l loss of matches to this
cause."[20]

[Footnote 20: Acton.]

A Cause of Throat Disease.--The disease known as "_clergyman's sore
throat_" is believed by many eminent physicians to have its chief origin
in excessive venery. It is well known that sexual abuse is a very potent
cause of throat diseases. This view is supported by the following from
the pen of the learned Dr. X. Bourgeois:--

"We ought not, then, to be surprised that the physiological act,
requiring so great an expenditure of vitality, must be injurious in
the highest degree, when it is reiterated abusively. To engender is
to give a portion of one's life. Does not he who is prodigal of himself
precipitate his own ruin? A peculiar character of the diseases which
have their origin in venereal excesses and masturbation is chronicity."

"Individual predispositions, acquired or hereditary, engender for each
a series of peculiar ills. In some, the debility bears upon the
pulmonary organs. Hence results the dry cough, prolonged hoarseness,
stitch in the side, spitting of blood, and finally phthisis. How many
examples are there of young debauchees who have been devoured by this
cruel disease!... It is, of all the grave maladies, the one which
venereal abuses provoke the most frequently. Portal, Bayle, Louis, say
this distinctly."

A Cause of Consumption.--This fatal disease finds a large share of its
victims among those addicted to sexual excesses, either of an illicit
nature or within the marriage pale, for the physical effects are
essentially identical. This cause is especially active and fatal with
sedentary persons, but is sufficiently powerful to undermine the
constitution under the most favorable circumstances, as the following
case illustrates:--

The patient was a young man of twenty-two, large, muscular, and well
developed, having uncommonly broad shoulders and a full chest. His
occupation had been healthful, that of a laborer. Had had cough for
several months, and was spitting blood. Examination of lungs showed
that they were hopelessly diseased. There was no trace of consumption
in the family, and the only cause to which the disease could be
attributed was excessive sexual indulgence, which he confessed to have
practiced for several years.

Effects on Wives.--If husbands are great sufferers, as we have seen,
wives suffer still more terribly, being of feebler constitution, and
hence less able to bear the frequent shock which is suffered by the
ne