A COMPLETE BOOK OF SEX KNOWLEDGE By BERNARD BERNARD. Phys. B., M. S. P., M. P. C. (Lond.) (Editor of “Health and Life”) Author of “Sf.x Conduct in Marriage,” Sex De- velopment,” “Health and Fitness,” Etc. Health and Life Publications, 333 South Dearborn Street, Chicago. Copyright In United States of America and Gneat Britain bv Bernard Bernard. V PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BERNARD BERNARD. Editor, Author, Philosopher, Scientist, Idealist and Champion Wrestler CONTENTS. PREFACE. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. From Birth to Puberty. Hereditary Influences and How to Avoid Their Development.—The Technique of Healthy Con- ception.—The Sex Acts of Little Children.— Babies’ Habits That Must Be Connected.— Cleanliness of the Organs.— The Seeds of Masturbation.— No Child Too Young to Be trained.—Parents’ Habits to Avoid.—The Pre- cocious Child.—How to Answer “Where Did I Come From?”—Never Too Young for the Truth. —Conduct Before Children.—The System of “Hush.”—Sex Not Vulgar.—A Typical Family Without Sex Education.—The Dangers of Secret Habits.— Teaching Idealism.— The Combat of Unhealthy Sex Thoughts.—Scientific Exercise.— The Inspiration to Be Clean.—The Child Its Own Savior. CHAPTER II. Adolescence. Undesirable Sex Habits of Adolescence.—The Method of Teaching Clean Sex Behavior.— Physically Predisposing Causes to Immorality. —The Value of Outdoor Recreations.—Ignorance Is Not Innocence.—How Sex Thoughts May Be Diverted.— Biological Sex Development.— The Facts of Reproduction.—The Connection of the Genital With the Urinary System.— Sexual Anatomy and Physiology.—The Actual Birth of 4 Contents an Offspring.—Sex the Connecting Link.—Sex Education Must Be Scientific.— Horrible Sex Perversions Preceded by Masturbation.— The Precious Vital Fluid.—Loathsome Diseases.—A Stagnant Blood Stream Often Responsible for Bad Habits.—How a Mother Can Explain Things to Her Daughter.—Cleanliness of the Organs.— How Diseases May Be “Picked Up” Without Intercourse.—Instruction in Care at the Men- strual Period.—Menstruation Not an Illness.— Correcting Irregularities. — Superstitions Re- garding Menstruation.— Companionships, Good and Bad.—Inspiring Channels. CHAPTER III. The Young Man. Should the Young Man Be Given Birth Con- trol Information? — The Results of Mastur- bation.—Warning Against Falling “Just Once.” —Methods of Self-Disinfection Against Venereal Diseases.—Immorality as a Pathological Con- dition.— How to Prevent Temptation.— Disease Due to Filth.—The Nature of Syphilis.—The Nature of Gonorrhea.—How Masturbation Leaves Spermatorrhoea.—How a Young Man Can Easily Live a Clean Life.—Epilepsy and Lunacy.—Un- derstanding Nature’s Laws.— Wilful Vice.— Sympathy for Victims of Ignorance and Vicious Heredity.—Hope for the Lost Ones.— Exercise and Deep Breathing.— Flirting.— Platonic Friedships.—Falling in Love.—How to Choose a Wife.—The First Love Callings.—The Spirit of Romance.—The Tragedy of a Young Woman Who Sought Gold Instead of Love.— The Seriousness of Becoming Engaged.—Sub- conscious Sex Emotions.—Why There Are Un- happy Marriages.—The Desire to Be Pure Over- come by Pathological Dispositions.—How Care- fully Directed Exercise and Hygiene Can Defeat Physical and So-Called Moral Weaknesses.— How to Be an Efficient Teacher of Sex Edu- cation. Contents 5 CHAPTER IV. The Young Woman. Shattered Dreams.— The Facts of Repro- duction.—The World’s Most Beautiful Story.— The Dangers of Life.—Erotic Feelings.—Sexual Irritation.— The Organs of Reproduction.— “Female Illnesses.”— Painful Menstruation.— The Waist a Secondary Sexual Character.— Woman’s Freedom Her Own Accomplishment.— Keeping Girls Ignorant.—Vamps.—Looking for the Best Ideal in Manhood.—A Woman’s Matur- ation.—Bad Habits and Their Serious Conse- quences.—The Quickening of the Glands.—The Best Method of Imparting Sex Facts.— The Process of Fertilization.—Sex Education That Will Fortify Girls With Facts.—Special Sexual Cells.—Fertilization and Development.—Court- ship Part of the Function of Reproduction.— The Culmination of the Sex Act.—Immoral In- tercourse.— The Danger of Allowing Sexual Favors.— Venereal Diseases in Women.— The Necessity of Knowing the Facts of Birth Con- trol. — Lesbianism. — Sex Perversions Among Women.—The Best Age for Marriage.—Indis- criminate Love-Making.—Our Marriage System. —Prostitution.—Initial Sex Weaknesses End in Serious Perversions. — True Womanliness.— Sexual Health and Efficiency. CHAPTER V. The Married Man. Our Unnatural Civilization.—The First Nup- tial Experiences.—Excesses, and How to Avoid Them.— Normal Indulgence.— The Influence of Youthful Habits.—Bad Habits.—Sex Weakness in Marriage.— Sex a Blessing, Not a Curse, When Used Properly.—Why Women Run Away from Some Men.—The Basic Laws of Sex Con- duct.— Ignorance, Man’s Greatest Enemy.— Contents Ignorant Husbands.— Allowing Passion to Run Riot.— The Technique of Intercourse.— The Husband's Special Part.—Perversions and Weak- nesses.—Abnormal Psychology Left by Mastur- bation.—Free Expression of the Feelings.—Com- plete Unity.—The Perpetuation of Life.—Birth Control.—Scientific and Safe Methods of Pre- venting Conception.—The Husband’s Part.—The Benefits of Proper Intercourse.—Children Born of Lust.—The Child’s Right to Be Well-Born and Desired.—Spacing the Bii*th of Children at the Right Intervals.—The Story of a Sex Per- vert.—A Son’s Curse Upon His Father.—Pre- dispositions Handed Down by Our Ancestors.— How Sex Weaknesses May Lead to Perversions. —Dissipation and Neglect.—Sexual Nerve Irri- tations.—An Outline of the Scientific Facts of Heredity.—Eugenics.—The Supreme Object of Marriage.—The Peculiarities of Women.—How to Insure the Wife’s Satisfaction. CHAPTER VI. The Married Woman. Surprising Ignorance of Women of the Mean- ing of Marriage.—Caution in the Acceptance of a Husband.—The Story of an Ignorant Bride.— Bad Habits.—Forewarning.—The Eradication of Erotic Habits.— Sex Weaknesses and Abnor- malities.— Union.— The Highest Condition of Human Bliss.—Unnatural Conduct.—The Part of the Wife in Intercourse.—How to Maintain a Husband’s Love and Affection.—Helping a Hus- band in Control.— The Orgasm.— Incomplete Acts.—The Necessity for Physical Fitness.—Pre- venting Conception.—Female Sexual Anatomy.— Women Guilty of Excesses.—The Weakening of Moral Control.— The Sexual Nerves.— Patho- logical Cases.— Adaptation to Peculiarities in Men.— Securing Harmonic Orgasm.— The Be- getting of Children.-—The Tragedy of a Child- Contents 7 less Marriage.—Choosing the Right Time and Place for Conception.— Pregnancy.— Errors in Regard to Care During Pregnancy Dispelled.— The Confinement.—Developing a Healthy Baby Instead of a Fat. Toxic One.—How the Mother Should Train the Child.— Sterility and Its Causes.—The Correction of Sterility. CHAPTER VII. The Bachelor. Why There Are Bachelors.— Promiscuous Bachelors.—Pathology in Bachelorhood.—Physio- logical Dispositions Which Promote Immorality. — The Physical Treatment Which Remedies Sexual Abnormalities.—Diverting Sex Energies. — Disorders Aggravating Sex Weaknesses.— Spermatorrhoea.—What Happens to the Sexual Secretions.— Sexual Neurasthenia.— Sex Weak- nesses.—Individual Peculiarities.—The Biological and Physiological Processes of Development.— Education in Sexual Hygiene and Biology. CHAPTER VIII. The Spinster. Some Brilliant Women Spinsters.— Should Women Propose?—Never Too Late to Wed.— Dangerous Stages of Spinsterhood.— Sexual Anomalies.—The Cause of Melancholia.—Sexual Aggravations.—What Happens to the Secretions. —Freud and Abnormal Psychology.—Sex Weak- ness Among Spinsters.—Sexual Hygiene.—Sex Fears.— Hysteria.— Perversions. — Ignorance of Unmarried Women.— The Special Need for Knowledge. — Combating Erotic Feelings. — Leucorrhoea. CHAPTER IX. Post-Maturity in Man. Sexual Promptings and Weaknesses That Few Understand.— Prostatitis.— Hypertrophy of the 8 Contents Sexual Glands.— Serious Perversions.— Lurid Stories of Vice.—Libidinous Feelings.—Men Who Are Sent to Prison for Illnesses.—The Study of Sex Development.— How Old Age Can Be the Happiest Time in Life.— The Glory of Life’s Closing Years.— The Eradication of Fear and Worry.— The Effects of Early Dissipation.— Tolerance in Sex Education. — Physiological Causes of Immorality.— How the Sex Organs May Be Abnormally Irritated.—Psychology and Neurology. — Weakness and Depravity. — The Widower.—The Ghosts of Earlier Indiscretions. —The Folly of Frightening Sex Victims With Damnation.—Building Up Depleted Nerve Cen- ters.—The Normal Post-Mature Sex Life. CHAPTER X. Post-Maturity in Women. “Change of Life.”—Superstitions Surrounding Menstruation.— Right Sex Conduct.— The Ces- sation of Menstruation.—Continued Sex Desires. — Satisfaction.— A Dangerous Phase of the Menopause.— Fear.— Neurasthenia.— Hysteria.— Anaemia. — Nervousness. — The Legacies of Youth.—Irritable Passions and How to Govern Them.— Should Intercourse Be Indulged?— Normal Sex Living.—Maintaining Married Hap- piness. PREFACE. In response to the numerous re- quests for more reliable sex literature that followed the recent publication of my books, and the fine support which my work has received, I have written the following pages with the object of supplying an urgent need. I do not claim to have chosen sub- jects which have never been discussed by anybody else, but I do claim that there is no book which covers the whole field of Sex Education as I have tried to do. It is probable that my dealing with my problem in this book may appear very open and practical. But I am con- vinced that it is the best way to deal with any problem. The men who have wrought most good on the earth have been those who went out amongst the people and accomplished something. The mere dreamers and philosophers 10 Preface have their very valuable uses, but they are very often wide of a practical solution of world problems. The man who thinks out in his own head the problems of astronomy will make little headway in discovery compared with a man who takes his telescopes, spectro- scopes, and other instruments and brings himself into contact with the problems he is endeavouring to solve. However, the combination of study and thought—of induction and deduction— will enable a person to discover truth and master his subject thoroughly. Some of the planets of our Solar System were discovered by men who were math- ematicians and physicists, and their de- ductions showed them the position of new planets without ever having seen them. Blit to make these calculations they also had previously made very detailed practical studies of the heavens generally. So, in my dealings with the problems of Sex Education I have relied not merely on biological and scientific Preface 11 knowledge of the subject, but have been able to combine the use of practical experience in dealing personally with the victims of sex ignorance and its perversions. Education is not a fixed tiling. The methods of teaching change as we better understand human psychology, and also as our knowledge of the subjects of education increases. There is a completely new outlook on the subject of sex now compared with what there was a generation ago. Tn the old days it was the custom—and the height of virtue—to frighten people with the mysteries surrounding sex life. Our rapidly increasing knowledge of biology and psychology has changed all this; and instead of sex being looked upon as some vile thing, it is recog- nized in its right place in human life and welfare. In the old days it was considered indecent, nay, immoral, to meption the subject at all. But recently, it has been acknowledged by all serious students 12 Pbeface of any of tlie sciences, that a normal sex life is necessary to health, happi- ness and efficiency. Therefore this work will be totally unlike any of those old pseudo-scientific and pseudo-religious works which an- nounced what people ought to know, but which never told them. What you will find in this book is the result of a long study in a rather unusual capacity. It has been my privilege to help an enormous number of people of both sexes and of all ages out of the slough of despond, and set them out armed with knowledge and health, to combat the vestiges of the sexual instincts of our animal ancestors, to which they had suc- cumbed through ignorance and weakness —physical as well as moral. I have had poured out to me the sex tragedies of some of the noblest of young people, and I have spent most of my life in helping them to regain the self-respect and mental, moral and physical health they had lost. I am, therefore, I believe, qualified Preface 13 to deal with the great and absorbing sex subject, and feel that my views ought to be placed before the world so that others may carry on the great work of helping their fellow human beings out of the fear and super- stition to which so many are still servile. My point of view is not entirely that of a moralist. I believe—in fact, I know—that the majority of immoral people, in a sexual sense, are so be- cause of physical weakness. In other words, most immorality is pathological. Of course, the disease—for we are right in calling it such—works in the form of a vicious circle, and a habit is formed so strong that it takes a tremendous lot of breaking. It can, however, be broken; although it means careful and hard work. But, obviously, the most valuable study of the sex question is that which will prevent sex tragedies. That is what I am endeavouring to present in this book; a complete work of sex edu- Preface cation which covers all the stages of human life. The child from 9-12 years old needs sex knowledge. It is always asking questions which ought to be answered truthfully. 1 have endeavoured to sug- gest the information which is best for it to have, so that those in charge of it may not be embarrassed or tempted to prevaricate. Every stage in human life needs special information, for we all pass through varying changes, and it is necessary to know exactly what is hap- pening and what may be expected to happen. Therefore, I am catering for the child of tender years, the adolescent from 12-16 years, the young man from 16-32, the young woman of the same age, the unmarried man, the unmarried woman, the married man, the married woman, the man past his prime from 60 onwards, and the woman past her prime from 50 onwards. My one hope is that the information I have endeavoured to give will be use- PaKFACK 15 ful. 1 know it is needed; for the cry of ignorance is one that nearly always accompanies the one for help by those who have fallen victims to unnatural and undesirable sexual excesses. INTRODUCTION. I want to insist from the outset that sex in itself is not unclean or undesir- able. The person who wants to shun all dealing with the sex problem is really the one who is to blame for the many human sex tragedies. There has been a most unfortunate taboo of the sex subject. While agreeing that the matter has its place, and need not be dragged out on as many occasions as the Freudians seem to desire, there is a great necessity to be absolutely frank and face the possession of sex as we face the possession of a stomach. If we abuse either, we are storing up trouble for ourselves; if we tend each properly we shall bring happiness and pleasure for ourselves. But from time immemorial, sex has been something around which there has been a mystery. It has been wor- shipped by our ancestors, because they feared it, and it overawed them—just 18 1NTRODUCTION as today the majority of people fear their sex, and anything which stirs it overawes them. It is absolutely essential, for the higher evolution of mankind, to master this emotional misunderstanding and morbidness. The only way to do it is to be familiar with all of its intricacies. So surely as a youth learns the biology and physiology of his sex, so surely does he lose the unhealthy inquisitive- ness and tendency towards temptation. Even in marriage, the cause of most unhappiness is due to ignorance of its privileges and obligations sexually. Even' student of the subject knows that nine out of ten married couples do not know how to conduct themselves sexually, and cannot allow a free ex- pression of their love and emotions be- cause they do not know the best and safe methods of conception control. Most important, probably, of all sex education is that for adolescents. Tf boys and girls are not acquainted with the facts of life they almost inevitably Introduction 19 fall victims to masturbation. So prev- alent is this habit, that many students of sex psychology have claimed that it is the normal—or natural—condition. But this is wrong, and a pernicious teaching. Because it is prevalent, is not a proof that it is harmless—or, as some even would say—beneficial. Everybody at some time or other suffers from indiges- tion or constipation; this is no proof that they are man’s normal or healthy condition. As a matter of fact, it is beyond any doubt that these early habits of mastur- bation are the cause of maladies throughout later life. Spermatorrhoea, especially, results from youthful indis- cretions; and this undesirable and ab- normal drain of the nervous—or sexual —energy is responsible for many weak- nesses. In practically every case of Spermatorrhoea I have found a history of youthful masturbation. There is no reason why the habit should be prac- tised in adolescence; and I will fight for this truth while there is any life 20 Introduction left in me, because I know that it is the cause of a developing' abnormal sex passion which leads to insanity. The old time religious sex moralists did harm when they pointed out that the habit led to insanity, because they did not state scientifically how or why. The consequence was that young people in quite a normal condition, or in one where the habit might easily be over- come, were filled with a fear which itself led to insanity. That is why there was righteous indignation at their purity campaigns. But it is absolutely true that unless the sex craving be controlled it will grow in strength until it does become overpowering, and the individual no longer responsible for his actions. Sex perverts are not made by control but by the lack of it. The more the sex passions are used, the more they crave to be used. The vice is no different from any other in this respect. There is sound physiological psychology be- hind this phenomenon. Nerve paths Introduction 21 wear by nerve impulses passing over them; the latter take the line of least resistance, and so, immediately the nerve impulse is started it depends upon the strength which has been at- tained by the habit, whether there is a repetition of it or not, and whether the control of the individual is sufficient to inhibit it. Each time it is conquered it becomes weaker. Take the case of a sex maniac. Dr. Robie and others will say that he suffers because he does not mastur- bate, and the sex fluids press upon their vesicles and irritate the nerves until the poor victim can stand it no longer, and he gives way to the strain and com- mits some outrage. This is only part of the truth. Why are the organs in such condition as to reach this point of irritation? I say emphatically that it is the constant repetition psychically, and the habit of non-control, which aggravates them and causes, in part, these irritations and abnormal secretions. The sexual reverie, I NTHODUCTTON iii which Dr. Kobie sees no harm, is to blame in a very great degree, and if he allows reverie, he must as a conse- quence advocate masturbation. Let us take the case of the sex maniac who commits a sex crime. You will find that he has allowed himself to ponder over and enjoy lustful thoughts. His vesicles are full in consequence, and pressure is made upon the sexual nerves, resulting in irritation. The more he allows his thoughts to run, the stronger do the passions become. A sudden oppor- tunity arises, a woman is passing along a lonely thoroughfare, or he meets a girl under social circumstances. The whole climax and tragedy has been pre- pared; there is no control left; reason leaves him, and only a sex act will re- lieve him. He is insane and rapes his victim in his madness. This is the history of sexual insanity. There is no use in frightening young people with tales of such madness be- cause a little caution, and the truth about the functions of sex, and a sound I NTRODUCTION 23 healthy organism, will easily enable them to overcome their habits; while the fear which may be aroused in them by tales of insanity only depletes the nervous system and renders it more difficult for them to develop self-control. But we must guard our children from developing into sex maniacs. There is, in my opinion, not a mental, moral, or physical weakness which is not pathological, capable of being cured and prevented by proper teaching. So this book will present the teachings which will save people from ever reach- ing these ill conditions. Prevention is always better than cure, and if we want to do any real good in the world, we should impress preventive methods rather than curative ones. Every few years there are new ideas in regard to the right teaching for moral and physical perverts. As a re- action to the old puritan ideas, there has sprung up this regrettable view that it is healthy to obtain the maximum use of the sex powers. Nothing could 24 Introduction be more depraving; we should all work our hardest to save our fellow human beings from these demoralizing in- fluences. The wisest course to follow is that of economy. If energy is wasted— physically or mentally or sexually—it is not available for better purposes. The way to combat unwanted sex thoughts is to engage the mind with some useful absorbing topic. Physical recreations are particularly helpful; but it is the thought itself which always precedes physical action, and as soon as the wrong thought enters the mind it can be diverted and replaced by one that makes for a person’s welfare. In this way will the cream of human energy be devoted to worth-while work, and human society will make rapid progress because there is an economy of energy, and its expenditure only for human good. This is how great artists, scientists, and philosophers are made. There is no reason why the whole world should not be peopled with great men Introduction- 25 and women; it can be, but the first tiling that is necessary to the develop- ment of the “superman” is the con- quering of sex fear, superstition, and ignorance. On the other hand, there is another old fashioned and harmful view which must be vanquished. Ignorance and fear of the sex function leads to a great deal of unhappiness in marriage. The majority of men and women enter matrimony without any knowledge of its obligations in a sexual sense. They have been taught that the use of sex is wicked, and even the holiest and most sacred communion is marred by this horrible superstition. There is everything that is most beautiful in the full expression of love of a good man for a good woman, and vice-versa. They should rejoice in their feelings for each other, and give in such measure and with such freedom and joy that its maximum of pleasure is obtained. 26 Introduction This does not mean that there should be license or lust, or a striving for sex expenditure on every possible occasion. The need for the economy of sex energy is most important for married peo- ple. But this economy is only obtain- able by the free expression of both part- ners in marriage. It is the constant fear and worry that there is something wicked or degrading in the sex act be- tween man and wife that often causes over-indulgence. The chief reason is that there has been no discrimination in the matter of sex conduct. The most sacred and purest act is the communion of a man and woman who love each other. Their union is the highest moral thing there is. It is only vicious lust that is wrong. Communion need not always be for the production of off- spring, although this is, of course, the chief object of marriage and inter- course. Man and wife who love each other require and desire to unite physically, physiologically, and spirit- ually, and such act is decidedly virtuous. Introduction 27 But before married people can be free in such expression they must know the methods by which they can volun- tarily become parents. It is necessary for them to be able to govern the birth of their children, so that only those that are wanted and will be loved whole-heartedly need be born. Then there are the methods of be- haviour between man and wife which count for so much. While a man should always be careful to woo his wife until she wants him, the wife must know how she is expected to respond, and be able to play her part no less than her hus- band plays his, if married life is to be successful. So, you see, there is a tremendous need for a complete work on sex edu- cation; and I have tried to produce one that will play its part until some better one replaces it. I know it has its many faults, but you must all use what you feel to be right and trustworthy in it, and improve on it where it is at fault. 28 Introduction- My experience tells me that the most tremendous of all subjects is sex, and not before it is understood and cleaned up can we have a healthier, happier, and more efficient humanity. CHAPTER I. Sex Education eor Children; From Birth to Puberty. Before the age of nine very little real sex education is needed. Any ques- tions, however, which are asked by the child before this age should be given a truthful answer. It must not be for- gotten that a child is easily satisfied by a mere statement, and there is no neces- sity to enter into long and intricate details, which will only serve to perplex the child, and in some cases promote a further undesirable inquisitiveness. “The child is father to the man.” How many times has a puzzled youngster in school tried to get Words- worth’s meaning and failed! I remem- ber myself saying “How could a child be father to the man, when the man is the father of the child?” It has taken years of experience to show me what a clever sentence the poet made, and I wonder sometimes if he himself realized just what it can mean. A Complete “The child is father to the man.’- Out of the child’s body and mind and soul, grow the body, the mind, and the soul of the man. The man is the blossom from the seed of childhood. Man’s physical, moral, and mental de- velopment, his outlook on life, his temperament, his success in life, his happiness, depend upon his childhood and the influences which moulded it. “As the twig* is bent, so is the tree inclined.” How important it is, then, to watch the growth of the child from the earliest beginnings and to surround him with all things which will make for good! I said “Watch the growth of the child from the earliest beginnings.” That does not correspond with the birth of the child. The child is the essence of generations of good and bad ancestors; all, or any, of which, may influence his character. We can- not change our ancestors, but we can determine right here and now, so to mould and order our own lives that Book of Sex Knowledge 31 the qualities we hand down to posterity will be good and clean. We can think good thoughts, lead clean lives, develop our bodies and minds to their highest capacity, and make the most of our potentialities, so that the children that are born to us will come into the world endowed with healthy, straight, fear- less, beautiful bodies and minds. The latter especially applies to those of us who are expecting the birth of a child in the near future. Although the child is influenced, more or less, by the whole of our lives, the period just be- fore conception and during gestation is especially important. A child bom of lust and satisfaction will begin life handicapped; a child born of parents who love each other with their highest selves and meet each other in inter- course perfect physically, spiritually, and emotionally, will conceive a child which should be endowed with an even greater beauty than they themselves possess. It is possible, also, for the offspring of physically “plain” people 32 A Complete to be beautiful, if the parents concen- trate, at the time of conception, on the begetting of a beautiful child. But the conception must not be haphazard, tak- ing place anywhere, at any time, it must be prepared for and must be the communion of two people earnestly loving the best in each other, and de- siring to perpetuate themselves. In this way the child will be given the best start in life. During gestation the parents, espe- cially the mother, must so order their lives that the influence on the unborn child will be good. Intercourse may be indulged in whenever it is desired by both parents, provided that no thoughts of lust enter into the communion. A great many of the sex acts of little children—the masturbation, handling of the sex organs, the unclean thoughts— are legacies directly handed down to them from their parents during this important stage of development. I could write a whole book on the con- duct of the parents at this stage, but Book of Sex Knowledge 33 I must hasten on, leaving the subject for a later chapter, for it is my in- tention to help parents to recognize any sex manifestations in their young children, and to show them how to overcome them. Babies, even quite young ones, especially boys, will handle their sex organs. I do not think the parents need worry themselves very greatly over this, however; for babies are naturally curious and love to investigate their fingers and their toes, and if their little hands, in their wanderings, come in contact with the private parts, this does not necessarily mean a sex mani- festation. But this should be prevented as much as possible, as it is inclined to arouse the sex feelings prematurely. There is no need for slapping or any harsh words, or for anything which would be likely to make an impression on the child’s mind; but the mother should see that the parts are perfectly clean and free from irritation, and if the hands still stray down to the sex 34 A Complete organs, the latter should be covered. When the act is unconscious there is no present danger, but if the child is neglected, left dirty or unwatclied, the chance playing with the organs may ultimately produce sensations and the seeds of masturbation are sown. If the mother considers that the child know- ingly fondles the sex organs because of the feeling produced, she must be much more careful; or if there is an ancestry of sex perversion, a lustful conception, or a history of sex abuse in either of the parents, there is much more danger from which to guard the child. The attention of the child must not be drawn unduly to his organs; they must be clean; but the mother must not touch them more than is necessary, under the superstition that the “child is too young to know.” - No child is too young to be trained in good habits, and many wrong ones have been formed during the first year of life. It is use- less for the mother to call attention to the sex organs by saying “don’t”, for a Book of Sex Knowledge 35 “don’t” is suggestive of a “do”, and is almost too strong for even the least suggestible of children. The temptation must be kept away from the child, but it must be watched carefully. The mother must not kiss the buttocks, and she must not smack them! The latter is known to give a pleasur- able feeling to the sex organs, and T have known little children to play at smacking each other, and to shriek with delight at each smack. We have heard of the religious fanatics, the flagellants, who used to walk through the streets flogging themselves and each other. This was really a mani- festation of a sexual perversion. The fanatics, having starved their sex, sought religion as a solace; and the whipping, and their asceticism, formed an outlet for their sex. For it must be remembered, that energy “will out”, if not in one way, then in another; if it is dammed up, it will seek another course; so that the only safe way is to divert it into clean, healthy, channels whence it 36 A Complete becomes the power to drive the machinery of a good, wholesome, happy life; rather than let it stagnate in filthy pools of self abuse, tied down to itself by the mud of desire, and filled with the weeds of a wasted youth. The sex force, rightly used, has a power for good as strong as Niagara; wasted, it is as Dead Sea fruit. Now we come to the child a little older, say from five onwards. The parents must, of course, act according to the child; I can only lay down a few general rules that I have found workable. I do not think that children of different sexes should sleep together or be undressed or bathed together, at this age, (or it may even be, before the age of five, if the child is precocious). Age, after all, only marks advance- ment by years of time; it takes no note of physical and moral and mental de- velopment). Should the mother not agree with me in this, she must, at least, watch the children carefully. Never must she let Book of Sex Knowledge 37 them know that she watches, for trust between parents and children is a beautiful thing; but so many parents say, “I trust my children”, when they really haven’t taken the trouble to find out if their trust is warranted. Years ago, I believed that perfect openness between the sexes, and be- tween children most of all, was justifiable; but so many stories have been poured into my ears, which have shown me that self abuse has its be- ginnings in early childhood, that I strongly caution all parents not to leave their boys and girls unsupervised together. I have known of children of five or six years old who have tried to practise the sex act together; a little girl of five asked a neighbour’s little boy if he was “rude”. He, not know- ing what she meant, said “yes”; so she led him behind some bushes and showed herself to him, demanding for payment a like exhibition on his part! The girl’s parents naturally knew nothing of her behaviour, and thought 38 A Complete her too young to be trained in good habits, or watched for bad ones. Curiosity is generally at the root of such behaviour. Parents teach their children to wash and dress themselves, how to eat properly, how to be clean; they send them to school to read, to write, and to “do sums”; they answer innumerable questions about the why and wherefore of everything under the sun that arouses curiosity, excepting that most momentous of questions which is always asked sooner or later— “Where did I come from!” Then the mother looks shamefacedly at the father and says, “I found you under a gooseberry bush”, or, “The doctor brought you in his bag”, or, “The stork brought you”. The child goes away, and wonders, and wonders, and at last he says to himself, “I couldn’t have been found under a gooseberry bush, for I have looked under all our gooseberry bushes every day and never found a little brother”; or, “The doctor didn’t bring baby in his Book of Sex Knowledge 39 bag as mother said, for I heard him crying before the doctor came”. In some such way the disillusioned child finds that his parents have lied to him, and his confidence in them is lost. When the time comes when he sorely needs their advice, he cannot go to them, for he does not trust them. The parents, on the other hand, say to each other, “He is too young to know; we must tell him when he is older”. They look to the youth or the maiden, at puberty, to come for knowledge and help, and wonder why their child does not confide in them. The child has lost his parents, the parents have lost their child, in the midst of foolish super- stition and antiquated ideas. The mistake lay in not telling the child truthfully when he asked. “He was too young,” the parents say. W"ho are they to judge of the age of their child, the seriousness of his thoughts, the wonderings of his mind, the curiosity that is surging up within him about the greatest of all his problems— 40 A Complete Life? The mere fact that the child asks a question is proof that he is old enough to have an answer, and that answer must always be the truth! I do not mean to say that a little child must be given scientific facts about the beginnings of life—the answer must always be based upon the child’s development and intelligence. The answer must satisfy for the time being, but it must allow for amplifi- cation later on. The stork story is wrong because it may—but rarely does —satisfy for the time being, but it allows of no subsequent amplification. rmagine a girl at puberty saying to her nother, “You told me years ago that i stork brought me. Tell me more about it now, please.” The mother would have to say “The stork did not bring you.” At once the story breaks down, and the mother has to destroy before she can rebuild. The case is simple when a child of four years old asks, “Mother, how did I come to be your little girl?” and is Book of Sex Knowledge 41 answered wisely and truthfully, in a simple manner suited to her tender years. The child will be satisfied for a long time. She will think of the wonderful “fairy story” - sometimes; for months she may forget it; and then there will come a time when she will ask again, “How did you bring me into the world?” The mother can again adapt her answer to her ques- tioner’s intelligence. Everything depends upon the child as to how the answer will be worded; the mother can illustrate by the lives of the pet rabbits, or the flowers. She need never be ashamed of telling her child the secrets of life, in the form of a beautiful story; the child will love her parents more because of this added knowledge of their love for her. But the parents must eradicate all feelings of shame before talking to their child, or the latter will surely discover it, and a barrier will arise between them. Let the story be told truthfully, simply, and naturally, at various stages of the 42 A Complete child’s development, and the parents will always keep their children’s con- fidence, and need never be afraid of their forming the habits of secret vice. Parents must talk of life reverently to their children; the example they put before them in their conduct towards each other must he such that they need not be ashamed to follow. Children whose parents are constantly bickering and finding fault with each other re- ceive a decided impression of married life which remains with them for all time, and they imagine that once the married state is entered upon all happi- ness is at an end. “Example is better than precept”, and the parents must always remember this when guiding their children. They must always fill the child’s mind with reverence for matters of sex, and in answering the child’s questions concerning life they must impress upon him the importance of not talking about it to outsiders. They can explain that, as parents wish for the children, and think of them be- Book or Sex Knowledge fore they are born, the matter is sacred between parents and children, and must not be spoken about to playmates or others, as it does not concern them. Tell the child that if an engine goes WTong, it is taken to the maker to be repaired; if a watch is out of order, the maker will set it right; and as the parents are responsible for the child, so they, better than'anyone else, can tell him what to do or what his thoughts mean. I feel very strongly on this section of my work, for I think that parents are chiefly to blame for the indis- cretions of their children, for having lost their confidence. The system of “hush” has so permeated into every home that children naturally have to seek elsewhere for the information they require. They hear a garbled story from a playmate who knows very little of the truth of the subject himself, and the child is filled with fears, or sur- mises, or indecent thoughts, and the only people who could help him to a 44 A Complete proper understanding think it wrong to tell him. I shall never forget speaking to the mother—a highly respectable woman— of a large family of boys and girls. I asked her why she had never told them the facts of life. She reddened with anger and shame. ‘‘If I could have another family as large,” she said, “I should never be so vulgar as* to tell them anything about sex.” I looked at her in wonder. If she thought sex vulgar, how came she to have a large family? Were not her cheeks dyed with shame whenever she looked at the fruits of her vulgarity? I questioned several of the children— then grown up—as to how they had learned matters of sex, since their parents had been silent on the subject. One girl had been filled with fear by a schoolfellow, and for years had looked upon men as monsters, seeking all whom they might devour. Even when happily married, the fear returned occasionally out of her subconscious Book of Sex Knowledge 45 mind, and slie turned away from her husband. Another had been told by a brother, some years older than herself, who had made her life miserable by following her everywhere and trying to be alone with her. He had asked her if she would like a baby, and only an in- stinctive feeling that the conduct sug- gested would be wrong prevented their intercourse, for she dearly loved babies and would have liked to have one. She, too, grew up with the idea that men were evil creatures, and it took years of companionship with a sane, wholesome girl friend to gain a better view-point of life. Another girl belonging to this family was undeveloped, and sickly. She never mixed with girls of her own age, and did not understand chance allusions to the subject of sex. At the age of 21 she was innocent of sex mat- ters, having then the mentality of a girl of 12. Think of the dangers to which such a girl, physically developed, 46 A Complete was continually being subjected! Would it have been any wonder bad she “gone wrong”? Yet in that case her mother would possibly have been the very first to turn her away. ' Now let us turn to the boys of the family. The part history of one you have already heard. He chanced to be in the same room once while his small sister was being bathed, and his curiosity being aroused, it required satisfaction. With wise counsel from his father, all would have been well; with sensible conduct from his mother, who should not have allowed the bath- ing of the girl to take place in his presence, his sister might have been spared much suffering; but having no real knowledge, yet feeling powers within himself he set out on a voyage of discovery which might easily have been his ruin and that of his sister and parents. Another brother confessed that he used to hang around his sisters’ bed- rooms on the chance of seeing them 1 >ook or Sex Knowledge 47 undressed. He had heard talk in the playground and he wanted to find out for himself. However, he withstood all temptation and finally married happily. The third said that he had heard “stories” and then had feelings that he could not understand, and felt afraid and nervous. He handled him- self and obtained relief, not knowing that this was wrong. Then he heard that there were “ladies” who walked up and down the street, who would tell him about things, and relieve him. This knowledge led to a visit from an irate father, who complained that his daughter had been molested while re- turning home from her evening classes. The boy was interviewed and confessed that he had asked the young lady to stop, but that she had screamed and run away. Her father, seeing that the boy was ignorant rather than vicious, advised his father to give him some information, which that parent pro- ceeded to do with the help of a stout 48 A Complete stick! playing virtuous father, vicious offspring, to the end. Now the above true account is of a very respectable family, as I have said. Such things are by no means as un- common as some people think. The parents of these children were highly virtuous and considered that they had brought up a fine family of children. Let me say right here that the children ivere fine, not because of their parents, but in spite of them. Thfey have be- come successful men and women, but they have all determined that they will tell their children the facts of life as soon as they require the information. They feel that if the recital of their troublous youth in these pages will help other unfortunate children, their own lives will have been worth the living. They are not unique; their like can be found in every village, in every city; and you, fond, satisfied, trustful, re- spectable parents, look to yourselves and see to it that your children cannot blame you in years to come! Book of Sex Knowledge 49 The parents, then, who have kept the confidence of their children in their earlier years, will have no difficulty when the time of puberty arrives. Let the father take his son, the mother her daughter, and fill in the gaps of the story that has already been outlined. Let them tell of the dangers of secret habits, the need for cleanliness of the sex organs, and give an insight into the anatomy and physiology of sex, so that the boy or girl understands the sacredness of the powers that have come. Above all, the parent must provide an outlet for the energies. The boy who broods indoors, with no desire for com- panionship, of youths of his own age and their sports, is in a bad way, and will probably develop habits of self- abuse if he has not already done so. He must be made to work hard, and play hard; he can struggle to get to the top of his class in Mathematics, and he can strive to be in the first eleven of his cricket team. He can 50 A Complete cycle, or walk, or dig in the garden, or do anything rather than mope indoors. Of course, he must not overdo things; he is growing fast, and needs plenty of good food and sleep, and it is better that he does not enter into competitions requiring great powers of strength or endurance; but he must go to bed each night healthily tired and get up each morning as soon as he awakes, without waiting for that extra doze, or day- dream, when sex feelings can so easily manifest themselves. The father can watch his son, the mother her daughter, and the longer the parents can retain their own youth, the better for themselves and their children. When a child reaches the age of nine years or thereabouts, it begins actually to experience feelings of its own developing sex functions. There is no reason at all for these functions to begin to operate, if the child is given to understand clearly and deliberately that the subject must not be thought about, and that a manly boy or a Book of Sex Knowledge 51 womanly girl will keep all nasty thoughts out of mind. The facts of sex possession must be given accurately, however, and in their exposition it should be observed that at this age the child is easily saturated with an idealism, which will stand it in good stead in the combat of unhealthy sex thoughts, which are bound to be stimulated by the companions with whom the child is sure to mix sooner or later. There are still a large number of jieople who talk about the beautiful in- nocence of childhood, and are against teaching for them. But rest assured that children will find out about sex things, and it is much better for them to have the truth given to them by those they respect and love. There are many children who are precocious and have sex awakening at nine years of age. Especial care must be taken of them to guard them against undesirable habits. The safest plan is to tell these children quite frankly the 52 A Complete facts of sex development, and, while taking care not to frighten them in any- way, it should he pointed out that the path of life is strewn with very dan- gerous pitfalls. They should be made to play physical games, until healthily tired, and ready for bed each evening. Their diet should be very plain and it should include a fair amount of vege- table food. Constipation should be guarded against, and a regular habit of evacu- ation should be formed by careful scientific exercise. Very frequently bad cases of sex abuse are set up in children through the pressure of foeces upon the sexual nerves. Relief of this con- dition, and the cleansing of the blood stream of the poisons thus set up, and by this means directing full nutrition to the nerve centres, the sexual aggra- vation ceases, and the child becomes normal. At the same time, however, it is essential that the child is informed that the sex function is sacred, and must not Book of Sex Knowledge 53 be thought about, if he desires to enter into strong, healthy, adulthood. The greatest thing of all is to inspire children with the desire to live clean, pure lives, and to give them virtuous ideas and ideals of manhood and womanhood into which they must de- velop. Teach them that this can only be done by keeping the body clean and free from anything which they know themselves to be degrading. Children have much more sense than they are given credit for by most adults. They know instinctively what is right and what is wrong in regard to their own sex conduct. Those who grow into bad children do so because they are not warned of the danger of the habits, and have not been told how easily they grow and place the victim in slavery. Keep the child free from sex perversion and there will grow up an adult normal sexually. It has been my experience that the sex perverts— who are often, without reason—looked upon as incurable, would never have 54 A Complete become such had they avoided youthful errors. I have personally found all cases to have been the victims of masturbation in childhood. Therefore, feed the child mentally and morally on reliable information, and let him engage his energies in ways which are healthy mentally, morally, and physically. Let him know that it is not manly (and the girl that it is not womanly) to think or talk about sex things in an indecent manner. Then the child will grow up by itself to be its own saviour, and feel confident in itself against what it knows to be a deg- radation of its most sacred self. CHAPTER II. Adolescence. Adolescence is the stage in human life on which, almost entirely, depends suc- cess or failure. In the individual it is the recapitulation of the biological stage of development which corresponds with the pre-human unharnessed ex- pression of the sex powers. In other words, it is the period of life when the temptations urging to bad sex habits are strongest. Our recent researches into biological science help us greatly here, even if we merely bear in mind the above biogenetic law. The free use of the sex powers was a beneficial factor to our ancestors, because it was necessary to reproduce at a high rate in order to keep the race alive in spite of famines, pestilences, or other factors which might easily have stamped out the pre- human race. Tt is therefore to be expected that a high percentage of adolescents become 56 A Complete addicted to undesirable sex habits. But the high percentage does not mean that there is nothing harmful in mastur- bation. It means that unless this stage is passed over safely, and control and sexual cleanliness established, there can never be full individual development. The method of teaching clean sex be- haviour in times gone by was to frighten the young with terrible tales of insanity, disease and damnation. The result was to put so much fear into the poor victim that he suffered further shock and was additionally weakened to such a degree that it was more difficult than ever for him to resist the calls of the habit. What we have to remember above all is that the habit is not only the cause of weakness, but it is also the result. There is what is known as the vicious circle, and this must be broken. Wliile the severe drain of energy through the sex channels is depleting the nervous system, and putting the normal healthy functions out of order, the weakened Book of Sex Knowledge 57 organs render it more difficult for the person to combat this habit. It is all very well for moralists to prate and preach about sex morality. What we have to do is to see that there are as few physically predisposing causes to immorality as we can. Personally, I believe that even greater work is done for our young by those who insist on outdoor recreations and manliness, than the majority of those who set themselves up as moral guardians. There was, however, one good thing in the old time sex teachings. They counteracted the terrible mistake of thinking that ignorance meant inno- cence. There are, of course, even yet, very, very, few people with courage and ability to teach the adolescent the intricacies of sex and its control. I have had a very large correspondence with young people who were in the throes of masturbation; and nearly every first letter I received the news “I was never told”. 58 A Complete What we want to do is to insure that we tell them the right things. Works, such as Dr. Robie’s, and men and women who have been influenced by works such as his, will do tremendous harm. People must he told that there is no necessity for them to indulge their sex powers, and that they must keep their thoughts away from all sex mat- ters as much as possible. This is a very simple thing to say, of course; it is not so easy for the young person to do. If he, or she, is weak or underdeveloped, and the blood stream in a stagnant, unhealthy condition, there is a sexual irritation—both physically and psychologically—which is too powerful for them. I could wring your hearts with the stories of the cleanest minded youths who have en- deavoured in vain to combat their un- desired sex thoughts. The worry of the fight and then the triumph of the vice has broken them up and left them help- less and degraded. Book of Sex Knowledge 59 Adolescents must be told quite frankly that the majority of the stories surrounding the evils of masturbation are greatly exaggerated. Where the habit is begun it can easily be broken by exercise, fresh air, and an absorbing hobby or work. Chief of all, however, is the necessity to settle all problems of sex in a scien- tific manner. Biological sex develop- ment should be taught as well as indi- vidual development. Young'people are encouraged far too little to take up the study of Zoology. They ought to be made familiar in quite a matter of course way with the sexual develop- ment of fishes, frogs, reptiles, and mammals from the evolutionary stand- point. They will then see Man’s place in Nature, and see that he follows the same laws of sexual deevlopment as the rest of the animals. Every animal and plant begins life as a germ cell. The cell is the be- ginning of all organic life. Repro- duction is the same throughout the 60 A Complete whole of living things. A male sperma- tozoon is brought into contact with a female ovum or egg; the fusion of these two constitutes the beginning of the new individual. Every animal and plant recapitulates the development of its ancestors. Until these facts are acknowledged there cannot be a sound and scientific system of sex education. As soon as the scientific facts of sex development are taught, I have found that at once the curiosity and mysticism disappear, and sex takes its obvious place in the scheme of things. All the unhealthy seeking after prurient information ceases because there is true knowledge —the knowledge that will drive away all dread and fear and superstition. Then the physiology and anatomy of the human should be taught and dia- grams of the sex apparatus should he included in the charts and textbooks, so that it may he studied with equal unconcern for morbid thoughts as the organs of indigestion. The scientific Book of Sex Knowledge 61 names should be used, throughout. It should be shown how the urinary sys- tem is connected up with the repro- ductive system. The kidneys separate the urine from the blood in the tiny corpuscles which are part of their composition. The urine passes down the ureters, which are tubes connecting with the bladder. When the bladder is full of urine it is expelled voluntarily, and flows through a tube called the urethra, which, in the male, passes through the penis, and in the female, ends directly at the entrance to the body. Then it should tell how the testes and ovaries correspond with each other. In the ovaries are produced the eggs, and in the testes the spermatozoa, and, in just the same manner that the plants, birds, fishes, reptiles, and mammals re- produce, so does man. The principle is that the spermatozoa of the male has to be placed in the sex channel of the female, where it works its way up into the internal sex apparatus until it A Complete reaches an egg, there to coalesce with it. This is the actual birth of a new offspring, and it should be impressed upon the student how’ it is a part of the parents. In this way we show how the immortality of the human life is an actual reality. In fact, the adolescent will use reasoning power and see that it shows that the whole of life is im- mortal, and that there is np gap which separates any of us from the first liv- ing thing which inhabited the earth. Truly all life is one, in actuality, and the most sacred function of the sex act is in the reproduction of the link which connects all future human life with the present. In adolescence these facts, and the scientific philosophy which is inevitably connected with them, are readily appreciated, and by teaching them we are assured of combatting the danger of bad sex habits. Sex education can never be sound until it is honest in its exposition of scientific processes. This will drive away mysticism and fear; it Book of Sex Knowledge 63 will give inspiration, because the youth will know that he contains the power of perpetuating his own life in the Great Human Life that must follow, and of which by his power he himself is a part. I have been thinking more of a sys- tem of sex education for boys than for girls, in this chapter, but the method for both sexes should be very similar. Bovs deep down in their hearts are very ambitious to be great men. They should in their desire to be great men be led not to think of making money only, but to produce some great work, perform some great deeds, or to emulate some great personality in the world. They must be told bluntly that they can never realize their ambition if they give way to bad sex habits. It is without the slightest doubt that the people who succeed in life are those who have led clean lives in adolescence; and youths must be told this. Another thing that must be impressed upon them is that physical health itself is impaired by wrong sex habits. The 64 A Complete majority of cases of general ill health have a history of masturbation. All cases of spermatorrhoea, sex excess, and abnormal sex passion that I have come in contact with have had a history of masturbation. Do not let anyone tell you, or the youths in your care, that there is no harm in self-abuse. There is no reason at all, physiologically, biologically, or morally, why the habit should be de- veloped. The argument that it saves the victim from committing a sexual crime against another person is only applicable to those who have already become perverted to an extreme—and in every such instance it ivill be found that the perversion was started by masturbation in adolescence. So make it your sacred duty to save the youths influenced by you from this habit. Boys must be told of the natural re- lief of the seminal vesicles which takes place during sleep every few weeks. I have found that numberless youths have been scared by this normal physio- Book of Sex Knowledge 65 logical happening. The function, how- ever, should not occur too frequently, and should not take place until well into maturity. Should these emmissions occur more frequently than once in three weeks the boy should have care; for it must be considered that they are a drain of the most precious substance of the human body, and one ounce of the fluid possibly requires the nutrition of 60 ounces of blood in its manu- facture, and thus the body is robbed of its necessary substance and energy, and the youth cannot develop as he should. The adolescent should also be warned clearly against having anything to do in a sexual way with a girl or woman. The details of the veneral diseases are most loathsome, but nevertheless, it is only fair to teach both boys and girls what dangers they run if they do sexual things with the opposite sex. For the sake of the one whom one day they will marry, they will not want to run such risks. 66 A Complete Personally, although I do not believe in frightening anybody over sex mat- ters, I feel it permissible to show photo- graphs of the hideous condition of rot- tenness into which the victims of veneral diseases descend. Show them pictures of people with heads half eaten away with sores and germs, and bodies crumbling away with syphilis. It will make them feel ill and sick for a day or two, but they will never forget the danger, and they will steer as clear of it as they can. But, when all the facts of sex, physiology, and evolution are related, and the dangers and snares pointed out to them, tliej7 should be encouraged to clear their minds of all sex thoughts. Their energies should he engaged with a good hobby and physical recreation, and their minds with inspiring and noble thoughts. Above all, see that the general health is kept up to the highest level. Many a boy or girl has become a victim to sex perversions because of physical Book of Sex Knowledge 67 weakness. The ability to control one’s acts comes not only from mental en- deavour, but from physical capability. A person whose blood stream is stag- nant through lack of exercise, and irri- tates the nerves instead of feeding them, often simply cannot summon will power to overcome wrong thoughts or bad habits. The physical weakness has to be overcome first of all by rational, natural methods of living, by exercise, fresh air, and proper dieting. The girl who has left her childhood behind her is beset with many diffi- culties. Standing on the edge of the River of Life “with timid and uncer- tain feet”, she views the rushing eddying waters with dismay, and won- ders whether she will be able to cross safely. The stepping stones are few, and between them are deep silent pools, hiding things unknown to her in her innocence and ignorance. One false step, one uncertain foothold, and she will be caught by the current that goes so swiftly. Unable to struggle against 68 A Complete its strength, she will he borne on to the whirlpool which will so quickly suck her under to depths from which she may never hope to emerge. Yet the sun shines brightly on the rippling water and all seems fair to her. Why should she hesitate on the shore? Others have crossed safely, jumping blithely from foothold to foothold; so she boldly takes the first step of her hazardous journey. Now, we who are parents, or guardians, or teachers, are we going to lead our girls blindfolded to the edge of the water and leave them there to feel their way across, with only instinct to guide them, or are we going to take the bandage from their eyes, and, using the experience we have gained in our crossing, point out the hidden dangers and uncertain footholds, so that they may begin their journey armed and wary? Our common sense tells us that the latter is the only wise thing to do; but so many of us are bound by the Book of Sex Knowledge 69 shackles of superstition and con- servatism that we hesitate to do it. A girl entering upon womanhood must 1)0 able to benefit by the ex- perience of her mother and the knowl- edge which years have brought to the older woman. She can still keep her beauty, her truth, her belief, her trust, her innocence; but she will also possess that knowledge without which her beauty, her truth, her belief, her trust, and her innocence may disappear for ever. How, then, is she to receive this knowledge? In the first place, her mother will talk to her from her own experience and that of others. She will explain to her daughter that great changes are taking place in her body, so that she may be capable of bearing children; that she must keep herself clean bodily, mentally, and morally, in consequence, and must look upon sex as a sacred trust, which belongs not only to herself, but to the husband she one day will have and to the children 70 A Complete of the future. The sex organs must be kept perfectly clean and all thoughts of sex directed to the future husband and children. The same scientific sex edu- cation should be given to the girl as has already been suggested in the case of the boy, and the mother could recom- mend the reading of a good scientific text-book on the Anatomy and the De- velopment of Sex, so that the girl will understand her own body, and the use and position of the various parts. The mother will tell her daughter as much as she can, in as simple a way as is possible; but the matter must also be approached from a purely scientific standpoint. In a further conversation the mother can tell the girl of the diseases peculiar to the sex organs, and the importance of guarding against infection. Years ago it was thought that infection came through direct contact only; now it has been proved that these loathsome diseases may be “picked up”—gen- erally by people whose powers of re- Book of Sex Knowledge 71 sistance have been lowered by ill health or wrong living. Therefore it is essential that the girl be particular, when using public conveniences, for in- stance. She should not sit upon the; seat of a public toilet; she must be careful in the use of public drinking cups, or articles of a like nature, and she should not change clothes with other girls. Most of all, she must never allow herself to become so familiar with a man that sexual intercourse is indulged in before marriage. Kegarding the menstrual period, the mother should tell her daughter that it signifies that she is capable of bearing children, but that this must not be allowed to happen for several jTears, as her body and mind are not developed sufficiently. Then the phenomenon can be explained simply. Briefly, the female egg takes, on the average, 28 days to perfect itself. If it is not fertilized during that time by the male element, it is thrown off from the womb. The 72 A Complete mother should impress upon the girl that the period is not a time of illness, for so many women have the idea that they must feel ill at this time; in fact, it is often called, amongst themselves, being “unwell,” or “poorly,” or some such misleading name. The function is a perfectly natural one, and should give little discomfort, if any. If pain is felt before or during the period, if there is abdominal or head pain, sickness or diarrhoea, there is possibly some fault in the diet. It is a wise plan to eat very simple food— chiefly vegetable, a day or two before menstruation. A good evacuation of the bowels is also a wonderful help, just before menstruation is expected to begin. This will save much sickness and pain and the menstruation can pro- ceed unhampered by an overloaded bowel. I have heard of a girl who suffered for years at this time, who, when she carried out these simple directions, became almost entirely free from discomfort of any kind. Book of Sex Knowledge 73 During menstruation a girl can bathe as usual—in fact, she should he especially careful to see that her sexual organs are kept perfectly clean. In spite of the old superstitions regarding these matters, sea bathing has been found to have no deleterious effects. The ordinary routine can be carried on with, providing the girl feels well and the exercise is not too strenuous. If she is a little run down or anaemic, a rest will do her more good than the exercise, especially if she lies down in the fresh air. Protracted hot baths are a very great help at this time, too, if any discomfort is experienced. The mother must then see that her daughter has a hot bath lasting for half an hour, or even longer; after this the girl can go to a warm bed, while perspiring freely. Several baths such as this can be taken if pain persists. The menstrual period lasts usually for three or four days. Should it be longer, or of shorter duration, no anxiety need be felt. With fresh air, A Complete good food, wholesome exercise, and right living nature will right itself. A young girl often menstruates at irregular periods. This will happen until the habit is firmly established. A gap of even six months need occasion no alarm; but the daughter should ac- quaint her mother with her condition, and so have advice, if it is deemed necessary. Nature, at this time, is busy building up a strong body and mind, and if she runs short of supplies, scanty or a suspended menstruation is the re- sult in a great many cases, for she conserves her energies for body build- ing. However, it is wise to secure expert attention in the majority of cases of irregular menstruation. Here let me say a few words about diet. Suitable food is more important at this stage of development than, per- haps, at any other period of life. Yet how many young girls know what con- stitutes “suitable food,” and knowing, use their knowledge1? I have been appalled, when I have been in restau- Book or Sex Knowledge 75 rants, to see the meals our young girls order for themselves! Tea or coffee, buns, sweet pastries, pies, and ice cream, often constitute a meal! To be healthy, a young girl must eat plenty of food rich in vitamines—vegetables, fruits, and milk. Let her drink plenty of pure water, too, to flush and purify the system, and of all things let her stop the pastry and candy eating, or at least, let orgies be few and far be- tween! Then the day may come when we shall see an army of fresh-com- plexioned, straight limbed, strong, and fearless, healthy women, instead of the pale (under their powder and paint) anaemic, bent-backed, unhealthy looking specimens we see crowding out of our offices today! The mother will be wise to tell her daughter how to conduct herself with the boys of her acquaintance. So many girls stir up a boy’s feelings, and work him into a state bordering on madness and are quite unconscious of what they are doing. The mother should explain 76 A Complete —or recommend a textbook explaining, the boy’s sexual make-up. This will allay the girl’s curiosity concerning him, and she will understand how her behaviour is likely to affect him. A young girl rarely understands how easily a boy’s passions can be fired, or how strongly chance looks and words affect him, and she should be given this knowledge so that she can be discreet in her conservation and behaviour; so that, while being a good companion and entering into the boy’s amusement, or aspirations, she may keep his thoughts above the merely physical and become to him an ideal whom sexual thoughts cannot sully. There is still the question of mastur- bation to be considered. It is just as important that the girl be kept busily employed as it is in the case of the boy. She has feelings that she wishes to satisfy, but she must be taught to realize that most girls have such feel- ings, but that those who give way to them are those who go “down and Book of Sex Knowledge 77 under”. She must not be allowed to brood alone, or to give way to day- dreaming; neither must she study too hard; but she should have plenty of opportunities for the meeting of com- panions of her own age, and several hours each day must be devoted to physical recreation—cycling, walking, riding, tennis, gymnastics, basket ball— any or all of these or other sports which make a strong appeal to her. Should she already have started the habits of self-abuse—by which I mean playing with or touching the genitals in order to produce an erotic feeling- should this masturbation be practised, the girl must not be discouraged, or allowed to imagine that she is unfit to associate with other girls, or that she is a moral leper. I say again that this is a question which has to be faced by every young girl and boy. They must be encouraged—and encourage them- selves—to overcome these temptations. The discerning mother can usually tell whether her daughter is in this con- 78 A Complete dition, for the girl will probably be pale and nervous, irritable and easily startled, disinclined for companionship —in fact, always seeking opportunities for being alone. Her appetite will leave her, her strength will flag, and there will be all the evidences of a lowered vitality. Then it is the mother’s busi- ness to gain the confidence of her daughter, to see that she lias suitable food, companionship, exercise, and pur- suits, and that the literature she reads is not of a morbid nature or over- exciting. The girl must not be ashamed or fearful about her condition, but her thoughts must be diverted into clean, healthy, and inspiring channels, so that the disturbing feelings vanish, and the bad habits disappear, like the mists of early morning. CHAPTER III. The Youxg Max. Prior to marriage the young man lias an idealistic stage through which to pass, to prepare him for the realization of liis full adult life. During this time his aspirations will be associated with the ideal woman who will one day be- come his wife. Whether he has any idea as to whom the individual may be or not, lie is governed to a tremendous degree in work and conduct by her inspiration. This is all as it should be; but, alas, present day society plays much havoc with idealism, and desirable sex con- duct in consequence. It is not possible for the average man to marry at the best age. It is rarely that a young man of 22 or 23 has sufficient means to war- rant his taking a wife; and again, few women are prepared to chance marriage with a young fellow who has no estab- lished position. General education in 80 A Complete the methods of conception control is altering this very largely, and it is be- coming apparent to young unmarried people that it does not necessarily fol- low that marriage will bring with it numerous unwanted children. Young men—and young women— should have this made very clear to them; in this way, many very happy and desirable marriages may be made where otherwise the couples might separate and never experience the same feelings in later life; when they would be financially able to embark upon the married condition. However, although it is really desir- able that marriage takes place as early after the age of 22 or 23 as possible, young men generally find it inevitable that they remain bachelors for many years after this age. The time of the young man, then, should be absorbed by feats, mental or physical, which re- quire the maximum amount of his energy. Book of Sex Knowledge 81 There are, as a matter of fact, numerous professions that require that a fellow gives his entire attention to their mastery. He will find that by this means he can achieve what would be impossible for him had he the cares and responsibilities of a married man. There is one great prevailing error among young men which should be cor- rected. It is believed by many that as soon as marriage takes place, all the energies are expended sexually, and hopes of success, or of reaching their highest ambitions, are at an end. On the contrary, most men are made suc- cessful by a good marriage. Especially is this the case with those who are most virile and robust and who feel the strongest sexual emotions. It merely has to be pointed out to them that sex conduct in marriage will follow the ordinary rules of good sense, and that knowledge and familiarity with the sex processes will guard against undesir- able excesses. This is, of course, where A Complete there is no history of excessive mastur- bation in youth. The chief thing a young man has to guard against is promiscuous inter- course and its resultant terrible venereal diseases. His education in biology, as outlined in the previous chapter, will make him familiar with all the pro- cesses of sex development/ but now he needs to know sufficient of the venereal diseases to prevent him from ever mak- ing the experiment “just once”. He must be given clearly to understand that very frequently the first occasion is responsible for contracting the disease. There are, unfortunately, still many doctors who prescribe intercourse for unmarried men. It would be a blessing could we take legal action against such physicians. It is surely the height of immorality to send a fellow to catch a practically incurable disease, which will cripple him and rot his future wife and children with its filth. There is no need for any young fel- low to indulge his sex appetite; the Book of Sex Knowledge 83 devotion of his energies to healthy spheres of mental and physical activity, will solve his difficulties and make re- straint possible for him. He must do this for his own sake, for the sake of society, and for the sake of his future wife and children. While in many instances it is unwise to emphasize the methods of self-disin- fection for the prevention of venereal disease, there is great wisdom in letting him know exactly what these methods are. He should not be told, however, in a way that will make him think that he needs the information for his own protection. He should be made to see clearly that they represent a part solution to a problem which deals with moral perversion. I have not yet come across any sin- cere believer in self-disinfection who advocates it purely so that men and women can indulge their sex feelings without restraint. It is usually put forward as a guard against the hus- band, wife, or children innocently con- 84 A Complete trading these horrible afflictions as third parties. If we are humane, we too, should desire the pervert to be saved the torments of the hell of venereal disease; for we must remem- ber that in most instances these indi- viduals are victims of a pathological condition, and should obviously, there- fore, be protected. Most of these cases are curable if they are taken sufficiently early; but society has shunned the sex question so much that all sex problems arc construed as moral problems. They are just as much so as the problem of all disease. It will one day be recog- nized that it is just as immoral to suffer from any disease, because the living of a rational and physically active life, with scientific exercise, and proper diet- ing, will prevent disease. There are, however, cases where the hereditary predisposition to a disease is so strong that the ignorance of these simple laws of how to keep well result in the most virtuous people suffering from the com- plaint. Book or Sex Knowledge 85 The same principle applies to sex perversions. The hereditary predis- position exists, and ignorance of proper sex conduct and the laws of health—to- gether with the mysticism and super- stition that surround sex problems— leads the victim almost inevitably to suffer from some sex weakness. So, in- stead of receiving care and attention, he is branded as a criminal, locked in a prison, and comes out with the disease more firmly engrained in him. The remedy for sex perversions from a social point of view is the same as that of all disease. “ Prevention is bet- ter than cure.” In most instances our knowledge is sufficient to prevent all disease—sexual or otherwise. We musr, teach our young men so to live that they will grow up with bodies and minds clean and active. All disease, not excepting social disease, is caused by poisoning of the body. This condition may be set up in various ways, and the nature of the disease will take on the form corre- 86 A Complete sponding to the nature of the poison- ing. This poisoning is in many eases accompanied by the appearance of germs, although it is now known that the germ need not be the cause of the disease. For instance, Professor Green says of consumption that the tubercle bacillus is sometimes only found in ad- vanced stages of the disease and often not at all. In spite of this, however, the professor makes the mistake of say- ing that the tubercle bacillus is the cause of the disease. Clearly, from his own findings, this cannot always be the case; for he has to postulate the absurdity of the disease existing up to an advanced stage without its cause, and sometimes altogether without its cause. But there is no doubt, on the other hand, that if a man lays himself open to infection from any disease by placing himself in contact with the disease germs, he will contract the disease under certain conditions. These con- ditions are:—first, that there are suf- Book of Sex Knowledge 87 ficient of the germs to overcome the natural resistive forces of the body; Second, that the man himself is in a low state of vitality, and with a stagnant blood stream weakened in its natural antiseptic condition. Syphilis is the most terrible disease of all, and is so powerful that it is doubtful whether it is ever eradicated once it obtains a firm hold on its victim. Head, hands, body, feet, and nervous system may be rotted away by it. Tt is possible that more than half the diseases of mankind are the result of syphilis, for it deteriorates the germ plasm and leaves in offspring predispositions which may develop into all sorts of horrible complaints. Gonorrhoea is almost as bad; and, in fact, because of the belief that it is not dangerous, it is really responsible for more serious consequences in the gen- erality of human beings than syphilis. Both these diseases are associated with germs: syphilis with Spirachaete Pallidum; gonorrhoea with the Gono- 88 A Complete coccus. The diseases are contracted most often by contact in sexual inter- course. What I have said about cleanliness has a specific application. It is wrongly believed by many young men that be- cause a woman looks clean she is not really dangerous. The condition of the blood stream is not always apparent, and a woman who may look absolutely spotless may be ready to spread the disease to the first comer. It is neces- sary to know that every prostitute be- comes diseased sooner or later. “Some of them are diseased all the time; all of them are diseased some of the time,” a specialist has said. Syphilis may start with an indented sore on the penis, which may go away without causing much inconvenience; but some time later it breaks out in the same locality or in the groin, where the lymphatic glands are doing their best to arrest it. Large unsightly outbreaks occur in the locality of the sex organs, or in other parts of the body. So it Book of Sex Knowledge 89 continues, unless expert help manages to subdue the symptoms, or counteract the poisons. Gonorrhoea starts just inside the urethra. It causes inflammation and ulceration, and pus is given off which oozes out drop by drop. If attention is not given immediately to it, the in- flammation passes up the urethra into the bladder, along the spermatic chord to the testes and to the prostate gland. It may pass up from the bladder to the kidneys along the ureters, and through the blood stream to the heart and so all over the body. The only safe guarantee against venereal disease is chastity. Every young man should let this fact sink firmly into his mind. The most efficient methods of prevention are chiefly cleanliness; a thorough washing before and after inter- course with a strong antiseptic. Calomel ointment spread well over the organ and rubbed into every crevice is. also recommended by many authorities, ac- companied, of course, by thorough 90 A Complete washing. The use of a condom, to- gether with the thorough washing, is most effective of all. Were these methods used by all the sex perverts who indulge their morbid appetites with prostitutes, the venereal diseases, gonorrhoea and syphilis, would very soon be under control. The purpose of this book, however, is to act as a guide for teachers and others who may be called upon to instruct young people in sex matters so that they may obtain sufficient control over their feelings to make it easy for them to live a normal, healthy sex life. The time to look out for sex perversion is during childhood and adolescence, for the troubles are then most easily cor- rected. As a rule, the pervert starts with masturbation in adolescence, and promiscuous intercourse follows. Sometimes, however, masturbation continues or leaves behind it sperma- torrhoea; the latter is an excess of emissions, which is weakening. In nearly every instance of severe sperma- Book or Sex Knowledge 91 torrhoea there is usually a history of youthful masturbation. Many students of sex psychology are led astray be- cause of the prevalence of sperma- torrhoea. T know of doctors who look upon it as a normal condition and found their theories of sex behaviour upon it as such. When a man states that intercourse may take place every day because men suffering from spermatorrhoea sometimes have nightly emissions, it demonstrates how little normal sex psychology is understood. It is sometimes advocated that young men should masturbate to prevent emissions and to lessen the desire for intercourse with a prostitute, which might lead to infection with venereal disease. On the other hand, there are, as I have mentioned, some who advocate intercourse with prostitutes as a remedy for masturbation or excessive nocturnal emissions. So 3rou see how useless it is for me to give you the names of authorities of reliability. One authority contradicts another, and the majority 92 A Complete of them, unfortunately, seem to have views unworthy of reference. It is for all of us to use our own common sense, and our own innate knowledge of the sanest sex conduct. We have to get young men to do the same, in order to protect them from unreliable authorities who would send them to their doom. It is possible for every young man to live a clean, wholesome life. If he has suffered from masturbation he should be told how to overcome it and its effects. But here we come to another question with which I must deal in de- tail. The majority of moralists have railed against the victims to masturbation as though these victims were possessed by demons of wickedness. The old view of disease was that the sufferer was possessed of a devil which must be cast out. Even until recent days the belief that epilepsy and lunacy are caused by evil spirits was held. The modern view of disease is also not very far removed from the same super- Book of Sex Knowledge 93 stition. It lias yet to be understood generally that disease is a morbid con- dition of the body, set up by bad methods of living, and that once the laws relating to the keeping of the body clean internally and externally are known and obeyed, disease will no longer have any fears for human be- ings. The idea of taking medical drugs is only a manifestation of ancient superstition. People think that they can drink or eat something which will act as a sort of charm, driving out the evil things which are attacking them The science of health will make no progress until it is founded on common sense—on a sound understanding of Nature’s laws; in other words, in a scientific physiological and biological knowledge entirely free from mysticism. The body itself possesses natural powers for overcoming disease and the conditions which set up disease, but these natural powers must be given encouragement. 94 A Complete The prevention of disease lies in building up a fit body with a minimum of needless drain upon nervous energy. Sexual excesses deplete the nervous system more quickly than anything else, and they must be guarded against for the sake of mental and physical efficiency and health. It is this ignorance of the natural laws regarding sex and health which leads to masturbation. It is just as wicked to be ill as to masturbate; but it is likewise no more wicked to mastur- bate than it is to be ill—providing it is due to ignorance and not to wilful vice. The time is coming, I believe, when it will be looked upon as wicked to be ill, and people will be ashamed to say they are not well. This state of things will come when the laws of physical exercise, scientific diet and hygiene are common knowledge. So let us Wot at this stage in the evolution of society condemn too harshly what can be demonstrated to be a pathological condition, but let us Book of Sex Knowledge 95 try our hardest to help these poor victims from the habits which will rob them of character, health, and happi- ness. They must be made to put for- ward their strongest mental effort to overcome, but it must be remembered that the low condition of vitality from which they are suffering renders their will power weakened, so that they are not in the position to be able to will strongly. The physical condition, then, must be toned up by special exercises, by eradi- cating from the diet all exciting dishes, by taking the right combinations of food. Exercises must direct nourish- ment—the blood—to the parts of the body which most need it, especially to the nerve centres. A good hobby is essential. Plenty of fresh air and deep breathing are necessary, and cool bath- ing is extremely good. Flirting is a danger that must be guarded against. This, of course, does not mean that there is anything wrong in platonic friendships with girls. On 96 A Complete the other hand, it is extremely neces- sary for a young man to meet and mix with members of the opposite sex. In this way he will learn to discriminate between the desirable and the undesir- able. Most young men make the mis- take of falling headlong in love with a girl merely because she has a pretty face. Still worse, some succumb to one who is in a higher social position. Social position should count for nothing in a question of love, but you will find that the middle classes are extraordinarily backward in this re- spect, and it is most unfortunate that many marriages are wrecked because the parties sought more in pecuniary gain in marriage than real comrade- ship. The first love callings of youth are usually unreliable, although they give powerful inspiration. However, pro- viding a couple will not lose their heads, they may carry on for some years, eventually to realize the full meaning of the married condition. As Book of Sex Knowledge 97 a rule, they are just as full of romantic ideas, and imagine the most generous things of each other, but when it comes to the reality of married life, they are liable to fall flat at the first obstacle. On the other hand, this spirit of romance is absolutely essential to the full development of love. Marriages for money or convenience are to be con- demned severely. I know of a most beautiful woman whose sole ambition when she was a girl was to be loved and cared for by some good man. Good men came and asked for her hand; but her mother was loth to lose her daughter, except that she was anxious to sell her to some millionaire. So this handsome woman, who would have made a happy and most desirable wife and mother, has now to live her life alone, without the realization of her life’s ideals, in spite of her many offers. But • ven this is better than having been sold to a rich manufacturer or million- aire. 98 A Complete Young men should be cautioned against such women. A true woman will stand by a man in all his difficul- ties, and will help to guide him so that his ambitions may be realized. Marriage is not the end of a man’s career, it is the beginning. All earlier life should be but a preparation for it. Let there be no hurry; no man need think about it until he is 22 or 23, and it is unfair to him to engage his affections before this age. Engagements are looked upon as binding as is marriage, and indeed, should be so. Because of this, it should be a very, very difficult thing to become engaged, and great care should be taken to make sure that the young man is becoming engaged to the right girl. He himself is the only one to judge, of course, but his tastes must not only be guided by his sub- conscious sex emotions, but they must be guided by his heart and mind, which must be “en rapport” with his loved one. Book of Sex Knowledge 99 There are so many unhappy mar- riages that I feel that this period of sex education should be definite upon the importance of making the right choice. Our conventions make this very difficult, because it is considered wrong to discuss the privileges and obligations of marriage before that state is con- summated. Yet surely if the whole of the success of married life depends upon the compatibility of the couple, there should not bo any restriction placed on conversation in these mat- ters. A young man must know that the object of marriage is the union of human life and its perpetuation, and he must be told that the purity with which he enters marriage will govern his own, and his wife’s, happiness. CHAPTER IV. The Young Woman. From maturity until she is married the young woman lives usually in romantic dreams of what is going to be. She pictures her ideal man as she de- sires him to be, and she trusts that she will be able to be to him all that he de- sires. How often, alas, do these dreams be- come ruthlessly shattered, to be substi- tuted by a matter-of-fact materialism which lasts through life, and blackens every memory! And this all because of ignorance. The adult young woman needs to know the facts of repro- duction, and she must be told point blank the meaning and uses of the sex apparatus if she is to be safe in her own beautiful dreams. ‘‘To be fore- warned is to be forearmed”; for many a girl has been robbed of her most precious possession because she was never told. 102 A Complete The telling of the facts of life need not be vulgar. The story of the repro- duction of life is surely the most beauti- ful in all the world. When the infor- mation is being imparted to the young woman this must be its standpoint, and it should be strictly borne in mind that there must be no injury to the aesthetic sense. But this does not mean that the young woman should not be acquainted with the horrors of venereal disease, for instance. She must be told that the most vulgar thing in life is to be sensuous, and sensuousness which ends in indiscrimate intercourse has the most awful consequences. The finest armour the young woman possesses is her own innate taste for what is clean and refined, and when she knows that the most beautiful things in the world exist in conjunction with sex, she will see that sex in its right place has its own virtuous use. She need not, however, study her own sex feelings. It is best for her to for- Book of Sex Knowledge 103 get all about them, if she can, although she will be troubled not a little by erotic feelings if she does not keep her- self in good health and fitness, and allows erotic thoughts to run wild. Here, again, it is necessary to under- stand that masturbation may result from morbid physical conditions; that is, it may be pathological, and many a woman who has drifted into the hope- less morass of prostitution has done so through nervous sexual irritation not properly understood by her—and even did she understand, very few doctors would understand and sympathize. "When you think of it, is it curious that sex perversions are generally con- demned as sins, whereas it is obvious that they are illnesses, just as consti- pation and indigestion are illnesses. They are also equally curable, provided proper treatment is given sufficiently early. That is the province of this book; for I believe that no sex per- version need develop if it is taken in hand in time. 104 A Complete Until quite recently it was considered “not the thing” for young women to indulge in games requiring physical exertion, and girls inherit a certain amount of predisposition to weakness on account of the ill uses to which their mothers and grandmothers sub- jected their bodies. For in olden days it was thought vulgar to eat sufficient food—at least, at mealtimes, when the male members of the family were present—and as it was ladylike to have a delicate appetite, the ladies were obliged to take extra nourishment be- tween meals, to the detriment of their digestive organs. Again, it was the fashion to have small waists, so girls tightlaced to such an extent that their normal waists of 28 inches were crushed into an 18-inch corset. This, of course, prevented free movements of any kind, and so dis- placed the internal organs of the body that illnesses of all kinds were the com- mon lot of womenkind, and it was Book of Sex Knowledge 105 thought unnatural to feel strong and healthy. But the greatest injustice was done to the unborn child by this pernicious system. The organs of reproduction were crushed and pulled out of shape, and pressed upon by other organs which had in their turn been pushed out of their natural positions. This condition of things made- “female ill- nesses”—from painful menstruation to ill-formed babies—very prevalent, and even today the results of the ill treat- ment of the child when in the womb can be seen in the present generation. Yes, we must honour our fathers and mothers, but we must learn from tlieir mistakes. They have left in us many heritages of gluttony, weakness, disease, and ignorance, but let us not be blamed by our children for things we can now very easily avoid. There was such a hue and cry against the “wasp” waist a few years ago that this freak fashion has, T hope, gone for ever. But we must keep constantly on 106 A Complete our guard against similar things. There are still numberless women who com- pass their waists to a detrimental de- gree, and so do themselves—and the future race—injury. These are, in most cases, women who are inclined to be stout, and they are told by their friends and dressmakers, that their figures will “spread” to a much greater extent if they do not. wear corsets. But they should know that it is impossible to make a naturally stout person into a slender one by the wearing of a corset. The unwanted flesh must go somewhere, and by this method it simply presses upon and distorts the vital organs. Many women will argue that they do not have their corsets too tight; but they become so accustomed to feeling the support around their bodies that they draw in their corsets without be- ing aware of the tightness. The reason that I say so much about corsets is that when they are unduly tight they are a potent factor in sexual deformities, and sex weaknesses. Many Book of Sex Knowledge 107 cases of displaced uterus are caused in this way; and it is interesting to note that sterility, when caused directly by tilted womb, is most prevalent in fat women. There is extra pressure exerted to push the fat away from the waist, by means of the corset, in addition to the faty tissue, which is itself pressing upon the organs and deforming them. Young women should be taught these things because it is much easier to remedy matters in the beginning than when the trouble has badly developed. There is no need for any woman to be fat, if she exercises properly and eats the right food combinations. If a woman has a tendency to obesity, it is folly to take drugs, or patent nostrums to destroy the tissue; the easiest way is to let Nature herself correct the condi- tion. The waist is a secondary sexual character, although I do not remember Darwin, Galton, Havelock Ellis, or any other biologist mention the fact; and it is to accentuate tills character that 108 A Complete women resort to the corset. It is part of woman’s nature—and duty—to en- tice the opposite sex; but she must be given to understand that there is a normal limit to the extent she may go. Personally I believe that the nude human body is far less exciting sexually than the fashionable clothing which accentuates the sensuous outlines of the body. Take a great masterpiece in art. You will find no accentuations; no en- larged bust and hips. Yet that is just the object of the corset, to flaunt in the face of man the hips and the bust- secondary sexual characters of woman. Any decent man can look at the body of a naked woman, when it is well de- veloped, without the least feeling of sensuousness; he can marvel at the beauty of the great Greek works of sculpture, with their wonderful repro- ductions of the women of ancient Greece. There are no “wasp” waists there, but the figures give a man an inspiration, and a desire to live a truly Book of Sex Knowledge 109 great life, even to have the joy of being in the same world as such beauty and refinement. The question of accentuating second- ary sexual characters is one which broaches others of great importance. Women in the past have been restricted in their freedom, and it is purely be- cause they have restricted themselves. The corset is one of the vilest enemies, for it prevents their free physical move- ment and is a symbol of their sub- jection. Generally speaking, the girl who has thrown off the shackles of her corset is the one who also throws off the shackles of traditions and con- ventions, to live her own life, freely and unhampered. Again, the corset emphasizes the sexual nature of woman, and a young girl should be unconscious of her' sex, and free to express herself. Tt is curious that in times gone by, while there was a conspiracy to keep girls in ignorance of the facts of sex and its place in life, there was also this 110 A Complete tremendously strong tendency to make a woman exist for nothing more than sex! The whole upbringing was to fit her for the captivating, and conse- quent capturing, of some man—one who would not be the affinity of her soul, hut the keeper of her body—in other words — one who would have the material wealth to keep her either in idle luxury or as near to it as possible. The training of the young woman should be regarded very properly as an education for matrimony and mother- hood, but that is a very different thing from training in the art of flirtation. The young woman who is going to at- tract the best sort of husband is the one who is modest and natural and full of the joy of health. In her interest in the things that matter she will detect in men the qualities which make for the best ideal in manhood. By her own purity, she will be protected from the Don Juan and sex pervert, and armed witTT knowledge, will discriminate be- Book of Sex Knowledge tween a heal thy, sane mind and a mor- bid one. Corsets, if too tight, may be respon- sible for sexual irritation. The pressure exerted upon the organs congests the blood, impeding circulation and caus- ing stagnation. The consequence is that erotic feelings arise without being wanted, and the girl is not given a fair chance in the battle of life. The effects of such clothing should be combatted by loosening the corset, or, better still, dispensing with it altogether, and prac- tice of special exercises involving the use of the diaphragm and body muscles generally. At 16 a girl goes through a matur- ation process both psychologically and physically, which needs great care. It is the time when there may be a sud- den devotion to religious worship, or it may, on the other hand, be expressed in a purely sexual sense, leading to flirting which may end in prostitution. There is no use in denying the fact that many girls at this ago give way A Complete to erotic habits. These habits are just as harmful as they are in boys and young men; but they may have more serious consequences. While all the glands hitherto have been in a state of quiescence, they now begin to manufacture their secretions, and, if these functions are artificially stimulated, there is the waste of the fluids themselves in entailing the loss of the most precious elements in the blood; and, in addition, the concen- tration of the nervous forces on the sexual area, depriving other parts of the anatomy of their necessary energy. The best method of imparting actual sex facts is by the evolutionary method. I do not mean the haphazard taking of a specimen of a lower form of organism as is so frequently done, but by taking the biogenetie law and following the various stages of evolutionary develop- ment. For instance, there are several books which take the plant and explain the method of fertilization; then jump up Book of Sex Knowledge 113 to the rabbit, and then come back again to the frog. This is ail very good in its way, but our biological knowledge is now such that we can show the stages through which human beings have passed in the upward struggle. Thus, while the processes of sex functioning are learned, the lines along which the individual progresses is also grasped. The first stage of all life is in the single celled organism. The Amoeba, which is certainly one of the most sim- ple, can be looked upon as representa- tive of the mother of all life. It is just a cell of protoplasm without shape or even proper organization. It resembles in great measure the first stage in the life of every living thing. This organism should be closely studied on this ac- count, for it teaches us the great lesson that' the whole of life is a unity, and that we are, all of us, absolutely con- nected, not only with each other, but that we have a relationship with every other living thing—plant or animal. 114 A Complete The first organism that spontaneously developed on the earth was undoubtedly of a character similar to Amoeba. It gathered together out of the first waters that were condensed from the vapour which surrounded the earth. The reproduction then was un- doubtedly just a simple cleavage into two individuals—just as Amoeba repro- duces today. It was like a method of growth; for when the creature—for that we can call it—ate too much for its capacity to hold, it simply divided into two, and each of the two went on re- peating the same process. There were in this way many individuals formed. So these first living organisms be- came numerous, but there was no death in the usual sense. Those which met with adverse circumstances were done away with, of course; but in the ordi- nary way there was no such thing as dying. One individual simply became two and these two were certainly the same organism which gave rise to them. Book of Sex Knowledge 115 This is veiy important to remember, for this same process has been con- tinuing since the beginning of life on this planet. That unicellular organism was not content to remain in its lowly condition; but developed in such a de- gree that we have all sorts and kinds of organisms of a complex nature, in- cluding Man. And Man is still that same primitive organism in a much evolved condition. The spermatozoon and the ovum are still that same first creature after its division myriads of times. Just think this matter out and you will have a thought and a philosophy which will make life and its immortality become scientifically understandable. Let our girls be taught exactly how animals reproduce, and let them know how the sex organs function, and then tell them, in a refined way, of the same processes in men and women. The human ovum divides into two as its method of reproduction, just as does the lowly Amoeba, and the human being 116 A Complete ill the womb hastily repeats all the stages of human evolution. This en- ables us to pick out animals, now liv- ing, which are peculiarly similar to our early ancestors. The fun which was poked at the Dar- winian theory by ignorant critics did a great deal of harm to the giving of a scientific sex education, because it pre- vented people from seeing that edu- cation and morality have a biological basis as well as a religious one, and it stopped inquiry into the nature of human sex development. One of the best books which has ever been written was “The Evolution of Sex” by Pro- fessors Geddes and Thompson, and yet I do not believe anybody has ever sug- gested that it should be used as a text- book for sex instruction. It is a shame that this should be so, but it is entirely due to the fact that educators have tried to blind others as well as them- selves to biological facts. They will not and cannot stop the progress of knowl- edge, so why do they not see what good Book of Sex Knowledge 117 there is in it and pass it on to others who need it? Copernicus, when he discovered that the earth went round the sun, enraged all the educational authorities of his time. The Czar threatened his life and actually made him retract, and write that the sun went round the earth. When Copernicus wrote that which he was compelled to write, he finished by saying that in spite of what lie had written, the earth still went round the sun! So does the process of evolution con- tinue, and so must it be accepted and acknowledged, if we are to have any progress in human understanding. Especially must it be studied if we are to have a scientific sex education which will fortify girls and boys—and men and women, too—with the facts which will enable them to live normal, happy lives, free from both sexual excesses and perversions and from sex fear. The multicellular animals all exhibit a similarity in reproduction, in that 118 A Complete special sexual cells are set apart. In the higher ones we get a separation of the two sexes, one, the female, which is passive, and produces an egg, and another, the male, which is active in character and seeks the passive female and supplies the fertilizing element for the egg. The separation of the sexes is an important stage of progression. It is not really a means of separation, but a means of union. While individuals were separate, it was only on rare occasions that two came together, and then it was doubtful whether the fusion took place as an outcome of hunger or love. But now definitely the two come together to fuse their characters and qualities, being strengthened in the process, and keeping the whole race or species at a similar stage of develop- ment. Thus an individual may point to any other of the species and see definitely a blood relationship. In the higher animals we have a uni- form method of reproduction. The male seeks out the female with the Book of Sex Knowledge 119 object of placing his sperm in contact with the egg for the purpose of fertili- zation. They are anatomically adapted for this function. Mainly in the male, there is an external organ, a penis, whose purpose it is to enter a channel in the female, the vagina. This channel ends by the neck of the uterus, or womb, in the case of mammals, and also in woman, and in this uterus the em- bryo will develop. In nearly all animals reproduction is preceded by courtship, and it is de- lightful to witness the wonderful ways of insects in their arts and wiles to please members of the opposite sex. In the lower animals it is usually the male who shows off in order to captivate the female; in man it is the reverse, and today, unfortunately, the female does her best to entice the male. But courtship is actually part of the great function of reproduction, and it is one of the most beautiful parts, and every young woman should know that she is entitled to the realization of her A Complete romantic dreams. Let her not, how- ever, be led astray by swaggering artists at flirtation, but let her see the virtues of a clean and modest young man, who will respect her womanhood in after life. Here let me recommend every young woman to read Maurice Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee”. It is scientific, yet most beautifully written, and is one of the masterpieces of literature. But it is the work of a man who is not only a great artist in the use of words, but one who has a thorough knowledge of his subject at first hand. He gives the truth, and gives it beautifully, and as the poet Keats has aptly said “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”. Maeterlinck has the simple mind of the lover of all Nature, the scientific one of the biologist, the thoughtful one of the philosopher; all these he has combined in his —to my thinking—greatest work, “The Life of the Bee”. Every young woman will delight to read it, and she will find therein a most wonderful Book of Sex Knowledge 121 appreciation and exposition of the sex life of the most interesting of insects, which will greatly help in the under- standing of her own, besides giving her the romantic and beautiful view of the subject, which a scientific study pure and simple cannot achieve. The actual coming together of the male and female is the culmination of the sex act. It should only take place when ardently desired, and should be the conscious expression of the willing- ness for parentage. Intercourse before such feelings are experienced is immoral in the true sense of the word, and intercourse for pleasure is fraught with great danger. No young woman who allows sexual favours to men for any pleasures she receives can ever experience the greater joys which after years should bring. Men who seek such favours are very frequently contaminated with venereal diseases, which are loathsome and most terrible. In a woman, the disease known as Gonorrhoea will start in the vagina, 122 A Complete and gradually spread down to the orifice, and in the other direction up into the womb where it may infect children that may later be conceived. Syphilis is even worse; it sets up along the vaginal canal in the form of sores, and the germs get into the blood and are carried to every organ in the body. If not attended to, the disease may rot the poor victim until death is a merciful release. Let it be remembered, however, that these and other perversions of sex are only developed because a morbid desire has been satisfied, and there is a craving for something still more exciting. The thing to do is to keep young women clean from the beginning, and, where there are tendencies to sex weakness for any reason, to have them corrected by both education and physical treat- ment. Lesbianism is a practice very com- mon among young women, which ought to be guarded against. It is the substi- tution of another woman for a man, and Book of Sex Knowledge 123 the obtaining of mutual erotic feelings. Let anybody say what he likes about its harmlessness—just because there is no opportunity of giving birth to another individual—it is a perversion, and a waste of precious sex energy. It is re- sponsible for much weakness and petty illness, and is a form of mutual mastur- bation, demoralizing and deteriorating femininity. The young woman should know the facts regarding marriage. Marriage is primarily an institution which guaran- tees rights to children, and it should be made clear that children are only obtained after intercourse has taken place. Many young women, however, fear marriage because they feel that they will be burdened with too many children, having heard of and seen the effects of such conditions. This often makes a young woman hesitate in giv- ing her word to a man she loves, but who is not yet in a financial position to keep her and a number of children. 124 A Complete She should marry just as early after twenty-three as she feels she has found her alhnity. There is no need to post- pone matters just because he has not reached the top of the ladder; it will be her place to inspire him and help him towards his goal. The simple and harmless methods of conception control are quite permissible for some time; although it will usually not be long before the very strong desire for children takes possession of them both. But even then there will be no reason to feel that babies are going to follow in rapid succession and blight the happiness of all of them. Only those ardently desired will be capable of be- ing brought into the world. But at all times must she remember that self-control is essential. The read- ing of trashy novels with a sentimental love aspect, and the erotic dreams of impossible millionaire abduction, lead to morbidness, and it is every young woman’s right to have sober, pleasant thoughts. In her physical appearance Book or Sex Knowledge 125 she will reflect these thoughts and be true to the young man who is elsewhere keeping himself clean and working hard so that one day he may be united with her. Young womanhood is a time when there is developed the qualities which will remain through life. If she neg- lects herself physically, indulging in no exercise for her health, but purging her body to get a regulation of its functions, she will go on. through life with a weakened natural functioning and constantly ailing. If she flirts and gives way to indiscriminate love- making, she will find in after years a restlessness in marriage, and, perhaps, an irritated feeling and desire for a change. If she is sensible and well in- formed on sex matters, and guarded against foolish passions and degrading habits; if she is capable of discussing with her future husband not only the wonderful feelings of love and affection she has for him, and the interests they have in common, but also the sexual 126 A Complete necessities of Jife, she can be assured of joy, understanding, and satisfaction when she is married, which will accom- pany her to her life’s end. Let it not be forgotten, however, that marriage is not merely a sexual or romantic relationship; the young woman must be impressed with this fact because it is necessary to guard her against a sudden passion or fasci- nation she may possibly develop for some one totally unworthy of her, or undesirable for her. She must, of course, feel her soul stirred within her, but she must see in the general char- acter of the man the qualities she would like mingled with hers, ones that will not conflict with hers. He must have interests to which she can feel devoted, and ideals in conformity with hers. Once she is assured of all this, let nothing deter her from seeking union in matrimony. She must not entertain the idea for a moment that there are characteristics or peculiarities which Book of Sex Knowledge 127 irritate her, but should these feelings creep in, it is far wiser for her to end matters immediately. But once let the word be given, and the little gold ring placed on her finger, as a token of the bond that will unite her to another for life, let her give her love unstintingly, and strive, by affection and encourage- ment, to satisfy her lover’s longing for her to fill the void in his life. By this means she will win him, and there will not be any foolishness, or talk of superiority or inferiority of either party—man or woman—of obedience, or selfishness, and he, if he conforms to the ideals set down for him in the chapter devoted to him in this book, will have the most precious possession in the world, and will act accordingly. I will not attempt to outline a criticism of our marriage system, or suggest what I believe to be the ideal system, but merely content myself by saying that T believe that a more ad- vanced and less commercial one will re- place it one day; but at the present 128 A Complete time, whatever we may think about it, it is by far the best plan to conform to its conventions. Personally, I think that a time will come when love will be free to express itself without any legal bond; that the word of honour of both parties will be the bond. Under such conditions it will be possible to tell what is the best and natural marriage form. The present system of society com- pels the form we have; which is legal monogamy for many, and promiscuity, polygamy, and polyandry for others. The latter conditions are undoubtedly perversions today, because they are the outcome of a restricting marriage law, and nobody who has studied the matter will deny that prostitutes, and those seeking the prostitutes, are anything but perverts and sex abnormalities. There is a great deal of talk about the gay life of the prostitute—in fact, in France, they are called by a phrase meaning “Daughters of Joy”. But this is far from being the case. The only Book of Sex Knowledge 129 gaiety the prostitute has is the first occasion on which she allows herself to lose her self-control. The remainder of her days are passed in deep regret, covered with a veneer when she is soliciting her customers. The horrible and degrading life soon begins to tell upon her, and she finishes her days in the most abject misery. But there ought never to be any of our daughters in this condition, and it is the greatest blight of our civilization. The tragedy is surely of such magni- tude as to warrant the whole of the forces of every ethicist in the country, to wage war against it. These women are somebody’s sisters, or daughters, and may be somebody’s mothers—un- wanted and unhusbanded. If we would guard our young women against this detestable life, we shall strive our utmost to blot out those things which make for prostitution. Give all children sex education of a scientific nature, and see that the girls are given a wage adequate to buy the 130 A Complete necessities of life and to allow them also to have a few of the good things. Don’t tell them that the prostitute has a good time hut loses her soul, but tell her the truth—that the prostitute’s life is a living Hell. The marriage system now conven- tional should he closely conformed to by all young men and women. This is the wisest procedure. Let no young man take liberties or favours; if he is seeking your sex he is not seeking you. Wait until the knot is tied before actual intercourse is indulged in, for then it will procure the best happiness. But do not wait for an abnormally long time before you do tie the knot; once you are certain—not before—fix it all up and have it done with. Let me conclude this chapter with another appeal to stop the initial sex weakness—especially as exhibited in masturbation. Those young women who become addicts to this bad habit arc in dire danger. They lose womanliness, health, and ability to control, becoming Book of Sex Knowledge 131 listless and neurasthenic, and it is an easy step to further trouble. Moreover, they lose a great deal of happiness in later life. Dr. Robie, although not an advocate against masturbation, gives many in- stances where the sex act could never be consummated until the image called for during earlier masturbation was in- troduced. It takes years to overcome this, and some women never succeed at all. Let me repeat, too, that the physical condition is reflected in sexual health. If the vitality is low because of wrong methods of living, then bad sex habits follow easily because of blood irritations on the sex nerves, in conjunction with lowered resistance force. likewise remember that sex weak- nesses are best overcome in young women by physical treatment. But the physical organism, when in order, diverts the energies into healthy channels and sends nutrition to where it is most required, and the young 132 A Complete woman herself is able to conquer any morbid thought or desire by willing for her own good. CHAPTER V. Tite Married Man. Entrance upon the married condition is of momentous consequence to a man. If he has been true to the woman he loves, he will be full of ecstasy on tak- ing his place by the side of his newly married wife, with whom he is now on most intimate terms. There is so much that is unnatural in our civilization, the withholding of his feelings during courtship, and hiding away in the dark- ness for the nuptial experiences, that there is nearly always an association with evil doing, and a consequent over- indulgence for quite a long time. This, however, should be counteracted by mental and physical expenditure of energy in the pursuit of a study and games. It is a great mistake for men to cease their athletic activities with marriage. Many an athlete has broken up his health by ceasing to partake of exercise, 134 A Complete when he had been accustomed to violent exertion regularly. It is unnecessary for me to mention the numerous famous athletes who have gone to pieces in this way. Popular and even medical opinion explained this breaking up by saying that athletics are really injurious. This is only partly true. Severe athletic training may in itself be injurious, unless it is done scientifically and in regard to the general organic condition; but after the body has been accustomed to severe exertion, and the elimination of its poisons by such means, what happens when exercise ceases is simply that the blood becomes stagnant, tissue deteriorates, and the nerve centres be- come ill-nourished and poisoned. A similar result is seen in the case of a man who retires after an active life; his whole constitution seems to break up when his habitual activities and interests cease. So, you see, scientific exercise is necessary to all men, and at all stages of life. The mistake of getting out of Book of Sex Knowledge 135 condition and developing fat, while the whole of the body forces are devoted to the reproduction of the fluids manu- factured by the various sex glands and wasted by excesses, is responsible for a great deal of mischief. In order to avoid these things it is necessary to know certain facts regard- ing sex life in marriage. It is essential that the newly married man be not frightened into thinking that he is do- ing himself irreparable harm by normal indulgence, although it is, of course, very difficult to lay down any rule re- garding the number of times inter- course may be permitted. In fact, I go so far as to say that it is impossible to do so. Everything depends upon the size, strength, and nature of the man, and the desire created by his wife. However, it should be absolutely under- stood that the conservation of sex energy is highly desirable. A great number of men imagine that marriage permits unlimited license. This is most regrettable, and in any sex 136 A Complete education it should be combatted. The use of energy sexually may be an abso- lute waste and prevent its use in the production of useful work. "We know that there is a limited supply of human energy, and this can only be utilized'in its limitations; if it is dissipated, there can be no true expression worthy of the best of which the man is capable. Early youthful habits influence the sex expenditure to a great degree, and the soundest factor in the living of a normal sex life in marriage is the absence of masturbation before mar- riage, and, of course, absence of sex weaknesses such as spermatorrhoea. A great deal of mischief has been done on the other hand by earlier moralists, in imbuing the idea that all use of sex is sinful. The right and temperate use of sex in marriage is the greatest blessing in life; it knits wife and husband in continued unity; it en- ables them to repeat their vows of love; for the man it renews the inspiration that his loved one means to him. It is Book of Sex Knowledge 137 this factor which makes or mars married life. Yet how few men realize the im- portance of these things before mar- riage, or even after marriage! I am correct in saying that the majority have no idea of the responsibilities and privileges of marriage before they enter matrimony. They just tumble head- long into it, and find their way through its mazes as best they can. But by good luck sometimes, and by common sense in other instances, they find out a little and the marriage turns out happily. Most frequently, there are quarrels and unpleasantnesses because of misunderstanding. Most works on marriage can only be obtained by those already married; but surely it is essential for a man to learn before he embarks upon such a great adventure. We do not let a lawyer or a doctor into the secrets and intricacies of their professions only when they have obtained permission to practise. Yet we insist that permission to marry be 138 A Complete granted without qualification, and the knowledge necessary to its success only to he allowed to be obtained after the bond has been made. The making of a successful marriage starts in single life, and, after that, experience merely brings adjustments. We frequently hear of women run- ning away from their husbands after having being married only a few days or weeks. The cause, of course, does not always rest entirely with the hus- band, for women are often even more ignorant of the basic laws of sex con- duct in marriage than are men; but it is obvious that even if he knew the rudiments of right sex conduct he could so educate his wife and behave himself in such a way, that the frail barque of married life would not be so easily overturned on the rocks ahead. As a rule both parties are entirely ignorant of the things which most make for happiness in marriage, and, know- ing nothing of the valuable experiences of older people, they have to find out Book of Sex Knowledge 139 how to act for themselves when the time comes. It is no wonder that some- times a woman is so disgusted that she runs away. Some women are cruelly tom and mutilated by ignorant hus- bands, whom they can only regard as ravenous beasts of passion. Bnt this is only because he does not know the proper method of approach, or how to keep his passion in leash while he woos his wife. It used to be thought that the man who had sown his “wild oats” made a good husband because he knew how to proceed. There could never be a greater mistake or a more unwise saying; for the man who has been un- chaste before marriage is frequently the one to abuse the purity of his wife. Having allowed his passion to run riot in early life he is like a demon let loose, and the poor chaste woman, his wife, is merely some fresh object upon which to heap the full force of his bestiality, and of whom he will quickly tire when satiated. 140 A Complete It is not necessary to have any prac- tice or actual experience in pre-marital days. The force of love will direct everything as it should be, providing that the the functions are properly un- derstood. The consummation of the act, when it is the result of the pure emotion of love, will be practically sub- conscious. There will be no hurry, no forcing; but the husband will so woo his wife that she is ready to receive him and take him into herself. This conduct should be consistent throughout the whole of married life. It is the husband’s business to woo be- fore he attempts the final part of the act. Married men should always bear this in mind; there would then never be such a thing as forcing the wife against her will. She will learn, for her part, that she is to respond, and if she does not know this the sympathetic husband will educate her up to it. Everything depends, however, upon the absence of sex perversions and weaknesses, if a normal sex life is to be Book of Sex Knowledge 141 lived. The man who is given to ex- cesses will harm his wife and probably alienate her from him. He may also be impotent when it comes to the point of intercourse. That is the curse of youthful indescretions. They leave be- hind a trail that means misery and un- happiness for both husband and wife. Dr. Robie, a doctor who unfortunately advocates masturbation, gives innumer- able instances himself in his book “Rational Sex Ethics” where normal intercourse is impossible and can only be managed by conjuring up some erotic image which the man had been in the habit of associating with his masturbation. What a regrettable state of affairs! How can masturbation be anything but abnormal, pathological, and undesirable, if it degrades and de- stroys the supreme act1? It is the clean man who gets the most out of marriage, and it is the man who is moderate who reaps the richest reward. There must, however, be a free ex- pression of the feelings, and no sug- 142 A Complete gestion that the sex act has in it any- thing which is in the slightest way im- pure. A man must be able to go to his wife and coax and woo her until she wants him, and he must keep his thoughts free from any sensuousness. Sex is a means which binds his wife and himself in a complete unity. They mix in blood, bone, body, and soul, and the result in offspring is the absolute continuation of their own Life into posterity. The humane man will not burden his wife with too frequent pregnancies. Every woman requires about three years between each child; and in any case it is much better to see that the quality of each is the highest possible. When children follow each other too quickly all are deprived of their neces- sities, and handicap each other in the struggle for a bare existence. If a mother is feeding her child it is robbed of the nutriment it needs, should there be a little brother or sister developing in the womb; and the one unborn will Poor of Sex Knowledge 143 also 1)0 deprived of the nutrition it re- quires because of the one at the breast. It is obvious, then, that some form of conception control is necessary. Practically every family practises one of the many methods of controlling con- ception; but the scientific methods of doing so are in disrepute with some people. This is chiefly because they have been taught to believe that there is something wrong in the use of the sex function. Some, even, are so de- graded as to think that the mere fact of intercourse being necessary to procreation renders a child born in “sin”. It is high time such super- stition and ignorant ideas were stamped out, to be replaced by more decent and humane ones; there is no true ethical or moral law for their existence. The communion of man and wife is the most blessed thing there is; nothing should step in to degrade it. The best method of controlling con- ception depends upon the wife. She must be educated carefully to know how 144 A Complete to use it; but she should receive every encouragement from her husband to render its application without injury to her refinement. The husband is all right, anyway, for he has not to worry about preparation and need not even be aware of its presence. There are some women, however, who will not take care of themselves, and their husbands must do so. It is within the power of either husband or wife to control conception, so let no husband blame his wife for unwanted children, and no wife need blame her husband. There must, however, be unity of feel- ing and decision if the marriage is to be successful, and it is much better to have an open, honest discussion on this matter of the begetting of children, than to leave this most sacred duty to the chance of lust or passion. The chief reason for the use of scientific conception control is for the benefit to the children. All children have the right to be well born, and to be the result of a desire to beget them. Book of Sex Knowledge 145 Children born of lust will inherit pre- dispositions to sex weakness, and per- versions that may require the utmost care and be most difficult to fight against. In my estimation, the majority of people who have the hardest battles for their own decency and purity, have their parents, grandparents, or other forebears to blame, and it should be impressed very heavily upon all married men that they should use every en- deavour to give their children the highest heritage of health and a desire for refinement and purity. Dr. August Forel in his great work on “The Sexual Question”, relates the story of a sex pervert who took a mor- bid delight in perverting his sons as well. He was committed to prison for the sexual atrocities he had committed; but one of his sons had managed with tremendous difficulty to keep himself clean and pure, and maintain under control the unnatural promptings handed down to him by an unkind heredity. At last it was possible to 146 A Complete withstand no longer, and the result was that he comipitted suicide, leaving a note for his father, cursing him for the heritage of vicious desire he had given him, and saying that he preferred to die rather than act as his unnatural feelings prompted him. The young man, however, might have beep saved all this agony and his suicide could have been averted by a sym- pathetic specialist, who would have shown him the way of true living. It is necessary for all of us to realize that we have within us the animal sexual instincts of thousands of generations, against which we must constantly bat- tle. There are, besides, the abnormal predispositions handed down by our ancestors, demoralized by so-called civilized conditions. Yet we can triumph over them, if only we are prepared for them. The condition of the body itself is largely to blame for sex weaknesses which may lead to perversions. If the health is poor and the vitality low, and Book of Sex Knowledge 147 the nerve centres are irritated by poisonous blood, made worse by dissi- pation and neglect, the individual is not able to resist the irritations set up in the central sexual system. On the other hand, a correct diet, regular exercise, fresh air and interest in the things that matter in life will engage the human energy in such a way that morbid sexual promptings will disappear to a large degree and require very little effort in their combat. Before a man permits himself to procreate a new life, he should do all he can to ensure that he is physically fit. Healthy and beautiful children are a man’s greatest treasures, while weakly and ailing ones are far better not born. I do not want to deal too much in de- tail with this question of heredity, but its proper understanding is so very im- portant that I feel that no words can possibly be wasted on the subject. This is especially the case because so few scientists, even, place before people in 148 A Complete a popular manner the absolute facts concerning heredity. There have been two schools and both still have their adherents. One teaches that the hereditary characters are absolute, and will develop in spite of any care or environment, and that any habit or de- velopment acquired by an individual can in no way influence the offspring. This was the early view of Weismann, who is quoted and used largely by the orthodox political Eugenists, although they do not mention that Weismann himself considerably modified his views during later life. The other school maintains that ac- quired characters can be inherited. It was this theory that Darwin used to support his doctrine of the evolution of species by natural selection. The difficulty is that people will not see the particle of truth which exists in all discoveries. It is quite true that a character which is acquired by an in- dividual may not so influence the germ plasm as to become an absolute in- Book of Sex Knowledge 149 heritance, but there is not the slightest doubt that there is a predisposition to this acquirement which is inherited. Thus, the offspring will certainly he in- fluenced through the germ plasm, but other influences may counteract its de- velopment. This is definitely proven in the experiments made by Bateson and De Vries on plants and insects. Now let us take the hereditary pre- disposition to sex weakness. The off- spring is definitely influenced by the actions of the parent. If the father has been a roue the son is sure to ex- perience sex feelings which will lead to his ruin if he does not try to conquer them; then he will pass on these pre- dispositions to his children who will suffer from still greater morbid sexual promptings. On the other hand, a fight by means of will power, and a body which is trained up to a maximum de- gree of efficiency, will overcome this hereditary predisposition, and the grandchildren will inherit a tendency towards greater resistance powers. 150 .V Complete It is very essential for everyone to understand these scientific facts, for so many are inclined to give way—as the man referred to by Forel gave way to suicide—and succumb to what with care could be overcome. It is necessary tot remember that no matter what bad- physical, mental, or moral—'we may in- herit, we also inherit a tremendous lot of good, and our environment and nurture must be such as to bring out and develop in accordance with this scientific reasoning. But, however, it is necessary for us to know that as we behave so will our children tend to behave. Let us hand on to our children the best we have, and thus aid in mankind’s evolution to that stage to which idealists and thinkers have referred as the super- man. The supreme object of marriage is to beget children, who will carry on human life to eternity. We are im- mortal through our powers of repro- duction; our children are an actual— Book of Sex Knowledge 151 mental as well as physical—part of our- selves, and the germ cell that goes to develop into our boys and girls is the same living cell, only divided tnyriads of times, that first formed primitive protoplasm from so-called inorganic matter, and will be the cell that will result in millions of years to come in a superman as superior to us as we are to our apelike ancestor. But married life should be in itself a period of great joy and happiness, and it will be so where both man and wife love each other in the true sense of the word, and use the sex function wisely and as a communion to hold them to- gether; to inspire them to do noble deeds and to live great lives; to be free from superstitious ideas, and to be absolutely confident in each other; faithful unto the end—no, not the end, for there is no end—to the completion of their own item of individual life, which is but an infinitesimal part of all life. 152 A Complete Before I finish this chapter on sex education for married men, I feel T must repeat the necessity for under- standing the peculiarities of women. It is the husband’s place to woo and en- tice his wife to want him. Ue must not go abruptly to seek the closest in- timacy, but must know that such be- haviour may possibly counteract any desire his wife may have for him. She cannot summon up feelings and passion at a moment’s notice; she is by nature the passive element, and the male must arouse her. This may be done by kiss- ing and words of endearment, and all the arts of courtship. This will render an excellent oppor- tunity for repeating all the love vows of earlier days, and thus the bond which holds them together will be strengthened, and lasting happiness will be assured. Then, when the time is right the wife will draw her husband to her, and the culmination of the love emotion will be a mutual climax. Sometimes, however, Book of Sex Knowledge 153 tills will not be the ease, for women are slower than men in reaching the highest point of love. In such instances it will be wiser for the husband to con- tinue, in spite of his desire to turn over and sleep. Thus will the wife receive her orgasm, where otherwise she might spend a whole night in restlessness. If the husband’s orgasm naturally comes quickly, he should try to control it, and make it slower in culmination, to cor- respond with the nature of his wife. This is hard to do at first, but be- comes easier with practice and a desire that his wife shall experience as much satisfaction in intercourse as he him- self does. But for the happiness of both husband and wife, the orgasm should be experienced at the same time, and if they are in psychological har- mony, the accomplishment of this should not be difficult. CHAPTER VI. If it is true that most men marry in ignorance of the basic laws of sex con- duct which underlie marriage, what are we to say in regard to women? In the past it has been exceptional for a woman to know before her marriage what part sex should have to play. It has been considered immodest—nay, in- decent—to suggest to any single girl that before she embarks upon the sacred duties of matrimony she will find it necessary to know what to ex- pect. One would think that from the ex- treme caution which is necessary in the acceptance of a husband, it would be apparent that even gruesome things must be understood before marriage. But convention has it that sex is vulgar, that it should have no place in a dis- cussion of love in courtship, and that it is especially not suited to the tender, refined ideals of womanhood. That is The Married Woman. 156 A Complete why there are so many tragedies in early married life; why sometimes girls rnn away from their husbands after only a few days of marriage. Even the other day I heard the story of a fellow who married such a sweet and innocent girl. They took a trip across the water for their honeymoon, and had a cabin to share in common. As the girl seemed unconscious of any sex feeling, the young husband did not press matters for the first three days. At last he thought that it was his duty to talk with the girl about the facts of life, but he really knew very little more than she, and so could not be blamed for his clumsiness in the telling. The girl was astounded to think that her hero would want anything sexual with her, and went into hysterics. On returning home, the girl went to her aunt—for her parents were dead—and told her all about her trouble. The aunt very sympathetically explained things to the best of her ability, and the Book of Sex Knowledge 157 girl was a little better prepared for what must eventually happen. So, at last, the two were reconciled to each other; but there is still the thought in that girl’s mind that she is sacrificing her virtue and womanliness. Their present conduct, which calls for the practice of a most unscientific method of birth-control, is fraught with danger, as it amounts practically to mastur- bation, and nervousness and irritability have developed to such a stage that a breakdown to both parties is inevitable —and a divorce will undoubtedly follow. So let us see that married women are fortified with good, reliable information, which will bring them happiness and unity with good men. The very ignorance which is responsible for such a case as that quoted above, is most fre- quently responsible also for bad habits, because there was no forewarning. These habits depend upon an erotic psychology which is difficult to eradi- cate. The woman finds that she re- ceives sufficient pleasure only when she 158 A Complete associates her feelings with certain thoughts which before marriage stimu- lated her unnatural orgasms, and thus she does not want the legitimate em-/ brace of her husband. Whatever sex weaknesses or ab- normalities we examine, we find that there is one cause underlying all of them—masturbation. This is the result of the wicked conspiracy of silence on sex matters, and we must use all our efforts to stamp it out. The greatest curse of humanity is its superstitious ignorance in condemning all sex study as vulgar and indecent. It is immoral not to face the facts of sex! It is cowardly to hide away the facts of Life from those who will hand down Life to future generations. Neither are the facts of sex un- beautiful, as so many people imagine; they must, however, be taught properly, and in a refined way. Nothing is ugly, or degrading, or vulgar, “but thinking makes it so”. The union of a man and woman who love each other is surely Book of Sex Knowledge 159 the most beautiful thing in the world. To melt away spiritually and physio- logically into a complete unity is surely the highest condition of human bliss, when it is the culmination of purest love and passion. It is necessary in order to experience such true and full expression to be entirely free from any feeling that the act is wicked. It is un- natural conduct that is wicked; morbid and erotic habits, promiscuity, sensuous- ness, and degrading thoughts, are vile; but the pure and beautiful act which leads to the conception of a new in- dividual life—-a joint part of the parents’ life, and of all life, is surely the highest communion in the world. In the marriage relation the wife has a special part to play, exactly as has the husband. We hear frequently about men being “brutal and beastly” be- cause they seek the embraces of their wives, and sometimes also because they leave them unsatisfied. This is a pure misunderstanding of sex physiology and psychology. If it is a sin against A Complete a wife to be left unsatisfied by the hus- band, it is equally a sin for the husband to be left unsatisfied by the wife. And, again, if it is beastly for a man to approach his wife before she makes any advances to him or has any feeling for him sexually, it is equally bad for women to seek their husbands before the latter are aroused. So we arrive at an absurd paradox which is the logical conclusion of their one-sided arguments. What we have to remember is the biological, physio- logical and psychological peculiarities of man and woman. It is undoubtedly woman’s characteristic to play the passive part, and to have the man woo her. Where this is not done—where the act is sought without preliminaries — it is really very difficult for the woman to respond; and married women should, if their husbands are ignorant, endeavour to acquaint them of this necessity. On the other hand, the wife must understand that if she wants to keep Book of Sex Knowledge 161 the intense love and affection of her husband, she will endeavour to respond; and she can legitimately use all the arts and wiles of courtship that come to her instinctively. It is very important to remember that such sexual practices are not indecent as some have taught, but they are necessary preliminaries to the act. It is also wrong for the woman to restrain her husband by turning away from him as if disgusted, or even with the intention to prevent him from over- indulgence. You will agree that I am a very staunch advocate of moderation, but I have sufficient experience to know that this sort of behaviour does not help a man towards control; on the other hand, it aggravates him and arouses the primitive instinct so that he simulates the savage ancestor, in some regrettable cases, and forces the act. Then there is a cause for disgust in the wife, and it is exactly the way that troubles begin in married life, and divorces and separations follow. 162 A Complete It is not the refusal of admission that will help the husband, for, if he is ab- normal, his condition may be purely due to his physiologically run down state. But it will be of assistance when he and his wife both understand the act properly. The preliminary phase is courtship, where the two are locked in a pure em- brace of love, kissing, and repeating all the beautiful expressions of their court- ing days, and inspiring each other in a larger life. Then, quite naturally, will both approach the desire for more com- plete unity, and, having attained it, will for a few moments be wrapt in their sweetest emotions, until the climax comes for both and they pulse in a harmonic orgasm; after which they fall into a perfect soothing sleep of re- cuperation and rest. Such experience is beneficial in the highest degree to both parties, and will be an auxiliary guard against any ex- cesses. Excesses in men are often in- duced by incomplete acts, while women Book of Sex Knowledge 163 notoriously develop all sorts of nervous disorders. For the proper function for such sexual experience it is essential to keep in good physical health; and the married woman needs constant exercise and care in her diet and hygiene. She should have plain food; that is, the omission of pastries, pies, fancy dishes, and too rich food, although it must he remembered that she must not pander to any fads in regard to diet. The ideal set of digestive organs is the one cap- able of disposing of normal food, and this is what every woman should aim at possessing. It is developed by exercise chiefly. Great care and cleanliness should be observed in regard to the sex parts. But in dealing with this I shall also deal with the methods of prevention of conception. A man should be acquainted with methods he can use if desirable, but every woman needs to be in pos- session of information by means of which she can control the birth of her 164 A Complete children, and also, if necessary, prevent the contraction of venereal disease. There is no danger in the use of a scientific mechanism to prevent con- ception. The vaginal canal ends by the womb, which has a very small hole, and the object is to prevent any of the sper- matozoa from entering this hole. The presence of the article need not be de- tected by the husband, and the wife her- self need not have any due preparation likely to detract from the romance of the pure act. There is no need to douche or interfere in any way, either before or after the act, until the morning. The relaxation and rest which follow the powerful spasm are very much needed. That is why other methods are to be condemned. Thus it is possible for the married woman only to have children as slie de- sires ; for it is a sin to beget a child as the result of sexual pleasure alone and without ardently wanting it. And, again, she will be able to give free and Book of Sex Knowledge 165 unhampered expression to her feelings on legitimate occasions. However, it is taken for granted that this does not permit licence or excess. Women are sometimes as guilty of ex- cess as are men, but it is usually due to the disposition being not entirely moral, but physiological. Lack of clean- liness acts as an irritant and should be guarded against. Indigestion, consti- pation, and the petty ailments not only weaken moral control, but they have a directly irritating influence on the sexual nerves. Again, weaknesses pre- vent the full expression in the act, and instead of feeling better after it some women experience a worn-out feeling. Some women do not experience the orgasm at all, and I have frequently been asked to explain it. Some pass through the whole of married life with- out knowing the true feeling of thrill in perfect intercourse. Such cases are pathological, but they can easily be remedied by the woman being taught the technique of the act, and how to 166 A Complete know what to expect and liow to be- have. But others are in such bad physical shape that they simply cannot go through the various stages of the sexual function. Especially is this the case with women who are married to men who are somewhat hasty in their ejaculation. What happens is that there is usually no preparation, and the husband has practically to force his way unaided by his wife. Then, when his orgasm comes, she has only just begun to be a little interested, while he, now satisfied, (not fully, but so far as the emission of semen is concerned) turns away and goes to sleep. Such wives should tell their husbands to remain a little longer at the act; although this has not usually very beneficial effects on the husband. At any rate, it is more satisfactory and less detrimental to the wife. But the wife should on such occasions en- deavour to be interested from the be- ginning, this except, of course, where there is a tremendously abnormal de- Book of Sex Knowledge 167 sire for constant repetition on the part of the husband; such repetition must he dealt with from a physical stand- point in the husband. Here, even, it is essential for the married woman to realize that the con- stant desire of her husband does not necessarily mean that he is a very bad man. She must know that there are physiological causes and predispo- sitions, developed through bad sex edu- cation which are responsible. She must be sympathetic, and try to learn all she can, so that she can help to reform him and put things right. But the most sacred part of marriage is the begetting of children. A child- less marriage is the greatest tragedy in the world. Every normal woman de- sires to be the mother of two or three healthy, bonny children; every normal man wishes to see himself in his sons, and his wife in his daughters. For the conception of such it is necessary to make preparation. Diseases, weak- nesses, and bad characters, while not 168 A Complete directly inheritable, leave their predis- positions in the offspring; and if the child is badly nurtured one might al- most say that these are bound to appear. Both father and mother would do well to prepare by undergoing a good, all-round course of physical cul- ture so that they are absolutely physically fit for the part they are go- ing to play. Then, preferably in the sunlight, in the morning hours, when both are happy and contented, radiating joy and health, the act should take place, most reverently, knowing that it is an act of creation—of immortali- zation. During the whole of the time of pregnancy the mother should remember that her thoughts affect her unborn child. There has been a great deal of nonsense talked and written about this, but there is not the slightest doubt about the transmission of psychological influences. One of the stories com- monly circulated is: when a deformity appears in the child it is due to a Book of Sex Knowledge 169 vision or sight which was seen by the expectant mother. There is no physio- logical process by which such a thing could happen, except if it be accom- panied by some physical injury. But what I mean by psychological in- fluences is in the direct influence of the development of the mind of the unborn infant, and also the general deteriorat- ing effects bad thoughts have on the physical organism. Many women eat far too much during pregnancy; often under the delusion that they must “eat for two”, and also because they feel an increased appetite or imagine that it is increased. It is a great mistake to eat so much, and that is why these women have large, fat, toxic babies, and suffer unneces- sarily in confinement. It is unnecessary for a child to be more than five or six pounds in weight at birth, and in its early years it is bad for it to be heavily fat. So many people run away with the idea that the fatter the baby the more healthy it is, but this is quite a 170 A Complete mistaken idea, and most of the baby- shows and competitions do a great deal of harm by distributing prizes for fat babies instead of for healthy ones. It goes without saying that every woman should prepare herself for motherhood by studying all she can of the methods on the care and upbring- ing of children. However, it is best to procure recently published works, for old fashioned ones are almost worse than useless because of the foolish ideas they give. I do not think that there is any one book which I can recommend whole heartedlv, and I have often wished for the time in which to write one myself; but there are many up-to- date books which can be borrowed from the public libraries, and the woman must use her own discretion and com- mon sense and instinct in the reading of them. There are not two children born exactly alike, and therefore any treatment has to be modified to suit the individual. It is necessary, then, for a woman to make a study of the best Book op Sex Knowledge 171 authorities on the care and upbringing of the child, study carefully all the children she meets, and prepare herself to understand her own offspring and treat them sensibly and well. Every woman should read some of the works of Madame Montessori, for instance. One of these is the “Montessori Mother”, but it should be remembered that it was written of Italian children, and therefore needs adaptation to the nature of the American child. Again, Rousseau’s “Emile” is a fine book on the subject, and quite modern in thought, although written over a cen- tury ago, but, of course, many of the things advocated would be impossible; so in her reading and study of this most important subject, the woman must approach with an open mind, and en- deavour to glean the best for the up- bringing and happiness of her own children. Sterility is a very sad affliction of some women, but very often it is most easily cured. There are, however, some 172 A Complete cases where the internal structure is at fault. Some persons have been known, for instance, to possess external female organs and internal male ones, and they never menstruate, although in some cases they possess sex feelings and passions. In other cases, gonorrhoea sometimes so inflames the oviducts that they shrivel up at the ends or get stric- tures. Most cases of sterility, however, are caused by displacement of the uterus. Fat women, especially, suffer from this form. The fatty tissue is aided, usually, as I explained in an earlier chapter, by the pressure of tight corsets. In still other cases, distended stomach and in- testines may be to blame. This is re- sponsible for a large number of urinogenital troubles; gas in the colon often causes prolapsus of the womb. In the majority of cases simple re- cuperation of the general health, and putting the digestive organs in order may be sufficient to correct the displace- ment. In some cases, however, the re- Book of Sex Knowledge mainder of the organs adapt themselves to the abnormal conditions and so have to be moved into position by a physician or surgeon. From every point of view the im- portance of bodily exercise, diet, and hygiene is apparent. Without health in the mother there can be no fair oppor- tunity of health in the children; nor can there be true happiness in the functions relative to marriage. With women as with men it is essential to continue exercise after maturity has been reached; while girls and young women often get sufficient recreational exercise, and feel naturally disposed to the performance of regular morning and evening exercises, women on at- taining matrimony usually neglect it. Xo woman, no matter how old she is, can dispense with exercise, and if she is run down, neurasthenic, or weak, her condition can nearly always be cor- rected by scientific exercise in con- junction with other physical culture treatment. A Complete Many married women think that they get sufficient exercise in the practise of their household duties, but such is not the case. Exercise must be pleasant, and always be taken as part of one’s recreation. Housework, often drudgery, simply drains away vital nervous energy. The woman who is fit and well finds her work a pleasure because she is able to do it so easily, thus benefiting in every way. Again, the woman who is weak and ailing makes a bad mother and wife be- cause she is easily upset, has moods, gets easily antagonistic, and worries over needless trifles, and thus cannot act as she in her normal moments would like herself to act. The life of a married woman should be one long round of health and happi- ness, and I trust that I have been able to lay down a few hints that will help her to make it such. We need to de- stroy the superstitious dread of sex ex- pression as something which is unclean, and let it take its rightful place as the Book of Sex Knowledge tie between the two people, giving them joy and inspiration. But to be such it must be free from excess, from weak- ness, from licence, and experienced in its full functioning, and this it can only be when the physical disposition is favourable and sex education is scien- tific and efficient. CHAPTER VII. The Bachelor. By the bachelor I mean the man over 23, who is still unmarried for some rea- son or other. Our social conditions render it very difficult for some men to get married at the best age, and they are compelled to wait, in many cases for some years, before they can “take the plunge”. Others never get married at all. But every man above the age of 23 who has not contracted the bonds of matrimony has a severe struggle with himself if he desires to live a whole- some life. I will not hesitate to say that I be- lieve marriage is the best condition for the man over 23 years of age, but it is not always selfishness which keeps a man from marriage. Some of the finest men I know are bachelors and have given the best of their lives to produce the finest work of which they are call- able in order that the world at large would benefit. Many a bachelor is afraid 178 A Complete to take the step, fearing inability to provide the level of comfort that the woman he desires would require. In many of these cases, however, it is fre- frequently a mistaken idea which has taken hold of the man. The best women are quite prepared to stand by the men they love until the latter are able to earn sufficient to be luxurious, “and in many cases they are willing, and anxious, to add to the income by their own efforts. For these it is necessary to know that marriage need not directly mean children which cannot be kept. The children, too, are more likely to be healthy and strong if the parents are more mature. There are dangers in remaining single which can easily be avoided by mar- riage, and it is far better to live in married cleanliness, without children for a few years, than risk venereal in- fection or some sex perversion which will mar the rest of life. However, there are still men—I know this to be true—who do not find the Book op Sex Knowledge 179 woman they need; they never seem to meet the ideal which arouses the fire of ambition and the desire for unity. Social conditions are in great measure to blame for this, for it is difficult for men and women to meet under the most desirable circumstances. There have been papers which have opened their advertisement columns for the purpose of enabling men and women to meet eacli other. This is far preferable to the usual method that boys and girls have of picking each other up on the street, or at a dancing hall. On the Continent of Europe it is customary to hold special balls, having for their object the meeting of men and women for the purpose of matrimony. They are, however, most regrettable affairs, for it is the business side of the ques- tion which is always uppermost; while a woman will ask quite freely the pro- fessional standing of the man she meets, he will ask just as brazenly what dowry will be coming to her. So they sell themselves to each other, .and one won- 180 A Complete ders how far removed such so-called civilized marriage is from prostitution. Could only a somewhat similar method be found, by which young people could meet and discover each other’s qualities — instead of their incomes—how much better it would be! There is much to be said for national Matrimonial Bureaux, and this has already been tried in some countries; but until they can be managed in a more humane and sympathetic maimer they will not be a success. It is regrettable that the financial aspect of the question should have to enter into marriage at all; but our commercial system is based on indi- vidualism, materialism, and money. There will be no maximum true ex- pression of love until we are entirely free from the present commercial sys- tem; no more than there will bo an entire divorcement between art and commercialism until capitalism is wiped away. Book of Sen Knowledge 181 Yet we have to remember that there are great artists living who produce their work for what it is worth to the world, and because they are inspired to do it in place of some more profitable occupation. So, likewise, there are great lovers, who, knowing the worth of true love, will not allow commer- cialism to enter their arrangement and make it a bargain in souls. On the other hand, we must remember that we are in the present stage of social development, and no matter how much we dislike it, or may see into a future millennium, we cannot hasten on the wheels of evolution any more quickly than Nature dictates. So we have to live and act in accordance with things as we find them, and, just as primitive man had to be content to build a mud hut and fight and hunt and fish for food—in spite of the fact that he may have been dreaming of houses of brick and canned meats,—so must man today go out into a world of, in many instances, cut-throat competition, 182 A Complete work in mine or mill, in office or shop, to obtain the wherewithal to provide shelter, food and raiment for his mate and himself. The bachelor who is getting on in years presents a profound problem in sex education. He will be told that it is harmful to be chaste. This teaching is a great mistake. I will admit that it is tremendously difficult to keep pure under these conditions, but there is no doubt that it can be done, ahd is done. Every endeavour should be made to let the bachelor see that marriage is the only condition under which he can ex- pect to live a normal life. But it should never be forgotten, as I have mentioned above, that there may be serious rea- sons for his not marrying, and his feel- ings must be studied generously. Some bachelors are single because they are naturally promiscuous, and these lay themselves open to great danger. The consequences of venereal diseases have already been dealt with in the chapter devoted to young men, Book of Sex Knowledge 183 and it would be difficult to overestimate the harm that they do once they are contracted. It is all very well to preach and prate to these individuals, but it must be remembered that their con- dition is physiological and pathological. The majority of them wish themselves that they could keep down their unwel- come passions, but they find all their effort and resolutions valueless. It may be that they make a firm resolve to live a rational clean life; yet on the first occasion that temptation arises, they succumb to it helplessly. We must recognize the pathology of such cases, and, instead of upbraiding the sufferers mercilessly, give them some sound information which will bene- fit them and leave them at ease—by tell- ing them the facts of their physiological disposition. It is especially pleasing to note that the great Forel sees eye to eye with me on this point, at least, although he does not know that the condition can be eradicated in most cases by proper 184 A Complete treatment. Forel makes the mistake of blaming the disposition on to heredity and accepts the narrow interpretation of the facts of heredity by maintaining that a character—such as sex per- version—develops in spite of any other influences. If Ford were right in such belief it would be a sad thing for the world; for who can point to an ancestry free from some or other perversion or disease? One must remember that there are other characters which are also in- herited, such as the forces of resistance, and these can be directed psycho- logically and physiologically, so that these perversions need never develop, and, in most cases, when developed, can be overcome. The single man above marriageable age needs to live an extra active life. He must keep his energies engaged at top pressure, if he is to divert them from undesirable sexual channels. Of intense importance is physical exertion, but it should be of a scientific nature, or there may be strains, and, in some Book of Sex Knowledge 185 cases, the exercises may have the opposite effect to that desired. Every case really requires to be dealt with on its merits; each individual has his peculiarities. Some men doing physical exercise direct the blood supply to the sexual nerve centres; I have had com- plaints from several men to this effect, that when undergoing violent physical exertion they found it left behind it the opposite effect of that commonly sup- posed, and no rest was found until the sex forces were relieved. In such cases it is necessary to direct the blood cir- culation to other parts, and relieve the irritation of the sexual nerve centres. Frequently, I have found that while these undesired sex passions were so strong—especially after exercise—there was a general debility in the remainder of the nervous system. Often, in fact, the nervous system is starved, resulting in indigestion, constipation, neuras- thenia, physical weakness, and some- times general disorder and rheumatism. Then these nerve centres have to be 186 A Complete built up carefully, and even in this process energy is engaged which formerly had been used pathologically in sex weakness. A very serious complication which is exceedingly common among married men is spermatorrhoea or nocturnal emissions. This, in my experience al- ways follows masturbation; and I have never yet found a case which did not; I should, therefore, be extremely obliged to hear from anybody who has come across a case of spermatorrhoea which had not masturbation as its forerunner. It is natural to a man to marry at puberty, and, if he has strained the vital substances out of himself by un- natural practices, he sets up a nerve action which not only becomes peri- odical, but increases in its frequency. Marriage will in many instances cure the spermatorrhoea, but, as I have al- ready mentioned, it still leaves other perversions. In unmarried men, who are not promiscuous, the complaint sometimes becomes very serious—ah Book of Sex Knowledge 187 though, let me say right here, the trouble is often exaggerated by those who do not understand its nature. This frightening process is pernicious. It does more than anything else to in- crease the complaint. What the man needs is to keep his mind as much as possible free from any sex or worrying thoughts. Yet the mere fact of worry- ing increases the nervous stimulation to the part and sets in action the psychological process for the uncon- scious emission. Thus the condition be- comes chronic. It is much better to convince the man that, in spite of the harm he has suffered, or is suffering, there is a simple way out for him. In many in- stances it is necessary to tell him that he has done himself far less harm than lie imagines. But do not be so foolish as to let him think that there is no harm in his condition. It is absolutely positive that he cannot be well, he can- not work properly and efficiently men- 188 A Complete tally, nor can he do justice to himself until he stops the waste. The sexual fluid which is emitted is composed of the very richest material in the body. It has been calculated that it requires sixty ounces of blood for the production of eacli ounce; and analyses have shown that its composition is similar to the composition of nervous tissue. In fact, this similarity is so re- markable that many early physicians held that it was of the same com- position as brain substance. This led the unscientific moralists to assert that it really was brain substance, and it is a still common belief among the ignorant that the seminal fluid comes down the spine from the brain. There may be good reasoning at any rate in such popular belief, for it is surely the nervous system which suffers chiefly in sexual waste, for the nutrition is diverted from the chief nerve centres — including the brain—for the pro- duction of seminal fluid at the ab- Book of Rex Knowledge 189 normally liigli rate called for by the condition of the sufferer. A great factor in keeping the passions under control is cleanliness. Cleanli- ness is, in fact, of first importance for all departments of health. The com- plete bath regularly every morning, is not yet, unfortunately, a general insti- tution; the sooner it is the better it will be for people. Every improvement which has been made in healthier con- ditions of living, and in the combat of epidemics of fever and plague, has been made through sanitation, which is clean- liness, and the world is going to find sooner or later that the most serious diseases are eradieable by promoting internal sanitation, and that they are all preventable by maintaining internal sanitation by exercise, hygiene, and a sensible diet. A great deal of sex weakness may be aggravated and given a start by lack of cleanliness in regard to the organ itself. Especially is this the case in uncircumcised men; portions of seminal 190 -V Complete liuid in a dried condition, which ought to be washed away but are not, remain to rub against the sensitive penis and cause physical irritation. It then takes little in a psychological—subjective or objective—way to let loose the nervous spasm essential for an emission. I would like to sound a warning against a popular idea in regard to avoiding excesses which, though it has its merits, is often responsible for a great deal of harm. It is the practise of cold water douching. It was recom- mended far and wide by early moral reformers, and I have known doctors and health authorities give such in- formation to all and sundry. But a treatment must always be suited to the subject, rather than the forcing of the subject to the treatment. Douch- ing the private parts may only be practiced by a few robust individuals, and even then it must be used with care. Insufficient drying, and the loss of a normal circulation to the thighs and hips has resulted in many a case Hook of Sex Knowledge 191 of rheumatism. I have sometimes traced chronic rheumatism in middle age to this practise during adolescence. Sitz baths are excellent, but they need to be undertaken with great care, for they very frequently do considerable damage to the loins by disturbing, and in some cases destroying, the capillary blood circulation. 1 believe that Nature cures every complaint which is ever cured, but I am inclined to depreciate many of the prac- tises resorted to by some people under the impression that they are making Nature cure them. Nature herself would never use such drastic treat- ments. The unmarried man of marriageable age is the one who most frequently suf- fers from sex weaknesses—often they keep him from marrying—and that is why I feel that it is necessary in this chapter to deal more in detail with the hygiene essential to sexual health. Sex education means not merely knowing the processes of sex development, but in- 192 A Complete eludes the behaviour necessary to liv- ing the normal life. A great deal of discussion has circled around the question of diet in regard to the excitation of abnormal sex feelings. Some would have it that only the most frugal meals should be partaken by those having a tendency to sex weak- ness. But much of this is nonsense. A plain normal full diet can be taken with- out any ill effects, provided that other factors are in accordance with the rules I have outlined in this hook. But the question inevitably arises: how many people know what a plain wholesome diet really is? I remember one man who was in a run down condition, and under the treatment I suggested for him was fit to take a full diet; and I told him to take plenty of good nourish- ing food. This is the menu he gave of a typical day’s meals: Breakfast:— Porridge, milk, cream, and sugar, dates and raisins, ham, fried eggs, coffee, toast, and marmalade. Lunch:— Soup, fish, poultry, a mixed grill of kidney, Book of Sex Knowledge 193 bacon and steak; potatoes, cabbage, bread and jam roll. Supper:—Tea, bread and butter, chicken, beefsteak, potatoes, peas, rice pudding, and cake. Then the man complained that he felt “blown out”, and had indigestion, and yet felt weak! I should think that any- body would feel weak from such a diet, for, of course, it defeats its object. Too much food is worse than none at all, as has been frequently proven. Probably most of the ills of mankind are caused by overeating—combined with inac- tivity. People become accustomed to think- ing that heavy protein foods, such as chops, steaks, eggs, cheese, nuts, poultry, and fish, are necessary because they supply the very important nitro- genous elements, and think that they have to be eaten in very large quantities —as many as possible at the same meal —and that they go to build up and feed a good tissue. The man referred to above wasted the greater part of the food he ate; it gave his organs more 194 .V Complete work to do, it helped to clog his sys- tem, it diverted his energy to the ever- lasting task of digestion, and finally passed through his body without nour- ishing a cell of tissue. Small wonder that he felt weak! Then, again, there must be first a physiological call for food. The body which is stagnant is food clogged, and extra food only makes matters worse. . * In fact, the common ailments may al- most be produced at will by the extra feeding of such people—the resulting- diseases following the tendencies which have been handed down to the man by his ancestors: that is, that in one man gastric troubles would appear, in an- other, appendicitis; in a third, diph- theria, and so on. In spite of the food-logged con- dition, the person may be weak, and his excesses may still further deplete his nervous energy and vitality, and the extra supply of food he takes still fails to reach and nourish the proper centres. Book of Sf.x Knowledge 195 Thus it is foolish to feed the patient heavily. On the other hand, it is not at all necessary to deprive a man of his food, for it is possible to enjoy really good food, and many of the delicacies that civilization has brought, if we but take them in the proper way, and in right combination. One must always bear in mind that a human body be- comes accustomed to the reception of certain foods, and that any alterations have to be made very carefully. What is of greatest importance is the direction of the nutrition to the proper centres, so that the depletion caused by excess may be made good; also to the organs which are weakened secondarily and the central nervous system, so that the in- dividual is built up in a way that en- ables him to make the most of his re- sistant forces of will, action, and counteraction. It is very difficult to deal with patho- logical cases in general, because each case presents a problem in itself. Be- 196 A Complete cause of this fact it is my belief that there can be no exact science of path- ology. That is why all these specu- lations about the transplantation of glands, the use of toxins, serums, and vaccines, can never be really successful in the prevention or cure of disease. We know that there are numerous diseases and deaths caused by resort to these devices, and such could not hap- pen if every individual were constituted alike. It is a popular saying that “what will cure one person will kill another”, and this is very near the truth. It is just the same in the treatment of sex weakness; what will relieve one person will only aggravate another. Each case must he taken on its merits, and the unity of the whole organism taken into account. The only reliable laws of recuperation are the biological and physiological processes of development. These have to be applied in various ways and in an expert manner. The body has in itself all the forces for its own recuperation. The lymphatic Book of Sex Knowledge 197 glands arrest foreign germs and break them down into their simpler chemical constituents; the kidneys and the skin analyse out of the blood many inorganic poisons; and the lungs get rid of gaseous poisons. These organs and their functions have to be stimulated by Nature’s own methods in order to build up the strong—in a mental as well as a physical sense—man out of weakness or degeneration. In approaching the close of this chapter devoted to unmarried men, let me again emphasize the importance of persuading them to live the natural life that marriage permits. But let us always remember that some of the most brilliant men have voluntarily deprived themselves of married joys because they found that only by so doing could they give their energies to the pro- duction of their great works in art, science, or literature. They act thus on a profound fact: that energy can only be expended in a limited number of channels; the devotion of it to sexual 198 A Complete ends prohibits its use in their world calling-. But in my estimation they in- jure themselves and humanity. They can never understand life to the fullest degree until they have experienced it; and then they also blot themselves out. in their own generation, instead of pro- ducing other lives, having as an in- heritance their gifts and altruistic aspirations. Another repetition 1 would like to make is in regard to the narrow con- ception of heredity that is taken up by some of the Eugenists, Forel, Havelock Ellis, and others. Because a trait appears in the parent there is no rea- son why it should develop in the off- spring. Everything depends on the training and environment. It is un- necessary for me to refer to the many biological experiments which have been made to prove this; but let me mention one of these. An American adult lizard breathes through lungs, just as any ordinary adult amphibian. Con- fine it to living in the water from Book of Sex Knowledge 199 birth and it will retain its external gills. Students of Zoology will remem- ber how the immature animal and adult were once classed as different species; until one day a keeper at the zoological gardens smashed the aquarium in which they were confined, letting the water run out. When he went again to inspect the creatures some days later, he found they had lost their external gills and were crawling about as fully developed land animals and corresponding in every degree to another species. So it is that the full development of a human being can only take place in a suitable environment, and predispo- sitions, although hereditary, may be in- hibited or cured, when the right treat- ment has been discovered. A tremendous number of our specula- tions—especially in regard to hereditary predispositions—are simply the result of ignorance. Forel, Galton, Pearson, Ellis, to name but a few, have done brilliant work in drawing attention to 200 A Complete the possibilities of Eugenics, but the fact remains that a great many of the traits which they would seek to elimi- nate by eugenic breeding can be pre- vented by proper treatment. It is quite true that it is possible to trace the analysis of the predispositions to Epilepsy; the disease is traceable and follows Mendel’s law. But it is equally true that cases of epilepsy can be prevented by certain methods of living. Most of the ill conditions of mankind can be stamped out by preventing stagnation and putrifaction. All disease is being now discovered to be the result of poisoning, and prevention rests along the lines of internal and external sani- tation. Sex weaknesses and perversions follow no different law; they are eradicable by proper education in sexual hygiene and biology, and inasmuch as the platitude that “prevention is better than cure” is eternally true, and must always be borne in mind, let us devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the pre- Book of Sex Knowledge 201 vention of the development of undesir- able characters in the human race; then we shall not be faced with the horrors of disease and perversion. CHAPTER VIII. The Spinster. The woman who has not found her mate should have utmost consideration, and sympathy that we can give. This does not mean “pity” for her con- dition. Years ago, when the pro- portions of men and women were fairly level, the “old maid” was looked upon as a subject fit for pity, or laughter, or innuendoes. It was generally through some unfortunate love affair that she still remained single, or that she had not appealed to men and had conse- quently received no offers of marriage. An “old maid”, too, in those days was generally a crabbed or fussy individual, or was filled with some religious or kindred mania. All this is changed. Now every coun- try—at least in the old world—holds thousands of women who will never marry. They are known as “super- fluous”, although it is an insult to any' 204 A Complete set of individuals to be thus designated as “unwanted”, and still more to that brave army of women, who have proved their efficiency in home, factory, school, hospital, and office. Many of them sup- port crippled fathers or brothers, de- pendent mothers or sisters, and in num- berless cases are the only wage-earners of the home. Taking up all branches of work, all professions and trades, they have shown ability and com- petency, yet because there are not enough men to go round, they are dubbed “superfluous”. In only one particular are they that; unfortunately their glorious womanhood cannot be handed down to posterity—yet so many of them, strong, athletic, clear thinking, alert, broadminded women, would make some of the best wives and mothers! They are not “old maids” in any sense of the term. The original old maids became fussy and crabbed, and filled with manias, simply because their sexual life was starved, and the energy created was allowed to feed upon itself Book of Sex Knowledge 205 instead of being diverted into healthy occupations, as it is in the case of un- married women today. Now a single woman can use up her nervous energy in work of all kinds— in business, in physical and mental occupations; her outlook is broadened by association with the great world; she is among those who “do”. The old maid, on the other hand, was a negation; her thoughts were with the past—with her regrets and disillusions—and she was embittered that no love had come into her life. Convention forbade that she should enter the business or work- ing world; physical recreation was taboo; there was, therefore, no healthy outlet for her energies—no channel into which her natural sex feelings could be diverted. Our conventions are undoubtedly essential to the stability of society, and it would surely be a sorry state of affairs were there no, law or order to give us a means of social co-operation. But there are innumerable conventions 206 A Complete to which we cling tightly which result in much harm. One of these is due to the passive roll the female always plays in the preliminaries to marriage. Many of our finest women are spinsters because they would not give expression to the feelings they had for a splendid man; they thought it was wrong, or immodest. And many men are now bachelors be- cause they never knew that they were loved. It is difficult to see why it is wrong for a woman to say to a man “I love you”; indeed, it is no more wrong than for the man to say the same thing. But it is, as I have said, the natural part of the female to be the passive ele- ment and wait for the male to come along and possess her. However, inas- much as the whole of civilization is the triumphing over natural law, I trust this one will not be long before it is mastered by women. Many a woman, merely because of being afraid that the right man would not ask her to marry him, has tied herself to one of the first 1>ook of Sex Knowledge 207 men who lias come along, regardless of the suitability of his character or the question of compatibility. Rather than take the risk of remaining single, yet too bound down by convention to ask the man she loves to marry her, she makes a loveless union. Nevertheless, the wise woman is the one who waits until she finds the right man, and then, taking her courage in both hands, con- fides honestly her feelings to the man. There must necessarily be great caution, for even this conduct may be detrimental and lead to the loss of the man, where otherwise the ordinary courtship would have been successful; for it is well-known that a man naturally desires to woo his love and win her; and if the woman thrusts herself upon him, his feelings, in spite of himself, may alter. Again, he may be very con- ventional himself, and look upon the woman’s conduct as immodest. Never- theless, nowadays a man generally likes to feel that the woman he is taking to be his wife is going to stand by him 208 A Complete through thick and through thin, on every occasion; and the woman who plainly and simply tells her love is probably the one most likely to do this. With such a woman there should be no doubt, and if misunderstanding should arise, the wife, at least, will be above all that is petty, and will cling to her husband in friendship and guidance. Whatever may be written or said to the contrary, this is a fact; and it is only that it has been conventional to pre- tend that a woman’s love and feelings are indifferent, and that she must always be played up to and pampered, that many still believe that a man dis- likes a woman who is “thrust upon him”. A true, good and sincere friend, a helpmeet and comfort in trouble, one who will stand shoulder to shoulder in all the battles of life—this is what most good men want. Let us be honest with ourselves at all times and on all ques- tions, and we shall find men and women Book of Sex Knowledge 209 to be really better than they are gen- erally believed to be. It is really never too late to wed. Marriage means in its fullest sense the procreation of children, but it is also essential in civilized society to sexual health and happiness. It may be a re- lationship in some cases with purely this end in view. So let no woman think that her days are over, unless she desires to remain single, but let her rather keep in her mind that some- where her ideal is waiting for her, seek- ing her, and may find her in the end, if she assists in the finding of him. Unmarried women of mature years are apt to pass through phases very dangerous for themselves. Even the searching for the ideal is in itself fraught with serious danger. There are men skilled in the arts of flirtation who seek only to seduce and not to remain responsible for any actions they may commit. Their conduct is due to our faulty system of sex education, so let no unmarried woman allow herself to A Complete become embittered by individuals, and to class the whole of the male sex in this category, but rather let her seek to destroy the conspiracy of hush that breeds this immorality. The dangers, too, in the case of some unmarried women are due to them- selves. There are the natural cravings of the sex functions—although for the most part subconscious—and there fre- quently comes a time when nothing appears to satisfy the woman. She is melancholy, thinks life not worth living, is constantly suffering from petty aches and pains, some actual, some imaginary, and is frequently down to the lowest level of interest in anything at all. This is probably the most dangerous stage of all; but let us note very quickly that it is aggravated by the physically run down condition of the woman, and care and physical culture treatment will tide her over until she is physiologically and psychologically well again. Book or Sex Knowledge 211 But let us uot forget that there is a distinct sexually psychological cause for this condition. I remember on one occasion coming in contact with one in the course of my private life. I was introduced to a woman in a friend’s house, and she engaged me in conver- sation while I awaited my friend’s arrival. I found this woman most in- teresting, and we chatted together pleasantly on matters of geography, biology, and their problems. Her eyes sparkled with the joy of just finding somebody sympathetic with the ideas she held. When my friend arrived he stopped abruptly, almost open-mouthed in his surprise. After she had left us alone he explained to me that she had been practically all over the world for treatment by the most renowned physicians, and although she was the daughter of a millionaire, she was pro- nounced to be suffering from incurable insomnia and neurasthenia; yet here she was normally and pleasantly chat- ting as she had not been known to do 212 A Complete since youth. He added that I had un- knowingly done for her what the cleverest doctors had been unable to do. I realized immediately how the trans- formation had come about. There was some subjective attraction between us, and I had aroused the vital spark of life in her, although I had been entirely unconscious of the slightest sexual indi- cation. Her melancholia and neuras- thenia could have been permanently cured, could we have developed the friendship; but, alas, the world had its allotted path for each of us to tread, and hers went in a different direction from mine, and I have never since learned what happened to her. When there is a possibility for over- coming such trouble by marriage it should be contracted; but where there is not there must be some compensating interest developed, and physical habits formed which put the organism at its highest point of resistance. For let it be remembered that the human body has wonderful powers of adaptability, Book of Sex Knowledge 213 and, while recognizing—as the older psychologists and sex students did not —that use of the sex function is helpful to normal health, let us not forget that a happy, useful, and healthful life is possible without the ordinary sex ex- penditures. The glands will give off their secretions and they will be re- leased by natural safety valves where the physical condition is kept at its highest level. So let unmarried women not be mis- guided by modern psychologists in this matter, and by amateurs who misunder- stand Freud, Froebel, and others. Freud has driven abnormal psychology to its absolute limits; for although in many cases he has discovered most valuable truths, I do not believe that he himself or his followers really grasp the value to which his discoveries could be put. To say that we are all psycho- logically abnormal is an absurdity; and to say that every psychological abnor- mality has a sexual origin is equally absurd. The whole of the research of A Complete pathologists has to be very carefully weighed and considered, in the light of the fact that they concentrate more on the stndy of diseased conditions than on the normal, instead of considering botli equally; then, again, they are looking for some elixir of life in a drug, or a psychological panacea of a purely men- tal nature. We must know that we are composed of two sides, mental and physical, one interdependent with the other. To ac- count merely to one of these is a mis- take. Most cases of mental pathology have their physical causes, although there is also always a responding in- fluence mentally upon the weakened physical disposition. While students of disease concern themselves merely with drugs they will make little headway; and it seems most remarkable in the face of the greatest leading medical testimony that drugs are useless that there should be so much valuable study thrown away on them. Then we must bear in mind that the normal and Book of Sex Knowledge 215 healthy is the desirable state, and this should be studied so that the things which make for health and fitness may be practised by those who have a lia- bility to become abnormal. * I Modern psychologists will have to study normal psychology if they desire to understand mental laws; their present craze for morbid psychology is leaving them behind in the race for knowledge, and throwing them off the trail. Freud in his researches on the mentally enfeebled may have made some very remarkable statements, but nearly all that he has said was known earlier; it is only that society had never previously admitted free talk about sex matters. Freud has done good because he has made most of the world see that an abnormal sexual goes together with an abnormal mental life, and I would go farther and say also, with an abnormal physical life. It has always been considered that the whole subject of sex is a moral sub- ject and has nothing to do with the 216 A Complete physician. To indulge in sexual ex- cesses, whether solitary or in co- operation with a member of the opposite sex, was the height of wickedness. Priests, prophets and others were com- pelled to remain celibate, and this was thought—and still is thought in some circles—to be the highest virtue. Sex fear is rapidly losing its hold on the human being, and it will do so alto- gether when the simple laws underlying the physiology of sex have become gen- erally known. When there are abnormal irritations in the nervous system and in the sex apparatus there is some physiological disposition responsible for it. This must be sought out and put right; which may entail not merely physical treatment, but the mental laws of Froebel in suggestion which in- evitably go together with physical treat- ment. Professor James, the distinguished psychologist, has told us that there can be no mental action without a physical cause, and vice-versa. Tt is impossible Book of Sex Knowledge 217 to separate the mental from the physical functions, and it is therefore inexpedient to use the mental method without the physical method, and again vice-versa. Freudians maintain that all hysteria will disappear on recapitu- lation of the psychological condition which set up the hysteria; hut there are ever so many cases which they cannot handle. They say this is because they cannot find the missing factor, hut it is really because the origin of the trouble is not always mental—as they maintain —but may be in physical weakness. Thus sex weaknesses, perversions, excesses, epilepsy, etc., are looked upon as incurable, and as the inevitable effects of heredity, but they give way readily to proper scientific treatment, when such is based on Nature’s laws and not on drugging. So we shall have to re-state a great deal of our social legislation in time to come, and instead of sending people to prisons in our vengeance, we shall put them in hospi- 218 A Complete tals, until we can induce them back to a normal condition. Very few unmarried women have much real understanding of sex prob- lems, because they have seldom allowed themselves to study them. The con- ventional view that sex is something which in itself is indecent is responsible for most spinsters remaining in ignor- ance; but really it is absolutely essential for them to understand and know sex facts, not too much coloured by re- ligious fanaticism, but clean, unvar- nished scientific. truth. The spinster must be especially wary of the religious maniac. The sex energy is undoubtedly somewhat akin to re- ligious energy, as I might almost call it, and in a previous chapter I have related the peculiarities associated with some forms of religious mania. It is at all times wise to keep cool and collected on questions which have any tendency to arouse the emotions. She can do extremely good work in social spheres, but she must carefully guard Book of Sex Knowledge 219 herself against narrow views. Normal men and women are all good; vice and crime are pathological conditions which will one day be cured, when they are recognized as such; so let her not give her time towards seeking punishment for and vengeance on the evil doers of society. It would be better for her to devote her time towards ushering in a more humane and sociable system of society in which all men, women, and children are recognized as integral parts of the whole human family; when there will not be an individualistic scrambling for commercial advantages and material wealth, but where service will be rendered for the value it is in itself. In such work the spinster can throw herself heart and soul, but she must never let herself be led away by “hot brains”. In every sphere of activity, calm and collected thinking and acting mean sanity and efficiency. Let her work with this knowledge always in mind. 220 A Complete It is necessary for unmarried women to observe the laws of sexual hygiene. The vagina should be douched with warm clean water—to which nothing has been added—every two weeks, one occasion being immediately after the menstrual period. She should, how- ever, guard against letting this become a too frequent habit. Some women douche every day, but this washes away necessary secretions and serves no good purpose. Some authorities condemn douching altogether, for they say that it tends to give rise to erotic feelings, and has been known to sow the habit of mastur- bation. I agree to a certain extent, and, while I think it necessary to douche about twice a month for the sake of cleanliness, and more often if any unusual discharge is present, I strongly deprecate its use constantly, and I think that nature should be allowed to do as much as possible. Where there is a discharge, of course, things are different, and a douche morn- Book of Sex Knowledge 221 ing and evening is good. But there ought never to be any discharges in a healthy woman. Leucorrhoea, which is the commonest complaint among women —especially in spinsters—is a white discharge popularly known as “whites”. It is purely an indication of a run down condition, and disappears readily when the vitality is raised by following a careful course of physical culture. I need hardly mention the dangers of contracting the habit of self-abuse, for I dealt with this question in the chapter devoted to young women; but spinsters find sometimes a special tendency to it because of their inability to have their sex functions satisfied by normal love. It is not absolutely necessary for a woman to have sex relations, neither is it necessary to promote sex feelings by artificial means. But here, again, of course, we have to bear in mind that the physical dispositions have a tremendous lot to do with the develop- ment of the habit, and the power to control it comes by strengthening the 222 A Complete weakened parts, and by building up a good nervous system by physical exercise, sane living, and clean think- ing. CHAPTER IX. Post-Maturity in Man. A man’s active virility may last until the age of 70 or even longer; but after GO years lie undergoes a change which corresponds with the menopause in woman. Most people will think that the last person in the world to require sex education is the post-mature man. This is not the case; the majority of men past their prime have sexual weak- nesses and promptings that very few understand. Till their death, the sexual nervous apparatus is functional, and may give them all sorts of physio- logical indispositions. It must be obvious that the mere- preaching of morality would be useless to such as these. But please do not misunderstand me in regard to this matter. Let me repeat that every question is as much a moral as a physiological one. So the man past his prime must be cautioned not to give 224 A Complete way to the irritations—temptations, if you like—that are attacking him; but every precaution must be taken to obviate the physiological condition which is aggravating him. It would be as well to admit right here, that indiscretions of earlier years, in the way of excesses, have a great deal to do with sex weaknesses after maturity is passed. Chief of these weak- nesses is known as Prostatitis. This is an inflammation of the prostate gland. This gland is situated close to the semi- nal vescicle and it secretes the lubricat- ing fluid which acts as a medium for the spermatozoa. The continual strain in- volved on this gland, as the result of excesses, strain the function, calling upon it to do many times more work than it ought, with the consequence that there is a kind of hypertrophy; and the increased blood pressure and irritation cause inflammation to fly to it on the slightest provocation. Men suffering from prostatitis are themselves surprised at their own feel- Book of Sex Knowledge 225 mgs, making the mistake that they are still juvenile. But when it comes to the point of relief, for the indulgence of the passion they thought they felt, they are impotent, much to their dis- gust and dismay. Some of these men suffer from really serious perversions, and find them- selves in great trouble by giving way to practices held to be criminal. They are particularly drawn towards young girls, and the sight of a somewhat dar- ing flapper will so irritate them that it is only with the greatest difficulty that they can restrain themselves. I do not think it necessary to go into details of the pathological practices of these sufferers. Perhaps their repe- tition may only serve to excite libidinous feelings in those prone to suffer from sex perversions. It is for this reason that I always endeavour to refrain from painting lurid stories of vice, and it is a practice which I regret to see in many writers on matters of sex. There is no need to tell dirty stories in order 226 A Complete to let people know what you mean. To refer to sexual malpractice is sufficient, and when we remember that the majority of these perversions are all developed from the same thing, and in the same wav, there is less apparent reason for going into their minute de- tails. August Forel is splendid in his sympathetic attitude towards perverts —except that I disagree with him in re- gard to his view that these perversions are hereditary, and that nothing could be done to arrest their development— and I should like to see public recog- nition of his views. As he points out,* many of the so-called sexual crimes which are committed, and for which the perpetrator is sent to prison, are purely manifestations qf a pathological con- dition. Instead of sending the man to prison the better plan would be to pro- vide physical treatment which would re- lieve the victim of his unnatural *“The Sexual Problem.” By August Forel, M. D. Book of Sex Knowledge 227 promptings. I do not attribute this last sentence to Forel, as it my own view; Forel thinks that these poor creatures should be put in an asylum out of harm’s way. But if we start putting perverts into lunatic asylums where are we to finish? We must always remem- ber that it is the nurture from infancy to old age which determines the de- velopment of the good or bad. That is why I have set myself the task of writ- ing this book, and I trust that the mission may be fulfilled; that men, women, and young people of all ages may have the advantages which may be gained from the study of sex develop- ment, and become familiar with the meaning of their emotions and guarded against dangerous practices. Old age should be the happiest time of life. It should bring with it glorious memories of happy days of activity in youth and maturity, of work accom- plished and ambition achieved. It should be free from all worry and passions, yet still containing that spice 228 A Complete of life which accompanies satisfaction and ease. Thus at life’s close, with the hook of experience crammed full of good things, a man can see himself positively in the progeny he leaves be- hind ; and in the whole human family of which he is a part. Every time he sees a boy he will see himself and his own happiness of childhood, and know that the spirit of mankind is eternal. Wordsworth has shown us most beautifully how much more romantic and wonderful every detail of Nature seems when we are children than when we become more matter-of-fact adults; but I do not know of any poet who has done justice to the glory of life’s clos- ing years. Then it is possible to be most peaceful and drink in the great wonders of Nature and life, with the knowledge of a healthy and full life well spent. Some men fret and worry because they have not achieved all they set out to accomplish; but this must be com- batted. They should think of the things Book of Sex Knowledge 229 they have done, and realize that a good work is eternal in its beneficial effects upon humanity. Our commercial sys- tem makes the gaining of money the end of all work, but real wealth is in the work itself. There are no people whose names live for all time simply because they have amassed material wealth, yet names like Shakespeare, Christopher Columbus, Edison, and Karl Marx, will live for ever, and no one cares how much money they ever made. To have lived a life well, to have brought healthy and efficient children into the world, is an achievement which can be looked upon with satisfaction; it is possible that a great deal more might have been done: well, youth is the time for the consideration of hard work, and old age may profitably be spent in encouraging youth to aspire to greater heights. There are, however, numerous elderly men who, because of a life of dissi- pation, cannot feel the great calm which 230 A Complete should be theirs. Let us not be hard upon them; they have made mistakes— all of us do that—but we shall most frequently find that what they were, and how they lived, was purely the re- sult of their early education and aggravation by physiological dispo- sition. Sex education for such must be tolerant, and every endeavour must be made to give them happiness and physical, mental, and moral health for the rest of their years. Those who are in a poor state of health are particularly liable to sex troubles, psychological irritations and indispositions. Very few men realize that as they get older so ought they to eat less, and the consequence is that they load their bodies with useless waste which putrifies and poisons them, and it is then no wonder that their organs get out of order, developing any tendency towards prostatorrhoea, vari- coele, and varicose veins, gout and rheumatism. Book of Sex Knowledge 231 Some people, in spite of scientific proofs are apt to doubt the facts of the physiological causes of immorality, but practically everybody is acquainted with the saying that when a man is ill- tempered it is a sign that he is liverish. In the same way that his disordered liver disturbs his mental disposition, so does the disordered physical condition disturb his moral disposition. When there is an abnormal flow of bile, and gases rise into the oesophagus or be- come absorbed into the blood, the brain itself is irritated; and when poisons also lower the general body vitality and act on the nerve centres, depleting their energy, irritating sexual promptings are inevitable. Some of the body poisons are acids; these may attack the nerve tissue. When this takes place at the joints the complaint becomes Arthritis deformans, or Rheumatism; when along the sciatic nerve, it becomes Sciatica, and when along the nerve cen- tres of the sex apparatus it exhibits itself in the various sex weaknesses. 232 A Complete Not only will this condition be located in the lower nerve centres, but the brain itself may be attacked in the same way, resulting in the imposition of constant sex thoughts. But let us see exactly how this takes place, and why it is that a thought leads to an action and recurs again by an action promoting a thought and so on. Professor MacDougal, possibly the greatest living authority on physio- logical psychology, has studied in great detail the sensori-motor arc, which he designates as the unit of the nervous system. It is by a series of these arcs that complex psychological and neuro- logical acts take place. The first arc begins with the very fine superficial nerve endings, which may be situated in the skin, the eye, the ear, the throat, the nose, or the tongue. Each one has a fibre running to it and from it—an afferent and an efferent— a sensory or motor nerve. The sensory, or afferent, takes the sensation to the central nerve centre, and the motor, or Book of Sex Knowledge 233 efferent, sends down a stimulus from the centre to the end organ situated in con- nection with a muscle. For instance, we will say that a pin sticks into the finger. The sensation is passed up the sensory nerve fibre to the spinal chord, this action itself promoting a motor stimulus which passes down the motor nerve. Immediately the finger is drawn involuntarily away from the pin. This action is what is commonly known as a simple reflex nervous action and in it is involved only the first sensori-motor arc. But, however, the sensation passes up another nerve fibre in the spinal chord, which is connected with another ganglionic centre in the brain. Again it is turned over to a stimulus in a motor fibre which travels down to the first nerve centre. This makes our second sensori-motor arc, and it is the one by means of which the sensation and movement become constant. Now there are also other nerve arcs in the brain; the third communicates 234 A Complete the sensation to the fore brain which directs a definite mode of action for the voluntary muscles. Others send the sensation to the association cells of the brain, where it is classified and dis- tinguished as a pin prick because it corresponds with other similar sen- sations before experienced, which are stored away in what are known as the memory cells. So the whole nervous and psychological process is a very complex affair, but, thanks to the great work of men such as Professor Mac- Dougal, it is quite simple for us to understand. Huxley, over a half century ago, pre- pared the way for MacDougal’s dis- coveries; for he showed clearly even in his “Elementary Physiology” how the whole nervous system is interconnected, and he there also outlined the extreme automatic precision of correlating nervous actions; and it is to be re- gretted that psychologists do not take more advantage of the wonderful and Book of Sex Knowledge 235 brilliant reasoning, as well as scientific discovery in Huxley’s work. In order to trace tlie physiology of immorality, as we might almost call it, we have to use both MacDougal’s and Huxley’s discoveries and apply them. It will repay any student or teacher well to read the late Professor Huxley’s “Elementary Physiology”, because it simply teems with brilliant thought which emanated from a most practical mind. Huxley shows very clearly how the correlation of functions takes place. When a man stands still he breathes about 15 breaths a minute, his heart beats about 72 beats to the minute, and the functions of the other vital organs all have a definite corresponding rate of action. Immediately the man begins to run lie breathes more quickly, his heart beats faster and his whole organism is quickened. This correlation is accomplished in quite an automatic manner; as a matter of fact it is ac- complished by one chemical change set- 236 A Complete ting up another; but in each instance the organ of correlation is the nervous system. What happens is that the muscles of the legs, we will say, which are being used expend energy, and the combustion of tissue that accompanies it, or is responsible for it, results in throwing its metabolic products into the blood. Immediately the blood reaches the lungs in a more than usually heavily carbonized condition, the nervous reaction is set up which puts the breathing apparatus into in- creased action. The same with the heart; the metabolic products have an effect upon the nerve centres governing the heart’s action and this organ beats more rapidly. Now another psycho-physiological fact to which I want to draw your attention is the general method in nervous actions. Again due to MacDougall’s investi- gations we know that nerve stimuli take the line of least rsistance. That line is always the one in which the stimuli have been used to traveling. Book of Sex Knowledge 237 MacDougal shows that there is in- evitably an expenditure of nervous energy, and it has to flow along some path; but that the path which is most frequently, or habitually, used is the one chosen. That is how habits are formed—and why they fasten themselves firmer and firmer. The path is made first perhaps by voluntary action, but later the act becomes involuntary and automatic, and a difficult one to inhibit. Now let us turn our attention to the functions of the sex organs in the light of this knowledge, and we shall soon see how the sex habits of youth and adulthood become the firmly established irritants of old age, unless they are prevented or remedied by some form of physical treatment. When the first act of masturbation takes place there is a conscious en- deavour to produce an erotic sensation which has its climax in the orgasm or spasm. It begins in one of the complex —probably quaternary—sensorv-motor 238 A Complete arcs. Of course, it is not entirely originated there; there are many series of complex causes, and the physical irritation of the developing organs in youth, aggravated by a stagnant bodily condition, send along stimuli which awaken other stimuli in the higher arcs. But in the cerebral cells there is sent out the nerve energy for the sexual action; and it passes to the third sensory-motor arc. It must be realized that there are a huge number of each of these arcs. Thus, taking the first arc, we have them very profuse in the skin and muscles, and to and from the organs of sense. So the stimulus chooses only certain of these arcs, or paths, for its expression for the sexual act. From the third sensory-motor arc the stimulus passes down to the second, which is to the spinal cord, and from thence to the nerve centres in the sexual regions causing a degree of function in the organs according to the strength of the stimulus. Book of Sex Knowledge 239 Now it is proved that nervous energy will always take the line of least re- sistance, which is the path it has ac- customed itself to take; and, as soon as the cerebral cells create the initial stimulus, the remaining arcs are ready to carry on the energy to the organs. The more frequently the operation is performed, the more easily does the nerve energy expend itself along that path. In other words, the more a habit is given way to the stronger it becomes. Finally, the slightest energy set free in any of the associated nerve arcs results in the full action of the organs. This shows the folly of thinking that the only way to overcome sex thoughts is to give way to them, to relieve them, as so many are fond of saying. Sex ex- cesses work in the form of a vicious circle, and they fasten themselves more strongly of their own accord. What must be done is to break this circle, by diverting the energy, and by building up the depleted nerve centres of other arcs. This cannot be done by drugging any 240 A Complete more than it can be done by frighten- ing the victim with damnation. It lias been proved times without number that drugging only injures the body still further, and there are very few of the leading physicians who have any faith in drugging of any description for any complaint. But it is certain that the only way to eradicate sex weaknesses is to ascertain the methods by which they come about and reverse the order or- actions in treatment and so obliterate the cause. After maturity it is naturally some- what more difficult to do this than in younger people, but really, when a method is successful I have always found that it is constant in its action. Given a certain physical treatment it always has definite effects. This can- not be said of the methods of drugging. No one drug has the same effect on two persons, because, as I have already explained, everybody has his own per- sonal equation—his physiological idio- syncrasies — but physical treatment Book of Sex Knowledge 241 must be given individually and suit these individual peculiarities, and then it does have constant results, as I have proved on innumerable occasions. But there is no way of doing this with drugs, the administration of which is just chance as to its exact results and apparent in its general action. A drug for a headache may have the general effect of drowning the symptoms of headache, but its exact results in poison- ing the nerves and other important tissue will be registered in different ways in different persons. In one there will be a weakening of alimentary organization, in another in the func- tioning of organs of sex, in still another in organic assimilation. In each case the action differs in accordance with the peculiar constitution. So that an exact science of healing can only be one which excludes specu- lation, and is based on scientific physical treatment. To tone up the depleted nerve centres in cases of sex weakness 242 A Complete in post-mature manhood it is necessary to take into consideration all these points we have noted. Rest and re- laxation, scientific physical movements, diet, and bathing all have their uses, and once the general body condition is at is highest health level, the will is able to come into play and assist a man in living what is held to be a normal moral life. Naturally, after full maturity the sex powers tend to die down, but there is no reason why they should disappear altogether. The sex function plays an entirely different part in man from what it does in the lower animals. In the latter it is purely for the purpose of procreation, and there are seasons set specially apart when the sex desires are in force. But in man, it is always a conscious matter, and unlimited, un- bridled indulgence would swamp the world in weak and depraved individuals, and end in stamping out the race en- tirely because of this weakness and depravity. Book of Sex Knowledge 243 Tlie sex feelings must be governed carefully at all times—but so also must the powers of procreation be governed; for even if intercourse only takes place once a year, this being abnormally moderate indulgence, it would still be a very sad thing for humanity—and is so today, where the knowledge of the simple methods of conception control are not understood. There must, then, be a communion which has not for its object the pro- creation of a new offspring but is a means of expression of unity of man and wife. This we have already dealt with in the earlier chapters, devoted to sex education in younger stages of life. In post-maturity especially is it—per- haps desirable—that men and women maintain the power to unite and repeat all the beautiful messages and re- membrances of youth. Unfortunately earlier excesses render so many men impotent that this beautiful stage of life is not understood in a general sense, and only a few individuals keep 244 A Complete their youthful joy until life’s finishing day. Still, even here again the con- dition is also a reflection of the physical health to a very great degree, and the majority of cases of impotence give way readily to careful treatment. With the widower things are dif- ferent. He has always in the back of his mind the loved one who has left him. But let him see her in his children—in his daughter and grand- daughter, and see himself in all human life, and he will grasp the true meaning of immortality. There is no end to Life; it is as eternal as the Universe; and the finish of our individual life is “but a sleep and forgetting” of the troubles and trials, and a realization of the goal—which is to he in absolute unity with the All Life. CHAPTER X. Post-Maturity in Women. For some reason there has always been a mysticism surrounding the sex functions in women. The monthly menstrual period is still looked upon as some unclean thing, and every woman does her utmost to conceal the matter. In by-gone times women isolated and had even to shout “unclean, un- clean”, if anyone approached too near to them during their periods. An ancient myth has it that the serpent bit Eve in the Garden of Eden after the fall, and that siuce then every woman has been reminded of Eve’s sin by the monthly flow of blood. This, in fact, is still the belief of many superstitious and ignorant people in civilized coun- tries. The belief is also held that a woman must not touch food at these times, for if she does it is thought that it will go bad. Instances have been given, even by doctors, of hams which A Complete have gone bad, because they were cured by a woman during this period. Of course, we should know that these superstitions are not worth considering; but it is our duty to make a study of the true facts, so that these foolish be- liefs can be eliminated from the minds of countless women. Knowing the right sex conduct to pursue they will be freed from much inconvenience and worry, and will become healthier, happier women. Between the ages of 45 and 50 women cease to menstruate, and in consider- ation of the extraordinary notions sur- rounding sex matters it is no wonder that all sorts of foolish ideas are con- nected with this important time in the life of woman. It is just a normal functional change, and is as natural as the change from infancy into adoles- cence, or from adolescence into matur- ity. It is accompanied by numerous correlative physiological peculiarities, but, as we shall see, these ought not to Book of Sex Knowledge 247 be of an indisposing nature in a healthy woman. Where there has been an abnormal sex life in adolescence and in mature years, there are some most interesting phases of psychology and activity ex- pressed, but where there has been a personal history of sexual and bodily cleanliness and health, there is not only just the cessation of menstruation, but a maintenance of all the life and sex forces other than those for pure repro- ductive purposes. The old maid suffers in a most curious way, and she ought to be pre- pared for it, so this chapter on sex education must help her if it can. In the first place, the change of life takes place abnormally early in the woman who has not enjoyed the privileges of matrimony. Some find that at 40 years of age, and others even at 35 or younger, the menses cease. At this period, especially if the woman has been an emotional woman, the whole of her pent up passion will seem to confront 248 A Complete her in one force. While previously it had been an easy matter for her to con- trol herself—or, it may be that sbe bad not noticed any intense sex desires— tbe feelings now rise with an incredible force, as a mighty effort on tbe part of nature for satisfaction of the primary instinct. That is why it is that occasionally we hear of a most moral and religious woman suddenly taking to a life of prostitution; and another becoming enamoured of a licentious young man with whom sbe lives in abject, yet, to her, a somewhat satisfying, misery. Before tbe cessation of menstrual functioning, tbe organs finish, so to speak, with a climax; tbe energies are especially directed to tbe sex apparatus, and, like a volcano which suddenly be- comes active, there is a bewildering up- heaval. The glands become hyperactive in tbe secretion of fluids, and, as we know, these fluids are themselves of a highly nascent character, and set aflame Book of Sex Knowledge 249 the strictly feminine qualities in a woman. It is recognized by most authorities now that sex and psychology are closely interwoven; that sexual ab- normalities are always accompanied by psychological abnormalities. But it is necessary to guard against the teaching which seeks only to work at the patient through the mind. It is just as much that the sex anomaly is responsible for the morbid psychological condition, as a psychological deformity is responsible for a sexual aberration, and education that does not acknowledge this is likely to do much harm. Cases of fear, neurasthenia, hysteria, accompanied by nervousness, consti- pation, anaemia, and other physical ill conditions, are often set up by a shock which happened in early life. Hypnosis has been used extensively in the hope to cure such cases, but it is now recog- nized that the cure is more serious for the patient than the complaint. Hyp- notism always injures the patient; it 250 A Complete depends for its success upon the domi- nation of the physician’s mind and the subjection of the patient, and it will be a good thing when its use is forbidden altogether. Many physicians claim cures for masturbation by means of hypnotism, but the cure simply lasts while the patient’s own mind is suffering from fear of the operator. Where mastur- bation is eradicated by building the physical resources, matters are very different, for the cure rests upon the person’s own development of will power by an increased supply of nerv- ous energy. Likewise there are many people who still exploit the “will power” catch phrase, pretending that they have some secret method of giving people control of themselves and others. The difficulty is not that a person will not use his will but that he cannot “will”; his physical condition is such that he has no nervous force for the expression of his will. Book or Sex Knowledge 251 In a serious case of nervous ex- haustion, or nervous prostration, not all the drugs in the world are capable of building up the necessary nerve re- serve ; only the direction of the nutrition to the right centres and the prevention of the wholesale waste going on, is capable of making quite a new woman of an invalid. Such women are very easily led into violent passions without the least hope that they can control them, any more than they are able to control their irritable feelings. This is when the most careful attention must be given, and sex education which trains this force in a desirable way. The fault with most books dealing with sex education for women of 45 is that they are religious rather than edu- cative. I hope I shall not hurt any- one's feelings when I say that religious ecstasies have to be greatly guarded against. By driving the person with a disposition for sexual passion into a re- ligious passion may defeat its own end; 252 A Complete leading to an erotic desire akin to mania. One lias to be exceedingly cautious in combining sex education with re- ligious emotion; and it is much the best plan to separate the two for practical purposes. It has always ajipeared to me as a sacrilege for any authority on sex education to pose as an interpreter of Holy Writ—especially when he seeks to use it to arouse the emotions of an already erotically inclined person. True religion does not impose itself in any violent neurotic or erotic storming; it is a way of life that brings out the inmost thoughts on life and the uni- verse, and is sane and calm. Although fired with the desire to make all men and women acquainted with the glories of truth and goodness, the fervent re- ligious person will weigh up and check all matters in his own conduct. It is well to tell women to beware of the religious fanatic. I could name many so-called prophets who only used Book of Sex Knowledge 253 the religious emotion in order to get women under their control, and then ill- treat them. Nearly every week the newspapers contain the reports of some maniac who has played havoc with some woman or child whom he has induced to follow him. Let the religious teaching be given by those capable of giviug it, and, above all, let those religious teachers give some timely warning about the sex dangers of life. Then we shall have a brighter and a better world. Every woman has the right to know the truth on all matters pertaining to her own body, and she has the right to follow the dictates of her own con- science. But, it is our bounden duty to guide women out of the dangers which beset them if they give way to the passions of any fanatic—or to their own passions. A question that frequently arises in regard to the post-mature woman is whether she ought to indulge in inter- course. Manv of those ignorant of A Complete sexual physiology think that after a woman’s change of life—which, fool- ishly, they look upon as a pathological condition—she should have no more sex feelings. But such is not the case. Many women find that they have more desire after the change of life, and some even fall victims then to excess. But the normal condition is one in which she is able to respond to the moderate requirements of a healthy husband. The only way to ensure this normality is to keep the physical condition at its highest point of efficiency. Irritations may be set up by a stagnant blood stream, which may lead most respect- able women into the most serious of temptations. Only the other day, I was told by a friend of mine of a case of a single woman of forty, who had not menstruated for five years. This woman was boarded by my friend and showed an extraordinary desire to get some- body to marry her. In the same house was a young fellow of twenty, full of life and energy, and it was her delight Book of Sex Knowledge 255 to play around with him. On one occasion T was told that, while clad in hut her nightgown and dressing robe, she called him into her room on the flimsy pretense of showing him some- thing which could only be seen from her window. There is not the slightest doubt that her object was to have her sex feelings excited. But let us not be so narrow as thoughtlessly to condemn her. She was fat and heavy, unused to exercise, lacking in the friendship of a natural mate, and probably constipated as well, with nervous irritations con- tinually gnawing her sexual nervous system. Every student of sex physiology knows that, while a woman has extra- ordinary control before her sex forces are worked up into action, yet, once they begin to be aroused, it is only with the utmost difficulty that she can resist their craving. This is the case with such women who allow themselves to get into bad physical shape, and lose their power of initial control. This 256 A Complete woman might easily fall a victim to her cravings, yet it would he quite a simple matter to tone up her condition, so that she possessed mental, moral, and nervotis power to control, and so that the irritations which set aflame the temptations no longer assail her. On the other hand, there are the women who do lose sexual happiness after the menopause, and it causes them endless trouble and unhappiness— especially if they are married to hus- bands still in the prime of their powers. This need not be: and post-mature women should be honestly informed that they have a normal and legitimate right to unite with their husbands so that the romance and glory of youth may be maintained until the end. It is naturally more difficult for such women to respond quickly enough in some instances, but the technique of the act should be imparted to them, so as to assist them. Such women also may find it necessary to instruct their hus- bands in their beaviour, for it is often Book of Sex Knowledge 257 pure ignorance of the nature of the woman’s feelings which leads men to act in such a way that they appear to be un- reasonable, unless, of course, there is some sex weakness which requires put- ting in order. The post-mature woman who desires or finds it necessary to have her husband should get him to practice the arts of courtship, to fondle her and remind her of their romantic youth by kisses and manipulations. She will herself be able to direct operations and guide her hus- band as occasion arises. And when they are locked in that reverent and pure union they will make the ties that have bound them together through life more joyful and firm. This communion should be a most beautiful thing. It obviously requires good health, and the reason why women are unable to experience it is due to their waning vitality; no drugging or gland grafting will bring back this vitality, nor are such things necessary. Nature herself can adjust all ill conditions, if we but A Complete 258 understand her ways, and leave her to do her work. Thus marriage may he made one long honeymoon till the end of life, and joy and happiness may be possessed by all men and women, if they have but a sane and sensible sex education, free from superstition and based on the firm rock of science allied with idealism. CHAPTER XI. Conclusion. It lias been my endeavour in this book to give an outline of a complete system of sex education. I am aware that I have not included much that the ordi- nary person would expect. This is be- cause I did not want to go over too much ground that has already been covered in my other books,* and in ex- cellent works by other authors. There is so much that these authors have left unsaid, and so many problems that they have left untouched, that I have en- deavoured to make my contribution as valuable as possible by including just those points which I consider most fascinating, and which I felt my especial experience has enabled me to know bet- ter than anybody else. In reading over the pages, however, I cannot help feeling that I have at least *“Sex Conduct in Marriage” and “Sex De- velopment.” 260 A Complete touched upon notes that will give help and encouragement to sufferers them- selves as well as instruction to teachers and guardians. In most works devoted to the sex problem, there is no such thing. Once a person has contracted a bad habit he is put down as degraded and immoral and only deserving of all the extra misery society can thrust upon him. Crime increases because, instead of being recognized as an ac- companiment of a pathological con- dition it is aggravated and developed by first ostracizing the person afflicted and then by putting him in touch with others who will infect him with more serious criminal dispositions and teach how to express them. We are still living in more or less barbaric times, and our civilization is but a veneer. We try to cure our criminals in the above foolish way, and exact “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, making ourselves every bit as bad as the one who first com- mitted the crime. Nobody, of course, Book of Sex Knowledge 261 would be so foolish as to say that criminals should be given a good time and recompensed for their crimes, but we make no effort to cure them of their criminal diseases. Surely it is bad enough for them to have such a dis- position—and worse if they have no consciousness of their conduct being ill —without experiencing the hatred and vengeance of the rest of mankind! Prisons are places not where criminals are corrected, but where they are trained. You have a confidential chat with anybody who has been inside one, and he will corroborate what I say. So are nearly all the moral guides and sex books filled with bad words for the victim and a smug satisfaction for those who are devoid of normal sex feelings—sometimes to the extent of being pathological. Please do not mis- understand me. I realize how terrible are the consequences of impurity, and I know that the vicious practice of self- abuse is like a canker in our midst, eat- ing away the best in our manhood— 262 A Complete aye, and our womanhood. This horrible habit is to blame for more misery and disease than all the germs in the world; and I shall never rest while I have energy left in me to do what little I can to drive it away from our midst. It is now more than ever that we have to fight, for there are strong move- ments on foot to seek to tell people that there is no harm in masturbation. It is a lie, and a curse; and I believe that there is some ulterior motive behind the exponents. Our system of society is so commercialized that men and women wTill do anything for filthy lucre, and it is evidently to the advantage of certain sections of the community to have a dull, unthinking, and sick majority. They will tell you that through lack of sex action there are people in lunatic asylums for sufferers from nervous diseases. They lie! The sex perverts who find their way to the lunatic asylums might have avoided all their misery and depravity, if only they had been brought up by sympathetic parents, who, under- Book of Sex Knowledge 263 standing the dangers, would have warned them against the masturbation, which sapped away their senses! It is my earnest hope that you who read this book will lend a hand to the combatting of this great enemy of man- kind. We want a clean and strong hu- manity, with energies given to the pro- duction of worthwhile human work, and we can only have this when we give our children the chance to grow up in the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, of what is harmful and what is clean. The greatest men and women of all time have been those who have led normal sexual lives during youth. Let our youth be acquainted with the fact that only one person is a hundred ever achieves distinction, and only one in a hundred is free from the soul and body destroying habit from which it is your desire to free them. The youth who strives for self-control is, by so doing, developing will power which will stand him in good stead in every sphere of 264 A Complete life. In seeking to know and under- stand the facts of life he will learn the key to health, happiness, and knowl- edge; life will become interesting to him, and he will consequently find his studies free from difficulty. Above all, I want to impress upon you the importance of combatting hereditary predispositions and body weaknesses which have almost a com- pelling action on the bad habits of youth. If a boy or girl is not fond of playing games in the open air, of mix- ing with other children; if he or she is constipated, pale, or sickly in any way, rest assured that there is good reason for these evil habits to develop, and the eradication of physical weaknesses is often sufficient to counteract what are commonly called immoral dispositions, if the treatment is carred out with special care. Let every child of our great humanity be as well born as possible, give it love and care in the moment of conception, and for the rest of its life. Let us get Book of Sex Knowledge 265 rid of foolish stories like that of the stork, and give our children infor- mation which is reliable and which will not conflict with later education. Parents, and teachers too, often fill children’s minds with fear, and this fear thought sometimes handicaps them for the whole of life. Nursemaids are greater offenders than any. It is wicked to frighten children with stories of the bogey man, and to lock them up in dark places for punishment. Children are not properly under- stood. They have far more common sense than the average person gives them credit for, but they trust their elders implicitly, and imbibe freely the information they give. The most im- portant profession in the world is that of teaching. Just take a glance back- wards at your own childhood days and think of the influence of your teacher upon your after life, and you will soon be convinced of the tremendous part he played. It is a great shame that the conditions of school teaching are not 266 A Complete made a great deal better than they are, so that those men and women best adapted to the work will take it up naturally and voluntarily. I say this because I know some of the best teachers—men and women who took up the profession because they felt in it a work worthy of their energies, and warranting the devotion of a lifetime— who have been compelled to cease teach- ing because of the conditions imposed upon them. The majority of schools in which our children have to spend so much of their time are most frequently dull, inartistic places. I have been into places where the walls are coated with dirt, where horrible pictures of soldiers fighting, and bad drawings of cats, lions or tigers, together with a few unreliable, torn maps adorn the walls; where the music is taught to children from an out-of-tune harmonium; and where the room for physical development was the high road! Why, I remember my own Book or Sex Knowledge 267 school days, and the fact that we had an old harmonium, and we boys had to submit to punishment because we started a song on one note and finished a half note higher or lower than the one registered by the out-of-tune musical (?) instrument. Children should he trained in pure and beautiful thoughts, but such schools only deprave them, and pervert their natural artistic inclinations. A child loves to stray into the fields and pick the flowers, and experience the same thrill of romance in so doing, as did Wordsworth or Blake or another such child of Nature. After all, the artist is merely one who still maintains all the feelings and joys of youth. Our system of education—except when fortunately it is administered by some thoughtful, sensible, but unorthodox teacher—does everything it can to spoil our children. So let us make every endeavour to reform these matters, and let education be an unfolding of the best that is within each child, instead of smother- 268 A Complete mg it in useless and inartistic things. This is essential to a sound sex edu- cation, for we want our children to shun everything that is morbid and un- beautiful. The child’s own instinct tells it what is good and what is bad, and we should allow it to guide the child in every detail of its conduct; and we shall do this if we do not blind its eyes to what is happening in its own body—and what will be likely to happen in its body, in later stages of its life. In adolescence there is a keen idealism which must be detected and developed. The many thousands of letters I have received from boys who have fallen vic- tims of that dread scourge of mastur- bation are teeming with the most beautiful expressions of thought and a desire to live a pure, clean, useful life. It is every boy’s inmost desire to be strong and manly, and he himself re- grets most keenly when he finds him- self the slave of a habit which robs him of his best energy. Book of Sex Knowledge 269 I do ask yon most sincerely to be kind and sympathetic to such boys, and to do your utmost to counteract the fears and worries that have been set up by ignorance or through the reading of quack literature. If they need your help give it to them unstintingly, and you may rest assured that you will always be remembered by them as a benefactor. Do not forget that a scientific ex- planation of sex phenomena appeals strongest, and in itself is entirely free from any morbid suggestion. I feel very strongly on this point, for, as I have mentioned in one of my earlier chapters, there are so-called purity books which are merely written in a way to pander to the erotic feelings already abnormal. Always think care- fully before you speak on the subject, and consider what the effect will be; whether you are presenting your argu- ments in a way that will appear vulgar, or clean. I have heard lectures on “purity”, in which the lecturer simply 270 A Complete gloated over the morbid cases of sexual license lie outlined, and in the hell and damnation to which he condemned the victims of sexual neurasthenia. It is interesting- to note that Forel quotes several cases in his book on the “Sexual Problem”, in which this purity monger- ing was simply a manifestation of pathological eroticism; so for goodness sake guard your boys against this kind of thing. The cool, calm, and considered argu- ment is the only one that is reliable, although, of course, anybody will wax indignant at the thoughts of the foolish and ignorant way in which this problem is dealt with by the unqualified. It is little wonder that medical men have been disgusted at the effusions of non- sense that have been imposed on the populace as sex knowledge; but doctors are themselves somewhat to blame for this, because they themselves know so many things which they should, but do not, impart to their patients. Book or Sex Knowledge 271 Before his marriage the young man needs all the information he is capable of using, and it should be given to him unstintingly. He is beset with all sorts of temptations, and his conduct will make or mar the future happiness of the girl he will marry, as well as his own. Do not forget that he should be told bluntly about venereal diseases, and all their horrors; but guard against fright. Many diseases are provoked by fear, because of the lowered condition of vitality. Do you remember Harrison Ainsworth’s “Old St. Paul’s”, in which one of the characters so fears the plague that he takes all the medicines prescribed for immunity from the disease, but finally ends by contract- ing it? Yet the men engaged on the Dead Cart itself, who even touched the loathsome dead bodies with their hands, went scot free! Dr. Katzoff, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., quotes the case of a man, in his “Timely Truths on Human Health”, who, when an epidemic visited A Complete his locality, ran away because of his fear of catching the disease. After the epidemic had abated, he went back, and, after a week, was prostrated with the disease, while the rest of his family, who had taken no precautions, escaped. This does not mean that precautions must be thrown to the wind; it proves that fear and worry lower the vitality to such a degree that the resistant forces of the body are rendered weak— especially in regard to the matter which causes the worry. Thus, the fearfully weakening condition of Spermatorrhoea, or involuntary nightly emissions, be- comes rapidly worse the more it is worried about. In the case of this annoying con- dition, so prevalent among young men, the physical resources must be built up by scientific individual treatment, which includes exercise, diet, bathing, and hygiene. But it is good to let them know exactly how this condition has come about, and to explain the nature of the glandular secretions. Book of Sex Knowledge 273 Remember, above all, however, that young men are young men; and that they do not want, and should not have, any namby-pambyism served up to them. Don’t preach at them; they are only too anxious to learn the truth about sex matters and all that pertains to them and too much moralizing often produces the contrary effects to those intended. They have usually very little respect for anybody who sets himself up as a moral judge and paragon, yet they admire one who lives right and clean, and who has the backbone to dis- cuss sex matters sensibly and scien- tifically. In all sex education, it is my belief that the facts of evolutionary develop- ment should be dealt with. I do not think that it is possible to give a sound sex education unless you are familiar with the facts of biological evolution. It has always seemed to me a curious thing that doctors have almost the ex- clusive admission to this study, although it should also be the most important 274 A Complete study of tlie laity. A good course of Zoology at a standard university, how- ever, is sufficient to obtain a practical grasp of animal evolution and to ob- serve for yourself the change in de- velopment as you study the anatomy and physiology of organisms in their varying stages of complexity. For the theoretical understanding of the principle of evolutionary develop- ment, it is good to read Charles Dar- win’s “Origin of Species” and “De- scent of Man”, and Ernst Haeckel’s books are also invaluable, in spite of their controversial Nature. Every teacher ought to read Huxley’s “Elementary Physiology”, not merely to get a good grasp of the functions of the human body, but also to imbibe the late Professor’s wonderful method of studying science and his genius for imparting knowledge. Huxley was a genius in teaching and in learning. He had the ability to make himself absorb- ingly interesting, because he worked out in his own commonsense way the mean- Book of Sex Knowledge 275 mg of the functions lie outlined. The principles underlying his arguments are so sound that it is worth while to read his works and catch the infection of his enthusiasm for scientific truth. What I have said about the giving of information of conception control methods to unmarried men will appear to some people as a dangerous proceed- ing. But if you consider for a moment you will know that these methods will come to them from some source or other, and it is much better that they should be learned in conjunction with some idealism, than from a prostitute, maybe. Bear in mind that truth and knowledge never yet hurt anybody. Many a young man has gone to perdition because he did not know that he would be able to marry and yet bring only those children into the world that he and his wife desired. Early marriage should be encouraged, and this can only be done by showing clearly that it is possible to control matters so that only those family responsibilities 276 A Complete need be engendered which can be shouldered efficiently. With such knowl- edge—for both men and women, of course—it is possible for a young man to approach the young woman of his choice and make arrangements to carry on the burden of life conjointly. There need be no fear then that the marriage will be one to make legal an indulgence in lust. Unfortunately, the majority of marriages are just a legalized form of prostitution. Men and women bargain with each other for their bodies, marry- ing not for love, but because of mone- tary advantages or through erotism. Let a man marry when he feels most that he needs it, and there will be far more love matches than there are to- day. The scientific control of conception is for the purpose of bringing into the world children who will be loved and wanted when conceived. What a tragedy it is when we think that today it is undoubtedly true that the majority of us come into the world haphazardly, Book of Sex Knowledge 277 the result of luck—good or bad—but certainly without premeditation—and very often the result of pure sexual, animal emotion"? Is it not better to let the parental instinct—which is the strongest in mankind—govern the birth of our children, so that, not only at the time of conception, but even at the time of courtship, there shall be forethought, and desire for beautiful and lovely chil- dren ? Take any opportunity you may have of reading or seeing Maurice Maeter- linck’s plays, the “Bluebird”, and “The Bethrothal”. They are masterpieces of beauty and philosophy. In the former you will see the exquisite land—all misty blue—where countless babies are waiting to be born. As each one’s hour comes, Father Time swings wide the big gate, and out flies the stork with a little bundle addressed to earth. The baby cries lustily at leaving its nest of soft, fleecy clouds, not knowing into what kind of an earthly nest it will be dropped. 278 A Complete Every baby cannot be born into a luxurious home—indeed, the happiest children are seldom found in the wealthest homes; but it is every child’s rightful heritage to be born into a clean, healthy, hygienic home where the Blue Bird of Happiness dwells. Every father and every mother should be able to wel- come the visitors from the Land of Un- born Babies. In the “Bethrothal”, which is a sequel to “The Blue Bird”, a young man is looking for a wife, and cannot determine whom she shall be, or the means by which she is to be chosen. First the parents of the young man discuss the young lady; then all the ancestors gather to make the choice. There is the cave man who has his own con- ception of a good woman, the ancestor parson who has his own ideas, the ancestor merchant, the ancestor cut- throat, and so on; all the ancestral psj'cliologieal influences come to give their opinions on the choice of a wife. But Maeterlinck shows that none of Book of Sex Knowledge 279 these can decide, and in the final scene the young man sees posterity, and his own children, who are still in the misty Land of Unhorn Babies, choose the mother they would like best. There may be a metaphysical method used by Maeterlinck in telling his story, but it is full of inspiration, and brings out a great truth: that children have the right to be born of good and healthy parents. Wherever one looks, the need for bright, sunny homes, and healthy, contented parents is only too apparent; wherever one listens can be heard, from the Land of Unborn Babies, the call for a happier heritage. When I am confronted with the many cases of sex perversion that come under my notice, I see in nearly every in- stance the effects of heredity: children —grown up—who have had handed on to them the abnormal passions un- governed in their parents. I cannot help feeling that the mere fact that the birth was a chance affair, as the result of lust, accompanied by fear, perhaps— A Complete the fear of the poor woman who is anxious not to become a mother as the result of her actions—that there is so much fear predominant in human be- ings in general. Psychologists are fond of talking of the “inferior complex”, as a hereditary psychological factor incapable of eradi- cation; as inherent and part of the in- dividual. But if we wipe away this great curse of sex ignorance, and en- able people to live pure clean lives, and live normally sexually, so that there is no chance of having an unwanted child, or fear that there is sin in a pure sexual expression, we shall assuredly wipe away from our midst this morbid psychology. Always remember that the young woman needs sex information given to her in a clear, unvarnished way, in spite of the necessity for refinement in its presentation. Women and girls are usually brought up to shun any dis- cussion of things sexual, and when they hear that a marriage has its sexual re- Book of Sex Knowledge 281 sponsibilities they are apt to be a little disgusted, and refute the idea that love can have anything to do with the flesh. Yet, if they are not told, their lives will surely be fraught with serious dangers. There can be no happiness and no true understanding of life until sex facts are known and their significance acknowl- edged. Every woman is naturally very re- ticent of talking about sex matters, especially in their details, although she is very readily inclined to support good and virtuous movements. Yet it is essential that young women have the facts of life presented to them scien- tifically, for, once these are learned, it becomes an easy matter to choose be- tween the sensuous and the sensible. The average young woman will, even at the mere mention of a sex subject, re- tort indignantly, “How dare you talk to me of such matters?” clearly demon- strating the undesirable idea that sex in if self is indecent. 282 A Complete The view of marriage to be inculcated should be a romantic one, emphasizing, however, the seriousness of its respon- sibilities. The majority of books of fiction end just where real life begins —at least, that was the kind of novel which enjoyed most popularity a few years ago. There is usually a great years ago. There is usually a great strug- gle to make two lovers come together in matrimony, and the expressions of love are mostly abnormal; but as soon as the bond is contracted that is the end of the story—as though love and life were just a monotonous happiness ever after, but without further interest. Life and love begin with matrimony. Preparation for marriage should be a seeking for the partner with whom life will be compatible. Many of those who are “madly” in love with each other beforehand, are “mad” with each other after-wards, and live supremely unhappy lives. Once let there be true feeling, and, above all, understanding, and will- ingness to seek only the happiness of Book of Sex Knowledge 283 both instead of either, then the bond may be contracted. No man truly knows a woman and no woman truly under- stands a man until after marriage. It is an old saying that one has to live with a person to know him. This is be- cause our society is infested with so many conventions which make people pretend they are something they are not, and do things they do not care to do, and behave differently from what they feel. In marriage they usually act in just the reverse way, and where often a little care and control over remarks might be sufficient to smooth things over, the ill feeling is expressed—and reciprocated—“and trouble flies in at the window, when love flies out of the door”. The worst of it is that the remarks are usually exaggerated because of the pent up feelings behind them, and nervous relief is occasioned by the ex- plosion. But much of this kind of thing is often due to a run down nervous sys- tem, which onlv demonstrates still more, 284 A Complete the importance of physical fitness, especially in women. The real expression of love is only accomplished after marriage, and court- ship should be recognized merely as a preparation for that state. But let it be a true preparation, and let the facts —even the most intimate ones—be taught to all young women. There is a great deal of erotic be- haviour and abuse among young women about which they are seldom, if ever, warned. Do not forget that their sex education must fortify them not only with a knowledge of the difficulties in which they may place themselves, by indulging in intercourse, but that the giving way to secret habits may be fraught with very serious consequences. I maintain that women, too, begin their downward path with mastur- bation. The habit of relief is begun, and is continued until it is insufficient excitement in itself to satisfy the ever developing sensuous feelings of the one who practices it. The idea of Book or Sex Knowledge 285 co-operating with a member ol* the opposite sex suggests itself as the next step toward more thrilling gratification. At first this may be by practice of mutual masturbation; but there comes a time when this, too, is no longer suf- ficient, and the last step is taken. Let us get rid of this monster of self- abuse wherever it may be found. It is pernicious because it weakens the whole moral, mental, and physical fibre of our manhood and womanhood. Although I do not believe in frightening the vic- tims, I insist that it is essential that every person should understand the terrors that being in its grip can hold for a victim. I could quote hundreds of authorities who say the most horrible things con- cerning this habit; but I will not do so. I believe that it is very easy to use physicians with erotic minds to exag- gerate the symptoms of masturbation— which has been done by many purity workers. But I will content myself by making just one quotation from Dr. 286 A Complete S. L. Katzoff, M.D., L. L. B., Ph. D., who is an extremely sane man and most tolerant of all the various aspects of human life. In his book “Timely Truths on Human Health”, page 152, he says, “When we stop to realize that the very foundation of our modern social structure — that is, the main- tenance of the family and the con- tinuation of human life—-depends upon the preservation of the sexual instinct, and that its perversion and misuse are most virulent factors in the disin- tegration of the individual and the race, then we can better appreciate the sig- nificance of this vital problem. “Man cannot err against the dictates of nature without paying the penalty for his lapses sooner or later. The penalty exacted for masturbation (if continued) is one of the most serious and awful in its nature. To begin the career of manhood by the abuse of nature’s functions, and that, too, when the system has not completed the powers of its organism, is contrary to Book of Sex Knowledge 287 all the rules by which health and hap- piness may be attained. It is a vampire feeding on the life-blood of its victims. Tt not only occasions impotency, but it destroys the excitation itself, by which the process is indeed, and the feelings which led to it are maintained.” But the damage to the mental and moral qualities is far more serious. The victims have their brains dulled until they are incapable of doing any prolonged mental work, and their moral perceptions are so blunted that they cease to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. That is another rea- son why the most vile sex perversions follow masturbation. Do not have any doubt about it, your fight for moral cleanliness will be chiefly against this canker of mastur- bation; spare no effort to help along out of the slough of despond those who will need your help. I feel I must emphasize, in this con- cluding chapter, the importance of recognizing the sexual side of married 288 A Complete life. There is a need for communion which does not exist in any other animal. It is foolish to condemn man because he does what the animals do not do; for, while he is depraved in some of the individuals of his species, he is of a far more highly complex a nature altogether, and it would be a sad thing for humanity if intercourse took place merely as it does in animals, with no romance or desire for its ulti- mate results. However, never forget that enormous excesses take place within marriage, and there is a serious mistake made by those who think that marriage entitles them to indulge themselves to the maximum extent. Such a condition is every bit as bad as that of prostitution. I think it is Bernard Shaw who has said that marriage is a condition of “the maximum of temptation with the maxi- mum of opportunity.” When one considers the abuses of marriage one cannot help feeling dis- gusted; yet it is all due to ignorance— Book of Sex Knowledge 289 ignorance which only the united efforts of all of ns can disperse. Of course, we must never forget that economic questions have a great deal to do with misunderstood sex perversions in and out of marriage. There is not the slightest doubt that half the prosti- tutes who disgrace humanity were hurled along their downward path be- cause of material enticements. Our system of society makes it difficult for any woman to earn a good living honestly, but the easiest thing in the world is for her to take up the com- paratively lucrative profession of pros- titution, where she gets those things for which she craves. Again, our individualistic system pre- vents to a great degree any understand- ing of physiological dispositions. Imme- diately some person does not behave himself in accordance with the accepted laws and customs, although, as I have proved on innumerable occasions, he may be in a pathological condition, and therefore not responsible for his ac- 290 A Complete tions, lie is branded as a villain and outcast from society. We must understand from a social standpoint that vices and crimes are the expressions of physiological dis- jiositions which can in most cases be eradicated by proper education and treatment. Because the orthodox medi- cal ideas do not correspond with these facts is no reason why they should be neglected. But we must remember that the majority of physicians are begin- ning to see these things, and the work of psychopathologists and criminologists has lately been openly to advocate the proper use of education and training in caring for the criminal rather than in seeking vengeance upon him. The same point carries in regard to sex weaknesses and perversions. The victims need sympathy and care, and such training as to overcome the physiological promptings, and to re- coup the loss of vitality occasioned by their own practices which renders their power to will and control so impotent. Book of Sex Knowledge 291 Overindulgence in marriage is also a condition which causes untold miser}7 and inefficiency, yet it can easily he prevented by a little care. Often a divorce is granted when the judge would do better to prescribe a course of scientific physical culture and edu- cation in proper sex conduct. Overin- dulgence is frequently set up by the actual fear of indulgence and the dan- gers of indulgence; of course, in con- nection with its associate causes; what I mean is that it becomes the predomi- nating accessory cause. Likewise, im- potence may be ocasioned by the in- tense desire yet the inability to con centrate. It is useless to think that there is any drug which will cure these con- ditions. That is the danger of advocat- ing that crime is pathological, because people immediately imagine that there is a drug or pill which can be swal- lowed, or a toxin or vaccine which can be pumped into the blood, which can change the physical condition. Ergot— 292 A Complete and even the oil of ergot—has not cured, and cannot cure impotence. Im- potence is usually a natural rebellion of the body to be driven past its limit, and a sign that the natural forces need recouping. I do not mean by this, that there is anything beneficial in im- potence; on the other hand, it is usually accompanied by a very weakening drain which, if not stopped, may end in serious disaster. Premature ejaculation is due to over anxiety, in a great measure, but it also reflects a disordered nervous system, and, understood as such, is one of the simplest things to put right. I must emphasize the point I have made in regard to drugs. I do not be- lieve that they can ever cure disease. When a person gets well, it is always in spite of the drug he takes, and be- cause the natural recuperative forces of the body have triumphed against the poisons of disease. But in the case of functional disorders, drugging is per- nicious. It weakens the natural func- Book of Sex Knowledge 293 lions, throwing the whole bodily organi- zation out of order. This can easily be proved in the light of modern science, for, as we have seen, the body becomes accustomed to certain uses. Habits are formed by recurrent actions, because the physiological dis- position is set up which occasions the expenditure of nervous energy along accustomed channels. Thus the whole organization has to adapt itself to the presence of the drug, and this destroys the natural functions of the organs and makes them depend upon the stimu- lation and inhibition occasioned by the drug. It is because of this principle that a person can take drugs in ever increas- ing quantities. The effects are only temporary and the organs abandon their normal use and depend upon the arti- ficial prop, as one might say. There is no true help in drugs, and when we have Nature’s laws so clearly laid be- fore us in the principle of development, it is obvious that we do not need drugs. 294 A Complete The work of Charles Darwin and recent biologists, in showing the facts of natural evolution through struggle and development, suggests immediately the lines along which all eradication of pathological conditions must progress. The unmarried woman is a problem that needs especial care in sex edu- cation. She is even by her unmarried condition almost in a pathological con- dition, and great care is needed to guard against psychological aberrations. She is liable to hysterias and other nervous outbursts, which act often as a valve for the energies which should normally be expressed in wifely and mother love. The safest education to be given here is the suggestion to follow a good move- ment for the benefit of humanity. Thus may the life forces be devoted to some desirable object and diverted away from the things which mean destruction. Naturally, the mere presence of un- married women suggests that some- thing is wrong with our matrimonial Book of Sex Knowledge 295 and social systems, and it is wicked that many of the best women never have the opportunity to express the one great ambition of their lives in becom- ing mothers and so bringing up their own flesh and blood. But really, it re- solves itself into the necessity for more energetic endeavours to rid ourselves of the barbaric vestiges of society to which we still cling. The recent war has caused the problem of the un- married woman to be greatly increased, and if any unmarried woman really wants to occupy herself in work which will mean most to her kind, she will devote herself to working, unobstru- sively or openly, for genuine move- ments to end the terrible catastrophes of war. War is the greatest blight and set back of civilization, destroying not only the best and bravest and most virile manhood, but robbing thousands of noble women of their birthright—the love of sweetheart, husband, and sons. The great problem in sex education as to the necessity of maintaining a 296 A Complete high rate of births needs a great deal of clarifying. People will raise ob- jections to the teaching of the methods of birth control, because they believe that it will lead to race extinction. This is a very foolish idea. The strongest instinct in the human race is that of self-perpetuation and the love of children. What we want is the very highest quality of child, and it has been proved that this is only possible where each child has full opportunities to be well born and well brought up. The indiscriminate production of children means that they do not have the necessities of life. While one is being nourished at the breast, another may be robbed in the womb. Then, again, I can point to the authority of Havelock Ellis, to prove that a high birth rate goes together with a high death rate, and that a low birth rate accompanies a low death rate. It is not momentary prosperity which necessarily brings better children. At such times there may be in some in- Book of Sex Knowledge 297 stance an increased number of children born, but this is due to the fact that this haphazard 11 flash in the pan” causes temporary negligence in curbing the sexual appetite. However, I do not believe that Havelock Ellis or others have taken into consideration another factor in a high birth rate. Although Ellis mentions the fact that there is a relation between poverty and a high birth rate, he has not attempted to give the physiological reason for it, but merely states that the general trend of more civilized peoples is to govern the rate of births. The fact of the matter is that when people are worried and liarrassed, there is the tendency to indulge more in the sex relationship as a soothing or coun- teracting influence for their troubles. This is due not merely to the relief which is afforded by the obliteration of the troubling thought from the mind, but also to the fact that the worry itself lowers the general vitality and power of control. Then, we have the result 298 A Complete in children who are not only not wanted, hut conceived at a psychologically bad moment, and inheriting a tendency towards a weak constitution. The remedy is to build up mental and physical efficiency to give command and control of sex conduct, so that it is not a drag upon health and will power. At the same time it is necessary to have knowledge of controlling conception so that children with undesirable ten- dencies need not he born. It is a mistake to think that because a large number of children are born, a large number will survive. Even the so-called patriots and militarists who are constantly calling out for more and still more “gun fodder”, would find that the way to produce an increase in efficient human beings is to breed only those which will live—that is, those hav- ing the best opportunities for survival. Russia has the highest birth rate, but it has also the highest death rate, of any country. On the other hand, New Zealand has the lowest birth rate, but Book or Sex Knowledge 299 also the lowest death rate, of any coun- try in the world; and here the public knowledge and use of the methods of birth control are encouraged. It is a very expensive matter to have a high death rate, even if a high birth rate accompanies it; and as the two go together, we should do all in our power to correct it. Let us suppose that a woman produces seven children. On an average it is calculated that three will die. Another woman, using contra- ceptive measures, has three children, all of whom live. In the first case the woman has to undergo three periods of pregnancy and confinement which rob her of energy, time, money, and nourish- ment, with absolutely no result. But what happens to the four surviving children? They are robbed of their mother’s care and attention to the ex- tent of the trouble involved in the pro- duction of the three children who die; and they are also, in the case of the working classes, deprived of food and other necessaries spent on the mother 300 A Complete and three useless children. Thus we have four weak and sickly children, and these children will die at the average age or under, of 43 years! On the other hand, the woman who has three children spaces them at the intervals at which she can best bear them; they will be ardently desired by both parents, and will not be the out- come of chance sexual feeling. They have the full resources of the parents without any waste, and can be cared for by both fully, and be enabled by proper care and nourishment to grow up into strong, healthy and efficient adults. Again, they will live consider- ably above the average age of 43 (bar- ring accidents), which is only so low because of the prevailing weakness of human beings born of chance sexual acts. And now, my friends, that we have come to the cud of our enjoyable talk to- gether on the varying stages of human development and the methods of im- parting vital information, let us try to Book of Sex Knowledge 301 keep in mind, at any rate, the general outlines of the principles we have dis- cussed. It is impossible for you to remember everything I have written, and also to agree with every detail of my philosophy; but bear in mind that I am not anxious that you should do so, or that you should think that I be- lieve I have the ultimate truth on this great question. What, however, I do ask you to do is to carry my work further; use what you feel to be applicable to your own case and to those with whom you are acquainted. But work wholeheartedly for the ex- termination of ignorance. Get your friends to throw aside the ideas of the dark ages, and come out into the light of scientific knowledge. This way hope lies, and progress and happiness. My one desire is that the foregoing chapters will be useful and helpful; be- cause every true man feels that he wants to leave behind him a trail of the most good he can do in this world. In my estimation the greatest and most A Complete urgent problem facing humanity today is the problem of sex and education. In this we are more backward than in every other problem. Its solution will rid the world of three-fourths of its misery, disease, and inefficiency, and enable humanity to reap the richest rewards in happiness and understand- ing. ABSOLUTELY RELIABLE SEX INFORMATION The greatest curse in humanity is ignorance of the functions of the most vital parts of the body. There are thousands of young men and women who are ruining their lives because they have never been given the warning they so much needed. Through lack of knowledge they drain the body of its most precious secretions, and turn themselves into wrecks physically, mentally and morally. The only satisfactory sex education is one that is based on scientific knowledge. “SEX DE- VELOPMENT,” by the Editor of “Health and Life,” is absolutely the only one of its kind that has ever been published. You cannot imagine the valuable information it contains until you have read it. Besides the anatomy, physiology and biology of sex it sounds the note of inspiration for cleanliness, and IT TELLS THINGS THAT THE DOCTOR KNOWS AND DOES NOT TELL. A FEW OF THE HEADINGS ARE: The Principle of Re- production. What is Birth ? Love. Development. The Sex Apparatus. Copulation. The Embryo and its Development. Comparative Sex. Evolution of the Brain and Nervous System. Male Organs. Female Organs. The Correct Use of the Sex. The Ovum. The Spermatozoon. The Origin of Altruism. The Urinogenital System. Why Two Sexes? Sexual Selection. Heredity. Cell Development and Reproduction. Fertilization. Recapitulation. The Secret of Human Success. The book is fully illustrated with diagrams. It fills the long-felt want of a truly reliable and scientific work of sex education. Send cheque or money order for $1.75 for your copy new to make sure of one. HEALTH AND LIFE PUBLICATIONS, 333 S. Dearborn Street * - CHICAGO HEALTH AND FITNESS By BERNARD BERNARD, (Editor of “Health and Life) It deals from A to Z with all the problems of health and fitness. You can be strong, fit and well. You cannot afford to be unwell, it means inefficiency all round. Waste no more money on useless drugs and patent medicines—be your own doctor; and use Nature's methods to recuperate your health and strength. ONLY $1.75 Just read for yourself some of the headings: How the Body is Nourished. The Importance of the Body Muscles. Baldness. Deep Breathing Exercises. How Women Can Cure Anaemia. Diet—What to Elat. Correct Mastication. Indigestion. Blackheads. The Morning Bath, A Grand Tonic. Night Wear. Developing Great Strength. The Teeth. A Remedy for Toothache. How to Preserve the Teeth. Internal Cleansing. Correcting Internal Troubles by Breathing. Scurf and Dandruff. The Causes of Disease. Constipation. A Diet Scheme, With Sample Menus. Headaches. Skin Ailments. How the Body Keeps an Even Temperature. Acne. Perspiring Feet. Liver and Kidney Ailments. Rheumatic Troubles. Asthma. Obesity. THREE DIFFERENT SETS OF EXERCISES ARE DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED. Send your check, money order, bill or stamps to the value of $1.75 for this great book, now. HEALTH AND LIFE PUBLICATIONS, 333 S. Dearborn Street - - CHICAGO 20 cents monthly. The Only Physical Culture Magazine in the World Edited by An Active Champion Athlete. A recent issue contained: MAKE MARRIAGE SAFE. A powerful article on birth control and venereal control by Ettie A. Rout of the New Zealand Volunteer Sisters. Miss Rout has received honors from all over the world for her great bravery in fighting single handed the venereal scourge. She is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant of modern women. You must not miss the article. THROWING THE DISCUS. By Dennis Carey, Ex-Champion and one of the greatest all- round athletes and trainers in the world. SIMPLE TRICKS OF SELF-DEFENSE. By Bernard Bernard. Some easy tricks by means of which you can overpower any assailant, no matter how strong or vicious he may be. EXERCISES FOR THE BUSY PERSON. By the Editor. Giving a complete series of exercises, illustrated, that are guaranteed to keep the sedentary worker fit. THE VARIOUS MEDICAL CULTS OF HEALING. By Dr. H. C. Engeldrum, D. O. This article is of intense interest. JACKIE COOGAN’S HEALTH MAXIMS. Written by himself. The great little film star shows that he has an enormous understanding of the important things in life. LEADING ATHLETIC STARS. An article featuring the foremost athletic heroes of the day. HEIR GREAT ENEMY. Dramatic serial story. Numerous other articles and notes on Health, Athletics, Psychology and Social Problems. Fully illustrated. Order your copy now to make sure of it, or have the magazine sent to you for six months by sending a $1 bill to HEALTH AND LIFE PUBLICATIONS, 333 S. Dearborn Street - • CHICAGO PERSONAL ADVICE FOR 25 CENTS. Bernard Bernard, Phys. B., M. P. C. (Lond.), (Editor of “Health and Life”), will be pleased to give his advice and opinion on your own personal trouble, if you have any, providing 25 cents is en- closed to cover cost of office expenses, postage and stationery. You are quite wel- come to make use of this offer. Please fill in the following form, and if you write more fully, state your case in as terse sentences as possible. Name Address Age Married or single Occupation Hobbies State nature of complaint and symptoms Any bad habits Diet: Breakfast Lunch Tea Supper (if any) Condition of bowels- Condition of digestion What exercise do you take Address to Bernard Bernard, Dept. SK., Health and Life Publications, 333 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. HEALTH and LIFE FELLOWSHIP A Band of Men and Women United in Their Love of the Healthy, the Strong and the Beautiful President, The Editor of Health and Life: We want all those who believe in the work which Health and Life is doing to inspire a love for the healthy, the strong and the beautiful, to join the Health and Life Fellowship. Thousands of men and women now in the slough of despond need our help to show them the way to health and happiness, and by joining hands we shall become a great force for our cause. Many of us are now working single-handed for the same movement; many of us with similar ideas and ideals would like to be brought to- gether. It is the aim of the Fellowship to do this. By becoming a member you make a pledge to keep your body healthy, strong and beautiful. This in itself is a great help to you personally to follow out the rules which mean everything in life to you. Fill in your coupon now and send it in. HEALTH AND LIFE FELLOWSHIP To the Secretary: I wish to join'the Health and Life Fellowship. I promise to do my best to keep my body healthy, strong and beautiful. Enclosed is my fee of $1.00. Name Address A Book (or Idealists by an Idealist The greatest necessity to ensure happiness in the married condition is to know its obligation and privileges, and to have a sound understanding of sex conduct. This great book gives this information and is absolutely reliable throughout. Dr. P. L. Clark, B.S., M.D ., writing of this book says: “As regards sound principles and frank discussion I know no better book on this subject than Bernard Ber- nard's ‘Sex Conduct in Marriage.’ I strongly advise all members of the Health School in need of reliable information to read this book.” “I feel grateful but cheated,” writes one man, “grate- ful for the new understanding and joy in living that has come to us, cheated that we have lived five years without it.” Sex Conduct in Marriage By BERNARD BERNARD Answers simply and directly, those intimate questions which Mr. Bernard has been called upon to answer in- numerable times before, both personally and by cor- respondence. It is a simple, straight-forward explana- tion, unclouded by ancient fetish or superstition. A few of the many headings are: When the Sex Function Should Be Used. Sex Tragedies in Childhood. The Consummation of Mar- riage. The Art of a Beautiful Conception. Sex Communion. The Scientific Control of Conception. Sex Fear Destroyed. The Frequency of the Sex Act. The Initiation to Matrimony. Anatomv and Physiology of the Sex Organs. The Spontaneous Expression of Love Why Women have Been Subjected. Men Who Marry in Ignorance. Hereditary Passion. Marriage a Joy to the End. Send your check or money order today for only $1.75 and this remarkable book will be sent postpaid im- mediately in a plain wrapper. HEALTH AND LIFE PUBLICATIONS 333 South Dearborn Street Chicago, Illinois