Plain Facts for Old and Young by John Harvey Kellogg

Chapter 1

882 words | Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plain Facts for Old and Young This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Plain Facts for Old and Young Author: John Harvey Kellogg Release date: November 27, 2006 [eBook #19924] Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19924 Credits: Produced by Ron Swanson *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG *** Produced by Ron Swanson [Illustration: The Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich.] [Frontispiece: Yours truly, J. H. Kellogg] PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG. BY J. H. KELLOGG, M.D., MEMBER AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROSCOPY, MEMBER MICH. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM, AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS WORKS ON HEALTH, ETC. PUBLISHED BY SEGNER & CONDIT, BURLINGTON, IOWA. 1881. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by J. H. KELLOGG, M.D., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PREFACE. The publishers of this work offer no apology for presenting it to the reading public, since the wide prevalence of the evils which it exposes is sufficient warrant for its publication. The subjects with which it deals are of vital consequence to the human race; and it is of the utmost importance that every effort should be made to dispel the gross ignorance which almost universally prevails, by the wide diffusion, in a proper manner, of information of the character contained in this volume. This book has been written not for the young only, nor for any single class of persons, but for all who are old enough to be capable of understanding and appreciating it. The prime object of its preparation has been to call attention to the great prevalence of sexual excesses of all kinds, and the heinous crimes resulting from some forms of sexual transgression, and to point out the terrible results which inevitably follow the violation of sexual law. In order to make more clear and comprehensible the teachings of nature respecting the laws regulating the sexual function, and the evils resulting from their violation, it has seemed necessary to preface the practical part of the subject by a concise description of the anatomy of reproduction. In this portion of the work especial pains has been taken to avoid anything like indelicacy of expression, yet it has not been deemed advisable to sacrifice perspicuity of ideas to any prudish notions of modesty. It is hoped that the reader will bear in mind that the language of science is always chaste in itself, and that it is only through a corrupt imagination that it becomes invested with impurity. The author has constantly endeavored to impart information in the most straightforward, simple, and concise manner. The work should be judiciously circulated, and to secure this the publishers will take care to place it in the hands of agents competent to introduce it with discretion; yet it may be read without injury by any one who is sufficiently mature to understand it. Great care has been taken to exclude from its pages those accounts of the habits of vicious persons, and descriptions of the mechanical accessories of vice, with which many works upon sexual subjects abound. The first editions of the work were issued with no little anxiety on the part of both author and publishers as to how it would be received by the reading public. It was anticipated that no little adverse criticism, and perhaps severe condemnation, would be pronounced by many whose education and general mode of thought had been such as to unfit them to appreciate it; but it was hoped that persons of more thoughtful and unbiased minds would receive the work kindly, and would readily co-operate with the publishers in its circulation. This anticipation has been more than realized. Wherever the book has been introduced, it has met with a warm reception; and of the several thousand persons into whose hands the work has been placed, hundreds have gratefully acknowledged the benefit which they have received from its perusal, and it is hoped that a large proportion have been greatly benefited. The cordial reception which the work has met from the press everywhere has undoubtedly contributed in great measure to its popularity. The demand for the work has exhausted several editions in rapid succession, and has seemed to require its preparation in the greatly enlarged and in every way improved form in which it now appears. The addition of two whole chapters for the purpose of bringing the subject directly before the minds of boys and girls in a proper manner, adds greatly to the interest and value of the work, as there seemed to be a slight deficiency in this particular in the former editions. J. H. K. BATTLE CREEK, MICH., _October, 1879_. CONTENTS. PAGE.

Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3. INTRODUCTION. 4. 1. In childhood, and until about the age of puberty, respiration in 5. 2. Although there is a change in the mode of respiration in most females, 6. 3. We believe the cause of this modification of respiration is the 7. 4. We have met a number of ladies whose good fortune and good sense 8. 1. Do not allow the boy or girl to be overworked, either mentally or 9. 2. Keep the mind occupied. While excessive labor should be avoided, 10. 3. Abundant exercise out-of-doors is essential for both sexes. Sunshine 11. 4. Watch carefully the associations of the youth. This should be done 12. 5. None too much care can be exercised at this important epoch of human 13. 2. Intense mental excitement, as well as severe physical labor, is to 14. 3. A third hint, which is applicable to both sexes and at all times, 15. 4. Take daily exercise, as much as possible short of fatigue; if 16. 4. Perhaps nothing tends more directly to the production of menstrual 17. 1. If a child is begotten in lust, its lower passions will as certainly 18. 2. The same remarks apply with equal force to the transmission of other 19. 3. The influence of the father is, at the outset, as great as that of 20. 4. If during gestation the mother is fretful, complaining, and 21. 1. For the beginning of a new life, select the most favorable time, 22. 2. If a child has been properly conceived, the duty then devolves upon 23. 3. After birth, the mother still possesses a molding influence upon 24. 1. During the development of the body, all its energies are required 25. 2. The reproductive act is the most exhaustive of all vital acts. Its 26. 3. The effects upon the female are even worse than those upon the male; 27. 2. That a robust man requires more than one woman to satisfy his sexual 28. 3. That there are more women than men; and since every woman has a right 29. 4. That the great men of all ages have been polygamists in fact, if 30. 5. That monogamy is a relic of the paganism of the ancient Greeks and 31. 6. That it is the only proper and effective cure for the "social evil," 32. 1. We deny most emphatically the assertion that polygamy is either 33. 2. The second argument is based upon the asserted fact that man 34. 3. While it is true that there are a few more adult women than men, 35. 4. In proof of the propriety of polygamy, as well as of its necessity, 36. 5. The fact that monogamy was practiced among the ancient Greeks and 37. 6. The argument that polygamy will cure the "social evil" is exactly 38. 1. They are useful as well as healthful. While they call into action 39. 1. The sexual function is for the purpose of producing new individuals 40. 2. In the animal kingdom generally, the reproductive function is 41. 3. In those exceptional cases in which the organs of the male are in 42. 4. Fecundation of the female element can only take place about the time 43. 5. The desire for sexual congress naturally exists in the female only 44. 6. The constant development of the sexual organs in human males is a 45. 7. The time of sexual congress is always determined by the condition 46. 1. The fact that in all animals but the human species the act can be 47. 2. The fact that the males of other animals besides man in which the 48. 3. The general law that the reproductive act is performed only when 49. 1. The moment that prostitution is placed under the protection of law 50. 2. Why should so vile a crime as fornication be taken under legal 51. 3. By the use of certain precautionary measures the fears of many will 52. 1. Those which may arouse suspicion, but any one of which, taken singly, 53. 2. Those which may be regarded as positive. Several suspicious signs 54. 1. _General debility_, coming upon a previously healthy child, marked 55. 2. _Early symptoms of consumption_--or what are supposed to be such--as 56. 3. _Premature and defective development_ is a symptom closely allied 57. 4. _Sudden change in disposition_ is a sign which may well arouse 58. 5. _Lassitude_ is as unnatural for a child as for a young kitten. A 59. 6. In connection with the preceding symptom will generally be found, 60. 7. _Sleeplessness_ is another symptom of significance. Sound sleep is 61. 8. _Failure of mental capacity_ without apparent cause should occasion 62. 9. _Fickleness_ is another evidence of the working of some 63. 10. _Untrustworthiness_ appearing in a child should attract attention 64. 11. _Love of solitude_ is a very suspicious sign. Children are naturally 65. 12. _Bashfulness_ is not infrequently dependent upon this cause. It 66. 13. _Unnatural boldness_, in marked contrast with the preceding sign, 67. 14. _Mock piety_--or perhaps we should more properly designate it as 68. 15. _Easily frightened_ children are abundant among young masturbators, 69. 16. _Confusion of ideas_ is another characteristic of the devotee of 70. 17. Boys in whom the habit has become well developed sometimes manifest 71. 18. _Round shoulders_ and a stooping posture in sitting are 72. 19. _Weak backs, pains in the limbs, and stiffness of the joints_, in 73. 20. _Paralysis_ of the lower extremities, coming on without apparent 74. 21. The _gait_ of a person addicted to this vice will usually betray 75. 22. _Bad positions_ in bed are evidences which should be noticed. If 76. 23. _Lack of development of the breasts_ in females, after puberty, 77. 24. _Capricious appetite_ particularly characterizes children 78. 25. One very constant peculiarity of such children is their extreme 79. 26. _Eating clay, slate-pencils, plaster, chalk,_ and other 80. 27. Disgust for simple food is one of the traits which a victim of this 81. 28. _The use of tobacco_ is good presumptive evidence that a boy is 82. 29. _Unnatural paleness_ and colorless lips, unless they can be 83. 30. _Acne_, or _pimples_, on the face are also among the suspicious 84. 31. _Biting the finger nails_ is a practice very common in girls 85. 32. The eyes often betray much. If, in addition to want of luster and 86. 33. An habitually moist, cold hand, is a suspicious circumstance in 87. 34. _Palpitation of the heart_, frequently occurring, denotes a 88. 35. _Hysteria_ in females may be regarded as a suspicious circumstance 89. 36. _Chlorosis_, or _green sickness_, is very often caused by the unholy 90. 37. _Epileptic fits_ in children are not infrequently the result of 91. 38. _Wetting the bed_ is an evidence of irritation which may be 92. 39. _Unchastity of speech_ and fondness for obscene stories betray a 93. 2. Loss of the seminal fluid. 94. 1. The composition of the nerves and that of spermatozoa is nearly 95. 2. Men from whom the testes have been removed before puberty, as in 96. 1. Begin by a resolution to reform, strengthened by the most solemn 97. 2. Resolve to reform _now_; not to-morrow or next week, but this very 98. 3. Begin the work of reform by purging the mind. If a lewd thought enters 99. 4. As a help to purity of mind, whenever impure thoughts enter, 100. 5. Avoid solitude, for then it is that temptation comes, and you are 101. 6. Strictly comply with all the rules laid down for the cultivation 102. 7. Above all, seek for grace and help from the Source of all spiritual 103. 1. _Never overeat_. If too much food is taken at one meal, fast the 104. 2. _Eat but twice a day_, or, if supper is eaten, let it be very light, 105. 3. _Discard all stimulating food_. Under this head must be included, 106. 4. _Stimulating drinks_ should be abstained from with still greater 107. 5. In place of such articles as have been condemned, eat fruits, grains, 108. 1. From seven to nine hours' sleep are required by all persons. The 109. 2. Arise immediately upon waking in the morning if it is after four 110. 3. If insufficient sleep is taken at night, sleep a few minutes just 111. 4. Never go to bed with the bowels or bladder loaded. The bladder should 112. 5. The position in sleeping is of some importance. Sleeping upon the 113. 6. Soft beds and pillows must be carefully avoided. Feather-beds should 114. 7. Too many covers should be avoided with equal care. The thinnest 115. 8. Thorough ventilation of the sleeping-room, both while occupied and 116. 9. If wakeful at night, instead of lying in bed trying to go to sleep, 117. 10. One of the most effectual panaceas for certain varieties of 118. 1. It is not a remedy, since, as in the case of illicit intercourse, 119. 2. If it were a remedy, it would not be a justifiable one, for its use 120. 3. As another reason why the remedy would not be a _proper_, even if 121. 1. Give the matter prompt attention. Do not delay to adopt curative 122. 2. Set about the work of getting well with a fixed determination to 123. 3. Avoid watching for symptoms. Ills are greatly exaggerated by 124. 4. Never consult a quack. The newspapers abound with lying 125. 5. Do not despair of ever recovering from the effects of past 126. 6. Every sufferer from sexual disease must make up his mind to live, 127. 2. The production of similar individuals which shall also have the power

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