Is there some method of dilating the prepuce and thus avoiding the necessity for circumcision?—Yes. In many cases doctors are able to break up the adhesions and dilate the prepuce as a substitute for circumcision.
In this matter most parents neglect their boys. When the prepuce is not passed back every few days and the secretion removed, an adhesion takes place between the prepuce and the head of the penis. A large number of boys labor for years, from the age of six to twelve trying to pass the prepuce back. They have not the right motive in doing this. It is impossible for them to handle this organ in this way, several times a day for months or years, without discovering the secret sin. In this way they dilate the prepuce and break up the adhesions. It is strange that this experience among boys has not suggested to parents the following natural and practical method of solving this problem.
Where the prepuce passes back naturally in babyhood, the mother should occasionally take a damp cloth and remove the secretion. When the boy is two years old the mother should have the boy trained to do this every two or three days.
Where the prepuce is long and the opening small, if the mother, every time she cares for the little fellow’s body, would endeavor to pull the prepuce back, by the time the boy is one year old, nine times out of ten, the problem would be solved. This should be done so gradually and carefully as not to produce soreness. If this is done before the boy is three years old sex consciousness and passion need not be awakened. I would not advise the mother to begin this after the boy is two or three years old.
Is there a safe method by which small organs, due to the secret sin, may be enlarged?—There are some methods advertised by “quacks” and certain firms, but most of them are unreliable or injurious. The vacuum method is perhaps the most satisfactory. This consists of an appliance that removes the external pressure from the organ and allows the blood to rush into the capillaries. This practice must be kept up for a considerable time to be effective. While this is the most natural method, I would not, in any case, advise the use of it. Any method used tends to call the attention to the organs and this leads to continual sexual weakness. A restored virility is of far more importance than the size of the organ. Because this organ varies in size, many men who have practiced the secret vice to some extent, fear that this organ has become in a measure atrophied.
Would you advise marriage as a remedy for weak manhood?—No. One would simply substitute marital excess for excessive self-abuse or prostitution. If a man has impaired his manhood he should recover his manhood by conserving sexual life, proper diet and physical exercise for a few years before he marries.
What effect will a period of self-abuse have upon one’s offspring?—Perfect children are born of parents having a strong vitality. This vice weakens the vitality. Where a young man has noticeably injured his nerves, his vitality, his health, he should seek to regain his manly powers before he thinks of becoming a father.
Should a young man marry who has for a number of years practiced masturbation?—It is always best for a young man who has practiced the secret vice for five, ten or fifteen years to quit the habit and live a continent life for one or more years. During this time he becomes normal in his sexual life and sexual demands. If he has practiced the habit only in a very limited way, so that he is not suffering from any bad consequences, postponement of marriage is not necessary.
What should a young man do when he discovers that he has varicocele?—The approach of this disease is first noticed by a dilation of the cord leading to the epididymis of the left testis. When the veins become full of impure blood and feel like a handful of tangled earthworms and the left gland becomes painfully tender and begins to become much reduced in size, then the individual has a real case of varicocele. If, when the veins are only moderately large and there is but little soreness, the causes are abandoned, no serious results may follow. This disease is caused chiefly by the secret sin and impure thinking. In some cases it is caused by a bruise or the “falling of the mumps.” The patient must abandon the cause; if it be the secret sin, quit it; if impure thinking, quit that; if “spooning” with girls, a most common cause, be a gentleman and quit it.
Buy two silken suspensories, so they can be kept clean. The suspensory holds the testes up close to the body and prevents much of the uneasy dragging feeling. If this advice is followed for several months a surgical operation need never be necessary. Not one of several hundred young men who have carefully followed this advice have had to be operated on. If the patient fails to get relief and cure after several months of following this advice, he should consult a home physician.