We have mentioned above that after gonorrhœa (every chronic gonorrhœa involves the prostate gland) there are severe disturbances of the nervous system, which may also influence the mind, causing hypochondria. To prevent all these dangers there has been formed in France a society called “Société Française de Prophylaxie Sanitaire et Morale,” which advocates the necessity of instructing boys and girls as to all the dangers that threaten them and how to avoid them. Happy is the young man who is able to live in perfect chastity without harm to mind or body. We will enter more fully into the consequences of complete sexual abstinence in the chapter on sexual hygiene; but the great majority of young men have the danger from sexual intercourse suspended, as the sword of Damocles, over their heads, and the best way to avoid this is by marriage. Marriage is, indeed, an invaluable aid in the struggle against old age; but sometimes, although this is an exception, it may turn out to be a double-edged sword. By marriage a young man acquires regular habits, and by the assistance of a loving wife is better able to control his passions; and last, but not least, the hygiene of the mind will also be improved. The inevitable hardships of life are thus less felt. These great advantages of marriage can, however, exist only in cases where the two halves make one whole—i.e., where the sun of happiness shines in the marital sky. For this purpose each of these two halves must endeavor best to please the other. The husband must, as is quite in the nature of things, show the utmost forbearance to the wife, and never forget that, on account of her different anatomical and physiological constitution, the mind of the female is far more exposed to frequent irritation as a natural consequence of the frequent alterations of the sexual glands and thyroid in women. It would be unreasonable to blame her for a condition for which not the woman, but her Maker, is responsible. If married life is one of the best means to defer old age, on the other hand it is positively certain that unhappy marriages are the surest means to hasten its oncoming; but these are the exception, and, as in everything else, the exception only proves the rule. A single man, or woman, is far more exposed to all the agencies we have referred to above as being deleterious in causing old age and especially depressed conditions of the mind, these being the consequences of total sexual abstinence, faults of hygiene in diet, use of stimulants (alcohol in men, coffee, tea, etc., in women), fewer precautions against disease, and so many other agencies of less importance that there can be no doubt that the bachelor or spinster, as a rule, will become old in earlier years than the married person. Therefore, although himself still a bachelor, the writer feels compelled to sing the praises of married life as a hygienic factor favoring old age.