Andover, 29th, July, 1841.
I have read a pamphlet entitled "Facts, etc., from Distinguished Physicians and Other Sources," respecting a vice which is undermining the health and happiness of many, and degrading them, in some respects, below the brute creation.
I think there is nothing in the manner of this pamphlet which can be matter of just offence to any considerate mind. I am persuaded, that, delicate as the task may be, the time has come when benevolence demands that some effort should be made to enlighten the public mind on the subject of which this pamphlet treats; and both the remarks of the pamphlet, and the facts stated in it, seem to be well adapted for this purpose. Most heartily do I wish success to that benevolence which is willing to undertake a task so delicate and so difficult as this.
It is time for those who love the purity, the well-being and the most interesting relations of human society, to speak out upon a vice which is dangerous in proportion to the secrecy and silence in which it has been involved.
We fully concur in the above.
M. STUART.
L. WOODS.
R. EMERSON.
Recommended by the Boston Recorder, Zion's Herald, and many other papers; also by numerous clergymen, teachers, physicians, &c.
Dr. Woodward, of the Worcester Hospital, has done much to expose this solitary vice. He says no cause is more influential in producing insanity. According to the Report of the Institution, for 1838, out of 199 patients, 42 are considered victims of masturbation.