Travelers among the North American Indians have been struck with the almost entire absence of that abandonment to vice which might be expected in a r… - John Harvey Kellogg

Said a leading physician in New York to us when interrogated as to his special treatment off spermatorrhoea, “When a young man comes to me suffering from nocturnal emissions, I give him tonics and send him to a woman.” That this is not an unusual method of treatment, even among regular physicians, is a fact as true as it is deplorable. There are hundreds of young men whose morals have been ruined by such advice. Having been educated to virtuous habits, at least so far as illicit intercourse is concerned, though their inclinations are very strong; but when advices by a physician to commit fornication s a remedial measure, they yield their virtue, far too readily sometimes, and begin a life of sin from which they might have been prevented. There are good grounds for believing that many young men purposely seek advice from physicians whom they know are in the habit of prescribing this kind of remedy. Few know how commonly this course is recommended, and not by quacks, but by members of the regular profession. A medical friend informed us that he knew a case in which a country physician advised a young man of continent habits to go to a neighboring large city and spent a year or so with prostitutes, which advice he followed. Of his subsequent history we know nothing; but is is most probable that, like most other young men who adopt this remedy, he soon contracted disease which rendered his condition ten times worse than at first, without at all improving his former state. In pursuing this course, one form of emission is only substituted for another, at the best; but more than this, an involuntary result of disease is converted into a voluntary sin of the blackest character, a crime in which two participate, and which is not only an outrage upon nature, but against morality as well.

The publishers of this work offer no apology for presenting it to the reading public, since the wide prevalence of the evils which is exposes is sufficient warrant for its publication. The subjects with which it deals are of vital consequence to the human race ; and it is of the utmost importance that every effort should be made to dispel the gross ignorance which almost universally prevails, by the wide diffusion, in a proper manner, of information of the character contained in this volume.

Another of the crying evils of the day, and one which menaces in a most alarming manner the most sacred interests of society, is the facility with which divorces may be obtained. In some States the laws regulating divorce are so notoriously loose that scores and even hundreds of people visit the States referred to every year with no other object than to obtain a dissolution of the bonds of matrimony. The effect of this looseness in the laws is to encourage hasty, inconsiderate marriages, and to make escape from an uncongenial partner so easy that the obligation to cultivate forbearance and to acquire mutual adaptation which may not at first exist, is wholly overlooked. The Bible rule for divorce, laid down by the Great Teacher, is little regarded in these degenerate days. He made adultery the only legitimate cause for divorce; yet we now see married people breaking asunder their solemn marriage ties on the occurrence of the most trivial difficulties. If a couple become tired of each other and desire a change, all they have to do is to forward the fee to a New York or Chicago lawyer, and they will receive back in a short time the legal papers duly signed, ranting them the desired annulment of their vows. Although countenanced by human laws, there can be no doubt that this is shameless trifling with a divine institution is regarded by High Heaven as the vilest abomination. In no direction is there greater need of reformatory legislation than in this. The marriage contract should be recognized in our laws as one which cannot be made and broken so lightly as it now is. It should be annulled only or the most serious offenses. The contrary course now pursued so frequently is most detrimental to morals. Our divorce laws virtually offer a premium for unchastity.