rvation; and it seems
to us that the pain, anguish, and remorse suffered by these poor victims,
ought to be a warning to those who have never entered the sinful road.
What a terrible thing it is for a pure and lovely being, designed by
God to fulfill a high, holy, and sacred mission in the world, to become
a victim to such a filthy vice! No girl of sense would in her right
mind raise her hand to dash in pieces a beautiful vase, to destroy a
lovely painting, or a beautiful piece of statuary. A girl who would
do such a thing would be considered insane and a fit subject for a
mad-house. Yet is not the human body, a girl's own beautiful,
symmetrical form, infinitely better, more valuable and more sacred,
than any object produced by human art? There can be but one answer.
How, then, is it possible for her thus to defile and destroy herself?
Is it not a fearful thing? a terrible vice?

A Ruined Girl.--One of the most remarkable cases of disease resulting
from self-abuse which ever came under our observation was that of a
young lady from a distant Western State whose adopted parents, after
consulting many different physicians for a peculiar disease of the
breast, placed her under our care. We found her a good-looking young
woman about seventeen years of age, rather pale and considerably
emaciated, very nervous and hysterical, and suffering with severe pain
in the left breast, which was swollen to nearly double the natural size,
hot, tense, pulsating, and extremely tender to the touch. Occasionally
she would experience paroxysms in which she apparently suffered
extremely, being sometimes semi-conscious, and scarcely breathing for
hours. We suspected the cause of these peculiar manifestations at the
outset, but every suggestion of the possibility of the suspected cause
was met with a stout denial and a very deceptive appearance of innocent
ignorance on the subject. All treatment was unavailing to check the
disease. Though sometimes the symptoms seemed to be controlled, a
speedy relapse occurred, so that no progress toward a cure was made.
Finally our conviction that our first impression respecting the case
was correct became so strong that we hesitated no longer to treat it
as such. By most vigilant observation we detected evidences of the
soul-corrupting vice which we considered unmistakable, and then the
young woman who had pretended such profound ignorance of the matter
confessed to an extent of wickedness which was perfectly