A Solemn Appeal

SPERMATORRHEA

“If every boy in the land, who is just beginning the practice of self-abuse, could be made fully to understand that this habit would soon produce such a weakness and irritation of the genital organs that they would act involuntarily upon the least excitement, or even when they were asleep, and they could not stop or control this by any effort of the will; and that these involuntary discharges would finally exhaust their vitality, stunt their growth, destroy digestion so that the constant, natural waste of the system could not be repaired, root out their manhood, render them incapable of taking pleasure in any thing in this life, and, in short, crush them physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually, both for time and for eternity, it seems to me that it would be an argument so forcible that they would at once abandon the vicious practice; and, instead of one child contaminating a whole street, or school, or village, as is often the case, they would become pure themselves, and warn others of the fatal dangers arising from this vile and sinful habit.” SOAP 93.2