Plain Facts for Old and Young

Facts for Old and Young, by
John Harvey Kellogg

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Title: Plain Facts for Old and Young
Author: John Harvey Kellogg
Release Date: November 27, 2006 [EBook #19924]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAIN
FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG ***

Produced by Ron Swanson

[Illustration: The Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich.]
[Frontispiece: Yours truly, J. H. Kellogg]

PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG.
BY
J. H. KELLOGG, M.D.,
MEMBER AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION,
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE,
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROSCOPY, MEMBER MICH.
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF
THE BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM, AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS
WORKS ON HEALTH, ETC.

PUBLISHED BY SEGNER & CONDIT, BURLINGTON, IOWA.
1881.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by J. H.
KELLOGG, M.D., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at
Washington, D.C.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PREFACE.
The publishers of this work offer no apology for presenting it to the
reading public, since the wide prevalence of the evils which it exposes
is sufficient warrant for its publication. The subjects with which it deals
are of vital consequence to the human race; and it is of the utmost
importance that every effort should be made to dispel the gross
ignorance which almost universally prevails, by the wide diffusion, in a
proper manner, of information of the character contained in this
volume.
This book has been written not for the young only, nor for any single

class of persons, but for all who are old enough to be capable of
understanding and appreciating it. The prime object of its preparation
has been to call attention to the great prevalence of sexual excesses of
all kinds, and the heinous crimes resulting from some forms of sexual
transgression, and to point out the terrible results which inevitably
follow the violation of sexual law.
In order to make more clear and comprehensible the teachings of nature
respecting the laws regulating the sexual function, and the evils
resulting from their violation, it has seemed necessary to preface the
practical part of the subject by a concise description of the anatomy of
reproduction. In this portion of the work especial pains has been taken
to avoid anything like indelicacy of expression, yet it has not been
deemed advisable to sacrifice perspicuity of ideas to any prudish
notions of modesty. It is hoped that the reader will bear in mind that the
language of science is always chaste in itself, and that it is only through
a corrupt imagination that it becomes invested with impurity. The
author has constantly endeavored to impart information in the most
straightforward, simple, and concise manner.
The work should be judiciously circulated, and to secure this the
publishers will take care to place it in the hands of agents competent to
introduce it with discretion; yet it may be read without injury by any
one who is sufficiently mature to understand it. Great care has been
taken to exclude from its pages those accounts of the habits of vicious
persons, and descriptions of the mechanical accessories of vice, with
which many works upon sexual subjects abound.
The first editions of the work were issued with no little anxiety on the
part of both author and publishers as to how it would be received by the
reading public. It was anticipated that no little adverse criticism, and
perhaps severe condemnation, would be pronounced by many whose
education and general mode of thought had been such as to unfit them
to appreciate it; but it was hoped that persons of more thoughtful and
unbiased minds would receive the work kindly, and would readily
co-operate with the publishers in its circulation. This anticipation has
been more than realized. Wherever the book has been introduced, it has

met with a warm reception; and of the several thousand persons into
whose hands the work has been placed, hundreds have gratefully
acknowledged the benefit which they have received from its perusal,
and it is hoped that a large proportion have been greatly benefited.
The cordial reception which the work has met from the press
everywhere has undoubtedly contributed in great measure to its
popularity. The demand for the work has exhausted several editions in
rapid succession, and has seemed to require its preparation in the
greatly enlarged and in every way improved form in which it now
appears. The addition of two whole chapters for the purpose