Another instalment in the Ladies’ Handbook series! The initial post is here. This instalment is part three of Chapter IV, “Sex Physiology and Hygiene”. (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.)
But, again, in youth as in childhood; and, indeed, throughout life, the sexual impulse has its physical basis. It is more than unwise to ignore this fact; it is simply perilous to do so. Young men and women of pure motives who cause their bodies to suffer through unwise eating and drinking, through indulgence in injurious practices and habits of whatever nature, through failure to bathe and exercise regular and to dress healthfully, through allowing their bodies to become irregular in their functions - young men and women who fail to regard the laws of nature in these ways, even though their motives be pure, are liable to fall into sin, for these delinquencies weaken moral as well as physical strength, and increase the power of temptations.
Then there is the potent mental side, the thought side of this important question. What prospect for purity have young men and women who habitually read immoral novels and witness indecent plays and pictures? They who would keep themselves pure must recognise the standard of perfection: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in her heart.”
Young men are sometimes kept in despair for years, and systematically robbed of their hard-earned money by quacks who advertise to restore “lost vitality” or “lost manhood”.
