In boys, especially if of sensitive temperament, the suffering thus caused may be keen and prolonged.
A doctor of philosophy, prominent in his profession, wrote to Stanley Hall (_Adolescence_, vol.i, p.

452): "My entire youth, from six to eighteen, was made miserable from lack of knowledge that any one who knew anything of the nature of puberty might have given; this long sense of defect, dread of operation, shame and worry, has left an indelible mark." There are certainly many men who could say the same.

Lancaster ("Psychology and Pedagogy of Adolescence," _Pedagogical Seminary_, July, 1897, pp.

123-5) speaks strongly regarding the evils of ignorance of sexual hygiene, and the terrible fact that millions of youths are always in the hands of quacks who dupe them into the belief that they are on the road to an awful destiny merely because they have occasional emissions during sleep.

"This is not a light matter," Lancaster declares.