large proportion of cases of sterility is due to gonorrheal infection,
either in the man or woman, or both.

If we consider the revolting sequences of syphilis with its train of
operations, and progeny of scrofulous children, it would seem to make
the natural retribution for illicit intercourse infinitely outweigh
any brief pleasures derived from the enjoyment of the stolen fruits.

It hardly seems possible that any young man who knows the whole truth
about these venereal diseases and their terrible after-effects could
be tempted to indulge in illicit intercourse.

2. MASTURBATION.

The vice of masturbation or self-abuse is very likely to be learned in
boyhood, perhaps even by boys of six or eight years of age through
their associations with obscene playmates. It not infrequently
happens, however, that the habit is learned independent of these evil
associations. It has been explained above that secretions frequently
accumulate under the prepuce and accumulating there serve as a local
irritation, causing itching of the organ. This local irritation leads
the boy to attempt to allay the irritation through rubbing. Such
manipulation of the organ is very likely to excite it and to lead to
the discovery on the part of the boy that such local manipulation may
lead to pleasurable sensations of momentary duration. If he has not
been instructed by his parents that these organs are sacred to the
uses of manhood and that they will be injured if handled during
childhood, he is very likely to repeat this act until it becomes a
more or less fixed habit.

While it must be admitted that anything short of extreme excess in
this habit among little boys will not be permanently injurious if the
habit is stopped at puberty, it must be perfectly evident that if a
boy enters puberty with this habit, the psychical and physical
conditions of puberty are such as to make the habit very difficult to
stop. If it is not stopped a serious injury may result. So the
necessity hardly need be further urged for explaining to young boys
that these organs should not be handled.

After the boy enters puberty, the habit of masturbation either
acquired during puberty or carried into that stage from early boyhood,
begins to have a distinctly deleterious effect.

Let us now consider just what is the character of this deleterious
effect. From what we know of the physiology of the sexual apparatus,
it must be evident that a sexual orgasm could be produced