A Solemn Appeal - James White

"The manner in which children are reared and
educated has also much to do in developing an
irritability of the sexual organs, and is a
predisposing cause of self-abuse; the food and
drink, habits of cleanliness, or its opposite--dress,
associations, etc., all have their influence upon the
child, and tend either to develop or overcome the
inherited tendencies of the sexual organization.
"Feeding children upon pork, gravies, eggs,
pastry made of lard, salt meats, with mustard and
pepper, rich pies and cakes, spices, cloves, and
other excitants; candies and sweetmeats, vinegar,
pickles, tea and coffee, and every thing of this
description, eaten at all hours of day and late at
night, tend to fire the blood, derange the functions
of the system, excite the nerves and bring on a
precocious development of the sexual passion.
"The skin, too, with its millions of little sewers,
by which God intended the purification of the
system to be carried on, must be kept clean, or the
impurities are dammed back, and the internal
115