SPERMATORRHŒA—IMPOTENCY—STERILITY.
The Baneful Effects and Consequences of Masturbation, Marriage Excesses, Venereal and Urinary Diseases on Boys and Men.
Could we read the heart of every man and boy we pass upon the street, how few—how very few—there are that would not reveal sickening pictures of lust, disease, melancholy and insanity. Charnel-houses of sin and lust—sloughs of despond and regret—excess of passion offset by lack of power—dread, despair, hopelessness, shame and desperation, making a picture of misery scarcely to be conceived by any but those unfortunate beings who in the thoughtless, careless heyday of youth, or the reckless reliance on more mature vigor, have weakened, emasculated and enslaved themselves by indulgences and excesses that have borne fruit of misery, disease and desperation in after years.
How little the youth who, in his ignorance of the terrible consequences of his vice, steals away to the secrecy of his chamber or his bed, leaving his happy, healthy and playful companions, in order that he may let the hot waves of lust and passion run riot in his mind, and dry up every spring of healthy thought and action—how little does he think of the after-time of misery and exhaustion that he is bringing upon himself—how little does he think that the vile demon that he is raising up will, like the vampire, suck his very life-blood, steal away his strength and life and vivacity, besmirch and weaken his mind, take the strength from his muscles, the courage from his heart, sap the very foundation of his existence, unsex and unnerve him, render him feeble, wavering and imbecile, dog his footsteps to the very steps of the altar, to curse and blacken and disappoint those joys of parentage and marital right that should be his. The shadow deepens with him as life advances, and follows him, bringing shame and misery and despair at every step, until the poor victim, driven too far, sinks into an early grave by disease or suicide, or is lost to the world and to all joys and friends behind the doors of an insane asylum.
He died of no disease known to medical science. He simply faded away—weaker, more nerveless and hopeless day by day; he faded away until, almost before any one knew it, the grave yawned to receive him. Poor, miserable, hopeless wreck—poor suicide, for his own sin and crime were the real causes of his death.
How many such there are at the present day. We meet them on the street, in business and at church. Our insane asylums are full of them. We Our Treatment is Pleasant, Quick and Lasting. find their wives unfaithful or unhappy; and their offspring—when they are cursed with any—poor, miserable, weak fledgelings, with aged, wasted faces, water on the brain, with rickets and softening of the bones—idiots or imbeciles—dying early and scarcely regretted even by the parent whose progeny they are, for every wail of the little suffering voice pierced his heart and reminded him of his lustful sin, and passionate, inexcusable indulgence that caused all this misery.
“And the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children, even to the third and fourth generations.”
Alas, how true! how indisputable! The imperative Laws of Nature once broken, the consequences are inevitable.
Of late years it has become the fashion amongst certain men to scoff at this terrible vice of secret indulgence, and to claim that its evil effects are overrated, are portrayed too vividly. Ask some poor unfortunate whose confidence you may succeed in gaining, and listen to the pitiful tale of lost health and vitality he will tell you. Mark well the wasted hand, the putty-like skin, the black-ringed, lack-lustre eyes, the heavy lip, the labored breath—read the consequences of his sin and crime in his shame-faced way, his shambling gait, his nerveless hands, his fluttering heart, his weakened muscles, and his tottering memory and mind.
Must he needs lie dead at our feet before these skeptics can be convinced? Is not such a state a living death? Must these men visit him in the cell of the asylum, watch him as a raving maniac, gaze upon him as a hopeless idiot or a driveling imbecile, before they will be convinced? Such proof is at hand. Not an asylum in any country but has its score of such; not an asylum record-book but chronicles the sad histories of thousands of these poor, lost creatures—male and female; not an asylum nurse or doctor but will sadly point out these creatures to you, bereft of every trace of reason, all sense of shame, still practicing the horrible vice that has driven every semblance of humanity from their faces and the very light of reason from their eyes.
True, every boy or man who practices this vice does not come to this end. But who shall discriminate? There are thousands such, and who shall say which it shall be, or at what moment it shall occur? Ah! happy, rosy-cheeked boy, so gay and thoughtless now, so free from misery, disease and care, beware! It may be your turn next. A little thoughtless indulgence, the imitation of friend or companion, though apparently harmless now, may blanch your rosy cheek, destroy your peace and happiness of mind, and make a life-long, hopeless, suffering invalid of you—may shut the door of all earthly enjoyment in your face, blast your hopes, disease or destroy your offspring, alienate you from friends and family, and cut off from all communion with your race, make you an object of shame and disgust to your fellow-men, sink you into an early grave or entomb you for life in the cold stony walls of a lunatic asylum.
The day will come, erstwhile, when you will curse the parents who reared you, the friends who surrounded you and the teachers and ministers who taught you, for not warning you of the terrible nature of this indulgence, so secretly common amongst boys and young men.
The day will come, when in the midst of your mental, moral and physical agony, with weakened mind and exhausted body, physicians will tell you that When you are Tired of being Humbugged or Experimented on, send to us. masturbation is practically harmless, that its consequences are exaggerated, and that your sufferings are mostly imaginary. Then will you pity their ignorance and bemoan the fact that to such men must sufferers in your terrible extremity apply without any feeling of being understood, appreciated or sympathized with, and, far less, relieved or cured.
Happy will you be then, if you can (with your vice and misery staring you in the face and threatening you with some or all of its dire consequences) direct your steps to those who not only can and will sympathize with you, but who are able to aid you with proper remedies and restoratives and set you safely on the way to health and happiness again. For there are proper aids and remedies; there are hope and happiness to be obtained if the affections growing out of this vice be skillfully taken in hand in time. None but the hopeless sufferers who have been lifted from the misery, shame and weakness of their self-inflicted suffering know how much this world owes to the high medical skill, exhaustive study, and persistent search for truth and proper remedies of those two great Frenchmen, Professors Claude Lallemand and Jean Civiale. The medical as well as civil honors conferred upon them by their country and their medical brethren, great as they were, could never half repay them for the good they rendered thoughtless youth and suffering manhood by their special discoveries. There can be no question but that the Civiale Urethral Crayons, named thus after this great specialist, and endorsed by the most eminent medical men of France (that country in which lust and passion are peculiarly prevalent), are the most far-reaching and reliable specifics for Generative, Sexual and Nervous diseases known.
CAUSES OF SPERMATORRHŒA AND IMPOTENCY.
SELF-ABUSE NOT THE ONLY CAUSE.
Many years’ experience in the treatment of these debilitating diseases has proven very surely that there are many causes besides Self-Abuse (Self-Pollution, Secret Vice or Masturbation) for Spermatorrhœa, Impotency and Debility or Lost Manhood. Self-Abuse is the most common cause, and we therefore give it the most prominence. The others we will name briefly in about the order of their frequency.
1. MARRIAGE EXCESSES.—A very common cause, more often producing Impotency (loss of Sexual Desire or Power) and Sterility (inability to beget offspring), than Spermatorrhœa (loss of vital fluid, daily and nightly losses, losses in the urine, nervous prostration, debility, insanity, paralysis, &c. For full description of symptoms, see pages 12-16). Sexual desire was given to mankind, like any other power or appetite—to be enjoyed in reasonable moderation and for the purpose of insuring a continuance of our species by the birth of offspring. Many men abuse this power—abuse it inordinately, shamefully—and suffer the consequences. This is especially true of the newly married, and men advanced in years, who push their failing powers too far. As a just retribution for the abuse of so important a function, the Almighty deprives some of desire, some of power, some of both.
2. ONANISM.—By many this is confused with Masturbation or Self-Abuse. While like it in some respects and in many of its consequences, it is still different. It is as hurtful to an adult as abuse is to a young person. We Cure where a Cure is Possible. God punished Onan for this sin, hence its name. Yet, despite this terrible example so plainly set forth in the Old Testament, probably one-half of the married men of the present day are pursuing it, and hence so many Impotent and Powerless persons, seeking vainly amongst the many cheap, quack remedies for something to re-invigorate and re-vitalize them.
This is a terrible vice, terrible in its consequences, and however hardy and robust the man, sooner or later his sexual powers must and will succumb to the strain. Many men write us, saying that they never masturbated, and yet are totally impotent and cannot understand why it is. And yet they have been thus injuring themselves for years!
Sexual power and desire were given us for one purpose—the perpetuation of our species, and whoso endeavors to avoid this, must suffer. Many married couples do not want more children, from care, poverty or other causes, and hence the extent to which this terrible practice is indulged. It must be from ignorance, for were it commonly known how injurious this practice is, but few would dare take the terrible risk.
And yet the resulting weakness can be speedily cured if properly treated. In no class of cases have the Civiale Remedies achieved greater success than in these.
3. ANYTHING DEBILITATING—such as Overwork, Confinement, Sedentary Occupations, Worry, Care, Excitement, &c., &c.—These are much more common causes of Sexual and Generative Diseases than is generally supposed, and usually very obstinate and difficult to treat, because the system is so run down that there is very little stamina or vitality to rely upon. Clerks, business men, lawyers, bankers, ministers and students are very subject to this form of impaired vital and sexual power. Theological students are very prone to it. Many do not have any idea as to what their real trouble is, and lose much valuable time in doctoring for Dyspepsia, Consumption, Neurasthenia and the like, when really their very life and vitality are oozing away from them in their urine or otherwise.
4. WOMEN’S (OR VENEREAL) DISEASES.—Gonorrhœa (clap), Gleet, Stricture, Injury to the Urine Canal from the rough use of sounds, bougies, catheters, &c., &c. Any one or all of these, by extending the inflammation backward to the seminal ducts and neck of the bladder, may cause either Spermatorrhœa or Impotency. Indeed, Stricture (often caused by Self-Abuse) is one of the most common causes of these complaints. It was here that Lallemand and Civiale found the key-note of the true treatment of these diseases.
5. VARICOCELE, or a wormy, swollen or twisted state of the veins in the bag, and of those that run down to the testicles, is a very common cause of both Spermatorrhœa, Impotency and Debility. (For full description of this very common and often unexpected disease, send for our illustrated pamphlet on the subject, or see Chapter XI, page 44 of this book.) No man or boy with Varicocele, no matter how it was produced, can be perfectly sound and strong in his Sexual Organs.
6. UNDEVELOPED, WASTED OR MISSHAPEN PARTS.—A failure to have perfectly developed organs sometimes dates from birth, but in most cases it is caused by self-abuse at a time when the person is growing. In any case, Seminal weakness and Wasted or Misshapen Parts go together We Offer Special Help to Impotent Men. as both cause and effect, and the one, when found, will usually very soon lead to the other. Twisting or Curving is one of the most positive signs of previous inflammation, stricture and twisting or distortion of the seminal ducts, and hence sterility or barrenness. In such especially are the remarkable effects of the Civiale Treatment the most noticeable. We can say with positiveness, and prove it by case after case, that by no other method can such rapid and perfect restoration of the organs to a natural and healthy state be obtained as by this. Some of the very worst and apparently most hopeless cases that we have had—cases that have gone from one physician to another without the slightest improvement—have yielded effectually to the Civiale Remedies. In some of them the persons thus afflicted would have been totally unfitted for marriage had they failed to find relief. Their children—healthy, happy and finely developed—speak volumes for what our treatment has done for them. (For Treatment refer to page 42 of this book.)