II.—­PRACTICAL METHODS OF PREVENTION.—­(Contd.)

B. FOR MEN: 

Marriage cannot be made safe, of course, so long as men are permitted to contract venereal diseases, and spread them.  Early marriage will greatly lessen the chances of this; tolerated houses under effective medical supervision (such as we had in Paris during the War)[I] would enormously lessen the chances of infection, even where marriage was delayed or interrupted; prophylactic depots where disinfection was properly applied, and efficiently taught on request, would be invaluable; but it is at present from self-disinfection, properly understood and efficiently applied, that the community can hope for the greatest and most immediate gain in sexual cleanliness.[J] The following were the directions I gave the Anzacs during the war, distributing these with prophylactics for men and for women (the directions for women being printed in French and English); this action was endorsed by all the leading British, American and French military and medical authorities, from the Commanders-in-Chief downwards, and the effort undoubtedly saved many thousands of men from damage and ruin:—­

     “AVOID INFECTION.

“If you become infected with V.D., the fault is really your own.  Either do not risk infection at all, or, risking infection, take proper precautions.  These are quite simple.  If you take the following precautions without delay you are very very unlikely to contract disease:—­

     1.  Use vaseline or some other grease (such as calomel ointment)
     beforehand, to prevent direct contact with the source of
     infection.*

(* Note:  Any personal discomfort or unpleasantness grease causes is counteracted by the woman’s having douched beforehand, as should always be done for the sake of cleanliness.  A mere film of grease is sufficient to fill up pores of the skin, cover over abrasions, and prevent penetration of microbes, and it greatly facilitates subsequent cleansing.)

     2.  Urinate immediately after each connection to wash away all
     infective material, and to prevent the invasion of the urethra by
     the microbes of V.D.

     3.  Wash thoroughly with soap and water, because ordinary soap is
     destructive to germs—­of syphilis and of gonorrhoea—­and bathe
     parts with weak solution of pot. permang.

You had far better carry a blue-light outfit with you as a “town dressing,” in the same way as you would carry a “field dressing.”  If you cannot get an outfit, carry a tiny bottle of pot. permang. lotion and a scrap of cotton wool.  If you swob yourself carefully with this, you will not become diseased.  Remember always it is delay that is dangerous.  If there has been delay, use a syringe sufficiently large for the contents to flood the urethra and slightly