The Cause. 



nature for violations of nature's law. It is as 

 possible for a man to be profligate with one 

 woman as with many, and it is possible for a 

 woman to be wanton with her own husband. 



" The only excuse for reproduction is improve- 

 ment. Beasts merely propagate their kind, but 

 the offspring of noble men and women will be 

 superior to themselves, as their aspirations are. 

 By their fruit ye shall know them. (Thoreau : 

 " Essay on Chastity and Sensuality.") 



It is no use saying that man has discretionary 

 powers and knows when to stop, while his 

 capacity for discretion is rendered nil by the 

 ignorance, on all sexual matters, in which he is 

 brought up. He very seldom receives any in- 

 struction from his parents, and the subject is 

 tabooed in ordinary conversation ; at the same 

 time, he is given to understand that matrimony 

 is the only state worth striving after. The bulk 

 of the current literature deals with the " tender 

 passion " in one way or another, which tends to 

 inflame his mind with amatory ideas, and there 

 is little wonder that he gives unrestrained scope 

 to his passions as soon as occasion offers. This 

 in itself would be a sufficient cause for deteriora- 

 tion, but the case is far more serious. 



If children and young people remained chaste 

 until such time as it was deemed fit that they 

 should marry, it would not be so bad, but 

 under existing circumstances such a course is 

 difficult. It is impossible to bring them up in 

 absolute ignorance of sexual matters ; therefore, 

 unless they are cautioned that certain actions are 

 wrong they are almost sure to become con- 



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