432 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



up a frame never very strong. A constant drain on 

 the nervous power has produced an effect which ren- 

 ders its subject indifferent to consequences, provided 

 his all-absorbing pursuit, namely, ministering to the 

 excitement of his sexual passion, can be indulged in. 

 Doubtless, in many instances, the brain has become 

 affected, particularly when there exists a strong heredi- 

 tary tendency to disease. This, together with deficiency 

 of occupation, has caused many of these victims to their 

 own feelings to make the pandering to their vile desires, 

 and gratification of every sensuality their imagination 

 can devise, the chief occupation of life. The medical 

 man would hardly feel justified in certifying their fit- 

 ness for a lunatic asylum, as in all other respects their 

 conduct appears to be sane. Observing, as these per- 

 sons do, all the other usual convenances of society, 

 there is yet something about them which marks them 

 as thralls of a debasing pursuit. It is an error, how- 

 ever, to sujDpose that they often suffer from venereal 

 disease. Your old debauches know too well the parties 

 they have to deal with, and every precaution is taken 

 to avoid the consequences. They are living and suffer- 

 ing specters whom, as some clever writer has observed, 

 'Death seems to forget to strike, because he Relieves 

 them already in the tomb.' 



"It may, perhaps, be thought singular in my sug- 

 gesting a moral based upon such vile practices as the 

 above, but allusion to them may not be without benefit 

 to those beginning life; and I would say, Let those 

 persons take warning who with an active imagination 

 once enter upon a career of vice, and dream that at a 

 certain spot they can arrest their progress. It is an 

 old tale, and often told, that, although the slope of 

 criminality be easy and gradual, it is still le premier 



