ional

d Octavi

his; at school they learn the anatomy and physiology of bones and muscles, of sense-organs, and nervous system, of glands and alimentary canal, of respiration and circulation; but a sudden silence falls just before sex

tion may be stated in

requent in the realm of sex. The conditions of the sexual life are sufficiently alike in all normal cases so that the experience of the race is valuable to the individual in meeting his own problems. Each child as he passes onward th

damental facts of sex. One of the strongest new visions concerning sex is the marvelous way in it ramifies into all fields of thought and action. Not a few of the most eminent workers in modern science incline to consider all aspects of human life, including even religion itself, as emanations or processes from the sex basis

men. Three of these problems may be specified: (a) The so-called "social evil," including not merely prostitution, but also all other forms of waste and injury through sexual errors; (b)

ole burden as members of a progressive society must contribute to the solution of these great s

the human species" in this respect. Sedentary life chokes and misdirects the currents of nervous energy and the very circulation of the blood. The lad who plays vigorously, even violentl

Let us base our promotions from grade to grade, and especially for "graduation" from school, partly upon physical tests, requirin

the flow and thrill of life into wholesome channels, abolishes indolence, stagnation

ially public amusements, such as theaters and dance halls, abound in sexual suggestion and stimulation.[34] These agencies stimulate an excessive stream of sexual desire, with all its physical accompaniments, in boys and men: the natural and inevitable result is an overwhelming impulse toward illicit satisfaction in self-abuse or sexual immorality. So

lead him in a resolute fight for mastery over his own thoughts. "Do not harbor in your mind anything you w

?"-an actual question of a four-year-old-are the signal and the open door for easy and natural enlightenment. Seize the opportunity: tell the truth, as simply and briefly as possible, and the beginning is made; watch for and utilize all such opportunities, as they come, and the main road of the task is marked out; shock is minimized, if not eliminated, mutual confidence is engendered, and a priceless reward may be won. But if at that first

in perceive them and bring them to light. But success need not be hoped for in this respect unless first the beginnings are attended to; uncounted parents can testify to the infinite difficulty of breaking to the boy or girl the silence long practiced with the child. Nor will occasional or spasmodic fits of interest and action by the parent achieve muc

n an ideal state. As things are it would be unsafe to rely absolutely upon questions; the parent and on occasion other educators must take the initiative i

e children is the first available field; it should begin even before the kindergarten age, with the simplest and easiest observations, and proceed by gentle gradations of progress; it finds abundant and fascinati

c treatment.[37] It will probably be found advisable to separate the sexes for this part of the work, and have boys taught

ic knowledge of the origin of life and the laws of sex. The educator can, must, and will answer truly and purely, all questions in these ma

ntense concern of personal problems. The general principle is the same: do not drag in the subject of sex and reproduction, but do not e

sted and intimate counselor, preferably the parent, but otherwise physician, pastor, older friend, with whom he has already discussed sexual questions, and who he knows will receive his advances

old boys, or of eighth grade boys, includes some who are children not yet entered upon pubescence, others who are mature,-that is, have attained the power of reproduction,-and still others who are in process of change. These three groups cannot be treated identically; each period h

ight but impressive additional perception as to the danger of meddling in any way. They should also be warned strictly against any other person who offers to tamper with their sex organs or adjacent parts of the body. Let them understand that they are just

eriods is as yet by no means fully agreed upon among experts

passive and defensive as in the woman; and that hence the woman must in general take the leading part in the control of the sexual relation, or, at least, of those preliminary intimacies that tend to culminate in sexual union. If it be contended that this is a delicate and difficult idea to conve

, but also that for her own sake and that of her sister women she must beware of conduct, a

ilis. Health certificates of prospective bridegrooms will probably be more easily enforced if such intelligence becomes general. The time for such instruction is difficult to state, and would vary with the social environ

onal system, is a closely related theme, of incompa

able condition of manly growth in stature, muscular powers, voice, heart, and brain. They should learn the possibility

ignorance of it, unknown multitudes of boys have suffered anxiety sometimes amounting to terror, have become moody and dejected, lost interest in work and studies; and finally thousands of them, ashamed to ask counsel or enlightenment from any decent source, have had recourse to the venereal quack, who so artfully spreads his snares for them in d

nest men of every type, hold their passions strictly subject to their wills. Let them know that the world is well supplied with wretches whom this very "sexual necessity" has robbed of their precious virile powers, but that the cases of impotenc

the most contemptible of creatures; the other that of the whore-follower, whom nature perpetually menaces with vile and pestilential plag

ty. They should know something of the horrors of syphilis, its loathsomeness, its extraordinary power to penetrate to the physiological Holy of Holies, poison the germ cells, and damn in advance the unborn children of its victim. They must

e scared than syphilitic. "I dare do all that may become a man," says Macbeth; "who dares do more is none"; let a man dare if he will with his own body, aye, his own soul; he is but a coward who does not shrink from buying voluptuous moments with the hazard of wife and child. Hydrophobia i

him to become in turn husband and father, to give a clean soul and body in marriage to a pure woman, and to pass on the germ of life to the children of his body. A few lessons on heredity will show him that he is but the steward of an inheritance that has come down from a thousand ancestors and may well be perpetuated through generations to come. Prudence is good; but no n

truth is one, and life is one, and neither logic nor humanity will consent to our stopping short of the whole truth. Social intelligence-the illumination of man's life with man-the scientific and spiritual comprehension of the apostolic dictum, "We are all members one of anot

TNO

in nature study and biology will reveal the almost universal absence of all i

oblems, vol. i, pp. 388-97, Thomson

arenthood and Race Culture; Morrow, Social Diseases and

Vitality; Hall, Youth,

y Magazine, September, 1912, pp. 11-20; The Ex

lem of the Children, esp. pp. 61-93. Also the c

t and Animal Children and How They Grow. (Heath.) See also pamp

Stanley Hall, Maurice A. Bigelow, Josiah Strong, Charles W. Eliot, and Mary Putnam Blount, Sexual Re

Adolescence, vo

A New Conscience a