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[PMiFD© TUdD^Clty'iM]
OF
Anatomy I Natural Science 
             THK



PHILOSOPHY OF  MARRIAGE


             BEING


  FOUR IMPORTANT LECTURES


             ON THE


FUNCTIONS A.TSSJD DISOBDBKS

             OF THE


   NERVOUS  SYSTEM,

              AND



REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS






     ILLUSTRATED WITH CASES.






      BY DK .L. J. JOKDAN,

 MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, LONDON,
   DOCTOR OF MEDICINE, EDINBURGH, AND DEMON-
      STRATOR OF ANATOMY AND SURGERY.


Permanent Residence, 211 Geary Street, Detween Stockton and Powell,

         OPPOSITE UNION SQUARE,

      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the  yoar of our Lord
                             1865, by
                       Db. t. J. JORDAN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of  the United States, for
               the Northern District of California.
      Francis & Valentine,
Commercial Steam Printing House,
      517 Clav Street, 8. P. 
TABLE OF  CONTENTS.
                  CHAPTER I.
Male Organs of Generation.........................  7
                 CHAPTER II.
Female Organs of Generation...............  ..... lfi
                 CHAPTER III.
Functions of the  Generative Organs................ 17
                 CHAPTER IV.
Philosophy of Marriage........................... 26
                  CHAPTER V.
Abnormal Condition of the Generative Organs.....43
                 CHAPTER VI.
Spermatorrhoea................................... 63
                 CHAPTER VII.
False Delicacy.................................... 83
                CHAPTER VIII.
Special Diseases.................................. 91
                 CHAPTER IX.
Self Diagnosis...................................106
Instructions to Invalids...........................121
Appendix........................................122 
 
INTRODUCTION.
  The very rapid sale of the Forty-Seventh
Edition of this  little work, and  the demands
upon my  time by the growing increase of my
professional practice, precludes me from mak-
ing any very important additions to the present
issue.  There is, however one point to which, in
justice to myself, I must advert.  Many patients
who  have consulted me stated that they would
have done so long before, but that having, in their
anxiety, procured all works within their reach,
relating, or supposed to relate, to the evils un-
der which they were suffering, they found such
marvelous cures related  in some of them, and
such an amount of self-laudation, that, in igno-
rance of the falsity of the one  or the ground-
lessness of the other, they were led, to their own
great loss of both health and money, to consult
the authors of  those  "too  promising"  bro-
chures, only to be* disappointed,  and they there-
fore recommend  me, for the  benefit  of others
who  might probably  pursue the same course,
to say more as to my own success.
  Now, this I cannot consent to do.  My book
is an Essay, in as popular form as possible, on
the subject of which it professes to treat;—and
the cases  quoted,  which are few and  far  be-
tween, are related  only as illustrations of ordi-
nary  developments of disease, and are not in-
tended to be striking, as marvelous cures, but 
VI            INTRODUCTION.
 indicative  merely of the most common types
 under which the effects of abuses, display them-
 selves.  Were  I disposed to blow my own
 trumpet, I could do so most effectually, having
 in the course of eleven years' experience in the
 United States  been honored  with as large a
 share of practice in the diseases to which I have
 devoted myself as ever fell to the lot of  any
 physician.   I have therefore no need, if I even
 had the desire (which I abjure), to pursue the
 course suggested.   Those  who cannot  place
 confidence in my skill and experience, without
 the persual of imaginary  and impossible (or
 even difficult) cures, had far better never consult
 me.  For, those on the other hand, who believing
 in my knowledge,  and my desire and ability to
 employ it in mitigation of the evils under which
 they suffer, I can only say  that, so far as the
 possibilities of restoration are concerned, they
 will be exerted  to  the utmost  in  their behalf;
 and as previously stated,  I can only add that I
 have, during my whole sojourn in America, met
 with no one case which I was not able at all
©vents to relieve.
  Permanent residence,  No. 211 Geary Street, between
 Stockton and Powell, opposite Union Square.

                      LOUIS J. JOED AN. 
CHAPTER  I.
 STRUCTUBE OF THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.

  In order that the reader may be able perfectly
to understand and appreciate  the matter con-
tained in the following chapters, it is essential
that he should have a clear idea of  the various
organs concerned in  the mysterious process of
generation, their position,  structure and func-
tions.
  I will commence with those of the male. The
most important of the male organs are the tes-
ticles, by whose action the semen is elaborated,
that important  secretion which a French writer
has called " life itself under a  fluid  form."
  The testicles are  contained in a purse-like
bag, situated at the  root of the penis, and be-
tween the groins, called the scrotum.
  In  the foetus they are not so situated, but
are formed in  the posterior back  part of the
cavity of the abdomen, immediately below the
kidneys.  From this  position,  however, they
gradually descend through the abdominal ring
to that which they normally occupy during life.
  Very early in the growth of the foetus, the
skin at  the  part where the scrotum is  found
after birth forms a loose corrugated projection,
but is not distended  into a bag until the testi-
cles reach it.
   The scrotum is  formed by  a continuation of
 the surrounding common  integuments, but  is
 rather thinner  and more highly colored than 
8
STRUCTURE OF THE
the contiguous skin, and is also much more un-
even, being  arranged in  very numerous small
rugae or folds.
  The inner surface of the scrotum is lined with
cellular membrane, of a loose and  ductile na-
ture, which  assumes  a firmer and  more con-
densed  form in the central  portion so as to
constitute a  septum,  dividing its  interior into
two  cavities, and separating  the testicles,  so
that they can never come  in contact with each
other.
  The corrugation of the  skin of the scrotum
keeps the testicles pressed upwards towards the
abdominal ring by the action of muscular fibres
collectively  designated by anatomists  as  the
dertos muscle.
  On laying open the scrotum, the testicle of
each side is found to be enveloped by its proper
coverings, which extend upwards through the
abdominal   ring, constituting  what is called
the spermatic cord.
  The membrane immediately enveloping the
body of the  testicle, called the tunica vaginalis,
which is a dense membraneous sac of a bluish
white color,  is found to have  packets of mus-
cular fibres attached to its outer surface,-which
can be traced upwards through the abdominal
ring to the lower edge of  the  internal  oblique
muscle of the abdomen, as it  descends to  the
pubes.  These fibres from the cremaster muscle,
the office of  which is to assist in supporting the
weight  of the  testicle,  and  sometimes, as in
sexual congress, to draw it upwards.
  Contained within the cavity of the tunica va-
ginalis,  beside the testicle itself, is the append-
age called the epididymis, to  be afterwards de- 
        MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.       9

scribed.  The accumulation of fluid within the
cavity of the tunica vaginalis forms the disease
called hydrocele.
  The testicle, although not a vital organ, i. e.,
one  necessary to the existence of life,  as the
heart,  lungs, &c, is  one  absolutely  necessary
for the perpetuation of the species, and therefore
receives its nerves from the  same sources as the
vital organs themselves. These nerves are con-
veyed through the spermatic cord, as also are
the spermatic veins and arteries.
  The vas deferens, or excretory duct of the testi-
cle, which is readily distinguished from the other
vessels by its cartilaginous feel,  also  passes
though the spermatic cord.
   The  secreting  structure of  the  testicle  is
enclosed within a firm and  dense membrane
called the tunica albuginca.
   It is possessed of some  elasticity so as to en-
large when the vessels  of the testicle are full,
and contract upon the evacuation  of  their con-
tents; but it is to the resistance offered by this
membrane to a rapid or extensive enlargement
that the intense pain consequeut upon  inflam-
mation of the testicle is attributed.
  A white substance extends  in a line through
the testicle, from one extremity to the other, in a
manner somewhat  resembling  the core  of  an
orange,  which has been called the corpus high-
morianum, or the nucleus of the testicle
   From this nucleus a  number of slender white
bands or divisions  extend to  the tunica albugi-
nea (resembling the divisional membranes sepa-
rating  the  so-called " quarters " of  an orange)
the spaces which they enclose being  filled with
 a greyish or yellowish substance (corresponding 
10
STRUCTURE OF THE
with the fleshy parts of the orange), which sub-
stance, however, is found on close examination
to consist of packets or bundles of exceedingly
minute and highly-twisted vessels.  There are
from thirty to forty of these packets, and when
the tubular vessels are drawn out and untwisted
their length is  found to be very considerable.
A celebrated anatomist has reckoned the  diam-
eter of a  single tube to be the three-hundredth
part of an inch ; and asserted  that the length
of the whole, when unravelled,  in an adult tes-
ticle, proved  to be 5,208  feet.  These vessels
have been called the tubuli seminiferi, and they
form the  largest proportion—indeed, nearly the
whole—of the bulk of the testicle. The semen
is first formed in these tubuli.
  Each packet of tubuli surrounds a short and
straight vessel,  placed at its upper  extremity,
into the bottom and sides of which the tubuli en-
ter and deposit the semen formed in  their cav-
ities.   These common recipients of the  fluid
from the  tubuli of each packet have been  called
vasa recta ; they average  about one-tenth of an
inch in length,  and are usually about one-third
of their length in diameter.
  The vasa recta terminate in a set of vessels of
a cylindrical  shape, which have been  named the
rete testis.  These  are firmly  attached to the  tu-
nica albuginea,  running parallel to  each other
in the direction of the corpus highmorianum, or
core of the testicle: they are generally  about
thirty in  number,  and form  communications
with each other, either by lateral openings or by
very short branches, so that fluid poured in one
will readily pass to the others.
  From the terminations of the vessels forming 
MALE ORGANS OF GENERAT/ON.      11
the rete testis, minute tubes, to the number of
thirty or forty, extend in tortuous convolutions
beyond the body of the  testicle to  the organ
next to be described, viz. : the epididymis.
These tubes are termed vasa efferenlia.
  The  vasa efferentia,  uniting one  with the
other in succession,  ultimately  coalesce in  a
single  tube, which arranges itself in such mul-
tifarious convolutions that the number of the
flexions has   been calculated at upwards of
eleven thousand,  and the  length  of tube, when
unravelled and extended, would  exceed thirty-
one feet.  These convolutions are  arranged in a
conical form, resting upon the upper and back
part of the testicle, and are  designated in their
totality—the epididymis.  The great length of
tube forming this organ proves that slowness of
motion is  essential  to  the perfection  of the
semen.
  As the tube approaches the termination of the
epididymis it  gradually increases in  capacity,
its convolutions cease,  and it then becomes the
vas deferens, before referred to.
  The  vas deferens in company with the  sper-
matic artery, vein and nerve, all included with-
in the spermatic cord, passes almost vertically
upwards to the  external abdominal ring, on
entering which it slightly alters its course,  pass-
ing outwards  as well as upwards, and  having
gained what is called  the internal abdominal
ring, passes  through it into the cavity of the
abdomen,  where  its component parts  separate,
the blood-vessels and nerves passing on to their
sources; the vas deferens dipping into the pelvis,
continuing along the side of  the  bladder, and
terminating in the vesiculce seminales. 
12            STRUCTURE OF THE

  The vesiculse seminales resemble in structure
the vasa deferentia.  They are two small tubes,
about two inches and a half in length, but being
convoluted, appear much shorter, and are sit-
uated at the back part of the bladder; the mem-
brane lining them is thrown into folds, so as to
form a number of cells.   Here it is that the se-
men is stored up,  these  tubes  answering the
purpose of reservoirs; each vesicula terminates,
posteriorly, in a rounded cul de sac, and, ante-
riorly, united with the vas deferens of the same
side to  form a  common duct. These common
seminal ducts,  resulting  from the junction of
the vas deferens and the vesicula on each side,
are termed the ductui ejaculatorii.  Each is about
an inch in length, and its calibre is greater and
more dilatable thsCn that  of the vesiculse semi-
nales.  They  are directed forwards, parallel to
each other, pass through the prostate gland,
and open into the urethra (the central canal of
the penis), by two small oblong orifices.
  The prostate gland is a small body, about the
size and shape of a chestnut,  surrounding part
of the neck of the bladder, and the commence-
ment of the urethra, measuring about an inch
from before, backwards, a little more from side
to side, and about half an inch in thickness.  It
is traversed by the urethra, and also by the duc-
tus ejaculatorii; the greater part of it, however,
is situated  below the urethra, and it therefore
rests upon the rectum.   It consists of three
lobes, two placed laterally—one on  either side
—and the third between and behind the other
two. It secretes a thin white fluid, which is sup-
posed to be for the purpose of  lubricating the
urethra: its texture is peculiar,  and is well 
MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.     13
known to possess, in a high degree, the property
of elasticity, a fact which has been turned to
considerable account in the operation of litho-
tomy.  The prostate  frequently becomes  en-
larged in old age.
  Having thus described the organs concerned
in the elaboration and conveyance to the ure-
thra of the various  secretions concerned in the
office of reproduction, so far as the male is con-
cerned it is now necessary to refer to the struc-
ture of the intromittent organ—the Penis.
  The penis, although it gives passage  to the
urine, is not a structure essentially required for
that purpose, as in the female no such structure
exists, except as represented by the clitoris;  its
anatomical characters, therefore, have no refer-
ence to that action, but are adapted solely to
the conveyance of the seminal fluid to the uterus
of the female for the important purpose of im-
pregnation.  It is formed chiefly  of three bodies
of particular structure; two  called the  corpora
cavernosa, and the other the corpus spongiosum:
the whole adapting the form of the organ to the
use  for which  it  is to  be employed,  These
bodies are covered by the common integuments,
loosely attached by the cellular membrane to
their surfaces, so  as to allow of the necessary
variations in the size of the organ; no fat is dis-
covered in the cellular membrane.
  The corpora cavernosa form about two-thirds
of the entire volume of the penis, and determine
its form; they are of the  shape of longitudinal
sections of cylindrical tubes, placed side by side,
and blended together the greater part of their
length, whilst at  the  rest they branch off into
the  two  muscles called the crura, and conse-
                                   b* 
14           STRUCTURE OF THE
quently present nearly  the appearance of the
letter Y, the upper part  of which would be pla-
ced against the pubis, and the lower at the glans
penis.   The corpora cavernosa form the upper
part of the penis; their  colour is generally an
opaque  white, and their structure a  slightly
elastic,  dense, fibrous membrane, traversed in
many places by the blood-vessels concerned in
producing that distension of  the  organs called
erection.
  The corpora cavernosa do not extend  quite to
the end of the penis, the glands and the extrem-
ity not forming a part of it.   The corpus spon-
giosum forms the lower  part of the penis, and
analogous in its  structure to the  corpora caver-
nosa.  The urethra is situated  partly in  the
groove formed by the union of the two  corpora
cavernosa, and the remaining part surrounded
by the corpus spongiosum; it extends from the
neck of the bladder to the extremity of the pe-
nis, and is, in the  male, from eight to ten in-
ches in length;  it serves to  convey  the  urine
from the bladder, and the  seminal fluid from
the ductus ejaculatorii: it is divided into—a pros-
tatic  portion, about an inch in  length, into
which  the ductus ejaculatorii  and  the ori-
fice  of the  mucous follicles  of the prostate
gland  open—a  membranous  part, compris-
ing the interval between the prostate  and the
bulb, also about an inch in length, and  beina-
the narrowest part of the canal—and a spongy
or vascular portion, extending from the bulb to
the glans, and being about six or  seven inches
in length.  At  the  end of this  portion, viz.,
within the glans, there  is a great dilatation of
the canal, called the fossa navicularis: it is this 
      FEMALE ORGANS OF  GENERATION.    15

part that is  generally affected in gonorrhoea.-^
The glans penis is a conical prominence forming
the extremity of the penis, and presenting at its
base a circular ridge, called the corona glandis.
  Having thus described the male organs of
generation,  it becomes  necessary, in order to
properly understand  their functions, to refer
briefly to those of the female.
CHAPTER  II.
STRUCTURE OF THE FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.
  The internal female organs of generation are
the vagina, the passage leading from the labia
or outer lips to the os uteri or mouth of  the
womb, which, laid open, would enable  us to
notice the rugae of the mucous membrane by
which it is  lined—it is  these  rugae, or folds
of the vagina, which cause the pleasurable sen-
sation when the intromittent organ is introdu-
ced in the act of coitus.  The kind and quanti-
ty of these  rugae vary very much in different
females, and in rare cases are altogether absent.
  At the innermost extremity of the vagina is
the neck and the os uteri, or mouth, of the ute-
rus or womb,
  The uterus,  within the cavity of which  the
embryo becomes developed into the perfect hu-
man being, is a pear-shaped organ, which, in the
healthy unfecundated state, is about two inches
in length and one  in width.  In common med-
ical parlance it has long been separated into two 
16
STRUCTURE OF THE
portions, but it was not until recently that that
division has been recognized by Anatomists and
Physiologists as distinct in character, function,
and in the distribution of nerves.   These two
portions are-first, the lower portion of the pear-
shaped form, containing the cervix uteri, or pas-
sage from the mouth upwards; and the upper
and larger portion, containing the cavity of the
womb.
  Bearing in mind the  pear-shaped figure, the
internal configuration of the uterus will be most
easily  understood by imagining that  in the
broad part of a pear just above the  seed vessels
of its core, there is a cavity which, if the pear
were cut in two, would present an inverted tri-
angular form; the base of the triangle towards
the broad end of the pear, the point  or apex,
towards the stem; at this point there is an open-
ing into a canal proceeding to,  and  terminating
at the part where the stem  is inserted.  This
canal is the cervix uteri, small in diameter at the
end next the stalk, then immediately enlarging
for a short distance, and thence gradually dim-
inishing as it  approaches the  entrance to the
triangular cavity in the upper part of the pear,
at which point it is smallest  in diameter.  Ex-
cept perhaps at the period of menstruation, no
instrument whatever can be passed through the
the  cervix uteri into the triangular cavity  of
the uterus without injury to the lining mem-
brane ; an extremely small probe would seriously
puncture and lacerate the membrane, whilst one
sufficiently large to avoid puncturation ppaoa
only be introduced by great force.
   From the triangular cavity at the upper part of
the  womb, we find, on examination, that from 
GENERATIVE ORGANS.         17
the two points of the triangle, right and left,
two other canals or passages proceed to the ex-
tremities of the ligaments which support the
womb; these are called the fallopian tubes, the
office of which is to convey the ova from the ova-
ries into  the cavity of the uterus. Each of the
ova is contained within an ovisac, to  which sacs
the name of graafian vesicles has been  given.
The ovaries of the female correspond in impor-
tance to the testicles of the male.
CHAPTER  III.
FUNCTIONS OF  THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.
  It becomes necessary, in the next place, to
say a few words upon the functions of the organs
male and female, thus described.  I will begin
with the la&er.  From the commencement of
puberty the ovaries are the seat of a continual
detachment of ova from the  graafian vesicles
which contain them,  the emerging ovum being
surrounded and seized, as it were, by the fringed
extremity of the fallopian tube, through  which
it gradually makes its way to the cavity of the
uterus.   This process takes place independently
of sexual congress, both in women and virgins,
generally at the time  of menstruation, but fre-
quently at  other times under conditions not yet
accurately  determined.
  Professor Bischoff, who had  examined the
generative  organs of  thirteen women who had
met their death suddenly during the process of 
18           FUNCTIONS OF THE
menstruation, remarks of those cases that they
confirm the doctrine  that in woman, at  every
menstruation, a follicle ripens, swells and bursts
that the ovum escapes, and that a corpus luteum
( a sort  of scar in the ovary,  marking the place
whence the ovum was detached) is  formed.
His eleventh  case, however, seems  to  prove
that the full consequence of menstruation is not
in every  instance fully carried out, but that a
follicle may swell and the ovum ripen without
the bursting of the one  or the escape of the
other; such a condition will cause sterility not-
withstanding menstruation, and to such a condi-
tion, the pain sometimes  experienced  during
the menstrual period  may possibly be attribu-
table.
  On the other hand, a woman may not menstru-
ate and  yet she may  conceive; for, as observed
in Stenle and Pfeufer, " Zeittschrift " ( 1853 ),
the ripening and escape of an ovum may proceed,
although the usual outward symptom* of this
event—the secretion of blood, &c.—may  fail.
  At the appropriate season, the shad discharge
her eggs upon the waters, trusting that they
may be found and fecundated by the male.
  The  domestic hen,  at proper intervals; pre-
pares a batch of eggs, which, when sufficiently
matured she  " lays," whether fecundated or
not.  In like  manner, the ovaries of the human
female,  at her regular periods of four weeks,
discharge one or more eggs, which, in a virgin,
will of course perish unfecundated; or, if  sexual
intercourse takes place, will be fecundated or
not, as other circumstances may operate.
  The  process of menstruation  is the laying of
a human egg, or ovum, differing little in its gen- 
GENERATIVE ORGANS.
19
eral characteristics, on its first appearance, from
the egg of a dog, a cow, or a bird.  The human
egg corresponds in almost every particular, ex-
cept in size, with the egg of the hen; indeed,
the egg of the fowl may be looked upon as the
type of all eggs, when divested of its shell, the
membrane  beneath it, and the  white.  These,
however,  form no part of the egg, even in the
hen;  they are  added in its  passage along  the
oviduct.  The  egg of  the  human  female is
very small,  measuring, according to  Bischoff,
from ,£„ to .do of an inch; it is surrounded by a
transparent membrane, which under the micro-
scope appears  as  a bright ring,  and is hence
termed zona ]>ellucida,  exterior to which is a heap
of cells,  called  discus proligirus.  Within the
zona pellucida is situated the yelk, composed of
a number of granules and globules of various
sizes, imbedded in a fluid.  In the substance of
the yelk is contained the small speck, called the
germinal vesicle, which is delicately transparent,
contains a pellucid fluid, and has a minute opaque
spot,  on one part of its wall, to which has been
given the name of the germinal spot.
  The menstrual discharge is a mixture of blood
and glandular  albuminous secretion.   The act
of menstruation is one in which the whole gen-
ital apparatus sympathizes, if not the entire con-
stitution.  During the month, the graafian ves-
icles enlarge,  and approach  the  exterior of the
ovary, till, having arrived at maturity, the sac
bursts, as before mentioned,  and, borne on by
a floAv of  blood accompanying this breaking, the
ovum is floated down the canal of the fallopian
tube, the fimbriated extremity of which, conceal-
ing within it the open mouth of the canal, has, 
20
FUNCTIONS OF THE
warned by the general uterine disturbance, been
closely applied to the ovary, ready for the com-
ing ovum.  The egg then gradually makes its
way into the cavity of the uterus, occupying in
its transit, according to Pouchet, from two to
six days.
  During  the passage of the egg down the fal-
lopian tube, towards the uterus, the germinal
vesicle disappears, the yelk dividing into smaller
spheroidal masses;  first two, then  four, then
eight,  and so on.   The ovum also becomes
coated with an albuminous layer, corresponding
with the  " white "of the hen's egg, the outer
portion of which forms a membrane  called the
chorion.  The  uterus,  also forewarned of the
coming of  the ovum, is in a high state of tumes-
cence, and the numerous follicular glands which
stud its inner surface, and are continued through
its neck, throw out an abundant supply of mu-
cous, glandular, semi-albuminous discharge; and
sometimes blood exudes from the turgid vessels
lining  its  surface.  When this exhalation  is
limited in character and quantity,  it forms a
membrane lining the interior of the cavity of the
uterus, called the decidua, which, as  the ovum
enters through the fallopian tube, recedes before
it, forming ah extra but partial covering for its
protection.
  If, from any diseased action or extraordinary  .
congestion of the parts, the flow of blood and
glandular  secretion be unusually profuse, the*.
ovum may be washed away.   But if the  dis* *•
charge be  of moderate  quantity, then the ovum v
will be caught in some fold or cell in the cavity
of the uterus, and will  remain  there until,  in
the course of nature, its vitality being lost by 
GENERATIVE ORGANS.
21
lapse of time, it be voided like all other effete
matter of the system, or be impregnated in con-
sequence  of  sexual congress,  thenceforward
becoming developed  into the perfect  human
being.
  It has been known, however, from the begin-
ning of the world, that the co-operation of the
two  sexes is  necessary, in order to fulfil the
purpose of the Creator.
  It has been  satisfactorily  ascertained,  that
the semen formed in the testes of the  male of
the more  perfect classes  of animals, must be
conveyed to those bodies which have just been
described, called  ova, formed  in the ovaria of
the females,  and containing the  rudiments of
the future animal, in order to excite the embryo
to evolution, and to impart to it the principle of
vital action.
  The venereal desire commences in man at pu-
berty, and appears to depend on the secretion
of the seminal fluid; for it does not  exsist until
the testicles begin to enlarge and secrete, and it
leaves the  male when they have been extirpated.
It is an established fact, that when the testes
have been removed in early life, the individual
has no sexual desire.
  It is  also of less force in advanced age, when
the semen is more sparingly elaborated; and in
the case of persons whose testicles are but im-
perfectly developed, it is always languid, if not
entirely absent.
  In the female sex it also, as already mention-
ed, begins at  puberty, when the ovaria enlarge,
and ova are formed in them; but it does not oc-
cur in the female  of quadrupeds where the ova-
ria have been destroyed, and is much lessened 
22           FUNCTIONS  OF THE
in advanced life, when the ova cease to be form-
ed, and the ovaria begin to shrink.
  The seminal fluid, or semen, which it is the
function of the testicles to secrete, is always, when
evacuated, mixed with the secretions of vesicu-
lae seminales and prostate gland, and mucus of
the urethra: floating in it are also to be found a
greater or lesser number of epithelial scales.
  The secretions, however, which enter into the
composition of the ejaculated fluid have a rela-
tive proportion to each other; that of the versi-
culae seminales amounting to about four-sevenths;
that of the testicles and vasa deferentia to about
one-seventh; while  the remaining portion con-
sists  of  the products  of  the prostate  gland,
mucus of the urethra, &c.
  To examine the semen in a pure state, it must
be taken from the vasa efferentina of an animal
recently dead, and whose death has been pro-
duced from intention or accident, but not from
disease.
  According to the analysis  of Vanquilin, hu-
man semen consists of
      Water............... 90 parts.
      Mucus...............  6   „
      Phosphate of lime.....  3   ,,
      Phosphate of soda.....  1   ,,

                            100
  It is well known  that the mucous secretions
of the vagina  and uterus occasionally present
very altered chemical conditions, being either
excessively alkaline or  having acid  properties;
in either of these cases a deterioration of the
fecundating fluid is likely to happen.
  It is the office of the prostate gland to secrete 
GENERATIVE ORGANS.          23
a mucus charged with more or less of the phos-
phates of lime and soda, which is evidently de-
signed to counteract the injurious effects likely
to arise from an abnormal  condition of  the se-
cretion of that portion of the mucous membrane
appropriated for the reception of the seminal
fluid.
  It is the  office of the vesiculae seminales to
elaborate a fluid, having important relations to
the conservation of  the fecundating properties
of the spermatic secretion, as well as perhaps
to render it more effective  in the process of im-
pregnation.
  The application of the microscope to semen
has discovered that  very minute organic bodies
float in it, which move with rapidity; and from
the manner in which they disport  themselves,
retrogressing, avoiding obstacles, and changing
their  velocity, have been considered animal-
cules.  Their form  resembles that of the tad-
pole,  with a round head or body, and a narrow
tail.  Ludovic Haume is said to have been the
discoverer of these bodies, and to have  shown
them  to  Lewenhoeck in 1677.   Lewenhoeck,
however, has claimed the discovery as his own.
  These  bodies, to which  the name of sperma-
tozoa is applied,  are now generally understood
not to be animalcules, but elementary portions
of the male organism.  We do  not, however,
understand the  mode  of  production of their
very curious movements; the object of which is
evidently to propel  them onwards through the
uterus to the ovum, and into its substance.
  That the spermatozoa are  the proper fecun-
dating elements  of  the semen has  been placed
beyond the slightest doubt by the observations 
24           FUNCTION OF THE
 of Prevost, Dumas, Leuchart, and  others, on
 the semen after filtration, and above all by the
 recent researches of Newport.
   The last named  author has also established
 the fact that the spermatozoa actually penetrate
 the substance of the ovum, as was asserted by
 Barry many years previously; and on this point
 many other  physiologists  have confirmed the
 statement of Newport by observations on the
 generation of various animals.
   Now that we are acquainted with the passage
 of the spermatozoa into the ovum, we can no'lon-
 ger regard their fecundating power as being a
 dynamic influence, as was formerly supposed; on
 the contrary,  it is now an established fact, that
 the material  of the spermatozoa becomes ac-
 tually mingled with the yelk, and thus renders
 it capable of development.  It is such profound
 physiological revelations as these,  tending to
 illustrate how it is that the offspring resembles
 the parent, that must ever give to this subject
 the most unbounded interest.
  When, under the impulse of sexual excite-
ment, the male seeks intercourse with  the fe-
male  the erectile tissues of  the genital  organs
become turgid with  blood.   These erectile tis-
sues are  chiefly contained within  the  corpora
cavernosa in the penis of the male, and in  the
clitoris and tissues of the vagina  in the female.
The erectile tissue appears essentially to consist
of  a plexus of varicose veins enclosed in a fi-
brous envelope ; and according to Gerber, this
plexus is traversed by numerous contractile
muscular fibres, to the contraction of which is
probably to be attributed the obstruction to  the
return of blood, which is the occasion  of  the 
GENERATIVE  ORGANS.         25
turgescence.  The discoveries of Muller, how-
ever, make the matter much clearer.  He found
in the penis lino sets of arteries, one destined
for the nutrition of the  tissues, communicating
with the veins through a capillary net-work in
the usual way; the  other passage into large
branches, penetrating the  cavernous  substance
in a spiral manner, and communicating abrupt-
ly with the  venous cell; and  it appears highly
probable that the contractile muscles before re-
ferred  to,  while impeding the  return  of  the
blood by the veins through the usual or purely
nutritive channels, may also permit  the blood
to enter freely into the helicine arteries, or those
specially used in producing the erection; which
blood not being able to escape with the same
rapidity as it enters, the arteries necessarily be-
come and remain filled until the emotional con-
ditions which had given rise to the action of the
muscles concerned had ceased to exist.
  Ejaculation, or seminal emission, in the normal
state, is consequent on  the state of the organ
previously described.          ,
  It is, however,  in a physiological point  of
view, a nervous phenomenon—the local excita-
tion having, through  the medium of  the spinal
cord, produced a reflex contraction  of the mus-
cular fibres  of the vasa deferentia,  and of the
muscles which surround the vesiculae  seminales
and prostate gland.   These  receptacles  dis-
charge their contents into the  urethra,  from
which they are expelled with a kind of spasmo-
dic action by its compressor muscles.
  The muscular contractions which produce the
emissio scminis are excito-motor in their nature,
being independent of the will, and  not capable
of restraint by it when once fully excited. 
26       THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.
  This emissio seminis occuring in immediate
proximity to the os uteri, or mouth of the womb,
the spermatozoa,  by the pecular wave-like mo-
tion they possess, make their way into the cav-
ity of the uterus, and meeting, either there  or
in one or other of the fallopian tubes, one  or
more of the ova before mentioned, impregnation
ensues.
CHAPTER  IV.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
  The highest  authority  on  earth  has  pro-
nounced marriage to be one of the most  hon-
orable obligations which can  be incurred by
man or woman; and the importance of the con
tract may be inferred from its purpose.
  The strongest impulse  of  our  nature is that
which induces  us  to seek the society of  the
opposite sex, and it is one which the very strong-
est will can never hold  in  entire  subordina-
tion, much less destroy.
  The institution of marriage is  one which all
nations, from an intuitive  feeling of their na-
ture, theoretically respect, however much it may
be practically violated.  Few men, except the
basest and most depraved, possess the courage
and hardihood to speak disrespectfully of this
heaven-born institution, though  many act,  in
secret, as though its vows, its duties, and its
obligations were "trifles  light  as air."  The
reason of this is a conscientious feeling that the
contract is a solemn bond, which the interests
* 
        THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     27

of private virtue and of public morality alike
demand should be  respected.  The end  and
purpose of marriage is high and holy, the insti-
tution itself heaven appointed, and its vows and
obligations the most sacred and binding.
  Yet, though such is marriage in the abstract—
in the true ideal  of the poet and the philoso-
pher—how different an aspect does it  present
when viewed in its practical  every-day condi-
tions.  Misery  and woe but too frequently fol-
low in its  footsteps; wretchedness is often its
near companion; and  distress and  grief occa-
sionally cling to  it as though they formed a
part of its nature.  The reason of this may ap-
pear difficult to divine, but to the physician—
the more  especially to him who, like  myself,
has consented to practise  in  what is called in
medical phraseology  a "specialty," and  that
specialty the diseases of organs having a more
important relation to this contract than  any
others—to such a man, admitted  as he is, and
must be, to the arcanum of the heart—the very
sanctum sanctorum, where the wide world  is
forbidden  to enter, and where no intrusive pry-
ing eye would for a single  moment be tolerated
—to him  there is no difficulty in  explaining
this apparent mystery.  He knows that there
are  often  circumstances,  of  which  society
dreams  not,  operating most powerful upon
the marriage union,  and  frequently blighting
all the fairest hopes and joys of both husband
and wire.
  The subject of  marriage has  occupied the
the pens of hundreds of writers, and been dila-
ted upon  in nearly all its  phases  and  aspects;
and truly  the topic is a most  extensive one—a 
28     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
 topic whose ramifications spreads through near-
 ly all branches of knowledge.  The clergyman
 dilates upon it as a religious rite, and in his high
 calling discribes some of its obligations and du-
 ties.  The lawyer is frequently called upon to
 unfold and construe old enactments, in which
 scores of the wisest of legislators were occupied
 for hundreds of years framing and bringing up
 to their present condition, relating exclusively
 to the conjugal bond, showing of how much im-
 portance the marriage union has been deemed.
  The historian tells us of  complex old forms
 and  ceremonies formerly employed to hedge
 about the marriage state, long since found un-
 necessary in the advances of  civilization.  The
 moral philosopher and-, the  social reformer de-
 scribe marriage in its bearing  upon the well-
 being of society, show how the conjugal bond
 is implied in the  social law, and  how society
 reaps the greatest advantages from  its purity
and respect.  The psychologist, with scarcely
less advantage to society, inquires into the men-
tal difference between the sexes, and endeavors
to show that  one  is essential to the happiness
of  the other.  The physician looks at marriage
in another aspect; and certainly the duties and
 obligations of that state, which are most com-
 monly brought before his mind, are not less im-
portant than any of the others named.   Indeed,
many of the latter  spring  from the former.
  The philosophy of marriage, in its „ widest
 sense, would doubtless include the social, mor-
 al, mental, physical and religious aspects of the
 bond; but as the physical is the basis of theresi>—
 as it is the most important, and at the same time
 the least understood—there  is the greater  ne-
\ 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     29
cessity for teaching it; and my remarks will re-
late  exclusively to it.  It has been said  and
may be said again,  that sexual intercourse is
the lowest of the  wedded  duties.   This, how-
ever,  is not so; and he  who asserts it must
either be an ascetic, living in an unnatural state
of isolation from society, having no knowledge
of the charm contained in the word " wife," or
"child"—one whose mind in all probability has
been debased by the grossest of vices, and whose
imagination, not purified by legitimate connu-
bial love,  is little better than a nest of noxious.
ideas; or, on the other hand, one who,  with the
best of intentions, mistakes the nature of mar-
riage  for want  of  reflection upon  its purpose.
  The physiological view of marriage is evident-
ly more important  than is generally  imagined,
and the mere physical pleasures, considering
how they rule and regulate  the  rest, are far
from being the lowest.
  How  deeply rooted the institution of mar-
riage  is in human  nature, may be inferred from
the fact, that it exists in some form or other
among all races of mankind. True, it undergoes
a great variety of  modifications,   according to
the influences brought to bear upon  it, the ad-
vances that civilization has made in the country
in which it appears, and the character and tem-
perament of the inhabitants; but underlying all
these  differences, there is an unanimity  in  the
importance  attached to the fact of marriage it-
self.   It may become degraded to the  lowest
and basest purposes; may be associated with all
that is vile and worthless, and converted into a
curse instead of blessing; but, on the other hand,
it may foster the  holiest  dispositions of man-
                                     c 
30     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
kind, promote love, fidelity, and truth, and be-
come the largest factor in man and woman's hap-
piness that earth has produced.
  Where the ties of Christian marriage are pro-
perly respected, and faithfully  adhered  to, no
pleasure on earth is so great as  that of living in
in a state of matrimony.  " Marriage,"  says
Dr. Johnson, "has  many  cares, but celibacy
has few pleasures."  No bond  on earth can be
more pleasurable and more divine than  that in
which all the members of a family are boumd to-
gether by domestic ties.
  In all proper states of society the laws  have
always given encouragement to  marriage.
  The censors in ancient Rome paid particular
attention to this object, and by subjecting the
single to penalties and ridicule,  made them anx-
ious to change their condition.   Caesar gave re-
wards to those who had many children, and pro-
hibited women  under  forty-five years of age
from wearing jewels, who were  unmarried and
had no children.
  The law of Augustus was even more severe; he
imposed new punishments on those who re-
mained in a celibate condition, and rewarded
those  who were married,  more particularly if
if they had children.  It  met, however, with
great  obstacles,  and thirty-four years  after it
had been passed, the Roman knights demanded
its repeal*
   Louis XIV gave great encouragement to early
marriages, and recompensed the fathers of fam-
ilies who  had a certain number of legitimate
children.  He exempted from taxation all those
men who married on or before  their twentieth
year. 
        THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     31

  In all ages in life the most agreeable compan-
ion that a  man  can  have  is a kind and loving
wife,  one who will share his pleasures and his
pains, who is always rejoiced to hear of his pros-
perity, but who clings to him all the more closely
should adversity cast  its  sable shade over his
prospects.   A woman who is indeed a partner
in the strict sense of the word —a true help-
mate, a partaker of his joys and his sorrows—
is the greatest blessing which heaven has be-
stowed upon poor disconsolate lonely man.  It
is, however, late in life, in  the season of the sere
leaves of life's autumn, that this rich and rare
blessing is, and must be more highly appreciated.
  Before quitting the subject of marriage, it is
essential for me to add a few hints for the guid-
ance of those who contemplate that serious en-
gagement, and on the conditions necessary for
a thorough and healthy accomplishment of na-
ture's purposes.
  Extreme  youth should  be attended by the
most complete repose of the generative functions,
unbroken by  intense feeling for their employ-
ment.   Should this not be the case, certain and
imminent danger awaits  upon  dawning  man-
hood.   It is however, but too  frequently the
case that this necessity for repose of the sexual
organism in early life is  ignored by those who
have  the care of youth.  How many of my
readers, who are accused of leading immoral lives,
might not answer, and with justice  to their accu-
sers, " you, our parents or guardians, who have
all the experience of age,  without having in the
least taught us the  necessary self-control over
our  passions  and impulses, but having left us
blindly to  follow the  instincts  of nature, now 
32     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
demand of us that we should not only curb our
strongest  passions,  but  expect  that we  can,
against nature, bring them to a dead halt at the
simple word of command.  You have educated
us in the true and proper use of all our faculties
and all our senses, save alone that which is the
strongest  of all; and now, when we have just
attained to manhood,  you say ' stop.'   Alas !
your advice comes too late.   Having no other
monitor but nature, we  followed her impulses;
and though you now tell us the  road may  lead
to ruin, the incline is, nevertheless, too steep to
enable us to apply the brake at once with effect."
  It is, notwithstanding, although most difficult,
absolutely necessary  that he  who  wishes  to
" live" should do so.  If we consult the bi-
ographies  of men who have made  themselves
eminent, we shall find that one of the most es-
sential requisites is  a strong constitution; and
this  cannot be  secured for ourselves, or at-
tained for our children,  save by  the exercise of
great  control  over  our own passions and in-
stincts, and great watchfulness and proper edu-
cation over those of our offspring.
  When  the sexual  passion is exercised too
early in life, even admitting that the generative
functions  have not been previously misused,
the result will generally be weakly and sickly
children, reared with  difficulty and possessing
no stamina  to enable them  to reach the meri-
dian of life.
   The proper age at which to marry is  a some-
what vexed question, but needlesslv so, because,
although that age varies much,  according  to
temperament and other circumstances, an expe-
rienced physician will have no difficulty in say- 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF  MARRIAGE.      33
ing yes or no to the particular individual who
asks him the question, especially as the solution
of it  depends  on  the perfection of  the healthy
growth of the frame.
   The marriage state  is  undoubtedly the best
and most natural cure for sexual suffering  to
many  a  human being; but to marry with the
chance of happiness,* many things are necessary.
Let the youngster green to the ways of the world
pause, otherwise he may run from  one misery
into  another.   The  light literature of  the day
furnishes ample materials showing the folly that
besets the boy in love; here it is that the sexual
passion again, uncontrolled, may by  inducing
him to marry  the first pretty doll that smiles on
him  and welcomes his attentions,  plunge him
into  irretrievable  ruin.   But of  what avail is
advice—how is it  possible to control some  men
who  have  not common  sense?    I  fear  they
must sink—nothing can help  them—they will
not  be guided, so great is their belief  in their
own superior attainments.   They fall out of the

   * Listen to what Pariw says on Jfarrirtfre : " Amidst the abun-
dant statistics which have been coUected lately, it has been demon-
strated that bachelors live a shorter time than the benedicts.  This
assertion is only true, provided the married couples live happily
 together; otherwise bachelors must have the advantage.  In a hap-
 py marriage, everything conduces to  enjoyment,  to well-being,
 health and longivity, for life is passed without shocks and agita-
 tion ; there is a kernel of felicity, around which is superimposed
 all the other pleasures which can arise, and which must soften the
 misfortunes to which human nature is  inevitably doomed.  In an
 unhappy marriage, wnen each person is a perpetual cross for the
 other, every thing is anguish, torment, trouble, and disquietude ;
 to-day. to-morrow, and always, at each moment the bitter cup, full
 to overflowing, approaches and touches the lips.  Is there a con-
 stitution sufficiently strong, or health sufficiently robust, a soul
 sufficiently firm to flatter itself that it can resist such cruel at-
 tacks? "
   But I fear that, after all, however advisable on medical grounds,
 early marriage in the upper classes of life must form the exception,
 not the rule, being governed mainly by the imperious laws of so-
 ciety, «nd consideration of finance.
                                          C* 
34     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
ranks of society, and decay—its very rubbish
beside the onward path of those whose career
is happier, because conformable to physical and
moral laws.
  Early marriages, however, rest not with  the
medical man; the laws of supply and demand
will regulate this, as seen in the following stat-
istics :—
  The age at which men many in  England is
now  for the first time made out, in consequence
of the census tables framed in 1851, a synopsis
of which I subjoin from the official report, re-
commending it  to  the attentive perusal of  my
readers.
  If  we take only persons of the age of twenty
 nd  upwards, the  bachelors amount to 1,689,
116 ; the spinsters to 1,767,194.*
  The proportions  of the married  among  the
population of the  age of twenty and upwards
are 62 in 100 males; 57 in 100 females.
  About 1 in  3 of the whole population,  and
nearly 4 in 6 in men, and 4 in 7 of the women,
of the ages of twenty and upwards, are  living
in the married state.
  The proportional numbers  of the ages be-
tween twenty and  forty, married, are 52 in 100
males; 55 in 100 females.
  At the ages between forty and sixty there are
79 in 100 men ; 70 in 100 women, married.
  At the ages between sixty and eighty, in 100
men there are 65;  in 100 women  42, married.
And finally, at  the ages  between eighty and a
 * The term " spinster " is derived from the custom presalent be-
fore the introduction of machinery, that a maiden should have
spun a certain tale or task of woollen yarn before she was con-
sidered a qualified housewife. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     35
hundred there are 37 in 100 men—whilst there
are only 12 in 100 women, married.
  The  mean age  at which marriages are first
contracted  in  England  and Wales is  nearly
twenty six years for males, and about twenty-
four years and-a-half for females.
  The wife is two years and-a-half younger than
the husband, and the duration of marriage is,
on an average, twenty-seven years.
  A man  or  woman above twenty and below
forty is called young; so those of the age of  forty
and above are called old.
  Viewed  in this light, it will  be  found that
there are  in  the  kingdom about 1,407,225
" young," and 359,969 " old" maids; 1,413,912
" young," and 275,204 " old" bachelors.
  Of 100 men of the age of twenty and upwards,
31 are bachelors in Great Britain.
  Of 100 women of the age of twenty and up-
wards in Great Britain, 29 are spinsters.
  In  London, Bath, and  Cheltenham,  they
amount to 40 per cent.
  20 in 100 families are childless, and 80 in 100
have children living.
  In 1851, the births of 615,865 living children
were registered in England and Wales—573,685
as the children of married, and 42,000 as the off-
spring of unmarried women; and the census re-
turns show that the women of the age of fifteen
to fifty-five married were 2,553,894; the women
unmarried, including widows as well as spinsters
2,449,669.  So that to 1,000 married women of
that age, 224 living children are born annually;
and to 1,000 unmarried women, 17 living child-
ren are annually born.
   "Upon the hypothesis that as many unmarried 
36     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.

women must, ceteris paribus, be living irregular-
ly to every child born out of wedlock, then 186-
920, or 1 in 13, of the unmarried  women must
be living so as to contribute as much to the births
as an equal number of married women.
  These figures—although being based  upon
examination of the entire population, they may
be no safe guide to conclusions as to  the mar-
riage statistics  of the higher  classes—tell the
actual state of  the marriageable people of the
community at large.
  It is to  enable man to people the earth that
Providence  has implanted in us, in  common
with the brute creation, what is called the sexual
passion, feelings  which influence the male to
such an extent,  that they become the prominent
ones for a portion of his existence.  As Parise
says, " to live  and give life are the dominant
passions."  And an anonymous writer forcibly
observes; "to have offspring is not to be  regarded
as a luxury, but as a great primary necessary of
health and happiness; the ignorance of the ne-
cessity of sexual intercourse to the health and vir-
tue of both man and woman is the most funda-
mental error in medical and moral philosophy."
  But, to have healthy offspring, it is necessary
that the bodily frame should have full vigor,
and should be  in that condition that sexual in-
tercourse should be a necessity for health, that
its  performance should, so far from leaving  a
weakening or exhaustive feeling, impart a sense
of lightness and relief, of a kind comparable to
that which, when in full health, we enjoy after
indulging in the luxury of the bath.
  Those who contemplate matrimony should also
bear in mind that it is not only essential that 
       THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.      37

they should be in a vigorous condition  them-
selves, but that those with whom they propose
to unite their fortunes should be healthy also.
  They should, too, remember that the strongest
children, both mentally  and  bodily,  are those
who are the offspring of parents dissimilar from
each other in  temperament and in bodily and
mental qualifications.
  I do not, of course, mean that the intellec-
tual should consort with the ignorant, er any ab-
surdity of that character; but, that although an
unanimity  of sentiment be necessary for happi-
ness in married life, yet, if each party possess
individual specialties, which,  if conjoined in one
would present a mental,  moral, or  physical
character  superior to either, the offspring of
such parties will, in all probability, possess that
superiority.
  They should also remember that diseases and
defect of all kinds are hereditary; and the ut-
most caution should be used,  not only  as regards
the health of the parties themselves,  but of the
peculiarities of their progenitors.   But espe-
cially  is it necessary that they be certain that
they are in full possession of virile power.
  There is another point of some importance,
which is also worthy of comment.  It sometimes
happens that great mischief ensues from an ab-
surd supposition  that because marriage is  an
honorable contract, there can be no such thing
as excess in the performance of its physical ob-
ligations.   This is a very serious error, and one
which, from the comparatively innocent  deli-
cacy which enshrouds the subject, is, unfortu-
nately,  but too   prevalent   The   celebrated
Martin Luther considered it sufficiently impor- 
38     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
tant to allude to it definitely, in a distich in one
of his works, as follows:
           "3n bcr SBodje jhrfer,
           53?a^t im 3a&r fcunbert unb »ier,,
           ©d)abet roeber mir
           9fod)  bir."
Which may be thus freely  translated from the
old German:
       But twice in every week no more—
       Each year one hundred times and four,
        Will hurt neither me
          Nor thee.
  But  Martin  Luther although a great authority
in divinity, was  erroneous in thus laying down
an universal law in matters physiological; for
constitutional differences render this even a more
difficult matter on which to pronounce a defi-
nite rule than the question "when to marry ?"
  No  conscientious physician would dare so to
commit himself, as he would know well that no
rule of the kind could be laid down without his
previously   becoming   acquainted  with  the
'' physique " of the individual interested in ask-
ing the question.
  It has been observed by an  eminent practi-
tioner, that about one person in  every ten is
ruptured; but whether this be so or not, my own
experience leads me to the conviction,that out
of  one hundred persons who attain the age of
twenty-five there are at least twenty who labor
under some functional or  structural derange-
ment of  the generative organism.   I do not, in
saying this, simply mean that  that  number are
incapacitated  for begetting children, but  that
they are literally  unable properly to perform
the usual physical obligations of a matrimonial
state. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     39
  The ordinance of marriage being clearly, ac-
cording to both physiological science and divine
law, one mainly intended for the procreation of
healthy offspring, it must of necessity be crim-
inal in every respect for those who are so unfor-
tunate as to labor under any hindrance,whether
naturally or from disease, to the due perform-
ance of the duties of an honorable union,  to con-
ceal that hindrance or defect, or to consummate
an  union with a person of the opposite sex,
without taking advantage of every aid which
medical or physiological skill can  afford to re-
move  it. And if  further proof than that which
plain  reasoning furnishes be required in sup-
port of this assertion, it is furnished by the fact,
that such a crime invariably brings its own pun-
ishment with it  in a  life of misery and dis-
content, further embittered by the reflection of
the guilty party,  that he has involved an inno-
cent being, not in his crimiDality but in its pun-
nishment.
  It is therefore obvious  that, before entering
into the state of matrimony, it is incumbent
upon  every one to consider  seriously whether
he may not be one of those who may be  risking
his own life-long happiness, defeating his own
expectations, involving  in irremediable  misery
his intended  partner,  and  endangering  the
health and well-being of possible offspring.
  It is true that many may and do  err from ig-
norance; they maybe honest, temperate and vir-
tuous, and contract the obligation in a confident
belief of the integrity and efficiency of their vir-
ile  power, finding but  too  late that they had
committed a fearful and (if they do not  suspect
the cause and seek a remedy) irreparable error. 
40     THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.
  One ot the most numerous of the classes of
patients who consult me, is that wherein the
patients, unsuspective  of their  disability, have
contracted  matrimony, and have afterwards
found  that they could neither  enjoy the plea-
sures of the nuptial couch, nor  secure the fruc-
tification which is its  greatest  glory; but both
husband and wife never for an instant suspected
that he or she was the party in whom the defect
existed; and of ten has an after life of happiness
been  secured  to  those who have been bold
enough to emancipate themselves from the thral-
dom of a false delicacy, and detail  to me in sa-
cred trust all those important particulars which
clear up the mystery, and enable me to remove
its cause.
  It is not possible within the limits  of  this
work  to indicate  all the causes of the unfortu-
nate state of things to which I have alluded.
  Many of them may be gathered from the con-
text of the whole of its chapters, but  there are
many others which even the  physician  himself
would  scarcely suspect, apart from the revela-
tions  or  the examination of the party who suf-
fers from their consequences.
  It is consequently an imperative duty before
incurring  a matrimonial obligation, that every
one should be perfectly and thoroughly  certain
that physical impediments do not forbid the step.
  It may be safely, affirmed that  at least one-
half of  the  conjugal  misery which afflicts the
world would  be  prevented, were this duty uni-
versally recognized.   And supposing the parties,
or  either  of them,  to have erred in ignorance,
either, of  their condition or  their duties, there
should not for one moment be anything taken 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.     41
for granted;  it must not be suffered that each
should cherish the fatal  impression that with
the other rests the mischief or  the blame.   Re-
sort should be had at once to competent au-
thority and ability, to  determine  the real state
of the case, and to endeavor to  remove it.  And
it is fortunate for humanity, that large as is the
proportion of adults suffering under the disabil-
ities to which I have alluded, there are but very
few indeed, even in cases of structural derange-
ment—the most difficult of all with which I have
had to deal—in which  if perfect relief or remo-
val be impossible, at all events a  large amount
of amelioration is practicable.
  But I must here observe that it is imperatively
necessary, in all  such cases, to be thoroughly
certain that the party consulted in such matters
be one who has made them his exclusive study.
  The worst feature of the present time in med-
ical science, is that every student is educated in
generalities,  and  that there  are but few who
leave that beaten path, to seek for themselves
a perfect and thorough knowledge of a special
class of diseases.  Hence it is the London Phar-
macopoeia contains, amidst its thousands of re-
medial  preparations, but one absolute  specific
(quinine for the ague), and hence it is that thous-
ands upon thousands die of diseases which no
practitioner will venture to assert to be incurable.
   How large and deep a benefactor to his species
would he not  be hailed, who should  say  to-
morrow  "I can  certainly cure consumption."
And why not ?   Simply  because the  class of
ailments tending to that condition have not been
made the sole study of any one man.   Jenner and
Harvey were benefactors to science, and to the 
42      THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE.

human species, by leaving the beaten track and
devoting themselves each to a specialty.  Their
opponents were of the same class as those who
would  at the  present day be opponents to new
Jenners and new Harveys, viz., the members of
their own profession, the men who are content
to go on in the old .jog-trot of empiricism, hav-
ing a smattering of knowledge on  all diseases,
but without the profundity of experience which
would enable them to deal  with  certainty with
any.
  When I  say that I have  devoted my life  to
the exclusive study of the anatomy, physiology,
and pathology of the generative organs, and
that during the twenty  years of  my practice
every variety of sexual disability has come under
my notice and treatment, I  am not in the least
wishing to assert that there are no others equally
competent, by like study and practice, to  deal
with them; but this I do and am bound to say,
that no  ordinary medical practitioner, whose
time and energies are fritted away at random
amongst the ' 'thousand ills that flesh is heir to,"
can be depended on for advice or assistance in any
but the most simple and ordinary cases.  Nor is
this the only disadvantage: it is not merely that
they cannot afford relief, but their inability too
often leads their patients to suppose that because
they have failed, their cases are beyond the reach
of art; and consequently they give way  to a
state of despondency, which not only prevents
their seeking other aid, but has Such an effect  on
the general system, as to lead many to an early
grave.   My knowledge and experience of such
lamentable results alone induces me to speak so
strongly on this point; and if these  sentences 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        43
have the effect of inducing those who labor un-
der impediments which involve the happiness
of two human beings for a lifetime,  and of their
possible ofispring also, to seek really efficient aid
under their difficulties, my object will have been
accomplished.
CHAPTER  V.
ABNORMAL CONDITION  OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.
  I have now to draw attention to the abnormal
condition of the organism whose structure and
functions have been previously described.  It
is  not a difficult task in itself ; unfortunately
the materials for a full desciption are sufficient to
enable me  to  fill volumes upon volumes with
experiences,  the general knowledge of which
would be of the utmost service to the commu-
nity.  But it is rendered a  difficult task by the
circumstance that the feeling of false delicacy,
to which I have  previously  referred,  and to
which I  shall afterwards have occasion  more
particularly to allude, is  unfortunately so prev-
alent, that not only is the subject itself ignored,
but no one  but myself has yet ventured to place
a popular treatise in the hands of those who
have  the wisdom to apply  for it.  The only
works which  profess to allude to such matters,
are those abstruse and expensive ones intended
for the  perusal  of the profession alone—so
crowded with technicalities  that no one but
an adept in anatomy and  physiology can under- 
44        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
stand them—or the worse than  ignorant  lucu-
brations of the charlatan, who fattens upon the
fears which he creates by his misrepresentations.
  Most of the functional disorders of the gen-
erative organs  are due to a precocious develop-
ment of sexual ideas, in a number of cases many
years previously to the perfect evolution of the
organs themselves.
  Lallemand says; "This  preponderance  of
the sexual over the material instinct announces
itself, usually, at a very early age.  The children
we have  seen  taking notice of women, five, six
or even ten years before puberty  commences,
evince  during  the  remainder  of  their lives
susceptibility  towards everything which can
provoke  or  recall  erotic  ideas.   Whether the
impressions  spring from  the  sexual  organs  or
the  senses,  their  imagination  seems  to  caress
them,  turning and returning  them  to  every
point of view.   Voluptuous images disturb the
gravest train  of  thought, intrude upon their
meditations, and  pursue them even in their
dreams.   They desire every woman, and their
passion  for her is  rapturous,  but  the  virile
power  does  not come up to  their intensity of
lust.   The  venereal   act  tires  and unnerves
them ; they  feel this, but are  drawn on in spite
of themselves, and pursue the indulgence  as
far as force  permits.   Some there are who have
no more power over themselves  than the insane.
When exhausted they make the  wisest reso-
lutions,  which however,  they  break through,
although, perhaps, knowing at  the moment the
ill consequences which will inevitably follow."
   When such  a boy  goes to school, his elder
associates may initiate him into the  pernicious 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.         45
habit  of masturbation,  to which, in- most in-
stances, we may trace the  great  prevalence of
sexual debility.
   Those who  have witnessed, as  I have done,
the fearful  effects of a habit destroying all the
fairest prospects of earth's most promising sons,
will agree  with me that  nothing can be more
important than to communicate correct instruc-
tion upon  so  vital a question.  The habit to
which reference has just been made is known
by various  names, most  of them, perhaps, to
some extent objectionable.  The most common,
perhaps,  is Onanism, taken from the circum-
stance that the first instance we have on record
of a perpetration of a crime of this kind is that
of Onan, mentioned in Genesis.  Every  one,
however, who  reads the  narrative  carefully,
must perceive that the crime  of Onan was not
exactly that  which is  called  after  his  name.
Another term, already named, and perhaps  a
more correct  one, is  Masturbation, derived
from manus,  the  hand,  and  strapo, I  defile.
This can, however, be considered strictly correct
only when  applied to the procuring  emissions
by titillations  of  the virile member with  the
hand ;  whereas it is used in a much more ex-
tended sense, signifying emission procured by
any artificial means—any means,  in  fact, short
of intercourse with the opposite  sex.*   Some-
 * It is important to remark that excessive indulgence in inter-
course with the opposite sex, even in married life, is quite as
prejudicial to health as indulgence in the habits here referred to ;
and that I am  as frequently consulted by married men who are
unable to perform their marital duties, and who tell me (until I
ascertain the contrary by questioning them) that there is no evident
cause for their disability, as I am by parties unmarried, who know
their own conduct has produced their impotent condition.  Proper
remedial treatment, however, will restore in tbe one case as in the
other. 
46         ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
 times habits of this kind have been  spoken of
 as  Pollutions, but this  term is  objectionable,
 as it confounds in many cases the cause with
 the effect.   A pollution is merely an  emission,
 and that may frequently arise from weakness or
 disease  of these organs, perhaps caused by this
 vice, or perhaps not, and even in the former case
 occurring long after the habit has been aban-
 doned.   The  most expressive term  is that of
 sd/'-pollution, or self-abuse; but as all  the others
 are commonly used  and understood, my ob-
 jections to them are not sufficiently strong to
 prevent me from employing them.
  The  pernicious  habit of  self-abuse may be
 commenced  very early in life, and may be, as
 has been already intimated,  the result either of
 teaching by associates or companions, or of ac-
 cidental  circumstances.  Few persons,  except
those who have had  great experience in these
 matters, would for a moment guess that a habit
of this kind could  commence at  the tender age
 at which children are sometimes presented to my
notice, suffering its dismal consequences.   In-
 deed, it is almost impossible to say of any child
that it  is too young  to practice it; frequently
it is commenced at three or four years of age,
 and  sometimes  even earlier.  Of course there
 can be no emission  at  so early a period, but
 gratification is found in friction upon the glans,
penis, and other adjacent parts ;  and the habit
is  continued for the sake of this pleasurable
 sensation till  an emission takes place, which
occurs  under  such circumstances much earlier
than otherwise.*  Even  infants, a few months
 * This is a most important fact, as from the intimate connection
 between the testes and the brain and nervous system, a direction 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        47
     old, will acquire the habit of handling and play-
     ing with their genital parts, if not  checked by
     their parents or nurses; and there can be but little
     doubt that such a trifling circumstance as this has,
     in hundreds of instances, given rise  to this most
     degrading and pernicious vice.  At three or four
+1    years  of  age, however, it is very common, and
     produces the most baneful  consequences ; for,
     although there is not at that period the terrible
     debility which we so frequently  witness in the
     emaciated and broken-up constitutions of those
     more advanced in years, yet there is an  undue
     excitement, which must give rise to a large num-
     ber of  diseases, particularly  of  the brain and
     nervous system ; and  there is also the dismal
     fact, that the habit commenced at this period
     will continue through life, unless some guardian
     angel arrests its  course.
      The diseases which may arise from this habit,
     even when practised  before seminal  fluid  is
     found in the vesicles,  and consequently  before
     there can be any emission, are neither few nor
     small.  The over-excited state of the  nervous
     system which is produced, and the loss of ner-
     vous power which follows  it, may give rise to
     such a perturbation of the nervous system as to
     occasion death, which  is evidenced by a case of
     Lallemand's, where death did occur, and  which
     the  Professor of Montpelier  attributes  to the
     effect produced on the brain  by repeated con-
     vulsive shocks, similar to  those which suscepti-
     ble subjects receive when the  soles of the feet
     is given to the action of the latter which, if not altered by timely and
    judicious remedial treatment will not only materially interfere with
     the '•mental ability" of the individual, in a business point of view,
     but sometimes result in insanity.— (See note in a subsequent part
     of this chapter, as to Dr. Ritchie's researches.) 
48        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
are tickled.   When, however, this undue  ex-
citement, and  its consequent depression, does
not terminate in physical death, it does, in many
cases, in what may be justly  considered mental
death, viz., in the loss of all intellectual capa-
bilities,  and the establishment of idiotcy.  How
numerous are the cases which I have myself
seen, of  children at six or seven years of age, who
had been their parents'  pride and joy, sunk into
a state of confirmed idiotcy through this baneful
practice !  Other evils, far too numerous to re-
fer to individually, are  also the common conse-
quences of this habit,  when  commenced at so
early a period.  " However young the children
may be," says the author just quoted,  "they
get thin, pale,  or irritable, and  their features
become  haggard ; their sleep is short, and most
complete marasmus  comes on; they may die,
if this evil passion is not got the better of: ner-
vous symptoms set in,  spasmodic contractions,
or partial or entire convulsive movements, such
as epilepsy, eclampsy, and a species of paraly-
sis."
  Should, however, the habit be continued, and,
in consequence of a strong constitution, none of
these symptoms  make their appearance during
this youthful period, nature  will reply to the
call of the excitement,  and semen will be emit-
ted at a period  much earlier than would other-
wise occur.  In such cases  the sexual  instinct
manifests itself some time, perhaps many years,
before the genital organs are in a fit condition
to secrete this fluid.  As soon as there is an es-
cape, the pleasure  will be  greater  than  had
before been  experienced, and consequently the
habit more confirmed;  the practice of it will in- 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        49
evitably be much more frequent, and, as a mat-
ter of course, the chances of escape much less.
Now, in addition to the undue excitement, there
will be a drain upon the system, in the  loss of
the most vital fluid in the body.  The frequency
with which this act will be repeated in the day,
is enough to frighten the physician or physiolo-
gist  as  to the  consequences ; but the youthful
devotee, at the shrine of a more cruel deity than
Moloch, fears rlo ill, because he knows not the
danger—lie sees not the precipice upon which
he is standing,  nor the vast chasm  over which
he is tottering.
  All cases of this kind, however, are not com-
menced at so early a period in life: the habit
is not discovered until the genital organs are in
a condition to obey the call made upon them.
Sometimes,  as has been  mentioned,  the first
knowledge that a youth obtains of this practice
is  learned from his  associates, at school ; for
large institutions, where a number of  boys  are
collected together, and more particularly where
several  sleep in the same room, are admirably
adapted for the purpose of propagating a vice
of this kind ; and there can be little doubt, that
in many instances they are the very hot  beds of
this vice.  At other times the habit  is acquired
through accident.  Horse-riding has,  in  nu-
merous cases, given rise to it, by producing an
agreeable feeling in the friction of the genitals
upon the saddle,  or back of the horse: at other
times it has been commenced by rubbing the
legs together, the penis being between  them ;
and frequently by sleeping upon the abdomen.
Sometimes the cause which first gave rise to it
may have been a derangement of the cerebellum 
50        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
 —that part of the brain which controls the sex-
 ual organs—the impulse, however, to some mode
 of gratification arises more frequently in young
 persons from reading obscene and erotic works,
 which, where there is a lively imagination, are
 almost  sure  to cause excessive inclination for
 sexual intercourse.  Books of this kind are most
■diabolical instruments  of vice among young per-
 sons.  Whether such  a work comes with bold
 effrontery, in  its own  naked  form, under no
.garb, but with the  avowed object  of teaching
 indecency  and licentiousness; or  whether  it
 makes its appearance in some quack production,
 professedly full of morality and religion, but in
 reality containing little else than  filthy details
 of the  most disgusting cases ; or  whether  it
 finds its way into  the family circle under the
 pleasing guise of a most " interesting and en-
 tertaining aaovel," its effects will  be the same.
  Not only is the habit of masturbation practised
 by the youth and young man, but it frequently
 clings to its victims even  beyond the  mid-
 dle age, seldom, however longer; not because
the practice itself is overcome by any control
 exercised over  the animal  propensities  by the
 moral or intellectual faculties, but,  because,  if
 the habit has been persisted in, all virile power
 has by that time been lost.  Even before mid-
 dle age this is  frequently  the case;  where  it  is
 not, however—where the power still remains—
 it is no  uncommon  thing for a man to practice
 this most degrading vice even after he has en-
 tered the connubial state, and has  become the
 father of children.   Indeed, when  once  com-
 menced, itis a most difficult matter to discontinue
 it until virile power has become completely de-
 stroyed. 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        51
   The  consequences  of the habit of self-abuse
 are  far too numerous to be referred  to in the
 limited space at my disposal, or to be  discussed
 in the minute manner in which they are treated
 in my works written  only for the Medical  Pro-
 fession; but as the most common one, and  from
 which several others frequently arise, viz., sper-
 matorrhoea, will have a chapter devoted exclu-
 sively to  it, all that  I shall do in  this  chapter
 will be to notice very  briefly  the usual effects
 which ensue, more especially that called  vari-
 cocele,  or varicose veins  in the  testicle.   Fre-
 quent and undue actions of an organ, no  mat-
 ter in what part of the body situated, will cause
 a greater  flow of blood to that organ, and  a
 change is consequently very likely to take place
 in the number and condition of the blood-vessels;
 this is what occurs in  the testes in varicocele.
 From  the continual  excitement and constant
 action of  the parts in the formation and emis-
 sion of large quantities  of seminal fluid, the
 veins become enormously distended, and appar-
 ently more numerous, and their coats thickened;
 the scrotum generally becomes elongated on the
 affected side, more frequently the left, but some-
 times both; the folds  disappear, and the whole
 organ hangs down in a pendulous state; some-
 times the testicle wastes entirely away,  and, as
 a matter of course, impotence, in many cases in-
 curable, is the result.
  In case  987*, for example, the patient  told
 * It is requisite that I should say here, with regard to the intro-
 duction of illustrative cases that in no instance whatever  is any
 particular introduced, which  can possibly lead to identification.
 and further that my case book is so full of such illustrative cases,
treated long since, and wherein the parties have been fully restored,
 and are now beyond even suspicion of former evil of  any kind,
that there exists no necessity for making use of  more  recent
 instances. 
52        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
me in various letters describing his condition,
that he had practised the habit of masturbation
from the age of ten, as near as he could  recol-
lect, but thought it might probably have been
earlier.   It was first commenced  by mere  ac-
cident.  Climbing a tree in his father's garden to
obtain some fruit, the friction upon the genital or-
gans produced so agreeable a sensation, that he
repeated the act again and again: this led him to
attempt to produce the same pleasurable feel-
ings by other means.   Having continued  this
practice for two or three years, and emission oc-
curring, he began to have inclinations for inter-
course with the opposite sex, which this viscous
practice was found the means of gratifying.
  At last, when about sixteen, he determined to
discontinue the baneful practice, not because he
saw any evil in it, but because he looked upon it
as a boyish habit; and as he was now arriving, as
he thought, at manhood, he concluded that the
practice of childhood, this amongst the number
should be thrown aside; but before  he had  ad-
hered to his resolution for a week, he was seiz-
ed with an excessive desire for sexual intercourse;
this, he said, he dared not indulge in, for  fear
of violating those precepts of Christianity which
his father had instilled into his mind.   Forni-
cation he looked upon as a horrible  sin, which,
however strong the temptation, must  be avoided.
He consequently reverted to  his former  habit,
and for years afterwards viewed it not as an evil
but as a positive good, since it was  a means to
him of avoiding the sin of  fornication.    "Oh!"
wrote  he, " that my father, or some one else,
had conversed with me on matters of this kind
at that period, it would have prevented all this 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        53
suffering.   But no: all such  subjects were pro-
hibited from being mentioned, and I went on sin-
ning against God, and against my own.constitu-
tion in complete ignorance."   He went on to say
that about two years after he had thus recom-
menced this deadly habit,  he began  to look
pale and emaciated, his appetite fell off, he ex-
perienced  severe  pains in the back part of the
head, and in the testes and loins, seminal  emis-
sions frequently occurred, and he was fast be-
coming  the shadow of his  former self.   His
friends began to be alarmed at his appearance;
the family medical  man, was consulted  ; his
lungs were examined and declared sound, and
the disease pronounced general debility, which
a change  of air  and  tonic  medicines would
probably remove.  The tonic medicines, in the
shape of large doses of  quinine, were adminis-
tered; the sea-coast was resorted to for change
of air, but he experienced no relief.   The root
of the disease had escaped attention, and, as a
matter of course, the symptons did not improve.
At this period the patient himself had not the
slightest idea that the debilitated  state of his
frame originated in the habit he had been so
long  practising.  He thus continued to  grow
worse and worse, and his friends made up their
minds that whatever might be the cause of his
disease  he  certainly  would never  recover.
Celebrated physicians were now consulted, but
the habit  that was draining the fountains of
the body of  their vitality was never referred to,
and the consequence was that the treatment had
no effect.  At  length the young man began to
notice a great change in his genital organs; the
scrotum hung  down  in the pendulous  state 
54        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
before mentioned; on the left  side no testicle
could be felt, but in its place a number of hard
cords; there  was an  apparent diminution  in
size of the external parts, and an eruption made
its  appearance under  the prepuce.   It was
whilst in this state that in  the course of  his
reading he came  across the "Confessions  of
Jean  Jacques  Kousseau,"  which  completely
opened  his eyes,  and he now saw  clearly the
nature of the horrible vice he had for so many
years indulged in, and the consequences which
were now, in misery to himself, flowing from it.
  I had considerable  difficulty with this case,
on account of the extent to which the mischief
had proceeded ; but as he had a naturally strong
constitution, and  the revulsion of feeling con-
sequent on suddenly learning the nature of the
vice in which he had been indulging gave him
sufficient strength of resolution to conquer  it,
and to persevere in the  treatment I employed,
the result was completely successful.
  This case alone should be sufficient to show
the evil of keeping youth in ignorance of the
nature of the generative organs, and the conse-
quence of  their abuse.
  Impotence  declares itself with great rapidity
in persons  who are addicted to masturbation,
especially when exposed  to influences calcu-
lated to injure health.   The  testes, as already
mentioned, rapidly become flaccid and shrivelled.
The distressing sense  of weight, so frequently
described  as a dragging pain, further tends  to
prove the organic changes going on in these or-
gans ; the muscular fibres, which were described
when speaking of the anatomy of  the parts,
lose their  contractility, which they never  do 
          THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.       55

in a healthy condition: hence  the symptoms
described.
  The  phenomena which  attend  the various
forms of  sexual debility create much difficulty
in the attempt to represent them.
  An individual  thus  afflicted  after a  while
presents a melancholy and dejected appearance.
He is restless, ever and again desiring a change,
but disinclined to physical exercise.  He seeks
solitude, and by allowing his thoughts to dwell
on the fact of his  disability, frequently becomes
hypochondriacal.    In business  he losses self-
confidence, and is constantly in  dread of some
unforeseen event  about to happen to him.   His
temper likewise  becomes irritable,  and  he is
the subject of most sudden exacerbation of an-
ger and passion.  Muscular debility, character-
ized by fatigue, lassitude, and pain in the loins,
on  the slightest  exertion, prevails  to a most
distressing degree.   The healthy color of the
skin disappears, the eyes lose their brightness,
and are surrounded by a dark halo, while the
state of the digestive organs becomes exceed-
ingly distressing.   But it is the immediate effect
of an over-excited state of the generative organs
to lower vital energy  of the system; the conse-
quence is, that great organic and constitutional
disturbance ensues.
  The functions  of the brain are the earliest to
declare the secret fact;  giddiness and headache
are more or less  present; memory becomes de-
fective, and the power of commanding and con-
trolling  the ideas is lost, while a frequent  dis-
inclination to enjoy the usual amount of sleep
terminates in general and extreme physical ex-
haustion. 
 56        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF

  It is my firm  opinion that the abuse  of the
sexual feelings is the frequent cause of mental
derangement, the primary cause of the complaint
being but too often entirely ignored in ordinary
treatment, and the subsequent symptoms treated
as if the  brain had  been  the organ primarily*
affected.*
  There appears but little doubt that  the mor-
bid state of the nervous system, more particular-
ly the  spinal cord, which is produced by exces-
sive sexual  intercourse, is analogous to  that
which is sometimes observed in the muscles after
excessive exercise.  And it seems a fair analogy
which  suggests that the loss of nervous power,
and especially the paraplegia, that may follow
long-continued sexual excess^ are due to changes
very similar  to those that are witnessed in the
progressive muscular atrophy after great mus-
cular exertion; the softening and wasting of the
spinal cord  being a process of degeneration es-
sentially similar to that traced in the  muscles.
  It must never be forgotten that seminal emis-
sion, is associated with what may be  regarded
as violent exertions of the spinal cord.
  It is, besides,  the peculiar character of semi-
niferous losses, but  more  especially when self-
provoked, to establish an order of symptoms
which appear to have their seat in the  region of
the stomach; the epigastrium becomes  tender
to the touch; a sensation  of faintness referred
  * Since writing the above I find that Ritchie, resident Phyicians
of Bethnal House Asylum, in a paper published in the Lancet of
February 16, entitled, "An Enquiry into a frequent cause of Insani-
ty in Young Men," states, as regards "the  frequency of cases
of insanity arising  from masturbation," that in that asylum the
percentage from that cause was, in the private class, 1 in 7-98 and
in the pauper class 1 in 15-16; and referred to the possibility of its
being thought that that proportion was exaggerated or overstated,
 Bays, " Would it were so!" 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.       57
to this spot is complained of;  also occasional
pain,  'flatulence,  a sense  of  distension,  and
other anomalous symptons.
  These symptoms are undoubtedly the result
of venereal excitement, implicating the central
ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system.
  Hence we have the strongest reason to infer,
that when undue excitement of the generative
functions  causes irritation of  these  ganglia,
this undue excitement will be thus communicated
to  the  spinal cord, producing depression  of
spirits, pain at  the  pit of the stomach, and
general prostration.
  If such be the nature of these  complicated
nervous phenomena, it is not altogether so sur-
prising as  it would  otherwise be, that in the
worst cases which occur of excesses in young
men,  nature has  been sometimes unable  to
recover from too rapidly repeated shocks.
  The irritation thus set up has morbidly ex-
cited the channels of  nervous influence, pro-
ducing in  them some permanent  injury,  from
which they never wholly recover.
  It is also a similar sympathetic influence thus
morbidly developed, that re-acts on the kidneys
as well as the stomach, causing them to pour
out a considerable quantity of thick, muddy,
unhealthy urine; and an irritablility of the
bladder/inducing a frequent desire  to mictu-
 rate.
   Many of the foregoing symptoms were appar-
 ent in case 1563, which I treated successfully
 by correspondence   only.  The  patient thus
 writes:—" At the age of about fifteen I acquired
 the fearful habit of masturbation, and continued
 an ignorant devotee and victim of it until I was 
58        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
twenty-one, (nine months ago).   By accident I
became acquainted with the  terrible effects of
this habit, last winter; but though I tried hard,
and prayed earnestly for strength to free myself
from its shackles, I was not enabled  to do so
thoroughly till about the middle of April last,
when I discovered the havoc it was committing
on my frame.  I then appeared like one for the
grave.   Unfortunately I applied to an adver-
tised doctor, who sent me an instrument for
compressing  the penis,* accompanied with cer-
tain prescriptions;  but the instrument caused
such violent and painful erections that I was
compelled to discontinue the use of it.   I then
thought I could do without medical treatment,
if  I  lived according to a prescribed diet, and
took plenty  of exercise.   Nature, thought I,
would  repair the  loss.   Still, I cannot disguise
from myself  that I am gradually getting thin-
ner and weaker.  I have not yet lost the power
of erecting the penis;  and  although, previously
to the use of the  above-mentioned instrument,
I never involuntarily had an erection for days
altogether—not even when my imagination was
excited by wicked  thoughts—it now happens
almost  every morning,  and  at  times I feel
strongly tempted to commence  the  old habit
again; but then a shudder passes over me, and
I conquer the inclination.  Sometimes my eyes
appear of  a muddy cast, which  causes me to
feel very uneasy; but  in a day or two they get
clearer again, and hope is again in the ascend-
ant.   I frequently have a dull pain in the region
  * This  is not the only instance in which this clumsy and mis-
chievous treatment had been previously adopted by patients who
have consulted me. It is  about as reasonable as would be an
attempt to stop an inclination to vomit by compressing the throat. 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        59
of the  spine, but  that which*  causes  me the
greatest apprehension is the remarkable dreams
I have at night.   At one time I am engaged  in
eager dispute with some one, in which the pas-
sions of  anger,  fear, joy, &c,  are  alternately
predominant;  at another time  I seem engaged
in the greatest physical exertion, such as run-
ning,  fighting,  or  lifting  some  tremendous
weight; these all tend to fatigue my body, and
deprive it of its due amount of rest.   The daily
routine of my avocation also fatigues me much
more than it was wont, and my memory is un-
questionably impaired.  I forgot to say that a
pain in the region of the left kidney sometimes
attacks me,  and on such occasions the  urine
appears very muddy; and although my testicles
are not in such a pendulous state as they were
three months since, I can feel that a small lump
appears to be  forming under both.  I fear that
my symptoms are those of an early  stage  of
consumption."
  It must be borne in mind, also, that  mastur-
bation  determines  a specific  and important
change in the prostatic portion of the urethra—
a knowledge of which is of great importance in
reference to  treatment.
  As it is impossible to trace the effects of mas-
turbation or venereal excesses into anything
like detail, I present to the notice of my readers
the result of the researches of eminent physiol-
ogists, showing the whole material development
of the human body, in reference to its average
weight at different periods of life, which will
afford  us some  valuable general information,
and  also precise data, to enable us to judge of
the  ill effects which venereal  excesses of any
kind are likely to occasion at different ages:— 
60        ABNORMAL CONDITION OF
At one year " 5 years "10 "	the	body weighs . C« (C	21 35 54	1 0 0
" 12 "		c< ce	64	14
" 15 "		(( (C	95	8
" 20 "		CI c<	. 132	0
" 25 "		(C (<	. 138	0
" 40 "		" (the maximum)	139	o*
                                     lbs.
                                     21
                                     35
                                     54
                                     64
                                     95
                                     132
                                     138
                                     139
  The preceding table proves  approximately
that man only reaches the  maximum of  his
weight at the age of forty, whilst the increase
from twenty-five is hardly perceptible.  It may,
therefore, be  safely inferred that the human
economy reaches its full  vigor at  that age.
When we reflect that  masturbation  is chiefly
indulged in by persons from twelve to twenty,
or even twenty-five years of age, we may readily
conceive  the evil it is likely to cause,  as,  at the
age of twelve, when that vice has but too fre-
quently become a habit of  some duration, the
individual would have  still to gain about sixty
per cent, of his weight.
  His growth, although nearly finished at the
age of twenty-five, will not  be  completely so,
since  even after thirty the weight of the body is
susceptible of  an almost imperceptible increase.
Now  when we consider that  masturbation and
youthful lust are pursued with reckless indiffer-
ence at a time—as we see from  preceding data
—when all the energies of the body are required
for its sustentation and growth, I ask, with all
earnestness, what room is there to doubt  the ill
consequences which must result from premature
and excessive  indulgence in venereal pleasures?
  I cannot do better  than close this chapter 
THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.        61
with a self-drawn picture  by a patient, at that
time in one  of the healthiest parts of South
America, whom I had the good fortune to suc-
ceed in restoring to perfect health.
  After mentioning his position, &c, and that
he was induced to apply to me by the accident
of one of my books falling into his hands, he
goes on  to  say,  "For the last twelve years I
have practised the degrading vice  of self-abuse,
or masturbation, without being  aware of  its
fearful results, and which first commenced as
the result of  a lascivious dream without any in-
citement on  my  part, and  the pleasure  then
experienced has been the cause of its continu-
ance, and though I have several times endeav-
ored to break it off as a filthy habit, have never
succeeded.  I have never cohabited with any of
the  other sex, though the desire was almost
irresistible a few years since.  But, thanks to
the  good  precepts  of  virtuous  parents,  I
have never committed myself.  I have  been
subject,  for  the  last two  years, to nocturnal
emissions, the result of .lascivious dreams after
being in ladies'  company;  the emissions  are
unattended  with pleasure, without erection of
the penis, and are of a thin, watery nature;  the
penis hangs down in a pendulous state, is very
diminutive in size, as are all the external parts,
but has not wholly lost the power of erection.
I am terribly afraid I am suffering from sperm-
atorrhoea, as I have noticed three  or four times,
while  making water  in  the  daytime, a small
quantity of  thin  white matter escapes with  the
last few drops, and upon passing urine into a
vial, observe after a few hours, toward the bot-
tom, a transparent filmy substance, which floats 
62       THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.
upon the least agitation.  I see you request some
urine for examination, but I know of no availa-
ble means of sending any, and trust  you can
judge without.  My constitution is undermined,
my mental powers much  impaired; I have lost
all bodily strength, and  have little or  no appe-
tite,  am pale, thin and emaciated, most dread-
fully nervous,  subject to fits of melancholy,
and rendered morose in disposition.  My water
is short and rather high-colored during the day,
which,  right or wrong,  I have attributed to
rheumatics, as the least exertion makes me per-
spire profusely; consequently I take cold easily,
and  experience  a dull pain  in the  loins, about
the kidneys, which the doctors tell me is rheu-
matics.   I have been under their treatment  for
some years as a sufferer from  general debility.
I have been subject of late to a slight disfigure-
ment in the forehead, in the shape of a number
of  small, red pimples, which I cannot get  rid
of.  I suffer a good deal from dyspepsia, though
I am temperate in my diet,  and seldom drink
wine or spirits.   I also suffer a good deal from
constipation of  the bowels.   And now, Doctor,
you will say my case is a serious one  ; I know
it; and the fact of being engaged to an amiable
and  accomplished young lady, whom  I had
known several years, coupled with the terrible,
fearful thoughts of impotency, drive me almost
wild.  As a Christian, and one who  I believe
has  the welfare of his fellow-men at heart, I
beseech you to do what you can to restore some
of my former vigor.   I must tell you, since my
eyes have been  opened by the perusal of your
work,  I have given  up,  and for ever, the vile
practice that has been draining away my life's 
SPERMATORRHOEA.
63
blood.  God grant it may (through your help)
not be too late."
CHAPTER  VI.
SPERM ATORRHXEA.
  The term spermatorrhoea is applied in all cases
where  emissions of seminal  fluid take  place
otherwise than in obedience to the impulse arising
from the natural act of coition, or the will of the
person in whom it occurs.
  It has been already remarked, that the semi-
nal fluid is stored up in the vesiculse seminales",
and that small ducts open from the junction of
these with the vasa  deferentia into the urethra,
and that, by means  of these ducts, the fluid es-
capes.   Now, in the healthy state,  these ducts
are continually kept closed, so that the semen
cannot escape, except  in obedience to the im-
pulse  arising from  the natural act of coition,
but when they become  weakened by excessive
venery, or, what is  more common by the habit
to which the last chapter was devoted, dillata-
tion follows, and the slightest degree of pressure
will cause the semen—as yet imperfectly formed
—to escape ; such  pressure,  for  example,  as
would be present when the feeces were passing
through the rectum, or when the bladder was
contracting to empty itself.  It will be remem-
bered that the vesicuhe seminales are situated
immediately between the bladder and the rec-
tum, so that, when  the fasces are passing down
the latter, there is necessarily  pressure upon 
64           SPERMATORRHEA.
the vesicles, and consequently, it is then that
the first  symptoms of spermatorrhoea may be
observed.  The  same thing  occurs when the
bladder is  contracting to expel the urine, and
for a similar reason ;  a quantity of  thick slimy
fluid may be observed passing with the last few
drops, which upon examination, most frequently
proves to be semen.  Should the weakness, and
consequently the dilatation, continue to increase,
it will require no pressure to force away the sem-
inal  fluid,  for it will escape as it arrives from
the vas deferens, not remaining, in the vesicles,
but passing immediately into the urethra, either
making its  exit thereby, or passing backwards
into  the  bladder, and mingling with the urine.
  The disease called spermatorrhoea is one of the
most  common results of masturbation, indeed
it is almost an invariable result, for it is next to
an impossibility for any person to practise this
baneful habit  for any length  of time, without
suffering from the involuntary escape of seminal
fluid, either with  the urine  or otherwise.  It
does not follow, however, that if an individual
suffers from emissions, that therefore, he must
have been guilty of the vice of Onanism.   The
disease may have had  its origin in excessive ven-
ery, or weakness from other causes, and in some
cases, I  have no doubt it  is  constitutional.
  " The vesiculae seminales,"  says  Lallemand,
" take on the habit of contracting themselves
under the influence of excitement less energetic
than usual, and quite abnormally so.  In such
cases, a full bladder or rectum, a bed too warm
or too soft, lying on the back,  warm or exciting
drinks, &c, provoke  emissions more  readily
than  they ought.  It  is in such instances that 
SPERMATORRHEA.
65
the intimate and reciprocal connection between
the vesiculaj seminales and  the brain produces
lascivious dreams, le plus desordones, under the
slightest direct  or indirect excitement of the
genital  organs and  inevitable pollutions, from
the reproduction of all the ideas  which aie
connected with those of generation."  Among
the common causes  of spermatorrhoea, I might
place haemorrhoids (piles), a long foreskin, ac-
cumulation of foreign matter with the secretion
under the prepuce, drinking large quantities of
alcoholic drinks, gonorrhoea, venereal excess,
and even, though it may seem  paradoxical, ex-
cessive continence ; but the most common of all
is weakness of  the genital urinary apparatus,
resulting from the habit before named.
  Sometimes the disease makes its appearance
long after the habit  itself has been abandoned,
but when adequate exciting causes suddenly re-
veal the mischief which has been entailed upon
the system.  Such cases if immediately attended
to and properly treated, are capable of speedy
cure.
  Thus in case 1043* the patient, a young man
of twenty-four years of age, informed me that he
had practised masturbation whilst at school, but
he  left  it off for nearly ten years, and had re-
cently  had sexual  intercourse with females,
much more  frequently than he thought, to use
his own words, " did him good"  For the pre-
ceeding week he  had  felt a little pain in the
penis, and  had noticed, on going to stool,  a
quantity of  white, glutinous matter pass away
from the urethra.   I requested him to furnish
  * The numbers mentioned in this and  other cases quoted in
this work are merely references to my Case  Book.
                                     *S 
QQ            SPERMATORRHOEA.
me with some  of  the  matter upon a piece  of
glass, which he did, and on examining it by the
microscope, I detected spermatozoa.  I ordered
a lotion  to be  applied to the genital organs
morning and evening, and medicine to be taken
internally ; and in three weeks  both the  pain
and the discharge had disappeared.
  In the healthy  condition of tjhe generative
organs the seminal fluid  is  continually being
formed, and stored up  in the vesiculse semina-
les, to be either  reabsorbed or ejected  from
the system at  regular intervals ; but the for-
mation of  this fluid,  like that of most other
secretions, is very much under the control  of
the  nervous system,  and  will  consequently
be much increased by the mind being contin-
ually directed towards  objects calculated to ex-
cite  the  sexual propensity ; and thus, if  it  be
frequently ejected, a much larger quantity will
be produced, at a  terrible expense to the other
organs of the body.  When, therefore,  a  mor-
bid condition of those organs has been brought
about, by excessive venery, or  any other evil
habit, so as to give rise to spermatorrhoea,.and
the patient suffers from the continual  escape
of this vital fluid,  the quantity that may be se-
creted and passed  away is absolutely alarming
to any one who understands the physiology of
the human body.
  One form, and a very common one, in which
we meet with spermatorrhoea, is the escape  of
seminal fluid during  the night,  accompanied
with erection  of the penis, and erotic and las-
civious dreams; the emission in  this case is
generally supposed to arise from the excitement
of the  pictures produced by the imagination ; 
SPERMATORRHEA.
67
this is, however, by no means the case.  "The
general belief," says Lallemand, "exists that
erotic dreams produce nocturnal pollutions, and
they are  looked upon as very  dangerous ; but
lascivious pictures which occur during sleep
arise from excitement of  the  genital organs,
just as erections and spasmodic  contraction of
the vesiculse seminales do ;  all these phenomena
coincide, because  they  depend upon one and
the same  cause, bnt the one does not depend
upon the other."
  In case 547, a young man of a nervous and
excitable temperament, wrote to me that he had
practised masturbatiom for many years, in fact
had commenced it as early as he could remember
and had continued  it till within a  few months of
the time he wrote, at which period his age was
twenty-one.   For  the year preceding he  had
suffered from emissions ^ but in a trifling de-
gree—as he called it—once a week, or sometimes
a little oftener.  More  recently, however,  he
had never slept a night without having his rest
interrupted by dreams of a most lascivous char-
acter, which dreams always ended with his con-
summating his  wishes,  as he imagined,  but
which the morning revealed to him  as copious
emissions, his  night-clothes and  the bed being
wet with the fluid which had escaped.  As this
was  rather a serious case, a personal interview
was  demanded.  This request complied with,
I found as I had anticipated, varicocele in one
testicle, and the whole of the genital organs in
a state of great irritation.  I prescribed for him
with a good result,  and by subsequent treatment
had  the satisfaction of effecting a perfect resto-
ration to health. 
68           SPERMATORRHEA.
   This is a very common form of spermatorrhoea.
Scarcely a day passes without my seeing patients
whose symptoms are analogous to those I have
just detailed.  The disease, like an assasin, at-
tacks its victims during sleep, and when,  con-
sequently, he has no power to ward of the blow.
   Even on those nights when emissions do not
occur, still the patient suffers from gloomy and
terrible fancies breaking in upon his slumbers,
haunting his imagination, and reviving any in-
cidents  of an unpleasant nature which have oc-
curred during the day.
   Sometimes the escape of seminal fluid is expe-
rience at regular intervals during the day, appar-
ently without any direct cause.  The patient may
be walking, or sitting in one position or another,
when he suddenly feels a quantity of fluid es-
caping from the urethra, without exciting any
pleasurable sensation, and in the entire absence
of erection of the penis.
  In case-1162, the patient stated that a few
days before he had attempted  intercourse with
his wife, and had failed ; at first  there was an
erection, which, however, soon subsided, with-
out any escape  of semen, and then all  sexual
power was gone.  He had been many years in
India, and  had enjoyed very good health, but
for the preceding  three  or  four weeks had
suffered from the escape of what he supposed
to be semen, which had  passed away generally
whilst taking a lounge on the sofa, and smoking
his pipe after dinner.   This was not the result
of an erection, nor did it occasion any pleasura-
ble sensation.   He had, he  stated,  practised
Onanism during his youth, but did not think it
was that, or he should have felt the ill  effects of 
SPERMATORRHEA.
69
it before.  After prescribing for him he was
gradually and completely restored to health.
  The worst form of spermatorrhoea, because
the one most likely to escape detection, is that
where the semen escapes by the ducts into the
urethra,  not,  however,  to  be  immediately
ejected from the system, but to pass backwards
into the bladder, and then to be brought away
with the urine.  In this way the disease may go
on for years without even being suspected ; and
the person who finds himself, from  this cause,,
suffering from general debility and nervousness-
wonders what can have given rise to the symp-
toms under which he labors.
  In  case 931,  the patient  consulted me,  to
know if I  could point  out any probable  cause
why his wife had not borne children.   He stated
that he had been married four years, had lived
rather freely previously, but did not think he
suffered any ill effects  from it, as he was able
to have  intercourse with his wife, although he
admitted that the pleasure experienced during
the ejection of semen was not as great as for-
merly.  Thinking he might suffer this form  of
spermatorrhoea, I requested him to bring me
some  of his urine, which he did.  Upon exam-
ination  it was found to  contain large numbers
of spermatazoa, but  not perfect ones; most  of
them  with the tails broken off, or mutilated  in
some other way.   I therefore informed him that
the cause of his wife's barreness was  obvious,
the seminal fluid being  of such a character as
could not possibly fecundate an ovum.  Under
the treatment I adopted, viz., great moderation
in indulgence of sexual congress, cold douches
against  the spinal column, and the  adminstra- 
70
SPERMATORRHEA.
tion of certain restoratives, his seminal fluid
was restored to its normal condition.
  Occasionally  very peculiar  cases occur,  in
which  all the usual symptoms are absent, as il-
lustrated by case 1432, in which the consulation
took place by correspondence only.
  The  patient wrote me that he was a  strong
muscular man, aged twenty-four, six feet in stat-
ure, and weighing fifteen stone.   He  stated
that he had excellent appetite, the best of spirits,
was not at all nervous, did not suffer from any
of the symptoms indicative of seminal discharges
mentioned in a previous work of  mine, the per-
sual of which had induced him to cousult me,
but was nevertheless impotent.  He went on to
say: " I  have  consulted medical  men; they
laugh at me, and tell me it is imagination.  But
I am the last man in the world to imagine my-
self into a disease.  From my appearance they
all  admit this, but offer no other explanation.
Tell me, have you ever seen a case like mine,
and can you afford me any relief?".
  I wrote to inform him that his case was by no
means so uncommon as he appeared to suppose.
He accordingly placed himself under my care,
and, after a proper course of treatment, man-
hood was restored.
  In reference to  spermatorrhoea, there are two
points  of  the greatest possible importance, on
which  I feel  it imperative to  make a  few re-
marks ; and these are, firstly, the mode of  de-
tecting spermatorrhoea, i. e., its diagnosis; and,
secondly, the treatment to be adopted. In refer-
ence to the first point, there can be no difficulty
where  the semen escapes  in  large  quantities
during the day, either from  excitement or oth- 
SPERMATORRHEA.
71
erwise; nor  is the difficulty great when it as-
sumes the form of nocturnal emissions, because,
generally, the patient will  be aware when it is
passing, and  if not, will observe in the morning
that his linen, or the bed-clothes, will be wet or
stained; but the most common  form of this
disease, as I have  already remarked, is that
wherein the seminal fluid escapes with the urine,
and here the  difficulty will  be very great.  The
patient will not be aware of any emission taking
place, and  the medical man can only make the
discovery after the most difficult investigations.
Prior to the discovery of the spermatozoa in the
Bemen, the detection of the spermatorrhoea was
altogether beyond the reach of the most distin-
guished pathologist.
  At that time, if a patient, who  was suffering
from atrophy, or wasting  away,  and  general
debility of the whole system, presented himself
to a physician, the first impression of the latter
would be that the lungs or  heart were affected;
on  examining these organs, however, he might
probably ascertain  them  to be  sound.  The
glands  of  the mesentery might  then  be sus-
pected of disease. This suspicion  discovered to
be groundless, the patient would then be inter-
rogated as to whether he  suffered from emis-
sions, to which he would reply not  to his knowl-
edge. Other examinations would then be made,
and with the same want of success.   A great
obscurity would thus rest  over the diagnosis,
and the utmost that could occur would be to
suspect the escape  of  semen with  the urine.
Probably this suspicion would not have arisen,
and even if it had, would have been but a suspi-
cion.   These remarks will apply with equal force 
72
SPERMATORRHEA.
to other diseases resulting from spermatorrhoea,
as well as general debility.  The following case
will serve as a good illustration.   It is the case
(copied from the Medical  and Physical Journal)
of a patient who was treated by Sir  Benjamin
Brodie,  in St. George's  hospital. "This  pa-
tient was  admitted into the hospital on account
of a pain in  the left testicle.   The organ was
soft, flaccid,  and about a third of the size of
the opposite one.  The patient had not received
any injury, nor had he  had gonorrhoea, but for
five years had practised masturbation once  a
day.  The testicle,  before  it  was wasted, was
the seat of very severe pain, and  swelling.
The patient was sad and melancholy.  Various
remedies were tried in vain, and he left the hos-
pital without relief."
  Now who that has seen anything of sperma-
torrhoea can doubt that the patient suffered from
emissions of semen with urine ? I had recently
under my treatment a  case very similar to the
one just described, wherein a microscopic in-
vestigation of the urine demonstrated the pres-
ence of  spermatozoa.
  And I must here digress for a moment to say
a word  or two respecting that noblest instru-
ment of natural philosophy, the microscope.
  In contemplating the swarms of living  atoms
which teem "in the leaves of every forest, in the
waters of every rivulet," when placed in the field
of a powerful microscope, the  idea which most
strongly impresses the mind, after the first sen-
sation of surprise has subsided, is the infinites-
imal minuteness and  simple  form of many of
the structures in which that marvellous princi-
ple, life, is enshrined.   We have been accus- 
SPERMATORRHEA.            73
tomed to associate the presence of vitality with
bodies possessing various complicated organs
for the elaboration  and  maintenance of the
energies of existence; but here we see perfect
and distinct creatures, in the condition of single
globules and cells, that" live and move and have
their being," and increase in  numbers with a
rapidity so prodigious, and in mode so peculiar,
as to startle all our preconceived notions of an-
imal organization.
  It  is by a  profound  investigation of the
modifications of  structure  and functions ex-
hibited in these minute organisms, that so much
light  has  been thrown  upon  what were  pre-
viously some of the most obscure phenomena
in human physiology,
  It was by the microscope that the existence
of spermatozoa was revealed to us ; until then
that distinction which we pointed  out in de-
scribing the various  secretions of the different
parts of the generative organism was altogether
unknown and unsuspected.  Once known, how-
ever,  it not only threw a flood of light upon
physiological science, but upon pathology also ;
for the same instrument which revealed to  us
the normal in physiology, also  enabled us to ex-
amine the abnormal.
   It must not be  supposed, however, that the
microscope is an  instrument which it is as easy
to use as a common magnifying glass—far from
it—its  efficient  use  for  scientific  purposes,
especially pathological ones, requires unwearied
patience,  long practice, and  acute  powers of
observation.   As Captain Basil Hall  observes,
in  speaking of  a kindred instrument, " The
secret often  lies  in  knowing  exactly what to 
74
SPERMATORRHEA.
look for, and thence learning how to adjust, not
merely the focus of the eye, but what may be
termed the  focus of  the judgment, so as to be
able to pitch the understanding into such a key
that the  information may be understood when
it comes."
  Keturning, however, to the subject matter of
this chapter, it will be perceived that the dis-
covery, by the microscope, of  spermatozoa in
the semen,  was not  only  most  valuable in a
philosophic point of view, but much more so as
a matter of  diagnosis.  It enabled us to detect
the most difficult disease that we had to  deal
with, and exposed to noon-day view matters
which before lay hid in the darkness of  Egyp-
tian night.
  But notwithstanding this,thespermatozoaare
not to be discovered as readily as might be im-
agined, even with the greatest skill, care,  and
experience on the part of the physician.   The
urine may  probably  be  examined three or
four times and no spermatozoa be present, but
the next time, they may be discovered.
  The semen, too, when it has escaped into the
bladder, is generally found mixed with urinary
deposits,  such as lithic acid, lithate of ammonia,
oxalate of lime, epithelium, mucus, &c,  and
there is great difficulty in distinguishing the
spermatozoa amidst all these deposits; and it
must also be remembered  that we rarely meet
with the spermatozoa in their perfect condition.
In nine cases out of ten they are in the broken,
mutilated condition before refered to.
  Hence  it requires a great amount of  careful
examination to be able to diagnose successfully
in these cases.
% 
SPERMATORRHEA.           75
  In case 1250 the patient stated that he suf-
fered from great debility, which,  in fact, was
evident enough from his appearance.   He had
been under the treatment of several physicians,
and every one had declared, after a microscopic
examination of  the urine, that semen was not
present.  As he informed me that he had, when
at college, practised masturbation, I felt con-
vinced that I should detect spermatozoa, not-
withstanding what those he had previously con-
sulted  might have said  to the contrary.   I ex-
amined the urine, and  had  great  difficulty  in
telling what was present, in consequence of the
large quantity  of urinary deposits which ob-
structed the view.  On the first  occasion, al-
though the  examination occupied an hour,  I
could detect  no  semen.  Still, however, un-
satisfied, I made another examination three or
four days later, and after great difficulty detec-
ted spermatozoa, but excessively mutilated and
broken to pieces.  The cause of the debility now
made out, the method of treatment  of  course
became evident.
  The tendency to the frequent occurrence of in-
voluntary seminal emissions is always more or
less  increased by an attack of gonorrhoea.  A
diminution of the involuntary discharges may,
and usually does,  follow the cure of gonorrhoea;
but this must not  be mistaken for a proof of the
restoration of the genital apparatus to a normal
condition.  The slightest cause of irritation is
sufficient  to  re-establish the disease with in-
creased severity.    Sometimes this  apparent
change of symptoms  indicates that the  case is
lapsing into one of confirmed impotency.
  The following case, 1534, is a very instructive 
76 -          SPERMATORRHEA.
one.  It cannot be better described than in the
patient's own  language in his first letter.  He
says:—" It is with a deep sense of shame  and
self-condemnation  that I address you, being in
a fearful state of ill-health, brought about as I
believe,  principally by that filthy practice which
you so truly denominate self-pollution.  I am
now about twenty years of age,  and  acquired
the habit I have named  about six years ago,
when at school, and continued it for about four
or five years, when experiencing sudden pains
in the loins, and frequently observing a gummy,
sticky oily fluid oozing from the penis, especial-
ly in the morning, sometimes only slightly, and
just gluing together the lips of the  opening,
but at other times more copiously,  I became
alarmed, and  applied  to a person in London
and took his medicines for a considerable time
but without the slightest benefit.  I unfortu-
nately, too,  contracted gonorrhoea, which was
cured with copaiba, &c.; and for some little time
afterwards, although I  felt excessively  weak,
the gluey fluid, which had increased during the
gonorrhoea, became greatly diminished.  I left
England about that  time, hoping that  nature
and my  new occupations, and change of scene
and air, would restore me to health; but I soon
became  worse  than ever, so much so that I was
obliged  to return to London.  I then consulted
another medical man, who told me that my gon-
orrhoea had been imperfectly cured, and he again
gave me copaiba; and I assure you the quanti-
ties of that remedy  I  have  swallowed,  either
alone or in combination with other  drugs, is
almost incredible.  Finding no relief, I have at
last given it up in dispair and disgust, and now 
SPERMATORRHEA.            77
write to you, in the hope that you may be able
to restore me to  health and vigor.  I am  not
now in  London, as you see by the heading of
this letter, and therefore cannot at present con-
sult you personally ; but I will  briefly describe
my present  symptoms.  What I  suffer most
from, and what<t feel is gradually draining life
and strength away from me, is the emission of
semen, especially after taking a few  glasses of
wine, or being in the company of ladies, or any
excitment otherwise occasioned.   My  testicles
are in a very pendulous state,  and are getting
smaller every day, especially the left one, which
seems to be a lot of hard cords.  My face  and
parts of the  body are covered with pimples, and
the slightest degree of fatigue utterly exhausts
me.   I also feel at times a dull sense of pain,
which I cannot  describe, along the  penis, ex-
tending to its furthermost parts, and the urine
is very  different  in appearance to what I fancy
it should be.  I feel quite  certain that unless
I obtain speedy relief I shall soon be in my grave;
for besides the bodily symptoms, I find myself
laboring  under  such  despondency of  mind,
that, conjointly, I am sure my system cannot
long hold out against them.   I  send  you, by
same mail  as  this, a small bottle  containing
some of my urine, and also a portion of the
discharge between two pieces  of clean glass."
  This case  is remarkably illustrative of the mis-
chief arising  from a mistaken  diagnosis, sper-
matorrhoea  having been erroneously taken for
gonorrhoea  ; and  I doubt not that oceans  of
copaiba, &c, are administered prejudicially  in
hundreds of similar cases ; and it demonstrates,
also, the importance of microscopic examination 
78
SPERMATORRHEA.
of urine, &c,, in  such cases, as I had no diffi-
culty in at once obtaining proof that the impres-
sion I had formed upon reading his letter, viz.,
that he was suffering from a severe form of sper-
matorrhoea, was well founded.
  The treatment of spermatorrhoea is, like the
diagnosis, exceedingly difficult, and requires,
also, much skill and experience.  The disease
arises,  as has been shown, from a  variety of
causes, and each, as a matter of course, will re-
quire treatment peculiar to itself.  Lallemand,
having observed the benefit that followed the
application of nitrate of  silver, or, as it is com-
monly called, lunar caustic, to the eye, when its
vessels were  relaxed by  disease, inferred that
the application of  the same substance to the
seminal ducts, when they were relaxed, would
be productive of  equal benefit.   He therefore
invented an instrument for this purpose,  called
the porte caustique; and hence arose  one  of the
most brutal modes of treating an affection, with
which the whole range of medical science can
furnish us.  Even  supposing this application
of caustic, to be valuable, which I dispute—and
admitting the  possibility of the  operator being
quite certain when he has reached  the ducts,
and, therefore,  knowing them  to  cauterize,
which I  deny—still the  application  of  so de-
structive an agent to such a delicate part of the
membrane lining  the urethra,  cannot but  be
productive  of the worst  results.  How  many
hundreds of cases of stricture can be traced to
this  horrible  treatment.   How  many persons
have had to curse the day that English practi-
tioners adopted this French mode of treating
spermatorrhoea,  or that  on which  they were
foolish enough to submit themselves  to it. 
SPERMATORRHEA.
Tft
   The employment of the solid nitrate of silver
 as a remedy in spermatorrhoea is not only dan-
 gerous, but it implies a total disregard of the
 true pathology of that disease.
   The objections to the application of the solid
 caustic to the urethra are, the intense pain with
 which its use is attended ; the risk of retention
 of urine following the application;  the  well-
 known liability of caustic  to occasion severe
 attacks of rigor;  the danger of profuse urethral
 hemorrhage, arising on  the  separation of the
 slough which  its application must produce;
 and,  lastly, the  danger that the  sloughing
 process may involve the membranes of  the uri-
 nary canal to such an extent as to destroy its
 integrity, and thereby expose the patient to all
 the sufferings and dangers resulting from infil-
 tration of urine, fistula, and  the like.
  It is allowed by all unprejudiced persons that
 the results  of actual  experience far outweigh
 the most specious theories, or the boldest asser-
 tions.  I therefore select a few cases  out of
 many that have come under my notice, in which
 the effects of cauterization of the prostatic and
 other portions of  the urethra proved most seri-
 ous and distressing.
  In case 1742, the patient had led a most dis-
 solute life, and suffered  at various times from
repeated attacks   of  gonorrhoea;  the   conse-
quence, at  last, being that  he suffered from
obstinate  urethral and vesicular  gleet, and  a
shattered constitution. He applied for surgical
aid, when cauterization was recommended and
applied,  the effects of which  the patient de-
scribed as terrible in the extreme;  the scalding
on micturating was for nearly three days beyond 
80            SPERMATORRHEA.

description, the difficulty being such as almost
to amount  to retention.  A purulent discharge
ensued, tinged with blood, which continued for
several days.  On recovery from the local effects
of the caustic, the posterior part of the urethra
became the seat  of a severe and fixed pain,
always intensified by the escape of urine.  Sex-
ual intercourse, attempted on several occasions,
created so much pain and inconvenience that it
was abandoned.  Nocturnal  emissions were of
frequent occurrence, and also discharge  from
the vesiculse  seminales, whenever  deftecation
took place.  In this condition he consulted me.
On attempting to pass a bougie along the ante-
rior part of the urethra, much pain was  com-
plained of; but when it reached the posterior
part, it was excruciating, and the  spasms so
violent  that it had to be withdrawn.  Two or
three days being allowed to  elapse,  and, in the
meantime, sedative  and  efficient medicine ad-
ministered, another attempt  was made with a
smaller-sized bougie, which  entered the blad-
der, but not without much pain and difficulty.
  This clearly showed that permanent stricture
was most imminent. I obviated this, however,
by catheterizing the urethra, and at the  same
time successfully counteracted other local and
general symptoms by a suitable course of medi-
cines.
  In another case, 1103, an inveterate gleet led
the patient to seek the advice of a surgeon, who
cauterized, the urethra, particularly at its poste-
rior  part.  It was accompanied by excessive
pain  and  subsequent  inflammation, involving
the  neck of  the bladder;  there was, in short,
the most excruciating agony on voiding urine, a 
SPERMATORRHEA.
81
throbbing in the perinoeum, and a profuse pur-
ulent discharge, tinged with blood.  Leeches
had been applied to the perinoeum, and opiates
and hot baths administered, which had relieved
the more active symptoms.
  It was three months from this period when he
called to  consult  me.   He was then suffering
intense pain in the prostatic portion of the ure-
thra,  extending up to the  glans penis, which
was always increased in voiding urine.
  In  this  case, also,  I had  much  difficulty,
although the result was ultimately successful.
  Case 1715  came under my care many months
subsequent to cauterization.  The patient was a
gentleman evidently of a highly nervous tem-
perament; but  since  the  local action  of the
caustic, the pain of the urethra had never finally
left him, and there was, also, great irritation of
the  canal.  His description of the immediate
results of the action  of the solid  caustic was
truly appalling.   To  be brief, great mischief
resulted to the patient; so much so that he be-
came the victim of a settled melancholy.  Sim-
ilar treatment was pursued in this case  to com-
 bat the local disease, which resulted in consid-
 erable relief; but, after a period of seven weeks,
 I deemed it advisable to order him on a tour, as
 it was evident that time and change alone would
 alter the state of  the mental feelings ; and this,
 with  the accompanying  remedial  treatment,
 gradually eradicated  the  ill effects  caused by
 the injurious use of the caustic.
   These cases will suffice to show that not only
 does no permanent benefit attend the local ac-
 tion of the solid  caustic, but that  by its use an
 array of svmptoms become developed, which in 
82
SPERMATORRHEA.
 some cases  bid defiance  to every treatment
 which ingenuity and skill can suggest.
   Nor am I alone in the opinions I have  ex-
 pressed on this matter, for a celebrated author
 says of Lallemand (after having spoken of  the
 services which he had rendered to suffering  hu-
 manity) :—"He has, however, by an exaggerated
 representation of the effect of  cauterization in
 curing  spermatorrhoea, not  only impaired  the
 value of his contributions to science, but like-
 wise injured the patients themselves; inasmuch
 as, by reading his book, they have been thrown
 into a disconsolate state about the future, almost
 amounting to despair, when  the vaunted infal-
 lible remedy of cauterization has  not  immedi-
 ately produced the promised effect."
   The daily introduction* of  bougies is also to
 be condemned, several cases having come under
 my notice in which the previous reckless use of
 that instrument gave rise to symptoms of a most
 dangerous character.
   This remark does not apply to an occasional
 use of the bougie in suitable cases ; on the con-
 trary, I  have found in many  instances that  an
 irritable urethra, with tendency to stricture, has
 been completely cured after a few applications.
  The treatment of the various phases of sperm-
 atorrhoea, and  of the diseases known under the
 generic  term,  debility,  require  perhaps  more
 skill  and experience than any other derange-
 ments to which the physical organization is sub-
ject.  These are affections in which the treat-
ment must not be  limited  to  the  remedies
employed in the practice of one  country,  or
contained  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  another.
The cases are sometimes so desperate, and the 
        REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.      83

remedies required so potent, that all lands must
be ransacked for the latter.  We must not con-
fine ourselves to the vegetable kingdom, nor
seek to obtain antidotes exclusively  from the
animal or mineral.   Nature in her totality must
be searched for remedial agents.
CHAPTER  VII.
REMARKS  ON FALSE  DELICACY.
  One of the most remarkable and melancholy
facts, perhaps, which the history of  medical
science  discloses,  is  that the most  important
branch of it, viz.,  sexual physiology, has been
studiously ignored.  It may safely be  affirmed
that nearly two-thirds of the '' ills that flesh is
heir to," are traceable to abuses of the genera-
tive organism, and that at least one-half of those
abuses are attributable to general  ignorance as
to the nature and functions  of  that organism.
But not only are the sufferers themselves igno-
rant, but those who should have  been able to
instruct and relieve them are scarcely less devoid
of the knowledge essential for that purpose.
  All branches  of medical science, save that
one, have been discussed, been lectured upon,
been experimentally illustrated, and  been writ-
ten upon with the utmost zeal; but sexual phys-
iology, one of the  most grave and solemn sub-
jects which  can engage the attention of the
philosophic physician, has been almost entirely
expelled from discussion; and the most griev-
ous physical ills under which humanity can suf- 
84      REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.

fer, permitted to scourge the world unchecked
and unheeded.  And what renders the  matter
even more singular is, that while  all that most
concerns the attainment of perfection in man,
considered as a species, is practically ignored,
there is no lack whatever of attention to analo-
gous studies with regard to the lower animals.
We are content to admit in the most  uncon-
cerned manner a gradual depreciation  of  the
"physique" of civilized man, whilst every  day
we are called upon to notice an equally gradual
improvement in that of the animals which  are
of sufficient service to us to demand a  careful
study of their physiology and  treatment.   There
is no reason whatever why man should  not, as
a rule, enjoy, in the full  perfection of  health
and  strength, his  allotted "three score years
and  ten," save that the very  mainspring of all
the evils which tend to shorten that span is  one
with the nature of  which most of us are miser-
ably ignorant.  True, there are  many other
sources of injury to the system  than those to
which it is the purpose of this book to  allude;
but it must be remembered that injurious influ-
ences which will leave the strong unscathed  will
utterly  destroy the weak  and  enfeebled;  the
gust of wind which will extinguish the flame of
the  flickering taper will  only fan a stronger
flame into abnormal fierceness.
  It is to a feeling of false delicacy of the most
lamentable character, that we owe the state of
things I have just been  describing. Who is
there that upon mature reflection, would  not
fully agree  with  the  opinion of an eminent
writer in  the Quarterly Review for 1858,  who
says,  " It is time  to  burst through that artifi- 
         REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.      85

 cial bashfuluess, which hasinjured the growth,
 while it has affected the features of genuine pu-
 rity.  Society has suffered enough from that spu-
 rious modesty, which lets fearful forms of vice
 swell to a rank luxuriance, rather than point at
 their existence; which coyly turns away its head
 from the wounds and  putrefying sores that are
 eating into our system because it would have to
 blush at the exposure."  This passage deserves
 to be written in letters of gold.   There are still
 hundreds and thousands of persons who enter-
 tain the sentiments here so justly and! power-
 fully condemned.  The foolish feeling  is still
 prevalent, exercising what influence it possesses,
 to  keep  the human family in ignorance upon
 topics of the greatest importance to. its own well-
 being.
   Nor is this false delicacy confined to  society
 generally, it pervades, as I have  already intim-
 ated, even the very schools of medicine; and the
(ignorance consequently existing, constitutes the
 strongest excuse of the  physcians of old for
 their constant failure to grapple effectually with
 the greatest foe to human happiness, and for
 their attributing its effects to other causes; so
 that the sufferer from generative disarangement
 was treated for a variety of affections,, being only
 symptoms,  as though they were independent
 diseases, and by an infinite variety of processes,
 according to the prejudice or professional creed
 of his advisers, whilst the real enftmy,  unsus-
 pected and undreamed of, was  undermining
 the citadel of health.
   For though, for instance, in times past, the
 physical  composition  of  the  seminal  fluid
 could  not be determined; and the  fact of its 
86      REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.
 discharge—save when in a visible and percepti-
 ble manner, by nocturnal emission or otherwise
 —could not be  pronounced, the  profession
 might at least have kept its available store of
 knowledge so far in readiness, that its members,
 after going through their scholastic and  colle-
 giate training, might be competent to take ad-
 vantage of, appreciate, and turn  to useful pur-
 poses, the scientific discoveries effected from time
. to time, by abler men.  Far from this, however,
 students were kept in a state of  ignorance, the
 deplorable depth of which may be judged from
 the fact that it was considered discreditable even
 to discuss the subject; the  whole class of  dis-
 eases of the generative organs, with their man-
 ifold complications and influences, thus becom-
 ing a perfect mystery, a sealed book, to the or-
 dinary  run  of practitioners.   So powerful has
 become the prejudice, that men of some emi-
 nence—Dr. Golding Bird, for example—have
 actually propounded the doctrine, that because
; the worst, most  wide-spread, and most ruinous
. of human diseases is for the most part the result
 of a vice, it should not be investigated and dis-
 cussed, and relieved like other diseases.
   Lest this statement of fact should not be be-
 lieved, I quote  from  his  work on "Urinary
 Deposits," wherein,  after admitting that sper-
 matozoa are frequently found  in the urine, he
 says, ".It certainly is not very consistent with
 our national character, to dilate  so freely on a
 subject which, in the  great majority of  cases,
 can be treated of only as the effects of a most
 degrading vice. "
   But  supposing his conclusion  as to the cause
 of such disorganization to be correct, does that 
        REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.      87

fact place it beyond  the pale of medical assis-
tance ?  If a "most degrading vice" gives rise
to a disease which prevails extensively  in the
land, so  much is there  the greater  need for
the  medical philanthropist to endeavour  to
abolish both the vice itself and the consequences
which it produces ; and surely that cannot be
accomplished by  ignoring the existence both of
the one and the other.
  Such is nevertheless the  case; all mention of
the disease already discussed, viz., spermator-
rhoea, having been, in consequence of  its most
frequently having its origin in the habit of self-
abuse, almost entirely omitted in the best med-
ical works, so that the young  practitioner, who
wishes to  learn his profession  thoroughly, finds
the greatest difficulty in becoming at all ac-
quainted with one of its most important depart-
ments.
  It is satisfactory to know that there are a few
men of eminence who do not  suffer themselves
to be influenced by such absurd and prejudicial
ideas.
  In one  of his  celebrated Physiological Lec-
tures, Mr. Lawrence  observes, in reference to
the fatal effects of ignoring, or'misunderstanding
the consequences of  abuses of the generative
organism:—•" I have had occasion frequently to
observe that medical  skill  has failed in what
were represented and appeared to be cases com-
monly called decline, simply because one im-
portant feat tire of the  ease  has been concealed
from the phvsician, and because he had fa iled to
inquire as to its existence: I mean the decay of
those portions and functions of the human frame
which delicacy veils most scrupulously from the 
88      REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.
 human eye,  and affections of which seem, by
 some great mistake, to have been placed with-
 out the pale to which ordinary practice confines
 itself."
  These just and sensible remarks bring me to
 the main object which I had in introdncing the
 subject of that false  delicacy to which I have
 thus been adverting, viz., to impress upon the
 reader that there is no more real necessity for
 avoiding the  consultation of the enlightened
 medical practitioner, or, when  consulted,  for
 withholding from him the slightest fact which may
 concern the preservation or restoration of cur
 health, than there is  for avoiding the consul-
 tation  of a solicitor when our property is endan-
 gered, or keeping from his knowledge  facts
 which  would enable him to preserve or recover
 it.  Yet we  readily give the fullest possible in-
 formation unresei-vedly to the latter, and either
 altogether withhold,  or delay it until too late,
 from the former.  This cannot arise from mere
 want of confidence, as it is proverbial that good
 faith and absolute secrecy characterize equally
the sacred  confidences of solicitor and client,
 and physician and patient.
  The reason why so many hundreds spend a life
 of misery, or sink to an early  grave, when a
timely and simple treatment would have re-
stored  happiness and  health, is that feeling of
false delicacy which it is impossible to condemn
in terms sufficiently strong.
  Innumerable instances  have occured within
my practice, of patients who have consulted me
a considerable time  after reading  one of my
Essays, and on my expressing surprise that they
had delayed so long, the reply has usually been 
        REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.      89

two-fold -firstly, the matter was such a'' delicate"
one that they could not bear to speak of it to a
stranger ; secondly, that they fancied I might
look upon their follies with such disgust and
contempt as would prevent me from efficiently
relieving them.  I need scarcely say that in the
first case they are sacrificing their health  to an
" idea," and in the second they  are of  course
utterly mistaken.  I adduce these instances, be-
cause there may be,  and are, hundreds of others
who entertain and act upon similar ideas.
  I am sensible  that prejudices  from first im-
pressions are difficult of removal;  they are not in
general to be at once overturned by clearer and
more forcible argument, but only by a slow and
gradual revolution  of the mind,  which  time
alone can effect.   The mind  must first be di-
vested of its incorrect habits  of thinking, from
whatever source they may have been acquired,
before it can be even open to those which are
right.
  It may be said, from the observations  in the
preceding part of this chapter, that I am unduly
severe on other members  of my profession, but
I may remark that it is  my  enthusiasm  for the
improvement of my profession that has induced
me to employ some degree of  acrimony; I may
also  add that  I only wish I  had not such an
ample field for finding  fault,  nor such oppor-
tunities of  critical severity—indeed,  nothing
even then, where I myself might  have been
personally concerned,  could  have induced me
to use it, but the alleviation of human suffering
and misery.
  And in what way can human suffering be al-
leviated by the physician, save  by the careful 
 0      REMARKS ON FALSE DELICACY.

study of the causes which  produce it, and the
judicious selection of remedies to remove it; or
human misery averted from the patient, than by
enabling him to become  conversant  with the
nature of his organism, the dangers to which it
is exposed,  and the probable consequences of
his ignorance of the one and his neglect of the
other
  Do we or our children become  robbers, be-
cecause  we hear of  thefts? murderers, because
we hear of assassinations ? or deprive ourselves
of life, because  we  know that some desperate
and desponding wretch has committed suicide ?
Why, then, should we—as the upholders of
false delicacy have alleged—be more likely to
become vicious from being made acquainted with
tfte hideous features of vice, or rush into danger
because we have had a warning of its hitherto
unsuspected existence.
  And if  any have  "sinned in ignorance," are
they necessarily beyond the reach of assistance,
or justified in neglecting to seek it, and con-
sequently in risking the involvement of others
in the penalty, because of  such false notions as
those I have been  endeavouring  to  combat?
The true physician pays no heed to whether his
patients' ills have been caused by fault  or by
misfortune.   He looks upon them simply as ex-
isting evils,  to be eradicated or alleviated,  and
directs his attention to that object alone. 
SPECIAL DISEASES.           91
CHAPTER  VIII.
SPECIAL DISEASES.
  It is not my intention to touch upon the history
of the special diseases which have their origin
in promiscuous  sexual intercourse.  I cannot
settle the question as to whether they are of
ancient or comparatively modern origin, and if
any remarks of mine could even set at rest that
long disputed problem, its solution would confer
no practical benefit on humanity.
  Diseases resulting  from  sexual intercourse
may be arranged under two  heads, or principal
divisions, viz: specific and non specific.
  The first  division is composed  of all those
diseases included under the comprehensive term
syphilis.
  Syphilis is  a virulent  and  specific  affection
peculiar to mankind, and invariably arising from
one special virus,  or syphilitic poison, which,
at least in the present day,  is never known to
be  spontaneously generated, but can  always be
traced back to  contagion from a pre-existing
virus.  When brought into  sufficiently  close
contact with the  animal  economy to infect it,
it produces certain local eflects, which are called
primary symptoms, or chancres.
   The importance of bringing to bear all the
medical skill possible  to a  more satisfactory
treatment of syphilis than has hitherto resulted,
will be most apparent by a  perusal of the opin-
ions expressed, in an article on this subject in a
medical journal of the day.
   " What shall we do to  arrest  the spread of 
92
SPECIAL DISEASES.
syphilis, this great social evil, and mitigate the
dire  results of that  disease, which are visited
upon generation after generation and thus sap
the physical strength,  as  well  as the moral
health of the community ?
  "Were  it possible to limit  the  effects of
syphilis to those whose guilty indulgence creates
and  maintains the disease, some might regard
it as a just retribution.  But, viewed even from
this assumption, true charity would hardly turn
her back and leave the victims  of sin to suffer
without hope,  or  without  an effort to relieve
them.
  " It has been the inseperable quality of sin of
every kind to involve the innocent in the afflic-
tions of the guilty.  We may imagine a man
without family, without dependents, without a
friend, to  destroy  his  health,  and  ruin his
worldly interests, by addiction to drunkenness:
such a man has often been ignorantly called
' no man's enemy but his own.'
  " But even in such a case, where the sin and
folly seem most concentrated both in origin and
consequences, in the sinner, would it be wise,
would it be Christian-like,  to ignore  the  evil,
and leave  the wretch to wallow in his vice be-
fore the world ? If unwise here it is sheer mad-
ness to  exclude  the victim  of syphilis from the
pale of charity.
  "Disregarding for a moment the immediate
sufferer as unworthy of compassion, we cannot
shut  our eyes to the fact that  it is out of Our
power to limit the punishment to him.  The pas-
sion that leads to this disease cannot he gratified
except by the concurrence of two persons: one
of these may be—often is—innocent. 
SPECIAL DISEASES.           93
  '' Is the innocent person  to be  excommuni-
cated ?
  "But, again, upon the gratification  of this
passion depends the perpetuation of the  human
race.
  " A man or woman who has, no matter under
what circumstances, contracted syphilis, will,
if placed immediately under the  supervision
and treatment of a skillful  surgeon, be cured ;
but neglect  this man or woman, treat them as
outcasts from society, as wretches whose shame
is so deep that charity herself blushes to relieve
them, abandon them to the hands of those mer-
cenary  harpies that prey upon the miseries of
mankind, and the disease can no longer be thus
restricted to the-first, perhaps guilty sufferers ;
it assumes a form that lingers in the frame, and
generates a chronic poison, which is  capable
of being transmitted to an innocent wife, and
to children  still unborn.
   " How much of the  scrofula, consumption,
idiotcv and insanity, that create such havoc in
our population, and encumber our asylums, is
the indirect effect of syphilis,  can never be ac-
curately  estimated.   But it is certain that the
hereditary  transmission  of the syphilitic  taint
 operates largely."
   Whilst fully endorsing  these  statements, 1
 must remark that no attempt to  eradicate this
 horrible scourge of the human race will be suc-
 cessful, unless judicious treatment is brought to
 bear  on the  immediate manifestation of the
 disease, upon  the parts which  first receive the
 infection.  It is also highly important,  in refer-
 ence  to the  well-being of the patient that a
 correct diagnosis be formed as to the  peculiar 
94
SPECIAL DISEASES.
character of the primary forms in which this dis-
ease commences its fearful course.
  Thanks to the progress of medical  science,
syphilis is now entirely under control !  In times
past it  was customary to suffer persons  thus
afflicted to  die, without attempting their relief,
under the  impression  that the complaint was
contagious  and incurable.
  I find, by the results of my every-day expe-
rience, that it is solely  by  an accurate attention
to the character of the sore,  that a clue is ob-
tained both to its virulent nature and the kind
of treatment best  calculated to  arrest its  pro-
gress.  It is hence regarded under the two forms
of — 1.  The indurated  or infecting chancre ;
2. The soft ornon-indurnted chancre.  The av-
erage period  during which the sore makes its
appearance after the local contact of the poison,
varies between three and ten days, and depends,
in some measure, on the following circumstances:
1. The  intensity of the poison ; 2. The consti-
tutional condition of the patient; 3. The  pres-
ence of an abraded surface.
  The local indications of the first, or indurated
chancre, consist of  a sore, having a rounded or
oval form,  with raised indurated edges,  and
excavated surface, covered with a thick,  tena-
cious secretion, resembling chamois leather.
  Unless arrested at once, it will probably be
attended by secondary  symptoms.
  The local indications of the second,  or  non-
indurated chancre, are a sore or sores devoid of
induration ; their surfaces irregular, and freely
discharging matter.  The form of the disease
will not be  attended with secondary symptoms.
  The practical importance of ascertaining in 
SPECIAL DISEASES.           95
any given case the peculiar characteristics of the
chancrous sore, will be at once apparent when
it is  stated that  on such diagnosis rests the in-
dication which establishes  a satisfactory basis
for treatment.   It is at the same time to be ob-
served,  that  these cases do not always come
under treatment while these specific distinctions
continue.   It is, however,  gratifying to know
that there still remains, to the skillful and ob-
servant  practitioner, other and unimpeachable
indications on which he may base his diagnosis
with perfect certainty.
  As the non-indurated  chancre does not give
rise to secondary or constitutional symptoms,
it is  simply a local disease, and the adminis-
tration  of mercury in such cases can, under no
circumstances, be required.   Hence we see the
immense boon which a correct diagnosis of
Byphilitic sores  confers alike upon physician
and patient.
  It is by  this alone that  the vexed question
with respect to the indiscriminate, or even the
doubtful employment of mercury, receives its
satisfactory solution.  In other words, the ex-
ceptional class of cases  in which this powerful
remedy is  indicated, becomes at once placed
beyond  either doubt or uncertainty.
  The cases,  then, about which  so  much has
been said and written from time to time, that
have yielded to treatment without mercury, un-
attended by secondary  results,  admit of full
explanation by the light I have here pointed out.
  It also follows that the  facts on which the
attempt to overthrow the necessity  of  mercury
in all cases of syphilis, although they have been
certainly of an extensive, are  at the same  time,
of a limited character. 
96           SPEdAL  DISEASES.
  The practitioners of the  old  school (who
form  the great bulk of the  profession at the
present day) rigidly adhere to the administra-
tion  of mercury in  every case of  syphilis they
are called on to treat; while, on the other hand,
there is no lack  of ignorant pretenders who
altogether abjure its use.
  We  see thus the vast importance to  the pa-
tient  affected with syphilis in any form, of his
taking care that the physician he may  consult
be neither one who, by  the  indiscriminate use
of mercury, may, in curing  one evil, set  up
another of a more lasting and dangerons char-
acter ; nor one who, from ignorance of modern
scientific research,  shall " paint out," as  it
were, the outward signs of disease, only to leave
a rankling poison to take uneradicable  root in
the system, and breed subsequent disease and
death, not only in the patient himself, but pos-
sibly in generations yet to come.
  It is impossible in a little work of this kind
to treat of these  diseases,  in their almost infin-
ite variety of development with that minuteness
or in that detail which I have used in works in-
tended solely for professional reading ;  I must
content myself, therefore, by stating that what
are called  secondary symptoms, are  the conse-
quences of the absorption of the syphilitic virus
into the system, and the resulting contamination
of the organism.  The secondary symptoms fol-
low within the first few months of the existence of
the indurated form of chancre. They affect  the
superficial tissues only, are generally dry in char-
acter, and are not fatal to life.  They may be, but
are  not  necessarily,  hereditary; they  are  not
capable of transmission by innoculation, and sel- 
              SPECIAL DISEASES.            97

dom (though, when once established, they may re-
appear from time to time in the same individual )
can be produced de novo by a fresh infection.
  Tertiary symptoms are the most advanced conse-
quences of the absorption of the syphilitic virus
into the system.  They seldom  appear before
six months from the time of infection, and often
much later.  They are not innoculable, and not
hereditaiy.   They attack the deeper tissues and
bones, and may he fatal to life.
  The eruptions with which secondary and ter-
riary symptoms are attended may be distinguish-
ed from each other by their tendency to assume
or not assume, an ulcerative condition.
  The first, or  ulcerative class, comprise vesicles,
pustules, and  tubercles.
  The second, or non-ulcerative class of  erup-
tions, are erythema and papulae.
  This  distinction is important, because  ulcer-
ation denotes  a considerable activity in the poi-
son, and a want of resistance on the bart of the
constitution of the patient.
  It  must  not be forgotten  that  all syphilitic
diseases belong to that class called specific, be-
cause they arise from a definite poison, or virus;
that  they all have commencement in what is
called a chancre; that whatever the character of
the latter, it is perfectly under the control of those
who thoroughly understand its treatment, pro-
vided it be taken in time; and that the object of
that treatment must be, not only to cause the
chancre, itself to disappear, but to  take care that
the blood and the general organism  become so pu-
rified that no trace of the poison be left to after-
wards vitiate either the patient's own system or
that of his subsequent offspring. 
98
SPECIAL DISEASES.
  I will now proceed to refer to that class  of
special diseases called non-specific; that is to say
those affections which follow sexual iutercourse,
and which, though often contagious, and capa-
ble of reproducing themselves, are not-innoc-
ulable, and  do not depend upon a special  cause.
The  name of  these  is  "legion."   Their enu-
meration and description would occupy a volume.
They include, in fact, every affection which is
the result of impure sexual intercourse, which
are not included in the class already described,
viz., specific affections.
  As it would be therefore utterly impossible in
this work  to refer to all, I shall confine myself to
that form  of disease known as Gonorrhoea.
  On being attacked with  gonorrhoea, the first
symptom  the  patient experiences is an itching
sensation  about the orifice of the urethra,  or
even throughout the whole of it, varying in in-
tensity in different cases.  A swelling, or full-
ness of the lips of th« urethra then generally en-
sues, consequent upo*iinflammation, and shortly
afterwards a discharge commences.   As the dis-
ease proceeds, the itching becomes  converted
into a severe pain, especially felt after voiding
urine; and the desire to micturate fills him with
dread, on account of the scalding pain it occa-
sions.  The water soon passes off in a scattered
stream, owing to  the blood-vessels  becoming
overcharged,  and thus narrowing the anterior
part of the canal.  The inflammation will some-
times  extend  even to the neck  of the bladder,
and cause the dangerous symptom retention of
urine.  Extreme tenderness is felt in the glans,
and unless great cleanliness be [observed, exco-
riation will ensue.  If the disease be suffered to 
SPECIAL DISEASES.
99
proceed unmolested, or, occasionally, under any
circumstances, the patient may be attacked  by
chordee, an affection of the most torturing char-
acter.  On the occurence of tn*e involuntary erec-
tions, which take place in consequence of the
intiamation, especially when warm in bed, the
corpus spongiosum (  at the under part of the
penis ) not permitting of so great an extension
as the cavernosa, the penis becomes curved, and
produces the most excruciating agony.  In some
cases, from a serous infiltration into the prepuce,
it becomes distended to an enormous size, so as
to completely obscure the glans penis, constitu-
ting the  symptom called phymosis.  If at the
commencement of the infiltration into  the pre-
puce, the latter has been drawn back,  by  acci-
dent  or otherwise, beyong the glans, the swell-
ing  will  then  act as  a gradually  increasing
ligament, tightening upon the penis behind the
corona glandis, causing frightul agony, and occa-
sionally rendering a surgical operation necessa-
ry.   This constriction of the foreskin is called
para phymosis.   Sometimes  an  enlargement of
the glands of the groin ( bubo ) may  be pro-
duced, which, however, rarely suppurate, as do
those produced by syphilis; and one of the  most
frequent, painful, and troublesome accompani-
ments of  gornorrhcea is orchitis or swelled tes-
ticle.
  Of course, the whole of these symptoms vary
according to the  patient's constitution, habits,
other circumstances;  and sometimes  an individ-
ual  will be affected in a very mild form in one
attack, while on the occurence of another it will
be of the most malignant character.
  The secretion of the mucous membrane  affec- 
100          STECIAL DISEASES.

ted with gonorrhoea consists of muco-pus, vary-
ing in character according to the period  of the
duration of the morbid action.   During the very
earliest period it is generally of a white color,
and  consists of  simple mucus, and under the
microscope  exhibits epithelial scales and their
debris.  During.the second stage it also contains
these substances, but, in addition, albumen  in
solution ;  and by the aid of the microscope wo
also  detect innumerable pus corpuscles commu-
nicating to it a yellow color, more or less deep,
according  to their  quantity.   In its later  and
chronic stages, the pus corpuscles diminish, and
the epithelial scales increase, and it remains in
that troublesome and obstinate form denomina-
ted gleet.
  It is too commonly the case that individuals
suffering from gonorrhoea are apt to consider it
a trifling affection.   This is an error of the most
serious character, as will at once be perceived
when I mention one only out of its numerous
consequences, viz., stricture, a disease which in
but too many cases renders the patient  a mar-
tyr for life.  There is nothing, nor can there be
anything, in any affection of the generative or-
gans to which the  term '' trifling " can be ap-
plied. No matter what the particular symptom
or affection may be under which we may labor,
we shall do well to bear in mind the. poet's  in-
junction, and to

  '' Think nought a trifle, though it small appear,   •
  Sands make the mountain, moments make the year,
  And trifles life."

   There  is no one disease, considered in  all
 its aspects and sequsela, on which such varieties 
SPECIAL DISEASES.          101
of opinions and  treatment exists, and in which
such difficulties present themselves to the prac-
titioner who has not made the generative organ-
ism  and  its affections his exclusive study as
gonorrhoea.   The mischievious mistakes conse-
quently committed by such practitioners, both
in diagnosis and in treatment, are innumerable.
  I have heard even the celebrated Ricard of
Paris, one of the greatest authorities on syphilis
and  gonorrhoea, confess in his lectures that no
disease has so often puzzled him as simple gleet.
  With such an admission before us, how can
we wonder that those who, even when a correct
diagnosis has been  made, empirically follow,
without discrimination, the antiquated treatment
and  after dosing their patients with copaiba,
cubebs, he, ad nauseum, without administering
relief,  should find themselves at fault, and suc-
ceed only in leaving their  patients worse than
they found them, with  the additional mental
disease of believing  their  cases to be past all
cure ?
  One of the most common mistakes which are
propagated, both by  teaching and practice, by
a certain section of the old school, is, that gon-
orrhoea must not be  cured quickly; and by
absurd statements, as to a rapid cure " driving
the disease into the  system," they  succeed in
reconciling their patients to a  nine or twelve
months' treatment  with  the  most nauseous
and worse than useless drugs  and injections,
used in the main part for  the sole  purpose of
concealing their ignorance, but really believed
in by many as being the sole safe  method of
treatment.  In these latter cases it  is difficult
to say which is most to be pitied—the doctor
           o* 
102          SPECIAL DISEASES.
or his patient.  My own long experience of the
fallacy and mischievousness of these views, how -
ever, may be of service both to the one and to
the other.*
  As to  the consequences of  such  a state of
things,  I could bring evidences  without num-
ber, from the works of many of the best authors,
usually  considered as "standard" by the gen-
eral profession.
  One of these authors, for example, records a
case of a man, aged twenty-six, whose gonorrhoea
remained uncured and attended with a most se-
vere form of rheumatism, "  in spite of all that
the London surgeons and physicians could do
for him ; and a residence  on the continent was
the only means by which  a  cure was effected."
  Resolving not to run the chance of infection,
after having been such a martyr, the  patient
married.  Soon  afterwards he  was again af-
fected, his wife began to complain of leucorrhoea.
  The author then goes on to  say  (I am quo-
ting literally), " Knowing all the circumstances
" of the case, I advised some simple astringent
" wash and aperient medicine; instead of abating,
" the discharge increased, and was followed, in
" spite of all advice and the best concerted measures,
" by rheumatic opthalmia,inflammation of the blad-
" der and general rheumatism.   The disease in
" a sub-acute form  was  no sooner cured in one
" set of  muscles than it broke out  in another.
" Instead of driving the disease into the system,
 * There are, however, on the other hand, many (principally
charlatans) who go to the opposite extreme, and pretend to eradi-
cate the disease in inconceivably short periods, such as from 24 to
60 hours; but although it is not impossible to stop the discharge
within that time, after the consequences of the so-called "Abobtive
Treatment," are of a fearful character, and in many cases may
endure for a lifetime. 
SPECIAL DISEASES.          103
 " I was for some time unable to master the dis-
 " charge, and it went on, uncontrolled by all our
 '' remedies, a stumbling block to the best medical and
 " surgical opinions in London! "
  The author then goes on to  state,  that  after
 some years his patient, apparently undeterred
 by  his previons martyrdom,  again  consulted
 him, having been " suddenly seized with rheu-
 " matism,  the immediate cause of which arose,
 " in his opinion, from having had an instrument
 '' passed.   I ought to say," proceeds the author,
 " that he had ever since his last attack been subject
 " to stricture with som^irritation of the bladder.
 *   *   *   As  soon  as the  rheumatic  attack
 " commenced, the bladder, muscles, joints and
 "eyes  became successively affected; all the  med-
 " ical skill in London was called in, with as little
 " avail as on the former occasion.   Every sort of
 " treatment was tried, and failed until apparently
 " the disease wore  itself  out."   The  author,
 however, omits to  tell us whether the patient
 was '' worn out" as well as the disease.
  The  incredulous reader will perhaps scarcely
believe in the truth of the foregoing quotations ;
 I can, however, furnish him with both chapter
 and verse in a pretentious and bulky practical
 treatise,  published only a  few months since.
I could add largely to such instances, were it
 necessary.
  I say deliberately, as the result of a long and
extensive experience, that when properly  trea-
ted, gonorrhoea cannot under any circumstances
be  cured too quickly, and I am happy to find
that INI. Ricard,  after a careful  consideration
of cases,  agrees with me.
  The  fact is, that the pathology of the diseases 
104          SPECIAL  DISEASES.
now under discussion has been utterly neglected.
In books  on this subject, one writer has copied
another, from Hunter downwards, and, as has
been well observed, "seems to have dissected
books rather than bodies."  The ordinary prac-
titioner is, consequently, not only liable to be
confused in his diagnosis and treatment, by the
complications which usually attended  gonor-
rhoea,  but  frequently confounds  it with  dis-
charges of  analogous character,  or even with
those which are totally dissimilar.
  In  case 1443, the patient, a  married man,
consulted me  in  consequence of a discharge
which he supposed to be  gonorrhoea.   He as-
sured me he had had no improper connection,
and was not cognizant of  any circumstances by
which he could have become infected;  and he
was in a condition of the  utmost terror lest his
wife should suspect him of infidelity.   After a
close examination, I found that the discharge
resulted from  connection with his wife whilst
the  latter was  suffering  from a  copious dis-
charge denominated the fluor albus, or' 'whites,"
which in her case always increased a short time
previously to menstruation.
  The fact  of  this disease—the  " whites "*«—
being under certain circumstances communicable
to the male, has been the source of almost incal-
culable misery; more especially when the prac-
titioner applied to has been either ignorant of
the  fact,  or careless  in his  diagnosis.  If  the
husband  be conscious that he has had no im-
  * A very large portion of the female sex suffer from this com
plaint. This is more especially the case in England, and with
married women —a  circumstance,  in my opinion, attribu'able
partly to the climate and to the large quantity of tea usually drank
by them. 
SPECIAL DISEASES.          105
pure  connection, the  appalling supposition
forces itself upon him  that his wife  has been
unfaithful;  whilst, on the other hand, the wife,
ignorant that her "weakness," as she calls it,
could possibly affect him, is made miserable by
a similar contemplation.  It will be seen, there-
fore, that it is of the highest possible import-
ance  that the conscientious  physician should
exercise the greatest care in his examination of
the discharge, be competent to form a correct
diagnosis, and thoroughly understand the best
methods of  treatment.
  Having connection, too, during the menstrual
periods, will frequently act in a similar manner,
and give  rise to like uneasiness and  anxiety;
and so, also, with a variety of other circum-
stances to which I might allude, if space per-
mitted.
  But the  most  grievous mistake that can be
committed, as regards the patient's own health,
is  one to which I have alluded in a previous
chapter,  viz., that arising from  confounding
symptoms of spermatorrhoea with those of gon-
orrhoea, and treating the patient for the latter.
I was consulted in such  a case only a short time
since.  The patient had contracted gonorrhoea,
a few years  before,  and consulted the family
medical attendant, who apparently cured him.
The discharge, however, never completely left
him, and on again complaining to his adviser,
he  continued  to prescribe the  usual internal
remedies and  injections.  These he took for a
very considerable period, but  still experienced
a continuation of the discharge, finding almost
invariably, on awaking in the morning, the lips
of the urethra glued together, and, on slight
         o* 
106           SELF  DIAGNOSIS.
     pressure, a drop or two of a transparent, oily
     character made its appearance.  He gradually
     became more and more debilitated, particularly
     within the  few weeks previously to his consult-
     ing me; his memory began  to fail him, and a
     languor and  general disinclination for occupa-
     tion took possession of him.   In fact, I discov-
     ered that he was suffering from a severe form
>    of spermatorrhoea, which had entirely escaped
     the notice  of  the "family physician," who had
     perseveringly, but unwittingly, increased it by
     continuing, during  the whole period, to treat
     him for gonorrhoea.
      I need scarcely say that, having ascertained
     the real character of  the affection, I had but
     little difficulty in eradicating it.
CHAPTER  IX.
self diagnosis; or, "how shall we  ascer-
    tain  UNDER  WHAT AFFECTION  WE ARE
    SUFFERING?"
  In consequence  of  the frequent enquiries
made of me, " How shall I know whether I am
suffering  from  spermatorrhoea? what  are  the
symptoms by which I shall be able to recognize
it, or by which it will be  accompanied ?" I am
induced to add a few words on this most  im-
portant point.
  The symptoms are infinitely varied, extremely
numerous, and differ greatly in different cases,
both in number, nature and degree.  It will be 
SELF  DIAGNOSIS.
107
well, perhaps, first to put the most prominent
of them into a tabular form, and  then to intro-
duce one or two illustrative cases.
  To render this  tabulation more intelligible,
the  symptoms are  divided  into  Local, i.  e.,
affections of the generative organs; Bodily, i. e.,
affections of the muscular, circulative, nutritive,
and respiratory systems; and Mental, i.  e.,
affections of the nervous system.
  In the first place, as  being not  only most
definite  in  character, but also as indicative of
the  disease being more  than  usually  deeply
seated and  confirmed, the local symptoms may
be mentioned.   They are as follows:

                Local Symptoms.

Pollutions* accompanying expulsion of urine.
Pollutions accompanying defsecation.
Erections and emissions upon slight excitement, such as
  the mere presence of females, or juxtaposition of their
  dress, etc.
Emissions under similar circumstances, unaccompanied
  by erection.
Nocturnal pollutions, with or without  erection or con-
  sciousness.
Diurnal pollutions.
Spermatic urine.
Contraction of the foreskin.
Spasmodic or dull pains  occasionally in the organs.
Varicocele, or varicose veins in the testicles.
Pimples on shoulders nnd forehead.
Premature emission during coitus.
Priapism, or erections apparently without any exciting
  cause.
Decrease of sexual desire or enjoyment.
Sanguineous  emissions.
Diminution in size of the penis and other organs.
Want or imperfection of  erectile power.
    Climax—Impotence .

  * The terms " pollutions " and " emissions " refer to involuntary
escapes of seminal fluid. 
108           SELF  DIAGNOSIS.
  In  reference to general symptoms, it is neces-
sary to observe that many, if not all, of these
symptoms  may occur in and denote  forms of
ordinary disease;  but if produced by sperma-
torrhoea, they will be aggravated in degree, and
will not yield to treatment known to be eradi-
cative of them in ordinary cases.   This fact
could  be illustrated  in  a variety of  instances,
but one may suffice.   In an otherwise healthy
person, an attack of indigestion, originating in
inattention to diet, will yield to gentle  purga-
tives, tonics, and other well known means; but
if the symptom's of indigestion exist in conse-
quence of the impairment of the nutritive func-
tions by seminal losses,  the ordinary remedies
for such symptoms fail  to produce their usual
effect, as, until the primary cause of the symp-
toms  be removed, the effect will  not only con-
tinue, but increase.   In  like manner, disorders
in respiration  and circulation  may arise in-
differently from spermatorrhoea,  or from other
causes; in the latter case, the remedies usually
indicated for such symptoms will remove them,
but not so if  they be caused by spermatorrhoea;
and it may be mentioned that it has been clearly
ascertained that there is not a single function
of the animal  economy but may not  become
deranged by long continued involuntary semi-
nal losses.
           Genbbal Symptoms—Bodily.
Muscular, Respiratory, Circulative, and Nutritive Systems.
Increased appetite or voracity (in early stages).
Gnawing, and heat of epigastrium.
Uneasiness, sinking, or faintness before taking food, fol-
  lowed by disgust or nausea aiterwards.
Want of appetite for plain kinds of food. 
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
109
Weight in epigastrium.
Quickened pulse-
Flushed face.
Acid eructations.
Acrid heat at upper part of sesophagus.
Alteration in secretions of liver and pancreas.
Evolution of flatus.
Colic.
Griping.
Difficulty of breathing, and cough.
Distention of stomach and intestines.
Muscular flaecidity.
EXcessive mucous secretions,
Irregular action of the heart.
Apoplexy.
Liquid and  unnatural stools.
Diarrhoea.
Inflamation of rectum.
Constipation.
Loss of substance.
Cadaverous appearance of skin.
Hollow or sunken eyes.
Extreme sensibility to cold.
Rheumatism.
Loss of hair.
Pulmonary catarrh.
Indolence,  or indisposition to exercise.
Lassitude.
Fatigue  on  slight exertion.
        Climax—Confibmed Debility.
            General Symptoms—Mental.

                   Nervous System
Restlessness.
Sighing.
Sensation of congestion.
Want of energy.
Uncertainty of tone of voice.
Nervous  asthma,
Vertigo.
Want of purpose.
Dimness of sight. 
110
SELF  DIAGNOSIS.
Weakness of hearing.
Aversion to society.
Blushing.
Want of confidence.
Avoidance of conversation.
Desire for solitude.
Listlessness,and inability to fix the attention.
Cowardice.
Depression of spirits,
Giddiness.
Loss of memory.
Excitability of temper.
Moroseness.
Want of fixity of attention.
Disposition to ruminate.
Trembling of the hands.
Sudden pallor.
Lachrymosity.
Tremor from slight causes.
Pains in back of the head or the spine.
Pain over the eyes.
Disturbed and unrefreshing sleep.
Strange and lacivious dreams.
Hypochondriasis.
      Climax—Insanity.

  The following additional illustrative cases are
by no means selected because they present fea-
tures  of great severity, but  because they are
specimens of the most ordinary cases upon which
I am consulted ; and, save that every expression
which could afford the slightest clue to the in-
dividuality of the parties themselves has been
carefully eliminated, they are the verbatim state-
ments of the patients themselves.   In order to
avoid unnecessary repetition, it may  be men-
tioned  that every one  of the following cases,
and  many thousands of similar and far more
serious  ones, have been successfully treated by
me during the twenty years over which my prac-
tice has extended. 
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
Ill
               Case No. 874.

  I have been in the filthy habit of practising
self-pollution from about the age  of 14, when
at school, until I was twenty-four.  I then mar-
ried, which is now about a year and a half ago,
but am  ashamed to say that so completely had
the habit taken hold  of  me that I have even
(though  not often) practised it since that time,
till lately in fact, when I procured a copy of
your Philosophy of Marriage.   I must mention
that I am naturally of  a good constitution, but
for nearly twelve months past I have gradually
been getting thinner and thiinner, as though I
was wasting away.  I appear to be in excellent
health, but am speedily tired with the slightest
exertion ; my appetite  is poor,  I have  no en-
ergy,  am extremely  nervous,  and frequently
overcome by melancholly ; my memory is be-
coming  defective, and  I have  a very tiresome
little cough, with  a  sort of choking  sensation
when attempting to read aloud, especially after
a meal; the left  testicle hangs a little lower
than the right one, and after the urine has been
allowed to stand for a time, a white, cloudy se-
cretion  appears to be floating about in it, and
a sort of greasy-looking scum forms on the top.
I am also troubled by frequent emissions during
sleep, all which symptoms induce me to think
I must be suffering  from  spermatorrhoea, and
trust you will be able to do something to relieve
me. I applied to a medical man who is esteemed
very clever in this neighborhood, but he said he
could not see any complaint, save my getting
thin, for which he advised change  of air,  and
gave me quinine,  but no good effects have fol-
lowed. 
112
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
  The treatment thus referred to was unsuccess-
because it did not touch the deep-seated cause
of the symptoms.
               Case No. 1116.

  I can no longer conceal from myself  that I
am suffering from spermatorrhoea, the result
of that wicked  habit contracted even  before I
was in my teens; I even forget how, and  how
early  it was contracted,  and although  I have
sometimes abandoned it for a time  I have
always relapsed again into  it and have  only
lately  been able to feel that I  have at  length
mastered  it.  My age is now 26, and although
having been three years at the seaside, every one
congratulates me upon my healthy appearance.
I am quite conscious of the unreality of those ap-
pearances  My nerves are seriously impaired.
I  have very frequent  nocturnal  emissions ;
the spirit I once possessed I am afraid is for ever
gone, and the  sense of the fatigue I experience
on undertaking the smallest labor, and the flac-
cid feel of the muscles, renders  me doubtful of
the possibility  of  their effective reparation ; I
cannot fix my attention on my  business, make
sad blunders, and get very excitable and ill-tem-
pered.  For the last few months too I have ex-
perienced  a  dull  pain  or  uneasiness  in the
testicles, especially on the left  side, and have
occasional darting pains of a spasmodic character
in the penis, as though  they suddenly received
a most severe and acute electric shock.
In this case although there were well-marked 
SELF DIAGNOSIS.           113
local symptoms, the mischief had principally
developed itself in the impairment of the ner-
vous system.
               Case No. 1375.

  It is with great reluctance I pen the following
letter:—
  I began to  indulge in masturbation or Onan-
ism some years ago; I do not exactly know how
long since.  It was brought  about by accident.
Since your work on Marriage fell into my hands
I have  resisted  the temptation to defile myself.
At first it was very difficult and I could scarcely
restrain myself for a week.  I have now managed
to do so for about three weeks, but feel tortured
with all sorts of vicious thoughts.  This is my
situation  at present,  but previously and for
some years, scarcely a day passed over in which
I did not practise self-pollution.  I am consid-
erably  troubled with knots of tough mucous
matter coming up my throat; this always occur-
red two or three hours after  masturbation.  As
it is very  considerably decreased lately, I now
attribute  the symptoms to that  cause, which I
did not previously suspect.  My urine is some-
times very muddy, a sort of gleet is found to
stick against the side of the urinal,  and small
white specks are sometimes  observable floating
about  in the urine.   I have a  tendency to be
costive, but  not specially so.  I have not the
power  of erection I ought to have.  I begin to
feel weak, and not able to work as I used to do;
and when I rise in the morning I do not feel
refreshed after my night's sleep.  I  have occa- 
114
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
sionally a throbbing pain at the end of the fore-
skin, which  is swelled, and appears somewhat
inflammed, and I am very subject to pleasure-
dreams,  which are very weakening.   I have
slight aching pains in the testicles, one of which
is  slightly wasted, and have pains across  the
loins  and up the neck and back of the head,
which I never had before.

               Caso No. 1146.

  I feel myself constrained to fly to you at last,
and reveal a secret which I can no longer keep
to myself.   You  will readily understand what
it is, and I am filled with shame to acknowledge
it, but  have been doing it in ignorance until
the last year or two.   I am one of those unhappy
beings who early fell a victim to that  accursed
habit of masturbation, or self-pollution, when
at school. I will describe all the particulars.
I am now twenty-five years of age ; it was when
I was about fourteen I  commenced  this self-
abuse, and sometimes I had sexual intercourse.
About four years  ago I had the  disease called
gonorrhoea,  or clap, my doctor called it.   He
cured me, as I thought; but I still kept prac-
tising that pernicious  habit.  About  two years
ago,, or nearly,  I felt a tremendous prickly
itching underneath the testicles, so I went to
my doctor again, and  he told me it was gleet.
I have been taking lots of stuff and  injections,
but they don't do me any good. There is scarcely
any  pain but  an almost continual  discharge,
which causes a stain  like gum to be left on my
linen.   It is much aggravated by taking wine
or spirits, or violent exercise ; it affects my eyes 
              SELF DIAGNOSIS.          115

very considerably.  I  only  wish I had  read
your book before, for I had made up my mind
previously to reading it that I should never be
cured.   My habits are pretty regular, and my
occupation  out-door.   I feel  a loss of memory,
and a continued feeling of languidness, being
tired with the least exertion, very nervous and
timid ;  the  eyes are very weak, and sometimes
very hot, and feel sore in their sockets.  I have
pains also  in the back of my head ; my sleep
don't afford me much refreshment, for I very
often feel more tired and languid when I get up
than when  I go to bed.  I am  troubled with
dreams, and sometimes fancy myself in the em-
brace of some beautiful woman ;  and on some
of these occasions I have found my night-clothes
wet with the  fluid which had escaped.  The
last one occurred only two nights ago ; and for
the last two years I have had escape of seminal
fluid when  in  company of females.  My water
is generally of a high color, I am  very low spir-
ited, although I used to be full of life.
              Case No.  1735.

  I am suffering from the effects of self-abuse,
practised until recently.  I am now twenty-three
years of age, tall and thin.  When  in company
of females the penis is continually wet with thin
semen, sometimes with  erection,  sometimes
without.   I  have never had  connection with
any  female, and if I did, the emission  would
come far too soon.  My forehead and shoulders
are covered with pimples, the former being very 
110
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
much disfigured, and they are always worse after
an emission in the night, which occurs without
erection.  My eyes are bloodshot at times, and
water in a breeze of wind, particularly in the
morning.  The testicles hang very low, the left
is varicose, and there  are no  wrinkles at all in
the scrotum on that side.  The dribbling, when
in  company of women, is very odd and unpleas-
ant.  When my urine has  stood  a few hours,
there is generally a sediment.  Is there any
fear of the right testicle becoming varicose, also
from hanging?
               Case No. 865.

  I am twenty-seven years of age, of a delicate,
nervous temperament, I am single, and likely
to remain  so, unless you can assist me ;  for
there is no disguising the fact, I am impotent
through the effects of self-pollution, which I
practised from eleven years of age until twenty-
two, when  I became acquainted with its mis-
chief and left it off for ever.   I then  obtained
medical advice, which gave me only temporary
relief, and I have since applied to another med-
ical man, who gave me tonics, but I am grieved
to say without effect.  My bowels are regular,
as I am very careful in my diet; I am much
afraid I am suffering from spermatorrhoea as I
have noticed that the last drop of urine is thick
and ropy, and there is always a copious discharge
of semen  after any excitement by being in fe-
male society,  and I have frequent nocturnal
emissions.  The testicles  and  penis  are very
small, and there is something like a lot of hard 
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
117
cords attached to the left testicle.  I have a
slight cough always on me, with a shortness of
breathing, and I  am very thin.   I often turn
very giddy when rising  or stooping hurriedly.
Reading the slightest thing  of  a sentimental
character brings tears to my eyes, which I can-
not help, although I feel them to be maudlin.
My sight is weak.   I have no confidence in my-
self.  I blush and look guilty at the slightest
thing said to  me, whether right or wrong ;
blushing and becoming pallid by turns.  I find
my constitution is weakened  most terribly.   I
have got very  thin this last month,  and have
had nocturnal  emissions sometimes two or three
nights running.  Sometimes, on  going to stool,
a thick gummy matter comes off from the penis,
and there is  a slight irritation at the root of the
penis after passing it.  I have slight pains in
the back, and sometimes in the testicles.
                Case No. 682.

  At the age of fourteen or fifteen I was taught
the disgraceful habit of self-pollution by a com-
panion, and continued to practise it until twenty,
when a friend, who knew something of anatomy,
etc., told me the consequences, and caused me
to leave it off in disgust. I am, however, troubled
with frequent emissions, accompanied with dis-
turbing dreams.  I have  sometimes put some
of my urine in a bottle, when  I have noticed,
after  a few hours,  a filmy substance  floating
about in  it, and when it has stood a week, it has
become quite thick at the bottom.   My testicles 
118
SELF DIAGNOSIS.
are very pendulous, and I sometimes  feel a
slight escape of semen when in the company of
females.  My left  testicle  is smaller  than the
right, and  has more cords or  veins about it.
The white of my eyes is generally of a muddy
or brownish color, and my sight is certainly not
so good as it was formerly.  I have also been
troubled with pimples about my face and shoul-
ders,  which  are  very  disagreeable.   I  am
troubled with extreme nervousness, involuntary
blushings, weakness of sight, lassitude, coldness
of the extremities, and  sometimes pains  in  the
head and loins.  I get rheumatism by the very
slightest draught, sometimes within a quater of
an hour after exposure to it, and occasionally it
is a long time before I can  get rid of it, and it
is frequently severe.
              Case No.  1371.

  From twelve to eighteen I practised the habit
of masturbation almost  continuously, having
learnt it from my school-fellows, and neither I
nor any of my companions ever for a moment
suspected  that we were injuring ourselves  in
any way.  A  fearful  mistake,  as I now know
to my cost.  I left it off because I thought it a
filthy habit, and since have occasionally  had
sexual intercourse.   On some of these occasions
I have been able to have  full and proper con-
nexion at another time there is premature emis-
sion, and sometimes I fail altogether to have an
erection, and seminal fluid  will pass without
any  sensation.   Occasionally too a dull pain 
              SELF DIAGNOSIS.           119
                               i
follows near the root of the penis, a most uneasy
sensation.  There is never any certainty in my
attempts at coition.   I am  frequently troubled
with lascivious  dreams, and  sometimes  with
others of a less agreeable kind, but always causing
me to  rise without  benefit from my rest.   All
these things  were a mystery to me until I read
your book, which completely  opened my eyes
to the  real state of the case.  My appetite is
very bad ;  I am altogether unwell, fearfully
languid all day long ;  I always go to  bed tired,
and with an aching pain in my legs, and rise in
the morning  the same, never feeling better for
rest.  My face  sometimes breaks out in spots,
and I look thin and ill.  In fact I feel ill;  I am
afraid I have destroyed all generative  power,
especially as for some time past I have not only
been afraid to contemplate intercourse from the
fear of failure, but when opportunity has offered,
have really experienced a total want of desire.
   In many patients where  circumstances  com-
pel the treatment to be by correspondence only
I  find that the injury to the nervous  system is
such, that, after writing me with a full detail
of their  case, I shall  perhaps have a letter by
the next post to tell me that they have overrated
the symptoms, and that they feel quite  well,
and fancy they have been nervous almost with-
out a cause,  and a post or two after will bring
a letter that they are  thoroughly wretched and
despondent.   They are troubled by miserable
fancies that their letters are opened and read by
unknown parties before coming to hand ; that
every one who meets them  sees in their counte-
nances the effects of their habits, or is aware in
some  mysterious way of  their  ill-practices. 
120           SELF DIAGNOSIS.
 Others  tell me that the blood rushes to their
 face whenever a  casual eye meets them in the
 street, frequently accompanied by perspiration,
 and that the eyes  are involuntarily cast down, as
 though they had been suddenly detected in some
 guilty act;  that their  conversation becomes
 disconnected, and  their observation  desul-
 tory ; that they loose all their relish for pursuits
 which formerly interested them  to the highest
 degree ;  that they  envy  every one they  see;
 fancy there is nothing left for them in the world,
 either of utility or pleasure ; that they have be-
 come aimless and  purposeless, and that all they
 can do is to drag on a miserable existence till the
 tomb closes over them.
  Although spermatorrhoea and its host of ac-
 companying evils is, in the majority of cases
 caused by practices of the  kind spoken of in the
 preceeding cases, it is not invariably the case
 that it is so.  Spermatorrhoea may be caused by
 constipation, by ascarides, or worms in the rec-
tum, by stricture  of the rectum, and many other
circumstances.  Some  of  these are easy of re-
moval, others more  difficult; but in all  such
cases the removal of the  cause is immediately
followed by the disappearance of the sperma-
torrhoea.
   I have, however, already exceeded the limits
I prescribed to myself in this brochure, and must
only say in conclusion, that I trust the various
statements contained in it, which I have endea-
vored to divest as much as possible of techni-
calities, may  be received in the spirit in which
they were written, and may not fail in producing
their legitimate effect,  believing, as  I do with 
INSTRUCTIONS TO INVALIDS.      121
Home Tooke, that " Truth needs no ornament,
and what  she borrows of the pencil is  defor-
mity."
          Instructions to Invalids.

  Patients who desire to  be treated  by cor-
respondence  should  observe the following
instructions:

1.—Their letters should contain full particulars
     as to age—Constitution or temperament—
     —Habits as to occupation—Mode of living
     —Whether married or single—Supposed
     cause of affection—Condition  of bowels—
     Ordinary state of urine—State of particular
     organs  affected, and—Whether any, and
     if  so, what treatment has been previously
     adopted.

2—The letters ma}', at the option of the patient,
     be either signed with his own  name or an
     assumed one, or initials, as circumstances
     may render expedient,  and must contain
     a remittance  of Dr. Jordan's consultation
     fee,  five dollars.  Remittances to  be made
     and  correspondence conducted  through
     Wells, Fargo & Co's Express.  Hours of
     consultation, from nine till two, and from
     five till eight.  Sunday till two only.

Permanent Residence, No. 211 Geary St., tot Powell and Mason
    Opposite Union Square,        SAN FRANCISCO. 
122
APPENDIX.
A'PPENDIX
  I mentioned in the Preface to the 47th Edi-
tion that I had received fromt highly intelligent
and educated men the most gratifying assurance
of the utility of my previous works, and in the
Appendix to that  edition, introduced the fol-
lowing letter, received from a Clergyman at the
head of a large scholastic establishment, during
the  time the sheets were  passing  through the
press:
                   --------Rectory,    )
                     3d  January, 1863. j
To Dr Jordan:
  Dear Sir—I feel it to be only a duty to address
a few  words to you concerning a little book of
yours  which has accidentally fallen into  my
hands, entitled " The Philosophy of Marriage ;"
the  more so  that it came  under my cognizance
with the proof that it had, in two cases, at least,
had a most  beneficial, and I may add almost
providential effect.  It may  be interesting to
you to know the circumstances.  A monitor in-
formed me that he had discovered that one of
the  boys  under his charge was in possession of
an improper book ; that he had demanded pos-
session of it, but that the lad refused either to
show it to him, to deliver  it up, or to say from
whom he had obtained it.   His threat of report-
ing the matter to me was of no avail.   I conse-
quently had the boy, a fine  manly  youth of
sixteen, before me, and asked for the book, when
he gave up that to which I referred in the com-
mencement  of  the letter. He also  told me,
which I should not have expected, that he and
another of his school-fellows had for some few 
APPENDIX.              123
 months practiced the frightful habit of self-pol-
 lution,  having no idea that he was doing any-
 thing that was either injurious or improper, but
 that a fortnight previously he had become pos-
 sessed of the work in question, the contents of
 which had so opened his eyes to the wickedness
 of which he had been guilty, that not only had
 he and his fellow-student  become utterly asha-
 med and disgusted with their conduct, and had
 firmly resolved never to do the like again, but
 they were endeavoring to induce some others
 whom he knew to be  pursuing similar courses,
 to read  the book, so as to become acquainted
 with the dreadful consequences of their proced-
 ure.  One of these latter, however, both vicious
 and spiteful, had told the monitor the tale which
 led to its coming under my cognizance.
  Having since perused the work, I am bound
 to say that you have treated a very difficult and
 delicate  subject very wisely and very well, and
 although I am not prepared to say that I should
 altogether approve its indiscriminate circulation
 among youth of tender years, I am constrained
 to admit the proof I have before me, that where
 a vicious course  has been  entered upon, its pe-
 rusal has  been attended with beneficial results,
 and I must certainly say that I think every one
 who has charge of youth should be in possession
 of all the facts which it contains, so as to enable
 them to make use of the important information
it conveys, or even of the book itself, that their
discretion may dictate.
  I can quite agree with you as to the  wide ex-
tent to which the vicious courses alluded to by
you obtain in  large schools,  although I think,
from my own experience, that public schools are 
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APPENDIX.
not nearly so bad in this respect as private ones.
I know of the evil in question being practiced
shamelessly at a large private school I was at,
and also even of its being known and taught by
one to  the  other at a boys' school where the
eldest pupil was not more than eleven years  of
age!
  I am glad to see you attack so fearlessly and
energetically, that modern sentimentalism which
is  undermining the health and  growth of civil-
ized man, by ignoring the deleterious influences
which work such irreparable mischief in society,
both physically and morally, for I think nothing
can encourage vice so much as  the knowledge that
it can propagate  itself in darkness and in safety,
because no one dares to drag it into the glare of day.
Parents and tutors may well be  assured that
wherever a few boys are gathered together, the
evil habit will become known and practised,
however it may be regarded by individuals or the
majority, and they should therefore be armed
at all points with such information as your val-
uable little  book affords them, so that the warn-
ings  it contains should not be withheld from
those who are  in danger.   A hint—a word  to
an ingenuous youth, may often  strengthen his
resolution of  purity, and I should  have found
myself far better able to deal  with cases of this
sort, had  I earlier possessed  the information
your work has been the means of affording me.
Wishing success in the promulgation of these,
views may attend its increased circulation,
        Believe me, Dear Sir,
                     Truly Yours,