Note 291 — THIRD SECTION. Relation of the Physician to Diseases consequent upon the Use or Misuse of the Genital Organs.

Galen, De locis affect. bk. VI. ch. 5., edit. Kühn Vol. VIII. p. 422., φαινομένου δὲ σαφῶς, ἰσχυροτάτην ἔχειν τὴν δύναμιν ἐνίας τῶν οὐσιῶν, ὑπόλοιπον ἂν εἴη ζητεῖν, εἰ διαφθορά τις ἐν τοῖς ζώοις δύναται γενέσθαι τηλικαύτη τὸ μέγεθος, ὡς ἰῷ θηρίου παραπλησίαν ἔχειν ποιότητά τε καὶ δύναμιν. (But it being plainly evident that there are some creatures that have the power developed in the highest degree, it would be superfluous to enquire whether there can exist in animals a destructive force so great in amount as to possess a quality and power similar to poison in snakes). In fact he answers this question in the affirmative so far as regards semen and menstrual blood, appealing to the poisonous quality of the spittle of dogs in rabies.