that can be done for them. Yet such need not despair, for they may
receive inestimable benefit by the prevention of greater damage, which
they are sure to suffer if the disease is allowed to go unchecked.

Cure of the Habit.--The preliminary step in treatment is always to cure
the vice itself if it still exists. The methods adopted for this purpose
must differ according to the age of the individual patient.

_In children_, especially those who have recently acquired the habit,
it can be broken up by admonishing them of its sinfulness, and
portraying in vivid colors its terrible results, if the child is old
enough to comprehend such admonitions. In addition to faithful warnings,
the attention of the child should be fully occupied by work, study,
or pleasant recreation. He should not be left alone at any time, lest
he yield to temptation. Work is an excellent remedy; work that will
really make him very tired, so that when he goes to bed he will have
no disposition to defile himself. It is best to place such a child under
the care of a faithful person of older years, whose special duty it
shall be to watch him night and day until the habit is thoroughly
overcome.

In younger children, with whom moral considerations will have no
particular weight, other devices may be used. Bandaging the parts has
been practiced with success. Tying the hands is also successful in some
cases; but this will not always succeed, for they will often contrive
to continue the habit in other ways, as by working the limbs, or lying
upon the abdomen. Covering the organs with a cage has been practiced
with entire success. A remedy which is almost always successful in small
boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis.
The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering
an anaesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have
a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with
the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness
which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it
had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and
not resumed. If any attempt is made to watch the child, he should be
so carefully surrounded by vigilance that he cannot possibly transgress
without detection. If he is only partially watched, he soon learns to
elude observation, and thus the effect is only to make him cunning in
his vice.

_In adults_,