o such debasing habit. But if, through ignorance, you
have acquired it, how shall you overcome it?

I should hesitate to write more on this subject did I not know that
many girls fall victims to this evil through ignorance, and many who
thus fall could and would have been saved had they been rightly
instructed. I therefore desire that you shall be wise.

Every normal function of the body is attended with a pleasurable
sensation. We enjoy eating, seeing, walking. Odors bring sensations
which are agreeable, the sense of touch may give pleasure, and as we
enjoy these sensations in fact, so we may enjoy them in memory or in
imagination. We can recall the beauty of the rose, the perfume of the
mignonette, the flavor of the orange, or we can imagine new
combinations of these delights. We feel joy or grief through reading
vivid descriptions, or we can ourselves create imaginary scenes in
which we are actors, who suffer or enjoy.

The reproductive system is the seat of great nervous susceptibility,
and the excitation of these nerves gives a pleasurable sensation. This
excitation may be thought a local mechanical irritation or it may be
mental. In little children it may be caused by lack of cleanliness of
the external organs. An irritation is produced, and an attempt to
allay this by rubbing produces an agreeable feeling, which may be
repeated until the evil habit of self-abuse is formed.

Sometimes constipation, by creating a pelvic congestion, will have the
same result. Sometimes clothing which is too small may, by undue
pressure on the parts, call the thought of the child to these organs,
and in an attempt to remove the pressure by pulling the clothing away
the habit may be begun.

Sometimes the tiny pin-worms in the rectum may wander into the vagina,
and the little girl feel a constant annoyance, which rubbing allays
temporarily, but which results in the evil habit of the use of the
hands to produce an agreeable sensation. Thus through avoidable causes
the evil habit may be acquired. Then it may be taught by one thus
learning it to another who, without this instruction, would never have
acquired it.

But new dangers arise as the girl approaches the age when the
reproductive system begins to take on the activity that indicates
approaching womanhood. The normal congestion of the parts causes a
hitherto unknown consciousness of sex, and unless she is warned she
may at this period acquire the habit without knowing its evi