Chapter 1

SEARCHLIGHTS ON HEALTH

THE SCIENCE OF EUGENICS

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A Guide to Purity and Physical Manhood Advice to Maiden, Wife and Mother Love, Courtship, and Marriage

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By

PROF. B.G. JEFFERIS, M.D., PH. D.

and

J.L. NICOLS, A.M.

_With Excerpts from Well-Known Authorities_

REV. LEONARD DAWSON DR. M.J. SAVAGE REV. H.R. HAWEIS DR. PANCOAST DR. STALL DR. J.F. SCOTT DR. GEORGE NAPHEYS DR. STOCKHAM DR. T.D. NICHOLLS DR. R.L. DUGDALE DR. JOHN COWAN DR. M.L. HOLBROOK

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Published by J.L. NICHOLS & COMPANY Naperville, Illinois, U.S.A. 1920 AGENTS WANTED

"Vice has no friend like the prejudice which claims to be virtue."--_Lord Lytton._

"When the judgment's weak, the prejudice is strong."--_Kate O'Hare._

"It is the first right of every child to be well born."

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COPYRIGHTED 1919,

BY

J.L. NICHOLS & CO.

OVER 1,000,000 COPIES SOLD

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

[Transcriber's Note: This Table of Contents does not appear in the original book. It has been added to this document for ease of navigation.]

Knowledge is Safety, page 3 The Beginning of Life, page 5 Health a Duty, page 7 Value of Reputation, page 9 Influence of Associates, page 11 Self-Control, page 12 Habit, page 17 A Good Name, page 18 The Mother's Influence, page 21 Home Power, page 23 To Young Women, page 26 Influence of Female Character, page 30 Personal Purity, page 31 How To Write All Kinds of Letters, page 34 How To Write a Love Letter, page 37 Forms of Social Letters, page 39 Letter Writing, page 43 Forms of Love Letters, page 44 Hints and Helps on Good Behavior at All Times and at All Places, page 49 A Complete Etiquette in a Few Practical Rules, page 52 Etiquette of Calls, page 56 Etiquette in Your Speech, page 57 Etiquette of Dress and Habits, page 58 Etiquette on the Street, page 59 Etiquette Between Sexes, page 60 Practical Rules on Table Manners, page 63 Social Duties, page 65 Politeness, page 70 Influence of Good Character, page 73 Family Government, page 76 Conversation, page 79 The Toilet or The Care of the Person, page 84 A Young Man's Personal Appearance, page 86 Dress, page 88 Beauty, page 91 Sensible Helps to Beauty, page 95 How to Keep the Bloom and Grace of Youth, page 97 Form and Deformity, page 98 How to Determine a Perfect Human Figure, page 99 The History, Mystery, Benefits and Injuries of the Corset, page 101 Tight-Lacing, page 104 The Care of the Hair, page 107 How to Cure Pimples or Other Facial Eruptions, page 111 Black-Heads and Flesh Worms, page 112 Love, page 114 The Power and Peculiarities of Love, page 118 Amativeness or Connubial Love, page 122 Love and Common Sense, page 123 What Women Love in Men, page 126 What Men Love in Women, page 129 History of Marriage, page 132 Marriage, page 134 The Advantages of Wedlock, page 135 The Disadvantages of Celibacy, page 138 Old Maids, page 140 When and Whom to Marry, page 144 Choose Intellectually--Love Afterward, page 148 Love-Spats, page 154 A Broken Heart, page 159 Former Customs and Peculiarities Among Men, page 162 Sensible Hints in Choosing a Partner, page 165 Safe Hints, page 170 Marriage Securities, page 174 Women Who Make the Best Wives, page 178 Adaptation, Conjugal Affection, and Fatal Errors, page 181 First Love, Desertion and Divorce, page 185 Flirting and Its Dangers, page 190 A Word to Maidens, page 192 Popping the Question, page 194 The Wedding, page 200 Advice to Newly Married Couples, page 201 Sexual Proprieties and Improprieties, page 206 How to Perpetuate the Honey-Moon, page 209 How to Be a Good Wife, page 210 How to Be a Good Husband, page 211 Cause of Family Troubles, page 217 Jealousy--Its Cause and Cure, page 219 The Improvement of Offspring, page 222 Too Many Children, page 229 Small Families and the Improvement of the Race, page 232 The Generative Organs, page 234 The Female Sexual Organs, page 235 The Mysteries of the Formation of Life, page 238 Conception--Its Limitations, page 240 Prenatal Influences, page 244 Vaginal Cleanliness, page 246 Impotence and Sterility, page 248 Producing Boys or Girls at Will, page 252 Abortion or Miscarriage, page 253 The Murder of Innocents, page 256 The Unwelcome Child, page 258 Health and Disease, page 263 Preparation for Maternity, page 266 Impregnation, page 269 Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy, page 270 Diseases of Pregnancy, page 274 Morning Sickness, page 282 Relation of Husband and Wife During Pregnancy, page 283 A Private Word to the Expectant Mother, page 284 Shall Pregnant Women Work?, page 285 Words for Young Mothers, page 286 How to Have Beautiful Children, page 288 Education of the Child in the Womb, page 292 How to Calculate the Time of Expected Labor, page 295 The Signs and Symptoms of Labor, page 297 Special Safeguards in Confinement, page 299 Where Did the Baby Come From?, page 303 Child Bearing Without Pain, page 304 Solemn Lessons for Parents, page 312 Ten Health Rules for Babies Cut Death Rate in Two, page 314 The Care of New-Born Infants, page 315 Nursing, page 317 Infantile Convulsions, page 319 Feeding Infants, page 319 Pains and Ills in Nursing, page 321 Home Lessons in Nursing Sick Children, page 325 A Table for Feeding a Baby on Modified Milk, page 329 Nursing [Intervals Table], page 329 Schedule for Feeding Healthy Infants During First Year [Table], page 329 How to Keep a Baby Well, page 330 How to Preserve the Health and Life of Your Infant During Hot Weather, page 332 Infant Teething, page 336 Home Treatments for the Diseases of Infants and Children, page 338 Diseases of Women, page 348 Falling of the Womb, page 350 Menstruation, page 351 Celebrated Prescriptions for All Diseases and How to Use Them, page 354 How to Cure Apoplexy, Bad Breath and Quinsy, page 365 Sensible Rules for the Nurse, page 366 Longevity, page 367 How to Apply and Use Hot Water in All Diseases, page 368 Practical Rules for Bathing, page 371 All the Different Kinds of Baths and How to Prepare Them, page 372 Digestibility of Food, page 374 How to Cook for the Sick, page 375 Save the Girls, page 380 Save the Boys, page 390 The Inhumanities of Parents, page 396 Chastity and Purity of Chracter, page 400 Exciting the Passions in Children, page 404 Puberty, Virility, and Hygenic Laws, page 406 Our Secret Sins, page 409 Physical and Moral Degeneracy, page 414 Immorality, Disease, and Death, page 416 Poisonous Literature and Bad Pictures, page 421 Startling Sins, page 423 The Prostitution of Men, page 427 The Road to Shame, page 430 The Curse of Manhood, page 433 A Private Talk to Young Men, page 437 Remedies for the Social Evil, page 440 The Selfish Slaves of Doses of Disease and Death, page 441 Object Lessons of the Effects of Alcohol and Smoking, page 445 The Destructive Effects of Cigarette Smoking, page 449 The Dangerous Vices, page 451 Nocturnal Emissions, page 457 Lost Manhood Restored, page 459 Manhood Wrecked and Rescued, page 461 The Curse and Consequence of Secret Diseases, page 464 Animal Magnetism, page 470 How to Read Character, page 473 Twilight Sleep, page 479 Painless Childbirth, page 479 The Diseases of Women, page 480 Remedies for Diseases of Women, page 483 Alphabetical Index, page 486

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HE STUMBLETH NOT, BECAUSE HE SEETH THE LIGHT.

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KNOWLEDGE IS SAFETY.

1. The old maxim, that "Knowledge is power," is a true one, but there is still a greater truth: "KNOWLEDGE IS SAFETY." Safety amid physical ills that beset mankind, and safety amid the moral pitfalls that surround so many young people, is the great crying demand of the age.

2. CRITICISM.--This work, though plain and to some extent startling, is chaste, practical and to the point, and will be a boon and a blessing to thousands who consult its pages. The world is full of ignorance, and the ignorant will always criticise, because they live to suffer ills, for they know no better. New light is fast falling upon the dark corners, and the eyes of many are being opened.

3. RESEARCHES OF SCIENCE.--The researches of science in the past few years have thrown light on many facts relating to the physiology of man and woman, and the diseases to which they are subject, and consequently many reformations have taken place in the treatment and prevention of diseases peculiar to the sexes.

4. LOCK AND KEY.--Any information bearing upon the diseases of mankind should not be kept under lock and key. The physician is frequently called upon to speak in plain language to his patients upon some private and startling disease contracted on account of ignorance. The better plan, however, is to so educate and enlighten old and young upon the important subjects of health, so that the necessity to call a physician may occur less frequently.

5. PROGRESSION.--A large, respectable, though diminishing class in every community, maintain that nothing that relates exclusively to either sex should become the subject of popular medical instruction. But such an opinion is radically wrong; ignorance is no more the mother of purity than it is of religion. Enlightenment can never work injustice to him who investigates.

6. AN EXAMPLE.--The men and women who study and practice medicine are not the worse, but the better for such knowledge; so it would be to the community in general if all would be properly instructed on the laws of health which relate to the sexes.

7. CRIME AND DEGRADATION.--Had every person a sound understanding on the relation of the sexes, one of the most fertile sources of crime and degradation would be removed. Physicians know too well what sad consequences are constantly occurring from a lack of proper knowledge on these important subjects.

8. A CONSISTENT CONSIDERATION.--Let the reader of this work study its pages carefully and be able to give safe counsel and advice to others, and remember that purity of purpose and purity of character are the brightest jewels in the crown of immortality.

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THE BEGINNING OF LIFE.

1. THE BEGINNING.--There is a charm in opening manhood which has commended itself to the imagination in every age. The undefined hopes and promises of the future--the dawning strength of intellect--the vigorous flow of passion--the very exchange of home ties and protected joys for free and manly pleasures, give to this period an interest and excitement unfelt, perhaps, at any other.

2. THE GROWTH OF INDEPENDENCE.--Hitherto life has been to boys, as to girls, a dependent existence--a sucker from the parent growth--a home discipline of authority and guidance and communicated impulse. But henceforth it is a transplanted growth of its own--a new and free power of activity in which the mainspring is no longer authority or law from without, but principle or opinion within. The shoot which has been nourished under the shelter of the parent stem, and bent according to its inclination, is transferred to the open world, where of its own impulse and character it must take root, and grow into strength, or sink into weakness and vice.

3. HOME TIES.--The thought of home must excite a pang even in the first moments of freedom. Its glad shelter--its kindly guidance--its very restraints, how dear and tender must they seem in parting! How brightly must they shine in the retrospect as the youth turns from them to the hardened and unfamiliar face of the world! With what a sweet sadly-cheering pathos they must linger in the memory! And then what chance and hazard is there in his newly-gotten freedom! What instincts of warning in its very novelty and dim inexperience! What possibilities of failure as well as of success in the unknown future as it stretches before him!

4. VICE OR VIRTUE.--Certainly there is a grave importance as well as a pleasant charm in the beginning of life. There is awe as well as excitement in it when rightly viewed. The possibilities that lie in it of noble or ignoble work--of happy self-sacrifice or ruinous self-indulgence--the capacities in the right use of which it may rise to heights of beautiful virtue, in the abuse of which it may sink to the depths of debasing vice--make the crisis one of fear as well as of hope, of sadness as well as of joy.

5. SUCCESS OR FAILURE.--It is wistful as well as pleasing to think of the young passing year by year into the world, and engaging with its duties, its interests, and temptations. Of the throng that struggle at the gates of entrance, how many may reach their anticipated goal? Carry the mind forward a few years, and some have climbed the hills of difficulty and gained the eminence on which they wished to stand--some, although they may not have done this, have kept their truth unhurt, their integrity unspoiled; but others have turned back, or have perished by the way, or fallen in weakness of will, no more to rise again; victims or their own sin.

6. WARNING.--As we place ourselves with the young at the opening gates of life, and think of the end from the beginning, it is a deep concern more than anything else that fills us. Words of earnest argument and warning counsel rather than of congratulation rise to our lips.

7. MISTAKES ARE OFTEN FATAL.--Begin well and the habit of doing well will become quite as easy as the habit of doing badly. "Well begun is half ended," says the proverb: "and a good beginning is half the battle." Many promising young men have irretrievably injured themselves by a first false step at the commencement of life; while others of much less promising talents, have succeeded simply by beginning well, and going onward. The good, practical beginning is to a certain extent, a pledge, a promise, and an assurance of the ultimate prosperous issue. There is many a poor creature, now crawling through life, miserable himself and the cause of sorrow to others, who might have lifted up his head and prospered, if, instead of merely satisfying himself with resolutions of well-doing, he had actually gone to work and made a good, practical beginning.

8. BEGIN AT THE RIGHT PLACE.--Too many are, however, impatient of results. They are not satisfied to begin where their fathers did, but where they left off. They think to enjoy the fruits of industry without working for them. They cannot wait for the results of labor and application, but forestall them by too early indulgence.

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HEALTH A DUTY.

Perhaps nothing will so much hasten the time when body and mind will both be adequately cared for, as a diffusion of the belief that the preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.

Men's habitual words and acts imply that they are at liberty to treat their bodies as they please. Disorder entailed by disobedience to nature's dictates they regard as grievances, not as the effects of a conduct more or less flagitious. Though the evil consequences inflicted on their descendents and on future generations are often as great as those caused by crime, they do not think themselves in any degree criminal.

It is true that in the case of drunkenness the viciousness of a bodily transgression is recognized; but none appear to infer that if this bodily transgression is vicious, so too is every bodily transgression. The fact is, all breaches of the law of health are physical sins.

When this is generally seen, then, and perhaps not till then, will the physical training of the young receive all the attention it deserves.

Purity of life and thought should be taught in the home. It is the only safeguard of the young. Let parents wake up on this important subject.

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VALUE OF REPUTATION.

1. WHO SHALL ESTIMATE THE COST.--Who shall estimate the cost of a priceless reputation--that impress which gives this human dross its currency--without which we stand despised, debased, depreciated? Who shall repair it injured? Who can redeem it lost? Oh, well and truly does the great philosopher of poetry esteem the world's wealth as "trash" in the comparison. Without it gold has no value; birth, no distinction; station, no dignity; beauty, no charm; age, no reverence; without it every treasure impoverishes, every grace deforms, every dignity degrades, and all the arts, the decorations and accomplishments of life stand, like the beacon-blaze upon a rock, warning the world that its approach is dangerous; that its contact is death.

2. THE WRETCH WITHOUT IT.--The wretch without it is under eternal quarantine; no friend to greet; no home to harbor him, the voyage of his life becomes a joyless peril, and in the midst of all ambition can achieve, or avarice amass, or rapacity plunder, he tosses on the surge, a buoyant pestilence. But let me not degrade into selfishness of individual safety or individual exposure this individual principle; it testifies a higher, a more ennobling origin.

3. ITS DIVINITY.--Oh, Divine, oh, delightful legacy of a spotless reputation: Rich is the inheritance it leaves; pious the example it testifies; pure, precious and imperishable, the hope which it inspires; can there be conceived a more atrocious injury than to filch from its possessor this inestimable benefit to rob society of its charm, and solitude of its solace; not only to out-law life, but attain death, converting the very grave, the refuge of the sufferer, into the gate of infamy and of shame.

4. LOST CHARACTER.--We can conceive few crimes beyond it. He who plunders my property takes from me that which can be repaired by time; but what period can repair a ruined reputation? He who maims my person effects that which medicine may remedy; but what herb has sovereignty over the wounds of slander? He who ridicules my poverty or reproaches my profession, upbraids me with that which industry may retrieve, and integrity may purify; but what riches shall redeem the bankrupt fame? What power shall blanch the sullied show of character? There can be no injury more deadly. There can be no crime more cruel. It is without remedy. It is without antidote. It is without evasion.

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INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATES.

If you always live with those who are lame, you will learn to limp.--FROM THE LATIN.

If men wish to be held in esteem, they must associate with those who are estimable.--LA BRUYERE.

1. BY WHAT MEN ARE KNOWN.--An author is known by his writings, a mother by her daughter, a fool by his words, and all men by their companions.

2. FORMATION OF A GOOD CHARACTER.--Intercourse with persons of decided virtue and excellence is of great importance in the formation of a good character. The force of example is powerful; we are creatures of imitation, and, by a necessary influence, our tempers and habits are very much formed on the model of those with whom we familiarly associate. Better be alone than in bad company. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Ill qualities are catching as well as diseases; and the mind is at least as much, if not a great deal more, liable to infection, than the body. Go with mean people, and you think life is mean.

3. GOOD EXAMPLE.--How natural is it for a child to look up to those around him for an example of imitation, and how readily does he copy all that he sees done, good or bad. The importance of a good example on which the young may exercise this powerful and active element of their nature, is a matter of the utmost moment.

4. A TRUE MAXIM.--It is a trite, but true maxim, that "a man is known by the company he keeps." He naturally assimilates by the force of imitation, to the habits and manners of those by whom he is surrounded. We know persons who walk much with the lame, who have learned to walk with a hitch or limp like their lame friends. Vice stalks in the streets unabashed, and children copy it.

5. LIVE WITH THE CULPABLE.--Live with the culpable, and you will be very likely to die with the criminal. Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which after the first or second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven in up to the head, the pinchers cannot take hold to draw it out, which can only be done by the destruction of the wood. You may be ever so pure, you cannot associate with bad companions without falling into bad odor.

6. SOCIETY OF THE VULGAR.--Do you love the society of the vulgar? Then you are already debased in your sentiments. Do you seek to be with the profane? In your heart you are like them. Are jesters and buffoons your choice friends? He who loves to laugh at folly is himself a fool. Do you love and seek the society of the wise and good? Is this your habit? Had you rather take the lowest seat among these than the highest seat among others? Then you have already learned to be good. You may not make very much progress, but even a good beginning is not to be despised.

7. SINKS OF POLLUTION.--Strive for mental excellence, and strict integrity, and you never will be found in the sinks of pollution, and on the benches of retailers and gamblers. Once habituate yourself to a virtuous course, once secure a love of good society, and no punishment would be greater than by accident to be obliged for half a day to associate with the low and vulgar. Try to frequent the company of your betters.

8. PROCURE NO FRIEND IN HASTE.--Nor, if once secured, in haste abandon them. Be slow in choosing an associate, and slower to change him; slight no man for poverty, nor esteem any one for his wealth. Good friends should not be easily forgotten, nor used as suits of apparel, which, when we have worn them threadbare, we cast them off, and call for new. When once you profess yourself a friend, endeaver to be always such. He can never have any true friends that will be often changing them.

9. HAVE THE COURAGE TO CUT THE MOST AGREEABLE ACQUAINTANCE.--Do this when you are convinced that he lacks principle; a friend should bear with a friend's infirmities, but not with his vices. He that does a base thing in zeal for his friend, burns the golden thread that ties their hearts together.

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SELF-CONTROL.

"Honor and profit do not always lie in the same sack."--GEORGE HERBERT.

"The government of one's self is the only true freedom for the individual."--FREDERICK PERTHES.

"It is length of patience, and endurance, and forbearance that so much of what is called good in mankind and womankind is shown."--ARTHUR HELPS.

1. ESSENCE OF CHARACTER.--Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character. It is in virtue of this quality that Shakespeare defines man as a being "looking before and after." It forms the chief distinction between man and the mere animal; and, indeed, there can be no true manhood without it.

2. ROOT OF ALL THE VIRTUES.--Self-control is at the root of all the virtues. Let a man give the reins to his impulses and passions, and from that moment he yields up his moral freedom. He is carried along the current of life, and becomes the slave of his strongest desire for the time being.