UNCHASTITY 313 



formed in this case, and the child returned in a few 

 weeks completely cured, without any other application, 

 though it had previously been treated in a great variety 

 of ways without success, all the usual remedies for 

 clubfoot proving ineffectual. Both of these cases ap- 

 peared in the clinic of Dr. Sayre at Bellevue Hospital, 

 and were operated upon by him. 



A few years ago, we observed several cases of spinal 

 disease which could be traced to no origin but mas- 

 turbation. Two patients were small boys, naturally 

 quite intelligent. They manifested all the peculiarities 

 of locomotor ataxia in older persons, walking with the 

 characteristic gait. The disease was steadily progress- 

 ing in spite of all attempts to stay it. An older brother 

 had died of the same malady, paralysis extending over 

 the whole body, and finally preventing deglutition, so 

 that he really starved to death. 



Insanity.— That solitary vice is one of the most 

 common causes of insanity, is a fact too well estab- 

 lished to need demonstration here. Every lunatic asy- 

 lum furnishes numerous illustrations of the fact. 

 ''Authors are universally agreed, from Galen down to 

 the present day, about the pernicious influence of this 

 enervating indulgence, and its strong propensity to 

 generate the very worst and most formidable kinds of 

 insanity. It has frequently been known to occasion 

 speedy and even instant insanity. ' ' * 



''Religious insanity," so called, may justly be at- 

 tributed to this cause in a great proportion of cases. 

 The individual is conscience-smitten in view of his hor- 

 rid sins, and a sense of his terrible condition— ruined 

 for both worlds, he fears— goads him to despair, and 

 his weakened intellect fails, reason is dethroned, and 

 he becomes a hopeless lunatic. His friends, knowing 



* Arnold, 



