and the
same thing may be true of the victim of self-abuse. {408}

9. SIGNS OF VIRILITY.--As the young man develops in strength and years the
sexual appetite will manifest itself. The secretion of the male known as
the seed or semen depends for the life-transmitting power upon little
minute bodies called spermatozoa. These are very active and numerous in a
healthy secretion, being many hundreds in a single drop and a single one of
them is capable to bring about conception in a female. Dr. Napheys in his
"Transmission of Life," says: "The secreted fluid has been frozen and kept
at a temperature of zero for four days, yet when it was thawed these
animalcules, as they are supposed to be, were as active as ever. They are
not, however, always present, and when present may be of variable activity.
In young men, just past puberty, and in aged men, they are often scarce and
languid in motion." At the proper age the secretion is supposed to be the
most active, generally at the age of twenty-five, and decreases as age
increases.

10. HYGIENIC RULE.--The man at mid-life should guard carefully his passions
and the husband his virile powers, and as the years progress, steadily wean
himself more from his desire, for his passions will become weaker with age
and any excitement in middle life may soon debilitate and destroy his
virile powers.

11. FOLLIES OF YOUTH.--Dr. Napheys says: "Not many men can fritter away a
decade or two of years in dissipation and excess, and ever hope to make up
their losses by rigid surveillance in later years." "The sins of youth are
expiated in age," is a proverb which daily examples illustrate. In
proportion as puberty is precocious, will decadence be premature; the
excesses of middle life draw heavily on the fortune of later years. "The
mill of the gods grinds slow, but it grinds exceedingly fine," and though
nature may be a tardy creditor, she is found at last to be an inexorable
one.

* * * * *

{409}

Our Secret Sins.

1. PASSIONS.--Every healthful man has sexual desires, and he might as well
refuse to satisfy his hunger as to deny their existence. The Creator has
given us various appetites, intended they should be indulged, and has
provided the means.

2. REASON.--While it is true that a healthy man has strongly developed
sexual passions, yet, God has crowned man with reason, and with a proper
exercise of this wonderful faculty of the human mind no lascivio