292 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



him SO effectually on his guard as, possibly, to 

 defy detection. 



Positive Signs.— The absolutely positive signs of 

 solitary vice are very few. Of course the most cer- 

 tainly positive of all is detection in the act. Some- 

 times this is difficult, with such consummate cunning 

 do the devotees of the Moloch pursue their debasing 

 practice. If a child is noticed to seek a certain se- 

 cluded spot with considerable regularity, he should be 

 carefully followed and secretly watched, for several 

 days in succession, if need be. Many children pursue 

 the practice at night after retiring. If the suspected 

 one is observed to become very quickly quiet after re- 

 tiring, and when looked at, appears to be asleep, the 

 bedclothes should be quickly thrown off under some 

 pretense. If, in the case of a boy, the penis is found 

 in a state of erection, with the hands near the genitals, 

 he may certainly be treated as a masturbator without 

 any error. If he is found in a state of excitement, 

 in connection with the other evidences, with a quick- 

 ening circulation, as indicated by the pulse, or in a 

 state of perspiration, his guilt is certain, even though 

 he may i3retend to be asleep; no doubt he has been 

 addicted to the vice for a considerable time to have 

 acquired so much cunning. If the same course is pur- 

 sued with girls, under the same circumstances, the cli- 

 toris will be found congested, with the other genital 

 organs, which will also be moist from increased secre- 

 tion. Other conditions will be as nearly as possible the 

 same as those in the boy. 



Stains upon the nightshirt or sheets, occurring be- 

 fore puberty, are certain evidences of the vice in boys, 

 as they are subject, before that time, to no discharge 

 which will leave a stain resembling that from the sem- 



