ted passion. But the desire for
aid must be sincere. Prayer will be of no avail while the mind is half
consenting to the evil thought. The evil must be loathed, spurned,
detested.

It would seem almost unnecessary to suggest the impropriety of
resorting to prayer alone when sexual excitability has arisen from a
culpable neglect to remove the physical conditions of local excitement
by the means already mentioned. Such physical causes must be well looked
after, or every attempt to reform will be fruitless. God requires of
every individual to do for himself all that he is capable of doing;
to employ every available means for alleviating his sufferings.

MARITAL EXCESSES.

It seems to be a generally prevalent opinion that the marriage ceremony
removes all restraint from the exercise of the sexual functions. Few
seem to even suspect that the seventh commandment has any bearing upon
sexual conduct within the pale of matrimony. Yet if we may believe the
confessions and statements of men and women, legalized prostitution
is a more common crime than illicit commerce of the sexes. So common
is the popular error upon this subject, and so strongly fortified by
prejudice is it, that it is absolutely dangerous for a writer or speaker
to express the truth, if he knows it and has a disposition to do so.
Any attempt to call attention to true principles is mocked at, decried,
stigmatized, and, if possible, extinguished. The author is vilified,
and his work is denounced, and relegated to the ragman. Extremist,
fanatic, ascetic, are the mildest terms employed concerning him, and
he escapes with rare good fortune if his chastity or virility is not
assailed.

We are not going to run any such risks, and so shall not attempt to
enunciate or maintain any theory. We shall content ourselves with
plainly stating established physiological facts by quotations from
standard medical authors, leaving each reader to draw conclusions and
construct a practical formula for himself.

Object of the Reproductive Functions.--Man, in whatever condition we
find him, is more or less depraved. This is true as well of the most
cultivated and refined ladies and gentlemen of the great centers of
civilization, as of the misshapen denizens of African jungles, or the
scarcely human natives of Australia and Terra del Fuego. His appetites,
his tastes, his habits, even his bodily functions are perverted. Of
course, there are degrees of depravity, and varietie