ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

epublished work. Hinting at the subject, Todd begins by stating that, ". . . in this
life, a heavier curse can hardly hang upon a young man than that of possessing a
polluted imagination." (p. 147). He then launches forthrightly into masturbation,
but does so almost entirely in Latin, beginning at the bottom of page 147
("effundendi manu [ONANIS SCELUS,]") and continuing with a list of its evil effects
on pp. 148-49. Rev. Todd's delicacy would lose his topic almost entirely on the
non-classical student but for two lengthy footnotes in English at the bottom of
pp. 148-49, which refer to resulting insanity and "sudden death."
An excerpt:
While I thus briefly allude to these wanderings of the imagination, by which the
mind is debilitated, the soul polluted by a stain which tears cannot wash out, nor
the deepest repentance fully do away, I cannot satisfy my conscience without
going a step further, and saying what others have, to my certain knowledge,
wished to say, and ought to say, but which no one has yet had the courage to
say, in tones loud and distinct. May I entreat the young man who reads these
pages not to pass the following paragraph without reading and pondering it. I
have chosen to risk the charge of pedantry rather than not say what I could not
say in English.
Lux nulla, illa Diae ultimae excepta, ut frequenter et assideu, consuetudinem***effundendi
manu [Onanis scelus,] revelare possit. Adolescentulos . . . .
[etc., continuing in Latin for two pages of text, 147-49]
What shall be said of such works as those of Byron? May not a young man
read those? Can he not learn things from him which cannot be learned
elsewhere? I reply, Yes, just as you would learn, while treading in burning lava,
what could not be learned elsewhere. . . .
[footnote:] *It is awfully certain, too, that it is very frequently the cause of sudden
death. The apoplexy waits hard by, as God's executioner, upon this sin. May the
pale-faced youth, in feeble health, frequently imputing his disease to the
dyspepsia, or something like it, tremble as he looks off the abyss on which he has
placed himself? . . . [p. 149]
"These remarks," Todd concludes, "may be condemned by some; but I shall
have two sources of consolation,—first, that I have discharged a sacred duty;
and, secondly, that those who are offended are those for whose special benefit
these remarks are made." (p.149n.)
107 [another edition] TODD, John. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL: Designed, by
Specific Directions, to Aid in Forming and Strengthening the Intellectual and Moral
Character and Habits of the Student. . . . Second Edition. Northampton: Published
by J. H. Butler. Boston . . . New-York . . . Philadelphia . . . Buffalo . . . , 1835.
112