not hopeful, however, even as regards
his own remedy, for he adds: "We can trace small ground for hope
that the disease will thus be materially reduced." He would
still, however, preach chastity to the individual, and he does so
with all the ascetic ardor of a mediaeval monk. "With all the
force that any knowledge I possess, and any authority I have, can
give, I assert that no man ever yet was in the slightest degree
or way the worse for continence or better for incontinence. From
the latter all are worse morally; a clear majority are worse
physically; and in no small number the result is, and ever will
be, utter physical shipwreck on one of the many rocks, sharp,
jagged-edged, which beset the way, or on one of the many beds of
festering slime which no care can possibly avoid." In America the
same view widely prevails, and Dr. J.F. Scott, in his
_Sexual-Instinct_ (second edition, 1908, Ch. III), argues very
vigorously and at great length in favor of sexual abstinence. He
will not even admit that there are two sides to the question,
though if that were the case, the length and the energy of his
arguments would be unnecessary.

Among medical authorities who have discussed the question of
sexual abstinence at length it is not, indeed, usually possible
to find such unqualified opinions in its favor as those I have
quoted. There can be no doubt, however, that a large proportion
of physicians, not excluding prominent and distinguished
authorities, when casually confronted with the question whether
sexual abstinence is harmless, will at once adopt the obvious
path of least resistance and reply: Yes. In only a few cases will
they even make any qualification of this affirmative answer. This
tendency is very well illustrated by an inquiry made by Dr.
Ludwig Jacobsohn, of St. Petersburgh ("Die Sexuelle
Enthaltsamkeit im Lichte der Medizin," _St. Petersburger
Medicinische Wochenschrift_, March 17, 1907). He wrote to over
two hundred distinguished Russian and German professors of
physiology, neurology, psychiatry, etc., asking them if they
regarded sexual abstinence as harmless. The majority returned no
answer; eleven Russian and twenty-eight Germans replied, but four
of them merely said that "they had no personal experience," etc.;
there thus remained thirty-five. Of these E. Pflueger,