Page:Sexology.djvu/53

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all intellectual exertion; all presence of mind deserts him; he is discountenanced, troubled, inquiet whenever he finds himself in company; he is taken by surprise and even alarmed if required simply to reply to a child's question; his feeble soul succumbs to the lightest task; his memory daily losing more and more, he is unable to comprehend the most common things, or to connect the simplest ideas; the greatest means and the most sublime talents are soon exhausted; previously acquired knowledge is forgotten; the most exquisite intelligence becomes naught, and no longer bears fruit; all the vivacity, all the pride, all the qualities of the spirit by which these unfortunates formerly subjugated or attracted their equals, abandon them, and leave them no longer aught but contempt; the power of the imagination is at an end for them; pleasure no longer fawns upon them; but in revenge, all that is trouble and misfortune in the world seems to be their portion. Inquietude, dismay, fear, which are their only affections, banish every agreeable sensation from their minds. The last crisis of melancholy and the most frightful suggestions of despair commonly end in hastening the death of these unfortunates, or else they fall into complete apathy, and, sunken below those brutes which have the least instinct, they retain only the figure of their race. It even frequently happens that the most complete folly and frenzy are manifest from the first."

According to Dr. Franck, "Masturbators are not only a charge upon society, but are even dangerous," and this celebrated physician exhorts to exercise over them the most active supervision. Says Dr. Debreyne:

"Consider now this imbruted and degraded being; behold him bent under the weight of crime and infamy, dragging in darkness a remnant of material and animal life. Unfor-