g that he
found I was entirely mistaken: not, content with the lad's assurance,
he had watched him with the utmost care. As soon as the boy returned
to school I interviewed him. He admitted readily that he had long
masturbated himself daily--sometimes oftener. He had first--as far as
he could remember, at about six--had his private parts excited by his
nurse, who apparently did this to put an irritable child into a good
temper! My warning had little effect upon him, as he had become a
hopeless victim. He was too delicate a boy for us to desire to keep;
and after a brief stay at school, during which we nursed him through a
critical illness, he left to finish his education under private
tuition at home.

_Case D._--This boy came to me at thirteen. He was always a
conscientious and amiable boy, but was nervous and dull. By fifteen
his dullness had increased, and he complained of brain-strain and
poorness of memory. Finally he began to develop St. Vitus's dance. I
sent him to our school doctor, who returned him with a note saying
that his condition was serious--that he must stop all work, &c. &c. I
was in my study when the lad came back, and I at once told him what
was the matter. He frankly admitted frequent self-abuse, which he had
learned from an elder brother. He had not the least suspicion that the
habit was injurious; but was very apprehensive about his future until
I reassured him. He wanted me to write at once and warn a younger
brother who had fallen into the habit. By great effort he got himself
rapidly under control. His nervous twitchings disappeared, his
vitality improved, the brain-fag gradually ceased; and when he left,
eighteen months later, he was fairly normal. His improvement continued
afterwards, and he is now a successful man of business and a married
man.

_Case E._--This boy entered at twelve. He was very weak physically and
highly nervous--owing, his people thought, to severe bullying at a
previous school. He was an able boy, of literary and artistic tastes,
and almost painfully conscientious. He was very shy; always thought
that he was despised by other boys; and was a duffer at games, which
he avoided to the utmost. With my present experience I should have
known him to be a victim of self-abuse. Then, I did not suspect him;
and it was not until he was leaving at eighteen for the University
that we talked the matter over, on his initiative. Then I found that
he had been bullied into impurity at e