Alarming prevalence of the vice--Testimony of eminent authors--Not a modern vice--Victims of all ages--Unsuspected rottenness--Causes of the habit--Evil associations--Corruption in schools--Wicked nurses--Not an uncommon case--The instructor in vice--Local disease--An illustrative case--Other physical causes--Influence of stimulants-- Signs of self-abuse--Suspicious signs--General debility--Early symptoms of consumption--Premature and defective development--Sudden change in disposition--Lassitude--Sleeplessness--Failure of mental capacity-- Fickleness--Untrustworthiness--Love of solitude--Bashfulness--Unnatural boldness--Mock piety--Confusion of ideas--Round shoulders--Weak backs-- Pains in the limbs--Stiffness of the joints--Paralysis--Gait--Bad positions--Lack of development of the breasts--Capricious appetite-- Eating clay--The use of tobacco--Unnatural paleness--Acne--Biting the finger nails--Palpitation of the heart--Hysteria--Chlorosis--Epileptic fits--Wetting the bed--Unchastity of speech--Positive signs--Results of secret vice--Effects in males--Local effects--Urethral irritation-- Stricture--Enlarged prostate--Urinary diseases--Priapism--Piles-- Prolapsus of rectum--Extension of irritation--Atrophy--Varicocele-- Nocturnal emissions--Exciting causes--Are occasional emissions necessary or harmless?--Emissions not necessary to health--Eminent testimony--Diurnal emissions--Cause of diurnal emissions--Internal emissions--An important caution--Impotence--General effects--General debility--Consumption--Dyspepsia--Heart-disease--Throat affections-- Nervous diseases--Epilepsy--Failure of special senses--Spinal irritation--Insanity--A victim's mental condition pictured--Effects in females--Local effects--Leucorrhoea--Uterine disease--Cancer of the womb--Sterility--Atrophy of mammae--Pruritis--General effects--A common cause of hysteria--Effects upon offspring--Treatment of self-abuse and its effects--Prevention of secret vice--Cultivate chastity--Timely warning--Curative treatment of the effects of self-abuse--Cure of the habit--How may a person help himself?--Hopeful courage--General regimen and treatment--Mental and moral treatment-- Exercise--Never overeat--Eat but twice a day--Discard all stimulating food--Stimulating drinks--Sleeping--Dreams--Can dreams be controlled?-- Bathing--Improvement of general health--Prostitution as a remedy-- Marriage--Local treatment--Cool sitz bath--Ascending douche--Abdominal bandage--Wet compress--Hot and cold applications to the spine--Local fomentations--Local cold bathing--Enemata--Electricity--Internal applications--Use of electricity--Circumcision--Impotence--Varicocele-- Drugs--Rings--Quacks--Closing advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 _A CHAPTER FOR BOYS_.