n the transmission of sensual
propensities. The children of libertines are almost certain to be rakes
and prostitutes. History affords numerous examples in illustration of
this fact. The daughter of Augustus was as unchaste as her father, and
her daughter was as immoral as herself. The sons of David showed evident
traces of their father's failing. Witness the incest of Amnon, and the
voluptuousness of Solomon, who had seven hundred wives and three
hundred concubines. Solomon's son was, likewise, a noted polygamist,
of whom the record says, "He desired many wives." His son's son
manifested the same propensity in taking as many wives as the
debilitated state of his kingdom enabled him to support. But perhaps
we may be allowed to trace the origin of this libidinous propensity
still further back. A glance at the genealogy of David will show that
he was descended from Judah through Pharez, who was the result of an
incestuous union between Judah and his daughter-in-law.

Is it unreasonable to suppose that the abnormal passion which led David
to commit the most heinous sin of his life in his adultery with
Bath-sheba and subsequently procuring the death of her husband, was
really an hereditary propensity which had come down to him through his
ancestors, and which, under more favorable circumstances, was more
fully developed in his sons? The trait may have been kept dormant by
the active and simple habits of his early years, but asserted itself
in full force under the fostering influence of royal idleness and luxury.
In accordance with the known laws of heredity, such a tendency would
be the legitimate result of such a combination of circumstances.

The influence of marital excesses, and especially sexual indulgence
during pregnancy, in producing vicious tendencies in offspring, has
been fully dwelt upon elsewhere in this work, and will not be
reconsidered here, it being only necessary to call attention to the
subject. Physiology shows conclusively that thousands of parents whose
sons have become libertines and their daughters courtesans, have
themselves implanted in their characters the propensity which led to
their unchastity.

Gluttony.--As a predisposing cause, the influence of dietetic habits
should rank next to heredity. It is an observed fact that "all
libertines are great eaters or famous gastronomists." The exciting
influence upon the genital organs of such articles as pepper, mustard,
ginger, spices, truffles, wine,