As we have already said, the organization of the human body is composed of two parts: the development of the tissues and that of the constitution. The economy then cannot be said to be in a perfect state until this double development is finished, and the organs have gained all their power and substance. Unfortunately the labor of the constitution and its progress in activity and in receiving impressions, cannot be estimated by positive rules: but it is connected so intimately with the development of the body, that this can give a sufficiently exact idea of its progress and state. We may then simply by a glance at the development of texture, fix with a certain degree of precision, the value of these words: premature and precocious enjoyments.
It would be out of place to examine the different organs separately and trace their growth, and in the present state of science we cannot give this labor the precision necessary to attain our purpose. But there is one fact which can be measured, viz., the weight of the body. Let us state then the varieties in weight presented at different periods of life, as determined by Quetelet and Villermé.
The mean weight of a male child at birth is three kilogrammes and twenty decimetres. Each year its weight increases in the following proportion:
| At | 1 | year | he weighs | 9 | kil. | 45 | dec. |
| " | 2 | " | " | 11 | " | 34 | " |
| " | 3 | " | " | 12 | " | 47 | " |
| " | 4 | " | " | 14 | " | 23 | " |
| " | 5 | " | " | 15 | " | 77 | " |
| " | 6 | " | " | 17 | " | 74 | " |
| " | 7 | " | " | 19 | " | 10 | " |
| " | 8 | " | " | 20 | " | 76 | " |
| " | 9 | " | " | 22 | " | 64 | " |
| " | 10 | " | " | 24 | " | 52 | " |
| " | 11 | " | " | 27 | " | 10 | " |
| " | 12 | " | " | 29 | " | 82 | " |
| " | 13 | " | " | 34 | " | 38 | " |
| " | 14 | " | " | 38 | " | 76 | " |
| " | 15 | " | " | 43 | " | 62 | " |
| " | 16 | " | " | 49 | " | 67 | " |
| " | 17 | " | " | 52 | " | 85 | " |
| " | 18 | " | " | 57 | " | 85 | " |
| " | 19 | " | " | 60 | " | 06 | " |
| " | 25 | " | " | 62 | " | 93 | " |
| " | 30 | " | " | 63 | " | 95 | " |
| " | 40 | " | " | 63 | " | 67 | " |
| " | 50 | " | " | 64 | " | 46 | " |
| " | 60 | " | " | 61 | " | 94 | " |
| " | 70 | " | " | 59 | " | 52 | " |
| " | 80 | " | " | 57 | " | 83 | " |
| " | 90 | " | " | 57 | " | 83 | " |
This table shows us that man attains the maximum of weight at forty years of age. At this age then we may regard the economy as being perfect. Now when we consider that persons from twelve to eighteen years indulge most frequently in masturbation and that this habit may be formed at a very young age, we may easily conceive of the ills with which it may be attended. This consequence is seen more clearly and exactly by the following table. The mean weight of man when the organization is complete being sixty-three kilogrammes sixty-seven decimetres, at the time of birth he has yet to gain sixty kilogrammes forty-seven decimetres.
| At | 1 | year old | 54 | kils. | 22 | dec. |
| " | 2 | " | 52 | " | 33 | " |
| " | 3 | " | 51 | " | 20 | " |
| " | 4 | " | 49 | " | 44 | " |
| " | 5 | " | 47 | " | 90 | " |
| " | 6 | " | 46 | " | 43 | " |
| " | 7 | " | 44 | " | 57 | " |
| " | 8 | " | 42 | " | 91 | " |
| " | 9 | " | 41 | " | 02 | " |
| " | 10 | " | 39 | " | 15 | " |
| " | 11 | " | 36 | " | 57 | " |
| " | 12 | " | 33 | " | 85 | " |
| " | 13 | " | 29 | " | 29 | " |
| " | 14 | " | 24 | " | 91 | " |
| " | 15 | " | 20 | " | 05 | " |
| " | 16 | " | 14 | " | 00 | " |
| " | 17 | " | 10 | " | 82 | " |
| " | 18 | " | 5 | " | 82 | " |
| " | 20 | " | 3 | " | 61 | " |
| " | 25 | " | 0 | " | 74 | " |
| " | 30 | " | 0 | " | 02 | " |
Hence it will be seen that a man who at the moment of birth only possesses about .05 of the growth he afterwards attains, will have at most only a quarter of his full weight when 5 years old, at which age many children begin to indulge in masturbation. When ten years of age, he has yet to gain nearly .60 and nearly .40 of his weight when he has arrived at his fourteenth year. When sixteen years old, one fifth of his weight is still deficient, and at eighteen years nearly one tenth; his growth although nearly completed at the age of twenty-five, is not entirely attained, since even when thirty years old, the weight of the body is capable of a slight increase.
Of the effect of venereal excesses when the subject of them has attained his growth. The age of maturity is the period when venereal pleasures are attended with the slightest derangements and dangers. At this period these pleasures may not only not be injurious, but may even be necessary. This last circumstance would be sufficient to distinguish this period from those of the growth and decline of the body, when these pleasures are never useful. Let it not be thought, however, that, at the age of maturity, they may be indulged in to excess, or that the pleasures of love are limited only by the power of indulging in them, this is a great mistake; abuses are less frequent, but they do occur, as is seen both by experience and by simple reasoning. Although at the age of maturity the body increases but slightly, yet the process of nutrition is not arrested. It is true that the size and weight of the body no longer increase, but its substance is constantly renewed. The act of venery may then interfere with and derange as before the function of nutrition. The constitution also may be affected, and although the regular course of its formation may not be deranged, yet it may be deteriorated and its influence on the action and sensation of the different organs is so great, that if this deterioration proceed to any extent, these organs will suffer. Thus the health may be injured and the constitution impaired in adults, by venereal excesses; their influence however is resisted longer. The adult age may even present more unfavourable conditions for venereal excess than the period of growth. It may be attended with diseases transmitted from preceding years. In the adult age, the errours of youth are atoned for: wretchedness, debauchery, and excesses of every kind may leave their mark upon the body. Venereal excesses then find the constitution impaired, the health deranged, and they increase the evil already existing. Those particularly who have indulged in masturbation in their youth, perceive on arriving at the adult age, that if they wish to taste the pleasures of love, even to a moderate extent, they are affected with bad feelings which prove that premature indulgences must be paid for with interest.
Different circumstances may render the act of venery injurious at the adult age, but as these do not belong exclusively to this age, we shall speak of them hereafter.
Of the effect of venereal excesses in the period of decline. The faculty of procreating in mankind has its limits: as this power is not attained till at a certain period of life, so too it continues only for a certain period. The spermatic animalculæ, the microscopic sign of the power of generating, are seen only during a portion of human existence: they do not appear till puberty, and disappear in advanced life. This is true also in regard to all animals: the rule is a general one. God has willed that the period of maturity should be the only one devoted to love: is it not a fair conclusion that those who transgress this law expose themselves to its penalties? As the sense of venery precedes, so too it may outlive, the procreative power; it then excites to indulgence at too late a period of life. Examples of this anomaly are very common; hence we need not refer for them to the works of the old writers, we will merely say that a large portion of those committed for attempts at rape are old men. Fortunately the venereal sense is that which suffers the soonest from excesses; and if sometimes the venereal desires are excited, the state of the genital organs prevents their indulgence.