TJNCHASTITY 217 



Exciting stimulants and condiments Tveaken and 

 irritate his nerves, and derange the circulation. Thus, 

 indirectly, they affect the sexual system, which suf- 

 fers through sjTTipathy with the other organs. But a 

 more direct injury is done. Flesh, condiments, eggs, 

 tea, coffee, chocolate, and all stimulants have a po\t^er- 

 ful influence directly upon the reproductive organs. 

 They increase the local supply of blood; and through 

 nervous sympathy with the brain, the passions are 

 aroused. 



Overeating, eating between meals, hasty eating, 

 eating indigestible articles of food, ices, late suppers, 

 etc., react upon the sexual organs with the utmost 

 certainty. Any disturbance of the digestive function 

 deteriorates the quality of the blood. Poor blood, filled 

 with crude, poorly digested food, is irritating to the 

 nervous system, and especially to those extremely deli- 

 cate nerves which govern the reproductive function. 

 Irritation provokes congestion ; congestion excites sex- 

 ual desires; excited passions increase the local dis- 

 turbance; and thus each reacts upon the other, ever 

 increasing the injury and the liability to future damage. 



"V^Hien children are raised upon such articles, or 

 upon food with which they are thoroughly mingled, 

 what wonder that they occasionally "turn out bad"! 

 How many mothers, while teaching their children the 

 principles of virtue in the nursery, unwittingly stimu- 

 late their passions at the dinner table until vice becomes 

 almost a physical necessity! 



Thus these exciting causes continue their insidious 

 work through youth and more mature years. Right 

 under the eyes of fathers and mothers they work the 

 ruin of their children, exciting such storms of passion 

 as are absolutely uncontrollable. 



