516 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



sexual excesses, either of an illicit nature or witliin 

 the marriage pale; for the physical effects are essen- 

 tially identical. This iause is especially active and 

 fatal with sedentary persons, but is sufficiently power- 

 ful to undermine the constitution under the most favor- 

 able circumstances, as the following case illustrates : 



The patient was a young man of twenty-two, large, 

 muscular, and well developed, having uncommonly 

 broad shoulders and a full chest. His occupation had 

 been healthful, that of a laborer. He had coughed for 

 several months, and was spitting blood. Examination 

 of the lungs showed that they were hopelessly diseased. 

 There was no trace of consumption in the family, and 

 the only cause to which the disease could be attributed 

 was excessive sexual indulgence, which he confessed to 

 having practiced for several years. 



Prostatic Troubles.— One of the most distressing 

 symptoms of advanced age is enlargement of the pros- 

 tate. Men who give themselves up to sexual excesses 

 find themselves at middle age or even sooner, suffer- 

 ing with these disorders, even in a very grave form. We 

 have met a number of instances in which a difficulty of 

 this kind existed, but disappeared very readily when the 

 patient corrected his habits by adopting a continent life. 



Effect on Wives.— If husbands are great suffer- 

 ers, as we have seen, wives suffer still more terribly, 

 being of feebler constitution, and hence less able to 

 bear the frequent shock which is suffered by the nerv- 

 ous system. Dr. Gardner places this evil prominent 

 among the causes * ' the result of which we see deplored 

 in the public press of the day, which warns us that the 

 American race is fast dying out, and that its place is 

 being filled by emigrants of dift'erent lineage, religion, 

 political ideas, and education." 



