§ 1. On Pollution.

29. Definition and division. 1. Pollution, which is also called softness or masturbation (manustupratio), is complete venereal delectation with effusion of semen without intercourse.

a. Since pollution consists in the effusion of semen with complete delectation, it is clear that pollution in the true sense of the name cannot occur in those who do not have true semen, namely in boys, old men, eunuchs, and women, although they can perceive complete and satiative venereal delectation.

b. The essence of this sin consists in complete venereal delectation, to which, as specific malice, there is added the fruitless effusion of semen against the order of nature. Wherefore pollution is a sin specifically diverse from complete venereal delectation without effusion of semen.

Note. In order that pollution follow, it is necessary that some cause irritate the genital nerves, from whose contraction the expulsion of semen is had. A cause of this kind can be physical, as touch, motion, frictions, pressures of the genitals, or psychic, as more or less obscene phantasms.

2. a. Pollution is either voluntary, which is willed in itself or in the cause, or involuntary or natural, which is willed in no way, but follows from natural causes.

b. Voluntary pollution is either direct or willed in itself, if something is done with the very intention of procuring it for oneself, or if consent is given to it when it happens involuntarily; or indirect, or willed in the cause, when something is done with foresight but without intention of a future pollution.

c. Pollution which is called passive is involuntary. This occurs in the waking state because of great weakness of the organs, sometimes contracted from the custom of sinning, is provoked by any very slight causes, as motion, touch, effort, etc., and is completed without delectation. Passive pollution is an illness and is free from any fault.¹

¹ Cf. Olfers, Pastoralmedizin^2, p. 83.

30. On female pollution. Female pollution is the secretion or flow of vaginal humor, which is joined with complete venereal delectation; the sin of this pollution is not specifically diverse from the sin of complete venereal delectation in girls.

a. Women perceive venereal delectation in the clitoris, in the vagina, and in the uterus. If it is had with emission of humor, it is called pollution, and, as in men, it occurs both in time of waking and in time of sleep. Women are accustomed to procure venereal delectation or pollution for themselves by compressing the thighs, by touching the clitoris, by introducing fingers or some instrument into the vulva, by soliciting the uterus itself.

b. Female pollution is not an effusion of semen, since women do not have semen except the ovum, but is an effusion of vaginal humor, which nevertheless rarely is poured out exteriorly, but ordinarily flows down into the cavity of the uterus. If the humor flows down interiorly, its flow is rarely noticed; nevertheless it brings delectation. Therefore women can for the most part be judged to have been polluted only from this sign, that they have felt great delectation by which they have been libidinously satiated. They are capable of pollution of this kind already for some time before puberty.

c. Whether female pollution is a sin specifically diverse from complete venereal delectation, authors dispute. Those who call female pollution a specific sin use this argument: although that flow of humor is not necessary for generation, nevertheless it is ordered by nature to generation, and for the sake of generation complete venereal delectation is attached to it. Therefore in female pollution there intervenes a pouring forth of humor outside intercourse, which by nature is ordered only to intercourse.¹ This reason indeed does not prove the matter. For the specific malice of pollution consists in the effusion of semen against the end of nature; but women do not have semen properly so called; that which could be called female semen is only the ovum. Although the vaginal humor which is poured forth when women suffer pollution is ordered by nature to generation, nevertheless, since it is not necessary for it, its fruitless effusion is not of such great moment.² Therefore according to this opinion female pollution is not a consummated sin against nature, but is indeed a complete sin of lust, because it is complete venereal delectation, yet not consummated, because it is completed without effusion of semen.

d. Hence if women accuse themselves either of venereal delectation or of immodest touches, they are not to be questioned further as to whether they have been polluted; and this not only because often they do not know whether they have suffered pollution, or because pollution can be supposed, but especially because the question is not necessary, since the circumstance of pollution does not change the species of the sin. Therefore it suffices if they are asked whether they have basely satisfied themselves or have satisfied libido.

¹ Bucceroni, Institutiones theologiae moralis^4 (Rome: Typographia Augustin., 1900), I, n. 813.

² Antonelli, Medicina pastoralis (Rome: Pustet, 1905), I, n. 474 ff.

31. Whether they are of diverse species. Pollutions considered in themselves are not specifically diverse, but all are of the same species, because no specific difference appears by which diverse species would be constituted. For the diverse modes by which pollution is procured are related to the pollution itself, insofar as it is voluntary effusion of semen without intercourse, only materially and accidentally, provided only pollution is intended.

a. Therefore in confession one must not ask concerning the mode by which pollution was procured: for whether it was sought by imagination alone or by a base sight, by one's own touches or those of another, in one's own body or in another's body, it is always the same sin of pollution, provided there is absent affection toward a person or toward intercourse. Nevertheless induction or cooperation is added if it is provoked by human touches of another.

b. Many authors indeed teach that pollutions are specifically diverse according as they are provoked by the touch of a man, a woman, or a beast, because there intervenes affection toward the object which is touched; but affection is of diverse species according as it tends toward a man, a woman, or a beast. Nevertheless ordinarily it suffices if someone in this case accuses himself thus: I was polluted by touches of others, whether he himself touched others or allowed himself to be touched and thus polluted himself, because, if intercourse is not present, affection ordinarily is not borne toward sex but toward pollution alone. But if affection in fact tends also toward the object which is touched, the affection surely is specifically diverse according as it is borne toward a man, a woman, or a beast.

c. Things to be noted. a. Even that mode by which someone pollutes himself by abusing the mouth of another is only an aggravating circumstance, unless affection for sodomy is present. b. If someone pollutes another unwilling person, he commits two sins, one against chastity, the other against justice. If someone pollutes another consenting person, likewise he commits two sins, one against chastity, the other through cooperation against charity. If two persons pollute each other by touches, each commits a threefold sin, two against chastity, by polluting himself and the other, and the third through cooperation against charity.

d. Although in themselves all pollutions are of the same moral species, nevertheless from circumstances several diverse species are constituted. Circumstances of this kind occur: a. by reason of the subject; thus, if one bound by a vow of chastity is polluted, he commits sacrilege; if a married person is polluted, he commits adultery; b. by reason of the object; thus, if someone is polluted with a desire of sinning with an unmarried woman, he commits fornication, mental fornication; if with a desire of sinning with a married woman, adultery, mental adultery; c. by reason of the accomplice; if someone is polluted by touches of another, he commits the sin of induction or cooperation against charity; d. by reason of place; thus, if someone is polluted in a sacred place, he commits sacrilege.

32. On nocturnal pollution. 1. Its nature. This is completed in dreams and therefore without advertence and actual consent, but with delectation.

a. Nocturnal pollution is involuntary if it follows from natural causes independent of the will, or from causes indeed voluntary, but posited without foresight of future pollution; and it is voluntary in the cause if it follows from an action freely posited in waking with foresight of the pollution that will follow in sleep.

b. Among merely natural causes the chief is superfluous semen, by which nature, burdened, unloads itself; wherefore nocturnal pollution does not denote a libidinous soul, although more or less indecent phantasms provoke and accompany it. The words of St. Thomas are worthy of note: "when the seminal humor abounds in the body or when dissolution of the humor has occurred, ... the sleeper dreams those things which pertain to the expulsion of this kind of abundant or dissolved humor."¹

c. Young men suffer this after the years of puberty, and celibates, at the time when nature produces semen. At fixed times expulsions of semen of this kind return; but the time varies according to the diverse constitution of men and diverse manner of living; in some nocturnal pollution occurs once, in others even twice in a week, in others scarcely once in a month.

¹ Summa II-II, q. 154, a. 5.

33. 2. Its malice. a. Nocturnal pollution, both in itself and in the cause involuntary, is free from all fault, whether it pleases the sleeping person or displeases him.

b. Nocturnal pollution which sometimes happens to the half-awake must not be judged mortal, even if consent is given to it, because it occurs with imperfect cognition and will. The same must be said concerning nocturnal touches. In doubt it must be judged that no consent was present, if such things ordinarily displease in the waking state, because judgment must be made from things ordinarily occurring.

c. Nocturnal pollution voluntary in itself is a grave sin; but voluntary in the cause it is a grave or light sin, according as the action posited before sleep without reasonable cause and with sufficient advertence by its nature influences gravely or lightly toward provoking pollution.

a. Nocturnal pollution which is caused by honorable conversation with a person of the other sex, by very seasoned foods or by warm drinks moderately taken, by a certain more comfortable position in bed, is not imputed as sin, even if those causes were posited in waking with foresight of the future effect: for we are not bound to omit licit actions on account of the effect of future pollution, if there is a reasonable cause for positing them.

b. Nocturnal pollution which is caused by depraved thoughts or desires, by obscene readings, by indecent conversations, must be imputed as grave or light sin according as those causes were posited in waking with foresight that they would have a proximate or remote influence upon pollution.

34. On the malice of pollution voluntary in itself. Pollution directly willed is always a mortal sin: for a. voluntary pollution is a grave perversion of the order and institution of nature, for human semen by nature is ordered solely to the generation of man; but in pollution semen is poured out for the sake of pleasure in such a way that the end intended by nature is wholly frustrated. b. If pollution were not gravely illicit, the use of marriage would be impeded, which is so necessary for the human race; for men, content with this pleasure alone, would for the most part abstain from marriages, which are so troublesome. c. Wherefore St. Paul expressly enumerates softness among the sins which exclude from the kingdom of God: nor will the soft possess the kingdom of God.¹

1. Therefore it is never licit directly to procure pollution, not even if ejection of semen seemed necessary for preserving health; for even pollution which is taken up as a means for obtaining some end is willed in itself and directly, although not for its own sake.

2. Every voluntary effusion of semen, however small and slight, has the nature of pollution, and therefore is a mortal sin.

3. To promote in some way, by touch or motion or position, etc., pollution spontaneously begun, whether in waking or in sleep, is gravely illicit; but there is no obligation of impeding pollution spontaneously occurring or already begun in sleep, but it can be permitted that nature unload itself, provided consent to delectation is absent.

a. The reason on account of which the older authors thought that spontaneously begun pollution did not necessarily have to be restrained is indeed of no weight; nor nevertheless for that reason must an obligation of containing the impulse of nature be imposed. They themselves thought that semen already discharged, unless it is poured forth, is corrupted and, when corrupted, brings detriment to health; but in truth semen is never actually corrupted, and even when discharged it does not infect nature, but rather assists it. Wherefore it is certainly to be advised, especially on account of the danger of consent, that pollution already imminent, where this can be done, be restrained; but no obligation of doing this exists, because that effusion is involuntary.²

b. In order that consent to delectation be avoided while pollution occurs involuntarily, it is best to change position, or at least, either by praying and fostering pious thoughts or by thinking about profane matters, to turn the mind to other things. To avoid cooperation with the pollution occurring, it is best to have oneself exteriorly altogether passively, by abstaining from touches and from every voluntary motion of the body.

c. Any motion or impulse of the body deliberately employed, by which the effect of pollution follows, is gravely evil; nevertheless from deliberate motions there must be distinguished the motions or impulses which arise spontaneously in the body by the force of nature unloading itself, so that the effect of pollution may be completed.

¹ 1 Cor. 6, 10. Proposition 49, condemned by Innocent XI, has: softness is not prohibited by natural law ...

² A. Eschbach, l. c., disp. 5, c. 4, a. 2, § 3.

35. Concerning the malice of pollution willed in the cause, judgment must be made from those things which were said above, n. 12, namely pollution is imputed as grave or light sin according as its cause by its nature influences gravely or lightly toward provoking it; but it is not imputed as sin if a sufficient reason is present for positing that cause.

a. In order that pollution can be called voluntary in the cause, it is required that the one who posits its cause advert to the effect of pollution that will follow from it. Therefore one who, when he posits the cause of pollution, either does not advert to the effect arising from it, or prudently judges that the effect will not follow, cannot have pollution imputed to him, even if it follows.

b. One who, because of a peculiar disposition and infirmity, frequently suffers pollutions from actions licit in themselves which by their nature influence only lightly toward them, e.g. from riding horseback, is not bound to abstain from those actions, provided consent to delectation is excluded; for in positing them he uses his right. But if the action is lightly sinful, as a reading that is somewhat base, the sight of a somewhat obscene image, and is not excused by a just cause, is he bound under grave sin to avoid it on account of this evil effect? Of itself he must avoid it only under light sin; for the malice of pollution willed in the cause is taken from the influence which the cause by its nature has, not from the influence which in fact, on account of the peculiar temperament of the subject, it has on it. But practically he will rarely be excused from grave sin for another reason: for one who, taught by experience that he is frequently polluted by an action of this kind, nevertheless posits it without necessity, is shown to posit it from a depraved intention.

Therefore if, for example, the use of alcohol or of the nicotine herb, tobacco, so excites the nerves of someone that pollution follows from it either in sleep or outside sleep, there is no obligation of abstaining from those things if the use is moderate and therefore licit; the evil effect can simply be permitted, provided consent is avoided. But if the use of those things is immoderate, from the precept of chastity he must abstain from them under light sin; otherwise he sins according to the gravity of the matter gravely or lightly against temperance, and lightly, not gravely, against chastity, because those things accidentally, and therefore of themselves only lightly, excite libido.

36. On sufficient reason. 1. Declaration. Because pollution is not imputed as sin if the action which causes it is posited for a sufficient reason, it is now asked when there is present a sufficient reason for positing an action from which future pollution is foreseen. An action of this kind, which can be the cause of pollution, is always joined with a twofold danger, namely of material pollution and of consent to the venereal pleasure joined with it. Here abstraction is made from the danger of consent to base delectation: for to that danger the principles which are set forth elsewhere concerning the danger or occasion of sinning must be applied.¹ For making a judgment concerning the sufficiency of the reason in a particular case, the principles which follow below must be noted.

A greater reason is required in order that the danger of consent can be admitted than that the danger of material pollution can be admitted. Hence it can happen that, on account of proximate danger of consent, someone is bound under grave sin to avoid an action which on account of the proximate danger of pollution alone he is not bound to avoid, or at least not bound under grave sin to avoid. Someone who, for example, in horseback riding which he undertakes for the sake of recreation, is frequently not only polluted, but also sins by consent to delectation, if he cannot exclude sin by other means, is bound to omit horseback riding, which on account of the effect of pollution alone he is not bound to omit. Erotic readings idly undertaken, tender conversations with a person of diverse sex, kisses impressed on boys, even if they are only lightly sinful on account of the danger of pollution, nevertheless must be avoided under grave sin by him whom they cast into proximate danger of consenting.

¹ Cf. De principiis^3, n. 325 ff.

37. 2. Principles. a. If the danger of polluting oneself is proximate from the nature of the action, a grave reason is required in order that the action inducing the danger can licitly be posited; but as grave reason there is judged both necessity and true utility, either one's own or another's.

Therefore it is licit for physicians and surgeons to care for the sick and to procure births; it is licit for servants to attend to bodily necessities in baths or hospitals, even if on this occasion they suffer pollutions. But proximate danger of consent, if any is present, must always be guarded against, by the fact that it is rendered remote or none by apt remedies.

b. If the danger of polluting oneself from the nature of the action is remote, a light reason or any reasonable cause suffices in order that the action inducing the danger can licitly be posited.

a. Therefore all those reasons excuse which in good faith appear either necessary or useful or suitable, indeed even merely advantageous to soul or body. Wherefore these actions are licit of themselves, even if they are foreseen to provoke pollution: a. kisses, embraces, hand-claspings according to the custom of the country; b. honorable dances undertaken from suitable recreation; c. horseback riding even for the sake of recreation alone; d. performing gymnastic exercises; e. reclining in a certain position even solely for resting more comfortably; f. while sitting, placing leg upon leg; g. moderately taking very seasoned foods or warm drinks.

b. If the cause of positing an action from which pollution is foreseen to follow has indeed something of advantage and utility, but not sufficient to excuse the base effect, e.g. the study of medical or anatomical art undertaken from curiosity, probably a mortal sin is not committed, provided consent is excluded.¹

¹ Cf. Lessius, l. 4, c. 3, n. 118.

38. Whether it is licit to drive away by touch or friction an itching which someone suffers in the privates, however much pollution follows. a. If the itching is slight and easily tolerable, St. Alphonsus does not permit touch by which it would be driven away with danger of pollution, consent excluded; but he permits touch if only some arousal would follow.

b. If the itching is great and troublesome and has its origin from acrimony of the blood, it is licit to drive it away by touch or friction even with danger of pollution, provided consent is excluded: for an action with a twofold effect is had; the good is intended, the evil is permitted from a just cause.

c. But if the itching has its origin from the superfluous semen itself or from the ardor of libido, it is not licit to drive it away by touch or friction with danger of pollution, because the good effect follows only from the evil effect: for the touch tends directly toward procuring pollution or toward quieting libido, and only by this means is the itching driven away.

In order that one can discern whence pains in the genitals arise, attention must be paid to this. If the pains do not cease unless carnal movements or pollution have followed, these must be judged the means for quieting the pain and therefore to arise of themselves from touch and friction. But if, after touches or friction have been completed, the pains cease, even if carnal movements or pollution follow either not at all or not always, it is a sign that these are not the means of quieting the pain and that the movements and pollution follow accidentally. For the rest, if the itching is very troublesome, it must be judged to have arisen from acrimony of the blood rather than from semen. If it is doubtful whether it arises from acrimony of the blood or from superfluity of semen and from the ardor of libido, it is licit to free oneself from the itching: for in order that this be prohibited, it must be certainly established that it proceeds from semen or from libido.¹

¹ Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 483.

39. For practice. Since the vice of pollution at the present time is most frequent in both sexes, though more frequent in men than in women, it will help to set forth briefly its causes, effects, and cure.

1. Of the causes some are external, others internal. The external causes are bad examples of others, to which must be added very many depraved books of every kind and base images, which excite libido. Idleness, which indeed is the origin of all vices, but especially of vices of the flesh; likewise a soft and effeminate education. Everything which excites the genital nerves, as to be occupied for a long time, for the sake of pleasure, with venereal matters; lying supine; the warmth of the bed; exciting foods, such as are very hot and seasoned, and abundant alcoholic drinks. Mothers, nurses, and maids who, in order to quiet infants, arouse the venereal sense by handling their genital members. Besides the fact that this is prohibited by the moral law, it moreover brings a disposition and inclination toward venereal things. There must be added the impious counsel of physicians which is given to adolescents, that they pollute themselves at least once in a week, since nature demands this and it does not harm health. But in truth this counsel provides neither for morality nor for health, since the depraved habit of polluting oneself brings with it worse carnal vices, which gradually destroy health. Internal causes are the peculiar state of the organism, such as a sanguine and nervous temperament, defect of care for the genitals, illnesses which affect the nervous system, as pulmonary phthisis and hysteria. There is added the great delectation which this vice brings, and the ease with which it can be hidden.

Note. Although the vice of pollution is ordinarily committed by men of sound mind only for the sake of pleasure, nevertheless it must be conceded that it often does not depend solely on the will, but that the temperament of the body more or less disposes and impels one toward it and diminishes its moral fault.

2. The effects of this vice continued for a long time are most destructive. Among them must especially be numbered grave irritations of the nervous system, general fatigue and weakness of the whole organism, palpitation of the heart and disturbance of circulation, from which diseases of hypochondria and melancholy easily arise, which sometimes degenerate into madness. The acuteness of the intellect and the energy of the will are weakened, so that those who indulge this vice, even if they repent after the fall, nevertheless can scarcely abstain from sin.

Note. Nevertheless, evil effects of this kind do not show themselves in everyone. For there are men of so robust a constitution of body that from this vice they suffer only slight harms to health and light disturbances of the nerves. Therefore those who try to frighten lustful youths away from the vice by setting forth its evil effects must beware of exaggerations.

3. Cure. Once this vice has been contracted, unless the help of special grace intervenes, it is removed only with pain and difficulty; nevertheless, since it brings so many harms to soul and body, all whom it concerns must be admonished to direct themselves seriously to its cure. There are no certain signs from which this vice can be recognized in adolescents; nevertheless parents and teachers, sufficiently instructed about this matter, can recognize it from certain inconveniences which children manifest to them, and can restrain it by opportune remedies, especially by removing the causes from which the vice is induced.

Natural or hygienic remedies: to distract the mind; to exercise the body even to fatigue; to use baths or cold washings; to spend due care upon the genitals: the genital organs both in boys and especially in girls, on account of menstruation, need frequent washings; to use a hard bed; not to sleep supine: since the dorsal or supine position excites the genital nerves, the posture should be lateral, and indeed on the right side; in the morning, once sleep has been shaken off, to rise immediately; morning or evening to wash the body around the genitals with cold water, mixed with vinegar; before going to bed, to empty the urinary bladder; to choose light foods, of easy digestion, not exciting, which in small volume provide sufficient nourishment; to abstain from very alcoholic drinks and, in the evening, from meats; let clothes not be too warming nor compress the genitals. There are also medicines by which nervous erections, if they are frequent and vehement, are restrained.

Moral remedies: to instill hatred and horror of the vice and to inspire, by suitable motives, the desire of recovering virtue; to exhort to flight from occasions, frequency of the sacraments, and exercises of piety; to strengthen the will, so that, despising pleasure, it energetically applies suitable remedies. For most the most efficacious remedy is marriage, which those who are given to this vice should be advised to contract as soon as possible.

4. Confessors who direct themselves to the cure of a penitent habituated in the base vice should note in particular these things, besides those which are indicated above and which are everywhere suggested to customary sinners and recidivists.

a. Let them prudently explore the time from which the penitent has been given to this vice; likewise let them strive to know both his bodily temperament and the circumstances of the sins, namely at what time, in what place, and in what circumstances of affairs the falls are accustomed to occur.

b. Let them take care that he return to the same confessor, make confession soon after a fall, and, if it can be done, also receive Holy Communion.

c. Let them inspire in him hope of victory, and to this end let them require that daily, morning and evening, he recite three times the Angelic Salutation in honor of the most pure Virgin, to obtain purity of body and soul, with the addition of a resolution not to sin.

d. There are young persons of both sexes, entangled in the habit of pollution, who because of a nervous or sanguine bodily temperament experience vehement temptations, and although they resist and pray, nevertheless are polluted. Let them know that pollutions which they truly suffer unwillingly are without sin.

e. There are others who first resist the temptation, but afterward, if the temptation continues to urge, are accustomed to yield to it. These must be encouraged to further resistance: for soon pollution will follow, which, as completed against the will, is inculpable.

f. Finally there are found others who, lying in bed, suffer vehement stirrings of the flesh, to which, if they continue to oppose positive resistance, they cannot fall asleep. These should be advised that, after imploring the help of God and eliciting dissent, with a secure conscience they may have themselves passively, whatever may happen.¹

¹ Cf. St. Alphonsus, l. 5, n. 9; Aertnys, Theologia moralis, l. 6, n. 313; Eschbach, p. 556 ff.

40. On distillation. Distillation, which differs from pollution, is the moderate effusion of another, more subtle, non-prolific humor from the glands of the urethra. In pollution the effusion of humor is more copious and joined with great stirring and delectation; in distillation, on the contrary, the effusion of humor is slight and occurs almost drop by drop, with only light or scarcely any stirring and delectation that is perceived.

a. Sometimes from weakness of the organs distillation occurs almost habitually; this is an illness to be healed by a physician, not by a confessor. Although this illness here and there is contracted from a long-standing habit of sinning, nevertheless ordinarily it arises from natural causes.

b. Sometimes distillation also occurs with stirring of the genitals and venereal delectation; this distillation indeed is akin to pollution and disposes toward it.

1. If distillation occurs without delectation, no care must be had about it, nor does there exist an obligation of avoiding its cause. For this flow must be compared with the secretion of any other humor, e.g. of sweat, which nature is accustomed to cast out.

2. But distillation which occurs with delectation, directly willed or indirectly admitted without cause, cannot be excused from sin. This distillation is a sin of the same gravity and species as pollution itself, since it induces danger of it and is joined with venereal delectation.

41. On menstruation. 1. In women a peculiar phenomenon must be noted, which they call menstruation. By this name is signified the flow of blood which women suffer from the genital organs each month, and for this reason it is called the menstrual flow, the menses. Through the vagina menstrual blood flows out, on account of which the hymen is perforated. At the time of puberty menstruation begins and continues until about the fiftieth year of age, at which time fecundity is accustomed to cease. Physiologically this phenomenon is explained in this way. Each month in the ovaries an ovum matures, which, discharged from the ovaries, is transferred into the uterus. At the same time the interior parts of the uterus are filled with blood, so that blood may contribute to the development of the fetus, if it is conceived. But if the ovum has not been fertilized, blood flows out from the torn little arteries, and with the blood the ovum flows out through the genital organs. This flow ordinarily continues for two or three days, sometimes also for more days.¹ Sometimes the affected health of women demands that the menstrual flow be provoked by art, namely by the help of medicines; this indeed is morally licit, because no venereal delectation accompanies this flow.

2. Moreover it must be noted that women, at the time of the menstrual flow, especially in the first years in which they experience it, suffer vehement irritations of the nerves and are troubled by other inconveniences. But it cannot happen that these alterations of the body do not exercise an influence upon moral life. And indeed at that time they are agitated by various affections, especially by anger and sadness, which sometimes is increased even to melancholy. On this account they are then to be treated more indulgently and kindly, and not to be reproved on account of defects committed, but rather admonished to constancy in good resolutions.²

¹ Cf. Olfers, Pastoralmedicin^2, p. 87.

² Cf. A. Eschbach, l. c., disp. 1, c. 3, a. 1; Olfers, Pastoralmedicin^2, p. 87.