Too warm clothing will bring about the same state by overheating the organs, hence always sleep with as little clothing as is consistent with comfort. In this matter you can commence in the autumn to accustom yourself to light coverings, so that when winter comes you will not want a lot of heavy blankets over you. And this is much better also for the breathing process of the skin. Sleeping on the back will, with some boys, always bring on a night emission. Sleep on your side always. If you are inclined to roll over in your sleep and remain on your back, take a towel and tie a knot in it. Tie this towel around your back so that the knot comes in the middle of the back. Then go to sleep on your side. Should you roll over in the night, the knot will wake you up. After a few nights of this scheme you will break the habit of sleeping on your back and so correct the habit of emissions.
Cold-water bathing of the sex organs every morning and night is an excellent way of keeping up their tone and preventing a laxity which has a tendency to bring on emissions.
If you hear a big, strong boy say that he has an emission once a week and you have only one a month, don’t worry about it. Nature is taking care of you. It simply means that the big boy secretes more seminal fluid than you do. This by no means implies that he has more manhood; it is just a difference in temperament—the same difference as is shown by a fair-haired boy and a black-haired boy. This stands true only if both boys are living a correct physical life.
I am not trying to preach to you, boys, but I cannot let this subject go without warning you about smoking. Now there is nothing wrong or wicked about smoking—I smoke a lot myself. But there are reasons why you should not smoke before you have reached complete development. Smoking does affect the growth and vigor of the sex organs. It does so through lowering the nervous system. Frequently I have seen boys whose night emissions were fast pulling them down, and the whole cause of these losses was smoking. In strong doses tobacco is a powerful depressant to the sexual activity. It can be given in such doses as to completely stop all seminal secretion. So don’t forget this fact. I don’t think many boys would smoke if they knew these facts, but the trouble is that you have been told that smoking was not nice, that it injured you, but just HOW it injured you has not been told in plain language.
Our next Chat will be on self-abuse, its causes, how to stop the habit and what it means if you do not stop it. We shall also have another shot at the Quacks.
[CHAPTER VI]
SELF-ABUSE—HOW TO STOP IT—THE QUACKS
This is a subject, boys, that has been much distorted in its facts and quite frequently put before you in a wrong light. To try and frighten you, to prevent you from making mistakes through ignorance, is not the way to help a worrying boy. If he makes mistakes and falls into injurious habits through lack of knowledge of a certain subject, give him that knowledge. But instead of placing knowledge and truths before you, scarecrows and words to make you fear have been hung for you to see and hear. It is this fear that has been put into you by those who have not fully explained the whole matter, which the Quacks use for extorting money from their victims.