RICHARD C. CABOT, M. D.
[4]. See Courses on Sex Hygiene. By Jane R. McCrady on page [124] of this Issue.
There are some things (chocolate, for instance, or tracts, or paper drinking-cups) that can be shot out of a slot at you and hit their mark. You can apply them to their uses at once. It is the same with the facts fired at you through the window of his booth by the railroad information man. Such facts set you on your track or your train at once.
But when people ask for clear directions about the train to proficiency in violin playing, belief in immortality, or understanding of sex, they always miss their train. Sometimes they complain of the officials.
After a course of lectures on sex last year some workers of my acquaintance handed in written questions beginning “What should I say to a young girl who,” etc., and were disappointed when no definite answer was forthcoming. To illustrate the difficulties of an answer let us ask a few parallel questions:
What paint shall I use for a Madonna?
What are the best words to use in a love sonnet?
What is the best book on being a millionaire?
What kind of bread makes you popular and handsome?
What liniment makes one’s sympathies most supple?