If such feelings arise simply from the osseous system, what must we expect when onanism, with its train of moral and of sensual feelings, forces the genital organs to take part in the efforts of growth. The power which is then impaired is the same which we have seen extend over all parts of the organization, that, whose action when regular, contributes so much to make each tissue perfect, in fact that which when removed gives to man the characters of an eunuch. Now consider onanism as possessing this power and using to do injury all the energy which it possesses to do good; what limits shall be assigned to its injurious effects? and yet some authors question them. Many general phenomena of puberty also appear prematurely, when premature indulgences call them into development. Thus the beard appears on the chin, the pubis is covered with hairs, the voice assumes a deeper tone, and the first indications of virility show themselves much earlier than is proper. These symptoms serve to trace the aberrations which onanism causes in the formation of the organs. This vice too does not surely hasten or retard; it deranges: for the derangement of the functions is not generally manifested by irregularities in formation, aspect, and texture, but by material alterations, by diseases. Hence why inflammations of all kinds, and numerous organic affections result, as observation proves, sooner or later from anticipated pleasures: now as the susceptibility of the organs varies in individuals, and as in one, the heart, in another the lungs, the stomach &c. is most liable to be affected, we see why the list of diseases caused by onanism, comprises most of those which afflict the human body.
Nor is this all; if the excitement of a sense, which affects all the other organs, and to which they respond, occurs at a time when their mode of action and of sensation, or their temperament is not formed, this latter varies from what it would be, if developed calmly and uninfluenced by this excited sense. Hence not only the _health_ but the _constitution_ suffers from the too precocious use of the genital organs. He who might have attained the age of manhood, with a robust temperament by which his body resists numerous bad influences by which it is constantly assailed, will after indulging in onanism, be exposed to all these influences. This vice then compromises both the present and future health of the body; the present by the diseases with which it is accompanied, and the future by those for which it prepares. Hence if the young man escapes with life, he is as it were loaded with a tribute of ills which he must pay before long and perhaps always. Thus the indirect influence of onanism in producing human suffering is enormous. I consider it even as greater in proportion than that of the most immediate consequences of this fatal habit. This is confirmed not only by daily observation, but it cannot be otherwise. How much then do those deceive themselves who seek for the diseases of masturbation without believing in their existence, and who continue to indulge because they do not see its abuses.