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alluring Art, lax Literature and corrupt Society are ever active
to inflame the youthful imagination and kindle the mind. It is
the mind and the moral will that need to be strengthened : if this
be not effected, nothing . is done. Of so little avail is it to weaken
physical appetite, that oftentimes the youth, whose body is wasting
under his own excesses, only the more longs to repeat them. The
disease is in his mind : it is not an appetite, but a passion, and
this is insatiable : here lies the difficulty."
En verder : „ I easily believe that if a youth is sedentary and well
fed, -- or let us say, ill fed on improper food, and inflamed by
drinks, --- not only may his sexual passion be premature, but
its supplies may be excessive ; and thereupon the natural reaction,
which is destined to reestablish the balance, may agitate
his system by its violence. If the girl may thus suffer, why
not the boy ? The depletion is thought excessive, and is felt
to be depressing : yet possibly the suddenness of the change
and its shock to the nerves is the real cause of distress, even if
its amount is not too great, in consideration of the small use made
of physical strength. In every case, if a youth do thus suffer, the
obvious remedy is, harder bodily exercise, and food less stimulating,
less perhaps also in quantity.... Until this remedy has been
tried and failed, what right has a medical adviser to despair?
But what are we to say, when a leading physician, instead of
recommending harder work and less food, recommends vile embraces
and a foul mockery of tender love ? Can imbecility and impiety
go further ? In imbecility I would compare it to those physicians,
who used to bleed a patient, because he had burst a bloodvessel 1)."
1) Reeds het enkele feit dat op Steenbeek, waar vrouwen met allerlei tem
uit allerlei levenswijze plotseling in volkomen onthouding maar tot-perament
en
hard werken, eenvoudig voedsel en gezonde levensregel worden gebracht, zonder
dat hun dit iets anders dan „goed doet", bewijst hoe volkomen buiten de er-
varing om dergelijke stellingen worden opgezet, als hier Newnan bestrijdt.
Cf.. de Opmerkingen van Dr. Donkersloot, sub Il der door hem bestreden Stellingen
en de daaronder geplaatste noten.