The Cause. 



ally, must probe the painful business to the very 

 core. This cannot be done without hurting the 

 feelings of many who will resent the operation, 

 and, perhaps, abuse those who inflict the pain 

 for the public welfare. " The diseases of society 

 can, no more than corporeal maladies, be pre- 

 vented or cured without being spoken about in 

 plain language." It was true when these words 

 were penned by John Stuart Mill, and it is as 

 true to-day. 



My attention was first called to the subject of 

 physical degeneracy some thirty years ago, by 

 the disastrous results of a certain vice (mastur- 

 bation) practised by boys at an establishment 

 where I resided for some nine or ten months. 

 There were about eight hundred boys in residence 

 there at the time ; they ate, drank, and slept 

 together, so it is no wonder that the vice, 

 once introduced, soon spread throughout the 

 whole community. I became aware of the pre- 

 valence of this vice among the boys before I had 

 been there many days, and also of the fact that, 

 as a result, their constitutions were being ruined. 

 The boys became pale and emaciated, and were 

 soon subject to all sorts of petty ailments, and, 

 later on, some of them to absolute disease. 

 Remonstrance seemed useless at that stage, for 

 they always denied indulging in the habit, so 

 that it went on unchecked, except by an occa- 

 sional caution from one or two who understood 

 the nature of the evil. 



Some nine or ten years later I was at a similar 

 establishment, and was again shocked to find 

 every indication of the existence of this same vice. 



77 



