Plain Facts for Old and Young | Page 2

of bringing
the subject directly before the minds of boys and girls in a proper
manner, adds greatly to the interest and value of the work, as there
seemed to be a slight deficiency in this particular in the former editions.
J. H. K. BATTLE CREEK, MICH., October, 1879.

CONTENTS.
PAGE. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
SEX IN LIVING FORMS.
Living beings--Animals and vegetables--Life force--Reproduction--
Spontaneous generation--Simplest form of
generation--Hermaphrodism-- Sex in plants--Sex in animals--Other
sexual differences--Men and women differ in form--Modern mania for
female pedestrianism--3,000 quarter miles in 3,000 quarter hours--A
female walking-match--The male and female brain--Vital organs of
man and woman--Woman less muscular, more enduring--A
pathological difference--Why a woman does not breathe like a
man--The reproductive elements--Sexual organs of plants--
Polygamous flowers--The female organ of flowers--Sexual organs of
animals--The spermatozoon--The ovum--Fecundation--Fecundation in
flowers--Union of the ovum and zoosperm--Curious modes of
reproduction--Human beings are developed buds--Fecundation in

hermaphrodites--Development--Unprotected development--Partial
protection of the ovum--Development in the higher animals and in
man-- The uterus--Uterine gestation--The primitive trace--Curious
relations to lower animals--Simplicity of early structures--The stages of
growth-- Duration of gestation--Uterine life--How the unborn infant
breathes-- Parturition--Changes in the child at birth--Nursing--Anatomy
of the reproductive organs--Male organs--The prostate gland--Female
organs-- Puberty--Influence of diet on puberty--Brunettes naturally
precocious-- Remarkable precocity--Premature development occasions
early decay-- Early puberty a cause for anxiety--Changes which occur
at puberty-- Menstruation--Nature of menstruation--A critical
period--Important hints--Menorrhagia--Dysmenorrhoea--Amenorrhoea
and chlorosis-- Hysteria--Prevention better than cure--Extra-uterine
pregnancy--Twins-- Monsters--Hybrids--Law of
sex--Heredity--Ante-natal influences--Law universal--A source of
crime--Circumcision--Castration . . . . . . . 25
THE SEXUAL RELATIONS.
Sexual precocity--Astonishing ignorance--Inherited passion--Various
causes of sexual precocity--Senile sexuality--Marriage--Time to
marry--Application of the law of heredity--Early marriage--Mutual
adaptation--Disparity of age--Courtship--Long Courtships--
Flirtation--Youthful flirtations--Polygamy--Polyandry--Divorce-- Who
may not marry--Do not be in a hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
CHASTITY.
Mental unchastity--Amativeness--Unchaste conversation--Causes of
unchastity--Early causes--Diet vs. chastity--Clerical lapses--Tobacco
and vice--Bad books--Idleness--Dress and sensuality--How young
women fall--Fashion and vice--Reform in dress needed--Round
dances--Physical causes of unchastity--Constipation--Intestinal
worms--Local uncleanness--Irritation of the bladder--Modern modes of
life . . . . 174
CONTINENCE.

Continence not injurious--Does not produce impotence--Difficulty of
continence--Helps to continence--The will--Diet--Exercise--Bathing--
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
MARITAL EXCESSES.
Object of the reproductive functions--Results of excesses--Effects upon
husbands--Testimony of a French physician--Continence of trainers--A
cause of throat disease--A cause of consumption--Effects on
wives--The greatest cause of uterine disease--Legalized murder--
Indulgence during menstruation--Effects upon offspring--Indulgence
during pregnancy--Effect upon the character--A selfish objection--
Brutes and savages more considerate--What may be done--Early
moderation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION: ITS EVILS AND DANGERS.
Conjugal onanism--"Male continence"--Shaker views--Moral bearings
of the question--Unconsidered murders--The charge
disputed--Difficulties-- Woman's rights--What to do--A
compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
INFANTICIDE AND ABORTION.
Not a modern crime--Causes of the crime--The nature of the crime--
Instruments of crime--Results of this unnatural crime--An unwelcome
child--The remedy--Murder by proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
THE SOCIAL EVIL.
Unchastity of the ancients--Causes of the "social evil"--Libidinous
blood--Gluttony--Precocious sexuality--Man's
lewdness--Fashion--Lack of early training--Sentimental
literature--Poverty--Ignorance--Disease-- Results of
licentiousness--Thousands of victims--Effects of vice ineradicable--The
only hope--Hereditary effects of venereal disease-- Man the only
transgressor--Origin of the foul disease--Cure of the "social
evil"--Prevention the only cure--Early training--Teach

self-control--Mental culture--Early associations . . . . . . . . . . 284
SOLITARY VICE.
Alarming prevalence of the vice--Testimony of eminent authors--Not a
modern vice--Victims of all ages--Unsuspected rottenness--Causes of
the habit--Evil associations--Corruption in schools--Wicked
nurses--Not an uncommon case--The instructor in vice--Local
disease--An illustrative case--Other physical causes--Influence of
stimulants-- Signs of self-abuse--Suspicious signs--General
debility--Early symptoms of consumption--Premature and defective
development--Sudden change in
disposition--Lassitude--Sleeplessness--Failure of mental capacity--
Fickleness--Untrustworthiness--Love of
solitude--Bashfulness--Unnatural boldness--Mock piety--Confusion of
ideas--Round shoulders--Weak backs-- Pains in the limbs--Stiffness of
the joints--Paralysis--Gait--Bad positions--Lack of development of the
breasts--Capricious appetite-- Eating clay--The use of
tobacco--Unnatural paleness--Acne--Biting the finger nails--Palpitation
of the heart--Hysteria--Chlorosis--Epileptic fits--Wetting the
bed--Unchastity of speech--Positive signs--Results of secret
vice--Effects in males--Local effects--Urethral irritation--
Stricture--Enlarged prostate--Urinary diseases--Priapism--Piles--
Prolapsus of rectum--Extension of irritation--Atrophy--Varicocele--
Nocturnal emissions--Exciting causes--Are occasional emissions
necessary or harmless?--Emissions not necessary to health--Eminent
testimony--Diurnal emissions--Cause of diurnal emissions--Internal
emissions--An important caution--Impotence--General effects--General
debility--Consumption--Dyspepsia--Heart-disease--Throat affections--
Nervous diseases--Epilepsy--Failure of special senses--Spinal
irritation--Insanity--A victim's mental condition pictured--Effects in
females--Local effects--Leucorrhoea--Uterine disease--Cancer of the
womb--Sterility--Atrophy of mammae--Pruritis--General effects--A
common cause of hysteria--Effects upon offspring--Treatment of
self-abuse and its effects--Prevention of secret