hearts among eunuchs? Being deprived of these organs which at the period of puberty give so marked an impulse to the system, they do not feel it: the most active of all moral excitants is absent. Judge from this of its power, and yet it is this stimulant which is so much abused by the onanist. Let us resume our remarks. We have seen by comparing the eunuch to the perfect individual, the male to the female, and the hermaphrodites to those persons whose genitals are perfect, that the genital organs, from the simple fact of their existence, exercise a well-marked influence on the physical intellectual and moral constitution of individuals. We have also seen by comparing the period of life when the genital organs are actively developed, with that when they are simply preserved, that the influence which has been spoken of, is exercised with a variable degree of intensity, and is in a direct ratio with the vital activity which exists in these organs. We may then state as a positive truth, that the genital system modifies extensively the action and sensation of all our organs, and modifies it in proportion as it is itself excited. This fact stated, the question whether venereal excesses can or cannot do much injury is resolved. We may, _à priori_, affirm, that when the genital organs pass from a state of repose to that of excitement, and from this to a state of action, their influence on the other organs is always in an increasing ratio. To prove this requires no new facts. This action and this progressive increase of power, result, inevitably from the comparisons we have made. Life is so mysterious and on the other hand, coition is so transient, that what takes place in the tissues during its continuance is concealed from view: but we may be certain that something takes place in them, that some disturbance there occurs and that the disturbance is greater during the act of venery than during the preceding states. This act then exerts more influence than it appears to exert, as it affects all parts of the organization. If when the genital system appears at rest, it exercises so much influence on the vitality of the other organs, what must be its power when the venereal sense is excited in it, and further when this sense is carried by masturbation or coition to the greatest degree of excitement. How much then must these secret functions be modified, whose exercise is so intimately connected with that of the genital organs! Certainly those who say that the possible consequences of venereal excesses are exaggerated, have not taken this view of the subject. § 2. POWER OF THE GENITAL ORGANS CONSIDERED IN A STATE OF EXCITEMENT.