. Many men when asked regarding incidents of the
long ago, may state, "Oh, yes, I had a chancre twenty-five years ago,
but it was a very small affair and soon healed up and was cured." Yet
that same little chancre, that made only a mild impression on the man's
mind, may, and most probably will, be the direct cause of that man's
death.
It is not possible to tell with absolute certainty that an individual is
suffering with syphilis by any known test. The most recent one--the
Wassermann test--is not absolute by any means.
The first symptoms, or what is known as the initial lesion of syphilis,
is the chancre.
THE CHANCRE is a small, hard tumor, or it may be a small ulcer with a
hard base, or it may simply appear as a thin small patch on any mucous
membrane. It is not painful, it can be moved if taken between the
fingers, showing it is not attached to the deep structures, and when it
is so moved it is not tender or sore. Any little lump which ulcerates
located on the genitals must be regarded with suspicion. Boys and men
should not be satisfied with any offhand statement that, "it is
nothing." It may be a chancre, and it may be exceedingly serious if not
properly diagnosed.
Systemic, or constitutional symptoms, begin to show themselves any time
from the sixth to the tenth week after the appearance of the chancre.
ERUPTIONS OF THE SKIN characterize every case of syphilis. They occur in
all degrees from the mild rash to the foul ulcer. The ulcerative process
is very often extensive and loathsome.
MUCOUS PATCHES AND ULCERS affect the mucous membranes. The mouth and
throat are favorite locations for these lesions. They occur in the anus
and rectum, and may be mistaken in that region for other serious
conditions. Men who drink and smoke suffer as a rule severely from
mucous patches in the mouth and throat.
Syphilis attacks the blood vessels and the lymphatic glands. These cases
may have been unrecognized, and may have existed for many years. A man
may die from a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain during middle life
as a consequence of a forgotten, supposedly cured case of syphilis many
years before.
THE INTERIOR ORGANS may be attacked by syphilis. As a result we get
disease of the liver, heart, stomach, kidneys, lungs, and other parts.
It has been suggested that many diseases affecting these organs, for
which treatment proves unsatisfactory, may have had their origin in a
former syphilis.
THE BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD are quite often the seat of syphilitic
affections. A tumor, known by the name of "gumma," is the result. The
blood vessels of the entire nervous system may be affected and, as a
consequence, we often see cases of paralysis, apoplexy, epilepsy,
locomotor ataxia and death.
THE NOSE, EYE, EAR, THROAT, are frequently very seriously compromised as
a result of the syphilitic poison. Deformity, caused by rotting of the
bones of these parts is not infrequent. Loss of voice, or smell, or
hearing, or sight, may result.
THE HAIR AND NAILS may fall out. The bones may ulcerate and rot. The
organs of procreation usually participate in the degenerative process.
Virility is destroyed, and impotence is quite common after a severe
attack.
WHAT THE BOY WITH VENEREAL DISEASE MAY CAUSE IN OTHERS
GONORRHEA.--When the average boy acquires gonorrhea he frequently does
not know, for many weeks, that he is the victim of a dangerous,
infectious disease. He appreciates probably, that it relates to the
sexual indiscretion he was guilty of, and feels that it is something to
be ashamed of. He therefore hides his condition, confides in no one, and
blindly hopes it will get better somehow or at some time. Meantime the
disease, which may have been mild at the beginning, is gradually gaining
ground and strength, and his neglect may eventuate in lifelong misery.
No means are taken to guard against spreading the infection, the
discharge may lodge on his fingers and he may infect his eyes and may
lose his sight because he did not know that the discharge is one of the
most dangerous fluids known. It may get on water-closet seats and infect
others. Eventually he is compelled to seek aid, and he may, after a long
period, be freed from the immediate consequences of his folly. At a
later date he marries, and as previously explained, he infects his wife.
This is the beginning of much of the domestic infelicity that is so
prevalent to-day, and, inasmuch as it is a subject that should be
thoroughly understood by every woman and mother, I shall carefully and
clearly explain its significance and its consequences.
Let us first, however, briefly consider what may occur to others if the
boy is unfortunate enough to acquire syphilis. Again the boy fails to
comprehend the nature of his affliction. There is imminent danger of the
members of his household becoming infected. He uses the same dishes,
spoons, towels, and utensils, any one of which may convey the disease to
his father, mother, sister, or brother. He may use the common drinking
glass in school, college, or office, and spread the disease in this way.
He may kiss any member of his family, or a baby, and infect them. He may
have his hair cut, or be shaved, and the virus may be spread around in
this way if the barber does not sterilize the article used,--which he
never does. He may drink at a soda fountain, or at a saloon, and the
next individual to use the same glass may acquire the disease. He is a
menace to the individual, to the community, and to the race. Wives often
acquire syphilis from their husbands.
THE INFECTED WIFE.--It has been previously stated that eight out of
every ten males between the ages of sixteen and thirty, have had or
have, gonorrhea or syphilis. Seventy-five per cent. of these cases have
not been cured. About thirty-five per cent. of these are destined to
infect wife, or wife and children, and in all probability many others.
If a young wife acquires infection from her husband, she is exactly in
the same condition as the diseased boy,--she does not know what ails
her, so she wastes precious time in unprofitable worry. Why should she
know what the trouble is? She came to the marriage bed pure, and clean,
and healthy. Her previous education did not include instruction which
would even help her to guess what the trouble might be. She is simply
conscious of new distressing conditions which she does not understand.
She may try to believe that these conditions are incidental to the
change in her life. Shortly, however, the discharge, which she has had
for a number of weeks, and which she thought was only a leucorrhea, or
"the whites," becomes so profuse and nasty that she begins douching.
This procedure simply blinds her to the true nature of the affection,
and in the end she is driven, ashamed and reluctant, to consult a
physician. She may be informed that her condition is bad, and that it
will be necessary that she submit to a course of treatment. After a time
the physician may succeed in tiding her over the immediate consequences
of the gonorrheal infection she innocently acquired. She may soon after
become pregnant, and she may miscarry as a result of the old trouble, or
she may carry the child the full period. When the child is born it may
be blind and this defect is a consequence of the old infection to the
mother from the father. If the mother is syphilitic the child most
likely will inherit all the horrible possibilities of transmitted
blood-poison.
Pregnancy frequently "lights up" any old, gonorrheal infection in the
female, so this young wife fails to completely recover after the
confinement. She is able to be about, but her strength refuses to be
restored. It may be months later when she begins to suffer pain and to
realize that she is quite sick. She develops a fever and may have a
chill. The physician discovers that she has pus in her tubes and there
is danger of peritonitis or general blood poisoning. The old germs have
been roused and are active. Unfortunately they are located where it is
impossible to dislodge them without resorting to a serious operation. It
is now a problem of saving her life. She is taken to the hospital and
her womb, tubes, and ovaries, are removed--she is unsexed.
Young wives are being operated on every day, in every city in the
civilized world for just such causes. It is a notorious fact, that, in
every city in the world, the number of operations that are daily being
performed on women, is increasing appallingly. Every surgeon knows that
eighty per cent. of these operations are caused, directly or indirectly,
by these diseases, and in almost every case in married women, they are
obtained innocently from their own husbands. It is rare to find a
married woman who is not suffering from some ovarian or uterine trouble,
or some obscure nervous condition, which is not amenable to the ordinary
remedies, and a very large percentage of these cases are primarily
caused by infection obtained in the same way.
When a girl marries she does not know what fate has in store for her,
nor is there any possible way of knowing, under the present marriage
system. If she begets a sickly, puny child,--assuming she herself has
providentially escaped immediate disease,--she devotes all her mother
love and devotion to her child, but she is fighting a hopeless fight as
I previously explained when I stated that one-half of the total effort
of one-third of the race, is expended in combating conditions against
which no successful effort is possible. Even her prayers are futile,
because the wrong is implanted in the constitution of the child and the
remedy is beyond her power to find. These are the tragedies of life,
which no words may adequately describe, and compared to which the
incidental troubles of the world at large are as nothing.
If the conditions are not as bad as those depicted above, the original
infection may have rendered her sterile. If the germs reached the womb
and tubes, the inflammatory process may close these tubes, with the
result that conception is impossible. In these cases the woman has to
bear the stigma and disgrace of a childless union, though she is not
the guilty party. Many husbands are sterile, however, as a result of
venereal disease. It is claimed that eighty per cent. of childless
marriages are caused by sterility of the male partner. Curiously and
unfortunately these men never suspect themselves. The wife is the
delinquent member, in their estimation. She is the victim of jest and
suspicion, and later of jibes and insults. Many women have had their
lives rendered miserable and unhappy because of this suspicion. They are
compelled by their husbands to submit to examination and unpleasant and
painful treatment and operations with the intention of rectifying a
defective condition that does not exist. Many conscientious physicians
refuse to treat women patients against whom the charge of sterility is
made, before subjecting the husbands to thorough examination, and, since
eighty per cent. of childless marriages are due to sterility in the
male, this is a just and reasonable course to pursue.
During the course of all this domestic trouble and tragedy, the young
wife's health has suffered--she scarcely enjoys one day of good health.
Her mental condition is even worse. She submits to innuendo and insult
under the impression that she is the unwitting cause of all the domestic
wretchedness and often wishes she had never entered the marriage state.
We must remember that these conditions wreck ideals and homes, and that
they frequently render inefficient both husband and wife. The economic
business of marriage becomes a failure, ambition is crushed and hope
dies in the heart.
If the mother has been inoculated with the virus of syphilis her
existence is equally wretched; her health is ruined; her efficiency is
forever mortgaged. If she becomes pregnant she will most likely abort
and she will go on aborting for years, in the effort to bring children
into the home, accusing herself meantime and submitting to the
reflections which are heaped upon her, while the real culprit is the
husband. He assumes an injured and innocent attitude and behaves as if
he had been imposed upon by marriage with a woman who cannot carry out
her marital contract.
If she gives birth to a child or children, they are syphilitic. They
may be deformed, or they may be feeble-minded or idiots. They may live
at home for years, always ailing, always sick. They may develop
epilepsy, St. Vitus' dance, skin disease, or mental vagaries, and they
may have to be put into institutions for the feeble-minded, or they may
die by inches at home.
IS THE HUSBAND TO BLAME?--If a boy had gonorrhea a number of years
before entering the marriage state, was treated for it by a physician,
until all symptoms had disappeared and had enjoyed apparent good health
in the interim, and had never been told any of the facts regarding
probable consequences, is it just to blame him if he infects his wife?
It is certain no man would willingly subject his bride to the risk of
infection, with all its horrible consequences. These conditions exist as
a result of the prudish attitude of society in the past toward all
questions affecting sex hygiene. We have not told all the truth to the
boy. Whatever knowledge he may have had was gained from companions, or
from individuals who knew the garbled facts only. There is of course no
excuse for the man who acquires disease after marriage and conveys it to
his wife or children. This is a very different situation and one which
should merit the severest condemnation and punishment. We are, however,
only interested in the boy at present and will not take up the reader's
time with a discussion of the "social evil" from this standpoint.
BUILDING A MAN.--When the boy is about fifteen years of age certain
changes begin to manifest themselves. He grows more rapidly, a growth in
which his whole system participates. His bones grow bigger and stronger,
his muscles increase in size, even his heart, and lungs, and liver, and
his digestive system accommodate themselves to this transformation; the
voice changes and hair begins to grow on his face. The mental process
also keeps pace with the new order of things. He thinks differently and
he sees from a new viewpoint. Nature is making a man out of a boy.
These changes were not understood in the past, but we are beginning to
appreciate the reason for this evolutionary process. We have discovered
that the cause depends upon certain active changes which take place in
the sex organs. About this time the testicles begin to be active. For
years these glands have been preparing themselves for this work, so they
first grow rapidly, increasing in size until they are about eight times
bigger than they were before this time, then they begin to pour into the
circulation a secretion which stimulates changes in all other parts of
the body and is directly responsible for the wonderful change that is
evident in the stature of the boy's body.
This substance or "internal secretion" must not be confused with the
semen. The internal secretion is simply the substance which nature
employs in the developing process and is responsible for the degree of
growth and quality of manhood which the boy manifests. The semen, on the
other hand, is the procreative or fertilizing fluid which enables a man
to beget offspring. When a boy understands this process it aids him in
appreciating the importance of his sex organs and a little thought
enables him to understand that if he abuses these organs he will
seriously interfere with his own development. This process goes on for a
number of years, until the boy reaches maturity. Any act or habit which
weakens the quality of this secretion will deplete his powers and render
him physically and mentally inefficient. To make a man, nature must be
permitted to work in her own way. You cannot improve on her methods nor
can you break her laws with impunity.