,,youth ,,and ,,sex ,dangers and ,safeguards for ,girls and ,boys by ,,mary ,,scharlieb1 ,m4,d41 ,m4,s41 ,,and ,f4 ,,arthur ,,sibly1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 #aiai ,,contents4 ,,part ,i43 ,,girls4 ,,by ,,mary ,,scharlieb1 ,m4,d41 ,m4,s4 ,,introduction ,i4 ,,changes ,,observable ,,during ,,puberty ,,and ,,adolescence ,,in ,,girls ,,ii4 ,,our ,,duties ,,towards ,,adolescent ,,girls ,,iii4 ,,care ,,of ,,the ,,adolescent ,,girl ,,in ,,sickness ,,iv4 ,,mental ,,and ,,moral ,,training ,v4 ,,the ,,final ,,aim ,,of ,,education ,,part ,,ii43 ,,boys4 ,,by ,f4 ,,arthur ,,sibly1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition ,,introductory ,,note ,i4 ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys3 ,,the ,,author',s ,,own ,,experience ,,ii4 ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys3 ,,the ,,opinions ,,of ,,canon ,,lyttelton1 ,,dr4 ,,dukes ,,and ,,others ,,iii4 ,,causes ,,of ,,the ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys ,,iv4 ,,results ,,of ,,youthful ,,impurity ,v4 ,,sex ,,knowledge ,,is ,,compatible ,,with ,,perfect ,,refinement ,,and ,,innocence ,,vi4 ,,conditions ,,under ,,which ,,purity ,,teaching ,,is ,,best ,,given3 ,,remedial ,,and ,,curative ,,measures ,,note ,,to ,,correspondents ,,part ,i43 ,,girls4 ,,by ,,mary ,,scharlieb1 ,m4,d41 ,m4,s4 ,,introduction4 ,probably the most important years in anyone's life are those eight or ten preceding the twenty-first birthday4 ,during these years ,heredity1 one of the two great developmental factors1 bears its crop1 and the seeds sown before birth and during childhood come to maturity4 ,during these years also the other great developmental force known as ,environment has full play1 the still plastic nature is moulded by circumstances1 and the influence of these two forces is seen in the manner of individual that results4 ,this time is generally alluded to under two heads3 7#a7 ,puberty1 7#b7 ,adolescence4 ,by ,puberty we understand the period when the reproductive organs are developed1 the boy or girl ceasing to be the neutral child and acquiring the distinctive characteristics of man or woman4 ,the actual season of puberty varies in different individuals from the eleventh to the sixteenth year1 and although the changes during this time are not sudden1 they are comparatively rapid4 ,by ,adolescence we understand the time during which the individual is approximating to the adult type1 puberty having been already accomplished4 ,adolescence corresponds to the latter half of the developmental period1 and may be prolonged even up to twenty-five years4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,changes ,,observable ,,during ,,puberty ,,and ,,adolescence ,,in ,,girls4 #a4 ,changes in the ,bodily ,framework4--,during this period the girl's skeleton not only grows remarkably in size1 but is also the subject of well-marked alterations and development4 ,among the most evident changes are those which occur in the shape and inclination of the pelvis4 ,during the years of childhood the female pelvis has a general resemblance to that of the male1 but with the advent of puberty the vertical portion of the hip bones becomes expanded and altered in shape1 it becomes more curved1 and its inner surface looks less directly forward and more towards its fellow bone of the other side4 ,the brim of the pelvis1 which in the child is more or less heart-shaped1 becomes a wide oval1 and consequently the pelvic girdle gains considerably in width4 ,the heads of the thigh bones not only actually1 in consequence of growth1 but also relatively1 in consequence of change of shape in the pelvis1 become more widely separated from each other than they are in childhood1 and hence the gait and the manner of running alters greatly in the adult woman4 ,at the same time the angle made by the junction of the spinal column with the back of the pelvis1 known as the sacro-vertebral angle1 becomes better marked1 and this also contributes to the development of the characteristic female type4 ,no doubt the female type of pelvis can be recognised in childhood1 and even before birth1 but the differences of male and female pelves before puberty are so slight that it requires the eye of an expert to distinguish them4 ,the very remarkable differences that are found between the adult male and the adult female pelvis begin to appear with puberty and develop rapidly1 so that no one could mistake the pelvis of a properly developed girl of sixteen or eighteen years of age for that of a boy4 ,these differences are due in part to the action of the muscles and ligaments on the growing bones1 in part to the weight of the body from above and the reaction of the ground from beneath1 but they are also largely due to the growth and development of the internal organs peculiar to the woman4 ,all these organs exist in the normal infant at birth1 but they are relatively insignificant1 and it is not until the great developmental changes peculiar to puberty occur that they begin to exercise their influence on the shape of the bones4 ,this is proved by the fact that in those rare cases in which the internal organs of generation are absent1 or fail to develop1 there is a corresponding failure in the pelvis to alter into the normal adult shape4 ,the muscles of the growing girl partake in the rapid growth and development of her bony framework4 ,sometimes the muscles outgrow the bones1 causing a peculiar lankiness and slackness of figure1 and in other girls the growth of the bones appears to be too rapid for the muscles1 to which fact a certain class of growing pain has been attributed4 ,another part of the body that develops rapidly during these momentous years is the bust4 ,the breasts become large1 and not only add to the beauty of the girl's person1 but also manifestly prepare by increase of their glandular elements for the maternal function of suckling infants4 ,of less importance so far as structure is concerned1 but of great importance to female loveliness and attractiveness1 are the changes that occur in the clearing and brightening of the complexion1 the luxuriant growth1 glossiness1 and improved colour of the hair1 and the beauty of the eyes1 which during the years which succeed puberty acquire a new and singularly attractive expression4 ,the young girl's hands and feet do not grow in proportion with her legs and arms1 and appear to be more beautifully shaped when contrasted with the more fully developed limb4 ,with regard to the internal organs1 the most important are those of the pelvis4 ,the uterus1 or womb1 destined to form a safe nest for the protection of the child until it is sufficiently developed to maintain an independent existence1 increases greatly in all its dimensions and undergoes certain changes in shape2 and the ovaries1 which are intended to furnish the ovules1 or eggs 7the female contribution towards future human beings71 also develop both in size and in structure4 ,owing to rapid growth and to the want of stability of the young girl's tissues1 the years immediately succeeding puberty are not only those of rapid physiological change1 but they are those during which irreparable damage may be done unless those who have the care of young girls understand what these dangers are1 how they are produced1 and how they may be averted4 ,with regard to the bony skeleton1 lateral curvature of the spine is1 in mild manifestation1 very frequent1 and is too common even in the higher degrees4 ,the chief causes of this deformity are3 7#a7 ,the natural softness and want of stability in the rapidly growing bones and muscles2 7#b7 ,the rapid development of the bust1 which throws a constantly increasing burden on these weakened muscles and bones2 and 7#c7 ,the general lassitude noticeable amongst girls at this time which makes them yield to the temptation to stand on one leg1 to cross one leg over the other1 and to write or read leaning on one elbow and bending over the table1 whereas they ought to be sitting upright4 ,unless constant vigilance is exerted1 deformity is pretty sure to occur--a deformity which always has a bad influence over the girl's health and strength1 and which1 in those cases where it is complicated by the pathological softness of bones found in cases of rickets1 may cause serious alteration in shape and interfere with the functions of the pelvis in later life4 #b4 ,changes in the ,mental ,nature4--,these are at least as remarkable as the changes in the bodily framework4 ,there is a slight diminution in the power of memorising1 but the faculties of attention1 of reasoning1 and of imagination1 develop rapidly4 ,probably the power of appreciation of the beautiful appears about this time1 a faculty which is usually dormant during childhood4 ,more especially is this true with regard to the beauty of landscape2 the child seldom enjoys a landscape as such1 although isolated beauties1 such as that of flowers1 may sometimes be appreciated4 ,as might be anticipated1 all things are changing with the child during these momentous years3 its outlook on life1 its appreciation of other people and of itself1 alter greatly and continuously4 ,the wonderfully rapid growth and alterations in structure of the generative organs have their counterpart in the mental and moral spheres2 there are new sensations which are scarcely recognised and are certainly not understood by the subject3 vague feelings of unrest1 ill-comprehended desires1 and an intense self-consciousness take the place of the unconscious egoism of childhood4 ,the processes of ,nature as witnessed in the season of spring have their counterpart in the changes that occur during the early years of adolescence4 ,the earth warmed by the more direct rays of the sun and softened by recurring showers is transformed in a few weeks from its bare and dry winter garb into the wonderful beauty of spring4 ,this yearly miracle fails to impress us as it should do because we have witnessed it every year of our lives1 and so1 too1 the great transformation from child to budding woman fails to make its appeal to our understanding and sympathy because it is of so common occurrence4 ,if it were possible for adults to really remember their own feelings and aspirations in adolescent years1 or if it were possible for us with enlightened sympathy to gain access to the enchanted garden of youth1 we should be more adequate guides for the boys and girls around us4 ,as it is we entirely fail to appreciate the heights of their ambitions1 hopes1 and joys1 and we have no measure with which to plumb the depths of their fears1 their disappointments1 and their doubts4 ,the transition between radiant joy and confident hope in the future to a miserable misinterpretation of sensations both physical and psychical are rapid4 ,it is the unknown that is terrible to us all1 and to the child the changes in its body1 the changes in its soul and spirit1 which we pass by as commonplace1 are full of suggestions of abnormality1 of disaster1 and of death4 ,young people suffer much from the want of comprehension and intelligent sympathy of their elders1 much also from their own ignorance and too fervid imagination4 ,the instability of the bodily tissues and the variability of their functions find a counterpart in the instability of the mental and moral natures and in the variability of their phenomena4 ,adolescents indeed never continue in one stay2 left to themselves they will begin many pursuits1 but persevere with1 and finish1 nothing4 ,youth is the time for rapidly-succeeding friends1 lovers1 and heroes4 ,the schoolfellow or teacher who is adored to-day may become the object of indifference or even of dislike to-morrow4 ,ideas as to the calling or profession to be adopted change rapidly1 and opinions upon religion1 politics1 c41 vary from day to day4 ,it is little wonder that there is a special type of adolescent insanity differing entirely from that of later years1 one in which1 owing to the want of full development of mental faculties1 there are no systematised delusions1 but a rapid change from depression and melancholy to exaltation bordering on mania4 ,those parents and guardians who know something of the peculiar physical and mental conditions of adolescence will be best prepared both to treat the troubles wisely1 and by sympathy to help the young people under their care to help themselves4 ,one of the phenomena of adolescence is the dawn of the sexual instinct4 ,this frequently develops without the child knowing or understanding what it means4 ,more especially is this true of young girls whose home life has been completely sheltered1 and who have not had the advantage1 or disadvantage1 of that experience of life which comes early to those who live in crowded tenements or amongst the outspoken people of the countryside4 ,the children of the poorer classes have1 in a way1 too little to learn3 they are brought up from babyhood in the midst of all domestic concerns1 and the love affairs of their elders are intimately known to them1 therefore quite early in adolescence ilka lassie has her laddie1 and although the attraction be short-lived and the affection very superficial1 yet it is sufficient to give an added interest to life1 and generally leads to an increased care in dress and an increased desire to make the most of whatever good looks the girl may possess4 ,the girl in richer homes is probably much more bewildered by her unwonted sensations and by the attraction she begins to feel towards the society of the opposite sex4 ,probably in these days1 when there is more intermingling of the sexes1 the girl's outlook is franker1 and1 so far as this is concerned1 healthier1 than it was forty or fifty years ago4 ,it is very amusing to elders to hear a boy scarcely in his teens talking of his best girl1 or to see the little lass wearing the colour or ornament that her chosen lad admires4 ,it is true that the best girl varies from week to week if not from day to day1 but this special regard for a member of the opposite sex announces the dawn of a simple sentiment that will1 a few years later1 blossom out into the real passion which may fix a life's destiny4 ,the mental and moral changes that occur during the early years of adolescence call for help and sympathy of an even higher order than do the changes in physical structure and function4 ,some of these changes1 such as shyness and reticence1 may be the cause of considerable suffering to the girl and a perplexity to her elders1 but on the whole they are comparatively easy of comprehension1 and are more likely to elicit sympathy and kindness than blame4 ,it is far otherwise with such changes as unseemly laughter1 rough manners1 and a nameless difference in the girl's manner when in the presence of the other sex4 ,a girl who is usually quiet1 modest1 and sensible in her behaviour may suddenly become boisterous and self-asserting1 there is a great deal of giggling1 and altogether a disagreeable transformation which too frequently involves the girl in trouble with her mother or other guardian1 and is very frequently harshly judged by the child herself4 ,in proportion as self-discipline has been taught and self-control acquired1 these outward manifestations are less marked1 but in the case of the great majority of girls there are1 at any rate1 impulses having their origin in the yet immature and misunderstood sex impulse which cause the young woman herself annoyance and worry although she is as far from understanding their origin as her elders may be4 ,the remedies for these troubles are various4 ,first in order of time and in importance comes a habit of self-control and self-discipline that ought to be coeval with conscious life4 ,fathers and mothers are themselves to blame if their girl lapses from good behaviour when they have not inculcated ideals of obedience1 duty1 and self-discipline from babyhood4 ,it seems such a little thing to let the child have its run of the cake-basket and the sweet-box2 it is in the eyes of many parents so unimportant whether the little one goes to bed at the appointed time or ten minutes later2 they argue that it can make no difference to her welfare in life or to her eternal destiny whether her obedience is prompt and cheerful or grudging and imperfect4 ,one might as well argue that the proper planting of a seed1 its regular watering1 and the influences of sun and wind make no difference to the life of a tree4 ,we have to bear carefully in mind that those who sow an act reap a habit1 who sow a habit reap a character1 who sow a character reap a destiny both in this world and in that which is eternal4 ,it is mere selfishness1 unconscious1 no doubt1 but none the less fatal1 when parents to suit their own convenience omit to inculcate obedience1 self-restraint1 habits of order and unselfishness in their children4 ,youth is the time when the soul is apt to be shaken by sorrow's power and when stormy passions rage4 ,the tiny rill starting from the mountainside can be readily deflected east or west1 but the majestic river hastening to the sea is beyond all such arbitrary directions4 ,so it is with the human being3 the character and habit are directed easily in infancy1 with difficulty during childhood1 but they are well-nigh impossible of direction by the time adolescence is established4 ,those fathers and mothers who desire to have happiness and peace in connection with their adolescent boys and girls must take the trouble to direct them aright during the plastic years of infancy and childhood4 ,all natural instincts implanted in us by ,him who knew what was in the heart of man are in themselves right and good1 but the exercise of these instincts may be entirely wrong in time or in degree4 ,the sexual instinct1 the affinity of boy to girl1 the love of adult man and woman1 are right and holy when exercised aright1 and it is the result of spoiling when these good and noble instincts are wrongly exercised4 ,all who love their country1 all who love their fellow men1 and all who desire that the kingdom of ,god should come1 must surely do everything that is in their power to awaken the fathers and mothers of the land to a sense of their heavy responsibility and of their high privilege4 ,in this we are entirely separated from and higher than the rest of the animal creation1 in that on us lies the duty not only of calling into life a new generation of human beings1 but also the still higher duty1 the still greater privilege and the wider responsibility of bringing up those children to be themselves the worthy parents of the future1 the supporters of their country's dignity1 and joyful citizens of the household of ,god4 ,another characteristic of adolescence is to be found in gregariousness1 or what has been sometimes called the gang spirit4 ,boys1 and to almost as great a degree girls1 form themselves into companies or gangs1 which frequently possess a high degree of organisation4 ,they elaborate special languages1 they have their own form of shorthand1 their passwords1 their rites and ceremonies4 ,the gang has its elected leader1 its officers1 its members2 and although it is liable to sudden disruption and seldom outlasts a few terms of school-life1 each succeeding club or company is for the time being of paramount importance in the estimation of its members4 ,the gang spirit may at times cause trouble and lead to anxiety1 but if rightly directed it may be turned to good account4 ,it is the germ of the future capacity to organise men and women into corporate life--the very method by which much public and national work is readily accomplished1 but which is impossible to accomplish by individual effort4 #c4 ,changes in the ,religion of the ,adolescent4--,the religion of the adolescent is apt to be marked by fervour and earnest conviction1 the phenomenon of conversion almost constantly occurring during adolescence4 ,the girl looks upon eternal truths from a completely new standpoint1 or at any rate with eyes that have been purged and illuminated by the throes of conversion4 ,from a period of great anxiety and doubt she emerges to a time of intense love and devotion1 to an eager desire to prove herself worthy1 and to offer a sacrifice of the best powers she possesses4 ,unfortunately for peace of mind1 the happy epoch succeeding conversion not unfrequently ends in a dismal time of intellectual doubt and spiritual darkness4 ,just as the embryonic love of the youthful adolescent leads to a time when the opposite sex is rather an object of dislike than of attraction1 so the fervour of early conversion is apt to lead to a time of desolation2 but just as the incomplete sex love of early adolescence finds its antitype and fine flower in the later fully developed love of honourable man and woman1 so does the too rapturous and uncalculating religious devotion of these early years revive after the period of doubt1 transfigured and glorified into the religious conviction and devotion which makes the strength1 the joy1 and the guiding principle of adult life4 ,much depends on the circumstances and people surrounding the adolescent4 ,her unbounded capacity for hero-worship leads in many instances to a conscious or unconscious copying of parent1 guardian1 or teacher2 and although the ideals of the young are apt to far outpace those of the adult whose days of illusion are over1 yet they are probably formed on the same type4 ,one sees this illustrated by generations in the same family holding much the same religious or political opinions and showing the same aptitude for certain professions1 games1 and pursuits4 ,much there is in heredity1 but probably there is still more in environment4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,our ,,duties ,,towards ,,adolescent ,,girls4 ,these may be briefly summed up by saying that we have to provide adolescent girls with all things that are necessary for their souls and their bodies1 but any such bald and wholesale enunciation of our duty helps but little in clearing one's ideas and in pointing out the actual manner in which we are to perform it4 ,first1 with regard to the bodies of adolescent girls2 ,their primary needs1 just like the primary needs of all living beings1 are food1 warmth1 shelter1 exercise and rest1 with special care in sickness4 ,food4--,in spite of the great advance of knowledge in the present day1 it is doubtful whether much practical advance has been made in the dietetics of children and adolescents1 and it is to be feared that our great schools are especially deficient in this most important respect4 ,even when the age of childhood is past1 young people require a much larger amount of milk than is usually included in their diet sheet4 ,it would be well for them to begin the day with porridge and milk or some such cereal preparation4 ,coffee or cocoa made with milk should certainly have the preference over tea for breakfast1 and in addition to the porridge or other such dish1 fish1 egg1 or bacon1 with plenty of bread and butter1 should form the morning repast4 ,the midday meal should consist of fresh meat1 fish1 or poultry1 with an abundance of green vegetables and a liberal helping of sweet pudding4 ,the articles of diet which are most deficient in our lists are milk1 butter1 and sugar4 ,there is an old prejudice against sugar which is quite unfounded so far as the healthy individual is concerned4 ,cane sugar has recently been proved to be a most valuable muscle food1 and when taken in the proper way for sweetening beverages1 fruit1 and puddings1 it is entirely good4 ,the afternoon meal should consist chiefly of bread and butter and milk or cocoa1 with a fair proportion of simple1 well-made cake1 and in the case where animal food has been taken both at breakfast and dinner1 the evening meal might well be bread and butter1 bread and milk1 or milk pudding with stewed or fresh fruit4 ,but it is different in the case of those adolescents whose midday meal is necessarily slight1 and who ought to have a thoroughly good dinner or supper early in the evening2 ,one would have thought it unnecessary to mention alcohol in speaking of the dietary of young people were it not that1 strange to say1 beer is still given at some of our public schools4 ,it is extraordinary that wise and intelligent people should still give beer to young boys and girls at the very time when what they want is strength and not stimulus1 food for the growing frame and nothing to stimulate the already exuberant passions4 ,an invariable rule with regard to the food of children should be that their meals should be regular1 that they should consist of good1 varied1 nourishing food taken at regular hours1 and that nothing should be eaten between meals4 ,the practice of eating biscuits1 fruit1 and sweets between meals during childhood and adolescence not only spoils the digestion and impairs the nutrition at the time1 but it is apt to lay the foundation of a constant craving for something which is only too likely to take the form of alcoholic craving in later years4 ,it is impossible for the stomach to perform its duty satisfactorily if it is never allowed rest1 and the introduction of stray morsels of food at irregular times prevents this1 and introduces confusion into the digestive work1 because there will be in the stomach at the same time food in various stages of digestion4 ,warmth4--,warmth is one of the influences essential to health and to sound development1 and although artificial warmth is more urgently required by little children and by old people than it is by young adults1 still1 if their bodies are to come to their utmost possible perfection1 they require suitable conditions of temperature4 ,this is provided in the winter partly by artificial heating of houses and partly by the wearing of suitable clothing4 ,ideal clothing is loose of texture and woven of wool1 although a fairly good substitute can be obtained in materials that are made from cotton treated specially4 ,this is not the time or place in which to insist on the very grave dangers that accompany the use of ordinary flannelette1 but a caution must be addressed in passing to those who provide clothing for others4 ,in providing clothes it is necessary to remember the two reasons for their existence3 7#a7 to cover the body1 and 7#b7 as far as possible to protect a large area of its surface against undue damp and cold4 ,adolescents1 as a rule1 begin early to take a great interest in their clothes4 ,from the time that the appreciation of the opposite sex commences1 the child who has hitherto been indifferent or even slovenly in the matter of clothing takes a very living interest in it2 indeed the adornment of person and the minute care devoted to details of the toilet by young people of both sexes remind one irresistibly of the preening of the feathers1 the strutting and other antics of birds before their mates4 ,girls especially are apt to forget the primary object of clothing1 and to think of it too much as a means of adornment4 ,this leads to excesses and follies such as tight waists1 high-heeled shoes1 to the ungainly crinoline or to indecent scantiness of skirts4 ,direct interference in these matters is badly tolerated1 but much may be accomplished both by example and by cultivating a refined and artistic taste in sumptuary matters4 ,sleep4--,amongst the most important of the factors that conduce to well-being both of body and mind must be reckoned an adequate amount of sleep4 ,this has been made the subject of careful inquiry by ,dr4 ,dukes of ,rugby and ,miss ,alice ,ravenhill4 ,both these trained and careful observers agree that the majority of young people get far too little rest and sleep4 ,we have to remember that although fully-grown adults will take rest when they can get it in the daytime1 young people are too active1 and sometimes too restless1 to give any repose to brain or muscle except during sleep4 ,in the early years of adolescence ten hours sleep is none too much2 even an adult in full work ought to have eight hours1 and still more is necessary for the rapidly-growing1 continually-developing1 and never-resting adolescent4 ,it is unfortunately a fact that even in the boarding schools of the well-to-do the provision of sleep is too limited1 and for the children of the poor1 whose homes are far from comfortable and who are accustomed to doing pretty nearly as their elders do1 the night seldom begins before eleven or even twelve o'clock4 ,it is one of the saddest sights of ,london to see small children dancing on the pavement in front of the public-houses up to a very late hour1 while groups of loafing boys and hoydenish girls stand about at the street corners half the night4 ,there is little wonder that the morning finds them heavy and unrefreshed1 and that schoolwork suffers severely from want of the alert and vigorous attention that might be secured by a proper night's sleep4 ,great harm is done by allowing children to take work home with them from school2 if possible1 the day's work should finish with school hours1 and the scanty leisure should be spent in healthy exercise or in sleep4 ,overcrowding4--,in considering the question of adequate sleep it would be well to think of the conditions of healthy sleep4 ,for sleep to be refreshing and health-giving1 the sleeper ought to have a comfortable bed and an abundant supply of fresh air4 ,unfortunately the great majority of our people both in town and country do not enjoy these advantages4 ,in both town and country there is a great deficiency of suitable dwellings at rents that can be paid with the usual rate of wages4 ,in consequence families are crowded into one1 two1 or three rooms1 and even in the case of people far above the status of day labourers and artisans it is the exception and not the rule for each individual to have a separate bed4 ,the question of ventilation is certainly better understood than it was a few years ago1 but still leaves much to be desired1 and there is still an urgent necessity for preaching the gospel of the open window4 ,exercise4--,in considering the question of the exercise of adolescents1 one's thoughts immediately turn to athletics1 games1 and dancing4 ,as a nation the ,english have always been fond of athletics1 and have attributed to the influence of such team games as cricket and football not only their success in various competitions but also their success in the sterner warfare of life4 ,this success has been obtained on the tented field and in the work of exploring1 mountaineering1 and other pursuits that make great demand not only on nerve and muscle but also on strength of character and powers of endurance4 ,team games appear to be the especial property of adolescents1 for young children are more or less individualistic and solitary in many of their games1 but boys and girls alike prefer team games from the pre-adolescent age up to adult life4 ,it is certain that no form of exercise is superior to these games3 they call into play every muscle of the body1 they make great demands on accuracy of eye and coordination1 they also stimulate and develop habits of command1 obedience1 loyalty1 and esprit de corps4 ,in the great public schools of ,england1 and in the private schools which look up to them as their models1 team games are played1 as one might say1 in a religious spirit4 ,the boy or girl who attempts to take an unfair advantage1 or who habitually plays for his or her own hand1 is quickly made to feel a pariah and an outcast4 ,among the greatest blessings that are conveyed to the children of the poorer classes is the instruction not only in the technique of team games but also in the inoculation of the spirit in which they ought to be played4 ,it is absolutely necessary that the highest ideals connected with games should be handed down1 for thus the children who perhaps do not always have the highest ideals before them in real life may learn through this mimic warfare how the battle of life must be fought and what are the characters of mind and body that deserve and ensure success4 ,it has been well said that those who make the songs of a nation help largely to make its character1 and equally surely those who teach and control the games of the adolescents are making or marring a national destiny4 ,among the means of physical and moral advancement may be claimed gymnastics4 ,and here1 alas1 this nation can by no means claim to be facile princeps4 ,not only have we been relatively slow in adopting properly systematised exercises1 but even to the present day the majority of elementary schools are without properly fitted gymnasia and duly qualified teachers4 ,the small and relatively poor ,scandinavian nations have admirably fitted gymnasia in connection with their ,folkschule1 which correspond to our elementary schools4 ,the exercises are based on those systematised by ,ling2 each series is varied1 and is therefore the more interesting1 and each lesson commences with simple1 easily performed movements1 leading on to those that are more elaborate and fatiguing1 and finally passing through a descending series to the condition of repose4 ,the gymnasia where such exercises are taught in ,england are relatively few and far between1 and it is lamentable to find that many excellent and well-appointed schools for children1 whose parents pay large sums of money for their education1 have no properly equipped gymnasia nor adequately trained teachers4 ,when the question is put1 ,how often do you have gymnastics at your school8 the answer is frequently1 ,we have none1 or1 ,half an hour once a week4 ,exercises such as ,ling's not only exercise every muscle in the body in a scientific and well-regulated fashion1 but being performed by a number of pupils at once in obedience to words of command1 discipline1 co-operation1 obedience to teachers1 and loyalty to comrades1 are taught at the same time4 ,the deepest interest attaches to many of the more complex exercises1 while some of them make large demands on the courage and endurance of the young people4 ,in ,scandinavia the ,state provides knickerbockers1 tunics1 and gymnasium shoes for those children whose parents are too poor to provide them2 and again1 in ,scandinavia there is very frequently the provision of bathrooms in which the pupils can have a shower bath and rub-down after the exercises4 ,these bathrooms in connection with the gymnasia need not necessarily be costly2 indeed many of them in ,stockholm and ,denmark merely consist of troughs in the cement floor1 on the edge of which the children sit in a row while they receive a shower bath over their heads and bodies4 ,the feet get well washed in the trough1 and the smart douche of water on head and shoulders acts as an admirable tonic4 ,another exercise which ought to be specially dear to a nation of islanders is swimming1 and this1 again1 is a relatively cheap luxury too much neglected amongst us4 ,certainly there are public baths1 but there are not enough to permit of all the elementary school children bathing even once a week1 and still less have they the opportunity of learning to swim4 ,there is much to be done yet before we can be justly proud of our national system of education4 ,we must not lose sight of the ideal with which we started--viz4 that we should endeavour to do the best that is possible for our young people in body1 soul1 and spirit4 ,the three parts of our nature are intertwined1 and a duty performed to one part has an effect on the whole4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,care ,,of ,,the ,,adolescent ,,girl ,,in ,,sickness4 ,if measured by the death-rate the period of adolescence should cause us little anxiety1 but a careful examination into the state of health of children of school age shows us that it is a time in which disorders of health abound1 and that although these disorders are not necessarily1 nor even generally1 fatal1 they are frequent1 they spoil the child's health1 and inevitably bear fruit in the shape of an injurious effect on health in after life4 ,that the health of adolescents should be unstable is what we ought to expect from the general instability of the organism due to the rapidity of growth and the remarkable developmental changes that are crowded into these few years4 ,rapidity of growth and increase of weight are very generally recognised1 although their effects upon health are apt to be overlooked4 ,on the other hand1 the still more remarkable development that occurs in adolescence is very generally ignored4 ,as a general rule the infectious fevers1 the so-called childish diseases--such as measles1 chicken-pox1 and whooping-cough--are less common in adolescence than they are in childhood1 while the special diseases of internal organs due to their overwork1 or to their natural tendency to degeneration1 is yet far in the future4 ,the chief troubles of adolescents appear to be due to overstress which accompanies rapid development1 to the difficulty of the whole organism in adapting itself to new functions and altered conditions1 and no doubt in some measure to the unwisdom both of the young people and of their advisers4 ,this is not the place for a general treatise on the diseases of adolescents1 but a few of the commonest and most obvious troubles should be noted4 ,the ,teeth4--,it is quite surprising to learn what a very large percentage of young soldiers are refused enlistment in the army on account of decayed or defective teeth1 and anyone who has examined the young women candidates for the ,civil ,service and for ,missionary ,societies must have recognised that their teeth are in no way better than those of the young men4 ,in addition to several vacancies in the dental series1 it is by no means unusual to find that a candidate has three or even five teeth severely decayed4 ,the extraordinary thing is that not only the young people and their parents very generally fail to recognise the gravity of this condition1 but that even their medical advisers have frequently acquiesced in a state of things that is not only disagreeable but dangerous4 ,a considerable proportion of people with decayed teeth have also suppuration about the margins of the gums and around the roots of the teeth4 ,this pyorrhoea alveolaris1 as it is called1 constitutes a very great danger to the patient's health1 the purulent discharge teems with poisonous micro-organisms1 which being constantly swallowed are apt to give rise to septic disease in various organs4 ,it is quite probable that some cases of gastric ulcer are due to this condition1 so too are some cases of appendicitis1 it has been known to cause a peculiarly fatal form of heart disease1 and it is also responsible for the painful swelling of the joints of the fingers1 with wasting of the muscles and general weakness which goes by the name of rheumatoid arthritis4 ,in addition to this there are many local affections1 such as swollen glands in the neck1 that may be due to this poisonous discharge4 ,one would think that the mere knowledge that decayed teeth can cause all this havoc would lead to a grand rush to the dentist1 but so far from being the case1 doctors find it extremely difficult to induce their patients to part with this unsightly1 evil-smelling1 and dangerous decayed tooth4 ,the ,throat4--,some throat affections1 such as diphtheria and quinsy1 are well known and justly dreaded2 and although many a child's life has been sacrificed to the slowness of its guardians to procure medical advice and the health-restoring antitoxin1 yet on the whole the public conscience is awake to this duty4 ,far otherwise is it with chronic diseases of the tonsils3 they may be riddled with small cysts1 they may be constantly in a condition of subacute inflammation dependent on a septic condition1 but no notice is taken except when chill1 constipation1 or a general run-down state of health aggravates the chronic into a temporary acute trouble4 ,and yet it is perhaps not going too far to say that for one young girl who is killed or invalided rapidly by diphtheria there are hundreds who are condemned to a quasi-invalid life owing to this persistent supply of poison to the system4 ,another condition of the throat which causes much ill-health is well known to the public under the name of adenoids4 ,unfortunately1 however1 many people have an erroneous idea that children will grow out of adenoids4 ,even if this were true it is extremely unwise to wait for so desirable an event4 ,adenoids may continue to grow1 and during the years that they are present they work great mischief4 ,owing to the blocking of the air-passages the mouth is kept constantly open1 greatly to the detriment of the throat and lungs4 ,owing to the interference with the circulation at the back of the nose and throat1 a considerable amount both of apparent and real stupidity is produced1 the brain works less well than it ought1 and the child's appearance is ruined by the flat1 broad bridge of the nose and the gaping mouth4 ,the tale of troubles due to adenoids is not even yet exhausted2 a considerable amount of discharge collects about them which it is not easy to clear away1 it undergoes very undesirable changes1 and is then swallowed to the great detriment of the stomach and the digestion4 ,the removal of septic tonsils and of adenoids is most urgently necessary1 and usually involves little distress or danger4 ,the change in the child's health and appearance that can thus be secured is truly wonderful1 especially if it be taught1 as it should be1 to keep its mouth shut and to breathe through the nose4 ,in the course of a few months the complexion will have cleared1 the expression will have regained its natural intelligence1 digestion will be well performed1 and the child's whole condition will be that of alert vigour instead of one of listless and sullen indifference4 ,errors of ,digestion4--,from the consideration of certain states of the nose1 mouth1 and throat1 it is easy to turn to what is so often their consequence4 ,many forms of indigestion are due to the septic materials swallowed4 ,it would not1 however1 be fair to say that all indigestion is thus caused2 not infrequently indigestion is due to errors of diet1 and here the blame must be divided between the poverty and ignorance of many parents and the self-will of adolescents4 ,the foods that are best for young people--such as bread1 milk1 butter1 sugar1 and eggs--are too frequently scarce in their dietaries owing to their cost2 and again1 in the case of many girls whose parents are able and willing to provide them with a thoroughly satisfactory diet-sheet1 dyspepsia is caused by their refusal to take what is good for them1 and by their preference for unsuitable and indigestible viands4 ,a further cause of indigestion must be sought in the haste with which food is too often eaten4 ,the failure to rise at the appointed time leads to a hasty breakfast1 and this must eventually cause indigestion4 ,the food imperfectly masticated and not sufficiently mixed with saliva enters the stomach ill-prepared1 and the hasty rush to morning school or morning work effectually prevents the stomach from dealing satisfactorily with the mass so hastily thrust into it4 ,there is an old saying that ,those whom the gods will destroy they first make mad1 and in many instances young people who fall victims to the demon of dyspepsia owe their sorrows1 if not to madness1 at any rate to ignorance and want of consideration4 ,the defective teeth1 septic tonsils1 discharging adenoids1 poverty of their parents and their own laziness1 all conspire to cause digestive troubles which bear a fruitful crop of further evils1 for thus are caused such illnesses as anmia and gastric ulcer4 ,constipation claims a few words to itself4 ,and here again we ought to consider certain septic processes4 ,the refuse of the food should travel along the bowels at a certain rate1 but if owing to sluggishness of their movements or to defects in the quality and amount of their secretion1 the refuse is too long retained the masses become unduly dry1 and1 constantly shrinking in volume1 are no longer capable of being urged along the tube at the proper rate4 ,in consequence of this the natural micro-organisms of the intestine cease to be innocent and become troublesome2 they lead in the long run to a peculiar form of blood-poisoning1 and to so many diseased conditions that it is impossible to deal with them at the present moment4 ,the existence of constipation is too often a signal for the administration of many doses of medicine4 ,the wiser1 the less harmful1 and the more effectual method of dealing with it would be to endeavour to secure the natural action of the bowels by a change in the diet1 which should contain more vegetable and less animal constituents4 ,the patient should also be instructed to drink plenty of water1 either hot or cold1 a large glassful on going to bed and one on first awaking1 and also if necessary an hour before each meal4 ,steady exercise is also of very great service1 and instead of starting so late as to have no time for walking to school or work1 a certain portion of the daily journey should be done on foot4 ,further1 in all cases where it is possible1 team games1 gymnastics1 and dancing should be called in to supplement the walk4 ,headache4--,headache may be due to so many different causes that it would be impossible in this little book to adequately consider them1 but it would not be fair to omit to mention that in many cases the headache of young people is due to their want of spectacles4 ,the idea that spectacles are only required by people advanced in life is by this time much shaken1 but even now not only many parents object to their children enjoying this most necessary assistance to imperfect vision1 but also employers may be found so foolish and selfish as to refuse to employ those persons who need to wear glasses4 ,the folly as well as selfishness of this objection is demonstrated by the far better work done by a person whose vision has been corrected1 and the absolute danger incurred by all who have to deal with machinery if vision is imperfect4 ,among other causes for headache are the defects of mouth1 throat1 stomach1 and bowels already described1 because in all of them there is a supply of septic material to the blood which naturally causes headache and other serious symptoms4 ,abnormalities of ,menstruation4--,the normal period should occur at regular intervals about once a month4 ,its duration and amount vary within wide limits1 but in each girl it should remain true to her individual type1 and it ought not to be accompanied by pain or distress4 ,as a rule the period starts quite normally1 and it is not until the girl's health has been spoiled by over-exertion of body or mind1 by unwise exertion during the period1 or by continued exposure to damp or cold1 that it becomes painful and abnormal in time or in amount4 ,one of the earliest signs of approaching illness--such as consumption1 anmia1 and mental disorder--is to be found in the more or less sudden cessation of the period4 ,this should always be taken as a danger-signal1 and as indicating the need of special medical advice4 ,another point that should enter into intimate talk with girls is to make them understand the co-relation of their own functions to the great destiny that is in store4 ,a girl is apt to be both shocked and humiliated when she first hears of menstruation and its phenomena4 ,should this function commence before she is told about it1 she will necessarily look upon it with disgust and perhaps with fear4 ,it is indeed a most alarming incident in the case of a girl who knows nothing about it1 but if1 before the advent of menstruation1 it be explained to her that it is a sign of changes within her body that will gradually1 after the lapse of some years1 fit her also to take her place amongst the mothers of the land1 her shame and fear will be converted into modest gladness1 and she will readily understand why she is under certain restrictions1 and has at times to give up work or pleasure in order that her development may be without pain1 healthy1 and complete4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,mental ,,and ,,moral ,,training4 ,the years of adolescence1 during which rapid growth and development inevitably cause so much stress and frequently give rise to danger1 are the very years in which the weight of school education necessarily falls most heavily4 ,the children of the poor leave school at fourteen years of age1 just the time when the children of the wealthier classes are beginning to understand the necessity of education and to work with a clearer realisation of the value and aim of lessons4 ,the whole system of education has altered of late years1 and school work is now conducted far more intelligently and with a greater appreciation of the needs and capacities of the pupils than it was some fifty years ago4 ,work is made more interesting1 the relation of different studies to each other is more adequately put in evidence1 and the influence that school studies have on success in after life is more fully realised by all concerned4 ,the system of training is1 however1 far from perfect4 ,in the case of girls1 more particularly1 great care has to be exercised not to attempt to teach too much1 and to give careful consideration to the physiological peculiarities of the pupils4 ,it is impossible for girls who are undergoing such rapid physiological and psychical changes to be always equally able and fit for strenuous work4 ,there are days in every girl's life when she is not capable of her best work1 and when a wise and sympathetic teacher will see that it is better for her to do comparatively little4 ,and yet these slack times are just those in which there is the greatest danger of a girl indulging in daydreams1 and when her thoughts need to be more than usually under control4 ,these times may be utilised for lighter subjects and for such manual work as does not need great physical exertion4 ,it is not a good time for exercises1 for games1 for dancing1 and for gardening1 nor are they the days on which mathematics should be pressed1 but they are days in which much supervision is needed1 and when time should not be permitted to hang heavily on hand4 ,just as there are days in which consideration should be shown1 so too there are longer periods of time in which it is unwise for a girl to be pressed to prepare for or to undergo a strenuous examination4 ,the brain of the girl appears to be as good as that of the boy1 while her application1 industry1 and emulation are far in advance of his1 but she has these physiological peculiarities1 and if they are disregarded there will not only be an occasional disastrous failure in bodily or mental health1 but girls as a class will fail to do the best work of which they are capable1 and will fail to reap the fullest advantage from an education which is costly in money1 time1 and strength4 ,it follows that the curriculum for girls presents greater difficulties than the curriculum for boys1 and that those ladies who are responsible for the organisation of a school for girls need to be women of great resource1 great patience1 and endowed with much sympathetic insight4 ,the adolescent girl will generally do little to help her teachers in this matter4 ,she is incapable of recognising her own limitations1 she is full of emulation1 and is desirous of attaining and keeping a good position not only in her school but also in the ,university or in any other public body for whose examination she may present herself4 ,the young girl most emphatically needs to be saved from herself1 and she has to learn the lessons of obedience and of cheerful acquiescence in restrictions that certainly appear to her simply vexatious4 ,one of the difficulties in private schools arises from the necessity of providing occupation for every hour of the waking day1 while avoiding the danger of overwork with its accompanying exhaustion4 ,in the solution of this problem such subjects as gymnastics1 games1 dancing1 needlework1 cooking1 and domestic economy will come in as a welcome relief from the more directly intellectual studies1 and equally as a relief to the conscientious but hard-pressed woman who is trying to save her pupils from the evils of unoccupied time on the one hand and undue mental pressure on the other4 ,boys1 and to a less extent girls1 attending elementary schools who leave at fourteen are not likely to suffer in the same way or from the same causes4 ,one of the difficulties in their case is that they leave school just when work is becoming interesting and before habits of study have been formed1 indeed before the subjects taught have been thoroughly assimilated1 and that therefore in the course of a few years little may be left of their painfully acquired and too scanty knowledge4 ,free education has been given to the children of the poor for nearly fifty years1 and yet the mothers who were schoolgirls in the seventies and eighties appear to have saved but little from the wreck of their knowledge except the power to sign their names and to read in an imperfect and blundering manner4 ,here1 too1 there are many problems to be solved1 one among them being the great necessity of endeavouring to correlate the lessons given in school to the work that the individual will have to perform in after life4 ,it would appear as if the girls of the elementary schools1 in addition to reading1 writing1 and simple arithmetic1 sufficient to enable them to write letters1 to read books1 and to keep simple household accounts1 ought to be taught the rudiments of cookery1 the cutting out and making of garments1 and the best methods of cleansing as applied to houses1 household utensils and clothing4 ,in addition1 and as serious subjects1 not merely as a recreation1 they should be taught gymnastics1 part singing and mother-craft4 ,no doubt in individual schools much of this modification of the curriculum has been accomplished1 but more remains to be done before we can be satisfied that we have done the best in our power to fit the children of the country for their life's work4 ,another of the great problems connected with the children in elementary schools1 a problem which1 indeed1 arises out of their leaving at fourteen1 is that of the ,continuation ,school or ,evening ,school1 and the system which is known as half-timing4 ,it is well known that although young people from fourteen to sixteen years of age are well able to profit by continued instruction1 they are1 with very few exceptions1 not at all well adapted for commencing their life's work as industrials4 ,the general incoherency and restlessness peculiar to that age frequently lead to a change of employment every few months1 while their general irresponsibility and want of self-control lead to frequent disputes with foremen and other officials in factories and shops1 in consequence of which the unfortunate child is constantly out of work4 ,in proportion to the joy and pride caused by the realised capacity to earn money and by the sense of independence that employment brings1 is the unhappiness1 and in many cases the misery1 due to unemployment1 and to repeated failures to obtain and to keep an independent position4 ,the boy or girl out of work has an uneasy feeling that he or she has not earned the just and expected share towards household expenses4 ,the feeling of dependence and well-nigh of disgrace causes a rapid deterioration in health and spirits1 and it is only too likely that in many instances where unemployment is continuous or frequently repeated1 the unemployed will quickly become the unemployable4 ,so far as the young people themselves are concerned1 it would be nearly always an unmixed benefit that they should pass at fourteen into a ,technical ,school or ,continuation ,school1 as the case may be4 ,among the great difficulties to the solution of this problem is the fact that in many working-class households the few weekly shillings brought into the family store by the elder children are of very real importance1 and although the raising of the age of possible employment and independence would enable the next generation to work better and to earn higher and more continuous wages1 it is difficult for the parents to acquiesce in the present deprivation involved1 even though it represents so much clear gain in the not distant future4 ,at the present time there are ,evening ,schools1 but this system does not work well4 ,all busy people are well aware that after a hard day's work neither brain nor body is in the best possible condition for two or three hours of serious mental effort4 ,the child who has spent the day in factory or shop has really pretty nearly used up all his or her available mental energy1 and after the evening meal is naturally heavy1 stupid1 irritable1 and altogether in a bad condition for further effort4 ,the evenings ought to be reserved for recreation1 for the gymnasium1 the singing class1 the swimming bath1 and even for the concert and the theatre4 ,the system of half-timing during ordinary school life does not work well1 and it would be a great pity should a similar system be introduced in the hope of furthering the education of boys and girls who are just entering industrial life4 ,there is reason to hope that a great improvement in education will be secured by ,mr4 ,hayes ,fisher's bill4 ,another subject to which the attention of patriots and philanthropists ought to be turned is the sort of employment open to children at school-leaving age4 ,the greatest care should be taken to diminish the number of those who endeavour to achieve quasi-independence in those occupations which are well known as blind alleys4 ,in ,england it is rare that girls should seek these employments1 but in ,scotland there is far too large a number of girl messengers4 ,in this particular1 the case of the girl is superior to that of the boy4 ,the tweeny develops into housemaid or cook2 the young girls employed in superior shops to wait on the elder shopwomen hope to develop into their successors1 and the girls who nurse babies on the doorsteps are1 after all1 acquiring knowledge and dexterity that may fit them for domestic service or for the management of their own families a few years later4 ,the girls of the richer classes have not the same difficulties as their poorer sisters4 ,they generally remain at school until a much later age1 and subsequently have the joy and stimulus of college life1 of foreign travel1 of social engagements1 or of philanthropic enterprise4 ,still1 a residue remains even of girls of this class whose own inclinations1 or whose family circumstances1 lead to an aimless1 purposeless existence1 productive of much injury to both body and mind1 and only too likely to end in hopeless ennui and nervous troubles4 ,it should be thoroughly understood by parents and guardians that no matter what the girl's circumstances may be1 she ought always to have an abundance of employment4 ,the ideas of obligation and of duty should not be discarded when school and college life cease4 ,the well-to-do girl should be encouraged to take up some definite employment which would fill her life and provide her with interests and duties4 ,any other arrangement tends to make the time between leaving school or college and a possible marriage not only a wasted time but also a seed-time during which a crop is sown of bad habits1 laziness of body1 and slackness of mind1 that subsequently bear bitter fruit4 ,it is quite time for us to recognise that unemployment and absence of duties is as great a disadvantage to the rich as it is to the poor2 the sort of employment must necessarily differ1 but the spirit in which it is to be done is the same4 ,one point that one would wish to emphasise with regard to all adolescents is that although occupation for the whole day is most desirable1 hard work should occupy but a certain proportion of the waking hours4 ,for any adolescent1 or indeed for any of us to attempt to work hard for twelve or fourteen hours out of the twenty-four is to store up trouble4 ,it is not possible to lay down any hard and fast rule as to the length of hours of work1 because the other factors in the problem vary so greatly4 ,one person may be exhausted by four hours of intellectual effort1 whereas another is less fatigued by eight2 and further1 the daily occupations vary greatly in the demand that they make on attention and on such qualities as reason1 judgment1 and power of initiation4 ,those who teach or learn such subjects as mathematics1 or those who are engaged in such occupations as portrait-painting and the higher forms of musical effort1 must necessarily take more out of themselves than those who are employed in feeding a machine1 in nursing a baby1 or in gardening operations4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,final ,,aim ,,of ,,education4 ,the great problem before those who have the responsibility for the training of the young is that of preparing them to take their place in the world as fathers1 mothers1 and citizens1 and among the fundamental duties connected with this responsibility must come the placing before the eyes of the young people high ideals1 attractive examples1 and the securing to them the means of adequate preparation4 ,as a nation it seems to be with us at present as it was with the people of ,israel in the days of ,eli3 the word of the ,lord was precious 7or scarce7 in those days2 there was no open vision4 ,we seem to have come to a time of civilisation in which there is much surface refinement and a widespread veneer of superficial knowledge1 but in which there is little enthusiasm and in which the great aim and object of teaching and of training is but too little realised4 ,in the endeavour to know a little of all things we seem to have lost the capacity for true and exhaustive knowledge of anything4 ,it would appear as if the remedy for this most unsatisfactory state of things has to commence long before the years of adolescence1 even while the child is yet in its cradle4 ,the old-fashioned ideas of duty1 obedience1 and discipline must be once more household words and living entities before the race can enter on a period of regeneration4 ,we want a poet with the logic of ,browning1 the sweetness of ,tennyson1 and the force of ,rudyard ,kipling1 to sing a song that would penetrate through indifference1 sloth1 and love of pleasure1 and make of us the nation that we might be1 and of which the ,england of bygone years had the promise4 ,speaking specially with regard to girls1 let us first remember that the highest earthly ideal for a woman is that she should be a good wife and a good mother4 ,it is not necessary to say this in direct words to every small girl1 but she ought to be so educated1 so guided1 as to instinctively realise that wifehood and motherhood is the flower and perfection of her being4 ,this is the hope and ideal that should sanctify her lessons and sweeten the right and proper discipline of life4 ,all learning1 all handicraft1 and all artistic training should take their place as a preparation to this end4 ,each generation that comes on to the stage of life is the product of that which preceded it4 ,it is the flower of the present national life and the seed of that which is to come4 ,we ought to recognise that all educational aims and methods are really subordinate to this great end2 if this were properly realised by adolescents it would be of the greatest service and help in their training4 ,the deep primal instinct of fatherhood and motherhood would help them more than anything else to seek earnestly and successfully for the highest attainable degree of perfection of their own bodies1 their own minds1 and their own souls4 ,it is1 however1 impossible to aim at an ideal that is unseen and even unknown1 and although the primal instinct exists in us all1 its fruition is greatly hindered by the way in which it is steadily ignored1 and by the fact that any proclamation of its existence is considered indiscreet and even indelicate4 ,how are children to develop a holy reverence for their own bodies unless they know of their wonderful destiny8 ,if they do not recognise that at least in one respect ,god has confided to them in some measure ,his own creative function1 how can they jealously guard against all that would injure their bodies and spoil their hopes for the exercise of this function8 ,there is1 even at the present time1 a division of opinion as to when and in what manner children are to be made aware of their august destiny4 ,we are indeed only now beginning to realise that ignorance is not necessarily innocence1 and that knowledge of these matters may be sanctified and blessed4 ,it is1 however1 certain that the conspiracy of silence which lasted so many years has brought forth nothing but evil4 ,if a girl remains ignorant of physiological facts1 the shock of the eternal realities of life that come to her on marriage is always pernicious and sometimes disastrous4 ,if1 on the other hand1 such knowledge is obtained from servants and depraved playfellows1 her purity of mind must be smirched and injured4 ,even among those who hold that children ought to be instructed1 there is a division of opinion as to when this instruction is to begin4 ,some say at puberty1 others a few years later1 perhaps on the eve of marriage1 and yet others think that the knowledge will come with less shock1 with less personal application1 and therefore in a more natural and useful manner from the very beginning of conscious life4 ,these last would argue--why put the facts of reproduction on a different footing from those of digestion and respiration8 ,as facts in the physical life they hold a precisely similar position4 ,upon the due performance of bodily functions depends the welfare of the whole organism1 and although reproduction1 unlike the functions of respiration and digestion1 is not essential to the life of the individual1 it is essential to the life of the nation4 ,the facts of physiology are best taught to little children by a perfectly simple recognition of the phenomena of life around them--the cat with her kittens1 the bird with its fledgelings1 and still more the mother with her infant1 are all common facts and beautiful types of motherhood4 ,instead of inventing silly and untrue stories as to the origin of the kitten and the fledgeling1 it is better and wiser to answer the child's question by a direct statement of fact1 that ,god has given the power to ,his creatures to perpetuate themselves1 that the gift of ,life is one of ,his good gifts bestowed in mercy on all ,his creatures4 ,the mother's share in this gift and duty can be observed by1 and simply explained to1 the child from its earliest years2 it comes then with no shock1 no sense of shame1 but as a type of joy and gladness1 an image of that holiest of all relations1 the ,eternal ,mother and the ,heavenly ,child4 ,somewhat later in life1 probably immediately before puberty in boys and shortly after puberty in girls1 the father's share in this mystery may naturally come up for explanation4 ,the physiological facts connected with this are not so constantly in evidence before children1 and therefore do not press for explanation in the same way as do those of motherhood1 but the time comes soon in the schoolboy's life when the special care of his own body has to be urged on him1 and this knowledge ought to come protected by the sanction that unless he is faithful to his trust he cannot look to the reward of a happy home life with wife and children4 ,in the case of the girl the question as to fatherhood is more likely to arise out of the reading of the ,bible or other literature1 or by her realisation that at any rate in the case of human parenthood there is evidently the intermediation of a father4 ,the details of this knowledge need not necessarily be pressed on the adolescent girl1 but it is a positive cruelty to allow the young woman to marry without knowing the facts on which her happiness depends4 ,another way in which the mystery of parenthood can be simply and comfortably taught is through the study of vegetable physiology4 ,the fertilisation of the ovules by pollen which falls directly from the anthers on to the stigma can be used as a representation of similar facts in animal physiology4 ,it is very desirable1 however1 that this study of the vegetable should succeed and not precede that of the domestic animals in the teaching of boys and girls4 ,viewed from this standpoint there is surely no difficulty to the parent in imparting to the child this necessary knowledge4 ,we have to remember that children have to know the mysteries of life4 ,they cannot live in the world without seeing the great drama constantly displayed to them in family life and in the lives of domesticated animals4 ,they cannot read the literature of ,greece and ,rome1 nay1 they cannot study the ,book of ,books1 without these facts being constantly brought to mind4 ,a child's thirst for the interpretation of this knowledge is imperative and unsatiable--not from prurience nor from evil-mindedness1 but in obedience to a law of our nature1 the child demands this knowledge--and will get it4 ,it is for fathers and mothers to say whether these sublime and beautiful mysteries shall be lovingly and reverently unveiled by themselves or whether the child's mind shall be poisoned and all beauty and reverence destroyed by depraved school-fellows and vulgar companions4 ,in the hope of securing the purity1 reverence and piety of our children1 in the hope that they may grow up worthy of their high destiny1 let us do what we may to keep their honour unsmirched1 to preserve their innocence1 and to lead them on from the unconscious goodness of childhood to the clear-eyed1 fully conscious dignity of maturity1 that our sons may grow up as young plants1 and our daughters as the polished corners of the temple4 ,,part ,,ii43 ,,boys4 ,,by ,f4 ,,arthur ,,sibly1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition4 ,my contribution to this little book was originally intended for the eyes of parents1 scoutmasters1 and other adults4 ,since #aiac1 when the book was first published1 it has been my privilege to receive from these so many letters of warm appreciation that it seems needless to retain the apologetic preface which ,i then wrote4 ,the object which ,i had in view at that time was the hastening of a supremely important reform4 ,i have to-day the very deep joy of knowing that my words have carried conviction to many adults and have given help to countless boys4 ,one result of this publication was entirely unlooked for4 ,it did not occur to me1 as ,i wrote1 that the book would be read by boys and young men4 ,it was not written at all for this purpose4 ,in some respects its influence over them has1 however1 been increased by this obvious fact4 ,in this book boys have1 as it were1 overheard a confidential conversation about themselves carried on by adults anxious for their welfare1 and some at least are evidently more impressed by this conversation than by a direct appeal--in which they are liable to suspect exaggeration4 ,i have received hundreds of letters from boys and young men4 ,these confirm in every way the conclusions set forth in this book1 and prove that the need for guidance in sex matters is acute and universal4 ,the relief and assistance which many boys have experienced from correspondence with me1 and the interest which ,i find in their letters have caused me--spite of the extreme preoccupation of a strenuous life--to issue a special invitation to those who may feel inclined to write to me4 ,great diversity of opinion exists as to the best method of giving sex instruction1 and those who have had experience of one method are curiously blind to the merits of other methods1 which they usually strongly denounce4 ,while ,i have my own views as to the best method to adopt1 ,i am quite sure that each one of very many methods can1 in suitable hands1 produce great good1 and that the very poorest method is infinitely superior to no method at all4 ,some are for oral teaching1 some for the use of a pamphlet1 some favour confidential individual teaching1 others collective public teaching4 ,some would try to make sex a sacred subject2 some would prefer to keep the emotional element out and treat reproduction as a matter-of-fact science subject4 ,some wish the parent to give the teaching1 some the teacher1 some the doctor1 some a lecturer specially trained for this purpose4 ,good results have been obtained by every one of these methods4 ,during recent years much additional evidence has accumulated in my hands of the beneficent results of such teaching as ,i advocate in these pages1 and ,i am confident that of boys who have been wisely guided and trained1 few fail to lead clean lives even when associated with those who are generally and openly corrupt4 ,i must1 however1 emphasise my belief that the cleanliness of a boy's life depends ultimately not upon his knowledge of good and evil but upon his devotion to the ,right4 ,self-reverence1 self-knowledge1 self-control1 ,these three alone lead life to sovereign power4 ,where these are not1 it is idle to inculcate the rarest and most difficult of all virtues4 ,f4 ,,arthur ,,sibly4 ,,wycliffe1 ,,stonehouse1 ,,glos4 ,september #aiah4 ,,introductory ,,note4 ,the term puberty will so often be used in the following chapters that a brief account of the phenomena of puberty may appropriately be given at the outset of this work4 ,puberty is a name given to the age at which a boy becomes capable of being a father4 ,in temperate climates this age is reached at about fifteen years1 though some boys attain it at twelve and some not until seventeen4 ,the one obvious and invariable sign of puberty is a change of pitch in the voice1 which assumes its bass character after an embarrassing period of squeaky alternations between the high and low tones4 ,the age is a critical one1 as several important changes take place in body and in mind4 ,the reproductive organs undergo considerable development and become sensitive to any stimulus1 physical or mental4 ,the seminal fluid1 which in normal cases has hitherto been secreted little1 if at all1 is now elaborated by the testicles1 and contains spermatazoa--minute organisms which are essential to reproduction4 ,under the stimulus of sexual thoughts this fluid is secreted in such quantity as to give rise to involuntary discharge during sleep4 ,these nocturnal emissions are so often found among boys and young men that some physiologists consider them to be quite normal4 ,my experience leads me to doubt this conclusion4 ,another physical change associated with puberty is the growth of hair on the pubes and on the face3 in this latter situation the growth is slow4 ,with the capacity for fatherhood comes a very strong awakening of the sexual instinct1 which manifests itself in passion and in lust--the unconscious and the conscious sex hunger4 ,the passion shows itself in a ludicrously indiscriminate and exaggerated susceptibility to female attractions--a susceptibility the sexual character of which is usually quite unrecognised4 ,among boys who have sex knowledge there is also a tendency to dwell on sexual thoughts when the mind is not otherwise occupied4 ,passion and lust do not at once develop their full strength2 but1 coming at a time when self-control is very weak1 and coming with all the attraction of novelty1 they often dominate the mind even in normal cases1 and may become tyrannous when the reproductive system has been prematurely stimulated4 ,a heightened self-consciousness and an antagonism to authority so often follow the attainment of puberty that they are usually considered to be its results4 ,my own experience with boys satisfies me that this conclusion is not correct4 ,self-consciousness1 when it occurs in boyhood1 is usually the result of an unclean inner life4 ,puberty merely increases the self-consciousness by intensifying its cause4 ,when the mind is clean there is no marked change in this respect at puberty4 ,the antagonism to authority so often observed after puberty is the product of unsatisfactory external influences4 ,with puberty the desire to stand well with others1 and in particular the desire to seem manly1 increases4 ,if a debased public opinion demands of a boy the cheap manliness of profanity1 tobacco1 and irreverence1 the demand creates a plentiful supply1 while it also suppresses as priggish or pi any avowed or suspected devotion to higher ideals4 ,a healthy public opinion1 working in harmony with a boy's nobler instincts1 calls forth in him an earnest devotion to high ideals1 and causes him to exercise1 on the development of his powers and in a crusade against wrong1 the new energies which a wholesome puberty places at his disposal4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys3 ,,the ,,author',s ,,own ,,experience4 ,of the perils which beset the growing boy all are recognised1 and1 in a measure1 guarded against except the most inevitable and most fatal peril of all4 ,in all that concerns the use and abuse of the reproductive organs the great majority of boys have hitherto been left without adult guidance1 and have imbibed their ideas from the coarser of their companions and from casual references to the subject in the ,bible and other books4 ,under these conditions very few boys escape two of the worst dangers into which it is possible for a lad to fall--the artificial stimulation of the reproductive organs and the acquisition of degraded ideas on the subject of sex4 ,that many lives are thus prematurely shortened1 that many constitutions are permanently enfeebled1 that very many lads who might otherwise have striven successfully against the sexual temptations of adult life succumb--almost without a struggle--to them1 can be doubted by no one who is familiar with the inner life of boys and men4 ,of these two evils1 self-abuse1 though productive of manifold and disastrous results1 is distinctly the less4 ,many boys outgrow the physical injuries which1 in ignorance1 they inflict upon themselves in youth2 but very few are able wholly to cleanse themselves from the foul desires associated in their minds with sex4 ,these desires make young men impotent in the face of temptation4 ,under their evil dominance1 even men of kind disposition will1 by seduction1 inflict on an innocent girl agony1 misery1 degradation1 and premature death4 ,they will indulge ,in the most degrading of all vices with prostitutes on the street4 ,they will defile the atmosphere of social life with filthy talk and ribald jest4 ,even a clean and ennobling passion can do little to redeem them4 ,the pure stream of human love is made turbid with lust4 ,after a temporary uplifting in marriage the soul is again dragged down1 marriage vows are broken and the blessings of home life are turned into wormwood and gall4 ,that a system so destructive of physical and of spiritual health should have lasted almost intact until now will1 ,i believe1 shortly become a matter for general amazement2 for while evidence of the widespread character of youthful perversion is a product of quite recent years1 the assumptions on which this system has been based are unreasonable and incapable of proof4 ,since conclusive evidence of the prevalence of impurity among boys is available1 ,i will not at present invite the reader to examine the assumptions which lead most people to a contrary belief4 ,when ,i do so1 ,i shall hope to demonstrate that we might reasonably expect to find things precisely as they are4 ,in the first and second chapters we shall see to what conclusions teachers who have actual experience in the matter have been led4 ,there are several teachers whose authority in most matters stands so very much above my own that it might seem presumptuous to begin by laying my own experiences before the reader2 but ,i venture to take this course because no other teacher1 as far as ,i know1 has published quite such definite evidence as ,i have done2 and ,i think that the more general statements of such eminent men as ,canon ,lyttelton1 ,mr4 ,a4,c4 ,benson1 and ,dr4 ,clement ,dukes will appeal to the reader more powerfully when he has some idea of the manner in which conclusions on this subject may be reached4 ,i have some reason1 also1 for the belief that the paper ,i read in #aijh at the ,london ,university before the ,international ,congress on ,moral ,education has been considered of great significance by very competent judges4 ,by a special decision of the ,executive of the ,congress it--alone of all sectional papers--was printed in extenso in the official report4 ,later on1 it came under the notice of ,sir ,r4 ,baden-,powell1 at whose request it was republished in the ,headquarters ,gazette--the official organ of the ,boy ,scout movement4 ,it certainly did require some courage at the time to put my results before the public1 for ,i was not then aware that men of great eminence in the educational world had already made equally sweeping1 if less definite1 statements4 ,emboldened by this fact and by the commendations above referred to1 ,i venture to quote the greater part of this short paper4 ,the opinions ,i am about to put forward are based almost entirely on my own twenty years' experience as a housemaster4 ,my house contains forty-eight boys1 who vary in age from ten to nineteen and come from comfortable middle-class homes4 ,private interviews with individual boys in my study have been the chief vehicle of my teaching and the chief source of my information4 ,my objects in these interviews have been to warn boys against the evils of private impurity1 to supply them with a certain amount of knowledge on sexual subjects in order to prevent a prurient curiosity1 and to induce them to confide to me the history of their own knowledge and difficulties4 ,in my early days ,i interviewed those only who appeared to me to be obviously suffering from the effects of impurity1 and1 of late years1 the extreme pressure of my work has forced me very reluctantly to recur to this plan4 ,for several years1 however1 ,i was accustomed to interview every boy under my care during his first term with me4 ,very rarely have ,i failed in these interviews so to secure a boy's confidence as to learn the salient facts of the history of his inner life4 ,sunday afternoon addresses to the ,sixth ,form on the sexual dangers of late youth and early manhood have resulted at times in elder boys themselves seeking an interview with me4 ,such spontaneous confidences have naturally been fuller1 and therefore more instructive1 than the confidences ,i have invited4 ,many people are inclined to look upon the instruction of boys in relation to adolescence as needless and harmful2 needless because few boys1 they imagine1 awake to the consciousness and problems of sex until manhood2 harmful because the pristine innocence of the mind is1 they think1 destroyed1 and evils are suggested of which a boy might otherwise remain unconscious4 ,to one who knows what boys really are such ideas are nothing less than ludicrous4 ,boys come to our school from many different classes of preparatory and secondary schools4 ,almost every such school seems to possess a few boys who delight to initiate younger boys into sexual knowledge1 and usually into knowledge of solitary vice4 ,the very few boys who have come to me quite ignorant of these matters have come either straight from home at ten or eleven1 or from a school in which a few young boys are educated with girls4 ,of boys who have come under my care as late as twelve ,i have known but two who even professed total ignorance on sexual subjects1 and in one of these cases ,i am quite sure that no such ignorance existed4 ,in a large majority of cases solitary vice has been learned and practised before a boy has got into his teens4 ,the lack of insight parents display in relation to these questions is quite phenomenal4 ,the few who mention the subject to me are always quite satisfied of the complete 'innocence' of their boys4 ,some of the most precocious and unclean boys ,i have known have been thus confidently commended to me4 ,boys are wholly unsuspicious of the extent to which their inner life lies open to the practised eye1 and they feel secure that nothing can betray their secrets if they themselves do not4 ,in no department of our life are ,george ,eliot's words truer than in this department3 ',our daily familiar life is but a hiding of ourselves from each other behind a screen of trivial words and deeds1 and those who sit with us at the same hearth are often the farthest off from the deep human soul within us--full of unspoken evil and unacted good4' ,we cannot prevent a boy's obtaining information on sexual questions4 ,our choice lies between leaving him to pick it up from unclean and vulgar minds1 which will make it guilty and impure1 and giving it ourselves in such a way as to invest it from the first with a sacred character4 ,another idea which my experience proves to be an entire delusion is the idea that a boy's natural refinement is a sufficient protection against defilement4 ,some of the most refined boys ,i have had the pleasure of caring for have been pronounced victims of solitary sin4 ,that it is a sin at all1 that it has1 indeed1 any significance1 either ethical or spiritual1 has not so much as occurred to most of them4 ,on what great moral question dare we leave the young to find their own way absolutely without guidance8 ,in this most difficult and dangerous of all questions we leave the young soul1 stirred by novel and blind impulses1 to grope in the darkness4 ,is it any wonder if it fails to see things in their true relations8 ,again1 it is sometimes thought that the consequences of secret sin are so patent as to deter a boy from the sin itself4 ,so far is this from being the case that ,i have never yet found a single boy 7even among those who have1 through it1 made almost complete wrecks physically and mentally7 who has of himself connected these consequences with the sin itself4 ,i have1 on the other hand1 known many sad cases in which1 through the weakening of will power1 which this habit causes1 boys of high ideals have fallen again and again after their eyes have been fully opened4 ,this sin is rarely a conscious moral transgression4 ,the boy is a victim to be sympathised with and helped1 not an offender to be reproved and punished4 ,i desire to call the attention of the reader to two points in the foregoing extract4 ,i was particular in giving my credentials to state the character and limitations of my experience4 ,everywhere in life one finds confident and sweeping generalisations made by men who have little or no experience to appeal to4 ,this is specially the case in the educational world1 and perhaps most of all in discussions on this very subject4 ,some men1 at least1 are willing to instruct the public with nothing better to guide them than the light of ,nature4 ,it would greatly assist the quest of truth if everyone who ventures to address the public on this question would first present his credentials4 ,there is danger lest the reader should discount the significance of the statements ,i make in the foregoing paper by falling into the error of supposing that the facts stated apply1 after all1 to one school only4 ,this is not by any means so4 ,the facts have been collected at one school2 but those which refer to the prevalence of sex knowledge and of masturbation have reference solely to the condition of boys when they first entered1 and are significant of the conditions which obtain at some scores of schools and in many homes4 ,i venture here to quote and to warmly endorse ,canon ,lyttelton's opinion3 ,it is1 however1 so easy to be misunderstood in this matter that ,i must insert a caution against an inference which may be drawn from these words1 viz4 that school life is the origin of immorality among boys4 ,the real origin is to be found in the common predisposition to vicious conceptions1 which is the result of neglect4 ,nature provides in almost every case an active curiosity on this subject2 and that curiosity must be somehow allayed2 and if it were not allayed at school1 false and depraved ideas would be picked up at home4444 ,so readily does an ignorant mind at an early age take in teaching about these subjects that there are no conceivable conditions of modern social life not fraught with grave peril to a young boy1 if once he has been allowed to face them quite unprepared1 either by instruction or by warning4 ,and this manifestly applies to life at home1 or in a day-school1 or in a boarding-school to an almost equal degree4,a ,footnote ,a3 ,training of the ,young in ,relation to ,sex1 p4 #a et seq4 ,one of the facts which ,i always tried to elicit from boys was the source of their information1 or rather the character of that source1 for ,i was naturally anxious not to ask a boy to incriminate any individual known to me4 ,in many cases1 information came first to the boy at home from a brother1 or cousin1 or casual acquaintance1 or domestic servant4 ,in one of the worst cases ,i have known the information was given to a boy by another boy--an entire stranger to him--whom he happened to meet on a country road when cycling4 ,since boys meet one another very much more at school than elsewhere and spend three-fourths of their lives there1 of course information is more often obtained at school than at home4 ,my own experience leads me to think that in this respect the day-school--probably on account of its mixed social conditions--is worse than the boarding-school4 ,before passing from matters of personal experience1 it may interest the reader if ,i give particulars of a few typical cases to illustrate some points on which ,i have insisted4 ,case ,a4--,the father and mother of a boy close on thirteen came to see me before entering the lad4 ,they had no idea that ,i was specially interested in purity-teaching2 but they were anxious to ascertain what precautions we took against the corruption of small boys4 ,they struck me as very good parents4 ,i was specially pleased that they were alive to the dangers of impurity1 and that the mother could advert openly to the matter without embarrassment4 ,i advised them to give the boy explicit warning2 but they said that they were anxious to preserve his innocence as long as possible4 ,he was at present absolutely simple1 and they hoped that he would long remain so4 ,it was a comfort to them that ,i was interested in the subject1 and they would leave the boy with confidence in my care4 ,as soon as ,i saw the boy1 ,i found it difficult to believe in his innocence2 and ,i soon discovered that he was thoroughly corrupt4 ,not merely did he begin almost at once to corrupt other boys1 but he actually gave them his views on brothels6 ,in a private interview with me he admitted all this1 and told me that he was corrupted at ten years of age1 when he was sent1 after convalescence from scarlet fever1 to a country village for three months4 ,there he seems to have associated with a group of street boys1 who gave him such information as they had1 and initiated him into self-abuse4 ,since then he had been greedily seeking further information and passing it on4 ,case ,b4--,a delicate1 gentle boy of eleven1 an only son1 was sent to me by an intellectual father1 who had been his constant companion4 ,the lad was very amiable and well-intentioned4 ,a year later he gave me particulars of his corruption by a cousin1 who was three years older than he4 ,since that time--particularly of late--he had practised masturbation4 ,he had not the least idea that it was hurtful or even unrefined1 and thought that it was peculiar to himself and his cousin4 ,he knew from his cousin the chief facts of maternity and paternity1 but had not spoken to other boys about them4 ,he was intensely anxious to cleanse himself entirely1 and promised to let me know of any lapse1 should it occur4 ,in the following vacation he developed pneumonia4 ,for some days his life hung in the balance1 and then flickered out4 ,his father wrote me a letter of noble resignation4 ,terribly as he felt his loss1 he was greatly consoled1 he said1 by the knowledge that his boy had died while his mind was innocent and before he could know even what temptation was4 ,it is needless to add that ,i never hinted the real facts to the father2 and--without altering any material detail--,i am disguising the case lest it should possibly be recognised by him4 ,i have often wondered whether1 when the lad's life hung in the balance1 it might not have been saved if ,death's scale had not been weighted by the child's lowered vitality4 ,case ,c4--,a boy of fourteen came to me4 ,he was a miserable specimen in every way--pale1 lethargic1 stupid almost beyond belief4 ,he had no mother2 and the father1 though a man of leisure1 evidently found it difficult to make the lad much of a companion4 ,i felt certain from the first that the boy was an exceptionally bad victim of self-abuse2 ,and this ,i told his father1 advising him to investigate the matter4 ,he was horrified at my diagnosis1 and committed the great indiscretion of taxing the boy with self-abuse as though it were a conscious and grave fault4 ,the father wrote during the vacation saying that he found ,i was entirely mistaken3 not1 content with the lad's assurance1 he had watched him with the utmost care4 ,as soon as the boy returned to school ,i interviewed him4 ,he admitted readily that he had long masturbated himself daily--sometimes oftener4 ,he had first--as far as he could remember1 at about six--had his private parts excited by his nurse1 who apparently did this to put an irritable child into a good temper6 ,my warning had little effect upon him1 as he had become a hopeless victim4 ,he was too delicate a boy for us to desire to keep2 and after a brief stay at school1 during which we nursed him through a critical illness1 he left to finish his education under private tuition at home4 ,case ,d4--,this boy came to me at thirteen4 ,he was always a conscientious and amiable boy1 but was nervous and dull4 ,by fifteen his dullness had increased1 and he complained of brain-strain and poorness of memory4 ,finally he began to develop ,st4 ,vitus's dance4 ,i sent him to our school doctor1 who returned him with a note saying that his condition was serious--that he must stop all work1 c4 c4 ,i was in my study when the lad came back1 and ,i at once told him what was the matter4 ,he frankly admitted frequent self-abuse1 which he had learned from an elder brother4 ,he had not the least suspicion that the habit was injurious2 but was very apprehensive about his future until ,i reassured him4 ,he wanted me to write at once and warn a younger brother who had fallen into the habit4 ,by great effort he got himself rapidly under control4 ,his nervous twitchings disappeared1 his vitality improved1 the brain-fag gradually ceased2 and when he left1 eighteen months later1 he was fairly normal4 ,his improvement continued afterwards1 and he is now a successful man of business and a married man4 ,case ,e4--,this boy entered at twelve4 ,he was very weak physically and highly nervous--owing1 his people thought1 to severe bullying at a previous school4 ,he was an able boy1 of literary and artistic tastes1 and almost painfully conscientious4 ,he was very shy2 always thought that he was despised by other boys2 and was a duffer at games1 which he avoided to the utmost4 ,with my present experience ,i should have known him to be a victim of self-abuse4 ,then1 ,i did not suspect him2 and it was not until he was leaving at eighteen for the ,university that we talked the matter over1 on his initiative4 ,then ,i found that he had been bullied into impurity at eleven1 and was now a helpless victim4 ,after two years at the ,university he wrote me that1 though the temptation now came less frequently1 he seemed absolutely powerless when it did come2 that he despised himself so much that the impulse to suicide often haunted him2 but that the cowardice which had kept him from games at school would probably prevent his taking his life4 ,with the assistance of an intense and devoted religious life he gradually began to gain self-mastery4 ,it is some years now since he has mentioned the subject to me4 ,these are merely specimen cases4 ,cases ,a1 ,b1 and ,c illustrate my assertions that parents are wonderfully blind2 ,cases ,b and ,e1 that quite exceptional refinement in a boy gives no protection from temptation to impurity2 ,case ,d1 that a boy1 even in an extreme case1 does not know that the habit is injurious4 ,in respect of their severity1 ,c1 ,d1 and ,e are not normal but extreme cases4 ,the reader must not imagine that boys ordinarily suffer as much as these did4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys3 ,,the ,,opinions ,,of ,,canon ,,lyttelton1 ,,dr4 ,,dukes1 ,,and ,,others4 ,i propose now to make clear to the reader the fact that the conclusions ,i have reached as to the existence of sexual knowledge among boys1 and as to the prevalence of self-abuse1 are entirely borne out by the opinion of the most distinguished teachers and medical men4 ,canon ,lyttelton writes with an authority which no one will question4 ,educated at ,eton1 he was for two years an assistant master at ,wellington ,college2 then1 for fifteen years1 headmaster of ,haileybury ,college1 and has now been headmaster of ,eton for over six years4 ,he has intimate knowledge of boys1 derived1 as regards the question of purity1 from confidential talks with them4 ,the quotations which follow are from his work ,training of the ,young in ,laws of ,sex4 ,canon ,lyttelton does not think it needful to make statements as to the prevalence of impurity among boys4 ,he rather assumes that this prevalence is obvious and1 under present conditions1 inevitable4 ,i have already quoted one passage which involves this assumption1 and now invite the reader to consider two others4 ,in the school life of boys1 in spite of very great improvements1 it is impossible that sexual subjects should be wholly avoided in common talk4444 ,though1 in preparatory schools of little boys under fourteen1 the increasing vigilance of masters1 and constant supervision1 combined with constant employment1 reduce the evil of prurient talk to a minimum1 yet these subjects will crop up4444 ,it should be remembered that the boys who are talkative about such subjects are just those whose ideas are most distorted and vicious4 ,in the public school1 owing not only to freer talk and more mixed company but to the boy's own wider range of vision1 sexual questions1 and also those connected with the structure of the body1 come to the fore and begin to occupy more or less of the thoughts of all but a peculiarly constituted minority of the whole number4 ,men1 as ,i have shown1 have been severely dealt with by ,nature in this respect3 she has forced them1 at a time of life when their minds are ill compacted1 their ideas chaotic1 and their wills untrained1 to face an ordeal which demands above all things reverence based on knowledge and resolution sustained by high affections4 ,an enormously large proportion flounder blindly into the mire before they know what it is1 not necessarily1 but very often into the defilement of evil habit1 but1 still more often1 into the tainted air of diseased opinion1 and after a few years some of them emerge saved1 but so as by fire4,b ,footnote ,b3 ,pages #d et seq43 the italics are mine4 ,the following are quotations from the ,upton ,letters1 written by ,mr4 ,a4,c4 ,benson4 ,mr4 ,benson is one of the most distinguished of modern teachers3 he has had long experience of public-school life both as a boy and as a master3 he has that insight into the heart of boyhood which can come only to one who has affectionate sympathy with boys and has been the recipient of their confidences4 ,it will be abundantly evident from the passages which follow that in ,mr4 ,benson's opinion no boy is likely to preserve his innocence in passing through a public school4 ,the subject is so unpleasant that many masters dare not speak of it at all1 and excuse themselves by saying that they don't want to put ideas into boys' heads4 ,i cannot conscientiously believe that a man who has been through a big public school himself can honestly be afraid of that4 ,the standard of purity is low3 a vicious boy does not find his vicious tendencies by any means a bar to social success4 ,this1 of course1 assumes that the vicious tendencies are a matter of notoriety4 ,a similar implication is involved in the following3 ,i do not mean to say that there are not many boys who are both pure-minded and honest2 but they treat such virtues as a secret preference of their own1 and do not consider that it is in the least necessary to interfere with the practice of others or even to disapprove of it4 ,he further gives it as his opinion that ,the deadly and insidious temptation of impurity has1 as far as one can learn1 increased1 and tells us ,an innocent-minded boy whose natural inclination to purity gave way before perpetual temptation and even compulsion might be thought to have erred1 but would have scanty1 if any1 expression of either sympathy or pity from other boys2 while if he breathed the least hint of his miserable position to a master and the fact came out1 he would be universally scouted4444 ,one hears of simply heart-rending cases where a boy dare not even tell his parents of what he endures4 ,it would thus appear that in some of the premier schools of the world impurity is a matter of notoriety1 sometimes of compulsion2 and that1 to a boy's own strong inclination to concealment1 is superadded1 by the public opinion of the school1 an imperious command that this concealment shall1 even in heart-rending cases1 be maintained4 ,no one1 ,i think1 will maintain that private schools as a class are in the least degree lees corrupt than public schools2 while there are1 ,i am sure1 at least a few schools in which public opinion condemns open impurity1 and will not tolerate impure talk4 ,and while ,i am confident that it is possible1 not merely to attain this condition in a school1 but also to reduce private impurity to a negligible quantity1 impurity--in one form or another--is1 in general1 so widely spread in boys' schools of every type1 that it is difficult to understand how anyone familiar with school life can doubt its prevalence4 ,let us now consider the opinion of ,dr4 ,clement ,dukes1 the medical officer of ,rugby ,school and the greatest ,english authority on school hygiene4 ,in the preface to the fourth edition of his well-known work ,health at ,school1 ,dr4 ,dukes writes3 ,i have studied children in all their phases and stages for many years--two years at the ,hospital for ,sick ,children in #fa ,ormond ,street1 ,london1 followed by thirty-three years at ,rugby ,school--a professional history which has provided me with an almost unique experience in all that relates to the ,health and ,disease of ,childhood and ,youth1 and has compelled constant and steady thought upon every aspect of this problem4 ,in an earlier work1 ,the ,preservation of ,health1 ,dr4 ,dukes gives his estimate of the prevalence of masturbation1 and quotes the opinion of other authorities whose credentials he has verified2 ,in this work1 on page #aej1 he writes of masturbation3 ,i believe that the reason why it is so widespread an evil--amounting1 ,i gather1 although from the nature of the case no complete evidence can ever be accurately obtained1 to somewhere about #ij to #ie per cent4 of all boys at boarding-schools--is because the boy leaves his home in the first instance without one word of warning from his parents 444 and thus falls into evil ways from his innocence and ignorance alone4444 ,this immorality is estimated by some at #hj per cent41 by others at #ij per cent4 ,another says that not #aj per cent4 are innocent4 ,another that it has always begun at from eight to twelve years of age4 ,others that it is always worst amongst the elder boys4 ,others that 'it is universal4' ,professor ,stanley ,hall1 in his great work on ,adolescence1 after a similar and exhaustive review of the numerous works on this subject in different languages1 concludes3 ,the whole literature on the subject attests that whenever careful researches have been undertaken the results are appalling as to prevalence4 ,and yet there are people who deprecate purity-teaching for boys because they feel that a boy's natural modesty is quite a sufficient protection1 and that there is danger of destroying a boy's innocence by putting ideas into his head6 ,to hear such people talk1 and to listen to the way in which they speak of self-abuse as though it implied monstrous moral perversion1 one would think that the condition of morals when they were young was wholly different4 ,the great novelist ,thackeray gives little countenance to this opinion when he writes in ,pendennis3 ,and1 by the way1 ye tender mothers and sober fathers of ,christian families1 a prodigious thing that theory of life is as orally learned at a great public school4 ,why if you could hear those boys of fourteen who blush before mothers and sneak off in silence in the presence of their daughters1 talking among each other--it would be the woman's turn to blush then4 ,before he was twelve years old little ,pen had heard talk enough to make him quite awfully wise upon certain points--and so1 madam1 has your pretty rosy-cheeked son1 who is coming home from school for the ensuing holidays4 ,i don't say that the boy is lost1 or that the innocence has left him which he had from ',heaven1 which is our home1' but that the shades of the prison-house are closing fast over him1 and that we are helping as much as possible to corrupt him4 ,before concluding this chapter ,i would caution the reader against the error of supposing that the opinions expressed by ,canon ,lyttelton and ,dr4 ,dukes are indicative merely of the conditions they have met at ,haileybury1 ,eton1 and ,rugby4 ,they are equally significant of the conditions which obtain in the innumerable schools from which ,haileybury1 ,eton1 and ,rugby are recruited2 and as there is no reason why other preparatory schools should differ from these1 they are significant of the almost universal condition of boys' schools4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,causes ,,of ,,the ,,prevalence ,,of ,,impurity ,,among ,,boys4 ,the evidence ,i have adduced in the previous chapters will convince most of my readers that few boys retain their innocence after they are of school age4 ,there may1 however1 be a few who find it impossible to reconcile this conclusion with their ideas of boy nature4 ,i will therefore now examine current conceptions on this subject and expose their fundamental inaccuracy4 ,there are some people who imagine that a boy's innate modesty is quite sufficient protection against defilement4 ,does experience really warrant any such conclusion8 ,those who know much of children will recognise the fact that even the cardinal virtues of truthfulness and honesty have often to be learned1 and that ideas of personal cleanliness1 of self-restraint in relation to food1 and of consideration for others have usually to be implanted and fostered4 ,among people of refinement these virtues are often so early learned that there is danger lest we should consider them innate4 ,the susceptibility of some children to suggestions conveyed to them by the example and precept of their elders is almost unlimited4 ,hence a child may1 at two1 have given up the trick of clearing its nostrils with the finger-nail1 and may1 before five1 have learned most of the manners and virtues of refined people4 ,the majority1 however1 take longer to learn these things1 so that a jolly little chap of ten or twelve is often by no means scrupulously clean in hands1 nails1 ears1 and teeth1 is often distinctly greedy1 and sometimes far from truthful4 ,that cleanliness and virtue are acquired and not innate is obvious enough from the fact that children who grow up among dirty and unprincipled people are rarely clean and virtuous4 ,were it possible for the child of refined parents to grow up without example or precept in relation to table manners and morals1 except the example and advice of vulgar people1 who would expect refinement and consideration from him8 ,is there anyone who has such faith in innate refinement that he would be content to let a child of his own1 grow up without a hint on these matters1 and with such example only as was supplied by association with vulgar people8 ,yet this is precisely what we do in relation to the subject of personal purity4 ,the child has no good example to guide him4 ,the extent to which temptation comes to those whom he respects1 the manner in which they comport themselves when tempted1 the character of their sex relations are entirely hidden from him4 ,he is not only without example1 he is without precept4 ,no ideals are set before him1 no advice is given to him3 the very existence of anything in which ideals and advice are needful is ignored4 ,if in conditions like these we should expect a boy to grow up greedy1 we may be certain that he will grow up impure4 ,at puberty there awakes within him by far the strongest appetite that human nature can experience--an appetite against which some of the noblest of mankind have striven in vain4 ,the appetite is given abnormal strength by the artificial and stimulating conditions under which he lives4 ,the act which satisfies this appetite is also one of keen pleasure4 ,he has long been accustomed to caress his private parts1 and the pleasure with which he does this is greatly enhanced4 ,he does not suspect that indulgence is harmful4 ,this pleasure1 unlike that of eating1 costs him nothing1 and is ever available4 ,his powers of self-control are as yet undeveloped4 ,he can indulge himself without incurring the least suspicion4 ,he probably knows that most boys1 of his age and above1 indulge themselves4 ,the result is inevitable4 ,he finds that sexual thoughts are keenly pleasurable1 and that they produce bodily exaltation4 ,he has much yet to learn on the subject of sex1 and he enjoys the quest4 ,wherever he turns he finds it now--in his ,bible1 in animal life1 in his classics1 in the encyclopdia1 in his companions1 and in the newspaper4 ,day and night the subject is ever with him4 ,it is inevitable4 ,and at this juncture comes along the theorist who is aghast at our destroying the lad's innocence1 and at our suggesting evils to him which otherwise he would never have thought of4 ,the boy's innate modesty is quite a sufficient protection6 ,to me the wonderful thing is the earnestness with which a boy sets about the task of cleansing his life when once he has been made to realise the real character of the thoughts and acts with which he has been playing4 ,boys1 as ,i find them1 rarely err in this matter1 or in any other1 from moral perversity1 but merely from ignorance and thoughtlessness4 ,severe rebukes and punishments are rarely either just or useful4 ,the disposition which obliges the teacher to use them in the last resort1 and the rebellion against authority which is said to follow puberty1 arise almost invariably from injudicious training in the home or at school4 ,boys who have received a fair home training1 and who find themselves in a healthy atmosphere at school1 are almost invariably delightful to deal with2 and even those who have been less fortunate in their early surroundings adapt themselves in most cases to the standards which a healthy public opinion in the school demands4 ,it may be thought that the mere reticence of adults about reproduction and the reproductive organs would impress the child's mind with the idea that it is unclean to play with his private parts or to talk about their functions with his companions4 ,this is a psychological error4 ,for some years past adults have avoided any allusion to the subject of excretion1 and the child assumes that public attention to bodily needs and public reference to these needs are alike indelicate4 ,he does not1 however1 conclude that excretion in private is an indelicate act1 nor does any sense of delicacy oblige him to maintain1 with regard to companions of his own sex and age1 the reticence which has become habitual to him in his relations with adults4 ,why should the child think it dirty to fondle and excite his private parts or to talk about them with his boy friends8 ,the knowledge which makes us feel as we do is as yet hidden from him4 ,the same thing is certainly true of conversation about the facts of reproduction when those who converse are uncorrupted4 ,another element1 however1 at once appears when these facts are divulged by a corrupt boy1 because his manner is irresistibly suggestive of uncleanness as well as of secrecy4 ,similarly when self-abuse is fallen into spontaneously by a boy who is otherwise clean1 no sense of indecency attaches itself to the act4 ,when1 however1 it is taught by an unclean boy1 there is a feeling of defilement from the first4 ,in boys under the age of puberty this feeling may overpower the temptation2 in boys above that age it is1 as a rule1 totally inadequate as a safeguard4 ,many people imagine that a boy who is impure must betray himself1 and that if no overt acts of indecency are observed the innocence of a boy's mind may be safely inferred4 ,knowledge on these subjects has1 however1 been almost invariably gained under conditions of the utmost secrecy1 and the behaviour of adults has effectively fostered the idea of concealment4 ,hence we might expect that the secret would be jealously guarded and that any overt act of impurity would be avoided in the presence of adults with even greater circumspection than the public performance of an excretory act4 ,the habit of self-abuse1 moreover1 is practised usually under the double cover of darkness and the bed-clothes4 ,the temptation occurs far less by day than by night1 and a boy who yields to it in the day invariably chooses a closet or other private place in which he feels secure from detection4 ,to many people it is inconceivable that a lad can harbour impure feelings and habits without obvious deterioration2 but even if a child's lapses into these things were associated with conscious guilt1 does our knowledge of human nature justify us in supposing that evil in the heart is certain to betray itself in a visible degradation of the outer life8 ,if we believe the language of the devout1 we must admit that the most spiritual of men hide in their heart thoughts of which they are heartily ashamed4 ,it is not into the mouth of the reprobate but into the mouth of her devoted members as they enter upon their sacramental service that the ,church puts the significant prayer1 ,almighty ,god1 unto whom all hearts be open1 all desires known1 and from whom no secrets are hid2 ,cleanse the thoughts in our hearts by the inspiration of thy ,holy ,spirit4 ,inconsistency in adults is far too well recognised to need proof4 ,in children it is even more obvious1 and for this reason that1 looked at aright1 it is the faculty of maintaining the general health of the soul1 spite of local morbid conditions--a faculty which is strongest in the simpler and more adaptable mind of the child4 ,impurity as a disease has a long incubation period4 ,when he contracts the disease1 its victim is often wholly unconscious of his danger2 and1 both because the disease is an internal one and is slow in development1 it is a very long time before obvious symptoms appear4 ,meanwhile a corruption may have set in which will ultimately ruin the whole life4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,results ,,of ,,youthful ,,impurity4 ,it is difficult to exaggerate the evils which result from the present system under which boys grow to manhood without any adult guidance in relation to the laws of sex4 ,it has already been stated that the immediate physical results of self-abuse are small evils indeed compared with the corruption of mind which comes from perverted sex ideas4 ,they are1 however1 by no means negligible2 and are1 in some cases1 very serious4 ,the great prevalence of self-abuse among boys1 combined with the inevitable uncertainty as to the degree of a boy's freedom from1 or indulgence in1 this vice1 makes it very difficult to institute a reliable comparison between those who are chaste and those who are unchaste4 ,greater significance attaches1 ,i think1 to a comparison in individual cases of a boy's condition during a period of indulgence in masturbation and his condition after its total1 or almost total1 relinquishment4 ,i have no hesitation in saying that the difference in a boy's vitality and spiritual tone after relinquishing this habit is very marked4 ,the case ,d quoted in ,chapter ,i4 is1 in this respect1 typical4 ,in my pamphlet1 ,private ,knowledge for ,boys1 ,i have quoted a striking passage from ,acton on the ,reproductive ,organs1 in which he contrasts the continent and the incontinent boy4 ,but in the case of men like ,dr4 ,acton--specialists in the diseases of the male reproductive organs--it must be remembered that it is mostly the abnormal and extreme cases which come under their notice3 a fact which is liable to affect their whole estimate4 ,the book can be recommended to adults who wish to see the whole subject of sex diseases dealt with by a specialist who writes with a high moral purpose4 ,my own estimate is given in the pamphlet already referred to4 ,after quoting ,dr4 ,acton's opinion1 ,i add3-- ,you will notice that ,dr4 ,acton is here describing an extreme case4 ,i want to tell you what are the results in a case which is not extreme4 ,my difficulty is that these results are so various4 ,the injury to the nerves and brain which is caused by sexual excitement and by the loss of semen leaves nothing in the body1 mind or character uninjured4 ,the extent of the injury varies greatly with the strength of a boy's constitution and with the frequency of his sin4 ,the character of the injury varies with the boy's own special weaknesses and tendencies4 ,if he is naturally shy and timid1 it makes him shyer and more timid4 ,if he is stupid and lazy1 it makes him more stupid and lazy4 ,if he is inclined to consumption or other disease1 it destroys his power of resisting such disease4 ,in extreme cases only does it actually change an able boy into a stupid one1 an athletic boy into a weak one1 and a happy boy into a discontented one2 but in all cases it weakens every power a boy possesses4 ,its most prominent results are these3 loss of will-power and self-reliance1 shyness1 nervousness and irritability1 failure of the reasoning powers and memory1 laziness of body and mind1 a diseased fondness for girls1 deceitfulness4 ,of these results1 the loss of will-power leaves the boy a prey not only to the temptations of impurity1 but to every other form of temptation3 the deceitfulness destroys his self-respect and turns his life into a sham4 ,of incomparably greater importance than ,acton's wide but abnormal experience and my own narrow but normal experience is the experience of ,dr4 ,clement ,dukes1 which is very wide and perfectly normal4 ,no man has probably been in so good a position for forming an estimate as he has been4 ,dr4 ,dukes thus sums up his opinion3 ,the harm which results is moral1 intellectual1 and physical4 ,physically it is a frequent drain at a critical time of life when nature is providing for growth and development1 and is ill able to bear it2 it is a powerful nervous shock to the system ill-prepared to meet it4444 ,it also causes muscular and mental debility1 loss of spirit and manliness1 and occasional insanity1 suicide and homicide4 ,moreover it leads to further uncontrollable passions in early manhood4444 ,further1 this vice enfeebles the intellectual powers1 inducing lethargy and obtuseness1 and incapacity for hard mental work4 ,and last1 and most of all1 it is an immorality which stains the whole character and undermines the life4 ,in this passage ,dr4 ,dukes refers to the intellectual and moral harm of self-abuse as well as to its physical consequences4 ,intimately connected as these are with one another1 ,i am here attempting to give them separate treatment4 ,it is1 however1 impossible to treat perverted sex-knowledge and self-abuse separately2 for though in young boys they are found independently of one another1 and sometimes co-exist in elder boys without any intimate conscious association1 their results are identical4 ,in the following pages1 therefore1 ,i shall refer to them jointly as impurity4 ,the earliest evil which springs from impurity is the destruction of the intimacy which has hitherto existed between the boy and his parents4 ,closely associated with this is that duplicity of life which results from secrets which may be shared with the coarse but must be jealously concealed from everyone who is respected4 ,untold harm follows these changes in a lad4 ,hitherto he has had nothing to conceal from his mother--unless1 indeed1 his parents have been foolish enough to drive him into deception by undue severity over childish mistakes1 and accidents1 and moral lapses4 ,every matter which has occupied his thoughts he has freely shared with those who can best lead him into the path of moral health4 ,henceforth all is changed4 ,the lad has his own inner life which he must completely screen from the kind eyes which have hitherto been his spiritual lights4 ,concealment is soon found to be an easy thing4 ,acts and words are things of which others may take cognisance2 the inner life no one can ever know4 ,a world is opened to the lad in which the restraints of adult opinion are not felt at all and the guidance and inspiration of a father's or mother's love never come4 ,how completely this is the case in regard to impurity the reader will hardly doubt if he remembers that all parents believe their boys to be innocent1 and that some #ij per cent4 of them are hopelessly hoodwinked4 ,but this double life is not long confined to the subject of purity4 ,the concealment which serves one purpose excellently can be made to serve another2 and henceforth parents and adult friends need never know anything but what they are told4 ,it is a sad day for the mother when first she realises that the old frankness has gone2 it is a very1 very much sadder day for the boy4 ,there is no fibre of his moral being but is1 or will be1 injured by this divorce of home influences and by this ever-accumulating burden of guilty memories4 ,his mother may not know why this is so1 writes ,canon ,lyttelton2 the only thing she may be perfectly certain of is that the loss will never be quite made up as long as life shall last4 ,another injury done by impurity to the growing mind of the lad is that1 in all matters relating to sex1 he learns to look merely for personal enjoyment4 ,in every other department of life he is moved by a variety of motives3 by the desire to please1 the desire to excel1 by devotion to duty1 by the love of truth1 and by many other desires4 ,even in gratifying the appetite most nearly on the same plane as the sexual appetite--namely1 that of hunger--he has more or less regard for his own well-being1 more or less consideration for the wishes of others1 and a constant desire to attain the standard expected of him4 ,meanwhile1 as regards the sexual appetite--the racial importance of which is great2 and the regulation of which is of infinite importance for himself1 for those who may otherwise become its victims1 for the wife he may one day wed1 and for the children1 legitimate or illegitimate1 that he may beget--his one idea is personal enjoyment4 ,one deplorable result of this idea will be adverted to in the next chapter4 ,when boyish impurity involves a coarse way of looking at sexual relations1 as it always must when these are matters of common talk and jest1 the boy suffers a loss which prejudicially affects the whole tone of his mind and every department of his conduct--,i mean the loss of reverence4 ,it is those things alone which are sacred to us1 those things about which we can talk only with friends1 and about which we can jest with no one1 that have inspiration in them1 that can give us power to follow our ideals and to lay a restraining hand on the brute within us4 ,fortunately the self-control which manifests itself in heroism1 in good form1 and in the sportsmanlike spirit is sacred to almost all4 ,to most1 a mother's love is sacred4 ,to many1 all that is implied in the word religion4 ,to a few1 sexual passion and the great manifestations of human genius in poetry1 music1 painting1 sculpture1 and architecture4 ,exactly in proportion as these things are profaned by jest and mockery1 is the light of the soul quenched and man degraded to the level of the beast4 ,considering how large a part the sex-passion plays in the lives of most men and women2 considering how it permeates the literature and art of the ,world and is--as the basis of the home--the most potent factor in social life1 its profanation is a terrible loss1 and the habit of mind which such profanation engenders cannot fail to weaken the whole spirit of reverence4 ,i must confess that the man who jests over sex relations is to me incomparably lower than the man who sustains clean but wholly illegitimate sex relations2 and while ,i am conscious of a strong movement of friendship towards a lad who has admitted impurity in his life but retains reverence for purity1 it is hard to feel anything but repulsion towards one who profanes the subject of sex with coarse and ribald talk4 ,as a result of the two evils of which ,i have now spoken1 together with the physical effects of masturbation1 young men become powerless to face the sexual temptations of manhood2 and many1 who in all other relations of life are admirable1 sink in this matter into the mire of prostitution or the less demoralising1 but far crueller1 sin of seduction4 ,thrown on the streets1 usually through no fault of her own1 often merely from an over-trustful love1 the prostitute sinks to the lowest depths of degradation and despair4 ,it is not merely that she sells to every comer1 clean or bestial1 without even the excuse of appetite or of passion1 what should be yielded alone to love2 but it is also that to do this she poisons body and mind with spirit-drinking1 leads a life of demoralising indolence and self-indulgence1 is cut off from all decent associations1 and sinks1 under the combined influence of these things and of fell disease1 into a loathsome creature whom not the lowest wants2 sinks into destitution1 misery1 suicide1 or the outcast's early grave4 ,writing of the young man who is familiar with ,london1 the ,headmaster of ,eton says3 ,he cannot fail to see around him a whole world of ruined life--a ghastly varnish of gaiety spread over immeasurable tracts of death and corruption2 a state of things so heart-rending and so hopeless that on calm consideration of it the brain reels1 and sober-minded people who1 from motives of pity1 have looked the hideous evil in the face1 have asserted that nothing in their experience has seemed to threaten them so nearly with a loss of reason4 ,into the contamination of this inferno1 into active support of this cruel infamy1 many and many a young man is led by the impurity of his boyhood4 ,such at least is the conclusion of some who know boys best4 ,thus ,dr4 ,dukes writes3 ,this evil1 of which ,i have spoken so long and so freely1 is1 ,i believe1 the root of the evil of prostitution and similar vices2 and if this latter evil is to be mitigated1 it can only be1 to my mind1 by making the life of the schoolboy purer4 ,how is it possible to put a stop to this terrible social evil8 ,how is it possible to elevate women while the demand for them for base purposes is so great8 ,we must go to the other end of the scale and make men better2 we must train young boys more in purity of life and chastity ,,before their passions become uncontrollable4 ,whereas the cry of every moralist and philanthropist is1 ',let us put a stop to this prostitution1 open and clandestine4' ,this cannot be effected at present1 much as it is to be desired2 the demand for it is too great1 even possibly greater than the supply4 ,if we wish to eradicate it1 we must go to the fountainhead and make those who create the demand purer1 so that1 the demand falling off1 the supply will be curtailed4,c ,footnote ,c3 ,the ,preservation of ,health1 p4 #afa4 ,to this ,i venture to add that by teaching chastity we not merely decrease the demand for prostitutes1 but we greatly diminish the supply4 ,few girls1 if any1 take to the streets until they have been seduced2 and the antecedents of seduction are the morbid exaggeration of the sexual appetite1 the lack of self-control1 and the selfish hedonism which youthful impurity engenders4 ,the selfishness1 and consequent blindness to cruelty1 of which ,i write1 manifests itself quite early4 ,a boy of chivalrous feeling1 whose blood would boil at any other form of outrage on a girl1 will read a newspaper account of rape or indecent assault with a pleasure so intense that indignation and disgust are quite crowded out of his mind4 ,if1 repelled by the coarseness of the streets1 the young man allows lust or passion to lead him into seduction1 he commits a crime the consequences of which are usually cruel in the extreme2 for in most cases the seduced girl sinks of necessity into prostitution4 ,so blind1 so callous does impurity make even the refined and generous1 that many a young man who can be a good son1 a good brother1 a noble friend1 a patriotic citizen1 will doom a girl whose only fault is that she is physically attractive--and possibly too affectionate and trusting--to torturing anxiety1 to illness1 to the horrible suffering of undesired travail1 to disgrace1 and in nineteen cases out of twenty to ostracism and the infamy of the streets4 ,murder is a small thing compared with this4 ,who would not rather that his daughter were killed in her innocence than that she should be doomed to such a fate8 ,many young men are ignorant of the fact that sexual relations with prostitutes frequently result in the foulest and most terrible of diseases4 ,venereal diseases1 as these are called1 commence in the private parts themselves1 but the poison which they engender soon attacks other parts of the body and often wrecks the general health4 ,it gives rise to loathsome skin disease1 to degeneration of the nervous system and paralysis1 to local disease in the heart1 lungs1 and digestive organs1 and to such lowering of vitality as renders the body an easy prey to disease generally4 ,no one is justified in looking upon this risk as a matter of merely private concern4 ,health is of supreme importance not merely to the personal happiness and success of the man himself1 but also to the services he can render to his friends1 to his nation1 and to humanity4 ,even if a young man is foolish enough to risk his happiness and success for the sake of animal enjoyment1 he cannot without base selfishness and disloyalty disregard the duties he owes to others4 ,further1 the man who suffers from venereal disease is certain to pass its poison on to his wife and children--cursing thus with unspeakable misery those whom of all others it is his duty to protect and bless4 ,one cannot help feeling at times that the blessings of home--and of the monogamy which makes home possible--are terribly discounted by a condition of things which offer a young man no other alternatives to chastity than these terrible evils4 ,now that year by year the rising standard of living and the increased exactions which the ,state makes on the industrious and provident cause marriage to be a luxury too expensive for many1 and delayed unduly for most1 the problem of social purity becomes ever greater and more urgent4 ,the instruction of the young in relation to sex provides the only solution1 and is1 ,i venture to think1 incomparably the most important social reform now needed4 ,i am confident that a boy who receives wise training and sex guidance from his early days will never find lust the foul and uncontrollable element which it is to-day in the lives of most men2 that in a few generations our nation could be freed from the seething corruption which poisons its life2 and that1 while freer scope could be given to the ineffable joys of pure sexual love1 very much could be done to diminish the awful misery and degradation engendered by lust4 ,if children had from their infancy an instinctive and growing desire for alcohol1 with secret and unrestrained means of gratifying it2 if by its indulgence this desire grew into an overmastering craving2 if throughout childhood they received no word of warning or guidance from the good1 but were tempted and corrupted by the evil1 we should have a nation in which most men and women were drunkards1 ready to break all laws--human and divine--which stood in the way of an imperious need2 a nation in which1 among those who declined to yield to iniquity1 the craving for drink caused unceasing and life-long struggle4 ,on the young man of to-day we lay a burden which no ordinary man was ever yet able to bear4 ,his boyhood and youth become1 through ignorance1 the prey of lust2 his passions become tyrannous2 his will is enslaved4 ,even if he contracts marriage1 his troubles are not at an end1 for man1 as an animal1 is neither monogamous nor wholly constant4 ,his neglected sex-education makes him far more susceptible to physical attractions than to those qualities which make a wife a good companion1 a good housekeeper1 and a good mother2 and but too often1 as a result1 the beneficent influence of marriage is transient2 the domestic atmosphere ceases to be congenial2 both husband and wife become susceptible to other attachments1 and the old struggle begins all over again4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,sex ,,knowledge ,,is ,,compatible ,,with ,,perfect ,,refinement ,,and ,,innocence4 ,the reader who has followed me through the preceding chapters will1 ,i hope1 feel that1 whatever objections there may be to giving explicit instruction on sex matters to the young1 such instruction is immensely to be preferred to the almost inevitable perversion which follows ignorance4 ,if we had to choose between a state of innocence and a state of reverent knowledge1 many people would doubtless incline to the former4 ,no such option exists4 ,our choice lies between leaving a lad to pick up information from vulgar and unclean minds1 and giving it ourselves in such a manner as to invest it from the first with sacredness and dignity4 ,even if the reader is still inclined to think that sex-knowledge is1 at best1 an unholy secret1 he will hardly doubt that it can be divulged with less injury by an adult who is earnestly anxious for the child's welfare than by coarse and irreverent lips4 ,i am not content to leave the reader in this dilemma4 ,i am confident that the following words of ,canon ,lyttelton spring from the truest spiritual insight3 ,to a lover of nature1 no less than to a convinced ,christian1 the subject ought to wear an aspect not only negatively innocent1 but positively beautiful4 ,it is a recurrent miracle1 and yet the very type and embodiment of law2 and it may be confidently affirmed that1 in spite of the blundering of many generations1 there is nothing in a normally-constituted child's mind which refuses to take in the subject from this point of view1 provided that the right presentation of it is the first4 ,nothing more forcibly convicts the present system of the evil which lies at its door than the current beliefs on this subject4 ,at present1 sexual knowledge is picked up from the gutter and the cesspool2 and no purification can free it entirely in many minds from its original uncleanness4 ,love's a virtue for heroes6--as white as the snow on high hills1 ,and immortal as every great soul is that struggles1 endures1 and fulfils4 ,this is the prophet's belief1 and yet1 putting on one side those who actually delight in uncleanness1 there appear to be many people who look upon the marriage certificate as a licence to impurity1 and upon sexual union as a form of animal indulgence to which we are so strongly impelled that even the most refined are tempted by it into an act of conscious indelicacy and sin4 ,such people read literally the psalmist's words3 ,behold1 ,i was shapen in iniquity1 and in sin did my mother conceive me4 ,it is surely some such feeling as this which makes parents shrink from referring to the subject1 which underlies the constant use of the word innocence as the aptest description of a state of mind which precedes the acquisition of sexual knowledge4 ,that individuals1 at least1 have risen to a loftier conception than this is certain2 and the only possible explanations of the prevalence of the current idea are that sex-knowledge has almost always been obtained from a tainted source2 and that1 while the coarse have not merely whispered their views in the ear in the closet1 but have1 in all ages1 proclaimed them from the house-tops1 the refined have hardly whispered their ideas1 much less discussed them publicly4 ,children growing up with perverted views have listened to the loud assertions of disputants on the one side1 have witnessed the demoralisation which so often attends the sexual passion1 but have received no hint of what may be said on the other side of the question4 ,an instructed public opinion would be horrified at our sovereign's taking shares in a slave-trading expedition as ,queen ,elizabeth did4 ,we are aghast at the days when crowds went forth to enjoy the torture at the stake of those from whom they differed merely on some metaphysical point4 ,we have even begun to be restless under man's cruel domination over the animal creation4 ,but we have made far less advance in our conceptions on sexual matters2 and we are content here with ideas which were current in ,elizabethan days4 ,but for this1 no passion for conservatism1 no reverence for a liturgy endeared by centuries of use1 could induce us to tell every bride as she stands before ,god's altar that it is one of her functions to provide an outlet for her husband's passion and a safeguard against fornication4 ,lust is at least as degrading in married life as it is outside it4 ,no legal contract1 no religious ceremony1 can purify1 much less sanctify1 what is essentially impure4 ,those who desire to assist in the uplifting of humanity cannot afford to be silent and to allow judgment to go against them by default4 ,courage they will need2 for a charge of indecency is sure to be levelled against them by the indecent1 and they may be misjudged even by the pure4 ,this is not the place in which so delicate a matter can be fully discussed1 nor does space permit2 but if the movement towards sex instruction is not to be stultified by the very ideas which evidence the need for it1 the subject cannot be wholly ignored here1 and ,i venture to throw out a few suggestions4 ,are we indeed to believe that the noblest and most spiritual of men will compromise themselves in the eyes of the woman they love best1 and whose respect they most desire1 by committing in her presence and making her the instrument of an indelicate act8 ,a great poet1 who remained an ardent lover and a devoted companion until his wife died in his arms--blissfully happy that she might die so--has written3 ,let us not always say1 ',spite of the flesh to-day ,i strove1 made head1 gained ground upon the whole4' ,as the bird wings and sings1 ,let us cry1 ',all good things ,are ours1 nor soul helps flesh more1 now1 than flesh helps soul4' ,again3 are we1 who believe in a ,divine government of the world1 able to imagine that ,god has made the perpetuation of the race dependent upon acts of sin or of indelicacy8 ,did ,he who graced with ,his presence the marriage at ,cana in ,galilee really countenance a ceremony which was a prelude to sin8 ,did ,he who took the little children in ,his arms and blessed them know1 as ,he said for of such is the kingdom of heaven1 that not one of them could have existed without indelicacy1 and that they were but living proof of their fathers' lapses and their mothers' humiliation8 ,is ,he whom we address daily as ,our ,father willing to be described by a name with which impurity is of necessity connected8 ,and has ,he implanted in us as the strongest of our instincts that which cannot elevate and must debase8 ,again3 it needs no wide experience of life1 nor any very indulgent view of it1 to feel some truth at least in the words ,tennyson puts into the mouth of his ideal man3 ,indeed ,i knew ,of no more subtle master under heaven ,than is the maiden passion for a maid ,not only to keep down the base in man1 ,but teach high thought1 and amiable words1 ,and courtliness1 and the desire for fame1 ,and love of truth1 and all that makes a man4 ,and yet this passion is indisputably sexual passion1 and the chastest of lovers has bodily proof that the most spiritual of his kisses is allied to the supreme embrace of love4 ,our body is the instrument by which all our emotions are expressed4 ,the most obvious way of expressing affection is by bodily contact4 ,the mother fondles her child1 kisses its lips and its limbs1 and presses it to her breast4 ,young children hold hands1 put their arms round one another and kiss2 and1 although later we become less demonstrative1 we still take our friend's arm1 press his hand with ours1 and lay a hand upon his shoulder2 we pat our horse or dog and stroke our cat4 ,the lover returns to the spontaneous and unrestrained caresses of his childhood4 ,these become more and more intimate until they find their consummation in the most intimate and most sacred of all embraces4 ,from first to last these caresses--however deep the pleasure they bestow--are sought by the mother or the lover1 not for the sake of that pleasure1 but as a means of expressing emotion4 ,he only who realises this fact and conforms to it can enter on married life with any certainty of happiness4 ,the happiness of very many marriages is irretrievably shattered at the outset through the craving for sexual excitement which1 in the absence of wise guidance1 grows up in every normal boy's heart1 and by the contemplation of sexual intercourse as an act of physical pleasure4 ,and once again3 ,it is the experience of those who have given instruction in sex questions to the young that by those whose minds have never been defiled the instruction is received with instant reverence1 as something sacred2 not with shame1 as something foul4 ,i venture once more to quote ,canon ,lyttelton1 who sets forth his experience and my own in language the beauty of which ,i cannot imitate3 ,there is something awe-inspiring in the innocent readiness of little children to learn the explanation of by far the greatest fact within the horizon of their minds4 ,the way they receive it1 with native reverence1 truthfulness of understanding1 and guileless delicacy1 is nothing short of a revelation of the never-ceasing bounty of ,nature1 who endows successive generations of children with this instinctive ear for the deep harmonies of her laws4 ,people sometimes speak of the indescribable beauty of children's innocence1 and insist that there is nothing which calls for more constant thanksgiving than that influence on mankind4 ,but ,i will venture to say that no one quite knows what it is who has foregone the privilege of being the first to set before them the true meaning of life and birth and the mystery of their own being4 ,to the arguments thus briefly indicated it is no answer to say that sexual union is essentially physical1 and that to regard it in any other way is transcendental4 ,among primitive men eating and drinking were merely animal4 ,we have made them1 in our meals1 an accompaniment to social pleasures1 and in our religious life we have raised them to a sacramental level4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,conditions ,,under ,,which ,,purity ,,teaching ,,is ,,best ,,given3 ,,remedial ,,and ,,curative ,,measures4 ,we have now seen that impurity is almost universal among boys who have been left without warning and instruction2 that1 under these conditions1 it is practically inevitable2 that its direct results are lowered vitality and serious injury to character1 its indirect results an appalling amount of degradation and misery2 finally1 that there is nothing in sex knowledge1 when rightly presented1 which can in the least defile a child's mind4 ,all that now remains is for us to consider by whom and under what circumstances instruction on this subject should be given1 and what assistance can be rendered to boys who desire to lead chaste lives4 ,without doubt1 instruction should be given to a boy by his parents in the home4 ,when young children ask questions with regard to reproduction1 parents should neither ignore these question nor give the usual silly answers4 ,if the occasion on which the question is asked is not one in which an answer can appropriately be given1 the child should be gently warned that the question raised is one about which people do not openly talk1 and the promise of an answer hereafter should be made4 ,then1 at the first convenient hour1 the child can either be given the information he seeks or told that he shall hear all about the matter at some future specified time1 as for example1 his sixth or eighth birthday4 ,in the absence of questions from a child1 the ideal thing would be for the child1 at the age of six1 seven1 or eight1 to learn orally from his mother the facts of maternity and to receive warning against playing with his private parts4 ,whether at this time it is best to teach him the facts of paternity is1 ,i think1 doubtful4 ,canon ,lyttelton is strongly of opinion that the father's share in the child's existence should be explained when the mother's share is explained1 and there is much weight in what he says4 ,if the question of paternity is reserved1 it should not be on the ground that there is anything embarrassing or indelicate about the matter1 and1 when the facts are revealed1 the child should clearly understand that they have been withheld merely until his mind was sufficiently developed to understand them4 ,the only safe guide in such matters is experience1 and of this as yet we have unfortunately little4 ,the question next arises3 should it be the mother or the father who gives this instruction8 ,as regards the earlier part of the instruction a confident reply can be made to this question4 ,the information should be given by the parent whose relations with the child are the more intimate and tender1 and whose influence over him is the greater4 ,this will1 of course1 usually be the mother4 ,the subject of paternity may1 if reserved for future treatment1 be appropriately given by the father1 provided that he and his son are on really intimate terms4 ,if timely warning is given to a child about playing with his private parts1 no reference need be made to self-abuse until a boy leaves home for school1 or until he is nearing the age of puberty4 ,there are many mothers whose insight and tact will enable them to approach these questions in the best possible way and to say exactly the right thing4 ,there are others--a large majority1 ,i think--who would be glad of guidance1 and there are not a few who would certainly leave the matter alone unless thus guided4 ,it was mainly to assist parents in this work that ,i published last year a pamphlet entitled ,private ,knowledge for ,boys4,d ,this embodies just what1 in my opinion1 should be said to an intelligent child1 and it has1 in my own hands1 proved effective for many years past4 ,in the case of young children the teaching should certainly be oral1 provided that the mother knows clearly what to say1 has sufficient powers of expression to say it well1 and can talk without any feeling of embarrassment4 ,unless these conditions co-exist ,i recommend the use of a pamphlet4 ,as ,i have found that children often do not know what one means by the private parts1 ,i make this clear at the outset4 ,footnote ,d3 ,to be obtained post free for nine stamps from ,mr4 ,m4 ,whiley1 ,stonehouse1 ,glos4 ,some into whose hands this book may come and who have boys of twelve and upwards to whom they have never given instruction1 may possibly be glad of advice as to the manner in which the subject can best be dealt with in their case4 ,for boys of this age1 ,i am strongly of opinion that it is better in most cases to make use of a pamphlet than to attempt oral instruction4 ,probably they already have some knowledge on the subject2 possibly some sense of guilt4 ,if so1 it will be found very difficult to treat the matter orally without embarrassment--a thing to be avoided at all costs4 ,i was interested to find that on receipt of my pamphlet ,professor ,geddes--one of the greatest experts on sex--placed it at once in the hands of his own boy1 a fact from which his opinion on the relative merits of oral and printed instruction can easily be inferred4 ,many of my readers who have boys of fourteen and upwards to whom they have hitherto given no instruction will1 ,i hope1 feel that they must now do this4 ,i venture1 therefore1 to give a detailed account of the manner in which ,i should myself act in similar circumstances4 ,i should arrange to be with the lad when there was no danger of interruption1 and in such circumstances as would put him at his ease4 ,i should tell him that ,i was conscious of unwisdom in not speaking to him before about a subject of supreme importance to him2 that ,i took upon myself all blame for anything he might1 in ignorance1 have said or done2 that through ignorance ,i had myself fallen and suffered1 and that ,i should like him now to sit down and read through this pamphlet slowly and carefully4 ,when he finished ,i should try by every possible means to make him sensible of my affection for him4 ,i should associate myself in a few words with the sentiments of the writer1 and should invite the lad to tell me whether he had fallen into temptation1 and if so to what extent4 ,a confidence of this kind assists a boy greatly and establishes a delightful intimacy4 ,there are several points with regard to purity-teaching which need to be emphasised4 ,such teaching can hardly be too explicit4 ,beating about the bush is always indicative of the absence of self-possession4 ,the embarrassment manifested is quickly perceived even by a young child1 and is certain to communicate itself to the recipient4 ,it is of paramount importance that the child should1 from the first1 feel that the knowledge imparted is pure2 anything which suggests that it is indelicate should be studiously avoided4 ,the introduction of a few science terms is advantageous in several ways3 amongst others it relieves the tension which the spiritual aspect of the question may engender1 it gives a lad a terminology which is free from filthy contamination4 ,it is important that the information given should be full1 otherwise the boy lives in a chronic state of curiosity1 which1 to his great detriment1 he is ever trying to satisfy4 ,if the reader feels that the information is dangerous1 and aims1 therefore1 at imparting as little as possible1 he is not fitted to do the work at all4 ,no greater mistake can be made than that of taxing a boy with impurity as though it were a conscious and egregious fault4 ,i have already expressed my strong opinion that1 in almost every instance1 the boy is a victim to be sympathised with1 not a culprit to be punished4 ,this opinion is shared1 ,i believe1 by everyone who has investigated the subject4 ,it is certainly the opinion of ,canon ,lyttelton and ,dr4 ,dukes4 ,it is1 indeed1 easy to exaggerate the conscious guilt even of boys who have initiated others into masturbation4 ,apart from the injustice to the boy of an attitude of severity1 it is certain to shut the boy's heart up with a snap4 ,if a pamphlet is used it should1 without fail1 be taken from a boy when he has read it4 ,much harm may1 ,i fear1 result from supplying boys with the cheap pamphlets which well-meaning but inexperienced persons are producing4 ,should the time ever come when parents give timely warning and instruction to boys1 a very difficult problem will be solved for the schoolmaster4 ,but in the meantime what ought the schoolmaster to do8 ,the following plan commends itself to some eminent teachers4 ,as soon as a boy is about to enter the school a letter is sent to his parents advising them to give the boy instruction1 and a pamphlet is enclosed for this purpose4 ,this plan has the decided advantage of shifting the responsibility on to the shoulders of those who ought to take it4 ,the weakness of the plan arises from the fact that most parents do not believe in the prevalence of impurity among boys1 and are quite confident that their own boys need no warning4 ,hence they may do nothing at all1 or merely content themselves with some vague and quite useless statement4 ,the traditions of most boys' schools make it impossible for those intimate and respectful relations to exist between masters and boys without which confidential teaching of this kind may be even worse than useless4 ,where masters are invariably referred to disrespectfully if not contemptuously1 where a teacher's most earnest address is a jaw which the recipient is expected to betray and mock at with his companions2 where to shield profanity1 indecency1 and bullying from detection is the imperative duty of every boy below the ,sixth2 where failure to avert from a moral leper the kindly treatment which might restore him to health and prevent the wholesale infection of others is the one unpardonable sin1 only one or two teachers of a generation can hope to do much1 and the risk of failure is immense4 ,i can hardly believe that the present race of teachers will long tolerate the system ,i here advert to4 ,public opinion can be organised and enlisted as strongly on the side of ,right as it is now1 but too often1 on the side of ,evil4 ,mr4 ,a4,c4 ,benson is very moderate when he writes3 ,to take no steps to arrive at such an organisation1 and to leave it severely alone1 is a very dark responsibility4 ,even in such a school1 some good is1 ,i know1 done by tactful public references to the existence of masturbation and to its deplorable consequences4 ,the question is not free from difficulty even when the general atmosphere of the school is healthy and helpful4 ,if one dared to leave this instruction until the age of puberty1 the lad would be capable of a much deeper impression than he is at an earlier age1 and the impression would be fresh just at the time at which it is most needed4 ,in the case of boys who have come to me at nine or ten ,i have sometimes ventured to defer my interview for four or five years1 and have found them quite uncorrupted4 ,on the other hand1 within an hour of penning these lines ,i have been talking to a little boy of eleven who commenced masturbation two years ago while he was under excellent home influence4 ,one such boy may1 without guilt1 corrupt a whole set1 for impurity is one of the most infectious as well as the most terrible of diseases4 ,the ideal state in a school is not reached until periodical addresses on purity can be given to all with the certainty that by all they will be listened to and treated reverently and respectfully4 ,such addresses cannot well be made the vehicle of sex information1 but they can be so constructed as to guide those to whom individual instruction has not yet been given1 and to strengthen those who1 spite of full instruction1 periodically need a helping hand4 ,what results may we reasonably expect from adequate and timely instruction8 ,i have so rarely met a case in which this has been given at home that ,i can only infer what these results might be from the cases in which my own instruction has been given in time4 ,in almost every instance ,i feel sure that the results have been beneficial1 that the temptation to impurity has been little felt1 and that a healthy and chaste boyhood has resulted4 ,canon ,lyttelton writes3 ,the influences of school life have been found to be impotent to deprave the tone of a boy who has been fortified by the right kind of instruction from his parents4 ,this ,i can well believe1 for1 if the schoolmaster can do much1 there can be no limit to a power which has been cradled in the sanctity of home and cherished by a mother's love4 ,this appears to be the emphatic opinion also of ,dr4 ,dukes4 ,of a boy thus favoured1 ,canon ,lyttelton writes3 ,he will feel that any rude handling of such a theme1 even of only its outer fringe1 is like the profaning of the ,holy of ,holies in his heart1 and he will no more suffer it than he would suffer a stranger to defile the innermost shrine of his feelings by taking his mother's or his sister's name in vain4 ,all the goading curiosity which drives other boys to pry greedily into nature's laws1 in blank ignorance of their mighty import1 their unspeakable depth1 and spiritual unearthly harmonies1 has been for him forestalled1 enlightened1 and purified4 ,it is a sad step down from such a boy to the lad who has been given warning after corruption has begun4 ,most boys feel such shame in confessing to failure that one has to accept with reserve the statements made by even the most truthful of those who are treading the upward path4 ,after making due allowance for this source of error1 my experience enables me to say confidently that1 if a boy has not been long or badly corrupted1 a radical change of attitude may be expected in him at once1 and the habit of self-abuse will be instantly or rapidly relinquished4 ,very different is the case of a lad who has long practised masturbation1 or who has practised it for some time after the advent of puberty1 or who has associated sexual imaginations with the practice4 ,few such boys conquer the habit at once1 however much they desire to1 and1 if the above conditions co-exist1 a boy's progress is very slow1 and years may pass without anything approaching cure4 ,if in addition to the temptations from within he has foes also without in the form of companions who sneer at his desire for improvement1 controvert the statements made to him1 and throw temptation in his way1 his chance of cure must be enormously decreased4 ,of such cases ,i know nothing2 for my experience lies solely among boys who have1 outside their own hearts1 little to hinder and very much to help4 ,as ,i have dealt elsewhere with the question of aids to chastity1 ,i will make only a brief reference to it here4 ,the mind is so much influenced by the body that purity is impossible when the body is unduly indulged4 ,no man exists who could inhale the vapour of chloroform without an irresistible desire to sleep4 ,under these conditions the strongest will would not avail even if the victim knew that by surrender he was sacrificing everything he reverenced and held dear4 ,the lad past the age of puberty who has much stimulating food1 who drinks alcohol1 who sleeps in a warm and luxurious bed and occupies it for some time before or after sleep1 is certain1 even if he takes much exercise1 to be tempted irresistibly4 ,dr4 ,dukes considers that a heavy meat meal with alcohol shortly before bedtime is in itself sufficient to ensure a lad's fall4 ,meanwhile1 no abstinence which it not unduly rigorous1 can save a boy from impurity if he gets into the habit of exchanging glances with girls who are socially inferior1 if he reads suggestive books1 looks at stimulating pictures and sights1 and falls into the hopeless folly of entertaining sexual thoughts even momentarily4 ,he who has not the strength to tread out a spark is little likely to subdue a conflagration4 ,the best and most timely teaching will never make carelessness in these matters justifiable1 and a boy who has once been corrupted and desires to master his lower nature has no chance of self-conquest unless he gives them his constant and careful attention4 ,it is very important to fill a boy's leisure with congenial occupation4 ,idleness and dullness make a boy specially susceptible to temptation4 ,on the other hand1 the fond parent who satisfies a boy's every whim and encourages the lad to think that his own enjoyment is the chief thing in life does his utmost to destroy the lad's chance of purity--or1 indeed1 of any virtue whatever4 ,can anything be done for boys and young men who have become the slaves of self-abuse to such an extent that they groan in the words of ,st4 ,paul3 ,the good that ,i would ,i do not1 but the evil which ,i would not1 that ,i do4444 ,i delight in the law of ,god after the inward man1 but ,i see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members4 ,o wretched man that ,i am6 who shall deliver me from the body of this death8 ,can anything be done for the lad who has become so defiled by lustful thoughts that his utmost efforts fail to carry him forward1 and even leave him to sink deeper in the mire4 ,there are many1 many such cases1 alas6 for as ,dr4 ,acton says1 ,the youth is a dreamer who will open the floodgates of an ocean1 and then attempt to prescribe at will a limit to the inundation4 ,yes there is a remedy--,i believe a specific--which can rapidly and1 ,i think1 finally restore strength to the enfeebled will and order the unclean spirit to come out of the man4 ,it is hypnotic suggestion4 ,let not the reader1 however1 think that the matter is a simple one4 ,in all ages any great advance in the art of healing has1 by the ignorant1 been attributed to the powers of darkness4 ,the ,divine ,healer ,himself did not escape from the charge of casting out devils by the prince of the devils1 and1 while hypnotic suggestion has long been used for therapeutic purposes on the ,continent and is now practised in ,government institutions there1 the doctor or clergyman or teacher who uses it in ,england runs great risks2 for in this subject1 as in all others1 it is those who are entirely without experience who are most dogmatic4 ,in the case of the schoolmaster1 its use in this connection is practically excluded4 ,if he applies to a parent for permission to use it he probably runs his head against a blank wall of ignorance2 for hypnotism1 to most people1 means a dangerous power by which an unscrupulous1 strong-willed ,svengali dominates an abnormally weak-willed ,trilby whose will continues to grow weaker until the subject becomes a mere automaton2 and most of us would rightly prefer that a boy should be his own master--even if he were rushing to headlong ruin--than that he should be the mere puppet of the most saintly man living4 ,the human will is sacred and inviolable1 and we do unwisely if we seek to control it or to remove those obstacles from its way by which alone it can gain divine strength4 ,meanwhile the stimulus by which the mind acquires self-mastery usually comes from without in the form of spiritual inspiration2 and to remove from a boy's path an obstacle which blocks it and is entirely beyond his own strength is equally desirable both in the physical and in the spiritual realm4 ,those who think that without this obstacle a boy's power of self-control is likely to receive insufficient exercise will1 of course1 object to the instruction advocated in this book4 ,if it is unwise to remove this obstacle from a boy's path it is equally unwise so to instruct him as to prevent the obstacle from arising4 ,in trustworthy hands hypnotic suggestion is a beneficent power which has no dangers and no drawbacks1 and to decline to use it is to accept a very serious responsibility4 ,for the teacher a further difficulty--not to mention that of time--is that1 without betraying a boy's confidence or inducing him to allow his admissions to be passed on to his father1 it is impossible to give his parents an idea of the urgency of the case4 ,altogether the time for hypnotic suggestion in education is not yet1 but the day must come when its use is recognised not only in physical cases such as nocturnal emissions and constipation1 but in all cases in which the will-power is practically in abeyance1 as it is in bad cases of impurity4 ,for intelligent parents the difficulties are far less1 and if any such care to pursue the subject farther1 ,i would refer them to the volume on ,hypnotism in the ,people's ,books series or to one of the larger medical works on the subject1 such as ,hypnotism and ,suggestion1 by ,dr4 ,bernard ,hollander4 ,to those who know boys well and love them much1 there is something intensely interesting and pathetic about the spiritual struggle through which they have to pass4 ,the path of self-indulgence seems so obviously the path to happiness2 self-denial is so hard and self-control so difficult4 ,the struggle of the instinct that enjoys and the more noble instinct that aspires is ever there4 ,the young soul reaches out after good1 but its grasp is weak4 ,it needs much enlightenment1 much encouragement1 much inspiration1 much patient tolerance of its faults1 much hopeful sympathy with its strivings1 if it is ever to attain the good it seeks4 ,in the past it has met1 without light or aid1 unwarned and unprepared1 the deadliest foe which can assail the soul4 ,an appetite which has in all ages debased the weak1 wrestled fiercely with the strong1 and vanquished at times even the noble1 is let loose upon an unwarned1 unarmed1 defenceless child4 ,oh1 the utter1 the utter folly of it6 ,for life after death the writer has no longing4 ,immortality1 if vouchsafed1 appears to him to be a gift to be accepted trustfully and humbly1 not to be yearned after with a sort of transcendental egoism4 ,but to him the wish to-- ,join the choir invisible ,of those immortal dead who live again ,in minds made better by their presence grows ever stronger as the inevitable end draws nearer4 ,to save young lives from the needless struggles and failures of my own1 to secure healthy motherhood or maiden life to some whom lust might otherwise destroy1 to add1 for some at least1 new sanctity to human passion--these have been my hopes in penning the foregoing pages4 ,it has been my privilege and joy1 in my own quiet sphere1 to preserve boys from corruption and to restore the impure to cleanness of heart4 ,i am deeply grateful for the opportunity these pages afford of extending this delightful work4 ,when the hand which writes these lines has long been cold in death1 may the message which it speeds this day breathe peace and strength into many an eager heart4 ,,note ,,to ,,correspondents4 ,,to ,,boys4 ,i warmly invite any boy who has read these pages to write to me if he feels inclined to do so4 ,since this book was first published ,i have received hundreds of letters from boys who have1 without any definite invitation1 understood that it would please me much to hear from them4 ,many boys feel all the better for frankly confessing their difficulties to a man who fully understands and sympathises with them4 ,some desire advice about their own case4 ,anyone who accepts this invitation will do wisely to give me a full and frank history of his difficulties4 ,his confidences will1 of course1 be strictly respected4 ,he will also1 ,i hope1 remember that ,i am an extremely busy man with many and urgent claims on my time1 and that ,i cannot always reply as quickly and as fully as ,i should like to do4 ,,to ,,young ,,men4 ,before a young man marries he should always seek advice from a trustworthy source with regard to his conduct as a husband4 ,no satisfactory book is1 or perhaps could be1 published on this subject2 and even if a young man can make up his mind to consult a doctor1 it is by no means every doctor who has the needful knowledge on this subject or the best moral outlook4 ,it has been my privilege to help several in this matter1 and ,i am always happy to do this4 ,,to ,,boys ,,and ,,young ,,men4 ,i earnestly warn you against those who1 by advertisement in the papers1 offer to cure young men who are suffering from weakness of the private parts and other ills which impurity entails4 ,many such advertisers are little better than rogues1 who are out to make money by trading on the fears of their victims2 their treatment--quite apart from a far greater cost than at first appears--often does more harm than good4 ,in every case in which disease or weakness exists1 or is suspected1 a reliable medical man should be at once consulted4 ,if this is done1 a cure may generally be looked for4 ,do not write to me2 this is a doctor's business1 not mine4