DISEASES PECULIAR TO MEN 627 



to delay giving proper attention to the morbid symp- 

 toms wliieli tliey experience, until so grave a condition 

 is readied that recovery is impossible. 



We do not wish to produce unnecessary alarm or 

 anxiety on the part of any, and would discourage in 

 the most emphatic manner that morbid seeking after 

 symptoms and dwelling upon and exaggerating every 

 little deviation from the natural condition of the body, 

 which is common among those who are siiffering with 

 maladies of the class considered in this chapter. In 

 consequence, thousands of those who are suffering with 

 the slightest ailments, imagine themselves to be much 

 worse than they are. Great harm is done by those 

 who unscrupulously take advantage of the ignorance 

 and inexperience of these sufferers, and thereby pro- 

 duce, not only unnecessary alarm and distress, but an 

 actual aggravation of the slight disorders from 

 which they are suffering. 



We cannot, in this chapter, consider the entire cate- 

 gory of diseases to which men are peculiarly liable, 

 but shall confine our remarks to those maladies which 

 are of most common occurrence, and information con- 

 cerning which will be likely to be of the greatest value. 

 As previously stated, this work does not permit us to 

 enter into the details of medical treatment which, in 

 these disorders, may often be best left in the hands 

 of a competent physician ; or when they may be chiefly 

 administered by the patient himself, should be directed 

 by one whose study and experience have fitted him to 

 modify and adapt to each individual case the general 

 principles of treatment which have been elsewhere laid 

 down. 



The principal object in presenting this chapter has 

 been to thoroughly acquaint the reader with the signs 



