Searchlights on Health: The Science of EugenicsJefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Philosophy
Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics
Jefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Eugenics; Hygiene; Marriage; Medicine, Popular; Sexual ethics
12. "Impress upon him that if these organs are abused, or if they are
put to any use besides that for which God made them and He did not
intend they should be used at all until man is fully grown they will
bring disease and ruin upon those who abuse and disobey the laws which
God has made to govern them. If he has ever learned to handle his
_sexual organs_, or to touch them in any way except to keep them
clean, not to do it again. If he does he will not grow up happy,
healthy and strong.
13. "Teach him that when he handles or excites the sexual organs all
parts of the body suffer, because they are connected by nerves that
run throughout the system; this is why it is called 'self-abuse.' The
whole body is abused when this part of the body is handled or excited
in any manner whatever. Teach them to shun all children who indulge in
this loathsome habit, or all children who talk about these things. The
sin is terrible, and is, in fact, worse than lying or stealing. For,
although these are wicked and will ruin their souls, yet this habit of
self-abuse will ruin both soul and body.
14. "If the sexual organs are handled, it brings too much blood to
these parts, and this produces a diseased condition; it also causes
disease in other organs of the body, because they are left with a less
amount of blood than they ought to have. The sexual organs, too, are
very closely connected with the spine and the brain by means of the
nerves, and if they are handled, or if you keep thinking about them,
these nerves get excited and become exhausted, and this makes the back
ache, the brain heavy and the whole body weak.
15. "It lays the foundation for consumption, paralysis and heart
disease. It weakens the memory, makes a boy careless, negligent and
listless. It even makes many lose their minds; others, when grown,
commit suicide. How often mothers see their little boys handling
themselves, and let it pass, because they think the boy will outgrow
the habit, and do not realize the strong hold it has upon them. I say
to you who love your boys 'Watch!'
16. "Don't think it does no harm to your boy because he does not
suffer now, for the effects of this vice come on so slowly that the
victim is often very near death before you realize that he has done
himself harm. The boy with no knowledge of the consequences, and with
no one to warn him, finds momentary pleasure in its practice, and
so contracts a habit which grows upon him, undermining his health,
poisoning his mind, arresting his development, and laying the
foundation for future misery.
17. "Do not read this book and forget it, for it contains earnest and
living truths. Do not let false modesty stand in your way, but from
this time on keep this thought in mind 'the saving of your boy.'
Follow its teachings and you will bless God as long as you live. Read
it to your neighbors, who, like yourself, have growing boys, and urge
them for the sake of humanity to heed its advice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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