all
obstacles or perish in the attempt, consult a judicious physician as
advised in the preface of this book. Lose no time with quackery in any
shape or form. Do not be beguiled by those who promise "a speedy cure."
Speedy cures cannot be made in these cases. Strong determination to
improve aided by proper medication can, in bad cases, only restore a
healthful condition in from two to three years. The system requires to
be made over anew as it were. The current of life must be turned into
new channels. New thoughts and new blood must be made to take the place
of what were wrong and polluted. This will take time and perseverance;
and then, little by little the old enemies will be overcome and driven
out. But progress for the better must be measured only from month to
month and even then there may be apparent relapses. Let me however
asseverate, from my abundance of experience in these cases, that there
is ultimately, after a reasonable time, every hope of becoming sound
and healthy again.

Many young persons are rendered quite distracted by the sexual
instinct being too strong. It infests them and goads them on to the
commission of further unseemly acts--though suffering much from past
transgressions--which it seems almost impossible to avoid. The sensation
haunts and clings to them day and night, in spite of every attempt to
rise superior thereto. Sometimes nocturnal pollutions, or "wet dreams,"
as they are commonly termed, result from these or other causes. There
must be some cause for this state of things and a rigid examination into
one's mode of life should ascertain the same. It may come from errors in
diet, in eating or drinking; in the use of highly seasoned food; or the
taking of some medicinal drug substance. It is well known that many
drugs have the power of producing such a condition. Should any of the
above seem to act as causes, a change should be made at once. The
plainest diet and simplest mode of life is always best in sickness or in
health. Again, one may take too little exercise in the open air. If so,
an abundance of physical exertion should be made daily, to insure a
natural and healthy condition of all organs of the body. Or, uncomfortable
conditions may arise, as they often do, from some morbid condition of
the vital forces. If diet and exercise are insufficient, the judicious
physician should be consulted and every symptom or unnatural sensation
from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet,