INTRODUCTION 



BOOKS almost without number have been written 

 upon the subject treated in this work. Unfortu- 

 nately, most of these works are utterly unre- 

 liable, being filled with gross misrepresentations and 

 exaggerations, and being designed as advertising 

 mediums for ignorant and unscrupulous charlatans, 

 or worse than worthless i3atent nostrums. To add to 

 their power for evil, many of them abound with pic- 

 torial illustrations which are in no way conducive to 

 virtue or morality, but rather stimulate the animal 

 propensities, and excite lewd imaginations. Books of 

 this character are usually widely circulated; and their 

 pernicious influence is fully as great as that of works 

 of a more grossly obscene character. In most of the 

 few instances in which the evident motive of the author 

 or publisher is not of an unworthy character, the man- 

 ner of presenting the subject is unfortunately such that 

 it more frequently than otherwise has a strong tend- 

 ency in a direction exactly the opposite of that in- 

 tended and desired. The writer of this work has 

 endeavored to avoid the latter evil by adopting a style 

 of presentation quite different from that generally 

 pursued. Instead of restricting the reader's attention 

 rigidly to the sexual function in man, his mind is 

 diverted by frequent references to corresponding func- 

 tions in lower animals and in the vegetable kingdom. 

 By this means, not only is additional information im- 

 parted, but the sexual function in man is divested of its 



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