In the same manner you have been kept from knowing the absolute necessity of attending to the sex organs with the absence of any ideas except those of cleanliness. It is as reasonable for you to clean the teeth and leave the wax to accumulate in the ears until deafness follows, as it is to wash your hands and neglect the penis. Your sex organ needs attention at an early age. If you have parents who understand this matter, they have instructed you in the details; but if you are like most boys, these have been left to chance and possible wrong treatment. The gland of the penis secretes a cheesy material. This is constantly being poured out in small quantities and unless cleaned away will at first become offensive to the nostrils, then irritating and in some cases proceed to an inflammation which will require the services of a surgeon. But to begin with the small boy. He should pull back the foreskin every morning as he washes, and with a soft cloth soaked in warm water, remove all the accumulation. Do it carefully; but don’t forget to do it, even if you have to let the face go. The reason for being so particular about this matter I shall explain further on in these Chats. If your foreskin is too long, or if it hangs over so as to retain some drops of urine after you have relieved the bladder, go first to your father; and if you are so unfortunate as not to have a father or mother to whom you can go in these matters――and I know there are many such――go to your doctor and explain to him. Many boys are far better off when circumcised. This is a simple little operation――just the snipping off the overhanging foreskin. If your parents have been wise and instructed in this necessary detail of the sex toilet, you will have been circumcised when a baby. But you cannot blame them if it has been neglected. However, _your_ boy will have a right to blame you if he is allowed to be a victim of irritation and inflammation of the penis when he is a youth. As you grow older this detail of the toilet becomes more and more necessary, for at puberty――fourteen to sixteen years of age――all your glands become very active, and those of the penis especially so.