A CHAPTER FOR OLD MEN" 427 



perceive a repulsion such as is only inspired by the idea 

 of incest. ... So what do we of tenest observe 1 Either 

 the woman violently breaks the cursed bands, or she 

 resigns herself to them, and then seeks to fill up the 

 void in her soul by adulterous amours. Such is the 

 somber perspective of the sacrilegious unions which 

 set at defiance the most respectable instincts, the most 

 noble desires, and the most legitimate hopes. Such, 

 too, are the terrible chastisements reserved for the 

 thoughtlessness or foolish pride of these dissolute gray- 

 beards, who prodigalize the last breath of their life in 

 search of depraved voluptuousness." 



The parents, the perpetrators of such an outrage 

 against nature, are not the only sufferers. Look at the 

 children which they bring into the world! Let Dr. 

 Gardner speak again: 



''Children, the issue of old men, are habitually 

 marked by a serious and sad air spread over their 

 countenances, which is manifestly very opposite to the 

 infantile expression which so delights one in the little 

 children of the same age engendered under other condi- 

 tions. As they grow up, their features take on more 

 and more the senile character, so much so that every 

 one remarks it, and the world regards it as a natu- 

 ral thing. The old mothers pretend that it is an old 

 head on young shoulders. They predict an early death 

 to these children, and the event frequently justifies 

 the horoscope. Our attention has for many years been 

 fixed upon this point, and we can affirm that the greater 

 part of the offspring of these connections are weak, 

 torpid, lymphatic, if not scrofulous, and do not prom- 

 ise a long career." 



In old age, the seminal fluid becomes greatly de- 

 teriorated. Even at the best, its component elements 



