One of our ablest surgeons has left on record the following weighty advice:[34] ‘The boy has to learn that to his immature frame every sexual indulgence is unmitigated evil. Every illicit pleasure is a degradation to be bitterly regretted hereafter.... If a boy is once fully impressed that _all_ such indulgences are dirty and mean, and, with the whole force of his unimpaired energy, determines he _will_ not disgrace himself by yielding, a very bright and happy future is before him.... Where, as is the case with a very large number, a young man’s education has been properly watched, and his mind has not been debased by vile practices, it is usually a comparatively easy task to be continent, and requires no great or extraordinary effort, and every year of voluntary chastity renders the task easier by the mere force of habit.... It is of vital importance that boys and young men should know, not only the guilt of an illicit indulgence of their dawning passions, but also the _danger_ of straining an immature power, and the solemn truth that the _want_ will be an irresistible tyrant only to those who have lent it strength by yielding; that _the only true safety lies in keeping even the thoughts pure_.... It is easier to abstain altogether than to be occasionally incontinent, and then continent for a period.... If a young man wished to undergo the acutest sexual suffering he could adopt no more certain method than to propose to be incontinent, with the avowed intention of becoming continent again when he had “sown his wild oats.” The agony of breaking off a habit which so rapidly entwines itself with every fibre of the human frame is such that it would not be too much to say to any youth commencing a career of vice: “You are going a road on which you will _never_ turn back. However much you may wish it the struggle will be too much for you. You had better stop now. It is your last chance.”’ Our early neglect of youth is, then, one of the great causes of social immorality. The most earnest thought of parents should be given to the means of securing influences which will strengthen and purify their children in the early years of life. Evil outward temptations abound, but they must not be allowed to exercise their effects unchecked; they must be counteracted by more powerful influences for good.