The congested genital glands, furthermore, excrete and secrete excessively. In this way the elements of the internal secretion are either in a state of atrophy or otherwise disturbed. The organism is thus deprived of these important elements and suffers accordingly. _Period between sixteen and eighteen years._—When the boy or girl, at the age of sixteen to eighteen, are about to leave their families, they will have to be warned against yielding to the frequent sexual temptations. At this time the boy, and to a certain extent in our modern industrial world also the girl, leaves the family to go out into the world to commence the struggle for existence. There, in the office or in the factory, the boy and the girl will be surrounded by many temptations. Innumerable chances will be offered to them to surrender their chastity. It must, therefore, be impressed upon them how necessary and important it is for them to be careful and not to allow the hot temper of youth for the woman, respectively for the man, to get the better of their prudence. They have to be warned of the dangers of venereal diseases and have to be shown the fearful results of promiscuous intercourse.[BQ] We will speak to them openly about the dangers of venereal diseases. The diseases of society just as those of the body, says Stuart Mills, can not be prevented without speaking openly about them. The social diseases must be spoken in the open and not with bated breath, and must be spoken to the woman no less than to the man. The social diseases have been declared shameful and no one is allowed to know or to mention them. Many excellent people look upon venereal diseases as a merited punishment for the sins of immorality. In the popular conception, venereal diseases are diseases of debauchery only. There is, on the part of the public, an indifference, even an active opposition, to sex-enlightenment, due to the erroneous idea that venereal diseases are the exclusive appanage of vice. The people are ignorant of the fact that millions of guiltless persons contract these diseases through common utensils and particularly in marriage. These dreadful diseases embrace among their victims a vast number of virtuous wives and innocent children. The number of virtuous wives suffering from venereal diseases is much larger than the entire number of prostitutes in our country. The wife and unborn child are surely innocent in every sense of the word. They are incapable of foreseeing and powerless to prevent the threatening injury. Syphilis, especially, is not purely a sexual disease. It is often acquired in the most innocent manner. An almost inperceptible lesion in the mouth or throat of the syphilitic exudes a virus which may be conveyed to another person, by a pen, pencil, drinking-glass, by surgical and dental instruments and by kissing.