ently, whose mind has not been debased by vile practices, it is
no more impossible mentally, or injurious physically, to preserve his
chastity than to refrain from yielding to any other of the innumerable
temptations with which his life is beset. And every year of voluntary
chastity renders the task easier by mere force of habit. I wish to be
clearly understood in this matter.

So long as a young man remains chaste in thought and deed, he will not
suffer any bad effects from his continence. It is the _semicontinent_,
the man who knows the right but pursues the wrong, who suffers! Patients
frequently complain that enforced continence makes them restless,
irritable, unfit for mental application of any sort, &c. Sexual
intercourse is then indulged in, and presto: for the time being, what a
welcome change. The now unclogged mind grasps with vigor any subject
presented to it, the spirits are exuberant and the physical frame
buoyant. But, is the trouble cured, is it permanently eradicated from
the system? No! In a short time the symptoms reappear and the same
remedy is again sought. The more the sexual feelings are indulged the
more frequent will be their recurrence, and the result need not be
written; every candid mind can easily see it. To their shame and
confusion be it said, there are many physicians who, when consulted by
their patients for medical assistance in such trials, "deliberately
encourage the early indulgence of the passions, on the false and wicked
ground that self-restraint is incompatible with health. What abhorrence
can be too deep for a doctrine so destructive, or for the teachers who
thus, before the eyes of those whose youthful ignorance, whose sore
natural temptation, rather call for the wisest and tenderest guidance
and encouragement, put darkness for light, evil for good, and bitter for
sweet."[E]

[E] Wm. Acton, M. R. C. S.

I declare emphatically that no symptoms of sexual suffering, no matter
how feelingly described or cunningly insinuated, should ever lead a
physician to prescribe for a young man that fatal remedy, illicit
intercourse. Medically as a physician, morally as a Christian, and
sympathizingly as a fellow being, I record a solemn protest against such
false treatment. It is better for a youth to live a continent life. The
strictly chaste suffer comparatively little sexual irritability; but the
incontinent, at recurring periods are sure to be troubled in one or
other of the ways spoke