278 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



the aid of prayer, and by adopting a more wholesome 

 diet, he succeeded in getting the mastery of his vice. 

 But the local difficulties still continued in a great de- 

 gree, and under particularly aggravated circumstances 

 occasioned a relapse at long intervals. After a time 

 the local difficulties grew less, and enabled him to gain 

 a complete victory over the habit, though the result of 

 previous sin still remained, for which he desired treat- 

 ment. 



This case will serve as a fair illustration of many 

 of similar character, in which the child accidentally 

 makes the discovery which leads him to work his own 

 ruin. 



Other Physical Causes.— Constipation, piles, irri- 

 table bladder, fissure of the anus, local uncleanliness 

 and pruritis of the genital organs, will produce the 

 habit in both males and females in the manner de- 

 scribed. Sleeping on feather beds increases the local 

 congestion, and thus favors the exciting influences of 

 all the above-named causes. It may, perhaps, itself be 

 the exciting cause. 



We once treated a patient who was affected with 

 stone in the bladder, and who asserted that the con- 

 stant irritation which he suffered in the end of the penis 

 was only relieved by friction. This might readily be 

 the cause of masturbation, though in this case the vice 

 had been acquired many years before, and was still 

 continued in spite of all efforts to reform. 



Lying upon the back or upon the abdomen fre- 

 quently leads to self-abuse, by provoking sexual excite- 

 ment. Certain kinds of exercise, climbing in particular, 

 have been attended by the same results. It is said 

 that children sometimes experience genital excitement 

 amounting to pleasure as the result of whipping. 



