[3] Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, Nov. 1866, p. 274.
[4] Ibid., Jan. 1867, p. 490.
IS IT I?
A BOOK FOR EVERY MAN.
I.—It is not Good to be Alone.
As stated in the prefatory remarks, the present essay is written, and is intended for, the perusal of men. It is not impossible, however, that copies of it may fall into the hands of, or be shown to, individuals of the other sex. The subject upon which I shall speak, itself a very delicate one, is thus rendered still more difficult to treat. Inasmuch, however, as in my work upon the physical evils of forced abortions,[5] published for the edification of women, under the authority and with the sanction of the American Medical Association, I seem to have so far succeeded in the duty intrusted to me as to win the encomiums of many of the sterner sex, I make bold to strike out for myself a similar path, let me hope, to the conviction and betterment of all my readers. If in doing this, I am found roughly to hew down certain old branches of custom, and to root up summarily certain privileges and alleged rights, usurped rather than legitimately granted, it is that I may let in light where it has long been needed, that I may remove causes of offence from the road of life’s pilgrims, and widen that way, now too generally trodden in single file, even where wedlock exists, to its intended dimensions, sufficient for two to pass, side by side and hand in hand; and this work, for humanity’s sake, I shall endeavor to do without fear or favor.
To all men I speak—the young, middle aged, and the old; to the rich and to the poor; to the gentle and the unrefined; to the single, the married, and the widower; to the happy and to the miserable; to the ardent and to the cold; to the religious and to the blasphemer. The subject is one that concerns all, for it lies at the foundation of society,—sexual health and disease, the need or advantage of marriage, the need or advantage of divorce, the chance of home being such or an empty name, an earthly heaven, or a worse than purgatory,—these are topics that affect each man, however careless or unconcerned he may think himself, or may appear to be. Therefore is it that I am sure of the attention of the continent, that he may gain still greater reason for self-control; of the prurient, for the very title of my essay will serve to arrest his attention; and of the brutish man, impelled by curiosity to learn upon what grounds I shall condemn him.
Is it asked, if the disclosures that I shall make are not by their very publication subversive of good morals, and the calling attention to the true relation of the sexes suggestive to bad men of, and conducive towards, their false relations? I answer,—
First, that to ignore the existence of sin, error, misery, is in reality to encourage and to increase them. It is like walking upon thinly-crusted lava, or upon breaking ice, certain to prevent our saving others, ready indeed to ingulf even ourselves. We varnish over or seek to conceal vice, and it loses half its grossness—it becomes attractive perhaps, or fashionable; but if we strip it of its veil, any soul, not wholly smirched, will recoil with horror.