living. All other animals observe
this period of continence. Nature demands that man observe it in
common with other animals. Man is the only animal that has
transgressed this fundamental law of nature. The retribution which
nature metes out to the transgression of this law is various.
Sometimes, but rarely, the sexual excitement on the part of the woman
may cause an abortion, or a miscarriage. The more usual result makes
itself manifest in the drain on the nervous energy of the woman. When
we consider that maternity in the human race involves greater
sacrifice than in any other animal, it would seem that the addition of
this last demand, namely, of satisfying the sexual desires of the
husband during the period of pregnancy, might prove "the straw that
breaks the camel's back," and result in the more or less complete
nervous breakdown of the woman. The author submits this question to
all fair-minded men: Is it not due to the wife that she be not asked
to satisfy the recurring sexual desires of the husband during the
period when her life and its energies are so sacred to the race, to
society, and to the family?

The author submits this question because some men are known to
transgress this law of nature. Fortunately the proportion of men who
thus transgress is not large.

Let us stand for these things: (1) _An equal standard of purity for
men and women_, (2) _A strenuous, virile, continent manhood_, (3)
_Sexual temperance in wedlock_.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX.

Personal conferences and correspondence with young men regarding the
solution of their problems have brought out several questions that are
so frequently repeated as to make it evident that the answering of
them would serve the purpose of clearing up certain questions or
doubts, more or less important in the minds of many young men. It has
been decided to group these answers in an appendix rather than to
incorporate them in the body of the book, as many of them seem not
quite relevant to the topics outlined under the several chapters.

1. _How do we know that during the nocturnal emission the products of
the testes are not present?_

The spermatozoa found in the nocturnal emission, if present at all,
are found to be very much less active than the spermatozoa of semen
secreted during sexual excitement. The seminal vesicles are not
receptacles for the testicular secretion. The ampullae seem to serve
that purpose in a limited degree.

Considering