Gluttony.-As a predisposing cause, the influence of dietetic habits should rank next to heredity. It is an observed fact that “all libertines are gre… - John Harvey Kellogg

1. From seven to nine hours’ sleep are required by all persons. The rule should be, Retire early and sleep until rested. Early rising is not beneficial unless it has been preceded by abundant sleep. 2. Arise immediately upon waking in the morning if it is after four o’clock. A second nap is generally unrefreshing, and is dangerous, for emissions most frequently occur at this time. 3. If insufficient sleep is taken at night, sleep a few minutes just before dinner. Half an hour’s rest at this time is remarkably refreshing; and even fifteen minutes spent in sleep will be fund very reviving. Do not sleep after dinner, as a pollution will be very likely to occur, and, as a rule, after-dinner naps are unrefreshing and productive of indigestion. 4. Never go to bed with the bowels or bladder loaded. The bladder should be emptied just before retiring. It is also a good plan to form the habit of rising once or twice during the night to urinate. 5. The position in sleeping is of some importance. Sleeping upon the back or upon the abdomen favors the occurrence of emissions ; hence, it is preferable to sleep on one side. If supper has been taken, the right side is preferable, as that position will favor the passage of food from the stomach into the intestines in undergoing digestion. Various devices are employed, sometimes with advantage, to prevent the patient from turning upon his back while asleep. The most simple is that recommended by Acton, and consists in tying a knot in the middle of a towel and then fastening the towel about the body in such a way that the knot will come upon the small of the back. The unpleasant sensations arising from pressure of the knot, if the sleeper turn upon his back, will often serve as a complete preventative. Others fasten a piece of wood upon the back for a similar purpose. Still others practice tying one hand to the bed post. None of these remedies should be depended upon, but they may be tried in connection with other means of treatment. 6. Soft beds and pillows must be carefully avoided. Feather-beds should not be employed when possible to find a harder bed ; the floor with a single folded blanket beneath the sleeper, would be preferable. Soft pillows heat the head, as soft beds produce heat in other parts. A hair mattress, or a bed of corn husks, oat straw, or excelsior-covered with two or three blankets or a quilted cotton mattress-makes a very healthy and comfortable bed. 7. Too many covers should be avoided with equal care. The thinnest possible covering in summer, and the lightest consistent with comfort in winter, should be the rule. Sleeping too warm is a frequent exciting cause of nocturnal losses. 8. Thorough ventilation of the sleeping-room, both while occupied and during the day-time, must not be neglected. It should be located in a position to admit the sunshine during the morning hours. It is a good plan to keep in it a number of house plants, as they will help to purify the air, besides adding to its cheerfulness.

Perhaps nothing fosters vice more than ignorance. Prostitutes come almost entirely from the more ignorant classes, though there are, of course, many exceptions. Among the lowest classes, vice is seen in its grossest forms and is carried to the greatest lengths. Intellectual culture is antagonistic to sensuality. As a general rule, in proportion as the intellect is developed, the animal passions are brought into subjection. It is true that very intellectual men have been great libertines, and that the licentious Borgias and Medicis of Italy encouraged art and literature ; but those are only apparent exceptions, for who knows to what greater depths of vice these individuals might have sunk had it not been for the restraining influence of mental culture ? Says Deslandes, “In proportion as the intellect becomes enfeebled, the generative sensibility is augmented.” The animal passions seem to survive when all higher intelligence is lost. We once saw an illustration of this fact in an idiot who has brought before a medical class in a clinic at Bellevue Hospital, New York. The patient had been an idiot from birth, and presented the most revolting appearance, seemingly possessing scarcely the intelligence of the average dog; but his animal propensities were so great as to be almost uncontrollable. Indeed, he showed evidences of having been a gross debauchee, having contracted venereal disease of the worst form. The general prevalence of extravagant sexual excitement among the insane is a well-known fact.

It has been a matter of common observation that the physical status of the women off Christendom has been gradually deteriorating; that their mental energies were uncertain and spasmodic; that they were prematurely care-worn, wrinkled, and enervated; that they became subject to a host of diseases scarcely ever known to the professional men of past times, but now familiar to, and the common talk of, the matrons, and often, indeed, of the youngest females in the community.”