men often means
lifelong neurasthenia and hypochondria.

=The Truth of the Matter.= Here is the Truth about venereal
disease--the truth as I know it, without concealment on the one hand
and without exaggeration on the other. Exact figures are, of course,
unobtainable anywhere; but results obtained from unbiased
investigations of _different_ classes of society, from hospital
reports, from questionnaires among students, etc., tell us that
probably about twenty per cent. of the adult male population are the
victims of gonorrhea at one time or another; that probably eight or
ten per cent. are not entirely cured when they enter matrimony; and
four or five per cent. (some would say two per cent.) of wives become
infected with gonorrhea. This, I say, is terrible enough, and makes
the greatest care and caution imperative; for, if you should be one of
the victims of the two or five per cent., it would be little
consolation to you that the other ninety-eight or ninety-five per
cent. of wives have escaped.

Of course the percentage of venereal disease among young men, and
afterwards among their wives, will vary greatly with the stratum of
society. Among the "lower" strata you may find fifty per cent. of
infection, with a very large percentage of those uncured. Not because
they are of a lower morality than the higher classes, but because the
cheap class of prostitutes that they are obliged to patronize are
frequently diseased and because they cannot afford expert treatment,
or any treatment at all. Among these classes you will naturally find a
much larger percentage of diseased wives. But then to counteract this
we must bear in mind that there are large classes of men in whom
gonorrhea exists only to the extent of five or ten per cent., and we
have large classes of wives among whom the victims of gonorrhea will
come up only to a fraction of one per cent.

The above figures, you see, differ materially from the statements
found in so many sex books that "80 per cent. of all married men in
New York have gonorrhea," and that "at least three out of every five
[60 per cent.!] married women in New York have gonorrhea." Whenever
you read or hear such a statement treat it with a smile--or with
contempt, as all false statements should be treated.

As to syphilis, the extent of the prevalence may be given as between
two and five per cent. Which percentage differs considerable from the
75, 50 or 25 per cent. given us by some sex lecturers