A Solemn Appeal - James White

Instances like the above are, doubtless, of very
rare occurrence, and when they do occur, must be
supposed to be the result of the combined action of
all the circumstances, constitutional and external,
favorable to their development. That the debasing
habit is often commenced before puberty, and in
the language of an eminent physiological observer,
"frequently many years before," is, however, quite
indisputable.
But, after all, very little of the mischief of this
sin is known. It is a secret vice, a vice which its
patrons are ashamed to confess. And hence,
provided they themselves know it to be the cause
of their suffering, they are slow to acknowledge it.
Or, if knowing this, they abandon it, and so get
well; feeling under no obligation to publish their
indiscretion, some medicinal nostrum obtains all
the credit of their cure. And further, if knowing its
evils they persist in it, in spite of them, why, they
have then no motive for exposing it. But if, as is
generally the case, they are ignorant of its
injuriousness, then certainly, they will not reveal it.
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