Part 1 — CHAPTER III. SYMPTOMS AND DISEASES CAUSED BY VENEREAL EXCESSES.

The genital organs when they are abused are precisely in the same state as if they were diseased. In this case in fact, they are not in their normal state for they are in action when the health demands that they should rest. Hence when we consider them either specially or as to their action on the rest of the body, we see that they resemble organs in a morbid state; they are, as it were affected with an intermittent malady, having distinct periods of access, which are repeated more or less frequently, according to the acts of the onanist. The local condition of these organs is at first that which they present during the act of venery, but at a later period they may present different alterations, which continue after the periods of access, in the same manner as the tissues are modified, if the cause which renders them diseased continues to act on them. The general state of onanists is also perfectly analogous to that observed in diseases. In them, the genital organs are the seat of different symptoms, and the focus of numerous diseases. The symptoms appear first only during the periods of access, or for a few hours afterward: then they continue longer and the intermissions become shorter and afterward are only remissions: finally the disease is perfectly continued. This is the usual course of the symptoms of this affection which may be called the genital disease. Frequently however, one of the derangements of the reproductive system, assumes, on account of its individual peculiarities a more determined character than the others, and becomes as it were independent of them. This disorder is then no longer a symptom but becomes a disease which is in one phthisis, in another myelitis, epilepsy, amaurosis &c. So too with a wound; this which at first caused only fever and other symptoms intimately connected with it, becomes afterward gastroenteritis, tetanus, or some other disease which has its regular place in systems of nosology. Voluntary pollution, when it becomes injurious must then be considered as an affection having its symptoms, and also as a cause of disease. We shall proceed to consider it in these two relations in two different sections. The first will be devoted to the symptoms arising from this pollution, the second, to the diseases caused by it.

§ 1. SPECIAL SYMPTOMS OF VENEREAL EXCESSES.

Before proceeding to describe these symptoms, we would remark, 1st that the results of venereal excesses are so analogous to those of involuntary pollution, that it is impossible to point out any difference between them: 2d that the general effects of these pollutions, whether voluntary or involuntary, are also extremely analogous to those caused by the slow destruction of an organ; those for instance observed in phthisis pulmonalis, cancer of the uterus, profuse suppurations, chronic diarrhœa, &c. Thus then the results of masturbation and of coition are the same as those of involuntary seminal emissions, which is decidedly a disease of the genital organs, and as those of other severe maladies affecting different parts. Are not these analogies sufficient to prove that we were correct in regarding the state in which the genital organs are momentarily when abused, as a state of disease.

One of the most constant effects of excessive masturbation is the loss of flesh. This symptom shows itself more or less rapidly, and extends to a greater or less degree. We may regard it as one of the circumstances in which onanists most resemble those affected with phthisis, with diarrhœa, and generally, individuals confined with a severe and long continued illness. The loss of flesh arising from onanism has not unfrequently been attributed to a too precocious growth and vice versa. This symptom is much more striking in some onanists, as it is attended with excessive appetite and a healthy state of the digestive organs. How great must be the influence of the genital organs when abused, on the nutritive process, to cause this loss of flesh, even under the conditions most favorable for its gain. It is not uncommon to see onanists affected with a complete state of marasmus: their frame is reduced to a skeleton and presents in anticipation a picture of the state in which death will soon place them. Many parts, as the loins, thighs and lower extremities are often remarkable for their extreme emaciation. Sainte Marie who has observed this fact, attributes it and also the debility of these parts, to a morbid state of the spinal marrow, and not unjustly. The facility with which onanists regain their flesh on leaving off these bad habits, is equally remarkable with their rapid loss of substance. There are individuals however who remain thin and dried up through life, in consequence of abusing themselves while young.

The loss of strength generally follows the loss of flesh and returns also with it. At first debility only follows the act temporarily, but afterward it continues longer: new emissions of semen take place, and even before the subject of them has regained the strength exhausted by a previous indulgence. In the morning he rises from his bed with difficulty: during the day he is idle, stupid, and indolent, and pursues his avocations without any spirit. If he goes up stairs, or ascends a hill, his heart beats forcibly, and he pants very much. This debility, if the cause which produces it does not cease to act, may increase to a frightful degree. We have seen onanists whose bodies were bent down by the weight of the head and chest and curved as in old men: these individuals could not stand erect, their lower extremities could not support their weight, and at the least motion they felt giddy and faint, and finally terminated the remnant of their existence on a sofa or bed which they could not leave. Many authors, Sanctorius and Tissot among others, have asserted that this debility is greater or less according to the position of the body during the act of venery; but we attach but slight importance to this circumstance, although they may have some effect. We think more of Sainte Marie’s opinion, that the lower part of the body is frequently weaker than the upper, because the spinal marrow is affected by seminal emissions. As the flesh returns when the onanist ceases from his bad habits, so too does his strength, and generally rapidly. But there are many, who are affected during their whole lives with great debility, which unfits them for many occupations. It is very common to find individuals who complain of being incapable of any physical effort, and who request their physician to give them strength. On questioning them, almost all admit that in their youth they have been addicted to onanism. Some do not wait to be questioned but refer to their former excesses as the source of their troubles and denounce them as the cause of their actual debility. Most invalids however do not refer so far back to the origin of their illness or even do not dream of it: they remain at peace with themselves and their ignorance might deserve to be respected, if they were not or would not probably be fathers, and if it did not become us to excite their vigilance in regard to their children. Thus then venereal abuses may cause not only a transient debility, but an exhaustion which may be continued, as long as life lasts.

The loss of flesh and strength is not the only symptom of consumption which undermine gradually the onanist: many signs indicate that all the functions are affected as it were with a loss of strength. The countenance instead of the vermilion glow of health, is pale and without freshness, or of a yellowish, earthy, leaden, and livid teint; the lips lose their color, a bluish circle surrounds the eyes, the eyelids are puffed out with œdema: the flesh is soft and flaccid: the pulse is small and feeble: upon the slightest motion or during sleep, the forehead, chest and palms of the hands are bathed with profuse perspiration: in some patients the hands and feet are edematous: in short, the symptoms are those of general atony, which are attended with a slow hectic fever, denoting that the economy does not yield without reaction to the destructive disease.

We ought perhaps to wait before speaking of the disturbance of the digestive organs, which almost constantly attends venereal abuses, until we had finished describing the symptoms of voluntary spermatorrhœa and were stating the diseases resulting from it. In fact the digestion is deranged then only because the digestive organs are diseased, and are affected with dyspepsy, gastritis, erteritis, &c.; but these derangements are so common after the loss of the seminal fluid, that we think ourselves authorized to treat these derangements as symptoms. Venereal excesses may affect the digestive organs in several ways, first by disturbing digestion if they occur while this process is going on: this fact has already been stated. We might add that when food is taken too soon after masturbation or coition digestion is seldom performed well. This fact did not escape the notice of Sanctorius, who remarks, Cibus copiosior solito post immoderatum coition interimeret nisi succederet aliqua ciborum corruptela. Venereal excesses may also affect the digestive apparatus in another manner besides that of directly disturbing its functions. This system is so intimately connected with all parts of the human body that all are influenced by it. If then the digestive functions are disturbed by most morbid states, can they remain uninjured when so many symptoms are presented by the genital apparatus which has become the focus of so many symptoms! Certainly not: these functions also take a part and a large part in the disorders which are the usual consequences of venereal excesses. A moderate exercise of the genital organs may excite the stomach, render the appetite more keen and the digestion more rapid. Hence why young men who begin to masturbate or to indulge with women have frequently an insatiable appetite, which leads them to eat constantly, which is very striking inasmuch as debility and loss of flesh ensue in just the same manner. But such a state of things cannot long continue: thus numerous signs soon show that excesses in venery may act on the digestive tube in another manner than by rendering the appetite more keen and the digestion more easy. In fact the appetite does not long resist excesses of onanism: it first diminishes, then disappears, and is often replaced by a decided disgust for every kind of food; in some patients it becomes irregular, capricious: in others it remains: the latter have most cause of complaint, for it continues longer than digestion is performed. “My appetite remains,” writes an onanist to Tissot, “but it is a misfortune, as eating is followed by pain in the stomach and my food is rejected.” Many onanists feel pains of a similar character after eating. In others there is a sense of oppression, of fulness, in the epigastric region. In some there is a gnawing feeling resembling that produced by a want of food: this symptom is very common in girls, who in consequence of secret practices, have become affected with leucorrhœa. In some the face and cheeks present a redness which contrasts remarkably with their habitual paleness: onanists are frequently affected with headache, vertigo, flushed face, &c. In some the slowness of the digestion is indicated by eructations, which occur long after taking food: or the belly is tense and filled with wind. Food, which was formerly digested with ease, is now oppressive: and the list of articles of diet is shortened every day. Some onanists have been known in these cases to indulge in ardent spirits with the vain hope of exciting their appetite, and regaining their strength. Repeated vomitings, constant pain in the belly and a slow fever are also frequent symptoms of the deep-seated affections of the digestive organs. In many patients the intestinal canal is more liable to be affected by venereal excesses, than the stomach. Obstinate constipation in some, diarrhœa and borborygmi in others are the usual signs of the affection of this canal. Fournier and Begin mention the case of a young man, who almost constantly experienced after excess in coition, severe colics followed by excessive diarrhœa and an insupportable tenesmus. Rest, gummy drinks, the use of farinaceous food and a small quantity of red wine, soon dissipated these symptoms, which sometimes threw him into an alarming state of languor and debility. (Dict. des. Sc. Med., art. Masturbation.) Hoffman relates a similar case. We have more than once met with similar effects. A young man whom we attended in 1832 died, after excesses in onanism, with diarrhœa. This unfortunate individual, although in the last stages of consumption, still indulged as soon as he was left alone, in his deplorable habit. Diarrhœa, or rather intestinal ulcerations, which are then the cause of it, generally appear in onanists as in those affected with consumption, at the last stages of life. Thus a young man, nineteen years old, addicted to masturbation from childhood, died a few years since at Hotel Dieu. The most active watching and the strictest mechanical methods could not arrest his fatal manipulations. Diarrhœa was added to his habitual loss of semen, and he died three months after entering the hospital, in a perfect state of marasmus.

Many authors have repeated after the statements of Hippocrates, that individuals affected with consumption, arising from venereal excesses, have no fever. This is an error: they die as we have already stated, with true hectic fever, which is caused by the state of the different organs, and particularly by that of the genital system. Of this, numerous instances might be cited: the following is related by Dr. Federigo, the Italian translator of Portal’s work on consumption. “I knew,” says he, “a female who was affected for many years with extreme debility and entire loss of appetite. A slow fever every evening had rendered her extremely thin: her eyes were pale and sunken; her skin was very hot, and it was highly painful for her to stand erect: a profuse discharge weakened her still more; and she was in an advanced state of marasmus. All the active remedies, as preparations of iron, decoctions of cinchona and mineral waters were tried without success. She died in a most deplorable state of consumption. I attempted, by questioning her as to her mode of living, to discover the cause of this disease, but unsuccessfully. A month before her death however, she told me with tears in her eyes, that she brought her debility upon herself, by indulging constantly and for many years in a secret and murderous habit.” We will add that Sainte Marie having found that daily involuntary pollution occurred in diseases of languor, as soon as he became acquainted with the dissertation of Wichmann, discovered that many slow nervous fevers were kept up by this affection.

From our remarks on the influence exercised by the genital organs on the nervous system, even when simply in a state of excitement or repose, it will not surprise, if we should state, that in this system are seen the affections resulting most frequently from the abuse of these organs. In fact the diseases of motion, sensation or of intelligence, that is of the faculties which are situated in the nervous system, are in fact the most common consequences of masturbation, and of venereal excesses generally. We have already spoken of the gradual diminution in the locomotive powers of the onanist. That of sensation presents very different phenomena, it is exalted as much as the first is diminished. Farther it is admitted that these two faculties are in an inverse ratio to one another. This increase of the susceptibility may take place at any age in consequence of venereal excesses; but it occurs much more readily in young persons, that is at that period of life when the mode of sensation assumes those characters which at a later period more than all the others constitute the temperament. Thus the excessive susceptibility generally presented by onanists, does not belong to those transient symptoms which disappear when the habit ceases: but, on the contrary, it continues, long after the habit has ceased, and its influence is long felt. How many persons of every age complain of being extremely nervous. Some know that this depends upon their own conduct, which they deeply regret. Interrogate them, and many will admit the excesses of their youth. We have rarely neglected to verify this remark and the responses have generally confirmed my suspicions. These individuals are seldom free from disagreeable feelings, from pain and inconvenience of some kind: their symptoms may vary extremely, and change very suddenly, but they are generally or always indisposed one way or another. This can be readily imagined: every thing affects them: cold, heat, dryness, moisture, rain, snow, food, drink, exercise, rest, in fact all these modifying circumstances find in them an organization ready to be acted on. The act of venery, the first source of their nervous susceptibility, subjects them to constant privations. A young man, twenty-two years old, whom we attended a few months since, told me in a depressed manner the constant inconveniences which he experienced from onanism. The following is his narrative, which we shall give here because it presents a faithful picture of the state in which the nervous system exists in most persons who have indulged in onanism.

“At sixteen years of age,” said he, “I learned to masturbate; this habit, I continued, for several years, with a kind of fury. My health soon became affected, my strength failed and also my digestion. I soon perceived a heat and constant pain in my stomach: my throat was inflamed and my feelings were extremely bad. The advice which I received and the alteration in my health, caused me to renounce this habit. My situation soon improved and I gained daily, but at the same time my desires returned and I shortly relapsed into my former errors. The same cause produced the same effects and I again abandoned onanism, promising never to indulge again. For two years I kept my word: unhappily this time however my health was not restored as at first, and I continually experienced all the sufferings which I have described. Besides I have become so sensitive that every thing incommodes me: the least change in the weather and particularly a storm causes me a great deal of suffering. Farther I cannot say what temperature is best for me, for I do not experience much difference whether it be cold or warm. I have but little desire for females, and although indulging at times after long intervals, yet I have always suffered for several days afterward, in the same manner as after masturbation. I feel constant pains of a lacerating character in the limbs: sometimes also, but more rarely pains in the back; often also, I have pains in the stomach and colic. My digestion although better than before, is far from being good: I can take but a few articles of food, and the smallest portion of wine, spirit, or coffee produces great distress.” This was the young man’s statement: he was deeply affected by the slightest cause: his appearance was sad, he was tired of himself and was constantly tormented by thoughts of his former excesses. I have seen him several times since; and I have reason to believe that his obedience to my advice improved his health.

It may be said that this patient is a hypochondriac. I admit it: but what is hypochondria, save an excessive susceptibility, added to all the inconveniences which result from it, and the derangement of the digestive functions? And hence all authors who have spoken of this disease, and of hysteria, which resembles it in so many respects, have classed venereal excesses among their most common causes. I might cite in proof of this, Tissot, Louyer-Villermey, Fodéré, Foville and many others. Oppenheim, physician to the grand vizier, attributes the frequency of hypochondria and of hysteria among the orientals, to their abuse of the pleasures of love. Pinel gives the history of a hypochondriac who at the age of puberty abandoned himself to masturbation which was followed by frequent involuntary pollutions. In another place he speaks of a similar case: and almost every practitioner can mention several.

The affection of the nervous system in onanists consists not only in an increased susceptibility, but is indicated also, by a number of symptoms, as pains sensations and spasms of every kind. Angelot has related the case of a young man affected with constant discharge of semen, who, among other phenomena, presented so great a degree of nervous irritation that he experienced a vibration over his whole body at the slightest noise. Some patients experience pains in the limbs as if they had been beaten; others are affected with intense headache and pains in the loins which reappear at each pollution: or wandering pains, which however are sometimes fixed, are felt in the course of the nerves and are similar to neuralgia. We shall see hereafter that painful affections of various kinds have been the more or less direct consequence of venereal excesses. Sensations of giddiness, of formication or crawling, &c., may also be perceived: some patients experience cramps which at first are felt only during the act of venery, but which afterwards reappear at other times. Spasms, contractions and generally the convulsive motions so often observed in onanists usually result from severe affections of the nervous centres, affections which we shall speak of directly. A very frequent symptom and one too which has never deceived me as to its nature, says Georget, are palpitations of the heart attended with difficulty in the respiration, slight suffocating feelings, &c. He remarks also that fainting and partial or general trembling appears on the slightest contradiction and often without any known cause in onanists. These remarks are very true: palpitations and stifling sensations continue sometimes for years after onanism has ceased, and fainting fits, trembling sensations, &c. show themselves during or immediately after the act of venery.

The heart and the mind suffer as much as the body from excesses of masturbation. To be assured of this we have only to remember the power exercised by the genital organs in the physiological state, on the ideas and feelings. Generally the necessity which the onanist experiences for dissembling his tastes and for concealing a habit which is both ridiculous and vile, renders him taciturn: his eyes are turned from the gaze of those around: he loves solitude, avoids the world and is embarrassed, and almost as it were ashamed of himself. His manner might sometimes pass for timidity, we might almost say for innocence, but it is entirely changed, when being in company with professed onanists he no longer feels restraint.

It is to this habit of dissimulation, this inquietude with which the onanist is constantly haunted, that Montegre attributes particularly the difference between self-pollution and coition: but this moral torment is far as we shall see from being the only one with which the onanist is affected.

In fact, he constantly experiences a sensation of sadness and ennui, which is impressed on his countenance and which is the natural consequence of restlessness and of the fatigue which he feels constantly. He is sad as one is when suffering, and when debility are felt. This inward feeling of shame which is banished with difficulty when the actions reputed to be bad are often repeated, must also contribute to increase his melancholy and sadness. But perhaps the worst feelings which torment him, are regret and remorse. The exhaustion of his system, his sufferings, the near approach of death often render him desperate. He remembers the time when he did not indulge in onanism: he remembers those who first taught him that vice: his shame, his pains and fears all come up strongly before him. Being the author of his own misfortunes he constantly reproaches himself, and he remembers all that has been said to wean him from the habit. Now picture with these regrets these fears, and the despair we have described, the existence of this fatal habit which cannot be overcome. The onanist knows this danger and yet he cannot break himself of his bad habit.

It can readily be supposed that onanists tortured by the present and by the thoughts of the future which appears to them overshadowed with clouds, have often wished to terminate their sufferings criminally. This has in fact sometimes happened. “I do not believe,” writes an onanist to Tissot, “that any human being has suffered as much as I have. Without the special care of Providence I should find it difficult to support the burden of life.” Some have not the courage to sustain life. Esquirol has often known masturbation to lead to melancholy and suicide. Orfila also mentions among the occasional causes of suicide “the physical and moral disgust, intellectual apathy without any hope of cure which often follows premature indulgences of every kind.” If the resources of nature had been known to those who thus abandon themselves to despair; if they had witnessed, as we have, the rapidity with which the health is restored, when onanism is arrested, if they had believed in the healing power of time, they would have seen that their pains might disappear, their strength might have been restored, and they might have enjoyed a long and happy life. The following case will teach onanists not to despair.

A gentleman, twenty-four years old, says M. Sainte Marie, in order to avoid conscription shut himself up in an isolated chateau under the charge of an old and confidential domestic. There in order to lighten the ennui of his situation he gave himself up to onanism. After three years of this forced seclusion and dangerous excess, he reappeared in the world; he was excessively pale and thin, which was attributed to the extreme loneliness in which he existed. Marriage was urged upon him as a mode of relieving, by an agreeable establishment, this long ennui; his strength however failed him the night of his marriage, and he was unable, as Montaigne says, to consummate the nuptials. He became disgusted with himself, and this feeling soon settled into one of deep and fixed despair. One day he swallowed a large dose of arsenic, but vomited it soon after with the food which he had eaten. He then came to Lyons to seek a death which he considered more worthy of his birth and station. He followed very closely for several days a celebrated fencer, and finding an opportunity to insult him, did so, with no other intent than that of losing, sword in hand, a life which had become hateful to him. The fortune of arms decided otherwise: although feeble and languid, he wounded his adversary, and this slight advantage suddenly changed his resolution. He now saw that life was not a series of defeats and humiliations: he desired to live, and in this frame of mind he came to consult me. His impotence seemed but a slight symptom. I readily saw that it was only the symptom of a well marked dorsal consumption. I prescribed ice to be taken internally, iced water douches to be used along the vertebral column and a milk diet. After continuing this treatment three months, the patient’s health seemed perfectly restored. He left Lyons, and rejoined his family, who were much concerned at his long absence. I learn now that he is very happy, and that his wife has presented him with three living pledges of affection. (Wichmann, p. 91.)

Besides the intellectual and moral effects which we have mentioned, onanism often produces a very marked debility of the mental faculties, and particularly of the memory. Young men, who previously showed considerable vivacity of mind and aptitude for study, become, after being addicted to this habit, stupid, and incapable of applying themselves: it is evident, that this transitory state which immediately succeeds the act of venery, becomes continued when this act is frequently repeated, because time is not allowed for the effects of it to pass off. This debility of the intellectual faculties must not always be considered as irremediable: in fact, these individuals sometimes regain their original acuteness, when the habit which had enfeebled them is discontinued, before the deterioration is of long standing. We might adduce instances of this return. The most remarkable, assuredly, is that of an idiot girl, who was restored to reason by amputation of the clitoris—an operation performed by Dr. Graefe, of Berlin. In a future page, we shall give this interesting case in full. Unfortunately, the simple cessation of onanism is not always sufficient to efface its effects completely; and many individuals preserve, during their whole existence, a certain feebleness of mind, which arises from the excesses of their youth. The debility of the intellectual faculties does not always stop at the point indicated: it may extend almost to idiocy—to the most complete stupidity. Most generally, then, the brain, or its appendages, are deeply injured, which is indicated by different symptoms, as loss of sight, hearing, fits, paralysis, &c. This was the case with an individual, whose case is stated by Serrurier, and who became, through onanism, perfectly imbecile. This is true, too, of an idiot, who was under the charge of Pinel, in the infirmary of Bicêtre. He was a sculptor, who had previously been exhausted by intemperance and venery. He remained almost motionless and quiet, or at intervals indulged in a foolish laugh. His face was destitute of expression, and he had no remembrance of his former state. His appetite was always good; and, even at the sight of food, his jaws began to move. He constantly remained in a recumbent posture; and, finally, became affected with hectic fever, which terminated fatally.

It is worthy of remark, in those onanists who become idiots, that, while the external senses and the intelligence diminish, the genital activity is increased: all these faculties seem to be blended in one, the proportions of which seem much greater, as the others are diminished. This opposite state of things, found in all cases produced by onanism, is particularly remarkable in a case observed at the Hospital St. Louis, by Alibert. The patient was a peasant-girl twenty-two years old, who was constantly employed in tending sheep. The seclusion of this girl’s situation favored the development of onanism. She concealed herself in retired and quiet situations, to indulge this horrid inclination. Two years elapsed, during which her intellectual faculties were progressively enfeebled: she became stupid, while the venereal sense was excited to the highest degree. Things came to such an extent, that she fell, as it were, into a species of nymphomania, for which she was carried to the hospital. The unfortunate girl presented a kind of automatic motion, which she could not repress. Her head, chest, and upper half of her body were excessively thin, while the other half was remarkably plump. The sight, and much more the contact of a male, caused in her a state which was soon terminated by a pollution. By merely touching this girl, her whole person could be agitated and convulsed to a distressing degree, and it was thought expedient to send her home. (Dict. des Sc. Med., Vol. XXXVI., p. 582.)

Are the alternate states of excitement and collapse experienced by the brain, during and after the act of venery, the only cause of weakness in onanists? Does not the constant state of their mind contribute also, as Tissot and many other authors think, to this unfortunate result? Of this, we have no doubt.

The yoke which onanism imposes on those who are completely abandoned to it, is such, that they have constantly before them a certain set of ideas. All their study is confined to avoid the looks of others, and to call to mind all the remembrances, and to create all the illusions, upon which their senses revel: their strength of mind is consecrated to these objects alone. To dissemble, and enjoy themselves, is all they wish. The intellectual faculties, being thus neglected, must remain imperfect; or even, if we may be allowed the expression, must lose their vigour, and waste. We can understand well how the necessity arising from this state of things may aid the development of the most wicked thoughts. Was not this the case with a young girl, whose history, as stated by Parent Duchatelet, is as follows:—

This girl, whose early childhood was spent with her grandmother, a respectable and religious woman, was about seven years old, when she returned home. For the first four months after her return, she was very sad and was not as playful as children are generally, and never caressed her father and mother. She lost flesh rapidly. The cause of this was sought for in vain; when, one day, a few questions having been put to her, she stated, that from the age of four years she had been in the habit of seeing boys from ten to twelve years old; that since she had returned home, she had had no opportunity, and had indulged in self-pollution. In vain did her parents try to wean her from this vice: they reasoned with and caressed her; they gave her presents, and all the clothes she desired; physicians visited her; the powers of religion were tried. But all in vain: the child abused herself, even in her sleep.

But a horrid inclination soon appeared: she now desired to see her parents dead, and even to murder them. This wish she expressed freely, and also her regret at not being able to satisfy her wishes. She promised herself to embrace any opportunity which presented. The only motives which induced her to do this, were to possess her mother’s jewels, and then to go with the men. Things soon came to such an extent, that the parents, for their own safety, were obliged to lock up their daughter every night, as she did not conceal her intention of assassinating them during sleep. The child, being in this manner less exposed to observation, abandoned herself to her habits without constraint, it being the only wish she could gratify. She never laughed, nor cried. She sat the whole day in a very small chair, with her hands crossed, and she abused herself as soon as her mother’s back was turned. Punishments succeeded no better than presents or caresses. One day, her father tied her to the bedstead: she said, “You may kill me; but I will not change.” These facts gave rise to a judicial investigation, from the minutes of which this statement is taken. (Arch. d’hygiene et de med. legale, January, 1832.)

This young girl certainly had inclinations which were the result of her organization. She never became attached even to the grandmother who brought her up; and whom also she would have destroyed for her jewels. She was not animated by the wish to kill, as by that of acquiring a desired object. One day, while a man was talking with her, she looked attentively at his breast-pin: when questioned on the subject, she admitted that she would kill this man for the sake of this jewel. Her passion for venereal pleasures also came from an organic arrangement: she had never been led into these enjoyments by men or women. When four years old, she sought after little boys; and it was not till she was deprived of them, that she resorted to onanism. She admitted that she preferred the boys.

Now, I would ask, if this primitive exaltation of a sense, which masturbation excited still more every day, could govern a disposition which caused her to regard homicide as the best mode of satisfying certain desires? Could that state of fatigue, which is constantly felt in those individuals who are addicted to onanism, excite in this young girl the sympathies which unite each individual to his fellows, and give strength to those bonds which she was always ready to break? Was it possible for her to love her parents, who constantly thwarted her desires? Would not the irritation she constantly felt at not being able to give herself completely up to venereal pleasures, react on her other inclinations? Would not the obstacles she encountered tend to make her think herself surrounded with enemies? Governed by one sense, was she in a state to listen to and understand all that was said to her, to modify her bad inclinations? Did not her state resemble that of animals, who, although mild and amiable, become dangerous and wicked, when the genital sense is excited? Finally, does not this case prove that deviations of character may result from onanism—that good feelings may be changed by this habit—or, at least, that bad ones may be called into action?

Moral depravity of another kind may result from onanism. The mind, accustomed to seek pleasure in a certain circle of ideas, or a peculiar series of sensations, cannot find any in any other manner. The enjoyments of onanism are then the only ones which the onanist can realize. The union of the sexes has no attraction for him: he indulges with repugnance, and thinks the sensations much less agreeable than those arising from self-pollution. The genital sense, the power of proceeding to the act of venery, and of procreating, remain: but depraved tastes have taken the place of the legitimate desires. Tissot regards this perversion as more frequent in females than in males: he remarks upon the case of a female as stated by Bekkers, over whose mind self-pollution had taken such possession, that she detested the legitimate modes of gratification.

We believe, that if there are females who prefer onanism to coition, it is because the sensual results of the latter are generally very uncertain. Besides, Tissot does not exclude the male sex from this kind of depravation: the same author states the history of a man, who, in being taught onanism by his preceptor, experienced, when first married, so great a disgust for the natural relations which result from it, added to the exhaustion caused by his manipulations, that he became melancholy; which state, however, yielded to appropriate remedies.

A fact published by Alibert is very analogous to the preceding. He states, that a young man, brought up in a boarding-house, contracted the habit of onanism in his childhood. Tissot’s book was put into his hands, which frightened, but did not entirely cure him. After reading it, however, he was more moderate, and indulged only at long intervals, and when he was excited by very violent desires. Hence, his temperament did not change; but he continued robust, and his moral faculties preserved their energy: but the frightful habit which he had contracted, prevented the development of any desire for the other sex. Even when thirty years old, he had never been excited by the sight of a female; and his feelings were called into action only by vain images, or by the phantoms of his depraved imagination. He had early studied drawing, which he had always pursued with ardor. The beautiful forms of men, in this beau-ideal of painters, which nature has never realized, affected him, and finally inspired him with an extraordinary emotion—a vague passion, for which he could not account. It is necessary, however, to remark, that this passion had no connexion with the tastes of sodomy, and that it could not be excited by the sight of any man. Such was his strange situation, when he came to ask my advice. He then presented, as I said before, no physical symptom of impotence. He was healthy and well-made, and nature had not been unkind to him; but he had so abused the use of her gifts, that it was difficult to restore to him their proper use. The patient was perfectly acquainted with his situation. “There is no effort,” said he, “that I am not willing to make, to free myself from my ignominious situation—to drive away from my thoughts the infamous images which haunt me. They have deprived me of the legitimate enjoyments procured by the union of the sexes—of the power possessed by the lowest animals of reproducing their species. I am dying of chagrin and shame.”

I considered his disease as a perversion of the venereal appetite. I thought that the most urgent indication was to restore nature to its true type. In fact, the individual was very robust, at the period of consulting me; and farther, as I have said, the beauty of the ideal forms of man excited in him voluptuous sensations, during the continuance of which the genital organs became excited, and there was a discharge of semen: this favored the supposition that he still retained some stamina. Hence, there was neither destruction nor essential alteration in his physical sensibility; but rather a false direction of this faculty of the organism. The following course of treatment was proposed. I have already said, that the patient was very fond of drawing, and that he applied himself to it with that ardor which is the sure guaranty of success. I required him to study carefully the female form, and to make drawings of it—to break through his habits, and to renounce the Belvidere Apollo for the Venus de Medicis. He did so. Nature gradually resumed her rights: he soon preferred a round and delicate arm to that which was strong and masculine; and when he contemplated the elegance and softness of contour in the female form, he began to be cured. After constructing an imaginary model, he sought for it in the physical world. Time was required, and perseverance; but he was perfectly restored.

§ 2. DISEASES ARISING FROM VENEREAL EXCESSES.

There are but few diseases which have not been observed as occurring after venereal excesses. The influence of the genital organs is so great, and extends so perfectly to all points of the organism, that the slightest morbid disposition of the latter is favored by its action. Capable of fecundating all the germes of the diseases which occur, the abuse of the genital organs produces all those which may happen in the body. Hence, we must not be astonished to see venereal excesses mentioned in enumerating the direct or indirect causes of most of them. We should certainly sometimes be embarrassed to justify this indication by positive proofs; for we do not know all that exists, and written science does not represent all that has been seen: but, as we know that a powerful influence only requires to exist with a morbid arrangement, to make of it a disease, the knowledge of this fact alone authorizes us to place venereal excesses, which have so injurious an effect, among the productive causes of most affections of the body.

Those diseases which are the consequence of this cause generally have a special mark, which depends not only upon the fact, that in a great many cases it continues to act when they are developed, and therefore deranges their course; but which results also particularly from the presence among their symptoms of those which belong particularly to venereal excesses. Hence, if, in consequence of these excesses, an individual should be affected with phthisis, epilepsy, a chronic disease of the brain, spinal marrow, caries of the vertebræ, &c., the patient will present, besides the special symptoms of these different affections, the signs of consumption already mentioned by us, and which are generally the consequences of the prolonged abuse of masturbation, or of coition; he will become thin, his strength will be exhausted, his eyes will be sunken, and present a dark ring beneath them; his countenance will be melancholy and suffused; his digestion will be deranged; he will suffer from wandering pains, from trembling, and from spasms; his mind will become enfeebled; and, finally, he will show many of the phenomena which we have described as general symptoms of venereal excesses. In these cases, there is, properly speaking, a complication of the special disease which they have produced, and of this other disease resulting as we have seen before, from the abuse of the genital organs. There are, at the same time, the general effects of this abuse, which may be seen in all those who are the victims of it, and the special characters of diseases which might have arisen from some other cause. The practitioner who should be unacquainted with these facts, in regard to which we find nothing precise in authors, would be liable to mistakes which would render him liable to errors of prognosis and of treatment.

The instances of individuals who have died of apoplexy, either of the cerebrum or cerebellum, during coition, are by no means rare. We can readily imagine, that if there be a marked disposition to this disease, and that if it be disposed to come on, the derangement in the respiration and circulation produced by the venereal action might hurry it. This has happened more than once during the digestion of a full meal. Most old men who have died during coition, have been affected with apoplexy. Hence, authors have generally placed venereal excesses among the causes of this affection.

We will mention Cœlius Aurelian, Areltœus, Lomnius, Tissot, Pinel, Cruveilhier, Londe, &c. Henry Van Hers mentions a man, forty years old, who was attacked with apoplexy while with his wife, the first night of his marriage. The attack, however, could not have been very severe, as it yielded readily to treatment: but the patient indulging in the pleasures of love a few days after his recovery, was again attacked, and died. (Dict. des Sc. Med., art. Apoplexie.) Hoffmann mentions one. It was that of a soldier, who died in the act of coition. It was found, on opening his body, that blood was effused in the brain. Serres’ work on the comparative anatomy of the brain states a similar instance. It is that of a man, thirty-two years old, who became affected with apoplexy during coition, and after drinking more freely than usual. Firm erection of the penis, which continued nearly until death had closed the scene, was added to the violent symptoms of apoplexy. The cerebrum was healthy; but the median lobe of the cerebellum exhibited traces of severe irritation; and the substance of the cerebellum was broken in several places; and small abscesses, filled with blood, were grooved along the superior vermicular process.

In some individuals, apoplexy supervenes so soon after venereal excesses, that we might reasonably anticipate that they contributed to its invasion. Thus, a steward, forty-nine years old, whose case is mentioned by Andral, fell down in the street, on coming from a house of ill-fame. He was immediately carried to the Maison de Santé, near, where he died shortly afterward. On opening his body, two apoplectic lesions were found; one in the right hemisphere of the cerebellum, the other in the left hemisphere of the cerebrum.

In coition, a marked congestion of blood takes place toward this organ. It is fair to presume, that such an act frequently repeated may predispose to an attack of apoplexy, which is decided sooner or later under the action of different causes. It is a fact, however, that this affection occurs frequently in those individuals who are accustomed to indulge in venereal pleasures. Serres reports the case of a man who indulged frequently, and who was attacked with apoplexy soon after a day passed in a house of ill-fame. He died two days afterward, presenting, among other symptoms, the erection of the penis, and an abundant discharge of semen. Post mortem examination showed, as in the preceding cases, apoplexy existing in the cerebellum. A similar case was reported by Dr. Guiot. It was that of a man, fifty-two years old, who was much addicted to women, and who, after several times suffering from cerebral congestions, was affected with mania. His genital organs were very much developed, and he was frequently affected with pollutions. He died, finally, of congestion, with hemiplegia, in twelve hours. Among the symptoms presented, were remarked erection of the penis, and as it were automatic motions of masturbation.

Deep and chronic lesions have been observed in the encephalon of onanists, much more frequently than acute diseases. We published, in 1817, a case of chronic arachnitis, which seemed to depend on this cause. The patient was a boy seven years old, who entered the Hospital des Enfans, at the beginning of the preceding year. This child, who was much addicted to masturbation, was usually affected with convulsions during this act. He finally became idiotic. He was extremely repugnant to take exercise, and he remained very quiet. His strength failed, his limbs wasted away, and finally he became affected with almost total blindness. The hearing, and generally the external and internal senses were also much weakened. Galvanism and other remedies were employed in vain. The patient died; and on opening the cadaver, we found a very marked inflammation of the portion of the meninges which follows the course of the superior longitudinal sinus. The surface of the brain, also, appeared to some assistants to be inflamed. In another patient, whose history is stated by Desruelles, in his memoir on the effects of onanism, the substance of the brain was affected. There was paralysis of the left arm, convulsions of the right arm and of the muscles of the face. On opening the cadaver, an encysted abscess was found in the hemisphere of the brain, on the side opposite to the paralysis, and corresponding to the convulsed limbs.

Chronic alterations have frequently been found in the cerebellum of onanists. They have been mentioned by some as the cause, by others as the effect of onanism. But even admitting that in some cases these alterations may have been the beginning of this habit, this fact shows the bond which unites the genital organs and the cerebellum, and renders more probable the influence which they may exercise upon it. In fact, when the disease of one organ deranges the functions of another, we may be satisfied that an opposite result is possible. Farther, it would be impossible, in most of the cases of which we speak, to distinguish whether the cerebral affection or the masturbation had precedence. The only thing positively known is their coincidence; and this latter has appeared too frequently not to attract attention. We will mention several instances of it.

A female, addicted at an early age to the pleasures of venery, finally indulged in prostitution; she was at the same time addicted to onanism, and at last became affected with nymphomania. Ashamed of her situation, she submitted to cauterization of the clitoris, but without any good result. She finally died; and we found chronic irritation, with induration of the middle lobe of the cerebellum. Small sinuses, with callous edges, indicated that an inflammation had existed for a long time in this organ.

Gall (in his treatise on the functions of the brain, Vol. III., p. 314) has given us the history of a boy, three years old, who was strongly addicted to onanism, and in whom two thirds of the cerebellum was found to be suppurated.

A young man, nineteen years old, was so much addicted from his infancy to masturbation, that all mechanical means were tried in vain to conquer this fatal habit. It was even proposed to scarify the penis, in order that his motions might be prevented by pain. All attempts were in vain; and this unfortunate young man, exhausted by continual losses of semen, died three months after entering Hotel Dieu, in the most complete state of marasmus. He had often experienced attacks of epilepsy. On opening the dead body, we found in his cerebellum an encephaloid tumor the size of a nut, which had began to soften.

A girl ten years old, addicted to masturbation, and of a melancholy temperament, complained for four months of severe pains in the head. These pains increased to such a degree, that for the last three weeks of her life she was constantly crying. She was finally carried to the Hospital des Enfans. The only additional information obtained in regard to her was, that the patient was bedridden for twelve days—that she was affected with vomiting of bile, followed by somnolence—that for three days she had ceased to speak, or answered with difficulty—that she constantly kept her hand to her head, which was thrown back. During the last four days, she was comatose: there was a slight degree of strabismus, and dilatation of the pupil. A post-mortem examination showed inflammation, with purulent infiltration of the arachnoid membrane, at the upper part of the cerebellum. The substance of the brain presented tubercles and a softening.

Combette has related a case, which to our knowledge is unparalleled; viz., complete destruction of the cerebellum in a girl eleven years old, who was addicted to onanism. In place of this organ was found a gelatiniform membrane, attached to the medulla oblongata by a peduncle of a similar character. The genital organs of this girl presented evident marks of her habit: the finger could easily be introduced into the vagina; the hymen was absent; the external labia were of a bright red colour, and seemed to have been frequently irritated. All that is known of this patient, who died at the Hospital des Enfans, in 1831, is reduced to a few facts. She was born healthy and well-made, although she was slight; and her physical and intellectual development was slow, and very imperfect. On entering the Foundling Hospital the 13th of January, 1830, she was feeble and ricketty, had but little intelligence, and seemed indifferent to surrounding objects. She answered questions with difficulty and hesitation. Her legs, although feeble, still supported her; but she fell frequently. She was in the full possession of all her senses: her appetite was good. Her health suffered more the following months, and she was finally obliged to remain constantly in bed. Her constitution then appeared impaired, and she was as it were stupified. She was depressed, and complained neither of pleasure nor pain; if questioned, she merely answered yes or no. She laid constantly on her back, her head turned to the left, and she moved her limbs with great difficulty. She soon became affected with a continual diarrhœa; and she died fifteen months after entering the hospital, in a state of complete exhaustion. What was the effect of masturbation in this case? Was it the cause or effect of the malady, which had disorganized the brain? This habit certainly had a great deal to do with it. (Revue Medicale, April, 1831.)

To these facts others might easily be added, where the affection of the brain was manifest, although not verified by a post mortem observation: thus, in the following case mentioned by Serrurier, the epilepsy, loss of sight, and the destruction of the intellectual faculties, certainly indicated a deep lesion of the brain. “I always remember with horror,” says this author, “the frightful picture presented by a young soldier, after frequent indulgence in onanism, and of nocturnal pollutions, which were more violent and copious after each epileptic fit. This young man was in a perfect state of marasmus: his sight was lost entirely; he was perfectly imbecile, and even the calls of nature were unanswered by him. His body exhaled a particularly nauseous odour; his skin was livid; his tongue trembled; his eyes were sunken, his teeth decayed; and his arms were covered with ulcers, which indicated a scorbutic affection. This state continued for six months, when the melancholy man died, having struggled for a long time against death, which finally terminated his sufferings.”

In the preceding case we can remark, in addition to the symptoms of the cerebral affection, the symptoms of the exhaustion of the cachexy, presented by individuals who have been reduced very low by onanism. A similar state is seen in the following case related by Tissot. Here the encephalic affection, to judge of it by the throwing back of the neck, and the violent pains experienced by the patient in this part, seemed to be situated in the cerebellum, medulla oblongata, or in those parts of the arachnoid membrane which are near them.

L. D—— was by profession a watchmaker. He had lived prudently, and had enjoyed a good state of health, till he was about seventeen years of age. At this period, he gave himself up to masturbation, which he repeated every day, sometimes even to the third time; and the ejaculation was always preceded and followed by a slight insensibility, and a convulsive motion in the extending muscles of the head, which drew it very much back, whilst the neck was extremely swelled. A year had not elapsed, before he began to feel a great weakness after every act. This notification was not sufficient to rescue him from his filthy practices: his soul, already devoted to this base habit, was incapable of forming any other idea, and the repetition of his crime became every day more frequent, till such time as he was in a state which gave reason to apprehend his death. Too late grown wise, the evil had already made so great a progress, that he was incurable; and the genital parts were become so easily irritated, and were so weak, that it was no longer necessary that this unhappy youth should be an agent, in order to shed his seed. The slightest irritation immediately procured an imperfect erection, which was constantly followed by an evacuation of this liquor, which daily increased his weakness. This spasm, of which he was not before sensible but in consummating the act, and which ceased therewith, was now become habitual, and frequently attacked him without any apparent cause, and in so violent a manner, that during the whole period of the fit, which sometimes lasted fifteen hours, and never less than eight, he felt such violent pains in the back part of the neck, that he did not scream out, but absolutely howled; and all this while it was impossible for him to swallow either solids or fluids. His voice was become hoarse; but I did not observe that it was more so while the fit continued. He entirely lost his strength, and was obliged to give up his profession, being altogether incapacitated: thus overwhelmed with misery, he languished, almost without any assistance, for some months; and was the more to be pitied, as what memory he had remaining, and which he was at length entirely bereft of, only served him to take an incessant retrospect of the cause of his misfortunes, which were increased by all the aggravating horrors of remorse. I heard of his situation, and went to him; I found a being that less resembled a living creature than a corpse, lying upon straw, meager, pale, and filthy, casting forth an infectious stench; almost incapable of motion, a watery palish blood issued from his nose; saliva constantly flowed from his mouth: having a diarrhœa, he voided his excrement in the bed without knowing it: he had a continual flux of semen; his sore, watery eyes were deadened to that degree, that he could not move them: his pulse was very small, quick, and frequent: it was with great difficulty he breathed, reduced almost to a skeleton in every part, except his feet, which became œdematous. The disorder of his mind was equal to that of his body; devoid of ideas and memory, incapable of connecting two sentences, without reflection, without being afflicted at his fate, without any other sensation than pain, which returned with every fit, at least every third day. Far below the brute creation, he was a spectacle, the horrible sight of which cannot be conceived, and it was difficult to discover that he had formerly made part of the human species. I had immediate recourse to the assistance of strengthening remedies, in order to remove these violent spasmodic fits, which so dreadfully brought him back to sensibility only by pain: I contented myself with having given him some ease in this respect, and I discontinued administering remedies, which could not ameliorate his condition; he died at the end of a few weeks, in June, 1757, his whole body having become dropsical.

In a case related by Bouteille, surgeon-general of the hospital at Lyons, most of the symptoms resulting from the cerebral affection existed in the right side of the body, and consequently indicated an affection of the opposite side of the cerebrum. The patient was a young girl twelve years old, whose constitution was weak and irritable, and very slightly developed—doubtless, on account of the enervating habit of onanism, in which she had indulged for several years, and which her mother’s vigilance could not prevent. Just after recovering from a severe illness, which yielded readily to remedies, this young girl was very much terrified, which had a great deal of influence upon her, as she was extremely sensitive; her sensibility being increased by the weak state of her nervous system, produced by onanism. Soon after, she was affected by slight convulsive motions in the right foot and arm, accompanied by a disagreeable pain in the right knee and in the sole of the foot of the same side. Notwithstanding the use of remedies, the disease increased, and she was soon unable to carry her food to her mouth, her arm was so much agitated. The appetite was variable, and the pulse was regular. Sometimes, and contrary to her usual custom, the patient was silent; sometimes she was extremely lively, and even foolish; sometimes her ideas were incoherent, and she often indulged in tears.

Headache and dizziness were perceived, but they soon yielded. At a later period, the sight and hearing of the right side were considerably weakened: at the same time, the pain in the sole of the foot, knee, and part of the right hand became more intense, and the difficulty of walking increased. After a time, the disease seemed to improve a little: the convulsive motions abated; the intelligence and memory returned, as before the disease; but the sight and hearing remained as they were. An active mode of treatment was now used: electricity formed the principal remedy. The patient was finally cured. Need we remark, that in all probability the fright was only the occasion which excited the development of a disease already prepared for by the onanism. (Traité de la chosée, p. 352.)

The convulsive form, the epileptic, is one of those assumed most frequently by the cerebral diseases produced by masturbation; we can easily conceive of this by remembering, that what takes place in the act of venery has, as we have already seen, a striking analogy with an attack of epilepsy: hence the ancients termed the act of coition, a short fit of epilepsy. It is unnecessary to state here the numerous testimonials found in authors, in regard to the influence of onanism as a cause of epilepsy. This influence is a fact mentioned and assented to by all. We shall relate a few examples.

There are some individuals who are so susceptible, and present so great a disposition to epilepsy, that they have a regular attack of it whenever they indulge in the act of venery. Didier knew a merchant of Montpelier, of whom this was true. Similar cases are related by Galen, Van-Hers, Tissot, Hoffmann, Haller, and many other authors. A similar thing is observed even in animals. Alfred Menard had a strong watch-dog, who was affected with epilepsy whenever he coupled with a slut. These attacks were characterized by convulsions, and a loss of consciousness: their duration varied, and was always connected with the ardour of the animal, who never was affected except under the circumstances mentioned. (Revue medicale, March, 1825.)

Epilepsy sometimes supervenes directly after the excesses which cause it. Cole, cited by Esquirol, relates the case of a female, who became epileptic three days after marriage: but venereal abuses generally act slowly, and prepare the body for an attack of epilepsy, which this or some other cause excites. Esquirol relates the case of a young man, twelve or thirteen years old, who early in life was addicted to masturbation, and became extremely nervous, although strong and robust: at fifteen years of age he was affected with epilepsy. These attacks came on at the moon’s first quarter, and were very sudden: the patient fell down, uttered loud cries, and was generally convulsed: his eyes were open, fixed, and injected: the pupils were very much dilated: and when the fit passed off, he remained exhausted the rest of the day. This young man, like most onanists, was extremely susceptible, fretting upon the slightest pretext. After six months of treatment, the attacks became less frequent: at the end of a year they ceased. This young man might have been considered cured, but the pleasure of seeing his mother, from whom he had been separated for two years, caused a relapse: the same remedial means were again employed, and with success. He has, since that, entered into business, and has travelled extensively: his nervous system is strengthened: he married when twenty-seven years old, and has continued in good health.

Another curious fact has been communicated to us by the celebrated Dr. Goupil. A little boy, only eighteen months old, who had been put out to nurse, returned home with the habit of masturbation. At first, his parents thought but little of this; but when two years old, he was affected with an epileptic form of disease, characterized by loss of consciousness, convulsions of the muscles of the face and eyes, stiffness of the limbs, and sometimes he fell down. These fits becoming more and more frequent, Dr. Goupil was consulted. The patient was now three years and a half old, and still continued his bad habit. He was constantly sad, morose, and stupid. The doctor, not being at first aware of the cause, employed different medicines, but unsuccessfully: he then discovered the cause, and tried mechanical modes. He put on the boy, at night, a kind of strait jacket, by which his arms were kept crossed in front of the chest; and during the daytime, he was watched carefully. These means succeeding but imperfectly. Dr. Goupil employed another strait waistcoat, which was laced behind, and was furnished in front with a silver apparatus, to contain the genital organs, and having only an opening for the urine. This new obstacle did not answer as well as was expected, and the child sometimes escaped all vigilance: but as this was rare, he soon gained flesh, and also his strength and vivacity. The fits of epilepsy gradually became less frequent. This boy is now from nine to ten years old; enjoys good health; and, with the exception of a remarkable loss of memory, retains no trace of former indiscretions.

These two cases show how far the system can be restored, when the cause which disturbs it ceases to act. The following, which was communicated by Zimmerman to Tissot, proves the same thing; but it also shows how soon a return to the bad habit destroys the good effects resulting from its abandonment.

“I have seen,” says Zimmerman, “a man, twenty-three years old, who became epileptic, after debilitating his body by frequent masturbation. Whenever he had nocturnal pollutions, a fit of epilepsy ensued; and the same thing occurred after masturbation—from which, however, he did not abstain, notwithstanding the bad symptoms with which it was followed. After the fit had subsided, he felt very severe pains in the kidneys, and around the coccyx. Having, however, abstained from his manipulations for some time, the pollutions disappeared; and we had hopes of curing the epilepsy, the attacks of which were less frequent. He had regained his strength, appetite, sleep, and color, after resembling a cadaver; but having returned to his bad habits, which were always followed by fits, he was found dead in his chamber one morning, bathed in blood.”

Another convulsive affection, St. Vitus’ dance, has sometimes been caused by onanism. Marc Ant. Petit has published a case of it, which was communicated by Dr. Morelot. It is as follows:—A young girl, eight years old, became remarkably thin: her lower limbs were agitated by extraordinary motions, which were extended to the upper limbs. She soon lost all control over them. The twitching in the muscles of the face and eyes was excessive; the patient could not continue in her bed, and she was confined to a large chair. Her attending physician thought that this might be attributed to the presence of worms, and gave several anthelminthics, but without success. Dr. Morelot was consulted at this period, and thought that he could perceive the effects of a bad habit: he soon became convinced of its existence. By means of great watchfulness on the part of her parents, the use of cold baths, musk, and camphor, she was radically cured.

Mental derangement is often the prevalent symptom in diseases of the brain, produced by excess of masturbation or coition. We have already spoken of idiocy; but this is by no means the only change observed in consequence of these excesses. Every variety of affection of the mind may be caused by them, as is proved by statistics collected by several authors, in insane asylums. Yet these abstracts are far from presenting the truth. “So many circumstances combine,” says Esquirol, “to embarrass the discovery of causes of mental alienation, that the one mentioned, like other causes, must often be unascertained by physicians.” According to this sagacious observer of all the forms of mental alienation, mania is produced least frequently by venereal excesses. He adds, that maniacs, during the duration of the periods of access, are less addicted, generally, than other deranged persons to masturbation; but when they do indulge, this act must be considered as a bad symptom, since it constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the cure: it destroys the strength, and finally produces in the patients stupidity, phthisis, marasmus, and death.

Dementia is, perhaps, the kind of derangement most frequently observed after masturbation. I saw a remarkable instance of this disease in a young man, twenty years old, who, indulging in these excesses for several years, gradually lost his mental faculties, became averse to even his relatives and dearest friends, and finally fell into a most perfect state of dementia. The relative frequency of this form of mental alienation in onanists has been pointed out in France by Esquirol, and in Norway by Holst. (Annales d’hygiene publ. December, 1830.)

Holst has remarked, that paralysis, that fatal symptom which so frequently attends all varieties of derangement, particularly monomania and dementia, is observed particularly in those insane who are addicted to onanism, and to other venereal excesses. This remark is confirmed by the two facts, that paralysis is much less common in females than in males, and that onanism produces mental alienation much less frequently in the former than in the latter. Thus, of 256 persons, admitted at the asylum at Charenton, during 1826-7-8, there were 44 men, in whom derangement could be attributed to libertinism or to onanism, while the same was true of only 3 women. Dr. Holst has shown that a similar proportion exists between the deranged of the two sexes in Norway. This relation, however, must not be considered as strictly correct; for females, being generally very reserved in their disclosures, onanism probably passes undiscovered in them more frequently than it does in men. It is well ascertained, that one twentieth of the deranged at Salpetrière, is composed of public women, who are for the most part affected with dementia and paralysis. Now, consider that masturbation is much more frequently a cause of derangement among the rich than among the poor. (Dict. des Sc. Med., vol. xvi., p. 179.) And remark, too, that at the Charenton asylum, where only persons in easy circumstances are received, there are proportionally more patients with paralysis than at Bicetre, the population of which is composed of men, belonging to the poorest classes of society.

We have only to consider the phenomena which attend and usually follow the venereal act, to infer that the spinal marrow may frequently be affected in consequence of the abuse of that act. Agitation, the involuntary contractions of the muscles, particularly of those surrounding the pelvis, and the tetanic spasm with which they are affected at the time of the ejaculation of the semen; the cramps which frequently attend it; the general feeling of pain, fatigue, and debility, which follows it—a feeling which is always more perceptible in the loins and lower part of the body, than elsewhere, indicate the powerful impression made on the spinal marrow, and the part which it takes in all going on. This participation is also demonstrated by different pathological facts, and by the results of experiments which we shall mention, when treating of the influence exercised by affections of the spinal marrow, as the cause of venereal excesses.

The local symptoms of the medulla, in onanists, consist in different and more or less acute sensations felt along the vertebral column. At first, these sensations do not appear until after the act of venery, and pass off; they then continue a longer time; and finally become constant. The pain is generally of a dull character—inconvenient, rather than severe—which obliges the patient, when sitting or standing, to change his position frequently; and it is generally less perceptible, or even disappears, when the patient assumes a horizontal position. Sometimes there is a feeling as if of ants crawling over the body, descending from the head along the spine: this symptom was first noticed by Hippocrates. Sometimes, these sensations have a special character, which each patient expresses in his own manner: thus, a man who indulged night and morning, for two years, in coition, complained to me that he felt beatings constantly between his shoulders. Others say that they have a knot in the back. The pains in the spine are sometimes very severe; sometimes they are extremely sharp. Onanists, and individuals affected with pollutions, most generally complain of their loins.

The frequent occurrence of the symptoms mentioned in persons exhausted by venereal excesses, has caused the terms consumption, phthisis dorsalis, and tabes dorsalis, to be applied to the state which they then present.

The other symptoms of the affection of the spinal marrow are more or less severe pains—more or less distinct sensations of cold, of numbness, and formication in the limbs, particularly in the lower extremities; cramps; constant trembling, or convulsive motions in these parts; a kind of tetanic stiffness; gradual debility of the lower half of the body; and, finally, paraplegia. We shall find these symptoms, in addition to the other effects of masturbation, in cases to be mentioned.

Pains in the loins and extremities were very marked in an individual of whom Serrurier remarks as follows:—“A patient whom I attended was reduced to a most dreadful state of marasmus, in consequence of nocturnal pollutions, determined by venereal excesses. I prescribed a tonic mode of treatment, and varied it in every form; but the patient died, after four months of frightful pains in the loins and articulations.” There was apparently, in this case, an affection of the lumbar part of the medulla, or of its membranes. A similar malady existed, probably, in a man whose case was published by Hattè, and who was affected, in consequence of excesses in coition, with a lumbago, which alternated with satyriasis. There is no doubt, in regard to the affection of the spinal marrow, in the following case related by Van Swieten:—“For three years” says he, “I used all the aids of medicine for a young man, who, in consequence of onanism, was affected with general wandering pains—with a sensation, sometimes of heat, sometimes of cold, which was extremely unpleasant, over the whole body, but particularly in the loins. After a time, these pains diminished slightly; and then the thighs and legs were so cold, that although these parts, on being touched, seemed to preserve their natural heat, yet he was constantly warming himself at the fire, even during the warmer days of summer. I observed, particularly, a constant rotation of the testicles in the scrotum; and the patient felt a similar motion in the loins, which was very troublesome to him.”

Was the spinal marrow perfectly healthy in the onanist who wrote to Tissot the following:—“My nerves are extremely weak. My hands have no strength: they tremble constantly, and perspire freely. I have violent pains in my stomach, arms, and legs; and sometimes in the kidneys, chest,” &c. Persuaded, also, from a great many cases, that most of the pains termed rheumatic are neuralgic, and that many neuralgias depend on an affection of the spinal marrow; I think there is reason to suspect this affection, whenever it is found in onanists.

The following case, related by Dr. Bertini of Turin, presents, as a principal symptom, convulsive trembling of the lower extremities. The disease commenced, as is frequently the case, under the influence of an accidental cause; but when this had occurred, the patient presented for a long time symptoms of an affection of the medulla; and it is evident that their origin must be ascribed to onanism.

The patient was twenty-eight years old, and of a lymphatic-bilious temperament. When twelve years of age, he became addicted to masturbation, and then began to perceive tremblings in the arms and legs, vertigo, and pains in the head. He continued his fatal habit till twenty-two years old. At the beginning of August, 1824, he was attacked with a tertian intermittent, but for this he took no medicine. On the 20th of the same month, while cutting wood in Sesia, and while in a profuse perspiration, he went in swimming. He soon felt a sensation of shivering, followed by cold, spasms, vertigo, pain in the head, and thirst; aversion to food, difficulty of respiration, sensation of oppression in the sacrolumbar region, constipation, pains, and trembling in the lower extremities. These latter symptoms became so urgent, that the patient was obliged to have advice. In this state, he was carried to the hospital of Vercelli; and in a few days he was bled eleven times, and drastic purgatives were administered without success. A month afterward, he left the hospital; and since that time, the man has become a beggar and an object of public commiseration. The 18th of October, at which time he came under the charge of Dr. Bertini, he presented the following symptoms: he had no fever, nor pains in the head, nor derangement in the intellectual faculties; but he had a pain in the two sides of the sacrolumbar region, which was increased by pressure. The patient complained, also, of a kind of formication in the legs and feet, which parts, as also the rest of the body, trembled constantly: the agitation was so great, that the patient could not rest in bed, nor sit without support. Twenty-five leeches were applied to the lumbar region, and these drew about twelve ounces of blood. The trembling diminished, and the patient could soon rise and walk without a stick, and in fact without assistance. From this time, he felt no pains nor trembling, and he left the hospital eight days afterward. Dr. Bertini has since seen him, and he was well. (Revue Med., Dec. 1825.)

The tetanic form of the disease of the spinal marrow has rarely been observed as arising from onanism. Tissot saw a case of it in a young man:—“The disease commenced with rigidity of the neck and spine; this extended successively to all the limbs; and the patient, for some time before death, was obliged to lie in bed on his face, unable to move either his feet or hands. All motion was impossible; and he was obliged even to be fed. He lived several weeks in this sad state; and died, or rather sunk away, almost without suffering.”

Paralysis, which is the consequence of myelitis, or of any other affection of the spinal marrow, has been seen much more frequently than tetanus, in onanists. It is most generally confined to the lower parts of the body; but if the disease be seated in the cervical portion of the spinal marrow, the four extremities may be paralyzed. This was seen in the case of a young man who was under the care of Dupuytren, in September, 1833:—

This young man was twenty years old: he was very much addicted to masturbation, and his disease could be attributed to no other cause. This affection had existed for two years, when the patient entered Hotel Dieu. The attack of paralysis had been sudden, like a clap of thunder: the patient had lost the use of his limbs suddenly. The muscles of the neck were paralyzed, and the head fell in any direction: a short time before, however, the patient had recovered the power of sustaining it. The paralysis of the four limbs, also, varied in degree, alternately increasing and diminishing. After the patient entered the hospital, it was not equal on both sides: thus, he had some power over his left arm, but not over his right arm. Both the upper limbs, also, were atrophied, or wasted: those of the right side more so, however, than those of the left. Many remedies had been tried for this patient, but without success. At the time the case was published, purgatives and moxas were proposed. Dupuytren remarked to his pupils, that the situation of the myelitis corresponded in this young man to the cervical vertebræ; and that, if it ascended a little, and extended to the origin of the diaphragmatic nerve, it would cause death. He regarded the passion for masturbation, which existed in this young man, as the probable cause of this myelitis; and, consequently, of an atrophy of the anterior roots of the spinal nerves. (Lancette Française, 1833, p. 339.)

The disorganization, also, occupied an elevated portion of the spinal marrow, in the following case stated by Tissot:—“I was called upon,” says he, “to visit in the country a man, forty years old, who had been very strong and robust, but who had indulged excessively in sexual commerce and in wine, and who had been often engaged in athletic exercises. He began to be affected, a few months since, by a weakness in his legs, which made him totter in his walk, as if drunk. He sometimes fell, when walking on a plane; he could not descend the stairs without much difficulty; and hardly dared to leave his apartment. His hands trembled very much; he wrote with very great difficulty, and very badly; but he dictated with ease, although his speech, which had never been very fluent, began to be less so. His memory was still good; and the only ground for suspecting a lesion in his mind was the want of attention at the jeu de dames, and the change of countenance. His appetite was good, and he slept well; but it was difficult for him to turn in bed.

It occurred to me that his gallantries, and a too free use of wine, were the first causes of the disease; and that his athletic exercises, in which he had been frequently engaged, were the origin of the particular affection of the muscles. The season was not favorable for the use of remedies; but it was necessary to attempt to arrest the progress of the disease. I advised frictions of the whole body with flannels, and some tonics. I directed the doses to be increased, and to add also the use of the cold bath, at the commencement of summer. In a few weeks, the trembling of the hands seemed to be a little diminished. A consultation was had in the month of April: the disease was attributed to his having written some months, two years since, in a chamber recently plastered. Warm baths—oily frictions, with diaphoretic and anti-spasmodic powders, were employed without benefit. In the month of June, in a second consultation, he was advised to visit the medicinal spring of Leuk, in Valais. On his return, the trembling and stiffness had increased. From this time, (Sept. 1760, to Jan. 1764,) I saw him but three or four times. In 1762, he procured from Frankfort the remedies mentioned in the English treatise, Onania, which were of no use. He consulted a foreign physician the last year with as little success. The disease has slowly, but daily progressed; and for several months before death, his legs were too weak to support the weight of his body. He could not move his hands nor arms without help; his speech was so embarrassed, and his voice so feeble, that it was difficult to understand him; the extensor muscles of the head allowed it to fall continually on the chest; he had constant pains in the loins; his sleep and appetite were sensibly diminished. During the last few months of his life, there was much difficulty in swallowing; after Christmas, there came on an irregular fever, and his eyes were singularly dim; when I saw him in the month of January, he passed the whole day and most of the night reclining on a sofa, with his feet in a chair, with a domestic constantly in attendance near him, in order to change his position, raise his head to feed him, and to listen attentively to all he said. As he approached the period of his dissolution, he was obliged to articulate letter by letter, which was written down as it was pronounced. Seeing that I gave him no encouragement, as I only employed some palliatives for his fever and oppression, and actuated by a desire of living, he sent one of his friends to tell me the cause to which he attributed all these symptoms, viz., masturbation; that he commenced this infamous practice several years since; had continued it as long as possible; and that he had perceived his difficulties increase, in proportion to his indulgence in it. He confirmed this statement a few days afterward; and it was this which induced him to use the remedies recommended in Onania.”

This case shows us paralysis confined at first to the abdominal limbs, but extending afterward to the upper part of the body. We find a similar case of this progression, in a case related by Olivier, of Angers:—

“M—, of a sanguine temperament, of a strong constitution, and of a lively and gay character, had always enjoyed good health until seventeen years old, when he unfortunately became addicted to masturbation. He soon languished, and grew debilitated. Having, however, conquered this fatal habit, his strength gradually returned, and a proper regimen soon restored him to his former vigor. When twenty years old, he perceived a marked debility in the motions of the articulation of the right foot; but this disappeared: he was then affected twice with blenorrhagia, the last attack of which continued for several months.

“When twenty-five years old, he again indulged in masturbation, and similar symptoms to those first presented soon appeared: the lower extremities, also, became weakened; at times, also, the sensibility of the skin was obtuse, and even lost; but it soon reappeared. Under the influence of remedies, the weakness in the limbs diminished slightly. M— could walk three quarters of an hour without resting, but he could not stand longer; his legs, which were evidently wasted, refusing to sustain him. He was extremely costive; and since the last attack of blenorrhagia, the excretion of urine was painful.

“This affection remained stationary for several years, and then became more serious: the patient was now twenty-nine years old. At this period, the paraplegia became complete. He could not walk, nor even support himself on crutches; his lower limbs were often stiff; both arms, also, were at times insensible; and sometimes the sense of touch was blunted. The wasting away had increased; the excretion of urine was often involuntary, and the constipation was habitual. He was somewhat benefited by Hallé’s prescriptions, consisting in frictions with cantharides, and douches to the spine; but the next year the evil increased, the sensibility in the hands diminished, and there was difficulty in moving the right hand.

“Eighteen months afterward, the lower extremities became perfectly paralyzed: they were less warm than the rest of the body; yet, when cold water was applied to them, it produced a burning sensation. The right arm, forearm, and hand, often felt fatigue: its motions were less free, and the patient sometimes found it difficult to write. The limb of the opposite side was not affected. The disease of the bladder, which had existed for several years, was also increased.

“Paralysis, during the following years, progressed slowly, but constantly. The arm of the right side lost its motion entirely; the forearm was flexed upon it, and retained this position. At a later period, the fingers became stiff, crooked, and they continued to be so flexed, that a tampon of linen was placed on the palm of the hand, to prevent the nails from lacerating the skin. A singular symptom, also, appeared: if the internal part of the thigh was gently rubbed, the limbs extended quickly, as if by a galvanic shock, and then resumed their first position, which was that of a permanent state of semiflexion.

The paralysis finally affected the left upper extremity, which had hitherto been free from it; at the same time, the respiration became more difficult, the voice more feeble, and speech more painful, so that the patient choked, after talking a few moments. These different symptoms, and those described above, gradually became intense; and at the time this case was recorded, the patient was still alive—but in a most lamentable situation. Very severe pains supervened in the right side; the limbs were frequently convulsed; the constipation was obstinate; the urine passed involuntarily; the intellectual faculties, however, remained unaffected; and the patient, who was then fifty years old, proved, by his easy and agreeable conversation, that, notwithstanding his unfortunate situation, he had lost none of his natural gayety of character.” (Traité de la moelle epinière, &c., vol. ii., p. 594.)

The lower part of the medulla alone was affected in an individual whose case is mentioned by Tissot.

In another case related by Weszpremi, the spinal marrow and brain were affected. The patient, who was thirty years old, complained of pains along the spine, especially when he stooped. His legs were so weak, that he could scarcely stand erect for a moment; his memory was considerably weakened, and he seemed stupid; his sight was also affected, and he was extremely thin. This man, having long denied the cause of his disease, finally confessed it. After some months, his health was restored. (Observ. Med., p. 175.)

The disease is not always confined to the spinal marrow, and its membranes: it frequently extends to the parts adjacent, and particularly to the vertebræ. The latter are then destroyed; and the disease described by Pott, and which takes his name, appears. Sabatier was aware of the influence of masturbation on the bony part of the vertebral column. “The most terrible and most frequent results of onanism,” says he, in a letter to M. A. Petit, “are nodosities of the spine. My opinion has always been regarded as unfounded, on account of the youth of the patients; but I was enlightened by the admission of some of my patients, that many were guilty of this thing before their sixteenth year.” This fact, which was afterward stated by Boyer, in his lectures, is now no longer doubted. The relation, however, between the caries of the bodies of the vertebræ in onanists, and the affection of the medulla, or of its membranes, had not been observed; it had not been remarked that this latter always precedes caries, which in this case is only the result of the extension of the primitive disease. The facts which are to be stated will prove this to be true.

L. E. G., twenty-one years old, a turner, of a lymphatic temperament, of a slender and delicate constitution, addicted to masturbation from childhood, experienced, at the beginning of February, 1825, a slight pain in the epigastric region, difficulty of digestion, and constipation: he also had laborious breathing, caused by palpitations, which were much increased by walking, and particularly by going up stairs.

On entering the hospital la Pitié, April 28th, 1825, this young man presented all the symptoms of a hypertrophy of the left cavities of the heart: these phenomena, which diminished after a few days, were followed by symptoms of enteritis and peritonitis, which were attributed to excesses in eating. During the continuance of this latter affection, the patient complained of uncommon debility in the abdominal limbs. These symptoms disappeared; and when it was expected to see the patient convalescent, he was affected with complete paraplegia. He lost the use of his legs: they, however, retained their sensibility. As motion in them was lost, this sensibility was even increased; for the patient cried whenever he was touched, or when the position of the lower limbs was changed. The bladder was soon paralyzed, and the sound was used, which caused inflammation of this organ. A broad and deep eschar, followed by ulceration, laid bare the whole posterior part of the pelvis. From this time, the symptoms increased more and more, and the patient died the 11th of August, about six weeks after the first symptoms appeared.

On opening the body, a softened tubercle was found on the surface of the right hemisphere of the brain; the body of the third dorsal vertebra was slightly changed; the corresponding portion of the dura mater presented a cancerous degenerescence, which extended from the body of the third dorsal to that of the fifth cervical vertebra. The bodies of all the vertebræ connected with this alteration were whitish, and slightly softened. The tissue of the spinal marrow was softened, especially on the level with the seventh cervical and first three dorsal vertebræ: the softening occupied the anterior cords, which were of a grayish white color; the posterior cords were slightly softened but only on a level with the first three dorsal vertebræ The lungs were healthy and crepitating; the right contained superiorly a small softened tubercle. The heart was healthy: its size was normal; the left cavities possessed their usual size and thickness. Traces of inflammation were found in the peritoneum, intestines, and bladder. (Journal de Physiol. Experim. July, 1825.)

In this case, we see in a measure the mode in which caries of the vertebræ is produced. This caries is only at its commencement; the vertebræ are affected superficially, and in those parts only which correspond to the diseased portions of the dura mater and medulla. There are none of the local symptoms of Pott’s disease—no collapse of the vertebral column—no gibbosity; yet the paraplegia appeared, as in the cases where these alterations exist: it resulted, then, from the softening of the medulla, or the alteration of its membranes. If a little time had elapsed, and several spinous processes had deviated from their true direction, this paralysis would have been attributed to the commencement and progress of this deviation. These relations between the state of the medulla and that of the vertebræ have been already remarked by several authors. M. Latour, in a memoir inserted among those of the Society of Emulation, has sought to establish that paraplegia, in Pott’s disease, resulted from a primitive alteration of the medulla. Janson has since expressed a similar opinion. Cases have also been published by Louis, which leave little doubt on this subject. (Mem. and Recherches, 1826, p. 410.)