ollows:--

"I should specify _hereditary_ predisposition as by no means the least
common.... I believe that, as in body and mind, so also in the passions,
the sins of the father are frequently visited on the children. No man
or woman, I am sure, can have habitually indulged the sexual passions ...
without, at least, running the risk of finding that a disposition to
follow a similar career has been inherited by the offspring. It is in
this way only that we can explain the early and apparently almost
irresistible propensity in generation after generation indulging
similar habits and feelings."

Various Causes of Sexual Precocity.--Another very powerful
predisposing cause of sexual precocity will be alluded to under the
head of "Marital Excesses." The irritation caused by worms in the rectum,
by local irritation or uncleanliness, or by irritation of the bladder,
are exciting causes which are not infrequent. The latter cause is
indicated by another symptom, the frequent wetting of the bed at night.
Such a symptom doubly demands immediate attention.

The juvenile parties so common now-a-days, at which little ones of both
sexes, of ages varying from four or five years to ten or twelve, with
wonderful precocity and truthfulness imitate the conduct of their
elders at fashionable dinners, cannot be too much deprecated. Such
associations of the sexes have a strong tendency to develop prematurely
the distinctive peculiarities of the sexes. This is well evidenced by
the fact that on such occasions one of the most common and popular
entertainments is sham marriages. Parents greatly err in encouraging
or allowing their children to engage in amusements of so dangerous a
character. They are productive of no good, and are almost without
exception productive of positive and serious injury.

Modern modes of life, improper clothing, the forcing system of cramming
in schools, the immodest example of older persons, and especially the
irritating, stimulating articles of diet which are daily set before
children, as well as older people, undoubtedly have a powerful
influence in stimulating the development of the sexual passions. This
subject is again referred to under the heading, "Chastity."

Obscene books and papers, lewd pictures, and evil communications are
telling causes which will be further noticed elsewhere.

Senile Sexuality.--As with childhood, old age is a period in which the
reproductive functions are quiescent unless unnatura