Only a few weeks ago I had occasion to talk to a woman about her oldest son, whom I considered sick from overwork and lack of nourishment. She informed me, however, that this was not so, and whispered confidently that he was 16 years old and “in that age when he needs a woman.” She further remarked that she and “the papa” had talked it over with the result that the father had told the boy, when he had “the desire for a woman,” that he, the father, “would give him money enough to get one.” Think of that boy's attitude toward women, and the danger to become affected with venereal diseases that he was likely to contract. Yet both parents had the sincerest wish to do their best for that boy; they gave the best advice they knew. One of the most common errors I have found among people, even those educated in other lines of thought, is that the sexual organs will become useless unless they are used in early manhood. This is considered untrue by the best authorities on the subject, for it is known that the essential organs of reproduction are glands, not unlike the tear glands of the eyes or the milk glands of the breasts. The tear glands do not atrophy even if one does not cry for years, nor the milk glands during the entire period of reproduction. The same can be said of the sexual glands. Another idea which is fast being uprooted is that the sexual act is an appetite, not unlike that of hunger and thirst, which must be fed by the boy sowing his “wild oats” first before settling down to marriage. It is now a recognized fact that it is no more necessary for a boy to “sow wild oats” than it is for a girl, and women are today demanding of men the same cleanliness of body and mind which men have heretofore considered necessary only in women. It is now the unreserved opinion of the foremost medical men of the day that a man does not suffer in health from living a continent life, nor is he a “mollycoddle” from so doing. Hutchinson says: “The belief that the exercise of the sex functions is necessary to the health of the male at any age is a pure delusion, while before full maturity it is highly injurious.” Ruggles says: “Sexual abstinence is compatible with perfect health and tends to increase virility (which means manhood) through the reabsorption of the semen.” The ancient Teutons were aware of this, for it is said that it was considered a most shameful thing for their young men to have sexual relations with a woman before their twenty-sixth year. From observation and experience they were convinced that men were not sexually mature much before this age, and no one will dispute they were strong and manly. Statistics show that 65 per cent. of men infected with venereal diseases (which means diseases due to sexual intercourse) are contracted between the ages of 15 and 21 years; and 25 per cent. are contracted in the 21st and 23rd years.