Reflect for a moment upon the enormous amount of harm which not speaking out has done! Every man sooner or later adopts some sort of creed for the conduct of his sexual life; but medical men realize that these opinions are, as a rule, erroneous and immoral.
An enormous evil is threatening us and surrounds us on every side, poisoning our social relations, our amusements, our literature, our drama and our art. It is sparing neither the noble boy nor the innocent maiden, and is exhaling a deadly influence whose venom will continue, through heredity, to fester in generations to come.
The enemies of the normal standards which govern the sexlife are bold and active in their abetting of lasciviousness, and the calamitous results of their work cannot be met by a timid and retiring silence. Society, being at present in a position wherein it tolerates the most odious vices, must learn as weU to endure the remedies which aim to secure decency, good order and morality.
There is a criminal and degrading ignorance among men otherwise well informed, in regard to the importance and gravity of the sexual act. The Creator of all has made each individual a subcreator, and it behooves every true man to look forward to fatherhood with a fixed resolve to be just to his offspring. It is, furthermore, the duty of fathers to instruct their sons so that they shall have nothing to regret when they look upon their firstborn children. If a man who is to be a father plays the fool, his sons and daughters will suffer. The " fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," says the Jewish proverb.
The time has come when it will not avail a man to say that he knows nothing definite about these matters, for in the following pages the means of becoming intelligent in regard to sexual conduct are at least indicated. It is a comfort to believe that the majority of men will do right when they fully understand this important subject; and if any reader is ignorant or rusty in his knowledge, it is high time for him to "get out a new edition of himself."
Innocence and ignorance in regard to vice are no safeguard to a young man or woman in this age when it is so evident on every hand, and no fond parent need flatter himself that his pure girl or boy will not sooner or later become subjected to improper conversation and influences.
Too often children are sent to schools which are the very hotbeds of temptation, without a single word of reliable warning or teaching to guide them. How much more just to them it would be to send them out properly instructed than to leave these momentous questions to their schoolmates for settlement!
Youth is the time of life when the boy or girl hopes to develop into a physically beautiful man or woman. Then they have active intellects and ambitions for everything which is good and noble. No one can foretell what a boy will become when he is fully developed; and as a rule the child appreciates this perfectly well, so that he will, under the stimulus of kindly encouragement, seek the good and eschew evil if he understands the relationship of vice and its consequences.
From an educational standpoint this is by far the most important period of life; for the mature man will almost invariably continue to show the same instincts and characteristics which he had when a child, and a boy can no more postpone the developing of his character to his manhood days than he can the strengthening of his muscles. "It is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason." ' How important it is, then, that a child should start out with healthy inclinations, and not by great mistakes!