SEXUAL HYGIENE 199 



of many most distinguished men must also be quoted 

 in confirmation of these statements. Among such 

 men may be mentioned Sir Isaac Newton, Kant, 

 Paschal, Michael Angelo, and St. Augustine, with many 

 others of the early Catholic fathers who were among 

 the ablest and most learned men of their time, and who 

 led continent lives. The majority of these men lived 

 to a very great age, retaining to the last their wonder- 

 ful mental powers. 



The exorbitant demands of the sexual appetite 

 encountered among civilized people are not the result 

 of a normal instinct, but are due to the incitements 

 of an abnormally stimulating diet, the seductions of 

 prurient literature and so-called art, and the tempta- 

 tions of impure associations. 



The relation of diet to impurity is one which is far 

 too little considered. Certain senses are given us to 

 add to our pleasure, as well as for the practical, almost 

 indispensable, use they are to us. For instance, the 

 sense of sight is not only useful, but enables us to drink 

 in beauty without stint, and receive no harm thereby. 

 The same is true of music and other harmonies which 

 may come to us through the sense of hearing. But 

 the sense of taste was given us to distinguish be- 

 tween wholesome and unwholesome foods, and cannot 

 be used for merely sensuous gratification without de- 

 basing it, and making of it a gross and harmful thing. 

 An education which demands special enjoyment or 

 pleasure through the sense of taste is wholly artificial ; 

 it brings us down to the animal plane, or below it, 

 rather ; for the instinct of the brute creation teaches it 

 to eat to live. 



There can be no doubt that unwholesome food, 

 especially such stimulating articles as spices and other 



