under the most alluring attractions. His mind, his heart, and his senses provide him with the most powerful excitants to the generative act, but that he may be at the same time capable of accomplishing it and of realizing its pleasures, she has imposed rules which he can not infringe without greatly enhancing its perils. There are symptoms closely allied to epilepsy in the crisis of the venereal act, and in rare cases a veritable epileptic convulsion. Venereal ex- cesses, on the other hand, are proverbially fatal. So it follows that, in obeying the law imposed upon him, man, no less than other animals, expends somewhat of his vital forces. Certain physiologists have even maintained that nature only permits the male to survive the grand act of his existence in the interests of the resulting progeny.
If the retention of the reproductive materials within the organism, so far from being injurious, be even necessary during the period of puberty, it would seem that, other things being equal, it should not be detrimental during nubility. In fact, if these materials accumulate to excess, nature furnishes a ready and efficacious means of discard- ing them. With those who allow the function to remain, long disused, however, the elimination of the fecundating fluid but seldom occurs. The secretion is well-nigh abol- ished, and the organism profits by the economy of forces thus attained. Severe mental labors, the pursuits of science, and protracted physical exertion exercise a profound influ- ence upon the genital sense. A learned author has said that one must choose between leaving to posterity works of genius or children. La Fontaine who well understood these matters, declares: Un muhtier a ce jeu vaut trois rois. Without doubt, there are certain erotic temperaments which constitute altogether exceptions to the rule we have laid down, and with whom celibacy, without the employment of
