282 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



when it is not speedily removed by cliange of air or 

 appropriate remedial measures, may be safely attrib- 

 uted to solitary vice, no matter liow far above natural 

 suspicion the individual may be. Mistakes will be rare 

 indeed when such a judgment is pronounced under the 

 circumstances named. 



2. Early symptoms of consumption, or what are 

 supposed to be such, as cough and decrease in flesh, 

 with short breathing and soreness of the lungs or mus- 

 cles of the chest, are often solely the result of this vice. 

 That such is the case may be considered pretty surely 

 determined if physical examination of the lungs reveals 

 no organic disease of those organs. But it should be 

 remembered that solitary vice is one of the most fre- 

 quent causes of early consumption. Several cases 

 which strikingly prove this have fallen under our own 

 observation. 



3. Premature and defective development is a symp- 

 tom closely allied to the two preceding. "When it can- 

 not be traced to such natural causes as overstudy, over- 

 work, lack of exercise, and other influences of a similar 

 nature, it should be charged to self-abuse. The early 

 exercise of the genital organs hastens the attainment 

 of puberty in many cases, especially when the habit is 

 acquired early; but at the same time it saps the vital 

 energies so that the system is unable to manifest that 

 increased energy in growth and development which 

 usually occurs at this period. In consequence, the body 

 remains small, or does not attain that development 

 which it otherwise would. The mind is dwarfed as well 

 as the body. Sometimes the mind suffers more than the 

 body in lack of development, and sometimes the reverse 

 is true. This defective development is shown in the 

 physical organization of males, in the failure of the 



