INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

_SEX IN LIVING FORMS_. Living beings--Animals and vegetables--Life force--Reproduction-- Spontaneous generation--Simplest form of generation--Hermaphrodism-- Sex in plants--Sex in animals--Other sexual differences--Men and women differ in form--Modern mania for female pedestrianism--3,000 quarter miles in 3,000 quarter hours--A female walking-match--The male and female brain--Vital organs of man and woman--Woman less muscular, more enduring--A pathological difference--Why a woman does not breathe like a man--The reproductive elements--Sexual organs of plants-- Polygamous flowers--The female organ of flowers--Sexual organs of animals--The spermatozoon--The ovum--Fecundation--Fecundation in flowers--Union of the ovum and zoosperm--Curious modes of reproduction--Human beings are developed buds--Fecundation in hermaphrodites--Development--Unprotected development--Partial protection of the ovum--Development in the higher animals and in man-- The uterus--Uterine gestation--The primitive trace--Curious relations to lower animals--Simplicity of early structures--The stages of growth-- Duration of gestation--Uterine life--How the unborn infant breathes-- Parturition--Changes in the child at birth--Nursing--Anatomy of the reproductive organs--Male organs--The prostate gland--Female organs-- Puberty--Influence of diet on puberty--Brunettes naturally precocious-- Remarkable precocity--Premature development occasions early decay-- Early puberty a cause for anxiety--Changes which occur at puberty-- Menstruation--Nature of menstruation--A critical period--Important hints--Menorrhagia--Dysmenorrhoea--Amenorrhoea and chlorosis-- Hysteria--Prevention better than cure--Extra-uterine pregnancy--Twins-- Monsters--Hybrids--Law of sex--Heredity--Ante-natal influences--Law universal--A source of crime--Circumcision--Castration . . . . . . . 25 _THE SEXUAL RELATIONS_. Sexual precocity--Astonishing ignorance--Inherited passion--Various causes of sexual precocity--Senile sexuality--Marriage--Time to marry--Application of the law of heredity--Early marriage--Mutual adaptation--Disparity of age--Courtship--Long Courtships-- Flirtation--Youthful flirtations--Polygamy--Polyandry--Divorce-- Who may not marry--Do not be in a hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 _CHASTITY_. Mental unchastity--Amativeness--Unchaste conversation--Causes of unchastity--Early causes--Diet vs. chastity--Clerical lapses--Tobacco and vice--Bad books--Idleness--Dress and sensuality--How young women fall--Fashion and vice--Reform in dress needed--Round dances--Physical causes of unchastity--Constipation--Intestinal worms--Local uncleanness--Irritation of the bladder--Modern modes of life . . . . 174 _CONTINENCE_. Continence not injurious--Does not produce impotence--Difficulty of continence--Helps to continence--The will--Diet--Exercise--Bathing-- Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 _MARITAL EXCESSES_. Object of the reproductive functions--Results of excesses--Effects upon husbands--Testimony of a French physician--Continence of trainers--A cause of throat disease--A cause of consumption--Effects on wives--The greatest cause of uterine disease--Legalized murder-- Indulgence during menstruation--Effects upon offspring--Indulgence during pregnancy--Effect upon the character--A selfish objection-- Brutes and savages more considerate--What may be done--Early moderation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 _PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION_: ITS EVILS AND DANGERS. Conjugal onanism--"Male continence"--Shaker views--Moral bearings of the question--Unconsidered murders--The charge disputed--Difficulties-- Woman's rights--What to do--A compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 _INFANTICIDE AND ABORTION_. Not a modern crime--Causes of the crime--The nature of the crime-- Instruments of crime--Results of this unnatural crime--An unwelcome child--The remedy--Murder by proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 _THE SOCIAL EVIL_. Unchastity of the ancients--Causes of the "social evil"--Libidinous blood--Gluttony--Precocious sexuality--Man's lewdness--Fashion--Lack of early training--Sentimental literature--Poverty--Ignorance--Disease-- Results of licentiousness--Thousands of victims--Effects of vice ineradicable--The only hope--Hereditary effects of venereal disease-- Man the only transgressor--Origin of the foul disease--Cure of the "social evil"--Prevention the only cure--Early training--Teach self-control--Mental culture--Early associations . . . . . . . . . . 284 _SOLITARY VICE_. Alarming prevalence of the vice--Testimony of eminent authors--Not a modern vice--Victims of all ages--Unsuspected rottenness--Causes of the habit--Evil associations--Corruption in schools--Wicked nurses--Not an uncommon case--The instructor in vice--Local disease--An illustrative case--Other physical causes--Influence of stimulants-- Signs of self-abuse--Suspicious signs--General debility--Early symptoms of consumption--Premature and defective development--Sudden change in disposition--Lassitude--Sleeplessness--Failure of mental capacity-- Fickleness--Untrustworthiness--Love of solitude--Bashfulness--Unnatural boldness--Mock piety--Confusion of ideas--Round shoulders--Weak backs-- Pains in the limbs--Stiffness of the joints--Paralysis--Gait--Bad positions--Lack of development of the breasts--Capricious appetite-- Eating clay--The use of tobacco--Unnatural paleness--Acne--Biting the finger nails--Palpitation of the heart--Hysteria--Chlorosis--Epileptic fits--Wetting the bed--Unchastity of speech--Positive signs--Results of secret vice--Effects in males--Local effects--Urethral irritation-- Stricture--Enlarged prostate--Urinary diseases--Priapism--Piles-- Prolapsus of rectum--Extension of irritation--Atrophy--Varicocele-- Nocturnal emissions--Exciting causes--Are occasional emissions necessary or harmless?--Emissions not necessary to health--Eminent testimony--Diurnal emissions--Cause of diurnal emissions--Internal emissions--An important caution--Impotence--General effects--General debility--Consumption--Dyspepsia--Heart-disease--Throat affections-- Nervous diseases--Epilepsy--Failure of special senses--Spinal irritation--Insanity--A victim's mental condition pictured--Effects in females--Local effects--Leucorrhoea--Uterine disease--Cancer of the womb--Sterility--Atrophy of mammae--Pruritis--General effects--A common cause of hysteria--Effects upon offspring--Treatment of self-abuse and its effects--Prevention of secret vice--Cultivate chastity--Timely warning--Curative treatment of the effects of self-abuse--Cure of the habit--How may a person help himself?--Hopeful courage--General regimen and treatment--Mental and moral treatment-- Exercise--Never overeat--Eat but twice a day--Discard all stimulating food--Stimulating drinks--Sleeping--Dreams--Can dreams be controlled?-- Bathing--Improvement of general health--Prostitution as a remedy-- Marriage--Local treatment--Cool sitz bath--Ascending douche--Abdominal bandage--Wet compress--Hot and cold applications to the spine--Local fomentations--Local cold bathing--Enemata--Electricity--Internal applications--Use of electricity--Circumcision--Impotence--Varicocele-- Drugs--Rings--Quacks--Closing advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 _A CHAPTER FOR BOYS_. Who are boys?--What are boys for?--Boys the hope of the world--Man the masterpiece--How a noble character is ruined--The marvelous human machine--The two objects of human existence--The nutritive apparatus-- The moving apparatus--The thinking and feeling apparatus--The purifying apparatus--The reproductive apparatus--How a noble character and a sound body must be formed--The downhill road--Self-abuse--A dreadful sin-- Self-murderers--What makes boys dwarfs--Scrawny and hollow-eyed boys-- Old boys--What makes idiots--Young dyspeptics--The race ruined by boys-- Cases illustrating the effects of self-abuse--Two young wrecks--A prodigal youth--Barely escaped--A lost soul--The results of one transgression--A hospital case--An old offender--The sad end of a young victim--From bad to worse--An indignant father--Disgusted with life--Bad company--Bad language--Bad books--Vile pictures--Evil thoughts-- Influence of other bad habits--Closing advice to boys and young men. 419 _A CHAPTER FOR GIRLS_. Girlhood--How to develop beauty and loveliness--The human form divine--A wonderful process--Human buds--How beauty is marred--A beauty-destroying vice--Terrible effects of secret vice--Remote effects--Causes which lead girls astray--Vicious companions--Whom to avoid--Sentimental books-- Various causes--Modesty woman's safeguard--A few sad cases--A pitiful case--A mind dethroned--A penitent victim--A ruined girl--The danger of boarding-schools--A desperate case--A last word--A few words to boys and girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470