SEXUAL HYGIENE 203 



make the next one easier. So strong a habit of con- 

 tinence may be formed that this alone will be a bulwark 

 against vice. 



Diet. — He who would keep in subjection his animal 

 nature, must carefully guard the portal to his stomach. 

 The blood is made of what is eaten. Irritating food 

 will produce irritating blood. Stimulating foods or 

 drinks will surely produce a corresponding quality of 

 blood. Irritating, stimulating blood will irritate and 

 stimulate the nervous system, and especially the deli- 

 cate nerves of the reproductive system, as previously 

 explained. Only the most simple and wholesome food 

 should be eaten, and that only in such moderate quan- 

 tities as are required to replenish the tissues. The 

 custom of making the food pungent and stimulating 

 with condiments, is the great, almost the sole, cause 

 of gluttony. It is one of the greatest hindrances to 

 virtue. Indeed, it may with truth be said that the de- 

 vices of modern cookery are most powerful allies of 

 unchastity and licentiousness. This subject is particu- 

 larly deserving of careful, candid, and studious atten- 

 tion, and only needs such investigation to demonstrate 

 its soundness. 



Exercise.— 'Next to diet as an aid to continence, 

 perhaps of equal importance with it, is exercise, both 

 physical and mental. It is a trite proverb, the truth 

 of which every one acknowledges, that ^' Satan finds 

 some mischief still for idle hands to do," and it is 

 equally true that he always has an evil thought in 

 readiness to instill into an unoccupied mind. A person 

 who desires to be pure and continent in body and mind 

 must flee idleness as he would the devil himself ; for the 

 latter is always ready to improve upon the advantages 

 afforded by an idle moment, an hour given to reverie. 



