atorrhoea, "When
a young man comes to me suffering from nocturnal emissions, I give him
tonics and _send him to a woman_." That this is not an unusual method
of treatment, even among regular physicians, is a fact as true as it
is deplorable. There are hundreds of young men whose morals have been
ruined by such advice. Having been educated to virtuous habits, at least
so far as illicit intercourse is concerned, they resist all temptations
in this direction, even though their inclinations are very strong; but
when advised by a physician to commit fornication as a remedial measure,
they yield their virtue, far too readily sometimes, and begin a life
of sin from which they might have been prevented. There are good grounds
for believing that many young men purposely seek advice from physicians
whom they know are in the habit of prescribing this kind of remedy.

Few know how commonly this course is recommended, and not by quacks,
but by members of the regular profession. A medical friend informed
us that he knew a case in which a country physician advised a young
man of continent habits to go to a neighboring large city and spend
a year or so with prostitutes, which advice he followed. Of his
subsequent history we know nothing; but it is most probable that, like
most other young men who adopt this remedy, he soon contracted diseases
which rendered his condition ten times worse than at first, without
at all improving his former state. In pursuing this course, one form
of emission is only substituted for another, at the best; but more than
this, an involuntary result of disease is converted into a voluntary
sin of the blackest character, a crime in which two participate, and
which is not only an outrage upon nature, but against morality as well.

A final argument against this course is that it is not a remedy and
does not effect a cure of the evil, as will be shown by the following
medical testimonies:--

"The vexed question of connection is one which may be decided out of
hand.... _It has no power of curing bad spermatorrhoea_; it may cause
a diminution in the number of emissions, but this is only a delusion;
the semen is still thrown off; the frame still continues to be
exhausted; the genital organs and nervous system generally are still
harassed by the incessant tax, and the patient is all the while laying
the foundation of impotence."[56]

[Footnote 56: Milton.]

"In all solemn earnestness I protest against such false