In preparing both the first and later editions of this little work (that has brought happiness to so many by opening the way to knowledge of a proper means of cure and methods of regaining health and vigor),the utmost care and circumspection have been exercised in an endeavor to exclude from its pages anything that could be construed by the most fastidious as immodest, obscene, or in any way offensive to decency, morality or good breeding. Indeed, although purely and essentiallya medical work, and intended solely for such persons whose duty it is to be acquainted with the facts given, in order to understand their complaint, to place themselves under proper treatment, and to avoid the dangers of quackery, we have in many instances wholly excluded or materially modified the wording of passages in order to comply with our original ideas of the strictest purity of thought and speech commensurate with a truthful and honest statement of facts.
We wish it distinctly understood thatthis treatise is intended solely for persons suffering from Genito-Urinary Diseases, and that it isnever mailed to any person who has not voluntarily requested us to send it, and thennot to boysor to members of theopposite sex. (Our application books show a large number of such refusals.)
We look upon our special mission in the field of medicine asdistinct,laudableandholy. There are those who look down upon this special branch of medicine, and some ignoramuses who assert that such diseases only exist in the imaginations of such patients as a result of reading the pamphlets of quacks who paint frightful pictures of insanity, idiocy, etc. To such men as these we have only this to say: Consult the works of Hammond, Black, Acton, Wilson, Lallemand, Civialè, Courtenay, Lee etc., etc., the authors of which have world-wide reputations, not only as physicians, but as truthful, honest and moral men. They will then see how really grave are such affections and how needful of aid.
God knows that the misery, despondency and actual organic disease, as a result of early vices, are prevalent enough even to-day to make a lover of his fellow men sincerely pity and desire to help them. And we claim (and every honest man cannot but admit) that it is only by thewidespread dissemination of a knowledge of certain factsto young and old, especially the former, that such vice and its consequences can be met and overcome. We are daily spreading such knowledge throughout the length and breadth of this land, not only warning and advising the young and cautioning the older, but also pointing out to all such as need it a perfect and easy means of cure and restoration to health and vigor.
Our mission is as real, noble and important as that of preaching the Gospel, and aside from its bearing on the enlightenment of those who would otherwise go astray, and offering the means of relief to those who have already sinned against Nature, it is of a broader and even more sweeping importance. As every whole must needs be the sum total of its integrals, soeach nationandpeople must—in mental, moral and physical traits—be that which its individual members make it. Hence, if perfect general health, full procreative ability and healthy offspring mark the majority of the individuals, so naturally must the health, vigor, populousness and power of the nation be accordingly.As secret vice diminishes, public virtue and morality become greater.Diseases of the Prostate Gland, Urinary Organs and Sexual Apparatus are asreal, asembarassingandas needful of cureas those of the lungs, heart, stomach, or any other organ—indeed, more important, for the latter only affect the life or health of the individual immediately concerned, while the former concern not only the person affected, but his offspring also.
There is no reason why false modesty or pseudo-delicacy should reign supreme here. If the Almighty had intended these matters to be viewed and treated in the light which some fanatics and extremists seem to desire, we would certainly have been created without the power of procreation entirely. As it is, such organs and such diseasesdo exist, are of the greatest (individual and national) importance, and provided afull knowledge of the causes and consequences of vice and abuse as related to these parts can be brought vividly and strongly before the mind of every man, young or old, in a chaste, decent and strictly professional manner, the result can only be a good one, and those who deny it are engaged in moral hair-splitting.
We felt that the foregoing remarks were bothaproposand necessary with a view to contradicting some statements recently made regarding the uselessness and demoralizing effects of everything concerning this branch of medical practice, and as due ourselves in distinctly recording our belief and practice in the matter; more especially to refute the false accusation that special medical treatises were being scattered broadcast over the land and made to invade the privacy of homes, and coming into the hands of young boys and females.
THE CIVIALÈ REMEDIAL AGENCY.
street front of Civialè building
Text of title page:ONLY SENT WHEN REQUESTED, AND THEN ONLY WHEN SEALED.GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS.THE CIVIALÈ REMEDIES174 Fulton St., New YorkCover as scanned:The variation between “Civiale” and “Civialè“ is as in the original.