Plain Facts for Old and Young Part 21

14. _Mock piety_--or perhaps we should more properly designate it as mistaken piety--is another peculiar manifestation of the effects of this vicious practice. The victim is observed to become transformed, by degrees, from a romping, laughing child, full of hilarity and frolic, to a sober and very sedate little--Christian, the friends think, and they are highly gratified with the piety of the child. Little do they suspect the real cause of the solemn face; not the slightest suspicion have they of the foul orgies practiced by the little sinner. By the aid of friends he may soon add hypocrisy to his other crimes, and find in a.s.sumed devotion a ready pretense for seeking solitude. Parents will do well to investigate the origin of this kind of religion in their children.

15. _Easily frightened_ children are abundant among young masturbators, though all easily frightened persons are not vicious. It is certain, however, that the vice greatly exaggerates natural fear, and creates an unnatural apprehensiveness. The victim's mind is constantly filled with vague forebodings of evil. He often looks behind him, looks into all the closets, peeps under the bed, and is constantly expressing fears of impending evil. Such movements are the result of a diseased imagination, and they may justly give rise to suspicion.

16. _Confusion of ideas_ is another characteristic of the devotee of this artful vice. If he attempts to argue, his points are not clearly made. He may be superficially quick and cute, but is incapable of deep thought, or abstruse reasoning; is often very dull of apprehension.

Ideas are not presented in logical order, but seem to fall out promiscuously, and fairly represent the condition of a disordered brain.

Attempts at joking are generally failures, as the jest is sure to be inappropriate or vulgar, and no one but himself sees any occasion for laughter except at his stupidity. Such individuals are not scarce.

17. Boys in whom the habit has become well developed sometimes manifest a decided aversion to the society of girls; but this is not nearly so often the case as some authors seem to indicate. It would rather appear that the opposite is more often true. Girls usually show an increasing fondness for the society of boys, and are very p.r.o.ne to exhibit marked evidences of real wantonness.

18. _Round shoulders_ and a stooping posture in sitting are characteristics of young masturbators of both s.e.xes. Whenever a child seats himself, the head and shoulders droop forward, giving to the spine a curved appearance.

19. _Weak backs, pains in the limbs, and stiffness of the joints_, in children, are familiar signs of the habit. To the first of these conditions is due the habitual stooping posture a.s.sumed by these children. The habit referred to is not the only cause of these conditions, but its causative occurrence is sufficiently frequent to give it no small importance as a suspicious indication.

20. _Paralysis_ of the lower extremities, coming on without apparent cause, is not infrequently the result of solitary indulgence, even in very small children. We have seen several cases in which this condition was traced to the habit of masturbation, in children under six years of age.

21. The _gait_ of a person addicted to this vice will usually betray him to one who has learned to distinguish the peculiarities which almost always mark the walk of such persons. In a child, a dragging, shuffling walk is to be suspected. Boys, in walking rapidly, show none of that elasticity which characterizes a natural gait, but walk as if they had been stiffened in the hips, and as though their legs were pegs attached to the body by hinges. The girl wriggles along in a style quite as characteristic, though more difficult to detect with certainty, as females are often so "affected" in their walk. Unsteadiness of gait is an evidence seen in both s.e.xes, especially in advanced cases.

22. _Bad positions_ in bed are evidences which should be noticed. If a child lies constantly upon its abdomen, or is often found with its hands about the genitals, it may be at least considered in a fair way to acquire the habit if it has not already done so.

23. _Lack of development of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s_ in females, after p.u.b.erty, is a common result of self-pollution. Still it would be entirely unsafe to say that every female with small mammary glands had been addicted to this vice, especially at the present time when a fair natural development is often destroyed by the constant pressure and heat of "pads." But this sign may well be given a due bearing.

24. _Capricious appet.i.te_ particularly characterizes children addicted to secret vice. At the commencement of the practice, they almost invariably manifest great voracity for food, gorging themselves in the most gluttonous manner. As the habit becomes fixed, digestion becomes impaired, and the appet.i.te is sometimes almost wanting, and at other times almost unappeasable.

25. One very constant peculiarity of such children is their extreme fondness for unnatural, hurtful, and irritating articles. Nearly all are greatly attached to salt, pepper, spices, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, mustard, horse-radish, and similar articles, and use them in most inordinate quant.i.ties. A boy or girl who is constantly eating cloves or cinnamon, or who will eat salt in quant.i.ties without other food, gives good occasion for suspicion.

26. _Eating clay, slate-pencils, plaster, chalk,_ and other indigestible articles is a practice to which girls who abuse themselves are especially addicted. The habit sometimes becomes developed to such a wonderful extent that the victims almost rival the clay-eaters of the Amazon in gratifying their propensity.

27. Disgust for simple food is one of the traits which a victim of this vice is sure to possess. He seems to loathe any food which is not rendered hot and stimulating with spices and other condiments, and cannot be induced to eat it.

28. _The use of tobacco_ is good presumptive evidence that a boy is also addicted to a practice still more filthy. Exceptions to this rule are very rare indeed, if they exist, which we somewhat doubt. The same influences which would lead a boy to the use of tobacco would also lead him to solitary vice, and each sin would serve to exaggerate the other.

29. _Unnatural paleness_ and colorless lips, unless they can be otherwise accounted for, may be attributed to secret sin. The face is a great tell-tale against this cla.s.s of sinners. Justice demands, however, that an individual should be given the benefit of a doubt so long as there is a chance for the production of these symptoms by any other known cause, as overwork, mental anxiety, or dyspepsia.

30. _Acne_, or _pimples_, on the face are also among the suspicious signs, especially when they appear upon the forehead as well as upon other portions of the face. Occasional pimples upon the chin are very common in both s.e.xes at p.u.b.erty and for a few years afterward, but are without significance, except that the blood may be somewhat gross from unwholesome diet or lack of exercise.

31. _Biting the finger nails_ is a practice very common in girls addicted to this vice. In such persons there will also be found, not infrequently, slight soreness or ulceration at the roots of the nails, and warts, one or more, upon one or both the first two fingers of the hand--usually the right.

32. The eyes often betray much. If, in addition to want of l.u.s.ter and natural brilliancy, they are sunken, present red edges, are somewhat sore, perhaps, and are surrounded by a dark ring, the patient, especially if a child, should be suspected and carefully watched. It should be observed, however, that dyspepsia, debility from any cause, and especially loss of sleep, will produce some or all of these signs, and no one should be accused of the vice upon the evidence of these indications alone, neither could he be justly suspected so long as his symptoms could be accounted for by legitimate causes.

33. An habitually moist, cold hand, is a suspicious circ.u.mstance in a young person who is not known to be suffering from some const.i.tutional disease.

34. _Palpitation of the heart_, frequently occurring, denotes a condition of nervous disturbance which has some powerful cause, and which may often be found to be the vice in question.

35. _Hysteria_ in females may be regarded as a suspicious circ.u.mstance when frequently occurring on very slight occasions, and especially if there is no hereditary tendency to the disease.

36. _Chlorosis_, or _green sickness_, is very often caused by the unholy practice under consideration. It is very commonly attributed, when occurring in young women, to menstrual derangements; but it is only necessary to remember that these menstrual irregularities are in many cases the result of the same habit, as has been already pointed out.

37. _Epileptic fits_ in children are not infrequently the result of vicious habits.

38. _Wetting the bed_ is an evidence of irritation which may be connected with the practice; it should be looked after.

39. _Unchast.i.ty of speech_ and fondness for obscene stories betray a condition of mind which does not exist in youth who are not addicted to this vice.

As previously remarked, no single one of the above signs should be considered as conclusive evidence of the habit in any individual; but any one of them may, and should, arouse suspicion and watchfulness.

If the habit really exists, but a short time will elapse before other signs will be noticed, and when several point in the same direction, the evidence may be considered nearly, if not quite, conclusive. But persistent watching will enable the positive signs to be detected sooner or later, and then there can no longer be doubt. It is, of course, necessary to give the individual no suspicion that he is being watched, as that would put him so effectually on his guard as, possibly, to defy detection.

Positive Signs.--The absolutely positive signs of solitary vice are very few. Of course the most certainly positive of all is detection in the act. Sometimes this is difficult, with such consummate cunning do the devotees of this Moloch pursue their debasing practice. If a child is noticed to seek a certain secluded spot with considerable regularity, he should be carefully followed and secretly watched, for several days in succession if need be. Many children pursue the practice at night after retiring. If the suspected one is observed to become very quickly quiet after retiring, and when looked at appears to be asleep, the bedclothes should be quickly thrown off under some pretense.

If, in the case of a boy, the p.e.n.i.s is found in a state of erection, with the hands near the genitals, he may certainly be treated as a masturbator without any error. If he is found in a state of excitement, in connection with the other evidences, with a quickened circulation as indicated by the pulse, or in a state of perspiration, his guilt is certain, even though he may pretend to be asleep; no doubt he has been addicted to the vice for a considerable time to have acquired so much cunning. If the same course is pursued with girls, under the same circ.u.mstances, the c.l.i.toris will be found congested, with the other genital organs, which will also be moist from increased secretion.

Other conditions will be as nearly as possible the same as those in the boy.

Stains upon the night s.h.i.+rt or sheets, occurring before p.u.b.erty, are certain evidences of the vice in boys, as they are subject, before that time, to no discharge which will leave a stain resembling that from the seminal fluid, except the rare one from piles. In the very young, these stains do not occur; but when the habit is acquired before p.u.b.erty, a discharge resembling s.e.m.e.n takes place before the ordinary period.

Of course, the stains from urine will be easily distinguished from others. The frequent occurrence of such stains after p.u.b.erty is a suspicious circ.u.mstance. A discharge in some respects similar may occur in girls.

Before p.u.b.erty, the effect of the vice upon the genital organs is to cause an unnatural development, in both s.e.xes, of the sensitive portions. When this is marked, it is pretty conclusive evidence of the vice. In girls, the v.a.g.i.n.a often becomes unnaturally enlarged, and leucorrhoea is often present. After p.u.b.erty, the organs usually diminish in size, and become unnaturally lax and shrunken.

All of these signs should be thoroughly mastered by those who have children under their care, and if not continually watching for them, which would be an unpleasant task, such should be on the alert to detect the signs at once when they appear, and then carefully seek for others until there is no longer any doubt about the case.

RESULTS OF SECRET VICE.

The physician rarely meets more forlorn objects than the victims of prolonged self-abuse. These unfortunate beings he meets every day of his life, and listens so often to the same story of shameful abuse and retributive suffering that he dreads to hear it repeated. In these cases, there is usually a horrid sameness--the same cause, the same inevitable results. In most cases, the patient need not utter a word, for the physician can read in his countenance his whole history, as can most other people at all conversant with the subject.

In order to secure the greatest completeness consistent with necessary brevity, we will describe the effects observed in males and those in females under separate heads, noticing the symptoms of each morbid condition in connection with its description.

EFFECTS IN MALES.

We shall describe, first, the local effects, then the general effects, physical and mental.

Local Effects.--Excitement of the genital organs produces the most intense congestion. No other organs in the body are capable of such rapid and enormous engorgement. When the act is frequently repeated, this condition becomes permanent in some of the tissues, particularly in the mucous membrane lining the urethra. This same membrane continues into and lines throughout the bladder, kidneys, and all the urinary organs, together with the vesiculae seminales, the ejaculatory ducts, the vasa deferentia, and the testes. In consequence of this continuity of tissue, any irritation affecting one part is liable to extend to another, or to all the rest. We mention this anatomical fact here as a help to the understanding of the different morbid conditions which will be noticed.

_Urethral Irritation_.--The chronic congestion of the urethra after a time becomes chronic irritability. The tissue is unusually sensitive, this condition being often indicated by a slight smarting in urination.

It often extends throughout the whole length of the urethra, and becomes so intense that the pa.s.sage of a sound, which would occasion little if any sensation in a healthy organ, produces the most acute pain, as we have observed in numerous instances, even when the greatest care was used in the introduction of the instrument.

Shooting pains are often felt in the organ, due to this irritation.

Pain is in some cases most felt at the root, in others, at the head.

It often darts from one point to another. Just before and just after urination the pain is most severe.

_Stricture_.--Long-continued irritation of the mucous membrane of the urethra produces, ultimately, inflammation and swelling of the same in some portion of its extent. This condition may become permanent, and then const.i.tutes real stricture, a most serious disease. More often the swelling is but transient, being due to some unusual excess, and will subside. Sometimes, also, a temporary stricture is produced by spasmodic contraction of the muscular fibers surrounding the urethra, which is excited by the local irritation. This kind of stricture is often met in the treatment of spermatorrhoea.

Enlarged Prostate.--This painful affection is a frequent result of the chronic irritation in the urethra, which the gland surrounds, the morbid action being communicated to it by its proximity. A diseased action is set up which results in enlargement and hardening. It is felt as a hard body just anterior to the a.n.u.s, and becomes by pressure the source of much additional mischief. Sometimes the disease progresses to dangerous ulceration. It is attended by heat, pressure, and pain between the a.n.u.s and the root of the p.e.n.i.s.

Urinary Diseases.--The same congestion and irritability extend to the bladder and thence to the kidneys, producing irritation and inflammation of those organs. Mucus is often formed in large quant.i.ties; sometimes much is retained in the bladder. Earthy matter is deposited, which becomes entangled in the mucus, and thus a concretion or stone is produced, occasioning much suffering, and perhaps death.

We saw, not long since, a case of this kind. The patient was nearly sixty years of age, and had practiced masturbation from childhood. In consequence of his vice, a chronic irritation of the urethra had been produced, which was followed by enlargement of the prostate, then by chronic irritation of the bladder and the formation of stone. His sufferings were most excruciating whenever he attempted to urinate, which was only accomplished with the greatest difficulty and suffering.

One of the unpleasant results of irritation of the lining membrane of the bladder is inability to retain the urine long, which requires frequent urination and often causes incontinence of urine.