ILLINOIS
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
PRODUCTION NOTE
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2012.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION
In Public Domain.
Reproduced according to U.S. copyright law USC 17 section 107. Published 1923-1963 with printed copyright notice but no evidence of copyright renewal found in the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database. Contact dcc@librarv.uiuc.edu for more information.
This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
It was made in compliance with copyright law.
Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Preservation Department,
Main Library,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
by
Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin
2012OF THE
U N I VER.S ITY Of ILLINOIS
176
J35s
192,6ffjllllllllllllllll»
WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE?SAFE COUNSEL
OR
Practical Eugenics
By
B. G. JEFFERIS, M. D., PH. D.
and
J. L. NICHOLS, A. M.
To "Which Has Been Added
THE STORY OF LIFE
By
OZORA S. DAVIS, PH. D.
President of the Chicago Theological Seminary
and
DR. EMMA F. A. DRAKE Editor, Idaho W. C. T. U. White Ribboner
THIRTY-EIGHTH EDITION
Edited and completely revised by J. L. NICHOLS, A. B.
J. L, NICHOLS & CO.,
NAPERVILLE .... ILLINOIS
U. S. A.Copyrighted 1925
by
Jo L. NICHOLS
More Than One Million Copies'S'bS s
\c\Z(fi
JÈ
*r
zrtt
%
r\
A

m
'dr~-
e<
và- ’
\Z?
OUR SLOGAN
Fight social diseases with facts, not sentiments; study the problems of venerial infection for in-formation, not sensation; combat social evils with science, not mystery. This is the keynote of our campaign to train men, women and children to think straight along the line of social hygiene.Preface to the 38th Edition
SAFE COUNSEL was originally published in the year 1893 as the first sincere attempt to explain the essential facts of sex life in their relationship to human happiness. In those days of ridiculous false modesty it was a pioneer in the true meaning of the word. Thirty-seven separate and distinct editions have now been'printed. More than a million copies have been sold on a positive guarantee of satisfaction. Millions of people have found in this book the information they sought, in terms they could readily understand.
In presenting this latest edition I offer an entirely new book, with new type, new illustrations, and many added features. Old fashioned theories have been replaced by modern scientific facts. An honest effort has been inade to deal with the most delicate situations clearly yet cleanly, without cant or hypocrisy, yet without evasion.
Other books dealing with sex subjects may be divided into three distinct classes. In the first place there are the purely scientific works which are of no practical value to the layman. Secondly we find numerous non-technical works whose authors vainly seek to keep the public good and pure, by concealing most of the truth. And finally there are the sensational, catch-penny abominations in which life's most sacred function is desecrated for commercial profit. In this latter class rightfully belongs that extraordinarily clever vulgarity which passes for fiction in some of our popular periodicals.
Many of the wrecks of humanity which fill our public institutions owe their pitiful condition to the terrible exaggerations, the downright falsehoods, and the
78
Preface to the 37th Edition
shameful sex thrills which pervade the so-called literature of the day.
I can conceive of no more terrible ordeal than the one which the average uninstructed, unassisted, and unprotected youth goes through in his sudden change to manhood. Where will you find a more pathetic picture than that of the average girl approaching matrimony absolutely ignorant of everything her new relationship must mean.
If, therefore, this little book serves to wipe out some medieval bigotry, to disperse some entangling misunderstandings, and to increase to some extent, at least, the happiness of the human race, its purpose shall have been splendidly fulfilled.
The Editor.PART 1
THE SCIENCE OF EUGENICS
HISTORICAL FACTS
METHODS OF IMPROVING THE RACE THE EUGENIC MARRIAGE LICENSE STERILIZATION OF THE UNFIT BIRTH CONTROL PROPHYLAXIS
EDUCATIONAL PROPHYLAXIS VENEREAL PROPHYLAXIS
/
9The Science of Eugenics
Eugenics, to use the definition of Sir Francis Galton, is the science which deals with all the influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race. It has also been called the science of improving the human race by better breeding.
An Old Subject.—The word eugenics was first used by Sir Francis Galton, was promptly forgotten, and it is only in recent years that it is becoming a topic of common conversation, and developing into a science for investigation and study. The life history of certain families is traced through several generations, taking into account heredity, variation, selection, regression, and environment, and arrives or attempts to arrive at a method of improving the mental and physical development of mankind.' Notorious among such familes is the famous JUKES FAMILY, a description of which appears in another part of this edition. The principle of selection, the most important from a eugenist’s standpoint, was known to the ancient Chinese. Among its earlier advocates were Charles Darwin and Lom-broso.
A Common Misunderstanding.—However, the eugen-ist does not ignore the influence of environment. You will notice that Galton says that eugenics embraces all the influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race. He says further that “when nature and nurture compete for supremacy on equal terms, the former proves the stronger/’ While heredity is important, it is readily seen that it is not ALL IMPORTANT. Without proper environment and training, heredity would count for very little, but proper environment is able to overcome most of the results of bad breeding.
Breeding for Results.—For centuries man has been engaged in the breeding of plants and animals—and has been making innumerable improvements in the quality and size. By careful selection he has been able to produce at will fast horses, or draft horses, cattle for beef or for dairy purposes, poultry for meat or for egg production; he has been able to develop fruits and vegetables for food purposes to an astonishing degree of success. In fact, animals and plants for every conceivable purpose .have been hybrid, crossed, grafted, and propagated by scientific methods. Other types, of course, were weeded out.
1112
The Science of Eugenics
A Naturar Question.—The question then arose, “Why cannot we do the same things and accomplish the same results in the human family?” And the answer is emphatically WE CAN, provided we will tackle it in the right spirit and in the proper manner.
Negative Eugenics means simply preventing the unfit from bringing children into the world, and lets the positive improvement of the race take care of itself. The difficulty of drawing a line definitely between the fit and the unfit is at once apparent. But by common consent there are certain classes who are not fit for parenthood, namely, the feeble minded, the epileptic, the insane, the syphilitic, etc. By one means or another the unfit must be prevented from propagating their kind if we ever hope to improve humanity to any great extent. Two methods of accomplishing the desired result have been advanced by the eugenists, namely, (a) the requirement of a clean bill of health before a marriage license is issued, and (b) the sterilization of the unfit. Both of these subjects are discussed at length in subsequent chapters.
The State Laws.—Some of our states have already passed laws which prohibit marriage in such cases where it is evident that no lasting good to the state or nation will result from the union. They require a physical certificate from those contemplating matrimony, or no marriage license will be, issued. A marriage license cannot be issued m Wisconsin without a thorough medical examination. Connecticut, Minnesota and Kansas prohibit the marriage of couples either of whom is feeble minded or epileptic. Delaware, Maine and Vermont forbid the marriage of a pauper. (In such a law the significance of heredity is ignored and the importance placed on environment.) Michigan makes it a felony punishable by fine and imprisonment to contract marriage while suffering with a venereal disease.
The Lack of Enforcement.—It is a sad fact, however, that these laws are not universal. It is equally regrettable that laws for the prevention of socially undesirable tnar-riages have never been, and are not now, systematically enforced. Nothing has been done to .prevent persons forbidden to marry, from going outside the jurisdiction of the state, and there evading the consequences of the law. Eugenic laws must be enforced and at the same time be supplemented by other laws making null and void all marriages so contracted.The Science of Eugenics
13
Positive Eugenics.—This phase of our subject is far less advanced. And at the same time it is beset by all kinds of prejudices and difficulties Just for example, can anyone truthfully say how many Edisons, or Marconis, or Lincolns were really endowed with superior mental or physical gifts? How much of their genius was due to heredity, and how much to environment?
Our Inalienable Rights.—And yet it is the right of every child to be well born, both from the standpoint of parentage and from that of environment. The world has been gradually growing better. What student of history, or of the Bible for that matter, can doubt it? And yet when we behold the sin and wickedness around us, when we really look for the imperfections and the unhappiness of our existence, we are led irresistibly tc the point where we all want to do something to hasten the millennium. The eugenist has not been backward in proclaiming his remedies, among which, on the positive side of the question, we find two specific panaceas, namely (a) the rational limitation of offspring, and (b) moral, educational and personal prophylaxis, both of which will be taken up later.
The Dangers.—From a eugenist’s standpoint all mental or physical weaklings should be prevented from bringing children into the world. We must^ not forget, however, that the world’s history is replete with instances of great men, deep thinkers, energetic, courageous, and self-sacrificing workers for humanity, who have themselves been handicapped by an underdeveloped or deformed physique. John Stuart Mill, Carlyle, even Darwin himself, and countless others from a strict eugenic viewpoint, should have been eliminated. And herein lies the difference between plant and animal propagation and the science of eugenics. A healthy brain unfortunately is no guarantee of a healthy body.
The Survival of the Fittest.--In the early days the struggle for existence was sufficiently severe to eliminate the unfit. But today, with the remarkable advancement of medical science, with our new and improved means for the care and the education of the unfortunate, and with our laws and amendments for the prevention of crime and wickedness, the mental, moral or physical weakling is bolstered up, enabled to live, and is even permitted to transfer his hereditary defects or deformities to future generations.1. He decides to verity some of the stories he has heard.
2. After three weeks of treatment (?) and the payment of $50.00, he is pronounced cured.
3. He decides to settle down.5. He learns with horror that he had never heen cured.
6. Who is to blame for their childless and unhappy married life?
/16
The Eugenic Marriage License
Every Child Has the Right to Be Well Born, but
even the ill-born child is entitled to the very best of care, to every chance for survival that science may offer. But from the standpoint of race improvement, such a child has no right to reproduce.
In Conclusion.—Now it is not our purpose to argue for or against these panaceas which have been advocated as cure-alls for the world’s ills. It is our desire to present both sides of the question fairly and state the arguments for and against them as clearly and as simply as possible. These are radical ideas and involve a complete revolution in some of our everyday thoughts. And yet when someone offers to empty our jails, asylums, poor farms and benevolent institutions, easily and quickly, we must sit up and take notice. That, in a word, is what the eugenist agrees to do through the medical marriage license, asexualization of the unfit, rational birth control, and prophylaxis. Let us see how these things may be brought about.
The Eugenic Marriage License
One of the simplest and most effective methods of improving the human race is a law which would require a certificate of freedom from transmissible disease before a marriage license could be issued. This is the first plan suggested for the improvement of the inborn qualities of the race from the standpoint of negative eugenics.
As stated before, many states have passed laws prohibiting certain marriages from taking place, but the proportion is pitifully small, and in no case does the law proceed far enough to accomplish very much.
The Benefits of such laws are self-evident. Veneral disease is attacking the future of the human race through the sacred relations of family life.
The Evidence.—Keys as quoted by Stokes estimated from his own records that the chances taken by a syphilitic husband who used no special precautions to prevent infection in his wife as twelve to one the first year for infection, five to two the second, and one to four the third, after which the chances were negligible.
It is not only in the control of venereal diseases that such laws would be effective. If there is one trait above all others which we know to be transmissible, it is feeblemindedness. A feeble-minded father or a like constitutedSterilisation of the Unfit
17
mother will have feeble-minded children, just as surely as the sun rises in the east. Ihe children of parents classed as epileptics, insane, tubercular or alcoholic either inherit the diseases direct or take their birthright in a weakened or deformed physique. The annual toll of death from these causes, particularly in children, is startling.	And
they could all be avoided.
The Remedy.—Let us have laws in all of our states to put an end to these damnable atrocities. Let us require a clean bill of health, both mental and physical, from every applicant for a marriage license, both male and female— that certificate to be signed by a reputable physician who would not dare risk his professional reputation without a rigid, thorough and final examination. And let us make it a felony to go outside the jurisdiction of the state to evade the letter of the law. In all cases of known venereal history, let us adopt the “five-year rule” as recently summarized by Hoffmann: “A syphilitic who has been efficiently treated by modern methods with mercury and salvarsan over a period of from two to three years, and who has remained free from all the signs and symptoms of the disease for two years after all treatment was stopped, including negative blood and spinal fluid tests, may safely marry in five years from the beginning of his infection.”
The Sentiment Is Growing.—As an indication of the growth of the health certificate plan, it is interesting to note that in some states without suitable protections certain high-minded preachers refuse to perform the marriage ceremony without the positive proof of a clean bill of health from both parties.
Sterilization of the Unfit
The second means for the improvement of the human race, as advocated by students of the subject, is the sterilization of the feeble-minded, degenerate and criminal.
Congenital Defects.—Present day thinkers ^ are inclined to scoff at the old idea of heredity and its influence. They place more importance on education and environment, and rightly so. Take, for example, the common superstition which attaches a stigma to those unfortunate people born with club feet, cleft palate, harelip and congenital hip disease. Polks usually overlook the fact that all human beings have club feet, cleft palate, harelip and 218
Sterilization of the Unfit
congenital hip disease before birth. In the natural develop» ment of the embryo there is a natural fusion of the various-parts of the body, and in rare cases this fusion is not absolute, with the above mentioned defects resulting. There is positively nothing hereditary about them. When we stop to consider what actually takes place in the house we live in for nine months, isn’t it a miracle that so many of us are perfect?
We Cannot Ignore Heredity in cases of the mentally and morally insane, the feeble-minded, the degenerates and congenital criminals, and in all such cases authorities agree that sterilization or asexulization is the only solution. These are the unfit and they must be prevented from propagating their kind.
Examples.—The gravity of advocating a plan of this kind cannot be overestimated, and yet our common sense tells us that there are countless instances where such measures are justified. Cases cf chronic, long standing, and incurable venereal disease are a terrible menace to society. A child born of epileptic parents is almost sure to inherit that dread disease. I know of one family in which both the grandfather and the father died# as a direct result of epilepsy and there are today eleven living children doomed to the same fate. Then there are the men and women of strong hereditary taint who are periodically released from penal institutions and asylums for the insane, only to be returned within a few weeks or months more violent than ever. The children born of such parents are a liability to the state from a mental, moral, physical and economic standpoint. To permit them to grow up and bring other children into the world is a crime, and yet the state must care for them and educate them until they come of age. Here under the present system the duty of the state ends and the defectives are turned out into the world to beget and to bear children, and the vicious circle is complete.
There Are Two Remedies.—In the first place in all such cases of feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, degeneracy, pauperism and congenital criminality, the patients should be freely given information as to the means for the prevention of conception. If they maliciously refuse to make use of contraceptives and continue to propagate their kind, then the state certainly has the right to step in and make it impossible to bring children into the world that they may become a menace to public health and a public burden. For the state to fail in either of these preven-'	Sterilisation of the Unfit	19
tive measures is simply to follow the surest road to national degeneracy.
Sterilization Without Mutilation.—-It may not be generally known that there are two distinct methods of rendering men and women incapable of begetting children. Formerly a very serious and maiming operation with a profound effect upon the character, looks and voice of the individual was considered necessary. Today it is possible to obtain the desired result without any mutilation, and with absolutely no effect upon the individual’s health, character, looks, voice, or mode of life. The operation is a more serious one for women than it is for men.
Voluntary Asexualization.—As an instance of the growth of this idea, and of its logic, .many sufferers have willingly submitted to the operation when it was ^ made clear to them what their troubles would lead to in the coming generations. For example, a group of criminals in the Indiana State Penitentiary were recently sterilized voluntarily when the matter was presented to them in its true light.
Oh, that we might all see the effects of our own conduct and habits on the coming generations and govern ourselves accordingly.20
Birth Control
Birth Control
or
The Limitation of Offspring by the Prevention
of Conception
A Question of Vital Importance.—Freedom of motherhood is the first glorious goal for the eugenist on the negative side of the question. This emancipation of womanhood, and a consequent improvement in the human race, we are told, is to be brought about by the rational limitation of offspring. The reasons given for so broad a statement are the result of an analytical study of present day conditions and the works of well-known authorities, and they may be summarized as follows:
1.	Because countless people are already using contraceptive measures, using unscientific and actually harmful means to the detriment of their health and happiness. In view of the fact that there are only two or three children in the average home instead of fifteen or twenty, it is ridiculous to say that most people are not familiar with SOME means of preventing conception.
2.	Because the fear of having too many children keeps countless young men single and thus indirectly increases the extent of venereal infection.
3.	Because countless mothers are old, invalided women at thirty-five when they ought to be in the prime of life.
4.	Because countless women have been driven to an early grave through abortions and attempted abortions.
5.	Because countless children are poorly nurtured, poorly clothed and poorly educated as a result of there being too many.
6.	Because countless children are born of feeble-minded, insane, epileptic, syphilitic and tubercular parents, foredoomed to an uphill struggle, a dependent life or an early death.
7.	Because human beings ought to have the right to determine when, under what circumstances, and how many children they will bring into the world.
8.	Because contraceptive measures are, generally speaking, in themselves preventives against venereal disease in married life.Birth Control
21
From Our Common Experience we know that these statements are true. No boy or girl should embark on the perilous course of matrimony without first learning from parents or physician the safe and sane methods of limiting conception. In spite of the obvious truth and justice in these statements, there is a large percentage of people who from a moral standpoint, or to be exact, a prejudiced viewpoint, look upon the matter from an altogether different angle. Let us see where their arguments lead us.
Arguments Against Birth Control.— Argument No, i. It is argued that by universal dissemination of the means of prevention that we would regulate by force the number of children in each family. To refute this argument it is only necessary to state that limitation is advised only in the case of those morally, physically, mentally, or financially unfit. Large families would be the rule where the parents were able and willing to care for them.
Argument No. 2. Then there is the statement that contraceptive measures are injurious. It must be admitted frankly that some of them are, but the injury arises from ignorance and improper use. True they are not as convenient as falling off a log, and are considered by some as unesthetic. But millions of people are familiar with sane, harmless means of preventing conception. If you doubt this, ask your physician.
Argument No. 3. “Contraceptive measures are not absolutely safe.” Well, what of it? Their failure is usually due to misunderstanding, carelessness, or unintelligent use, and if they are efficient in nine cases out of ten, then they are a real,blessing to humanity.
Argument No. 4. “What if the mothers of Shakespeare, Washington and Lincoln had practiced birth control?'’ In answer to this natural question it is only necessary to ask: “What if the mothers of Alexander the Third, or the notorious Jukes, or Bergdoll had used contraceptives?” and here endeth the argument.
Argument No. 5. “Murder is murder/'
Argument No. 6. “Prevention renders a woman sterile.”
In both the fifth and sixth argument the uninformed wilfully ignore the difference between birth control and abortion. Abortion is murder when “brought on,” and as such is a severe nervous shock to any woman, sometimes rendering her sterile. But there is as wide a difference between birth control and abortion as there is between night22
Birth Control
and day, and any argument which overlooks this difference stands unsupported by any logical premise.
Argument No. 7. “Preventive measures will only be adopted by the best of the working classes,* and a larger percentage of the population will be furnished by the lower classes.” The truth of the matter is that no man or woman likes to bring defective children into the world. Experience shows that no matter how low, fathers are just as grateful for information about birth control as the mothers. Who would wilfully burden himself with one sickly child after another? If safe and simple methods of prevention were put into the hands of everyone, public opinion would no longer consider large poverty-stricken, sickly families as an object of pity and charity, but the parents would be subject to a very righteous popular indignation.
Why Is the Information Taboo?—We have presented the arguments for and against birth control, and we have seen that the evidence is all in favor of the affirmative. The questions then arise: “Why do they put men and women in the penitentiary for telling people what they ought to know? Who is responsible for the air of illegal mysticism which surround this whole subject?
Anthony Comstock was in large measure responsible for the passage of the Federal Obscenity Act in 1873. He was the leader in the Society for the Prevention of Vice, whose efforts were directed against the circulation of obscene literature and pictures* among school children. In the closing rush of Congress of that year the bill was hurriedly passed, making the conveying of obscene matter through the United States mail a criminal offense, and it included contraceptives and information about contraceptives in the class of obscene matter. This law, like the state laws which followed it, did not make it an offense to practice birth control. The crime lies in the conveying of information as to how conception may be prevented.
Here Is the Law.—The following is^ a copy of the law as it appears in the United States Criminal Code, Act of March 4, 1909, Chapter 321, Section 211, United States Statutes at Large, Volume 35, Part 1, page 1088:
“Every obscene, lewd, or lascivious and every filthy book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing, print or other publication of an indecent character, and every article or thing designated, adapted or intended for preventing conception, or procuring abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use; and every article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing; which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use it for preventing conception or producing abor»Birth Control
23
tion, or for any indecent or immoral purpose; and every written ■or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information directly, or indirectly, where, or how or from whom or by what means any of the hereinbefore mentioned matters, articles or things may be obtained or made or where or by whom any act or operation of any kind for the procuring or producing of abortion will be done or performed, or how or by what means conception may be prevented or abortion produced, whether sealed or unsealed; and every letter, packet or package, or other mailable matter containing any filthy, vile or indecent thing, device or substance; and every paper, writing or advertisement, or representation that any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing, may, or can be used or applied for preventing conception or producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral purpose; and every description calculated to induce or incite a person tO' so use or apply any such article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine or thing, is hereby declared to be non-mailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from# any postoffice or by any letter carrier. Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited for mailing or delivery anything declared by this section to be non-mailable, or shall knowingly take, or cause the same to be taken, from the mails for the purpose of circulating or disposing thereof, or of aiding in the circulation or disposition of the same, shall be fined not more than $5,000.00, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
The State Laws.—And the laws of the several states are equally as severe, and cover the sending of such information through channels other than the United States mails, and even the giving of the means or information by word of mouth. It is, therefore, an extremely serious and dangerous offense to impart or to attempt to impart any information whatever on the subject of birth control.
The Only Relief.—There is happily a simple way out. Under the New York State laws a physician has the right to prescribe cpntraceptives to cure or prevent disease, a right which has been affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals, and which is broad enough to cover the usual requirements. Few doctors have claimed this right or known that it existed. In many of the states amendments have been proposed to remove information concerning contraceptives from its present position among filthy and lascivious things, where it certainly does not belong, and to permit duly licensed physicians to prescribe such preventive measures as the case may require.
A Woman Jailed.—Margaret Sanger, the well known writer and lecturer, was thrown into prison before she finally convinced the authorities that birth control need not necessarily be an obscenity. Her case in New York was given considerable publicity throughout the newspapers and magazines of this country and Europe. The Court recog-24
Birth Control
nized that the prevention of conception may be absolutely vital to a woman’s health and happiness—a matter of life and death.
Uniform Laws.—After such a victory it is now only a question of time until popular opinion will demand the re-peal of the Federal and State Obscenity Laws, and the passage of uniform statutes with the welfare of humanity at heart.
Quotations from Famous Thinkers.—John Stuart Mill says that “Utility lies at the basis of all Morality." Professor Huxley, one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever known, said, “So long as unlimited reproduction goes on, no sociál organization which has ever been devised will deliver society from the tendency to be destroyed by the reproduction within itself." H. G. Wells, the popular English writer, says: “Procreation is an avoidable thing .... and the procreation of children who, by the circumstances of their parentage must be diseased bodily and mentally, is absolutely the most loathesome of all conceivable sins." Dr. A. Jacobi, the conservative president of the American Medical Society, has said: “The advice to the poor to limit the number of children, even the healthy ones, is perhaps more than merely excusable.” Sidney Webb said, in an article in Popular Science Monthly: “If a course of conduct is habitually and deliberately, pursued by vast multitudes of otherwise well conducted people, forming probably a majority of the whole educated class of the nation, we must assume that it does not conflict with their actual code of morality.
What Has Been Accomplished.—A few short years ago the average citizen used to faint at the mere mention of birth control, just as his puritanic father held up his hands in holy horror at the mere thought of sex instruction or venereal disease. But times have changed. Just as the true facts about self and sex have gradually become common knowledge through the pamphlet campaign of state and nation, so the truth about birth control through the tireless efforts of its advocates has become the subject of a reverent understanding. The trend of public opinion always goes forward. Human happiness demands the clarifying of a situation which muzzles the press, binds the hands and feet of the medical profession in helpless captivity, and makes law-breakers and criminals out of otherwise law abiding and respectable people, in a matter of vital importance to the ultimate achievement of the race. The fact that such laws exist and that we let them exist26
Birth Control
indicates that as yet public opinion is not fully awake to the dangers of our very real drift towards degeneracy. Any law or series of laws which is a detriment to human' happiness and progress must be stricken from the records.
Does Birth Control Work?—Population has always been regulated in one fashion or another. Wars, famines, plagues, religious offerings ^ and abortion have prevented humanity from over-populating the earth. Why is it unreasonable to expect that more satisfactory results may be accomplished by scientific and hygienic methods?
Strength Is Not Always In Numbers.—Startling proof of the change in public opinion on birth control is afforded by the attitude of the German people. Before the war the former kaiser preached the gospel of the large family, and personally acted as godfather to the sixth child in every German family. The people regarded birth control as an invention of the devil and laughed at France, supposed to be slowly failing on account of her lack of large families. Today the subject of birth control is much discussed in Germany. In January of 1922 Dr. Otto Mayer of Munich was charged with performing illegal operations on some eighty girls and women, ranging in age from 17 to 40 years, and the people are following this trial with intense interest. The accused pleaded “not guilty” and maintained that “women are free to deal with their own bodies as they see fit. They agreed to submit to an operation, not because they feared the shame or the indignity of their predicament, but simply because they knew that they would be unable to rear their children to maturity under the existing economic conditions.” If this plea represents the truth in every case, then it would be a harsh and unfeeling judge who would insist upon the full penalty of the law.
And so the times change. What was a crime yesterday becomes a physical necessity today. Sooner or later the trend of public opinion swings around to the point where the laws, rules, and regulations represent the best interests of the people.
In Holland.—Birth control has been openly practiced for over forty years. Fifty free clinics are operated for the purpose of giving information on contraceptives to whoever may need it. As a result, with a population oi about six million, the death rate among children has dropped from 180 per thousand to 64, an improvement of over 65 per cent in a period of thirty years. This is the lowest child's mortality rate of any nation in Europe. As a result, motherhood is glorified, large families prevailBirth Control	27
where conditions warrant them, early marriages are the rule, and prostitution is almost unknown.
In China.—Contrast this picture with one from old China where 779 out of every 1,000 babies die before they are two years old. What would happen to this overcrowded, famine swept land if all those babies actually lived? Is it fair to condemn 779 babies to death in order that 221 may live? From a humanitarian standpoint the evidence is predominately in favor of rational limitation of offspring. The following figures offer even more conclusive proofs:
Infant Death Birth Rate	Rate
Amsterdam (before birth control)....	25.1	27.1
Amsterdam (after birth control)______	13.1	23.3
Australia (under birth control).......	10.7	27.3
New Zealand (under birth control)..	9.1	25.3
Germany (before birth control)........	15.0	27.5
United States.................... 14.7	24.8
Figures Often Confuse.—Supposedly remedial measures have in recent years been advanced in this country and in Europe, such as free medical and dental attention, schools for the blind, deaf, and tubercular, free dispensaries and sanitariums for the unfortunate, etc. England alone was favored with more of these measures than any other land, and yet the army records show that in 1917 only 36 per cent of the men passing under the army medical board were of normal weight, strength and health. Even the proportion of men examined and called in the United States under the selective service act, and who were accepted for full military service is surprisingly low. But such generalities usually leave the ordinary citizen unconvinced. They are too impersonal for him, too far removed from his daily life. He can only be influenced by actual concrete examples. He must be made to look around him and see what is actually happening among his friends and acquaintances. Let him pick out four families at random with from six to ten children and compare them with the following typical instances with which the writer is familiar.
Case No. ^ 1.—Father a Roumanian, bright yet all but beaten in his unequal struggle against the high cost of living; eight children living under conditions of almost unbelievable squalor and poverty; mother American of low type, and her doctor has told her that another pregnancy will probably mean her life.28
INFANT MORTALITY RATES, ACCORDING TO FATHERS' EARNINGS
COMBINED FIGURES FROM SEVEN CITIES STUDIED BY US. CHILDRENS BUREAU.
Under $450
$450	to	$549
$550	to	$649
$650	to	$849
$850	to	$1049
$1050	to	$1249
$1250	and Over.	
The baby death rate rises
as the fathers earnings fall.
Case No. 2.—Father consumptive; mother hard working and intelligent; eight living children, all mentally defective, deaf or tubercular; mother a physical wreck from the worry and anxiety of the struggle.
Case No. 3.—Husband syphilitic and only able to work occasionally; mother exhausted from child-bearing, abortion, poverty and anxiety; five living out of nine children, all feeble-minded and undersized.Birth Control
29
Case No. 4.—Husband epileptic, unable to provide for the family; wife healthy, intelligent and a provider; five living, undersized, weak-minded children.
Who benefits by these large families? It is certainly not the children themselves, who either die in infancy or grow up heavily handicapped and foredoomed to failure. It is not the parents, for what mother or father fails to suffer over the failures, disappointments, and ill health of their children? Nor is it the nation, for such families cost the people millions of dollars in taxes annually, without the prospect of obtaining a single desirable or capable citizen in return. t)oes not such a state of affairs lead inevitably towards national bankruptcy?30
Prophylaxis
Prophylaxis
Moral — Educational — Personal
The final and certainly one of the most essential checks in our drift towards degeneracy is found in prophylaxis— moral, educational and venereal. Prophylaxis means simply prevention.
Moral Prophylaxis.—By moral prophylaxis we mean simply the prevention of trouble before we come to it. And who can doubt the old saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”?
Suppression.—The first step in moral prophylaxis is the suppression of the recognized agencies for vice and the spread of disease, such as prostitution and the liquor traffic. In most cities in the United States regulation and zoning have been found highly unsatisfactory in mitigating the evils of prostitution, and have recently given way to suppression. One of the world’s greatest victories for moral prophylaxis was the prohibition of the liquor traffic by constitutional amendment in the United States.
Continence is urged for unmarried individuals, not only as the surest means of preventing disease, but also because the best interests. of the individual and the race demand a clean life. Clean thinking, care in the selection of associates, active employment, outdoor sports, and wholesome recreation render the control of the sex impulse not only possible but practicable, even for those who previously had not led a continent life.
Reward.—And finally there should be a reward put up for the young man or the young woman who leads a clean life. It is all very well to say “don’t do this” and “don’t do that,” with or without good reasons, or to try to influence right conduct through fear of disease or religious precepts, but statistics show that attempts at reform along these lines have always failed. Some tangible reward such as athletic prowess, business advancement, or an early marriage with legitimate sex life must be offered. Government officials and employers generally should offer clean young men the preference in economic advancement. In these days of high living costs, parents should hold out the reward of financial assistance to an early marriage. Let us have some realities mixed up with our ideals and the results will surprise us.Prophylaxis
31
ASKING AN HONEST QUESTION32	Educational Prophylaxis
The Instinct to Reproduce is as fundamental as any of our instincts or emotions and to disregard that fact means the defeat of any plan for the betterment of the human race.
EDUCATIONAL PROPHYLAXIS
Definition.—By educational prophylaxis we mean proper instruction in the mysteries of sex and the formation of life. The United States Government through its Department of Public Health and the various State Departments have recently taken a great forward step in the free dissemination of literature bearing on these subjects. Uncle Sam as an eugenist, and at the same time an enforcer of the Federal Obscenity Act, seems paradoxical indeed, yet such is actually the case. At the time of the late national emergency, government officials saw the danger and launched a vigorous campaign to reduce the prevalency of venereal disease in the army and in civilian life through proper educational methods. The results of this plan of attack have been successful beyond anyone’s fondest expectations.
The Root of the Evil.—When parents instruct their children properly in the matters of sex, the dangers of sexual perversions and venereal disease are at once obviated. The age at which such instruction must begin is the very day on which the first inquisitive question is asked. It is a known fact that the average child acquires a knowledge of the sexual function before the age of ten years. This information is gained from playmates and is usually vicious and erroneous in character. The average age at which legitimate sex instruction is given is fifteen years. While such instruction may prove valuable, it comes in many cases far too late in life, after the damage has been done. What a shame and a disgrace to present day parents that they willingly permit a situation like this to arise on account of their own false modesty and their inability to meet the issue squarely.
Preparation for Instruction.—A thorough knowledge of the subject is necessary in order to transmit the facts clearly and cleanly. A request for information along this line addressed to the United States Public Health Service, Washington, D. C., or to the Department of Public Health in any state, will bring valuable printed matter on the subject. In addition there are many books and pamphlets on the market outlining a definite course of instruction which may be secured at moderate rates. Among the latterVenereal Prophylaxis
33
THE PARENT’S GUIDE, by Dr. Ozora S. Davis, President of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and Dr. Emma F. A. Drake, author of many books on kindred subjects, is particularly recommended. For further information see pages 375-486 in $his edition.
Confidence.—A spirit of friendly, confident comradeship between parent and child is the one thing to be treasured above all others. It is the easiest thing in the world to gain a child’s confidence, and yet how often it is hopelessly lost through an evasive answer or a disinclination to speak the truth. In thousands of cases that dreaded estrangement between parent and child can be traced back directly to the day when the little one asked, “Where did baby come from?” and the father shifted the blame to the stork.
Self-Control.—It is folly to expect self-control quite suddenly when it is most needed unless the child’s training and education has developed it from earliest years. Even though religion teaches self-control, religious precepts need not necessarily enter into the discussion. It is quite possible to tell the story of life clearly and effectively without them. Clean living, sportsmanship, ambitjon and fairness to women appeal instinctively to boyhood and manhood. A carefully thought out and executed campaign with these considerations in mind will bring results.
The Psychological Time.—The field having been properly prepared, the time for giving information on the formation of life is just before the age of puberty. Venereal disease need not then be discussed. The important things are to see that every girl understands the function and hygiene of menstruation, and that every boy understands nocturnal emissions, and that both are warned against the wiles of quacks and advertising doctors. Instruction in venereal diseases will naturally come later.
VENEREAL PROPHYLAXIS
Historical.—In 1905 Metchmkoff published his experiments demonstrating that syphilis, can be prevented. He discovered that a definite percentage of calomel and a certain mixture of fats, if rubbed into the place where the germs had been deposited within an hour or two after exposure, would prevent syphilis by killing the germs. A preventive for syphilis alone, however, left much to be desired, and while this ointment has some effect in the prevention of the other venereal diseases, it has been sup-334
Venereal Prophylaxis
plemented by the injection of certain other solutions into the urethra as a protection against gonorrhea and other infections.
Used in the Armies of the World—This method of preventing venereal infection was adopted by practically all of the armies in the World War. Its efficiency is seen by the fact that before its adoption 200 out of every 1,000 soldiers in the United States army had a venereal disease— after adoption the rate fell to only four per thousand.
Other Discoveries.—There are on the market other preparations for personal use, from which it is claimed excellent results are obtained. Authorities agree, however, that venereal prophylaxis at its best must remain under the direct supervision and control of the medical profession. Even at best it is not infallible, nor does it insure against infection from the mouth or other parts of the body. Still if every person would report to a competent medical man within one hour after exposure, venereal diseases would be practically unknown and the great white plague would be no more.
Arguments for and Against.—Now it is not the purpose of this book to argue for or against the use of venereal prophylaxis. We are all familiar with the terrible ravages of syphilis and gonorrhea, and we know that before we can bring about any substantial improvement in the human race, we must abolish them. But here are the arguments on both sides of the question as we find them in the works of the authorities:
No. 1. Continence.—Those opposed to the practice have only one panacea, namely, complete abstinence from intercourse outside of marriage. This method is absolutely infallible, and yet the medical profession tells us that strict continence beyond a certain age is abnormal and harmful.
No. 2. Fears.—Those opposed to prophylaxis argue that fear of venereal infection actually keeps men from promiscuous relations. They add that to remove this fear would automatically induce many men to commence sexual relations earlier and to continue them more frequently than they otherwise might. This might mean degeneration, and even a possible increase in the disease, due to the^ great frequency and the resulting carelessness due to a mistaken sense of security. Against these arguments it is claimed that the sexual instinct has been strong enough in the past to overcome all fear or religious scruples, and that undoubtedly a similar state of affairs will continue to exist in the future.Venereal Prophylaxis	35
In Conclusion.—The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be that since the treatment is not absolutely sure, and since the fear of the disease does act as a strong moral factor in a young man’s life, we cannot depend on venereal prophylaxis alone to bring about any marked improvement in human happiness. But venereal prophylaxis, hand in hand with moral and educational prevention, will bring all the results its heartiest advocates claim for it.
Children should early be taught the lesson of Propriety and Good MannersA CLASSIC FRIEZE.PART 2
LOVE
THE POWERS AND PECULIARITIES OF LOVE LOVE AND COMMON SENSE
WHAT WOMEN LOVE IN MEN
WHAT MEN LOVE IN WOMEN
37A HEALTHY COMPLEXIONLove
Love Blends Young Hearts.—Love blends young hearts in blissful unity, and, for the time, so ignores past ties and affections, as to make willing separation of the son from his father’s house, and the daughter from all the sweet endearments of her childhood’s home, to go out together and rear for themselves an altar, around which shall cluster all the cares and delights, the anxieties and sympathies, of the family relationship; this love, if pure, unselfish, and discreet, constitutes the chief usefulness and happiness of human life.
Without Love.—Without love there would be no organized households, and, consequently, none of that earnest endeavor for competence and respectability, which is the mainspring to human effort; none of those sweet, softening, restraining and elevating influences of domestic life, which can alone fill the earth with the glory of the Lord and make glad the city of Zion.
Love Is the Sun of Life.—Most beautiful in morning and evening, but warmest and steadiest at noon. It is the sun of the soul. Life without love is worse than death; a world without a sun. The love which does not lead to labor will soon die out, and the thankfulness which does not embody itself in sacrifices is already changing to gratitude. Love is not ripened in one day, nor in many, nor even in a human lifetime. It is the oneness of soul with soul in appreciation and perfect trust. To be blessed it must rest in that faith in the Divine which underlies every other motion. To be true, it must be eternal as God himself.
Love Is Dependent.—Remember that love is dependent upon forms; courtesy of etiquette guards and protects courtesy of heart. How many hearts have been lost irrevocably, and how many averted eyes and cold looks have been gained from what seemed, perhaps, but a trifling negligence of forms.
Radical Differences.—Men and women should not be judged by the same rules. There are many radical differences in their affectional natures. Man is the creature of interest and ambition. His nature leads him forth into the struggle and bustle of the world. Love is but the embellishment of his early life, or a song piped in the intervals of
3940
Love
the acts. He seeks for fame, for fortune, for space in the world’s thoughts, and dominion over his fellow-men. But a woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world; it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her ambition seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul in the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked her case is hopeless, for it is bankruptcy of the heart.
Woman’s Love.—Woman’s love is stronger than death; it rises superior to adversity, and towers in sublime beauty above the niggardly selfishness of the world. Misfortune cannot suppress it; enmity cannot alienate it; temptation cannot enslave it. It is the guardian angel of the nursery and the sick bed; it gives an affectionate concord to the partnership of life and interest, circumstances cannot modify it; it ever remains the same to sweeten existence, to purify the cup of life, on the rugged pathway to the grave, and melt to moral pliability the brittle nature of man. It is the ministering spirit of home, hovering in soothing caresses over the cradle, and the death-bed of the household, and filling up the urn of all its sacred memories.
Woman’s Complexion.—He who loves a woman’s complexion, form and features, loves not her true self, but her soul’s old clothes. The love that has nothing but beauty to sustain it, soon withers and dies. The love that is fed with presents always requires feeding. Love, and love only, is the loan for love. Love is of the nature of a burning glass, which, kept still in one place, fireth; changed often, it doth nothing. The purest joy we can experience in one we love, is to see that person a source of happiness to others.
Two Souls Come Together.—When two souls come together, each seeking to magnify the other, each in subordinate sense worshiping the other, each help the other; the two flying together so that each wing-beat of the one helps each wing-beat of the other—when two souls come together thus, they are lovers. They who unitedly move themselves away from grossness and from earth, toward the throne of crystaline and the pavement golden, are, indeed, true lovers.Love
41
CUPID’S CAPTURED VICTIM
The Power and Peculiarities of
Love
Love Is a Tonic and a Remedy For Disease, Makes People Look Younger,
Creates Industry, Etc.
“All thoughts, all passions, all desires, Whatever stirs this mortal frame, Are ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.”
It is a physiological fact long demonstrated that persons possessing a loving disposition borrow less of the cares of life, and also live much longer than persons with a strong, narrow and selfish nature.
Music.—Persons who love music and are constantly humming or whistling a tune, are persons that need not be feared, they are kind-hearted and with few exceptions possess a loving disposition. Very few good musicians become criminals.
Parents that cultivate a love among their children will find that the same feeling will soon be manifested in their children’s disposition. Sunshine in the hearts of the parents will blossom in the lives of the children. The parent who continually cherishes a feeling of dislike and rebellion in his soul, cultivating moral hatred against his fellow-man, will soon find the same things manifested by his son. As the son resembles his father in looks so he will to a certain42
Love
extent resemble him in character. Love in the heart of the parent will beget kindness and affection in the heart of a child. Continuous scolding and fretting in the home will soon make love a stranger.
If you desire to cultivate love, create harmony in all your feelings and faculties. Remember that all that is pure, holy and virtuous in love flows from the deepest fountain of the human soul. Poison the fountain and you change virtue to vice, and happiness to misery.
Love strengthens health, and disappointment cultivates disease. A person in love will invariably enjoy the best of health. Ninety-nine per cent, of our strong con-stitutioned men, now in physical ruin, have wrecked themselves on the breakers of an unnatural love. Nothing but right love and a right marriage will restore them to health.
Nothing tears the life out of man more than lust, vulgar thoughts and immoral conduct. The libertine or harlot has changed love, God’s purest gift to man, into lust. They cannot acquire love in its purity again, the sacred flame has vanished forever. Love is pure, and cannot be found in the heart of a seducer.
A woman is never so# bright and full of health as when deeply in love. Many sickly and frail women are snatched from the clutches of some deadly disease and restored to health by falling in love.
It is a long established fact that married persons are healthier than unmarried persons; thus it proves that health and happiness belong to the home. Health depends upon mind. Love places the mind into a delightful state and quickens every human function, makes the blood circulate and weaves threads *of joy into cables of domestic love.
An old but true proverb: “A true man loving one woman will speak well of all women. A true woman loving one man will speak well of all men. A good wife praises all men, but praises her husband most. A good man praises all women, but praises his wife most.”
Persons deeply in love become peculiarly pleasant, winning and tender. It is said that a musician can never excel or an artist do his best until he has been deeply in love. A good orator, a great statesman or great men in general are greater and better for having once been thoroughly in love. A man who truly loves his wife and home is always a safe man to trust.
Love makes people look younger in years. People in unhappy homes look older and more worn and fatigued. ALove
43
woman at thirty, well mated, looks five or ten years younger than a woman of the same age unhappily married. Old maids and bachelors always look older than they are. A flirting widow always looks younger than an old maid of like age.
Love renders women industrious and frugal, and a loving husband spends lavishly on a loved wife and children, though miserly towards others.
Love cultivates self-respect and produces beauty. Beauty in walk and beauty in looks; a girl in love is at her best; it brings out the finest traits of her character, she walks more erect and is more generous and forgiving; her voice is sweeter and she makes happy all about her. She works better, sings better and is better.
Now in conclusion, a love marriage is the best life insurance policy; it pays dividends every day, while every other insurance policy merely promises to pay after death. Remember that statistics demonstrate that married people outlive old maids and old bachelors by a goodly number of years and enjoy healthier and happier lives.44
Cannibal Love
CONFIDENCE
Love and Common-Sense
Do you love her because she goes to the altar with her head full of book learning, her hands of no earthly use, save for the piano and brush; because she has no conception of the duties and responsibilities of a wife; because she hates housework, hates its everlasting routine and ever recurring duties; because she hates children and will adopt every means to evade motherhood; because she loves her ease, loves to have her will supreme, loves, oh how well, to be free to go and come, to let the days slip idly by, to be absolved from all responsibility, to live without labor, without care? Will you love her selfish, shirking, calculating nature after twenty years of close companionship?
Do you love him because he is a man, and therefore, no matter how weak mentally, morally or physically he mayLove and Common-Sense
45
be, he has vested in him the power to save you from the ignominy of an old maid’s existence? Because you would rather be Mrs. Nobody, than make the effort to be Miss Somebody? because you have a great empty place in your head and heart that nothing but a man can fill? because you feel you cannot live without him? God grant the time may never come when you cannot live with him.
Do yoil love her because she is a thoroughly womanly woman; for her tender sympathetic nature; for the jewels of her life, which are absolute purity of mind and heart; for the sweet sincerity of her disposition for her loving, charitable thought; for her strength of character? because she is pitiful to the sinful, tender to the sorrowful, capable, self-reliant,, modest, true-hearted? in brief, because she is the embodiment of all womanly virtues?
Do you love him because he is a manly man; because the living and operating principle of his life is a tender reverence for all women; because his love is the overflow of the best part of his nature; because he has never soiled his soul with an unholy act; because mentally he is a man among men; because physically he stands head and shoulders above the masses; because morally he is far beyond suspicion, in his thought, word or deed; because his earnest manly consecrated life is a mighty power on God’s side?
But there always has been and always will be unhappy marriages until men learn what husbandhood means; how to care for that tenderly nurtured, delicately constituted being, that he takes into his care and keeping. That if her wonderful adjusted organism is overtaxed and overburdened, her happiness, which is largely dependent upon her health, is destroyed.
Until men and women recognize that self-control in a man, and modesty in a woman, will bring a mutual respect that years of wedded life will only strengthen. Until they recognize that love is the purest and holiest of all things known to humanity, will marriage continue to bring unhappiness and discontent, instead of that comfort and restful peace which all loyal souls have a right to expect and enjoy.
Be sensible and marry a sensible, honest and industrious companion, and happiness through life will be your reward.CALLERWhat Women Love in Men
47
What Women Love in Men
> Women naturally love courage, force and firmness in men. The ideal man in a woman’s eye must be heroic and brave. Woman naturally despises a coward, and she has little or no respect for a bashful man.
Moral Courage is of even more vital importance. Woman loves a man with backbone enough to stand four square for his beliefs, a man who in the face of temptation has the moral courage to say no and stick to it.
Man is naturally the protector of woman; as the male wild animal of the forest protects the female, so it is natural for man to protect his wife and children, and therefore woman admires those qualities in a man which make him a protector.
^ Large Men.—Women naturally love men of strength, size and fine physique, a tall, large and strong man rather than a short, small and weak man. A woman always pities a weakly man, but rarely ever has any love for him.
Small and Weakly Men.—All men would be of good size in frame and flesh, were it not for the infirmities visited upon them by the indiscretion of parents and ancestors of generations before.
Generosity.—Woman generally loves a generous man. Religion absorbs a great amount of money in temples, churches, ministerial salaries, etc., and ambition and appetite absorb countless millions, yet woman receives more gifts from man than all these combined: she loves a generous giver. Generosity and Gallantry are the jewels which she most admires. A woman receiving presents from a man implies that she will pay him back in love, and the woman who accepts a man’s presents, and does not respect him, commits an unforgivable wrong.
Intelligence.—Above all other-qualities in man, woman admires his intelligence. Intelligence is man’s woman-48
What Women Love in Men
captivating card. This character in woman is illustrated by an English army officer, as told by O. S. Fowler, betrothed in marriage to a beautiful, loving heiress, summoned to India, who wrote back to her:
“I have lost an eye, a leg, an arm, and been so badly marred and begrimmed besides, that you never could love this poor, maimed soldier. Yet, I love you too well to make your life wretched by requiring you to keep your marriage-vow with me, from which I hereby release you. Find among English peers one physically more perfect, whom you can love better.”
She answered, as all genuine women must answer:
“Your noble mind, your splendid talents, your martial prowess which maimed you, are what I love. As long as you retain sufficient body to contain the casket of your soul, which alone is what I admire, I love you all the same, and long to make you mine forever.”
Soft Men.—All women despise soft and silly men more than all other defects in their character. Woman never can love a man whose conversation is flat and insipid. Every man seeking woman’s appreciation or love should always endeavor to show his intelligence and manifest an interest in the various topics of the day.
Vigor.—Women love strong, vigorous men. And why not? Weak and delicate fathers have puny and sickly children, even though the mother be strong and robust. On the other hand a weak mother often bears strong children if the father is physically vigorous. It is^ human nature for women to love vigor in men, because it endows their offspring with greater strength.
Homely men are admired by women if they are large, strong, vigorous and intelligent. Looks are trifles compared with the other qualities which man may possess.
Young man, if you desire to win the love and admiration of young ladies, first, be intelligent; remember what you read, so you can talk about it. Second, be generous and do not show a stingy and penurious disposition. Third, be sensible, original, and have opinions of your own and no not agree with everything that someone else says, or agree with everything that a woman may say. Woman despises a man who has no opinion of his own; she hates a trifling disposition and admires leadership, original ideas, and looks up to man as a leader.
Be Self-Supporting.—The young man who gives evidence of thrift is always in demand. Be enthusiastic andWhat Women Love in Men
49
drive with success all that you undertake. A young man, sober, honest and industrious, holding a responsible position or having a business of his own, is a prize that some bright and beautiful young girl would like to draw. Woman admires a certainty.
UNIFORMED MEN ARE ALWAYS POPULAR
450
What Men Love in Women
What Men Love in Women
Female Beauty.—Men love beautiful women, for woman’s beauty is the highest type of all beauty. A handsome woman needs no diamonds, no silks nor satins; her face outshines diamonds and her form is beautiful in calico.
False Beautifiers.—Man’s love of female beauty surpasses all other love, and whatever artificial means are used to beautify, to a certain extent are falsehoods which lead to distrust or dislike. Artificial beauty is always an imitation, and never can come into competition with the genuine. No art can successfully imitate nature.
True Kind of Beauty.—Facial beauty is only skin-deep. A beautiful form, a graceful figure, graceful movements and a kind heart are the strongest charms in the perfection of female beauty. Good looks and good and pure conduct awaken a man’s love for women. A girl must therefore be charming as well as beautiful, for a charming girl will never become a charmless wife.
A Good Female Body.—No weakly, poor-bodied woman can draw a man’s love like a strong, well developed body. A round, plump figure with an overflow of animal life is the woman most commonly sought, for nature in man craves for the strong qualities in women, as the health and life of offspring depend upon the physical qualities of wife and mother. A good body and vigorous health, therefore, become indispensable to female beauty.
Broad Hips.—A woman with a large pelvis has a superior and significant appearance, while a narrow pelvis always indicates weak sexuality. The other portions of the body however must be in harmony with the size and breadth of the hips.
Small Feet.—Small feet and small ankles are very attractive, because they are in harmony with a perfect female form, and men admire perfection. Small feet and ankles indicate modesty and reserve, while large feet and ankles indicate coarseness, physical power, authority, predominance. Feet and ankles, however, must be in harmony with the body, as small feet and small ankles on a large woman would be out of proportion and consequently not beautiful.What Men Love in Women
51
Beautiful Arms.—As the arm is always in proportion with the other portions of the body, consequently a wellshaped arm, small hands and small wrists, with full muscular development, is a charm and beauty not inferior to the face itself, and those who have well-shaped arms may be proud of them.	t
Intelligence.—A mother must naturally possess intelligence, in order to rear her children intelligently, consequently it is natural for man to chiefly admire mental qualities in women, for utility and practicability depend upon intelligence. Therefore a man generally loyes those charms in women which prepare her for the duties of companionship. If a woman desires to be loved, she must cultivate her intellectual gifts, be interesting and entertaining in society, and practical and helpful in the home, for these are some of the qualifications which make up the highest type of beauty.
Piety and Religion in Women.—Men who love home and the companionship of their wives, love truth, honor and honesty. It is this higher moral development that naturally leads them to admire women of moral and religious natures. It is therefore not strange that immoral men love moral and church-loving wives. Man naturally admires the qualities which tend to the correct government of the home. Men want good and pure children, and it is natural to select women who insures domestic contentment and* happiness. A bad man, of course, does not deserve a good wife, yet he will do his utmost to get one.
False Appearance.—Men love reserve and discretion in women much more than they admire some of the more modern of womanly (?) characteristics. Falsehood, cigarette smoking, gambling and masculinity are poor foundations on which to form family ties.UNTIL DEATH US DO PARTPART 3
MARRIAGE
THE OBJECTS OF MARRIAGE HISTORY OF MARRIAGE WOMEN WHO DO NOT BELONG IN THE HOME
FORMER CUSTOMS AND PECULIARITIES AMONG MEN A WORD TO MAIDENS THE WEDDING
ADVICE TO NEWLY MARRIED COUPLES
SEXUAL PROPRIETIES AND IMPROPRIETIES HOW TO PERPETUATE THE HONEY-MOON HOW TO BE A GOOD WIFE
HOW TO BE A GOOD HUSBAND
\
DESERTION AND DIVORCE
SMALL FAMILIES AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE RACE PRODUCING BOYS AND GIRLS AT WILL
ABORTION OR MISCARRIAGE
53HEALTHY, HAPPY CHILDRENThe Objects of Marriage
Definition.—By marriage is meant the union between man and woman for life. The French Minister Portales defined the purpose of marriage as the propagation of children and mutual help. Proudhon defines marriage as “true community of love and an example of personal possession.”
The True Objects of Marriage.—Portales' idea of marriage is the common one. Let us overlook the fact that some men and some women marry for convenience, the man to secure an efficient housekeeper, the woman to be kept when she is tired of keeping herself. The primary end of marriage is then (a) to beget and bear children and (b) to rear the offspring until they are able to care for themselves. This end is usually the sole end of mating in the animal kingdom, and even in the lower races of mankind. It has only been in comparatively recent times that the element of love has evolved among European races.
The Secondary Function of married life may be termed the “spiritual object of marriage.” The slow but steady growth and development of this function has proceeded to such a marked degree that today it diffuses practically all of our mental and emotional processes. Neither laws nor regulations can create married happiness. A happy home requires love, a deep, abiding sympathy, and understanding.
Birth Control.—In a preceding chapter we discussed fully the pros and cons of birth control. The secondary object of marriage depends for its very existence on the ability to prevent conception, making possible a selection in parentage and a choice in time and circumstances for conception. As such birth control is the chief key to the whole eugenic improvement of mankind. Other effects there are, but chief among them is the conscious liberation of the spiritual object of marriage.
Who May Marry.—It is not our desire or intention to lay undue stress on either the primary or the secondary object of matrimony. It is^ because of their equal, significance that we wish to mention some of the physical, mental, acquired or inherited characteristics which experience has shown to be unfavorable to a happy and successful married life.
n
V 4>56	The Objects of Marriage
Alcoholism.—By alcoholism we mean the habitual drinker, not the temperate drinker who may take a glass of beer or wine with his meals. Temperance means moderation in many things besides drink. The alcoholic man or woman should not marry because of the known harmful effect on his children and the just as certain effect on his own life, not to mention his ability to properly provide for the children.
Arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, comes normally with increased age, along with higher blood pressure. When this condition develops suddenly at an early age, there is danger of apoplexy, and consequently a person so afflicted should not consider marriage.
Cancer.—While cancer is not hereditary, yet a man or a woman suffering with the disease should not marry. Besides cancer there are many other diseases formerly considered transmissible which modern experiments have shown to be not inheritable.
Drug Addiction involves a weakened constitution, and to marry an addict is to take a grave risk.
Epilepsy.—This disease is decidedly hereditary in character, especially if both persons are victims. Such marriages should be prohibited by law.
Feeble-mindedness.—The feeble-minded mother or father is sure to have feeble-minded children, and what we have just said of epilepsy applies even more strongly to this condition. Marriage should be prevented and the radicals insist that the sufferers be unsexed.
Goiter is a disease of the thyroid gland, common to women, which married life seems to make worse. Its effect is likely to be unfavorable on the offspring, and it should therefore prove a bar to matrimony.
Heart Disease, while not hereditary, is still not conducive to a happy married state. Marital relations, and particularly child bearing, have a serious ^ effect on the heart, and a person so affected may die quite suddenly as a result of the shock.
Hemophilia.—A person having frequent and unusual hemorrhages is said to have hemophilia or bleeders’ disease. The disease is hereditary, is transmitted to the males through the female side of the house, and as such is a sufficient reason for giving up all idea of marriage.
Insanity.—While much may be done in the way of training and education to counterbalance inherited tendencies towards insanity, yet the disease is handed down from one generation to another and a person so affected should not consider, should not be allowed to consider, matrimony.tl. .	. .	.	.	IF WE HAD ONLY KNOWN
Thu* Of the misery, the suffering, the worry that thousands experience through ignorance58	The Objects of Marriage
Mumps.—Here is a disease which unthinking people consider as a huge joke. How little do they realize that the percentage of mumps victims who are rendered absolutely sterile is surprisingly high. This is true in women as well as in men—the same inflammation which attacks the parotid glands is likely to attack the male testicles and the female ovaries, rendering them incapable of performing their normal function. It is far easier to discover sterility in men than it is in women, but in either case the facts should be ascertained before matrimony.
Obesity.—The condition of excessive fatness is undoubtedly hereditary. Fatness must therefore be considered an undesirable condition for marriage, because of its common accompanying ills, such as heart disease, apoplexy, gout, etc.
Relationship.—Some states forbid the marriage of close relatives. This is done for the simple reason that family characteristics and defects are more likely to appear in the children when their influence is handed down from both sides of the house. However, there is nothing to prevent first cousins from going over into another state to evade the law.
Tuberculosis is not an hereditary disease, contrary to common belief. It is infectious. Children acquire the disease from parents, not by birth, but by actual infection. Still tubercular people should not marry, because the very nature of their disease renders them incapable of bringing strong, healthy children into the world.
Other Dysgennic Factors.—Naturally there are many other diseases or conditions which should be guarded against when seeking a happy marriage. Prominent among these are the various nervous diseases and sexual disorders, such as excessive libido, frigidity, neurasthenia, homo sexuality, sadism, masochism, etc., which, while not directly transmissible, yet may have a decided effect on the lives of the future generation.
Advice to the Married'.—The reasons for most of our marital unhappiness can be grouped under three general heads, namely, (1) lack of understanding, (2) lack of adjustment, and (3) lack of courtship.
Understanding,—In order for marriage to remain a lasting ideal, there must be mutual understanding and sympathy between husband and wife. The wife should understand and assist her husband in his life work. She need not necessarily master the details of his business, but she should learn enough about it to be his comforter and advisor in time of difficulty and uncertainty. Withal she must59
The Objects of Marriage
retain her individuality, particularly in view of the increasing rights and privileges which are hers under modern political and economic developments. Misunderstandings arise so easily and can be settled simply by a little common sense.
Adjustment.—Family life, to be successful, ^calls for many fine adjustments. Habits of a lifetime must be broken to harmonize with the new relationships. The delicate adjustment in the realm of sexual things is the one adjustment which must be made if the relationship is to be permanent.
# Courtship.—Married life ought to be one long, continuous courtship. Too many women, and men for that matter, forget all about love and love-making within a few months of the wedding ceremonies. They go around in old sloppy clothes, they grow careless of language and conduct while in each other’s presence, they let themselves grow fat and even dirty, because they are too ignorant or too lazy to do otherwise. Why shouldn’t they follow the example of the redwing blackbird, who each spring puts on gorgeous crimson feathers to make himself more attractive to his mate? Courtship is not a matter of months, it is a life work.
The Dawn of a New Era.—It is hardly necessary to state that woman’s economic and political rights are today receiving recognition long past due. Authorities seem to agree that the same is true of woman’s erotic rights. The modern man has come to look upon his wife as a partner, entitled to an equal share in the rights, privileges, and pleasures of the firm. Woman is no longer placed upon a pedestal in public and degraded in private life.
The word “home” is taking on a new meaning—the mean* ing that Nature always intended it to have. There is an attitude of sympathy and frankness toward woman and towards matrimony.A CAREER, A LIFE OF PLEASURE OR MOTHERHOOD?The History of Marriage
61
The History of Marriage
The history of marriage brings to light many strange customs and peculiarities among men, many of which have been practised from the most remote times. Even today when we hurl an old shoe after the happy couple, shower them with rice or confetti, kiss the bride, come laden with costly gifts, prepare a great wedding feast, and do a number of other ridiculous things, few of us realize that these practises find their origin in the days of long ago. Superstition sets the wedding date, prescribes the most exact ceremonies, and dictates the rules of conduct.
Monogomy (Single Wife).—The Garden of Eden was no harem. Neither was Noah’s Ark. Monogomy fulfills the three essential conditions of man, viz.: the development of the individual, the welfare of society, and reproduction. Christian civilization has lifted woman from slavery to liberty where legal marriages, pure homes, and education prevail.
Polygamy has existed in all ages. Egyptian history and old records in China reveal the fact that polygamy and concubinage were in common practise for many centuries. Abraham and Solomon were both polygamists. Is it any wonder that the latter with his thousand wives exclaimed: “All is vanity and vexation of spirit”? Polygamy and concubinage continued until about the fifth century when civilized people recognized the degraded position of woman and proceeded to put an end to the plurality of wives. Even the Mohammedans are slowly departing from the practise.
In Thibet the rule was reversed, and females were provided with two or more husbands. Sometimes a family of four or five brothers contented themselves with but one wife.
Mormonism.—There seems to be a general belief that the Mormon Church permitted polygamy. The fact of the matter is that the Book of Mormon always inveighed against the sin of polygamy. The Utah branch of the Mormon Church did practise polygamy until about 1893 when it was officially abolished.
Trial Marriages were common in Europe in the Middle Ages and persisted in the Isle of Portland (England) even into the 18th Century. During recent years in such countries as Sweden, Germany, Holland, and62	The History of Marriage
Austria, it has not been uncommon to see a public announcement of “free marriage” printed in the newspapers. If any children result, they are considered as true heirs, as if born in wedlock. An old Swedish law (1734) provides: “That when a man impregnates his fiancee, the engagement becomes a marriage.”
Free love colonies have been established in various sections of the world, and even in America, but to date we have no evidence of any outstanding successes among them.
Marriage by Capture.—From the most remote times brides have been the prize of the most daring. The Australian aborigine finding an helpmeet to his fancy, watched his chance, and stunning her with a heavy blow, carried her off to her future home. A similar custom, though not quite so impetuous is revealed in the story of the ancient Romans. With the Kalmuch Tartar, certain Indian tribes, and many other odd people of the world, the winning of a bride depended to a great extent on fleetness of foot. Among the Slavonic nations this custom has survived in the common belief that a weeping bride means a happy wife. The more she cries on her wedding day, the greater her happiness will be, and the more she is envied.
The Wedding Feast.—Publicity seems to be the one element which distinguishes a legal marriage from an illicit union. Thus in all ages witnesses have been in necessary attendance on all wedding ceremonies. Further publicity has been afforded by the wedding feast where friends and relatives foregather to become better acquainted, and to give their approval to the covenant.
Wedding Gifts.—The practise of showering the newly married young people with gifts comes down to us from the times when consideration was the essential element in a marriage contract, the groom giving his father-in-law to be a suitable price, and the bride receiving a dowry in return.
The Wedding Ring was used by the ancient Hindus, the engagement ring by the early Romans. It is the only visible sign of bondage which survives from the days when fair maidens were captured and literally chained up to prevent escape.
The Origin of Other Marriage Customs.—The wedding veil is a relic of the bridal canopy which in Eastern countries was held over the heads of the bride and groom, as a symbol of the bride’s modesty, and to protect her from the evil eye. In Scotland, England, Den-63
The History of Marriage
mark, and Germany a shoe or slipper was always thrown after the couple to avert evil influence, and is today a common means of wishing them good luck. Again it was part of the ceremony in Scotland for the priest to kiss the bride. This was to insure her happiness, and although it is doubtful whether the modern bride enjoys being embraced by all the guests at her wedding, the practise has persisted down to the present time.
Many things besides rice were formerly thrown upon the bride and groom for good luck. Corn, wheat, barley, seeds, raisins, fruit and coins have been used in this connection in order that the union might prove fruitful and prosperous.
In the following paragraphs we will take up a little more in detail some of the most interesting customs of the various countries as they relate to the marriage ceremonies.
How the Romans Married.—When a man and woman had agreed to marry, there was always a formal meeting at the maiden’s house when the marriage agreement was written out on tablets and signed. Only certain days of the calendar were considered auspicious for the occasion (those not marked ater). On the wedding day the bride arrayed herself in a long white robe adorned with ribbons and a purple fringe, yellow veil and shoes to match, and bound herself with a girdle.
The pair walked around the altar, hand in hand, and received the congratulations of their friends. The bride was taken by force from her mother’s arms and was conducted to her^ new home, carrying a distaff and spindle, emblematical of her industry. She was lifted over the threshold, lest her foot should trip, saluted by her husband with fire and water, and presented with the keys of the home. There was no religious ceremony as we understand it.
Greek Marriage.—In Greece marriage is almost always a matter of mere business. A girl’s chances depend upon the size of her dowry.
The wedding itself is called a crowning, because two crowns are tied together by a white ribbon and placed, thus united, on the heads of the bride and groom, to signify the honor due to a state of matrimony.
Country weddings are very picturesque. All are mounted on mules, first a musician playing the bagpipes, then the bridegroom and his friends, then the bride, who is taken from her mother by force, and who may not speak or move. Following the bride are her64	The History of Marriage
father, brothers and other male relatives, and last of all comes the dowry packed on a mule or mules with rugs, distaff and spindle. After the ceremony the couple are pelted with comfits, as they walk away, wearing their crowns.
On arriving at home the bride is lifted three or four times across the back of her mule, and led to the closed door, on which she smears some honey and then throws a pomegranate against it. If some of the seeds do not stick it is considered very unlucky. Finally the groom opens the door and offers her bread and salt, which she eats, after which she must touch water and oil before being lifted over the threshold by her husband. She is placed in a corner where she must remain without speaking or moving until all the guests are through with their feasting and have left the house. Even then she dare not speak or raise her eyes until her husband gives his permission.
Turkish Weddings.—In Turkey marriage is likewise a matter of business, the details of which are arranged by the parents. The dowry, however, is given by the groom, all that is required of the bride being a rich trousseau. The woman retains all rights to her own personal property.
The Turkish law permits a husband to send his wife away, bag and baggage, and she is divorced without any process of law. As a matter of fact he may do this three times, and take her back again if he chooses, but unfortunately the same privilege is not accorded to the women.
German Marriage Customs.—The old customs are still popular in Germany. The evening before the wedding is devoted to festivities called “Polterabend” meaning “row” because in ancient times this was an occasion for canvassing the virtues and failings of the contracting parties. If the virtues predominated, the nuptial house was visited and the evil spirits were driven away by uncanny noises, sprinkling^ water in every corner, and beating the walls with sticks. If the failings overshadowed the virtues, this found expression in boisterous demonstrations in front of the houses of both.
The bridal race, once so common in rural England, is still practised in many sections of Germany. This is all that remains of the ancient theory that to be happy the bride must be carried off on horseback. In Prussia the race was held on the day following the wed-65
The History of Marriage
ding, bride and groom racing to a given point, after which, to signify the end of poetry and the beginning of prose, the bridal wreath was replaced by an ordinary hat.
Wedding festivals are often spread over several days. The story is thus told of one such event at which one cow, seventeen calves, eight pigs, twenty chickens, two hundred loaves of bread, and four hundred gallons of beer were consumed at the wedding of a well-to-do German farmer's daughter.
A Wedding in Lithuania.—Getting a wife in Lithuania is great sport for everybody but the girl's father. He must hand over a hatful of money and smile as though he enjoyed the experience. The young man takes with him a married friend to call on the father, and talks and talks about everything in the world but what is really on his mind. Finally the father makes an offer of dowry, and only then can the young man speak.
The wedding festivities last for five days and five nights, and there is much feasting and drinking. The Lithuanian girl throws herself weeping at her father’s feet, and pretends that she is being forced into the marriage.
The New Chinese Wedding takes only fifteen minutes. Since the return of many Chinese students from western countries, there has been a decided change in wedding customs. Formerly the principals were not considered. The family was the important consideration, and frequently the couple’s acquaintance began only on the wedding day.
The old match-maker who served as a go-between is still on the job, but his duties are now chiefly ornamental. The old-fashioned dinner party which was marked by brutality and license is a thing of the past.
Here is the order of the new ceremony. The wedding march is played. Guests enter. The match-maker enters. The heads of the two families enter. There are a profusion of bows, acknowledgments, offering of wines, burning of incense, and the knot is tied.
A Javanese Wedding.—The bridegroom and his party go to the bride’s home in a very solemn and funereal procession. Two women seize the girl and lead her to meet her future husband, who is also led towards the house. They exchange a rolled up sirah leaf, and both sink to the ground. The bride prostrates herself before the man and humbly kisses his foot. Both rise66	The History of Marriage
and seat themselves under a canopy. There are many bows, foot kisses all around, and this ceremony is likewise over. The associated festivities, however, last for many days.
Palestine.—The Mohammedans marry early, and here again the groom’s father pays the bill. The ceremony itself is carried on in great secrecy. Each principal appoints a representative who takes the vows, and repeats a certain ritual three times under the supervision of the village teacher. All this secrecy is due to the premonition that if an enemy be present, and either spill flour on the floor or tie knots in a string, a great calamity will surely befall the newly married couple.
The English Wedding.—In Saxon and early Norman times men bought their wives outright, the father’s wealth being estimated by the number of his marriageable daughters. When he was satisfied with the bargain he handed the successful suitor a shoe as a symbol of ownership. The young man then tapped his intended lightly over the head with the shoe to indicate his authority, and carried it to the bridal chamber where it was hung up over the pillow. This shoe, and later a stick was in common use in those days as an instrument of chastisement, it being perfectly legal and proper for the husband to beat his wife.
The custom of buying and beating wives fell into disrepute a century or two later and it became usual for friends to betroth their children at a very early age. The ceremony consisted first of the young man giving the girl a ring which she wore on her left hand until the marriage day, when it was transferred to the right. Second, there was the betrothal kiss, given in the presence of witnesses. Finally there followed a pledging in wine or other liquor, hence the origin of the expression “wetting the bargain’’ which is still the accepted procedure for closing an important business deal in England.
French Courtship.—Courting, in the sense we know it, is unknown in France. In fact up until a few years ago it was distinctly an American custom. The young French suitor never sees the lady of his choice unless her mother or some other female relative acts a chaperone. Marriage, too, is largely^ a matter of convenience, business details mattering far more than sentiment.
Auction of Wives.—Among the ancient Assyrians wives were auctioned off to the highest bidders. TheThe History of Marriage
67
FIRESIDE FANCIES68
The History of Marriage
money thus received for the most beautiful ones was given to the less favored as a dowry, so that all women might secure a husband. A similar custom prevailed in ancient Babylon, and has been practised in modern Russia.
Other Customs.—Among the early Jews the selection of a wife was left to an old and trusted servant of the family, and the same method prevails in some oriental countries today. Hungarians, as well as Mexicans in the last century, were often betrothed while still in their cradles, occasionally even before they were born. Primitive Moravians left the selection of their wives to lottery, the theory being that the matter then rested in the hands of Providence.
The Selection of a Wife.—In this enlightened day and age we sometimes wonder that there were ever any happy marriages. Brute force, fleetness of foot, parental authority, worldly wealth, and mere chance seem to have held the whip hand in the choice of husbands and wives. Love, as we know it, was of no consequence.
And yet we must strike a balance. In the days when the winning of a wife depended upon strength, skill, and speed, it was only the fittest who^ survived, and multiplied. Secondly, there is such a thing as a father and mother recognizing the right course of procedure for their children when the children themselves fail to see it, especially in matters which concern their future hap-* piness. And finally, marriage is a lottery, always has been, and probably always will be. To prove it we need only to consult the records of the divorce courts during the last few generations.
Our ancesors may have known what they were doing.A Word to Maidens
69
A Word to Maidens
A Young Woman who is not willing to assume the responsibility of a true wife, and be crowned with the sacred diadem of motherhood, should never think of getting married. We have too many young ladies to-day who despise maternity, who openly vow that they will never be burdened with children, and yet enter matrimony at the first opportunity. What is the result? Unless a young lady believes that motherhood is noble, is honorable, is divine, and is willing to carry out that sacred function of her nature, she had a thousand times better refuse every proposal, and enter some other honorable occupation.
On the Other Hand, Young Lady, never enter into the physical relations of marriage with a man until you have conversed with him freely and fully on these relations. Learn distinctly his views and feelings and expectations in regard to that purest and most ennobling of all the functions of your nature, and the most sacred of all intimacies of conjugal love. Your self-respect, your beauty, your glory, your heaven, as a wife, will be more directly involved in his feelings and views and practices, in regard to that relation, than in all other things. As you would not become a weak, miserable, imbecile, unlovable and degraded wife and mother, in the very prime of your life, come to a perfect understanding with your chosen one, ere you commit your person to his keeping in the sacred intimacies of home. Beware of that man who, under pretense of delicacy, modesty, and propriety, shuns conversation with you on this relation, and on the hallowed function of maternity.
Talk With Your Intended frankly and openly. Remember, concealment and mystery in him, towards you, on all other subjects pertaining to conjugal union might be overlooked, but if he conceals his views here, rest assured it bodes no good to your purity and happiness as a wife and mother. You can have no more certain assurance that you are to be victimized, your soul and body offered up, stain on the altar of his sensualism, than his unwillingness to converse with you on subjects so vital to your happiness. Unless he is willing to hold his manhood in abeyance to the calls of your nature and to your conditions, and consecrate its passions and its powers to the elevation and happiness of his wife and children, your maiden soul had better return to God unadorned with the diadem of conjugal and maternal love than that you should become the wife of such a man and the mother of his children.70
The Wedding
The Wedding
The Proper Time.—Much has been printed in various volumes regarding the time of the year and the influence of the seasons, as determining the proper time to set for the wedding day. Circumstances must govern these things. To be sure, it is best to avoid extremes of heat and cold. Very hot weather is debilitating, and below zero is uncomfortable.
The Lady Should Select the Day.—There is one element in the time that is ^ of great importance, physically, especially to the lady. It is the day of the month, and it is hoped that every lady who contemplates marriage is in-71
The Wedding
formed upon the great facts of ovulation. She should select a wedding day about fifteen or eighteen days after thé close of menstruation in the month chosen.
The “B ridai Tour” is considered by many newly-married couples as a necessary introduction to a life of connubial joy. There is, in our opinion, nothing in the custom to recommend it. After the excitement and overwork before and accompanying a wedding, the period immediately following should be one of rest.
Again, the money expended on the ceremony and a tour of the principal cities, might, in most cases, be applied to a multitude of after-life comforts of far more lasting value and importance. To be sure, it is not pleasant for the bride, should she remain at home, to pass through the ordeal of criticism and vulgar comments of acquaintances and friends, and hence, to escape this, the young couple feel like getting away for a time. Undoubtedly the best plan for the great majority, after this most eventful ceremony, is to enter their future home at once, and there to remain in comparative privacy until the novelty of the situation is worn oft*.
If the Conventional Tour is taken, the husband should remember that his bride cannot stand the same amount of tramping around and sight-seeing that he can. The female organs of generation are so easily affected by excessive exercise of the limbs which support them, that at this critical period it would be a foolish and costly experience to drag a lady hurriedly around the country on an extensive and protracted round of sight-seeing or visiting. Unless good common-sense is displayed in the manner of spending the “honey-moon,” it will prove very untrue to its name.72
Advice to Newly Married Couples
Advice To Newly Married Couples
"Be Ye Fruitful and Multiply” is a Bible commandment which the children of men habitually obey. However they may disagree on other subjects, all are in accord on this; the barbarous, the civilized, the high, the low, the fierce, the gentle—all unite in the desire which finds its accomplishment in the reproduction of their kind. Who shall quarrel with the Divinely implanted instinct, or declare it to be vulgar or unmentionable?
Consummation of Marriage.—The first time that the husband and wife cohabit together after the ceremony has been performed is called the consummation of marriage. Many grave errors have been committed by people in this,HOME LOVING HEARTS ARE HAPPIEST74	Advice to Newly Married Couples
when one or both of the contracting parties were not physically or sexually in a condition to carry out the marriage relation. A marriage, however, is complete without this in the eyes of the law, as it is a maxim taken from the Roman civil statutes that consent, not cohabitation, is the binding element in the ceremony. Yet, in most States of the U. S., and in some other countries, marriage is legally declared void and of no effect where it is not possible to consummate the marriage relation. A divorce may be obtained provided the injured party begins the suit.
Let Every Man Remember that the legal right of marriage does not carry with it the moral right to injure for life the loving companion he has chosen. Ignorance may be the cause, but every man before he marries should know something of the physiology and the laws of health, and in this volume we give some information which is of very great importance to every newly-married man.
Sensuality.—Lust crucifies love. And it is generally the young sensual husband who is at fault. He forgets the years of sheltered innocence, and the generations of modesty and seclusion which lie behind his bride. He overlooks the weeks of wooing which have been necessary to gain her complete confidence. He runs the risk of losing the love of his wife, his self-respect, and the happiness he has so long sought. Thus is laid the foundation for many difficulties which sooner or later cause serious trouble.
Sexual Excesses.—But there is still another side to the question. Sexual excesses often lead to a rapid development of some dormant disease or ailment. For instance if a man has weak lungs, the exhaustion caused by his intemperance may bring on consumption. Exactly the same thing is true of the tendencies toward other ailments. Sexual excess weakens the vitality, lessens the resistance, and paves the way for many dread diseases. This applies equally to male and female disorders.
The Inevitable Result.—Thus ignorance of the laws of self and sex always brings a punishment, either in lost love or in impaired health. The sexual question undoubtedly is the underlying cause of more friction, more unhappiness and more ill health than any other one thing.EXPLAINING THE NEED OF A NEW HAT76
How to Perpetuate the Honey-Moon
How to Perpetuate the Honey-Moon
Continue Your Courtship.—Like causes produce like effects.
Neglect of Your Companion.—-Do not assume a right to neglect your companion more after marriage than you did before.
Secrets.—Have no secrets that you keep from your companion. A third party is always disturbing.
Avoid the Appearance of Evil.—In matrimonial matters it is often that the mere appearance contains all the evil. Love, as soon as it rises above calculation and becomes love, is exacting. It gives all, and demands all.
Once Married, Never Open Your Mind to Any Change.—If you keep the door of your purpose closed, evil or even desirable changes cannot make headway without help.
Keep Step in Mental Development.—A tree that grows for forty years may take all the sunlight from a tree that stops growing at twenty.
Keep a Lively Interest in the Business of the Home.
—Two that do not pull together are weaker than either alone.
Gauge Your Expenses by Your Revenues.—Love must eat. The sheriff often levies on Cupid long before he takes away the old furniture.77
How to Be a Good Wife
Start From Where Your Parents Started Rather Than From Where They Now Are.—Hollow and showy apartments often furnish .strong temptation, while the quietness of a humble home will cement the hearts beyond risk.
Avoid Debt.—Spend your own money, but earn it first, then it will not be necessary to blame any one for spending other people’s.
Do Not Both Get Angry at the Same Time.—Remember, it takes two to quarrel.
Do Not Allow Yourself Ever to Come to an Open Rupture.—Things unsaid need less repentance.
Study to Conform Your Tastes and Habits to the Tastes and Habits of Your Companion.—If two walk together, they must agree.
How to Be a Good Wife
Love Him.—A wife loves as naturally as the sun shines. Love is your best weapon. You conquered him with that in the first place. You can reconquer by the same means.
Do Not Conceal Your Love From Him.—If he is
crowded with care, and too busy to seem to heed your love, you need to give all the greater attention to securing his knowledge of your love. If you intermit he will settle down into a hard, cold life with increased rapidity. Your example will keep the light on his conviction. The more he neglects the fire on the hearth, the more carefully must you feed and guard it. It must not be allowed to go out. Once out you must sit ever in darkness and in the cold.
Cultivate the Modesty and Delicacy of Your Youth.— The relations and familiarity of wedded life may seem to tone down the sensitive and retiring instincts of girlhood, but nothing can compensate for the loss of these. However, much men may admire the public performance of gifted women, they do not desire boldness and dash in a wife. The blush of a maiden’s modesty is more powerful in hallowing and governing a home than the heaviest armament that ever a warrior bore.
Cultivate Personal Attractiveness.—This means the storing of your mind with a knowledge of passing events, and with a good idea of the world’s general advance. If you read nothing, and make no effort to make yourself at-78
How to Re a Good Wife
TALKING BEFORE MARRIAGE
tractive, you will soon sink into a dull hack of stupidity. If your husband never hears from you any words of wisdom, or of common information, he will soon hear nothing from you. Dress and gossips soon wear out. If your memory is weak, so that it hardly seems worth while to read, that is additional reason for reading.
Cultivate Physical Attractiveness.—When you were encouraging the attentions of him whom you now call husband, you did not neglect any item of dress or appearance79
How to Be a Good Wife.—Good Husband
that could help you. Your hair was always in perfect training. You never greeted him with a ragged or untidy dress or soiled hands. It is true that your “market is made,” but you cannot afford to have it “broken.” Cleanliness and good taste will attract now as they did formerly. Keep yourself at your best. Make the most of physical endowments. Neatness and order break the power of poverty.
Study Your Husband’s Character.—He has his peculiarities. He has no right to many of them but you can avoid many hours of friction. The good pilot steers ground the sunken rocks that lie in the channel. The engineer may remove them, not the pilot. You are more pilot than engineer. Consult his tastes. It is more important to your home, that you should please him than anybody else.
Practice Economy.—Many families are cast out of peace into discord by being compelled to fight against poverty. When there are no great distresses to be endured or accounted for, complaint and fault-finding are not so often evoked. Keep your husband free from the annoyance of disappointed creditors, and he will be more apt to keep from annoying, you. To toil hard for bread, to fight the wolf from the door, to resist impatient creditors, to struggle against complaining pride at home, is too much to ask of one man. A crust that is your own is a feast, while a feast that is purloined from unwilling creditors is a famine.
How to Be a Good Husband
Show Your Love.—All life manifests itself. As certainly as a live tree will put forth leaves in the spring, so certainly will a living love show itself. Many a noble man toils early and late to earn bread and position for his wife. He hesitates at no weariness for her sake. He just thinks that such industry and providence give a better expression of his love than he could by caressing her and letting the grocery bills go unpaid. He fills the cellar and pantry. He drives and pushes his business. He never dreams that he is actually starving his wife to death. He may have a woman left to superintend his home, but his wife is dying. She must be kept alive by the same process that called her into being. Recall and repeat the little attentions and delicate compliments that once made you so agreeable, and that fanned her love into a consuming flame. It is not be-“CONSULT WITH YOUR WIFE”How to Be a Good Husband
81
neath the dignity of the skillful physician to study all the little symptoms, and order all the little round of attentions that check the waste of strength and brace the staggering constitution. It is good work for a husband to cherish his wife.
Consult With Your Wife.—She is apt to be as right as you are, and frequently able to add much to your stock of wisdom. In any event she appreciates your attentions.
Study to Keep Her Young.—It can be done. It is not work, but worry, that wears. Keep a brave, true heart between her and all harm.
Help to Bear Her Burdens.—Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of love. Love seeks opportunities to do for the loved object. She has the constant care of your children. She is ordained by the Lord to stand guard over them. Not a disease can appear in the community without her taking the alarm. Not a disease can come over the threshold without her instantly springing into the mortal combat. If there is a deficiency anywhere, it comes out of her pleasure. Her burdens are everywhere. Look for them, that you may lighten them.
Make Yourself Helpful by Thoughtfulness.—Remember to bring into the house your best smile and sunshine. It is good for you, and it cheers up the home. There is hardly a nook in the house that has not been carefully hunted through to drive out everything that might annoy you. The dinner which suits, or ought to suit you, has not come on the table of itself. It represents much thoughtfulness and work. You can do no more manly thing than find some way of expressing, in word or look, your appreciation of it
Express Your Will, Not by Commands, but by Suggestions.—-It is God’s order that you should# be the head of the family. You are clothed with authority. But this does not authorize you to be stern and harsh, as an officer in the army. Your authority is the dignity of love. When it is not clothed in love it ceases to have the substance of authority. A simple suggestion that may embody a wish, an opinion or an argument, becomes one who reigns over such a kingdom as yours.
Seek to Refine Your Nature.—It is no slander to say that many men have wives much more refined than themselves. This is natural in the inequalities of life. Other qualities may compensate for any defect here. But you need have no defect in refinement. Preserve the gentleness
682
How to Be a Good Husband
and refinement of your wife as a rich legacy for your children, and in so doing you will lift yourself to higher levels.
Be a Gentleman as Well as a Husband.—The signs of toil are no indication that you are not a gentleman. The soul of gentlemanliness is a kindly feeling toward others.
Stay at Home.—Habitual absence duringthe evenings is sure to bring sorrow. If your duty or business calls you all well and good. But if you go out to mingle with other society, and leave your wife at home alone, or with the children and servants, there is no good in store for you. She has claims upon you that you can not afford to allow to go to protest. Reverse the case. You sit down alone after having waited all day for your wife's return, and think of her as reveling in gay society, and see if you can keep out all the doubts as to what takes her away. If your home is not as attractive as you want it, you are a principal partner. Set yourself about the work of making it attractive.
Take Your Wife With You Into Society—Seclusion begets morbidness. She needs some of the life that comes from contact with society. She must see how other people appear and act. It often requires an exertion for her to go out of her home, but it is good for her and for you.Desertion and Divorce
83
GETTING A DIVORCE
Desertion and Divorce
The Marriage Ceremony and the Law Governing Marriage are for the protection of the individual, yet a man and woman may be married by law and yet unmarried in spirit. The law may tie together, and no marriage be consummated. Marriage therefore is Divine, and “whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” A right marriage means a right state of the heart. A careful study of this work will be a great help to both the unmarried and the married.
Divorce in the United States.—There is one divorce for every nine marriages in this country. Can you believe it? And yet we pride ourselves on the fact that America is founded on the sanctity of the home. The following table is compiled from statistics issued by the Bureau of the84
Desertion and Divorce
Census of Washington, D. C.; and these figures do not include the countless cases where the husband and wife, though still legally married, are living apart, because of religious scruples against divorce.
	Number of	Ratio of Divorce
Year*	Divorces	to 100,000 Population
1890	33,197	53
1900	55,136	73
1906	72,064	84
1916	112,036	112
*Note: These statistics are compiled every ten years.
Divorce An Every Day Affair.—Each state has its own laws varying in most cases. Among them there are some which allow divorce on the thinnest of pretexts. It is a comparatively simple matter to establish legal residence in some such state and to thus obtain a divorce within a very few weeks. How often have you heart a woman say that she is practically engaged to John while she is waiting for her divorce from Jim. Thousands of American women think it an outrage that they cannot secure a divorce simply because they like some one better than they do their husbands. And more than two-thirds of the people who apply for divorce are women, due largely to the fact that women have legal ground for divorce more often than men. When Mr. Croesus divorces Mrs. Croesus, the newspaper features the scandalous details for weeks, but you must remember that for every one of these cases which are in the limelight, there are thousands and thousands of plain, ordinary, every day people filing legal papers for the same purpose.
# The Legal Remedy.—A Federal law affecting marriage and divorce is the only real remedy for the far reaching evils of this constantly increasing menace. Without such a law America will soon earn the unenviable reputation of being the most lascivious nation in the world. At present a man and woman may be legally divorced in Indiana, but Michigan or Illinois may not recognize the individual’s right to marry again within a certain length of time. The result is confusion and utter lack of law enforcement. A federal law covering this whole problem universally enforced is the only solution.
Bertram N. White says, “The way to deal with the divorce question is from the marriage end. Holy matri-mony^ can be built upon one thing and one thing only, and that is a great love. It is a very real thing too, and aDesertion and Divorce
85
very beautiful thing, and a very wonderful thing. Love yearns not to be ministered unto but to minister. Every service to the beloved is a delight.”
Make Divorce Socially Disreputable unless, of course, there be redl grievances. Public opinion is stronger than any court or law, and the proper law to combat any serious menace will never find its way into the statutes unless the public demands it.
Causes For Divorce.—Referring again to the census figures for 1916, we find that 101,388 couples were divorced in that year for desertion, cruelty, adultery, non-support, or intoxication. The remaining cases on which statistics are available were grouped under “all other causes.” On the face of these statistics things look bad for the separating parties, but upon further examination we suddenly discover that 93,923 of these cases were uncontested, or in other words desired by both husband and wife. False evidence to prove trumped up charges is so simple when there is no danger of controversy, that the average court has no alternative but to grant the divorce.
It Is Up to the Women.—And so it is woman’s next problem to bring about the passage of a national divorce and marriage law by constitutional amendment. This can be accomplished first by national publicity, facing the facts as they appear. Through the organization of the woman’s club wonders may be accomplished in the way of influencing public opinion. In your community and in your state make it socially unpardonable for man and woman to separate because of convenience or alleged incompata-bility. Insist that the grounds be real grounds for divorce, not merely a disguise for a dislike of home duties or cohabitation. It takes propaganda of the right sort to beat propaganda of the wrong sort, and the men and women of today are face to face with an evil which has the power to gnaw away the vitals of our democracy. Let them face the issue squarely.86
Small Families
Small Families and the Improvement of the Race
Married People Must Decide for Themselves.—It is
the fashion of those who marry nowadays to have few
children, often none. Of course this is a matter which married people must decide for themselves. As is stated in an earlier chapter, sometimes this policy is the wisest that can be pursued. Diseased people who are likely to beget only a sickly offspring, may follow this course, and so may thieves, rascals, vagabonds, insane and drunken persons and all those who are likely to bring into the world beings that ought not to be here. But why so many well-to-do, intelligent folks should pursue a policy adapted only to paupers and criminals, is not easy to explain. Why marry at all if not to found a family that shall live to bless and make glad the earth after father and mother are gone? What greater proof of immortality can anyone ask? It is not wise to rear too many children, nor is it wise to have too few. Properly brought tip, they will make home a delight and parents happy.
Population Limited.—Galton, in his great work on hereditary genius, observes that “the time may hereafter arrive in far distant years, when the population of this
A POOR EXCUSE FOR A FAMILYSmall Families
8 7
earth shall be kept as strictly within bounds of number and suitability of race, as the sheep of a well-ordered moor, or the plants in an orchard-house; in the meantime let us do what we can to encourage the multiplication of the races best fitted to invent and conform to a high and generous civilization.,,
Shall Sickly People Raise Children?—The question whether sickly people should marry and propagate their kind, is briefly alluded to in an early chapter of this work. Where father and mother are both consumptive the chances are that the children will inherit physical weakness, which will result in the same disease, unless great pains are taken to give them a good physical education, and even then the probabilities are that they will find life a burden hardly worth living.
No Real Blessing.—Where one parent is consumptive and the other vigorous, the chances are just half as great. If there is a scrofulous or consumptive taint in the blood, beware! Sickly children are no comfort to their parents, no real blessing. If such people marry, they had better in most cases, avoid parentage.
Welfare of Mankind.—The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem: all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand, as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, while the reckless marry, the inferior members will tend to supplant the better members of society.
Preventatives.—Remember that many preventatives are unreliable and dangerous. On the other hand there are reliable and safe contraceptive methods, but the law does not allow of their dissemination. As a result we must look to nature’s laws if we would find a guide to health and happiness. But unfortunately even nature has been grossly misrepresented. In almost every book on sex hygiene, we find the statement that during nursing and during a certain portion of each menstrual month, a woman is sterile. Medical science has positively disproved this theory. It has no foundation in fact, and like all similar fallacies has caused endless unhappiness.
Self Denial and Forbearance.—A husband who loves his wife will come to her relief by exercising self-denial and forbearance. But frequently before theWHEN NATURE'S LAWS ARE VIOLATEDSex Determination
89
mother has recovered from the effects of bearing, nursing and rearing one child, ere she has regained proper tone and vigor of body and mind, she is unexpectedly overtaken by the symptoms which again indicate pregnancy. Children thus begotten cannot become hardy and long-lived. By the love that parents feel for their posterity, by the wishes for their success, by the hopes for their usefulness, by every consideration for their future well-being, let them exercise caution and forbearance until the wife becomes sufficiently healthy and enduring to bequeath her own rugged, vital stamina to the child she bears in love,
A Wrong to the Mother and Child—Sometimes the mother is diseased; the outlet from the womb, as a resuit of laceration by a previous child-birth, is frequently enlarged, thus allowing conception to take place very readily, and hence she has children in rapid succession. Besides the wrong to the mother in having children in such rapid succession, it is a great injustice to the babe in the womb-and the one at the breast that they should follow each other so quickly that one is conceived while the other is nursing* One takes the vitality of the other; neither has sufficient nourishment, and both are started in life stunted and incomplete.
Sex Determination
or
Producing Boys or Girls at Will
Can the Sexes Be Produced at Will?—This question has been asked in all ages of the world. Many theories have been advanced, but it is only recently that science has replied with some degree of authority.
Professor Julian S. Huxley in a lecture before the Royal Arts Society in London recently said “I am confident that the world will arive at a stage when scientific sex control will be possible, although it is impossible for me to prophesy the time it will require to attain prenatal sex determination. It may take twenty or thirty years but it will come in our time. There is only a slight difference betwen the actual physiological machinery of animals and men, and it seems to me to be merely a question90	Sex Determination
of applying to man what we already know about animals.’’
Experiments With Moths.—Professor Huxley explained that most of the hereditary constitution of animals consist of chemical entities lodged in the chromosomes. Among insects and animals the female possesses one more chromosome than the male does. If this is really the basis of sex, then it might be possible to do away with the extra element and thus modify the sex ratio. In his experiments with moths, the Professor obtained an increase in the proportion of males by exposing the eggs to a high temperature during the division process, or by keeping the eggs in the female body for an unusually long time.
The Agricultural Theory.—Many theories have been advanced and advocated for producing males or females in the animal kingdom. They are all based on what is known as the “agricultural theory” that the most male power creates male, and vice versa. Thus the queen bee is known to lay the female eggs first. The same fact holds true with the hen. Consequently, conception right after menstruation is supposed to give females, because at that time the female power is at its height. Later on in the month when the sex ratio is modified we have males.
Dr. David H. Reeder of LaPorte, Indiana, claims in a recent issue of Physical Culture Magazine that experiments in more than two thousand cases show conclusively that “if conception takes place within three days after the menstrual flow has ceased, the offspring will be a girl. If conception occurs between the fourth and seventh day after the period, the offspring is as likely to be male as female. If conception occurs on the eighth day' or any time thereafter up to the twentieth day, the offspring will always be a boy. I have never known this law to fail.”
The Right and Left Theory.—Some observers hold that the right ovary produces male eggs, the left, female, and that the right ovary is active one month, and the left active the next month, and so on. Close observation, they claim, will determine which ovary is functioning at a given cime.Abortion or Miscarriage
91
Abortion or Miscarriage
Abortion or Miscarriage is the expulsion of the child from the womb previous to six months; after that it is called premature birth.
Causes.—It may be due to a criminal act of taking medicine for the express purpose of producing miscarriage or it may be caused by certain medicines, severe sickness or nervousness, syphilis, sexual excesses, lack of room in the pelvis and abdomen, lifting, straining, violent cold, sudden mental excitement, dancing, the use of strong purgative medicines, bodily fatigue, late suppers, and fashionable amusements.
\
Symptoms.—A falling or weakness and uneasiness in the region of the loins, thighs and womb, pain in the small of the back, vomiting and sickness of the stomach, chilliness with a discharge of blood accompanied with pain in the lower portions of the abdomen. These may take place in a single hour, or it may continue for several days. If before the fourth month, there is not so much danger, but the flow of blood is generally greater. If miscarriage is the result of an accident, it generally takes place without much warning, and the services of a physician should at once be secured.
Home Treatment.—A simple application of cold water externally applied will produce relief, or cold cloths of ice, if convenient, applied to the lower portions of the abdomen. Perfect quiet, however, is the most essential thing for the patient. She should lie on her back and take internally a teaspoonful of paregoric every two hours ;* drink freely of lemonade or other cooling drinks, and for nourishment subsist chiefly on chicken broth, toast, water gruel, fresh fruits, etc. The principal homeopathic remedies for this disease are ergot and cimicifuga, given in drop-doses of the tinctures.
Injurious Effects.—Miscarriage is a very serious difficulty, and the health and the constitution may be permanently impaired. Any one prone to miscarriage should adopt every measure possible to strengthen and build up the system; avoid going up stairs or doing much heavy lifting or hard work.1. Her Mother refuses to satisfy her perfectly natural curiosity about the mystery of life.
2. Her education is thus delayed until she is sent away to hoarding school.
3. Her knowledge of life increases step by step—faster than she realizes.5. In desperation she decides to risk her life, rather than to face the consequences of her ignorance.
6. Her education is complete.94	Abortion or Miscarriage
Prevention.—Practice the laws of sexual moderation, take frequent sitz-baths, live on oatmeal, graham bread, and other nourishing diet. Avoid highly seasoned food, rich gravies, late suppers and the like.
Criminal Abortion.—The number of abortions performed (unnaturally) every year in the United States simply staggers the imagination. It is almost an impossibility to estimate the actual number owing to the legal necessity for great secrecy. Max Hirsch, considered an authority, is of the opinion that there are over two millions of abortions annually in this country. Of these he estimates that about 80% or 1,600,000 have a criminal origin. Justice John Proctor Clark states that New York City alone has over 100,000 every year which would probably mean somewhat between two and three millions for the entire country.
The Dangers of Abortion.—An abortion is just as important a matter as confinement and requires as much care as normal childbirth. Unfortunately the woman upon whom an abortion has been performed rarely receives suitable medical aid and attention. As a direct result of this fact abortion becomes a real source of danger to health, and frequently causes death. The following are a few of the after effects:	hemorrage, retention of the placenta,
blood poisoning, tetanus, perforation of the uterus, sterility, anemia, displacements, neurosis, etc. Figures for the entire country are not available, but as an instance of the terrible toll of human life chargeable to criminal abortions, we cite the official records in Cook County, Illinois, from December 1, 1920, to December 1, 1921. Seventy-two women and girls died in this one county alone during that year as a result of illegal operations. Many of these deaths were definitely established as a result of criminal operations, and the guilty ones held to the Grand Jury for murder. Others went down into the records as “undetermined” which means that in the coroner’s opinion, death was probably due to criminal procedure, but that sufficient evidence was lacking to fasten the guilt upon the bungling Doctor or Midwife.
Many Causes.—Many causes have operated to produce a corruption of the public morals so deplorable; prominent among which may be mentioned the facility with which divorces may be obtained in some of the States, the constant promulgation of false ideas of marriage and its duties by means of books, lectures, etc., and the djstribu-Abortion or Miscarriage	95
tion through the mails of impure publications. But an influence not less powerful than any of these is the growing devotion of fashion and luxury of this age, and the idea which practically obtains to so great an extent that pleasure, instead of the health or morals, is the great object of life.
A Monstrous Crime.—The abiding interest we feel in the preservation of the morals of our country, constrains us to raise our voice against the daily increasing practice of infanticide, especially before birth. The notoriety this monstrous crime has obtained of late, and the hecatombs of infants that are annually sacrificed to Moloch, to gratify an unlawful passion, are a sufficient justification for our alluding to a painful and delicate subject, which should “not even be named,” only to correct and admonish the wrong-doers.
Localities in Which It Is Most Prevalent.—We may
observe that the crying sin of infanticide is most prevalent in those localities where the system of moral education has been longest neglected. This inhuman crime might be compared to the murder of the innocents, except that the criminals, in this case, exceed in enormity the cruelty of Herod.
Shedding Innocent Blood.—If it is a sin to take away the life even of an enemy; if the crime of shedding innocent blood cries to heaven for vengeance; in what language can we characterize the double guilt of those whose souls are stained with the innocent blood of their own, unborn, unregenerated offspring?
The Greatness of the^ Crime.—The murder of an infant before its birth, is in the sight of God and the law, as great a crime as the killing of a child after birth.
Legal Responsibility.—Every State of the Union has made this offense one of the most serious crimes. The law has no mercy for the offenders that violate the sacred law of human life. It is murder of the most cowardly character and woe to him who brings this curse upon his head, to haunt him all the days of his life, and to curse him at the day of his death.
The Crime of Abortion.—Erom the moment of conception a new life commences; a new individual exists; another child is added to the family. The mother who deliberately sets about to destroy this life, either by want of care, or by taking drugs, or using instruments, commits as great a crime, and is just , as guilty as if she strangled96	Abortion or Miscarriage
her new-born infant or as if she snatched from her own breast her six months’ darling and dashed out its brains against the wall. Its blood is upon her head, and as sure as there is a God and a judgment, that blood will be required of her. The crime she commits is murder, child murder—the slaughter of a speechless, helpless being, whom it is her duty, beyond all things else, to cherish and preserve.
Is Abortion Ever Excusable?—Public opinion recognizes the justice of abortion whenever it is necesary to save the Mother’s life. Medical textbooks give a number of cases where abortion is justified, among them deformed pelvis, peurperal insanity, tuberculosis, uncontrollable vom-Mng, heart disease, convulsions, etc.^ In certain types of criminal cases producing an abortion is justifiable in the sight of God, if not in the eyes of the law.
The Ordinary Cases.—But the vast majority of cases come under the heading of those young and innocent girls who in a reckless moment took just one false step or who were deceived through a promise of matrimony. What becomes of them? The respectable Doctor’s cite the legal penalty and send them gently but firmly away. Some of them fall into the hand of couscienceless medical men who make abortions a practice. The midwives and ignorant abortionists claim a large percentage with the chances between health, invalidism and death rather questionable. Some girls decide to go through with it in a maternity hospital, and then send the child to an asylum. And finally there is the only other alternative: suicide. How frequently the unfortunate ones fulfill the threats they made in the Doctor’s office, can only be estimated. We cannot always pull aside the blinders and see what went on ^behind the terse newspaper headline:
BODY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRL FOUND IN RIVER
The Story of Ruby.—“Two years ago I was a coed at the University of Iowa. I loved a member of one of the athletic teams and I thought he loved me. ‘Have faith in me’ he begged. I did. But marriage seemed slow of realization. My Mother heard of an unmarried girl who become a Mother. ‘If ever a daughter of mine gets into such trouble, I hope she kills herself.’ This was Mother’s Statement. In July of last year I faced the choice of two things, either death as my Mother had demanded orAbortion or Miscarriage
97
FOUND UPON THE DOORSTEP
flight from home. The man I loved wanted me to have an operation. I refused, thinking that it was more honorable to pay the full penalty rather than to escape it by murder. I came to Chicago, and found work. Finally I could not work any more and went to Milwaukee where the Baby was born.”
Ruby is now in the County Hospital. When she was picked up in an unconscious state, she had the following unfinished letter in her pocket. “Dear Will:	No doubt
you have heard about me calling you on the phone from 798
Abortion or Miscarriage
M----- I waited and hoped and prayed, but nothing came.
Saturday I wrote a check on my Father for I hadn’t had any food for two days and my Baby was starving. I bought the Baby some milk so he could stop crying and left him at the doorstep of a woman who had a kind heart and money—maybe to die—only God knows for I saw another man find him. Then----”
There the letter broke off. Such stories are common in the daily papers.
What Happens to the Married Women.—What about the woman who has had a child regularly every twelve or fourteen months for ten years and whose health is shattered owing to her husband’s inability to provide proper medical care? t)o the laws of these United States guarantee to her life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Just inquire around a little and you will soon learn the answer. The woman in comfortable circumstances naturally can find relief, but for her less fortunate sister submission to nature or the dangers of the ignorant quack or midwife are the only courses open to her.
The Remedy.—Abortion is a disagreeable subject, an abominable business. The law provides a prison term of five years and a fine of $5,000.00 as its minimum penalty. And the pity of it all is that almost every one of these millions of unhappy abortions are absolutely unnecesary. They could all be prevented by telling people how to prevent conception. That is the only remedy. Religion and education have failed to correct the evil. A notorious midwife in Chicago stated just the other day that business in her profession was booming. If the real facts of birth control were common knowledge, how could the professional abortionist’s business flourish?PART 4
CHILDBIRTH
IMPREGNATION
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY RELATION OF HUSBAND AND WIFE DURING PREGNANCY PRENATAL CARE MOTHERHOOD
CHILDBEARING WITHOUT PAIN
A PRIVATE WORD TO THE EXPECTANT MOTHER
HOW TO CALCULATE THE TIME OF EXPECTED LABOR
THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF LABOR
SPECIAL SAFEGUARDS IN CONFINEMENT
THE HUSBAND AT CHILDBIRTH TWILIGHT SLEEP—PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH
WHERE DID THE BABY COME FROM?
LIST OF ARTICLES NECESSARY FOR CONFINEMENT
LIST OF ARTICLES TO BE ON HAND FOR THE STRANGER
99BABYLAND IS FAIRYLANDImpregnation
Conception or Impregnation.—Conception or impregnation takes place by the union of the male sperm and female ovum. This may be accomplished in the ovaries, the oviducts or the uterus.
Passing Off the Ovum.—“With many women,” says Dr. Stockham in her Tokology, “the ovum passes off within twenty-four or forty-eight hours after menstruation begins. Some, by careful observation, are able to know with certainty, when this takes place. It is often accompanied with malaise, nervousness, headache or actual uterine pain. A minute substance like the white of an egg, with a fleck of blood in it, can frequently be seen upon the clothing. Ladies who have noticed this phenomenon testify to its recurring very regularly upon the same day after menstruation. Some delicate women have observed it as late as the fourteenth day.”
Calculations.—Conception is more liable to take place either immediately before or immediately after the period, and, on that account it is usual when calculating the date at which to expect labor, to count from the day of disappearance of the last period. The easiest way to make a calculation is to count back three months from the date of > the last period and add seven days, thus we might say that the date was the 18th of July; counting back brings us to the 18th of April, and adding the seven days will bring us to the 25th day of April, the expected time. (See table on page 121.)
Evidence of Conception.—-Very many medical au-•horities, distinguished in this line, have stated their belief hat women never pass more than two or three days at the most beyond the forty weeks conceded to pregnancy—that is two hundred and eighty days or ten lunar months, or nine calendar months and a week. About two hundred and eighty days will represent the average duration of pregnancy, counting from the last day of the last period. Npw it must be borne in mind, that there are many disturbing elements which might cause the young married woman to miss a time. During the first month of pregnancy there is no sign by which the condition may be positively known. The missing of a period, especially in a person who has been regular for some time, may lead one to suspect it; but
101102	Impregnation
there are many attendant causes in married life, the little annoyances of household duties, embarrassments, and the enforced gayety which naturally surrounds the bride, and these should all be taken into consideration in the discussion as to whether or not she is pregnant. But then, again, there are some rare cases where menstruation has occurred throughout pregnancy, and also cases where menstruation was never established and pregnancy occurred. Nevertheless, the non-appearance of the period, with other signs, may be taken as presumptive evidence.
Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy
The First Sign.—The first sign that leads a woman to suspect that she is pregnant is her cessation of the menses. This, provided she has just before been in good health, is a strong symptom of pregnancy; but still there must be others to corroborate it.
Abnormal Condition.—Occasionally, women menstruate during the entire time of gestation. This, without doubt, is an abnormal condition, and should be remedied, as disastrous consequences may result. Also, women have been known to bear children who have never menstruated. The cases are rare of pregnancy taking place where menstruation has never occurred, yet it frequently happens that women never menstruate from one pregnancy to another. In these cases this symptom is ruled out for diagnostic purposes.
May Proceed from Other Causes.—But a ceasing-to-be-unwell may proceed from other causes than that of pregnancy such as disease or disorder of the womb or of other organs of the body—especially of the lungs—it is not by itself alone entirely to be depended upon; although, as a single sign, it is, especially if the patient be healthy, one of the most reliable of all the other signs of pregnancy.Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy
103
Morning Sickness.—I f
this does not arise from a disordered stomach, it is a trustworthy sign of preg-nancy. A woman who has once had morning-sickness can always for the future distinguish it from every other sickness. Moreover, it is emphatically a morningsickness—the patient being as a rule, for the rest of the day entirely free from sickness or from the feel- Embryo of Twenty Days, Laid ing of sickness.	*.*1.-01 °pen~ .	,
0, the Back; aaa Covering, and pinned to Back
A Third Symptom.—A third symptom is shooting, throbbing and lancinating pains in, and enlargement of the breasts, with soreness of the nipples, occurring about the second month. In some instances, after the first few months, a small quantity of watery fluid or a little milk, may be squeezed out of them. This latter symptom, in a first pregnancy, is valuable, and can generally be relied, on as fairly conclusive of pregnancy.
A Dark Brown Areola or Mark around the nipple is one of the distinguishing signs of pregnancy—more especially of a first pregnancy. Women who have had large families, seldom, even when they are not pregnant, lose this mark entirely; but when they are pregnant it is more intensely dark—especially if they be brunettes.
Quickening.—Quickening is one of the most important signs of pregnancy, and one of the most valuable, as at the moment it occurs, as a rule, the motion of the child is first felt, whilst, at the same time, there is a sudden increase in the size of the abdomen. Quickening is a proof that nearly half the time of pregnancy has passed. If there be a liability to miscarry, quickening makes masters more safe as there is less likelihood of a miscarriage after than before it. A woman at this time frequently feels faint or actually faints away; she is often giddy, or sick, or nervous, and in some instances even hysterical; although, in rare cases, some women do not even know the precise time when they quicken.
Increased Size and Hardness of the Abdomen.—This is very characteristic of pregnancy. When a woman is not pregnant the abdomen is soft and flaccid; when she is preg-104	Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy
nant, and after she has quickened, the abdomen over the region of the womb, is hard and resisting.
Embryo at Thirty Days
a, the Head; b, the Eyes; d, the Neck; e, the Chest; f, the Abdomen
Excitability of Mind.—Excitability of mind is very common in pregnancy, more especially if the patient be delicate; indeed, excitability is a sign of debility, and requires plenty of good nourishment, but few stimulants.
Eruptions on the Skin.—Principally on the face, neck or throat, are tell-tales of pregnancy, and to an experienced matron, publish the fact that an acquaintance thus marked is pregnant.
The Foetal Heart.—In the fifth month there is a sign which, if detected, furnishes indubitable evidence of conception, and that is the sound of the child’s heart. If the ear be placed on the abdomen, over the womb, the beating of the foetal heart can sometimes be heard quite plainly, and by the use of an instrument called the stethoscope, the sounds can be still more plainly heard. This is a very valuable sign, inasmuch as the presence of the child is not only ascertained, but also its position, and whether there are twins or more.Prenatal Care
105
Prenatal Care
By prenatal care we mean the care which both parents should take of themselves before conception occurs and during pregnancy.
Health.—It is hardly necessary to state that the physical and mental condition of the mother during pregnancy has a profound effect upon the unborn child. It is equally true that a man in poor health cannot produce healthy sperms to properly fertilize the egg necessary for conception.
Shall Pregnant Women Work? It is certain that pregnant women should not be foolishly idle, and on the Iither hand it is equally certain that they should be relieved from the more laborious occupations. Rest and hygiene continue to be the important things. Absolute rest is recommended during the last three months.
Separate Beds.—Many writers have vigorously championed as a reform the practice of separate beds for husband and wife. This would no doubt be very much better for both husband and wife in case the wife is pregnant. It would mean more rest for the mother and added vigor for the unborn child. Where people are reasonably temperate, however, no such precautions are necessary. In all these matters the woman should be the sole judge.
Parental Influence.—The art of having handsome children has been a question that has interested the people of all ages and of all nationalities. There is no longer a question as to the influence that parents may and do exert upon their offspring, and it is shown in other parts of this book that beauty depends largely on the condition of health at the time of conception. It is therefore of no little moment that parents should guard carefully their own health as well as that of their children, that they may develop a vigorous constitution. There cannot be beauty without good health.
Marrying Too Early.—-We know that marriage at too early an age, or too late in life, is apt to produce imperfectly developed children, both mentally and physically. The causes are self-evident: A couple marrying too young, lack maturity and consequently will impar> weakness to their offspring; while on the other hand persons marryingFOETUS IN THE WOMB AT THE END OF TWO MON1HS
1« *Prenatal Care	107
late in life fail to find that normal condition which is conducive to the health and vigor of offspring.
Crossing of Temperaments and Nationalities.—The
crossing of temperaments and nationalities beautifies offspring. If young persons of different nationalities marry, their children under proper hygienic laws are generally handsome and healthy. For instance, an American and German or an Irish and German union, produces better looking children than those marrying in the same nationality. Persons of different temperaments uniting in marriage, always produce a good effect upon offspring.
The Proper Time.—To obtain the best results, conception should take place only when both parties are in the best physical condition. If either parent is in any way indisposed at the time of conception the results will be seen in the health of the child. Many children brought in the world with diseases or other infirmities stamped upon their feeble frames show the indiscretion and ignorance of parents.
During Pregnancy.—During pregnancy the mother should take time for self improvement and cultivate an interest for admiring beautiful pictures or engravings which represent cheerful and beautiful figures. Secure a few good books illustrating art, with some fine representations of statues and other attractive pictures. The purchase of several illustrated art journals might answer the purpose.
What to Avoid.—Pregnant mothers should avoid thinking of ugly people, or those marked by any deformity or disease; avoid injury, fright and disease of any kind. Also avoid ungraceful position and awkward attitude, but cultivate grace and beauty in herself. Avoid difficulty with neighbors or other trouble.
Good Care.—She should keep herself in good physical condition, and the system well nourished, as a want of food always injures the child.
The Improvement of the Mind.—The mother should read suitable articles in newspapers, magazines, or good books, and keep her mind occupied. If she cultivates a desire for intellectual improvement, the same desire will be more or less manifested in the growth and development of the child.
Like Produces Like, everywhere and always—in general forms and in particular features—in mental qualities and in bodily conditions—in tendencies of thought and in habits of action. Let this grand truth be deeply impressed108	Prenatal Care
upon the hearts of all who desire or expect to become parents.
Heredity.—Male children generally inherit the peculiar traits and diseases of the mother and female children those of the father.
Advice.—“Therefore it is urged that during the period of utero-gestation, especial pains should be taken to render the life of the female as harmonious as possible, that her surroundings should all be of a nature calculated to inspire the mind with thoughts of physical and mental beauties and perfections, and that she should be guarded against all influences, of whatever character, having a deteriorating tendency.”
Old Ideas Replaced.—And yet the world is full of misery on account of wrong ideas of prenatal care. People over-look the fact that the child has no nervous connection whatever with the mother. It frequently happens that a mother is in a serious accident or is not perfectly healthy, or is worried, or dissatified, or angry during the entire course of her confinement. According to the old teaching such conditions were certain io be reflected in the unborn child.
Violent and Prolonged Shocks.—It is only in the case of very violent and prolonged shock that there is likely to be an injurious effect on the baby. Personally I recall the case of a young woman who was driving a team of horses just a week before her expected labor. There was a runaway, the carriage was overturned, and the woman was dragged about one-quarter- of a mile over a rough gravel road with the result that she was severely bruised and badly shaken up. The shock, however, had no apparent effect because the next week she gave birth to two perfectly normal and perfectly healthy baby girls.
Abortion.—Cases are on record where women have carried their children in anger from conception to delivery, where every known means of abortion have been fruitlessly practised, where jealousy and unhappiness and ill health have marred the period of gestation, where women have been in railroad wrecks, fallen down stairs, been run over by automobiles, been battered about, and subjected to every conceivable injury, and yet their children were born healthy, well developed, and perfectly normal, both mentally and physically.
A Drunken. Husband and an Insane Child.—Often we hear it stated that because a certain child was con-MOTHERHOOD110
Motherhood
ceived when the father was under the influence of liquor, the child was destined to become an insane, epileptic, or feeble minded patient. The habitual drunkard does have defective children, but a single glass of wine or brandy on the wedding night can have no possible effect on the sperms already formed. The same thing is true of articles of food that are eaten at the wedding feast.
Motherhood
Speaking against the maternity bill Senator “Jim” Reed, of Missouri, gave utterance a few days ago to this remarkable tribute to mother love:
“Mother love? The golden cord that stretches from the throne of God, uniting all animate creation to divinity. Its light gleams down the path of time from barbarous ages, when savage women held their babes to almost famished breasts and died that they might live. Its holy flame glows as bright in hovels where poverty breaks a meager crust as in palaces where wealth holds Luculian feasts. It is the one great universal passion—the sinless passion of sacrifice. Incomparable in its sublimity, interference is sacrilege, regulation is mockery.
“The wild beasts hear its voice and answer to its call. A tigress finding her cubs slaughtered, pauses to lick their wounds, and then with raging heart seeks out their murderer. A she wolf standing at the mouth of her den, gleaming fangs and blood-red tongue, dies in defense of her whelps. Tiger’s cub or wolf’s whelp, I would rather feel the rough caresses of the hairy paws of my savage mother, I would rather have her care and protection than that of an official animal trainer.
“I once saw a little timorous mother quail, with marvelous intelligence and still more marvelous courage, protect her brood by exposing herself to the hunter’s deadly aim. I then realized that nothing could take the place of mother love.
“If its divine fire so warms and thrills the heart of beast and bird, with what intensity does it consume the bosom, with what ecstasy inspire the soul of a woman for the child of her body. Although she knows that she must risk her own to bring forth a new ^ life, she does not draw back. Her eyes behold only visions of happiness,Motherhood
111
of glory, and of power to be realized by her unborn child. With smiling lips and eager heart she enters the vale of shadows. The first cry of the newborn falls on her ear, sweet as the music of paradise. Her trembling hands caress the tender skin, her soul cries out the anxious question, ‘Will my baby live?’ The torturing days of convalescence fly swiftly upon wings of hope. She nestles the tiny, helpless thing to her bosom; sustains it with the milk of her body, every drop drawn from a fountain of infinite love. Even when her body slumbers her soul keeps vigil and her hands in unison with her spirit will stretch forth to soothe the baby back to sleep. With glowing pride she watches the growing child, shields it from harm, guides it along the paths of rectitude, inspires its soul with lofty sentiments of honor and of faith in the eternal God.
“When time has piled the snows upon her head and turned her brown or raven locks to white, her love will still abide, riper and sweeter with the passing years. Though she may live until her children are themselves old and gray, she yet will see the silken locks of youth; their roughened hands yet have the caressing touch of baby fingers; their voices bear to her the tender and melodious notes of industry. And when at last she approaches the portals of death there is no solace so sweet as the presence of those she bore ‘to people and replenish the earth/
“For mother love there is no substitute, even though it bear an official stamp. If there be truth in religion, then this holy sentiment was planted in woman’s heart by the hand of God. It has made life possible. It is in truth the very source of life itself. When all other passions are dead it survives. It will pass through the fiery furnaces of disgrace and yet live. It will endure the scorching breath of contumely with unwavering fidelity.
“A mother will enter prisons of shame and kiss a felon hand thrust through the bars. She Will sit beside the accused in courts of law, when the mob jeers and the heartless machinery of justice grinds its grist of agony, and with unwavering faith maintain her child is innocent. She will stand at the foot of the scaffold and when the trap has fallen, cover the condemned body with kisses and with flowers. It is sti\ to her the innocent suckling she once hugged to her breast.
“But if the path of life has led her son to fields of honor, her heart will glow with pride, ineffable, unspeakable. If he is called to war, she will bid him good-by112	Child Bearing Without Pain
with dry eyes, although her heart be filled with tears. She will maintain a firm and hopeful mien, that he may gain sublimer courage from her sublime example. When he sleeps upon the tented field her spirit will keep watch. Whilst he is slumbering she will pray. In the agony of waiting she will die a thousand deaths, but will choke back her sobs and hide her torture. She will search for him amongst the slain, and try with kisses to warm the dead and unresponsive lips to life. She will coffin her heart with the beloved body, and her soul will keep the eternal vigil of deathless love.
“Mother love! It has produced, fondled, reared, inspired, and glorified all of the shadowy hosts who have passed across the ‘bank of time’ since man first raised his eyes toward the heavens. It is, I say again, the golden cord that binds the earth to God.”
Child Bearing without Pain
HOW TO DRESS, DIET AND EXERCISE IN
PREGNANCY
Ailments.—Those ailments to which pregnant women are liable are mostly inconveniences rather than diseases, although they may be aggravated to a degree of danger. No patent nostrums or prescriptions are necessary. If there is any serious difficulty the family physician should be consulted.
Comfort.—Wealth and luxuries are not a necessity. Comfort will make the surroundings pleasant. Drudgery, overwork and exposure are the three things that tend to make women miserable while in the state of pregnancy, and invariably produce irritable, fretful and feeble children. Dr. Stockham says in her admirable work: “Tokology:” “The woman who indulges in the excessive gayety of fashionable life, as well as the overworked woman, deprives her child of vitality. She attends parties in a dress that is unphysiological in warmth, distribution and adjustment, in rooms badly ventilated; partakes of a supper of indigestible compounds, and remains into the ‘wee, sma’ hours/ her nervous system taxed to the utmost.”
Exercise.—A goodly amount of moderate exercise is a necessity, and a large amount of work may be ac-Child Bearing Without Pain
113
complished if prudence is properly exercised. It is overwork, and the want of sufficient rest and sleep that produces serious results.
Dresses.—A pregnant woman ^ should make her dresses of light material and avoid surplus trimmings. Do not wear anything that produces any unnecessary weight. Let the clothing be light but suffiient in quantity to produce comfort in all kinds of weather.
Garments.—It is well understood that the mother must breathe for two, and in order to dress healthily the garments should be worn loose, so as to give plenty of room for respiration. Tight clothes only cause disease, or produce frailty or malformation in the offspring.
Shoes.—Wear a large shoe in pregnancy; the feet may swell and untold discomfort may be the result. Get a good large shoe with a large, sole. Give the feet plenty of room. Many women suffer from defects in vision, indigestion, backache, loss of voice, headache, etc., simply as the result of the reflex action of the pressure of tight shoes.
Lacing.—Many women lace themselves in the first period of their gestation in order to meet their society engagements. All of this is vitally wrong and does great injury to the unborn child as well as to inflict many ills and pains upon the mother.
Bathing.—Next to godliness is cleanliness. A pregnant woman should take a sponge or towel-bath two or three times a week. It stimulates and invigorates the entire body. No more than two or three minutes are required. It should be done in a warm room, and the body rubbed thoroughly after each bathing.
The Hot Sitz-Bath.—This bath is one of the most desirable and healthful baths for pregnant women. It will relieve pain or acute inflammation, and will be a general tonic in keeping the system in a good condition. This may be taken in the middle of the forenoon or just before retiring, and if taken just before retiring will produce invigorating sleep, will quiet the nerves, cure headache, weariness, etc. It is a good plan to take this bath every night before retiring in case of any disorders. A woman who keeps this up during the period of gestation will have a very easy labor and a strong, vigorous babe.
Hot Fomentations.—Applying flannel cloths wrung out of simple or medicated hot water is a great relief for acute suffering, such as neuralgia^ rheumatic pain, biliousness, constipation, torpid liver, colic, flatulency, etc.114
Child Bearing Without Pain
The Hot Water-bag.—The hot water-bag serves the same purpose as hot fomentations, and is much more convenient. No one should go through the period of gestation without a hot water-bag.
The Cold Compress.—This is a very desirable and effectual domestic remedy. Take a towel wrung from cold water and apply it to the affected parts; then cover well with several thicknesses of flannel. This is excellent in cases of sore throat, hoarseness, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs, croup, etc. It is also excellent for indigestion, constipation or distress of the bowels.
Diet.—The pregnant woman should eat nutritious, but not stimulating or heating food, and eat at the regular time. Avoid drinking much while eating.
Avoid salt, pepper and sweets as much as possible.
Eat all kinds of grains, vegetables and fruits, and avoid salted meat, but eat chicken, steak, fish, oysters, etc.
The ribs of large curve; the lungs large and roomy; the liver, stomach and bowels in their normal position; all with abundant room.
The ribs bent almost to angles; the lungs contracted; the liver, stomach and intestines forced down into the pelvis, crowding the womb seriously.
Nature Versus Tight Corset Illustrated
The Woman Who Eats Indiscriminately anything and everything the same as any other person, will have aChild Bearing Without Pain
115
very painful labor and suffer many ills that could easily be avoided by more attention to the diet. With a little study and observation a woman will soon learn what to eat and what to avoid.
Displacement of the womb, interior irritation and inflammation, miscarriage and sterility, are some of the many injuries of tight lacing. There are many others, in fact their name is legion, and every woman who has habitually worn a tight corset and continues to wear it during the early period of gestation must suffer severely during childbirth.
“The House We Live In” for nine months: showing the ample room provided by Nature when uncontracted by inherited inferiority of form or artificial dressing.
A Contracted Pelvis. Deformity and Insufficient Space.116
Child Bearing Without Pain
This is what Dr. Stockham says: “If women had common sense, instead of fashion sense, the corset would not exist. There are not words in the English language to express my convictions upon this subject. The corset more than any other one thing is responsible for woman’s being the victim of disease and doctors. . . .
“What is the effect upon the child? One-half of the children born in this country die before they are five years of age. Who can tell how much this state of things is due to the enervation of maternal life forces by the one instrument of torture?
“I am a temperance woman. No one can realize more than I the devastation and ruin alcohol in its many tempting forms has brought to the human family. Still I solemnly believe that in weakness and deterioration of health, the corset has more to answer for than intoxicating drinks.” When asked how far advanced a woman should be in pregnancy before she laid aside her corset, Dr. Stockham said with emphasis:	‘The corset should not he
worn for two hundred years before pregnancy takes place. Ladies, it will take that time at least to overcome the ill-effect of tight garments which you think so essential.’ ”
Painless Pregnancy and Child-Birth.—“Some excellent popular volumes,” says Dr. Haff, “have been largely devoted to directions how to secure a comfortable period of pregnancy and painless delivery. After much conning of these worthy efforts to impress a little common sense upon the sisterhood, we are convinced that all may be summed up under the simple heads of: (1) An unconfined and lightly burdened waist; (2) Moderate but persistent outdoor exercise, of which walking is the best form; (3) A plain, unstimulating, chiefly fruit and vegetable diet; (4) Little or no intercourse during the time.
“These are hygienic rules of benefit under any ordinary conditions; yet they are violated by almost every pregnant lady. If they are followed, biliousness, indigestion, constipation, swollen limbs, morning sickness and nausea—all will absent themselves or be much lessened. In pregnancy, more than at any other time, corsets are injurious. The waist and abdomen must be allowed to expand freely with the growth of the child. The great process of evolution must have room.”
In Addition, we can do no better than quote the following recapitulation by Dr. Stockham in her famous Tokology: “To give a woman the greatest immunity fromA Private Word to the Expectant Mother 117
suffering during pregnancy, prepare her for a safe and comparatively easy delivery, and insure a speedy recovery, all hygienic conditions must be observed.
“The dress— must give:
“1. Freedom of movement;
“2. No pressure upon any part of the body;
“3. No more weight than is essential for warmth,' and both weight and warmth evenly distributed.
“These requirements necessitate looseness, lightness and warmth, which can be obtained from the union underclothes, a princess skirt and dress, with a shoe that allows full development and use of the foot. While decoration and elegance are desirable, they should not sacrifice comfort and convenience.
“Let the Diet Be Light, plain and nutritious. Avoid fats and sweets, relying mainly upon fruits and grain that contain little of the mineral salts. By this diet bilious and inflammatory conditions are overcome, the development of bone in the foetus lessened, and muscles necessary in labor nourished and strengthened.
“Exercise should be sufficient and of such a character as will bring into action gently every muscle of the body; but must particularly develop the muscles of the trunk, abdomen and groin, that are specially called into action in labor. Exercise, taken faithfully and systematically, more than any other means assists assimilative processes and stimulates the organs of excretion to healthy action.
“Bathing Must Be Frequent and Regular. Unless in special conditions the best results are obtained from tepid or cold bathing, which invigorates the system and overcomes nervousness. The sitz-bath is the best therapeutic and hygienic measure within the reach of the pregnant woman.
“Therefore, to establish conditions which will overcome many previous infractions of law, dress naturally and physiologically; live much of the time out of doors; have abundance of fresh air in the house; let exercise be sufficient and systematic; pursue a diet of fruit, rice and vegetables; regular rest must be faithfully taken. To those Who will commit themselves to this course of life, patiently and persistently carrying it out through the period of gestation, the possibilities of attaining a healthy, natural, painless parturition will be remarkably increased.
“If the First Experiment should not result in a painless labor, it without doubt will prove the beginning of sound health. Persisted in through years of married life,118 A Private Word to the Expectant Mother
the ultimate result will be more and more closely approximated, while there will be less danger of diseases after childbirth and better and more vigorous children will be produced.
“Then pregnancy by every true woman will be desired, and instead of being a period of disease, suffering and direful forebodings, will become a period of health, exalted pleasure and holiest anticipations. Motherhood will be deemed the choicest of earth's blessings; women will rejoice in a glad maternity and for any self-denial will be compensated by healthy, happy, buoyant, grateful children.,,
A Private Word to the Expectant
Mother
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in a lecture to women, thus strongly states her views regarding maternity and painless childbirth.
“We must educate our daughters to think that motherhood is grand, and that God never cursed it. And this curse, if it be a curse, may be rolled off, as man has rolled away the curse of labor; as the curse has been rolled from the descendants of Ham. My mission is to preach this new gospel. If you suffer, it is not because you are cursed of God, but because you violate His laws. What an incubus it would take from woman could she be educated to know that the pains of maternity are no curse upon her kind. We know that among the Indians the squaws do not suffer in childbirth. They will step aside from the ranks, even on the march, and return in a short time to them with the newborn child. What an absurdity then, to suppose that only enlightened Christian women are cursed. But one word of fact is worth a volume of philosophy; let me give you some of my own experience. I am the mother of seven children. My girlhood was spent mostly in the open air. I early imbibed the idea that a girl was just as good as a boy, and I carried it out. I would walk five miles before breakfast or ride ten on horseback. After I was married I wore my clothing sensibly. Their weight hung entirely on my shoulders. I never compressed my body out of its natural shape. When my first four chihA Private Word to the Expectant Mother 119
dren were born, I suffered very little. I then made up my mind that it was totally unnecessary for me to suffer at all; so I dressed lightly, walked every day, lived as much as possible in the open air, ate no condiments or spices, kept quiet, listened to music, looked at pictures, and took proper care of myself. The night before the birth of the child I walked three miles. The child was born without a particle of pain. I bathed it and dressed it, and it weighed ten and one-half pounds. That same day I dined with the family. Everybody said I would surely die, but I never had a relapse or a moment’s inconvenience from it. I know this is not being delicate and refined, but if you would be vigorous and healthy, in spite of the diseases of your ancestors, and your own disregard of nature’s laws, try it.”
Water.—Many physicians recommend the drinking of from six to twelve glasses of hot water daily during the entire pregnancy.
The following table gives the approximate size and weight of the foetus during the ten lunar months of gestation.
Lunar Months	Length in Inches	Weight
1	V2	15 grains
2	2	60 grains
3	2y2	1 oz.
4	6-7	5 oz.
5	8-11	8-10 oz.
6	11-13	1 ^2 to 2 lbs.
7	13-15	3 lbs.
8	15-17	3 to 5 lbs.
9	16-17	5 to 7 lbs.
10 (birth)	17-19	6 to 12 lbs.120
Time of Expected Labor
THE EMBRYO IN SIXTY DAYS
How to Calculate the Time of Expected Labor
The table on the opposite page has been very accurately compiled, and will be very helpful to those who desire the exact time.
The duration of pregnancy is from 278 to 280 days, or nearly forty weeks. The count should be made from the beginning of the last menstruation, and add eight days on account of the possibility of it occurring within that period. The heavier the child the longer is the duration; the younger the woman the longer time it often requires. The duration is longer in married than in unmarried women; the duration is liable to be longer if the child is a female.
Movement.—The first movement is generally felt on the 135th day after impregnation.
Growth of the Embryo.—About the twentieth day the embryo resembles the appearance of an ant or lettuce seed; the 30th day the embryo is as large as a common horse fly; the 40th day the form resembles that of a per-son; in sixty days the limbs begin to form, and in four months the embryo takes the name of foetus.
Children born after seven or eight months can survive and develop to maturity.DURATION OF PREGNANCY
Direction.—Find in the upper horizontal line the date on which the last menstruation ceased; the figure beneath gives the date of expected confinement (280 days).

Duration of Pregnancy122
Signs and Symptoms of Labor
The Signs and Symptoms of
Labor
The Only Safe Rule is for a woman to engage a competent physician as soon as she knows she is pregnant. It is a mistake to wait until the last few months for the simple reason that it may then be too late to remedy certain troubles which might easily have been cured at the beginning. Monthly examinations should be made not only to determine the position of the child, but to catch any abnormalities in the kidneys or other vital organs. Constipation must be guarded against above all other things.
The Fee.—Do not hesitate to ask the doctor about the amount of his fee. This is a matter in which there should be no false modesty, because if the fee is beyond your means, you had better make arrangements with another doctor whose charges are more reasonable. A woman should have absolute confidence in the ability and judgment of her physician at this time. The doctor should be permitted to engage or at least to recommend a competent nurse.
Although the majority of patients, a day or two before the labor comes on, are more bright and cheerful, some few are more anxious, fanciful, fidgety and reckless.
Subsidence.—A few days, sometimes a few hours, before labor commences, the child “falls” as it is called; that is to say, there is a subsidence—a dropping—of the womb lower down in the abdomen. This is the reason why she feels lighter and more comfortable, and more inclined to take exercise, and why she can breathe more freely.
The only inconvenience of the dropping of the womb is, that the womb presses more on the bladder, and sometimes causes an irritability of that organ, inducing a frequent desire to make water. The wearing of an obstetric belt, will greatly mitigate this inconvenience.
The subsidence—the dropping—of the womb may then be considered one of the earliest of the precursory symptoms of child-birth, and as the herald of the coming event.
She has, at this time, an increased moisture of the vagina—the passage leading to the womb—and of the external parts. She has, at length, slight pains, and then she has a “show,” as it is called; which is the coming away of123
Signs and Symptoms of Labor
a mucous plug which, during pregnancy, had hermetically sealed up the mouth of the womb. The “show” is generally tinged with a little blood. When a “show1” takes place, she may rest assured that labor has actually commenced. One of the early symptoms of labor is a frequent desire to relieve the bladder.
She ought not, on any account, unless it be ordered by the medical man, to take any stimulant as a remedy for the shivering. In case of shivering or chills, a cup either of hot tea or of hot gruel will be the best remedy for the shivering; and an extra blanket or two should be thrown over her, and be well tucked around her, in order to thoroughly exclude the air from the body. The extra clothing, as soon as she is warm and perspiring, should be gradually removed, as she ought not to be kept very hot, or it will weaken her, and will thus retard her labor.
Caution.—She must not, on any account, force down —as her female friends or as a “pottering” old nurse may advise—to “grinding pains”; if she does, it will rather retard than forward her labor.
During this stage, she had better walk about or sit down, and not confine herself to bed; indeed, there is no necessity for her, unless she particularly desire it, to remain in her chamber.
After an uncertain length of time, the pains alter in character. From being “grinding” they become “bearing down,” and more regular and frequent, and the skin becomes both hot and perspiring. These may be considered the true labor-pains. The patient ought to bear in mind then that “true labor-pains” are situated in the back, and Joins; they come on at regular intervals, rise gradually up to a certain pitch of intensity, and abate as gradually; it is a dull, heavy, deep sort of pain, producing occasionally a low moan from the patient; not sharp or twinging, which would elicit a very different expression of suffering from her.
Labor—and truly it may be called “labor.” The fiat has gone forth that in “sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Young in his “Night Thoughts,” beautifully expresses the common lot of women to suffer:
“ ’Tis the common lot;
In this shape, or in that, has fate entailed
The mother’s throes on all of women born, ^	•
Not more the children than sure heirs of pain.”124
Confinement
Special Safeguards in Confinement
Before the confinement takes place everything should be carefully arranged and prepared. The physician should be spoken to and be given the time as near as can be calculated. The arrangement of the bed, bed clothing, the dress for the mother and the expected babe should be arranged for convenient and immediate use.
A bottle of sweet oil, or vaseline, or some pure lard should be in readiness. Arrangements should be made for washing all soiled garments, and nothing by way of soiled rags or clothing should be allowed to accumulate.
A rubber blanket, or oil or waterproof cloth should be in readiness to place underneath the bottom sheet to be used during labor. Sheets, pillow cases and other^ necessary linen must be sterilized. The kitchen oven is convenient for this purpose.
As soon as labor pains have begun a fire should be started and hot water kept ready for immediate use. The room should be kept well ventilated and comfortably warm.
No people should be allowed in or about the room except the nurse, the physician, and probably members of the family when called upon to perform some duty.
During labor no solid food should be taken; a little milk, broth or soup ’ may be given, provided there is an appetite. Malt or spirituous liquors should be carefully avoided. A little wine, however, may be taken in case of great exhaustion. Lemonade, toast,^ rice water, and tea may be given when desired. Warm tea is considered an excellent drink for the patient at this time.
When the pains become regular and intermittent, it is time that the physician is sent for. On the physician’s arrival he will always take charge of the case and give necessary instructions.
In nearly all cases the head of the child is presented first. The first pains are generally grinding and irregular, and felt mostly in the groins and within, but as labor progresses the pains are felt in the abdomen, and as the head advances there is severe pain in the back and hips and a disposition to bear down, but no pressure should be placed upon the abdomen of the patient; it is often the cause of serious accidents. Nature will take care of itself.Safeguards During Confinement	125
Conversation should be of a cheerful character, and all allusions to accidents of other child births should be carefully avoided.
Absence of Physician.—In case the child should be born in the absence of the physician, when the head is born receive it in the hand and support it until the shoulders have been expelled, and steady the whole body until the child is born. Support the child with both hands and lay it as far from the mother as possible without stretching the cord. Remove the mucus from the nostrils and mouth, wrap the babe in warm flannel, make the mother comfortable, give her a drink, and allow the child to remain until the pulsations in the cord have entirely ceased. After the pulsations have entirely ceased then sever the cord. Use a dull pair of scissors, cutting it about two inches from the child’s navel. Generally no tying is necessary, and when the physician comes he will give it prompt attention. , If the child does not breathe at its arrival, says Dr. Stockham in her celebrated Tokology, a little slapping on the breast and body will often produce respiration, and if this is not efficient, dash cold water on the face and chest; if this fails then close the nostrilsjwith two fingers, breathe into the mouth and then expel the air from the lungs by gentle pressure upon the chest. Continue this as long as any hope of life remains.
After-Birth—Usually contractions occur and the after-birth is readily expelled; if not, cloths wrung out in hot water laid upon the abdomen will often cause the contraction of the uterus, and the expulsion of the after-birth.
If the cord bleeds severely inject cold water into it. This in many cases removes the after-birth.
After the birth of the child give the patient a bath^ if the patient is not too exhausted, change the soiled quilts and clothing, fix up everything neat and clean and let the patient rest.
Let the patient drink weak tea, gruel, cold or hot water, which ever she chooses.
After the birth of the baby, the mother should be kept perfectly quiet for the first 24 hours and not be allowed to talk or see anyone except her nearest relations, however well she may seem. She should not get out of bed for ten days or two weeks, nor sit up in bed for nine days. - The more care taken of her at this time, the more rapid will be her recovery when she does get about. She should go^ up and down stairs slowly, carefully, and as seldom possible for six weeks. She should not stand more than is unavoid-126	Safeguards during Confinement
able during that time, but sit with her feet up and lie down when she has time to rest. She should not work a sewing machine with a treadle for at least six weeks, and avoid any unusual strain or over-exertion. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and carefulness will be well repaid by a perfect restoration to health.
The Husband at Childbirth.—Should the husband be at the bedside when the baby is being brought into the world? There is only one answer to this question: If the wife desires it there is no better place in all God’s earth for the husband to be than at his wife’s side, comforting her, and assisting her through life’s most painful ordeal. It is good for man to see for himself, to know absolutely and forever, just what an insignificant part his really is in the great scheme of life, and to realize how truly, how dearly the woman pays.
Poor Excuses.—How cowardly the man who from an instinctive fear of the sight of blood, permits his wife to face death alone, but for a hired doctor or nurse. How foolish the woman who from a misconception of modesty, is afraid to have her husband with her at this critical time, even though she knows that his strength and his confidence would make her burden lighter. This is no place for squeamishness or ridiculous false modesty. Insofar as it is humanly possibly to share the ordeal, let it be shared equally and openly.
Twilight Sleep.—Some years ago two German Physicians, Kroenig and Grauss, of the University of Baden, startled the world by announcing: “Dammerschlaf” or “Twilight Sleep,” a treatment which rendered childbirth almost painless and free from dangerous complications. A woman’s clinic was established at Frieburg where a combination of scopolamine and morphine was given. The muscular activity of the pelvic organs was not lessened, the length of labor was shortened, and instruments were rarely necessary.
Abbott’s H-M-C is another sedative composed of hyoseine, morphine, and cactoid. It is less dangerous than the other remedy, and accomplishes the same result, hence Is greatly preferred.
# The Utmost Caution is necessary in the administration of either of these drugs, and the most competent medical supervision is essential to their success.Where Did the Baby Come From
127
Cautions.—The patient should not be left a moment without medical supervision. The lying in chamber should be darkened, and kept as quiet as possible.
Why Should a Woman Suffer?—Childbirth is# a natural function, as natural as eating, sleeping or walking. If the laws of nature are complied with it loses most, if not all, of its terrors. The facts show that Indian women, and those of other uncivilized races have children without experiencing pain, and with none of the so common modem complications.
What Is the Reason?—They live a natural, out of doors life, free from the evils and restrictions of present day civilization in dress and habits of life.
A Normal Life.—The expectant mother should therefore live a perfectly rational life, keeping the stomach and intestines especially healthy and active, and hence the general physical condition good. An abundance of fresh air, hearty exercise, and childbirth will pass over without any abnormal consequences.
WHERE DID THE BABY COME FROM?
Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into here.
Where did you get the eyes so blue?
Out of the sky, as I came through.
Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high? A soft hand stroked it as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm, white rose? I saw something better than anyone knows.
Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pretty ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.128	Articles Necessary for Confinement
Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into hooks and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things? From the sarnie box as the cherub’s wings.
How did they all come just to be you?
God thought of me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here.
—George Macdonald
List of Articles Necessary for Confinement
2	Bed protectors, one yard square, made with cheese cloth and cotton.
2	Dozen cheese cloth pads.
3	JJozen small cheese cloth pads.
2 Yards cotton cloth for binder. (The above should be sterilized by baking in an oven and tightly wrapped in cotton cloth.)
1 Rubber sheet (or heavy craft trapping paper,) size 3 feet by 9 feet.
1 Bed pan.
1 Fountain syringe.
1 Package of large safety pins.
1 Package of small safety pins.
1 Bottle of olive oil, 8 oz.
4	oz. 3% solution of boric acid.
1	Package of absorbent cotton.
2	Gallons of sterile ^ water.
1 Bar of white castile soap.
Plenty of boiling water, clean towels, ice, basins, and pitchers.
The Bed.—In preparing the bed place the rubber sheet next to the mattress, (or if no rubber sheet, use three thicknesses of wrapping paper.) Next put the regular undersheet. then place three thicknesses of heavy wrapping paper across the middle of the bed. Over them lay a folded comforter and over all a clean sheet securely fastened by safey pins. The carpet under the bed should be protected by an old rug or a few sheets of wrapping paper.Articles on Hand for Newcomer
129
List of Articles to Be on Hand for the
Newcomer
3 Flannel binders 5 inches by 18 inches.
3	Knitted woolen shirts, size 2, double breasted.
4	Petticoats (Gertrude style, buttoning over shoulders.)
3 Plain night gowns.
4 Plain slips, soft crepon or nainsook.
1	Fancy slip, made of soft linen or nainsook.
2	Wrappers, cashmere or flannel.
2 Bonnets—material to vary in weight according to the weather.
2 Shawls, flannel.
4 Pairs of hose, cotton for summer and merino for winter.
2 Pairs of bootees of light knitted material.
1 Teaspoon.
1 Medicine glass.
1	Box of talcum powder.
2	to 4 dozen diapers, cotton, birds eye, or outing flannel is more satisfactory for diapers than linen or canton flannel. Many nurses recommend stockinet.
1 Soft blanket.	^ *
1 Soft wash cloth or silk sponge.
1 Hot water bottle with flannel cover.
1 Soft brush and fine comb.
1 Crib—if desired a clothes basket makes a satisfactory bed.r
Born at-----------------------
on the------Day of---------19.
at------------ m.
unto Mr. and Mrs--------------
a---------------
Autographs of Parents
Physician---------Nurse-------
Baby was Weighed
This-------Day of---------19
Pounds----------Ounces--------
Height-----------Inches
130PART 5
FAMILY LIFE
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF INFANTS
FUNDAMENTALS IN THE CARE OF THE BABY
TEN HEALTH RULES FOR BABIES WEIGHT CHARTS FIRST AID IN THE NURSERY
TEETHING
DISEASES OF CHILDREN
HOW TO FEED OUR CHILDREN FOOD VALUES AND DIET LISTS
131The Care and Feeding of Infants
Bathing.—After the cord has been cared for by the doctor, cleanse the eyes, nose, and throat with a mild solution of boric acid. With the hand rub the entire body well with olive oil and then place the child in a warm bath, temperature about 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash carefully with castile soap, dry with soft warm cloth and sprinkle with talcum powder. The doctor will then dress the cord after which the band should be put on and the baby dressed.
The First Sleep.—After the first bath baby is ready to go to bed. Wrap carefully in a blanket and keep the crib warm with hot water bottles. Do not rock.
Food for the Newly Born Child.—The proper and best food for the infant is milk from the mother's breast, tinless, of course, there is some very definite reason why this is impossible. Mother's milk is the only natural and adequate food. It contains no harmful bacteria, it is always clean, it never sours, it is ever ready, it is properly balanced in proteins, carbohydrids, fats, and vitamines, so essential to proper growth and development, it produces better teeth, and above all these considerations, nursing promotes the mother's love for her child and the baby's love fbr the mother.
132Care and Feeding of Infants	135
Cow’s Milk.—When it is impossible for the mother t© suckle her child, cow’s milk properly modified is the best substitute. Modification is necessary because cow’s milk_is intended for the calf’s coarser stomach and more rapid growth. The curds are too large.
The Only Safe Rule.—Cow’s milk contains too much protein and lime, too little phosphorus and sugar, and the curds are too large for the infant’s stomach to handle. The problem of properly modifying this milk must be solved by the physician in attendance. This is not a subject for individual experiment. Too much is at stake to allow any chances to be taken. The table on the following page shows a formula recommended by an able physician and fits the average case. Do not depend upon it, however, unless your doctor consents.
Babies soon learn the regular hours for feeding^ and with a little patience on the part of the mother the baby’s life can be made to run as evenly as a little machine. Then the mother can count on the hours she will have for other work. The feeding hours on the table given are arranged so that they will not interfere with the naps, morning and afternoon. It is not necessary to begin the day’s feeding at just the hour named. Sometimes the baby will waken earlier in the morning. But with a little care the time can be brought to be the same for all feedings each day. The time between two feedings can be lengthened by letting the baby sleep a little longer, or giving the bath, or playing with the child. Babies should not be held up after feeding. They should lie still for a little while. Holding them up often causes them to vomit. Never allow anyone to feed baby fruit, cake or candy. At times when baby’s bowels are irregular a little fresh orange juice may prove beneficial.
Many infants’ diseases may be traced very^ largely to their food. Irregular, too frequent, and excessive feeding, unsuitable food, a too early incorporation of adults’ food into an infant’s dietary, unsanitary bottles and nipples,— these are the chief causes of diseases in infancy.
A mother should always try to nurse her child upon the breast. Even though a mother has but little milk at first, she should not be discouraged. She should be patient, and try and try again. A mother’s milk is nature’s most perfect food.
If it is necessary to feed the little one upon the bottle, select only bottles and nipples which can be easily washed This point cannot be overemphasized.134	How to Feed Infants.
A Table for Feeding a Baby on Modified Milk
	2d week	3d week	4th to 8 th wk.	9 th to 12th wk.	4th month	5 th to 7th mo.	7th to 9th mo.
Top Milk	154 oz.	6 oz.	9 oz.	11 oz.	13 OZ'.	15 oz.	17 oz.
Milk Sugar	4 teaspoons	5 A teaspoons	8 teaspoons	7 A teaspoons	7 tea-spoons	6A teaspoons	6 teaspoons
Barley Gruel	10 oz.	18 oz.	Barley gruel to make a quart	Barley gruel to make a quart	Barley gruel to make a quart	Barley gruel to make a quart	Barley gruel to make a quart
Cream	2$4 oz.						
Iyime Water	2 oz.	4 oz.	4 oz.	4 oz.	4 oz.	4 oz.	4 oz.
	1 x/2 oz. at feeding	2 oz. at feeding	3 oz. at feeding	3 oz. at feeding	3 to 4 oz. at feeding	4 to 5 oz. at feeding	6 to 7 oz. at feeding
	10 times a day	10 times a day	8 times a day	8 times a day	7 times a day	6 times a day	6 times a day
Top Milk—L,et your quart of milk stand until the cream has risen, then pour off number of ounces required.
Sugar of Milk may be purchased at your local druggist’s.
Gruel is prepared by cooking one level tablespoon of any good barley flour in a pint of water with a pinch of salt. When partly cooled add to the milk.
Nursing,
Period	Nursing in 24 hours	Interval by day	Night nursings 10 p. m. to 6 a. m.
1st and 2d day	4	6 hrs.	i
3 days to 4 weeks	10	2 hrs.	1
4 weeks to 2 mo.	8	2XA hrs.	1
2 to 5 mo.	7	3 hrs.	1
5 to 12 mo.	6	3 hrs.	0
Schedule for Feeding Healthy Infants During First Year,
Age	Interval between meals by day	Night feedings 10 p. m. to 7 a. m.	No. of feedings in 24 hours	Quantity for one feeding	Quantity for 24 hours
2d to 7th day	Hours 2	1	10	Ounces 1 to i y2	Ounces 10 to 15
2d and 3d week	2	1	10	\A to 3	15 to 30
4th and 5 th weeks	2y2	1	8	2x/2 to 4	20 to 32
6th to 9th week	2y2	1	8	3 to 5	24 to 40
9th week to 5th mo.	3	1	7	4 to 6	28 to 42
5th to 9th month	3	0	6	5 to 7y	30 to 45
9th to 12th month	4	0	5	7 to 9	35 to 45135
Care and Feeding of Infants
Pasteurizing of Milk
If a baby must be fed from the bottle the milk must always be pasteurized. This may be done best by putting the milk in a bottle or glass fruit jar, tightly sealed. Place these receptacles, containing milk, in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil; remove at once from the fire and chill quickly. Keep in a cool place.
Feeding Utensils
As many nursing bottles as there are feedings in one day (short necks, 8 ounce, ounces marked on side.)
Nipple for each bottle. Conical nipple is best; never nipples with long rubber tubes.
A new, clean cork stopper for each bottle.
A bottle brush. After washing with brush fill bottles with cold borax water and let stand.
A graduated measuring glass.
A 2-quart pitcher.
A funnel.
A long-handled spoon for stirring the food.
A pail or kettle for pasteurizing the milk and sterilizing the utensils.
A fork.
A tablespoon.
A double boiler for cooking cereals.
Who Can Nurse?—Only about one mother in every ten is unable to suckle her child. The ability to nurse depends upon conditions of former living. Fresh air, exercise, sunshine, freedom from worry, and proper clothing from girlhood are essential to proper nursing. The natural ability may be greatly increased by a nutritious diet consisting of cereals and milk, proper physical living and regularity in nursing. It is important that one breast be completely emptied at each feeding. An inexpensive breast pump may be obtained for this purpose in case the baby does not require all the milk in the beginning.
Things to Be Remembered.—Constipation in the mother causes similar conditions in the baby. Alcohol in any form is transmitted to the baby unchanged. An indigestible meal means discomfort for the baby. Mother should wash her hands carefully before nursing. The nipple should be washed off with a 3% solution with boric acid before and after feeding. Both the nipples and undergarments should be protected by clean sterilized gauze. This will keep both the nipples and the baby’s mouth from possible infection.136
Care and Feeding of Infants
Compulsory Nursing.—The mortality of artificially fed infants is usually about double that of the breast fed. In other words a bottle baby has only about half a chance. This fact led Sweden in the eighteenth century to punish a woman if she gave a baby the bottle when she was able to suckle it. Such an act was considered a crime against the child, and as such a crime against society. In France the law forbids a woman to act as a wet nurse until her awn child is at least seven months old. Certain German cities provide suitable rooms, free medical aid, and trained nurses in th^ manufacturing plants employing women, where the mothers can give the breast to the child in the intervals of work.
The Huddersfield Scheme.—High infant death rates are responsible for the adoption of many new preventive methods. Among them perhaps the most important, is the one called the Huddersfield Scheme, which was the origin of the British Notification of Birth Act. It provides for (1) compulsory notification of births within 48 hours, (2) free medical advice when the baby fails to thrive, and (3) lady medical officers who visit the homes to advise and assist the mothers. Much has been said against the too close association between the home and the government, but it seems only right that every baby should be legally entitled to medical attention from the very day of his birth, and that all mothers, regardless of their circumstances, should have the free advice and assistance of an educated and properly trained woman.
Schools for Mothers.—In many European countries, notably France, England, and Germany, schools for mothers are the common thing. Infants are weighed weekly, and mothers encouraged and advised to suckle their young. Training is given to young girls between the ages of 14-18. They learn infant anatomy and psychology, receive instructions in weighing infants, preparing diet, and in taking temperatures, and after completing the course of training, are able to earn a livelihood as practical nurses. Such schools have exerted a powerful and far-reaching influence for good.
Ellen Key in her book, “The Century of the Child,1” advocates a year of compulsory training for all young women, this course to include housekeeping, hygiene, nursing, and the care and training of infants. Compulsory training of this kind would be far more beneficial to humanity, than any compulsory military training could hope to be.13S
Care and Feeding of Infants
The chances are that men trained in the art of war will never be forced to fight, but most women, on the other hand, are called upon at one time or another to keep house or to care for children, either for themselves or for others.
The Children’s Bureau.—In 1912 the Congress of the United States authorized a Bureau in the Department of Labor whose duty it should be to inquire into the conditions surrounding infancy. It was known as THE CHILDREN’S BUREAU. Miss Julia Lathrop was its first chief.
A PARLOR RECITATION139
Care and Feeding of Infants
and she has done some remarkable things in her limited field. Out of her efforts and investigations grew the demand for The Maternity Bill. In its original form this bill would have crystallized the hopes and prayers of the mothers in America. In its final, amended form, it is still a public acknowledgment of the enormous debt we owe to motherhood.
The New Maternity Bill was the first legislative request made upon the Congress by the newly enfranchized women. It is a matter of satisfaction to know that this first demand was one to dignify motherhood. The Sheppard-Towner Bill, commonly called the Maternity Bill, was signed by President Harding on November 24th 1921, the day before Thanksgiving.
‘A Three Year Struggle.—This bill had been advocated and fought, commended and defamed, pigeon holed and brought to life again for three long years. Its opponents declared that it was socialistic because it linked the individual mother with the government; they quoted the old fallacious argument about the federal assumption of state rights; and they went so far as to assert that the bill was supported only by advocates of iree love and birth control.
On the other hand the people in favor of the bill merely pointed to the facts:—so many mothers, so many babies, dead when they lack proper care; so many mothers and so many babies alive and well'and happy when they have had this care from private agencies.
It was never a question of radicalism vs conservatism. It was a matt of life and death. 23,000 women died during 1918 in the United States from causes connected with childbirth. The same year witnessed the death of .over 250,000 infants. Think what those fearful ^ statistics mean—a yearly casualty list greater than our entire loss in the late war.
Money Spent for Mothers and Babies.—The bill appropriates money—the limit is $4,000,000 a year—to provide advice and medical aid to expectant and actual mothers who wayit it. There is nothing compulsory or arbitrary about the act. The national government is to cooperate with the states in promoting the welfare of maternity and infancy. To the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Labor goes the responsibility of properly administering the law, while powers of review and approval are given to a Board of Maternity and Infant Hygiene, consisting of the Chief of the Children’s Bureau, the Surgeon General of140	Care and Feeding of Infants
the Army, and the United States Commissioner of Education. The appropriation for 1922 is $1,480,000 and $1,240,000 for each of five years thereafter. The money is to be divided among the states accepting the provisions of the act. These several states must submit to the Children’s Bureau detailed plans for using the money, and must appropriate from state funds an amount equal to that it receives from the national treasury. The plans for spending the money are subject to the approval of the Federal Board of Maternity and Infant Hygiene. Not more than $5,000 has been allowed for necessary administrative expenses.
How Much Money May a State Receive.—Every state receives $10,000 the first year and $5,00() a year thereafter. An additional $5,000 will be paid providing the state raises a like amount. This makes a total of $15,000 the first year and $10,000 thereafter available to every state in the union regardless of its size or its population. In addition $710,000 a year is provided to be distributed between the states, on the basis of population but each state must match the appropriation from its own funds.
Victory for Motherhood.—The women of America have for years worked long and ardently to secure the rights and benefits due them as mothers and home makers. And now victory is at hand. President Harding has just expressed himself in favor of a Department of Public Welfare. He has even asked Congress to consider legislation for the creation and maintenance of such a Department. This may take time. There are difficulties in the way. But no great humanizing work has ever been accomplished without years of painstaking and patient efforts. And so the fight goes on, and will go on until the victory is ours.Care and Feeding of Infants
141
«o
Q
Z
=>
wCl&HT CHARTS
BABY SHOULD WEIGH
WEEKS
Weight Chart for the I- Year, Curved line Indicates Average Rate of Gam.
BABY WEIGHED
At Birth __________
1	Week ____________
2	Weeks____________
3	*»	____________
1	Month ___________
2	Months___________
3	••	__________
4	"	__________.
5	»	___________
(o -_______________
YEARS
Y/eight Chart I to 14-yrs.; Upper Ime Indicates Average for Bay*. Lower (Dottedjtine for Girls.
7	»
8	«
9	-
10	»
II “
1	Year
2	Year
3	••
'4 *»
5	»»
6	h142
Care of the Baby
Fundamental Principles in the Care of the Baby
Regularity is the first great principle in child training. This includes feedings, sleep, and stools. Next in importance come cleanliness, fresh air, exercise, quiet, freedom of movement and self control. Proper care will bring about remarkable results in regularity and self control. Efforts along this line should begin the very day after birth.
Lifting.—Until a baby is six or seven months old he is not able to support his head and the length of his spine, alone. In lifting a baby, then, the left arm should support the head, neck and upper back, the right hand the lower spine. If held upright the head must be supported. The baby should never be lifted by the arms.
Clothing.—Overdressing is far more common than any other mistake mothers are likely to make. If the skin is moist to the touch, this is an indication of overdressing. On the other hand a baby is not underdressed unless his feet are cold, the skin covered with goose pimples, or the lips blue. Common sense alone is necessary to remedy both defects. Stockings are hardly necessary during the first year unless for looks and for protection in severe weather. They tend to make the feet perspire and cause frequent colds. Modern shoes are likely to be unsatisfactory. They are usually tight, uncomfortable and unhealthy. In extremely young children soft soled shoes should be used, and sandals with flexible soles a little later. The legs may beCare of the Baby
143
protected by leggins in cool weather. The order of dressing is as follows:—Put on a band, shirt and diapers, then flannel skirt, dress and sacque. (Caution: Never put a baby’s dress on over his head—always over his feet.)
Diapers.—A baby can be taught to control the bladder or the bowels within a few months, thus reducing the number of soiled diapers and laying the real foundation for health in later life. Hold the baby on the stool at regular intervals every day .until the habit is established. On the other hand do not let a little baby remain for a long time144
Care of the Baby
on the stool for fear of causing irritation, straining and other troubles. Change diapers whenever they are wet or immediately after waking. Never use a diaper the second time without washing it. The acid and salty urine is irritating and causes chafing. Avoid tightness in diapers, as it prevents proper development and may cause irritation. Avoid rubber diapers; they are over heating and cause bad habits. When changing wash the baby clean and dry thoroughly, apply vaseline or zinc oxide'ointment to chafed places and put on dry diaper. Wash the hands thoroughly with hot water and soap.
PROPER CLOTHES FOR INFANTS
Knitted Shirt and Band. Shaped diapers. Note the Fastening With Tapes.
Laundry.—Use a mild soap for baby clothes. Avoid laundry soap, bluing, soda, and starch. Ironing is not necessary, although it is a sterilizing process. Rinse carefully, especially diapers.
Bathing.—The baby requires at least one bath every day. Until the cord is healed a sponge bath is preferred After that the tub should be used. Do not bathe within an hour after feeding or when he is tired. The temperature of the bath should be 95 degrees Fahrenheit up until the seventh month, then reduce the temperature about one degree in every two weeks until 90° F is reached. The warm bath should be followed by a cool dash of water, say 80 to 85 degrees as long as there is a good reaction. This increases the resistance and prevents colds. Rub the baby well with the hand and begin early to develop the muscles hr moderate exercise.Care of the Baby
145
Things to Avoid in Bathing the Baby.—
1	Opening of doors or letting in draft.
2	Over heated bath room.
3	Taking baby outdoors too soon after bath.
4	Putting fingers into baby’s mouth.
5	Public baths.
6	Getting soap in the eyes.
T Picking the ears or nose with sharp instrument.
Stools.—One normal bowel movement every day is absolutely necessary. Such stools are yellow, soft, and smooth. Any discoloration, bad odor, or undigested food particles should be reported to the physician. The bowels should be kept loose by proper diet. The use of suppositories, enemas, and laxatives should be avoided.
^ Sleep.—Baby must sleep alone in his own room if possible. Unless it is cold, damp, foggy, dusty, or windy, he should sleep outdoors. During the early months of his life sleep is practically his sòie occupation. This is the period of greatest growth and development, and he requires from 15 to 22 hours of sleep daily. Below is a table showing the amount of sleep required, in addition to information on
10Av’rage Weight of Baby in Pounds	Age of		Baby	No. of Feedings	Ounces at Each Feeding	Total Ounces in 24 Hours
7lA	Birth and 2d day			4	1	4
7	3d	day		6	1	6
	4th	a		6	VA	9
	5th	a		6	2	12
7Va	7th	a		6	2A	15
7A	10th	a		6	3	18
	Begin 3d week			6	3^4	21
	tt	4th	tt	6	4	24
Wa	tt	2d month		6	4}4	25^
10A	it	3d	a	6	AA	27
14A	tt	4th	a	6	5	30
13H	tt	5th	tt	5	6A	32^4
15	a	6th	tt	5	7	35
16	a	7th	a	5	7A	37A
163/4	tt	8th	a	5	8	40
uy2	a	9th	tt	5	8Aa	41 >4
18	End	9th	tt	5	8 A	AIA.
21	a	12th	tt	5		
I—*
à
Intervals in Hours	Hours	Sleep
6		22 hours
3	6,9, a.m., 12 noon ; 3,6,10 p.m.	a
3	a	a
3	tt	n
3	a	n
3	tt	tt
3	tt	a
3	tt	21 “
3	tt	20 “
3	tt	19 “
3	tt	18 “
4	6,10, a.m. ; 2,6,10 p.m.	16 “
4	a	a
4	tt	a
4	tt	15 41
4	a	a
4	a	tt
4	u	tt
How to Feed Our ChildrenLJUNOiS ^TATC DCR&RTMENT«F WEALTH-Cartoon No. 98
Utai'mE
1 just can’t m&Ke my little £gfl eat her* meals.
My baby won't take- naps an'' mo f<z !	4
If my boy secs a candy bepe, he makes sucha fuss that' we just have to fiive him some ‘	°
Mi
That baby just won’t let me out of her' sigjit 1
tie’s two years old, but he still suck? his thumb; 1 can’t seem to'break him cf the habit 1
1 wish my baby would mind like that !
A week-old baby is not.tooyouno to tfain to Oood habits — but If you wait till he’5 a year* old,, you’ll have your* hands full \
Katherine Field White -i9i®148
Care of the Baby
A EUGENIC BABY
feeding and weights. This table is taken from “Feeding and Care of Baby” by F. Truby King, M. D.
The baby should be put into bed and left to go to sleep himself. Rocking is unnecessary besides being bad for the nervous system. It does not harm the baby to cry for an hour or so, provided you are absolutely sure that he is dry and is not in' distress. Disturbed sleep is often caused by bad air, cold, heat, or indigestion.
Crying.—A child cries for one of four reasons; either he is exercising, he is in physical discomfort, he is sick; or he wants something he should not have.
Crying for Exercise.—It is natural for a child to cry loudly before feeding him, and this may last as long as twenty or thirty minutes. There is no pain in connection with this outburst, it is simply nature’s way of developing the lungs.
Discomfort.—Of course, a baby often cries because of wet, wrinkled, tight or uncomfortable clothing, or he may be hot, cold, hungry, thirsty; he may be teething, have gas or indigestion, or merely tired of one position. The cry in such cases is sharp, intermittent, and the feet are usually drawn up.IMFANT MORTALITY THERMOMETER,
DEATHS UHOER I YEAR OF AGE PER 1,000 BIRTHS
Chste — —.
Japan .
Germany....— .... )
France	)
NEW ZEALAND.
En^tand covdj G^aVcs ^
Siotdrn.	^
N*f«»ay	^

m.
m.
££2_
Zli.
tea.
&JL.
112.
ns
100
7S
SO
£JL
.Hun^arif
.dwtri«,
-Spa*w.
-Italy
(	Fulrtud
4	Scotland.
4   -'■ tletkerland»
UNITED STATES
.S<o«.ti«r laud . OftUTuarfc
• Ola ft rated150
Care of the Baby
Illness.—In case of actual illness the cry becomes more of a moan, there is listlessness and apparent feebleness.
The Wilful Wail.—Frequently babies cry loudly and indefinitely because they want attention or want something forbidden The cause is easily discovered because the crying ceases the minute the desire is granted. If totally ignored the baby will soon stop. Care is unnecessary in the matter because when no attention whatever is paid to such outbursts, the child soon learns a wholesome respect for authority. Proper training is necessary sometime. Why not at the very beginning?
Infant Mortality.—There are four principal causes for the death of infants, namely, (1) digestive diseases such as indigestion, diarrhoea, summer complaint,, etc.; (2) respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, colds, and croup; (3) congenital disability or weakness at birth; and (4) contagious diseases like measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, etc.
Causes.—Ignorance, poor hygiene, and carelessness are the great underlying causes of the high rate of infant mortality. Proper sanitation, hygiene, prenatal care and instruction will prevent a death rate exceding 50 to every 1000 babies. The following table taken from the latest available statistics shows the work necessary to be done before an ideal state of affairs has been reached:
Country	Infant Mortality Rate
Russia	248
Germany	192
Italy	153
United States	124
England	95
France	78
New Zealand	__ 51 _
Such a condition is unfair to the babies and disgraceful proof of the world’s negligence.
Defects.—Bow legs, curved spine, deformed feet, narrow pelvis, and nervousness, are all^ ailments likely to be acquired in infancy. They are due~ to carelessness in lifting, handling, dressing, and could all be prevented by proper instruction on the part of every mother. Learn how to properly lift and carry an infant. If you do not your child is liable to all kinds of internal displacements. See that the binder is not too tight and that it is not worn after151
Care of the Baby
the first few weeks. Such a condition may cause rupture. Do not permit a child to wear diapers too thick or too tight. Bow legs and a narrow pelvis are the inevitable consequences. Have your baby examined by a competent physician every week or so during the first few months and at least once a month for the first year. The death rate is high during the first five years, while during the first year still higher, during the first month highest, and at the very maximum during the first Week.
Maternal mortality rates
per iooo births
latest available figures up to Q\7
New Zealand Australia Spam
fiance
Ert^landand Wales, Tapa
Jorway,
v>wed*vr<
UNITED STATES
Scotland
Switzerland
Ireland
! Hungary
Jhe Netherlands
ita-br152
Health Rules for Babies
Ten Health Rules for Babies
The following rules are known to have cut the death rate for babies in Montclair, New Jersey. They were promulgated by the Montclair Day Nursery. This city had a record of only thirty-eight infantile deaths in one year.
1.	Give a baby pure milk and watch its feeding very closely.
2.	Keep everything connected with a baby absolutely clean. Cleanliness in the house counts for a baby’s health. Untidy babies are usually sick babies.
3.	Never let a baby get chilled. Keep its hands and feet warm.
4.	Regulate a baby’s day by the clock. Everything about its wants should be attended to on schedule time.
5.	Diminish a baby’s food the minute signs of illness appear. Most babies are overfed anyway.
6.	Weigh a baby every week until it is a year old. Its weight is an index of its health.
7.	Every mother should get daily outdoor exercise. It means better health for her babies.
8.	Every baby should be “mothered” more and mauled less. Babies thrive on cuddling but they can get along on a lot less kissing.
9.	Dorrt amuse or play with your baby too much. Its regular daily routine is all the stimulation its little brain needs at first.
10.	Don’t let too many different people take care of the baby. Even members of the same family make baby nervous if they fuss around him too much.Items of Interest
153
Items of Interest
Table of Average Weight, Height and Head and Chest Measurements of Boys
*$%K note; for girls
	Weight	Height	Chest	* Head
At Birth	7Y2 lbs.	20 y2 in.	ny2 in.	14 in.
1 Year	21 lbs.	29 in.	18 in.	18 in.
2 Years	26Ÿ2 lbs.	32J4 in.	19 in.	19 in.
3 Years	31 lbs.	35 in.	20 in.	19 54 in*
4 Years	35 lbs.	38 in.	20^4 m.	19 H in.
5 Years	41 lbs.	41 y2 in.	21 y2 in.	20y2 in.
6 Years	45 lbs.	44 in.	23 in.	
7 Years	49 y2 lbs.	46 in.	2Zy2 in.	
8 Years	54}4 lbs.	48 in.	2*,y2 in.	
9 Years	60 lbs. ,	50 in.	25 in.	
10 Years	66 y lbs.	52 in.	26 in.	
*Girls average one pound less weight than boys. Measurements the same.
The above weights are with ordinary house clothes.
The weights for the first four years are without clothes. Charts showing weight curve for the first year, and from one to fourteen years, shown on page six.
Birthstones for Various Months and Their Attributes
January—-Garnet; insures power, grace and victory to wearer.
February—Amethyst; deep love.
March—Bloodstone; courage and wisdom.
April—Diamond; purity, constancy, truth and virtue.
May—Emerald ;	immo rtality,
conquers sin and trial.
June—Pearl; health, wealth and longevity.
July—Ruby; prosperity, soul cheerer.
August—Moonstone ; prev e nts misfortune.
September—Sapphire; gladdens the heart.
October—Opal; Happiness and everlasting youth.
November—Topaz; friendship and fidelity.
December—Turquoise ; charity, dignity and divine power.
January, Snowdrop February, Primrose March, Violet April, Daisy May, Hawthorn
Flowers
June, Honeysuckle July, Water Lily August, Poppy September, Morning Glory
October, Hops November, Crysan• themum
December, HollyWHOOPING COUGH—THAT'S ALL.
HE WAS EXPOSED TO IT SO HE WOULD HAVE IT AND BE THROUGH WITH IT. HE HAS HAD IT AND—First Aid in the Nursery
155
First Aid in the Nursery
or
What to Do in Case of Accidents or
Sickness
Every woman should know the principles of first aid in cases of accident or sickness. When a child shows the slightest symptom of illness he should be kept in bed away from the rest of the family and a doctor notified. Among the common symptoms of illness in young children are skin eruptions, cramps, vomiting, cough, loss of appetite, loss of weight, discharge from the nose, sore throat, headache, fever, constipation, stupor or dullness, and profuse sweating.
The Communicable Diseases to which children are very susceptible are chicken pox, diphtheria, infantile paralysis, meningitis, mumps, measles, scarlet fever, tonsilitis, and whooping cough. Some of these diseases have been considered as the necessary ailments of childhood. Parents have even been known to seek exposure for the children in order to have the trouble over with. After a glance at the infant mortality statistics, such an attitude appals one as a shocking display of ignorance. With proper care and hygiene there is every reason why a child should escape the entire list of diseases. The vitality of a healthy child should be sufficient to throw off the disease germs even under exposure.
Colds.—If a child has a tendency to take cold easily, the cause must be located and a remedy found.
Treatment.—To avoid colds increase the resistance by cold morning bath to the entire body if possible, or if not sufficient reaction, to the chest and back. Colds are very catching and a patient should be isolated. In babies apply abilene or liquid vaseline to the nose, and in older children use nasal spray with doctor’s prescription. Give a hot bath and wrap well to produce perspiration, but be sure to rub well with alcohol before rising in order to close the pores. Give laxative and plenty of cold water. If the treatment does not bring results in a day or two, call a physician.156
First Aid in the Nursery
Constipation is largely the result of improper mode of life. It is the cause of many other ills and diseases and may be easily prevented.
Treatment.—Eating natural food such as cereals, vegetables, fruits, cooked fruits such as figs, prunes, etc., and bread or biscuits made from whole wheat, or containing a large percentage of bran, will help to regulate the bowels. The system demands a certain amount of rough-age or residue in the intestines to provide natural movements. Care should be taken in this respect to avoid an over-supply of such foods which is equally as bad.
Colic.—Babies often suffer severely with colic. It is not considered dangerous, but causes considerable suffering.
Severe colic is usually the result of derangement of the liver in the mother, or of her insufficient or improper nourishment, and it occurs more frequently when the child is from two to five months old.
Let the mother eat chiefly barley, wheat and bread, rolled wheat, graham bread, fish, milk, eggs and fruit. The latter may be freely eaten, avoiding that which is very sour.
A rubber bag or bottle filled with hot water put into a crib, will keep the child, once quieted, asleep for hours. If a child is suffering from colic, it should be thoroughly warmed and kept warm.
Avoid giving opiates of any kind, such as cordials, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, “Mother’s Eriend,” and various other patent medicines. They injure the stomach and health of the child, instead of benefiting it.
Remedies.—A few tablespoonfuls of hot water will often allay a severe attack of the colic. Catnip tea is also a good remedy.
A drop of essence of peppermint in 6 or 7 teaspoonfuls of hot water will giye relief.
If the stools are green and the child is very restless, give chamomilla.
If the child is suffering from constipation, and undigested curds of milk appear in its faeces, and the child starts suddenly in its sleep, give nux vomica.
An injection of a few spoonsful of hot water into the rectum with a little asafoetida is an effective remedy, and will be good for an adult.
Hold the child in an upright position and pat gently on the back to relieve gas in the stomach. If the gas is- in the intestines, massage gently from lower left side towards the end of the colon.First Aid in the Nursery	157
Convulsions.—Give hot tub bath (98 degrees Fahrenheit) for ten minutes. Keep cold cloth on neck and head. Give castor oil and something to make the child vomit. Keep in bed until fully recovered.
Croup is a spasmodic# closure of the glottis, which interferes with the breathing. It comes on suddenly and usually at night without much warning. It is a nervous disease caused by undigested food, irritation of the gums, or brain disorders.
Treatment.—Apply hot cloths to the chest followed by cold ones. Give emetic to cause vomiting. Prepare a kettle of boiling water and let the child inhale the steam. This will cut the phlegm in the throat. Care must be used to avoid burning.
Cough.—By all means avoid cough syrups and patent medicines, they are usually dangerous for infants. It is best to consult a physician.
Home Remedies include a cold compress on the throat, vaseline in the nose, and a little fig juiOe or honey taken for its soothing effect.
Diarrhoea.—Regular food should be stopped. Give babies barley water, and older children special diets. Give laxative immediately and call a physician. Many times serious diseases are brought on by parents too hasty acting in checking this disorder of the bowels. It is nature’s first method of removing obstructions and overcoming disorders of the system.
Ear Ache.—A few drops of olive oil on anteseptic cotton will often relieve the pain. Apply a hot water bottle.
Eczema.—Do not wash the affected surface with water or use vaseline. Keep clean with cold cream or olive oil. Consult a physician for remedies and for a proper diet.
Fever is an indication of poison somewhere in the system and should in all cases have the attention of a physician. Keep the patient in bed and reduce the temperature by hourly sponge baths, cold compresses, and in extreme cases, ice packs. Give plenty of water and fruit juices.
Headache may be due to constipation, eye strain, indigestion, excitement, or overheating. Apply cold cloths, hot cloths, or hot and cold cloths alternating regularly every ten minutes to forehead or back of neck. Massage the head and neck downward. Avoid the use of asperin or other stimulants which may affect the action of the heart.
Inflammation of Eyes.—Use a two per cent solution158
First Aid in the Nursery
of boric acid as an eye wash every hour. In extreme cases try argerol as a wash.
Hiccough is very common in infants and is usually caused by indigestion. It may usually be stopped by giving a drink of water or a small quantity of sugar. Older children find relief in holding the breath while they count ten or taking ten swallows of water. In prolonged cases vomiting will remove the cause.
Prickly Heat is common among infants and is due to over-heating. Babies are usually over-dressed. Avoid wool next to the skin and add a small quantity of baking soda to the bath water. Use talcum powder liberally.
Sunburn.—For treatment avoid water on affected parts. Cold cream, almond cream, or zinc ointment will bring relief. To avoid apply cold cream before going out into the sun or wind.
Sore Throat.—Gargle regularly with salt solution, listerine, boric acid, or equal parts alcohol and glycerine. In severe cases consult a physician.
Toothache.—Apply listerine or oil of cloves on cotton to the cavity and use a hot water bottle. If the pain is severe consult a dentist.
Vomiting.—Give soda in a glass of hot water. Ice dissolved in the mouth often cures vomiting when all other remedies fail. The stomach should have perfect rest as long as the tendency to throw up remains. Care in diet is essential.
Worms.—This condition is indicated by restlessness, disturbed sleep, itching about the anus, grinding of the teeth and sometimes convulsions. The worms themselves are sometimes visible in the feces, but a doctor’s examination is necessary for proper diagnosis. Treatment should follow the physician’s instructions. Plain foods without meats or sweets should be prescribed.
INJURIES
Bites and Stings of Insects.—Wash with a solution of ammonia water.
Bites of Mad Dog.—Apply caustic potash at once to the wound and call a physician. Do not give whisky without the doctor’s orders.
Burns.—Exclude the air, apply baking soda, zinc oxide ointment, vaseline or olive oil. For scalds make a paste of cool water and baking soda or boric acid.159
First Aid in the Nursery
Clothing on fire is easily smothered by rolling on the floor or wrapping in rugs or heavy blankets. When there is fire in a room close the doors and windows and try to smother the flames before using water.
Cuts or Scratches.—Cleanse the wound thoroughly in running water, wash with alcohol or other disinfectant and paint with iodine. Dirt should be kept from the wound by applying surgeons tape or court plaster.
Fall or Shock.—Apply cold water to head and heat to the heart, rub arms and legs towards the heart, keep well covered, let patient inhale ammonia or camphor fumes. Give hot tea or coffee as stimulant.
^ Foreign Body in Ear.—Do not try to remove a foreign body with a sharp instrument. Drop in a little olive oil and call the doctor.
Foreign Body in Throat.—Remove articles such as fish bones with the finger. In extreme cases hold the child by the ankles head down and slap on the back. If the article is swallowed, give a piece of bread immediately. No physic is necessary.
Foreign Body in the Eye.—Do not rub the eye, encourage crying, have patient blow nose vigorously. If the article is visible it can usually be removed with the corner of a clean handkerchief.
Nose Bleed may generally be stopped by putting a plug of lint into the nostril. Apply a cold cloth to the forehead, tip the head back and clasp the hands in the back of the neck. Another easy and simple method is to place a piece of writing paper on the gums of the upper jaw under the upper lip. If this is allowed to remain for a few minutes the bleeding usually ceases.
Nails Mashed.—Plunge the injured member into very hot water. This renders the nail pliable and enables it to adapt itself to the new condition of things, thus alleviating the agony to some extent. A small hole may be bored in the nail with a pointed instrument, so adroitly as not to cause pain, yet successfully enough to relieve the pressure on the sensitive tissues. Free application of arnica or iodine will have an excellent effect.
Slivers.—Do not use a pin for fear of infection. Remove the sliver with a sterilized needle and wash the wound with alcohol or other disinfectant.
Sprains.—Wash the ankle with cold salt and water. Keep the foot as cool as possible to prevent inflammation, and sit with it elevated on a high cushion. Live on a low diet.160
First Aid in the Nursery
PERMANENT
Diagram showing what permanent tooth replaces each temporary tooth and also the order of their appearance, with time of ruption. (Order in Roman numerals—months and years in Arabic numerals.)
Infant Teething
Remarkable Instances.—There are instances where babies have been born with teeth, and, on the other hand, there are cases of persons who have never had any teeth at all; and others that had double teeth all around in both upper and lower jaws, but these are rare instances, and may be termed as freaks of nature.
Infant Teething.—The first teeth generally make their appearance after the third month, and during the161
Infant Teething
period ©f teething the child is fretful and restless, causing sometimes constitutional disturbances, such as diarrhoea, indigestion, etc. Usually, however, no serious results follow, and no unnecessary anxiety need be felt, unless the weather is extremely warm, then there is some danger of summer complaint setting in and seriously complicating matters.
The Number of Teeth.—Teeth are generally cut in pairs and make their appearance first in the front and going backwards until all are complete. It generally takes about two years for a temporary set of children’s teeth. A child two or three years old should have twenty teeth. After the age of seven they generally begin to loosen and fall out and permanent teeth take their place.
Lancing the Gums.—This is very rarely necessary. There are extreme cases when the condition of the mouth and health of the child demand a physician’s lance but this should not be resorted to, unless it is absolutely necessary. When the gums are very much swollen and the tooth is nearly through, the pains may be relieved by the mother taking a thimble and pressing it down upon the tooth, the sharp edges of the tooth will cut through the swollen flesh, and instant relief will follow. A child in a few hours or a day will be perfectly happy after a very severe and trying time of sickness.
Permanent Teeth.—The teeth are firmly inserted in sockets of the upper and lower jaw. The permanent teeth which follow the temporary teeth, when complete, are sixteen in each jaw, or thirty-two in all.
Names of Teeth.—There are four incisors ^ (front teeth), four cuspids (eye teeth), four bicuspids (grinders),, and four molars (large grinders), in each jaw. Each tooth is divided into the crown, body, and root. The crown is the grinding surface; the body—the part projecting from the jaw—is the seat of sensation and nutrition; the root is that portion of the tooth which is inserted in the alveolus. The teeth are composed of dentine (ivory) and enamel. The ivory forms the greater portion of the body and root, while the enamel covers the exposed surface. The small white cords communicating with the teeth are the nerves.
Examination.—The beginning of both sets of teeth are formed in the jaw before birth. The enamel is formed once and for all during childhood. Hence if the first set of teeth are badly formed or badly taken care of, the permanent teeth will always give trouble. After the first 11PERMANENT TEETH
PERMANENT TEETH
Diagram showing Baby teeth, both upper and lower, also permanent teeth which replace them.Enuresis
163
six months a soft brush should be used with milk of magnesia or. common salt. Patent dentifrices are not advised. From one year of age on take the child to the dentist twice a year regularly for a thorough cleaning and have all cavities filled. Decay in the teeth is responsible for a host of other ills, and a little care and trouble in the beginning may save a great deal of suffering and expense later on.
Enuresis
One of the commonest and most annoying of children’s diseases is enuresis or bed wetting.
Definition.—Enuresis is the involuntary evacuation of the urine in childhood when the urinary organs are otherwise normal. If the trouble occurs at night it is called nocturnal enuresis; if during waking hours diurnal enuresis, and if both by day and by night, it is called continual enuresis. Bed wetting is normal in infancy before the child learns to control his apparatus. By the tenth month, however, proper training should relieve the trouble during the day time. By the end of the third year the child should have complete self control in this respect. Boys and girls seem to suffer in about the same proportion.
Symptoms.—Children with enuresis usually do not wet the bed every night. They often skip a few nights during the week. Sometimes a week or two may pass without any symptoms of the disease appearing, and then the trouble be as bad as ever. Any change in the treatment may effect a speedy cure, but quite frequently the beneficial results disappear after a few weeks.
Causes.—In 90 or 95 percent of the cases, the causes of the condition are unknown. Occasionally the trouble seems to be due to a lack of proper development in the brain, as in cases of the insane. Again there may be a contraction of the bladder, so that it becomes distended very quickly, and the bed wetting results. I have often thought that the conditions of climate and temperature may have a decided effect on this disease. In almost all the cases, however, there seems to be a weakness in the higher control centers of the brain. Among other causes may be mentioned an adherent prepuce (tight foreskin) vaginitis, worms, fissure, kidney or bladder trouble, diabetes, epilepsy, or tuberculosis.164
Enuresis
Local Treatment.—This disease requires skilled medical attention. A thorough physical examination should be made, including a urinary test to eliminate the possibilities of any constitutional trouble. When there is no real evidence of that kind, the best physicians prescribe bella donna.* When properly taken this brings quick relief in the day cases, but requires a great deal of patience, and considerable time for the nocturnal troubles.
General Treatment.—It is useless to treat bed wetting with drugs, without proper consideration of diet and other hygienic factors. The child should sleep upon its side. Most children w*et the bed while sleeping on their backs. A towel tied around the abdomen, knotted in the back will stop this habit. The hips should be raised slightly during sleep, either by raising the foot of the bed, or by letting the child sleep with a pillow under the pelvis. These measures tend to hold the urine back. Find out at what time the emission usually takes place, and on subsequent nights awaken the child at that particular hour and see that the bladder is emptied. Allow no liquid after 4:00 P. M. The evening meal should be light and dry, possibly a cereal, toast, butter and fruit. In all cases see that the bladder is emptied before retiring and again just before midnight.
The Educational Cure.—Here is a simple method of cure by education which is worth trying. Have the child pass a little water and then stop, pass a little more, and then stop again, and so on until the bladder is completely empty. This procedure had best be started under the supervision of a physician, but can later be conducted^ by the child alone. If practiced at regular intervals ^ it often brings about complete self control, through exercise of the muscle and nerve forces which control the urinary function.
Epedemic Poliomyelitis
Infantile Paralysis is an acute infectious disease, usually attacking children, ushered in as a rule by symptoms common to other infectious diseases, and resulting in partial paralysis early in its course. It is caused by an invasion of the brain and spinal cord by a minute germ.
Appearance.—This disease appears during certain seasons, annually, over a period of years, usually eight or ten, and then is not seen except in occasional cases. There is no
*This is a very potent drug to be taken only under a physician’s direction.Epidemic Poliomyelitis	W6
month during the year in which cases are not reported. September seems to be the worst month. January, February, March and April show the lowest reports.
Mortality.—The mortality or death rate is sometimes very low, and again very high, averaging about 15 per cent. In Illinois alone, 2,270 cases have been officially reported during the past five years, with 339 actual deaths. It js estimated, however, that only about one case in three is actually recognized and reported.
Treatment.—In order to avoid severe complications and paralysis, early recognition, isolation, and medical treatment are essential. While no certain preventative methods are known, a greater degree of public and professional alertness would afford considerable protection. Dust and dirt are the most common known carriers of the germs, hence the importance of common sense hygienic measures.
How to Feed Our Children
We Feed the World and Starve Our Children.—
This is the title of a recent magazine article contributed by Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming, Chief of the United States Public Health Service. He said in part: “We know the reasons for famine abroad—war and drought. Moreover the old world Is never much ahead of its food supply. To produce a surplus is our normal condition. And yet America has a child feeding problem. Hundreds of thousands of our children have been found short in stature, and weight. Otherwise they are normal. They go to school, and play and act like regular children, as far as the casual observer can tell. But they are stunted in their growth, less vigorous than they should be, somewhat lacking in mental as well as physical strength, subject to little ailments, and to serious diseases, liable to an inferior maturity, and to a permanent physical handicap through life; all because there is plenty of food,, deficient in character or in needed elements. Just as it is possible to starve to death despite a hoard of gold, so people maj perish or at least fall into ill health upon a ration that is plentiful but unsuitable.,,
Both Farm and City bred children have been found defective in about equal numbers, among the many tlrou-sands who have been weighed and measured. Conditions are about the same in different parts of the country. Hx-166
How to Feed Our Children
tensive surveys have been made by the various bureaus and associations interested in public health, and means employed to meet this great national crisis.
HOME AMUSEMENTS
The Remedy lies in education. When the public is fully awakened to the situation, the remedy will be applied automatically. The following facts should be common knowledge, and that knowledge should be put into practice.
Diet.—Our national diet is wrong because it includes too little fresh milk, too few fresh vegetables, and too little fruit, especially of the citrus variety. These foods contain the vitamines which are absolutely^ essential to growing children, and equally beneficial to adults. Certain diseases are caused by an insufficiency of these foods. In the days of long tedious journeys at sea, oranges and lemons were considered as necessities to keep away scurvy. Tomatoes are an excellent and inexpensive substitute. Among the vegetables greens, turnips, carrots, cabbage and all salads are recommended.
A Quart of Milk a Day.—A growing child, and an adult for that matter, should drink a quart of fresh milk every day. How many of our children use half thatHow to Feed Our Children	167
much? Just as an example I recall the case of one little girl, who from the time she was weaned from the bottle, refused absolutely to drink any milk. Today at ten years of age she finds her teeth defective, because her diet has lacked something vital in their proper development. Her parents have spent and will continue to spend considerable money, but the child is likely to go through life with a severe handicap.
The Difficulties.—Flaming advertisements proclaim the glad tidings that with the free eating of yeast and vitamine tablets, we may stick to our old way of living and still grow healthy. They may be right, but that is a rather expensive method of getting certain food properties which can be obtained by a mere regulation of the diet.
Genuine Dairy Products.—The markets abound with substitutes for butter, lard, milk and eggs for cooking purposes. In most cases these lack the vitamines. Let us not forget, however, that if we all quite suddenly demanded the real thing instead of substitutes that never saw the farm, if we all drank a quart of milk every day, and if we all set out to eat more fresh vegetables, there would not be half enough to go around. The demand must come first, the supply will follow.
A Local Experiment.—Here in our own little city the Woman’s Club recently conducted a survey of the school children. Among the 446 examined, 33 were found to be undernourished, that is they were under weight. There were scions of our wealthiest aristocrats, as well as children of the poorer classes, and there, was not one underfed child who had not at all times had an abundance of good food set before him three times a day. These children, and others who wish it, are now served fresh milk at the morning and afternoon recesses. If the parents are unwilling or unable to pay for it, the Woman’s Club is furnishing the money. This illustrates what the right spirit of co-operation will bring about iq solving America’s undernourished but well fed children.
Relief for the Starving.—It was the effort of the American Relief Forces in Europe to supply the starving children with one good meal a day. This one meal supplied the most acute deficiencies, in diet with milk, sugar and fats. It wrought an amazing change and restored countless undernourished and starving children to normal health. For the present this must be our aim right here in America. One good meal a day is an easy, inexpensive, workable, worthwhile solution of our child feeding prob-168
How to Feed Our Children
lem. An orange, a cereal, whole wheat or graham bread, and a glass of milk surpass in real value many elaborate and expensive meals.
FOOD VALUES
(The following diet lists are printed with the permission of the Illinois State Department of Public Health.)
Cereals promote growth. Farina is the most easily taken, while oatmeal is the best unless it affects the bowels.
Eggs contain iron and phosphorus.
Fruit juices—orange, prune, apple, pineapple—help to counteract constipation and add ash for growth, neutralizing acids and absorbing the gases of the stomach.
One green vegetable should be included in the daily diet after the first year; given at first in small amounts and gradually increased as the child grows accustomed to it.
Vegetables—spinach, green peas, asparagus, young beets, carrots—well-cooked and strained, are of value because of the iron they contain.
When teeth are developing, stale bread, toast or zwieback should be given to aid in the forming of the habit of mastication, which is so important to easy digestion of food later on.
An infant should NEVER be given tea, coffee or candy.
DIET LIST FOR CHILDREN
(From Twelve to Twenty-four Months)
There should be five feedings in the twenty-four hours given at four-hour intervals during the day, and leaving an eight-hour interval at night. Nothing should be given between feedings except water, and this should be given liberally, especially in hot weather.
6 A. M. Milk, warmed, 8 ounces.
9	A.M. Fruit juice, i. e., juice from half an orange,
or two ounces of prune juice.
10	A. M. Cereals and milk. One piece of toast or
zwieback. Milk—four to eight ounces. Only well-cooked cereals should be used, and these should be strained.
2 P. M. Vegetables or vegetable soup. Spinach, carrots, fresh peas, string beans, asparagus tips, cauliflower and potatoes. Creamed soups may be made from these vegetables. Fruit or milk. Beef juice, meat broth, egg or scraped meat.
6 P. M. Same as at 10 A. M.
10 P. M. iSame as at 6 A. M.How to Feed Our Children
169
DIET LIST FOR CHILDREN
(From Two to Four Years of Age.)
At least a quart of milk should be taken in tweaty-four hours. Four feedings in twenty-four hours.
7	A. M. Cereal, well-cooked with milk and sugar.
9 A.M. Fruit juices—Orange, prune, grape.
11-12 A. M. Vegetables, and soups.
Spinach, carrots, fresh peas, string beans, dried beans, asparagus tips, cauliflower, strained stewed tomatoes, squash and boiled onions. Meats—rare roast beef, chicken, fish and squab. 4 P. M. Milk, toast and butter.
8	P. M. Cereal with milk and sugar, bread and butter.
DIET LIST FOR CHILDREN
(From Four to Six Years)
At least one quart of milk given in twenty-four hours. Four feedings in twenty-four hours.
7 A. M. Cereal, well-cooked with milk and sugar. Bread and butter.
,9 A. M. Fruit juices, orange, prunes, grape, apple and prune pulp.
12 A. M. Soups, Meats—rare roast beef, beefsteak, poultry, fish, lamb chop and squab.
Vegetables—Bread and butter.	Custards—
cornstarch, cream cheese.
4 P. M. Milk, toast and butter.
7 P. M. Same as 12 A. M. except that an egg should be given instead of meat.
DIET LIST FOR CHILDREN
(From Six to Twelve Years)
At least one quart of milk should be taken in twenty-four hours. Four feedings, in twenty-four hours.
7 A. M. Cereal with milk and sugar. Bread and butter.
9	A. M. Fruits.
12 A. M. Soups. Meats—rare roast beef, beefsteak, chicken, fish, lamb chop. Vegetables. Custards—gelatine, tapioca, cornstarch.
4 P.M. Milk.
7 P. M. Same as at 12 A. M. except that an egg should be substituted for the meat.
Before the sixth year a child should not be given fried foods. Highly seasoned dishes, such as pie, rich puddings, gravies and sauces should be avoided.170	How to Feed Our Children
Coffee and tea should NEVER be given to children as a beverage.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF INFANTS’ FOODS
Cereal Gruel.—Any of the following may be used— barley, oatmeal, rice, arrowroot, corn meal, farina, cream of wheat, hominy, wheaten grits, or any other common cereal preparation to be found on the market, and which requires preparation by cooking. When the flour of these various cereals is used, 3 level tablespoonfuls to each pint finished product should be taken, except arrowroot, of which one tablespoon should be taken. For the whole or only partially divided grains use three rounded tablespoons to^ the pint of finished product. When the flour is used mix with a little cold water to form a paste. Then add to the boiling water and cook in a double boiler for two hours or directly over the flame for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring constantly. When the whole grains are used it is of some help to soak over night. Cooking must be continued until the grains are well broken up, which will be at least one hour directly over the flame or at least 4 to 5 hours in a double boiler. Salt should be added to the water when cooking, y2 level teaspoonful to the pint of finished product. It may be necessary to add water several times to keep up the volume during the prolonged cooking. Whether made from the flour or whole grain the gruel should be strained and water added to make up the intended quantity. For older infants the final dilution may be made with milk. For older infants also y2 the fluid used for farina and all the fluid used for arrowroot may consist of milk.
Cereal Jelly.—Is prepared in the same general manner as is cereal gruel except that it is cooked to twice the strength of gruel. It may be allowed to cool in a mold. This should be given only to older infants able to break up the jelly in the mouth.
Beef Juice.—One-quarter to one-half pound of round steak is broiled slightly and cut into small pieces. Press out the juice with a meat press or potato ricer. Add a small pinch of salt. This may be given as a liquid or mixed with crumbs of dry bread. For feeding do not heat sufficiently to coagulate the albumen. One to two ounces of beef juice usually make a suitable portion.
Meat Broth.—Beef, lamb, mutton, veal or chicken. Take y2 pound lean meat, chopped fine, to one pint of coldHow to Feed Our Children	171
water. Cook slowly two to three hours, replacing the evaporated water from time to time so that when finished there will be one pint of broth. Allow to cool, skim off the fat, strain and salt to taste. If chicken is used, remove the skin and fat from y2 a small chicken, chop into fine pieces, bones included. Cook slowly for one to two hours and have one pint when finished. Four to six ounces of broth usually make a suitable serving. It may be served with zwieback or dried bread. Well cooked cereal preparations may be added or cooked into the broth. Any permitted vegetable or suitable mixture of vegetables may also be added after proper preparation or cooked into the broth.
Scraped Meat.—Fine scrapings of meat, beef, lamb or chicken, free from fat are shaped into a pat and slightly broiled on a hot dry spider. Season with a little salt and butter. A few drops of lemon juice may be added. At first one teaspoonful is given and the quantity increased until one tablespoonful is taken. Late in the second year these same meats may be served finely cut or minced instead of scraped. These should be broiled or boiled, never fried.
Eggs.—Drop in boiling water. Immediately turn out the flame and allow to stand for five minutes.
Fruit Juice.—Orange juice—1 to 3 ounces, may be given, diluted somewhat with water and if necessary slightly sweetened. Prune juice—y2 pound of prunes, washed and soaked over night. Cook in the same water, using just enough to cover, until tender. Add a teaspoonful of sugar and strain.
Fruit.—Only well-cooked fruit allowed. Apples, boiled, (Apple Sauce) or baked and strained and the pulp of stewed prunes, A small portion of ripe banana is permitted when well-baked.
Vegetables.—The following vegetables may be permitted: spinach, carrots, fresh peas, string beans, dried beans, asparagus tips, cauliflower and potatoes.
They should be well cooked and^ pressed through a fine sieve before serving. The w'ater in which the vegetables are cooked contains food material of some value and should be retained so far as is convenient. The vegetables should be cooked in water which has been salted.
One to two tablespoonfuls of vegetable pulp usually make a proper serving. They may be served with a little butter and salt and in the case of some vegetables, such as spinach, it is often suitable to mix in a teaspoonful of fine bread crumbs.172
How to Feed Our Children
Creamed Vegetable Soup.—The vegetables above named may be served as a creamed soup which may be prepared as follows:
To 2 tablespoonfuls of vegetable pulp prepared as described above add four ounces of water in which the vegetables were cooked, four ounces of milk, y2 teaspoonlul of flour, y2 teaspoonful of butter and sufficient salt. Boil sufficiently to cook the flour.
Cornstarch Pudding.—Mix one pint of milk, two tablespoonfuls of cornstarch and one tablespoonful of sugar. Flavor to taste. Boil eight to ten minutes. Allow to cool in a mold.
Custard Pudding.—Mix one egg, six ounces of milk and one teaspoonful of sugar. If a heavier pudding is desired one teaspoonful of flour is also added. Place the mixture in a cup and the covered cup in a saucepan of water. Boil for ten minutes—longer if flour has been added.
"Pap.” —To one pint of boiling milk add one level tablespoonful of butter and while stirring constantly, a thoroughly beaten egg. Then add \y2 level tablespoonfuls of flour made into a paste and continue the boiling for ten minutes. Add a pinch of salt before removing from the fire. Serve plain or with milk and a little sugar.
Prune Jelly.—Cover	pounds of selected, washed
prunes with water and cook slowly until thoroughly done. Rub through a sieve. Add sugar to sweeten and make the volume up to one pint with water. To this add *4 package of gelatine (one level tablespoonful) dissolved in eight ounces of boiling water.
Gelatine with Milk and Starch.—Dissolve one teaspoonful of gelatine in eight ounces of boiling water. While boiling add four ounces of milk and one teaspoonful of arrowroot or cornstarch, made into a paste in cold water. Cook for ten or fifteen minutes. It may be sweetened slightly while cooking or served with milk and sugar.
Junket.—Mix with eight ounces of milk one teaspoonful of sugar and any one of the following: y2 teaspoonful of chymogen or pegnin, one teaspoonful of essence of pepsin or a "junket” tablet. Allow to stand at about 100° F. for 15 minutes or until it comes to a clabber. It may be flavored with vanilla before coagulation.
Barley Water.—Barley flour—one ounce. Boiling water—one quart. Mix flour^ with little cold water to form smooth paste. Add to boiling water. Cook in double boiler for two hours. Strain. If no double boiler, cook directly over flame for twenty or thirty minutes. Add enough water to bring up to quart.How to Feed Our Children
173
Barley Gruel.—Barley flour—2 ounces. Boiling water—one quart. Salt. Follow directions for barley water.
Protein Milk (Albumen or Eiweiss).—Whole milk —1 quart. Buttermilk—1 pint. Boiled cold water—1 pint. Rennet—enough to coagulate one quart of milk, or essence of pepsin—y2 ounce may be used, or Chymogen (Armour & Co.) one even teaspoonful to one quart of milk.
Heat milk to 100° F. to 120° R, not over. Add pepsin and stir well. Place on ice or in cool place for at least 40 minutes to coagulate milk. Drain through gauze to remove all whey from curds. Then work through hair sieve with potato masher, first using water, then add buttermilk and put through sieve again and again, until mixture is free from lumps.
Buttermilk Mixture.—Buttermilk—1 quart. Wheat flour—3^ teaspoonfuls. Saccharose—15 teaspoonfuls.
Mix the flour and sugar with a few teaspoonfuls of buttermilk until a smooth paste results (no^ lumps). Add rest of buttermilk gradually. Heat to boiling^ point (212° F.), but do not boil. Heat very slowly and stir constantly. Use double boiler.
Percentage of Fats, Protein and 'Carbohydrates in the following Foods
Food.	Fat.	Protein.	Carbohy- drates.	Calories per oz.	Calories per 100 C. C
Mother’s Milk 		4	1.5	7.	20	70
Cow’s Milk 		4	3.5	4.5	20	70
Gravity Cream 			16	3.2	3.2	54	180
Whey 		.32	.36	4.75	5	18
Buttermilk 		1.25	4	3.25	10	33
Skimmed Milk 		1.	3	4.5	10	33
Protein (Eiweiss Milk) ...	1.5	3	1.5	10	33
Eagle Brand Milk 		9.61	8.01	55	120	400
Mellin’s Food		.2	11.5	80	120	400
Nestles’ Food 		5.5	14.3	58.9	116	387
Horlick’s Malted Milk ....	9.	16.5	68.	135	450
NOTE
3 teaspoonfuls=l tablespoonful.
2 tablespoonfuls—1 ounce.
16 tablespoonfuls=l cup.
1 cup=8 ounces.
All measurements should be levelPART 6
SEXUAL SCIENCE
SEXUAL IMPRESSIONS IN CHILDHOOD ADOLESCENCE IN THE MALE ADOLESCENCE IN THE FEMALE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE MALE SEXUAL ORGANS ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF FEMALE SEX ORGANS IF EVERY MAN WERE STRAIGHT ETHICS OF THE UNMARRIED CONTINENCE DANGERS OF IGNORANCE SPOONING
FIGHTING MODERN EVILS PROSTITUTION
THE NEED FOR SEX INSTRUCTION
IS SEX EDUCATION AS NECESSARY FOR GIRLS AS FOR BOYS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON SEX HOW TO TELL THE STORY OF LIFE
175176
Childhood
Sexual Impressions should never affect a healthy child’s mind or body, the whole vitality should go into the building of the mind and the body. It is unfortunate, however, that due to inheritance, improper handling, or some morbid condition the child does not always arrive at adolescence in a perfect state of health.
Sexual Precocity.—In many children the sexual instinct arises long before puberty. Due to the carelessness of parents children are often allowed to play together without the supervision of an older person. As a result „familiarity and bad habits develop. Sliding down bannisters, ill-fitting garments, retaining the urine, constipation, worms, skin diseases, and the thoughtless improprieties of older children and grownups are among the causes of early sex reactions. A long prepuce (foreskin) is generally conceded to be the chief cause of early sexual sensations in boys. Better by far have the simple operation of circumcision performed than to run any chances along this line. In cases of priapism, paroxysms, or inflammation of any kind, it is important that a competent physician be consulted at once.
The Approach of Puberty always brings with it a burning curiosity concerning the story of life, sex relations, and kindred subjects. And this curiosity must be satisfied. If parents evade the issue, then the child takes matters into his own hands, and learns the answer as best he can. As a result fully ninety per cent of our boys and girls know the truth vulgarly before they reach the adolescent age.
The Parent’s Part.—Parents, you cannot afford to neglect your duty along this line. Wrong ideas indecently planted and the consequent morbid curiosity they arouse, lead inevitably to vicious practises. It is only decent and fair that the child receive this information in the right way, at the right time, and from those who love and understand him.
The Child is Entitled to a Square Deal.—You naturalfy expect your son to grow up into a straight forward clean man who is an honor to his community and to you. Have you done your duty towards him? This duty includes (1) proper instruction, (2) careful watching; nurses are12
THE OLD WAY178
Adolescence in the Male
often innocently responsible for the formation of bad habits in young children. Most bad habits are learned by children sleeping together unwatched, (3) occupation; plenty of exercise in the outdoor air leaves little time or aptitude for any morbid thoughts, (4) confidence, if the child will make a confidante of his mother or father, this above everything else is vital. The real father would rather have the trusting confidence of his son than be the president of the United States or the richest man in the world.
Adolescence in the Male
Adolescence is the period of life between puberty and maturity in the male, usually between the ages of 14 and 25 years. This period is ushered in by a series of changes we call puberty. (In Latin races the age of puberty comes sometimes from one to three years earlier.) Puberty may be said to be complete when the male is able to produce fertile semen.
Physical Changes.—The growth of hair is very much increased especially on the face, in the arm pits and over the pubic regions ; the voice deepens ; the frame becomes more angular and muscular; there is a rapid growth in height. The boy becomes stronger but more awkward, his bearing becomes more commanding. In other words the boy quite suddenly becomes a man.
There commences a period of intense loneliness, questioning, vague longings, wanderlust. Here if ever the sympathetic comradeship and understanding between father and son is most important. As the young man progresses through adolescence he is tempted in many ways; the evil, however, is always done in the mind /first. ^ Keep the thoughts clean and pure, the mind occupied with the finer things of life and there will be no temptation.
The Horror of Venereal Disease.—A young man may easily become affected with a life long disease through his first fall from grace. Strictures, dysuria, gleet, prostatitis, plastic pneumonia, buboes, ulceration, disfiguration, moral destruction, insanity, all are possible^ results of this great white plague. A man of any age in the company of any impure or loose woman is in far greater ^ danger than he would be in the midst of No Man’s Land in modern warfare.Adolescence in the Male
179
The Two Partis
$/
hat Will The Bo/ Become?
AT 15
CIGARETTES & SELF-ABUSE
AT 25
PURITY y ECONOMY
AT 25
(IMPURITY U DISSIPATION180
Adolescence in the Male
The. pride of adolescence is purity of thought. ^ Most boys today come from Christian homes and believe in God. If such a boy has developed the habit of excessive self-afouse, he actually wants to stop the habit and is usually willing to ask his father for help. Here is the father’s opportunity. Ask the boy if he would perform the act in front of his mother—or his father—or the minister. The answer will always be no. Then say, “how about performing the act in the presence of God.” The boy never thought of the matter in just that light before, but he will think about it that way every time the desire or the thought of self-abuse comes to his mind in the future.
Continence.—Many have the wrong idea that the reproductive organs, like the muscles, are developed through exercise and weakened through disuse. The contrary is true. Sexual power is never lost through lack of use any more than the ability to weep is lost through lack of weeping. Roman gladiators, modern pugilists, and college athletes have consistently refrained from intercourse while training'—expert evidence that indulgence is not necessary to physical powers or success. The same truth is borne out by the observation and experience of medical men, physical trainers, and members of exploring expeditions. Self-control, a good diet, and exhausting physical exertion render continence not only possible but practicable.
Self Control Not Unmanly.—A young man desires and expects absolute chastity in the woman of his choice. Men are becoming more and more indignant over the unfairness of expecting in women a self-control in matters of^ sex which they do not demand in man. Isn’t it a real crime to go through the forms of respect and courtesy towards women and then to secretly degrade womanhood in thought, speech, and act. Social progress depends on a fuller and franker comradeship and cooperation between men and women, something impossible without mutual respect. For an unmarried man indulgence means self-abuse or prostitution both of which endanger his health or his self-respect. In married men over-indulgence means depleted energies for himself and for his wife, and clouds the happiness of both. A reasonable sex life for man then demands self-control.
The three helps towards the control of the sex instinct are as follows: (1) Physical: wholesome athletic training includes sex continence, the eating of plain food, plenty of pure water, bathing in cool water followed by vigorous rubbing, sleeping regularly and an abundance of exerciseAdolescence in the Male	181
in the open air. Especially necessary in the fight for self control is the abstinence from alcoholic liquor.
Mental.—More than most other functions of the body the sex function is immediately and powerfully responsive to the state of mind, and bodily health depends especially upon mental sanitation. This means the deliberate avoidance of interests in reading and in conversation which turn the imagination towards pictures of sex indulgence and hold the attention upon them. It means the preoccupation of the mind with wholesome thoughts, clean interests, and manly purposes.
Association.—The third powerful help towards self-mastery is the association with women of high character—women who are producers and not parasites. The association with such women in conversation, in sports, and in music, means that sex desires are transformed. ^ Thus changed they find satisfaction through general social enjoyment and their special stress is relieved. The sublimation of this instinct is found when men and women work together for the care of children, the organization of neighborhood or civic activities and the strengthening of patriotic purpose. Man’s instinct is then made to serve the constructive work of society rather than the destructive. It becomes a part of his reasonable service as a citizen.
Seminal Emissions (wet dreams.)—A seminal emission is the medical term for the discharge of fluid from the sex organs of the male during sleep. These occur more or less regularly in perfectly normal and healthy young men. They positively do not indicate any unhealthy condition unless they occur too frequently, oftener than once in ten days. When emissions occur too frequently the cause is usually sex excitement in thought or deed, lack of sufficient exercise, constipation, over-eating, or intemperance. The young man who takes jplenty of exercise and keeps his mind free from lewd subjects rarely needs medical treatment for seminal emissions.
Beware of the quacks. The cities are filled with self-styled specialists who agree to cure men’s diseases, seminal emissions,,lost manhood, varicocele and similar disorders. These quacks know that all young men have seminal emissions, that most boys have practiced self-abuse at one time or another, that few young men are willing to consult their parents on these matters, and that there is a real ignorance on the part of most of them regarding182	Adolescence of the Female
their own sex lives. Consequently boys swallow the stuff appearing in the cunningly worded advertisements, spend their money, and actually endanger theif- health when there is not a thing in the world the matter with them. The advertising doctor leads his victim to believe, that because he has nocturnal emissions he is losing his manhood and will never be able to regain it without his (the doctor's medicine.)
Boys Remember This.—Reputable clergymen, lawyers, and physicians never solicit business by advertising. Bewiare of the doctor who does. If you are troubled about sex matters go to your father frankly, and if he fails you consult your family physician. A few words of sound medical advice saves a young man months of secret and needless alarm to say nothing of the money.
Adolescence of the Female
In the female adolescence takes in the period from the age of 12 to 21 years, usually about two years earlier than the^male period.
Physical Changes.—While the changes are for the most part connected with the reproductive organs there are certain evident outward developments. The form becomes rounded and beautiful, the voice grows sweeter, the movements more graceful, and the girl quite suddenly becomes a woman.
Menstruation.—One of the most important and most sacred of woman's functions appears now in the phenomena of menstruation (other names: periods, courses, monthlies, sickness, etc.) On the regular healthy recurrence of this function (every twenty-eight days) her beauty, her energy, her^ health and her happiness depend. And yet due to misunderstanding and ignorance on the part of so many these are often periods of anguish and suffering. Great care must be taken to prevent fatigue, chill, sudden cooling off when heated, or any other quick change. Under no circumstances should any attempt whatever be made to check the flow.
In the Earlier Days a menstruating woman was looked upon as a witch and believed to have all of the mystic powers of a magician and was a person to be shunned. With the advancement of civilization, however,Adolescence of the Female
1*83
The Two
AT l3	Become?
BAD LITERATURE.
AT 13
STUDY & OBEDIENCE
AT 20
FLIRTING ü COQUETTERY
AT 20
VIRTUE & DEVOTION
A LOVING MOTHER
AT 40
AN OUTCAST

AT 60	_
AN HONORED GRANDMOTHER184	Adolescence of the Female
we have come to accept menstruation as a normal physiological process with psychic influence on the woman herself and her surroundings.
What is Menstruation?—Menstruation is a monthly discharge of fluid from the womb. The lining of the womb becomes congested with blood. When conception occurs this blood is used to nourish and develop the child. If not pregnant some of the blood vessels break and the blood is discharged into the vagina. This function commences at puberty and occurs regularly every twenty-eight days until the climacteric—usually at the age of 48 to SO years. The time of the beginning and of the cessation of the menses is affected by climatic conditions, occupation, heredity, etc.
As we shall see later the fertilized ovum comes down into the womb to develop into a child. It attaches itself to the lining of the womb much as a young shoot is grafted onto a fruit tree. The monthly flow causes changes in the lining of the uterus which make this attachment or grafting a simple matter.
How Many Days Does a Woman Menstruate?—A
monthly flow lasts usually from three to five days, sometimes for only two days, rarely as long as seven days. The greatest amount of blood passes during the first two days. The amount of blood passed varies from one ounce to four ounces. The use of three napkins in every twenty-four hours is normal.
The Hygiene of Menstruation—Cleanliness and rest are the two essentials in the hygiene of menstruation. Every girl reaching the age of puberty must be properly instructed in the necessity for both these essentials. Most girls and women feel badly during the periods and absolute rest is necessary during the first two days. Female diseases or womb troubles usually date back to some over-exertion at "one or more of these earlier times. There is a very general superstition or belief that bathing, douching or even washing itself is injurious during the menses. Let .us correct this error at once and for all. Cleanliness be-, sides being next to Godliness is absolutely essential to good health, particularly because during the periods any leucor-rhea (the whites) that a woman may have is greatly exaggerated. The douche should consist of about two quarts of luke warm water containing a tablespoon of boric acid. The external parts should be cleansed twice a day with warm water and soap. Bathing should be avoided except with luke warm water.Anatomy and Physiology of the Male Sexual Organs 185
Things to Be Avoided During Menstruation.—1,
Acids, iodine, alum in douches should be used only undef the physician’s directions. 2. Cold baths or swimming. 3. Over-exertion. 4. Catching cold or chilling. 5. Dancing, horseback riding, or athletics of any kind.
Anatomy and Physiology of the Male Sexual Organs
The sexual organs of the male consist of the penis, scrotum, the urethra, the testicles, the seminal vesicles, the prostate gland, and Cowper’s gland.
The Function of the Testicles.—The process of cell-division and cell-generation and the formation of living sperms or spermatozoa are the functions of the testes, a work so complex that we need not attempt to understand it fully. All we need to know is that the sperm cell consists of a head, a neck, and a tail. Its shape is somewhat like that of a common tadpole. When observed under the microscope the tail is seen to move swiftly serving as a means of moving from place to place. Another very important function of the testicles is to secrete a fluid which is re-absorbed into the blood and which scientists believe is largely responsible for man’s virility and vitality.
The Seminal Vesicles are the small sacs which furnish a part of the material necessary to keep the sperms alive and active. These vesicles are constantly secreting their product and periodically become so full that they can no longer hold their contents. This is then discharged in the form of a seminal emission (wet dream), which is not generally a loss of sperm cells and is not a serious matter.
The Prostate Gland.—This gland surrounds the neck of the bladder. When men pass middle age the prostate gland sometimes causes trouble and needs to be removed by a surgical operation. It furnishes a part of the material to give nourishment to the sperms. Its secretion resembles the white of an egg. There are many fine ducts leading from the prostate gland directly to the urethra.
Cowper’s Glands send out a little slippery fluid which protects the organs from injury and neutralizes the acid in the urethra. This discharge is often misunderstood especially among young boys who confuse it with actual discharge of semen. They get the impression that they are thus losing strength and vitality and are easily caught in the meshes of advertising quacks.186 Anatomy and Physiology of the Male Sexular Organs
Viewed from Behind
How the Semen Is Formed.—The testicles secrete or manufacture the living sperms. These may lie dormant for days and weeks, but when they are passed out they travel through the spermatic cord or vas deferens, up into a sac called the ampulla. From here they pass through the prostate gland into the urethra. The secretion from Cow-per’s glands precedes the passage of the semen. The prostate gland becomes full of its secretion, and at the moment of emission it empties its contents into the urethra, to become a part of the semen. In like manner the secretion from the seminal vesicles is passed into the' urethra at the same moment, mixing with and becoming an integral part of the semen. The secretions from the gland and vesicles furnish enough nourishment for the sperm cells to exist for several days.
Sexual Excess.—What the loss of the external or the internal secretions of the reproductive organs means may be readily seen when we compare the physical and mental development of the common; domestic horse with VA9
that of the pedi-greed ‘ stallion.
When a child is operated upon before the age of puberty the voice ' retains its childish , treble, the limbs their soft and rounded outlines, and the neck acquires a feminine fullness.^ No beard
makes its appear-	PROSTATE
ance.	Viewed from Front and AboveAnatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs 187
Diagram Showing Female Organs of Reproduction
Anatomy and Physiology
of
the Female Sexual Organs
The generative or reproductive organs of the female are usually divided into the external and the internal. Those regarded as internal are concealed from view and protected within the body. Those readily perceived are termed external. The entrance to the vagina may be stated as the line of demarcation betwen the two divisions. The internal188 Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs
organs consist of the hymen, the vagina, the uterus, the Fallopian tubes, and the ovaries. The external sex organs are the clitoris, the vulva, the mons veneris, and the breasts.
The Hy-m e n or Vaginal V a 1 v e.—
This is a thin membrane of varied shape and consistency, stretch-ed across the opening of the vagina. 11 usually contains, be-f o r e mar-r i a g e, at least one
small opening for the passage of the menses and any other secretions from the internal organs. This membrane has been known to cause distress in many women at the first menstrual flow because the opening was not sufficiently large to permit of free passage. Or in rare cases there is no opening whateve r necessitating the performance of a simple surgical operation.
The presence of the hymen is no longer considered as^ a test of virginity. Disease or accident may
Internal Sex Organs
MALE PELVISAnatomy tmd Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs 189
A
have caused its breaking, or the woman may have been born without a hymen, as is frequently the case.
The Vagina.—The vagina is the passage between the womb and the outside of the body. It is a strong muscular canal lined with mucous membrane, so arranged in folds that it can stretch enormously to permit the passage of the head during child birth. After child birth it returns to its normal size which varies in length from three to six inches. On either side of the vagina are the two glands of Bar-tholme, which correspond to Cowper’s glands in the male. They lubricate the walls of the vagina and counteract any acidity harmful to the sperms.
The Uterus or the Womb.—The womb is the organ in which the egg grows into a baby. It is hollow, musclar, and capable of increasing its size
Diagram Showing Openings into the Womb
1.	Opening’s into the Fallopian tubes. ih HevfdrmmMit
2.	The mouth of the womb.	witn tne aeveiopment
of the child. It is lined with mucous membrane covered with hair like cells which are in continuous motion. The accompanying diagram shows the shape of the womb. There are three openings, two above leading from the Fallopian tubes, and one below which is the mouth of the womb.
The womb is located in the pelvic cavity just behind and above the bladder and is supported by eight ligaments. The neck of the uterus is supplied with follicles which secrete a mucous closing the entrance to the womb when conception occurs. During menstruation the womb becomes enlarged. During pregnancy it becomes heavier, but soon returns to normal size and weight. In old age it becomes atrophied. The growth, development, and nourishment of the child is the sole function of the uterus.190 Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs
The Fallopian Tubes.—The Fallopian tubes, named for their discoverer, also called oviducts or egg conductors, are the ducts of the ovaries which catch the egg as it bursts through the ovary and convey it from the ovary to the womb. They consist of two very thin tubes, one on each side of the womb about four inches long and one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter.. At the end nearest the ovaries they expand into a fringed trumpet like shape. The ends are called fimbria. The tubes are lined with membrane composed of hair like cells similar to those found in the womb. Through their continuous motions these cells carry the eggs into the womb. Impregnation sometimes occurs in the lower end of the tubej after which the egg moves down into the womb.
THE OVARY
The ovaries.—The ovaries are th$ chief female organs of reproduction. Without them the other organs would be useless. They are the two oval shaped organs, lying one on each side of the womb, which produce the eggs and pass them out thru the Fallopian tubes to the uterus. They are about one and one-half inches long, three-fourths of an inch wide, and one-half inch thick, pale pink in color, weighing about one-half of an ounce. They are attached to the broad ligament and are held in place by the ligaments running to the womb and to the ends of the Fallopian tubes.Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs 191
RIPE OVUM FROM THE OVARY
The Function of the ovaries is (1) to manufacture eggs for the perpetuation of the race, and (2) to manufacture an internal secretion which is absorbed into the blood, with much the same effect on the woman’s health and happiness that the internal secretion of the testicles has on man’s. It contributes not only to her health, but it helps develop the other sex organs. It ^ is responsible for woman’s sexual emotions, and contributes to her womanly charm and loveliness. This internal secretion lasts throughout a woman’s life and does not stop at the menopause or “change of life.”
Nature’s Lavishness.—At puberty the ovaries of the normal girl contain about 30,000 eggs, only one of which ripens each month from that time until the menopause, or a possible total of four or five hundred eggs. The same lavishness is noted in man when we consider that while only one sperm is necessary to fertilize the egg, yet each ejaculation of semen contains upwards of one-half million sperms. Thus does nature insure tfie propagation of the race.192 Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual OrgansAnatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs 193
SECTION OF THE OVARY
i. Graafian follicles in early stages.
2t 3, and 4. Graafian follicles in more advanced stages.
S and 7. Graafian follicles nearing maturity. ^
6. Graafian follicle after egg nearing maturity.
8. The corpus luteum.
The Graafian Follicles are the vesicles in the ovaries which hold the individual eggs. Every twenty-eight days one of these vesicles swells and reaches the surface of the ovary, finally bursting and expelling a ripe egg into the Fallopian tubes whence it is conducted to the uterus. The opening left by this egg is immediately filled up with a growth called the corpus luteum, which in the event of pregnancy secretes a fluid which aids in the development of the child, but in other cases disappears.
The Life History of the Ovum.—Briefly the history of an egg is as follows: When discharged from the ovary it enters the Fallopian tube and is carried by the hair like cells of the tube in the direction of the womb. This does not mean that the ovum always reaches the womb. In many cases impregnation takes place in the Fallopian tube and occasionally in the ovary itself. Sometimes the passage of the egg is interrupted. On the other hand,
13194 Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Sexual Organs
under normal conditions, impregnation takes place in the womb itself, the ovum attaches itself to the walls of the womb and proceeds to grow. If the egg is not fertilized it loses its vitality and is discarded from the system.
In the generative process the sperms are deposited in the vagina. By aid of the hair like cells the sperms travel up and into the mouth of the womb where they come into contact with the ovum. It is interesting to note that one and only one sperm is permitted to penetrate the real body of the egg. When by means of a furious tail lashing an entrance has been effected, a tough covering is formed which prevents the entrance of the millions of other sperms.
The process of gestation now commences. The womb forms a spongy mucous membrane which envelops the egg. Segmentation begins. The impregnated cell splits in half forming two cells. These in turn separate and separate again until the ovum consists of a multitude of very minute cells. From these simple changes the more complex forms are evolved until at the end of two hundred and eighty days the child has developed from the single cell egg.
The Embryo is the term applied to the new life up to the end of the third month. After the end of three months it is called the foetus in medical *erms.The Menopause
195
The Menopause
The Menopause, sometimes called the climacteric, sometimes the change of life, is in woman a very critical period, in men not so much so. It usually takes place between the ages of forty and fifty, and continues for from three to five years. Pathological causes, the influence of heredity, and the effect of the climate may hurry or delay the menopause, and shorten or lengthen its duration. When it occurs before the fortieth year or after the fifty-second it is abnormal.
Senile Changes.—This critical period is characterized either by the atrophy, the shrinkage, or the disappearance of all the female organs of reproduction, both external and internal. It is also marked by a cessation of all their functions. In other words, what takes place is exactly the opposite of what happens at puberty. It marks the end of active sexual life.
Symptoms of Normal Menopause.—Many women pass through the menopause without any serious trouble, just as many of them go through their entire menstrual life without any unpleasant symptoms. In these normal cases there is, first, a stage of menstrual irregularity, followed by a stage of slight systemic disturbances. The patient may be extremely emotional or capricious, and subject to hot flushes, perspiration, numbness, faintness, drowsiness, and increased sexual desires.
Symptoms of Abnormal Menopause.—Unfortunately most women suffer considerably during the change. They are inclined to be irritable, apprehensive, hysterical or melancholy. In fact the psychic symptoms predominate. The flow may become so profuse as to amount to a dangerous hemorrhage. There may be severe headaches, deranged appetite, and insomnia. ^ There is always an increased tendency to malignant disease of the uterus and breasts, the fear of which often brings on intense melancholia. On the other hand, the menopause often cures chronic uterine or ovarian disease.
Psychic Symptoms.—Temporary mental derangement is one of the most common symptoms of the menopause. This may last for a few weeks only, or it may drag along for years. After the transition period is over, however, the woman usually enters upon a long period of normal or even greatly increased health.196
The Menopause
Home Treatment.— Many of these distressing symptoms are due to the wrong ideas which for centuries have been associated with the menopause. Women expect to suffer severely. They have been taught to believe that at this period of life they lose forever their sex attraction. As a result, their fears get the better of them and we have another example of the power of the mind over the body. The correction of these erroneous beliefs is the first essential. This accomplished, physicians prescribe rest and quiet, warm baths, and hot vaginal douches. A husband should be especially kind and considerate to his wife during this period.
Medical Treatment.—The disorders of this critical period in a woman’s life demand the services of a competent physician. Continuous and profuse hemorrhages indicate some malignant disease. Excessive nervous disturbances lead to mental derangement. Prompt diagnosis and energetic treatment are therefore absolutely necessary.
Change of Life in Men.—Medical textbooks completely overlook the male in discussing the menopause. There are two reasons for this. In the first place man has no menstrual function, and in the second place his sexual vigor is often retained even throughout his old age. In spite of these facts psychologists and medical specialists are convinced that in middle age men do undergo certain changes that parallel in some respects the change of life in women. This occurs usually between the ages of forty-five and fifty-five, and is marked by great irritability, unusual capriciousness, increased sexual desire, and many other symptoms corresponding with those of the normal menopause in women. These symptoms may be due to an .inflamed condition of the prostate gland, or other pathological cause, but in most cases they are more of a mental or nervous origin.
Treatment.—If there is some pathological cause the patient should consult a specialist, and have the disorder remedied. Where the cause is purely psychic, kindness, consideration, and understanding on the part of^ the wife will greatly assist the man to pass through this critical period without serious results.If Every Man Were Straight
19 7
IF
EVERY MAN WERE STRAIGHT
There would be no such thing as prostitution. There would be no loose women if there were no loose men.
There would be few suicides among young women.
There would be no illegitimate children to wander like Ishmael, ùp and down the earth with everybody’s hands against them and ofttimes with their hands against the world.
True love would find a place in every man’s life. He would respect and honor all women and he would love one woman supremely and Would learn to understand her through and through.
There would be no such things as venereal diseases. Think of the misery and unhappiness which might be saved— think of the money and human life which might be stopped, and then think of the loss to America, and then think that venereal diseases are absolutely preventable il: every man were straight.
There would be no such thing as gonorrheal rheumatism. Most of the chronic diseases of the bladder and generative organs would cease to exist.
Most of the surgical operations on the female organs would not be needed. Men marry pure, innocent girls, after having had gonorrhea which they think is cured. Only the lowest, most contemptible brute would marry, knowing that his venereal disease was still acute.
There would be fewer childless homes. Gonorrhea causes sterility in both men and women. ■
Very few children would be born blind.
There would be only half the number of abortions and miscarriages.
There would not be nearly so many babies born dead.
There would be fewer children born diseased. Luckily for themselves 80% of such children die within a few days or weeks.
There would be fewer mentally^ defective children.
Practically half the amount of insanity in the world would be done away with.
There would be among men and women absolutely no paresis, sometimes called softening of the brain.m
If Every Man Were Straight
There would be no such thing1 as locomotor ataxia.
Diseases of the arteries and blood vessels would be greatly-lessened.
No man before middle life Would have apoplectic or paralytic strokes.
His earning capacity would be greater and industrial life would be richer.
It would not be so difficult for women to be pure and true.
We must understand that the great institution of prostitution is a man-made one and not made by women. The human family is the only one wherein prostitution exists.
BOULEVARD VAMPS How Some Girls Are DeceivedEthics of the Unmarried
199
Ethics of the Unmarried
Continence—Danger of Ignorance—Spooning
The Dangers of Ignorance.—It is only human to err. Young people in trouble need kindness, not abuse, facts not mysteries, an example not precepts. If all men and women obeyed the laws of sex, the doctors would soon go out of business. Early sex instruction would prevent thousands of insanity cases, and increase the world’s happiness in untold measure. Countless people are prevented from living a clean, Christian life through errors and misunderstandings of sex. The very air of the divorce court reeks of sexual dissatisfaction. Men and women go about the streets pitiful wrecks of humanity because of ignorance of the laws of self and sex. Disease, debility and despair follow inevitably in the path of ignorance.
Who Can Lay Down the Rules?—Physicians, teachers, ministers, and parents are often called upon to establish definite rules for the conduct of the unmarried. When such questions come up they must be answered freely and honestly, but before they can be so answered, the instructor must know what he is talking about. The whole subject of sexual science has been so neglected its essentials have been so clothed in mystery and modesty, that not one man or woman in ten actually does know what he is talking about when he attempts to give advice.
Spooning.~One of the very first problems that confront the guiding light in a young man’s life is this: “Is there any harm in spooning?” A definition of the word spooning is hardly necessary, and, yet for fear of being misunderstood we mean by spooning, the kissing, fondling, and reclining in each others laps which seems to be a very common means of entertainment among the young people of today. What harm can there be, you ask, in a simple kiss or other form of endearment between a young man and his fiancee ? What possible danger can there be in letting young folks be young folks? Our answer is that while the harm may not be appafent in the act itself, yet it is the after effects which we must look for.
Causes of Spooning.—(1) The main cause of spooning among young people is ignorance. Boys and girls want to know the facts of life. Their curiosity is instinctive. Failing to get logical answers from their parents they seek200	Ethics of the Unmarried
the knowledge elsewhere, and they find it. Unfortunately the knowledge so gained is not always satisfactory, and is usually inaccurate.
(2)	Almost all young children are teased about sweethearts. Instead of trying to develop lofty ideals of modesty, kissing between boys and girls of tender age is actually encouraged by older people who should know better. If there is no harm in it at this period* why isn’t it just as harmless later on, the young people reason. Hands off now, henceforth, and forever more should be our slogan.
(3)	Still another cause for spooning is to be found in the false ideas of love which are indelibly impressed on the youthful mind by cheap literature, motion pictures and musical comedies (so called) whose vulgarity and sensualism are allowed to exist unmolested without any thought of their consequences.
(4)	Certain unscrupulous individuals grow rich through the manufacture and distribution of suggestive postcards, obscene steriopticon views, 'and inexcusable books! and typewritten pamphlets. They willfully exaggerate the pleasures of vice and excite a prurient curiosity about all such things. They lead boys and girls to make their own investigations.
(5)	The spirit of boastfulness is a real cause of the prevalence of spooning. A boy gets the idea from his misinformed companions that kissing and hugging a girl is something to be bragged about. The role of a hero pleases him and he sets out to show up the rest of the boys in his conquests.
Dancing as a Cause of Spooning.—And finally the modern dance must take its share of the blame. It is not for us to condemn altogether an institution which is so universal, and which has so many good points in its favor. As a means of exercise, relaxation, and self expression dancing has had a legitimate place in the rites, customs and ceremonies of all races from the beginning of time. Folk dances, the old fashioned square dances, quadrilles, and the minuet instilled ideas of respect, modesty, decency and courtesy into the hearts of men and women. They developed grace, self control and beauty.
But how far we have wandered from the old ideals of rhythm. The tango, the Texas Tommy, Walking the Dog, the one step, the fox trot, the shimmy, and all their outgrowths, had their very origin in the palaces of lust on the Barbary Coast of San Francisco. They spread rapidly to similar haunts all over the world. And it was only a step from the house of ill fame to the public cafe, andSIGNS OF THE TIMES2Q&	Ethics of the Unmarried
from the public cafe to the private dance, and thence to the home itself. These dances are as unrefined as their names. Yet they have become a very real part of our social life, and from their very nature they have seriously complicated the sex problems of young people.
Unsupervised their ganger is inestimable. Properly executed, amid decent surroundings, there can be little harm in them. But even under the most favorable circumstances modern dancing is simply public spooning set to music, and bearing the official stamp of public approval. The results are naturally not to be compared with those of the spooning which goes on in a taxicab, in the park at night, or in a darkened room with the shades drawn, but does not the one lead sooner or later to the other?
The Results of Spooning.—The Bible tells you the results of spooning. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” was one of the fundamentals of the Mosaic Law. This applied only to the act itself. Jesus Christ gave the proper interpretation of the law when he said: “Whosoever look-eth on a.woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” But in spite of the written word we can safely ignore the moral aspect altogether. Spooning has a very definite and a very harmful physical effect upon the body. The after effects are in all probability far worse than the effects of actual adultery. Many a young man has gone to the altar temporarily impotent as a result of a long intimate courtship. Nervousness, invalidism, ovarian troubles, and “the whites” are among the ’ common results of an overly stimulated sexual apparatus in young women given much to spooning. What the real consequences of these conditions have been only the court records can show. It is safe to say, however, that numberless unhappy marriages can be traced to the sexual disorders brought on or aggravated by familiarities before marriage. God alone knows how many girls and boys have gone wrong, or how many of them have contracted a serious venereal disease as a result of what they considered a litttle harmless diversion.
The Real Function of Spooning.—Courtship is purely a sex call. During the mating season birds and animals put on a new coat of feathers or fur. They call to each other in a changed tone of voice. They caress and play with each other. The male endeavors to make himself as attractive to the female as possible. The female leads him on and sometimes puts up a great show of fight. This is spooning—the natural instinctive call of nature to per-203
Ethics of the Unmarried
petuate the species. The only difference is that in birds and animals the spooning is limited to the mating season alone. And so we must come to the conclusion that spooning has a definite and important role to play in the scheme of life.
What Is Love?—How then is it possible to distinguish between true love and sex thrill? This is a very difficult question to answer. In the final analysis every individual must answer this question himself. No one else can decide for you. Nevertheless it is safe to say that true love and sensual love, side by side, cannot long endure. A young man who kisses, hugs, and fondles a girl, and the young girl who is permitting these intimacies are unable to distinguish the difference between that sensual thrill of sex so quickly banished by satiety, and the mutual respect and admiration which endures. How frequently the discovery comes too late.
The Question of Continence.—In discussing the effects of continence in man we come inevitably to the conclusion that (1) complete sexual abstinence is harmful to most individuals, and (2) that illicit sexual indulgence is harmful both to the individual and to the community. Such a conclusion sounds queer and yet it is entirely logical.
The Harm of Continence.—That sexual abstinence is often harmful we can no longer doubt. The evidence all points that way. The sex instinct is a natural instinct, just like hunger or thirst or fear. It is also an instinct that is not easily conquered. If a man suppresses his desire to eat and drink or to sleep, he must suffer for^ it. It is exactly the same way with the sex instinct. Medical authorities agree that continence up to an age of 25 or 30 years is absolutely harmless. The excess energy is passed off in natural ways, assisted by the more active and energetic life of that period. After maturity, however, the system demands sexual satisfaction. If such satisfaction is not possible, the sexual organs in many instances actually shrivel up, the man may become impotent, and it may take years of the most exacting and skillful treatment to restore his manly virility. Permanent impotence or sterility are occasionally the result. In women nervousness, congestion and a host of other ills may be laid at the door of long continued abstinence. ^ Thousands of neurasthenic men and women owe their pitiful physical condition to nothing but a failure to satisfy a normal natural instinct.
The Evils of Illicit Sex Relations.—On the other hand204	Fighting Modern Evils
we all know the evils which attend the young man dr the young woman who falls by the wayside. It is unnecessary to go into detail. We live in a civilization which has adopted certain definite standards of morality; we have laws to protect the sanctity of the home; nature’s laws may never be violated with impunity; and finally there is the Seventh Commandment. The man or the woman who breaks these laws runs the risk of a four fold penalty:— social ostracism, legal punishment, loathsome disease, and the wrath of God.
. What Can We Do About It?—Early marriage seems to be the only workable solution. When the hope of such a marriage is held out to the boys and girls as a reward for a clean life, when sex truths are universally taught and acted, when prophylactic, hygienic and eugenic measures are generally understood, there will be no more sex problems. No parent worthy of the name would willfully send his son out into the dangers of the street. Neither would any physician with a conscience. Preach the gospel of the early marriage. Coupled with education it will save the day.
Fighting Modern Evils
Present Day Conditions as Viewed by Three Authorities
No. 1.—“Public morals are at a lower ebb today than they were fifteen years ago, when restricted vice was tolerated.” This statement was made in a recent report of The Illinois Vigilance Association by the Rev. Philip Yarrow, a man who for years has had his finger on the pulse of public morality and who is doing a great work in connection with the association of which he is field secretary.
Vice More Inviting Today.—“Immorality is less crude today, and more refined; it is less obvious, and more suggestive; less repulsive, and more inviting; less confined to groups and localities, and more diffused through the general population.”
Youth Replaces Age.—Dr. Yarrow pointed out the fact that “of thirty-five girls and women brought to his attention thru the Morals Court in Chicago, the youngest was 18, the oldest 27. Twenty-five of them came from the small towns and rural districts. The old time courtesan was conspicuous by her absence.Fighting Modern Evils	205
No. 2.—Maurice B. Blumenthal, former Assistant U. S. Attorney General said recently in a public address: “If jazz, petting parties, and illicit liquor are to continue as the characteristic enjoyments of society, to the exclusion of home life, the home will become a mere lodging place. Today the city population is seldom at home. It is in the restaurants, the dance halls, and the shadowy corners of the city, where self indulgence and license are the key note. The morning promenade, the afternoon tea, and the night orgy take the r.other from the home and leave the children to work out their own social and moral destiny. If we would save the nation we must return to the home as the corner stone of our society/’
Mr. Blumenthal’s words are all the more significant when we realize that he is a blind man.
> No. 3.—As a School Superintendent Views the Situation.—In his annual report Mr. Peter A. Mortenson, of the Chicago Public Schools calls upon parents to aid in putting up bars across the road that is luring the city^s* young—a road traversed by expensive, high powered cars. At one end of the road there is the home; at the other a blazing dancing place, gay seductive music—jazz music—and perhaps a flask. Mr. Mortenson blames modern dances, jazz music, and immodest dress for the very noticeable drop in the standard of present day morality.
Consider well these charges. Such men know whereof they speak. We can no longer pat ourselves complacently on the back and say: “Why certainly, the world and the people in it are growing better year by year.” In spite of prohibition, in spite of the abolition of the segregated districts, in spite of laws, rules and regulations the fact stares us boldly in the face that^ immorality, disease and unhappiness are still holding their own, if they are not actually gaining ground. There is grave danger that as a people we are drifting toward degeneracy. The history of the world is repeating itself in America. Can we face this fact with indifference ?
Temptations Are Everywhere.—All our show windows, our news stands, and our posters attempt to excite our curiosity and to arouse our carnal desires. So called artistic postcards and art albums are the first seducers. Add to these the novel with its bald sensationalism, the excitingly obscene theater, and the disgusting familiarity of the dance hall and you have the best possible breeding place for immorality. These are legitimate activities, carried on in broad daylight, without any restraint, and withFighting Modern Evils
207
the hearty approval of parents and civil authorities. No wonder that the trend of present day amusements is leaving its mark upon our national characteristics.
To Be in the Swim.—To the young folks, the amusements of their ancestors seem drab and dull. In order to be up to the minute they must dance the latest dances, know the newest jazz, and wear the most extreme clothes. Smoking, gambling, and drinking are excused in both sexes.
The Modern Method of Dancing has done much to break down respect for womanhood. Modesty and decorum are flung to the winds. In their stead we have sensuality, coarseness, and indecency. This evil can never be counteracted until parents realize the danger and do something to raise the standard.
Jazz Music has done much to corrupt dancing and to make it impossible for young people to learn the more refined forms of dancing. At the same time it destroys all taste for or appreciation of good music. Jazz and immoral dancing are so closely related as to make it difficult to separate them. The dances take their names from the animals and low things of life. The music furnishes the vulgar atmosphere.
Immodest Dress.—For some strange reason too many of our modern girls seem to enjoy being called flappers. She glories in the lustful looks and vulgar comments which her appearance calls forth on the street. With bobbed hair, three coats of paint and powder, with plucked eyebrows, artificial eyelashes,, and carmine lips, with low necked, short sleeved, and generously peekabooed waist,- with an abbreviated skirt and rolled down silk hose just meeting below the knees, and all the rest of it, she blithely pursues her ill fated course. If people turn to stare in horror stricken amazement, her costume is a success; if she passes unnoticed, then something must be done. Her sketchy costume cannot fail to arouse the passions of men and boys. To all outward appearances she is attempting to imitate the woman of the streets. And she succeeds. That’s why the average age of the women who are arraigned in the morals court is 20 years old. And that accounts for the fact that the boy of today has learned more about vice apd iniquity in 20 years than his father learned in a life time, And all this happens in an enlightened age, in an epoch of universal education, nineteen centuries after the birth of Ghrist208 The Moral Decay of the Stage and Screen
The Moral Decay of the Stage and Screen
Mr. William Burgess has given us a very vivid picture oi the decadent stage. We quote from a recent address he made before the National Conference of Social Workers:
“Play and Amusements.—As, in the interests of gain, human appetites and passions have been exploited by commercial greed so the equally important and extremely sensitive elements of play or amusements have become fields of conscienceless exploitation.
‘Play is one-quarter of life’ says Dr. Richard C. Cabot. But, since we are emancipating labor of its drudgery and slavery, the masses of our people have a good one-third of their life for recreation, amusement and play.
No single agency needs directing with more care than those which trade upon the amusements of the people. It reaches all classes—young and old—in their most responsive and susceptible moods and circumstances. Nor is there any interest which can be directed for good or evil with greater facility. All the best and all the worst in human thought, imagination, and passion, are wide open to the influences of play and the suggestions of amusement. The best in a child may thus be developed or the worst. Both youth and adult find in them suggestion, temptation and seduction. We are all familiar with the demoralizing effects of commercial gambling, dance-halls, horse-racing, pool rooms and pugilism.
Moving Pictures.—The moving picture interests have in a few short years become a great financial enterprise, and it is already one of the agencies which calls loudly for regulation in the interests of morals and good conduct. Here is an instrument of infinite possibilities for the education and legitimate amusement of the people. But it has already been seen that uncontrolled commercialism of this Art proves a serious danger to the morals, sa'fety and good conduct of our youth.
The Modern Theater and Semi-Nudity.—Our recent investigations show that the modern theatrical stage is set for hell. With a few worthy and notable exceptions of legitimate drama, the stage now reeks with moral filth and sensual exhibits. Art, music, # beauty, dress, gross and grotesque ugliness, are all woven into scandalous revels of diabolic movements,—libels upon the very name of dance or ballet.
Only a few years ago the Parisian can-can was tabooed and the so-called burlesque was the resort only of men whose baser desires found response there, and a few women whose character was only too well understood.The Moral Decay of the Stage and Screen 2Q9
The Stage and Semi-Nudity.—Now, no hug-step or wriggling monstrosity is too vile for the stage of so-called burlesque and vaudeville. Chorus girls parade the stage, down the aisles and on raised platforms, over the heads of men in their seats. The chief attraction, not only of this class of shows, but of many of the more expensive-priced theatres are, not the sprinkling of really clever and worthy acts one finds on the program, but displays of fleshly debauch of semi-nudeness, more repulsively lewd than the naked form CAN EVER BE and these are employed chiefly as setting, for sensual song, filthy story, dialogue, or action, all of which it is libel to call “comedy.”
Worse Conditions Increase.—Evidence taken from private interviews and secret investigation shows that for foulness of suggestion, for display of downright vice, for intimate relation with forms of sex perversion, for participation in unspeakable vices of stage managers and employes, for chorus-girl slavery^ (despicable^ and cruel as anything in the records of white slavery itself) nothing can exceed this testimony. If published as evidence, for appeal or for courts of justice, like the reports of Vice Commissions, much of it must appear in cipher.
Not only are the conditions becoming more and more suggestive and indecent but they are multiplying and becoming the accepted substitute for the legitimate drama and decent amusement in hundreds of theaters.
Increase of Burlesque or Leg Shows.—Some of the so-called best people in the profession are using the shimmy shake in song, dance and pantomime. Barefoot dancing with naked limbs being shown through transparent nets, abbreviated skirts with flesh colored tights emphasizing the form and contour of the body by effective colored lights, are all a part of the nefarious business which escapes the ban under the guise of art.
The modern show appeals to the baser desire of the sexes. Even the advertising is full of nasty, dirty, ugly meaning. Posters of women partly in the nude, with boldly displayed titles such as “Twin Beds,”^ “The Virgin Widow” and “French Frolics,” are placed in every con» ceivable space where they will attract men, young and old. Very often the programs in the higher grade houses contain advertising that carries a double meaning.
THE REMEDY
First: Sharpen the edge of the sword of law. yariou9 suggestions may come under this head. But I think the most effective would be to let the authorities, who license 14210
The Immoral Press
these places in our cities, understand that ALL LICENSES CARRY CONDITIONS. Every license for a theatrical performance should hold the management responsible for its character. For every breach of decency or immoral display the license should be endorsed and the third such endorsement should vacate the license.
Second: Encourage the legitimate stage. Toin hands with the true dramatist in every effort to substitute the true for the false—the good for the vicious.
Third: Use the Press.—Let us remember that press support depends chiefly on revenue from advertising, and yet there is a religious and moral press that will aid us if we call for their support. Some of the daily newspapers also are occasionally sounding a true note on this matter.
Fourth: Another suggestion is to furnish good amusement through Church, school, clubs, and welfare organizations everywhere. By all means encourage dramatic art, not only by positive patronage but even more by encouraging the moral tone of the stage and by suppressing every attempt to exploit the female form in song, dance, gesture or play.
Fiftfi: A wide appeal must be made to Church, school and library. In the United States we won the war. But let us apply the same thought against the immoral dance house, the vicious cabaret, the suggestive and wrongly directed moving picture and against the house of ill-fame which exists under the name and seduction of a place of Amusement. The school, the library and the law, all united, are powerless in this war without a moral public conscience.”
The Immoral Press
Years ago an immoral story was a rarity. Today you have only to pick up a book or a magazine or a newspaper to get a sex thrill. The popular literature of the day panders to lewd and libidinous thoughts. ^ If the publishers are asked to explain the endless chain of indecent stuff, they say that they are giving the people what they want. As a matter of fact these publishers are mistaken. The public IS indifferent, but the editors are printing what they think the people want, because they like that sort of thing themselves, and because they think it pays.
Does It Pay?—For every questionable # book, for every sensuous magazine, and for every yellow journal published, there is a decent book, magazine, or newspaper put out at a profit. The facts show that the circulation droosThe Crime Wave
211
off when the publication gets too rotten. Take, on the other hand, the small town newspapers which are at present enjoying their greatest prosperity. They are clean and wholesome. There is no demand for scandals for sexual thrills in them. But after all the financial end of these illegitimate publications is not the all important consideration. The fact that they exist, and that they are easily accessible to boys and girls in any store or news stand, at any hour of the day and night is the dangerous thing.
Before this situation can be changed, before we can permanently clear our shelves and our library tables of thinly veiled vulgarity, we must have a public awakening to their dangers. Someone has said that its sex o'clock in the newspapers. No matter what the hour, there's no time like the present for a change.
The Grime Wave
There are a good many reasons for the great wave of crime which is sweeping this country. Some authorities tell us that this condition is a natural result of the great war and of reconstruction. But there are other reasons:
Wrong Ideas are taught by the very same agencies we have just discussed, the dance, the stage, and the literature of the nation. By playing up sex and crime they implant a totally wrong idea of life in the minds of the adolescent. Many of our youthful criminals are simply acting smart, trying to imitate the hard guy in the movies or the clever crook in the detective story. These boys are a natural product of the times.
The Gun Men.—Newspapers and magazines carry cleverly worded advertisements urging men to purchase revolvers in order to protect their families and property. There is no restriction on the sale of firearms. Nobody knows what the youth intends to do with his gun. Nobody cares. He carries it around in his pocket, displays it to his envious friends, and his reputation as a gun man is secure. Who is to blame when in a fit ^ of anger, or rashness, or despondency the first crime is committed? After that it is just a step to a permanent place in the rogues gallery.
Lack of Law Enforcement—And finally a criminal takes only about one chance in four of ever paying the penalty for his crime. During the year 1921 there were 225 murder cases in the Criminal Courts of Chicago. Of these 170 or 75.56% paid no penalty whatever, 46 or212
Prostitution
20.44% were sent to prison and 6 or only 2.67% paid the death penalty. About the same ratio holds true in the other criminal cases in the courts. These figures are taken from the Annual Report ot tue Chicago Crime Commission.
The Challenge.—Our national life is at stake. We stand at the dividing line. As long as we accept the rotten stuff handed to us by the amusement charlatans, just so long will we have a peril in our amusements. As long as we tolerate sensualism and obscenity in our literature, just so long will the younger generation gather wrong ideas of life. We have weathered the storm of autocracy. Our Democracy has risen supreme in all her bitterest struggles. But today the wealth, luxury and leisure of our nation threaten us. There must be a real war and a great victory over commercialized sensualism. This is the great issue—the supreme test. Our failure at this time means the dissolution of our country, just as surely as the sins of the Fathers are visited upon the children.
Prostitution
The Development of Prostitution.—It is quite generally believed that the evil of prostitution has always existed, among all peoples, and in all places. This statement is not quite correct. Prostitution is a development of civilization. A study of the primitive peoples of the world today fails to reveal any systematic form of the evil. Prostitution arises whenever early marriage is impossible, and when at the same time sex relations outside of matrimony is considered a sin.
Attempts at Suppression.—The first attempt to stamp out prostitution came in the time of Theodosius and Va-lentinian, followed by the futile efforts of Justinian. All the way down thru the centuries these attempts were repeated again and again. Charlemagne, Barbarossa, King Louis the Ninth of France (1254), Charles the Ninth (1560), Maria Theresa of Vienna (1751), all wrote laws and provided severe punishments in the hope of abolishing the evil, but without avail.
In this same connection we have the story of an effort which was made to drive out the business in the city of Portsmouth, England in 1860. The Mayor passed an order that every tavern keeper known to harbor these women would lose his license. On a certain day three or four hundred half clad women were turned out intoThe Two Sides
213
the streets. They wandered about for seyeral days, were refused shelter in the workhouse, and were finally permitted to go back to their old places. There was no other place for them to go—nothing else for them to do. Similar experiments were tried in Pittsburgh and in New York City in the year 1891 with the same unfortunate results.
Attempts at Regulation.—The modern tendency has been to regulate prostitution rather than to stamp it out. Prostitutes were registered, examined and their activities regulated by the government or by the local authorities. Thus in Paris such a system has existed for over 120 years with the result that this city has a reputation of being the most immoral in the world. Other European cities, as well as those in America all had their recognized, tolerated and regulated districts. It was thought that such a system would improve conditions by decreasing the amount of disease and human misery. These benefits have been greatly exaggerated. The case against the Red Light is so complete that we print below both sides of the arguments as compiled by the war Department of the United States Government:
THE TWO SIDES
The truth is that
It is claimed that SEGREGATION
1. Concentrates prostitution, thus facilitating control and reduction.
2. Decreases prostitution by regulation.
3. Decreases venereal diseases through medical inspection.
SEGREGATION:—
1.	Increases prostitution, continually advertising vice by making it familiar. Affords a place of commerce, otherwise uncertain and precarious, to the least competent of prostitutes, mentally and physically.
2.	Increases prostitution by increasing the demand, which increases the supply.
3.	Increases venereal "diseases by deceiving the ignorant into a fancied reliance upon a frequently “faked” and inevitably futile medical inspection.214
4.	Enables control of the liquor traffic in connection with prostitution.
5.	Prevents crimes against women.
6. Protects the community from offensive and detrimental proximity of prostitution.
7. Decreases graft in connection with prostitution, and the exploitation of the prostitute.
8. Decreases crime by enabling police supervision of a recognized crime center.
9. Safeguards against sexual perversions by providing an outlet for the unrestrained sexual ap-petities of men.
Stimulates an illegal liquor traffic, since commercialized vice fails without liquor.
5.	Tends to increase crimes against women by fostering promiscuity and providing a source of sexual brutalization and degeneracy.
6.	Exposes the community by advertising vice as a community necessity, making it easily accessible and tolerated, a condition conducive to the moral degradation of the community.
7.	Increases graft, by illegal toleration of commercialized vice, tempting the police to exact illegal revenue and confer illegal privilege. Gives free rein to the exploitation of prostitutes.
8.	Increases crime by fostering viciousness and disease, providing a meeting place for the idle and vicious, with whom, rather than with the police, the prostitutes sympathize and usually cooperate.
9.	Foster sexual perversions and abnormalities by educating men in habits of promiscuous sex relations until they cannot be satisfied by the professional prostitute except by perversions which she is compelled to practice.
The Two Sides 4.The Two Sides
215
10. Exposes boys and young men to contact with the prostitute by presenting an ever-present opportunity to “go down the line and see the sights.” Provides a show-place for special obscene and de-p r a v e d exhibitions, to which the youth is lured by “runners” and the sale of lewd pictures.
Causes of Prostitution.—As stated just previously prostitution js the natural result of a civilization in which (1) there is a large body of young men without the means to support a wife and family, (2) when there is a large number of young women who have not been chosen as wives, and (3) when boys and girls are brought up in complete ignorance of the laws of self and sex. Other causes are the white slave trade (an unexaggerated reality) and alcoholism. Here again we have an example of the^ futility of man made laws., For years we have had national as well as state statutes designed to prevent the horrible traffic in young girls, and yet the damnable business has been permitted to thrive through the laxity and corruption of public officials. The 18th amendment to our constitution with one fell swoop wipes liquor from the map, with the unforeseen result that doctors become bootleggers, every drug store becomes a corner saloon, and rot gut and moonshine defiantly walk the streets for medicinal and sacramental purposes.
In London, England, Merrick found that of 16,022 prostitutes whom he interviewed in his religious work, 5061 left home to lead a life of pleasure; 3363 blamed extreme poverty; 3154 were seduced; and 1636 were betrayed by promises of matrimony. Logan, an English missionary divided the girls as follows: one quarter as led into the life through their occupations such as servants, bar maids, etc., one-quarter as coming from the factories^ one-quarter as tricked into the life, and the rest led in through poverty, false promises of matrimony, the inequality of the double standard of morals^ etc. The figures as compiled in various American cities show the same general causes (1) poverty, (2) inclination, ^ and (3) ^ ignorance.^
Venereal Disease and Prostitution.—It is not quite true to say that all prostitutes have venereal diseases. But it is so nearly true that there is no fun in it. Some
10. Protects boys and young men from contact with the prostitute by removing temptation from the streets and residence districts.216
The Need for Sex Instruction
women ply their wicked trade from year to year without a sign of the promised consequences, but they are few and far between. On the other hand take the following figures as issued by the U. S. Department of Public Health: In .1915 the women in the Red Light District of Baltimore were examined and 97 in every 100 were found to be diseased. In 1917, of the inhabitants of the famous Barbary Coast in San Francisco only three women out of every 100 were free from venereal diseases. The 20,000 people in Pottsville, Penn., supported three brothels with 20 inmates. At the time of the investigation 18 of the 20 had either gonorrhea or syphilis or both. But listen: EVERY ONE OF THE TWENTY GIRLS HAD A CERTIFICATE SIGNED BY A DOCTOR DECLARING THAT SHE WAS FREE FROM DISEASE. The fact that on the day before the inspection three of these girls had a total of 114 callers gives some idea of the rapidity with which venereal diseases are spread through commercialized vice. Even when the medical examination is scientifically* conducted, there is no way of inspecting the man, and the prostitute may become a conveyor of germs through the first man she serves after receiving the health certificate. She may be a carrier without showing the slightest trace of the infection.
Prevention of Prostitution.—We have now studied the causes and the effects of prostitution. We all know that arguments from a moral or a legal standpoint are useless. After centuries of preaching and law making prostitution is certainly just as common today as it ever was. But there is a simple way to abolish prostitution; namely by making early marriage not only possible but desirable. Millions of young men and women who would like to marry, remain single. Why? Because they cannot afford to raise a family. And so in order to get to the bottom of things, WE MUST TEACH THE YOUNG PEOPLE HOW TO AVOID HAVING A LARGE FAMILY UNTIL THEY CAN AFFORD TO REAR AND EDUCATE THE CHILDREN.^ This is the whole secret. There are things to be said on both sides of the question. Every man has a right to his own opinion, and a right to express that opinion. We may be too eager for a solution of our problems. Some may call us radical. But the history of the human race proves beyond all question of a doubt that illicit carnal intercourse flourishes because of economic conditions. Universal knowledge of the safe and sane methods of preventing conception217
The Need for Sex Instruction
would instantly boost the marriage rate, would automatically hasten the marriage date, and would quickly banish the throngs of young men and women who make prostitution inevitable. Figure out some other means of accomplishing the same result, if you can. It is your privilege, nay your duty, to do so.
The Need for Sex Instruction
OR
Is Sex Education As Necessary for Girls
As for Boys
Most men are frankly ashamed of their sex life as being unreasonable and unworthy. All thinking people. agree that the welfare of the human race demands the proper instruction and education of the boy in regard to matters of sex. ^ But when it comes to the advisability of imparting to girls this same information we meet with a storm of disapproval.
Arguments Against Sex Instruction for Girls.-Here
are a few of the reasons advanced to show that girls do not require such instruction.
1.	—The instruction is unnecessary because the sex instinct is slow to appear in the normal girl.
2.	—Sex knowledge will destroy the modesty and innocence of maidens and will remove the romance of sex.
3.	—Sex ^ instruction will lead girls' thoughts to an early consideration of sex matters.
4.	—The dark phases of sexual life might develop wrong ideas and lead to an actual distaste for matrimony.
Information vs. Misinformation.—The truth of some of these arguments cannot be denied and yet it is a fact that the instruction itself is at fault if the results do not satisfy. It is possible to give an honest sane course of sex instruction without dwelling on the unpleasant or distasteful aspects of the subject, and without even mentioning the horrors of venereal disease. Sex misinformation may do far more damage than good, but sex information is just as necessary for girls as it is for boys for the following reasons:—
In the first place the girl’s penalty for misconduct is far more serious than it is in the case of the wayward218	The Need for Sex Instruction
boy. Both run the risk of venereal infection but here the equality ends. Wild oats in the boy is simply wild oats. Even illegitimate children or venereal disease do not injure his social status or serve as a bar to matrimony. In the girl’s case things are vastly different. She may lose her health, social standing and even her life as a result of one misstep. Our double standard of morality follows her doggedly to the bitter end.
Sex Consciousness.—In the second place a woman is constantly being reminded of her sex functions. Between puberty and the menopause (change of life) the phenomena of menstruation occurs regularly every twenty-eight days, always annoying and frequently very painful. Then there are the long tedious months of pregnancy, followed by the pains of child birth, not to mention the cares of nursing and of bringing up the children. And the change of life itself causes discomfort and dangers which may last for several years.
The Love Life of Women.—And finally if a woman’s love life is unsatisfactory she is unhappy no matter what her other interests may be. What woman may expect an ideal and^ satisfying love life unless she be properly instructed in, and prepared to meet honestly, the demands which nature in general and man in particular have imposed upon her. As soon expect a man to become a trustworthy physician who had not received the proper rudimentary instruction and training.
In Conclusion.—It is for these reasons that we wish to go on record as advocating the universal safe, sane and practical instruction in matters of love and life for girls as well as for boys. Years of study and application are necessary for success in any business. And yet the business of marriage calls for more finer adjustments, more knowledge and more sagacity than any other known profession. Human happiness implies deep sympathetic understanding.
Educated Shirk Duty.—That American college graduates are intentionally shirking the responsibility of rearing children was the statement of Maurice Ricker, assistant director of the United States public health service, in a recent address at the convention of the National Education association.
He submitted figures to substantiate his statement. “Investigation by the federal health service,” he said, “over a period of years indicates that the progeny of 1,000 graduates from such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Prince-The Need for Sex Instruction	219
ton, Vassar and Smith will not exceed 50 a hundred years from now.”
A similar investigation conducted among illiterate for eigners, he said, showed that in a like period the original thousand will be multiplied at least a hundred times. Fifty against 100,000. The ratio therefore will be, he said, fifty men and women descended from educated parents to
100.000	begotten by ignorant parents.
These figures teach their own moral.
Child Suicide.—-Six per cent of the suicides in this country in 1921 were by boys and girls—the boys averaging fifteen years and the girls sixteen; 707 of them in the
12.000	total who took their own lives. We wonder what proportion of the parents of the country have a fair conception of the sensitiveness of children of the ages mentioned. A boy of fifteen can be very intensely unhappy on slight provocation; a girl of sixteen may become bitterly grieved on even less ground.
An Unjust Punishment, a caustic verbal reproof, may rankle in a young heart long after the parent has forgotten it. Few adults of highly nervous temperament have been able entirely to forget the sting of the scorching phrase which a thoughtless father or mother uttered in a moment of. irritation and then forgot.
The Thoughts of Youth are long, long thoughts, and boys and girls are likely to brood over any seeming cruelty or lack of affection on the part of their parents. Most children are able to throw off the pains of reproof, but some are not, and many a character is made or marred between the ages of twelve and seventeen. No parent can sound the depths of sorrow and despair into which a child may be plunged by the divorce of its parents, or by their quarrels, or by any family disgrace. The griefs of the young, even when founded on trivial causes, are as real, and frequently more potent in their effects, than all the sorrows and afflictions of later^ years. A boy ^ and girl—a man and a woman in the making—are very delicate charges for their parents to keep.
Sex Reactions in Children.—It is a well established fact that sex reactions have been observed in children less than one year old. While it is probably true that normal and healthy children show no such symptoms in childhood, yet such signs are sufficiently common to make it unsafe to ignore sex hygiene until the age of puberty is reached. Early sex manifestations are usually vague and more or less innocent in character, but there are on record numerous cases where children from two years of age onward220
The Need for Sex Instruction
have been strongly attracted to members of the opposite sex. W. Roger Williams in investigating one hundred cases of this nature found that the sexual precocity was more pronounced and more frequent in girls than it was in boys.
Country Life vs. City Life.—It is frequently held that country children are more innocent of sex than their city cousins. In many respects the very opposite is true. Hard work in the open air does tend to keep the country boy’s thoughts pure and simple until the period of danger is passed. Certainly the excitement of city life with its atmosphere of color and licentiousness has a tendency to produce premature desires and curiosity. HoWever in the rural districts there are no social restraints. Folks talk plainer, animals perform their normal physiological functions openly without any semblance of modesty, and supervision of the child is almost impossible. Even the circulation of obscene books and pictures is more common in the small town and country districts, due no doubt to a lack of other interests to hold the attention. A child, therefore, quite frequently preserves his sexual innocence with less difficulty in the city than he would in the country.
Inquisitiveness.—No matter where, when, or by whom brought up, the child soon enough begins to think about these things, and sooner or later this thinking takes the form of a desire to know the elementary facts of life. “Where did Baby come from?” is the most common as well as the most natural question. It is usually evaded or ignored but here are some of the beliefs of young children of school age as to the origin of babies.
1.	God makes babies.
2.	The Holy Mother makes babies.
3.	Santa Claus brings them.
4.	They are dropped from Heaven and the Doctor Catches them.
5.	They are left on the sidewalk.
6.	They fly down from heaven arid then lose their wings.
7.	Mother flew up to Heaven in a balloon and brought Baby back.
8.	Baby was found in a flour barrel.
9.	Babies grow on cabbages.
10.	The milkman brings the babies.
11.	Babies are dug out of the ground.
12.	They are bought at the Baby Store.
13.	Baby grew on a gooseberry bush in the garden.
14.	Various birds such as the Stork brings the babies.The Need for Sex Instruction	221
A Difficult Question. The question naturally arises as to just when and how the proper knowledge may be imparted. Children may be tenderly cared for and brought up amid all the refinements and proprieties of Christian homes, and yet a servant girl or a foul-mouthed schoolboy may destroy that long work by a few words or a gesture. Sooner or later, usually sooner, a definite knowledge is gathered, perhaps an unw'orthy idea, but a basis of life none the less. No child likes to find out in later years that Mother and Father lied to him. No surer method of building up an everlasting barrier of misunderstanding between parent and child has ever been devised, than to have the child discover the fact that his honored parent has told him an untruth about his origin.
To Be or Not to Be.—While it is now generally recognized that children are entitled to sexual knowledge, and that children are really capable of understanding the true meaning of sex, yet few parents are willing or capable to give the proper instruction. The natural tendency is to delay the embarassing moment when the truth will have to be told. This attitude, however, is the wrong one to take. The child puts his questions naturally and such questions should be answered in an equally natural and harmless way, before the child is six years old, certainly before he has given up asking questions for fear of a rebuke.
Mother’s Duty.—The Baby’s relationship to the Mother should be explained to the child by the Mother as soon as the child commences to ask questions. This should be a private discussion, with none of the unpleasant aspects of sexual life brought in, and the instruction should be put in language and form suited to the age. Later on in the case of boys Father must do his bit with general and personal warnings about seminal emissions, masturbation, quack doctors and venereal diseases. No boy who has grown to manhood without ever receiving any instruction in sex matters, or one word of sympathetic understanding from his Father can ever forgive that misguided parent for his neglect. If the first initiation is delayed too long, it is no longer easy to talk simply and naturally about such things. The parent feels embarassed about the task, and usually decides to let it go altogether.
The Result.—Thus an atmosphere of^ mystery is created which not only arouses a natural curiosity, but actually serves to concentrate the attention on sexual matters. Hide a toy or a box of candy from a child, and^see for yourself what a hullabaloo there is until the desiredThe Kind of Preparation for Marriage given by the Parents of
the past generations223
The Need for Sex Instruction
article is found. It is just that way with matters of sex. When you refuse to answer a simple, honest question, you send the child away from you, to seek the answer from the first available source.
Purity of Thought—This is the first essential. The great danger is that in answering questions, the Mother or Father will allow a sense of embarassing mystery to creep into the discussion. Be natural. Know your subject. Call things by their right names. (The proper names for these parts of the body and a simple explanation of their functions are given elsewhere in this volume.) Make the child feel that while he may talk frankly to his Father and Mother about these things, they are nevertheless strictly family matters not to be talked about in public and not to be talked over with his chums. It may be necessary to allow the child to make an awkward remark when there is company in the house. It is then perfectly simple and natural to explain that while there is nothing mysterious or vulgar about these matters (mentioning them by their right names), yet for some reason or other folks do not talk about them in public. An effort to get the right understanding about this situation must be made even if it requires considerable trouble.
The Fairy Tale.—Some authorities advocate the telling of sexual truths in parable or fairy tale form. This should be discouraged because parents will live to see the day when the love and confidence of their children will not be able to stand the strain of these unnecessary lies. Fairy tales have a very definite and important role to play in the mental growth of children, but parents dare not^ run the risk of having nature's most sacred function bandied about in the form of symbolic nonsense. The truth is all that matters. There is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to conceal. In telling the truth a Mother must rely mainly upon knowledge, inspiration, and common sense.
Authorities.—Countless books and pamphlets have been issued of sexual subjects, but as stated elsewhere it is impossible to learn a stated formula to answer each individual question. Some of the very best books on the market (this one included) have been questioned by governmental officials, and in some cases actually declared obscene, and barred from the mails, simply because they told the plain matter of fact truth, in a plain matter of fact way so that the plain matter of fact man could understand them. It is not impossible to find plain statements on sexual subjects in the Bible, and yet no one thinks of calling the224
Sex Instruction
Bible obscene, it is just as unreasonable to call a sincere honest sex book like SAFE COUNSEL obscene, simply because it refuses to beat around the bush, and insists upon calling things by their right names. If there is any obscenity, it already exists in the mind of the reader.
The Beginning.—The Mother’s duty in sex education is: (1) to explain the relationship between Mother and Child, and (2) to show that in all young people, animals, and plants, there is a similar relationship. The very simplest way of accomplishing these two results is to start with the facts of plant life, and to follow the seed or egg idea thru the whole vegetable and animal kingdoms. At this early period there is no need to dwell on the proper relations of the sexes, nor on the Child’s relationship to the Father. Such instruction naturally comes later when the questions lead up to it.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Certain questions arise in the minds of nearly all boys and girls in some form or other before the age of adolescence. These questions may come at intervals of weeks, months, or even years. Samples of such questions and satisfactory answers are given here.
1.	“Whére did the baby come from?” or “Where did the puppies come from?’4
“Babies grow inside their mother’s bodies, just as little birds in a nest. The birds hatch from the eggs, and when their wings grow they leave the nest. After the baby has grown for many weeks in the mother’s body it comes out of the body and we say it is born.”
2.	“How is the baby bom?”
“All girls and women have a passageway in their bodies which enlarges enough to let the baby come out when it is strong enough. This passageway opens at the lower part of the body. We should never touch that part of the body except to keep it clean, or we mighty harm it.” (This question offers a starting point to warn girls against masturbation or self-abuse. Boys should have^ the question answered satisfactorily, but the warning against self-abuse might better be related to the explanation of the male sex glands arid the value of their secretions in promoting vigor. This explanation is given simply and clearly in pamphlets for boys published by state boards of health.)Sex Instruction	225
3.	"Does it hurt to have the baby born? Why does the doctor come when the baby is born?"
“Yes; it hurts the mother, but she is so happy to have a baby all her own that she forgets the pain soon. The doctor comes to take care that the baby is born safely." (Do not emphasize the suffering of childbirth in talking to a child.)
4.	“Can I tell Jack how a baby is born? He told me the doctor brings the baby in a satchel.”
“No; some parents don’t tell their children anything about this, and they don’t want anyone else to tell them. Never talk to anyone about these things without asking me." (This advice may be futile. But it is far better for the truths to be spread among children than the untruths so usually communicated.)
5.	“What does it mean to be half Shepherd and half St. Bernard?”
“The dog is half Shepherd and half St. Bernard because one of his parents was a Shepherd dog and the other was a St. Bernard. All little dogs must have a father and mother. Birds have a father and a mother, too, just as babies must have a father and mother."
(This explanation may often satisfy a child completely. He may, however, ask more about the father part in reproduction. Although this is the most delicate subject of all to treat frankly, it is necessary to be sufficiently definite to allay curiosity, and it is the great opportunity to arouse in the boy and girl a fundamental respect for reproduction and to fortify them against vulgar talk and improper use of sex organs. The explanation may be continued, illustrating with plants and animals, somewhat as follows) :
“The seed is inside the mother flower, but it doesn’t grow into a new flower until the pollen dust has mixed with it. Every life begins with the mixing of the seeds. Every grown-up animal and every grown-up man and woman have tiny Bits of life or seeds inside their bodies which have to come together before new life can start. A part of their bodies is fitted by nature for this purpose. Sometimes, as in the case of fish, the seeds come together in the outside water. But in dogs and birds and people, they mix in the mothers’ bodies, where they can be much better taken care of."
The Sad Part of It.—With the coming of puberty, all foolish hopes for the child’s ignorance on sex subjects, vanish. The change in form and appearance, the phenomena of menstruation and seminal emissions, the coming of 159Yz years—the average age at which boys first receive sex impressions, usually throuah improper sources.
13y2 years—the average age at which boys begin some form of sexual practice.
I&/2 years—the average age at which boys receive proper sex, instruction.
PARENTS: YOU HAVE BEEN SIX YEARS LATE!Sex Instruction
227
new feelings, and an entirely changed attitude towards life, all make for a period of secret worry and suffering. At this time, if at no other, efficient sex instruction is absolutely essential. I would rather have a son of mine go out into the world without his right hand, than to face life^ at this period tragically alone and unprepared. At this period he will welcome a good book on the subjects which bother him, and it is to meet this very real demand that SAFE COUNSEL was written. In it we have tried to give the facts of life, clearly and simply, without false modesty, immodesty, or religious dogmatism. In other words we have tried to answer the questions folks want answered.
Sex Education in the Schools.—A book of this kind for general distribution would not be necessary if parents universally instructed the young children, and if such instruction were supplemented a little later in the public schools. Sex instruction is not yet practical for the schools because:	(1) there is still too much prejudice
against it in the minds of certain well meaning but misguided people, and (2) trained teachers are not yet available. Let the public demand proper sex education in the schools, and competent instructors will rapidly be developed. The time has come to put aside false traditions, false modesty, and false shame as childish things. Let us recognize the sex instinct as a natural healthy instinct. Let us confess our own ignorance, and the ignorance of would be teachers, and all strive together to learn what is true and right, and to practice what we preach. In no other way can the social evil be conquered.
The Final Step.—And finally parents should arrange a private, confidential talk between the adolescent child and the family physician, or some other specialist. Under such circumstances the child will talk frankly, and ask frank questions on sex problems, and thus secure first hand reliable information which bashfulness would never allow him to gain from parent or teacher. Such a talk must be scientific, not religious. The adolescent child stands at the parting of the ways, and common sense will help him far more than a thousand precepts.
Initiation Ceremonies.—Ceremonies of puberty have been common among savages in all parts of the^ world. They always combine moral discipline with sexual instruction. The endurance of physical pain is usually one of the features. Such ceremonies lasted for days at a tirtie, sometimes stretching into weeks or even months. Sep-228
Sex Instruction
arate ceremonies were held for the different sexes. Boys and girls were prepared for manhood and womanhood, were properly instructed as to their rights, privileges, and duties. The matters were openly treated without any secrecy or modesty^ There was not a thing in the world to be ashamed of. Even the uncivilized races of the world knew better than to send the children out into the world wholly unfitted and unprepared for the obstacles they must inevitably meet. How far we have wandered from the wisdom of our ancestors. In our day how frequently, and with what disasterous results is the initiation left to chance or accident.
Sex Instruction in Literature.—Youthful initiation in matters of sex quite frequently occurs through the medium of literature and art. Due to a depraved desire for amusement at any cost, many of our best homes tolerate numerous popular novels and magazines filled with the most extraordinarily clever vulgarity. Between their covers youth discovers imaginary love, never the real thing. Sexual instincts are pictured as secret, alluring, voluptuous. Contrast with this conception, the nakedness of the Bible, and all great literature in matters pertaining to the sexual life. Its very bluntness undoubtedly does cause some speculation and curiosity on the part of young people, but this is only because in other books and magazines the same identical thoughts and emotions are covered up with an unwholesome and abnormal secretiveness. It has been said that as long as children are too young to understand erotic literature, it cannot harm them, and that when they are old enough to understand its true meaning, it will open up to them the purest channels of emotion. The real books, therefore, are needed to counteract the effects of the cheapened and dissolute trash which swamps our news stands. Any healthy boy or girl wl o has safely reached the age of puberty may be permitted to browse at will through any good library.
Sex Instruction in Art.—In exactly the same way art can be made a very valuable aid in sex instruction. Children should early become familiar with the statues and paintings in the nude. They will thus be vaccinated against the contagion of^ smutty pictures which will sooner or later come to their ^ attention. The crudity and unnaturalness of the latter will become at once apparent. There will then be an utter absence of those snickerings and sly glances so common when an uninitiated group of boys and girls is taken for the first time to a museum or art gallery. In some European countries, notably in Italy statuesSex Instruction
229
in the nude adorn the schoolroom walls. In America, on the other hand, let some unsuspecting art dealer display a masterpiece of real art in his shop window, and the prurient minded descend upon the police in all the violence of a righteous indignation. “Horrors,” they exclaim, “the picture is very beautiful, and it is a masterpiece of aft, but the street is no place to show it. The children might see it!” I claim that it is the children’s right to see it, that it is only ridiculous foolishness that keeps them from seeing it, and that hiding the picture only makes matters worse. Such false modesty cannot long endure in the face of universal education.
A Definite Program.—Part 9 of this edition gives a definite, workable program for parents to follow in imparting right knowledge to their children. “How to Tell the Story of Life” goes to the root of the subject of sex education. It tells parents not only how and when to impart the necessary information, but exactly what to say. These suggested talks have been highly recommended by world famous physicians, college presidents, ministers, teachers, and hundreds of happy parents.THE FRIEND OF HUMANITYPART 7
DISEASES AND DISORDERS
SECTION 1 THE DISEASES OF WOMEN
DISORDERS OF THE MENSES DISORDERS OF THE WOMB DISEASES OF THE VAGINA DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL GENITALS
DISEASES OF THE OVARIES MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF WOMEN
DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY
231232
Diseases and Disorders
WOMAN’S TRADITIONAL PLACE
Diseases arid Disorders
Diseases of Women
The Woman’s Place.—For centuries man has ordained that the woman’s place was in the home. Because the woman has been considered less fit for the struggles of the active workaday world, she has been kept at home, shut in from, the fresh air and sunshine, and deprived of healthy outdoor activities. Hers has been a life of confinement and inactivity except for such back breaking, soul searing, nerveracking occupations as washing, ironing, housekeeping, and child bearing.
What Is the Result.—Today woman is only beginning to take her rightful place in the active world. Through recent far reaching legislation, a terrible wrong has been233
Disorders of the Menses
righted. ^ And yet in connection with certain normal physiological functions, such as menstruation, and childbearing, a long list of diseases peculiar to women has arisen, most of which through proper instruction and hygiene could be avoided. In matters so vital to posterity, ignorance can no longer be tolerated.
The following are the more common forms of the disorders, with their causes, symptoms, and treatment.
Disorders of the Menses
1.	Amenorrhea—is characterized by a scanty flow or complete suppression of the discharge during the monthly sickness. It may occur at all ages.
Causes.—This condition may be caused by the lack of proper exercise, air, sunshine, or food; by overwork, nervousness, or intense excitement; or it may be due to some constitutional condition.
Home Treatment.—In all cases where there is no constitutional trouble, the following course of treatment will generally bring good results. Attention to the diet and general hygiene to promote general good health. Some bitter iron tonic taken at meal times will help. A hot foot bath is often all that is necessary. A mustard plaster over the back, a cup of hot tea, and absolute rest will often bring on the delayed periods.
2.	Dysmenorrhea—is painful^ menstruation. The usual symptoms are pains in the back, intense itching of the parts, a heavy dragging feeling in the abdomen, vomiting, headache, and general debility. It has been estimated that at least fifty per cent of the women in this country suffer with this disease to some extent.
Causes.—This condition is usually brought on by cold, exposure, or nervousness, although there may be some constitutional cause, such as inflammation of the ovaries or displacement of the womb.
Home Treatment.—Treat by warm hip baths, hot drinks, and heat applied to the back and extremities. Avoid spirituous liquors. A teaspoonful of fluid extract of viburnum will sometimes act like a charm.
3.	Menorrhagia.—When the menstrual flow is too long and too frequent the disease is called menorrhagia or profuse menstruation.
Causes—are constipation, violent exercise, great fatigue, and excitement of the sexual organs.
Home Treatment.—Avoid highly seasoned foods, and the use of alcoholic liquors; also excessive fatigue either physi-234	Disorders of the Menses
cal, mental, or sexual. General hygienic measures and attention to the diet are necessary in order to improve the general health. To check the flow, patient should be kept quiet, and allowed to sip cinnamon tea during the period.
4.	Metrorrhagia is the medical term used to designate a condition when the menstrual discharge occurs at some other time than at the regular period.
5.	Vicarious Menstruation.-—In a few rare cases the monthly flow instead of coming from the womb, comes from some other part of the body, such as the nose, ears, or breasts. The discharge is usually scanty, but at the same time it causes great weakness.
Causes.—It is usually caused by suppression of the menses. In extremely rare cases the discharge is normal from these other parts, but such cases are curiosities.
Treatment.—No attempt should be made to stop the hemmorrhage during the monthly periods. In the intervals between the periods, treatment ^ for suppression of the menses should be vigorously carried out.
6.	Cessation of the Menses—commonly called “change of life,” “the menapause,” “the climateric,” etc. We come now to the discussion of a very important and very grave period in every woman’s life. As the name indicates a woman changes, that is she ceases to menstruate altogether, and her reproductive power is at an end. This change occurs between the ages of forty-five and fifty years. The woman does not cease to be a woman, her sexual desire lasts long after the menapause, and she continues to be just as attractive to the male sex as she ever was. In many cases the change is scarcely noticed at all. In^ others there is intense suffering, headaches, loss of appetite, • insomnia or sleeplessness, irritability, and rapid increase or decrease in weight. One of the most distressing things about the change is that disorders of the mind are apt to appear.
Causes.—The change of life is universal among women and normally there is no suffering or inconvenience. When there is serious trouble, the cause can usually be traced back to some ignorance, mistake, or misunderstanding in youth.
Home Treatment.—At this dangerous and trying period of her life a woman must adopt the utmost regularity in the habits of her existence. Hot baths taken just before retiring will relieve that uncomfortable feeling so common at this time of life. Constipation should be guarded against. Hot vaginal douches will often relieve the discomfort of235
Disorders of the Womb
j
the accompanying hot flashes which are the common symptoms. A husband should treat his wife with the utmost consideration at this crucial period. The advice of a competent physician had best be sought.
Disorders of the Womb
Cancer of the Womb
Treatment: Call at once a competent physician.
Displacement of the Wlomb
Treatment:t Evacuate the bowels and the bladder by means of injections in the catheter. Place the fingers in the vagina, locate the mouth of the womb, insert finger into it, and gently pull the organ into its natural position.
Dropsy of the Womb
Treatment: Use tonics freely together with vapor baths, and frequent hot hip baths.
Falling of the Womb
Treatment: Build up the physical condition by an abundance of good food, fresh air and sunshine, with moderate exercise. Astringent injections and vaginal suppositories of oak bark, myrrh, and cocoa-butter will usually bring relief.
Inflammation of the Womb
Treatment: Apply stimulating liniment to the abdomen. Keep body warm and moist especially at extremities. Add 10-15 drops of carbolic acid to one quart of warm water and use as a vaginal douche. Keep* bowels open. Furnish light, nourishing diet, and give tonics.
Neuralgia of the Womb
Treatment: Keep feet warm and give injections to the bowels of lobelia, lady slipper, and skullcap. Rub the abdomen with liniment. Absolute quiet, above all else, will bring relief.
Diseases of the Vagina Vaginitis, or Inflammation of the Vagina
Treatment: Complete rest Use distilled sweet clover with a slight infusion of lady slipper warm, three times a day as a vaginal injection.236 Diseases of the External Female Genitals Prolapsus of the Vagina
Treatment: When the walls of the vagina become folded upon themselves through abortion, rupture during delivery, excessive indulgence, piasturbation, etc., it is called prolapsus. Use any astringent suppository or injection.
Spasm of the Vagina
Treatment: This is nothing more than a nervous condition causing the muscles of the vagina to spasm thus closing the passage, and rendering conception almost impossible. Outdoor exercise, light but nourishing diet, and general attention to the nervous system will bring prompt relief. Intercourse, if attempted, should be quiet and unfrequent. An effort should be made to keep the thoughts on other subjects.
Diseases of the External Female Genitals Inflammation and Abscess
Treatment:	Wash the parts often with warm water,
distilled witch hazel, and strong infusion of lobelia. Keep the bowels free. In severe cases apply poultices of ground flaxseed, sprinkled over with golden seal and lobelia. After poultices are removed, cleanse parts with warm water, containing a little tincture of myhrr.
Pruritis
Treatment: A very mortifying and uncomfortable affliction, accompanied by an almost uncontrollable desire to scratch the parts. The itching is due to uncleanliness, excessive masturbation, violent intercourse, inflammation of the bladder, stomach or liver trouble, etc. Bathe the affected parts well with borax water, and apply a wash of equal parts witch hazel and an infusion of lobelia. Use mild laxatives to keep the bowels open.
Vulvovaginitis in Little Girls
This condition is usually a very mild infection whose only symptom is a slight discharge noticeable on the underwear. In some severe cases the creamy discharge may be profuse, there may be some pain, a burning sensation at urination, and a rise in the temperature. Strictly speaking vulvovaginitis is a venereal disease caused by a definite germ.
It is a very easy matter for the disease t© be passedMiscellaneous Diseases
237
on by towels, toilet ^seats, or human hands. It is espec-ialy common in large hospitals, where the germs are spread with great rapidity usually by the nurses hands.
Treatment:	The disease may last for several weeks or
months, and although it is usually very mild, the treatment is apt to be very painful and very humiliating. It is well to consult a capable physician at once, because harmless as the disorder may seem, it nevertheless has a tendency to hasten sexual development in children and in severe cases may even cause complete sterility.
Diseases of the Ovaries Dropsy of the Ovaries
Treatment: An accumulation of fluid in the membranous sack about the ovaries. An operation is necessary and is almost always successful.
Inflammation of the Ovaries
Treatment: In mild cases rub abdomen with liniment and apply hot water bottles. Perfect quiet is essential to an early recovery.
Tumors of the Ovaries
Treatment:	A surgical operation is the only means of
cure.
Miscellaneous Diseases
Chlorisis or Anaemia is a common disease in young women, marked by a greenish color of the skin, and menstrual disorders.
Causes: Among the causes might be mentioned all those such as improper food, bad air, lack of exercise, self abuse, and nervousness which tend to weaken the body and lower the vitality.
Treatment: Give tonic—improve hygiene—stress wholesome diet, exercise, fresh air, sunshine. Great care must be taken of the digestion, as that is generally the root of the trouble. Guard well against constipation. These measures are essential even with the best of medical attention.
Leucorrhea or “the whites.”—This disease has been called the great curse of womanhood. It takes the forni of a discharge from the vagina, varying in color from white to green or yellow, and in quantity from almost nothing to as much as half a pint a day. A very large percentage of women suffer with leucorrhea to some extent.238	Remedies for the Diseases of Women
Causes:	“The whites” are caused primarily by catarrh
or inflammation in some of the female organs of generation. This trouble results from catching cold, overwork, improper hygiene, malnutrition, or general physical debility.
Treatment: A positive cure is very difficult, particularly in young girls, owing to the inconvenience or impossibility of treatment. The usual method consists merely of vaginal douches, but as the real 'trouble lies back in the womb where nine tenths of the^ douches fail to penetrate, such treatment is of comparatively little value. A Doctor is usually confronted with the situation in which an unmarried woman objects strenuously to an internal examination and local treatment, for fear that the hymen will be ruptured. Thus both diagnosis and treatment are extremely difficult. The condition rapidly becomes chronic, and permanent sterility may result.
General treatment:	Nourishing food, rest, mild exercise,
and tonics are recommended. See that the bowels move regularly. Constipation is usually one of the pronounced symptoms. Proper hygienic measures and plain common sense will oftentimes bring about an effective cure, without medical aid of any kind.
Local treatment:	However it is usually best to consult
an able physician, particularly if the disease is acute or chronic. For home treatment use an injection composed of a teaspoonful of alum or a teaspoonful of zinc, dissolved in a pint of warm water. Use this douche twice a day while lying down over a douche pan. Allow the fluid to remain over night if possible, or at least for one-half hour. Another good remedy is the alum tampon which consists of about a tablespoonful of powdered alum on a piece of absorbent cotton, placed as far up in the vagina as possible, and allowed to remain for twelve hours. ^ In cases where the discharge is offensive use a weak solution of boric acid as a douche.
Remedies for the Diseases of Women
While we are not generally in favor of giving prescriptions for home use, we have no hesitancy in offering the following celebrated remedies for the diseases of women. They were prepared especially for this book by a famous physician who has made a specialty of treating women’s diseases.
After Pains—are pains that soon follow child birth. If these pains are severe, take from fifteen to twenty dropsRemedies for the Diseases of Women	239
of Benzyl Benzoate in a tumblerful of hot water or milk, every one and one-half to two hours until relieved.
Amenorrhea—Absence of menstruation. This condition occurs normally during pregnancy and later, while breast feeding a babe. It occurs abnormally when a closure of the vagina or neck of womb exists. For this condition the treatment is operative. When it is due to a constitutional cause, such an anemia, chlorosis, or tuberculosis, take an iron tonic, such as B laud’s pills in five grain doses, after meals and at bedtime. Also make an effort to improve the general health by getting enough rest and plenty of fresh air.
Cancer of the Womb.^—A malignant disease of the womb (uterus). This disease is manifested by pain in the lower part of the abdomen, by hemorrhages from the vagina and also by a very foul odor emanating therefrom. The treatment is operative and consists of a complete removal of the womb. Consequently the sooner a definite diagnosis is made and likewise the sooner a competent surgeon is called to remove the womb, the better the chances will be for a complete recovery.
Dysmenorrhea.—Pain before, during or directly after menstruation and directly referable to the menstrual function. A competent physician should be consulted. Have him make a vaginal examination and, if necessary, a rectal examination also, to determine the condition of the womb and its closely related attachments, as there might be an old inflammation of the womb causing this pain, or the womb might not be in its normal position. For relief, take Viburnum Compound, one-half to one teaspoonful in two tablespoonfuls of hot water, every two hours when needed. Should the results not be satisfactory consult a surgeon.
Endometritis.—An inflammation of lining (mucus membrane) of womb. With this condition the womb is found extremely sensitive to pressure, and the vagina is reddened, swollen and loaded with pus. One experiences a feeling of weight and a dragging pain in the small of the back. As to treatment—keep quiet in bed. Take a douche containing a tablespoonful of boric acid powder to the quart of warm water at .intervals of three or four hours. Apply hot moist compresses or cloths over vulva and groins. If this does not greatly improve within a few days call in a physician.
Fissures of Nipples.—Apply tincture of iodine to240	Remedies for the Diseases of Women
cracks. Immediately after this application put on tincture of Benzoin compound. Do this twice daily.
Leucorrhea.—A white discharge from the vagina. Consult a physician to find out the cause for this discharge. If the discharge is not excessive you may use a vaginal douche containing two tablespoonfuls of boric acid powder to the quart of warm water, once a day.
Menstrual Irregularities.—Should you be anemic or run down take some iron tonic, such as Blaud's pills, in five grain doses after meals and at bedtime. Also improve your general health by taking exercise and getting plenty of fresh air.
Menopause.—The end of menstrual life, also called the climacteric and change of life. Change of life occurs anywhere from the fortieth to the fiftieth year; probably the majority of women around the forty-fifth year. It seldom occurs suddenly, but for a year or two the inter-menstrual periods lengthen and the flow becomes scant. This is the tim^e of life which brings the most trouble from fibroid tumors and cancer. There is a popular belief that profuse flowing or hemorrhages are to be expected at this time. When this is the case, however, it is always an evidence of disease. In the event that you have any hot flashes or any nervous symptoms, such as insomnia, excessive irritability, frequent attacks of perspiration, take ovarian compound, grains five, three times a day.
Menorrhagia, Uterine Hemorrhage.—Excessive bleeding at menstruation is called menorrhagia. Bleeding from the womb between menstrual periods is called metorrhagia. These hemorrhagic conditions are usually caused from fibroid tumors, inflammation of the womb, displacements and malignant diseases. The possibility of pregnancy with impending abortion should be borne in mind. If the hemorrhage is not due to an abortion (miscarriage), take a teaspoonful of Fluid Extract of Ergot, in equal parts of water, every three hours. In the meanwhile summon a physician.
Vaginismus.—A painful spasmodic condition of the vagina. With this condition you experience distressful contractions of the vaginal opening. This condition is frequently caused by sores or cracks within the vagina. A very common cause, however, is excessive venery. As to treatment, any local cause within the vagina, accounting for this, should be treated by a physician. Indulgence in sexual relations should be discontinued.The Disorders of Pregnancy
241
Vulva Itching.—Lack of cleanliness, especially when an abundant vaginal discharge exists, is a very common cause for itching of these parts. Sometimes, however, it occurs without any local cause to blame for it. Take a douche, twice daily* containing a tablespoonful of boric acid powder to the quart of warm water. Then apply, every four hours, an ointment of menthol, grains five, in an ounce of zinc oxide ointment.
Disorders of Pregnancy
Fits.—This is by far the most dangerous condition arising out of pregnancy. The symptoms are morning swelling of the face, arms, hands, feet, and eyelids. There is likely to be nervousness, headache, nose bleed, buzzing in the ears, flashes of light before the eyes. Another danger signal is painful and severe vomiting at or after the sixth month.
Treatment:	Consult a Doctor immediately. Have the
urine examined every two weeks after the fifth month, as a preventative measure. If not within easy reach of a Doctor, confine the diet to milk, and keep the bowels open, until the Doctor comes. Should a spell come on insert something between the teeth and put the patient to bed. Use plenty of warm blankets and hot water bottles.
Morning Sickness.—This is the most frequent disorder of pregnancy. Its symptoms are unmistakable. There is a feeling of nausea and vomiting soon after rising in the morning. These symptoms may appear the very day after conception has taken place, but they do not generally show until the third or fourth week of pregnancy. They disappear, as a rule, after the third or fourth month. Morning sickness is commonly considered as an unfailing sign of pregnancy.
Treatment:	Avoid highly seasoned or rich food, strong
tea or coffee. Eat only simple light lunches early in the evening. Stay in bed later than usual in the morning, and do not get up until about a half hour after you have eaten your breakfast. Medicines are of little value. Weak lemon juice or an egg lemonade may tone up the stomach and bring some relief. If the vomiting becomes excessive and the patient loses weight and strength, a competent physician must be consulted.
Excessive Vomiting.—Morning sickness is normal in a pregnant woman until the 3rd or the 4th month, and yet excessive and prolonged vomiting is a real source of dan-16242	The Disorders of Pregnancy
ger. There is usually a rise in temperature towards evening with a quickening of the pulse. Pregnancy may he the cause of this disorder but more often it is just stomach trouble, aggravated by the pregnancy.# If a milk diet, rest and loose bowels do not bring relief, do not fail to call a Doctor.
Frequency of Urination.—As pregnancy progresses the womb grows and presses on the bladder, causing frequent urination. This condition is natural during the first two or three weeks. After that time the womb rises up into the abdominal cavity, thus relieving the pressure. Again in the last few weeks of confinement the womb sinks lower and irritates the bladder again causing frequent urination.
Treatment: Lying down will relieve the pressure and prevent the constant desire to urinate. A good fitting abdominal belt will usually bring relief.
Liver Spots.—Brown spots, commonly called liver spots, frequently appear on the skin of a pregnant woman. These usually disappear after the birth of, the child, without any medical treatment, but occasionally they remain permanently.
Costive State of the Bowels.—Constipation is common in pregnancy ; a mild laxative is therefore occasionally necessary. The mildest must be selected, as a strong purgative is highly improper, and even dangerous. Calomel and all other preparations of mercury are to be especially avoided, as a mercurial medicine is apt to weaken the system, and sometimes even to produce a miscarriage. Let me again urge the importance of a woman, during the whole period of pregnancy, being particular as to the state of her bowels, as costiveness is a fruitful cause of painful, tedious and hard labors.
Laxatives.—The best laxatives are mineral oils, compound rhubarb pills, honey, stewed prunes, stewed rhubarb, Muscatel raisins, figs, grapes, roasted apples, baked pears, stewed Normandy pippins, and brown-bread. Scotch oatmeal made with new milk or water, or with equal parts of milk and water. Never use the same laxative treatment every day, but alternate the remedies for the best results.
Honey.—A teaspoonful of honey, either eaten at breakfast or dissolved in a cup of tea, will frequently, comfortably and effectually, open the bowels, and will supersede the necessity of taking laxative medicine.243
The Disorders of Pregnancy
Nature’s	Medicines.—Nature's medicines—exercise
in the open air, occupation, and household duties, not only open the bowels, but keep up a proper action for the future.
Warm Water Injections.—An excellent remedy for costiveness of pregnancy is an enema, either of warm water or of Castile soap and water, which the patient, by means of a sell-injecting enema-apparatus, may administer to herself. The quantity of warm water to be used, is from half a pint to a pint; the proper heat is the temperature of new milk; the time for administering it is early in the morning, every day if necessary.
Muscular Pains of the Abdomen.—The best remedy is an abdominal belt constructed for pregnancy, and adjusted with proper straps and buckles to accommodate the gradually increasing size of the womb. This plan often affords great comfort and relief; indeed, such a belt is indispensably necessary.
Diarrhoea.-j-Although the bowels in pregnancy are generally costive, they are sometimes in an opposite state, and are relaxed. Now, this relaxation is frequently owing to there having been prolonged constipation, and Nature is trying to relieve herself by purging. Do not check it, but allow it to have its course, and take a little rhubarb or magnesia. The diet should be simple, plain, and nourishing, and should consist of beef tea, chicken broth, arrow-root and of well-made and well-boiled oatmeal gruel. Meat, for a few days, should not be eaten; and stimulants of all kinds must be avoided.
Nervousness.—A pregnant woman sometimes suffers severely from fidgets; it generally affects her feet and legs, especially at night, so as to entirely destroy her sleep; she cannot lie still; she every few minutes moves, tosses and tumbles about—first on one side, then on the other. The cause of “fidgets” are a heated state of the blood; an irritable condition of the nervous system, prevailing at that particular time; and want of occupation. The treatment of “fidgets” consists of: sleeping in a well-ventilated apartment, with either window or door open; a thorough ablution of the whole body every mbrning, and a good washing with tepid water of the face, neck, chest, arms and hands every night; shunning hot and close rooms; taking plenty of outdoor exercise; living on a bland, nourishing, but not rich diet; avoiding meat at night, and substituting in lieu thereof, either a cupful of arrow-root made with milk, or of well-boiled oatmeal gruel.244
The Disorders of Pregnancy
^ Heartburn.—Heartburn is a common and often a distressing symptom of pregnancy. The acid producing the heartburn is frequently much increased by an overloaded stomach. An abstemious diet ought to be strictly observed. Great attention should be paid to the quality of the food. Greens, pastry, hot buttered toast, melted butter, and everything that is rich and gross, ought to be carefully avoided. Either a teaspoonful of heavy calcined magnesia, or half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda—the former to be preferred if there be constipation—should occasionally be taken in a wine-glassful of warm water. If these do not relieve— the above directions as to diet having been strictly attended to—the following mixture ought to be tried. Take of:
Carbonate of Ammonia, half a drachm;
Bicarbonate of Soda, a drachm and a half;
Water, eight ounces;
To make a mixture: Two tablespoonful9 to be taken twice or three times a day, until relief be obtained.
Wind in the Stomach and Bowels.—This is a frequent
reason why a pregnant woman cannot sleep at night. The two most frequent causes of flatulence are, first, the want of walking exercise during the day, and second, the eating of a hearty meal just before going to bed at night. The remedies are, of course, in each instance, self-evident.
Swollen Legs from Enlarged Veins (Varicose Veins.)
—The veins are frequently much enlarged and distended, causing the legs to be greatly swollen and very painful, preventing the patient from taking proper walking exercise. Swollen legs are due to the pressure of the womb upon the blood-vessels above. Women who have had large families are more liable than others to varicose veins. If a woman marry late in life, or if she be very heavy in pregnancy— carrying the child low down—she is more likely to have distention of the veins. The best plan will be for her to wear during the day an elastic stocking, which ought to be made especially for her, in order that it may properly fit the leg and foot.
Painful Stretching of the Skin of the Abdomen.—
This is common in a first pregnancy. The best remedy ib to rub the abdomen, every night and morning, with warm camphorated oil, and to wear a belt during the day and a broad flannel bandage at night, both of which should be put on moderately but comfortably tight. The belt must be secured in its situation by means of properly adjusted straps.
Before the Approach of Labor.—The patient, beforeThe Disorders of Pregnancy	245
the approach of labor, ought to take particular care to have the bowels gently opened, as during that stage constipation greatly increases her sufferings, and lengthens the period of her labor. A gentle action is all that is necessary; a violent one would do more harm than good.
Swollen and Painful Breasts*—The breasts are, at times, during pregnancy, much swollen and very painful; and, now and then, they cause the patient great uneasiness, as she fancies that she is going to have either some dreadful tumor or a gathering of the bosom. There need be no apprehension. The swelling and the pain are the consequences of the pregnancy, and will in due time subside without any unpleasant result. For treatment she cannot do better than rub them well, every night and morning, with equal parts of Eau de Cologne and olive oil, and wear a piece of new flannel over them; taking care to cover the nipples with soft linen, as the friction of the flannel might irritate them.
Cramps.—Cramps of the legs and of the thighs during the latter period, and especially at night, are apt to attend pregnancy, and are caused by the womb pressing upon the nerves which extend to the lower extremities. Treatment.—Tightly tie a handkerchief, folded like a neckerchief, round the limb a little above the part affected, and let it remain on for a few minutes.
The Whites.—The whites during pregnancy, especially during the latter months, and particularly if the patient has had many children, are frequently troublesome, and are, in a measure, occasioned by the pressure of the womb on the parts below, causing irritation. The best way, therefore, to obviate such pressure is for the patient to lie down a great part of each day either on a bed or a sofa. She ought to retire early to rest: she should sleep in a well ventilated apartment, and should not overload her bed with clothes. A thick, heavy quilt at these times, and indeed at all times, is particularly objectionable; the perspiration cannot pass readily through it as through blankets, and thus she is weakened. She ought to live on plain, wholesome, nourishing food; and she must abstain from wine and spirits.
Irritation and Itching of the External Parts.—This is a most troublesome affection, and may occur at any time, but more especially during the latter period of the pregnancy. Let her diet be simple and nourishing. Let her take a sitz-bath of warm water, considerably salted.246
Disorders of Pregnancy
Hot and Inflamed.—The external parts, and the passage to the womb (vagina), in these cases, are not only irritable and itching, but are sometimes hot and inflamed and are covered either with small pimples, or with a whitish exudation of the nature of aphtha (thrush), somewhat similar to the thrush on the mouth of an infant. The addition of glycerine to the lotion is a great improvement and usually gives much relief.
*Biliousness is defined by some one as piggishness. The elements of the bile are in the blood in excess of the power of the liver to eliminate them. This may be caused either from the superabundance of the materials from which the bile is made or by inaction of the organ itself. Being thus retained the system is clogged. It is the result of either too much food in quantity or too rich in quality. Especially is it caused by the excessive use of fats and sweets. The simplest remedy is the best. A plain, light diet with plenty of acid fruits, avoiding fats and sweets, will ameliorate or remove it. Don’t force the appetite. Let hunger demand food. In the morning the sensitiveness of the stomach may be relieved by taking before rising a cup of hot water, hot milk, hot lemonade, rice or barley water, selecting according to preference. For this purpose many find coffee made from browned wheat or corn the best drink. Depend for a time upon liquid food. The juice of lemons and other acid fruits is usually grateful, and assists in assimilating any excess in nutriment. These may be diluted according to taste. With many, an egg lemonade proves relishing and acceptable.
Deranged Appetite.—Where the appetite fails, let the patient go without eating for a little while, say for two or three meals. If, however, the strength begins to go, try the offering of some unexpected delicacy; or give small quantities of nourishing food, as directed in case of morning sickness.
Piles.—For cases of significance consult a physician. As with constipation, so with piles, its frequent result, fruit diet, exercise, and sitz-bath regimen will do much to prevent the trouble. Frequent local applications of a cold compress, and even of ice, and tepid water injections, are of great service. Walking or standing aggravate this complaint. ^ Lying down alleviates it. Dr. Shaw says, “There is nothing in the world that will produce so great relief in
* Some of these valuable suggestions are taken from “Parturition Without Pain,” by Dr. M. L. Holbrook.Disorders of Pregnancy	247
piles as fasting. If the case is severe, live a whole day, or even two, if necessary, upon pure soft cold water alone. Give then very lightly of vegetable food.”
Toothache.—There is a sort of proverb that a woman loses one tooth every time she has a child. Neuralgic toothache during pregnancy is, at any rate, extremely common, and often has to be endured. It is generally thought not best to have teeth extracted during pregnancy, as the shock of the nervous system has sometimes caused miscarriage. Wash out the mouth morning and night with cold or lukewarm water using common salt or milk of magnesia rather than patent dentifrices. If the teeth are decayed, consult a good dentist in the early stages of pregnancy, and have the offending teeth properly treated. Good dentists, in the present state of the science, extract very few teeth.
Salivation.—Excessive secretion of the saliva has usually been reckoned substantially incurable. Fasting, cold water treatment, exercise and a fruit diet may be relied upon to prevent, cure or alleviate it.
Headache.—This is, perhaps, almost as common in cases of pregnancy as “morning sickness.” It may be from constipation or indigestion, constitutional “sick headache,” from neuralgia, from a cold, or from rheumatism. Correct living will prevent much headache trouble.
Jaundice.—See the doctor.
Pain on the Right Side.—This is liable to occur from about the fifth to the eighth month, and is attributed to the pressure of the enlarging womb^ upon the liver. Proper living is 'most likely to alleviate it. Wearing a wet girdle in daytime or a wet compress at night, sitz-baths, and friction with the wet hand may also be tried. If the pain is severe a mustard poultice may be used. Exercise should be carefully moderated if found to increase the pain. ^ If there is fever and inflammation with it, consult a physician. It is usually not dangerous, but uncomfortable only.
Palpitation of the Heart.—To be prevented by healthy living and calm, good humor. Lying down will often gradually relieve it, so will a compress wet with water, as hot as can be borne, placed over the heart and renewed as often as it gets cool.
Fainting.—Most likely to be caused by “quickening/* or else by tight dress, bad air, over-exertion, or other unhealthy living. It is not often dangerous. Lay the patient248
Vaginal Cleanliness
in an easy posture, the head rather low than high, and where cool air may blow across the face; loosen the dress if tight; sprinkle cold water on the face and hands.
Sleeplessness.—Most likely to be caused by incorrect living, and to be prevented and cured by the opposite. A glass or two of cold water on going to bed often helps. So does bathing the face and hands and the feet in cold water. A short nap in the latter part of the forenoon may sometimes be of use. A similar nap in the afternoon is not so good, but is better than nothing. The tepid sitz-bath on going to bed will often produce sleep. To secure sound sleep do not read, write or severely tax the mind in the evening.
Vaginal Cleanliness.
The sanitary syringe is highly recommended by physicians as a vaginal cleanser. It will be found a great relief in health or sickness, and in many cases it will cure barrenness or other diseases of the womb.
COMBINATION VAGINAL AND RECTAL SYRINGE*
Cleanliness.—Although the constant use of vaginal douches is utterly without justification, yet the vagina should be cleansed with the same faithfulness as any other part of the body. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and a hint to the wise should be sufficient.
Temperature of the Water.—Those not accustomed to use vaginal injections would do well to use water milk-warm at the commencement; after this the temperature may be varied according to circumstances. In case of local inflammation use hot water. The indiscriminate use of cold water injections will be found rather injurious than beneficial, and a^ woman in feeble health will always find warm water invigorating and preferable.
*Note. The regular price of the Gold Seal Combination Syringe is $3.00. To readers of this book it will be sent postpaid for $2.25. Satisfaction guaranteed.Vaginal Cleanliness
249
Leucorrhoea.—In case of persistent leucorrhoea use the temperature of water from seventy-two to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.
The Cleanser will greatly stimulate the health and spirits of any woman who uses it. Pure water injections have a stimulating effect, and it seems to invigorate the entire body.
Salt and Water Injections.—This will cure mild cases of leucorrhoea. Add a teaspoonful of salt to a pint and a half of water at the proper temperature. Injections may be repeated daily if deemed necessary.
Soap and Water.—Soap and water is a very simple domestic remedy, and will many times afford relief in many diseases of the womb. It seems it thoroughly cleanses the parts. A little borax or vinegar may be used the same as salt water injections.
Holes in the Tubes.—Most of the holes in the tubes of syringes are too small. See that they are sufficiently large to produce thorough cleansing.
Injections During the Monthly Flow.—Of course it is not proper to arrest the flow, and the injections will stimulate a healthy action of the organs. The injections may be used daily throughout the monthly flow wi-th much comfort and benefit. If the flow is scanty and painful the injections may be as warm as they can be comfortably borne. If the flowing is immoderate, then cool water may be used. A woman will soon learn her own condition and can act accordingly.
Bloom and Grace of Youth.—The regular bathing of the body will greatly improve woman’s beauty. Remember that a perfect complexion depends upon the healthy action of all the organs. Vaginal injections are just as important as the bath. A beautiful woman must not only be cleanly, but robust and healthy. There can be no perfect beauty without good health.250
The Use of Heat
How to apply Hot Water and Dry Heat in all diseases
The Hot Water Throat Bag is made from fine white rubber fastened to the head by a rubber band (see illustration) and is an unfailing remedy for catarrh, hay fever, colds, toothache, headaches, earaches, neuralgia, etc.
The Hot Water Bottle.—No well regulated home should be without a hot water bottle. It is excellent for inflammations, colic, headache, congestion, cold feet, rheumatism, sprains and kindred ills. These bottles may be purchased at any drug store. Boiling water may be used and the heat retained for many hours. They can be readily adjusted to any part of the body.
Avoid Poisonous Drugs.—Hot water will usually give immediate relief without any disatrous after effects.
The Electric Heating Pad—when available is recommended as superior to the hot water bottle or hot compresses. It gives a sure, steady heat and can be regulated according to the needs of every individual case. The ac-The Use of Heat
251
THE USE OF DRY HEAT
companying illustrations show some of its commoner uses. It is a very valuable aid in relieving the aches and pains to which mankind is heir.
COLD WATER
Use a compress of cold water for acute or chronic inflammations, such as sore throat, bronchitis, croup, inflammation of the lungs, etc. If there is a hot and aching pain i:i the back apply a compress of cold water. Good results are often obtained by applying first a hot compress and then a cold one.
Cold Feet as a Cause of Trouble.—Authorities inform us that chronic cold feet are often the cause of enuresis or bed wetting in children. Furthermore we know that cold feet are one of the contributing causes of undue sexual excitement during sleep. The best known cure for this condition is to bathe the feet in cold water before retiring, and then to place a hot water bottle or heating pad at the feet during the early hours of sleep.
Caution.—When hot water bags," hot fomentations, or heating pads are removed, bathe the parts in tepid water, rub till dry and cover with dry flannel. This will remove the possibility of catching cold.252
The Use of Heat
TO BRING DOWN A FEVER
As a rule the critical time in any disease is not after the fever has raged for two or three days. It is far more essential to know what to do at the beginning of the trouble than it is at the crisis. In most homes a physician is not called until the patient’s temperature has risen to an alarming point. In outlying districts where roads are bad or even in large cities where traffic conditions are congested, it often means a good long wait before the doctor can arrive. And in the meantime a great deal can be done for the sufferer.
A Difference of Opinion.—There seems to be a wide difference of opinion among medical men as to the best method of reducing a fever, but all are agreed that plain common, every day water is the chief essential. When the doctor arrives on the scene the chances are that he doesn’t know what the trouble really is. He will tell you to reduce the fever, regulate the diet, keep the patient quiet, and await developments. To bring down the fever one doctor recommends cool sponges, another bathing in luke warm water, while still a third may insist on the use of hot packs. Water is still further relied upon in the form of cool enemas to bring down the fever, and when taken internally in large quantities will help the organs to rid themselves of posions.
These simple home remedies are always available right in your own home. In practising them you will beat the doctor to it by an hour or so, and quite likely avoid serious complications later on.
Bathing.—In our opinion the use of ice packs or of extremely cold water should be avoided, on account of the great shock to a fever ridden system. Cool enemas and taking of cool water internally are recommended. The bathing of the body with lukewarm water will effectively reduce the temperature, and the use of hot packs tends to stimulate the action of the skin, induces perspiration, and thus accomplishes the desired result.
Caution.—When applying heat or cold in cases of this kind great care should be taken to^ avoid catching cold. The body should be thoroughly dried and rubbed with alcohol to close the pores.PART 7
DISEASES AND DISORDERS
SECTION 2. DISORDERS OF THE SEXUAL FUNCTION.
SELF ABUSE OR MASTURBATION EXCESSIVE NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS OR POLLUTIONS IMPOTENCE IN THE MALE IMPOTENCE IN THE FEMALE STERILITY
SEXUAL NEURASTHENIA FRIGIDITY IN WOMEN SEX DISORDERS AND PERVERSIONS QUACKS AND QUACKERY
253254
Disorders of the Sexual Function
Diseases and Disorders
Section 2. Disorders of the Sexual Function
Self Abuse
We have come now to a subject of great importance in human happiness, and one about which there has always been a serious misunderstanding, not to mention the well intended but .willful misrepresentation, i. e. that of masturbation or self abuse. The auto-erotic field is a large one ranging from occasional day dreams through masturbation and self abuse, to the continual self manipulation so common in the insane. It is an unpleasant subject to think about or to discuss, and yet because of its importance, we must speak frankly and plainly.
The Why and the Wherefore.—The marriage rate is declining, remarkably fast. Intercourse outside of matrimony is a legal as well as a moral offense. Is it any wonder that the phenomena we have under discussion should be on the increase. Because masturbation is increasing in spite *of all the grave yard propaganda that has been spread against it. Arguments based on the moral aspect are of little avail. The subject is worthy of an exacting study so that its effects may be tabulated and guarded against. In practically every case the habit is started innocently, or from idle curiosity. It is practiced only occasionally at first, but it is a habit which grows, and usually when it has become a habit and a menace to health, it is given up prompltly and forever.
Day Dreams.—Many young men upon learning of the evil effects of self abuse give up the physical habit. They have more control over their bodies than they have over their minds, and they continue to practice the habit mentally. This psychic form of self abuse is of all forms the most harmful. It leads eventually to a neurasthenic condition if not to actual impotence.
Nocturnal Emissions are the most common form of sexual phenomena. A nocturnal emission is simply the sexual orgasm during sleep, commonly called a wet dream. It is an absolute fact that in healthy individuals, living aMasturbation
255
life of sexual abstinence, voluptuous dreams, with in men seminal emissions, are perfectly normal. These may occur once or twice a month even once a week without any abnormality or fear of lost manhood. Hundreds of misguided and uninstructed youths suffer all the tortures of the dammed simply because their ignorance has permitted them to believe themselves impotent, unmanly, on account of perfectly normal and perfectly natural nocturnal emissions.
Beware of the Quacks.—This is a real warning, not just a scare head. The advertising doctor agrees to take your money, and cure you of a disease which is not a dis^ ease at all, but a perfectly normal healthy condition. The only way to cure normal nocturnal emissions is to willfully destroy your manhood. Quack Doctors prey on young men through their medical museums, and abortive literature because they know (i) that practically every young man has these emissions, (2) that almost every man begins his sex life with masturbation, and (3) that few, if any, are willing to mention these matters to their parents. It seems to me that no greater sin could be laid at the door of a Father, than to have it said of him that his son was afraid to come to him when he was in trouble.
Do All Young Men Masturbate?—Away back as far as 1876 various learned gentlemen such as Brockman, Marcuse and Berger began to investigate and report on the growth of masturbation. They tell us that the percentage of young men and women who indulge in secret habits during adolesence ranges all the way from 50 per cent up to 99 per cent.
Just how they arrived at these deductions, I do not know. This is not a question that can safely be submitted to popular referendum, or turned over for solution to “The Enquiring Reporter.” Because of a perfectly natural reticence on the part of those questioned, such statistics must be, after all, pure guess work.
Personally I do not believe that the percentage is nearly as high as the lowest estimate given. Many, many young men and women, including great statesmen, judges, and welfare workers, frankly admit that it was through masturbation that they were actually intitiated into sex knowledge. But that does not account for the countless others who through proper training and development, escaped this form of vice. And may the good work go on. With the searchlight of truth and reason we can sooner or later banish the hoodwink of exaggeration and prejudice, and reduce the percentage to a pitiful minority.256
Masturbation
Masturbation in the Two Sexes.—Self abuse in very-young children seems to be more common among girls than with boys. During the period of adolescence the habit of frequent masturbation is common both to boys and to girls, usually more common to boys. There seems to be no doubt but that after adolescence, masturbation is more common in women. This is largely due to the following facts, viz: (i) men early acquire some legitimate form of sex gratification, (2) the sexual impulse in normal women is usually not fully developed until after adolescence, and (3) women are to a much greater extent shut out from sex gratification, and are usually subjected to a life of inactivity and idleness. Consequently many unmarried women are driven to masturbation for its sedative effect, particularly around the menstrual period.
The Results of Masturbation.—Popular attention to the evils of masturbation was not called until early in the eighteenth century, when there was printed and sold in large quantities a series of books by Bekkers, Tissot, Voltaire, and others, which tried to prove the frightful consequences of self abuse. The mistaken attitude and wrong ideas of many present day physicians and laymen, the popular belief that masturbation is the source of all evils, is largely the result of the teachings of these individuals, and handed down from generation to generation by tradition. It is a sad commentary that books and pamphlets which tried to tell the truth and correct these wrong ideas were quickly banished by the authorities.
An Endless List.—Almost every disease and symptom of disease known to the human race have been directly or indirectly traced by some authority or other to masturbation. Pouillet tabulated over one hundred morbid conditions among its results. These ranged from slight visual abnormality to epilepsy and insanity.
Masturbation Is Positively Not Responsible for a
hundredth part of the trouble it is supposed to cause. More modern students like Griesinger, Berkhan, Vogel, and Christian have based their conclusions on wide and exhaustive investigations. They agree that insanity, epilepsy, and convulsions, and even excessive masturbation itself cannot occur except in the case of a predisposed subject.
The Modern Scientific View.—We must necessarily agree with the conclusion that in healthy, untainted persons, moderate self abuse is not the root of all evils, nor will serious results necessarily follow. In other words it is an error to jump to the conclusion that simply because a boyMasturbation
257
has abused himself during adolescence, he is necessarily doomed to a life of shame, and an early grave. Well meaning reformers have too often entirely ignored the significance of birth, nervous system, and training, and have failed to look at the matter from all angles.
Do Not Misunderstand Us.—Any excess, even in healthy, wellborn individuals will certainly produce harmful results. The growing girl cannot develop into the ideal of some good man, cannot truthfully fulfill her God given privileges if she allows her thoughts to run away with her reason. The adolescent boy must either forswear his desire and control his passions or abandon forever that dream of progress and achievement in the athletic and business worlds. The two cannot go hand in hand.
Sexual Excess
There Are Bad Effects.—The skin, digestion, and circulation are easily disordered and in all cases of excess there is a general nervous let down. Neurasthenia, or a minor nervous breakdown are among the commonest of the results of excessive self abuse. If the habit is commenced and practiced vigorously before the age of puberty it has far reaching effects. In the first place it usually causes impotence in later years and quite frequently actual sterility. These cases yield usually to the right mental treatment. In the second place early masturbation, if carried to excess, causes indifference to the normal sexual relationship. This is due to the fact that after years of mechanical excitations, the organs become so toughened that the substitu-17258
Masturbation
tion of the na/tural method fails to produce the desired result. This phase of the subject will be treated more fully in the chapter on impotence which appears farther on.
The Masturbators Face.—Boys and young men often hear (and believe) that it is easy to tell a masturbator simply by looking in his face. This is absolutely false, and as this book aims to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, we are willing to go on record with the statement that there are no signs or earmarks of self abuse which, are visible to the naked eye. It is true that many boys who masturbate have pimply faces, rings under their eyes, and sallow complexions, but it is equally true that these are quite often symptoms of some other physical disease. One of the most unhealthy looking boys I ever knew had been brought up in such seclusion and ignorance that he didn’t even know there was a sex function. His was a typical masturbator's face and yet he had never abused himself either physically or mentally. His symptoms were the symptoms of improper hygiene.
Self Consciousness.—Among the other frequent results of self abuse are self consciousness or a marked fear of the eyes of others. This condition is purely mental and is due to the fact that the boy knows he is doing something wrong, and thinks that everybody he meets knows what he has been doing. However boys early get the idea that masturbation is unmanly, and injurious, and they soon give it up. Girls, on the other hand, seldom have any traditions that the practice is unwomanly. They have not been terrorized by exaggerated warnings and quack literature concerning the awful effects of the habit. The comparative absence of bad effects from masturbation in girls would seem, therefore, to be due to the fact that women have not been taught to expect bad effects, and they do not get them. This illustrates the power of ihe mind over the body. The fear of the thing is often the very cause of the thing happening.
A Private Word’.—Masturbation in the healthy normal boy must at all times be discouraged. Its effects on the individual’s health and development can never be beneficial. But before closing this chapter let me say just a word or two to the young man or woman who has practiced the habit and who wants to give it up. The only way to conquer any habit is to STOP, HERE, and NOW. That’s all there is to it. Your own sense of manliness or womanliness is strong enough to conquer all the vices or habits of modern civilization. You cannot afford to violateNocturnal Emissions
259
your body by breaking nature’s law. It’s not a matter of today. It’s your future happiness, your life’s ambition, your children, and your children’s children. The sooner you learn that what you do today is determined by your acts of yesterday, and will in turn determine what you do tomorrow, the sooner you will begin to follow nature’s few simple, fundamental rules, and the happier you will be. Just make the right start today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.
In Conclusion.—And after you have stopped, throw the whole bitter memory of it out of your mind. Fill your thoughts and manly ambitions. You may have a terrible struggle. You may feel infinitely worse for a few days than you did before. But don’t give up the ship. If a friend tells you that because of your past sins, you may be impotent (unable to perform the sex act properly) don’t believe a word he says. Unless the habit has been extremely long and assiduously practiced, unless your whole physical system has been drained and run down, you have not lost that manhood which will grow increasingly dear to you as the years go on. You may be temporarily impotent, but as soon as the strain on your nervous energy has stopped, and your bodily health has been restored, your sexual vigor will return. No function of the body is more directly affected by general health than the sexual function. Get your health back, and your lost manhood (so called) has been restored.
Excessive Nocturnal Emissions or Pollutions
Definition.—A pollution, (nocturnal emission, wet dream, etc.) is a discharge of semen while asleep. The moment of the discharge usually finds the patient awake. When these do not occur oftener than once a week, and when there are no weakening effects, the condition is normal. The reproductive organs simply become full and overflow in the manner intended by nature. When the discharge occurs more frequently than once a week, or when their effect is weakening and exhausting, even if they occur but once a month, then they are abnormal, that is there is something wrong, and a good physician should be consulted.
Quacks.—We cannot overemphasize the repeated warnings against quack doctors and their literature on noc«260
Nocturnal Emissions
turnal emissions. They would lead you to believe that because of an emission every two or three weeks, you are losing your manhood, never to be regained without proper medical treatment We repeat: nocturnal emissions as often as once a week, are in almost every case absolutely harmless, and a physical necessity.
Symptoms of Too Frequent Pollutions.—The signs of this disorder are about the same as for excessive masturbation or sexual excesses of any kind. They are weakness, languor, headache, back ache, sallow complexion, dark rings under the eyes, and a deranged appetite. There is also a woeful lack of ambition, loss of memory, and inability to concentrate. When a cure has been effected and proper hygienic measures instituted, these symptoms disappear quite rapidly.
Professional Treatment.—In severe cases, it is always advisable to consult a physician. But be sure that you do not fall into the hands of an unscrupulous man. His treatment will include a thorough examination, and must depend upon the results of this examination. We need not go into the various methods of cure, but it is sufficient to state that the trouble can usually be cured in a very short time, provided the following methods of home treatment are followed out.
Home Treatment.—Proper hygienic treatment forbids stimulants and rich or spicy foods of all kinds in the diet. The patient should take little, if any, water after six o’clock in the evening. A full bladder, or a constipated system are among the more common causes of sexual excitement during sleep. Sleep on your left side, on a hard mattress. A towel tied around the abdomen, and knotted in the back will serve to awaken you if you are inclined to rest on your back. Use as few covers as possible, but keep the feet warm.
Mental Treatment.—All the medical and hygienic treatment in the world will not bring about a cure unless you try to keep your mind free from sexual thoughts. Modern literature, modern dancing, and modern drama are likely to be full of sensual suggestiveness. Avoid them. They are poison to your system. Cultivate the society of decent girls and boys, and keep your mind occupied with healthful activities, and constructive ambitions. With such a campaign, rigidly laid out and studiously carried out, your cure is absolutely certain.
Emissions During the Day.—When pollutions occur during the day they are called diurnal emissions. They oc-impotence ,	261
cur when a man’s constitution is so weakened by excessive masturbation, abnormal nocturnal emissions, or by sexual excesses of any kind, that he cannot control the sex function even in his waking hours. This condition is an unfailing sign that something must be done. We advise an examination by the best physician available. A complete history of the case is necessary before the Doctor can hope to effect a cure.
Spermatorrhea.—This is the medical term for a disease which is characterized by a continual oozing of semen, sometimes brought on by slight sexual excitement, and quite frequently while straining at stool. Such cases are extremely rare, but they require expert medical attention, and treatment.
A Warning.—Let us plead for frankness in all these sexual disorders. If you are troubled about your condition, do not be afraid to talk freely with your parents or with your family physician. Remember that all boys have nocturnal emissions, that practically every boy begins his sex life with masturbation, and that you are not dealing with sins, but with plain, everyday, natural, physiological facts. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed or afraid of. And above everything else, DON’T WORRY. The fear of the ailment is too frequently far worse than the disease itself.
Impotence
Definition.—By impotence, we mean, the inability to perform the sex act. This disorder is common to men.
Difference Between Impotence and Sterility.—There is a common belief that impotence and sterility are one and the same thing. There is a big difference. In sterility there is an impossibility of impregnating the female (fertilizing the egg). In impotence there is merely an impossibility of performing the conjugal act. In most cases of impotence there is no evidence of sterility. Sterility is very rare in men, although quite common in women. There are, however, certain venereal diseases which may leave the man absolutely sterile, and in most of these cases, the blame is laid at the door of the woman. There are few cases of barrenness in women which cannot be removed when the patient is perfectly developed. The trouble frequently depends upon a weakness or irritation in the reproductive organs. Measures to strengthen these organs will usually cure the disability.262	Impotence
“Napoleon and Josephine.—A certain adaptation between the male and female has been regarded as necessary to conception, consisting of some mysterious influence which one sex exerts over the other, neither one, however, being essentially impotent or sterile. In the marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine no children were born, but after he had separated from the Empress and wedded Maria Louisa of Austria, an heir soon came. Yet Josephine had children by Beauharnais, her previous husband. But as all is not known as to the physical condition of Josephine during her second marriage, it cannot be assumed that mere lack of adaptability was the cause of unfruitfulness between them. There may have been some cause that history has not recorded, or unknown to the state of medical science of those days.”
Organic Impotence.—In organic impotence we find a distinct physical cause for the disorder, such as withered testicles, inflammation or disease of some other part of the sexual apparatus. In other words the inability to perform the sexual act is due to some abnormality of the sex organs.
Causes.—Among the common causes of organic impotence we find the mumps standing out above all the others. In severe cases this disease results in a complete withering of the testicles so that they are unable to secrete the fluid so necessary in the formation of life. For this reason mumps, at no matter what age, must never be considered lightly. Common sense and strict obedience to the doctors orders are necessary if the evil effects are to be ''avoided. Injuries to the brain, spinal cord, testicles, or other sexual organs often result in a lack of proper sex development, and consequent impotence. Sometimes the organs become destroyed through disease. There are on record instances of a peculiar formation of the external sex organs which render coition impossible, but these cases are the exception. When impotence is due to old age, it is called senile impotence. In such cases the withering of the organs is perfectly normal and natural.
Treatment.—Naturally the treatment must depend upon the cause of the disorder. Occasionally surgical measures are necessary. In others nothing whatever can be done. If disease or injury has prevented proper sexual development, there are no known means for improving the condition. _ It is very necessary, however, to consult a good physician, and submit to a thorough examination in all cases of impotence.Impotence
263
Functional Impotence—may be defined as the con-dition existing when apparently normal sex organs fail to function properly making it impossible to perform the sex act properly.
Causes of Functional Impotence
1.	Excesses.—This is the most common form of functional impotence, as well as the most simple. The nerve centers become completely exhausted. The first essential in a cure for impotence due to this cause is absolute sexual rest. There may be other measures to be considered but no cure can be hoped for without an opportunity for the exhausted centers to recuperate. The length of time will depend upon the severity of the trouble. The advice of a good physician is of equal importance. Care of the diet, and both mental and physical hygiene should not be overlooked.
2.	Masturbation as a Cause of Impotence is frequently exaggerated, and in many instances is purely imaginary, influenced, of course, by the urid literature of the quack doctors. However in severe cases the sexual centers have become exhausted, just as they do in other cases of excesses.
3.	Coitus Interruptus is a very common cause of impotence. The practice should be stopped immediately and proper treatment instituted.
4.	Gonorrhea as a Cause of Impotence.—While gonorrhea has always been considered one of the chief causes264
Impotence
of impotence, it is only in severe and badly treated cases that we have observed any bad effects. Such cases often leave the patient with chronic congestion and inflammation of the urethra, prostate, and seminal vesicles. This congestion causes continual impulses and consequent irritability and exhaustion. Proper medical treatment may be relied upon to bring about a speedy cure in such instances.
5. Sexual Abstinence as a Cause of Impotence.-Con-
tinued lack of any sexual gratification may result in impotence if the condition has existed for a long time.
Treatment for Functional Impotence.—In most diseases the Doctor’s treatment must be supplemented by the things which the patient can do for himself. Impotence is no exception to this rule. As already pointed out great care should be used in the selection of a physician. He will prescribe certain medicines, treat the congested areas, and plan a campaign of reconstruction. This plan should include:
1.	Absolute sexual rest in order to give the exhausted
centers a chance to gain strength. The length of this vacation will vary from one to six months, depending on the age and condition.
2.	Avoid all forms of spooning. Mental indulgence is
just as harmful as physical indulgence.
3.	Husband and wife should sleep in separate rooms.
4.	Avoid alcohol, tea, coffee, cocoa, eggs, oysters, and
all stimulating foods or drinks.
5.	DO NOT WORRY. Don’t overwork. Live in the
open as much as possible.
These simple instructions will effect a speedy cure for functional impotence if followed out rigidly in conjunction with the specialist’s medical treatment.
Psychic Impotence
Definition.—In psychic impotence the trouble is not to be found in either the sex organs or in the sex centers. The disorder lies in the patient’s mind. Perhaps he only imagines that he is impotent on account of the exaggerated statements he has read or heard. Some one told him that all boys who had sinned in their youth would be impotent. This fact clings to him, and the fear of the thing is often sufficient to make the fear a reality.
Causes of Psychic Impotence.—Anything which influences the imagination may be the cause, such as fear, disgust, joy, superstition, or preoccupation. As an example ofSterility	265
the last mentioned we have the case of the mathematician who was always rendered impotent by the thought of a peculiar problem just at the psychological moment.
Treatment.—All cases of psychic impotence have a tendency to create the same conditions we have observed under other forms of impotence. In other words psychic impotence may be a direct cause ^of functional impotence. Treatment must be given accordingly. Usually mental treatment alone is sufficient. A change of environment and improved hygienic conditions are advised.
Impotence of the Female
^ Definition.—Impotence is here defined as any condition in the female which renders intercourse impossible.
Causes.—The causes of this disorder are usually to be found among the following:
1.	unyielding hymen.
2.	adhesions.
3.	abnormality in the size of the clitoris.
4.	diseases of the vagina.
5.	malformation of the external sex organs.
6.	stricture of the vagina.
7.	dyspareunia (severe pain.)
8.	vaginismus (spasm of the vagina,)
Treatment.—If the impotence is due to any of the first six causes above mentioned, about the only method of cure is through the surgeon’s knife. In almost all cases an entire cure can be brought about with the proper medical, surgical, or hygienic treatment.
Sterility
Definition.—As indicated in the previous chapter, sterility implies the impossibility or begetting children. Before the era of universal sex education the woman was always blamed for a childless marriage. Today we know that man is sometimes sterile, and that quite frequently it is man’s impotence alone which prevents conception.
Causes of Sterility in Men.—Among the common causes of sterility in men we must mention the mumps again, particularly in later years. This disease often so affects the testicles that they are incapable of producing the sperm cells. There are cases in which sterility results from crippled or injured sexual organs. Accidents in266	Sterility
youth often hinder or stop the development of the testicles making it impossible for them to function properly. Disease sometimes blocks the seminal ducts preventing the passage of the sexual secretions. Testicles may be removed by surgical operation (castration.) The tube which carries the semen from the testicles to the seminal vesciles may be cut (vasectomy). The first operation has a profound effect on the life and character of the individual. The second (vasectomy) is simple, painless, and does not remove sexual desire or sexual power. Both operations remove the possibility of having children.
Venereal Disease as a Cause of Sterility—Gonorrhea and syphilis are very frequent causes of sterility, both in men and in women. Gonorrhea may cause the obstructions in the seminal ducts. Syphilis in its virulent forms, and if not skillfully and thoroughly treated often destroys the testicles or other important sex organs, thus making impregnation impossible. Stricture may be the cause of sterility. The semen cannot be forced out through the eurethra, and as a result it flows back into the bladder.
Other Forms.—Even when all the sex organs seem to be present and perfectly healthy, we may find a condition in which the testicles do not secrete any semen whatever. In some cases there are no sperms in the semen; in others the sperms may be present but lifeless; and in still others the essential secretions of the prostate gland or seminal ves-sicles may be lacking.
Treatment.—When any of the sex organs are atrophied or lacking altogether, on account of disease, injury, or operation, there is no remedy possible. But when the condition is due to inflammation, simple obstruction, or congestion, a good doctor can accomplish wonders in a very short time. If you consult a quack, you are wasting your time and money, and you are endangering your future^ health and happiness. It is a safe rule to consult your family doctor first. If he cannot help you, he will recommend some one who can.
Causes of Female Sterility.—The most common cause of sterility in women is an inflammation of the Fallopian Tubes which blocks the passage of the eggs from the ovaries, making conception impossible. This inflammation may be the direct result of childbirth, but more frequently it is due to a gonorrheal infection, contracted from the husband. Syphilis does not cause sterility. The discharge from the disease, leucorrhea, is often powerful enough to destroy the life of the male sperm cells. Occasionally weSexual Neurasthenia
267
come across women so completely run down and exhausted, that menstruation ceases altogether. Conception is then impossible.
Treatment depends, of course, upon the cause of the disease. It requires the aid of a good physician. However before submitting to an operation, treatment, or even an examination, be very sure that it is not your husband who is to blame. A simple examination will tell this.
Sexual Neurasthenia
Definition.—By sexual neurasthenia we mean physical or mental exhaustion due to disorders of the sexual system.
Difference Between Neurasthenia and Impotence.—
Although every case of sexual neurasthenia involves a disorder of the sexual function, it is a mistake to jump to the conclusion that every case of impotence is accompanied by neurasthenia or general debility. Men may be absolutely impotent and yet retain full mental and physical health. In certain rare cases the impotence does not even affect the patient’s state of mind. He may remain happy and contented in accomplishing his life work, with never a thought or worry about any sexual gratification.
Causes of Sexual Neurasthenia.—-The first as well as the most important cause of sexual neurasthenia is abuse or disease of the sexual organs such as masturbation, excessive intercourse, excessive nocturnal emissions, withdrawal, lack of sexual satisfaction, spermatorrhea, or venereal infection. Next in importance come those causes which convenience may be classified under the term “mode of life,” such as worry, overwork, suggestive literature, drama, or dress, bad companionship, and society’s demand for a suppression of the sexual instinct. And finally we cannot ignore the influence of heredity. It has been clearly shown that the offspring of neurasthenic parents are subject to the sexual disorders which bring on sexual neurasthenia.
Symptoms of Neurasthenia.—In extreme cases of this disorder practially every organ in the body and its function is affected. The following are usually present :
1.	pains and aches in the back or over the kidneys.
2.	palpitation of the heart.
3.	poor circulation.
4.	frequent headaches,
5.	eyestrain.268
Sexual N eurasthenia
6.	lack of ambition.
7.	inability to concentrate.
8.	melancholia.
9.	morbid fears.
10.	brain fag.
11.	extreme nervousness.
12.	sensitiveness,
13.	bashfulness.
14.	deranged appetite.
• 15. digestive difficulties.
16.	impotence.
17.	shrunken or relaxed sex organs.
18.	pollutions.
19.	lack of orgasm.
20.	masturbation.
21.	pains in the testicles.
22.	itching about the parts.
23.	frequent urination.
24.	painful urination.
25.	shuddering at urination.
26.	retention of the urine, etc., etc., etc.
Of course these symptoms are interwoven, and may vary with the progress of the disease. The aches and pains may be minor matters, or they may cause agonized suffering. Naturally we do not expect to find all the symptoms present in any one particular case.
Treatment.—In order to cope successfully with sexual neurasthenia we must first determine the cause of the trouble. It is safer and cheaper in the long run to consult a specialist or some good physician who has made a study of sexual disorders. If the malady is due to some abnormality in the sexual apparatus, such as a congested urethra, or^ a diseased prostate, the correction of these disorders will bring a speedy cure for the neurasthenia. On the other hand if the neurasthenia, itself, has been the cause of the sexual trouble, the neurasthenic symptoms require prompt treatment. In either case strict attention must be given to the proper diet and hygiene, in order to restore the vitality of the exhausted body. Most physicians prescribe a complete rest for a week or ten days, in order to give the heart and nervous system a chance to recuperate. Alcoholic rubs, and cold sponge baths are advised. The diet should be plain and nutritious with plenty of eggs and milk. Intoxicants of all kinds should be studiously avoided.
After the preliminary rest, mild exercise, and life ij? theFrigidity	269
open air serve as the most efficient aids in reconstruction. A complete change of environment, a new occupation, or an ocean voyage are valuable in the cure of sexual neurasthenia.
The physician who is engaged must have your frdl confidence and co-operation, if he is to get results. He will prescribe such local and medicinal treatment as is necessary.
Frigidity
Definition.—The word frigid means coldness, and a woman who has an aversion for sex relations is called a frigid woman. It is said on authority that fully 20% pi the women of the United States suffer to some extent with this disorder. Cases in men are extremely rare.
Causes.—Some women are born with little or no sex instinct which is called congenital frigidity. Or through the traditions of conventionality an unmarried woman may live a lifetime with no knowledge of this side of her nature. The condition may also be due to physical injuries, fear of pregnancy, excesses, social restraints, or an actual dislike for the husband.
Causes More Often Mental.—Generations of modest mothers have brought about a common belief that the natural mating instincts are vulgar and unwomanly. To admit these heaven sent reproductive instincts was considered “unladylike” in the old days, and even today this same idea is responsible for the fact that so many mothers shirk the responsibility of instructing their children in the laws of life. Unhappy marriages and divorces might be greatly decreased if the husband dropped that matter of fact, affectionless, “you’re my property” manner. Just a little real consideration and tenderness will gradually effect a cure.
The Symptoms of Frigidity.—Naturally the symptoms are difficult to explain, but any husband whose eyes are open may detect the change that has come over his sweetheart in her attitude towards him after marriage. The trouble is almost entirely psychic. Sympathetic action on his part will quickly banish the mental state that chills their married happiness.
Man’s Eternal Selfishness.—Unfortunately most husbands are extremely selfish in this matter, and countless cases of unhappiness, shattered nerves, and ill health are the result. In the marriage relation the husband should270
Frigidity
bring forth and utilize all the charming and endearing manners which have made courtship an art, and thus awaken in his wife a generous and sympathetic response.
Treatment.—Little or nothing can be done for frigidity that is congenital. Most of the other cases, however, can be cured. The treatment as indicated above must be mental in the vast majority of cases. In our advice to frigid women, however, we recommend first, that you consult the best physician or specialist available, in order to find out the real cause of your condition; and second that you and your husband in co-operation with the physician devote your best efforts towards a speedy cure. Your own happiness and the happiness of your children depend upon frank speaking and common sense action.
MARRIED UNHAPPINESSSex Disorders and Perversions
271
Other Sex Disorders and Perversions
Sexual disorders are undoubtedly responsible for more anguish and intense suffering than any of the other ills to which mankind is subject. We have now discussed at some length the more common and the more serious troubles. And there are hundreds of other ailments so disgusting that they have no place in a work of this kind. In fact they need not be mentioned because bestiality and human depravity are not at all germain to the subject of sexual relations. But the common knowledge that these are real diseases which can be cured through proper treatment will go a long way towards relieving the unhappiness of the world. Sufferers are here warned for the last time to use good judgment in the selection of a physician. Life without sexual vigor is almost worse than no life at all. A conscientious practitioner is the cheapest and safest investment.
Treatment for Sex Perversions.—On account of the morbid impulses and practices, it is first necessary to arrive at an exact understanding of true nature of the abnormal personality. The physician must first treat all the actual diseases which underlie the sexual abnormalities. Bodily and mental rest is very often the first need; and for this purpose a change of environment and climate, or an ocean voyage may be very useful. Such drugs as bromides and camphor are widely given. But even after all these simple measures have been taken, the real treatment will usually have to be psychical or suggestive. In many cases the confession of the true facts in the case to a well informed sympathetic physician will in itself restore an inward confidence and a healing repose. Sex perversions are after all diseases of the will and must not be thought of or treated from a moral or religious standpoint. The will power, the ability to overcome the abnormal desires can and must be developed through the power of suggestion, right living, and inspirational occupation.POLLO W»NG THE WILL'Of-thetWÌSP.
TTHE PERILObs GAME. T-NAT TttOUSANDS ,of ÌTHOyGHTL.ESS : PEOPLE. PUAY ---- "Quacks and Quackery
273
Quacks and Quackery
Interesting Stories of Human Vultures and Their Devilish Methods
Advertising Doctors.—It is not so many years ago that the daily newspapers were filled with lurid and cleverly worded advertisements offering a speedy cure for secret diseases, and lost manhood. The streets of our large cities were lined with medical museums, traps for the unwary, for men only. Today reputable newspapers refuse to accept such advertisements, but the same men are advertising in unscrupulous mediums, are passing out circulars in questionable places and are still doing business in the same old way.
The Chicago Tribune was one of the first papers to start a crusade against these beasts of prey. Their investigation was thorough and complete, and the Editor has kindly given us permission to make extracts from the various exposures as they appeared in the Tribune:—
QUACK'S AIDS TELL OF HORROR CHAMBERS
The Tribune presents to its readers today the “confessions” of two men who know a certain phase of medical quackery from the inside. They are former employes of that eminent specialist in “getting the money,” Dr. Edward N. Flint, who practices medical skullduggery at 322 South State Street.
The individuals who made the “confessions” were “floor men” in “institutes” which Flint conducts in a string of middle western cities as a side line to his regular “offices” in Chicago. The business of the “floor man” or capper is to mingle with the crowds that visit the “institutes,” gain their visitors' confidence and lure them to the “case taker” and the doctor who fleeces them. It must be said in behalf of the two men who talked to the Tribune that when they entered Flint's employ they did not know he was a swindler and that they got out of the business as soon after they had learned the truth as they could.
“Institutes” of the kind Flint runs are well known to the average Chicagoan. They are the wax-work shows which recently have been ordered suppressed in Chicago by Health Commissioner Young. Some still are^ running surreptitiously. The visitor is attracted to the “institute” by a wax-work display occupying one of the windows. He 18274	Quacks and Quackery
enters and finds himself in a long room containing 100 or more wax effigies representing human beings in the various stages of disease. The figures in the front of the room are exceedingly frank in their display of the human form. That is to give the show drawing power among the prurient.
As the visitor passes down the line, however, the statues undergo a subtle change. He finds chills of horror beginning to chase each other up and down his spine. He stops in front of a cabinet with a glass front. As he peers through the pane the interior of the cabinet suddenly is illuminated by electric light and the face of an idiot boy leers out hideously at him. Over the boy’s head, sharply set off by a shaded light, are the words:
LOST MANHOOD
The visitor starts away in horror and is immediately approached by a man in uniform, who suggests that he go up and see the doctor. A little farther on a tableau displays the ravages of venereal diseases. By this time, quite naturally, the visitor is beginning to feel ill. This is the time for the “floor man” to get in his fine work. The “floor man” has been watching the crowds carefully. He 4ias picked this particular visitor as a “live one.” He arrives at the man’s side and offers his sympathy. He desires to know the visitor’s symptoms. The visitor, glad to confide in anyone, tells what he thinks is the matter with him. The “floor man” gets him a drink*of water and then adroitly ascertains how much money he has with him.
When this information is given the visitor is ready for the doctor. In the slang of the “institutes,” the operation which follows is “feeing the patient.” A patient is “feed” in the slang of the institute when he has been fleeced. If he comes back for a second fleecing he is “refeed.”
MAKES A “DOCTOR* IN FOUR SECONDS
Fred Glover lives at 2618 Emmett Street. When Burgess assumed charge of the Atomo-Radio Company he was an obscure but ambitious elevator operator at 32 South Franklin Street. About a month ago, George Franks, who formerly worked for Dr. “Specificus Gravitus” Zins, walked into Glover’s elevator.
“Hello, Franks,” said Glover. “What are you doing?”
“Why,” replied Franks, “I’m practicing medicine.”
“Where do you get that ‘practicing medicine’ stuff?” inquired Glover. “You never studied to be a doctor.”
Franks laughed. “Fred,” he said, “you always were aQuacks and Quackery	275
boob. Wise up. You don’t have to study to be a doctor. You don’t even have to grow a set of whiskers. All you have to do is—but say, I’ll show you how. I’ll make a Doc out of you. I’m going on a vacation. Come on with me. You can have my place.”
Glover says Franks took him to the Atomo-Radio offices and presented him to Burgess. He explained that Glover was a potential “wise guy” and wanted to substitute for Franks while the latter was away. Glover says Burgess looked him over, accepted him, fixed him up with a white jacket, and then gave him the following instructions:
Scare your patient into believing he has some disease.
Then find out how much money he has.
Get the money.
Then get rid of the patient as quickly as possible.
Don’t waste time with a patient after he’s broke.
Don’t tolerate a moneyless patient around the office.
Glover started work, but did not carry out the instructions to the letter. He had some home-grown medical ideas of his own and he supplemented this by reading medical books. He gave his patients good advice. He told them to eat and sleep regularly. His methods were so different from the other “specialist” in the place that he became popular with many of the patients. They would ask for him. After Glover had been there three weeks he was called before Dr. Burgess. The doctor had discovered that the former elevator man was treating the patients almost as if he wanted to do them good, instead of merely “do” them.
“What is the meaning of this?” Glover says Dr. Burgess asked him. “What do you think this place is? Do you think we want all of these patients to think they can get well without coming to us with their money?”
A few days later Glover was told his services were needed no longer. He protested that he had been induced to leave his elevator job with the understanding that his position was to be permanent if his services were satisfactory. He told Dr. Burgess that he had given up his former job and that he could not get it back.
“I realized then why they did not want me,” Glover told the Tribune. “They want a man who will bunko the ignorant patients and get the money. The only man licensed to practice medicine at the Atomo-Radio Company is Dr. Burgess. The rest are taken from some other job. They know nothing of the legitimate practice of medicine. They make doctors out of them as they did me. They take them276	Quacks and Quackery
from the street, give them a white jacket, and they are ‘specialists/ I could continue in the business if I wanted to be dishonest. They are merciless. They want the money. I think too much of my future to jeopardize my chances by robbing the patients the way you must do in those places. Now I am out of a job. I will have to sell my library to pay my rent unless I get a job this week. I have worked hard to buy these books and sometimes I study all njght.”
FORMER INTERPRETER FOR QUACKS MAKES CONFESSION OF THE SYSTEM USED
“I was interpreter and office man. I speak Polish, Slavic, Bohemian, Russian and English. ^ The office was on the second floor. There was a reception room, a consultation room, the doctor’s private office, the electrical room, and the pharmacy where we kept the dope.
“When a new patient would come in I would tell him that the doctor was performing a serious operation at the time and would let him sit there for about an hour, so as to let him think we were an important firm. First I would get his name and age and address and the place he worked and how much he got in salary and what day he received his pay. Then I would find out about his symptoms and whether he ever had been treated before. All of this information would go in to the doctor so he would be prepared. One of my duties was to keep new patients from talking with any old patients who might happen to be in the waiting room. If they insisted on talking it was my place to get into the conversation and switch it to some other subject. If it got too strong to swing I would isolate the new patient in one of the consultation rooms. For instance, here was a case of one fellow, I remember. When he came in I found out he was a second boss in the stockyards and how much he got, and that he was paid on Fridays. I took him into the doctor and explained in English he wanted attention.
“The doctor looked at the patient and shook his head and spoke to me. I translated and told the man he was in a very bad condition. Then we put him on the operating table. The doctor shook his head again. I explained the doctor was afraid to take care of the case because it was a serious one. Then the doctor asked me, ‘Does this man value his money more than his life ?’* and I translated it to the fellow on the table, who would gladly assent to pay anything he had to be saved. The doctor then decided to277
Quacks and Quackery
take the case. After being examined this man asked what the charge was and the doctor told him $25. The man pulled out a roll of bills with a $50 bill on the outside.
“Wait a minute,” said the doctor, as he carefully began looking at the patient again. The patient weakened and lay back on the table. After more of the fake examination he was separated from $50, instead of the original $25 which we had asked. He was given a prescription which was filled at our drug counter, and cost him $5.00. There was just enough of the medicine to last him until the next pay day. I know that they never cured any diseases, because they had no real drugs to do it with. We used to get pills by the barrel.”
DR. ISAAC WALTER HODGENS. HE TELLS HIS PERFECTLY HEALTHY CALLER HE HAS PROSTATIS AND WANTS $35 FOR TREATMENT
Hodgens* place is at 35 S. Dearborn St. He advertises “scientific direct methods” for curing “specific blood poison, acute and chronic infectious diseases, weakness and nervousness” in the shortest possible time, and lays emphasis on the fact that he is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College. He informed a perfectly healthy investigator who called on him that he was suffering from prostatis and offered to cure him for $35. This diagnosis was based on an examination of mixture of water, ammonia and anilin which had been submitted to him by his “patient.” It is true that he is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College. He was licensed to practice medicine in this state in 1902. He lives in Wilmette.
Oct. 10.—I visited Dr. I. W. Hodgens, second floor of the Crilly Building, today. I gave the name of H. Vander-veen.
“What is the matter?” asked the doctor when I entered.
“Nervous.” I said. “Wanted to have you look me over. I haven’t been feeling well.”
He looked at my tongue and said it was badly coated. Then he examined my eyes with a magnifying glass.
“Appetite?” he asked.
“Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.”
I told him I was worried over my health because I couldn’t enjoy the work I was doing—inside work over a desk.
“I think that something is wrong with your ^ urinary tract.” he said. He asked me to bring him a specimen to-278
Quacks and Quackery
morrow. He said his bill would be reasonable and to feel perfectly safe. He did not require any sort of a deposit. On the walls of his office are pictures of persons in various degrees of syphilis. He ushers patients out of the office by a rear passage.
Oct. 11.—I called on Dr. Hodgens again today. I delivered to him a bottle which he had provided yesterday, filled with a mixture of water, ammonia and anilin, obtained from the American Medical Association.
“I will have to examine this, Mr. Vanderveen.,, he said. “It will take me ten or fifteen minutes. Wait here.”
He returned in about ten minutes. “Be patient. Mr. Vanderveen, I don’t want to say I know what’s wrong until I have thoroughly examined the contents of the bottle. I think there is uric acid in it.”
In ten minutes he returned again and examined, the prostate gland.
“Very sensitive, very sensitive, young man. I will have to make further examination.”
“What is the prostate gland?” I asked him, “and how serious is the trouble?”
“It is a gland just at the neck of the bladder. It might be said that it controls the nervous system. When that is deteriorated you are nervous. You are run down and have no desire to work.”
He went out and returned in a moment; then asked me to step into his assistant’s office. The assistant, named “Smith” (he said), examined me further.
“Very much enlarged,” he said with a long face, “very much more than I expected. I want to give you treatment.”
“How much will it cost?” I asked.
“Well, the regular price for this treatment is $50. You had better take it. You are facing a dangerous thing.
“Considering your condition financially, I think we can give you treatment for $35. How much can you pay now?”
“Three dollars is as much as I can give,” I replied.
“We don’t like to take less than five. How often can you make payments?”
I told him once a week and he seemed satisfied.
“I guess that is enough for this afternoon,” he said. “I will want to give you another kind of treatment soon, but you are in too delicate a condition now for it. Come on Monday night.”
He escorted me to his drug dispensary and provided me with a bottle containing a red fluid. It was marked “Private formula.” He seemed worried about my condition.Quacks and Quackery	279
“Now, Harry,” he said when I left, “I am glad you came to us. You are in a serious condition.”
Then he handed me a small packet of pills.
DR. McCANDLESS DISCOVERS VARICOCELE AND WANTS $50 FOR AN OPERATION
The establishment of Old Doctor (Francis Leaverett) Sweany is at 63 W. Randolph St. The reporter who visited the place was received by a Dr. McCandless. He was told he had varicocele. The “patient” had^ been previously diagnosed by another quack as a syphilitic. Dr. McCandless, however, found no trace of this disease. He wanted $50 for a minor operation. Dr. Sweany, who established this concern, was a graduate of the Medical College of Indiana, Indianapolis. The school is now defunct. He practiced simultaneously in Chicago, and Philadelphia from 1900 to 1908 and in St. Louis from 1900 to 1902.
Oct. 10.—I went to the office of Dr. Sweany & Co. today. A flamboyant sign stops you as you pass on Randolph St. Dr. Sweany’s name is on the sign and on the door in big letters and it is on the steps in metal placards several times. A young man asked who I was, and, learning I was a new patient, went at once to the “doctor in charge.” While he was gone a janitor stuck his head in the door and wanted to know my number. I told him I was a new patient, and he made tracks for the front office also. The doctor in charge—his name is McCandless—invited me in, smiled, stuck out his hand, and asked what he could do for me. I told him I was to be married in a month and wanted to see if I was all right.
“I have been told I had syphilis,” I said, thinking of an experience the day before with ‘Prof. Ehrlich’ “and I want to be sure I haven’t.”
“What leads you to that belief?”
“Well, there’s the hair falling out, doctor—and the tightness of the throat.”
“I don’t think you have syphilis; you don’t look syphilitic. Let me examine your hair and your throat.”
He strapped a magnifying glass to his forehead ^ and trained it on my throat, pressing down my tongue with a nickel plated instrument. Then he felt my scalp.^
“No, I don’t believe you have syphilis,” he said. “The falling hair may be due to some affected hair cells. I am of the opinion that a blood test would show negative.”
After some more inquiry he said I had varicocele.
“That case of varicocele is not very bad now, but it’s weakening. I would advise you to have it fixed.”280	Quacks and Quackery
“How much would it cost?”
“Fifty dollars.”
“That’s an awful lot of money, doctor.”
“Well, it seems a good sum now, but you can afford it better at this time than after a while. You owe it to yourself and to your future wife to be in perfect health.”
“I think I can borrow it,” I answered after studying the matter for some moments. “I am sure I can. Would you want it all at once?”
“Oh, no, not necessarily. You could pay $25 now and $25 later, or you can pay so much—say $5 or $10—a week. We can cure you easily in the month.”
He then wrote my name (Everett Dimond today) age, occupation, grocery clerk in Wilmette, and the amount of the fee.^ Dr. McCandless is a rather tall, spare and solemn man, with a look of profound sincerity and trust-worthiness.
A TYPICAL SPIDER WEBPART 7
DISEASES AND DISORDERS
SECTION 3. THE VENEREAL DISEASES
DESCRIPTION, CAUSES, TREATMENT GONORRHEA
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE HAVING GONORRHEA SYPHILIS
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE HAVING SYPHILIS CHANCROID
STATISTICS ON VENEREAL DISEASE
281Diseases and Disorders
Sec 3. The Venereal Diseases
DESCRIPTION AND CAUSES. TREATMENT
STATISTICS
Our Slogan.—Fight social diseases with facts, not sentiments; study the problems of venereal infection for information, not sensation; combat social evils with science, not mystery. This is the keynote of our campaign to train men and women and children to think straight along the line of social hygiene.
The Moral Aspect.—We must not consider venereal disease as a God-given plague to keep people from sin. Let us treat it as a sanitary and economic problem, rather than one of religion or morality. It can and should be stamped out. There is a lingering belief that without syphilis licentiousness would rule the world. This is nonsense. Immorality was rife in Europe long before syphilis was ever heard of. It is just as insistent today after several centuries of syphilitic prevention. Let us therefore attack the sin at its source. We can no longer look on unmoved while through sheer ignorance the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children even unto the third generation.
Definition of Venereal Diseases.—By venereal diseases we mean those which pertain to or are contracted during sexual, intercourse. The three principle diseases are gonorrhea (other names: clap, a dose, chordee, swollen testicle, gleet, etc.), syphilis (other names: pox, old rale, lues, etc.), and chancroid. Gonorrhea is by far the most prevalent, syphilis is by far the most horrible, and chancroid is of relatively little importance.
Statistics and Percentages.—It has been the theory of educators and authors that gross exaggeration of the prevalence and dangers of venereal diseases would serve to frighten the wayward boys and girls away from a life of sin and vice. Consequently absolutely false statements have been circulated and generally believed. For instance you may have heard it said that seventy-five or eighty per cent of all young men contract a venereal disease at one time or another; that sixty per cent of all operations on
282The Venereal Diseases
283
women are due to venereal infection taken from the husband; that all prostitutes, loose women, and even the occasional backslider are venerially infected; that gonorrhea and syphilis absolutely destroy health and happiness, and that neither disease is curable. In spite of the obvious good intentions behind these statements they are absolutely false, and what is even more important they have at no time prevented the youth from learning by experience the truth which in itself is sad enough.
According to the most authentic statistics only about 20 per cent of the men in civilized countries contract gonorrhea during a lifetime. The percentage of women who contract venereal diseases from their husbands is less than two per cent. A very large number of loose women ply their wicked trade throughout a loose woman’s lifetime without even a sign of venereal infection. But most important of all GONORRHEA AND SYPHILIS IF TAKEN IN TIME CAN ALWAYS BE PERMANENTLY CURED, WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS AFTER EFFECTS. If it were not so the world would long since have been depopulated.
Do Not Get the Impression that we advocate a life of vice, or that we wish to minimize the dangers which confront an ignorant young man on every side. Venereal diseases have been and still are a terrible menace to civilization. Ill health, deformity, blindness, insanity, and misery are their silent partners in crime. But the mystery and the evasion, and the downright lies, and the exalted sense of false modesty have accomplished absolutely nothing. Isn’t it about time we came out in the open and faced the facts? Cannot we acknowledge that the root of the whole trouble lies in our ignorance of the book of life? Education, and education alone, will quickly banish these great plagues from the face of the earth.
Venereal Prophylaxis.—Among the means of improving the race we have already devoted a chapter to venereal ^ prophylaxis (pp. 30-35). Through a most wonderful discovery it is now possible to avoid venereal infection through the proper use of prophylactic measures. Nothing that we can do to prevent infection will justify illicit intercourse, but at the same time nothing that we have ever said or done has served to stamp out prostitution. Therefore anything that we can now do to prevent the^ awful consequences, must in the long run be a boon to civilization. Briefly, venereal prophylaxis consists in applying treatment for the disease before it is even contracted.284
The Venereal Diseases
Any reputable doctor can prevent infection if you report to him within twenty four hours of the exposure.
Other Means of Preventing Venereal Disease.—The
most important consideration in preventing venereal disease is cleanliness of the parts. If the glans penis is not absolutely clean it invites infections of all kinds. For this reason circumcision early in life is highly recommended. The operation is a simple one, and if it promotes cleanliness, prevents disease, and reduces the possibility of contracting bad habits, it must be worth while. Urination immediately after the act is a simple means of prevention because it tends to wash out the germs, and neutralize them with its acidity.
A Word of Advice.—If you have been foolish enough to expose yourself to venereal infection, without proper prophylactic treatment, and have contracted a venereal disease, then if you value your future health and happiness, if you value your life, heed this advice: Beware of the quacks, advertising doctors, and the proprietors of museums for men. In every town there are druggists or barbers who will tell you that a dose is no worse than a bad cold, that they can cure it in two weeks’ time. They outline a course of home treatment, but even if that treatment does stop the discharge, don’t think for a minute that you are cured. Its a real man sized job to cure any venereal disease. A good doctor who has a good education, and who keeps abreast of the times has his hands full. What chance has a drug clerk, or a barber, or a know it all friend?
Parents.—Any father or mother worthy of the name would far rather hear the truth from your own lips than to live in fear and anxiety. Take your medicine manfully, and make a clean breast of it. Contrary to the teachings of modern literature, you will have to search a long time before you will find a mother or a father who won’t stick to you through thick and thin under these circumstances, or take you to a responsible physician. If you have^ no parents, or if you cannot count on their help, which is just as bad, then ask some one responsible to recommend a good doctor.Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
285
(Glap—a dose—chordee—gleet—swollen testicle)
Definition.—Gonorrhea is on infection of the urethra. The germ is called gonococcus, and is so small that it can only be seen under a strong magnifying glass. (See accompanying illustration.)
THE GERMS OF GONORRHEA IN THE ACUTE STAGE (HIGHLY MAGNIFIED)
A catarrhal discharge from the penis looks exactly like a gonorrheal discharge until subjected to the glass, hence it is unwise to jump to conclusions before a careful examina-286
Gonorrhea
tion has been made. The presence of the gonococci in the discharge is conclusive proof of the disease.
Symptoms.—Gonorrhea causes so much discomfort that, unlike some other diseases such as syphilis, it cannot be ignored in its early stages. However, it generally takes from three to five days from the time of exposure before the patient knows that there is anything wrong. This is called the incubation stage. In other words it takes from three to five days for the germs to develop after the original infection. Next comes the prodromal stage in which there is a slight tickling or burning sensation in the end of the penis. Upon examination the urine will be found clear and there is no discharge. It is not until after the acute stage has been reached that the discharge appears. At first it is white and hardly noticeable. Later on it becomes more profuse, runs continually, and takes on a yellow greenish color. In this stage things go rapidly from bad to worse unless proper treatment is given. The penis becomes red and swollen, there is a very painful burning sensation at urination, and general discomfort. This stage ordinarily lasts from two to four weeks, but during the last week or ten days there may be some decrease in the discharge, and the painful symptoms. In the final or declining stage the discharge gradually disappears until at the end of five or six weeks the gonorrhea has entirely disappeared, there is no discharge, and no evidence of the disease in the urine.
^ The Great Difficulty.—The patient is apt to discon-* tinue the treatment before a cure has been effected. In such cases the disease persists indefinitely either as a morning drop, or as gleet. Perhaps neither of these symptoms is present and still the patient is subject to serious accidents and is a real danger to any woman with whom he has intercourse.
Do Not Be Deceived.—Gonorrhea is a serious disease. Occasionally it is very mild in its symptoms, but if it is neglected, or if not properly cured, painful early complications, and later, very serious ones are likely to occur. Common early complications are chordee, inflammation of the prostate, and bladder, and swollen testicle. Frequent later developments are gonorrheal rheumatism, disease of the heart, and stricture, all serious troubles. ^ Gonorrhea is the most common cause of sterility, and serious diseases of the pelvic organs in women. A drop of the discharge rubbed carelessly from the finger into the eyes will cause blindness. Thousands of children have been born into theGonorrhea	287
world totally blind, owing to a gonorrheal infection contracted at child birth.
The Time to Cure Gonorrhea—easily is early in its course. The sooner proper treatment is begun, the sooner gonorrhea can be controlled, and the less likely are serious complications. Gonorrhea can be completely cured, but in its treatment the victim must co-operate with his physician to the fullest extent. After the disease has become chronic, after the infection has spread to the prostate, the seminal vesicles, or to the testicles, then it may take months or years to cure it, and in some cases becomes absolutely incurable. This situation can never arise if ^ proper treatment is given early in the first stages, and if the doctor's instructions are faithfully carried out.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE HAVING
GONORRHEA
#
1.	Persist in treatment until your doctor tells you you are cured.
2.	Do not try to treat yourself.
3.	Do not use a patent medicine that may stop the discharge but will not cure you.
4.	Do not let an advertising doctor—a quack—get your money; or let a drug clerk treat you.
5.	During the acute stages keep quiet, and take little exercise, as long as there is any discharge. Avoid dancing.
6.	In order to avoid chordee, while the disease is acute, sleep on your side, urinate just before going to bed, and drink no water after supper.
7.	Never “break” a chordee. To get rid of it wrap the penis in cold wet cloths or pour cold water on it.
8.	Except at night, drink eight or ten glasses of water every day.
9.	Do not drink any alcoholic drinks. They make the disease worse and delay its cure. Also avoid spicy drinks as ginger ale, etc.
10.	Do not eat highly seasoned food.
11.	Always wash your hands after handling the penis. Gonorrhea of the eyes is very dangerous. It will produce blindness if not at once treated, and the infection is easily carried to the eyes on the fingers.
12.	Keep the penis clean. Do not plug up the opening with cotton or wear a dressing that prevents the escape of the pus. Wash the penis several times daily.
13.	Burn old dressings.288	Syphilis
14.	Never use another’s syringe or let some one else use yours. Wash the syringe in very hot water, and when you have finished with its use, destroy it.
15.	Avoid sexual excitement. Stay away from the women. Do not have intercourse. It will bring the disease back to you, and is almost sure to infect the woman. As such it is a criminal act.
16.	If you persist in following these instructions you will prevent relapse, make your cure much easier and more certain, and expose no one else to the disease.
Syphilis
(Pox—Old Rale—Lues)
Historical Facts.—Syphilis was unheard of in Europe until the year 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his sailors returned from America, bringing the dread disease from the Island of Haiti, where they had stopped. From Spain it spread rapidly and with deadly effect throughout the entire civilized world, until today the very name syphilis has become a synonym of terror and disgust. In 1905 Schaudinn and Hoffman made a discovery which was destined to have a profound effect on the history of civilization. They discovered the germ which causes, syphilis. A little later Metchnikoff and Roux and Maisonneuve invented or discovered an effective prophylaxis or prevention of syphilis, thus adding their names to the list of the world’s benefactors. Within the last fifteen years Bordet and Wasserman made possible a reliable blood test for syphilis, and Ehrlich and Hata developed salvarsan (606), one of the most powerful and valuable drugs used in the treatment and cure of the disease. And what is just as important, there has finally come a public awakening, an eagerness to face the facts, a demand for education and prevention, which must in the end sound the death knell for this third great plague.
The Result.—Because of these great discoveries and the change in the public attitude, the horrible examples of wasted and rotted humanity which we formerly observed as the victims of syphilis are gradually disappearing. Scientific treatment, early application for medical aid, and a general knowledge of health and hygiene, now make it possible for most patients to escape the third or destructive stage of the disease altogether.Syphilis	289
Koyy Syphilis Is Acquired.—There are three separate ways iiv which syphilis can be acquired, namely:
Direct Exposure.—The great' majority of syphiletic infections result from direct exposure, that is by direct contact with the chancre or mucous patches. Even when rigid prophylactic treatment is given infection may result from a kiss, or from the use of some infected toilet article.
Indirect Infection.—This leads us to a discussion of syphilis as a non venereal disease. Infection often comes from the careless use of drinking cups, towels, combs, tooth brushes, pencils, silverware, toilet seats, etc. This subject was discussed at some length in an article which recently appeared in the Illinois Health News. The author points out that 15 per cent of the population of any given country is infected ^ with disease in times of peace and that the percentage jumps up tremendously in time of war. Syphilis, he says, causes all cases of paresis and locomotor ataxia, and he deduces that 30—40 per cent of the inmates confined in State Hospitals are therefore victims of this disease. Sixty per cent of the heart diseases and a large percentage of the cases of total blindness are due to syphilis.
It Is a Most Appalling Fact when one considers that nearly one quarter of the cases of acquired syphilis are contracted innocently. The statistics at the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, show that 24.5 per cent of those appearing at the clinic of that hospital with the initial lesion of syphilis (the chancre) as their chief complaint, had the chancre situated extra-genitally, that is in a part of the body other than the genital organs, and had contracted it innocently. In Sweden where the disease was recently made a reportable one, the percentage of innocent infection is twenty three per cent.
The Chief ^ Danger.—The greatest propogator of syphilis is the ignorant girl who lives at home, and prostitutes her body through pure waywardness, and without any desire for monetary gain. The one hope for a clean healthy race is education. As one author has put it “if medicine could cure the ills of mankind, it is plain that long ago disease itself would have been banished from the earth.
Hereditary Syphilis.—The third way in which syphilis can be acquired is through inheritance, either from the father, from the mother, or from both parents. Correctly speaking the patient does not acquire the disease, he is born with it. When the mothers blood is tainted, the child rarely escapes. Without proper medical treatment when 19Syphilis	291
the mother is ^infected, there is likely to be a history of frequent abortions, ^ miscarriages, or premature births. As the force of the disease spends itself, living children may be born, but they start life with a heavy handicap and rarely survive. The symptoms of hereditary syphilis may be apparent at once,^ or they may develop in a few weeks or months. The child may appear to be in perfect health, may grow up, marry and have children, only to be stricken dpwn at the age of 35 or 40 years, because of his father’s sins. In such rare cases it is usually too late to do very much in the way of treatment, but a Wasserman test in infancy would have revealed the presence of the disease, and made a cure possible. Such a test should always be made even if the previously infected parents have received the doctor’s certificate of health and permission to marry.
Symptoms of Hereditary Syphilis—A child born with syphilis usually shows the following signs of the disease. Snuffling, a rash on the feet and hands, wizened features, blisters or lesions on the lips. With the advent of the second set of teeth, it has been noticed that in many cases the upper central incisors are notched. Frequently there is eye or ear trouble, wkh permanent blindness and deafness as a result.
THE COURSE OF SYPHIL.IS
Syphilis Is a Deceptive Disease.—Usually it is a very mild disease in its early stages, giving the person afflicted little or no distress. Because of this, the victim is likely to pay little attention to it, and fail to go to the trouble to have it thoroughly treated. But in spite of its mildness, syphilis may produce ugly deformities; destroy health and shorten life; produce blindness, and cause insanity. These results do not occur often enough to cause panic when you have the disease, but they are common enough to make it necessary for your safety that you make every effort to get rid of the disease. These accidents of syphilis never occur in the early stages of the disease. When they happen it is usually years after infection, in cases which have not been cured.
The Primary Stage—of syphilis is the one jn which the infection is confined to the one sore, the initial lesion, the chancre. In other words syphilis is a purely local disease which proper medical treatment can eradicate in a very short time. This is indeed the “golden opportunity” of syphilis. The germ gains admission to the body through a microscopic break in the mucuous surfaces of the mouthSyphilis
292
or genital organs. It remains dormant for a period of about three weeks, and then makes it's first appearance ai the chancre (pronounced shan'—ker).
The Chancre is a small hard lump under the skin, sometimes about the size of a pin head, and again growing to considerable size. It appears at the point of infection, usually on the genital organs although it may be anywhere. Sometimes it is in the urethra or in the vagina, and it is frequently concealed by some other infection such as an ulcer, a cold sore, or even a gonorrhea. It is therefore easy to see how the chancre is often entirely ignored, particularly as there is little if any pain or discomfort in this first stage.
THE GERM OF SYPHILIS HIGHLY MAGNIFIED. THE CIRCLES ARE RED BLOOD CELLSSyphilis
293
The Tests.—Here is where the discovery of the syph-iletic germ is valuable. It is a minute spiral shaped organism, visible only under the most powerful microscope. (See illustration.) Its presence leaves no doubt as to the nature of the disease, and makes early treatment possible, but a blood test ( Wasserman) should be given at the same time.^ ^ Even with a negative blood test and absence of the syphilis germs, there is no proof positive that syphilis is absent, and regular tests should be made subsequently.
The Swollen Glands.—It is the function of the lymph
glands to prevent the spread of infection throughout the body. Thus in the syphilitic the final symptom is the swelling of these glands in the neck or in the groin. Here is an unfailing indication that the disease is spreading, a distinct warning that the last chance for a simple cure is at hand. Without proper medical treatment now the germs gain admission to the blood in large quantities, and we come to the secondary stage.
The Secondary Stage of Syphilis.—This stage is the one in which the disease begins to affect the entire body. It is the period of eruptions. It begins about six weeks after the first appearance of the chancre, and may last for a year or even longer. The germs attack the nervous system, the heart, and other vital organs. They have been found in every part of the body. They are present in a nursing mother’s milk, and in the seminal fluid, not, however, in the egg or sperm cells.
Symptoms.—The chief symptom of the secondary stage is a rash on the chest, face, arms, palms of the hands and the feet. It is sometimes very faint, and may be entirely overlooked by the patient. In other cases there is a severe disfiguration. The eruption is usually a faint pink spot, although in some cases there may be a pimple like elevation, and occasionally we find large sores in the secondary stage. Other important symptoms are the mucous patches which appear in the throat, mouth, and on the genitals. These patches are in reality little ulcers, and are the most dangerous symptoms of the disease. Each little patch contains millions of syphilitic germs which are easily transferred from one person to another in a kiss or even in a cough. Coughing you know, is really explosive spitting, and is a dangerous source of disease. During the secondary stage the patient has a little fever, pains in the bones, eye troubles, the hair has a tendency to fall out, and finally there are dangerously contagious relapses, especially when294
Syphilis
the treatment has been carelessly or ignorantly given. These are evidenced by a general run down appearance, loss of weight, and by the reappearance of the mucous patches in the mouth and on the genitals.
The Tertiary Stage of Syphillis.—The final stage of syphilis is really the destructive one. No definite line divides the tertiary from the secondary stage. The tertiary stage is marked by the growth of tumors which we call gum-mata. There is no pain in connection with these swellings* but they eat away bone and tissue, leave ulcerating sores^ and may utterly destroy whole features or parts of the body. Let it be remembered, however, that with prompt and proper treatment, this stage need never be reached.
Late Syphilis.—Horrible as are the examples of syphilis in the skin and bones, yet the real terror of the disease comes from its attack on the nervous system, the heart, the arteries, and the brain. Probably about twenty percent of the syphilitic cases suffer with these later complications. Locomotor Ataxia, and Paresis are the two most common forms, although often syphilitic deaths are given out as due to Brights Disease or Heart Failure.
Locomotor Ataxia.—Is a disease of the spinal cord, marked by severe pains, incoordination, and disturbances of sensation. It may come on twenty-five or thirty years after the originial syphilitic infection. With recent improvements in the treatment of the disease, probably not more than one percent of syphilitics develop this particular complication.
Causes of Locomotor Ataxia.—Up until the year 1913 no one seemed to know exactly what the cause of this disorder was. However in that year syphilis was found to be the cause. The proof came when experiments discovered the germs of syphilis in the spinal cords of people who had died with locomotor ataxia.
Symptoms.—A great many different symptoms may develop among sufferers with this disease. They are readily recognized by their peculiar jerky walk, by their lack of coordination and by their seeming loss of balance. The germs act on the lower end of the spine first so that it is usually the lower limbs which are affected first. As the germs work higher other troubles begin such as blindness or deafness. In connection with the nervous trouble the stomach is often thrown out of order with excruciating pain and discomfort for the patient. As the disease progresses during a course of years the sufferer gradually loses all controlSyphilis	295
over his body and its functions, and when death finally comes it is often a blessing in disguise.
Treatment.—When locomotor ataxia is once acquired, it is usually too late to accomplish very much in the way of treatment. The damage once done is beyond repair. In the very first stages, however, it is possible to keep the disease from getting any worse by skillful medical treatment. Injections are now made directly into the spinal cord with encouraging results.
General Paralysis (softening of the brain—paresis).— This is a common after effect of syphilis when the treatment has not been properly given. It is insanity characterized by progressive mental degeneration, general paralysis, ¿nd mental delusions. The estimate given out that from 10 to 20 percent of all inmates of insane asylums are suffering with some form of syphilitic insanity gives some idea of the prevalence of this disease. Both locomotor ataxia and general paralysis are occasionally present in the same person.
Symptoms.—This disease comes on quite suddenly. First there is a loss of will power, judgment and moral control. It is at this period that the greatest danger lies, because terrible things may happen before any one realizes that an abnormal condition exists. There are temporary improvements even without treatment, but as a rule the case progresses to stark insanity and to death within three or four years.
Treatment.—The only safe place for a^ paresic sufferer is in an institution. If left at large he is a danger to himself and to the community. Modern medical science, unfortunately, has not yet evolved any effective means of treatment or cure.
THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS
Syphilis Can Positively Be Cured.—The earlier in its course syphilis is treated, the better are the results. It is of the utmost importance to future health and happiness that the disease be promptly and skillfully treated. If you do this, there is little danger that you will have further trouble, and after a few years you can marry without danger to your wife or to your future children. Any reputable physician can attend to the treatment of your condition, but it rests on you to do your part. Successful treatment and permanent cure can not be accomplished without the full cooperation of the patient.296	Syphilis
Permanent Cure Requires Time.—One of the difficult things about syphilis is that to cure it often requires a long time—two years or more. In two or three weeks after treatment is begun, the victim will not know from any symptom that he has syphilis, and is likely to neglect further treatment. This is the great mistake that many persons with syphilis make. To insure future safety, treatment must be continued long after all evidence of the disease has disappeared.
Syphilis Is Contagious but it spreads only by contact with the virus or poison. The parts of the body that most often carry the poison are the mouth and the genitals (privates). In order not to spread the disease, care must be taken in association with others.
Drugs.—<It is not our purpose to consider the medical treatment of syphilis. Home cures are as a rule highly unsatisfactory, and positively dangerous. Most any disease is bad enough, but the consequences of badly treated syphilis are so terrible, that the very best available physician should be consulted just as soon as there is the slightest suspicion or indication of venereal trouble. But there are three valuable drugs used in the treatment of syphilis: arsphenamine (salvarsan or 606), mercury, and idoine. Of these salvarsan is the most recently discovered. For some reason various quack doctors ridicule the use of mercury as an aid to the cure of syphilis, hence it should be generally known that reputable doctors do not rely on any one drug, but they employ all three in the satisfactory treatment of the disease. The United States Government in a pamphlet issued by the Department of Public Health outlines a complete course of treatment and advocates the use of mercury, salvarsan, and iodine.*
This was used during the war for the control and cure of venereal disease with remarkably good results. Every venereal patient should send to Washington for a copy of this book, and study it carefully. It will make cooperation and mutual understanding possible between physician and patient.
General Treatment.—But there are other equally important considerations in the cure of syphilis, besides the use of drugs. General good health is of paramount significance. Rest, good food, fresh air, and cleanliness ar essential to the success of the medical program. The follow-
*Note: A manual of treatment of venereal diseases—Civilian Edi* tion—U. S. Public Health Service, Washington, D. C.Syphilis	29 7
ing instructions for those suffering with syphilis should be rigidly followed out:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE HAVING SYPHILIS
1.	If you have any sore on your genitals, no matter how small, or if you think you have syphilis, report immediately to the best physician available.
2.	Do not under any circumstances rely on blood medicines, advertising doctors, or druggists’ prescriptions. Above every thing else avoid the quack doctors who agree to take your money and cure you quickly.
3.	Do not hesitate to tell your doctor or your dentist of your disease. Later in life when you are sick, the fact that you have had syphilis should be made known to the doctor.
4.	Live temperately and sensibly.
5.	Get at least eight hours of sleep and for safety sake sleep alone.
6.	You should not use tobacco in any form.
7.	Absolutely do not use alcoholic liquors. Even moderate drinking is bad for syphilis.
8.	Do not have any sexual intercourse until you are told by your physician that you are no^ longer contagious. # It will interfere with the cure of the disease, and is a criminal offense.
9.	You must not marry until you have your physician’s consent, which may not be properly given until at least two years have elapsed after cure seems complete. If -you do, you run the grave risk of infecting both your wife and your unborn children.
10.	Do not kiss anyone. Cups, glasses, knives, forks, and spoons, pipes, cigars, tooth picks, and anything else which has come in contact with your lips must not be left around so that anybody can use them before they are cleansed. This is particularly important in the early contagious stages of the malady. It is safest to use your own towels, brushes, soap, etc.
11.	If you have any open sores—you will not have any after the first week or two—everything that comes in contact with them must be destroyed or disinfected.
If you live up to these simple instructions there is ever$ chance that syphilis will not do your health permanent harm, nor cause injury to others; and you will have acted the part of a man in overcoming your misfortune.298
Chancroids
The Wasserman Test is a blood test for syphilis. A sample of the blood is drawn out and examined for the syphilitic germs. If the reaction is positive, syphilis is indicated; if the reaction is negative, it is supposed to prove the absence of the germs in the blood. Therefore it is the best proof of cure we have. It must always be remembered, however, that the test is not absolute. In a certain small percentage of cases the test shows a positive reaction when the disease is cured, and a negative reaction when the germs are still present. The great danger is that after one negative showing the patient becomes over confident, and stops the treatment in the belief that a permanent cure has been completed. If you have ever had syphilis, the only safe way is to establish a life rule of having tests made regularly every year. By so doing the reappearance of any dangerous symptom will be promptly noted and remedial measures taken before it is too late.
Chancroids
(Soft Chancre)
Definition.—A Chancroid or soft chancre is a small eruption or ulcer, occurring on the genitals. The ulcer infects other delicate parts with the result that they spread rapidly, and are rarely found alone. (The syphilitic chancre is usually single.)
Causes.— Chancroid, more than gonorrhea or syphilis, is a disease of the careless and dirty. It is relatively uncommon among clean people. It is readily prevented by prompt prophylactic treatment; simple washing with^ soap and water after coitus greatly reduces the risk of infection with it.
Symptoms.—Chancroids appear first as little yellow spots. They swell up and burst, discharging a bloody pus. The spots appear very soon after exposure. The innocula-tion period in syphilis is from two to three weeks longer than it is in chancroid.
Treatment.—For this reason every case of chancroid must be regarded as a possible case of syphilis. The syphilitic chancre may emerge only in the healing chancroid, and thus escape detection. In addition to repeated examinations for syphilis germs, blood tests should be made at weekly intervals for six weeks, and the patient kept under close observation for at least two months. If there is anythingChancroids
299
at all the matter with your genitals, or if you have the slightest suspicion that you are coming down with a venereal disease, don’t flirt with locotomor ataxia or insanity or the undertaker. GO TO A GOOD DOCTOR.
Local Treatment.—Chancroid is a purely local disease. If they are taken in time the ulcers may be burned out under anasthetics with a hot iron or with some strong chemical caustic. Sometimes, of course, this method cannot be employed because of the danger of deformity when the ulcer is located in a spot which makes the abortive treatment out of the question. In all such cases reliance is placed on cleanliness and the use of antiseptics. The first principle is to keep the sores free from pus, and to prevent the spread of this pus to other parts of the body.
General Treatment.—In order to hasten recovery, the patient should be put to bed, kept clean, and given a nourishing diet. Rest not only makes for a prompt healing of the sores, but greatly reduces the danger of bubo. Destructive chancroids are seen only on the dirty and debilitated. If patients with chancroids are kept clean and well nourished, healing is usually prompt and extensive ulceration very rarely seen.
Bubo . is a swelling or formation of pus in the glands in the groin. It is the most serious complication of chancroid, and usually results when chancroid patients are not put to bed, try home cures, or are ignorantly and carelessly treated by quack physicians. It is an extremely painful ailment and requires the immediate aid of a capable physician. The swelling in the groin resulting from syphilis is not painful.
Treatment.—The patient should have complete rest. Apply hot applications. If the glands fill up with pus the surgeon’s knife may be necessary in order to establish drainage. When an operation of this kind is performed six or seven days are usually required to close and heal the wound.
Some Interesting Statistics on Venereal
Diseases
In many European countries cases of venereal disease in general, and of syphilis in particular must be reported to the medical authorities. This is not the law in the United States. Consequently it is extremely difficult to collect trustworthy data on the prevalence of the diseases.SAFETY FIRSTThe Venereal Diseases
301
The Moral Obligation Is Not Enough.—Every man with a venereal disease owes it to himself, to his family, and to the community to report that disease to a physician, and to secure prompt treatment. Laws ought to be passed making the moral obligation a legal one, and providing suitable penalties for its evasion. Every case ought to be registered with the proper governmental official. No man ought to be allowed to marry, or to have children, or to fulfil the marriage obligation until he has received a clean bill of health from the authorities. Such an examination is required by all life insurance companies. Why not force a man to insure the future health and happiness of his children, when it is within his power to do so?
In the U. S. Army during the Great War report of venereal disease was required, and it was a court martial offense for a soldier to expose himself to venereal infection without reporting to his medical officer for prophylactic treatment. As a result we have accurate facts and figures on venereal infections among several millions of our best fitted, and most patriotic young men.
COMPARISON OF VENEREAL DISEASES WITH OTHER DISEASES IN THE U. S. ARMY* Sept. 21, 1917—May 31, 1918
Venereal Diseases per 1000 men...................102.3
Other Communicable diseases such as
pneumonia, typhoid, etc....................... 29.4
VENEREAL DISEASES BEFORE AND AFTER
ENLISTMENT
Oct. 25, 1917—May 10, 1918
Cases acquired before enlistment...........................5
Cases acquired after enlistment.............................1
Control of Venereal Disease Is a Civic Problem.—
The above diagrams prove that most of the infections in the Army originated not in the Cities near the Army camps, but in the home towns from which the men came, and the cities through which they passed on the way to camp. The amount of venereal disease contracted after enlistment is astonishingly small. The same facts are borne out by the following tables. They show where the worst conditions exist.
* During the year ending in September, 1918, there were 170,000 cases of venereal disease in the United States Army. This means a loss of two and one-half million training days, not to mention the cost rf medical care and hospital equipment.302
The Venereal Diseases
^PERCENTAGE OF VENEREAL DISEASES AMONG THE SECOND MILLION DRAFTED MEN IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY BY STATES
1.	Vermont ........1.30%
2.	South Dakota.... 1.53
3.	Porto Rico ......1.67
4.	Utah ............1.83
5.	North Dakota.... 1.85
6.	New Hampshire.. 1.85
7.	Hawaii ..........1.96
8.	Wisconsin .......2.01
9.	Alaska ......... 2.13
10.	Oregon ..........2.19
11.	Idaho ...........2.21
12.	Wyoming .........2.25
13.	Massachusetts	...2.31
14.	Minnesota .......2.31
15.	Maine ...........2.35
16.	Colorado ........2.39
17.	Connecticut .....2.59
18.	Rhode Island.....2.67
li9. California .....2.67
20.	Washington ......2.82
21.	Iowa ............2.88
22.	New York.........2.91
23.	Kansas ..........2.92
24.	Nebraska ........3.00
25.	Nevada ..........3.09
26.	Montana .........3.31
27.	New Jersey.......3.41%
28.	Pennsylvania ....3.58
29.	Kentucky ... ...3.81
30.	Ohio ...........4.01
31.	Michigan .......4.34
32.	Indiana ........4.53
33.	Arizona ........4.59
34.	Illinois .......4.96
35.	West Virginia____5.15
36.	Missouri .......6.10
37.	Maryland .......6.23
38.	Tennessee ......6.26
39.	New Mexico.......6.71
40.	North Carolina. .6.75
41.	Virginia .......6.91
42.	Delaware .......7.24
43.	Dist. of Columbia7.53
44.	Oklahoma ...... .7.79
45.	Arkansas .......9.93
46.	Alabama .......10.32
47.	Texas .........11.02
48.	Louisiana .....11.21
49.	Mississippi ...12.48
50.	South Carolina. .12.66
51.	Georgia .......13.03
52.	Florida .......15.63
f PERCENTAGE OF VENEREAL DISEASES AMONG THE SECOND MILLION DRAFTED MEN FROM THE LARGER CITIES
New York.............2.44%
Boston ..............2.57
Los Angeles..........3.17
Philadelphia ........3.73
Pittsburgh ..........4.33
Cleveland ...........4.44%
Chicago .............5.71
Detroit .............6.23
Baltimore ...........7.28
St. Louis............8.58
* Explanation: 5 per cent means five out of every one hundred. In other words out of every one hundred young men from Nebraska who went to Army Camps in the second draft during the great war, three had venereal disease which they had contracted in civilian life.
f Explanation: this means that among every one hundred soldiers who were drafted from St. Eouis between eight and nine had a venereal infection.The Venereal Diseases
303
The City of 50,000 or more population with the lowest percentage of infection was Bayonne, N. Jersey, with .82% or less than one in each hundred. Twenty-two from East St. Louis, Illinois, and over twenty-seven from Savannah, Georgia out of every hundred were the highest percentages. In this connection it is interesting to note the statistics among the larger cities and from the States as a whole. It has been generally supposed that the big majority of the diseases were to be found in the larger cities. Yet look at New York City with the largest population of any city in the country with a venereal record of only 2.44% when the state of New York had a percentage of 2.91. The percentages in most of the other large cities ran about on an equal with their respective States. „ This leads one inevitably to the conclusion that vice is not by any means confined to the large centers of population. It is a nation wide campaign which confronts us with the necessity of spreading our propaganda even unto the hamlets and the rural districts.
Personal Responsibility for the transmission of venereal disease has been upheld recently by both civil and criminal courts. The United States Public Health Service informs us that in Oklahoma a man has been sentenced to the penitentiary for five years as a punishment for infecting a girl with syphilis. In Nebraska the court upheld a doctor who warned a hotelkeeper that one of his patients, a guest at the hotel, had syphilis and had refused treatment, and was consequently a menace to the public health. In North Carolina a woman has been awarded $10,000 damages against her husband for a similar infection, and the Supreme Court upheld the judgment.
Thus it is no longer possible to violate the common laws of decency without running the danger of a severe legal penalty. These convictions are a great forward step in the campaign for decency.PART 8
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH AND HYGIENE
HEALTH AND SEXUAL VIGOR OLD AGE DEFERRED
THE DEATH SENTENCE EATING OURSELVES TO DEATH
TABLES OF HEIGHTS, WEIGHTS AND AGES
CALORIC VALUES OF RAW FOOD MATERIALS EAT AND GROW THIN ADVICE TO THIN PEOPLE THE VALUE OF EXERCISE DEEP BREATHING EXERCISE FOR BUSY FOLKS TEN HEALTH COMMANDMENTS
PRACTICAL POINTS ON PERSONAL HYGIENE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON HEALTH TUBERCULOSIS COMMUNICABLE DISEASES SANITATION VITAL STATISTICS CHILD HYGIENE LABORATORIES VENEREAL DISEASES
20THE SCHOOLHOUSE BOOKSHELF.
A NEW BOOK THAT MAKES THE THREE R’S WORTH WHILE.
WHO AM I?
I am more powerful - than the combined armies of the world.
I am more deadly than bullets, and I have wrecked more homes than the mightiest of siege guns.
I steal in the United States alone over $300,000,000 each year.
I spare no one, and find my victims among the rich and poor alike, the young and old, the strong and the weak.
I massacre thousands upon thousands of wage-earners in a year.
I lurk in unseen places, and do most of my work silently. You are warned against me, but you heed not.
306The Death Sentence
307
I am relentless. I am everywhere; in the home, on the street, in the factory, at railroad crossings, and on the sea.
I bring sickness, degradation and death, and yet few seek to avoid me.
I destroy, crush and maim; I give nothing, but take all. I am your worst enemy;
I AM CARELESSNESS.
—Rhode Island Health Monitor.
The Death Sentence
The vast majority of us come into the world with good bodies and with good minds. We have a firm physical, mental and moral foundation on which to build. As children we romp and play, and as young people the athletic side of life is our chief consideration. Consequently we are in good health, we arrive at manhood and womanhood with infinite possibilities facing us, having lived our lives as nature intended. But when we begin the business of life in earnest we are all too busy with other things to bother about our physical bodies until all of a sudden they begin to break down—to wear out.
Health and Sex.—One of the very first symptoms of this coming breakdown is the lessening of sexual vigor. Boys or girls who have been indiscreet in their habits, find themselves on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The married man who through ignorance has been guilty of excesses gradually develops into a condition of complete impotence. The mature woman who does not lead a satisfactory sex life suffers from extreme nervousness and chronic congestion. Sexual mistakes at any time of life number among their inevitable consequences impaired health and unhappiness.
The Real Cure Is Prevention.—We have already discussed at some length the symptoms, causes, and treatment of the various disorders of the sexual function. Special stress has been laid upon hygienic measures as the big things in their treatment and cure. We now go a step farther and boldly assert that with proper living, sexual disorders would soon he the exception rather than the rule. In other words right living will not only aid in the cure of sexual diseases, but it will absolutely prevent them. ^ The sexual function is easily thrown out of kilter by any little derangement of the' digestion, the respiratory organs, the circula-308
The Death Sentence
tion, or the nervous system. Do away with the physical ills and you abolish, to a large extent at least, the sexual troubles.
And Finally, most of the sexual disorders are due to sexual excesses which would be impossible under a system of right living. To go back to the examples given, what place has masturbation in the life of a boy or girl who lives much in the open air, who eats good food, and whose mind is fully occupied with wholesome tasks and healthy recreations? Why mention sexual excesses in a man whose digestion is good, who takes a long brisk walk every morning, who has learned that temperance means moderation, and whose mind is absorbed in the problems of his family, his business, his Church, and his community? And you need never worry about the woman who believes that health comes first, who keeps abreast of the times in politics, education, home economics, and home building, and whose spare time is devoted to the finer things of life. As long as we have good health we have everything, without it'we have nothing.
Our Program—And so in the final chapters of this edition we will endeavor to tell you how to eat, how to breathe, how to exercise, how to grow young. In other words we will tell you how to live. Such a campaign faithfully laid out, and honestly carried out will enable you to enjoy life in its fullest, its richest meaning, will make you successful in your business, your religion, your family life, and will force old man “Old Age” to take a back seat until his proper time comes. There are just two paths open to you. By following the simple, unassuming route laid out by Nature, you may grow young at fifty, retaining all your physical, mental, and sexual powers until you have become a joy to your Insurance Companies. The other path, mapped out along modern lines, more pleasing to the eye, yet undermined by the sloughs of ignorance, carelessness, and liscentiousness, leads but to premature old age, and to unhappiness. Which will you be, an old man at forty, or a young man at fifty? The time to decide is right now.
Who Is to Blame? Does the average man realize that he is shortening his life by the little things he does, and the little things he does not do every day? In a rather subconscious way he does, but he rarely allows that realization to interrupt the even tenor of his way. Does the average man blame himself for the breakdown when it actually comes? Not by any means. He rails at Fate. He was always out of luck anyway. He wilfully overlooks the factEVERY GIRL’S AMBITION310
The Death Sentence
that every day of his life, for years and years, he has been violating the simple laws of nature through sheer carelessness.
Why We Grow Old.— It is one of Nature’s laws that all of us must grow old. It is a sad and melancholy fact, however, that most of us, (about 90%) grow old long before our time. Confining indoor work, poor ventilation, intemperance, a lack of proper physical exercise, and an unhygienic mode of life are all witnesses for the prosecution in this almost universal murder trial. The verdict is death, perhaps at forty, probably at fifty, and certainly before sixty, with years of impaired usefulness preceding the final penalty. The human body can stand a great deal of punishment. The system can become accustomed to almost anything. But every crime we commit against ourselves must be answered for in the days to come. If we start to live the simple life now, it means health—a good digestion —sound sleep—a clear head—sexual satisfaction—contentment.
Long Life and Efficiency.—The preparation for health must begin years before marriage. The Bible says we cannot gather figs from thistles. Like produces like. There is a cause for every effect, and even though the influence of heredity has been greatly exaggerated in past years, we cannot hope for healthy children from unhealthy parents. As an illustration of the modern tendency, when a young girl is married, the busybodies invariably ask: “Did she do well?” Do they refer to the man’s health, his industry, his ambition, his morality? Never. Wealth and social position are the important considerations. Children unfortunately cannot pick or choose when it comes to the selection of parents. But to a certain extent parents may, through right living and proper selection, determine what kind of children they will have. In any program for the prevention of premature old age this fact must be emphasized.
Age and Disease.—The death rate is highest under one year of age. Most of the infantile deaths are due to heredity, and the rest to ignorance. On the other hand the death rate is lowest between the ages of ten to fourteen years, a period in which mankind most nearly approaches the simple life which he was intended to live. The period between the ages of twenty and forty years is also one of great resistance to disease, although the statistics show that tuberculosis and typhoid fever are to be guarded against as the principal causes of death at this period. ^ From forty to sixty is the age of the old men’s diseases, Brights DiseaseHEALTHFUL OUTDOOR EXERCISE312
Longevity
arid Cancer. It is during this time that the price of earlier ignorance and foolhardiness is paid to the last cent. But let a man arrive at sixty in good health, with his faculties unimpaired, and he may not only count on ten to fifteen years of increasing efficiency in his business, but he may look forward to a ripe, healthy, happy old age. Such are the facts as indicated in the mortality statistics of the leading life insurance companies. They warn us to be on the watch for the slightest indication of disease. A thorough medical examination at least once a year after the first quarter of a century would be a good investment.
Old Age in Women.—It is a fact that women live longer than men, at least more of them die of old age. This is because of a fundamental difference in the mode of life. As a rule women are not subjected to the hurry, the worry, and the strain of a business career. They do less traveling, eat better meals, and take better care of themselves than their more active and nomadic husbands.
Longevity
The following table exhibits very recent mortality statistics, showing the average duration of life among persons of
various classes:
Employment	Years.
Judges ...............................65
Farmers ..............................64
Bank Officers ........................64
Coopers ..............................58
Public Officers ......................57
Clergymen ............................56
Shipwrights ..........................55
Ha,tiers .............................54
Lawyers ..............................54
Rope Makers............................54
Blacksmiths ..........................51
Merchants ............................51
Calico Printers ......................51
Physicians ...........................51
Butchers .............................50
Carpenters ...........................49
Masons ...............................48
Traders ..............................46
Tailors ..............................44TWELVE-5IGNS0FTHEIDIAC.
f
HORSE 5H0E-P0R. LUCK-
STOCKIHS ABOUT -NECK for SORE THROAT.
¡DOG tlAlRS APPLIED iTO BITE TO PREVENT, RABIES.
FOUR LEAP CLOVER) 1N.5H0E FOR LUCK.'
GRAPE LEAF IN HAT to PREVENT SUNSTROKE.
‘AMBER BEADS
TO-PREVENT
GOITRE.
BAG OF ASAFETIDA TO-PREVENT CONTAGIOH)
J
WIRE ABOUT ■WAISTtoPREVCMH RHEUMATISM,
BUCKEYE in-POCKETtoPREVENT RHEUMATISM.
A
é
'MINOIS SWre-OEPACTMENT orHSALTM ~Oltt00N-M*66
IT’S JUST AS WELL NOT TO KNOW SO MUCH AS TO KNOW SO MANYTHINGS THAT AINT SO”314	Eating Ourselves to Death
Employment	Years.
Jewelers .............................44
Manufacturers ........................43
Bakers ...............................43
Painters .............................43
Shoemakers ...........................43
Mechanics ............................43
Editors .............................. 40
Musicians ............................39
Printers .............................38
Machinists ...........................36
Teachers .............................34
Clerks ...............................34
Operatives ...........................32
“It will be easily seen, by these figures, how a quiet or tranquil life affects longevity. The phlegmatic man will live longer, all other things being equal, than the sanguine, nervous individual. Marriage is favorable to longevity, and it has also been ascertained that women live longer than men.”
Eating Ourselves to Death
The greatest crime we commit against our bodies is that of improper eating. Not one person in a hundred knows how, or when, or how much to eat, and as eating is the most important of bodily functions, the wonder is that we ever survive. We eat combinations of food which instead of nourishing the body, actually poison it—instead of building up, destroy it. We eat the wrong kinds of food in the wrong proportions, and at the wrong time. In other words we eat just what we feel like eating. We do not know or particularly care whether we are eating properly or improperly.
Right Eating Is Your Only Chance to Attain Long Life.-—This is no propaganda, just a plain statement of fact. Recognize it as such and put the following few simple rules into practice, and then continue the practice until it becomes a habit.
1. Make a Diagnosis.—Find out what you should weigh at your age and height. The accompanying table will give you this information and enable you to diagnose your case properly. This will tell you how far in either direction your faulty eating has taken you away from the highroad to health.55
to
59
134
136
138
140
143
146
150
154
158
163
168
173
179
185
192
199
206
Standard Table of Heights and Weights
MEN
Weights According to Age Period
15
to
19
111
113
115
118
121
124
128
132
136
140
144
148
153
158
163
168
173
20
to
24
117
119
121
124
127
131
135
139
142
146
150
154
158
163
168
173
178
25
to
29
122
124
126
128
131
134
138
142
146
150
154
158
163
169
175
181
187
30
to
34
125
127
129
131
134
137
141
145
149
154
158
163
168
174
180
186
35
to
39
127
129
131
133
136
140
144
148
152
157
162
167
172
178
184'
191
197
40
to
44
130
132
134
136
139
142
146
150
154
159
164
169
175
181
187
194
201
45
to
49
132
134
136
138
141
144
148
152
156
161
166
171
177
183
190
197
204Standard Table of Heights and Weights
WOMEN
Heights
Weights According
to Age Period
		15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55
Ft.	Ins.	to	to	to	to	to	to	to	to	to
		19	24	29	34	39	44	49	54	59
4	11	110	113	116	119	122,.	126	129	131	132
5	0	112	115	118	121	124	128	131	133	134
	1	114	117	120	123	126	130	133	135	137
	2	117	120	122	125	129	133	136	138	140
	3	120	123	125	128	132	136	139	141	143
	4	123	126	129	132	136	139	142	144	146
	5	126	129	132	136	140	143	146	148	150
	6	130	133	136	140	144	147	151	152	153
	7	134	137	140	144	148	151	155	157	158
	8 ^	138	141	144	148	152	155	159	162	163
	9	141	145	148	152	156	159	163	166	167
	10	145	149	152	155	159	162	166	170	173
	11	150	153	155	158	162	166	170	174	17/
6	0	155	157	159	162	165	169	173	177	182Eating Ourselves to Death	317
2. Study the Food Problem.—The next step is to learn something about food values, about calories, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamines, metabolism, etc. These are not just medical terms. They mean something. They concern your good health, and consequently your happiness.
Proteins are the building and repairing foods. They are found chiefly in meats, fish, game, eggs, cheese, milk and in peas and beans.
Fats are found principally in butter, cream, oil, lard, bacon and pork.
Carbohydrates are the sugars and starches, found in potatoes, rice, cereals, candy, and in fruits and vegetables.
Vitamines are the much discussed food properties so necessary to the vitality of man. They are found in such foods as fresh, unpasturized milk, citrus fruits, and fresh vegetables.
Regulating Foods such as vegetables, fruits, greens, and all bulky foods are necessary to the normal function of the body. They create a chemical activity and leave a large residue in the intestines thus promoting regular movements.
Metabolism means simply the changes which take place in the food from the time it enters the body until it is utilized or discarded.
What Is Fat?—Fat is an oversupply of food that has neither been used or discarded. It is stored up for future use. As such it is a useless, harmful burden to carry around. It interferes with the normal working of the body. It is a direct cause of indigestion, rheumatism, gout, liver trouble, Brights Disease, and similar troubles.
What Is a Calorie?—A calorie is a heat unit. Foods enter the body as fuel and every food has a different caloric value, or number of heat units. The body requires a scertain amount of these heat units. If it receives too many units, there will be overweight. If it receives too few units there will be a loss of weight.
How Many Calories Do We Require?—The average man requires about 2500 calories; the average woman, 2300; children, two to five years of age, 1200; children five to ten, 1400—1900 calories; ages ten to fourteen, 1900—2500 calories. Boys from fourteen to seventeen years require from 2500—3000 calories, while girls of the same age should have only from 2200—2600 daily.	,
Or to put the matter another way, the average adult needs about 15 calories per pound of normal weight. In, child-318
Calorie Values
hood about 35 calories per pound are the usual requirements. In old age the caloric needs are less, only about 10 to 12 per pound of normal weight. Thus a man thirty years old, five feet, ten inches tall should weigh about 163 lbs., and require a total of 2445 calories per day.
The following table gives the necessary facts and figures about the various foods we eat, and should be frequently consulted in planning the family meals.
APPROXIMATE CALORIC VALUE OF RAW FOOD MATERIALS TOGETHER WITH PERCENTAGE OF PROTEIN, FAT, AND CARBOHYDRATE
			Percentage of .		
Material	Quantity	Number of Calories	Protein	R	Carbo-1 hydrates
Cereals					
Barley, Pearl	1 cup	755	10	3	87
Bran	1 “	218	14	6	80
Bread Crumbs,	1 “	373	14	4	82
dried					
Bread Crumbs,	1 “	147	14	4	82
soft					
Corn Meal	1	504	10	5	85
Corn Starch	1 “	459	0	0	100
Flour, Graham	1 “	508	15	6	79
Flour, White,	1 “	395	12	4	84
sifted					
Macaroni, broken	1 “	355	15	2	83
Oatmeal	1 “	636	17	16	67
Rolled Oats	1 “	280	17	16	67
Rice	1 “	867	9	1	90
Chocolate, bitter	1 square	173	8	72	20
Cocoa, dry	1 cup	634	17	53	30
Crackers, Boston	1 pound	1885	13	9	78
Dairy Products Butter, See Fats					
Cheese, American	1 cup	498	26	71	3
(fresh)	1 pound	1993	26	71	3
Condensed Milk,					
sweetened	1 cup	1067	11	23	66Calorie Values
319
			Percentage oe		
Material		J-i tn			
	• H 4->	<u <u *rj	«		<u n m
	ot	C o o	o		
	a	& a	P-<	aj Ph	ÔÈ
Dairy Products					
Condensed Milk,					
unsweetened	1 cup	427	23	51	26
Skimmed Milk	1 “	88	37	7	56
Whole Milk	1 “	160	20	52	28
Cream	X “	100	5	86	9
Eggs	1	75.	36	64	0
Eggs, White	1	14	97	3	0
Eggs, Yolk Fats	1	56	20	80	0
Butter	1 cup	1802	1	99	0
	1 pound	3605	1	99	0
Crisco	1 cup	2136	0	100	0
	1 pound	4273	0	100	0
Lard	1 cup	2110	0	100	0
	1 pound	4220	0	100	0
Oleomargarine	1 cup 1 pound	1492 3410	1 1	99 99	0 0
Olive Oil	1 cup 1 “	1600 749	0 3	100 97	0 0
Suet	1 pound	3424	3	97	0
Fruits					
Apricots, dried	1 “	1260	7	3	90
Blackberries	1 cup	200	9	16	75
Concord Grapes	1 large				
Cranberries	bunch	100	5	15	80
	1 cup	46	4	11	85
Currants, dried	i “	502	3	5	92
Dates, dried	1 “	508	2	7	91
(unstoned)	1 pound	1416	2	7	91
Figs, chopped	1 cup 1 pound	507 1437	5 5	1 1	94 94
Lemon Juice Pineapple (canned	^2 cup	44	0	0	100
grated) Apple, baked	1 “	369	1	4	9b
(with sugar)	1 large	200	1	! 3	95
Bananas	1 “	100	5	6	B9
Cantaloupe	X “	50	6	0	94
Cranberry Sauce	Va cup	100	0	1	99
Dates	1 “	25	2	7	91320
Calorie Values
			Percentage oe		
Material	>> 4-> a	t-4 «» O 4> JD •»* g'S O	S3 <u +->		CO 0* • +-» O c3
	3 a	O	o u *	*» PM	Jh T3 <3£
Fruits					
Figs, dried	1 cup	67	5	1	94
Grape Fruit Olives, Green	1 medium	100	7	4	89
	2 “	30	1	83	16
Oranges	1 large	100	6	3	91
Peach	1 “	40	7	2	91
Prunes, Stewed	Ya cup	200	2	0	98
Raisins	54 “	100	3	9	88
Gelatine	1 ounce	106	100	0	0
Maple Syrup Meats and Fish	1 cup	976	0	0	100
(edible portion) Beef, Sirloin					
Steak	1 pound	1143	31	69	0
Beef, Round	1 “	950	54	46	0
Beef, Tongue	1 “	727	47	53	0
Chicken, young	1 “	500	79	21	0
Clams, long	1 pint	240	56	8	36
Cod	1 pound	326	95	5	0
Fowl*	1 “	1050	35	65	0
Goose	1 “	1818	16	84	0
Halibut	1 “	571	61	39	0
Ham	1 “	1940	29	71	0
Lamb, forequarter	1 “	1430	25	75	0
Liver	1 “	605	61	39	0
Lobster	1 “	390	78	20	2
Mackerel	1 “	645	50	50	0
Mutton, Leg	1 “	1105	41	59	0
Oysters	1 pint	230	49	22	29
Salt Pork, fa4-	1 pound	3670	2	98	0
Shad	1 “	762	46	54	0
Turkey	1 “	1333	29	71	0
Veal, Breast	1 “	840	47	53	0
Bacon	1 thin slice	25	13	87	0
Dried Beef (creamed)	y3 cup cake ~/$	100	16	65	19
Hamburg Steak	in. thick				
(broiled)	2y2 in. diam.	100	55	45	0Calorie Values
321
Percentage oe
Material	Quantity	Number of Calories	Protein	+-» CJ &	Carbo- hydrates
Meats and Fish (cooked) Roast Beef	slice 5 in. x 2% in. x %. in.	100	46	54	0
Stewed Beef with	1 cup	290	14	24	62
Dumplings					
Lamb Chops	1 kidney chop	125	24	76	0
Pork Chops	1 loin chop	200	18	82	0
Sausage	2 small	100	20	78	2
Clams (raw)	8	50	56	8	36
Codfish Balls	1, 2 in. in diam.	100	14	65	21
Creamed Codfish	J/2 cup	100	32	46	22
Oysters (raw)	6 cups	50	49	22	29
Salmon (canned)	V2 CUp	100	45	55	0
Molasses	1 “	976	3	0	97
Nuts (shelled)					
Almonds	1 “	734	13	76	11
Peanuts	1 “	663	19	63	18
Peanut Butter	y3 “	640	19	69	12
Pecans	1 “	1145	5	87	8
Walnuts	1 “	600	11	82	7
Sugar					
Brown	1 “	625	0	0	100
Granulated	1 “	840	0	0	100
Powdered	1 “	672	0	0	100
Vegetables					
Beans, dried	1 “	684	26	5	69
Beans, Lima, dried	1 “	541	21	4	75
Cabbage	1 pound	145	20	9	71
Carrots	1 “	210	10	5	85
Celery (cut in %					
in. pieces)	1 cup	24	24	5	71
Corn, canned	1 “	255	11	11	78
Lentils (dried)	1 “	640	29	3	68
Lettuce	1 large head	50	25	14	61
Mushrooms	1 pound	211	31	8	61
21322
Calorie Values
		I	Percentage oe		
		in tn 1			CO
Material	Va	<U 1) 1 -r1	G		
	G	6*3 o	QJ		
	3 a	3 °« & o	o Ih &	<4-> pS	
Vegetables		25 225			
Onions	1 onion 1 pound		13 13	6 6	81 81
Parsnips Peas, canned	1 “	291	10	7	83
(drained)	1 cup	134	26	3	71
Peas, dried	1 “	675	28	3	69
Tapioca	1 “	640	0	0	100
Tomatoes, fresh	1 pound	100	21	8	71
Tomatoes, canned	1 cup	60	21	8	71
Turnip	1 “				
	Vi in.				
Asparagus	(cubes)	50	13	5	82
	7 stalks	33	32	8	60
Beans, Baked Beans, Lima	cup	225	21	18	61
(fresh)	54 “	100	23	5	72
Beans, String	54 “	20	22	7	71
Beets	1 beet, 2 diam.	25	14	2	84
Corn (canned)	54 cup 54 “	150	11	11	78
Peas (canned)		67	26	3	71
Potatoes Mashed	54 “	110	7	48	45
Sweet, Baked	1 “	200	6	5	89
White, Baked	1 “	100	11	1	88
Spinach	54 “	20	12	8	80
Squash, Winter	54 “	55	9	7	84
NOTE:	Do not let this table alarm you. There is nothing dif-
ficult or technical about it. Protein builds and repairs tissue; fats store away reserve heat and energy; carbohydrates furnish heat and energy; and these three constitute the chief classs of foods. The per cent of the calories or heat units should be protein, 30 per cent fats, 10 per cent and 60 per cent carbohydrates.
3. Chewing Your Food.—This is a matter of paramount importance. In fact you may plan your diet along the most rigid lines, you may figure out every menu on a scientific basis, you may make home economics your life work, and still spoil it all, simply because you do not chew your food. Don’t gulp it down. Don’t try to make the children eat by racing with them. FLETCHERIZE!!! CHEW EVERYEat and Grow Thin
323
MOUTHFUL TWENTY OR THIRTY TIMES. CHEW UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO CHEW AND TAKE YOUR TIME ABOUT IT. Predigest your food, that is, help the saliva and gastric juices to perform their duties more easily. A trial will readily convince you that the food specialists are correct when they say that we can get along on a great deal less food if it is properly masticated, and thus made ready for immediate use in the body. Theodore Roosevelt, in talking about the carelessness of the people once said: “If the darned fools only knew.” He might well have been talking about our great national fault of improper eating.
4.	A Few Don’ts. 1.—Don’t eat things just for their caloric value. Food must taste good to be properly digested.
2.	Don’t eat things you know will disagree with you.
3.	Don’t overlook the difference in food requirements at different seasons of the year.
4.	Don’t eat meat more than once a day. (In warm climates every other day is sufficient.)
5.	Don’t use very much salt, pepper, condiments or other spicy foods.
6.	Don’t be afraid of eating too many fresh vegetables.
7.	Don’t eat between meals.
8.	Don’t let the diet become monotonous. Have a variety of food and have it prepared tastily.
Eat and Grow Thin
ADVICE TO FAT PEOPLE
As stated before fat is merely the result of an excess of heat units. Therefore if you want to reduce, all you have to do is to reduce the number of calories or heat units which you take into the body.
Fake Cures and Remedies.—There is no quick cure for obesity. Newspapers and magazines are^ filled with cleverly worded and alluring offers to reduce weight quickly, and harmlessly. It cannot be done. To lay off the excess baggage too swiftly is neither safe nor desirable. The only sane, certain method is to adopt a definite program embodying a properly balanced ration, a gradual reduction in the quantity, and a tonic treatment of fresh air and exer-324
Eat and Grow Thin
SHOWING THE DIFFERENCE IN FORM AND PROPORTION
cise to put muscle in the place of the fat. The use of drugs is unnecessary, and quite likely to be harmful.
A Workable Plan.—Suppose you are a man, 25 years old, six feet tall, and weighing 200 pounds. Consult the table of age, height and weight given before, and you will see that you ought to weigh not more than 169 pounds. Now go a step farther and figure up from the table of caloric values given on page 318 just how many calories you burn up every twenty-four hours. This may take a little time and study, but if you cannot get an exact figure, estimate it The results may surprise you.
Suppose you find that your daily calories run up to 3600 on the average. At your age you do not require more than fifteen calories for every pound of normal weight, or^ in other words, you actually need 15x169 or 2535 calories. For a woman the caloric requirements will run about 10% less.Advice to Thin People
325
Your Problem then is simply to reduce the number of calories you consume every day. Reduce the quantity 500 calories per day in the beginning, later on as much as is necessary to bring results. Consult the accompanying tables freely in planning your diet campaign. A loss in weight exceeding one or two pounds per week may be dangerous to your health. Every reduction in fat must be offset by a corresponding increase in muscle. During the first few days you may feel hungry, faint and weak, but these symptoms rapidly disappear. It is scientifically possible to eat all you want to eat and still grow thin if you will but watch the caloric table, and put a definite limit on the number of heat units.
The Unscientific Method.—If you are too busy or too lazy to figure out a reduction on the scientific plan, then here is a simple way to reduce:
Continue the diet to which you have been accustomed with the following modifications:
1.	Do not eat bread or butter with your dinner. Eat as little as possible at the other meals.
2.	Cut down on all starchy foods like potatoes.
3.	Avoid fat meats, gravies, and fried foods.
4.	Eat very little butter, cream, and cereals.
5.	Drink water sparingly at meal times.
6.	Avoid sweets as much as possible.
How to Gain Weight
ADVICE TO THIN PEOPLE
It is possible to gain weight by adopting a policy exactly opposite to the one outlined for reducing. First figure out the number of calories you require at your age, height, and normal weight. Then allow yourself 500 or more calories daily in addition to this. When the correct weight is once gained, it is possible to keep it right there by attention to the diet.
General Principles in Gaining Weight.-Adopt a well balanced ration with plenty of butter, cream, fats, red meat, milk, eggs, green vegetables, rich gravies, and sauces. However, in your desire to put on weight, do not throw your digestive apparatus out of order by overeating. Too326
Exercise
much food is the chief cause of disease and premature old age. The vicious habit of bolting a big dinner in ten minutes or a hearty lunch in five minutes is responsible for many later ills, and will never increase the weight.
The Mental Attitude.—Careful eating is sure to improve your health and prolong your life. It may not increase your weight for the simple reason that there is frequently a fundamental difference in human characteristics. Thin people are more active than their unloved fat brothers. They burn up considerable more heat units. They are subject to worry and nervousness, which keep the weight down even under the most scientific diet. Consequently a calm, emotionless state of mind, plenty of fresh air and sunshine, &nd at least eight hours of sleep, will bring about a speedier increase in weight than all the known dietary measures. Try to regulate both your diet and your state of mind. The : cales may surprise you.
EXERCISE
The second way in which we abuse our bodies is in a lack of proper physical exercise. Grace is nothing but muscular control, Beauty is an assemblage of graces, Health is physical harmony, and Common Sense is the key that unlocks the door to all three. Exercise daily in the open air. The average man and woman should walk at least five miles every day. Not five minutes, FIVE MILES. Take a few simple exercises immediately upon rising in the morning. Be sure that the air is pure and fresh in the room. Do not be afraid of catching cold when you are exercising.
Select any good exercises which tend to develop the various parts of the body. Strengthen particularly the muscles of the neck, the back and the abdomen. Begin moderately, and increase the length of time and the strenuousness of the exercises from day to day. Avoid any overexertion and never exercise when you are exhausted.
Deep Breathing.—Is one of the most beneficial forms of exercise ever discovered. We all love clean bodies but few of us realize that the better we breathe, the cleaner we are. Seven hundred and twenty-five million air cells in the lungs expose a surface of about 1400 square feet, and we must be generous with air if this vast surface is to accomplish its purifying purpose. When the blood enters the lungs it is foul. When it passes out of the lungs into the arteries it should be clean and pure.
The Necessity for Air.—Food is necessary but air is more necessary. Food is expensive, air is che^p. YetExercise
327
most of us eat more than we should and none of us breathe as much as we should. Deep breathing is the best known blood tonic. Alone and unaided it can benefit the human body more than any other known treatment. Deep breathing is excellent for poise. Deep breathing is the world’s best remedy for stomach and bowel troubles. Deep breathing gives constipation a knock out blow, utterly banishing it from the system. Deep breathing brings new life to exhausted nerves. Deep breathing will lengthen your life, and make your life worth lengthening.
How to Take Air as a Medicine.—Practise deep breathing in bed, and frequently during the day. The constant practice soon developes the lungs, and soon the great breaths become automatic. Always breathe deeply when you walk. Take four steps while you inhale, then four steps while you exhale. Increase the number of steps per breath, gradually. After a little experience you will be able to take eight steps while you inhale, and then take two more steps while holding the breath. Then exhale for eight steps and hold the breath while you walk two more steps. It is a physical impossibility for any man or woman to feel nervous or grouchy or unhappy if he or she follows this plan every morning on the way to the daily tasks.
When Is the Air Bad?—Don’t be afraid to take deep^ breaths in the night air or on foggy days. Pure air, anytime, anywhere is the world’s greatest tonic. Many people living in stuffy, ill smelling apartments in the large cities, do not even go to the trouble of seeking the best air possible. They see no necessity of ventilating the house with dirty, smoky city air. Some of them think more of their curtains than they do of their lungs. This is a serious mistake. City air for all its soot and dirt, and odor contains exactly the same amount of oxygen and ozone as the air in the woods and prairie lands. As a matter of fact the wind that sweeps a cloud of smoke and cinders through the apartment window was rambling over the countryside less than five minutes ago. The smoke and cinders do little if any harm to the city man’s breathing apparatus. Any air drawn in from the outside is far better than the same old air breathed over and over again.328
Exercise
Exercises for Busy Folks
From the Battle Creek Idea
CORRECT SITTING POSITION
1.	Hips back in chair, feet firmly on floor.
2.	Chest up, so muscles of abdomen will not be relaxed.
3.	Neck back against the collar, make an effort to raise the head a little. Keep chin in.
4.	Arms folded, or resting on thighs.
5.	Raise the trunk and head high as possible, pressing down firmly on thighs with hands.
CORRECT STANDING POSITION
1.	Hips back about three inches, abdomen drawn in.
2.	Throw weight of body forward on balls of the feet.
3.	Raise chest, two inches.
4.	Head up, chin in.
5.	Hands on hips, with fingers closed, or forearms resting on hips, arms folded back of body.
EXERCISE STANDING
Relaxing muscles of the arms, body erect.
Shaking the wrists, so that the whole body will vibrate.
I
1.	Arms down at sides.
2.	Arms at side horizontal.
3.	Arms at front horizontal.
4.	Arms overhead vertical. Repeat all movements from
8 to 16 times.
II
1.	Hands on hips, body erect, keep spine straight. Bend knees, raising on toes, sinking body until you sit on heels.
2.	Hold position bending knees, jumping up and down on toes, body erect.Exercise
329
III
1.	Place hands on floor, just outside of feet.
2.	Extend legs and thighs, body perfectly straight.
3.	Bend arms until you touch floor.
4.	Straighten arms.
5.	Jump forward, knees in front of chest, keeping hands on floor.
6.	Straighten body to standing position, reaching overhead on toes.
chin on
j
s
2-3
IV
1.	Circle arms out at sides, palms up.
V
1. Running in place, raising knees high, keeping up well on toes.
CORRECTIVE EXERCISES SITTING IN CHAIR
der is low, elbow well
1. Bend straight.
Hips well back in chair, chest up, bending head backward. Hands on hips, if one shoul-put that hand on back of neck, with back, the other hand firm on hip.
I
trunk forward, with the back
II
2.	Close fists, place on shoulders. Turn chest to left one quarter turn, and stretch arms to the sides far as possible. Face front and repeat to right side.
Ill
1.	Arms over head vertical, stretching out well.
2.	Bend trunk to the left side, keeping right arm vertical over head, left hand touching the floor.
3.	Arms over head vertical, stretching out well.
4.	Repeat same to right side, same as 2.330
Exercise
IV
1.	Grasping sides of the chair well back, raise chest high as possible, and raise left leg forward, pointing toes forward.
2.	Repeat same with right leg.
3.	Both legs.
V
1.	Hands in front of chest, elbows raised up well.
2.	Lean forward with back straight and head back. Swing the arms to side horizontal.
EXERCISES LYING DOWN
1.	Lying on back, stretch out as far as'possible with legs and arms.
2.	While stretching, raise hips, keep back straight.
3.	Draw left knee down to chest,
assisting with the hands; repeat same	S
with right knee, then with both legs.
4.	Draw feet up well under hips, knees bent, raise hips, let as much weight be supported by the muscles of the back of neck as possible. Assist with raising 4*	elbows, and back of upper arms.
on
5.	Fingers closed, take deep breathing and make pressure with little finger side of hands, starting just above the pubes and working slowly upward an inch at each breath, until you get to border of the ribs. The pressure should be continuous during expiration and inspiration. Repeat 8 to 10 times.
EXERCISES FACE DOWNWARD
1.	Raise chest upward, head back, hands on hips.
2.	Arms down at sides, raise both thighs, legs straight.
^ 3. Raise chest and legs at the same time.
4.	Roll forward and backward, hands on the hips, chest up, head back well, back arched, thighs extended far as possible.Ten Health Commandments TEN HEALTH COMMANDMENTS
331
1.	Thou shalt not make a God of thy stomach, nor have other strange gods before health.
2.	God made our muscles for work. Let us give them plenty to do so that they do not grow soft and flabby.
3.	Our lungs were made to receive vast quantities of fresh air. So exercise them that they can pass on to the rest of the body the needed elements of the atmosphere.
4.	Six days shalt thou wash thyself clean, and the seventh day thou shalt take a great bath, thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, and the stranger within thy gates, for the Lord has hallowed the bathtub, and blessed it.
5.	Thou shalt not steal sorrow, borrow anxiety, nor allow the corners of thy mouth to turn downward.
6.	It is not good for man to live alone.
7.	Be thou temperate in all that which thou doest, whether it be eating, drinking, or in satisfying thy natural cravings.
8.	Thou shalt retire early, and rise early, and sleep not less than eight hours.
9.	Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but on the seventh, thou shalt rest completely, without even reading or writing.
10.	Be regular in all things, even unto the kidneys and bowels, for your health’s sake.332	The Effects of Intemperance
OBJECT LESSONS OF THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND CIGARETTE SMOKING
By Prof. George Henkle, who personally made the postmortem examinations and drew the following illustrations from the diseased organs just as they appeared when first taken from the bodies of the unfortunate victims.
The Stomach of an habitual drinker of alcoholic stimulants, showing the ulcerated condition of the mucous membrane, incapacitating this important organ for digestive functions.
The Stomach (interior view) of a healthy person with the first section of °the small intestines.The Effects of Intemperance
333
The Liver of a drunkard who died of Cirrhosis of the liver, also called granular liver, or “gin drinker’s liver.” The organ is much shrunken and presents rough, uneven edges, with car-buncular non-suppurative sores. In this self-inflicted disease the tissues of the liver undergo a cicatrical retraction which strangulates and partly destroys the parenchyma of the liver.
THE LIVER IN HEALTHThe Kidney of a man who died a drunkard, showing in upper portion the sores so often found on kidneys of hard drinkers, and in the lower portion, the obstruction formed in the internal arrangement of this organ. Alcohol is a great enemy to the kidneys, and after this poison has once set in on its destructive course in these organs no remedial agents are known to exist to stop the already established disease.
The Kidney in health, with the lower section removed, to show the filtering apparatus (Malphigian pyramids). Natural size.The Effects of Intemperance
335
The Lungs and Heart of a boy who died from the effects of cigarette smoking, showing the nicotine sediments in lungs and shrunken condition of the heart.
THE LUNGS AND HEART IN HEALTHPractical Points on Personal Hygiene
or
Questions and Answers on Health
The following pages have been prepared by the Chiefs of the several Divisions of the Illinois State Department of Health with the idea of placing in the hands of boys and girls the essential facts in regard to the modern science of disease prevention and health promotion. Each section with the exception of the one on Venereal Disease, has been written by men devoting their entire time and attention to their individual special lines of study. The suggestion made by the Editor, in requesting these several contributions, was : Make your articles simple and easily understood; but under no circumstances sacrifice scientific accuracy for the purpose of simplicity or increased interest.
TUBERCULOSIS
Q. What is tuberculosis?
A. Tuberculosis is one of the commonest of all serious diseases, caused by a germ called the tubercle bacillus, usually affecting the lungs, but also attacking the glands, skin, kidneys, and other parts of the body.
Q. Is tuberculosis inherited from the parents?
A. No. Tuberculosis is not inherited. The child of a tuberculous person, however, is very likely to be infected by contact with the parent.
Q. How is the disease transmitted?
A. Usually by spitting or by careless coughing on the part of an infected person. Also from drinking unpasteurized milk from tuberculous cattle.
Q. Does the disease develop when the patient has been infected by the germ?
A. No. The germs may lodge in the body and remain there for many years doing no apparent harm; but may at any time become active and produce disease. It is now believed that most cases of tuberculosis among grown persons are due to germs acquired during childhood.
22
337338	Tuberculosis
Q. What is consumption?
A. Consumption is an acute disease of the lungs caused by the tubercle bacillus; but rarely by that germ alone. There are usually other germs present.
Q. What is the best way for the individual to avoid tuberculosis ?
A. By living the kind of life that will give the best of health. Plenty of fresh air; plenty of good food; plenty of rest; avoidance of diseases which will decrease the strength of the body; moderation in work, in play and in all the affairs of life.
Q. What are the most important public means of preventing and overcoming tuberculosis?
A. General education in the rules of right living; physical examination of school children; open air schools or open window rooms for those who are under-nourished; dispensaries or clinics for the examination of those suspected as being tuberculous; free public sanatoria for the treatment of curable consumptives or for the isolation of far advanced consumptives who may spread infection to others.
Q. Is tuberculosis a curable disease?
A. Yes. A large percentage—75 to 85 percent— can be cured if the disease is recognized early and proper treatment is begun at once. Most fatal cases of tuberculosis are neglected cases of tuberculosis.
Q. What are the chief causes of this fatal neglect?
A. Failure of patients to recognize the^ early signs of the disease; failure to go to a physician for careful examination on the first appearance of any of these signs; haste or carelessness on the part of the doctor in making the examination; unwillingness of the patient to admit that he is suffering from this very common disease; unwillingness of the patient to go to a sanatorium until it is too late.
Q. What are the earliest signs of tuberculosis of the lungs?
A. Weariness, nervousness, impaired appetite, digestive disturbance, loss of weight, frequent or protracted colds, slight afternoon elevation of temperature or fever. There may or may not be cough.
Q. Are tubercle bacilli always found in the spit or sputum of persons suffering from tuberculosis?
A. No. The presence of bacilli in the sputum always means tuberculosis; but in the majority of early cases, germs are not found.
Q. Does an X-ray picture of the chest show tuberculosis?Communicable Diseases
339
A. No. The X-ray picture shows shadows which may or may not mean tuberculosis. In some active cases of tuberculosis, the X-ray plate shows practically nothing.
Q. Is there any vaccine or medicine that will cure tuberculosis ?
A. No. If properly used, they may help a little in some cases.
Q. What are the principal things in the modern treatment of tuberculosis?
A. Treatment in a sanatorium is desirable in most cases, partly to establish cure; but chiefly to train the patient in how to live. The chief things in sanatorium care are rest, fresh air, good food, rigid discipline which promotes self-discipline, constant medical care, good nursing and education.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Q. What are the communicable diseases common among children ?
A. The most common are diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles and chicken pox.
Q. Why are they called communicable?
A. Because they are easily spread from one person to another.
Q. Is it a good thing for every person to have these diseases in childhood?
A. No. It is much better not to have them at all for the reason that they may cause death or weaken a person for life.
Q. How can a person avoid these diseases?
A. The best way is not to go near a person who is sick with them and not to handle or eat anything that has come from the sick. Also wash the hands and face frequently, keep the hands away frpm the mouth and nose and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.
Q. Why are these diseases common among the children?
A. Because school children come into close contact with each other in the rooms and at play. Many of them carelessly sneeze, cough and spit in the presence of others. They often use common drinking cups and put fingers, pencils and other things into their mouths after such things have come into contact with other children.
Q. How can school children be protected against the diseases common to school children?Communicable Diseases
340
A. By personal hygiene, frequent medical inspection of all school children and strict quarantine of those who are sick from these diseases.
Q. How does frequent medical inspection protect the children ?
A. It locates children who are in the early stages of communicable disease and makes it possible to prescribe proper care and to exclude such persons from the schools. It is also the means of locating and controlling other children who may be able to spread diseases.
Q. Should schools be closed when a case of communicable diseases is discovered among the children?
A. No. For the reason that it is infinitely better to keep the children in school under nursing and medical supervision than to allow them to run at large.
Q. What means has the health department of knowing when communicable disease is present in any locality?
A. The law requires every case or suspected case of communicable disease to be reported immediately to the local health officer.
Q. Is anyone except a physician supposed tp report a case?
A. Yes. The quarantine laws require that anyone having a knowledge of an unreported or unquarantined case of communicable disease or who has knowledge of any violation of quarantine shall report the facts to the local health officer.
Q. Why is it so important to report all cases of communicable disease to the health officer?
A!. In order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases the health officer must know immediately after the discovery the exact location of every case of such disease in his district. He knows what information to give those who care for the patient and what other steps must be taken that an epidemic may be avoided.
SANITATION
Q. What are the three chief sanitary problems that face the people everywhere?
A. First, to get pure drinking water. Second, to get rid of sewage, garbage and all other kinds of waste so that it can not possibly find its way to the mouth of a person. Third, to get rid of flies, mosquitoes, rats and disease carrying vermin.
Q. What áre some of the dangers from impure drinking water ?Sanitation
341
A. Polluted drinking water often causes typhoid fever, dysentery, diarrohea, and other diseases of the digestive system. Polluted water supplies have caused epidemics of typhoid fever and other diseases that have swept the population of whole cities.
Q. How does water become polluted?
A. Well and spring water is usually polluted by surface drainage, drainage from privies, cesspools and other insanitary sources. Streams are usually polluted by ■sewage from communities and by wash from contaminated soil.
Q. Does water become polluted in any other way?
A. Yes. Wells with open tops or buckets are often pol-h .ed by filth, insects, small animals, and disease342
Sanitation
germs that get in from the top and especially by handling the rope and buckets with unclean hands.
Q. Is well water ever safe for drinking?
A. Yes. Deep wells are usually safe when properly cased and covered to keep out surface seepage and other matter. Shallow dug wells are safe when properly constructed and located but shallow wells in a built-up community are generally contaminated.
Q. Does a well need an opening for air to keep the water pure?
A. No. Wells should be sealed at the top with cement, and a pump used to draw out the water.
Q, How can one know when water is impure?
A. By a laboratory test. The State Department of Health will analyze samples of water free of charge.
Q Can polluted water be purified?
A. Yes. For private use boil for half an hour or use bleaching powder. One-half ounce of bleaching powder dissolved in a small amount of water, then mixed in one gallon of water and allowed to settle will produce a clear liquid sufficient to sterilize 1,000 gallons of water. To purify public water supplies filtration plants and chlorine machines are necessary.
Q. What is ^ sewage ?
A. Sewage is made up of excreta from the human body, water from kitchens and bath rooms and other waste matter.
Q. Why is sewage dangerous to health?
A. Because human excreta is poisonous to any person getting it into his body through the mouth. Typhoid fever is always caused by germs that find their way from fecal matter into the mouth Diarrhoea, dysentery and other diseases are often carried in the same manner.
Q. How can fecal matter get from one person to the mouth of another?
A. The most common ways are by seepage from privy vaults ^ into wells and cisterns; by house flies that carry it on their feet or body; by soiled hands on people who cook or otherwise handle food and milk; and by untreated public water supplies, obtained from surface sources.
Q. What are the safest ways to get rid of human excreta?
A. Connect with a city sewer system. If this is impossible build a sanitary privy.
Q. When is a privy considered sanitary?Sanitation
343
A. A privy is considered sanitary when it is both fly-proof and water-tight. The State Department of Health will furnish plans for sanitary privy construction on request.
Q. What other household waste matter affects health?
A. Garbage, rubbish, tin cans, and other filth furnish breeding places for insects and rats that carry disease germs.
Q. How should this waste matter be disposed?
A. Garbage should be kept in a closed receptacle and then burned, fed to hogs, or buried. Other waste matter should be hauled to a dump and covered with soil or ashes.
Q. Does stable manure kept in barns or barnyards affect the health of people?
A. Yes. Stable manure is the most prolific fly breeding matter known. The way to prevent fly breeding is to thoroughly clean the stables twice a week and haul the manure away.
Q. What insects carry disease germs?
A. Plies and mosquitoes are the most common.
Q. What diseases are spread by flies?
A. Flies carry germs that cause diarrhoea, typhoid fever, dysentery, tuberculosis, diphtheria, anthrax, infantile paralysis and several other diseases.
Q. How does the fly spread disease?
A. Flies collect disease germs from human excreta and other filth around privy vaults, cuspidors and like places. They carry these germs into the kitchen and deposit them on food articles, cooking utensils and table ware. People get the germs into their mouths when they eat the food or use the ware on which the fly has been.
Q. Where do flies come from?
A. Flies hatch from fly eggs. They breed most rapidly in stable manure. They also breed in open garbage cans, around privy vaults and in other filthy places.
Q. Is it possible to prevent fly breeding?
A. Yes. First, kill all flies found around the house or barn during the fall and winter months. Each fly killed will prevent the breeding of millions during the next summer. Second, clean the stables twice a week during the spring and summer and haul the manure away. Also, keep the yard clean of all rubbish and make the garbage can and the privy vault fly proof.SWAT THE FLIES AND SAVE THE BABIESSanitation
345
Q. Are there other ways to fight the fly?
A. Yes. Screen the house and swat all flies that get in.
Q. What diseases are spread by mosquitoes?
A. Yellow fever and malaria. In the latitude of Illinois only malaria is important.
Q. How do mosquitoes spread malaria?
A. Mosquitoes bite patients sick with malaria and become infected. They then bite well people and infect them.
Q. Can the spread of malaria be prevented?
A. Yes. The best way is to prevent mosquito breeding..
Q. Where do mosquitoes breed?
A. Mosquitoes breed in swampy places, pools, rain barrels,, stagnant water in^ tin cans, puddles in roof gutters, open wells and cisterns, and numerous other wet places.
Q. How can mosquito breeding be prevented?
A. First, keep all damp and swampy places well drained and free from heavy vegetation. Second, smash all empty tin cans, and other debris so that they can not hold water. Third, add a coating of crude oil to the surface of standing water in pools, rain barrels, and other receptacles.
Q. What rodents spread diseases?
A. Rats and ground squirrels spread bubonic plague.
Q. Has bubonic plague ever been known in epidemic form?
A. Yes. Deadly epidemics of bubonic plague have swept large districts in China and India. In 1911 an epidemic appeared in Manchuria that was far more deadly than the recent influenza in this country. Several light epidemics have appeared in California. During 1920 several cases were reported in American cities on the Gulf of Mexico.
Q. How do rats spread bubonic plague?
A. Fleas on infected rats become infected. ^ The fleas spread the plague to other rats, to squirrels and to humans. Infected rats travel from one country to another in steamships. They also travel great distances by land.
Q. How can plague be prevented?
A. By killing all rats and making all buildings rat proof.
Q. Is there any other reason for killing rats?
A. Yes. Rats in the United States destroy food valued at $180,000,000 every year. That means a loss of more than $1.50 each for every man, woman and child in this country.346
Vital Statistics
VTTAL STATISTICS
Q. What are Vital Statistics?
A. Statistics are facts expressed by figures and vital statistics are facts about life expressed in figures. Vital statistics are also called the “bookkeeping of health.”
Q. What parts of vital statistics are given special attention in Illinois at present?
A. Birth, death and morbidity (disease) statistics.
Q. Why are birth and death statistics given special attention?
A. Because it is necessary to know how many births and how many deaths occur in every locality and to know the conditions under which each birth and death occurs in order to properly protect the “business of life” in that locality.
Q. How is a knowledge of births and deaths helpful in the “business of life?”
A. Births may be called the profits, and deaths the losses in the “business of life.” It is essential to know what the “‘profits” are and to know how great the “losses,” and what things cause the “losses” in order to make successful plans for long, healthy, happy lives.
Q. How are records of births and deaths obtained?
A. Local registrars are required by law to collect these records and to forward them to the State Capital.
Q. How do the local registrars collect the records of births?
A. State laws require that the attendant at birth (whether a physician, midwife, parent or householder) must fill in a certificate of birth and present it to the local registrar within ten (10) days after birth.
Q. Is a record of birth of value to the individual?
A. Yes. The most important of these benefits follow:
1. A birth certificate proves the right of citizenship. ¡2. A birth certificate is proof of heirship. Estates of great value have been lost to American citizens because they had no proof of birth.
3.	Proof of citizenship for Americans in foreign
countries often depends upon a birth certificate. In times of war the question of being an American citizen is often the question of life or death.
4.	'The right to travel in foreign countries is made
easy by proper birth registration. Passports for travel are often hard to obtain without a birth certificate.Vital Statistics	347
5.	Right to go to school depends upon the age of the
child. A birth certificate proves the age.
6.	The National Child Labor Law applying to chil-
dren under sixteen years of age often makes the right to work depend upon a birth certificate. A proper birth record will always protect the child in case of injury under the Child Labor Law.
7.	The right to vote depends upon age. Difficulties
at the voting polls can always be avoided with a birth certificate.
8.	It is unlawful for people to marry under certain
ages. A birth certificate is the most important proof of age when the right to marry is questioned.
9.	The right to hold public office depends upon age.
A birth certificate is unanswerable proof of age for this purpose.
10.	Military service under the draft law requires of-
ficial proof of age. A birth certificate is the only unquestionable official proof.
Q. Does it matter whether a birth is reported at once or not?
A. Yes. A prompt birth report may be the means of preventing lifelong blindness in the child. It may often be the means of saving the life of both mother and child.
Q. How can a prompt birth report prevent blindness?
A. A great deal of blindness comes from sore eyes at birth. This can be prevented by a few drops of silver nitrate solution in the eyes if used soon enough. The health department can supply silver nitrate and see that it is used properly.
Q. How else may a prompt birth report help a baby?
A. Young babies require the very best of care. They must have special foods: they must have the right kind of clothes ; they must be bathed in the right way. Very often the mother does not know how to care for her child in the best way. A prompt birth report is a notice to the health department that the service of a well trained nurse may be needed to show the mother how to keep the baby well.
Q. Does a prompt birth report help the mother?
A. Yes. Many mothers die as the result of child-birth, because they do not know how to care for themselves. A prompt birth report is a notice to the health depart-348
Child Hygiene
ment that a mother may need special information and care.
Q. Are prompt birth reports of value where there is no well organized health department?
A. Yes. Visiting nurse associations and private infant welfare agencies have access to the local birth records and often do the infant welfare work that the health department is unable to do.
Q. How does the local registrar collect the records of death ?
A. State laws provide that a certificate of death or stillbirth must be presented to the local registrar by undertakers before a permit to bury or otherwise dispose of the body can be issued.
Q. How are official death records of value to individuals?
A. Official death records have a multitude of values to individuals in that they serve as unquestionable proof when the legality of second marriages, titles to property, payment of life insurance and the payment of pensions to the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers are in question. They also establish accurate records of the vital events in the life of every citizen, a thing to which the most humble is entitled.
Q. How are official death records of general or public value ?
A. Complete and accurate death records show the cause and time of all deaths. These facts help people to know the seriousness of the different diseases and the time of life when certain diseases are most deadly. With this knowledge the living are able to avoid the things that cause untimely deaths and thus live longer and happier.
CHILD HYGIENE
Q. What is Hygiene?
A. The science of health and its preservation.
Q. What is Child Hygiene?
A. It is the science of health and its preservation during childhood.
Q. What are the age limits usually thought of in Child Hygiene ?
A. The infant age, up to three years old. The pre-school age, from three to six years old. The school-age, from six to fifteen yeafs old. We are going to study the hygiene of the school age, the time when we areChild Hygiene
349
no longer babies and when we are not yet grown-ups. Our subject is the hygiene of the boy and girl age.
Q. What are the big words iri boy and girl hygiene ?
A. They are clean food, air, sunshine, occupation, recreation, rest, self control and disease prevention.
Q. Does clean mean being dressed up all the time?
A. No. It means keeping out of dirt known to be poisonous, and not allowing any dirt to stay on too long at a time.
Q. Should rules be followed in keeping clean?
A. Enough but not too many.
Q. Name the principal rules in the order of their importance.
A. The hands should be washed regularly on rising and retiring, before eating food, after known contact with dirt or where one has been exposed to many living beings whether people or lower animals, or to objects with which they have been in contact, as in play, work, shopping and travel. The face more than once daily, because it is exposed and because some of the most important organs of the body are about the face, as the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. The entire body surface at least three times each week and preferably every day. The teeth and mouth, because they are not only exposed as the eyes, ears and nose are but in addition »we actually put a great deal of material into the mouth.
Q. How often should the teeth be cleaned?
A. Not less than once daily and preferably after each meal.
Q. Should the teeth be picked ?
A. It is preferable to remove particles between them with a piece of floss.
Q. Should they be filled if decayed?
A. Yes. Every boy and girl should have the privilege of the regular services of a dentist.
Q. What troubles may bad teeth cause in boyhood and girlhood ?
A, Toothache, poor digestion from poorly chewed food, pain, fever and even serious sickness of the digestive organs, and troubles with other distant organs as glands and joints, and sometimes with the blood. The early permanent teeth, known as the six year molars are frequently’lost for lack of care.
Q. Can one out-grow the effects of bad teeth?
A. Nature sometimes restores health after the teeth decay350
Child Hygiene
or have to be removed but neglected and diseased teeth in childhood are frequently followed by illnesses and weaknesses in later life.
Q. Should any special care be given the mouth other than the teeth?
A. The mouth is better for gentle rinsing when the teeth are brushed.
Q. Are there other organs in the mouth besides the teeth which demand special care?
A. The tonsils and adenoids by becoming diseased cause much trouble in childhood.
Q. Where are these organs located?
A. The tonsils, within the mouth opposite the angles of the jaws: adenoids in the upper and posterior part of the throat.
Q. What are they for?
A. They are to assist in preventing germs from being taken into the blood and lymph vessels, especially during the early years of life while nature is establishing immunity to many diseases, that is, while our systems are becoming less and less subject to them.
Q. Should they not be left in the mouth and throat?
A. By all means, just as the teeth should if they do not become diseased or if they can be repaired. Like the teeth they have to withstand the brunt of exposure to food and air passing into the body and to the excretions of the mouth and lungs. Unlike the teeth they are not easily repaired and when hopelessly diseased they should be removed. They are not removed merely because they are tonsils and adenoids, but because when diseased they may obstruct breathing, interfere with hearing and like the teeth become so diseased as to make filth and disease centers in the mouth.
Q. How is food a subject of boy and girl hygiene in a country of plenty such as the United States and especially such as Illinois, the greatest food producing area in the world?
A. Because of family bad habits in the choice and preparation of food and because of boy and girl bad habits in the forming of tastes for, and manner of eating foods.
Q. What bad habits have boys and girls in eating?
A. Hurried eating. Time should be taken to chew each mouthful. The food should be finely divided and thoroughly mixed with the saliva.Child Hygiene	351
Q. What special advantages are there in thoroughly chewing food?
A. It gives the teeth exercise and thereby causes a full circulation in their blood vessels which promotes the soundness of the teeth. Chewing extracts the tasteful qualities from the food thereby increasing the pleasure of eating. Chewing thoroughly mixes the food with the saliva enabling the digestive substance in the saliva to act upon it.^ Chewing finely divides the food so that the digestive substances of the stomach and intestines may act upon it. Chewing helps to make ready the food so that a greater percentage of it is absorbed thus avoiding an over-load of food.
Q. Should I not eat what I like?
A. Yes, if you do not limit your diet to too small a number of foods.
Q. What harm does too small a number of ^foods bring about?
A. It brings about what is called an unbalanced diet which may over-nourish certain tissues and under-nourish others.
Q. What tissues commonly are under-nourished?
A. Bone and muscle tissue. There is sometimes too much fat. In some cases there is not enough of any kind of tissue and the person is under-nourished generally. He therefore must be under-weight, under-strength, with poor blood and liable to disease.
Q. How shall I know what to eat?
A. Form a liking for all varieties of food. Children do not like vegetables, except it may be potatoes. Thev should form a liking for all of the green vegetables.
Q. Should we eat sweets?
A. Sweets may be eaten moderately as desert. They should not be eaten between meals as they take the appetite.
Q. Should one drink with meals?
A. There is no objection to drinking water if it is not done to avoid chewing the food. Coffee and tea should not be used by children. Well children do not need stimulants of any kind.
Q. How can we avoid harm from eating?
A. Dp not use dishes and table ware used by others until they have been thoroughly cleansed. Do not put objects not food or drink into the mouth. See that all fruit and raw vegetables are thoroughly cleansed or352
Child Hygiene
the outer covering or “peeling” taken from them before eating. Eat only fresh and well cooked foods.
Q. What is good air?
A. It is air free from dust and foul vapors and which is not stagnant.
Q. Why does a clean room which has been tightly closed smell badly?
A. Because the air is not in movement.
Q. Should we sit in a draught?
A. Not in cold weather. A draught carries the heat away from the body too rapidly and the body is chilled. But there should be movement to the air.
Q. Is night air dangerous?
A. No. Windows should be open at night to allow a movement and change of air. We spend from one-half to one-third of our lives in bed. We would not stay in the same air eight to twelve hours in the daytime. We should not do so at night.
Q. How did people get in the habit of sleeping in close bedrooms ?
A. In pioneer days and peasant countries the houses were closed to keep out the cold of winter. But dwellings were loosely built and plenty of air came in. Now houses are tightly built and should be well ventilated.
Q. What is the best temperature for dwellings and schools ?
A. We can do our best work at a temperature of from 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Q. What are some of the effects of poor light in a school house ?
A. Eye strain, fatigue, underweight, dullness, nervousness and difficulty or failure in lessons.
Q. How much light should a school house have?
A. Each room should have window space equal to at least one-fifth of the floor space. If shade trees obstruct the light the window space should equal not less than one-fourth the floor space.
Q. How should the light reach the pupil’s desk?
A. Light should come in from the left when the pupil is seated.^ It may come from the back if the windows are built high up in the walls.
Q. Is it harmful to live indoors?
A. As much of childhood as possible should be spent in the open air. Every child should spend all of the daytime out of doors which he does not spend in school or in necessary indoor tasks.
Q. How much rest should school children have?Laboratories
353
A. At least nine hours out of twenty-four in bed. If they are underweight they should have an extra hour in bed at night and an hour immediately after lunch.
Q. What is the object of play?
A. To make us healthy, happy, sociable, unselfish and skillful.
Q. Should children work?
A. They should do their school work. They should learn to be useful at home and should be instructed in the use of their hands and minds. They should be taught simple business methods, the use of tools and simple arts, but not to be wage earners until they are past school age.
Q. Is self-control a part of hygiene?
A. Yes. Body and mind must dwell together.
Q. How is self-control shown in childhood?
A. In the formation of habits of cleanness, unselfishness, industry, patience and courage.
LABORATORIES
Q. How do public health laboratories serve the people?
A. There are five leading ways in which public health laboratories serve the people.
First, they examine specimens of blood, sputum, urine, and other substances from the human body to help physicians make early and correct diagnosis of communicable disease.
Second they examine cultures taken from people recovering from communicable disease to find out whether such persons are still able to spread the disease.
Third, they make surveys in times of epidemics to locate carriers of disease germs who may have caused the epidemic.
Fourth, they examine milk, food and water when necessary to find out whether these things contain dangerous disease germs.
Fifth, they produce and distribute vaccines and serums for preventing communicable disease.
Q. When was the first public health laboratory established ?
A. In 1892 the first municipal public health laboratory in the world was established in New York City. Now every state in the Union and many cities have such laboratories.
Q. How can a laboratory help a physician make early and correct diagnosis of communicable disease?
23354	Laboratories
A. Laboratory examinations of certain specimens from the human body will show whether any known disease producing bacteria are present.
Q. What are bacteria?
A. Bacteria are very tiny, single cell plants ; so small that magnified a thousand times they are smaller than a pin point. There are more than four hundred different kinds of bacteria.
Q. Are all bacteria harmful to people?
A. No. Only twenty or thirty different kinds of bacteria are known to be harmful to humans.
Q. How do bacteria grow?
A. Bacteria require food the same as all other plants. Bacteria that causes disease require food and conditions like those often found in the human body.
Q. Can bacteria live without food?
A. All disease producing bacteria starve quickly except the kind that causes anthrax. Bacteria that cause anthrax are able to form hard shells around themselves and live without food for months and even years.
Q. What is the difference between communicable disease germs and bacteria?
A. None. Disease germs are those bacteria that produce poison in the human body and thus cause sickness.
Q. Are all disease germs known to scientific men?
A. No. The germs that cause small pox, measles, scarlet fever, chicken-pox and some other communicable diseases are not yet known.
Q. How do scientific men know that such diseases are caused by germs?
A. Because these diseases spread just like diphtheria, tuberculosis, pneumonia and other diseases of which the germ has been found.
Q. How do disease germs travel from one person to another ?
A. Infepted people ^ spread disease germs by coughing, spitting, sneezing, kissing and by handling food or other articles that may^ later be taken into another person’s mouth. Certain insects and animals also carry disease germs.
Q. Do well people ever spread communicable disease?
A. Yes. Some people known as carriers, who appear to be in good health carry disease germs everywhere they go.
Q. What are the best ways to combat infection by disease germs ?
A. The best ways known are to keep the body clean ; avoidLaboratories
355
people sick of communicable diseases; get plenty of fresh air and sunshine; eat only clean, pure food^ prevent careless coughing, sneezing and spitting; keep the house clean and insect proof.
Q. Art there any other important ways of combating infection by disease germs?
A. Yes. The use of vaccines and serums have proved very successful in controlling and preventing several common diseases.
Q. What are vaccines?
A. Vaccines are nothing more than dead or very much attenuated bacteria.
Q. How does a vaccine help the person who uses it?
A. A successful vaccine will make the person who uses it immune to the disease for which it is given.
Q. What diseases can be prevented or controlled by vaccines ?
A. The diseases that have been successfully prevented and controlled by the use of vaccines are small pox, rabies, typhoid fever and para-typhoid fevers. Vaccines have also been used against many other diseases such as whooping cough, pneumonia, influenza and colds but not always with great success.
Q. Has small pox been reduced by the use of vaccine?
A. One hundred years ago small pox was a common children’s disease and everybody thought they had to have it before they grew up. A French physician said in 1754 “that one-fourth of mankind was either killed by it or crippled or disfigured for life.,? In Italy in 1782 ninety per cent of the population suffered from it. In 1796 Jenner in England discovered vaccination and since that date small pox in all countries where vaccination is practiced has been rapidly diminishing. In those countries where it is not practiced generally, as in Russia, a high rate still prevails.
Q. How much has rabies and typhoid fever been reduced by vaccine?
A. Rabies vaccine was discovered in 1883 by Pasteur in France and since that time the mortality from bites by mad dogs has dropped from around 15 per cent to much less than 1 per cent in cases where the vaccine has been used.
Typhoid fever has been reduced very materially in those persons vaccinated. While vaccination does not give a complete or a lasting immunity, yet in the face of epidemics it is of great service. In India356
Laboratories
the mortality from typhoid fever among non-vacci-nated was 471 per million people, among vaccinated only 94 per million.
Q. What are “Serums or antitoxins ?”
A. “Serums” or antitoxins are the blood serum of animals (usually horses) that have been immunized to certain diseases. This blood serum contains all the immune bodies which have been acquired through having the disease.
Q. How are “serums” used in combating disease?
A. “Serum” or antitoxin is injected into the blood of a person who contracts certain diseases. This fills the blood of the sick person with the immune bodies in the “serum” so that he does not have to wait for his own blood to build up an immunity.
Q. What diseases are best combated by antitoxin?
A, The diseases in which antitoxins are used with most success are diptheria, tetanus, pneumonia, meningitis, dysentery (bacillary) and streptococcus infections.
Q. Has the use of antitoxin diminished disease?
A. Deaths from diphtheria have been reduced from 15 out of 100 cases to about 3 out of 100 cases. Results with other diseases have been almost the same.
Q. When are the best results from antitoxins obtained?
A. The best results are obtained when antitoxin is given at once after the onset of disease. If diphtheria antitoxin is given on the first day after the onset it results in a positive cure.
Q. What is diphtheria toxin?
A. Diphtheria toxin is the poison produced by the diphtheria bacillus. It is produced in the laboratory for the Schick Test.
Q. What is the Schick Test?
A. A very minute amount of diphtheria toxin is injected between the layers of skin of a person. If the person is immune to diphtheria nothing happens; if not the skin and flesh around the point of injection grows red. Dr. Schick discovered the test, hence it carries his name.
Q. How useful is the Schick Test?
A. The Schick Test is extremely useful in finding out who is immune from diphtheria and who is not. There is no danger of immune persons catching the disease so that all attention can be focused on those who are not immune.
Q. For what is silver nitrate used?Venereal Diseases
357
A. Silver nitrate is used to prevent blindness. A few drops in the eyes of a child at birth will kill germs that otherwise may prove fatal to the sight.
VENEREAL DISEASES
Q. What are the venereal diseases?
A. Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Chancroid.
Q. What are some of the common names for these diseases ?
A. Clap, a dose for gonorrhea, siff, pox, old rale for syphilis.
Q. Why are they called venereal diseases?
A. Because they are usually, not always, contracted during sexual intercourse.
Q. Are these diseases serious?
A. Syphilis and gonorrhea are among humanity’s most terrible scourges. They are very deceptive. Men and women who think themselves cured may transmit the disease years later. Chancroid is of little importance.
Q. What are some of the effects of venereal diseases?
A. Intense suffering, unhappiness, divorce, childless old age, blindness, female diseases, locomotor ataxia, paralysis, insanity, etc.
Q. Do all cases of venereal diseases bring these unhappy results ?
A. No. Modern medical science combined with common sense on the part of the patient will usually prevent any of the after effects.
Q. How common are venereal diseases?
A. About 20% of the male population has had gonorrhea at some time. Not more than 5% have syphilis.
Q. How are venereal diseases spread?
A. Usually by direct exposure, that is through sexual intercourse. Still the pus from a gonorrhea will cause blindness if gotten into the eyes. Syphilis is in the blood and can be innocently contracted from a kiss or by using some toilet article or drinking glass. Children sometimes inherit syphilis from their parents. Husbands may innocently transmit the disease to their wives. People sometimes infect others without knowing they have the germs themselves.
Q. How may boys and girls best guard against the venereal diseases ?
A. 1. Never use a public toilet. If you are forced to it, protect yourself by using paper to cover the seat.m
Venereal Diseases
2.	Never drink from a public drinking cup. If nec-
essary you can learn to drink from a glass without touching your lips to the rim. The public drinking cup is forbidden by law in most states.
3. Never use a public towel in a public place. The
unsanitary roller towel should be replaced by the sanitary inexpensive paper towels.
4.	Beware of strange toilet articles and bed linen while
traveling, particularly on railroad trains and in hotels. Use your own comb, brush and towels if possible, and see that the bed linen is fresh and clean.
5.	Be sure that your dentist sterilizes his instruments
carefully.
6.	If you go to a barber shop, select a modern, up-to-
date man who runs a sanitary shop, uses clean towels, and sterilizes his tools. The same applies to a manicurist.
7.	Do not be free with your kisses. Kissing is the
most dangerous and unhygienic of modern customs. The little white sores in the mouths of syphilitics are highly contagious.
8.	Be careful of public swimming pools. They may
be a source of venereal contagion.
9.	Never touch your hands to the handles of the doors
going in or out of a public toilet room. Protect them with paper if necessary. -
10.	Always wash your hands thoroughly after being in
public places, especially before eating.
11.	Don’t pick your nose, or rub your eyes with your
hands. Don’t put your fingers into your mouth.
12.	Don’t take any chances, anywhere.
G. Does the law require a person with a venereal disease to report that fact to a doctor or to a state official ?
A. Not at present, but we should have such a law. The moral obligation is not enough.
Q. Why should venereal diseases be reported?
A* In order to control the diseases and prevent innocent infection.
Q. How do we know when we have contracted a venereal disease innocently?
A. There are certain signs and symptoms which are given elsewhere in this edition. There is always a first sore appearing at the point of infection. If you suspect anything is the matter with you, see a good physician. There are reliable tests which rarely fail.Venereal Diseases	359
Q. Can venereal disease be prevented even under direct exposure ?
A. Gonorrhea and Chancroid can be prevented So can syphilis in almost every case. There is a prophylactic treatment which prevents infection if applied within a few hours of the exposure.
Q. Are the doctors who advertise a speedy cure for syphilis to be trusted?
A. Absolutely not. Hire a responsible doctor who does not advertise. Quack doctors endanger your life, take your money, pretend to cure you, and then send you out into the world to spread disease and unhappiness, wherever you go.
Q. What is a quack?
A. A quack is an unscrupulous doctor who thrives on public ignorance. He prints scare heads in the newspapers, distributes lurid literature on men’s private diseases, and runs fake medical museums, which are nothing but traps for the unwary.
Q. Can venereal diseases be cured.
A. Yes. But the sufferer must go to a good physician, follow his instructions, and stick to the treatment until the cure is permanent. It sometimes requires as long as four or five years to be absolutely certain of the cure.
Q. Is there any danger in marrying a man or a woman who has had venereal disease?
A. Not if the treatment has been thoroughly and intelligently given, and the patient has a clean bill of health from a reputable doctor.
Q. What is being done to educate people in the control of venereal disease?
A. The United States Public Health Bureau, and the State Department of Health in every state in the Union send out tons of printed matter every year, covering every phase of sexual science. All public and private welfare organizations are fighting these enemies, gonorrhea and syphilis with the only kind of a campaign that will beat them—a campaign of education.
Q. Where can free treatment for the venereal diseases be obtained?
A. The City, County, and State health authorities are co-operating with the U. S. Public Health Service and anyone desiring examination, advice or free treatment for these diseases should get in touch with the local or State health officer.Why Men Grow Old
From time immemorial man has been seeking the secret of eternal youth. He has been making pilgrimages, concocting medicines, and evolving theories in a Vain effort to keep from growing old. Who today does not recall the romantic tale of Ponce de Leon and his quest for that fabled fountain? Who does not remember with a shudder the taste of that elixir of life the advertisement said would make you live to be a hundred?
In spite of all this we still admire and respect the man or woman who outlives the three score years and ten of biblical times. Mortality statistics as compiled by the Life Insurance Companies show little variation from year to year or from generation to generation. Modern civilization has brought us increased knowledge in, and facilities for combating and preventing disease, but it has also given us new menaces in the form of undue haste, careless living, and loose morals.
Thus it is plain to be seen that while experiments, theories, and inventions have increased man’s chances to reach a ripe old age, he has failed to accept the challenge.
He is not one whit better off than he was before.
The Cause of Old Age.—It is not our desire or intention to go into the technical and scientific reasons for the onrush of old age. We know, however, that certain glands, such as the thyroid, the pancreas, and the sexual glands become withered and atrophied in old age. We know that premature old age may be attributed to the early degeneration of these glands. We know that sooner or later the arteries and veins become clogged with sedimentary deposits bringing on what is known as arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and certain death. We know that as age advances the tissues wear out and can no longer be rebuilt or replaced through natural processes. We know further that there are certain habits of life which harm the ductless glands, hasten the clogging of the arteries, and hinder the natural rehabilitation of the body.
It is of these habits or agencies to which we expose ourselves either willingly or unwillingly, that we will speak in the succeeding pages.
360Why Men Grow Old
361
Laziness.—The first and perhaps the most harmful of these is the habit of laziness. Countless men and women grow old long before their time simply because they are too indolent to learn or practice the means of prolonging life. Laziness causes men to neglect proper exercise, to forget cleanliness, to ignore nature’s warnings, and to disregard the very things that make for health, such as eating properly^ cooked food, masticating it thoroughly, getting out into the open air, and living the kind of a life nature intended.
The Human Boiler.—Most people are familiar with, or have had some experience with a hot water heating system. After a long period of hard use the boiler tubes become partly filled up with limy deposits, the water can no longer circulate freely, and the system is of little practical use. When cleansed of the clogging material, however, the tubes function properly, and the system attains its former efficiency.
It is just so with the human body. As we advance in years the arteries and veins become filled up with a sedimentary mineral substance, the supply of blood to the brain gets smaller and smaller, its functions are impaired, and it can no longer nourish and build up the body. Old age results. Once cleaned of these sedimentary deposits the system quickly becomes as good as new.
Cleaning Your Tubes.—How can this general cleaning out be accomplished? The answer is so simple that you must have guessed it already. Your heating apparatus will remain clogged until you clean it out by physical effort. Exercise, nature’s never failing remedy, is the only practical method we have to fall back upon. It produces immediate, far reaching, and lasting results. Muscular development through the alternate contraction and relaxation of the muscles of the body forces out the residue of mineral deposits and worn out tissues. It lets the heart work naturally so that it may properly nourish the other muscles and organs of the body. It stimulates all glandular action so that better assimilation results.
But to do this the exercise must be of the right sort It must not be one-sided nor out of proportion. It must not be too violent in character. The ideal type of exercise is one which, like swimming or wrestling, develops equally all the muscles of the body. Children unconsciously follow out nature’s plan. They362
Why Men Grow Old
run, romp, jump, and play in the open air from morning^ till night. Their little bodies function properly, their dead matter is wholly eliminated, and sickness is rarely known among them.
Physical Culture.-;—Swimming, wrestling, boxing, football, and open air sports are not available for all persons. Most of us, as a matter of fact, have neither the means nor the time for them. But all of us without exception have fifteen minutes, night and morning, which we could devote to prolonging life, and the fact that we fail to do so is just another proof of our lazi-
ness and our carelessness. The exercises beginning on page 328 are recommended first because they do not require a great amount of time, second bcause they call for no expensive apparatus, and third because they bring into play all the muscles or groups of muscles in the body. Study them, learn them by heart, and practise themr night and morning. Or get your exercises from any standard work on physical culture. There is no surer method of outliving your life expectancy.
Uncleanliness is another of the life shortening habits we fall into as a result of our laziness. That cleanliness is one of nature’s rules cannot be questioned. The cat, the house fly, and many other speciesWhy Men Grow Old
363
of animals clean themselves daily and with the utmost care. Bees will not stand for dirt or bad air in their homes. Birds religiously clean their bodies and their nests, and similar examples may be found everywhere in the animal kingdom. Why it is that man with all his highly developed instincts, his great intellect, and his varied experience should ignore a natural law of this kind is beyond understanding. Thousands of years ago the great religious leaders like Moses, Christ and Mohammed instructed their followers to practise certain ritual ablutions for the sake of health as well as soul.
The Result of Carelessness.—If a man fails to wash his body frequently, he retards the elimination of waste through the pores of the skin, a matter that is just as essential to health as the action of the kidneys and intestines. He also exposes himself to contagious and communicable diseases. Typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and similar disease germs are usually carried from the hands to the mouth and thence to the digestive organs. Erysipelas, blood poisoning and many other fatal maladies frequently come from the scratching of the skin with dirty hands. Tuberculosis and kindred ills are common to people who live in unclean, sunless, and unventilated houses. Neglect of the teeth is responsible for a host of bodily ills, not the least of which is rheumatism.
Hardly a single disease germ can withstand the attack of simple soap and warm water. ^
A captain of the United States Marines in the great war instructed all his raw recruits with these words: “Most of you men have been taught that cleanliness is next to Godliness, but I want you to remember that in the United States Marines cleanliness comes first” The universal good health and the superb fighting qualities of the devil dogs is now a matter of history.
Intemperance.—The second great reason why men grow old is because they are intemperate. Although the use of the word intemperance immediately conjures up the thought of an over indulgence in strong drink, there are dozens of ways in which a total abstainer may be just as intemperate as the most confirmed hard drinker. Eating, drinking, smoking, the use of stimulants, and sexual indulgence, when carried out to excess all have a direct bearing on the span of human life. Over-eating, for example, probably kills more people364	Why Men Grow Old
than over-drinking, anti-saloon league propaganda, notwithstanding.
Over-eating.—It has undoubtedly killed more people than all wars, famines, and pestilence combined. It ruins health, causes intense suffering, and shortens life. It is one of the primary causes of diabetes, hardening of the arteries, and high blood pressure, mature mankind’s most dreaded afflictions. An overworked digestive apparatus furthermore means a weakened bodily resistance and an inability to 'yyard off communicable diseases. On the other hand the habit of taking the right quantity of food, and the right kind of food, properly masticated is the first big step in the direction of health and longevity.
In an earlier chapter we dwelt at some length on the question of diet. We agreed about the right proportions of the three principal classes of food—starch, carbohydrates and protein—so that it is unnecessary to stress here the desirability of choosing a well balanced ration. There is a real danger in the ingestion of too much protein, i. e., meat, peas, beans, etc. These are not easily assimilated, they leave considerable residue in the system, and thus become a serious menace to the heart, the brain, and the kidneys. Incidentally we find here still another argument in favor of exercise. It is the man or woman of sedentary habits who suffers first and most severely from the effects of overeating.
Alcohol.—Theoretically there is no longer any excuse for a preachment against alcohol. It is against the law, and we are a law-abiding people. Actually the need is greater today than it has ever been before. The spirit of independence resulting from the world’s war for an ideal of democracy is manifesting itself among our young people in a rather startling manner.
Unfortunately it is these young people who suffer most. Even in small quantities alcohol impairs the development of the intellect, and reduces the capacity for learning. Furthermore, the children of alcoholic parents are born under a severe handicap. They have little power of resistance against disease, are inclined to be undersized and manifest a tendency towards extreme nervousness, neurasthenia, and epilepsy.
Its Ravages.—On the other hand medical and law making authorities have agreed that for adults small quantities of wine, whiskey and beer are a useful tonicWhy Men Grow Old
365
and a valuable medicine. This does not alter the fact that alcoholic intemperance is one of mankind’s greatest scourges. It is a poison, and as such contributes directly to the degeneration of the heart, the liver, and the kidneys and of the thyroid and sexual glands, together with practically every other organ in the body. Like over-eating it weakens the power of resistance against disease germs of all kinds. Almost all heavy drinkers have arteriosclerosis. Visual evidence of the ravages of alcohol will be found on page 333.
Tobacco.—While we frequently find instances of heavy smokers living to eighty, ninety or even one hundred years of age this does not alter the fact that tobacco has a very harmful effect on the heart and blood vessels. There are many persons who are unable to smoke even light tobacco without serious injury to their health. Others are able to smoke heavily and continuously for years without any apparent ill effects, only to be stricken down in an instant, long before their expected time.
Like over-eating, tobacco is one of the most frequent causes of arteriosclerosis, especially hardening of the arteries of the heart and brain. It is particularly dangerous when syphilis has been present in the system. The close relationship of alcohol, tobacco and syphilis forms a combination of life shortening agencies that is hard to beat.
Pictorial evidence of the effects of tobacco will be found on page 332.
Rules for Smoking.—All men and women would be better off without smoking just as they would be healthier and happier without stimulants of any kind. But if you must smoke, if you find that tobacco exerts a soothing effect on the nervous system, try to observe the following rules:
a.	smoke moderately.
b.	smoke only light tobacco, preferably in a long
pipe. #
c.	do not inhale any more of the smoke into the
lungs than is absolutely necessary.
Smoke Laden Air.—Experiments have proved that air filled with tobacco smoke in a close room actually contains carbon-monoxide gas in demonstrable amounts. This is the same poisonous gas that emanates from the exhaust of a gasoline engine, and has366
Why Men Grow Old
proved fatal in so many instances. It paralyzes the lungs, and causes instant death.
Children and Tobacco.—Children should never be allowed to use tobacco in any form. They should also be guarded from a tobacco laden atmosphere. We are all familiar with examples of boys whose physical and mental development has been stunted by smoking. It is quite evident that the child’s delicate organism is not able to fight off the effects of this insidious poison. This is especially true in young girls.
Women and Tobacco.—The habit of smoking is growing among both young girls and women of mature age, and it is unfortunate that tobacco is even more harmful to them than it is to men. The girls will not like this statement, of course, but it is a fact nevertheless. Women who smoke excessively soon lose the bloom of youth. Their digestion suffers, their cheeks pale, their appetite vanishes, and quite frequently a general neurasthenia results. This is due to the fact that their tissues are much more delicate than those of men. In this sense, at least, they are the weaker sex. Another reason is that their poison destroying glands are busy with frequent changes in the ovaries. As a result the system is unable to counteract the effect of an excessive introduction of poison in the form of tobacco. Naturally health suffers and old age appears far sooner than it otherwise might.
Sexual Indiscretion.—After all that has already been said in the preceding pages it is unnecessary to reiterate here the damaging effects of any form of sexual excess. The reader is now fully aware of the sufferings, mental and physical, that always result from such indiscretions. Sterility, impotence, neurasthenia, and the venereal diseases unquestionably lessen the resistance of the body to the attacks of other disorders, and are in themselves definite life shortening agencies.
There is a very close relationship between the nervous system and the circulatory system, so that here again we are able to lay our hand on one of the causes of arteriosclerosis, mentioned already so many times in this chapter. Unexpected death at an early age may in many instances be attributed to no other cause than hardening of the arteries due to sexual excesses.
And here again it is the unborn child who in all innocence must pay the most exacting penalty for the sins of his parents. Endowed with a heritage of ill health,Why Men Grow Old
367
disease, weak mentality, he has little chance of surviving the first few months or years of his life, to say nothing of reaching a ripe and useful old age.
Avoidance of Parenthood.—The medical professions and the reformers agree that in young people continence is normal. As age advances, however, the sex instinct, that most powerful instinct with which man is endowed, must have its way or there will be trouble. Thus a complete repression of all sex desires over a long period of time brings on a condition very similar to the one resulting from sexual excesses, i. e., nervous disorders, such as neurasthenia and hysteria, followed by impotence and an atrophication of the sex glands. It is also to blame for severe digestive disturbances, and another of the contributing causes of hardening of the arteries.
Similarly the methods commonly used for the prevention of conception lead inevitably to an unhealthy condition of the sex apparatus and to many life-shortening diseases, particularly in women.
There is something missing in the life of any individual who has never felt the responsibility of parenthood. This may be intemperance of a negative sort, but it is intemperance, nevertheless.
Ambition.—We have seen now how laziness and intemperance shorten life. There is yet another reason for high life insurance rates. Men and women grow old before their time because of their ambition. As a matter of fact a man’s ambition frequently leads him to become both slothful and intemperate in his personal habits. Thus we have a rather paradoxical situation in which an extremely ambitious man is also a very lazy one. His vision is so firmly fixed on his life ambition that he willingly overlooks the little things that count so much for health and happiness.
The Price of Fame.—Thus the great inventors, the captains of industry, the masterful artists, and the real discoverers of new powers and properties seldom live to enjoy the fruits of their untiring labors. As a consequence of over-work, excitement, disappointment, and nervousness they break down and die suddenly from heart failure or apoplexy, leaving the# benefits of their victories to the enjoyment and exploitation of others.
The ambition of these truly great men, or rather their sincere desire to help mankind, is entirely different from the avarice and greed which characterize the
/368
Why Men Grow Old
labors of those others who work for selfish motives alone. Unfortunately nature has failed to make any allowance for this essential difference.
Avarice.—There is also a distinct line of demarka-tion between the greedy man and the miser. The former is willing to undergo any pain, peril or danger to get money, but he is also willing to spend it on himself. His life is apt to be shortened by carelessness in his personal habits, overwork, and intemperance. The latter goes to the other extreme. In order to hoard his hard-earned money he allows his body to be undernourished, he lives in unsanitary quarters, and he rarely avails himself of medical attention until too late. All these things lead to disease and early death.
Vanity.—In women and in some men as well vanity is still another phase of ambition. Through their desire to be attractive to the other sex women frequently acquire certain deleterious habits which result in premature old looks and actually tend to shorten their lives.
Reducing Cures.—Most women who take obesity cures, for example, add years to their appearance, even though they succeed in subtracting inches from their waist measures. A diet consisting of little meat with plenty of green vegetables and fruits is the surest and369
Why Men Grow Old
safest means of reducing. Such a diet, however, must always supply sufficient nourishment, and it will produce even more favorable results if it is carried on in connection with a vigorous course of physical exercise.
When the reduction in food nears the starvation point diseases brought on by undernourishment naturally result, all bodily functions are affected, and the patient not only looks older but feels older. Scientific plans for reducing weight and increasing weight are found on page 323.
Water.—Again many women drink very little water because of the erroneous belief that water is fattening. As a result their skin lacks sufficient fluids, their faces become lean and haggard, and the dreaded lines and wrinkles of age soon appear. For the same reason the body does not eliminate properly, pimples and eruptions appear, and the skin becomes yellow and old looking. Who can question the life shortening effects of constipation and the abuse of purgatives, which could invariably be avoided by the water cure?
Cosmetics.—A mistaken vanity often leads young girls to the harmful and wholly unnecessary use of
cosmetics. These are usually harmful because the preparations employed clog the pores of the skin, they often contain harmful ingredients, such as lead, and the manner of applying them induces lines and wrinkles.
24370
Why Men Grow Old
They are unnecessary because they hide the bloom of health which after all is said and done is the real charm of youth. They make the young look older and in a superficial way they make the old look younger.
Massaging of the face should be avoided unless done by a skilled masseuse. Pure fat rubbed into the skin and removed, followed by a light application of good rice or talcum powder is a typical makeup of health. Occasionally the muscles of the face may be toned up by a mild solution of alcohol, about one part of alcohol to three parts water.
Anger.—Thwarted ambition leads to violent outbursts of temper. In fact, any unexpected obstacle put in the way of the satisfaction of one’s ambition, greed or vanity is sure to manifest itself in anger. Such outbursts have a harmful effect on the nervous and circulatory systems, so that it is not uncommon for persons with nervous trouble or arteriosclerosis to die in a fit of apoplexic anger. We poke fun at the irate old man of fifty years or thereabouts, but we seldom remember his renowned good temper in younger days, nor do we stop to think that his irascibility is merely a manifestation of the development of arteriosclerosis.
Many life shortening diseases are aggravated by outbursts of passion. Persons suffering with or subject to such diseases as hardening of the arteries, diabetes, gout, and gall stone colic should always avoid the emotion of great wrath.
Rejuvenation.—Having now outlined in a brief way mankind’s principal life shortening habits we will proceed to a discussion of the various rejuvenating agencies known to science.Rejuvenation
or
How Men and Women Grow Young
A work which gloomily called attention to the many life shortening habits without presenting the sunny side of the picture would be of little practical value. It’s an old saying “that it’s no use to lock the barn after the horse is stolen,” but happily for us this saying is not strictly true when it comes to the matter of rejuvenation. A man may look old, feel old, act old, and be old; he may have hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, and little resistance to disease, and yet in a comparatively short time he may become a new man, or almost as good as new.
Methods of Rejuvenation.—As already hinted in the preceding chapter this new life may be brought about in several different ways. In the first place it may result from right living—by substituting good habits for bad ones. The second way in which it can be accomplished is by glandular extracts, that is the treatment with extracts from the glands of animals. Another method is the use of drugs. Then there are scores of different treatments and theories involving the use of
371372
Rejuvenation
various outside influences, the sun’s rays, ultra-violet rays, radium baths, mud baths, etc. One authority lauds his own methods and ridicules the claims of his contemporaries. We are not recommending any one method as against the other. We are merely bringing them to your attention, and in our discussion we will endeavor to point out the good points as well as the faults in each of them.
Exercise.—Sanford Bennet tells us in his remarkable little book, “Old Age, Its Cause and Prevention” (Dodd Mead & Co.) that through a simple course of physical exercise, coupled with right living and right thinking he was transformed, as if by magic, from a tottering old man at fifty to a vigorous young man at seventy. His theory is simply that arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries—the primary cause of old age—is itself the result of a failure to throw off the dead matter which inevitably accumulates in the system. Exercise, that is the alternating contraction and relaxation of the muscles, will mechanically remove this waste matter, enable the organs of the body to function properly, and thus bring about a slow but sure rejuvenation. The only apparent danger to this method is that when the heart and lungs are already in a weakened condition, undue exertion or improper exercise may do far more harm than good.
General muscular activity stimulates all glandular action, and thus even in old age enables these health giving organs to function in the manner nature intended.
Glandular Extracts.—This brings us to the second method of rejuvenation as advocated by Dr. Arnold Lorland in his book, “Old Age Deferred” (F. A. Davis Co.) His theory is that old age presents almost all of the symptoms of glandular degeneration, resulting again from wrong habits of life. Through years of experimentation and research he has demonstrated that when elderly people are treated with the extracts from the glands of certain animals such as sheep or pigs, they appear younger to the extent of ten, fifteen or twenty years. This is no longer mere theory. It is an established fact.
Treatment is internal and great care should be taken to see that the quality of the extract is the best obtainable, and that it is taken from healthy animals. It should always be carried on under the supervision of aRejuvenation
373
competent physician. When rightly used there is not the slightest risk or danger in the internal use of glandular extracts.
Surgical Methods.—Similar results have been attained through operative methods. Professor Steinach, a noted German physiologist, conducted a series of experiments with rats as his subjects. He found that by severing the excretory ducts of the sexual glands in the male, and by transplanting healthy ovaries from young females to old ones he could transform old decrepit rats into young and extremely vigorous ones. After the operation their appetites returned, their bodies grew sleek and fat, their hair grew again, and their sexual desires and powers became perfectly normal. After having been absolutely impotent and sexless for a third of their lives these old rats actually bore offspring in a perfectly normal manner.
The same operation has been performed on human beings, and in every published case a remarkable improvement has been noted within a very short space of time. The numerous gland robberies we read about in the daily press indicate the celerity with which the members of the underworld have appreciated the dollars and cents value of this great discovery.
The Dangers of Surgery.—Surgical methods are naturally very expensive. They do not accomplish the desired result in every case. Furthermore, the element of risk is of serious consideration in every operation, no matter how simple, and there is always the danger of shock and collapse due to the character of this particular operation. It would seem, therefore, that the wisest and best method to follow would be to take the glandular extracts internally first, and then in the event of their failure to try the more risky method.
Other Methods.—Besides the methods already described there are certain drugs known to have a rejuvenating effect when taken internally. Iron, arsenic, the iodides, and even mercury have been used by physicians for this specific purpose. They are known to act upon the sex glands, limiting the discharge of the external fluid, and greatly increasing the internal secretion which is so important to health and vitality. The result is very similar to what happens after a glandular operation, although it is rarely so pronounced.
Treatment with ultra-violet rays greatly stimulates the circulation of the blood. Whenever the circula-374
Rejuvenation
tion is improved everything else in the body improves. These rays direct from the sun or through a quartz lamp are a definite contribution to our knowledge of the prevention of old age.
The taking of radium and mud baths is still another means of rejuvenation advocated by various physicians. Their immediate effect is similar to that noticed in the surgical methods and in the use of drugs as just described. . Glandular action is stimulated, particularly that of the sexual glands, and more particularly the internal secretion of these glands.
Your Own. Attitude.—The attitude of most people toward this whole question of natural law is very much like the attitude a certain non-church member in a small town held in reference to the Christian church. He was a habitual kicker. “The Church doesn’t accomplish a bit of good,” “the Church spends its money foolishly,” “We would be better off if they were all closed up and put out of business,” were some of his customary complaints.
The pastor of one of the leading churches finally cornered him and earnestly sought to learn his real grievance. Having none to offer that seemed plausible in the light of the minister’s logic, he finally volunteered:
“The first time I went to church they threw water on me, the second time they threw rice on me, and the third time—”
“Yes,” interrupted the preacher, “and the third time they’ll throw dirt on you and you deserve it.”
Long Life or Early Death.—Don’t go through life abusing your body and then rail at fate because you are old at fifty. Even under the most favorable circumstances “they will throw dirt on you” all too soon. There are certain well defined laws of nature that you are supposed to follow. There are certain well defined agencies for the prolongation of your life. If you fail to heed them and profit by them you have no one to blame but yourself. Common sense and understanding enable the young to remain young, and the old to grow young. There is hope that each one of us may live to the proverbial ripe old age, and thus be enabled to exert the talents wherewith God has blessed us, as well to His glory, as to the welfare of our fellow man.£[|||lllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllll11
The Story of Life		
	AS TOLD TO HIS SONS by OZORA S. DAVIS, PH. D. President of the Chicago Theological Seminary AND AS TOLD TO HER DAUGHTERS by DR. EMMA F. A. DRAKE Editor, Idaho W. C. T. U, "White Ribboner”
inillllllllllllTllllllllltltlllllHllllllI
iiiiiiiiiiiini-iiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
TiiiiiiaiiifiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiBiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiBoy Insurance.FOREWORD
IN preparing this intimate and friendly discussion, the writer has approached the subject from the viewpoint of a father who is eager to be a good comrade and counselor to his own boys. The material has been put into the form of friendly talks, with no aim at literary style. The language of boyhood has been used so far as possible. The situations created have all been faced by the writer with his own children and many of the sentences found here in printed form have been actually spoken first.
There is repetition in the book. This is due to the necessity of the case. Instruction of this sort requires the frequent statement of a truth in order to drive it home.
The subject handled here is delicate and the writer has felt the constraint of it at every point. No father will talk often with his boys on these matters; but he must talk sometimes and then he must use accurate, clear and affectionate speech. It has been our aim to reach this level of clean and clear honesty.
The first four chapters contain general principles, designed to prepare the way for the conversations or friendly talks that follow:
Ozora S. Davis
377Youth Plunges in Where Age Counts the CostTHE STORY OF LIFE
Our Point of View
The Supremacy of Ideas.—Every act is determined by a thought or motive. The supreme fact about us is not what we do but what we think. All parents and teachers know the importance of this truth in the government of their own lives and in the training of those who are entrusted to their care.
So as we begin to consider the way in which children may be guided into the knowledge of their own physical beginning and of their power to take their part in turn in the divine and beautiful process of reproducing life, it is necessary that we should raise the preliminary question, How do we ourselves think of the matter of reproduction and sex?
Therefore at this point we wish to consider the ways in which the great subject is commonly regarded and to see if we may not reach a point of view at the outset which shall determine the suggestions that are to be made in the following chapters.
The Seriousness of the Subject.—Concerning the serious character of the subject and the mistaken ways in which it is regarded by many parents and teachers there can be no doubt. Human beings have been endowed with conscious freedom in exercising their power to bring other persons into life. They can give or withhold the gift of physical existence to others. This fact is one of the
379380
Our Point of View
most sobering and ennobling truths that ever can come to our minds for consideration. Yet we are inclined to treat it flippantly. We pass it by in jest or in silence. We make too little deliberate effort to inform our children concerning the meaning of this power. We pay little attention to the education of boys and girls for the greatest common service that they will render to the world, the leaving after them of healthy, good children. Let us stop, therefore, a moment while we search out the full meaning of this truth. Leaving all the mystery unexplained and raising no questions as to the theology involved in the fact, we are solemnized when we think that we are endowed as men and women with something that is akin to the creative power of God. We can give or withhold, under normal conditions, human life from one or more possible beings. Their very existence depends upon us. Surely if there is anything that can make one think soberly it is the eternal significance of a fact like this. And all we shall try to suggest in the following pages is keyed to the nobility and beauty of this sublime truth.
We pause a moment longer to call attention to the serious mistake made by grown men and women in the superficial and often jesting way in which they treat marriage and the birth of children. The intimate side of the family relationship furnishes the substance of “shady” stories and coarse jests. The sacred months that the mother spends before the baby is born are often regarded as periods of humiliation. So the whole fine and noble side of physical reproduction is degraded.
But we never shall arrive at the true meaning of our privilege and power as human beings thus endowed with the ability to give or to withhold life from others by thinking simply of the physical381
Our Point of View
meaning of reproduction alone. There is a far deeper and richer significance to the whole matter.
The Nobility of Sex Instincts.—It is to be feared that with many people, especially those who have received higher education, parenthood is often considered as something that is bound up with the physical life alone. The sex instincts are regarded as something that we carry over as an unfortunate inheritance from the animals. The reproductive process is thought of almost entirely from the physical and economic point of view. The bearing and training of healthy children is put on the level of the work of the stock-breeder; the appeal is made for healthy offspring on the ground of the physical alone.
For Example, Physical Hunger.—But there is a wholly different way of, regarding the subject from the side of beauty and the affections. This point of view is illustrated from the use of another fundamental desire of humanity, namely hunger. In the case of the animals there is, indeed, nothing more than the desire to satisfy instinctive appetites. But with man the process of eating is entirely different in character. Thè German language recognizes this distinction and has two words to describe the two facts. The animals fressen and human beings essen. Sometimes the former term may be appropriately used in critical contempt for a man who has so far fallen in his ideals and practices that he may be said to fressen instead of to essen. Now eating is something which we share with the animals and which may be the mere satisfaction of physical hunger. But we have taken this gratification of hunger and thirst and lifted it above the plane of the physical. We have made it a source of fine satisfaction of taste and friendship. When we want to share the deep-382
Our Point of View
est experiences of life with a friend or with our neighbors we ask them to be our guests at the family table. There we talk with each other and we grow intimate in the blending of life. The table is adorned with the linen and the dishes upon which artistic care has been bestowed. Everything that refinement and a sense of beauty can give have been added to the mere satisfaction of hunger and thirst to make the meal almost a sacramental event in the expression of friendship.
The Origin of Life More Than a Physical Fact.
—So the time has come for us to recognize the higher meaning and values in the relation of the sexes and in the act of human reproduction. It is not with human beings what it is with the animals. It is lifted into a wholly different order by the addition of the values of beauty and love which accompany true parenthood.
The more we study the life of the animals the more clearly we see that all their sexual activity is directed simply to the end of bringing other animals of the same kind into life. There may be faint glimmerings of something more than this in the way in which male animals regard their female companions in the act and process of reproduction; but certainly it does not rise into any place of prominence or control. That is, it is a purely animal function with a merely physical end in view.
Now nothing could be more disappointing than to bring the sex relations of human beings down to this level and make it our permanent habit to think of them as serving only the purpose that it performs among the animals. We might as well return to the table manners of the Cave Man and change the beautiful customs of family dining into the mere gnawing of bones and sucking of marrow of the old days.Our Point of View	383
Add the New Values.—We must recognize the physical basis of the sex life, which of course we share with the animals and of which we have no reason or right to be ashamed; but we must go on and add those higher values which distinctly belong to human beings. Just as we have added table cloths and gentle manners to the rough eating of the earliest men; so we must go on and add those higher meanings to the whole matter of sex. A husband and wife do not enter into the sanctities of marriage simply in order that children may be born. The relations of sex may be so ennobled and beautified as the expression of mutual love and thoughtfulness that they are lifted into a wholly new sphere. Through them the life of the race is kept up on the physical side; but no less on the moral and spiritual side, sex difference is a means to higher happiness and power than would be possible without it. No thoughtful man or woman, no earnest father or mother ought to stop short of this high end in his thinking where he lifts the facts of sex clear and clean above the mere level of physical reproduction and understands them as one of the highest ministries to love and courtesy and strength.*
Therefore in all their thought of reproduction and sex, parents need not and should not think of this part of their life and of their children’s knowledge and experience as something abnormal or vulgar or belonging to their animal inheritance. This is to miss the true meaning of the facts and to pervert what is holy and beautiful.
The reproduction of human beings and the relations that make it possible are not abnormal and disagreeable factors in the conduct of life and the making of a home. They are as much essential as
*Maurice A. Bigelow, “Sex Education.” 1916, p. 74.384
Our Point of View
is breathing and digesting food. The organs of sex are normal and noble parts of the human body. They are to be cared for and respected as much as are the visible parts upon the cleanliness and attractiveness of which we bestow so much care and thought.
Where, Then, Is Modesty?—The question will arise instantly from reading these sentences, Are there, then, no reserves and modesties in our daily life that are to be preserved? And we answer at once, Yes; as many and more than we would observe under the old animal conception of the subject. Some of the reserves that we have maintained were wholly wrong; and some of the modesty was the folly of ignorance. We have no more thought of returning to the shameless indecencies of paganism than had the most rigid Puritan to whom the thought of sex was sin. In pleading for the normal recognition of the holy values of sex life we do not involve the letting down of the modesty and reserve which always will be instinctive with the person of true sensitiveness.
But there is no danger that a truly normal knowledge of sex life will make anyone bold and immodest. On the contrary, we are sure that it is the idea of the abnormal aspects of sex that has brought vulgarity into vogue.
The more mysterious and forbidden any action is made, the more it tends to gather around it all kinds of legends and restrictions. If it must be mentioned in a whisper; if other words must be found to describe it because the simple terms are “shockingif the references to it must be so guarded that darkness is desirable for its discussion ; then it is removed from the normal and becomes artificial. This is what we have done to the whole fact of sex, to the harm of ourselves and our children.385
Our Point of View
No person who regards sex and reproduction as we have just defined it in the outlines of its higher spiritual and esthetic values will think of it over-much, talk of it in a vulgar way, dwell upon it to excess in thought, or be betrayed into abuse of such a sacred relation and power.
In the following chapters we shall discuss freely the place which the home must occupy in true instruction in matters of sex, and especially how a father may help his boys in their mastery of the story of life, the care and control of their own bodies, and in their transition from boyhood to manhood. All that will be said will be based upon the point of view that we have defined. This will, we believe, save parents from being misunderstood, will guide them in their efforts to help their children, and will, in the end greatly help in bringing up a generation who will stand in the presence of the process of human reproduction with the conscious joy with which a pure, brave soul contemplates supreme truth and beneficent power.
25The Place of the Home in Sex Education
The Right Use of Terms.—We use the term “Sex Education’’ ■with reluctance here, for fear that at the very outset there will be prejudice aroused against the subject matter in this and the following chapters. For there has been some extravagant and even foolish talk about this, as there always* must be in the case of any cause which is new and radical and into which ardent champions throw themselves. And there have been speakers and writers who have at least conveyed the impression that if only the facts concerning the story of human life could be imparted early enough, the whole pest of sexual immorality would be blotted out. therefore there has been a somewhat furious endeavor to bring sex instruction into the schools; and wise parents have taken alarm at what has seemed to them a dangerous tendency.
We do not mean to champion any particular theory or program of sex education. That which is maintained here is what practically all thoughtful parents will agree to, namely, that every child has the right to know the meaning of the physical origin of its own life and its own power to impart life, at as early a period as shall insure safety from the mistakes of ignorance. We also doubtless find ourselves in agreement on the point that the child has the right to receive this knowledge from those who know him best and love him most.
386The Place of the Home in Sex Education 387
A General Definition.—In its broadest outline, therefore, we mean by sex education all possible forms of “serious instruction—no matter where or when or by whom given—which aims to help young people face the problems that normal sexual processes bring to every life.”
This definition is broad enough to give standing-room for all honest and faithful fathers and mothers without committing them to any “fad” or to the particular program of any organization. This definition includes private talks at home, all approved methods of instruction in schools, directed reading for children, and every wholesome endeavor to meet a serious problem in modern life.
Letting the Matter Go by Default.—Surely it is better to try to do something, even at the cost of making occasional mistakes, than it is to let this whole matter go by default, as is done so often. For the way in which young people are permitted to go through the critical years of childhood and youth unguided and ignorant, leaves the burden of a terrible responsibility on the shoulders of parents and teachers. We may consent in the statement that evil purposes and animal desires will still do harm to our boys and girls; but surely we are alert to the fact that sins of ignorance must be laid at the door of those who are responsible for the ignorance. Knowledge of the truth does not insure action according to the truth; but it at least makes it certain that transgression will not be committed in the darkness of ignorance but will be a deliberate wrong.
Five Lines of Education.—In his volume entitled “Sex Education,” Prof. Maurice A. Bigelow of Teachers College, Columbia University, has indicated five lines of sex education which are so388 The Place of the Home in Sex Education
apparently commendable that we follow them substantially in the following paragraphs:
Approaching the Subject Scientifically.—First, come “the scientific truths that lead to serious and respectful attitude on all sex questions.,, Every child has the right to approach the problems and the powers of his own sex life through the avenue of science, in order that he may understand himself consistently in the world of nature of which he is the crowning part. The most natural approach to the fact of sex and its functions in human beings is through the corresponding facts in nature as they are revealed by the simple study of biology and physiology. The child meets the facts of reproduction at the very beginning of his acquaintance with the world into which he has come; and the import of what he sees and about which he asks urgent questions in reference to his own body and powers ought to be made clear to him early and clearly. It is a mental and moral tragedy that he must be kept from following up the instinctive questions that he asks concerning the chickens and the calves, and be left to learn the meaning of his own sex life from the filthy talk of school outhouses or the hints and suggestions of little comrades. The lesson of science is too plain and clean to be lost when the first questions of the aroused mind are asked.
Care of the Body.—Second, the child has the right to be taught the fundamental principles of the proper care of himself in all matters relating to sex as a part of his natural and normal life. As purely and plainly as he is taught to take care of his teeth or to observe the right balance in the use of food, so he ought to learn how to take care of the organs of sex. The place that this care occupies in healthy and efficient living is known toThe Place of the Home in Sex Education 389
all parents who have thought on the matter with any degree of seriousness, and they ought not to let their children remain ignorant or learn from less reliable sources how to take care of themselves in the relations of life that involve sex.
The Awakening of Social Responsibility.—
Later than these fundamental items of instruction, comes the information regarding the moral responsibility for the care of others that is involved in matters of sex. There is a social side to the matter that young people ought to learn from their own parents. Sexual relations are social, with the small exception of those errors that are secret and private and which will be treated later; the bearing of this fact upon the sense of moral responsibility for the welfare of others ought plainly to be made known. When a boy understands that he is involving not only himself but someone else in disaster as a result of wrong doing, he may be steadied in his conduct by that fact. If it does not keep him entirely chaste, it may at least help to preserve him from debauching others, and certainly he ought not to be allowed to go through his times of temptation without understanding at least the social meaning of his acts.
The Laws of Healthy Married Life.—Still later comes the giving of such information as is necessary for the preservation of health and the production of happiness in married life. The task of education in matters of sex does not cease with childhood and early youth. Before the time of marriage, a young man ought to weigh seriously and in the light of the fullest possible knowledge the meaning of his new relations with a person of the opposite sex in the dearest intimacies of human experience. A girl needs to understand the meaning of the same facts. Certainly at such a390
The Place of the Home in Sex Education
time there is no one who can take the place of a father or mother as the one to impart in a pure and beautiful way the necessary knowledge. And yet many a mother has worked for weeks preparing the clothing for the daughter’s wedding and arranging for the reception; but not a word has been spoken to help the lovely and eager girl understand what is involved in the new life into which she is going.
Many a father has talked with his boy concerning the business basis of his new home, the rent of the apartment, the cost of a maid; but has not had a straightforward and utterly helpful talk with his son about the way in which to treat the girl he is to marry in the new intimate relations where his chivalry and patience will mean future happiness or misery for both. This is all wrong. The young people deserve better treatment at the hands of those who love them best; parents ought to have such keen memories of their past as to make them more thoughtful and faithful. This is a plain putting of a serious situation.
The New Science, Eugenics.—Fifth, comes the whole new subject of eugenics, the defining of those laws by which there shall* be insured a new and a nobler race as a result of marriage. Such education does not come, of course, in youth; but it ought to be reckoned with either immediately preceding or following marriage. The whole subject of eugenics is much under discussion. But whatever may be arrived at as a general agreement among students of social and ethical science, the subject is one that appeals to our simple common sense. We know that the future of the race is too important to let the matter of its reproduction drift along without any regard for measures to safeguard its quality.The Place of the Home in Sex Education 391
Who Is to Carry Out the Program?—Now here is a program that is reasonable, comprehensive and practical. The means by which it may be carried out are at hand, if only thoughtful people will see the necessity and do something about it.
The Part of the Home.—The first item to be emphasized is the demand that parents shall see the worth and the responsibility involved in a program of sex education. If they simply pass it by as not worth their efforts, then nothing will be accomplished. So first of all, let us take time to think the matter through. If at the end it seems unwise to try to do anything personally with the children committed to our care, at least the decision will have been reached after thought upon the subject and we shall have a reason for our decision.
In the majority of cases, however, we believe that a few hours spent in thinking over the full meaning of the question, in the light of the program proposed by Prof. Bigelow, will lead the great majority of fathers and mothers to determine that they will undertake the right sex instruction for their children, from the time when the first questions are asked by the little people, until the day when their young married sons and daughters face the problem of becoming parents in their turn.
The Public Schools.—The public schools are established and maintained to train pupils for right and useful living. We no longer regard the purpose of the schools as simply to inform the minds of children with useful knowledge. Knowledge is not enough; children must be trained for life and to do this is the aim of education. May the schools be reasonably expected to take up the matter of sex education and do for the children and young peo-392 The Place of the Home in Sex Education
pie all that is necessary in order that they may be prepared for life? There are those who think that in the public school lies the entire responsibility for education in matters of sex. We shall not enter into the detailed discussion of this subject here. It is enough to affirm that something may be done in the schools; but also that it is impossible to expect from the public schools the complete discharge of responsibility in this matter. There is grave danger in entrusting to young and immature teachers the task of imparting accurate information in the right way on the meaning and function of sex.
The Work of Voluntary Societies.—Again, there are those who place great reliance upon the use of voluntary societies in the giving of sex education. Clubs of boys and girls under wise leadership can be formed in churches and social settlements and the information and guidance necessary can be given in this way, it is said. There is force also in the contention that subjects like these can be best handled in little groups where the relations are as personal and affectionate as they are in small clubs of boys and girls. The leader of boys’ work in a church can take care of his group with better results than would be possible in a public school, we are assured. But even when the utmost has been done under wise leadership in voluntary clubs, the whole ground has not been covered nor has the work been done in the best way. Still more agents must be brought into the service.
Personal Influence Between Friends.—There are still others who feel that the best results are obtained if the whole problem is given over to the influence of personal friendship. In the intimate talks which boys and girls have with their wiser and older friends, it is said, they will find out allThe Place of the Home in Sex Education 393
that they need to know and will be guided through the dangers of youth. These matters may be trusted to take care of themselves, it is urged. And there can be no doubt of the fact that if a boy or girl has a good and wise older friend to whom he can talk or in whom she can confide, there will be blessed results so far as sex education is concerned. But it is equally clear that here we have one of the most fertile sources of evil in the wlple problem. The amount of incorrect information and misleading talk that sometimes grows out of the best intentioned relations of friends is amazing. Many a boy and girl has been misled in the most disastrous way by the talk of an older friend who was supposed to be trustworthy, but who really was guided by a wrong purpose or crippled by inaccurate information. In the end the one friend with whom any boy or girl can talk most safely and profitably on the problems of sex is his own father or mother. The path of safety and success lies here.
But the Home Is Supreme.—So we come to
the proposition that it is the home which is the central factor in the process of sex education. Where there is a home in which neither vulgar curiosity nor prudish fear is found we have the ideal conditions for the solution of the problem. For the parents have the knowledge, the time, the approach, and the influence which are necessary to bring the facts of sex to the knowledge of children better than any other single agency. So we maintain that it is the parents who should from the beginning be charged primarily with the sex education of children. The home is the pure and blessed place where the facts should be made known and the children led to understand the meaning of their sex life394 The Place of the Home in Sex Education
A Union of All Factors Desirable.—It would be most highly desirable if there could be found some way in which these four factors could be brought together in some combined program for the conduct of sex education. It is not too much to hope that this will take place sometime and that we shall have a scheme thoroughly worked out by which school, voluntary club, intimate friends, and parents at home may each take a part in the education of children in matters of sex and thus the whole field be covered in a way that will insure us from loss at any point.
At present, however, we must stress the importance of the home as affording the chief factor in the solution of the problem of adequate sex education.
The Help of Books.—Then comes another aspect of the work. What means have we by which parents may guide their children into the knowledge of their sex life? Are there books to be had or helpful suggestions to be given? For this is not so easy a matter as it might seem at first glance. Not only is the subject itself difficult and wrapped around with all kinds of traditional reserves, but the best way in which to answer the questions of childhood and to reveal the meaning of sex is not to be discovered without careful study.
The purpose of the writer and the publisher has been to make a book which would come in with definite help on this problem at this very point. Therefore the conversational style has been deliberately chosen. The idea is to keep to the front that the father is in most cases the best friend of his boy. Necessarily it is the boy’s side of the matter which is kept in view, but the change of terms demanded by the situation, the same method could be used by a mother in talking with a girl.A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
The Lonely Time in a Boy’s Life.—
Into the life of every boy there comes a time of loneliness, misunderstanding and great need. He passes through tfye profound change in body, mind and spirit which is called adolescence. This is simply a long word for the process of becoming a man. The subject has been extensively written upon during the past twenty-five years, so much so that many excellent parents have become wearied by the constant talk about it. An exasperated teacher once said that the problems of the schoolroom could be reduced to Adam, adenoids and adolescence. But when the tremendous significance of the matter is fully understood, no father will pass over the great experience of his boy without appreciation of what is going on and the efifort to help his child in every possible way to meet the stress of the change.
It is an experience that involves the whole personality. The body passes through a stage of growth that tests the virility and stamina of the boy intensely. At the end of it not only is the lad larger and stronger in body , but he has reached also the beginning of his stage of reproductive power. He discovers a new world of social relations of which he was ignorant before. He may become either intensely bashful or socially headstrong. Very likely he will almost break his mother’s heart, for he will not want to be kissed or petted any longer, although he needs to be loved as never before. Perhaps he will behave like a
395396 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
brute, when his heart is still as true and tender as it was when he was a little boy. It is quite probable that he will fall madly in love, like William Baxter in Booth Tarkington’s “Seventeen.” In some cases there will be a bursting forth of the deeper yearnings of religion. Altogether it is a strange confusion through which the boy is passing.
The Physical Side of the Change.—This great change and its consequent loneliness may be studied from many points of approach, but one of the ways in which it must be considered is in its reference to the ripening of the powers by which a boy finally becomes able himself to become the father of a child. The peril involved in this particular consideration of the fact of adolescence is that it will be regarded almost wholly from the side of its sex changes and functions. This is only one part of the tremendous process, and to exalt it over-much is just as serious a mistake as it is to disregard it entirely.
Knowledge of the whole truth concerning the physical origin of human life, clean and beautiful and ennobling as it is, is one of the best safeguards to help carry a boy through this radical transformation and to bring him out into maturity, truly informed in mind, self-mastered in body, and pure in heart. The importance of knowledge in meeting this experience must be emphasized at this point.
The reticence with which the process of reproduction is treated by the majority of parents during this lonely period of a boy’s life suggests not only the fact that many do not know how to handle it, but also that probably a majority of parents fail to recognize how important it is and what rank it holds among the items of knowledge that a boyA Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life 397
ought to possess as to the world of which he is a part.
The Importance of Knowledge.—Reflecting a moment upon this latter point, we recall the way in which ail education is laying stress upon the importance of knowing the world in which we live. The whole modern scientific movement is a glorious endeavor to find out the meaning of the universe. It has been taken for granted that if only we can be thoroughly informed as to the real nature of the world in which we live, we shall conduct ourselves in a rational way and live in harmony with the laws of life that insure prosperity and happiness. And there is excellent sense and sound logic in this proposition. Ignorance always has been the fertile source of bad behavior. Knowledge makes for character.
Knowledge alone, however, is not enough. If intelligence is not matched by morality it may become an evil rather than a good. The intelligent robber is a greater menace to the community than the stupid thief. An informed mind must be accompanied by a clean heart in order to make a noble boy or girl.
What Knowledge Is Most Necessary?—It is
also important that we should estimate accurately the kind of knowledge that is of greatest worth. It ought to be that which is concerned with the supreme function of life. Rut surely no human pair has a greater privilege entrusted to them than this, to become the parents of healthy children, to train those children to be useful members of society, to leave to them an honored name, a high ideal and a body of necessary knowledge that shall guide them into right living. If this is true, then the story of life as we are using the term here is of supreme importance. It is not only a necessary398 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
integral part of the clear and clean information with which every boy ought to be furnished, but it holds a primary place among the factors composing that knowledge.
This does not mean, of course, that the story of the origin of human life is to be dwelt upon constantly, unfolded at full length at first, or made a subject of frequent thought and conversation with a boy. The contrary condition is the one toward which we ought to strive. It does not take long to give a boy all the knowledge that is necessary for his enlightenment and guidance. It is quite needless to lead his mind to dwell upon the subject or to talk much with him about it, least of all with his comrades, or even with his own father. The subject belongs among those facts about which every healthy minded person is duly reticent. But clear ideas about the nature of human reproduction is supremely important for every boy.
As a matter of fact, we make poor estimates of the relative values of knowledge. A business man, who loves and studies the stars, said recently with true insight, “We ought to open our windows toward the sky and be more interested in the big show overhead than we are in the dog fight in the street.” But, as a matter of fact, we are more concerned as a rule with that which is less important than with that which is essentially worth while. Perhaps we have seemed over-urgent in this paragraph, but the pressure of the demand to get the supreme items first has caused the emphasis to be laid so strongly.
Children Are Bound to Learn the Story.—Let us make it plain also that the boy will find out about these matters and that very early. Parents who entertain the notion that somehow their children are going to pass through the experiences ofA Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life 399
youth innocent on all matters of sex and reproduction are simply deceiving themselves. Professor Bigelow, to whose work reference will be made frequently, challenges any large group of representative men to declare if they did not know the essential facts of the sex life before they were twelve; he says, “ninety-seven in every hundred will answer quickly in the affirmative.” He also cites the case of the mothers of a group of little girls in one of the best managed private schools, who were confident that supervision was being so closely exercised over their children that knowledge on these forbidden subjects never could reach their daughters, but one day one of the little girls showed her mother a small note book filled with unprintable details on sexual subjects, and it was discovered that the girls had formed a secret society, which had been in existence two years, for the purpose of passing on information acquired by them from all possible sources on the very topic from which they were supposed to have been successfully shielded, and they had been able to tap plenty of sources of knowledge also.
Parents Can Decide the Source of Knowledge.
—So it is not at all a matter of choice with parents as to whether they will tell their children the story of life or let them remain innocent of it. The knowledge cannot be kept from them through any protective art that has yet been devised. It is simply inevitable, inescapable. The only possible choice the parent has in the matter is to determine the source from which the boy shall derive his information. Shall it be from those who will tell him the truth in a noble and clean way, or shall he pick up his knowledge in garbled form accompanied by all kinds of filthy ideas? There is only one answer possible with such alternatives in view.400 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
Children Have the Right to Know.—To the
certainty that the boy will get his information in some way, parents ought to add this other fact: Every boy has the right to know the story of life and this knowledge is as wholesome and useful as any scientific information that can possibly be imparted to him.
Before a father or mother attempts to give instruction of any sort to a child, it will help immensely if it may be clear that this is a subject which is natural and right, which belongs among those concerning which no apologies need to be made. If the father and his boy can only understand from the outset that to talk about the origin of life and the functions of sex is just as necessary and natural and clean as talking about the stars or gravity or politics, they have laid the foundation for helpful relations which will bring joy and strength to them both. It is because of the practical results of this fundamental view of the matter that we made so emphatic the right of the boy to know the secrets that are so often vulgarly shared in the “gang.”
Who Shall Tell a Child?—Granted now that the boy has the right to know and that he is sure to find out in some way, the inevitable question is thrust forward, From whom should he learn the story of life?
The importance of this question appears when we inquire where boys who are left to their own devices get their information regarding sex. It is always from other children, or from foul-minded older boys and men, and always in an evil way, “in the lurking places of the villages.” The little gang gets together in their hiding place or shanty or around their “secret hoard.” Or two or three boys get away together into the woods or sleepA Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life 401
together. Or a “hired man” or a hostier fills up the lad’s mind with the vulgar description of reproduction and sex life. Countless boys will confirm these and similar sources as those from which they derived their first knowledge of their sexual organs and powers.
And all this time the one person who, under normal conditions knows the problems of a boy’s life best, loves the boy most, and would be best able to help him, the boy’s own father, is either oblivious to the situation or silent through fear or false modesty or ignorance as to how to go at the matter. This is nothing less than a tragic loss to both the boy and the man. Each misses an opportunity and a privilege which neither can afford to let slip. A man never can appreciate his boy more truly and deeply than when he breaks over his reserve and tells the little fellow what his male life means and what his mother has done for them both in bringing her son into the world. And a boy who has shared the profoundest knowledge of existence with a clean heart with his “dad” will be a better youth and a nobler father in his turn. Instead of being an embarrassment or a trial, this experience of unfolding the meaning of life on the part of the father becomes a veritable sacrament of manly sympathy and understanding between the two who share it with pure minds.
Who Shall Break the Ice?—The question, Who shall seek the interview? is important. It is quite unlikely that the initial approach will be made on the part of the boy. The first information that he picks up is generally so shrouded in mystery and often in shame that he is naturally timid about bringing the subject to his father or mother. This creates a curious state of mind. The boy is often well-
nigh spell-bound by the air of mystery or shame 26402 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
in the situation. It makes him reticent. Quite often it is the member of the gang who first “put him wise” with whom he talks the matter over.
So, in a majority of cases the father has the problem on his hands of making the approach, breaking the ice, and leading the boy from timidity to clear thinking and happy confidence in the matter of his own sex life and relations.
A man ought to recognize the fact that the initial responsibility rests with him and therefore study the best way in which to discharge it. And it is a real help for the father to know that, in spite of the shyness and reticence which the boy displays, he truly would like to know all about himself. If he is told in a frank and manly way, he will welcome the statement from the lips of his father. This gives a certain measure of encouragement to a man who may feel hesitant about beginning what in the nature of the case is a delicate task. To be sure that the boy would honestly be glad to hear the story will help one to begin to tell it.
The situation has been put clearly by a recent: writer, who says:
“When a boy has reached a school age and associates with older boys, things begin to assume more natural proportions and the world takes on a more real aspect. Then it is the boy wants more material explanations, demands practical truths. A man can ill afford to allow vulgar representations of these most sacred truths to be given to his boy by his companions, but he may rest assured they will be, and the boy will listen unless this has been forestalled by knowledge given by a wise parent. Fortunate is the boy whose father is a companion to him. The man who can break away from his business cares, take long walks with him,A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life 403
talking about the wonders and mysteries of nature, gradually leading up to nature’s method of reproducing her kind, and teaching him the sacredness of the human body, will be fully repaid for the euort.”*
How Early Shall the Story Be Told?—Perhaps the next question that arises is, How early should the questions be answered and the story told? In general it is^safe to reply, Earlier than most parents expect. When Bisseker says that after fourteen a boy should understand the story of life and the realities of sex, he does not reckon sufficiently with the fact that the majority of boys by the time they reach the age of eight have picked up a fairly complete body of sex knowledge from their companions. Therefore the beginning of the process of informing a boy’s mind should date from an early age. By the time a boy is six years old he has asked the questions, “Where did the chicken come from?” and “What does it mean to be born?” And when he asks these questions he ought to receive some kind of an answer, sufficient to satisfy him for the time being, and an answer that looks fearlessly to more statements that are to follow it in due order.
Therefore it is apparent that there are varying degrees in which the story ought to be told. A boy may be informed that the stork did not bring the baby but that it came from the mother’s body without going on at that time to reveal the details of the process by which a human ovum becomes fertile. All this may be reserved for the time when the main facts of biology have become known under their popular names rather than by their technical descriptions.
We believe, however, that the whole story may
*“Truths” by 3$. B. Lowry. Chicago: Forbes and Co. 1912.404 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
be told with safety to a boy of eight, and that there is no safety for him unless as early as that time he knows why he is a boy and what part he has to perform in life because of that fact. And if a father will tell his boy the story it will be an experience mutually enriching and a happy memory in the years that follow it.
How Shall the Ice Be Broken?—Of course it will be necessary to “break the ice.” To get started under favorable conditions is the first great step in the telling of the story of life. A father discovered quite accidentally, for example, that his boy’s mind was being filled with vulgar ideas about his sex life, What was to be done? The first impulse was to censure the lad. But clearly, that was not the wise way to get at the problem. The boy was not vicious; he was simply the victim of the conditions in the place where the gang had their hang-out. Then, too, the boy’s fine sense of justice must not be outraged from the beginning. So the father waited and worked for the time when he could be with his boy alone under most friendly and favorable conditions. Then he began in a kind way to connect up with what he knew the boys had been talking about when they were where they thought that no one could hear them. He showed the boy that he wanted only to tell him truly about the things that has been put falsely into his mind by his chums. He did not blame them or his boy; but he appealed to the lad’s desire to know everything in the right way rather than in the wrong way. So the talk was a success.
Starting on Common Ground.—The best way to “break the ice” is, of course, to let the conversation spring out of some common experience that the father and the boy have both had. And it is more than likely that, if the father will rememberA Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life 405
his own childhood, he will find himself quickly on common ground with the boy who is repeating his own hard experiences. Or some fact connected with reproduction in nature gives an excellent way of starting off. Or in many instances some question asked by the boy may be directed into the subject that needs to be talked over. There are numberless ways in which to get started if the man is only alert and the boy is honest and responsive, as is almost always the case.
Three Principles.—In concluding the consideration of the phase of the subject discussed in this chapter, we lay emphasis upon three principles which may be used to guide one who is seeking to tell the story of life to a boy.
The first is delicacy. We are dealing with a subject about which refined persons do not talk freely. This is not because the subject has anything about it that is disgraceful. Let this point always be kept in mind. We do not talk about these matters because they are shameful; but because they belong in the area of life that is reserved from common thought and talk. Just as certain parts of the body are kept covered, not because they are a cause of shame, but because the delicate sense of what is fitting makes it habitual, so these matters are held in fine reserve because it fits their character. So we must be sure that not the least color of coarseness comes into the conversation if we are talking with a boy on matters of sex. The moment that any least vulgarity steals in, the beauty of the relation is lost.
Next, the story must be told thoughtfully. It is an exacting task and the greatest amount of careful thought must be given to the method, the language, the very figures that are used in setting the truth before a boy. Each man must tell it in406 A Boy, His Father, and the Story of Life
his own way. We shall make some suggestions in the following pages, but they are only hints. No step ought to be taken in telling the story without most careful study as to the impression that will be made, the way in which it will lead to the right result, and the real worth of it in the process of revelation of the truth.
Finally, the story must be told frankly. As naturally and honestly as we would talk about the circulation of the blood, the care of the body, or even a fishing trip, we must talk about the origin of human life and the sexual functions that the boy must understand how to control. For the anatomy and physiology of these bodily organs and the reproduction of life are as much and as noble a part of ourselves, as we have said already, and are to be mentioned as frankly as are any other organs and functions. Only it must be done with the sensitive thoughtfulness of instinctive reserve. These never may become the subjects of common conversation; they are kept for the sacred hour when the father and his boy think together of one of the greatest subjects that ever can draw them close to one another.Calling Things by Their Right Names
iln thinking and speaking about the matter of sex it is impossible not to be struck by the fact that we have no current vocabulary that is scientific. A careful /gfc study of the talk of boys above ft® grammar school age shows that gay ^ whenever they speak of subjects connected with sex, they use words which are generally coined for the purpose or are perverted terms from common life. For example, the word “heart” is common in medical science and in common conversation and mean practically the same thing. But the various words that are used for the parts of the male organs of sex have no such stability. The scientific term penis, which ought to be familiar to any well informed boy, is, so far as we have been able to learn, quite unknown until long after the many vulgar terms for the same object have been made part of a boy’s vocabulary.
Why the Right Names Are Not Used.—There are many reasons to account for this. The sense of mystery and the thought of sex as something of which to be ashamed have resulted in the creation of a vocabulary for the subject which either perverts common words to a bad use or creates a peculiar vocabulary that is often different according to locality.
Of course there is the childish tendency to learn and use the “bad word.” Perhaps it is the sense
407408 Calling Things by Their Right Names
of mystery in the fact of sex; perhaps it is the desire to possess something which may be gloated over as a secret; but in any case, the use of the vocabulary of sex and sex relations comes early into the experience of children.
A Sensible Proposition.—So here is one of the
first problems connected with the training of children at home. It is better to use the terms which scientific usage has agreed upon clearly than it is to get along with the popular substitutes or the coarse inventions. There is no use beating around the bush in talking with children about their own bodies. It may seem easier to speak of a child’s navel or umbilicus as its “belly-button” or “dimple”, but it is nothing but folly in the end. As a matter of fact, it generally gets the child and his teachers and parents into trouble. The scientific words have a definite meaning; these may be found in the dictionary. Hence this is the vocabulary and the only one which it is safe to use.
Perhaps there is no point at which a boy has a harder time to get the right terms in his mind than in connection with the female organs of sex. Parents may say, “But a boy should think or know nothing about these subjects.” If anyone makes that proposition, it is safe in the majority of cases to ask the simple question, “Did you never as a boy see or hear or know anything about the reproductive organs of the female? Did the Bible never give you the word womb for your vocabulary as you heard it read?” As a matter of experience, every boy has to run into these terms and ideas; he cannot avoid them. He picks up the vulgar substitutes for them early and they are in his mind. So, whatever parents may be inclined to hold as theory, they have something to do practically to straighten out the vocabulary of their children.409
Calling Things by Their Right Names
A Concrete Example.—To make it concrete therefore, every boy has the right to know that the words uterus or womb refer to the inner organs of sex in the female and that the word vulva means the external organs. More than this is not necessary; but this much it is fair to the boy to let him know, and his father ought to be the one to tell him. There is no more reluctance to be shown in using these established and definite words of the English language than in the reference to the lungs or the heart.
And it is in this way that we are to overcome the use of the unprintable vocabulary which passes current around the livery stable and even among' the boys themselves. The terms that are used we cannot even print here, for they would serve no purpose. But the facts that they represent are a part of life and either the perverted words or the right words must be employed. Parents are the ones to determine which it shall be.
Let us take up, then, certain problems that teachers and parents must meet in this line of instruction.
Vulgar Symbols.—First, comes the use of signs and vulgar terms which are often seen wherever young children have chalk and can mark when they are not being watched. Every adult who grew up under the conditions that obtained in the country school with its dry out-house, knows too well how often the various symbols of the sex organs and the vulgar vocabulary of sex relationships were to be met there. But the better conditions that prevail in the finely equipped buildings of the modern city have not overcome this disgusting habit of the small child with chalk and knife at hand.
We have been watching this particular matter for some weeks in a locality near the University410 Calling Things by Their Right Names
of Chicago. On the morning after Hallowe’en, 1916, the work of the scribblers with chalk was especially in evidence. At times it was simply an obscene word; often it was one of the most common symbols of the female organs of sex; occasionally it was a sentence linking two names together. These inscriptions were on walls, on the walks in the University grounds in one case, and on surfaces of every kind where it was easy to write.
One of the worst features of this exhibition was the character of the hand-writing involved. It was apparent from a careful study of the script that nearly all of it had been done by children in the lower grades of the schools. It was in almost every instance childish writing. The meaning of this fact is self evident; those who think that children remain innocent in matters of sex until the “teens” need only to study the writing bn walls at such times. The character of this makes it apparent that children are in possession of the vulgar vocabulary and symbols of sex at an early age.
Talk It Over With the Boy.—So every father ought to talk with his boy about the way in which he may keep from the use of this vocabulary and sign-language of sex. While we are not so overconfident as to think that the mere possession of right information will keep a boy from the scrawling of vulgarity in public places, surely it is not too much to claim that the mastery of the right names and ideas in matters of sex will help to prevent him from doing it himself or of standing by while others deface walls and walks by coarse words and signs. Many a boy has been led into the use of vile language and habits because he did not understand what it all meant. And so in411
Calling Things by Their Right Names
this particular matter, the boy has the right to know what he is doing when he fills his mind with wrong words for good things.
In case a father is convinced that his boy has fallen into the habit of using “smutty” language and writing or printing sex words and symbols, what is to be done? It is a hard and humiliating experience, especially if a sensitive mother is compelled to share the knowledge, but it must be met in the best way by parents. There are certain suggestions that must be borne in mind.
In the first place, hard and humiliating as it is, do not accept this as the evidence that the boy is depraved. The matter must not be taken too lightly or too seriously. To pass it by entirely as one of the mild mistakes of childhood that will be outgrown, is as serious a blunder as it is to think of it as a sign that the lad is completely disgraced and debauched. There are probably reasons for the act and one of the first steps to take is to learn if possible what influences set him into the path that he may have been following for some time.
The Sins of Ignorance.—It is quite likely that he does not really know what he is doing. That is, the bad practice may be essentially a sin of ignorance. In that case the solution of the problem is an easy one. The boy ought to be told what he is doing and there ought not to be any excuse for further wrong-doing on the ground of ignorance. This is no easy matter. To tell him the whole truth plainly and to clear his mind of any mistakes that he may be making through ignorance requires only the loving frankness that we have been urging on the part of the father.
It is quite possible that the trouble goes back to the associates of the boy. The gang may be412 Calling Things hy Their Right Names
under the control of a leader with a foul mind. To discover this may not be an easy matter; yet a wise man who will work carefully generally can get at the situation by careful inquiry. If he finds that the group to which the boy belongs has fallen into the habit of vulgarity, it will be necessary either to break up the association or to change the temper of the gang. Boys are loyal to their groups and to forbid associations without giving sufficient reasons may be to turn into a secret association what is now open. By far the better solution, if it can be reached, is to capture the confidence of the gang leader and to clean up the whole trouble without trying to break the group.
The Influence of Older Comrades.—In some cases the trouble is with an older boy and sometimes the pernicious influence comes from an older girl. Something must be done if possible to break the relationship in a case like this, unless (which is generally most difficult) the older person may be cleaned up.
Above all, do not make haste in a case like this. Under the sting of regret and shame a man tends to rush in and give a boy a sharp talk and sometimes a whipping, rashly doing more harm than good in many cases. It is far better to make haste slowly and to study the situation with great care before deciding what should be done. Many a man has come home tired from his day’s work, learned of some case of vulgar action by his boy, and pitched in without reflection or knowledge, thinking that he could clean the whole matter up by a brief infliction of physical punishment. Sometimes this is effective, but more often it only embitters the boy and does not stop him from his practice.
What is needed is the careful consideration ofCalling Things by Their Right Names 413
the problem and the suiting of the discipline to the deed. It may be that physical punishment is a part of the treatment that ought to be given to the case; but if this is so, the whipping ought to come in some other way than in the heat of sudden anger, and in the majority of cases we are sure that it is the firm and quiet talk, perhaps given more than once, that will rectify the trouble.
The Subjects That We Seldom Talk About.—
Out of this talk ought to come at least this clear understanding:	There are some subjects about
which we do not talk with our chums. We are anxious to make this clear even at the cost of repetition. It is necessary to show a boy that silence regarding a subject does not mean that the subject is not good in itself, but, rather, that it is something that ought to be kept from common talk. One of the best ways in which to make this clear to a boy is to illustrate it from the life of the family. Every boy learns that there are matters connected with the daily life of the family that he is not to talk about among the neighbors. This is not because the subjects are not perfectly honorable, but they belong to the family and the neighbors have no right to be curious about them. So this subject of the origin of life and of the sex of boys and girls is one that does not belong among those which may be talked about freely. Or, to take another line of illustration : every boy knows that there are some matters that he likes to keep as the common property of his group. Perhaps it is a password; it may be the hiding place of something which is regarded as a treasure, not because it is worth so much, but because only the group knows where it is hidden. It is nothing wrong in itself. On the contrary, it is good and right; but the secret about it belongs to the little group414 Calling Things by Their Right Names
of friends and they do not talk it over with others. It is their secret.
But They Are Good and Clean Nevertheless.—
So we want to lift the whole subject of sex out of the realm of those things that are mysterious and perhaps wrong just because there is so much mystery connected with them, into the world of those matters that are all good and pure, but about which we do not talk much. If we talk about them at all, we always use the words that are accepted as correct and think with the ideas that are right, according to science.
In this way only shall we be able to couple a clean mind with the right use of the words that must be employed if we are to call things by their right names. And to get this clearly into the mental and moral standards of a boy is worth the most careful and patient personal effort of which the wisest and most loving father is capable.Where Do Babies Gome From?
The Circumstances of This Talk.—Here we are making bold to report the actual effort that was made by a father to talk with his boy, aged eight, who had put the above question squarely to him in-a f riendly mood. The man had thought over the at length and was sure in his own mind that the way to make the subject clear and clean was to present it in the terms of the simple knowledge of life that the boy possessed. If the talk was to be of any practical use it must connect with what the boy already knew. The man was not a scientist. He never had made any extensive study of biology. He had only tried to think his way along the process of reproduction as it may be read about in popular books on biology. He was not skilled in the use of his pencil and the one or two simple diagrams that he used were drawn on the back of an' envelope.
The report of what he said was written down soon afterward. The following words are close to the original language of the simple talk. The man had gone over the steps of the story so carefully in his own mind that there could be little possibility of confusion. The talk was practically as follows:
A Fair Question.—Papa, where do babies come from?
Well, laddie, you have asked me one of the most interesting questions in the world, and I am glad that you did it. You have the right to know, too, and I will tell you now that I have hoped for a long time that some day we might sit down together and talk it over like good
415416	Where Do Babies Come From?
chums. For I wanted to know about this same subject when I was your age and I did not ask the right one to tell me, so that I got a lot of wrong ideas in aiy mind. But you and I are not going to make that mistake and we will try to understand all about it together.
All living things have babies, that is, they bring other forms of life like themselves into being. When you go on farther in school you will learn about this most interesting process upon which all life depends; for if it were not for this power to replace those who die, all life would perish in time.
The Simplest Example.—Now let me show you the simplest way in which babies come into the world. It would be impossible to see what goes on in the body of this living thing if it were not for the microscope. But with the aid of this, we can see how a very small animal known as the amoeba divides itself into two parts and so it may be said that the baby amoeba comes from the body of the parent by division. I can show you how this is done by drawing a sketch with my pencil.
I know you saw it all quicker than I was able to draw it; but the four steps in bringing an amoeba baby into existence are most interesting. The parent began to divide its own body until at last it had split up into two parts and each of these had become a distinct living
The Next Step.—But this is only a very simple kind of living thing. When we come to the forms that are higher we find quite a different way of bringing new beings into life. Perhaps I can show this best by taking a flower and studying its parts. We can draw a little diagram of this with a pencil and it will help to make the' matter clear.
I cannot finish this little diagram, but you will see the wonderful parts of the flower that are necessary in order that there may be seeds from which should come baby plants. The amoeba divided its own body to make new living bodies. The flower has done something almost the same. Only it has set apart two of its different sec-Where Do Babies Come From?
417
tions in order that one may grow seeds and the other may grow pollen; and unless these two come together in some way there can be no new plants growing later
from the seeds. Notice how the unripened seeds are all packed into a chamber, which is marked O and called the ovary, because the Latin word ovum means an egg or a seed. Right above this ovary reaches up a stalk that has a moist end to which anything could easily stick. The other part of the flower has little pouches on the end in which there is a fine dust called pollen. I have marked that P. And when the wind shakes the flower or a bee comes buzzing along and disturbs it hunting for sweet juice, the dust from the pouches falls on the moist end of the stalk and something wonderful happens. It begins to work down through the stalk until it finds the eggs or seeds packed away in the ovary. When these come together, we say that the seed has been made fertile, that is, under right conditions it will spring into life and a new plant will grow from it. No one can tell just what has happened or why it is that the dust from the pouch and the egg in the ovary must come together before the seed ever can grow into a new plant, but it is so. And the important part of the flower is not the beautiful petals, but the little sacks for the dust and the little case for the seeds. All the rest of the flower is simply to help these two parts do their work in making fertile seeds.
27418	Where Do Babies Come Fromt
Going On to the Fishes.—Now we are able to take another step from the flowers to the fishes. You have seen pictures of the places where the sun-fish clean off the pebbles and get a place ready for their nests. We watched them last summer and saw how they guarded these places from enemies. Now when the fish are ready to set up housekeeping above the clean pebbles, the mother fish forces the eggs out of her body, for just as the flower has a place called the ovary where the seeds are packed away, so the mother fish has a place in her body where the eggs are grown until they are ready to be laid; and just as the flower had a pouch in which the dust-like pollen grew, so the father fish has a place in his body where something like it is stored up. And as the seed could never grow unless the dust should come upon it, so the egg of the fish that has grown in the mother’s body never could become fertile and hatch unless the fluid from the body of the father fish should reach it.
Now this power to grow* the eggs, or ova as they are called, and the dust or fluid, or sperms as they are called, makes the difference between fathers and mothers. Another name for this difference is sex. And the one truth that we must keep in mind is that eggs can never become fertile unless the sperms reach them.
Making Eggs Fertile.—Well, as the mother fish forces the eggs from her body the father fish deposits in the water near and above them a whitish fluid called milt. Just as soon as any of this comes in contact with the eggs, the same thing happens that took place in the flower when the pollen touched the seeds; they become fertile and under the proper conditions little fish hatch from the fertile eggs. But, you see, instead of having the egg place and the pollen place close beside each other in one living thing, as they were in the flower, they are now separated, and each has its own place, one in the body of the female or mother fish, the other in the body of the male or father fish.
Still Another Step in the Story.—Now try to keep what I have just told you clearly in your mind as we go on to the next step in the story. You remember the robin’s nest that you and sister watched last summer. The birds were so busy and clever as they built it. We spoke of the way they were building their house in the maple tree. Then one day we saw as we looked down from the attic window there was a blue egg in the nest. SoonWhere Do Babies Come From?	419
there were more. Then for a long time, it seemed to us as we watched, one of the birds stayed on the nest an the time. And at last we saw four homely, blind, hungry birds in the nest. After that the robins were hard at work all day finding all kinds of food and carrying it to the little birds that seemed never to have enough to eat and grew so fast that they crowded the nest soon.
As we talked about our robin family I told you that the little birds were hatched from the four blue eggs and that the mother bird had laid them from her own body in the nest. We did not talk much about this; but now that we ^ are trying to understand how all living things come into being, we ought to understand just what this means. I have shown you how there is a place in the flower called the ovary where the seeds are, and how the seeds waited until the dust came to make them fertile, that is, to make it possible for them to grow under the right conditions into new flowers. Then we saw how there is a place in the body of the fish where the eggs grow, and how they also must have the milt touch them, in order that they might hatch into little fishes. So in the body of the mother bird, there is a place where the eggs grow, and in the body of the father bird there is a place like the pouch in the flower and the fish where the little sperms grow which are able to make the egg have the wonderful power to hatch. So all the animals, including human beings, who have the egg place in their bodies are called females, or girls, or mothers, as I have just told you, and all that have the fluid place where the sperms grow are called males or boys or fathers.
But the most wonderful fact of all is the way in which the egg was made fertile, so that it could hatch into the baby bird. In the case of the flower, the seed was made fertile when the dust reached it. In the case of the fish, the egg was made fertile when the white fluid came upon it as it had been laid from the mother’s body, and the same is true about the egg of the robin; only, instead of putting the sperms on the eggs just as it left the mother’s body, as the fish did, the father robin placed the sperms in the mother’s body before the egg shell was closed. If this had not been done the egg never would have hatched into a robin.
Where the Calf Came From.—And now I think we can go on still farther with the story. When we were at Uncle’s farm last summer, you remember he told you early one morning that there was a new little calf out at420	Where Do Babies Come From?
the barn and that you might name it if you wanted to. You children went out as soon as you could and found the niother cow and the calf with the wobbly legs. You asked ail sorts of questions and learned that the calf had been born in the night. And when you asked George where the calf really came from, he only laughed and said, “Blew in through the window, kiddie.” That did not satisfy you, I know; for your question was a fair one and you have the right to get an answer. So I am telling you where the calf really did come from. It came from the body of the mother, and the cow “laid” it, like the mother fish	or the	mother bird,	only it	was
“hatched” in her body	before	it came out.	For the	cow
is like the flower and the fish and the bird in this, that she has an egg place	in her	body where	the little	unformed eggs are kept,	and if	one of these	eggs is made
fertile it will begin to grow until, in the course of time, it becomes so strong that it does not need to be taken care of inside the mother’s body and can come out to live for itself. This is what it means for the calf to be born. And just as there is in the body of the male robin a place in which the sperms grow that can make the egg fertile, so there is a place in the body of the bull where the sperms are made, and if these are placed near the egg in the mother’s body it starts to become a calf.
The Last Step.—And now I come to the part of this story that is the hardest to make plain; but it is really the most important and I am most anxious to have you understand it. It is because you are my boy and I love you so much that I am trying to help you understand something that you have a right to know and about which other boys may tell you all kinds of wrong stories. Only what I am going to tell you now is something that you will keep as a kind of friendship secret between you and me, that is, I want you to promise that you will not talk about this with other boys or with your sister. This is not because it is in any way a subject about which to be ashamed. Nor is it wrong at all, but it is one of the matters that we do not talk about except with some few persons who love us and whom we trust. You will not think or talk about it very much anyway; but when you do speak of it, come to me with your questions and I will answer all of them.
You remember when you children went to grandma’s last year, you were so surprised that you found a baby sister here when you came back. You wondered if theWhere Do Babies Come From f	421
doctor brought her; you guessed that the angels came carrying her to us from heaven; and we both told you truly then that God had sent her to us all.
And God did send her; but she came in the way that all living things come into the world. She came out from mama’s own body, in which there is a place where little eggs are kept, as they are in all mothers. If one of these is made fertile it will begin to grow and in time the little baby is ready to come out where it can be taken care of by the family. It is weaker than the calf and needs more care than almost any other baby animal.
Where the Baby Came From.—Now I will tell you the most wonderful and beautiful part of the story. The little egg in the mother’s body becomes fertile when sperms from the body of the father come into contact with it. There is a place in my body where these sperms grow and this is why I was able to be your father. You grew from a tiny egg in mama’s body which had been made fertile by sperms from mine. This is the reason why mama is the dearest of all women to you and why I want you to love and trust me better than any other man you ever will know. We made it possible for you to live. We have taken care of you all these years and you will always be our own son.
The Heart of the Story.—But now if I were to leave the story just here and let you wonder and guess how the egg became fertile, I think it would not be fair to you. So I am going on a little farther. The reason why sister is a girl and you are a boy is not because she wears skirts and you wear trousers; or because she wears her hair in a braid and yours is cut short. But it is because in her body there is a place where the little eggs will grow and in yours is a place where the sperms are made. You must not try to find out just yet any more about that place in the body of a girl; but if you want later to know more about this, come to me with the questions and do not ask other boys.
Our Secret.—But there are a few things that I want to tell you about your own body. If you hear boys talking about this subject, go away or do not listen; but come to me instead. Inside your body and so out of sight are glands that make the sperms, and outside are the parts where your legs separate from your body. These are what make you a boy and always will keep you a man, and these are the parts of your body that you must treat422
Where Do Babies Come From?
in the noblest way. Sometime there may come strong feelings there, and you will want to put your hands on these parts of your body. Every boy has these temptations. Do not be ashamed of it. The only badness or shame connected with this is to think about the matter much or to yield to the temptation to rub or play with yourself. If other boys try to get you to talk about this subject or to do any of these things, never join them. All you need to say is that you understand all about it, and refuse to be with them if they keep on. You must fight like a good soldier to keep your body healthy and clean and your mind full of good thoughts.
Once more, be sure that you honor and respect all girls and never think of them except as nobly as you would of mama and sister. This is the only way you can regard them if you get the idea of the way in which they may sometime be the mothers of little children, and sometime one of them may live with you and give you the right to be as happy and proud with your own boys and girls as we are with you children.
This is only the beginning of the story of where babies come from. What I want you to be sure of is that it is a good and beautiful story and that you can always trust me to tell you more about it as you need to know. I love you and you must never have any feeling of shame in coming to me about this side of your life. Talk with me and not with your chums, and so let us call this the one subject that you and I will always share as our own. There is nothing that ever need make us fear one another.The Change into Manhood
“Be Prepared.—If
there is a lonely time in the life of a boy when he needs sympathy and knowledge, there is also one way above all others to help him meet it: he must be prepared by information given in the right way and by the right persons to pass through the experience of the change into manhood.
It is not necessary that every detail of the great change should be given to him, but the main facts about it and the bearing of the whole on his problems ought to be known by him.
Let no father underestimate the importance of the right degree of preparation in the task that his boy has ahead of him, for the change is radical and it tests all the reserves in physical strength and mental control that the boy has. It is not merely physical; it is emotional and social and moral also. It is a change in body, but it is also a transformation in soul.
Therefore the preparation for it must go to the root of all matter and be thorough enough so that it will afford help in meeting the whole problem. A man must remember the stormy years of his own transition into manhood and not forget what new worlds he entered during these great years of youth.
What Is Youth?—There have been many divisions suggested for the proper classifications of the
423424	The Change into Manhood
years between birth and the attainment of full manhood. The latter limit is now generally set at about twenty-five. Therefore what are the periods into which these twenty-five years may be divided?
Roughly speaking, and recognizing that the limits for girls and boys are not the same, we may divide first at the beginning of the “teens,” that is at the end of the twelfth year, and, second, at the end of seventeen.
There are other divisions suggested by students of child life, and these must all be varied in individual cases. We cannot set any limits which can be observed with no variation. One boy may mature several years ahead of another who is backward in attaining the powers of manhood. However, we are safe in the majority of cases if we observe these divisions.
By youth we mean the years from about thirteen to nearly twenty-five. This is what is known to students as adolescence, which simply indicates the process and the period of growing up or becoming an adult.
Understanding the Change.—We have shown the importance of giving a boy early knowledge of the story of life, certainly as early as the age of eight and in many cases earlier. Now we pass to a second experience in the father’s relations with his boy as he tells him how to be prepared to meet the experience of passing into manhood.
All tha we have said in previous chapters about the spirit in which the confidence is to be exchanged needs to be emphasized again. There ought to be no embarrassment about it. It is as clean and manly to talk about the growth and the functions of the organs of sex as it is to discuss the physical methods by which the body is to be brought into trim to play a good game of golf or to swim a long425
The Change into Manhood
stretch. There ought not to be any more reluctance to open the subject of the change into manhood and to talk it through, calling things by their right names, than there is in speaking of a camping trip or a ball game.
Therefore, we suggest the following as a manly and direct way of preparing a boy to meet the change into manhood. The lad we have in mind is ten years old and his father and he are together where they are sure to have about an hour without interruption.
“When Shall I Begin to ShaveYou asked me this morning when you would begin to shave, and I have been thinking that we ought to talk it all over when we could get time. Suppose we try to understand it all, now that^ we are here together.
You will begin to shave when the hair on your face commences to grow, and would look unpleasant if it were not cut off with a razor. But that is only one of the changes that will be taking place at about the same time. Your whole body will be passing through a time of growth that you must know about. You will also need to understand the way in which your mind will also act. This is the great change into manhood.
You always have wanted to be a man, and the time will come now in a few years, almost too quickly, but you must not think that it will be upon you and complete itself all at once. It is a long process. You must be willing to wait and be patient. Ten years in all will probably pass by before you have grown from a boy into a man. And one of the ways in which you can be sure to pass through this hard time in your life is by knowing what it means, appreciating the changes that are coming and^ so meeting them wisely.
First, then, you must understand that during this time and by means of these changes nature is preparing you for the greatest and noblest purpose for which you could live, that is, to become the father of children who shall help make the world better. This may seem to you a somewhat indefinite claim upon your interest and action ; but if you will think about it carefully, you will see that it is one of the most important principles that could guide you in your life. Tf the little animal called the amoeba aivides itself in order that there may be two living beings,426	The Change into Manhood
how much more important is it that you should be able to give a part of yourself that a child may live.
The Growth of Hair.—'One of the changes which will come to you will be the beginning of the growth of hair on your face and around the organs which make you a boy. It may be that you will be obliged to endure a little teasing on the subject; but you must not be troubled at that I shall be quite proud of the fact that you are growing toward manhood. This is one of the signs that your body is getting ready to perform its great part in keeping up the succession of living human beings. So when the time comes that the downy hairs begin to show on your face, shave them off and keep your face clean. Do not interfere with their growth on any other parts of your body.
Change of Voice.—Then your voice will change. If you sang in a boy choir, you will be surprised at the way your notes will crack sometimes. You will be obliged to stop singing for a time until your vocal organs have become adjusted to the changes through which your whole body is passing. So be careful during this time not to strain your voice or to sing much; it will all right itself if you are patient.
If the boys try to bother you about the way in which your voice goes off in a squeak sometimes, do not pay any attention to it. It will be some time before you get the tone that is going to last you as a man as long as you live. It takes some time for the vocal organs to grow accustomed to the change.
The Awkward Age.—Soon after you have reached the beginning of the change into manhood, you will pass through a time when you will probably feel as if you were all feet and hands and you will wonder if you are going to be anything else than a big awkward fellow that seems never to know just what to do with himself. The meaning of all this is that your bones are growing rapidly and the muscles are not able to keep up with them. So you do not know just what to do with yourself, especially if you have to be in society and meet people where you must observe the rules of etiquette.
You will also probably be more bashful than ever at about this time. So the awkwardness and the timidity will come at the same time and one will make the other worse. It is not an easy matter to meet strangers anyway, and it is especially difficult when one feels all theThe Change into Manhood	427
time that he does not know where to put his hands and feet or how to move around among people gracefully, without breaking things or stepping on anyone.
And when members of the family or your chums poke fun at you on account of your awkwardness, it is all the harder to endure it just at this time when you naturally feel sensitive, although you do not know why. You will need to fight hard to keep from yielding to discouragement. Do not let the teasing of your friends worry you or make you more bashful and sensitive. The whole difficulty will pass away in two or three years and your body will become perfectly adjusted to the changes that are taking place in it. You will have no difficulty in appearing gracefully at a party or controlling yourself in the presence of others as a cultivated gentleman. It may not look so at the moment, but every boy has passed through this in the same way in which you are meeting the change.
Becoming a Man.—But the most important part of this change from boyhood into manhood is the sudden growth of the organs that make you a boy. You have hardly been aware of these up to this time. But now you notice first that the downy hair has begun to grow larger and longer at the base of your abdomen. Then the organs themselves begin to take on size. The penis grows within a few months to be twice or three times the natural size. These are the outside changes that indicate that you are coming to the time when you will be able to secrete from the glands the sperms which would make an egg fertile, or, in other words, that you are gaining power to become the father of a child.
It is the changes inside the body, however, that are far more important than those outside. These cannot be seen and therefore they do not appear to be so important as they really are. We shall reserve the discussion of this part of the change into manhood for the next two chapters, in which we shall talk about the structure of the male organs of sex and the peculiar problems which arise in boyhood as a result of the change into manhood. Only let it be kept clearly in mind that the unseen growth during these few years is more important than any of the outward changes which may be seen.
The New Mental and Moral World.—The changes that take place in the body when a boy passes into manhood are not so important as those that transpire in his mind and in his moral and spiritual nature. This is the428	The Change into Manhood
time when a boy suddenly finds but that the whole great world of which he is a part exists not only to help him but also that he may help it. This is sometimes called the dawn of the “social consciousness.,, By this is meant the discovery of the way in which each one of us is related to the wonderful world around us. We all start to live as babies, and it is no wonder that the baby thinks that he is the center of the family and that the whole house is built and kept up for him. It takes a long time for the baby to learn that he is a part of the family and that he has duties to others as well as rights in the household. When we go to school we step out into a still broader sphere of life, and it takes time to understand there that we must perform our part for the common life of the school as well as have the school give us its best service in training us to live well. It is when a boy comes to the physical change into manhood, however, that suddenly his mind and spirit are also enlarged. He begins to catch the thought of the great world in which he is to do his part as a worker and builder. He sees that there are obligations which he must meet and that he is to be a moral partner in making this a good world.
The Soul's Vision.—But the greatest of all the
changes that any boy passes through in becoming a man is one that it is most difficult to describe or to classify. You remember the lines of Longfellow:
“A boy's will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”
Every man who can remember his boyhood understands what these words mean although he may not be able to define exactly how they applied to any one moment or experience of the great change into ihanhood.
One way of describing this growth of the soul is to say that during these years of physical change a boy also discovers the reality of eternity and God. This is the time when a boy will perhaps most naturally enter into the relations of religion. He will be “confirmed,” or take his first communion or join the church. It is natural that he should do this. God and the unseen world are more real during these wonderful years than at any other time in all our life, excepting, perhaps, during a severe sickness or in old age.
Rejoicing in the Change—What I want you to under* stand, my boy, is that this is an experience in which youThe Change into Manhood	429
ought to rejoice as you look forward to it and pass through it. And do not think of it as chiefly a change in your body. It is this, of course, and as such it is wonderful. We shall try to understand it from this point of view, but it is something far more. Nature is not only getting you ready to be the father of your own little children in the course of time and under the right conditions, but God is preparing you to take your place and do your part in the great world of organized society. This is the greatest privilege that ever can come to you. For it you will need a strong body unbroken by destructive habits. You will need a clean, sound mind. You must have a manly soul. These all go together; one cannot be had without the other.
In fact, to change from boyhood into manhood means nothing less than the growth into a true child of God the Heavenly Father. You are to take your place in the world to do his will and to enter into his purpose for all his children.The Male Organs of Sex
The Right to Know.—We
come in this chapter to one of the items in the story of life which necessarily must be approached and treated in the most delicate yet fair and earnest way by a boy’s father. For the boy has the right, as every person has the right to demand that his own body shall be respected and treated privately. Yet boys are quite unlike girls in the general freedom of physical exposure. The requirements of the swimming pools demand that no clothing shall be worn, and all healthy-minded boys are accustomed to see the naked bodies of their comrades, probably without giving any thought whatever to the organs of sex. Nevertheless, a boy’s right to delicate and sympathetic treatment ought to be respected. He has the full right to know about himself and his father is the one to tell him.
Using a Diagram.—In talking with a boy about the form and function of the male organs of sex, it is necessary to have something to illustrate thg subject. It would clearly be unwise to point to or touch the organs themselves. Such liberty no wise father would take. A picture is not well suited to explain the subject. The difficulty with a photograph is, first that it gives only an outside view of the organs, and, second, it is too detailed. The best way in which to make the matter clear is to get a diagram of the essential organs, and use it as the basis of what is said to the boy. This
430The Male Organs of Sex
431
Diagram of Male Sexual Organs
Note on Diagram.—This rough diagram lays no claim to scientific accuracy or artistic finish. It is roughly drawn in a few minutes from a plate to be found in any standard book on anatomy. The writer's purpose is simply to have something before the boy’s eye so that the various parts of the male sex apparatus may be pointed out.432
The Male Organs of Sex
can be quickly drawn, like the one herewith presented, from any standard book on anatomy.
Supposing, now, that such a simple diagram is at hand, and that the time is right to talk with the boy, let us outline the progress of talk as follows :
The Organs Outside the Body.—We are going to talk today just as plainly as we have done before, about the parts of your body which make you a boy instead of a girl and the work that these do in building up your own manhood and in making it possible sometime for you to have your own children.
These organs are both outside and inside your body. Those that can be seen are in two parts, the right names of which are penis and scrotum. There are many other names by which they are called, but when you think of them, as may be necessary sometimes, and when you speak of them, as will be necessary very seldom, it is better to use the right names, as we have already agreed.
The penis is peculiar in this, it can change its size quickly and greatly; this is due to the material of which it is made. When it is enlarged it is said to be erect. The end of the penis is somewhat enlarged, has a red surface, is quite sensitive, and over it the skm is drawn in the case of children. Sometimes this skin sticks and needs to be separated. If a boy cannot draw the skin back when he takes his bath so that he can wash away the cheesy matter which accumulates behind the enlarged head, he ought to have the doctor make the matter right. Many a boy would probably be kept from falling into bad habits if he might have this foreskin either cut off when a baby, that is be circumcised, or attended to properly by a doctor later in life.
Through the penis runs the channel through which the urine must pass from the bladder and also the discharges from the other glands which carry the sperms that are so important in the story of life.
Boys sometimes think that the size of the penis is a sign of strength or manliness. Tliis is not necessarily so. There is great difference in the degree of development in different boys, and virile power does not depend upon the size of the organs of sex. If your sex organs are not so large as those of other boys you need not be ashamed. Do not think about it ; keep your mind on more important matters.433
The Male Organs of Sex
The Organs Inside the Body.—The scrotum is the sack of skin in which testes or testicles are carried and protected. It is wrinkled and generally darker in color than the skin of the body.
Coming now to the organs that are inside the body, we notice on our diagram only those which are most important in our story.
There are two testes, each about an inch thick and a little wider and longer. You can feel these and see their general outline, but need not handle them in any way. We shall see what these glands do later. A cord passes from each of these up into the body. The testes are very sensitive to shock and are well protected by nature so that they will not be injured by a kick or a blow. Men remove them from male animals for various purposes, but chiefly in order that the creature may not grow up high-strung and spirited, but may make a more dull and patient beast for common use. We shall learn the reason for this later. This is called castrating or altering a male animal. A castrated man is called a eunuch.
The Seminal Vesicles.—On the diagram you will see the outline of a small sack, of which there are two. These are called the seminal vesicles. It is too bad that the name must be such a difficult one to remember and use, but there is no reason to speak of these organs often, because they are out of sight. Therefore there are no common names for them and we can use only the medical terms. If you forget the name, it is no great loss; all you need to do is to remember it for a short time, because we want to talk about the office that these two glands perform.
The Prostate Gland.-r-This surrounds the neck of the bladder and cannot, of course, be seen or felt. When men get past middle life this gland sometimes causes trouble and needs to be removed by a surgical operation. But with a boy, like all the other organs, it shows that it is healthy by the fact that we are not conscious of possessing such an organ at all.
What Do These Organs Do?—The most important facts for you to know about these organs is not their name and location but what they do in the daily life of a boy or man and how each has some part in the process of becoming a human father. The part that any organ performs in keeping up the life of the body is called its function, and therefore we will talk now about the functions of the different male organs of sex.
28434	The Male Organs of Sex
When they are excited, either by the influence of the mind itself or by any outside cause, the sexual organs of a boy get ready to do their part in placing the sperms secreted by his body on the ovum in the body of a female. This takes place in the discharge of^ a somewhat thick fluid, containing great numbers of these living sperms. Each organ has its share in the act, and I want you to understand it in order that you may also know the real meaning of some of the experiences through which you must pass.
What Cowper’s Glands Do.—Sometimes a boy wakes up to find that his sex organs have become excited and erect. This may take place when he is awake by the rubbing of his clothing when he is rowing, or in other wuys that involve no fault whatever. He will perhaps find under such circumstances that a slight fluid has come out of his body, and may fear, unless he has been told the truth, that he is losing something necessary to his strength and manhood. This is not so. Quack doctors often excite the fears of boys and young men by describing this falsely. Never be troubled about this or go to any other than a reliable doctor in any case. All that has taken place is that Cowper’s glands have sent out a little slippery fluid to keep the sex organs from injury. This is their work.
How the Semen Is Formed.—The semen is the fluid
that contains the sperms, or spermatozoa, as they are more accurately named. These are the living cells which have the power to make the ovum fertile. They are carried in a fluid which is formed by the material furnished by the three different glands whose names we have just learned.
First, the prostate gland furnishes a part of the material which is to give nourishment to the sperms so long as they live and are active. This food is composed of something like the white of egg and salts which are useful to make the sperms active.
Second, the seminal vesicles also furnish a part of the material which is necessary to keep the sperms alive and active. These vesicles secrete the product all the time, and therefore regularly become so full that they cannot hold their contents any longer. ^ They then discharge. But this is not a loss of the precious sperms and fluids of the testes; it is not a serious matter and must not be taken as such.The Male Organs of Sex	435
Third, the testes make the most important contribution to this wonderful fluid. There are two kinds of secretion from these glands. The first is the living sperms and the second is something that is poured back into the blood and takes a most important part in the^ building up of the strength and vigor of the body. This quality of a boy or man is often called virility and it depends upon the supply of the fluid secreted by the testes, absorbed into the blood, and so sent to build up every part of the body.
The Loss of Virility.—When the male animals are deprived of their testes the result is not merely that they never can furnish the sperms which would make the female ovum fertile, but their whole development is changed. They are no longer full of vigor and spirit; but they become sluggish, heavy and slow. They have lost the power to secrete and pour into the blood the fluid which gives the life and energy to the body which we call virility.
And whenever a boy gets into the habit of exciting his sexual organs in such a way that he loses the semen often, he misses the help of this fluid on which he depends to build up his vigor and strength.
We have talked over the whole subject now and you really know all that you need to know about your sexual organs themselves and what they do. And once more I ask you not to talk about these subjects with the boys except you may know sometime that you can help a fellow understand the meaning of his own life and save him from habits that are unclean and unmanly. If that ever comes to pass and he is willing to do so, both of you come to me and I will go over the whole subject again and answer any questions you may have to ask me. Meantime, you know, this is the subject about which you and I are agreed that we understand it together and are not going to talk it over with anyone else.The Sexual Problems of Boyhood
Recognizing the Problem.—One of the most important items in the relation of a father to his boy is that the man should realize how genuine a problem the matter of sex really is in the daily life of his developing boy. It is there, day and night, a mighty factor in the growth of the lad and occupying such a position in the list of forces making or unmaking the boy that it simply must be appreciated. Once in a while a boy is fortunate enough to pass through the stormy years of change into manhood without yielding to the forces either within or without which tend to make him indulge his passions in any wrong way. But so far as experience can report on the matter, there are very few who do actually escape some kind of damage during these years. The purpose of this chapter is to suggest ways in which a father can talk over with his boy the peculiar problems and struggles connected with the control of his sex desires and powers during the time when he is passing into manhood.
Thinking About Yourself.—As we were talking about the change into manhood and the organs of sex, my boy, I was not able to say to you all that I wanted to tell you concerning the peculiar battles that you will have to fight and the problems that you will be compelled to solve as you grow up into manhood. So now I am going to talk with you again about these.
The first point that I want to make clear is that you try not to think too much about yourself and your development in your organs of sex. As you go swimming with the boys or are in the shower baths and the swimming pools, be careful not to spend time looking at othe-
436The Sexual Problems of Boyhood	437
boys or thinking about yourself as to whether or not you have developed your organs of sex. Jewish babies are circumcised, that is, the foreskin is cut off, leaving the reddish end of the penis partly or wholly exposed; this is sometimes done in the case of boys who are not Jews, and in many cases it probably might have been done to advantage. Sometimes boys tease each other on this account; or because the sex organs of a boy are not as large as normal, he is subjected to contempt. No end of suffering results to a sensitive boy on this account. So I want to urge you never to think about this in your own case or in the case of your friends. Be gentlemen with each other. Just as you would not mock any boy who had a deformity of any kind but help him rather to forget it, so you ought not to tease any boy because he may not be as perfect as another in the organs that mark him to be a male.
Emissions in the Night.—You will be surprised sometime probably to wake up and find that there has flowed from you while you were asleep or dreaming a discharge of fluid from the sexual organs. The first time this happens probably you will feel a sense of shame and you will be inclined to keep it as a secret. I hope that if the marks of it were found on the sheet in the morning your mother did not misunderstand it and feel that perhaps there was something wrong with you. What I want you to understand is that this “dreaming off” or “seminal emission” as it is called, is not to cause you any anxiety or shame. It is not going to do you any harm, under ordinary conditions. You must understand it and know just what it all means.
Going back, now, to what we have talked over about the organs of sex, recall the fact that the seminal vesicles which are indicated in the diagram secrete constantly a watery solution, the purpose of which is to help the sperms to keep alive and strong until they find the ovum and make it fertile. Now these vesicles can only take care of a certain amount of the watery fluid; when they become distended too much nature takes care of the surplus by forcing it out. This is what passes off in a ‘‘seminal emission.” That which is lost under these conditions is not the fluid that is secreted by the testes, which you remember, is so important to the growth of the body and which cannot be drawn away, as it is in self-abuse, without a severe loss to the powers of manhood.
Now if you find that some of the fluid is passing away *438	The Sexual Problems of Boyhood
from you in an emission in the night, come and tell me about it, so that I may see how often it is happening and also whether or not it leaves you feeling weak as a result. If it does not cause any such feeling, and if the experience does not come more often than once in ten days, or even once a week, we shall not need to do anything about it or be troubled at all.
The Problem of Self-Abuse.—Now we come to a problem that is really serious. There are many names for it, some of them good, others bad. The more common names are masturbation, secret vice, or self-abuse. By this we mean the wilful loss of those fluids which we have just learned are of such vital importance in building up the body.
There are few boys who pass into manhood without meeting the temptation to indulge in this act and yielding to it at least a few times; there are many who form thé habit and are obliged to struggle with ih sometimes for years. There are others who suffer so seriously from the habit that they never recover from the damage that is done to them when they are young boys. The reason for this you ought to know, and it is now so well understood that it can be made plain in a few words.
What the Glands Do for the Body.—In various parts of the body there are glands that secrete fluids which are absolutely necessary in order to keep the body in a healthy state. These secretions do not appear outside the body, like tears or saliva, but these “juices” are silently and steadily formed and poured into the blood or so introduced into the body that its healthy development is kept up. If the glands are removed or destroyed by disease there is a loss to the body that is always damaging and sometimes fatal.
There is a gland in the neck called the thyroid. Never mind if you do not get the name of it now. The important fact about it is that if this were destroyed when a boy was a baby he never would grow up into a normal and intelligent man, but would be an idiot, although his death might not come about as a result of the loss of the gland.
Losing the Fluid From the Testes.—The glands that are a part of the organs of sex have a similar part to perform in the development of the body. They secrete fluids which are absorbed into the blood and there take a chief part in developing the body in its strength or in what we call its virility. You know the difference be-The Sexual Problems of Boyhood	439
tween boys who are manly and strong, tingling with life and action, and those who are weak and tired and lolling around. As this wonderful fluid is secreted by the testes it works its way into the blood vessels and is carried to all parts of the body, where it performs its part in building it or so furnishing it that we discover this peculiar strength, virility. And if the fluids are drawn off through the friction or rubbing of the organs, the whole body suffers the loss of the fluids that it must have in order to be made strong and able to endure strain. So here lies all the folly and sin of self-abuse; it is depriving the body of what it needs for its own strengthening. The boy who forms the habit of self-abuse is as unwise as a man would be if he were to break into his own house, rob it of its most precious goods, and throw them into the fire at the end.
Getting Into the Habit.—There are at least three dangers that I want to tell you about in order that you may keep free from harm in the sexual abuse of your own body. And let me say here that I am confident that many boys get into this habit before they know that it is harmful. They do not understand and there was no friend to tell them. This is why we have talked it over so fully. I want you to know just what the danger is and so to keep clear of it.
One cause is the condition of your own body. ^ While Jewish boys are circumcised, the majority of Gentile boys are not. Many boys have a rather long skin covering the head of the penis. Often this is tight and cannot be drawn back easily. It is almost certain that a cheesy substance will gather under this skin. One of the items in taking your bath is to pull back this foreskin and keep the organs ^ clean, for this substance will sometimes cause an ^ irritation which finally brings about an excited condition with the desire to handle the sexual organs.
High-Strung Temper.—Another reason that leads to the abuse of the sex organs and so a damage of the whole body is the nervous disposition of the boy himself. There are some boys who are naturally calm and self-controlled. It is great good fortune to belong in this class. But there are others who are hot-blooded and fiery. They will have a harder fight to control themselves. They will be able probably to do some things in the world that their slower friends never will accomplish. But it is very likely that they may have some battles to fight in the control of their sexual desires that will test their reso-440	The Sexual Problems of Boyhood
lution and endurance to the limit. So if you feel that you belong in the fiery class, be all the more on your guard.
Probably the instruction of other boys is a still more frequent cause of trouble in forming bad habits. We have talked about this so much that it is not necessary to discuss it here at greater length. Practice the golden rule in this matter. Keep clean yourself and help other boys do the same.
The Harm of the Habit.—It is not difficult to make a list of the bad effects of continuing the habit of selfabuse. I do not want to have you think that I am trying to frighten you. Nor need you expect to find any one or all of these evil effects following inevitably from indulgence of the habit. There are some boys who are so strong that they go on for some time, even two or three years, and do not show serious damage. There are others who give evidence of their loss of virility immediately and finally break down in a pitiful way, but in general we are safe in saying that one or more of these results will follow from the practice of self-abuse:
Physical Damages.—There are at least three physical results that will show the damage of self-abuse. The first of these is a retarded^ development of the body. This may not be so much in the matter of height or weight, although it will probably appear here, as in the whole growth of the body itself.
Then the muscles will tend to be less strong than they would have been if the body had not lost so much of the fluids of the testes, which were needed in building their fiber. Weak muscles mean that the whole body is awkward and unable to respond with power to the commands of the will.
Another mark of the damage that is done by this secret habit is the weariness of the boy. He does not respond to his work in school or to his play with the snap that is the sign of virility! He is tired. Every school teacher knows how large a part this plays in the work of the boys. Th^re are some boys who are “constitutionally tired” in almost every school. In many cases the personal habits of the boy account for this condition.
Damaged Nerves.—Another result of the abuse of the body is the weakening of the nerves so that they are not steady and responsive as they ought to be. The discharge of the semen in the final act of self-abuse is aThe Sexual Problems of Boyhood	441
severe strain for it brings with it the arousing of the whole body and ends in a considerable shock. When this is repeated too often the nerves are made unsteady.
And so there comes about a condition in which the mind is also involved. Boys who have fallen into this habit are not able to grip their subjects in school as they might otherwise. Many a teacher has been troubled as to the gradual failure of a boy, and has at last found that he needed to correct his personal habits as the first step to recovery. The memory is often involved also. Every power that demands the use of the nervous system is more or less damaged by the indulgence in secret impurity. Anyone who will think for a moment how necessary the nerves are to the highest physical life will see at once how deep is the injury that comes from selfabuse.
Moral Loss.—Going along with the mental and the physical damage is also the moral loss which comes from this habit. It may not be easily explained, but it is a matter of observation that the keenness of the moral sense is blunted by secret sexual abuse. It may be that the root of it lies in the pleasure that a boy learns to take in what is debasing and unworthy of the finest manliness. It cannot fail to bring him into the place where he does not see clearly the true meaning of right and wrong. The best friends of boys know that cowardice, deception and general shiftiness almost always go along with sexual excess. And one of the powers that every man ought to desire to possess is the gift of seeing that which is right quickly and of doing it with all his strength. Surely there can be no passing pleasure worth while if it must be purchased at such a price. The boy who has blunted his moral sense and weakened his moral power has put a mortgage upon his own success that will take him a lifetime to clear off.
Strength of Will.—Another test of a boy is the power with which he can command his powers and control himself. To suffer the loss of will power is nothing less than a tragedy. But self-abuse strikes squarely at the will and weakens our power increasingly, the more it is indulged in. It may be at the beginning a boy could control himself easily, but he cannot practice the wrong habit long without getting into such bondage to it that his will seems to be totally helpless in the presence of the temptation to indulge in his passionate feelings. The longer the practice is kept up the more difficult is the task of442	The Sexual Problems of Boyhood
breaking it. The reason for this is, of course, that the will is made' so weak that it cannot command the body to do what is right. So when the real struggle comes in which the habit must be conquered, help of every possible kind must be given to the weakened will.
What, Then, Can Be Done?—It might look as if there were no chance for the boy who has drifted into the habit of self-abuse to free^ himself ^ from bondage to it and restore himself. The situation is not so hopeless that any boy should give up.^ We shall talk this over again, for there are many things to be done. Only be sure of this:	No boy can get the better of this habit
unless he makes up his mind that he simply will rid himself of it^ entirely and goes at the j ob with all the power left in his own will and with all the help that he can get from every possible source. He must determine that he will fight to the last ditch to get back his freedom and his self-respect. It can be done. It is worth doing at any cost. And we will try to talk at length about some of the ways by which the victory is to be won.Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk,
Friends
This is a curious hodge-podge of 'M q a title, but it brings together five of the most fertile sources of suggestion \%ir from which the majority of boys get their ideas concerning their sex life. These are so important that they ought to be taken up, singly or all together, in the effort made by a father or mother to inform and guide a boy in sex problems. The following may be suggested as a profitable line of conversation.
The Importance of Eye-Gate.—Every one knows how deep are the impressions that pictures^ of all kinds make. People who seldom read and who think very little are taught and guided by the pictures that they see. Nearly all the magazines are illustrated now; there is only a small sale for those which have no pictures. In teaching we see how important pictures are considered. Take the text-books on geography as an example. The finest views from all around the world are brought together in these volumes for home and school use. Any statement in printed form that is beautifully and accurately illustrated by a picture gains in its clearness and is long remembered. I use these familiar examples that you may see from your daily life how important a part pictures play in conveying the truth. Eye-gate is one of the great openings to the soul.
And there are certain reasons why it is supremely influential in the whole matter of sex. First, because of the mystery connected with our sexual organs and relations. We never strip off our clothing except when we are alone or in the presence of friends whom we know well. Especially is this true in the case of girls and women. They keep their bodies modestly covered with clothing. But the human body, especially the form of girls
443444	Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk, Friends
and women, is beautiful. Artists like to mold it in clay, to draw and to paint it. In these forms it is right that pictures should be made of the body. We almost never get any unclean thoughts from the great pictures and statues. But the trouble with other kinds of pictures is that they stir up all kinds of imagination and desire.
The Unclean Picture.—So boys are sometimes strongly tempted to buy and to pass around among themselves pictures representing the body without proper clothing or even the relations of sex. What I want you to understand is what you ought to do when you are asked to look at these or to help pass them around. You simply cannot afford to let the unclean picture get itself stamped upon your mind. It does not fade away. Long years after you saw it, and probably long after sentences that you may have heard on the subject are quite forgotten, you will remember the picture.
I have heard men say that they would give almost any sum of money that they could command if they might wipe off their memory some foul picture that^ they saw and brooded upon when they were boys. Sometimes when boys have a shanty or hang-out or secret haunt one of them will bring in a smutty picture or even a group of such will be collected. If you ever get into such a situation, as you value your own clean mind, pull out as soon as you can and keep away from contact with influences like this. I have known an older boy to get picture cards that were obscene and pass them around among younger boys. It is one of the meanest acts that can be doqe to damage others. If anyone tries to make you a victim of this kind of influence, you are justified in tattling or snitching on him. He is too mean to deserve any better treatment. So keep your mind and memory free from unclean pictures of every kind.
What Is a Suggestion.—More things are suggested to us than ever are told us. The hints we receive are among the strongest forces that act upon our character. Sometimes we are much more strongly influenced by what we are mysteriously pointed to than by what we are openly shown. And this is especially true in our sex life. A man who knows boys well told me recently that he is sure more harm may be done by half covering up the body than by leaving it bare, because the hint at what is half shown will lead a boy to search for the whole when he would take one look with a clean mind at what was fully exposed. However that may be, there is no doubt con-Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk, Friends 445
cerning the power of suggesting the facts about sex in many ways, and about this we want to talk now.
Hints At the Unclean.—In their talk boys are likely to make suggestions that will send the minds of the group off on all kinds of impure lines. One way in which this turns is concerning the body or the private life of girls. Remarks about the physical beauty and suggestions concerning the sexual charm of girls are all in the line of the suggestions against which any clean-hearted boy ought to guard himself. If this kind of dark hints are being thrown out, change the subject if you can; but at least never join in with the others in following out the suggestion to its logical result.
The Power of Thoughts.—Once more, let us make clear the power that a boy’s thoughts have in determining his conduct and character. From the beginning of these talks we have been urging the need of a healthy and clean mind if a boy is to grow up into a true man, self-mastered in all his powers.
And there is no one who can control his thoughts except the boy himself. These are in his own secret possession. We are a mystery to all others except ourselves and God. This makes our thoughts mighty in the shaping of .our conduct. The way in which we think of sex makes us either clean or unclean in speech and deed and habit.
It is, of course, not an easy matter to control our thoughts when they have grown accustomed to dwell upon certain subjects too much. If, whenever we get the suggestion of matters of sex, we let our minds run off on the subject, it will require the severest kind of control to check and change the habit. But it can be done and we must be as resolute in compelling our minds to obey us as we are in making our hands do what we tell them.
Some Ways of Controlling Our Thoughts.—If you have fallen into the habit of letting your mind run into the details of sex life when the subject is suggested, and especially if you find that your mind is dwelling on the physical differences between yourself and girls, one of the best ways to control the situation is to compel yourself to drop the subject or to change it to something better and higher. You will think about girls, of course; but you can force yourself to dwell upon their minds and their personal influence, upon their fine ^ traits of character and the good influence upon you, instead of letting your thoughts dwell at all upon their physical differences from yourself and your boy friends. It is446 Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk, Friends
necessary simply to change the subject upon which you lay emphasis.
In the same way, if your boy friends tend to think about the organs and functions of sex, you can turn to a good healthy problem of athletics and the meaning of a good game of golf and shift the whole line of thought.
What Boys Talk About.—In what has just been said we have naturally moved from thought unexpressed into thought which is in the form of talk between boys. You know how a bunch of boys gets together and before anyone is aware of it they have gone from a smutty story into all kinds of talk about sex and such topics.
The story that is shady is often the beginning of the trouble, so let us discuss that for a moment. Everyone likes a good story. It is a real gift, too, to be a good story teller. But the tendency is to let the story run into some coarse suggestion or unclean reference. One of this kind calls out another a little worse, and the result is that the talk of a group has been turned into uncleanness as a result.
If the bunch starts telling coarse stories, you can do something to turn the subject. Your own good sense will tell you what you better do. But at least some of these efforts may be made: Simply say firmly and clearly, “O, let’s cut that out and talk about' something else.” Perhaps that is not the best way to handle the case. It may be wiser to say nothing but merely to try to turn the talk into a better line. Sometimes the shady story may be told and nothing follow. If this is the case, be sure that you have done nothing by your attention or approval to encourage anyone to go on with another, and be glad that the subject is dropped.
Discussing Sex Subjects.—Talk in a group of boys sometimes runs into a discussion of the facts and relations of sex. Girls are talked about as well as boys and the whole subject is given the wrong turn. Now we have agreed that there is nothing disgraceful in our sex life. It is perfectly possible to think of a group of boys talking about the origin of life and their own part in it and having the talk clean and good. It would not be so often, we are sure; for the tendency of all such talk is to turn into channels that are not clean and good.
Sometimes a group of boys will^ get a book on sex and read it secretly together. This suggests all kinds of subjects which are often talked over by the boys with-Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk, Friends 447
out enough information to enable them to help each other to real knowledge on the matter. The result is generally bad rather than good. The difficulty is that the minds of the boys are filled with wrong ideas and their feelings are inflamed by thinking under these conditions on a subject about^ which they ought to talk with their fathers and not with one another. If each one of the boys would talk with his own father or family doctor there would be no harm come from it and good would be done. It is the conditions under which the matter is talked over and not the subject itself that causes the mischief.
The Power of Personal Influence.—The most important single influence that comes into the life of any boy as far as his sexual knowledge and habits are concerned is the personal example and talk of his chums. In the majority of cases, it is the one closest comrade and friend who exerts the influence. But in many cases it is an older boy, with whom the younger lad does not have much to do personally, but whose talk and example set him wrong.
So in the first place, let me beg of you to be sure that you do nothing to give a younger boy bad ideas about his body and that you do not give him any ideas that will make him coarse and unclean in his thoughts about girls. Many an older boy has done this for younger fellows, and has repented bitferly long^ afterward for the harm he did which he never can set right. For a boy to get the wrong start in his thought and practice about sex is a terrible injury, and you must be sure that, so far as you are concerned, you will not be responsible for it in any case.
Now if the conditions are reversed and an older boy tries to talk with you about sex, refuse to let him lead you on. I have known more than one case in which an older boy would expose his body and try to get younger boys to do it with him when they were alone and thought that they were safe from discovery. There is something about the presence of others doing the same thing which makes a boy yield and do what he never would think of if only he and his best friend were together or if he were quite alone. It takes a lot of courage to go against the gang in a time like this. Instead of there being safety in numbers it is often true that there is danger in the crowd.
Quit If You Must.—If it comes to the last ditch, you ought to leave either a friend or a group that is talking448 Pictures, Suggestions, Thoughts, Talk, Friends
smutty or practicing unclean habits. It may take a great amount of courage to do it, but it is the only safe thing in the end. For it is impossible^ to stay permanently with friends who are hurting your life, and that is exactly what this kind of talk does in the long run.
You see, I want“ you to come through your boyhood knowing about your body and yet not thinking of the sex side of it. I want you to be able to control yourself; and this you will not do if your mind is full of ideas which have been given you in# secrecy by others who do not know what they are talking about.
So keep clear of the pictures, the suggestions, the thoughts, the talk and the friends which give you a desire to misuse your body. Act on what I have told you; live such a clean life that your sister and mother can honor you and therefore other women will respect you; and dare if the time comes to fight for the purity of your soul as much as you would in the defense of your belongings, or the safety of your body.Forming and Breaking Sexual Habits
J “First an act, then a habit, then a character, and then a destiny.” This is a familiar proverb, which you v/ill doubtless hear sometime with a deep sense of its meaning if you have not learned it already. The truth behind the words is this: that we always tend to do a little more easily that which we have done before until soon it has become a habit. Of all the chains that ever can possibly bind anyone there are none that are so strong and so hard to break as the habits which we rivet upon us by doing repeatedly any set of acts. It has been said with a great deal of truth that we are nothing but bundles of habits.
Sex Habits.—Perhaps there is no part of our daily life where habit plays a larger part than in the relations of sex. One reason for this is that the habits of the sex life are generally so secret. Drinking intoxicating liquor, for example, is generally done with others. There are not many “secret drunkards.” Gambling generally involves others and so is one of what we call the social vices. But in carrying on the most of his sex acts a boy is alone. He has none of the help in breaking off and none of the safeguards to help keep him from forming the habit which is possible in the case of the other evil practices to which we just referred. When acts are done alone, and often in bed and in the dark, there is no restraint from shame in the face of others. So naturally the problem is harder to solve than is the case in drinking and gambling.
Getting Into Bad Habits.—We have talked over the matter of how pictures, suggestions, thoughts, talk, and friends may influence you in the forming of habits in your sex life, and have made an appeal for firmness in taking care of yourself in the presence of these influences.
Now we get into bad sex habits just as we acquire any others, namely, by doing single acts that are wrong. The boy who never takes a drink of intoxicating liquor never will acquire the habit or become a drunkard. Not every boy or young man who takes a drink becomes a victim of the habit, of course, but all drunkards have become such by starting to drink. If the first step never had been taken
449
29450 Forming and Breaking Sexual Habits
the road never would have been travelled at all. Not every boy who misuses his sexual organs once or even several times will surely get into the habit of self-abuse and be obliged to fight back to clean living again; but he has taken the first step and is well started on the road. And that road is a hard one to travel, as many a boy would tell you if he let you see all that is in his mind and heart.
So there is just one simple rule with which to begin: Never do the bad act and you will be free from the bad habit. If anyone tells you that you must go through all the experiences of sex life in order to be a man, tell him that this is not true. The best and most useful men in the world are those who have kept free from the habits that destroy the power of the body and the soul.
But what we want to talk over now is the way in which we may get out of the clutch of a bad habit when once we are in it.
Keep Away From the Quack Doctors.—One of the
results of self-abuse is to make a boy fearful and oversensitive. He gets the idea that perhaps he is losing his powers and must have medical help. But he dreads to tell his father or the family doctor. In this condition he is an easy mark for the cheap doctors who advertise that they have special skill in curing men of the “loss of manhood” and similar troubles. These men are less in evidence than they used to be, for the best papers will not take their advertisements any more. There are plenty of them, however, still carrying on their miserable swindle.
It is very likely that a boy who has been practicing self-abuse for some time does need medical attention; but he ought to receive it at the hands of a reputable physician. So if you ever know of a boy who needs help in such circumstances, persuade him to talk with his father and with the family doctor. Tell him that he has no reason to feel ashamed to tell the truth. It is something to be proud of when a boy has found out his fault and is ready to try to overcome it.
First Step—Decide to Quit .—There is only one way in which a boy ever can break off the habit of self-abuse; he must determine to do it and he must be dead-in-earnest about it. The one supreme factor in the fight is the determined will. It is at this point, unfortunately, that the greatest difficulty may be met. For one of the most common results of the practice is to weaken the will and to make a boy irresolute and unreliable. He tends to make decisionsForming and Breaking Sexual Habits 451
and not to stick to them. He is inclined to grow more shifty in his will and weaker in his power to hold on. So it works out this vicious circle; the more the habit is indulged the weaker the will grows; the weaker the will becomes the less power it has to control the habit. So a boy goes on robbing himself of the very weapons that he ought to have in his, hands to conquer the evil habit. But there is always some power left; and the way to increase that is to use it to the limit, to decide the question fully, and then to stick to the decision until the battle is won, as it may be.
Physical Help.—If any boy means business in his effort to lead a clean life, he will want to begin with his own body. It is quite possible that there is some fault in his own sex organs, like a long foreskin. The doctor can tell and he ought to be seen. You ought to ask your father to tell you everything that you should do in keeping your body clean and healthy.
Another physical help is open-air exercise. Everyone knows that sitting quietly for a long time in cramped positions will tend to produce sexual cravings while hard exercise in the open air is useful in working off physical energy and so bringing about healthy habits. Fresh air under all conditions helps in the problem. Look out for the opening of windows at night.
Also be sure of the general up-keep of your body. The morning sponge bath or shower will give you help in fighting the battle for a clean life. The strongest boys I ever have known have been the fellows who kept themselves fit with plenty of water and exercise; they seemed to be able to keep themselves clean also in mind and soul.
Getting Up in the Morning.—The result of a careful
study of the conditions under which bad sexual habits are kept up shows that one of the times when the worst mischief is done is in the early morning, after first waking up and during the time of half sleep before one actually gets out of bed and begins to dress. If it is cold weather the bed is warm and many of the surroundings are so comfortable that they excite a boy before he knows what is taking place. Therefore one of the wisest doctors in the country advises boys to make it a rule to get out of bed when they first wake up and on no condition to allow themselves to lie under cover and go through a second dozing sleep. It js better to get into a bath room and take a cold sponge^ in order that the day may be started with no danger of making a sexual mistake at the outset.452 Forming and Breaking Sexual Habits
Keeping Away From Yourself.—It may sound strange, but one of the most needful lessons that a boy can learn is how to keep away from himself. Of course in one sense he never can do this. We may choose the persons with whom we will live to a considerable extent; but we simply must live with ourselves. But we can determine the kind of a person that we will live with when we do live with ourselves. And if we are decided that this is going to be a clean, fine, strong person, then we shall keep our hands off ourselves in order that we may not have to live with someone who has misused his own body. The beginning of many bad habits lies in the putting of a boy’s hands on"his own body and making free with it in such a way that he perverts its right use. So, although you are all alone and nobody can know what you are doing, fight the tendency to put your hands on yourself, as you will also be sure to keep them off anyone else. It is a great thing when you see clearly that your own body is sacred to yourself and that you must not let it be abused by you.
The Place of Clean Thoughts.—-We may lay all the
weight we like upon the physical conditions, but it is true, of course, that the mind has the great part to play in ^ the control of our habits. So we must work on our minds more than on our bodies in trying to get rid of bad practices. The way we think will determine what we do. The best way in which to drive unclean thoughts out of our minds is to fill them with good, clean ideas. This principle is so important that we want to make it plain just now.
One of the great sermons of modern times was preached by Rev. Thomas Chalmers of Scotland, on the subject, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” By this the preacher meant that the way to get a base idea out of the mind was to drive it out by putting a good one in its place. He got the idea when he was riding in the stage coach and saw the driver whip up the leading horse at a certain sharp curve in the road where steadiness was necessary. The driver said he did it in order “to give Jim something to think on till he got by a big white stone at which he always shied.” This is one of the best principles which a boy can use as he tries to conquer his bad mental and physical habits. He must get new ideas into his mind and the old ones will be driven out.
A boy can control his morbid curiosity about sex subjects if he will think on other matters. He can drive out the memory of old base pictures and stories and suggestionsForming and Breaking Sexual Habits 453
if he will simply determine to set his mind on the subjects that are fine and clean. It may take a long fight and probably it will; but it can be done by keeping up the battle.
The Help of Friends.—Although the habit may be a secret one, it is quite likely that at some stage of its growth your closest friend may have known about it or even shared in it. It is equally true that in trying to overcome it, the part that a friend plays in the problem may be large.
Now if it happens, as it often does, that the bad practice is one in which a little gang shares, or in which two chums are partners, it may be that a boy never will get the better of the habit until he breaks with the old crowd. Generally I do not like to advise anyone to win his victory by leaving the battle ground. There is a proverb that one of my friends uses often which I like; he says, “Pick up your hat where you dropped it.” But that does qot mean that we are^ to stay in the place where we are in'great danger of dropping it again. So in general I say, Quit the old bunch. Get into another kind of surroundings where you will get new help. It will be hard enough to win anyhow without inviting difficulty. And if you and your chum have gotten into evil ways together, unless you can talk it over with him and you can agree to help each other to clean up, it is better to leave him than to keep meeting the hardship of his influence as you are trying to form new habits.
Help Another Fellow.—-There is no greater single means of help in the fight than to try definitely to help someone else in the same battle. It is wonderful how we get new strength when we bear a hand in putting our shoulder under someone else. It helps us to see how the struggle itself is worth while. Sometimes we wonder if it is very important when we think only of ourselves. But when we look at someone else who is evidently injuring himself, we see the whole matter in a new light. And as we try to lend a hand with someone else we discover that the best way to help him is to have our own example right. We can best encourage someone else to win by winning ourselves. So we get a new spur to our own energies as we try to get the better of any old wrong habit that may have been afflicting us. Pitch in and give a lift to the other fellow, for your own sake as well as for his.
Trust Your Father.—In all the sources of aid that are open to a boy trying to break off bad sex habits, there is no stronger influence open to him that that of his own father, if only he will give this power a place in the fight.454 Forming and Breaking Sexual Habits
And yet it is one of the last helps that is used, in the majority of cases.
But do not feel ashamed to come to your father with your problem. Did you ever stop to think that he has been through almost all the experiences through which you are passing and that it is quite likely that he had his own battle to fight when he was a boy and has not forgotten it either? If you get together on the matter, I am rather sure that you will find that he has some scars which show that he in his own time was a fighter in the same war that you are waging. So do not let this source of help go unused. It will be a pity for you and for him also if you do not share the battle.
The Moral and Religious Side.—There is a deep moral and religious side of this fight with evil habits that you must not overlook. The damage that secret vice does to the highest powers of a boy is the worst of all. Impure living spoils the beauty of his spirit, and there is no set of figures that can tell how great a disaster this is.
And so I want to say that a boy fighting this battle needs the help of God and must have it if he is to win. We must not talk about the different ideas of religion, of God, and of the church at this point. The fact that help is to be^ had from higher powers than those that we or our friends possess is the almost unanimous testimony of all good men. And this aid ought to come to every boy in his fight for a clean character. It will come, if he does his best and prays and waits patiently for the victory. There is no other single point where a boy’s religion can be of more practical value than right here. God does help us in our struggle to lead a clean life. We cannot explain it and we would not try. There are some things that are spoiled when they are explained. It will be a sorry day for the world when we are told exactly why a mother loves her boy. Religion cannot be reduced to a set of propositions, like the statements of geometry; but it is none the less^ true. So rally all the real religion that you have to help you in the fight. ^ Trust in God and ask Him to give you the victory. This is the way to win.
Never Give Up.—If any bad sexual habits have got themselves fastened upon you, it will be a long battle before they let go entirely, in the majority of cases. So the question is constantly coming up: How long must a boy fight his battle before the victory is secure? and, What shall a boy do when he loses the fight?
Let us take up the second question first. There is a vastForming and Breaking Sexual Habits 455
difference between a single battle and a campaign. We know that many a skirmish and often a battle is lost before the campaign as a whole is decided. And this will most likely take place in fighting the battle for a clean life. There will be times when a boy will fall and repent with shame and confusion. If this happens, never let yourself get confused about the difference between the loss of a single battle and the loss of a whole campaign. There may come days when it seems as if the whole fight had been lost. You may have made the best of resolutions; you may have done your best; you may have asked God to help you and trusted him in full faith; and yet you fell into the clutch of the old habit again and went down. What are you going to do?^ Simply this: get up and go at it again, all the more determined that you will get the better of the enemy. This is the kind of stubborn courage that finally triumphs. Nothing else is adequate to the fight that you will have to carry on.
How long will it take, then? In some cases a boy will be able to conquer the evil and control himself in a few weeks or months. But there are many cases in which the struggle is prolonged even for years. This kind of a foe is not done to death in a day. It is a grim old battle and it must be fought to the bitter end. What I want to make clear to you is that the final victory is absolutely sure. It comes to every boy who fights with determination, uses every means at hand, trusts God and never gives up.
And it is a great thing to win this battle. It is greater than to “take a city.” Many a world conqueror has been less truly a hero than some boy who, falling into bad habits, has seen the evil of it all and then has determined to get the victory over the wrong and live a clean, manly life. Such a victor is a true hero.Associating With Boys Who Misunderstand the Story
tThe Place of Friendship. — It is
through the avenue of his friends that every boy gets the greatest impacts that tend to shape his character. The boys in the gang make each other by the information that they furnish and the ideals that they impart. Parents often think that they know all about their children, because they see them at home every day, share the common life at the table with them, and know where they are every evening. But this is not by any means an assurance that they know what their children are thinking and talking about, or learning from their comrades in the play and school life that occupies so many hours away from the home. Often parents are terribly shocked to learn what may have been going on in the little circle where they thought that the boy was one of a pure-hearted little group of playfellows. Sometimes it is discovered that the boys have been revelling in the details of sex relations as they have talked about them and even have become abnormal in their relations with one another.
Depravity or Ignorance?—The first thought, if such a case is discovered, is that the boys are debauched or depraved. Most earnestly it ought to be brought to the attention of parents under such conditions that often this is a case of ignorance and good instincts gone astray rather than the sure sign of a vulgar mind or a depraved nature. No
456Associating with Boys Who Misunderstand 457
effort is being made to underestimate or apologize for these abuses among boys; their evil results are too often apparent. But time and again boys have developed a condition among one another that did not spring from evil hearts but from natural tendencies, that went wrong because there had been no correct information given. Therefore, let the group and the individual be given the benefit of the doubt in such a case and at least the question raised if the situation may not be corrected by the giving of the right kind of information and the use of frank and friendly guidance.
Talking Over the Gang.—We are now supposing a case in which a father has come upon a bad condition in the gang to which his boy belongs. He might of course rush ahead with punishment and try to correct the fault with an appropriate penalty like a whipping. But we have in mind something deeper in intention than mere physical punishment. Therefore the following is the suggestion of a talk with the boy concerning the gang and his relation to it. It might proceed something like this:
I can remember so well the times when we had our shanty and our secret society, with its initiations and its passwords, and sometimes I have wished that I could go back again and live over a few of the summer days when our old gang was together. I think of the places where the boys of the gang are now; and it is wonderful to see how clearly the work that they are doing and the character that they have now were expressed in the way that they acted long ago.
And if I were able to go back and live over the old days when we were boys, I know that one of the points at which I should try to make it all better would be the way we talked and thought about sex and the problems of our own life. I do not mean that we were a nasty lot of boys. We came from homes where we were loved and taken care of better than the majority of boys. But there were always one or more in the bunch whose minds and mouths were not clean; and as I look back from today I am sure that458 Associating with Boys Who Misunderstand
one of the problems which I did not solve as well as I ought to have done was how to help keep everything manly and clean in the gang to which I belonged. And if I am not mistaken that is one of the difficulties that you will have to understand in your own associations with your friends. So let us talk it over.
You Cannot Solve a Problem by Running Away From
It.—Now it is certain that matters of sex will come up in the talk of the gang. It is something that sooner or later gets into the subjects talked over, and there is nothing that tends to grow into the one great subject faster and fiercer than the theme of sex life. So then you will have to decide what you are going to do with it. And the first principle is that simply quitting the gang at the outset and trying to do nothing to change the subjects talked about will not solve the problem. I do not mean that you are to stay •with the bunch when they begin to talk smutty stuff and do nothing to correct the trouble. That would be worse than running away, without doubt. But simply to quit, while safe for you, is not to live up to the opportunity that comes to you at this point to make your influence felt for a clean deal with the sex problems of boyhood. I do not believe that any strong boy wants either to run away and be safe or to stay and be stained. The right way to meet the situation is to stay and do something to make the whole situation better.
Using Your Information.—Supposing, now, that the talk in the shanty or on the hike has turned to the subject of sexual relations. What are you, a boy who knows about the subject in a clean way as I have tried to tell you the story of life, going to do? It is not an easy situation in which you will find yourself. I know and understand it all But you can do something to help your chums at just this point. Your knowledge of the matter ought to be of use to them as it ought to have helped you.
Under the circumstances, therefore, and before the talk has gone too far, I suggest that you take a hand in the guiding of the talk. Tell the fellows first of all that you think the beginning of life and the relations of sex are subjects that we get hold of generally in the wrong way. I advise you to tell them that your father has talked with you since you were a kid and has told you about the whole subject. Then you better put the subject something like this: My father has told me that this subject is as fine as any, but that it is not something to talk about in a crowd.Associating with Boys Who Misunderstand 459
Before we know it we are saying and thinking things about gfrls that are low and which we would punch the head off a fellow for saying or thinking about our sister. I think that the way to do is for each fellow to get at the real truth about his part in the story of life. My father has a book which he has used in talking with me; and if there is any one of you who will do it, I will ask him to talk with us both and show us from the book what the truth about sex is. I would just as soon ask him to talk with all of us if you will let him. But I know it is a mistake to talk about this subject until we all understand more than we do about it.
If you will speak something like this, I believe that the boys will be inclined to stop and to give you a chance to help some of them learn the truth and keep their minds clean. And if you will fix it up for me, I will talk with them just as I have talked with you. I will try to answer their questions just as fully as I have tried to answer yours. If you cannot get the gang to let me talk to them, ask any one of the boys who would be willing to learn what I have told you. I will talk with you both together or with him alone if you prefer.
Changing the Subject.—Another way in which to handle the matter is to change the subject as soon as you can when the boys begin to talk on the relations of sex. This can be done and not put you in any false light with the gang, if you are careful about it. Without joining in and at the right time, as your common sense indicates it, you can shift the subject to something that is interesting and worth talking about. In many cases that is doubtless the best way to do. It puts something different before the minds of the group. Of course there must be some subject to talk about when boys are together. The problem is to replace the subjects that are bad by those which are good. I have said repeatedly that sex is not a subject that is bad in itself. It is only the way in which it is handled that makes it so often coarse and vulgar. On this account it is almost impossible for a group of boys to talk at any great length on this subject and not get into the unclean aspects of the matter.
You and Your Chum.-—Let us now talk about some of the dangers that come into the personal relations of two boys who are good friends and who are thrown closely with one another. In many a case two boys get into the habit of unclean talk or practices step by step and the result is great damage to life and character. I know that you have been460 Associating with Boys Who Misunderstand
puzzled sometimes because I have not been so willing as you thought that I ought to have been to have you spend the night with other boys or to have them spend the night with you. There is only a double bed in your room and the two of you would have to sleep together if you were to be with each other through the night. The temptations that come under these conditions are greater than boys sometimes think. They get into relations that they did not expect when the darkness comes and they are together in their night clothes. We may as well talk this out plainly. I do not know why it is, but probably it is because of the way in which all the relations of sex are kept as concealed and quiet as they ought to be. At any rate, there is something in the darkness and privacy of the night that simply tends to bring out the whole matter into our thought. Then if the air is cold and the boys cuddle up to each other under the covering of the bed, the organs of sex often become excited under the warmth and the contact. If the boys have fallen into whispered talk about matters of sex, this condition is still farther increased. As a result, boys use their hands improperly and are betrayed into relations with each other’s bodies that would make them ashamed if they were to face the same conditions in the daylight.
I do not mean that two boy chums always get into these bad situations; probably in the great majority of cases they do not. But the danger is so great and the mistake is made so often, that we have tried at home not to let you run any more risks than you needed to meet. Your mother and I want you and your best boy friend to be with each other. We know that the hours that mean most to friends are those in which they may be alone. But we want those times to be clean and good so that the memory of them will be happy. And there is nothing that is much worse than to be compelled to remember that you and your chum were not clean and strong when you were nearest one another in your boyhood.
So I urge you with all the power I have to be careful about your talk and what you do with your bodies when you and your best friend are together where nobody sees or hears you. I have put you on your guard against letting yourself be betrayed into any unclean talk or action. It is something for your own will to determine. Nobody can stand guard over you except your personal ideal and resolution.
One of Your Enemies.—I now come to the final pointAssociating with Boys Who Misunderstand 461
that I want to talk with you about. From all I know about the way in which boys are thrown into the company of each other, I am sure that the enemy in disguise is the older boy or the chum of your own age who has the intention to teach you bad practices as he talks with you about matters of sex, excites your mind, and finally tries to get you into the practice of self-abuse. When the best apology that can be thought up is made for such boys, it remains true that they do untold damage in their relations with other boys. I want you to have the right idea of such a fellow. Perhaps it is true that he does not fully understand what he is doing; in many cases, indeed, I believe that he does not. I give every boy the credit for being sound and clean when he really knows the whole truth about his sex life; but the trouble is there are so many who get on the wrong road before they know at all where they are going.
So if you fall into a relation like this with any boy, I want you to be absolutely firm with him and tell him with all the strength of will that you possess that you will have nothing to do with his uncleanness. You may have to stand up to your principles like a good soldier in order to win out with him; but you can do it if you will, and you must be positive and unflinching about it.
But there is another side to the same point. It may be that you will come to the place in your friendship with another boy where you can do him a genuine good turn by setting him right in his ideas and habits concerning his sex life. It is not enough to keep your own character clear from weakness and strain; you must do your part to help some other fellow. Otherwise you might be his enemy instead of his friend. If you see an opportunity like this be sure that you are true to the chance to be a good friend. Tell your chum what you know, or, better still, bring him to me if he will come, and I will talk with him as I have done with you.Being a Gentleman With Girls
The Test of a Clean, Strong
Boy. —One of the finest tests of a clean, strong boy is the way in which his mind and his manners are expressed in the presence of girls. A boy who has had the privilege of growing up with sisters has the advantage over an only child. In any case, however, every boy needs to be counselled, and guided in his association with girls. There are certain general principles which he ought to understand. His father and mother are the ones to help him master these.
Being a Good Comrade With Girls.—First, every boy has the right to be guided in a normal, healthy way of associating with girls as good, comrades and friends without being subjected to the silly suggestions of “falling in love” or mating. One of the tragic facts about our common conversation is that every kind of association between a boy and girl is liable to be jested about or at least involved in the glamor of a romance. Even in the primary grades of school, boys are taunted on choosing someone for a “best girl” and girls are teased because someone is their “fellow.” Thus the peculiar atmosphere and relationships of young manhood and womanhood are brought down into the years of childhood to make artificial those simple and beautiful relations that the boy and girl ought to bear to each other.
462463
Being a Gentleman with Girls
Teasing at Home and Between Friends.—One
way in which to check this is to repress any teasing of children on this point in the family. Older brothers and sisters are inclined to torment younger members until they induce a false idea of the naturalness and worth of childish friendships between boys and girls. Even parents are sometimes betrayed into silly references to the “love affairs” of little children. It is natural and easy enough to fall into this habit in the family; but the result is an abnormal idea of the right relations between boys and girls. If the family as a whole will not tease any member who is forming friendships with a comrade of a different sex, the danger and folly referred to will be in large part avoided.
The same principle holds , good in the talk which is common between playmates and friends. Study the writing on the sidewalks of any village or city as an example of this. In the crude hand-writing of children in the lower grades will be found the association of names of boys and girls, or such sentences as “John loves Mary,” or “Fred kissed Kitty.” It is the old teasing spirit which spoils the naturalness and beauty of the association of boys and girls as good chums and simple friends.
So, at home and in the friendships of children, parents ought to work definitely to bring boys and girls to associate with one another without bringing the “love affairs” of grown-ups into the association of children of opposite sex.
“Talking It Over” With Boys.—But something more than merely a natural treatment of boy and girl friendships is necessary in order to help children to associate with one another in the best way. Having only boys in mind now, we note that parents ought to do something definite to lead a boy to understand how to be a gentleman with girls.464	Being a Gentleman with Girls
A boy’s father is the one person who may be expected most naturally to talk the matter over with him. The following is suggested as a natural way to handle the subject. Let the occasion be one on which the subject can naturally be brought in. There ought to be time enough to go over the subject thoroughly, without feeling that there is no opportunity for questions and honest replies. It is all the better if the boy has a sister; but even if he is an only son, his mother can be cited as the appeal to his honor and chivalry.
How Do You Want Boys to Treat Your Mother or Sister?—One of the finest things I know about you, son, is the way you have treated your mother and sisters ever since you were a small boy. Of course I know that sometimes you have lost your temper and been harsh or unkind for a few moments; but I have been sure that you honored your mother and the girls and never would let anyone say or do anything to them that was not polite and honorable. Keep that spirit as long as you live; for it is the part of a gentleman to defend the good name and the honor of his mother and sisters with every power of his being. You are right in demanding that every boy and man shall treat your mother and sisters with as clean heart and hands as you treat them yourself.
How About the Golden Rule?—But this principle, which you accept and act upon so naturally and strongly in your relations to your mother and sisters, is just as strong when it is applied to your relations with girls; and I want to talk this over fully now.*1*
(1) If the boy is old enough to appreciate it, the following quotation may be read to him, or told in substance. In any case it will be oi use in suggesting the way in which to direct the course of reasoning. It is found in Bigelow’s “Sex Education,” page 32. “The editor of a well-known magazine was recently talking with a prominent author and made some reference to the immoral habits of young men. Their conversation was essentially as follows:	The
author remarked, *1 assume that my boys will be boys and will have their fling before they settle down and marry.* The editor replied, ‘Yes, and I presume that you expect your boys to sow their wild oats with my daughters, and that in return you will expect my sons to dissipate with your daughters. At any rate, you have damnable designs on somebody’s daughters.* This put on the wild-oat proposition a light which was apparently new to the literary man, for he replied, “That is a phase of the young man’s problem which never occurred to me. It does sound startling when stated in that personal way!* **Being a Gentleman with Girls	465
Do not think that this is an unimportant matter. Like all the greatest laws of living, it is simple and plain, but it goes deep to the very heart of the whole problem. If every boy would do to all girls as he would have all other boys do to his own mother and sister, then there would be no unclean thinking or impure actions between boys and girls; for every true boy wants his own mother and sisters to be treated in a gentlemanly way by his male friends and chums.
Clean Relationships With Other Boys.—One of the
ways in which to insure fine and healthy relationships with girls is for you to be sure that you are wholesome and manly in your relations with other boys. You boys are used to being with one another without your clothes on in the pools and baths of the Y. M. C. A. and around the swimming holes in the country. These are generally more or less public and you will not be tempted to talk or think about matters of sex in such conditions. The danger comes in the places where two or three of you get together and know that you will not be seen or overheard. Shanties, barns, and secret hang-outs of every kind are places where, before you know it, you will be tempted to think and talk about subjects connected with the sex life in a way that will lead you into mischief. Before you know where the road leads, you will have begun to talk and think about girls in a way that you do not want any boy to think about your mother or sisters. So keep away from such places and avoid the subjects which are suggested there and the associations formed on such a basis.
Keep Your Hands Where They Belong?—Girls are beautiful, and I would not expect you to be a healthy, manly boy without appreciating this fact and responding to it. You ought to like to see a girl’s fine hair, lovely face, and graceful figure. You ought to like to walk beside a beautiful girl and to be a courteous, clean-hearted escort for her, whenever she needs your protection and will honor you with her company. This is something to be appreciated with manly pride. I want you to like the companionship of girls and to appreciate the beauty of their physical bodies,
And along with this will come the inevitable temptation to be too free with your hands in touching them or to try to kiss a girl good-night when you have seen her safely home and are only a good school friend.
To kiss a girl is generally understood to be a sign of love for her and to be welcomed and responded to by her only when she loves the giver in return and the two intend to be 3G466	Being a Gentleman with Girls
married and live together some time. A kiss is a noble and beautiful act under the right conditions. But when a schoolboy makes free with the face of a school-girl in this way it is not the act of a gentleman. The boy who will kiss a girl under such conditions is violating the finest rules of courtesy that ought to govern him in his friendships.
It is still worse when a boy hugs a girl or puts his hands on her body in any way that suggests the contacts which are forbidden by courtesy and honor. There is a perfectly clear and safe law to follow at this point. It is this: suppose you had a sister whom you loved and honored with all your soul; would you want any boy to put his hands on her or pat her? You know that you would not; you would fight a boy who tried to do that to your sister. Then, if the Golden Rule means anything, you must not and you will not do a similar act to a girl who is somebody’s sister and who deserves your respect and courteous treatment in every way.
Keep Away From the Fire.—Let me say plainly that the moral mistakes that boys and girls make with one another are not due to the boys entirely or to the girls alone. Sometimes it is one and sometimes the other; but boys are certainly more often the ones who make the first advances and probably are the more often to blame. I believe in you, my lad, with all my heart; but you are not proof against temptation. I have tried to tell you all about yourself, so that you would not at least be surprised and so taken unawares by temptation. I wish that this knowledge and my plain talks might make me sure that you will never betray my confidence in you. But I know too well how hot is the blood of youth; and I tell you plainly that you ”nust fight hard to keep clean and be morally sound in your sex life.
I do not expect you can save yourself from all possible temptations; probably it would not be best that you should be shielded so. But you can avoid some troubles and save yourself some damage by at least never walking into the fire when you know it is burning. So if you have the suspicion that you may be tempted to be ungentlemanly with girls in any particular association or group, I advise you strongly to keep away from it. There are enough good and clean people in the world so that you do not need to go out of your way in order to find trouble, nor even to run into it when it is in your very path. Turn around, go aside, jump over! You know how to take care of your-467
Being a Gentleman with Girls
self, without doubt; but what you would do in a crisis you may not be sure. There is really nothing to be gained and everything to be lost in the dangerous contact. Better keep out. No price is too great to pay for a clean life.
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that
Rules the World.Beginning Right.FOREWORD
The first question that children ask concerning their origin is not, in the largest sense, a sex question at all.
Curious as is the advent of the baby in their own home or a neighbor’s, “Mamma where did it come from?,, is best answered as a mother question alone. Not the mystery of creation, but the wonder of its former home, is troubling the child.
With this truth in mind, I have prepared the following stories.
Later as the child grows older the whole story must be taught, and the simpler and more naturally these truths can be imparted and the foundation properly laid for all the story of creation, 'the better for the child; and this not in one lesson but in successive ones, covering a period of several years.
In pursuing this method one can easily and naturally keep pace with the growing intelligence of the child.
I have given this teaching to thousands of mothers in the past twenty-five years and have received only thanks for the method of approaching this delicate subject in the early years.
Emma F. A. Drake.
469When the Long Story Begins
Put away the beautiful dolly, dear, and come to mother for our bed-time talk. Get your baby ready for bed, and then mother will do the same for her baby, and we shall have our little visit. I have a wonderful story to begin to-night, a story that will not end in a week, but will last for a long, long time, and you and mother are going to enjoy it together.
You love to hear my stories, and I have kept this one, which is best and most wonderful of all, until you were old enough to understand more of it, and now we will begin it. It is a wonderful story of life, of the beginning of you, the little daughter, that has been such a comfort to father and mother, and the beginning of everything else in this great, beautiful world.
As you hugged your new dolly to you, you began to show the mother love in your little woman heart, and you fondled it just as Aunt Ruth snuggles her baby to her, and then came the question which you have been thinking of so long, but hardly knew how to ask.
You remember you said this morning. “Mamma, did Auntie Ruth get baby Helen in Paris when she got my dolly? and if she did, why didn't she get one that can laugh and crow as her baby can, and that can drink milk and begin to talk and walk? I love my dolly, but I like babies better, and I don't think because we are little we should be put off with make-believe babies. What's the reason, mother, for it?"
Little children think a great many things which they can't understand all alone. God gave them papas and mammas to explain all these things. That is what fathers and mothers are for. They teach their little ones all about the wonderful world they come to live in, and about God who made everything in His wisdom.
There are some things that even grown-up people can not understand, and we never will until we get to heaven and God tells us all about them. I suppose this is because the dear Father in heaven thought, if we could know everything here, we would not care so much about going
471472	When the Long Story Begins
to live with Him in heaven, so He has left some things for us to learn when we get there.
We have talked for a long time of the baby flowers and birds and chickens and I have told you much about them. Do you remember the afternoon we tried to think what the world would be like if it had no babies at all in it? We both thought we would not like to live in such a world.
Just a lot of grown up trees with no little baby trees around them; a lot of big birds with no baby birds stretching their hungry mouths to be fed; a yard full of hens and roosters and no tiny, fuzzy baby chickens running after their mothers. What a strange world it would be.
You will remember we were watching our old biddy with her ten little black and gold babies^ and you said, “Why mamma, old biddy would have nothing at all to do but just lay eggs for us, and eat and sleep; and she’d think it would be dreadfully pokey and lonesome, I know.” And then as we watched the birds building their nests in the big, hollow tree under the nursery window, a few days ago, you said, “There, mother, are Mr. and Mrs. Robin getting ready to live.”
You said a very wise thing then my little girl, for we people, like the birds, are only getting ready to live when we are building our homes and preparing for the little ones that are coming to us to be taken care of. When we build our houses we make them not for ourselves alone, but as well	for the	little	boys and girls that we
hope are coming	to live	with	us.	Whatever do you
think father and mother would do without our boys and our dear little daughter?
You know that mother told you that baby trees and flowers grew from seeds that came from grown up trees and plants, and what pleasure we had in making our garden in the Spring, each year, and watching the baby plants grow. And when you first discovered the tiny blue eggs in the robin’s nest and I told you that wrapped in each shell was	a baby robin	that	was growing there,
kept warm by the	mamma	bird	that	sat on the nest day
and night, you could hardly wait to see them pick out of the little hard “blankets,” as you called them.
We could look rights into the nest and when you heard a little peep one morning, you could not wait for mother to dress you, and we wrapped up in a shawl and sat in the window for an hour, watching the lady robin, as she looked so wise, with her head on one side listening toWhen the Long Story Begins	473
the baby voices under her wings. Once in a while she would help a little by picking a bit of the shell away, and then the tiny, wet, homely birdie rolled out of the shell and the mamma bird picked up the cast off blanket and threw it out of the nest and twitered love notes to her wee babies.
You watched them grow, from the ugly little things they were at first, all mouth and wings and legs into pretty little downy birds that mother robin kept warm, while papa bird flew in and out of the nest with worms for them all. Do you remember how you laughed when papa bird sat on the nest one day and looked so important and wise as he sent the mother away for a good fly in the nice warm sunshine, just as papa sometimes stays with you when we can’t all go together?
Then next came the kittens and the rabbits and the dear little puppies. How you shouted when Snowball brought in a beautiful tiny white kitty one day and laid it down ^ on the floor before mother, and ran out and brought in another and another until there were five little blind kitties calling for their mother. When she so proudly stretched herself out and began to purr, the kitties snuggled up to her and rooted around until they found their dinner, you thought there was nothing in the world quite so nice as baby kittens.
Then a little later the rabbits and the puppies came in for their share of wonderment and petting. Then when your wise little head had done a deal of thinking, you came to, me one day and said, “Mamma, where are the seeds that grow kitties and rabbits and puppies? I want to plant some and see them grow. I don’t think it was nice for Snowball and Bobtail and Queenie to make their gardens where I couldn’t see.”
“Tell it over again.”
Why, yes I shall, for we haven’t talked of it for a long time. You remember I told you that I couldn’t show you the seeds that grew these babies, as I could show you the seeds of the plants, because they were all wrapped up in the mamma’s bodies. They didn’t even lay them as the birds and chickens do, for the eggs are the seeds of the birds and chickens, and they lay them in the nests and sit on them to keep them warm until they hatch or are born. But with kittens and rabbits and puppies, the seeds for them are kept inside the mothers, in a soft little nest made just for them to grow in.
After they have grown big enough to come into the474	When the Long Story Begins
world to live, a little door out of the nest is opened and they are born. No' you can’t see the little room, and even the little door is private. Some time when you get older mother can tell you more about it, but you cannot understand it now. After they are born these wise little mothers spend all their time taking care of their babies, teaching them how to live.
Do all other animals grow in the same way? Yes, in just the same way, and the story of them is only a part of the great story of life, that I am telling you.
Some of the fishes lay their eggs and they are hatched in warm, sheltered places and some keep the eggs in their bodies where they grow ipto little fishes and then are born as the kittens and puppies are born.
Some day when we have a mamma fish for dinner, perhaps I can show you the seeds of the fishes, for there are a great many of them and we sometimes have them for a dish by themselves. We call them roe.
Don’t you see when the mothers carry their little ones in their bodies they take them with them wherever they go, and they never get cold or lost and are as safe as safe can be. Could anything have been nicer or planned more beautifully?
The heavenly Father has thought of all the birds, and flowers, and trees, and animals, and has done everything for the best.
The trees plant seeds every year and tiny trees grow from them; the flowers have new baby flowers springing up about them, and the birds and fishes and animals have little ones just the same, and so there are old and young of all kinds of life to make the world more beautiful and attractive.
Your picture books, your stories, your dollies, are each to make your knowledge of these great life questions more real and more helpful.
Many children are not taught these things in the right way and so have wrong thoughts about them. Mother will teach her daughter all she should know and just as fast as she should know it, and you must always come to me when you want to know more about this great question of life, never go to others who perhaps do not know about it in the right way.
As I have told you many times, these subjects are so sacred that they are not to be talked of in a careless and familiar way. Will you remember this? And when you are playing with your little friends listen to nothing that475
When the Long Story Begins
you cannot tell to mother. Before you go to school I will have told you all you want to know, and the story will be unfolded as you grow older, and by the time you are a woman you will know the whole wonderful story.
“Must you never talk of it with others?”
No, there is no need for you to do so; but you will be thinking and learning as you bring all the questions to mother.
The little seeds are in the ground covered closely when they begin to grow and the little birds and kittens and other animals are hidden away, guarded by their mothers. This great life story and all that belongs with it is too sacred to be seen and talked of everywhere. Mothers tell it to their children all alone by themselves. I think that is what the birdies must be saying when they twitter to their little ones, and the kitty when she is purring to her tiny babies.
But this is enough for tonight. Tomorrow we will have more.Where do Babies Come From?
Let us tonight go away back to the creation of the world, back to the garden of Eden, where this long, wonderful story had its beginning. You remember that when God made the world and all the trees, and plants, and beasts, and birds, and fishes, then he made man to rule over all these things.
He made the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the ground, and Eve, his wife (Yes, I know you have learned all about it), from a rib taken from Adam’s side. But God had a more beautiful plan for those who should come after. If every one had been created this way there wouldn’t have been any homes. No papas working for the mammas and the little ones and making homes for them, no dear little babies to be cuddled, no growing boys and girls to bring gladness into the homes, wouldn’t that have been a forlorn and lonesome old world?
But the wise Creator wanted it to be a happy world. He knew that babies and older children would bring love into the world and make happy homes. I think He must have thought, “I’ll give Eve something to hope for every day. I will promise her a little baby that will be a part of her very self, and like herself and Adam. I will make a tiny room in her body, not far away from her heart, and I will put a little egg in it, that will stay there nice and warm, and grow, and grow, for many days, nine long months; and all the while Eve will know about it and she will be thinking of that little baby that is coming, and will love it, and plan for it, and live for it.”
He made it grow in another very little room, called an ovary just a tiny way from the baby’s room, and made a little narrow hallway for the egg to pass through until it got into the larger room, called a uterus or womb, and found a safe corner to snuggle down in. Then a soft blanket wrapped it all in to keep it from getting lost, and stretched bigger and bigger, as the little room
476Where do Babies Come From?	477
did, while the baby grew from this tiny egg into the big beautiful boy or girl that was getting ready to come and live with father and mother.
“What did the baby eat to make it grow?”
That is another wonderful part of this great story. You are not old enough to understand it all because you cannot even understand how your body grows now, but I will tell you as much as you can understand.
Do you see these little blue threads all over your hands and arms and body? These are called veins; and there are others deeper down where you cannot see them that we call arteries. If you should pick one of these veins the blood would come out of it. The blood flowing all through our bodies in the veins and- arteries is what makes us grow. It is made out of the food we eat, but as the little baby cannot eat while it is shut up so close in its velvet room in mother’s body, some other way had to be planned for it to eat and grow.
Right here at your little “dimple,” as you call it, but the right name is navel, a cord was fastened. This cord was just a vein and artery twisted together to carry blood. The other end of the cord spread out and grew to the side of the room where you were to grow so snugly and warmly for those nine months. Then mother’s blood went right into the side of the room and through the little cord, and then all through the veins and arteries of your body and made it grow into the dear fat baby you were when I first saw you.
“How did mother know you were there?”
I can’t tell you exactly, but a sort of mother feeling came into her heart, and in a few weeks I saw that I was beginning to grow larger in my “stomach” as you call it; but the right name is abdomen, and it is below the stomach.
Then one day mother felt a little tap on her side from within the room, and mother said, “Why, that’s the little baby that has grown so that it can reach out its hands and feet and legs and touch my side and let me know that it is there and is getting large enough to do something.” Then after that nearly every day I felt your movements stronger and stronger, and I would say, “The dear baby is stretching its limbs and growing, and growing, and it will soon be here.”
Mother was very careful of what she ate, that it should always be best for the baby. She took good care of herself that you might grow strong and healthy. And mother478	Where do Babies Come From?
put out of her mind everything that would make her sad, for she wanted her baby to be a happy child. She lived as much out of doors as she could with the flowers and the sunshine, and I think that is the reason why my little girl loves all those things so much. Mothers can give their babies a great many things while they are carrying them about under their hearts, because children are so much a part of their mothers.
I chose one name for my baby if it should be a little girl, and another if it should be a boy, so you see I was all ready.
I cannot tell you how happy I was in those days, for I thought and planned so much for the little one. Brothers knew all about it, for I had told them the story I am telling you now. They could hardly wait to see you. Every night at bed time, they would say, “Another day is gone, dear mother, and it won’t be long before we will have a baby all our own.”
They loved to watch me make your clothes; and I let them help me all they could. Yes, they tied the comforts for your bassinet. William tied the pink one and Robert the blue one. Little brother was only two and a half then, but he wanted to help, though he didn’t understand about it.
One day daddy went to the city, three or four months before you were born, and he wanted to bring home something for the wee one’s layette. Finally he thought of some little shirts. He asked the lady clerk in the store to show him some baby shirts.
“How old is the baby?” she asked. Daddy couldn’t explain that you were not born yet, so he told her that you were a “mere infant,” and you were, weren’t you?
How mother and brothers laughed when daddy told us of it, as he gave us the little silk and wool shirts for the box we were filling full of everything for the new baby we all loved, though we had never seen you.
“Why, mamma, didn’t I see you taking all my things out of the box yesterday and putting them in a drawer in the chiffonier? What did you do that for? I love that box, ’cause it’s been mine so long. Can’t I have it for my dollies’ things?”
No, dear, mother wants it for something better than that, and what do you suppose it is?
Oh, mamma! are we going to have another, really, truly baby of our own, and is that why you have been wearing those pretty: loose gowns with the ribbons onWhere do Babies Come From?	479
them, ’cause your dresses weren’t big enough for you and the baby too? Oh! I’m so happy, mother, so happy. Will it be as cunning and nice as Aunt Ruth’s baby?
What a lot of questions. Let me begin with the first. Yes, we are going to have a really truly baby of our own, in about four months, and that is why mother wears these dresses all the time, to give the new baby a chance to grow without anything to hinder it. And you did see me clearing out the box, for I want to put a fresh cover on it, and line it all new for the little, wee baby’s things, which you are going to help mother make.
Yes, we will let the boys help too. They have been waiting anxiously for mother to tell her little girl about it, so we could all talk about it together and help together.
Come here, darling, and put your hand on mother’s side. What do you feel?
Oh, mamma, is that the little baby moving about? I ’spect it’s awful uncomfy in that tiny room and wants to get here as fast as it can. Oh, however can we wait for it?
The time will fly by while we are getting all its clothes ready. We must have a new bassinet too, for mother gave yours to Aunt Ruth when you got too big for it. I am going to let you help me in everything you can. You may hem the napkins, all of them, if you want to, and you and the boys can do a great many other things together.
Then I am going to let you all choose names and we will select the one we all like best. You will have to choose boys’ and girls’ names too, for we don’t know which it will be.
Yes, mother thinks she would like to have it another baby daughter, then you would have a playmate as brothers have.
You must be a very good little girl, because mother doesn’t always feel quite well, and her big girl can help her in many ways. You and brothers are going to help daddy take care of mother all these days, so that nothing will hurt the new baby that’s coming.
Yes, I will tell you when I don’t feel well, and let you take care of me. No, mother doesn’t mind one bit, the not feeling quite well, for it makes her think of the joy that’s coming into the home, and it seems a very small part of the price we have to pay for the dear children.
“Do they cost us something?” Yes, a big price, but we think they are worth it and pay it gladly. We shall480	Where do Babies Come From?
talk about that very soon and I shall try to make you understand how much it costs and why.
Now it's bedtime again and we have had another happy visit, and there will be many more of them all along our lives, mother hopes.
Should the mother prefer a more prosy way of imparting the truth to the little child, and should she desire to give it in one lesson, she may take the little one into her lap and answer the supposed question, “Where did I come from?” in this way.
Dear, you have asked me a question that mother is going to answer now. You asked me where you came from? Mother has been expecting this question; for of course you could not help thinking about it. God planned it beautifully and we will think of it and talk about it as a very sacred subject that only you and mother will talk about.
Have you ever thought why you love mother so much? I will tell you, it is because you are a part of mother. In a tiny little room in mother's body are growing little germs which are the beginnings of dear little babies. One of these goes out of the tiny room, where it has been started, into a larger room in mother's body, and there it nestles down in one corner and is covered by a warm, soft, little blanket and it begins to grow into a fine baby. It takes nine months for a perfect, big baby to grow from this tiny germ, so little that you could not see it with the naked eye, into the baby that is ready to come into this world and begin its life here.
When every part of your body was perfectly formed and you were ready to come into the world, or be born, as we say, a door out of that room in mother’s body opened and you were born. It cost mother a great deal of pain, for the little room had been kept shut very tightly that you might not be lost, and the stretching of the door was hard and it sometimes takes a long time, several hours and sometimes days; but mothers are willing to bear this pain for the love of having a little child all their own.
When you were put into mother's arms, you were a little pink baby and mother loved you so that she forgot the pain and suffering in the gladness that you were here to be loved and cared for.
And this is the answer to the question “Where was I
before I came here?”The Father’s Part
Now you are old enough for another part of the wonderful life story and we will begin it tonight. Let us go back to plant and lower animal life for the beginning of this part of the story as we have before. In plants there is no such thing as family life, though botany talks of plant families. That simply means they are of the same kind as, roses and pansies and all other flowers and plants. We like to think of them as loving and caring for their babies and sometimes speak of them in that way, but that is because we are thinking of how mothers and fathers, who can think, care for tlieir children.
Little baby plants have to get along the best they can and the mother can do nothing for them after she has furnished the seed for them to grow from. Many of the lower animals and fishes have no care for their little ones after the eggs are laid or the little ones are separated from their mothers.
As you go higher up in animal life you find mothers and fathers making provisions for their babies, specially the mothers that suckle their young. But as we understand family life, the plants and lower animals know nothing of it. The little ones never know to whom they belong. Can you think what that would mean in the human family? Yes, it would be something like the poor children at the Orphan's Home. Many of the children there never knew a father or mother and will never know to whom they belong.
In all but the lowest forms of plant or animals, both the father and mother plant or animal have something to do with the making of new beings like themselves. In all creation the new or baby plants or animals are made from very small parts of their parents' bodies.
You have learned of the mother's part in cherishing the^ little men and women-to-be. And you have learned it in the stories of the birds and kittens, the dogs and the rabbits. You have learned how the mother of the
481
31482
The Father's Part
plant or animal carried the little ones in prepared places within themselves until they layed their eggs or the little new being was able to begin its independent life. All this you have understood, but of the preparation of the seed or egg you have not learned.
As has been said, there are fathers and mothers, or as we say, male and female, plant and animals; and in the full preparation of the seed that begins the little new being, there is a part that both the father and mother must give to the new creation.
When you study botany you will learn how to distinguish the male and female plants, because they are quite different. Around the center of the father blossoms you will see at the end of tiny stalks, called stamens, little balls of soft downy dust in their own nests. These are called the anther cells, and this dust that seems^ so simple and hardly to be noticed is, after all, very important. It must be united with the part for the beginning of life contained in the mother flower to make the new plant.
In some plants both the male and the female exist in ihe same plant, usually, however, they are found in separate beings. Oil the mother flower you will see, if you examine it carefully, that there is in the center a tiny tube, larger at the bottom than at the top, and this tube, called a pistil, contains the part which the mother plant contributes to the making of a new life like itself.
When the pollen, or dust, from the father flower is brought into contact with the seed of the pistil, it is then ready to begin the growth of the new plant. Neither can start life alone. We call these parts of the plants their reproductive organs, because their work is to produce new beings like themselves. As plants have no reason and cannot move about as they would wish, they must have some assistance in scattering their pollen, or dust, on the mother plant. Here new workers are called in to help. Sometimes it is the wind which blows the pollen dust from one plant to the other, and sometimes it is the bees gathering honey from the flowers. As they suck the honey from the blossoms some of the plant dust sticks to their legs and bodies, and as they go to another plant in search of sweets this is rubbed off and so the parts of the father and mother plant get together and the seed is made fertile.
Some of the seeds which we plant in our gardens doThe Father's Part	483
not come up when we plant them, and that is because they are not fertile.
In animals, and fishes, and birds, and in the human family this is different, for they can move about as they wish. They have been made to take care of all this by themselves.
The mother fish, as you know, does not carry her young in her body. She lays her eggs in a nice sheltered place and then goes off about her eating and living just as before. Then a papa fish who perhaps she has never seen comes along and expels from his body a fluid that covers the little eggs, laid by the mother fish, and then they begin to grow. It almost seems as if he thought when he discovers them: “Here is some work for me to do,” and so he swims over them and fertilizes them. In some cases the father fish stays by and watches the little eggs to see that no harm comes to them until they are hatched and grown large enough to swim, away and take care of themselves. And all this time the mother knows nothing about them. She would not know her own babies should she meet them anywhere in the stream. You would hardly like to have this so with human mothers, would you?
There are fishes that live in pairs and seem to make a sort of family like the higher animals.
In the birds	and animals	and in	the human	family the
little egg, or beginning of	life in	the mother,	must also
have the part from the father to make it grow, but with this difference. The father part and mother part must come together	inside the mother’s	body, and	the father
bird or animal	comes close	to the	mother and	sends into
her body from his reproductive organs this fluid that will make the little egg start to grow. Yes, it enters through the little door out of which the egg will come or through which the little baby animal is born when it has grown to perfection in the mother.
You have been told about the various organs of the body and the part they have to perform in your life day by day. You have learned of the brain and how it presides over the whole body and directs it in everything; of the heart and of what a patient, untiring worker it is, never stopping for a minute, day or night, but beating, beating so regularly all the time, taking only the little rests between beats, and by its constant work feeding the body that it may grow and work; the work which the lungs do is to breathe the pure air which fills the lungs when it meets the impure blood and makes it pure. So eachThe Father’s Part
484
organ of the body has its own peculiar work and must do it and not be diverted to a task which does not belong to it, or its own work will be neglected.
All this is repeated in substance in plant life. The leaves of the plant take ,the place of the lungs and breathe to give it life; the roots, the bark, the body of the tree or plant all do their own particular work. But in the human family we .have reached the highest development, for we have reason and choice which controls all that we do. In this way much more can be accomplished than in the life that is not endowed with reason and choice. That more is nQt accomplished only proves that mankind does not always 'use these God-given powers wisely.
Your organs of reproduction are sacred to the great work for which they were planned. They must be taken care of and guarded for this work and this alone. While you are young you need to think little about them save as you care for and keep clean your entire body. Only when you grow to womanhood will you need to think of them more; for then, as you have learned, these organs develop and are able to take their part in reproduction.
All this knowledge will make you feel how sacred this great subject of life-giving is, and will make you unwilling to listen to anything which is said in a slighting and wrong way about it.
Many children have not been taught these great truths in a right way and in their desire to learn all about the beginnings of life, they will seek information from those who are not able to teach them and who, because of the mystery of it all, have mixed evil with the thought of it. You should not listen to the talk about it from such untaught people.
Frances Willard, that beautiful woman who did so much for the world, was very urgent in her teaching that mothers should give their children all this information that they might be saved from wrong knowledge given by those who were unfit to teach. She tells of her own experience in this. Not attending school until she was fourteen because of her sheltered life on their secluded farm, she was left in ignorance of all life’s- mysteries. She says this is the only thing which she felt her dear mother lacked in her teaching.
On first going to school an older girl who had learned life’s lessons in an unclean and wrong way, unfolded to her the great life story. Miss Willard adds that she blushed ever after when the thoughts presented to herThe Father*s Part
485
that day came to her mind. In later years she had to divest her mind of this improper teaching before she could think of these truths properly and in sacredness.
You have more to be thankful for than you now realize. You have been taught in the proper way, and you can always talk over these things with mother. She tells you all you want to know and there will be no need to go to others for such information.
I am sure that you will discourage wrong talk about this sacred subject. When all children are rightly taught, as we hope they will be in a few years, we shall see u, different condition in our schools. In nearly every school there are children who have, because of ignorance, begun to think wrong thoughts. This is why I do not wish you to listen to them and you can always say, “I know all about it, for mother has told me and I don’t care to talk about it with anyone else.”
God has given all girls a natural modesty about these questions that makes them unwilling to talk of them or to listen to wrong thoughts about them. I want you to keep and cultivate this modesty. It will shield you from much sin. Never be willing to listen to what you would be unwilling to tell mother, and your ears will be closed to all uncleanness.
Every organ of the body must be thought of with honor and respect and then we shall take the right care of it. Read what God says of the body, in the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians, and you will see how we should regard every member.
“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head of the feet, I have no need of you. Nay much more these members which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely-parts have no need; but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that which lacked; that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
This will help you to regard your entire body in the486
The Father's Part
light God intended and you cannot neglect any part of it or think of it in a wrong way.
God in the beginning created all things, and then he gave to these creatures the wonderful task of creating other beings like themselves. We should think of it only as a great sacred duty, and thank God that he has so trusted us, his children.
You have been taught the proper and clean names for the reproductive organs that you may think of them as you do of all other parts of the body. Many children never know clean names for these organs and the unclean names which they may have heard from untaught companions have fastened in their minds the thought that they must always be connected with evil. You know that they are just as honorable as any other part of the body and must be thought of in purity. You can speak of them to mother or father as you would of your hands or feet or face, and do not need to blush when you think of them.PART 10
READY REFERENCE DEPARTMENT
DICTIONARY OF MEDICAL TERMS ALPHABETICAL INDEX
487Glossary of Medical and Technical
Terms
A
Abortifacient (abor-tefa'shunt). A medicine causing abortion.
Abortion (abor-shun). Premature expulsion of the products of pregnancy, in the first 3 months. (From 3 to 6 months generally called "miscarriage;” and 6 to 9 months "premature labor”).
Abortionist (abor'shun-ist). A person who makes a business of inducing criminal abortions.
Abstinence (ab'stinence). Voluntary privation in diet, etc. As used here refers to relations between the sexes.
Abulia (ah-bu'leah). Absent or defective will-power.
Acrochronism (akrok-ro-nizm). The belief that the time in which we live is better than in bygone ages.
Adolescent (ad'o-les'zent). Growing from childhood to adult life.
Aesthetics (see esthetics).
Afterbirth (af'ter-berth). The structure, consisting of the placenta and coverings, cast from the womb after birth of the child.
After-Pain (af'ter-pane). Pain following child-birth from contraction of the womb.
Altruism (al'troo-izm). Regard for others, both natural and moral; opposed to egoism (selfishness).
Ameba (ame'bah). Small animalcules, these jelly-like specks can only be seen with the microscope. Some are found in the body and cause disease, but the one here referred to comes from stagnant ponds.
Amennorrhea (amenorrhe'ah). Absence of the monthly "periods.”
Anathema (a-nath'ema). A ban pronounced with solemnity by religious authority, and^ accompanied by excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as accursed.
488489
Glossary of Technical Terms
Anemia (ane'me-ah). A diseased state of the blood, the amount of which may be less than in health; or the quantity may be correct, but the quality not good. It is generally evidenced by paleness of the skin, loss of energy, palpitation of the heart, etc.
Animalcule (an-imal'kul). A microsocopic animal or-ganism.
Anteflexion (ante-flek'shun). A bending forward of the womb.
Antéversion (ante-ver'shun). A turning forward of the womb.
Antisepsis (ante-sep'sis). The use of chemical substances which are capable of destroying disease germs.
Antiseptic (an-te-sep'tik). A substance destructive to poisonous germs. Some of the chief ones are alcohol, boric acid, carbolic acid, corrosive sublimate, common salt, charcoal, tannic acid, sugar and vinegar.
Anus (a'nus). The outlet of the lower bowel onto the surface of skin.
Aortic (a-ort'ik). Belonging or pertaining to the aorta. This is the largest blood vessel in the body, and leaving the left side of heart, brings red blood to the entire body.
Apoplexy (ap'o-plec-se). Bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. This may cause immediate or speedy death, or in case of recovery, the person is
* ¡paralyzed more or less, as a rule one-half of body. The first seizure is generally followed by later on (maybe years later) one or more, finally ending in death.
Appendages, Uterine (appen'dag-es u'ter-in). The Fallopian tubes, and the ovaries.
Arthritis (ar-thri'tiz). ^ Inflammation of a joint. (Inflammation of the lining only is called “synovitis.”)
-Asceticism (ascet-izizm). The belief that only those who mortify themselves in this world, by fasting and self-denial will get to Heaven.
Asexual (ah-seks'u-al). Without sex; non-sexual.
Asexualization (ah-seks-ual-iz-a'shun). Removal of the testicle or of the ovary, in the male and female respectively.
Aspermia (ah-sper'me-ah). Lack of secretion of semen.490	Glossary of Technical Terms
Atavism (at'av-izm). Inheritance of characteristics from remote ancestors.
Atony (at'on-e). Lack of normal strength, i. e., debility.
Atrophied (at'ro-fed). Shrunken.
Atrophy (atro-fee). A shrinking or wasting of an organ or part. Like the opposite condition (hy~ pertrophy) it may be due to fewer of the elements composing the part, or they may be smaller.
Autism (aw'tizm). A mental condition marked by morbid day dreaming.
Automatic (au'to-mat'ic). Involuntary, or mechanical.
Autopsy (aw'top-see). The examination of a body, generally to determine the cause of death.
Azoospermia (assoh-spur-meah). Absence of the vital male animalcules (spermatozoa).
B
Barren (bar'en). Sterile; unfruitful, incapable of producing offspring.
Biology (bi-ol'o-ji). The science of living things, and of their structure and life.
Bulbous (bul'buz). Structures having a swollen end, usually applied to the cut ends of nerves.
C
Calculus (kalk'yu-lus). Stone-like bodies formed in various organs, very common sites are the kidney, urinary—and gall-bladder. Small at first, if not passed spontaneously or removed by surgery, they keep on growing, often reaching incredible sizes, a pound and more.
Cancer (kans-er). A deadly tumor which sends out masses somewhat resembling the limbs of a crab.
Canon (kan'non). A law, rule, or standard, for instance of behavior.	/
Capillary (kap'il-a-re). The smallest blood vessels joining the arteries to the veins. (Capillus in Latin means “a hair,” so this gives some idea of the small dimensions.)
Castration (kas-tra'shun). Removal of the testacies. (In the female removal of the egg-sacs is called “spaying”)Glossary of Technical Terms	491
Catamenia (kat-ah-me'ne-ah). The monthly uterine discharge; or the “periods.”
Cautery (kaw'ter-e). A substance or instrument for burning away a part.
Celibacy (sel'i-ba-sy). The state of single life, especially one bound by vows not to marry.
Cellular Tissue (sel'u-lar). A loose, spongy tissue which surrounds the muscles and organs of the body, filling the space between them.
Cerebrum (ser'e-brum). The upper portion of the brain, forming the majority of that organ.
Cervix (ser'viks). A neck-like part of the body, here used for the womb.
Chancre (shang'ker). The sore or ulcer which marks the beginning of syphilis.
Chancroid (shang-kroid). This means “like a chancre,” or the beginning of syphilis, but this “soft” sore once healed does not cause any further trouble.
Chlorosis (klo-ro'sis). The disease in young women mostly, so-called from the green color of the skin, or “green sickness.”
Chorea (kore'ah). Uncontrollable twitchings of the muscles. Generally called “St. Vitus’ dance.”
Cilia (sil'yah). The eyelashes or similar hair-like processes. Used here to mean those on the inner lining of the egg—or Fallopian tubes.
Climacteric (klimak'ter-ik). IJsed here to mean the time at which the “monthly periods” stop.
Club-foot. A very common deformity of the foot, due to the contraction of certain muscles or tendons.
Cognate (kog'nate). Things or subjects of a like or similar nature, as relations or families.
Colostrum (kolos'trum). The first milk from the breast after childbirth. It is thicker than usual and full of small drops of fat.
Complement-fixation test, used to detect gonorrhea.
Conception (kon-sep'shun). Start of a new life or fecundation, by the male element coming in contact with the egg of female.
Confinement (kon-fin'ment). The time of childbirth.
Congenital (kon-jen'it-al). A condition or state existing from birth.
Congestion (kon-jes'chun). Excess of blood in an organ or part.492	Glossary of Technical Terms
Conjugal (kon'ju-gal). This term applied to the married state, really means “yoked together.”
Connubial (kon-nu'bi-al). Same as conjugal.	^
Consanguineous (kon'san-gwin'e-us). Persons related by birth.
Consanguinity (kon-san-gwin'it-ee). Blood-relationship. State of descent from same ancestor.
Constipation (kon-stip-a'shun). A sluggish condition of the bowels, usually meaning there is not a passage at least daily (or “costiveness”).
Continence (kon'tin-ens). Self-restraint, particularly as regards sexual indulgence.
Contraception (kon-trah-sep'shun). To prevent conception.
Contraceptives (kon-trah-sep'tiv). Drugs or other measures made use of to prevent conception.
Cord, Umbilical (k'ord, umbilical):	The navel-string,
attaching child to childbirth. The means by which blood is supplied to child before birth.
Corpora cavernosa (korpo'rah kahverno-sah). Two of the three cylinders forming the male penis. They are much larger than the corpus spongiosum, which lies below and between them.
Corpora lutea (korpo-rah lew-fe-ah). “Yellow bodies,” the scars left in the egg-sacs (ovaries). Those after menstruation last about six months, after childbirth for several months longer.
Corpuscle (kor'pus-1). A very small body or cell. Usually applied to those found in blood; the most important being the red which give the characteristic color; and the white, only 1 of these to several hundred red.
Cowper’s glands (kowper's glahnds). Two small masses connected with the urinary channel of the male.
Cryptorchid (krip-tor'kid). A male whose testicles have not descended into the scrotum, and are retained in abdomen.
Cytoplasm (sighto-plazm). The bulk of the material composing the minute masses (cells) of which animals and plants are built. However, the Karyo-plasm is more important.Glossary of Technical Terms D
493
Decidua (de-sid'u-ah). The bag enclosing the child in the womb. The “caul,” or “veil.”
Defecation (def-e.-ka'shun). The act of having a movement of the bowels.
Demi-mondaine, an inhabitant of the “half-world.”
Demi-monde (dah'mi-mond). French words meaning “half-world.”
Dentition (denti'shun). The process of cutting the teeth.
Detumescence (dee'tu-mes-enz). Subsidence of anything swollen.
Dipsomania (dipso-ma'ne-ah). Uncontrollable desire or craze for alcohol.
Douche (doosh). A stream of water directed into a cavity, or against a part of the body. Usually applied to flushing of the birth-canal in the female.
Dropsy (drop'se). Collection of fluid in the limbs and cavities of the body. Generally caused by disease of the heart, kidneys or liver.
Dysmenorrhea (dis-menor-e'ah). Painful and difficult “monthly periods.”
Dystocia (dis-to'ke-ah). Difficult childbirth.
E
Eclampsia (e-klamp-se-ah). The fits or spasms which often come on during pregnancy, childbirth, or after the latter.
Effete (ef-feet'). Worn out, generally from age.
Ejaculation (e-jak-u-la'shun). A sudden expulsion.
Embryo (m-bree'oh). Applied to the child during the first three months after it begins to grow in the womb; after that it is called “fetus.”
Endometrium (ahndo-me-tri-um). The lining of the womb.
Endometritis (ahndo-me-tri-tis). Inflammation of the lining of the womb.
Endopsychic (ndo-sy-kik). The “mind within,” that is to say of a given person.
Epilepsy (epi'lep-se). “Fits,” or convulsions, with frothing at mouth, and unconsciousness.
Epithelium (epi-thele-um). The little plates, as it were, which fitted together form the outer layer of the skin, and of the lining of the body.494	Glossary of Technical Terms
Erection (eerek-shun). An organ or part of the body which becomes firm and hard by the blood becoming dammed up in it.
Erethism (ayre'thizm). An excessive amount of nervous irritability.
Erotic (e-rot'ik). From the Greek name of cupid, hence pertaining to—sensual—love.
Eroticism (er-ot'is-izm). Tendency to erotomania, or a craze for sex relations; as dipsomania is for alcohol.
Erythema (er-ith-e'mah). A superficial blush or redness of the skin.
Erythroxylin (er-ith-roks'il-in). Cocain or alcoholic stimulant.
Esodic (e-sod'ik). Pertaining to the afferent nerves.
Esoteric (e-soter'ik). Arising within the organism, as distinguished from “exoteric,” arising without.
Esthetics (es-thet'iks). The power or mental faculty for appreciation of the beautiful.
Ethic, Ethical (eth'ik, eth'ik-al). In accordance with those rules governing conduct (or ethics).
Etiology (e-te-ol'o-je). That part of the science of medicine which treats of the causes of disease.
Eugenics (u-jen'iks). That science which treats of the future improvement of the human race.
Eunuch (u'nuk). A boy or man, deprived of the testicles only; or of all external genital~.
Exacerbate (egz-as'er-bait). To grow more violent; as an attack of^ illness.
Extra-marital, outside the married state, as when a man contracts venereal disease.
F
Fallopian tube (Fahlo-pean). The channel by which the eggs come down from the egg-sacs to the womb. (Named after the Italian who discovered them nearly 400 years ago.)
Feces (fe'sez). The material discharged from the bowels.
Fecund (fek'und). Fruitful or prolific.
Fertilization (fer-til-iz-a'shun). Impregnation by the male seed coming in contact with the female egg.
Feticide (fe'ti-sid). The destruction of the child in the womb.Glossary of Technical Terms	495
Fetichism (fet-ysh'ysni). A common form of sexual aberration.
Fetish (fet-ysh). Idols worshipped by savage tribes, mostly in Africa. It may be a rock, or other inanimate object, or living things, trees, birds, etc.
Fetus (fe'tus). The child after the fourth month of pregnancy. (Before that time called “the embryo.”)
Fibroid (fy-broyd). Hard tumors, like gristle. They may be found in many parts of body, either in men or women.
Fimbriated (fim-bree-a-ted). This means “fringed,” and is applied to the border of the egg or Fallopian tubes, at their upper end. While meant to guide the egg into the womb, sometimes they fail and the egg falls into the abdomen, so the child develops among the bowels instead of in the womb.
Fistula (fystu-lah). An unnatural passage in the body, caused by disease, generally an abcess. It may be inside and between the stomach and bowels, or bowels and bladder, etc., but often opens from the skin into the inside, a common place being at the lower end of bowels.
Fit. A convulsion; a sudden paroxysm.
Fixation (fiksra'shun). Making firm or rigid.
Flatus (fla'tus). Gas or “wind” in the bowels.
Fluor albus (flew-ohr ahl-buz). Same as leucorrhea, or “the whites.”
Function (funk'shun). The work of an organ which can be performed only by that organ, and is necessary to the life or well-being of the individual.
G
Gastralgia (gastral-jeah). “Stomach ache,” pain in the stomach, without inflammation. (When there is inflammation it is termed “gastritis”).
Generative Organs (jen'er-a-tiv or'gans). Syn., genital, reproductive, sexual; those organs in the male and female by means of which a new being is created.
Genitalia (jen-it-a'le-ah). The sexual reproductive organs.
Gleet (glet). The chronic stage of gonorrhea.
Gonad (gho-nad). The portions of the body which furnish the matter from which the child starts. The testicles and the egg-sac (ovaries) in the male and female respectively.496	Glossary of Technical Terms
Gonococcus (gon-o-kok'us). The minute vegetable germ which causes gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea (gon-or-e'ah). The venereal disease which is characterized by a discharge of pus from the urinary passages.
Graafian follicle (graph-ean fol-li-kl). Little bags which form on the outer surface of the egg-sacs, and each enclose an egg. They burst finally and set the egg free to travel down to womb, and the scars left are called the “corpora lutea.,, (Also called Graafian vesicles).
Groin (groin). The crease between the lower abdomen and the thigh.
Gumma (gum'ah). Masses of soft material formed in many parts of the body, during the third stage of syphilis.
Gynecologist (jine-kol-ojist). A doctor who confines ’ his practice to the diseases peculiar to women, and . who is therefore especially skilled in their treat-, ment.
H
Habituation (habit-you-ashun). Becoming used to or accustomed to a condition or occurrence.
Hedonism (hedo-nism). Sensuality, pleasure-seeking the chief aim of the person.
Hemorrhoid (hem'or-oid). A “pile” or vascular tumor of the rectal mucous membrane.
Hernia (her'ne-ah). The escape of a part, generally the bowel from its usual place. Same as “rupture.”
Herpes (hur-pease). A disease of the skin with formation of blisters. The everyday “shingles” is a good example.
Heterosexual (het-ero-seks-shual). Belonging to or connected with the other sex.
Homologous (homol-ogus). Parts or organs having the same appearance, but not necessarily for the same use. For example, the front limbs of quadrupeds and birds are homologous—yet in one case used for walking, in the last for flying.
Homosexual (homo-seks-shual). Belonging to or connected with the same sex.
Hybrid (hi'brid). Having parents of different species, as a mulatto, a mule, etc.Glossary of Technical Terms	497
Hydrocele (hi'dro-sel). A collection of fluid, especially in the male scrotum (or covering of the testicles).
Hygiene (hi'jeen). The science of health, and how to preserve it.
Hygienic (hi-jeen'ik). Pertaining to health.
Hymen (hy'men). “Maidenhead.” The fold at the outer orifice of the birth canal in a virgin.
Hypophysis (hipof-yziz). A mass hanging from the lower side of brain, and enclosed in a recess of the skull. While not much larger than a pea, it has great effect on growth, and when diseased in childhood, growth is not checked as usual at about 18 or 20 years, and the result is the individual becomes a giant.
Hypospadias (hipo-spad-iaz). A deformity of the penis in which the lower wall of the urinary channel (urethra) is partly or entirely lacking.
Hysteria (histe-reah). ^ A disease found occasionally in men, but mostly in young women. The patients have no control over their acts or their feelings, and exaggerate all their real or imgainary ills. All possible diseases are counterfeited, they may claim to be blind, to be paralyzed to have “fits,” fever, and so on.
I
Iconoclast (ikon'o-klast). An enemy of the worship of idols, and who destroys them.
Impotence (im'po-tens). A lack of power of any kind, but refers principally to lack of sexual power.
Impotentia coeundi (impoten-sheah koe-undy). Inability to have sex relations.
Impotentia generandi (jen-eran-dy). Inability to have children.
Impregnation (im-preg-na'shun). The fecundation of ' the^ egg by male elements.
Infanticide (in-fan'tis-id). The murder of an infant. If done before birth (or criminal abortion) called “feticide.”
Inhibit (inhib-it). To hold in check or stop altogether. Generally used to mean the influence exerted by the nerves on some function, say digestion.
Inhibition (inhibit-shun). The act of checking or stopping.
32498	Glossary of Technical Terms
Intercourse (inter-korse). While this may mean association of nations or countries, it here refers to sexual unions.
Intermenstrual (in-ter-men'strual). Symptoms between the monthly “periods/'
Interstitial gland (inter-stish-yul). As used here means taking the testicle or ovary from other persons or animals, and inserting them in the bodies of men or women.
Intrauterine (in-trah-u'ter-in). Anything within the womb, usually in central cavity.
Iritis (i-ry'tis). Inflammation of the iris, or colored part about pupil of eye.
K
Karyoplasm (kareeoh-plazm). The vital or essential portion of the small particles (cells), of which many trillions go to make up our bodies. (Sometimes spelled “caryoplasm.")
Katabolic nerves (katah-bolik). Those which govern the wear and tear of our bodies.
L
Labia majora (lahbee-ah mag-orah). The “large lips,” two folds of skin at the outer opening of the female genitals.
Labia minora (lahbee-ah meen-yorah). The “small lips," two smaller folds inside the “large lips."
Laceration (las-er-ashun). The act of tearing, or rending, and a wound so made.
Lactation (lak-ta'shun). The period of suckling or nursing.
Lactiferous ducts (lak-tif'er-us dukts). The tubes bringing milk from the breast to the nipple.
Leucorrhea (lu-kor-e'ah). A whitish-yellow or green discharge from the birth canal or womb, “the whites."
Liaison (le'a'zon). An illicit intimacy between man and woman.
Libidinous (lib-id'in-us). Strong sexual desire. Lustful. . Salacious.
Libido (lib-i'do). Sexual urge, craving or desire.Glossary of Technical Terms	499
Lochia (lo'ke-ah). A discharge which follows childbirth, lasting about two weeks.
Locomotor-ataxia (a-tak-shea). A disease of the spinal marrow due to syphilis, and producing a staggering walk.
Lying-in (li'ing-in). The period which follows child-birth, during which the mother is confined to bed.
M
Macrobiotic (mak-robi-ot'ik). Long-lived.
Mamma (mam'ah). The breast.
Massage (mas-ahzh'). Methodic pressure, friction, and kneading of the body, especially the muscles and joints.
Mastalgia (mast-al'je-ah). Pain in the breast.
Mate'ria med'ica. Medical science of drugs.
Maternal (ma-ter'nal). Pertaining to a mother.
Meatus urinarius (mee-ah-tus yourinar-ius). Two in number, the one usually meant is the outer aperture on surface of body of the urinary channel; the other is outlet of the bladder internally.
Menopause (me-no'paws). “Change of life,” the time when the monthly “periods” stop.
Menorrhagia (men-or-a'je-ah). A profuse or excessive menstrual flow.
Menses (men'sez). The periodic flow from the womb, usually every 28 days; i. e., a lunar month.
Menstruation (men-strua'shun). The function peculiar to the female of producing the menstrual flow.
Metabolism (met-ab'o-lizm). Wear and tear of the body.
Metamorphoses (metamor'phoses). Changes of shape or structure, as of liver to fat, etc.
Metro-peritonitis (mee'troper-i-toni-tis). Inflammation of the womb and of the thin covering.
Metrorrhagia (metrorrh'gia). A flow of blood from womb between the “periods.”
Micturition (mik-tu-rish'un). The act of passing urine.
Milt. The seminal fluid of fishes.
Miscarriage (mis-kar'aj). The expulsion of the fetus between the fourth and the sixth months of pregnancy. (Before that time usually called “abortion,” and later “premature labor.”)500	Glossary of Technical Terms
Molecular (mo-lek'u-lar). Belonging to the smallest portion of anything.
Monastic (mo-nas'tik). From the Latin for a monk. Hence of or pertaining to life in a monastery.
Mongrel (mon'grel). Not of a pure breed, as mongrel dogs.
Monogamous. Marriage with but one person; also applied to the mating of animals and birds, where as is often the case the pairing is for life.
Mons Veneris (monz vah-neris). The cushion of fat at the upper side of the external genitals in the female.
Morbidity (mor-bid-itee). The relation between disease and health in a given country or community, 4 that is the sick-rate.
Motivation (moh-tee-vah-shun). The force or impulse behind a given act.
Mucous (mu-kus). Parts which make mucus (slime). On inside of body, and many connected with the digestive organs.
Mucus (mukus). The slime or watery fluid produced by such parts.
Myositis (mi-osi-tis). Inflammation of the muscles.
N
Nephritis (nefre-tiz). Inflammation of the kidney (“Bright’s disease.”)
Nerve-centre. The “switchboard” in the brain or the spinal marrow, where ingoing impulses are received, and shunted to outgoing ones.
Neurasthenia (nurasthe-nyah). Marked lessening or complete exhaustion of nerve force. It may be due to overwork and many other causes, but is here used to mean the effect of sexual excesses (“sexual neurasthenia”).
Neurosis (nuro-ziz). A “functional” affection of the nervous system. That is to say, the use *of the nerves is interfered with, though there is no change in their structure. A typical example is “writer’s cramp.”
Neurotic (nurot-ik). A .person affected with neurosis.
Neuter (nu-ter). A person or being neither male nor female. (The “workers” among bees are neuters, because they have no sexual organs.)Glossary of Technical Terms	501
Nocturnal emissions (noktur-nal emish-unz). Escape of the secretions of the sexual organs during sleep. While usually referring to the male “seed/’ in the other sex, there may be a discharge from the vulvovaginal glands on each side of the outer opening.
Nostalgia (nostal-jeah). The melancholy state caused by the desire to return home or to the person’s native land.
Nubile (new-bill). The age suitable for marriage, generally said of young women.
Nucleus (newklee-uz). The small spot within a cell, on which the special properties of the cell depend. (Composed of karyoplasm).
Nuptial (nup-shall). Related to or connected with weddings; nuptial ceremonies, nuptial rites, etc.
Nymphae (nim-fay). The lesser lips (labia minora), so called because they were supposed to direct the stream of urine.
O
Obscurantism (obsku-rant-izm). The doctrine of the obscurants, who believe in “blocking the wheels of progress,” of knowledge and learning.^
Omentum (oman-toom). A sort of apron which hangs down inside the belly, from the stomach, and is in front of the bowels.
Oophorectomy (ofurek-tomee). Removal of one or both of the egg-sacs (ovaries).
Ophthalmia # (offthal-mee-ah). Inflammation of the moist lining of the eyelids, and of its continuation on the eyeball. Applied here especially to that in new-born babes from gonorrhea in the mother’s birth-canal.
Orgiastic (orgee-asteek). Of or related to orgies. These latter were common in ancient Greece and Rome, as part of the worship of the God of Drunk-eness. Still used to mean a drunken carouse.
Os (awss). Latin for “bone,” also for “mouth.” The entrance to the womb is called os uteri (mouth of the womb).
Ovaritis (ovary-tiz). Inflammation of an egg-sac (ovary).
Ovary (ovah-ree). The egg-sacs which form the eggs (ova).502	Glossary of Technical Terms
Oviducts (ovee-dux). The narrow channels by which the eggs come down from the egg-sacs to the womb. (Usually called Fallopian tubes.)
Ovulation (ovulay-shun). Process of formation and discharge of the eggs, at or about the same time as the monthly “periods.”
Ovule (ov-ewl). An egg before impregnation by the male elements. (After such fertilization it is termed an “ovum.”)
Ovum (oh-voom). The egg after fertilization by the male elements.
Ozena (ozee:nah). Severe nasal catarrh, in which ulcers form and the discharge is horribly illsmelling. (Often due to syphilis.)
P
Paresis (pahre-siz). Complete paralysis, due to syphilis.
Paresthesia (pahres-theez-ya). An unusual sensation, itching, burning, especially of the skin.
Parturition (partyou-rish-yun). The process of giving birth (that is child birth).
Pathology (pathol-ojee). That branch of medical knowledge which treats of diseases.
Patriarchate (paytri-arkate). Descent reckoned only in the male line, the children all belonging to the clan of the father. (Where reckoned in female line, called “matriarchate.”)
Pelvis (pal-viz). “A basin,” the bony ring formed by the hipbones on each side and the backbone behind, surrounding some of the sexual organs in the malefc and most of those in the female.
Pelvic (pal-vik). Connected with or belonging to the pelvis.
Perineum (payrinee-oom). A triangular portion between the lower bowel and the birth-canal, the base formed by the skin. (In the male it occupies a similar position, but is of much less importance.)
Periodicity (peeree-odis-itee). Some phenomenon or function wh^ch returns at regular intervals. For example, the menses, every 28 days, as a rule, are periodic.
Periphery (payrif-eree). The outer edge or circumference of anything, say an organ of the body.503
Glossary of Technical Terms
Peristaltic action (payristal-tik ak-shun). The contractions of the bowel, followed by dilatation, by which the food is forced along.
Peritoneum (payree-tonee-oom). The moist lining of the belly cavity, it also covers the stomach, liver, etc. Being moist, the contents of the belly slide past each other without damage.
Peritonitis (payreeto-nytiz). Inflammation of this lining.
Pernicious anemia (pernit-shus anee-mya). A very dangerous form of anemia, the cause is still unknown, and the majority of the affected persons die.
Phantasy (fanta-see). Queer ideas, “drawing on the imagination.”
Phenomena (feenom-eenah). Events or apperances out of the ordinary. Birth of a child with two heads would be so called.
Philosophic (filos-offlc). The conduct which a philosopher would be likely to follow, wise and cool, matter-of-fact.
Phimosis (fymo-siz). Foreskin (in either sex), so tight the penis or clitoris, as the case may be, cannot be exposed.
Phobia (pho-beeah)^ A continuous fear or dread of some event or circumstance. Acrophobia, fear of high places; claustrophobia of rooms and enclosures, and so on.
Physical (fizi-kal). Connected with or pertaining to physics, the department of knowledge which treats of the properties of matter. Also of or related to the human body—physical examination, examination of the body and its parts.
Physiologic (fizzeo-lojik). Of or belonging to physiology.
Physiology (fizzeol-ogee). The department of science, which deals with the body functions and uses.
Placenta (plass-entah). The “afterbirth,” by which the child is nourished from the mother previous to birth. ^ The name in Latin means a “flat cake,” and this gives a good idea of the shape.
Plethora (pletho-rah). A condition with too much blood, causing headache, nosebleed, and a rosy countenance, among other things.504	Glossary of Technical Terms
Pollutions (pollu-shuns). The ridiculous term sometimes applied to the escape of the “seed” during sleep. (There is nothing “polluting” about such occurrences.)
Polyandry (pohlee-ahndree). Marriage of a woman with more than one man, often all the brothers of a family.
Polygamy (pohleeg-ahmee). The state of having more than one wife (or mate) at a time. (Used for both men and animals.)
Pornography (pornog-rafee). The literature dealing with vile or obscene subjects.
Post-natal (naytal). Some event occuring after birth.
Post-partum (pahr-toom). Same meaning, hence—
Post-partum hemorrhage (hay-moraj.) The bleeding after delivery of a woman.
Potentia coeundi (potenshe-ah ko-undy). Power or ability to have sexual relations.
Potentia generandi (jen-erandy). Power or ability to have children.
Potentia senilis (seny-liz). Old men who retain power or ability to have sex relations.
Precocious (preko-shuz). Unusually early development of some function, for instance the sexual. (In most instances, however, this is a sign of some disease, often of the brain.)
Pregnant (prayg-nant). Being with child, “in the family way.”
Premature Labor. Childbirth before the usual time (280 days). Usually taken to mean in last two months, when child is capable of survival. Before that called “miscarriage” and if very early, “abortion.”
Prepuce (prep-use). The foreskin of the penis (male), and clitoris (female).
Preputial (prepu-sheal). Of or belonging to the prepuce.
Presenile (pre-seenyle). Said of persons who while young or even in middle life, have all the characteristics of old age.
Procreation (pro-kre-a'shun). Reproduction; generation.
Progeny (proj-enee). The children or offspring.
Prolapse (proh-laps). A descent or falling down of an organ or part, refers here to the womb, (In Latin “prolapsus.”)Glossary of Technical Terms	505
Promiscuity (prohmeeskew-ee-tee). The condition supposed to have existed in the early ages of the world, in which there was no marriage and no family-life. The children followed the mother, as those of animals do to this day.
Propagation (propah-ghashun). The spread or diffusion of an idea, religion, etc. Often used to mean sexual intercourse.
Prophylactic (profeelak-tik). Methods used to prevent the spread of disease.
Prophylaxis (profeelaks-iz). The same, or rather the theory of such prevention.
Prostate (praws-tayt). A gland, shaped something like a chestnut which surrounds the lower end of bladder in the male.
Prostatorrhea (prawstat-orreeah). A discharge from ’ the prostate gland.
Prostitute (prawstee-tewt). A woman who accepts money for the hire of her body, a harlot, a strumpet, a lewd woman.
Prurient (prewree-ant). From the Latin for “itching,” hence itching for forbidden knowledge, especially of the genitals and of sexual relations.
Pseudo (sudoh). When beginning a word means false or counterfeit. Hence—
Pseudofrigid (sudoh-freejid). A person masquerading as sexually cold.-
Psyche (sy-kee). The mind, the souk
Psychic (si-kik). Of or pertaining to the mind. Hence—
Psychic-frigidity (frijid-itee). Sexual coldness of mental origin.
Psychologist (sikolo-jist). A person well learned in psychology. ^
Psychology (sikol-oje). The department of knowledge which deals with the mind and its workings.
Psychoneurosis (sykonew-row-siz). A nervous disease either originating in the mind, or affecting it.
Psychopathologic (sykopatho-lo-jeek). The diseased states which set up mental disorders.
Psychosexual (syko-seksyoual). The mind chiefly occupied with sexual matters.
Psychosis (syko-siz). A mental disturbance or disorder.
Psychotic (sykot-ik). Caused by or related to a psychosis.506	Glossary of Technical Terms
Puberty (pewber-tee). The time of life when reproduction becomes possible, evidenced in the male by formation of the “seed,” and in the female by beginning of the “monthly periods.”
Puériculture (pewairi-kulshur). Looking after women during pregnancy, so the children when born will be strong and healthy. (Also the training and care of children after birth.)
Puerpera (pewer-pahrah). A woman who has recently given birth to a child. Consequently Puerperal septicemia (pewer-pah-ral septiseemyah).
Blood poisoning after childbirth (“child-bed fever.”) Puerperium (pewerpah-rheum). The stay in bed after childbirth.
Q
Quickening (kwik'en-ing). The first movements of the child in the womb felt by the mother.
R
“Râle holes” (ral-holz). Slang term for the baths at Hot Springs, Ark., as they are used to cure syphilis.
Rectum (rek-toom). The last portion of the bowels, which opens on the skin.
Reflex (ree-fleks). A “switchboard” in the brain or spinal marrow, by which impulses are shunted from one part of the body to another. For instance, heat increases the flow of persipration, through the reflex from the skin to the sweat-glands, by way of the brain.
Respiration (respee'ra-shun). The process of breathing.
Retching (ret'shing). An effort at vomiting, in which either nothing at all is brought up, or only slime (mucus).
Retroflexion (ret-ro-flek'shun). A bending of the womb; (a further stage of retroversion).
Retroversion (ret-ro-ver'shun). The turning back^ of the womb, not so severe as retroflexion. (Turning forward is called “anteversion.”)
Rugae (rhoo-gay). A part of the body having folds or wrinkles.Glossary of Technical Terms	507
Rupture (rup'chur). The breaking or laceration of an organ; a hernia.
S
Salpingectomy (salpin-jek'toh-me). Cutting out of part or all of an egg (or Fallopian) tube.
Salpingitis (salpin-ji'tiz). Inflammation of the Fallopian tubes.
Satyriasis (sahtee-ri-aziz). A form of insanity in men, in which they behave like satyrs.
Self-abuse (see Masturbation).
Semen (seamen). The “seed” produced by the male, which acts on the “egg” of female, and gives rise in time to the child.
Seminal Emissions. Escape of the male “seed” at other times than congress. (Usually during sleep.)
Senile (se'nial). An old, wornout condition of the body, or parts only. Generally in advanced life, but some diseases or conditions may bring it on comparatively young.
Sensuality (sensyu-al-itee). The mental state of individuals whose chief object is gratification of their appetites. Commonly used for sexual desires, but may imply excess in eating or drinking, love of finery, etc.
Sepsis (sep'siz). In other words “blood poisoning.”
Sexologist (seks-ol-ojist). One having especial knowledge of sexology, and an authority on that subject.
Sexology (seks-ol-ojee). The topic which considers the sexes of mankind, but particularly their relations.
Sexual (seks-you-al). Connected with or pertaining to sex.
Sexual anesthesia (sekshu-al an-esthee-sya). Anesthesia means loss of feeling or sensation; hence sexual anesthesia is an absence of sexual desire (“frigidity”).
Somatic (sohma-tiR). Belonging to the body, that is the framework (bones, muscles, etc.), as distinguished from the contained organs (liver, stomach, etc.)
Spaying. Removal of the egg-sacs. (In the male removal of the testicles is called “castration.”)508	Glossary of Technical Terms
Sperm. The “seed” or semen of the male.
Spermatorrhea (sper-mat-ore-ah). Escape of the male “seed” at other times than sexual intercourse. (To be distinguished from nocturnal emissions “wet dreams” during sleep.
Spermatozoa (sper-mato-zoah). The actively-moving animalcules forming the male “seed.” Of the many thousands discharged at one time, only one unites with the egg to form the child.
Spirochaeta pallida (spyro-keta pah-lidaw). The “pale spiral,” a very small animalcule which causes syphilis.
Sterility (stay-ril-itee). Unable to have children, barren.
Sterilize (stay-ril-ise). To free fabrics or instruments of disease germs. Usually by baking at a high heat for a long time.
Stricture (strix-your). A narrowing, or “drawing tight” (as the name implies), of a channel or passage. May involve any of these—bowels, throat, etc.— but here refers to narrowing of the urinary passage of the male.
Subinvolution (sub-involew-shun). As used here means the womb after childbirth does not return to its usual size, but remains much larger.
Suppository (sup-pozi-toree). Small, round, or conical masses, of wax, cocoa-butter, etc., containing medicine. These when inserted into the lower bowel or birth canal melt at body heat, and the contained drug flows gradually over the disease area.
Syncope (sinko-pee). Fainting or swooning.
Synovitis (sino-vytiz). Inflammation of the thin lining of the joints.
Syphilis (sifi-liz). A serious venereal disease; may be inherited, but is generally contracted in sexual relations. There are three stages, and while any part of the body may be affected, naturally the skin eruptions are most noticeable.
T
Tabu (ta-boo). Houses, plots of ground, or objects, the approach to (or use of), being forbidden by the tabu laid on them by the king or by priests. The prohibition began in the South Sea Islands, but the word is now used everywhere. (Also spelled “taboo.”)Glossary of Technical Terms	509
Tampon (tahm-pun). Wads of various materials, cotton, gauze, etc., used to plug, cavities of the body.
Testicles (test-ikulz). The organs of the male, usually two, which manufacture the “seed.” (Also called “testes.”)
“Twilight Sleep*” A method introduced of recent years for lessening the pangs of childbirth.
U
Umbilicus (umbeeli-kuz). The navel.
Ureters (you-ree-terz). The tubes, one on each side, which bring urine from the kidneys down to the bladder.
Urethra (you-ree-thraw). The channel—long in male, short in female—through which the contents of the bladder are emptied.
Urethritis (you-ree-thry-tiz). Inflammation of the lining of this channel.
Uterine (you-terin). Belonging to or connected with the uterus.
Uterus (youter-uz). Latin name for “the womb.”
V
Vagina (vaji-nah). The passage from the vulva to the womb.
Vaginismus (vajee-nizmuz). Painful spasm of the muscles surrounding the vagina.
Varicocele (vahkriko-seal). An enlarged and swollen condition of the veins in the spermatic cord which supports the testicle.
Vas deferens (vaz deff-erenz). The tube by which the “seed” (seminal fluid), escapes from the testicle.
Venereal (venee-reul). Diseases transmitted by sexual relations. (From Venus, the goddess of Love.)
Virginity (ver%in-itee). State of women who have never
- had sex relations.
Voluputous (volup-shu-ous). The temperament which enjoys pleasure and luxury.
Vulva (vol-vah). The name used for the external genitalia of the female.
W
Wassermann Test (Vawser-man). A very ^ reliable means of detecting syphilis; named after its discoverer.
“Whites,” The. A discharge from the birth-canal, caused by disease of that canal, or of the womb (leucorrhea).
Womb (woom). The muscular bag or sac which holds and protects the child for about 280 days, until the time for; it to be born.ALPHABETICAL INDEX
A	PAGE
Abraham ...................•.. 61
Abortion or Miscarriage. .91, 108
Abortion, Criminal ...........94
Abortion, Excusable...........96
Abortion Remedy ..............98
Absence of Physician at Confinement ..................125
Accidents and Sickness, What
to Do ................... 155
Adolescence in the Male....178
Adolescence in the Female... 182 Advice to Newly Married,... 72 After Birth..................125
B
Baby, Articles Necessary for. 129
Baby Clothes...............143-4
Baby, Weights and Measures
........ ...........1146, 153
Babies, Health Rules.........152
Bed Wetting (Enuresis).....163
Birth Control..............20-29
Birth Control Foreign Lands
........................26-27
Birth Marks..................108
Boyhood Sexual Problems... 436
Breeding for Results......... 11
Bridal Tour, The............. 71
Bureau, Children’s...........138
C
Causes for Divorce........... 85
Care and Feeding of Children ......................132
Care of Baby, Fundamentals. 142
Chancroids...................298
Children, Diet List........168-9
Childhood ...................176
Childhood Sexual Impressions
.........................176
Chinese Marriage System.... 61
Child Hygiene ...............348
Childbirth................99-129
Childbirth, Painless ........112
Children’s Bureau............138
Circumcision...........186, 432
Clinics for Venereal Diseases,
Free .....................359
Clitoris.....................196
Congenital Defects .......... 17
Conception, Limitation of. .20-29
Continence......30, 34, 180, 199
Concubinage and Polygamy.. 61 Confinement, Absence of Physician ....................  125
Confinement, Articles Necessary for...................128
Confinement, Preparations
for ......................128
Consummation of Marriage.. 72 Conception or Impregnation. 101 Conception, Evidence of......101
PAGE
Communicable Diseases.......339
Cowper’s Glands........187, 434
Crime Wave ................ 211
Criminal Abortion............94
Customs and peculiarities Among Men .................. 66
Dancing ................200, 206
Decay of Stage and Screen..208
Defects, Congenital ......... 17
Desertion and Divorce....... 83
Death Sentence, The..........307
Dictionary of Medical Terms
......................488-510
Diet List for Children......168-9
Diseases Causing Unhappy
Marriages ................ 55
Diseases of Infants........155-6
Diseases and Disorders......231
Diseases of Women ...........232
Diseases of the Vagina ......235
Diseases of the Ovaries ......237
Diseases of the Female External Genitals .............236
Diseases of Women, Remedies ........................238
Diseases, How to Apply Hot
Water ....................250
Disorders of the Menses.....232
Disorders of the Womb.......235
Disorders of Pregnancy......241
Disorders of the Sexual Function ........................253
Douches, Vaginal ............248
Eating Ourselves to Death..314
Eat and Grow Thin...........323
Educational Prophylaxis _____32
Effects of Alcohol and Cigarettes ......................332
Embryo at 20 days...........103
Embryo at 30 days...........104
Emissions, Seminal.....181, 259
Eugenics, Science of..... .11-16
Eugenics, Negative ..........12
Eugenics, Positive.......... 13
Eugenics, State Laws ....... 12
Eugenic Marriage License... 16 Expectant Mother, Word to.. 118
Exercise....................326
Exercises for Busy Folks... .328
Fallopian Tubes .............192
Family Life .................131
Fat People, Advice to........323
Feeding of Children..........165
Female Sex Organs, Anatomy .......................189, 196
510Alphabetical Index
PAGE
Female Internal Sex Organs
......................190, 195
First Aid in the Nursery... .155 Foetus at 2 Months... .106, 120 Foetus, Size and Weight of.. 119
Frigidity, Women............269
G
Garden of Eden.............. 61
Glossary....................488
Gonorrhea ..................285
Graafian Follices ..........194
H
Health Rules, Babies........152
Health and Hygiene..........305
Heredity................18, 108
History of Marriage......... 60
Honeymoon, The ............. 76
Honeymoon, How to Perpetuate ...................   76
How to Be a Good Wife....... 77
How to Be a Good Husband. 79 How to Dress, Diet and Exercise in Pregnancy.........112
How to Calculate Expected
Tabor ...................120
How to Feed Children........165
How to Gain Weight..........325
How to Tell the Story of Life
.....................375-486
Husband at Childbirth.......126
Hymen ......................190
I
Ignorance, Dangers of.......199
Infant Teething...........  160
Infant Teething Charts. .160, 162 Infants* Foods, Preparation
of ......................170
Infant Mortality Chart..28, 149
Infantile Paralysis ........164
Injuries to Infants.........158
Immoral Press...............210
Impotence ..................261
Impotence, Organic..........262
Impotence, Functional ......263
Impotence, Psychic..........264
Impotence, Female ..........265
Impregnation or Conception. .101 Improvement of Race......... 86
L
Laboratories ...............353
Taws on Birth Control.......22
Limitation of Conception.. .20-29
Longevity ..................312
Lost Manhood ...............274
Love .....................37-51
Love, Powers and Peculiarities ..................41-43
Love and Common Sense. .44-45
M
Male Sex Organs, Anatomy.. ..................185, 430
511
PAGE
Manners of Obtaining	Wives 67
Marriage..................53-98
Marriage, Objects of.......55
Marriage, History of.......	60
Marriage, Morganic ..........67
Marriage, Consummation of.. 72 Marriage License, Eugenic... 16
Marry, Who May...........    55
Masturbation..........254, 438
Masturbation, Results of....256
Masturbation in the Two
Sexes ........ ■........256
Masturbation, Scientific Aspect ..................  256
Maternal Mortality Chart... .151
Maternity Bill..............139
Maternal Instinct .......... 63
Medical and Technical Terms
...................  488-509
Menses, Disorders of the... .232
Menstruation ...............182
Menstruation, Hygiene of... 184 Miscarriage or Abortion...... 91
Modern Evils, Fighting.....204
Modified Milk Table.........134
Mohammedanism .............. 61
Monogamy (Single Wife)... 61
Mormonism................... 61
Morganic Marriage............67
Moràl Prophylaxis .......... 30
Motherhood..................110
N
Neurasthenia, Sexual........267
Newly Married, Advice to... 72
Nursing Periods ........ 134
Nursing ....................135
o
Objects of Marriage..........55
Ovaries..............  192,	194
Ovum .......................194
P
Painless Childbirth ........112
Pasteurizing Milk ..........135
Penis..................186,	432
.Physical Changes in Adolescence ................178,	182
Points on Hygiene ..........337
Polygamy ... ............... 66
Prenatal Care...............105
Pregnancy, Signs and Symptoms ....................102
Pregnancy, Disorders of....241 Pregnancy, Dress, Diet, Exercise in ..................112
Pregnancy, Duration of.....121
Pregnant Women Working.. .105 Preparations for Confinement. 129 Private Word to Expectant
Mother ..................118
Producing Boys or Girls at
Will .....................89
Prophylaxis ..............30-35512
Alphabetical Index
PAGE
Prostate Gland .........187, 433
Prostitution and Segregation.212 Prostitution, Prevention of..216
Q
Quacks and Quackery.. .273, 450 Questions and Answers on
Sex ......................224
Questions and Answers on
tuberculosis .............337
Questions and Answers on Communicable Diseases... .339 Questions and Answers on
Sanitation ...............340
Questions and Answers on
Vital Statistics........	346
Questions and Answers on
Child Hygiene ............348
Questions and Answers on
n Laboratories ..............353
Questions and Answers on Venereal Diseases.........357
Rejuvenation ..............371
Remedy for Abortion.......... 98
Right to Be Well Born, The. 13
Sanger, Margaret..........	23
Sanitation ...................340
Schools for Mothers...........136
Science, Sexual...............175
Science of Eugenics.........11-16
Self Abuse...............254,	438
Semen, How Formed.. .187,	434
Segregation and Prostitution.212
Seminal Emissions.......181,	437
Seminal Vesicles ........187,	433
Sensuality, Results of.......	74
Separate Beds...............  105
Sex Determination ............ 89
Sex Organs, Female... .189,	190
Sex Organs, Male...........185
Sex Instruction ..............217
Sex Instruction in the
Schools..................  227
Sex Education in Literature
and Art .a..............228
Sex Perversions ..............271
Sexual Excesses, Results of.. 74 Sexual Excitement, Results of. 188 Sexual Habits ................449
texual Neurasthenia...........267
iexual Organs, Anatomy of
Male ......................185
Sexual Organs, Anatomy of
Female ..................  189
Sexual Precocity .............176
Sexual Science................175
Shall Pregnant Women
Work ......................105
Signs and Symptoms of Labor ......................122
Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy ....................102
PAGE
Small Families...............  86
Solomon....................... 61
Special Safeguards in Confinement ...................124
Spermatorrhea ................261
Spooning .....................199
Spooning, Real Function of.202 Story of Life, How to Tell
......................375, 486
Sterility ....................265
Sterilization of Unfit........ 17
Sterilization Without Mutilation ....................... 19
Sterilization, Voluntary.......19
Suppression of Vice............30
Survival of Fittest........... 13
Syphilis .....................288
Syringe, Sanitary ............248
T
Table, Modified Milk.........134
Table of Heights and Weights
......................315-316
Table of Caloric Values.....318
Teething Infant..............160
Teething Infant Charts.. 160, 162 Ten Health Commandments. .331
Testicles, Function of......187
Thin People, Advice to......325
Tuberculosis ................337
Twilight Sleep...............126
u
Unfit, Sterilization of...... 17
Unmarried, Ethics of the... .199 Uterus ......................190
V
Vagina ......................190
Vaginal Cleanliness ........248
Vamps, Boulevard ...........198
Venereal Diseases .....281, 357
Venereal Diseases, Statistics. 299 Venereal Diseases, Free Clinics ...............a........359
Venereal Prophylaxis.........33
Vesicles, Seminal......187, 433
Vice, Suppression of........ 30
Vital Statistics ...........346
Voluntary Sterilization .....19
W
Wedding, The ................70
Weight Charts ..............141
What Women Love in Men
........................47-49
What Men Love in Women.50-51 Where Do Babies Come From
...................415-476
Who May Marry............. 55
Why Men Grow Old..........360
Women Who Do Not Belong
in Home .................63
Womb, Disorders of........235
Word to Maidens, A.........69
W. B. C.This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper).
Preservation facsimile printing and binding
by
Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2012