Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects

by Henry N. Guernsey

Here I must be allowed to protest most solemnly against the use of injections into the vagina for the so-called purpose of cleanliness. Vaginal syringes are constructed and used now by thousands and the sufferings of the human race are increased thereby ten thousand fold proportionately. The vagina, like all organs supplied with a mucous membrane, is self-cleansing. Water, or any other fluid thrown into this organ, has a tendency to disorder the mucous follicles, to dry up their secretions and thus prevent the efflux of some of Nature's necessities. From this cause alone there will be a reaction upon the vaginal walls, upon the neck of the uterus and the uterus itself; the ovaries also become disordered; the lungs sympathize as well as the throat and bronchial tubes, producing hoarseness, hacking cough and a host of troubles following in their train. Nervous headaches of fearful intensity are frequently produced from this unnatural course of procedure. Moreover, water thrown into the vagina, to wash it out, day after day for a considerable time, absolutely produces a leucorrhœa most persistent in character. This is the confession of young ladies to me in making inquiry as to the origin of their trouble, and I have found that the discharge was unknown to some of them till after the use of these injections. It stands to reason that such unnatural washings should be followed by a retribution equal to the error committed, because, as before stated, Nature's laws cannot be perverted without a penalty. A girl should never, under any pretext whatever, resort to such unhallowed means for the cure or alleviation of leucorrhœa, ulceration, or for any disorders that affect these parts. By so doing she is really forming a basis for innumerable future ills. If the girl is well, she has none of these disorders, for they all arise from constitutional derangements. As all must acknowledge, it is a self-evident fact—that, if a woman is well, every part of her must be well also; no one organ can, unaided, get up a disease by itself. In all troubles of this nature, as well as of any other, consult a judicious physician.

There are objections, however, of even a graver nature than those urged above against the use of such instruments. They often excite sensations in the parts to which they are applied, that should remain perfectly dormant in the unmarried state. After awhile these sensations, increasing in frequency and influence, serve to prostitute the mind and the young lady may become ruined for life. I am stating facts that can be proved by multitudes of living witnesses to-day in cases and confessions that have come under my own observation. On remonstrating against this habit, some remark, “But it feels so nice, doctor!” Of course, ablutions of the external organs are perfectly right and proper and should be resorted to daily. To the reflecting mind no more need be said about this matter. Those who wish to live in harmony with the order of their creation and thereby preserve the freshness of health, will not have recourse to such means as add new derangements to the system.

To preserve feminine charms as the girl develops into womanhood, much depends upon her mental state. She must not allow herself to bear malice towards anyone, must not plot evil or attempt to “pay off others in their own coin,” as it is called, or seek revenge in any way; but she must ever cultivate a forgiving disposition, good thoughts and good feelings towards everyone. There is always danger of meeting both rude and lewd girls, and that too in places where least expected; they may be found in schools of all kinds and are occasionally met with in the houses of one's own friends. Not very long since a charming young lady wrote me from a neighboring city, that while sharing a bed with another girl, she experienced a very strange sensation induced by the improper liberties of her bed-fellow; and so persistent were these troublesome sensations, although occupying a bed by herself ever after, she thought it proper to seek my advice. Now this was a good and pure-minded girl who might easily have been ruined but for her inherent love of chastity; and so our daughters are always in danger of being contaminated. A perfectly pure and chaste mind, unsullied by impure thoughts or acts, and cultivated by the exercise of all the Christian virtues, lends enchantment to the eye, sweetness of expression to the face, music to the voice, and gracefulness of carriage. Cultivation of merely external manners will not do; they must spring from the mind and thence they shine throughout the whole, in every fibre and movement of the body. Such an one is truly beloved wherever she goes; she has a real affection for her father and mother, brothers and sisters; and she is fully prepared to appreciate and love one of the opposite sex whose purity of life and nobleness of mind fully corresponds to her own.

To retain this charm of excellence will cost her many a trial and her temptations will be innumerable and very great. But her perceptive faculties are keen, and at the first suspicion of anything wrong she must have the moral courage to say: “No! that is not allowable, it is not right,” or, “this is impure and its tendency is to vice.” Whatever the temptation may be, in thought or in deed, let no one persuade her into wrong-doing—not even her apparently best friend; for it would only be an appearance of friendship if he tempted to anything of a vicious nature. She will be beset with hosts of admirers, some of them pure and having honorable intentions; but (I am sorry to sound the note of warning here,) others will come with the most dishonorable intentions possible, though with an air of sincerity, and apparently as artless as doves. Study all men long and carefully, keeping them meanwhile at a respectful distance; never allow one to sit near with his arm about your waist or to hold your hand in his; never allow him to kiss you—the vilest of loathsome diseases may be communicated by a kiss viz.: syphilis. Do not allow any approach or touch beyond what is customary in the best of society at a social gathering. Many a young lady with an angelic form and spotless soul within, full of the best intentions and of the purest character, giving bright promise of a brilliant future, has been ruined for life by trusting herself alone with some of these apparently wise and good, yet really vile men.

Young women have not, as a rule, any sexual propensity, or amorous thoughts or feelings. If they have been properly educated and cared for, they are, before marriage, perfect strangers to any such sensations; and yet any young lady who falls, does so by her own hand and she has no one else to blame for it. Remember that the Lord, in the beginning, never suffers temptations beyond one's strength to overcome. If she falls ultimately, it results from allowing an impure seed to be planted in the mind at first, which she then nourishes for a time and only in the end it bears its fruit.

As time passes, a young lady forms an acquaintance with gentlemen, and at length she favors the addresses of one who is particularly agreeable to her. After this acquaintance has ripened into love, and she has become convinced of the purity of his heart, she enjoys being with him, in sitting by his side, and is unhappy in his absence. When betrothed, owing to her great and pure love for him, she takes pleasure in receiving such marks of affection from him as are shown by a tender father or brother, but nothing more. After marriage, she feels that she is really his and that he has become a part of herself—that they are no more twain but are one flesh. All this has transpired without her hardly suspecting such a quality in herself as an amorous affection. Still she more than ever loves him, more than ever desires to be near him until finally their union is fully and truly consummated by the marriage act. At no time in her life does a woman make a greater sacrifice of her feelings than at this time, and she does it solely for her pure and fervent love for him. This is right and proper, and is in accordance with the laws of order in the creation of the two sexes in the human, animal and vegetable kingdoms throughout the world.

I wish here to have some “Plain Talk,” that the true object of this book may be more fully understood and its mission more successfully accomplished. Unless willing to make the above sacrifice, no woman should ever marry; because she would not then be fulfilling the marriage covenant. Besides, she would be false to her husband and this falsity might cause his moral and physical destruction; his health would suffer and his manhood become dethroned, because her conduct would utterly controvert the immutable laws of nature. Nature's laws cannot possibly be set aside without the infliction of a severe penalty. The healthy young woman will have no difficulty in preserving her chastity intact, so long as she cultivates that purity of mind to which she is naturally prone. She should never allow herself to read immoral stories or books having in the slightest degree even, such a tendency; theatrical plays with loose morals should also be avoided, and light, silly novels are very pernicious to the imaginative mind of the young. On the other hand useful reading stores the mind with high and noble thoughts, whence spring good and useful deeds.

Unfortunately there are a variety of morbid conditions to which the female is liable, so that sexual desires arise in spite of every effort to keep aloof from them—even though there is not the slightest guilt in mental or bodily transgression. These are owing to disordered conditions of the sexual system, just as other disorderly desires arise, and are often inherited—remember this all parents!—or they may be caused by some morbific influences, as are other diseased conditions of the body. Many a time have I had pure-minded young ladies apply to me for medical aid in these matters, confessing that they had impure thoughts which they knew were wrong, but of which they could not rid themselves. In such cases there are physical symptoms of some kind that incite these thoughts and feelings. The proper medical and hygienic treatment always restores order in such functional derangements and the sexual disturbances of the mind disappear. I have repeatedly cured nymphomania by curing physical, or constitutional symptoms. In one case which came under my care, nymphomania appeared in a married woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy, and so fearfully did her mania rage that it threw her into convulsions. Her physical and sensational symptoms led me to the choice of the medicine that cured her, so that she was happily delivered of a fine, healthy child at full term and no trace of the disease has ever appeared since. Too often young women err and give way to such feelings in resorting to self-abuse for relief, or to the caresses of the opposite sex, when they are ruined forever. It is never safe to temporize or to tamper in this way with such sensations. Women have heads and brains, as well as men, and rational faculties, too. Every digression allowed, only paves the way for others, with less and less resistance, and more and more ruinous results. Let a judicious physician be consulted at once in all cases where a morbid condition seems to excite immoral thoughts and sensations.

The effects of self-abuse upon woman, is as disastrous as masturbation upon males. A few hours after its commission, or the next day at furthest, she feels languid and dragged out, sleepy, unfit for reading anything solid, or studying, and unfit for social enjoyment with others; she looks pale and haggard; often she feels giddy, particularly when rising in the morning, with many other discomforts too numerous to mention here. And is it true that some young ladies, the sweetest and fairest of our race, play with one another in an immodest and indecent way, teaching immorality to the pure and innocent? I fear it is, I know it is. Such things need not, must not, and will not be tolerated. This little book will go about in all classes of society confirming and strengthening the pure in heart in their purity and enlightening the ignorant who will joyfully hail the good news; all will join hands in one popular cry against indecencies and indulgences of an impure nature; and the vilest man even will be taught to fear and respect the combined world of chaste female influence. So it must be and eventually will be; but woman, naturally pure and lovely woman! the greatest part of this work must be done by you.