Fruits of Philosophy

rhaps hunger is an exception. But surely no instinct commands a greater proportion of our thoughts or has a greater influence upon happiness for better or for worse. "Controlled by reas

nerous impulses that honor and bless human nature. It is a much more noble, because less purely selfish, instinct than hunger or thirst. It is an instinct that entwines itself around the warmest feelings and best affections of the heart"-Moral Physiology. But too frequently its strength, together with a want of moral culture, is such that it is not "controlled by reason;" and consequently, from time immemorial, it has been gratified, either in a mischievous manner, or to such an intemperate degree, or under such imprope

e instructions concerning this instinct which its importance demands. In books, pamphlets, journals, etc., they have laid much before the public respecting eating, drinking, bathing, lacing, air, exercise, etc., but have passed by the still more important subject now before us, giving only here and there spine faint allusion t

ed at improper times, to an intempera

piness-not merely the happiness attending the gratification of one of the senses, but all the senses-not mer

st. Begin temperately, and as the system becomes more mature, and habituated to the effects naturally produced by the gratification of this instinct, it will bear more without injury. Many young married people, ignorant of the consequences, have debilitated the whole system-the genital system in particular; have impaired their mental energies; have induced consumptive and other diseases; have rendered themselves irritable, unsocial, melancholy and finally much impaired, perhaps destroyed their affection for each other by an undue gratification of the reproductive instinct. In almost all diseases, if gratified at all, it should be very tempera

or a man whose business requires but little mental exercise, would, were he a student, unfit him for the successful prosecution of his studies. Intemperance in the gratification of this instinct has a tendency to lead to intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. The languor, depression of spirits, in some instances faintness and want of appetite, induced by intemperate gratification, call loudly for some stimulus, and give a relish to spirits. Thus the

lly speaking, may not be too great. But a man living on a full meat diet might, doubtless, part with fifty ounces of semen in the course of a year, with far less detriment to the system than with 2,000 ounces of blood. It is a fact, that mode of living, independent of occupation, makes a great difference with respect to what the system will bear. A full meat diet, turtles, oysters, eggs, spirits, wine, etc., certainly promote the se

ification; it is an antisocial and demoralizing habit, which, while it proves no quietus to t

so constituted that if they had no reproductive instinct to gratify, they might enjoy health; but being constituted as they are, this instinct cannot be mortified with impunity. It is a fact universally admitted, that unmarried females do not enjoy so much good health and attain to so great an age as the married; notwiths

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on and profligacy, owing to their not having married in their younger days and settled down in life. But why are there so many unmarried people in the country? Not because young hearts when they arrive at the age of maturity do not desire to marry; but because prudential considerations interfere. The young man thinks: I cannot marry yet; I cannot support a family; I must make money first, and think of a matrimonial settlement afterward. And so it is, that through fear of having a family, before they have made a little headway in the world, and of being thereby compelled to "tug at the oar of incessant labor throughout their lives," thousands of young men do not marry, but go abroad into the world and fo

he whole, as many births), but not so many overgrown and poverty-stricken ones. It has been said, It is better to let Nature take her course. Now, in the broadest sense of the word "Nature," I say so too. In this sense there is nothing unnatural in the universe. But if we

ce of the above-mentioned fear; but where it is the reverse you may coop up the individual in the narrow dark cage of ignorance and fear, as you will, but still you must watch. An eminent moralist has said, "That chastity which will not bear the light [of physiology] is scarcely worth preserving." But verily, I believe there is very little such in the market. What there be is naturally short-lived, and, after its demise, the unhappily constituted individual stands in great need of this light to save her from ignominy. What might it not have prevented in the Fall River affair? And if one of two things must happen-either the de