"Gluttony.-As a predisposing cause, the influence of dietetic habits should rank next to heredity. It is an observed fact that “all libertines are great eaters or famous gastronomists.” The exciting influence upon the genital organs of such articles as pepper, mustard, ginger, spices, truffles, wine, and all alcoholic drinks, is well known. Tea and coffee directly excite the animal passions through their influence upon the nerve centers controlling the sexual organs. When children are raised upon asuch articles, or upon food with which they are thoroughly mingled, what wonder that they occasionally “turn ut bad”? How many mothers, while teaching their children the principles of virtue in the nursery, unwittingly stimulate their passions at the dinner table until vice becomes almost a physical necessity ! Nothing tends so powerfully to keep the passions in abeyance as a simple diet, free from condiments, especially when couples with a generous amount of exercise. Influence of tobacco in leading to unchastity"
January 1, 1970