A CHAPTER FOE OLD MEN 425 



tion is accompanied by the most exhausting expendi- 

 ture of nervous and vital energy of which the body is 

 capable. Such expenditures are entirely unnecessary 

 to the health of the body, and hence it is evident that 

 at this period of life, when the vital forces should be 

 in every way economized, such indulgences should be 

 discontinued. 



Physiology, on this account, prohibits the marriage 

 of old men with young women and old women with 

 young men. An old man who forms a union with a 

 young girl scarce out of her teens, or even younger, 

 can scarcely have any very elevated motive for his 

 action, and he certainly exposes himself to the greatest 

 risk of sudden death, while insuring his premature 

 decay. A king once characterized such a course as 

 "the pleasantest form of suicide." It is doubtless sui- 

 cidal ; but we suspect there are some phases of such an 

 unnatural union which are not very enjoyable. 



One reason of the great danger of such marriages 

 to the old is the exhaustive effects of the sexual act. 

 As previously noted, in some animals it causes imme- 

 diate death. Dr. Acton makes the following pertinent 

 remarks : 



*'So serious, indeed, is the paroxysm of the nervous 

 system produced by the sexual spasm, that its immedi- 

 ate effect is not always unattended with danger, and 

 men with weak hearts have died in the act. Every now 

 and then we learn that men are found dead on the 

 night of their wedding." 



''However exceptional these cases are, they are 

 warnings, and should serve to show that an act which 

 may destroy the weak should not be tampered with, 

 even by the strong. ' ' 



** There are old men who marry young wives, and 



