I, in connection with many of our best and wisest men who have given the subject a lifetime's most earnest consideration, hold that for a young man whose early education has been carefully looked to, and consequently, whose mind has not been debased by vile practices, it is no more impossible mentally, or injurious physically, to preserve his chastity than to refrain from yielding to any other of the innumerable temptations with which his life is beset. And every year of voluntary chastity renders the task easier by mere force of habit. I wish to be clearly understood in this matter. So long as a young man remains chaste in thought and deed, he will not suffer any bad effects from his continence. It is the _semicontinent_, the man who knows the right but pursues the wrong, who suffers! Patients frequently complain that enforced continence makes them restless, irritable, unfit for mental application of any sort, &c. Sexual intercourse is then indulged in, and presto: for the time being, what a welcome change. The now unclogged mind grasps with vigor any subject presented to it, the spirits are exuberant and the physical frame buoyant. But, is the trouble cured, is it permanently eradicated from the system? No! In a short time the symptoms reappear and the same remedy is again sought. The more the sexual feelings are indulged the more frequent will be their recurrence, and the result need not be written; every candid mind can easily see it. To their shame and confusion be it said, there are many physicians who, when consulted by their patients for medical assistance in such trials, "deliberately encourage the early indulgence of the passions, on the false and wicked ground that self-restraint is incompatible with health. What abhorrence can be too deep for a doctrine so destructive, or for the teachers who thus, before the eyes of those whose youthful ignorance, whose sore natural temptation, rather call for the wisest and tenderest guidance and encouragement, put darkness for light, evil for good, and bitter for sweet."[E] [E] Wm. Acton, M. R. C. S.