The book is divided into two distinct halves: Part I, written by Mary Scharlieb, addresses girls; Part II, by F. Arthur Sibly, addresses boys. This dual-author structure immediately signals that the authors consider the sexes to require separate, tailored guidance. Scharlieb opens with a physiological description of puberty and adolescence, defining them as overlapping phases of reproductive maturation and gradual approximation to adult type. Sibly, by contrast, begins with a preface and a series of case histories drawn from his own experience as a schoolmaster, detailing boys' corruption and masturbation. The contrast in approach—medical exposition versus anecdotal testimony—shapes the entire work.

Two Authors, Two Methods

Scharlieb's chapters proceed systematically: bodily changes, duties toward adolescent girls, care in sickness, mental and moral training, and the final aim of education. Her tone is clinical, drawing on her medical authority. Sibly's chapters, however, are built around case studies (labeled A, B, C, D, E) that recount specific boys' ages, habits, and outcomes. He includes direct speech from boys and parents, such as a father's letter of noble resignation after his son's death. The shift from general principles to individual narratives gives Part II a confessional, urgent quality absent from Part I.

Recurring Images of Corruption and Innocence

Both authors return to the image of a child's innocence being destroyed by an older person. Scharlieb speaks of seeds sown before birth coming to maturity; Sibly's cases repeatedly involve a nurse, cousin, or brother initiating the boy. In Case B, a delicate, gentle boy of eleven is corrupted by a cousin three years older; in Case C, a nurse excited the boy's private parts to put an irritable child into a good temper. The pattern suggests that the authors see corruption as an external intrusion, not an innate failing. Yet Sibly also notes that many boys had no idea their habit was hurtful or even unrefined, complicating the notion of guilt.

Movement Between Public and Private Spaces

The text repeatedly moves between domestic, school, and medical settings. Scharlieb's advice is aimed at parents and teachers, assuming a controlled environment. Sibly's cases unfold in homes, studies, and sickbeds: a father watches his son with utmost care during vacation, a boy confesses in the school study, another dies of pneumonia after a period of lowered vitality. The geography of the book—from the girl's sickroom to the boy's boarding school—mirrors the authors' belief that moral danger can arise anywhere, but that the private, trusted space is where intervention must occur.

The Body as Evidence and Metaphor

Physical symptoms are treated as visible signs of hidden moral states. Scharlieb describes the girl's pelvis expanding and altering shape; Sibly notes a boy's pale, lethargic, stupid appearance, or the development of St. Vitus's dance (chorea) after years of masturbation. The body becomes a text to be read: the father who taxed his son with self-abuse as though it were a conscious fault is rebuked for misreading. Sibly insists that the physical evidence must be interpreted correctly, and that the boy's lowered vitality may even tip the scales between life and death. The authors thus merge medical observation with moral diagnosis.

Readers should note that the book's evidence base is almost entirely anecdotal and drawn from a specific early-20th-century British context. The authors do not cite statistical studies or comparative data. The case histories, while vivid, are presented without independent verification. Approaching the text as a historical document of moral panic and pedagogical reform, rather than as a clinical manual, allows a clearer view of its assumptions about gender, development, and the role of authority.