vital and significant items in their individual cases. All these
things, of course, tended to make bad matters worse, or resulted in
nothing that was really worth while.

After some years of this sort of experience, and meditating much on
the situation, I came to the conclusion that a very large percentage
of all this trouble which I and my patrons had to go up against, was
almost entirely the result of ignorance on the part of those who came
to consult me; and because knowledge is always the antidote for not
knowing, I came to the conclusion that, if it were possible to "put
these people wise" where they were now so uninformed, I might at
once save them from a deal of harm and myself from much trouble and
annoyance.

Further than this, I remembered once hearing a wise man say that often
"what cannot be said may be sung"; and I realized that it is equally
true that much which would be awkward, or embarrassing, if said to a
person, face to face, might be got to them in writing with impunity.
This I found to be especially true of my women patients, some of whom
might become suspicious of a wrong intent from the things said in a
private conversation, when they would have no such fears or doubts
if they read the same words from a printed page. It was these
considerations which first suggested to me the writing of the
following pages.

Still other reasons why I did as I did were as follows: You see,
at once, if you stop to think about it, that the writing out of the
knowledge I proposed to impart was really a matter of necessity for
me, because of the _saving of time_ which would thereby be secured. To
get any results that would be worth while in these matters, I would be