342 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



Few know liow commonly this course is recom- 

 mended, and not by quacks, but by members of the 

 regular profession. A friend informed the writer that 

 ne knew a case in which a country physician advised 

 a young man of continent habits to go to a neighbor- 

 ing large city, and spend a year or so with prostitutes, 

 which advice he followed. Of his subsequent history we 

 know nothing; but it is very probable that, like most 

 other young men who adopt this remedy, he soon con- 

 tracted diseases which rendered his condition ten times 

 worse than at first, without at all improving his former 

 state. In pursuing this course, one form of emission 

 is only substituted for another, at the best; but more 

 than this, an involuntary result of disease is converted 

 into a voluntary sin of the blackest character, a crime 

 in which two participate, and which is not only an out- 

 rage upon nature, but against morality as well. 



A final argument against this course is that it is 

 not a remedy, and does not effect a cure of the evil, as 

 will be shown by the following medical testimonies: 



''The vexed question of connection is one which 

 may be decided out of hand. ... 7^ has no poiver of 

 curing had spermatorrhea; it may cause a diminution 

 in the number of emissions, but this is only a delusion ; 

 the semen is still thrown off; the frame still continues 

 to be exhausted ; the genital organs and nervous system 

 generally are still harassed by the incessant tax; and 

 the patient is all the while laying the foundation of 

 impotence. ' ' * 



'' In all solemn earnestness I protest against such 

 false treatment. It is better for a youth to live a con- 

 tinent life." ''There is a terrible significance in the 

 wise man's words, 'None that go to her return again, 

 neither take they hold of the path of life.' " t This 



' Milton. t Acton. 



