INTRODUCTION 31 



the fact ; and the doctors foster it by telling ns that the 

 whole subject is a medical property. . . . There is 

 nothing wrong in the knowing; and though the pas- 

 sions might be stimulated in the first moments by such 

 information, yet in the second instance they will be 

 calmed by it; and ceasing to be inflamed by the addi- 

 tional goad of curiosity and imagination, they will cool 

 down under the hydropathic influence of science. Well- 

 stated knowledge never did contribute to human inflam- 

 mation; and we much question whether the whole the- 

 ory of the silver spade be not a mistake; and whether 

 children should not be told the truth from the first ; that 

 before desire and imagination are born, the young 

 mind may receive in its cool innocency, a knowledge 

 of the future objects of power and faculties which are 

 to be subject afterward to such strong excitement. ' ' 



Eminent Testimony.— The dangers of ignorance 

 upon sexual topics are very ably set forth in the follow- 

 ing article, which recently appeared in the British 

 Medical Journal, the leading medical periodical of the 

 age, having been called out by the exposures of the 

 Poll Mall Gazette, elsewhere referred to in this vol- 

 ume: 



''Recent painful disclosures have, among other re- 

 sults, raised an important question, which, in the pres- 

 ent state of opinion, can be most readily discussed in 

 the pages of a medical journal. We refer to the com- 

 plete ignorance regarding the sexual organs and the 

 sexual functions which is permitted, and, indeed, sedu- 

 lously fostered, by the ordinary education received by 

 boys and girls in this country. Not only does our 

 school system provide no information on these topics 

 which so vitally concern the happiness of every individ- 

 ual, but the slightest allusion to the subject is apt to 



