Venereal and Urinary Diseases on Boys and Men.


Could we read the heart of every man and boy we pass upon the street,
how few--how very few--there are that would not reveal sickening
pictures of lust, disease, melancholy and insanity. Charnel-houses of
sin and lust--sloughs of despond and regret--excess of passion offset
by lack of power--dread, despair, hopelessness, shame and desperation,
making a picture of misery scarcely to be conceived by any but those
unfortunate beings who in the thoughtless, careless heyday of youth, or
the reckless reliance on more mature vigor, have weakened, emasculated
and enslaved themselves by indulgences and excesses that have borne
fruit of misery, disease and desperation in after years.

How little the youth who, in his ignorance of the terrible consequences
of his vice, steals away to the secrecy of his chamber or his bed,
leaving his happy, healthy and playful companions, in order that he
may let the hot waves of lust and passion run riot in his mind, and dry
up every spring of healthy thought and action--how little does he think
of the after-time of misery and exhaustion that he is bringing upon
himself--how little does he think that the vile demon that he is raising
up will, like the vampire, suck his very life-blood, steal away his
strength and life and vivacity, besmirch and weaken his mind, take the
strength from his muscles, the courage from his heart, sap the very
foundation of his existence, unsex and unnerve him, render him feeble,
wavering and imbecile, dog his footsteps to the very steps of the altar,
to curse and blacken and disappoint those joys of parentage and marital
right that should be his. The shadow deepens with him as life advances,
and follows him, bringing shame and misery and despair at every step,
until the poor victim, driven too far, sinks into an early grave by