+The Teaching of Sexual Self-control.+—­First then, make the social order such that sexual self-control yields a reward and not a punishment.  Second, teach sexual control itself, since it is one of the fundamental means of attack on the problem of syphilis.  How can such control be taught?  Information about the physical dangers of illicit sexual indulgence is of course of value, and should be spread broadcast.  But taken by itself, the fear of disease, especially if it enters the individual’s life after the age when he has already experienced the force of his sexual instincts, is a feeble influence.  The person who has nothing but the knowledge that he is taking great risks between him and the gratification of his sexual desires will take the risks and take them once too often.  One cannot begin to teach the boy or girl of high school age that sexual offenses mean physical disaster, and expect to control syphilis.  The time to control the future of the sexual diseases is in the toddler at the knee, the child whose daily lesson in self-control will culminate when he says the final ‘No’ to his passions as a man.  The child who does not learn to respect his body in the act of brushing his teeth and taking his bath and exercise, and whose thought and speech and temper are unbridled by any self-restraint, will give little heed when told not to abuse his manhood by exposing himself to filth.  The prevention of syphilis by sexual self-control goes down to the foundations of character, and has practical value only in those whose self-control is the expression of a lifelong habit of self-discipline bred in the bone from childhood, not merely painted on the surface at puberty.  Those who want their sons and daughters never to know by personal experience the meaning of syphilis must first build a foundation in character for them which will make self-control in them instinctive, almost automatic.  Knowledge of sexual matters has power only in proportion to the strength of the character that wields it, and on well-rounded character education, rather than mere knowledge of the facts, the soundest results will be based.

    [Illustration:  E. ROUX

    ELIE METCHNIKOFF [1845-1916]

    (From McIntosh and Fildes, “Syphilis from the Modern Standpoint,”
    New York, Longmans Green & Co., 1911.)]

The moral prophylaxis of syphilis is then briefly summed up in the repression of as many of the recognized agencies for the spread of the disease as possible; the making of continence a preparation for a normal sex life rather than an end in itself; the control and remedying of those influences which are making normal marriage harder of attainment; and the development of an instinctive self-control and self-discipline in every field of life from childhood up as the character basis necessary to make knowledge about sexual life and sexual disease effective.