Indeed it has been shown by the earliest authors on myxœdema, that this disease is very frequently caused by too frequent pregnancies, especially if connected with prolonged lactation (Ord, Morvan, Combe). This will also explain why women more frequently show the symptoms of precocious senility than men, whose sexual glands are not put to such constant activity and change as are the female sexual glands. Similarly women, after frequent pregnancies, especially with prolonged lactation, or women with diseases of the ovaries, and also those addicted to habitual sexual excess, such as prostitutes, very soon become fat and fade before their time. Thus we may see symptoms of precocious senility in such women even before the end of the third decade, especially if they have begun to lead an immoral life at an early age. Even young girls may look much older through the abuse of their ovaries from sexual excesses. Their breasts become large and pendulous, and their faces bloated and relaxed. Menstruation may likewise be made to appear in early childhood by sexual abuses, as Pauline Tarnowska[19] has found through the examination in St. Petersburg of 150 very young prostitutes. Footnote 19: Tarnowska: “Etudes antropométriques sur les prostitutées et les voleuses,” Paris, 1889. We shall show in the next chapter that obesity, which has nothing to do with overfeeding, can be caused by like agencies. That mental emotions, especially care, grief, sorrow, etc., powerfully influence the different ductless glands, and are able to produce degeneration of the thyroid, adrenals, and sexual glands, etc., is shown by conclusive proofs in the chapter on the “Hygienics of the Mind.” Infectious diseases are especially liable to cause change in the kidneys, and in various infectious diseases, sometimes even in tonsillitis, we may find an inflamed condition of these organs. The kidneys can also be damaged by the passage of various toxic products, which are either produced in the body (auto-intoxication) or introduced with the food (condiments), or as stimulants—e.g., alcohol, strong tea, etc. All these toxic agents are capable of doing damage to the kidneys just as to the thyroid gland. We shall treat later on, in separate chapters, of the action of these stimulants upon the ductless glands. The condition termed auto-intoxication may be induced by many different factors, among which may be mentioned the products of intestinal putrefaction (Senator[20]) and the waste products from the processes of oxidation, such as uric acid, for example. Animal food is more apt to produce intestinal putrefaction than any of the various other foodstuffs. Footnote 20: Senator: Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, Nu. 24, 1868. There are three important organs which protect us against such a condition of auto-intoxication; these are the kidneys, liver, and thyroid, and possibly also the parathyroids.