UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 300KSTACKS CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its renewal or its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each lost book. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books aro reasons for disciplinary action and may result (n dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN OCT 0 2 1995 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/perfectmanhoodhoOOshan % PROF. T. W. SHANNON, PERFECT MANHOOD How Inherited, Attained and Maintained How Wrecked and Regained. REVISED EDITION. 100,000 SOLD. By Prof. T. W. SHANNON, A. M. Author of “Perfect Manhood;” “Perfect Boyhood;” “The Twentieth Century Boy;” “Parents and Child or Heredity;” “Guide to Sex Instruction;” “The Girl and Her Mother;” “Sour Grapes; “How to Tell the Story of Life,” etc. \ Paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50c. T. W. SHANNON PUBLISHING COMPANY. 211 West Walnut Street, Louisville, Ky, Copyrighted 1911 By the Author . ZoiAa 1 ! Sh ! p )Vl PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. $ Perfect Manhood was tihe result of the authors first attempt to write a book. Scores of men had plead with him for years to put his lectures in book form with a view to extending their usefulness. It was hurriedly written and consisted of paragraphs from his lectures. This gave the book a rather awkward appearance. To the very great surprise of the author the book has had a most phenomenal sale throughout the U. S. and Canada and in a limited way to nearly every English-speaking country. The writ¬ ing of several other books, constant lecturing, pri¬ vate consultation with thousands of young men, .extensive correspondence with young men who have read Perfect Manhood, and a more extensive ready¬ ing of the newest and best book on sexual science has led the author to see the need of some changes and additions. Believing that this edition will accomplish more good and reach a far larger number of men, sin¬ gle and married, than the first edition, it is with pleasure and the deepest interest in young men that the author offers this revised edition to the entire English-speaking world. January 1, 1911. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PERFECT MANHOOD. HOW INHERITED. Heredity in animals and 1 man compared. The lower animals instinctively abserve law. Suscep¬ tible of physical improvement. Most rapid improve¬ ment in domestic animals due to hereditary laws applied by man. Man is hereditarily degenerate. Original cause. Three factors of human improve¬ ment, heredity, environment and the grace of God. Most children unfortunately born. Jonathan Ed¬ wards and Max Jukes. Heredity explained. Se¬ lecting a companion. Parental preparation and parental training. CHAPTER II. HOW ATTAINED AND MAINTAINED. The sexual system. The function of each sexual organ. Meaning of the puberty and adolescence periods. The relation of the sexual life to the at¬ tainment of perfect manhood. Nature and value of the sexual life. The stallion, the rooster, etc. How this energy changes the boy into a perfect man. The relation of the mind to the sexual life. A continent life essential to physical, sexual, men¬ tal and moral soundness. Sexual gratification not a necessity. How to direct this sexual energy so as to aid in the making of a perfect man. How manhood is maintained. CHAPTER III. HOW MANHOOD IS WRECKED. Some noble specimens of manhood. Most men are defective. Causes of sensuality; bad heredity, stimulants and narcotics, lascivious thoughts and obscene language, modem dance, kissing games, cheap shows and theatres, immodest dress and im¬ pure pictures. Masturbation; causes, when started, physical, mental and moral effects, examples. How to prevent the evil. Venereal diseases; chancroid, gonorrhea and syphilis. Sin is sexless. Advice to fathers. An appeal for a pure life. CHAPTER IV. HOW MANHOOD IS REGAINED. The advantage of becoming a Christian. A per¬ fectly natural cure. Marriage not a cure. Nature’s recovery begun. Food and drink. Stimulants and narcotics. Baths. Sleep. Constipation. CHAPTER V. TWENTY VITAL AND PRACTICAL QUESTIONS OF A YOUNG MAN ANSWERED. PERFECT MANHOOD. CHAPTER I. HOW INHERITED. Just how God brought into being the original progenitors of every specie of plant and animal life, including man, we do not know, but biologists have discovered many of the laws governing their propagation and improvement. The lower animals instinctively obey every law they are under. Pos¬ sessing no moral nature, they are not susceptible to moral law. The higher forms, possessing only a very limited mental nature, they are susceptible to only a very limited mental improvement. Pos¬ sessing a physical nature they are susceptible to indefinite physical improvement. Left alone in their native jungles, forests and plains, guided alone by instinct, there would be almost no retro¬ gression or improvement among them. Under the domesticating influence of intelligent man, im¬ provements are marked and rapid. Our popular breeds of fine poultry; our pointer and setter dogs; our Poland China, Berkshire and Duroc hogs; our Southdown and Merino sheep; our Durham, Jer¬ sey and Holstein cattle; and our Percheron, Coach and Hambletonian horses are the products of the applied laws of heredity to our domestic animals during the past fifty years. 7 8 PERFECT MANHOOD. Man is bom into this world with only a very limited instinctive nature, but with unlimited mental and moral possibilities. Because of his superior mental and moral natures he is capable of well nigh infinitely more develop¬ ment than are the lower animals. We boast of the perfections of our domestic animals, and ridi¬ cule the suggestion of a perfect man. We have great stock shows and journals, import fresh blood from foreign countries at fabulous prices that'we may improve our stock; but when we would engage in the sacred function of parenthood 1 we often ignore the teaching of science and the Bible and turn this important work over to perverted impulse and blind chance. The lower animals left alone to their instinctive nature rarely parent a defective offspring. In the case of man, one-half of his offspring die before they are six years old, over sixty per cent are defective in body from birth, and all indicate mental and moral defect, as they grow older. Should this be true? The hardest battles of the mass of intelligent erring men are, and always have been, to relieve themselves from their own inborn selfish tendencies and vicious de¬ sires to violate the very laws intended for their greatest good and highest happiness. Why this struggle for deliverance from -our inward foes? Does it not indicate that our first parents violated 6ome law that involved their physical, mental and 1 moral natures in a way that made the evil effects PERFECT MANHOOD. 9 transmissible ? The author has no pet theories to advocate. His private opinion is that the story ot the fall of man recorded in Genesis is the inspired figure of a great fact in human history. It ap¬ pears to him to be in harmony with the Bible, ob¬ servation, experience and reason that the original fall of man was due to a selfish violation of the laws of sex. This would be a cause, a sin, equal to the physical, mental and moral effects produced. Cause ail'd effect are inseparably related. They are always equal to each other. The lower animals never violate the law r s of sex. Perfect offspring rs the almost invariable rule. Violation of the law r s of sex is the well nigh universal sin of man. Be¬ cause of this, most children are handicapped from birth. In the past philosophers, sages and reformers have said, “give children good educational and moral environments and you will evolve a perfect race. Priests, prophets and preachers have said, “good advice us far as it goes, but it is insufficient. Man is fallen. Hi9 very nature is depraved. He must be regenerated before good environment can do its best for man/’ Both of these classes of friends to the improvement of the human family were right but they overlooked one factor. Mod¬ em thinkers, reformers, Christians are saying, “give to every child good heredity, good environ¬ ment and the grace of God and you will have race regeneration.” 10 PERFECT MANHOOD. Knowing the cause of an ailing patient will help the doctor in making a correct diagnosis and this is essential to effective treatment. For six thous¬ and years humanity has been desperately sick. Her physicians have in a measure misunderstood the causes, and, their diagnosis being partly wrong, their treatment has not produced 1 a perfect cure. For ages past, through the physiological and psychological influences of sensual parents, chil¬ dren have received unfortunate heredity. Only a few parents have been wise enough to protect their children from this degenerative influence. Dr. Winfield Seott Hall in Reproduction and Sexual Hygiene says, “There is another sacrifice, if it may be so called, the husband is called upon to make during the pregnancy of his wife, namely, to abstain absolutely from sexual intercourse dur¬ ing the period of pregnancy and for two or three months following. All other animals observe this period of continence. Nature demands that man observe it. . . . The author submits this question to all fair-minded men; Is it not due to the wife that -she be not asked to satisfy the recurring sexual desires of the husband during the period when her life and its energies are so sacred to the race, to society and to the family? Tihe author submits this question because some men are known to trans¬ gress this law of nature.” Prof. Newton N. Riddell says, “The present ethics of marriage licenses that which degrades the PERFECT MANHOOD. 11 affections and destroys the possibilities of harmony* The abuse of the generative function is the chief cause of domestic inharmony, divorce and shame, inherited lascivious tendencies and the vices and crimes which follow. . . . Three-fourths of the race have their origin in uncontrolled desire, while less than one-half of the remainder are as well born as they might have been.” The author suggests that the reader pause one moment before he criticises these quotations from two of the purest and greatest thinkers of the age. If you are married, what right have you to preach continence to your young people or teach purity to your sons and daughters, if you cannot practice ©elf-restraint on a level with the lower animals dur ing this sacred period. If bad heredity is respon¬ sible for defective manhood, then good heredity will help produce an insure perfect manhood. If the violation of the laws of sex was the original sin and started degeneracy in the human family, then a continual violation of the laws of sex, by most of the descendants through the ages, has been a continual cause of defective manhood. In many of the nations of the past the violations of the laws of sex has been 1 the primary cause of their decadence. If these propsi- tions are true, then it logically follows that obedience to the laws of sex is a primary condition of transmitting the possibilities of perfect man¬ hood to our offspring and of their attaining and 12 PERFECT MANHOOD. maintaining this ideal. While the violation of the laws of sex results in the transmission of bad heredity, it is not the only cause of bad heredity. The author believes that the violation of these laws, before and after marriage is the chief cause of hereditary degeneracy. All men have inhrited a stronger tendency toward lust than any other mor¬ bid condition. The ministry is unquestionably the purest class of men in the w T orld. Yet, while one minister falls through strong drink, five fall through lust. Where one layman falls through drunkenness, ten fall through lust. Why is this? They have inherited a stronger tendency toward impurity than toward strong drink. History reveals that man has evolved three types of manhood. First, was the man of physical de¬ velopment and strength. The second was the man of mind. The third was the man of character. The man of the future wfill combine these three types into a perfect manhood). The intelligent study and application of the laws of heredity in the fu¬ ture will take into account these three factors that form the three sides of a well rounded life. Every child has an absolute and inalienable right to re¬ ceive from its parents, not only a strong, sound and healthy body free from all inherited tendencies toward disease; but the basis for a brilliant mind and strong religious tendencies. Seventy per cent of immoral women had drunken fathers, mothers or both. King alcohol is the father of lust. -PERFECT MANHOOD. 13 No man can habitually use liquor and lead a pure life. Eight out of ten children of drunken parents are defective from birth. Many drinking men boast that they have a right to drink, get drunk -and get on a prolonged debauch, if they wish. This they claim is their personal liberty. A man’s personal liberty to live in sin ends where the welfare of his unborn children begins. The man who deliberately lives in sin and foredooms his children to defectiveness is a criminal. Here is a man who wishes to buy a family 'horse, one that he can afford to trust his wife and children with. Here are two fine young specimens, equally pedigreed. Upon inquiry, he finds them both to be quite gentle. Will he stop with that information? No, he looks up the sire and dam of each of these young horses. He finds the family record of one to be excellent. The family record of the other young horse shows that the sire ten years before the birth of this colt was vicious, killed his owner, ran away with a carriage, threw his rider and was un¬ controllable for several months. Which one of these horses will this father buy ? He will buy the one whose parents were gentle. But this same father ha9 a daughter who is entertaining a marriage proposition from two suitors. She asks her father for advice. One of the young men is poor, has all of the elements of true manhood, with- splendid parentage. The other young man is rich and mor¬ ally rotten; his father was a corrupt politician. 14 PERFECT MANHOOD. iWhat will be the adduce of the father? About nine times out of ten money counts 1 for more with this man than manhood. Dr. Galton of London, says, in his book on “Hereditary ‘Genious,” “The children of eminent parents will themselves become eminent after the following proportion; 45 per cent of the chidren of eminent poets; 51 per cent of the children of eminent literary parents; 65 per cent of the chil¬ dren of eminent scientists; and 89 per cent of the children of eminent artist and musicians; while only one child out of 10,000 of the average popula¬ tion will ever become eminently great.” Dr. Gal¬ ton speaks of intellectual greatness and shows the relation of parents who think, read and study to their children’s possible greatness; and the relation of parents who do not read, think and study to their children’s mental stupidity. Every citizen owes to the next generation a fairly studious life. Take two noted families, one illustrating the influence of good heredity, the other illustrating the influences of bad heredity. Jonathan Edwards was born of excellent parents in 1720. He and his wife were early converted and received a good edu¬ cation and devoted their lives to ,•self-improvement and to the work of helping others. 1394 of his de¬ scendants have been identified and studied; 13 were university presidents; 65 were college and university professors; 60 were prominent lawyers, 90 were physicians, over two hundred were minis- PERFECT MANHOOD. 15 ters, oyer 300 were progressive farmers, 32 were noted authors, besides these there were U. S. congressmen and -senators, mayors of large cities, ministers to foreign ports and one vice-president. Only one descendant of this man left a blot on the family record—Aaron Burr, who fought -a duel and killed his fellow man. But when you read one of his speeches you are con¬ scious that you are reading after one of the master minds of the world. Max Jukes, born in 1703, wa s a lazy fellow, in¬ sisted that his personal liberty entitled him to the right to do as he pleased. He drank, but would not be considered a common drunkard. He mar¬ ried a common prostitute and moved upon the Hudson River. There he gathered alb-out him his class, with whom his descendants married and intermarried. 903 of his descendants have been identified and studied. Over 300 were delinquents and dependants, 200 died prematurely, 145 were drunkards, 285 were viciously diseased, and 90 were female prostitutes, over 100 spent an average of 13 years each in prison. This' family cost New York state over one million dollars. .Suppose that the environments of these two men could have been reversed, leaving their heredi ¬ ty as dt was, could we have written the figures af¬ ter Max Jukes that we did after Jonathan Edwards and vice versa? No well informed man believes that we could. Those great minds and characters 16 PERFECT MANHOOD. on one side, and the dependants and the delin¬ quents on the other, could not have been changed from one side to the other, by simiply reversing the environments of these two men. Had this been done, some of the descendants of Max Jukes would have been good citizens, possibly one or two might have become great, but many of them would have been defective: some of the descendants of Jonathan Edwards would have gone wrong be¬ cause of bad environment, but most of them be¬ cause of their blood would have made a fair suc¬ cess in life, and some would have overcome their bad environment and arisen to distinction and emi¬ nence. The factors of heredity and environment are ever active in every life. In the case of some individuals and families, one factor seems to dom- # mate, while in the case of other individuals and families, the other factor seems to dominate. In the case of the two families just compared, heredi¬ ty seems to have been the dominant factor. There is an intimate relation between the physi¬ cal, mental and moral natures. At some point they meet and influence each other. 'Where is that point ? Is it in the blood ? “The blood is the life.” Every phenomena of life, physical, mental and moral is influenced by the condition the blood may be in. The saliva formed from the blood of a person in a normal condition is remedial when applied to a fresh wound and tends to alleviate pain. Nature teaches all of the lower animals and PERFECT MANHOOD. 17 man this lesson. When a person has been angry for hours, mentally and) morally abnormal, the saliva -applied to a fresh wound will give it the ap¬ pearance of having been -poisoned and it will be difficult to cure. A baby nursing the breast of an angry mother may be thrown into spasms. Hun¬ dreds of such cases have occurred. Anger is not only a mental act, but it involves the moral nature, it is a sin. Jealousy is often the cause of dyspep¬ sia. Unusual grief, because of the loss of property or the death of some member of the family, often causes a temporary loss of health. A chemical test of the various secretions of the body, under the in¬ fluence of these abnormal states of mind and mor¬ als, would reveal .an abnormal condition in all of these secretions. If the saliva formed from the blood of an angry person is so influenced as to poi¬ son instead of cure; if the milk from the mothers breast, formed from the blood while she was angry, will throw her babe into convulsions: does it not appear plausible that the mental and moral states also affect the sexual secretions formed from the blood? The physical, mental and moral life of a man is in his blood. The procreative cells formed from the blood of a father and mother, when unit¬ ed under proper conditions will result in an off¬ spring 'having assimilated in its physical, mental and moral natures, the predominating character¬ istics of its parents. If the father is high tempered, thinks more 18 PERFECT MANHOOD. about drink, gambling, theft or lust than he does about being a noble citizen, a true husband and father, not only may his blood be in a bad condi¬ tion due to the physical side of -sin, but the life energies in the blood will be influenced by the mental and moral side of ©in. The child gets its three-fold life from the procreative cells. These cells receive their life from the blood from which they were formed. When man lives in harmony with all the physical, mental and moral laws that he is under, his physical, mental and moral life will be normal and will be able to transmit to this posterity the possibilities of perfect manhood and womanhood. When man habitually violates the laws he is under, his three-fold life will be abnor¬ mal and he cannot transmit to his offspring nor¬ mal possibilities. If the mother, at the time the ovum is being elaborated in one of her ovaries, at the initial mo¬ ment and during the nine months of gestation, is constantly angry, despondent, passionately fond of worldly amusements, craves alcoholic drinks, ©he will Impress her child in the same way. The father’s hereditary influence upon his child ceases with the initial of the child’s life. Not so with the mother’s hereditary influence. During the nine months of gestation the mother’s physical, mental and moral life is the child’s source of sup¬ ply. During this very pliable formative period of her child the mother may very largely modify or PERFECT MANTFOOl). 19 change the influence of the father on her child. 1 f he has good qualities and she has corresponding bad ones, the good qualities transmitted by the father to his child may be very largely overcome by the mother. If the father has bad habits, bad dis¬ position and bad blood, the mother can largely modify the bad tendencies that the child would in¬ herit from its father. As a rule women do not abuse their bodies, minds and morals by alcoholic stimulants, narcotics and sexual abuse as men do. Evidently, if women were addicted to these habits to the extent that men are our race would deterior¬ ate faster than it does. The offspring of scarlet women become prostitutes with but few exceptions. The children of a drunken mother are usually drunkards, prostitutes and criminals. If a mother is feeble-minded her children are all weak-minded 7 her death rate exceeded her birth rate by 22,000. She has more childless homes than any other nation. She has cities and! towns that are so venerealized that the medical world cannot prevent them' from rotting from the face of the earth. Had a lecturer travel¬ ed over France a half century ago predicting her present conditions, he would have been considered a fanatic. The present and future of France have been sacrificed! by a century and a half of lust. As a nation she has sealed her own doom and fore¬ casted her own destiny. All history proves that national deterioration and final ruin follow in the wake of sensuality. Unless parents, pulpits, plat¬ form, press, church and! legislatures awake to our imminent danger, w r e too, will be consigned to a like oblivion. I. CAUSES OF SENSUALITY. 1. Bad Heredity. One of the most prolific causes of sensuality is bad heredity. Most chil¬ dren in the past wure the results of uncontrolled desire. Because of ignorance and a lack of self- control on the part of parents, few children have been protected against lascivious influences during their prenatal life. 2. Narcotics and Stimulants. These are the parents of lust. Nicotine and alcohol taken in the blood awaken passion. Men who are addicted to these habits are more lascivious than men who i ( 54 PERFECT MANHOOD. are free from them', The use of the cigarette by small boys often hastens the approach of puberty a few months. This is due to the awakening of sex consciousness. It leads to the formation of sexual energy before the system is ready to absorb it. This leads to an early waste of this energy and results in stunted, dwarfed and lustful men. Dr. G-unn says, “Tobacco has spoiled and utter¬ ly ruined thousands of boys, inducing a dangerous precocity, developing the passions, softening and weakening the bones, greatly injuring the spinal marrow, the brain and the whole nervous fluid.” The ease with which a number of social smok¬ ers will drift into obscene conversation is very noticeable. Eminent doctors in Prance tell us that there are more inveterate tobacco users in Prance than in any other civilized nation and that many of these men are sterile. They attribute the ■ falling off in the birth rate to be partly due to the excessive use of tobacco. What has been said of the effects of tobacco can be said with greater emphasis in regard to the ef¬ fects of the use of alcoholic drinks. Find where whiskey is sold and they can direct you to the house of prostitution; find the fallen woman and she 'can direct you to the saloon or the blind tiger. There is an inseparable bond between drink and lust. No man can live a pure life and habitually use alcoholic dfrink. Narcotics and stimulants have other evil effects aside from stimulating lust. PERFECT MJA/NB0(0)D. 55 They are certainly undermining the manhood' of this age. 3. Lascivious Thoughts and Conversation. Impure thoughts are responsible for much of man’s sensuality. Passion is, perhaps, impossi¬ ble without the aid of the mind. Cold water allays passion. Yet, passion may be aroused while the private organs are in fairly cold water. In a high state of sexual excitement, desire will instantly subside, if the mind is suddenly and wholly withdrawn from all sexual thought. Semen is formed rapidly when a high state of passion is maintained by the mind. Under such conditions there may be secreted as much of this energy in one hour as would be in many days of pure thought. You can now see why a man who thinks of sensual things is sensual. “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Multitudes of men and boys spend much of their life reveling in impure thoughts, imaginations and wishes. Thus, their seminal vesicles, ampullae and ducts are constantly gorged with semen that should nev¬ er have been taken from the blood, and which the system can not reabsorb. It is possible that lasciv¬ ious thoughts are more responsible for sensuality than sensual acts, because sensual acts grow out of sensual thoughts. Most men who engage in sensual thoughts do so without the slightest knowledge of its results upon their sexual System.. It is the first step toward all sexual abuse, 56 PERFECT MMTH100D. Vulgarity and impure thought are inseparable; the one grows out of the other. In a western town a friend called my attention to a man past middle life sitting on a good’s 'box. My friend then told me how this man spent his time, with other men of his type, discussing the ladies who passed by them. 'One day a young lady was crossing the street from the opposite side in a very stiff breeze. This man with his friend watched the form of the girl as the wind blew her skirts close about her limbs, and he made some lustful remark to his friend. Stepping up to where they were, she said, “Papa, were you speaking to me?/’ When she was gone, her father said, “I ought to be hung.” For the sake of vulnerable boys, innocent girls, respectable women and the good of society at large, there should be some form of punishment for this class of men. To the invitation, “Dome and hear my lecture,” a burly blacksmith replied, '“You are going to teach men how to have pure thoughts about wo¬ men, are you ?” I asked him if he were guilty of impure thoughts. He quickly replied, “'Why, yes, all men are.” I then inquired of him if he had a mother, or sister. “Yes,” was his sharp reply: Then I said, “Suppose you and a dozen of the most lustful young men of your town should be one day standing on your sidewalk, and your daughter, at¬ tractively dressed, while passing, bows pleasantly to her young gentlemen friends and familiarly to PElRiFElCT MANHOOD. 57 papa; how would you feel toward those young men, if you had 1 the power to look into their hearts and should see imaginary nude pictures of your daughter therein, and should know that they were guilty of /the vilest sins with her in their intensest desires ?” “I would! kill them,” was -his instinctive and ready answer. '“Would you kill them for that of which you are confessedly guilty ?” I asked. “But it would be my daughter,” was his prompt response. Then I explained to him that the wo¬ men about whom he had impure thoughts were some men’s wives, mothers, daughters or sisters, and advised him to look upon the daughters of other men as he did upon his own. With a hearty hand-shake, he promised me that he would try to be pure in his thoughts. 4. Modern Dance. Here is the attitude of the modern round dance as given by a noted ex-danc¬ ing master. The young lady places her head against the left shoulder of the young man. He encircles her -waist with his right arm and hand. She places her right hand in his left. He places his foot, sometimes his limb, between hers. Now add to this that most young women wear a special gind of dress for the occasion which leaves their arms, shoulders and as much of their bosom ex¬ posed as will not embarrass his vision of her heav¬ ing .breasts. Do you tell me that healthy, well- sexed young people can come together in this way and yet remain pure in thought? You can’t con- 58 PERFECT MANHOOD. ceive of a much greater difficulty. I do not, on this occasion, condemn the dance as a minister, or from the standpoint of scriptural ethics; but from a reasonable knowledge of medical science on this point, and a fair knowledge of the laws of sex, I do assert and will attempt to prove that the modern dance is exceedingly sensual. Every healthy, manly man knows that passion is hard enough to control when there are only or¬ dinary temptations to combat. The embrace of the modern dance is strikingly suggestive of the sexual act. It is night, no moral or religious restraints, quick music and corresponding move¬ ments, wine and! other drinks. Here the worst libertines are admitted to a social level with others, the sensual embrace with the pressure of the waist, squeezing of the hand, suggestive glances of the eye all conspire to excite the passions. It is utter¬ ly futile to argue that the passions are not aroused in the dance. Most fallen women testify that their first step toward an outcast life was taken in the dance. In several of my meetings, I have made it a point to ascertain if the fallen girls and wo¬ men did not dance before their fall. I do not re¬ member to have found an exception to this rule. Woman’s moral strength to resist the approaches and overtures of designing men is measured by her resolute purpose to keep men at arm’s distance. No true woman can voluntarily yield her body into the embrace of a man, not her father, husband or with a woman. PERH0OT MAjNtBDOiODo 59 brother, without a severe shock to her .sense of modesty. True, she may dull the fine edge of her delicate .sensibilities until she enjoys the dance and yet not fall as to her outward life. But it is perfectly unnatural for her to be intensely fond of the dance without having her sexual nature arous¬ ed. (She may not be fully aware that this pleasant feeling in the dance comes from' her aroused sex¬ ual nature, and she may be entirely ignorant of what the results in her own body will be; but her ignorance will not keep her from reaping the har¬ vest. Suppose she does not fall. If she responds in her sexual nature, as she surely will if $he loves the dance, she will become sensual in her thoughts. Her female organs being inflamed with passion for hours will result in a diseased condition. When a woman’s passions are stirred^ she has a flow of mucous, and her delicate nervous system, is in a strain. This may lead to a Chronic wasting of this mucous, a condition called “whites.” “Girls, like boys, when their passions are constantly aroused by evil thoughts, easily fall into the secret sin. You have heard that dancing among women leads to consumption and heart failure. The mere physi¬ cal exercise of the dance, would be preventive, rather than a cause, of these and other diseases. But dancing leads to sensuality and this leadis to the 'secret sin, or to mental masturbation. I once overheard a group of dancing young men Bay that they were going to quit dancing for 60 PERFECT MlAiNOGO®. awhile, as they had such bodily lassitude and men¬ tal sluggishness .that they were unable to do any¬ thing. Why was this? I will tell you. From fiye hours of dancing with young ladies, with pas¬ sions inflamed, they had secreted nightly more semen than would have been done in two weeks of pure thought. This 1 gorged the seminal cavities until relief was repeatedly found 1 in the -secret sin, fornication, or possibly, not likely, with this class, in seminal emissions. The great Daniel Webster was once asked by a trim diandy, why he did not dance. He replied: “I have neither the time nor the ambition to learn the ant.” Perfect manhood and womanhood would be strange (freaks of nature were they found in the modem dance. 5. Kissing Games. Kissing games among lit¬ tle boys and girls and young men and women are not only tolerated, but often encouraged, by silly old folks. They should know, and must know, if they will only stop to think, that the lips, like the breast, are secondary sexual characteristics. Hence* passion is easily aroused by the kissing otf the sexes. In the west, a young man nearly dead with con¬ sumption, loss of memory, weak hack and dyspep¬ sia said, “Wdren I was a boy seven years old, I was a constant visitor at the home of a banker in my town in Tennessee. My father was a wealthy mer¬ chant. The banker’s daughter and I were child¬ hood lovers. Our parents encouraged our embraces and kissing, and often remarked that we would 1 PERFECT MANHOOD. 61 marry some day. When I was eleven and she thirteen, we were daily practicing formication. This we have continued! for the past nine years. Our parents perhaps never (have suspected our guilt. We are not married and will never be. Your lecture was a true diagnosis of my afflictions.” Childhood courtship, indefinitely prolonged, rare¬ ly ever terminates (well. Parents who are careless and thoughtless about the company they keep and about their love relations, need! not expect their children to attain perfect manhood and woman¬ hood. 6. Theatre. The modem stage is, by no means, a small factor in some communities in the develop¬ ment of sensuality. How can a healthy man sit for hours and be entertained by semi-nude actress¬ es, who, before the electric foot-lights, engage in knee-dress dancing and other performances, such as degrade their sex, and remain pure in 'his thoughts? These women are nearly all loose in their morals. Al doctor, in whose home I was stopping, told m!e that he was treating three young men for venereal diseases, and they reported that two others were being treated by another doctor, and all five were infected in one night by an ac¬ tress, after she had so royally entertained' some of the worldly church members and the common Sinners. 7. Improperly Dressed Women and SemibbTude Female Pictures. Talmage once said, “1 believe » j 62 PERFECT MtAJSTHOlOD. thlat there are literally thousands of men in Fell, whose eternal damnation is due to the improper dress of women/'’ Strong, but no doubt true. I have lived a continent life and have tried hard to keep the demon of sensuality from breathing his whispers in the ears of my soul. As a husband, father, educator and minister, I pledge you my honor that the 'greatest trials, the sorest tempta¬ tions, I have ever met have come from improperly dressed women and semi-nude pictures. A mother, with a fully exposed breast, nursing a sweet little 'baby is not a temptation to any natural man. But the partially-concealed charms of a well-formed woman, no well-sexed man can look upon, admire, think about and remain untempted. I have told my wife that when our little girls are twelve years old, papa will continue to buy their clothing, pro¬ vided they will dress up 'to thteir necks. But I don’t want a lot of animal men pasturing on the neg¬ lected 'and unfenced territory of my family. Again, my wife and little girls shall not be the willful cause of my fellow-men going to the hell of sen¬ suality, if I oan help it. No semi-nude picture finds a place on the walls of my home, or tin our album. For twenty years I have wondered why the pure women of this country do not petition the legis¬ latures to pass laws forbidding the use of partially dressed female pictures for advertising purposes. This form oif advertising is quite a fad among the PERFECT MAMKQO'D. 63 tobacco, circus, theatre and whisky firms. Go into places frequented largely or only iby men, and you will find the most suggestive female pictures. The style of pictures in a young man’s possession is a fair index to his character. In my lectures I have (sometimes said, “I make my appeal to you men. I want only your 'honest verdict. Is it your experience 'and observation that improperly dressed women and semi-nude female pictures arouse pas¬ sion in you and others ? If I am 1 correct, and your opinion accords with mine, let it be known by lift¬ ing your hands (hands go up all over the house). I wish the women of America could see this ver¬ dict. Our women have been following the sensual fashions of France long enough.” 8. Masturbation. Another cause of the over development of man’s sexual nature, and the lead¬ ing cause of wrecked manhood, is the early prac¬ tice of masturbation. The nature of this sin is too well known to require (much description. It is •called self-abuse, self-pollution, or the ‘secret sin, and consists in exciting the private organs by means of the hand. Physicians declare this sin to be almost universal. Authors of reliable works on the subject estimate that 90 to 96 per cent of the males at some some in life, and to some extent, practice this sin. It is but fair to state that this habit is indulged in by boys who are totally ignor¬ ant of its sinfulness and its fearful consequences. [Bovs may 'begin this sin when they are five or six 64 FEKfFKCT MIANHOOlD. yelars old, often; at eight or ten', and in most eases before the age of puberty, which is about the four¬ teenth year. While, at this age there is no semen to lose, the nervous spasm which may, and often does take place, is injurious to the child. In most cases the sin is taught the child' /by a schoolmate, wicked servant, and sometimes by a much Older person. At least one-fourth of the males have an abnormally long prepuce or foreskin that should have been removed by circumcision in infancy. Many eminent doctors advise that all male babies be circumcised when a week or ten days old. The Jews all practice this (hygienic pre- caution against masturbation in after life. It is claimed 1 that few Jewish boys ever practice this sin. They are known as a healthy nation, and it is claimed that their average life is some ten years longer than the Gentile American. The secretions that acumulate under the folds of the prepuce produce irritation. To relieve this, the boy will naturally resort to scratching the parts. In this way a sense of sexual pleasure will be aroused. To keep up this feeling of pleasure, the boy continues to handle the organs. In this way many boys have discovered the secret sin. It is doubtful if one boy in a thousand with' a long prepuce can escape this sin. When the prepuce is removed by circumcis¬ ion, the mucous membrane of the gland penis be¬ comes the true skin. Passion aroused by the glid¬ ing of the prepuce over the gland penis, and irri- RHEIHEiCT -MAN'HlOlOiD. 65 tation due to the accumulation and) hardening of the secretions, is thus avoidied 1 . This is all the evi¬ dence one needs to enable him to see the value of circumcision. Conservative doctors tell us that one drop of semen is as valuable in nourishing the body, nerves and brain as twenty 'State of —*—*—; also, that he had arranged to have our home furnished, and suggested that we be married on -arrival at our new home. I took to the idea. We arrived in that town about midnight and a hackman drove us to our new home, where we spent the night as hus¬ band and wife. The next morning he suggested that we had made a very great mistake, and to get married there would injure us, as the people would find out that we had spent the night togeth¬ er. He then promised me, that as soon as he could get settled in business, we would take a trip to a distant State and be married. I still trusted him implicitly. Later, he urged that we wait until af¬ ter the birth of the child. I reluctantly yielded, but still trusted him. After two more years of de¬ lay, I began to doubt his sincerity and love. One day, I demanded immediate marriage and sternly refused every suggestion of postponement, refusing to live with him longer unless lawfully married. He then told me that he had never loved me, and had never thought of marrying me. He left the town one night for parts unknown. Through a friend, I afterward located him, and tried by cor- 102 PERFECT MANHOOD. respondence to get 'him to meet me somewhere and marry me, even if he did! not tcare to live with me, that his little girl and I might have his legal name. He refused. I then sent my little girl to my moth¬ er and explained that husband and I were parted. I am now using his name and passing here as a widow. I want to be a Christian and unite with the churchy but if I have my maiden name placed on the church register, people will find out what I have done and I will be ruined. If I place the name that I am now going by upon the register, I will be practicing a lie. How, Bro. Shannon, tell me, what am I to do?” I tried to get her to relate this to the church. She shrank from it. I tried to get her consent for me to explain the con¬ dition in which she was placed. But she insisted that such a step would lead to the loss of her po¬ sition as a teacher and the respect of the people. She then gave me the name of the Southern city where the man who had ruined her was practicing law, and promised me that if I could induce him to meet and marry her, she would for the sake of his name make him a loving and true wife, or would agree to live forever separate. Then she said, “Bro. Shannon, when you write to him don’t mention that you are a minister or that I am inter¬ ested in becoming a Christian. He does not believe in such things.” What a consolation it must be to such a man to foe able to believe there is no God, no heaven and no hell. If there is the merest w PERFECT MANHOOD. 103 shadow of reigning justice in the universe, there must -be a hell for such a vicious character. A reg¬ istered letter was sent him, but no reply was re¬ ceived. I have no knowledge of where the poor, injured, wronged woman is today, or whether or not she has ever found her Lord, but if there be a coming judgment to be presided over by an abso¬ lutely just Judge, this man will meet with justice. I have in my mind two crimes committed in the same year and in a few miles of each other.- The first was a case of deception in a love affair. The young man left the young woman to bear her shame among her acquaintances and in the home of her broken-hearted parents. Death came to her relief after she had evidently tried to get rid of six months of unborn life. The citizens did not express their indignation by threats of mob vio¬ lence, the officers made no immediate effort to bring him to justice. The second was where a young man killed an entire family while frenzied with anger. T'o pro¬ tect him' from mob violence, the officers spirited him from the county. There was more deliberate planning and deception in the first than in the sec¬ ond. No one questioned the sanity of the first; they did question the sanity of the second. The crime of the first led his victim to forfeit the priceless gem of virtue, led to her death and the death of her unborn, and to life-long sorrow and shame upon her family. The crime of the second 104 PERFECT MJAQSTtEDO'OOD. did not lead this victims to forfeit any part of their character or bring shame and dishonor upon thei r loved ones. The heart-aches and sad recollections caused by the first will be life-long; in the second case these things will fast fade from memory. The first class of criminals usually go free, or, at least, meet 'with a very inadequate penalty. The second class of criminals meet speedy justice at the hands of law or of a mob. Legislators make laws against the second class, with adequate penal¬ ties, against the firstclass the law r s are weak and the penalties inadequate. This is the dilemma that female virtue faces today. When yellow fever or cholera breaks out in our homes, Congress and the Legislatures come to our rescue; but multiplied thousand's of our pure girls can be sacrificed, body, mind and soul, for the want of wholesome laws with adequate penalties. If capital punishment is justifiable as a penalty for any crime, it is for the crime of wrecking a woman’s character. Is any mans life worth the character of your mother, wdfe, daughter or sister ? Every grain of manhood in you replies with an emphatic NO. Then the man who designingly takes the advantage of a woman in any way and wrecks her character should forfeit his own life. As a minimum) penalty for any case of rape, seduction or deception in a love affair, unless this last case is - compromised by marriage, the guilty man should be denuded of his procreative powers. In some cases, he should also PERFECT MANHOOD. 105 be miade to spend a term of years in the pen. The man who cannot or will not control himself should be controlled. A lawyer once objected] to my suggestion of sterilization as a penalty for these sins, saying, “No law should be made with inhu¬ man penalties.” I wonder if breaking a man’s neck, or passing several hundred volts of electrici¬ ty through a man’s 'body is a more humane form of punishment than I have suggested. After a man has reached maturity he would suffer but lit¬ tle inconvenience from being deprived of his pow¬ ers of procreation. Men dread this form of pun¬ ishment because of the shame and humiliation at¬ tached to it. After paying this penalty once he would never repeat the crime. Hear the appeal of a son, a brother, a husband and a father; for the sake of your precious mother, darling wife, pure daughters and noble sisters, bring your passions under subjection and live a ■white life. You are some mother’s 'boy; I am some mother’s boy. -Some mother exposed her life to the imminence of dteath in order to bring you into be¬ ing. That mother hovered over you like a loving angel from 'God and nourished and cared for you when you could not care for yourself. Your moth¬ er may now be old and at the old home a thousand miles aw r ay, but she loves and pra} r s for you still. She may have crossed over into the spirit world, but she is your mother still. If some man had soiled the virtue of your mother before you were 106 PERFECT MANHOOD. bom, or when you were an innocent little child, your mother would have suffered an irreparable moral blight, and a lifetime of humiliation and in¬ expressible heart-ache would have been your inev¬ itable lot in life. Can you take an honest look at what might have been, if some man had ruined your mother’s character, and then can you turn and soil the white feather of some woman’s virtue ? Do you know what the word wife means? What the word sister means? What the word daughter means ? Men, what causes that feeling of murder to grasp your being when you think of the bare possibility that some man may now be planning to rob them of their virtue? I will tell you. It is something innate in the bosom of every man, I care not how depraved) he may be, saying: “You are woman’s protector.” If another man deserves to be shot for plucking the lily of purity from the brow of your wife, sister or daughter, do you not deserve the same treatment when you violate the honor of another man’s wife, sister or daughter ? Perhaps, some man replies: “I would 1 not take the virtue of a pure woman; I seek sexual grati¬ fication among fallen women.” Every poor fallen woman is some mother’s girl. She was once as pure as your sister, wife or mother. 'Some mother once pressed her to her heart and kissed her inno¬ cent little lips. 'Some fond father once dandled her on his knee and’ proudly called her “darling.” Do you reply: “She has brought on her own so- PERFECT MANHOOD. 107 cial ostracism and hag voluntarily placed her body on the market; -and that you are not responsible for her sins ?” If you could hear the patheic story of her fall; how some well-dressed and accom¬ plished libertine, under solemn promise of mar¬ riage, oft-repeated, seduced and ruined her • if you could think of her enforced exclusion from society and home, discarded by parents, brothers and- sis¬ ters ; if you could think of the anguish of her poor soul at the close of a life of shame; you would be a fallen woman’s friend and would seek her rescue from, her present and eternal ruin. .108 PERFECT MAMHJOOB. CHAPTER IV IMPAIRED AND WRECKED MANHOOD REGAINED. 1. The Christ Cure. Can the impure man be pure again? Can manhood, when once impaired or wrecked, be restored? To the first question I answer unreservedly, yea To the second question; yes, with some qualifications. The first question is purely a moral one. OSTo man ever made himself pure. Christ alone can atone for past sins, cleanse the heart and keep it pure. Restoring moral puri¬ ty is God’s work and can be done instantly and completely. The second question is largely a men¬ tal and physical one. This mental and physical wreckage of manhood has many causes of which sexual abuse is by far the most prolific. It is wrecked manhood due to a violation of the laws of sex, with Which I am dealing. The sins and sinful habits, which have produced so much lost manhood, were gradually formed and have grad¬ ually resulted in a diseased condition of the entire reproductive system, as well as of the other or¬ gans of the body. Restoring mental and physical soundness is the work of nature, and must, at least without special Divine interposition, be done gradually. What required years to do, cannot be undone humanly in a day. The length of time re¬ quired and the thoroughness of nature’s cure, will PERFECT MiAINHOOD. 109 depend upon the degree of injury you have sus¬ tained by violating nature's laws and the unham¬ pered opportunity you give nature to restore you. When man begins to violate the laws of nature, nature tries to counteract the evil effects. Were this not true, tobacco, whiskey, morphine, opium and sensual fiends would wreck themselves much sooner than they do. When man ceases to violate the laws of nature, nature at once begins the work of recuperation. The effects of a limited course of sin upon the body and mind may be entirely restored) by nature. I would not say that nature can never fully eradicate the effects of a long and excessive course of sexual abuse upon the body and mind. If given a fair show, however, nature will check the progress of debility, help you husband your remaining strength, and aid you in adding to your present vitality. These two means of recovery -are vitally impor¬ tant. God is the author of both. Of the two, the first is of primary importance. With restored spir¬ itual manhood, the recovery of mental and physi¬ cal manhood will be easier. How can perfect manhood be restored ? Let God answer. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” “Let not thine heart decline to her ways.” “Out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication.” Then the heart is the fountain of all sin. As long as this fountain is impure, the thoughts, words and actions will be 110 PERFECT MANHOOD. impure. Has Cod made previsions for the restor¬ ation of perfect spiritual manhood? "If we con¬ fess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous¬ ness.” "The spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes me free from the law of sin and death.” "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall he delivered.” Have courage, my brother. Banish every doubt and fear. Don’t hesitate. \Say with the prodigal: "I will arise and go to my Father.” This "I will” was the definite starting point in the new life of the prodigal. Ho man ever became a Christian until he asserted the "I will.” No man ever broke away from a vicious habit until he asserted the "I will.” No man ever accomplished anything that was great, noble and good, without the asser¬ tion "I will.” If you will assert that Cod-given, regal "I will,” there is hope for you. Say it and mean it, "I will;” let ^hy-gones be by-gones for¬ ever; but in the future, with Cod’s help, my rec¬ ord *shall be clean.” 2. A Perfectly Natural Cure. The first thing a doctor does, when called into the sickroom, is to make a diagnosis of the patient’s case. The pre¬ cautions, preventatives and the remedial agencies used will depend upon his knowledge of the case. Wrecked manhood is almost entirely due to the ex¬ haustion of vitality in the body, and debility of the nervous system, resulting from sexual abuse. PERFECT MANHOOD. Ill In every discharge of semen, there is the loss of life-force and nutritious material. Every discharge of semen reduces one’s vitality and deprives him of nutrition. The entire nervous system is in a se¬ vere strain during sexual excitement, and meets with a severe shock at the time of an orgasm. Hence an orgasm is succeeded by more or less of exhaustion, lassitude and prostration. In the natural exercise of any normal organ, the recuperative forces replace all losses caused by the exercise, and thus the organ is kept in a healthy condition. If the exercise is pushed beyond the limit of recuperation ,the organ wears out faster than nature can build it up. The reproductive or¬ gans of little boys are in a dormant or latent con¬ dition until puberty. It is self-evident that passion should never be felt by them until puberty. Pas¬ sion before puberty is unnatural and positively in¬ jurious. The undeveloped condition of their bod¬ ies and minds, and the relation of this vital and nutritious semen to the perfect development of every organ of their bodies and every faculty of their minds, is proof that semen should never es¬ cape from their bodies until they are matured. When physically matured), every healthy, sane, moral man should marry, unless he has some jus¬ tifiable reason for not doing so. •In a case of wrecked manhood, caused by th? secret sin, the man has seminal weakness or sper¬ matorrhea. In this condition, the testicles are tak- PERFECT MAiHEDOOD. ing from the blood 1 many time's as much vitality and nourishment, as nature ever intended should take place. Only a limited portion of this semen can be .reabsorbed. With gorged duets and vesci- cles, passion is constantly excited. Relief is had in the secret sin, fornication, marital excess, or seminal emissions. In this way man’s vitality is being reduced and his nervous system debilitated. Many sensual men are conscious of nervous debili¬ ty, but because they discover no loss of semen, think their trouble is due to some other cause. Let such men quit their sexual excesses, and they will then detect their loss of semen. Involuntary emis¬ sions are impossible, when all the semen formed is disposed of by voluntary acts. But the results are all the same. Restored manhood is possible just to the extent that the reproductive system can be restored to a normal condition. The reproductive system is nor¬ mal when the testicles are secreting no more se¬ men than nature has provided. In this normal condition, very little vitality and nourishment is removed from the blood, and what is taken up by the testicles is nearly, if not quite, all reabsorbed and thrown back into the system in a greatly im¬ proved condition. It is now clear that if the repro¬ ductive system of an impaired or wrecked man can be reduced to a normal condition, his recovery, partial or complete, will be a natural one. No pills, powders, drinks, tonics, or electric appli- PERFECT MANHOOD. 113 ances are necessary to a cure. No doctor need be consulted or employed'. A cure by Dr. Nature is your only hope. If you wish to consult with an intelligent home physician, no special harm will be done by the homeopathic treatment he will give you. But the only good you will get will be in the encouragement and advice he will give. Life, money and time are too valuable to be sacrificed on advertising medical quacks and charlatans. Dis¬ continue their service, bum their pamphlets and cease reading their advertisements in the dailies and sensational papers. Dr. Kellogg says: “If drugs, per se, will cure invalids of any class, they are not satisfactory in this class of patients. The whole materia medica affords no root, herb, extract, or compound that, alone, will cure a person suffering from emissions. Thousands of unfortunates have been ruined by long-continued drugging.” Dr. Dio Lewis says: “The victims of sper¬ matorrhea must not hope for relief in the use of medicines, but must seek restoration in determined abstinence from all sexual indulgences and libidi¬ nous fancies, conjoined to a faithful observance of the laws of health. One of the obstacles to a cure in this common and afflicting malady is the notion that the disease may be gotten rid of by opening the mouth and (swallowing medicine. The patient cannot understand you when you assure him that he must cure himself . All the specific medicines. FEEFBCT MANHOOD. 114 patent ring, cauterizations, etc., are each and all a deception and a snare ” 1. Marriage Not a ‘Cure. If your debilitated' con¬ dition is due to impure thoughts and masturba¬ tion, keeping a mistress, going to the scarlet home, marital excess, getting married will not cure you. In either of these cases you substitute one form of seminal loss for another; the nervous sys¬ tem is under the same strain; the entire system is still being exhausted! of vitality and nourish¬ ment, and the blackest sin becomes a voluntary act, in which two participate. A doctor who will ad¬ vise a young man to go to the fallen woman or keep a mistress, as a remedy for masturbation, should be socially ostracized]. For a man who has seminal weakness to marry would be to encourage his passions, ruin his own health and the health of his wife, and to transmit to his offspring, if it be possible for him to beget children, weak and feeble 'Constitutions. If a man has occasional seminal emissions, which do not impair his general health, marriage would be the best step he could take, but moderation must be maintained in the married life. I would advise every man who has seminal weakness, as soon as he has quit the habit, and nature has in a reasona¬ ble way restored his general health, to get married. 2. Nature’s Recovery Begun. All voluntary acts are under the control of the will. Man’s Supremacy over himself lies in his ability to will PERFECT MANHOOD. 115 to control his voluntary thoughts and acts. Na¬ ture cannot restore you as long as you consent to violate her laws. You must rise to your true man¬ hood and resolve to cease all sexual gratification outside of moderation, in the married life. You may break your resolutions a few times. If so, re¬ solve again. Victory will crown a persistent ef¬ fort to quit. Having resolved to quit all sexual abuse, it is necessary for you to avoid everything that will awaken passion. To do this, you need to under¬ stand the relation of your thought and imagination to your passions. It is impossible to have pas¬ sion when your mind is entirely on something else. With the mind filled with hide thoughts and wishes, passions may be aroused, even when the privates are in cool water. Getting control of your thoughts and imagination will depend upon your determination to persistently will to think about other things. Suggestions of impure things will come; but, do not welcome them; refuse to entertain them even for a moment. By the exer¬ cise of the will, banish them from your mind. Your mind cannot be idle and at the same time be pure. If you have not decided upon your voca¬ tion for life, do it now. If you are a farmer, mer¬ chant, mechanic, doctor, lawyer, cultivate an in¬ terest in your occupation. Resolve to be a leader in your line of work. Provide yourself with some good books and papers applicable to your calling, 116 PERFECT manhood. and spend much of your moments of recreation reading them. All victims of seminal weakness are inclined to be gloomy and despondent. You can overcome this iby assiduously cultivating a feeling of hopefulness and cheerfulness. Your mind may he sluggish and stupid, but it will re¬ spond to reasonable mental application. Keep a few good books and papers about you to read at in¬ tervals. Read the Bilble and cultivate the con¬ sciousness, “Thou 'God seest me in all things.” I said, evil thoughts will come. But, it should be remembered that every mental phenomenon is an effect, for which there is a cause. If you would avoid the effects of evil thoughts, as far as possible you must avoid their causes. If you read sensa¬ tional novels and papers containing unholy love affairs, divorce plots and illicit relations between men and women, you will not be able to have pure thoughts. The costumes of the actress and her performances upon the stage, make direct appeals to a man’s sexual nature. Stay away from the theatres. Burn every semi-nude female picture in your possession. Don’t hide them away in your trunk. By accident you might see them again, or you might be tempted to again look at them. If it is the picture of your “best girl,” burn it and discard her, unless she will give you a decent one. Remember that no man with sem'inal weakness can keep his mind pure very long in the presence of an improperly-dressed woman. It is manly to ) PERFECT MANHOOD. 117 be a coward and run when in imminent danger. (Such women have made masturbators, libertines and fornicators of thousands of stronger men than you. 3. Food and Drink. There are certain physical causes of impure thought and passion. One having seminal weakness must exercise care and wisdom in regard to his food and drink. Certain foods heat the blood and furnish materials especially suited to the formation of semen. This class ol foods should be avoided. Abstain from pork and all fat meats; use beef and mutton sparingly. Abstain from fried gravies, rich pastries, stimulat¬ ing condiments, such as pepper, mustard, etc., also coffee, tea -and all alcoholic drinks. Drink water and milk. Eat vegetables, fruits, toast, sweet but¬ ter, and fresh eggs. Eat moderate meals for breakfast and dinner; supper should be a light meal. 4. Stimulants and Narcotics. I have never examined a medical work on seminal weakness in which the author did not speak of these as being causes of passion, and prohibiting them in the treatment of seminal weakness. Even the adver¬ tising medical quacks all advise that the use of them be discontinued by those who hope for a cure. There are three ways of quitting the to¬ bacco and whiskey habit, by the exercise of the will and the grace of God. Quitting instantly by the exercise of the will alone. By the exercise of 118 PERFECT MANHOOD. the will in a gradual way. Where one is a Chris¬ tian and will take the matter to Cod in -prayer no doubt the -grace of Cod will help him to get vic¬ tory over the habit. Where one can, let him will to quit at once and forever. If he is in a condi¬ tion where he cannot use either of these, let him adopt the gradual method. In this last way, one must will to quit. Ascertain the amount you use a week; then take off ten per cent each week, un¬ til the tenth week. 5. ■Bathing. Cleanliness of the body, and, es¬ pecially the sexual organs, is essential in seminal weakness. -Cold water is to be preferred to warm or tepid water, especially in 'bathing the sexual organs. Warm water causes the skin to relax and the blood 1 to flow to the parts. This is just what you -do not want. If the system] can stand a quick, all-over cold water bath followed by a brisk rub¬ bing with a towel, until there is a warm glow felt all Over the surface of the body, this is the best bath of all. If there is passion, the generative organs may be bathed several times a day with cold water to advantage. 6. Sleep. Retire early and sleep all you can. Don^t stay in bed after you awake in the morn- ing, get up at once and engage your mind or body in some kind of work. Sleep on a hard bed, never on a soft one, and use as little cover as- you can with comfort. If there is danger of emissions at night, the supper should be light and no fluid PERFECT MANHOOD. 119 taken into the stomach after supper. Empty the bladder and rectum just before retiring. Sleep on the side, never on the back. The prostate gland and seminal vesicles, being between the bladder and rectum, are pressed when these organs be¬ come full during the night, if the man is sleeping on his back. This pressure is avoided by sleeping on the side. Seminal emissions rarely ever occur while one is sleeping on his side. 7. Constipation. One of the most frequent physical causes of passion is constipation. When the rectum is engorged with hard- excrementitious matter and the bladder is filled w r ith urine, the prostate gland and seminal vesicles are pressed against this hard matter in the rectum. In this condition, seminal emissions occur easily, and there is often an exudation of fluid when at stool. The rectum should be kept free from the accumu¬ lation of this hard foecal matter. A regular habit of going to stool will help in this trouble. Eat an abundance of fruit and drink two or three cups of quite warm water a day. In stubborn eases, an injection of one or two quarts of warm water in the rectum, by means of a fountain syringe, is much 1 better than pills. 120 PERFECT M^MOCKD. CHAPTER V. SOME PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Having received s'o many letters of inquiry from young men, tlie author has decided that it would be wise in this revision of Perfect Man¬ hood to devote one chapter to answering many questions asked by young men. 'Some of these questions may be really ‘answered in the main body of the book, but for convenience, clearness and emphasis they are given here. 1. When does the vital fluid become fertile ?— From the age of seventeen to eighteen. At this time the boy could become a father. Being in the transition period between boyhood and man¬ hood, more a boy than a man, he could not trans¬ mit the best heredity to his child. If the mother was matured, healthy and strong, she would in a measure overcome the bad heredity of the father. At the best the child would have to suffer the mistake or sin of an immature father. 2. At what age should a young man marry ?— The fact that his sexual energy, during the ten years of adolescence, has been such an important factor in developing a full physical and mental manhood shows that nature points to the age of twenty-four or five as the ideal. Under present social conditions it is not possible for all young PERFECT MANHOOD. 121 men to assume the responsibilities of home build¬ ing at the ideal age of twenty-five. Those young men, who are preparing for some special occupa¬ tion, calling or profession that requires some four or five years of apprenticeship or college educa¬ tion, must postpone marriage until the age of twenty-eight or thirty. This is rather a misfor¬ tune of this social age. 3. At what age should a young lady get mar¬ ried ?—The puberty period coming on the girl at the age of twelve or thirteen and the adolescence period being slightly shorter, nature indicates an earlier age; nineteen to twenty-one. 4. Is there any sure way to control the sex of the offspring ?—Many theories have been advoca¬ ted in the past. Most all have been exploded. Medical men find none of them to be reliable. Sex is not determined by accident. Some definite law governs the sex of a child. Should the law ever be discovered, it will most likely be beyond man’s control. 5. What is the difference between a natural and an unnatural emission ?—A natural emission is largely composed of the secretions from the seminal vessels and contains little or none of the secretions from the testicles. The unnatural emis¬ sions contain all of the elements of a complete discharge of semen. The natural emission is not injurious, the other is. The first results from the gorged condition of the seminal vessels, the second 122 EEEiFtElOT MANHOOD. results from sexual excitement or passion. The secretion contained] in the natural emission is formed! naturally and constantly 'by the seminal vessels. In healthy young men all of this is not absorbed and the surplus escapes one, two, three or even four times a month without any injury. If the young man has indulged in lascivious thoughts, practiced the secret sin or associated w r ith the prostitute for a period 1 of time, all of his sexual glands are secreting too much energy and his emissions are unnatural and injurious. 6. Are there some young men who never have emissions? —It is no doubt true that all normal young men who are living pure lives have an oc¬ casional emission. In a few young men it may occur during urination and therefore be unobserv¬ ed, A young man who wilfully dissipates his energy as fast as it is formed, by means of mas¬ turbation or prostitution, may not have emissions. But, let 'him stop his bad habits and he will ex¬ perience them. 7. How can one prevent too frequent emis¬ sions? —Such dietetic measures as eating non- stimulating foods, discontinuing the use of tobac¬ co and alcoholic drinks, and such hygienic meas¬ ures as emptying the bowels and bladder just 'be¬ fore retiring, sleeping on the side, and preventing constipation, will aid in the control of emissions. But the most important measure to be used is that of mental control. The cure in all cases will be PERFECT manhood. m gradual and the time required will depend on the condition of the victim and 1 his determination to conquer the habit. 8. Can seminal weakness or lost manhood be cured by the use of medicine of any kind ?—The idea that a young man suffering from this trouble, by opening his mouth and swallowing pills or drinking medicines, can cure himself is an abso¬ lute false hope. No intelligent, 'conscientious doc¬ tor will advise the use of drugs for seminal weak¬ ness. The only safe, sane and sound prescription that can be given one in this condition is a strict continent life, aided by pure thinking, proper diet, and hygiene. 9. When a young man has become infected with venereal disease, should he treat himself with a patent remedy purchased in a drug store or send away for a remedy ?—A young man’s money, health and life are too valuable to be jeopardized by resorting to either method. Most of these drug store remedies posted in igentlemen’s closets guarantee to produce a cure in one to five days and the disease will never return. There should be a law prohibiting the sale of such drugs. They are an encouragement to uninformed men to visit the prostitute. When the young man finds that the patent remedy has failed to cure him, he is then perhaps in a chronic state of infection. Now the best medical talent may fail to give him a permanent cure. 124 PEiRiFEICT MANHOOD. 10. What should one i do who discovers that he has varicocele?—The approach of this disease is first noticed iby a dilation of the veins of the epi¬ didymis of the left testicle. A moderate dilation disappears causing no serious results. When the dilated veins become large and feel like a handfull of tangled earth worms,this is known as varicocele. This produces a “dragging” sensation. If not properly treated, it will result in the partial wast¬ ing away of the left testicle. When varicocele af¬ fects both testicles the patient may become sterile. One having this disease should suspend his testi¬ cles in a suspensory bandage. This can Ibe secured at a drug store or surgical instrument house. If he will now follow the direction given elsewhere for seminal weakness, he may be able to cure him¬ self. If he fails, he should consult a competent home physician. 11. Should a young man marry who has for a number of years practiced masturbation ?—‘It is always best for a young man who has practiced the secret vice for five, ten or fifteen years to quit the habit and live a continent life for one or more years. During this time he becomes normal in his sexual life and demands. If he has prac¬ ticed the habit only in a very limited way so that he is not suffering from any bad consequences, postponement of marriage is not necessary. 12. How frequent should sexual relations tahe place in the married life ?—Man is not normal in « r PERFECT MANHOOD. 125 his sexual nature. He has received an unnatural sexual heredity. Few men have received a natur¬ al education in matters of sex. As a consequence few are in a condition to receive and 1 practice an ideal married life. We have seen that continence among the males of the lower animals during adolescence and ges¬ tation of the female is in harmony with perfect health, development and virility No one ques¬ tions this being the ideal sex life of the male ani¬ mal. We reason by analogy that a similar self- restraint on the part of man is perfectly natural. If a young man has lived a perfectly continent life before marriage, he should encounter no seri¬ ous difficulty in living an ideal married life. The ideal married life would be one or two intercourses a month, before and after the menstrual periods, until the wife becomes pregnant. When this oc¬ curs, the sexual act should cease during the nine months of gestation and the two months follow¬ ing. This is the ideal that nature would hold out to man. To attain this ideal will require some sacrifice of selfish pleasure, but it will bring com¬ pensation. All men will not be willing to make the sacrifice, no matter what the compensation. Maternity on the part of the woman is an ex¬ haustive process. It taxes every resource of her being to meet the demands of her forming child. The husband owes it to his wife and child not to selfishly deprive them of that vitality so necessary 126 PERFECT MANHOOD. to both at this staige. Where this self-control is not practiced, the wife, by sustaining a mere (mechanical relation to the act, may lessen the injurious effects on herself and child. 13. What bad results may follow intercourse during pregnancy ?—The nervous drain on the mother and the transmission of lustful tendencies to the child are the greatest injuries done. Some¬ times, though rarely, it results in a miscarriage. 14. Should married people ever use methods to prevent conception f —They should never use un¬ natural, injurious or criminal methods. Some married people are sterile, others are in a condi¬ tion where they are perfectly justifiable in not having children for a few years, or even in never having children. Where one or both are in a condition that makes it proper for them to remain childless or not to have children for a period, self-restraint should be practiced. If before mar¬ riage they could both live continent lives there is no reason why they should not in the married life. Another method, most nearly approaching the ideal, would be for these relations 1 to take place ten days before or after the menstrual periods. Even when this rule is closely adhered to, concep¬ tion sometimes occurs. It is claimed by some au¬ thorities that children conceived midway between the menstrual periods are not as strong and healthy as those conceived just before or after the period. I would not commit myself to this view. iFEOKjFBOT manhood. 127 15. What had effects follow ■ imperfect inter¬ course .—When passion is aroused in the male and female, the 'blood rushes into the .arteries 'and cap¬ illaries of the genital organs, and they become in¬ flamed and turpid. Passion should never be en¬ couraged, except where perfect intercourse is to take place between loving husband and wife. In perfect mating, the sexual cavities of the man are all perfectly relieved of the accumulated semen and this oils and relieves the inflamed parts of the wife. 'In imperfect intercourse neither are per¬ fectly satisfied. Due to this imperfect mating, passion will soon return. The congested and im¬ pure blood will return to all parts of the body to work injury. A little thinking will make it clear to any one why imperfect mating has the same effects as masturbation. Why this imperfect mating? It is an effort to severely regulate the size of the family” and “have light housekeeping.” “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.” “Whatso¬ ever appliances or methods one may use to pre¬ vent conception, of the flesh he will reap corrup¬ tion.” 16. What are some of the bad effects of mari¬ tal excess ?—-Nearly all of the passion that burns in the bosom of the average man is not natural, but has been acquired through the perverted use of the mind and the sexual organs. Where men and women have both lived continent lives, their sexual desire is about equal. Many men have cul- 128 FEKjFEIOT 'MJAKHOiOD. tivated impure thoughts and lived! incontinent lives. The result is that men are more sensual than women. When a sensual man marries a wo¬ man who has been pure in mind, conversation and sexual nature, he will soon learn that his desire for sexual relations with his wife is many times greater than hers; .and if she yields to his un¬ natural demands, she will soon break down in health. Many young and middle-aged married women who suffer from nervous debility and gen¬ eral female weakness, can trace much of their trouble to excess in the marriage act. If the bloom of health has faded from the wife’s cheek; if the elastic step is gone; if she has lost the cheerful¬ ness of a woman’s life; if former pleasant duties have become irksome; if she complains of being nervous and weak; perhaps you can trace it to your too frequent demands. After giving this lecture in a Western town, a ranchman said to me, “If I could call back fif¬ teen years of my life and possess the information I have gained from your lecture, I would be will¬ ing to give you $20,000, and start life over a poor¬ er but wiser man.” He then related to me how he had in six brief years wrecked his wife’s health, which resulted in her early death. In a Kentucky town, while discussing this feat¬ ure of my lecture with a leading physician, he called my attention to a man passing in front of his office and said, ^Bro. S., that man has killed five wives by his sexual excesses.” PERFECT MlAjNiHOOlD. 129 if you appreciate perfect womanhood; if you appreciate the influence of perfect womanhood upon your offspring; if you, as a man, wish to retain a robust body and manly strength, a heal¬ thy, vigorous mind, a cheerful and happy dispo¬ sition, you must keep your passion in subjection. Intelligent moderation in the married life will pay you a hundredfold. 17. Is it a crime to produce an abortion ?— When, to save the mother’s life, which sometimes but rarely occurs, abortion is not a crime. But the deliberate and willful destruction of unborn life, is as truly murder, as would be the killing of a child after natural birth. l Some claim that there is no life until after the mother feels the movements of the child in her body. This does not indicate that the child has just received life or any 'Special enduement of life. It only means that the child has become strong 1 enough to make its movements felt by the mother. The initial of an independent humian life takes place at concep¬ tion. If murder is the destruction of human life, it follows that willful abortion produced to get rid of an unwelcome child is murder. Prenatal mur¬ der is the monster crime of Christendom. This crime is committed in homes of wealth, culture and among members of the church as well as among the classes below them. Many times the wife alone is responsible, sometimes the father and the M. D. abortionist share with her the fear- 130 PERiHElCT MANHOOD. ful guilt. Tire whole trouble grows out of a lack of proper self-restraint in the married life. 18. Can gonorrhea and syphilis he permanently cured ?—If gonorrhea is promptly and properly treated, it can in many cases be cured without danger of return or any serious effects being transmitted to the wife or child. It is also a fact that in many cases of gonorrhea, even when prop¬ erly treated, that there is a strong tendency to run into chronic conditions. \Wihen the disease has been neglected or poorly treated, or when a case by its own persistency runs into a chronic state, many such cases are never cured so that they may not return in some form. Weakened gonorrheal germs have been known to remain in a quiescent condition in the genital ducts for years. In recent years many prominent physicians have changed their views regarding venereal dis¬ eases. They are now known to be more insidious and persistent than was formerly thought. Some physicians claim that syphilis may sometimes be cured 1 ; but many eminent physicians claim that it is quite probable that when one has once been infected with syphilis that his body is never en¬ tirely free from the disease germs. Some authori¬ ties claim that the syphilitic germ has been found in the brain twenty years after the disease was contracted. 19. Is there a safe method by which small or¬ gans, due to the secret sin , may be enlarged ?— PiElEIPEIOT MIA^HiOOiD. 131 There are some methods advertised by- “Quacks” and certain firms, but most of them are unreliable or injurious. The vacuum method is perhaps the most satisfactory. This consists of an ap¬ pliance that removes the external pressure from the organ and allows the blood to rush into the capillaries. This practice must be kept up for a considerable timle to be effective. While this is the most natural method, I would not, in any case, advise the use of it. Any method used tends to call the attention to the organs and this leads to continual sexual weakness. A restored virility is of far more importance than the size of the or¬ gan. Because this organ varies in size, many men who have practiced the secret vice to some extent, fear that this organ has become in a measure atrophied. 20. If cohabitation is not a physical and sexual necessity, or conducive to health, why do married people live longer and have better health than those who remain single ? As a rule married people are more temperate in their sexual lives than are the single. But this does not prove that sexual gratification is ever conducive to health and a long life. All nature contradicts such a conclusion. The embodiment of life in seed is a universal sacrifice. Many flow¬ ering plants whither, fade and die as soon as they embody life in their seed. If young fruit trees bear fruit too early in life, they are stunted in 132 PERFECT MANHOOD. their growth and die prematurely- There is a suspension of growth in all of the vegetable king¬ dom as soon as the function of reproduction is completed. Among the lowest forms of animal life, as soon as the eggs are fertilized, they die. Among all of the higher animals, including man, there is abundant evidence of some bodily depres¬ sion and nervous exhaustion after each act of co¬ habitation, showing the act to be one of sacrifice. The arrested growth, susceptibility to disease and premature decay among plants, trees and animals, when premature or over reproduction occurs, are significant illustrations of the effects of youthful dissipation of the sex principal and marital ex¬ cesses. All nature teaches that the normal expression of sex is the unselfish act of embodying life in a new being and means sacrifice. The story of the cross is typical of all nature. 'Christ sacrificed his life that humanity might have redemptive life through a process of spiritual reproduction, regen¬ eration. Through centuries of bad heredity, a misunder¬ standing of the nature and 1 true functions of sex and years of violation of sex laws have combined to give men an abnormal sex nature. It has re¬ mained for the people of this century to discover and apply the laws of heredity, to learn the true nature and function of sex and restore a normal sex nature. The results of centuries cannot be PlERlFOElOT MANHOOD. 133 corrected in one generation. Few -men will be able to reach the ideal life, but it is the privilege of every man to struggle toward the ideal. For young people to regard sexual gratification as the one reason for marriage is positively de¬ grading and shows that our ideas of marriage should be corrected. There are many reasons why the married life is the ideal life. Man is a social being. He needs a companion. He is not com¬ plete in himself. He represents only one-half of a complete being. He is never quite satisfied until he finds the other half, the compliment of himself. A demand for companionship is found in the very physical, mental and moral natures of man and woman. Their constant association, their mu¬ tual home interests and 1 sacrifice for their children are very conducive to health, happiness and a long life. OOHOLHSIOIN*.* My subject is before you. While you may differ with me in some minor particulars, we are agreed that the violation of the laws of sex is the most prolific source of wrecked manhood, and that a pure life is the only possible road to per¬ fect manhood. I have tried to lead you to loathe and abhor all forms of sexual impurity and to form a purpose as lasting as life and as strong as death, that you will never again violate the laws of sexual purity. The attainment and main- 134 PERFECT MIANHOOD. tainment of perfect manhood'; the recovery of wrecked manhood; the transmission of potential perfect manhood! to your offspring; absolutely de¬ pends upon your faithfulness to the principles of sexual purity enunciated in this hook. If the truths presented in this book keep one boy out of the pit of sensuality, or if they lead one poor faltering man to form! an undying purpose to become pure, or if just one man finds help, strength and life through faith in Christ, the au¬ thor is repaid a thousandfold. It is a higher hon¬ or to wear a crown of perfect manhood, than to wear the crown of an angel, PERFECT MANHOOD. 135 Since revising Perfect Manhood one year ago ; I have lectured to young men in more than one hun¬ dred colleges and universities, devoting several hours each day to personal interviews and an in¬ creasing confidential correspondence with young men have suggested the following questions and answers, not fully covered in other parts of the book. 21. What effect has keeping company with young women upon a young mans sex problems? We have a social nature. It should be normally developed. The sex nature and the social nature are vitally related. Improper social relations pro¬ duce bad results in the sex nature and vice versa. If a young man would develop an ideal social nature he should to a reasonable extent, associate with modest, discreet and chaste young women. This is natural and in every way helpful. If a young man who has sexual weakness, due to youthful indiscretions, purposes reform and de¬ sires to regain his manhood, he will find as¬ sociation with young women of the above type to be very helpful. The normal young man, as well as the sexually weak, should studiously avoid as¬ sociation with girls whose actions, conversation or dress suggest impure thought. 22. ' What is the relation of “spooning” to a young man's sex problems? A single example of “spooning” will answer this question. January 19, 1912, a college young 136 PERFECT MANHOOD. man in a personal interview, explained that since April 14th he had been completely impotent and wanted to know of me if there was any hope for him to have his manhood restored. I assured him that there was. He then asked me what he must do. My reply was, "That depends upon what you have been doing.” I found that he had been guilty of the secret vice and prostitution to only a limited degree. 'Convinced that these habit3 would not explain his condition, I said to him, "The trouble is in your mind. You have in some way aroused and maintained a high state of sex¬ ual excitement for hours at the time and over a period of months or years. 'Can you explain?” He confessed that for nearly two years he had spent two to three hours, two or three times a week, in company with a girl friend who permitted him to hold her hands, play with her hair, pat her cheeks and chin, kiss, caress and even fondle her breasts, but absolutely refused to permit further advances. Then I explained to him how this in¬ tense sexual excitement had brought on varicocele, loss of sexual power and spermatorrhea. Spooning is a growing evil. It is more injurious than the secret sin. Our suggestive post cards, pictures on billboards, novels and serial stories, and the moving pictures in five and ten cent shows are all giving young people the idea that spooning is natural and expected as a part of the entertain¬ ment when a young man calls to see his best girl. PERFECT MANHOOD. 137 The girl who permits spooning will lose many of her personal physical charms. The eyes that once sparkled with intelligence and glowed with hasten, become lusterless, stupid and sunken; the cheeks once rosy and plump become pale and poor; the handshake that was once warm and full of life, is now cold and lifeless. Health is gone. She ends her days in heart trouble, wrecked nerves or consumption. 23. Are there reliable tests of the virginity of a girl? The only test a man has a right to make before or after marriage is a modest demeanor, absence of familiarity, a pure form of mind and an inno¬ cent expression in the face and look of the eye. The physical presence of the hymen, or a flow of blood at the consummation of marriage, should not be made a test of a young wife’s virginity. In some cases the hymen is absent from birth, and in others only partially represented. Where girls may have had lucorrhea the parts are relaxed and no blood occurs. In stout blonds the presence of blood is the exception and not the rule. 24. What are the causes of varicocele? The secret sin and sexual excitement caused by lascivious thinking are the principal causes. Oc¬ casionally it results from a bruise or the “falling of the mumps.” I have found a few men who were never impure with a woman and who were 138 PEBFECT MANHOOD. never addicted to the secret sin and yet they had varicocele. They had at frequent intervals aroused and maintained an intense state of sexual excitement and pleasure through the mind. This was mental masturbation. The most common and the most injurious method of violating the laws of sex. 25. Does varicocele caused by the “falling of mumps” lead to sterility? It does not. If neglected^ varicocele however caused, may lead slowly to sexual weakness und this finally to temporary sterility, or inability to become a father. 26. When a testicle has become reduced in size can it be restored to normal size? If in the earliest stages of varicocele, before the gland has become much reduced, advice found elsewhere in this book is followed, the gland may become normal in size. When the gland has be¬ come much reduced in size it will not be possible to fully restore it. 27. Should a young man be circumcised after he is grown? If the prepuce passes back freely and there is no irritation or soreness, I would not advise circum¬ cision. In extreme cases of the secret sin circum¬ cision -would help in breaking off from the habit. 28. What percent of children should be circum¬ cised and when ? The best physicians are not agreed on this. PERFECT MANHOOD. 139 Many would say one-fourth to one-third. It is best to do this when the boy is only a few days or weeks old. 29. Is there some method of dilating the pre¬ puce and thus avoiding the necessity for circum¬ cision ? Yes. In many cases doctors are able to break up the adhesions and dilate the prepuce as a sub¬ stitute for circumcision. In this matter most parents neglect their boys. When the prepuce is not passed back every few days and the secretions removed an adhesion takes place between the prepuce and the head of the penis. A large number of boys labor for years, from the age of six to twelve trying to pass the prepuce back. They haven’t the right motive in doing this. It is impossible for them to handle this organ in this way, several times a day for months or years without discovering the secret sin. In this way he dilates the prepuce and breaks up the adhesions. It is strange that this experience among boys has not suggested to parents the fol¬ lowing natural and practical method of solving this problem. Where the prepuce passes back naturally in babyhood, the mother should occasionally take a damp cloth and remove the secretion. When the boy is two years old the mother should have the boy trained to do this every two or three days. Where the prepuce is long and the opening 140 PERFECT MANHOOD. small, if the mother, every time she cares for the little fellow’s body, would endeavor to pull the prepuce back, by the time the boy is one year old, nine times out of ten the problem would be solved. This should be done so gradually and carefully as not to produce soreness. If this is done before the boy is three years old sex-consciousness and pas¬ sion need not be awakened. 30. How long will it take for a young man to recover from the effects of masturbation? There are so many things to be considered in each individual case that this question cannot be answered in other than the most general terms. The age when the habit was commenced, the age when the habit was quit, the frequency and the number of years of indulgence, the inherited con¬ stitution, the extent of lascivious thinking and the use or non-use of coffee, tea, tobacco and alcoholic drinks, all play a part in the correct answer to the question. I recall one young man of a frail constitution and a nervous temperament, who had practiced the vice two to four times a week and for four years. He had nearly all of the complica¬ tions resulting from a greater excess and a much longer period of indulgence. He used coffee, to¬ bacco and had been addicted to much impure thinking. His will-power was weak. He had a long hard struggle in breaking the habit. It re¬ quired four years for him to recover. Here is a remarkable example. One of my correspondents, PERFECT MANHOOD. 141 28 years old, began the habit at the age of eight and practiced the habit two and three times a day for twenty years. He had very few of the trou¬ bles following the habit of masturbation. Satis¬ factory recovery took place in a year’s time. He had everything to his advantage. He had inherit¬ ed an ideal constitution and moral tendencies. He had never used coffee, tea, tobacco or alcoholic drinks. He had never allowed himself to indulge in obscene language, to read immoral books, to as¬ sociate with bad company or to have improper thoughts about women. He had cultivated studi¬ ous and industrious habits, and tried hard to live ■■i a Christian life. These ideal conditions had largely counteracted the injurious effects of the secret sin and made recovery possible in the brief period of one year. I regard this as the most remarkable case that I have ever had under my advisement. Where one has practiced the secret sin from four to ten or more years and has the symptoms of greatly injured or lost manhood, it will require from one to four years for nature to restore his manly powers. Nature cannot counteract the loss of vitality and restore years of waste in a few days or weeks of time. The victim of this habit for years must be patient with nature. Years of practice has established a stream of waste from his body. In most cases it will require six months to one year for nature to check this waste. Until this is done, the patient cannot hope to be con- 142 PERFECT MANHOOD. scious of the delightful thrill of manhood being restored. Just here, I find many of my friends become discouraged. Failing to realize results in a few weeks, they are tempted to feel that the ad¬ vice found in this book will not bring relief when followed, or that their case is a helpless one. They need to be patient with nature^ in her slow bur sure method of producing real results. PERFECT MAIN HOOD. THE SHANNON COURSE OF LECTURES. Four lectures on heredity—“Sour Grapes.” Four lectures to men—“Knights of the Twen¬ tieth Century.” Three lectures to boys—“Coming Knight.” “Teaching the Truth, When, What and How.” “The 'Girl and Her Mother.” “Present Day Problems.” Two lectures. “•Civic Righteousness.” “Temperance Lectures.” The author devotes all of his time to lecturing, often three and four times a day and from two to four days in towns and cities. His terms are within the reach of all. Y. M. C. A’s., W. -0. T. TPs., Woman’s Clubs, Colleges, Ministerial Associations and others de¬ siring terms and dates may address, T. W. SHANNON - , . Fredericktown, Mo. 100,000 of These Books Each Year. Are you interested in the protection of girlhood and boyhood, the virtue of womanhood and the purity of manhood? If so here is a chance to do something worth while. Several W. C. T. U’s have ordered ioo. “How to Tell the Story olf Life.” The greatest evangelist of today orders this book .by the 500. Another sold 10,000 Perfect Man¬ hood. Still another sold 4,150 books in five meet¬ ings. Several men have given Perfect Man¬ hood to all their employes. You can share in this work of human progress in one of the following ways: 1. Buy a number of these books and establish a circulating library in your community. If you have not the time to do this work, some individual or society can. 2. Give a number to your clerks, employes, the poor, pastors and friends. 3. By taking the agency for these books and selling them. Special discount will be given on all books or¬ dered for any of these purposes. All books sent prepaid at prices quoted. Address all orders T. W. SHANNON PUBLISHING CO., 211 W. Walnut St., Louisville Ky. LX*'