n by
prostituting his mind more and more until, with deadened conscience,
almost literally, his head is dependent and his feet uppermost, ruling
all the better part of his nature. And next come the mental
sufferings--and most agonizing they are. Unhappy to the last degree, he
no longer takes pleasure in life, but, wishing to die, finally commits
suicide. A search in any insane asylum will show that a very large
proportion of patients are made up from those who masturbate or have
syphilis. Stamp out these two evils, or rather _curses_ of the human
race, and the supply that feeds our insane asylums, aye and our
penitentiaries, too, will become vastly lessened. Think of it! So many
of the inhabitants of our prisons, asylums, and our poor-houses, are
composed of men and women who have offended against nature's laws by
violating their own sexual nature. Add to this summary the list of
broken-hearted, deflowered virgins and unwedded mothers, and you have
the picture complete.

What a contrast with that manliness of character from which he has
fallen! Now he is in an insane condition, blaming everyone for having
contributed to his many misfortunes and his fallen condition, whereas he
alone is the culprit. No one made him commit the first or any subsequent
evil. He allowed his own mind to yield to the first temptation, and then
went on from step to step, he alone being responsible for the result
Yield not the first point, and all is safe.

The pride of perfect adolescence, as described a few pages back, is due
to purity of thought, to chastity and continence. This purity shines
through every tissue, enkindles the eye with a true expression, makes
bright the countenance and erects the form. It gives elasticity to the
step, causes harmony in the tones of the voice, and adds dignity to the
carriage and deportment. The first step in the paths of vice in any
form, whether in sexual errors or any other, detracts in the exact
degree of the digression from all of the above beautiful and ennobling
characteristics.

We have spoken in the preceding pages of new feelings and desires being
awakened in the youth after his fourteenth year. This change is wholly
due to his approaching manhood, to the time when he will be fully
prepared to appreciate, to love and protect, guide and support her whom
he makes his wife, and to become the father of happy and healthy
children. But this approach to manhood is not due to the development of
the gen