o
Stanley Hall (_Adolescence_, vol. i, p. 452): "My entire youth,
from six to eighteen, was made miserable from lack of knowledge
that any one who knew anything of the nature of puberty might
have given; this long sense of defect, dread of operation, shame
and worry, has left an indelible mark." There are certainly many
men who could say the same. Lancaster ("Psychology and Pedagogy
of Adolescence," _Pedagogical Seminary_, July, 1897, pp. 123-5)
speaks strongly regarding the evils of ignorance of sexual
hygiene, and the terrible fact that millions of youths are always
in the hands of quacks who dupe them into the belief that they
are on the road to an awful destiny merely because they have
occasional emissions during sleep. "This is not a light matter,"
Lancaster declares. "It strikes at the very foundation of our
inmost life. It deals with the reproductory part of our natures,
and must have a deep hereditary influence. It is a natural result
of the foolish false modesty shown regarding all sex instruction.
Every boy should be taught the simple physiological facts before
his life is forever blighted by this cause." Lancaster has had in
his hands one thousand letters, mostly written by young people,
who were usually normal, and addressed to quacks who were duping
them. From time to time the suicides of youths from this cause
are reported, and in many mysterious suicides this has
undoubtedly been the real cause. "Week after week," writes the
_British Medical Journal_ in an editorial ("Dangerous Quack
Literature: The Moral of a Recent Suicide," Oct. 1, 1892), "we
receive despairing letters from those victims of foul birds of
prey who have obtained their first hold on those they rob,
torture and often ruin, by advertisements inserted by newspapers
of a respectable, nay, even of a valuable and respected,
character." It is added that the wealthy proprietors of such
newspapers, often enjoying a reputation for benevolence, even
when the matter is brought before them, refuse to interfere as
they would thereby lose a source of income, and a censorship of
advertisements is proposed. This, however, is difficult, and
would be quite unnecessary if youths received proper
enlightenment from their natural guardians.

Masturbation, and the fear that by an occasional and perhaps
outgrown