unserer Zeit, 1908) takes a similar standpoint.  He advocates abstention during early life and temporary abstention in adult life, such abstention being valuable, not only for the conservation and transformation of energy, but also to emphasize the fact that life contains other matters to strive for beyond the ends of sex.  Redlich (Medizinische Klinik, 1908, No. 7) also, in a careful study of the medical aspects of the question, takes an intermediate standpoint in relation to the relative advantages and disadvantages of sexual abstinence.  “We may say that sexual abstinence is not a condition which must, under all circumstances and at any price, be avoided, though it is true that for the majority of healthy adult persons regular sexual intercourse is advantageous, and sometimes is even to be recommended.”

It may be added that from the standpoint of Christian religious morality this same attitude, between the extremes of either party, recognizing the advantages of sexual abstinence, but not insisting that they shall be purchased at any price, has also found representation.  Thus, in England, an Anglican clergyman, the Rev. H. Northcote (Christianity and Sex Problems, pp. 58, 60) deals temperately and sympathetically with the difficulties of sexual abstinence, and is by no means convinced that such abstinence is always an unmixed advantage; while in Germany a Catholic priest, Karl Jentsch (Sexualethik, Sexualjustiz, Sexualpolizei, 1900) sets himself to oppose the rigorous and unqualified assertions of Ribbing in favor of sexual abstinence.  Jentsch thus expresses what he conceives ought to be the attitude of fathers, of public opinion, of the State and the Church towards the young man in this matter:  “Endeavor to be abstinent until marriage.  Many succeed in this.  If you can succeed, it is good.  But, if you cannot succeed, it is unnecessary to cast reproaches on yourself and to regard yourself as a scoundrel or a lost sinner.  Provided that you do not abandon yourself to mere enjoyment or wantonness, but are content with what is necessary to restore your peace of mind, self-possession, and cheerful capacity for work, and also that you observe the precautions which physicians or experienced friends impress upon you.”

When we thus analyze and investigate the the three main streams of expert opinions in regard to this question of sexual abstinence—­the opinions in favor of it, the opinions in opposition to it, and the opinions which take an intermediate course—­we can scarcely fail to conclude how unsatisfactory the whole discussion is.  The state of “sexual abstinence” is a completely vague and indefinite state.  The indefinite and even meaningless character of the expression “sexual abstinence” is shown by the frequency with which those who argue about it assume that it can, may, or even must, involve masturbation.  That fact alone largely deprives it of value as morality and altogether as abstinence.