A Solemn Appeal

ABUSE OF THE SEXUAL FUNCTION A PRIME CAUSE OF DERANGEMENTS

“From the blood the elements of a new life are formed; and it has been ascertained that the material - called semen - which goes to generate a new being, is so refined, so intensified in its vitalizing power, that ‘one ounce of it is equal to forty ounces of blood in any other part of the body.’ Then, too, the nervous force expended is amazing; for ‘in the sexual organs we find a union of the three great systems of nerves - the vegetative, or nerves of organic life; the emotional, or nerves of animal life; and the intellectual, or nerves of spiritual life; for the last two sacral nerves, which to to supply the generative organs, have their ganglia within the dura matter of the spinal cord; thus differing from the other spinal nerves, and resembling the nerves which originate in the brain, and are connected with the mind.’ SOAP 82.1

“Is it any wonder, then, considering this concentration of blood and nerve, that the orgasm experienced in the indulgence of the sexual passion induced in many persons an exhaustion of every faculty of body and mind? Is it possible that this orgasm should constantly or even frequently occur without producing a degree of prostration that must sooner or later make sad inroads upon even the strongest constitution? SOAP 82.2

“The loss of semen is very exhausting, yet the expenditure of nerve force is quite as great a source of evil in the abuse of the sexual function; for until puberty, males have no semen to lose, and females have none at any age. It is, therefore, in the nervous orgasm that the greatest evil lies. When this is prematurely experienced, although imperfect, it gives a shock to the whole system; and when often repeated, the nervous power is completely drained away. ‘All the vitality of the system goes to supply the immature but already exhausted organs of sexuality, both in body and in brain. The manufactory of the mind is robbed, and the victim loses sense and memory; the digestive apparatus is robbed, and dyspepsia and decay follow,’ accompanied by the many nervous diseases with which we are only too familiar. SOAP 83.1

“The loss of vital power by means of this drain renders man less able to resist the effects of change of climate and of malarial poisons and miasms. It impoverishes the blood, and induces consumption, dyspepsia, nervous diseases, and mental derangements, with the long train of sequences which follow in their wake.” SOAP 83.2

“And this loss affects not only the loser, but all who come after him; for the weakened and diluted semen can never impart life-force to a new being which it does not itself possess; from healthy blood is formed healthy tissue, full of force and power; healthy semen, that will impart a strong and vigorous life to offspring; while from impoverished and impure blood are supplied the elements of disease; and the child begotten from such blood must of necessity be born with a constitution wanting in vitality, weakened in those very parts upon whose strength and vigor depends the vital stamina; and he either dies young, or falls early into the degrading habits he has inherited, and becomes a victim of the vices of his progenitors.” SOAP 84.1