" On slight reflection any one will see that real love (this word is only too often abused) can be spoken of only when the whole person is both physically and mentally the object of adoration. Love must always have a sensual element, i.e., the desire to possess the beloved object, to be united with it and fulfil the laws of nature. But when merely the body of the person of the opposite sex is the object of love, when satisfaction of sensual pleasure is the sole object, without desire to possess the soul and enjoy mutual communion, love is not genuine, no more than that of platonic lovers, who love only the soul and avoid sensual pleasure". Health is Not Dependent on Sexual Indulgence. There is an erroneous and widespread belief that exercise of the 1 Von Krafft sexual functions is necessary in order to maintain health.
Sophists, calling this a " necessary obedience to the laws of nature", claim the right to degrade and ostracise an enormous number of girls in a most damnable way as an unpitied sacrifice to lust.
Jf this doctrine that a man cannot have good health unless he fornicates were granted, the selfishness of our sex would then spur many of us on to the work of degradation of women, heeding not the call of gallantry, and recking not what should betide the unfortunate victims and posterity. This perverse doctrine is so readily accepted because it conveniently fits in with men's desires and gives them a facet of self-justification; but every man knows in his inmost heart that it is not necessary for him to sin, and that a bawdy house can never be a health resort.
The muscles and certain glandular structures, such as the salivary, peptic, pancreatic, sebaceous and sweat glands, and the liver, kidneys, and many other secretory organs, must perform their functions continuously, or else they will waste away and lose their activities; but the reproductive glands have been so constructed that their specific activities can be suspended for long periods of time without their atrophy or the slightest impairment of function. From the time of puberty until senility the testicles continue to secrete semen without stimulation, and will never lose their power from continence. In this particular they resemble the inherent capabilities of a woman's breasts, which can remain quiescent for years, and, when called into demand physiologically, respond with perfect function.
One of the world's foremost surgeons says:
"The influence of the sexual functions is so great in the economy of human life, that any impairment of the organs concerned is a matter of importance, not only in its effects on the bodily health, but even more on the mental state of the person affected. "The student should remember that 'the functions of the testicle, like those of the mammary gland and uterus, may be suspended for a long period, possibly for life; and yet its structure may be sound and capable of being roused into activity, on any healthy stimulus. Unlike other glands, it does not waste or atrophy for want of use, the physical parts of man's nature being accurately adapted to the necessities of his position, and to his moral being."
And Prof. Lionel S. Beale, of King's College, London, says:
"It cannot too emphatically be stated that the strictest continence and purity are in harmony with physiological, physical, and moral laws, and that the yielding to the desires, the passions and inclinations cannot be justified on physiological, physical, or moral grounds". Some ignoble and profane doctors can be found, if one search for them, who will advise men to fornicate, and in times past some instructors have been known to tell medical students that it would be well for them to acquire gonorrhoea in order to know how to treat it. But one cannot justify himself by getting the sanction of a man who, bearing the honorable title of doctor unjustly, prescribes antidotes which are poisonous.
Beputable physicians and physiologists all unite in advocating a chaste and continent life, simply for the sake of one's health, independently of all other considerations. Speaking of prophylaxis from venereal disease, Dr. Gowers, an eminent London physician, makes the following excellent remarks in his lectures on Syphilis and the Nervous System:
"One method, and one alone is possible, is sure, and that one is open to all. It is the prevention and the safety that can be secured by unbroken chastity. Is this potentially becoming greater? As we look back through the long centuries, we see the sensual more dominant in the past, growing less as the race slowly rises.