Take of— The oxide of zinc 1 drachm. Ointment of spermaceti 1 ounce. Mix. Form 79. _For obstinate Excoriations._ Take of— Ointment of nitrate of mercury ½ ounce. Superacetate of lead 1 scruple. Spermaceti ointment, or cold cream 1 ounce. Mix. EFFECTS OF INCONTINENCE, CELIBACY, AND MARRIAGE. THE past pages relate chiefly to the diseases of the generative system consequent upon contagion, upon accident, and the ordinary wear and tear of human life: the following, to the ills that ensue from the over-indulgence in, and abstinence from, the proper purposes of the reproductive organs, and the benefits derivable from a fulfilment of the intentions of their natural functions. There may be much good policy and correct feeling in objecting to the too public inquiry into these matters. The private closet and the public eye are two very different tribunals, and what may be approved of in the one is very likely to be condemned in the other. The line of deciding what shall be communicated and what should be suppressed may be drawn too closely; and that knowledge which is acquired by stealth is seldom so practical as that obtained by competition. If, therefore, the topics herein embraced were to be expunged, and their discussion prohibited, the afflicted would have no other resource than to apply to the adventuring and ill-educated empiric, instead of confiding his troubles to the legitimate professional man. A study, to become useful, should be general; and it is to be hoped that the prudish reserve which excludes this kind of investigation from our medical schools will be laid aside, and truth be obtained by allowable investigation. The most moral and chaste, at the age of puberty, are assailed with feelings and desires, that, though new and unanticipated, yet need little interpretation when present, and so urgent and imperious, that if not legitimately satisfied, nature and instinct are not slow in pointing out a means of gratification. In the male, imagination commanding a wider range than in the female, and fed by associations with, and the usages of, the world, elicits consequences explanatory of life’s purposes; and the youth having once experienced, perhaps unsolicited, and possibly during sleep, the agony of seminal secretion, can rarely withstand the afterward tempting pleasure of seeking a self-repetition of such solitary indulgence, which the forbidden union of the sexes, at this early period, may urge him to.