SEXUAL HYGIENE 147 



or woman, I am sure, can have habitually indulged the 

 sexual passions . . „ without, at least, running the risk 

 of finding that a disposition to follow a similar career 

 has been inherited by the offspring. It is in this way 

 only that we can explain the early and apparently 

 almost irresistible propensity in generation after gen- 

 eration to indulge similar habits and feelings." 



Various Causes of Sexual Precocity.— Another 

 very powerful predisposing cause of sexual precocity 

 will be alluded to under the head of " Marital Ex- 

 cesses." The irritation caused by worms in the rec- 

 tum, by local irritation or uncleanliness, or by irrita- 

 tion of the bladder, are exciting causes which are not 

 infrequent. The latter cause is indicated by another 

 symptom, the frequent wetting of the bed at night. 

 Such a svmptom doubly demands immediate attention. 



The juvenile parties so common nowadays, where 

 little ones of both sexes, of ages varying from four or 

 five years to ten or twelve, with wonderful precocity 

 and truthfulness, imitate the conduct of their elders at 

 fashionable dinners, cannot be too much deprecated. 

 Such associations of the sexes have a strong tendency 

 to develop prematurely the distinctive peculiarities of 

 the sexes. This is well evidenced by the fact that on 

 such occasions one of the most common and popular 

 entertainments is sham marriages. Parents greatly 

 err in encouraging or allowing their children to engage 

 in amusements of so dangerous a character. They are 

 productive of no good, and are almost without excep- 

 tion productive of positive and serious injury. 



Modern modes of life, improper clothing, the forc- 

 ing system of cramming in schools, the immodest ex- 

 ample of older persons, and especially the irritating, 

 stimulating articles of diet which are daily set before 



