This substance or "internal secretion" must not be confused with the semen. The internal secretion is simply the substance which nature employs in the developing process and is responsible for the degree of growth and quality of manhood which the boy manifests. The semen, on the other hand, is the procreative or fertilizing fluid which enables a man to beget offspring. When a boy understands this process it aids him in appreciating the importance of his sex organs and a little thought enables him to understand that if he abuses these organs he will seriously interfere with his own development. This process goes on for a number of years, until the boy reaches maturity. Any act or habit which weakens the quality of this secretion will deplete his powers and render him physically and mentally inefficient. To make a man, nature must be permitted to work in her own way. You cannot improve on her methods nor can you break her laws with impunity. CHAPTER XIII THE PARENTS AND THE BOY Abuse of the Procreative Function--The Continent Life--Provide the Environment Necessary to the Clean Life--The Period of Procreative Power--Self-abuse--Masturbation--Treatment of Masturbation--Night Losses or Wet Dreams--Causes of Night Emissions--Sexual Excesses--Treatment of Sexual Excesses--What Parents Should Know About the So-called "Social Evil," Before Speaking with Authority to the Boy--The Need of Enlightenment in Sexual Matters--"No One Told Me, I Did Not Know"--Fake Medical Treatment of Venereal Diseases--Sowing Wild Oats--Should Circumcision be Advised? ABUSE OF THE PROCREATIVE FUNCTION.--Breeders of animals have discovered that to breed from very young stock is not good. The quality and stamina of the progeny is lowered and the vitality of the parent stock is reduced. It is not a good economic proposition. Boys should therefore be taught that any form of sexual indulgence is harmful before the period of full growth. Nature did not intend that the procreative function should be exercised by individuals who were not fully developed. The perpetuation of the species must not depend upon the license of immaturity. The instinct of sex-attraction must not be debased to serve a puerile, rather than a holy purpose. Sexual indulgence in any form, and in any degree, at any age prior to full maturity is a perversion of the primal instinct of race perpetuation. The practice has a more intimate and a more personal association with growing boys, however, than a merely altruistic reference. Any indulgence of this character at this time is physically and mentally injurious. No boy can hope ever to acquire the full measure of his possible development as an efficient working or thinking machine if he wastes his vital forces in unnatural liberties. He should be taught this truth in an emphatic manner by those responsible for his education.