ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

Only the 1952 edition appears for sale online (October 31, 2010, at prices ranging
from $59-75, described with some dust soiling, and called "Very scarce and
collectible.")
All about male parts and glands at first, followed by such stimulating chapter
titles as "Sex Weaklings Are All Cowards," "How Often Should the Body Builder
Indulge," and "Sex Starvation." As much as we would all love to read the entire
book, however, let us turn to the core subject of relevance to this collection,
"SOLITARY INDULGENCE," pp. 55-57 (". . . also known as masturbation, . . . the
forerunner of all sex troubles. Constant practise makes of it a vicious habit."
p. 55). The same old notions, of course: "The continued loss of the richest blood
source, converted into spermatic fluid and wastefully ejected, is a great depletion
and robs the vital sources of the body of their most important substance. The
whole body suffers and so does the mind." (p. 55). Besides the listless eyes about
which we have read in other works already, Mr. Jowett informs us that there will
also be a "bulbous nose" and "sensuous, sagging lips and effeminate
characteristics of speech; . . . marital happiness is hardly possible."
Perhaps our gym-inclined author was meeting masturbators in the wrong locker
rooms . . .
I have known men who continued this vile practice after marriage in preference
to contact with their wives. Many body builders who felt their condition was
highly sexed have the impression that some practise should be indulged in to
relieve the nervous tension and, rather than be intimate with women, they prefer
masturbation as a saving grace. [p. 56]
The remainder of the chapter is vague, and perhaps vaguely suggestive. Don't
run to prostitutes, writes Jowett, but don't practice chastity either. Adolescents
must not masturbate, but if you get older and don't marry? –well, do what you
must, although masturbation is not the wisest course to follow. Our
monogamous society norms are the best, but may complicate things, (infers the
writer, pp. 56-57).
58 KAHN, L[ouis]. J. NERVOUS EXHAUSTION: Its Cause and Cure. Comprising A
Series of Eight Lectures on Debility and Disease, As Delivered Nightly at Dr. Kahn's
Museum of Anatomy, With Practical Information on Marriage, Its Obligations and
Impediments. Illustrated with Cases. Including Pictures from Real Life, or Photographic
Life Studies, Addressed to the Young, the Old, the Grave, the Gay. By Dr. L. J. Kahn,
Lecturer on Anatomy, Physiology, and Science; Author of "The Lungs in Health and in
Disease;" Medical Essays and Reviews, Etc., Etc. New York, No. 51 East Tenth
Street, bet. University Place & Broadway [c. 1870, by Dr. L. J. Kahn].
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