"Most of those who early become addicted to self-pollution are soon afterward the subjects, not merely of one or more of the ailments already noticed, but also of enlargements of the lymphatic and other glands, ultimately of tubercular deposits in the lungs and other viscera, or of scrofulous disease of the vertebræ or bones, or of other structures, more especially of the joints."[50]
50 Copland.
Many young men waste away and die of symptoms resembling consumption which are solely the result of the loathsome practice of self-abuse. The real number of consumptives whose disease originates in this manner can never be known.
[Dyspepsia].—Indigestion is frequently one of the first results. Nervous exhaustion is always felt by the stomach very promptly. When dyspepsia is once really established, it reacts upon the genital organs, increasing their irritability as well as that of all the rest of the nervous system. Now there is no end to the ills which may be suffered; for an impaired digestion lays the system open to the inroads of almost any and every malady.
[Heart Disease].—Functional disease of the heart, indicated by excessive palpitation on the slightest exertion, is a very frequent symptom. Though it unfits the individual for labor, and causes him much suffering, he would be fortunate if he escaped with no disease of a more dangerous character.
[Throat Affections].—There is no doubt that many of the affections of the throat in young men and older ones which pass under the name of "clergyman's sore throat" are the direct results of masturbation and emissions.
Dr. Acton cites several cases in proof of this, and quotes the following letter from a young clergyman:—
"When I began the practice of masturbation, at the age of sixteen, I was in the habit of exercising my voice regularly. The first part in which I felt the bad effects of that habit was in the organs of articulation. After the act, the voice wanted tone, and there was a disagreeable feeling about the throat which made speaking a source of no pleasure to me as it had been. By-and-by, it became painful to speak after the act. This arose from a feeling as if a morbid matter was being secreted in the throat, so acrid that it sent tears to the eyes when speaking, and would have taken away the breath if not swallowed. This, however, passed away in a day or two after the act. In the course of years, when involuntary emissions began to impair the constitution, this condition became permanent. The throat always feels very delicate, and there is often such irritability in it, along with this feeling of the secretion of morbid matter, as to make it impossible to speak without swallowing at every second or third word. This is felt even in conversation, and there is a great disinclination to attempt to speak at all. In many instances in which the throat has been supposed to give way from other causes, I have known this to be the real one. May it not be that the general irritation always produced by the habit referred to, shows itself also in this organ, and more fully in those who are required habitually to exercise it?"
[Nervous Diseases].—There is no end to the nervous affections to which the sufferer from this vice is subject. Headaches, neuralgias, symptoms resembling hysteria, sudden alternations of heat and cold, irregular flushing of the face, and many other affections, some of the more important of which we will mention in detail, are his constant companions.
[Epilepsy].—This disease has been traced to the vile habit under consideration in so many cases that it is now very certain that in many instances this is its origin. It is of frequent occurrence in those who have indulged in solitary vice or any other form of sexual excess. We have seen several cases of this kind.